Nice to see U.S. News & World report on the financial benefits/implications of marriage. The article, though brief, is worth noting. But it’s interesting that the piece isn’t really gay-specific (though it mentions the California ruling in the opening line), but could apply to anyone contemplating tying the knot.

Indeed, it’s most notable that their reportage uses the word “gay” at all. A quick trip through their search engine shows a shocking paucity of stories that contain the word “gay”: In 2005 - two stories; in 2006 - four stories; in 2007 - one.

Considering that they’re the third largest “newsweekly” (behind Time and Newsweek) in the country, you’d think there would be a bit more reportage on this lucrative demographic. No?

Rush Limbaugh, the reviled conservative talk radio host (yes, the one Al Franken exposed so hilariously in “Rush Limbaugh Is A Big, Fat Idiot“), has just signed a new contract that will pay him $400 million. Did your eyes just widen like a Loony Tunes character? Mine did when I first read it.

That’s $38 million a year through 2016, plus a $100 million signing bonus. The man who makes a living lying about Democrats, bashing feminists and making crude jokes about gays, has more than 14 million people tuning in at least once a week, according to Talkers magazine. And that, sadly, tells us a lot about the interests and intelligence of a good chunk of America.

Do you despise the right wing, intentionally misleading, anti-Democrat tactics used by Fox News? I used to watch on an irregular basis, just so I could see what they were up to, but I had to stop as I was running out of hair to pull out of my head.

As reported by the always excellent Media Matters, their latest stunt is not only misleading, it’s anti-Semitic.

Apparently the hosts of “Fox & Friends” took exception to a New York Times story, by Jacques Steinberg, that reported that Fox’s ratings were slipping. This prompted the shows’ hosts to call the piece a “hit piece” and labeled the editor of the article an “attack dog.” Fine. This, though, led the hosts into a personal attack of the editor and the writer (since they could not refute the actual facts of the Times story), during which they showed pictures of the gentleman that were subtly digitally altered. (click on the image to the left to see more clearly — teeth are yellowed, features exaggerated,.)

The hosts of Fox & Friends, Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade, gave no indication that the photos had been altered. These guys are despicable. Here’s the full piece on Media Matters.

I predicted months ago that this would be a disastrous year for the auto industry. The economy is so bad, people are hanging on to the cars they currently own. If someone is in the market for a new car they’re looking for fuel efficiency, in most cases. Now the numbers, as reported in CNNMoney, prove me right, sadly.

-General Motors reported that its U.S. sales fell 18% in June versus a year ago.
-Ford Motor posted a 28% decline in sales.
-Chrysler saw its sales plunge 36%.
-Toyota Motor reported a 21% drop in U.S. sales in June. (The Prius, the nation’s best-selling gas-electric hybrid, saw its sales fall by a third, due to “tight supplies.” Why Toyota did not ramp up production, based on terrific past sales, is a mystery to me worthy of Agatha Christie).

Only Honda Motor bucked the industry trend, as its U.S. sales edged up 1.1% in the month. Good news, but hardly reason to do a happy dance.

I heard the chairman of Chevron, David O’Reilly, on Larry King the other night actually claim the high gas prices are due to us — our demand has been so high, while production has remained steady. And this, he said, in not so many words, causes the price of oil to escalate. He’s actually blaming us, and our resistance to conserve.

And Larry King, whose interview and investigative skills are on par with a senile Muppet, never challenged him. Never asked him how he was conserving. Never asked him what kind of car he was driving. Never asked him if he uses a private jet for his travel. Never asked him if you could really feel sympathy for people’s suffering over high gas prices when he took home $16 million in compensation last year.

“A red-lace nightgown, barely covering area resident Amanda Yetter’s body, sent waves of dread through husband and closeted homosexual Eric Yetter Friday.”

And so begins a hilarious article from The Onion (America’s Finest News Source), detailing the Herculean efforts of a closeted guy and his lame attempts to avoid having sex with his wife. It’s vintage Onion, funny in that it seems so darn real. It’s a quick read.

The American Family Association — the rabidly anti-gay lobbying organization — has an editorial policy at its news outlet, OneNewsNow, never to use the word “gay” but to replace it with “homosexual.” And that works perfectly until their filter collides with an article about an athlete whose last name is Gay, as in Tyson Gay, the fastest man on the US Olympic track team.

Here are a few of their “corrections” to a story about Tyson:

Tyson Homosexual was a blur in blue, sprinting 100 meters faster than anyone ever has.

Drummond noticed Homosexual was bringing his feet too high behind his back with each stride, and they worked to correct that. Clearly, it’s paying off.

After the race, Homosexual and Dix looked at each other and slapped palms, then hugged.

The group’s policy is almost certainly based on the belief that the word “homosexual” sounds more sexualized and clinical than “gay.”

They’ve since restored the article/link to the AP story putting Gay back in his proper place. No word yet from the AP Style Guide as to whether they’ll make this change from “gay” to “homosexual” permanent.

Almost since its inception, the iTunes juggernaut has been a Godzilla, crushing all competitors in its wake like so many cardboard cities. Well, one competitor is fighting back…by joining them. It’s good news for us since it gives us another option for downloaded music.

The ill-conceived Rhapsody (formerly a music “subscription rental” service, oy, such a horrible idea; you didn’t ever own the music you listened to, you rented it. Egads), announced the opening of a DRM-Free MP3 store today.

The new service does away entirely with digital rights management (DRM), the software baked into digital music that controls how widely it can be distributed. (iTunes uses DRM for a good portion of its music, but newer MP3 stores like Amazon’s, have dropped it.)

Listeners will be able to play music anywhere, on any device they want - even on an iPod. The idiocy of a company thinking they could be successful by ignoring the iPod, the world’s most popular music player, is almost unfathomable.

And here’s where they best the competition: now, you can preview an entire song before you purchase it. “You won’t be caught in the 30-second ghetto,” says Rhapsody’s Smith, referring to the preview functions in iTunes and Amazon.

Great idea! But is it too little, too late for Rhapsody? Stay tuned.

Ever feel a bit removed from the music scene? Listening to the same old gay favorites but wanting to expand your horizons beyond Madonna and Rufus? The San Francisco Chronicle offers a very nice piece on “hot queer bands,” profiling a bunch of groups and individuals, many of whom I hadn’t ever heard of.

Take a listen to Deer Hunter, or Grizzly Bear (love their banjo playin’), or The Gossip (fabulous, raucous rock, great to work out to). There are many others profiled, too. Have at ‘em.