Updated my links page a bit. (I think I've started my own nightmarish trend.... oh, well.)

The monument pays tribute to the 30, 000 Japanese American soldiers who fought in World War II while their families and friends -- 120,000 Japanese Americans -- were back home in internment camps, trapped behind barbed wire and machine-gun towers.

"Japanese Americans came here with a promise, and the promise was broken. But they held true to the promise," Congressman Mike Honda said. "Their spirit and patriotism never wavered."

One of my favorite episodes ever was when Sideshow Bob ran for Mayor as a Republican. The timing of the episode was also perfect because it occurred soon after the 1994 election where Republicans took over Congress. Lots of great insider political jokes and humour. So I'm thrilled to post this excerpt from that episode and from the Daily Simpsons' Calendar:

Waylon Smithers: I've never gone behind Mr. Burns' back before, but Sideshow Bob's ultraconservative views, uh, conflict with my.... choice of lifestyle.

A great commentary from a Japanese-American Congressman on the memorial mentioned in my last post. This year, the National Japanese American Memorial for Patriotism creates a permanent tribute to the internees for their capacity to forgive a wrong, for the government to regain its peoples' trust and for a nation to heal. The greatest motivation for building a memorial is the benefit we imagine that future generations will gain from an artistic and personal rendering of the past.

A new national monument in Washington is opened today, dedicated to the Japanese Americans who were wrongfully forced to give up all of their possessions including their homes, farms, clothes, children's toys, food, and everything else, and then degradingly placed into internment camps during World War II even though they were U.S. citizens:

Like so many men of that period, he was stoic, but he really suffered...
Even though there were mistakes made, it's still a country with principles at its core that are worth fighting for, but we have to work at it all the time, show eternal vigilance.
You have to get involved and participate. That's what I've learned. If the promise is out there, you've got to take advantage of it.
You can't just take things for granted. You've got to stick up for things you think are right. The monument is very important. The education that follows it is the most important part. If we don't tell the story over and over, it won't mean anything.

Japanese by blood
Hearts and minds American
With honor unbowed
Bore the sting of injustice
For future generations

Hey! they took me off their "Our Friends" list after only about 5 minutes. If they didn't want me, they shouldn't have asked.

To my dear sweet Babycakes.

What Banana Yoshimoto novel? I love her!

These people wanted me to do a quid pro quo site swap with them, so I said "sure." People traveling to Branson, Missouri surely want to learn more about my life. So here's the link: BransonShows.com. And be sure to see my link on their page down in the "Our Friends" section.

Gay & Muslim? Here's the site for you! This is such a good group of people. Good4them!

Na na na na na na na na Bike Boy! The perfect gift for the man who has everything. Now if only they could create one that works your computer and internet connection.

If you're going to steal from your fellow employees, don't invite them to your house for a party. What an idiot!

The thought that the producer of "Return of the Killer Tomatoes!" is in the California State Assembly is simply horrifying. (If you click the link, scroll down)

Reasons to be Uma Thurman, #1.

I'm not gay, but sometimes I have sex with other guys.

Will we learn that the Religious Right lies? Will we learn that the Religious Right is not just about pushing their social agenda on each of us but also about destroying anyone and anything that gets in their way? Will we learn that many of the scandals and attacks on Clinton, including the sad episode of impeachment, were basically the result of the media listening to and inflaming the Religious Right and their ilk? Will the media begin to actually do indepth research before reporting hearsay? What will we as a society learn from all of this?

In reference to one of my favorite 80's putdowns, I offer this: Poser! He also plans to visit the Energy Department, where he is to pose with a car that runs partly on electricity.

Take it to the ballot!

Happy Holidays! Today is Scotchtoberfest. Celebrate in your favorite fashion. In honor of the holiday, here's today's excerpt from the Simpsons' Daily Calendar:

Principal Skinner: Congratulations, Simpson. You just fell for our sting and won yourself three month detention. There's no such thing as Scotchtoberfest!
Groundskeeper Willie: There's not?! You used me, Skinner! You used me!

Now the truth is beginning to come out, nearly ten years later. What will we as a society, and the media, learn from this?

This is really gross and very disturbing.

The answer to the Loch Ness monster? Other mysteries theorized within the article too.

3 May 2002 (My brother and uncle will absolutely love this!) (Thanks Kevin)

Aww, just in time for Pride, this excerpt from the Simpsons' Daily Calendar:

Marge: Oh, well. He may be a horrible freak, but he's still my son.

We want the pics! Especially any of Nathan's ex. He was hot. ;-)

Found it! The great opening page from Gerard's page, that I mentioned earlier is on a separate link from his page now. Still way cool!

beauty is fluid

The "exotic" look that many of my white friends are after is the "provincial" look my Asian friends are trying to rid themselves of. And the "beautiful" look my Asian friends long for is the "pasty" look my white friends are struggling to burn off.

President Bush never saw a national park that he thought wouldn't look better with an oil rig in it; Vice President Dick Cheney believes energy conservation is for wimps.

Today's decision rejects [Ashcroft's] harsh interpretation of the 1996 laws... In particular, this ruling ends the nightmare of thousands of immigrant families who were facing deportation of loved ones, in many cases for minor crimes that were committed many years ago and that did not even include jail time.

Very, very cool opening page to your site Gerard. Thanks for being open. (Sadly now that I've posted this, the opening page was taken down. But it was really cool proclaiming his bisexuality and all.)

They had to work two hours to see if I could speak for three minutes.... It's horrifying, actually, given what we are here for.

Should I start going to preschools to meet eligible men?
Bachman and her partner, Hope Chevalier, credit their two daughters, both 4, with bringing them together: the women met last year at their girls' preschool.

54th? I typed in my name "Reese" into Google.com to see if I came up. After about a million Reese Witherspoon pages (I had the name first!) and a couple of other pages for people with the last name Reese, I finally came up... 54th. How mundane.

For the forum on the AIDS crisis among blacks, the room was half-full and only a handful spoke on the subject.

Party or not, it's still about freedom.

Remember the post I put up a few months ago about the aquaintance of mine working at the local coffee shop who referenced me as straight and asked me about the local "chicas"? Yes, I thought you would remember. Anyway, yesterday, Gay Pride Day, I walk into said coffee house, which is located in Pride central, wearing all my Pride attire and say hi. He starts talking to me about how there are a lot of hot women around today at the festival and talks to me like I'm interested in them too. Ok, now he's just stupid.

Much of the post below was written in some jest; I love and accept straight people. (Did I mention that it was LIVE?!?)

San Francisco is simply an amazing place to live. They actually broadcast the Pride parade yesterday LIVE on the local WB station. LIVE! While this is wonderful and amazing and beautiful and it enabled me to record the event so that I could actually see the parade because I always miss any parade I'm in due to the crowds and my marching in it myself, I must say that there are some things that straight people just should not see on television. They can't handle it. There are things at festivals that I can't even handle seeing, and I'm gay. But straight people sitting at home flipping the channels are often simply too sheltered to handle some of the scenes that come out for festivals. And they broadcast several of them LIVE on local television. LIVE!!!! I don't mean to say that we should hide ourselves in any way and I'm Proud of the festival and our full communities; I'm just saying that they put this stuff LIVE on television. How amazing San Francisco is. (Did I mention that it was LIVE?!?)

No wonder I'm so tired this morning.... Sister Lolita Me Into Temptation of the the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence may have put it best: "As queers, this is our highest holy day," said the 25- year-old, stiletto-clad nun. "Our leather men, our dykes, our drag queens and our sissies . . . this is our day, sister, our day!"

I hate flying.

Well, I'm exhausted and my feet are killing me. I must be fully Proud.

Happy Happy, Pride Pride. Happy Happy, Pride Pride.

The American Top 40. I used to live this weekly radio program. Every Sunday before, during, and after church I would put on my headphones and listen as much as I could, write down the sequence, and be oh-so-happy. I eventually started reading Billboard magazine religiously each week so I could get all of the facts and background. Today, as I'm waking up oh-so-early for the Pride activities, I'm ecstatic before the local 80's radio station is playing an exact copy of one of the American Top 40 programs, including the Top 40 jingles and Casey Kasem's comments, from this week in 1988. This week in 1988?!?! I had just graduated high school! Wow, major nostalgia.

It's late Saturday night. I have to wake up extra early tomorrow morning, Sunday, like in about 4 or 5 hours from now so that I can run around all morning to various Pride events and celebrations including a Pride breakfast. I just want to sleep in. It's Queerific! Happy Happy, Pride Pride. Happy Happy, Pride Pride. (When do I get to sleep again?)

Jessie and Chris, the Dynamic Duo, were sweet enough to help me take a carload of posters and materials to my office in Berkeley today. And then they helped me rearrange my office. Thanks guys!

The offensive part is that military officers charged with preserving democracy should, in a U.S. territory, exhibit such disdain for protest -- which is nothing if not democracy exercised.

Got quarters? (via Jes-sie)

They're boycotting Abercrombie & Fitch because it's too racy? Well, how about boycotting it because it has become more and more straight? Heh. Anyway, the funniest thing about this is that their spokesman actually thinks they're the Norman Rockwell of 2001. Ha!

Wow. Read the letter regarding RuPaul's impact at San Jose Pride.

Gay Pride without Bush's endorsement is like Earth Day without an oil spill.

Children shouldn't lose their educational rights simply because they have additional needs.

Very funny column. Here's an excerpt: Heterosexuals in San Francisco shamelessly flaunt their sexual proclivities and often less-than-perfect bodies.

Because it's an amazing thing, really, how every gay man I know and every gay man you know undoubtedly has a story in which they know a girl who knows a guy who runs a private downtown club wherein the bartender claims he absolutely witnessed Tom Cruise hitting on this other gay guy this one time, for sure it was him, no really, I saw it. Which of course means Tom Cruise really is gay. Or not.

My father nearly died from tobacco in 1995.

Ashcroft denies that he is trying to sabotage the suit, but his denials are implausible given earlier administration actions.... Don't forget that this is an industry that for decades deliberately suppressed medical evidence that its products sicken and kill people while publicly denying any such thing; that consciously, cynically sought to poison our children through its marketing campaigns; and that has fought every single effort in every single country to limit and control the harmful effects of tobacco.

Drag Bingo?

That's when the police officer put a gun to my head while he was checking me out.

Just found this link to these heartbreaking pictures from my Governor Mel Carnahan's funeral from last year. I so wish I could have been there for that. I needed an outlet for my grief. Happily, I was able to channel that grief into vigilance and renewed dedication to electing him my U.S. Senator. His wonderful wife, and now widow, has become my hero in her handling of everything and her strong leadership in the Senate. Thank you Senator Jean Carnahan.

As I mentioned before, I attended a dinner party with Oakland City Council member Danny Wan recently. He's a great guy and this link is to a recent interview with him and the local gay press.

I just received an updated directory from my graduate school. The Eagleton Institute is always very good at keeping us in touch with other alumni. Very cool. Of course it has my old work information because I just changed jobs, but directories are quickly out of date once they are printed. Good to keep up with the other fellowes in my program too.

P.S. (again): I LOVE my new job!

I think this could have a very chilling effect on many organizations. If it goes through, we'll have very strong evidence that the Bush administration has politicized the IRS.

I used to work with him in DC. He is so cute!

It is an honor to be Cookie Monster.

I guess I'll be seeing more urination in the streets:

In a city where homelessness is a perennial and political problem, San Francisco's district attorney wants to slash his prosecution team that targets public drinking, camping and urination...
Take Mitchell Fullwood, 37, who says Jessie Street is his street. He has slept for more than a year in a cardboard home in the alley that's soaked with urine. Several officers contracted hepatitis while breaking down [his] shelters...

100 WAYS TO FIGHT FOR CHOICE

I'm so nervous because my new job is just too cool and too exciting and I'm waiting for a big catch. One small catch is the long commute to Berkeley, but I really love downtown Berkeley and could totally see myself living there one day. But that's not a big enough catch to counter the amazing quality and potential of my new job. I simply do not know how to soak all of this in.

The 45th Anniversary of the Remote Control: What other electronic device (short of a stun gun) has the power to immobilize a 200-pound male?

They were here to take him to the hospital and they killed him instead.

If nothing else, the fashion police ought to find her.

Anti-tobacco activists have charged for months that Ashcroft is seeking to undermine the landmark litigation. "First the political figures in the Department of Justice tried to kill the lawsuit by denying funding, and now there is every reason to believe that they are trying to strike a sweetheart deal with the industry..."

"I complained to my manager, who said, 'It's a man thing,' " Odle said. She said she was fired on a pretext in 1999 "to make room for a member of that 'good ol' boys' club' who needed my job."

Few customers blame their local "laundromateur".... working folk who live with small profit margins....
So, like many laundromateurs, he posted newspaper stories detailing utility price increases in his front window.

Funny. Jenna can drive, vote, marry, own a house, join the Army, buy firearms and hop a flight to Vermont with a lesbian, get one of the state's new 'civil union' licenses and spend the night having as much sex as she wants. She can do everything an adult can, except go into a Tex-Mex restaurant and wash down her incendiary enchiladas with a margarita. She could buy a handgun, shoot up the liquor store and steal the beer. But she cannot walk in and purchase any.

I thought the Cold War was over, but I guess Bush doesn't want it to be: ...if the United States proceeds on its own to construct a missile defense system, Russia eventually will upgrade its strategic nuclear arsenal with multiple warheads … reversing an achievement of arms control in recent decades …

Oh my! So, I'm getting ready for bed and the radio's on. I hear a commercial from the station come on asking for local drag queens to be a part of the station's float at the Pride parade this Sunday. And they refer to themselves as the latest station to "come out." How bizarre and wonderful and cool! San Francisco is so amazing. 'Where else' indeed.

Excerpts from a story:

But the talk all came down to three points. Don't be too loud, Be safe and Have fun.

...the butterflies that were in my stomach when I had first met him had multiplied.

So . . . You're happier with this one?

"You want to do wedensday then?"
"No, I'm busy then."
"Thrusday?"
"No."
"Friday?"

Polls, polls, polls.....
Oh, they listen and listen. They give free pens, and we all need pens. They take a bunch of doctors out to dinner, they have a nice seminar with someone from HARVARD....
Heinz actually tried blue, but rejected it because green was more "food logical."

Forgive me! But I am simply in love with this 16 year old straight boy!

P.S. I LOVE my new job!

Things to NOT do while at work on your first day:

So, I'm sitting at my new computer and checking things out. I decide to take a break and flip through some friends' sites to see what's going on with them. I turn to Victor's and start scrolling down his page when I notice he's talking about getting a "guiche." I think to myself, "What's a "guiche"? So I click on the link. Not something one wants to click when on one's first day of work at the office computer. Thanks, Victor.

How to know you live in California: The threat of the power going out at anytime on your first day of your new job.

The dollars that have been creamed off the top of our constituents are now being poured into a campaign to try to blur the issue.... and take out Governor Davis.

We don't have that for Abraham Lincoln or George Washington! Why in God's name would anybody want to do that for a president who has yet to be judged by history?
I think a lot of their impulse is born out of anxiety about how Reagan is going to be remembered. They must feel that in order to hold on to the idea that he was the greatest, they have to make it in stone everywhere.

Where else but in San Francisco can you not only put a big pink triangle on a hill in the middle of the city, but the mayor and supervisors show up and take part?

Speaking of 'where else,' I was recently back home in Kansas City. Lo and behold it was Pride weekend in KC. I scoured the local newspapers and such for any mention of it. None I could find. 'Where else' indeed.

In honor of Father's Day, an excerpt from the Simpsons' Daily Calendar:

Marge: You agreed to spend one Saturday a month doing something with the kids.
Bart: Oh, quit complaining. It's half the work of a divorced dad.
Homer: Yeah, but it's twice as much as a deadbeat dad.

New Art page up and running finally. Check out my brother Eric's drawings and poetry. Below is a preview:

Another great commentary from my favorite columnist, Cynthia Tucker: AIDS rampant in black America.

So much for a hospital being a place for all health care needs...Catholic hospitals told to halt sterilization: Hospitals were told at the time of merging with Catholic hospitals or health care systems that abortion was the only problem, and they could accommodate other services. But if sterilization is stopped by the bishops, what will come next?

He lived just two buildings over from me. (I begin to wonder who else lives near me.)

Ahh, isn't that sweet. The Chronicle is playing matchmaker for gay men during the Film Festival: "We need boyfriends in San Francisco," said Pormasith. They noted that they would be in town until Monday.

We can be proud of the hard-fought advances made by those early activists, even as we benefit from the knowledge, compassion and resources they earned on our behalf. The efforts of those early activists are a worthy foundation to connect with and build upon.

Can Bush continue to ignore the 5th largest economy in the world?

They're misspelling it. D'oh!

Just got back from a trip back home to Kansas City. Sorry I haven't been around. Finally getting a chance to catch up on a few things here in San Francisco. Below are a few excerpts on some things here in town and then I'm off to continue enjoying the rest of this gorgeous San Francisco day:

ONLY IN SF (OR MAYBE VT):
A colleague and his wife are taking Lamaze classes and he's the only guy in the class. All the others are expectant lesbians and their partners. That reminds me of a woman I know who sent her child to preschool in Noe Valley, and the kid came home one day and said, "Why can't I have two moms like other kids?" And on Thursday as the 6:03 Richmond BART train was about to leave the Montgomery Station, the driver came on the intercom and said, "No bicycles allowed in the first car. You'll have to move to the second car. Ma'am, sir -- whatever you are." Gawd, I love San Francisco!

Tourists learn the awful reality of San Francisco's beautiful hills....

And finally, an update wouldn't be complete without an excerpt from the Simpsons' Daily Calendar even if it's about that other city that simply will never be as cool as San Francisco:
Marge: Oh, Homer, of course you'll have a bad impression of New York if you only focus on the pimps and the C.H.U.D.s.

I'm busy getting ready for a trip back home to Independence, Missouri for a few days to see the family and friends. I may not be able to blog much, so I'll leave you with this hilarious excerpt from the Daily Simpsons' Calendar:

Flanders: Reverend, I'm..a...I'm afraid something has happened.
Reverend Lovejoy: Well, sit down and rap with me, brother. That's what I'm here for.
Flanders: Well, I was talked into doing a dance called "The Bump," but my hip slipped and my buttocks came into contact with the buttocks of another young man!

Today was my last day of work at the firm I've been with for nearly two years. So many things to finish up. So much junk on my bed at home that once was on my desk at work. So many changes in life right now. Wow.

Signs San Francisco Style:

One: Signs side by side at the entrance of Rainbow Grocery: One said they'd be open on July 4, Independence Day, and the other said they'd be closed on June 24, Gay Pride Day.
Two: Fix with a friend. Avoid heroin overdoses. Don't shoot alone.

You ask how it's possible that a white guy can win the Los Angeles mayor's race against a hot Latino politician when 47% of L.A. is now Hispanic. To explain, let me repeat a former post:

According to the 2000 Census, 3,694,820 people live in Los Angeles -- 47 percent Hispanic, 30 percent white, 11 percent black and 10 percent Asian. However, the electorate-- 1,538,229 voters as of January -- is 55 percent white, 22 percent Latino, 12 black, 10 percent "other" and 1 percent Asian.

Anyone see the need for increased voter registration, especially among people of color?

It's Queerific!

They're the blurb whores-- the hacks who work for tiny media outlets and don't mind gushing over garbage in exchange for being wined, dined and lodged at the next press junket. My, my, such language....

When on a semi-blind date, is it bad form to ask out the waiter in front of your date? I suppose that probably is. Oh well, what's done is done.

I'm stealing this list of wedding tips below (thanks Brad), but it's way too funny.... besides, there seems to a gay marriage theme going on with my blog today.

Wedding tips for gay men before going to Vermont.

1) On the day of a gay wedding, it's bad luck for the two grooms to see each other at the gym.
2) Superstition suggests that for good luck the couple should have: Something bold, something flirty, Something trashy, something dirty.
3) It's customary at gay and lesbian nuptials for the parents to have an open bar during the ceremony.
4) Gay wedding tradition dictates that both grooms refrain from eating wedding cake because it's all carbs.
5) It's considered bad luck for either of the grooms to have dated the priest.
6) During the first dance, it's considered unlucky to use glow sticks, flags, whistles or hand held lasers.
7) For good luck at the union of a drag queen, the bouquet is always thrown in the face of a hated rival.
8) The father of the bottom pays for everything!

And Ernie "will I ever be worthy of his link page?" Hsiung, check it out: your state Assemblywoman's webpage does that fancy letter thing that you were talking about a while back.

Hey, Roman and Ernie (will I ever be worthy of his link page?): The Assemblymember from Cupertino, Assemblywoman Rebecca Cohn, was an important supporter in yesterday's state vote for domestic partnership rights:

Assemblymember Rebecca Cohn a moderate Democrat from Silicon Valley admitted she was initially going to “stay off this bill”. However, after her district was assaulted by the inflammatory full-page newspaper ads, TV spots and direct mail opposing the measure, Cohn had a change of heart. “This is not World War II Nazi Germany, I will not bend and I will not bow to these tactics and this kind of pressure,” said Cohn. Good for her!

Speaking of gay marriage, the California Assembly passed a bill yesterday allowing for a few rights to domestic partners. A long way from actual gay marriage and all the rights and privileges that provides, but a small step in the right direction.

One openly lesbian Assemblywoman directed this important observation to her fellow heterosexual Assemblymembers: You can be in your 14th marriage and automatically get what I can't get after 22 years. Where is the justice in that?

Aww, how sweet. With this ring, I thee wed.

"The disenfranchisement of Florida's voters fell most harshly on the shoulders of African Americans," the report states. Fifty-four percent of votes rejected during the Florida election were cast by black voters.... African Americans accounted for 11 percent of voters statewide.

To be effective, prevention strategies have to consider AIDS as part of a complete approach to reproductive health, including family planning, contraception, pregnancy and abortion counseling, as well as the dangers of other sexually transmitted diseases.

This is why President Bush's decision to block U.S. government funding of overseas family planning efforts was so destructive of efforts to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in the developing world. HIV/AIDS counseling cannot be separated from family planning services.

Moreover, many family planning clinics diagnose and treat sexually transmitted diseases. If Bush's funding cuts force them to close, more people infected by sexually transmitted diseases will be susceptible to HIV infection.

I would hope that employers would take from this 8-0 decision the clear message that they have nothing to gain by making life unpleasant and difficult for those whom they have discriminated against.

The ongoing tragedy is that almost all HIV infections in this country are preventable.

If we just listened to what the research has taught us; needles would be provided to drug users; condoms would be provided in prisons; kids would learn that it is OK to be gay, and no child would graduate from junior high without knowing how to protect him or herself. Safe-sex advertising would routinely run in prime-time and Oprah would have a show about female-controlled prevention technologies. Indeed, in my dream of what should be, all of our silly attempts to legislate morality would be replaced by a compassionate willingness to allow science to save lives.

We are killing our kids with our reticence...

STOP AIDS please

Protease inhibitors brought a respite, a lull of normalization, if one considers it "normal" to take a dozen or more pills a day on a rigorous time clock paced around one's meals.

We are angry that so many lives have been cut short by this disease. There's not a week that goes by that we don't have something AIDS-related in the paper, and we are angry that 20 years later, we still have to cover a disease that doesn't look like it will be curable in the next 20 years, if ever.

...if you eliminate unprotected receptive anal intercourse by HIV-negative men when having sex with HIV-positive men, you would eliminate at least 95 percent of the seroconversions among men who have sex with men [MSMs], everything else being equal.

'Oh I'll just take a pill a day until I'm an old man and everything will be fine.' This is not diabetes. I would love to have diabetes. Compared to HIV, diabetes would be a picnic.

Voting is the language of democracy; and it has proven to be the most effective weapon against racism in America. The NAACP organizes a Voter Empowerment Project to "fight back" against forces that would seek to undermine principles of equal opportunity.

You ever get to work and realize that you hate what you're wearing? It's one of those days.....

Tourists looking for Lombard Street will not be deterred by a roadblock; they'll just be annoyed.

I don't pay any attention to stuff like the Tony's or whatever, but I'm happy to hear that Mary-Louise Parker won a Tony this week for Best Actress. I've always liked her a lot. (Psssst.... Jessie, you'll remember her from The Five Senses, but most people will remember her from Fried Green Tomatoes.)

Look! I've been linked. He's a Missourian too who says people should "get to know [me]." How cool is that? Also, check out his about me page where he has four way cool ways to say he's gay.

Florida's conduct of the 2000 presidential election was marked by "injustice, ineptitude and inefficiency" that unfairly penalized minority voters, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has concluded in a report that criticizes top state officials -- particularly Gov. Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Katherine Harris -- for allowing disparate treatment of voters.

Not only was there widespread disenfranchisement, there was also a kind of widespread acceptance that the less done about it the better.

Excerpt from the Daily Simpsons' Calendar:

Grampa: How long do I have to live, Doc?
Dr. Hibbert: I'm amazed you're alive now.

Ok, I'm not usually into any type of webpages or pictures of beating up elected officials you don't like just because I personally feel it's mean-spirited and childish, but I will admit that this one is pretty funny and has some great points. (via Ernie... will I ever be worthy of his link page???)

Ok, FINE. I guess I can be officially called "fat" now. After seeing me last week from my visit to L.A. my brother said I was "biiggg." Today, I went to Macy's to buy some new shirts-- you know, the kind where you actually want an exact measurement and not just a "small, medium, or large." I had them measure me and my necksize was an inch more than I thought.

It's not that I mind so much being bigger; I've gotten used to it and I don't feel this great need to change my looks coming from within. But from without, from the larger society, I feel this incredible pressure to fit in, fit in smaller clothes, fit into the conformity of it all, and fit into tight shirts for the gay community. Well, that's not gonna happen for a while, if ever. Why can't we all just learn to be happy with who we are as we are instead of all this conformist and guilt crap?

Of course you can, Don. At least that's how I try to live my life. And I'm not crazy at all.... not at all.

Catch a bunch of me in Jessie's apartment.

It plays on denial.... What's to say that the virus won't win? Maybe this is the thing that's going to wipe us all out.

...a worldwide pandemic the likes of which have not been seen since the Black Death of the Middle Ages.

Important privacy rights legisaltion in California:

The issue is whether companies should be allowed to assume that you don't care about the sharing of personal financial information unless they hear from you otherwise. We think they should ask you first.

If you want to follow the legislation or see how your Senator voted, it's Senate Bill 773.

Went to see a sweet little movie last night (Big Eden) down at the Embarcadero. Cute, low-budget movie. It had its flaws and was a bit long, but it was nice to watch. And I can't help smiling whenever I think of the movie today. Definitely worth seeing, especially for the role of the Native American character who begins to realize that he may be gay and may be in love with a man. His smile and laugh at the end simply melted my heart.

I know I put this post up before, but I like it and I think it's important to remember. So here it is again:


20 YEARS/20+ MILLION DEAD
HOW MANY MORE?

Throughout the tax debate, polls continued to show that desired social spending is more popular than tax cuts. So the Democrats did not lose the country on this issue; they were simply outmaneuvered inside the Beltway.

I think it's time that President Bush realize that he doesn't have a mandate. He is the president. I support him as being the president, but I think it's time that we really start being bipartisan.-- Senator Harry Reid, D-NV.

Just Say Blow Dot Com? Cute website. Here's a preview: President Bush, if you deny federal funds to students who won't talk about their drug histories, it's only fair that you forego your federal salary until you are willing to come clean with your own drug past.

STOP AIDS

Some thoughts of note on the 20th anniversary of the AIDS epidemic:

Two decades after its presence was first detected, AIDS remains very much among us. It continues to kill. It continues to build a legacy of social transformation. Unfortunately for us all, AIDS at 20 is still a work in progress.

We knew it was a lethal disease. We didn't know how it was transmitted. We had nightmares about infecting our kids.

This is a generation that has never not known HIV, just as their parents had never not known The Bomb.

Twenty years later, Gottlieb reckons that he underestimated what he had found - by about 36 million cases.

When your country abandons you, you have two choices: sink or circle the wagons.

Unable to get assigned to a trial of the promising new drug cocktails, Tierney, 39, rode his bicycle to the Golden Gate Bridge, and jumped over the side.

But sometimes I turn out the light and sit in the dark and imagine what it'd be like to see Johnny and Roger and Walter and Chris and Eric and Bobby and Austin again. I sit there and get that familiar downward pull in my heart, and it's all I can do not to leap up and go for the light.

AIDS activism is getting diseases out of the shadows and into the light.

When we say, 'in sickness and in health, till death do us part,' it really means something to us.

What's to say that the virus won't win? Maybe this is the thing that's going to wipe us all out.

21.8 million dead

20 YEARS/20+ MILLION DEAD

A Napster Eulogy

Napster's crime: Nobody made money off it.

The David Manning blurb on "The Animal" called the movie "another winner!" Another blurb praised Heath Ledger of "A Knight's Tale" as "this year's hottest new star!" Trouble is, he doesn't exist.

It's wonderful that America is beginning to show more of its diversity. But does that diversity translate into electoral diversity? According to the 2000 Census, 3,694,820 people live in Los Angeles -- 47 percent Hispanic, 30 percent white, 11 percent black and 10 percent Asian. However, the electorate-- 1,538,229 voters as of January -- is 55 percent white, 22 percent Latino, 12 black, 10 percent "other" and 1 percent Asian. Anyone wanna start a voter registration drive with me?

20 YEARS/20+ MILLION DEAD
HOW MANY MORE?

FYI, I've accepted a new position as Executive Director of the California Tuberculosis Controllers Association (CTCA) where I will be working alongside the California Department of Public Health on statewide disease control and public health matters. It is based at the Department of Public Health in downtown Berkeley. I begin in mid-June. I'm excited about this new endeavor into public health, and the aspect of working in a non-profit again. Wish me luck.

We were standing at ground zero.

Twenty years of AIDS. Twenty years of the unimaginable. Twenty years ago I was 10 so AIDS has always been a part of my life. I came out at the beginning of the 90's and so AIDS has always been a part of my gay life. I don't know what life is like without the multitude of issues related to AIDS in the gay community, in the overall society, and in my own personal life. AIDS has always been around for me.

Somehow I've kept HIV-negative, but I'm not sure why I've been so lucky. But then again, I know that having come out in the second decade of AIDS I was overwhelmed by safe-sex advocacy constantly and scared into practicing it continually. And being the good little boy that I am I always have.

It scares me that more and more gay men are contracting AIDS these days but I can kinda understand the desire to act like it's not a reality anymore. The younger generation is just so used to the AIDS epidemic that it's just a regular part of life nowadays. We've never known what the world was like without it. Boy, it would be really nice to know a world without this devastating disease hanging over all of our heads. I want to see that day come, and soon. I hope and pray it will.

This picture freaks me out.

What do you mean we, Mr. President?

We should start by scrapping the president's plan, and adopting a strategy that makes energy efficiency and renewable sources its foundation -- not an afterthought.-- United States Senator Barbara Boxer (one of my favorites).

Bush & Van Ness eh? 2 blocks from my home eh? I feel safe.