Democrat Al Franken has been certified the winner of the Minnesota U.S. Senate seat by the state supreme court, as expected.  Now is the question whether Norm Coleman will continue to hurt his state by continuing this pointless effort to keep his constituents from having two elected representatives.  From Politico:

The question now is whether the incumbent Republican senator will petition the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case — and if Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty would sign an election certificate in the interim — potentially prolonging a final decision for months. Doing so also would force Coleman to raise significantly more funds to keep his court challenge going. In its final line of the ruling, the state Supreme Court said Franken is “entitled” under Minnesota law to “receive the certificate election as United States senator from the state of Minnesota.”

UPDATE:  Coleman concedes (finally)

Jean Coaxum, one of the staff members of Exodus Transitional Community, stands outside the Church of Living Hope in East Harlem with Jim McGreevey.

Former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey, who riveted the nation when he came out as a gay American in 2004, is now the symbol of fallen Governors.  When Eliot Spitzer stepped down from the New York governorship in the midst of his own sex scandal, Spitzer and his wife were even charged with copying the McGreeveys’ fashion (it is uncanny).

The comparisons between Spitzer and McGreevey were apt, since they were both active Democratic politicians in neighboring states around the same time, both were frequently mentioned as strong Presidential contenders, and both of their sex scandals were seen as hubris personified.

With South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, whose Argentinian affair is not only hubris but also hypocrisy personified, McGreevey emerged again to offer advice that he should proceed with humility.

“I’m filled with a sense of pain and anguish for him and for his family,” McGreevey said in an interview. “I think it was a very human moment.”

Sanford is only one in a recent list of “Love Govs” who have admitted to affairs.  They include the aforementioned McGreevey and Spitzer; Jim Gibbons of Nevada; and David Paterson of New York.

I have known Jim McGreevey since 2007, when I photographed him as part of my public art project that Wikipedia hosts.  At the time I was attending Saint Bartholomew’s in Manhattan on one of my many failed quests to find spirituality.  St. Bart’s also happened to be where McGreevey, his partner Mark O’Donnell and his daughter Jacqueline attended service.  One day I approached him to ask if I could do his portrait.  He still possessed the boyish good looks and charm that were evident even at the height of his scandal.

However, he possessed more than that: he also displayed humility and an inner peace.  He is in a healthy, happy relationship with Mark as he studies to become an Episcopal priest.  He is giving back to others who have made mistakes, often because they were caught up in the circumstances of their lives.

Jim McGreevey and black Jesus at the Church of Living Hope in East Harlem. Click on the image to see more.

Gay people mostly forgave McGreevey for his affair when it came to light five years ago.  We are well aware of the many ludicrous situations that occur because men, particularly in McGreevey’s generation, have been forced to live their lives in the closet.  That he is living such an honorable and giving life freed from the shame of the closet is testament to the real Jim McGreevey.

McGreevey volunteers at Exodus MinistriesTransitional Community at the Church of Living Hope in East Harlem, New  York, which tries to help newly-released prisoners learn life skills and handle the significant challenges that ex-convicts face.   It’s not just job-hunting.  One of the photographs below shows Jim helping one young man figure out how to set up a free e-mail account on Yahoo.  With limited access to computers, the guy had no idea how to do this.  This is not atypical.  We take this kind of knowledge for granted, assuming everyone knows how to set up free e-mail.  They don’t.

The gifts that McGreevey brings to these formerly-incarcerated men and women are vast.  He still retains many of the contacts and friendships in government that he had when he was Governor, which has been a Godsend to a program that needs state assistance to function.   McGreevey knows  how the system works; he knows resources that are available to these people; and he is gifted with an ability to teach and reach them.

Many of these men and women don’t know who McGreevey is; they were not exactly following politics before their imprisonment.  Nevertheless, it was obvious that they sensed in Jim that he knows tremendous mistakes, and he knows how to overcome them.

Of course, the tabloids, the Mark Sanfords and the Larry Craigs of the world will probably never forgive him.  But who cares.  Certainly not the men in these photos below, who see the same McGreevey that I see, and not the caricature who exists in the pages of the press.

UPDATE:  The correct name is Exodus Transitional Community.  There is a Dallas-based group named Exodus Ministries that does prisoner rehabilitation as well (You may remember Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers served on the Dallas group’s board, which was mistakenly thought to be the ex-gay group Exodus International).  I was told they are affiliated with Dallas, but then later told that they are not.

Alvin Williams, one of Exodus’ intake counselors, talks to newly-released men about readjusting to life outside of prison, and the services that Exodus has to offer them.

McGreevey talks to the young men about life skills and how to re-engage society.

McGreevey and an Exodus counselor help a young man set up a free e-mail account.  Many of these people have challenges, such as lack of access to computers, that many of us can not fathom.

McGreevey stands in front of James de la Vega’s East Harlem mural of legendary Nuyorican poet Pedro Pietri.

These images are licensed Creative Commons and are part of a public art project.  Click here to learn more.

Yesterday I walked over to one of my favorite mini-restaurants, Snack Dragon, to buy a couple of carne asada tacos.  The topic of Michael Jackson’s and Farrah Fawcett’s deaths were already on the lips of the two ladies eating rice and beans.  We all started talking about it.  Suddenly, one of the women said, “And then Liza Minnelli, too!  I can’t believe it!”

“Liza Minnelli?!” I replied, mouth agape.

“Yeah – you didn’t know about that?  They just announced she died today, too.”

“Holy shit,” I said, “the drag queen mascara is going to be running in the streets of Chelsea this gay pride.”  We all talked about June 25th, and the deaths of so many amazing people on one day.

I had earlier broken the news about Jackson to my mother.  She was floored.  When I returned home with tacos in hand, I called her immediately and said, “And did you hear about Liza Minnelli?!”

Of course, Liza Minnelli is alive and well.  It was only after I told my mother–”This is starting to feel like a terrorist attack!“–that I looked for information on Google about Minnelli and found nothing.

It turns out that the celebrity death rumor mill was in full swing yesterday, as pranksters preyed on the shock and raw grief of unassuming people.  The New York Daily News reported that Harrison Ford and Jeff Goldblum death rumors were circulating:

The rumors of Goldblum and Ford’s untimely deaths turned out to be false, and were in fact well-known Internet pranks that once made similar claims of Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise.

“Reports that Jeff Goldblum has passed away are completely untrue,” said the actor’s publicist in a statement Thursday night. “He is fine and in Los Angeles.”

According to Snopes.com, these stories are automatically generated with fake scenarios via prank websites. Users simply plug in any name – which in this case were Goldblum and Ford.

For Goldblum, it was suggested he fell to his death while filming a movie in New Zealand. Ford supposedly disappeared while on a boat in the French Riviera.

This kind of prank first appeared online in 2006, and targeted Hanks. Cruise was similarly reported “dead” in 2008.

It’s amazing how the Internet is reshaping our society in such a way that things like pulling pranks in the wake of tragic deaths are now completely common.  It’s true: nothing is sacred anymore.  We all better learn to live in that kind of world.

Michael Jackson Wikipedia article

This image on Wikipedia was dedicated to editor Realist2, who has worked hard at creating high quality articles on the entire Jackson family. Click on the image to see where it is used on Wikipedia.

The Michael Jackson Wikipedia article is one of the better biography articles on Wikipedia, and it is directly-related to the efforts of editor Realist2. On June 25th, 1.4 million people hit it.

I have no doubt that Michael Jackson knew that this editor was keeping the article as close to the core Wikipedia policy of “Neutral Point of View” as possible.  Realist2 is an example of the amazing work that happens on that site.  He took an interest in popular culture and turned himself into a scribe of popular culture.  That’s pretty cool.

Realist has worked on the articles about all of the Jacksons, and they owe him a debt of gratitude.  We all do.   I dedicated the image of a Michael Jackson impersonator at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival celebration of the 25th anniversary of Thriller in Realist’s honor.  Also pictured are cast members of the television program Step It Up and Dance!, who put on a show at the festival with the original choreographer of the Thriller video.

With its dedication, Realist2 was inducted into the Wikimedia Hall of the Greats, along with other people who have greatly improved the quality and scope of Wikipedia and its sister projects.

One of Rush Limbaugh’s big sponsors is was Zicam, and was he ever hopping mad that a product he has relentlessly endorsed might damage his followers’ sense of smell.  That is, he was hopping mad at the FDA, claiming that pulling this product was an effort by Democrats to hurt him!  Stephen Colbert riffed on this hilariously, mentioning that this might be the reason Limbaugh’s listener’s have trouble smelling bullshit. Here’s the video:

The New York Times used Geralyn Shukwit's photos, in addition to local blogs, to cover the collapse of a building in Fort Greene. Click on the image to see this and other images taken by Shukwit.

The recent collapse of a residential building in Fort Greene, a neighborhood in New York City, was a stark example of the New York Times heavily employing the use of citizen journalism on its blogs.

It’s difficult for me to consider citizen journalism without thinking of the failure of Wikinews to become anything that has long-term potential.  The model of Wikinews is fundamentally flawed, and there appears to be no desire to fix it.  Wikipedia, as Wikimedia Foundation executive director Sue Gardner herself said, is now fulfilling a role as a mainstream news medium.  Gardner essentially crapped on any hope Wikinews would receive much support from the foundation.

The New York Times use of citizen journalism is really the way things will go.  Electronic eye-witnesses (aka “citizen journalists”) and the mainstream media are currently undergoing a courtship and eventual marriage.  Media organizations have an incentive for this: it makes their product more enmeshed in the communities they cover and serve, and makes those communities more invested in their local papers.

Wikinews has taken the wrong approach: they are little more than an aggregator of rehashed mainstream media stories that are covered in more depth, and updated more quickly, on Wikipedia.  A notable exception to this on Wikinews is Mike Halterman’s interviews, amongst a few other stand-outs; however, three or four original reporters aren’t going to save the site.  With the mainstream organizations encouraging citizens to contribute to their product more, and the Wikimedia Foundation and community giving up on separating “news” items out of its encyclopedia articles, it’s difficult to see the need for Wikinews as it is now.

It’s too bad.  If the Wikimedia community saw the benefits of Wikinews, and if the Wikinewsies themselves were more intent on changing the nature of that project, it would be more relevant.  Neither scenario seems likely.

If anything, the New York Times is teaching Wikinews how citizen journalism should be done by websites: search out the citizens who are covering the events and encourage them to contribute.  Wikinewsies expect people to come to them.  But they don’t.  They go to Wikipedia. Now they’ll also go to the New York Times et al.  Those organizations are far more exciting for the average citizen journalist to contribute to than Wikinews.

Click on the image to visit Buell's Wikipedia article, the source for much of this information.

On Wednesday the 24th a piece of rock history will take the stage: Bebe Buell at the Hiro Ballroom.

Some people focus on the giant-sized names I have shot for the Creative Commons, but the people that linger in my mind are the hundreds of others who are not household names but who have successfully created full, interesting lives. The lawyers, academics, economists and artists who shape our world without our ever realizing it.

Bebe Buell is one of those artists.

She is famous in New York City for her ability to throw together–to embody–a scene, and as an accomplished musician in her own right.

In 1981, she recorded an EP with  Rick Derringer and Ric Ocasek, and The Cars served as her band on two tracks.  The rock band Power Station formed around her in 1984 when then-boyfriend John Taylor (of Duran Duran) pulled some famous friends together to provide backing for Buell.

Her music career is underscored by Buell’s presence for many of the Twentieth Century’s huge musical moments. In Almost Famous, director Cameron Crowe partly based the film’s “Penny Lane” character–played by Kate Hudson–on Buell.  Hudson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and won a Golden Globe for the role.

In 1972, Buell began dating rock star Todd Rundgren, which lasted for several years. During and after their sometimes open relationship, she was associated with Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, and Steven Tyler.   In 1977, Buell and Tyler had a daughter together, the actress Liv Tyler.  After her relationship with Steven ended, Buell began dating Rod Stewart.  In the summer of 1978, she began an affair with the recently-separated Elvis Costello that continued on and off until 1984.

All of this shaped Bebe Buell into a piece of living rock history, and as you can see from my 2009 Wikipedia portrait of her above, one of the best-looking.  She clearly kept a good head on her shoulders and took care of herself during what must have been some very debauched moments that she witnessed.

On top of it all, she raised an amazing daughter in Liv Tyler, who my friends in Hollywood tell me is one of the nicest, most down-to-Earth actors working today.  That’s Bebe’s parenting; she spared Liv from many of the problems that afflicted her contemporaries.

Go to Amazon to hear the Bebe Buell Band’s latest single, Air Kisses for the Masses and find out what all of this influence wrought.

Five Questions for Bebe Buell

Q. What is one thing you think every American should know?

A. That marriage is between two PEOPLE who love each other- a personal vow and contract. God does not care who loves or married whom- only how we treat our fellow man. Love is free- it should not have a gender. Only a purpose- to love.

Q. If you had the option to have been born another nationality than your current one, which nationality would you choose?

A. Alien. Oh wait- I AM an alien!! I believe we are born who we are meant to be so it is hard to imagine. But I have always been fascinated with nomads- people who wander and roam with no real anchor. Kind of like the TV show Kung Fu. So probably Tibetan.

Q. What is one misconception people have about you?

A. That I am sexual or good in bed. I’m really just a “love bug”- not armed with much sexual skill or sexual perfection. It is my heart that boils over with loving energy.

Q. Is there anyone’s death, either in your life or in popular culture, whose passing you were surprised by how profoundly it affected you?

A. John Lennon. I cried for days and days. My 14 year old Chihuahua Chiquita- I was consumed with grief. But she was reincarnated almost immediately and my new “mutt” Chickenburger has a home.

Q. In life we often have goals that we feel as if would just die if we don’t reach them. Sometimes we reach them, sometimes we don’t. The question is, have you ever worked to fulfill a goal, only to find that once you achieved it, the experience was a let down? It meant something to you when you did not have it. Then you obtained it and, after the initial excitement, you thought to yourself, “Is that all there is?” Have you ever had an experience like that?

A. I treat my goals as a desire- a passion. If I am meant to have it, earn it, own it… then I consider it a “gift”, a blessing. A gift from the karma police.

I never take anything for granted.

Especially love.  My daughter.  My family.  My art. My music… my muse…

FIVE QUESTIONS – A SERIES

• EVAN WOLFSON – founder of the modern gay marriage movement…I have five questions for you.
• JIMMY WALES – Citizen of the world, sage to millions of editors of Wikipedia, which he founded…I have five questions for you.
• BILLY NAME – Famous Warhol live-in photographer; silverized the Factory; shot the cover of the Velvet Underground’s eponymous album; iconic portraits of Lou Reed and Edie Sedgwick…I have five questions for you.

If you thought Michael Lucas would land in New York City and stop his conquest of America there, you thought wrong.

The Soviet-born man the New Republic called “Gay Porn’s Neocon Kingpin” will appear in an upcoming episode of ABC’s Ugly Betty.

Will wonders never cease. I first met Lucas after he wrote Wikipedia about issues with his biography.   I am not into pornography nor had I written an adult article before, so I appreciated the new topic (I fixed some errors and in the process got stalked).

Lucas liked the idea behind my ceative commons photography project, and invited me to shoot a place he loves: Fire Island (click here for a few of the photographs).

Ugly Betty is filmed on location in New York City, which is where Lucas Entertainment is based.  According to Lucas’ PR, his will be the first appearance by a porn star in a major network prime-time show (excluding “reality” television).

On his blog, Lucas wrote the following:

How will ABC deal with a porn star on one of its prime time programs? I am curious to see how this will play out. Now, I am not suggesting that my little walk-on will change the world. But I hope it will be one step taking us out of the privacy of people’s bedrooms and onto a larger stage. And I hope the American public will enjoy seeing a porn star as a real person, not just as a hot body.

The wrangling over the Wikipedia biography of Walter Cronkite and what is apparently his failing health has begun.  Wikipedia editors often get this kind of news early, as people rush to update Wikipedia articles the moment they learn something.

Gail Shister at Mediabistro blog TVNewser is responsible for the rumor, quoting unidentified sources inside CBS.  The network has officially declined to confirm reports that the news legend is in poor health.

In an interview with Shister in 2006, the now 92-year-old Cronkite was asked if he ever thought about death:

“When you get to be 89, you have to think about it a little bit. It doesn’t prey on me, and it doesn’t keep me awake nights. Occasionally, when I’m upset about something else, I think, ‘My gosh, I don’t know if I should do this or that because I’m not sure I’ll be here that long to enjoy it.’”

This story presages the inevitable “Death of News” stories that will follow when Cronkite passes.  He and Edward R. Murrow are the two historical news figures that most symbolize a perceived golden era when American news was there to inform, and not entertain.  Yes kids, they predate Fox News.

Update 7/18:  Walter Cronkite has died.

Here’s a wrong-headed moment moment: the MTV advertisement you see above is a Portuguese safe-sex ad aimed at women.  It makes the unsubtle comparison that having unsafe sex is like pointing a gun at your vagina.  Powerful!

Today’s media-weary people, adolescents especially, are harder to reach with messages as advertisements saturate our visual world more and more.  Yet the clueless ladies at Jezebel.com (owned by Gawker Media) think this is a horrible message.

Megan Carpentier, under the heading “Safe Means Never Having a Gun Pointed at  Your Vagina” wrote this when posting the ad [*UPDATE: Megan's post was removed from Jezebel, she denied writing it, then she put it back up but with a different picture (see below)]:

This safe sex advertisement from Portugal reads, “Girls, protect yourself. Demand your partner wear a condom.” Sexualizing rape and domestic violence and putting the onus on women to protect themselves scream “safe” to me, too.

Please, Megan.  The message is pretty clear, and only antsy “ZOMG! Weapons and women!” types would see this advertisement as “sexualizing” rape.  When you look for a message, you get that message.  Except you get this one wrong: the message has always been that women must be responsible for their own safety when it comes to sex and not rely on the man to do it for them.  That’s been a historically pro-woman stance that you now berate.

The ads themselves aren’t meant to make you feel “safe” Megan, they are made to make you feel unsafe so that your behavior–ensuring condoms are used–will keep you safe.

Carpentier links to another “ZOMG!” site that takes these ads out of context, the ironically-named Contexts.org.  They have a running “Sociological Images” bit.  They make the point that the penis is, once again, shown as “inherently or naturally useful for enacting violence and women’s bodies inherently or naturally vulnerable to violation from men.”

Please!  A campaign designed to get women to think about their own safety and to protect themselves is now being turned around as a campaign that will hurt women and that encourages/sexualizes rape and violence against them.

I can’t explain how the left can take interpretation so bizarrely out of focus as was done here.

Confused about Obama’s new regulatory proposals for the financial industry that virtually destroyed the global economy?  One is a Consumer Protection Agency.  John Ydstie, National Public Radio’s economics correspondent, does an excellent job of explaining it all.

This new agency would look at [things like interest-only balloon payment mortgages] and, I guess sort of modeled after the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which says, ‘Hey, you can’t sell a toaster that burns down a house,’ and they would say, ‘Hey, you can’t sell a mortgage that makes someone lose a house.’ – John Ydstie, National Public Radio’s economic correspondent

Listen to the the full explanation at NPR here.