1 in 3 LGBT kids seriously contemplate suicide because of the way gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are treated by society as sick, wrong or on par with murders and rapists.
In his moving testimony to the California State Senate, Dustin Lance Black (the Academy Warding winner writer of the screenplay for Milk) explained how at age 13 he was told the story of Harvey Milk. being told the story of Harvey Milk changed his life for the better.
Urge Governor Schwarzenegger to sign the bi-partizen legislation that would officially recognize Harvey Milk's birthday as a day of signifigance in California by calling (916) 445-2841. It's an automated system, you just need to press a few buttons to voice your support.
Thursday, July 30, 20092 comments
(latest by Mike Miller)
This advertisement of a family who apparently wouldn't be able to afford their camping trip were there a 3 cent junk food tax on that soda they brought.
A NY Times article suggests 3 cents is not enough to make a dent on obesity, though it would generate $51.6 billion over a decade.
One line in the commercial really gets me though. The ad declares, "taxes never made anyone healthy" which is an outright lie because according to the CDC taxes are an effective way to reduce smoking.
Research shows that tax increases on tobacco products are an effective policy intervention designed to prevent initiation of adolescents and young adults, reduce cigarette consumption, and increase the number of smokers who quit. A 10% increase in the price of cigarettes is estimated to reduce consumption by 4%.
Paying an extra couple cents for to have a soda a few times a week, even a few dollars for a family, isn't going to put anyone in debt.
A military review panel recommended Tuesday that National Guard Lt. Dan Choi, the gay Arabic translator who became a national figure in fighting the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy after declaring his sexuality on television, be discharged from the service.
The day before, President Obama spoke to a gay audience but took no action towards equality and six months into his presidency has not kept the promise he made to use his executive authority to stop the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. Last month, the Obama Administration compared gay marriage to incest in court filing defending the Defense of Marriage Act.
The official White House blog notes the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, a turning point for gay rights when the patrons of Stonewall Inn fought back against the police who had come to raid the bar for the simple fact they were gay. Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement Brian Bond writes,
With over 60 out appointees working in this Administration already, we are free to be ourselves.
Lt. Dan Choi, from Orange County, California, is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and an Iraq War veteran. On Tuesday, he will face a panel of colonels who will decide whether or not to fire him -- to discharge him from the military for "moral and professional dereliction" under the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
Pressed by gay-rights groups to live up to his campaign promise to be a "fierce advocate" of equality for gays and lesbians, Obama denounced the 1996 law Wednesday while announcing limited benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees.
In a complementary study conducted by the TA, 72 percent of business owners surveyed in commercial districts said they thought their customers drove alone to shop, while another 15 percent assume customers drove some of the time. Further TA data show that while commercial districts in high car ownership neighborhoods like West Portal see up to 41 percent driving shoppers, nothing comes close to the near 90 percent perception among business owners.
Natalie Jones, a sixth-grader in Ramona, California, created a Powerpoint presentation about Harvey Milk's life and activism, for which she received a near-perfect score. The day before the presentation, Jones' principal said that although her project was as good as a high school student's, because of the "sensitive material," she might be unable to show it.
If the court upholds Prop 8, it's time to start putting up propositions to take away other people's rights. We could probably put a dent in the budget deficit were we to tax Mormons at 5 times the rate of regular people.
The same day I arrived in Barcelona, my ex-boyfriend sent me a story about banning cars on San Francisco's Market Street. Despite a promising headline, the second paragraph states that actually banning cars (which are already outnumbered by bicycles) on Market Street is no longer on the table and seems to be a trial program which forces east-bound auto-traffic to turn at 8th Street and preventing cars turning onto Market at another intersection.
"It will feel pretty good to see some progress, albeit incremental progress on Market Street," said District Supervisor Chris Daly though the article doesn't make any mention that this is at least the third Market Street study conducted by the Transit Authority (TA) and the supervisors like Daly who also act as the TA Board of Directors have yet to act upon any of the previous recommendations yet. The article mentions some of those recommendations like colored bike lines, improved signs and lighting, bikes lanes and streetscape improvements might be implemented in 2013.
Despite having done for years and these safety improvements still being 4 years away, assistant deputy director of planning and development at the SFMTA Timothy Papandreou is already patting himself on the back, "We have the opportunity to make Market Street a world-class street".
Meanwhile, here in Barcelona they actually do have world class streets with bike only lanes, dedicated bus lanes (and busses free of interior advertising), and a citywide bike sharing program which had 90,000 members within six months of it's March 2007 opening. Today Bicing (at just 20€ per year with unlimited use and no additional charges for the first 30 minutes) has grown to 186,000 daily users, or 9% of the population. The friend I am living with here, Edu, tells me the effect on the Metro bus and rail lines has been noticeable with less overcrowding and fewer cars on the streets causing delays. Along with the growth in bike ridership comes dedicated bike lanes and maybe as maybe as soon as next year Barcelona will complete a network of dedicated bike lanes on all the major streets of the city.
San Francisco has made little to no progress by comparison (under a legal injunction which prevents the city putting in so much as a bike rack without an environmental study) and while this non-ban-ban is a step forward anything short of true dedicated bus and bikes lanes is far from "world class" and politicians like Daly need to just shut the fuck up until they've actually made something happen instead of just commissioning studies.
The San Francisco Chronicle, founded in 1865, is trimming its already pared-down staff in an attempt to avoid closure. And if it does disappear? "People under 30 won't even notice," says Gavin Newsom, the city's mayor.
The Chronicle has linked to the article on their home page and posted the quote, as if to prove how little relevance they have these days.
Our new President is becoming a bigger and bigger pussy. Torture and persecution of gays are A-OK with him. What do you want to bet we'll never see health care or cap-and-trade either with this asshole?
Rachel Maddow talks to Lt. Dan Choi, who was dismissed from the U.S. Army National Guard after declaring on the show that he is gay. Rep. Joe Sestak, D-PA, also joins to discuss when President Obama can be expected to keep his promise to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'
Photos by SF Streetblog's Bryan Goebel show the signs going up in preparation of closing 17th Street at Castro & Market to create a new pedestrian plaza.
You can make almost anything out of a pile of LEGO bricks. Lucky for us, plenty of LEGO fans are also in love with Star Trek, and they're not afraid to boldly go where no other LEGO playsets have gone before.
After 37 years, BART trains with their fabric seats and carpeted floors have gotten pretty gross. It's already decided the next generation trains will have 3 doors per car to make boarding faster and easier, now BART has posted 5 concepts for the interior layout for public feedback.
Mayor and MTA have shied away from increasing parking prices in any meaningful way, and have dropped a proposal to extend parking meter charges to Sundays and evenings. The explicit public policy decision is one that makes transit less effective while keeping driving relatively cheap and convenient. This is the opposite of what we need to be doing. You do not address global warming by hitting 750,000 transit passengers with a fare increase that is proportionately four times more burdensome than the miniscule fees charged to motorists who park in publicly subsidized garages or on our public right of way.
