Gay icon Barney Frank eyes high-profile retirement

BY STEVE PEOPLES, ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- Even in retirement, Barney Frank promises to antagonize the right wing.

The 72-year-old Massachusetts representative ends a storied congressional career in less than three weeks. In a tenure that spanned more than three decades, Frank has helped lead the civil rights debate as one of the first openly gay elected officials, crafted a financial reform bill designed to prevent another global crisis and become a liberal hero for his willingness to clash with conservative critics.

His days on C-SPAN may be almost over. And he has already moved out of his Capitol Hill office and Washington apartment. But this man will not go away quietly.

Frank has retained Hollywood super-agent Ari Emanuel to ensure he is a paid fixture on cable television, the lecture circuit, in bookstores - and maybe the occasional sitcom or Broadway show. He has already sent his agent two book proposals, one offering a recipe for future liberal success and the other a "semi-memoir" about the history of the gay rights movement. And he leaves Washington with a particular disdain for Fox News.

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Miami Herald illustration: Charlie Crist as weathercock

An odd -- and unintentionally funny -- illustration of former Gov. Charlie Crist ran today in The Miami Herald's Issues & Ideas section, headlined Why Charlie Crist should (and shouldn't) run for governor.

It's a nice illustration of Crist as weathercock. From Wikipedia:

A weather vane (or weathercock) is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind.

From Merriam-Webster:

weath·er·cock noun \-ˌkäk\

Definition of WEATHERCOCK

1 : a vane often in the figure of a cock mounted so as to turn freely with the wind and show its direction
2 : a person or thing that changes readily or often

Tens of thousands in Paris street for gay marriage

ASSOCIATED PRESS

PARIS -- Tens of thousands of people supporting the Socialist government's plan to legalize same-sex marriage and adoptions in France have marched in a Paris demonstration.

President Francois Hollande has said he would enact his "marriage for everyone" plan within a year of taking office last May. The text will go to parliament next month. But vocal opposition from religious leaders, some politicians and parts of rural France has divided the country.

Estimates of those in Sunday's peaceful march ranged from 60,000 to 150,000 with banners reading "A Gay Marriage Is Better Than A Sad One" or "Single, Free in Solidarity." The words "equality" and "choice" dominated the march of male and female couples, children and supporters.