Keep Chile In Your Thoughts

I know that not all my readers are spiritually inclined...or perhaps I should say that you are in your own unique way...but my heart is going out to Chile in a big way right now. When I heard the news about the 8.8 quake. I don't think I fully understood how bad things were. Haiti was an awfull quake that wreaked so much death and destruction...much emergency relief effort was sent there to help rebuild what could be saved. To have another such event is unimaginable and I hope that we pull together to help the people of Chile with as much resolve as we did those in Haiti.

Three minutes of that kind of shaking has to feel like forever. To see so much destruction has to feel like the end of the world. Thousands of people are living outside, in tents, with no water or other essentials. Looting is massive right now and police are finding themselves protecting stores that have already been picked clean. Rescue efforts are being slowed by the fact that the police have to fend off the looters.

The death toll is climbing to horrific numbers....to 300 people from the earthquake with more unknown casualties from the tsunami. Previously I had reported that the tsunami had claimed in excess of 500 lives...I can no longer find the source article and so, retract that claim. Nonetheless....The number of people who simply don't know the status of their loved ones is heartbreaking to think about.

The nation is shattered but not broken. I know she can recover but she has lost alot. If you are inclined...send you prayers, thoughts, positive energy...whatever you have in you. Chile needs all the help she can get right now. If anyone knows of any good links to relief organizations then please post them in the comments below ...or if I come accross it I will update this post later on. Goodnight everyone.

Bryan

The Only Constant Is Change

Having children changes your life. Some of those changes you count on. For instance, you start sleeping in p.j.'s because you might have to get up in the night and darting naked from you bedroom to the bathroom just isn't appropriate anymore. You change your language because you want to teach your kids that they can learn to express themselves in better ways than with curse words. You know that your not going to be able to just throw on a coat to go somewhere. Going anywhere means everyone goes to the bathroom first, takes five minutes to bargain about what toys that can take, and then another five to put on shoes and coats. You know there will be homework and bathtimes and plenty of deep breaths before jumping into a fracas with parental intervention. Thats the obvious stuff.

What We Leave Behind...The Story Of Brendan Burke

No parent should outlive their child. Thats a statement meant to convey the utter depth of sadness (as if any words could) when a parent losses their child, no matter whether that child is newborn, or nearly grown. Such is the case of Hockey legend Brian Burke, who lost his son Brendan to a car accident early this month. It is also true that great souls never truly leave us. They live on in the effect they have had on all of us.

No mans life can be fully told...nor can the depth of anothers grief be felt or understood. I do not intend to do either of those things here, but I do intend to show that Brendan Burke was an extraordinary man that took what life had given him and used it to make life better for others....That alone counts as extraordinary and deserves to be told.

Babystepping To Marriage Equality

The struggle for marriage equality has seen some major changes in the last year that has changed the way the game is played. High on developments early on in Maine, Massachusetts, and California I think that many believed that gay marriage was finally going to have its day. Then we took some big hits. First in California, then in again in Maine. Both of these scenarios had the shared attributes of being big wins and big losses...but what slippes under the radar sometimes are the little changes that may not come with as much fanfare but nonetheless move us closer to where we want to be.

During the dark days and brooding over Maines loss of Marriage equality many highlighted Washington states win over Referendum 71 that would have taken away civil partnership rights from gay and lesbian couples. It was a tiny light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Also...and a bit off topic...came big wins out of the country in places like Argentina and Mexico City. Those wins allowed us to look ahead and think that maybe marriage equality would come to us in a permanent form someday. Even if we arent the ones to lead the way.

Recently the U.S. has taken a couple more baby steps forward.

There She Is!

I hate to say it....I have fought it all morning...but I feel like crap. Jay and the kids have all been through this awfull cold/sorethroat/stuffed up mess and I held out for a long time. Now its my turn I guess. I have been on the blogs all morning and there are tons of things to wright about...but I have an irresistable urge to crawl in bed and curl up in a ball with the covers over my head. I blame the cold medicine for that part but at least my throat doesn't feel so bad when I take it. I really apologize. It seems so unfair after already being out for so long....Bah! but enough of my troubles.

 I can't leave you guys high and dry. so for todays post I will offer something fun and light that made me laugh this morning when I found it on The Bilerico Project posted by Austen Crowder. It is not my intention to steal crowders thunder or copy his post .....even though I'm gonna do just that. These videos were drop dead funny and putting them up here is about all I can manage today.

"There she is!" is about a bunny that falls in love with a cat in a world where that kind of love is forbidden...and signs are posted everywhere to let people know how forbidden it is. I think all of us can sympathize with the theme even if Japanese animation is not you cup of tea.

View the videos below the fold because blogger still hasn't fixed the issue of breaking videos above the fold   :(

Anyway...I hope you enjoy. The made me smile through the Dayquil haze :)

Blink And You'll Miss It News

Wow...you take a couple days off from blogging because you nearly cut a finger off and the rest of the world takes that as an excuse to go over the top nutty. In my bloggospherical scans today I turned up so much stuff that I simply could not pick one...so lucky you gets to see them all. Perhaps they make a bigger statement about the world when seen together. So without further ado....lets dig in to our Mucho Grande bucket o' crazy that developed over the last week...

"Right To Love" Song Competition

Aye Carumba this post is late! It has been a zoo of a day...filled with doctors appointments, school drama's, and yes....wild animals too...for real. Selena class actually had a live animal exhibit in class today!

Today I wanted to bring to your attention the song competition for the upcoming documentary "Right To Love: An American Family" featuring us, the Leffews. Voting as officially been open for a couple of days now and runs until March 1rst. The winner will have their song featured in the movie. Others might as well...but the winner is a shoe in. We are already up to five pages of submitted songs, thats unbelievable to me.

Now...being the host of the contest I can't influence by picking my favorites here, but I do get to vote....and so do you. If you are registered on GotSpot you actually get to vote twice! Once anonymously and then again if you log in with your GotSpot account! Creating the account is free.

To partipate please go to:  http://www.gotspot.com/

We really need you help to get the right song for the film! And I promise...regular blogging will resume tommorow. Hopefully without conversations with the teacher about lunchtime food fights or jumping lemurs :)

Gay Parenting...Dealing In Honesty

Hello dear readers,

Today is my first day back after giving myself the ginsu treatment with a rusty razor blade. I'm still very much in healing mode and trying to take it light...but ...when you fall off the bike, you have to get right back on, so here I am.

Jen brought this article about two dad to my attention yesterday and it was a fantastic story that echoes our experience as two dads raising kids in an opposite sex world. The article, written by Efrem Seeger and titled "Everyone Has A Mother", tells the account of how the author and his husband answered a frank question from one of his sons playmates about his mother...and more specifically...where is she? Because everyone has a mother right?

Out On Injury

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to explain why regular blogging has been suspended.

Yesterday I injured my hand with a razor blade and had to go to the emergency room....fun times that was../sarcasm.

Jay and I undertook a project to replace the plumbing in most of the house because it hadn't been done since the 50's. All the pipes where corroding and leaks were so everywhere. This job has gone from bad to worse. From trying to make new standardised materials fit in a home that was built when none of those standards exsisted....to slicing open my fingers while cutting tile board. I dam near cut off the end of one of them. And to top it off they couldn't gat my hand to numb with the anesthetic, even after repeated injections...so instead of stitches, the wound got glued shut.

Anyway...typing this has been an adventure in itself. I hope to resume normal blogging as soon as my digits arent so tender.

sorry everyone :(

Bryan

Jack Wrangler...Anatomy Of An Icon

Hello dear readers,

Its been awhile since I've done anything like a movie review so I think its due. Yesterday Jay and I were lamenting the lack of good t.v. shows to watch so we dipped into our netflix stash. Now Jay has a bit of a standards problem when it comes to movies...and especially movies with gay content. If it self labels as gay, he gets it. This has exposed us to some real awful movies...but also some real hidden treasures. It turns out that Jays movie addiction can occasionally be a good thing. It was under these circumstances that we discovered "Wrangler, Anatomy Of An Icon".

Squeeky wheels...Dan Choi Back On Active Duty

The old adage goes: "The squeeky wheel gets the grease". So it seems to be with Lt. Dan Choi, who has recently been recalled to active military service. This is an interesting development in the DADT repeal debate to say the least....but I find myself conflicted about it. After all, why now? Why only choi?

You may ask...Wasn't Lt. Choi already discharged? I had thought so. Apparently, he was served with the discharge papers but was given the option to fight it in court. The details of which have been all over the news in the past year. However, during this time, Lt. Choi has been  very vocal, and very visable in his advocacy for a DADT repeal. You could him speaking at any big gay event he had time to squeeze onto his schedule. This falls Equality march had Lt. Choi giving a rousing speach in uniform as well as placing a wreath at the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier in the name of all gay servicemen and women. He has been at an unimaginable number of pride events and more than a few fundraising dinners....all of this in addition to television interviews. You can't think of DADT now without thinking of Lt. Choi., such has been the magnitude of his visibility on the issue.

Standing Up For What you Believe In.

More often than I care to these days , while  musing about the status of the struggle for gay rights I ask myself..."Whats Next if it all goes south?" What happens when ballot initiatives ban our ability to marry the ones we love in all but a couple of states? What happens if the Federal Supreme Court rules that upholding those bans is constitutional? What happens if we never see an employment protection act or a "Don't Ask Don't Tell" repeal? What do we do if it all goes to hell in a handbasket and LGBT citizens become official second class citizens with our status as such codified by law?

If you listen to the rumblings of teabaggers (who's name always makes me snicker) then you would be lead to believe that the people of America are headed for eminent revolution. But how real is their saber rattling?...Who knows...but  That brings us the essence of this thread. How far is too far to be pushed? And what will we do if we get to that point? Is it when we are forced to come to the realization that lawmakers are never going to fight for us out of their own good will ...or that theoretical day when police are again regularly raiding gay bars, Handcuffing  us to telephone polls, and printing our pictures in the paper to shame us?

Well...GLBT students at John Carrol University, in Cleveland found their line in the sand. Angered over the schools intentional decision to omit LGBT people from its anti-discrimination policies they decided it was their time to take action:

Hypocracy

A crime has been commited....indoctrinating young minds about sexuality.

We have a suspect...PFOX (The Parents and Friends of Exgays and Gays)

We have the motive...Anti-LGBT bias and self hatred.

And we have the murder weapon....a smoking gun in the form of  pamplets supporting reparative therapy being distributed to high school kids.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell...Don't Stop Talking...

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell"....For a policy thats name implies silence, alot of words are currently being devoted to it. Senate hearings, t.v. spots, newspapers, talk radio, and the blogs have all been endlessly churning the issue till theres little doubt left where the line in the sand has been drawn...and who stands on either side. No matter which side you find yourself on, its not difficult to acknowledge that we find ourselves awash in a world of opinion about the subject.

Some of the most influential testimony on the subject has been from Chairman of the Joint Chief's of Staff, Mike Mullen......and oddly enough...He blogged about the subject.. Who knew Admirals where that in touch with modern trends?...or more likely, that they employed staffers who are. Here are his thoughts on the matter:

Going Where No Man Has Gone Before....Except "Teh Gays" That is

Captains Log:

Stardate: 29something-or-other

Space...the final frontier..these are the voyages of the starship Enterprise....it's five year mission...to explore, strange new worlds...to seek out, new life and new civilizations...to boldly go where no man has gone.....wait a minute!...

Kirk: Is that a trail of glitter on  the view screen? How did that get out in space?

Chekov: It appears to be the warp signature of an alien wessel captain.

Kirk: Uhura!...have we been hailed?

Uhura: I havent recieved anything captain...but all communication with starfleet has been cut off...all I can get is loud dance music.

Kirk: Spock...who redecorated the bridge? The lighting is incredible!...and when did we start serving mojito's?

Spock: I did not authorize any such improvements captain....It is highly illogical.

Kirk: ...and did our uniforms get tighter? I didn't think that was possible. My butt looks incredible but I can barely breath in this thing.....Spock!...Bones! whats going on?!

Mccoy: Dammit Jim!...I'm a doctor, not a fashion designer!

Spock: It is uncertain captain. It appears that we have been visted by a previously unknown alien culture.

Kirk: ....Mr. Sulu....What are you smirking at?....

Sulu:... Don't ask. Don't tell captain.

JoJo Did It!

It's a sad fact of life that discrimination in the workplace still exists in this world in very flagrant ways. It's still happens to women. It still happens because of skin color. And.. as our friend Joseph experienced....on the basis of sexuality. I think alot of us may wonder what we would do if we were put in a situation where our bosses are openly hostile to us. When you need to work...especially is this economy...the thought of having to battle your employer is a tragedy by itself. It's also an endictment on how far was have actually come in the struggle for basic protections for gays and lesbian,s who in many states don't have laws to shield them from discrimination on the basis of sexuality.

Religious Freedom vs. Civil Right...The Pope Strikes back!

Wow...I woke up this morning to find my email box screaming at me with an urgent GFV alert. Apparently the Catholic Church is at odds with UK lawmakers over a proposed equality bill and it has attracted the attention of Pope Benedict the XVI....as I understand it, it's generally not a good thing to pop up on the Popes radar...especially to the extent that he feels the need to make a personal appearance. The last time the Pope personally visited the UK was 1982....wow. You all must have done something really bad for the Pope to come personally after that long an absence...

Prop 8 Trial Reenactment...Day 1 Chapter 2

Don't Ask Don't Tell...Cause You Really Don't Want To Know..

DADT has been in the news alot lately after the Presidents "State of The Union" address in which he promised to work to repeal the ban on gays in the military "this year". On the surface, it seems as if their is some actual movement on this....We have a senate hearing scheduled for Febuary 9th and "implementation plans" are rumored to be in the works. All this sounds encouraging...until you start to look a little deeper, thats when you get to the..."I didnt want to know" part of "Don't Ask Dont Tell".

The Presidents comments  have conservatives and religious groups going all kinds of crazy right now. They havent figured out that the gay community isn't holding its breath for this as we have been let down by the Obama administration too many times, so they shouldn't either. But that hasn't occured to these people:

URGENT NEW PETITION: SELECT HERE TO SIGN AND DEFEND OUR TROOPS AGAINST OPEN HOMOSEXUAL AGGRESSION, and we will fax your personalized petition to all 100 Senators and 435 Congressmen, (saving you hours of labor!)



OBAMA ENDANGERS TROOPS LIVES by REPEALING "DON'T ASK-DON'T TELL"