Sudan's President to Consider Jailed Reporter's Case

Sudan's President, Omar al-Bashir, announced he will consider from "a humanitarian standpoint" the case of Paul Salopek, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winning American reporter jailed in Sudan and charged with committing espionage and other crimes in the country. al-Bashir made the announcement after meeting with a senior State Department official.

Salopek, 44, was assignment for National Geographic in Sudan when he was arrested with his driver and interpreter on August 6. Salopek appeared in court Saturday and a Sudanese judge, after he reading charges of "espionage, passing information illegally, writing 'false news' and entering the African country without a visa," postponed Salopek's trial until September 10.

From National Geographic:

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and U.S. Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer discussed the case on Tuesday during a meeting at al-Bashir's home about the ongoing conflict in Darfur.

Following the meeting, President al-Bashir said he will consider Salopek's case from "a humanitarian standpoint," spokesperson Mahjud Fadul Bedry told the Sudan Times.

At a Tuesday press briefing in Washington, D.C., (read full transcript), U.S. State Department spokesperson Tom Casey confirmed that Frazer and al-Bashir discussed the Salopek case.
Casey offered no specifics on the conversation, but said Salopek is in "good health."

"We're continuing to visit him almost on a daily basis so that we can continue to verify the conditions in which he's being held and make sure he's okay," he said.

Today, on an environmental issues blog, a Seattle Post-Intelligencer writer who blogs "Why you should care about Paul Salopek."

If you spend a lot of time reading enviro news, you may not be familiar with the work of Paul Salopek, the foreign correspondent who sits in a Sudanese jail cell. The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner is charged with espionage and issuing "false news."

But Salopek may well be on his way to a third Pulitzer and other accolades for this recent series in the Chicago Tribune in which he traces the misery, corruption and pollution the oil trade leaves in its wake. He followed a shipment of oil from Nigeria to a Chicago-area gas station. Then he worked (for free) at the gas station to get to know the folks who use this commodity. Quite impressive.

Yesterday, WaPo ran an editorial, "Wielding a Muzzle," that calls Sudan's charges against Salopek, "preposterous."

TO FIND THE TRUTH on the genocide in Darfur, reporters have sneaked across Sudan's border from Chad without visas. Often there's been no other way to witness and report on the death and desperation in the region.

About three weeks ago, Paul Salopek, a renowned Chicago Tribune reporter, did just that. A militia group captured him and turned him over to Sudanese authorities, who held him incommunicado for more than a week. Then, instead of simply deporting him, as it has done with other foreigners caught in Darfur without a visa, Sudan's government charged Mr. Salopek with espionage and writing "false news."

It is plain that Mr. Salopek isn't a spy. He is a veteran Africa correspondent who has twice won the Pulitzer Prize. When he crossed into Darfur, he was on assignment for National Geographic magazine, researching an article on Africa's Sahel region.

Also plain is why Sudan might raise such a preposterous charge. If it can discourage reporters from visiting, it can diminish worldwide attention to government-caused suffering in Darfur. A press blackout now would be particularly convenient. The State Department claims that the regime is planning a new offensive in northern Darfur. In preparation, government-backed militias are launching attacks on foreign aid workers, and officials in Khartoum are resisting the deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping force to replace African Union troops. And the killings and rapes go on.

If the Sudanese regime manages to eject aid workers, peacekeepers and journalists from Darfur, the world will have to rely on unconfirmed, second-hand reports of refugees and misleading pronouncements from Khartoum for information on the genocide. Focusing international attention on the humanitarian disaster in the region -- which may soon get even worse -- will be even more difficult.

We hope that quiet pressure from Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi E. Frazer, who is trying to convince Khartoum to allow U.N. peacekeepers into Darfur, and from Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), both of whom have toured Africa recently, will prevail on the Sudanese to drop their charges. If not, louder pressure from higher-ranking officials may be necessary.

Washington Times Asks if Black Dems are too Liberal; Starbucks is Cheap

The Washington Times, the great adjudicator of all things left of center, puts the Moonies through the Socratic wringer by asking, "Are black Democrats liberal enough?"

In a shout-out to the paper's Cold War-lovin' readers the article states, "The most serious challengers have been fellow party members using this new strategy of tagging their opponents as 'conservative sympathizers.'"

Read the article.

In other, equally important news, Starbucks is cheap. That's right....the one email coupon/freebie you received (out of thousands) in the last 8 years that is (or, rather, was) actually REAL is now void and prohibited. Sorry folks, no more free iced coffees for EVERYONE!

But circumlocutor hears knows that if you're nice to a certain long-time employee of Logan Circle's Caribou outpost, you can occasionally get a freebie there.

Less Than Two Weeks Remain Until The Big "Nuclear War" Begins

It's been 11 days since my last post on the homophobic House of Yahweh (HOY). With barely as many days remaining until the big nuclear war (tentatively scheduled to begin September 12, 2006), circumlocutor realized that something must be done before millions of AMEX bills are paid in vain.

After receiving minimal non-gay press coverage, everyone's fave doomsday cult sent out another press release this week....complete with a YouTube link (YES!!!!!!) And, BTW, the big nuclear blowout sale is still set to begin a week from Tuesday.

The big release from HOY:

NUCLEAR WAR BEGINS SEPTEMBER 12, 2006

Abilene, TX – Yisrayl Hawkins, well known Bible scholar and author, reports that the Bible predicts the exact date and the location that nuclear war will begin. Hawkins states that the current crisis in the Middle East will go nuclear on September 12, 2006 in the area around the Euphrates River. Calling upon his 50 years of biblical research, Hawkins correlates numerous Bible prophecies with world events to support his claim.

According to Yisrayl Hawkins, the countdown to nuclear war began with the signing of the Oslo accords on the White House lawn on September 13, 1993. He says that the book of Daniel shows that although this is a seven-year agreement, it would take fourteen years to be fully carried out, ending on October 13, 2007. He then cites prophecies in the book of Revelation showing that nuclear war would begin a year, a month and a day prior to the end of the Oslo agreement.

Yisrayl Hawkins has a worldwide following. His Prophetic Word Program, focusing on peace through education, is broadcast 24 hours a day on the Hotbird 6 satellite, reaching Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. On July 16, 2006, the BBC website reported on the activities of followers of The House of Yahweh in Kenya, who are taking this message seriously and preparing for this event. Yisrayl Hawkins has met with dozens of leaders in the Middle East to discuss the biblical way to peace, including The Prime Minister of Israel, The President of Israel, Chief Rabbis of Israel, Islamic Clerics & Leaders, Directors of International Research Centers and Agencies, City Mayors, Ambassadors, Chairmen of Parliamentary Committees, Founders & Directors of Universities, Colleges & Schools, Community Leaders, Members of Parliament and many others.

A video clip of The Prophetic Word Program showing Yisrayl Hawkins explaining the upcoming events can beseen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Sjf4ELVeX8

The Latest From DC's Ladies Who Blog

This week's top reasons why circumlocutor loves these Ladies Who Blog:

1. Velvet: Displays strength without bitterness.



2. Kathryn: Induces blogger paranoia.



3. La Whisky: Eats catfish.



4. MKD: Admits to an Ellen attraction.



5. Eliza: What's not to love?



6. Pagan: Is married but not married.



7. Beth (honorary Washingtonian): Posts again (finally).

PS- While not a Lady Who Blogs, The DCeiver's return from hiatus (only a week, but still) made/makes circumlocutor a happy little piggy.

PPS- Here's a blogger who calls herself "SF Washintonienne." Hmmmm. While, the circ is glad SF Wash was treated to the Four Seasons, try treating me (in future posts) by using Spell Check. Come on....the circ's spelling (and proofreading) skills are stuck in the third grade. But stuff like this is just bad:

How many steps Have i Accomplished to becomming the newest Washintonienne!! 1) Been to smith point many times..and mae friends with bouncer..aka neil ha 2) been to the four seasons bar..and spent the night ;)..ha, with my parents in a hotel room..not a senators...not yet lol 3) got picked up at the 4 seaons bar..by a cute french waitor...and then got drinks at cafe milano...he is going to show me around the nations capitol..is something wrong here...hes form a diff country showing me my own nations capitol hahaha 4) made friends with the 400 african american woman police officer and got a 300 dollar ticket! driving sucks here

Wednesday's What the Hell is This: "Fashion House"

No answers. Only questions.

O.k., here's a hint: that's Bo Derek slappin' Morgan Fairchild. BTW: Thanks go to Washington Cube for directing me to a site that proves Wang Chung and Carson Kressley are (in fact) the same person. (FYI-click photo to enlarge)

Sweet Tooth

This is why I my dentist just bought a new Jaguar.

(Look under Sweet's Monthy Picks.)

Thank you, Sweet.

Generation O Subscriptions

FYI- Generation O subscription tickets for the Washington National Opera's 2006-2007 season are now on sale.

Call 202.295.2400 or 800.US.OPERA to purchase three or more operas in the 2006-2007 season for only $50 (Orchestra) or $75 (Prime Orchestra) per ticket!

Generation O subscription tickets are available for:
Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle/Puccini's Gianni Schicchi: Sep 20, 28, Oct 3
Nicholas Maw's Sophie's Choice: Sep 27, Oct 5
Puccini's Madama Butterfly: Nov 7, 9, 15, 16
Wagner's Die Walküre: Mar 28, Apr 5, 17
Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment: Apr 4, 10, 12
Janácek's Jenufa: May 10, 16, 24
Verdi's Macbeth: May 17, 23, 29

About Generation O: The Generation O program is delighted to provide subsidized tickets exclusively for students and young professionals between the ages of 18-35.

Tickets are on sale now! Call 202.295.2400 or 800.US.OPERA and mention code 5152 to reserve the best seats! Click here to visit the 2006-2007 season!

Wednesday's What the Hell Happened to: Wang Chung

No answers. Only questions.

We're Rich.....or, You're Rich, at Least

We're the second richest region in the country....second only to San Jose. Loudon, Fairfax & Howard counties are the top three wealthiest jurisdictions.

Oh, and, the Washington, DC, region has the least amount of poverty of an metropolitan area in the country.

Who'd have known? Read more.

Sudan's President Distrusts the West Because It's the West

Yesterday, circumlocutor reported that a senior diplomatic envoy from the US is in Khartoum to meet with Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir. The envoy's mission is to deliver a message from President Bush that requests permission to bring a UN peacekeeping force to Darfur. While in Sudan, Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi E. Frazer addressed the Sudanese imprisonment of Paul Salopek, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner charged with committing espionage and other crimes in the country. Salopek, who was on assignment for National Geographic in Sudan, was arrested with his driver and interpreter on August 6.

No new details have emerged regarding Salopek's imprisonment, but Tuesday the Associated Press reported that al-Bashir publicly voiced his staunch opposition to a peace keeping force, which he believes is part of conspiracy by the West.

Sudan's president accused the United States and Britain Tuesday of conspiring against his country as diplomats at the United Nations said Washington and ally London want the Security Council to adopt a resolution in two days giving the U.N. authority over peacekeepers in Darfur.

President Omar al-Bashir staunchly opposes the deployment of U.N. peacekeeping troops in the remote, western region to replace an African Union-led force there now.

"Everybody knows the Americans and British are scheming against the Sudan," al-Bashir said at a rally to muster support for his opposition to the proposed deployment.

"We shall not be the first country to be recolonized in Africa. ... We are free and shall not be enslaved," al-Bashir told about 2,000 workers belonging to a federation of unions.

Al-Bashir spoke less than an hour before a visiting U.S. envoy delivered a written message to him from President Bush calling for better relations between the two countries and urging the Sudanese president to accept U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur, al-Bashir's spokesman Mahjud Fadul Bedry said.

More than 200,000 people have died in Darfur since 2003 when ethnic African tribes revolted against the Arab-led Khartoum government. Sudan's government is accused of unleashing Arab militiamen known as janjaweed who have been blamed for widespread atrocities.

Read the entire AP article.


Paul Salopek Sudan reporters imprisonment Omar al-Bashir

Nancy Grace Is Just Too "Nancy Grace"

How did I miss this Salon article when I posted an excerpt from the "Fire Nancy Grace" website last week?

No Grace
Her popularity can only be based on the viewers' contempt.

The platinum hair, the snide delivery, those blazers and that nasty stare: Does anyone like Nancy Grace? Through her years as a "Larry King" favorite, a trial pundit for Court TV and now as a talk show host on CNN Headline News, the nostril-flaring talking head has cultivated a television persona based entirely on an aggressive, one-note belligerence that usually bypasses logical argument to go straight for personal attack and often breaks the rules of good taste along the way (see her recent bullying of Elizabeth Smart for a prime example of how Grace tries to go there, no matter how sleazy there happens to be).

But there's so much more wrong with her Headline News show than her own radiating ickiness: For a show supposedly about true crime, it's incredibly bad television. Only those with a high tolerance for stock footage from local news outlets -- her show is 90 percent slow, panning crime-scene shots of buildings decorated with yellow police tape -- could possibly stomach it. A typical episode focuses on one or two cases, and while Grace often brings in a full stable of interviewees, from defense attorneys to former victims, their presence is squeezed by the obsession with looping, static images.

Read the entire article on Salon.com.

Does Karr Tuck: The Email Exchange

An email exchange that took place between circumlocutor and Lil' Preshus late this afternoon:

From: circumlocutordc@gmail.com circumlocutor
To: lilpreshus@gmail.com Lil' Preshus
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 17:40:01 -0400
Subject: How do trannies tuck their p's?

Someone just came to my site via a Google search for "how do trannies tuck their penises." I wonder if you can give the visitor an answer so we can satisfy their thirst for knowledge?


From: lilpreshus@gmail.com Lil' Preshus
To: circumlocutordc@gmail.com circumlocutor
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 17:42:05 -0400
Subject: Re: How do trannies tuck their p's?

You should email John Mark Karr and see if he knows. you can reach him at ladyinwaiting@jonbenet.com

The Ewan McGregor Casting Call

Speaking of crap emails that clog my inbox, one of my funny-guy friends shared his hilarious sense of humor by signing me up (last year) to receive spam from "The Actor Club." I guess the possessive of "actor" was already taken as a title, so they decided naming the group in the singular was the next best thang......

I usually click away emails from "The Actor Club" to Gmail's "Report Spam" (which, as previously noted, is a waste of perfectly good finger movement), but yesterday....I was intrigued by the subject, "Actors Wanted! Ewan McGregor Film 'The Tourist' Now Casting!" so I opened the email.

An actor I am not. Still, I'm considering auditioning for the roles of "Street Hustler" and "Mr. Lewman." Don't ask me where these auditions are held...it's spam, afterall....and, (more or less) a scam to get your credit card info in exchange for audition details. Read about the parts being cast here.

"The Tourist", a major new film from 20th Century Fox, is now casting major roles for production starting this October. With Ewan McGregor onboard in the film's starring role, this thriller will be about an ordinary accountant who is introduced by a charismatic lawyer to an underground sex club known as "The List". After meeting the woman of his desires, the accountant suddenly becomes the top suspect in both the woman's disappearance and a twenty million dollar theft. "The Tourist" will star Ewan McGregor and Hugh Jackman. The film was written by Mark Bomback, Jason Keller, and Patrick Marber, and it is being directed by Swedish filmmaker Marcel Langenegger. It is being produced by David Bushell, Arnold Rifkin, Christopher Eberts, Robbie Brenner , and John Palermo for Cheyenne Enterprises in association with 20th Century Fox Studio.

Guess the Condo Spammer

Time is money, and money is time, etc., etc., etc. One local condo broker/complex/agent decided at certain point in the not so distant past that I was/am/will always be a prime target for multiple campaigns of "hard sell" harassment. Funny....because: 1) I have never given my name, email address or any other type of contact information to (or for that matter, had any sort of communication with) this particular broker/complex/agent; 2) I am not living in nor do I want to live in Old Town Alexandria; and 3) I have "reported spam" from the broker/complex/agent (at least) a dozen times.

But like the sneakiest of spams, emails announcing the "Floor Plan of the Week" keep coming and coming and coming and coming. Hey, circumlocutor realizes the market is "tight" but....come on.....Is annoying the hell out of people really the way to sell one of your condos "featuring spacious living areas and fantastic, five-star kitchens"????

(Not) Famous Photo of the Week: (Not) Donna Summer

See other (not) famous photos:
(Not) Brad Pitt

(Not) Shakira

(Not) Barbara Bush

(Not) Prince & (Not) Laura Bush

(Not) Margaret Thatcher & (Not) Cher(s)

(Not) Tina & (Not) Madonna

Bumper Sticker of the Month

By posting this I do not wish to imply that 1) I did not vote for John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election; 2) I do not occasionally ride in vehicles with Kerry stickers still attached to bumpers; or 3) Well, you get the point.... I saw this sticker attached to a Mercedes SUV that was cruising on the Beltway last week. You can purchase your own "Kerry Lost. Lose the Sticker" sticker at cafepress.

Morning News: Libya, Lieberman, Santorum, Dog Drives in China

***A Libyan prosecutor demands the death penalty for five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor charged with infecting hundreds of children with the HIV virus. "A previous trial of the six, who have been detained since 1999, ended with their conviction on charges they intentionally infected 426 children with HIV when they worked in a hospital in Benghazi in the late 1990s." [WaPo]

***A union backs Lamont, warns that Lieberman is a threat to other Democrats. [ConnPo]

***Sen. Rick Santorum compares fighting "Islamic fascists" with World War II. [WaPo]

***A woman in China gives her dog a driving lesson. The car crashes. [MSNBC]

***The Prince of Rajpipla, disowned by his family because he is gay, wants to adopt. [AHN]

McKinney Monday: The Never Can Say Goodbye Edition

Sheeeee's back. By popular demand (and by "by popular demand" I mean one person wrote that they vaguely enjoyed it), McKinney Mondays returns to circumlocutor. YES!!!!!!!!!

So what has our beloved Cyn-Cyn been up to in the 14 years days since McKinney Monday last aired on circumloctuor?

First...cue the theme music: " Every time I think Ive had enough, And start heading for the door, There's a very strange vibration, Kissing me right to the core or piercing me right to the core."

The intro announcement: "Because it wouldn't be Monday without an article and a photo about Congresswoman Cynthia 'McCrackles' McKinney....."

This week's "McKinney Monday" update: McKinney's security guards...allegedly hooligans....have been exonerated of all hooligan charges following (alleged) election day fisticuffs. "DeKalb County police will not file charges in the criminal investigation into an election night altercation between a television news photographer and a member of U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney's staff. The case was dropped Friday after both parties indicated they did not wish to proceed."

More on Cyn-Cyn's security guards: "The New Black Panther Party was founded in Dallas in 1989 and maintains chapters across the country. It gained prominence when Khalid Abdul Muhammad joined during the 1990s. Muhammad was a spokesman for the Nation of Islam, but fell out of favor after a 1993 speech in New Jersey in which he referred to Jews as "bloodsuckers" and called for genocide against whites.

After assuming the leadership of the New Black Panther Party, he led a 1998 rally in Harlem that turned into a riot with police. Muhammad died in 2001 of a brain aneurysm. Since then, the party has sporadically gained headlines, most recently during the Aug. 8 primary defeat of U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., in which the New Black Panthers provided security for the controversial politician and threatened reporters."

This week's "McKinney Monday" photo: The world cries, but Cyn-Cyn smiles. From a comment on a blackliving.com message board: "I think sistah-girl is doing a great job of making herself look worse than they ever could have. I hate to say it like that but this sister needs to let it go. She looks very uncomfortable in her skin right about now. She keeps that smile on her face which is good, but it looks like an incredibly painful smile. It looks like she's smiling but she could be saying, 'if you don't get this camera out of my face I'm going to sock you too!'"

Washington DC satire Georgia congress hairdo House of Representatives Cynthia McKinney photos

Award-Winning US Reporter Still Jailed in Sudan; Press Group & State Dept. Speak Out

Press freedom groups and a senior State Department official questioned the imprisonment of Paul Salopek, a US journalist in Sudan. Yesterday, circumlocutor reported that Salopek, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner is being held in a Sudanese prison and charged with "espionage, passing information illegally, writing 'false news' and entering the African country without a visa." Salopek, 44, his driver and interpreter were arrested August 6. Salopek appeared in court Saturday, when a Sudanese judge, after reading Salopek's charges, postponed the trial until September 10 at the request of Salopek's attorneys.

"Salopek, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, was arrested near the Sudan-Chad border while working on an assignment for National Geographic magazine in North Darfur." Salopek was on staff at the DC-based National Geographic in the early '90's.

Today, a senior diplomatic envoy from the US visited Khartoum with hopes of meeting Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir to personally deliver a message from President Bush. In the message, Bush requests Bashir allow a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur. While in Sudan, Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi E. Frazer "raised" the arrest of Salopek with Sudan's Foreign Minister Lam Akol.

From VOA News:

In a related development, Spokesman McCormack said Assistant Secretary Frazer raised with the Sudanese foreign minister and other officials the case of American journalist Paul Salopek, who was arrested in Darfur earlier this month along with a Chadian driver and interpreter.

Salopek, a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, has been accused of espionage, false reporting and entering Sudan illegally.

McCormack said U.S. diplomats have visited Salopek in prison and attended at least two of his court sessions.

He said the United States considers the case a matter of great interest and hopes that any judicial process is fair, speedy and transparent.

Journalism watchdog groups have also spoken out on the case. The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders has called the charges ridiculous and said Salopek was just trying to cover the tragic situation in Sudan.

The Committee to Protect Journalists in New York said it was deeply troubled by the arrest and charges, which it called a grave threat to press freedom, and appealed to Sudanese authorities for the 44-year-old reporter's early release.

From the Reporters Without Borders statement calling for Salopek's release:

Reporters Without Borders today called for the release of US journalist Paul Salopek, a correspondent of the publicly-owned Chicago Tribune daily newspaper, as well as his driver, Suleiman Abakar Moussa and his interpreter, Abdulraman Anu, who are both Chadians. Held since 6 August in Al Fashir, the capital of the western state of North Darfur, they have just been charged with spying and entering Sudan illegally.

“The Sudanese government is becoming increasingly embarrassed by what foreign journalists are reporting in Darfur, so arresting them as spies is a way to dissuade them from coming to cover the unacceptable human tragedy unfolding there,” the press freedom organisation said. “This is ridiculous and disgraceful. Salopek and his assistants are media workers who were acting in strict accordance with the rules of their profession. They should be freed at once.”

Salopek was working on a report about the Sahel region for the privately-owned National Geographic magazine when he was arrested with his driver and interpreter on 6 August. He was carrying two US passports, which is not unusual for journalists who cover war zones. He also had satellite photos that anyone can download from the Internet.

When he appeared in court in Al Fashir on 26 August, he was charged with spying and “disseminating illegal information” - crimes punishable by long prison terms under the Sudanese criminal code.

In today's WaPo, Howard Kurtz's Media Notes discusses Salopek along with journalists either injured in war or held captive overseas in a column titled, "Journalism's Rising Risk Factor." From the column:

Violence isn't the only hazard facing foreign correspondents these days. Chicago Tribune correspondent Paul Salopek, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, was charged with espionage in Sudan on Saturday, three weeks after being detained in the war-ravaged province of Darfur. Salopek was on a freelance assignment for National Geographic.

Tribune Editor Ann Marie Lipinksi told her paper that Salopek is "one of the most accomplished and admired journalists of our time. He is not a spy." Chris Johns, the Geographic's editor in chief, said in a statement that Salopek was preparing an article on sub-Saharan Africa and "had no agenda other than to fairly and accurately report on the region."

Salopek entered Sudan without a visa and now realizes that was a mistake, Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), who visited him last week, told the Tribune.

For My Blog Crush

I usually avoid the saccharine....but, hey, indulge me for one post. For my blog crush, who has the misfortune of dating men in Washington, DC.....(emphasis on "men in Washington, DC"):

“Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.”
- Arthur Golden

Best Gay Blogs at Wal-Mart

circumlocutor is now on the list of "Best Gay Blogs." This distinction, a great way to introduce circumlocutor to more web surfers, isn't nearly as exclusive/esteemed as the name implies. While there seems to be a list of Best "Best Gay Blogs", at present circumlocutor is categorized among other self-listed sites.

For those coming to circumlocutor via "Best Gay Blogs," it is with great sadness I inform you there are no topless photos on this site. However, as a tribute to Best Gay Blogs visitors, here's a story about Wal-Mart's attempts to lure/entice gay consumers....and the conservatives who are angry with Wal-Mart because of it.

Gay Business Group Forms Alliance With Wal-Mart: Retail Giant Risks Inviting Conservative Backlash

Wal-Mart, the retail giant that grew up in the rural South, is moving to attract gay shoppers as it expands its presence in urban centers. By entering into a partnership with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce this week, the company "is making a very sincere effort to reach out to people who are a significant part of our customer base," Wal-Mart spokesman Bob McAdam said Wednesday, reports the Austin American-Statesman. "I am proud of that effort," he said.

But Wal-Mart did not issue a news release about the alliance, leaving the chamber to announce it. And as news of the partnership trickles out, a backlash is taking shape among some conservatives.

"I don't think this is something that will sell on Main Street America, where most Wal-Mart stores are located," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a conservative public policy group in Washington. "I don't think cheap prices on goods from China will be enough to stop a rollback in their customer base if they choose to go down this aisle."

By partnering with a gay business group, Wal-Mart is "validating the idea that homosexual activists have the right to shake down corporations out of fear of being called bigots," said Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute at Concerned Women for America, a Washington-based public policy group, reports American-Statesman writer Marilyn Geewax.

But Justin Nelson, co-founder and president of the four-year-old gay business coalition, said he was certain that objections from conservatives would not cause Wal-Mart to back away from his organization. Wal-Mart initiated the partnership, he said, and "it's a rock-solid relationship."

McAdam confirmed that Wal-Mart had hired Bob Witeck, CEO of Witeck-Combs Communications Inc., a Washington-based communications firm that specializes in reaching gay consumers.

Morning News: Katherine Harris, Tower Records, Jackie Mason & Jews for Jesus

***US Rep/Senate Hopeful Katherine Harris says the separation of church and state is "a lie" and that only Christian lawmakers can keeps us from living in sin. "'If you are not electing Christians, tried and true, under public scrutiny and pressure, if you're not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin,' she told interviewers, citing abortion and gay marriage as two examples of that sin." [Orlando Sentinel]

***A tugboat operator from Maine breaks into Martin O'Malley's campaign headquarters. [WTOP]

***DC mayoral candidates debate, revisit stadium deal. [Wash Times]

***Tower Records' demise (it's now in bankruptcy for the second time in two years) can be blamed on Wal-Mart, Amazon & iTunes. [AP]

***Lebanese and Israelis discuss war and the future via blogs. [WaPo]

***Jackie Mason sues "Jews for Jesus" for $2 million. "Saying he's 'as Jewish as a matzo ball or kosher salami,' Jackie Mason filed a lawsuit against Jews for Jesus for using his name and likeness in a pamphlet. [LA Times]

Random Search Terms: Cute Animals, Sparkles Anon, Suri Deformed

I have, roughly, no idea what (some of) these folks were actually trying to find. (This week's terms are in no particular order and are numbered only for general tidiness.)

1. maureen bunyan birthdate
2. tucker carlson palisades washington
3. big 100.3 dc
4. the cutest ever animal images
5. the bold and the beautiful september 2006
6. not famous millionaires
7. husband wears panties
8. joe scarborough talks trash tucker youtube
9. macaca malkin
10. pictures of holly shand
11. case study kenny roger roaster in china market
12. bumrungrad abortion
13. us destinations & domestic ticketing - debra noyes
14. dear abby clothes
15. beauty queen killer
16. how close is mars now 08/27/2006
17. sparkles anonymous
18. brian mulroney famous paedophiles
19. ramsey transvestite birthday
20. barbara bush swine in pearls
21. soap mp3 flamingo road
22. am driving dirty dirty lyrics
23. ximena hartsock in dc
24. national enquirer suri deformed
25. shit
26. how to dress your husband in panties
27. katherine harris sexy photos

News to Me: Tony Blair's Son an Intern for Closet-Case Congressman

Euan Blair (pictured right), the eldest son of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, was released from a hospital in Barbados after being treated for "stomach pains."

The reason this is of interest (to me) is the following paragraph from an article on Euan's hospital discharge: "Euan, a Bristol University graduate, has been in Washington DC since January, working as an intern for powerful Republican congressman David Dreier and Democratic congresswoman Jane Harman."

Euan is/was/has been an intern in DC for the last eight months. News to me. Old news to everyone else.

For example, the following appeared on June 25, 2005, on the blog DIRELAND.....

The Daily Telegraph reports today that Tony Blair's 21-year-old son, Euan has snared a prestigious internship in Washington working under Republican Congressman David Dreier, the powerful conservative chairman of the House Rules Committee (and a hypocritical gay closet case who supports the Republicans' homophobic political agenda). And Democrats aren't happy about the internship, engineered by Daddy Blair, calling Dreier an "extremely surprising choice" to train Euan in the intricacies of American politics.

Congressman David Dreier is a homophobic closet case. News to me. Old news to everyone else.

For example, the following opens the 2004 Hustler article, David Dreier: Gay & Ashamed.....

"After a quarter century gliding through the raindrops, it’s time for the influential Republican lawmaker to come clean about his homosexuality and the lethal hypocrisy he’s employed in pursuit of power."

Or, for another example, the following opens the Raw Story article, Anti-gay congressman David Dreier, said to be gay, 'lived with male chief of staff''.....

A Republican congressman from California who has repeatedly voted against gay rights measures is said to be gay himself, and at least three MediaNews Group newspapers are said to have instructed its reporters not to ask questions about the congressman's sexuality or how it relates to public policy.

Brad Smith, Dreier’s chief of staff with whom he is said to have lived, is paid an unusually high salary relative to the chief of staffs of other powerful congressmen, including Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

Georgetown Open Houses & A Pulitzer-Winner Charged With Espionage in Sudan

*** Did you really think I could go an entire weekend without posting? I'll spare you the tedious and (only) occasionally droll details of the--gasp--48 hours away from the ol' cheapo laptop. But I will share this: As soon as I was telephonically informed that lurching from open house to open house (in Georgetown) is the HOT thing to do in DC, I "beat feet" to make it back to Washington in time for the Sunday, 1:00-4:00 pm, open house rush.

Open house hopping (in Georgetown): the most perfectly thought-through/"flawless" tactic I've heard--to date--suggested as a means of meeting folks socially in Washington. Brilliant....languorously pithy encounters that are free, legal and completely voyeuristic. Brilliant.

***I just came across a story you may (or may not) have heard/seen yet. Paul Salopek, a Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune (who was previously a DC-based writer for Naitonal Geographic) has been charged in a Sudanese court with espionage and other crimes in the war-torn nation. "Salopek, 44, was charged Saturday in a 40-minute hearing with espionage, passing information illegally and writing "false news," the Tribune reported on its Web site. His driver and interpreter, both Chadian nationals, faced the same charges."

In 2001, Salopek earned a Pulitzer for reporting done in Africa. He was also awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1998 for "explanatory reporting" on The Human Genome Diversity Project.

From the article:

The three men were arrested Aug. 6 by pro-government forces in the war-torn province of Darfur, the paper said. Salopek, who lives in New Mexico, was working on a freelance assignment for National Geographic magazine during his arrest.

"He is not a spy," said Ann Marie Lipinski, editor and senior vice president of the Tribune. "Our fervent hope is that the authorities in Sudan will recognize his innocence and quickly allow Paul to return home to his wife, Linda, and to his colleagues."

Salopek was in Sudan writing an article on a sub-Saharan African region known as the Sahel, said Chris Johns, National Geographic's editor in chief.

"He had no agenda other than to fairly and accurately report on the region," Johns said.
Salopek has made telephone calls to National Geographic and Tribune editors, who have "worked through political and diplomatic channels in the U.S. and overseas to secure their release," the paper said.

"We are deeply worried about Paul and his well-being, and appeal to the government of Sudan to return him safely home," said Lipinski, who called the two-time Pulitzer winner "one of the most accomplished and admired journalists of our time."

A judge in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state in western Sudan, granted a defense motion for a continuance, delaying the start of the trial until Sept. 10.

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, who is in Africa on a two-week tour of several nations, is monitoring the situation and talking to the U.S. State Department, spokesman Robert Gibbs said from Kenya.

Two U.S. congressman visited Salopek Tuesday at a police station in El Fasher, one of the congressman said.

"He had a very gentle presence and he was very appreciative of our being there," U.S. U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays told The Associated Press. "We just told him we would pass on to his wife that he loved her very much and he was looking forward to seeing her."

During the hourlong visit in the police chief's office, Salopek said he was being held in a 20-foot-by-20-foot (6-meter-by-6-meter) cell with 15 other inmates and no toilet facilities. Salopek later was moved to better quarters, Shays said.

A circumlocutor-Free Weekend

Fire Nancy Grace: The Website

The latest from Fire Nancy Grace: The Website...

Date: 7:54:48 PM @ 8/24/2006
TOPIC: SHOULD NANCY GRACE BE FIRED?

0.4814373 By: Michelle, City: Madison

Ohh, Mickev, if you watched Nancy’s show tonight and you did not witness all of the confirmed errors that were pointed out by guests for Nancy’s wrong position, you must simply remain uninformed to the real facts. Sorry. You have access to the internet, so you have the ability to actually upgrade your current deficiencies and, perhaps, with some effort on your part, you may actually be able to become informed to the real facts about Nancy Grace and how Nancy totally screwed up tonight. And, “yes,” we do agree with some of it.

On a more serious note, the ABC News special, "Out of Control: AIDS in Black America," is being broadcast at this very moment. Tune your tele to ABC (WJLA-7 in DC).

Dear Abby: My Husband Wears Panties, And the Sex is GREAT

It takes a pearl of wisdom like this to make me read "Dear Abby" more than once annually.

From the box of "duhs": Abby explains that "wearing clothing that is traditionally worn by the opposite sex" makes you a tranny.....

DEAR ABBY: Please tell me if I'm going crazy. My husband of 30 years recently admitted that he enjoys wearing my undergarments! At first I was shocked, but now I am over it. We went shopping together and bought him several pairs of panties. He was in seventh heaven.

Our sex life has never been better, and we really are enjoying each other — but still I wonder. — Mixed-Up in Florida

DEAR MIXED-UP: You are not the first wife who has helped her husband cross-dress. He is a transvestite — someone who enjoys wearing clothing that is traditionally worn by the opposite sex. Because your sex life has "never been better" and you are "really enjoying each other," my advice is to stop "wondering" and appreciate that after 30 years of marriage, your husband finally trusted you enough to show you who he really is.

Another Reason to Stay Healthy: Rite Aid to Become Largest East Coast Drug Store Chain

Add to the reasons I pray (nightly) for good health...to avoid entering the (growing) chain of anal wart pharmacies D.B.A. "Rite Aid." As far as anal wart-filled pharmacies go, "Rite Aid" is about to become the largest drugstore on the east coast. Time to pray.

From AP:

Rite Aid Agrees to Buy Eckerd and Brooks

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- In a bold step to keep pace with the industry leaders, the nation's third largest drugstore chain, Rite Aid Corp., said Thursday it will purchase the U.S. Eckerd and Brooks operations of Canada's Jean Coutu Group Inc. for about $2.55 billion in cash and stock.

Rite Aid's first major acquisition since a turnaround team arrived to bring the company back from the brink of bankruptcy six years ago was designed to help it compete better with its bigger rivals Walgreen and CVS.

At the same time, Rite Aid said the deal will make it the largest drugstore chain operator on the East Coast and give it a larger presence in major cities such as Atlanta Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore.

Morning News: George Allen, Democrats, Plan-B, Owen Wilson

***A West Virginia man claims to be Osama bin Laden, leads Maryland police on a high-speed chase, threatens police with a blender. [WTOP]

***Senator George Allen (of Virginia) apologizes to the man he called a "macaca." [WaPo]

***FDA may today approve Plan-B for over-the-counter sales. [WaPo]

***Democrats are at war to determine the "heart" of their party. [SF Chron]

***Washington Times finally figures out the real estate bubble has burst. [WaTimes]

***Owen Wilson gets flashed in London [OrlSent]

Notes: Clinton & AIDS, Bad & Dumb Things, Mr. & Mrs. Joelogon

***There's been little discussion about Hillary Clinton's hostage-holding of The Ryan White Act since WaPo's article appeared this morning. Repeating/rewording the WaPo story--as was done on most blogs who touched the topic--scarcely qualifies as discussion. [Of course, there might be analyses of this (as a mean's of trashing Hillary) in the far-right/fascist subsection of the blogosphere, but really.....I try to avoid those sites.]

Is everyone to the left of Michelle Malkin really that afraid of critiquing Mrs. Clinton? Is Hillary that sacred of a cow that we dare not--more than peripherally/perfunctorily mentioning her faults--dwell with macaca-level obsessive bloggage on Senator Clinton's seriously suspicious political maneuvers?

Re-read the WaPo article. Decide for yourself.

***Speaking of WaPo, let's talk about WaPo's Express and it's "Local Blog Log." LBL finally corrected both the blog name and gender of a local blogger. DC-area blogger, joelogon (as in josephlogon), has a blog named "Dumb Things I've Done Lately." LBL initially called joelogon a she and called his blog "Bad Things I've Done Lately." Then, LBL corrected the name of joelogon's blog....changing the blog title from "Bad" to "Dumb." Joe, however, was still a she.

I just checked the LBL site and it seems--a couple days later--the "she" is now a "he." For those keeping track: Bad is now Dumb, She is now He. Read Mr. joelogon's recap on "Dumb Things I've Done Lately." Somewhat interesting (at least through a haze of CVS-brand Tylenol PM) is that LBL made the changes without ever noting the mistakes.

***Speaking of trannies, I've been saving the image (above right) of a PETA ad in which Flotilla DeBarge portrays Star Jones "Reynolds" for too long and decided to post it now at all costs.

From an old, old, old, old article: "STAR Jones Reynolds is worried that the public won't be able to tell the difference between her and drag queen Flotilla DeBarge. After PAGE SIX revealed that PETA had hired DeBarge to parody the fur-loving Reynolds in a new ad campaign, the corpulent co-host of "The View" sicced her lawyers on the animal-rights organization."

Note--thanks go to "M." for reminding me that I forgot to paste/post the best part of the Star Jones/Flotilla DeBarge debacle.

From another old, old, old, old article:

"She wishes her wedding ring looked like this," the drag queen quipped about her golf-ball-sized rock, as she brushed her nails with white polish.

The hulking diva has entertained at PETA events before — and she's even played Jones at a birthday party.

DeBarge approached the job of channeling Jones with due diligence at the shoot, which featured a white (fake) fur coat with "Fur Is a Drag" spray-painted in red.

"Lee Strasberg, Lee Strasberg, Lee Strasberg," she muttered at one point, summoning the legendary Method acting coach.

She even showed a few flashes of Jones-like divadom, snapping at a PETA assistant who held a mirror she requested at an unmanageable angle.

DeBarge said the ad was not designed to be insulting to Jones, and said she thinks the public won't have any trouble keeping the two straight.

"I think people know I'm not Star Jones and she's not me," she said. "She better not be."

For one thing, DeBarge would never wear fur. "I have a lovely acrylic coat at home, that no acrylics had to die for," she said.

Ginger Snaps Back

I know the throngs and throes and multitudes and masses (or, more likely, no one) is/are heartbroken (that) the circ has posted very little (today) in comparison with the over-abundance of razor-sharp nothingness usually appearing (daily) on this site. As a consolation prize, I promise to post begin writing at least five paragraphs of original text before midnight (and by "original text" I mean not pasting from WaPo or homophobic holocaust newsletters.)

Can you stand the wait? Will you make it? Do you even care?

While you wait--biting fingernails and inhaling fumes from canisters of whipped cream--let me share with you the latest reason I am contemplating suicide: Ginger Snaps Back.

I love slasher films. The more contrived the film, the more I love it. But...............if I see the cover for Ginger Snaps Back once again in the Blockbuster "Horror" section.....then look for the face of a gassed circumlocutor at the bottom of a local oven.

What I'd like is for someone to write a review of the film--Lil' Preshus? M?--for me to post.....as a sort of toxic cleansing. Or, more precisely, I want Blockbuster to burn all copies of the film. (BTW, keep your Netflix suggestions to yourselves--been there, done that, returned three DVDs for nine months w/o watching them.)

circumlocutor is Mainstream Press

Or so says a commenter on a Godlike Productions bulletin board.

(click photo to enlarge)

Morning News: Hillary Clinton Holds up AIDS-Fighting Law, Madonna to Dine With Putin

***Sen. Hillary Clinton holds up renewal of The Ryan White Act, the primary federal law that battles HIV/AIDS. "Clinton said she opposes the measure because it would lower funding for her home state. But some AIDS groups also see broader political motives at work. Other states that would lose out include California, Florida and Illinois -- all places Clinton would need to win if she seeks the presidency. Her critics also note that many of the states that would receive higher funding under the new formula are rural and Southern, which tend to vote Republican." [WaPo]

***Sen. John McCain blames the Bush Administration for misleading the American public that the war in Iraq would be a "day at the beach." “I think one of the biggest mistakes we made was underestimating the size of the task and the sacrifices that would be required.” [AP]

***Bill Cosby speaks at elementary schools in Baltimore. Cosby instructs "parents to 'feed your children properly' and tells students that those who say studying hard is' 'acting white' ... don't know what they're talking about.' He also rebutted oft-repeated complaints that there are not enough jobs for young blacks and that the government is building too many prisons. 'Let them build them,' he said. 'That doesn't mean you have to go there.'" [WashTimes]

***A Swedish public broadcaster shows porno in the background/behind the evening news. [AP]

***Madonna will meet and dine with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "A source told Britain's The Sun newspaper: 'This has been on the cards for a while. She really wanted to meet him but he wasn't sure initially. But his daughters are big fans so he eventually agreed.' It is rumoured that Madonna will take the privileged opportunity to speak to President Putin about world issues. The source added: 'No doubt Madonna will want to talk about world peace rather than her raunchy dance moves on stage.' Meanwhile, Madonna may be forced to change the venue of her Moscow concert because of fears that students living nearby could injure themselves trying to watch the show out of their windows." [LSE]

Trannies Who Lunch

Speaking of trannies and of Ladies Who Blog....here's a clip of Elaine Stritch singing "Ladies Who Lunch." See if you can stomach watching/listening to this for more than 42 seconds.

youTube bloggers tranny Ladies Who Lunch Elaine Stritch

Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Sex Change in Thailand

If, like circumlocutor, you laughed (a lot) and scratched your head (a little) upon hearing news that JonBenet Ramsey-murder suspect #1, John Karr, was preparing for a sex change/gender reassignment operation in Thailand.......keep reading.

At approximately 6 pm EST (today), circumlocutor received the following email message from theeee world-renowned transvestite expert, Li'l Preshus:

subject: What the heck?! This is TOO creepy!

Report: Ramsey suspect in sex-change

DENVER, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- The suspect in the slaying of a 6-year-old Colorado glamour contestant was in preparation for a sex-change in Thailand, the Denver Post reported Monday.

Dr. Setthakarn Attakontan told the newspaper he had begun performing hair removal on John Karr in March on his face, neck and cheeks.

Karr faces murder charges in the death of JonBenet Ramsey, who was found sexually assaulted and dead in the basement of her family home in December 1996. He arrived in Los Angeles from Bangkok Sunday night to face trial.

"The reason he wanted to do hair removal was because he wanted to do a sex change," Attakontan said. "He told me he was in the process of medical treatment for cutting off his testicles.

"Meanwhile, another Bangkok doctor refused to confirm he had consulted with Karr about gender-changing surgery. Dr. Thep Vechavisit, who charges $1,625 for the procedure, wouldn't tell the Post whether Karr was a patient, citing confidentiality obligations.

At approximately 9:45 pm EST (today), circumlocutor found the following on the page, "Vaginoplasty: Male to Female Sex Reassignment Surgery" [Note: The "Vaginoplasty" site contains every conceivable photo and graphic representation of sex changes that you hoped NEVER to see (NSFW)]:

One of the greatest difficulties faced by young, intense transsexuals who are very certain of their need to undergo complete gender correction is the high cost of transition and the long time-period (several years) to get everything approved. The overall costs of counselling, hormones, electrolysis and surgeries is typically $30K to $40K in the U.S. Because of their gender condition, many younger transsexuals are unable to obtain good enough employment to save money fast enough to achieve a timely transition. Meantime, they are often doomed to watch as their bodies continue to masculinize (even if taking estrogen) which makes a successful and complete transition seem further and further out of reach.

Recent developments, including easier and earlier access to female hormones and antiandrogens (ordered from overseas pharmacy sites via the web). There are also several new sex-change surgery clinics in Thailand , where SRS costs only about $6000 to $8000 (see New York Times article of May 6, 2001). Easier access to hormones and surgery have made it much easier for young transsexual girls to feminize themselves while young and to achieve complete gender transition while in their twenties. The Thai surgeons do not insist on the full HBIGDA protocol (and instead make their own informed decision whether a patient is suitable for SRS), thus greatly reducing the financial burden and logistical complexities of having to go to two counselors or psychiatrists for several years in order to get the letters of approval for SRS required here in the U.S.

At approximately 10:15 pm EST (today), circumlocutor found the following text on the free-access edition of the NY Times article, "CASE STUDY: VANITY; LOCATION: BANGKOK; Nip, Tuck and Frequent-Flier Miles":

How a developing country with a floundering economy and a significant H.I.V. problem managed to market itself as a center for medical tourism makes an odd, roundabout story. It depends in part on the Asian economic crisis of 1997 and in part on Thailand's thriving cabaret culture. Most of all, perhaps, it depends on the one plastic surgery procedure that Thai doctors have come closest to perfecting -- namely, the sex change operation. Without the international transsexual grapevine, which since the late 90's has been spreading the word about the affordable talents of Thai plastic surgeons, the new campaign to bring hard currency into the country by touting its medical bargains would never have gained momentum. And so it makes a strange kind of sense to begin this story with somebody like Michelle Moore -- somebody who, it is fair to say, had never given Thailand a moment's thought before she flew there and changed her life forever.

[One paragraph omitted]

Preecha is a talented plastic surgeon with an unusual niche: he and two other Thai surgeons perform the cheapest sex-change operations in the world. Even before the Thai government started actively promoting the country's medical care, the work of Preecha and his students had made Thailand a pilgrimage destination for American and European men who could not afford sexual-reassignment surgery in their home countries, where it can easily cost upward of $20,000. Moore was one of those customers. Twenty thousand dollars was more than she could afford, but $5,000 -- Preecha's going rate, plus air fare to Bangkok -- was a sum she could manage. She would even have cash left over for breasts and, as Moore put it, ''fake cheekbones.''

The good thing, besides the price, was that Thai surgeons didn't set so much store by the extensive psychological evaluations that Western surgeons demand before they will undertake a sex change. In the United States, doctors commonly adhere to a protocol known as the Harry Benjamin standards, which require sex-change candidates to have seen a psychiatrist for at least six months. In Thailand, they don't. As long as their foreign patients have passed the ''real life'' test of living as a woman for six months, they seldom throw up roadblocks. Moore, who isn't big on roadblocks of any kind, liked this a lot. As she put it, ''I don't want to pay some psychiatrist money I don't have to tell me something I already know.'' The convenient thing was that Thai immigration officials were by now so accustomed to their country's brisk business in sex changes that they hardly blinked when a foreigner in a dress offered up a passport with a name like Chuck on it.

[One paragraph omitted]

Once Moore had settled on a trip to Bangkok, her biggest difficulty was choosing between the three Thai surgeons who performed sex changes on foreigners at a rate of two or three a week. Suporn Watanyusakul in Chonburi was kind of new at it, but he had studied with Preecha and his prices were great. (Besides, effused one satisfied customer in a Web site posting, Suporn was willing to provide the giant-sized breast implants that other doctors discouraged.) Sanguan Kunaporn, whose practice was on the swinging resort island of Phuket, was known for laboring hard to make a sensitive ''clitoris'' from a small chunk of penis he preserved during surgery. His procedure, however, took 11 hours over two days.

Then there was Preecha -- who at 57 and with 1,200 male-to-female sex changes to his credit, the old man of the business. Having studied plastic surgery at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, he started out back in the 1978 doing sex changes on Thais, but then many of those transsexuals moved overseas (a lot of them to Germany, he says) and married Europeans. These ''lady boys'' abroad were admired for their beauty, and word started to trickle out that Thailand was a place to get sexual reassignment surgery done cheaply and fairly artfully. By the late 90's, Preecha's clientele was made up almost entirely of Americans, Europeans and Australians. Preecha was fast -- in three hours, he could do sexual-reassignment surgery, add breasts and shave an Adam's apple -- and his fans claimed he didn't sacrifice aesthetics or sensation. He did most of his surgery at Bumrungrad, where many doctors had trained in the U.S. and the decor suggested a new Hyatt in some prosperous American exurb.

John Karr JonBenet Ramsey tranny sex change Thailand

Anacostia's Newest Storefront: Center Aimed at Stopping Inner-City Abortions

An AP story that appeared (unnoticed) in Sunday's WaPo reported that anti-abortion activists are establishing inner-city presences by opening storefront centers (to convince girls and women that abortions are wrong, bad and unsafe). The article focuses on efforts at an Anacostia center to stop young girls and women from having abortions.

"On a street once known as Murder Row, a teen center founded to steer youths away from drugs and crime has become an outpost in another crusade--a nationwide push by anti-abortion activists to expand their foothold in heavily black and Hispanic inner cities."

The DC undertakings are a partnership between The Capitol Hill Crisis Pregnancy Center and The House, an Anacostia teen center. Leaders from the partnership say they perform their work in peace....in that they have been able to convince 12 year-old girls not to have abortions.

One reason for the harmony: The teen center's black leaders and the whites running the pregnancy center share an evangelical Christian faith.

Steve Fitzhugh, co-founder of The House, is a former pro football player active with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He's mentored boys later killed in gang shootings, and girls as young as 12 who carried pregnancies to term.

Critics say counselors at the center (and similar centers nationwide) achieve their mission through use of scare tactics on (often under-educated) females. A July report from congressional Democrats found centers overstate the medical risks posed by abortion.

Skeptics also argue that the same white conservatives supporting urban anti-abortion initiatives oppose other social policies that might help minority single mothers and their children.

"These predatory fanatics don't lift a finger to help the children who are born unwanted and unplanned," said Jatrice Martel Gaiter, head of the Washington-area Planned Parenthood chapter.

(Not) Famous Photo of the Week: (Not) Brad Pitt

See other (Not) famous photos:

(Not) Shakira
(Not) Barbara Bush
(Not) Prince & (Not) Laura Bush
(Not) Margaret Thatcher & (Not) Cher(s)
(Not) Tina & (Not) Madonna

Morning News: Linda Cropp, Joe Lieberman, WaPo, Whitney Houston

***Linda Cropp's campaign mails a brochure alleging Adrian Fenty turned his back on the elderly and children. "The brochure paid for by the Cropp campaign shows the back of a man wearing a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves, no visible hair -- Fenty shaves his head -- and a microphone in his hand. 'Blind Ambition' reads the text on the cover next to the photo, which resembles the Ward 4 D.C. Council member." [WaPo]

***WaPo will endorse a DC mayoral candidate soon. "Marion Barry first won an upset with the Post editorials' enthusiastic backing, as did Sharon Pratt Kelly, formerly Sharon Pratt Dixon, in 1990 and current mayor Anthony Williams in 1998." [NBC 4]

***Maryland gubernatorial candidates wage mail war. "Although Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley (D) have been fairly civil on the campaign trail so far, the all-out negative attacks that are widely expected to become a fixture of this race have started turning up in mailers and e-mails." [WaPo]

***Some Democrats want Lieberman ejected from their party. "John Orman, a Democrat who gave up a challenge to Lieberman last year, argued in complaints filed with the state Monday that Lieberman should be kept off the Nov. 7 ballot. Orman, a Fairfield University political science professor, accused Lieberman of creating "a fake political party," adding: "He's doing anything he can to get his name on the ballot." [WaPo]

***DC-area residents suffered from Post-Tramatic Stress Disorder b/c of the DC-area snipers. [HBNS]

***Whitney Houston was paid $1 million to give Osama bin Laden a private concert in 1985. "When she asked why, she was told Bin Laden admired her beauty and her voice and craved a one-on-one concert. She asked if he expected sexual favors and was told that no, he had great respect for her.

She agreed and was handed a brief case containing the money. The next day she was picked up by his representatives and driven to a private airport in a huge limo where a private jet was waiting. Houston found it filled with lavish gifts of jewelry, perfumes, food and clothing. She was shocked to find all of the clothing fit her perfectly. When she asked why that was, the servant told her that Osama had done his homework." [HuffPo]

The Ladies Who Blog

As you surely surmised (or, more likely, didn't even notice), today yesterday marked the beginning of the end of "McKinney Mondays" on circumlocutor (or, at least, the beginning of the end of my interest in Congresswoman Cynthia "McCrackles" McKinney).

circumlocutor readers are, by default (and by "by default" I mean everyone born to the world who's not me), hipper than the circ. I, therefore, assume that--like most of my "obsessive" posts--you lost interest in Cyn-Cyn months ago.

Completely unrelated to Cyn Cyn.....I will now (once again) direct your attention to "The Ladies Who Blog." (I apologize for indirectly inferring these women are Sondheim stooges or privileged no-nothings....I'm really struggling to come up with a cute/fun/catchy title for me ladies.)

The latest from The Ladies Who Blog:
Eliza from Australia: It's her birthday
Velvet from Dupont: (Still) Standing up for herself
Beth from Ohio: Not Dead
MKD from Sarcastic & Cynical: Boss' cat urinated on her paper work
Whiskypants from Whiskypants: Leaving DC (temporarily) for cuter places

Neglected (by circ) but not forgotten (by circ).....Pagan from Thong Speed: Strip poker? YES!!!!!!!!

And....please add to your list (again, you're hipper than the circ, so she's probably already on your list) of Ladies Who Blog...... Kathryn from Arlington: A Cotillion? YES!!!!!!

Crime in Dupont Circle: Not an Emergency

This afternoon, WTOP featured the story of a man who recently witnessed a violent beating in the middle of Dupont Circle. The man, Drew Pulley, pleaded for police assistance more than once....called 911 multiple times, flagged down officers and trailed the assailant.

Pulley's actions were for nought. The police, according Pulley, did nothing. "It was odd to watch a suspect go one way as the police headed another when all I've heard about lately is how the city is in the middle of a 'crime emergency.'"

WaPo printed (on Page B08 yesterday) a piece penned by Pulley. In case you missed it (as I did), here is the text:

I was walking home from dinner around 10:30 last Sunday night when I watched a man beat another man unconscious in the middle of Dupont Circle. The smaller man attempted to walk away from the larger one, but he was chased down and battered as he tried to cover his face. I stood at the outside of the circle, searching the streets for a police cruiser to flag down.

After a couple of minutes, as the beating continued (the park benches and sidewalks were crowded with people intent on ignoring it all), I dialed 911. The dispatcher sent an ambulance as I watched the bleeding man go limp and the other stroll calmly away up 19th Street, laughing with a friend. I stayed on the phone with 911 and followed the attacker from a distance, telling the dispatcher where he was and what he was wearing so the police could pick him up. The officer thanked me and hung up.

I continued to follow; I wanted to see the man arrested. It's my neighborhood. After a few blocks, I figured the cruiser that came through Dupont Circle had missed him. So I called 911 again.

This time the police were irritated, insisting that they appreciated my call but had all the information they needed. I hung up as I flagged down a police cruiser that was parking. I assumed the officers were responding to the attack. I pointed to the huge man lumbering up the block and said that I was the 911 caller and that this was the guy they were looking for. "Oh, that call's not ours," one of them said.

They were responding to a dispute at a restaurant, and they walked off. I ran and caught up to the attacker, though trying to stay out of sight, and managed to flag down another police car. I again described the man, pointed him out just up the street and then pointed back toward the circle, where emergency workers were loading the victim into an ambulance. The cops seemed annoyed. They gave each other a look, sat for a beat, then said "Okay, thanks" and drove off -- in the opposite direction from the man who had just attacked a person in the middle of a public park. He strutted off into the dark.

It was odd to watch a suspect go one way as the police headed another when all I've heard about lately is how the city is in the middle of a "crime emergency."

I'm sure he'll be around tomorrow night, though, in my neighborhood. Maybe they'll get him next time.
-- Drew Pulley
Washington

Dupont Circle crime DC Police beating

Kenya & Homosexuals: Final Words From Nuclear War Cult

In honor of yesterday's Metroblogging DC's post (thanks go to Tom Bridge for remembering circumlocutor) on House of Yahweh, the Abilene, Texas, cult that's warning DC area residents to prepare for a September 12, 2006, nuclear war.....I'm posting the last pieces of correspondence from Moriyah (of the House of Yahweh.)

On House of Yahweh's activities in Kenya:

From: moriyah@moriyah.com
Moriyah To: circumlocutordc@gmail.com circumlocutor Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 15:53:29 -0400
Subject: Kenya

The House of Yahweh is doing the same thing in Kenya that it is doing in every country in the world and that is spreading the message to believe theprophecies and start practicing the laws in the Bible.

The House of Yahweh is only controversial to those who either; do not believe the message, or, believe but choose to continue their lives without change.

Those who believe the message change their lives and stop sinning. Thus they no longer bring curses upon themselves for fornication, adultery, murder, theft, trespasses, etc.

Moriyah

On circumlocutor's life of sin as a homosexual:

From: moriyah@moriyah.com Moriyah
To: circumlocutordc@gmail.com circumlocutor
Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2006 20:35:06 -0400
Subject: Latest blog

Thank you FC for confirming.

I still appreciate your supportive, and even sarcastic, posts. You will have to repent of all sin eventually. Until Nuclear Winter you can do as you like. Your boyfriend has left you and you have plenty of time for reflective thought and for propogating the message, or, just find another whore to lie with.

Don't take it too hard. We were all sinners until we learned the truth. The question is: What will you do with the truth once you learn it. Will you continue in your evil ways. Homosexuality is no different than any other sin. It just brings more immediate and obvious consequences. You can repent. You can change your life. Think about it.

Moriyah

From: moriyah@moriyah.com
Moriyah To: circumlocutordc@gmail.com
circumlocutor Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2006 20:44:36 -0400
Subject: God

P.S. The Creator of the Universe is called Yahweh. That is his Name. Not God. God is what Satan hides behind. This is a very simple, foundational, concrete piece of truth. You need to get this or you cannot go anywhere. You can prove it in most Bible dictionaries. Nobody is condemming you now or even in the future for ignorance. Do not be ignorant. Get the truth.

You are an amazing technowizard. Your blog is highly rated. Try doing the world a service by promoting the message instead of promoting sin and see how you may be blessed with righteousness. Paul (Shaul) the Apostle killed the righteous but once he was converted he knew his promise was guaranteed. Some have to give up more than others.You are right now confused and upset about a number of things. Choose the right path and these will all become insignificant. Choose the wrong path and they will destroy you.

Moriyah

Read More: Found under Ballston doorway: "Nuclear War to Start Sept. 12, 2006"
September 12, 2006, Nuclear War Still A "Go"
More on (Tentatively Scheduled) September 12, 2006, Nuclear War
September 12, 2006, Nuclear War Still Planned for September 12, 2006
Nuclear War Whackos = Homophobic House of Yahweh

House of Yahweh nuclear war

Morning News: Russell Simmons, Phantom Trees, Evacuees in Houston

***Russell Simmons will host a fundraiser for Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael "Scarlett Letter" Steele's U.S. Senate campaign. [WaTimes]

***The Katherine Harris aide blamed for the "phantom tree fiasco" (Harris said low turnout at a campaign event was b/c a tree fell on the building--no tree ever fell) quits. [Palm Beach Post]

***The GOP is hopeful about candidates in border districts. [WaPo]

***Houston's residents are tired of paying for 150,000 Katrina evacuees living there.....blame crime increases on the evacuees....wish they'd leave....[LA Times]

***Hair braiders in Virginia may soon be forced to get a special license. [WTOP]

***K-Fed raps. [PCW]

Millionaires Who Give Away Money

The entire contents of a blog created today yesterday, millionaireswhogiveawaymoney.blogspot.com , (commentary withheld):

My husband and I have had to file Bankruptcy, and they take nearly 700. a month from us. Right now we have no food because he did not get any overtime and I am on Workman's Comp from Wal-Mart. I need some cash for food, Gas, and House payment. The owner of this house has really screwed us by making us pay the back payment for when my Mother lived here after we bought the mobile home from him. We do not have Central heat and air, nor do we have carpet on the floors. I really mean it we have nothing but plywood floors because we cannot afford anything right now. We had to get a couch out of the garbage and I scrubbed it and cleaned it just so we could have a place to sit. I feel like I am at the ends of my rope and cannot figure out a way of this mess. I have always believed that if you give you get back, but right now I need back. We have giving to all that have asked and maybe that is why we are in the shape were in. So if there is anyone out there who can help a working class family out please e-mail me at SwetTfrk@sbcglobal. Sincerely

charity desperation poverty fundraising

Previously on the Discovery Channel: World Leaders Are Alien Lizards

Following a week that included (frequent) updates on a (homophobic) nuke-war cult and words of praise for Psychic Tina in Georgetown, it's only fitting to do a post on a guy who says home base earth is controlled by alien lizards. [Note: if you watch Discovery Channel (which I have not done once in my life) or if you actually follow these types of things, this is likely to be ancient news to/for you.]

I received a call last night from LAX, where the caller (the SigOth) was changing planes on a business trip to Australia. On the caller's United Airlines flight from IAD to LAX a Discovery Channel program was shown about--hold your breath--a man who preaches/teaches that world leaders are really Alien lizards.

"Look him up, David Icke. I-c-k-e. The Discovery Channel actually covered this wacko."

"Look David Icke up" circumlocutor did. Apparently, in addition to alerting the masses about the Alien lizard government leaders, he might be antisemitic. We'll return to the antisemitism in a moment, but first....the Alien lizard stuff.....

From a recap of a 2001 conference gathering of a "little-known resistance movement":

Icke's most amazing claim is that the bloodlines of Europe's royal families, which some claim to trace back to a secret union of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, are in fact derived from extraterrestrial lizards (see www.davidicke.com/icke/temp/reptconn.html). As proof of this, you need only look at the prevalence of gargoyles and dragons on all kinds of royal coats of arms. These people can be recognized by their ability to "shape shift" into reptilian form, then back again.

Cathy O'Brien claimed to have seen, during her days as a robotic White House sex slave, George Bush do a "lizard projection" using "harmonics." Icke claims that the Illuminati lizards need to maintain a vast, global network of satanic cults to perform human sacrifice, sexual molestation, and cannibalism. He explains on his Web site that "to hold their human form, these entities need to drink human (mammalian) blood and access the energy it contains to maintain their DNA codes in their 'human' expression. If they don't, they manifest their reptilian codes and we would all see what they really look like.

You can read more about Icke on his website. Now...on the issue of Icke's (alleged) antisemitism. An article in the British newspaper The Guardian (Icke is British, BTW) attempts to uncover the truth.

Do you think that, when David Icke says lizards, he means Jews?" I asked.
"Of course!" he said. "What is lizard? What is amphibian? It is a pile of rubbish. Why he's using those terminologies such as lizards? This vile language. Vile bullshit. I'm totally, culturally shocked."

"So," continued the chair, "what are we going to do about this?"

Wheels had already been set in motion. The Canadian hate crimes unit had been alerted. So had the media. The coalition had also written to the former Canadian prime minister, Brian Mulroney, to inform him that David Icke was accusing him of being a reptilian, child-sacrificing paedophile. But so far, to the coalition's bafflement, Mulroney had declined to initiate legal action. Indeed, every individual accused of reptilian paedophilia by David Icke had so far failed to sue, including Bob Hope, George Bush, George Bush Jr, Ted Heath, the Rothschild family, Boxcar Willie, the Queen of England, the Queen Mother, Prince Philip, Kris Kristofferson, Al Gore and the steering committee of the Bilderberg Group.

"Why do you think that is?" David Icke had asked me when I interviewed him about this matter in London. Then he turned to my notepad and thundered, "Come on, Ted Heath! Sue me if you've got nothing to hide! Come on, George Bush! I'm ready! Sue me! I'm naming names! Come on, Jon? Why are they refusing to sue me?"

As a side note.....to paraphrase the words of a friend....these fringe groups/cults ought to be more tolerant, especially if they ever hope to attract more than 20 followers.

Oh yeah, and, this guy says, "And no, I'm not convinced that he's anti-semitic. He seems genuine, friendly and down to earth in this clip.".

You Are What You Bookmark?

I am a digital slob. I have so much crap scattered on my desktop, stuffed in music folders, crammed in inboxes and bookmarked as "Favorites" that, well......the digital disarray makes circumlocutor a foggy, cluttered, (online) mess.

As I scrolled down (and down and down) through the endless list of bookmarked "Favorites" today, I noticed: A) How many of the "Favorites" were never again visited after their initial bookmarking; B) How, like crumbs in a forest or sands in an hour glass, the favorites were days, seasons or moments of my life; and C) How the eclectic/bizarre collection of links would make a (somewhat) interesting Sunday night post.

Random sites bookmarked by me....never returned to after bookmarking them (until now):

1. CitrusTree Nursery at Ty Ty GA: All About Citrus Trees
2. Falcon Crest - News
3. How to Tie a Tie
4. Do Bags Under Eyes Come from Indulging too Much
5. The Giant Blogging Terms Glossary
6. The Saratoga - Apartments in Connecticut Ave. Corridor
7. Portrait Photography
8. Premium Stationery
9. Cooks.com - Recipes - Chicken Waldorf Salad
10. Smith Machines and Cages: Spartan Sports Power Tower

"Pearls Before Swine" Rat Contemplates Trip to Calcutta

For the circumlocutor regular(s) who can't live without Pearls Before Swine on days not reading Express/riding Metro to work...more "Pearls" here...

Sunday's 7: Pat Roberston, Tyson's Corner, Air America, Hugo Chavez, Madonna

1. Pat Robertson is planning to build high-end shopping centers to southeastern Virgina. The projects will help fund the Christian Broadcast Network.

   Named for the birthplace of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Blenheim Park would have 1.2 million square feet of retail space. It would include two hotels, a movie theater, a department store, a gated community, condominiums selling in the high $200,000s and homes selling for $500,000 to $600,000. The complex would generate hundreds of millions in tax revenues for Chesapeake and Virginia Beach - the project straddles the boundary between the cities - and provide $15 million to $20 million a year for CBN, according to developers. No tenants have been identified. [Church Executive]

2. Hillary Clinton is "the great political paradox of our time". People admire her, but many hope she wont run for President.

   A veteran Democratic voter in Iowa City says, "I hope she won't run, and I don't know whether I would support her." Another active Democrat says, "I don't quite understand why she is such a polarizing figure, but she is." And still another Iowa Democrat: "I don't think she could win. It would just keep the country split." In effect, many Democrats seem to be saying, "I would vote for her, but I think a lot of other people wouldn't." [CSM]

3. The Tyson's Corner/Metrorail extension/tunnel or no tunnel debate continues. Involved parties are still discussing whether (or not) Tyson's will ever become an urban community.

   The tunnel's critics do not dispute that an underground line would be preferable, but they argue that the extra costs and time would be more than the tunnel's backers say. The extension's top congressional sponsors warn that delays and cost escalations associated with a tunnel could imperil the 23-mile line to Dulles.
   More broadly, the tunnel's critics express doubts that Tysons is capable of the metamorphosis Fairfax leaders seek. Skeptics say Tysons might be too far from the District and too well-established as a suburban commercial center to duplicate Arlington's success. [WaPo]

4. Ann Coulter dominates all media. Air America dominates nothing.

   The triumph of Ann Coulter speaks volumes about why Washington is today the functional equivalent of a one party state, and why the right perpetually dominates the media message machinery. The lethargy (at best) of the Air America management speaks volumes about why the progressive and moderate viewpoint, which represents far more people than the Bush and Cheney viewpoint, and infinitely more than the Ann Coulter viewpoint, perpetually lags behind and is trapped playing minor league baseball against a world series opponent. [HuffPo]

5. Washington loves Hugo Chavez. As a token of the love, Chavez gets hundreds of millions of bucks in charity.

   The formula is part of a supply contract between Venezuela's state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and its wholly owned U.S. subsidiary, Citgo Petroleum Corp., which forces Citgo to buy PDVSA's crude for at least $5 a barrel over market prices. The net effect is to reduce Citgo's taxable earnings in the United States and to boost Venezuela's share of oil profits by as much as $1 million a day. [WaTimes]

6. Reporters are popular scapegoats for public figures. No longer sideline players, journalists are prime targets to avert attention and blame.

   "The media is everybody's favorite whipping boy," said Matthew T. Felling, media director for the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a nonpartisan research and educational organization that conducts scientific studies of the news and entertainment media. "Tom Cruise hates Matt Lauer. Tony Snow hates Helen Thomas. Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly hate each other. When politicians attack each other, it's irritating partisan politics. But when politicians attack the media, everybody jumps on board." [Baltimore Sun]

7. Madonna wants the British government to use a mystical Kabbalah potion to clean up radioactive waste.

   The pop star is a keen follower of the Jewish spiritual movement, which believes that water can receive magic healing powers through "meditations and the consciousness of sharing". Together with husband Guy Ritchie, she approached the Government with the idea, Britain's The Sunday Times reported. [Herald Sun]

Hillary Clinton Pat Robertson radioactive waste senate democrats Hugo Chavez Ann Coulter Air America Madonna Tyson's Corner metrorail Kabbalah

Saturday Night Delight: Two Randoms (AKA "Ollie 'n' Suze") Fight Over Beyonce

Oh ma gawd, Charlotte (did I really just write that?), I got so caught up in the gut-bustingness of this video (I "discovered" during a YouTube search for "Suze Orman") that I burned an entire package of ready-to-bake/already-doughed Toll House cookies (seriously).

youTube Beyonce music videos cookies Suze Orman

The Washington Post's Love of McMansions

Today's WaPo has an article ("Homeowners Living in Limbo," beginning on B1) that discusses how horrifically cruel Fairfax County officials are for finally enforcing height limits on McMansions. The article--highly sympathetic to the sorry saps who spent millions of dollars to construct homes knowingly in excess of the county's 35 foot height limit--is an explanation for why I so often see copies The Washington Times in the company of working class men and women.

Washington Times, for all its many politically opinionated front-page headlines ("Bush tells immigrants to learn English") avoids the sort of pomp and localstance that have become (nearly) ubiquitous in WaPo. The Times averts temptation to analyze Washingtonian's under-50 set (interns) and refuses assumptions on what's hot & not in the region ("Best Bets"). [Of course, the reality is, The Times is (probably) staffed and funded (scarcely) enough to produce its current roster of political advertorials.]

So......now let's add to list of WaPo offenses that it has, in offering sympathy to the super-rich McMansion builders, slighted the many residents of the region who find said palatial domiciles: a) Ticky-tacky displays of overindulgence; b) Out of near or long-term financial reach; and c) Proof of growing economic schism in the region and the country. Yeah, it's hard to empathize with someone whose "dream house on 1.7 gently sloping acres in Oakton was built to conform to feng shui principles, which stress harmony with nature."

Seriously folks.....the article is replete with quotes, anecdotes and pity parties from home owners and home builders who are enraged and saddened they will no longer be able to break the law.

The first three paragraphs set the mood:

George Dukas is in Hilton Head, but he has been on his BlackBerry with his builder, and they have figured out that they can put eight feet of dirt on the side of the 13,000-square-foot McLean house, and he can move in.

Two lots from his house on Founders Ridge Lane is a European provincial that Fairfax County pronounced as 4.5 feet too tall, under its controversial move last month to tighten enforcement of height restrictions. It has refused certificates of occupancy to anyone who had not already moved in, regardless of how close a house was to completion.

Carol and Gene Carlson are pleading with the Board of Supervisors for an exception so they can settle Oct. 1 and won't have to tear down their pitched roof.

Some other choice tidbits:
Tearing down the roof -- the only viable way to lower the house by four feet -- would upset the home's harmonic balance.

Their plight has its roots in different ways of measuring house heights and in years of county reliance on builders to police themselves.

"It's enough to give you a heart attack to have to think about it all over again," said Diane DeFranco, who considers herself lucky to be designing and not yet building on five acres in Great Falls.

"It's absolutely ridiculous," said Dukas, who is in the flower business. "All the neighbors will look at is a retaining wall."

Read the article, "Homeowners Living in Limbo."

Washington Post McMansions Fairfax County

Sketch of the Beauty Queen Killer: Psychic Got It Right

circumlocutor is minimally not at all interested in following ten-year old murder "mysteries." (The Black Dahlia is a different story altogether.) I remember returning from a five-week trip to India approx. ten years ago and hearing from my (at the time) very best friend in the whole wide world that a six or seven or eight year-old beauty queen was found raped, beaten and murdered in her basement or under her Christmas tree or somewhere in her Colorado home. I cared as much about JonBenet Ramsey then as I do now.

I am interested, at least peripherally, in psychics. (If you're ever in Georgetown and need a good one, find Tina on Wisconsin Ave.) Psychics, astrologists , people who commune with the dead: FUN. Sure, spending money on psychics is equivalent to tossing it in a bonfire or buying K-Mart stock.....but, like I said: FUN. Every once in a blue moon (through coincidence, perceptiveness, real psychic giftedness or a combo of the three), they get it right. They have to. If psychics never (even one out 1000 guesses) get/got it right, the whole enterprise would crumble. That one correct guess (like a fat girl's only kiss) is the hope/memory that keeps 'em coming back for more.

Return to JonBenet......and circumlocutor's transition from uninterested to disinterested. Have you seen the sketch made (years ago) from a psychic's vision of the killer? (If no, tilt your eyes or adjust your scroll.) Do you not see the eerie resemblance to what's-his-name who was arrested in Thailand this week? Uncanny.

Perhaps it's time to visit Tina in Georgetown. And please, members of the Religious Right and/or nuclear holocaust cults.....do not send emails telling shouting how I will 'burn in hell' for embracing psychics as a recreational pleasure. I've been to Sunday School. I know the drill. Read more about the psychic's sketch.

NEWS UPDATE: Joe Lieberman Still Joe Lieberman

The latest on the megalomaniacal US Senator (Joe Lieberman) who wish(es) he knew how to quit you....

Clinton on Lieberman:
"There were almost no Democrats who agreed with his position, which was, 'I want to attack Iraq whether or not they have weapons of mass destruction.'"

"His position is the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld position, which was, 'Does it matter if they have weapons? None of this matters. ... This is a big, important priority, and 9/11 gives us the way of attacking and deposing Saddam.'" [HuffPo]

Lieberman & Nation of Islam:
"Currently, Holy Joe’s campaign is making quite the stir about Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton’s support of Ned Lamont. Obviously, there are some racial overtones (intentional or not) to Joe’s highlighting of these two men. What we didn’t know is that Joe talked about meeting with Farrakhan during the 2000 election." [minvolved]

Liberman & Rove:
"Lieberman's campaign has been designed from the start to inflict maximum damage on the Democratic Party. Lieberman's statements from the beginning have made it clear that, in his mind, any dissent from Bush's war policy constitutes a) "weakness on national defense," b) is a clear sign that Democrats "lack national security" credibility, and c) means that Dems "have yielded to the extremists" (despite the fact that new polls reveal those "extremists" agree with 60% of all Americans about the war).

Democrats are "extremist "and "weak on national security?" That's straight out of the Rove playbook. "[Night Light]

Lieberman & the GOP:
""Facing Senator Joseph I. Lieberman’s independent candidacy, Republican officials at the state and national level have made the extraordinary decision to abandon their official candidate, and some are actively working to help Mr. Lieberman win in November," writes Anne E. Kornblut for the Times.

"Despite Mr. Lieberman’s position that he will continue to caucus with Democrats if re-elected, all three Republican Congressional candidates in Connecticut have praised Mr. Lieberman and have not endorsed the party’s nominee, Alan Schlesinger," the article continues." [Raw Story]

Lieberman & Lamont:
"I'm more and more getting the sense that Ned Lamont just didn't get, coming off last Tuesday's win, that he was still very much the underdog and had maybe a week to thoroughly dispatch Joe from the race. But he didn't. From what I can tell he went on vacation to Maine right after the primary. And he was scarce for like a week after the primary.

Lieberman, on the hand, went basically beserk right after the vote, which of course he had to do, to make absolutely sure that everyone realized that, as far as he was concerned, his primary loss meant nothing more than a difference in the way he'd be identified on the ballot in November. He was still the senator, still running for reelection. News of his demise had been greatly exaggerated, and so forth." [Talking Points Memo]

senate democrats Ned Lamont Joe Lieberman

Nuclear War Whackos = Homophobic House of Yahweh

Less than five days after sending a message praising me for spreading "God's word" (about a "September 12, 2006, nuclear war"), Moriyah, of the House of Yahweh, revealed his/her inner homophobe. I assume Moriyah's initial praise was the result of (misplaced) joy over the fact someone (finally) published his/her press release.....that he/she had never visited circumlocutor before the praise.....that Moriyah could seriously use a scrip for Zyprexa.

I don't get paid to squeeze this crappola out of my anus....thus, I write whatever tickles my pickle (at that moment). If I decide to write about nutjobs spreading news of nuclear war (one day) and then write about GAY MEN, GAY CARS, GAY SEX and GAY HAS-BEENS (for the next five days), I ask myself, "Why Not?" If I write about Stephanie Mencimer's dog shit slinging arrest (one day) and (then) wait (four weeks) to post the police report, I ask myself, "Who Cares?"

Today's lesson is simple, folks: lighten up.

P.S.- Avoid nutjob nuke-loving homeophobes from the House of Yahweh.

The initial praise:
"It is a thrill to see Circumlocutor take up the torch of truth when so many preach lies in ignorance." (Moriyah)

The homophobia:

From: moriyah@moriyah.com Moriyah
To: circumlocutordc@gmail.com circumlocutor
Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2006 16:41:39 -0400
Subject: Yisrayl on the news

Yisray Hawkins on CBS affiliate and INN World Report [links removed by circumlocutor].

Moriyah

P.S. Homosexuality brings devastating curses upon the one who practices it.

House of Yahweh nuclear war

Photos of the Week: Pigs Racing at Arlington County Fair

Four little piggies hustle and squeal (as they lap around an oval track) during a piggie race at the Arlington County Fair (today) in Arlington. The 12 to 18 week-old pigs are owned by Sue Wee Pig Racing and traverse the east coast (to attend and race at county fairs).

The Arlington County Fair continues through Sunday and also includes carnival rides, games, pony rides and goat races.

The fair takes place at the Thomas Jefferson Community Center, 3501 South Second Street, Arlington, VA. Fair's website.

Judge Sentenced to 4 Years For Using Penis Pump Under Robe (During Trials)

BREAKING NEWS: An Oklahoma judge will serve four years in prison for using a penis pump under his robe (during trials).

BRISTOW, Okla. — A former judge convicted of exposing himself while presiding over jury trials by using a sexual device under his robe was sentenced Friday to four years in prison.

Donald Thompson had spent almost 23 years on the bench and had served as a state legislator before retiring from the court in 2004. He showed no reaction when he was sentenced.

At his trial this summer, his former court reporter, Lisa Foster, testified that she saw Thompson expose himself at least 15 times during trial between 2001 and 2003. Prosecutors said he also used a device known as a penis pump during at least four trials in the same period. [Chron/AP]

Racism Roundup: Summer of 2006

A recap of what (2006) is becoming the summer of racism....

Jewish, Arab and Korean shop owners had "ripped off" urban communities for years, "selling us stale bread, and bad meat and wilted vegetables.”---Civil Rights leader Andrew Young, speaking for Wal-Mart

A woman wearing a Harris sticker asked [McBride], who is Hispanic, why he had changed his name from Rodriguez to McBride....the woman, identified as Jackie Brownhill, also claimed McBride did "not look American."---Katherine Harris supporter to Harris' primary opponent

"The allegation is that the official--who is black--crossed out and changed the screening test scores of a black person applying for a job. Documents....show that an email...includes discussion of how to increase the applicant's test score."---Charges of US Mint Police racist hiring practices

"Blacks are not the greatest swimmers or may not even know how to swim."---Tramm Hudson (front runner in GOP primary in Congressional District vacated by Katherine Harris)

"FOR CHILDREN KILLERS ISRAELIS NO SALE, NO ENTRY."---Text on a storefront sign in southern Turkey

"This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, macaca, or whatever his name is. He's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere. And it's just great.....Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia." US Senator George Allen

"F*****g Jews... The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Jew?"---Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson George Allen racism macaca Wal-Mart DC Tramm Hudson Andrew Young Katherine Harris

Morning News: NSA, Goodie Bags, Chocolate Virgin Mary, Music Taste & HIV

A federal judge rules the NSA's terrorist surveillance program--authorized by President Bush--is unconstitutional. [WaTimes]

A federal agency (the US Mint Police) may be using race as a basis for employment. "The allegation is that the official -- who is black -- crossed out and changed the screening test scores of a black person applying for a job." [WTOP]

A chocolate maker (in California) has immaculate conception. "Workers at Angiano's gourmet chocolate company, Bodega Chocolates, discovered under a vat a 2-inch-tall column of chocolate drippings that they believe bears a striking resemblance to the Virgin Mary." [AP]

The Hispanic population (in Arlington) is moving. "Since 2000, the Hispanic population in Arlington has fallen 18 percent from 26,108 to 21,397, according to Census figures given this week. During the same period, the Hispanic population in Prince William grew by 162 percent, while this population in Fairfax grew by 7 percent." [Examiner]

'Security Moms' abandon the GOP. [WaPo]

Musical tastes are linked to HIV. "US boys hooked on gospel, techno and pop are more at risk of HIV infection than devotees of other musical styles, including "bling, bling" hip hop, according to a new study." [AFP]

IRS is linked to the death of award show goodie bags. [WaPo]

Gayest Cars 2006

Top Ten Gay Cars (2006)

According to gaylife.about.com...

1. Best Car for the Gay Professional: 2006 BMW 5 Series Sedan
   
   
2. Best Car for the New Gay Family: 2006 Saab 9-5 Wagon
   
   
3. Best Dragwagon: 2006 Kia Sorento
   
   
4. Most Likely Down Low Cruiser: 2006 Chevrolet Impala
   
   
5. Best Twinkmobile: 2006 Mini Cooper
   
   
6. Best Ride for the Trendy Gay Man: 2006 Honda Element
   
   
7. Best Ride for the Trendy Gay Man (Urban): 2006 Chrysler 300C
   
   
8. Best Retail Queen Carriage: 2006 Pontiac G6
   
   
9. Best Lesbian Moving Van: 2006 Subaru Outback
   
   
10. Queerest Car: 2006 Ford Focus

gay cars

Thursday (Has)Beens: Dancing With the "Stars"

This week on Thursday (Has)Beens: circumlocutor begins a two-part series evaluating the "stars" who will be dancing on your tele very soon. This weekend, next week (or whenever I feel like it): part two will be posted.

Star rankings:
5=Superstar; 0=Anonymous blogger-level nobody

Tucker Carlson
Current Gig: Host of "Tucker" on MSNBSeen by No One
Biggest Gig: A toss-up between polishing the dentures of a Geritol-popping traitorous hack (Robert Novak) on a cable network with a few viewers and hosting his own show on a cable network with two viewers.
Could've Been Better: Anderson Cooper, Bill O'Reilly, Brian Williams, Andy Rooney
Could've Been Worse: Dan Rather, Rita Cosby, Joe Scarborough, Alan Keyes
Star Level: 2.5

Monique Coleman
Current Gig: Has a role on a kid's show "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" on one of those kids' networks.
Biggest Gig: ABC says, "Actress and teen idol from Disney Channel's smash hit High School Musical." circumlocutor says, "Played 'Waitress' on an episode of 'Married to the Kelly's' two years ago."
Could've Been Better: Hillary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, Mandy Moore, Keshia Knight Pulliam
Could've Been Worse: Ashlee Simpson, Tempestt Bledsoe, Elliot Yamin
Star Level: 0.5

Sara Evans
Current Gig: Some sort of Dolly Parton or Reba McEntire or Shania Twain or Faith Hill-type country crooner.
Biggest Gig: According to her Wikipedia entry, she's sold a few records and won a few awards. Apparently, she's doing well in Dollywood.
Could've Been Better: Dolly Parton or Reba McEntire or Shania Twain or Faith Hill
Could've Been Worse: Lee Greenwood or Wynonna Judd
Star Level: 3

Willa Ford
Current Gig: ABC refers to her as a "singing sensation and self-professed 'bad girl of pop.'" I refer to her as the "bad girl of poop." (Does that self-professed or self-proclaimed crap ever contain a shred of truth?) Honestly, I have no idea why this chick was chosen for the show......except for maybe her slutty lips and willingness to perform backstage b.j.(s) on judges (this year's Lisa Rina?) Last single released: "A Toast To Men (F*ck The Men)" (feat. Lady May) (2003)
Biggest Gig: According to her Wikipedia entry, "Ford dated Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys from 1998 to 2001 (a relationship disliked by many BSB fans)"
Could've Been Better: ANYONE (except, maybe, Martin Short)
Could've Been Worse: Martin Short (Maybe)
Star Level: -300

Vivica A. Fox
Current Gig: Has a straight-to-video fillum en route to Blockbuster, is making a movie with Sticky Fingaz.
Biggest Gig: Vernita Green in "Kill Bill"
Could've Been Better: Uma Thurman, Jada Pinkett Smith, Lisa Bonet (BTW-I actually thought Viv A. F. was/is a big star....but have been informed by someone "in the know" that she is "very B-List.")
Could've Been Worse: Star Jones, Mo'Nique, Willa Ford
Star Level: 3.5

Harry Hamlin
Current Gig: Star of Strange Wilderness (?????) which is now in post-production. Has a role on "Veronica Mars."
Biggest Gig: Michael Kuzak on L.A. Law; previous husband of Nicollette Sheridan
Could've Been Better: Take Your Pick
Could've Been Worse: Corbin Bernsen, Michael Tucker, Richard A. Dysart
Star Level:1

Coming in Part Two: Joey Lawrence, Mario Lopez, Jerry Springer, Shanna Moakler, Emmitt Smith
Dancing With the Stars Vivica A. Fox Harry Hamlin Tucker Carlson stars

September 12, 2006, Nuclear War Still Planned for September 12, 2006

Forget about voting in the District's September 12, 2006, primary election. Plan to spend your 9/12/06 running from nukes and reaching for the rapture......because.......according to Moriyah (of House of Yahweh), the September 12, 2006, nuclear war is still planned for September 12, 2006.

Reading about nuclear war on this blog, means (among other things) I received a new email from Moriyah. Before I get to Moriyah's latest correspondence, let me (first) share....for a "touch" of balance.....a link to a BBC article about House of Yahweh in Kenya.

"Members of a religious sect in central Kenya are bracing themselves for a nuclear war predicted to take place no later than 12 September 2006. This is the doomsday warning issued by their spiritual leader Yisrayl Hawkins, who is based in the United States and traces his origins back to Israel. Kenyan followers of the House of Yahweh are taking his words seriously and have begun building special shelters to protect themselves." [BBC]

I sent Moriyah an email with several questions about House of Yahweh in Kenya. As soon as I receive answers, I will post them here. Until then, read the latest warnings from Moriyah of House of Yahweh:

Hello FC,

Thanks for the press. Please do study the newsletter. It has many answers for all that have ears to see and eyes to hear. Er. well, you know what I mean.

The problem for many is that they know they are sinning (proceding in their life with major errors) but do not know how to change. That is understandable as the preachers of this day do not teach the laws of peace,the politicians sure as hell don't preach or practice the laws of peace.And, the doctors and lawyers/politicians? You can finish that sentence. The laws are basically, don't steal your neighbors property, don't deceive anyone, don't murder. These are simple instructions but unless they are repeated frequently we lose sight of the goal. By the way, rumor and gossip, which covers most all news programs and sit coms, is murder. It destroys a persons character whether true or not. Don't gossip and don't listen to it. It is poison.

The laws of peace 101 at http://www.yahweh.com/Newsletters/nl08-06.htm gets you oriented. Take your time, don't hurry, study, prove, test and see. The beginning of Nuclear War on September 12, 2006 is not the end. It is the beginning of the end. There is still time to prepare. If you begin to prepare, thus showing your belief, then you will be fed and cared for. Youthen work not for yourself but for others who know not yet. 2 billion peoplewill have to be fed, sheltered and cared for. Nuclear winter kind of precludes going to Wal Mart for groceries. We have to prepare right now. Watch the news carefully and you will see the developments. Do not be deceived, though they say 'Ceasefire' they are preparing for major war. Itwill come as a thief in the night.

It is a thrill to see Circumlocutor take up the torch of truth when so many preach lies in ignorance.

Moriyah

READ: Found under Ballston doorway: "Nuclear War to Start Sept. 12, 2006"
September 12, 2006, Nuclear War Still A "Go"
More on (Tentatively Scheduled) September 12, 2006, Nuclear War

House of Yahweh nuclear war war DC Washington DC Nuclear Holocaust Privacy

Blogger Assistance Requested

Does somebody/anybody/anyone know how it is that certain elegant Blogger/Blogspot blogs are able to display only portions of each blog post followed by a "Read More" (linking to the full text of the post) on their main/home pages? Please help! Please? circumlocutordc at gmail dot com.

Morning News: Cropp, Fenty, Prayer, Drunken Sex With Multiple Partners

Linda Cropp and Adrian Fenty, two fourteen year-olds running for student body president DC mayoral candidates, refuse to chit chat but agree to debate. "Linda didn't call Adrian. Adrian didn't call Linda, either. But their quarrel over debates in the D.C. mayor's race was settled yesterday by a neutral third party: NewsChannel 8 anchor Bruce DePuyt." [WaPo]

John Kerry prepares his "online political machine to raise cash" for Ned Lamont. [Examiner]

A school teacher is arrested in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case. (In case you've been asleep for the last 16 hours.) [WaPo]

John Irving defends Nobel Laureate/Author Guenter Grass (who recently admitted serving in Waffen-SS during World War II). [AP]

A family in Berlin screams and sings nightly as "part of the family prayers in the second story sometimes begin at 2:30 a.m. and can be heard all the way up to the fifth floor." They now face eviction. [MSNBC]

Brits admit to having drunken sex (with multiple partners) in a new poll. "Being too drunk to remember to wear a condom is the most common answer given by 30,000 16 to 24-year-olds polled in a report by BBC Radio 1 on sex. Other findings uncovered in the poll reveal 43 per cent of young people had been with at least five sexual partners, with one in five having more than 10. Fifty seven per cent admitted having a one-night stand, but more worrying, 38 per cent of those polled said they did not always use contraceptives when sleeping with a new partner for the first time." [Sunderland Today]

prayer sex Adrian Fenty drunk Linda Cropp

Macaca Here, Macaca There, Macaca Everywhere

This week's variation of Mel Gibson's gin-soaked, Jew-blaming monologue: US Senator George Allen's "Macaca" "slip up." circumlocutor raises a Diet Coke and toasts (previously) well-oiled public personas who "keep it real" by letting their inner biggot shine.

Pre-Macaca George Allen:

Political Wire received an advance copy of a New Republic profile of Sen. George Allen (R-VA) in which author Ryan Lizza finds many of Allen's high school classmates surprised that he's considering running for president because of the racist tendencies he displayed as a teenager. They say he "plastered the school with confederate flags" and drove a red Mustang with a confederate flag on the front. [Political Wire]

Post-Macaca George Allen:

That’s My Congress wrote about George Allen’s macaca slip up, in which he either called a person of South Asian descent a monkey, or praised his mohawk, or was talking about some obscure town in South Africa.

This bizarre episode, with its multiple explanations, is evocative of another recent problem Senator Allen has had. George Allen is, like most Republicans, against anything beyond Stone Age technology for preventing pregnancy. Allen is, as a part of this position, against giving women unrestricted access to Plan B, the morning after pill, which prevents pregnancy if taken soon after unprotected sex.

The funny thing is that, in spite of Senator Allen’s moralistic preaching about Plan B on the political stage, he is an financial investor in Barr Laboratories, a company that makes and sells the Plan B pill. [Irregular Times]

Let's be glad George Allen doesn't make umbrellas. They'd be full of holes, just like his explanations for the racist slur he used to describe one of his opponent's staffers. [Melder's Musings]

Some enterprising nerd has fitted Allen’s bed with a line of macaca t-shirts, mugs and mouse pads on CafePress. 30% of the profits go to Allen’s challenger in November, Jim Webb. [SeanC]

'Macaca' or 'macaque' is a nasty racial epithet alright. It is often used by American white supremacists to describe black people. In Belgium, it is a racial slur for 'dirty arab.' [Frameshop]

Macaca. It's an easy word to missuse. Before this Monday, I misused it all the time and I had no idea it was even a real word.

In fact, just this weekend I was quoted using the following misuses of "macaca"...
"Macaca? I barely even know her!""The stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Macaca!"" Whoa, check out the Macacas on her!""Eww, somebody smells a little Macaca..." [GorillaSushi]

Man, you can’t open a web browser without reading people complaining about George Allen’s WTF “Macaca” moment. The general consensus seems to be that Allen is a dumbass. [Dream Logic]

senate Macaca George Allen racism

Lovers and Other Strangers

Warning: This is the point at which (for the next two to six paragraphs) I begin blabbing about my personal life. If you're not interested, click on the scroll bar & move down until you find something that amuses you.....

So, where was I? Oh yeah....I was about to tell you about how my significant other just called & asked if he can spend the night at my place. Highly irregular (his request).

About two months ago, he decided (after four months of attending open houses/open condos) he wasn't interested in purchasing anything with me. This was a somewhat painful announcement to hear that--far greater than the material implications of his words--made me realize, through lack of any other tangible signs of committment, that perhaps I am much less important to him than he is to me. I decided that, if he doesn't want to buy a condo/house/anything with me....and if he has his own residence.....it seemed right and fair for him to spend nights (at least during the week) at his place and not mine. Suddenly/instantly, without the significant other around during the weeknight witching hours (read: no loud TVs, no loud snoring, no loud cell phone calls, no loud/heavy-heel walking), inner-peace settled into a (natural) relaxed state. Harmony returned and personal productivity increased (permitting my much-maligned "obsessive" entree into the blogosphere).

Life rolls along......now, this Saturday, he will leave for a three-month business trip in Australia. Last night I told him we should break up before his departure. Why? Well....after three years together, it seems we have reached that place of comfort commonly known as inertia. We take each other for granted. Plans for a future together (I've given up planning after being stonewalled so often for so long) are no longer planned. We've become an old married couple with none of the benefits of an old married couple: no home, no kids, no family vacations, no nothing (but love).

There are lotza couples (I am supposing) who are together for more than three years without participating in any of society-recognized signs of commitment. Fine. But who wants to wake up one day and find themselves a certain age living alone in this world? (I'm not "a certain age" YET, thank you very much.)

Back to the loud snoring. If I have forsaken all other bells and whistles of normal long-term relationships, then why the f*ck do I have to put up with the (loud) snoring? During the work week, nonetheless! And Lordie Bee, is it ever snoring.?! Two Tylenol PMs, one Benadryl & half an Ambien later.....not even two hours of sound sleep is had in the presence of such snoring. You wouldn't believe it if you heard it, if I posted the recording of it (it IS recorded).....the loud, bass, boat-horn amplified tonsil choking that erupts from his mouth.

Perhaps.....in addition to being sleep deprived, I am materialistic, paranoid, overly needy and confined by what most societies define as committment (between lovers). But isn't this normal? Or, at least, normal conditioning? Are connections and bonds that (occasionally) seem to transcend the emotional and the physical enough in the long run when we're old, fat and sick? Am I just being an ASS for not tolerating the snoring?

Can we be confident, in the absence of contracts, deeds, financial ties, children, et al, that a lover is not a stranger?

Okay....my nightly catharsis is complete. Time to find something less personal and less blabbery to post so that this won't remain "above the fold" (for more than 20 minutes). BTW, if you came to this post (via a search engine) looking for info about the 1970 film "Lovers and Other Strangers" starring Beatrice "Bea" Arthur, try Amazon.

gay relationships love

News Not About War: Lance Bass Still Gay

This just in....Lance Bass is still gay......BUT......his boyfriend maybe a gold digger.....AND.....Christina Aguilera is shocked anyone was shocked when Lance came out of the closet.....

LANCE Bass' friends were worried that his cash-strapped boyfriend, Reichen Lemkuhl, was moving in - and they were right. A rep for Bass said, "Reichen and Lance have been living together for several months now." The timing is convenient. Lemkuhl, a real estate broker, must have forgotten to pay the mortgage on his Culver City house he's trying to sell and which is listed as being in "pre-foreclosure" on defaultresearch.com. According to gossip blogger Billy Masters, "The default amount is roughly $642,400 - or slightly more than he won [in reality show 'The Amazing Race']." But Lemkuhl's lawyer said, "The house is in escrow, not foreclosure." [Page Six]

Pop star Christina Aguilera is baffled the media made such a big deal of former 'N Sync singer Lance Bass 'coming out' as a homosexual.......Aguilera says, "I'm shocked that it's a big deal! I'm shocked that people are shocked. When I heard of it, I shrugged my shoulders and said, 'Good for him.' [Starpulse]

Seymour Hersh and 'Washington's Interests in Israel's War'

A topic that's been floating around for a while now...a topic you may (or may not) have heard or read about and/or care about....that I recently found out about....is Seymour Hersh's "piece" in The New Yorker, "Washington's interests in Israel's war." Hersh claims the US orchestrated (on some level at least) Israel's war with Hezbollah (in Lebanon) so as to prepare (on some level at least) for possible US attacks in/on Iran.

Being consumed by "unhealthy obsessions" as I am....naturally, I missed this stuff over the weekend.....and on Monday......and yesterday. So, okay, it's now Wednesday.....and I'm a little slow...but here it is.

From Hersh in The New Yorker:
The Middle East expert said that the Administration had several reasons for supporting the Israeli bombing campaign. Within the State Department, it was seen as a way to strengthen the Lebanese government so that it could assert its authority over the south of the country, much of which is controlled by Hezbollah. He went on, “The White House was more focussed on stripping Hezbollah of its missiles, because, if there was to be a military option against Iran’s nuclear facilities, it had to get rid of the weapons that Hezbollah could use in a potential retaliation at Israel."

From today's Philadelphia Inquirer:
Israel apparently believed a massive "shock-and-awe" bombing campaign that smashed Lebanon's civilian infrastructure as well as Hezbollah targets would destroy the guerrillas and turn the Lebanese public against them. The White House gave this strategy the green light. A new piece by Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker alleges that Vice President Cheney saw the bombing in Lebanon as a trial run for a possible U.S. strike on Hezbollah's patrons in Iran.

But shock and awe did not destroy Hezbollah. The terrorist/political group emerged stronger in the region and at home, where the bombing generated fury toward Israel even among Lebanese who detest Hezbollah. (Things would have been even worse had Israel continued its ground invasion; Israeli troops would have become mired in another Lebanon occupation guaranteed to chew them up.)

From Monday's Joe.My.God:
Lots of attention is being paid to Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh's claim in The New Yorker that the United States engineered the Israeli attack of Lebanon in order to ensure that Hezbollah forces would not be able to attack Israel once the U.S. bombing of Iran begins. Hersh has a track record of exposing U.S. misdeeds, going back to the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. In 2004, Hersh broke the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. In April of this year, Hersh claimed in New Yorker that the U.S. is planning on using bunker-busting nuclear bombs against Iran. In the new piece, Hersch cites anonymous sources and the U.S. State Department has denied his story. Read the latest New Yorker article. Here's the transcript of Hersh's appearance on CNN Late Edition on Sunday.

Seymour Hersh Hezbollah Lebanon Israel Iran Cheney New Yorker

Morning News: George Allen, Fenty, Jimmy Carter, My Stomach

Without going into too many disgusting details, let me share with you....circumlocutor visitors....share with you the news that the silence and peace I occasionally enjoy while consuming three pots of coffee (in the AM) has been punctured by the sounds of a grumbling contest in which my stomach has engaged my (world's cheapest) laptop. I don't want to mention any names, but let's just say that I hold a local restaurant chain responsible (for the stomach). By the way, it is again Gore G. Us outside....what (weathery) luck Washington has had this August. Now onto the hastily pasted news headlines you may (or may not) care to read....

US Senator George Allen (R-Va.) is trying to minimize the damage following his insult of an Indian-American camera man. "Despite a quick apology Monday, criticism poured in about Allen's use of the word 'Macaca' to address a volunteer for the campaign of his Democratic opponent, James Webb, and also about another Allen comment, 'Welcome to America.' Democrats, left-wing bloggers and civil rights groups called him 'insensitive' and 'racist,' while some conservatives called him 'foolish' and 'mean.'" [WaPo]

Adrian Fenty won't debate Linda Cropp unless mayoral opponent Cropp (personally) contacts Fenty (first). [WaPo]

The fight to build Metro's Purple Line continues.... [WaTimes]

Jimmy Carter's son wins the Democratic primary for a US Senate seat (in Nevada). [MSNBC]

Star Jones is dumped by Payless Shoes (yawn)....if you've been looking for the Star Jones story since a particular (Monday) post that includes her name in the headline (but no Star in the body of the post) here it is....whoops/sorry.....[Monsters & Critics]

Turkish Shop Bans Entry of Israelis

A Turkish shopkeeper has posted a sign (outside a clothing store in southern Turkey) reading: "FOR CHILDREN KILLERS ISRAELIS NO SALE, NO ENTRY."

“'The Turks immediately recognize Israelis, and therefore they asked us if we are soldiers and if we are capable of murdering children. They told us to leave and did not let us go inside. I had to take a photo of the shocking sign.'” [YNET]

As I'm sure you noticed, the sign is written in English...not in Turkish....or in Hebrew or Arabic (the two official languages of Israel).....I was (just) told, "Come on, everyone understands English."

Israel Turkey signs

(Not) Famous Photo of the Week: (Not) Shakira

See other (Not) famous photos:

(Not) Barbara Bush

(Not) Prince & (Not) Laura Bush

(Not) Margaret Thatcher & (Not) Cher(s)

(Not) Tina & (Not) Madonna

More on (Tentatively Scheduled) September 12, 2006, Nuclear War

Following the popularity of circumlocutor's post on (DC area) doom-monger(ers) proselytizing news of a September 12, 2006, nuclear war....and the raging success of the hit-making follow-up post.....circumlocutor contacted Moriyah (from the House of Yahweh) with the following inquiries: "Please give me more info about the origin of the war, your group, what individuals can do for safety. I would like as much additional info as possible. What about the people who don't believe?"

This morning, circumlocutor received this response from Moriyah:

Hello FC,

Thank you for the coverage of our Press Release. It is a serious message not being taken seriously by most. That is to be expected. In fact, right up until nuclear winter sets in on October 13, 2007 the vast majority of mankind will still be denying that 'we have a problem Houston' . This, rejection of the message, was itself prophesied thousands of years ago.You can pursue this story any way that you like. The best way to start would be to actually read the complete newsletter at the hyperlink: http://www.yahweh.com/Newsletters/nl08-06.htm

That will give you a very broad overview and answer most if not all of your questions to me. We can fill in any missing answers or give further details as necessary. It will also provide many opportunities of 'food for thought' for your readers.

You can use tons of 'keywords' and 'soundbites' that will tie in with current events and news stories as they occur. Always put the link to the newsletter in your postings and you will be doing a greater service than you can imagine.

Nobody is yet heading for the underground bunkers although we are storing food, and making other preparations, as we have been doing for over 20 years.

The primary work of Yisrayl Hawkins, as with the rest of us here at The House of Yahweh in Abilene Texas, is trifold. Reveal the prophecies, teach the laws of peace, and, prepare for after the nuclear winter has ended.Yes, there is no rupture (rapture, sic.) and we are all going to have to live, or die, through this event. Those who do the work of Yahweh, in concert with Yisrayl Hawkins, are the only ones promised to live through it. However, 2 billion people will live through it and they will need to be healed, cared for and taught the laws of Peace after Yahweh and Yahshua end the Nuclear Winter. They are the only ones who can. Without that promise there is no hope for life on earth. It, too, is a prophecy.

Please note that Yisrayl Hawkins is THE most prolific teacher on the planet with literally thousands of books, reports, audios and videos to his credit. Mr. Hawkins is self supporting and gains absolutely nothing financially from this work. All of the donations to our organisation go to the preaching and publishing of this .message of peace' that will be realized after the nuclear wars and winter. I emphasize that this is 'a message of peace' and not war. We have to look beyond the nuclear war to what Yahweh truly has in store for mankind. Peace throughout the entire universe.

The prophecies state that this 'message of peace will be preached to all nations and then the end will come'. It is now being preached to all nations. The End is coming very fast. As your life, and mine, has passed in the blink of an eye, so the next 14 months will also. The time is very, very short.

I reiterate, you can pursue this message any way you like. You are technologically savvy and are plugged into the matrix. You can use your skills to further this message in so many ways that I do not even know about.

I welcome your assistance in the greatest work that has ever been done.Let me know what you need.

Moriyah

House of Yahweh nuclear war war DC Washington DC Ballston Dogs Nuclear Holocaust Privacy

A New Routine to Include Lieberman, Cropp, Ehrlich and Marcia Cross

A new routine has developed in my life. I wake up, drink some coffee, find some TERRIFIC news stories, drink some more coffee, stare at a frozen laptop screen, drink more coffee and, then, contemplate sticking my face in a running garbage disposal. Fun?

As you, the regular circumlocutor visitor (singular), probably surmised....I have yet to take any of my cheapo computers for repair or to invest in a product/computer worthy of blogging. Any why should I? It's loads more fun planning self-mutilation and bitching about ruined mornings....

If you are still reading this...then you've made it to the point where I hastily post a few headlines and then rush to brush me's tooths and, like a bolt of lightening, rush out the door. And if you are still, still reading this (now), then this is the point when/where I tell you I have more info on the coming nuclear war--kid you not--which is now the Number One most popular circumlocutor post/topic......and that I will post the info later today.

Here are a few hastily posted/potentially interesting news bits to hold you over until the nuclear war stuff is published:

Joe Lieberman's pals (AKA Republicans) say he'll be able to raise lots of dough in his meglomaniacal conquest to remain a US Senator. [MSNBC]

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is running ads attacking Martin O'Malley [WaTimes]

Linda Cropp challenges Adrian Fenty to a debate. [WaPo]

A Stafford County woman is sentenced to six months in prison for driving with her kids in the trunk of a rental car (from Alabama to Virginia). [WTOP]

Marcia Cross hates Barbara Walters and is NOT a lesbian. [MSNBC]

McKinney Monday: Cyn-Cyn Loses But McKinney Mondays Continue

Cyn-Cyn (might have) lost, but circumlocutor readers still WIN!! McKinney Mondays continue. YES!!!!!!

Because it wouldn't be Monday without an article and a photo about Congresswoman Cynthia "McCrackles" McKinney...

This week's "McKinney Monday" update:
Wellllllll....in case you have been drunk, Schiavo(ed) out or simply haven't given a good gawd damn....Cyn-Cyn lost BIG tImE 2 her primary opponent last week. And, by big time, I mean to blog that the entire voting population of Georgia moved into her congressional district to vote her out of office.

So, Cyn-Cyn gets voted out of office and, naturally, she does what any other bitch-slapping congresswoman would do: pursues her legal options. BTW, I realize this post may sound exceptionally crass and mean.......really, no harm or disgrace (more than any other McKinney Monday posting) is meant to Cyn-Cyn (or Schiavo).....you see, I have not eaten dinner yet and......so anyway....

"US Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) is pursuing numerous legal avenues to challenge the so-called "results" of not only her recent Primary and Runoff Elections, but also the fundamental reality that the current E-voting system in Georgia does not provide us with "results" that are in any way meaningful." [Op-Ed News]

This week's "McKinney Monday" photo:
It seems "we" have exhausted our supply of glamour shots of Congresswoman Cynthia "McCrackles" McKinney [from her House of Reps. press page]. Actually, "we" are not sure if "we" have "exhausted" the "supply" yet (or not), but "we" are much too hungry to check, so be happy w/ what you get/got.

Here (above right) is a photo of Cyn-Cyn in her pre-much-ado-about-a-hairdo days. Actually, "we" are not sure if it's "pre" anything, but it looks like it is, and, again, "we" are hungry. Think about the hairdo that ruined a majestic/mighty political career...and "our" empty bellies......

Washington DC satire Georgia congress hairdo House of Representatives Cynthia McKinney photos

Morning News: Boy George, GOP, Crime Cameras, Voter Registration

***Boy George reports for duty...as a garbage collector. [FOX]

***Hugo Chavez visits Fidel Castro on Fidel's 80th birthday. [AP]

***GOP has big problems in the Northeast [WaPo]

***Today is the last day for DC residents to register to vote in the primary election. [WJLA]

***Chain stores/restaurants have taken over Dupont Circle. [WaPo]

***Surveillance cameras a limited success stopping crime in the District. [WaTimes]

Sunday's 7: Clinton, Cropp, Harris, Bobby Brown, Terrorists & Starbucks

1. Hillary Clinton's political problems deepen (in the aftermath of Lieberman's loss to Lamont). "'My goodness.' Hillary Rodham Clinton has a problem. It is a four-letter word called Iraq. And she is doing her best to exorcise it from her political resume." [Post-Chronicle] Maureen Dowd writes, "The enunciation of a clear sentence about the war in Iraq by Hillary Clinton means that there must be an election coming up."



2. Linda Cropp drives DC's mayoral race down nasty lane. Cropp "sharply changed the tone of the D.C. mayoral campaign this week. First she mass-mailed a glossy brochure assailing front-runner and Ward 4 council member Adrian Fenty for his opposition to the recent crime emergency bill. Next, [she] attacked Fenty for being admonished by the D.C. Bar for his poor job 'as a court-appointed guardian of an elderly man.'" [WaPo] A columnist says Cropp's campaigning is not unfair....but a blogger calls Cropp "shameless." "Note to Captain Cropp - you better PRAY voters aren't going to the polls in September with plans on holding any of our politicos accountable for their records. You act like you just showed up on the scene, that somehow you haven't been part of the problem. The reality is that Linda Cropp isn't just part of the problem - she is the problem." [Cut DC Taxes]



3. Katherine Harris refuses to apologize for an incident in which a supporter asked her primary opponent "why he had changed his name from Rodriguez to McBride"....and then told McBride he does "not look American." Harris' response to the event: "Whatever." [Orlando Sentinel] Meanwhile, (it is revealed that) a (Harris) aid traveled and dined on (stolen) money. He "began working as her volunteer driver and personal assistant in March -- about a month after he got out of jail." [Miami Herald]



4. Senator Rick Santorum's re-election campaign thinks Pennsylvanians are idiots. "Pennsylvania's Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate calls himself Bob. Not Robert. And definitely not "junior," though he is one. Just Bob. But Sen. Rick Santorum's proliferating TV and radio campaign ads refer to the challenger as Bobby Casey Jr." [Philadelphia Enquirer] Responds blogger(s), "Look at what they'd want us to believe: They'd have us believe that some voters in Pennsylvania confuse the man running for Senator with his father who died 6 years ago." [2 Political Junkies]



5. Gay pride marchers in Estonia are physically attacked. "At least 15 people were injured in a gay pride march in Tallinn, Estonia, on Saturday, when about 20 anti-gay protesters attacked marchers with sticks and stones. " [NEWS24]



6. Terrorists have succeeded in angering Americans who (previously) enjoyed bringing Starbucks coffees on their flights. "It is my right as an American to drink my large coffee, plus a huge bottle of water that I also brought on board, plus (if I am feeling really wild) I will also order a gingerale ( no cup, just the can please) and make my neighbor move repeatedly so that I may use the lavatory. These are my rights and you damn bomb detonating douches have taken them away (well not the gingerale or peeing but the other stuff)." [Dear D-Bag]



7. Bobby Brown's sister, Tina, wants her own reality-TV show. The former model and drug addict feels she was left out of the MY PREROGATIVE hitmaker's BEING BOBBY BROWN series, and now she's planning her own project with other family members, including her rapper son Shane." [ContactMusic]

Connecticut Rick Santorum Hillary Clinton Bobby Brown Linda Cropp senate democrats Ned Lamont Joe Lieberman Tina Brown terrorists gay starbucks

PRE-WEEKEND NEWS: Roman Sebrle Keeps European Decathlon Title

World record holder Roman Sebrle (has just) become the first decathlete in 20 years to retain the European title.

"The 31-year-old Czech had led the competition since the second of the 10 disciplines, the long jump, and the destination of the gold medal never looked in any doubt." [Reuters]

MORNING NEWS: Obama, Harris, Gibson, O'Malley

***Katherine Harris won't have to debate her (US Senate) primary opponents at a "candidates showdown" today....the Florida League Cities didn't invite them....[HeraldTribune]

***Hugo Chavez says Fidel Castro is (more or less) dead already (but trying not to be)....[WTOP]

***Mel Gibson gets support from (a leader of?) the Christian Right...[AP]

***Barack Obama models for cover of Men's Vogue...[WaPo]

***Republicans may benefit from yesterday's (foiled) London terrorism plot...[Bloomberg]

***Martin O'Malley recruits volunteers w/ the web...[WaTimes]

Mel Gibson Barack Obama Fidel Castro Katherine Harris

BUNYAN WATCH: 30 Hours, No Maureen

Maureen Bunyan, where are you? The BUNYAN WATCH clock is ticking....it's been 30 HOURS....make that 30 LONG HOURS....and circumlocutor has YET to receive a response to the (lengthy) questionnaire emailed to Maureen Bunyan, WJLA superstar....tick tock, tick tock...

Thursday (Has)Beens: Alan Thicke on "The Bold and the Beautiful"

Lordie Bee, this photo of Dr. Jason Seaver/Alan Thicke--taken today--on the set of "The Bold and the Beautiful", on which he portrayed/portrays as "Rich Ginger" (huh?) was toooooo nightmarish (not) to pass on...
Alan Thicke Growing Pains has-beens

Thursday (Has)Beens: The Golden Girls

This week's Thursday (Has)Beens: a 4-for-1 special...The Golden "Girls"....Blanche, Dorothy, Rose & "Ma"...

Blanche/Rue McClanahan: hanging out at gay clubs (pictured right), acting in a gay-themed TV show for a gay-themed cable network, starring in a movie with Scarlet Johansson....

Bea Arthur/Dorothy: Dating David Hasselhoff....

Betty White/Rose: Hosting parties at the L.A. Zoo...

Estelle Getty/"Ma"/Sophia: Still alive, suffering from Lewy body dementia, turned 83 last month....

Rue McClanahan Betty White Bea Arthur Estelle Getty The Golden Girls

DC Personal Training & Carnie Wilson

The "best" personal trainer with whom any person in Washington, DC, could ever hope to train, Doug Murphy (of dougmurphy.com), has started/resumed his personal fitness/training/health/nutrition blog. Visit Doug's blog dcpersonaltrainer.blogspot.com to stay abreast of all things crucial to getting fit and getting laid.

Speaking of personal fitness....I'm posting a bit I ran across the other day about everyone's fave-o-right fatty, (then) not-a-fatty, then a fatty (again)....Carnie Wilson. I was saving the CarnieCruiseLines Wilson bit for "Has-Been Thursdays" but, hey, the same five people read circumlocutor on Wednesdays as on Thursdays, so......WHO CARES?

Carnie, who's now on Celebrity Fit Club or some equally dumb VH1 bullsh*t, recently confessed that (the thought of) a doughnut makes her want to have mad, passionate, toilet paper-stuck-to-(sticky) shoe sex sessions in (handicap-accessible) bathroom-stalls.

"I have hallucinations with doughnuts all the time. I'm obsessed. I get horny when I eat doughnuts." Read more about CarnieCruiseLines Wilson's fantasies.

Lieberman Lunch Break

***"The Democratic voters have spoken in Connecticut...big time! Now I know my a*s is not the only b*tch hearing disco right this minute..." [Angry Black B*tch]

***"Joe Lieberman needs to know that his time is up. Like Alan Dixon (and other Senators before him who lost a primary), he’s got to accept the defeat and move on with his life. He only risks himself further embarrassment by staying in the race." [BeyondChron]

***"Bill O'Reilly used his commentary last night...to accuse Daily Kos and Huffington Post of posting "anti-semitic rants" against Lieberman. The two statements he displayed were not authorized blog posts but actually reader comments. " [News Hounds]

***"Joe Lieberman, without a motivated base, fundraising capacity or resonant message, is now in free-fall. Lamont, with a vibrant organization... points the way forward. Lieberman claimed he was defeated by 'the old politics of partisan polarization.' In fact, he lost through personal arrogance, which belies his just-folks drone." [The Nation]

***"He needed a way to hold onto his precious seat in the Senate. He scoured the state to identify the 25 supporters needed to form a political party so that he could still run, even after he loses the Democratic Primary on August 8th. That inspired the formation of Connecticut for Lieberman." [Bring It On!]

***"Boy was I relieved when Democrats in Connecticut sh*tcanned George W. Bush's Democratic boyfriend Joe Lieberman in favor of a candidate who actually wants to end the disastrous war in Iraq rather than expand it. In keeping with his Republican tendencies, Lieberman is refusing to bow out of the race he has already lost." [joe mama]

senate democrats Ned Lamont Joe Lieberman

Morning Resolution(s)

circumlocutor's morning resolution(s): buy a laptop that cost more than $20.00....or get my (long) broken Mac repaired....or stick a Molotov cocktail in my mouth while publishing in/with Blogger. (BTW: I'm going to start using/wearing premium unleaded gasoline as perfume, to give the ol' factory illusion of wealth.)

Sorry to be a buzz kill on what is an (otherwise)very lovely (weather-ish) morning. To make amends, I've posted a pic of one of the National Zoo's handsome furball residents (the tiger).

Here are the links to something I was working on but, because (cheap) consumer technology is too painful, have decided to he*l with it:

1. Washington Times' earth-shattering headline of the day: Germans find fewer deaths at Berlin Wall

2. Give-it-up news of the day: Lieberman won't quit...set to run as Independent

3. Point-less-academic-research news of the day: West Point thesis challenges gay policy

4. Question of the day: How many ways can the New York Times sell itself to the same student?

And the Children Rejoiced

And the children rejoiced....

Lieberman (by 4),

McKinney (by 18).

senate democrats Ned Lamont Joe Lieberman Georgia congress hairdo House of Representatives Cynthia McKinney

Photos of Joe's (Last) Day As a "Democrat"

U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman is declared "Worst US Senator" outside the school where he cast his vote (today) in New Haven.

Joe campaigns at a grocery store this morning.

Still grocery shopping....

Ned Lamont talks to the news media after voting today.

senate democrats Ned Lamont Joe Lieberman

dcist & (Not) Famous Photo of the Week: (Not) Barbara Bush

I must admit, I (fully) understand how this blogger felt when she found her site linked to by Wonkette yesterday. I nearly choked on a chicken salad sandwich when I saw, quite accidentally, a link to circumlocutor (via WEMPLEGATE) on dcist (a few minutes ago). Now back to business....

circumlocutor's (Not) Famous Photo of the Week: (Not) Barbara Bush

See other (Not) famous photos:
(Not) Prince & (Not) Laura Bush
(Not) Margaret Thatcher & (Not) Cher(s)
(Not) Tina & (Not) Madonna

Tuesday Questionnaire: Castro, Harris, Lieberman, Lohan

Fidel Castro: Dead or Alive? [WaTimes]

Katherine Harris: Insane or Completely Nuts? [NaplesNews]

Joe Lieberman: Gone in 60 Seconds? [AP]

Cynthia McKinney: Gone in 6 Seconds? [LATIMES]

Janet Jackson: Hot or Not? [MSNBC]

Lindsay Lohan: The new Marilyn Monroe/Bob Hope? [NYPO]

Gas Prices: Can they get (any) higher? [WaPo]

Susan Lucci: Is she in NoVa? [Reliable Source]

If Lieberman Loses...

If Lieberman loses...here are a few job openings he might want to consider:

1. Faith-based Preschool Teachers

2. DEFEAT THE REPUBLICANS : $1,400-$2,000/month.

2. Campaign for Gay Rights!

2. Country Manager Position in Iraq

3. Doorman at popular gay dance club

4. Use your bilingual skills to assist Asian women

5. Project Manager for Strategic Consultant Group Collation Forces Iraq

6. Dave & Buster's - AMUSEMENT MANAGER

7. Campaign Director - Elect DEMOCRATS in 2006!

7. Retired? Empty Nest? Want to Make a Difference?

8. Church Choir Director/Music Director

9. Punk/Rocker-Looking Actor (Needed)

10. Peace-keeping job opening in Lebanon

10. Hiring Immediately for Organizing Positions to Take Back the House!

10. Gas Station Critic

11. Part-time active positions available as a Criminal Justice Role Player

senate democrats Ned Lamont Joe Lieberman

McKinney Monday: The Glamour Shot (Run-Off) Edition

Because it wouldn't be Monday without an article and a photo about Congresswoman Cynthia "McCrackles" McKinney...

This week's "McKinney Monday" update:
Our little Cyn-Cyn has had to--hold your breath--campaign to get re-elected. Cyn-Cyn thought she'd breeze (light a falling star in a warm Georgia sky) through this year's elections/re-elections. The congresswoman (basically) skipped campaigning in the primary, and now, facing the reality of a run-off loss, is working the streets with Joe Lieberman-inspired desperation. "She has been making more public appearances, including calling a rare news conference, and hitting the radio and television airwaves - in a last-ditch effort to avoid defeat, which is the fate of most incumbents who don't overcome challengers in a primary."

Even (more) shocking than that Cyn-Cyn has had to--hold your breath--campaign....and (probably) negating the effects of any last-minute--hold your breath--campaigning....is the fact she is considered--sit down for this--a "polarizing figure." "'People tend to have a strong opinion about Cynthia McKinney,' Emory University political science professor Alan Abramowitz said. 'I don't know if a couple of weeks of campaigning is going to be enough to change enough people's minds.'" [Macon Telegraph]

This week's "McKinney Monday" photo:
Again this week....another wow-inducing shot of Congresswoman Cynthia "McCrackles" McKinney [from her House of Reps. press page] Wow. Wow. Wow. Cyn-Cyn can be thankful that, if she gets voted out of office tomorrow, she will at least walk away from the House of Reps with a stack of (voter paid for) Glamour Shots to use in launching a new career......as a Mary Kay sales rep. Wow.

Washington DC satire Georgia congress hairdo House of Representatives Cynthia McKinney photos

September 12, 2006, Nuclear War Still A "Go"

Fret not my doom-laden lovers of atomic catastrophe! The Nuclear War (tentatively) scheduled to begin September 12, 2006, is still a "go"....or so says a press release circumlocutor received (this morning) from "Moriyah."

In June, circumlocutor brought you news of (pre) apocalyptic messengers canvassing the Washington, DC, region with warnings of a coming nuclear war. Now....on this very day....said messengers from the House of Yahweh (HOY) have progressed from sliding newsletters/pamphlets under doorways to emailing DC bloggers.

FYI...A refresher course on HOY from the group's website:

RUMORS...
--The House of Yahweh is a dangerous cult with guns and ammunition.
--The House of Yahweh offers animal sacrifices.
--House of Yahweh Members are locked in and no one is allowed in or out.
--House of Yahweh Members are only fed bread and water but work long hours daily.
--Everyone's possessions go to The House of Yahweh.

Nothing But The Truth!
The very first House of Yahweh was established in Abilene, Israyl, a city named after Yahweh's first righteous priest Abel. If you traveled west from Abilene, Israyl you would pass right through Abilene, Texas where Yahweh's Last Days' House is established. It is not a coincidence that the first House of Yahweh and the Last Days' House of Yahweh were both established in a city named Abilene.

And now.....the press release confirming the nuclear war is still (tentatively) planned for September 12, 2006:

Urgent Press Release: for immediate distribution.
Subject: Nuclear War Begins September 12, 2006.

Body:
The war that is currently taking place between Israel and Lebanon, inflaming the whole Middle East, will escalate to Nuclear War starting September 12, 2006 and lead to the fulfillment of prophecy—a third part of mankind will be killed over a fourth part of the earth. This, in turn, will lead to the involvement of all nations and ultimately to fourth fifths of the earth’s total population being killed by October 13, 2007.
see http://www.yahweh.com/Newsletters/nl08-06.htm

This is all taking place in the last three and one-half year prophetic period that started April 13, 2004 when it was actually signed back into action by President George W. Bush and Ariel Sharon as they rekindled the stalled seven year Middle East Peace Plan. This seven year, on again, off again, on again Middle East Peace Plan has paralleled the missing week of years, spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, since it’s signing on September 13, 1993 by Rabin, Arafat and Clinton. The missing week of years in Daniel Chap. 9:24-27 is known as the divided, severed, or cut short time. We are now well into the last three and one-half years of both the Middle East Peace Plan and the week that Daniel prophesied. This Nuclear War will end with the final burning blast that darkens the sun.

I urge you to study and share the PDF document at http://www.yahweh.com/Newsletters/nl08-06.htm
All times, dates, scriptures and events can be easily verified and proven. The conclusion is correct. We are in the last 14 months. The author of this report, the Last Days Witness Yisrayl Hawkins, is the only one in history to figure it out, preach it in advance for over 20 years and, in language even a ten year old can understand, teach it to the whole world. Thousands of radio, television and print media now regularly carry Yisrayl Hawkins message.

Do not be deceived by talk of Peace after the first Nuclear Destruction takes place. These wars will intensify in the 13 months that remain after the initial war prophesied for September 12, 2006,

Make no mistake. These events will take place as prophesied. Whether you study the attached PDF now or wait till September 12, 2006 is up to you. Whether you warn your family, friends, neighbors and coworkers now is up to you. Maybe it’s better to be called crazy, and save even one life by giving this warning, than to look back and know you did nothing when you could have. If he is right, and there are many very highly placed individuals that do think he is right,
see http://www.yahweh.com/Newsletters/nl08-06.htm , then you will become a savior to those you warn. It is now in your capable and caring hands.

For additional information contact Shaul Hawkins at 001-325-672-9492

House of Yahweh nuclear war war

MORNING REPORT: Elian Gonzalez, Joe Lieberman, Reuters, Gays

***Elian Gonzalez writes to Fidel Castro, tells him to get well soon. "'We send you this letter so that you know that we are concerned about your health,' Elian Gonzalez, now 13, said in a letter also signed by five other children in his family and published today in the official newspaper, Juventud Rebelde. " [Herald Sun]

***Reuters withdraws a doctored photo and says it will no longer use the freelance photographer who took the shot. "The photograph by Adnan Hajj, which was published on news Web sites on Saturday, showed thick black smoke rising above buildings in the Lebanese capital after an Israeli air raid in the war with the Shi'ite Islamic group Hizbollah, now in its fourth week." [AlertNet]

***Joe Lieberman has little hope of winning Tuesday's primary election. "Without the support of even his longtime friends, it seems unlikely that Lieberman can turn around his political fortunes in the final hours of the campaign." [Chicago Tribune]

***Desperate, Lieberman explains his "position" on the war in Iraq. "With polls showing Lamont leading the three-term incumbent, Lieberman at last moved to confront the issues -- opposition to the war and anger with Bush -- that have put his political career in jeopardy." [WaPo]

According to Lieberman, "if we simply give up and pull out now, like my opponent wants to do, then it would be a disaster to Iraq and to us. We would run a high risk of allowing Iraq to become like Afghanistan when the Taliban were in charge, and Al Qaeda had safe haven from which to strike us.” [NY Times]

***Gays are not wanted in the military. [Philly Inq] They don't feel wanted in Virginia. [WaPo]

Elian+Gonzalez Reuters gays Ned Lamont Joe Lieberman Adnan Hajj

"Pearls Before Swine" Rat Writes Book

For the circumlocutor regular(s) who can't live without Pearls Before Swine on days not reading Express/riding Metro to work...more "Pearls" here...

Sunday's 7: Gibson, Gore, Santorum, Simpson and more

1. Mel Gibson always wanted to direct TV shows, and now he may have a shot at his dream. "With Mel's movie career possibly in shambles he turns to TV...here are some of his ideas to get back on top: 1. Hill Street Jews::: Ensemble piece about of a bunch of Jews that live on Hill Street and control the media. 2. Mork and Mindy Cohen:::Wacky comedy about an alien from the Planet Ork who befriends a homely down on her luck Hollywood Jew Mindy Cohen (Played by Teri Hatcher)." [I Ain't No Oprah]

2. Senator Rick Santorum's staff helps his Green Party opponent in an attempt to siphon support from the Democratic challenger, Bob Casey. "Not only has a group of Santorum Conservatives bought and paid for the Carl Romanelli "Green" campaign, it turns out that Santorum staffers were among those collecting signatures to get him on the ballot." [2 Political Junkies]

3. A spoof of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth that's making its way around the 'net was made by a Republican PR firm. "When Wall Street Journal tried to find the guy who posted this film — listed on YouTube as a 29-year-old — they found the movie didn't come from an amateur working out of his basement.The film actually came from a slick Republican public relations firm called DCI, which just happens to have oil giant Exxon as a client." [News You Can Abuse]

4. Ann Coulter & Tom Delay defend Joe Lieberman. "The former House majority leader from Texas is a Republican who may not agree with the Bush White House's favorite Democrat on every issue but who thinks the Senator is right-on when it comes to foreign policy."[Lieberman's] very good on the war," DeLay said during an interview this week on the Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" program." [Holly Hester]

5. A loss by Lieberman on Tuesday will be bad news for Hillary Clinton and good news for Al Gore. "An upset by Lamont would affect the political calculations of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who like Lieberman supported giving Bush authority to wage the Iraq war, and could excite interest in a comeback by former vice president Al Gore, who warned in 2002 that the war could be a grave strategic error" [WaPo]

6. Pat Robertson is hot and sweaty and tired of emptying the collection plates to pay for air conditioning. He is now a global warming "convert." "This week the heat index...reached 115 Fahrenheit...The 76-year-old Robertson told viewers that was 'the most convincing evidence I've seen on global warming in a long time.' Last year, Robertson said natural disasters affecting the globe, including hurricanes Katrina and Rita that wrecked the U.S. Gulf Coast, might be signs that the biblical apocalypse was nearing." [Reuters]

7. Joe Simpson should return to the pulpit and stop obsessing about his daughters' breasts. "I am not calling you a d-bag yet, I am just wondering when did you decide to stop preaching about Jesus Christ as our savior and begin preaching to your daughters about hair extensions and dope tracks?" [Dear D-Bag]

Mel Gibson Coulter Bush Connecticut Bible religion Al Gore Rick Santorum Hillary Clinton Pat Robertson Global Warming senate democrats Ned Lamont Joe Lieberman Joe Simpson

NOTES: Hot Reporters, Andrew Noyes, HIV, Tenants, Comments

***fishbowlDC's hottest reporter/journalist poll has a seeeeeeeeerious omission: Chris Cuomo. circumlocutor emailed fishbowl, and, it turns out, Chris (pictured left) was NEVER nominated. Huh?

According Chris' entry in wikipedia, he was one of People's 50 Sexiest People in 1997. Okay, so he's gained a couple pounds, lost a little hair and done some REALLY lame GMA interviews since then....but, come on, he's still ABC eye candy (at it's best).

If there's no hope of adding Chris as a late entry (or as a write-in candidate), circumlocutor is throwing its full support behind Technology Daily's Andrew Noyes. (See and vote for Andrew here.) Noyes, in addition to looking great in a straw/peasant/cowboy hat, knows how to take a yawntacular photo with a disposable camera. Plus.....and this is a HUGE plus.....he once starred along the side of Hollywood "heavyweights" Freddie Prinze, Jr., and Rick Schroder in the straight-to-video dud, Hostage High. Yes!!!!!!!

***Someone commented the below information to a post in the circumlocutor archives. I thought I'd give the info/comment a boost from the archives...

Interested in HIV/AIDS Advocacy and Activism? Upcoming events:
CAVE Community Advisory Board Meeting
August 9th - 6:30 PM
CAVE serves as the Community Advisory Board for the NIH Vaccine Research Center, which conducts both prevention and treatment focused HIV Vaccine research in the DC area.

ACTION Speaker Series: HIV Prevention Vaccine Research
September 14th - 1:00 PM.
Join ACTION and the NIH Vaccine Research Center to learn more about research currently underway to find a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. An HIV Vaccine is not yet available. However, important research is moving us toward that goal, and volunteers in DC will have an important role to play. Come and find out more. RSVP Required. DAVID MARINER, http://www.dccare.org

***Here's another one someone posted in the archives.....this one in response to Worst Apts in DC (the world) posts...The comment reads, "You should check out the Tenant Association Organizing Guide".

BTW, their is not an endless supply of crappy apartments on apartmentratings.com (that is, I know there is an endless supply of crappy apartments in DC, but not all of them are listed on that site)....so if you know of a scummy/slimy/completely ghetto rip-off apartment building (or complex) in the Washington, DC, area....please send the info to me.... [circumlocutordc at gmail dot com].

***The vulgar "Anonymous" commenter comes clean and explains his/her (racial) slur comments and admits he/she does not love me after all. (But he/she was sort of nice about it.) [Read the exchange.]

Chris Cuomo Andrew Noyes race vulgar tenants AIDS

Weekend Report: Target Welcomes Thieves, Alcoholics & Over-Priced Crab Concerts

***Target shopper and criminal mastermind Claude Allen avoids (going to) prison. The White House domestic policy advisor pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay a fine. After Allen pays fine and performs "restitution", he will have no criminal record. "As for Allen's explanation for his bizarre criminal conduct, he blamed Hurricane Katrina." [Crooks and Liars]

***Jodie Foster defends Mel Gibson. "'Mel is honest, loyal, kind, but alcoholism has been a lifelong struggle for him and his family,' she said. 'I just wish I had been there, that I had been able to say, 'Don't do it, don't take that drink'." [BBC]

***Joe Lieberman is desperate. "The Lieberman campaign is apparently sending pro-Lieberman crowds of staffers to pick fights at Lamont events in the hopes of generating backlash press against Lamont for having a bunch of unruly hippy backers." [HuffPo]

***The District government alters reports about the deaths of mentally-retarded residents living in District group homes. "The deletions, discovered by a federal court monitor, included information that described serious case-management failings; delays in obtaining consent for medical procedures; concerns about health care; concerns about autopsy findings and procedures; and problems getting information needed to complete the death investigations." [WaPo]

***Washington, DC, race/racial debates intensify "online." "Suddenly people more accustomed to going online to compare contractor references and complain about missed recycling pickups found themselves engulfed in a forum about race and crime in a city long defined by both." [WaPo] [circumlocutor receives racist "comments" from visitors.]

***Wikimania II takes over Boston. [webpronews]

***Liza Minelli sings (today) at the closing ceremony of the Outgames in Montreal. [LifeSite]

***The Stylistics, The Dramatics, The Chi-Lites, The Intruders and Peaches & Herb today at the Maryland Music Festival and Crab Feast. Tickets are $60. [Event Website]

DC Washington DC Liza Minelli Crabs Outgames race Joe Lieberman Wikimania Jodie Foster Target Mel Gibson Claude Allen >Ned Lamont

Vulgarity on DC Blogs

Oh ye, pathetic, little voiceless one,
I suppose, to you, it's a spot of jolly good fun.
You visit bloggers' sites nonstop each day,
and vulgar hate is all you have to say.

Gee, you can spell the foulest of foul slurs.
With boring repetitiveness, "Anonymous" reoccurs.
I've seen your comments on the site of Kelly Ann Collins.
But, b*tch, fcuk free speech 'cause we ain't back at Rollins.

Your "comments" will continue, your hate-mongering will repeat.
Do know, however, I am an insomniac who lives to "delete."
And I suppose that you think erasing is my only redress.
Wrong answer, punk, 'cause I am publishing your IP Address.

To the person belonging to the below IP address, who incessantly "comments" vulgar, one-word slurs on my and other (Washington, DC) blogs: Wallow in someone else's filth.

c-68-49-92-229.hsd1.dc.comcast.net
IP Address: 68.49.92.229
Country: United States
Region: Maryland
City: Randallstown
ISP: Comcast Cable Communications Inc

race vulgarity

Robin Williams Talks to Gay Fraud or James Frey

We live in a world of exaggerated/embellished truths, manufactured personal histories and make-believe memoirs. Thank the good lord above for James Frey and JT Leroy...because, without them, anonymous bloggers would have the credibility of a "Unabomber" global peace plan.

The (same) week you decide it is safe to watch Oprah again, Frey's humidified kink/Ogilvie home perm-cum-gay-leather-bar-clone(ish) beard pops up on your (computer) monitor. [Newsflash: circumlocutor just---at this very moment--realized James Frey and Paul Mitchell MAY in fact BE the same person.]

Freedom Frey is back...as the inspiration/ metaphor/ unfortunate analogy of the film adaptation of the best book I never finished reading, The Night Listener. The Robin Williams/Sandra "Oh No" film opens everywhere today, and, somewhat surprisingly, is showing at several Washington, DC, area movie theatres.

In the film Williams portrays a gay author, who is really Armistead Maupin, who meets someone, who is really Anthony Godby Johnson, who is really Freedom Frey, who is really Paul Mitchell.

Got it?

Paul Mitchell Robin Williams Armistead Maupin James Frey The Night Listener

The Devil Shops at Rodman's: Wintour in Georgetown?

Inspired by circumlocutor's (Not) Famous Famous Photo Series, Washingtonian Magazine/Online provides a glimpse into the life of a NW Washington, DC, woman who looks eeeeeerily like Vogue Editor Anna Wintour. But rather than ruling (all of) "fashion" with an iron fist, Georgetown resident Betty Parker keeps garden with a celebrated green thumb. Oh....and... Betty's not so hot in the "style department", apparently.

"Sure, she was fashionable, but she was fashionable in a mom-cute way, and even then, she always managed to look a bit more quirky — more lively, more colorful — than the other moms. She’d wear red sneakers with flowing black overalls and a blue blazer, or she’d stand in the driveway in a pink hat, purple shirt, and white capris that gave way to, yes, bright cartoonish socks." [Washingtonian]

Anna Wintour Betty Parker Washingtonian Georgetown doppelganger

Michelle Malkin Naked With Whips and Flames

I ran into a friend in Foggy Bottom last night who confessed he had a dream about Michelle Malkin naked....nude.....in her birthday suit....surrounded by whips and chains. I could only keep the Brunswick stew (I had for dinner) in my belly by imagining said "dream" set in a flame-filled boiler room somewhere south of Dante's Inferno.

Moving on from that terrifying vision (and the photo momentarily manufactured by my "gift" of visualization)....I pass along like-minded bloggage so to cleanse my soul of its Malkin infestation.
circumlocutor, therefore, presents the below passages from (a few of) the multitude of anti-Malkin bloggers. For my friend dreaming/nightmaring of Michelle Malkin naked, I have two dream-erasing Lunesta tablets I will slide in your S. Pellegrino when next we meet.

The latest from the anti-Malkin majority:
"Michelle Malkin, the most pathetic and feeble-minded of the Far Right blogosphere was stupider than Rove and has made no attempt to hide her admiration for Holy Joe."[DownWithTyranny!]

"Has right-wing blogger/immigrant and minority scold/Fox News babe Michelle Malkin finally jumped the shark? Her wacky Qana conspiracy theory ... let's call it the Qanspiracy... puts her in "hunt the Boeing" territory ... only with far less credibility" [ReidBlog]

"Michelle Malkin calling someone else a racist??!! Stop! Stop! You're killing me!!" [Incomprehensible Demoralization]

"I was understandably miffed when she said in a post today that JANE had called her "Michelle MalKKKin". Dammit! That was mine! I mean, I love Jane, don’t get me wrong, but damn. Isn’t she freaking famous enough? Come on, Michelle, you stupid race-baiting half-wit! Get it right!" [firedoglake]

"So according to lying freak Michelle Malkin, the Lebanese civilians orchestrated the deaths at Qana, in order to manufacture a photo-op?" [Media Needle]

"Michelle Malkin, Our Lady of the Concentration Camps...Iwas sorry to read this morning that you received an avalanche of "moonbat mail from people who finally discovered the Seattle P-I's article mentioning that accused Jew-killer Naveed Haq" is a born again Christian." [Jesus' General]

"If you want a perect, clinical example of Eurocentric colonialist brainwashing examine Michelle Malkin. I can find no better exemplar of White supremacist indoctrination than her. May her and her kind be damned to the Christian Hell they claim to believe in." [The Angryindian]

Ned Lamont Joe Lieberman Michelle Malkin

Notes: Katherine Harris Sexy, Mariah in Butter, Big 100.3, DC Bloggers

***This is what filled my laptop's screen when I searched for the mythical "Katherine Harris sexy" photos in flickr tonight:



circumlocutor has not thrown in the towel (yet). I will find the "Katherine Harris sexy" photos, damn, it! Right after meeting JD Salinger and finding Hoffa's corpse, of course....

***Mariah Carey likes to dance in tubs filled with whipped butter (while wearing a tiny bikini)...she shakes her hips, bends her knees and disappears in the dairy froth....see it for yourself....

***Helen Thomas takes on Joe Lieberman. "The pompous senator has been called the White House's favorite Democrat because of his unquestioning support for Bush's militant policies." Read it here.

***Big 100.3: I am addicted to it. Jammed in the car to "Waiting for a Girl Like You" by Foreigner this evening. It doesn't get any better than that in Washington, DC, folks.

***The Google Hits keep coming, thanks to Maureen Bunyan. Since my post this afternoon, more searches on Maureen's hairdo, hairstyle & "beautician" have brought folks to circumlocutor. Sending Maureen an email tonight to ask what-the-hell-is up with her hair...

***Chris Cuomo is on Primetime Live at this exact moment. Is Chris the missing link between Nick Lachey and Thomas "Michael Mancini" Calabro? Hmmmmmm......

***DC Blogs/Bloggers....let me know if I've been missing any well-written blogs. The Blogroll is always growing. Velvet in Dupont and My life as an Alien in modern-day USA were added tonight. Lemme know....

***BTW....what's the deal w/ IMDB's new (thumbnail photo next to each actor's name) layout? NOT GOOD.....

butter Joe Lieberman Nick Lachey Chris Cuomo Katherine Harris Mariah Carey

Pre-Weekend Treat: Alexis Carrington "Toxic" Montage (in Italian)

[or, more likely, in Spanish...I'm a dumb American (and I didn't actually watch this before posting it) ...sorry...]

circumlocutor thanks Maurizio in London for this mental novacaine. [circumlocutor thanks R for (possible) language identification.]

Malkin to Save Lieberman by Buying Book off eBay

Fear (not) US Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, author of the non-seller In Praise of Public Life! It matters (not) that you have a double-digit deficit (behind Ned Lamont) in the latest poll. It matters (not) that you will probably/definitely/without a doubt lose the primary election (to Ned Lamont) next week. It matters (not) that your book (more than one copy) is currently on sale on eBay--for 99 cents with ZERO bids. The fact (that) the (spare) change under (anyone's) sofa cushions could save you from the 99 cent/zero bid humiliation is irrelevant....BECAUSE.... Michelle Malkin is on your side!!!!!

In related news...Insiders at "Lamont for US Senate" campaign headquarters report cases of (donated) Cristal are popped and poured after Malkin publishes Lamont-bashing posts on her blog. Recent statistics prove that each anti-Lamont statement written or spoken by Malkin causes a 5 to 8 point jump in the polls for Lamont among likely Dem. (primary)voters.
ebay senate democrats Ned Lamont Joe Lieberman Michelle Malkin

Thursday's (Former) Celebrity News: Debbie Gibson, Mr. T, Meatloaf, Star Jones

***Debbie Deborah Gibson sings in San Diego, and three gay men are beaten with baseball bats. "Police say the attack occurred at 10:45 pm, about 45 minutes after pop singer Deborah Gibson finished her concert." [SD Union-Tribune]

***Star Jones fakes a British accent and issues (legal) warnings to men her husband screwed. She is "prepared to sue anyone who suggests things aren’t going great with Gay Husband." [HollywoodDailies]

***Mr. T ain't no Dr. Phil. ""My show ain't no Dr. Phil where people sit around crying, 'What's wrong with me, Dr. Phil? What's wrong with me, Dr. Phil?' You are a fool! That's what's wrong with you!" Mr. T said." [RelishNow]

***Meatloaf keeps getting fatter. "Almost 30 years after the release of the original Bat Out of Hell record, listeners are sure to notice that Meat Loaf's latest effort is significantly heavier than anything he has done before. " [Toronto Star]

***MC Hammer sells a record. [SmartMoney]

Art by Gallery of the Absurd.

Meatloaf celebrities gay Star Jones Debbie Gibson Mr. T

Notes: Amy Argetsinger, Adam Caskey, Home Improvement Ninja, Eliza's Fundraising, "World Trade Center"

***"Is Amy Argetsinger hot"? Someone asked me that (of the WaPo "Reliable Source" co-author) yesterday. Naturally, my response was, "How the hell would I know?" Not only have I never met, spoken to or seen Ms. Argetsinger, but the last female I called "hot" was Shakira in 2002. So, I don't know if Ms. Argetsinger is "hot"...but I do know how to use Google Image Search. Pictured right is Ms. Amy A. Figure it out.

***The Home Improvement Ninja is single but not gay. Since I predicted he was married w/ three kids, I guess I got the not gay part right. The exchange yesterday--after I confessed my crush on the H.I. Ninja--was surprisingly light hearted and fun. One can never be too sure in this post-Jenny Jones world. It would have never worked out with the H.I. Ninja anyway....circumlocutor is in a (too) long-term relationship. But, since the Ninja is a lawyer, I am saving the link to his site....in case I ever fulfill my (long-term) vision of mowing my (long-term) significant other down (with my car). H.I. Ninja goes in the pile of never-to-be requited crushes--next to Keanu Reaves, Martin O'Malley & Adam Caskey...

***Speaking of Adam Caskey...I have officially given up on Diane Sawyer and the (vaguely "hot") Chris Cuomo on Good Morning America in favor of (all-Adam) News Channel 8 mornings. Sorry, Diane, there are only so many infomercial interviews I can stomach on my first two pots of coffee. The (warmest) warm front in Washington, DC, Adam Caskey, is the new "love of my life"...as long as he (pictured right) keeps the 'fro down. BTW, don't make the mistake I did and visit www.adamcaskey.com... wrong Adam, wrong Caskey, wrong hairdo...

***K-Fed is unwanted here. Despite the fact that 25 trillion teenage girls and middle-age gay men visited circumlocutor's Federate K-Fed page (thanks to links from Gawker and Wonkette), the fundraising (which was really for the Whitman-Walker clinic) total is only $3.95 (all donated by me) after three weeks. I'm going to take a hint and end the campaign. In the meantime, donate to Whitman-Walker (& help the local fight against HIV/AIDS) via Eliza Matthews. Eliza's already met her fundraising goal for the AIDS Marathon, but that doesn't mean your money isn't needed. Washington, DC, is fortunate to have a place like Whitman-Walker, where people can get fast, free ANONYMOUS tests...tests that cost more than a $25 donation. Visit Eliza's site.

***Am I unpatriotic for finding ads/trailers/promos for Oliver Stone's new film World Trade Center hokey and contrived? I lived in Manhattan on, during and after 9/11, and I joined the US Army as a result of 9/11. These facts should void any anti-patriotic jibes that may come from admitting I find the film's advance material ridiculous. But then again, I/you don't need an excuse or reason or personal history to back up allegations/opinions the film is trite.....

ninja DC Washington DC Journalism Media fundraising AIDS 911 World Trade Center Adam Caskey Amy Argetsinger

The Next Eater of the House?

Today, circumlocutor is spotlighting the neck/chin region of (U.S. House Speaker J.) Dennis Hastert, (R-IL).

Dennis "The Menace" Hastert (seen in a photo taken yesterday) has long followed (and built on) the lead of his predecessor, Newt Gingrich, in the height/weight proportion dept. After thoroughly investigating the issue, circumlocutor concluded US Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) now physically subscribes to the Gingrich/Hastert template of Congressional necks/chins.

A harbinger of a sweeping victory for the Dems (in the House this November)?

DC fat congress Newt Gingrich politicians Pelosi Hastert chins

Mail-Order Brides Caged for Chicken

Important World News Update: Two Russian mail-order brides Chicken Rights advocates claw in misery (yesterday) as they desperately crave a bucket of grease-packed, seven-herbs-and-spices-drenched Animal 57. The Chicken Rights activists sit in the cage to promote their new online bride-buying service and to protest against the U.S. fast-food company KFC in Moscow.

Moscow's citizens began raising Vodka bottles in protest when KFC (there) announced (Monday) it would no longer dispense government-rationed potatoes to customers. Chicken Rights advocates yesterday said that linking with the bride-buying service and potato protest was a great way to maximize publicity for an international campaign to pressure KFC to halt the cruel treatment of chickens by its suppliers.

The Russian text reads: 'KFC tortures chicken!' The English text reads: 'Free to a good home!'
DC satire Russia animal rights brides protest KFC chicken

The Smog Report

First Gov. Schwarzenegger and Tony Blair work together, now 22 cities stand behind Bill Clinton in the fight against global warming. Could this be the "trickle-down" economy of Al Gore's film, An Inconvenient Truth, a "very important film" that single-handedly saved a nation from the destruction inherent in sleep deprivation?

"Schwarzenegger and Blair announced an unusual agreement that could someday foster cooperation between companies in California and the United Kingdom to help lower emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases." [San Francisco Chronicle]

"Twenty-two of the world's largest cities announced yesterday that they will work together to limit their contributions to global warming in an effort led by former president Bill Clinton." [WaPo]

"Prime Minister Blair has misread President Bush on global warming, expecting far too much -- something, anything -- from a White House that doesn't take global warming seriously, that doesn't even think there's a problem at all, but he has turned to the state that may just work with him on this pressing issue: California." [The Reaction]

"What do you call it when a society knowingly cripples itself?" [Gristmill]

"If you don't believe Al Gore and the climate scientists, perhaps you'll believe George W. Bush's own Pentagon." [Brilliant at Breakfast]

DC smog Gore Tony Blair Bill Clinton Venezuela Global Warming UK Schwarzenegger California

Hugo's Magical World Tour: Rubber Chickens & Che Guevara

circumlocutor's team of crackerjack reporters have been following Venzuela's President, Meatball Hugo Chavez, as he tours the world's most luxurious locations.

The latest on Hugo's 2006 World Tour, U.S. Enemies: Past, Present & Future:
"Hugo Chavez is shaking a lot of hands, writing a lot of checks and eating a lot of rubber chicken." [Armageddon Cocktail Hour]

Hugo receives Iran's highest honor. "Yes, that would be the coveted 'Evil C*nt Award'. [Good News And Bad News]

"This Che Guevara-wannabe moron really gets on my nerves." [ONLY WIRED]

Hugo survived a "US-backed coup against him. Since then the US has instated a weapons embargo against Venezuela, which is exactly why Chavez went to Russia to get his weapons." [Wis[s]e Words]

The latest on Fidel/Hugo:
"It would be un-Christian of me to wish death on Castro, but I’m Jewish, so I can get by with it. I hope he dies soon and I hope it hurts like Hell. He can take Hugo Chavez with him." [The Bullwinkle Blog]

"Another worry is that Castro's friends in the hemisphere, notably Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, might intervene to ensure that Castroite rule survives the aging leader's death." [WaPo]

And--just for fun--the latest on (one of) Hugo's domestic enemies:
"Although Chavez opponents say all dissidents are targets, Lopez seems to be the object of a full-out campaign. The government has filed 26 criminal charges against him going back to 1998, with counts including illegal campaign financing and violation of building codes." [Sun-Sentinel]

Don't forget circumlocutor's ealier coverage:
Hugo's Magical World Tour

DC Stinky satire Vietnam Iran Venezuela Hugo Chavez tour Castro Cuba enemies Russia

Notes: DC Bubble, Home Improvement Ninja & HotPOT Day

***What the hell happened to the Inside the DC Bubble blog? For months, I visited the site religiously...passed on the articles, marveled at what a magnificent local resource the site is/was and waited impatiently for the next post. Then...beginning in June, the regularity/frequency of updates on the site began to decrease/slowly cease/stop. Please return to us, Inside the DC Bubble...I rely on you for my urban development/redevelopment/condo/community news.

***I have a secret crush that--at the moment I hit the 'publish post' button in Blogger--will be a secret no more. I think I might, maybe, (possibly), potentially, have a small/tiny crush on the "Home Improvement Ninja." I have no desire to ever meet the ninja, and I am so very sure that he has a wife and three kids....BUT, come on....he scales buildings in a black ninja suit. Why shouldn't I have a crush on him? Why else do I keep visiting his site? I don't own a home, and I don't give a good gawd damn about the stock market....

***I received this via email (this morning): "So everyone has heard about the george michael cruising in the park scandal.in honor of gawker's astute coverage, which spawned the FABULOUS locution "hot piece of twat" (it even resulted in a fucking fantastic t shirt - that i bought), i am officially proclaiming tomorrow "hot piece of twat" day. this is similar to cameltoe replacement day except that there's no replacement. rather, use "HotPOT" whenever you feel it appropriate, throughout the day on AUGUST FIRST. here are some examples.watching "war of the worlds" (i'm not gonna even get started on the total pile of poo this movie is) and the massive scary cloud rolls in, with the wind going toward it (thanks tommy for the observation) and everyone is looking at it. i say "that is one hot piece of twat."get it? ok. hot. get into it."

Laura Bush, Miss Beazley & Barney

In honor of (Not) Laura Bush, I've posted the REAL DEAL.

First Lady Laura Bush walks her dogs, Miss Beazley (l) and Barney (r), in the Rose Garden (yesterday) prior to President George W. Bush's return to the White House.

Laura Bush Miss Beazley Barney White House

(Not) Famous Photo of the Week: (Not) Prince & (Not) Laura Bush

See other (Not) famous photos:

(Not) Margaret Thatcher & (Not) Cher(s)
(Not) Tina & (Not) Madonna
Laura Bush famous Prince

Hugo's Magical World Tour

America's fave South American tyrant wack-a-doo despot meatball pain in the ass, Hugo Chavez, fed his llama a bowl of enchanted beans and then boarded the magically-airborne animal for travel to some of the U.S.'s fave tourist destinations.

Over the weekend, President Meatball Chavez proved obesity has benefits...his body successfully fought off 85 percent of the 932 trillion separate strains of bacteria brought via hugging Iran's President "Stinky" (pictured right). Later, Chavez received Iran's highest honor, which, I'm told, is a hot shower after hugging "Stinky."

After liberally applying disinfectant, Chavez arrived yesterday/today in Hanoi...the latest stop in his "U.S. Enemies: Past, Present & Future" world tour. Chavez pledged support for Vietnam (pictured below). As a sign of good faith, Chavez skipped eating two meals while in Hanoi. The food donated from the skipped meals is said to be enough to feed all of Vietnam for at least three months.


Hugo's Magical World Tour...

Stops concluded: Belarus, Russia, Qatar, Iran, Vietnam.

Stops to come: Mali and Benin.

DC Stinky satire Vietnam Iran Venezuela Hugo Chavez tour enemies

Tuesdays With Teddie?

I had a brilliant idea. Following the success of McKinney Mondays, I thought, what better way to soothe the passage of the work week than to launch "Tuesdays With Teddie"? It's brilliant...the idea...isn't it? Because, I know that when you think "Tuesday" you think "Ted Kennedy"...and because it makes fun of that diarrhea-filled book "Tuesdays With Morrie" but not in a way that's in-your-face insulting...it sort of makes you think that maybe it's an insult to crummy movie-of-the-week inspiring dribble (or maybe not), but you'd never really know. And, of course, the content of "Tuesdays With Teddie" would, in itself, be quite brilliant because I know you know that I know how funny Teddie can be when he's trying to give heart-warming advice and, especially, when the heart-warming advice is really me pretending that he's giving me heart-warming advice but, actually, I'm just typing whatever (obscure) madness happens to pop into my head.

Brilliant? Yes! Yes! YeS!!!!!!

Anyhoo, "Tuesdays With Teddie" must wait b/c I spent waaaaaaaaay to much time deciding which type of Starbuck's beverage "Teddie" should have in hand in the logo photo....and, someone put "War of the World's" on my TV last night at 10:30 pm....and, two Tylenol PMs, sort of, drain the creative spirit....and, it's possible, that this--"Tuesdays With Teddie"--might be more brilliant--as an idea--in my head than in (on-the-web) execution.

You get where I'm going with this...

In case you came upon this post expecting to read something (vaguely) related to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, here's an article (vaguely) related to Teddie.

Also.....here's an article about Joan Collins and her bathing habits.

McKinney Monday: The Glamour Shot Edition

Because it wouldn't be Monday without an article and a photo about Congresswoman Cynthia "McCrackles" McKinney...

This week's "McKinney Monday" update:
Everyone (and by "everyone" I mean "everyone") in Georgia is chipping into the fund to get Cyn-Cyn OUT of Congress. Former foes (and by "former foes" I mean anyone in Georgia who ever ran for elected office--and their opponents) are fast friends, united in their goal of kicking Cyn-Cyn's ass to the Congressional curb. Read more.

This week's "McKinney Monday" photo:
Wow. All I can say is "wow." No exclamation point...just a period w/ an impending sense of befuddlement (and a hovering pseudo-narcotic shock). Cyn-Cyn...how could you? That photo? This photo? Wow. Wow. Scroll (back) up the screen and "Wow." again. I suppose this is the appropriate time to launch circumlocutor's first-ever "Caption THIS." Wow. Oh, and FYI,BTW, this photo came from her House of Reps. press page. Wow.

As they say on other blogs, "Caption THIS."

DC Washington DC satire Georgia congress hairdo House of Representatives Cynthia McKinney photos

Site of the Week--Garfield: Permanent Monday

Not much is happening today/at the moment to inspire quality bloggage, and I'm having trouble locating a document for the next installment of WEMPLEGATE 2006.....soooooooo, I've decided to make a few posts that (probably) only appeal to moi. Anyhoo, Garfield is (paws-down) more interesting than La Lohan and/or Mel "Sugar Tits" Gibson....Here's a fine, fine site that provides complex deconstruction of the daily Garfield comic.