So, this is what my cartoon sockpuppet Bookworm Bob have been looking at since our last This & That post -- which was all of yesterday. 
The Los Angeles Times' Fox gives Glenn Beck's show the boot; Sinking ratings, an ad boycott and a focus on conspiracies lead to its demise:
Completing a swift rise and fall from TV stardom, controversial host Glenn Beck will lose his once-popular Fox News show later this year, the network announced Wednesday.Beck's 5 p.m. program, which earned scorn from liberals for its attacks on President Obama as well as its devotion to sometimes-obscure right-wing thinkers, was a top cable draw in 2009 and a signpost for the populist "tea party" movement in last year's midterm elections, which dealt a ballot-box rebuke to the White House.
But ratings plummeted and advertisers bailed as Beck - a cherubic, salt-and-pepper-haired longtime radio host who has compared himself to a rodeo clown - increasingly pursued a hard-to-follow agenda that many found too conspiracy-minded. He also chafed his bosses at Fox News, who faulted him for spending too much time on his far-flung business operations and not enough on honing his TV presentation.
I have a feeling Glenn Beck won't be going away from media as a whole any time soon -- he still has a popular radio show.
The Advocate's How Many LGBT's Live in America?:
At least 8 million adults in the United States identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, according to a new study released Thursday by the Williams Institute.In total, with approximately 700,000 transgender Americans, nearly 4% of the nation's population is openly LGBT.
Furthermore, an estimated 19 million people, or 8.2%, have engaged in some relationships or sexual behavior with someone of the same sex, and 25.6 million admit to harboring at least some same-sex attraction at some point.
The research shows that slightly more people identify as bisexual (1.8%) than as lesbian or gay (1.7%), and women are more likely than men to identify as bisexual.
From the Renna Communications press release for the The Williams Institute comes this quote from Dr. Gary J. Gates, the study author:
Last week, the Institute of Medicine at the National Academies released an analysis of LGBT health research calling for federal statistical agencies to quickly move toward LGBT inclusion in their data collection. The surveys highlighted in this report demonstrate the usefulness of sexual orientation and gender identity questions on large-scale national population-based surveys. Better data can provide the building blocks for critical information to understand the lives of the 9 million LGBT Americans who have been historically marginalized in both society and research.
A copy of the full report from the Williams Institute is here.
From Kansas's Lawrence Journal-World's Residents on both sides of adding gender identity to anti-discrimination policy speak out:
Members of the Lawrence community voiced their opinions even before the 7 p.m. start of a meeting Wednesday to discuss a possible amendment to the city's anti-discrimination policy.Residents Charles McVey and Dominic Klumpe sat outside Christ Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church, 2312 Harvard Road. Each held a sign in protest of a group of Lawrence business leaders and churches who say they are opposed to the suggested inclusion of gender identity.
"I don't want these kinds of attitudes being expressed in my community or prevailing in my community," McVey said. "They're free to their own opinions, but if they're going to start messing with the law, well, that's everybody's business then."
The conversation continued inside the church, where members representing groups comprising Voice of Reason addressed the more than 50 residents in attendance. Groups included Awaken Manhattan, the Alliance Defense Fund, Concerned Women for America and Kansas Family Policy Council. Several of the groups also opposed the anti-discrimination ordinance, which is now in place in Manhattan...
With that list of sponsors, it seems the meeting wasn't organized by the local community, but by national religious right organizations.
Reisterstown Patch's Letter: Clock Ticking in Maryland for Gender Identity Rights, Unemployed:
Maryland has just a few days left to join a handful of states across the country in providing anti-discrimination protection for gender identity. Gender identity, as defined by House Bill 235, refers to a person's consistent gender-related identity or appearance, regardless of their assigned sex at birth.Should this bill pass, gender identity will join race, sex, color, creed, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, age, and disability as a protected class from employment and housing discrimination.
Just as you can't fire a person in a wheelchair, who is otherwise qualified for a job, you won't be able to fire a woman dressing in men's clothes. Just as you can't deny renting an apartment to a Middle Eastern person, you won't be able to refuse a lease to a man who is transitioning to becoming a woman.
I like to think of this bill as "trickle-up" politics. Let me explain...
Follow the link for this letter to read what Alessa Giampaolo (the Executive Director for Hand In Hand Home School, a small business that provides educational consulting to private families, non-profits, and educational institutions) explains why she believes HB 235 is "'trickle-up' politics."
Our Wiener Story Of The Day: The Chicago Tribune's Chicago-bound Diane Sawyer No 1. in city's hearts, TV ratings:
...[Diane] Sawyer is headed to town this week. She is set to be the keynote speaker Thursday at the Chicago Network's 22nd Annual Women in the Forefront Luncheon at the Hilton Chicago. She also plans to anchor her newscast from here that night.That Sawyer sees wisdom in Chicago may or may not have to do the fact that, although Brian Williams' "NBC Nightly News" is the No. 1 network newscast nationally, "World News" is the broadcast to beat here. It also may have to do with the fact that she likes hot dogs, although you might not want to know the condiment she favors.
...Apart from Kraft Foods headquarters in suburban Northfield, this city's collective wisdom likely wouldn't endorse her condiment of choice.
"I'm looking for ones with Miracle Whip," Sawyer said. "But that may be a Kentucky thing."
As always, "The weenie tempts you!"
So anywho...It's an open thread! What are you thinking about today, or what books or articles have you been reading the past few days? Wanna share?
And again, please feel free to chat, blogwhore, and link-share in the comment thread because...it's an open thread! Woo-hoo! 