Forget About Don Lemon My New CNN Crush Is TJ Holmes!
Last year, I talked about my crush for the CNN anchor Don Lemon. Well this year I’ve moved on from Don to TJ Holmes!
I still love Don, but I feel TJ is just so masculine yet sensitive at the same time.
Isn’t TJ just amazing? TJ is intelligent, hardworking, and of course gorgeous! I wish CNN would give TJ Holmes more higher profile roles this man can reach multiple demographic markets.
Herald Sun Article: Australian Lesbian Politician Penny Wong Says She Is A Victim of Racism & Sexism!
A LESBIAN minister in the Gillard government has spoken of being discriminated against because of her sexuality and race.
Gay rights activists have accused Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, who is also Australia’s first openly gay federal government minister, of selling out.
But Senator Wong has defended her approach of publicly supporting the Labor Party’s stance of defining marriage as an institution for heterosexual couples.
“By virtue of who I am, prejudice and discrimination are things I have firsthand knowledge of,” she told ABC television on Monday.
“When I entered the parliament, I did actually think very carefully about how to handle being Asian and gay and in the parliament, because it hadn’t been done before.”
Senator Wong said that before entering public life, she decided to be “absolutely open” about who she was.
“Part of the reason I did that was because I thought it was very important to show that you should never be ashamed of who you are,” she said.
Greens senator Christine Milne took exception to Senator Wong’s defence of Labor’s record on tackling gay discrimination.
“This is a lack of leadership I have to say,” she said.
Labor powerbroker Graham Richardson, a former Hawke government cabinet minister, leapt to Senator Wong’s defence when an audience member criticised her for not criticising Labor’s stance on gay marriage.
“I’m amazed somewhat by these questions, really,” he said.
Labor’s policies to help gay de facto couples would not have happened without Senator Wong’s place in the government, Mr Richardson said, adding that many ALP members were opposed to the homosexual civil rights measures.
Sydney Morning Herald Article: Lesbian Politician Penny Wong Criticized For Not Supporting Same Sex Marriage In Australia.
Married to the mob
TIM DICK
July 26, 2010
Penny Wong Photo: Rob Homer
COMMENT
A question: what does it now take for a cabinet minister to speak out on a point of principle, to venture even a mild criticism of the party position?
Would you, for instance, object if your party dumped one of its three main policies on which it won office, unwilling to even try to convince people of the merits of tackling the great moral and economic challenge of our time?
Calm and pragmatic? Photo: Glen McCurtayne
Not if you’re Penny Wong.
Would you object if your party, after fixing some areas of discrimination against a minority group of which you are a part, refused to move on the last major reform for that group because of ”tradition” without any cogent explanation of why that tradition should remain?
Not if you’re Penny Wong.
When Julia Gillard became prime minister, it was bemusing to hear an atheist, unmarried woman from Labor’s left saying she did not support allowing gay couples to marry.
But it was not surprising.
Gillard’s strategy to let Tim Mathieson into The Lodge is a small-target. It is a do nothing, inspire no-one and scare no-one either strategy.
But how can Wong, the only openly gay female cabinet minister in Australia’s history, support her party’s ban on properly recognising gay relationships because of a ”cultural, religious, and historical view” against it? That’s what she told Channel Ten yesterday: “On the issue of marriage, I think the reality is there is a cultural, religious and historical view around that which we have to respect.”
There was a cultural view against women being politicians.
There is a historical bias against lesbian cabinet ministers.
And I’m fairly sure few religious leaders would support lady-loving ladies in the Senate.
Cultural roots, religion and history were all against Wong being elected in the first place. Does that mean she should not have been?
”The party’s position is very clear and that is an institution between a man a woman.”
Asked if she was just toeing the party line, she said: ”I do respect the fact that’s how people view the institution.” Which is entirely true – if you ignore national opinion polls saying precisely the opposite. Wong’s position is that her party is not prepared to argue the case to remove the last egregious piece of discrimination against people like her, and nor is she – well, not any more.
In 2006, she accused John Howard of being more extreme than George Bush on gay rights; Howard had the governor-general squash civil unions in the ACT. Then Kevin Rudd achieved much the same end by threatening to do much the same thing. (Rudd’s objection to registrars presiding over civil union ceremonies, such as it was, seemed to be a fear of having a government formally begin a relationship, rather than recognise an existing one.)
Shortly after Rudd’s move, I asked her if that meant her government, too, was more extreme than the Bush administration. She preferred to speak of significant changes made to various pieces of federal legislation to help de-facto couples.
She returns to the theme each time she is asked about it.
Her mantra is: She is part of a party, and the party’s position was clear. No marriage for gays.
It’s not her only conflicted position. Acting on climate change, like marriage, is a supposedly progressive policy that is actually conservative, given its point is to keep the environment how it is.
On climate change, there was a time when she said any plan to tackle it without a price on carbon was ”a sham policy”. Now, her party’s policy has no price on carbon. It failed to get the emissions trading scheme through the last parliament, but now has no plan to try again in the next. So sham action on climate change and no action on gay marriage. Wong’s stance on both raises the question: what precisely is she for? On what would she take a stand? Anyone?
In the same speech in which she criticised Howard on gay rights in 2006, she said: ”I hope there will come a time when this country can look back and wonder why some in this place and some in this government were so frightened of and antagonistic to certain types of relationships. I look to a day, to paraphrase a great man, when we not only judge people by the content of their character but also where we judge their relationships by markers such as respect, commitment, love and security and not by the gender of their partners.”
“I look to a day when government policy and articulation is not so mired in prejudice.
“I look to a day when we have a government that is not so mired in prejudice that it can address these issues fairly. One thing I do know is that that will only come under a Labor government.”
Not this one.
MTV News: Usher Hugs Chris Brown On Stage During Concert In Jamaica!
While Chris Brown has always made it clear that he looks to Michael Jackson for inspiration, there are nearly as many parallels to be made between Brown and Usher. And last weekend, Breezy joined Usher on stage during the Reggae SumFest 2010 in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The duo wowed audiences in the concluding night of the festival.
Brown had already performed his own set on Friday, tearing through songs like “Run It” and “Forever” and showing off his formidable dancing skills. But it was his surprise appearance during Usher’s set the following day that really set the crowd off. According to TheChrisBrownBlog.com, the two were also joined onstage by Elephant Man and later engaged in a dance-off.
Video footage from the performance had not surfaced online at press time, but photos reveal the two singing together and even showing some affection with an onstage hug.
Brown took to Twitter Saturday to thank Jamaica. “I wanna thank you Jamaica for your wonderful embrace last night at the show,” he wrote. “Next time well do passa passa … lmao … (oh hell naw). Love ya!”
Later on Saturday, he tweeted about performing with Usher. “Me and Usher killin Jamaica right now,” he wrote.
When Chris burst on the music scene five years ago, he was overcome with excitement when meeting Usher. “To see him face-to-face, I was like, ‘OK, Chris, it’s gonna be all right, just chill out right quick. You about to do the song, man, don’t be no punk,’ ” Brown told MTV News about recording a song that was later featured in Usher’s 2005 film “In the Mix.”
Canadian Press Article: Montreal Is The Only Canadian City In The Top 10 Happiest Places On Earth.
Canada gets 1 spot on list of happiest places
By Nelson Wyatt, The Canadian Press
MONTREAL – Canada has an entry on the list of the 10 happiest places on the planet — no small feat considering the rundown included Happy, Texas, the self-proclaimed “town without a frown.”
The popular Lonely Planet travel guide picked Montreal for its list of cheerful locales, noting that Canada’s second-largest city hosts one of the world’s biggest comedy events every July.
Lonely Planet’s U.S. travel editor, Robert Reid, says the list was drawn by surveying a panel of the guide’s editors and authors.
“Happy is a relative term and the truth is you can find happiness anywhere you go,” he said in a phone interview from New York. “You have to pick some places that have certain things about it that kind of pop out.”
Happy, Texas, for instance, made the cut because its name is “irresistible,” he said with a laugh.
“What works for a place like Montreal is that a lot of travellers, they go there and it feels like a city that loves itself in all the right ways. Food is fantastic, it parties like crazy. I live in New York City and, believe me, this part of the (U.S.) knows where to party: you go north of the border to Montreal.”
First mention on the list went to the South Pacific island paradise of Vanuatu — which has the advantage of being considerably warmer than the next city listed, Montreal.
Lonely Planet says Montreal has a variety of other attributes, especially in the summer when it hosts the Just For Laughs Festival, which wrapped up its latest edition on Sunday.
“Clean, welcoming and refreshingly multicultural, Montreal is happy enough year-round,” the travel guide says.
“Come July, though, it’s downright hilarious. Just For Laughs takes over the city in summer, packing venues with the best in both Anglo- and Francophone comedy.”
Montreal has placed high on Lonely Planet lists before — last year it followed Belgrade, Serbia, on the top 10 list of party towns.
While Lonely Planet loves Montreal, the city appeared nowhere on a similar recent list by Forbes magazine. Forbes preferred famed destinations like Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid and Amsterdam.
Lonely Planet’s list highlighted some lesser-known spots. Montreal is the only Canadian location selected, along with places in China, Japan, Colombia and Africa.
Happy, Texas, is described as the “town without a frown.” Although it’s “a disappointing collection of silos and gridded streets,” tourists can find “the best of Texas” outside the city limits with stunning landscapes, sunsets and wildlife.
Of the other spots, Bhutan is described as a “jovial,” “Himalayan Shangri-La.”
Despite Colombia’s history and reputation for violence, the guide says it’s getting safer, calling a visit to the Caribbean coast, coffee plantations and carnival parties “infectious and uplifting.”
Wuyi Shan, China, is “a realm of secret valleys splashed with waterfalls and pocked with mysterious caves.”
Malawi is described as “the warm heart of Africa,” where visitors are greeted generously.
“If it’s grins you’re after — big, unabashed ones — head to Malawi, dubbed the ‘warm heart of Africa’. The country’s people are renowned for the effusive welcome they give travellers, despite living in one of the poorest nations,” says the guide.
“From the woodcarving markets of capital Lilongwe to the sandy shores of Lake Malawi and the elephant-grazed bush of Liwonde National Park, you’ll be accosted with smiles at every turn.”
Still, it’s tough to beat Vanuatu.
“Many a human’s idea of blissful living involves swinging in a palm-strung hammock while the ocean swooshes gently onto a white-sand beach nearby,” Lonely Planet says.
“The water’s ridiculously blue and teeming with life; the interior’s lush and volcanically rumbling, great for exploring amid the breadfruit trees.
“But it’s the sense of community that makes this a truly happy place.”
Reid acknowledges it was tough to pick places and that the list — which was whittled down from 100 suggestions — could easily have gone to 1,000.
“I’d be curious (about) what some of the other Canadian cities think with Montreal being at the top. Maybe Vancouver’s furious. They had the Olympics this year.
“You could easily make a case. Vancouver’s a good candidate, to be honest.” He said he’s had good times in Hamilton, Ont., as well.
And Toronto? Reid says he’s actually headed there for a few days on business at the end of the month.
“I like Toronto. Big fan. But I have two free days at the end of it and I’m going to Montreal.”
This cheerful list comes after several months where Montrealers found it difficult to crack a smile about their city.
Last spring saw the downtown vandalized in hockey-related hooliganism, and there are fears of a blood-spattered power struggle among the city’s organized crime families.
Last fall, Maclean’s magazine ran a cover story about the city’s mayoral election with the headline, “Montreal is a corrupt, crumbling, mob-ridden disgrace.”
While the happiness list was originally published in May, it was picked up Tuesday by the popular U.S. website the Huffington Post, where it quickly generated some discussion.
The page featuring Montreal includes a photo of two young men — their faces painted red, white and blue — wearing Montreal Canadiens jerseys.
There was some debate on a number of the choices, and on those excluded, from the list.
As for Montreal, one person on the Lonely Planet website wrote: “Really glad to see a Canadian city included since I am originally from there.”
Someone on the Huffington Post prompted a debate by writing: “Montreal? Ugh. That place is in a linguistic civil war.”
To which someone replied: “Not a problem if you try hard enough to speak French. It comes handy. Vive (la) joie de vivre!”
And someone else offered a more philosophical measure of bliss.
“Happiness is anywhere you happen to be — with good health, good company, and a fat wallet in your pocket.”
Gayblackcanada 