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POPSMcCain Goes After Michelle ... This is just too much to be believed. I have nothing more to say. Just read the clip and weep or laugh. The choice is yours. Personally, I am weeping.
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POPSMcDonald’s Caves In To Anti-Gay Group Demandsby
zasel Today 12:50 AM 
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Sadly, Mickey D has decided to permit a homophobic hate group dictate their corporate policies. Giving into these boycotts does nothing but encourage groups, such as this one, to continue to strong-arm major businesses to discriminate against gays and lesbians. I am hoping my GLBT friends will refuse to do any business with McDonalds.
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POPSConnecticut Legalizes Same-Sex Marriageby
zasel Yesterday 5:19 PM This is such great news. Little by little, the U.S. is beginning to catch up with Canada, and other countries who are finally realizing that in a democracy ALL men and women and equal. This should never be subject to social interpretation.
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POPSElderly gays forging new alliances There are over 2.5 million gay seniors in the U.S. All of them have lived through the days when being gay meant facing discrimination, job loss, familial animosity, alienation of friends etc. But times have changed, and gay seniors have new recognition as important members of society. Sage, is a new organization, supported by AARP that helps gay seniors live the kind of lives to which they are entitled. Finally, elders who happen to be gay, can join us younger gays in taking our place in the new freedoms, being granted us in the ever expanding acceptance and tolerance of society. Things are far from perfect, but we are definitely getting there.
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POPSFierce fight over Arizona anti-gay amendment Arizona failed to ban same-sex marriage in 2006, so now they are trying again. The religious right is out full-time trying to rev up the hatred of gays and lesbians in order to make sure we do not acquire the same civil rights every other citizen possesses. There is good reason to believe this vote will fail again, but just for the record, Senator McCain is fully in favour of this ban on gays having equal rights. Any gays out there planning to vote for McCain, puhleeze think again.
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POPSPalin Is Ready? Please. Fareed Zakaria has written a terrific article in this week's Newsweek Magazine that, in my opinion is a must read. I really have nothing to add to Mr. Zakaria's comments, other than to say, that John McCain has proven himself to be a cynical, misogynistic, and narcissistic personality, that has no business being president. I question at this point, whether he even has the chops to be a senator any longer. He has twisted his positions into pretzel shape since be began running for president. He has sold his own beliefs down the river, and embraced policies and people that were anathema to him prior to his candidacy. Naming Mrs. Palin as his running mate however, is the ultimate cynical act, and I pray the country will see this man for what he has become, and resoundingly reject him at the polls on November 4th.
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POPSCould Palin possibly leave the ticket? Joan Walsh, editor of Salon Magazine online, makes some very wisely observant points about the Palin candidacy, and what a sickeningly cynical choice it was for McCain to pick her as his running-mate.
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POPSAhmadinejad accepts Israel's right to exist Iran's president finally opens himself to the possibility of recognizing Israel's right to exist, and no one reports on it. I am no fan of this bastard, but when he makes threatening statements about Israel, his words make headlines. But when he starts to soften his stance, his words are ignored. Is this because the media is afraid to report anything positive about this man? And who are they afraid of upsetting?
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POPSChurch Gives Sanctuary to Gay Man and His Family Even down south.......waaaay down south, one can find bastions of welcome and support in Christian congregations. It both warmed my heart, and angered me, to read of the struggles this family had to endure, and yet showed the motivation, love, fortified and determination, to bring their children up in the religion they both cherished along with teaching them about understanding, compassion and the sanctity of true love.
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POPSIn Conservative Nepal, a Tribune for the ‘Third Gender’ Speaks Out This is a terrific story about a youngish man, who has decided to buck the ultra-Conservative views of his country, Nepal, and its politics, and fight, ever so gently, for equal recognition of gays, lesbians, transgendered and other sexual minorities. I love stories like these. It gives me a much more positive outlook and the inherent fairness of the human race.
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POPSDemocrats Sue Michigan G.O.P. on Voter Issue The Michigan GOP is drawing up plans to challenge residency eligibility at the polls, by combing the home foreclosure records. It's not bad enough that these unfortunate people were thrown out of their homes due to foreclosure, but now their right to vote is going to be unduly challenged. This group is willing to do anything to make sure poor and working class people who mostly vote for the Democratic candidates, do not get to actually vote.
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POPSJust Thinking Talking Points Memo, as its name implies, brings up a tremendous talking point.
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POPSAyoon wa Azan (A Loudmouth from the Extreme Right) From a wonderful Web site, Watching America, I found this column from Al Hayat, translated from Arabic, I believe, all about Coulter and Lieberman. Isn't it interesting how these two people are reviled even so far from home. I can kinda understand Lieberman being in their consciousness, but Coulter? Amazing!!
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POPSMSNBC Is Buzz Flashes "Media Putz of the Week" I have always preferred MSNBC for cable news coverage, as they seemed to be the least influenced by right-wing threats. Unlike Fox, who claims to be "Fair and Balanced" when in fact they are Republican shills, MSNBC was far more able to claim that mantle. However, it appears that MSNBC is getting nervous because the two hosts they have who are more left than right, have been garnering complaints from the Republican Committee and the McCain campaign. Compared with remarks that O'Reilly or Hannity make on a regular basis, Olbermann et al, are quite mild. And then again, Olbermann has been, up til this week, the only truly lefty commentator, while FOX is ALL Conservative ALL the Time. But MSNBC has demoted Olbermann as well as Chris Matthews because the RNC did not like the fact that they questioned Sarah Palins qualifications for office. My God, is there nowhere fair minded people can turn any longer?
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POPSPalin church promotes converting gays Remember when the Republicans were virtually crucifying Barack Obama over the views of his church's pastor? Well, now it is time to see if Gov. Palin supports the views of her church regarding homosexuality. What's fair is fair.
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POPSMistress Palin, the Alaskan Dominatrix Excellent piece explaining the knee jerk reaction caused by Palin's convention appearance. But the feeling by many "experts" is that she is gonna scare the shit out of independents and undecided voters who fear for their jobs and pocket books.
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POPSPalin Has Chosen to Exploit Her Own Daughter's Pregnancy I am disgusted by the way Governor Palin has thrown her 17-year-old pregnant daughter under the bus for political gain. She is exploiting her daughter's misfortune in order to use her to make her anti-abortion point to the extreme right-wing of the Republican party. This woman should be removed from the ticket for abusing her child in this manner.
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POPSGod Ditches the GOP I could barely clip enough of this excellent, humourous and right-on column for our forum. I hope y'all will take the time to read the entire piece. It is well worth the effort.
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POPSWe’ll Marry Each Other as Often as Needed I wish I could have clipped the entire article. So I just included as much as I could. I urge you to read the entire piece, as it is absolutely beautiful, humourous, touching and honest. It is entirely apropos at this time, as next week, August 31, my partner Arnold and I are getting legally married here in our home city of Montreal. Same-sex marriage became legal in Canada in 2005. We waited until this year, because Sept 10th shall mark the 25th anniversary of our original unification ceremony we celebrated in Boston in 1983. What better way to renew our vows than to do so while finally getting married legally, in a country that recognizes and honours our relationship?
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POPSChutzpah, With a Capital "CH" Can you believe the audacity of McCain? First he manipulates Obama into taking his trip to Iraq and Afghanistan, which also resulted in a successful European tour. When that worked out too well for Obama, McCain declared that his opponent was being presumptuous, and acting as if was already president of the United States. Now that Russia has stormed into Georgia, McCain decides to send Lieberman and Graham to Tblisi to try to work something out. On what authority will the traitor Lieberman, and Howdy Doody Graham discuss anything of substance, with any officials in Georgia? On top of which, Condie Rice, Madam Secretary herself, is on her way to Georgia to assess the situation. She, at the very least, speaks for the president. For whom do these two McCain puppets speak?
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POPSAn Old Law Dies So Same-Sex Marriage Can Thrive Massachusetts has repealed it 1913 law that refused recognition of marriages performed in their state that would not be recognized in a couple's home state. New York, and California will also recognize same-sex marriages in this manner. This will probably result in many lawsuits in states that have banned gay marriage, by demanding that their marriages from Massachusetts and California be honoured at home, claiming that it is unconstitutional to refuse recognition of marriages from other states. Anyhoo, this is another step forward towards marriage equality in the U.S. and it is about time.
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POPS4 Teenagers Are Arrested in Attack at Gay Shelter As much as things have improved in society in its acceptance of glbt people, these kinds of horrible incidents occur on a daily basis. It is important for the members of the gay community to NOT fall into a state of complacency, because homophobia is still alive and well.
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POPSJesse Helms is Dead Mike Signorile definitely speaks for many LGBT people and our friends in his July 4th blog posting. Although, as I said in a piece I clipped yesterday, I do not take joy in the death of another human being. But in the case of Helms, it is hard to find even a core of sympathy or remorse at his passing. In his professional lifetime, he sent many innocent and good people to their deaths due to his hatemongering and homophobia. If he could not cry for us, how can we cry for him?
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POPSTHE Bigot is Dead Jesse Helms was a disgraceful representation of an elected official in our country. He despised blacks, gays, lesbians, hispanics and everyone who did not look like him or believed as he believed. While I never take pleasure in the death of another human being, it is my sincere hope that with his death, another layer of bigotry in the U.S. is buried with him. I have to think that maybe seeing Obama on the brink of the presidency may have been just too much for his aging heart to take.
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POPSJapan's Booming Sex Niche: Elder Porn Any entrepreneurs here in the west, might take a lesson from the Japanese business world. Instead of paying our elderly their measly social security payments, perhaps we could offer them jobs in the porn industry. The money is great, and they can work mostly on their backs.
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POPSA Verb Brief History of Mugabe This is a very brief article from Time Magazine, which I urge all of you to read. I found it difficult to clip because every word of this short article is relevant. It is hard to understand how the U.S. or any other country can stand to allow this monster to continue to hold onto power of these poor defenseless people. Oh yeah! I forgot. The people of Zimbabwe do not have oil under their feet, as do the people of Iraq.
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POPSIndependent study validates Canada's medicare program With all the shouting in the U.S. as to how the Canadian system is so totally inferior than the fee based system at home, it is nice to occasionally find an article such as this to clip. As someone who has lived under both systems, and who makes major use of heathcare services, I can tell you without any hesitation, that the Canadian system is far fairer and superior to the discriminatory system in my home country, the U.S.
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POPSAverting our gaze from U.S. cruelty This article examines the depravity with which the Bush adminsitration has conducted itself since 9/11. It asks some very important questions. But the biggest question to me is why the hell is Bush and his henchmen not being tried for war crimes?
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POPSGay Unions Shed Light on Gender in Marriage My clips do not come close to describing the differences found between the two types of relationships. I would encourage anyone interested in this topic to read the entire piece, which is not very long at all. It delineates many of the differences along with the perceived reasons for them.
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POPSPresident Bush's Clout in the Middle East is Going, Going, GONE! Georgie W. Bush, the lame, lame-duck guy temporarily occupying the Oval Office has no clout in the Middle East, or anywhere else in the world of foreign policy. His credibility is shot. His allies are few, and most of the world is counting the days until he shakes hands with his replacement at the new president's inauguration in January. The world is waiting to take its collective sigh of relief on the winter morning, when the war criminal in chief finally bid farewell, and hopefully gets dragged to the Hague where he will be tried for war crimes. Oh well, I can dream, can't I?
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POPSBush & McCain Support the Troops by Saying...F**k 'em!
President Bush and Presidential wannabe Senator McCain are always bragging about how they support the troops and honour their service. Oh yeah! This sounds great, but when it comes to actually doing something good and fair for them when they return from the firing line, they say fuck 'em. No money for their education or other benefits. After all, if we make it too good, they will wanna leave the service rather than remain canon fodder indefinitely. Neither of these political pieces of fecal matter stop to think about how increased and improved GI benefits will bring additional people into the service that will more than make up for those who might leave after three years. All they care about is having enough bodies willing to be shot up in Iraq so they can maintain their illegal and tragic war. These war criminals should hang their heads in shame as should anyone who would consider voting for McCain after seeing what a hypocrite he really and truly is.
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POPSCalifornia Says YES to Same-Sex Marriage Great news, indeed! Even greater news is that Ahnold has promised to abide by the court's decision, and NOT support the upcoming state constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage. So, this is a done deal. This comes at a very interesting time for me. My partner and I are getting married on August 31. We are a same-sex couple, and we live in Canada where gay marriage came into being in 2005 (country-wide.) So, naturally, we are really thrilled to know that finally the U.S. seems to be taking a step in the progressive social direction. It is certainly about time.
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POPSThe Conservtive Gov't of Canada is imitating the Bushies Canada has always been far more democratic than the U.S. when it concerns access to information and transparency in government. Not perfect, for sure, but terrific compared to some of the tricks used in my home country of the U.S. But since the Conservative government, which is essentially made up of remnants of the failed Reform Party, has come to power, they have done everything in their power to imitate the machinations of the Bush administration and its policies of secrecy and outright lying. This article explains how they have now, without any notice whatsoever, closed down the access to information database that is used by journalists and the public to track the goings on in government. Canada must dump Stephen Harper and his gang of regressive assholes, and bring back transparency in government before the entire system turns into a carbon copy of the Bush administration. Harper has said his political hero is George W. Bush.
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POPSAre lice art? Israelis scratch their heads I read and re-read this story several times and I still cannot figure out the artistic merit of this particular cultural endeavour. However, if a bunch of Germans wish to sit in an Israeli museum, while hosting lice in their hair, who am I to argue.
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POPSIt's Never Too Late for Romance and Marriage
Stories like this really warm my heart. I am sure the fact that my partner of 26 years, Arnold and I are getting married in Montreal on August 31st has something to do with my personal reaction to this report. I am so proud to live in a country that finally recognizes that same-sex couples are just as much in love, and dedicated as heterosexual pairs. Anyone who knows Arnold and me knows how very much in love we are, and how we share our lives together completely. These two ladies are another example of how love between two people is special no matter what sexual orientation is involved. As an American living in Canada, I am always saddened to see how far behind my home country is from Canada and other countries in the world who are finally recognizing the rights of gays and lesbians in their society. Yes, a great deal of progress has been made in the U.S. but there appears to be a real hard-core resistance to granting equal rights to homosexual couples.
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POPSPetraeus to Head Centcom This scares me a bit. Fallon is leaving because of his differences with Bush on his Iran policies. Bush and his neo-cons, including Republican candidate McCain are proponents of military action against Iran. Petraeus also agrees with a tough Iran policy. It is too convenient for my comfort to know that months before Bush is finally to leave office, he is ridding himself of a general who does not favour his Iran policy with one who does. To me this stinks of the probability of war with Iran before the end of the Bush administration, and passing it on to the next president to deal with.
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POPSThe New York TImes Scolds Hillary for Demeaning the Campaign
Even though the New York Times has previously endorsed Hillary in her run for the Democratic presidential nomination, they now seem to be reconsidering due to her tactics. The editorial board is disgusted with her use of Rove-like tactics against Senator Obama, in a "win at all cost" campaign that is making both candidates look bad in the eyes of the voting public. I am not one of those folks clamoring for Hillary to drop out of the race. She certainly has the right to hang-in there up to the convention if she that is what she wishes to do. After all, these are called "nominating conventions" for a reason. They are NOT called "coronations." But if she continues in the race she should at least fight fair, and not throw the kitchen sink at Obama, and begin making the arguments McCain and his campaign will be adopting in the general election. For example on at least two occasions she has essentially said that McCain is better equipped to be president than is Obama. That is just a b