Going on vacation?

Skin a little pale for the beach? Look at this before you head for the spray-on tanning salon... Please!

Family Planning Advice

RIP Miss Shirley Brahms

I just found out that Wendy Richards, the wonderful British character actress, has passed away from cancer in London. I have had many hours of fun watching the antics of Wendy as she portrayed Shirley Brahms on the BBC series "Are You Being Served". The folks here at Frenchy's House Party want to say how much we have enjoyed her talent.

Fun Photos

Can someone tell me what Breyer's was thinking with this ad?




Honey... the Wolverine look is so over! And by the way... step away from the eyebrow tweezers, 'K?



It's nice to know that the Fundies (Fundamentalist Christians) are loosening up a little, but really??!!??

And didn't Mr. B and I get a pair of those at our wedding shower!

Schadenfreude Alert!

TPT (The Poor Thing)

From Huffington Post:

NEW YORK — A Florida hedge fund manager, Arthur Nadel, who disappeared for two weeks as investigators closed in on him can be freed on $5 million bail after being accused of ripping off investors of as much as $350 million, a judge said Wednesday.

U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote rejected a prosecutor's arguments that no release conditions could ensure that Arthur Nadel would not flee.

Let him rot!

I love Rachel Maddow!

(I even love the doofus glasses!) Rachel scored a big one last night with a full 30 minute interview with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and she held the Speaker's feet to the fire many times. She is a great interviewer, who asks erudite questions and does not let people off the hook with the usual non-answer answers most politicians give. Take a few minutes and listen to what a real journalist sounds like:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Why am I not shocked at this?

This photo is from a paper in Orange County, CA. called The Orange County Register. It is reporting on a story about the Mayor of Los Alamitos, CA. who sent it out by email to his constituents with the caption "No Easter Egg Hunt This Year".

Now this is certainly an ugly, racist thing to say (and do) but it does not surprise me that it comes from someone in this part of California, supposedly the most liberal state in the Union (next to our little slice of heaven Massachusetts). Orange County had the highest concentration of votes for Proposition 8, the Proposition that took away the right of same-sex couples in California to marry. Let's face it... if you are a racial bigot, as this a$$h@le clearly is, is it a huge leap to guess that this guy and others like him are homo-bigots too? I think not.

Clearly there are pockets of bigotry in every community. We have one such in our lovely Cape Cod community. East Sandwich seems to have the most virulent offenders led by a woman whose name I will not even mention (for fear of giving her any publicity at all) whose persistent diatribes in the local paper show just what a truly nasty woman she really is. Need I also say that this area is also a hotbed of Republican activism on the Cape?

It does all seem to mold itself into something recognizable doesn't it? Racial bigots, homo-bigots, Republicans. QED

Update From RawStory.com:

The claims of a California mayor that he didn't know that a personal e-mail he sent about President Obama had racist overtones don't hold water when the likely source of a photo he included with the e-mail is known - a blog called the Chappyreport that included the source tags "watermelon," "obama" and "house nigga."

A Raw Story investigation has found the likely source of the image sent out in Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose's "No Easter Egg hunt this year" e-mail. Readers can view the Jan. 5 blog posting and doctored White House image on Chappyreport here but they are advised that to click on the Chappyreport homelink will direct them to a page with pornographic images. The doctored image is of a White House lawn filled with watermelons.

The source tags of the White House image are: "watermelon," "kfc," "whitehouse," "obama," "easter," "uncle tom" and "house nigga.

Read More

WOMAN SWALLOWED WHOLE BY LEOPARD AND SURVIVES!!!

Sent to me by my friend Linda (La Reine du Barbecue), with the headline above. I plotzed when I saw it! The email warned:

I thought it was one of those fake emails, too, until I saw the photo below. Somehow the woman was lodged in the leopard's throat and they finally cut the leopard's head off to let the woman escape.

She was unharmed.... Unbelievable!!

Thanks Doll!! I won't have to take my appetite supressant today... that's for sure!

6 Companies for your Gay Dollar

Apple
Possibly the gay-friendliest company on the planet, Apple not only makes shiny computers that appeal to our innate sense of aesthetics, they also donated $100,000 to defeat Proposition 8 and encouraged visitors to their site to join in. In a statement, the company said:

"Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees' same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person's fundamental rights - including the right to marry - should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8."

Google

In addition to providing full health benefits and domestic partner rights for its employees, search engine-behemoth Google also took the unprecedented step of speaking out against Prop. 8, saying:

"While there are many objections to this proposition — further government encroachment on personal lives, ambiguously written text — it is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8. While we respect the strongly-held beliefs that people have on both sides of this argument, we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality. We hope that California voters will vote no on Proposition 8 — we should not eliminate anyone's fundamental rights, whatever their sexuality, to marry the person they love."

They also put together a mean pride parade float.

Campbell Soup Co.

Campbell was the target of an American Family Association boycott earlier this year after they ran ads featuring lesbian mommies cooking soup for their son. Rather than bowing to political pressure, Campbell told the conservatives, "No soup for you!" The company promised to continue the ads, saying, "Inclusion and diversity play an important role in our business, and that fact is reflected in our marketing plan."

Eastman Kodak Co.

Kodak has been the recipient of many awards for its gay and lesbian inclusiveness over the years, but our favorite Kodak moment would have to be the 2002 story of Rolf Szabo, who, like all employees, received a memo explaining how to act appropriately if a co-worker disclosed their sexuality or gender orientation. Szabo hit "reply to all" and wrote: "Please do not send this type of information to me anymore, as I find it disgusting and offensive." Kodak officials spoke with Szabo and asked him to apologize, and when he refused, they canned him. "The whole thing is true," said Jim Blamphin, Kodak's manager of corporate media relations. "This chap was asked to take part in a program that fosters inclusion, and he refused." Right wingnuts jumped on the news and tried to make Szabo into a hero, but in the end he just remained (rightly) fired.

Levi-Strauss Co.
The first Fortune 500 company to offer health benefits to the domestic partners of its unmarried employees, Levi's has a long history of supporting gay rights, including donating $25,000 to defeat Prop. 8. Robert Haas, the company’s chairman emeritus also gave $100,000 to No on 8. Plus, they do great gay ads.

Nike

Last summer, Nike quickly removed an ad featuring a basketball player getting a mouthful of balls (by accident) emblazoned with the title "That Aint Right." It was a rare misstep for a company that's had a solid footing with the gay community for years, offering the full-range of domestic partner and health benefits for its employees and regularly sponsoring gay athletes at the Gay Games.

10 Companies that hate the Gays

Don't trade with these people! For more information about these companies, click here.

10. A-1 Self Storage Company

Owned by Terry Caster, A-1 is one of California's largest storage rental companies, with over 40 locations in the state. The owner and his family donated $693,000 to the Yes on 8 campaign, making then the 2nd largest individual donors to the measure.

What You Can Do: Activists have set-up a website asking people to boycott the company as well as call the customer support line to voice let them know why they are taking their business elsewhere.

9. AutoZone Inc.

"America's number one retailer of auto parts and accessories" continues to refuse domestic partner benefits for employees. AutoZone, a Fortune 500 company, also has a history of being a hostile workforce to women and in 2006,was sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

What You Can Do: Currently, there is no organized boycott action against AutoZone. Their customer service number is 1-800-859-3282.

8. Brown-Forman Corp.

A Fortune 1000 Company, Brown-Forman distributes Jack Daniels, Southern Comfort, Finlandia Vodkas, Herradura Tequila, Sonoma-Cutrer Wines, Fetzer Wines, Korbel Champagne, Bolla Wines, Bonterra Wines, but provides no comfort to its gay and lesbian employees, refusing even basic domestic partner benefits.

What You Can Do: This one makes the list because it's so easy for you to make a difference. Stop drinking the brands Brown-Forman distributes. If you're out at a gay bar and see a bottle of SoCo or Jack Daniels on the shelf (which you will at just about any gay bar), let them know that they're serving up their whiskey with a chaser of hate and ask them to consider taking it down off the shelf—though you may want to do this the next day while sober and not while loudly screaming at your bartender. With so many gay-friendly liquor companies, there's no reason to put Brown-Forman booze in your gullet.

7. Cinemark

Regular Queerty readers know our feelings about Cinemark CEO Alan Stock, who donated $9,999 dollars to the Yes on 8 campaign. Operating also under the name Tinseltown, CineArts and Century Theaters, Cinemark delivers the sort of highbrow, artistic films that appeal to gays.

What You Can Do: Continue boycotting Cinemark. Next week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments for and against invalidating Prop. 8 and now's as good a time as any to renew your commitment to eat your popcorn in a place that isn't run by a bigot.

6. Domino’s Pizza

Another case of CEOs and management using their prominent position and hefty salary to put down gays and lesbians, Domino's founder Tom Monaghan is a co-founder of the Thomas More Law Center, which recently defended the San Diego Fire Fighters who won a lawsuit claiming they were sexually harassed by being forced to March in a gay pride parade. Monaghan also financed a 2001 ballot initiative to remove sexual orientation from Ypsilanti, Michigan's, non-discrimination ordinance.

What You Can Do: Weirdly, just about everyone from all sides of the political spectrum have called for a boycott on Domino's. Conservatives decry their decision to open a halal-only branch of the pizzeria in the UK and the National Organization of Women boycott the store for the company's decision last year to donate $50,000 to a pro-life group.

5. Salvation Army

As a church, the Salvation Army is exempt from state anti-gay discrimination laws and the evangelical Christian organization takes advantage of it every chance they get. The Salvation Army openly says that "practicing homosexuals" aren't welcome in their organization and they have lobbyists in D.C. and abroad who work to prevent gay rights legislation from being enacted.

What You Can Do: Come Christmas, don't drop your nickels in that red kettle, no matter how much Santa Claus tempts you to.

4.Manchester Grand Resorts

Doug Manchester, owner of San Diego’s Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel, Grand del Mar Resort and Whitetail Club and Resort in Idaho gave $125,000 to Yes on Prop 8 campaign. PlanetOut Inc., the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, and the Human Rights Campaign all dropped any association with the hotel last year once it was learned that Manchester was using his cash to put Prop. 8 on the ballot.

What You Can Do: You can join the ongoing boycott organized by Californians Against Hate.

3. Urban Outfitters (with one caveat)

As we were putting this list together, we knew Urban Outfitters, whose chairman, Richard Hayne, regularly supports anti-gay legislation and GOP candidates who vote against gay rights, was going to be on the list. In November, the company quickly removed t-shirts supporting gay marriage from their stores. However, one small glimmer of change occurred last week when the store announced that the t-shirts were back and that 100 percent of its "Marriage Equality" t-shirt sales are going to Equality California and National Center for Lesbian Rights, both major players in the upcoming Supreme Court hearing in California.

What You Can Do: A boycott against Urban Outfitters has been going on for years, but the recent t-shirt decision gives gays and lesbians the opportunity to use the carrot as well as the stick. Write to Urban Outfitters and thank them for their decision to support gay rights organizations.

2. Walmart Stores Inc.

Wal-Mart does not offer domestic partner benefits except in locations required by law. In addition, while Wal-Mart is the largest retailer of books in the country, it refuses to carry any LGBT-related titles. In 2008, after Christian Conservative groups threatened a boycott, Wal-Mart left the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, with a spokesperson saying the company had decided not "to support or oppose highly controversial issues."

What You Can Do: While the conservative threats of boycott forced Wal-Mart to change their limited support for gay and lesbian rights, there's been no move by gays and lesbians to boycott in return.

1. ExxonMobil

Rated a 0 by the HRC on gay and lesbian worker's rights, ExxonMobil is the largest Fortune 500 company to offer no domestic partner benefits. In 1999, when the two companies merged, they eliminated domestic-partner benefits for same-sex partners. The company also consistently refuses to ban discrimination based on orientation and gender identity, except where required by law.

What You Can Do: Take public transportation to work. You'll not only be hurting big oil's anti-gay employment practices, you'll be helping the environment as well.