It is good to see Noah trying to get over his father. It is also great to see Damian being a good guy for once.
It will be interesting to see how Luke and Noah get along with living together. Hopefully a lot of ‘brown chicken brown cow’ is involved…
Later.
<iJJ> Joan Gets Roasted by Kathy and Friends
This should be good. Very VERY good.
<iJJ> Personas for: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
If you have Firefox and love Harry Potter this is definitely worth a look. My browser is currently sporting the one with Harry and Dumbledore.
Later.
<iJJ> 3,000-mile Green Power Express has ND partner
$12 billion to build, but it will help to solidify ND as an energy provider. Sweet.
<iJJ> Pride harassment video prompts debate over racism, anti-gay bias
As usual a debate has started. The Somali group guy said anti-gay bias is bad, but then said he thought they (the teenage boys) may have been incited. Then there was a response and then… well – just read the MN Indy article by the always thorough Andy Birkey.
<iJJ> ‘Real World’ alum Scott Herman models for Undergear
Yum. [ht: KIT212]
Later.
[click to make larger]
I’ll let you guess where you may have seen him before…
…a hint – it was probably at a website that is NSFW.
Enjoy!
Later.
Saw this on Joe.My.God and loved it…
Happy 4th of July y’all!!!!!
Later.
Another great mix from DJ Earworm!
If you couldn’t already tell, its Kelly Clarkson’s My Life Would Suck Without You and Coldplay’s In My Place.
Later.
<iJJ> Bismarck: The Town the Recession Missed
So far the “North Dakota is recession-proof” articles have mostly focused on Fargo or one of the oil towns along the Williston Basin. It is cool to see Bismarck, the state capital and 2nd largest city, get some coverage for once. Of course the article makes the obligatory dig at it “being cold in NoDak.” Well if you don’t like the weather you don’t have to move here 
(Or, in my case, if you don’t like the weather you try and find a good opportunity to move away 
)
Later.
<iJJ> Fargo voters overwhelmingly approve half-cent sales tax for flood control
Thank goodness!! I was thinking of trying to vote in Fargo just to make sure it would be one vote closer to getting passed. Luckily my illegal voting was not needed. Go 90% of those who voted in Fargo on Tuesday!
<iJJ> Former ND Gov. Schafer lobbies for flood protection diversion
Speaking from experience, a levee/dike system isn’t all that bad – plus it is more cost efficient. I vote that if the diversion gets built we call it “Schafer’s Foley.”
Later.
<iJJ> KC volunteer assaulted at Omaha Gay Pride
A volunteer for the Human Rights Campaign was assaulted when she threw a few HRC stickers into the wagon of some protesters to try and ‘kill them with kindness.’ The response was a 66 year-old dude putting her into a headlock. Talk about over-reaction…
<iJJ> Uniformed men in Web video were not Minneapolis police
The Star Tribune ran a piece about the YouTube video showing a group of Somali kids harassing Adam Schreifels. Justin Grey Day shot the video while they walked on Grant St from Lasalle Ave to Nicollet Ave.
<rant>
Really? Really?!? What the hell is going on? These are the two least violent ones from the past week. The two that pop into my head was the one in NYC (I forget which area) and the one in Fort Worth, TX. Those put people into the hospital, with the one in Ft Worth being practically state sanctioned. If stuff like this is happening in larger cities like Minneapolis, Omaha, NYC, and Ft Worth I start to question my safety in North Dakota.
We need the passage of the Hate Crimes Bill NOW. It needs to be law and to be enforced. I don’t want to be beaten to a pulp for just being who I am. Really people? Really?!?
</rant>
Later.
For fun I decided to start up a fan Page on Facebook for innerJoeJoe.
Later.
Wow, I apparently missed this…
I only went to the park on Sunday, the 28th, not Saturday the 27th when this occurred. Also its not the area I would’ve been in. The incident happened on Grant St between Lasalle Ave and Nicollet Ave, and then the guy separates from the group of homophobes at the corner of Grand and Nicollet and proceeds south on Nicollet. I would have been a few blocks over on Yale Place and then heading north on Nicollet. Either way this sucks, and the individual handled it exactly how it should be. No reason to provoke the idiots into violence.
From the YouTube site…
***NOTE*** The Minneapolis Police Department has contacted me to let me know that the two guys in the video who look like police officers are NOT police officers and were in fact private security for the apartment building we were walking next to.
If that’s the case should we ask the security company why MPD wasn’t contacted about possible public harrassment, since it did occur on the sidewalk.
**UPDATE** via Joe.My.God.
The Minneapolis Police Department has issued a press release regarding the video:
June 30, 2009 ( MINNEAPOLIS ) Currently, there is a video on YouTube of an incident that occurred sometime during the Minneapolis Gay Pride Festival. There has been some speculation that Minneapolis Police Officers were in that video. The Minneapolis Police Department wants to assure the public that those security officers who casually walk by during this incident were not from our department. We have a strict uniform policy and those were not our uniforms or our police officers. This is unacceptable behavior that would not be tolerated by the Minneapolis Police. Action would have been taken immediately to stop the harassment that is depicted in the video. We want all people, no matter of color, race, creed or sexual orientation to feel safe and welcome while they are in the city of Minneapolis. Link to video. PIO contact for this incident is Sgt Jesse Garcia III.
Kudos to the MPD for addressing this in a timely manner. I am all for finding out exactly who those two guys were and writing to their employers. Honestly, that’s something that they should’ve helped the guy out on – especially if they were security guards for the apartment the sidewalk ran in front of.
**UPDATE II**
Saw, via my Facebook where I originally found out about this, that KSTP ran a story on the evening news. Can’t embed the video, but here’s the link to the KSTP website.
ALSO…
<iJJ> Bible-Dispensing Family Arrested At Pride Festival
Previous years they had done it and it was legal because Pride hadn’t rented out the entire park. This year, however, Pride rented the entire park. Bye-bye homophobes!
There was a lot of hate this year. A lot more than in years past… Quite a disturbing trend nationwide.
Later.
Damian is really trying to mend his relationship with Luke. That is an awesome choice on the writers part, it will add a depth to Luke that can later be exploited for some good drama. Even the whole Casey/Riley-Adam thing is pretty interesting. If you watch the full show avoid the whole Dusty/Meg/Damian thing. She is one huge relationship train wreck.
Anywho, I’m glad that Noah wasn’t hurt 
Later.
