"The heat in the gay press is that I didn't sock him," said Elizabeth Birch responding to the above out of touch remarks by political pundit Pat Buchanan during an interview on Birch & Company that launched August 12th on the here! Gay Network.

In contrast to the controversial, uber conservative Chicago Sun Times columnist and TV political commentator Bob Novak who lost it on CNN last week (much to the glee of his detractors) while thrashing it out with fast-talking, Democratic squawk box with attitude James Carville, Birch remained in control of the sparring interview with the arch (make that a double) conservative.

"In person he is like a grandfather figure, but a scary one," continued Birch. She chose Buchanan in order not to fall into a pattern of predictable guests emphasizing her ongoing desire to understand what drives each person and perspective. "He showed up", added civil rights leader and Congressman Joe Lewis, "That was a gracious act".

Gracious act? The only one gracious here was the Congressman as Buchanan went on a biblical reference tour of the sinful ways of a gay lifestyle.

At the preview launch hosted by The Motion Picture Association of America viewers got an intimate take on feisty TV talk show host Rosie O'Donnell, the outspoken gay activist who was the show's inaugural guest. Her very candid interview not only displayed the star's determination for equal rights but also unveiled her vulnerabilities and the heartache she has endured under an unjust system.

The mother of three was particularly vocal about adoption rights. "The baby Bushes have done a lot of damage", said O'Donnell in reference to Florida laws which prohibits adoption by gay couples. "Explain Schiavo, when children of gays don't have basic rights."

Regarding her highly public law suit with the magazine of her namesake which began to tank when she 'came out' she said: "The lawsuit never would have happened if I weren't a lesbian."

Closing arguments: "If being gay is such a horrible sin it would have made the top ten," said Birch.

Well, gotta go now.....want to catch up on the anti-gay priest caught up in a sex scandal with his female worker.

"As rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral Monsignor Eugene Clark blamed gays for "destroying the church", now he's been named as "the other man" in a nasty divorce involving a woman who worked for the diocese," according to New York's 365Gay.com bureau chief Doug Windsor.

Clark's duties as a monsignor in the New York Archdiocese included regular appearances on the Catholic cable television network EWTN, on a show called "Relationships." He also worked as an editor of "When Conscience and Politics Meet: A Catholic View."

In 1999 Clark told a Catholic radio audience that gays are "the enemy of Christian marriage and Christian falling in love and all the tenderness that goes with that." In 2002 Clark blamed gays for the sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church. In a homily delivered from the pulpit at the cathedral Clark called homosexuality a "disorder," and said gay men should not be allowed to become priests. In a radio broadcast he said Hollywood was controlled by gays and their supporters advancing a "homosexual agenda". All this from Monsignor Eugene Clark, now caught up in his holey sex scandal according to Morris.

Now THAT will make the top ten. So that's all folks!

Guests included Tammy Haddad, Executive Producer of Hardball with Chris Matthews and her husband Ted Greenberg as well as Birch's longtime partner Hilary Rosen (second from the right in the photo).