Category: Uncategorized

Posted on

Presenting the Fabulous Fags of the Steambath

From a 1970s PBS production called “Steambath,” this is a TV adaptation of Bruce Jay Friedman’s version of “No Exit.”

Tandy (Bill Bixby), Merideth (Valerie Perrine) and assorted others unexpectedly wake up in a steambath with no easy exit. After spending some time there, it becomes clear that the steambath is a sort of Afterlife, where indifferent souls come to tell their stories to God who happens to be the attendant picking up the towels.

I always liked Bill Bixby, of Hulk and Courtship of Eddie’s Father fame, who had a pensive yet likeable quality about his acting.

(via Kennethinthe212)

Posted on

Log Cabin Republicans run full page NY Times ad opposing Hagel nomination

Log Cabin Republicans took out a full-page ad in the New York Times today to criticize potential Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel for his comments about gay people not upholding American values and his positions on Iran and Israel.

There has been substantial backlash since word came that President Obama plans to nominate Hagel. Like Susan Rice, who withdrew as Sec. of State nominee, might Hagel find himself in a similar position?

From R. Clarke Cooper, outgoing executive director of Log Cabin Republicans: “Chuck Hagel’s weak record on preventing nuclear proliferation in Iran, lack of confidence in our ally Israel as well as an aggressive history against the LGBT community is a negative combination for a secretary of defense nominee,” he said in an email. “While he may have recently apologized for his anti-gay comments to save his possible nomination, Hagel cannot walk away from his consistent record against economic sanctions to try to change the behavior of the Islamist radical regime in Tehran.”

Asked by BuzzFeed about Hormel’s initial assessment of Hagel’s apology, that it was done with political expediency, not healing, in mind, Cooper remarked, “Log Cabin Republicans concur with Ambassador Hormel’s original assessment of Chuck Hagel’s current position on gay rights. We question the sincerity of it.”

Posted on

Housing market: Fastest pace since April 2010

Further evidence that the US housing market continues to slowly improve:

The Commerce Department says that sales of new homes rose 4.4 percent in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 377,000. That’s the strongest pace since April 2010, when a homebuyer’s tax credit boosted sales.

New home sales have increased 15.3 percent in the past year.

Rising sales have kept the supply of available homes low, which pushes up prices. Only 149,000 new homes were for sale at the end of last month, just above a record low of 143,000 in August.

Posted on

World’s Longest High-speed Train Line

JMG points up this news clip of a new high-speed train in China that travels about the same distance between New York City and Key West in 8 hours.

Launched in China:.

It used to take the best part of 24 hours to travel by train from Beijing to the southern boomtown of Guangzhou. But as of Wednesday, when the world’s longest high-speed rail line opened for business, the 1,428-mile journey has been cut to a mere eight hours. The trains travel at an average speed of 186mph, passing through five provinces as they tear through the countryside.

Plans call for connecting all cities in China with at least 500,000 inhabitants with these trains.

I’ve always been a big supporter of traveling by train. So much easier than the process of air travel. Just get on, sit down, and go.

Plus, the building of national infrastructure creates millions of jobs and helps the economy in many ways.

I keep waiting for our government to put similar efforts in play here.

Posted on

Billboard Magazine’s Top 10 Songs of 2012

Billboard Magazine’s Top 10 Songs of 2012 based on a combination of radio airplay and sales:

1) Somebody That I Used To Know
Gotye Featuring Kimbra

2) Call Me Maybe
Carly Rae Jepsen

3) We Are Young
fun. Featuring Janelle Monae

4) Payphone
Maroon 5 Featuring Wiz Khalifa

5) Lights
Ellie Goulding

6) Glad You Came
The Wanted

7) Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You…)
Kelly Clarkson

8) We Found Love
Rihanna Featuring Calvin Harris

9) Starships
Nicki Minaj

10) What Makes You Beautiful
One Direction

What do you think?  Are these the top pop songs of 2012?  Did your favorite make it?

Posted on

Hawaii Governor names Lt. Gov to US Senate seat

From the AP: Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz of Hawaii was appointed Wednesday to succeed the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie announced the appointment after receiving a list of three candidates from the state Democratic Party earlier in the day. The other candidates were U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa and Esther Kiaaina, a deputy director in the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Inouye died Dec. 17 of respiratory complications at the age of 88. He had sent Abercrombie a letter that day, saying he would like Hanabusa, 61, to succeed him.

“Sen. Inouye conveyed his final wish to Gov. Abercrombie. While we are very disappointed that it was not honored, it was the governor’s decision to make,” Jennifer Sabas, Inouye’s chief of staff, said in a statement. “We wish Brian Schatz the best of luck.”

Schatz, who is 40, will serve until an election is held in 2014. Had Hanabusa been appointed, a special election would have been needed to fill her seat.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had urged Abercrombie to name Inouye’s successor before the end of the year. Schatz could be sworn in as early as this week, which would make him Hawaii’s senior senator heading into the new Congress, which begins Jan. 3.