While flipping the channels tonight, I happened to catch a glimpse of Paul Reubens on "Ally McBeal." I just had to watch the show a bit more to see him in character. He is always so funny.

Popeye and Bluto have overcome their differences to such a degree that some in the gay community have wondered if the sailors are supposed to suddenly be romantic partners. And Olive Oyl is left alone at the end of the commercial wondering what happened. Hmmmm.....

Look, I just DON'T want to work out these days. Is that okay? Do I have to return my gay card now? I just don't want to do it right now. Unless you want to go with me....

I love to consolidate my memory and learn for the long term: Researchers said that sleep appears to be an integral part of memory consolidation and long-term learning of all kinds.

Cats ordinarily sleep a great deal, staying awake only about six or eight hours a day if they can get away with it. See, honey, Izzy likes to sleep.

This is the second children's playground they recently built in the Tenderloin. It's wonderful that they're doing this. Not only does it help to clean up these previously drug-ridden corner parks, but they also really help the local kids have a sense of community and fun in the heart of their neighborhoods. Anything we can do to help the kids feel more at home in their neighborhood is a good thing I think.

Television commercials produced by the Democratic Party last week begin with a doll-eyed girl holding a drinking cup to the camera. "May I please have some more arsenic in my water, mommy?" she asks. A cherubic young boy follows, holding out a plate containing a hamburger: "More salmonella in my cheeseburger, please," he says. After attacking Bush for caving in to the oil, meat and chemical industries, the narrator concludes: "The Republicans. These guys just aren't for us." Exxxcccellent.

Wickety-wack!

Yummy...

Not only did she still my name, but now her groupies have stolen my webname!

Last night I attended a unique fundraising event for the Victory Fund which helps openly gay and lesbian candidates around the country get elected. It was actually a very cool event where they split up the crowd into small dinner groups so we could get to know each other better. I had the privilege of being in a group with Oakland City Councilman Danny Wan, one of the very few openly gay Asian-American elected officials anywhere in the country. I had just recently read his well-written op ed regarding the need for bilingual staffing in city government and so it was definitely a treat to spend an evening with him and the others.

Picked up a great jazz compilation album tonight with the wonderful song "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes" (or "... Made," depending on who you talk to) by songstress Dinah Washington. I've been dying to get a copy of that song for quite a while and am happy to have found this great album along with it.

Last week, 73-year-old Zhenfu Ge lost her daughter to cancer. And because of the death, Ge also lost her legal right to stay in America. ;-(

Yes, I do think Napster is dead. Sorry, honey.

I remember there used to be these Monday-Friday daily movie showcases on local television back home in Missouri where they would have a movie theme each week: movies relating to animals, musicals, Godzilla movies, James Bond movies, and so on. I remember one week being a Planet of the Apes marathon with each of the sequels on the next consecutive day. Great fun.

I've lately been wanting to watch the entire series again just from a nostaligic perspective. I finally got around to renting "Planet of the Apes" last night. It was not a great movie, and included the awful Charlton Heston who is probably one of the worst big-name actors of all time, but the movie was an interesting look into 60's era science fiction and their oh-so-not-subtle concepts of domination, religious indoctrination and so-called heresy, race relations, nuclear fears, and injustice. Again, fun.

They have been using sex to sell AIDS drugs.

The never-ending story.

As a gay guy, we have the advantage over heterosexual guys in that we see what we like in other men and try and replicate that in ourselves. Are all personal trainers this bright? (Meow! I prefer not to be catty, but his statement just deserved it)

Mormon rules prevail at Salt Lake City mall: Same-sex couples can't hold hands on church-owned block; Women wearing halter tops would be told their appearance was inappropriate. Can we all say it together: separation of church and state.

I absolutely hate George Will, the conservative right-wing columnist. But I must say that I absolutely love this column of his entitled: Reagan idolatry is out of control.

This is what happens when we let Republicans control everything. We must fight, fight, fight and not let this kind of insanity continue: The Unborn Victims of Violence Act is part of a concerted effort to capitalize on the anti-choice presidency of George W. Bush. Anti-choice lawmakers know that now is their chance to enact sweeping restrictions on choice and lay the groundwork for an eventual challenge to Roe.

As much as I want more Democrats in the U.S. Senate, I love seeing more and more women in the Senate even if they are Republican. To that end, it has been an internal controversy for me in desiring to see moderate Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine lose a re-election to a male Democrat. However, I am happy to see that it looks as if a female Democrat will be running against Senator Collins in 2002 and that alleviates much of my internal controversy and allows me to further continue my stalwart Democratic partisanship.

This Cinco de Mayo event at City Hall looks like it'd be fun.

Hey, I forgot to mention it before, but I'm happy to report I had another "Letter to the Editor" published in the Bay Area Reporter last week. Jessie says that I should simply start my own column. Isn't he sweet? Anyway, below is what I wrote:

Upon reading in Wayne Friday's April 5 column about the formation of an Asian/Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus in the Assembly now that there are three Asian American Assembly members, something occurred to me: why not form a lesbian and gay legislative caucus? We now have three open lesbian members of the Assembly so it would meet the standard for a minimum of three members. We could potentially have more in the future.

The legislative caucus would allow for formal recognition from the Assembly and provide a think tank on legislation impacting the community. Other caucuses began small when they first started and now have great influence and stature in Sacramento. Why not begin the same process now that we have three open lesbians in the Assembly?

Disgusting activities:

Living in the City has unfortunately given me an eyeful of things I would rather never see or acknowledge occur. I love living in the City, don't get me wrong, and I have a high threshold for what I tolerate, but yesterday was simply over the edge. Now, understand this, I have seen a great number of unsightly things and have smelled an inordinate amount of disgusting fumes. I have witnessed people peeing in the streets, rearranging their underwear, and I've even seen one guy squatting next to a store and proceeding with a bowel movement that seriously threatened my ability to tolerate. But yesterday I witnessed an incident most harmful to my tolerance level and my ability to smile while walking the street.

Yesterday, while waiting at the bus stop a father pulled down the pants of a 2-3 year old boy, held his legs up in the air, and had him pee on the street at the stop. Middle of the day, waiting for the bus, teaching the child that it's ok to pee in public on the street. I'm sure one of the stores around there would have allowed a young child access to a bathroom if he had needed it badly enough. I'm sure there could have been more private alleys or places he could have taken his child to give the child a sense of right and wrong. But no, the child was taught that peeing at the bus stop was an appropriate and logical thing to do. They then proceeded to get on the bus and act like everything was normal.

I try my best to understand, appreciate, and struggle with the concerns of the homeless population in the City. I try my best to be compassionate and open to their plight. This father/son couple wasn't living off the streets that I could tell. They just were people who live in the City and have determined that certain things are acceptable around here.

As part of my struggle to understand, I also will say that I too have done my own amount of peeing in the outdoors, as we all have at some points in our lives. Oftentimes on long highway drives with no restrooms in sight, there was a need to go out on the side of the road or in the woods on camping trips. But these were always done with a sense of keeping out of the public sight as much as possible, behind a tree, behind a bush, peeing into the dirt or bush where it would be soaked up. I would never, ever consider peeing at a bus stop with many fellow passengers waiting patiently next to me. I would at least try to find some privacy somewhere. And I would never teach a child that such activity was acceptable. I do not understand how this father could do such a thing. Forgive me for this rant, but I needed to state my disgust and frustration.

Oh, and my Mother is doing ok. :-)

LAGALABATATA (Hilarious, thanks Tom.)

My Mother is undergoing surgery this morning to remove a cyst from her breast. I hope she's ok.

My all-time favorite poem

"A Well-Worn Story"

In April, in April,
My one love came along,
And I ran the slope of my high hill
To follow a thread of song.

His eyes were hard as porphyry
With looking on cruel lands;
His voice went slipping over me
Like terrible silver hands.

Together we trod the secret lane
And walked the muttering town.
I wore my heart like a wet, red stain
On the breast of a velvet gown.

In April, in April,
My love went whistling by,
And I stumbled here to my high hill
Along the way of a lie.

Now what should I do in this place
But sit and count the chimes,
And splash cold water on my face
And spoil a page with rhymes?

--Dorothy Parker

In the media's non-coverage of the inaugural protests, the plans for the May 19th Voter March, and the outrage of countless American citizens, they present us as "the fringe", in order to marginalize us and attempt to silence us. Are you fringe folk too?

Wake up America! There was after 1992 an unfortunate complacency that settled in over abortion rights supporters who breathed a sigh of relief that Clinton was elected. There was that sense of complacency and people just went back to their lives. NOW President Patricia Ireland.

Although this excerpt from the Simpsons' Daily Calendar was from an episode many years prior to the current Bush Administration when Republicans loathed former President Bush, it still has a funny ring to it. It was from an episode back in early 1995 just after the Republicans unfortunately took over Congress. Additionally it references Birch Barlow (a parody of Rush Limbaugh, during his annoying heyday of the early 90's). :

Sideshow Bob: Hello, Birch. Long-time listener, first-time caller. Kudos for bringing the "public" back to the Republican Party. It's high time people realized we conservatives aren't all Johnny Hatemongers and Charlie Bible-Thumps, or even-- God forbid-- George Bushes!"

I'm working on putting together an ART page to display art and paintings from my mother, brother, best friend Corby, and maybe others. Here's a preview from my brother's art collection:

Well, look at that, I finally figured out how to put up a picture of myself on my "pics" page.

The worst effects of the obesity epidemic are now being felt by the nation's poor - a group that consumes a disproportionate amount of fast food. Without access to proper medical care or nutritional advice, poor families often turn to fast food as a source of comfort and consolation. The food is cheap and convenient; the toys that come with the kids' meals are free.

The rate of adult-onset diabetes among inner-city children is now extraordinarily high. Other harmful effects of obesity, such as high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, are also becoming more commonplace. Severely obese American children, aged 6 to 10, are now dying from heart attacks caused by their weight.

I must never take my niece to McDonald's again, but then that only makes her unhappy. The dilemma of being an uncle.

"It's sheer numbers," a CHP supervisor said in a legal deposition taken for the ACLU suit. "You kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince."

But, Alexander countered, "the obvious problem is that most "frogs" the CHP is stopping are Latino and African American, leaving those minorities, who are forced to endure the loss of personal liberties because of their skin color, to shoulder the burdens of the program disproportionately."
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) admints stopping more minorities and that African Americans and Latinos run greater risk of being pulled over.

In honor of my coworker Leslie who's off to Jordan through the Peace Corps, and is indeed a great "Woman of the World":

Excuse me for not knowing about El Salvador, like I'm ever going to Spain anyway. Memorable quotes from Buffy.

In the ruling, the court said Laux showed indifference to the rape allegation by referring to Brandon as "it" and not immediately arresting the two suspects, who had threatened to kill her if she reported the rape. Hilary Swank won an Oscar playing "it."

We should just start calling the Bush Administration the "Burns Administration." Here's another example why from the daily Simpsons' calendar:

Mr. Burns: Oh, so Mother Nature needs a favor? Well, maybe she should have thought of that when she was besetting us with droughts and floods and poison monkeys. Nature started the fight for survival and now she wants to quit because she's losing? Well, I say "Hard cheese!"

Viagra was introduced to the U.S. market in 1998. Within two months of its introduction, studies show more than half of all prescriptions for Viagra were covered by health insurance. Coverage for women's prescriptions for "The Pill" did not reach that level until oral contraceptives had been on the market in the United States for almost 40 years. If the goal here is to reduce unplanned and unwanted pregnancies (and therefore the number of abortions) it would seem sensible to make Viagra less affordable and oral contraceptives more affordable, not the other way around. More insight into the horrific gender bias of American society, insurance companies, and the Bush Administration.

We need all of you to assure that choice remains the law of the land. I thought when I won Roe that the words were written in concrete. But they have been washed away like sandstone. Sarah Weddington, the attorney who won the landmark Roe vs. Wade case in 1973.

Excerpt from daily Simpsons' calendar:

Lisa: So, even if a man takes bread to feed his starving family, that would be stealing?
Reverend Lovejoy: No. Well, it is if he puts anything on it. Jelly, for example.

Advertisements on fortune cookies?

In honor of the Bush Administration's continued assault on the environment, I present this excerpt from the Simpsons' daily calendar:

Mr. Burns: So you're saying this fish might have an advantage over other fish, that it may in fact be a kind of superfish.
Darwin: I wouldn't mind having a third eye, would you?

The sultry Kathleen Turner plays the father of Matthew Perry's character. Yes, "father" is correct. I just love Kathleen Turner.

Ok, so I’ve been avoiding posting this aforementioned police story…. not sure why other than it spooked me a bit and I knew it would probably take some time to write it completely out. But here goes:

On a quiet Sunday evening I had just put my clothes into the washer at the busy laundromat and began reading a stack of newspapers next to me on the bench while waiting for my clothes to clean. A petite woman in her late 30’s suddenly sat down next to me on top of my newspapers. (Mind you, the entire bench was empty and yet she sat down right next to me.) I told her she was on top of my papers and she got up as I moved the papers, but then proceeded to again sit down right next to me very, very closely. I thought this was odd, but continued with my reading.

She then asks to hold my hand. (!) Huh? I said that I would rather not. I didn’t want to be mean-spirited, but I didn’t really want to hold her hand either. She didn’t look strange or anything, just looked like a regular woman doing her laundry, but I still didn’t want to touch her hand. She then begged and whined and continued asking to hold my hand. I continued reading and the next thing I know she’s leaning against my shoulder. Ok, I don’t want to make a scene and I suppose it’s ok for her to lean. Well, leaning eventually led to wrapping one arm through my arm… then two arms through my arm… then one arm around my body… then two arms around my body… squeezing tightly. Now I realized that something must be wrong with her so I start trying to talk to her calmly and politely, asking her for her name and if she knew where she was and so on. I kept remembering Ellen Burstyn’s role in Requiem for a Dream and thinking about how if someone could have helped her early on maybe she could have avoided so much pain later on.

Well, to try and make a long, long, long story short. I eventually got up to put my clothes in the dryer while she tried holding on to me. I then took her outside and told her I needed to take her home. She lived two doors down from the laundromat and I walked her into her apartment building and spent an inordinate amount of time trying to leave without her, but she insisted on being with me, saying I was her only friend in the world and that no one else cared. (As much as I may understand that concern in my own life, I know not to attach myself to some stranger in a laundromat.) I finally left the apartment without her (only by continually promising that I would call her in one hour). I immediately called 911 (not sure who else to call, but not necessarily wanting to call the police on her) and told them the situation. The police were great and understood what I was telling them. I gave them the address and her phone number, as well as my name and phone number for further questions. They said they would send someone out.

I went back to the laundromat because I needed to get my clothes out of the dryer and take them home. Well, she showed up again and kept wanting to hold onto me and saying I was her only friend. I eventually took her back outside and had a continued long conversation with her need to go back home and my need to go to my home. Eventually, the police arrived (not too long after the call; I was impressed) and I motioned to them. They immediately seemed to understand that situation, even saying something like “It looks like we have a 910 going on here” or some number like that. I motioned to them that I was leaving and they went inside her apartment with her.

I feel bad that I called the police on her, but I wasn’t sure who else to call and I was hopeful that the police would be able to get her in touch with the social service agency that she so desperately needs. Maybe she forgot to take her medication; maybe she was missing; maybe someone was looking for her; maybe I was of some help. I don’t know. I hope that the police were able to help her. I never called her like I promised to; I didn’t feel like I should after all that because I didn’t think it was appropriate to do so. I haven’t seen her around since, although she does live in my neighborhood and two doors down from my laundromat. I just hope she’s ok.

As if I needed another reminder, remind me never to live in Mississippi.

What's wrong with me? Feel free to send in as many answers as you'd like.

You are the weakest link. Goodbye.

I'm sorry, I can't help but be caught up in this catch phrase.

Have you seen those horrible commercials hocking products via Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech on the National Mall? This editorial says exactly what I feel every time I see that commercial. "The Dream Defiled"

Ah, the romance....

Me: So your boyfriend's gone back home now?
Jessie: Yep
Me: So you're all mine again?
Jessie: I guess.

I feel the love.

In honor of my trip to the bank today in order to pay my very large tax bill this year I submit this excerpt from the Simpsons daily calendar:

Homer: But I paid my taxes over a year ago!

Don't expect the Bush Administration to help out or listen to California on anything for the next four years....

If i had a nickel for every friend, gay or straight, that i lost due to signficant others... i'd be a millionaire.

Wise counsel from fellow blogger Ernie

Will someone please explain to me where friendship fits into life? One of my closest friends from DC is here this weekend visiting his new boyfriend. I didn't even know he's been in town since Friday; I get a call today just to say hi; He's on the plane back to DC tomorrow. No visit with me (his friend for years....)? And then of course there's my husband who I never see anymore since he has his new boyfriend. Where exactly does friendship fit into newfound relationships? Won't someone tell me.

"What our research shows is that 17 percent of erections measured under 4.5 inches, and there might be a market for that." Of course, once again, the frail male ego comes into play, and while condoms come in large, studded, ribbed and flavored varieties, you don't see small or petite or narrow models. We'll just have to see what kind of circumlocution the marketing folks come up with. (via Badsamaritan)

I apologize that I haven't been writing much myself the last couple of days. As I mentioned I've had a rough couple of days, but I hope to be more productive here and in my life today. And I still need to tell you that police story I mentioned before. In some ways, I think I've wanted to forget about it. But I do need to tell the story.

What is happening around here? One minute I'm crying over the loss of Chris in the blogging community, and then, suddenly, my husband (the reason I got into this business in the first place, and the reason I live on this planet) decides to pull the plug on his blog too. What's going on?

I had a rough day yesterday, very draining; and it seems to be rolling over into today too.

Ha!

Wake up! Thousands of female employees may soon lose insurance coverage for birth control. Can you believe that we even have to write our federal government, in the year 2001, to support access to birth control? There's also going to be a March on Washington on April 22. It's time to wake up America!

Continuing with my previous thought, I had the cutest waiterman last night at the new Harvey's Restaurant on Polk Street. His name was Micah and he laughed at my jokes. Swoon.

Went by and chatted with the guy in the office next to mine briefly today. He is soooo cute and adorable. And he's got the best smile. Have I ever mentioned how beautiful his smile is before? Ugh, I'm so jealous of his new love interest. Oh well, as we all know, I'm not really on this planet; I'm just an observer.

This guy has a whole bunch of pictures throughout his website of various portions of his body, but I can't seem to find one that is a complete picture. Too bad, he looks kinda cute.

They'll take anyone whose check clears.

I knew there had to be a reason Jessie got into college.

A group of gay and lesbian Florida high school students looking for legislative sponsors for an anti-discrimination law instead got an anti-gay lecture from one state representative (Republican, of course). In his comments to the students, Trovillion also quoted scripture and said, "God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and he is going to destroy you and a lot of others."

One youth in attendance said, "We are here lobbying for safe schools, because a lot of us are verbally and physically assaulted in the schools. And he treated us like that in his office?"

Most respondents were selective about who should receive the money and did not think non-Judeo-Christian religious groups, such as Muslims and Buddhists, or groups outside the mainstream, such as Scientologists, should get funds. Helloooo???? Can we now all remember the necessity of the separation of church and state? Or, I suppose, we can start a religious war.

The closing of the office may appear small to some, but it is very symbolic.

There are three great things about the fact that Antonio Villaraigosa may become the next Mayor of Los Angeles:
1) He's a liberal Democrat with close ties to the Gay & Lesbian community;
2) He'll be the first Latino Mayor since forever ago;
3) He's hot! (And, believe me, he's even hotter in person. I had the pleasure of meeting him around a year ago and did my best to chat him up. Swoon.)

Ever notice how odd the word "dumb" looks when typed out?

Dumb.

Just ran into my extra hot and incredibly sweet former pharmacist in the Castro. Ugh, I like him so much; if only he liked me..... (Yes, when you live in San Francisco and especially the Castro area, you too can have an extra hot openly gay pharmacist, doctor, masseur, hair stylist, waiterman, and on and on and on.... just don't expect them to return the love.)

I nearly started crying reading the interview with Sharon Smith, hearing her point of view, and listening to her talk about her love for her Domestic Partner Diane Alexis Whipple. (Whipple, as you know, was viciously killed by her neighbor's two dogs in January)

Thought I heard your voice yesterday.
When I turned around to say that I loved you
Then I realized that it was just my mind
Playing tricks on me.

It seems colder lately at night
And I try to sleep with the lights on.
Everytime the phone rings, I pray to God it's you.
I just can't believe that we're through.

I miss you (I miss you)
There's no other way to say it
And I, I can't deny it.
I miss you (I miss you)
It's so easy to see
I miss you and me.

--Klymaxx, a very underrated 80's female R&B group.

Spent the evening with the youth of the YMCA Youth Center and took them bowling at Yerba Buena. Great time, great fun. It's good that I was bred white trash because it means that I can bowl better than most. After spending the evening with them, I must say one important thing: I'm exhausted. It's great fun, but tiring work handling a bunch of preteens. They have so much unharnessed energy.

Why do I find myself singing Roy Orbison's "Crying"? Chris, you have no idea how much I will miss you from the blogging community. Your website has been one of my constant joys on the web and I'll miss you dearly. Have a great time at graduate school and enjoy your life. And if you're ever out here in San Francisco, do let me know. Take care.

I've had a very bizarre night and I'm a little freaked out and spooked by it all tonight. When I lived on the East Coast, the one great thing was that I could still call people on the West Coast who were not yet in bed. The problem with living on the West Coast is that everyone I could call around the country would probably be asleep. I'll fill you in on why I'm spooked tomorrow; it's a very long story (actually even involving the police) and I can't write about it right now.

Mental note: It's impossible to meditate surrounded by tourists....

Could someone please explain why it's so freeking freezing cold in San Francisco these days?

Could someone please explain to me what the big deal is about these Doggie Diner heads?

What a busy day at work today!

Is New York ready for Mayor Kramer? (a political article that might actually interest Jessie)

How appropriate that I end up in the top 20 websites on google.com for "missouri+white+trash." This makes me very happy.

The double-hulled giant, Condoleezza Rice, is part of the international tanker fleet of the San Francisco-based multinational oil firm named several years ago in honor of Rice when she was a Chevron board member and stockholder. Now of all the things I would ever want to be named after, a "double-hulled giant" oil tanker would not be one of them.

Straight Pride??? Is that like White Pride, or Male Pride, or Privileged People Pride, or Rich WASP Pride? (I'm scared what kind of hits I might get from google or the other search engines after writing "white pride" on this post.)

"This year, we have three people of Asian descent — three is the magic number, and we decided to make a caucus"... creating the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus (APILC) in the California Assembly. Hey, guys, I have an idea: there are now three openly gay members of the California Assembly now, why don't they form a caucus too? And hopefully, there will be more to join them after the next elections. Of course, the three openly gay members are all three lesbians, so maybe it could be a Lesbian Legislative Caucus.

P.S. Just because I call him my husband does not mean that I am not available nor single. Repeat, I am available and single for any cute gay guys who want to say hello.

Ever since my husband got himself a boyfriend (sounds a little odd, doesn't it) my days have become lonelier. Weekend after weekend he's been busy with his bf. Night after night he's been busy talking with his bf. Who am I to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner with, especially on the weekends? Who am I to hang out with and watch movies with and drink coffee with? I suppose I need to get more friends, and maybe my own bf. Hah, that's good for a laugh. Anyone want to hang out with me? He's busy with his bf again this weekend.

What's wrong with a little salmonella and radiation in your child's school lunch? That was sarcasm, of course, but I feel the need to say what is sarcasm from me occassionally when reporting upon what is going on with the Bush Administration because it's not sarcasm coming from them.

-- The Bush administration has proposed dropping testing for salmonella in ground beef for the school lunch program and allowing schools to serve beef that has been irradiated, a controversial procedure that kills salmonella and all other harmful bacteria.

This excerpt from the Simpsons calendar is dedicated to my fellow blogger Ernie:

Principal Skinner: Well, Edna, for a school with no Asian kids, I think we put on a pretty darn good science fair.

Since its founding in 1775, the Postal Service has prided itself on its role of binding the nation together. Cutting out Saturday delivery would represent a major change for the service, which has a mission of providing universal affordable service anywhere in the country. I still feel sad about Sunday and holiday empty mailboxes. Please don't take away my Saturday too.

Anybody want to take a shakuhachi lesson with me? What's a shakuhachi? Oh.

Don't believe the media hype. Bush railroaded the election from Day 1, with the media annointing him king a full year and a half before the election ever occured; (remember all the news stories about how he would be the next president given his money, back in 1999?). Gore won the popular vote and would have won Florida's electoral college vote had it not been for mass disenfranchisement of its citizens. Join the protest on May 19.

I'd rather not work on trying to turn anyone gay.... too hard and usually fruitless. (Fruitless, get it?)

...the Gingrich Republicans overinterpreted their mandate of 1994, and look at the ditch they landed in. The George W. Bush Republicans have no mandate to overinterpret.

I can't deal with the time change. I still can't sleep at night. What's up with that?

Kitty Porn... lol (via Jonno)

I so need a massage right now. I tried to get a last-minute (I know, I know) appointment with my favorite masseur Kealoha for tonight, but he couldn't squeeze me in. What am I to do now?

And you thought we were already a diverse population, but just wait til all the youth grow up. -- New census figures show that while 53.3 percent of the state population is made up of people traditionally regarded as "minorities," they make up fully 65.2 percent of this state's children. Conversely whites, who constitute 46.7 percent of Californians as a whole, are a mere 34.8 percent of the state's youth.

Things are getting a bit out of control down at City Hall these days.

Lisa, by the way, is my favorite character on the Simpsons

Excerpt from Simpsons daily calendar: Lisa: Well, I'm going to be a famous jazz musician. I've got it all figured out. I'll be unappreciated in my own country, but my gutsy blues stylings will electrify the French. I'll avoid the horrors of drug abuse, but I do plan to have several torrid love affairs. And I may or may not die young. I haven't decided.

Sunny days... do do do, dah dah dah.... be bah do... do doo doo, sebady sebady doo. dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah on Sesame Street. Come on, sing along! You remember the words, don't you?

Look who's still got the No. 1 Album this week. Well, it is a great album.

What is up with this daylight savings time? I can't sleep.

Cool site. I guess they'll probably be taking away my pink card at some point too.

Bush is rolling back environmental policy with a speed and to a degree that is out of sync with the moderation he portrayed during the campaign. Wake up!

Abortion Has Lost Its Safety Net-- Watch out for even more than just anti-abortion rhetoric: The anti-abortion agenda long ago morphed into an anti-birth control crusade.

Being witty about poisoned drinking water isn't easy. It requires a certain obtuse savoir-faire. Our president gave it a go Thursday night at a press dinner here. "As you know, we're studying safe levels for arsenic in drinking water," he told the crowd of radio and TV correspondents at the Washington Hilton. "To base our decision on sound science, the scientists told us we needed to test the water glasses of about 3,000 people. Thank you for participating." What an idiot.

Question: Do I look straight? What is up with things lately? I swear, today is the second time in a week that I've been asked about women/girls/chicks from someone. I was just at the coffee shop and chatting with the friendly guy behind the counter who I've seen there for a year or so-- you know, casual relationship, don't know each other's names, but smiles and good days to each other, and such. Anyway, we're just chatting a bit while I get my order and he says "So what's up with the chicas?" or something like that. I didn't exactly hear him well and asked what he meant and he said, "You know, the ladies. A lot of fine ones around here, you know." Ok, pause....

First of all, I'm usually so taken aback when someone talks to me like that that I simply have no idea what to say. Secondly, in a fifteen second conversation, what do you say? Oh no, I like the chicos, muchachos, hombres, men, guys. Third, I'm stunned that he's assuming I'm straight. Are these guys simply completely stupid, am I acting more straight and butch these days then I've realized, or is it some weird combination of both? I'm gay, gay, gay, gay, gay, gay, gay, gay, gay, gay.... Helloooooooo, world, I'm gay! Now, how do I say that in a fifteen second conversation when someone is just making quick chit-chat about nothing? Help, please.

All this from a man who ran as a "compassionate conservative," concealing his hard-edged ideology, and who could not get half thevoters to vote for him even in that guise. Finally, people are starting to wake up and pay attention to the outrageous extremism of the current presidential adminstration.

President Bush’s most recent attack on women’s rights was done quietly.

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Barbra takes charge and tells it like it is! We should have one goal, and that's to win back the House, Senate and Presidency. Unless we win, we'll be consistently on the defensive with our fingers holding the dyke against the Republican revolution. I especially am pleased with her call to hold a dyke against the Republican revolution. Ha Ha.

Yes, I am fully aware that many of my last posts had to do with the need for sleep in our lives, while at the same time I was calling for everyone to "wake up." Ironic, huh?

Everyone, Everyone, it's time! Wake up to the most important event of the new century! The First Annual National Workplace Napping Day! I, for one, believe that napping relieves stress and helps to make for the beginning of a second productive start of the day. I used to try to take a little siesta as often as I could. But nowadays it's just too hard with the work schedule as it is. That's why this national workplace napping day is such a great idea. Pass it on to your workplace. Today is the day, April 2, 2001. Pass it on. And have a nice nap.