Pink Flight to Australia

Right now, the Pink Flight, the gayest flight ever, is winging its way to Sydney with Kathy Griffin and a gaggle of gays aboard. When they promised gay, they weren't kidding.

I really hope they removed that boa and those eyelashes off the plane before take-off — wouldn't be good news if those got sucked into an engine.

There's a brief news report from CBS 5 in San Francisco showing some of the pre-flight preparations that went on, including the arrival of the flight crew which, according to our sources, are named Buckwheat, Miss Ribena, Miss Tess Tickle, and Miss Venus Mantrapp.

Calif. Supreme Court Hears Gay Marriage Case Next Week

With one week to go until the California Supreme Court hears arguments for and against same-sex marriage gay and lesbian couples throughout the state are making plans to attend the landmark hearing.

The court has scheduled three hours for oral arguments on March 4. The justices then have 90 days to issue a ruling. If the case is successful it would make California the second state in the nation to allow same-sex couples to legally marry and likely lead to a rush for June weddings.

Larry Craig Seeks Summer Interns

After having his wrists literally slapped in that highly-publicized Minnesota airport bathroom coochie-coochie, toe-tapping incident last year and being severely admonished for his actions by the U.S. Senate only a little over a week ago, it’s business as usual for Senator Larry Craig of Idaho who is now seeking… wait for it… summer interns for his Washington, D.C. office!

A release posted on Senator Craig’s website yesterday announced that the scandal-plagued Idaho statesmen is accepting applications for 2008 summer internships from college juniors and seniors interested in working his Capitol Hill office.

“Interns have the chance to be an essential part of a working congressional office,” Craig says in the release. “They participate in the legislative process as well as ensure that constituent services run smoothly. For those interested in politics, it is an incredible opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at how our government functions while serving the people of Idaho.” “Interns are paired with staff members based on experience and interests, in order to best utilize their talents.”

One of the funniest things to imagine about this whole scenario is the look on the faces of parents whose college-aged kids might be among the few interested in submitting applications to the Senator’s offices.

Bush: what planet does this man live on?

“I'm confident we'll hold the White House in 2008.”

U.S. President GEORGE W. BUSH, predicting a Republican win in the November presidential election

President Bush predicted Monday that voters will replace him with a Republican president who will "keep up the fight" in Iraq. "I'm confident we'll hold the White House in 2008," Bush told donors at the Republican Governors Association annual dinner, which raised a record $10.6 million for GOP gubernatorial candidates.

"And I don't want the next Republican president to be lonely," Bush said. "And that is why we got to take the House, retake the Senate, and make sure our states are governed by Republican governors."

"When I say I'm confident, I am so because I understand the mentality of the American people," Bush said. "And I understand the mentality of our candidates. And there's no question in my mind, with your help, 2008 is going to be a great year."

Supreme Court Sidesteps Anti-Gay Church Motion

The US Supreme Court has decided not to get involved in an ongoing legal battle between followers of the Rev. Fred Phelps and the family of a Marine killed in Iraq.

Attorney's for the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church had asked the high court to intervene to block a multi-million dollar judgment handed down in Maryland. The church also has appealed to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Earlier this month U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett upheld a jury verdict that found Phelps and his two daughters, Shirley Phelps-Roper and Rebecca Phelps-Davis, had invaded privacy with intent to inflict emotional distress on the father of the Marine whose funeral Phelp's Westoboro Church had picketed.

But Bennett chopped the $10 million verdict award to Albert Snyder in half.

Throw Away Those Arrowhead Bottles Already

Los Angeles won the award for best-tasting municipal water at the 19th annual Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting held this weekend in Virginia, going up against waters from around the WORLD.

The title of best municipal water was shared by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which serves Los Angeles, and the town of Clearbrook, British Columbia.

Los Angeles won a gold medal in 1998 and has been in the top five in four other competitions since then, according to the competition organizers.

Fidel W. Castro

“Now that Cuban President Fidel Castro has resigned, he'll likely be succeeded by his brother Raul... or his idiot son Fidel W. Castro.”

DAVID LETTERMAN, during Tuesday night's monologue

[Okay, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to poke a little fun at Bush.]

George vs Fidel

“This should be a transition to free and fair elections. And I mean free and fair. Not these elections that the Castro brothers rig.”

U.S. President GEORGE W. BUSH, urging democratic reform in Cuba after Fidel Castro announced his resignation

[You mean like the two brothers working together to rig the election votes in Florida for the US Presidential elections? Yeah, don’t do that.]

Response to the Interim Pastoral Presence

San Joaquin: Response to the Interim Pastoral Presence
Date: February 20, 2008

The following are identical letters to Canon Cox and Canon Moore.

It is my understanding that you have been hired by the Presiding Bishop's Office to be a part of an interim pastoral presence with oversight in the Diocese of San Joaquin. This fact indicates one of the two things: 1) You do not believe that the Diocese was capable of removing itself from TEC in December 2007, and therefore you are intruding into the internal affairs of a recognized TEC diocese; or, 2) You do believe this diocese left TEC in 2007 and you are entering into the internal affairs of a diocese of another province.

In either case, at present, The Episcopal Church has begun attacking both me and this diocese. Your coming here is unconscionable in that you are meddling in the affairs of San Joaquin with neither the courtesy of requesting my permission as bishop nor even troubling to inform me of your plans. Such actions are hardly those of men with honorable intentions.

Even though you have already taken it upon yourself to be in contact with clergy and parishes, under no circumstances are you welcome to hold meetings in this diocese or to ask permission of clergy or other leaders to do so.

If indeed your proposal is to seek reconciliation with the goal to reduce the "threat of law suits" you are approaching the wrong persons. Why do you not come directly to me with your concerns and offers,for such lawsuits - presumably - would be lodged against me?

Should you choose to deal directly with me concerning the above mentioned proposals I would be willing to set aside time to meet with you in my office in Fresno. Apart from this, I ask you to desist from entering this diocese.

I remain, In earnest,

+John-David Schofield

Cc: The Most Reverend Katherine Jefferts-Schori

The Most Reverend Gregory Venables

[I swear, the man is on crack! Fact it, you are out! Gone. Done. It is not your diocese anymore. You can not torment the people in the diocese anymore.]

Britney's Law - Really?

Los Angeles county commissioner is attempting to pass new legislation - dubbed "Britney's law" - that aims to crack down on those paparazzi that are out of control.

LAPD chief William Bratton doesn’t agree.

"What we need is Britney Spears to stay home instead of traipsing all over town. That would solve the problem. We don't need additional laws…. I've got laws coming out my ears to deal with this issue. What you have is several young women in this town and several young men basically making fools of themselves and tying up not only my resources but the resources of the media that would do better covering legitimate stories instead of a bunch of airheads running around out there…. Quite clearly some of these characters so favored by the paparazzi are clearly in need of services. Not police services, but psychiatric services.”

[I agree with Bratton!]

Nothing Better To Do

“I bought it because it's the best number.”

SAEED KHOURI, member of a wealthy Abu Dhabi family, who spent $14 million on a vanity license plate with nothing but the number "1" at a charity auction in Abu Dhabi's Emirates Palace hotel

[We give them sooooo much money, they can do stupid things like this!]

GOP sails to rescue of yachts

Assembly Republicans torpedo a bid to close a tax loophole that benefits owners of luxury boats.

Yacht buyers will continue to benefit from a loophole that allows them to avoid sales tax on their boats, after Republicans in the Assembly blocked an effort to close it Tuesday.

The vote came hours after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked state agencies to consider freezing hiring for nonessential workers and to make reductions in their travel and public outreach budgets to save $100 million.

Closing the tax loophole -- "sloophole," as it has come to be known by Democrats -- takes a two-thirds majority vote in each house of the Legislature, which requires some Republicans to get on board.Not enough of them did Tuesday, so on a 47-18 vote by the 80-member Assembly, the move to scuttle the tax benefit failed.

Last week, lawmakers voted to cut schools, healthcare and welfare programs by $2 billion. "It is unconscionable to cut education and welfare while not closing this loophole," said Assembly Budget Committee Chairman John Laird (D-Santa Cruz). "Everyone needs to be part of a budget solution, including yacht owners."

Republicans, who say forcing yacht buyers to pay the tax would drive jobs out of California, called the proposal "political gamesmanship" that would do little to close the state's multibillion-dollar deficit.

In a news conference earlier in the day, Schwarzenegger called on lawmakers to end the tax break, which applies to buyers of yachts, airplanes and luxury RVs if they keep their newly purchased vessels out of state for 90 days.

[If you can afford a yacht, you can afford to pay the damn taxes!]

New discovery in battle against AIDS

Virus quickly moves to gut tissue after infecting someone, researchers say

Researchers have found another handle that the AIDS virus uses to attack cells, and said this one may explain how it gets into the gut, where it hides out and multiplies for a full assault on the body.

The handle is a cell receptor, and its discovery could open new ways to fight the fatal and so far incurable virus, the team at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases reported on Sunday.

The human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, attacks immune system cells, or lymphocytes, known as CD4 T-cells. It was known to use three main receptors, or molecular doorways, to infect cells: CD4, CCR5 and CXCR4.

Writing in the journal Nature Immunology, the NIAID scientists said they found a similar receptor, more a handle than a doorway, called integrin alpha 4 beta 7. "It is a homing receptor for lymphocytes to get to the gut. It is the very molecule that steers lymphocytes to the gut and keeps them there," NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci said in a telephone interview. "It is not only important in that it is a homing receptor to the gut. But it also can play a role in enhancing the ability of HIV to spread in the body."

Much of the body's immune response takes place in the gut, in gut-associated lymphoid tissue, or GALT.

Soon after HIV has infected someone it quickly moves to the gut tissue and starts replicating. This kills off the CD4 T-cells, leaving patients with a poorly functioning immune system and vulnerable to the infections that mark AIDS. "The gut is where the virus really takes hold," Elena Martinelli, who worked on the study, said in a statement. "We found that integrin alpha 4 beta 7, whose natural function is to direct T cells to the GALT, is also a receptor for HIV. It is very unlikely that this is a coincidence."

This could help explain why drug cocktails called highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, cocktails often fail to completely suppress the virus. They can keep patients healthy for years, but never eradicate the virus.

"It has been suggested that the massive depletion of memory CD4 T-cells from the gut, soon after transmission, is central to HIV disease," the researchers wrote. They said an important next step will be developing drugs that stop HIV from attaching to this receptor.

More than 33 million people are infected with HIV globally and 25 million have died of AIDS. There is no vaccine.

Report Finds Problems With N.J. Gay Unions

A commission established to study same-sex civil unions in New Jersey has found in its first report that civil unions create a ''second-class status'' for gay couples, rather than giving them equality.

The report stops short of recommending that the state allow same-sex marriage. But it does find that gay couples in Massachusetts, the only state that now allows same-sex marriage, do not experience some of the legal complications that those in New Jersey do.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the initial report, which was scheduled to be made public Tuesday, the first anniversary of the state's first civil unions.

State lawmakers made New Jersey the third state to offer civil unions with a law adopted in 2006 in reaction to a state supreme court ruling that year that found gay couples were entitled to the same legal protections as married couples.

The civil union law sought to give gay couples those benefits, but not the title of marriage. As a part of the same law, the review commission was created to look into whether it was working.

Gay rights advocates say the civil unions do not deliver and have pledged to push lawmakers to vote to allow marriage. Gov. Jon S. Corzine has said he would be willing to sign such a bill into law but doesn't want the issue to be taken up before the presidential election in November.

The activists say civil unions, in practice, do not offer the legal protections that marriage does. The commission largely agreed with them.

The commission held three public hearings last year at which the majority of the testimony came from people who were in civil unions and said they were still not being treated the way married couples are by government agencies, employers, and others. The commission also finds that many people in the state do not understand civil unions, which create a ''second-class status.''

Some social conservatives have said the commission is slanted in favor of allowing gay marriage, and opponents of gay marriage have been pushing back in New Jersey.

Roman Catholic churches around the state have been planning special prayers on marriage for Sunday. A major aim is to promote marriage as being between only a man and a woman.

A conservative Princeton group, the National Organization for Marriage, has aired radio commercials that say allowing gay marriage would undermine some religious teachings that homosexuality is wrong.

A Week in the Anglican World

Anglican Leader Warns Conservatives Who Split With Church

The head of the Anglican Church of Canada has warned members who split with the church over its decision to bless same-sex unions that they will lose their church buildings and funds.
''In our Anglican tradition, individuals who choose to leave the Church over contentious issues cannot take property and other assets with them,'' Archbishop Fred Hiltz said in a letter released Friday.

The letter comes two days after St. John's Shaughnessy, a large parish church in Vancouver, voted to leave the Anglican Church of Canada and affiliate itself with a South American Anglican church, which has a more conservative stance on homosexuality.

St. John's is one of the first Canadian Anglican churches to vote to split since South America's Province of the Southern Cone said in November it would accept Canadian churches who are at odds with their more liberal bishops or national church.

The issues of gay clergy and the blessing of same-sex marriages has divided members of the 700-year-old Anglican Church around the world.

In June over 700 Anglican bishops from around the world voted 9–1 against the blessing of same-sex unions at the decennial Lambeth Conference, held in Winnipeg, Canada.

In the United States, clergy and lay members of the diocese of San Joaquin in California became the first full diocese to break from the U.S. wing of the 77 million-member worldwide Anglican family when they voted to secede December 6.

Uganda Anglicans Threaten To Secede From Global Church

Uganda's Anglican church is threatening to secede from the 77-million member Anglican Communion unless U.S. clergy condemn homosexuality.

The announcement was the latest salvo in a fierce dispute about homosexuality that has overtaken the global fellowship of Anglican churches since its U.S. wing — the U.S. Episcopal Church — consecrated its first openly gay bishop in 2003.

"Anglicanism is just an identity and if they abuse it, we shall secede. We shall remain Christians, but not in the same Anglican Communion," Church of Uganda spokesman Aron Mwesigye said. There are about 9.8 million Anglicans in Uganda, according to the country's last census in 2002.

Last week, Uganda's Anglican bishops said they would boycott a once-a-decade gathering of worldwide church leaders this summer in England because of the Episcopal Church's stance on homosexuality.

Mwesigye said the Ugandan church is now considering a complete severing of ties "because we have complained against homosexuality several times but no action is taken." "If they don't change, and continue to support homosexual practices and same-sex marriages, our relationship with them will be completely broken," Mwesigye added.

Jim Rosenthal Rosenthal, spokesman for the Anglican Communion in London, made no comment on the the idea of secession by the Ugandan church, but said the Ugandan church's spokesman seemed to be speaking about last week's news.

Mwesigye said that if the Uganda church does break off, it will enlist other African churches to form a separate fellowship that does not condone homosexuality.

Kenya's bishops join boycott of Anglican meeting

Kenya's Anglican bishops will join the boycott of a major church gathering this year because of a rift over gay clergy and same-sex unions, Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi said on Friday.

The announcement is another setback for the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, who is struggling to heal divisions between liberals and traditionalists.

"We are not attending the forthcoming Lambeth (Conference)," Nzimbi told local broadcaster NTV. "We are not pulling out of the Anglican communion."

Bishops in neighboring Uganda said on Thursday that they would not be attending the meeting, being held in July in Canterbury, southern England.

The consecration of openly gay U.S. Bishop Gene Robinson in 2003 has split the 400-year-old church and set a liberal minority against a conservative majority, mostly from Africa, Asia and Latin America.

One of Australia's most powerful Anglican leaders has said bishops from Sydney will also miss the Lambeth Conference, a meeting of senior figures which is held every 10 years to discuss church governance and policy.

The Anglican archbishop trying to mediate between conservative and liberal clergy said earlier this month that he believed a schism could be avoided but added that he did not expect 100 percent attendance at the Lambeth Conference.

Some conservative Anglicans have announced plans to hold an alternative summit in Jerusalem in June.

ImprovEverywhere: Frozen Grand Central Station

Student Bested Rove In Debate

Former Bush adviser Karl Rove spent part of his day yesterday addressing the student body of Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut.

Apparently, all sorts of serious matters were discussed, like the war in Iraq, Darfur, Katrina, and Valerie Plame. But what was captured by the paper in the most sincere capacity they could offer, was Rove's legend. The paper deftly captured this instance of Rove's Copperfieldian brilliance with no end of fawning:
When a freshman asked Rove about his role in the lead-up to the war in Iraq, adding that he believed Rove had deceived the nation, Rove responded by reading statements, by the president and his closest advisers, Rove said, detailing Iraq's weapons programs and the threat Saddam Hussein would pose if not stopped.

Do you think those were meant to mislead? Rove asked the student, who tried to reply but was somewhat flummoxed. Then Rove made the big reveal: Those statements had been made by Bill and Hillary Clinton.

"Ooooooh," the audience called out, applauding.

Well, as it turns out, the meeting wasn't all a deadly serious encounter with the master statesman.

"There were lighter moments, too." Well, there was Choate student Marla Spivak, who engaged Rove in a lengthy debate over gay marriage, specifically asking for an explanation as to "how giving gay people the right to marry would endanger other people."

Rove responded that gay couples could "gain the legal rights of married couples through legislation without actually getting married."

Well, Spivak wasn't having it, and she proceeded to more or less mop the floor with Bush's Brain: But wouldn't creating a separate body of legislation for gay people be creating a separate but equal system, a step back?, Spivak asked.

Rove replied with an answer about Mormons changing their views on marriage to conform with the nation's laws.

Spivak kept pressing. "You never actually answered, how does it threaten anyone?" she asked.
Rove asked, what's the compelling reason to throw out 5,000 years of understanding the institution of marriage as between a man and a woman?

What, Spivak countered, was the compelling reason for society to allow interracial relationships when they had once been outlawed.

Then Rove invoked the Declaration of Independence before Spivak interjected that its reference to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" seemed to support her claims.

Their verbal pingpong match tapered off after Rove brought up polygamy and Spivak acknowledged that she did not know enough about polygamy to answer. Rove later asked when she planned to run for political office.

So basically, a Choate student treated Rove to a straight-up OWNING, deftly piercing the man's vaunted mystique, but to the Courant, a debate over whether a large group of Americans are entitled to their Constitutional rights between a committed citizen and an important political figure is "a lighter moment."

Uganda boycotts Anglican conference

The schism in the Anglican Communion over the issue of homosexuality widened further with the Church of Uganda announcing a boycott of the Lambeth Conference. The meeting of the world's Anglican bishops takes place every 10 years at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. It is supposed to be the one occasion when all bishops can meet for worship, study and conversation.

But the Anglican Church in Uganda has long threatened to boycott the conference because it is unhappy the "crisis" surrounding the Communion's stance on homosexuality has not been resolved.
The row over homosexuality flared up following the consecration of an openly gay man, Gene Robinson, as Bishop of New Hampshire in the US in 2003.

The Church of Uganda, and other traditionalist churches in the developing world, criticised Anglican leaders for failing to address how one province in the Communion could make such a move without wider consultation.

The Church of Uganda will now attend a more traditional meeting, the Global Anglican Future Conference, to be held in Jerusalem in June.

Alison Barfoot, assistant to the Archbishop of Uganda for international relations, said: "It's true that the House of Bishops of the Church of Uganda is not going to the Lambeth Conference this summer.

"Our bishops in the church of Uganda had advised the Archbishop of Canterbury that the crisis in the Communion needed to be resolved before he convened bishops for the Lambeth Conference, but that didn't happen. They made the decision a long time ago that if the crisis had not been resolved they would not attend."

She said the executive committee that governs the Church of Uganda endorsed the decision of the House of Bishops this week, and it was supported by the whole church.
A Lambeth Conference spokesman said he was as yet unaware of the boycott and could therefore not comment.

Anglican church split over gays widens in Canada

An Anglican Church of Canada official expressed dismay on Thursday after a major congregation voted to split from the national church over the issue of homosexuality.

St John's Shaughnessy, a Vancouver parish, said it would leave the Canadian church and follow the leadership of conservative Anglican churches in South America that oppose any blessing of same-sex marriages.

The rift over same-sex unions and gay clergy has threatened to split the 400-year-old Anglican church internationally, pitting a liberal minority, including some church leaders in Canada and the United States, against a conservative majority, mostly from Africa, Asia and Latin America.
"We regret the decision of any person to leave our church," Dean Elliot, commissary of the Diocese of New Westminster, British Columbia, said in a statement that warned Wednesday's vote also could result in a court fight over church property.

The vote came less than a month after Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, told the Canadian church there was little he could do to stop cross-border ecclesiastical moves even if he is opposed to them.

Same-sex marriage is legal in Canada, but religious organizations are not required to perform the ceremonies.

The diocese of New Westminster - which includes Vancouver on Canada's Pacific Coast - has allowed the blessing of homosexual marriages and three other diocese have advocated gay marriage ceremonies.

Pittsburgh Episcopals Favor Break Over Gays

Nearly 100 lay leaders in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh signed an open letter supporting their bishop's plan to split the diocese from the national church.

The letter was in response to another letter written last month to Bishop Robert Duncan by 12 clergy outlining their opposition to the diocese's plan to break away from the national Episcopal Church, the Anglican body in the U.S. But lay leaders said in their letter that the diocese "can no longer travel with a national Episcopal body that is departing from its foundations."

In 2003, Episcopalians caused an uproar in the 77 million-member Anglican Communion by consecrating the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The communion, a worldwide fellowship of churches that trace their roots to the Church of England, is now on the verge of schism. The Pittsburgh diocese in November took the first of two steps toward breaking off and aligning directly with a like-minded Anglican province overseas.

Last month, the national church leader, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, told Duncan that she had sought permission from an Episcopal committee to inhibit him, which would bar him from performing religious duties.

The committee blocked the penalty, but the Episcopal House of Bishops is expected to consider imposing the punishment later this year.

COLORADO SCHOOL ACCOMMODATES 8-YEAR-OLD TRANSGENDER STUDENT

CNN interviews Kim Pearson of Trans Youth Family Advocates about an eight-year-old transgender-identified child who is returning to a school in Douglas County, Colorado that has adjusted its facilities and teaching environment to accommodate her.

According to CNN, two unisex bathrooms have been provided for the student, teachers will call the student by her name, parents and teachers will get info on transgender people, and officials will be made available for questions.

The school released this statement: "We continue to be focused on providing a positive learning environment for this student and all students in the class and school that is free from harassment. As with many other students, this particular student brings a diverse set of circumstances to the school setting."

Gay Teen Shot By Classmate In School Declared Brain Dead

An Oxnard junior high student who was shot in the head by a classmate earlier this week was declared brain dead Wednesday, and the 14-year-old male suspect now faces a first-degree murder charge, authorities said.

Lawrence King, 15, was declared brain dead by two neurosurgeons about 2 p.m. at St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, said Craig Stevens, senior deputy Ventura County medical examiner. King's body remains on a ventilator for possible organ donation, he said. He was shot early Tuesday in a classroom at E.O. Green Junior High School.

Several students at the south Oxnard campus said King and his alleged assailant had a falling out stemming from King's sexual orientation. The teenager sometimes wore feminine clothing and makeup, and proclaimed he was gay, students said.

Happy Valentine's Day

“MILLION FAG MARCH” PLANS TO PROTEST FRED PHELPS

Group Hopes For Large Numbers Outside Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, KS.

March 30th is the date one small group is hoping one large group will take a stand against Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. Beginning at 11:00AM on that Sunday, a planned protest will take place outside of the church in Topeka, KS.

“A million people may be aiming a little high, but we’re hoping for a large turnout,” said Chris Love, one of the March’s organizers. “This isn’t a ‘gay-only’ event. Anyone who would like to express their displeasure with the Phelps family and their continuing message of intolerance and hate is welcome.”

The virulently homophobic Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), based in Topeka, Kansas, has gained notoriety by picketing the funerals of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan to protest what the group sees as America’s acceptance of homosexuality.

The group has used this and similar tactics at a variety of events nationwide.

Some wonder if the march will only draw more attention to the Phelps' message. Love noted, “Up until now, the only media-mentioned protests against the WBC were footnotes to stories about the Phelps’ publicity stunts. We don’t think we’re going to change the Phelps’ minds, but we hope they realize that there is an opposing voice that is equally as powerful as their own. Or at least, as powerful as they perceive it to be.”

And if that doesn’t work? “Well, for one day we’ll bring homosexual and heterosexual people together for a united cause. In Kansas, no less.”

To find out more about the MFM, visit http://www.millionfagmarch.com.

Arizona Mulls Gay Marriage Ban - Again

Republican lawmakers on Monday proposed asking voters in November to amend the Arizona Constitution to ban same-sex marriage in the state, which was the first to turn down such a measure.

The proposal was backed by 16 of 30 state senators, and an identical proposal was introduced in the House. Both chambers would have to approve the measure in a vote for it to be included on the ballot.

Under the amendment, "only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state." The proposal comes after Arizona voters narrowly rejected a similar measure in November 2006.

The previous measure included the same definition but also contained wording that was interpreted as prohibiting government recognition of civil unions or domestic partnerships. Seven other states approved amendments that day.State Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, a Phoenix Democrat who led the opposition campaign to the 2006 measure, said she opposes the new proposal."

I don't think it's needed. I don't think it's necessary," she said. "We've already had this fight a couple of times."

The ballot measure proposal comes as a state commission prepares to review rule changes proposed by the administration of Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano that would provide health care and other employee benefits to the domestic partners of state government employees and retirees, no matter their gender.

Study says genetic trick slows AIDS virus growth

A Penn-linked test therapy is seen as holding great promise.

For the first time, researchers have slowed and possibly stopped the AIDS virus from reproducing in patients by using a gene therapy that tricks it into self-destructing.

The results are heartening not just for people infected with HIV but also for the field of gene therapy, which remains highly experimental more than 20 years after scientists figured out how to use viruses to insert therapeutic genes into a cell's genome. Mostly, the results are a big step forward for the biotech start-up that is developing the novel therapy and for its collaborators at the University of Pennsylvania.

"The buzzword in the field is viral 'fitness,' meaning how well the virus can replicate," said Gary McGarrity, executive vice president for scientific affairs at Virxsys Corp., in Gaithersburg, Md. "In eight of the nine patient samples we studied, we see diminished HIV fitness up to two years after treatment." That raises the hope that even if medical science cannot come up with the Holy Grail of AIDS research - a vaccine to prevent HIV infection - patients may be able to keep HIV under control, perhaps without relying on the toxic drug cocktails that commuted what once was a death sentence.

The latest gene therapy, called VRX496, is still in early human testing intended to demonstrate safety and determine the best dosages. Of the 54 patients who have been treated so far in the ongoing clinical trial, none have experienced serious side effects and many have seen clinical signs of effectiveness - their HIV viral loads have fallen and their supply of infection-fighting T cells has grown. A Penn patient, one of the first and sickest to be treated, remains well more than four years later - even though conventional cocktails of anti-retroviral drugs had stopped working for him. Yesterday's report, presented by Virxsys at a conference in Boston, looked deep into the molecular level of blood samples from nine randomly chosen patients to see whether the therapy was actually hitting its target.

VRX496 capitalizes on the fact that viruses are impotent on their own but powerful inside a cell. That is the only place they can replicate, by hijacking the host's molecular machinery. HIV seizes control by splicing its own genes into the DNA of infection-fighting T cells, the backbone of the immune system.

The genetic wizardry involved in outwitting HIV is complex. First, the researchers remove T cells from an HIV patient and insert into those cells a gene that stops the AIDS virus from reproducing. Then, using Penn's patented technology, the T cells are multiplied a hundredfold and put back into the patient. The vehicle, or "vector," that is used to insert this protective gene into the T cells is novel in itself: a disarmed version of HIV. The gene carries instructions that eliminate the AIDS virus' ability to wrap its DNA in an armored shell. So when HIV invades the T cell, it steals this new armor-making gene, escapes from the cell - and then finds itself unable to make the shield it needs to break into more cells.

The latest study also found that the inserted gene is a double-whammy for HIV. The virus tries to simply delete the gene - its favorite mutating tactic for becoming resistant to current drugs - but that, too, reduces its reproductive "fitness." (It gets "wimpy," to use June's word.) The researchers found that blood samples from the nine cases presented yesterday were in fact loaded with the virus, most of it having mutated into harmless forms.

"For HIV to mutate around our treatment, it has to commit suicide," said McGarrity, the Virxsys executive.

If this gene therapy becomes an approved treatment, still years away, the estimated cost for the one-time series of infusions would be $130,000, said Riku Rautsola, Virxsys' chief executive officer. While that's a hefty sum, the lifetime cost for conventional HIV-fighting drugs is about $700,000.

"We hope [VRX496] will become a frontline therapy once we have proven the impact is durable," Rautsola said. "This would clearly be better in terms of quality of life for the patients."

ONE DAY=$720 MILLION

California To Require Net Zero Energy Buildings

Ed Mazria challenged the architecture and building community to go fossil-fuel free by 2030; the community yawned, knowing that until the clients paid for it and the building codes required it, not much was going to happen too quickly. Now the State of California is doing just that. The California Energy Commission has recommended that all residential buildings be "net zero energy" by 2020 and commercial buildings by 2030.

While inspired by the 2030 Challenge, the California rules go for net zero energy rather than no fossil fuel, so a building might use fossil fuels but would have to offset it with renewables.

Allyson Wendt at Building Green writes: CEC based its definition of net-zero-energy performance, and many of its recommendations, on a report by the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC), which states that a goal of “no net purchases from the electricity or gas grid” may be met with energy-efficient design and “onsite clean distributed generation.”

As usual, California leads the way with the most progressive and forward-looking regulations; this should be the law everywhere.

Los Angeles Wind Farm One Step Closer to Reality

The city of Los Angeles, the second largest in the U.S., has pledged to get one fifth of its energy from renewable sources by 2010. A step towards in that direction is the construction of a wind farm in the Tehachapi Mountains about 100 miles north of the city.

The $425 million, 120 megawatt facility will have 80 turbines and a new high-voltage transmission line, and will help double the portion of electricity from wind that the city gets. It was supposed to come online in 2004, but various delays and problems kept it from being built until now. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa also announced plans for another wind farm on an adjacent site. Together, the projects would generate enough electricity for nearly 130,000 homes.

Emergency Economic Plan

“We have to remember that every dollar being spent on the stimulus package is being borrowed from our children. And our children's children.”

Sen. JUDD GREGG (R-N.H.) who voted against an emergency economic plan that would send taxpayers rebates and add billions to the deficit

At Disneyland

Sean and I went to Disneyland. And we had to ride the Tea Cups...



I don't know why I look like I am surprised the lady is taking the picture... whatever. It was a fun day - a little cold and it rained while we were riding the Indiana Jones ride. But a fun day.

California Supreme Court To Hear Gay Marriage Case Next Month

The California Supreme Court announced Wednesday that it will hear arguments next month challenging the state's ban on same-sex marriage. The court said that it has scheduled three hours for oral arguments on March 4. The high court then has 90 days to issue a ruling.

The case dates back to 2004 when San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Some 8,000 couples exchanged vows before the state Supreme Court ruled Newsom had acted illegally. The court nullified the marriages but said its ruling dealt only with Newsom's actions. The justices said at the time the question of whether barring same-sex couples from marrying violated the state's equal protection clause of its constitution was a separate matter.

Legal challenges on the constitutional question were begun almost immediately. Three separate suits ultimately were wrapped together into a single case.

In March 2005 a Superior Court judge in San Francisco ruled that the law denying same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. "It appears that no rational purpose exists for limiting marriage in this state to opposite-sex partners," County Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer said in a written ruling.

In striking down the state ban on same-sex marriage Kramer wrote that the state's historical definition of marriage, by itself, cannot justify the denial of equal protection for gays and lesbians. Kramer stayed his ruling while the state appealed.

In October, 2006, the California Court of Appeal in a split decision overturned Kramer's ruling. "The time may come when California chooses to expand the definition of marriage to encompass same-sex unions. That change must come from democratic processes, however, not by judicial fiat," the Appeals Court ruling said. In a dissent, Justice Anthony Kline wrote, "[T]he inescapable effect of the analysis the majority adopts is to diminish the humanity of the lesbian and gay men whose rights are defeated. The right to marry is of fundamental important for all individuals."

The California legislature twice passed legislation that would same-sex couples to marry but both times Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the bills.

UK CHRISTIAN GROUP AD CLAIMS GAYS AIM TO ABOLISH THE FAMILY

An advertisement from the Christian Congress for Traditional Values (CCTV) claiming that the main goal of gay people is to "Abolish the Family" has been criticized by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority, which told the group to "ensure future campaigns were not presented in a way that could cause serious offence or which might lead to antisocial behaviour."

"The ASA upheld complaints against the ad, ruling that it could be inflammatory. The poster broke advertising rules on social responsibility, decency, matters of opinion and truthfulness, the ASA said. A complainant had said the advert did not accurately represent gay people's views and was offensive. The watchdog said that a modern family was increasingly less likely to include a married man, woman and their children. 'We considered the statement and the way it appeared was likely to cause offence both to the mainstream gay community and supporters of equality,' said an ASA spokesman."

Ted Haggard Quits New Life 'Restoration Team'

The latest twist in the Haggard drama comes via a vaguely-worded letter send Tuesday to friends of New Life Church by its new pastor, Brady Boyd. In the letter, Boyd indicates that Haggard - the charismatic evangelical leader who was fired by his church in early November, 2006 in a shocking gay sex and meth scandal involving male escort Mike Jones - is moving on.

"New Life Church recognizes the process of restoring Ted Haggard is incomplete and maintains its original stance that he should not return to vocational ministry," according to a statement. "However, we wish him and his family only success in the future."

After he was fired, Haggard and his family, including his wife and three boys, moved to Phoenix. Haggard agreed at the time to undergo "spiritual restoration" under the auspices of New Life Church. At the time, the church’s claim of Haggard's so-termed "restored" sexual orientation status was met with disbelief from many quarters.

Here is Boyd's Tuesday letter and release:

Dear New Life Church family and friends,

Today, our church's
board of trustees will release a statement regarding the end of the restoration process for Ted Haggard. This process may receive some media attention, and I
want you to hear of it from us before you read about it in the newspaper or hear
it on the evening news.

Let's continue to pray for Ted, Gayle, and their family.

God bless you,
Brady Boyd Senior Pastor New Life
Church Colorado Springs, CO

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ted Haggard's leadership of New Life Church for many years was extraordinary and the depth of spiritual maturity that is found today in the church is in large part attributed to his leadership as the founding senior pastor.

In January 2007, Ted Haggard voluntarily agreed to enter a process of spiritual restoration. He has selected Phoenix First Assembly and Pastor Tommy Barnett as his local church fellowship and is maintaining an accountability relationship there. He has recently requested to end his official relationship with the New Life Church Restoration Team and this has been accepted by them.

New Life Church recognizes the process of restoring Ted Haggard is incomplete and maintains its original stance that he should not return to vocational ministry. However, we wish him and his family only success in the future.

Because spiritual restoration is a necessarily confidential process, the church does not anticipate that it, or its Overseers or Restorers will make further comment about it.

Grandpa and Adrian

My brother sent me some pictures of his recent visit with my grandfather in North Carolina.

From my brother: Here are some pics from our visit with Grandpa. We headed up there to see him after attending John Ray's daughter's (Emma) baptism in Atlanta. We had only planned on staying one night but we stayed an extra to spend some more time with Grandpa. He really loved meeting Adrian and watching him run around. Adrian really liked helping him push his walker.

As you can imagine Adrian was a big hit with all the people at the nursing home. I know it meant a lot to Grandpa that he was finally able to meet Adrian but I know that it meant more to us. It was wonderful to see him and watch him enjoy Adrian. We hope to see him again real soon.

We printed out this picture of all of the men and gave it to Grandpa in a "Four Generations" picture frame. [Adrian, my brother, my father, and my grandfather]

Anglican Anti-Gay Showdown Turns Violent In Zimbabwe

Two churchgoers were assaulted when thugs aligned to a dissident bishop attempted to prevent his successor from being installed in Zimbabwe's Anglican cathedral.

Bishop Nolbert Kunonga (pictured) was dethroned when he split from Anglicanism over the row involving gay clergy and set up his own dissident church seizing the Cathedral of St Mary and All Saints and its contents. Last week Zimbabwe's highest court ruled that the church synod was within its rights to remove Kunonga and that the property belonged to the Anglican Church not the former bishop and his followers.

The court said that Kunonga could not block the installation of the new bishop. Sebastian Bakare.
But Kunonga and his followers barricaded themselves in the cathedral. When two representatives of Bakare went to the building and tried to gain access they were badly beaten.

Kunonga is a staunch supporter of Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe, widely considered the world's most homophobic leader. Last December Kunonga announced from the pulpit he splitting from the Anglican synod, claiming that senior bishops supported homosexuality. In his announcement he echoed longstanding Mugabe quotes that gays are "worse than dogs and pigs."

After the synod removed Kunonga as bishop and elected Bakare Kunonga burst into a service led by the bishop-designate and jumped on the alter denouncing Bakare and ripped a Bible from his hand.

$3.1 Trillion Budget from Bush

“Today's budget bears all the hallmarks of the Bush legacy — it leads to more deficits, more debt, more tax cuts, more cutbacks in critical services.”

Rep. JOHN SPRATT, D-S.C., the House Budget Committee chairman, after President Bush introduced a $3.1 trillion budget that supports sizable increases in military spending and protects his signature tax cuts

Vote

DECLINE TO STATE

California Could Be First State With Gay Holiday

California could be the first state in the nation to have a holiday commemorating an openly gay person. Assemblymember Mark Leno has announced he will introduce a bill that would formally recognize the efforts of civil rights pioneer, Harvey Milk.

The legislation, if passed, would establish a non-fiscal state holiday in his name on the anniversary of Milk's birth, May 22. In 1977, when he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Milk became the first openly gay elected official of any large city in the United States, and only the third openly gay elected official in the nation.

Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated in San Francisco on November 27, 1978.

"He gave hope to a generation of gay and lesbian individuals whose basic humanity and freedom had been denied and dishonored. His history is our history, and a day in his honor will preserve his legacy for generations to come."

State Court Recognizes Gay Marriages From Elsewhere

A New York appellate court ruled Friday that valid out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples must be legally recognized in New York, just as the law recognizes those of heterosexual couples solemnized elsewhere. Lawyers for both sides said the ruling applied to all public and private employers in the state.

Even though gay couples may not legally marry in New York, the appellate court in Rochester held that a gay couple’s 2004 marriage in Canada must be respected under the state’s longstanding “marriage recognition rule,” and that an employer’s denial of health benefits had discriminated against the couple on the basis of their sexual orientation.

“The Legislature may decide to prohibit the recognition of same-sex marriages solemnized abroad,” a five-judge panel of the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court ruled unanimously in rejecting a 2006 lower court decision. “Until it does so, however, such marriages are entitled to recognition in New York.”

For more than a century, the court noted, New York State has recognized valid out-of-state marriages. Moreover, it said that the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest judicial body, has said the Legislature may enact laws recognizing same-sex marriages. “In our view, the Court of Appeals thereby indicated that the recognition of plaintiff’s marriage is not against the public policy of New York,” the court held.

Exxon Mobil posts $40.6 billion annual profit

Oil giant breaks record for largest annual profit by a U.S. company

Exxon Mobil Corp. on Friday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company — $40.6 billion — as the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company benefited from historic crude prices at year’s end.

Exxon also set a U.S. record for the biggest quarterly profit, posting net income of $11.7 billion for the final three months of 2007, beating its own mark of $10.71 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005.

The previous record for annual profit was $39.5 billion, which Exxon Mobil made in 2006.

Also extraordinary was Exxon Mobil’s revenue, which rose 30 percent in the fourth quarter to $116.6 billion from $90 billion a year ago.

For the year, sales rose to $404.5 billion — the most ever for the Irving, Texas-based company — from the $377.64 billion it posted in 2006.

In a statement, Exxon Mobil Chairman Rex Tillerson said the company continued to meet the world’s energy needs through its “globally diverse resource base.” “Our long-term investment program, in projects often far from major consuming nations, continued to provide resources essential to the increasingly interdependent global energy supply network,” Tillerson said.

Exxon Mobil produces about 3 percent of the world’s oil.

[and Bush gives the oil companies huge tax relief... at our expense]

Shell's 'obscene' £13.9billion profit is biggest ever by British company

Shell smashed all-time British company profit records today, posting 2007 earnings of $27.5billion, and immediately ran into a storm with union leaders, who are demanding the Government hits the oil giant with a windfall tax.

Shell's profit surge - it is now making a staggering $75million (£38million) a day - on the back of a booming oil price that touched $100 a barrel this winter, was labeled as "obscene" by Tony Woodley of Unite, the UK's largest trade union, as Britons struggle with soaring energy costs.

"Shell shareholders are doing very nicely while the rest of us are paying the price and struggling," said Woodley.

Catholic Church tries to influence Spanish elections

Socialist politicians in Spain have expressed anger at a statement from the country's Roman Catholic bishops that tells the faithful not to vote for parties that support gay marriage.

The Spanish Bishop's Conference issued a statement earlier this week: "Catholics may support and join different parties it is also true that not all (electoral) programmes are equally compatible with the faith and Christian demands in life."

Socialist spokesman Jose Blanco said that many Catholics would feel ashamed at attempts by religious leaders to influence March's general election. "

The bishops have decided to enter the election campaign. They have decided to call for votes for the Popular Party," Mr Blanco told Cadena SER radio.

The Zapatero government introduced full gay marriage in Spain in 2005 and the main opposition party, Partido Popular, has said it does not intend to overturn it. The Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, also spoke out following comments made in Madrid at a Catholic Church rally led by Cardinals and Bishops. Clearly angry, Mr Zapatero defended his government's policies, saying they were supported by the "immense majority" of the Spanish population and that everyone had rights in Spain, whether they belonged to a religion or not.

Pope Benedict XVI addressed the rally on Sunday 30th December by a videolink from Rome. He told the crowd, estimated at 150,000 people, that the family is "based on the unbreakable union of man and woman and represents the privileged environment where human life is welcomed and protected from the beginning to its natural end."

The Archbishop of Mardid claimed that the government's family policy was a retrograde step for human rights.

San Jose State Suspends Blood Drives

San Jose State University has suspended all campus blood drives because of a long-standing government policy that bars gay men from donating blood.

San Jose State President Don Kassing said the policy by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration violates the school's nondiscrimination policy.

The American Red Cross and other national organizations that regularly run blood drives have been pushing the FDA to revise the policy. The policy has been in place since AIDS first emerged in the United States.

Officials at local blood banks are not pleased with Kassing's decision. They said could lead to a drop in blood donations at numerous Bay Area colleges and put patients' lives at risk.

600,000 Americans Have HIV

Fewer than 1% of U.S. adults age 18-49 living in homes have contracted HIV, according to a national study released Tuesday.

The National Center for Health Statistics's evaluation of HIV patients in the country shows that 600,000 people in this group -- which excludes those who are homeless, prisoners, or patients in institutions -- have the virus.

While the report does not quantify new infections, AIDS activist groups say the new data will show the number of Americans contracting HIV each year to be 50% higher than previously estimated.

Questions Raised About Safety Of Unprotected Sex

Swiss AIDS experts said Thursday that some people with HIV who meet strict conditions and are under treatment can safely have unprotected sex with non-infected partners.

The proposal astonished AIDS researchers in Europe and North America who have long argued that safe sex with a condom is the single most effective way of preventing the spread of the disease - apart from abstinence.

"Not only is (the Swiss proposal) dangerous, it's misleading and it is not considering the implications of the biological facts involved with HIV transmission," said Jay Levy, director of the Laboratory for Tumor and AIDS Virus Research at the University of California in San Francisco. The Swiss National AIDS Commission said patients who can satisfy strict conditions, including successful antiretroviral treatment to suppress the virus and who do not have any other sexually transmitted diseases, do not pose a danger to others. The proposal was published this week in the Bulletin of Swiss Medicine.

The Swiss scientists took as their starting point a 1999 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which showed that transmission depends strongly on the viral load in the blood. The other studies had also found that patients on regular AIDS treatment did not pass on the virus, and that HIV could not be detected in their genital fluids.

The studies cited by the Swiss commission did not themselves definitively conclude whether people with HIV and on antiretroviral treatment could safely have unprotected sex without passing on the virus.

"There is still some concern that you can never guarantee that somebody will not be infectious, and the evidence I have to say is not conclusive," said Charlie Gilks, director of AIDS treatment and prevention at WHO.

"We are not going to be changing in any way our very clear recommendations that people on treatment continue to practice safer sex, including protected sex with a condom, in any relationship," he added.

In any case, of the 2 million people worldwide now receiving HIV treatment, only a very small number receive medical care comparable to that in Switzerland, Gilks said.