This is so ACCURATE and FUNNY
Marc Shaiman, Jack Black, Margaret Cho & More

Tags: 700m,Politics,Comedy,GODIAN

Be Careful People....
It’s kool to feel we have come so far with rights and acceptance, but there are still those who hate us enough to kill. Also, while I’m at it, can I just mention that while you read this article please catch the killers movie choice. Some of my friends have said that I’m stupid for not watching or liking horror films. My response is that when you have seen Horror first hand and you are mentally stable, you have no need to experience it again for fun...




Man Confesses to Weekend Murder of Gay NYC Student in Chelsea

A suspect has confessed to the murder of Kevin Pravia, a 19-year-old gay student who was killed in his apartment on 15th street in the Chelsea district of Manhattan over the weekend following a party near the city's South Street Seaport.

Report: Neighbors, friends pay respects, mourn.

PraviaAccording to the NY Daily News, Pravia's body was discovered — a cord around his neck and a plastic bag shoved down his throat — by his roommate Josephine Madonna, when she returned from a weekend trip:

"Police sources said they were testing theplastic bag, sheet and cord for forensic evidence and looking through surveillance video to see who came in and outof the building. The student's death has not been officially ruled a murder. An autopsy was inconclusive and further tests were needed. As cops dug for clues, Pravia's mother, Paula, made a grim pilgrimage to New York from Peru, Mass., to identify her son. Police said there was no evidence of forced entry or sexual assault. A neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said Madonna and Pravia, friends from Massachusetts, moved into the Chelsea building just two week ago. He was gay and Madonna is straight, the neighbor said. 'His [moving boxes are] still in the hallway,' she said. Another neighbor, Teresa Hicks, 41, was startled when Madonna, who was away for several days, screamed when she found the body in the fifth-floor apartment. 'The girl was shouting, 'My God! My God! He's dead,'' Hicks said."

The NY Post reports: "A 22-year-old Queens man has confessed to killing a Pace University student, who was found strangled in his Chelsea apartment Sunday, police sources said today. The unidentified suspect told cops that he choked and robbed victim Kevin Pravia, 19, after meeting him in Union Square at about 6 a.m. Sunday and accompanying him back to his home. The suspect allegedly told investigators that he bought drugs from Pravia before they went to the apartment - though police sources said they doubt the drug buy claim. Exactly why they went back to the apartment was unclear. But after arriving there and hanging out for a while, Pravia fell asleep, the suspect told cops. That when he allegedly tried to rob the student. The suspect told cops that he punched the sleeping teen, put an electrical cord around his neck, stuffed a plastic bag in his mouth and strangled him."

pictured here...the killer


Killer of Gay Teen's Gloating Explanation: 'Because I Wanted To'

Jeromie Cancel, the killer of gay NYC student Kevin Pravia in his Chelsea apartment over the weekend has shown no remorse over the killing following his confession:

Cancel Soto, 22, brutalized 19-year-old Kevin Pravia, sat near the honor student's corpse to watch the horror movie 'Saw' and then bragged about the murder to his father, the sources said. Asked why he did it as he was marched out of the 10th Precinct stationhouse Tuesday night, Cancel shouted, 'Because I wanted to. You got a problem with that?' Cancel's father, Jesus Soto, said his son had turned up to boast after the killing. 'All the time he was gloating, like it didn't mean nothing to him,' Soto said, recounting Cancel's bizarre appearance at his Queens apartment. 'He was not remorseful, like he was happy with what he did,' said Soto, 40. 'He had this big smile on him.'"

After the Killing...Cancel stole a cell phone, iPod, and laptop before leaving the apartment. According to the NYDN, "Cancel has been arrested four times in Florida, including for drug possession and for stealing a car, officials said. He was charged with murder and manslaughter in Pravia's death."

Tags: GODIAN,700m,Politics

Ex-Nanny Fran Drescher is throwing a benefit to fight Proposition 8 (the ballot measure that would define marriage as between a man and a woman in California) with her ex-husband Peter Jacobson tonight for $100 a head. It's sold out.

Drescher told E!'s Marc Malkin: "I don't know if you realize this, but I'm a gay icon. But even if I weren't, I'm a political activist who believes in preserving the American dream which is tolerance of diversity and the separation of church and state…It's simply un-American not to be tolerant of different lifestyles. If you wanna live in a single-minded, religious-based country you're in the wrong place. It's not about being gay or straight…If two people are in love and they want to be married, they should have the right to do this."

Tags: 700m,Politics

Dennis Gets no Airplay, this was only shown on CSPAN...
America can’t handle Dennis cause he don’t play, there’s no political BS, just straight TRUTH.
He’s a little nervous (and rightfully so, cause you know what the current P and VP are capable of)
yet in his nervous rushed stance he still delivers the best speach

WAKE UP AMERICA

Tags: Politics,GODIAN,700m

Official sues: Don't tell voters about same-sex law
By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.23.2008

PHOENIX — Secretary of State Jan Brewer has gone to court to avoid having to tell Arizona voters that state law already bars same-sex marriage.
In a lawsuit filed Friday, Brewer said the only thing she needs to explain on the ballot is approval of Proposition 102 would amend the state constitution to define marriage as a union of one man and one woman
She wants to limit the legally required explanation of the effect of voting "no" on the measure would "have the effect of retaining the current laws regarding marriage."
And she wants Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Mark Aceto to block efforts by Attorney General Terry Goddard to expand the explanation to say existing laws already include "a statutory ban on same-sex marriage."
Brewer said she believes the measure is clearer without the language Goddard wants. She also said one reason she wants the shorter version is she heard from the group pushing Proposition 102 that it believes mentioning the existing law would confuse voters and cause many to vote against the measure.
Goddard, however, said voters are entitled to know what laws already are on the books.
He contends that adopting the limited description Brewer wants actually could cause more confusion, that some people might conclude that if they vote against Proposition 102 they would be allowing gays to marry.
Goddard also pointed out that the language he wants is exactly the same as was used two years ago, when a similar measure was on the ballot. Goddard said neither side filed legal protests to that wording.
This time, however, Peter Gentala, attorney for Arizonans for Marriage, is objecting.
In a letter to Brewer, Gentala said a poll conducted after voters defeated the 2006 proposal shows some people who voted against it — voters who were exposed to the language about existing state law — said they thought they were voting for the constitutional ban.
Gentala also said telling people same-sex marriages already are against the law "includes an argument against the proposition." He cited comments by Gov. Janet Napolitano, who, in announcing her opposition to Proposition 102, said it is unnecessary because "we already have a statute that defines marriage."
Gentala, staff attorney for the Center for Arizona Policy, which worked to convince legislators to put the issue on this year's ballot, refused to comment on his letter to Brewer.
The fight comes as proponents, stung by the defeat two years ago, seek to get it approved this time. One thing they did is narrow the scope.
The 2006 measure would have not only constitutionally banned gay marriage but also barred state and local governments from recognizing civil unions or providing benefits such as health insurance to the domestic partners of their employees. It lost by 54,000 votes out of nearly 1.5 million ballots cast.
This proposal, rewritten by the Center for Arizona Policy, deals only with marriage.
Proponents of Proposition 102 agree the Legislature made same-sex marriage illegal in 1996, a law that was upheld by the state Court of Appeals, a decision the Arizona Supreme Court declined to review.
But backers point out that California also had a law banning gay marriage until that state's Supreme Court ruled in May that gays are constitutionally entitled to the same rights as heterosexual couples, including the right to wed.
Brewer said mentioning existing Arizona law "confuses people."
"The bottom line is, we're dealing with the constitution, and they want to kind of muddy it up with the statutes," she said. "And I don't agree with that."
The California decision was based on a conclusion that constitutional rights trump state statutes.

Tags: Politics,700m

Family Affair: Miami attorneys Jeff Hearne and Mark Balzli are among the first gay couples to register as domestic partners in Miami Dade County. They are raising a son, Aidan.
(Photo by Juan Carlos Rodriguez)
By JUAN CARLOS RODRIGUEZ
AUG. 14, 2008, FLoridai Blade

One step toward equality
Miami Dade’s DP registry brings assurance to countless unmarried couples.

August 18 promises to be a landmark day in Miami-Dade County for the multitude of unmarried couples living in long-term, committed relationships.

At 10 a.m. the Miami-Dade community services department will open the county’s first domestic partnership registry. County commissioners approved the measure May 20, with an 8 - 4 vote.

The decision was hailed as a thorough, if not long overdue, victory for the gay community and for countless unmarried straight couples.

As the department prepares for what could be dozens of gay and straight couples lining up on the ninth floor of the county building to be among the first to register, Amendment 2—the statewide measure to recognize only one-man-one-woman marriages—looms on the Nov. 4 ballot.

If 60 percent of Florida voters approve it, Amendment 2 could render the county registry null and void.

That threat, however, is not enough to scare off as many as 30 couples whom GLBT organizers expect to register Monday.

Sonya Perez, a spokesperson for the community services department, said the county will provide the couples a waiting room and an on-premises notary Monday to help finalize the documents of those couples who have not yet finished their paperwork. County workers will be specially assigned to handle the amount of applications on Monday as well, Perez said.

For two Miami couples, attorneys Mark Balzli and Jeff Hearne, and gay activist Kirk Arthur and chemical engineer Alfredo Iglesias, the event is more than just a photo op.

Both couples say the registry is a small step toward a larger goal: that of marriage equality.

Both couples have children. Balzli and Hearne, together for six years, are raising their son Aidan, who, at 8 years-old, is obsessed with dinosaurs. Arthur and Iglesias’ 19 year-old son Alfie lives on his own in San Diego, Calif.

Together the couples represent two successful gay families at different points in their lives. And each have taken measures to get some form of legal recognition for their union. The attorneys were among the first couples to register as domestic partners in Miami Beach in 2003. Arthur and Iglesias were married July 11 in California. Their marriage, however, is not legally recognized in Florida due to current state laws.

Both couples said they were determined to step forward to be officially recognized here at home.

“The legislation says the county will honor our partnership,” Balzli said. “It’s not going to hurt. We have an eight-year-old boy and we don’t want to have issues.”

The registry is especially beneficial to GLBT families with children: Florida is the only state in the U.S. that specifically outlaws gay couples from adopting together, and while the registry does not overturn that law, it does provide limited legal recognition of guardianship for both parents.

The Miami-Dade registry will also give couples more leverage in emergency circumstances to deal with their finances and property in case one of them passes away.

“It’s not marriage, but it’s a start,” said Orlando Gonzales, SAVE’s interim executive director. “After we achieve [marriage] then there will be another celebration.”

For the meantime, Gonzales said, the new registry provides an opportunity for the public to break through preconceived notions about the gay community. He said the registry will help “quantify” how many GLBT people are in serious committed family relationships. That information, he said, will help inform future policy making.

Like most gay couples who’ve built lives together, Arthur and Iglesias say they don’t need a certificate to define their relationship, after 13 years together in a committed relationship.

But Arthur and Iglesias said the new registry provides an extra measure of security. Aside from establishing a legal recognition of their bond, being registered will serve to keep things, “straight” with the public.

“It solves a lot of the ambiguities,” Iglesias said.

“It just feels good,” Arthur chimes in. “You have a word that people understand, and there’s no question.”

Miami-Dade’s registry is the latest controversial issue to swing in the gay community’s favor. In 2002, SAVE was instrumental in beating a repeal of the county’s Human Rights Ordinance which barred sexual orientation discrimination. The county was at the center of the 1970s gay movement when county commissioners defeated Anita Bryant’s Save Our Children campaign, which would have repealed a local Dade county ordinance that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Heddy Peña, SAVE’s former executive director, played a key role in winning commissioner’s support for the Miami-Dade registry. She said while she recognizes the historic nature of the inaugural date, she is not quite ready to celebrate.

“For the moment it’s a step forward,” she said. “But in the long run, depending on what happens with Amendment 2, it could be a step back.”

Peña stepped down from SAVE last week to focus her efforts on the campaign to defeat Amendment 2, which threatens to disband the registry if approved by voters Nov. 4. She said she will be “showing up” to the county building Monday.

SAVE’s board of directors will likely announce its choice for its next executive director, Gonzales said. In the meantime the organization will focus on defeating Amendment 2, and thus protecting the rights that the Miami Dade registry provides.

Tags: Politics,Family,700m