To kick off The Power Issue, we turn the floor over to homo-journo, Mickey Weems. You may recall that we've featured Weems most recently for his imaginative take on Hell House.

Now, Weems offers us an open letter he wrote to Ohio Secretary of State, John Kenneth Blackwell (pictured).

As you may recall, the Buckeye State served as one of the most important arenas of political strife back in 2004, when 350,000 votes were refused by shady pollsters. Many contend that those discarded votes decided the fierce electoral war between John Kerry and President Bush.

Beyond the close margin of victory, a number of lawsuits brought the state national media attention. So, where does Blackwell fit into all of this? Well, while sitting as Secretary of State, the conservative Blackwell had the dubious honor in 2004 of serving as Chief Elections official of Ohio and honorary co-chair of the "Committee to re-elect George W. Bush." Needless to say, there's a bit of a conflict of interest in holding both seats. Not surprisingly, all allegations of voter fraud were either ignored or dismissed. (For more background, check out this New Yorker article.)

Now, Secretary of State Blackwell's battling it out with Ted Strickland in Ohio's gubernatorial race. Though every single survey taken puts Strickland ahead of Blackwell (most recently by 36 points), more than a few questions have been raised on how much Blackwell's position as Secretarty of State may "influence" the votes.

In celebration of the election – and with scathingly hilarious wit – homo-journo Weems shares his letter to Blackwell: a letter to which Blackwell never responded

Perhaps Blackwell was too busy perverting democracy or, as Weems contends, too caught up emulating Katherine Harris, Florida’s former Secretary of State. It was Harris' ruling, after all, that played a big role in President Bush’s ascension to power, thus ushering in one of the most disastrous political eras of our time.

[Read On ...]

• Fine, we get it: The Boy Scouts don't want homos running their programs. But that doesn't mean a newspaper needs to agree with them — and go so far as to call sexual orientation discrimination a "non-issue." [Northeast Times, via]

• A brilliant answer to a needless problem: On the heels of Archbishop George Niederauer forbidding San Francisco's Catholic Charities from placing foster children with gay couples, the non-profit org is teaming up with California Kids Connection to act as a middleman — and thus bypass SFCC's anti-gay mandate. [ABC San Francisco]

• Don't think Jake and Heath are the only homos on the big screen. Robin Williams plays a gay man in The Night Listener,while Little Miss Sunshine has Steve Carell and The Groomsmen features John Leguiizamo going gay. Meanwhile, Quinceanera and Shock to the System: A Donald Strachey Mystery both feature members of the family. [LA Daily News]

• U.S. Senate candidate Katherine Harris (R-Fl.) is facing even more controversy, with her fourth campaign manager tied to an org that's accused of using fraudlent practices to collect signatures on anti-gay rights petitions. [Raw Story]

• John Kerry planning a run in 2008, too. As much as we'd love to see his wacko wife Teresa Heinz Kerry again, we'd prefer he just donate his zillions of dollars to charity instead. Note to John: George W Bush beat you. And he SUCKS. Take the hint. [Pam'sHouseBlend]

• Speaking of George: Katherine Harris, who was pretty much responsible for his 2000 victory in Florida, and therefore the entire election, is having a pool party. Who doesn't want to see her in a swimsuit? There must be someone in northeastern Florida who can send us some pictures of that one. [Wonkette]

• The Department Of Defense has been ordered to turn over all TALON espionage documents targeting gay college students. On a related note: is it just us, or do the PageOneQ people always seem to be yelling everything on their blog? They seem very feisty. [PageOneQ]

• ...and finally, Top Model recapped by our good friend Rich. Okay, it has nothing to do with politics. But it's just as important. [FourFour]