Queer Oakland

What is with closeted politicians being the dumbest kind of person? Last week it was Roy Ashburn, Republican State Senator from Bakersfield this week it’s Eric Massa, former Democratic congressman from New York. Who originally stated he was retiring due to health reasons but now it turns it was because of well.. I’ll let him tell it in his own words.

(warning watching  Glenn Beck may be dangerous to your sanity)

Sometimes it seems doing nothing really is the best policy. After months of staying mum on the issue and doing very little in the form of campaigning while potential rivals rose and fell, Jerry Brown announced that he’s officially running for governor of the Golden State…. again. From Mercury News:

Asserting that California needs “someone with an insider’s knowledge but an outsider’s mind” to pull the state out of its economic doldrums, Attorney General Jerry Brown strode into the governor’s race Tuesday morning after taking months to make the inevitable official.

In a 3½-minute video announcement taped from his campaign headquarters in Oakland and transmitted through his campaign Web site, his Facebook page and YouTube, Brown vowed guide the state into a new “period of prosperity.”

“Our state is in serious trouble, and the next governor must have the preparation, the knowledge and the know-how to get California working again,” said Brown, 71, who is seeking to return to the governor’s office after serving from 1975 to 1983.

Watch the video after the jump.

Read more…

Think America needs to get even fatter? Good, so does Denny’s! From now until the end of March the ubiquitous 24 hour, always open food chain, that turned itself into the largest soup kitchen in the world after it’s “Free Grand Slam” Super Bowl ad, is offering free refills on pancakes (both buttermilk and wheat) and french fries.

Says the company spokesman:

“Clearly times are still hard and everyday we’re all looking for ways to stretch hard-earned dollars farther and farther,” said John Dillon, Vice President Marketing, Denny’s Corporation. “By offering unlimited refills on not just one but two favorite items, we are able to provide even more everyday value on items our guests love. Who doesn’t want seconds of pancakes and fries… especially when they’re free?”

Yes, who doesn’t want seconds or thirds or fourths.

Also who wants to get started on the class-action lawsuit for when we all die of cholesterol poisoning?

We visited Blush! wine bar last weekend. Cute space, cozy atmosphere – all that you’d expect from a homey wine bar in the middle of the Castro. A place for all the highfalutin flags to show off their abilities to order in French and their developed palettes.

The only problem? The menu. Perhaps I’m too young to fully appreciate foreign cuisine but when I order something called “kobe beef tartare” I expect y’know… meat. What we got instead could easily be mistaken for cat food wrapped in a cucumber. Now Wikipedia tells me that a tartare “is a preparation of finely chopped raw meat or fish optionally with seasonings and sauces” but I wish the menu would have told me that before hand. The other thing we got was the ravioli’s which were disappointing. They tasted good and all, after they stopped boiling so I could actually put them in my mouth without burning anything, but they weren’t filling to say the least.

Am I expecting too much? Maybe. Yet for $12-$14 I’m surprised these people can look me in the eye when they serve it.

It’s always fascinating the type of information one can gather from the various social networking sites that exist today.

This map shows regions based on friend links from Facebook. Turns out Los Angeles really is the center of the universe and Seattle is really boring. Also? Avoid Utah: it’s full of Mormons who really, really like Twilight.

Today was Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell day on Capitol Hill. With Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Admiral Mullen offered his personal view thusly:

“Mr. Chairman, speaking for myself and myself only, it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do. No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. For me, personally, it comes down to integrity — theirs as individuals and ours as an institution.”

Robert Gates announced that there would be a investigative study launched that should conclude by the end of the year as to how to go about repeal with implementation starting shortly thereafter and probably taking another year to complete. There was also talk of enacting stop-loss measures to prevent further discharges under DADT, such as not investigating people who are outed by third parties.

Of course there was the typical backlash. AMERICAblog caught John McCain’s flip-flop from a statement in 2006 about how we should listen when military leaders say it’s time for repeal to his flip-out today about how a thousand retired admirals and generals had signed a petition against change. Guess he’s more interested in the opinions of retired military leaders who agree with him than what the people who actually run the military think.

Watch Admiral Mullen’s full statement after the jump.

Read more…

Come to Stockton, California on Saturday, February 20th, 2010 for “It Takes a Rainbow: Bridging the Mountains to the Bay” Northern California LGBTQIA Conference at University of the Pacific. Full day and evening of presentations, workshops, entertainment, networking session for LGBTQIA organizations and more! Featuring keynote speaker, Peter Paige from Queer As Folk, and entertainment by Miss Coco Peru! Visit http://lgbtqia.pacific.edu for more information. Early-bird registration is only $20 before January 30, 2010.