It is very nice to know that our nation will be well represented at the talks in Copenhagen. I think this sends a clear sign to the rest of the globe that we are serious about making headway at the talks and working together to do something about climate change and other environmental issues. After years of hedging and stall tactics by the previous administration, I think the world needs to see this.
This is just a complete waste of time and money. It doesn't really matter if they do find some kind of collusion, which they won't. It doesn't even really matter if the entire environmental movement was corrupt and lying about global climate change being man made. We know it is happening, does it really matter what is causing it. The effect will be the same either way.
Everyone knows we have impacted and altered the world in fundamental ways and that we cannot continue on this unsustainable path. Most people are betting things won't get bad enough for them, within there lifetime, so they just continue forward on the same path. It is easier. It is profitable. It doesn't require work or hardship or changing anything.
We have plenty of problems to deal with that we know are caused by our existence and massive expansion. Over population, lack of fresh drinking water, food availability and sustainability, worldwide species loss, and massive deforestation are all man made environmental problems. Perhaps the GOP should work on those first, since they seem to be focused on man made problems, we are sure will be a problem.
"When we don't know each other as human beings, ignorance breeds misunderstanding, which breeds hate, which too often this year led to violence. We have to keep fighting the prejudices and stereotypes that underlie these acts." Joe Solmonese, HRC
It seems that whenever we change conventional notions or challenge those around us to except the differences among us, the flames of hatred get fueled a bit, resulting in more deaths, abuse, and mental torture. I am glad that George Steven Lopez Mercado's death will more than likely be prosecuted as a hate crime, the first of its kind. I am also very disappointed that it took lives of our youth and pieces of our community's future to make that a reality. Never forget them and their sacrifice.
In our world, it is too easy to give into hate and believe me all of us have the capacity to hate. Prejudice has the potential to exist in all our hearts. All of us have to fight these feelings and help others to do so as well. We have to fight ignorance and disconnection and replace them with empathy and compassion. This problem is enormous, but each of us has the ability to change that. Get to know your neighbors, mentor, teach, and raise the children in your life to know diversity. Mix up your life a bit, see different people, try different things; get out if your tiny box. Push your comfort zones and never forget to have compassion and learn to have empathy for all life.
Geoff from Life and Times of a Gay Guy has been able to work out the upload problems and the new podcast is now up on iTunes. Tune in to hear Geoff, Aunt Frannie, Kevin from The Lisp, hosting Eclectic Grooves, me doing a little commentary on this weeks View from Out Left, and much much more! Let me know what you think.
Was the ad that bad? I've seen lots of PETA propaganda, but this one is pretty tame compared what elsePETA has produced. I know the networks say they are hard up for cash, but it doesn't look that way when NBC is turning away a paying advertiser.
I agree with this article. You have to go with flavor and variety, not trying to emulate something that is not there, to have a successful vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner.
Stan has taken the full week off from work, which is unusual for him. He has a lot of time accumulated and he can only accrue a certain number of days before he starts to loose them. He realized the other day that he had lost three days over the last few months, as he did not take them off and he was at the max for time accumulation. So, we get to have some time together this week, which is nice, since we lost two weeks together when he was away traveling a few weeks ago.
Yesterday, we went over to Amanda and Aaron's to spend some time with them and with the kids. Aaron was busy building the raised beds for our Roots& Shoots project in the spring and Amanda was staining the wood for the trim work on the raised beds. They kids were helping them out as much as they could; they are getting better at that now that they are in school. The kids focused on Stan most of the time. They got to see me, while he was away a few weeks back, so I wasn't jealous. I talked with Amanda for most of our visit and Aaron had t leave for work shortly after we got there. We had dinner together and after the kids were in bed Amanda, Stan and I got a chance to catch up. We will get to see all of them them on Thursday, so it isn't like we have to wait long to see the four of them again. I'm bringing stuffed peppers for our gathering that day. We always have more than enough food and you can't beat the company at Aaron's parents, who are hosting Thanksgiving this year.
This coming weekend I will start to put up the many wreathes, swags, and garland, and start to put up the trees in each room. I generally start with the wreathes, then put up the garland and swags and then move on to each tree. I start in the living room and then work my way up the floors of the house. I also need to pick out the cards I am going use this year. I don't have to send out many holiday cards anymore, so it is more fun for me now and less of an obligation or chore that many people seem to feel it is. We won't have our holiday get together until the week before the solstice.
This morning I was out putting away the lawn ornaments and decorations, collecting and putting away pots and planters, raking the few remaining leaves in the yard, and swept the driveway and porches. Stan and I also installed insulation under the front box window. One of the foundation stones underneath it had fallen and we found out there wasn't insulation under the box window area at all, which explains some of the draft in the front of the house. Stan removed the stone(which was very heavy)crawled underneath, and put in spray foam in cracks and two other kinds of insulation under the floorboards of the box window, where it needed to be placed. I fetched tools, handed him what he needed, and we were able to complete that task in about three hours.
Because Stan has had off this week we have been able to give Katie and Nicholas longer walks and we we took them to run at the baseball field here in town. It is an semi-enclosed, fenced space and it is the only place nearby where we feel safe letting them loose to run. They are both very fast and we don't want to risk loosing either of them. Below is a video of the two of them playing and running a couple of months ago.
Daniel Allen is being charged and treated like as terrorist because of his HIV-positive status. Now I can understand you might be able to argue extra harm was intended by him because he knew of his status before his fight, but labeling him a deadly weapon or a a terrorist just doesn't make sense? I don't think so. Clearly this is yet another example of our overly litigious, sensationalized justice system running amok.
The new podcast should be out this evening from Life and Times of a Gay Guy. Tune in to hear Geoff, Aunt Frannie, Kevin from The Lisp, hosting Eclectic Grooves, me doing a little commentary on this weeks View from Out Left, and much much more!
"My name is Daniel Heagney, I'm 21 years old, a senior at Truman State University in Missouri, and would love to be the ambassador for Hopenhagen at the UN Climate Change Conference! Vote for me! I greatly appreciate your support!"
Daniel Heagney is in the lead to be the citizen ambassador for Hopenhagen at the UN Climate Change Conference. I've followed him on You Yube for a long time. Click on the link to see the other candidates and vote for the ambassador you want to send.
Somedays I feel like I feel like we live in the pages of 1984, and other days I'm no so sure. It all depends on how tech is used and who is using it. It also matters who is keeping track of it, storing it, and who enforces releasing it. We aren't going to slow the release of tech if we keep buying it and we won't keep our privacy if we keep giving information out to everyone. Is it worth giving up privacy to gain connection? Is it worth giving up free thinking in private to advance science and technology? Tech is neither good nor bad, but people are both. What are your thoughts?
I am very happy to see that at least this will get to the senate floor to be debated, though I'm not thrilled with this watered down, insurance industry friendly bill, it is better than nothing at all. This will still leave 15 million people uninsured and I doubt the rest with insurance will really have better choices or lower costs. Their isn't much of an incentive for the health care industry or insurance industry to change, because this bill is isn't going to make them change. I'm not completely sure this isn't simply an attempt to make it look like they are trying to do something. From the way things have been looking I've been much more willing to say that we are truly an oligarchy, as if I really need any help thinking that. If this affront of a health care bill doesn't pass I'll be sure we are in an oligarchy, one that is not even trying to hide its' existence any longer. At that point the gloves are off, and I'm not going to cut any of them any slack, any longer. I'm not going to pretend we live in a republic at if that isn't so. The time for waiting is over, the time for action has arrived!
What a dick! Rule #1, don't put a forward in a book that is not yours, without the authors consent. Rule #2, don't put a forward in that contradicts the book, when the author is not around to nail your lame ass. Rule #3, do not hand out tens of thousands of these books for free, without telling the unsuspecting recipients that the books have been altered before reprint. Kirk Cameron is a dick, but doesn't have a dick any more.
Kyle loves evolution, don't be messing with his "bible!"
Locked Up is only moderately good in technical merits and is equally stunted in character development and dialog, but what would you expect from such a low budget feature. Dennis is the lead character and is a quiet, introverted stud by nature, but is put into a correctional intuition for fraud. This is not a prison like anything I have ever seen or heard of, except on porn films, German sex camp might be a better name for it. Everyone around Dennis is hot, but the setup for the eventual dramatic climax is slow going. Sometimes you forget this is not a porn film and are grasping for anything that resembles a traditional movie to keep you interested. Mike, who is in prison for a long haul arrives in Dennis’ life and things take a turn for the better. Dennis, invites the sexy Mike to his “place” for a coffee and after some small talk on a few dates, they fall in love. They want to build a normal life, but hey, they are in prison, and there is no Starbucks or IKEA around, only Neo-Nazis. Dennis gets an early release and has to deal with being locked away from the man he loves, which drives him to the brink. Marcel Schlutt, who plays Dennis and Mike Sale, who plays Mike were pretty good and their interviews on the extras are worth watching, as are the deleted scenes, which seem to be racy bits edited out from the final cut. I would not tell anyone to watch this foreign gay drama/romance, but I would not tell you not to watch it either. 3 stars out of five, but just barely.
For a vampire film, The Fearless Vampire Killers, does not have substance you can sink your teeth into, which is the main liability for this film. It is not a spooky horror tale, but rather a fun spoof of classic screen scares, that is deliciously hilarious at times and comically satirical the rest of the time. Visually the film is beautiful, in its’ own bizarre way, with classic eastern European charm, magical outdoor sequences, and unusual costumes, décor, and sets. The moody music score keeps everything tied together and was great at accentuating each horror moment. The cast is excellent especially Jack MacGowran and Roman Polanski, as the bumbling vampire hunters. Their target resides in the hills of a distant, remote town. They travel there and are received and boarded at the local inn. Count von Krolock is the man they seek, and he has the local townspeople around his finger and fearful of his very existence. The men of the town are not bright and are helpless to do anything about the tyranny of the count. The ladies of the town have their hands full keeping track of their husbands and keeping them away from the young, beautiful woman of the town. One of the young ladies, played by Sharon Tate, is abducted by the by the count and the fearful vampire hunters pursue, not knowing what fate befalls them at the count’s castle. This film is severely dated and uses a lot physical humor and has an uncommon comical style similar to silent films, which many people will find hard to connect to. I liked this film, but his one is going to be a toss up for most, and I would not ask anyone to watch it unless they like slapstick comedy and classic horror. 3.5 stars our of 5
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen barely makes it to a good rating and I can clearly understand why so many people had problems with this movie. It is a visual spectacle that stuns you with action and beautifully rendered effects. It is pretty long, but you don’t get much of a chance to notice the time passing. The locations are inviting, the sets are scaled well, and the cinematography reels you in. You feel like you are right in the middle of every scene, fighting right next to the Decepticons and Autobots. Unfortunately, the filmmakers spent all of their time and money on the above features and neglected almost every other area of filmmaking for this summer titan. The actors are horrible in this and the characters that were created for them are hollow, stale carbon copies of what you would expect in a bad action film. Shia LaBeouf does nothing in this film to assuage his detractors, by constantly spouting drivel and never showing an ounce emotion. Megan Fox is obviously in scene after scene for two reasons, which reside on her chest. She acts more like a slutty model in the film, than the strong determined woman she should be. She takes every chance she can to pose and strut for the camera, as if she was auditioning for a Playboy centerfold. The script is riddled with holes and coincidences and the plot is ridiculously thin; I have seen less transparent rice paper. Michael Bay does not seem to take his job as director seriously, since many of the scenes are terribly mangled and obviously needed a much stronger hand to pull them together. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen can be a good ride,but don’t expect much from at all. Barely 3 stars out of 5.
Cash McCall was one of the films in the Natlaie Wood movie collection we recently purchased. It was not one we had seen before and it was about what I expected from a romantic comedy from this era. I really enjoyed it, but many people will not enjoy it nearly as much as I did. I have to be honest the romantic elements of the film are thin, the comedy is dry and very dated, and the drama is contrived. This film gives you a very idealistic, isolated view of the nation at the time. Family values, traditional paradigms, and WASP visions of home and marriage dominate many of the rom-com films of the fifties and sixties and this one is not any different. Natalie Wood and James Garner make this film and give it modern relevance it would not have without them. The supporting cast is wonderful and has many greats from the time including Dean Jagger, Nina Fox, E. G. Marshall, and Henry Jones. Natalie Wood is Lory Austen in the film, a young and up and coming illustrator and the daughter of a well respected inventor and plastics manufacturer, who decides to sell his plastics company. James Garner is Cash McCall, a young, successful businessman, whose character is in question, as he has built his fortune by buying, retooling, and then selling companies. Cash McCall decides to buy Lory’s father’s company. It is fun to watch the predictable story take its’ odd path and watch the Lory/Cash romance unfold, though the romance is a bit strange. The costumes in Cash McCall highlight the styles and paint a beautiful fashion snapshot of the time. The sets are scaled well, fit each character like a glove, and reflect high décor prevalent in pop culture of the time. If you like romance films from the fifties or early sixties, give this one a try. I did and I do not regret it at all. 4 stars out of 5
Love Life was a good romantic, indie drama that lacks the polish and shine of bigger budget films. It is the story of a man, and woman who have built a open, loveless marriage of lies, hiding the fact that both are gay from everyone, but themselves. Joe is a macho guy who was an athlete, before an injury forced him into coaching, but he is alright with his new line of work. Mary, his wife, does everything to appease her mother, who has money, and who does everything to make her daughter unhappy. Their open relationship brings two passionate people into their lives and they give Joe and Mary the perspective they need to find some happiness. The actors are good and the camera work is reasonably good, considering the budget. I am going to warn you, the lack of dialogue in some scenes, the spliced scenes, and the symbolic elements are going to be hard for most people to connect with, but I liked that about this film. Something about the sound is not right in parts of the film and everything about this film feels minimalist. Maybe that was due to budget, or perhaps that was intentional to highlight the symbolic elements? I would only recommend Love Life to fans of low budget gay dramas. 3 star out of 5
In a time when we feel wronged for not having equal rights to our straight counterparts, let's not forget that we have brothers and sisters that are suffering in ways we have never imagined, outside our borders, around the world. Uganda is about where we were in the US, with our fight, fifty to sixty years ago, with a few, more alarming/extreme punishments added. Read the article to see what I mean. Never forget our brothers and sister elsewhere. The world is a much harsher, unkind, and dangerous place for them.
Unfortunately, as good as this schism may seem, and and happy as I am for the support for us within the Lutheran church, the underlying problems that caused this break still exist with the people who are forming the new conservative Lutheran segment. This is happening in with many religions, all over the world and this cannot be good for the long term. We need to open dialogue, find common ground to work from and heal our collective souls, not separate them, not that any of what I just said means anything to a conservative. This is a temporary fix, that will probably come back to cause problems for us later, if history repeats itself, which it has a tendency to do.
There is no simple answer to why people hate. If we are ever to learn how to keep hate at bay, we need to know the creature we seek to domesticate. The information we hold about hate is outmoded and inaccurate and if we are ever to be successful in soothing this aggressive human emotion I think we need to correct that.
If you have not seen this series you should. You can learn more by going to http://www.fairfoodproject.org/ . The site is overwhelmed right now, but try back later. It is important to know where our food comes from and how we treat the people doing work for us.
The new details in this article won't be new to anyone following the debate on national health care. The Senate version of the bill doesn't live up to the expectations of my agenda, not did the house bill, however I never expected them to. Both are about what I expected, but the most important thing is that passage of these bills will bring health care to millions of American who do not have it and that is may highest priority. Since the road ahead has been mapped out by both sides of congress, the next showdown in this battle is getting the Senate to talk about the bill and vote on it. That is not going to be easy. We need all of the Democrats to be in the same line on this one, to oppose Republicans, who will most likely be in their own opposing line. In the coming weeks, put as much pressure as you can on your elected representatives on both sides of congress. We need to let them know how we feel and do it constantly until there is a vote. I think we can have national health care, but only if we fight for it. If you don't know who your official are or how to contact them, go to votesmart.org, the info is available there. If you don't think this is a GLBT issue you are being terribly short sighted. Health care coverage is an issue for everyone.
I'm an uber-liberal that uses my blog mainly for social and political commentary and as a jump resource for news, web pages, and information I want to spread. I also post reviews of films, books, and other media I think are worth reading, seeing, or using as a resource. Gather your own ideas and don't let anyone else tell you who or what to love.
I gave up the corporate world, after working with Neostar Retail Group and AT&T for a third of my life. Now, I focus on my art, poetry, and various writing activities. I am also a landlord, which brings in a little income. Stan and I have been working on our house little by little. She was built in the 1870's and needed a lot of TLC, but we just finished a remodel which doubles our square footage and modernizes much of the house.
First and foremost I am an environmentalist, a vegetarian, an animal rights advocate, a secular humanist, and a retired GLBT activist. I am a spiritual person; most of my beliefs are pulled from atheism, Wicca, and Buddhism. Gardening is a passion of mine and have re-landscaped most of the yard at our home and I am helping our friends reclaim their yards. I love to paint in both watercolor and acrylic and draw using chalk and soft pastels. I love to write and specialize in commentary, poetry, and gay erotica. I also love to read just about anything except romance novels and westerns. I am on the computer quite a bit and I see it as an extension my art and writing. Stan, my partner of nine+ years, is the love of my life. We drive each other crazy sometimes, but if the world were coming to an end there is no person I'd rather spend my last moments with. When we aren't working on the house or garden we are normally spending time with our many animal companions and friends.
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