Page 1 Consider (02/20)

(Mary 21, 1939-Feb. 12, 2008)

A Rose by Any Other Name: What do you get when you take one part Rosie, one part Oprah (only feminine) and a sprinkle of curry powder? Rose, India’s first transgender talk show host. (NYT)

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Was the real reason Mitt Romney's campaign never caught related to his Dick Swett problem? (AC)

Merit Badge in Counterfeiting: OK, those Thin Mints are pretty damn good. But this might be going a little too far. (AP)

Malignant Romance: If you can really tell that someone has cancer by their breath, then I must have been dating a string of terminally ill guys before I met my Mikey. (MSNBC)

Master Detective Work: Police in Switzerland have recovered artworks stolen earlier this month in a daring heist at a Zurich museum, Geneva police said Tuesday. (CNN)

And Now for Something Completely Different: Are fall television premieres going the way of the dinosaur? I guess it makes sense -- God knows half of the shows don't start till closer to Thanksgiving than September -- but it does sort of change the way we've spent our whole lives watching the boob tube. (Reuters)

Chequered Love: Does the white trash factor ever simmer down over at the Big Brother house? While the intended love match between Neil and Joshuah didn't pan out (go figure, they were both gay, isn't that enough?), now it turns out one of the straight guys -- the ominously named "Crazy" James -- has a gay porn past. (And don't let the above photo fool ya -- it was definitely a gay film.) (Gawker)

Conn. Job: Jason Bartlett, a 41-year-old Connecticut state representative, announced Tuesday that he is gay. Bartlett said that while he has been out to his family, he decided to finally speak publicly about his sexual orientation after growing tired of years of rumors about him. As is often the case, however, this story would be a lot more interesting if he were more attractive. Kudos, though! (Advocate)

Hitting the High Notes: I've never watched "American Idol," but Queerty has the low-down on which contestants scream "Queen." (Queerty)

School of Thought: In the wake of the hate-crime murder of a 15-year-old student in Oxnard, Calif., an assemblyman says he will introduce a bill to require all students throughout the state to receive courses in tolerance. Sounds like a good idea to me, although if we truly want to leave no child behind, perhaps a nationwide plan should be enacted. (365Gay)

Everything's Bigger: Good news for all of you kinky boys down in the great state of Texas. (AP)

RIP: And last but not least, I forgot to mention the death of David Groh. If you were gay and alive in the 1970s, then you remember Groh, who played Joe Gerard, Rhoda Morgenstern's hunky, hairy-chested hubby on the '70s Mary Tyler Moore hit spinoff, "Rhoda." Their romance and subsequent split really touched a nerve at a time when divorce was finally coming out of the shadows in America (fans sent condolence cards to the characters!). But it was the sight of Joe in those skin-tight pants that touched my, uh, nerve. Groh was 68 and died of kidney cancer. He will be missed. (AP)