Just a Thought: Is My TV Out to Get Me?

Here's a question. Why is it that if you can't think of anything you want to watch--even with channels that number up into the 1200s--all you can find is old movies you've already seen? Or movies or TV series you've successfully avoided for years?* If you land on a television show that you've seen one or two episodes of during the regular TV season, and tune in in the summer, it's bound to be one of the few you've seen in the rerun.

At our house, The Other Half has a long list of movies that he will pause at--at length--if he lands on them. They include but are not limited to, The Blind Side, The American President, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Shakespeare in Love, Chicken Run, and Steel Magnolias. But here's what I really want to know. Why is it that if I wander in, it will be at the same damn point I always walk in on? The worst offender is Steel Magnolias, and this is the scene that is always either playing, or just about to play when I happen upon it. . .




PS. *TVLand (the channel and the concept) has been trying to foist The King of Queens, The Nanny, According to Jim, Yes Dear and several other shows on me, even though I studiously avoided them during their entire natural runs. Don't want! Stop running freakin' marathons on two channels at once!

Is Ann Coulter for Real?

Image from Maxim

I am not asking if Ann Coulter is a real woman, or indeed a real human being, though those are good questions. No, I mean is she really concerned about the topics she covers? I always assumed she was kind of a performance artist, plying her schtick on FOX "News" and at conservative events to rake in some bucks. I never for a moment took her seriously, or honestly thought she expected me to. My favorite theory was posited by Janeane Garofalo, who suspects that Coulter is really Andy Kaufman.

But Coulter was really losing her shit on Hannity recently, implying that she actually gives a damn about the crap she spreads! I'm kind of surprised. As well as amused at the state she's found herself in, and that she's displaying it to Sean Hannity, the ultimate stooge-just-doin'-it-for-a-paycheck.

[Excerpt]

Ann Coulter Melts Down on Hannity's Show Over RomneyCare



Ann Coulter is angry. She's so angry even Sean Hannity is ducking for cover. She's so angry she doesn't care who knows she's angry, he doesn't care how loud she gets, and she doesn't care that she looks like a shrieking harpy in this segment, because as angry as Erick Erickson was, as completely flummoxed as Rush Limbaugh was, nothing compares to Ann Coulter in high dudgeon. . .

Read more at: Crooks and Liars

And Mitt Romney Keeps Lying

Yeah, yeah, politicians lie. Usually, we use euphemisms like "spin" or "exaggeration," but good ol' Mittens seems to be hanging his entire campaign on a series of what can really only be considered lies. Especially when you consider that even when his points are debunked, he just keeps going with the ads, unheeded. Here's the latest.

[Excerpt]

The scandal behind Romney's new attack ad


First, a little background. Some Republican governors this year asked the Obama administration for some new flexibility on welfare standards -- the governors had some ideas about moving folks from welfare to work and needed the White House to sign off. Obama agreed -- existing work requirements would stay in place, but states, if they want to, can take advantage of new flexibility when it comes to experimenting with existing law. . .

Read more at: MaddowBlog

What Happens in Vegas: Political Signs Never Come Down

In the 18 years I've lived in Las Vegas, I think a total of maybe 3 years of it were spent with no political signs strewn around town. They're as common as litter, which is kind of redundant. But politicians ought to be a little snappier taking their signs down, because they make very, very tempting targets for (creative) vandals!

Click to embiggen, the "art" isn't as obvious at this size. It's too bad this intersection is so busy, or thy could have taken it further. And yes, I'm still digging out rescued files from my crushed phone to share. . .

Vista Cruisers, as Far as the Eyes Can See!

Click to embiggen.

I found this peculiar. I walk about four miles a night most days of the week, and when I do, I usually pass a community that has miniscule parking within its walls. So, many of the people who live there have to park on the side street that just happens to span the distance between two nearby parks. It isn't unusual to see an assortment of odd vehicles, probably because so many of the houses are rentals, just a few steps above vagabond.

There was an odd day when the street was lined with various iterations of the Nissan Altima, from the very first model to the most recent. On another day, it was Fords spanning from a late 80s Taurus, to a 90s Contour to a early 2000s Mustang. Usually, there is a sprinkling of odd and creepy box trucks and panel vans. But today was the weirdest day yet!

Parked one behind another (and darn it, I didn't get a photo of both together) was an Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser station wagon, mid-late 70s vintage, and another creepy RV, this one also called a Vista Cruiser! I mean really, what are the odds? Okay, I thought it was weird.

Of course, the most famous Vista Cruiser was the '69 model driven by Eric (Topher Grace) Forman on That 70s Show.

Wisconsin Shooting, Neo-Nazis, and Stupidity

I haven't written about the Wisconsin shooting, because I don't blog much on the weekends, and Monday was a total blogging loss due to just. . .life. I don't know really what I can say about the shooting, other than to express a couple of observations.   [Story continues below]



- Again, though gun rights advocates always say that gun laws only keep guns out of law-abiding citizens hands, the shooter had a legal weapon.
- Again, it's a case of guns don't kill people, bullets kill people; ie, the ability to fire a lot of bullets in a short period of time.
- This man was apparently stupid, confusing any turban-wearer with his dreaded Muslims.
- This man was also a neo-Nazi, apparently, and/or white supremecist (forgive me for not knowing if there's a difference). One thing about these people is that very few will openly claim them. I'd be inclined to call his positions "extreme right wing," but I doubt right-wingers see it that way.
- This shit happens too often.
- When people started making drugs from Sudafed, it was regulated. When some jackass tried to blow up a plane with a shoe bomb, we got regulations that make us take our shoes off at the airport. When Timothy McVeigh blew up a building with fertilizer, they regulated fertilizer. I'm not saying that all of these regulations are done well, or are 100% necessary. . .but they happened, and we're allowed to discuss them, and probably can lobby to tweak them. Why are gun/ammunition control laws off the table?

That's all I've got right now.

[Excerpt]

Military, music marked temple suspect's path to Wisconsin

Investigators spent Monday trying to figure out what led 40-year-old Wade Michael Page from repairing missiles for the Army to a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee, where he was killed by police at the end of a Sunday morning rampage. . .

Read more at: CNN

Cry Me A River: Papa John's Pizza to Raise Prices Over Obamacare

Will we see Papa John's Appreciation Day?
Stranger things have happened. Mike Huckabee
will be 500 pounds before you know it.

Let's get this out of the way first: Papa John's Pizza is third place for a reason. Domino's has recently bumped their quality up, and Pizza Hut is just danged tasty--particularly if you live in a "good pizza" desert like I do. But come on. Multi-millionaire John Schnatter is making a big show of the unforseen impact of The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), by saying he's going to pass the costs on to customers. A whopping 15 to 20 cents per pie. Whatever will we do?

The thing that strikes me most here is the implicit conceit that it's a bad thing for employers to help their employees get affordable health care. And if you force them to, they're either going to drop all care and pay the fine, or they're going to hire less or pass the costs on. I understand that a business exists to make a profit, but somewhere along the way that got amended to include "at all costs." There was a time when employees were offered benefits to get them to go to work for a company. Now, a company is more likely to cut benefits, in order to keep profits high, or make them higher.

I think Papa John is doing all right. I don't think a price hike of this tiny amount is going to damage the economy, or his business. And his employees will be better off. Why is he (and the industry) against Obamacare again? Do you know what I say to 20 cents more per pie, hell 20 cents more per $10 of any food anywhere? Hell of a trade to get the workers affordable care. I'll take it.

[Excerpt]

Papa John's Pizza To Raise Prices Because Of Obamacare, CEO John Schnatter Says

After President Obama's health care law takes full effect, the slogan for national pizza chain Papa John's may need an update. Instead of, “Better ingredients. Better Pizza,” may we suggest, “Better health care. Pricier pizza. . ."

Read more at: Huffington Post

Blogger Break, Back on Tuesday Nite

Okay, kids, here's the thing. After work today, I had to go to the dentist to have one of my bonded teeth repaired. After that, it was off to the Sprint store to finally get my phone replaced. Except the phone that they got for me (a duplicate Samsung Epic 4G to replace my broken one) had a bum antenna. Having already been without a phone for 11 days, I had to struggle not to throw a fit!

Ultimately, they switched me to an HTC Evo 4G. Remember, these are circa 2010 phones to fill out my contract. So, anyhow, I've spent much of the evening reprogramming and learning the differences between the phones. I've just about got it done, except that my contact list is all goofy. I think I'll save fixing that for the weekend. And I'll have to do that with an on-screen keyboard, rather than the physical QWERTY keyboard I'm used to.

My new toy, at least for the next 7 months.

While doing the telephone stuff, I found that my part-time boss sent me three jobs this evening. My weekend part time job, mind you. Sigh. So, after all of that, I'm just plumb tuckered, y'all.

I'll be back tomorrow. At some point. Promise.

Blast from the Past: Dirty Pop! (Naughty Songs)

I got to thinking of this topic when walking today, hearing two songs with the word "fuck" in them, one over 20 years old, the other over 30. It isn't unusual these days for pop songs to have curse words or racy material in them, though they are often edited on the radio. But, I'll bet kids today would be surprised that Roger Daltry was cursing on the radio in 1978.

1. Who are You? - The Who - This is the one that got the ball rolling for me. "Fuck" can be heard--if you believe Wikipedia--twice, but I think it's in there more than that. Now, it's just the theme song to CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

2. Unbelievable - EMF - Though a one-hit-wonder, this song continues to get airplay, and I've never heard the many (many, many) "what the fucks" get edited out on the radio.


3. Strokin' - Clarence Carter - This jukebox favorite only contains one bad word, "shit." But the subject matter, and other words that are alluded to? Fabulously filthy!

4. Closer - Nine Inch Nails - I once saw two lipstick lesbians dancing to this one at a gay bar. I'm a gay guy, but whoa, they were smokin'! I don't even know why they try to play this one in edited form.

5. Human Nature - Madonna - Sure, Madonna has always flirted with profanity (some might say too much), but this one--which contained the line, "I'm not your bitch, don't hang your shit on me," was radically altered for radio. Even this clip edits out "shit" with a thump.

6. Relax - Frankie Goes to Hollywood - There isn't any swearing in this song. But the words, the sounds, the implication? "When you wanna suck it to it, when you wanna come?" Filthy!

7. Makes Me Wonder - Maroon 5 - It seems like Adam Levine can't sing a single that doesn't include something that needs to be bleeped on the radio. Makes Me Wonder if all of those tattoos and swearing is "tough guy" compensation for turning out so pretty? Hah! I can't find an uncensored version, but you get the idea.

8. Sugar Walls - Sheena Easton - It doesn't take much imagination to figure out what she's singing about, and even easier when you figure out that Prince wrote it.

9. Fuck You - Lily Allen - We'll finish with a pair of songs with the dirty right in the titles, first this one with it plainly spelled out, and plainly directed at George W. Bush and the like-minded.

10. F-Me Pumps - Amy Winehouse - And this one, with the word only implied but the meaning clear, the late Amy Winehouse brings this edition of Blast from the Past to a close.

And now that you're feeling all Tourette's Syndrome-y, let's start a new week. Happy Monday!

Hopefully My Last Chick-fil-A Post

This image was captured from VoenixRising, a blog I've been a fan of for a long time. Ordinarily, when I excerpt things from the site, I don't include a link, because--while I very much enjoy Mark Alexander's site--it does often include not safe for work (NSFW) images and content. But right this minute, I'm not much caring about that. And if you've read this far already, you've been warned anyway.

So, right now, I don't really care about anyone's feelings of "inappropriateness." Here's the link. If you don't like gay stuff or nekkid gay dudes, don't go there! VoenixRising

What Happens in Vegas: Sheldon Adelson Might Be in Trouble

Sheldon Adelson is a Las Vegas gazillionaire who was actually kind of in trouble with his Sands/Venetian/Palazzo properties at the end of the Bush era. Since President Obama took over though--and I'm not saying one thing has to do with the other--Adelson has become a squillionaire. He's seriously in the pink.

But Shelley is decidedly unhappy with the Prez. So much so, that he bankrolled Newt Gingrich for months after his sell-by date. And now, he's pumping zillions into Mitt Romney's campaign. It all has something to do with Israel, which Adelson--being Jewish--is sort of in to. And Romney--being Mormon--is. . .I don't know. . .into because his evangelical supporters know is necessary for the end times, the Rapture, Jesus' return and Armageddon? I don't know, I'm an atheist. I can't keep all this religion shit straight.

Anyway, it would seem that one of the super-rich GOP sugar daddies is potentially into a spot of trouble. I has a sad.


[Excerpt]

Adelson. Ain't he a fashion plate? Image from Raw Story.

Justice Dept. probes Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp. on money laundering

The Justice Department has launched an investigation into whether Las Vegas Sands Corporation and several of its executives violated money-laundering laws, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Citing unnamed lawyers and other people involved in the matter, the newspaper said the probe was being conducted by the US attorney’s office in Los Angeles. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Romney Ads Are Driving Me Crazy

Have you watched very much television lately? Do you live in a swing state? If you're like me (my swing state is Nevada), you've been deluged, buried, shat upon by political advertisements, the majority of which are negative. But there's a difference this year, and I don't just mean the increased amount of ads made possible by Citizens United.

The difference is the level of unapologetic lying. And no--as far as I can tell--both sides don't do it. I know this because President Obama has on a couple of occasions changed the content of his ads when critics pointed out issues with their veracity. That's what usually happens in politics. Whether Team Obama deliberately lied, and was caught, or if they were simply wrong, I'll not argue. But they have corrected themselves. On the Mitt Romney side, I've seen quite the opposite. [Story continues below]



For example, Romney's first ad, a clip of Obama quoting John McCain was taken out of context to sound as though Obama was expressing his own thoughts. It's plain, it's clear, it's a lie. But it's still up, and the campaign said the result was "exactly what we want." Since then, Romney's ads have followed that template: say something untrue or out of context (I'll give the benefit of the doubt, and say unintentionally), then when called on it, soldier on anyway, undeterred, with no correction.

When I was at the dentist on Friday (see the results in my Facebook photo in the left column!), the Olympics were on the set. On every commercial break, there were at least four political ads, usually one by Romney, one by Obama, and two from the allegedly unaffiliated Romney SuperPACs. If it isn't three-to-one, it's close, with the occasional interest group-funded anti-Shelley Berkley ad. Sometimes, there's room for little else, and the same anti-Obama ad plays twice in a row.

The SuperPAC ads play like Lyndon Johnson's "Daisy" ad, with an ominous, oh-so-concerned voiceover, dramatic scary music, black-and-white quick cuts of grainy pictures, headlines, whatever. It's the same thing we all know, just A WHOLE LOT MORE!!!

But, leave it to ol' Willard to again take an out-of-context quote (one that doesn't even make sense as a point Obama would try to make), and run with it. It's the "you didn't build that" line, in an otherwise uncontroversial speech, about how we're all in this together. It was cribbed from Elizabeth Warren (who tells it better, though the President may have just had a inelegant patch in his speech that day), and about nothing more than realizing that no matter how successful you are, you had help. When you make a bundle in America, you needed America to do it. Populist stuff.

Romney's team cobbled together the President's "gaffe" (in quotes, because it really wasn't one), and has one ad in particular that is running every commercial break in Nevada. In it, they take the line and present it dishonestly. Then a grey-haired man in a green t-shirt gets all indignant and butt-hurt that the Prez is attacking him, attacking small business. Doesn't Obama realize that he and his dad built this company with his bare hands, blood and ball-sweat? Yeah, and a whole bunch of government help, it turns out!

So, the premise of the ad (that Obama meant business people didn't build their own businesses) is wrong, hinging on one barely suspect pronoun, "that." The dude in the ad is--I want to say "fraud," but let's be charitable--not completely honest.  And yet, the ad runs endlessly with no correction, no clarification. This tactic is new at the presidential level, as far as I know.

[Excerpt]


Guy Who Thinks Small Business Loans Aren’t ‘Government Help’ Also Can’t Tell Cusses From Threats

So it turns out that the business owner in that dumb Romney ad about the fake “You didn’t build that” line, and who it turns out actually did rely on government loans and contracts for some of his business, now haz a sad because some people have been calling and emailing his business to say mean things about him. Jack Gilchrist, owner of a metal fabrication company in Hudson, New Hampshire, appeared in the ad, above, whining about being “demonized” by the President for being successful, which of course rather badly misses the point. . .

Read more at: Wonkette

Jon Stewart on Chick-fil-A and the Chick-fil-Ators!

I said I wouldn't do it, I wouldn't put you through it. . .I was done, done, done with the absurd (and absurdly spelled) Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day. But when it's a brilliant (and balanced) clip from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, well, I just can't resist. We will move on, I promise.

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The Ultimate Response to Chick-fil-A Supporters

Did you think I could not post this? Found floating around Facebook.

Unless something particularly noteworthy happens on Friday's planned "kiss-in" at Chick-fil-A restaurants, I plan to move on to other topics here on the blog. This post, however, had to happen. Thanks to my friend Keith for bringing it to my attention. And don't let the title scare you off, that's just a play on words. This is the most concise, literate and well-thought-out articulation of the pro-marriage-equality side of the argument. I fully endorse it, and will direct all future questions to this as the answer. I encourage anyone with even half an interest in either side of this story to read it. Really read it.

[Excerpt]


The Chick Fellatio: stuck in the craw

. . .It’s definitely strange to have days-long Facebook debates flare up everywhere over a chicken sandwich. The anger, sarcasm, and hurt feelings on display seem strange or even laughable because most people have seen Chick-Fil-A as just a restaurant with a funny ad campaign. I’ll get into some of the whys and wherefores of that later. But, for now, let’s just say that, yes. It can seem ridiculous to get all worked up over fast-food chicken. . .

Read more at: Owldolatrous

An Epic Update

I'm still phone-less, after my disaster last week. As I said then, my Epic 4G phone--8 months shy of upgrade time--was left on the hood of my car, and shortly thereafter run over after it fell off into the street.

Crunch!

It was a dumb mistake. But I thought I had it handled. Since the same phone new would be $500+ out of pocket, I decided to buy one online. I don't know what made me pick eBay over Amazon, but I did. But I was sure to pick a vendor that had a huge approval rating. Out the door, a used Epic 4G in "excellent" condition, was $99. The phone finally arrived Thursday, a week to the day after "the event." I was so excited. I'm amazed how much I miss having a smart phone, even one that is sort of glitchy like mine was.

I got to the Sprint store just after 4:30 pm, and was waited on almost immediately. Not long into the transaction, however, it was apparent that not all was well. The phone started up fine. The sound and display were fine. Mr. Sprint-man was all furrowed brow, though. He poked and prodded, popped the battery, booted, rebooted, rinse, wash, repeat. . . And then he said, "Excuse me, I'll be right back, I have to go talk to a tech." Crap.

At least at my Sprint store, it wasn't raining!

He then told me that it was going to take a little while, could I come back at 6:30? Sure, why not. I ran some errands, came home, watched a little tv, then went back. I was told to sit down and wait, which I did, for half an hour. I knew that 7:00 pm was closing time, so I wasn't feeling optimistic. I was right. The phone had been "rooted" by the previous owner, and probably not correctly. That person--or possibly the reseller--had tried to cover their tracks by putting everything back as it was. But it didn't take, and it won't take. Period.

My options were a) send the phone back to the vendor, buy another one from them or someone else, and wait another week to get it; or b) pay Sprint $35 plus tax, and they will replace it on Monday. Amazingly, they do that. And I think $35 is worth the hassle. So, I fired off a nastygram to the vendor, and firmly requested a partial refund. Whether or not I reveal their name and further details will depend upon their reaction!

Updates surely to follow. . . Meanwhile--and I can't stress this enough--never set your phone on the exterior of your car. Just don't.

Photo of the Day: My Kind of Chick-fil-A Protest

I'm hopeful that the anti-Chick-fil-A Day doesn't result in any kind of pandemonium. I'm pretty sure that since homophobes can be counted on to turn out in larger numbers than actual gay people, that it will be more regional, and not as big a spectacle. If it's a smattering of kissing gay people, it will be a curiosity at worst, and the anti-gay folks can claim that they drew more people, and that will be that. But if it turns into something approaching the size of Wednesday's astonishing show of hatred? I fear for the people that turn out.

Why? Because this picture--which I find adorably cute and sweet--has been spreading on Facebook, and even though it is fairly benign, has been garnering the worst kind of response. Ignorant, nasty, ridiculous responses. It's getting good responses too, but a surprising amount of hatred. What will people do in the presence of actual boys kissing? The girls will be fine.

Source: Gay Marriage USA on Facebook

Bigotty Chicken: The Sorry Spectacle at Chick-fil-A

On Wednesday, a random visit to any Chick-fil-A would have seemed like "Gay Days" at Disneyland, but in reverse. Instead of gay people giddily being open and happy in the Happiest Place on Earth, evangelical Christians were celebrating being anti-gay at a chicken fast food joint. I don't know whether you'd call it a protest, a vigil, an anti-protest. For sure, it was weird. And most probably, it was mean spirited.

Image from Bullett

Mike Huckabee, the seemingly genial, grandfatherly politician, was the person who spearheaded "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day." Huckabee wraps his bigotry up in sunny good cheer, and I'm sure many of the people standing in hour-long lines for a fattening chicken sandwich didn't think it was anything but. I'll tell you this much, I'm quite sure that the probability of those people each having a gay relative is way over 50%.

The central argument is over marriage equality, or more colloquially, gay marriage. The backlash is driven by the. . .I want to say devoutly religious. . .but it's really more like loudly, conspicuously religious. Particularly with those groups with "family" in the name, and the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). The hard to type (and ridiculously named) Chick-fil-A's president, Dan Cathy, publicly proclaimed that he--and thus, the company--was for "biblical marriage," whatever that means. Concubines, I suppose.

But the anti-gay sentiments, and company dollars to anti-gay hate groups have flowed from Chick-fil-A longer than this week.  It is clear--if you follow this much at all--that this is about intense hatred of gay people, not gay marriage. I don't know how much of that the people making some grand political statement by waiting in line knew. Many of them, as you can read on many internet message boards and on Facebook, are rather indignant. It's actually descended to the trite, "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!" argument. These people are Bible skimmers at best, from my vantage point, thinking that somewhere in there, God spelled out Protestant weddings, with bridesmaids and veils, the works. They ignore the polygamy, the "marrying your rapist" bit, the "marry your brother-in-law if your husband dies" bit. The fact that Jesus never married, and hung out with dudes all the time. And the afore-mentioned concubines.

Haters gotta hate. Image from HuffPo.

As a gay atheist, I find the entire spectacle an enormous, unnecessary, embarrassment. I'm already "gay married." This argument is no longer hypothetical, and no longer in the realm of speculation. This ridiculous protest, such as it was, proved no other point than the fact that you can draw a crowd if the aim is to poke your thumb in the eyes of other--emphasis on other--people. But these folks don't seem to ever turn inward. To wonder what life is like for gay people. To consider us people at all. But as I said before, you can be sure these people have gay people in their midst. And they've just embarrassed them. Shamed them. Hurt them. All for a fucking chicken sandwich.

[Excerpt]


Chick-fil-A Anti-Gay Controversy: Gay Employees Speak Out 

Elected officials have urged Chick-fil-A to stay out of their cities, the Jim Henson Company has severed ties, and gay rights groups are organizing national protests against the fried chicken chain. But at the Chick-fil-A where Andrew works in northern Alabama, business has been booming over the past few weeks. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Lawrence O'Donnell Rewrites Kerry & Romney, Windsurfing & Dressage

A while back there was a picture circulating of Mitt Romney riding on the back (*cough* bitch seat *cough*) of his wife's wave-runner, and I wondered. . .how is that different from John Kerry's windsurfing shot? To be honest, I never understood why Kerry windsurfing was bad or negative in any way. But Right-wing World took that photo and ran with it right into the history books. So maybe I just don't get it. Maybe there wasn't a comparison to be made between jet skiing and wind surfing.

But what about dressage? Now, that sounds hoity toity. Lawrence O'Donnell thinks so too, and this very educational and entertaining clip is worth your time.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Rachel Maddow Asks Mitt Romney 5 Questions

I reference The Rachel Maddow Show frequently, I know. But this is a perfect clip to showcase for two reasons: 1) There is no preamble or lead-in, Rachel gets right to it; and 2) Rachel asks 5 pointed, direct questions that Mitt Romney has so far avoided answering. And for bonus points, a couple of them are not questions you usually hear from mainstream cable news. We're waiting for your response, Mr. Romney!

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Henry Rollins on Gay Marriage

It's great to have celebrity supporters and defenders of marriage equality. Even though the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has a token celebrity or two on board. It would, however, be safe to say that--to paraphrase Ann Coulter--Our celebrities are better than their celebrities. Of this, there is no doubt. For every Kirk Cameron, I can give you George Clooney, and five or ten celebrities from the A, B and C lists, and probably many more times that. And while I don't know if Chuck Norris has joined the anti-marriage equality bandwagon, even if he is, we've got a bigger bad ass. Henry Rollins. He trumps everyone.