Breakfast at Tiffany's – Because I Do Not Know

Is This The Real Life ... Is This Just Fantasy?

Sorry, Freddie, the mullahs have judged you persona non grata -- even in death. (The link is to Gay.com for those of you at work.)

A 60th birthday gala for the late gay rock star Freddie Mercury was canceled Thursday on the east African island of Zanzibar, where Mercury was born, after outraged Muslims threatened to disrupt it, Agence France Presse reported.

On Wednesday, organizers said they would continue with the planned Sept. 2 event despite fierce opposition from Islamists, who said the lifestyle of Queen's flamboyant lead singer was offensive to many on the overwhelmingly Muslim archipelago. Organizers said Thursday they have no choice but to call it off. ...

Conservative Zanzibari Islamists last week demanded that authorities ban the party and then vowed to stage mass demonstrations if it went ahead, saying it would tarnish the islands' reputation and culture and promote homosexuality.

As sad as this story is, it is humorous that Zanzibar is known mostly for two things: spices and Freddie Mercury, yet its residents have no clue who Queen or Freddie Mercury are.

That happens when you're stuck in the 16th century.

1 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 7:07 PM
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We Love Dirty Laundry

What's better than embarrassment for one overpaid, over-hairsprayed TV news "personality"? Embarrassment for two overpaid, over-hairsprayed TV news "personalities."

First, CNN's Lady in the Loo.

Her "loving" husband emerged pretty well, but her "control freak" of a sister-in-law is probably less amused, after a CNN presenter left her microphone on while chatting to a colleague in the toilets.

Viewers who tuned into Tuesday's edition of "Live From ..." to watch President George W. Bush in New Orleans were instead treated to the president competing for attention with anchor Kyra Phillips giving a lavatory low down on her family.

"My husband is handsome and he is genuinely a loving, you know, no ego... you know what I'm saying," Phillips told an unidentified confidante in a bathroom back-and-forth transmitted live to the nation for over a minute.

When her powder room pal turned to talk of her latest love interest and her mother's approval ratings, Phillips confided -- or so she thought -- that her brother was the one she needed to look out for.

"He's married, three kids, but his wife is just a control freak," she said.

That certainly should make for a pleasant family dinner come Thanksgiving. And if you listen to the potty chat (Hat tip: Newsbusters), Phillips really hits on "freak." Her sister-in-law must be thrilled. I smell libel lawsuit.

Then there's Katie Couric and the case of the Photoshop Diet.

No, Katie Couric didn't suddenly lose 20 pounds. The incoming "CBS Evening News" anchor appears significantly thinner in a network promotional magazine photo thanks to digital airbrushing.

The touched-up photo of Couric dressed in a striped business suit appears on the inside of the September issue of Watch! which is distributed at CBS stations and on American Airlines flights.

CBS News President Sean McManus said he was "obviously surprised and disappointed when I heard about it."

Katie, of course, didn't know anything about it. This kind of photo retouching goes on all the time in corporate art departments. But when your corporation is about presenting the "truth," maybe you need to be a little more careful about shaving 20 pounds of the public face -- literally -- of your news division.

Here's a side-by-side comparison (Hat tip: Instapundit) and here's an overlay comparison. Is that Don Henley I hear?

We got the bubble-headed bleach blonde
Who comes on at five
She can tell you bout the plane crash
With a gleam in her eye
It's interesting when people die
Give us dirty laundry

And they wonder why we don't watch television news anymore. You can't make this sh*t up. Or maybe you can.

1 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 8:03 PM
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Katrina: One Year Later

Nothing insightful today, nothing prophetic, on this the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and her devastating arrival on the U.S. Gulf Coast. I'm burned out on news coverage, and frankly, I don't want to relive the whole ordeal.

I was back in New Orleans in June. The tourist areas along the riverfront were lively, but not like the old days. Other parts of the city looked like they had been bombed.

New BaT readers can check out my Katrina coverage from late August through early September. I think this post still seems up my feelings best.

Money is never the complete answer. You also need integrity and common sense. The people of Louisiana deserve better from their elected leaders. But only they can hold the politicians accountable, and in the past, they haven't. Instead, they vote for legacy politicians like Mary Landrieu, whose qualifications consist of not much more than a famous last name.

Perhaps this will wake up the voters of Louisiana, who for so long have laughed about their inept politicians and their third-world image.

It's not very funny now, is it?

And a few months later, they re-elected Ray Nagin as mayor. The man he beat: Mary Landrieu's little brother Mitch. The Crescent City may rebuild one day, but this won't happen in a year, or two or three. Maybe in 10 years. Maybe.

But let's forget about politics for now. Instead, say a little prayer for the almost 2,000 people who lost their lives to Katrina and her aftermath. Then say one for the people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama who escaped death but who have been emotionally wrecked, those who are finally recovering and those with the pioneering American spirit to rebuild.

God bless all y'all.

2 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 6:27 PM
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My Hero Was A Revolutionary, And All I Got Was This Stupid Shirt

If you want substance, you'll need to either scroll up or scroll down. This post is half-scorn, half-mock toward T-Shirts "honoring" Che Guevara. Question: Does every little trust-fund wannabe intellectual own one of these?

It appears so. While sipping their $5 Starbucks (poured by people who make, what, slightly more than that an hour?), these kids -- and sometimes 40-somethings who never really grew up -- bemoaning the plight of the poor and oppressed. Never mind that most of these same people went to private, all-white high schools and then private, mostly white universities. They feel their pain.

And these same people always seem to break out the Che shirts in time for the latest globalization protests, even though the T-shirts were probably made in some Third World factory -- which brings up the point that in the days before globalization, those same people making $1 an hour sewing were living on $1 a day 20 years ago.

But where does that leave those of us who, you know, don't see Che as an idol, but as the Stalinist strong man and founder of the death camps still being used to silence free-speech and democracy supporters in Cuba?

At last we have our own T-shirts. Viva la merchandise!

2 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 5:39 PM
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Making Up For A Lost Weekend

Alright, there was no Cocktail of the Week. Drink a beer for chrissakes. To make up for this negligence, I'm cleaning out the BaT inbox in like a Junior Leaguer tossing last season's wardrobe ...

Alabama Democrats Come to Their Senses

Patricia Todd will become the first openly gay member of the Alabama Legislature. It took a narrow vote of the state's Democratic Executive Committee to overturn a subcommittee to decision to strip Todd of the nomination after she -- and her opponent -- violated an obscure party rule that hasn't been enforced in more than 30 years.

This cause was less about Todd's sexuality, however, and more about her skin color. She is white; she was elected to represent a minority-majority House district. Even the executive committee vote was almost completely split by race. Of the 90 or so black committee members, less than a dozen voted to uphold the people's vote.

Kudos to state Rep. Alvin Holmes, who I have disagreed with numerous times over the years, for his courage in speaking out for Todd. Holmes was the only black person to do so during the debate.

"Selective prosecution has been done to black people in Alabama more than any other person in this state," said Montgomery Rep. Alvin Holmes, the lone black member to speak for Todd during debate. "Unless someone can show the 59 votes Todd received were illegal votes, there's no way you can deny her the seat."

Joe Reed, who thinks of himself as a party boss, didn't hide the Todd challenge was racially motivated. Reed, who is also black, should be thinking to himself right now: "So this is how we lost the state to the Republicans. ... Well, this and abortion and gun control and running someone from Massachusetts for president all the time."

The decision was seen by many as a rebuff of Joe Reed, the Alabama Democratic Conference chairman and party power broker whom many considered one of the main forces behind the Hendricks challenge. ...

"I don't apologize in regard to trying to preserve a black seat," Reed said. "That's why I drew the (district) lines. This is a setback, a little bit, for that. But we'll live with it."

Ah, yes, Joe, democracy's a b*tch, ain't it?

Joe Biden Speaks the Truth?

With his past honesty issues, who knows if this is an original Joe Biden thought, but ...

Apparently, the Delaware senator thinks he can appeal to Red State voters, because, like them, he's from a slave state. No, seriously, that's what he said.

"Better than anybody else," Biden said, when asked on "Fox News Sunday" to rate his chances of winning Southern states.

"You don't know my state," he said. "My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state has the eighth-largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a Northeast liberal state."

We've covered this before at BaT. Yes, Delaware was a slave state. So was Connecticut. And Massachusetts. And New Hampshire. And New York. And many others well into the 1800s. I'm not sure where the senator was trying to go with this, but it's a no-win argument. Maybe he should tell everyone Neil Kinnock actually said it.

Etc., Etc.

Pluto has left the building. PJS has more.

The great Leslie Jordan has won an Emmy. Boi from Troy has more.

A 9-11 hero receives some overdue recognition.

With Ernesto threatening to hit the United States with hurricane force (possibly twice), Hurricane Central is back up and running.

1 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 6:15 PM
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Breakfast At Slacker's

Apologies to my 40-plus daily readers (ha!), but blogging hasn't been a high priority in the last couple of weeks. I missed a Cocktail of the Week this past weekend, and Hurricane Central has been inactive -- much like hurricane season -- for a couple of months.

I'll try to do better, although new responsibilities at the office will sure to further cut into my time.

But I'm trying ... really I am. This next post should be one of my rapid-fire specials. And I hope to kick-start Hurricane Central, too. It would be a shame to waste such a cool blog design.

0 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 6:10 PM
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Our Friends The Democrats

You halfway expect (OK, maybe more than halfway) that Republicans would go out of their way to find a 30-year-old rule and use it to disqualify what would be the first openly gay member of the Alabama Legislature.

But not the "party of inclusion." You see, it appears, having a black legistator representing a minority-majority House District is more important than allowing a white lesbian -- who received the most votes in both the primary and the runoff -- represent the Democratic Party in the general election.

A Democratic Party committee Thursday night disqualified an openly gay candidate for the Alabama Legislature and the woman she defeated in the primary runoff because both women violated a party rule that party officials said no other candidate has obeyed since 1988.

The committee voted 5-0 to disqualify Patricia Todd, who was attempting to become the state's first openly gay legislator, and Gaynell Hendricks. ...

Committee members said they would issue a formal order Friday morning.

State Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham was "very surprised" by the decision Thursday, said Zac McCrary, a party spokesman. Turnham believes the party's executive committee might change the decision based on an "archaic bylaw," McCrary said.

Attorney Bobby Segall told the committee earlier Thursday that if the party disqualified Todd for not filing a financial disclosure form with the party chairman it would also have to disqualify the party's nominee for governor, Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley, and for lieutenant governor, former Gov. Jim Folsom Jr.

Of course, Baxley and Folsom have already been conveniently certified as winners.

Here's the lengths the Democratic party bosses are going to appease the old-line, out-of-touch, 70-something-year-old black power brokers in Birmingham -- who, by the way, are the reason that city has gone to sh*t and hasn't had anything good happen to it in 20 years.

Another Todd attorney, Ed Still, told the committee that Todd filed her form on July 17, the day before the July 18 runoff. While the filing was in violation of a requirement that the forms be filed five days before the election, Still said the Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that candidates can't be disqualified if they file before the election.

But the attorney for Childress, Raymond Johnson, said Todd should instead be disqualified for violating a 1974 Democratic Party rule that requires Democratic candidates to file financial disclosure statements with the party chairman five days before the election. Democratic Party executive director Jim Spearman testified that as far as he knew, no Democratic candidate had filed a disclosure statement with the chairman since 1988, when the state law requiring financial disclosure was passed.

Spearman said no candidate this year, including Todd or Hendricks, had filed the disclosure form with the chairman.

Todd said she believes the challenge has nothing to do with the fact she is gay, but is about the fact that she is white and won in a majority black district.

"Of course if I was black I don't think they would have contested the election," Todd said. She blamed the contest on Joe Reed, longtime chairman of the black Democratic caucus, who wrote a letter before the election urging black leaders to support Hendricks because of her race and stressing the need for keeping the seat in black hands.

Segall also alluded to Reed's influence in his closing statement to the committee.

"This is about race. Folks are upset that a white woman won in a black district. There are some times you just have to say 'this isn't right,' " Segal said.

Rob, I hope this answers your question.

The Democrat bosses still have a chance to right this wrong and apply the rule fairly. Either all must following the 1974 rule or none do. If Todd isn't reinstated as the Democratic Party nominee, I will not vote for a single Democrat in November, including you and you. (C'mon, Little Jim, it's 2006. Get a Web site, for chrissakes.)

UPDATE: Turnham, the state Democratic leader, seems to understand the impact this reversal could have on his party's legitimacy. He is rallying the troops to overturn the subcommittee's decision.

I am disappointed that the sub-committee took a narrow, impractical view of the obsolete bylaw in question, applying it equally to each candidate. This section of our bylaws is archaic and has not been required by the party since 1988. The fact is that no candidate files with the party, but instead with the Secretary of State as required by the Fair Campaign Practices Act of 1988.

I will be providing full commentary to the State Democratic Executive Committee members on Saturday, which is comprised of Alabamians from all over our state's 105 State House districts. I believe the full SDEC will take a measured and practical view of this order and render a fair decision.

Should the SDEC reject this report from the sub-committee, the contest filed by Ms. Childress would fail and Ms. Todd would be the nominee in House District 54. Should the SDEC uphold the decision of the sub-committee then the SDEC would be charged with selecting a new nominee for District 54. I have previously sent a memorandum to all State Democratic Executive Committee members encouraging attendance and emphasizing the need for rational, respectful decision-making.

Good for him.

URGENT: Contact local Democratic Party leaders and urge them to help overturn this injustice. You can find numerous links here.

BaT's previous post about Patricia Todd is here.

2 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 6:58 PM
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Tom Gets The Thumb (And The Finger)

BaT is tired. BaT is cranky. BaT is in the perfect mood for a story like this.

Citing Tom Cruise's yearlong metamorphosis from pure box-office phenomenon to pop-culture punch line, Viacom's chairman, Sumner M. Redstone, said Tuesday that Paramount Pictures was ending its 14-year relationship with the actor's production company.

Mr. Cruise's representatives insisted that they had not been fired but instead had quit and had already lined up $100 million in financing to produce movies on their own. ...

Last year, Mr. Cruise seemed to sprout cracks in his megawatt-smile facade: jumping up and down on Oprah Winfrey's couch to declare his love for the actress Katie Holmes; assailing Brooke Shields for taking prescription drugs to treat postpartum depression; and speaking out publicly against psychiatry and for his religion, Scientology. ...

"As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal," Mr. Redstone told The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the studio’s decision on its Web site. "His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount."

Priceless bitch-slappin'. No doubt The Cult will spring into action and attempt to destroy what's left of Paramount. But if there's a God and his name is not L. Ron Hubbard, maybe Tommy Tooth will now do us all a favor and go away. C'mon, Tom, how many more times can you make the "same" movie.

Defamer, of course, is all over the story, including this interesting tidbit that may or may not be related.

Viacom Conspiracy Theory: Please note that the pissing contest between Sumner and Xenu began on the same day that Paramount announced a two picture deal for the South Park guys. How's this for a scenario: Tom gets wind of the deal and calls Brad Grey telling him to cancel the Important Pictures pact or he'll leave. Brad Grey kicks it up to Freston who kicks it up to Sumner who -- knowing that negotiations are going poorly and not so fondly recalling being forced to pull the Trapped in the Closet episode or else Cruise wouldn't do press for MI3 -- says, "Fine, goodbye. You and your alien race will bully me no more."

Ha! "South Park" gets the last laugh? Again?

4 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 7:52 PM
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Fighting AIDS In Africa

Some good news in the fight against AIDS on the African continent, courtesy of the Boston Globe.

FIVE YEARS AGO, in Jos, Nigeria, a city on the country's central plateau, Dr. John Idoko regularly made rounds in a hospital packed with people dying from AIDS because they couldn't pay for the antiretroviral drugs necessary to keep them alive. Three years ago, as the price of the drugs plummeted, the Nigerian doctor was able to deliver the life-extending medication to 700 patients-until his government's supply ran out for several months.

Today, the change for the better is astonishing: Idoko now treats nearly 6,000 HIV-positive patients. He has expanded his clinic three times in five years, and his waiting room once again is too crowded. "Now, we are eyeing an abandoned building nearby," he said last week, chuckling.

The major reason for Idoko's success is the Bush administration's AIDS program, which in the last three years has sent billions of dollars to Africa and helped save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. When I moved to Africa three years ago, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, was just getting off the ground. As I return to Washington this month, the $15 billion program is just hitting its stride, and many Africans believe it has become the single most effective initiative in fighting the deadly scourge.

"The greatest impact in HIV prevention and treatment in Africa is PEPFAR-there's nothing that compares," Idoko said.

And unlike many government programs, this one is flexible enough to adjust needs and approaches.

Some US AIDS coordinators in Africa grumble about the spending requirement on abstinence programs. In Washington, US officials have given waivers to some countries to spend less money on abstinence programs, allowing the continuation of effective existing efforts to distribute condoms to truck drivers and reaching out to men to try to change sexual behavior.

In Nigeria, Idoko said that more money should be spent in all areas of prevention, especially in the education of young people.

"It's not that people in Africa are having more sex than anywhere else, it's just that sex in the West is a lot safer because of the information they have and because of the technology that is available," Idoko said. "For many Africans, buying a pack of condoms is a huge problem. Many don't have enough money."

The program's approach to combatting the spread of AIDS is as simple as ABC: abstinence until marriage, being faithful and condoms. In Africa, approximately 1 of every 16 people ages 15-49 are HIV-positive. The continent holds 10 percent of the world's population -- but 60 percent of AIDS cases.

A friend of mine spends volunteer time working in HIV prevention and treatment in Africa. She tells me the majority of the cases she sees comes from male-to-female or female-to-male infection -- and the majority of those involve prostitution. It's in this area that the ABC program will work best.

As in the United States, a good portion of Europe and almost all of Latin America and Asia, gay people who live in Africa, however, are denied the right to "A." But there's nothing stopping them from B and C.

While there is much still to be done, it is good to see that American dollars are being put to good use abroad -- particularly in a region known for its corruption and thievery. Now about that $2 billion a year we give to Egypt ...

0 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 7:09 PM
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Joe Rosenthal, 1911-2006

Joe Rosenthal, the man who took what may very well be the most famous photograph ever (the Iwo Jima flag-raising pictured above), has died. He was 94.

After 30,000 Marines landed there on Feb. 19, 1945, it took four days for a contingent to scale Mount Suribachi, the highest point. More than 6,800 U.S. servicemen died in the five-week battle for the island, and the 21,000-man Japanese defense force was virtually wiped out.

Rosenthal's shutter captured the second raising of the flag on Mount Suribachi after the Marines decided the first flag was too small. Rosenthal later wrote that he almost didn't climb the summit when he learned a flag already had been raised.

"What I see behind the photo is what it took to get up to those heights -- the kind of devotion to their country that those young men had, and the sacrifices they made," he said. "I take some gratification in being a little part of what the U.S. stands for."

Compare that approach to proof of recent wartime "journalism" shenanigans and Rosenthal's legacy even larger. Rosenthal himself faced charges that he staged the photo. But the charge resulted when he confused the flag-raising photo for another he had taken.

What is often lost when people see this photo is what happened to the six men who appear in it. (Some have claimed only five Marines and sailors are shown, but this illustration proves the case for six.)

Three of the men -- Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block and Michael Strank -- didn't leave the island alive. Block and Strank were killed in action within a week; Sousley died less than a month after the photograph was taken. The remaining three -- John Bradley, Rene Gagnon and Ira Hayes -- did survive, but were haunted by the war and celebrity. Hayes, subject of the song "The Ballad of Ira Hayes," died in 1955, shortly after his 32nd birthday. Gagnon, by one account, became bitter that his celebrity faded. He died in 1979. John Bradley rarely spoke of his wartime exploits. He died in 1994.

May they all rest in peace.

The copyright of the above photograph is held by Joe Rosenthal/Associated Press.

1 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 7:37 PM
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Cocktail of the Week -- Low IQ Edition

This past Tuesday, BaT lamented that more people knew the Three Stooges than the three branches of American government. Today, however, we drink to them with a shot worthy of stupid people: The Dumbf*ck.

Ingredients

1 oz. Aftershock Red
1 oz. Seagram's 7 (or your favorite Canadian whisky)

Instructions

Pour the Aftershock and whisky into a cocktail shaker over ice and mix. Then divide the combination into two shot glasses. Repeat until you're as retarded as the people who think a vignette is a salad dressing.

Cin-cin! (That's sort of like cheers to you Homer Simpson fans.)

0 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 7:11 PM
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Give Me Your Burka Or Your Life

Emotional people aren't rational -- at least until you personalize an issue. Then, suddenly yet briefly, there's a moment of clarity. Such was the case over a dinner of Indian food tonight.

A screamin' liberal feminist friend of mine goes on these rants. Typically, I try to ignore her during these times, because you simply can't discuss issues of any sort with anyone who begins every sentence with, "I feel ..."

But tonight, when she commented that "violence never solves anything," I decided to play ball. I decided not to take my typical approach of saying, "Yeah, you know, that whole slavery thing went away by itself. And everyone knows Hitler was finished rolling over Europe and killing Jews, gays and gypsies. And, of course, the Japanese were merely vacationing on the Asian continent. And, well, I'm pretty sure the British would have granted the American colonists independence one of these days."

No, I've found that emotional people have a very narrow sense of history, unless they can recall some worldly injustice that has little to do with any current event. You can't bring in the past, because, to them, everything that has ever happened to them has never happened to anyone before. You can call it arrogance, or you can call it cluelessness.

Instead, the best way is to first appeal to the emotional side, then drop in a blunt dose of reality. The topic, remember again, is: Does violence solve anything?

Me: So, should women in the Middle East be forced to wear burkas.

Raging Feminist Liberal: You know me well enough to know my answer.

Me: Just answer the question.

RFL: I don't think women should be forced to do anything they do not want to do.

Me: I'll take that as a no, although it wasn't really a no. OK, then, let's move on to part two. We have a woman in a burka, forced (either through overt or historic threat) to wear it by her husband or father. Now, what if I put a gun to husband's or father's head and told him: "Either you allow her to take the burka off or I will kill you. And if you ever force her to wear it again, I will come back and kill you." And if he no longer forces her to submit to his wishes (and not hers), has violence or the threat of violence solved anything?"

* Silence *

Me: And I'll take that as a yes.

Riddle me this, everyone: Is it morally justified to threaten and/or kill someone who would deny another person's freedom? (And I don't mean freedom, as in, some guy cut me off on the interstate. I mean "freedom" and in the basics of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.)

2 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 7:06 PM
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Heat Plus Sand Equals Glass

They always come for the Jews first; then it's the gays. There's no doubt where we stand with the caliphates in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi authorities arrested 20 young men after raiding a suspected gay wedding in the southern town of Jizan, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The detainees, who were among some 400 men attending "the wedding party of two men" on Tuesday, had been "emulating women," the Al-Watan paper said.

In all, some 250 people were detained in the police raid on the party but the rest were later released.

Police had "arrested the wanted people and released those who have nothing to do with the matter," the paper quoted a police commander as saying.

The article fails to mention that the "crime" of homosexuality is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia. And that's if you're lucky.

As none of the criminal code is written down, the precise punishments for being convicted of homosexuality or sodomy varies but will likely include imprisonment, lashes, or amputation of a limb.

People accused of homosexuality may be sexually abused by the police or sent to a mental institution for treatment. The government still beheads a handful of people each year for engaging in homosexual relations between consenting adults in private.

Criminal trials may occur in secret, and defendants may not have access to a translator or a lawyer. Prisoners are sometimes subject to cruel treatment.

Apparently "gay weddings" are all the rage in Saudi Arabia. What a sh*thole of a country.

0 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 7:07 PM
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Who Am I?

Pop quiz: This man is ...

A. British Prime Minister Tony Blair

B. "Three Stooges" star Moe Howard

C. Supreme Court Justice David Souter

D. Dopey of the Seven Dwarfs

E. None of the above

If you said "C" is the correct answer, then you are smarter than about three-quarters of the American population.

Three quarters of Americans can correctly identify two of Snow White's seven dwarfs while only a quarter can name two Supreme Court Justices, according to a poll on pop culture released on Monday.

According to the poll by Zogby International, commissioned by the makers of a new online game on pop culture called "Gold Rush," 57 percent of Americans could identify J.K. Rowling's fictional boy wizard as Harry Potter, while only 50 percent could name the British prime minister, Tony Blair. ...

Asked what planet Superman was from, 60 percent named the fictional planet Krypton, while only 37 percent knew that Mercury is the planet closest to the sun.

Respondents were far more familiar with the Three Stooges -- Larry, Curly and Moe -- than the three branches of the U.S. government -- judicial, executive and legislative. Seventy-four percent identified the former, 42 percent the latter.

Do you wonder why you never receive a telephone call from these pollsters? Is it because you would throw off the curve -- and make the general population seem smarter? Is it the "the-TV-folks-only-interview-rednecks-who-say-the-tornado-sounded-just-like-a-train" mentality? Or is it just that only dumb people answer their home telephones?

And we take those political opinion polls seriously? Well, I don't, but many people do. So the next time you see an American opinion poll saying we should do this or we should do that, remember those same people think Homer is a doughnut-eating yellow guy who works at a nuclear power plant.

D'oh!

2 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 6:56 PM
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First Openly Gay Legislator? Not Yet

Patricia Todd is seeking to become the first openly gay member of the Alabama Legislature. Her 59-vote win in the Democratic primary last month, however, is being challenged by the mother-in-law of her opponent, Gaynell Hendricks.

The Hendricks camp argues that by waiting until July 17 to file her disclosure, Todd hid a $25,000 contribution by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and violated party rules requiring candidates to submit the forms at least five days before the election.

Hendricks alleges that the delay also obscured Todd's payments to two former primary opponents - $5,000 to Charlie L. Williams Jr. and $5,750 to Kamau Afrika. Both later endorsed her.

If nominated, Todd would become the first openly gay member of the Legislature.

In earlier filings, her campaign listed $6,000 in contributions from the Equality Fund, a gay rights political action committee. Hendricks and her lawyer said they believe voters might have been swayed had they known Todd's largest donation came from the Victory Fund.

The Todd campaign declined to comment on why it filed late, saying that it will save its explanation for the hearing.

Todd says her opponents can't accept that the district, which is majority black but does have inside its borders the gay-friendly Crestwood area, chose a white person to represent it.

But the issue people are talking about is whether a white woman should get to represent a mostly black district in a state where blacks couldn't vote two generations ago and where race is still an overriding factor in carving out election districts.

A black Democratic leader urged black voters to support Todd's black opponent, Gaynell Hendricks, on the basis of race, and Todd fears that racial politics may taint proceedings before the subcommittee.

"When do we get past this?" said Todd, who would become the first openly gay member of the Alabama legislature. "I can't believe that in 2006 we're still electing people on the basis of race."

Yeah, because, you know, you can't represent the interests of someone of a different race. Maybe someone should tell this guy that.

Todd's victory was previously covered in this BaT post.

4 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 7:18 PM
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A Few More Vacation Photos

I'll spare you the vacation slideshow that everyone hates. But here are a few of my favorites from this past week (I didn't take several of these, so don't give me too much credit for the photography. But it was my camera!) ...

Outdoor artwork at the Getty Museum.

Cacti at the Getty Museum. I was the art director on this shot. :-)

Part of the Getty Museum's beautiful gardens.

Ha! Joan Crawford had a sense of humor. No wire hangers!

Elvis' star on the Walk of Fame. I had to wait for several foreign tourists to stop kissing it.

Even the birds are snobs in Malibu. It wouldn't turn around, but I took the photo anyway. And, actually, I like the way it turned out better.

Roadside foliage along the Pacific Coast Highway.

A brief recap of the week follows.

2 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 3:06 PM
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A Brief Vacation Recap

BaT is back in God's Country following a weeklong trip to the Los Angeles area. My impressions in two short phrases: beautiful weather, horrible traffic. We had a good time and especially enjoyed the Getty Museum (not the artwork but the architecture, the gardens (my personal favorite) and the view -- as well as our midday drive up the Pacific Coast Highway.

The highlight of the trip, of course, was the Tuesday night gathering at The Abbey -- even if there were no "Wonder Years" sightings. But there were other stars: both FB and Jay from Hot & Fresh (Almost) Daily, the Boi from Troy (complete with USC jersey, of course!) and Ceiting from Kinkyrhombus. Unfortunately, a few others were unable to make it due to travel and other complications.

Budding fashion maven FB was approached about designing costumes for porn movies. The rest of us were completely unaware that porn movies required costumes.

We had a good time at The Abbey, and later, most of us headed down the street to a club which featured a drag queen lipsynching standup comedy. It was a definite "WTF?!?" moment. I was a little tired after the morning at Universal Studios and my body was still adjusting to Pacific Time, but I managed to last as long as everyone else.

As a tourist, Wednesday was the best. We slept in a little, then headed to the Pacific Ocean. It was a gorgeous day, and we had a little picnic on one of the overlooks.

On Thursday, we did a lot of the touristy stuff, like Graunman's Chinese Theatre -- "to visit Los Angeles and not see the Chinese is like visiting China and not seeing the Great Wall," or so the Web site proclaims (although I have news for them ... I went to China and I didn't visit the Great Wall) -- and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I resisted the urge to break out into The Kinks ("You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard"), especially when I saw that Judge Judy has a star and Clint Eastwood doesn't. Thursday night ended with a Korean BBQ (thanks to Ceiting). Clever gimmick -- bring people a tray of meat and let them cook for themselves. Low labor costs and no one can send a plate back to the kitchen.

Friday morning plans for a leisurely breakfast were ruined by the breaking news out of London on Thursday. So breakfast turned into getting up early, returning the rental car and arriving at the Delta counter three (yes, three!) hours before takeoff. The return trip, however, was surprisingly smooth, as I routed my flight back through Cincinnati instead of Atlanta. (Travel tip: Always avoid Hartsfield on a Friday if you can.) I was back on the ground here at the scheduled time, although droopy from getting up three hours earlier than planned.

Some photos from the trip will be (or already are) posted above.

1 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 2:20 PM
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View From The Pacific Coast Highway

Just a photo of the Pacific Ocean to keep you occupied until BaT returns to normal programming.

More later on drinks with the BaT friends. (We missed you, Armi, but you were there in spirit!)

3 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 8:40 AM
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Vacation Time

BaT is on vacation. If time permits, there may be some updates this week. If not, then you'll know it's not too hot in Southern California.

2 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 8:20 PM
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Cocktail of the Week -- California Dreamin' Edition

In less than 48 hours (Lord willing), I will be landing at LAX. We already have some people lined up for Tuesday night at the Abbey. Festivities begin around 7. Come as you are.

During the last-minute scurrying that accompanies a trip, I can't get the Mamas and the Papas tune out of my head.

All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray
I've been for a walk on a winter's day
I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A.
California dreamin' on such a winter's day

Which means I'm either a complete loser or I have a very outdated taste in music. OK, I admit it, dammit, I like the Mamas and the Papas. And I love Mama Cass! (No ham sandwich jokes, please, it's just an urban myth.)

When I think of the Golden State, I think light, fruity (and that's not just WeHo) and gorgeous. These all describe this installment of the Cocktail of the Week: Pink California Sunshine.

Ingredients

4 oz. chilled pink champagne
4 oz. chilled orange juice
1 dash creme de cassis

Instructions

Pour the champagne into a cocktail glass. Add the orange juice and creme de cassis.

Now everyone sing ...

California dreamin' on such a winter's day!

Cheers.

1 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 9:48 PM
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Oh Let Me Beeeeeeee ...

Mabel, Elvis Presley's childhood companion/teddy bear, has left the building -- in pieces.

Barney the guard dog went berserk at a teddy bear exhibition in England and ripped the stuffing out of Elvis Presley's beloved bear Mabel, exhibitors said on Thursday.

Wookey Hole Caves, a popular holiday destination in Somerset, southern England, was drawing children with its display of 1,000 precious teddy bears, including Mabel, beloved bear of the King of Rock and Roll. ...

"The security guard was doing his normal patrols at the site. He let the dog in, and the dog went on a rampage," Medley told Reuters.

"He started with Mabel, took a very large chunk out of Mabel almost severing her head, and then went mad. It took about 20 minutes to bring him out."

Dozens of other bears were shredded too.

Mabel is the property of Sir Benjamin Slade, a local aristocrat, who says he paid 40,000 pounds ($75,000) at auction for the bear.

Seventy-five thousand? Now that's a lot of peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

1 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 8:09 PM
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Caught With A Hand In The Cookie Jar

If you're going to steal, at least don't be stupid -- and don't take little girls' cookie cash.

A Girl Scout leader has been charged with stealing $5,000 raised by a central Ohio troop through cookie sales and other fund-raisers.

Teresa Wickline, 42, of Lewis Center, was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday on a felony theft charge. Prosecutors accuse her of raiding the checking account of Troop 225 to pay for cell phone bills and other personal expenses.

She could spend up to 18 months in prison and be ordered to pay back the money if convicted.

"Five thousand dollars is a lot of Thin Mints," Delaware County Prosecutor Dave Yost said. "The only reason she had access to these funds is because people trusted her."

Parents noticed the troop had only $8 in the bank in January and alerted the Girl Scouts Seal of Ohio Council. Police became involved after checks written from the troop account bounced.

She only left $8 in the account? C'mon, have some sense. You're only suppose to steal half. You know, the ol' Edwin Edwards math: "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me."

Oh, and "$5,000 is a lot of Thin Mints"? Ha, gotta love a prosecutor who can deliver you a money quote. Tell me that guy doesn't know how to get his name in the newspaper. By the way, do you know how much money Girl Scout cookies generate each year?

An estimated 130 million to 200 million boxes of cookies are sold each year. With an average price of $3.50 a box, gross sales for Girl Scout Cookies, which are generally only sold from January through March, range from $455 million to $700 million annually.

The best part (as if $700 million a year isn't good enough)? No labor costs! The little girls do all the work; and Mom and Dad handle delivery. Sheer genius.

2 comments Jake McCafferty last posted at 4:03 PM
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Is The Beard Dead?

The Cuban propaganda machine (or as we often call it "CNN") is assuring the world that dictator and "president" Fidel Castro is recovering nicely following "surgery" to stop "internal bleeding." Meanwhile, his brother and fellow gay-hater Raul is in charge.

Cuban President Fidel Castro's recuperation "is advancing positively," Venezuela's government said Tuesday, citing Cuban authorities a day after the communist leader temporarily handed power to his brother due to intestinal surgery.

Cuban television reported the handover Monday night, the first time Castro has ceded control of the island nation in 47 years. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is a close ally of Castro's.

The Cuban leader's secretary, Carlos Valenciaga, read a letter Monday night that he said was from the president announcing the news. In it, the Cuban leader said that stress had forced him into surgery and that he would be in bed for several weeks after the operation.

"The first time Castro has ceded control" ... that should tell us all we need to know. Through several health trials over the years, Fidel has never taken such a step. This leads me (as well as others) to believe he is either dead -- or in his last hours.

Many Cuban expatriates in Miami believe that, as in the Old Soviet Union, the announcement of sudden illness and immediate surgery for the 79 year old Cuban dictator is a cover story to prepare the population -- and the military -- for his passing. Its purpose is to give Fidel's brother, Raul, time to consolidate his position as the next leader of communist Cuba and ensure a smooth transition of power.

That belief was typified by 34 year old Isabel Aguero Kling. "They are preparing to tell the people slowly," she said.

Arturo Cobo, a Cuban exile activist, said it seemed strange that the secretive Cuban government had disclosed Castro's operation.

"Either he is dead or this is an elaborate practice for the Cuban government to test the reaction of its military, its ministry, its people and the American government," Cobo said.

Some are questioning the signature on the transfer of dictatorship document.

Babalu asks: "Does that even look like castro's chicken scratch signature?"

Here's an old autographed photo from 1976 for comparison. Close. I'm sure someone on the CIA desk is already on this. Would someone who is almost 80 still have such a strong signature -- and one so close to his signature of 30 years ago?

Check out Babalu's blog for all-Castro, all-day. The Miami Herald is also a good source for updates, including last night's celebrations in South Florida.

Minutes after the announcement from Havana, news spread like electronic wildfire, with countless hands reaching simultaneously for telephones and television remotes. Nostalgia clashed with disbelief in an electrified Miami.

''We just wish [Castro] a slow and painful death,'' said Lourdes Cambo, outside Versailles restaurant in Little Havana.

Amen to that. Bastard.