-Sure didn't take leading officials in the Obama administration long to start playing with the 'end date' for our involvement in Afghanistan! Now they are saying that date is just a beginning of 'some' troops being withdrawn. Now there is a shocker....

-God bless the Quakers. According to Minnesota Public Radio (and JoeMyGod), Quakers in that the city of Minneapolis will no longer sign marriage certificates as long as members of the LGBT community are denied marriage equality!

-The New York Times has to be more responsible to its LGBT readers. In the last Sunday edition they had a leading story in the travel section dealing with the joys of travel to Senegal and the thriving Afro-centric music scene. They should have warned readers that the climate for the LGBT community is really hostile in that country. According to the Global Post, last April mobs formed to track down and kill homosexuals. Not your usual welcoming tourist venue, is it?

-Had the pleasure of being on a panel with Newark Mayor Cory Booker, newsman Tom Brokaw and musician Jon Bon Jovi among others in Washington, DC. The "Town Hall Meeting" was sponsored by USA Networks. If you care to, you can watch the entire discussion by clicking here.

-AskMen.com asked it readers, given any choice, in what cities would they actually like to live. The top three selections - in order - were Chicago, Barcelona and San Francisco. For the entire list click here.

-Its hold your breath time for marriage equality in New Jersey. The State Senate most likely will vote on the issue this Thursday. If we can obtain approval, the next stop is  the Assembly which looks much easier. Governor Jon Corzine has promised to sign it.

-Rex Wockner has done a great interview with talented follow blogger Joe Jervis whose JoeMyGod blog is having an enormous impact in the fight for freedom for the LGBT community.

-Assemblyman John A Perez (photograph) stands a good chance of becoming the first openly gay Speaker of the California Assembly! Karen Ocamb's LGBTPOV blog broke the story. John is a personal friend and I know of no more decent man in California politics. Keep your fingers crossed for John.

-Playwright Eve Ensler has just returned from Pakistan where she visited with heroic women fighting the oppression of those who would strip women of all rights. She wrote "The Other Face of Pakistan" for the Huffington Post and I urge you to take a minute to read it.

-Author/Activist Larry Kramer is taking the unusual step of sending out an email to friends singing the praises of the upcoming book"My Queer War" by James Lord. Kramer's review made me pre-order the book. Here what Kramer said about the book due out next May:

"My Queer War" is a memoir by James Lord, who died last august at 86. i did not know this man. it is about a kid who runs away from college (Wesleyan) in 1942 to enlist as a private in the u.s. army in world war II. but it reads just like one of the very best of novels that you sink into and don't want to end. i literally could not put it down until i finished it. most of all, it moved me profoundly (so profoundly that i am sending this to all of you), in any number of ways—it's depictions of gay life in those days, of first gay love, how gay the army actually was, how awful the war was for everyone, americans, germans, soldiers, prisoners. much of the war stuff is heartbreaking in a way that no war history i've read before has been able to convey as effectively. philosophically, it's about much more than this, but i won't go into that here. (think thomas mann, for one. think picasso and gertrude stein, for another. think beethoven, too.) i just wanted to share my great enthusiasm with you so you can be on the lookout for it. farrar strauss isn't bringing it out until next may. i am still haunted by what i read and the many numbers (good ones) that it did on my head and my creative imagination. ..."

-Thursday is an international day of protest against the pending horrendous legislation in Uganda. Mike Petrelis's blog has the site of all the locations around the globe for the protest.

-Courageous pro-choice leader Kate Michaelman has written of her husband and her incredible struggle with the healthcare system for The Nation magazine. In an article called "A System from Hell" she outlines their brutal struggle for healthcare in America. This should be required reading for every member of Congress who seems to opting out of courage these days.

-According to Public Policy Polling, Olympia Snowe (R- ME) seems to have the highest approval rating from members of the opposing party of any United States Senator with 60% of Democrats approving of the Senator. Tom Carper (D- DEL) is the Democrat with the highest approval from Republicans but it is a mere 28%.

-According to Zogby International polling the three most popular songs at Christmas are in order "O Holy Night", "White Christmas" and "The Christmas Song."

-The highest waves in years have been pounding the coastline of Hawaii. They are approaching 50 feet high and have drawn surfers from around the world. Take a look.