I was back on the new LGBT podcast "Gay Street Beat" this week for their latest edition and wanted to share it with all of you!

We now know that the National Rifle Association will be joining Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin for Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally at the Lincoln Memorial...

NEW YORK — (AP) The cover photo for Sarah Palin's new book is a portrait in red, white, blue and gray.

The Alaska ex-governor and former Republican vice presidential candidate is photographed in close-up, wearing a gray sweater and American flag pin, which matches her flag bracelet. Her book, "America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag," comes out in November.

HarperCollins, which also published Palin's million-selling "Going Rogue," revealed the cover design Thursday.

More on Sarah Palin

PHOENIX — Opponents of Arizona's immigration crackdown went ahead with protests Thursday despite a judge's ruling that delayed enforcement of most the law, and dozens of people in Phoenix were arrested after peacefully confronting officers in riot gear.

Gov. Jan Brewer called U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton's Wednesday's decision halting the law "a bump in the road," and her spokesman said they'd appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco later Thursday.

Outside the state Capitol, hundreds of protesters began marching at dawn, gathering in front of the federal courthouse where Bolton issued her ruling on Wednesday. They marched on to the office of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has made a crackdown on illegal immigration one of his signature issues.

At least eight protesters approached a police line and allowed themselves to be arrested. A group of about two dozen protesters then sat down in the middle of the street or refused to leave, and police arrested them as well.

Earlier, three people were detained at the courthouse after apparently entering a closed-off area. Former state Sen. Alfredo Gutierrez, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2002, was among them.

Marchers chanted "Sheriff Joe, we are here, we will not live in fear," and among the crowd was a drummer wearing a papier-mache Sheriff Joe head and dressed in prison garb.

Arpaio vowed to go ahead with a crime sweep targeting illegal immigrants. It was Phoenix police who made most the early arrests, but other protests were planned later in front of a county jail.

"My deputies will arrest them and put them in pink underwear," Arpaio said, referring to one of his odd methods of punishment for prisoners. "Count on it."

Arizona is the nation's epicenter of illegal immigration, with more than 400,000 undocumented residents. The state's border with Mexico is awash with smugglers and drugs that funnel narcotics and immigrants throughout the U.S., and supporters of the new law say the influx of illegal migrants drains vast sums of money from hospitals, education and other services.

The ruling was anxiously awaited in the U.S. and beyond. About 100 protesters in Mexico City who had gathered at the U.S. Embassy broke into applause when they learned of the ruling via a laptop computer. Mariana Rivera, a 36-year-old from Zacatecas, Mexico, who is living in Phoenix on a work permit, said she heard about the ruling on a Spanish-language news program.

"I was waiting to hear because we're all very worried about everything that's happening," said Rivera, who phoned friends and family with the news. "Even those with papers, we don't go out at night at certain times there's so much fear (of police). You can't just sit back and relax."

In New York City, about 300 immigrant advocates gathered Thursday near the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan.

New York City Councilman Jumaane Williams, a first-generation Caribbean-American, told the crowd: "We won a slight battle in Arizona, we've got to continue with the war."

In Los Angeles, about 200 protesters invaded a busy intersection west of downtown Los Angeles.

Police shut down the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Highland Avenue and diverted traffic away after demonstrators moved into the street and sat down at about 10 a.m. Thursday.

The protesters chanted, "These are our streets" during the raucous demonstration. Police say there have been no arrests.

Bolton indicated the government has a good chance at succeeding in its argument that federal immigration law trumps state law. But the key sponsor of Arizona's law, Republican Rep. Russell Pearce, said the judge was wrong and predicted the state would ultimately win the case.

In her temporary injunction, Bolton delayed the most contentious provisions of the law, including a section that required officers to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws. She also barred enforcement of parts requiring immigrants to carry their papers and banned illegal immigrants from soliciting employment in public places – a move aimed at day laborers that congregate in large numbers in parking lots across Arizona. The judge also blocked officers from making warrantless arrests of suspected illegal immigrants.

"Requiring Arizona law enforcement officials and agencies to determine the immigration status of every person who is arrested burdens lawfully present aliens because their liberty will be restricted while their status is checked," said Bolton, a Clinton administration appointee who was assigned the seven lawsuits filed against Arizona over the law.

Other provisions that were less contentious were allowed to take effect Thursday, including a section that bars cities in Arizona from disregarding federal immigration laws.

Kris Kobach, the University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor who helped write the law and train Arizona police officers in immigration law, conceded the ruling weakens the force of Arizona's efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants. He said it will likely be a year before a federal appeals court decides the case.

"It's a temporary setback," Kobach said. "The bottom line is that every lawyer in Judge Bolton's court knows this is just the first pitch in a very long baseball game."

Opponents of the law said the ruling sends a strong message to other states hoping to replicate the law. Lawmakers or candidates in as many as 18 states say they want to push similar measures when their legislative sessions start up again in 2011.

"Surely it's going to make states pause and consider how they're drafting legislation and how it fits in a constitutional framework," Dennis Burke, the U.S. attorney for Arizona, told The Associated Press. "The proponents of this went into court saying there was no question that this was constitutional, and now you have a federal judge who's said, 'Hold on, there's major issues with this bill.'"

But a lawmaker in Utah said the state will likely take up a similar laws anyway.

"The ruling ... should not be a reason for Utah to not move forward," said Utah state Rep. Carl Wimmer, a Republican from Herriman City, who said he plans to co-sponsor a bill similar to Arizona's next year and wasn't surprised it was blocked. "For too long the states have cowered in the corner because of one ruling by one federal judge."

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press Writers Michelle Price, Paul Davenport and Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix, and Sara Kugler Frazier in New York.

More on Arizona Immigration Law

Big Oil is like a pusher who wants to sell us one more hit. Our oil addiction is preventing us from finding clean energy solutions that could stimulate our economy and make us world leaders in clean energy technologies.

LeBron James' divorce with Cleveland just seems to get uglier and uglier.

Last weekend, DJ Fig from the Akron radio station Mix 94.1 apparently saw LeBron James in Las Vegas. Fig says he pulled out his camera to take a picture of King James.

He allegedly tried to get LeBron's attention by invoking his hometown with the message "Akron still loves you," but according to one of DJ Fig's friends, James smiled -- and flipped off the Akron DJ.

Fig says he tried a different approach when he saw James again. The DJ claims that he simply told James he was from Akron and wanted a photograph. But James allegedly ignored his hometown DJ.

DJ Fig contacted the NBA and is awaiting an apology from James, according to fox8.com. Scroll down to watch a video report from the Fox station, including a photo from the encounter.

WATCH: (via Out of Bounds)

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Rep. Alan Grayson on the STEPHANIE MILLER SHOW July 29, 2010 FaceTheGrayson.small.pngClick on the soundclip from this week's FACE THE GRAYSON below to hear Congressman...

Calmer about this war than the one in Viet Nam? I wonder why. ***** Soldiers' enemies include the people who send them. Sound familiar?...

Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of high-end brand Proenza Schouler talked to Grazia about fall trends and Racked has the scoop. Hernandez said, "We work on Broadway near Topshop and are so over seeing all those young girls showing so much skin." Us, too.

Hernandez also talked about money, remarking, "I often wonder, sometimes I think the people who buy our clothes live in a parallel universe. Hell, we can't even afford our clothes." At least they're honest!

More on Fashion

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is a happy woman. The ruling yesterday is a political Godsend for the governor and the state's slate of staunchly anti-immigrant Republican candidates.

Professor Neve Gordon of Ben Gurion University in Israel witnessed the destruction of an Israeli Bedouin village earlier this week. Apparently, the pogrom is...

This post originally appeared at Campaign for America's Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture. I am a Fellow with CAF. Dear Senate Majority Leader,...

Dating at 40-something. I never thought I would be here, but after the demise of two long-term relationships over the past 20 years I now found myself struggling to make my way through the dating world, once again.

City foresters will begin work this morning to remove 19 trees that were destroyed or damaged Tuesday night at Spring Canyon Community Park in southwest Fort Collins.

On Wednesday, many of the trees were bent in half, their trunks hacked part way and then broken. Others lay on the ground, severed.

Fifth-generation grocer Hilaire Dubertrand Lanaux III (Trey for short) is walking me through the kitchen of Langensteins grocery store to show where they will be...

After more than 30 years of bachelorhood, I recently got married to my beautiful wife, Jana. Instead of watchingSportscenter, I now find myself on the couch next to my wife "enjoying" the The Bachelorette.

The Starlite Lounge, one of Brooklyn's oldest gay bars and possibly the first black-owned gay bar in Brooklyn, has been having rough times for about a year now. After the building came under new ownership this past December, there was a petition to landmark the building and protect it from demolition.

More on NYC Real Estate

Members of the Senate decided today to put politics over progress by blocking movement on the Small Business Jobs Act (H.R. 5297) when it came...

All right, New York, we need to talk. There's a reason that I moved here, and it wasn't because I have some inchoate desire to...

Nelson Mandela has lived his life to the ideals of love and unity. I hope that he still has the time and the will to declare his intentions for his name and legacy.

At last! The best excuse for the mistaken "war" in Afghanistan is "nation building." Rick Stengel, editor of Time, finally identified nation building as the...

Organizations seem unwilling to donate the one thing Haitian hospitals say they desperately need: Money that can be spent at their discretion, for things like salaries, fuel for the generator, and oxygen.

Why has the story of the UN's founding never made it into the cinematic arena? The story of the UN's creation is an extraordinarily dramatic...

On the Thailand-Burma border, Dr. Cynthia Maung's Mae Tao Clinic has for 21 years managed to care for over 250,000 semi-permanent refugees while also providing quiet cross-border assistance to those who need it.

The Arizona immigration law will take effect Thursday with an appeal likely. Stan Garnett, the Boulder County District Attorney who is running for attorney general of Colorado, was asked about such legislation.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A new poll shows Californians are split between the Democratic and Republican candidates in the contests for governor and U.S. Senate.

And a large number of voters are still undecided in both races.

The Public Policy Institute of California poll released Wednesday shows 37 percent of likely voters support Democrat Jerry Brown for governor while 34 percent support Republican Meg Whitman. Nearly one in four voters are undecided.

It also shows 39 percent of likely voters support Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer while 34 percent support Republican challenger Carly Fiorina, with 22 percent undecided.

The poll surveyed 2,502 California residents from July 6 to July 20 and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

More on California Governor Race

Although I might be called names regardless of my conduct, I get better results and earn more respect when I am diplomatically assertive.

Anne Rice, the bestselling novelist most popularly known for "Interview with the Vampire" and her other creepy vampire novels, announced on Wednesday via Facebook that she has officially renounced Christianity. It's a bold move for the author who has become well-known for her vehement religiosity; the majority of her frequent tweets are related to religion in some way. The author has also recently launched a new series of novels about angels, which debuted in October 2009 with "Angel Time."

Rice declared on her Facebook account that she is "an outsider" in the Christian community:

I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life.

Rice affirmed that though she has decided to leave the Christian institution, she "remain[s] committed to Christ as always."

(via GalleyCat)

Through the blare of screeching feedback from portable translation headsets and microphones, unionized bank workers from Brazil, England, Chile, Germany, and Uruguay are encouraging American...

My fellow New Yorkers: I write to you today because it has recently come to my attention that certain concerns have arisen about the diversity.

We all know that working out can be a total pain. After a long day at the office or a late-night of carousing with friends, the morning motivation to hit the gym is usually nowhere to be found. But what if you had an awesome outfit and some really stellar gym-rat gear to inspire you while chiseling those abs? Whether you're headed for a dip in the pool or a date with the Downward Dog, we've got some seriously inspiring goodies to push you through the gym doors. With stuff this cool, the gym is bound to feel like home in no time.

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I met a wonderful woman at a senior homeless facility that was recently opened by State of Utah. Marian was homeless in Reno, then lived in a shelter, before going into the new facility.

Nine of the ten former and current commanders of America's nuclear forces have now told the Senate that it is time to approve a new...

MOUNT CARROLL, Ill. — Authorities say two young workers died and another is in serious condition after becoming trapped inside a grain bin in northwestern Illinois.

The Carroll County sheriff's department says 19-year-old Alejandro Pacas and 14-year-old Wyatt Whitebread were pronounced dead Wednesday night.

A hospital spokeswoman says 20-year-old William Piper is in serious condition Thursday.

Early Wednesday, rescue workers cut holes in the bin and drained thousands of pounds of corn to pull the men from the bin in Mount Carroll, about 120 miles west of Chicago.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration spokesman Scott Allen said Thursday the accident was "very preventable," and that Whitebread was illegally working at age 14.

Haasbach LLC, which owns the bin, did not return calls seeking comment.

Campaign strategists can get a good idea about your political preferences just by looking at the brand of your smart phone.

A new study by Tulchin Research, a polling and strategic consulting firm, has recently shown that the majority of Californians carrying iPhones support Jerry Brown in the race for governor while those pecking away on Blackberries are more likely to support Meg Whitman.

More on California Governor Race

"I get no respect," was the favorite line of the late comedian, Rodney Dangerfield. Media blasts notwithstanding, the bottom line here is that gold, widely thought of as a safe-haven investment, clearly merits respect.

On Wednesday, the House Committee on Small Business held a hearing entitled, "Oversight of the Small Business Administration and its Programs," which focused on longstanding...

Emily Factor is adorable. Not always the most prominent quality you notice in budding L.A. fashion designers, but none-the-less this native Angeleno is just that.

Let's be honest: Guns are made for a purpose. People buy guns to have the option of killing someone should the desire or need arise.

This is a guest post by Greg Justice, the World's Most Interesting Intern. It is cross-posted from Cisco.com: The Platform. "Always read something that will...

Essence magazine, a lifestyle and fashion publication for black women has hired a new fashion director. The new woman in charge of dictating style to black women, Ellianna Placas, is white.

Sad to say, but boxing news this summer has been absorbed with the question of whether or not Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather were...

With the advent of sites like Kiva, the popularity of microlending is spreading, and may soon rival nonprofit donations as the prominent method of supporting those in developing nations.

The Kiva.org process is simple: ambitious entrepreneurs in other nations have profiles with a listing of how much money they'll need to start or grow their business; these loans range from $100 to several thousand dollars. That money is then repaid when available.

Microlending has been so successful overseas, that it's starting to work for small business owners in the U.S., especially during the recession.

As The New York Times details, most American banks tend not to make loans of less than $50,000 -- the risk simply outweighs the potential profits. Though the interest rates for microlenders can be higher than that of a traditional bank, the lendee gets more time to repay the loan. The objective can often surprise people, according to microlending pioneer Muhammad Yunus.

"It's an unheard of concept," he says in the upcoming documentary To Catch A Dollar. "A bank which lends money not to lend money, but to help people."

An official selection at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, To Catch A Dollar presents the successes of microlending, and the trouble that Yunus' Grameen Bank may find in bringing the practice to the U.S.

WATCH the trailer:

If you've benefited from a microloan or know someone who has, HuffPost Impact wants your story. E-mail us at impact@huffingtonpost.com with the subject "Microlending Story" and you could be featured on Impact!

After Wednesday's ruling that parts of the Arizona immigration law were blocked, politicians quickly reacted to the news.

The law's supporters generally decried the ruling and promised to appeal. While President Obama has been silent on the issue, opponents such as Governor Bill Richardson (D- N.M.) considered the ruling a victory, albeit temporary.

The Huffington Post has accumulated some notable reactions to the ruling. What was your reaction?

The unblocked parts of the law go into effect today.

More on Arizona Immigration Law

For several days now, Senate Republicans have ridiculed their Democratic counterparts for prioritizing campaign finance legislation over a bill that would benefit small businesses, arguing that Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was putting electoral advantages over jobs for everyday people.

On Tuesday, the DISCLOSE Act failed to get the needed votes for cloture, in the process providing the Senate the time needed to move on to other business. But when leadership brought a revised version of the small business bill to the floor on Thursday morning, they were met with united Republican opposition.

Despite complaining about the delay in consideration, Republicans filibustered the measure by a vote of 58 (in favor of cloture) to 42 (against). GOP leadership argued that it wasn't against the aims of the bill per se. They objected mainly to Reid's refusal to allow consideration of amendments to the legislation.

"It's not going to die," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spokesman Don Stewart, who noted that another vote could be held as early as today. "We just want to have amendments considered. They made a start, allowing three -- so we're making progress."

But as the GOP noted when chastising the consideration of DISCLOSE, the window for considering legislation is close to closing. As it stands now, Democrats are set to put energy legislation on the legislative calendar Friday and consider the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court next week. After that, they will head out of town for August recess. Allowing a lengthy amendment process could derail the remainder of what the party was hoping to consider.

The other major tenet of GOP criticism is that that the bill, which has been under consideration since late June, has moved far away from its original conception. Speaking on the floor, McConnell bemoaned the fact that "over a billion dollars in agriculture spending" has been added to the text. That said, there are fairly substantive bipartisan components to the legislation, which would eliminate capital gains taxes for investment in small firms, create a Small Business Lending Fund to underwrite loan through community banks and create a credit initiative for small business to help meet state budget shortfalls. Reid, moreover, has offered the chance to consider several GOP amendments already, and could well open the window for more.

The drama, which seems likely to extend throughout the day, is not only a reflection of just how ground-down the procedural elements of the Senate have become. It also shows how difficult it has been for Democrats to push forward on economic recovery -- which, in concept, has bipartisan support but always seems to come up a bit short when it comes to a roll call.

"Eighty-one percent of the jobs lost in America are from small business," said Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.). "So when the other side complains and complains and just flaps and flaps all day long about it's a jobless recovery, we put a bill on the floor to creates jobs for small business and they say no... They can color it, paint it any way they want, that's what it was."

More on Small Business

Madmen star Christina Hendricks appeared on KTLA's morning show to discuss her Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in A Drama, but anchor Brian McFayden had a tough time staying focused after Hendricks makes a passing comment about taking a bath.

Watch the awkwardness unfold!

 

Today's announcement of the newest X PRIZE Foundation competition comes at a time when Americans are dismayed and frustrated by the messy, uncoordinated clean up...

The Time magazine's cover story this week arrives with a graphic cover image next to the title, "What Happens If We Leave Afghanistan." It shows...