Target Responds

So, Target has been in the news lately and on this blog a couple of times [HERE and HERE] for their $150,000 donation to Political Action Committee [PAC] called Minnesota Forward.

Minnesota Forward took some of that money and gave it to Republican gubernatorial candidate, Tom Emmer, who is virulently anti-gay.

Bad enough, right?

But then comes news that Emmer donated some of his money to a "Christian" rock band, fronted by one Bradlee Dean, who believes that killing gay people is the moral thing to do.

So, if you follow the money, it goes from Target to Dean, and stops in anti-gay candidate's coffers along the way, but Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel announced that Target's support of the LGBT community is "unwavering".

Really, Target? Really?

So, naturally I got a little angry and wrote a letter to Target corporate headquarters and, lo and behold, yesterday I received a response:

Dear Robert *******,
Target has long believed that engaging in civic activities is an important and necessary element of operating a national retail business. What's more important than any one candidate's stance on a particular issue is how we nurture thoughtful, long-term growth in the state of Minnesota.
To continue to grow and create jobs and opportunity in our home state, we believe it is imperative to be engaged in public policy and the political process. That is why we are members of organizations like the Minnesota Business Partnership, the Chamber of Commerce and many others. And that is why we decided to contribute to MN Forward.
MN Forward's objective is to elect candidates from both parties who will make job creation and economic growth a top priority. We operate best when working collaboratively with legislators on both sides of the aisle. In fact, if you look at our Federal PAC contributions year to date, you will see that they are very balanced between Republicans and Democrats. For more information please visit www.target.com/company, and view the Civic Activity page.
Target has a large stake in Minnesota's future, which is why it is so important to be able to provide jobs, serve guests, support communities and deliver on our commitment to shareholders. As an international business that is proud to call Minnesota home, it is critical that we have a business environment that allows us to be competitive. Our guests, team members, communities and shareholders depend on Target to remain competitive.
Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Hanson
Target Executive
Offices
guest.relations@target.com

Interesting, no? Espeicially since Ms. Hanson, like Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel, never actually addreses the issue at hand: Target's money going directly into the hands of anti-gay politicians. So, I decided to write back

Dear Ms. Hanson,
I understand that target is free to donate money to any organization, or political candidate, or party, of its choosing. My problem, however, is that, as a gay man, when I see you giving money to a PAC that then funds an openly anti-gay politician, who then uses his money, and his praise, on a group that wants to "Kill The Gays" it leads me to question Target's alleged unwavering support for the LGBT community.
You say you want to do what is best for Target and your employees and your stores, but what about doing just what's best? What's right? What's equal? What's fair? You believe that "more important than any one candidate's stance on a particular issue is how we nurture thoughtful, long-term growth in the state of Minnesota," but I wonder how thoughtful Tom Emmer's stance on gay rights is, and how nurturing is his belief in a "Christian" rock band who wants to "Kill The Gays."
The answer is, it is neither thoughtful, nor nurturing. It's hatred and bigotry and intolerance plain and simple, and Target helped to fund it.
And, that, as you say is your right.
Well, it's my right to say I won't fund Target if Target wants to fund these types of candidates, of either party. It's my right to tell my LGBT friends and family to stay out of Target, and to write to Target and tell you why we're staying out of your stores.
You imply that it's just good business, doing what's best for the company, but you efforts at maintaining a good business could cost members of the LGBT community their lives.

Sincerely,
Robert *******

I would ask that every member of the LGBT community write to Jennifer Hanson, and let her know that, while we believe in being able to sponsor, and support, any group, candidate, or party, on their choosing, they cannot support people like Tom Emmer, and then still profess to be gay friendly.
Because they aren't.

Just For Giggles

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Jan Brewer Gets Bitchslapped........AGAIN!

Take that, Jan Brewer.

In Phoenix, US District Court Judge Susan Bolton has issued a temporary injunction against parts of the law that would require Arizona police officers to determine the status of people they lawfully stopped and suspected were in the country illegally.

Better still, Bolton also forbade Arizona, and Wicked Witch Of the South West Brewer, from making it a state crime to not carry immigration documents, and struck down two other provisions as an unconstitutional attempt by Arizona to undermine the federal government's efforts to enforce immigration policy.

Judge Bolton:

"The court by no means disregards Arizona's interests in controlling illegal immigration and addressing the concurrent problems with crime....[but]....it is not in the public interest for Arizona to enforce preempted laws."

Also, not in the public interest is the fact that this racist law could have been enforced against legal immigrants in this country if a police officer simply suspected them of being here illegally, based on non-issues like clothing and shoes, and accents.

Fucktard Jan Brewer has vowed a swift appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and is said to be flying over Arizona on her broomstick, writing, Surrender Immigrants, in the skies. She called the injunction a bump in the road, and by bump, I'm assuming she means the bodies of alleged illegals who will be deported if the asshats have their way.

And, for now, they don't.

Top Chef: Power Bottoms And Power Lunches

QUICKFIRE

This will be quick.

The cheftestants enter the Top Chef Kitchen to find Padma waiting with Aaron "I'm-So-Not-Gay-That-I-Threw-Out-My-Favorite-Turquoise-Belt" Schock, the youngest, and gayest, member of Congress, to talk about eating food on a stick.

Something I think Aaron is quite thrilled about.

Pocket-Gay lets Padma explain that, in order to not unduly influence our elected representatives ::::::insert snicker here::::: by serving them lavish meals, our elected officials must eat Aaron Schock-sized, er, bite-sized, meals on a toothpick. No mention is made of offering up cash and drugs and hookers to our elected officials, but I guess they're saving that challenge for Top Money-Grubbing-Drug-Addicted-Whore.

Anyway, I won't bore you, or me , with what the chef'; made, I will simply let Aaron "I'm-Not-Gay" Schock tell you which items that he put into his mouth he enjoyed most:

He said Alex, of the Wonky Muppet Lips and Questionable Ethics [more on that later] had too much flavor, but that he did like the look of Ed's, um, stick, but not so much what was on it; he found that Kelly's stick lacked flavor--perhaps because she's a woman and the, um, stick, is not standard equipment, but I digress.

His favorites, and his praise:

Of Kevin, he said: "You were the first item I tasted and I thought about it all the way around the room."

Of Angelo, he purred: "Wow! [It] was like fireworks in my mouth."

Of Stephen, he minced: "All I could think of when I saw yours was, wow, there's a lot on that stick."

Then he squealed like a schoolgirl and announced Angelo's sexy stick as his favorite. But, and I will remind, Aaron Schock is NOT gay.

He's not! Stop it!

ELIMINATION CHALLENGE

The cheftestants must prepare a power lunch to be served to power, um, lunchers, at Washington DC's power lunch spot, the elite Palm restaurant. There they will be judged by Oprah Winfrey’s former personal feeder, Art Smith, as well as serving lunch to power players Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and Mika Brezinski and NBC White House Correspondent Savannah Guthrie.

The cheftestants draw knives to see which of the Palm's standard proteins they will be serving, and although there will be two of each dish, the judging is not side-by-side, but head on. It is a straight--no pun intended, Aaron--forward challenge, until it digresses into a special episode of Top Chef Mystery: The Case Of The Pureed Peas.

See, Ed bought peas to serve with his protein, and the day of the lunch the peas disappear. But Alex, who had no idea the night before exactly what he was going to do, suddenly had pureed peas.

Hmmmmmmmm.

THE LUNCH

The Porterhouse Gals

Amanda decided to debone her porterhouse, just like I imagine she debones her men, and served a New York Strip & Filet Mignon, Red Wine with Pomme Parisienne & Arugula.

She called it a "Duo Of Steak" because she knows that all great chefs often serve duos.

But the key word is "great" chef, and Amanda misses the mark.

She is sloppy and messy and scaterrbrained in the kitchen and I think she's the one Tom mentioned when he said some of the chefs were pigs.

But the Power Lunchers liked her Duo, so go figure.

Kelly served a Porterhouse with Crispy Potato-Arugula Salad, Roasted Shallot Demi-Glace.

She chose to serve it whole, to honor it--like it cares--meaning she expected the diners to wolf done some twenty ounces of meat--and, No, Aaron was not at the lunch so don't wonder if he could have done it.

He could. He has.

But Kelly, whose food has often been called bland, because she likes the delicate flavors, went wild with the salt, especially as other chefs [read: Amanda] asked to borrow it. Every time someone uttered the word salt, Kelly salted her steak; and her steak then asSALTed the judges palates.

There wasn't much but salt and salt and salt.

The Swordfish Twins

Andrea doesn't like swordfish.

She doesn't cook swordfish.

She doesn't serve swordfish.

So, she threw herself under the bus by serving the Swordfish with Israeli CousCous Risotto-style, and a--pardon me if I throw up a little in my mouth as I type this--Vanilla-Bean-Mustard-Buerre-Blanc. Which means vanilla, mustard, butter and white wine.

Her food was too much. Too sweet, too rich, too..........

My girl Tiffany, who is rapidly becoming my favorite because she tells it like it is, and then laughs about it, made more of a Mediterranean-inspired Swordfish with Olive-Raisin Tapenade with Broccolini & Bacon.
And while her fish may have been overcooked--and for that I blame either Amanda or Aaron Schock, because it's my blog and I can say what I want--her tapenade topping provided enough moisture to satisfy food-slut Gail Simmons.
Which is saying a lot.
But Tiffany cannot get over the overcooked fish and she places herself in the bottom.

The Salmon Wars
Alex served Applewood Smoked Salmon with Black Forbidden Rice & English Pea Puree, but not before he told all of us that there were too many thing you could do with salmon: broil it, saute it, poach it, grill it.

Make it into a hat or a broach.
Or, and I'm just saying, maybe you could serve it with someone else's pureed peas.
Which may not be far off the mark since the judges liked his dish--little 'l'--but they Loved--big 'L'--his peas. Oprah's former main gay, and I don't mean Gail, Art Smith, nearly had an orgasm when he slid Alex's, or Ed's, peas into his mouth.
Just sayin'.

Stephen's Salmon with Warmed Vegetable Salad & Worcestershire Vinaigrette, by comparison, was called messy and sloppy.
Stephen, by comparison, though, used his own food that he made himself and didn't pull it from the Miracle Pantry, AKA Ed's ice chest.
Steepen was given the nearly invisible edit this week, except for the drooling he did over Aaron Schock--"We walked into the kitchen and I saw this very young man _________"

You fill in the blank.
And he provided comic relief for his Seminar on being in the Bottom Three.
That's Stephen.
He's there, but he's not.

The Lobster Lovers
Ed did what he called a Poached Lobster Ballotine with Eggplant & English Pea-Asparagus Fricassee.
English peas, leftover from the missing pea puree.

I hear Miss Marple is on the case.
Everyone loved his lobster, and loved the roasted eggplant, but felt the dish didn't need the addition of the English Peas.
No, what it needed was his delicious English Pea Puree that went out with Alex's salmon.

Angelo also served butter Poached Lobster, but he paired his with a Lobster Froth and a Jicama, Arugula & Asian Pear Salad.
What's this? More Asian food from Angelo?
Quelle surprise. Not.
The judges thought his lobster chewy and Morning Joe didn't know what to make of the Lobster Froth.
I bet Aaron Shock knows what to do with a froth. You pair it with a turquoise belt and wear it to a picnic and then.....what? Oh! Froth?!? I thought you said 'frock'.
Aaron Schock is still gay.

The Lamb Lads

Kenny, who has been getting called out for throwing everything, including the kitchen sink--which he literally slewered and served at the Toothpick Quickfire--into a dish, opted to go minimal ::::giggle::::: and offered the diners a Peppered Lamb with Fig-Pistachio Bread Pudding, Fig Jam & Vanilla-Morel Demi Glace.
Simple, right.
If i was gonna simple it down, I would have made Lamb sandwich on Wonderbread with Miracle Whip.

That's simple food from a simpleton, er, wimple man.
But the judges like his fig jam, and his figgy pudding.

Kevin, AKA Dust Bunny Grande Dame, DavidDust's husband, gave us Double-Cut Chops with Olive & Goat Cheese Rissole, Mache & Tomato Concasse.
Everyone thought his lamb was overcooked, and that his concasse was too hot. I don't know how many times I've made a hot concasse, so I can feel Kevin's pain.
But, and this is what I don't get about the judging, Gail called it fiery, and said she liked her food, and apparently her men, hot and spicy, but at the judges table she called Kevin out on the heat.
Make up your mind Gail.

Back in The Stew Room

The conversation turns, as it's apt to do, toward the Case of The Missing Pea Puree.

Miss Marple has arrived and spent most of the evening questioning the cheftestants.

No one will admit to seeing Ed's puree stolen, and no one will admit to seeing Alex actually make a pea puree.

But, upon interrogation, Alex crumbles a bit when he says the idea of him having a pea puree and Ed's pea puree going missing was puree, er, purely, coincidental.

Miss Marple, the cheftestants, and Bob in Smallville, are not buying it.

Then Alex says he had no idea Ed was doing puree and Miss Marple goes to the videotape of the night before the challenge when Alex is in the kitchen and Kenny tells him that Ed made a pea puree. I think Alex's eyes glimmered a bit, and he spent the rest of the evening in his room, with the Candlestick, plotting his crime.

THE JUDGING: THE WINNERS
Tiffany , Ed and Alex are called before the panel and declared the winners.

Tiffany, and, again, for the record, I am now Team Tiffany, began to weep because she thought her overcooked fish would have landed her in the bottom. But Gail assures her that the tapenade had enough moisture to save her.

I like that about Tapenade. It always saves me.

Ed Volkswagen-sized lobsters were given high-praise, but then the mood turned sour.
Alex was praised from one end of the table to the other over his silky, rich, fabulous pea puree. While his salmon was perfectly cooked it was the pea puree that sealed the deal. Once again, Art Smith has an orgasm as he declares the puree, er, Alex, the winner.

The prize is that the Palm will add Alex's dish to their menu--probably for about an hour, on a Tuesday--and that he will get his caricature, and by caricature I mean photograph because Alex already is a caricature--on the wall.

I'm hoping it's the wall of the men's room, right above a urinal.

THE LOSERS
Andrea, Kevin, and Kelly are dragged kicking and screaming from The Stew Room to face the inquisition where they are all charged with Crimes Of Stupidity.
Andrea gets called out for that vanilla-mustard sauce. personally, I would have shot her on the spot. And then she goes on and on about how she doesn't eat, or cook, or serve, swordfish, and Art Smith says, We know, it showed on the plate.

SNAP!

Kevin, who seems, with the exception of once, to be a true Bottom Boy, and gets the Colicchio Beatdown for his overcooked lamb. He tries to cover by saying he likes his lamb medium, but he wasn't serving the lamb to himself. And we've already gone over the Gail Simmons Red Chile Pepper About Face on his concasse.

Wow! That sounds dirty.

Kelly is up next and is charged wit a simple case of asSALT with a Deadly Spice. She does her best to cover, but as the judges sit at the table, all of them drinking from garden hoses, her arguments are mute.

It"sToo.Much.Salt.

THE PACK YOUR KNIVES AND GO AWARD

Andrea is told to get out because of that vanilla bean fiasco, and she offers up Standard Reality Show Excuse For Getting Kicked Off Number 751: I didn't get to show my true self. I was too busy playing the game.

Well, Andrea, now you have lots of time to show your 'true' self, only, seriously, honey, stay away from the vanilla.

Target Doesn't Care About The LGBT Community

Target's CEO Gregg Steinhafel defended the company's political donations to a Minnesota group helping the state’s Republican candidate, Tom Emmer's, gubernatorial run, telling employees at its Minneapolis headquarters that the company’s support of the gay community is “unwavering.”

Unwavering, though they give money to homophobes and bigots who give money to "Christian" rock groups that believe it's moral to Kill The Gays [story HERE]

Gregg Steinhafel said, via email: “We rarely endorse all advocated positions of the organizations or candidates we support, and we do not have a political or social agenda.....Let me be very clear, Target’s support of the GLBT community is unwavering, and inclusiveness remains a core value of our company.”

Nice spin. What it says is that they give money to campaigns and causes without really knowing what the campaigns and causes stand for, and if they subsequently find out that the campaigns and causes are anti-gay, well,, yeah, too bad.

I believe the LGBT community should show it's unwavering support for all retailers that are Not Target. You cannot say you support the LGBT community and then give money to a bigot like Emmer because, then it seems, the campaign contribution was given to help Target and screw the LGBT community.

Here's a few facts on Tom Emmer, the man Target funded, but says they don't "endorse all advocated positions" of his:

• Emmer is a conservative.
• Emmer applauds Arizona’s strict approach to illegal immigration
• Emmer once advocated chemical castration for sex offenders

Emmer's candidacy contrasts sharply with Target’s moderate image, where the company is known for donating to public school programs, food pantries and the annual Twin Cities Gay Pride Festival. And to bigots.

But Target was able to donate to Minnesota Forward--the PAC that donated to Emmer--under new laws allowing corporations to spend company money on election campaigns so that we can become the United States Of Target. Corporate donations have been flowing since the Supreme Court threw out parts of a 63-year-old law that prohibited companies and unions from donating to campaigns for or against candidates.

In Minnesota, where Target has its headquarters, Democrats are grumbling about the large donation, and some are talking about striking back at the popular brand. A few have even called for a boycott in the state, one of Target’s top three for sales. One Democratic-backed group is reaching out to Target employees through Facebook ads urging them to sign a petition opposing the donations.

In the end, Target says one thing and does another because it comes down to money, and doing what's best for Target, not its employees, customers, or the LGBT community. Lena Michaud, a Target spokeswoman said the company supports causes and candidates “based strictly on issues that affect our retail and business objectives.”

There you have it.

Fuck the LGBT community. This is about making Target more money.

The Corporate United States.

Art Wednesday: Jackson Pollock

Carlos and I watched Who The #$&% Is Jackson Pollock? which is the story of a woman, Teri Horton, who bought an old painting in a second-hand store for a couple of bucks and then learned it was an original Jackson pollack, worth up to $20 million.

Of course, she faced enormous difficulty in trying to prove it was a Pollack. The art community, read: snobs, don't believe that a Pollack could ever be sold at a second hand store, though that has happened before. The paint on the canvas was proven to come from Pollack's studio, and it even has Jackson Pollack's fingerprint on it.

But still, the naysayers say nay.

So, that brought me to Jackson Pollack for Art Wednesday because he was a master and a genius and a first.

He began to study painting in 1929 at the Art Students' League, New York, and by the 1930s, was influenced by the Mexican muralist painters--Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros. It was, however, in the 1940s when he began painting in a completely abstract manner, and the `drip and splash' style for which he is best known emerged.

Instead of using the traditional easel he affixed his canvas to the floor or the wall and poured and dripped his paint from a can; instead of using brushes he manipulated it with, to use his own words, 'sticks, trowels or knives.'

Pollock's is mostly associated with the All-over style of painting which avoids any points of emphasis or identifiable parts within the whole canvas and therefore abandons the traditional idea of composition in terms of relations among parts. The design of his painting had no relation to the shape or size of the canvas--indeed in the finished work the canvas was sometimes docked or trimmed to suit the image. And that is what is believed to be the painting that Teri Horton found in the second-hand store--a cut off section of another painting.

On the floor I am more at ease, I feel nearer, more a part of the painting, since this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and be literally `in' the painting.--Jackson Pollack

"Tea Cup"

"Fathom Five"

"Lavender Mist"

"Number 8"

"Shimmer"

Homos To The Rescue

Leave it to a couple of 'mos.

We've all cursed BP over the D-I-saster in the Gulf of Mexico, and now Luke Montgomery is taking it to the next level with his Unf__k The Gulf campaign.

Montgomery, a longtime gay activist, and founder of Good Ideas for Good Causes [HERE], recently launched his latest charity campaign, this time focused on the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history.

“The inception of it was my boyfriend Nate [Guidas] and I were sitting in front of the television screaming 'fuck' every 20 seconds about something that BP was doing, about seeing birds covered in oil. And we knew there were other people screaming 'fuck' at the television 24/7. So let’s take all of this anger and harness it and do something good with it.”

UnF—k the Gulf's fundraising efforts center on T-shirt sales [order them HERE....mine is on the way] and for every $13 shirt sold, $5 is donated to environmental organizations, most of which are actively working in the Gulf.

The abundance of expletives in the duo’s viral video—and particularly the use of children to deliver some of them—has already caught the ire of Bill O’Reilly, who devoted a recent segment on his Fox News show condemning Montgomery for using kids in a F bomb-laden ad. Montgomery’s response?

“It’s patriotic to use the F-word in defense of our shorelines.”

source

Could Elisabeth Hasselbeck Be Any More Obtuse?

It appears that the gals on The View were discussing the idea that many, well, some, older women are coming out as lesbians these days. And why is that? Is it because societal mores forced them into the convention of marriage and once that marriage was over these women suddenly felt comfortable enough with their own sexual orientation to come out?


Not so, says Professional DimBulb Hasselbeck, who gave us her reasons as to why women come out as gay late in life:

"Older men are going for younger women leaving the women with no one."

See? Since the men don't want these women because the men want a young firm hottie with fake breatsages, the older women have no choice but to choose to become gay. Luckily Joy Behar was on hand top whip out a carton frying pan and beat Dimbulb over the head with it as she announced:

"That's ridiculous. I'm sorry. Being gay is not just, you know, holding hands and walking through the tulips. There are things that people do sexually. I don't think you suddenly wake up one day and say, you know, 'I think I want to do that.' You wanted to do it, but you were just trapped in a system that said, 'get married.'"

Seriously, every time Hasselbeck opens her mouth, ignorance spews forth.

American Idol Is A Wingnut Magnet

How else do you explain hordes of people who cannot sing appearing during the audition segments of the once -popular, once-semi-relevant show? And how else do you explain the people who cannot sing and appear during the audition segments of the once -popular, once-semi-relevant show turning around and suing the show because they looked foolish?

Case in point: one ginormous Idol reject Ian Bernardo, who auditioned back in 2007, and was subsequently invited on the Farewell Simon season finale as one of the "freaks" who had auditioned for Simon over the years, and is now suing American Idol producers for some $300 million, claiming "workplace" discrimination.

Bernardo claims he was asked to appear on the Idol finale along with a few other memorable "freaks" as part of Dane Cook's not-so-comedic farewell to Simon Cowell. Needing another moment in the spotlight, Bernardo grabbed the microphone from Cook, proclaimed a "Kanye moment" and rambled incoherently for a few seconds about how he was replacing Cowell before show producers cut to commercial.

In the complaint, Bernardo says the Idol producers "exploited my non-conforming appearance and sexual orientation. They did this by directing me to 'gay it up' in any appearance I made on camera [at the finale, and]....although characterized as an 'audition' to the public at large, in fact, I was and was paid as an employee of respondents for each appearance."

See, Ian Bernardo thinks that because he was hired to appear on the finale show, because he was such a memorable no-talent-loser, that makes him an employee of American Idol, thereby making his complaint one of workplace discrimination.

His complaint also says other Idol employees used anti-gay slurs and that the show--which he calls the "workplace" in an effort to make it sound like he was an employee and not merely a badly trained seal--"was permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, insults and hostile and offensive comments that were so severe as to alter my working conditions."

Uh huh.

Someone is trying to stretch their fifteen minutes of infamy into a half-hour. Someone with nothing but no-talent to stand on.

Just For Giggles

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Animalize

If eyes are the window to the soul, what are these four furry children trying to say to me?

MaxGoldberg

Ozzo

Tallulah Belle

Tuxedo

Counselor Of Hate

Jennifer Keeton wanted to be a counselor, and took the appropriate courses at Augusta State University in Georgia, but school officials felt she could not effectively counsel others because she believes homosexuality is a choice. In fact, she believes it so strongly, she would take that stand both inside and outside her counseling classes, telling fellow students homosexuality is immoral and a choice.

She'd make a great counselor, huh?

Well, apparently the university thought not, because they asked Keeton to enroll in a remediation program, attend Atlanta Pride and submit papers to her tutors detailing how her views had changed so that she might have more reasonable and open-minded beliefs about LGBT people.

But Jennifer Keeton doesn't want to change. She wants to keep preaching what the Bible tells her, you know, not the King James version, but the God Hates Fags version. So Jennifer Keeton filed a LAWSUIT [Thanks to Will for noting my error =)] against the university claiming that it tried to make her change her anti-gay beliefs.

Jennifer Keeton says if she doesn't complete the sensitivity program, she risks being kicked out of the Counselor Education Program. But, when Keeton signed up, VOLUNTARILY, for the program, she knew that it followed the ethical standards of American School Counselor Association, which requires counselors "recognize and accept" cultural diversity and different points of view.

Um, unless they conflict with your narrow-minded, 2,00-year-old world view.

And so Jennifer Keeton doesn't think she needs to follow any rules unless they come from the Bible. I suggest she reread the Bible, and once she follows all of its tenets TO THE LETTER, then she can counsel people any way she chooses. See, one look at Jennifer Keeton and you know she doesn't do everything the Bible tells her.

Pay attention, Jennfier:

Arizona Got Bitchslapped.

Jan Brewer, too, since she spawned the hate.

US District Court Judge John Sedwick has issued an injunction that prevents the State of Arizona from enforcing a law passed by the legislature last session that would prevent lesbian and gay state employees AND their domestic partners [AND the children of those partners] from receiving health benefits.

Of course, this hate legislation was equal opportunity hate, as it eliminated coverage for non-spouse domestic partners, whether they were heterosexual or gay. However, heterosexual couples had the option of receiving benefits simply by getting married.

Not so much our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.

One of the state's arguments in legislating hate, is that it save Arizona money, which caused Judge Sedwick to respond:

"Contrary to the State's suggestion, it is not equitable to lay the burden of the State budgetary shortfall on homosexual employees, any more than on any other distinct class, such as employees with green eyes or red hair."

Nicely put, your honor.

There is no word yet on whether the state will appeal, but, for now, gay couples who meet the rest of the eligibility criteria in the state's administrative code will receive the same benefits as married state employees.

Equality is a lovely thing. Especially in Arizona where it rarely exists.

Just For Giggles

Some Justice For Clay Greene

I first wrote about Clay Greene and Harold Scull HERE.

Clay and Harold were a gay couple living together, relatively peacefully as you will soon learn, until Harold had an accident. Then Clay was not allowed to see Harold because they weren't a legal couple. And because they weren't a legal couple, in order to pay Harold's hospital bill, the county stepped in and sold all of Clay and Harold's things without permission.

They effectively stole from Clay.

And now Sonoma County has agreed to pay $600,000 to Clay Greene because county social workers kept him from seeing his dying partner in the hospital because he was gay.

Greene accused social workers of denying him hospital visitation rights to see Harold, despite signed wills, medical declarations and powers of attorney naming each other as spouses--the couple was not married nor registered as domestic partners.

The lawsuit also alleged that after Harold Scull passed away, social workers forced a distraught and grieving Clay Greene into a nursing home and sold the couple's property, including art and heirlooms.

The county's lawyer, Gregory Spaulding, of course denied the discrimination claims but did admit mistakes in selling the couple's property.

Mistakes.

Keeping a couple apart when one of them is dying is a mistake?
Forcing the surviving partner into a nursing home is a mistake?
Selling off everything the couple owned, without the permission of either man, is a mistake?

In the interests of fairness, social workers say they kept Clay Greene away from Harold Scull because of previous domestic violence allegations. According to a sheriff's report, Scull went to authorities with a black eye and said Greene threatened to kill him, though Scull was later unwilling to lodge a formal complaint.

Spaulding said, noting that the plaintiff removed the discrimination allegations from the lawsuit three weeks ago, "The county remains confident in its position that there was no discrimination in this case."

But what is most troubling is the idea of county employees swooping into a man's house and selling all of his belongings. Under the law, county officials are permitted to sell property worth $5,000 or less to cover medical expenses, but Clay Greene and Harold Scull's belongings earned more than $25,000 at auction.

Spaulding said errors in that case have led to revised policies at the Public Guardian's office, and that the county settled the case Thursday to avoid further expense: "It just made economic sense to stop the bleeding. To end the case and avoid all expenses and costs."

Or the embarrassment of what you did to Clay Greene, and to Harold Scull.

Funny, though, this might have never happened had gay marriage been legal.

Design Star: Ding Dong The Witch Is Gone

Nina's gone and everyone is happy.
Most of all......ME!!!
I loathed her.
And Stacey speaks for the designers, the viewers, the world at large, when she says, “This is probably the best outcome of any elimination to date. She’s gone. Like, do you know what a relief that is?”
I do.
But we have no time to party because the designtestants are off to Trump Tower to meet Donald Trump Jr and Mini-Me. Junior will be helping to judge this week, which means we'll be hearing the word Trump about a gazillion times during the episode. In fact, Vern announces that he's changing his name to Vernald Trump Jr.
I kid. Or.....................do I?THE CHALLENGE
Each team--the same from last week: Blue is Michael, Alex, Emily and Casey, while Red is Tom, Courtland and Stacey--will design a model apartment in the brand spanking new salute to Trumpdom, the The Trump Plaza Trump Residences in Trump City, New TrumpJersey. Trump Junior reminds us that Trump is all about luxury, but that their designs should also reflect, um, Jersey City?
Okaaaaaaaaaay?!!??
And each designer will have to choose a New York City souvenir package and, as Vernald Trump Jr. explains, physically incorporate their souvenir package into the room. Yes, souvenirs scream luxury, especially because, in this case they are:
Casey's Architectural package which includes a mini-Empire State--which oddly enough is as tall as Vernald. Stacey picks the NYC Taxicab souvenir, while Alex goes for the obvious Big Apple bag. Tom, pissed at not getting architecture, grabs the Statue of Liberty--also bigger than Vernald--and Courtland grabs the Disney-fied Times Square gift bag. Emily gets Subway, and I don't mean the sandwiches; the actual subway, which reeks of luxury--reeks being the obvious word. Michael ends up with the Broadway Bag because he is a showtune queen and a flaming homosexual.
'Nuff said.
The designtestants ready their passports for the trip to Jersey and are soon whisked across the river to a foreign country where they inspect their Trump apartments in the Trump building called Trump.

THE RED TEAM

Tom suggests painting the bathroom blue because, to him, that says Wall Street; I would opt for Hundred-Dollar-Bill-Green if I was gonna go Wall Street,m but maybe that's why I'm not on the show. Tom says blue is elegant and spa-like.
Sidenote: why does everything have to be "spa-like"? Last week Nina wanted a spa-like firehouse and this week Tom goes spa-like. I think this might mean that spa-like also means Your show has been cancelled.
In the living room Courtland wants high-backed elegant chairs and Tom and Stacey want low and modern furniture. Stacey and Tom want drapes and Courtland wants bare windows to accentuate the views.
Uttering Reality Show Go-To Line #1157, Courtland says: My voice isn't being heard. But then he calls the 2-to-1 vote a democracy and shuts up. Not good Courtland; you're far too manly man to say nothing. He's quickly becoming the Odd Manly Man Out.
The Democracy goes shopping and falls in love with every stick of furniture they buy, but Courtland predicts a surprising lack of accessories, and remembers that both Donald Junior and Vernald Junior played up the Trump habit of Attention-To-Trump-Detail-In-Trump-Apartments-In-Trump-Buildings-In-Trump-Cities, but again, Courtland says nothing.
Stacey rummages through her souvenir bag and pulls out a ceramic taxi. She says she wants to smash it into a million pieces and make a mosaic tray out of it. Courtland starts laughing and announces that the cab is Vern-sized and wouldn't make a very large tray. His giggling will become a Design Star staple, I think.
Stacey says something about cutting it in half, and I think, Yes!! Bookends!!! But then the Democracy is woefully lacking in the "Books As Accessories" department. And Courtland mutters something about "making" accessories, and again I think, Homemade? Luxury? I mean, my Mom once made a valance for the kitchen windows out of old aprons but it didn't scream luxury. I wonder if it isn't best for Courtland to just be quiet?
Fat chance because Courtland is being given the snark edit this week, giggling all manly-man like at Tom and Stacey.
Speaking of Stacey, and, well, my Mom's apron-turned-valance, she wants to make window treatments out of painter's drop-cloths. Drop-cloths? Curtains? Elegant? Luxury? Trump? I beg Stacey to hop into her tiny taxicab, head to the nearest airport and go home.
Tom is stuck in the loo with Blueberry Blue on the walls, and he decides that a windowless, tiny bathroom needs a Blueberry Blue ceiling as well. Then he decides to paint the trim and the doors Blueberry Blue, too. Courtland begs to differ but is afraid to voice his opinion lest Tom topcoat him in blueberry.
In the bedroom, Courtland is waltzing the headboard around the room and Stacey is wondering how to make it appear higher. I mean, if you put the box spring and mattress on the bed the headboard will appear smaller and less elegant. So, in order to create a Trump worthy bed, Stacey convinces the mute third of her team to leave off the box spring and just use the mattress. Yup, when I think elegant high-end Trumpish living, I think mattress on the floor. Or, is it when i think crack den that I think mattress on the floor?
Courtland says nothing, though he giggles again like a Mean Girl to camera and then goes to work on his souvenir project, which consists of Stacey putting on lipstick, smearing it on the Time Square mug, and then leaving a note that says: Thanks for the view! XOXO! This, I think, is Times Square prostitute speak for Thanks for the f**k! That'll be $500.00! F.U.F.U.

THE BLUE TEAM

Michael and Casey play "straight couple" as they enter the apartment and Michael plants a most awkward kiss on Casey--I think it was his first boy-girl kiss, after years of boy-pillow kisses and months of boy-boy kisses. But then the two divas mind-sync and squeal about crown.................moldings.
Emily gasps because she doesn't think Michael, who last week nailed his hand to a piece of furniture should be building anything, and also thinks Casey is far out of her element.
Which is evidenced by Casey cutting the molding wrong, and starting again, and then installing it upside down. Michael and Alex could barely stop eating long enough to make fum of the woman on the ladder nailing molding upside down against the wall.
While Casey battles the moldings and Michael tries again to build a piece of furniture--I hope the paramedics are on standby--Alex works on his souvenir project. He is playing the No one thinks much of me because I'm the youngest card--Reality Show Go-To Line # 834--while he turns the souvenir bag into a pillow and then smashes the apples and glues the chards to the pillow. Yeah, nothing says luxury like slicing my face open when I take a nap on the sofa. But, luckily, there is a Trump Plaza Hospital nearby, with Dr. Trump standing by in the Trump surgical wing.
Casey's art piece is little more than a canvas spray painted with an outline of her Empire State Building souvenir, while Michael makes a lamp out of 2x4's and a Broadway sign. The lights of the Great White Way have never been more proud.
Emily's brilliant solution to using her souvenir item as art, is to cut words off her Subway Map t-shirt and create a piece of art that we never see finished and don't see in the room.

THE WALKTHROUGH

Junior, Vernald Junior, Some-Horrific-Designer-Who-Slept-With-An-HGTV-Exec-And-Got-Her-Own-Show, and Candice Olson take their apartment tours.
In the Blue apartment, Junior likes the "idea" of the molding, but not the sloppy paint job and the choppy cuts. Candice loves the texture and the metallics and that Horrific Designer says something, but I forget. They giggle a bit at Alex's pillow and then move on to........
SHRIEKS!!!
The Red apartment is doomed from the get go. It is pronounced barren and lifeless. Sparse and artless. The bed is a catastrophe and the blue bathroom is dubbed the man-cave, and not in a good way. Junior calls it a college dorm room attempt at design, but not the college dorm rooms at the Ivy League schools he attended. Words like lame are uttered; words like sad and deflated. Words like Heads will roll!
The Blue team gets the win, and Alex's giggle-inducing-cut-producing pillow earns him the victory. Seriously. Alex's.Pillow.Wins.

Junior then snark-eyes the Red team and tells them that his men are dismantling the room as he speaks. And he doesn't mean simply carting away the furniture and repainting the entire space. He is literally having the apartment cut out of the building, dropped to the curb and set on fire.
The Red Team must do the Host Show.

Stacey begins to weep, again, and says she doesn't care where there shoot her from, all she wants is a cigarette and a blindfold. Tom acts like he's all that, even when entering the Blue Cave Of Death. Courtland takes the smug smartass approach and host chats a comedy segment about their space.
THE JUDGING
Courtland shows up at the judging driving a bus and sets his sights on Tom, saying Tom stayed in the bathroom all day. When Tom is asked about his loo duties....hee hee.....doody.....he starts to answer but Vernald Junior, obviously high on his Trump meds, snaps, "Let's see it."
And the pictures speak a thousand words and every single one of them is hideous.
Then Courtland plays the age-old No one would listen to me card, and Vernald snaps at him that design is not done by committee and if you can't be heard then scream louder, and not to the cameraman and not in giggles and quit trying to be cute and charming and do some effin' design.

Then Stacey is lead before the judges and takes the hit for the bed and for the drapes and for the Taxi-Under-Glass-Dumbass-Two-Second art piece she, um, for lack of a better word, created.
Stacey grades herself a 60 per cent, and I think she's being generous. I'd give her a zero for design and a 90 for histrionics, but then this isn't Overacting Star, is it?
And without so much as a Show us your host shot Stacey is shown the door.
But it ain't over until the tiny man in the booster seat is finished, and Vernald Trump Jr. announces that Donald Trump Junior was so Trump appalled at their Trump apartment in the Trump building that he wants a Double Trump Elimination.
And now they show the host presentations.
Tom's is brusque and lacking charm, although I keep thinking how much like Jon Hamm he looks and how much I like Jon Hamm....and then there are Tom's dimples to consider. I imagine laying in bed at night with Tom and filling his dimples with salsa and having some chips....but that's just me.
Courtland offers up an apology before his presentation even airs, which irks Vernald. His shot is pissy and moany, and snarky. He's laughing. The judges are not.
So, who goes?
Snarky voiceless Courtland who arrived at judging on the Crosstown Tom.
Or true manly man Tom who I just know makes a killer martini?
Vern likes Courtland's ease and his hosting, and says Tom needs to look at the camera instead of looking for an escape route. The Horrific judge glares and says something, I forget, and Candice says she likes Tom.

But, in the end, Vernald Trumps all and Tom is shown the door. His Goodbye Piece is quite nice and he admits it was his time to go.
Courtland is warned that this is his last warning because he's consistently a bottom--and yes, that's exactly how I meant it. He does some kind of jig toward the judges and the literally skips from the room.
Such a man's man.
If you get my meaning.