Monthly archive of December 2005

World AIDS Day 2005

Another year, another World AIDS Day. There's lots to say and lots to report on, especially since this year's event falls on the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks's arrest for refusing to give up her seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. This year, bloggers have united to write something about AIDS today. Let's see what they said.

J. Bernard Jones says World AIDS Day "doesn't matter." As he put it: "For millions of people around the globe � including those of us who love someone who is HIV positive or has the full blown disease � every single day is World AIDS Day." Malik M.L. Williams asks "What's the point?" He says HIV is spreading, there's no vaccine and the population is shrinking. Here's what others are saying today.

Posted in politics on December 1 2005, 11:38AM | Read More | Comments (8)

Comparing Civil Rights to Gay Rights

There's a scene in The Color Purple, the movie, where Shug Avery is singing in a lounge when she hears the distant echoes of a familiar song. The choir at her father's church is singing "God Is Trying To Tell You Something" and when Shug hears it, she stops singing her jazz tune and walks out, leading a procession of fans and band members on a trip to the church. In full voice, she bursts into the church, confronts her father and reconciles their years of division. "See daddy, sinners have soul too," she whispers in his ear.

Maybe God is trying to tell us something today too. This year, World AIDS Day falls on the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks's courageous decision to refuse to give up her bus seat, a move which sparked the modern civil right movement. But today is also the day when Oprah Winfrey's The Color Purple opens on Broadway. And it's the day when the highest court in South Africa has ruled that "gay marriage" must be made legal in that country.

Posted in politics on December 1 2005, 12:41PM | Read More | Comments (31)

10 Marines Killed; Bush Stays Course

In one of the deadliest attacks against American forces in months, 10 U.S. marines were killed outside the central Iraqi town of Fallujah yesterday. The last successful large-scale attack on U.S. forces was in August, when 14 American troops were killed by a roadside bomb. Since then, the popularity of George Bush's war has declined steadily.

Meanwhile, the president continues to try to convince us that the war is going well. In the face of a revolt in Congress and in the public, the president traveled to the safe territory of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis to release a supposedly declassified strategy to win the war in Iraq. More of the same. As the New York Times points out, Bush's strategy amounts to the hopeful wish that we win. The Times compares President Bush's conduct of the war to President Nixon's handling of Vietnam, and Nixon wins the comparison. The Times says Bush "seems less in touch with reality than Richard Nixon." We're in deep trouble.

Posted in politics on December 2 2005, 12:40PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

'Dirty Laundry' Gets Cleaned Up

Congratulations to Toyce (aka Prodigal Sun), who redesigned the web site for The Dirty Laundry film campaign. "Dirty Laundry" is a new film by director Maurice Jamal ("Chappelle's Show," "The Ski Trip") and executive producer Nathan Hale Williams ("The Ski Trip," "American Candidate"). The new film stars Rockmond Dunbar, Loretta Devine, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Teri J. Vaughn, Sommore, and production is scheduled to begin at the beginning of the new year.

We're just about a month into the Dirty Laundry campaign and we've been overwhelmed by the response. People we don't even know have been sending in contributions. And new investors have come on board as well. But we still need your support. Our goal is to raise $200,000 by the end of the year. It's an ambitious goal, but I think we're going to make it. Please make your contribution today and be a part of history.

Posted in movies on December 2 2005, 5:00PM | Permalink

Herndon Davis: My Favorite Things

I first started hearing his name a few years ago. Then he was an author of a spirituality book called Black Gay & Christian, which billed itself as an inspirational guide to daily living. But today, Herndon Davis is more than just an author. He's the host of America's first black gay television news series, appropriately titled "The Herndon Davis Reports."

Herndon is a busy man. When he isn't hosting his television show, he delivers inspirational speeches and self-development workshops. He has at least 4 new books in the works, all of which focus on the black LGBT experience and the call to social activism. And he works as a sreenwriter and producer for other multi-cultural entertainment projects.

Posted in pop culture on December 5 2005, 12:03PM | Read More | Comments (13)

Out of the Country

You may be wondering what has been going on with the site the past few days. I am out of the country. I had hoped to have Internet access where I'm staying, but unfortunately I do not.

I was able to find Internet access today, so I decided to post this notice to let you know I'll be back soon. If I get a chance, I'll post more information later on. But in the meantime, please browse the site, check out one of my favorite sites, make a contribution to Dirty Laundry, read about my organization, or comment on the message board. See you soon.

Posted on December 7 2005, 12:11AM | Permalink

In The News

Everything always seems to happen when I'm out of town. I just found out that The Advocate magazine's annual People of the Year issue is out and I've been selected as one of the 10 people of the year. I checked the website but didn't see my name, so I can't confirm it.

Meanwhile, Logo has just launched a new television show called The Advocate Newsmagazine. It's billed as a "one-hour original magazine-style special" that features topical stories that include hip hop and its history of homophobia and Sheryl Swoopes and her coming out experience. They interviewed me for the show several months ago, but it's coming on Sunday at 10 p.m. on Logo.

And finally, I've been told that the "The Year In Queer" end-of-the-year wrapup on Logo begins airing soon. It's another show I taped awhile ago but didn't know when it would air. If I had known all this was going on, I would have set my DVR to tape while I'm out of the country.

Posted in pop culture on December 9 2005, 11:36AM | Permalink

Bush: 'Don't Call Me A Racist'

bush williams After three months of sagging poll numbers, the White House charm offensive is in high gear this month as President Bush has been touring the country to convince Americans that we are winning the war in Iraq.

The media campaign continued today with an "NBC News Exclusive" in which the White House arranged for NBC Anchor Brian Williams to meet with the President in the Oval Office, fly onboard Air Force Once, watch the president backstage, and then interview him again. NBC even renamed its nightly news broadcast for the special event.

During the interview, Bush promised to keep taking his message "to the people" in a variety of formats. I don't know what people he was talking about, but sitting down with the anchor of a major network news broadcast hardly seems sufficient. Nor should we be impressed by the president's speeches to the carefully selected GOP-friendly audiences he calls "the people." Today, for example, the president spoke to the everyday people at the Council on Foreign Relations in Philadelphia.

Bu the most remarkable moment of the NBC interview today came when the President rejected claims of racial insensitivity. Bush said unequivocally that he is not a racist. "You can call me anything you want," he said, "but do not call me a racist."

Posted in politics on December 12 2005, 10:33PM | Read More | Comments (22)

Pumping Irony: A Tale of Two Men

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Stanley Tookie Williams may seem an odd pair, but the two men were destined to meet in history. In the end, they were the executioner and the executed, but at various times in their lives each man played both roles. It was an ironic twist that the former executioner would be killed by another former executioner.

The story begins 28 years ago, when a young Austrian immigrant with an odd name entered the American consciousness as the world's first celebrity bodybuilder. In the film "Pumping Iron," Arnold Schwarzenegger competed with the likes of Franco Columbu and Lou Ferrigno to become Mr. Olympia. A young amoral Arnold even claimed that he missed his father's funeral so he could continue training uninterrupted. Schwarzenegger later denied the claim, but the message was sent early on -- his own glory was more important than the lives of others.

Posted in politics on December 13 2005, 12:01AM | Read More | Comments (58)

Who Do They Think Buys These Cars?

I have a long history with Ford Motor Company. Jaguar has always been dear to my heart. My last car, a 1985 Jaguar XJ-6 (pictured on the right), was my favorite car in the world. It had just 42,000 miles on it when I sold it a year ago. I didn't like it when Ford took over the British automaker that produced Jaguar, but I got used to it.

A few years ago, I visited the Ford Motor Company headquarters in Michigan and gave a speech to executives on diversity in the workplace. A college classmate was a senior executive at Ford and he personally walked me through the sprawling complex and even showed me some fancy new models in the works (see the other photo above).

About two months ago, I changed the desktop image on my computer when I spotted a beautiful new 2007 Jaguar XK that I would love to get. I found the ad in a gay magazine, went to the Jaguar website and designed my own dream car. So imagine my surprise when I learned that Ford had recently pulled its advertisement in gay publications in the face of a boycott threat from the ultraconservative American Family Association.

Posted in sexuality on December 14 2005, 10:22AM | Read More | Comments (25)

Just As We Are

I first met Charlie T back in Detroit in the 1998. I was dating Oddis Mitchell at the time and Charlie asked to photograph us. Since that time, Oddis and I broke up, Charlie left Detroit and moved to New York, and I left Washington and moved to New York as well. Now Charlie and I are neighbors.

So when Charlie asked me to take part in a new photo exhibit she was producing, I had to say yes. The result is a collection of 25 portraits of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans called "Just As We Are," and it focuses on people at work, in black-and-white portrayals of their personalities and professions. "These pictures portray our work and who we are," says Charlie T (also known as Charzette Torrence). The exhibit includes dancers, authors, activists, elected officials and others.

Posted in sexuality on December 15 2005, 12:13PM | Read More | Comments (8)

The Strange Case of Cory Maye

Picture this. You're a black man asleep in bed at home in Mississippi. It's the night after Christmas 2001, and no one else is in the house but your 18-month-old daughter. You hear a loud thud and suddenly the sound of feet stomping on the floor outside your bedroom door. You grab your gun. A white man bursts into your bedroom with a gun. You shoot first. He dies. Is this self-defense or murder?

Let me add a few facts in favor of the prosecution. The white man lying on your bedroom floor is a police officer. Moreover, he's the son of the police chief. And his fellow officers say he identified himself as he was conducting a lawful warranted search of the apartment for drugs. Police say they found traces of drugs in the apartment.

But here are the facts in favor of the defendant. Even if the police officer did identify himself, the defendant was asleep and never heard it. The warrant the police used did not list Cory Maye as a suspect but instead listed a different suspect in a different apartment in the building. There were no drugs found in Maye's apartment that day, although the police later changed their story to claim that they found traces of drugs. The defendant had no prior criminal record. As a black man in Mississippi, he feared for his life and the life of his young daughter. Yet the defendant was convicted of murder by a mostly white jury and sentenced to death. The defendant, Cory Maye, now sits on death row.

Posted in politics on December 15 2005, 1:03PM | Read More | Comments (31)

The War On Christmas

Call it what it is -- a right-wing snow job. Conservative talk show host Bill O'Reilly and friends are now trying to convince us that there's a "war on Christmas" in America. As proof, they point to the growing number of secular "holiday" celebrations obviously designed to drive out the more Christian-focused word "Christmas."

Shame on the Ebenezer Scrooge who uses the term "holidays" to refer to the series of events from Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Year's Day. Rebuke the mean old grinch who steals "Christmas" so that he can be inclusive of his friends who are Jewish or Muslim and celebrate their own holidays. No God-fearing, Wal-Mart loving, red-state Christian would dare exclude the name of his savior from the most sacred holiday in capitalism.

Posted in sexuality on December 16 2005, 12:23PM | Read More | Comments (19)

Go Tell It On The Mountain

brokeback mountain

Early talk described it as a "gay cowboy movie." Gay men jokingly referred to it as "Bareback Mountain." Its supporters say it's a love story. Film critics say its a tour de force. Its detractors say it's morally reprehensible. Depending on who you talk to, everybody seems to have an opinion about Brokeback Mountain, already the year's most controversial film.

But there's one thing they haven't said about the film that needs to be said. If these characters had been black, they would have called this movie a film about the down low. Instead, they're calling it a classic love story. It's for that reason that I love Brokeback Mountain and I hate it. I love Brokeback as a film that is able to move beyond the down low pathology, but I hate what it says explicitly and implicitly about the double standards in America based on race and sexual orientation.

Posted in movies on December 19 2005, 9:49AM | Read More | Comments (50)

Chill Street Blues

Now I have seen it all. I moved to New York in June of 2001, and since that time I've lived through September 11 terrorist attacks, a citywide blackout, and now the New York transit workers union has elected to strike, halting a bus and subway system with 7 million riders just five days before Christmas.

I can already see the t-shirts on sale on 125th Street next week: "I survived the New York Subway Strike." And I can imagine the headlines in the tabloids for the next few days, as every song and clich� about New York is resurrected to symbolize the situation. Call it the Hill Street Blues. You can't take the A train cause there ain't no love in the heart of the city. So pull out those old vagabond shoes and take a walk on the wild side.

Posted in pop culture on December 20 2005, 10:08AM | Read More | Comments (6)

A City Closed Open For Business

New Yorkers are a resilient breed. I just got in from a walk around town and found the city still bustling with activity but little or no visible panic or worries about the transit strike. The most noticeable aspect of the trip was the quiet. Walking around town without the familiar noise of city buses made the streets feel eerily peaceful.

Surprisingly, the strike doesn't appear to have affected any of the businesses I visited on my outing. The post office was up and running with all of the windows open and staffed. The local stores were open and seemed to be operating at full capacity. It might be different in other parts of the city where people commute longer distances to work, but in Harlem it seems a lot of people were able to make it to work.

I'm fortunate to work at home, so I don't have a long way to go to get to my office. I walk from my bedroom to the office and I'm there. But I feel sorry for those people I saw on television bundled up and walking across the Brooklyn Bridge to work.

Posted in pop culture on December 20 2005, 1:41PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Mud Slingers

I've never been a big fan of mud wrestling. Just the thought of it brings to mind images of raucous frat boys chugging plastic cups of cheap beer from a keg and cheering on drunken women in sleazy mung-stained bars. Although that image probably sounds exciting to some people, I prefer to watch real wrestling instead of the muddy stuff.

Despite my aversion to mud wrestling, I was surprised to find some hot new mud wrestling images that I actually like today on the Oh la la Paris site. The photos were taken by Joe Oppedisano for the upcoming issue of DNA magazine. Now I might have to re-think my opinion on mud wrestling.

Posted in sexuality on December 20 2005, 3:00PM | Read More | Comments (2)

Is Morgan Freeman Right?

In an interview with CBS News reporter Mike Wallace, Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman said last week that America should get rid of Black History Month. If we just stop talking about racism, then it will go away, he argued. The response was quick and angry.

Not since Bill Cosby made his infamous remarks about black people have I heard so much criticism of another prominent and well-respected African American celebrity for speaking his mind. Morgan Freeman is a crazy old man, some critics said. "I have a lot of respect for him as an actor," said Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., but "he is not a historian...We should leave this debate to historians." So who is right? Morgan Freeman or the critics?

Posted in pop culture on December 21 2005, 10:42AM | Read More | Comments (37)

Hell to the Ho Ho Ho!

They're back. The legendary pop diva, the aging R&B king in search of the spotlight, the young slightly misfit daughter, and the whole cast of characters are back on the air tonight for one final run at Bravo's most popular summer show. It's "Being Bobby Brown," and tonight's episode is called "Christmas With The Browns." (See the video.)

I'll be watching every minute of it, and there's a special treat. My friend Gordon Chambers, the Grammy-nominated recording artist and songwriter, will be appearing on the show tonight too. Being Bobby Brown airs tonight at 11 on Bravo.

Posted in pop culture on December 21 2005, 4:18PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Reading Between The Lines

The new issue of the French gay magazine called Baby Boy is out, and I wish I spoke French. Oh la la Paris gets the scoop, but I have a question. How come the French can find black cover models but American magazines can't seem to do that?

Meanwhile, a few new magazines have hit the scene here in the U.S. Ballroom Rockstar is out and under new management. Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD) has a new magazine out called Pulse. And the National Black Justice Coalition has a new magazine out called Nyansapo. Make sure you check them out.

Posted in sexuality on December 22 2005, 9:50AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Noah's Arc Is Back

It's been a week since Noah's Arc went off the air in its season finale, and some of you may be feeling a little withdrawal. Others don't have cable or Logo and never got a chance to see it in the first place. Never fear, you can watch video from the show at the Logo website. And soon you can capture the entire season one of Noah's Arc online. That's right, Noah's Arc will be available for download on iTunes starting Tuesday, January 17.

But if you don't want to watch the show on your computer, you can watch it on your television instead. The Noah's Arc DVD hits the stores this winter, according to director Patrik-Ian Polk. Polk says he expects the DVD to be released by February or March.

Posted in sexuality on December 22 2005, 11:45AM | Permalink | Comments (26)

Start Spreading the News

trains running It seems like New York has been falling apart at the seams lately. But there's some good news. The transit workers have agreed to end their strike for now while negotiations continue. That's a reason to celebrate tonight. If you happen to be in town, come check out the Sprung party at Luke & Leroy. It should be more fun than P. Diddy's party last night.

While we're spreading the news about the city, what's up with the New York Post headline "Jail 'Em" with a picture of transit union leader Roger Toussaint behind bars? Are there racial undertones here or is it just me? And why are the police spying on private citizens in New York? Just something to think about.

Posted in pop culture on December 22 2005, 12:23PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Win, Lose or Draw?

I received an email from a friend this morning with a very compelling defense of the transit union that just ended its strike yesterday. Comparing the workers to management, my friend said, "There are executives that are getting paid far too much in comparison to undercompensated and underinsured workers across the board who can barely afford to live in, yet alone enjoy the offerings of New York, the very city in which they work."

He's right. I completely agree with the idea that unions should be allowed to strike and laws that restrict that right are wrong. But I think this strike is deeper than that. In hindsight, I don't think it was a smart idea for the TWU to strike when and where it did. Instead of saving their jobs, union leader Roger Toussaint and the TWU became the grinches that almost stole Christmas.

Posted in politics on December 23 2005, 11:37AM | Read More | Comments (7)

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the land
The war was proceeding exactly as planned.
Conservatives were plotting against liberals and gays
With threats that the left would take Christmas away.

The president was worried and 2,000 were dead,
As visions of Baghdad still danced in his head.
And Condi in her �kerchief, and George in his cap,
Had finally decided to pull out a map.

Posted in pop culture on December 24 2005, 1:03PM | Read More | Comments (17)

Merry Christmas! You're Evicted

The Boys Choir of Harlem received an unwelcome Christmas package this week. The New York City Department of Education sent a letter to the legendary institution on Thursday ordering the choir to vacate the building it shares with a public school on Madison Avenue and 127th Street in Harlem. The choir, which reportedly has at least $3.5 million in debts, has received free space in the building since 1993, the New York Times reported.

After a recent investigation, the city discovered that the choir's founder, Dr. Walter Turnbull, had failed to report to authorities the molestation of a 14-year-old student, paid $2,000 to bail out the accused counselor, and continued to allow him to have contact with students. The counselor was sentenced to two years in jail.

Posted in pop culture on December 25 2005, 3:10PM | Read More | Comments (15)

Foxy's Slip of the Tongue

So what really happened when rapper Foxy Brown was handcuffed, threatened with jail and made to apologize Friday in court? News stories reported that Brown opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue at the presiding judge who asked her to stop chewing gum. Brown was handcuffed, threatened with jail, and forced to apologize. That part of the story seems to be uncontested.

But the news stories differ on some other major elements of the courtroom incident. Was this a case of a racist judicial system acting out against a black artist or a rebellious rapper who refused to conform to courtroom decorum? Is Foxy Brown a modern-day martyr or a mischievous minstrel? The answer may depend on which side you believe or on which newspaper you read.

Posted in pop culture on December 26 2005, 1:06PM | Read More | Comments (10)

How To Get Published In 12 Easy Steps

books Hardly a week goes by when I don't get an email, letter or request from an aspiring writer who wants to make a splash in the publishing world. I usually point them to some advice I wrote several years ago, but I realize that some of that information has now become dated. So as the beginning of the new year approaches, there's no time like the present to get started on that new book and get it published.

Why get started now? Because the new year brings new possibilities. I often tell people how easy it is to write a book in a year. If you simply write one page everyday for 365 days, by the end of the year you could have yourself a book. A page a day is not as easy as it sounds, but it's a much more manageable way of looking at the process than thinking of writing 300-400 pages in one sitting. So with the new year on the horizon, here now is my updated advice on how to get published in 12 easy steps.

Posted in books on December 27 2005, 2:12PM | Read More | Comments (13)

Jamaican Gays Fight Back

This has been a difficult year for gays and lesbians in Jamaica, but the year may be closing with a controversial and more rebellious note. The annual "Smirnoff Experience" showcase was interrupted on Christmas Eve by system operators, who muted the microphones during TOK's performance of their homophobic song, Chi-Chi Man. Maybe the gays in Jamaica are fighting back after all.

After group member Craig T realized what had happened, he told the audience: "Don't ever make your morals be compromised by cowardice." TOK's road manager, Steve Jones, later told the Jamaican Observer newspaper that the move represents an attempt to stifle artistic creativity. "All we are interested in is music. We love music and we aim to please, it's a good song, the crowd loved it. We are in no way inciting violence on anyone, it's just part of the act," Jones told the Observer.

Oh really? Here are the lyrics to the song. Keep in mind that "chi chi man" is a derogatory slang term for a gay man.

From dem a par inna chi chi man car
Blaze di fire mek we bun dem!!!! (Bun dem!!!!)
From dem a drink inna chi chi man bar
Blaze di fire mek we dun dem!!!! (Dun dem!!!!)

I'm sorry. I beg to differ with TOK. I've been to Jamaica, and I've seen the homophobia up close. Just last month, openly gay activist Lenford "Steve" Harvey, who ran a group called Jamaica AIDS Support for Life, was kidnapped, gay bashed and shot to death on the eve of World AIDS Day. Last year, Brian Williamson, Jamaica's most vocal advocate of LGBT rights, was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime. And according to Human Rights Watch, Jamaican police "actively support homophobic violence, fail to investigate complaints of abuse, and arrest and detain [men] based on their alleged homosexual conduct."

Posted in sexuality on December 28 2005, 12:55PM | Read More | Comments (30)

The Color Purple Comes To Broadway

I've now seen The Color Purple two times on Broadway, and each time I've been thoroughly entertained. It's an uplifting, inspiring and enjoyable piece of work. But be warned. Those who come to the Broadway show hoping to find the popular Steven Spielberg movie may be disappointed. From beginning to end, the theatre performance follows Alice Walker's original Pulitzer Prize-winning book, not the film.

To understand what The Color Purple achieves on stage, you might think back to another Broadway musical, The Producers. The two shows are nothing alike, but there's a scene in The Producers when Max Bialystock and his partner Leo Bloom approach a potential director to convince him to do their show. The director responds with timeless advice that somehow seems fitting for The Color Purple.

Posted in theater on December 29 2005, 1:55PM | Read More | Comments (5)

The Night George Met Tina

Ever since I was a young boy, I remember watching the Kennedy Center Honors on television. I had never seen a theatre quite so grand. Not even the famous Fox Theater in St. Louis seemed to compare to the beauty of the Kennedy Center. Dramatically lit at night along the banks of the Potomac River and seemingly covered in red velvet, the Kennedy Center was the epitome of elegance and class in my young midwestern mind. It was the place where presidents would go to respect and celebrate the arts, and it was named in honor of President John F. Kennedy, himself a defender and patron of the arts.

Years later, when I worked at the White House, I discovered one of the great perks of serving the president was the ability to sit in the presidential box at the Kennedy Center anytime when the boss was not there. I invited my mom and my friends and others for shows, dance performances and concerts and we sat in the box and sipped on the official champagne with the presidential seal stored in the refrigerator in the entry room.

Posted in politics on December 30 2005, 11:11AM | Read More | Comments (8)

Would You Advertise On This Site?

A 21-year-old college student from a small town in England has figured out a clever way to pay for school by running his own website. Alex Tew came up with the idea for his site, called the million dollar home page. He turned his home page into a virtual billboard with a million dots and sold them for a dollar a dot to anyone who wanted to put up their logo. A 10 by 10 dot square, roughly the size of a letter of type, costs $100, Reuters reports.

Posted in pop culture on December 30 2005, 12:03PM | Read More

The Last Night of The Year

It's that time of the year again. It's the last weekend, the last Friday, the last Saturday, the last everything of the year. It's time to clean up from 2005 and get ready for 2006. I'll be out celebrating the new year at Nathan and Nathan's big New Year's Bash here in the Big Apple. Hope you can join us.

In keeping with the end-of-the-year theme, this will be my last written entry of 2005. I have one more article (The Year In Pictures) coming next. It's no words. Just a lot of pictures from the year, so be sure to click on as many as you want to re-live the highs and lows of 2005. And last but not least, I want to thank everyone for all their support and encouragement this year. It's been a wonderful year. I look forward to seeing you again next year. Peace.

Posted in pop culture on December 30 2005, 2:28PM | Permalink | Comments (2)