There's a photo here, another one here, and another one here.

And here are Natalie Portman and Lisa Kudrow looking drop dead gorgeous.

I had to take a dozen advil in order to write this post, however. Margot Livesey's the House on Fortune Street is so incredible, so gorgeous, so magnificent that if you don't immediately read it, I don't think you and I can continue to be friends. Get thee to a bookstore. And NO, I do not know the author. I happen to know the editor, but the only reason I know that I know her is that I read the acknowledgments, hoping to find someone I knew in them, so that I could call and weep my gratitude for this incredible novel.

Anthony's been all over the media lately, He gave this interview in the Washington Post, which I think nicely sums up his at once progressive and measured personality and positions. He spoke beautifully at the Pride parade, and even Daily Kos has taken up the charge.

The fundraising quarter ends today, and it's critically important that Tony have a good showing. If you needed a reason to donate to him beyond his intelligence, his service in Iraq, his bronze star, his degrees from West Point and Harvard's Kennedy School, his background growing up the child of a single mother,and the fact that he's African American and gay, here's a little tidbit about the political funding game that you might not know. In the lovely state of California, our politicians periodically get termed out of their jobs and have to either get real ones or go searching for another position to run for. Termed out politicians do not start from scratch when they run for new positions. They are allowed to haul with them the war chests they've accumulated in their previous roles. Now is not the time for me to rant and rave about the ludicrousness of a system that allows, for example, Toxic Waste Dumpers R Us to line the coffers of the very representatives who will make the laws that directly effect their business (how we've come to view this as corporate 'speech' and not simply bribery is beyond me, and I'm willing to bet it would have made the founding fathers spin in their graves). However, this crap-ass system is the one we've got, and because of this, Tony's opponents are entering the race with so much more money than he has that it could make you cry. It should make you cry.

But dry your tears. Donate, instead. If each of us donates 10 bucks (TEN BUCKS. That's all.) we'll give Tony a necessary shot in the arm and we'll send some tremors of anxiety through his opponents. If some of us donate $100? Well then everything changes. That's a lot of money. Game changing money. And if some of us donate $1000? Let me know, and I'll be so thrilled by your generosity I'm sure to inundate you with copies of my husband's books (since I'm sure you already own all of mine).

Pony up, people. You'll change the world. Click on this link.

Except guess what?

Meet Anthony Woods.

Here's his official bio, liberally annotated by me.

A U.S. Army veteran, Woods earned the Bronze Star in Iraq. (Two tours, people.)

Anthony was raised by a single mother who worked long hours as a housekeeper (If I wrote that detail in a novel Michael would delete it with a snide, "over the top.") Overcoming numerous obstacles, such as a lack of health insurance for most of his life (seriously), Woods earned a Congressional Appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated on the Dean's List. (No less!)

Upon his return from Iraq, Woods earned a Master's Degree from the Kennedy School of Government. He was a co-recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Public Service Award and organized missions to help rebuild hurricane-ravaged New Orleans. (I know! It's completely crazy. It's like a movie of the week. But he's A REAL PERSON!!!).

While on leave from the Army, Captain Woods spent a summer bicycling across the country to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. (I swear you're not being punked.)

During his second year at the Kennedy School, he reached the conclusion that he could no longer serve in silence under the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy, and was honorably discharged for standing up for equality within our military. (Because it's important to get rid of brilliant military leaders with unparalleled potential. That's the way to win the war on terrorism! Join them in their own biases!)

Woods went on to work as an economic policy advisor (yeah, he knows about the economy, too) - where he's helped craft solutions to keep Americans at work and attract new high-wage industries.

Now, Anthony Woods is back home and a candidate for Congress in the 10th Congressional District, where a special election to replace outgoing Representative Ellen Tauscher has attracted a virtual swarm of Sacramento politicians looking for their next job. (Basically every termed-out politician is scrambling for employment.)

I want you to meet this guy. I'm hosting a little meet and greet for him on July 11 at 3 PM at my house. No pressure, no hard sell (ok, maybe a little hard sell). Just meet him and decide whether he really is our fantasy politician come to life. If you don't live in the Bay Area and can't stop by my house, kick the guy a few bucks. Seriously, he's up against the Garamendi machine, among others, and he needs the cash.

Yours,
Ayelet Waldman

In a statement responding to last week's ruling by a federal appeals court in the city's favor, Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, used a German term for the Nazi policy of forced conformity to party doctrine and the elimination of opposition groups in the 1930s:

"It is not a stretch to compare the San Francisco board's actions to that of the Nazi Germany policy of Gleichschaltung, vilifying Jews as an auxiliary to and laying the groundwork for more repressive policies, including the final solution of extermination."

He was referring to the supervisors' March 2006 resolution denouncing a Vatican order to Catholic Charities not to place adoptive children with same-sex couples. In the decree, Cardinal William Levada, the former San Francisco archbishop who now heads the church's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said allowing gay or lesbian couples to adopt children "would actually mean doing violence to these children."

Yes you read that right. The vile scum who perpetrated the largest, longest, most criminal and cruel institutionalized system of pedophilia and child abuse think the real problem is loving gay families.

God, it's enough to make your head explode.

You can read the rest of this crap after the jump.

In a statement responding to last week's ruling by a federal appeals court in the city's favor, Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, used a German term for the Nazi policy of forced conformity to party doctrine and the elimination of opposition groups in the 1930s:

"It is not a stretch to compare the San Francisco board's actions to that of the Nazi Germany policy of Gleichschaltung, vilifying Jews as an auxiliary to and laying the groundwork for more repressive policies, including the final solution of extermination."

He was referring to the supervisors' March 2006 resolution denouncing a Vatican order to Catholic Charities not to place adoptive children with same-sex couples. In the decree, Cardinal William Levada, the former San Francisco archbishop who now heads the church's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said allowing gay or lesbian couples to adopt children "would actually mean doing violence to these children."

The nonbinding board resolution, sponsored by then-Supervisor Tom Ammiano, said the Vatican order contained "hateful and discriminatory rhetoric" and urged local Catholic officials, including Levada's successor as archbishop, George Niederauer, to disregard it. In response, Catholic Charities of San Francisco stopped placing children for adoption with any families.

In the lawsuit, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights accused the city of acting with hostility toward Catholicism in violation of the constitutional requirement of government neutrality. But the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the supervisors had acted for a legal, secular purpose, to protect same-sex couples from discrimination, and not to express disapproval of Catholicism.

The Thomas More Law Center, which represents the plaintiffs, said it would ask the full appeals court for a rehearing and then appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. According to the law center's Web page, its mission is "to defend and protect Christians and their religious beliefs in the public square."

"In total disregard for the Constitution, homosexual activists in positions of authority in San Francisco have ... misused the instruments of the government to attack the Catholic Church," said attorney Robert Muise, who argued the case.

"We're not saying that the resolution is going to lead toward extermination of Catholics," Brian Rooney, attorney and spokesman for the law center, said Tuesday. "The problem with having governments vilifying religions and their tenets is that it's a slippery slope to instigate acts of violence."

Ammiano, a Catholic and now a Democratic state assemblyman, said the law center's comments represent "a very unhealthy hysteria" that "trivializes what the Nazis did." With such statements, he said, "the Catholic hierarchy is ... divorcing the true believers and alienating them from the mother church."

E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page B - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle

From: Sara
Date: Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 12:45 AM
Subject: DJ attacks on transgendered children.
To: Dad and Mom

Hello mom and dad. So you guys know that I really tend to stay away from political activism. Most of the time I just don't have the energy to fight an endless number of battles for every little offensive slight that minorities face on a daily basis. But this is really important to me.

On May 28th these DJs for a radio station in Sacramento pretty much laid into transgendered children--not teenagers, not adults, CHILDREN--and said just about the most horrible things you could ever say about kids. They called transgendered kids weird, idiots, freaks, advocated beating or verbally abusing them, and said that society would beat them down. I won't even try to explain all of it. This article pretty much sums up the whole thing.

I really haven't been so sickened ever before by anybody expressing their opinion about a controversial topic. But this seems to me to be more than an opinion. They're advocating rejection and mistreatment and frankly ABUSE of minors, of people's own sons and daughters, on public radio.

GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, has put up a page about the issue. They have contact information for KRXQ's Vice President & General Manager, as well as the two DJs who made the nasty comments.

I'm going to take the time to write an email to the station's VP, and possibly the DJs too. I would really appreciate it if you guys would think about doing the same. I'd also really appreciate it if you guys sent this around to people you know who you think would listen, because I wish this would get more attention than it is. It's one thing to attack the choices of adults. It's another to attack children. I want people to know about it, and I want the radio station to hear from people who understand just how disgustingly their DJs acted.

I really hope you guys will take the time to pay attention to this, even though I know you have a ton of other demands on your attention too.

Honestly, the man is blessed. Even the flu pandemic seems to have been designed by a benevolent God. Republican "moderates" eviscerate your health care stimulus spending? Worry not, my man. The Lord your God will send a plague so that you can get the money you asked for, and then some. Don't worry, it won't really be a plague. It won't kill as many people as, say the FLU does every year, but it'll just put the fear of his awesome wrath into Congress and convince the sensible ladies from Maine of their error.

Then our President makes a choice for the Supreme Court that is, at best, a moderate one, and I complain. Where's our progressive intellectual powerhouse? Why not choose Kathleen Sullivan, or Cass Sunstein? Why not ram Larry Tribe down their throats. What about Charles Ogletree! We're a hair's breath away from our 60 votes. We can have WHOEVER WE WANT.

Well, why? Why you ask? Because the man is a goddamn genius, and he somehow knew that the right would choose Judge Sotomeyer's nomination as an opportunity to fling a rope over a high branch, wrap it twice around their necks, and leap into oblivion. The only question remaining is whether they'll die immediately of the severing of their cervical spinal cord, or whether they'll kick at the air a few times before turning purple, eyes popping from their sockets, sphincters letting go in a rush of effluvia.

It appears, to what I fear is my actual delight, to be the latter.

Oh I do love you, Tom Tancredo. I love you from the tips of your gnarled old toes to the wisps of your comb-over. Please continue to refer to La Raza as the Latino KKK. Please keep it up, you dear bile-spewing, narrow-eyed nutcase. Because every time you go on television, another 50,000 Latino voters decide that, Catholic or not, abortion supporting or not, the only party that represents an approximation of sanity is the Democrat Socialist. (That, by the way, is what I am bound and determined to call myself nowadays, whether or not the Republicans can muster the votes to label me thus.)

And Rush, Rush my beloved, my smacked-out Oxycontin honey-bunny. Rush, please continue to ignore and even vilify Senator Cornyn when he tries desperately to shut you and the Newt-ster down. Please rail against him, reminding the entire country that there are no sane voices on the Right. And please please, Senator Cornyn. Make your Rush-Walk-of-Shame like all those others before you.

Glory days, my fellow Democrat Socialists. Glory days indeed.

It's The Afghan Women's Writing Project. And they are doing remarkable work. Check them out.

I don't plan to discuss my vagina, or if so I'll do it rather obliquely. Come and check it out.

Monday night June 1st
Cobbs Comedy Club
915 Columbus Avenue
(just north of Lombard St., in North Beach)

$20 plus two drinks, doors open at 7, show starts at 8 sharp

I'll be part of this crew:

Cindy Chupack - exec producer "Sex and The City"
Lew Schneider - exec producer "Everybody Loves Raymond"
Joan Rater - co-exec produer "Grey's Anatomy"
Dan Bucatinsky - co-exec producer "Lipstick Jungle"
Peter Horton - actor "In Treatment," "Thirtysomething," exec producer "Grey's Anatomy
Christy Callahan - writer "Pasadena"
Rodes Fishburne - author "Going to See the Elephant"
Hosted by Dani Klein Modisett