... is to keep your tires properly inflated.

What GK points out about iPoddy innovation in gay-friendly locales is not entirely new. Farhad Manjoo summarized it thusly in a "War Room" posting 5/6/2005: "The kind of people who are drawn to software engineering tend to be progressives on issues like gay rights (that's why, incidentally, the tech economy is centered in California, not Kansas)."

The topic had also been explored further in an earlier Salon review of Richard Florida's book "The Rise of the Creative Class."

http://dir.salon.com/story/books/int/2005/04/21/florida/index.html

"The United States of America is on the verge of losing its competitive advantage," economist Richard Florida wrote last fall in a Harvard Business Review article based on his new book, "The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent." "It is facing perhaps its greatest economic challenge since the dawn of the industrial revolution." Even more provocatively, he later declared that "Terrorism is less a threat to the U.S. than the possibility that creative and talented people will stop wanting to live within its borders."

[ ... ]

For cities to remain strong, or to rebound from postindustrial neglect, Florida prescribed artistic and cultural development; this would attract members of the new flourishing, prospering class. His emphasis on a thriving, music-filled nightlife and a populace of artists and scenesters ignited the imaginations of developers and planners around the country. His book provided tables that ranked cities on the key components that, according to Florida, make up the trinity of successful development: technology, talent and tolerance.

and from http://dir.salon.com/story/books/feature/2002/06/06/city_list/index.html

Top 10 Cities on Richard Florida's Creative Class Index (June 6, 2002):

1. San Francisco, Calif.

2. Austin, Texas

3. Boston, Mass.

4. San Diego, Calif.

5. Seattle, Wash.

6. Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

7. Houston, Texas

8. Washington, D.C.

9. New York, N.Y.

10. Minneapolis, Minn.

Bottom 10 Cities:

39. Detroit, Mich.

40. Providence, R.I.

41. Greensboro, N.C.

42. Oklahoma City, Okla.

43. New Orleans, La.

44. Grand Rapids, Mich.

45. Louisville, Ky.

46. Buffalo, N.Y.

47. Las Vegas, Nev.

48. Norfolk-Virginia Beach, Va.

49. Memphis, Tenn.

The "Rise of the Creative Class" website is at http://www.creativeclass.org/ci.htm

What happened to this great cook-off serial-elimination-gameshow program (I loathe the term reality television) that was on PBS last year? "Cooking Under Fire" was technically informative, not gratuitously overdramatic, and everybody -- contestants and judges alike -- was fundamentally understandable if not downright likeable. In other words, it had everything that makes "Project Runway" worth watching, even if you cared as little about restaurant cooking as I do about garment design.

Plus it managed to redeem, in my view, chef-judge Ming Tsai, who in his Food TV programming has always come across as a smarmy expert-on-everything who never seems to communicate any of the little technical details accurately.

Even better: no product placement, no commercial breaks, and, therefore, no tired pre-commercial slo-mo-video cliffhangs.

"Aw" indeed.

Immigration is one area where Gay American Taxpayers face a particularly egregious violation of our constitutional equal protection guarantees. Consider this: I cannot sponsor a partner of the same sex, because it is not permitted under the current law. But neither can I sponsor a partner of the opposite sex (through marriage), because the policy requires that we prove we've consummated our marriage sexually, and any evidence of my homosexuality would be used as evidence against my claims in that regard. Simply put, a gay or lesbian American cannot, without committing fraud, avail themselves of the right to sponsor any foreigner -- of either sex -- for legal immigration into this country.

And it is outrageous that the specter of increased immigration fraud is being used to justify refusing changes to the laws in this area. What percentage of the already existing amount of immigration fraud is caused by gay and lesbian foreign nationals entering into "sham marriages" with willing (or paid) American beards merely as a way of getting around the injustices described above? If anything, legalizing the immigration of same-sex partners would cause an immediate decrease in the number of fraudulent applications for immigration through marriage.

Okay, here's one I've been kicking around for a while. It's more 9/11-related than Iraq-War-related, but we all know that Iraq was behind 9/11, and Mexico caused Pearl Harbor, bla bla bla.

In _How the Grinch Stole Christmas!_, the residents of Whoville wake to discover all their Christmas presents and decorations gone. They fall at once into a great disarray and begin to blame each other over the missing loot. Pandemonium ensues. Several Whos are tortured in an attempt to locate the toys. After many months, the town leaders decree that a large wall be constructed around the town to protect Christmas presents from future theft. This will take many years of continuous effort and nearly all of Whoville's resources, and therefore all the work force's vacation days are suspended for the unspecified duration of the project. Also, all chimneys will be plugged up, as a precaution.

The Grinch, watching all this from atop his mountain, chuckles to himself. He sees that in their mindless panic, the Whos have thoroughly abolished Christmas much more efficiently than he could ever have hoped to.

Casting this synopsis into rhyming couplets will be left as an exercise for the student.

Note to copy editor: It's not a plural of "AID" -- it's the acronym for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, and thus all four letters must be capitalized.

Thank you.