South Carolina Mayor wonders: Could Obama be the Antichrist? Bailout agreement tentative. Google feels good about gay marriage, bad about Prop 8. Martial law in the US? Huh. Some conservatives not backing Palin. Wall Street not wicked popular. Chavez wants the bomb....

Britain creates new drug to combat obesity...dog obesity. Dear Abby supports gay marriage. A London judge has found nine lies in Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, orders disclaimer to air before being played in schools. The Empire State Building will glow green for the end of Ramadan this year. In China, there is a 95-year old woman growing a horn out of her forehead. Houston ISD is thinking of charging students (and their parents)......

This week marks the tenth anniversary of National Freedom to Marry week, and to celebrate, local groups Atticus Circle, Equality Texas, and The Right to Marry have organized an "illegal" marriage ceremony at City Hall this Saturday, February 20th. Gay and straight couples can show their support for legalizing gay marriage by participating in the reciting of vows at Austin City Hall. Interested parties can also show up at the Travis County Tax Assessor's Office......

Sunday. Usually, a quiet, contemplative day in the Blogosphere. But not here in the Ist-a-Verse. Nonono! Just look below and see all of the wild and crazy stuff our staffs are up to. In Austin, bands are beginning to confirm for SXSW and the rumor mill is up and running. Good thing, too, because we all know how much Austinites love live performances. Austin also found itself in the national spotlight, with Longhorn Legend......

Starting today (actually, you are probably missing some of it right now, so hurry up and finish reading) The Queer Students Alliance of The University of Texas at Austin will be kicking off their sixth annual Pride Week. Until next Monday, October 16th, the QSA will be holding events from early in the morning til late in the evening--from rallies, conferences, workshops, movies and an AIDS walk at Waterloo Park. The theme for this year's......

This has been a rough week for your -ist pals, though you wouldn't know it from the great posts all over the network. Plagued with server problems, our tech team (led by the great Neil Epstein) toiled around the clock to solve the glitches as they arose. Seriously, we've said, typed, and thought the phrase "server problems" more in the past week than we have for the last 35 years combined. Why not say it......

Now we know they were just slowly trying to make us dumber on the way to class as if we needed more help. Diesel exhaust proves to be an issue on the big yellow bus. Former Iraqui leader Saddam Hussein and his cohorts are faced with new charges; they are accused of and wlll be tried for genocide for the over 5000 killings in Halabja. Ex-Lieutenant Colonel Yousef al-Suwaileh won the Kuwaiti election on......

Starting tonight, and running this week only, sexy, socially-conscious performance artist Annie Sprinkle and her partner, experimental artist / professor (is that a great combo or what?) Elizabeth Stephens, are staging the US premiere of their current work, Exposed: Experiments in Love, Sex, Death, Art, at the Vortex. We're bringing it to your attention yet again because this show will sell out fast, and it's a unique opportunity to see a new work by......

Yesterday Texas became the 19th state with a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Prop 2 passed with an overwhelming majority across the state, Travis County being the only one to reject the proposition. Quite frankly, none of us are surprised by the results. Disappointed? Absolutely. Said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese [from Gayapolis] "Education is a long-term effort that cynical politics can never stop...These amendments are part of a long-standing effort by the......

Best Quote in The Statesman Ever When asked if opponents of the ban on same-sex marriage were considering bussing in voters against the ban, Director of No Nonsense in Texas Glen Maxey said people must be "smoking crack" if they thought this would work, calling it "illegal and immoral." We can't help but point out the irony that this is exactly what proponents of the ban think of gay marriage. (H)armless Fun or Psycho?......

We haven't gotten around to the weekend IST list - we're still hungover after last night's Le Tigre show at Emo's. Check back tomorrow. F R I D A Y in-store · Knife Party and Assacre at End of an Ear. 6pm [mp3: Assacre - I Feel That Gay Marriage Should] music · David Garza at Stubb's [mp3: David Garza - Eleven is Real] music · The Chapters, Vacation Gold, King Tears Duo, and Sumner......

While we're on the subject of gay marriage and pop idols this week, international diva Elton "That's Sir to You" John was in town yesterday showing his support for Andy Roddick's Foundation to harvest black market organs save the children. This came only a day after announcing plans to wed longtime partner David Furnish, which we're guessing won't take place anywhere near here. The Texas House of Representatives electing to ban gay marriage on the......

In an incredibly dissapointing vote of 101 to 29, Texas House lawmakers have passed a constitutional ammendment to ban gay marriage. HJR 6, the Defence of Marriage Act, basically states the following: Sec. 32. (a) Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman. (b) This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage. So,......