• We're not sure what's funnier - the fact that a bird took a shit on President Bush or that ABC News actually used the word "poop".

• HX Media's Boston rag, In Newsweekly., found itself in the papers this week when associate publisher Bill Berggren's criminal past came back to haunt him. It seems Berggren has been arrested for a number of incidents and some questioned his role as leader for Boston's Pride Committee. Rather than cause a stink, Berggren stepped down voluntarily. And Berggren ain't the only one on Innews' stepping down. From Boston's Weekly Dig:

In the last few weeks, their masthead has gotten a lot lighter in its loafers—editor James Lopata has left the building, as have distributor Thomas Kilduff and associate editor Alexander Sliwinski... We hear grumbling in the streets, too, that their freelancers haven’t been paid in eons.

The blurb goes on to suggest euthanasia. Ouch.

• You know what would help the African continent's millions of AIDS patients? Doctors. Too bad there's a shortage.

• Jenny Bailey can now call herself the United Kingdom's first trannie mayor, thus crushing our life long dreams...

• South African hooker outs celebrities, media refuses to pass names along.

• Mitt Romney doesn't hate gays:

I oppose discrimination against gay people. I am not anti-gay. I know there are some Republicans, or some people in the country who are looking for someone who is anti-gay and that’s not me.

Wait, isn't trying to stomp gay marriage discriminatory?

• It was all about the Good Times last night at the eastern bloc-housed, Chris Bell-spun, Queerty-loved, Svdeka-soaked weekly party. Check out some pictures over at Twerking and plan your pose for next week. Same gay place. Same gay Good Times.

• Keith Olbermann names voter/gay scandal-ridden political, North Carolina Representative Patrick McHenry "worst person in the world".

• Trans activists in Massachusetts are pushing for a bill to lift their 100% natural rights. (Get it?)

• Fred Phelps and his rootin' tootin' Westboro Baptists are gearing up to protest Reverend Jerry Falwell's funeral. From GodhatesAmerica.com:

WBC will preach at the memorial service of the corpulent false prophet Jerry Falwell, who spent his entire life prophesying lies and false doctrines like 'God loves everyone'.

The nerve!

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Today's a very special day, reader. Well, yes, it's Thursday, which is sort of special, but more importantly, it's International Day Against Homophobia.

Seventeen years ago today, the World Health Organization officially removed homosexuality from its charter of diseases, neuroses and various bugs. Though WHO doesn't think you're sick, plenty of other people do.

International gays and gay supporters will take some time today to shake their fists in a push to decriminalize homosexuality, combat homophobia and vent their frustrations.

There are so many homophobes to choose from, so how do you know which way to wag the finger? Easy, you check out Human Rights Watch's Hall of Shame.

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What else do you do when you've just accidentally said Queen Elizabeth's birth predates that of the country you stole?
Blundering Bush makes ANOTHER gaffe as he winks at the Queen [Daily Mail]

This image is a bit hard to pin down. Are you looking at photographic evidence of a synchronized ritual? Or are you taking in a painter's send-up of the pomp and circumstance? Does something seem a bit fabricated? Is this real? "Yes" to all four questions.

So who belong to that painted arm? Why, that's the artist: Alex Golden.

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We're not the biggest fans of President Bush, but every once in a while we want to pinch his cheek and say, "Oh, you". This is one of those moments.

A Quick Note On President Bush and Cuteness [Petulant Rumblings]

Michael Brown headed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), when Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Louisiana coastline, demolishing as many lives as it did homes. Not to mention forever tarnishing our nation's image as the great provider.

Following the disaster, President Bush famously said, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” Of course, this is coming from a man who created his own special semi-savant vocabulary. As days progressed, we discovered that, as usual, no one in the White House knew what the fuck was going on.

Instead of spending time and energy to focus on the emergency at hand, they focused on who would take the inevitable fall. The spinning blame game is something that this administration has taken to an Olympic level. It is fairly obvious that Mikey became the Satan of Katrina, because we all know “he’ll eat anything.”

Our favorite trouble-maker, Jack E. Jett had a little chat chat with the man many accuse of being responsible for the decline of western civilization as we know it. A brave chap, Jett wanted to face the alleged evil head on and find out more about his “strategery.” From what we hear, they boys got on famously and Jett remarks, "I found Mr. Brown to be bright, intelligent, far less bitter than he should be and with a great sense of humor".

We should hope so - a stick in the mud would have been washed away long ago.

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Former CIA agent Valerie Plame blasted administration officials who leaked her name to get revenge against her Bush-criticizing husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson:

If our government cannot even protect my identity, future foreign agents who might consider working with the Central Intelligence Agency and providing needed intelligence would think twice.

While Ms. Plame certainly makes a point, most people watching couldn't take their eyes off of the tranny protester in the background. In case you can't tell, her shirt reads "Impeach Bush". Too bad Plame wasn't wearing one, too...

For some video of this saucy sister, click here.

Special thanks to Jordy from virtual matter for the link. You're a peach.

Speaking of eagle-eyes, herb-loving homo-journo Andrew Sullivan spotted a scandalous little blurb in Haaretz's review of Uri Dan's new Ariel Sharon biography:

Speaking of George Bush, with whom Sharon developed a very close relationship, Uri Dan recalls that Sharon's delicacy made him reluctant to repeat what the president had told him when they discussed Osama bin Laden. Finally he relented. And here is what the leader of the Western world, valiant warrior in the battle of cultures, promised to do to bin Laden if he caught him: "I will screw him in the ass!"

Now we know why Bush and his cronies are so intent on finding bin Laden. It's not about 9/11, Kenya or their petty quest for world domination! It's, quite simply, history's deadliest case of unrequited love. bin Laden may be a homicidal maniac, but he's far better looking (and more wealthy) than Bush. No way he'd go for that Texan pansy. Also, President Bush, sorry to burst you bubble, but we actually think it's bin Laden who would screw you in the ass.

President Bush may be sending more troops to Iraq, but that doesn't mean Iraqi gays will get more protection. Though we've covered this story before, we think it's worth noting that Iraqi gay activist Ali Hili has again spoken out against the wide spread abuses facing Iraqi's queers.

Speaking to about 250 people at Saturday's Faith, Homophobia and Human Rights in London, Hili blasted the government and security forces for blasting gays:

Members of these militias have infiltrated the Iraqi police and are abusing their police authority to pursue a plan to eliminate all homosexuals in Iraq. This is happening with the collusion of key ministers in the Iraqi government... What is happening today in Iraq is one of the most organized and systematic sexual cleansings in the history of the world.

Despite years of abuse, mainstream news outlets and national governments have been slow to react. Well, actually, they've been less than slow. They've been downright negligent. But, we suppose that's the cost of democracy, right?

It's been one week since President Bush delivered his State of the Union address, an address in which, according to some, he did too little to address the dire effects of homosexuality in America.

Writing for WorldNetDaily, conservative journo J Matt Barber criticizes Bush's discussion of AIDS in Africa:

...The president...missed a valuable opportunity to address the needless HIV/AIDS epidemic within our own borders, which predominately affects – and infects – men who choose to engage in dangerous homosexual behaviors – and at times the women who love them.

To Barber and his peers, it's imperative that the fight against AIDS be intrinsically linked to gay sex. In fact, Barber quotes Americans For Truth president Peter LaBarbera as saying:

It's time to acknowledge the pink elephant in the room: Fighting AIDS without talking against homosexuality is like fighting lung cancer without talking against smoking.

The fight against AIDS, then, should focus primarily on gay HIV positive persons, rather than the fact that the retrovirus sees no sexuality, race, gender, class or, really, any sort of social demarcations. An interesting proposition - one with which we're no stranger in these parts.

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Describing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" as a political "speed-bump", former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili has penned a NY Times op-ed calling for the repeal of the discriminatory policy.

A key figure in implementing the controversial law, Shalikashvili defends his (and former President Clinton's) as pragmatic, an effort to suppress overwhelming public opinion while making a moderate move forward. He writes:

In the early 1990s, large numbers of military personnel were opposed to letting openly gay men and lesbians serve. President Bill Clinton, who promised to lift the ban during his campaign, was overwhelmed by the strength of the opposition, which threatened to overturn any executive action he might take. The compromise that came to be known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” was thus a useful speed bump that allowed temperatures to cool for a period of time while the culture continued to evolve.

Um, right...sounds like a bit of a cop-out to us, but whatever.

Shalikashvili goes on to cite new evidence that more military officials support gays in the military and urges the new Congress to act swiftly and decisively in cleaning up the mess he once supported. Coming on the heels of Marty Meehan's declaration of pro-gay fighter intent, Shalikashvili's op-ed will undoutbedly fan more flames. Let's just hope they don't burn the bridge.

While we certainly appreciate Shalikashvili's message, one can't help but wonder how much of it comes from altruistic concern for equal rights and how much springs from the fact that we're entirely understaffed. Sure, fighting for gay rights is all well and good, but we mustn't forget the possibility that the military's looking for more dispensible bodies. Perhaps the most dispensible bodies of them all...

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