Monday, March 23, 2009

Page 1 Consider (03/23)

  • You Haven't Come Such a Long Way, Baby: What a shame that German tennis player Sarah Gronert, who was born with both male and female genitalia but has since had the male parts removed, is facing the same discrimination Renee Richards fought so bravely against as a transsexual player in the late 1970s. (NYDN)
  • Judge's Rape 'Fantasy': Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts has asked the Obama administration to grant asylum to a gay man who married an American citizen in Massachusetts and was later forced to return to Brazil. Genesio Oliveira, who has been apart from his husband since August 2007, asked for asylum in 2002, saying he was raped and attacked by a physician as a teenager in Brazil and feared persecution because of his sexuality. Immigration Judge Francis L. Cramer found Oliveira’s testimony to be credible and his fear of living in Brazil genuine. However, the judge denied the asylum claim, saying he "was never physically harmed” by the rape. Kerry called the ruling “outrageous.” (AP)
  • Groundhog Day: I'm behind President Obama all the way. But why do I feel that Paul Krugman is 100 percent right about O's latest "cash for trash" scheme? "(T)here’s something strange going on here. By my count, this is the third time Obama administration officials have floated a scheme that is essentially a rehash of the Paulson plan, each time adding a new set of bells and whistles and claiming that they’re doing something completely different. This is starting to look obsessive. (Opinion)
  • Progress Report: Chance Nalley, a 32-year-old teacher at Columbia Secondary School in Harlem, invited his seventh grade students to his commitment ceremony and, get this, it was no big deal. (NYT)
  • Happy Ending: With all the grim Prop 8 news out of California, it's nice to see REAL same-sex marriages still taking place in Massachusetts. (NYT)
  • The Fempire Strikes Back: Four women who are star screenwriters -- including Oscar-winner Diablo Cody -- have a tight bond, and they’re not afraid to use it. (NYT)
  • Let's Get REALLY Physical: A 30something transwoman, who went by the name Christine Newton-John, in Ohio pleaded guilty to making her elderly husband exercise himself to death. And the whole tragic thing was caught on videotape.(AP)
  • Oh-BITCH-nee-key: If you think those Gossip girls are bitches wait'll you hear about the nasty skanks at Miss Porter's School, where Jackie Kennedy once attended. (NYT)
  • RIP: Pirkle Jones, whose images of migrant farm workers, threatened California towns and valleys and the Black Panthers at the peak of their power, made him one of the most admired photographers of his generation has died at 95. (NYT)
  • RIP: Actress Natasha Richardson has been laid to rest near the home in New York's Hudson Valley where she wed Liam Neeson, 90 miles north of New York City. Neeson was among the pallbearers who carried his wife's coffin Sunday into St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Lithgow. She was buried next to her maternal grandmother, Rachel Kempson, at a nearby cemetery. A sad ending to a beautiful life. (BBC)
  • 2 comments:

    Tom S. said...

    Kenneth,
    I'm a huge fan of your site--I check multiple times a day. But I've got to say, I find that posting the picture of Liam incredibly insensitive. It's just so gut wrenching to see that and it feels disrespectful to the family.

    And I'm not one to be shocked easily. I don't consider myself to be an insensitive person at all.

    Of course I'll continue to frequent your site, I just wanted to share my thoughts.

    Kenneth M. Walsh said...

    Tom --
    No offense taken, but bear in mind I didn't TAKE the photo. These people are public figures who understand that the public has enormous interest in them -- in good times and bad. Liam Neeson and the Redgraves have gone out of their way to pose for photographers and wave to fans. I'm merely reported what happened.

    kw