JUN 30 :: [more victories] It's the final day of the first half of the year. Groan. Chris, who is off to London this w/end, and us lived it up at Sushi Taro last night for a delish omakase meal (heaped with lots of sake *giggle*). Fetch. That was after we got tipsy at JR's happy hour and as with all things unplanned, everybody showed up, giggle.

Anyhoo, equality is on the march today. In what amounts to a race towards equality, Spain just barely pipped Canada to be the third country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage when the Congress of Deputies (lower house of the Cortes) voted 187-147 for it today. The bill is now law - the one in Canada still needs Senate approval which it will get and subsequently become law by end of July. Another amazing and important victory for equality and gay rights.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (what a name) said these sweet words before the vote:

"We were not the first, but I am sure we will not be the last. After us will come many other countries, driven, ladies and gentlemen, by two unstoppable forces: freedom and equality."

"[it's] a small change in wording that means an immense change in the lives of thousands of citizens. We are not legislating, ladies and gentlemen, for remote unknown people. We are expanding opportunities for the happiness of our neighbors, our work colleagues, our friends, our relatives."

Closer to home, California's domestic partnership law - which comes close but not quite to the level of VT/CT's civil unions law - was left intact by the CA Supreme Court. Next stop, overturn Proposition 22!

Equality prevails. For now. The global momentum for equality is gaining. Our hope is their reality. Fight for what's right!

[freedom bunker] This is not even worth putting a picture up for here. The tower looks beautiful but a 200ft base of reinforced concrete wall?? Freedom Tower, my ass...

JUN 29 :: [stubborn and stupid] That pretty much describes the Bush Administration after the President's speech last night offered no major changes in the Iraq war strategy. This, from Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV):

"The president's numerous references to September 11 did not provide a way forward in Iraq. They only served to remind the American people that our most dangerous enemy, namely Osama bin Laden, is still on the loose and al-Qaeda remains capable of doing this nation great harm nearly four years after it attacked America."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) adds:

"...exploit the sacred ground of 9/11, knowing that there is no connection between 9/11 and the war in Iraq."

2004 Democratic Presidential Candidate Sen. John Kerry of MA on Bush's multiple and shifting rationales for invading Iraq:

"The first, of course, was weapons of mass destruction. The second was democracy, and now, tonight, it's to combat the hotbed of terrorism. But most Americans are aware that the hotbed of terrorism never existed in Iraq until we got there."

"We don't need any American, I think, to be reminded of the passion we feel about 9/11. What we need is a policy to get it right in Iraq. The way you honor the troops is not to bring up the memory of 9/11. It's to give the troops leadership that's equal to the sacrifice."

And around the world...

"...absolute nonsense... There is absolutely no connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda." - Lynne Jones, UK Labour Party MP

"The truth is, as everyone can see, that Zarqawi and the other extremist formations that have sprouted in Iraq are the result of the invasion, not the reason for it. The swamp of hatred against the West has been vastly deepened by the actions of those two world leaders, Bush and Blair." - George Galloway, British MP (expelled from Labour)

"Iraq has been a conflict without timelines, without an exit strategy and indeed without a mission statement from day one. Australia needs to refocus on the region and the war on terror instead of getting bogged down in the bloody quagmire of Iraq's insurgency." - Tom Cameron, Australia Labour Party

"Despite the rising unpopularity of the war, criticism of the way the operations are carried out, the divided feeling today by more than half of Americans that he 'intentionally tricked' them over the reasons for the conflict, George W. Bush is sticking to his line." - Le Monde

bin Laden and al-Qaeda: mass-murdered on 9/11 and continues to plan to murder Americans
Status: "we have no idea where he is"

Saddam and Iraq: did not have WMDs, did not plan to use them on the US and had nothing to do with 9/11
Status: country in ruins after we bombed the hell out of it

27-months of war, 1700+ American soldiers, 12000 Iraqi civilians (maybe more), and $200 billion later, what do we have to show for it?

I'm almost glad I didn't watch the speech last night. Reading about it today makes me want to go back to yesterday and lunge at the television, throw it down on the ground like a smackdown and kick the shit out of his face. At which point will this despicable President stop exploiting 9/11 for his political gain?! Instead, I watched "I Wanna Be A Hilton". LOL! The hick guy has the most priceless lines, I swear... Yesterday, he called the sport of Polo "high class rodeo". LOL!! And I *really* wanted Paris' tiara. Fetch.

Anyway, back to more important stuff, giggle.

I have no problems with "finishing the job" or the fact that the sacrifice now to build a better Iraq would be "worth it" for future generations. No one I know supports a Taliban-like Afghanistan in Iraq. And everyone supports democracy, no ifs, ands or buts. But all this coming from a man who repeatedly insults our intelligence and destroys his own credibility by making false statements makes his whole plan an extremely bitter pill to swallow. He could've seized the moment to exhort that the past *IS* the past (however unforgivable his actions then are) and here's my plan for the future; including a tyrannical region embracing democracy for the first time ever.

But nooooooo... That would've placated the more intelligent half of the population. What does he choose instead? At primetime on the first anniversary of the formal end of the occupation of Iraq - he chose to lie. Over and over and over again. Nothing incenses the public more than a politician who lies and keeps on lying to bolster his poll numbers. Since he can never get re-elected to the Presidency, my only hope now is that history will judge him harshly for being arrogant, ignorant, stubborn and stupid. Not to mention that he's a war criminal who continues to use specious arguments and unproven accusations to justify a war of choice that has murdered thousands of American soldiers (one thousand, seven hundred and forty) and innocent Iraqi civilians.

Liar and a murderer. Why is this unconscionable man our President?! I'm sick to my stomach just thinking about it...

[let's move] To Canada that is :) If only the winters weren't so dreadful...

"The big peaceable kingdom on the U.S. border will demonstrate that it is absolutely possible for religious freedom to coexist with the end of discrimination against gay and lesbian people."

"In no church, no synagogue, no mosque, no temple, no religious house will those who disagree with same-sex unions be compelled to perform them. Period. This legislation is about civil marriage, not religious marriage."

And that's the distinction that the United States doesn't seem to get. I don't want a holy matrimony. I just want equal rights under the Constitution and the law. Rights that all heterosexual couples take for granted that my partner and I of 8 years - and 1 month and 21 days... but really, who's counting? ;) - don't currently have save for a few filmsy pieces of paperwork.

Equality now.

JUN 28 :: [civil marriage act] Victory for equal rights tonight in Canada. With these sweet words codified into the law of the land, Canada becomes only the third nation in the world, after Belgium and the Netherlands, to grant same-sex couples the right to marry:

"WHEREAS the Parliament of Canada is committed to upholding the Constitution of Canada, and section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees that every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination;"

"WHEREAS the courts in a majority of the provinces and in one territory have recognized that the right to equality without discrimination requires that couples of the same sex and couples of the opposite sex have equal access to marriage for civil purposes;"

"...AND WHEREAS, in order to reflect values of tolerance, respect and equality consistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, access to marriage for civil purposes should be extended by legislation to couples of the same sex;"

"...2. Marriage, for civil purposes, is the lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others."

"...4. For greater certainty, a marriage is not void or voidable by reason only that the spouses are of the same sex."

The Civil Marriage Act was born out of the courts' rulings in 8 of the country's 10 provinces declaring the ban on same-sex marriages to be unconstitutional because it violates Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

With its passage today through the House of Commons by 158-133 and, eventually, the Canadian Parliament (after the Senate approves it), this is a HUGE victory for equality. Yay for Canada :)

[words fail] They really do. To describe how tragically hateful and ignorant some Republican Senators are. In a continuation of my tirade against the eleven Republican Senators who refused to co-sponsor the Senate apology on lynching, money quote from Jabari Asim in the WP today:

"...some Republicans in the Senate are gearing up to push a constitutional amendment that would ban flag desecration. After four previous failures, it has a good chance of clearing the Senate -- which rejected anti-lynching legislation 200 times during the first half of the 20th century."

"It will be interesting to see if the senators who vote to ban flag burning include those who couldn't be bothered to take a symbolic stand against the far worse practice of burning people alive."

Their silence is deafening.

[know your numbers] Excellent article in the NYT today about cholesterol.

"...the goal for total cholesterol is 200 [mg/dL or milligrams per deciliter of blood] or less, preferably 180 if you want to remain heart-healthy...Based on current recommendations, people otherwise at low risk for heart disease should have an L.D.L. level of less than 130...the higher the blood level of H.D.L., the better, even if it means raising your total cholesterol level above 200."

"There is considerable evidence linking an increased risk of heart disease and stroke more strongly to low H.D.L. levels than to high L.D.L. levels. For every one-milligram rise in H.D.L., the risk for developing cardiovascular disease falls by 2 to 3 percent. An H.D.L. level of 60 milligrams or higher helps to protect against this major killer."

Last summer, my cholesterol was 116/58. My doctor said to work on reducing the LDLs to below 100 and increasing the HDLs to above 60. More fruits, vegetables, fish, blah blah blah and less red meat, got that.

I got a chuckle out of the last paragraph:

"In addition, alcohol consumed in moderation, helps to raise H.D.L.'s. Consuming one or two drinks a day can increase H.D.L. levels significantly. Beyond that amount, alcohol can have harmful effects on the heart and increase cancer risk."

JUN 27 :: [the new economy] At the close of stock trading today, 1 Google share (GOOG/$304.10) buys about 5 barrels of oil. Impressive, huh? Google's share price has tripled in the 10 months since its debut last August. Its market cap is now $84.5bn and its shares are trading at a staggering 120 times forward earnings (!). In the most recent available quarter (Q1 2005), Microsoft's revenues ($9.19bn) were 7.3 times Google's ($1.26bn). But Microsoft's market value is only 3 times bigger than Google's and more tellingly, it is trading at only 24 times forward earnings. My, how the mighty have fallen.

And back to the old economy, the world's ferocious appetite for oil continues unabated. Gas prices broke and stayed above the psychologically important $60 barrier today. - 60% higher than a year ago. At the pump, gas prices hit $2.24 today, 8 cents shy of the $2.32 record hit two months ago and 40% higher than a year ago. And yet, global consumption continues to rise. The world guzzles a staggering 84mn barrels (3.5 BN gallons) of oil per day or almost 41,000 gallons per second. No, you read that right.

If only Google made a car...

[lighter fare] Phew! Talk about a constitutional vomit of opinions this morning from yours truly, eh? ;) Anywho, on to the traditional Monday morning recital of weekend shenanigans...

This past weekend was a scorcher! 90+ both days but amazingly enough, low humidity and quite pleasant actually; although some would disagree. I'd much rather it be warm (but not humid) than cold. Don't like cold. Hate it, hate it, hate it.

A vast majority of gay DC (well, at least the prettier parts) fled the city for gay pride events everywhere or Rehoboth, as evident by the dearth of hot boys to look at everywhere we went. The list is endless as the final weekend in June seems to be the prime date for gay pride festivities: New York City, San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago, Seattle, Toronto, Mexico City, Rio, Berlin, Paris and let's not forget EuroPride in Oslo. With all those choices, who in their right mind would stay in town?

Oh, just us. And Noi/Johnathan (of Go Mama Go fame), Rob/Mikko/Muriel, Greg/Michael and Greg/Bill who we dined with at Marrakesh (trust me, don't bother) on Thursday night. And Chris/Tom/G who we lived up with at Obelisk (oh so fabulous) on Friday night. And Phillip/Fernando, Evan, etc. who partied with me at Gaypex after that. And the same usual suspects (plus Rick!) who partied even harder the next night at Cobalt. And then finally, Rick/M2/AndyP on Sunday when we laid out in the heat at the Circle, did the Capital BBQ battle, and then JR's.

So, really. We were all here :) Add to that our rotating dinner party at Roger/David's (Bali-style, no less) on Saturday night and it was a full weekend! No, we never left the city (why bother?), I didn't exercise... my credit card (shocking), and we were barely indoors the entire weekend. Giggle.

Yoga was painful on Saturday with Kimberly. It was crazy hot and humid and my intense vodka hangover from Apex resulted in me sweating two gallons of vodka during yoga (which I tried to lick up *giggle*). Apex was crazy fetch. The music in the back room was phenomenal. The climax was Missy's Work It at the end of the evening at which point, the crowd went ballistic. We would've shot further if it weren't for the DJ cutting the song short and turning on the ugly lights! Yes, it was 3am. What a buzzkill. Phillip/Fernando and I fled as quickly as we could. It wasn't a pretty scene ;)

Cobalt was far less fetch. It never got packed (it was still busy nonetheless) and the music was atrocious. The DJ should be fired. Yea, can you believe I went to the BBQ battle? LOL! It was meltingly hot and we gouged on many pounds of ribs, brisket, pulled pork, frozen lemonades (OK, margaritas), etc. We ate our way from the White House to the Capitol. Crazy! How could I neglect mentioning that I saw Phillip *again* on Sunday. That boy is so elusive I count myself incredibly blessed to have seen him every day this past weekend. Boy is also a whore. He was with a different boy each day. LOL!

And the weekend ended at JR's. Where the crowd was uh-gly. No kidding. Or maybe I was just too exhausted from prancing around in the outdoor heat all day. Whatever. Oh! How could I forget about our fetch Cristal experience with Tom/G on Friday before dinner. So, really. Our weekend went from Cristal to JR's. Full circle, if I may say so myself :)

Three more days left to the first half of the year. Time flies when the work weeks are dreadful and the weekends are full. We are, surprisingly, here this week and over Fourth of July w/end. Hex Hector is coming to Nation on Saturday *gasp* The beach beckons... And the nation turns 229 a week from today which means party time in the nation's capital! Woo!

OK, back to my daily grind. Ugh.

[misguided] Paul Krugman has lost his mind in his latest anti-China piece in the NYT. Nonetheless, I did find one of his musings particularly hillarious:

"Unocal sounds, in other words, like exactly the kind of company the Chinese government might want to control if it envisions a sort of "great game" in which major economic powers scramble for access to far-flung oil and natural gas reserves. (Buying a company is a lot cheaper, in lives and money, than invading an oil-producing country.)"

LOL! He is so funny when he tries not to be. But anyway, the Unocal issue is a classic case of protectionism. America and Americans gain nothing from being protectionist. We cannot preach (or strong arm) free market principles if we shy away from them when our interests are at stake. Let China buy Unocal at a staggering premium. The shareholders gain and nothing geo-politically catastrophic is going to happen (last I checked, Unocal is not the CIA or anything). Ignore Krugman and read Mallaby in the WP instead.

"China is, after all, a communist dictatorship, and we shouldn't assume its intentions are friendly. Equally, the American oil addiction is a genuine problem, and we should strive to break our dependence on potentially unstable suppliers such as Saudi Arabia. But although the Unocal bid seems to yoke these twin problems together, the appearance is deceptive. If you look for a convincing reason to block China's bid for Unocal, you're not going to find one."

Just because it's convenient, doesn't mean it's right.

[first amendment] Yes, my tirade just now is backed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. You can say whatever hateful and bigoted things you want about me and I can call you on it. It's collectively all of our right to free speech.

Which is why I am thoroughly opposed to a consitution amendment that bans flag burning. I don't support flag burning but I don't believe in stomping out somebody else's right to do so. The Editorial of the WP today:

"...one of the most profound principles that the Constitution articulates: that Congress shall make *no* law... abridging the freedom of speech. The great power of this principle is that it admits no exception: not for the most odious racism or Holocaust denial, not for the most insulting criticisms of those in high office, not for cone-shaped white hoods or hammers and sickles, and not for burning or otherwise defiling the Stars and Stripes. Passing this amendment probably wouldn't create a great substantive shift in the general scope of the First Amendment's protection, but it would sap it of the idea that gives it its power: that American government does not punish even the most offensive ideas. Congress does the flag no service with such protection."

The First Amendment: it gives us the right to piss each other off without being thrown in jail as long as we are not physically hurting each other. Flag burning harms no one. Protect it.

[church and state] A mixed verdict for the separation of church and state today. The Supreme Court ruled that Ten Commandments displays are not allowed at courthouses (KY) but are permissible on government land (TX state capitol grounds). The former, a reaffirmation of the secular nature of our democracy. The latter, contradictory to the former. And it's not a very strong reaffirmation either. The 5-4 (O'Connor on our side, go figure!) ruling in the courthouse case was perilously close to tipping to the far-right agenda of plastering the nation with religious symbols. Similar, the 5-4 (O'Connor on our side again... but Breyer on the other???) ruling in the Texas state capitol case made absolutely no sense whatsoever. The distinction is incomprehensible. Which part of the Ten Commandments is not religious and therefore does not violate the separation of church and state?

The First Amendment reads:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

With the two contradictory and sharply divided rulings, the Supreme Court basically said that displays of the Ten Commandments are not inherently unconstitutional, but the displays should take great pains to avoid the appearance or the conclusion of the government promoting religion. Huh?

In my mind, you can display the Ten Commandments all you want in a church but once you put it in a government building, whether it be the state capitol or a courthouse, it amounts to that entity (state or federal government) endorsing Christianity. There is no ambiguity about that. And that endorsement is prohibited by the Constitution. Again, no ambiguity. Justice Stevens writes in his dissent:

"The sole function of the monument on the grounds of Texas' State Capitol is to display the full text of once version of the Ten Commandments. The monument is not a work of art and does not refer to any event in the history of the state. The message transmitted by Texas' chosen display is quite plain: This state endorses the divine code of the Judeo-Christian God."

A mixed verdict indeed. I do take solace in the fact that Justice Breyer took great pains to remark that the Ten Commandments on the Texas state capitol grounds has been there for 40 years and it joins other monuments celebrating our nation's history. Which, to me, means that a small majority of the Supreme Court - in both cases - still believe and reaffirm the principle that government may not promote a religious message through its display of the Ten Commandments.

Pfffffttt, whatever. When did I become so PC and tolerant? We never got the same treatment from the far right religious conservative nuts. I'm here to gloat and celebrate about these rulings which I view as a victory for secularism in America. Take that, you bigoted, hateful right-wing bitches. Keep your anti-everything, ultra-radical agenda away from our courthouses, our schools and our government. The time for compromise is over. You won't see an ounce of it from us. You've pushed too far. Social progressives everywhere, stand up and fight!

Next stop, the Supreme Court nomination.

JUN 24 :: [high crimes] Paul Krugman in the NYT today:

"Leading the nation wrongfully into war strikes at the heart of democracy. It would have been an unprecedented abuse of power even if the war hadn't turned into a military and moral quagmire."

"And then there's the Downing Street Memo - actually the minutes of a prime minister's meeting in July 2002 - in which the chief of British overseas intelligence briefed his colleagues about his recent trip to Washington. "Bush wanted to remove Saddam," says the memo, "through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and W.M.D. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy." It doesn't get much clearer than that."

"On one side, the people who sold this war, unable to face up to the fact that their fantasies of a splendid little war have led to disaster, are still peddling illusions: the insurgency is in its "last throes," says Dick Cheney. On the other, they still have moderates and even liberals intimidated: anyone who suggests that the United States will have to settle for something that falls far short of victory is accused of being unpatriotic."

"We need to deprive these people of their ability to mislead and intimidate. And the best way to do that is to make it clear that the people who led us to war on false pretenses have no credibility, and no right to lecture the rest of us about patriotism."

Mr. President and Mr. Vice President, how dare you lecture anti-war folks that we are unpatriotic because we don't support your unceasing and relentless focus on getting rid of Saddam at all costs? *YOU* are the ones that are unpatriotic for endangering the lives of American soldiers and innocent Iraqi civilians through your obsession with war.

It was obvious then. It is obvious now. Dragging America into war for the wrong reasons, and then lying about it in our face, is "high crimes and misdemeanor". Impeachment will be the least severe punishment. Losing credibility? Hah! That's peanuts. Have you been to The Hague, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney?

JUN 23 :: [racism in 2005] Terry M. Neal writes in the WP today:

"There's not much these days that the two parties in Washington can rally around, as evidenced by the increasingly shrill tone here. You might think that one thing on which everyone in both parties could agree would be a resolution apologizing for the Senate's failure, over many decades, to make it a federal crime for racists to hunt black people like animals and hang them from trees."

"When the Senate passed just such a resolution last week, 21 senators had not signed on as co-sponsors. Three of those 21 were Democrats, who added their names the next day. Seven Republicans also signed on after the vote, leaving 11 Senators -- all Republicans -- who have yet to sign on as co-sponsors."

11 Republican Senators. That's 1 out of every 5. It's 2005. Really. Who the fuck is against a resolution condeming lynching?? Anyway, he goes on to write:

"Symbolic politics is the most powerful. Symbolic politics is about messaging. It's about code words. It's how a politician sends subtle cues about priorities and whose interests he or she is there to protect."

"Symbolic politics is Ronald Reagan launching his presidential re-election campaign by extolling the virtues of states rights in Philadelphia, Miss., where Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen killed three civil rights workers in 1964."

"Symbolic politics is the "white hands" ad that former senator Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) ran against African American opponent Harvey Gantt in 1990. Symbolic politics is George W. Bush going to speak at Bob Jones University in the 2000 presidential election campaign."

"From those symbolic events, black people ask, if you can't respect my history how can you protect my interest in Washington?"

We're not talking Civil War-era or even segregation days up until the 50s. This is the 80s and 90s we're talking about. And the 21st century for God's sake! The Republican Party's record on racial relations is disgusting. The politics of hate is strong and gets stronger every day in this party of red states. I thought they've moved on from hating blacks to hating gays but apparently, old habits die hard.

For the record, the 11 senators are: Alexander (TN), Bennett (UT), Cochran (MS), Cornyn (TX), Enzi (WY), Gregg (NH), Kyl (AZ), Lott (MS), Shelby (AL), Sununu (NH), and Thomas (WY).

People... America deserves better.

[screen on stead] It rained and it stormed but as it turned out, last night was the perfect night (a little chilly though) to sit under the stars for an outdoor Mommie Dearest movie-viewing at Stead Park. It was packed! And we smuggled in two bottles of wine ;) It was totally fun and the movie was crazy campy. Love it. Who was there? Um, everybody. Evan, Phillip/Fernando, Soochon/Bill/Al, M2/Andrew, Rick/Michael aka the rowdy Latinos ;), PR Andy and his gang of rowdy South Asians (lol), etc. I was pretty tired towards the end coz the movie didn't end till 11:30, ugh. I'm so sleepy today.

We have three back-to-back dinners beginning tonight - Marrakesh, Obelisk and a dinner party on Saturday. Which means you won't see me out at the bars this weekend. Yea, right.. famous last words. And no, you won't find me at Green Lantern tonight! :p

Hmm.. the Supreme Court ruled for eminent domain, which means bye-bye SE dick bars. For the record, Kennedy provided the decisive vote to the 4 liberal Justices in this case. $60/barrel!! It should be higher, I say. And home sales hit the 2nd highest on record, just short of last month's 7.18mn units. More importantly, the national median home price rose 12.5% (!!) to a record $207,000.

Speaking of homes, our alley is almost complete, yay! The brick-laid is GORGEOUS and I'm so excited about how much more this is gonna add to the value of the house monetarily and aesthetically. Speaking of house values, two houses identical to ours have gone on sale recently - one listed at $849k and the other for $995k. The $849k one sold (like a month ago?) and the $995k one probably sold but we're not sure coz the open house was 4 days ago. Anyway, rumor has it that the $849k one sold for, get this, $1.003mn (!!!). It's almost hard to believe not because the price is too high (d'oh, the higher the better) but because I just cannot believe anyone would put a $160,000 escalation clause on any house anywhere, much less this house 10 doors down! It's just unbelievable to the point of in-credible.

But you never know. Crazier things have happened. I'll be anxious and curious to find out. Time to sell? :)

JUN 21 :: [longest day] Today is the longest day of the year. Yes, it's the summer solstice again (if you *must* know, it occurred at 2:46am this morning). The sun rose at 5:43am and set at 8:36pm today. That comes out to 14h 53m of daylight, yippee!

It's close to midnight. It really does feel like the longest day. But I'm such a total geek that I had to include this before I fall asl..zzz.

[boomtown] The Washington DC metro area continued its boom last year, leading the nation in job creation with 77,000 new jobs in 2004, more than twice the number of runner-up Atlanta. The DC area gross regional product hit $313bn, ranked fourth in the nation - after NYC, LA and Chicago. And housing pices, with a median of $351,000, were the nation's fifth highest - after SF, LA, NYC and Boston.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

[i wannabe...] a Hilton! The funniest line of the evening from a hick as Kathy Hilton walks in: "Her shoes cost more than my mobile home"

LOL!!!

As one of the contestants is eating escargots: "It's an acquired taste... One that I have not yet acquired."

Giggle. So what is wrong with America?? I remember an Amazing Race episode where the contestants were choking on caviar... Caviar!! And now, these neanderthals are gagging over escargot. Hello? Give it to me! I'll eat it! Sheesh. I just had a big omakase sashimi dinner with Chris and I'm craving for snails...

Kathy Hilton would be so proud of me... ;) Wait, what am I saying, I *am* a Hilton!

[no winners] Bill Clinton caused a stir yesterday when, in an interview with FT in UK, said that Guantanamo "either needs to be closed down or cleaned up".

"Practical problem number one. If American or British troops get the reputation for abusing people in their prisons, it puts are own soldiers much more at risk when they are serving overseas."

"The second problem is, if you rough somebody up bad enough they'll eventually tell you, most of them, whatever you want to hear to get you to stop doing it. And if you run a dictatorship, maybe all you want is for somebody to say they are guilty. If you are trying to preserve and expand freedom you want to convict the guilty and exonerate the innocent. If people are abused and they confess, or the finger other people [sic], and you gather up those who are not guilty, then as a practical matter you've let the guilty go free."

Have you heard the stories coming out of Gitmo? Of course not. The American media, at the behest of the Bush Administration, has pretty much silenced and censored themselves when it comes to the now significantly less popular war on terror and the hugely unpopular Iraq war.

Note that only 4 of the 500 prisoners in Guantanamo have been formally charged with a crime. The so-called 20th hijacker was forcibly injected with fluids, not allowed to go to the toilet until he gave information, threatened with military dogs and kept awake by Christina Aguilera pop songs. The military tribunals are a sham. Bin Laden's driver is now mentally disturbed after being held in solitary confinement for seven months and was not allowed to see a defence lawyer unless he pled guilty to the charges made against him.

Gitmo interrogators would stand on the Quran and throw it away saying that the book teaches terrorism. Female interrogators used sexually-suggestive tactics such as touching Muslim detainees provocatively and, using dye, pretending to smear menstrual blood on the men.

If you are not aghast and horrified by all that, I'm not sure what will. The Yemen Times criticizes the Bush Administration as thinking that they have a "God given hold on infallibility and their rights are only governed by the evil interests they serve rather than the desire to enhance and uphold the rights and welfare of people all over the world."

What have we become? When will we say enough is enough? Close Guantanamo, I say. It is a memorial to torture.

60 years ago, there was another memorial to be created. Nagasaki was the site in preparation. And then as in now, the US military censored journalists who wrote about the horrors of the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"In a September 8, 1945 dispatch, Weller walked through the city -- a "wasteland of war" -- and found evidence to back the talk of radiation fallout from American radio reports."

"Though thousands of burn victims had died within a week after the attack, doctors were stumped by "this mysterious 'disease X'" which sickened and was killing many Japanese as well as allied soldiers freed from prison camps a month later."

"In swaybacked or flattened skeletons of the Mitsubishi arms plants is revealed what the atomic bomb can do to steel and stone, but what the riven atom can do against human flesh and bone lies hidden in two hospitals of downtown Nagasaki."

"One woman at a hospital "lies moaning with a blackish mouth stiff as though with lockjaw and unable to utter clear words," her legs and arms covered with red spots. Others suffered from a dangerously high-temperature fever, a drop in white and red blood cells, swelling in the throat, sores, vomiting, diarrhea, internal bleeding or loss of hair."

Whether necessary or not, war will forever be a topic of intense debate though sometimes it is the path of least resistance for so many who regard it so frivolously. But regardless of how you spin it or rewrite history, there are never any victors in a war. There are only memorials. And the horror stories that accompany them.

War creates "wastelands".

[second class] I definitely feel like a second-class, red-headed stepchild citizen here. Our offices are opening the roofdeck for the Fourth of July fireworks (we're like right next to the Capitol so the view will be fantastic). But. They are only opening it for government employees. Ugh!! Contractors get absolutely nothing here. It's pathetic. Hate it. Envious whores.

Not that I would've used it if they offered.

[dancing queen] Unveiling the fetch (re-)mixes and dance tunes in the sidebar to the right under the fetch tunes section. Check it out! I love to dance :)

[gay vague] Found this article over the weekend and thought it was funny enough to share ;)

"As gay men grow more comfortable shrugging off gay-identified clothing and Schwarzeneggerian fitness standards, straight men are more at ease flaunting a degree of muscle tone seldom seen outside of a Men's Health cover shoot. And they are adopting looks - muscle shirts, fitted jeans, sandals and shoulder bags - that as recently as a year ago might have read as, well, gay."

"The result is a new gray area that is rendering gaydar - that totally unscientific sixth sense that many people rely on to tell if a man is gay or straight - as outmoded as Windows 2000. It's not that straight men look more stereotypically gay per se, or that out-of-the-closet gay men look straight. What's happening is that many men have migrated to a middle ground where the cues traditionally used to pigeonhole sexual orientation - hair, clothing, voice, body language - are more and more ambiguous. Make jokes about it. Call it what you will: "gay vague" will do. But the poles are melting fast."

"Gay vague"... LOL! Fun read.

[no hope] This is outrageously hillarious. If Chief Ramsey can't keep his car from being stolen in DC, what hope do the rest of us have?

JUN 20 :: [foamy fun] The weekend was fetch as usual. Really. It's just that it's become so routine to look forward so much to the weekend and live it up, y'know? I know.. woe is me.

Friday night: Mike/Gary's shindig at Halo was followed by dinner at Rice which was fab as usual. I was gonna make it three-in-a-row for my "new bars week" after Nation and Green Lantern by going to Remington's but decided against it (too drunk, too far, too... country?), DC Cowboys or no DC Cowboys.

Finally went to yoga (for the first time in a month! yes, it's been that busy) on Saturday and am not happy to say that my entire body has been aching since. Yes, the perils of straying from your routine. The owner (who took over our Sat afternoon class) did say that we were ready for the next level. Me thinks she just wants more money from us ;)

Did Hank's Oyster Bar for dinner coz I'm pregnant and I was craving raw oysters ;) Is it me or is the food there just mediocre? Except for the oysters, of course! Rushed home, hopped on the Metro and met up with a bunch of crazy dudes and chicks in Chinatown before heading to Nation, woo! Nation was weird. Apparently the week after a big party (Pride last week) is usually a dud and it kinda was - it was practically empty. Well, I say that but Nation is so big that even though it was "empty", it still had a thousand or more ppl in there.

Anyways, we were feeling cheap so half-price cover before 11 and free drinks from 10-11. Fetch. Quite drunk by the time we started dancing at 11 and definitely drunk by the time we finished at 3. Oh and yes, there was a foam party outside on the lower deck. Hot! My problem with foam parties is, well, the foam. I just can't risk getting my hair wet and the foam is just, well, wet. But has that ever stopped me? Giggle. We waded in about waist-deep and decided that that was deep enough. It was still quite a (wet) blast though. Music in the foam party area was WAY better than the inside rooms which were practically deserted.

Foamy fun indeed. Doesn't all that sound so routine? ;) I guess that explains why I forgot to call my Dad for Father's Day, huh? (sorry Dad) OK, so here's the beef. In my defense, I sent a card! Yea, it sounds trivial to you but because the card has to travel to the moon to get to my dad, I had to remember to send it TWO weeks ago. Now, who remembers Father's Day two weeks in advance? Me! The mail is soooo slow between here and Malaysia. And in my bigger defense, there is a 12-hour time difference between DC and KL and I can't just call willy-nilly at anytime. I have to wait till the late evening or do it early morning coz otherwise, one of us is asleep. And you all know how my late Saturday evenings are. And we don't even want to talk about Sunday mornings...

Yes, I think I doth protest too much.

Anywho... Sunday was so quiet and the weather was soooo amazingly gorgeous outside (crediting Mike/Gary for bringing perfect LA weather to DC)... that we went shopping :D Well, I felt like exercising outdoors and what better way than to exercise my credit card. Besides, after all that drinking, I needed some therapy. Retail, that is.

So there ya have it. Another weekend passes that sounds the same as almost all the ones before it. Mondays are horrible. And have I mentioned it's cold outside?? I know, I'm such a whiney bitch but it's not even 70 degrees today, brrr. Things will be heating up by the end of the week though. NYC and SF Pride this weekend. We're stuck in town doing dinner parties and shit *yawn*

Don't feel like working, writing, doing, going, anything. Just want to sleep.

JUN 17 :: [fetch!] Thanks to Andy, my day and the rest of my weekend has just hit a very high note!

We *did* make it into MW! Woo! Shout out to LA Mike who labels the pic: "a new high in fetch-ness". Thanks again, Andy. I promise I won't make fun of you shirtless anymore... ;)

[11%] LOL! This is hillarious! Here's my result:

I am: 11% Republican.

"You're a tax-and-spend liberal democrat. People like you are the reason everyone else votes for guys like Reagan or George W."

Are You A Republican?

It would've been less if I didn't bungle up the Social Security question. My answer? "the disastrous misstep that broke down Constitutional limits on federal responsibility and turned us from a free Republic into a welfare state"

Giggle! You still love me...

[green is good] No, not the color of money, silly although that wouldn't be surprised coming from me, huh? ;) I'm talking about the environment. Thomas Friedman wrote an interesting piece on being "geo-green" in the NYT today. Geo-green is a combination of environmentalists who want to reduce fossil fuels that cause climate change and geo-strategists who want to reduce our dependence on crude oil because it fuels some of the worst regimes in the world.

"Having Toyota take over General Motors - which based its business strategy on building gas-guzzling cars, including the idiot Hummer, scoffing at hybrid technology and fighting Congressional efforts to impose higher mileage standards on U.S. automakers - would not only be in America's economic interest, it would also be in America's geopolitical interest."

Let GM die, I say (I can already hear Evan groan).

Toyota... one of the world's strongest and most admired brand, not to mention the pioneer of hybrid engine technology. He also mentions that a plug-in hybrid (to an electrical outlet) can store up to 20mi of driving per day which is what half of Americans do anyway on a daily basis. Anything beyond that would be covered by the hybrid. Add to that flex-fuel cars which have a special chip and fuel line that enable them to burn ethanol, gasoline or any mixture of the two. With these two technologies, he adds:

"...we don't need to reinvent the wheel or wait for sci-fi hydrogen fuel cells. The technologies we need for a stronger, more energy independent America are already here. The only thing we have a shortage of now are leaders with the imagination and will to move the country onto a geo-green path."

Green is, indeed, good. The consequences are obvious, the solutions even more so. So where's the will?

[axis of evil] An excellent article by E. J. Dionne Jr. in the WP's "Where's The Apology?":

"The autopsy in the Terri Schiavo case provides a rare moment of political accountability. We should not "move on," as Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist suggested. No, we cannot move on until those politicians who felt entitled to make up facts and toss around unwarranted conclusions about Schiavo's condition take responsibility for what they said -- and apologize."

"Right-to-life politicians have done terrible damage to a serious cause. They claimed to know what they did not, and could not, know. They were willing to imply, without proof, terrible things about a husband who was getting in their way. Instead of making the hard and morally challenging case for keeping Terri Schiavo on life support, they spun an emotional narrative that they thought would play well on cable TV and talk radio."

"No, we should not move on. We should remember that some politicians will say whatever is necessary to advance their immediate purposes. Apologies, anyone?"

Bush and his armchair doctor-lawyers in Congress rewrote basic principles of federal law to rig the results of one family's tragic fight. They owe a profuse apology to the Schiavos, and to all Americans. But will they? Hah! Of course not. Bush has never apologized for anything in office. Not the massacre of innocent civilians in Iraq, much less intervening in private family matters. Frist and DeLay? LOL! Their abuse of power is stuff of legends. Bush-Frist-DeLay: America's new Axis of Evil.

[so not fetch] OK, I'm exaggerating. The weather was and is *beautiful* these past two days, and will be through the weekend followed by seasonably warm weather next week. And I *did* have fun last night. And no, my life is not crashing down. And yes, my weekend is stacked and it's gonna be a riot, I can already tell.

But. The juice on my iPod died again this morning (grr) so I had to drive in to work (well, I didn't *have* to but you get my drift) this morning. I decided, oh why not get a car wash since my car is filthy from sitting on the streets (yes, they are still rebuilding the alleyway). So off I go to my favorite carwash and there I learnt two things: some fucking SUV backed into the grill between the bumper and the hood so it's now all caved in and shit (it *had* to be an SUV coz of the height, yet another reason to hate those fucking vehicles), and the seam around the leg of my pants came off so I've been stepping on it and making it dirty all this time.

Drama? I don't think so ;)

And THEN, to top off the skanky, unfetch week... Peter, Evan and Andy dragged me (definitely not against my free will) to JR's and Green Latrine last night *GASP*. I won't even dignify last night with a description of what happened but let's just say that Thursdays at the Latrine is shirtless-men-drink-for-free night. That plus happy hour at JR's? Quite a combo. Did I take my shirt off for free drinks? Well, you had to be there. Was it a good time? Hell yea. Was it fetch? Um, hello, the Latrine? Obviously unfetch.

Not to mention this. Gary was in DC so he had no idea but Mike was like "oh, I was just driving around and yea, the ground moved". Jaded LA queens... Ooh! Speaking of jaded LA queens, Phillip is in LA this w/end to see Janet at the HRC gala. Fetch. Why didn't I go?

And the pinnacle of unfetch - Metro Weekly didn't have a picture of us in the Pride issue! I'm absolutely horrified. Don't they know who we are?! Envious whores.

And there ya have it. It's been quite unhappening this past week. This weekend promises to make up for it big time though. Stay tuned :)

JUN 15 :: [laughably stupid] But coming from Bush, what's new, right? Here's what he had to say about Democrats at a fundraiser last night:

"On issue after issue, they stand for nothing except obstruction, and this is not leadership. It is the philosophy of the stop sign, the agenda of the roadblock, and our country and our children deserve better. Political parties that choose the path of obstruction will not gain the trust of the American people. If leaders of the other party have innovative ideas, let's hear them. But if they have no ideas or policies except obstruction, they should step aside and let others lead."

Um, last I checked, Republicans control the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Your own people are obstructing your much maligned agenda. But it's far easier to blame the "other party" than to govern, isn't it? Yes, our country and our children definitely deserve better.

JUN 14 :: [euphoric bubble] The euphoric bubble that was Pride 2005 has been pricked by the relentless daily grind called work. The week is getting less and less fetch as it progresses.

But I've got a new laptop (just in today!) to keep me busy so I'm gonna go play with that for the next few days. Plus, Mike/Gary are slated to be in town this weekend and Tom/G get back from California, so it'll get better I'm sure. In the meantime, I'll leave you with some pictures from Pride. They're not particularly good (camera phone) and furthermore, we didn't take pictures of the parade coz we were in it!

Me, after a night out in Nation
Phillip, emerging from the Dupont Circle Metro
Me and Phillip, looking awfully drunk (and sleepy) in the Metro post-Nation
Remnants of a fabulous Pride weekend

And more Pride pictures in the my friends section at the bottom... Enjoy!

JUN 13 :: [innocent] Acquited. 'Nuff said.

[destiny fulfilled] Oh no... Destiny's Child is no more :( At least we still have Beyonce! :)

[morally superior] Wow. Fred Hiatt at the Post today in "The Right Conversation for America":

"The Post has criticized the administration for failing to give detainees hearings as called for under the Geneva Conventions; for writing memos that toyed with the definition of torture and undermined long-standing Army restraint in questioning prisoners; for prosecuting low-ranking soldiers while giving the brass a pass; for allowing the CIA to hold prisoners beyond the reach of the International Red Cross or any other monitor; and for refusing to empanel a truly independent commission to examine accountability for prison abuse up the chain of command, up to and including the White House."

"Rumsfeld does not accept The Post's assessment of these events. But even if he did, as I understand his comment, he would point out that none of these offenses, even if accepted as true, is as heinous as filling a mass grave."

"But just invoking such a comparison, even implicitly, amounts to a loss for the United States. If we have to defend ourselves by pointing out that we are morally superior to terrorists, it's a loss."

Great stuff. But wait, there's more:

"The United States and this administration in particular continually assert the moral right to behave differently than other nations. We will not be bound by the International Criminal Court. We insist that other nations give up their nuclear weapons while we keep our own. We wage war without U.N. Security Council approval. We publish annual report cards on everyone else's human rights records."

"The premise of this highhandedness is that the United States is, on balance, a force for good in the world -- a superpower that uses its might not to subjugate others but to allow them to live freely. This is a premise that The Post's editorial page on the whole accepts -- to the dismay of many readers."

"But any nation asserting such a high calling will be judged by an equally high standard. Are we better than the beheaders, the mass killers, the U.N. peacekeepers raping young girls in the Congo? That's not close to the right question."

"Do we behave as well as we claim, as we should, as we expect of others? That's the beginning of the right conversation -- and why it's fair to write more editorials about exceedingly mild Koran abuse at Guantanamo Bay than about the unspeakable mass graves of Hilla."

The right conversation for America today is the one that this Administration is doing its damnedest to suppress and curtail. If we're so morally superior, so a force for good in this world, and so for freedom and living freely, why do we wage war on our own citizens? The poor, the minorities, the women, the gays, the uninsured, etc. There *may* not be a solution but if we don't talk about it, there will *never* be one.

[it's hot] DC weather was channelling Paris Hilton coz it was hot and got hotter on Sunday. We woke up, barely able to walk and made it to brunch at Dupont Grille with Evan/Henric/Andy. From there, we Metro-ed down to the Festival where it was soooo mercilessly hot we decided to park ourselves under the vodka tent next to the stage. For FIVE hours. LOL! It's harsh to drink outside in the sweltering heat amidst sweaty bodies but puh-leez gurl, we're talking alcohol here. I've never been known to turn a drink (or five) down. But really, the heat was ridick. DC was sunburn city what with all the shirtless guys walking around (cue Evan who burnt his legs instead).

So for the second year in a row, I didn't walk the festival at all. We just stood and drank all day under the tent. Lots of ppl that we knew filed in and out. We were holding court while all our friends mingled in and out of the tent. It was a great way to spend the day and when Deborah Cox appeared on the stage, the crowd went absolutely wild! Her music is totally gay and totally awesome. She herself looked absolutely fierce in an outfit that was, dare I say, more fetch than ours the night before. Hot!

All good things must come to an end so we headed up to Full Kee for dinner before coming home... a good 9 hours after we left the house. I was completely exhausted and slept like a baby last night. Oh, P/S: If you wanted to know where Rick was the entire weekend, you'll have to ask him. Gurl had major drama (and trauma). Whatev.

So in the end, Pride was all about parties after all. Sure, there were the political floats during the Parade and speeches during the Festival. But for all intents and purposes (and to most ppl anyway), Pride is just another excuse for us crazy gays to party it up one more time. More fabulously and more out during Pride weekend, of course. I guess visibility is a goal but really, unless you live in bumfuck Kansas, we're everywhere. We don't need Pride to show that we're everywhere. But if you've just come out and you're unsure of your place in the world, you will never forget your first Pride. The sensation of liberation and community and belonging (although in DC with all the nasty bitter jaded bitchy queens around, the latter two are debatable *grin*) is almost hard to explain. All I can say is when I first went to Pride 7 years ago here in DC, I kept saying to myself: "I'm not alone, I'm free!". It's spine-tingling and earth-shattering all at once.

And after a few more Prides, you'll want to march in it. The feeling of being in the Parade and the crowd looking at you thinking "that looks SO much fun!", is incredible. You just have to do it once. Working the crowd into a frenzy is priceless. But really, at the end of the day, there wouldn't be a reason to go out, party, have fun and be proud of who we all are if it weren't for our partners (licks to Tony) and our friends. Couldn't live without them and they're the reason I'm proud to be who I am.

Hope y'all had a hot and happy Pride!

[we love cox!] Deborah and Chris, that is ;) Gurrrls, the party never stopped. So we get to JR's only to find out we didn't have ID or money. We were looking in from outside like envious whores as the outdoor tent was in full-blown party mode. Well, an hour later, we had made our grand entrance, sashayed through the crowd with our chopsticks and kimono, had free drinks and left. Giggle! Anybody with the right mind would've wanted us in their party. Our IDs and currency were our fetch outfits and fabulous selves. Love us.

Off we went to shower and change, took the top down and drove to Go Mama Go for the post-parade dinner. Yum. Definitely needed food at 10pm after marching and sweating all day! The night got wilder when Tony drove us (in my convertible) to Cobalt. We had Milkshake blasting when Phillip and I hopped out à la Paris and Nicole to make a grand entrance into Cobalt... only to find out that the lines were out the ass. And the cover was double. Ridick.

So we sneak in through Foodbar and my friend working the door not only let us in, he charged me no cover! Giggle. (No, I haven't slept with any of them to get this :p I'm just fabulous, that's all) Cobalt was a madhouse. The JR's crowd had migrated up the street to party with the 70s, 80s, 90s and then at the stroke of midnight, 2005 music! As befitting our status, the moment we strode into Cobalt, they played Vogue! Wicked. "Don't just stand there, let's get to it, strike a pose there's nothing to it, Vogue". We met a WeMo and made her our new best friend (um, WeMo stands for Western Mongolian, d'oh). They played Madonna after Madonna after Madonna. It was in-fucking-credible.

We were so over the model-pretty crowd by 12:30 so Phillip and I made our way to Nation. It was my first time ever (yes, I'm no longer a Nation-virgin) and lemme tell ya, it was THE SHIT! It was totally B-A-N-A-N-A-S! Two grand entrances (um, JR's and Cobalt, d'oh.. can you keep up?) later, our celebrity status had worn off and we had to stand in line with the heathens and pay cover to get in (and pay for our drinks too! Not fetch) but once inside, OHMIBEYONCE. Have you been?? You *MUST* go. The music is OOC and OTT! The crowd was out-of-control and over-the-top fabulous. It was *the* party place, gurls. The music in the smallish room (trust me, it was still HUGE) on the right with the platform was the best I've heard in DC so far. All our gurls were featured - Madonna, MJ, Ciara, Missy, Mariah, Gwen, Britney, Xtina, etc. Phillip and I burnt a hole in the dance floor. The music was so hot I almost came. We spent a few minutes in the main room, humping and thumping to Chris Cox but it was way too hot and sweaty so we went back to the platform and danced the night away till the last Metro train took us exhausted geishas home... Seriously folks, Nation is it.

[harajuku girls] Oh my Beyonce. The 30th Annual Capital Pride weekend in DC was a complete blast!!! The weekend started off with... a haircut, of course. What's a girl to do but to look her best for Pride, right? Paris would agree, I'm sure. Speaking of Paris, she was the grand marshal (thanks for the hot pic, Gary!) for LA Pride, FETCH! So jealous. Oh wow, looks like Paris graced LOTS of gayboicameras in LA. Check this one out; I call it the "perfect picture" (courtesy of Phillip's friend Brian don't-remember-his-last-name... gurl, you're such a whore, LOL!). Anyways, not only did they have better weather, they had Paris! And WeHo boys too but let's not even compare... Oooh and update from my mean girl in LA: As Paris was waving to the screaming crowd, those WeHo boys kept screaming "we love you Paris!" and she screamed back "I love you bitches!". LOL!!! I would've pre-cummed if I was there.

Anyways, Friday night was pretty tame. Home by midnight after JR's and Chris/Dave's party (filled with redneck relatives, ew, sprinkled with occasional fetch and relatively mean girls, love them!) and shopping for makeup (*gasp*) at CVS with Rick, giggle. I'm sorry, I had no idea that makeup costs this fucking much. You gurls have it harsh. Anywho, the festivities on Saturday started at 3pm when all the float participants piled into our house for a dress-up staging party. It was hot as shit outside but our outfits were even hotter! Phillip and I skanked off to our own private dressing and waiting areas (in my bedroom, natch) and drank a whole bottle of White Star (thanks, Gary!). We're hot. Anywho, I digress... We were marching with the Go Mama Go/NGLTF float and the theme was "a little Carnival, a little Asia"; or as I would like to call it "Bangkok meets Venice".

Noi (owner of Go Mama Go and the Queen who paid for the whole thing) had this Madonna-in-Carnival outfit complete with cone bras, her "King" - Matt (NGLTF) - was in a Maharajah outfit, Rob/Mikko had fetch orange vests on with awesome sarongs, Kevin/Dan were in it too, and Phillip and I (the most important components of the float, of course) were Harajuku Girls! Even Tony dressed up :D Anyway, both Phillip and I were identically dressed in kimonos and sashes (mine was purple and pink, his was brown with bright red roses), chopsticks and big poofy flowers in our hair, fan on one hand and a parasol in the other. We looked TOTALLY fierce! And everyone else thought so too (although Phillip was fiercer, own it gurl!). We had so many fans along the parade route they all wanted pictures (we should've charged). We traded curtsies for alcohol, people were grabbing our kimonos, lifting them up and groping our outfits, LOL! The funny part was we were both only wearing swim trunks (shake that Pucci, gurl!) which is the least I've worn in public outside of the beach. Giggle! Everyone wanted a piece of us Harajuku whores (we did start off as girls but couldn't resist the insanely hot boys along the route). We totally worked it. Hot.

The craziest parts of the parade were the Circle itself, all along 17th St, and in front of Whole Foods where the judges stand was. Yes, the floats were competing against each other for bragging rights but after I saw the Results float, I pulled Noi aside and said "honey, I know they don't announce the results till tomorrow but here's a sneak preview: we lost". Gurl, the Results float was fucking (no, really!) fierce! Put (almost) naked boys on a two-story high float and blast out some of the best mixes on the planet and you have a winner! The Parade seemed to go on forever though, and we ended up in Thomas Circle (wtf?!) and had to traipse back to 17th St after that which was not fetch after marching for 2+ hours in the hot, blazing weather for 2 miles. But we had a goal and it was JR's... Woo!

JUN 10 :: [happy pride!] It's Pride weekend! Finally. I'm marching in the Parade tomorrow ;) The forecasted heat and humidity is not gonna be fetch but hopefully I'll survive. This whole weekend is gonna be steamy one way or another. So, bring it on!

Guess what I'm wearing? Giggle. A kimono! Yes, Phillip and I are going as Harajuku girls (we were the "inter-galactic geisha mafia" initially but that's a mouthful and not in a good way). It's gonna be wild. We're marching in the joint Go Mama Go-NGLTF float. Fierce. Come cheer us on!

So... 30 years of Capital Pride. What are we celebrating? Diversity? The fight for equal rights? The heroes of the past 30 years who've gotten us this far? The ability to scream our pride of who we are at the top of our lungs? The time to party our asses off? All of the above, of course!

If anything, let's not make this about a day of megaphone speeches about how far we've come, blah blah. Let's just party. Coz by having the best time of our lives, we'll continue to show that the agendas of the ppl who are hellbent on crushing us are just plain mean-spirited and un-American. We'll make them miserable by partying, having fun, celebrating, being us, being strong, and being proud!

Happy 30th Pride!

[hot, hot, hot] There is a gigantic heat dome parked over the East Coast this whole week. And the lid is shut. It feels like a pressure cooker. Heat, humidity, the whole shebang. There is no escape. The only thing hotter than the weather yesterday was the crowd at JR's.

Have you been by JR's recently? It looks like a fucking gay pinata exploded all over it. Fetch.

And T.S. Arlene is making her move.

JUN 9 :: [conundrum] Even Greenspan doesn't know what to make of this. When the Feds started raising short-term interest rates from 1% a year ago to 3% today, Greenspan (and the rest of the world) expected bond yields on 10-yr notes to rise in tandem thus causing US Treasury prices to fall. Y'know, when interest rates rise, how else to convince a bond investor to buy your lower-interest bond from yesterday unless you discount the price and increase the yield? (d'oh)

But ah-hah! The bond markets are not reacting this way. No matter how high interest rates go, bond yields have fallen from 4.58% on 6/30/04 to 3.96% i.e. investors are still (dangerously) buying bonds/Treasuries at record pace even though they are seemingly and logically unattractive. A lot of that could be because there is really no alternative: Treasuries are such a safe-haven right now coz the Japanese and European bonds suck. And international investors (incl. the voracious Chinese) have been mopping up Treasury bonds as fast as we can print them (thus financing our twin deficits, yay!). The Asian countries are buying lots of dollars in the forex market to defend their pegged currencies (for trade competitiveness' sake) and instead of letting them sit idle, they are re-investing trillions of dollars worth back into Treasury bonds; and they are buying them at lower-than-acceptable yields. Which allows us to keep borrowing, racking up bigger and bigger deficits. Quite an imbalance, no? *Or*, the rush for bonds - surest form of investment - could mean that investors expect the economy to slow (or crash) and are therefore heading for the hills (Treasuries).

Which is it? Are you following me so far? Can you keep up? ;) Or have you lost your breath? Or stopped reading altogether coz I'm rambling about something that has nothing to do with "fetch" or "fabulous"? :p Bitches, pay attention.

What happens when yields stay low? Well, mortgage rates stay low, of course, which is exactly what's been happening. And the longer they stay low, the longer the housing "bubble" continues. Inflationary pressure kicks in and the Feds raise the rates even more. Greenspan thought he could get away with raising the rates a little, hoping that the mortgage market will cool off, and thus pre-empting rampant inflation (and a housing bubble). But the bond yields decided to play tricks on us and the bubble remains unpricked. And at some point, the rates will be so out of balance that the economy makes a hard-landing. But inflation is non-existent and yields are low, so why raise rates?

So which is it? Investors are betting on a slowdown? Or are they just willing to accept low yields because inflation - the beast - has been forever tamed? Or are international investors changing the whole equation through currency manipulation and trade? Even a slight misread could prove disastrous.

Yes, a conundrum indeed.

OK, you can stop yawning now *smack*. I can't keep writing about mindless shit day in and day out, can I? Gotta have some semblance of intelligence...

[not so white] July 2004 Census Bureau figures: US population = 294mn, Hispanics = 41.3mn (14%), Blacks = 39.2mn (13.3%), Asian-Pacific Islanders = 15m (5.1%), Native Americans = 4.4mn (1.5%). That leaves non-Hispanic whites at 197.8mn (67.3%). The Census Bureau also predicts that by 2050, Hispanic/Asian populations will triple in size and minority groups will form half the population of the United States. Already, three states in the US (HI, NM and CA) no longer have a majority ethnic group i.e. minority majority. California is the largest and was the most dramatic when in 1999, non-Hispanic whites dropped below 50% of the state population. Fully 1/3rd of all Asian-PIs in the US, live in California (why am I not there?) forming 1 in 9 people there. Does California lead America?

Diversity rules!

[who wants to be...] A millionaire! There are 2.5mn millionaires in the US; and 5.8mn in the rest of the world. Combined wealth: $30.8 trillion. That's about three times the size of the US economy. That's a LOT of wealth!

It's even more startling when you consider the pure definition of "millionaire" used in this survey: investable financial (quasi-liquid) assets only. The equity in your house(s) - or any other real estate - doesn't count (if you count real estate assets excl. primary residence, the number of millionaires triple... not exactly exclusive, is it?). So, are you in or out? ;)

[metro delays] Yes, I have been writing an awful lot about my Metro commute lately (mostly the ghastly walk to and from the Metro stations). But really, it's been a pretty smooth ride for the past 6 weeks or so since I began riding Metro. Trains have been fast, on-time, and wait-times have been minimal - rush hour trains come one after another. Yes, they've been packed but not crazily so (well, at least not at the hours I ride it). My 12min Metro ride to go 6 stations was pleasant enough.

But then came yesterday. I've always thought that the Alerts on Metro's website that say "14-minute delay on the Red Line in the direction of Shady Grove" meant that the trains were running 14-minutes late i.e. instead of arriving at 8:31, they are now arriving at 8:45. So I never bothered checking them coz I was like, who cares, right? DC is not Tokyo, d'oh. Nothing is on time here. And so what? The trains are still running and there'll be other trains on the platform, right? I really don't NEED to catch the one at 8:31, I'll just catch the one that was supposed to arrive at 8:17 but is now 14mins late.

Stop laughing. I swear I'm such a silly goose sometimes. Yes, my name is Kiat and I'm a ditz. But really I had no idea what those alerts meant... until yesterday. My evening commute home was a classic "15-minute delay on blah blah". It was the Blue/Orange line. And the 15-minute delay thingie? It meant instead of taking 7mins to go 4 stations, it's now gonna take 22mins. *THAT'S* what those alerts meant. D'oh!! We crawled, and stopped, and lurched, and inched our way from station to station. It was relentless. The train must've stopped 7 times between stations. It was miserable. I have never been so happy to see Metro Center in my life.

THIRTY minutes on the Metro later... *groan* You bet I'm gonna check the website Alerts from now on. And you can bet that I'll take the alternate route (Yellow/Green to Chinatown) if the Orange/Blue acts up again. Delays are not fetch!!

JUN 8 :: [i'm madonna] Oh my MadonnaEstherRitchieCiccone (phew, that was a mouthful)... I'm Madonna! Actually, I think Madonna is channeling me today, giggle! (uh-huh, yea OK... "Delusional, party of one! Your table's ready!")

No but really, check this out. Her quote from Ladies' Home Journal about dealing with marital problems:

"If I have a problem, I want to work it out, right now. My husband is like, 'Let's talk about it in two days.' ... I have to prove that you're wrong now! Sometimes I need to learn to bite my tongue."

LOL! That's me! I haven't really learnt the "bite my tongue" part yet but really, I'm only in the umm... eighth year of my relationship? Giggle.

[do u speak bitch-enese?] So I've bitched about the weather for the past few days. "It's rainy", "It's hot", "It feels like Cambodia", "Fuck humidity!!!"... I shouldn't complain so much. Hot is way better than cold. Besides, I love taking layers off :) So, I'm just gonna chill today and appreciate the warmth that's summer in DC.

Umm, so... the heat index today is 98 degrees. Aahhhhhhhh!!!

JUN 7 :: [i feel the earth] ... move... at 7:30 this morning!!! Bastards. Actually, they are excavating the alley beside/behind our house to make a new and fetch one. Woohoo! I'm pretty excited coz the new brick alleys that Rob/Mikko got on their street are awesome. Still, the whole *thump* *thump* *thump* thing was loud as fuck. Who starts work at 7 in the morning?? Aren't there laws against that?

This saga started last winter when I got fed up with scraping my undercarriage on potholes the size of Uranus (ur anus, get it?) so I fired off e-mail after e-mail to the mayor, to the city, to my councilmember, to anyone who would listen. And finally, they did! The city does work :) It sucks that construction might take up to 2 months and for that entire time, we can't access our driveway but no pain, no gain, right?

Anyways, not feeling so fetch today from the weekend. Must've caught a bug or something. Kinda congested and coughy. I'll get over it by this weekend. I have to. I'm marching in the Pride parade!

[the lifeblood] Ohmi-pregnant-BFS (speaking of which, where *is* that skank?), the Metro was a zoo this morning. Commuter traffic was high (I guess it's too muggy to walk to work) but the tourist traffic was hellatious. Riding the Metro everyday really makes you appreciate the fact that the DC subway system is essential to the city, carrying hundreds of thousands of people everyday (680,000 at last count). It's far less essential to DC than it is to, say, NYC, Tokyo, HK or London but it's still pretty important. After NYC (a loooong way after), DC is the busiest subway system in the US. As busy as the DC one is, can you imagine: the HK's MTR subway system is half the length of the DC Metro system but carries 4 1/2 times as many people per year! We have a long way to go before we join the ranks of the elite mass transit cities.

It's funny, now that I've ridden the subway for a few months now, I've developed a pattern whereby I get on the most convenient car (usually; sometimes it's damn near impossible) that allows for a quick transfer at Metro Center and a quick exit at Federal Center SW and vice-versa at Dupont Circle. And you see the same, familiar faces on the same cars every morning of people who think the same way. We never talk. We know each other exists (barely). But we're too busy reading/listening to music/brushing our hair/painting our nails/etc. to care. It's called public transportation but we all pretend we're in our own little private bubble.

JUN 6 :: [random] Yea, it fucking stormed. And it's now in the 60s. So all the heat and humidity was just a prelude to a crazy summer storm that lasted 15 minutes.

Anyways, bored and nowhere to go. Random pics. Dupont Circle on a beautiful day, the canopy over the south entrance to Dupont Metro, and presents from my birthday party. My evil bitch of a friend, David, gave me a collection of "old maid" necessities - reading glasses (pink tube), hair dye, diet food, junk food, and - what else - Preparation-H! LOL! With friends like these...

[be careful] ... what you wish for! This whole subway commute thing was soooo alluring that I practically begged for it - changing jobs so that I won't have to drive to exurbia everyday anymore. Well, it is hard to appreciate how miserable the weather in DC is until a day like today hits... and it's not even the worst yet!

It's, oh, 90 plus degrees outside right now with a humidity of 60+% which means the heat index is like, oh I dunno, a thousand? Does it matter? It's just wicked hot. The air is so thick outside Bree could make soup out of it. And to make matters worse, the heat and humidity drove EVERYone into the Metro. My swampy subway commute home was jam-packed with commuters and tourists. And lemme tell ya, tourists that have been out walking all day in tank tops? I practically begged one of them to hold on to the vertical poles instead of the ones on the ceiling. Peeee-ew, nasty.

I can say this about Metro though: air-conditioned cars and platforms, thank God. I cannot imagine how the ppl in London and NYC deal with the heat in the summer.

Yes, be careful what you wish for. Or you'll end up with a swamp commute. It's hot and getting hotter in DC! Summer's officially here :)

[she's back! Hillary herself, of course! Check this out from "Women for Hillary" in Midtown Manhattan this morning:

"There has never been an administration, I don't believe in our history, more intent upon consolidating and abusing power to further their own agenda."

"I know it's frustrating for many of you; it's frustrating for me: Why can't the Democrats do more to stop them?"

"I can tell you this: It's very hard to stop people who have no shame about what they're doing. It is very hard to tell people that they are making decisions that will undermine our checks and balances and constitutional system of government who don't care. It is very hard to stop people who have never been acquainted with the truth."

"You know, during the Clinton administration, we used to talk about building a bridge to the 21st century. This administration wants to build a bridge to the 19th century."

"They want to undo and turn the clock back on the progress of the 20th century, whether it's the right to organize, whether it's the right to be able to have a choice when it comes to the most private and intimate decisions that a woman has to make, whether it is to protect the environment."

Hillary for President! Giggle ;)

[technolust] D'oh, I work in IT so technology is obviously a huge craving for me. Take a look at this: UA (my airline of choice!) and Verizon are introducing sky-fi (wi-fi in the sky). Yay!! No more boring transcon flights. The bad news? It's only approved for the 757s and only for domestic. Boo. I need internet, everywhere, all the time!

Apple is contemplating color screens on iPod minis. Woohoo! I can't wait to upgrade. And this is huge - Microsoft is gonna provide mobile messaging for free to almost all cellphone users (bye, bye Blackberry).

What do all three things have in common? Mobility. We want wireless, we want entertainment, we want to stay connected, and we want it all to go. In a venti cup, please ;)

[hypocrites] The Supreme Court ruled today to ban the use of medical marijuana nationwide, regardless of what the states' legislatures decide to do within their own boundaries. Well, I don't quite agree with this decision but what's notable is the fact that the dissenters in the 6-3 opinion were, *drumroll*, O'Connor, Rehnquist and Thomas. And their reason? The Federal government shouldn't trample on states' rights.

Hah! What a bunch of hypocritical quacks. Where were these "states' rights backers" when they overruled the Florida Supreme Court in Bush v Gore, thus sealing Gore's fate in the 2000 Election? What a farce.

[b-a-n-a-n-a-s!] Wow, this past weekend was THE SHIT! B-A-N-A-N-A-S!! A complete blowout on Friday night was followed by another drunken extravaganza on Saturday night which led to a decidedly staid Sunday.

It all started with best-laid plans for Friday evening - drag-fitting (don't worry, you'll all hear about this soon enough) at Go Mama Go was followed by Halo with Warren, Duplex with Rick and then Cobalt with Evan. Yup. It's quite bananas. One drink was followed by another. And then another. I mean, we didn't even go upstairs to dance at Cobalt, we just stayed downstairs at the Pottery Bar and drank alllll night. While at Cobalt, I hooked up with Paul and his band of young pretty things including this fabulous chick who, *drumroll*, turned out to be aNOTHER Republican. Argh!! But she was fabulous and I was beyond drunk so we clung together like Jack and Karen all night. And before you know it, the ugly lights came on at Cobalt and we were all unceremoniously kicked out of Cobalt. I got home at 4am. Not-so-fetch. I was SO tired all day Saturday. But that didn't stop me at all from going B-A-N-A-N-A-S on Saturday night!

All good weekends climax at Buca so off we went, the sinful 6 - Dave/Alyssa, Tom/G, Tony and me - plus Karen and her bf for an obscene amount of fabulously spong (yes, revolting but alluring) Italian food, limoncello shots and chianti. And as with all Buca outings, this one ended with all of us stumbling on each other on the way out. Totally immoral and fetch. Shit-faced and super-trashed, we stumble outside and hmm, did we go home? Oh no... noooooooo. We went to Duplex. Where the boys are hot but most of them are only so coz the drinks are so strong you can barely see. Before I continue, lemme tell you that Tom is evil. He is an enabler and he's good at it. His drunken stupors and the outings that precipitate them are stuff of legends. Still upset that they're moving to SF.

Oh my Beyonce. We didn't get home that late (maybe 3?) but I was beyond shit-faced. Sunday was very, very harsh. I could barely move and my body was wasted and dehydrated to the point of achiness. In fact, I am still rehydrating for the weekend right now. We did manage to take in the glorious (less humid) weather on Sunday - walking to the Circle to hook up with M3 and Andy, followed by checking out fetch furniture at the new DWR - shouldn't it be DOOR? Design Out Of Reach? Gurrrrl, have you seen those prices?! - store in Adams Morgan, and then H&M, then Universal Queer (gurrrl, I was everywhere!), etc. At some point, I went to bed thinking - this weekend was THE SHIT, is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

And guess what? It's pride week. Yes. Note to self: Do not go out Tuesday through Saturday night the week before Pride because you are just asking for a repeat. Bring it on!

[swamp city, usa] Ew, yuck, gros. It was 82 degrees this morning when I left the house. And the humidity was like 80+%! Love the heat, hate the humidity. There's a reason why I left Malaysia ;)

And it's about to get even hotter. It's gonna top 90 degrees tomorrow, ugh! I guess I should leave earlier in the morning to escape the heat, right? Um, let's think about this... waking up before 8? Not gonna happen. I'll just deal with the heat.

Don't you just love it that our forefathers loved the government so much they decided to build it on swampland? Not to mention the cruel and unusual punishment of convening Congress here 200 years ago without air-conditioning. I cannot imagine. Those ppl are nuts! (and they still are)

Why is the weather here not like Southern California... sigh.

JUN 3 :: [london rain] It's been quite a few years since I experienced the London rain. Y'know, the type of rain that is so light that it's barely worth carrying an umbrella for but there's enough moisture in the air for it to soak you through. And an umbrella in these situations is not remotely helpful coz the drizzle is coming down in all directions and the wind is blowing so you're gonna get wet anyway. It's like being misted continuously but instead of being at a posh resort, I'm walking the damp streets of DC trying to get to and from the Metro station. Not fetch.

Last night at JR's was riotous. I remember shopping a little at Universal Gear before going to JR's after work. I also remember Rick showing up and then I hurried off to meet Phillip for his drag-fitting (our outfits are THE SHIT!! totally B-A-N-A-N-A-S!) before dragging him back to JR's with me. I remember meeting Sophia!! So cute and cuddly but boogery and shy.. kinda like her owner, LOL! Just kidding, dah-ling ;)

I don't remember upping my usual intake of vodka from 3 drinks to 6 (!! Rick is evil!). And I don't remember how I got home but it's safe to say I drunk-dialled a few ppl on the way coz I got lots of weird text messages and voicemails this morning! Giggle. Happy Friday!

JUN 2 :: [republicunt] OMB-Federhump-Spears. I met a real life republicunt at JR's last night. Yes, a female republican. What was she doing at JR's? Beats me. Apparently she and her bf go to places like Green Lantern, JR's, etc. and wonder why nobody asks for her bf's number. LOL! Skank.

Anywho, she professes to be socially moderate but she's yapping on and on about being pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, etc. LOL! She doesn't even know where "moderate" is (tip: it's not progressive which is where all the fetch ppl are. You, my dear, are most certainly *NOT*). And yet she identifies as a Republican (d'oh, what else would you be if you were a lobbyist for Big Steel?). Her claim? Pocketbook issues. Which happens to carry soooo much weight because Big Steel is all about imposing retaliatory and anti-dumping tariffs which imposes a "tax" of sorts on Big Auto and other manufacturers that rely on steel. Who pays in the end? The consumers. Pocketbook issues my ass.

Mary... I love my money but I value my dignity far more. The (blue) tribal council has just voted you off the District. Now move to a bumfuck red state, spankuverymuch.

Evil. I love me! :)

Now, before you go all "the ppl who preach tolerance practice it the least" on me, lemme just say I have no problems with republicans in gay bars. I have a problem with republicans who make lame ass excuses like "pocketbook issues" which is so far off because this republican administration has spent far more of your tax dollars and borrowed way more on your backs than any other. Why not be an independent? Do you not think it's hateful to identify with a political party because money is more important than your friends' constitutional rights? Whatev... if that's your mantra - "I identify with your social values but I am a Republican because of pocketbook issues" - and you use it to uphold your dignity, then take it somewhere else. My "moral values" does not include the color green and I don't need your support nor your sympathy. All the drama in a gay bar does not hold a candle to your bipolar, deluded, conflicted, quasi-bigoted self!

Kisses.

[text emergency] My SMS situation has reached ICU stage. Critical, chronic, severe, acute, etc. They've stuck an SMS-IV into my cellphone but it's not working. After exceeding my entire allocation (1000) by midway through my billing cycle, I've been surviving on very little texts for the past week. And even then, I had to beg T-Mobile for bonus messages. Well, I got 60. And even those are gone now. I begged again last night - I have 5 more days in my billing cycle! - and I got another 50. That's it folks. 10 a day for the next 5 days. Be gentle!!

I should start a support group for Text-a-holics (thanks, Ben). "Hi, my name is Kiat and I'm an SMS-whore."

Giggle.

[ftunes] fTunes (fetch Tunes) beta debuts on the sidebar. Check it out! :)

Another night at JR's. This time it was Evan. Saw the same people milling around. Same bartenders. Different night. Same cheap drinks! Yea!

JUN 1 :: [discontent] Non, nee, nein, no! For all intents and purposes, the Dutch "nee" today by a hefty 62-38 sounded the death knell for the EU constitution. The A380 has officially been delayed for 6 months till Q4 2006 at the earliest. Italy sank into a recession after -0.4% and -0.5% growth in Q4/Q1 of 2004/05 - the deepest by a member of the eurozone since the Euro's launch in 1999. Chancellor Schroeder's SPD party lost power in North Rhine Westphalia - Germany's largest state - after 39 years of continuous rule, forcing Schroeder to call for snap elections as his party is trailing by 18 points in opinion polls.

All of this happened within the past month. Is this Europe's summer of discontent?

[pucci] Oh my Beyonce-in-vintage-Pucci, Phillip and I were at JR's last night and she was on fire! Halfway through, John showed up (um, you know... *that* John. Frankly, I can't keep up. There are way too many Johns and Michaels in my life. You white folks are so unimaginative) and it was a threesome all the way.

Phillip is so fetch it's hardly worth mentioning (it's redundant at this point). He wore his new Emilio Pucci swimtrunks to JR's, LOL! Apparently he has been dying to wear them but the pool in his complex was too cold [insert how much better LA weather is in this space] so he wore them in his tub instead. Fierce.

Without a doubt, Phillip is the fetchest Brit of the moment. Until the next one comes along, of course. There always is. Unless he pulls off a Madonna and constantly reinvents himself. My money's on the latter. And they're all waiting for your hot track... Wha'tyou waiting for, gurrrl?

[story of my life] June, yay! Late to work again as usual. Practically ran to work. Jumped into the lab to cool down where this conversation ensues with a fellow Asian:

FA: I can't tell how old you are. How old are you?
Me: I'm 28.
FA: Wow, really?
Me: Why, did you think I was younger?
FA: Yea, you look so young.
Me: Why, thank you. You know what they say - Asians don't age. Unless you're my friends. And then they say - Asians all look young until they're 40 and then they age 10 years for every year after that. [insert "with friends like these, who needs an enema" here]
FA: So how long have you been here?
Me: 7 years.
FA: Where were you before that?
Me: England and before that, Malaysia.
FA: You weren't born here?!
Me: Nope.
FA: Wow, I couldn't tell. You sound like you were born here, like California or somewhere like that.

Um, yea. I watch lots of Friends. That's why I sound "Californian". I get that all the time. Maybe it's time to move ;) (shout-out to Mike/Gary)

[ridick] This is preposterous. Basically, there's a proposal out there that would lower Social Security benefits for the rich while at the same time making them contribute more i.e. uncap the limit whereby Social Security taxes are levied on income (currently at $90k). Absolutely ridick.

Social Security is a retirement guarantee. It's not welfare. Your failure to save for your retirement is not my problem. Retirement is an individual responsibility. You want a better future? You start saving now. Your irresponsibility is not my obligation. If the government mandated that all workers should save their 12.4% in Social Security taxes (in a bank, the stockmarket, in a mutual fund, wherever), then everyone would have a reasonable retirement that is based solely on the income they've earned over their lifetimes. Why is that so difficult to understand? What on earth is with all this pooling money in Social Security crap and underfunding, and IOUs, and deficits and taxing the rich more to make up for the poor's inability to save?

Three words: Not my problem. Social Security should be abolished.

[25 years] June 1, 1980 - CNN changed the news landscape forever by signing on with a network that promised "all news, all the time". 24 hours, round-the-clock news, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Having been born right when Reagan swept to power, CNN has witnessed 4 presidents, 3 of them Republicans. CNN has lived through two Iraq wars, Black Monday, OJ Simpson, Tiananmen, the Berlin Wall, the end of Communism, Mandela, Columbine, Challenger, Columbia, Princess Di, JFK Jr., Oklahoma City, one powerful tsunami, Waco, 2 major earthquakes in CA, and finally, 9/11. Happy 25th Birthday, CNN!

More >>

30 :: more victories
30 :: freedom bunker
29 :: stubborn and stupid
29 :: let's move
28 :: civil marriage act
28 :: words fail
28 :: know your numbers
28 :: flyertalk
28 :: stifling
27 :: the new economy
27 :: lighter fare
27 :: misguided
27 :: first amendment
27 :: church and state
24 :: high crimes
23 :: racism in 2005
23 :: screen on stead
21 :: longest day
21 :: boomtown
21 :: i wannabe...
21 :: no winners
21 :: envious whores
21 :: dancing queen
21 :: gay vague
21 :: no hope
20 :: foamy fun
17 :: fetch!
17 :: 11%
17 :: green is good
17 :: axis of evil
17 :: so not fetch
15 :: laughably stupid
14 :: euphoric bubble
13 :: innocent
13 :: destiny fulfilled
13 :: morally superior
13 :: it's hot
13 :: we love cox!
13 :: harajuku girls
10 :: happy pride!
10 :: hot, hot, hot
09 :: conundrum
09 :: not so white
09 :: who wants to be...
09 :: metro delays
08 :: i'm madonna
08 :: do you speak bitch-enese?
07 :: i feel the earth
07 :: the lifeblood
06 :: random
06 :: be careful
06 :: she's back
06 :: technolust
06 :: hypocrites
06 :: b-a-n-a-n-a-s!
06 :: swamp city, usa
03 :: london rain
02 :: republicunt
02 :: text emergency
02 :: ftunes
01 :: discontent
01 :: pucci
01 :: story of my life
01 :: ridick
01 :: 25 years