Off we go as a gaggle of gay gooses to see Celine Dion tonight! Don't judge, the ticket was free!!! Not that I'm not a little bit excited! ;-)
A little something to get you in the Christmas spirit. I hope she sings this tonight!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
Gov Palin afraid of the Press
Governor Sarah Palin has refused to be interviewed by the media in any form since she was picked by John McCain to be his Veep. It seems as though campaign staffers feel the media would be asking questions that are too tough and would dive into her personal life. Newsflash! She's running for Vice-President of the United States, of course they are going to ask tough questions, as well they should! Maybe if she was a leader that was prepared for the role and actually had the experience to back up her claims of accomplishment she wouldn't have a problem facing the media.
What is really appalling is the fact that she spewed allegations, and flat out lies against Senator Obama and his experience, and now is too afraid to face the media for questions against her record. Don't dish it if you can't take it!
I especially like how Palin and the rest of the RNC Speakers set out to attack community organizers. I guess organizations like the United Way, the American Red Cross, and Habitat for Humanity have no real impact on our communities. Ironically, Palin notes that the being on the PTA (which I would consider a community organization) led her to running for larger offices.
Palin has finally agreed to sit down with ABC's Gibson for her first interview later this week. This should be interested.
The following was taken from msnbc.com
To view the full article go to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26604717
What is really appalling is the fact that she spewed allegations, and flat out lies against Senator Obama and his experience, and now is too afraid to face the media for questions against her record. Don't dish it if you can't take it!
I especially like how Palin and the rest of the RNC Speakers set out to attack community organizers. I guess organizations like the United Way, the American Red Cross, and Habitat for Humanity have no real impact on our communities. Ironically, Palin notes that the being on the PTA (which I would consider a community organization) led her to running for larger offices.
Palin has finally agreed to sit down with ABC's Gibson for her first interview later this week. This should be interested.
The following was taken from msnbc.com
Palin, who has shunned answering questions from journalists so far, faces a major test this week when she gives her first nationally televised interview after a week of intense press scrutiny into assertions she brings virtually no international experience to the ticket and has exaggerated her reformer credentials.
McCain's campaign has lashed out at coverage of Palin and her family, while Democrats have questioned why the candidate has not been put directly before reporters to answer questions.
McCain campaign manager Rick Davis earlier complained that the media has focused too much on 44-year-old Palin's personal life. Many of those stories came after McCain's campaign announced that Palin's unwed 17-year-old daughter was pregnant.
"Why would we want to throw Sarah Palin into a cycle of piranhas called the news media that have nothing better to ask questions about than her personal life and her children?" Davis said on Fox television. "So until at which point in time we feel like the news media is going to treat her with some level of respect and deference, I think it would be foolhardy to put her out into that kind of environment."
To view the full article go to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26604717
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Governor of Alaska or Karen Walker?
I know I'm not the only one who has noticed that Gov. Sarah Palin looks just like Karen Walker (Megan Mullaly) of Will & Grace. Maybe... MAYBE if her and Senator McCain stomach bump tonight after his RNC acceptance speach I will consider voting for them...
Naaaaaaaah Probably not!!!
Palin's Speech - Fact or Fiction
Well I will give Sarah Palin kudos for delivering a great speach. Too bad there wasn't much truth to it... Here's a little fact checking from the Associated Press
Attacks, praise stretch truth at GOP convention
By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer
Wed Sep 3, 11:48 PM ET
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.
Some examples:
PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."
THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."
PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate."
THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.
PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."
THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.
Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.
He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.
MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.
THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state — by population.
MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.
THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.
FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."
THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.
FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."
THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.
___
Associated Press Writer Jim Drinkard in Washington contributed to this report.
Attacks, praise stretch truth at GOP convention
By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer
Wed Sep 3, 11:48 PM ET
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.
Some examples:
PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."
THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."
PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate."
THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.
PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."
THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.
Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.
He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.
MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.
THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state — by population.
MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.
THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.
FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."
THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.
FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."
THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.
___
Associated Press Writer Jim Drinkard in Washington contributed to this report.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha gonna do?
Janet and Lisa - Prepare the scoreboard... I might just win this one!
‘COPS’ TV crews riding along with MPD
Two film crews from the television show “COPS” have been riding with Minneapolis SWAT Team officers on both the north and south sides since July 29. The crews are here for approximately 8 to 10 weeks.
“COPS” has been trying to return to Minneapolis since it aired a program featuring Minneapolis in 1990.
Minneapolis was also recently featured on A & E’s reality show, “THE FIRST 48.” In May, A & E aired a program showcasing Minneapolis homicide detectives working to solve the 2007 murder of a woman found strangled in a partially burned car.
Aug. 21, 2008
‘COPS’ TV crews riding along with MPD
Two film crews from the television show “COPS” have been riding with Minneapolis SWAT Team officers on both the north and south sides since July 29. The crews are here for approximately 8 to 10 weeks.
“COPS” has been trying to return to Minneapolis since it aired a program featuring Minneapolis in 1990.
Minneapolis was also recently featured on A & E’s reality show, “THE FIRST 48.” In May, A & E aired a program showcasing Minneapolis homicide detectives working to solve the 2007 murder of a woman found strangled in a partially burned car.
Aug. 21, 2008
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Finding Inner Peace
I am passing this on to you because it definitely worked for me and we all could use more calm in our lives. By following the simple advice I heard on a Medical TV show, I have finally found inner peace. A Doctor proclaimed the way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started. So I looked around my house to see things I'd started and hadn't finished and, before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of shhhardonay, a bodle of Baileys, a butle of vocka, a pockage of Prunglies , tha mainder of bot Prozic and Valum scriptins, the res of the Chesescke an a box a chocolets.Yu haf no idr ha gud I fel. Peas sen dis orn to who yu fee ar in ned ov inr pece.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Thought of the Day
You know you live in Minnesota when the work cafeteria is serving "Cheeseburger Hotdish" for lunch.
New Campaign Video from JibJab
I love their videos and was excited to see the new one is out for Campaign 2008! Its nice to enjoy some humor about it. About half of my week is dedicated to Campaign 2008... woohoo! I fear that it will only take more of my life as we push to the end of August.
Can we just vote already???
Can we just vote already???
Monday, July 14, 2008
She Done Left It All Behind!
Do you ever get the feeling that you are speeding ahead at 100 miles/minute and yet when you stop for a second you feel like you are in the exact same place as when you started? I don't know that it's quite like running in circles. It's more like running with one of those elastic bands tied to your back. Worse yet, like seeming in one of those stupid pools where the water moves and you don't. The treadmill for lap swimming!
I feel as though one moment I can sit and reflect and be so happy with my accomplishments. See where I've been, where I am now, and what's coming up. Sometimes you have to stop and look at what mountains you've climbed to be truly stunned by what you can accomplish. I definitely have those moments. But then there's other times where I feel like I have been sitting in the same place for the past 6-8 years. No movement, no change, just 'stasis'. I see friends flying by me, accomplishing dreams, fulfilling hopes and moving into the next stages of their lives.
Maybe that's the joy of being in your late 20's. It's one of those life-stage changing moments. People are getting married, having kids, traversing around the country for new careers. I feel like so many of my friends are passing me by, though I'm sure many of my friends look at me and think the same thing. Maybe its just that "keeping up with the Jones' " mentality.
Back to that lovely lap-swimming treadmill. When I look at the odometer, I see that I've swam the width of the Atlantic Ocean, but yet, I'm still in the same damn tub!
Quote of the day: Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift!
I feel as though one moment I can sit and reflect and be so happy with my accomplishments. See where I've been, where I am now, and what's coming up. Sometimes you have to stop and look at what mountains you've climbed to be truly stunned by what you can accomplish. I definitely have those moments. But then there's other times where I feel like I have been sitting in the same place for the past 6-8 years. No movement, no change, just 'stasis'. I see friends flying by me, accomplishing dreams, fulfilling hopes and moving into the next stages of their lives.
Maybe that's the joy of being in your late 20's. It's one of those life-stage changing moments. People are getting married, having kids, traversing around the country for new careers. I feel like so many of my friends are passing me by, though I'm sure many of my friends look at me and think the same thing. Maybe its just that "keeping up with the Jones' " mentality.
Back to that lovely lap-swimming treadmill. When I look at the odometer, I see that I've swam the width of the Atlantic Ocean, but yet, I'm still in the same damn tub!
Quote of the day: Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift!
Friday, July 11, 2008
For Hire
So it's been a long time since I last blogged and I want to get back into it now that I am finally past that all consuming event called Pride. Lots to talk about in retrospect to that (It was a great year, and I need to brag for my sake and my teams! ;-) But that will come later.
I need to make some extra cash. Pay off a few more bills and maybe start stashing some away for a big trip. Any ideas?? I'd love to find a couple small events to actually contract my services for, but in the mean time, am looking at all options! Sometimes its nice to have a PT job that requires less than maximum brain capacity!
Happy summer all!
I need to make some extra cash. Pay off a few more bills and maybe start stashing some away for a big trip. Any ideas?? I'd love to find a couple small events to actually contract my services for, but in the mean time, am looking at all options! Sometimes its nice to have a PT job that requires less than maximum brain capacity!
Happy summer all!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
California's top court overturns gay marriage ban
It just got a bit sunnier in CA!
By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO - In a monumental victory for the gay rights movement, the California Supreme Court overturned a voter-approved ban on gay marriage Thursday in a ruling that would allow same-sex couples in the nation's biggest state to tie the knot.
Domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage, the justices ruled 4-3 in striking down the ban.
Outside the courthouse, gay marriage supporters cried and cheered as the news spread.
Jeanie Rizzo, one of the plaintiffs, called Pali Cooper, her partner of 19 years, and asked, "Pali, will you marry me?"
"This is a very historic day. This is just such freedom for us," Rizzo said. "This is a message that says all of us are entitled to human dignity."
In the Castro, historically a center of the gay community in San Francisco, Tim Oviatt started crying while watching the news on TV.
"I've been waiting for this all my life," he said. "This is a life-affirming moment."
The city of San Francisco, two dozen gay and lesbian couples and gay rights groups sued in March 2004 after the court halted the monthlong wedding march that took place when Mayor Gavin Newsom opened the doors of City Hall to same-sex marriages.
"Today the California Supreme Court took a giant leap to ensure that everybody — not just in the state of California, but throughout the country — will have equal treatment under the law," said City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who argued the case for San Francisco.
The challenge for gay rights advocates, however, is not over.
A coalition of religious and social conservative groups is attempting to put a measure on the November ballot that would enshrine laws banning gay marriage in the state constitution.
The Secretary of State is expected to rule by the end of June whether the sponsors gathered enough signatures to qualify the marriage amendment, similar to ones enacted in 26 other states.
If voters pass the measure in November, it would trump the court's decision.
California already offers same-sex couples who register as domestic partners the same legal rights and responsibilities as married spouses, including the right to divorce and to sue for child support.
But, "Our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation," Chief Justice Ron George wrote for the court's majority, which also included Justices Joyce Kennard, Kathryn Werdegar and Carlos Moreno.
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Marvin Baxter agreed with many arguments of the majority but said the court overstepped its authority. Changes to marriage laws should be decided by the voters, Baxter wrote. Justices Ming Chin and Carol Corrigan also dissented.
The conservative Alliance Defense Fund says it plans to ask the justices for a stay of their decision until after the fall election, said Glen Lavey, senior counsel for the group.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has twice vetoed legislation that would've granted marriage rights to same-sex couples, said in a news release that he respected the court's decision and "will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn this state Supreme Court ruling."
___
Associated Press writers Terence Chea, Jason Dearen, Juliana Barbassa and Evelyn Nieves contributed to this report.
By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO - In a monumental victory for the gay rights movement, the California Supreme Court overturned a voter-approved ban on gay marriage Thursday in a ruling that would allow same-sex couples in the nation's biggest state to tie the knot.
Domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage, the justices ruled 4-3 in striking down the ban.
Outside the courthouse, gay marriage supporters cried and cheered as the news spread.
Jeanie Rizzo, one of the plaintiffs, called Pali Cooper, her partner of 19 years, and asked, "Pali, will you marry me?"
"This is a very historic day. This is just such freedom for us," Rizzo said. "This is a message that says all of us are entitled to human dignity."
In the Castro, historically a center of the gay community in San Francisco, Tim Oviatt started crying while watching the news on TV.
"I've been waiting for this all my life," he said. "This is a life-affirming moment."
The city of San Francisco, two dozen gay and lesbian couples and gay rights groups sued in March 2004 after the court halted the monthlong wedding march that took place when Mayor Gavin Newsom opened the doors of City Hall to same-sex marriages.
"Today the California Supreme Court took a giant leap to ensure that everybody — not just in the state of California, but throughout the country — will have equal treatment under the law," said City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who argued the case for San Francisco.
The challenge for gay rights advocates, however, is not over.
A coalition of religious and social conservative groups is attempting to put a measure on the November ballot that would enshrine laws banning gay marriage in the state constitution.
The Secretary of State is expected to rule by the end of June whether the sponsors gathered enough signatures to qualify the marriage amendment, similar to ones enacted in 26 other states.
If voters pass the measure in November, it would trump the court's decision.
California already offers same-sex couples who register as domestic partners the same legal rights and responsibilities as married spouses, including the right to divorce and to sue for child support.
But, "Our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation," Chief Justice Ron George wrote for the court's majority, which also included Justices Joyce Kennard, Kathryn Werdegar and Carlos Moreno.
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Marvin Baxter agreed with many arguments of the majority but said the court overstepped its authority. Changes to marriage laws should be decided by the voters, Baxter wrote. Justices Ming Chin and Carol Corrigan also dissented.
The conservative Alliance Defense Fund says it plans to ask the justices for a stay of their decision until after the fall election, said Glen Lavey, senior counsel for the group.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has twice vetoed legislation that would've granted marriage rights to same-sex couples, said in a news release that he respected the court's decision and "will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn this state Supreme Court ruling."
___
Associated Press writers Terence Chea, Jason Dearen, Juliana Barbassa and Evelyn Nieves contributed to this report.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Interesting Conversation on Bullying
There's quite the interesting (albeit long winded) discussion going on right now on the Star Tribune's website. All sparked by what I deem to be a very ignorant OpEd piece.
Feel free to read the column and corresponding comments at http://ww3.startribune.com/kerstenblog/?p=430.
And for the record, there were a few slams on how many city ordinances that the Pride Parade and Festival break during the events. I'd just like to state for the record that we follow and enforce the same laws as everyone else is required to. So :-P
Finally, someone posted this letter that a mother wrote back in 2000 in response to several anti-gay comments coming out in Vermont.
Many letters have been sent to the Valley News concerning the homosexual menace in Vermont. I am the mother of a gay son and I’ve taken enough from you good people.
I’m tired of your foolish rhetoric about the “homosexual agenda” and your allegations that accepting homosexuality is the same thing as advocating sex with children. You are cruel and ignorant. You have been robbing me of the joys of motherhood ever since my children were tiny. My firstborn son started suffering at the hands of the moral little thugs from your moral, upright families from the time he was in the first grade. He was physically and verbally abused from first grade straight through high school because he was perceived to be gay. He never professed to be gay or had any association with anything gay, but he had the misfortune not to walk or have gestures like the other boys. He was called “fag” incessantly, starting when he was 6.
In high school, while your children were doing what kids that age should be doing, mine labored over a suicide note, drafting and redrafting it to be sure his family knew how much he loved them. My sobbing 17-year-old tore the heart out of me as he choked out that he just couldn’t bear to continue living any longer, that he didn’t want to be gay and that he couldn’t face a life without dignity.
You have the audacity to talk about protecting families and children from the homosexual menace, while you yourselves tear apart families and drive children to despair. I don’t know why my son is gay, but I do know that God didn’t put him, and millions like him, on this Earth to give you someone to abuse. God gave you brains so that you could think, and it’s about time you started doing that.
At the core of all your misguided beliefs is the belief that this could never happen to you, that there is some kind of subculture out there that people have chosen to join. The fact is that if it can happen to my family, it can happen to yours, and you won’t get to choose. Whether it is genetic or whether something occurs during a critical time of fetal development, I don’t know. I can only tell you with an absolute certainty that it is inborn.
If you want to tout your own morality, you’d best come up with something more substantive than your heterosexuality. You did nothing to earn it; it was given to you. If you disagree, I would be interested in hearing your story, because my own heterosexuality was a blessing I received with no effort whatsoever on my part. It is so woven into the very soul of me that nothing could ever change it. For those of you who reduce sexual orientation to a simple choice, a character issue, a bad habit or something that can be changed by a 10-step program, I’m puzzled. Are you saying that your own sexual orientation is nothing more than something you have chosen, that you could change it at will? If that’s not the case, then why would you suggest that someone else can?
A popular theme in your letters is that Vermont has been infiltrated by outsiders. Both sides of my family have lived in Vermont for generations. I am heart and soul a Vermonter, so I’ll thank you to stop saying that you are speaking for “true Vermonters.”
You invoke the memory of the brave people who have fought on the battlefield for this great country, saying that they didn’t give their lives so that the “homosexual agenda” could tear down the principles they died defending. My 83-year-old father fought in some of the most horrific battles of World War II, was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart.
He shakes his head in sadness at the life his grandson has had to live. He says he fought alongside homosexuals in those battles, that they did their part and bothered no one. One of his best friends in the service was gay, and he never knew it until the end, and when he did find out, it mattered not at all. That wasn’t the measure of the man.
You religious folk just can’t bear the thought that as my son emerges from the hell that was his childhood he might like to find a lifelong companion and have a measure of happiness. It offends your sensibilities that he should request the right to visit that companion in the hospital, to make medical decisions for him or to benefit from tax laws governing inheritance. How dare he? you say. These outrageous requests would threaten the very existence of your family, would undermine the sanctity of marriage.
You use religion to abdicate your responsibility to be thinking human beings. There are vast numbers of religious people who find your attitudes repugnant. God is not for the privileged majority, and God knows my son has committed no sin. The deep-thinking author of a letter to the April 12 Valley News who lectures about homosexual sin and tells us about “those of us who have been blessed with the benefits of a religious upbringing” asks: “What ever happened to the idea of striving . . . to be better human beings than we are?”
Indeed, sir, what ever happened to that?”
Sharon UnderwoodValley NewsApril 30, 2000
Feel free to read the column and corresponding comments at http://ww3.startribune.com/kerstenblog/?p=430.
And for the record, there were a few slams on how many city ordinances that the Pride Parade and Festival break during the events. I'd just like to state for the record that we follow and enforce the same laws as everyone else is required to. So :-P
Finally, someone posted this letter that a mother wrote back in 2000 in response to several anti-gay comments coming out in Vermont.
Many letters have been sent to the Valley News concerning the homosexual menace in Vermont. I am the mother of a gay son and I’ve taken enough from you good people.
I’m tired of your foolish rhetoric about the “homosexual agenda” and your allegations that accepting homosexuality is the same thing as advocating sex with children. You are cruel and ignorant. You have been robbing me of the joys of motherhood ever since my children were tiny. My firstborn son started suffering at the hands of the moral little thugs from your moral, upright families from the time he was in the first grade. He was physically and verbally abused from first grade straight through high school because he was perceived to be gay. He never professed to be gay or had any association with anything gay, but he had the misfortune not to walk or have gestures like the other boys. He was called “fag” incessantly, starting when he was 6.
In high school, while your children were doing what kids that age should be doing, mine labored over a suicide note, drafting and redrafting it to be sure his family knew how much he loved them. My sobbing 17-year-old tore the heart out of me as he choked out that he just couldn’t bear to continue living any longer, that he didn’t want to be gay and that he couldn’t face a life without dignity.
You have the audacity to talk about protecting families and children from the homosexual menace, while you yourselves tear apart families and drive children to despair. I don’t know why my son is gay, but I do know that God didn’t put him, and millions like him, on this Earth to give you someone to abuse. God gave you brains so that you could think, and it’s about time you started doing that.
At the core of all your misguided beliefs is the belief that this could never happen to you, that there is some kind of subculture out there that people have chosen to join. The fact is that if it can happen to my family, it can happen to yours, and you won’t get to choose. Whether it is genetic or whether something occurs during a critical time of fetal development, I don’t know. I can only tell you with an absolute certainty that it is inborn.
If you want to tout your own morality, you’d best come up with something more substantive than your heterosexuality. You did nothing to earn it; it was given to you. If you disagree, I would be interested in hearing your story, because my own heterosexuality was a blessing I received with no effort whatsoever on my part. It is so woven into the very soul of me that nothing could ever change it. For those of you who reduce sexual orientation to a simple choice, a character issue, a bad habit or something that can be changed by a 10-step program, I’m puzzled. Are you saying that your own sexual orientation is nothing more than something you have chosen, that you could change it at will? If that’s not the case, then why would you suggest that someone else can?
A popular theme in your letters is that Vermont has been infiltrated by outsiders. Both sides of my family have lived in Vermont for generations. I am heart and soul a Vermonter, so I’ll thank you to stop saying that you are speaking for “true Vermonters.”
You invoke the memory of the brave people who have fought on the battlefield for this great country, saying that they didn’t give their lives so that the “homosexual agenda” could tear down the principles they died defending. My 83-year-old father fought in some of the most horrific battles of World War II, was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart.
He shakes his head in sadness at the life his grandson has had to live. He says he fought alongside homosexuals in those battles, that they did their part and bothered no one. One of his best friends in the service was gay, and he never knew it until the end, and when he did find out, it mattered not at all. That wasn’t the measure of the man.
You religious folk just can’t bear the thought that as my son emerges from the hell that was his childhood he might like to find a lifelong companion and have a measure of happiness. It offends your sensibilities that he should request the right to visit that companion in the hospital, to make medical decisions for him or to benefit from tax laws governing inheritance. How dare he? you say. These outrageous requests would threaten the very existence of your family, would undermine the sanctity of marriage.
You use religion to abdicate your responsibility to be thinking human beings. There are vast numbers of religious people who find your attitudes repugnant. God is not for the privileged majority, and God knows my son has committed no sin. The deep-thinking author of a letter to the April 12 Valley News who lectures about homosexual sin and tells us about “those of us who have been blessed with the benefits of a religious upbringing” asks: “What ever happened to the idea of striving . . . to be better human beings than we are?”
Indeed, sir, what ever happened to that?”
Sharon UnderwoodValley NewsApril 30, 2000
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Simple Science
So the meteorologist on the radio yesterday was saying that the roads would be icey this morning citing that "there is a lot of water in this snow"...
???
Somebody must have been sick and missed a science lesson in 1st grade!
WHERE IS SPRING????
???
Somebody must have been sick and missed a science lesson in 1st grade!
WHERE IS SPRING????
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Pride Entertainment Announcement!
ANNOUNCING
Pride in Concert!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
6:00pm – 10:00pm
Loring Park
Featuring:
En Vogue
Deborah Cox
Sick of Sarah
Sunshine Behavior
& DJ Red Richard
Prides biggest fireworks display ever will end the concert and for the first time will be choreographed to music arranged by DJ Red Richard!
Tickets go on sale in mid-April. Tickets are $8 online or $10 at the gate. Go to www.tcpride.org for all of the details!
This is year is going to be huge. Don’t miss it!
Pride in Concert!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
6:00pm – 10:00pm
Loring Park
Featuring:
En Vogue
Deborah Cox
Sick of Sarah
Sunshine Behavior
& DJ Red Richard
Prides biggest fireworks display ever will end the concert and for the first time will be choreographed to music arranged by DJ Red Richard!
Tickets go on sale in mid-April. Tickets are $8 online or $10 at the gate. Go to www.tcpride.org for all of the details!
This is year is going to be huge. Don’t miss it!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Off to Nebraska
So, I'm off to Nebraska to enjoy some time off after the Auto Show. Woohoo, your jealous I know! ;-)
The Auto Show went off without a hitch I'm happy to report. Attendance was up, just under 100,000 people and the show manager i work with, who is impossible to please, seemed very happy. So I shall pat myself on the back for getting excessively positive remarks from probably our toughest client! (cocky? yes thank you!) ;-)
Now I'm off to Nebraska. Get a little time away with the family and friends. Hopefully I'll be able to get some good R & R and have time to sort out alot of thoughts that have been going through my head lately. Life isn't complete without a little turmoil (or a lot). Anyway, I hope it will allow for some positive clarity.
I'll leave you with a little tribute to Nebraska.
The Auto Show went off without a hitch I'm happy to report. Attendance was up, just under 100,000 people and the show manager i work with, who is impossible to please, seemed very happy. So I shall pat myself on the back for getting excessively positive remarks from probably our toughest client! (cocky? yes thank you!) ;-)
Now I'm off to Nebraska. Get a little time away with the family and friends. Hopefully I'll be able to get some good R & R and have time to sort out alot of thoughts that have been going through my head lately. Life isn't complete without a little turmoil (or a lot). Anyway, I hope it will allow for some positive clarity.
I'll leave you with a little tribute to Nebraska.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
A Beautiful Day
So, I figured for as much as I've complained about the cold weather this winter, I must say, it was beautiful out today! I'm so happy to see the sun. He's my friend and I have missed him. Cocktail on a patio anyone? Okay, maybe I'm a bit ahead of myself, but I taste spring and I won't let it go!!
Day 6 of the Auto Show. Three left and I get one of them off. WOOHOO!!!
I'll leave you with this. I love Bono. By far one of the coolest people I've ever had the opportunity to meet!
Day 6 of the Auto Show. Three left and I get one of them off. WOOHOO!!!
I'll leave you with this. I love Bono. By far one of the coolest people I've ever had the opportunity to meet!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Humor for the Day
So today is Day 4 (of 9) of the Auto Show. We are off and cruising (ha ha) and things are going well, so life is getting a bit easier.
Also, it was over 40 degrees today in MSP. YAY!!!
Just a little joke to help you smile!
Jack decided to go skiing with his buddy, Bob. So they loadedUp Jack's minivan and headed north. After driving for a few hours, they got caught in a terrible blizzard. So they pulled into a nearby farm and asked the attractive lady who answered the door if they could spend the night.
"I realize it's terrible weather out there and I have this huge house all to myself, but I'm recently widowed," she explained. "I'm afraid the neighbors will talk if I let you stay in my house."
"Don't worry," Jack said. "We'll be happy to sleep in the barn. And if the weather breaks, we'll be gone at first light."
The ladyAgreed, and the two men found their way to the barn and settled in for the night. Come morning, the weather had cleared, and they got on their way. They enjoyed a great weekend of skiing.
But about nine months later, Jack got an unexpected letter from an attorney. It took him a few minutes to figure it out, but he finally determined that it was from the attorney of that attractive widow he had met on the ski weekend.
He dropped in on his friend Bob and asked, "Bob, do you remember that good-looking widow from the farm we stayed at on our ski holiday up north about 9 months ago?"
"Yes, I do" Said Bob.
"Did you, uh, happen to getup in the middle of the night, go up to the house and pay her a visit?"
"Well, um, yes," Bob said, a little embarrassed about being found out, "I have to admit that I did."
"And did you happen to give her my name instead of telling her your name?"
Bob's face turned beet red and he said, "Yeah, look, I'm sorry, buddy. I'm afraid I did. Why do you ask?"
"She just died and left me everything.."
(And you thought the ending would be different, didn't you?...You know you smiled... Now keep that smile for the rest of the day!)
Also, it was over 40 degrees today in MSP. YAY!!!
Just a little joke to help you smile!
Jack decided to go skiing with his buddy, Bob. So they loadedUp Jack's minivan and headed north. After driving for a few hours, they got caught in a terrible blizzard. So they pulled into a nearby farm and asked the attractive lady who answered the door if they could spend the night.
"I realize it's terrible weather out there and I have this huge house all to myself, but I'm recently widowed," she explained. "I'm afraid the neighbors will talk if I let you stay in my house."
"Don't worry," Jack said. "We'll be happy to sleep in the barn. And if the weather breaks, we'll be gone at first light."
The ladyAgreed, and the two men found their way to the barn and settled in for the night. Come morning, the weather had cleared, and they got on their way. They enjoyed a great weekend of skiing.
But about nine months later, Jack got an unexpected letter from an attorney. It took him a few minutes to figure it out, but he finally determined that it was from the attorney of that attractive widow he had met on the ski weekend.
He dropped in on his friend Bob and asked, "Bob, do you remember that good-looking widow from the farm we stayed at on our ski holiday up north about 9 months ago?"
"Yes, I do" Said Bob.
"Did you, uh, happen to getup in the middle of the night, go up to the house and pay her a visit?"
"Well, um, yes," Bob said, a little embarrassed about being found out, "I have to admit that I did."
"And did you happen to give her my name instead of telling her your name?"
Bob's face turned beet red and he said, "Yeah, look, I'm sorry, buddy. I'm afraid I did. Why do you ask?"
"She just died and left me everything.."
(And you thought the ending would be different, didn't you?...You know you smiled... Now keep that smile for the rest of the day!)
Thursday, March 6, 2008
American Controversy
Every year somebody has to make trouble for Amercian Idol and this year it is David Hernandez. The power singer was evidently a fully nude stripper at a gay bar in Phoenix called Dick's. How creative... It appears the show isn't too worried about his sordid past. Maybe we can have a strip off on one of the episodes? The funny thing is I have been trying to figure out if he is gay or not, and the fact that he was a stripper at a gay bar actually makes me lean towards him being straight. Ironic I know, but it seems most male strippers, even at gay bars, are straight.
He could sing to me nude...
but would I owe him a $20?
Anyway, It also appears the Democratic Primary will drag on for at least another 7 weeks. Can I say I'm tired of it? I'd love a few weeks of 'downtime' from the campaign talk before we hit the heavy general election season!
He could sing to me nude...
but would I owe him a $20?
Anyway, It also appears the Democratic Primary will drag on for at least another 7 weeks. Can I say I'm tired of it? I'd love a few weeks of 'downtime' from the campaign talk before we hit the heavy general election season!
Saturday, March 1, 2008
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