AB 205 Passes Senate - With passage by the Senate yesterday, it's now a near certainty that AB 205, a bill expanding California's domestic partnership, will be signed into law.

What's your sprawl-to-BMI ratio? - A new study shows that living in the 'burbs makes you fatter, the Post reports. If that's true, I'm sure glad I live in the heart of the District, because I couldn't afford to carry those six extra pounds. Better rev up that gym membership, Ben, what with your impending move.

Careful Readers Take Note - The media and those who use/abuse them tend to repeat information long after it's been proven false. You will often find factoids from an old, widely-publicized story reiterated in new reports, even though a well-researched story in the interim has cast doubt on its veracity. This is especially true with regard to statistics and evidence used to support policy positions. I'm sure this has something to do with the primacy effect -- not to mention the repetition that comes with matters discussed in the echo chamber of politics.

With that in mind, I herewith present this L.A. Times piece about the intelligence community's latest thinking on Iraqi WMD. Next time you see a pundit pontificating about Saddam's weapons, try to remember what we now know, not just what's been repeated the most.

The Lurid Truth... - about Arnold is making its way to the surface. Oui magazine from 1977? Arnold's actions have got to be a lot more exciting than what Gray Davis was doing in 1977...probably cleaning up after a Governor Moonbeam and Linda Ronstadt coke party!

Lords of the Darknet - It's been awhile since I posted on the subject of file sharing. The latest reports focus on the technological tracking devices the RIAA has deployed to snoop on you if you connect to one of the downloading services. These surprisingly sophisticated weapons have got me spooked, especially now that the courts are forcing ISP's to turn over users to the Evil Industry.

Here's what I'd like: A simple electronic replacement for "sneakernet" -- the old system for trading hard-copy music (tapes, CDs) with your friends. Inside a trusted ring of friends, there's no way the RIAA could break in. I'm told that you can actually get TiVo Home Media Option to stream music from friends' computers. Now how about getting the files themselves?

Meanwhile, Jamie should be able to appreciate how college RA's must feel about having to police students from downloading. We all know how that works for alcohol.

Boy Meets Boy Letdown - Just like Joe Millionaire and those other lame shows, Boy Meets Boy is gonna drag things out for another week. We've got another hour-long decision to wait though now. Who besides me that Andra's breakdown only lasted a couple minutes? I expected broken drywall, dammit. How interesting that she felt that the producers were going to portray *her* as the fool, rather than James. CLEARLY, Franklin is the non-homo. And could Wes be any more cute?

Jurist, Not Typist - On the subject of judges -- D.C. Superior Court Senior Judge Tim Murphy just settled a libel suit against the Washington Post after getting the paper to acknowledge its errors and donate $25,000 to charity and $5,000 to his lawyers. Yet take a gander at the "Dear Colleague" letter he wrote that got included in the record of a related civil case:

My dad use [sic] to say you don't argue with a person who buys ink by the barrel or you never get into a pissing contest with a skunk, but I couldn't stand the lies about me that led to a very expensive suspension and damage to my repetition [sic]. ... I took them on.

Good for him. Now let's hope he tries cases better than he spells.

All Hail... - the Speedo! Long may she squeeze. Speaking of, sometimes I wish the Fab 5 would come down to Rehoboth's Poodle Beach and teach homos a thing or two about aging graciously.

Zipping Through Tolls, From Maine to Virginia - Nice to see the Commonwealth has joined the E-ZPass network. As an Internet tycoon, I guess Gov. Warner understands the importance of standardization. Still, does this mean we're allying ourselves with the Blue States of the Northeast!? Shocking. Just don't look for a detente with Fastrak any time soon.

Don't You Be Dissing My Tivo! - The future of Tivo is called into question by Television Week. We Tivovangelists have to walk a fine line...we want the product to be adopted by more people so as to guarantee that it stays around. However, we don't want too many of the commoners to have access to it, because ubiquity=uncool. It's not enough to just be an early adopter, but we also need to retain our sense of being on the cutting edge.

The OC - For those of you who haven't been watching The OC, what's wrong with you? Don't you know it's all the kids are talking about these days? How's things in The District, John? Oh wait, that actually works AND it was already a TV show. Catch ya later from The Sac.

Madonna Misstep - Clearly, we need some lighthearted posts for balance today. Slate is reporting that Madonna's Gap ad has been a complete failure. Maybe for Gap Inc, but Madonna still gets a paycheck either way, and gets a mini-promotional boost for the brand of Madonna and might even get a tiny bump in record sales. The ads are lame, but not an embarrassment, so it seems Madge won no matter which way you view it.

Blast from my academic past - The Alabama Ten Commandments foolishness is really bringing back memories from my college days. As a pre-lawyer, I took a whole bunch of constitutional law and political theory classes, and naturally chose to write my first junior paper on a constitutional topic. The way the Politics department was organized, you wrote your Fall semester JP in a small workshop with 5 or 6 other students led by a professor. My seminar was run by Prof. Russell Hittinger. (At the time, I had no idea what a conservative theologue the guy was, although when he told me he intended to move to Catholic University, I should have surmised.)

Anyways, the students in my seminar got to choose from a limited selection of topics all relating to freedom of religion. My pick had to do with the so-called Mobile, Alabama school prayer cases, which had originally been filed in 1982 by an atheist to prevent prayer and the teaching of Creationism in the Alabama public schools. Those cases resulted in a Supreme Court victory for the plaintiff, Ishmael Jaffree, in June 1985. However, Douglas Smith, a born-again school teacher, later intervened in the case alleging that his religious freedoms would be abridged if the court granted the plaintiff's request. He also asked that, in the event Jaffree gained the relief he sought, that the injunction be expanded to cover the religions of "secularism, humanism, evolution, materialism, agnosticism, atheism, and others."

In 1987, Smith got a sympathetic federal judge, William Brevard Hand, to rule in his favor. Hand found that secular humanism is in fact a form of religion under applicable legal tests, and that it had become "established" in the public school system in violation of the U.S. Constitution. As you can imagine, this was a rather radical decision. What was most interesting to Hittinger, however, was that when the appeals court overruled Hand in 1987, it called his determination of the definition of religion "a delicate question" that did not need to be answered in its ruling. Rather, the appellate judges simply held that "even assuming that secular humanism is a religion for purposes of the first amendment, appellees have failed to prove a violation of the establishment clause." To some degree, then, Hand's finding about secular humanism being a religion is still on the books, at least in the Southern District of Alabama.

Fast forward to the present. We may now be reaping the results of the Smith court's handiwork. (Get it?) Now that Moore has lost his battle and his brethren are ordering his beloved Ten Commandment's moved off government property, a bunch of fundamentalists have filed suit alleging that "removal of the Ten Commandments Monument creates an excessive entanglement of government with the religion of nontheistic beliefs." In this sense, the arguments deployed by the new plaintiffs in trying to undermine the well-founded victory against Moore are exactly like Smith's in the school prayer cases. The legal weakness they are exploiting is the same in both cases -- courts like to take an expansive view of what constitutes religion, especially when trying to protect the "free exercise thereof." But that same inclusive definition can be wielded like a club to force the goverment to "disentangle" itself from any and all alleged religions -- be they secular humanism or nontheistic beliefs. It would be nice if the 11th Circuit takes this second opportunity to squelch this disingenous line of reasoning and protect, once and for all, the doctrine of neutrality from sophistry from our friends down in 'Bama. Just like I said they needed to do in my 1989 Princeton JP.

P.S. I actually missed the news that the U.S. House of Representatives had formally sided with C.J. Moore back in July, when it voted to withhold any funds that would be used to enforce the 11th Circuit appeals court decision declaring the Ten Commandments in Alabama's judicial building unconstitutional. How do you feel about your government now?

Gay TV - Haven't I read this article before? It seems like such a cookie cutter article on gay television...the kind that you don't actually have to write but simply go back and update once a year at the start of the new TV season. Hasn't the author been paying attention to what's been going on in the world of gay TV this week? There's big news from one of the Boy Meets Boy mates: it turns out that Navy submariner Michael Jason Tiner really was that dumb. He's been discharged for violating the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Hey, maybe Reichen and his buddies at SLDN could help him out!

Amazing Race Followup - And speaking of dear Reichen, I thought I'd give this interview from The Advocate a more prominent position in the blog. (With thanks to Schroeder for finding it first). So it turns out that our favorite gay "married" couple perhaps won't be married that much longer. The article explains that they've gone through a rough patch, like any other marriage might. It doesn't exactly explain why Reichen indicated he was unattached in his Instinct magazine article, but there was an explanation for why he didn't mention his appearance on The Amazing Race.

As I said in my earlier comments, Reichen's talk about "gay people being able to do anything straight people do" really peeved me. Of course really attractive, highly educated, white gay men are capable of winning The Amazing Race, you dumbass. As a member of this crowd myself, I think I have every right to tell Chip and Reichen to get over themselves. Do they think that being the "first gay contestants to win on a mainstream reality show" make them trailblazers? OH WAIT...Richard Hatch already beat them to the punch, anyway. So, yeah, you won, I liked watching you, AR4 was a fun show, but let's make sure to keep things in perspective.

Ahnuld - Even though the most recent polls show that Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante is pulling ahead in the race for Governor, a veritable who's who of Loopy Lefties from Hollywood are coming out to decry Arnold's candidacy. At least any statements they might make on talk shows won't fall under the equal time protections that the Washington Post reports is hampering late night monologue jokes.

Speaking of The OC - There are now reports that following the outrage by the City of Chino in prior weeks, Riverside is now up in arms after a character on The OC equated living in the Inland Empire to being trailer trash. Boy, the truth hurts, doesn't it? Viva 909!

Never Turn into Ocean City - It's too bad Adam never reads us anymore, because he'd love this "Sprawl by the Sea" story in the WaPo about the land development boom in Delaware's quaint little beach towns. Man, I'm not looking forward to the traffic next weekend. I wonder whether the refusal to expand two-lane State Rt. 404 -- the main link between Washington-Baltimore and the coast -- has actually encouraged people to buy their own places in Sussex County. In any event, it would surely be sad if DE's communities turned into meccas for touron trash the way Maryland's very own "O.C." has.

Crime Report: That Was Then... - The DOJ may think that crime continues its boom-era decline, but its data is from 2002, and we here in DC feel differently about the current situation. While I don't have precise numbers, Washington D.C. has got to be the large city with the highest number of law enforcement officers. Just look at the number of agencies with cops we have -- D.C. Metro, the U.S. Park Service, the Capitol Police, the Secret Service, plus all the branches of the heretofore mentioned Department of Justice. Given our level of crime, I guess that makes them among the most incompetent forces in the country as well. I'm not holding out too much hope that our new neighbor the Congressman will bring a lot more protection our way.

I'm Gonna Grow Up to Marry Daddy - Oh, the unfortunate lessons little boys learn when their neighbors are nice suburban gay couples. (In the Bible-thumping town of Wheaton, Illinois -- home of the Beamer Center -- no less!) But as Jamie and I witnessed recently in San Diego's Hillcrest, more and more straights are invading the gaytto now too, living and socializing together with us in the big cities. What is the world coming to?

Turning Trixie - Newsweek explores the seedy underbelly of upper-middle-class white suburban teens turning to prostitution for a little extra cash. Hey, peer pressure to emulate the top hip hop artists is rough!

You're Going to Stanford! - Let's have a round of applause for that four-time repeat champion of higher education, Princeton University. Considering how often we're on top, Old Nassau just doesn't get enough respect. But I guess it could be worse, eh, Ben?

Hail Homogays! - Chip and Reichen pulled it off, winning The Amazing Race, much to the consternation of Focus on the Family. By winning, have they really proved that gays can do anything straights can do, as they so boldly claimed? Well, yes, because gays can break up, just like heteros can. So, are Chip-and-dale really still together? Perhaps we'll find out in the morning when they accept their million dollar check on The Early Show. In the meantime, read this Salon.com article that delves into the underlying reason why Amazing Race is the best reality show on TV: it's about the disintegration and destruction of actual relationships, not about the forced, stage-managed beginnings of a romance.

Speaking of "End Times" - I shouldn't overreact, but there is something downright astonishing and worrisome when eight assoicate justices of a state supreme court have to sign an order countermanding their chief justice who has decided to ignore the rulings of higher authority. Shades of some banana republic, methinks, not a society where the rule of law has such a long tradition.

Diet Slurpee? - Yes, you read that right, according to a local DC company's press release. Surely another sign of the apocalypse.

It's funny (or sad) because it's true - Hot shows always spawn knock-offs. Here are some suggested takes on Queer Eye. I know some GOP friends who would get a kick out of "Conservative Eye for the Liberal Guy: Republican campaign operatives school flailing Democrat in how to win an election."

Moore for Govuhnah - That's got to be the point of these Ten Commandments shennanigans, right? While I am sure this is just the sort of thing they completely ignore in more enlightened California, here in the Southeast we take note of our religious demagogues. Maybe we can just better imagine ourselves having to actually deal with a judicial system that makes such a mockery of the principles of "equal justice under the law."

In case you were wondering, Moore hasn't got a rat's ass of a chance of winning this legal battle. Under modern First Amendment jurisprudence -- not to mention the beliefs of Jefferson and Madison -- he's way off base with any attempt to establish a government monument to any particular faith. I strongly doubt the Supreme Court would be sympathetic even if it consisted of several new conservative Bush appointees. (Even the Washington Times takes issue, but then I guess you'd expect that from a religious minority like the Moonies.)

But that's not really the point, is it? Moore can make hay politically with his mini-version of massive resistance. Not quite standing in the doorway of a public school to block integration, but reminiscent at least.

WIN FREE GAY SEX!!! - Now that I've got your attention, this is important:

We here at the Beaver are transitioning over to a new URL. For the time being, the current one, http://beaverhausen.blogspot.com, will continue to work. However, Ben and I want to eventually adopt a better blogging system which will necessitate leaving Blogger. So we want to encourage our readers to begin using the new one now:

http://www.beaverhausenblog.com

That way, when we get our act in gear and switch servers, you won't even notice the change -- except, we hope, in a much better interface and additional features.

Appointment TV - I was bemused to receive a note yesterday from the SLDN asking me to "WATCH FORMER AIR FORCE OFFICER & SLDN SUPPORTER REICHEN LEHMKUHL ON THURSDAY’S “AMAZING RACE” FINALE." It went on to tell me that Reichen (as we all know and love him) has been a long-time supporter of SLDN. Better yet, it included shirtless photos of him from the group's "Red, White & Pool" party in Los Angeles. Well, who can't support something that provides that kind of entertainment? And how do I get invited to the next party? Oh, and for those of you wondering about the rumors that Reichen and Chip -- described on the show as "married" -- have split up, I thought it informative that the email merely referred to Chip as the flyboy's "teammate." Hmmm.

Miracles of Internet Replay - Thanks to a link provided by David, I was able to catch the Fab 5's performance on the Tonight Show last week. Scott however sent me a rather different viewpoint.

Restaurant Revisions - San Francisco has lost a number of landmark eateries, including a favorite of mine, Flying Saucer. Wonder what's behind the timing of this Los Angeles Times story on the phenomenon.

"The whole idea of marriage is bringing up children" - Polls continue to show a majority of the country strongly against gay marriage, citing sentiments like that quoted in my title. Now, lawyers and other sophisticated folk would tend to disagree with the statement, and they typically congratulate themselves on rhetorical "gotchas" pointing out things like the right of infertile people to wed. Guess what? Good ole dumb middle America doesn't care. It's all about emotion, not logic. I'm not saying they can't be brought around to a more enlightened way of thinking, but it's going to take a long time.

We're at a huge demographic and political disadvantage on this one, and we're much better off thinking strategically about our civil rights campaign. At the very least, I'm praying that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court wises up and takes only the half-step of asking their legislature to create civil unions, just as their prescient brethren in Vermont did. And in the meanwhile, with the Federal Marriage Amendment gathering like a storm on the horizon, none of us should be sitting on our hands. How many straight friends and family members have you educated about marriage rights today?

The Right Way to Be Gay - Well, here's an old story that comes around every once in a while but bears repeating. It seems this Michigan professor (whose specialty is queer studies) has discovered a great way to metaphorically stick his fingers in the eyes of stupid fundamentalists. (Redundant, I know.) He's named his undergraduate course "How to be Gay: Male Homosexuality and Initiation."

The course actually sounds quite interesting, as it investigates not homosexuality as a psychological orientation but rather how [urban] gay men come to learn the things they have in common -- such as style, martini recipes, and showtunes. But the best part is that the mere title has the usual blowhards shrieking about tax dollars being spent on homosexual recruitment. I know it's a sore subject among self-loathing closet types, the "straight-acting," and gay Republicans, but I'm kinda fascinated by the fun, campy parts of being gay and how newbies learn to emulate them.

Yes, Jamie and I did just buy tickets to Cher. Adam says that converts my annual membership into lifetime. If only I'd had a class like this at Princeton, maybe it wouldn't have taken me so long.

Give us attractive leaders, we will follow - Boy, this is quite a glamour shot of John Aravosis, gay activist. Who knew the mastermind of StopDrLaura.com and DontAmend.com was kinda hunky? (Given his one-man touch towards gay advocacy, I think we could have assumed he was a tad egotistical.)

Speaking of Surfers - Is anyone else just sick to death of Gwyneth Paltrow?

Got Milk? - So a liberal Democrat has sued New York City to halt the expansion of the Harvey Milk "set-aside" school for gay kids. In a classic example of identity politics run amok, the suit specifically alleges that the school would divert funds from more needy black and Hispanic kids. I guess it's another example of that never-ending battle over who gets a bigger piece of the pie -- recently revamped into the fight to be the most worthy victim.

Ben, I think the brewing legal battle sharpens the issues and focuses on points you raised earlier in comments. The school's defenders explain on their website that its purpose is not to offer separate schooling for all or even a significant portion of NYC's gay youth. Instead, it's basically a shelter for kids with serious problems coping with peers at their normal schools. Perhaps as the case moves forward, the cost-benefit analysis you spoke about will come even more to the fore: that it is cheaper to give these kids a place of their own than to try to protect them in situ at the hundreds of separate schools around the city. This argument, which portrays the Harvey Milk School as a more optimal use of educational funds, meets the central allegations of the lawsuit head on. Yet in the public arena, the most fiscally wise solution doesn't always prevail. Stay tuned for the result.

San Diego Nights - Jamie and I are sad to be back from our California adventures (but nevertheless pleased to be blogging once again, of course). Among the tales to tell, I thought I might say a word about San Diego, our last big destination of the trip and to me the least familiar.

The area invites comparison to my hometown of Norfolk-Virginia Beach, which likewise has a huge military presence coupled with beaches both touristy and residential. Perhaps if southeastern Virginia weren't so politically fragmented it could have become something like San Diego (with more conventional weather). San Diego seems, however, to have benefited from a far more amenable climate, not to mention a more concentrated and wealthy population, to yield a metropolis that certainly stands a tier or two higher. On the other hand, I can't give anything to southern California beaches over ours on the mid-Atlantic shore. Cali's may be more picturesque, with better surf, but the sand and water are more suitable to langid tropical-style enjoyment here on the right coast.

Among San Diego's coastal communities I liked Del Mar the best. It seemed to have an authentic lived-in feel, unlike touristy slash haughty La Jolla. (Though the Cove and ecological sanctuary were interesting.) While Del Mar may be most famous for its horse track, what we enjoyed were the narrow streets of cute beach bungalows below the cliffs, not least of all because of the many shirtless local surfbums we spotted coming off the beach. I also thought Mission Beach's surf-punk flair -- consisting of tattoo shops next to sand-floor bars -- was interesting, if only to visit not as a place to live. Like Del Mar, Mission definitely had a laid-back beach feel to it that was instantly recognizable to this former North Ender from Va. Beach.

In the center part of the city, Jamie and I experienced two very different districts. We stayed in Hillcrest, the gay-ish neighborhood near Balboa Park. It was pretty comfortable, with nice little restaurants, cocktail bars and shopping, and seemed to support a lively mixed crowd both gay and straight. The weird thing was how empty the gay bars were on a Thursday night however. Old stand-bys like the Brass Rail were deserted, and we ended up with the scarce crowd at Flicks. (We didn't even try Rich's dance club.) While Hamburger Mary's seemed to be hopping, a surprising amount of it was straight -- and I'm not just saying that because gay surfer-types scramble my gaydar. In contrast, the Gaslamp District was a crush of people and attitude, at least on a Saturday night. From when I could tell, it was pretty much straight meat-market hell. Since -- ironically for a beachtown -- Birkenstocks didn't cut it at most places, we found ourselves at Croce's, wondering what multinational conglomerate put up the money for SoCal's version of Downtown Disney.

That wasn't the only time we found SD to evoke thoughts of Orlando. Brunch on Saturday at Fashion Valley Mall's Cheesecake Factory brought back memories of central Florida as well, though of course the highlight of that day, if not the whole trip, was meeting the central characters of Ben's World. Weena and Stephanie and Kevin and Nathan -- and me -- it was quite a convergence. (Only Netty and mom and dad were missing.) I doubt we'll get that crowd together again before the wedding. Which reminds me, set a date yet, Ben?

Definitely a worthwhile destination, and Jamie and I wouldn't mind an excuse to come back to San Diego soon. Maybe they can organize an IGRAB team.

Product Placement - So, as I've been watching two new favorite reality shows, The Restaurant and Queer Eye, I've noticed more and more blatant (and sometimes downright cloying) product placement. Is there anything more American, more metrosexual, than bonding over capitalism? Straight men and gay men discussing their Kiehl's and Pier 1 purchases, bringing harmony to the universe. Just make it a little more subtle than Rocco's American Express and Coors Light plugs, okay?

Trading Spaces - That harlot Paige Davis is practically naked on the cover of TV Guide this week! Word has it, the suits at TLC are none too happy.

Paucity of Posts - While John was travelling all over the West, I was also on the road. I've been working on a project in the Oakland school district that's kept me out of the office for big chunks of the past couple weeks. Unfortunately, Kevin's stepdad passed away and we had to make an emergency trip to Nevada to be with his mom. Immediately after that, there was a previously scheduled trip to San Diego to visit Weena and see Mariah Carey, which happened to coincide with John & Jamie's trip to Southern CA. So, loyal Beaverhausen readers, thanks for sticking with us and here's hoping that you're enjoying a relaxing and stressfree August.

Let the Spouses Beware - Well, it looks like California is going to have civil unions after all. But they are doing it in a way that bothers me. Governor Davis is poised to sign a bill that heaps a ton of marriage-like rights and responsibilities onto the lightweight system of domestic partnership registrations already existing in California. They include, among other things, the right to community property in a "divorce."

Now I suppose plenty of people enter into normal marriage not having a clue as to the legal rights it entails. Since ignorance of the law is not as excuse, however, they can be held to those rules regardless of their intent. Yet the new "super" DP law sounds like it would work the other way around: You can actually know what the law was when you signed up, but then state can go and change it, and you've got no other choice but to go along. Maybe most registrants are okay with that, but I bet that back when signing up as DP's didn't mean so much, many gay couples didn't do all the soul-searching that their hetero kin do when they get hitched. What is now happening is exactly why I continue to believe that registering yourself as DPs shouldn't be taken lightly, and that consideration should be given to making it a public event so that all involved are made aware of its seriousness.

August in Washington - Well, if Drew can take the month off, then I figure I can resist daily blogging for the next 10 days of so. Jamie and I are off to the ABA Convention in San Francisco, then will take an extra 5 days or so to visit friends in southern California. It will be my first time back in SoCal since 1991, and I'm looking forward to it. If nothing else, it will be so nice to bask in the pro-gay lifestyle and political environment that is enlightened California? Maybe I'll check in if the spirit moves me, but until then -- hey Ben, how about picking up my slack?

Ballot Mania - What do you know about Senator Tom McClintock, Ben? Something I hope, since this fiscally conservative law-and-order Republican represents your parents' and your home town of Thousand Oaks. He also gets a "very poor" rating from Equality California. And now, perhaps, he'll be your next governor.

Shattered Dreams - Sorry, Ben, but neither one of us is ever going to make Episcopalian bishop.

Military Justice - Ben's out of the office today, so I'm gonna just keep blogging. The Gays continue to monopolize the front pages as the WaPo takes an informed look at the impact of the Lawrence decision on gays in the military. The article makes two key points:

First, it confirms that Lawrence is not the death knell of Don't Ask-Don't Tell that some wish it could be. Congress has presented much more compelling justifications for discrimination against gays in the military (i.e., "unit cohesion") than Texas ever gave for its law. Courts typically defer to the President and Congress on matters of national security. As a result, pundits say the courts are much less likely to declare DADT irrational and invalid.

On the other hand, the Post notes that the military's own sodomy law may soon bite the dust, and not simply because of court action. While anti-gay legislators and attorneys-general want to keep the invalidated laws on the books as a "moral statement," the Defense Department is moving ahead with reform. In the only real revelation in the article, the Post notes the Defense Department has asked an advisory committee to consider Lawrence-inspired changes to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

The interplay of these developments leads to an interesting situation. You could soon see the military acknowledging that homosexual conduct is not a crime, but being gay would still be grounds for dismissal. Watch for public opinion and legislators to respond to the resulting cognitive dissonance.

Just a new, sexier way to say you're in the closet - The NYTimes must always have a lot of articles in the hopper ready for publication. How else to explain the 10,000-word Magazine essay on the lives of black men "on the DL," just one week after such a man gunned down a city councilman?

The article unpacks a lot of interesting stuff. I'll try to post more later.

Of Weddings and Lesbian Hitmen - No one is shocked by the dismal performance of the Affleck-JLo stinker Gigli this weekend. I am however moderately surprised by the success of American Wedding, which Jamie and I saw on Sunday. I might have preferred to check out the stylish Ebert-approved Tomb Raider, but after Jamie's prodding, I guess it was worthwhile to finish up the American Pie franchise -- the better to compare where we've come from and where we're going.

Despite the return of the ensemble cast, it's hard to ignore that American Wedding appears to chiefly be a vehicle for Seann William Scott, who is growing less adorable as his Steve Stiffler's character ages. His costars' poorly plotted nuptials are little more than the backdrop for Stiffler's antics, and while Scott clearly has some comic range, this particular joke is wearing a bit thin. A couple of other notes: The Hollywood magicmakers again envision a world where testasterone-addled American 20-something males like Stiffler are completely unfazed by (or perhaps enjoy) the amorous attentions of gay men. (Not that Scott is stupid to play to that fanbase.) In fact, they make that development a substantial subplot in the movie -- quite a departure from the central trajectory of the series. As for other additions -- Fred Willard and Deborah Rush play the most white-bread WASPy parents of an Irish bride I've ever seen.

Alas, the Pie's gone stale. Scott drives home several jokes through pure manic energy, but I don't think anyone is going to be sorry if Jim and Michelle's wedding is the last we hear of the gang from East Great Falls High. Besides, aren't the kids who came of age in 1999 with the first installment just about out of the prime selling demographic by now anyway?

Bear Meets Bear - Drew perhaps does a better job of cultural analysis when he sticks to what he really knows. In the case of his current Salon piece, it's those gentle giants of the great gay forest, bears. (Available through a free day pass if you will read a short ad.)

I would contend with several points, however, in making my own generalization about the subspecies. To the extent traditional masculinity is bound up in an subconscious aversion to being "too close" to your buddies, or being too sensitive or in-touch with your feelings, bears clearly aren't that masculine. (Ask any burly biker -- outwardly a bear -- what he thinks.) Conversely, many bears share more in common with their gay male brethren that Drew allows, chiefly a randiness and casual attitude towards sex that would make most straight men blush. Finally, while bears may seem laid-back and attitude-free, I dare say the group can be quite insular and rejecting of other gays who don't fit the type, just like the circuit boys do. Just because bears flirt with you Drew, while the circuit boys don't, doesn't mean they practice equal opportunity.

While Sullivan makes some good points on a topic he clearly relishes (how nice to get paid for writing!) the most entertaining commentary was his quotation from Camille Paglia:

In their defiant hirsutism, gay bears are more virile than the generic bubble-butt junior stud, since body hair is stimulated by testosterone. But the bears' fatness resembles not the warlike Viking mass of a Hell's angel but the capacious bosom of the earth mother. The gay Bear is simultaneously animalistic and nurturing, a romp in the wild followed by nap time on a comfy cushion.