Saturday Back Talk

Some of the the listener survey comments I read on the show this week. If you're a listener to the show and have not taken the survey please do so by clicking through on the link to the right. Thanks!


Yorba Linda, CA (Sirius)
Michelangelo is a refreshing voice of reason in a time of extremism on both ends of the spectrum. While my thoughts and opinions often tend to be more conservative than Michelangelo's,I LOVE the way he articulates his case and often times his thoughts cause me to challenge and change my way of thinking. For the record I am a 36 year old man living with my partner of 8 years. Together we are raising my 16 year old son from a previous marriage. We live in Orange County California which is the heartland of the Republican Party in our state.

Conventry, CT (Sirius)
While I think the introduction of the iPhone App is a great thing, I would love to see a Blackberry app come out as well, I know the iPhone is seemingly the trendy way to go, but I can't advocate buying something that expensive. In closing, thank you all for the job you do, It's nice to see someone combat the right wing and actually put a dent.

Kansas City, MO (Sirius)
I dig your show, but sometimes you go on long rants. I do like your show though.

Cathedral City, CA (XM)
I like listening to news shows, and your show focusing on glbt issues is a godsend. (yes, an agnostic used the word godsend..so sue me.) I look forward to hearing you whenever I can, so I downloaded the SiriusXM app for my iPhone.

Wilmer, AL (Sirius)
I've been listening for several years (as does my spouse). We enjoy your show very much.I have a helpful comment concerning your "pregnant pauses" which seem to irritate some listeners. Could you have unobtrusive music constantly playing? Something subtle... loud enough to let people know that their radios are still functioning... but at a low volume... as not to interfere with discussion... That might squelch all those lag naggers.

Tampa, FL (Sirius)
Listened today to the comment about pauses. What pauses? I never noticed. I'd rather have some pauses while you collect thoughts than listen the mindless chatter to fill every moment we often get on radio or TV.

Pittsburgh, PA (Sirius)
Michelangelo your show is fantastic! Thanks for presenting the issues in a very intelligent way! I'm totally hooked on your show! Keep the good stuff coming.

Lyman, SC (XM)
I thought it interesting that you had so many callers asking why you were discussing Perez Hilton and yet they kept discussing him. If you hadn't gotten any calls then wouldn't you have dropped the subject. Your callers may want to keep that in mind in future.

Kalamazoo, MI (Sirius)
Love the show, I think you do a nice job and have used many of your talking points in discussions with coworkers and friends. One sometimes annoying thing is that occasionally I can hear you (or someone else) typing in the background while talking to your listeners. It is not that I do not expect you to be typing, but it is the noise, it is just distracting.

Washington, DC (Sirius)
I love your show, Sirius has me as a subscriber only because of you. I find you a bit liberal for my taste but if I agreed with everything you said I would not listen to you. You changed my mind on hate crimes legislation. The one thing I would say, at 31, is that I feel entitled to all of my rights.

San Diego, CA (Sirius)
I think that Michelangelo is the HOTTEST man alive!!! I love hearing his voice!!! It is so sexy!!!!! I would love to be able to watch him on MSNBC!

Toledo, OH (Sirius)
I would love it if you were to somehow publish your daily show as a podcast, perhaps only for Sirius Premium subscribers. I don't know if it would be feasible, but I would listen to you more frequently if I could do so on my schedule.

Denver, CO (Sirius)
Great show, I try to listen as often as I can. I am a rabid liberal, and I appreciate you that you hold both sides accountable for their speech and actions. I wish you posted more videos on your YouTube channel of the show.

Minneapolis, MN (Sirius)
That Mike is one hottie! If I could, I would listen to him all night long talking with with his hot heavy breath right on the microphone. But my partner probably would be annoyed. I love your show! You're the best. That's why I bought a 3 year subscription. I sit in my car on my breaks when I am at work and listen to Michelangelo.

Oceanside, CA (Sirius)
I am an over the road truck driver and have been listening since "the beginning" and have learned a lot from you.I had commented on twitter about being only to handle you in small doses because sometimes I become so overwhelmed by it all I feel like I am going to have a heart attack. That is mainly because I am horrified at how we are progressing in activism and I feel powerless because I am stuck in a job I hate that only allows me to go home once a month for a couple days when everyone who knows me personally knows I am a loud mouthed outspoken individual who enjoys leading protests and being seen and heard! I believe I have never not agreed with any thing you have ever said on your show. Thank you for being there and in a way I feel like I kind of live a little vicariously through your show and your books.

Clips of the Week: "That’s the Quitter's Way Out"

Our Friday feature on the show, Clips of the Week: the dumb, sometimes smart -- mostly not -- things they said all week, all put to music by our producer, David Guggenheim. This week: “That's the Quitter's Way Out”

Today's Show: Is Rockstar Energy Boycott Over?

Several activists, blogs and groups have accepted a settlement with Rockstar Energy Drink, owned by antigay Michael Savage's son, calling off their boycott. But others see it as hush money and are continuing on, including Aaron Baldwin whose Facebook group against the company was removed and who was also threatened with a lawsuit from from Rockstar.

Today, I'll get both sides, speaking with Bil Browning of Bilerico.com and Aaron Baldwin at 4:20 ET.

Today's Show: Why We Work

3:30 ET I'll speak with Alain de Botton, author of The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work.

Today's Show: Pedal Power

At 4:30 ET I'll speak with Jeff Mapes author of Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing America Cities.

Bruno is a "mincing gay minstrel"

The reviews are in and essayist and author David Rakoff, who has a biting and rather phenomenal sense of humor, doesn't think it's funny at all, writing in Salon:

Baron Cohen's Brüno is a gay minstrel, in the most literal sense of the word. Just as the characters of the burnt-cork vaudevillians had, bound up ineluctably with their dark complexions, traits like being shiftless, lazy, and "a-feared of spooks" as their eyes bugged out in Neanderthal, superstitious terror, Brüno's homosexuality comes bundled up with a lot of unattractive software. He is an open hydrant of empty, venal ignorance, a fame-chasing, grandiose fucktard, all because he is a cockaholic (his term). The repeated pistoning of sucking dick has scrambled his brains, just as surely as a muddler pulverizes mint leaves. Make no mistake: It is gay sex that has made Brüno stupid. Perez Hilton has the sobriety, moral rectitude and class of Lewis Lapham by comparison.

Those Moral Christians

So now we learned Mr.Morality himself, Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, knew all about Senator John Ensign's extramarital affair and didn't think he should resign -- just end the affair, he told him, and just offer up some hush money. Oh, but he calls it "restitution" money. Don't you love Christian evangelical logic? Always has a way of excusing Republican politicians for things.

Today's Show: LGBT Refugees in Turkey

4:30ET: Neil Grungras, Founder & Executive Director of Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration (ORAM), will join me to talk about the Perils facing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) asylum seekers and refugees in Turkey. We will also discuss the “Unsafe Haven: The Security Challenges Facing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Turkey”, a comprehensive account of the crushing burdens LGBT refugees face in a country that is increasingly a crossroads for mixed migration flows from Asia and Africa to Europe.

Today's Show: Our Primate Relatives

3:30ET: I will speak with Charles Siebert, Author of THE WAUCHULA WOODS ACCORD: Toward a New Understanding of Animals.

Today's Show: The Bullying of LGBT Youth

4:30ET: I will speak with Sirdeaner Walker, Mother of Carl Walker-Hoover, an 11-year-old who took his own life April 6 after enduring constant bullying at his school in Springfield, Mass. She will testify Wednesday before the House subcommittees on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education and Healthy Families and Communities.

Today's Show: The Relocation Class

3:30ET: Peter Kilborn will join me, to talk about his new book,Next Stop. Reloville; Life Inside America’s New Rootless Professional Class.

Advocate Column: What's Up in Washington?

My latest Advocate column is out, focusing on the outrage over the DOMA brief and where the so-called gay leadership goes from here:

But the big question remains: How far will HRC go in keeping the pressure on the president, and did the cover the group provided early on give the administration the sense that the gay movement would just lie down and get trampled?

Today's Show: Women in War

3:30ET: I will speak with Helen Benedict, Author of The Lonely Soldier: The Private War of Women in Serving in Iraq.

More Backpedaling on DADT

And the White House thought a cocktail party might quell the anger.

Not a week after that photo-op event at the White House where the President promised to fulfill promises about promises -- some day -- they're back to giving out mixed messages and downright insulting and offensive reasons why we can't repeal "don't ask, don't tell."

Joint chiefs chairman Admiral Mike Mullen is now saying that he's not done any extensive review -- while Gates and Obama have implied their working on it -- and that he's there to "advise" the president "should" the policy "change." Admiral Mullen may be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff but he reports to the president. And if this White House cannot reign him in -- and give us a clear answer on repealing the law and when -- then this president is a weak man who cowers to his own Pentagon, and everyone, gay and straight, should be concerned about that.

Mullen clearly doesn't want to repeal the policy, but that's tough. He should not be expressing his reticence and undermining the president on national television. If he is allowed to do that we're in trouble, because maybe he's not undermining the president at all -- maybe he's expressing the White House view too. On CNN he talked of "changing" the policy, not repealing it, and says he has advised the president to do so in a "measured way" because he's worried about the military families of straight soldiers and the impact on them. As former Clinton adviser Richard Soccarides told Americablog, that is insulting -- what about the gay servicepeople and their families?

This is going to further outrage LGBT people across this country, and what is the White House going to do? Hold another cocktail party? The White House should soon realize that none of those people in that room last week has the power to quell the anger. Most of them are empty suits with no real base of support or power, just a lot of big donors, fundraisers, former executive directors and current directors of bloated but really not-so-influential (on the gay public) organizations -- and I could go into the names, and probably will, but it's too exhaustive at this point. The White House surely didn't like seeing the anger and disappointment played out in the media, and was also worried about the money -- big time -- coming from gay donors and threatening the DNC fundraiser, so they moved to do something to quell it. But if the White House doesn't stop the mixed messages and backpedaling, the damage will be irreversible. They will be sorry. And no cocktail party is going to solve it.

Saturday Back Talk

These are some of the listener survey comments I read this week on the show. If you haven't taken it, and are a listener to the show, please do so clicking through the link on the right. Thanks!


Punxsutawney, PA (Sirius)
DO NOT listen to the people who ask you to stop criticizing the president!!! Whether we like a political figure or not it is our civic responsibility to hold them accountable. We need our media to ask more questions and drink less cocktails...we need our activist groups to do the same. There is too much at stake. What we don't need is people complaining about accountability and asking us to wait our turn on the legislative agenda. I don't care if it has been 6 months, 6 days, or six years we must sustain pressure on the politicians that we helped to elect to avoid being ignored or brushed aside.

We all like Obama on the left; but, that doesn't mean he becomes a perfect politician...I think your tone on these issueas has been absolutely spot on! Don't stop asking the hard questions. We certainly don't need you to drink the Kool-Aid!

Weathersfield, VT (XM)
Generally I do think you are an intelligent guy, but I disagree with most of what you say. Your monologues can turn into prolonged whiny liberal rants at times.

Denver, CO (Sirius)
I enjoy your show when I hear it, but I find your dead air (gaps between thoughts) distracting.

Sugar Valley, GA (Sirius)
Since you have lots of trucker listeners, how about a short segment each week dedicated to gay and Lesbian and Trans truckers? I know we are out there and we need an outlet.

McAllen, TX (XM)
I really enjoy the show. I would like to hear differing opinions than those of michael from others there on the show. More of a debate style, if you will.

Eufaula, AL (Sirius)
It's interesting and ironic that your topic today is about health insurance. I recently got laid off and my insurance is about to expire. I qualify for COBRA, but at almost $500 a month that is not possible (remember I'm unemployed).

I have pre-existing conditions (hiv and high cholesterol) but am in great shape. I work out, eat right and take care of myself. No one will insure me. Apparently there is a clearing house for insurance underwriters and they can share my medical history in order to underwrite a policy for me, so it makes no difference who I try to go through.

I never really thought about this until it happened to me. They won't cover me AT ALL. I thought that I might have to wait 12 months before they would cover my pre-existing conditions, but they are all able to deny me coverage across the board.

West New York, NJ (XM)
The show is too PC and MS and many callers are so 'sensitive' when it comes to gay issues such as Perez Hilton and BRUNO. Get a backbone! Learn to laugh at yourselves! .

Goodlettesville, TN (Sirius)
Love the show. I find myself quoting it as a source quite often.

Longview, TX (XM)
Enjoy your show - as it gives me a chance to think through the day's issues. I'm still closeted and so your show and others really help me.

Palm Springs, CA (XM)
I think Michelangelo's news analysis is smart. I'd listen to him even if he weren't gay (but it's a bonus hearing someone like myself).

Wilton Manors, FL (Sirius)
I LOVE the sound effects - there should be more of them. They are truly hilarious!

San Jose, CA (Sirius)
I know others have brought this to your attention, but perhaps I can frame the feedback in another more constructive way. You really are a master at overemphasizing a point to an extent that one is almost compelled to yell back at the radio "SHUT THE FUCK UP ... WE GOT IT!" I really do love your show and look forward to listening. Keep up the great work Mike. (And no, don't tell me to change the channel and come back later. Just SHUT THE FUCK UP).

Salt Lake City, UT (Sirius)
I LOVE the show and look forward to hearing the news that would never be heard in Utah! Your insight, with a bright, well read spin. THANKS!

Fremont, CA (Sirius)
I love that you hold your ground when you feel a certain way. At the same time I feel that you are open minded enough to change your mind if someone can give you details of which you were unaware.