All that said I find this very disturbing:

Radio giant suspends Stern in crackdown against indecency

Not because I need to defend the man.. But more from the perspective that any large radio or TV conglomerate having ownership of a large enough swath of the broadcasting frequencies has the ability to silence any perspectives that they don’t agree with and essentially inhibit free speech.. The idea that one company has the ability to control in any way what we see and hear scares the living shit out of me. Radio and TV already has a frightening ability to influence the perspectives of the politics of this country by controlling how information is presented and the only saving grace in this is the fact that ownership is distributed and no single opinion dominates… The idea that a ‘holding company’ can control the content of its affiliates is very dangerous…

anyway… I need to get back to work… just pushed my buttons so I figured I’d say something.. Now back to your regularly scheduled broadcast..

Special prosecutor named in CIA probe
Ashcroft bows out of blown-cover investigation

I’ve been wondering for a while what ever happened to this story but could guess. This one was TOTALLY predictable and pisses me off to no end. WHY are they just doing this NOW? (rhetorical question) The answer as far as I can tell is because the administration doesn’t care about figuring out who is responsible because they’re crystal clear on who ordered the leak. Furthermore, if they’re forced to ‘figure out’ who is responsible then they need some time to let the story cool and to find a sacrificial lamb.

As far as I can tell from my seat they very intentionally leaked the name of the agent to the press as punishment for her husband’s behavior. If that weren’t the case the President would have demanded an answer in an effective way (as opposed to the tap dance he did), John Ashcroft would have IMMEDIATELY disqualified himself in order to find an impartial investigator, and we’d have an answer by now. Because, if they’re truely without fault, some jack ass leaked the name out of spite, and they can’t figure it out internally, then it shows that the President and isn’t in control of his administration and of the CIA. I’d like to believe that they’re all just incompetent but I just can’t – this was payback and they’re doing everything they can to bury it.

FDA bans diet herb blamed in 155 deaths
California had already moved to bar ephedra in ‘04

So – my 2¢? Just curious when we’re gonna make alcohol illegal again. After all, used stupidly just about anything can kill and the all time best example of this is alcohol. Is outlawing things that are bad for you the right solution to every problem? Do we really need the government telling us not to be stupid and abuse things in a way that might put our life in danger. Or can we be trusted to use our brains and use the effort spent on the ‘drug wars’ on more useful things such as quality control and treatment programs? And – IF we can’t be trusted – then can the government at least be consistent about what they make illegal and include the worst example which is alcohol which has the added issue of not killing the people that abuse it but, rather, those who get in the way when they get in the car..

To be clear – I’m not arguing for a return of prohibition – quite the opposite. Keep these drugs legal and under the control of the FDA so they can monitor the quality and prescribe safe ‘dosages’ for those who choose to use these and take the money we’re spending on the ‘drug wars’ and spend it on treatment. Yes – there will always be people that abuse ANYTHING in life (hell – people even abuse chocolate and Chicken McNuggets) – but wouldn’t it make more sense to take the money out of the hands of drug dealers and put it into treatment? Sorry… just my take.

Kevin and I watched some LAME show last night called Clean Sweep or some such thing – essentially a group of folks come in, force people to empty their house and sell or pitch a portion of their stuff and in the mean time people re-model their house. So yea – the house was a PIT when they got there (though who’s to say they didn’t run around and muss it up before hand) and it wasn’t a whole lot better when they left. They just had a new hodge podge of tacky ‘restored’ furniture (they took their old stuff painted it and put new drawer pulls on it) bright colors, and tacky art and called it done.

Just sayin.. enough is enough..

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming!

• CDC Reports AIDS Cases Up for First Time in Decade
  
• Study Shows Alarming Spread of Drug-Resistant HIV
  
• HIV/AIDS Statistics, NIAID Fact Sheet
  

• World AIDS Day
  
• National Institutes of Health – World AIDS Day
  
• San Francisco AIDS Foundation
  
• The Body: World AIDS Day 2003
  
• AIDS Education Global Information System
  

Be safe, be educated, and be heard…

Excerpts From Report on Rev. Robinson

Based on this report the Church has cleared Rev. Robinson of all charges.. THANK GOD!!!

This is absolute rubbish intended to discredit a good man. From what I can read from this the two charges that were made against Rev. Robinson. The first was that he touched the forearm and back of this man in a public setting while responding to direct questions. How many of us can even COUNT the number of times people have done this very thing to us throughout our lives? I sure can’t. There is nothing inappropriate about this.

The second was that he provided guidance to ensure safe boundaries and a safe environment for youth were maintained on a web site targeting youth dealing with issues relating to their sexual identity. This web site, TWO YEARS after his last interaction with them, provided links to another site which indirectly contained links to pornography.

All I can say is that the sole purpose of these allegations was character assignation based on sexual orientation. How does any person purporting to be a christian justify such behavior? Didn’t these people pay attention in Sunday school? Ya know.. The golden rule.. I know Rev. Robinson did..

Austin told the judge Monday he “wasn’t really thinking” when he created the Web site. “I’d be devastated if someone used this information to harm others,” he said.

Read on if you want to hear my rant – but I’ll spare the rest of you!

My take is this? I don’t like the idea that government has the right to prosecute people for what boil down to free speech issues. I don’t like the idea of the government watching what I write or anyone else writes on their blogs or anywhere else. There is plenty that we all write that might be deemed offensive or controversial to any particular administration or governmental body. Thats the beauty of the right to free speech – it leads to free thought. We have the right to express our beliefs and ideals in order to bring about change – for better or for worse..

But c’mon… This guy was also COLOSSALLY STUPID. Why would you post information about bomb making with detailed instructions and ingredients without the expectation that it would be used? If he was sincere in saying that he would be devastated if it was ever used then WHY THE HELL DID HE POST IT? Was it just for fun? Was it just to get a rise out of people?

We are all responsible for the consequences of what we write and what we say. We aren’t allowed to yell fire in a crowded theater – not because such words are restricted – but rather because of the consequences of such words and the actions taken based on those words. We may be held responsible for the results of such words.

When we write, speak, or otherwise communicate we must have the courage of our convictions to stand behind what we say and defend those words and recognize that they may garnish a response and potentially consequences. We learned this on the playground when we got our teeth knocked out for calling someone’s sister ugly.

When we write we must ALWAYS remember that there is a human being on the other end reading. A human who may react – with anger, with hurt, with joy, or with action. Hiding behind a keyboard is not a defense if you ask me.

( Here is some more information on that story )

“The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny
individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.”
– Ayn Rand

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
– Pastor Niemoller

But, whether you can join us or not, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE become a sponsor – even if all you can spare is a few bucks – thats better than nothing. The cause is every bit as important now as it has ever been. Everyone has their own reasons for sponsoring but here are a few of mine:

- HIV / AIDS Effects us all. Try and go through in your head the people you know in your life who are HIV+. I guarantee you’ll miss some..

- HIV / AIDS is NOT over. We have it under control and people are living with it but it is a LOT of work and we still haven’t found a cure or a vaccine.

- HIV / AIDS is NOT limited to the Gay Community. Some of the fastest growing population segments these days are women, people of color, and others.

- HIV / AIDS drug therapy is limited in scope – you can cycle through the various treatment options but once you’ve developed immunity to one you have to move to another and many people are running out of options.

- There is still work to do even within the Gay community. Far too many people are still seroconverting (becoming HIV+) every day.

So if you can spare anything please try and help… If you would like to sponsor kevin go here. Or you can sponsor someone else… Young Bradford is walking – you can sponsor him here… Or you can just go here and give directly. It doesn’t matter where the money goes – so long as someone who needs it gets it…

Hope to see you all sunday – and regardless I hope everyone can help out in whatever way they can… This effects us all…

Anyway … 6 pm rolled around and I had to head home cuz of my commute from HELL (45 minutes each direction – every day… living in SF rocks… working for apple Rocks.. why the hell Apple isn’t in San Francisco escapes me)… Felt like I should keep going but just didn’t have the energy.

Went to dinner with Kevin at Fuzio… Kind of our regular. they have good cocktails and the caramelized onion fuccia (sp?) is da bomb. On the way there there was a HUGE line at Ben and Jerry’s cuz, as it turns out, it was free scoop night there.. who’da thunk it… On the way home some random homeless freak in the ’stro called Kevin something strange – Kevin didn’t know who it was so it didn’t need to matter but it kinda bummed him out regardless..

Now, at 9:30 at night, i’m FINALLY decompressing… Reading pickle juice, Madame Fabulous, and of course Matt and Ray’s…