Israel faces scrutiny over its nuclear stockpile, Fox responds to disaster by calling for more drilling, and what Boca Raton looked like when it was a Japanese-American kibbutz.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

The links below open in a new window. Newer ones are on top.

Update: The top seven links, just added, all have to do with Florida’s anti-gay preacher and his “luggage lifter” rent boy scandal.

What Does Florida AG Bill McCollom Have To Say About Dr. George Rekers NOW? I’ve been on the phone with the Florida Attorney General’s office and the Bill McCollom For Governor campaign trying to get a statement and/or reaction to the Dr. George Rekers prostitution scandal…

Rekers & Geo: In Flagrante Delicious Since the ho is out of the barn, the Miami New Times has released their photo of NARTH/FRC fuckweasel Dr. George Mekers at MIA with his hired male prostitute, the barely legal twink Geo. The New Times properly notes that Geo doesn’t seem to be fulfilling his duties as Rekers’ paid luggage lifter.

Leno Rips On Dr. George Rekers The Rekers hooker scandal made Jay Leno’s opening monologue last night. Start the below full episode clip at 7:00 for the zingers. Of course, Leno couldn’t exit the bit without trading homophobic jibes with his band leader over which of them would be visiting Rentboy.com after the show.

Gay Hooker Patron Dr. George Rekers Was Paid $87K To Stop Gay Adoption In Florida He was paid a fucking fortune by the STATE to stop gay adoption, then he took that money to buy a ten-day sex romp through Europe with a boy barely out of his adoptable years himself.

Photo: Anti-Gay Activist George Rekers and His Rent Boy at Miami International Airport

George Rekers Lifts His Own Luggage by Dan Savage Alert readers will recall that yesterday Rekers, the now-disgraced co-founder of the Family Research Council, claimed he hired Geo — seen on the right — to accompany him to Europe for ten days because Rekers recently underwent surgery and he needed someone to “lift his luggage.” It would appear from the photo, however, that Rekers is tending to his own luggage. Now maybe Geo loaded Rekers cart for him and Rekers pushed it through the airport. Alert readers will also recall that Rekers admitted to finding Geo on Rentboy.com but denied knowing that Geo was a male escort until halfway through the trip. But Rekers also said he took a male prostitute to Europe with him on purpose because that’s what Jesus and John the Baptist would do and his real motive in bringing Geo along — and paying him handsomely — wasn’t to enjoy Geo’s eight-inch c*ck or smooth white ass, but to get Geo alone on the world’s most densely populated continent to lecture him about the advisability of leaving homosexual intercourse behind. In other developments…

FLORIDA AG BILL MCCOLLUM PAID GEORGE ‘RENTBOY’ REKERS $87,000 TO BE STAR WITNESS FOR STATE’S GAY ADOPTION BAN Florida taxpayer dollars were used to compensate George Alan Rekers, the “ex-gay” activist caught recently returning from vacation with a hustler from Rentboy.com, to defend the state’s ban on gay adoption.

“Socialism” Not So Negative, “Capitalism” Not So Positive “Socialism” is a negative for most Americans, but certainly not all Americans. “Capitalism” is regarded positively by a majority of the public, though it is a thin majority.

Male Studies vs. Men’s Studies First came women’s studies, then came men’s studies, and now, a new field in reaction to both: male studies.

Israel Official: Accepting Palestinians Into Israel Better Than Two States Knesset Speaker Rivlin says does not believe PA chief Abbas is capable of delivering peace deal.

The Coming Meltdown in Higher Education For 400 years, higher education in the United States has been on a roll. From Harvard asking Galileo to be a guest professor in the 1600s to millions tuning in to watch a team of unpaid athletes play another team of unpaid athletes in some college sporting event, the amounts of time and money and prestige in the college world have been climbing. I’m afraid that’s about to crash and burn. Here’s how I’m looking at it….

Fox Hosts and Contributors Respond to Drilling Catastrophe by Calling for Drilling In the wake of the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, several Fox News hosts and contributors have responded by calling for a continuation — and in some instances, an expansion — of offshore drilling.

IAEA Chief Focuses on Israel The head of the U.N. atomic watchdog is asking for international input on an Arab-led push to have Israel join the Nonproliferation Treaty, in a move that adds to pressure on the Jewish state to disclose its unacknowledged nuclear arsenal.

Rabbi Lerner’s Home Attacked by Right-Wing Zionists Berkeley police today confirmed that the attack on Rabbi Lerner’s home late Monday May 2nd or early morning Monday May 3rd was in fact a crime and was being investigated.

Reading Around the World If you’ve been moved by the spirit of spring to get outside and read a book, you’re not alone. In photos recently uploaded to Flickr, people are reading in public in all kinds of places, all over the world.

How People Really Watch Television In the past few years viewers have gained much more control over television.

When Boca-Raton Was a Japanese-American Kibbutz Could you marry Japanese traditions with Florida’s Floridaness? Jo Sakai tried…

Army of Smartphone Chips Could Emulate the Human Brain If you have a smartphone, you probably have a slice of Steve Furber’s brain in your pocket. By the time you read this, his 1-billion-neuron silicon brain will be in production at a microchip plant in Taiwan.

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