How disgusting is it that the Republicans in the US Senate have once again voted down an increase in the US minimum wage? It’s revolting, but not surprising.

The Republican party is composed of the most scurrilous, repulsive, abhorrent group of Senators this country has ever known. When they can stand up and with a straight face claim that $5.15 an hour is enough to raise a family on then you know they’ve lost complete touch with reality. It’s been 10 FUCKING YEARS since the minimum wage was raised. Which means, adjusted for inflation, that the minimum wage in the United States is now lower than it has been for over 50 years.

This country is going straight to hell and it’s being led on this path by our evil president and his demonic minions in the US House and Senate. I hope when these people finally die they end up in the fiery pits of hell, slowly roasted on a spit turned by their best friend himself, Satan.

Everytime I come back from New York I spend the next two days sleeping 10-12 hours to recover. Which would be fine after this last trip but considering that tomorrow I’m leaving for Santa Fe I’d like to be up early to get a few things done.

As always New York was great. The weather was nice and warm and I spent all day Saturday either taking tests for NYU or looking at apartments with my broker. I looked at studios and one bedroom units from the East Village to the West Village to Hells Kitchen. I found one I like in the West Village, a sweet, expansive studio in a beautiful B&B building with a doorman and a rooftop deck. It’s more expensive than I wanted to pay but the rent includes all utilities, so I don’t have to worry about any of that. In addition this place was the closest of any I looked at to both a subway stop (Christopher Street) and to NYU. So we’ll see where that goes, if I get this apartment I’ll not have to make another trip to New York after this upcoming one July 4th, which would be a HUGE relief.

The weather today in San Francisco is like 95 degrees. I got a new little kitten over a month a go and he was panting when he was outside this morning, it was that hot.

So off to New Mexico tomorrow and then Maui straight after, followed by New York immediately after Maui. I’m tired of being on planes but I’ve got to say that United’s Premium Service from SF/LA to NY is fabulous, at least in First Class. They give you your own DVD player and a great selection of movies from which I chose Transamerica and some film with Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston, which gave me nightmares after I watched it.

I’m beyond the point of looking forward to flying because I’ll be in First, I think I moved beyond that in 2001 when I realized I was flying over 140,000 miles a year. Now I just tolerate it and put myself in this trance-like state where I move through airports and taxis in a daze, removing myself from the grubby tourists and tired businessmen that surround me, my mind and eyes on the months ahead and my goals always in sight. It’s amazing what one can put up with when they’re so exhausted they can barely move.

Through this blog I get so much nasty hate mail from people that the rare “Thank you” or “You’re doing a great job” mails tend to get lost in the shuffle. But this one that arrived yesterday was particularly nice for some reason:

your April 12, 2003 blog. Awesome. Crystal is literally wiping out the gay population in this town (Ft Lauderdale) Jail, hanging themselves, OD, AIDS, suicides, liver failure, insanity, loss of soul, mind…

and there are so many fiddlers…..

This morning the Good Doc and I meandered down to a coffee shop in West Portal for early breakfast. While there I picked up a copy of San Francisco’s oldest and cheapest (as in free) far-left rag, The Bay Area Guardian. I was curious what they would make of the trashing of 3 out of 4 far-left measures and the defeat of many “progressive” candidates in last week’s election.

Perhaps it was wishful thinking on their part but according to the Guardian, last weeks election was a “conservative, low turnout election” that was full of ill-tidings for Mayor Gavin Newsom. Why, I wondered, was that?

Well, according to The Guardian despite voters going the mayors way on 3 out of the 4 measures, the fact that the one measure requiring condo buyers to be told if someone had ever been evicted from the unit they were considering buying had passed by 4% was a sign of “renter rage” at our heartless mayor. According to the Guardian the time is right in San Francisco for a “progressive” candidate in 2007, one who will take up the mantle of the fallen messiah, Matt Gonzalez, and lead our city to the Marxist path of pure enlightenment.

I’m sure a majority of the Board of Supervisors must read the Guardian because yesterday they voted to reimpose a gross receipts tax on businesses in San Francisco, a tax already ruled illegal by the courts 5 years ago, as well as spend two million dollars on a center to provide “legal services” to illegal immigrants. In addition the City Attorney said he would appeal a lower courts’ overturning of Proposition H, the handgun ban, to the Superior Court, the same court that overturned an earlier handgun ban in 1982.

And yesterday my boyfriend and I received yet another “Supplemental” tax bill from the City of San Francisco for an additional $1200, less than two months after getting an “Escape Assessment” for $2,000, all this on top of the $12,000 in property tax we already pay on a yearly basis!

At the same time the city passes an illegal fifty million dollar tax increase they vote to spend two million on services for illegal immigrants. These monies are designated for immigrants affected by any measures passed by the US House and Senate, and are not usable by legal immigrants. Our City Attorney will appeal a handgun measure deemed illegal to the same court that overturned it previously in hopes that this time the court will rule differently.

What is it they say? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? By that measure most of San Francisco city government must be crazier than a shithouse mouse. They’re either insane or just plain stupid - either way it bodes ill for the future of this city when the answer to our problems consists solely of illegal measures to raise revenue and none to improve the quality of life.

That’s what I feel like these four days before I leave for New York on Friday are like, the calm before the storm of three weeks of relentless travel.

Saturday we went to the GLAAD awards in San Francisco, which I really, really enjoyed. Say what you will about the homos but those bitches know how to put on a good show.

What usually makes me grind my teeth at these kinds of GLBT events is the grim and humorless atmosphere which pervades them like a fowl fog. Mention a Republican, any Republican, during a presentation and the room is predictibly filled with a chorus of husky hisses. This is usually worse in the hyper-political environment of San Francisco, but I’ve seen it in New York and Los Angeles as well. But surprisingly this night was different. Fun, light-hearted and more importantly - light on the stifling political correctness which usually makes these type of events such an ordeal.

This night featured celebrities like Carson Kressley, Sharon Gless, Jennifer Tilly and others. Because of the media focus it was well produced and edited, the lighting was excellent and the humor ran abundant. We weren’t treated (fortunately) to any long “I’m-a-lesbian-and-I’m-tired” speeches, just humorous anecdotes and short funny quips. Our table was seated with cool, fun people, one of whom is an MTV producer I’m meeting this weekend in New York. The before party with the silent auction was great, we got two VIP gift bags and bid $7,000 for a walk-on part on Desperate Housewives (but lost, it went for $19,000) and had a great time. If more events were like this one more gay men and lesbians would donate money to organizations like GLAAD

Ignoring the fact that the handgun ban he was proposing was in conflict with both state and federal law Supervisor Chris Daly pushed hard to get the proposal on the November 2005 ballot. Sure enough it passed and sure enough it was struck down yesterday by a Superior Court judge, exactly as I forecast it would back in November 2005..

I have a novel idea to propose for the next general election ballot: Any law proposed by a supervisor and put on the ballot must be defended by the city attorney’s office, that’s a given. But what if the funds required for the defense of the supervisor’s law were to come out of that supervisor’s office budget instead of general funds used to fund the city attorney’s office?

Proposing a supervisor take fiduciary responsibility for the defense of inane laws like this ridiculous handgun control law would ensure less absurd laws on our ballot and more responsibility amongst city supervisors. Daly knew for a fact when he proposed this law that it was in direct conflict with the constitutions of both The State of California and the United States. Yet to make a political point he pushed for its passage and in turn the city attorney’s office was obligated to defend the law, at who knows what cost?

Last night I saw an interview with Daly in which he bemoaned the fact that the law was struck down and noted there had been 50 homicides in the City of San Francisco since his law passed, his point being that if the law had been enforced (citizens required to turn in all handguns and ammunition to the police at police stations) these homicides would never have occurred. Yet the fact remains that most of these homicides were committed by felons, who because of their previous felony convictions already are prohibited from owning handguns!

Yes, it’s indeed a sad, sad world for good ol’ Chris Daly. Two out of the three measures he backed on last week’s ballot failed and his pride and joy - the handgun ban - is now overturned. But don’t despair, with his greasy hands on San Francisco’s purse strings I’m sure Daly will soon figure out another way to both jeopardize our constitutional rights and drain the city’s coffers.

But what about the hands and the feet? Doesn’t the koran say something about how “alluring” they can be to men?

This Saturday we’re at the GLADD awards in San Francisco, which I believe is being covered live on Logo. Watch for us if you can!

It’s amazing that the fool who has been sending me threatening and harassing e-mails for the past two years has yet to figure out that I know exactly who he is. So to you: I know who you are.

See, everytime you send me an e-mail or post on comment on this blog I capture your IP address. Writing “Anonymous” doesn’t protect you and you’re obviously too stupid to use IP masking software. Once I had your IP address it was as simple as 1,2,3 to figure out where that IP was coming from and then who was using it.

So from now on you should worry every time you walk down a dark street at night or when you hear a branch snap outside your bedroom window. Because I’m going to hurt you as badly as I can without killing you, and by that point death will seem like a blessing.

Summers in San Francisco are usually cold, windy and foggy affairs, more akin to an Argentinian winter than a Californian summer. But not this year.

So far it’s been nice and warm and sunny, day after day, with some fog at nights but usually cleaning by noon. It’s a bit windy but I’ll happily take the wind if I can count on experiencing a warm, beautiful Californian summer before I have to move to New York in August.