BP Still Blocking Reporters From Public Beaches - And Lying About It!

BP Continues to stonewall media from speaking with workers on the cleanup efforts even though the lying officials at BO are saying they have free access. This video shows a private security guard blocking access to a PUBLIC BEACH. So where the hell does BP get the right to block access to a public beach? And where is the local law enforcement on this?

Fox News Lies Again! Surprised?

So, Fox News has just decided to start lying instead of reporting news. Their latest is a whopper too!

Brian Kilmeade made the bald faced lie that the Obama Campaign received $750 million from BP during the election. First that would amount to the entire amount raised by Obama and second it would have been illegal at that time.

BP is on record having donated $1000 directly and its employees through a political action committee donated about $70,000. That would be a whole hell of a lot less than $750 million!

Fox News is not content to have a corporation blamed for this disaster and is trying desperately to pin it on the Obama administration. They should loose their broadcast license for falsely claiming what they report is news, it has reached the level or complete and utter crap, not the the right-wing slant on real news. Fox lies!

Haitian Earthquake Video - Presidential Palace Collapses

Really spooky footage of the Presidential Palace in Haiti collapsing from surveillance cameras taken during the earthquake.

BP Live Cam - Success? Not By Any Measure!

While BP struggles to survive in the market, their "fix" seems to be doing nothing or even making things worse.  The live video below is terrifying in its intensity.  This is what their success looks like!

Online TV Shows by Ustream

Yuma Mayor is an Idiot - Calls Gay Troups "Limp Wristed"

Yup he's an idiot. I have a lot of gay and lesbian friends who either are serving or have served in the military and I can assure you they were neither "limp-wristed" nor did they wear "lacy drawers".  These statements by the Mayor of Yuma are just plain garbage.  If you think so, write to this asshat and let him know how you feel!

Is GM Doing The "New Coke"?

Remember when Coca Cola made the worst advertising and marketing mistake in modern history?  The "New Coke" debaucle took years to undo and cost not only shelf space but hurt the iconic brand.  Well, I have to wonder if the brain doner who came up with that idea hasn't moved to GM.

In a leaked email GM is requesting it's dealers and affiliates to stop using the household name "Chevy" and roll back time a half a century to call their flagship line of automobiles, Chevrolet.  Say what?

Maybe it's a PR trick to gain attention, but at a time when GM has finally got some cool new Chevys, one of which I bought (new Chevy Equinox), and are about to roll out their new Volt electric vehicle, changing the brand name seems like insanity.

Dealers and bloggers are amazed and downright annoyed by the advertising manifesto and I suspect if it's not a gimmick to get us talking about Chevy, then some agency creatives have been really using some "new coke".  Aw heck, they are doing that no matter what!

Reverse The Ban on Gay Blood Donors

It's 2010 folks and science has lots of good ways to test our blood supply.  The ban on gay men donating blood is archaic and needs to be reversed.  Want more reasons?

• Newer tests have shortened the window period in which HIV is undetectable to between 9 and 11 days. A permanent, lifetime ban is outdated and no longer makes sense.

• The U.S. blood supply is frequently at critically low levels. Less than 5% of all eligible donors give, while donation recipients include mothers delivering babies, trauma victims, cancer patients, transplant patients and others. The respected Williams Institute estimates that lifting the ban would result in an estimated 130,150 additional donors who are likely to donate 219,000 additional pints of blood each year, while shortening deferral to one year would result in 53,269 additional men who are likely to donate 89,716 pints each year.

• The ban is a form of discrimination by unfairly targeting men who have sex with men, or effectively the gay and bisexual community. A permanent, blanket ban is instituted on any male who has had sex with another male even once since 1977 and without regard for his partner's HIV status nor for frequency, safe sex practices, or duration since. Yet if one has sex with an opposite-sex partner who is knowingly HIV-positive, he or she can give again in a year. This is discrimination and it is wrong.

• Other countries like Australia, Japan, Sweden and Russia have either revised or completely lifted the deferral period, while Italy, Spain and France screen donors based on risk rather than a blanket ban on a community.

• The American Red Cross, America's Blood Centers, American Association of Blood Banks, American Medical Association, and a coalition of nearly fifty other organizations all support a revision of the ban.

You can use these reasons in combination with your own personal ones, or the form letter in the extended entry. Please submit a public comment via jerry.holmberg@hhs.gov, and urge that the ban be revised to improve the nation's health, meet sound scientific practices, and eliminate discrimination. Thanks for helping improve the nation's health and eliminating another form of discrimination.

Breakthrough For Transgender Rights - Passports!

This just in from the US Department of State:

The U.S. Department of State is pleased to use the occasion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Month to announce its new policy guidelines regarding gender change in passports and Consular Reports of Birth Abroad.

Beginning June 10, when a passport applicant presents a certification from an attending medical physician that the applicant has undergone appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition, the passport will reflect the new gender. The guidelines include detailed information about what information the certification must include. It is also possible to obtain a limited-validity passport if the physician’s statement shows the applicant is in the process of gender transition. No additional medical records are required. Sexual reassignment surgery is no longer a prerequisite for passport issuance. A Consular Report of Birth Abroad can also be amended with the new gender.

As with all passport applicants, passport issuing officers at embassies and consulates abroad and domestic passport agencies and centers will only ask appropriate questions to obtain information necessary to determine citizenship and identity.

The new policy and procedures are based on standards and recommendations of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), recognized by the American Medical Association as the authority in this field.

What Will They Eat?

According to an article in the Dallas Morning News, Texas schools serve 2.9 million meals a day.   For many children in Texas, those meals they get in school are about the only nourishment of any value they get all day.

As summer is upon us, schools are in recess, but kids still need to eat.  For most of us this isn't a concern.  We dine on a feast of varied foods every day that some people could only dream of.  The dark fact is that many of those who are hungry are right here in our own city and state.  We are just too cocooned in our affluence to see the problem.


AmeriCorps the volunteer organization is teaming with Central Dallas Ministries "Move Summer Feeding Initiative" to provide 500,000 nutritious meals for children in the next 3 months.  That is a wonderful idea, but sadly it is a drop in the bucket.  

My church, Cathedral of Hope, provides breakfast every Saturday to anyone in the neighborhood who is hungry.  We serve hundreds of meals with no strings attached and yet there are still hungry children who need food on the other 6 days of the week.  

Another opportunity is the Summer Food Program from the FDA.   Individuals and companies can volunteer and donate to keep the lunch and breakfast programs going throughout the summer. The main problem with all these programs from what I have seen is their accessibility.  The web site for the FDA is bewildering and has no clear call to action, but if you are resolute you can thread your way to the key information.

I sincerely believe it is time to urge our local, state and national  officials to do something to alleviate this problem.  A full-year school calendar might be a solution. It keeps kids fed and it keeps the knowledge in their heads fresh.  Sounds like a win-win to me.





 

The Perils of Lesbianity - Video

OK, right off the bat, I apologize to any of my lesbian friends who find this offensive, however I suspect most will roll on the floor and laugh their ass off.

I love you all sisters!

Oklahoma Bigot Sally Kern Has Challenger - And She is Transgender!

In case that headline was misleading, Sally Kern is not transgender, but her challenger is.  Democrat Brittany Novotny, an Oklahoma lawyer filed to run against Kern.  In case you don't reacll, Kern is the woman who made such inflammatory statements as homosexuality was "the biggest threat to our nation has, bigger than terrorism and Islam which I think is a big threat."  Just Google her name and you will find reams of similar idiotic quotes.

In an interview with The Tulsa World, Novotny said, "for six years, we’ve had someone who has not represented her district, has been ineffective on problems and is bad for business.... She focuses on things that aren’t critical issues to the district, like education."

Kern, to her credit, says gender identity will not be part of her campaign. 

Thousands of Dead Fish and Dolphins Wash Ashore in Mississippi

Even as Fox News is spinning the story to show how successful BP is in their efforts, something I just saw on my way back from lunch, this photo in the New York Times tells a much different story.  The thousands of fish dead on the beaches of Mississippi betray Republican Gov. Haley Barbour's declaration that the "coast is clear, come on down".

While Barbour is lying dolphins are starting to wash up dead on the same beaches.  What advantage does he have for being such a complete liar?  Oh yes, he gets lots of money from oil companies!

What Does Fake Chicken Taste Like? Chicken!

More than once in my life I have gone vegetarian. Once on a new years resolution/bet I gave up meat for almost 10 years. Finally after doing a lot of traveling and finding it increasingly hard to stick with a vegetarian regimen, I gave in and tried meat again. I was expecting to get sick since many friends who were vegetarians told me that is what would happen.

Naw! I was fine and I gleefully started chowing down on barbecue and steaks and chicken again. Recently, though, I have started trying to move away from beef and eventually chicken. It's not from some ideological bent, but from simple health concerns. Meat in this country is over processed and medicated and I suspect I would be healthier without it.

Now comes word that a couple of scientists have produced the Holy Grail in non-meat products. A fake chicken analog that not only tastes like chicken, but chews and feels like chicken when you eat it. Once this comes on the market, I think I might try going meatless again.

Jane Lynch vs. iPhone HD (Spoof video)

Bush Glibly Admits Waterboarding Prisoners

Last week a comment by former president George Bosh slipped right by most media sources. I guess in terms of the American public’s attention span, Bush is “old news”.

In a speech in Grand Rapids, Michigan Bush made the following statement.

“Yeah, we waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed… I'd do it again to save lives."

So here we have a former President of the United States admitting he authorized torture which while sitting as President he denied. Not only is that duplicitous, something I am not at all surprised at by Bush. But this statement it is admitting a war crime and according to retired Brigadier General David R. Irvine, a scholar and teacher of military law and treatment of prisoners for over 18 years, “it cannot be demonstrated that any use of waterboarding by U.S. personnel in recent years has saved a single American life."

In an interview on Huffington Post Irvine further stated, “we are seen by the rest of the world as having abandoned our commitment to international law. We have forfeited enormous amounts of moral leadership as the world's sole remaining superpower. And it puts American troops in greater danger -- and unnecessary danger."

Bush’s glib statement will put American soldiers at greater risk of torture in the future because of the perception that all bets are off when it comes to treatment of prisoners. This is a giant step backwards and it will take a great deal of diplomacy and moral leadership to reverse.

The whole admission just confirms what I long believed, Bush and his administration was lacking in any kind of moral compass other than expediency. His leadership of the country was inept at best and criminal as worst. Perhaps it is time to reexamine his Presidency and more to the point hold him accountable for the breaches in both domestic and international law he and his cronies were responsible for.

I am sure more information will come out and I feel sure the gravitas of this will not fade away anytime soon.

Librarians Do Gaga!

Who says Librarians don't have fun? Washington State Librarians doing a "Poker Face" parody.

Rand Paul Just Can't Shut Up!

A few days ago I called Rand Paul a walking train wreck.  I was understating it.  This guy is his own worst enemy.  He knows the media spotlight is on him and he still makes amazing gaffs that anyone who has spent more than a few minutes in public life would avoid.  Call it idealism?  I think he is just naive and that is not the kind of person you want leading a state.

In his latest foray into the waters of controversy he said he things smoking in public restaurants should be a right.  Specifically he stated, "For example, I am opposed to the government telling restaurant owners that they cannot allow smoking in their establishments."  

OK fine, but what about the employees who have to work in the smoke filled restaurants?  Then in the same Op-Ed piece for the Bowling Green Daily News, Paul compared himself to Martin Luther King, Jr.  Strange from a man who thinks the Civil Right Bill infringes on the rights of businesses to discriminate and segregate.

Mr. Paul, you 15 minutes of fame is up.

Corpus Christi Comes to Dallas

Terrence McNally's allegorical passion play Corpus Christi finally made it to Texas.  When it opened back in 1998 it was received with protests and bomb threats.  So what the heck could cause such hatred?

The story is told through characters living in Corpus Christi, Texas and the principal character Josh, is gay.  As I noted it is a passion play and Josh represents Jesus and that was the key to all the anger.  Protests and hatred have dogged this play since it was first performed, but I would suspect most of those who are angry have never seen it or read it. 

In actuality the play is a very engaging and accessible portrayal of the life of Jesus and the actors in this production based out of LA carry it off with enthusiasm and sincerity without being preachy.  That is a good trick, since the script is really what I call pure theater.  The staging is minimal, most carried onstage by the actors in backpacks.  Characters continuously assume other roles and personae and the changes are sometimes startling and a bit confusing.  Gender is no obstacle to any character since men and women play roles of both genders. 

The story is well known, yet this cast manages to being freshness to their roles and to the plot that you are actually wondering how it will end.  But we all know that, and when Josh is arrested and beaten and finally crucified, there were few dry eyes in the house. 

The traveling production performed at my church the Cathedral of Hope, and it was a great setting for the play since it begins and ends with a draped table resembling an alter with a single candle on it.  Very moving and touching and poignant and even more so being performed in a predominately LGBT church. The final perfomance is tonight, so you probably won't have time to get tickets but if you can do it.

And if you are thinking about protesting the performance, forget it, the church property extends so far away from the building you wil be unnoticed except by the police who were in attendance for the audience and actors safety.