The Lavender Rocking Chair

Coming Back Soon

2008-11-26T15:10:00.003-06:00

Presidential Candidates and Gay Issues -- Tommy Thompson

2007-05-16T08:45:00.000-06:00

In the recent Republican Presidential debate, Tommy Thompson, former governor of Wisconsin and former head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, was asked if a private employer should be allowed to fire a gay worker, "if the employer finds homosexuality immoral?"

Thompson's answer was, "I think that is left up to the individual business. I really sincerely believe that that is an issue that business people have got to make their own determination as to whether or not they should be."

Afterwards Thompson offered several different excuses for his answer: he had the flu, he was taking medication for bronchitis, he badly needed to get off the podium and go to the restroom and therefore wasn't listening to the question, he thought it was about there being enough laws already to address discrimination in the workplace. Also, he added that he is deaf in one ear and that his hearing aid battery for the other ear had gone dead.

"I said it, I'm sorry, and it won't happen again but it's not my record. ... There's nothing discriminatory about me at all."

If you believe that, go Google these words: Tommy Thompson comments on Jews.

Presidental Candidates and Gay Issues -- Sam Brownback

2007-05-15T19:01:00.000-06:00

Presidential candidate and Republican U.S. Senator Sam Brownback, from Kansas, on gay weddings...

In May 2007, Republican presidential candidate and Kansas senator, Sam Brownback bullied a nominee for a judgeship in Michigan, Janet Neff, because she had attended a same-sex union ceremony in 2002.

The Senate Judiciary Committee had cleared Neff for the post, but Brownback had questions about her role in the same-sex ceremony, which surfaced because of a wedding announcement in The New York Times.

Neff attended the ceremony for the daughter of close family friends and her partner. Neff said she gave a homily, but did not preside over the service. The family lived next door to Neff for 26 years.

"...was it a marriage ceremony?" Brownback asked.

"It was not," Neff said.

Brownback said the key issue is whether Neff participated in an illegal ceremony. Brownback blocked her nomination, arguing that being friends with a gay neighbor for more than two decades necessarily disqualifies a person for the federal bench, even if you’re nominated by the Bush White House.

He eventually dropped his opposition to her nomination. But only after proving to his base how macho he is. Read all about it here.

Photo from All Aussie Beef.

Taking a break

2007-01-17T13:18:00.000-06:00

"But let's not forget who created this project—Michael Bennett."

2007-01-16T09:00:00.000-06:00

"Even before its highly anticipated opening, the glitz-and-glam celluloid fest known as Dreamgirls was already blasting headlines left, right, and center. But let's not forget who created this project—Michael Bennett."

Click here and read about this wonderful creator of theater history in an article written by Kimberly Gadette. It's an Advocate.com exclusive, posted on January 9, 2007.

Gesundheit

2007-01-14T17:34:00.000-06:00

Cat Burger

2007-01-13T09:21:00.000-06:00

This is Winston, The Burger Head. He looks good enough to eat. Right now he is planning to throw up on somebody's pillow.

For more pictures of Winston, and Rudy, too -- click here.

Blog First Anniversary

2007-01-05T11:02:00.000-06:00

This blog is one year old today. I actually began it in November 2005, but made such a mess of the template that I started over from scratch in January 2006.

Thanks for stopping by to read it now and then. And a special thank you to all of you who leave comments. A comment, however brief, is always appreciated.

It's alive, again.

2007-01-04T16:22:00.000-06:00

At the left is what this blog looked like a few minutes ago. I had just finished making some minor edits and then saved the changes. Blogger decided to remove everything above where I was working. All you couild see was raw code. Yuck.

But in a moment of temporary sanity a couple of weeks ago I had saved a copy of my template just before I switched to the Blogger Beta. I went into my broken template, pasted in the saved version, deleted the rest of the old one and pressed "save changes." Everything was there.

The only stuff missing were the revised links for all the bloggers who have changed URLs in the past week or so. Oh well, as ABBA says, "We won't miss them when they're gone."

Happy you-know-what

2007-01-01T14:50:00.000-06:00

Hope all of you had a great Christmas and a delightful start to the new year.

Last night for our New Year's Eve dinner I cooked black-eyed peas. Eating them at new year's is a custom in the American South to assure good luck in the new year. We also had collard greens and baby back ribs. Followed by chocolate cream pie. The new year may or may not be lucky but we entered it stuffed so full that sometime between 9:00 and 10:00 P.M. we both fell asleep and the bottle of Veuve Cliquot is still ice cold and unopened.

Also contributing to the sleepiness were many hours spent watching the AbFab marathon all day and evening on BBC America. Today, to sober us up, they are running nothing but Cash in the Attic.

After a busy, and family filled, Christmas it was really nice to be alone and not hosting for New Year's Eve.

Soybeans make you gay

2006-12-13T09:23:00.000-06:00

More weird science from the religious far right's favorite news service -- World Net Daily.

"There's a slow poison out there that's severely damaging our children and threatening to tear apart our culture." A warning from WND columnist Jim Rutz on the dangers of soy products.

Technical question

2006-12-10T11:01:00.000-06:00

Why is it that so few bloggers use the alt and title attributes with blog images? Title can also be used with links. Is there some rule I don't know about? I don't often attach these to links but I try to use them whenever possible with the images I post. Keep in mind that not all of your visitors can see the screen and it lets them know what the image is and how it relates to the text.

Thank you, Purple Twinkie, and fluxipoop, for titling your links. It makes your pages even more interesting and informative.

Just a few left to visit

2006-12-09T15:29:00.000-06:00

There are only ten I haven't visited. Yet.

Click here to create your own map of states you have visited.

It's worse than we thought...

2006-12-08T12:08:00.000-06:00

Don't let the U.S. religious right wingers hear about this or we will all end up inside a piece of pita bread.

My French Blog

2006-12-05T07:55:00.000-06:00

I was checking to see who had visited my blog today and noticed there was somebody from France. Wondering how he or she found my blog I checked to see what this person had used for search terms and, voila!, my blog popped up in French. Love it.

Click on the image below to see it big enough to read.

The Joy of Pool

2006-12-02T10:23:00.000-06:00

Last Monday I was doing some pool cleaning and working on the filters -- getting ready for winter. Although the pool has been too cold to swim in since the middle of September, it is pretty to look at when it's clean and sparkling. At one point I mishandled some chlorine pellets and I got my lungs full of the choking gas. I had to sit down for a few minutes. And until the next morning I had a tightness in my chest and the constant taste and smell of chlorine. Yuck. I will learn to be more careful.

While I was cleaning the pool the water level was high. Tuesday I noticed the level was down about an inch. Wednesday it was down four inches. Thursday it was down by four feet and obviously we had a leak. A bad one.

The pool people sent their man over to check it out and he said we needed a new vinyl liner. The pool and the liner are over ten years old. And a liner lasts about ten years, so our time had come. It will be fixed in a couple of weeks (for several thousand dollars). But we were expecting this to happen -- in a year or two maybe. Oh well.

Last night was very cold and there was a possibility of a freeze. So we had to bring the Polaris pool-cleaning robot in so it wouldn't freeze and crack open. It had to be in a warm place, so like a pet seal we put it in the bath tub for the night.

The Polaris attaches to the pool pump by a long hose and it slowly rolls along the bottom and sides of the pool vacuuming up sand and leaves. Its movements are quite life-like and fun to watch. Especially if it's a warm sunny afternoon and you have had a few drinks.

My lungs have recovered, the Polaris had a warm night and soon the new, deep blue liner will be installed and we will have 22,500 fresh gallons of clear, clean water in the pool. That's a lot of water, and for those of you in the rest of the world it's about 85,000 liters.

Big, Pink and Spanish

2006-10-24T08:18:00.000-06:00

From Sydney comes the Gay News Blog. Along with lots of news and totty (oh, those Australians) was an article about this monument on the Catalan coast of Spain in Sitges.

The pink triangle is 4 feet tall and commemorates the community's stance against some gay bashing there ten years earlier. The inscription reads, “Sitges against Homophobia. October 1996-2006. Never again."

The Gay News Blog has been added to the Gay News links in the sidebar above.

The Wonder of the Internet

2006-10-19T14:14:00.000-06:00

I was doing an Internet search on the techno music duo, The Chemical Brothers. One of them is Tom Rowlands. The search also brought up this photo of a Tommy Rolands. Ooops. Tommy is not one of the Chemical Brothers, he's a wrestler at Ohio State.

I thought I would share this with you in case you were confused by the two Toms. Below is a photo of Chemical Brother, Tom Rowlands.

The Natural History of Candy Corn

2006-10-05T13:05:00.000-06:00

Candy Corn: Your Friend and Mine, this is the title of Cuisine.net's fact filled tribute to candy corn. Check it out and be sure to look for the way cool candy corn animation.

Where did it come from, how do they make it? from eNotes. The essay ends with this notable quote: "Candy corn that is somehow misshapen or considered inferior may be melted down and reused. Of course, any candy that falls on the floor is never reused." That's because the dog gets it first.

Industry leaders -- Brach's Candy and Zachary Confections -- check out their tasty sites.

Six Degrees of Candy Corn

2006-10-04T20:24:00.000-06:00

But no St. Patrick's Day Corn? What's up with that?

Listen Here -- the IBM Glass Engine

2006-09-27T14:03:00.000-06:00

Philip Glass. At first I didn't apreciate his work very much. I felt his compositions didn't compare well to those by Steve Reich. Then I stopped comparing the two of them and now I like Glass as much as I do Reich. They are very different composers and both brilliant.

Today I wanted to listen to a favorite passage, an aria from the 1976 Philip Glass and Robert Wilson opera, Einstein on the Beach, and the disk was in another room. Being too lazy to get up, what was I to do? This is what I did. I surfed over to the IBM Glass Engine, navigated to 1976 and played the cut I wanted to hear. Online, for free.

The IBM Glass Engine is a strange and wonderful site. Here's a quote from the opening page -- "The IBM Glass Engine enables deep navigation of the music of Philip Glass. Personal interests, associations, and impulses guide the listener through an expanding selection of over sixty Glass works."

I find it works best for me, a PC user, if I load it from the link on the Philip Glass homepage using Internet Explorer. I can't always get it to load if I use Netscape or Firefox. I am sure it works fine for Apple users. Every composer I know is an Apple person.

The Engine is big and takes a while to load even with a fast connection. Just chill for a few minutes. It's worth it.

A New Blog from the Editor of GrayGay.com

2006-09-26T08:35:00.000-06:00

Check out Gray Gay Blog. It is from Pewit, the editor of GrayGay.com -- "the place for mature gay men and admirers." The original site, Graygay.com, includes the GrayGay Guide with in-depth reviews of over 2000 bars, clubs, restaurants, saunas, hotels and beaches that welcome them world-wide. Plus extensive resources and links such as personal ads, bulletin boards, organizations, books, videos and websites.

As for the blog Pewit says, "I'd particularly like to hear from bloggers who are older couples or intergenerational couples who can share their life experience." Topics include gay seniors, mature men, events, cruises, opinions, blogs, retirement, homosexuality, porn, older men.

Listen Here All You Bloggers

2006-09-13T13:46:00.000-06:00

Wow, it has been quite a while since my last post. And I guess that's because it has been a busy time. Thank you all for checking in now and then. Here's a little present for you as a thank you. Something to listen to.

I love online radio stations and they are often playing as I surf around the 'net. Right now I am listening to 104.2 Nile FM, Cairo's Number 1 Hit Music Station. If your system is set up like mine (a PC using Windows XP and Firefox) you can probably listen directly by clicking here. Otherwise go to the station's website and follow the directions there to get to the audio feed.

Other favorites right now --
HFM 94.2, San Antonio, Ibiza -- listen or go to the website
Mix 103.0 FM, Lisboa, Portugal -- listen or go to the website

Some Days You Can't Even Give It Away

2006-08-19T09:01:00.000-06:00

Not you, Dawson, the waterbed!

It seemed nobody wanted the beautiful solid oak waterbed with a bookcase headboard and huge drawers under the mattress.We offered it first to family members, they didn't want it. Nor did friends. Hey, it's not like we are trying to sell it for money. It's free if somebody will take it away.

We hear that maybe a friend of a friend will take it. He might want to use the wood to make shelves. He comes over with a van and a flatbed trailer. Takes the bed apart and loads it up. And as he backs out of the driveway the trailer goes onto the lawn and hits our mail box. He continues on, breaking off the post at gound-level. Next he runs over the mail box crushing it. He then drives off leaving the flattened mailbox in the street. This, after we gave him all this expensive lumber for free!

He doesn't remember hitting anything when he backed out. But immediately he offered me $50 to replace it. So I replaced the whole thing. And it cost about $50, so maybe he's done this before.

Draining The Waterbed

2006-08-15T19:14:00.000-06:00

For a variety of reasons, mostly my bad knee, we have decided to get rid of the waterbed. And this week is when we are going to do it. We've used it for nearly 18 years, but recently I am having great trouble getting in and out of it and changing the sheets has become a big problem too. We want one of those new, Scandinavian type, firm foam beds they advertise on TV. It's "foam with a memory." Oh, if beds could talk! And not just remember.

Now, the first step is to drain the mattress, or as they say in the waterbed business -- the bladder. It's a firm-sided, California King in a beautiful solid oak frame with big drawers in the base. It is six feet wide by seven feet long. This differs from the regular king-sized mattress that's four inches wider and four inches shorter. Who comes up with these rules?

Anyway, the bed we have holds 2000 pounds of water, so carrying it out is not an option. I have purchased a plastic nozzle that you attach with a hose to the bed drain hole and the other end of the hose attaches to a faucet and somehow if you turn the faucet on the bed drains. Slowly.

The directions say it might take 90 minutes. It works! After two hours the bed seems as flat as it's going to get. There is still some water in it but it is now light enough to roll up and cart away to the backyard. Step one, done.

Mel or Fidel?

2006-08-13T07:26:00.000-06:00

The planet's editorial cartoonists have had a wonderful couple of weeks since Mel had too much to drink and Fidel landed in the hospital. Daryl Cagle, at his site, Professional Cartoonists Index, offers you the following collections (and many more):
Mel Gibson Cartoons
Castro's Condition

The Cruise, Day 3

2006-08-09T09:17:00.000-06:00

Monday

Still at sea -- until early Tuesday morning. It is fun being lazy and having almost nothing to do. Between reading and naps we sit on the balcony of the Caribbean Princess and watch for whales. So far we have seen none. If we do see one it will break our all-time record.

Today's Princess Patter had dozens of activities for us to ignore, but actually we schedules two events. We went to see a production show, a matinee of Piano Man, in the Princess Theater, Fiesta Deck 6. The show was good and the production values fabulous. The theater is sleek with all the up-to-date lighting sound and special effects you expect in a Las Vegas show. Costumes were modest however. If the performers had any skin at all, we didn't see it. The cast of four singers and eight dancers did a great job and there was an excellent live band.

To get to and from the main entrance of the Princess Theater you have to walk through the Grand Casino. So, after the show it was time to spend some of the afternoon there playing video poker.

The other activity we planned was dinner in the Sterling Steakhouse on Promenade Deck 7. It is one of two cozy specialty resaurants on board that charcge extra for the extra service they claim to provide the guests. In this case it was $15.00 per person. We thought the steaks in the regular dining rooms were just as good. Very good in fact.

When I finish these daily accounts I will post the review we wrote for the CruiseCritic.com ships' review page. It has more of our opinions about the food and drink on board. And lots more.

If you are planning a cruise the Cruise Critic site, www.cruisecritic.com, has dozens, maybe actually hundreds, of reviews written by happy and sometimes unhappy customers. Plus lots of things to know about taking a cruise, especially for the first-time cruiser.

Tomorrow we arrive in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Cruise, Day 2

2006-08-09T08:46:00.000-06:00

Sunday

We got up early and had our coffee on our balcony. We had planned to sleep late but all that fresh sea air wakes you up. It's sunny and calm and you can't see any land at all. A blip on the far horizon turned out to be a huge barge pulled by a tug. The Caribbean Princess is moving right along. The TV channel from the bridge says we are doing 18 knots.

We brought our own coffee and a little coffeemaker -- and mugs and filters. We love New Orleans blend coffee and chicory, roasted dark. Before the cruise we had read that the coffee on board was not good at all, unless you wanted to buy gourmet coffee at the Patisserie down on Plaza Deck 5. In our opinion the rumors were not true at all. The coffee served in the dining rooms was fine as was that on tap to serve yourself in the buffets.

It was wonderful to have coffee in the room or on the balcony as soon as we got up and not have to wait for room service or a trip way upstairs to the Horizon Court buffet.

Fearing that two whole days at sea might turn out to be a little boring we loked for things to while we read the morning's Princess Patter and had our coffee. There were a lot of shipboard events to choose from.

First of all there was the guided tour of the ship at 9:45 A.M. starting high up at the back of the ship at Skywalkers Nightclub on Sky Deck 19. We would have to miss the 10:00, non-denominational church service in Explorer's Lounge on Lido Deck 7. The collection plate money is donated "to Seaman's Charities world wide."

Later we could miss the daily bingo games, art auctions and pool-side talent shows but being avid fans of the website Cruise Critic we considered going to their "Meet & Greet," 10:30 in Crooner's Bar on the Lido Deck. I had read that often the CC members dress up for these meeting and wear nautical attire -- lots of pirates. All you need is an eye patch, really.

At 5:30, right at cocktail time it appears, there's the "GLBT Rainbow Get-Together" in Tradewinds Bar, Sun Deck 16. Our research had told of meetings on many ships of the "Friends of Dorothy' and I thought it would be fun to join in. But a GLBT meeting sounded less inviting. More sociological than social. Now I am as inclusive as the next guy (or gal) but this is a cruise. We are not demonstrating in front of city hall or having a sit-in at the university administration building. Let the gay guys meet and do their thing. And let the Ls, Bs and Ts have their own gatherings.

Of course aside from going to breakfast and lunch and dinner, we totally forgot to go to any of these social events. We did have a fine time reading on our balcony, walking around and having drinks in wonderful outdoor lounges. Having nothing to do was a treat.

As for gay males on board, during the week we noticed several couples who might have been gay, mostly quite young. Sometimes we all nodded and said hi. Just like at the Wal-Mart. But at the Wal-Mart there are lots more of them.

The Captain's Welcome Cocktail Party is tonight and, no coinsidence, the evening's dress code is Formal. And Thursday night, too. Before we left we decided not to do Formal, but we didn't want to spoil things for those who want to dress up so we ate in the buffet. Or we could have done room service. In the hallways we noticed a number of men wearing dark suits or sports coats but nobody was wearing a tux. As whipped as these guys were, I guess wearing a tux would have been going overboard, so to speak.

Apparently the dining room maitres d' let you in however you are dressed. The offical word is, "Shorts and T-Shirts are NOT permitted in the Dining Rooms. No Short Sleeves allowed on Formal Night." Certainly the short sleeves warning is for the gentlemen only. We did see many men wearing long-sleeved dark, open collared shirts along side their much more formally dressed women. What is the world coming to?

The Cruise, Day 1, Continued

2006-08-03T09:26:00.000-06:00

Saturday Night

The map shows our stops on this cruise of the Eastern Caribbean. We are at sea all day Sunday and Monday, arriving in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, on Tuesday morning. Then the Caribbean Princess has stops at St. Maarten on Wednesday and Princess Cays on Friday.

We decided that this is a tropical vacation and we were not about to dress up. So we chose the less formal "Anytime Dining" option -- there is no set time to eat, no assigned tables, no strangers to eat with.

It's all the same food anyway. In the formal venue, the Island Dining Room, the dining experience is much more structured. You are assigned a specific meal service that's the same time every evening -- either 6:00 or 8:15 -- at the same table, served by the same waiters and you sit with the same dinner companions.

The evening dress code in all the dining rooms (but not for the buffet) is "Smart Casual," except on formal nights. I think the intention is to have no one wearing bathing suits, shorts, tank tops or flip-flops. We decided to blend in and wore long pants and Hawaiian shirts for our dress up clothes. Apparently it worked, the waiters treated us fine. And brought us more food than we asked for.

There are two dining rooms for us "Anytime Dining" folks, the Palm and the Coral, on Fiesta Deck 6. Both have lovely decor, waiter service and table linens and you can eat whenever you want to during normal evening meal hours -- 5:30 to 10:00. You just walk in and ask for a table. One time we had to wait a few minutes to get a table for two, no problem. Also there are a couple of buffets -- one is open 24/7. Plus burgers, hot dogs and pizzas by one of the pools. Except for two speciality restaurants that charge an extra fee, all the meals and snacks are included in the price of the cruise. Drinks cost extra.

The boat was going through some rough waters and I knew I couldn't manage the buffet with my bad knee so we ate in the Palm Dining Room and the food and service was very good. During the meal the ship was rocking a lot more, we assumed it's like that, that's the way it is. It's a boat -- there are waves.

When we left the dining room I was having trouble walking and almost needed to steady myself by grabbing the heads of diners as we headed for the exit. I didn't. Later we found out it was really quite rough, unusually so, and the captain had taken us on a wide detour to avoid the worst of the choppy seas.

Then we explored the ship a little to see it after dark. It is all quite beautiful and well maintained. When we got back to the room -- not tempted at all to join the "Ja'maican Me Crazy" Sailaway Party -- we read the ship's daily newspaper Princess Patter. It lists the events for the next day and is full of ads for the on-board shops. Lots o' sales and bargains!

The rocking motion of the ship was wonderful for sleeping and although we had no problems with being seasick we both took some mild motion sickness pills anyway. And slept well.

The Cruise, Day 1

2006-08-02T08:48:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago we went on a cruise. It was a first time for us and we really wondered if we would like the experience. After a lot of research, mostly online, and after getting countless brochures in the mail we decided to take a seven-night cruise on the Caribbean Princess.

It was a round trip out of Fort Lauderdale's Port Everglades, Saturday to Saturday. We could have parked at the cruise terminal but chose to park at a nearby long-term parking lot at the airport. Port Everglades is about 25 miles north of the Port of Miami and it serves almost 20 cruise lines.

The parking lot's van took us to the ship where there were huge lines at 12:15 P.M. We had disregarded instructions from Princess Cruises that told us to arrive at 2:00 P.M. for the shortest lines. However, the embarkation process was so efficient (and well staffed) that in less than an hour we were in our cabin -- meeting our steward, Cris. He kept our cabin ship-shape for the whole trip.

We had a room with balcony on Deck 11, the Baja Deck -- that's the 11th floor -- in what is essentially a huge, 19-story high, self-contained floating hotel. The Princess was launched in 2004 as the largest passenger ship afloat, with room for 3,110 paggengers and 1200 crew.

We took off at 5:00 P.M. and slowly left the port. We watched from our, surprisingly roomy, balcony as the resort hotels and condos of North Miami Beach faded away. Our cabin was on the starboard side so we looked south as we departed. Below us were the balconies of passengers who had suites and mini-suites.

We had originally booked a mini-suite for a little more room and a larger balcony, but we heard there was little privacy on the balconies on these decks. The folks online at Cruise Critic were right, although we had great privacy on our balcony, we could look right down into all the balconies below us and to the right and left.

Soon we were in the open ocean and put on some speed. The TV in the cabin said we were going 18 knots. That's almost 21 miles per hour. It seemed quite fast, especially if you looked down at the water rushing past the side of the ship.

All you could see was sky and ocean. The sun was setting and it was time for cocktails on our balcony.

NOTE -- NAUTICAL MILE is a unit of length used in marine navigation that is equal to a minute of arc of a great circle on a sphere. One international nautical mile is equivalent to 1852 meters, 6077 feet or 1.151 statute miles. A KNOT is a unit of measure for speed. If you are traveling at a speed of 1 nautical mile per hour, you are traveling at a speed of 1 knot. During this account I will sometimes convert nautical miles to statute miles but as we are Americans you will have to figure the meters out for yourself. We don't do metric.

New template

2006-07-30T12:10:00.000-06:00

I am switching to a slighly different look. I had [possibly] over-modified the original version of this one. And with all the problems Blogger has been having lately with posts and edits I decided to simplify a bit. Slowly I will replace some of the elements of the old version. I fear I had put too much navigation within the page and Blogger was getting confused.

A Problem With Edited Posts

2006-07-27T09:48:00.000-06:00

Dear Blogpersons:
Recently, when I edit a post and republish it the new version does not appear on my blog. Also some of the new posts are not showing up on the blog even though the screen prompts say the new post published OK. Other people are having these problems, too. I mentioned this to the Blogger Help Group but so far there are no suggestions that work. Is anybody else having this problem? Got any fixes?
Yours truly,
A Sad Blogger

Homophobic Israeli Rabbi suffering from PRS (Pat Robertson Syndrome)?

2006-07-24T07:53:00.000-06:00

Rabbi links Hizbullah violence in Israel to planned Jerusalem gay parade.

In an article by Etgar Lefkovits in the Jerusalem Post, Jul. 19, 2006, Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch is quoted as saying Hizbullah's ongoing attacks on Israel are caused by the Israeli government allowing gay people there to plan a parade in Jerusalem -- the international gay pride parade scheduled for August.

'We have not protested enough against this parade of abomination and therefore we have received this warning,' the Rabbi claimed, 'Who knows where things will get to if we do not act further and more stringently against it.'

Read the complete article by clicking here.

As for Rabbi Sternbuch's case of Pat Robertson Syndrome, remember a few months ago Robertson told us, according to CNN, '...that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.' Robertson opposed the withdrawal.

Jonathan can't answer the phone right now -- he's tied up.

2006-07-21T12:18:00.000-06:00

Jonathan Goodwin, British TV Escapologist and Daredevil

From an interview in Attitude Magazine: 'Jonathan Goodwin likes nothing more than to be stripped bare, bound in chains and put in a variety of humiliating situations. All in the name of Escapology, apparently.'

From the interview --
You’re in a state of undress, trussed-up, through most of your shows. You must be aware it has gay appeal.
D’you know what? I didn’t think about it until I heard there were emails flying around.

Are we going to be seeing your cock again soon?
Yeaaaah! Probably. I’ll have to think of a slightly more elaborate way to get it out, or get it in. But I definitely will. I really think embarrassment is just as valid as danger, and you can’t get any more embarrassing than that really.

For more of this interview click here.

Is Jonathan for real? Check out his website and see for yourself. While you're there be sure to look at the clips of his daredevil escapes -- 'Bath of Pins' is my favorite and in it he shows lots of bare butt. It's a shame that the escapes never quite seem to work for him. Luckily for his fans he likes to talk about his injuries.

A Gay Retirement Group on Yahoo

2006-07-19T12:50:00.000-06:00

Sorry to be gone from the blog for so long. It has been a busy time. Or maybe it's been a lazy time (lolling by the pool). . .

There's a Yahoo Group you should know about. It's the Gay Retirement Group and it has more than 1600 members. Check it out, read the messages, take part in the discussions and meet other gay people interested in retirment issues.

If you are not familiar with Yahoo! and its features, it is very simple to use. First you must join Yahoo! by creating an email account with a user name and a password. It is easy and totally free. Once you have opened your membership with Yahoo! you can use all its features including groups, games, news, email and RSS feeds. To get started click here.

For those of you interested in the possibility of retiring to Mexico or Central America there is a Yahoo! group for you, too.

Fawlty Towers Resort in Florida!

2006-06-13T09:28:00.000-06:00

On a recent trip to the east coast of Florida, not far from Orlando, we stopped off at Cocoa Beach to shop at the famous Ron Jon's Surf Shop. Right next door is the very pink Fawlty Towers Resort. And we immediately thought of Jae of Greenwich.

The brochure says it is "Tropical, Tranquil and Truly Affordable." And -- it has an 'authentic "Tiki Bar" featuring European Beers and Ciders.' At Fawlty Towers Resort you'll find none of those festive tropical drinks like the other authentic Tiki Bars.

Ron Jon's Surf Shop, as always, was fabulous. It's the surfer's L.L.Bean.

While I was gone from the blog -- Part 2

2006-04-24T15:08:00.000-06:00

I Planted an Herb Garden

At the K-Mart I bought a Tennessee whisky barrel, or actually half of one, to plant things in.

Sounds easy but the barrels are very big and very dirty. And falling apart. This one was from the Maker's Mark Distillery and was dated March 1996. As for the "whisky" vs. "whiskey" spelling debate click here for some background information.

The inside is burned until it's like charcoal, the staves are all loose and the rings are heavily rusted. It does have a nice aroma of Bourbon whisky though.

After I got it home I filled it with a huge amount of dirt and planted, counter-clockwise fron the front center: Greek Oregano, Serrano Pepper (medium hot), Thyme, Genovese Sweet Basil, Cilantro and Giant Marconi Pepper (not hot). After watering the plants for a week the moisture made the barrel staves swell up and it is now water-tight and much more stable.

The picture is three weeks later and everything has doubled in size. The peppers are in bloom and there are several baby peppers growing already. Salsa, anyone?

Guess who's back? Back again!

2006-04-22T14:57:00.000-06:00

I'm back. Back at the blog. It has been too long, but it has been a busy time. Sorry. Over the next few posts I'll let you know what's been going on and what could possibly keep me away from the 'net these many weeks.

First I had foot trouble. Actually toenail trouble and had to spend a lot of time with medical appointments. My regular MD said he should yank it off, but maybe I should see a podiatrist first. Lucky for me this specialist fixed it and my other problem toenails as well. At last I could walk without limping.

Also I have to take this very expensive medicine for 12 weeks and if I have more than one cocktail a day my liver will fall off.

So here is a poster to help us remember vodka and a brief film history of the beverage.

No Brokeback For The Bahamas

2006-04-05T10:26:00.000-06:00

According to today's Newsday, The Bahamas' Plays and Films Control Board -- the Commonwealth's official entertainment censor, has banned Brokeback Mountain.

"The board chose to ban it because it shows extreme homosexuality, nudity and profanity, and we feel that it has no value for the Bahamian public," Chavasse Turnquest-Liriano, liaison officer for the control board, said Wednesday.

Apparently the government officials are convinced that the simple island natives are actually simpleminded. Likely to be led astray by seeing the film.

And exactly what is extreme homosexuality? I think I would have heard about it. Are there online tutorials? Would homosexuality light been OK with the censors?

Some have suggested a boycott of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Others say write angry letters to their tourist board. I say send them a postcard and ask for tourist info. They will send endless mailings of slick, colorful booklets that cost them a fortune to print and mail.

Just remember to toss them out as they arrive. If you are gay you are not wlecome in The Bahamas, so don't go.

In the States the address is Bahamas Tourist Office, 1200 South Pine Island Road, Plantation, FL 33324. Or call toll free, 1-800-224-3681.

To read the whole article click here.

Forget the Eurovision Song Contest

2006-04-02T12:51:00.000-06:00

Get your tickets for the Mr. Heterosexual Contest, now!

Tired of hearing about gay contests such as the "Mr. Gay International Pagent?" Want just a teeny more intolerance in this world of ours? A Massachusetts talk show host has created the "Mr. Heterosexual Contest."

Sadly I have found no mention of the rules for the event's bathing suit competition.

Tom Crouse is host of the radio program Engaging Your World. The show is heard on several radio stations in the northeastern United States. Crouse is also pastor of Holland Congregational Church in Holland, Massachusetts.

According to the bio on his website, in his 43 years he has "led a rock band, wrestled professionally, been a VP of marketing for a private payphone business, owned his own business and sold everything from lawn care to kitchen cabinets to industrial painting equipment." Certainly the ideal background for someone who knows that homos are sinners and can be cured.

You can learn a lot more about him and his points of view at the Mr. Hetero site. Maybe it's just me but the guy seems to have a love of publicity and a good sized chip on his shoulder. Maybe it's from the years of pro wrestling?

Bondi Beach sights

2006-04-01T14:19:00.000-06:00

Giant tourist/aliens terrify gay surfers in van on Australia's famed, semi-gay Bondi Beach near Sydney.

Digital Photograph by Brian Robson

But seriously folks...check out Chris Geary's site and his photos of the beach population during the Gay Games in Sydney.

Cosmos Will Represent Latvia

2006-03-15T16:13:00.000-06:00

There's growing excitement over on Jae's blog these days with the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest.

But do you remember...?

Back in 1991 there was 'Eurovision -- The Musical' by Tim Luscombe, commisioned by the London Gay Theatre Company. In 1992 we saw it at The Drill Hall and loved it. The following year it was presented as 'Eurovision' by Andrew Lloyd Webber at the Vaudeville Theatre in London. It ran for 18 performances. The poster for this production is on the left. There were young lovers of many sexes, Greek gods -- I don't remember why -- and of course, lots of songs. Light, fluffy songs.

In 2003 an Australian team, Craig Christie and Andrew Patterson, created another musical based on the ESC, called 'Eurobeat -- The Eurovision Musical'. It is still touring. This time the setting is Sarajevo and there appear to be no Greek gods. There are however the Swedish pop stylings of Avla, Hungarian triplets the Molnar Sisters and a Russian boy band called The KGBoiz. And many, many more. The audience gets to vote for best song. For the plot, photos and the hilarious song list click here.

A review in Melbourne's The Age said, 'The show is a seriously fun night out for anyone who appreciates the endlessly shallow world of pop culture...'

There is an original Australian cast recording of Eurobeat - The Eurovision Musical.

Too Much Spring To Stay Inside Blogging

2006-03-14T10:08:00.000-06:00

Right now it's a busy time -- weeding, pruning, trimming and planting. The weather is warm and breezy at last. It is nice to be enjoying the outdoors again. So I have been lax with the Blog updates.

The front yard is ablaze with pink azaleas and the dogwood trees we thought were dead are popping with white flowers. As you can see the grass is still brown from winter.

As soon as I get the leaves out of the pool and fix the Rain Bird sprinklers I promise to get back to regular postings.

And, oh, we both just got iPods. So there's been hours and hours of uploading CDs.

Florida printing firm gets Oscar ballot nod?

2006-03-09T08:14:00.000-06:00

Brokeback Mountain vs. Crash, what they didn't tell you...

Actually you should go to Defamer and learn the real truth behind this outrageous story.

Feed me

2006-03-06T16:43:00.000-06:00

This is my first attempt to syndicate this blog. Scroll down and look for the sticker.

Thanks for the warning, Penrith...

2006-03-06T08:15:00.000-06:00

Our good friend Martin, who just had a birthday, sent this one. Happy Birthday, Martin!

Heath Ledger's Friend, A Real-life Gay Cowboy

2006-03-05T07:49:00.000-06:00

From Melbourne's newspaper, The Age: 'When Heath Ledger read the script for Brokeback Mountain, he knew he had a friend reflected in its pages.' Read all about it.

Happy Thursday Everybody

2006-03-02T09:02:00.000-06:00

American TV soap hunk Justin Hartley.

Smack My Bitch Up To The Smithsonian

2006-03-01T09:55:00.001-06:00

Ho's & Bitches and the Pimp's Who Sing About Them (and smack them up) Get High Class Exhibition in the Nation's Capitol.

From today's Washington Post, "...a Smithsonian initiative for Washington's National Museum of American History, 'Hip-Hop Won't Stop: The Beat, the Rhymes, the Life.' The goal is to gather artifacts donated by rappers, dancers, DJs and record executives and amass a definitive collection, one that captures hip-hop's 30-year journey from inner-city subculture to international phenomenon."

What's next a Smithsonian re-creation of Studio 54, with mirrors and razor blades?

You can't make up a story like this...Part 2

2006-02-27T09:21:00.000-06:00

After besmutting all of humanity, UK newspaper, and I use that term very loosely, News of the World today presents smutty veggies!

I doubt that any British children will ever eat their parsnips again. Except for a few of them and after you look you will know who I mean.

You can't make up a story like this...

2006-02-24T10:10:00.000-06:00

From London's Daily Telegraph
"A gay couple's stay in a country hotel took on, in the words of a judge, 'elements of Fawlty Towers' when first they were told to sleep in separate beds, then locked out overnight and, finally, threatened with a beer tap that they mistook for a handgun." The story continues.

Wake up and smell the homophobia

2006-02-22T13:27:00.000-06:00

A bitter rift perks up again between a South Carolina school and Starbucks. Is this grounds for hiring a new supplier?

The Greenville News, Greenville, South Carolina reports today that Starbucks' pro-gay stance gets their contract cancelled by publicity-seeking, right wing Bob Jones University. Read about it here. Replacing Starbucks will be the more politically correct Barney's Coffee. The management at Barney's must have promised they would never leave quotes from Armistead Maupin lying around the shop.

From The Greenville News: "BJU spokesman Jonathan Pait said the school's constituency began to object to Starbucks' stance on gays several months ago. 'More objections came lately,' he said. 'They were supportive of homosexual events and causes.'"

For more on this story and BJU's mysterious watchdog group, Concerned Women for America, go to morons.org and read today's editorial "Would You Like Some Hate in Your Coffee?"

Anti-gay Kansas church group to picket soldier's funeral in Oklahoma

2006-02-20T11:56:00.000-06:00

I figured this group was protesting at the funeral of a fallen gay soldier. They have shown up in the past at services for people who died of AIDS, but no. According to the Dallas Morning News, Monday February 20, 2006, "The church group would picket the funeral to promote its belief that the deaths of U.S. troops reflected God's wrath against America's tolerance of homosexuality." Click here to read the entire article.

Apparently this group's demonstrations often have no direct connection with gay people, events or associations. They blame America's acceptance of gays for a wide variety of things -- Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, the Columbia shuttle disaster, the 14 West Virginia coal miners who died in January and almost every other recent disaster in America.

The image is from the Associated Press.

You choose

2006-02-16T14:09:00.000-06:00

Which do you like best, the photo of a wet Will Mellor in black & white or the wet Will Mellor in color?

These photos are from an old copy of Attitude Magazine. The Attitude website says the magazine is "the leading gay men's lifestyle magazine in the UK." And that well may be true.

Will is a musician and British TV heartthrob, born in Cheshire, England in 1976. You can find more photos of him at Spunky's Shirtless Superstars.

New Bedford Bar Attack in the Headlines Again

2006-02-15T08:44:00.000-06:00

"Victim in gay bar attack alleges medics mistreated him." This strange story gets stranger...

Here's some background in case you missed the story. On February 1, an eighteen year old man attacks New Bedford, Massachusetts gay bar patrons with a gun and a hatchet. A few days later he's found by police in Arkansas, 1500 miles away. He shoots and kills his companion and a police officer then shoots himself. He dies soon after. He was a big fan of Insane Clown Posse.

Bang, bang!

2006-02-14T08:43:00.000-06:00

I recently discovered a political blog out of Washington, DC called Capitol Hill Blue. Today they have lots of posts and comments on Dick Cheney's shooting party and the official explanations.

From CHB's founder, Doug Thompson, "...the White House once again proved it cannot even report on an accident without attempting to avoid blame."

Should Old Models Become Role Models ?

2006-01-30T13:28:00.000-06:00

Here's an article I liked from GayToday, The Real Tragedy of Turning Thirty by Bob Minor. He says, "... the American cult of youth is nothing but consumer mythology."

Vacation notes

2006-01-27T11:17:00.000-06:00

Right now I am on vacation in South Carolina while Jack works here for a couple of weeks. Yes, we are retired so why is he working and how can I have a vacation? He has a gig and I am using the leisure time away from home to catch up on some writing projects, sending letters and emails to friends and just reading. See the To Do List 2006 for my progress on books. There's a link to it on the sidebar. On the right >>>

Uberlist or not?

2006-01-11T13:17:00.000-06:00

ORIGINS OF THE UBERLIST?

Some say that the Uberlist was devised by Nikol Lohr in the late 1990s as an alternative to New Year's resolutions. She shared it first with college roommate Kelly Sue DeConnick. The number of tasks to do was based on the year -- 97 tasks for 1997, 98 tasks for 1998, etc. Following that logic should this year's Uberlists have 6 items and not 106?

I choose to follow my own Modified Uberlist Convention and have as many as it takes. And next year I may have more or less as I wish.

Click here to see KEN & JACK'S LIST OF 40 OR 50 THINGS TO DO IN 2006.

To check our progress during the year there is a link to The List on the sidebar to the right.

New Year, New Blog

2006-01-09T13:57:00.000-06:00

Wow, it's January 9 already! It's been a busy new year so far. There's new furniture for the living room. The old furniture has moved to other rooms or out to the garage -- we are sore and creaky from pushing all that heavy stuff around.

And Gus the pool man came and replaced the leaking old booster pump for the pool cleaning robot. Yes, I said pool man and not pool boy. Gus is a short, wiry 70 year-old local of Greek ancestry. Now he has to come back and fix the new leaks he made. Could a cute younger pool person have done as good a job? Not likely.

Fredo Alvarez's excellent blog, Grapefeed, has his Uberlist for 2006. There's a link to Grapefeed down and on the right. He gave himself a 106 tasks. This may inspire me to post an official to do list for the coming year and next January document how much got done.

Our weather has been crazy. Two days ago the low temperature was 28F and today it will get up to 75F (24C). The metric conversion is for our UK readers.

Here's something that may help to start the New Year off right.

These are photos of U.K. soap star, Philip Olivier. He has Heat magazine's Torso of the Year. >>>

<<< And a calendar.

Just getting started

2006-01-05T11:54:00.000-06:00

It's time to tweak the template and adjust the colors. Come back soon.