April 7, 2010

April Sat.17 at St George Threatre at Hyatt..behind Boro Hall by the Ferry

Go Away You Drunkie Girl. Chelsea Police Love to Call People Faggot!

GOSSIP ROUNDUP: Lohan Louses Up Chelsea / Who You Callin' Faggot? / Alegria Under Fire (Marshal)

(Lindsay Lohan)

CHELSEA PASSES ON LINDSAY LOHAN

A barfly bar spy just told us that celebrity trainwreck Lindsay Lohan stopped by East of Eighth the other night with a "thuggish" posse. We love the 23rd Street bar-restaurant for its mellow vibe and friendly crowd, so the famed firecrotch might've been lost. Apparently she and her crew were trashed and kept trying to order free drinks (honey, it ain't the Boom Boom Room). Eventually management had to ask the Mean Girls girl and he friends to git. Sigh—yet another place Lohan has worn out her welcome.

COPS CHIME IN ON CHI CHIZ

West Village gay bar Chi Chiz has been the victim of police closures, supposedly due to drug dealings on the premises, but now it sounds like the po-po might be giving the longstanding African-American watering hole a hard time for another reason. Cops stationed outside the bar have been overheard saying that “this fag establishment should be shut down.” When confronted by activist Allen Roskoff, one officer allegedly responsed with “You’re a faggot!” Our boys in blue are so clever!

Eating Salmon will Cost Your Life..If u r a SEA LION

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Sea Lions Executed for Eating Endangered Salmon in Oregon

posted by: Jennifer Mueller 15 hours ago

118 comments

So far in 2010, 6 California sea lions have been executed by wildlife officials in Oregon for eating too many endangered Chinook Salmon at the bottom of the fish ladder at the Bonneville Dam. Officials are tracking a total of 60 sea lions on the Columbia river as repeat offender and may relocate them or issue more death sentences if "hazing," shooting the animals with rubber bullets or triggering underwater explosions near by, doesn't scare them off their preferred snack.

Fisherman vs. Sea Lions?

The conflict is playing out as a competition between fishermen and sea lions for a declining population of endangered fish.

Referring to "out of control" sea lion populations in a letter to the Daily Province, reader Mike Hodge writes: "It's time to cull sea lions before they eat all our fish."

Sharon Young of the Humane Society expressed her outrage in the Daily Finance: "This is about the integrity of the [fisheries] management program," says Young. "You can't sensibly say that a 4% take by sea lions is unsustainable and yet at the same time allocate up to 16% for fisherman. It makes no difference to the fish who eats them."

Real Cause of Salmon Population Decline

But sea lions are really only a minor threat to salmon. Habitat destruction is the real culprit (read: humans).

The reason the salmon at the Bonneville Dam are easy pickings for sea lions is because they are all preparing to go through small openings in the fish ladder to climb the 60 foot dam.

Go & Eat Dirt???

That is Dirty! Put it in your Mouth: Healthy Immune Systems Through Dirt

posted by Eric Steinman Mar 27, 2010 9:01 am

filed under: babies, children, family life, general health, parenting at the crossroads

A few years ago, when my child was still an infant, I found myself in one of those awkward situations with a host of new mothers that verbally and enthusiastically supported one another, while quietly judging each other’s parenting choices…always judging. I can’t remember specifics, but I remember I was about to feed my child a snack and found myself scanning the immediate environment for a bathroom, or at least some running water to wash my child’s hands. Upon witnessing my vigilance, one mother said something to the effect of, “Oh you are so good, aren’t you?” and she followed this up with a self-dismissal to the tune of, “I just let my kids eat all kinds of dirt and hope for the best.”

Over the past several decades, parents have bent over backwards to keep their children clean and free of germs of all kinds. This endeavor has ranged from the sensible (frequent washing of hands) to the dubious (anti-bacterial everything in every form imaginable) and fueled an industry eager to feed your fears about everything from your garden-variety icky germs to virulent strains of flu viruses. The marketing of products to keep your family safe and germ free have fueled this fleeting fantasy of a hypersanitized childhood, free of the plagues and pathogens that had befallen previous generations. It is a noble, but futile fight.

Now comes news that these germfree adolescents may be suffering from too much of a good thing. Too much cleanliness can be a bad thing for a young child’s developing immune system, according to a recent article on Slate.com by Amanda Schaffer. The article goes on (backed by multiple recent scientific findings) to assert that early exposures to germs help teach a child’s immune system to regulate itself, and provide much needed stimulation and training to insure future health and a bolstered immunity.

A Gay Mayor, A Police Dept. Targeting LGBT

With Clergy Challenging Houston Mayor’s LGBT Protections Order, Police Target The City’s Gayborhood

Wed, Apr 7, 2010 by AKA William

Houston has a whole lot going on lately, LGBT-wise. The city’s newly-elected out lesbian mayor recently issued an executive order that added sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression as protected classes in Houston. Wonderful news. Only, not everyone seems to be thrilled with LGBT people being seen as fully human.

Some of the area’s clergy are throwing a tantrum and using the tired argument that, because of the executive order, men will now me taking over women’s public bathrooms. “Forcing women in particular using city facilities to be subjected to cross-dressing men invading their privacy is beyond the pale and offensive to every standard of decency,” said Pastor Steve Riggle, senior pastor of Grace Community Church and an Executive Committee member of the Houston Area Pastor Council (HAPC).

While these kinds of arguments are demonstrably wrong and easy to dismiss, what is not so easy to dismiss are the claims that Houston’s police are now targeting the city’s gayborhood, Montrose, and the gays living in it.

The police unions supported Parker’s opponent, and since Parker was elected, the number of gays claiming harassment by police has skyrocketed. Stephen Bowen received a ticket for jaywalking after leaving a gay club. Bowen describes what happened, “I told them I was wearing flip-flops and there was a puddle so I just walked around. And he said, ‘That’s not acceptable.’ So they started to write out a ticket for jaywalking and then, out of nowhere, they told me to get in the back in the car that I was going downtown.”

Dozens of other gays have also complained, but the police department is claiming that they are simply responding to a request of a larger police presence in Montrose, but the locals aren’t buying it. Says local gay activist Ray Hill, “Part of that is transition from one regime to another. The rest of it is just angry bullies that, they lost an election that we won.

Pooor Michael....He can't get it Right No Matter What! Watch & See The Lattest

GOP boss Michael Steele says he and Barack Obama have one thing in common: It's tough being black

Wenig/AP

Two sex-themed embarrassments rocked the GOP and party boss Michael Steele last week.

Beleaguered GOP boss Michael Steele misplayed "the race card" by claiming he and President Obama are held to a higher standard because they're black, a White House spokesman said Monday.

Steele has been under merciless criticism after revelations his Republican National Committee squandered thousands on jets, limos and questionable fund-raisers, including a $2,000 bash at a West Hollywood, Calif., club featuring lesbian bondage acts.

Steele drew the White House's attention after he claimed he's being treated unfairly because he's black, like Obama.

"The honest answer is, 'Yes,'" said Steele, answering the question on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"Barack Obama has a slimmer margin [of error]. A lot of folks do," he said. "It's a different role for me to play and others to play and that's just the reality of it."

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs thought Steele's observation had a Michael-in-Wonderland quality to it.

"That is a fairly silly comment to make," Gibbs said. "I think Michael Steele's problem isn't the race card; it's the credit card."

Steele's world was rocked again yesterday by reports that top GOP fund-raiser Sam Fox was quitting his unpaid post, and that a newly hired fund-raising aide, Neil Alpert, had been ordered to repay $70,000 in unauthorized expenses to a pair of baseball business groups in 2007. "The guy's just a nightmare," said one disgruntled Republican of Steele.

Later yesterday, in a high-level staff shakeup, RNC chief of staff Ken McKay resigned.

On Sunday, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, Arizona's Jon Kyl, said Steele has to get the RNC's act back together. California Rep. Kevin McCarthy,the top recruiter for the National Republican Campaign Committee, seconded that notion.

Some Democrats yesterday suggested Steele might have a point, noting campaign committee Chairman Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas has gotten less scrutiny for racy fund-raisers. Sessions, before becoming the committee boss, spent $5,378 in 2007 at Las Vegas burlesque club Forty Deuce in an an event for his own committee, Pete PAC. A spokesman did not comment, but an official told The Washington Post at the time no women were naked.

Steele has complained in the past about Democrats playing the race card, but this is the second time he has done just that. In February, he raised GOP hackles after telling the Washingtonian magazine some criticism he gets is motivated by racism.

In the "GMA" interview, Steele said he understands that his "grass-roots" style has "rubbed some feathers the wrong way" in the GOP. "I tend to, you know, come at it a little bit stronger, a little bit more street-wise

BY MICHAEL MCAULIFF AND CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Thousands May Loose Rent Vouchers

Thousands May Lose Rental Vouchers

Because of a $45 million budget gap, the New York City Housing Authority may have to revoke rental-assistance vouchers from more than 10,000 low-income tenants, a drastic move that could cause families to lose their apartments.
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Ruby Washington/The New York Times
Izolda Mandelblat and her husband, Moisey Frenkel, immigrants from Ukraine, are among thousands in the city who face the prospect of losing rental help.
The federal government gave the housing authority less money for the voucher program, known as Section 8, than the authority expected. But the authority made matters worse by continuing to issue new vouchers until December, eight months after the government warned it to stop doing so because the program was likely to run a deficit.

Michael P. Kelly, the authority’s general manager, said that terminating vouchers would be a last resort. The authority has not decided who might lose their vouchers, but if the deficit is not closed, the cuts could begin this summer.

“This is a dire option for us that we’re hoping we’re not going to have to do,” Mr. Kelly said.

The agency is seeking federal and state funding to avert the voucher cuts. But the state is facing a huge deficit. Sandra Henriquez, an assistant secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said that HUD would review the housing authority’s books, but she added that “they cannot and should not expect that the federal government will cover the shortfall.”

As an alternative, the housing authority is considering reducing the value of each voucher, meaning that landlords, tenants or both would have to absorb the cost.

Under Section 8, residents typically pay 30 percent of their income toward rent, and the voucher covers the balance. In New York City, about 102,000 families now have vouchers, which are administered by the authority and allow families to live in units where private landlords accept Section 8 benefits. An additional 178,000 or so families live in public housing complexes owned by the authority.

After the authority voided 2,600 outstanding vouchers in December, prompting an outcry from affected families, it urged people to apply for public housing, although the waiting list is years long.

HUD provides money for the Section 8 vouchers and tells housing authorities the maximum number they can use. In May, HUD told the New York City Housing Authority it was in danger of exceeding its allotted number.

“What balances you are comfortable with, of course, is a local decision,” a HUD official, Mirza Negron Morales, wrote in a memo to the housing authority. “Our recommendation, based on your current level of funding and the data to date, is to stop issuing vouchers and maintain current leasing and cost levels for the remainder of calendar year 2009.”

The agency continued to issue new vouchers, about 50 a week, generally to emergency cases like homeless families, domestic violence victims and families under the supervision of the city’s child welfare system. “We wanted to help as many people as possible,” said Sheila Stainback, a housing authority spokeswoman. “We only issued vouchers to the most vulnerable.”

Historically, some vouchers that are issued are never redeemed because of the difficulty in finding a suitable apartment and a landlord who will accept vouchers. And every year, some families leave the Section 8 program. But last year, more landlords began to take Section 8 vouchers, and the attrition rate dropped to 3.5 percent from about 6 percent, most likely because of the weak economy.

“Looking at the scale of Nycha’s program,” Mr. Kelly said, using the acronym for the authority, “it was impossible for us to turn on a dime.”

In December, the authority finally stopped issuing new vouchers and voided the 2,600 unused vouchers. But outside of cases of fraud or evictions for breaking other program rules, officials said they could not recall having terminated vouchers already being used.

Judith Goldiner, a supervising lawyer at the Legal Aid Society in New York, said the prospect of terminating so many families’ vouchers was “inconceivable.”

“This is just a disaster,” she said. “We don’t know who could be impacted by it.”

The magnitude of the problem left several housing experts puzzled. New York City has exceeded its voucher cap only once before, by several hundred in 2005, according to Gregory Kern, an agency manager who oversees the Section 8 program
CARA BUCKLEY