11.30.2008

scifi retro

wonder if this will be any good?

11.19.2008

Taxation without Representation is Tyranny

THIS says it, succinctly, and with eloquence (!)

Hmmm.. what would be the modern equivalent of the Boston Tea Party?

11.17.2008

Gee, I Love the Internet.



I went to graduate school at Georgia Tech with the red head in the above video... I haven't seen him since i bumped into him at a gay bar named the Heretic in Atlanta, more than 10 years ago. Apparently he is doing a gig in NOLA as a videographer/design critic/culture snob! I miss Brad, wish we hadn't fallen out of touch.

What About Our Equal Rights?

HERE is the article that appeared today in our local newspaper, the Athens News. Thank goodness they didn't use a photo of me! The print edition might have more photos though, i'll have to check...

11.16.2008

Power to the People!

We know two gay couples who have been together for some time, but in which 1/2 of the equation is not an American citizen, one couple in Missouri and one here in Ohio. The hassle of visas, citizenship issues, traveling to satisfy the system, and even having to spend some amount of time apart--all would be a non-issue if these guys could marry.

Even though Steven and i share alot of responsibility--on mortgages and debt, in taking care of his mother, in maintaining a household, in life insurance benefits--we would be considered less than strangers by staffers in a hospital if something catastrophic happened to the other.

Even if we were totally type A and had an attorney solve some issues legally--power of attorney, living wills, etc.--it is virtually impossible to impart the more than 200 benefits of living as man and wife, to man and man or woman and woman, solely through legal means.

And even if we could, it would still be separate but equal. It would still be Jim Crow for Queers.

And i'm sick of hearing the argument that you can't "redefine" marriage willy-nilly. Well, if we hadn't been continuously evolving marriage incrementally--willy nilly--over time, our President-elect's parents marriage would have been illegal. His marriage to Michelle Obama would be illegal. Martin Luther King's marriage to Coretta Scott King would have been illegal. And a woman's right to be co-equal, to not be viewed as property, and to divorce would be illegal.

Some great scenes, signs, and spirits from yesterday's day of awakening:




































If you'd like to discern where these are from, click the image to enlarge and look at the url for a clue!

Press Coverage of Saturday's Protests

Our local newspaper was at our Saturday rally for Gay Marriage, and not 1 but TWO reporters from the A News clicked my pic and asked me why i was there and what it was all about. Stupid me, the first thing that fell out of my mouth was the ubiquitous quote from NETWORK "We're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it anymore." Who knows what else i said, i'm a little worried to see the paper on Tuesday when it comes out.

Anyhoo, you can go HERE to see an amalgam of links to all the media coverage across the land. Is your city or town represented? Why not send a letter to editor of your local paper, asking them if they covered your city's event, and why not run a story on it?

Pictures from Yesterday (and more)



Nice Logo

11.15.2008

Ready for Duty

Someone Seems to Like the New Fireplace!


ppprrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrr rrr r rrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrr rrrrrrr rrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrr rrr rr rrrrrrr rrrrr rrrrrrrrrrr

11.14.2008

Debut of the HearthGlo

From the look of this old Hearthglo fireplace heater, I think it is a good 10 - 15 years beyond the era our house was built in (mid-twenties craftsman story-and-a-half bungalow), but i LOVE it in our glossy white fireplace. We don't think the glossy white fireplace surround is orginal either, it looks to me that it was added in the 50s or 60s. Were it original, it would have the same look of the house's Sears kit millwork, such as our 5 panel rail & stile doors, the columns in antis, or the stair parts. They all have real, inset panels; this fireplace just has moulds to emulate that. And i bet it is not the same oak under all the paint, hence the glossy white.

A man named Charlie Brown came and fixed the gas line, put in new valves, etc. and got it all set up for us. It's so nice to have a working fireplace again.







Our old house in Atlanta had a glossy white fireplace of an entirely different ilk, with gas logs that we used all winter long. We are fond of this bungie, even so, we miss the sixties novelty we had before. The old house had this fireplace in the kitchen, with a big sloping ceiling, 4 large skylights, and my slightly kitsch, spray-painted-black Zsa Zsa chandelier. I took the fox furs that once belonged to my Aunt Connie and my Grandmother Banky that once decorated it, but left the chandelier itself behind.



This picture was taken the day we left the old house, about three and a half years ago now.

11.13.2008

Thank You Jerry Sanders

You are a friend, indeed. Jerry Sanders is the Mayor of San Diego.

Wonder what bigotted homophobes like Tony Perkins (see previous post) think of this:



Thanks to David at GLITTERINGSTEW for posting this.

This man's open, honest, and as David said, embarrassing emotion is astounding, for a politician (is that embarrassment coming from the wife's 180 degree lack of emotion? Or is she on a Stepford trip?). Thank you, Jerry Sanders, for speaking from your heart, and for recognizing that this is not a political issue. Thank you for doing the right thing. Thank you for being able to see the needs of others beyond yourself. Thank you for understanding what equality truly is, and for reminding us all of the farce that is "separate, but equal." Thank you for standing up for us. You are on the right side of history.

Thank You Dan Savage

You are a friend indeed. And so are you Whoopi.



I love the part where Dan says to Tony Perkins "You take my rights away, and i'm interrupting you. Who's really suffering here?"

And Perkins with his "achieve a greater good" bullshit about public policy, insisting that all kids need a mom and dad. I wish Dan had said he has a 11 year old son that he's raised for the past 11 years with his male partner, Terry. I might also add that he wrote a perfectly lovely book about the process, called The Kid. Hardly anyone i know was raised with one mom and one dad. I have been lucky enough to have TWO other moms in addition to my birth mom, and now with Steven's mom here i have a total of FOUR. And Steven spent a lot of time as a kid without his mom and dad during the Cultural Revolution, staying with aunts, neighbors, friends, while his parents were away for long periods. I'm sick to death of these religious bigots--ike the Morman Church--hiding behind their bibles pretending they are for "the greater good" while they are spewing hate, bigotry, and discrimination, and passing judgement on me, and my family. The part where Perkins says "it's not about 2 moms, 2 dads, 3 dads, 3 moms" makes me extremely angry, the way he so arrogantly dismisses anyone that is a part of a family that is made up of more than one mom and one dad. I've got news for you Perkins: you are going straight to hell. Dan also wrote another book called Skipping Towards Gomorrah about the hypocrisy of people like Perkins who publicly whisper love and christian values and privately shout bigotry and discrimination thinly veiled as concern for our young.

We Will Be There!

Will you? Leave a comment and let me know!

11.12.2008

Giving to Love :: Susan Burgess

Susan Burgess, a professor at Ohio University, gave $100 to the NO on Proposition 8 campaign in California. According to THIS database, no other contributions from my town were recorded. Thank you, Susan, for recognizing bigotry, for giving to love, for supporting my partner and I and our family, and for rejecting hate.

Look up ANYONE ANYWHERE or see how an entire town or zip code came down on this issue.

As HOMER says, why not take a look and post the names of the people who Gave-to-Hate and those who Gave-to-Love on your blog?

11.11.2008

Protect Marriage :: Prohibit Divorce

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Sign the petition HERE

11.10.2008

Thank You Keith Olbermann

You are a friend indeed:



Oh, and Keith, that lady you work with everyday and have been fawning over--yeah, Rachel Maddow. She's GAY! And i don't think she is THAT far back in your extended family.

More on the protests that have been going on in California:

Silly Code Names

You'd think that people would have had enough of silly CODE NAMES
But I look around me and I see it isn't so.
Some people wanna fill the world with silly code names
And what's wrong with that?

renegade & renaissance
radiance & rosebud
celtic & capri


Wonder if Bush made up some, uh, erudite names during the visit today from the Obamas? You remember turdblossom of course.

Interesting Election Maps

and analysis HERE. Remember these crazy maps after 2004?

More Leadership from George Bush :: Backdoor Welfare for Banks

The Washington Post published a story HERE this morning exposing yet another example of the Bush Administration's flagrant disregard for the rule of law. Buried in the so-called bailout bill is a provision to nullify section 382 of the tax code, which was established 22 years ago to prevent corporations from acquiring other corporations to use as tax shelters. Unbelievable. It's nothing more than backdoor welfare for banks. Why doesn't he just issue an executive order abolishing all taxes on business and corporate activity, period? Will anyone do anything to stop him? Certainly not Charles Grassley. You'd think by now, leaders like Grassley and Schumer would have their staff scrutinize anything from the White House with a fine tooth comb, as a matter of course, before they agree to anything. These guys bear as much responsibility for not even knowing such a provision was part of the bailout, and therefore supporting it.

11.09.2008

Protest Discrimination





HERE is a site organized to protest the Proposition 8 Hate that went through last week in California (and other states as you know). Apparently, next Saturday, November 15 at 10:30 am, simultaneous protests all over the country are going to happen. I think Steven and I will go to Columbus with anyone we can bring along from Athens (unless some good souls start a group in Athens!). Thanks to KELLY for posting this.

I am so sick about the Morman Church sponsoring hate like this. They spent MILLIONS in California on this, mounting a propaganda campaign full of lies. Really. Check it out HERE and be sure to see the youtube clip there of the opposition's commercial.

The Morman Church deserves to have its Tax-Exempt status revoked NOW. For starters.

11.07.2008

Newsclippings of the Day :: I am Very Thankful for Obama

Today over lunch I read two very good pieces that are worthy reads in this day and age.

First, my friend Dawn in Atlanta sent THIS from Judith Warner in the New York Times. It is about how we are at the start of a new era with Obama.

“To those who would tear the world down: we will defeat you. This is our moment. This is our time.”
--From Obama's Victory Speech in Grant Park

Second, THIS from my heroine, Naomi Klein, writing in the Rolling Stone about our so called bailout of Wall Street. Here's a couple of choice quotes:

"See if any of this sounds familiar: As soon as the bailout was announced, it became clear that Treasury officials would hire outsiders to perform their jobs for them — at a profit. Private companies wanting to help manage the bailout were given just two days to apply for massive, multiyear contracts. Since it was such a mad rush — after all, the entire economy was about to implode — there was no time for an open bidding process. Nor was there time to draft rigorous rules to make sure that those applying don't have serious conflicts of interest. Instead, applicants were asked to disclose their conflicts and to explain — and this is not a joke — their "philosophy in fulfilling your duty to the Treasury and the U.S. taxpayer in light of your proprietary interests and those of other clients." In other words, an open invitation to bullshit about how much they love their country and how they can be trusted to regulate themselves."


"...Has the Treasury partially nationalized the private banks, as we have been told? Or is it the other way around? Is it Treasury that has been partially privatized by Wall Street, its massive rescue plan now entirely in the hands of a private bank it is directly subsidizing?"


I hope this financial "crisis" and the ill-conceived solutions aren't going to cripple Obama's ability to deal with our deficit.

Wouldn't it be great if Klein could become an advisor to Obama?

11.05.2008

President-Elect Barack Obama

I'm so glad this is done. This man is going to do great things. We will all be proud of the restorative effect he has on our world.



I am so disappointed that gay marriage BANS passed in Arizona and Florida...and are too close to call in California. Thanks Republicans, for the toxicity you have injected into our political discourse, our government, our people. Yours is a negative legacy none of us will soon forget. And some of you who managed to barely hold on to your seats (I'm talking to YOU Michelle Baumann) have some serious atoning and soul searching to do.

11.04.2008

Fall & Friends

Last Saturday we went to Howard Ohio with our new friends
Jim & Ben to a small farm with a bunch of folks making apple butter. It was a BLAST! And we have some apple butter in our pantry now for later this winter. Have a look:









Fight the H8 in Your State