Last Night at the Eagle

Well I figured something was up since I got four separate invites to Vince Andrew's book signing at the Dallas Eagle last night. Vince is President of NLA-I and a good friend so I went to support him. And if you haven't got it yet his book, The Leatherboy's Handbook is well worth it!

The event was early in the evening so the place was not too busy. My partner and I stayed out on the patio and I shared a cigar with several members of Dallas Leather Corps and some NLA-Dallas members. The big even of the evening would be later as the Lone Star Bear run arrived.

Vince spoke for a bit and then he gave a brief history of Sandy "Mama" Reinhardt's Family. That group is mainly title holders in the leather community and they number in the thousands across the country and around the world.

She has been a leader for many years and very active as a fundraiser with events like her annual Breast Cancer Dinners, LeatherWalk (for the AIDS Emergency Fund & the Breast Cancer Emergency Fund) and Toy Drive for Camp Sunburst, a program for children and families affected living with HIV/AIDS.

Then he said that Mama had authorized him to bring a new member into the family, and he looked at me!

I am proud to say I am now officially part of Mama's Family and was given the title of "Mama's Texas Daddy". What a wonderful surprise!

Following the pinning ( and it was not a traditional "Texas" pinning, but still an honor) Vince gave me the honor of shining my boots. Nice treat after such a great surprise!

Happy New Year - Eid Al Adha

For those who didn't know today is Eid Al Adha, Muslim New Year.

Happy Eid!

And the first day of Spring starts tonight at midnight.

General Sheehan Lies To Congress!

Gen. John J. Sheehan, the former Supreme Allied Commander for NATO made a statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday that can only be described as a bald-faced lie.

He laid the blame for the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica on gay service members of the Dutch Army. Here is the exchange with committee chairman Carl Levin (D-MI):

SHEEHAN: The case in point that I’m referring to was when the Dutch were required to defend Sbrenecia against the Serbs, the battalion was understrength, poorly led. And the Serbs came into town, handcuffed the soldiers to the telephone polls, marched the Muslims off and executed them. That was the largest massacre in Europe since World War II.

LEVIN: And did the Dutch leaders tell you it was because there were gay soldiers there?

SHEEHAN: It was a combination –

LEVIN: Did they tell you that?

SHEEHAN: Yes.

Well, the Dutch are not please with this and have categorically stated that Sheehan is lying. One official called his statements "complete nonsense".

It is amazing that this man can lie to Congress and get away with it. I feel fairly sure that his lie will be used again and again by the right-wing as "proof" that LGBT service members are unfit.
It is time someone disputed his testimony in the press loudly and often, otherwise the watchers of Fox News will believe it.

"in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily," often paraphrased as "The bigger the lie, the more it will be believed." (Adolph Hitler in Mein Kampf)

Bishop Gene Robinson In Dallas

Wednesday night, my church, the Cathedral of Hope will host Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson at the 7:15pm service. Bishop Robinson was the first openly gay bishop ordained by the Episcopal church and has became a lightening rod for controversy in the Anglican Communion.

Cathedral of Hope is a congregation of the United Church of Christ and is the nation's largest predominately LGBT congregation. Hope to see you all there Wednesday night.

Jon Stewart Channels Glenn Beck

In a performance worthy of an Emmy, Jon Stewart did the best Glenn Beck imitation I have ever seen. He dragged out the chalk boards and opens the industrial drum of crazy to show just how frigging insane Glenn Beck is.

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Best Gay Blog 2010 - DFW!

Well, it was a tie really but I am delighted to be a recipient of the Reader's Voice Award for Best Gay Blog for 2010 from the Dallas Voice. Of course I do write for the Voice, so that did give me a bit more exposure but still since it was a reader's vote I am delighted. My co-winners are Rick Vanderslice and R.J. Jackson at http://www.rickandrj.com/. Congratulations to them as well!

Rick and me go way back and often share coffee and gossip at Buli's on the Cedar Springs strip in the gayborhood.

Now if only someone would give me a cash award! Like that is going to happen?

Call Nancy Pelosi NOW & Demand Action On ENDA!

It's blogswarm time folks! Bilerico project has started it and it's a good thing. Here is the background:

Background

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, first introduced in 1994, would prohibit job discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. But LGBT people have never been able to achieve the enactment of the bill, known by the acronym of "ENDA".

Last year, the Administration's highest ranking gay official, Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry, indicated that ENDA was highest priority on the LGBT civil rights agenda.

"If we can get ENDA enacted and signed into law, it is only a matter of time before all the rest happens," he said. "It is the keystone that holds up the whole bunch, and so we need to focus our energies and attention there."

Hearings were held last Fall in the House and in the Senate to demonstrate the need for the bill, and testimony was heard on the severe unemployment, underemployment and harassment experienced by LGBT workers. Witnesses testified to the scientific studies demonstrating this.

But nothing has happened. Click here to find out why and join us in swarming Speaker Pelosi's office.

We demand that LGBT people receive the same job rights as other people: to be able to get and keep a job based only on relevant factors, like job performance, and not on irrelevant criteria, like sexual orientation or gender identity.

There is a majority in both Houses of Congress in favor of ENDA. Now is the time to move it.

In 30 states across America, there is no law against firing someone based on his or her sexual orientation, and the same is true in 38 states for gender identity.

Please call Speaker Nancy Pelosi at 202-225-4965. Ask that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, HR 3017, move to a vote.

Please be polite, but firm.

After you call, please tell us how the call went by clicking here. If you get a busy signal or hang up, let us know that too. It's important to record your response as we're tallying it up.

Jon Stewart Explains Financial Reform Proposals

Once again the Daily Show does a better job of reporting the real issues of the day than all the other news services combined. Why is it Jon Stewart can explain the real issue so clearly yet CNN & Fox and the networks merely give more "he said-she said" drivel?

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Driving While Comatose? What other Excuse?

Can you say dumb as a box of rocks!

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New Evidence Shows CIA Covertly Dosed NY Subway Riders With LSD

It sounds like something out of a novel, but if the declassified memo from the CIA leads to more evidence, unsuspecting New Yorkers were covertly dosed with LSD in the subway. That was in 1950. The following year in a small town in France citizens suddenly went crazy.

News reports from that time show that over a two-day period some 250 french residents showed up in hospitals with unexplained hallucinations. 32 of those ended up being institutionalized and four died! The explanations given ranged from mercury poisoning to a very rare fungus that grows on rye bread called ergot. A man named Frank Olsen, who later was found to be a CIA scientist was in the area.

The furor died down and life went on until 1975 when the CIA admitted dosing a government scientist with LSD. That man, Frank Olsen committed suicide in 1953. His family was awarded $750,000 by the Ford administration as an apology for the dirty deed.

Additionally, Dr. Henry Eigelsbach, a co-worker with Olsen admitted releasing LSD into the subway in the early 1950's but little evidence could be found to support his claim until now.

The declassified memo from the FBI states the following tidbit which seems to support the claims. From the New York Post.

"The BW [biological weapon] experiments to be conducted by representatives of the Department of the Army in the New York Subway System in September 1950, have been indefinitely postponed"

Time to open the records and come clean with this story. The CIA has long been suspected of overstepping it's bounds inside the country and this might be the proof needed to reign in their illegal activities. Wonder if they "waterboarded" anyone in connection with this case?

Texas Textbooks Get Dumbed Down Even More

Seems that the far-right folks who are trying to control our great states textbooks are intent on having young Texans become dumber than a box of rocks. I had to wait several days before I could write about this since it infuriated me to no end.

These sanctimonious home-schooled idiots insist that Thomas Frigging Jefferson be removed from Texas textbooks in favor of adding John Calvin? Say what? I am serious.

Board member Cynthia Dunbar, who I can only assume is a self-proclaimed born again flat earth proponent, has put forth the redeculous amendment to the texts.

According to the Texas Freedom Network blog (who attended the meetings):

Here’s the amendment Dunbar changed: “explain the impact of Enlightenment ideas from John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Charles de Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and Thomas Jefferson on political revolutions from 1750 to the present.” Here’s Dunbar’s replacement standard, which passed: “explain the impact of the writings of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Charles de Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and Sir William Blackstone.” Not only does Dunbar’s amendment completely change the thrust of the standard. It also appalling drops one of the most influential political philosophers in American history — Thomas Jefferson.

Leaving out the Enlightenment in American history is like leaving out the Renaissance in art history. This crap has to stop! Only a concerted effort by progressives and liberals can do this and that means running for school boards and education boards. Those are unromantic positions but they shape the future of our state and because Texas textbooks become the national standard, the country.