Racist Mayor To Resign...

...Still denies being a racist.

According to this article "[Los Alamitos Mayor Dean] Grose said he didn't mean to hurt or offend anyone and claimed he was unaware of the racial stereotype linking black people with eating watermelons."

"Grose apologized by e-mail [and] said he did not send the joke to hurt or offend anyone."

The only thing I'm wondering is what, if he was "unaware of the racial stereotype linking black people with eating watermelons," he thought the "joke" was exactly. Oh, yeah, there is no joke. Unless you're a racist.

Grose will step down Monday. See ya, Dino.

The Greatest Movie Never Made

Zeppelin v Pterodactyls: A Hammer Film.

[Cross-posted.]

Edited For Television

I've been sitting at my desk for a while now trying to think of something insightful to say about this story, but I'm drawing a blank. So, I'll just pass along the info sans any commentary.

Gay Asians voiced indignation Wednesday after television broadcasts of the Academy Awards in their region censored the words "gay" and "lesbian" in speeches that called for equal rights for homosexuals.

The rest is here.

Thanks, But No Thanks

I know Kanye West means well, but you know what's not cool? Wrapping your plea for tolerance in some really tired gay stereotypes. In fact, it's fairly counter-productive. Sure, he starts off kind of nice with:

Titles are very important. I like to embody titles, y'know, or words that have negative connotations, and explain why that's good. Take the word gay—like, in hip-hop, that's a negative thing, right? But in the past two, three years, all the gay people I've encountered have been, like, really, really, extremely dope.

But you can probably already see where this is going. If not, the "Y'know, I haven't, like, gone to a gay bar, nor do I ever plan to" should be a good indication. (West likes the gays and all, but wouldn't actually go to a gay bar or anything, lest we get the wrong idea about him.)

Anyway, he continues:

But where I would talk to a gay person—the conversation would be mostly around, like, art or design—it'd be really dope. From a design standpoint, kids'll say, "Dude, those pants are gay." But if it's, like, good, good, good fashion-level, design-level stuff, where it's on a higher level than the average commercial design stuff, it's, like, gay people that do that. I think that should be said as a compliment. Like, "Dude, that's so good it's almost . . . gay."

Yes, because us gays are good at fashion and design. We also like showtunes, know all the words to "I Will Survive," and worship Judy Garland.

[Cross-posted.]

Quote of the Day

"I was horrified when I read that e-mail. What I'm concerned about is how can this person send an e-mail out like this and think it is OK?" — Keyanus Price, an African American, who received the image viewable in Elle's post in an e-mail from Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose.

Quote of the Day

"The gossip outlet, which pays for stories and likely shelled out a fortune for the Rihanna image, last April published the name and photograph of a 14-year-old boy whom TMZ identified as the alleged victim of a sex crime. The child, the site reported, was the son of a celebrity, hence its interest in this particular minor's sexual abuse. ... [The story] was illustrated with a photo of the alleged victim that was taken when he was 10. So if TMZ editor Harvey Levin ... pops up on television to talk about his tortured decision to publish the photo of a domestic violence victim, know that he is full of shit." — The Smoking Gun, on TMZ's history of printing photos of abuse victims.

And Justice For All

Since it's turned out to be one of those kinds of days...

Allow me to turn your attention to this piece of appalling news out of Pennsylvania: Last week two judges plead guilty to fraud, having accepted over two-and-a-half million dollars in kickbacks for sentencing juvenile offenders to privately run detention centers.

"At the hands of two grossly corrupt judges and several conspirators, hundreds of Pennsylvania children, their families and loved ones, were victimized and their civil rights violated," attorney Michael Cefalo said in a statement Friday.

In the plea agreement, Ciavarella and Conahan admitted they "abused their position ... by secretly deriving more than 2,600,000 (dollars) in income ... in exchange for official actions."

Those actions included "entering into agreements guaranteeing placement of juvenile offenders with PA Child Care, LLC (and) facilitating the construction of juvenile detention facilities."

Among the judges' alleged offenses: "14-year-old ... Bernadine [Wallace] was charged with terroristic threats after getting into an argument on MySpace. ...The teenager was not advised of her right to an attorney and was pressured to plead guilty. She was taken from Ciavarella's courtroom in shackles and spent time in PA Child Care and at a youth wilderness camp."

And "a youth detained for nine months for stealing a four-dollar jar of spices, and a 13-year-old who was sent to boot camp for several weekends for exploring an abandoned building."

For fuck's sake, that is a vile and repellent abuse of power.

Terrence Howard, Misogynist, Part 3

Yes, Terrence Howard is still a ginormous misogynist skidmark on the panties of human decency. And it turns out, that's not a new thing.

In 2001 Howard was arrested for assaulting his estranged wife. As Howard told officers at the time, "I broke the door down and hit my wife."

According to a Whitemarsh Police Department report, after Howard and Lori McCommas argued on the phone, the actor warned, "Don't disrespect me by hanging up on me or I'll come over and hurt you." McCommas then "hung up and contacted 911 fearing Howard was serious." While McCommas was speaking with a police dispatcher, Howard "showed up at the victim's residence and began breaking the door down." McCommas ran to the rear of the house and into the backyard. Howard then "broke the front door down and ran through the screen door in the kitchen. Howard then grabbed the victim's left arm and punched her twice with a closed fist in the left side of the face."

I wish I could say I was shocked by this, but Howard has already offered up enough evidence of his contempt for women.

Chris Brown, meanwhile, was unavailable for comment.

Woof

I guess Rick Santorum was right.

Son Of A Preacher Man

I know it's pretty shitty being gay and having a raving homophobe for a father. I can't even imagine what it's like to be gay and having a father who, in part, makes his living preaching homophobia, calling you a sinner, declaring your sexuality, your identity, a "brokenness." It has to be a trying experience to be torn between your family, your faith, and your very self.

Jermaine Jakes, son of T.D. Jakes, the noted prosperity theologian, was arrested last month cruising a Dallas-area park for gay sex. It's no real surprise that a man whose own identity likely brings him great shame (I'm merely speculating here, mind you) would find his best available sexual outlet in an anonymous encounter in the bushes of a public park.

T.D. has gone on record stating he "would never hire a sexually active gay person." The bitter twist here is that Jermaine listed T.D. Jakes Ministries as his employer on his arrest record. Of course, it is patently stupid for T.D. to make a statement like the preceding anyway. How the hell does he know who his employees are fucking? He can't. And he doesn't.

So, I wonder, what will be the outcome of this for father and son?

Will daddy change his gay-hating ways? Or will he make good on his position and kick his son from the flock, have him fired from his job at T.D. Jakes Ministries? Or perhaps Jermaine will, in the saddest (and most likely) scenario, resign from his position, duck into some gay-fixin' therapy, and quietly return six to eight days/weeks/months from now, 110% heterosexual?

Personally, I'd like to see Jermaine declare proudly, "Father, I am gay. Take me as I am."

But It's Not His Fault

I don't know how much this story is making the rounds, but if you're not familiar with it, let me fill you in. Wisconsin high school student Anthony R. Stancl, 18, set up a phony Facebook account then and used it to dupe dozens of his classmates into sending him nude photos of themselves. But here's the kicker: Stancl then used the nude photos as leverage to blackmail several of his classmates, some as young as 15, into "having sex" with him.

Stancl has been charged with "a dozen felony charges, including sexual assault on children and possession of child pornography." As he should be. Not that he's without his defenders.

Earlier this week Christopher Frizzelle published a piece on The Stranger titled "What He Did Was Wrong, Yes—But..." wherein he states:

…Lying is wrong, and blackmail is wrong, and sexual assault on a minor is wrong—this kid clearly deserves to get in trouble—but doing this up as a sexual-predator-ravages-a-Wisconsin-town type story … seems slightly off.

Bully for you, Frizzelle, for understanding that "sexual assault on a minor is wrong." Too bad you can't see that sexually assaulting minors is, in fact, predatory as well.

I guess that's because there were "mitigating factors." Let the victim-blaming begin!

First of all, teenagers lie to one another all the time. Second, these [teenagers] took photos/videos of their [genitals] and sent them to a person on the internet—a person they'd never met—of their own volition.

So, yeah, they were basically asking for it. Kids lie, and if they send off nudie pics all over the internet, well, they get what they deserve. Nevermind that the victims are children.

If you're wondering how anyone can defend Stancl's behavior, let me mention one other thing. Stancl is gay, and all his victims were male. And that, according to Frizzelle, makes it okay.

Back to the mitigating factors: "Third, gay kids in high school are the victims of humiliating pranks constantly, as well as the low-level humiliation of being other." Besides "Stancl thought of what he was doing as a prank." No big deal, then, eh? I guess blackmailing children into "having sex" is just harmless fun.

It must be, because "those blackmail victims didn't just call the cops." In fact, "seven of them agreed to it" and "none of those seven victims ever complained to authorities." The experience was probably a good one for the victims, because Stancl was "teaching them a valuable lesson: don't send photos/videos of your naked self to people you don't know on the internet."

Look, I'm not going to sit here and tell you it's easy being a gay teenager. I'm not going to tell you high school is a walk in the park far any queer kid, in or out of the closet. But having a rough go of it is not some sort of get out of jail free card allowing one to sexually assault fellow students with impunity.

And just because the assailant's actions play into that tired "all gay people are predatory" meme doesn't mean he should be let off the hook lest he prove all those anti-gay whack jobs right.

What Stancl did was criminal, and no amount of victim-blaming or excuses can change that.

A Reminder: Terrence Howard Still A Misogynist Wankstain

When asked by paparazzi last night if he had any comment on the Chris Brown incident with Rihanna, the actor said, "It's just life, man. Chris is a great guy. He'll be all right. And Rihanna knows he loves her. She'll be all right. Just everybody's got to get out of their way."

Hey, yeah, domestic assault, that's just life. Maybe if you're Howard. Maybe if you're a virulent misogynist. And maybe if you think abusers are really just "great guys."

Howard later apologized in a written statement, saying he was unaware of the allegations against Brown. Clearly, that is bullshit; the quote makes zero sense in any other context. But wevs.

And as an aside, following on the post Liss wrote yesterday, what the fuck is the paparazzi doing asking Howard his opinion on Rihanna and Brown. What the fuck is the paparazzi doing asking Howard his opinion of anything?

Seriously, Howard, shut the fuck up already. And paparazzi, you shut the fuck up too.

Just In Time For Valentine's Day

Because masturbation is a gateway drug, leading to dirty, dirty sex, the same way smoking weed means you'll inevitably end up snorting pancreas through a silly straw and mainlining nuke. Don't believe me? Well, it's a fact. Just ask read this article written by a "doctor." Or don't. It's painfully stupid. (That too is a fact.) Whatever. Just stop jacking off. And buy a shirt.

(Via Gawker.)

Smell The Glove

Speaking of the Grammys, can anyone explain how this piece of tripe won Best Recording Package? (Did Ted Nugent not release an album this year?)

Of all the other nominees, the one that looks like it was drawn on a Pee Chee folder by a 14 year old boy was worthy of the win? Jebus, the Ditty Bops's cover was actually interesting. And the cover of that Christian rock album was kind of fun. But the "coffin cooter" (as Liss called it)? LOL your sophomoric album art. I'm truly confounded as to how this got nominated, much less won.

Oh, yeah, and p.s., way to be derivative too.

[Cross-posted.]

Something About England

Forget Blur. Forget Hyde Park. Forget Worcestershire sauce. Forget Hadrian's Wall and Dusty Springfield. Forget Benny Hill, The Brontë sisters, the Kemp brothers. Forget Benjamin Britten, the East End, Wedgwood plates, bangers and mash. I don't care. Hunky Dory, the Globe Theater, the Mini Cooper? Virginia Woolf, Winston Churchill? Earl Grey, "How Soon Is Now", George Sanders, Oxford... St. James's and Elizabeth I... We're done. Vivien Leigh, the Savoy, Yorkshire pudding? It doesn't matter. Because England officially sucks now.

[Cross-posted.]

...But Not In A Gay Way

Two soldiers in Iraq let off a little steam in this Puttin' on the Hits moment. Dink Flamingo would be so proud. Stay safe, boys!

(Via our pals at Towleroad.)

[Cross-posted, of course.]

Thou Shalt Not Lie

Come on, it's the ninth commandment. Practically the last one on the list. It can't be that important, right? If it was it would have been first, like "You shall have no other gods before me." What's a lie or two between friends? Or between California's Fair Political Practices Commission and the Church of Latter-Day Saints? The commandments are like one of those 100 Greatest Films Ever Made lists, by the time you're down to McCabe & Mrs. Miller, you pretty much stop giving a shit. Besides, there's really only three or four commandments that matter. But the ninth? Wevs. Why bother?

That is, apparently the Mormon Church's stance. They had been claiming they only ponied up $2,078 to support Prop 8. In light of an investigation by California's Fair Political Practices Commission, they've had to revise their figures to the tune of about $188,000. Among the previously unlisted expenses: "$96,849 for compensated staff time for church employees who worked on the campaign, $20,575 for the use of facilities and equipment at its Salt Lake City headquarters, $26,000 for audio-visual production and travel expenses for church leaders to go to California."

Also worth noting: "If the Commission finds the Church broke state election laws it could be fined up to $5,000 per violation. The Commission also could file an additional civil lawsuit." Not that the Mormon Church is short on cash or anything, as is evidenced by their willingness to throw a couple hundred grand at this issue, so I doubt such a ruling would hurt them all that much.

Still, I'd like to hear how they, and their cronies, will defend this.