Drunkenly navigating the world of news.
ACLU News GLAAD blog
The Vesper according to Ian Fleming and James Bond:
“Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?”
-Casino Royale, Chapter 7
Good morning and happy Tuesday, dear Bar Flies. Let us raise our shots of tequila to all those elected to our National Congress. And our State Assemblies. And City Councils. Okay, okay, we’ll stop before we can’t make it into the office. (Some of us are going to have a problem with that anyway).
Tonic Thursday is here again, and we must ask ourselves, what could make us happy this week? Haitian earthquakes, divided Democrats, and moves against equal rights in several states do not give us much to celebrate. So, we will raise a glass of your favourite drink to the little things.
It seems to this humble editor that we are quick to loose sight of the small things that once made us happy. We occasionally stumble upon something that reminds us of a different time. I would not venture to say “simpler” time, but in many ways these childhood/adolescent memories are simpler, if only in our ignorance of the big bad world.
They still make pop rocks. I can no longer put an entire pack on my own tongue. There is a cable channel that shows nothing but the old 1970s and 1980s cartoons, back when they were still good. Smurfs, Snorks, Jabber Jaws… The Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pie is the same. The Banquet Chicken Pot Pie is the same.
Yesterday, my iPod decided to shuffle all the old school jams from middle and high school that I can still remember all the words to, and where I was when I would sing it. Thanks to technology we can remember, relive and keep these memories. It is in remembering the past that we can see where we want to go.
Take some time out to remember. If we forget, we will never be able to rise above the past.
“Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust .”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In light of the recent MLK holiday, it highlights that there is still a long road ahead. With the 1964 Civil Rights Bill, racism, sexism, homophobia did not go away. The fact that the laws change will not change people’s minds. But King started something that is harder than just passing a law. He asked us to change ourselves.
2 shots white rum
1 shot lemon juice
1/2 shot orgeat syrup
1/4 shot raspberry syrup
Shake well together with ice strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Morning to all! Cracking open my first cold one of the morning, I was thinking about what has been going on in the world this week. The start of the Proposition 8 trial in California, the Glenn Beck/Sarah Palin interview, the Haitian Earthquake, and finance executives getting roasted on Capitol Hill. All in all, it was a busy week for the news.
The Haitian crisis certainly takes the centre stage. The millions affected, not to mention the years, if not decades of recovery for this poor nation have galvanized the world into cooperation that it has been lacking.
Ingredients:
Preparation:
1.Pour the liquors into a highball glass filled with ice.
2.Fill with orange juice.
2 oz. Blended Scotch Whisky – (more)
1 Egg White – (more)
1 tsp. Powdered Sugar – (more)
1/2 Lemon (Juice of, fresh) – (more)
Instructions
Shake with ice and strain into a sour glass. Garnish with a slice of lemon and a cherry.
Yesterday it was the Stoli, today its the Boli, cuz a bitch is blowing this shit out!!! Go big or go home! The heroic and just court case in California, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, against the puritanical and UNCONSTITUTIONAL passage of Proposition 8, is being poo-pooed by some gay rights groups.
The Human Rights Campaign and Lambda Legal among them, are both in Obama’s pocket. I’m assuming its the pocket he keeps the INCEST and BEASTIALITY he compared homosexuals to in his disgusting and bigoted defense of the Defense of Marriage Act.
I’ve been in a vodka mood lately, so, I’m grabbing a bottle of Stoli and hunkering down this morning. I recently came across a trailer on the internet for a documentary called, “Mugabe and the White African.” This film was clandestinely made by two British filmmakers inside Zimbabwe, where there exists a decade long press ban.
It follows the fate of one family’s struggle to keep their farm, bought and paid for legally and after Zimbabwean independence. They are white. Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, began, in 2000, the unlawful, and economically crippling act of “land redistribution”, whereby white owned farms are to be appropriated and given, not to capable Black farmers, but to his cronies and their families.
More and more we are hearing horror stories from African countries regarding conflict, slavery, child soldiers, blood diamonds, famine, AIDS and genocide. Yet Africa has consistently remained the red headed step-child of the world. Admittedly, the U.S. and other Western nations do give billions in aid to Africa. This is not enough. We have to do more than throw money at the problems and hope that they go away.
This is not to say that all countries on the African Continent are hotbeds of strife. However, the fact remains that Africa has huge issues. Most of these are self created, by people who still have tribal mentalities. And, despite the post-colonial status of these nations, the West still has a colonial mentality towards Africa. Not, perhaps, the overt racism of the past, but still a mindset that discounts these nations.
The attitudes of many leaders in Africa have very socially conservative views (“Kill the Gays” Bill in Uganda, female circumcision, et cetera) and the people do as well. This prevents open dialogue with others because to be so far right (or left) leave no room for compromise. Western leaders need to, frankly, lead, and aid these democracies to become strong, so that they can in turn lead the dictatorships and demagogues towards the democratic ideals the West says it values and yet does not foster.
It is sad that such a great continent, with such resources and history cannot escape the post-colonial era and join the West. We, in the West need to begin leading by example. We don’t burn down opponents homes, kill rivals, torture or maim to get our way outside a fully democratic, free, open electoral system, and independent judiciary that holds all accountable, not just the poor or those with the right connections.
Let us become what we know we can be, and be much, much more active in helping Africa with more than money and platitudes.
For a refreshing, thirst quenching tequila cocktail, the Paloma is definitely at the top of the list and it’s a favorite in Mexico. It’s a light, fruity drink with a fizz and one of the smoothest tequila drinks out there. Almost any blanco tequila works well in combination with the grapefruit and you may also see this cocktail with grapefruit juice and a splash of soda instead of a grapefruit soda like Squirt.
Ingredients:
Take a shot.
Of anything.
Obama, not to belabour the point, but DO SOMETHING!!!!
Anything!
You are the reason that the Left can’t actually get anything done. The idealism is great, and I’m certainly a big ole commie pinko fag liberal, but idealism only gets you elected. DO SOMETHING!!!!
Don’t be afraid of the power and authority of the Executive. Certainly Bush overshot that, but there is still plenty of pull to be had even from the Leftist president who apparently is on the Right.
Live up to the promise, or the Conservatives will win.
Don’t let this happen.
DO SOMETHING!!!! ANYTHING!!!!
The gays, the Blacks, the Left are turning their backs. You are killing the dreams of this young generation that elected you. In their disillusionment, we will be put back into the dark ages of the Bush era for decades.
A strong gin and tonic, my friends, is in order. A very strong gin and tonic, indeed. Let us get all our vaccinations, including that against stupidity, and head to the fabulous hot spot on the African Continent, Uganda.
Yes, Uganda.
Not only do 72% of the population live ever so slightly above the international poverty line ($5.00 a day), but they are very socially conscious and forward thinking. For example, they have removed life imprisonment and the death penalty for being either gay, HIV positive, or both. Yippee.
Now, we still have the problem that one may receive the sentence of up to three years for knowing someone is gay and not reporting them. It is also an “extraditable offense”. This means, if you are caught sucking a dick, and you have a dick, you can be ordered back to Uganda to stand trial. Even in the United States of America, where it is legal to do sexy times with anyone as long as they are of age anywhere, even Utah. (Though they try to keep this on the down low because it gives all the polygamous child rapers a bad name, you know…)
And now, Rick Warren, that bastion of Christianity (still not sure he actually read the part of the Gospels that mention Christ not judging people, loving everyone and, oh yeah, NOT JUDGING EVERYONE!!!!), has come out in a video stating that this bill, even without the death penalty and life imprisonment, is “unchristian”.
Really?
No shit, Sherlock!
Nevertheless, the fact is, our world, even the homophobic and underdeveloped, undereducated backwaters of Africa, are slowly moving away from these old and tired stereotypes. We have a global world, with internet and text messaging, and social networking sites that break down these insignificant barriers.
What are you afraid of Uganda?
Are you afraid that if you like to suck a dick, you can’t shoot a gun?
You’ve obviously never had sex with a man in an deer stand.
And it was good, too.
Take the olives out, and put me in the Martini glass! Obama made so many promises during his campaign, that he cannot possibly keep them all. While we have focused here on mainly the LGBT issues that he has failed miserably to keep promise to, even obstructing these promises himself, there are others who are none to pleased with Obama.
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is in near open revolt.
Ten members boycotted a vote.
The Caucus has said that they will vote with Republicans if they must just to send a message to the White House that their votes will not be taken for granted.
This is actually a step I would applaud. For too long the CBC has been a monolithic Democratic tool. I do not say this to put them down, or to minimize their power, however they have done little to force the hand of the White House in years past.
Also at issue is the personal relationship between Rahm Emmanuel, the White House Chief of Staff and the CBC. He is known to be a cantankerous and volatile personality. One wonders if they feel they are owed more from this president than they would be from the White men who preceded him?
I, for one, believe that we are ALL owed more from this man, especially after the outright promises he made.
So, Obama, your natural allies are threatening to defect to prove a point. Stop currying favour with the conservatives, who will never accept you, and use your presidential authority!
Though it is not as simple as a regular cup of joe, it is well worth the effort.
Today, let us take a little break. A café con leche and a guava filled pastry are all I need right now. It seems since 2000 there has been a polarization of American society. There are those who are insistent that we have to curb the liberal excesses of our society. That the sex and violence on television and in movies is seeping into the culture and our youth have been lost to this cycle of sex, drugs and guns.
Shake over ice, pour in shot glass
With the Alabama/Florida game today, the fuckery in DC and the state of the world in general, this is the shot of the day.
Alright, let’s fix ourselves a Kir Royale (is it ever to early for Champagne?), because we are going to beat up on the French.
Nicholas Sarkozy is an ass-hat. That is probably a compliment.
Anglo-French, and by extension, Franco-American, relations, have had a very rocky history. The English and the French have been at it since before the Norman Invasion. The French aided the American Colonist because they were fighting against Great Britain. When the French Revolution happened, the Americans showed their gratitude for bankrupting France and causing the murder of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette by encouraging the radicals.
Sandra Neish
Jack Manhattan
Harvey Wallbanger