Blog For Free!
Archives
Home
2006 September
2005 August
2005 July
2005 June
2005 May
2005 March
2005 January
2004 December
2004 November
2004 October
2004 September
2004 August
2004 July
2004 June
2004 May
2004 April
2004 March
2004 February
2004 January
My Links
Faces of the American Dead in Iraq
Baghdad Burning - an Iraqi Blog
Common Dreams
American Civil Liberties Union
Polling Report
All About Gilbert
blogactive - Outing Political Homophobes
Party List
Dead People Server
tBlog
My Profile
Send tMail
My tFriends
My Images
Sponsored
Blog
Life's short,
Laugh often
|
| Just Don't Look Out the Window |
| 05.28.04 (11:10 am) [edit] |
Short-timer's syndrome has set in. My vacation starts in 4 hours (well, 3 hours and 54 minutes to be precise). I'm sitting here trying to look busy but I just finished the last thing that I HAVE to do before I leave.
Normally I wouldn't bitch (Yeah, right) but It's also a gloriously beautiful day outside - sunny, warm, nice breeze, cloud free... Personally I think that's pretty rude. In a perfect world it would stay overcast and windy (like it was this early am) until about 5 minutes before I head out the door when it would miraculously turn into the current weather.
Thinking about it, maybe someone just set the weather timer wrong - just can't get good help these days....
|
|
|
| |
| Praying For a Touchdown |
| 05.28.04 (7:39 am) [edit] |
On May 25, one of my favorite commentators, [url=http://www.creators.com/opini...]Molly Ivins[/url] , published an article about her confusion over the proper place for religion in football. I have to say it started me thinking about the topic again – just in a different direction than I normally do. Her confusion is not over whether or not it’s legal, but whether or not it’s an appropriate place to express belief in your religion. The last portion got me really thinking:
[i]You can't just say there is no place in which prayer is inappropriate. If you heard of the cast and crew of a pornographic movie holding prayer before they started work, wouldn't you think it was offensive? And the way things are going, it wouldn't surprise me. Some very unlikely people claim to be Christians these days, including the guy who put the elephant dung on the otherwise nice painting of the Virgin Mary.
I'm open to the argument that there's a difference between professional football, college football (which we have to admit is semi-professional) and high-school football. High-school football, which we Texans are notorious for confusing with religion, is the bone of contention in the football-prayer lawsuit. Our governor has actually argued in an amicus brief he filed that there's some relation between the two.
OK, I confess: I have called upon the Lord myself during football games, but only when UT plays A&M. Even so, I think it borders on the impious. Football, in truth, is not a real godly activity.
With all due respect to excellent organizations like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, don't you think God would rather we were all out working for some outfit like Habitat for Humanity? Come to think of it, if all the football fans in this country spent an afternoon every weekend working for Habitat for Humanity, we could probably solve the low-income housing crisis in no time flat.
As you can see, I'm confused about all this. I dunno. Could somebody call Jimmy Carter and find out what he thinks? [/i]
It's the appropriateness of some public displays of religion that bug me. There are just some times that I feel you should keep it to yourself.
Not having grown up in an area where either football or religion is taken quite as seriously as it is here in Texas, I have to admit that I find the combination alittle disconcerting as well. It just seems to be a bit tasteless for a coach to lead a group prayer asking God to help the team kick the shit out of their opponents. While it may go hand in hand with some of the bloodier sections of the Old Testament, is it really appropriate to cast the South Fork Fighting Armadillos as the Chosen People and the East Jesus Tigers as the bloodthirsty pagans when they live only 10 miles down the road and everybody shops at the same Wal-Mart?
As for any public prayer given over the PA system before the game, I would be much more comfortable with it if occasionally the Hare Krishnas or the New Church of Odin was invited to give the invocation – it’s always good to learn about other belief systems. To be fair, given that half the US population does not actively participate in any organized religion, they could occasionally skip the prayer and go to Denny’s for an early brunch before it gets too crowded.
I have to admit that I get annoyed when some Evangelical Christians get bent out of shape whenever anyone questions their need to publicly display their religious beliefs while at the same time they try to suppress any displays by other religions or even other Christian sects. They do have a right, no matter how annoying it is, to express their opinions. I just wish they would stop expecting me to aid and abet their beleifs at the expense of my own.
|
|
|
| |
| How Cute |
| 05.27.04 (1:42 pm) [edit] |
By the way, This is a pic of Gilbert and me taken Easter Sunday 2004.
[image]gesn_97892635.jpg[/image]
How cute is that? :P
|
|
|
| |
| Vacation - All I Ever Wanted |
| 05.27.04 (7:32 am) [edit] |
I'm taking a week's vacation in conjunction with the Memorial Day weekend. So, 32 hours from now I'll have nothing but a week and a half of open time to look forward too ... I can hardly wait. I'm exhausted from work and really need to get away. (Actually it was all I could do to get out of bed this morning - tomorrow morning will be a nightmare) The downside to it all is that I will only have a couple dinero to spend over the course of the week. But, c'est la vie. I'll just have to make up my own fun.
The biggest event of the week will be a yard sale I'm having with friends on the 4th and 5th. It will be so good to get rid of all of the junk we've accumulated over the years. Usually I just drop stuff off at Good Will, but I decided to sell what I can first and drop off the rest. It should be fun to hold this - hang out with friends, make alittle money - just what the doctor ordered. So far I have clothing, furniture, and lots of bric-a-brac to sell. So, if you happen to be in Dallas next weekend, come by 918 Thomasson and give me money in exchange for stuff. :D
One way or another I think I'm going to make sure I can set aside enough to allow Gilbert and I to go to a Tea Dance on Sunday. It won't cost too too much and since it's a holiday it runs until 3am instead of just 8 or 9 like a normal one will .... I'll have to see what I can swing. Pay for cover and maybe alittle extra for party favors should do it. Have to have at least one fun outing this weekend.....
Hurray for vacation. Now we'll just see if it is long enough.
|
|
|
| |
| Toiling under a Texan Sun |
| 05.24.04 (8:05 am) [edit] |
It's so nice to have a clean yard again. Gilbert and I hadn't had the time (or the money) this year to do most of the things to our yard to make it the calm little haven we want it to be. This weekend, however, we spent hours doing all the little things necessary to at least make it passable.
Large parts of the lawn are dieing or bare due - St. Augusting grass does not like sharing the yard with a labrador retriever. The parts that aren't in full retreat were overgrown. I mowed and edged Saturday morning to clean up some of the unsightlyness of it. Tonight after work I intend to fertilize it - there are two other types of grass that are spreading slowly through the dead zones that seem to like puppies better - hopefully the remaining grass will start to spread faster as it is getting too close to summer to do much useful reseeding.
All the dead plants have been cleared out of planters and the struggling ones have been trimmed back to leave only the living parts. We got some lush ferns and a Lilies of the Nile to replace some of the dead stuff and rearranged the pot placements to make it more attractive. We have about 3/4 of an idea of how we want the yard to look once it's completed, so we're doing very little permanent planting until we have a full fledged plan - why plant things that will just need to be transplanted later? My favorite part are the windchimes, gargoyles and Asian sculpture we've hung from the fence and scattered throughout the yard. It's a fabulous mixture and a good start toward the look we're going for.
But, best of all, it was so relaxing to dig in and spend the weekend getting dirty and working. I didn't follow the news, politics (both the governmental and the inter-personal kinds) or worry about my finances. It was nice to drop all that for a couple days - almost like a mini-vacation. Now that I'm back in the real world I'm sure that's all coming back, but, for at least this morning, I am still relaxed and stress free.
|
|
|
| |
| Everyone Loves George |
| 05.21.04 (9:05 am) [edit] |
Dubya’s handlers have been scrupulous when maintaining the bubble of approval around him whenever he travels during this campaign season. They create portable No Free Speech Zones along his route, they prescreen attendees to his rallies to keep the rabble out, they threaten to arrest people for exercising their First Amendment rights. The part I don’t get is why they do all this. Is it because they don’t want Dubya to know that there are actually people that don’t think he’d make an excellent Emperor? Is it possible that only showing adoring fans could possibly sway middle America into joining the bandwagon instead of paying attention to the world around them?
Is it really acceptable to the average American to have our right to Free Speech curbed just because we’re in the presence of our Oligarch-in-Chief? Should we really accept that the Right to Assembly is being pushed aside? But then what about the average Republicans? How much longer will real conservatives allow their political party to be usurped by a faction that has no concern for our civil rights or for fiscal responsibility?
|
|
|
| |
| Shootout at an Iraqi Wedding |
| 05.20.04 (10:46 am) [edit] |
Is it just me or does anyone else have a hard time believing the US government when they say that the wedding they shot up was actually a safe-house for Iraqi insurgents? Maybe it really was a safe-house, but how can we just take what they have to say at face value? The Administration has lied about everything from WMD to whether or not they knew about the prisoner torture and they still cannot understand why more and more people can no longer believe a word they say.
Speaking of lies, maybe when they do the June 30th 'transfer of power' it will be a real transfer of autonomy and not just yet another charade. But then maybe I will win the Democratic Primary then go on to become the first openly gay US President ....
I think the Bushies think we are just too stupid to see that they are simply replacing their current Iraqi puppets with new Iraqi puppets. And so it goes.
How long will it be before expressing my opinions will get me labelled as an enemy combatant and sent off to a concentration camp?
|
|
|
| |
| And Much Fun was Had By All .... |
| 05.17.04 (1:13 pm) [edit] |
This weekend was about volunteering and dancing. The first was for a Boys 4 Toys pool party fund raiser in Dallas Saturday afternoon. This was just too much fun – [url=http://www.djjoshgram.com/]DJ Josh Gram[/url] spun by the pool for 6 hours while about 200 gay men and their friends played in the water, danced and generally looked tasty in their bathing suits and sun block. Gilbert didn’t go to this party but I worked the door checking IDs for a couple hours before being free to run around and enjoy myself.
After helping tear the party decorations down, I went home, made dinner and took a nap to prepare for the next fund raiser. Dawna Montel was spinning at One that night, so B4T had an after hours fundraiser that started at 4am. I got there at 1am to set up – but there were no other volunteers there. I set up the quiet bar and eventually others showed up, but this party was horrible. I left at 4:30 to go over to a private after hours party where Josh and Dawna took turns spinning some more – this one was much more fun and I didn’t get home until after noon on Sunday.
What a marvelous time but I think I’m taking next weekend off from clubbing. ;)
:wink:
|
|
|
| |
| Conspiracy Theories? |
| 05.17.04 (12:51 pm) [edit] |
There is a lot of buzz on the web about the beheading of Nicholas Berg and whether or not the video is real. Personally, I don’t know if it is or not. I also don’t know if I believe the reasoning used by everyone declaring it to be a fraud. What I do know is that I don’t believe a lot of what the Bush Administration and to say - and I do not think it unlikely that they would use ‘wag the dog’ tactics to try and turn the heat off the uproar over the prisoner ‘abuse’ in Iraq and Afghanistan.
There is a website that gives a pretty good overview of 50 reasons and questions being put forth over the video. You can link to it [url=http://www.kuro5hin.org/story...]here[/url] . I like this one because it has separate links to portions of the background evidence and does not portray these allegations as the Gospel Truth.
Is this just a new set of Conspiracy Theorists run amok over yet another horrible event? Possibly. But, I think some of the things on the list open up valid questions. I hate the thought that anyone in our government could do something as disgusting as creating a fraud like this, but I cannot ignore the fact that the Administration has already lied and used fake evidence to get what they want.
|
|
|
| |
| An Open Letter to John Kerry |
| 05.14.04 (7:19 am) [edit] |
This is an open letter published on Commondreams.org by Megan Tady. Better than any other, this sums up my feelings for Mr. Kerry. While I still stand by my 'ABB' stand, I still cannot feel good about voting for a man that is quickly moving farther to the Right than I am comfortable with. When will the DNC learn that voters do not want just a lite version of the Republican candidates?
Dear Mr. Kerry,
You’re not my first choice. But then again, I don’t have much of one. As you are the Democratic presidential candidate, and the only viable alternative to Bush, I’m supposed to rally around you.
I know how important it is that Democrats appear seamless in their support for you.
But I had a difficult time celebrating every time you won a primary. You don’t represent me. Who am I? I am a young voter, like the millions of young voters across the country who have been revved up by someone other than you. We’ve been aching for a candidate we can really get behind. We found it in Kucinich. We found it in Dean. We found it in Sharpton. We haven’t found it in you.
You may think this doesn’t matter. After all, we’ve vowed to vote for “Anyone but Bush,” making your job rather easy. You can throw a few things our way—an MTV interview and a youth link on your website—and then stretch out your arms and vacation in Idaho. The consensus is we’d vote for Mickey Mouse if he was running against Bush (and some of us will, writing him onto the ballot just to say we did).
But there’s a danger in the fact that we’re still having Meetups about defeating Bush in 2004, not electing you. And while young people are mobilizing to vote as quickly as Republicans signed on to endorse Patriot Act, there’s a catch to our enthusiasm: we’re flippant, unpredictable. We lose interest easily. We don’t vote for just anybody. If you don’t start picking up where Dean and Kucinich and Sharpton left off, we either won’t vote, or we won’t vote for you. We still have Nader/LaDuke bumper stickers on our Hondas, if only because we couldn’t get them off. Still, it’s a reminder of all the things we want in a candidate, but don’t have.
Mr. Kerry, you are at a great risk of losing thousands of voters to disillusionment and disappointment. This is not meant as a threat, but as a reality. If young voters aren’t impressed by you, they will not vote. This could cost you the election. We need you to start being our candidate, too. And that means more than telling us to “Choose or Lose.”
With all due respect, here are a few things you can do to ensure we turn out for you on Election Day:
First, we need some real answers about your plans for Iraq. You’ve suggested that you will step up the war on terrorism, increasing the size of our Armed Forces in your first 100 days as president and calling for 40,000 more troops in Iraq. This doesn’t sound like a plan for peace. It sounds like a plan for extended invasion and occupation.
We don’t want to hear “shadowed by terrorism” rhetoric. We’ve been pounded with this enough. We’re tired of secrets, of being misled. We need you to level with us. Mr. Kerry, we’re fighting a war that we didn’t want, that we still don’t want, yet you’re talking about stepping up the fight, about “winning peace,” as if peace is attainable by conquest. You’ve posed the question to Bush, and now we put it on you: Where will you take us in the war against Iraq? Because we don’t want to “stay the course.”
Second, we need some real answers about your plans for the Patriot Act. You’ve said you will replace the Patriot Act with “a new law that protects our people and our liberties at the same time.” But we need you to do better than that. This is one of the most frightening pieces of legislation to be passed in our lifetime. We have been fighting it every step of the way. Yet you dismiss our efforts, and the gravity of such a law, by suggesting a replacement. No more dancing around this issue. What can we expect from your new law? Because we never wanted the first one.
Third, we need some real answers about your plans for NAFTA. You don’t support NAFTA “as it is today,” yet you voted for it in the Senate. We want fair trade policies, not free trade policies, but we haven’t heard you utter the “F” word, even while you’re riding on the shoulders of the working class as a hero. Don’t yank us around. What is the future of NAFTA? Because we don’t like it as it is today, or tomorrow, or the next day.
Finally, we need some real answers about healthcare. Your plan doesn’t cover all of us. It only covers “nearly all children and most adults.” Who gets left out? If Dennis can offer single-payer health care, so can you. You’ve vowed to “fight for the day when affordable health care is a right,” for every American. How long do we have to wait? Because we’re running out of time.
Mr. Kerry, it’s not too late for you to become something more than our “anyone but” candidate. We’re ready to elect a president we can be proud of. It could be you. But as it stands now, you may be better than Bush, but that’s not good enough for me.
Sincerely,
Megan Tady
Megan Tady (megtady@yahoo.com) is a freelance journalist in Western Massachusetts. Her last article, "Youth Have Swung it Before," was included in the book Storming the Polls: How to Vote Your Views and Change the Rules published by WireTap.
|
|
|
| |
|
All About Geoffrey Snyder
I am a 40yo guy living in Dallas, Texas with my partner of 18 years, Gilbert, and our puppy, Rex. I'm both a fun loving, happy guy in my everyday life and a loud mouthed Progressive.
I love to travel and meet people. My goal in life is to go everywhere and meet everyone.
So, pull up a chair, make yourself at home, enjoy my mental wanderings and feel free to drop me a line to tell me what you think...
|
