Question of the Day

What have you gained from being a blogger?

The 2011 Bloggies has Begun

Hey y'all, this is your chance to nominate your own blog or other blogs for the 2011 Bloggies. One of my friends won last year (Soundtrack of My Day) and I think more of you could make it as well.

So jump over to their site and nominate! I already have.

When Obama met the Progressives...

President Obama met with 5 progressive bloggers yesterday. They were Barbara Morrill, Joe Sudbay, Duncan Black, Jon Amato and Oliver Willis.

And they came with the questions, y'all. They came with the questions. So I have a link to the entire transcript of that meeting, here.

Check it out.

My Rant about some LGBT Blogs and their Fox News-ish ways

Today I was surfing the web, checking out all the blogs and sites of interest. Then I came across Towleroad's post called, Obama Appoints 'Proud Homophobe' to Panel on Oil Spill. I read the post and thought, "okay". But then, it hit me... Obama didn't appoint Jonathan Katz, it was the Energy Secretary Steven Chu who appointed him.

But somehow, it turned into Obama's fault. How? If I hired someone for a Hall Director position and they turn out to be a racist, should my boss be at fault? No.

This ain't the first I've seen stuff like this. AmericaBLOG, Pam's blog and others sometimes put out misinformation, half-truths and foolishness which is just wrong and misleading. I've talked about this before and never cease to amaze me how this still happens.

BTW, here are other examples of this issue: Example 2, Example 3 and Example 4

And the scary thing is, these blogs are supposedly the top go-to-places for LGBT leadership and awareness. If these blogs are considered our best, then we need to hold them accountable for their actions. We can not allow any form of misinformation to distort our path. We should demand the truth, honesty and just plan ole respect.

Don't give me bullshit in a box and call it a gift. Be real with me.

When I post anything, I try to give you the complete truth and my view. But I won't manipulate a story just to get you on my side. That's a disservice to you, to the cause and myself. If anything, I will always be real with you. Our civil rights journey must have a clear path to the goal. But it's riddled in drama and deception, we just get confused and lost.

We can't accept this level of malarkey and call it news. Hell, this is what Fox News does. Do we want our info to be this distorted? We deserve better and we should do better. My biggest fear is for our allies to see this mess in our top blogs and judge our community on the carelessness of a few.

We can't allow that, we just can't.

So in closing, if I ever mislead, trick or just flat out lie to you, please, call me out. I want to make sure that I keep it real with you. I feel it my duty to give the truth and the correct information. If I don't then I have to ask myself, "Why am I doing this?"

Geek, Yes. Cute, Yes. Preachy... Maybe

Hey y'all.

I was talking with my partner about my blog and tweets. I asked if I came off a bit preachy in my all (tweets) posts.

He said, yes

I hope I don't come off that way, but if I do, I'm sorry.

My passion for our community is very strong. I try to keep us on the up and up especially it looks bleak.


However, I can't expect everyone to feel what I'm feeling.

So if I get too comfortable on my soap box, let me know. Again, I just want us to succeed and get everything we deserve. But I want us to achieve this goal by avoiding as many pitfalls as possible.

So let me know how y'all feel.

Hey, Blogger!

Fix this A blog may have at most 2000 labels foolishness, you will lose faithful bloggers and blogs in a heartbeat!


source

This is for You

Hi all

I've noticed some of you are having a rough moment in your lives. Things seem uber-crazy and who knows when a silver lining will come through.

So I wanted to share this song with y'all. It helped me many years ago. It's Hard Candy Christmas, by Dolly Parton and the girls from the Chicken Ranch

I hope things get better.

Law Dork weighs in On the DOMA Drama

Chris Geidner is known as the blogger, Law Dork. He is a lawyer who writes about LGBT issues, policies and the fun stuff (politics). He's also very realistic which I greatly appreciate.

Today, Chris provided some interesting info that is...well interesting. John Aravosis, from AMERICAblog has been a strong critic of Obama for a hot minute (actually longer than that). However, yesterday the truth was in the pudding or rather in Chris' blog.

According to Chris, John's piece about Barney Frank throwing us under a bus is very misleading and borderline false.

I'll share:

Soon thereafter, John Aravosis published a piece that just went round the bound. I have tried to keep my blog as forward-looking as possible, but it’s clear that Aravosis’s heavy popularity at his blog and media contacts have allowed his false statements about what the filing means to push the debate into the twisted, contorted view he is giving it.

The two main problems that I have with Aravosis’s coverage are:

1. His continued misstatements regarding whether Justice should have filed a brief in this case.
2. His “comparing us to incest and pedophilia” claim is overstated and does not withstand any serious, legal scrutiny.

Also...

The brief does not ever use the words “incest” or “pedophilia.” And, by the way, the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR), the standard for diagnosis, defines pedophilia as involving “sexual activity with a prepubescent child or children (generally age 13 years or younger).” Under that definition, there is not even a case involving pedophilia appearing in the brief at all — which is likely the reason that no mainstream publication has repeated that claim.

Despite all that, this is what Aravosis concluded this evening about Chairman Frank:

Barney thinks the language of the brief was great. He even, between the lines, defends the invocation of incest and pedophilia.

No, he clearly did not think the brief was great, as his statement made clear. Moreover, he never defended anything that isn’t in the brief, despite your constant claims to the contrary.

It is Aravosis’s spreading of this continued falsity — particularly to demean the smart, legitimate statements of members of Congress — that lead me to continued reporting about why it’s false.

This was helpful and scary. AMERICAblog has a lot of readers and followers, and after I commented on other articles, I was attacked...Big time.

I had to use the Phoenix Force up in there just to survive.

Anywho, with so many folks following that blog, I hope they are checking up on the content. What Chris reveals is disturbing, however I'm glad there's someone looking out for our best interest.

Please check out his blog, here

Great news for Gay Horror Fans

DoorQ has given some of us great news! Fangoria.com has created Gay of the Dead, a gay horror blog! This blog will be written by Sean Abley, a gay filmmaker who made the horror movie, Socket and has written for A Bear's Life.

“I want my blog to not only be the place to find out all about the burgeoning gay horror genre, but also to explore the good and bad in mainstream horror from a gay fan’s perspective,” Abley says. “I think it will be interesting to any horror fan, gay or straight. And hopefully it will be more of a big conversation than just a blog: I plan on responding to as many comments as I can.”


This is really exciting, I encourage horror fans to check it out and support the blog.

Scam Drama!

This is interesting and sad. Patric Ian Henn, a Long Beach blogger and Web video producer known as "Boy About Town," was arrested for foolishness. He was receiving funds from the American Red Cross and other relief organizations following the 9/11. Patric claimed that he lost his partner during the tragedy. But, he didn't have one, so he was caught and had to pay back all the money he got.

But he didn't, he moved down here in the area and basically became someone else. However, he was caught and now remains behind bars until his hearing on Aug. 8. Such a shame! Why would he do that, runaway, and then post his silly ass all on TV and the net. This mess-o-man should have known better. Hopefully he can get some help.