JKane

Not quite correct, but something most of the Californians here know well. The Party of No (Republicans) are far into the minority in California, but hold onto just enough to prevent the 2/3rds vote required to pass a budget or modify an asinine proposition (which they pretty much all are). So our budgets are routinely many months overdue and are unable to close the budget gap without dramatic cuts to services, because the Republicans are in this death pact that no 'tax increase' (even if it's just closing a loophole) is EVER justified... despite the fact that Rand rated us among the lowest already in Education spending. And it's especially difficult because special interests have passed many propositions that lock in spending on all kinds of things, leaving no discretionary room. Then rich people go and pass things that give them among the lowest property taxes in the nation and require 2/3rds votes on any tax increase. It's a royally fucked system, and that a handful of voters in an obscure election can decide something that is in effect impossible to change later... especially when there's no regulation on the spending of special interests and business, often not even meaningful disclosure of who is behind the prop.

VERY COOL! Ok, how does one give you money? What are the prices for silver/gold membership? Just looked on main page, didn't find...

I also am still of the thought that the ideal solution would be Civil Unions for all. It should be the ONLY thing recognized by governments and institutions to confer the current benefits and responsibilities of marriage. But solving this and re-humanizing gays is not in "the right's" interests at all. Putting marriage back to being a solely religious thing would have another issue, the constitution says no preference or support of one religion over another, so once gov't licenses were gone some churches would be absolutely fine with gay marriage and there wouldn't be any reason (or constitutional way) to stop them. So gays can't (probably ever, under either scenario) get a Catholic marriage; if you could get absolutely every secular right currently associated with it AND an Anglican marriage, it'd be the very best of both worlds, wouldn't it? But this change (removing 'the church' from a power over the state they shouldn't have anyway) seems less likely to happen than gay marriage rights *eventually* coming about, in similar ways to the laws against inter-racial marriage eventually dieing out--despite having been driven by the exact same kinds of hatreds. The Prop 8 decision is another great step in that direction. And if it's upheld it sure seems to me DOMA could come under similar trial.

He says the right things on DOMA and DADT (BOTH signed into law by Clinton!) but takes weak or no action against them. Actually weakening his powers to simply strike down DADT as commander in chief the way the military was desegregated. He also actually seems to have some Christian convictions (unlike so many on the 'religious right' for whom it's nothing more than lipservice for their base) that make him uneasy with gays. That's fine, I'd rather have somebody still struggling his way through something, starting to see the light, and openly politically cautious about it than somebody parroting the hateful far-right anti-gay bullshit out of no conviction whatsoever and refusing to even consider the impact they're having on millions of Americans... In the end Obama's a constitutional law professor, and I think he will do the right thing if given the chance. But the majority of the heavy lifting once Clinton signed the fucking things has to be done by either the congress or the courts. That is not Obama's fault (or Bush's, for a change... well, except for the gaping assholes he appointed to SCOTUS).

That is good, I didn't know he was vocally on our side! Just figured he was in the closet (how many times did he dress up in drag?) and hypocritically fighting against us with all the bile and hatred at his disposal, you know, like every other Republican! Much like Giuliani, I'm not sure Governor Schwarzenegger counts as 'in the GOP' anymore, but the Governor really impressed me with his statement on Prop 8 being overturned. It's clear he's done running for things, maybe we'll get some honesty from him now. California's budget's still fucked though, as usual.

A year or two ago I emailed Brandon Baker about an idea: certified pictures. Pictures with a date stamp taken by somebody trusted (like an established reviewer). Nothing came of it, but I still think it's an interesting idea.

Yeah, I was just thinking that! Also, maybe there should be some guidance on how long ago you last saw somebody? I could rate several from 5 years ago that were great and looked as good as or better than their pictures then... but I don't think that would be useful (especially if they're still using the same photos!). But it does seem like a great new feature! Thanks!!

I agree, but you really have to consider it's not just something they can flip a switch and start doing. The Republicans have been focus-grouping their BS for 20 years in think tanks at great expense and with continuing dedication.

I agree! He just may have gone over the top in many people's minds. We already have somebody that's a damn good satire of BillO, we don't also need an unintentional parody...

Giuliani's been nothing but a punchline since Joe Biden punched his ticket at a democratic primary debate: "There's only three things he mentions in a sentence -- a noun, a verb, and 9/11." It's actually worse than a joke though, the way Giuliani hangs his hat on 9/11 when it's documented his inaction on demonstrated problems with emergency responders' radios and his asinine choice, over objections, to put the command post in the basement of New York's biggest target (solely for his convenience) cost lives on 9/11. I just hope Giuliani doesn't manage to sterilize Rio the way he did NYC (and his associates sterilized Hollywood).

Pretty much... seems like a lot of the rest of us have had great fun there!

Not if only the escorts who's description choices in their profile match the request get the email about the post!

It's hard to believe there was a time when I dispaired for the Democrats in the 2008 election. Sometime around 2005, after the best we could do was Kerry, with the next election almost certainly being McCain vs Hillary. Given the actual straight talk from McCain and his action on campaign finance reform I didn't see how McCain could lose the election, and I thought if the other choice is Hillary I may well vote for him. But he lost something far worse than the election, long before 2008. He started to lose all his principles, right before our eyes. I'd loved that 'McCain 2000' denounced Jerry Falwell and his ilk. New McCain embraced him on the stage of his sham university. And it only went (sharply) downhill from there, culminating in his choice of Palin. Absolutely anything to win, the country be damned. And the really scary thing is that after the loss he wasn't happy with reaching bottom--now he's digging as fast as he can. He could've gone back to being a reasonable, thinking moderate with deeply held beliefs and I bet his constituents would've supported him. He did the opposite and it's the final proof that McCain's unredeemable.

I think the Dems already have the possibility of building into the steady majority party. But without a Machiavellian like Rove and undue influence from Fox "News", people are actually pretty progressive. So maybe small at first, but a real left could build and push things forward, like the way the right built and shoved things backwards--even in the minority!

THAT'S AWESOME! I never figured out how to do advanced searches on CL! Only thing I might ad to your list is rent, houseboy, houseboi. I agree 100% about the fun of the non-pros and the aggravation of the flaggers. You ever get a bit too explicit or something in your 'generous daddy' ads (my M.O. as well) and have to validate your email to your phone number? And I think the email has to go to a unique (not already validated with another) phone number? Major PITA and a warning to be careful about agreeing to pay for time only. Just swung by Spotlight in Hollywood this afternoon. Will never understand why there aren't more (or often ANY) guys working it with the economy like it is and the cops on SMB. Today there was a hot tattooed masculine guy I'd have hired in a heartbeat. He was of course oblivious to my interest and probably waiting for a trannie 'girlfriend', damn it. There were also a couple worn looking guys who may have been working, I wasn't too interested.

It's a nifty idea... Maybe if you set it up to send an email when somebody posts a request to the escorts in an area (who could of course opt out of those specific emails) it could work! Maybe give the same same descriptive choices in the requests as escorts have when they setup a profile and send only to matches... Maybe you get a certain number of requests per membership level. It's still deciding "I'll be horny next Tuesday at 4PM" but many are fine with that.

http://www.men4rentnow.com/ds/wanted-list.asp I've been on Men4RentNow many times but didn't see any way it was better than Rentboy, 'till now. Thanks, I've gotta try that! But is "CA - LA / Long Beach / Orange Cty" as specific as you get for location?? Or can you put more inside the ad (for the escorts to see) than shows on that page? Meanwhile the search for the replacement of the replacement of SMB continues!

Hollywood for a 'hunting show'? So she's obviously not any brighter than her mother!

Yep, it's where empires go to die. Wonder how long it took the Soviets to realize they were done?

Good to hear he's made it back! Drugs do seem to play a key role in the few stories about people having bad experiences down there...

As much as I hate the changes CraigsList has made, it's amazing they've managed to keep up as much as they have for as long as they have in this nation of puritanical hypocrites. Especially since CL doesn't make any revenue off the personals section yet risks some real liability with it. The big question is what can replace Craigslist as the replacement of places like Santa Monica BLVD? Backpage is trying, but doesn't seem like much yet. Gay.co.uk's escorts section seems busy everywhere else but empty here. Rentboy's "available now" is a great idea but their price of admission is way too high and complicated for the casual guy looking for a little extra cash. What haven't I heard of?

I always do a google search when I'm making a purchase online and see place to input a 'coupon code' or similar. It's free money! Once in a while as much as 20% off.

I'm proudly a bed-wetting liberal! Wait, I don't have to say bed-wetting? I'd say by far the biggest achievement (maybe the only one, dubious as it is) that the conservatives have had in 20 years is masterful control of the language, shaping the argument to remove facts and insert wedges. What they've managed to do to the debate of critically important issues with brilliant labels like 'death tax' and 'partial-birth abortion' makes my blood boil. (I still giggle at how childish they sound with 'democrat party' though.) And it's no accident. They've put an amazing amount of effort, money and research into it, over generations really, until their think-tanks produced their kwisatz haderach: Karl Rove. I'm fine with progressive until we let them take that away from us too...

Maybe if somebody spiked his coffee with Viagra then secretly recorded what he does with his first erection in 50 years...

Yeah, we've gone from "Holy Shit, are two of their only relevant candidates really a lobbyist who slept through his term in the senate and a guy in magic underwear?" to "Christ I hope they pick that Mormon over the batshit-crazy militant christian beauty-queen communications major with half a term as governor as her only qualification!" God, they're actually making Bush look good by comparison! Still we seem destined for a two party system, so if Republicans make themselves irrelevant enough maybe an actually liberal/progressive party can arise on the left to challenge the Democrats.