The Hookies (NSFW)

Did you know there was an awards ceremony for professional escorts? I didn't. But there is -- the Hookies (thanks to Benjamin Nicholas for the link).

I have friends that do this, and I have one question: how is this legal? I mean, I get it, escorts are paid for their time and the companionship, not by the act (which is prostitution). But it seems like it's very much an open secret... with people only going after Craigslist, small-times hooks as opposed to what seems to be a booming online industry.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I have no problem with the act. I think it's one of those that, if legalized, becomes a "no victim" crime, like marijuana. Oh, and I will admit that the guys that won these awards are about 10X hotter than any Craigslist trick. Anyways, but I digress...

Oh, and congratulations to the lifetime achievement winner, also a blogger (NSFW)!

Let me reinforce this: NOT SAFE FOR WORK (NSFW)!!! You know when *I* say it, I probably mean it.

HIV/AIDS: Bush to poz-ers -- GET OUT

Apparently Mr. Bushie has no intention of complying to the lift of HIV+ immgrants. From Andrew Sullivan (and thanks to Trevor Hoppe for giving me the heads up -- PS, congrats on your increasing traffic, TH!!!):

The Bush administration has not yet lifted the regulation barring people with HIV from entering the United States, despite the law lifting the ban overwhelmingly passed by the Congress and signed by president Bush last July. Yesterday, they simply reiterated their previous plans to "streamline" the process, which, in fact, does nothing but make it more bureaucratically cumbersome for temporary visitors with HIV to enter the country as tourists or for conferences. They have done nothing to end the ban as the law clearly asked for.

As it currently stands, I will still be required to leave the US for good next March. And many more are in much worse straits. They say they will change the regs. And that it takes time. My guess is that it will take until after the election. But does anyone believe a Palin administration would make life any easier for people with HIV? For people with HIV, the Palin nomination should be terrifying.

AHEM... take that as a temporary lift to the boycott on talking about what's her name.

QC.com reported on the lifting of the HIV-travel ban -- or I thought I did (which actually sparked an interesting debate between me and Benjamin Nicholas found here but on a completely different subject, ultimately). I'm supportive of eliminating the ban and think that this is just another smoke-screen to the homophobia and xenophobia/racism of the Bush administration.

BLOGGING: Seven new blogrolls and few updates today.

Lots of new stuff today!!!!

Thanks to Cincinnati Blog for constantly keeping me up to date on all the wonderful blogs here in the city... I had found both of these before but had never actually blogrolled them until today.

1. Just Past Central -- "Life in Cincinnati's Newest Old Neighborhood" -- OTR-focused blog.

2. Somewhere Over-the-Rhine -- "A site dedicated to Cincinnati's Over the Rhine Neighborhood" -- also an OTR-focused blog.

Also blogrolled today...

3. Benjamin Nicholas's 15 Minutes... -- NSFW -- the life of a professional escort.

4. Ex-Gay Watch -- News on conversion therapies. Excellent, excellent resource.

5. Fivethirtyeight.com -- Excellent updates on the election.

6. DemConWatch -- "News and views about the Democration National Convention and the 2008 Election."

7. 3 Blue Dudes -- Very much a Dem site following the 2008 election.

YEA FOR UPDATES!!!

Also, I am working on the layout a little bit. I'm trying to find a way to make the individual posts more distinct so that when we have text-heavy times, the individual posts don't blend together. You may see the look change a bit over the next couple of days... I kinda like the current look, but it may change.

Also, don't forget to check out the funny new VLOG from Danrambles.

HIV/AIDS: Benjamin Nicholas

Picture from the 15minutes blog

Ok, this is my "guilty pleasure" blog. Even though the man can be stuck up and annoying ("oh, I just love Florence.." blah blah blah... yea, I get it, you're still a professional prositute... er... escort, a job I actually covet but let's call a potato a potato), Benjamin ("I did not have sex with Trent Lott") Nicholas is none the less entertaining.

But one of his latest blog he talks, albeit briefly, about PEPFAR:

First off, getting into the states as a foreigner isn't always an easy thing. Thanks to a little internet research, it's evident that we don't let a whole lot of people pass through without asking them to jump through some hoops. Hell, the USA discriminates against those who are poor, routinely denying Visas for simply not having the means to get back to where they came from. All of this process is in place to not only keep the USA safe, but to continually stabilize our population with the variety of melting pot culture we're accustomed to. Sure, we're a country founded on immigration, but keep in mind that it was highly controlled and by legal means.

Think about it: Is allowing someone into our country with a debilitating, communicable disease a good thing? Would we put up the same anti-discriminatory argument if it was someone with Bird Flu or Polio? Are we giving HIV a hall-pass because slick pharmacological advertising has brainwashed us into thinking it's now a manageable lifestyle?

Believe what you'd like, but HIV is not manageable. It's not as easy as the ads in the pages of The Advocate would have you believe: One simple pill a day and life is back to normal. That's pie-in-the-sky bullshit and if you think for a second that people aren't still dying on a daily basis thanks to complications from HIV and AIDS, you're as dilluted as dishwater. A total cure is light years from being found and a vaccine for the existing uninfected is at least 25 years away from realization (or so says the Bill Gates Foundation).

So, with that in front of me, I say keep them out. Why do we need to take even greater risk as Americans, all in the name of 'equality.' This isn't about equality. It's about grandiose, radical-PCism from people who have no real grasp on reality or self-preservation. You might call it cold-hearted, but when push comes to shove, a survivalist mentality isn't a bad thing.

This also brings me to remind my readers that no matter how muscular, how beautiful or how young that guy may be, always assume he's HIV-positive. With infection rates again on the rise, taking 30 seconds to roll on a condom is more important than ever. In seeing a few former escorts make a quick re-appearance into the industry, I question their motives, as well as their health status. Always be aware and think backwards, connecting the dots, as far as memory will serve.

Good point, failed conclusion.

Unlike bird flu or polio, HIV as a communicable disease requires special means of transmission. Bird flu just requires breathing. HIV requires fucking. The key point you're missing, darling BN (whom I also follow on twitter), is that the people who end up contracting HIV from people from out of the country are engaging in behavior, likely with other people, that is indicative for seroconversion. Though it sounds callous, my point is this: we need more thorough prevention, not discrimination.

And, btw, for a lot a lot of people in the world and in this country, HIV is fairly manageable. It still blows and there are so many thousands of reasons not to get HIV (the fact that, despite lengthening life, it has a really high mortality rate over the lifespan is one of many); don't forget that not everyone is a muscle man with HIV, but some are.

In deductive reasoning (maybe inductive? awww hell, logic), I call this a FAIL.

PS ---> I also don't think Mr. Nicholas is that spectacular of a PR person for himself. The whole Trent Lott debacle was poorly handled. He didn't even get a friend to talk for him.

POLITICS: Trent Lott Gay Scandal

This was too good to pass up. This is blog news via Joe. My. God. (http://www.joemygod.blogspot.com/) via BigHeadDC (bigheaddc.com).

http://bigheaddc.com/2007/11/26/trent-lott-fallout-the-gay-escort-who-knew-too-much/

That's right, kids, it appears there is a bit of a gay escort scandal mildly brewing about the recent resignation about Trent Lott. I don't have a lot of time to blog everything, and I'm trying my damndest to catch up with the news, but it appears that it is a young (hot) man by the name of Benjamin Nicholas, who works all over the country and has "served" many men in the US Congress.

Mr. Nicholas is denying it on his blog, 15 minutes... (www.benjaminnicholas.com/blogger.com), but only after a couple of rather interesting emails back and forth with the above blogger.

Despite Mr. Nicholas's scathing retort to Mike Jones' outing of Rev. Ted Haggard: You were paid for sex, Mike," he wrote in 2006. "The most important rule you can follow when taking people's money in exchange for sex is that—no matter what—their lives stay their own and whatever passes between the two of you remains private. Period." Mr. Nicholas's own quotes seem far too nudgenudgewinkwink to be real. Either he's telling us something, or he's really dumb. For example:

• "All I can say at this point is no comment. It's the professional thing for me to do." (If there's no pre-existing prior relationship, there's no professional boundary, unless they are doing the medical thing of saying "I can't comment either way," which would be more realistic. He should have known how that comment would be construed.)
• "As I said before, Lott has quite a bit on his plate right now and I don't really want to add fuel to the embers." (Uh-huh. Sounds like you added quite a bit of fire to his life...) Another version of this quote, perhaps a separate quote: “Trent is going through his fair share of scrutiny right now and I don’t want to add to it.” (Referring to him as Trent..?)
• “Here’s my public comment, on-the-record: Sen. Lott and I have no current affiliation with one another. I’m sure he would appreciate no further scrutiny." (COME ON. He's got to have a PR person with him by now. I'm sure they would be telling him: YOU ARE NOT HELPING THE SITUATION.)

This, btw, is culminated by the above mentioned denial on his blog. I'm curious, though as to were the implied relationship came from. It's unfortunate that BigHeadDC may have some problems in the past with its credibility (thank you, JoeMyGod), but interesting nonetheless. And there is an interesting connection to Hustler magazine, somehow, but I'm not getting that one yet. I'm trying to read more.

Whether or not he is a call boy for Mr. Lott, his blog is REALLY interesting. Check it out.