John McCain's temper has become the stuff of legends. Who could forget the time the Republican presidential nominee allegedly called his wife a "cunt"? Classic!

Well, Senator McCain's short fuse got some more press this weekend after six witnesses confirm that in 1996, while meeting with POW advocates, McCain pushed a woman in a wheel chair:

According to the accounts, McCain waved his hand to shoo away Jeannette Jenkins, whose cousin was last seen in South Vietnam in 1970, causing her to hit a wall.

As McCain continued walking, Jane Duke Gaylor, the mother of another missing serviceman, approached the senator. Gaylor, in a wheelchair equipped with portable oxygen, stretched her arms toward McCain.

"McCain stopped, glared at her, raised his left arm ready to strike her, composed himself and pushed the wheelchair away from him," according to Eleanor Apodaca, the sister of an Air Force captain missing since 1967.

McCain's anger has many people worried about how he would handle pressures of being president. And so it should…

Wow.

A recent poll from parent-oriented gaming site What They Play asked what offended parents more: violence, cursing, hetero sex or gay sex. As you can see, decapitation ranks better than same-sex smooching.

Now we understand all the school shootings, cheerleader beat downs and other underage maladies.

Hundreds of homos and their admirers marched through Sydney this weekend to protest growing anti-gay violence. The government and police have not done enough to protect queer citizens, says activists.

A gay bash trial grows in Britain. 20-year old Christopher Sanders is currently on trial for beating Chris Dewhurst last October. The men met at a local pub and apparently hit it off, because Dewhurst brought Sanders home. Sanders, however, had other ideas. Says Prosecutor Steve Harmes:

Mr Dewhurst was in the pub with two female friends and Sanders was chatting to them about holidays in Bulgaria amongst other things.

During the evening, Mr Dewhurst went home for some money and Sanders asked could he go with him and borrow some cash.

At the flat he asked one of the flatmates if Mr Dewhurst was gay and was told as far as that man knew, he was not.

They returned to the pub’s karaoke and for Mr Dewhurst – who later confirmed he is a gay man – that was his last memory.

Some time later they had returned to the flat and at 4am Mr Dewhurst was making his emergency phone call to one of the female friends he had been with earlier. Pictures were later taken of pools of blood she found in his bedroom, of a cut under his eye which needed stitches and of extensive bruising to his face.

Sanders has admitted his guilt in the assault. The judge has, however, requested a psychological examination and a statement from Dewhurst before sentencing. The trial continues next month.

It'll be a cold winter for David Meehan and Martin Soutar - the Scottish duo have been sentenced for their respective roles in the murder of Perth politico James Kerr.

Soutar got off easy: the 21-year old will serve twelve years for "culpable homocide". Meanwhile, 19-year old Meehan, who not only helped beat Kerr, but later walked by his dying body, received a life sentence, 16-years of which he must serve.

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Artist Michael Bilsborough's delicate, yet violent drawings definitely leave a mark. Our editor exchanged a few words with the California-born, New York-based dynamo. Read the results and see some new pieces, after the jump!

And, of course, be sure to check out Bilsborough's website.

If your boss objects to drawings of boozing, purging and illustrated sex, consider this feature NSFW.

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Eliot Schrefer may be one of America's next great writers. Only 28-year old, the Harvard graduate just released his second novel, The New Kid.

An exploration of estrangement, elation, sex and sin, The New Kid offers the reader two half-siblings: Humphrey and Gretchen. The bulk of the novel revolves around their respective struggles - Humphrey's attempts to adapt in his new Floridian town and the last gasps of Gretchen's relationship. The final third brings them together in a surprisingly suspenseful climax. As a whole, Schrefer's stark prose delves into the perils of universal alienation.

Our editor recent caught up with Schrefer for a chat. See what the boys had to say about teenage objectification, S&M and why Schrefer thinks it's alright to be bored.

After the jump, of course…

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Violence ain't sexy. Unless it involves Eastern Promises' Viggo Mortensen fighting naked.

After the jump. And, yes, it's NSFW.

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Being bashed ain't cute. It's especially ugly when the bashing involves actually bashing. While some "victims" may choose to wallow in their bashdom, an anonymous attackee found it in his heart to forgive:

Dear gay-basher/assaulter/mugger/crackhead who beat me up and robbed me in May:

I just wanted to let you know I forgive you. Although you left me
with a head wound the size of a golf ball, a swollen jaw, Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety attacks, a broken ego and a lot of
financial problems due to the fact that you stole my wallet and my
watch and charged $500 before I was able to get home and cancel my
cards, I still forgive you. Although the watch you took was special
to me as it was a gift from my best friend and I miss it, I still
forgive you.

That's pretty generous. We'd be inclined to track them down, find the watch, stuff it up their asses, remove it, wash it, wear it and be on our way.

Read this anonymous reader's note in its entirety, after the jump.

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The honeymoon appears to be over for newlyweds Amy Winehouse and Blake Fielder-Civil.

Now, some seemingly good news. We're sorry we missed it earlier in the week, but definitely better late than never, right?

Reports of domestic violence among gays in San Francisco dropped from 2004 to 2005. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

The organization documented 366 domestic violence incidents in 2005, down from 416 the year before. The majority of the 2005 reports, 261, came from people who identify as lesbian or gay, and more men reported being victims than did women.

While on the surface this may seem as if domestic violence itself has dropped, one must remember that not all victims of domestic violence report their crimes out of shame, embarassment, or fear that their loved one will go to jail.

Remember, friends, Domestic Violence Not Love

Without a doubt, Pink Pistols is going to be compared to the Queer As Folk's short-lived Pink Posse, wherein the show's Justin hoped to return the fight to gay bashers by wielding a weapon. So let us be the first to connect the storylines!

The Pink Pistols – founded in Boston in 2000 by Doug Krick – is an organization hoping to arm gay men and women for their own protection, battling the stereotype that the queer community makes an easy target for violence. It's a common argument: arm the supposedly weak, whether they're single mothers or rape victims. But given the numbers – at least 7,000 members in 43 chapters in the U.S. and Canada – it's an debate many folks are taking up.

Wilton Manors gun group promotes self-defense for gays [Florida Sun-Sentinel]

A team of British researchers for The University of East London have found that gay men are less violent than their straight counterparts. The findings will be printed in the Journal of Personality and Individual Differences. Among the “shocking revelations:”

It concludes that gay men are no less aggressive than straight men, but tend to vent their aggression verbally rather than physically. It also indicates that homosexual men are likely to have higher levels of empathy than heterosexuals.

Well, duh, we coulda’ told you that. Of course, anyone who’s happened upon two queens mid girl-fight knows that the venting of the “verbal aggression” is far scarier than any straight guy fist fight. Still, next time these researchers do a “groundbreaking” study like this, maybe they should just email us instead for a quick answer. Just send us what grant money you would’ve spent in cases of red wine.

Gay Men Are Less Violent [This Is London]