Brand New Hotel to be Imploded in Las Vegas

MGM Resorts has requested permission to demolish the still unopened Harmon Tower in the City Center complex.  Construction defects found altered plans for the 49 story hotel and it was topped out at 27 floors.

The company is in litigation with the construction contractors Perini Building Company who says they can fix the structural problems.  Clarke County is considering the request.  

Of the many hotels that have been imploded in Las Vegas to make way for bigger and newer properties, I would guess this is the first one that was demolished before a paying guest even set foot on the property.  Know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em or in this case implode them!

S&P Downgrade Proves Boon for US Treasuries

As I suspected the S&P downgrade had little to do with real economics and more to do with politics and retaliation for being hauled before Congress.  Though the Ratings agency lowered US Treasury ratings to AA+ from AAA, the market for those bonds is stronger than ever. 

Motivation becomes the real question for their downgrade, and I am still banking on the whole revenge aspect.  What is even stranger is their upgrade of China.  Read more at Bloomberg.

10 Things You Need to Know About Rick Perry

The Twisted Logic of Rick Perry

In a desperate attempt to cover the fact that most of th4e jobs Perry claims to have created in Texas were at or below minimum wage, he made this amazing statement.

"How many times have you heard the story about a minimum-wage worker who made their way up to upper management? The mail room employee who eventually ended up running the company?"

He spouted this tripe at the National Conference of State Legislatures last week. 

By making a statement so grossly over general, he might as well have been saying, "how many times have you heard the story of a child born in the US who ended up running a company?"  He is just plain ridiculous.

The Insanity of Eugenics is Still With Us

As a fan of Star Trek I am familiar with the whole "Eugenics War" concept.  The idea was that mankind began trying to breed a superior race of humans by selective breeding. If the idea sounds familiar, it might be because the Nazis tried it with the whole "Master Race" thing, but what a lot of people don't realize is that Eugenics is not a foreign concept.

Back in 1898 there was a world's exposition held in Omaha, Nebraska of all places.  The Trans-Mississippi Exposition was a grand affair that featured exhibits from around the country and across the globe.  Much of the entertainment was provided by ethnic exhibits of strange peoples from far off lands, however one of the exhibits featured the idea of "better families" for a better future.  The exhibit showed how superior breeding could result in superior human beings.  The term Eugenics had yet to be coined.

Several scientists were working on the idea of selective breeding of human beings around the turn of the 19th century.  The idea caught on and states began enacting Eugenics Laws which prohibited anyone who was "epileptic, imbecile or feeble-minded" from marrying or in some cases undergo forced sterilization.

Sadly these grotesque laws stayed on the books well into the 20th century in some states.  Not surprisingly, much of their implementation was racially motivated.

Case in point, Elaine Riddick of North Carolina who had an unplanned pregnancy at 13 and after delivering the baby was forcibly sterilized on the ruling of the Eugenics Board of the State of North Carolina in 1968.  Today she is fighting for compensation for this inhuman act.  She was deemed "feeble minded" and given no choice in the operation. 

So the next time you hear the word "eugenics" or see some story about the inhumanity of the Nazis and their selective breeding, pause for a moment to remember that they were not acting alone, and that our country participated in that same kind of "human experimentation".  Seeking to create a master race, whether by decree of some megalomaniac dictator or by scientists is equally misguided.  Natural selection as far as human beings are concerned has worked very well for thousands of years, and tinkering with it has been shown to produce some pretty bad results.

Another Anti-Gay Republican Caught in Gay Sex For Money Scandal!

Is this even news? Yes, when it is a man who voted against LGBT rights issues and specifically voted for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. 

Meet Indiana state Representative Phillip Hinkle (R). He responded to a Craigslist ad and offered a young man $80 plus tip to spend "a couple of hours of your time" at the Marriott hotel.  His tip was to be $50-$60 for a "really good time".

Furthermore in an article in the Indy Star, the object of the Representatives affections was offered an iPad, BlackBerry cellphone and $100 cash to keep quiet.

Ah family values at work again.  Family Values = cheat on spouse, pay for gay sex, try to cover it up, deny it in the media.

Colbert Super PAC Strikes a First and Hilarious Blow!

Stephen Colbert is actually producing ads for the Iowa Straw Poll. His choice for GOP candidate...Rick Parry. (With an "A") Write in's that are misspelled are tossed out. Nice work Mr. Colbert! I salute you!

Banning Books Still Booming in US

OK, pardon the alliterative headline, sometimes I just get carried away.  The story is far from amusing, though.

The school district in Republic, Montana has declared that Kurt Vonnegut's novel "Slaughterhouse-Five" was unsuitable for high-school students because, and I quote, "they teach principles contrary to the Bible". 

Let that sink in a while. 

The last time I checked we still have a constitutionally mandated separation of Church and State, so just because a book runs "contrary to the Bible" should make no difference.  Yes, it is violent and brutal and thought provoking, and just the kind of story that will catch a teenagers interest and actually make him or her THINK!

Of course the good folks in Republic don't want their kids thinking, that might lead to actual intelligence and God forbid they develop that! 

It seems to me that God's gift of our wonderful brains should be used and developed, not wasted and allowed to rot.  I seem to remember something in the Bible itself about that.

S&P Downgrade - Retribution for Congressional Scrutiny?

Unless you live under a rock, you know about the credit downgrade by Standard and Poors of the US credit rating.  We dropped from AAA to AA+.  Not surprisingly they gave one reason which specifically blames the GOP.

Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the [debt ceiling] act.

Now if you watch Fox News you will never see this quote, and though I do believe it was brought on mainly because of the insane debates over raising the debt ceiling I also thing it is a little pay-back from S&P.  They were hauled in before a Senate subcommittee a week prior to the downgrade for testimony in the mortgage crises.  During that hearing they were criticized for giving good ratings to the bundled mortgage products that caused the burst of the housing bubble.  I suspect their timing is as much retaliation as anything.  Time will tell.

Fair Park Fountains -Cool Vision on a Hot Day

The new fountains on the esplanade at Fair Park are spectacular by any measure.  This footage was from 2009 and the water choreography is wonderful.  Enjoy and imagine sitting in the midst of the cool spray!

Water Flowing on Mars - Video from NASA

This is very exciting to see what is very likely flowing water evidence on Mars from the orbiting observatory.

Last Pink Triangle Passes Away - Rudolph Brazda RIP

Rudolph Brazda, the last known gay survivor of the Nazi concentration camps has died.  His story is important and luckily he was interviewed for a French documentary recently.  The following clip is a wonderful legacy from this survivor of the Nazi persecution of gays and lesbians during World War II.

American Family Association Tries Rewriting History Again - Hitler & Nazis & Homos Oh My!

In the magical land of Oz that Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association live in Hitler and the Nazis were all gay.  Never mind the facts that Hitler had gays purged from his ranks, or that he sent gays to concentration camps to be exterminated, the AFA wants you to believe that WWII was because of those nasty homosexuals.  No wonder this is considered a hate group.  Enjoy this 4 minutes of hate if you can keep from throwing up.  It's good to know our enemies.

Mayor of Vilnius Fights Illegally Parked Cars

Interesting way to make a point, don't park in the bike lane, no matter how much money you have!

Evolve Already - Video to President Obama

Hug The Gay Away? More Ex-Gay Tripe.

NPR has been doing a delightful expose of the whole bogus ex-gay therapy industry.  Much of the attention to this discredited "therapy" comes from the fact that Michele Bachmann's husband runs one such practice.  Now Salon.com has expanded the look into one of the fringe treatments offered by these hucksters, "cuddle therapy".

I have previously blogged about the bizarre practices of the group called JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality) and it's founder Allan Downing. He has been accused of having clients stand naked in front of him and masturbate.  This would somehow desensitize them or some such clap-trap.  What it most likely did was give Downing a nice thrill.

Meanwhile, the Journey into Manhood, a weekend retreat where men hug, wrestle and then beat pillows with baseball bats.  All part of some sort of connecting with their absent fathers crap.  For the record, my father and I were close, he hugged me and we spent lots of time together, and I am still gay.

It's a good thing that these bunco artists are being reexamined, because apparently exposing them in the news and on the Daily Show didn't take.  These therapists are most likely, in my opinion, troubled gay men who can't reconcile their attractions with their rigid fundamentalist beliefs, so they act out by trying to project their "cure" on other unhappy gay men.  The problem is not because they are gay, the problem is because they cannot accept their sexuality and that is a sad truth for a lot of people both straight and gay.

Electro-Pimping - New Trend, Sugar Daddy Sites

Imagine a site filled with beautiful young girls all seeking help paying off their college loans, student debt, etc. No need to imagine, a site called SeekingArrangement.com is just that.  A web site full of young women seeking sugar daddies to help them pay off their college loans.  In earlier times we would just call these people prostitutes and more recently the term I use would be sex worker.  It's an honest profession and I have no problem with it as long as those who engage are doing it of their own volition.

Truth be told I have friends who are sex workers and I love and respect them.  My problem with this new version of the oldest profession is it's wink-wink, nudge-nudge pretending that what is going on here is not just plain old sex work.  The bigger problem is many of these women are doing this because they can find no other way to pay off their gigantic student loans.  Seriously, I am not making this up!

The site operates in the grey area of the law since it doesn't explicitly detail sex for money services.  Perhaps this will be a growing trend, who knows.  It is a pity that the burden of student loans is so great that graduates feel forced into these kinds of arrangements.  Like I said, sex work is a valid career choice, but my problem is the coercive aspect of the transaction and the illusion that it is anything but what it is.

Oh well, you say "ba-nah-na," I say "ba-nan-uh." We live in interesting times.

Sean Hayes Returns to TV Sitcoms

One of my favorite actors, Sean Hayes will be returning to television in a new sitcom on NBC.  Details have not been announced, but I will be delighted to see him back.  His most memorable role was that of "Jack" on the ground-breaking sitcom, Will & Grace.

Can't wait!

Huffington Post/AOL Uses Photo from Folsom Street Fair to Illustrate Singapore Caning

OK, this is just bad journalism and a slap in the face to human rights advocates and the BDSM community. Huffington Post/AOL ran a story today about a tourist in Singapore who groped a woman in a nightclub and was sentences to a caning.  As anyone who understands the brutal system of justice in Singapore knows caning as practiced by the police there is not consensual and leaved permanent scars and often broken bones. 

To use a photo from a celebration of consensual BDSM/Leather as an illustration is either just ignorant or intentionally misleading. 

I would expect better from Huffington Post, but I guess truth is not an issue anymore since they sold to AOL.

News Corp Still Under Scrutiny - This Time FBI

Attorney General Eric Holder will meet with families of 9/11 victims to discuss the possible hacking of their deceased loved one's phones voice messages.  According to a story in the Guardian:

"The allegation that News of the World reporters attempted to gain unauthorized access to victims' voice mails was made in an article in the Mirror earlier this month. The paper said the journalists had approached a former New York police officer working as a private detective and asked him to do the hacking, which he declined to do....

Title 18 USC section 1030, barring unauthorized access to protected computers, could also be invoked in relation to the mainframe computers on which the phone companies store voice mails."

 Should any of these allegations hold true, the whole of News Corps business in the US may be affected.  Advertisers will be loathe to associate their products with Fox News or any other News Corp entity.