• Did the Knut the polar bear's birth lead to Yan Yan the panda's death? Who knows, but that picture sure is precious! Way more precious than some stupid panda. Literally.

• What do you do when your boyfriend doesn't cum enough? According to homo-journo (and co-called"semen sexpert") Alvin Tan, you either get a new technique or trade him in for a horse. Or you can be thankful you don't have all that clean-up. It can get tricky.

• So, this hag from New Mexico wants to marry her fag, but she doesn't know what to do. Because, you know, he's a fag and she's a hag and...well, you know. In an effort to clear her queer-minded head, she writes to Dear Abby (who, of course, isn't the real Dear Abby. She's dead.). And guess what the fake Dear Abby has to say? Tax breaks do not a marriage make. Shit, could of fooled us.

• If you have a question - any question! - you should definitely ask Margaret Cho. And, if she likes it enough, she'll totally videotape her response.

• Iran may release Faye Turney: the only woman among the 15 captured British soldiers. Discrimination doing good? That's crazy.

• Will Arnett can't stop talking about George Clooney's stunning good looks. Also, Janet Jackson totally doesn't know him, but she knows Jason Bateman. Poor Will...

• The boys from The Dog House on the meaning of on the meaning of "pansy". Click here for their source's definition of "prick".

• Jane Pratt had sex with Drew Barrymore. Related: Jane Pratt has a new radio show.

• Joseph Gordon-Levitt gets all snap happy with some asshole (and asshole loving) photogs.

• The Goonies may be coming to Broadway.

• Underwear company Andrew Christian and Instinct have teamed up for The Blackout Tour during which they'll turn out all the lights and swing glow sticks. DJ Seth Gold insists it's so people can really focus on listening to the music. We think it's so people rub up on each other, but we're also total philistines.

• Meanwhile, another Under Warrior, Ginch Gonch, has teamed up with Jimmy Im and eastern bloc (and us, too) for the weekly party, Good Times. Details after the jump.

[Read On ...]

Regardless of one's sexuality, it's pretty much a given you're not going to have a chat while having a slash. No, that time's meant for silence. Or, at least, it was. New Mexican police have just announced plans to install 500 talking urinal cakes to combat the state's drunk driving epidemic. ABC affiliate KOAT-TV reports:

The state has ordered 500 talking urinal cakes that will deliver a recorded anti-DWI message to bar and restaurant patrons who make one last pit stop before getting behind the wheel.

The top of the devices feature the state DWI slogan -- "You drink, you drive, you lose."
...
The state spent $21 for each talking urinal cake for the pilot program but will ask bars and restaurants to pay for future orders if the idea catches on.

The cakes have enough battery power to last about three months.

Three New Mexican lesbian couples have joined forces with the American Civil Liberties Union to combat the state's discriminatory retirement practices. It seems that straight couples can continue to extend benefits to their partners after leaving state jobs. Gays and lesbians? Not so much.

New Mexican Governor and potential Presidential candidate Bill Richardson granted same-sex state workers domestic partner benefits back in 2003. While couples can enjoy state provided healthcare, they lose these rewards once the working partner retires. Straight married couples, meanwhile, can use their benefits until the day the die. Naturally this doesn't sit well with ACLU New Mexico's director, Peter Simonson. In the organization's statement on the matter, he said:

Health insurance is an important portion of how employees are compensated. It's not right for the state to take care of straight families, but to force gay and lesbian families to bear the significant expense and suffer the inferior coverage of private health insurance at the point in their lives when they need health care most.

Not to mention all the energy they'll save: have you ever tried to fight a geriatric lesbian? They may look frail, but those bitches can fight!

In more hopeful presidential hopeful news, Hillary Clinton finally got it over with and threw her hat into the '08 race, while New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson started up the ever-important exploratory committee.

Certainly a controversial figure, Clinton's viewed by some as the most viable candidate. Democrats, however, fear her past will come back to haunt her. 365 Gay reports:

Many Democrats, eager to reclaim the White House after eight years of President Bush, fret that she carries too much baggage from her husband's scandal-plagued presidency to win a general election. Among many voters, she is best known for her disastrous attempt in 1993 to overhaul the nation's health care system and for standing by her husband after his marital infidelity.

[Read On ...]

• Speaking of Tennessee Williams, former Queer As Folk twink Randy Harrison's appearing in the Joe Dowling directed rendition of The Glass Menagerie. Celebrating the miracle that is his career, Harrison sat down for a bit of a chat with Lavender Magazine.

• Latvian gay activists recently came came together to set some ambitious goals for 2007.

• Chilean gay activists, meanwhile, just got a new HQ: The Ministry of National Property gave them an abandoned government building.

• John Polly and his Logo cats are all about covering Sundance and all the happenings at Q Lounge.

&bulL; Nigeria's proposed anti-gay laws are a few steps closer to becoming official. We're sure Peter Akinola's thrilled.

• Here in the states, New Mexican Republican Representative Gloria Vaughn's looking to amend the state's constitution to ban gay marriage. We have a feeling it won't fly.

For this installment of The Power Issue, we'd like to introduce you to Joy Silver. She's the president of a place called Rainbow Vision: a Santa Fe community for older queers.

Basically, the Vision provides about ninety people - many of whom have never lived in queer friendly space - the opportunity to lives out "their last 50 years" in a safe, vibrant and stimulating enviornment.

To be honest, we actually never intended on posting this entire interview. You see, we originally interviewed Silver for an upcoming piece on queer space and power. As we chatted with Silver, however, it dawned on us that she's the kind of lady who deserves an entire feature. She's like the queer activist grandmother we never had: imparting her wisdom and experience with equal dashes of insight and thoughtful meanderings.

Thus, we wanted to share the entire conversation. You know, to give a shout out to a lady that we think is pretty fucking cool.

After the jump, read what Silver has to say about why we need places like Rainbow Vision, why there needs to be intergenerational communication and what we can learn from Alexander the Great. And it doesn't involve dogs...

[Read On ...]

• Tiger Woods cleans up at the PGA, taking home the win and leaving only Jack Nicklaus standing in the way of becoming the world's greatest golf champ. [NYT]

• In Australia, health officials are pleading for more blood donations as supplies have reached a critical "36 hour" mark. Blood banks remain steadfast, however, in refusing to accept blood from gays. [Pink News]

• In New Mexico, the four individuals being held on charges of gay bashing an 18-year-old Edgewood man – to "scare him" straight – have been indicted on hate crime charges. [New Mexican]

• In New York, a judge rules for a Westchester cook who was fired when his employers found out he used to be a woman. The court found transgender people like Eric Buffong are covered under the state's human rights law — and thus Buffong can proceed with his $3 million lawsuit. [AP]

• In backtracking over his comments about American Idol Taylor Hicks, Justin Timberlake puts his foot in his mouth again with speculation Hicks could be gay. [AP]

• Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe isn't fazed by all the gay rumors: "I don't care what people are saying in that regard because it doesn't mean when I get in my car I worry about what's going to happen today or am I being followed. It's not embarrassing." Meanwhile, in that same interview, Thorpe – an Armani ambassador – didn't deny he is gay. [Pink News]

• And finally, in East Hampton comes this Lance Bass and Reichen Lehmkuhl sighting:

Ran into Lance Bass and his boyfriend, Reichen Lehmkuhl, in East Hampton on Saturday, August 19th around 3:15 pm. They were coming out of the Scoop store on Newton Lane. Lance was carrying a bag from the store, where he must have purchased some items. They ran into some other friends 2 girls and a guy across the street who it was obvious they knew. They were giving them directions to a party/event that night, before the two groups went their own way. Reichen looked hot in shorts and a white shirt with Ray Ban aviator glasses, while Lance was wearing jeans and sandals. They looked very happy and relaxed.

• In Britain, tabloid The Sun apologized for yesterday's cover story showing Prince Harry grabbing a girl's breasts at club. Not only did the rag get the nightclub wrong, they got the date of the photos wrong: They were taken in August 2003, not August 2006. [Guardian]

• In Ohio, a gay rights group has abandoned its effort to have Cincinnati voters decide whether gay men and women should be protected under the city's anti-discrimination ordinance after many of its signatures were acknowledged to be forgeries. [AP]

• In Kansas, two boys have confessed to stealing the rainbow flag – yes, that rainbow flag – waving outside a Meade bed and breakfast. The boys' father last week brought them to the B&B to apologize to the owners. [Out Q News]

• In New Mexico, the beating an 18-year-old gay man in Edgewood last month is now being attributed to the attackers' wanting to "scare him straight" after he allegedly touch the butt of one of the suspects. [Out Q News]

• Marcia Cross is still fuming over Barbara Walters asking her whether she is a lesbian. The question came during a live The View segment — and beforehand backstage, Walters told Cross she would have to ask her about it. [Scoop]

• In Wisconsin, tourism officials are worried that the industry will take a hit if voters in November greenlight a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. [AP]

• In Estonia, police launch a formal investigation into the attacks on the gay pride parade held in the nation's capital Tallinn over the weekend. [Advocate]

• Thursday's WorldPride vigil in Jerusalem's central square – already the focus of much controversy – was hijacked by Lebanon war protestors, who carried their near the gathering. Police had to detain some protesters and intervened to keep them from stampeding over the vigil. [Jerusalem Post]

• Though the organizers of the Gay Games and OutGames have zero intention of coming together for a single sports event, many athletes hope they do; many "missed the unification that one event offers." [Washington Blade]

• Washington D.C.'s Gay Men's Chorus performed the national anthem at Tuesday night's Washington Nationals basketball game — to a standing ovation (though it might've had something to do with the crowd already being on their feet during the "Star Spangled Banner"). [Advocate]

• In New Mexico, more arrests come in the gay bashing case of an 18-year-old. Twenty-one-year-old Leroy Segura and Cecily Gonzales, 16, join two suspects already in custody. [Advocate]

• In Ireland, a gay hotel that was supposed to go up in a small town will now just be a fleeting memory. Promoter Brian Berry had planned on revamping the Carlow hotel but the current owner decided instead to sell it off to a heterosexual couple. [Pink News]

• Though he'll continue to play for Real Madrid, David Beckham won't have a spot on the English national team. While he stepped down from being captain after the World Cub, Beckham isn't being put on the roster by England's new manager Steve McClaren. [CNN]

• Esquire names Sean Preston Federline the "Worst Dressed Man in the World." [Page Six, last item]

• WorldPride 2006 kicks off this weekend in Jerusalem, despite vast efforts to have it shuttered or moved. Organizers prepare for a week of events, depsite the on-going attacks with Lebanon. [Pink News]

• Switching from California to New Mexico, three gay bashing suspects have been arrested and charged with hate crimes in the beating of an 18-year-old gay man. [Advocate]

• As Connecticut's Democratic race for U.S. Senate heats up, incumbent Joe Lieberman has decades of healthy relations with the gay community to back him against challenger Ned Lamont. [INW]

• The annual gay pride/AIDS event aimed at people of color in Queens, New York – Pride in the City – had its five year history put into jeopardy after park services officials tried to limit attendance at 1,500 (it usually reaches 5,000) and ban the live concert, supposedly an effort to curb littering and obstruction to beach goers. After plenty of media attention, the city officials relented somewhat: live music will be allowed, at a distance, but attendance will still be capped at a fraction of what's expected. [NYT]

Perhaps the biggest moodkiller is a police officer armed with a semi-automatic weapon knocking on the door of your private room. That's what happened to patrons of an Albuquerque, NM bathhouse this week when officers entered with a warrant to search the place for illegal liquor. Why they were wearing bulletproof vests and carrying huge guns, we aren't sure. Also unclear is why they were grabbing 70-year-old naked men and making them lie face-down on the ground while they cuffed them.

The police say it was "for the safety of the officers," but we suspect that humiliation played at least a small role in this incident. The building is now closed due to "numerous firecode violations" that were discovered during the raid.

Police Raid Albuquerque Gay Bathhouse [365 Gay]