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.

Deborah: The Video

Today I replayed my now classic discussion with the notorious "Deborah from Atlanta" from August 2007. She has become a bizarre star on the show ever since. Many new listeners, particularly XM listeners who only joined us this year, have asked and asked for us to replay the call. They hear the clips from her, particularly, "Mr. Michelangelo, Did your Momma give you that name?" and wondered where it came from. Well, today I replayed it so everyone would have some context -- and boy did the phones just get completely jammed. She's horrifying, insane, outrageous and immensely entertaining. Radio gold, as they say.

I talked about how she became such an instant legend on the show that a listener, Chris in Sacramento, made a video with some great images and a laugh track -- he was so horrified by her, particularly her comments on immigrants, since he is of Mexican descent -- because he felt it made her less dangerous and more ridiculous. Now everyone has written today wanting to see the video! So, here it is. Just one other thing: Deborah has tried to call the show ever since this call in the summer of 2007, using different names and trying to temper herself a bit. But we're always able to call her out.

Summer Beach-Read Book Blowout

It's time for our annual Summer Beach-Read Book Blowout, in which we give away books by authors who've appeared on the show throughout the year. We'll be giving away a book a day through the month of July (we've already given away two this week). We do this twice a year -- in December it's called our Holiday Book Bonanza, as many of you know.

How it works: I will throw out a question some time during the show about something we talked about in that hour of the show, and the first person to call in with the correct answer gets the book.

Today's book giveaway: Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virgina Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Have Sex, by Thomas Maier. The book received a lot of attention a couple of months ago when it was published. Maier reveals, among other things, how Masters and Johnson basically made up their cases of so-called conversion from homosexuality to heterosexuality, a faux study that did enormous damage and has been used by so-called "ex-gay" groups.

Today's Show: The Fundraiser from Hell

4:30ET: Francine Busby,a Democrat running for the 50th congressional congress, will join me, to talk about a lesbian fundraiser in San Diego held for her, that was raided by the police, with pepper spray, dogs and helicopter overhead. After the police attack on a Fort Worth, Texas gay bar, are we wondering what is happening in this country.

Today's Show: A Personal Story of Intersexuality

3:30ET: Thea Hillman will join me to talk about her memoir, INTERSEX;(For the lack of a better word).

Did DNC Fundraiser Really Rake in a Million Bucks?

The headlines on most of the gay blogs were pretty similar on Friday, describing the DNC gay fundraiser as having brought in a million dollars despite a boycott and protests. It was, supposedly, more money than last year, proof positive that lashing out against fundraisers isn't going to work, and a message to the pesky blogosphere: Just give up! Many a commenter and some bloggers themselves took it hard, beside themselves that all of their organizing apparently just didn't work. No matter that many big names pulled out of the fundraiser, the DNC was supposedly still able to fill its coffers.

But is that really true? All the headlines and links were based on one story, with one unnamed source. The Advocate's Kerry Eleveld, in a report about the event itself and the protests outside, reported that a "Democratic Party source" told her that the fundraiser brought in a million dollars, supposedly 250K more than last year's supposed 750K, a number to which she also gave no attribution but which we can assume came from the same source.

This claim -- and it was a claim, not an on-the-record fact backed up with any presented data -- was actually buried in Eleveld's story, so I am in no way charging that ace reporter and colleague Eleveld, who I have on the show a lot, was overblowing it. The headline led with the million dollar quote -- without saying it was a "claim" or came from a "source" -- and whoever did that at the Advocate bears some responsibility. And blogs and other sites linking to it could be a bit more discerning when linking to something just because of a headline, particularly if the claim itself is less than definitive.

Leaving aside the fact that, in a year in which a Democratic president is in office for the first time in 8 years -- and thus there are more people sucking up and wanting jobs and wanting to make contacts and thus would attend a fundraiser -- the one million dollar figure still raised the eyebrows of several Democratic Party insiders with whom I spoke.

That is particularly true since Andy Tobias, the openly gay treasurer of the DNC, was fretting about the event and complaining to people, according to three individuals who'd interacted with him and with whom I spoke in the days before the fundraiser (and I've spoken to several others who confirmed this to me after the fundraiser as well). Publicly, DNC officials and hosts like Barney Frank were keeping a stiff upper lip, trying to tamp down the power of the blogs and the influence of all those who dropped out of the fundraiser. But privately, Tobias had pretty much thrown in the towel on the event.

There was no official response in Eleveld's story from the DNC itself -- no line like, "the DNC would not confirm the amount" -- so we can pretty much assume her "Democratic Party" source is inside the DNC, giving her the info on background and thus not giving any on-the-record comment confirming or denying. (If the source was not in the DNC, after all, she'd likely have gone to the DNC for official comment.) And who would that source be inside the DNC? If it were Andy Tobias himself, it wouldn't exactly be an unbiased source. I'd want much more information to back up the figures. The same goes if it were any of his underlings. And if the figure is accurate, why not just say it on-the-record? Why not at least allow Eleveld to attribute "a DNC source" -- if indeed it is -- even if it's on background and not for attribution, rather than "a Democratic Party" source? Why keep it so distanced?

When I contacted the DNC's LGBT fundraising director, Tom Petrillo, for confirmation of the one million dollar amount, he bumped me up after a day to press office, where Caroline Ciccone took another day to get back to me, only to tell me that the DNC would not confirm the one million dollar amount and said the DNC doesn't confirm fundraising event figures. But in searching around and looking at the coverage of other fundraisers, I found this story, which, for example, attributes Obama's bringing in 3 million dollars at an event recently to DNC "officials." And this one has many details and implies they came from the DNC. At the very least, the DNC doesn't seem to want to be so distanced from the reporting on the numbers in these stories.

Several Democratic insiders tell me that DNC officials have much latitude in moving money around and attributing funds from other fundraisers -- or funds from regular donors, including members of the DNC's LGBT Leadership Council, who donate in increments throughout the year -- to this fundraiser to swell the numbers. I offered some of this analysis on the show on Friday, raising skepticism about the reports on the blogs, after having spoken to one Democratic insider. But over the past few days I've spoken to several other people familiar with fundraising and the DNC who expressed skepticism. Pam Spaulding as well has spoken to an insider about this in an update to her post.

DNC officials can apparently make it look like they made one million dollars even if they only made 250K from the event.

Questions I have for the DNC include these: Did all of the one million dollars come from this fundraiser? How many people are members of the LGBT Leadership Council, and are their donations throughout the year included in this fundraiser? What is the annual dues structure? Don't they then get "comped" to the dinner because they've payed their dues throughout the year? How many people who were not members of the Leadership Council dropped out of the dinner, and what amount of money did that account for? Are you counting all of the LGBT money raised throughout the year in the dinner? How much of the one million is straight money and how much is gay money?

More questions: Why didn't you fill that room at the Mandarin Oriental and how many at the dinner were comped? Weren't all the elected officials comped, and weren't all those used in the fundraising letter -- those names that didn't drop out -- comped? How many people actually paid for the dinner and how many maxed out in contributions, paying 30K? How many paid the minimum of 1000 dollars? Does the treasurer have the authority to raise money and then apply it internally to wherever he would like it to sit? Does every donor whose money was applied to the event know that their money was applied to an LGBT-specific event? Has all of the money been brought in, or is the one million dollars including pledges or future dues of the LGBT Leadership Council members? How many attendees asked for a refund? Would the DNC provide such a refund? When is the next LGBT-specific fundraising event, since this was so record-smashing successful?

I invited Tom Petrillo to come on the show so I could discuss such issues, but as I said, he bumped up to the press office and the DNC's response ended there.

So all we have to go on is Eleveld's source -- a source so eager to report the earnings to her that she was able to get it in a story the morning following the fundraiser -- and an email letter that Andy Tobias apparently sent around to donors/attendees after the event. What is telling about the letter is that Tobias doesn't say what a huge, record-breaking, amazing success the event supposedly was, nor mention that it brought in more than last year, if indeed that is true. You'd think that if it did do so well, even if he didn't want to give out the figures, he'd spend more time talking about how it did better in spite of the protests, or at least that it was a huge success, and less time talking about grilled cheese sandwiches.

We now need a confirmation of the one million dollar number from the DNC, on the record, with a clear breakdown of where the money comes from. With the absence of that no one should assume this fundraiser did well at all, as all of the evidence -- and the statements from Tobias to various people before the fundraiser -- points in the opposite direction. People who want to pressure the Democrats should continue to target the DNC fundraisers since it clearly really hit a nerve, to the point where they had to spin something out immediately and go so far with the numbers -- like the Iranian ayatollahs -- in an attempt to nip any revolution in the bud, even though it's now raised many more questions.

And there must be a long list of DNC LGBT fundraisers coming up. After all, if this one did so well you'd think the DNC is planning dozens of them across the country in coming months, right?

UPDATE: I should have included that Dan Savage had expressed his skepticism as well, posting his observations in two different posts immediately after the event. And Americablog discussed rumors that the event only brought in $250,000 and notes that the FEC reports next month will tell us more.