Twostepcublog

For 7yrs I have not officiated NJ weddings because many citizens were denied that equal right. Next week I will officiate. #Equality #Pride — Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) October 18, 2013

I almost didn't do this. Since the 1940s, Billboard magazine has been the stalwart of documenting the biggest musical hits of our time, from the age of swing to the birth of rock and roll to the British Invasion to the rise of the singer/songwriter to the days of disco to....you get my drift. All during that time, they have adapted to the various ways that music was purchased, from Victrola records to vinyl 45s to cassettes to CDs to mp3s, as well as how it's broadcast, from polling jukebox operators to getting playlists from radio stations to electronically monitoring them to get an exact play count. Of course, there were a few missteps (like when they scuttled the R&B chart for a little over a year), and at times it took them a bit to become current (especially the lag time to include iTunes into the charts), but all and all they did the best they could with minimal subjectivity and cautious editorship. Where there shenanigans? Hell , yeah. The whole "payola...

  Before I start with part two of this week's "chart sweeps" of the latest songs making their way on to the weekly music charts at Billboard magazine,  I need to bring up what happened at the magazine this week . From the time that the chart gods started electronically monitoring what radio stations played in the early 90s until last week, the rock, R&B, Country, dance, and Latin subcharts were solely based on airplay, graphing a song's broadcast to a station's Neilsen rating to estimate an "audience impression" score, which would determine the ranking. With the advent of digital sales, I've been really interested in a revised chart that would take sales into account, since there are big hit songs (at the top of my head, "Goodbye Earl" at country) that didn't do as well on radio. Well Billboard did finally pull through with this, but in effect possibly neutered their whole chart system as a result. Instead of using the exist...

It's not that the CEO of a company has a personal opinion that I don't agree with. For real, going down that road, Dan Cathy insulted not only the GLBT community, but anyone else who isn't married to their first wives. Remember, he boasted about that as the centerpiece of his nefarious self-righteous quote that grew this meme. But that just means that a great amount of people in line today for a fried sandwich are oblivious that he basically thinks you're trash. But whatever. Lots of people who run business are self-righteous loons. Hell, look at the crazy dolt who runs Whole Foods, John Mackey . He's been much more vocal about his opposition to healthcare reform, unions, and all that other Libertarian bullshit, and tons of gay people still sashay around that organomart. What's got me and a ton of others' panties in a knot is the blatant use of company profits and resources to campaign, promote, and insert themselves into the equality debate . Organizat...

This week's Cee U Next Tuesday winner, for female excellence in the male-dominated field of douchebaggery, is Carole Aichele (pictured above for her "happy school librarian" pic), Pennsylvania's Secretary of the Commonwealth (their hoity-toity way of just saying "Secretary of State"). As such she's also responsible for enforcing the recently-passed Voter ID law in the state, which requires specific state-issued photo IDs to be able to vote. This has created a maelstorm of controversy, since figures touting the amount of people who would be disenfranchised by the law seem to be fudged, and the effect of voter fraud greatly exaggerated. And of course a Republican promoter of the law was caught saying that this law would win Pennsylvania for the party. The department of Justice has been looking into this and holding hearings. Now you can argue either way on the validity of suppression claims, as well as the threat of fraud (which the state has yet ...

This week's Cee U Next Tuesday winner, given for outstanding female accomplishment in the male-dominated field of douchebaggery, is South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who after trying to "soften" the republican image on the View by saying that "women don't care about contraception" (well, maybe unless when you're fucking your employees ), now is going that extra step to send women's health back to the Dark Ages by eliminating the budget of rape crisis center s in her state. And this is her money quote... serve a portion of our population for which we extend our sympathy and encouragement, but nevertheless, it is only a small portion of South Carolina’s chronically ill or abused.” Haley said the $453,000 designated for the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault’s rape crisis centers “distract[s] from the agency’s broader mission of protecting South Carolina’s public health.”  Wow. That's like her saying ...

It's time to dole out my Cee U Next Tuesday award for the week, which glorifies excellence by women in the male-dominated field of douchebaggery. This week's winner happens to be last week's runner-up , the Mormon answer to Marie Antoinette, Ann Romney. Mother Romney (pictured above), if you remember, is riding a non-coffee high for having her prancing horses qualify for the Olympics. Because nothing says you've pulled yourself up by the bootstraps than cultivating a herd of million-dollar horses that would be partially paid for by...yes YOU the American taxpayer (yay, freedom!). And of course she married old Willard without her parents being allowed in the church, and had her father, an avowed atheist, posthumously converted to their religion. But don't go criticizing the Earth Mother, or the media circus will take you to the shed . It doesn't matter that her idea of "roughing it" is " living off their investment income ", and that ...

photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images So let me get this straight... This dickhole who caused a scene at last Friday's press conference by interrupting and attempting to argue with the president on his assholic assumption that the proposed amnesty directive means Obama favors foreign workers over American ones, yeah, that dickhole, is a foreigner here on a fucking green card .So his whole charade about asking the right questions has nothing to do with his own situation and how well he sucks Tucker Carlson's dick. This right-wing game of Calvinball is getting too fucking ridiculous. Romney says Obama is out of touch. Romney proceeds to be amazed by the Wawas ( sic ) and their newfangled hoagie-orderin' machine as a fucking Friedmanesque sign of the sanctity of the free economy, whatever the fuckall that means. It's just getting to be "play the game of say whatever crazy and see if anything sticks", isn't it? It's like the political process has become ...

Don't deny the hot lesbians!

This week's Quisling (named for the infamous Norwegian leader who sold his country out to the Nazis) is Richard Grenell, Willard Romney's new foreign policy spokesman . While I should be gleeful that his appointment is drawing the ire of the fire-and-brimstone neanderthals, his attempt on being the catty GOP gay-friend only to go try to disinfect his Twitter account of his blatherings on Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, and the Gingriches is pretty comical. Recently this douchenozzle opined that Rachel Maddow should "take a breath and put on a necklace", alluding to a) the fact that she can speak coherently without mouthbreathing and b) nod nod wink wink is a big ol' LESBIAN. SHOCKER! Yo, Dick (it is short for Richard, no?), is this the witty banter that gets you blocked on Grindr? For someone whose verbal affectation makes Marcus Bachmann seem like Clint Eastwood, you certainly love to throw rhinestones in glass houses. I recently watched a fluffy gay rom...

So George Zimmerman, who still has not been arrested in the murder of teenager Trayvon Martin, has a donation website up , including the image of a vandalized wall at a black cultural center at the Ohio State University. At least now we know where his heart really lies . Chalk one up for the good-old-boy Cletus police department of Sanford, Florida, that fucked this case so badly that even with a trial this wannabe Annie Oakley will walk. And I'm sure ALEC and the NRA are funding him and his legal team quite nicely, thank you.

So Paul Babeu, sheriff of Pinal County, the Orange County of Arizona in terms of batshit dittohead fervor, has a new ad up in his already doomed campaign for the US Congress attempting to take shots at President Obama's administration in combating illegal immigration. This from a guy whose idea of border security is shacking up with an undocumented Mexican, then threatening deportation when the relationship went sour because he was playing the field as well. Maybe it's in the best interest to set up a security wall around his anus. Maybe it's time to step back and reevaluate your life, since your personal shit in this case has everything to do with your political shit. And the hypocrisy proves you're nothin' but a bully with a badge. And what befuddles me is that he probably is counting on the support of Quisling GOProud types that find no problem with overlooking what he has done for their fantasies of the tough gay cop. Well, I'm positive this wouldn't b...

Dear Governor Christie, using a pie reference , especially with an "infinite" quality, only highlights your gluttony, dillweed. And talking to the public like an asshole doesn't make you a "straight-talker", but pretty much of a douchebag. Now go away. Toodles, twostepcub

A sign that all that's just isn't just from the ocean-bordered parts of America, the Supreme Court of Montana issued a ruling upholding a ban on state and local election spending by corporations , something the half-corrupt US Supreme Court didnt in Citizens United . That this happened in a place that could be swung by the power of the big mining and forestry companies, gives hope that given the chance and the right group, could reassess the federal ruling. And that, my friends, is ten times more important that the race between Mr. "Man On Dog" and Mr. "Dog On Car" for who's going to lose this November.

Last night, on the beloved Facebook , someone I knew had answered a poll about whether they'd vote for Obama in 2012. It came with a "R U NUTZ ". I have no idea why I even would pay attention, since I could care less about all those polls, games, apps, whatever in there. Yes I guess after a day with no heat, I was a little cranky. I made a comment about what was the better option: McCain/ Palin ? That started a string of typical talking point bullying that wasn't backed up by any fact. One thing stuck out, this guy kept repeating about how the economy and the country is going to hell, and somehow history leading up to this doesn't matter. And as I have a real valid problem with people in Obama's economic team and their priorities (read: Geithner / Sumners ), the one thing that I did grasp was the need for a stimulus program to spark the flaccid job market (though I agree with economists like Krugman that it should have been larger). Well the proof truly is ...

So last week it was bad enough that after a lunatic flew his plane into the IRS building in an act of domesstic terrorism, right wing pundits and politicians such as Scott Brown thinly veiled almost lauding the act by equating it with the faux "teabagger" anti-government outrage that is just a sham for a bunch of angry white people who hate having a "darkie" for president as well as their shyster enablers (Beck, Breitbart, Limbaugh et al). This morning brought ABC news, hungry for disaster porn since Haiti got old, interviewed said lunatic's adult daughter, direct from Norway (who buy the way has a public, taxpayer provided health system, just sayin') to talk about her father. Asked during a phone interview broadcast Monday if she considered her father a hero, she said: "Yes. Because now maybe people will listen." Oh my gravy. Immediately she tried to whitewash the statement saying... Bell said she offered her deepest condolences to Hunter's ...

So. Wednesday found me ranting off on Sarah Palin for going on a media-ready Facebook tizzy about the Family Guy episode that featured a character that dated the son Chris. The girl had Downs' Syndrome, and the show included the throwaway line "My father was an accountant, and my mother used to be the governor of Alaska". Even though the show actually showed the character in a real and non-special way (she bosses Chris around, acts like any diva high school girl), somehow that translated into an attack on "her" child. Well in response, the actress who provided the voice for the character, Andrea Fay Friedman, sent out an e-mail to the media giving her take on it. It's better than I could've imagined. My name is Andrea Fay Friedman. I was born with Down syndrome. I played the role of Ellen on the "Extra Large Medium" episode of Family Guy that was broadcast on Valentine's day. Although they gave me red hair on the show, I am really a blond...

After months of hate speech running to a boil since President Obama's election, it was only a matter of time when some anti-guvmint kook took drastic action. Corporal Coward first class Andrew Joseph Stack apparently set fire to his house and then took his plane and flew it into the IRS building in Austin, Texas , killing himself and injuring 2 people in the building and leaving one more missing. It's very lucky that more people weren't hurt or killed, as the gas-full plane slammed into the building causing the damage above. That day, Stack changed his website to a long rambling anti-tax anti-government screed that somehow includes rants on communism and capitalism. I'm not going to give voice to this blather, as you can read it in any of the links to news stories, other than note that there was nothing in it that would discern from the extremo-libertarian slash teabagger mentality that conveniently only surfaces when there's a Democrat president who just happen...

The whole "balloon boy" dramedy that's been played out in the last four days or so proves a point - that the average American attention span is corrolated to the resemblance to a tv movie-of-the-week plot. The fact that this nutcase of a family was not only on a reality show, but voted back by public demand, tells you we like to watch the crazee on the teevee. From Paris Hilton to "The Hills" to Sarah Palin, loons will amplify their looniness to become a pastiche to be sold to the masses, while the important issues of the day like health care reform and the war in Afghanistan are too nuanced and complicated to be able to chop up into a five minute spot. It's a shame, but I feel news has finally morphed into total entertainment. (end rant)

This weeks winner of the Cee U Next Tuesday award for female excellence in the male-dominated field of douchebaggery is BET co-founder Sheila Johnson , who was caught at a fundraiser for Republican Virginia gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell making fun of opponent Craig Deeds for a stutter. As a person similiarly affected (though tamed through a lot of therapy and practice), I say this to this shill of bad sitcom reruns and bad music shows.... F-F-F-F-Fuck you, bitch. For this, you win this weeks C-U-N-T award, which you can directly shove in your mouth to plug the thing up already.