Due to incompetence and extremely poor customer service, my DSL service won't be back on till some time next week in all likelihood. All thanks to the lovely people of - -& -.
I'll post an update just as soon as I can.
PS-I hate dialup!!
Still facing DSL issues, but I hope to write more about this in a few days:
Justice Department reopens black teen's 1955 murder case
The Justice Department said Monday it is reopening the investigation into the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, a teenager whose death while visiting Mississippi was an early catalyst for the civil rights movement.
Till was abducted from his uncle's home in Money, Miss., on Aug. 28, 1955. The mutilated body of the 14-year-old from Chicago was found by fishermen three days later in the Tallahatchie River.
Pictures of the slaying shocked the world. Two white men charged with murder -- Roy Bryant and his half brother, J.W. Milam -- were acquitted by an all-white jury. Both men have since died. [ more ]
New York City Councilmember Christine Quinn, Margarita López, and Philip Reed would like to invite you and your friends a press conference on Monday May 17th at 10:00am on the steps of City Hall regarding the legalization of same-sex marriages in Massachusetts. We will be joined by other elected officials and community activists and leaders.
We will celebrate the beginning of Massachusetts issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. This is in accordance with the Supreme Judicial Court ruling last November, which read that only full marriage rights for same-sex couples, not civil unions, conformed to the state's constitution. This is a great victory for promoting families of all kinds, without discrimination, at a time when the Bush Administration would like to write prejudice towards the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community directly into the United States Constitution.
We would like you to join us to on this historic day. Look forward to seeing you there.
If you have any questions, please contact Scott Melvin at (212) 788-9194 or via email at scott.melvin@council.nyc.gov.
Don't know how accurate this rumor is, but I'd like one right away:
Confirmed: Next iPod to Have Color Screen
Our sources have confirmed the next generation iPod will have a color screen. The new iPod will not be much different in form and function from the current models, but the primary difference is the color screen. Other details about the iPod are scetchy on our end but the fact it will be color is not up for debate. We are sorry we don't have more information to provide or details concerning the screen itself, but when it does come out or other rumors abound of it, just remember you heard it here first.
Other rumors speculate about an upcoming iPod to support video and other features. Although these appear to just be rumors at this time, our sources where not privy to that information nor are we.
macosx.com staff
Of course, there better be more than just a color screen. Video I/O would be nice. As would a built-in AM/FM tuner.
Just because:
Crunch shook him gently. The room was half dark, not dark yet. Crunch sat on the edge of the bed, looking at him carefully, with that eyebrow raisded, half smiling, half frowning.
"You feel better?"
Arthur stared, saying nothing, then he smiled.
"You're back."
"Of course I'm back. You feel better?"
Arthur moved and put his head in Crunch's lap, holding on to him and staring up at him.
The room grew darker. They were alone. Crunch leaned down, and kissed him. Arthur held on to Crunch with all his strength, with all his tears, tears he had not yet begun to shed. Crunch leaned up.
from Just Above My Head by James Baldwin (pages 205-7)"Let me lock the door," he whispered.
Arthur sat up, and watched Crunch lock the door.
He did it very elaborately, and then turned, grinning, with one finger to his lips.
"We all alone, now, little fellow. Ain't nobody on this floor but us. And it's Sunday night, anyway, everybody's out." He grinned, and then his face changed, he stood at the door, looking at Arthur.
"Where's Peanut and Red?"
Arthur was whispering, and Crunch whispered, "I left them in the pool hall. They found some friends."
"They coming back?"
"I told them I was taking you someplace."
He sat down on the bed again, and started taking off his shoes. He looked over at Arthur. "Did I do right?"
"Sure."
"Get under the covers."
Arthur watched as Crunch stripped—Crunch was whistling, low in his throat: and it came to Arthur, with great astonishment, that Crunch was whistling because he was happy—was happy to be here, with Arthur. Arthur watched as Crunch unbuttoned his shirt, watched the long dark fingers against the buttons and the cloth, watched the cloth fly across the room to land on the other bed, watched as he unbuckled his belt, dropped his trousers, raising one knee then the other, sitting on the bed again to pull the trousers past the big feet, then folding the trousers, and rising to place them on the other bed, pulling off his undershirt kicking off his shorts, his whole, long, black self padding to the small sing, where he looked, briefly, into the mirror, ran cold water, gargled, his dark body glowing in the darkening room, a miracle of spinal column, neck to buttocks, shoulders and shoulder blades, elbows, wrists, thighs, ankles, a miracle of bone and blood and muscle and flesh and music. Arthur was still wearing his undershirt and shorts. He hated being naked in front of anyone, even me—perhaps, especially me; I had sometimes given him his bath: but that had been under another condition, for which he had not been responsible, and which he was not compelled to remember. Nakedness had not, then, been a confession, or a vow. Arthur was frightened; then he wasn't frightened, but he found that he could not move. He could not take off his undershirt. He could not take off his shorts. Crunch turned, and Arthur, in a kind of peaceful terror, watched as the face, and the eyes in that face, and the neck and the chest, and the nipples on the chest, and the ribs and the long, flat belly and the belly button and the jungle of hair spinning upward from the long, dark, heavy, swinging sex approached, and Crunch got under the covers, and took Arthur in his arms.
Crunch sighed, a weary, trusting sigh, and put his hands under Arthur's undershirt and pulled it over Arthur's head, and suddenly, they both laughed, a whispering laugh. Crunch dropped the undershirt on the floor.
"That's called progress," Crunch whispered. "And now," he said, "let's see what we can do down yonder."
He put his hands at Arthur's waist, pulled the shorts down, got them past one foot. Arthur's prick rose.
Crunch stroked it, and grinned. "That's enough progress, for now," he said, but he put his rigid sex against Arthur's, and they they simply lay there, holding on to each other, unable to make another move...
Keith Boykin (president of the National Black Justice Coalition) has a nice, to-the-point essay in the Village Voice:
In my lifetime, African Americans were denied the right to marry white people, and now we who are black dare to deny matrimonial rights to gay people—people like me. In a recent poll, 65 percent of blacks opposed same-sex marriage, although other surveys have shown strong support for laws banning discrimination against gays. What offends most black people is the comparison between the gay-marriage struggle and the black struggle for civil rights.
In the past six months, dozens of black ministers across the country have spoken out against same-sex marriage. And despite the common liberal portrayal of these clergy as stooges of the white religious right, some of the ministers, like Jackson and Reverend Walter Fauntroy, who once represented Washington, D.C., in Congress, have long records fighting for progressive causes. Has the black church succumbed to the machinations of the white religious right? "I'm sure they're being co-opted, but they don't need a great deal of co-optation," says Reverend Peter Gomes, a black Baptist minister. "I think they come to the prejudice on their own."
Gomes attributes the black social conservatism to racial assimilation. "The African American religious community has spent so much time trying to prove to the white community that it is the same, that for all intents and purposes it shares many of the worst prejudices of the white community."
Now that I have my DSL back up — fingers crossed!! — I hope to update as often as possible on the Coalition's campaign for marriage and social equality.
but you can help Donald out during these difficult times. Pay him a visit at his virtual rent party.
Believe me, every little bit helps. I learned that the hard way during 2+ years of on-again, off-again employment after being downsized from my publishing job.
HNIC reports on this recent mention of his org:
The War and Economy Sour Blacks on BushA honorable goal indeed!!Bush supporters point to King's involvement and the president's diverse Cabinet as proof that he's Black America's best friend in Washington.
"The president is someone that is an inclusive leader and he talks to a variety of groups from across the political spectrum and reaches out to people from all walks of life," Scott McClellan, Bush's press secretary, says.
But his critics see otherwise.
They point to the president's opposition to affirmative action, which has been helpful in giving qualified people of color opportunities in education and employment. Critics also note that Bush has refused to meet with Black leadership like the NAACP, despite repeated attempts by Pres. Mfume.
The president's opponents also question his real commitment to educational reform, given that his No Child Left Behind Act remains under funded.
There's even a website called "Blacks for Bush.org" that is ironically dedicated to defeating, not re-electing the president.
"Blacks for Bush is a dedicated group of African Americans working to ensure that George W. Bush, our 43rd President does not have to serve another term," the website states. "We believe that based on the job he has done to this country, he like his father deserves to go home. We feel obligated to get George W. Bush home to Crawford, Texas and urge all African Americans and in fact all Americans to join us in our efforts; we're uniters not dividers.
"Getting George W. Bush home to Crawford, Texas is the compassionate thing to do for him and for America."