Inflatable Airplane from the 1950's - Video

What an awesome idea and cockamamie at the same time.  Pity this one never become commercially viable.

More Rick Perry Gay Rumors - This time NAMES!

An article in the San Francisco Gate contained this blog post by one of their contributors.  Watch it and then let me know if you or someone you know has had sex with Rick Perry.  That rent boy is out there somewhere!

American Family Association - Re-criminalize Homosexuality

Why the American Family Association, a recognized hate group, is still getting press is beyond me.  Now these bigots are calling for the reinstatement of sodomy laws!  This kind of crap is one of the biggest arguments against "states rights".  That phrase is code for just plain discrimination.  AFA would hae us living in a nation divided by modern day versions of Jim Crow Laws, but this time they would be against LGBT people.  Don't believe me, watch this:

Catholic Priest Calls Homosexuality Evil in Full Page Newspaper Ad

Found this on JoeMyGod.com, a wonderful blog.  Seems a Catholic priest in El Paso has decided to use his parish budget to take out a full page ad in the El Paso Times to condemn homosexuality.  As amazed as I am at the whole hypocrisy of the idea of an institution rife with child molesters and very sick closet cases trying to make moral pronouncements, the tone of the missive is particularly un-Christlike.

"Engaging in depraved and unnatural sexual acts will lead directly to the ruin of both the homosexual's body and soul," [Father Michael] Rodriguez writes. "Our very anatomy cries out against the lie that homosexual acts are 'ok.'" Rodriguez closes his screed by saying we live in a "godless society" that condones homosexuality. "Reflect, first there are (a) individuals committing mortal sins of a homosexual nature; next, evil extends its tentacles to (b) society as a whole accepting homosexual and homosexual activity as 'normal"; and finally, iniquity's victory is all but sealed when (c) laws are enacted which impose the putrid homosexual ideology on everyone, while those who, rightfully resist it, are ridiculed, attacked, and persecuted..."

 Luckily  Joe also included Father Rodriguez contact information.

Bachmann Sees Messages From God in Earthquake & Hurricane

A person's faith is one thing, but when a politician starts making prophetic announcements like the recent earthquake and hurricane are messages from God about Washington policy, I really draw the line.

Michele Bachmann has actually come out and said that the recent natural disasters are "warnings from God" that politicians need to change their policy.

"I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We've had an earthquake; we've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?'"

This is the kind of politics that I would be less surprised to see in the Middle-East coming from a fundamentalist Islamic leader than from an American politician.  Once again, this demonstrates how much alike the right-wing in this country and the Islamic radicals in the Middle-East really are.

Crazy eyes indeed.

Jet Ski in the Streets of Newark

Courteous jet skier pulls over to let Truck pass in Newark, NJ after Irene. 

Shipping Something About The Size of a Human Body?

A great video from FedEx. Enjoy.

Jedi Kitties! Too Cute Video of the Day.

Thanks Malcolm for finding this, it made my day a little brighter.  I love kitten puppetry! (humane)

Rabbi Blames Quake on Gays

OK, I admit I got punked by the story about Pat Robertson blaming Metrosexuals for the quake,(thanks Tim for catching this) but this one checks out.

Rabbi Yehuda Levin, an ally of the National Organization for Marriage who last month blamed the murder of an 8-year-old Brooklyn boy on the passage of marriage equality in NY, has posted a new video in which he claims yesterday's earthquake on the east coast was because God is angry about homosexuality.

Says Levin: "We saw today an earthquake. The Jerusalem Talmud tells us that one of the reasons that God brings earthquakes to the world is because of the transgressions of homosexuality. The Talmud states, 'You have shaken your male member in a place where it doesn't belong. I too, will shake the earth.'"

 The YouTube video that accompanied the article was removed from YouTube for hate speech.

Rick Perry Lies - Watch The Video!

Hurricane Irene - Be Prepared! Video From FEMA

Roger Williams Sees Welfare Recipients as Livestock

I am not making this up.  I suspect he was trying to use donkeys as a metaphor for the Democratic party, but his dialogue seems directed specifically at the kind of "welfare queen" myth that Regan started.  Williams sees the poor and those in need of government help as donkeys and he figures his supporters will as well.  This is outrageous class warfare stuff and I thing the GOP knows exactly who they are targeting, the base and in this case the bigots.

Don't Think BDSM is a Sexual Minority? Think Again.

For folks who labor under the illusion that their sexual proclivities toward BDSM do not make them a sexual minority, this is a wake up call.  Sex in almost any form is still a big taboo in this puritan country.  Take the case of the chancellor of the University of Northern Virginia.  David Lee looks pretty good for someone 63 years old, and he is still very sexually active including various BDSM activities in his life.

Unfortunately, being a little indiscreet and posting a picture of yourself flexing on the internet is enough to get you into a brouhaha of epic proportions. David and his partner Regina Biscoe posted pictures of themselves and their home dungeon online where they were discovered by snooping press folks and voila a scandal!

Lee resigned his post over the incident which quite frankly has nothing to do with his performance as chancellor or anything else other than his sexual preferences. It's time we grew up as a nation and took a mature attitude toward people's sexuality.  The continued use of consensual sexual behaviors as leverage by the press or others to cause a scandal is just plain juvenile.

Puritanical attitudes toward sex in this country drive politics and policy that should have nothing to do with what is essentially private behavior.  It's time we began understanding that what happens between consensual adults is not news. 

The only exception I make to this is when the person or persons engaged in these activities is activley working to deny the rights of other sexual minorities.  Now that is a cause for outrage and scandal, not for their sexual behavior but their hypocrisy. 

Orthodox Rabbis Play Lesbian/Gay Matchmakers - Oy Vey!

In an announcement that seems more like something out of a very cruel and twisted sitcom, Orthodox Rabbi Arale Harel has started a matchmaking service.  Unlike Dolly Levi, the Rabbi is pairing up gay men and lesbians so they can procreate, with the caveat that they will seek conversion therapy.  The service is for "religious homosexuals and lesbians"and is thankfully available only in Israel for now.


Oy vey!

The Great Texas Desert?

That is what it seems like here in Dallas this year.  After 56 days of 100+ temperatures and no end in sight it is a valid question, "is Texas becoming a desert?"

I did a little digging and found that the Chihuahuan Desert in South West Texas gets just under 17 inches of rainfall on average and though this is far more than some other spots in Texas, the amount of water that evaporates from the area far exceeds the rainfall (evapotranspiration), thus the desert conditions. This year in Dallas we have had only a little over 20 inches of rain and none in the forecast.  That puts us over 11 inches behind our yearly average.

Though in Dallas this year we had a wet spring, right now the primary color of the landscape is brown.  My grass is a nice crispy tan and most likely will stay that way until the fall.  It makes me wonder if I shouldn't pull out the lawn and out in a rock garden like the folks in Las Vegas do.  No water needed, and the desert plants  used for landscaping do just fine even through a few harsh winters. 

Maybe we could just add a few casinos and become the entertainment capital of the South?

Uganda May Push Forward with Anti-Homosexuality Bill

Despite the rumors that the Uganda "anti-Homosexual" bill was dead, it looks like the Ugandan Parliament is pushing forward with it. This law would be deadly to many Ugandan LGBT people and has been uniformly condemned by most developed countries in the world.  Sadly, a group of right-wing evangelicals in this country have helped move this bill forward.

Pukkelpop Festival Storm Disaster

At the Pukkelpop festival in Belgium last night a very intense storm wreaked havoc on the concert goers and campers.  A stage collapse, reminiscent of the Indiana State Fair disaster last week, and reportedly 5 people were killed.  This video clip shows a band onstage performing to rain soaked crowds, when debris from the storm gust front begins pelting the stage.  As it begins to hail, concert goers and performers flee.  Not a good place to be in a big storm.  Why the concert continued is a mystery to me.  Guess Belgium doesn't get severe storms?  Sad and very scary event. The remainder of the 3-day festival has been cancelled.

The Texas Miracle? Not So Much.

The Texas Miracle, that's the phrase you will be hearing more and more of in coming months as our Governor Rick Perry makes his run for the White House.  The whole "miracle" thing makes for a catchy political phrase, but there is no miracle going on here in Texas. 
You will hear Perry point to how great Texas has fared during the recession, but you will never hear him say we still have higher unemployment than 25 other states including New York, most of New England and  our neighbors to the north, Oklahoma.  Nor will you hear Governor Perry relate how much of the employment in our Miracle State is in low paying jobs.  37% of the jobs created in the past year are at or below minimum wage.  The Texas miracle for jobs?   Well, we lead the nation in minimum wage earners - 550,000 of them to be precise.

And the climate for business in Texas, it's terrific unless you want an educated work force.  Out of all 50 states we rank number 41 for jobs requiring a post-secondary education.  Luckily, Perry and the Texas legislature are cutting an additional $2 billion from the state education budget.  I guess that is being done to attract more low-tech companies or perhaps just to put us on a level playing field with a 3rd world country.

But hey, we have lower taxes than most other states!  So, the rich can keep even more money and the poor, well they will have more to spend on things like health care.  Now in health care we top the list, the list of most people without health insurance.  A whopping 26.9% of Texans have no health coverage.  It's a miracle we don't have more considering Rick Perry's attitude on government spending.
Meanwhile as an LGBT Texan, I would like to relate to you the Miracle Worker's positions on a few points salient to our community.
Take a look at the basics, like our state's Sodomy Law (2106).  Well, Perry says, “I think our law is appropriate that we have on the books," to heck with the Supreme Court, whom he dismisses as “nine oligarchs in robes".  Every time proposals to expunge the law have been put forward, he has declined to support any of them.

He even criticized the federal hate crimes law for including LGBT people saying that President Obama overstepped his authority by “making homosexuality a protected class”.  Tell that to any of the hundreds of Texans who have been victims of gay bashing.  I suspect they would all be delighted to be part of a protected class, considering they were attacked strictly because of their sexual orientation.

He also comes down squarely against same-sex marriage.  "Gay marriage is not fine with me," Perry said in an interview Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council.  If you will remember that group was recently classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.  Nice folks, and the same ones Governor Perry palled around with during his prayer day extravaganza in Houston.  So if you are gay or lesbian and you want to marry, Perry suggests, “…if there’s a state that has more lenient views than Texas, then maybe that’s a better place for them to live.”

Well, Governor Perry, as one of "them" let me tell you something and since I understand you didn't do very well in college,  I will put this in simple language even you can understand.

I have lived in Texas all my life, and I am not about to move and relinquish my state to a wise-cracking hate-mongering empty suit like you.  I know lots of the people you so flippantly dismissed as "them" and I will let all my gay and lesbian, bisexual and trangender and straight brothers and sisters know just the kind of man you are. In fact I encourage them to let all their friends on Facebook and Twitter know this as well.  I will be damned if I will see your intolerant and ignorant face in Washington as anything but a tourist, and personally I would be just as happy if it was you who left Texas.  Now that would really be a miracle!

America Spreads It's Craziness to Australia

Fundamentalists are not content to spread their brand of crazy here in the US.  Now they are going overseas to let people know just how intolerant and psychotic their faith is.  Sorry Australia, she somehow escaped from the asylum.

The Folks Rick Perry Prays With

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