JKane

I saw it, it's typical Moore: provocative, but may hurt it's cause as much as it helps. At least it gets people talking. It's kinda scatter-shot too... if it has any theme it's pro-labor unions. He makes a good case but something like The Corporation does what Love Story purports to do much better. It's not as good as Sicko.

I don't really see the point of a political subforum, especially when things are otherwise being consolidated to encourage conversation. Many threads wander in and out of politics, and it seems to me the 'other site' tried this--basically any thread that got a political post or two in it got dropped into the no-man's land of rantings and lunacy which almost nobody read.

In similar studies in the past it's been sex workers, often in the third-world. Or it sounds like in this case they did a big enough group of the general population (of people who will participate in medical studies...). There's plenty of information out there about how medical studies are conducted, it's fascinating and very important work. There have been instances of abuse but your assumptions that the people who work in the field are stupid and immoral is hard to understand.

Yeah, doctors tell people to go out and catch AIDS to see if it works... You give it to high risk group BEING CLEAR that it may not work, doesn't offer any protection against other diseases, and that they may have only gotten a placebo. Then you compare the rate of infection of the control (placebo) group to the ones that got the vaccine. Just like any other medical trial.

Didn't you hear??? Arnold's got the answer!!! Cut the taxes on all Californians making more that 1 million a year by over $100,000 dollars, that'll fix the state budget shortfall... (I wish I was kidding, this IS his latest proposal!)

Can't forget Libertarians!

But of course! They're both owned by Rupert Murdock!

I agree, I really doubt the state Dems are capable of nominating anybody exciting. I'm betting it'll be Diane Feinstein in the end... I'd sooner vote for a potted plant, myself. Who knows, the closest thing to excitement may be in the primaries! BUT who's to say the midterms would be any more exciting? At least with the gubernatorial there'll be people pissed about the (COMPLETE lack of) direction Arnold's set for the state...

You can pay the taxes due on $100,000 and realize how fortunate you are!

Fuck, even the great bloviator gets it. We live in a world where the average American is convinced they aren't average. We've been coddled and told we're special all our lives, so most of us can be easily tricked into railing against anything that could be seen to limit our potential options in the future. Sure, gov't healthcare is good enough for my parents--but what if I need House, M.D. one day??? My god, there's millions of sheep happily paying more in their own personal taxes because they backed the fight against the evil DEATH TAX that would never have affected them, their family, or anyone they knew (unless you count Hannity, O'Reilly, et. al. as people they know!).

There's so much already available, and available for free on the Internet that it's not hard to imagine the industry cratering once and for all. Especially the businesses that rely on people going to a store and buying $30-$50/ea new titles. But where will the porn stars go to make their money? SMB and Numbers are dead. I've maybe seen a couple more on Rentboy and the occasional retired gay pornstar on Craigslist... but not nearly enough to account for everybody who relied on Porn in the LA area. ----- There's a British series called The Dark Side of Porn, it's mostly about straight stuff but is still pretty interesting. The first one has Chris Eccleston narrating, it's hilarious to hear Dr. Who say "Split that Booty" again and again; they also go around the valley and talk to the woman behind AIM in detail. Chi Chi is also interviewed and has some good stuff to say in that episode, and you get a really slimy feeling for 'Max Hardcore' who I just found out is in jail for his actions. One of the later episodes, Me and My Slaves is all about this aging but still very good looking dom master who serves mostly gay guys. It's kinda touching--and bleak. I downloaded the series through Bit Torrent, it's worth trying to find if you can!

The lawmakers don't have the sack to take on anybody as the Bacchus bill shows. I will never understand why THE FUCK Obama didn't use his initial popularity to pass significant campaign finance reform--possibly with McCain's help. Think about how much easier Heathcare reform would be if the top donors to the FUD commercials had to be named personally instead of hiding behind BS PAC names. If Senators and Congressmen knew that their next campaign was going to rely on public funds and maybe a max of $250 from *individuals*. Hell, we could've even enacted real banking reform laws within A YEAR OF BANKS KILLING THE ECONOMY. /rant

"There's not a racist bone in my dad's body." Not even when Senator Craig had him bent over the sink in the congressional restroom?

Time Warner cablemodem, wish I had FIOS.

The argument for outing is that knowing there were gay 'prominent' guys in your town--not just the occasional stereotypical hairdresser whom everybody made fun of--would've made you feel a lot less isolated. Again, I'm not for outing (except for the Ted Haggard-type hypocrites) but I am finally seeing why people want as many as possible out of the closet.

Maybe that's what he was thinking--but man was he in for a disappointment. In its' glory days the only women at Numbers were older trannies and/or selling photos or rrrrroses. It wasn't a 'gay bar', it was a hustler bar, which seems to be pretty different. Not many women (who've always been women) at The Spotlight either. Speaking of which, now that it's practically the only game in town, has it picked up at all? Anybody been lately?

It's at least the third major time. I thought 'digits' was a fiasco, but Moz trying to use it to get girls has to take the cake. So very sad. Anybody got tabs on the sexy waiter/matre'D (never saw him at Moz's)? Now there's no place I know of in Hollywood to go to reliably find a working boy...

But all Brandon's boys drink for free and live with him!

Well, if you get fired there's Cobra--and thanks to Obama's recent actions it's actually affordable the first 9 months or so. But yeah, after that--or if you quit--you're fucked. But come on now, what's more important? Healthcare coverage for anybody who needs it or the profits of a private industry that didn't even exist 30 years ago?

Was it at least breaking even back when he 'tolerated' the bars' clientele or was going straight a desperate attempt to stay in business? It seemed fairly busy the couple nights we met there, but maybe not busy enough considering how much of each day it sat empty and how many people were on the payroll (especially useless people like the manager...). Maybe rentboy.com should buy it, Brandon seems to want to get back into hospitality management...

As usual, they're being massively hypocritical. It's good enough for their parents (Medicare) and for them (Senate heath plan) but would be horrible for everybody else...

Reminds me of a quote I just heard on TV again: "I mean, who keeps silver bullets in their gun?".

The Vice President of the United States outed a CIA operative. As repugnant as everything Novak did for that administration was, he was just a reporter slipped an exclusive. One that any true journalist wouldn't report, yes... but there were so few of those around in the rush to the Iraq war. NSA's still going strong--probably reading this right now, you mean OSA?

Any patriot that recognized him on the street, I could see. But Novak was the administration's shill, and the CIA went along with everything else the administration did.

I think the simplest and most sensible thing is as follows: Everybody can buy into Medicare, at cost within 50% of poverty, up to 15% over based on income, maybe with enrollment capped at some income level. Everybody can buy into the senate health plan, starting at 5% over cost, up to 15-25% over. The extra money ensures Medicare is set, and once that's accomplished could be used to reach-out to those who can't afford. Everybody could get health care regardless of employment or medical condition. Some margin is left for private competition, though they should also be better regulated (no kicking people off, etc). Probably makes way too much sense to have a snowball's chance in hell.