Six Advertisers Drop Rush Limbaugh Who will be next?

After his insulting rant against Sandra Fluke, Advertisers are dropping Rush Limbaugh's radio program.  So far, Quicken Loans, Sleep Number, Legal Zoom, Sleep Train, Citrix Systems and now Carbonite have pulled their ad dollars from the show. 

I encourage you to patronize them and send those companies a note of thanks for their support of civil conversation s and decency, at least for now.

Donate to the Red Cross

In the wake of the disasters in Indiana and Kentucky and the rest of the South this week, please donate funds for disaster relief to the Red Cross.  Click the "Donate Now" button on the home page.

Republican Candidate Says Holocaust Never Happened

And this is the kind of person the GOP has running for office in the Third Congressional District of Illinois?  A neo-Nazi Holocaust Denier has taken up the Republican cause and is running in the primary in Illinois.  Funny from someone who considers himself a "National Socialist" to be running in the GOP primary but hey, it's a big bigoted tent!  Arthur Jones has something for everyone to dislike.

“As far as I’m concerned, the Holocaust is nothing more than an international extortion racket by the Jews,” Jones said. “It’s the blackest lie in history. Millions of dollars are being made by Jews telling this tale of woe and misfortune in books, movies, plays and TV.
"The more survivors, the more lies that are told."

Opposition Of Same-Sex Marriage Isn't About Faith, It's About Sex.

As the battle over same-sex marriage heats up, the opponents of same-sex marriage are stepping up their rhetoric. It’s not surprising.

The idea of marriage for most people involves the idea of consummating that marriage and that means SEX.  The idea of sex between two people of the same sex gives some people hives, and thus the fear of same-sex marriage.  But here’s the deal, the problem is much deeper.

I think a lot of our opponents are afraid of us.  They are scared not of our homosexuality, but our sexuality in general.  Just like fundamentalist religions, their strict interpretation of scripture inevitably leads to a crisis of faith or a complete dumbing down of the eloquence of the ancient writings in the Bible and other holy books. These sexual fundamentalists see sex as strictly a means of procreation.  Anything beyond that is “dirty” and “perverted”. 

This is the attitude that makes the message against contraception resonate in some arenas.  When politicians like Rick Santorum can actually find support for limiting availability of contraception, what they are really doing is giving voice to the fear that sex can be something other than breeding.

For sexual fundamentalists, if sex beyond conception is pleasurable, then it is wrong.  They are locked in the same mentality that people like me rebelled against in the 1960’s and 1970’s.  Though there was a lot wrong-headed about the Age of Aquarius mentality, there was some of it that was spot on.  The fact that human sexuality is not a binary system and that there is a whole spectrum of sexual attraction and sexuality beyond the hetero-normative model is a fact.

For sexual fundamentalists that is a threat.  Their world is ruled by simplistic order and bumper sticker wisdom.  Critical thinking is not allowed.  In their world the fact that LGBT people can find happiness and sexual fulfillment outside their rigid model threatens their belief system.  Accepting same-sex marriage sends them into a panic because it triggers a crisis of faith.  If there are more kinds of sexuality than just the heterosexual  procreation version, they might have to examine their own sexuality more closely.  Heaven forbid! 

Just listen to people like Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage and you can hear the fear.  She consistently lies about LGBT people and what we do to support her cause and more deeply her belief system.  It is little wonder that the right-wing has attached religious freedom to the issue.  For sexual fundamentalists it is a tenant of their faith.  It might as well be the eleventh commandment, “Thou shalt not have sex except to foster children. And under no circumstances shoulds’t thou enjoy sex, least ye suffer crushing guilt”. 

On the flip side, so many LGBT people want to pattern their relationships and personal sexuality on the rigid hetero-normative model.  They want to assimilate into the whole binary system and look just the same as everyone else.  Relationships that fall outside the straight analog model are as much anathema to these people as gays are to sexual fundamentalists. 

For us to actually achieve real freedom, it’s going to take a concerted effort to combat the belief that there is only one model for relationships.  It’s going to take people becoming comfortable with their own sexuality, gay or straight.  It’s going to take moving the conversation from allowing same-sex people to marry to providing legal rights for all people and their relationships.  It’s going to be messy and difficult and it won’t be easy.
Finding a path to freedom rarely is.

We must begin to talk as adults, honestly and openly about sex in all its aspects if we expect to see any real change. We need to acknowledge that the spectrum of sexuality is indeed a rainbow, not just black and white.

Get Ready for John Carter! VIDEO

I am a big fan of the Edgar Rice Burroughs Martian Novels. The first, "A Princess of Mars" was the inspiration for the new Disney movie, "John Carter".  The marketing geniuses at Disney apparently thought actually using the real book title would interfere with their whole "princess" franchise and for some inexplicable reason dropped the word "Mars" from the title (originally John Carter of Mars).  Now the marketing of the movie is adrift in a sea of effects shots that don't really give any idea what to expect.

Luckily, this fan-made trailer constructed from bits and pieces of footage available online is GREAT!  If the movie lives up to this trailer, not only will I see it but it will be in my Blu-Ray collection before the year is over.

So, OK, forget what you know about Mars and reality, this is a different timeline and it will sweep you away.  WATCH!

New Trailer for Angry Birds....SPACE

OK, I apologize but I love this silly game, and now it take one great step for Angry Birds.

"Hand of Man" by Magnolia Mountain

Seems like Blue Grass and folk music are returning.  Glad to see it.  Great song about mountaintop removal from Magnolia Mountain.  Meaningful and well worth watching.

Bohemian Rhapsody TV Ad for Cosmopolitan Las Vegas - Great Stuff!

I rarely succumb to TV ads since I produced and directed them for so long, but this one is great. Kudos to Fallon for this innovative use of the Queen hit.

Make a Difference You Can See With a Micro-Loan Through Kiva

A while back I found an organization that engaged in micro-loans to people trying to achieve their dreams.  Kiva makes loans to people all over the world to help them build their businesses, plant crops and fulfill their potential.  I love the idea of helping budding entrepreneurs no matter where they are, and it only took $25 to start.  To date I have lent money to almost a dozen people and groups, all of which have repaid the loans and hopefully are on their way to achieving success.

I am not bragging, just telling a story about an organization  that has affected me deeply.  When I looked at the pictures of the people my loans helped, I was touched.  It is rare that you can actually see what your money is doing.  Try it, it doesn't cost you much and the small amounts of money add up to a big difference in so many people's lives.

Check it out here at Kiva.org.  Your loans along with those of many other lenders add up to a major force toward self-sufficiency and and end of poverty.   Let me know any stories you have after you try it.  I would love to hear them.

Bonjour Paree - 50 Years Later

This silly but classic Fred Astaire and Audry Hepburn vehicle always makes me smile.  It's corny but fun and always makes me long for Paris.  Love that city!

Hand-Held Genome Sequencer - The Age of the Tricorder is at Hand?

Sequencing the human genome was a task that took major computers and lots of time.  Like all technical advances the process got streamlined and became faster and faster.  Now a company called Oxford Nanopore Technologies is starting trials of its MinION, a miniaturized disposable gene sequencer that will retail for under $1000. 

Though I am not a scientist by a long shot, this excites me greatly.  My dad was a researcher in the field of Microbiology and Hematology and I spent many hours in his lab watching the experiments and actually helping out once I was old enough.  The idea that a hand-held device can do what once took a super-computer astounds me. 

Considering the advances with such medical devices as a pocket sized ultrasound scanner and other miniaturized devices it seems that Dr. McCoy would be right at home.  In fact the X Prize folks have set their sights on exactly that kind of idea.  The latest award will be for a working Tricorder! I often tell my partner, we are living in Star Trek. 

President Obama Sings Again! Sweet Home Chicago.

Blues Night at the White House ended with the President taking a few licks at the Blues Brothers theme song.

Laissez les Bon Temps Rouler! Happy Mardi Gras.

How can you have Mardi Gras without Iko Iko?  This is a clip of the Dixie Cups in a revival show taped during the 1970's singing their hit from 1964. 

Rick Santorum is Meddling in Women's Health Care Again! Opposes Prenatal Care and Testing.

Rick Santorum just can't keep out of women's vaginas, or at least what goes on in them.  On a recent speaking tour he said Obama Care would provide prenatal care and that means prenatal testing and that equals more abortions!  Nice to see a news person push back on his crap.  Way to go Bob Schieffer.

Republican Hearing on Women's Health Had No Women on the Panel.

Surrealistic is the best description of this.  A bogus GOP organized panel of witnesses testifying about reproductive health and contraception and no women are involved.  This video shows how strange the whole thing is.  It was an attempt to smear the Obama administration for their request that all employers providing health insurance provide contraception is requested.  That was later withdrawn, but that didn't stop the GOP.

Terrorist Arrested with Bomb Headed To Kansas State Capitol

Terrorist?  Do you imagine someone with a turban and beard?  Guess again.  This guy was not Muslim and drove a Pickup truck with Florida plates issued to qualified US Military Paratroopers only.

He had homemade live bombs filled with shrapnel and was stopped in a tunnel leading to the capitol. Anti-Immigration hearings were about to open.  The man's truck had a bumper sticker reading "Welcome to America./  Now Speak English."

Can you guess which side of the debate he comes down on? 

Now, My guess is the news media will not give this much coverage.  After all the guy is an American and isn't a spooky Muslim terrorist!  Oy!

Santorum Backer Promotes The "Gay Recruitment" Myth

How many times does this crap have to be cleared out?  The old myth that gays are "recruiting" kids is beyond silly it's a bald face lie intended to spread fear and loathing among conservatives.  Now one of Rick "Frothy Mix" Santorum backers is trotting this out yet again.  Bob Vander Plaats of the Iowa Family Leader is pushing for the governor of Iowa to pull his name from an upcoming conference on LGBTQ Youth and school bullying.

The reason?

Well Vander Plaatz says that the idea of "questioning" is just a recruitment tool for "the gays".  Oh puleeze!

Here this bigot is on a radio interview  joking about the subject with the host.

RIP - Whitney Houston

Her voice always sent chills through me, in later years her life did the same thing.  It will probably come as no surprise that Whitney Houston may have died from alcohol and prescription drugs. Still, it makes the sad truth that she will no longer be heard except in recordings and movies all the more upsetting.

Whitney struggled with addiction for much of her adult life and if toxicology reports confirm the fact, she might have died in that struggle.  I only hope her journey can serve as some kind of object lesson to burgeoning talent.  Great talent like hers and Amy Winehouse and so many others brought us all such joy, yet their lives were plagued with troubles.  If I sound like I am struggling with this I am. 

Suffice to say, Whitney will be missed by all who loved her music. May she find the peace now she never could in life.

Ann Coulter Endorsess Mitt Romney Because He is a Square

Everyone' favorite media whore, Ann(orexia) Coulter was true to her style at the CPAC convention.  The conservative fire brand made a case for Mitt Romney by comparing him to a Ken doll.    In talking about Romney she said, "Well, he's kind of a Ken doll, sort of stiff.  I think we have had enough of hip. Hip has nearly wrecked the country. Let's try square for a while."

She then followed this somewhat backhanded endorsement with a series of dirty jokes about Bill Clinton.

OK, what is it the right-wing sees in this woman?  (And sorry about the anorexia thing, but she looks positively unhealthy and twig-like. )

Nancy Pelosi says "STOP COLBERT!"

Though the whole thing is tongue in cheek, the message behind both Stephen Colbert's Super-Pac and Nancy Pelosi's alleged opposition to Colbert is this:

There is too much big money anonymously controlling politics.