Twitter Announces That It Will Begin Letting Governments Censor Tweets

“Why is Twitter, an American company, helping them keep their people quiet? - Jon Bershad, Mediaite reporter, on Twitter’s announcement that it will begin letting governments censor tweets

Death Row Inmate Pens Letter to the Public: "Kill me if you can, suckers."

“Is the public aware that the chances of my lawful murder taking place in the next 20 years if ever are very slim?” Hembree asked. “Is the public aware that I am a gentleman of leisure, watching color TV in the a/c, reading, taking naps at will, eating three well-balanced meals a day?” - Danny Hembree, death row inmate

- Warren Buffet

Warren Buffett On Class Warfare: ‘If This Is A War, My Side Has The Nuclear Bomb’ | Mediaite

- Spike Lee on the filming of “Red Hook”

[Video] Spike Lee Goes Off At Sundance: Studios ‘Know Nothing About Black People’ | Necole Bitchie.com

Nicki Minaj’s “Stupid Hoe” sucks, but she's still #winning, breaks Vevo Record

I have no idea what the thought process is behind this. It’s getting attention, and at the end of the day that may be all that matters. That doesn’t change the fact that it is probably the dumbest song/video I have heard/seen in my entire life. And Hype Williams… really?

Cheating on the SAT Could Soon Be Considered Criminal in New York

The measure proposed by Sen. Kenneth LaValle of Suffolk County would create new felonies of facilitation of education testing fraud and of scheming to defraud educational testing, and create a misdemeanor of forgery of a test. The felonies would apply to a test taker who impersonates someone else for pay.

Did you know cursing is a misdemeanor in Maryland?

Sec. 13-53. Profanity; violation of section declared misdemeanor.

(a) A person may not profanely curse and swear or use obscene language upon or near any street, sidewalk or highway within the hearing of persons passing by, upon or along such street, sidewalk or highway.

(b) A person may not act in a disorderly manner by profanely cursing, swearing or using obscene language.

(c) Any person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor.

(Laws of Rockville, Ch. 12, § 12-1.00)

Cross references: Punishment for misdemeanors, § 1-10.

State law references: Profanity, Anno. Code of Md., Art. 27, § 121, 122.

A few days ago, Perez Hilton posted excerpts from an interview in which former “Sex and The City” actress Cynthia Nixon stated that being gay was her choice. The statement ruffles the feathers of those who hold fast to the idea that the only way to be gay is if one is born that way. Lady Gaga comes to mind. But the reality is a bit more complex, and since complexity makes some people angry - or anything that undermines the schemas upon which their build their beliefs and perceptions of the world around for that matter - some people reject Cynthia’s personal revelation.

The argument takes me back to 2004 when I wrote an op-ed for The Star-Ledger in which I criticized Sarah Palin for saying that she was “tolerant” of gays. Buried near the end of the editorial I made the following statement, which garnered an unexpected amount of backlash. It went like this:

“I wish that gay people would take the time necessary to discuss openly and truly understand the complexity of our sexual identities, instead of offering straight people an explanation that will make sense within their heterosexual perception of the world.

I wish we would stop giving them the standardized response that it is not a choice. I wish we would stop implying that being gay is wrong, but that you can’t blame us poor gay people who are victims of chance.

I wish we would stop putting ourselves into boxes, and boxes within boxes, and then begging for tolerance rather than demanding acceptance.

The truth is that there are as many ways of being gay as there are gay people.”

The most vocal criticism, ironically, came from a 60-year-old male, let’s call him Tom. In the course of berating me for being out of touch with the gay community, Tom revealed that he had been in a heterosexual marriage for 26 years, had children and grandchildren. He said he had always been gay, but chose to hide that part of himself to do the socially acceptable thing. All I could think was, how could he not understand that he was emblematic of exactly what I was talking about?

In hindsight I was able to see why some of the things I said upset Tom. For example, I should have said that I wish more gay people would take the time, rather than just say gay people in general. Because I imagine some people do take the time. However, the mainstream media adopts talking points as do the media advocates, like GLAAD for example, which request I write the op-ed in the first time as a former national news intern. At the time, its talking point was always to say that being gay is not a choice. My point was that I disagreed with that talking point because it is not fair to all gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people as it oversimplifies our identities. We are all the sum of biological, psychological and environmental factors, as well as self-determinism, so the truth is that for at least some, being gay may have been a choice; a very valid choice.

We have a schema for what’s considered normal, and what’s not. But the schema is incomplete. Science has continually exposed how misguided our ideas about gender as merely male/female paradigm are, and with “normalization” precedures occuring immediately after birth in some cases, we probably underestimate how many intersex people there are. Beyond this is the fact that we all have complex needs that are not purely sexual, but that may influence how we feel comfortable expressing ourselves sexually. We have emotional needs, goals, aspirations, ideas about family life, self-identity, love, etc. All of that goes into choosing who you want to be in a relationship with, which is a much bigger decision than just choosing who you want to be intimate with.

I know that for lesbian women, sometimes, figuring out the sex part comes later. For others, it’s the easiest thing, and everything else is hard, like understanding your role in a relationship, fidelity, commitment, maintaining sense of self/identity, self-worth and more. I think problems arise from the fact that our schemas around gender like many other labels that we use to make sense of reality are polarizing. We do this to avoid chaos. Some people do it in their own lives to avoid their own chaos. But I think if your life is chaotic due to your sexuality that’s a personal problem.

Let me just clarify that this all coming from the perspective of a woman. And I think it needs to come from a woman for men to understand it. Here is what I believe. I believe you can be yourself and find balance in your own life by owning your choices and being true to the completeness of your identity. I think that is what’s powerful about what Cynthia Nixon said and how she is choosing to define herself regardless of what other people believe. I know so many women who struggle with the choice of being gay or not being gay when they should be focusing on how they can better love and accept themselves. Because only then can you truly honor the person that you are in a relationship with, whatever gender they may be.

Which brings me to the following question.  Why label it at all? Or, in the case of Cynthia, why go with “gay” instead of “bisexual”? The answer is up to the individual, not society. In Cynthia’s case, I imagine it has to do with the linguistics of bisexuality and the societal presumption that a bisexual person’s relationships reflect an indescriminate sexual appetite. It could be that sex (as an act or matter of appearance) may have little to do with the choice at all - but I don’t know if this holds true for men the same as women. I do know, however, that the latter part of the previous sentence is what really confuses some people.

British movie review site TheShiznit.co.uk has taken the advertising for ‘The Help’ to a whole new level.

Howard Fineman: ‘I Have Never Heard Newt Gingrich Call President Obama President Obama’ | Mediaite

Howard Fineman notes that during last night’s debate, only one of the four candidates, who collectively mentioned the President 14 times (not including “Obamacare”), referred to him as “President Obama” at all. If you guessed it was “Don’t I look presidential?” Mitt Romney, you would be wrong. It was former Sen. Rick Santorum, who used the title 3 out of the 5 times he mentioned him.