So far, Governor David Paterson of New York is winning major points. First, he required New York to recognize marriages from other states, meaning same-sex couples can get married in another state and then live in New York, all while they are still legally recognized as married. Now, he rejected a state commission's list of recommended candidates for chief judge of the state Court of Appeals because the list did not include a single woman.

"To circumscribe, limit the governor to only men, and for the commission to say, 'We searched the state, we couldn't find a single, solitary qualified woman to serve on the bench' — something is wrong," he said.

An enormous thank you goes to Governor Paterson for having the guts to stand up to patriarchy. If you're a New Yorker, or even if you're not, send him a thank you note.

Obama's main speechwriter, Jon Favreau, got in big trouble over some photos of him posted on Facebook. The pictures showed him at a party, dancing with a cardboard cutout of Hillary Clinton. Now, I didn't have a big problem with that. But this picture was not cool:



Yeah, that's Favreau with his hand on Hillary's chest, while his friend feeds her beer and kisses her on the cheek. The photos were only up for a couple hours before Favreau took them down, but that was more than enough time for them to be spread all over the internet. I'm really disappointed by this display of sexism and disrespect.

It aired last night. And she most definitely did pick some fascinating people. Such as Thomas Beatie, who we all know and remember and (hopefully) love. Walters lost some points with me during her reaction to the news that Beatie is pregnant again. I think the proper response is "congratulations," NOT "I'm speechless."



And then of course we have the positively grotesque and arrogant Rush Limbaugh. This is where Walters gains points for having the guts to call Rush out on his bullshit. She quotes Rush's lovely comment on the country not being ready to watch a woman grow older before their eyes (talking about Clinton), to which Rush tries to claim that he was commenting on how unfair our culture is to older women. Right. Walters has the perfect response: "You're not fighting our battles." Oh, and I definitely laughed the hardest when Rush called himself "tolerant."



Also on the list was the very wonderful, talented, beautiful Tina Fey. Of course she made the list because her Palin impersonations were the hot topic this year.



Speaking of Sarah Palin... she was #3.



Aaaand not surprisingly, #1 was our new celebrity and president, Barack Obama.

Check out this disgusting music video to accompany the song by Theory of a Deadman, "Bad Girlfriend."



A sample of the lyrics:
My girlfriend's a dick magnet
My girlfriend's gotta have it
She's hot, can't stop, up on stage doing shots
Tip the man he'll ring the bell, get her drunk she'll scream like hell
Dirty girl, gettin' down, dance with guys from outta town
Grab her ass, actin' tough,
Mess with her, she'll fuck you up
No one really knows if she's drunk or if she's stoned,
But she's comin' back to my place tonight!

When I saw this article, I literally cried out, "Yes!" MSNBC.com posted an article arguing that abortion is not linked to depression, contrary to what anti-choicers will try to tell you about "post-abortion stress syndrome." Well, science says: it doesn't exist!

Studies on this have been done before. Cristina Page writes about it in her book, "How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America." A study done by the American Psychological Association found that women who had abortions were actually happier when compared to women who gave birth. They seemed to be functioning better, have a higher economic well-being, and were more likely to graduate high school. The study that MSNBC writes about was much larger than the APA study, and it proved the same thing:

A team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore reviewed 21 studies involving more than 150,000 women and found the high-quality studies showed no significant differences in long-term mental health between women who choose to abort a pregnancy and others.

"The best research does not support the existence of a 'post-abortion syndrome' similar to post-traumatic stress disorder," Dr. Robert Blum, who led the study published in the journal Contraception, said in a statement.

Any "studies" that anti-choice organizations claim support "post-abortion stress syndrome" were either conducted in an extremely flawed way, or were not conducted at all. Take that.

Sometimes the jokes made in Family Guy might go too far, but I really love the episode that completely makes fun of abstinence-only education. Basically, parents are outraged that kids are being taught about sex, so they bring in some guy to teach the high schoolers that sex is evil. Check out this clip:



Considering all the bullshit lies that abstinence-only education spews at kids, I guess it's not too far off.

You have to watch this. Now. "Prop 8 the Musical," with (among many others) Margaret Cho, John C. O'Reilly, and Jack Black as Jesus Christ.

Check out this great video from The Girl Effect, an organization that believes that investing in girls will make the world a better place.

This is cute. A radio station held a contest to win a date with a man named Travis Harvey. One woman won, went out on the date with him, and ended up getting sexually assaulted by Harvey. The woman is now suing the radio station. I hope they feel like shit. Why the hell would they think it's a bright idea to set a listener up on a date with a man they didn't bother to check into first?

Today marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. Since its discovery, AIDs has killed over 25 million people. Worldwide, 3.3 million people are living with AIDS today. It's nothing short of an epidemic, but I really have faith that we'll find a cure within a few decades. Still, that leaves plenty of time for plenty of people to be infected. In honor of World AIDS Day, I'm urging you to:


Get tested. Tell your friends to get tested. If you're too embarrassed to ask for an HIV test from your doctor, donate blood - if they find anything wrong, they'll notify you. It's a simple request when you think about what's at stake. But don't stop there. Get involved, donate if you can, and spread awareness. Promote comprehensive sex ed. Visit any one of these sites to take action:

• One Million Tests
• Stop AIDS Project
• The Global Fight
• Aid for Africa
• The Global Fund to Fight AIDS
• The One Campaign
• InSpot.org (send an anonymous e-card to someone you think might have been exposed to an STD)