TownsendPLocke

Obama did not need to reach out to "conservative christians"(read bigots,haters,busybodies and idiots)If he needed a preacher(why?What about the separation of Church and State?)then there are thousands of less polarizing choices to be had. I feel so bad about this.It is as if Obama has ushered us out of the house after we dropped off the fuitcake(or check as is the case of many of us )and that my vote was wasted on this man who,by this one dunderheaded action,has told us that Gay Men and Lesbians do not really matter in his world. It was a stupid move when he appeared at Warrens church-and this is an even more stupid move. A friend of mine who had donated money and time to the Obama/Biden campaign just got an Email from Biden's office asking for more(Why?They have a surplus!)responded that they would not get a dime more till Obama mad a substatial move to help Gays and Lesbians-and the first move would be to rescind the invite to Warren.

Those kind of goodies help to burn calories Barr1965! You are already so slim! See you tonight

This year instead of placing a cute but disposable ornament on top of my christmas gifts I tied one of these to the bow. http://www.zadkit.com/sportinggoods-337530...ashlight_3_Pack Not very cute-but man are they ever practical!I reccomend everyone have at least three of these,one for the house,one for the car,and one for your travelsac-yes-you might get stopped by security(although I never have)but let's just ask KYTop about being stuck in the dark in a strange hotel room shall we?

I find his attempt to preach the sermon of better pay for those who run charities more than a little self serving. I actually feel that he is doing the orginization he works for which organizes,among other events.the AIDS Rides (that some in this forum participate in )much more harm than good. Pallotta has been in hot water before for his questionable expenses and the high management fees he charges the AIDS rides .His stated salary is over $400,000 plus his expenses. That is much more than many CEOs of small cap companies bring in-and this IS supposed to be a non profit.His very defensive posturing really ranckles those of us who would happily write a check-if we knew he were not getting a piece of it. I applaud those of you that participate in the AIDS ride-it is an honorable thing you are doing. I just wish the guy in charge would eat some humble pie. http://www.uncharitable.net/

I am a fat man.I love food.I have been trying to diet(and yes this is unusual)so that I do not go into my fifties in a wheelchair or a stretcher. People who are otherwise kind and intelegent have been sending me goodies this year-even those who know I am trying to be good. I know the mean well(at least I hope so)but c'mon!Would you send an alchie a bottle of wine?Of course not.Even my mom sent candy and she knows what I am trying to do I do not mean to come of as ungratefull-but honest I would not miss the candy or the cookies or the Tower o' Sweets this year(or next as a matter of fact) I am going to play Santa tommorow night at Numbers and give my goodies away to those with better metabolisms than mine

Takes us to the forum home page-not very useful

Might I share three of my favorite travel sites? The first is an amazing travel search engine, Travelaxe.com .I have used them for several years-since they started up actually. and just love it. Travelzoo.com is also great for finding bargains.I am on their Top 20 VIP list.Not only do the list hotel specials and flights-they also list shows and special events.I have found many great bargains using this. The third one is Tripadvisor.com .Now I am kind of lukewarm on this one as many of the review are by priceliners(which I find pretty worthless)but taken with a grain of salt and working through a large survey you can establish a fair review of a property. happy travels!

Simply amazing,A fairly random five digit number,He did win a nice bonus for the correct guess also. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzic6WGJBvs I have not watched the show in a while-is Drew Carey any fun?

Tickets are now on sale fro the Dirty Secrets Party in Las Vegas on 1/10 The space is VERY limited as those attended last years party will tell you. ALSO there are ony 2(that is right-2)VIP tix being offered,at $1000 each(private cabana and lots of perks) but regular tickets are only $53 if you buy them n advance-If you are planning on going I strongly urge you to buy your tickets now. More info-including the link to buy tickets can be found at ,,,, http://dirtysecretparty.com/ Hope to see lot's of MERmen at this party

There is also a huge discrepancy in the salaried executives between Japan and the US. Japanese executives would be ashamed to make so much more than their workers-American car execs have no such shame. The culture of greed which permeates the US auto biz is sickening.And there is plenty of blame to go around-not just the fault of Labor.

In this article titled the Talented Mr. Raywood http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu8la2UdJmF0A...aspx%3fid=11074 It is about a Gay Interior Designer who is scum.Unfortunately it is an oft told tale. My first BF was a designer in Sacramento.He worked in commercial furniture/planning.He was a total con artist.His four bedroom apartment was chock full of antiques,Baccarat and Lalique objets.Chichilla throws and the like.The apartment was located in a low income housing development He was constantly scamming insurence companies by claiming pieces of art and jewelry were stolen.He also was a serial bankruptcy claiment.He was gorgeous,tall and blond and had a big dick=I loved him till I wised up to his games. And in my professional life I have met so many of his ilk that I have built up a radar to see them before they can defraud me or my boss. Why do these folks act in this way?Are there really people devoid of all shame and respect? I know they are not excusively gay-but these guys really do give us all a black eye. Let's here about your experiences with gay fraudsters!

Labor-including all of the benefits(they are not perks)for ALL employees-present and retired-represents 10% of the cost of a new car. The very bloated (and mostly non earned)executive salaries,the outrageous advertising and markting budgets,and the true waste these companies produce far outweigh these. They have been bad,they are looking for someone to blame it on,the working man is the fall guy. Moving production to Mexico-putting the workers who would have bought your products out of work and then rewarding the fella that orchastrated that with a huge goldem parachute-smart move GM and now you have the balls to come ht in hand to ask for a bail out

If Merryl Streep does not win Best actress this year for her amazing role in Doubt then there is no justice! I felt Phillip Seymour Hoffman really dragged the movie down.I like him as an actor-but he is a little bit "one note" and I almost felt he was a little to ready to condem his own charecter=not the intention of the play at all. Also=I loved Bolt! I snuck in to see it and thought it was one of the funniest films I have seen this year.

I was listening to Michael Feinstein on the radio the other day.He sang As Long As He Needs Me from Oliver-but changed the "He" to "She" He is publicly out, has plenty of dough and is big demand on the concert/cabaret circut-in other words he has nothing to lose by singing a love song about another guy-especially if the original lyrics are about a guy. Other performers do this also. I lose a little respect for the performer each time this happens-how do you feel about it?

I see in the Las Vegas paper that they are expecting unemployment to reach 10%-20% in their town next year.That is a huge number of guys out of work,some of which might very well turn to "other ways"of bring home the bacon So do you think the layoffs in construction,retail,and hospitality will increase the numbers on rentboy.com and craigs list?

There is a hotel in Las Vegas that I am a frequent guest.I have stayed there since the month they opened and this last stay was my 20th stay there. Well I have had some real customer service issues at this property.The front desk folks are all smilley and nice-but they really seem to hate guest who have status with the national chain they belong to.I have caught them up in lies several times,I have also had arguments with junior manangers about the perks and promotions that the national chain promotes-only to have this property tell me incorrectly"no-sorry the rate you are staying at does not qualify"or some such nonsesnse.I write a letter to the GM's office,one of his juniors gets back to me with a "sorry-here some**** points to make up for the inconvenience. I also have posted reviews of this property on line and have talked about it in one of the travel sites I post on. Wellllll I am now on the hotel's "shit list" it seems The last stay I was placed in a room directly across from the service elavator on one side,and the air handler vents on the other.Technicaly the hotel did place me according to the preferences in my profile(high floor,away from elevators,king bed)but they pick the absolute worst room they could within those guidelines. I asked to be moved-was told there were no more king bedded rooms available.I know this to be an outright lie-as the parking garage was less than 1/3 full and when I checked again in the AM I was told that they had many king bedded rooms.As a status member with the hotel chain I should have had a good room pre blocked-this obviously did not happen. Also,despite being a frequent guest at this property I have never once been welcomed back as a return guest nor has my status been recognized,nor am I thanked for my patronage. so It is letter writing time again The reason I stay with this property at all is it is very convenient for my work in Las Vegas,I do not have to hassle with walking through a casino to get to my car in the morning,the rates-while not cheap,are reasonable especially on weekends,and they have an exec lounge which is very convenient for breakfast/snacks. I will write the GM-I am planning on staying at this property one more time befor the end of the year-and that might very well be my last visit to this property.

Room prices in Las Vegas have really come down for this weeknd-there are bargains to be found. A lot of hotels held back huge chunks of rooms that are now being let go. Again-best to book a cancelable rate for now,and when a better price comes along(and they are starting to show up)jump on it!

Just to update this, Ticket sales are really smoking on this-and some hot talent(something for every taste)has been added to the lineup. Fellas-this is a fantastic opportunity to meet the talent in person.But tickets are VERY limited so if you are planning on attending you should think about buying your tix asap-they will sell out. Check out http://www.dirtysecretparty.com/ for more information and for the updated talent list.

Conway while I am no great fan of greedy union bosses making a buck off of anothers labor I have always believed that happy workers treated well(and sometimes that means beating the Unions at the benefits table)wil have no reason to look for Union representation. But our US based"free market"economy does not believe in guaranteing that labor is respected and that certain standards(other than a laughable minimum wage-and even that is hated by free market republicans)so the Unions have been given this opportunity to step in and profit. But of course this profit is short lived.As the plants and companies close or are allowed to move off shore the jobs evaporate and the union fees decline.But the Union bosses are as stupid and greedy as the empolyers and the legislators that have allowed the jobs to disapear. Moving jobs back to our shores-and I am talking about manufacturing jobs not service/professional jobs-has to be priority number one IMO.The bailouts congress is handing out with wild abandon are a perfect opportunity to require the folks taking the "loans"to bring the jobs back to our shores.

But it is sooooooo dificult to find affordable(not cheap-just priced within reason)well made goods from the US and EU. We need to get this country(and I am being "America First" here folks-sorry)back to where they are actually making more than they buy.I really strive to buy US made goods(and yes-I do drive an American made car)but sometime the greed factor of US based manufacturers is just too much. Let's take shoes as an example.Up to a decade ago there were many US based shoe manufacturers.Now you will find a handfull.And of that handfull 2 make something other than sneakers(there might be a few more-but in my limited search that is what I have found)One prices its goods pretty well,but it has a very limited stock.The other has great looking shoes but at prices 3-5 times what comparable foreign made shoes sell for. So my choices are ugly shoes,expensive shoes,or foreign made shoes-and with my fat feet that rules out EU made shoes which leaves us with Chinese made shoes. Are you looking to keep your dollars at home to support your team?How is that going for you?

I did look into the Hiefer.org organization-as that is a charity my boss approves of. It seems to be a "teach a man to fish"type charity=which while good and honorable is not going to do anything to fill the bellies of folks that are hungry today.And teaching folks to farm?Well I think that will work in some third world countries-but this year we have folks at home(here in the USA)that are going to be hungry this season. So I am giving(cash-they need that more than your cans of creamed corn ) to the local food bank as well as to Heifer.org . I also will be giving regular gifts and cash as well-have to keep the economy moving

The part of my family that were present at these meals adore me.They just do not have any interest in the things that I treasure in this world(and I am not even talking about playing with hot guys like you Anton .I do have family members that I am not close to at all.

And not in a good way Last weekend my 1 hour flight turned into a 4 hour flight. I am now running at 85 percent delayed flights for the year-and over half of these are over three hour delays. I like flying,I adore traveling.But you know-with the airlines cutting routes and services,nikcle and diming even those of us with FF status-it just is not any fun at all anymore. The Airlines main business is getting me from point A to point B in a reasonable amount of time.That is what I am paying for.I might get from point A to B but they are certainly not getting me there in a reasonable amount of time. I would ask any of you who share my frustration to join(or at least check out) http://www.flyersrights.com/ we need to call for some action from the airlines.Join me in telling the airlines ENOUGH!

He has taken over the Drakes on SMB in WeHo. Grand opening is this weekend.I was invited to a party Thursday night for the opening-but am having to be in Las Vegas for work-I do hope one of my Fellow MERmen will attend in my place and give us the full report. http://www.xbiz.com/news/video/102202

I tried booking two different gay hotels in two different cities for two different dates.One is the Blue Moon Resort in Las Vegas the other is Camp Palm Springs Only reason I would stay in one of these places is because I am attending events held at these properties. Both hotels had outrageously high rates for the events -ok I am not happy about that but I can live with it. Both required minimum stays(2 nights).I just did not want to stay in these places let alone be blackmailed into staying two nights so I refused. BTW-up to that point I had been dealing directly with the properties. Just for giggles I tried Orbitz and Travelocity-sure enough both properties were avail(at the high rate-but available)for single night bookings via these third party booking engines. I have been less than pleased with this in the past-but c'mon. So I booked myself into four star(both of the gay places are 2 star at best)chain lodgings-one is the same price(but includes a really nice b'fast buffet for two) the other is $120 less per night than the gay place wanted for the same date. Of course when these folks go out of business(and they will-it is a short life span)the owners will whine the "community did not support us"