Thursday, December 30, 2010

Saturday, December 18, 2010

DADT ...then marriage


Then we're coming back for your little dog, too...
...and that last slice of pie

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Consequences of Gay Marriage


Go Giants!


This is how the the front office would prefer people see Tim Lincecum, but to some of San Francisco...


Just as long as they they send the Rangers back to Texas with some sourdough bread, Ghirardelli chocolates, and a, "No hard feelings!"

Thursday, October 14, 2010

PROP 8 TRIBUTE by Matthew Machelli


By chance I found a link of a link to their site (http://www.badrubbish.com) that can be reached by clicking on the title at the top of this post. It was just what I needed after OD'ing on one too many news stories about racist homophobic constipated extraterrestrials-disguised-as-humans and teen suicides. I've also added their site to my links that run alongside my posts.
Take as needed.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

From "Another Country," by James Baldwin

He got off at the station named for the bridge built to honor the father of his country.

And walked up the steps, into the streets, which were empty. Tall apartment buildings, lightless, loomed against the dark sky and seemed to be watching him, see,ed to be pressing down on him. The bridge was nearly over his head, intolerably high; but he did not yet see the water. He felt it, he smelled it. He thought how he never before understood how an animal could smell water. But it was over there, past the highway, where he could see the speeding cars.

Then he stood on the bridge, looking over, looking down. Now the lights of the cars on the highway seemed to be writing an endless message, writing with awful speed in fine, unreadable script. There were muted lights on the Jersey shore and here and there a neon light advertising something somebody had for sale. He began to walk slowly to the center of the bridge, observing that, from this height, the city which had been so dark as he walked through it seemed to be on fire.

He stood at the center of the bridge and it was freezing cold. He raised his eyes to heaven. He thought, You bastard, you motherfucking bastard. Ain't I your baby, too? He began to cry. Something in Rufus which could not break shook him like a rag doll and splashed salt water all over his face and filled his throat and his nostrils with anguish. He knew the pain would never stop. He could never go down into the city again. He dropped his head as though someone had struck him and looked down at the water. It was cold and the water would be cold.

He was black and the water was black.

He lifted himself by his hands on the rail, lifted himself as high as he could, and leaned far out. The wind tore at him, at his head and shoulders, while something in him screamed, Why? Why? He thought of Eric. His straining arms threatened to break. I can't make it this way. He thought of Ida. He whispered, I'm sorry Leona, and then the wind took him, he felt himself going over, head down, the wind, the stars, the lights, the the water, all rolled together, all right. He felt a shoe fly off behind him, there was nothing around him, only the wind, all right, you Godalmighty bastard, I'm coming to you.

For Tyler Clementi

Tony Curtis 1925 - 2010


The quote that he'll always be fondly remembered for: "Yonder lies the castle of my fadder."

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Life Lessons from Leave it to Beaver

Life Lessons from Leave it to Beaver

I don't EVER remember him shirtless.

He was such a "grown-up" guy when I was a kid; but to look at the photos of him now from LITB, he looks so f'ing little!
Sigh...
Dragons live forever, but not so little boys...

(Photo from dunnadam.blogspot.com)

Friday, August 27, 2010

Glenn Beck rally at Lincoln Memorial on anniversary of MLK's 'Dream' speech



THIS MAN IS SICK. THIS IS DISGUSTING.

Glenn Beck rally at Lincoln Memorial on anniversary of MLK's 'Dream' speech irks and inspires readers

If had a sailor's vocabulary, I couldn't describe what an egomaniacal, evil bastard he would be to do this. Does Beck want someone to come after him so he can become a martyr in his own twisted mind?

Thursday, August 26, 2010

What does punishment of French collaborators have to do with Ken Mehlman?


What does the treatment of women collaborators after Liberation have to do with Ken Mehlman? As initial anger gives way to introspection, I recall how it took nearly a half century for much of France (those that are not clinging to denial still) to truly examine as a nation the varying degrees of accommodation, co-operation and appeasement that millions of French found themselves committing out of sheer necessity or as a result of real or perceived danger.

It was easy to single out a particular scapegoat --the women who consorted with the Germans under the Occupation-- without admitting that it was they who ate the few scraps of extra food that "voluntary" association with the enemy provided. The French courts still get cases involving the French culpability in the Holocaust, much less those that chose to profit from it.

Washington politics, public and private lives intersect at angles as odd as the avenues that dissect the city's landscape. Many times, those enraged by individual or group acts against LGBT people, people with HIV, minorities --the list goes on ad nauseam-- have named names or threatened to of those guilty of participation, and have been applauded or derided for doing so.

The current spate of anti-gay Republican actions in Washington began when Ken Mehlman was studying for his bar mitzvah*, much less the bar. Yes, there were out gay law students and organizations when he was at Harvard. We probably couldn't arrive at how he chose to be a closeted, possibly self-hating, possibly ambitious self-serving SOB. Enough people have stepped forward to show their support for him at what every gay person knows is a difficult and frightening decision to come out publicly that Mehlman couldn't possibly be a 100% pure evil bastard. Yet, he did remain silent during, orchestrated and promoted an anti-gay agenda as he reached the highest echelons of power that have consequences to this day for millions of gay men and women. Life is complicated.

If black South Africans, some of whom it was my privilege to meet and talk with, could look Afrikaaners in the eye after the end of white rule and say, "I forgive you," then I am aware that now the onus is as much on us as it is him.

As one black South African woman said, "forgive, yes; forget, never." What penance and reparation should Ken Mehlman pay? I am not his judge (formally). I, and millions of others, must give him the opportunity to make amends such as will satisfy the victims. As with the proposed community center at 51 Park Place, there is no one course of action which will provide satisfaction to all the parties concerned.

Every gay person alive knows a single disparaging voice in our heads from decades earlier can color the most seemingly unrelated acts in our future, a voice that all the therapy, good deeds and best wishes might not dislodge. Bearing that particular unique Hell may be greater punishment than any of us could dish out.
It might do Mehlman good to hear the shears --or at least know they're in abeyance-- but hold off on putting them to his head. Whether or not he has been acknowledged for making the effort to take responsibility for his past, we are responsible for our own reactions.

Oh, I'm still angry, alright. But I've got laundry and a bowl of Greek yogurt with honey waiting for me, so I'm about to log off and work on keeping all things Mehlman out of my head for a bit. That is, at least I'll try.


*assuming he had one. Not knowing the man personally, I haven't a clue if he's even ashamed even of being Jewish, much less being gay.




t

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

'Jersey Shore' Cast Rings NYSE Opening Bell

Terminal Island Fishing Village (East San Pedro)








Shinto shrine and Tuna Street shops
Not a trace remains of the village on Terminal Island that was once home to several thousand fisherman and cannery workers and their families. Homes, churches, stores, were all bulldozed away after the community was taken away during WW II.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

BEYROUTH CAPITALE MONDIALE DU LIVRE 2010. France 3, Avril 2010

Shirley Sherrod: the FULL video

Shirley Sherrod, American Hero

::Aisee Taisee :: X33 a.la. Mandeep Sethi :: 2010 :: Directed by Manmeet...

I made my first acai bowl at home last night


There are lots of variations I found on google, and a recipe on the back of the sambazon acai pulp as well. Needless to say, whatever you want to put in it is up to you. What I do kno, is that a four-package bag of acai pulp at Whole Foods was $3 cheaper than a single acai bowl at a certain LA restaurant that I won't name. I still want to try some of the various versions in cafes around LA, but for what it's worth, here's my version:


two teaspoons honey

4 oz of acai pulp

1/2 cup of low-fat yogurt

1/2 of a banana, sliced

1/2 cup granola

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

So long, Dr. Demento


So long, Dr. Demento.
I can't believe your song is gone so soon.
I barely learned the tune
so soon
So soon.


I'll remember Dr. Demento.
All of the nights we'd harmonize 'till dawn.
I never laughed so long
So long
So long.


Disc jockeys may come and
Disc jockeys may go and
Never change your point of view.
When I run dry
I stop awhile and think of you.


So long, Dr. Demento
All of the nights we'd harmonize 'till dawn.
I never laughed so long
So long
So long.



Friday, June 18, 2010

The Tonga Room


The proposed demolition of the 1961 addition to the Fairmont, a survivor of the 1906 earthquake, will mean an end to the iconic Tonga Room with its one-of-a-kind "rain shower."

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Here's your "smaller government"

Photo from the Guardian


Tom Campbell, Carly Fiorina, Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman are all running for office in California calling for smaller government with less business regulations. Between the recent mining tragedy in West Virginia and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill (with the loss of human and animal life), you can see where their "smaller government" will take us.
Maybe the Republicans just don't care if there are any birds in the sky or fish in the sea.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Don't be fooled by the "Yes on Prop 16" campaign!


If there was an award for the most misleading ad... They win the cake. This group wants to to obscure the fact that the people own the public utilities!
I guess they aren't stealing from us, if they convince us to give away the store of our own free will ...by hook or by crook.

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Vanessa Libertad Garcia's "The Voting Booth"


My friend Vanessa Garcia's book is now available in a brick-and-mortar or online store! Click on the header above to go directly to her website.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Earthquake jolts Haiti - JamaicaObserver.com

Earthquake jolts Haiti - JamaicaObserver.com

Aid for Haitian Earthquake Victims

These are but a few of the many relief organizations --most of whom already had people onsite in Haiti prior to the earthquake:





American Jewish World Service http://www.ajws.org/ 212-792-2900











Haitian Education Project haitianeducationproject@saintleo.edu 1-800-334-5532 or 352-588-8331





Hope for Haiti http://www.hopeforhaiti.com/ 239-434-7183





Mercy Corps POB 2669 Portland, OR 97208 http://www.mercycorps.org/ 1-888-256-1900





Operation Helping Hands http://www.iwant2help.org/





Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) http://www.panamericanrelief.org/










International Red Cross http://www.redcross.org/ or text the word HAITI to 90999 to make a $10 donation





Salvation Army http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/ 1-800-SAL-ARMY





UNICEF http://www.unicefusa.org/haitiquake or call 1-800-UNICEF