More Saturday Male Beauty

Saturday Thoughts

I am moving a little slower than usual this morning since the roommates talked me into going to The Wave last night and we ended up closing the place. Friday night is less crowded than Saturday night which is usually filled to capacity with a line to get in at times waiting for people to leave. The music was less non-stop club music but was still good for dancing - the main reason I go out typically - and a different crowd than that on Saturday. Ironically, I ended up dancing much of the time with a young Navy guy - after all, one must support our men in uniform. :)

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One of the reasons I decided to go the club - and plan on going to a volleyball tounament and TACT fundraiser at the the Oceanview Pier this afternoon/evening is that I've decided that I need to start varying my social life and going to a larger assortment of social events. Otherwise I will be acting like the SBC as described in my prior post: expecting different results from the same conduct which has failed to work to date. There is a great post on Gaytwogether - a blog I read daily that looks at gay relationship issues and provides some good "self-help" articles authored/edited by another Michael who is a real sweetheart - that looks at "Meeting Mr. Right." The piece indicates that repeating more of the same social pattern that has failed to yield boyfriend material is not the way to find that special guy. Here are a few highlights:

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Perhaps the best definition of madness I've heard is "doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results." Yet this is exactly what many of us do. We keep living our lives the same old way and things stay pretty much the same as they always have. We are waiting for lightning to strike us.
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Where are you investing your time? If you're a gay man and you want to meet other gay men, are you spending time where you are likely to find them? Someone once asked bank robber Willie Sutton why he robbed banks. He famously replied, "Because that's where the money is." Are you spending your time where there is likely to be a payoff for you? If you find that almost all of your friends know one another, consider that a clue. Staying with the investment analogy, it may be time to diversify your social portfolio. Keep your old friends, but try doing something different as well.

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Good questions to explore include:
**How available are you?
**Do you really want a boyfriend?
**Or are you perfectly happy as an independent guy and just moaning about wanting a date because everyone else seems to be doing so?
**Are you emotionally accessible?
**Are you ready for the sort of openness intimacy requires of us?
**What about your schedule – are you always working, or are you involved in a hundred different causes and projects?
**How diversified is your social portfolio?
**Do you hang out with the same people virtually all the time?

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Working long hours may be fine for your career, but it can play havoc on your social life. Doing volunteer work or socializing primarily with non-gay folks is fine, but you may want to think about spending time with other gay men as well if your goal is a romantic relationship.

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Obviously, some of these points hit home with me. Thus, I may even end up playing volley ball today for the first time since I came out and no longer played it at the neighborhood pool trying to be "one of the guys" and blending in with the straight guys.

Saturday Male Beauty

More Wrongheaded Thinking at Southern Baptist Convention

Faced with declining attendance, fewer baptisms, and congregations changing their names to remove "baptist" from the name, one would think that the Sourthern Baptist Convention ("SBC") might figure out that more of the same is perhaps not a formula for future success. But such is not the case and the SBC seems to have a "stay the course" mentaility as loopy as that of the Chimperator. All of which is fine by me since I regard the SBC leadership as one of the centers of un-Christian charlatans who talking constantly about being Christian yet are the authors of a message that is, in fact, anything but Christian unless, of course, hate, intolerance and Pharisee like behavior have somehow become the hall marks of true Christian conduct. Moreover, the SBC intends to continue fusing religion and politics. Hopefully, such wrongheaded thinking will lead to a further weakening of the denomination or a revolt by rational mamebers of the SBC. Here are some highlights from a Washington Post story concerning the new president of the SBC:

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The Rev. Johnny M. Hunt, the pastor of an Atlanta area megachurch, was elected yesterday as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and will take over as head of the nation's largest Protestant denomination as it is struggling with declining membership and decreasing number of baptisms.

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His election, at the SBC's annual meeting in Indianapolis, is seen as a victory for the more fundamentalist wing of the denomination, which led the conservative resurgence that began in the late 1970s and which takes a hard line on the inerrancy of scripture. It is seen as a rejection of young reformers, who have questioned the SBC leadership's reluctance to consider a wider range of issues, such as its bans on alcohol consumption and female pastors. "This signals that the establishment conservatives are definitely in charge," said Greg Warner, executive editor of the Associated Baptist Press, an independent news service.

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During a speech to pastors on Sunday, Hunt acknowledged the difficulties facing the SBC. Baptisms -- a key sign of spiritual health for Southern Baptists -- have fallen to a 20-year low. Membership dipped to 16.27 million last year, from 16.3 million. Except for a drop in membership in 1998, the last decrease was in 1926.

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In terms of meddling with politics and a continued push to subvert the U. S. Constitution in an effort to abolish religious freedom for those of different faiths and biblical interpretations in favor of a Taliban like theocracy, the WP also reported in part as follows:

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INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - America's largest evangelical denomination adopted a resolution on political engagement on Wednesday signaling its intention to flex its muscles in the November presidential election.

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The 16 million-strong SBC is a bedrock of political and cultural conservatism and a key plank in the Republican Party's evangelical base which is credited with helping secure two White House terms for President George W. Bush.

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But several Southern Baptists interviewed over the course of the conference left no doubt that they were in the Republican fold even if they viewed the party's presumptive nominee John McCain as the lesser of two liberals in the White House match-up with Democratic rival Barack Obama.

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"We plead with all Christians to exercise vigorously their responsibilities to participate in the political process by registering to vote, educating themselves about the issues, and voting according to their biblical beliefs, convictions and values," read the resolution. Voting by "biblical beliefs" is often code in such circles for supporting candidates who oppose abortion and gay rights and support moves to bring back school prayer.

A Ruling for Freedom

There has been much coverage about the U. S. Supreme Court's ruling yesterday that struck a major blow against the Chimperator's efforts to suspend the U. S. Constitution and establish something akin to courts of star chamber for "unlawful enemy combatants" so as to circumvent constitutional rules of due process, right to counsel, etc. Such arbitrary and capricious courts and legal proceedings are in direct keeping with the Chimperator's authorization of torture in contravention of the Geneva Conventions (something I believe Bush should literally be put on trial for). Today's New York Times has a great editorial on the Court's decision. Remeber this - McCain has stated numerous times that he would appoint justices like those who dissented from the majority ruling. That should frighten anyone who values civil rights for all citizens. Here are some highlights from the editorial:

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For years, with the help of compliant Republicans and frightened Democrats in Congress, President Bush has denied the protections of justice, democracy and plain human decency to the hundreds of men that he decided to label “unlawful enemy combatants” and throw into never-ending detention.
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On Thursday, the court turned back the most recent effort to subvert justice with a stirring defense of habeas corpus, the right of anyone being held by the government to challenge his confinement before a judge. The court ruled that the detainees being held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have that cherished right, and that the process for them to challenge their confinement is inadequate. It was a very good day for people who value freedom and abhor Mr. Bush’s attempts to turn Guantánamo Bay into a constitutional-rights-free zone.

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The right of habeas corpus is so central to the American legal system that it has its own clause in the Constitution: it cannot be suspended except “when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.” Despite this, the Bush administration repeatedly tried to strip away habeas rights. . . . Now, by a 5-to-4 vote, the court has affirmed the detainees’ habeas rights. The majority, in an opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy, ruled that the Military Commissions Act violates the Suspension Clause, by eliminating habeas corpus although the requirements of the Constitution — invasion or rebellion — do not exist.

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There is an enormous gulf between the substance and tone of the majority opinion, with its rich appreciation of the liberties that the founders wrote into the Constitution, and the what-is-all-the-fuss-about dissent. It is sobering to think that habeas hangs by a single vote in the Supreme Court of the United States — a reminder that the composition of the court could depend on the outcome of this year’s presidential election. The ruling is a major victory for civil liberties — but a timely reminder of how fragile they are.

More Friday Male Beauty

NBC's Tim Russert Dies of Heart Attack

While more recently I had not agreed with some of his reporting - e.g., beating the Rev. Wright story to death and in my view catering to Hillary Clinton during the primaries - I nonetheless was sad to learn that Tim Russert died this afternoon of a heart attack. I had watched him on "Meet the Press" just recently. It's perhaps even more of a shock now that I have realized that he was only a little more than two years older than me (I had thought he was older than 58 and I guess I don't look so bad for my age after all). I can certainly think of numerous people much more deserving of death than Russert. His unexpected death should be another wake up call to all of us that we truly do not know how much time we have in this life, so we need to enjoy the moment and find some magic and wonder in every passing day. My thoughts and condolences go out to his wife and son. I am glad that Russert had been able to vacation with his family just days ago. Here are some highlights from MSNBC:

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WASHINGTON - Tim Russert, NBC News’ Washington bureau chief and the moderator of “Meet the Press,” died Friday after a sudden heart attack at the bureau, NBC News said Friday. He was 58. Russert was recording voiceovers for Sunday’s “Meet the Press” program when he collapsed, the network said. He and his family had recently returned from Italy, where they celebrated the graduation of Russert’s son, Luke, from Boston College.

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Russert was best known as host of “Meet the Press,” which he took over in December 1991. Now in its 60th year, “Meet the Press” is the longest-running program in the history of television. But he was also a vice president of NBC News and head of its overall Washington operations, a nearly round-the-clock presence on NBC and MSNBC on election nights.

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Survivors include Russert’s wife, Maureen Orth, a writer for Vanity Fair magazine, whom he met at the 1976 Democratic National Convention; and their son, Luke.

South Carolina Insanity/Bigotry

Years ago when I lived in Alabama, we would always say "Thank God for Mississippi" since in no matter what the ranking involved might be, Mississippi almost always scored worse or rated lower that Alabama in terms of backwardness, etc. Now, liviing in Virginia - hardly a beacon of of progressive thinking - I can say "Thank God for South Carolina" where the level of bigotry and out right religious insanity seems to know few limits. Between a local school district which is seriously considering the elimination of all school clubs rather than allow the formation of a GSA to the legislature's adoption of a bill that aloows the Christianists to have auto license plates with "I Believe" and a cross on them, the level bat sh*ttery in the state seems to be completely out of control.

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In terms of the license plates, it seems to me the legislators are needlessly pandering to the Christianist voting block with no thought or care as to the larger message that will be sent by these state issued license plates. Moreover, I find it ironic that the modern day Pharisees in South Carolina who would be the likely purchasers will be enabled by the state to wear their intolerant religion on their vehicles (as opposed to their sleeves) while at the at the same time by their actions and propaganda they spread a message of hate against gays, immigrants, non-Christians and others (I personnally suspect that many of these "Christians" are probably also racists and hate black as well). What the Hell is in the water down there? First some highlights from Yahoo News on the insane efforts to block a high school Gay-Straight Alliance club:

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A South Carolina school district has delayed until later in the month a vote on whether to ban all student clubs that don't relate to academics or sports as a way to close a gay student organization. Vice chairman Robert Gantt said Monday the Lexington-Richland School District 5 board was delaying its vote on whether to ban the clubs to get more public input.

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Officials had said the district couldn't stop the alliance from forming because federal law prohibits discriminating against a club based on its purpose. The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network says there are about 4,000 gay-straight alliances at schools nationwide, including 16 in South Carolina. (AP)

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One has to wonder whether these nutcases education bureaucrats have given any thought to the fact that the elimination of all clubs is surely NOT in the best interest of district's students? Most likely not, since with the Christianists, its's really all about coddling their bigotry. Nothing else matters. As for the license plate issue, while the state's Republican Governor seems in touch with reality and the concept of separation of church and state, the rest of the legislature clearly is not. Here are highlights from the New York Times:

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South Carolina drivers will be the first in the nation to be offered license plates that carry the phrase “I Believe” and a Christian cross over a stained-glass window under a law that took effect on Thursday.

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The bill authorizing the plate passed the State House and Senate unanimously on May 22. It became law without the signature of Gov. Mark Sanford, a Republican, under the South Carolina Constitution. “While I do, in fact, ‘believe,’ it is my personal view that the largest proclamation of one’s faith ought to be in how one lives one’s life,” Mr. Sanford wrote on Thursday in a letter to Glenn F. McConnell, president pro tem of the Senate and a fellow Republican.

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Representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Jewish Congress said they were considering suing the state over the plate. Neither organization was aware of any previous state that has approved a similar plate. A proposal for an “I believe” plate in Florida failed in April. “The whole issue here is that people are trying to get the state to endorse their religion, and that’s wrong,” said Dr. T. Jeremey Gunn, director of the A.C.L.U. Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. “It’s almost as if there’s insufficient support, and they have to go to the state to get it.”

Friday Male Beauty

Father's Day With Two Dads

MSNBC has a nice artilce that will no doubt cause Christianists to foam at the mouth and go into one of their sanctimonious snits. It looks at a gay couple who adopted three brothers who came from a nightmare family situation and who probably would not have been able to have been raised as siblings - assuming they could even be placed for adoption - but for these generous men. Having had a father who was raised in an orphanage, I am well aware of the emotional cost a child/adult bears if not raised in a loving family situation. Yet, the Christianists would prefer that children be left in orphanages or shuffled from foster home to foster home rather than have children raised by gay and lesbian couples. To me, this mindset shows that they value their own prejudice more than what is best for children like the boys featured in the story. I would laso note that of the gay adoptive parents that I know, most have adopted children with mutiple problems who would otherwise never have been adopted and some have spent huge amounts of securing proper medical care for their children. Here are some highlights:

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But Father’s Day will be a double celebration at their house because the brothers have two daddies — Geoffery and Devin, foster parents for the boys for three years before adopting them. “All we’re trying to do is raise three healthy boys to be participants in society,” said Geoffery, Devin’s partner for a decade.

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That’s a modest description for what the county judge who finalized the adoption in December called an act of heroism. The boys, taken from substance-abusing and incarcerated biological parents, faced long odds against growing up together. Given their treatment by the birth parents, there were far more questions than answers about physical and emotional issues that might arise for them down the road. "You are heroes in our community," Judge Mary Yu said, beaming from the bench while the boys frolicked about the courtroom, the whole family decked out in red-and-white Mickey Mouse ski sweaters. “Who’s going to assume the burden of taking care of children like this, children who possibly have been neglected or set aside in some way? … People like you, who step up. Thank you.”

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While the adoption was facilitated by the state and lauded by the legal system in Western Washington, it would have been prohibited by law in some other states simply because Devin and Geoffery are gay.

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The twins have an array of issues related to their early childhood, including diagnoses of post traumatic stress disorder and probable attention deficit disorder. One was recently diagnosed with a fetal alcohol condition and they expect the other will be as well. “We go to therapy a lot,” Devin said.

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While the men prefer to avoid unnecessary conflict with people who reject their lifestyle (they ask doctors, day-care providers and others in advance if they have issues with gay families), they are irritated by the judgment gay parents sometimes face and acknowledge that they try to set a good example that “gay people can do this,” said Devin. “Where do the (foster) children come from?” Geoffery asked. “They come from dysfunctional, broken, heterosexual families. … If you took all of the children away from gay and lesbian parents in the United States today, what would the foster system look like?”

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However, six states — Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota and Utah — maintain some sort of bans on adoption or foster parenting by gays and lesbians. The restrictions are not based on any data or cases about gay parenting. For instance, the Florida law, passed in 1977, was intended to send a message to gay people that "we're really tired of you" and "we wish you'd go back into the closet," its sponsor, state Sen. Curtis Peterson, said at the time.

More Thursday Male Beauty

Norway Adopts Gay Marriage Law

Norway has joined the list of nations now affording full marriage rights to gay couples after the passage of legislation yesterday in the Norwegian Parliament - even as Christianists in the USA seek to undo the May 15th ruling of the California Supreme Court that allows gay marriage in California. Now six (6) nations allow full gay marriage. Here are highlights from 365gay.com:

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(Oslo) The gallery at the Norwegian Parliament erupted in applause and cheers on Wednesday with the passage of legislation allowing same-sex couples to marry. The law also recognizes both partners in a marriage as equal parents and gives lesbian couples the same access to "medically assisted reproduction" as opposite-sex couples. Parliament voted overwhelmingly to approve the bill, despite opposition from the Christian Democrats and Progress Party.

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The country already allowed gay and lesbian couples to enter into civil partnerships, but LGBT rights groups had long complained the law did not go far enough and had created two classes of citizenship - one for heterosexuals the other for gays. The new law amends the definition of civil marriage to make it gender neutral.

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Under the law the Church of Norway would be allowed to bless same-sex marriages. About 85 percent of Norway's 4.7 million people are registered as members of the state Lutheran Church of Norway. . . . The church is split on the issue of gay marriage, and is likely to allow each congregation to decide whether to conduct homosexual weddings, as it did last year in allowing parishes to decide whether to accept clergymen living in gay partnerships.

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Passage of the law makes Norway the sixth country in the world to approve same-sex marriages.

Thursday Male Beauty

Former Regent University Dean of Student Affairs Arrested on Sexual Assault Charges

The hypocricsy of the Christianists never ceases to amaze me. They act so holier than thou, decry gay relationships and call us inherently disordered or worse, impose statement of faith requirements for enrollment in their institutions, etc., and all the while so many of them would appear to be obsessed with sex and/or in some cases sexual perverts/predators. The latter appears to be the case of Stephen McPherson, former dean for student affairs at Pat Robertson's Regent University in Virginia Beach. Here's the story being carried by the AP via WVEC-TV 13 (note how the date of his resignation appears to perhaps coincide with the 2007 report to police):

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CHESAPEAKE (AP) -- A former Regent University dean indicted on 13 felony sexual assault charges has turned himself in to Chesapeake police. Authorities say Stephen McPherson is being held at the Chesapeake jail without bond after arriving Tuesday afternoon.

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A grand jury indicted the 39-year-old on charges of object sexual penetration, forcible sodomy and taking indecent liberties with a child by a custodian. According to indictments, the charges stem from events between May 2000 and May 2002 that were reported to Chesapeake police in July 2007.

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McPherson began work at Regent in Virginia Beach as a writing instructor and eventually became dean for student affairs before resigning in 2007. Regent was founded by conservative Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson.

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The Virginian Pilot has more detailed information here, with these story highlights:

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A former Regent University law school assistant dean has been indicted on 13 felony sexual assault charges involving two girls, according to court records. The allegations against Stephen L. McPherson, 39, of Chesapeake include object sexual penetration, forcible sodomy, and taking indecent liberties with a child by a custodian. A conviction on the penetration charge is punishable by up to life in prison.

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McPherson and his wife worked from August 1996 to August 2000 as house parents supervising a cottage of as many as eight girls at Hope Haven Children's Home on North Landing Road in Virginia Beach, said Linda Jones, a spokeswoman for Union Mission Ministries, which operates the home. Hope Haven, founded in 1965, provides Christian-based care for children from "distressed family situations," according to its Web site. McPherson is a grandson of the Rev. Theodore Bashford, executive director of the ministries for 52 years, Jones said Friday.

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After leaving Hope Haven in 2000, McPherson started work at Regent in Virginia Beach as a writing instructor. He rose to assistant dean for student affairs. He resigned in 2007, said Judith Baker, a spokeswoman. He received his law degree and a master's degree in business administration from Regent in 1996. He earned a bachelor's degree from Old Dominion University in 1991.

An Exorcist May Be On McCain's Veep Shortlist

Last night I found myself talking politics with a group of friends - all LGBT individuals - and one was trying to make the case as to why they supported McCain rather than Obama, citing the GOP's traditional positions on fiscal responsibility, smaller government, and individual responsibility and freedom. While I love my friend to death, her vision of GOP is out of touch with the reality of just how crazy today's GOP has become. While many moderates try to down play the control over the Party wielded by the fruit loop nutcases of the far right, the truth is that it's the nutcases that would influence McCain's position on many issues, including appointments to the U. S. Supreme Court. As a former GOP activist in my straight life - I was actual "debriefed" by the executive director of the Virginia Democratic Party in Richmond after I left the GOP - I do know what I am talking about in terms of what has happened to the GOP. I left the GOP precisely because the Party was being taken over by the Christianist whack jobs who could not separate fanatical religion beliefs from governmental policy. Thus, my friend's vision is that of a GOP which is long dead and gone.

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In fact, if further proof of the demise of the once rational GOP is needed, one only need look at the talk of Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana, as a possible running mate for McCain. You see, Jinadal believes in exorcisms of all things. With Jindal as a running mate, I guess we could expect McCain to nominate a witch doctor to be surgeon general. People truly need to wake up to the fact that the GOP base which directs the Party is CRAZY!! Here are some highlight all about Jindal:

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Bobby Jindal, the 36-year old governor of Louisiana, is being taken seriously by the national press as a candidate on the shortlist to be John McCain's Vice President. No one doubts that he's a political prodigy -- his impressive resume includes stints as president of the state university system, a Congressman and now governor. But one of Jindal's job titles hasn't gotten much attention -- and it just might prompt a few questions if his Veep candidacy gains steam: Exorcist.

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As others noted during his 2003 and 2007 gubernatorial campaigns (see update), in an essay Jindal wrote in 1994 for the New Oxford Review, a serious right-wing Catholic journal, Jindal narrated a bizarre story of a personal encounter with a demon, in which he participated in an exorcism with a group of college friends. And not only did they cast out the supernatural spirit that had possessed his friend, Jindal wrote that he believes that their ritual may well have cured her cancer.

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Reading the article leaves no doubt that Jindal -- who graduated from Brown University in 1991, was a Rhodes Scholar, and had been accepted at Yale Law School and Harvard Medical School when he wrote the essay -- was completely serious about the encounter. He even said the experience "reaffirmed" his faith. . . . But Jindal's battle with the dark forces may become an issue should his Veep candidacy proceed. While it's hardly a blockbuster revelation, it could provide fodder for bloggers and late-night comics to turn his candidacy into a media sideshow.

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I urge you to read the full story - after the lunacy of the Chimperator, do we want more leadership by those who are not in touch with objective reality? I surely do not.

Wednesday Male Beauty

McCain Loyalty Oath for Gays

Queerity has a parody today that spoofs gays that are supporting John McCain - think Log Cabin Republicans - and/or would be gay supporters of Hillary Clinton who might vote for McCain out of a funk over their favored diva not landing the Democratic Party nomination. While the "loyalty pledge" was no doubt done in jest, it does highlight what a McCain presidency could mean for gays, especially if he were to appoint more reactionaries like Scalia and Alito to the United States Supreme Court. If for no other reason other than to stop a further stacking of the Supreme Court, McCain must be defeated in November, 2008.

Appalachian Trail - 6/11/08 Update

My son has now passed the half way mark on his adventure of hiking the entire length of the 2,138 mile Appalachian Trail as evidenced by the photo above. He continues to seem to be having a wonderful time and is traveling in association with some other through hikers that he met weeks ago, two of whom are pictured with him in the photo below where they are getting a ride into Front Royal, Virginia, located at the northern end of the Blue Ridge Mountains. In addition to continuing to see plentiful numbers of deer, he has also seen bears. I am very proud and pleased that he is demonstrating the courage to live his own life rather than trying to live a life that others would have him live. Would that I had found such courage far earlier in my life. I often feel that by the time I summoned the courage to do so that it was too late to truly matter. Other times I feel it is a case of better late than never. Sadly, we only get one shot at life and I definitely feel that I messed it up big time

Glenn Nye for Congress

This evening I attended a fundraiser for Gleen Nye, the Democrat Challenger for the 2nd District of Virginia seat currently held by Republican Congresswoman Thelma Drake. While (1) I do not live in the 2nd District and (2) Thelma Drake is a personal friend of mine, I nonetheless hope Glenn Nye wins in November because Thelma has sadly been largely a rubber stamp for all of the Chimperator's failed policies ranging from Iraq to the opposition of gay rights. Glenn is young, has served in both Afghanistan and Iraq, is supportive of gay rights (he has attended both HRBOR and Equality Virginia events), and is very articulate and smart (I spoke with him at some length tonight). As an added bonus he is pretty easy on the eyes as well.

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Glenn truly understands the need for a dramatic change from the failed policies of the Chimperator which Thelma Drake has blindly rubber stamped. Glenn's campaign web site is found here. We need more members of Congress who know the reality on the ground overseas as opposed to staged visits and who offer up little more than planned sound bites on information they know nothing about first hand. I hope that readers will check out his campaign web page and better yey donate to his campaign. Here are a few highlights about Glenn:

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Glenn returned home to Hampton Roads from Iraq, where he advised a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) program, working closely with military colleagues to stabilize Iraqi neighborhoods by creating employment for over 70,000 Iraqis.

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He began his foreign service career focusing on economic development in war-torn Eastern Europe, while working for the U.S. Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Glenn later joined the U.S. State Department, receiving training in the Albanian language and serving initially in Macedonia and Kosovo. In 2001 he received the State Department's Superior Honor Award for organizing the rescue of American citizens caught behind insurgent lines during a civil conflict in Macedonia and for securing the release of an American citizen held hostage by insurgents.

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Glenn was then posted to the U.S. Embassy in Singapore, where he helped protect U.S. intellectual property rights during the negotiation of the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. From there he volunteered to go to Afghanistan, spending almost a year as part of a U.S. government sponsored team managing the historic Afghan Constitutional Convention and supporting the country's first Presidential election.

Tuesday Male Beauty

Hedy Lamarr: How a Famous Actress Revolutionized Weapons Systems

I remember reading articles back in early 2000 at the time of her death about how Heddy Lamar, the famous actress was much more than just a pretty face. In fact she and a co-venturer had developed and patented a radio frequency hopping device that led the way to technologies in weapons guidance systems including a new kind of guidance system for torpedos. Under their patent, the receiver and the transmitter would have the frequency-hopping codes on a tape or roll, which was fed through a sensing mechanism, very similar to the way a player piano roll carries musical information. The system made jamming very difficult. Sadly, the U.S. military did not take them seriously soon enough.

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By the 1950's, the patent on their device had expired when engineers at Sylvania "re-discovered" frequency-hopping. They called it "spread spectrum." These electronic devices were designed for use during the Cuban Missile crisis in the sixties. Now, a new play is playing in New York City that looks at the development of the system by Lamar and her partner.Here are highlights about the play from the Scientific American:

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Hedy Lamarr wasn't just a beautiful movie star. According to a new play, Frequency Hopping, she was also a shrewd inventor who devised a signal technology that millions of people use every day. Lamarr—born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Austria in 1914—developed a passion for helping the U.S. military after walking away from an unhappy marriage to an Austrian Fascist weapons manufacturer in 1937. In an attempt to stall her acting career, he had brought her to his business meetings, where she found herself continuously listening to "fat bastards argue antiaircraft this, vacuum tube that," explains Lamarr's character—played by Erica Newhouse—in the play, Frequency Hopping. In the meetings, they had talked about developing detection devices to listen to, and jam, the radio signals that American aircraft and weapons used to communicate with one another; and Lamarr wanted to foil their plans.

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Lamarr realized that by transmitting radio signals along rapidly changing, or "hopping," frequencies, American radio-guided weapons would be far more resilient to detection and jamming. The sequence of frequencies would be known by both the transmitter and receiver ahead of time, but to the German detectors their message would seem like gibberish. "No jammer could detect it, no German code-breaker could decipher a completely random code," she says in the play.

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The technology, says Singer, was far ahead of its time. Although her ideas were at first ignored, the technology (which she and Antheil patented in 1942) was later used by the military—during the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962, for example—and more recently, it has been employed in wireless technologies like cell phones. It was eventually recognized in 1997, when the Electronic Frontier Foundation honored Lamarr with a special Pioneer Award and she became the first woman to receive the Invention Convention's BULBIE Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award.

Factors In LGBT Teen Suicides

365gay.com is reporting that a new study is being done to determine the root causes of the high rate of suicide among LGBT youth. It will be interesting to see what the results show, although I think some of the factors should be pretty self-evident: (1) a still largely homophobic society where gays are denigrated and looked at as less than full citizens, (2) frequent harassment and name calling at school, (3) anti-gay religious propaganda by the Roman Catholic Church and many Protestant denominations (not to mention the Hindu and Muslim faiths) that carries a constant message that being gay is inherently evil and that gays are going to hell, (4) judgmental parents who disown their gay children, and (5) the dissemination of the "choice myth" thereby making gay youth think that they should be able to change.

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Like I suspect many of us, even before I intellectually began to accept my sexual orientation, I knew I was different and that no matter what I did I could not change it. As a result, I cannot even count how many times I thought of suicide both as a teen and later on in my life. Then, when I had mentally admitted I was gay but not come to terms with it - and as the life I had known began to disintegrate - I actually attempted suicide and came close to succeeding. So, I think I understand exactly how many LGBT teens feel: it seems like suicide is the only way to make it all stop. It is a sad commentary on our society and on allegedly "Godly Christians" who work tirelessly to make life a Hell on earth for gays. One of the reasons for my activism is that I do not want future generations of gays to suffer the discrimination and abuse that so many of us have experienced. Here are some highlights from 365gay.com:

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(Tucson, Arizona) A University of Arizona professor is embarking on a major study to determine the root causes of the high rate of suicide among LGBT youth. It is widely known that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth face discrimination, but less is known about the factors that make them twice as likely to attempt suicide. University of Arizona professor Stephen T. Russell's study will use information gathered about students from their teenage years through young adulthood.

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In his proposal for the grant, Russell wrote that his study will attempt to explain “the sexual orientation disparity in suicide ideation and suicide attempts among U.S. adolescents through the examination of risk and protective factors that characterize the important contexts of adolescents’ lives: individual emotional and behavioral health and risk, family and peer relations and the school environment.”

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“The study will allow me to follow kids into the young adult years and do a better job of understanding factors – school, family life, faith, friends and peers – that contribute to or ameliorate the risk for suicide and other mental health problems,” he added. . . . Russell said he wants to be able to identify risk factors for suicide and will also try to determine what roles prejudice, discrimination, victimization, depression and anxiety play in suicidal behavior. His results also will inform suicide prevention and intervention programs and efforts designed specifically for LGBT youth.

The Wife John McCain Callously Left Behind

That's the title of a story in the UK's Daily Mail about John McCain's first wife who he left so that he could marry a much younger heiress (Cindy is 18 years his junior) only a month later. It is a sad commentary on the U. S. mainstream media that one has to look to foreign news outlets to find stories that ought to be widely circulated here in the USA. It's also very sad that with a history like this McCain is trying to brown nose the Christianists claiming he supports "family values" and the sanctity of marriage. Oh, but I forgot - the evangelical Christians have some of the highest divorce rates in the USA, so I guess a divorce like McCain's is fine by such selective standards. So much for abiding by the inerrant word of the Bible. The Christianists only believe in inerrancy when it facilitates gay-bashing. And as for the local connection, like so many with past Navy ties Carol McCain lives in nearby Virginia Beach. Here are a few story highlights:

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McCain likes to illustrate his moral fibre by referring to his five years as a prisoner-of-war in Vietnam. And to demonstrate his commitment to family values, the 71-year-old former US Navy pilot pays warm tribute to his beautiful blonde wife, Cindy, with whom he has four children. But there is another Mrs McCain who casts a ghostly shadow over the Senator’s presidential campaign. She is seldom seen and rarely written about, despite being mother to McCain’s three eldest children. And yet, had events turned out differently, it would be she, rather than Cindy, who would be vying to be First Lady. She is McCain’s first wife, Carol, who was a famous beauty and a successful swimwear model when they married in 1965.

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[W]hen McCain returned to America in 1973 to a fanfare of publicity and a handshake from Richard Nixon, he discovered his wife had been disfigured in a terrible car crash three years earlier. Her car had skidded on icy roads into a telegraph pole on Christmas Eve, 1969. Her pelvis and one arm were shattered by the impact and she suffered massive internal injuries. When Carol was discharged from hospital after six months of life-saving surgery, the prognosis was bleak. In order to save her legs, surgeons had been forced to cut away huge sections of shattered bone, taking with it her tall, willowy figure. She was confined to a wheelchair and was forced to use a catheter. Through sheer hard work, Carol learned to walk again. But when John McCain came home from Vietnam, she had gained a lot of weight and bore little resemblance to her old self.

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But last week at the bungalow where she now lives at Virginia Beach, a faded seaside resort 200 miles south of Washington, she told The Mail on Sunday how McCain divorced her in 1980 and married Cindy, 18 years his junior and the heir to an Arizona brewing fortune, just one month later.

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‘My accident is well recorded. I had 23 operations, I am five inches shorter than I used to be and I was in hospital for six months. It was just awful, but it wasn’t the reason for my divorce. ‘My marriage ended because John McCain didn’t want to be 40, he wanted to be 25. You know that happens...it just does.’ Some of McCain’s acquaintances are less forgiving, however. They portray the politician as a self-centred womaniser who effectively abandoned his crippled wife to ‘play the field’. They accuse him of finally settling on Cindy, a former rodeo beauty queen, for financial reasons.

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In 1979 – while still married to Carol – he met Cindy at a cocktail party in Hawaii. Over the next six months he pursued her, flying around the country to see her. Then he began to push to end his marriage. Carol and her children were devastated. ‘It was a complete surprise,’ says Nancy Reynolds, a former Reagan aide. ‘They never displayed any difficulties between themselves. I know the Reagans were quite shocked because they loved and respected both Carol and John.’

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Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is now a leading campaigner for veterans’ rights, said: ‘I have been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is – deceit. ‘When he came home and saw that Carol was not the beauty he left behind, he started running around on her almost right away. Everybody around him knew it. ‘Eventually he met Cindy and she was young and beautiful and very wealthy. At that point McCain just dumped Carol for something he thought was better. ‘This is a guy who makes such a big deal about his character. He has no character. He is a fake. If there was any character in that first marriage, it all belonged to Carol.’

More Monday Male Beauty

A Father Remembered

Today is my father's birthday - he would be 87 if he were still living. For newer readers, I lost him on September, 26, 2006 - on my son's 21st birthday - after a lengthy battle with multiple myloma. My dad was not a perfect parent by any means - I suspect that none of us are and I can only imagine some of the things my children think about me at times. Unfortunately none of us are given a hand book or enrolled in classes on being the perfect parent, so we ended up doing our best as we see it at the time with many shortcomings along the way.

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My dad definitely had his issues that haunted him and had never had a true family life growing up, something that I believe negatively impacted his relationship with me and my siblings. His Austrian immigrant parents died when he was three and he and his siblings were placed in The Graham School, part of a orphanage system founded in 1806 by Elizabeth (Mrs. Alexander) Hamilton and Isabella Graham. The orphanage was (and still is) located on a 40 acre site in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, and employed a "cottage system" of smaller residences with a house mother. In this setting, my dad was at least able to grow up knowing his siblings and having some vague sense of a home. Ironically the son of one of the house mothers eventually married one of my mother's sisters. In the "graduation" photo below, I believe the woman in the center of the photo in white is my now 93 year old aunt. My dad and his siblings were/are all successful, even if not perhaps having been blessed with the emotional stable upbringing many take for granted.

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Moving forward in time, my relationship with my dad was strained for many, many years, in large part (at least looking back) because of my being in the closet and not allowing anyone to ever be too close to me lest they discover my "horrible secret." I'm convinced that being in the closet makes it difficult to have fully genuine relationships with anyone, including those we love most. But when I finally did "come out," my dad (and mother) gave me the priceless gift of accepting me and continuing to love me. Yes, he freaked out for a couple of days, but accepted not only me but subsequently my former partner who he treated like a son-in-law. I wish that all fathers would be as accepting of their gay children. Because of his acceptance, I found a sense of closure with him before he died. That was something priceless to me too. Happy birthday Dad.

American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property - Update

Over the weekend I posted about the self-styled, Catholic Church affirming "American Society for the defense of Tradition, Family and Property" which took out full page ad in three major newspapers last week attacking gay marriage and homosexuality in general and espousing a Christianist view of how government should impose the organization's religious beliefs on the country. Bob Felton at Civil Commotion has picked up on the story and will be doing some posts as he reviews in detail the propaganda set out in the ad. While Bob and I do not agree on everything, we are in full agreement as to the danger to the nation and the world by fundamentalist religions be they allegedly Christian or something else. Here's a few highlights from Bob's post today that discusses why confronting and defeating these religious fanatics is so important:

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The language of the advertisement is so overwrought that I doubt it will have much influence beyond the oddities who dug into their pockets to pay for it, but it needs remark anyway because it points to some continuing and worsening problems we have in this country. First, the rise of radical Christianity and, second, our snippet-based mass communications prize the quick, cheap insult more than careful discussion of ideas.

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And ideas matter — a lot. Behind every statement or action there is an idea, a worldview, a set of assumptions about reality. I mean to spend the next few days parsing this advertisement because it reveals much about the ideas of radical Christianity, about the worldview that drives it, and it will be defeated by only a comprehensive refutation of its ideas. We must, for our own well-being and persistence as a nation, understand these ideas and be able to say plainly, and confidently, why they are wrong.

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The thing to notice here is the rhetorical tricksterism: You are a Christian, grounded in reality, or you are out-of-touch with reality and serve the forces of evil. And make no mistake, that is how radical Christianity views the world.

Monday Male Beauty

Regions Mindlessly Supporting Bush-GOP Hit Hardest By Gas Prices and Rising Food Costs

While not a case of Divine justice if you will, a new New York Times story looks at how the areas of the country that have mindlessly supported the Chimperator and the GOP's economic policies (often because they have foolishly taken the GOP bait on "family values" issues) are now reaping the worse pain from rapidly increasing gasoline and food prices. Perhaps if the voters in these areas (highlighted on a larger copy of the map at left found here) had looked beyond the anti-gay and anti-liberal sound bites of the GOP, the country would be on a sounder road towards a rational energy policy to reduce dependence on imported oil. Likewise, we might not be relying largely on a policy of mandated use of enthanol which is creating sky rocketing food prices as also commented upon by the NYT here. Perhaps I am terrible, but candidly, I am having a hard time feeling sorry for many of these folks since they are ultimately reaping the results of their own ignorance, intolerance and actions in supporting the Chimperator and his failed policies. I know that it's not a nice reaction on my part, but it's hatred towards people like me that motivated many of these people in how they voted. Once again, bigotry and intolerance can often turn out to have an unexpected price. Here are some highlights on the economy pain from rising gas prices:

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TCHULA, Miss. — Gasoline prices reached a national average of $4 a gallon for the first time over the weekend, adding more strain to motorists across the country. But the pain is not being felt uniformly. Across broad swaths of the South, Southwest and the upper Great Plains, the combination of low incomes, high gas prices and heavy dependence on pickup trucks and vans is putting an even tighter squeeze on family budgets.

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The disparity between rural America and the rest of the country is a matter of simple home economics. Nationwide, Americans are now spending about 4 percent of their take-home income on gasoline. By contrast, in some counties in the Mississippi Delta, that figure has surpassed 13 percent. As a result, gasoline expenses are rivaling what families spend on food and housing.

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Taking a break under some cottonwood trees beside a drainage ditch filled with buzzing mosquitoes, Mr. Clark and members of his work crew spoke of the big and little changes that higher gas prices have brought. The extra dollars spent at the pump mean electric bills are going unpaid and macaroni is replacing meat at supper. Donations to church are being put off, and video rentals are now unaffordable.

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Sociologists and economists who study rural poverty say the gasoline crisis in the rural South, if it persists, could accelerate population loss and decrease the tax base in some areas as more people move closer to urban manufacturing jobs. They warn that the high cost of driving makes low-wage labor even less attractive to workers, especially those who also have to pay for child care and can live off welfare and food stamps.

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In terms of what the forced use of ethanol is doing to food costs (something the bumbling idiot Chimperator refuses to acknowledge), the New York Times summed it up as follows:

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Over the past year, the prices of grains and vegetable oils have nearly doubled. Rice has jumped by about half. The causes include soaring energy costs, drought in big agricultural producers, like Australia, and rising demand by a burgeoning middle class in China and India. But misguided mandates and subsidies in the United States and Europe to produce energy from crops are also playing an important role.

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The International Monetary Fund estimated that biofuels — mainly American corn ethanol — accounted for almost half the growth in worldwide demand for major food crops last year. About a third of this country’s corn crop will go to ethanol this year. Yet at the summit meeting in Rome, the Bush administration insisted that ethanol is playing a very small role in rising food prices and resisted calls to limit the drive to convert food into fuel.

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One of the most useful things industrialized countries could do would be to deliver on their promise and end the fat subsidies they provide their farmers no matter how high prices go. These subsidies depressed food prices for years and discouraged investment in agriculture across much of the developing world.

The Chimperator's Overseas Legacy - USA Viewed as Force for Evil

Others have posted about the damage that the Chimperator and Emperor Cheney have done to the image of the United States abroad - something that has a huge impact on the nation's ability to use so-called "soft power" in negotiations and the advancement of policies. The reality as shown in a new BBC article is that the USA has gone from having an overall positive image abroad to one that is down right terrible and which leads to a subconscious opposition to USA policies. Not that the Chimperator or the wingnuts within the GOP give a damn (a good portion of them I suspect would like to nuke and slaughter all foreigners who disagree with them, especially if they are non-Christian). Hopefully, the next president can turn this trend around, although if McCain is elected and we have a third Bush term, I expect little improvement. here are some highlights:

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The eyes of many peoples and governments in Europe will be on Senators Obama and McCain, as Europe hopes for better things from the next US president. A poll by the UK's Daily Telegraph website in late May showed that in Britain, France, Germany and Russia, more people regarded the United States as a force for evil than for good. Only in Italy did the US fare better. And Senator Barack Obama was the clear preference (52%) across the five countries to be the next US president.

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Iraq was a stake driven into the heart of both transatlantic ties and relations between European governments. It remains, if no longer a stake, then a thorn. President Bush's own standing has been further damaged by the memoirs of his former press secretary Scott McClellan, who said that the Bush administration had misled the world over Iraq with a "political propaganda campaign".

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European leaders would like to hear that the US prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is to be closed and that the US will not engage in anything that could be called torture, but this will have to wait for the next president.

Churches Being Renamed to Escape "Baptist" Stigma

The Washington Post has an interesting column about the growing trend of some churches - within the Southern Baptisit Convention ("SBC") in particular - changing their names so as to avoid all the negative connotations that go with the "Baptist" brand: ultra conservative, gay-hating, intolerant, anti-immigrant/latino, etc. Other than the Roman Catholic Church (which isn't racist - see I said one good thing about it), no denomination in the nation seems as Hell bent to go back in time and ignore changes in the world and the advances in medical and mental health knowledge. The increasingly toxic message put out by Richard Land and other prominant Christianists in the SBC leadership is taking a toll on the denomination and those mistakenly deemed to be affiliated with it. It seems a reputation for bigotry and hatred towards others does have a price. Here are some story highlights:

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The Rev. Todd Thomason looked out at the nearly empty pews of his congregation at Baptist Temple Church last Sunday. . . . "We're probably the most progressive church in the city, but 'Baptist Temple' sounds weird, like it's charismatic and conservative," Thomason said. He worried that the word "Baptist" had become indelibly tied to the political religious right.

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Recent national surveys show that in an attempt to fill pews, a small but steadily growing number of Christian churches are changing their names and even their religious denominations. Wycoff Baptist in New Jersey became Cornerstone Christian Church. First Baptist in Concord, N.H., is now Centerpoint Church. The Reformed Church in America outside Detroit became Crosswinds Community Church. Even the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant group in the country, whose 16 million membership has declined in recent years, has hosted church-naming seminars asking the question, "To Baptist or Not to Baptist?" The convention meets this week to consider a 10-year program designed to stem the membership loss.

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"The word Baptist is such a turnoff," said David Roozen, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research in Connecticut, who has documented the name-changing trend. "There is a kind of national skepticism about evangelical Christianity because of the religious right and the connection to the Bush administration. You say 'Baptist' and people almost automatically think conservative."

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The Rev. Stephen Welch, executive director of Northstar Church Network, an association of Baptist churches in Northern Virginia, said few new churches have "Baptist" in their names. "I don't think it's a matter of being ashamed, but wanting to position the church where there's less confusion about who you are and who is welcome."

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But in recent years, the world has come to equate all Baptists with only the denomination's most conservative branch. "When you have to spend your time in explain-and-defend mode, saying, 'I'm not one of those Baptists,' it gets in the way of explaining who you are," said Pat Eddington, a Baptist Temple member who's been pushing for the name change.

More Sunday Male Beauty

Two World Views

Now that the presumed candidates for both the GOP and Democrats have been decided, the race largely comes down to depicting the two world views of McCain versus Obama, which to my mind can be summed up as follows. McCain: stay with the past even though the world and circumstances have changed and hope that somehow more of the same miraculously yields a different result. Obama: the same old approaches no longer work and it is time to try new ideas and strategies. Similarly, despite the effort - largely by the MSM - to depict McCain as a maverick and not a standard Republican, McCain represents the "whitebread" GOP and its resistance to anything that is fully inclusive of all citizens. Obama in contrast embraces a multicultural nation and includes gays among the citizens entitled to full civil rights. No matter how disgruntled Hillary supporters may be, they need to wake up to the fact that a McCain victory would be a disaster for those of us who want to move away from the Christianist dominated policies of the GOP. As one who wants to see gay rights expand and also a country that offers opportunity for my three children and their cousins, my view is that McCain MUST be defeated. Frank Rich has a great analysis of these issues in today's New York Times. here are highlights:

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On one side stands Mr. Obama’s resolutely cheerful embrace of the future. His vision is inseparable from his identity, both as a rookie with a slim Washington résumé and as a black American whose triumph was regarded as improbable by voters of all races only months ago. On the other is John McCain’s promise of a wise warrior’s vigilant conservation of the past. His vision, too, is inseparable from his identity — as a government lifer who has spent his entire career in service, whether in the Navy or Washington.

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Mr. McCain only reminded voters that he, like Mrs. Clinton, thinks that change is nothing more than a marketing gimmick. He has no idea what it means. “No matter who wins this election, the direction of this country is going to change dramatically,” he said on Tuesday. He then grimly regurgitated Goldwater and Reagan government-bashing talking points from the 1960s and ’70s even as he presumed to accuse Mr. Obama of looking “to the 1960s and ’70s for answers.”

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Mr. Obama is a liberal, but it’s not your boomer parents’ liberalism that is at the heart of his appeal. He never rattles off a Clinton laundry list of big federal programs; he supports abortion rights and gay civil rights with a sunny bonhomie that makes the right’s cultural scolds look like rabid mastodons. He is not refighting either side of the domestic civil war over Vietnam that exploded in his hometown of Chicago 40 years ago this summer, long before he arrived there.

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The selling point of Mr. Obama’s vision of change is not doctrinaire liberalism or Bush-bashing but an inclusiveness that he believes can start to relieve Washington’s gridlock much as it animated his campaign. Some of that inclusiveness is racial, ethnic and generational, in the casual, what’s-the-big-deal manner of post-boomer Americans already swimming in our country’s rapidly expanding demographic pool. Some of it is post-partisan: he acknowledges that Republicans, Ronald Reagan included, can have ideas. The Obama forces out-organized the most ruthless machine in Democratic politics because the medium of their campaign mirrored its inclusive message. They empowered adherents in every state rather than depending on a Beltway campaign hierarchy . . .

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Mr. Obama’s deep-rooted worldliness — in philosophy as well as itinerant background — is his other crucial departure from the McCain template. As more and more Americans feel the pain of spiraling gas prices and lost jobs, they are also coming to recognize, as Mr. Obama does, that the globally reviled American image forged by an endless war in Iraq and its accompanying torture scandals is inflicting economic as well as foreign-policy havoc. Six out of 10 Americans do want their president to talk to Iran’s president, according to the most-recent Gallup poll. Americans are sick of a national identity defined by arrogant saber-rattling abroad and manipulative fear-mongering at home.

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Mr. McCain’s speech in a New Orleans suburb on Tuesday night spawned a cottage industry of ridicule, even among Republicans. The halting delivery, sickly green backdrop and spastic, inappropriate smiles, presumably mandated by some consultant hoping to mask his anger, left the impression that Mr. McCain isn’t yet ready for prime-time radio. But the substance was even worse than the theatrics. . . . a small, nearly all-white crowd that seconded his attack lines with boorish choruses of boos. On TV, the audience came across as a country-club membership riled by a change in the Sunday brunch menu.