Rachel Maddow asks what all gay people should ask—why did Elton John perform for Rush Limbaugh? "Elton—call us. Explain it." She's a lot more good-natured about it than I am.
It's absolutely unforgivable, IMHO, for Elton John to have sung at the (FOURTH!) wedding of Rush Limbaugh. I don't care if he got a million dollars, and I don't care if he gives that million dollars to gay charities (not that he's said he will)—John has plenty of money to give to charities without brightening the day of a man who has helped instill in America a wild-eyed, frothy-mouthed hatred of gay people and anyone not white. The man is vile, and Elton John is vile to have participated. I can't even believe this happened.
I'm surprised I didn't catch him myself on "Guydar."
Faisal Shahzad, a 30-year-old Pakistani-American (he is a naturalized citizen from Pakistan), has been apprehended in the Times Square car-bomb case. You remember, the failed bomb that was discovered a block away from me less than 30 minutes after I left? His planned show fizzled faster than Bye Bye Birdie, but he'll still be remembered for years to come. Hopefully, not in an infuential way.
It boggles my mind, this concept of American (or British, or etc.) citizens who seem to suddenly become radicalized. I'm sure we'll hear a lot about his life leading up to his conversion, but it still won't make sense even if the dots are connected satisfactorily on paper.
President Obama will soon address the arrest—Shahzad made it to JFK and very nearly to Dubai—and I hope he will call him a goddamned terrorist and will take credit for being at the helm when this guy was tracked down so quickly. Why not? The other side would. And in fact, the other side now will probably try to say he was a "false flag" operative to distract attention from Vera Baker or...something.
Rush Limbaugh already thinks the BP oil disaster was orchestrated by environmentalists (!) or Obama himself to put the kibosh on offshore drilling, and that oil and water go together anyway.
UPDATE: Maybe the big story won't end up being that he dies or that he had an actual heart attack, but that he's...back on the "meds".
Now that Rush Limbaugh has had a heart attack (or otherwise been hospitalized with chest pains), Twitter is alive with hopes for his death and wishes for his speedy recovery. If he lives, I imagine he'll go ape over all the liberals who made light of his sickness, conveniently forgetting his and his followers' appalling comments about Ted Kennedy. And didn't thousands on the right buy T-shirts implicitly calling for President Obama's death? (Limbaugh called Kurt Cobain a "worthless shred of human debris" with the rockstar died.)
If he lives, I have a sick feeling President Obama will visit him; well wishes would be enough.
Regardless, it's fascinating that he is in Hawaii right after Sarah Palin and at the same time as President Obama...and is hospitalized in the same facility where Obama was born.
Globe (December 14, 2009) has its ongoing "Who's Gay and Who's Not in Hollywood" feature. Here's the tally, according to them:
Washington's Referendum 71 is, so far, passing. That is very good news. With 100% of the vote in, however, it's only passing by 2% despite having been thought a sure thing (so I'd heard). Apparently, much of the uncounted vote is expected to push this measure further up since a huge chunk is from Seattle. Right now, while it's uncalled, the CW is that it's a done deal. So...yay on that.
A sad loss for marriage equality in Maine. It was close all night and ended with just over a 5-point spread against our side. So I can't get gay-married in Maine. Yet. But as upsetting as it is that marriage rights should ever have to be put to a vote in the year 2009, looking back at the recent history of homophobia, it has to be considered encouraging that we are on the verge of winning the majority of state-wide opinion in favor of marriage equality. Unfortunately, the votes are happening probably just two or three years too soon.
I read a lot about how turn-out was good for our side in Maine, but then read a crush of people hit the polls late in the day. I wonder if turn-out was never a good thing for our side or if all the upbeat reporting spurred people against us to vote?
Discrimination, she wrote.
And since four black people live in Maine, will Dan Savage now proclaim, "No more Mr. Nice Guy!" about...Jessica Fletcher?
"This is about the future of the United States of America and what kind of country we're going to have."—Rush Limbaugh, reacting to being forced out of a group attempting to by the Rams
Exactly, Rush; and it appears we're heading toward being the kind of country where speech is free but words matter and trash talk ain't cheap.
