A-List Aspirations - Fantastic article from Hank Steuver of the WaPo about the Trouble with Sacramento (with thanks to Mike Stebbins for sharing it with me). The author does a great job of summing up many of my mixed feelings about adopted home of Sacramento. It's definitely got some positive factors in its favor: good job base, affordable housing market, improving downtown. But there's always that nagging feeling about Old Sacramento being a rundown wreck, the restaurant choices being Chili's or Applebees and the fact that we get the amateur high school touring company of Broadway shows three or four years after they've debuted.

"Sacramento, you see, is one of those cities -- a medium-size, C-market, farm-team paradise with a brand-new convention center just waiting to host your regional funeral directors convention, your maxillofacial surgeons conference, your annual training session. It's the kind of city that hangs its hopes on redoing downtown...any inferiority complex is supplanted by a striving, a sense of longing to be a better place."

Don't get me wrong, we're no Topeka, but the relative closeness of San Francisco will forever leave Sacramento feeling like the awkward stepchild of the California family. It can be difficult for me to tow the line of moral superiority (being from Southern California) while also trying to settle in and feel at home in Sacramento. So now you see my moral dilemma as a resident of the capital of the Golden State. Maybe that's why the getaway flights to San Diego and Burbank on Southwest are so popular...

The Freshmaker - Friday evening, Kevin and I went to the inaugural event of the California Lecture series. The speaker was Terry Gross, from NPR's Fresh Air. She's a little sprite of a woman, much smaller and pixieish than you'd imagine from her voice. She was surprisingly more direct than you'd anticipate from her careful questions on the radio. She mostly used the opportunity to give examples of how interviews can go dreadfully wrong, often for comedic effect. With nearly three decades of interviews and anecdotes, I expected her to share more than the recent controversies with Gene Simmons and Monica Lewinsky though. I enjoyed the lecture but found myself wanting to go deeper into her process for interviewing and why she prefers to interview her guests via satellite, rather than meeting in person. But perhaps the lesson to be learned is that getting an interviewer to open up a difficult task.

White Trash Chic - It pains me to see Drew of all people got to this story before we did.

Is your lover cheating? Find out... with his cell phone - Useful tips on snooping on your significant other's extracurricular liasons by checking out the SMS memory on the mobile or recent calls list. Now, if only AOL IM had an archiving feature the way Yahoo messaging does.

Hard Knock Life - Princeton's bête noire of gay marriage, Prof. Robert George, lands a lot of quotes in David Brook's NYT op-ed on academic discrimination against conservative graduate students. In the humanities and social sciences, Brooks argues, liberal academics are either openly hostile or simply uninterested in the subjects that ignite the minds of young neocons. The advice: either keep your views in the closet or expect that most will turn you away. Not that that is all bad -- as Harvard's Harvey Mansfield recently said of two doctoral students who couldn't find jobs, "I guess they'll have to go to Washington and run the country."

In This Week's Gay Rag - The Blade confirms what I supposed earlier -- that Out on Rugby is more about challenging the fraternity system at UVa than joining it. The same folks who recently queered the name of the school's gay student group are behind OOR, and both projects appear to reflect the same confrontational political agenda. I may not agree with that, but kids will be kids. How can I begrudge them an outlet for their youthful outrage and activism? I wonder how their more conservative competition at GMC, the group for traditional fraternity men-who-happen-to-like-men is doing?

As an aside, I see the Blade is also covering the story of a gay veterans monument in DC. What are they doing, lifting topics (albeit belatedly) from the Beav? I jest. The Blade is a reliably excellent tabloid and an asset to the gay community nationwide.

Queer Eye - Well, following that whole Smoking Gun revelation about the Fab Five's payscale, the Queers are upset and not caring who knows it. Ted in particular had some things to say about this issue.

A different kind of air travel experience - For one of my college roomie, here's a link to the unfolding scandal that's quickly overtaking his favorite airline, JetBlue. I wonder what Rob, a hard core libertarian, thinks about JB's collusion with governmental spying on airline passengers. The scenario would appear to confound his usual principles, since he doesn't just rail against government meddling in citizens' private lives but also thinks government shouldn't regulate the behavior of buinesses. Does anyone actually read those privacy policies that company's publish anyway?

Food/Science - Anyone in the mood for a delicious new taste treat? In the vein of the fried twinkie comes a report from the NY Times about cheeseburger fries, the ultimate handheld fast food.

All-You-Can-Eat - The head of Red Lobster was fired this week. Clearly, he could have learned a lesson or two by watching The Simpsons.

Shaved Pits - The NY Metro delves into the seedy underworld of straight men with shaved armpits, specifically calling out football player Jeremy Shockey for being a macho man with silky-smooth pits.

I fear that the Metro author may be right that the Joe Sixpack sitting at home gets his trend cues from professional atheletes. "And at the moment, pro athletes are straying into territory once occupied mainly by transvestites and pre-op transsexuals." Now, clearly, I am in strong opposition to this trend of shaved pits. And I'm not the only one: "models with chest hair and treasure trails are coming back big-time, baby. The studios have been getting tons of e-mails demanding that models be allowed to remain hairy." Titan Media, once again ahead of the curve.

Does this mean Pat Buchanan can come back? - A report in the Wash Times says that the GOP may be looking to enshrine opposition to gay marriage in their 2004 platform (no big surprise). But will it endorse the Federal Marriage Amendment? The replacement for gay-friendly RNC Chairman Marc Racicot, a staunch Catholic by the name of Ed Gillespie, seems to think so. Once upon a time the Catholics were noted for some liberal viewpoints. The kind of anti-gay polemics being issued from the Vatican these days, however, seems to be taking root -- and giving plenty of cover to the likes of Gillespie, Santorum and Scalia. I'm telling you Republican moderates out there: beware these guys and the religious dogma they bring to the political debate. They're much smarter (and therefore more dangerous) than any looney judge down Alabama-way.

Graham Crackers - Graham Norton is in the news again. This week, it's being reported that Graham has signed with Comedy Central to do a new series, with a format similar to So Graham Norton. Probably not a coincidence that Graham happens to be in LA this week, as he guns for international stardom with this new venture.

Football Wrap-up - In tangentially related news, a Pennsylvania town has paid $100,000 in settlement of claims about a high school football player who committed suicide in 1997, the Wash Blade reports.

A town patrolman came upon the underage youth drinking in a parked car with a male friend, supposedly in the possession of condoms. He then lectured them for allegedly planning to engage in sex and quoted passages from the Bible. After the cop threatened to tell the player's grandfather that he was gay, the young man went home and shot himself in the head. Despite protests from family and girlfriend that the victim was not actually gay, LGB groups took up the cause.

This family tragedy led to one important legal victory. In a 2000 ruling, the Third Circuit held that people have a privacy interest in their sexual orientation that is protected by the U.S. Constitution. This appellate ruling allowed the case to go to trial and ultimately led to settlement, when plaintiffs decided pursuing a greater award from a jury might bankrupt the town. Delivered nearly three years before this summer's Lawrence decision, the Sterling opinion has come into play in many "forced-outing" situations, especially confrontations between kids and school authorities.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks - Also this morning on NPR, a report on the extreme sexual hazing on a Long Island high school football team. Varsity athletes at Mepham High School in Bellmore are accused of sodomizing younger teammates at a preseason camp in Pennsylvania, last month. At first a code of silence prevailed, but then rumors leaked out and the police are getting involved. Now the entire football season has been canceled, and some parents are more upset that the school board is punishing the innocent along with the guilty. But just consider the creative jeers and chants the Mepham Pirates would face from opponents if they carried on.

Rolodex Reporting - Ben, did you catch your buddy Bob Thompson, the Syracuse professor of pop culture, weighing in about curse words on today's Morning Edition? Who knew our favorite media quote machine was "the last American adult who, when he hits his thumb with a hammer, still says 'ouch'"?

They did invent the rocket - We may be less than a month away from China's first manned space mission. The exact date of the Shenzhou-5 launch, along with other mission plans, remain state secrets. For the curious, space historian James Oberg has a detailed review of China's spaceflight project in this month's Scientific American. Where to from here? Well, the ISS could use a new financial backer.

Mephistopheles, Inc. - How much is your soul worth? Get a free quotation today.

Recall Stuff - Just a quick post on the recall...I know there are an overwhelming number of articles being written about the recall, and even whole blogs dedicated to the subject. So I thought I'd provide Beaverhausen readers with a couple highlights from this weekend. The most recent Field Poll about the recall shows that the race is tightening, which is good news for Gray, especially as the federal court has given its nod for things to proceed on the October 7th timeline. Reporters are delving into the spending of candidate Tom McClintock now...and don't forget that part of his district includes Simi Valley: The Land That Crime Forgot.

AB 205 - Well, it's semi-official. Surrounded by a crowd of homosexuals, on Friday Governor Gray Davis signed AB 205 into law, expanding the rights and responsibilities of domestic partnership in California. Of course, we've noted the developments on this bill on Beaverhausent before. While it is generally viewed as a positive step, there is the unique situation this law creates (noted by John in previous comments) because it grants couples who because domestic partners under the old rules all the expanded rights of the new rules--without us having to take action or make any decisions on our own. However, we've got some time to think about these consequences because the law won't go into effect until January 2005 and several groups have already indicated that they plan to file lawsuits blocking the law before that time.

Hizzoner - Tim and Jamie think Baltimore's mayor Martin O'Malley is hot. When elected in 1999 at age 36, he was America's youngest big city mayor. He plays guitar in an Irish folk-rock band. Most importantly, he does seem to work out. Overall, he's kind of got a Tony Blair thing going on, I'll give him that. Jamie says O'Malley will be the next governor of Maryland. Could even bigger things be in his future? Keep an eye out.

He's got one nasty slider - A story comes to us from Cleveland (how's that for a promising beginning?) of a Japanese baseball player with a sordid past. It seems that a promising young pitcher who should have been a top 5 pick got passed over in the Japanese draft because he and other members of his college team were paid to take part in a pornographic video that contained acts of homosexuality. Although teams said they were concerned about a shoulder injury, the real reason they treated Kazuhito Tadano like kryptonite was the video and the potential for bad publicity and the likely reaction of teammates. Still, the Cleveland Indians took a chance last March, signing him at a cut-rate, natch. Nothing untoward seems to have happened -- yet. If this guy ever makes it up to the big show, expect an uproar. In that case, at least he's got a second career to fall back on.

Graham - Well, now that we've gotten all that hurricane talk out of our systems, let's get back to business. Kevin and I went to see Graham Norton: Red-Handed last night. Graham is on an abbreviated tour, only making stops in Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. He kicked off the one-man-show by saying that it was going to be entirely different from So Graham Norton. But really, it wasn't. There were no celebrity guests, but he did the same kind of bawdy (but not truly raunchy) and amusing (but not belly-laugh-inducing) bits he does on the telly.

I thought it was funny that the reviews raved about show--we liked it, but were mildly disappointed that it wasn't more intense and controversial. He did a series of Bush and Iraq jokes that seemed dated. Stick to what you do best, Graham: celebrity insults! He had a great line about Goldie Hawn, but Kevin and I were really waiting for a Catherine Zeta-Jones joke, but one never materialized.

Graham does come off precisely as he does on screen: a manic extrovert able to dish out clever quips with ease. The best moments were his interactions with the audience (a frightening bunch themselves) but unfortunately, the "phone bit" where he called into a sex line fell more than a little flat for me. Plus, everyone knows that San Franciscans use Craig's List for quick tricking!

Television Updates - I'm not sure I have time to add one more show into my jam-packed viewing schedule, but I wonder if it would be worthwhile to check out the new season of Fraternity Life now that there's a gay pledge named Keldon Klegg on the show.

Meanwhile, over on Will & Grace, we hear that Dylan McDermott is lined up to play Mr. Truman's love interest. So I guess the whole Jack/Will cliffhanger is going nowherere fast.

Here Comes the Sun - Awoke to brilliant blue, cloudless skies today (and a good breeze). Sorry I didn't get to post yesterday evening, but the laptop's battery failed sooner than expected. No power this morning, just a car adapter. Impressive trees are down around the neighborhood, and there was good flooding at my parents' house, although the main floor stayed dry. As for the wider report, I have about 26.4k on the dialup, so I'll just let you peruse The Pilot.

Hunker Down - Well, your trusty correspondent is already reporting via battery power here in Norfolk. We lost early in the power outage lottery, and I bet Va. Power won't be even thinking about coming out to fix the lines until the storm passes tonight. Since battery power won't last long, here are a couple of links to help you follow the storms progress: local weather radar and a webcam strategically located at Lynnhaven Inlet in Virginia Beach. Meanwhile, we've seen strong gusts (40-50 mph) and slanted rain, but nothing too bad. The lawns and streets are a litter of tree branches and leaves. Pretty impressive considering the eye still hasn't come ashore 200 miles south in North Carolina. But that's what you get on the more dangerous right-hand (east) side of a hurricane. Maybe I'll have one more report later. Signing off...

Believe It or Not - 27 years later, Cher is finally bringing the will-it-ever-end Living Proof tour to an end in Toronto on Halloween. I missed out, not willing to shell out the cash to see something that was endlessly repeated on NBC and Bravo. But I'm assuming we'll have a full report from her DC date later this month?

Change of Pace - There are, of course, other things going on besides the hurricane watch. Ahnuld and Maria appeared on Oprah earlier this week, where Ahnuld made the memorable comment that, "a pump is better than cumming." The NY Times advises Ms. Winfrey to have Cruz and other candidates in the interest of fairness (never mentioning that Oprah and Maria are friends from way back).

In other news, Nate Berkus is back!

Norfolk Remains Eerily Calm - It's another cloudless cool morning in southeastern Virginia. I've heard of the calm before the storm, but this is ridiculous. However, the surf's definitely up. Check out this cool site for sea conditions beamed to you from an offshore buoy directly in Isabel's path. No one is calling for an evacuation yet (well, almost no one), and I'm not too worried. Once again it looks like the southern Outer Banks will take it on the chin to blunt the force of the storm for us. We'll still get plenty of rain and wind -- how bad depends on the precise track of the storm. (Hint: things are worst immediately to the northeast of the eye.) Tune in tomorrow at suppertime for a live report from the heart of the storm (phone lines permitting).

We're Number One - Not so long ago, it was East Palo Alto that claimed the title of murder per capita capital (now it's home to the newest Ikea store). But The Onion proudly proclaims DC to be the new reigning champ.

How Do You Sleep? - I'm a starfish. And a kicker. You?

Kirstie Alley's Ass - Pier 1, no stranger to kooky antics, explains why they had no problem with product placement on Queer Eye.

Wonder Bred - Our friends at GLAAD have released their yearly report on the visibility of gays in the fall TV season. What have we learned? Alec Mapa is the only non-white gay EVER!

Greetings from Hurricane Alley - I won't be blogging as extensively this week, as I wait out Isabel's arrival, but meanwhile here's an interesting link if you ever wanted to know how to be a live-from-the-eye TV storm correspondent.

Buy Cattle Futures - Slate reports that with more and more people jumping on the Atkins diet bandwagon, things are tough for the bakers of the world. Looks like a good time to invest in meat. Speaking of, I shall be making delicious Vermont Chicken Pie tonight.

Poof - So, with Rory Gilmore attending Yale this fall, clearly she's got to have a homo friend, right? After all, a 1991 NYT article, publicized the "one in four, maybe more" chant about the percentage of gays on the Connecticut campus (also see "one in two, maybe you"). Here's hoping that if the producers really want to stay true to the Ivy feel, they'll get this detail right as well.

Storm Stud - That's what you're gonna have to call me, because tomorrow I leave D.C. to head down to Norfolk to spend some time in the office and keep an eye on my sis and grandma as Isabel bears down. We haven't seen anything this big come our way since Floyd in 1999, which was a very scary storm that rivaled Andrew at one time. However, it mostly ended up causing a lot of flooding problems, especially in North Carolina (51 dead) and outlying areas of SE Virginia. As it happens, Isabel is expected to continue on past and soak DC as well, but I'm counting on Jamie being able to handle the sandbagging here on his own.

Breaking News - As predicted by John, looks like the California recall election will be delayed until March 2004. Woohoo, another 7 months of campaigning!

Breathe-Right - It happened in California. It's happening in New York City. Can it happen here? I'm talking about a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, and there's already a well-organized movement in DC. On the eve of a similar ban in Montgomery County, the WaPo listened in on the arguments pro and con.

As a life-long non-smoker, I'm in favor of the ban despite my libertarian leanings. It really isn't that hard to discern the truly noxious effects a bar-full of smoke, so the whining of "oppressed" cigarette addicts doesn't impress me much. Can they really not tell how disgusting the air polution in those places is? If you really need a nicotine fix that bad, buy some gum, and let the rest of us breathe.

The news today is that Monty Co. restaurant owners are suing to prevent their ban from going into effect. Sounds like a dubious legal argument to me. Has that tactic ever succeeded anywhere? Maybe on a technicality if legislative procedures weren't properly followed, but the idea of governments having the power to police indoor air quality seems pretty well established to me. I'm also skeptical of the economic arguments of restaurant owners -- which don't constitute a valid legal case anyway. Have you heard of lots of taverns going out of business in California or NYC?

Not Affiliated with "Out on Rugby" - When I jokingly mentioned that there were already plenty of closeted gay guys on U.Va.'s fraternity row, I didn't realize they had a support group. (In contrast, the report that "In the last few years, two gay men have been presidents of their fraternities" comes as no surprise, heh.)

In a sense, the Greek Men's Club, the brainchild of an out gay DU member, fourth-year Matt Maring, is the opposite of the new OOR organization, with that club's emphasis on openly gay membership and queer confrontation with the old boy network on Rugby Road. Out on Rugby appears to be focused mainly on drawing attention to the lack of gay presence in the traditional haunts of Cavalier male-bonding. It's mostly about the political statement. You have to question whether its members would even want to join a "real" old-school fraternity. (I note OOR is recognized provisionally by the upstart Multicultural Greek Council, not the traditional Inter-Fraternity Council.)

GMC is something very different. It draws its membership from existing frats. But because those guys have bought in to the conservative social environment of Rugby Road, I have to assume they are closeted to most of their peers. As a result, GMC reaches its members by use of anonymous email dropboxes and closed meetings announced only to the trusted few.

The Greek Men's Club does share one similarity with other gay student groups, however -- its secondary(?) function as a dating service. How else to explain the promotional flyers posted around the Grounds with the eye-catching tag phrase "Tired of Gay.com?" I suppose that's no different than various other less-than-wholly-political gatherings -- especially of conservative gay men -- throughout history.

Funny thing, though: while conservative social groups and radical political groups start out at opposing positions, they frequently trend towards common ground. It wouldn't surprise me if closeted GMC members end up learning a thing or two about standing up for themselves, or if out-and-pround OOR guys find they have some common ground with fratboys after all.

Memorial Markers - Sacramento already has one, will Capitol Hill soon? This WaPo report on the movement to memorialize deceased gay veterans in DC notes that a similar monument was recently erected in the California capital. There seems to be some controversy over whether the Sacto marker is "state-sanctioned." While Congressional Cemetery -- the famous home of the proposed DC memorial -- is on privately-held lands, you can expect politics to be deeply involved. One of the articles more moving passages talks about how DoD regulations prevent any mention of long-time partners in the "full honors" burials of gay soldiers in national cemeteries. Typical, I suppose, of the callous way the "don't ask, don't tell" policy imposes hardships on our veterans.

There are those who believe, that life here, began, out there... - At the risk of both dating myself as well as earning a rep as a hopeless geek, I'm going to admit to my excitement about the upcoming Battlestar Galactica game. This was one of my favorite TV shows as a kid, and I've always loved arcade-style simulation games. (Ace Combat 04 is quite a distraction to me right now.) Wonder if it will be released for PS/2 by my birthday?

According to reports, both Dirk Benedict and Richard Hatch will be back doing voice characterizations for the video game. Alas, it's far too late for dead-and-Canadian actor Lorne Green to reprise his role as Adama. The release of the game coincides roughly with December's mini-series (staring Edward James Olmos!) on the SciFi network. I look at the return of BG as revenge of TV mega-producer (and noted Mormon) Glen Larson.

What's next -- a revival of V?

Preview - After a Summer that featured Chip-and-Reichen, the Fab 5 and Boy Meets Boy: Andra's Gaydar Test, what can Fall TV possibly do to measure up?

Not much, it sounds like. It's All Relative sounds as bad as anything ABC has tried lately -- not good news for a network reeling from the untimely death of star John Ritter (television's original "homosexual"). However, Carnivàle sounds to me -- as someone who fondly remembers Twin Peaks -- like an interesting addition for HBO. (Why do I not feel as sanguine about K Street? Oh, well, you know I'll be watching that one.)

Ben, I know I can count on you to give us a full Fall Season report in due course.

What Marriage Debate? - It's a bid tardy to say this, but informed observers of the gay marriage debate should take note of Richard Goldstein's recent column in which he took his fellow progressives and lefties to task for not speaking out in favor of equal marriage rights. For example, the NGLTF, the most left-wing of the major gay political groups, has been criticized for adopting just about any political objective other than marriage.

What Recall? - Could all of the drama of California's gubernatorial recall and election be for nothing? Well, not nothing, but reports indicate that there is a good chance the 9th Circuit may delay the October 7th recall, after all. (This after a Federal District Court refused to do so last month.)

The issue seems rather contrived: several counties haven't yet replaced their punch card systems which the Secretary of State had previously found unacceptably error-prone and promised to replace. (Not that they've invalidated decades of prior elections on these grounds.) Ben, can you name the six counties? Hint: they cover 44% of the state's population. More to the point -- when would the recall be held if the court requires a delay?

How to get ripped off in Hollywood - Now that gays are accepted in Hollywood, I guess the next goal is to get equal pay for equal work. Who did these guy have for an agent, anyway?

Ageism - This old gay guy came out. He used to be hot. Here's a link to pics! The question is, should I care who Tab Hunter is?

Metrosexual - What an idiotic, derivative article on metrosexuals by the Sac Bee. Further, the line between homosexual and metrosexual seems to be rather blurred in this particular perspective. Could the reporter be any lazier?

Queer Eye - Read this incredible article from the Billings Gazette that includes the following quote from the executive director of the Montana Family Coalition: "A really good reality show for gay people would be five gay men dying of AIDS." I think that quotation speaks for itself without me needing to comment any further. On a lighter note, Graham Norton has a few things to say about the Fab Five as well.

Ready, Aim, Backfire! - No one should be surprised that the RIAA's wave of lawsuits has ended up targeting some unlikely defendants -- nor that media coverage of this idiocy will be universally sympathetic to the group's "victims." Twelve year-olds, seventy-one year olds -- major offenders, my ass. I think we can view the world's fastest legal settlement reported today as an admission of mistake by the record industry. Moreover, some members of the RIAA are already taking the correct course to dealing with digital swapping -- lowering prices. At least Universal gets it. The RIAA should watch and learn.

Gay Hate - How seriously can we take reports of beatings and bomb threats against evangelicals opposed to "the gay agenda"? Maybe they did happen, maybe they didn't. Regardless, I find it interesting how often Christian conservatives parrot the victim politics of many gay activists, only in reverse. It feels like a game of "I'm rubber; you're glue" to me. If only the media and the public didn't fall for it, from either side.

The link found in that story to Ex-Gay Watch is pretty interesting. I haven't read enough of it to get a complete sense of the blog, but the author reminds me of several ex-gay-leaning folks I've encountered. It turns out they ain't all bad. In my experience, these are often sensitive guys conflicted over their (freely admitted) homosexual attractions whose major political stance is "can't we all just get along." Hard for the libertarian in me to object to that; besides some would point out I have a lot in common with these sensitive losers. (Of course the John Paulks of the world, who hold up their purported ex-gay status as a model for all homosexuals that deserve outrage and criticism.)

Wal*Mart Fun - You should have gone to the Maria Shriver event in Sacramento yesterday, Ben. Told you so myself, didn't I?

Backlash Explainer - Capping a week when the U.S. Senate held a hearing on the need to protect the sacred institution of marriage from the perversions of homosexual relationships, the NYTimes looks at why the pro-liberty Lawrence ruling may have given a tactical advantage to the homophobic social conservatives. (Always interesting to see a topic intensely debated within a narrow issue community break into the major media.)

Oddly, I haven't come across a lot of coverage of the hearings themselves, which were naturally stacked with anti-gay witnesses. All I noticed was Alan Simpson's nice little op-ed piece in the Post giving us some GOP love, and a rejoinder from James Taranto. (I'm sure Drew and the NRO have been holding their own side debates, but I've not read them to see.)

For my part, I continue to hope that the anti-gay-marriage side is still too divided over what to do to accomplish anything. They're all wrapped up over issues of Federalism and whether this rises to a constitutional emergency. I've decided I have a fall-back position at least: if there HAS to be an amendment, we better pray it's not the one introduced by Rep. Marilyn Musgrave that currently enjoys 75 co-sponors. Understand that this version is a nuclear bomb against gays. It doesn't just bar us from "marriage" but also "the legal incidents thereof." In other words, kiss your civil unions and domestic partnerships goodbye. (Yes, you too, California.) Under the circumstances, an amendment that merely barred courts from enforcing gay marriages outside of their home state is at least bearable.

Can't wait for that Massachusetts ruling, eh?

Boy Meets Boy Recap - A little bit late to the party, but didja watch that Boy Meets Boy finale? Our winners, James Getzlaff and Wes Culwell are interviewed in The Advocate. James also spoke to PlanetOut and TV Guide, giving the skinny on the status of his relationship with Wes. But what I really want to know is, where's Andra? What's her reaction to the choices? Did she throttle Franklin when his straightness was revealed? I really wanted an MTV-style reunion special, and I think Bravo is quite unresponsive not to have thought of the idea. [Posted for Ben.]

And We're Back - Okay, things are taking a bit longer to get the new system up and running. In the meantime, there's no reason to deprive Beaverhausen readers of their daily dose. So without further ado, here are the posts you've been missing.

ANNOUNCEMENT - We are halting new posts on the Beaverhausen Blog temporarily as we attempt to shift over to a much better blogging system -- including comments that actually work! We appreciate your patience during this process. Ideally we could be "live" with the new system as soon as next week. In the meantime, check and be sure you are using our permanent URL for your bookmark:

http://www.beaverhausenblog.com

Once we begin posting on the new system, we'll be sure to update this announcement. Thanks, and see you back at the Beav soon!

Drew Plays Nicely with Others - Today, Andrew Sullivan posted his reaction to Michael Kinsey's Slate article about Ahnuld's gang-bang revelation. Drew asks, "But why is group sex between consenting adults in private 'disgusting'?" Taking things a bit personally, are we? He goes on with his musing, indicating that, "for all we know, the woman had a great time." Right, because Drew would enjoy taking on a group of hot bodybuilders. And you know that you would too, gentle reader, so don't even try to deny it.

Queer Eye - Blair, the original culture guy from Queer Eye is suing the Fab Five's producers for cutting him from the cast. Sour grapes, clearly, because while neither he nor Jai actually have anything to do on the show, at least Jai tries to make the best of it and be funny. I don't remember Blair even speaking a single word.

Southern (European) Decadence - Well, I understand the annual gay Labor Day party in N'awlins was a bust this year. It seems that the Reverend Grant Storms -- using videotapes of debauchery from Southern Decadence in years past -- helped convince the Louisiana legislature to prohibit public nudity and impose mandatory 10-day jail sentences for those who get convicted. He even led a march into the iniquitous French Quarter at what was supposed to be the height of the depravity, and the cops were out in force. The result wasn't pretty, and left certain Beaverhausen readers disappointed with their annual pilgrimage.

Never fear, rowdies, because you can join the yobs from Britain for your quota of drunken revelry, says the NYTimes. Apparently the British are getting a bad name in the rest of Europe for their loutishness on holiday. Blame it on the cheap airfares -- before unification it used to be too expensive for a certain class of Britons to do their pubcrawls anywhere but the East End. Hey, even foreign uptight northerners need to let their hair down somewhere!

Out on Rugby Road - Please, fraternity row at U.Va. was crawling with homos long before they started their own club. (As evidence, I present the Council of Fraternity Presidents. ) It will be interesting to see just how well the other Greeks will get along with the out-and-open brand of homosexual. Or how the Queer Student Union would view gay men taking part in such a conservative, old-boy pasttime.

Other news from The Grounds of Mr. Jefferson's university: The (of course) pro-gay student newspaper perhaps prematurely heralds the demise of the despised "not gay" chant and campaigns for partner benefits. (I'm not sure where they get the idea that colleges have greater autonomy under Virginia's Dillon Rule than municipalities. I should look into that.)

News Recap - The NYTimes got down to the nitty-gritty on gay marriage over the weekend. (Link the story now while it's still free.) Taking the recent changes in Canadian law as a cue, the NYT investigated whether, given the opportunity, gays really want to get married. Apparently the jury is still out. The ambivalence is based, the Times says, on a reluctance to give up what many gays feel is a unique, self-constructed sense of what their relationships mean to them, only to replace it with that most conventional of social institutions. Or to put it another way -- monogamy scares the shit out of them.

Extravaganza! - I saw them rehearsing the lighting last night for the NFL Kickoff down on the Mall. It was actually fairly impressive, what with dozens of computer-coordinated searchlights beaming into the humid night sky. Alas, not even the likes of Britney, Mary J. and Good Charlotte can get me to attend the controversial sports-government-commerce fest this evening. Unless you are military, you won't be able to get close to the stage, and the weather isn't likely to cooperate anyway.

The New Mojito - Ben, it's time to move on to the Caipirinha, the bebida nacional de Brasil. Since the tough part is finding Cachaça, a sugarcane liquor also known as Brazilian rum, maybe I'll just keep getting mine from Jaleo.

Boy Meets Boy - I'm sure we're all atwitter for the finale tonight, but just in case you've not been keeping up, Salon has got a Boy Meets Boy recap and commentary. Meanwhile, the NYTimes has a few thoughts on the backlash of reality TV, including a review of the new reality parody, Joe Schmo, noting that "Bravo and Spike TV also reinforce all the male stereotypes: gay men are sweet, self-deprecating and caring while heterosexual men are crudely childish."

Drag Volleyball Virgin, No Longer - I've now witnessed the quintessential Rehoboth Beach experience. None of the housemates made it out to Poodle Beach for this Labor Day Sunday standard, but Jamie and I knew we couldn't miss it. Heck, even the broadsheet of middle America, USA Today, raves about it. For the unitiated, the most interesting aspect was the high calibre of play, despite the elaborate outfits. (This year's contest pitted the Church Ladies against Team Disney.) The skills derive from the fact that these are volleyball players in drag, not drag queens playing volleyball. Quite an entertaining spectacle.

And speaking of the VMAs... - Did you notice how the camera immediately zoomed in on Carson (Kressler, not Daly) when Madonna appeared on stage at the Video Music Awards? I didn't realize he was also giving fashion advice to hip hop's finest. Such appearances make me concerned about Queer Eye overexposure, but if Colin Powell is Tivoing it, they've got to be doing something right.

Remember Roseanne? - Hard to believe it was less than ten years ago that a lesbian liplock on TV was startling and cage rattling. I guess that's what distinguishes the opening number of this year's Video Music Awards: the fact that Madonna made out with Britney and Christina on stage was really not all that shocking -- more creepy than disturbing. Madge could be their mother!

Almost Famous - I never thought we'd be published in The Voice, but here we are (page 23).

Okay, so it's not the Village Voice, but rather Voice of the Hill, one of Cap Hill's independent papers. Thanks to a tremendous investigative job by VOTH Assistant Editor Andrew Noyes, Beaverhausen has been discovered and is on its way to stardom. Welcome, teeming masses of readers!

Oh, and as a shout-out to Andrew, here's a link to his very own blog which you should look into.