TotallyOz

I saw a very heart-warming movie tonight called "Lars and the Real Girl". The movie was well written, well acted and really did touch the heart of many who watched. When this movie comes to your area, give it a try. It is not your typical love story, but it is a great adventure. Cast & Credits Lars: Ryan Gosling Karin: Emily Mortimer Gus: Paul Schneider Dagmar: Patricia Clarkson Margo: Kelli Garner Holly: Lauren Ash Mrs. Gruner: Nancy Beatty By Roger Ebert How do you make a film about a life-sized love doll, ordered through the Internet, into a life-affirming statement of hope? In "Lars and the Real Girl," you do it with faith in human nature, and with a performance by Ryan Gosling that says things that cannot be said. And you surround him with actors who express the instinctive kindness we show to those we love. Gosling, who has played neo-Nazis and district attorneys, now plays Lars Lindstrom, a painfully shy young man who can barely stand the touch of another human being. He functions in the world and has an office job, but in the evening, he sits alone in a cabin in the back yard of his family home. His mother died years ago, his depressive father more recently. Now the big house is occupied by his brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and pregnant sister-in-law Karin (Emily Mortimer). She makes it her business to invite him to dinner, to share their lives, but he begs off with one lame excuse after another, and sits alone in the dark. One day a co-worker at the office, surfing Internet porn, shows Lars a life-size vinyl love doll that can be order customized to specifications. A few weeks later, a packing crate is delivered to Lars, and soon his brother and sister-in-law are introduced to the doll. She is, they learn, named Bianca. She is a paraplegic missionary, of Brazilian and Danish blood, and Lars takes her everywhere in a wheelchair. He has an explanation for everything, including why she doesn't talk or eat. To read the rest of the review: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.d.../710180304/1023

I have a twink living with me at the moment and with that comes the loss of my tv priviliges. Today was the worst. The twink is into MTV and VH1 and the show for the day was a marathon called I Love New York. It was the saddest excuse for a show I have ever seen. It is based on a hoochie mama named New York. The show is funny but OMG. I have never seen anything quite like this. Perhaps I am just not hip anymore. Perhaps I am just not on the same twink gaydar as I used to be. Perhaps I have been out of America for too long. But, man, this show really sucks. Now, I am back to listening to it as I get some work done. The upside is I have a cute twink walking around in his underwear laughing every 30 seconds so loud the neighbors are going to complain.

LOL. Yes, witches and queers. Every fundamentalist's nightmare.

I could not agree with you more. He is amazing and sweet! Plus, he is the only one I know that so easily puts me to shame with his knowledge of computers. Anytime I have a computer problem, I IM him and he saves the day!

Well, it was better than I expected but my expectations were not high. It cost 25 to get in. There were many companies that were represented there and the exhibitors were from a wide variety of venues. Eros has a booth, Naked Sword, PrideStore, tons of video companies and 2 escort sites including the Rentboy booth. Most of the booths had boys working there and the video stores were selling videos fairly cheap. There were many porn stars there and they had shows every few hours. The shows were a mix gogo dances and drag skits. They were fun and enjoyable to watch. The guy in the pic with the long cock did a dance routine and he pulled a long strip of beads out of his ass. It got me turned on. There were many hot guys there but no twinks. The hottest booth there was the Muscle Bear booth. The guys were hot, sexy and friendly. The one in the pics from above was very nice and I think he was Mr. Eagle 2007. They gave away free flyers and most had a code for a free membership for a few days or a week. HX was a main sponsor and they had 2 vampire boys that were hot. One said he was straight and there to make money. I kept talking to him for a bit and he finally said he also escorted on Craig's List. I asked him to post a profile here and if he does, I'll be the first one to hire him. He was latin and a total top (so he said) but he was sexy and I loved the vampire theme. I had a good time. It was not as big as many fairs I have been to but it was fun and enjoyable.

A few photos from Saturday.

Having read the books and watched the movies, it has been a great adventure to see the growth of the Harry Potter franchise. I stood in lines at midnight with neices and nephews to get the latest books. I saw all the movies on opening night. Each I loved. I am glad that Rowling finally outted her gay friend. From the BCC: Harry Potter author JK Rowling has revealed that one of her characters, Hogwarts school headmaster Albus Dumbledore, is gay. She made her revelation to a packed house in New York's Carnegie Hall on Friday, as part of her US book tour. She took audience questions and was asked if Dumbledore found "true love". "Dumbledore is gay," she said, adding he was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, who he beat in a battle between good and bad wizards long ago. "Falling in love can blind us to an extent," she said, and added Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down" and his love for Grindelwald was his "great tragedy". "Oh, my god," Rowling, 42, concluded with a laugh, "the fan fiction". Fan sites have long speculated on Dumbledore's sexuality as he was known for having a mysterious, troubled past. Rowling told the audience that while working on the planned sixth Potter film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, she saw the script carried a reference to a girl who was once of interest to Dumbledore. She said she ensured director David Yates was made aware of the truth about her character. Rowling also did a brief reading from the seventh book in her best-selling series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, as part of her Open Book Tour of the US - her first there for seven years. She said she regarded her novels as a "prolonged argument for tolerance" and urged her fans to "question authority". But she added that not everyone likes her work. Christian groups have alleged the books promote witchcraft. The author said her revelation about Dumbledore would give them one more reason. The seventh Potter book broke sales records on both sides of the Atlantic when it was published in July, selling 11 million copies in 24 hours. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7053982.stm

Apple is soon coming out with its latest version of OS 10. It's nameis Leopard. It looks amazing and anything by Apple seems to set the standards. Take a look at this through the guided tour. http://www.apple.com/macosx/guidedtour/

Few stories have touched me more than the images of monks being arrested, beaten and killed in Burma. Having lived a time in that part of the world, I know the reverence that is placed upon monks by their followers. It has saddened me greatly to see this and know that we won't do anything to help as they don't have oil for our SUV's. Here is a very good article on the plight of the people there. Please feel free to post others. CNN editor's note: An I-Reporter inside Myanmar shares experiences of what it's like to live there. Because of safety concerns, CNN.com has agreed not to identify the author. The views expressed here are those of the author alone. YANGON, Myanmar -- On the surface, Yangon appears almost normal since most of the military's activities now take place under cover of a nighttime curfew away from the cameras. But what is normal -- and what happens beyond normal? The military crackdown has been unbelievably severe, especially considering this country's deep reverence for Buddhist monks. To see monks attacked during peaceful demonstrations is disturbing, as is the vengeance with which the military attempts to cover up its abuse and prevent news from leaking to the outside world. But the abuse goes beyond that. Every day, I hear sad stories. A father is killed when trying to reach his son in a school that is cordoned off by the military. A young student in a village school is killed by overzealous military, but the family cannot obtain the body, which was conveniently cremated. If the family protests, the whole village suffers. For full story: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/10/1...port/index.html

The article and photos can be found at: http://www.pattayacitynews.net/news_19_10_50.htm The following appears in the PATTAYA CITY NEWS: _____ Exclusive – Canadian Pedophile Began his Thailand Trip Here in Pattaya. As reported in the National and International Press, the Canadian National wanted on charges of pedophilia has now been caught. Mr. Christopher Paul Neil aged 32 was arrested in Nakorn Rachasima Province in the North-East of Thailand, some 200 kms from Bangkok. Interpol, who has been tracking the man from South Korea, where he worked as an English Teacher, informed the Thai Police that he had come to Thailand on 11th October. We can exclusively reveal that his first stop on his trip to Thailand was here in Pattaya. We obtained CCTV pictures from a Hotel in Soi VC in South Pattaya which clearly show Mr. Neil checking in on 11th October with a Thai Friend who is believed to have previously organized liaisons with underage boys and girls, during his first trip to Thailand in 2002. He checked out of the hotel on 13th October as planned and then made his way to the North-East which is where he was eventually caught on Friday. __________ The PATTAYA DAILY NEWS also has a story: http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.p...NEWS=0000004055

Anyone heading to the Expo this weekend? http://gayeroticexpo.squarespace.com/home/

I am looking into get a good heart rate monitor that will give me more training information. Anyone have any recommendations that are compatible with Macs?

Anyone seen this movie yet? http://www.forthebibletellsmeso.org/

I have found this site a joy to work with and be a part of. We are getting close to another milestone and that is our 2000th escort profile. Hurrah!

I think you are right. The guys with me were younger and in the early 20's. One loved it and was in tears, the other is still talking today about how boring it was. I had other friends that saw it and had the same reaction. I was at the theatre again tonight to see another flick and Across the Universe was letting out and I stopped and talked to a group of young ladies. 3 loved it and 1 hated it. Tonight I saw the Why do Women get Married moive. It was funny as hell. But, it did not compare to the experience of last night.

Kucinich speech at Latino Congresso, via MyDD I'm so grateful to be with you this morning. It's such an honor. When I am with this community, I realize the real connection I have, from the heart, (el corazón). It's a connection that transcends the issues, but it connects us to the issues at the same time. When I started my career in politics forty years ago in Cleveland, the Puerto Rican population was growing, and there were a lot of problems between that community and the police. And so when I finally got elected to city council with the help of the Puerto Rican community, the first thing I did was to take a Spanish language course, so that I could better understand and communicate with members of the Latino community. One of the things we first discovered in the city council was the fact that the police were arresting Latinos without reading them their rights, in direct violation of the Miranda decision. So if someone didn't speak English, they didn't have any rights. The police didn't understand that even if people couldn't speak English, it didn't mean that those people shouldn't have rights. So I was responsible for causing the Cleveland Police to have to learn the Miranda rights in Spanish and carry a card with them. Now the people in the Administration of George Bush better remember their Miranda rights, because when I'm elected President I'm going to see that they are arrested. I'm not kidding here! I want to let you to know something; how I feel about what's happened to our country. We have been led into a war based upon lies -- an unjust a war. We've seen our civil liberties taken away because of lies. The President, the Vice President, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Defense are all part of this. They're going to be held accountable under the law. If someone runs a traffic light, they'll get a ticket here. There are a million dead Iraqis and almost 4,000 dead American soldiers as a result of this war. Where is the accountability? What's happened is that our constitution is being torn up. And in this toxic environment, the Administration, in its never-ending quest for more scapegoats, focuses on immigrants. You know it and I know it. And we see, unfortunately, the failure of the Democratic Party to stand up to this Administration. I'm going to give you an example of something that occurred a couple of weeks ago. We had the bill on children's health care that we passed out of the House and it covered all children, including the children of legal immigrants: about 600,000 children. But because of some Republicans in the Senate, who said, "Look, we're not dealing with any immigrants," it doesn't even matter if they're legal at this point, the Democrats wouldn't fight to keep it in the Bill. They took it out. So they brought the bill back to the House, without 600,000 children of immigrants who are legal. Now, think about what that means. It means that we are in so much fear in this country that our children are now being affected by it. You see, I happen to believe that all children, whether they are the children of those that are documented or not, should be covered for their health care. When our politics has gotten to the point where we start to divide our children into various camps, where we start to separate our children from one another, we set the stage for the splitting of the Nation. I want to see our Nation united together. It is time that we had a President who understood that human unity is what makes for peace. And that when we impose the wrath of the law that is unjust, what we're doing is we're stopping peace from happening. So, I'm running for President to make sure that all the people in America know that they have someone who they can count on, and know that they will have a President who will stand up for them. And I will tell you today that the Latino community, in particular, has a right to expect that all the candidates will stand in front of you and say, "Yes. We must have a path to legalization. Yes. There must be a way for people to work in this country, if they want to live in Mexico. Yes. We must take down that wall!" Isn't it interesting how famous Ronald Reagan became for saying, "Mr. Gorbachev, take down that wall." Oh, how far we've come from those days. When President Reagan said, "Take down that wall," and President Bush now says, "Build up a wall," where are we going as a nation? I believe the way the immigrant community is treated, whether documented or not, reflects the direction and future of America. We must believe that our brothers and sisters, Latinos and all of the other ethnic groups, are essential to who we are as Americans. We are forgetting what it is that made this country great. We are forgetting that the Statue of Liberty was there for all nationalities. Maybe it would be helpful if we put Emma Lazarus's poem into Spanish, where she said, "Give me your tired, give me your poor." This is at the base of the Statue of Liberty. "Give me your tired, your poor/your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free/The wretched refuse of your teeming shores/Send these, the homeless, the tempest tossed to me." Those powerful, heartfelt sentiments welcomed generations of immigrants to our country; welcomed people in America to a beacon of freedom. We know that there have always been challenges, which have confronted each group that has come to this country. But never before in America have we had a discussion about having to send millions of people back across the border. Never before in America have we seen this attempt to divide us so deeply. And never before in America has there been a need to unite us so totally. And that's what my candidacy for President of the United States is all about. It is about the imperative of human unity. It is that -- we are all one. So we have to make sure, as the unity blueprint for immigration reform is being talked about, that we protect the well-being and safety of immigrant and U.S. citizen children alike. We must make sure we achieve faithful enforcement of immigration laws by reinstating the jurisdiction of Federal Courts to review agency decisions. We have to stop these raids. We have to stop it. They are not worthy of the United States of America. We need to make sure that workers' rights are protected. This is why I say that as President, my first act in office will be to cancel NAFTA and the WTO. We all know what happened when NAFTA was being considered. The corporations went to the Mexico legislature and said, "Pass this. It will mean better living, better lives for the people of Mexico. Wages will go up. There will be prosperity." What happened? It passed, and wages went down. People lost jobs and fled north into the waiting arms of corporations. And the corporations said, "Yes. Come and work for us, but don't worry about what you're going to be paid, because it won't be much. You will have no rights; no rights to organize, or to collective bargaining." South of the border workers were faced with the same thing. Corporations achieved enormous control with the passage of NAFTA. People were not given a chance for their basic rights to be protected. So when I say cancel NAFTA, what I mean is that we go to Mexico and renegotiate a trade agreement. And what are the principles of that trade agreement? That all workers will have the right to organize, the right to collective bargaining, the right to strike, the right to decent wages and benefits, the right to a secure retirement, the right to a safe workplace. It will mean prohibitions on child labor, slave labor, and prison labor. It will mean that the air and the water are protected. It is time to have a President of the United States who will stand up for workers, who will stand up for immigrants, who will stand up for working immigrants, who will stand up for those who have documents, who will stand up for those who don't have documents, who will stand up for human beings. We must realize that there is no such thing as an illegal human being. We need a President who will stand up for the people! We understand that there needs to be a realistic framework for future migration. No one's saying that there shouldn't be an attempt to create some flow back and forth across the borders that makes sense. But, that's not what's happening. When you hear what is going on in Marico County --what is that hotline about but an encouragement of a kind of fascism? People reporting each other, what's that about? You get reported for speaking Spanish? When I was in the Ohio state legislature as a state senator there was an attempt to pass an English-only bill, and I rose and spoke about it. I gave a speech in Spanish objecting the English only. Let me tell you about how I defeated the bill: I pointed out that the founding documents of the state of Ohio were in German. So here we are in a county where people are saying "solamente." It would be good if every child had a working knowledge of the English language, and that our children receive the kind of education where they learn to read and write English perfectly. I have a proposal that's already been introduced in the Congress; one that I am getting ready to re-introduce in a couple of weeks for a universal pre-kindergarten. Children ages three, four, and five will have access to full-time daycare. How many of our parents, particularly working mothers, realize that if you don't have quality daycare, you are paying as much for daycare as you are paying for a college education? You work almost the whole week just to pay for daycare, so by the time you are through working you don't have much left at all, and you still have to worry about benefits like healthcare. What I am talking about is this: A universal pre-kindergarten daycare, where children ages three, four, and five will have access to full- time day care, fully paid, where they will learn things like music, art, reading skills, social skills and they would also learn languages. So we say all of the children in this country should learn languages like Spanish so they can reach out to the wider world. We can give our children the gift of knowing that there is a big world out there and not shut ourselves out from it, but say we are one with the world. So our children should be given this gift of learning languages at a young age, and this fear of the other will not exist anymore. This is such an important opportunity for our nation. However, in order to go from where we are to where we hope to be, there are a few things we have to do. Number one, we have to break the fear that is holding so many of our fellow citizens captive. It's not only the fear of the other; it's the fear that people will not be safe. You know and I know that the war against the people of Iraq has made this country less safe. You know and I know that it is important to have a President who not only rejects the war against Iraq, who not only rejects a war against Iran, but who rejects war as an instrument of policy. It is time to have a President who truly stands for peace. Dr. King understood this, forty years ago when he said the war in Vietnam was destroying the people of two nations. We don't have enough money to build bridges in this country, yet we blow them up in Iraq. We don't have money to build schools in this country, but we have seen schools and hospitals and other institutions destroyed in Iraq. We cannot take care of matters here at home, and yet we have leaders who want to go all around the world and tell people what to do. Let's come back home. Let's take care of things here. Let's have a country that we can be proud of, with housing for all and jobs for all and education for all and healthcare for all. That's the kind of America that people will love; the kind of America that will be an example to people all over the world as a country that you believe in, a country that you want to see succeed. Are we ready to take the path towards that kind of an America? I want to conclude with an issue that I see as the number one domestic issue affecting America. And that's the issue of healthcare. This issue affects every family in this country. We all know that people cannot afford healthcare in this country. People can't afford to be sick, and they can't afford to get well. We have a situation where these insurance companies are making a lot of money. But we have to ask how they are making that money? For instance, car dealers make money. Shoe salesmen make money. How do these private insurance companies make money? They make money by not providing healthcare. What is going on in this country? The more they deny you healthcare, the more money they make. So doctors are on the phone with you saying, "No, you cannot have that test, no, you cannot have that procedure." The insurance companies are playing doctor now. People are not getting the care they are paying for. But then there are 47 million Americans who don't have any insurance at all. And you know what? The largest percentage happens to be Latino. You know this, and I know this. So isn't it time we recognize in America that we should have the same kind of care for its people that every other industrialized nation has? That's why I am the co-author of a bill, HR 676, Medicare for all, a not-for- profit health care system -- one that covers everyone. It is time to break the hold that these private insurance companies have on our political system; a political system that is failing the American people. We need to reclaim it, so that we can restore the health of the American people. It is time to have a not-for-profit heath care system that covers everyone. Half the bankruptcies in America are due to people who cannot pay their medical bills, so they just go bankrupt. We all know that in households throughout the country, where families discuss this everyday, that someone says, "Honey I don't feel well, but I can't go to the doctor because we can't afford it." People forego the care that they need, until they end up in an emergency room very ill, and the costs go through the roof at that point. Our system is not about caring for people, it is about caring for profits and insurance companies. The system that I am talking about is a not-for-profit system, and it will have enough money for vision care, dental care, mental health care, long-term care, and prescription drugs. Healthcare today is being used to accelerate the wealth of the rich. We need to reclaim the system so all people will have the money for their healthcare, and also for other things, like housing. You know, I started an investigation a couple of months ago about these mortgage companies that were going into communities of people of color and selling these sub-prime loans creating a wave of bankruptcies. The housing needs of America are greater than ever. Healthcare needs are greater than ever. The job needs of America are greater than ever. The need for higher wages is greater than ever. The need for a fair and just immigration policy is greater than ever. The need to stand for peace is greater than ever. Our system is failing the American people. My candidacy is about rallying the American people to defend their basic human and economic rights. This is our moment to reclaim our nation. This is our moment to restore our nation; our moment to say what America really stands for. This is our moment to say we are part of this country; we helped build this country; we helped make this country what it is. And we are not going to let anyone take this country away from us, whether it's for oil or for money or for blood. This is our nation, and we will reclaim it. We will restore it, and we will call it the United States of America for all the people. Thank you very much. Thank you. http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/27692

A great YouTube video from France. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsNFxOOnjgw

The new Julie Taymor movie is amazing. I loved it from beginning to end. I went with a few younger guys who were so excited to see it and one loved it and the other hated it. I thought that Taymor did an outstanding job with this and I was mesmerized by the songs and the 60's experience. I think there was more than just a few of those in the audience who had smoked a little weed before the show as I smelled it on more than just our group. All in all, the show really did deliver a great time. I was apprehensive at first to see it and the two young lads who were with me were excited. When we exited, there were tears in the eyes of one and matter in the sleepy eyes of the other. 2 hr. 11 min. | PG-13 - for some drug content, nudity, sexuality, violence and language Cast: Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson Director: Julie Taymor Genre: Period Film, Musical Romance, Musical A love story set against the backdrop of the 1960s amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, mind exploration and rock 'n' roll, moving from the dockyards of Liverpool to the creative psychedelia of Greenwich Village, from the riot-torn streets of Detroit to the killing fields of Vietnam. The star-crossed lovers, Jude and Lucy, along with a small group of friends and musicians, are swept up into the emerging anti-war and counterculture movements, with Dr. Robert and Mr. Kite as their guides. Tumultuous forces outside their control ultimately tear the young lovers apart, forcing Jude and Lucy--against all odds--to find their own way back to each other www.fandango.com

In the USA, there is a TV show called 20/20 on ABC. It is a documentary show with various topics each week. This week, the show was on children working at young ages. There was a 9 year-old preacher, 15 year old actress, an 11 year old Matador, and several 8 year old Muay Thai boxers. All in all, the thought behind the show was how young is too young for a child to work. The segment on the boxers in Thailand was extremely interesting to watch. It showed how the parents were using the kids to bring in money for the family. It was interesting to see the slant on the Muay Thai boxers was on the parents pushing the children into the ring but the same slant was not applied as harshly to the other children. The Muay Thai segment was based on a new movie out called, Raised in the Ring. The movie looks very interesting and I wonder if it is shown in Thailand? Has anyone seen it? The segment also dealt with parents pushing the girls at a young age to work in the ring. I have known many bar boys who said the same thing, that their parents wanted them to go to Pattaya or Bangkok to work in a bar to bring home money for the family. This seems to happen often in Thailand and other places around the globe. It was only 100 years ago that the USA enacted Child Labor laws. I venture to say that child protection laws are not the norm in most countries. An education is something that has only been expected for the young in the USA in the last one hundred or so years. I do believe it is the way out of poverty but I also wonder why westerns hold other countries that are not as developed to their own standards. How young is too young to work for the family? How young is too young to be a professional boxer? How young is too young to work in a bar? How young is too young to stop a required education?

Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej is in hospital after feeling weak in his right side, the royal palace has said. The 79-year-old king was taken to Bangkok's Siriraj hospital on Saturday morning, where scans revealed an inadequate blood supply to his brain. The condition improved after treatment but requires further observation. King Bhumibol, the world's longest reigning current monarch, is greatly revered in Thailand and his health is a subject of great national concern. A statement from the Bureau of the Royal Household said scans had revealed "a minimal cerebral ischemia" on the left side of the king's brain, meaning that part of his brain was not receiving enough blood to function normally. "The team of royal physicians then recommended hospitalisation for treatment and observation," the statement said. "After a period of approximately eight hours of treatment, the weakness of the right leg has improved," it added. Concerns over King Bhumibol's health have deepened since he underwent spinal surgery last year, after complaining of back pain. Since that operation, the monarch has rarely appeared in public. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7043205.stm

"for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change" I am thrilled that VP Gore has won the Prize. He deserved it and I hope he used the influence gained from it well. I with he would run for President but if his heart is not in it, I hope he stays the fuck away. We have good people who really want the job and I don't want to pressure someone to do a job they don't want to do. Oz http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/l...2007/press.html The Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 is to be shared, in two equal parts, between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change. Indications of changes in the earth's future climate must be treated with the utmost seriousness, and with the precautionary principle uppermost in our minds. Extensive climate changes may alter and threaten the living conditions of much of mankind. They may induce large-scale migration and lead to greater competition for the earth's resources. Such changes will place particularly heavy burdens on the world's most vulnerable countries. There may be increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states. Through the scientific reports it has issued over the past two decades, the IPCC has created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming. Thousands of scientists and officials from over one hundred countries have collaborated to achieve greater certainty as to the scale of the warming. Whereas in the 1980s global warming seemed to be merely an interesting hypothesis, the 1990s produced firmer evidence in its support. In the last few years, the connections have become even clearer and the consequences still more apparent. Al Gore has for a long time been one of the world's leading environmentalist politicians. He became aware at an early stage of the climatic challenges the world is facing. His strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change. He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted. By awarding the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 to the IPCC and Al Gore, the Norwegian Nobel Committee is seeking to contribute to a sharper focus on the processes and decisions that appear to be necessary to protect the world’s future climate, and thereby to reduce the threat to the security of mankind. Action is necessary now, before climate change moves beyond man’s control. Oslo, 12 October 2007 Here is the CNN article: Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their work raising awareness about global warming. The Nobel committee cited them "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change." The IPCC and Gore will each receive a gold medal, a diploma and a share of $1.5 million. The award ceremony will be held December 10 in Oslo, Norway. "Through the scientific reports it has issued over the past two decades, the IPCC has created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming," Ole Danbolt Mjoes, chairman of the Nobel committee, said in making the announcement. "Thousands of scientists and officials from over 100 countries have collaborated to achieve greater certainty as to the scale of the warming." The Nobel committee praised Gore as being "one of the world's leading environmentalist politicians." He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted," said Mjoes Gore collected two Oscars earlier this year for his documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," which followed him on a worldwide tour publicizing the dangers of climate change. Last month he also picked up an Emmy -- the highest award in U.S. television -- for "Current TV." The show, which Gore co-created, describes itself as a global television network that gives its viewers the opportunity to create and influence its programming. For the entire article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/10/12...gore/index.html Also see: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-N...nyt&emc=rss http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7041082.stm

I have always loved Montreal and loved the Black and Blue party there. I like the clubs and have always enjoyed Taboo. I have not been there much recently and with the shitty USD, I'm not sure when I'll get there or how long I'll stay. The city has a lot to offer and the boys are amazing. I think they have some of the hottest guys around but you have to search much harder for them now than you did years ago.

Even Bush Can't Keep It Down – Madame Ovary's Guide To Fagulous New Orleans! New Orleans proves that you can't keep a bad girl down! While it got thrashed by one of the worst hurricanes in decades and abandoned by the bitchy Bush Administration, this fabulous southern city is back on its feet and practically screaming, “We're Here! We're Queer! Get Used To It!” While much of the South is a bastion of Bible Belt freaks, married men hiding in the closet and fat drunken homophobes, New Orleans is delicious, divine and waiting for you to embrace its charms. So, don't let Katrina or any other bitches keep you away! Get ready to follow the fagtastic Madame Ovary as she helps you learn everything you need to know before you hit the most debaucherous city in the south! In no time at all, you'll be jerking out your jizz to the sounds of jazz and getting rough with southern gentlemen. Whether you cum for Mardi Gras, cream for creole or go fagtastic in the French Quarter, New Orleans will make you feel like the slut you've always known you could be! After all, there is a reason this town of dragulous queens, tempting trannies, fuckable fags and terrific tops is known as “The Big Easy.” Madam Ovary loves to go down to New Orleans whenever I'm in the mood for the type of sexalicious weekend that mama warned me about! Katrina – The Bitch That Couldn't Bring New Orleans To Its Knees! Everyone who's anyone knows that when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, it devastated the city, and that – as is usually the case – Bush didn't help anything. But, what many people don't know is that while New Orleans was hurt by the hurricane, it has come back with a vengeance. Nearly all of the tourist attractions, gay bars, hip restaurants, public transportation and other divine delights the city has to offer are back up and open for business again. In fact, the only part of the city that's really changed is that cash is now king! Many places still don't accept credit cards, so you'll want to be prepared to hand over dinaro for most, if not all of your pristine pleasure. It seems that some people might simply not want to let the government that let them down know exactly how much money they are making now that New Orleans is a rip-rocking playground once again. Imagine that my little studs, divas and drag queens! Luckily, most of the banks are up and running, and you can find ATMs all over the city. On the other hand – I know that some of my bitchy boy readers love looking at train wrecks. If you are one of those naughty boys, you can take the Gray Line Tour – Hurricane Katrina – America's Worst Catastrophe!, and see parts of New Orleans that have yet to be rebuilt. It's a nasty little trip – but it might give you some primal perspective on just how badly the butch boys in the White House let us down! Getting Your Drink On One of the most fabulous parts of visiting New Orleans is that it allows you to be out and about while getting your drink on! In most cities, once you order your drink you are stuck in the bar – even if it's populated by the ugly, the rude or the straight – until you finish your bootilcious beverage. Not so, in The Big Easy! Here, they'll happily give you any type of cocktail you want – including their legendary Mint Juleps – in plastic cocktail glasses. Then, you can walk out of the bar with them, cruise down the street, look at the man meat and even go into another bar! There also are no restrictions for drinking in public – which for the people of New Orleans is the local pastime – so you don't even have to worry about running into the boys in blue – unless you'd like to get to know a man in uniform! Faubourg Marigny Once you get into New Orleans and have a drink or three, you'll want to head over to Faubourg Marigny, the chic yet bohemian New Orleans gayborhood. The Marigny, as it is called by the local gay boys, is proof that God is divine - it was the one area that was left mostly undamaged by Katrina. It just shows that God has good taste! You'll want to explore and cruise for hot boys and divalicious drag queens in Washington Square Park and on Frenchmen Street, where you'll find tons of delightful cabarets, sinfully sexsational clubs, and bars filled with some of the sluttiest boys you'll ever want to go down on! Even during Mardi Gras, Bible Belters, breeders and frat boys avoid the Marigny – because the plethora of penis and magnitude of man meat scares them off! In the roughly four-block area of the Marigny, you'll find tasty restaurants right next door to some of the raunchiest bookstores in America. Anything goes in the Marigny, and you'll want to keep cumming back for more! Just be sure to wash your hands before dinner – we all know where they've been! The French Quarter Bending over for Creole boys in the Marigny is totally fagulicious, but you have to do something after you are able to walk again! That's when Madame Ovary redoes her makeup, smoothes out her skirts and ambles over to the fagtastic French Quarter. This divine section of The Big Easy stretches for 14 blocks along the Mississippi River, between Canal Street and Esplanade Avenue. It is the biggest tourist section of the city. The upside is that it is the headquarters of hard drinking, power partying and some of the best jazz America has to offer. The downside is that it is often filled to the brim with drunk breeder types, you'll find more tuna here than in a Chicken of the Sea factory. That said, it can be divine to watch the straights make fools of themselves while you sip your cocktails with the divine dignity you know the French Quarter deserves. In addition to listening to Creoles play jazz and watching sorority girl jizz junkies drink tequila, you'll be able to visit any number of historic homes that have been kept preserved in their 18th century stately manners. You'll constantly be surrounded by street performers, who range from horrible to fagfuckingtastic! It's also totally fabulous to take one of the history buggy rides around the French Quarter and watch the shenanigans from a distance – particularly if you've imbibed a little beforehand and are ready to soak up the local color! Esplanade Ridge When you are too hungover to drink, date or mate, you might want to cruise over to Esplanade Ridge overlooking the New Orleans Bayou. This is where the locals live, eat and chill out to avoid the tourists and let the city scene seep into their souls. You'll find the real New Orleans here – and find that anyone, no matter their race, creed or sexual orientation, is taken seriously here and treated with respect. Esplanade Ridge is also where the annual New Orleans Jazz Festival is held, and where you'll find the New Orleans Museum of Art – which was thankfully spared Katrina's horrible devastation. Of course, because this is where people really live and work, you'll find the atmosphere a bit different than the rest of the city - even the baddest boys and naughty nancies mind their manners in Esplanade Ridge. Do Do That Voodoo That You Do So Well At the heart of the debauchery and sin that is the soul of New Orleans lies the ancient Voodoo religion that still thrives in the city. Take note, my divine divas and studly men: Voodoo is not about worshiping the devil – no matter what you may have seen in the movies. Instead, Voodoo is a serious religion where the participants are in touch with the earth and her mysteries. Of course, that doesn't mean you can't get yourself a Voodoo doll of your local office homophobe and stick pins in it to see what happens, or buy yourself a sex potion and see if you can bring the straight boy you've been lusting for over to the pink team! There are numerous shops in New Orleans that will sell you potions and spells, and explain Voodoo to you. Perhaps the most well known and reliable is the Island of Salvation on Piety Street, where you can undergo Voodoo healing, purchase curses or simply buy candles to light for health and salvation. Just be careful, you never know when a curse can backfire – and you wouldn't want to find yourself magically turned into Born Again Christian, would you? Southern Decadence While the straight world celebrates Mardi Gras (and pleated pants, but I digress), New Orleans fags, fairies, divas and dykes know that the Southern Decadence Festival held every Labor Day weekend for the past 37 years is the real street party to see and be seen at! You'll be blinded by the gay during this massive indoor/outdoor gay orgy that starts the Wednesday before Labor Day and continues on until the following Tuesday morning. More than 100,000 queers, fag hags and wannabes cum to town to go down, bend over and mount men. Chi Chi Larue, the “Diva of Decadence” runs the fagtastic festivities and leads the Sunday morning parade, featuring queens, leather boys, twinks, bears, Dykes on Bikes - and turns the city into a homo haven. The code of the parade is to dress as decadently as possible, so pull out your best frocks or tightest leather pants and get ready to go down! New Orleans Gay Pride For nearly 36 years, New Orleans has been hosting some of the best Gay Pride events in American each and every June. Unfortunately, there were no Pride parades in 2006 or 2007 due to Katrina clean up efforts. They plan to bring the Pride and the parade back in 2008, and tens of thousands of fags and fag-friendly friends are expected to converge on Bourbon Street to party, dance and scope out the hottest of the hot! Details on 2008 Pride events are still sketchy – but you know that The Big Easy will come out of the closet and tell the world that the queers are still here! Mardi Gras Beads, boobs and booze, oh my! There can be no real discussion of visiting New Orleans without talking about Mardi Gras – the two-week-long party that ends on the Tuesday before Lent. The fabulous premise of Mardi Gras is that the people of New Orleans give up good food, Voodoo, sex and other sinful pleasures for Lent. So, they want to eat, fuck and drink as much as possible beforehand. People dress in masks, get on floats, take off their shirts and drink like deliciously drunken divas day and night during the festival, when the population of the city nearly doubles. While the media always talks about trashy tuna showing their mammary glands in exchange for plastic beads, none of the locals participate in such degrading behavior. In fact, wearing beads at Mardi Gras is the mark of being a trashy tourist and highly frowned upon! Instead, you just want to dress up in the most fabulous costume you can find and get ready to party day and night while looking as divine as humanly possible. Cum Down To New Orleans – The Men Are Waiting For You! Darlings, you know you like them big and easy – so why not cum down to The Big Easy for your next gaycation! You'll drink, dance and dick the night away – while sleeping off your sinsational evenings in the warm Bayou breezes. And, if you wind up here for Southern Decadence, you might even run into Madame Ovary – who knows how to go down and show a new boy a good time! Ta-Ta For Now, Madame Ovary, Your Fagulous Travel Guide cc drag.com

Even now, at 81 and with her memory beginning to fade, Gloria Donadello recalls her painful brush with bigotry at an assisted-living center in Santa Fe, N.M. Sitting with those she considered friends, “people were laughing and making certain kinds of comments, and I told them, ‘Please don’t do that, because I’m gay.’” The result of her outspokenness, Ms. Donadello said, was swift and merciless. “Everyone looked horrified,” she said. No longer included in conversation or welcome at meals, she plunged into depression. Medication did not help. With her emotional health deteriorating, Ms. Donadello moved into an adult community nearby that caters to gay men and lesbians. “I felt like I was a pariah,” she said, settled in her new home. “For me, it was a choice between life and death.” Elderly gay people like Ms. Donadello, living in nursing homes or assisted-living centers or receiving home care, increasingly report that they have been disrespected, shunned or mistreated in ways that range from hurtful to deadly, even leading some to commit suicide. Some have seen their partners and friends insulted or isolated. Others live in fear of the day when they are dependent on strangers for the most personal care. That dread alone can be damaging, physically and emotionally, say geriatric doctors, psychiatrists and social workers. The plight of the gay elderly has been taken up by a generation of gay men and lesbians, concerned about their own futures, who have begun a national drive to educate care providers about the social isolation, even outright discrimination, that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender clients face. For the rest of the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/us/09age...2c43MQI64SeEENg

This is a must see. http://crackle.com/c/Moving_Targets/Sen._C...223789%26o%3D12