TresSugar

Bad Times Keep Us Put: Migration to South and West Slows

CitizenSugar — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 03:00:23 -0800

The intuitive trend in America to move to where the land is open and the climate warm has hit a road bump. Thanks to the housing crisis, which makes the idea of taking on a new mortgage scary and risky, people are staying put.

The population slowdown specifically hit the western and southern states, which had seen huge growth and migration over the last decade. While this trend could mean less traffic and more space for those already living there, it could also lead to less political influence. Based on current projections, California might lose a seat in Congress for the first time ever following the 2010 Census.

Still, a population slow down in the South and West doesn't mean other regions are growing faster. In 2008, Utah was the fastest growing state, followed by Arizona, Texas, North Carolina, and South Carolina. And Michigan and Rhode Island actually lost population.

Have tough times made you shelve any plans for moving?

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Spending Gone Wild: Proposal to Euthanize the West's Horses

LibertySugar — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:30:59 -0700

America's wild horses may be the latest casualties of federal budget problems. Thirty-three thousand wild horses roam the West, well above the 27,000 target. Expensive holding facilities house another 30,000 rounded-up horses, making them available for adoption. The government says it can no longer afford to control the population with pricey housing. Thus, the US Bureau of Land Management wants to euthanaize part of the population to cut costs.

Horse activists are leading an opposition. One animal rights activist called the plan "killing pure and simple to balance the books for an agency whose reckless management has caused immeasurable harm to a national treasure at considerable cost to the American taxpayer."

Other opponents of the euthanasia proposal want lawmakers to promote horse birth control, and give landowners incentives to keep horses on their property, reports the New York Times.

Since horses compete with ranchers' needs, should the government put emotions aside and choose euthanasia as the effective solution? Or should these national treasures be protected from budget mismanagement?

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Adam Lambert: Just Another Provocative Pop Star?

TresSugar — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:30:39 -0800

Last night on the American Music Awards, Adam Lambert gyrated along dancers dressed in S&M inspired costumes. At one point, the American Idol alum pulled a dancer's face toward his crotch. Of course, not everyone was entertained - the spectacle was edited from the West Coast broadcast. Adam has since expressed his disappointment with that decision, saying:

"There's a big double standard, female pop artists have been doing things provocative like that for years, and the fact that I'm a male, and I'll be edited and discriminated against could be a problem. People are scared and it's really sad, I just wish people could open their minds up and enjoy things, it's all for a laugh, it's really not that big of a deal."

So in other words, the public should just think of the performance as a male throwback to Madonna, as BuzzSugar described it. Do you think Adam is being held to a different standard of acceptable sexual expression or was the network right to edit the show?

East vs. West: Berlin Wall Divided Two Attitudes Toward Nudity

TresSugar — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:00:49 -0800

When the Berlin Wall fell 20 years ago last week, East and West Germany had to integrate two very different cultures. Freedom may have spread quickly through the East, but nudity - the East's favorite and perhaps only freedom - never caught on in the West.

Freikörperkultur (FKK), or liberal body culture, was really the only way to rebel in the East, where the most quotidian details of people's lives were observed by the Stasi, East Germany's secret police. Though the East German government forbid FKK at first, many government officials were into walking around nude, so they protested with the argument that "doing FKK" did not mean you weren't a good communist. Good point - don't they put kids in school uniforms to level the playing field? What's more egalitarian than wearing nothing!

Yet on the west side of the wall, the attitude toward nudity was more on par with America and its don't-even-discuss-it-in-public ethos. A West German interviewed a former East German for Vice magazine to find out what's so great about wearing nothing. Check out some of the highlights after the jump.

5 Gays Talk Project Runway Fall, at Least One Blames Women

TresSugar — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:00:46 -0800

From moving to the West Coast, to the influx of celebrity judges, to casting drama over talent, five gay men have offered their theories on why viewership of Project Runway fell 25 percent between the premiere of season six and its ninth episode. One faults having three female finalists (though that happened on Bravo's final season too) saying:

"I am all for diversity and playing to your audience’s demographic, but please. And not to sound completely misogynistic, but three women as finalists? No fags? Really? These women were probably the most talented, but obviously when you tell the Bunim/Murray casting juggernaut, 'This is Lifetime: Television for Women, not talented gay male fashion designers,' you get what you get!"

While he jests (mostly), women probably miss the Christian Sirianos who sharpen their tongues before even threading a needle each morning just as much as gay men do. But what do I know? I only watched the first three episodes.

Source: Lifetime

Say What? RNC Has a Kanye Moment

TresSugar — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:00:00 -0700

"Michael Steele had a Kanye West moment coming out there and saying Beyonce should have gotten the award. He shouldn't have done that."

- Conservative pundit Pat Buchanan said yesterday that RNC chair Michael Steele had a Kanye West moment when he came out early against President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize. Steele said that the prize should have gone to those people who have made "real achievements working towards peace and human rights."

To see the video of Pat, which includes hilarious pronunciations of "Kanye" and "Beyonce," read more.

Happy West Virginia Primary Day!

LibertySugar — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:15:24 -0700

John Denver might as well have written his "Ode to West Virginia" song for Hillary Clinton, who expects to be West Virginia's victorious mountain mama today.

Watch this video montage and take a trip down memory ~~lane~~ country road with Hillary Clinton and John Denver. And while you're at it, test your knowledge of West Virginia with this quiz!

Take the quiz

California Assemblywoman Proposes "Donda West Law"

CitizenSugar — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:00:41 -0800

Though the current campaign-frenzy pushes other political happenings off the media map sometimes, lawmakers everywhere are still up, kicking, and proposing legislation. One of the latest bills just proposed in California is being called "The Donda West Law" and was inspired by the November death of Kanye West's mother after a cosmetic surgery procedure.

Proposed by California Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter, the law would require patients to have medical clearance before undergoing elective cosmetic surgery. A source close to the family says that Kanye supports the legislation.

Not everyone, however, thinks this legislation is the answer to the problem - commentary is surfacing criticizing the need to legislate what some think should be governed by prudent common sense.

What do you think? Is the "Donda West Law" a prudent step or government run amuck?

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Do Tell: Who's Your Favorite Pop Culture Witch?

TresSugar — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:00:00 -0700

The witches of popular culture come in all different varieties. There are the truly scary witches, like the queen in Snow White and the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, the harmless witches, like Samantha from Bewitched and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and the mischievous witches, like Endora from Bewitched. To get in the spooky spirit just in time for Halloween, tell me which famous witch has you under a spell!

Barack Obama Has Already Been in The West Wing

CitizenSugar — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 11:00:04 -0800

This article Buzz pointed out yesterday about Barack Obama being the real-life inspiration for Jimmy Smits' character, Matt Santos, got me all shades of nostalgic for The West Wing. Now granted, by the time that story line rolled around, I daresay the show had, ahem, Jumped the proverbial Shark, but the article is a good read and a nice blend of Ballot Bowl '08 and the Boob-tube.

Writer and producer Eli Attie said,

"Some of Santos's insistence on not being defined by his race, his pride in it even as he rises above it, came from that."

Attie acknowledges Obama's rising superstar image, saying,

"After that convention speech, Obama's life changed. He was mobbed wherever he went. He was more than a candidate seeking votes: people were seeking him. Some of Santos's celebrity aura came from that."

And a glorious, glorious treat for you: the video of the absolute best, classic West Wing scene, ever. Wanna see, "oh, and one more thing. In this building, when the President stands, nobody sits."? Then read more!

Sigh. President Bartlett was the best president we've ever had.

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