Saturday, December 31, 2011

Realistic Origami Insects Made From One Sheet Of Uncut Paper

Found at Buzzfeed.com
These origami insects by Brian Chan look pretty realistic.



1.
Flying Grasshopper
3.
Allomyrina dichotoma
4.
Samurai Helmet Beetle
5.
Goliath beetle
6.
Dorcus curvidens
7.
Locust nymph
9.
Flying Katydid
10.
Stomatopod
11.
Hissing Roach
12.
Dobsonfly
13.
Water Strider
14.
The detailed design behind the mayfly above.

Gay Rights Are Human Rights World Wide

Friday, December 30, 2011

It Is Official !!!! We Now Have the Same Last Name!!!

As of an hour ago my wife and I now have the same last name!!!

We are now and forever to be known as Mrs. and Mrs. Jackson Lincoln

Since we have been together, 6.5 years, people have always commented on the names association with the Civil War.
I am from Ohio and she is from North Carolina . North and South. She has even named her computer repair business North and South.

I have been in the art business for many moons and everything is signed Lincoln as well as my web site and this blog.

We decided to keep both last names.

This was taken on Sept. 17, 2006 on the day we committed ourselves to each other in an art gallery owned by some good friends in Ohio. This is the day I call our REAL wedding.

This is us getting legally married in DC May 10, 2010
A little more chubby and more in love.
It feels real good to be US today.

I Love You My Mrs.

Take action against the American Family Association

I read many blogs and one of my all time favorites is Alvin McEwen who owns Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters.
Alvin has posted many times on how the American Family Association has changed American Press articles to meet their needs, often turning the piece from a gay friendly one to and anti-gay one.
This was this mornings post. I have sent my letter. Will you?

Found at HolyBulliesandHeadlessMonsters.com
By Alvin McEwen
My post yesterday on how the American Family Association (via One News Now) was distorting an Associated Press article to demonize the gay community got many people talking. A reader sent me the following note:

Hi Alvin--saw your blog post on the rewriting of an AP article. The rewrite is surely a copyright violation, and a double violation if they are posting the article without permission from AP in the first place. The same article is on the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/new-laws-target-abortion-illegal-immigration-texting-add-regulations-to-schoolkids-lives/2011/12/28/gIQABLubMP_story_1.html

Note at the end "Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed." Note also that One News Now used the author's byline (Andrew Welsh-Huggins); the Washington Post article provides his twitter address so I would suggest contacting him directly and pointing out their rewrite. He may not be happy to see how his article has been rewritten. Welsh's email address is awelsh@ap.org. He's also on Facebook.

I think that it's more than appropriate for those of us concerned with how the AFA dehumanizes the gay community to register our disapproval of such tactics. I also think that it's more appropriate to notify other parties who are unfairly being used to further that aim.

The following is my letter:

Dear Mr. Huggins,

I am a reader who wanted to notify you concerning a possible violation of AP policy as it pertains to the reproduction of its articles.

The American Family Association reprinted an article you wrote after giving it a rewrite to push an anti-gay agenda.

This is what you wrote:

Girls seeking abortions in New Hampshire must first tell their parents or a judge, some employers in Alabama must verify new workers' U.S. residency, and California students will be the first in the country to receive mandatory lessons about the contributions of gays and lesbians under state laws set to take effect at the start of 2012.

The American Family Association changed it to the following:

Girls seeking abortions in New Hampshire must first tell their parents or a judge, employers in Alabama must verify new workers' U.S. residency, and California students will be the first in the country to receive mandatory pro-homosexual indoctrination under state laws set to take effect at the start of 2012.

Not only is the article given a homophobic spin, but your byline remains, making it appear as if you are aware of this breach of objectivity. I sincerely that for the sake of your personal integrity as a journalist and that of the AP as an unbiased new sources that this breach doesn't go unanswered.

Thank you for your time.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Catholic Bishops' Lie About Threats to Religious Freedom

Filed By Michael Hamar at The Bilerico Project

I was raised Catholic (altar boy, Knight of Columbus, the whole works) so I know all about the Roman Catholic Church - especially when it comes to the hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of the bishops and Church hierarchy. Now, the New York Times has a story on the nation's Roman Catholic bishops' deliberate, misleading lies that depict the furtherance of gay rights as a threat to the Catholic Church's religious freedom.
It quickly becomes apparent that what the bishops are really outraged about is the erosion of the special rights too long granted to Catholic organizations to line up like fat sows at the trough of government money - to the tune of $2.9 billion in 2010 - and then have an unfettered hand to freely discriminate against some of the very citizens whose taxes have been given by the government to the very same bigoted Catholic institutions.
Let's be clear, requiring institutions that receive taxpayer derived government funds to abide by non-discrimination laws in no manner restricts the religious freedom of the recipients. No one is forcing them to accept government funds and every institution has the option to say no to the funds and enjoy unrestricted exercise of their religious-based bigotry.
Read the rest

I highlighted the one sentence because I believe it is the root of the issue.
The church can boo-hoo all they want but they are telling lies. They want "special rights" to use taxpayer money to openly discriminate.  We, married gays and lesbians, pay more taxes than the rest of the married population and the church.
Religious freedom is a good thing but was meant for each individual on a personal level not a huge business that is subsidized by the government.
The church has lied about hiding child molesters and stated that condoms will spread HIV/AIDS.
They have paid out  huge chunks of taxpayer money to pay off victims of child molesters they employ and hide.
If they went by any other name, they would be listed as a Hate Group for their continued discrimination and lies against others and harboring sex offenders, but because they cloak themselves with a holy book, they are getting away with unholy behavior.

A Year in Marriage Equality with Matt Baume

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Same-sex spouses lose big on taxes


  Check out  the study. As a legally married lesbian couple, I do NOT like being referred to as a dependant on my wife's taxes.
The tax mess we have to deal with and pay extra for just sucks. We are married. We have the SAME paperwork hanging on the wall as the rest of you and we should be entitled to the SAME benefits. What is so hard about that?

Same-Sex Couples Pay Thousands Extra In Taxes | A new CNNMoney study found that married same-sex couples pay as much as $6,000 extra every year in taxes because the Defense of Marriage Act prevents the federal government from legally recognizing their unions. Because they cannot file jointly, they cannot combine their incomes and deductions or qualify for various tax breaks that are not available for single-filers. Same-sex couples also don’t qualify for marital exemptions for gift and inheritance taxes.

Some girls like superheroes and some boys like princesses

Out of the mouth of babes. This 3 year old has a problem with the way toys are organized in the store.
Me too.
Found at America Blog Gay

Monday, December 26, 2011

Ruining Marriage: Practice What You Preach - A Letter From a Mother

Annette Gross

Filed By Annette Gross at Bilerico.com

My grandparents got married in 1914 and when they both died within 4 hours of each other in 1978, they would have been married 65 years. My parents would have been married 62 years when my father died in 2004. My husband and I have been married 40 years. I saw the love and respect that my grandparents and parents had for each other in their marriages, and I wanted to emulate that. I take my wedding vows very seriously. In today's climate, I feel fortunate that my husband and I have lasted together this long.
However, I am not so foolish or socially rigid to not know that many marriages don't end up like mine or my parents and grandparents. ruined-wedding-cake.jpegThings happen and people find that their marriages just aren't working. But I also try not to make assumptions or judgments about what these people do in their personal lives or how they end up in the situations in which they find themselves.
I will say that I do believe in the "institution of marriage." But I don't look at marriage in a biblical sense. I feel that marriage is personal - between each partner in that union, as well as the children and other family members of the couple. I know that the accumulative affect of divorce over the years does have an impact on society, and that many different things contribute to that, but I'm not a social scientist and don't care to address that at this time.
What interests me right now is the fact that there are many legislators in different states working diligently to save what they believe is the sanctity of marriage and they're going about it the wrong way. They feel that only one man and one woman have the right to be married. They talk about the "slippery slope" - that if LGBT people can get married, then that would lead to marriage with dogs, goats, small children and automobiles. However, it seems that while they're trying so hard to protect marriage for the rest of us, they don't work very hard to practice what they preach.
Minnesota Republican Leader Amy Koch took it upon herself to try to protect marriage in her state by introducing a marriage amendment which would deny same-sex marriage. It came to light that Amy had been having "relations" with one of her subordinates. Within a few hours, this subordinate was no longer working at the Senate and Amy had resigned her leadership position.
Sadly, Amy is not the only one who lives by the motto "Do as I say, not as I do."
Here in Indiana, State Rep. Phil Hinkle was found to have offered up to $140.00 to an 18-year-old boy "for a really good time." Phil was one of the proponents and signers of HJR-6 - our version of a marriage discrimination amendment. When confronted about this liaison, Rep. Hinkle stated, "I wasn't going to marry him."
And let's not forget good old Newt Gingrich - this is a man who cheated on and dumped two wives who had health problems "for the good of America," all the while condemning same-sex marriage. John McCain, who also opposes same-sex marriage, was cheating on his first wife who was health-challenged and divorced her upon his return from Vietnam. So much for family values...
Personally, I don't much care what these people do in their personal lives. If they want to ruin their lives, so be it. But what rankles me is their hypocrisy. They rail against same-sex marriage and go so far as to try to enact laws against it. They view people like my son as "less than" and want to control what they do and with whom. They make moral judgments against people who they don't really know, in their misguided attempts to control an institution that has been in trouble for at least 50 years for a variety of reasons, none of which have anything to do with same-sex marriage.
I often wonder why these people spend so much time thinking about the LGBT community and same-sex marriage. I believe that for some, it's a wedge issue - a way to not to have to address the really pressing issues of our times, such as the economy, our failing schools, etc. It's also a way for legislators to get re-elected - they know that many people oppose same-sex marriage and by bringing up this issue, they are pandering to their constituents. It also is a way to suck up to the Religious Right and give them what they want.
It's too bad that our children are the ones who are getting thrown under the bus. Instead of protecting minority groups, these legislators are enacting laws against them. If states vote for amendments against same-sex marriage, what's to stop them from enacting other laws against the LGBT community?
Some may really believe that protection of marriage is needed, but any laws against one group of people is certainly an act of discrimination and needs to be looked at closely. Marriage as an institution was already in trouble back in the 60's, way before anyone thought that LGBT people could get married legally. As far as I'm concerned, this is just another excuse to discriminate against the LGBT community.
Instead of targeting this group, perhaps our legislators need to really look at the factors that are breaking down marriage in our country and address those instead of using our kids as scapegoats. And people like Amy Koch need to think twice when they decide to cheat on their spouses. Do what you want, Amy, but don't be a hypocrite and blame the LGBT community for the ruination of your already-messed-up marriage.

Here we go again with the "gay rights aren’t part of the Civil Rights Movement" apologists

ByJohn Aravosis at goodasyou.org
 
So tired of this garbage. And even more tired of gay people who feel the need to apologize for "daring" to compare the gay civil rights battle to the Civil Rights Movement. You know who else compared gay rights and black civil rights? Coretta Scott King. But that doesn't stop the apologists among us:

Do we (the LGBT community) get hosed down and dogs sicced on us? No,” Lettman-Hicks said. “But we’re comparing how our community is treated, from a so-called civil society—the overt discrimination and bigotry. No one should be able to understand that better than black people in this country, and that is the root of the comparison. But you can’t compare the plight of the movement, the centuries of oppression that black people in this country had to face.”

Preston Mitchum, a student at American University’s Washington College of Law, said he doesn’t believe the two movements can really be compared either.

“My role is dual, because it comes from being gay and black,” he said. “I can see both sides of the story, and people need to recognize that the struggles are different. It almost trivializes black civil rights in a way.”

Ask Matthew Shepard how trivial the comparison is. Ask Alan Turing, who pretty much was forced to kill himself after being chemically castrated for being gay. Or ask all those gays who were forcibly lobotomized and actually castrated during the last century how trivial their suffering was.

Usually there are two reasons given why gay civil rights violations aren't nearly as bad as what African-Americans suffered, and thus gays aren't really part of the long history of the Civil Rights Movement in this country.

1) African-Americans were oppressed for hundreds of years, aka slavery.

2) Lynchings.

Well, here are two responses.

1) And gays (and transgendered people) had it great the past couple of thousand of years?

2) Yes, lynchings were horrible. And the Holocaust wasn't exactly a cake walk for gays either.

No community owns the trademark on oppression, and the fight for equal rights didn't start with America's black community. There were slaves as far back as 2000 BC.

For example, let's talk the Jews. They've been oppressed a lot longer than 400 years, and if we're going to talk slavery, the Jews were slaves a good three thousand years ago. And while Jews were "only" slaves for about 200 years in Egypt, they were hardly full and equal citizens, free from oppression, the next three thousand years, and the Holocaust was far worse than "hoses" and "dogs" (if we're going to play that game).
So do the Jewish people "win" the "most oppressed" grand prize that someone is apparently interested in giving out?

The entire discussion is offensive. It's part of a twisted "my pain is greater than your pain" debate that some feel the need to have over and over again. It's also reflective of the paranoid fear some in the gay civil rights movement have of "offending" anyone. In the end, I'm not even sure what the "debate" is about. If people are asking "Was the 1960s Civil Rights Movement specifically about gay rights?", well duh, it was specifically about racism. If someone is asking whether the civil rights movement in this country is about more than racial discrimination, then again, duh, it certainly is.

And if someone is really asking who suffered more, I'm not sure of the answer, but being targeted by Hitler in the Holocaust certainly ranks up there.

But again, why are we even playing these games? Why, because as I said before, some people are afraid to offend others.

Well, maybe it's time we did some offending. Rather than use the relatively low support for gay civil rights in the black community, as the article I link to appears to do, as "proof" that gay rights aren't "real" civil rights, maybe the shoe should be put on the other foot. Maybe the question isn't why we dare compare the two civil rights movements, rather, maybe the question is why some dare not.
 
Treating each human with the same diginity, understanding, and honor is a human right.

12 Cats of Christmas

Check out the 12 Cats of Christmas at Buzzfeed.com. Very cute if you like cats (or not).

Matt Baume with this weeks Marriage News Watch

Friday, December 23, 2011

Holiday Videos 2

Well my friends, this is the second holiday season as a blogger !!!  Yea!
Thank you for stopping by. I hope you come to catch up on the issues I keep track of as well as my occasional rant and the weird/ funny stuff I stumble over.


Our Solstice was very nice. Lots of lights and candles. I fixed a big meal and Tami had made 6 different kinds of cookies. Lots of chocolate ! Yummmmm


Presents!!!! Everyone got something. Reece was very generous.


Sometimes you wonder if anyone reads your stuff when you don't hear from them. My wife does, but that is a given.  LOL ( no really she does.) Well...
So does Reece. They both saw a video I posted 3 months ago.....


 Both him and my wife knew what to get me the second they saw this. 
I have one and one is lost in the mail. That is fine by me because I will have one to put up and one to play. I don't think I ever saw a table cleared after a big meal so fast before.
We had a blast and a great addition to our Monopoly collection.

I hope your holidays find you healthy and surrounded by good friends and family. I hope you all get a chance to put your feet up and rest after day day filled with a few good laughs, good food, and catching up on the family.

Here are a few fun videos while you are parked in front on your computer. Some are old and some are new. Enjoy!

Happy Holidays !



Happy Festivus!



HomoQuotable - Michelangelo Signorile

  Found at joemygod.com
"This week Rick Perry told a 14-year-old openly bisexual girl who questioned him after a town hall in Decorah, Iowa, that he doesn't believe gays should serve openly in the military because 'homosexuality is a sin.' I sure hope young Rebecca Green saw the iconic image days later of two female Navy petty officers, Marissa Gaeta and Citlalic Snell, sharing the first same-sex kiss at ship's return. Because that sweet and wonderful photo is the future. And Rick Perry is the ugly and wretched past that we can hopefully move on from after this hideous GOP primary campaign." - Michelangelo Signorile, writing for Huffington Post.

Read the full article.

A Christams Carol for the Rest of Us - LMAO

Rachel Maddow - Palin Judges White House Christmas Card



Palin is .....well.....stupid.

On Christian marital hypocrisy: Maggie reflects, while forcing gays to deflect

by Jeremy Hooper at Goodasyou.org

Maggie Gallagher gets philosophical, saying this about "how important a witness our married life can be":
"How can anyone believe we have access to an infinitely loving God if we, as Christians, do not appear any more capable than the rest of our broken society of restraining and uplifting our sexual selves -- of loving our families and keeping them together, until death to us part?"

-Maggie in her syndicated column
Is she referring to Newt Gingrich? Other prominent public figures? Something more personal? Or is Maggie simply speaking in the abstract?
Screen Shot 2011-12-22 At 5.13.54 PmI do not know, nor will I pretend to know. But I do one major thing: That Maggie's defining work of stopping loving same-sex couples from their own efforts to keep their families together gives false witness to the importance of married life. While wantonly restraining many, it uplifts none. It encourages no couple -- NOT ONE couple! -- to make it to a death bed parting, while it discourages and diminishes countless young LGB people and their supporters from seeing worth in an institution that's been so forcibly seized and held as a P.O.C.W. (Prisoner of "Culture War").
I can honestly say that for me, a legally married man, there is probably no one person on the face of this planet who has proven to be a worse witness to marriage, its meaning, its complexity, and its strength than has Maggie Gallagher (Srivastav). That probably doesn't mean diddly jingle bells to Maggie, judging by past conversations and her years of actions that threaten my home. But does it matter to American history? Does it matter to the infinitely loving God through which she believes both my and her worldly blessings flow?
Let's witness.

Bill O'Reilly Covering The “War On Christmas” Vs. Actual Wars

From Buzzfeed.com

From December 1 to December 21 Media Matters reviewed transcripts of the O'Reilly factor. Their findings will probably not surprise you.

How the Gingrich Stole Christmas - Funny Video

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Love Makes a Family

When Americans Banned Christmas

This is an interesting history lesson about how, why, and when Christmas was banned in America.

Lesbian Couple Shares First Kiss At Homecoming Ceremony

How great is this!



It’s a time-honored tradition at Navy homecomings – one lucky sailor is chosen to be first off the ship for the long-awaited kiss with a loved one. Today, for the first time, the happily reunited couple was gay. The dock landing ship Oak Hill has been gone for nearly three months, training with military allies in Central America. As the homecoming drew near, the crew and ship’s family readiness group sold $1 raffle tickets for the first kiss. Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta bought 50 - which is actually fewer than many people buy, she said, so she was surprised Monday to find out she'd won. Her girlfriend of two years, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell, was waiting when she crossed the brow. They kissed. The crowd cheered. And with that, another vestige of the policy that forced gays to serve in secrecy vanished.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

My Thoughts About the Concerned Women of America

Concerned Women of America (CWA) is a group of good Christian woman who worry about many issues of the day. I would say they lean toward the extreme right in their thinking and have mastered the art of what I call "Christianeez". A form of English that has been developed to twist the truth, use of buzz words, and create a big pile of crap out of anything that they find morally in question without finding out the facts. Science and facts are not welcome or believed by this group any more than other extreme right groups.

This piece was posted at joemygod.com the other day. Please read and then we'll talk.

Concerned Women Are Concernstipated That Macy's Is Normalizing Pedophilia

"Do we really want to send our children into the Macy’s dressing rooms to try on a Christmas dress or suit, knowing that the store promotes the lifestyles of sexual deviancy IN THE DRESSING ROOM at the expense of the safety of our kids and, indeed, the decency of Americans as a whole? I, for one, am sick and tired of the false compassion being shown to special sexual interest groups at the cost of the rest of us. It is a dangerous and slippery slope America is sliding down if we let this continue. There are groups actively pursuing breaking down the final moral protection of society by normalizing pedophilia. Is Macy’s part of this agenda? I hope not, but, until I hear otherwise, I will have to assume so and shop elsewhere." - Janne Myrdal, state director for Concerned Women of North Dakota.
This all started when a young transgender female was shopping at Macy's and was about to try on some clothes in the fitting room. The female employee in charge thought she was male and stopped her. The young lady's friends assured the employee that she was a female and should be permitted to use the dressing rooms. Macy's has a non-discrimination policy and the employee should have allowed the young lady to use the dressing room.
The employee instead made an issue of it based on her personal faith that being transgender is wrong and she was just a boy with lipstick and could be a danger to other customers. When the employee was asked by her boss if she understood the non- discrimination policy, she stated that she did but could not comply because of her chosen faith, she was fired.
The employee has  been the talk of the right wing crowd, being held up as the victim of religious discrimination.  Because her chosen faith teaches twisted truth and no scientific fact, I can understand why the employee would have such a low opinion of all things LBG and T. For those of you reading this, you know better.
When asked if she wants her job back IF she wins a lawsuit against Macy's, she said she wants and need the job but only if she can continue to discriminate. Macy's is standing up for their policy.
If you can't do the job by the rules then you can't work there.
This should apply to the government employees that refuse to issue marriage licenses to gay couples in states where it is legal.
I don't know about Macy's dressing rooms but I have tried on clothes in many stores in my 50+ years and there have always been doors that lock. I never let my child in a dressing room alone until he was old enough to lock the door and change quickly by himself. I stood around and watch as others came and went while waiting. I have never heard of anyone ever attempting to attack a child in a dressing room.
It has been pointed out that most pedophiles are members of or friends of the family including your priest. They generally don't abuse kids in public places in broad daylight. MOST are heterosexual males. Not LGBT. Please do not lump us with this sick behavior.
 I would have a problem sending my kid to a Catholic school or church over a dressing room at Macy's.

Monday, December 19, 2011

CALIFORNIA: Court Rules That Churches May Fire Employees For Shacking Up - My "Moral" Dilemma


Found at joemygod.com

The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission is applauding a California appeals court for ruling that a church was allowed to fire an employee because she was living in sin.
The Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled that the Red Hill Lutheran Church in Tustin had the right to fire a preschool director for living with her boyfriend while she is unmarried. In upholding a lower-court ruling, the court said the church's decision to fire teacher Sara Henry was acceptable because she violated a church ordinance. The preschool director continued to live with her boyfriend following a failed marriage and had a child out of wedlock. Henry filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the church in 2009.
Religious institutions are generally held to be exempt from the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The court ruled that the exemption applied in this case because the woman was fired for religious reasons.

WOW. I am thinking of too many things at once. I can see 2 points to this.
This is a great move on the chess board and we are in check.


1 If we disagree with them, we will be judging their "moral and religious" chosen behavior and rights which are backed up by history and the law while we are saying they can discriminate against us by giving them exemptions to current anti-discrimination laws. We sound like them.


2. If we agree, we are condoning their "moral and religious" chosen behavior . This is equal to giving guns to the enemy. Why would we do that?


Part of me is happy they chased after another type of "sinner".
Part is sad over the church sticking their nose where it doesn't belong and the lady lost her job.
Part feels like Macy's. You knew the rules when you were hired. If you can't follow the rules, you're fired.


A true "moral" dilemma

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Gingrich: I'll Arrest Judges Who Enforce The Separation Of Church & State


Zack Ford reports at Think Progress:
Continuing his crusade against the courts, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich railed against judges “imposing secularism” on the country on this morning’s Face The Nation. Arguing that “activist judges” who make disagreeable decisions should be held accountable before Congress, he told Bob Schieffer that he would send a U.S. Marshal or Capitol Police officer to arrest judges if that’s what it took to reign them in, and then encourage impeachment.
We are a secular nation dumb ass and who is to judge what is a disagreeable decision? You?
That would be a dictatorship. Kind of like Germany in the 40's.

This guy should NOT be president.

Newt Gingrich Snags the Coveted Pro-Adultery Endorsement

This is just to sweet. Found at Death and Taxes


Finally Newt Gingrich has captured the most sought-after of all political endorsements: the slimeball cheating spouse vote.
The “extra-marital dating site” Ashley Madison put up the above billboard celebrating Gingrich’s multiple dalliances outside of his marriages. The text reads “Faithful Republican, Unfaithful Husband. Welcome to the Ashleymadison.com Era.” Considering this is a company that recently published ads saying it’s a perfectly good idea to cheat if your wife has put on weight, this isn’t really an era we need to be heading for.
“Now that Newt is the leading contender in the race for the GOP nomination, we felt compelled to make a point to illustrate how times have changed when a serial divorcee/adulterer is capturing the hearts of the American people,” says Noel Biderman, the CEO and founder of the affair site.
Now, for the most part, as long as it’s not sexual harassment or some other illegal act, I think politicians’ personal sex lives are largely irrelevant — except maybe in cases where it contradicts their own platform. But considering what kind of damage an extra-marital affair can do to a campaign, getting the thumbs up from a site that makes its living helping people commit various acts of infidelity is probably not something any politician is after.
Not even Newt Gingrich.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

The Three Little Pigs Like Never Before - Awesome

Thanks to my Mom sending me stuff, this is a good one from Big Geek Daddy.

Gay Dads Told They are Going to be Grampas

Gingrich Thinks Gay is a Choice - My Commentary


There are so many things wrong with this man's thinking.

Why is it that srt8 people who don't have a clue what being gay is, has all the answers? Why is it he thinks he knows more than EVERY professional Org. that makes it clear gay people are born gay and CAN NOT change.?
I have been a lesbian for my whole life. Most LGBT people will tell you the same but we don't know anything about our own kind?
I would never choose to be anything else including celibate. Even IF I were to pretend to be srt8 ( shudder) or never have sex, I would still be gay.

Married people are in the minority with 50% of them ending in divorce long before we could get married. Strenghtening marriage is a worthy goal but not by denying loving couples and families the right to be married.

On Sept. 20, 2011, DADT was repealed making it possible for our brave gay troops to be who they are. NOT ONE problem has been reported. In this age of fast news and the Internet, if there was a problem, it would have spread like wild fire. There is no way to hide a problem so why does Gingrich think and imply that those in charge are not telling the truth because they could lose their job?
Why does he think that Congress would over turn the repeal, taking into account it would take 2 years before they could consider it and there have been no problems.

We have a steady majority of the American people that support gays in service and equal marriage. Does he honestly think he can take back freedoms from a minority because he has the wrong idea of who and what being gay is?

It is not all about sex. It is about who we love and care for. It's about who we have chosen to promise to take care of thru thick and thin. It's about raising our kids knowing their parents are married and have to same security as their friends.

Frankly, this is the LAST person to have anything to say about marriage. He gave up and cheated several times when the going got tough.

Rosie Sends A Gaydar Gun To Bachmann - I WANT ONE!!

Marry Xmas from The Thinking Atheist

Check out other videos at The Thinking Atheist







Strictly For Pastafarians

Found at joemygod.com

My 2 boys turned me on to the great Flying Spaghetti Monster.

I'm going to make one for my small artificial Hanukkah bush too!

Happy Holidays!
Let the Flying Spaghetti Monster tree topper embrace your holiday with His noodly appendages. Only $8.50. Includes adjustable eyes so that He may watch over you. (Via - Friendly Atheist)

Amazing Pole Dance

This is what Pole Dancing really is. It is amazing what the human body can do.

Saw this at buzzfeed.com

10 Moments in Gay Media History (VIDEO)

10 Moments in Gay Media History (VIDEO)    

This is the time of year when the best and worst lists come out and the Huffington Post has this good one. Enjoy some great moments.

Dancing Paper Stop Motion

This is beautiful.

Discovered at buzzfeed.com

FRICTIONS from BURAYAN on Vimeo.

Secret Santa Strikes Store

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

For the Bible Told Me So

I just watched a fabulous documentary called For the Bible Told Me So. I got it on Netflix. You can see it at itunes.com and at topdocumentaryfilms.com

This is a MUST see film.

For the Bible Tells Me SoWe meet five Christian families, each with a gay or lesbian child. Parents talk about their marriages and church-going, their children’s childhood and coming out, their reactions, and changes over time.
The stories told by these nine parents and four adult children alternate with talking heads – Protestant and Jewish theologians – and with film clips of fundamentalist preachers and pundits and news clips of people in the street.
They discuss scripture and biblical scholarship. A thesis of the film is that much of Christianity’s homophobia represents a misreading of scripture, a denial of science, and an embrace of quack psychology. The families call for love.

It’s not religious discrimination when you refuse to do your job

ByJohn Aravosis (DC)
From Americablog Gay
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The day that a woman working the fitting room at Macy's thinks she can make store policy, in violation of store policy, because of her "religion," she should be fired. This is a rather amazing story, and an amazing assertion. That the rest of us have to do what our bosses say, that the rest of us have to let our bosses set policy for our companies, but if you're a Christian (well, a bigoted religious right Christian), you get to trump all that, and YOU get to decide.

That's not religious freedom. It's special rights for southern baptists.

Media matters covers the issue of a woman working at Macy's who tried to stop a transgender teenage girl, who appeared to be "a man... wearing lipstick" from entering the ladies' changing room. The woman freaked, thinking some perverted guy was stalking the women's changing rooms. But that's not why she got fired. She got fired because after a manager told her the next day that in fact Macy's policy is to let a customer go into whatever fitting room the customer feels matches their gender identity, she refused. The woman insisted that her religious views trumped Macy's changing room policy.
A manager called Johnson in the next day to explain that Macy's policy permits individuals to go into the changing room of whatever gender they identify with.

"I refuse to comply with this policy," Johnson says she replied. She was then fired.

"I had to either comply with Macy's or comply with God," Johnson told The San Antonio Express-News.
Oh spare me. What's next? Do we not let Muslims into changing rooms? How about Jews (I hear they killed Christ, you know)? How about socialists? Or Republicans?

This isn't a story about her being fired because she got confused when meeting her first transgender customer. It's about refusing to obey store policy once the situation was explained to her. You just don't get to overrule your bosses on a public accommodations issue because you don't like someone, or your religion doesn't like someone. Under this theory, she could also turn away lesbians from the women's changing room, because after all her religion doesn't approve of "LGBT people" as she says during the interview. Does the religious right think that's okay too?

This isn't about religion. It's about special rights for one particular fringe American religion that thinks every other American, and every other employer, needs to live by its rules.

Star Trek Engine Noise

For all you Trekers out there, I found a video of just the engine noise. No beeps or photon guns, just the background engine noise. A full 1.5 hours.

I had often wondered what it would be like to have that in the background all the time and now I know.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Ron Paul Slams Newt Gingrich Big Time!

Saw this at joemygod.com and it is harsh!

Equality Matters: Why Do Networks Continue To Host Hate Group Leaders?


Found at joemygod.com
Equality Matters asks the question we've been asking here for the last year.
In November 2010, the Family Research Council (FRC) was added to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) list of anti-gay hate groups due to its “propagation of known falsehoods” about gays and lesbians. According to an Equality Matters analysis, FRC spokespersons – including Tony Perkins, Peter Sprigg, and Ken Blackwell – have been invited to appear on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News a total of 54 times in the twelve months since Perkins first appeared on MSNBC to discuss being labeled as a hate group. 24 of those appearances were on Fox News, 19 were on MSNBC, and 11 were on CNN:
FRC head Tony Perkins alone constituted 32 of the above appearances. Check out the below Equality Matters recap of just a few of the many, many vicious anti-gay lies spewed by Tony Perkins.
RELATED: I'd also like to know why every single network ignores the scandal that sank Perkins' political career, namely his exposure as having paid KKK Grand Wizard David Duke a whopping $82,500 for access to his mailing list of racists. There's also this: "On May 17th, 2001, Perkins gave a speech to the Louisiana chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), a white supremacist group that has described black people as a 'retrograde species of humanity.'"

Please pass this information on. You don't invite the KKK as authorities on African American issues.
Why would you invite an anti-gay Hate Group to "balance" a discussion on gay rights?
This guy is full if shit and so are a host of orgs. that spread lies and twist the truth to demonize the LGBT population.


Reinstatment Feels Good

Our military just got stronger. Thank you for your continued service  Petty Officer 2nd Class Jase Daniels

Just in via press release:

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) and the law firm of Morrison & Foerster today announced that their client, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jase Daniels, discharged in April 2005 and again in March 2007 under the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) law, has been reinstated in the U.S. Navy and will return to active duty as a linguist. He was sworn in on Monday, December 12, 2011. "Today, I took an oath and affirmed to defend the Constitution of the United States of America. I am humbled as I am reinstated to the job I love and by the enormous support I have received on this momentous day. I look forward to returning to the Defense Language Institute and ultimately, my career in the military,” said Daniels.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

TWO Debunks Fake ‘Religious Freedom’ Lie With Groundbreaking Full-Page Ad

This is so awesome! Why can't we do more of this? We need to make it clear to everyone what the extreme right is saying and doing. Thank you Truth Wins Out !

Ad Is In Response To New York Marriage Clerk Who Refused To Marry Lesbian Couple Under the Guise of ‘Religious Freedom’

TWO 1Burlington, Vt. – Truth Wins Out announced today that it would place a groundbreaking full-page ad (see below) in the Ithaca Journal on Saturday that debunks the Religious Right’s latest strategy of claiming they are victims of religious discrimination when asked to follow the same laws as other citizens. TWO’s hard-hitting ad is headlined “Special Rights Masquerading as Religious Freedom” and signals that this fraudulent argument, increasingly used by anti-gay activists, will be vigorously challenged and exposed as a lie.
TWO’s ad is in response to the unethical actions of Ledyard, NY town clerk Rose Marie Belforti, who refused to issue a marriage license to a lesbian couple. Belforti disobeyed the law and then justified refusing to do her job by claiming she was a victim of religious discrimination.
“The private religious beliefs of public workers should be respected,” said Truth Wins Out Executive Director Wayne Besen. “However, agents of the state are not entitled to pick and choose which members of the public they serve or which laws they obey. Refusing to serve entire classes of people based on religious objections will lead to chaos. It creates a slippery slope where self-appointed moral scolds serve as the gatekeepers to our freedom.”
Until recently, anti-gay activists argued that LGBT people were not entitled to equality because it was contrary to the will of the people. As recent polls show a sea change in support for marriage equality, particularly among younger demographics, the extreme right has switched its strategy. They now try to pose as martyrs whose beliefs give them the special right to discriminate and ignore the law.
“Belforti’s twisted version of ‘religious freedom’ comes at the expense of liberty for everyone else,” said TWO Communications Director John Becker. “It creates a balkanized nation that divides people based on sectarian differences. We must reject the unfair notion that some people have a special right to discriminate based on religious beliefs.”
TWO’s ad points out that allowing fundamentalists to follow their own rules would create chaos and undermine societal cohesion. The ad gives several examples of where this false notion of “religious freedom” might lead:
  • Will town clerks use their fundamentalist beliefs to refuse issuing marriage licenses to divorced people who wish to remarry?
  • Will town clerks use religion to justify turning away interfaith or interracial couples who want a marriage license?
  • Will postal workers refuse to carry mail they find objectionable, or refuse to deliver to households whose religious beliefs they disagree with?
  • Will religious public school teachers choose to educate only students who share their faith?
This latest effort is part of TWO’s Center Against Radical Extremism (TWOCARE), which debunks right wing propaganda and misinformation campaigns. TWOCARE also monitors and reports on extremist organizations and launches campaigns to spotlight their dangerous views.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Pentagon: Calm Down Wingnuts, It'll Still Be Against The Rules To Fuck Horses

Found at joemygod.com

After a week of nonstop wingnut dumbassery, today the Pentagon was forced to issue a clarification on the potential repeal of the military's ban on sodomy.

Conservative groups are upset over a proposed change in the defense bill that would eliminate Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The code states that any person who engages in "unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex or with an animal is guilty of sodomy." Those found guilty of sodomy would be subject to court martial. The Pentagon said in a statement Friday that all animal abuse, including bestiality, would be considered "prejudicial to good order and discipline" and covered by another section of the military code. Court martial would still be in order.
We'll stand by for retractions from Family Research Council, PETA, Liberty Counsel, etc. Checks watch....

Friday, December 9, 2011

Awesome Time Lapse Video from Space

Woman files lawsuit because she can't harass transgender customers

Found at Holybulliesandheadlessmonsters.blogspot.com by Alin McEwen

Unbelievable. Earlier this week, I post a piece about a Macy's employee who was fired for harassing a transgender customer. Today, we learn more details about this case because she is now suing:


Natalie Johnson is a 27-year-old student and, until last week, worked at the River Center Macy's.

On Nov. 30, a teenager shopping caught her attention.

"I made sure to keep an eye on him because he was shopping for women's clothing," remembered Johnson.

She said she was convinced the shopper was a man. So when she saw him in the women's dressing room, she told him he couldn't change there.

"I had to just straight forward tell him, 'You're a man,' and of course that made him really got him steamed," said Johnson.

But the group of people he was with supported the shopper, arguing Macy's policy allows transgender people to change in the fitting room of the gender they associate with.

"I've made my choice the other day," Johnson told her manager. "I refuse to comply with this policy."

Johnson said she was let go.

Johnson filed a complaint with the Federal Employment Commission, claiming her religious beliefs prevent her from recognizing transgender people.

"There are no transgenders in the world. A guy can dress up as a woman all he wants, that's still not going to make you a woman," said Johnson.

There are so many things to be said about this. First of all, I refuse to believe that this woman filed this lawsuit on her own volition. Someone, or rather some organization talked her into it. This woman has no case because she admits that she refused to comply. The religious belief argument is a dodge. No one was attacking her religious beliefs. She was the aggressor. She was the violator. If she had a problem, she should have stepped aside. No one was forcing her to be in the dressing room (aren't dressing rooms usually confined to one person anyway) with the customer?

I mean what's next? Should harassing same-sex couples or same-sex couples and their children in stores be protected under the false umbrella of "religious liberty?"

This woman felt that she was above following the policies of her employer and found out that no, she was not.


No doubt the organization - and I bet it's the Liberty Counsel - that pushed Johnson into filing this lawsuit hopes to exploit people's fears about the transgender community and the lie about "men being able to invade women's bathrooms," etc.

But I think this going to backfire. This frivolous lawsuit demonstrates just how hollow the claim of "religious liberty" by the religious right are. It's obvious that "religious liberty" to some of them means the liberty to give us hell.

Those who are steaming over this - and you should be - should forget making this woman the onus of your anger. She is nothing more than a tool. Email Macy's and send the company your support for standing up for our rights and dignity. And most of all, tell Macy's to not back down.