eHarmony to allow same-sex matches

Y'all already know I have no love for eHarmony. But this is interesting:

Online dating service eHarmony said Wednesday it will launch a new Web site that caters to same-sex singles as part of a discrimination settlement with New Jersey's Civil Rights Division.

The settlement is the result of a complaint New Jersey resident Eric McKinley filed against the online matchmaker in 2005.

McKinley, 46, said he was shocked when he tried to sign up for the dating site but couldn't get past the first screen because there was no option for men seeking men.

"It's very frustrating and it's very humiliating to think that other people can do it and I can't," he said. "And the only reason I can't is because I'm a gay man. That's very hurtful."

Neither the company nor its founder, Neil Clark Warren, acknowledged any liability.

Under the settlement, eHarmony will pay the New Jersey $50,000 to cover administrative costs and will pay McKinley $5,000.

Ok, fine. McKinley seems to be satisfied with the outcome --- in fact, he called it "fabulous" --- but why not just augment eHarmony as it exists today? I guess you take the small victories whenever you can get them, but I don't really see how this does anything to advance equality.

The new website will be called "Compatible Partners." Yawn.

P.S. 22 Children's Chorus, NYC

I can't believe it took me so long to hear about these wonderful kids. Watch them do their version of Tori Amos' 1,000 Oceans and tell me it doesn't send a shiver down your spine.



Just look at them! They're all so into it. That's more than I can say about myself and my classmates when we were in chorus.

But then again, doing Tori Amos, Bjork, Coldplay, and Donnie Hathaway covers is WAY more exciting than singing "Sweet Caroline" and "Jingle Bell Rock."

Oh, check out their version of Madonna's "Sky Meets Heaven." Some of them are in their Halloween costumes. Cute!

Anyway, they have a a YouTube channel and a blog, if you want to see more.


Props to Perez Hilton (don't judge!) for the heads up.

Obama meets Jay-Z

Oh my god, this mash-up between pop culture and politics just tickles my heart to no end.



Props to Brion for the heads up.

It's never too early to say goodbye ...

... to George W. Bush.

Paul Waldman at the American Prospect gets the party started:

Goodbye, we can say at last, to the most powerful man in the world being such a ridiculous buffoon, incapable of stringing together two coherent sentences. Goodbye to cringing with dread every time our president steps onto the world stage, sure he'll say or do something to embarrass us all. Goodbye to being represented by a man who embodies everything our enemies want the people of the world to believe about America -- that we are ignorant, cruel, and only care about foreign countries when we decide to stomp on them. Goodbye to his giggle, and his shoulder shake, and his nicknames. Goodbye to a president who talks to us like we're a nation of fourth-graders.

And goodbye, of course, to Dick Cheney. Goodbye to the man whose naked contempt for democracy contorted his face to a permanent sneer, who spent his days in his undisclosed location with his man-sized safe. And while we're at it, goodbye to Cheney's consigliore David Addington, as malevolent a force as has ever left his trail of slime across our federal institutions.

Goodbye, indeed, to the entire band of liars and crooks and thieves who have so sullied the federal government that belongs to us all. We can even say goodbye to those who have already gone, to Rummy and Scooter, to Fredo and Rove, tornados of misery left in their wake.

Go and read the rest.

Obama wins!

Plus, Sasha and Malia get a new puppy!

Here's more photos, courtesy of the New York Times. People are so relieved, happy, motivated and engaged. How can you not feel inspired?

Election 2008: I'm cautiously optimistic.

If Obama wins, which is looking more and more likely, think about how inspiring this will be for people of color throughout this nation. Like it or not, the face of America is changing, and it's about time our government reflected that.

Sure, there are people of color who already hold high-profile positions in government, business, entertainment, and sports. But to hold the highest office in the nation?

And during a time when our country has been bitterly divided for several years? This is pretty awesome.

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling pretty energized.

It's hard to explain (especially while trying to type this out on an itty-bitty Blackberry), but I know that some of you who are reading this know what I'm talking about.

Please oh please oh please oh please.

Illustration by Patrick Moberg, via my BARBARian colleague, Seamus.

Get out there and do your thing

Screening my calls

Man, I'll be so glad when this election is over. Just this weekend alone, I received about 10 calls reminding me to vote on whatever proposition/candiate/initiative on Nov. 4. Enough already.

Rearranging the Furniture

If you're one of those oh-so-classy YFP! readers with a complete brain stem, you'll notice that I've made some changes around here.

Really, the changes were unintentional. It all began innocently enough with me clicking around my Blogger dashboard and coming across all of the new-fangled bells and whistles I now have at my disposal.

So at some point, I reached the Click of No Return, and now am forced to:
- Re-build my blogroll, since Blogrolling has been down for what seems like 50 million years
- Re-evaluate if it's worth having Google ads on my blog; It's not like I'm raking in the dough
- Decide on a casual, yet elegant, blog template

If you see that your blog is missing from my blogroll, don't take it personally. I'm going off of memory and my Bloglines list here, so let me know if you want back on via the comments section.

And while I'm at it, I'm going to take this time to remove blogs that are currently on hiatus or ones that I've stopped reading. I will also be adding blogs that I follow regularly that weren't previously on my blogroll.

It's all about synergy, people.

Just so we're clear

Mr. Go Fuck Yourself Endorses McCain

A boost to the McCain campaign, or the kiss of death? You decide.

Obama seizes the opportunity to bring it home:

"Earlier today Dick Cheney came out of his undisclosed location and he hit the campaign trail," Obama told a rally in Pueblo, Colorado, quoting Cheney as saying he was "delighted" to back McCain.

"So I would like to congratulate Senator McCain on this endorsement, because he really earned it. That endorsement didn't come easy. Senator McCain had to vote with George Bush 90 percent of the time and agree with Dick Cheney to get it," Obama said.

"McCain had to serve as Washington's biggest cheerleader for going to war in Iraq and support its economic policies that are no different from the last eight years."

Exactly. Thank you for reminding us, Obama.


Totally unrelated: I can't believe I slept on this. Where have I been?