Former Us Weekly editor Bonnie Fuller accuses vice-presidential hopeful Sarah Palin of exploiting her 17-year old daughter, who is five-months pregnant.

Despite her supposed "Family Values" credentials, she and her husband Todd are being just as exploitative of her teenage daughter, Bristol, as any of these celebrity parents have been. Actually, even more so.
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Not so in the case of the Palins. They took center stage with the full knowledge that their 17-year-old's five-months-along pregnancy was about to become front page news around the world. Bristol Palin hasn't been the star of a major kids TV show like Jamie Lynn or Miley Cyrus. She has not chosen a life of celebrity. But now, thanks to her mother's decision to accept the Republican Vice Presidential candidacy, her private life — her sex life — is as exposed as if she had long been a cover regular on Star or US Weekly.

She has unwittingly and literally become the poster child for her mother's anti-choice and abstinence-only education policies.

Meanwhile, check out the cover of this week's Us Weekly…

No disrespect, Log Cabin Republicans, but have you lost your collective mind?

Just this morning the blogs began talking about the GOP's platform, which takes no uncertain stand against gay right, and now you've gone and endorsed John McCain.

And, what's more, President Patrick Sammon declared, "On the most important issue that LGBT Americans faced in the last decade - the federal marriage amendment - Sen. John McCain stood with us. Now we stand with him." Um, Cabinites, McCain didn't stand by you because he likes the gays. It's because he likes federalism! C'mon!

Plus, marriage is hardly the "most important" issue. It's spectacularly eye-catching, yes, but what about hate crimes legislation, employment discrimination legislation, and adoption legislation? Are we living on the same planet?

Sammon goes on to say that he expects McCain will get a lot of gay votes. With 68% of polled gay voters loving up on Obama? Not likely…

We've included the press release after the jump.

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A man has confessed to the murder of 19-year old Kevin Pravia's murder this weekend. From The NY Post via Towleroad:

A 22-year-old Queens man has confessed to killing a Pace University student, who was found strangled in his Chelsea apartment Sunday, police sources said today. The unidentified suspect told cops that he choked and robbed victim Kevin Pravia, 19, after meeting him in Union Square at about 6 a.m. Sunday and accompanying him back to his home.

The suspect allegedly told investigators that he bought drugs from Pravia before they went to the apartment - though police sources said they doubt the drug buy claim. Exactly why they went back to the apartment was unclear. But after arriving there and hanging out for a while, Pravia fell asleep, the suspect told cops. That when he allegedly tried to rob the student.

The suspect told cops that he punched the sleeping teen, put an electrical cord around his neck, stuffed a plastic bag in his mouth and strangled him.

So gross.

French electronic outfit Poni Hoax's sound has been described thusly, "[They] favor a pewter-dark take on disco to all the neon stagecraft and cut-and-paste primitivism of their fellow countrymen: instead of bright-lights, big-city fare, you'd call this a music of the grubbier districts, of the alleyways and cabarets." You can be sure, then, that we're digging it. Here's one of their tracks, "Antibodies," which comes from the group's recently released album, Images of Sigrid.

Our constitution may separate church and state, but the political game's increasingly influenced by religious winds. Who could forget the upsets Barack Obama and John McCain faced over their respective pious pals, Jeremiah Wright and John Hagee?

Well, it seems Sarah Palin, whom McCain's picked as his running mate, faces some of her own holy problems.

Nico Pitney and Sam Stein offer readers a view into Palin's chosen church, where Ed Kalnins preaches with a fearsome fist. For example, Kalnins once declared that President Bush's detractors should be sent to hell and equated the war on terror as "contending for your faith."

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Here's something to give you faith in the American public. A new survey by Out & Equal indicates the majority of American workers support their queer comrades.

The survey found that nearly eight out of ten (79%) heterosexual adults strongly or somewhat agree that how an employee does his or her job should be the standard for judging an employee, not their sexual orientation. And, seven out ten (71%) believe that also extends to gender identity.
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A strong majority (90%) of heterosexual workers say they would feel indifferent or positively upon learning that a co-worker is gay or lesbian.

These findings, which sound like a bit of an overstatement, don't exactly match up with gay folks' take on the matter: "A majority of gay adults (65%) report they faced some sort of discrimination. Nearly half (47%) of gays and lesbians say they have overheard anti-gay comments on the job."

Minnesota based non-profit The UnConvention recently began circulating a series of ads urging gay residents to be "unconventional" while welcoming Republicans, who are currently celebrating their national convention in St. Paul.

Above you'll see a commercial depicting a gay and lesbian couple who switch it up as two suits walk their direction. The tagline reads: "The Republicans are coming. Make an effort." While surely this is a light-hearted jab at the GOP's exclusionary politics, the "closet yourself" subtext rubs us the wrong way.

We all know that marriage remains one of the world's most divisive political issues. Christian and conservative activists are always griping that the "blessed union" should be between a man and a woman. Because, you know, God wanted it that way so we could have babies and the such. Author Susan Squire's new book, I Don't: A Contrarian History Of Marriage, undercuts such right-wing arguments.

Squire, who happens to be our friend, argues that marriage isn't based on God's word at all. In fact, many societies only used marriage for its practical purpose: maintaining a straight lineage. The Israelites, like Sarah and Abraham, whom we've pictured above, had strict laws in order to ensure a valid lineage. Sex wasn't the problem. It was infidelity.

Early Christian leaders, like lust-phobic Augustine, introduced the "marriage bed" not because they feared bastard children or God's wrath, but for fear of lust. Nuptials were a practicality and it wouldn't be until Martin Luther and his Reformation that emotions would be injected into the marital mix.

Our editor picks Squire's brain, after the jump…

[Image by Lars Justinen]

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James Dobson totally has a crush on potential vice-president Sarah Palin.

Dobson, the right-wing leader who once swore he wouldn't vote for "centrist" John McCain, has been absolutely gushing over Palin's place on the Republican ticket.

In fact, Dobson says he hasn't been this excited since the days of Ronald Reagan.

Speaking with [radio host Dennis] Prager, Dr. Dobson said he now feels the same excitement he felt when Ronald Reagan was inaugurated.

"That was one of the most exciting days of my life, because everything that we had hoped for and been working for had come to pass," he told Prager. "I feel very much that way today. Maybe that�s an overstatement. Maybe time won't validate it, but this is a very exciting and encouraging day for conservatives and pro-family activists. I am just very, very pleased."

We have a general rule: whenever Dobson's happy, we're unhappy. Such emotion from such a backward man can never be good.