ANTEBELLUM BLOG: 24.07.11

7/29/11

VAMPIRE VS WELLS FARGO

you may remember this great story about PATRICK RODGERS
the philidelphia homeowner who challenged wells fargo's scamy insurence demands and won......
*please view story below*

what the mainstream press didn't mention is.....

HE'S A VAMPIRE.

SAINTS & SINNERS

this is a teaster....ANTEBELLUM will be presenting it's anual "all hallows eve" exhibition during october. this year's theme-
SAINTS & SINNERS.
if you have something you'd like to submit, send images or links to curator- RICK CASTRO @
antebellum@earthlink.net

PARIS

photo courtesy- luizo vega- madrid/antebellum corespondent

A ROOM WITH A VIEW....

.... AND ACCESS TO PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION....

7/28/11

DAN SAVAGE IS HOT

I have long had an intellectual crush on DAN SAVAGE for many, many years...
since his "SAVAGE LOVE colum in the stranger- seattle.

now that he is becoming a political pudit and respected "gay expert" many mainstream news orgainzations have him on to discuss his views.

i've always hoped that the gay community would have a gay male with balls that would be outspoken, not backdown and not take shit from the media- phony agenda making- conservatives.

DAN IS THAT MAN--

GOP Attacks Dan Savage As LGBT Leaders Criticize Scott Brown's Refusal To Film 'It Gets Better' Video

WASHINGTON -- As Massachusetts Democrats and LGBT leaders continued to criticize Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) for refusing to appear with the rest of the state's congressional delegation in an "It Gets Better" video on Thursday, Republicans attacked the project's founder, Dan Savage, as someone too controversial and hostile to Republicans for them to associate with.

On Wednesday, Massachusetts lawmakers released a video for the project, assuring young people who are getting bullied that life will eventually get better. Brown, the only Republican member of the state's delegation, was also the only member of the 12-person group who declined to participate.

During a press call hosted by the Massachusetts Democratic Party, state Rep. Carl Sciortino (D-Medford) said Brown's refusal to participate in the video was part of a pattern of failing to support rights for LGBT individuals. He cited the fact that in 2006, when Brown was a state senator, he was the only member to vote to uphold then-Gov. Mitt Romney's veto of a Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth.

"Sen. Brown's absence in our congressional delegation's video sends a message that he supports kids being bullied or harassed," said Sciortino. "Now, I don't think that's the message that Sen. Brown wants to send. I'm asking him, as a senator for the commonwealth, to stand up and show some leadership on behalf of his LGBT constituents, our young people that are facing violence in our schools, our young people that are being bullied in our schools."

On Wednesday, Brown's office argued that the senator has had a "strong record" on bullying and said his "main focus right now is on creating jobs and getting our economy back on track."

But on Thursday, Republicans offered a sharper response, going after Savage, a nationally syndicated sex columnist.

"Senator Brown believes all people regardless of sexual orientation should be treated with dignity and respect. He has been a leader in fighting for anti-bullying legislation at the state and federal level. His main focus is creating jobs and getting the economy moving again. In this case, the individual behind the video has made vile and sexually crude comments about Senator Brown. It's reprehensible for Senator Brown's opponents to associate with this person in order to score cheap political points," said Eric Fehrnstrom, a political adviser to Brown.

He pointed to Savage's February 2010 column in which he joked about shoving a "Coke bottle, Oscar statuette, [or] Scott Brown action figure" up "someone's ass and/or twat."

"If, as the old saying goes, you're known by the company you keep, than the voters of Massachusetts deserve to know who Democrat party operatives are teaming up with to spread outrageous attacks on Scott Brown's character," added National Republican Senatorial Committee Communications Director Brian Walsh, who also pointed to the fact that Savage once said he wished all Republicans were "f*cking dead." (He later apologized.)

"It's truly reached a new level of desperation in their efforts to tear down Scott Brown, but we look forward to hearing whether state and national Democrat leaders agree with Dan Savage's long history of lewd, violent and anti-Christian rhetoric. Given their press conference call today, one has to presume at this point that they do."

Savage and his partner started the It Gets Better project in September 2010, in response to the disturbing number of suicides by teenagers who had been bullied for being gay or perceived as gay.

The Massachusetts lawmakers join a growing list of well-known figures, including President Obama and players from the Boston Red Sox, who have made videos for the project.

-- Statement from Dan Savage:

I am not the IGB project. The project has had the reach and impact that it's had thanks to tens of thousands of people from all over the world who've participated. [A]nd no one who participates is required to crawl into bed with me. ..:

It is interesting, though, that not a single GOP elected official can bring himself or herself to make a video, or participate in the creation of one. No GOP elected official can risk being seen letting bullied LGBT kids know that life isn't high school and that it will get better for them. it doesn't require signing off on the entire gay agenda (the president made a video, and he doesn't support gay marriage). No GOP elected can back the seemingly radical notion that LGBT kids shouldn't kill themselves, that they should have hope for their futures.

No GOP elected official can do even that -- David Cameron, meanwhile, made a video months ago. Which tells us a lot about the noisiest part of the GOP's base — lewd (have you seen their websites?) hate groups like Focus on the Family and Americans for Truth About Homosexuality — and how feared they are by even "moderate" senators like Scott Brown.

DAN SAVAGE IS ON FIRE.... HE IS OUR FIRST MAINSTREAM GAY MEDIA GO TO PERSON. HE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BECOME AS BIG AS OPRAH.

TIM GUNN THINKS HILARY CLINTON IS CONFUSED ABOUT HER GENDER

well i guess i'm not the only one who thinks HILARY CLINTON is a closeted lesbian.
check out what fashion maven- TIM GUNN thinks of hilary-
watch @ 5:45

and here is exhibit #2-

LOVERS~ AWWWW

LEAVE RICK ALONE!

I RICK castro, along with numerous other ricks beg
DAN SAVAGE to not take out his rath on
RICK SANTORUM out on all ricks..

we beg you!

Dan Savage's New Threat to Rick Santorum from Dan Savage

RIOT ON HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD

these events thoroughly disgust me...
as a long time resident and business owner in hollywood, i have seen the abuse of promoters trying to hype their productions @ the expense of audience safely. they want a crowd, and then they decide that crowd should pay or leave...
in comes the police in full riot gear, and what should've been a nice evening in hollywood turns into chaos...

Rave Standoff in Hollywood:

By Dennis Romero

A pre-premier of sorts for a rave promoter's in-house documentary on the Electronic Daisy Carnival party
(Electric Daisy Carnival Experience) was scheduled for 7:30 tonight at the Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard.
Afterward? A very special spin session from superstar DJ Kaskade at nearby Supper Club.

But ...

... for some reason, someone had Kaskade schedule a set before the screening outside the Chinese Theater.
From what we understand, that show was even permitted via the usual authorities.
READ MORE-

I would like to state for the record-
i blame the promoters, the over zealous police and
THE SUPPER CLUB.. the people that run this establishment will do anything to make money... that is all they care about....

the Supperclub tweeted a message to fans, saying "For the safety of our community,
DO NOT COME TO SUPPERCLUB tonight.
We are grateful for everyone for helping to make this an AWESOME night!"

.... so apparently a riot is the supperclub's idea of an, "awesome night?!"

KARL ROVE ON GRINDR

Karl Rove’s Crossroads trolls for guys on gay hook-up app Grindr

By Kase Wickman

Conservative political group Crossroads GPS, co-founded by former Bush adviser Karl Rove, is notorious for spending millions on political advertising, most recently doling out $20 million for anti-Obama ads. It wasn't until this week, however, that the placement of their ads drew as much attention as the content.

A tipster notified The Hill that one of the group's "blank check" ads — with the message that President Barack Obama's spending is out of control — have begun scrolling along the bottom of a smartphone app called Grindr. Grindr allows gay and bisexual men to locate other gay men in their immediate vicinity, opening the door to a sexually-charged encounter.
READ MORE-

resposted by kate mcconn- inglewood/antebellum corespondent

7/27/11

CONGRESSMAN DAVID WU IS A FURRY!

there's something the mainstream press completely missed while covering the resignation of congressman david wu.
let's see if you can spot it-

DAVID WU; born April 8, 1955)
is the U.S. Representative for Oregon's 1st congressional district. Democratic.
The district includes most of Portland west of the Williamette River, as well as all of Yamhill, Columbia, Clatsop, and Washington Counties.

On July 22, 2011, The Oregonian reported that a teenager accused Wu of an aggressive, unwanted sexual encounter. The teenager is the daughter of a longtime friend and campaign donor. Wu admitted the encounter, but said it was consensual. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called for an ethics investigation into the allegations.
Wu initially indicated that he would not resign, but would also not seek reelection in 2012.
Several days later, however, Wu announced he would resign following resolution of the 2011 US debt ceiling crisis.

Wu married Michelle Maxine Wu in 1996 and they have two children. In December 2009, he filed for separation from his wife, citing irreconcilable differences.

Three weeks prior to the 2004 elections, The Oregonian published an article reporting that Wu had been accused of sexually assaulting an ex-girlfriend while attending Stanford.
Stanford made Wu attend counseling, and he was disciplined by the university in 1976.
Criminal charges were never filed, but the story prompted Wu to hold a press conference apologizing for "inexcusable behavior".
In February 2011, Willamette Week and later The Oregonian reported that in the runup to the November 2010 election, Wu began behaving erratically and that staffers "demanded he enter a hospital for psychiatric treatment."
The erratic behavior that triggered the staff's departure was reported to be no single incident but rather a pattern of behavior that included Wu's emailing his staff photos of himself in a TIGER SUIT.

On Saturday, Oct. 30, At 1:03 am PST, an email from Wu’s Congressional BlackBerry landed in the inbox of a female staffer.

There was no message attached to the email, only a single image. That photo, copied above, showed Wu in a plush tiger suit with orange- and black-striped mittens over his hands, a hood with pointy ears pulled over his head and a white circle split by a zipper stretched over his stomach. A seemingly red-faced Wu is sitting on a bench in what appears to be a bedroom, with his hands held in the air.

there it is! WU IS A FURRY!

BACK TO BLACK

model- armando cabral- photo courtesy- mustafa sabbagh

7/26/11

JUST SAY NO, HAS BECOME YES, YES, YES

An unprecedented 1 in 66 Americans is a diagnosed psychotic

By Robert Johnson

Outselling even common drugs to treat high blood pressure and acid reflux, antipsychotic medications are the single top-selling prescription drug in the United States.

Once reserved for hard-core, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest type of mental illnesses to treat hallucinations, delusions or major thought disorders; today, the drugs are handed out to unruly kids and absent minded elderly.

A recent story in Al Jazeera by James Ridgeway of Mother Jones illuminates the efforts by major pharmaceutical companies to get doctors prescribing medicines like Zyprexa, Seroquel, and Abilify to patients for whom the drugs were never intended.

Focusing on psychiatrists because they rely on subjective diagnoses, the drug reps have been so successful that they've changed the criteria for mental illness and disability payments. Ridgeway quotes former New England Journal of Medicine editor Marcia Angell.
"[T]he tally of those who are so disabled by mental disorders that they qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) increased nearly two and a half times between 1987 and 2007 - from one in 184 Americans to one in seventy-six. For children, the rise is even more startling - a thirty-five-fold increase in the same two decades. Mental illness is now the leading cause of disability in children." Under the tutelage of Big Pharma, we are "simply expanding the criteria for mental illness so that nearly everyone has one." Fugh-Berman agrees: In the age of aggressive drug marketing, she says, "Psychiatric diagnoses have expanded to include many perfectly normal people."
Particularly vulnerable because medication decisions are often out of their hands the old and the young suffer most.
For kids: the number diagnosed with bi-polar disorder rose 40-fold between 1994 and 2003 and one in five comes away from a psychiatrist with a prescription for an antipsychotic.

Dosing the elderly at nursing homes has become so common that sales reps have coined the term "five at five" -- meaning 5 milligrams of Zyprexa at 5 pm to sedate difficult residents.

For all their nefarious wrangling, in 2009, Lily agreed to pay $1.4 billion, including a $515 million criminal fine. The largest ever in a health care case and the largest criminal fine on any corporation in the U.S.

That year, Lilly sold $1.8 billion of Zyprexa alone.
-------------------------------------------------------------

The 15 highest grossing prescription drugs in the U.S.
($9 billion of the total for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, plus $3.2 billion for depression and anxiety.)

15. Oxycontin.
Made by Purdue Pharma. Used as a painkiller for moderate to severe pain .
Gross: $3.0 billion
One-year growth: 6.9%
Five-year growth: 287.5%

14. Avastin
Made by Genentech. Used by cancer patients as part of "tumor-starving" therapy.
Gross: $3.1 billion
One-year growth: 3.3%
Five-year growth: 82.4%

13. Cymbalta
Made by Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY). Used to treat depression and anxiety disorders.
Gross: $3.2 billion
One-year growth: 14.2%
Five-year growth: 166.7%

12. Enbrel
Made by Amgen (AMGN) and Pfizer (PFE). Used to treat inflammatory diseases including arthritis.
Gross: $3.3 billion
One-year growth: 0%
Five-year growth: 6.5%

11. Remicade
Made by Centocor. Used to treat Crohn's Disease and rheumatoid arthritis.
Gross: $3.3 billion
One-year growth: 3.1%
Five-year growth: 32%

10. Epogen
Made by Amgen (AMGN). Used by patients with chronic kidney failure to treat anemia.
Gross: $3.3 billion
One-year growth: 3.1%
Five-year growth: 3.1%

9. Actos
Made by Takeda. Used to treat Type 2 diabetes.
Gross: $3.5 billion
One-year growth: 2.9%
Five-year growth: 34.6%

8. Crestor
Made by AstraZeneca (AZN). Used to reduce cholesterol.
Gross: $3.8 billion
One-year growth: 26.7%
Five-year growth: 192.3%

7. Singulair
Made by Merck. Used to treat asthma.
Gross: $4.1 billion
One-year growth: 10.8%
Five-year growth: 36.7%

6. Seroquel
Made by AstraZeneca (AZN). Used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder .
Gross: $4.4 billion
One-year growth: 4.8%
Five-year growth: 46.7%

5. Abilify
Made by Otsuka and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY). Used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Gross: $4.6 billion
One-year growth: 15%
Five-year growth: 142.1%

4. Advair Diskus
Made by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Used to treat asthma symptoms.
Gross: $4.7 billion
One-year growth: 0%
Five-year growth: 20.5%

3. Plavix
Made by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) and Sanofi Pharmaceuticals. Used to prevent blood clots by patients at risk for strokes and heart attacks.
Gross: $6.1 billion
One-year growth: 8.9%
Five-year growth: 110.3%

2. Nexium
Made by AstraZeneca (AZN). Used by patients with acid reflux to treat heart burn.
Gross: $6.3 billion
One-year growth: 0%
Five-year growth: 23.5%

1. Lipitor
Made by Pfizer (PFE). Used to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Gross: $7.2 billion
One-year growth: -5.3%
Five-year growth: -16%

READ MORE-

resposted by kate mcconn- lnglewood/antebellum corespondent

7/25/11

AMY AS FRIEDA

posting courtesy- Dimos Kor- athens/antebellum corespondent

7/24/11

PHYLLIS & CONNIE GET MARRIED

i don't really consider myself a "softy", but this video of
Phyllis Siegel, (77) and Connie Kopelov,( 85) getting hitched,
(they are the first gay couple to get married in NYC)
at the marriage bureau on Worth Street in Lower Manhattan at 9:02 a.m., is possibly the sweetest thing i have ever seen in my cynical, hard, macho life!

READ MORE-