Afternoon Edition - 9/16/05

Mortality Revisited
As I watched my brother Carlos laying in his hospital bed last night, a large tube imbedded into his left lung, I realized how vivid the issue of our own mortality is. Carlos turns 32 next month and the ravages of illness have made him take a look at the reality that tomorrow is not promised. Thank you to Caspar and J’Moo for stopping by the hospital last night. Carlos felt supported, loved and remembered to have us all there. The tube is expected to remain in his lung for approximately 4-7 days in the hopes of removing all fluid from the area.

Shaq Attack on Gay Bashers
Shaquille O’Neal has completed training to become a Miami Beach reserve police officer. Insiders say O’Neal plans to become a Sheriff following his NBA career. His training paid-off BIG time on September 11, when Michael Gonzalez, 18 and his friend Frank Ortiz, 20, were driving down Washington Avenue in South Beach and noticed two gay men walking hand-in-hand. Gonzalez called out “You fucking faggots” from the car window, as he and Ortiz drove by. Ortiz then stopped the car allowing Gonzalez to get out and throw a bottle at the two gay men, hitting one in the back. One of the gay men chased the car and took down a tag number, but O’Neal happened to witness the incident and followed the Honda to Palm Island where he radioed for help. An off-duty officer was assisted by an on-duty officer and Gonzalez and Ortiz were arrested. The two were charged with aggravated battery, assault and a hate crime. The hate crime factor will play in attaining a stiffer sentence. This is a slam-dunk for O’Neal who, through his publicist, said he wishes to not comment on his police work at this time.

Survey Says
The National Center for Health Statistics released their survey data relating to sex and sexuality for American folks 18-44 years of age. The survey showed that 12% of male teens and 10% of female teens, 15-19 years old, had had heterosexual oral sex, but not vaginal intercourse. Although you get a load of boasting from people, the truth is that males 30-44 years old reported an average of 6-8 female partners in their lifetimes, while women in the same age bracket reported four partners. Only three percent of males reported having any same sex activity, while four percent of females reported having participated in “rug munching.” Ultimately 6% of the men and 11% of the females surveyed admitted to having a same sex encounter in their lifetime – remarkable since only 2.3% of the men survey said they were homosexual. On a similar page, 92% of heterosexual men said they were attracted to “only females,” while 86% of the heterosexual women said they were attracted to “only males.” A wake up call to the heterosexual population was the stat that showed only 14% of men who identified as straight was tested for HIV, while 29% of men who had any male-on-male encounters was tested. Worst even, stats showed that heterosexual men only used condoms 36% of the time, while their gay counterparts used condoms 91% of the time.

On Blast
Should a man, who is in a committed relationship but engages in an affair, be trusted to be honest with the woman he is cheating with? What message can be gathered by the affair? Can there be a future with a man you met through an affair?

Keep passin’ the open windows…