Breakfast at Tiffany's – Because I Do Not Know

Shelby Foote, 1916-2005

One of the greatest narrative historians ever has gone to that Great Gettysberg in the Sky.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Novelist and Civil War historian Shelby Foote, who became a national celebrity explaining the war to America on Ken Burns' 1990 PBS documentary, has died at 88.

Foote died Monday night, said his widow, Gwyn.

The Mississippi native and longtime Memphis resident wrote a stirring, three-volume, 3,000-page history of the Civil War, as well as six novels.

"He had a gift for presenting vivid portraits of personalities, from privates in the ranks to generals and politicians. And he had a gift for character, for the apt quotation, for the dramatic event, for the story behind the story," said James M. McPherson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War historian. "He could also write a crackling good narrative of a campaign or a battle."

If you have not read his Civil War series, you should -- even if it takes you three years like it did me.

One of my favorite quotes from Foote is this:

"There is something that is too often overlooked of a far serious nature than the usual business about drawls and accents and overalls. And that is we truly, having lost a war, know a tragedy that other Americans do not know or have not experienced. Certainly not until Vietnam. We know what it means to lose a war. But what we have gained from it is of more value than the people who won the war got from it. We got a true sense of tragedy ..."

I guess it takes a Southerner to understand a Southerner.

RIP, Shelby Foote.

0 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 6:44 PM
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You Better Be Good to Me

Knowing America's TV tastes, "I Am Bobby Brown," or whatever the hell it's called, will be the No. 1 show of the season. We simply have no shame.

The program promises to be a study in contradictions. The eight half-hour episodes will shed light on Brown's relationships with his children, his brother and Houston -- the 41-year-old multiplatinum pop songstress he married 13 years ago.

It will also document his release from jail and one of many courtroom appearances -- including for charges of hitting Houston during a 2003 argument.

In the series' opening scene at a restaurant, Brown chats up a pair of businessmen who know his reputation but don't realize they're talking to the man himself.

"You recognize me now?" Brown asks, bending over and pushing his hands behind his back to mimic being handcuffed.

If only reality TV had existed back in the '70s, Ike Turner would have been a TV star then and not living under a bridge somewhere in Memphis. Hey, Ike's back! Anna Mae! Anna Mae!

1 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 9:02 PM
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Obviously, It's Monday

Some obvious observations on a Monday evening ...

It's obvious people should not fly experimental (or ultralight) aircraft. They seem to be magnets for the nearest mountain.

It's obvious he likes older women. It's also obvious he likes to assault the women in his life, as well.

It's obvious this is the most whacked-out married couple ever.

And it's obvious why I call him Tommy Tooth.

1 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 6:24 PM
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Cocktail of the Week -- Tommy Tooth Edition

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Sometime among two failed marriages (yes, indeed, gay civil unions would ruin the "sanctity of matrimony"), dozens of movies and robbing the cradle, Tommy Tooth also became an expert on mental health. Who knew he was so talented and well rounded!

I guess it takes a nut to know a nut. Which brings us to this installment of Cocktail of the Week. What's the perfect cocktail for the obviously disturbed star of the horrendous movie "Cocktail"? Why it's the ...

Absolut Nut!

Ingredients

1 oz. Absolut vodka

1 oz. Frangelico

Instructions

Stir over ice. Strain into large shot glass or over ice in an old-fashioned glass.

Caution: Excessive intake of this drink may cause vomiting. An equal disclaimer could accompany all Tommy Tooth movies.

1 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 7:22 PM
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Slows News Day

It's late, I'm tired and it seems to be a slow news day. So, from time to time, I'll fall back on a feature I like to call: Slow News Day. Which means I'll pull out a page I bookmarked (possibly years ago) and give you the highlights.

Our first installment cames from a JazzFest message board discussion on favorite bumper stickers. What JazzFest and bumper stickers have in common, I'll never know. But, hey, it's New Orleans and I love a funny, sticky piece of paper stuck to a rear fender.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Vegetables are what food eats.
"Nuke The Gay Whales For Jesus"
Jesus is coming, look busy
I Drink To Make Other People More Interesting
If God didn't want us to eat animals, why are they made of meat?
I Have The Body Of A God ... Buddha.
Where Are We Going And Why Am I In This Hand Basket?
Forget world peace. Visualize using your turn signal.
I'm not being rude; you're just insignificant.
I hope I die like my grandpa, in his sleep, and not screaming like those other people in his car.

Good night, y'all.

1 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 8:48 PM
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We Wuz Robbed!

The American Film Institute finishes off its list of top 100 movie quotes ... and "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is nowhere to be found!

Oh, sure, "Gone with the Wind" gets three lines on the list, including the obvious No. 1: Rhett's kiss-off to Scarlett of "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." Marlon Brando gets No. 2 and No. 3 for movies 20 years apart, "an offer he can't refuse" from "The Godfather" and "I coulda been a contender" from "On the Waterfront."

In fact, nine of the top 10 are hard to argue with ... "All About Eve" is OK. However, Bette Davis, she had better quotes in real life. ("I'd marry again if I found a man who had $15 million, would sign over half to me and guarantee that he'd be dead within a year.")

But the good people at AFI can't find one quote from "BaT"? "Jerry Maguire" got two! And "I feel the need ... the need for speed" from "Top Gun." Who made this list, Katie Holmes?!?

Coming from a female character in 1961, you can't beat a thirsty Holly telling Rusty to get my liquor -- quickly: "It should take you exactly four seconds to cross from here to that door. I'll give you two."

At least someone agrees with me. Perhaps I should follow the advice of No. 74 on the AFI list ... "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown."

2 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 7:11 PM
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A Carpenter with Quotas?

Goals are a good thing, but this is just unseemly to me ...

This week's Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Nashville will help kick off a campaign to baptize one million new members in a year.

The 16.3 million-member faith is second in size to the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, but the number of new member baptisms has declined in each of the past five years.

When Jesus divided the five loaves and two fishes to feed the thousands, I don't think he was keeping count.

6 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 8:14 PM
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How Times Have Changed

A personal aside here, I guess, but it brings into context acceptance that we haven't always had.

I'm a mentor of sorts to a few young, gay men. I call them my "gay nephews." Typically, I offer advice on things like how to buy a car, or lease an apartment or the ordinary tasks of life on your own. Sometimes, however, there are the blunt "get-your-head-out-of-your-ass talks. These chats often end with me saying, "If you look for someone to make you happy, you will be sorely disappointed. You cannot find your happiness inside another person. They may make things pleasant and fun sometimes. But you cannot find fulfillment outside of yourself. You have to make you happy. And if someone tells you otherwise, you tell them to f*ck off."

But I digress ...

One of these young men has had a particularly rough time of late with his personal life -- both love and family. Without telling his business, Father's Day is not an easy time for him right now. We had a long conversation yesterday, which upon reflection brings up our topic for today.

Him: I'm not sure I'm gay. Maybe that was just my first experience and I was comfortable with it, so I kept doing it.
Me: If you don't want to call yourself gay, you don't have to. You are not a label. You are a person.
Him: I'm just not sure. I'm confused.
Me: That is something you will have to work out for yourself. But let me tell you one thing: I don't care if you are fat, I don't care if you never go back to school, I don't care if you decide you like p*ssy. I will love you no matter what.

Rewind 10 years ago, and replace "p*ssy" with "d*ck" and you have the typical conversation between a young gay man and a friend he is coming out to. Now, we've come so far in our acceptance of people's sexualities -- and their sense of self -- that it ... really ... is ... OK ... to ... be ... straight.

1 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 5:54 PM
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Father's Day Special Edition

To all the fathers (be they birth fathers, adoptive fathers, foster fathers or father figures) in our lives, you get very little credit publicly for all that you have contributed to our lives. Instead, most of your accomplishments are classified as "things you are suppose to do." Yet so many are simply "sperm donors."

To those who grew up next to nothing, on the small farms of the Depression and post-Depression era, and worked every day of their lives since they were 5 years old.

To those who worked long hours, six days a week to offer your family material things you never had.

To those who coached the baseball teams, the softball teams, the football teams and all of the other activities your children were good at -- and not so good at.

To those who were the first in their families to even graduate from high school, yet grueled away at manual labor jobs to put every single one of your children through college.

To those who took care of their mothers, after their fathers died entirely too young, who visited them every single day in the nursing home when these women became too frail to live alone.

To those who looked cancer and other ailments in the face and laughed, who didn't pity themselves or ask, "Why me?" but instead mustered the courage to beat disease back into submission.

And to those who never bitched when no one praised them, because it was what "they are suppose to do."

Happy Father's Day.

Most of all, Happy Father's Day to the man who lived the above story.

My father.

2 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 7:59 PM
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Cocktail of the Week -- The Warhol Edition

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Katie Holmes? Andy Warhol called. Your 15 minutes are up. At least until the breakup in a few months -- after "War of the Worlds" premieres. So this cocktail is for you, and it features Mr. Warhol's favorite adult beverage: Jack Daniel's. The name of this drink is the Flying F*ck, which is what I wish both you and Tommy Tooth would do.

Ingredients

1 1/2 oz. of Jack Daniel's
1 1/2 oz. sambuca

Instructions

Mix the two ingredients by stirring, then pour over ice in an old-fashioned glass.

Drink five, then go see "Batman Begins." Feel free to throw popcorn, Coke cups and heavy metal objects at the screen.

1 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 7:20 PM
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Firing Blanks

Gay.Com reports that in next month's Maxim magazine, Chicago White Sox (that's baseball, people) outfielder (that means he stands out in the grass part) Carl Everett says gay people shouldn't be allowed to marry because the union could not result in rugrats.

While Everett told the magazine he has accepted gay teammates, he also said: "Gays being gay is wrong. Two women can't produce a baby, two men can't produce a baby, so it's not how it's supposed to be. ... I don't believe in gay marriages. I don't believe in being gay."

Hey, Carl, you have the right to your opinion. But let's be consistent here. Postmenapausal women who either didn't marry young or who lost their husbands through either divorce or death? Die alone. Straight men who are impotent? Die alone.

I'm sure Carl would be in favor of that, right? After all, he's making up for the rest of us with his five children. However, if he's going to continue providing for them in the comfortable manner they are living now, he might want to try getting a hit every now and then. He's batting .264, and misses the ball completely almost as much as he makes contact (51 hits compared to 33 strikeouts).

Of course, no one can claim ol' Carl is a rocket scientist. Several years ago when he played in Boston, he said dinosaurs didn't exist because they aren't mentioned in the Bible and speculated that man didn't set foot on the moon.

"God created the sun, the stars, the heavens and the earth, and then made Adam and Eve," Everett said last Friday, before the Red Sox lost two of three in Atlanta. "The Bible never says anything about dinosaurs. You can't say there were dinosaurs when you never saw them. Someone actually saw Adam and Eve. No one ever saw a Tyrannosaurus rex."

What about dinosaur bones?

"Made by man," he says.

Everett has trouble, too, with the idea of man actually walking on the moon. After first rejecting the notion, he concedes, "Yeah, that could have happened. It's possible. That is something you could prove. You can't prove dinosaurs ever existed. I feel it's far-fetched."

Uh, I got some bad news for you, Carl. Gays are mentioned in the Bible. Oy veh.

2 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 7:30 PM
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It Is, After All, Louisiana

When they say, "Only in Louisiana," they don't mean bare-breasts-for-beads or drive-thru diaquiri shops. No, they mean that what would seem completely outrageous is perfectly normal in the Bayou State.

Particularly in New Orleans, where ...

The security chief for Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has been hired to provide sensitivity training for the NOPD. Captain Dennis Muhammad has conducted sensitivity training in other cities such as Buffalo and will be paid $15,000 for his services, which NOPD Chief Eddie Compass says are needed in New Orleans.

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You know, the Nation of Islam, whose leader, former professional violinist and singer Calypso Gene (aka Louis Farrakhan ne Louis Eugene Walcott) has said that ...

Whites are "blue eyed devils."
Jews are "bloodsuckers"
"Hitler was a very great man."
Jews controlled the slave trade and currently control the government
Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad believed that whites were created by an evil Black scientist and that there will be "The Great Decisive Battle in the Sky" when a space ship will kill all white people by bombing the earth
Muhammad believed that white people should relocate to Europe and that racial integration was wrong

In addition, Farrakhan has met with dictators in Sudan, Libya and Iraq, before the war, and praised their governments while denouncing the United States. Leaders in the Nation of Islam have also made very inflammatory anti-Catholic statements. In a November 1993 speech at Kean College in New Jersey, Farrakhan’s chief spokesman Khallid Muhammad said, "The old no-good Pope-you know that cracker, somebody need to raise that dress up and see what's really under there. Jesus was right; you're nothing but liars. The book of Revelations is right; you're from the Synagogue of Satan."

Um, yeah, OK. Of course the political leadership in New Orleans didn't see much wrong with the security chief for someone so offensive (and that's a mild description) provide sensitivity training to police officers. At least not until it became a national story. Now the delightfully named Chief Compass has reversed his decision.

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P.S. You can keep reading the second story on intellectually challenged Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco (as in BLANK-o) and her failed attempt to gouge lower income residents with a $1 a pack cigarette tax.

1 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 7:08 PM
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Arlene, You B*tch

I am one tired puppy. Tropical Storm Arlene dumped rain on us all weekend, so by the time I was able to mow the lawn yesterday and today, the grass was thicker than Rosie's thighs. Such episodes remind me of what I should have never become domesticated. I don't care much for cleaning the house or working in the yard.

It also reminds me of the only redeeming quality possessed by the Boyfriend Who Shall Not Be Named. He kept the lawn mowed and the house spotless. He couldn't stand clutter, and cutting grass in the hot sun gave him an added excuse to drink beer. Or whiskey. Or vodka. Or ... well, you get the picture. He may have been a drunk, but he wasn't completely worthless. Outside of not keeping a job. Or making a car payment. Or taking care of his kid. Or ... well, you get the picture.

Yet somewhere in the Lowlands, there's a guy passed out on his sofa after his 12th Stoli and water with extra lemons ... laying in a spotless house, which, in turn, is sitting on a manicured lawn.

Either that or he's living in a cardboard box under an interstate overpass. But I'm not bitter. ;-)

2 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 8:14 PM
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The Dems' Last, Great Southern Hope?

If the Democrat Pary ever hopes to break the conservative stranglehold on the Deep South, it will take more than U.S. Rep. Harold Ford. But the 34-year-old scion of a Tennessee political family certainly is a good start. His reaction to DNC Chairman Howard Dean's comments that the Republican Party as "the white Christian party" gives many moderates hope. Ford told radio show host Don Imus:

"(Dean) has made some comments as of late that really speak to a lack of understanding I think, of the country, a lack of understanding of faith and values. I'm a Democrat and I'm a God fearing one. I grew up in church. Christianity is not reserved for white males.

"I think perhaps Governor Dean sometimes gets a little excited at the mouth, and says things that are simply not true. It may reach a point where if he can't find a way to kind of control some of his comments, and temper his comments, it may get to the point where the party may need to look elsewhere for leadership, because he does not speak for me, and I know he does not speak for a majority of Democrats and I dare say Republicans in my home state."

If the Democrats enjoy losing presidential elections, they need to find even more Deans. If they'd like to win one again sometime soon, they need to find more Harold Fords. Or maybe one is enough. Ford in '12?

(Hat tip: Just One Minute)

0 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 7:55 PM
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Cocktail of the Week -- JaySix Birthday Edition

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JaySix of J6 & BF celebrates his birthday on this fine June 10. But the date has other historical significance. On June 10, 1935, Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron, Ohio. And one year ago today, Ray Charles died at 73 years old. So what better way to celebrate JaySix's birthday than an alcoholic mixture with remembrances of "Mr. What'd I Say" ... The Gin Blind Cocktail!

Ingredients

1 oz. gin
1/4 oz. Curacao
1/2 tsp. Cognac
1 dash orange bitters

Instructions

Mix ingredients into a shaker of cracked ice. Shake and strain into chilled martini glass.

Happy Birthday, Jay!

P.S. If you seriously need Alcoholics Anonymous, visit Dave's page.

3 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 5:20 PM
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Tammy 'Fey' Baker

In an interview with Gay.Com, Jim J. Bullock confirms Tammy Faye Bakker is a "Class A" fag hag ...

I am still in touch with her and she definitely is a friend to the gay community. She's very busy, I'm busy, but you know how you have those people in your life that you don't talk to that much, but when you do, it's like no time has gone by? That's the way it is with me and Tammy. It's so easy and so comfortable.

God love her.

And in another Gay.Com story, former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms will apparently admit in his upcoming memoir that his harsh opinions on AIDS has softened.

He cited friendships he developed with North Carolina evangelist Franklin Graham and rock singer Bono, both of whom got him involved in the fight against the AIDS epidemic in Africa.

"Until then," Helms writes, "it had been my feeling that AIDS was a disease largely spread by reckless and voluntary sexual and drug-abusing behavior, and that it would probably be confined to those in high risk populations. I was wrong."

But the same article, he pulls out the "outside agitator" canard when attempting to justify his constant opposition to racial integration. Baby steps, I suppose, baby steps.

1 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 7:26 PM
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All You White Republicans Look Alike To Us

Perhaps the folks over at MoveOn should lay off the marijuana long enough to read this book.

A protest organized June 1 by MoveOn, a liberal political action committee, drew about 20 people to the Michigan Avenue office of U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton. Demonstrators protested Rogers’ ties to embattled House Majority Leader Tom Delay.

There was only one problem: They had the wrong Mike Rogers.

Whoops.

The group came armed with financial records from a Web site that detailed various financial contributions between the two Republicans, including a $20,000 campaign contribution from DeLay to Rogers as well as a $5,000 contribution by Rogers to DeLay’s legal defense fund.

However, the Mike Rogers involved was not the Michigan congressman, but rather Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala.

Twenty people? It's a pity to waste such a massive outpouring of outrage on the wrong guy. Maybe they can reschedule. I'm sure the fine people of Alabama would arrange a nice welcome.

1 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 6:22 PM
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What Does This Have to Do with the Price of Tea in Vienna?

U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback is opposing the appointment of someone who favors legalized abortion. Not surprising, if you consider he is very much opposed to legalized abortion. But when you consider what position is at stake ... well, it makes you wonder: Do we not have better things to worry about on Capitol Hill, Senator?

The Kansas Republican, a strong abortion opponent with presidential aspirations, says he has concerns about Julie Finley's nomination as ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Brownback is chairman of the Helsinki Commission, an independent U.S. government agency that formulates policy on OSCE issues. The Vienna-based organization monitors compliance with human rights and security standards in Europe established by the 1975 Helsinki Accords.

For that matter, why does this position even exist?

0 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 6:07 PM
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Southern Political Roundup

U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, who as secretary of state was at the center of the 2000 presidential recount in Florida, plans to challenge incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson next year. Nelson, a former shuttle astronaut, is considered a moderate by Washington standards, and has often been considered difficult to unseat in the half-red, half-blue Sunshine State.

But Florida seems to be creeping more into the red column, and Harris is a popular Republican. She also can bring in the cash, with a long background in the state's business community. It also doesn't hurt that her father, George, is a well-known banker. The AP reports:

Nelson is considered a moderate with the ability to attract crossover voters. He has focused on issues including opposition to oil drilling off Florida's Gulf Coast and support of the space program — a priority of his ever since he rode aboard the shuttle Columbia in 1986, when he represented Florida in Congress.

Republicans have said they believe Nelson is beatable. An April poll of 1,044 likely voters from both parties showed 35 percent would like to see Nelson win a second term while 37 percent said they would prefer another person. He received approval from 50 percent of those polled, while 17 disapproved and a third didn't know.

Meanwhile, Alabama native Janice Rogers Brown -- now of California -- appears set for confirmation to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia after a protracted fight in the U.S. Senate. The smart money has her on the short list for any upcoming Supreme Court vacancies -- hence the attempt by her political opponents to "bloody" her up now and try to halt her judicial rise.

And in Tennessee, Howard Dean's state coordinator and Davidson County Democratic Party chairman is under investigation for child pornography. Rodney Mullins has since resigned his party post.

0 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 6:38 PM
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D-Day 61 Years Later

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To the Americans at Omaha and Utah beaches ...

To the British at Gold and Sword beaches ...

To the French resistance at Sword, as well ...

And to the Canadians at Juno Beach ...

We will never forget.

"We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free."

-- President Reagan, June 6, 1984

0 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 6:03 PM
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Cocktail of the Week -- Damn, It's Hot Edition

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It is 5:10 p.m. and currently 86 degrees Fahrenheit. With the humidity, it feels like it's 91. Ah, it's June in the South. I need a drink. Something cold and fruity. Here's one. It's called a Southern Delta. Mmmm, Southern Comfort. Peachy.

Ingredients

Broken ice
1 1/2 measures bourbon (not whiskey, bourbon ... try Maker's Mark or Knob Creek)
1/2 measure Southern Comfort
1/3 measure lime juice
1/3 measure pineapple juice

Instructions

Put a glassful of broken ice into the shaker. Pour in the liquids. Shake well and pour -- unstrained -- into an old-fashioned glass.

Wipe your brow and drink. Repeat as needed, y'all.

0 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 3:10 PM
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Watergate

In the comments section of Tragic Demise, I go on and on about the unveiling of "Deep Throat," or at least the main source for Woodward and Bernstein's investigation into the Watergate break-in.

Matt suggested I do a post, but it's Friday and I'm tired. Read the comments and let me know if you're interested in more. Also, this site provides a good summary of Watergate, including a PDF of the Vanity Fair article on Mark Felt.

The site also contains a link to the Washington Post article where Carl Bernstein downplays Felt's role in breaking the story. Instead, he says Felt mostly confirmed information he and Woodward dug up. (Registration required. Boooo to the Post.)

"Felt's role in all this can be overstated," said Bernstein, who went on after Watergate to a career of books, magazine articles and television investigations. "When we wrote the book, we didn't think his role would achieve such mythical dimensions. You see there that Felt/Deep Throat largely confirmed information we had already gotten from other sources."

Ouch, the pain of not receiving your due credit, eh, Carl? Life in the shadows can be lonely.

0 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 2:56 PM
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Smoke! It's for the Children!

Now they've gone and done it. The Public Affairs Research Council is attempting to bring facts and reason into Louisiana politics. Good luck, especially when Gov. Kathleen Blanco is involved. (I liked her much better when she was cutting ribbons on new tourist welcome centers -- one of her claims to fame as lieutenant governor. In fact, maybe the only thing she did as lieutenant governor.)

It seems that when you crunch the numbers, there's no need to raise cigarette taxes by $1 a pack in the Bayou State to support education.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco has yet to make a strong enough case for her proposed $1-per-pack hike in cigarette taxes, a government watchdog agency said Thursday.

In a news release, the Public Affairs Research Council noted last month's improved state revenue projections -- $169 million more in the coming fiscal year alone, according to the state Revenue Estimating Conference -- plus other potential revenue sources. The release questions the need for the tax, which Blanco has said would be used to fund school teacher, school support worker and college faculty pay raises.

Instead, the cash will go to various pork projects. And the state wants to raise other "fees" -- hey, folks, a fee is a tax, call it what you want -- while refusing to make previously promised spending cuts.

PAR said the cigarette tax would raise $40 million more than needed for the Blanco-backed $3,300 teacher pay raise over two years and the 5 percent raise for college faculty.

Other potential revenue sources listed by PAR include a proposed $87 million hospital fee that has made it out of the House Ways and Means Committee and would generate a total of $300 million a year and a proposal to change rules for the "rainy day" trust fund that would free up $200 million next year.

And Louisiana "leaders" wonder why the rest of the South is leaving it behind in attracting jobs. Could it be the redistribution of wealth mentality? Third world and damn proud of it? Damned right.

2 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 4:41 PM
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European Gaydar

Perhaps it is my hypersensitive gaydar, but it was very difficult for me to differentiate straight from gay on my recent trip to Italy. I suppose it applies to the States, as well, with this whole "meterosexual" trend. I wish we could go back to the old days when straight guys dressed rather poorly and all had the same J. Crew catalog haircut.

Instead, they confuse me with their linen suits, fake and bake tans, bleached teeth and perfect hair.

Which reminds me of one of my favorite "Will & Grace" quotes ...

"C-3PO wasn't gay, he was British." -- Will, Season One