QUEER MUSINGS...

Diabetics... beware Yoplait Light Smoothies!

2009-08-29T17:12:00.000-07:00

I was in the store today and came across something slightly alarming.

When I was diagnosed Type II Diabetic two and a half years ago, one of the first things I learned was that 90% of the “food” I had been eating for most of my life was now off-limits. I also learned very quickly (at the suggestion of my doctor) to look for the “Splenda” logo, as that was usually a sign that a product is safe for me. And I discovered how to read those “Nutrition Facts” on the back of the package that I had been ignoring all those years.

In any event, I had a craving for yogurt today. Generally, yogurt is high in sugar content, but there are some varieties made with Splenda instead. After several minutes scanning the yogurt section at my local supermarket, I was starting to feel frustrated that my search for a sugar-free variant would be fruitless… then I spotted a Yoplait Light Smoothie sporting the “Splenda” logo for which I was looking. And on the front of the bottle, in addition to the logo, Yoplait has added the words “sweetened with” to further entice the shopper’s interest.

Then I turned the bottle around to look at the “Nutrition Facts”. To my dismay, I discovered that this 8 oz bottle of oh so tempting peach-flavored yogurt smoothie possessed a whopping 9 grams of sugar! WHAT?! How could this be? I scanned the ingredients list. Second after “cultured pasteurized grade A nonfat milk”, FRUCTOSE is listed (of all things… during my early education as a newly diagnosed diabetic, I had also discovered that most ingredients whose name ends with “ose” is off limits as well… glucose, fructose, lactose, etc. etc.). The Splenda (sucralose, to be precise) came second from the bottom of the ingredient list.

It seems to me that it is at the very least slightly misleading to label a product "Sweetened with Splenda" on the front and then pack it full of fructose. One would like to think that even diabetics take the time to read the nutrition facts. Were it not for a nasty episode that I once had with sugar alcohols (another story), I am generally diligent about reading them. But I’ll also confess that the Splenda logo has been enough to satisfy me on more than one occasion.

La Piazza on Larimer

2009-06-07T20:11:00.000-07:00

ASK NOT... why the use of nonviolent civil disobedience to advocate for the right to serve is problematic...

2009-05-31T13:50:00.000-07:00

A new film about Don't Ask, Don't Tell airs this evening on PBS. ASK NOT is described as "a rare and compelling exploration of the U.S. military’s 'don’t ask, don’t tell' policy. This award-winning film exposes the tangled political battles that led to the discriminatory law, and profiles courageous young activists determined to abolish it."

I look forward to watching it (on Saturday at 11 pm on Ch. 6 in Colorado), because on the basis of the trailers, it has been my impression that it presents a VERY lopsided view on the merits of using NONVIOLENT civil disobedience to advocate for participation in an institution whose raison d'être is the use of violence to advance the aims of the state.

In 2007, I belatedly wrote a letter to the architects of "Right To Serve"... and since it is apparent that RTS is STILL not receiving balanced treatment in the media, I am reprinting it here. Since I wrote this letter, my views about the use of NVCD to advocate for equal protection in regards to military service have changed little.

I would add, however, that it is a problem in my view that there has been very little genuine dialogue about this question. Although I'm not sure there could be. As strongly as I feel about my views on the subject, I don't think it's right to tell another person that theirs are wrong...

The best I can do is promise (as I have in the past) to demonstrate the depth of my convictions on the issue and fast in protest should nonviolence ever be misused again to advocate for the right to serve...

My original letter...

***************

I’ve really struggled with both writing and deciding whether to send this e-mail. I have great respect for and am inspired by you both. Please know that I care deeply for this movement and the incredible work that you both do on behalf of LGBT people. But I have deep concerns about the “Right to Serve” campaign… concerns that I realize I can no longer refrain from sharing. I must apologize if this letter is poorly organized and seems to ramble a bit… I have found it difficult to organize my thoughts and feelings.

First, please let me share with you a bit of my personal history. When I was much younger, I served as a logistics officer in the Marine Corps. I was raised in a military family and the prospect of attending college on a NROTC scholarship coupled with the commitment to serve a four year term in the Marines seemed (when I was 18) like a reasonable exchange. I graduated from college in 1989 and served in the Marines from June 1989 to January 1992.

While at my first duty station on Okinawa, I participated in mobilizing our forces for the first Persian Gulf War. I still vividly remember my own moment of moral crisis during the late summer of 1991 (which coincided with the "bottom" of my drinking), contemplating both the nonexistence of God as well as whether I really could kill another human being for any reason. In that moment, I experienced my own Hell on Earth... and very quickly realized that I could not abandon my belief in God AND that, consistent with my faith in a God of Love, I could never kill another human being. [I must say that these memories have been profoundly triggered recently as I have learned about the growing numbers of U.S. servicemen who are engaging in courageous acts of civil resistance against our illegal war in Iraq by claiming conscientious objector status.]

When I remembered in 1991 that my personal faith demands that I can never take a life, my dilemma then was that, as an officer, I could not claim "conscientious objector" status. So I had to endure this moral crisis for several more months until I left the military. But in that moment of spiritual realization, I began a new relationship with my Creator as well as my journey to sobriety and sanity. In January of 1992, I was discharged from the Marines after disclosing my same-sex attractions to a counselor during outpatient treatment for my alcoholism (another long story).

I was fortunate to have been honorably discharged, but it was a very traumatic experience that took me several years to recover from because, for my entire early adult experience, my identity had been built around military service (I come from a military family). So I certainly identify with and share the sense of victimization that so many service-members experience.

As I contemplate the “Right to Serve” campaign, however, it seems to me that there are two important principles in apparent conflict. The first is that of equal opportunity... equal protection before the law... i.e. *Liberty*, *Justice*, etc. etc. In other words, this action engages in nonviolent resistance of "political oppression". I agree that the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is informed by the same belief-system about sexual and gender minorities as the policies of Focus on the Family. I understand that when Soulforce's mission statement was rewritten, actions such as this were foreshadowed.

However...

The idea of applying the principles of nonviolence to, in my view, advocate for the right to kill another human being (regardless of whether the war is deemed *just* or *unjust*--I am not one who buys into "just war" theory) is inconsistent with the most basic values of nonviolent philosophy, principally the credo to refrain from violence of the "fist, tongue, or heart"… our central value of “ahimsa”. It is true that Gandhi supported Indian involvement in the First World War but regarding WWII, "declared that India could not be party to a war ostensibly being fought for democratic freedom, while that freedom was denied in India herself."

Further, Dr. King was quite outspoken in his opposition to the Vietnam War. He recognized that, although the movement had succeeded in delegitimizing racism, it was necessary to delegitimize the use of violence itself as a means for achieving any end.

As a veteran who experienced his own moral crisis while contemplating any human’s right to take another’s life, I can't help but wonder if those participating in "Right to Serve" have really thought through or seriously reflected upon what they envision and are advocating with this action. I wonder if the participants are genuinely interested in participating in military service. It feels somehow disingenuous to protest this policy through civil disobedience by requesting to enlist when not REALLY being interested in serving. And if they are indeed sincerely interested in military service, whether they have contemplated the absolute immorality of taking a human life as a means to obtain a state-sanctioned policy objective.

In my view, there is little compatibility between the nonviolent value of “ahimsa” and military service… this seems to me an intractable contradiction. Please don’t conclude that I don’t believe LGBTs ought to be permitted to serve in the military openly…we deserve full equality. It does mean, however, that I believe there is an inherent contradiction involved with using NONVIOLENCE to achieve this particular end... especially when prominent nonviolent antiwar activists like Cindy Sheehan and others are engaged in ongoing civil disobedience and even hunger strikes in an effort to end the war... and when service-members in growing numbers are claiming conscientious objector status in order to protest the war in Iraq. If anything, the proper application of nonviolence, in my view, can only be to oppose war in general and this war (especially) in particular.

The juxtaposition of antiwar activists engaging in civil disobedience at recruiting stations to oppose the war with Soulforce activists engaging in civil disobedience at recruiting stations to advocate for the right to participate in this war seems strikingly ironic... even surreal.

Please know that I fully support Soulforce and your efforts. I only ask that you, along with the many young people engaging in this campaign, seriously contemplate whether they truly have the capacity to take another life. When all other rhetorical trappings are removed, the systematic and deliberate application of violence to achieve political ends is the core value of military service.

Thanks for taking the time to read this e-mail. I hope you receive it in a spirit of Love.

Day of Decision: We Must Act!

2009-04-03T15:27:00.001-07:00

Day of Decision: We Must Act!

Soulforce in Colorado announces plans for Nonviolent Civil Disobedience (NVCD) on D-Day! Contact us immediately at soulforcedenver@yahoo.com if you are willing to participate in any capacity but especially if you're willing to engage in NVCD! You must attend a training in nonviolent resistance to participate in civil disobedience.

In the near future, the California Supreme Court will announce its decision on whether to repeal Proposition 8. The ruling will likely be issued during normal business hours as early as this week, or as late as June 5th. When this time comes, it will be an historic moment for the LGBTIQ community. Win or lose, we have a long way to go before lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people achieve equal protection in all fifty states on matters governed by civil law.

LGBTIQ people and our allies anxiously await the California Supreme Court decision either affirming or rejecting the hateful anti-gay Proposition 8.

. . . But we don't intend to wait. Whatever the decision, we must act!

Please join the Denver “Day of Decision” action.

Regardless of whether we are celebrating a positive decision or if the court rules against us, we must make sure that our voices are heard. We will stand (or sit) in solidarity with millions across the nation to send a powerful message to the world that our communities will not idly sit by. We will make a profound statement on behalf of equal protection before the law for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in every state of the union.

Even if the court rules to uphold the 18,000 existing same sex marriages, but allows the rest of Prop 8 to stand, it will not be a victory. If discrimination remains in the California Constitution and ANYWHERE, we must take this struggle to the streets.

Organizing now will also send the message that we no longer accept discrimination against us. We must be ready. Here’s what you can do:

1) Sign up to be on the alert list. Send an email to soulforcedenver@yahoo.com and say “I will come to the demonstration for equality! Tell me when to meet on the Day of Decision.” Please also tell us if you intend to participate in nonviolent civil disobedience. You must attend a training in nonviolent resistance to participate in civil disobedience.

2) Find at least 5 other people who will come to the action with you... and who will also pledge to relay the alert message to at least 5 other people on the Day of Decision. Program their phone numbers into your cell phone. Prepare an email blast to send out immediately to help SPREAD THE WORD.

3) Make a sign to carry on the picket line. Keep it ready in your car at all times. Suggested slogans:

“The Only Decision = Full Equality”

“Separ8 Is Not Equal”

“Love, Not H8”

"Proud 2 Love"

"Stop the H8!"

or bring dream up your own nonviolent slogan...

4) On the Day of Decision, drop what you’re doing and get down to the Wellington Webb Building (at the intersection of Colfax and 15th in Denver) to DEMONSTRATE and PICKET.

D-Day Organizing Team:

Chris Hubble

cahubble08@gmail.com

303-800-5664

Cathi Woodward
cathi_w@yahoo.com

303-596-3760

Kate Burns
kateburns303@comcast.net

303-806-8444

NEW LGBT COALITION ISSUES CALL FOR NATIONWIDE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE -- WEBSITE SEEKS TO EDUCATE PUBLIC IN NONVIOLENT RESISTANCE

2009-03-31T23:48:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Carlos Perez de Alejo, Soulforce Communications Director

carlos@soulforce.org | 321-948-3423

Christopher Hubble, Soulforce

N4E@soulforce.org | 303-800-5664.

Sara Beth Brooks

sarabrooks@gmail.com | 619-368-9948

NATIONAL CALL FOR CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE ISSUED – NEW WEBSITE SEEKS TO EDUCATE PUBLIC

In response to the growing equality movement in California and across the country, community organizers are issuing a call for the use of nonviolent civil disobedience to further the cause. This call comes at a time when the equality movement is energized surrounding the upcoming California Supreme Court decision on the validity of Proposition 8.

The call to action, led by national groups Soulforce and Join the Impact, states “We are tired of agonizing political setbacks, token change, defending ourselves against charges of moral inferiority, and being told to 'wait' in the land we love while liberation occurs in other countries.”

To assist in educating the public on nonviolent civil disobedience, the website www.nonviolence4equality.org has been created and is launching today. On the website, community members can learn about the history and philosophy of nonviolent civil disobedience, sign the call to action, and connect with others locally who are interested in organizing nonviolent civil disobedience.

“Today, we affirm that nonviolent strategies such as marches, vigils, demonstrations, public protests, and civil disobedience seek to create what Dr. King called 'healthy tension',” the call to action reads. The call has been signed already by several community leaders, including Cleve Jones, who is the founder of the NAMES/AIDS Memorial Quilt, and was a historical consultant on the Academy Award winning film MILK.

The call specifically promotes nonviolent tactics. "As we resist injustice, we must avoid violence of the fist, tongue, and heart,” it reads. Community leaders are urged to sign the call to action at www.nonviolence4equality.org and to begin training in their own communities immediately. For questions pertaining to www.nonviolence4equality.org, please contact Christopher Hubble from Soulforce at N4E@soulforce.org or 303-800-5664.

###

Personality Profile...

2009-02-28T23:33:00.000-08:00

OK... So I'm always a little nervous about these things... this one wasn't too scary...

Agreeableness: Taking care of others or taking care of yourself.

Introduction to Agreeableness

This section of your profile describes your interactions with other people. The ways we communicate our feelings, beliefs and ideas to others are influenced by our cultural backgrounds, the way we were raised, and sometimes which side of the bed we got up on this morning. Some of us are very mindful of others making decisions we hope will be in their best interests, even if it means sometimes neglecting our own interests. Others of us believe each person should be responsible for themselves, taking deep pride in our own character and independence with a firm belief that others are best served by doing the same. The following describes how you engage with others; illustrating the dimension of your personality that determines your independence or your desire to reach out and touch others in meaningful ways.

You are best described as:

USUALLY TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF

Words that describe you:

Perceptive
Realistic
Demanding

Down-to-Earth
Hardnosed
Judgmental

Pragmatic
Skeptical

A General Description of How You Interact with Others

You are clearly a compassionate person; you believe that you should do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and you know that friends help their friends. But with you compassion is just one side of the coin; the other being a side that also expects others to hold up their end of the bargain. So you help others but it is with the expectation that others don't take advantage of you or try to put one over on you. In short, you expect others to treat you as you treat them.

And for those people who do ask for help when they should have taken responsibility for themselves? This is the time when your more hard-edged side comes out. You are skeptical of people when they expect others to bail them out of trouble; if they got themselves into the bind, they should work their way out of the trouble. If it's an emergency, or if it's a friend who has been there for you when you have had hard times, you are there in a quick minute. But you are a discerning person and to you there is a big difference between an emergency and a self-inflicted wound. You just look at the facts: how the situation developed, how serious the situation, and how they can or cannot get through things on their own. The history you have with the person and with similar situations will inform you whether this is or is not a time for you to get involved.

You also have some limits when it comes to being with people. Sure some people need to be with others all the time and seem to get recharged by helping out most anyone else. But that's not you. You know that you do best if you spend a fair amount of time on your own. Not that you are a loner, just that time spent by yourself is not wasted at all with you. You've come to understand that if you don't take good care of yourself, eventually you'll be not good to anyone, including yourself or others.

So your compassion is tempered by realism. Your sympathy for people in trouble is balanced by a critical evaluation of how they got themselves to the place they are. And you've learned to take good care of yourself, so you have something to give to your friends or others truly in need.

Negative Reactions Others May Have Toward You

Some people may see your practical style as lacking compassion. When your compassion is tempered, as it is at times by your discerning questions and careful consideration, it may seem to some like you have too much head and too little heart. And when you use time and energy to take care of yourself there will inevitably be some who see you as selfish and uncaring. But your approach is neither heady nor selfish. It is you. And unless your approach is causing you consistent problems in important relationships, there is really no reason to change. Your distinctive manner of having clear expectations for the relationships in which you will exert your energy is true to the core of you.

Positive Responses Others May Have Toward You

The truth is that most people respect someone who knows themselves and what they want. So even if some people don't get exactly what they want from you often they will leave with a deeper respect for you. Your frank and honest approach may help someone to help themselves when they didn't think this was possible, and they wind up better off: they're out of trouble, they did it on their own, and they have you to thank. And you were, again, true to yourself.

Openness: Curious or Contented

Introduction to Openness

How firmly committed are you to the ideas and beliefs that govern your thinking and guide your behavior? Some people trust their current ideas and beliefs the way a climber trusts the mountain; whichever way they move, whether the climb is on a familiar trail or over new ground, there is something solid beneath them, something they count on.

For others, new ideas, new solutions to old problems, new beliefs that replace tired convictions are like welcome wind in their sails. They can hardly wait to tack in a new direction and ride a new idea through uncharted waters. If it's new, it's interesting, and they're ready to explore.

The following paragraphs describe your responses to new ways of thinking and believing. How do you handle new information? Are you more like the climber on a familiar mountain or a sailor with a tiller in hand and a fresh breeze to propel you? How you integrate and process new information about the world and about others is a core aspect of your personality.

On the Openness Dimension you are:

SOMETIMES CURIOUS, SOMETIMES CONTENT

Words that describe you:

Accepting
Flexible
Educated

Self-aware
Middle-of-the-road
Proper

Distinctive
Indecisive
Adaptable

A General Description of How You Approach New Information and Experiences

Like someone who can sleep comfortably on either side of the bed, you are equally at home with ideas and beliefs that you have held for a long time and with new ways of thinking and believing that grow out of your intellectual curiosity.

Your sense of who you are and what your place is in the world around you rests on values and principles that are the solid ground you walk upon. You've tested them, they work for you, and much of the time you are content to trust them, that is, until some provocative new idea slips in from a conversation, book or some flight of your active imagination. "Hmmmm. What's this. Never thought of it before." And off you go, exploring.

Since you love to learn, you've always been teachable; you absorb new information, which means you are well-educated in things that matter to you. Sometimes your intellectual exploring will lead you back to where you started; the "next new thing" proves too shallow or impractical to you. But once in a while a new idea or belief will dislodge you from the ground you've stood upon; it is so compelling and persuasive that you step away from the tried-and-true and embrace this notion that is brand new to you.

Because you hold both solid beliefs and are open to new ideas, you are accepting of other people and other ways of thinking and believing. You are flexible enough to listen to something new and different, or something outside of your comfort zone; if it works for you, you'll take it in, and if not, you'll let it go. In this sense, you know who you are: you are neither closed-minded nor wildly open-minded, but walk somewhere near the middle of the intellectual road.

Negative Reactions Others May Have Toward Your Style of Thinking

Not everyone will be thrilled by your flexible, middle-of-the-road ways of thinking and believing. A few people are so taken with flights of imagination into whatever is new that they might find your commitment to long-standing values and beliefs too confining, if not too boring. Oh well; so be it. They'll just have to be in free-flight without you.

Others are content with the ideas that have served them and their culture well; they're not excited by the prospect of moving on. And some people are afraid of new ways of thinking because they are somewhat fragile; they have trouble maintaining their current worlds and don't want someone like you, for instance pushing out the edges of their intellectual cosmos. So don't be surprised if your solid values sometimes make people distrust you as an explorer, or if your flexible and open mind sometimes gets you criticized by people who walk away from the very same explorations that you find refreshing.

Positive Responses Others May Have Toward You

Many others will find you trustworthy and therefore an attractive companion on the intellectual journey. They will appreciate the combination in you of open-mindedness and a commitment to the tried-and-true. In an intellectual climate sometimes dominated by the extremes of either wild innovation or dug-in traditionalism, your moderate views and your proper acceptance of a wide range of possibilities will be a distinctive and refreshing quality. Because you join your curiosity to strong foundational ideas and beliefs and practical solutions to problems, people will trust your occasional explorations into new territories to be reliable, and not "something new for newness sake".

You are accepting of others, flexible in your own intellectual commitments, well-informed in areas that matter to you, and comfortably aware of who you are and where you stand. This combination will make you a desirable companion on the intellectual journey for many, many people.

Emotional Stability: Steady or Responsive

Introduction to Emotional Stability

We're born with the capacity to feel deeply, so it's as natural as breathing to experience a range of emotions. Fear and joy and sadness, anger and shame and disgust lie somewhere within each of us. Ah, but to what extent do we control these emotions, and to what extent do they control us? How you answer this question of how your emotions play out in your life has a great deal to do with your levels of personal satisfaction and with the character of your relationships with others. Do you manage your emotions well, keeping them in check with your thinking and your willpower, or are you someone who lets emotions have their way, giving in to the wild dance of feelings? The following paragraphs describe your emotional range in terms of being a person who is emotionally steady or someone who is responsive to whatever feelings swell up in you.

On Emotional Stability you are:

SOMETIMES STEADY, SOMETIMES RESPONSIVE

Words that describe you:

Adaptable
Engaged
Able to Cope

Passionate
Perceptive
Flexible

Receptive
Aware
Avid

A General Description of Your Reactivity

In some ways, you've got the best of emotional worlds. When emotions rise up from inside you or are brought forth from a conversation by a friend, you know how to engage them. You deal with sadness, fear, joy, anger - whatever comes up - in ways that are perceptive and flexible. You can adapt to whatever level of emotion is appropriate to the moment. At other times, you are able to cope with your emotions in a more reserved manner. Because you are aware of what does and does not make emotional sense in a particular situation, you will decide when it is an appropriate time to express your emotions and when it would be best to keep them to yourself.

All of this gives you a rich emotional life. You are free to express your passions about certain subjects with appropriate people. But you are also emotionally adaptable; if the conversation needs to be more cerebral, you'll keep it "in your head" and talk calmly through whatever issue is on the table. This emotional awareness serves you well. You seldom get in over your head, either by opening up to the wrong person or by triggering in someone else's emotions they may not be able to deal with.

Negative Reactions Others May Have Toward You

When it comes to dealing with emotions we all meet some people with whom we don't match well. You bring a balanced approach to your emotional life. As such, those who are at the extremes are most likely to have a negative reaction to you. Those who live in their emotions may feel you tend to "live in your head" while those who go through life as an emotional rock may feel that you are a bit too "touchy feely" for their approach.

And of course it is always possible that because you do balance your emotional approach to life you may misread others - we all do at times. So there have undoubtedly been those times when you have misread cues and stayed in your head with someone who hoped for a more open emotional approach or you may have opened up emotionally with someone who keeps their emotions bottled up. But these things happen and since you do have a good balance of being in touch with your emotions and not being overly impacted by emotional swings, you undoubtedly are able to adapt.

Another potential problem is that as people get to know you well, they will discover that you have a great balance between emotional expression and emotional control. If they don't have this balance they may wind up envying you. They can't express feelings as well as you, or they are too often out of emotional control and resent you for your ability to cope so well with the very emotions that may trip them up.

Positive Responses Others May Have Toward You

Many people will be grateful to find a friend like you who can stay in control when emotions verge on chaos, but who can also go into the tangle of emotions when it is safe and appropriate to do so. Because of your ability to engage them at whatever level they are comfortable, to adapt to whatever changes in emotion emerge in the conversation, and to cope so well with all of it - well, they'll be very glad they found a person like you. You may, in fact, wind up as something of an emotional mentor. Your awareness of the emotional temperature of a situation, your ability to adapt to either heat or cold, and your ability to cope with whatever winds up happening in the conversation could be models for them to follow as they come to terms with their own emotional worlds.

Conscientiousness: Focused or Flexible

Introduction to Conscientiousness

It's a work day, breakfast is over, and you're dressed and ready. So how will you approach the tasks at hand? Some people work best with a clear schedule, a set of priorities and a due date for every step in the process. Others are, shall we say, less regimented. They approach a task with as much imagination as organization, and with a willingness to bend and modify in order to exercise some urge of creativity.

How about you? Do you walk in a straight line toward a clear goal, or are you more likely to dance your way down whatever path will get you wherever it is you're headed? The following paragraphs describe ways in which you approach the tasks life brings to you, and to what extent you are focused or flexible in how you choose to proceed.

Your approach toward your obligations is:

FOCUSED AND FLEXIBLE

Words that describe you:

Casual
Informal
Compliant

Reliable
Organized
Solid

Dependable
Uncommitted
Genuine

A General Description of How You Interact with Others

When you take on a task at work or at home, you are reliable; you get the job done. In an organized way, you define the goal, lay out a plan, figure how long the task will take, and get to work "solid and dependable you".

But and this is important you're not a slave to the plan. You're committed to it, but not chained to it; the connection is more casual and informal. You know that sometimes "the best laid plans" fall off the tracks; when this happens, you clean up the train wreck and start over, undeterred.

Though not happening often, when plans change, you're okay with it. In fact, sometimes you change the plan. It's too nice of a Saturday to finish organizing the garage. Let's go for a bike ride instead. True, the next rainy Saturday will likely find you back in the garage, but for now the work can wait.

What an interesting combination of qualities in you're organized, but casual; solid, but compliant; and dependable, but informal. At home and at work, people know they can rely on you. You take great satisfaction in knowing that people think of you as disciplined and responsible, but you also know that you have something of a free spirit in you, and when this spirit moves you, off you go, following the impulse of the moment. You are rightly proud of your work ethic, but you also enjoy your willingness to lay the tools down, crank up the music and play like a child.

Negative Reactions Others May Have Toward You

Some people live like Marines: duty-bound, disciplined and driven. To these people you might seem uncommitted; where they would never leave work for play or change plans in the middle of their life's forced march, you let the circumstance sway you and move in a different direction, and they don't understand.

Others live like kites on a string, attached by thin threads to the solid ground of responsibility and are blown about by every gust of impulse or imagination. To these people you might seem too cowardly, like you'll flirt with your impulses but never give in fully, play on a Saturday but never blow of the entire work-week to "follow your bliss".

While these Marines and kite-flyers might look down on you for your combination of focus and flexibility, others might be envious. They can't free themselves from a sense that they're not doing enough, or from the equally frustrating feeling that they're not free enough.

And here you are with your accomplishments and your pleasures, getting the job done but also getting your hair blown back as you run with the wind. As far as these people are concerned, you're lucky you've got the best of both of the worlds in which they feel they fail.

Positive Responses Others May Have Toward You

What a great life you have, and a great attitude to boot. You know when to buckle down and push ahead to get the job done, and you do it well. You know when to lay the tools of your trade aside, grab your kite and head for the meadow where you can run with the wind. Many people will see and admire in you this lovely combination of a person who can focus, but who is flexible enough to know when to let the spirit move you in some new and livelier direction.

It's a life they aspire to, and they delight in seeing it played out in your life. They may ask your advice and turn you into a mentor of the full and balanced experience. They will want to know how you do it, what the costs are, and if you get frightened that you're not working hard enough or playing often enough. They may make you think about your own life more than you have, so you can share it with those who want to emulate this balance between flexibility and focus. They may be correct lucky you!

Extraversion: Outgoing or Reserved

Introduction to Extraversion

Some days you want to hang out by yourself, not answer the phone, and make the world go away. The next day you e-mail everyone, schedule lunch with a friend, and try to find an evening gathering to take part in. It may be the phases of the moon, or something you ate; some days are just like that. In actuality, your desire to be with others or to be alone reflects something deep in your personality. Some of us are more comfortable by ourselves or with one or two friends, while others of us crave the crowd and can't stand it when the house is empty or the phone doesn't ring. The following paragraphs describe your fundamental desires about being with other people; whether you are generally an outgoing person or more reserved, if you seek adventures with others, if you tend toward assertiveness or kindness.

When it comes to Extraversion you are:

SOMETIMES OUTGOING, SOMETIMES RESERVED

Words that describe you:

Moderate
Amiable
Laid-back

Temperate
Relaxed
Poised

Civil
Uncommitted
Pleasant

A General Description of How You Interact with Others

Lucky you! You enjoy your own company as much as you enjoy the company of others. You are a great conversationalist and thrive in the wonderful kinds of connections you know how to have with your family and friends. You also equally enjoy your own company, whether sitting in a favorite chair with your book and soft music playing or meandering in the woods by yourself. You like coming home to your family or your roommate; but if no one is home, you find quiet, solitary time to be just as pleasurable. What a great combination to enjoy being outgoing and to be just as comfortable being reserved. Lucky you!!

Because you are so amiable and relaxed, you are comfortable with almost any group of family or friends. Whether they are pumped up and lively or calm and subdued, you remain at ease. If someone needs to take over the conversation, you are comfortable taking the lead; you can also lay back and let someone else be in charge. If the conversation gets rowdy, your moderate demeanor will often draw it down to a more temperate level. If someone in the group loses their cool, you will most likely maintain your poise, and if they get nasty you know how to keep a civil tongue.

You may find yourself out of balance on occasion. If you're alone too much, you may need to get in touch with someone. If you spend too much time with your family and friends, you may need to sneak off for a day by yourself, to putter and read and clear your head of the noise of too much conversation. When you're at your best, you live with a rhythm of time with others, time alone, time with others, time alone It's a satisfying, comfortable balance. Lucky you!

Negative Reactions Others May Have Toward You

You may occasionally run into problems with other people. Since not everyone is as balanced as you are, close friends and family may get frustrated with you, or you with them. They may be more sociable and outgoing, and find you too laid-back and relaxed. They want conversations to be lively and passionate while you keep things amiable and civil. Or others may be more quiet and reserved than you, and when you're in one of your more animated moments they may wish you would back off. You may be ready to put more energy into a conversation than they are comfortable with.

And your balance may be a problem. Other people may be consistently more sociable or more reserved than you, and find you to hard to read, some may even say you ride the fence. Others may find themselves envious of your ability to be outgoing at times, and at other times comfortably reserved. If you pay attention to pick up these cues you will be in a better position to know how you want to interact with such folks.

Positive Responses Others May Have Toward You

Most people will truly appreciate your flexibility in social situations. They will like you for your amiable warmth and your willingness to engage, and for your ability to sit back and let others take the lead or the spotlight. They will appreciate ways in which you temper what could become intemperate moments; by remaining poised and relaxed when others; temperatures are rising, you keep things civil and sane.

You are as good at listening and following as you are at talking and leading, and people will often appreciate your ability to adapt to the situation. Because you are sometimes outgoing and sometimes reserved, you will make most people comfortable in your presence, and they will truly enjoy your company.

Nuts!!!!

2009-01-05T22:01:00.000-08:00

wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

An imperfect summary...

2008-11-09T14:16:00.000-08:00

Guyer's Kant on Freedom, Law, and Happiness:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgbtb4hz_182ddtrj8gx

Satyagraha in Gandhi's Terms

2008-10-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

A new candidate... flippin' hilarious!!!

2008-08-31T10:59:00.000-07:00

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

Where the money's at...

2008-08-23T20:01:00.000-07:00

Op-Ed in the Denver Post this morning...

2008-08-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

Nonviolence ideals clash with self-defense

By Christopher Hubble

POSTED: 08/17/2008 12:30:00 AM MDT

How can dissent groups like Recreate 68 at once espouse the apparently contrary theories of nonviolence and protest?

The world is watching as it and other demonstrators descend upon Denver for the Democratic National Convention. Recreate 68, a local umbrella group, has served as a catalyst of sorts, stimulating conversation about the right of self-defense and the use of political violence.

Recreate 68's "Statement of Non-Violence and Principles" represents a somewhat awkward synthesis of several distinct philosophical and ideological systems that do not always fit together very neatly. Advocates of nonviolence, for example, use a broad spectrum of protest and "non-cooperation" techniques characterized primarily by the abstention from violence of the "fist, tongue, or heart" to achieve a more just society — or "beloved community," to invoke Dr. Martin Luther King's revered ideal.

The most well-known nonviolent movements of the 20th century were those led by Mohandas K. Gandhi in South Africa and India and by the Rev. King in the American South. Gandhi chose the term Satyagraha ("truth firmness" or "soul force") to describe his philosophy, but he grounded his work in the ancient concept of ahimsa (literally, nonviolence).

The anarchist, socialist and communist philosophies which also inform Recreate 68's world view comprise an entirely different set of ideologies rooted in a rather scathing critique of modern political economy. They too offer a vision of political, economic and social justice. Recreate 68, therefore, begins its statement of principles by attempting to fuse this critique with an affirmation of nonviolent ethics: "We are committed to resisting and overturning the system of violence inflicted daily on the people of this country and the world, and against the natural environment, by political and corporate power in the pursuit of profit. We are resolved that our group will not instigate violence against human beings as a means to end this system of violence and injustice."

While they may share some values, nonviolent actors, anarchists, socialists and communists have not always agreed upon methods. Both Leo Tolstoy and Gandhi, for example, were political anarchists who also advocated a more equitable redistribution of society's resources. Neither, however, supported violence to achieve their goals. Shortly after the abortive 1905 Russian national uprising (which was brutally put down by Tsar Nicholas II), Tolstoy wrote that he "grieved . . . for those who, imagining that they are making [the revolution], are destroying it. . . . The violence of the old regime will only be destroyed by non-participation in violence, and not at all by the new and foolish acts of violence which are now being committed."

Confusion regarding the right to self-defense and how it resonates with nonviolent theory further complicates these issues. The right of self-defense originates in European theories of human rights. In "The Rights of War and Peace," historian Richard Tuck writes about several European political philosophers: "For Grotius, Hobbes, and their followers, self-preservation was a paramount principle, and the basis for whatever universal morality there was — for, they believed, no society could be found or imagined in which people were denied the moral right to preserve themselves."

But during the 19th century, both European pacifists and American "nonresistants" frequently differed over this issue. Some, including Tolstoy and American abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, adopted an absolutist stance opposing all violence. Insisting that war is fundamentally immoral, they rejected all forms of cooperation with or participation in the activities of what they perceived to be a state rooted in violent enterprise. Others chose a more pragmatic position, distinguishing between the principle of abstention from violence and policies necessitated by realpolitik.

So Recreate 68 can, in fact, simultaneously affirm nonviolent philosophy and methodology while insisting upon "the right of the people to self-defense and community defense" on the basis of historical precedent. The problem with this apparent juxtaposition lies in grafting together so many distinct ideologies in a meaningful, clear and understandable expression. And although Recreate 68's commitment to nonviolence is clear, its statement might have included a stronger rejection of property destruction.

Ever the consummate pragmatist, Gandhi clarified the apparent disconnect between nonviolence and self-defense in 1922. He acknowledged the private right to self-defense of all pledge-signing "non-cooperators" while simultaneously forbidding the use of political violence by direct-action participants. "The non-cooperator's pledge does not exclude the right of private self-defense," Gandhi said. "Non-cooperators are under prohibition as to political violence. Those, therefore, with whom non-cooperation is not their final creed are certainly free to defend themselves or their dependents and wards against their assailants. But they may not defend themselves against the police acting in discharge of their duties, whether assumed or authorized."

One can only hope that participants and observers at the DNC remember the spirit of Gandhi and King, and embody the transformative nonviolence they hope to create in the world.

Christopher Hubble is the lead organizer for Soulforce in Colorado and a graduate student in the History Department at the University of Colorado Denver.

Holy Ghost Church

2008-08-09T17:19:00.001-07:00

Larger version here:

http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t28/cahubble05/Holy%20Ghost%20Church_080908/?action=view&current=04b382f3.pbw

Aug 16 Readings in Nonviolence

2008-08-04T05:16:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, July 19 from 1-3 pm Soulforce in Colorado launched a discussion group exploring the wide-ranging oeuvre of nonviolent theory entitled "Readings in Nonviolence". We met at The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Colorado (1050 Broadway in Denver).

Last month we discussed several quotes from Thoreau, Gandhi, King and Chomsky:

FOUR QUOTES: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgbtb4hz_64f7mbchcp

DIALOGUE & DEBATE: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgbtb4hz_65dttzq9cx

This month, on Saturday August 16 from 1-3 pm, we will continue our discussion of Chomsky. The extended reading may be found here:

Chomsky Pt. 1 –

http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/sHCWSO3GlZR_x5jF3bfNGiOTpBEVPIbc6SjuQt1DW-e7UiRdw_3VC63J1UX84x-hjCgK0YezRSyHT07oPz9mHA/Chomsky_On%20the%20Limits%20of%20Civil%20Disobedience_Pt%201.pdf

Chomsky Pt. 2 –

http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/sHCWSIhEURR_x5jFPot_qIat8G8KsHXO4bWmArDLMvFBTTM6Yv15Hmk_x0JS4KvmmyH8CHVhRJsA3toZZfJ5uw/Chomsky_On%20the%20Limits%20of%20Civil%20Disobedience_Pt%202.pdf

If we have time, we will move from Chomsky to Thoreau’s essay on Civil Disobedience:

http://spot.colorado.edu/~chernus/NonviolenceBook/Thoreau.htm

http://www.panarchy.org/thoreau/disobedience.1848.html

I hope you’ll join us on Saturday August 16 from 1-3 pm at The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Colorado (1050 Broadway in Denver).

Review: Freedom from Violence: Sectarian Nonresistance from the Middle Ages to the Great War

2008-07-28T20:22:00.000-07:00

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgbtb4hz_95ctbrhpf2

Review: Ethics, Nationalism, and Just War: Medieval and Contemporary Perspectives

2008-07-28T20:21:00.001-07:00

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgbtb4hz_96fbc2wjdm

The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Brief Documentary History

2008-07-28T20:19:00.000-07:00

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgbtb4hz_102fmq7t7gh

Review: Constructing Human Rights in the Age of Globalization

2008-07-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgbtb4hz_97vdbh49fk

Review: The Rights of War and Peace

2008-07-28T19:54:00.000-07:00

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgbtb4hz_94fvhn36ck

Review: "The History of Human Rights From Ancient Times to the Globalization Era"

2008-07-16T12:04:00.000-07:00

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgbtb4hz_74cfrkx5j4

Review: "Patriotic Pacifism" & "Freedom from War"

2008-07-16T12:03:00.001-07:00

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgbtb4hz_73dvhnm9gm

New IN THE HEIGHTS video!!!

2008-06-30T19:49:00.000-07:00

Readings in Nonviolence... “You are invited to Join us on the Journey...”

2008-06-11T13:36:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, July 19 from 1-3 pm Soulforce in Colorado will launch a discussion group exploring the wide-ranging oeuvre of nonviolent theory entitled “Readings in Nonviolence”. We will meet at The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Colorado (1050 Broadway in Denver). I hope you'll make a commitment to join us.

Christopher Hubble

********************

“You are invited to Join us on the Journey...”*

Nearly a decade ago those words began my discovery of Satyagraha, Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolent “soul force”. In February, 1999, Soulforce, Inc. co-founder Rev. Dr. Mel White had published an audacious column: “Bashing Jerry Falwell Hurts Our Cause”. Falwell had recently “outed” Tinky Winky, a charge so preposterous and provocative that many in the GLBT community practically overnight had made Tinky Winky a new icon… a Queer symbol of resistance in our struggle for equality. Undeterred by the scathing emails he received for “defending” Falwell, Mel shortly launched his “17 Step Journey into Soulforce”, an email seminar introducing the principles of nonviolence to several thousand readers—200 eventually visited Falwell and his congregation later that fall. The historic “Journey to Lynchburg” debuted Soulforce, which then described itself as a “movement committed to ending spiritual violence perpetuated by religious policies and teachings against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.”

In Fort Worth recently, Soulforce celebrated its 10th anniversary reunion during the same weekend of its April direct action at the 2008 Conference of the United Methodist Church. Scores joined Mel, defrocked Methodist pastor Jimmy Creech, along with civil rights legends Rev. Gil Caldwell and Phil Lawson to once again demand that the United Methodist Church fully honor its slogan, “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors”. Standing in the vigil line that weekend brought back memories of my sympathetic fast ten years ago when Gil, Mel, Jimmy, Arun Gandhi and over two hundred others were arrested in Cleveland at a similar conference.

It also reminded me of several dozen Coloradoans who were arrested with Mel here in Denver on July 4, 2000, protesting at an Episcopal Church convention. How many of us could have imagined that on June 7, 2003, V. Gene Robinson would be elected Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire?

Coloradoans have been great friends to Soulforce. In May, 2005, nearly 700 picnicked, rallied and marched around Dr. James Dobson’s Colorado Springs headquarters to confront his anti-GLBT rhetoric. In July, 2006, several hundred took part in the 1,000 Watt Walk, Vigil and Concert. Some marched over 65 miles from Denver to Colorado Springs to help “connect the dots” between Dobson’s untruths and the laws which deprive GLBT Coloradoans of their inalienable rights. On the event’s final evening, the rest joined Judy Shepard and Chad Allen as we delivered a family photo album to Focus on the Family.

Soulforce’s vision—“freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from religious and political oppression through the practice of relentless nonviolent resistance”—has evolved over the years: from vigils outside religious conventions to the youth and young adult led Equality Ride. But how many in Denver could have foreseen the September 24 arrest of local couple Kate Burns and Sheila Schroeder after they staged a sit-in for marriage equality at Denver’s clerk and recorder office? About the recent trial proceedings, a local journalist reported that many prospective jurors bluntly told the court they simply couldn’t remain impartial—because they supported what Kate and Sheila had done.

Foremost amongst the priorities of “Soulforce in Colorado” are our community-building efforts—especially to equip local organizers with an in-depth understanding of nonviolent philosophy. On Saturday, July 19 from 1-3 pm we will launch a discussion group exploring the wide-ranging oeuvre of nonviolent theory entitled “Readings in Nonviolence”. We will meet at The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Colorado (1050 Broadway in Denver).

“You are invited to Join us on the Journey...”

To learn more about “Soulforce in Colorado”, contact Christopher Hubble at cahubble08@gmail.com or visit www.soulforce.org.

* As published in the June 11 issue of Out Front Colorado

********************

YouTube Satire: "Why I'm Voting Republican" -- hahaha

2008-06-11T13:10:00.000-07:00

1-3 pm, Sunday, June 1st -- SOULFORCE, SURVIVORS AND STUDENTS

2008-05-28T17:03:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

We hope you'll join us for a panel discussion featuring marriage equality activists Kate Burns and Sheila Schroeder, Ex-Gay Survivors Christine Bakke and Daniel Gonzales, and local student organizers Carly Schlotterer and Julia Johns at MCC of the Rockies (10th & Clarkson in Denver) from 1-3 pm this Sunday. See you then!

**********

SOULFORCE, SURVIVORS AND STUDENTS*

What is the difference between being "OUT" and being "SOULFORCE OUT"? How can we help each other turn our personal expressions of integrity and authenticity living as openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people into a positive force social transformation? Here are six Coloradoans who epitomize the definition of "SOULFORCE OUT".

Kate Burns and Sheila Schroeder entered Denver's Clerk & Recorder office last September 24, with their pastor, Rev. Mike Morran of First Unitarian Church to request a marriage license. After being denied, Burns and Schroeder staged a sit-in with numerous supporters (many from Soulforce!) to protest the unjust laws that exclude same-gender couples from civil marriage. The couple was arrested for trespassing when the office closed at 5:00 p.m. On May 6th, attorneys Mari Newman and Qusair Mohamedbhai argued a "Choice of Evils" defense on behalf of Kate and Sheila. Newman said, "I applaud Kate and Sheila for taking a stand against government oppression and marginalization of lesbians and gays, and am proud to represent them in this fight for equality."

Daniel Gonzales (recently relocated from California) and Christine Bakke (founder of www.BeyondExGay.com) are two other Denverites who have played significant roles recently in Soulforce's advocacy of social justice and civil rights for LGBT people. "The religious right opposes marriage equality by arguing that homosexuality is changeable through `ex-gay' ministries and programs," says Daniel. "In response to this, the ex-gay survivors' movement formed just over a year ago. Ex-gay survivors have found ex-gay programs ineffective and harmful in many cases." During Soulforce's 2007 "Survivors' Initiative", Daniel and Christine held a press conference outside New Life Church in Colorado Springs to tell all who would listen about the "psychological and spiritual harm" experienced in so-called "ex-gay" programs. They personify the activism of ex-gay survivors which confronts religious right leaders with the harm these programs cause. By sharing their stories, survivors of "ex-gay" experiences have become a powerful force for social justice.

Julia Johns was one of four Colorado State University students who, in the month following the November 2006 elections, organized a youth and student unity and equality rally on the west steps of the state capitol building. She has since been working tirelessly to help our community reaffirm its commitment to achieve full equality. Julia recently helped "Colorado Youth for Unity and Equality" stage yet another rally on May 24 to activate the LGBT youth community. That rally featured youth speakers as well as several Denver slam poet champions. Young adults are vital to the movement for LGBT equality and CYUE hopes to help them change the world.

The University of Denver community this year has experienced a spate of suicides by LGBTIQ students. Carly Schlotterer, a student activist of boundless energy who recently learned about Soulforce at a "Creating Change" conference, has helped arrange a campus film viewing of For the Bible Tells Me So, the award-winning documentary. She has also been personally engaged in creating a dialogue on the D.U. campus between LGBTIQ students and other students who identify primarily with a faith-based perspective.

So what exactly is the difference between being "OUT" and being "SOULFORCE OUT"? We hope you'll help answer this question when you join Kate, Sheila, Christine, Daniel, Julia and Carly for a panel discussion and town hall meeting at MCC of the Rockies (10th and Clarkson in Capitol Hill, Denver) on June 1st from 1-3 pm.

The writing of this article was a collective effort of Christopher Hubble, Kate Burns, Sheila Schroeder, Daniel Gonzales, Christine Bakke, Julia Johns and Carly Schlotterer. To learn more about Soulforce, Inc., visit www.soulforce.org.

* As published in Out Front Colorado, 05/27/08.

I think it's time to move to Germany...

2008-05-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

http://www.topnews.in/berlin-unveils-controversial-gay-holocaust-monument-243925

Berlin unveils controversial gay holocaust monument

Berlin - Following years of controversy, German dignitaries on Tuesday will dedicate a memorial to the tens of thousands of gays and lesbians who were persecuted and killed in Nazi Germany.

This month marks the 75th anniversary of the series of raids and public book burnings in May 1933 with which the regime of Adolf Hitler began its crusade against homosexuality.

Photos of Nazi stormtroopers hurling books onto bonfires stem largely from the book-burning rally which occurred outside the offices of gay-rights pioneer Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute for Sexual Science, which was ransacked in May 1933.

But authorities in Germany are going to great lengths to ensure that Tuesday's monument dedication ceremonies remain low-key so as to avert neo-Nazi violence.

Only a hand-picked number of dignitaries, led by Berlin's openly gay Mayor Klaus Wowereit, will be on hand for the ceremonies at Berlin's Tiergarten park, half a block from Brandenburg Gate.

That location - directly across the street from the Jewish Holocaust Memorial - has also been a matter of controversy over the years.

The construction of both monuments was delayed in part by a debate over whether homosexual concentration camp inmates should be included at the Holocaust Memorial.

In the end, it was decided to give gays their own memorial directly across the street.

The monument itself, designed by Danish-Norwegian artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, is a simple grey rectangular stone some four metres tall. In a bid to deter vandalism, the monument is devoid of any sort of ornamentation.

"This is a happy/sad compromise solution," says Albert Eckert, head of the gay holocaust memorial committee. "We are happy because this monument is ready in time for the 75th anniversary of the raids on Magnus Hirschfeld's institute which signalled the beginning of the persecution of gays under Nazism.

"But we are sad because it has taken this long to come this far. Gays imprisoned by the Nazis were still in prison well into the 1950s and '60s because of anti-gay laws which were not repealed until 1969," Eckert says.
"There are still no anti-discrimination laws in Germany, despite the fact that we have a watered-down federal law that allows same-sex couples to register their partnerships, albeit without much in the way of benefits," he adds.

"And neo-Nazi violence is still a very real threat to this day. But at last we have a monument to those who suffered and died under the Nazis," Eckert notes.

"We are also very happy that the dedication nearly coincides with Magnus Hirschfeld's birthday and day of death, since he was born May 14 - and died a broken and bitter man in exile in the south of France on his birthday in 1935," Eckert says.

A Jewish homosexual, Hirschfeld was a medical doctor who dedicated his life to the scientific study of homosexuality and to lobbying the German government to repeal laws outlawing all same-sex behaviour even amongst consenting adults in private.

Hirschfeld spent the majority of his career writing and lecturing around the world on the nature of homosexuality and other "intermediate" sexual types, including cross dressers.

The word "transsexual" was coined by Hirschfeld to describe the phenomenon that he argued was a natural extension of human sexuality.

For his work, the Nazis targeted Hirschfeld as an example of decadent Bolshevistic/Jewish influence infecting the purity of the German people, luring the Aryan race into impure and destructive perversity.

His institute was ransacked and his books were burned in rallies on May 10, 1933.

In another ironic twist, homosexual members of Ernst Roehm's SA Stormtroopers hurled these books to the flames in 1933 - and would themselves face persecution and death when Hitler turned against Roehm only a scant year later during the "Night of Long Knives" in June 1934 when Hitler decided that blatantly homosexual Roehm had become a liability.

"Within a few months of those book burnings 75 years ago this month," says Eckert, "gay men were being rounded up and sent to mental hospitals or concentration camps. Many agreed to 'voluntary' castration after being told that might result in leniency."

But there was no leniency for them.

"We have no idea how many thousands died in concentration camps because many were also Jewish or were Communists. We know that many were left in prison after the war when post-war courts upheld the Nazi jail sentences against them," Eckert says.

"Anyone who was gay was automatically a criminal. This monument is for all of them."

The Real John McCain

2008-05-18T17:05:00.000-07:00

Insane Driver... Too Hilarious...

2008-05-11T15:06:00.000-07:00

Insane Driver

A BRIEF HISTORIOGRAPHY OF NONVIOLENCE: IN SEARCH OF A LITERATURE

2008-05-10T14:23:00.001-07:00

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgbtb4hz_54hq425mfb

A great new flick...

2008-05-06T11:40:00.001-07:00

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy: Nineteenth Century Russia’s Religious Savant

2008-05-05T18:00:00.000-07:00

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgbtb4hz_55dgrdq3ft

Let California RING!!!

2008-04-07T17:33:00.001-07:00

I just love Ellen! Brilliant!

2008-04-07T04:12:00.001-07:00

"Practice" Historiographic Essay

2008-03-30T17:57:00.000-07:00

The “Postmodern Challenge” to History’s Raison D'être

Denver Aquarium Visit Fave Pics

2008-03-28T21:47:00.000-07:00

Gave me goosebumps... American Idol - David Archuleta - Imagine - 2/27/08

2008-03-01T10:20:00.000-08:00

An earlier appearance four years ago... (age 13)

Thank you Ellen!

2008-02-29T22:03:00.001-08:00

Also... a post by Equality Rider Brian Murphy:

http://allpointsinbetween.blogspot.com/2008/03/i-feel-sick.html

Book Review: "In Defense of History"

2008-02-27T18:14:00.000-08:00

In Defense of History. By Richard B. Evans. (New York:W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1999, 1997. 287 pp. Paper, $16.95, ISBN 0-393-31959-8.)

Mamma Mia! THIS will be the movie of the summer!

2008-02-24T14:23:00.001-08:00

Book Review: "Telling the Truth about History"

2008-02-20T18:13:00.000-08:00

Telling the Truth about History. By Joyce Appleby, Lynn Hunt, and Margaret Jacob. (New York: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc., 1995. 336 pp. Paper, $16.95, 0-393-31286-0.)

Happy Valentine's Day--Soulforce Style

2008-02-14T12:06:00.000-08:00

http://www.soulforce.org/email_campaign/email_2_14_2008.html

Book Review: "Historiography in the Twentieth Century"

2008-02-13T18:09:00.000-08:00

Historiography in the Twentieth Century: From Scientific Objectivity to the Postmodern Challenge (with a new epilogue). By Georg G. Iggers. (Middletown:Wesleyan University Press, 1997, 2005. x, 198 pp. Paper, $18.95, ISBN 0-8195-6766-3.)

Book Review: "The Pursuit of History"

2008-02-05T18:04:00.000-08:00

The Pursuit of History: Aims, Methods and New Directions in the Study of Modern History (Fourth Edition). By John Tosh with Seán Lang. (London:Pearson-Longman, 2006. xxi, 357 pp. Paper, $39.40, ISBN 1-405-82351-8.)

TWO MEMORIES AND A SHORT SUMMARY OF MY ACADEMIC INTERESTS

2008-01-29T17:45:00.000-08:00

TWO MEMORIES AND A SHORT SUMMARY OF MY ACADEMIC INTERESTS

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgbtb4hz_42dsxv7pgk

Resumes

2008-01-19T20:47:00.000-08:00

RESUMES:

Activist Organizer

Published Writings

Teaching

ExecAsst08-short

ExecAsst08-long

------------------------------

CERTIFICATES:

------------------------------

THE LIGHTER BURDEN

[a short autobiographical piece written for Chi Rho Press several years ago]

I grew up in Boulder, Colorado during the post-Vietnam seventies and the ‘New Wave’ eighties. I vividly remember the star of lights that adorned the foothills above the city every Christmas. In November 1979, when I was eight, Iranian students stormed the American embassy in Tehran. The star above Boulder remained lit until the hostages came home. It became a symbol of hope and stability in a confusing world. After the hostages returned, I too closely identified with the resurgent nationalism that accompanied Ronald Reagan’s tenure in the White House.

I missed the mark many other ways during my adolescence and early adulthood. In 1989, I matriculated at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Drunk with the hubris of youth, I saw no need for God. The apparent omnipotence of personal ambition was all I needed. My newly discovered aspiration to become an officer in the United States Marine Corps fueled my self-absorbed drive for success.

I also started drinking during college. Six and a half years later, while stationed on Okinawa, I found myself on a psychiatric ward - as a result of my chronic alcoholism. Fortunately, by God’s grace, I was able to admit I had a problem and I began the journey to sobriety. This journey led me to a sponsor in Alcoholics Anonymous who introduced me to Jesus for the first time (I had been raised Catholic but hadn’t yet learned what it meant to be Christian). Eventually, I renounced Catholicism. No one I felt, not even the Pope in Rome , had the right to tell anyone else how to listen to the voice of God speaking in their heart. Unfortunately, I waited another five years before I heeded that voice in my own heart and came out of the closet.

When, several years ago, I finally did come out, I was an emotional mess. I faced a crucial dilemma: did coming out mean I was abandoning God again? I thought God hated gays! My sobriety was dependent on my relationship with God. Did coming out mean I was going to drink again? Fortunately, I discovered the story of David and Jonathan in 1 and 2 Samuel. The discovery that these two important figures of Israel ’s history shared a loving, intimate partnership transformed my life. David and Jonathan have become my new stars of hope and stability.

Today, I know what God’s vision is for me: share the story of David and Jonathan with my Queer sisters and brothers. I also recently graduated from massage school and am now blessed with the daily opportunity to minister to the needs of others - working to relieve their suffering and facilitate their healing. These are demanding missions. But God always gives me all the courage and strength I need. Jesus said, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me’ (Luke 9:23). I’m grateful, today, that I found my cross. It really is the lighter burden.

As written for Chi Rho Connection, Vol. III, No. 17, December 4, 2002. Copyright © 2002. All Rights Reserved.

LORD GIVEN LOVERS & Other Selected Writings

2008-01-19T17:16:00.000-08:00

“We need more books like yours…” – Rev. Elder Troy Perry, founder of UFMCC

LORD GIVEN LOVERS (.PDF FORMAT) (ISBN 0-595-29868-9)

LORD GIVEN LOVERS SELL SHEET

The story of David and Jonathan offers a new paradigm that will reshape the society in which we live...

The failure of our culture to recognize the intrinsic divinity of all sexual minorities and the sanctity of same-sex, same-gender relationships is the central dilemma challenging lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered persons. Our society's civil morality is informed by the religious mores of our culture. A redefined cultural and societal understanding of same-sex, same-gender love derived from and supported by the Bible -- a widespread knowledge of the holy union of David and Jonathan -- will have a profound impact on the long-term success of our justice movement.

A bold, new look at the same-sex love relationship between David and Jonathan in 1 and 2 Samuel, Lord Given Lovers provides an in-depth exploration of their committed partnership. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) readers will discover a story that will help them find self-acceptance and constructively challenge the prejudice of religious homophobes: God sanctifies same-sex and same-gender relationships through The Holy Union of David and Jonathan.

Lord Given Lovers is also an academic and inspirational resource for LGBT and LGBT-friendly clergy and laypersons of all faiths and religious backgrounds - as well as for nonreligious LGBT persons and activists interested in subjects that pertain to equal civil marriage rights. Published in October, 2003, the book retails for $12.95 at www.BarnesAndNoble.com, www.Amazon.com, and www.iUniverse.com.

Wholesale orders may be placed by calling 1-877-823-9235.

LORD GIVEN LOVERS Sell Sheet

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MARTYRDOM SATYAGRAHA--Musings on the Applications of 3rd and 4th Generation Warfighting Theory to Nonviolent Struggle

A theoretical discussion exploring how social justice movements might integrate practical warfighting principles into the methodology of nonviolence.

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“TEACH-IN” FAST–FIVE DAYS DURING JANUARY ‘07

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgbtb4hz_119bm8kghp

A series of essays written and published in conjunction with a five-day fast undertaken during January '07.

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Reiki: The Usui System of Natural Healing

2008-01-19T17:13:00.000-08:00

Exploring alternative healing modalities is one of my other great loves.

Reiki is an ancient system of energywork administered through "laying on of hands". Believed to be of Tibetan origin, Reiki was rediscovered during the early 1900's by Dr. Mikao Usui of Japan. Recipients of Reiki generally report enhanced relaxation benefits.

Reiki is also VERY easy to learn. A certified Reiki Master, I include Reiki in my massage treatments, but I also offer classes [see below].

Interested prospective students may contact me at cahubble05@yahoo.com.

Class Summaries:

> Reiki I: This class begins with an introduction to Reiki and its history. Students will participate in a group-share healing treatment after learning the Reiki Power Symbol (not always taught by all Reiki masters at this level).

> Reiki II: In this class, students will learn two additional Reiki symbols: the "Mental/Emotional" and "Distance Healing" symbols. Additional treatment techniques taught in this class include "Scanning and Beaming" and "Complete Full-Body Treatments".

> Reiki Master: Students will learn the Usui Master Symbol. This class also includes several advanced treatment procedures: "Psychic Surgery", "Releasing Inappropriate Bonds", and the "Stillpoint Technique".

> Reiki Teacher: In this class, the student receives two additional master symbols, the Tibetan Master Symbols. Additional lessons cover combining basic crystal and gemstone energywork with Reiki. Finally, a substantial portion of this class is devoted to teaching the new Reiki Master/Teacher how to administer Reiki attunements to their own students.

Online Resources:

> Center for Reiki Training: "The International Center for Reiki Training is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the re-establishment of Reiki energies in our modern world. It is through the attunement to higher knowledge or spiritual consciousness (REI) that we are able to properly guide our life energy (KI) to create positive results and affect positive personal and global change."

> International Association of Reiki Professionals ® (IARP ®): A "professional association of the global Reiki community. We are an organization for you and work to create a supportive environment within Reiki. We provide a forum for support and professional, personal and spiritual growth."

> ReikiOne.com: "Looking for an open and honest forum for the sharing of information on Reiki? This is the place! Many wonderful Reikis from all over the world visit and post here on a regular basis, creating a true community."

> Reiki Alliance: "The Reiki Alliance is an international community of Reiki Masters of the Usui System of Reiki Healing, Usui Shiki Ryoho. We teach and practice the Usui System of Reiki by maintaining the time-honored form passed through the direct spiritual lineage of Mikao Usui, Chujiro Hayashi, Hawayo Takata, and Phyllis Lei Furumoto."

Obama: 'Nuff Said...

2008-01-19T00:48:00.000-08:00

Obama told the Reno Gazette-Journal editorial board Monday that "Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it," Obama said.

"I think it's fair to say that the Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last 10 to 15 years in the sense that they were challenging conventional wisdom," Obama told the newspaper. (Yahoo!-AP)

Promising Signs in Vermont...

2008-01-13T15:15:00.000-08:00

The future of the marriage equality movement in Vermont could help settle the debate between advocates of incrementalism and "we want the whole loaf now!" elements of the movement...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080113/ap_on_re_us/gay_marriage_vermont

Gay Take on Levi's Commercial...

2008-01-11T07:05:00.000-08:00

It would be sooooo much more believable if they were holding hands at the end...

One out of every ten...

2008-01-11T07:03:00.000-08:00

Follow-up blather to Friday's post...

2008-01-06T20:50:00.000-08:00

So I couldn't resist forwarding Friday's post about Sen. Obama to a friend who I know is at least a marginal supporter... probably not the best etiquette. His response resulted in a friendly exchange which helped me better articulate my present frustrations with politics and the electoral process as it is... I'm posting it here just for the heck of it...

In fairness to Sen. Obama, the Jan 3 D-Now show did focus on all the other candidates. The summary was, essentially, “they’re ALL part of the same political clique”… and, yes, the more or less stated inference was that these players will implement the same policies as they have in the past. The commentators who seem to hold to this view (and naturally you usually only hear them on shows like D-Now) point to the continuities from Carter to Reagan to Bush to Clinton to Bush.

There’s a great short book I read last year called The Twilight of Equality?. It was written by Lisa Duggan, Director of NYU’s American Studies program (the same academic-activist trying to move the LGBT community “beyond” marriage). In the context of describing how our notion of “rights” has become limited and constrained by a revived understanding amongst the political elites which strive to implement the fiscal and economic policies referred to as “neoliberalism” (see the “Washington Consensus”)—she traces the development and emergence of that understanding originating from the pronounced economic recession in the seventies (which advocates of neoliberalism blame on the rise during the sixties of fiscal and economic policies which redistribute resources DOWN rather than UP—i.e. “Great Society” a.k.a. the welfare state) through the Carter-Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush administration(s). In a fundamental sense, those policies haven’t changed. Even Obama advocates free trade, does he not? I think Kucinich and Gravel may be the only candidates advocating an end to or at least restraint of globalism.

Free and fair trade is the holy grail of 21st century economic policies advocated by all major candidates, regardless of their political stripes.

It occurs to me that perhaps I fixate on Obama unfairly because I really do expect him to be different. I expect the Clintons and Edwards and Huckabees and Romneys and Giulianis of the world to dissemble and prevaricate… but not Obama. Maybe there’s some kind of bizarre and subtle racism at play here… BECAUSE he’s African-American, I really expect him to be different. He really IS supposed to represent change. Maybe what really galls me is that an African-American member of the political-intellectual elite class (which I’m trying to join by going back to school, BTW—geez a shrink would have a field day with me) IS NO DIFFERENT FROM THE REST OF THE CANDIDATES.

The notion that Obama happens to be African-American and that he could be president doesn’t bother me at all… but what REALLY IRKS me is that he’s no different from the rest of them—AND is all the while trumpeting a message of “hope” and “change”.

Why does it bother me so much when a wealthy African-American academic talks about “change” but a white lawyer who got rich filing lawsuits to protect the “little people” and for whom $400 haircuts is standard fare doesn’t bother me at all? I’m not saying it is fair for me to project elevated expectations on Obama. I suppose I’m thinking out loud here (perhaps not the safest thing in this day and age but what the heck?)… and probably should take a step back and reevaluate him in the context of these ruminations.

Maybe a man whose father was from Kenya and whose mother was from Kansas is the best we’re going to get in this current crop. If you listened to the pundits immediately following the Iowa caucuses, Nov 2008 will be a landslide win for Obama and Democrats the likes of which we’ve never seen.

Incidentally, let me also add that I think it’s highly likely that if Obama can pull off a win in New Hampshire, then he’ll be the likely nominee. It’s clear that he’s going to win South Carolina (thanks in no small part to his “Embrace the Change” concert which unfortunately included the ex-gay minister McClurkin—at least 50% of the voting Democratic population in South Carolina is evangelical and African-American). If he can win those first three contests (Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina), victory on Super Tuesday will be an entirely different proposition for Hillary. Some pundits are spending a lot of time now speculating where Edwards’ votes will end up… since the conventional wisdom was that Iowa was his only shot and it’s a two-way race between Obama and Clinton from here. I never used to believe in the national primary idea… but it’s becoming more and more attractive now.

All this points back to my general sense of dissatisfaction with the entire process. Never before in my life have I been or have I expected to be so completely disillusioned with politics and the political system in the United States. Where other people buy into the illusion that their vote is actually worth something and that our electoral process alone is sufficient to change the direction of this country, I see a system so completely broken that I feel we’re beyond hope. I registered for membership in the Green Party, but how could I HONESTLY ever expect to see a Green be competitive in this political system? I think Edwards is right in his focus on the fact that we need to break the power of the socioeconomic and political elites in Washington… but he definitely ain’t the right guy to do it.

Nonviolent philosophy points me toward two general “first principles”:

(1) “Ahimsa”, the abstention from or absence of the desire to injure, directly undermines the existence of the state by undermining the legitimacy of the use of violence for any purpose whatsoever. According to sociologist Max Weber, the supposed monopoly on the legitimate use of violence is one of the defining characteristics of the state. Is it possible to redefine and reorganize the “state” around the principle of “ahimsa”? I’m not so sure. Essentially, this is exactly what Quakers attempted when they founded Pennsylvania… and it’s (sort of) what nonviolent actors have been attempting over the last century and a quarter with several successful nonviolent national insurrections (Philippines, Eastern Europe, South Africa, India, etc. … most recently Burma where we’ve yet to see the outcome… China’s failed student uprising might also be placed in this category).

If the state can’t be reformed then perhaps it ought to be abandoned.

(2) Gandhi’s principle of property stewardship directly undermines a key construct which enables the entire capitalist system… private ownership of the means of production. According to Gandhi’s view of economics, we are all stewards holding property in trust and using it for the benefit of the community rather than independent actors accumulating, using and holding property for our own personal benefit at the expense of others. Is it possible to construct a marketplace around the principle of stewardship rather than ownership? I think so… we just haven’t tried.

I am convinced (thanks to my journey in nonviolence but more recently also to discovering thinkers like Chomsky and others) that the “nation”, the “state” and “capitalism” have proven to be disastrous constructs with which we (speaking collectively in reference to the entirety of humanity led by European colonialism and imperialism in the 19th and 20th centuries) have brought ourselves to the brink of destruction.

I am less clear on what a "postmodern" (in the ideological sense of the term), technological (industrial/post-industrial) society might look like than I am in the certainty expressed above. But let’s speculate a bit. Transactions in the economic sphere would/could still be market-based… but when guided by the concept of stewardship rather than ownership, that market would function more efficiently in directing resources toward where they are most needed (how Utopian!). In the political sphere, moving beyond the highly centralized nation-state would have to involve a decentralization of political power to the smallest possible organizing units of society (see Anarchism but this is also a Gandhian view as articulated in his pamphlet Constructive Programme). It seems to me that a decentralized political culture would be highly democratic, but not at all in the manner that we understand totalitarian democracy today.

There’s a book I purchased last year, but unfortunately haven’t yet found the time to read... Sin Patrón: Stories from Argentina's Worker-Run Factories. It describes how, in the wake of the economic collapse in Argentina (and the abandonment of factories by capitalists), workers organized and collectivized their management of businesses. Some of these collective efforts have been so successful, apparently, that the capitalists have returned and are suing for reinstatement of the property which they abandoned.

So, for me, engagement in “politics as usual” for the time being seems a fait accompli (my programming tells me that NOT voting is wasteful and borders on unpatriotic), but a highly destructive, frustrating and apparently wasteful one. I’m still fairly well disposed toward voting for an independent or write-in candidate.

In any event... as Jesus put it (Matthew 15:14) "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."

Maybe I'd be better off (certainly more emotionally well-balanced and mentally sound) following his sage advice.

Bagged & Boarded...

2008-01-06T15:43:00.000-08:00

Pictures here...

Thank you Amy Goodman & Ken Silverstein!!!

2008-01-04T20:44:00.000-08:00

FINALLY!!!

Someone in the national media is calling a duck a duck. Sen. Obama is not and never has been a "change" candidate...

"The former is charismatic and intelligent, and that certainly counts for something. But if you look at his voting record, his campaign donors and his key advisors, he certainly doesn’t have the profile of a politician who intends to be a force for 'change'."

********************
********************

From Democracy Now! (01/03/08 edition):

SOUND CLIP: That’s the Obama team…_Democracy Now! 2008-01-03 Thursday

AMY GOODMAN: Barack Obama?

ALLAN NAIRN: Well, Obama’s top adviser is Zbigniew Brzezinski. Brzezinski gave an interview to the French press a number of years ago where he boasted about the fact that it was he who created the whole Afghan jihadi movement, the movement that produced Osama bin Laden. And he was asked by the interviewer, “Well, don’t you think this might have had some bad consequences?” And Brzezinski replied, “Absolutely not. It was definitely worth it, because we were going after the Soviets. We were getting the Soviets.” Another top Obama person—

AMY GOODMAN: I think his comment actually was, “What’s a few riled-up Muslims?” And this, that whole idea of blowback, the idea of arming, financing, training the Mujahideen in Afghanistan to fight the Soviets, including Osama bin Laden, and then when they’re done with the Soviets, they set their sights, well, on the United States.

ALLAN NAIRN: Right. And later, during Bill Clinton’s administration, during the Bosnia killing, the US actually flew some of the Afghan Mujahideen, the early al-Qaeda people—the US actually arranged for them to be flown from there to Bosnia to fight on the Muslim/NATO side.

Another key Obama adviser, Anthony Lake, he was the main force behind the US invasion of Haiti in the mid-Clinton years during which they brought back Aristide essentially in political chains, pledged to support a World Bank/IMF overhaul of the economy, which resulted in an increase in malnutrition deaths among Haitians and set the stage for the current ongoing political disaster in Haiti.

Another Obama adviser, General Merrill McPeak, an Air Force man, who not long after the Dili massacre in East Timor in ’91 that you and I survived, he was—I happened to see on Indonesian TV shortly after that—there was General McPeak overseeing the delivery to Indonesia of US fighter planes.

Another key Obama adviser, Dennis Ross. Ross, for many years under both Clinton and Bush 2, a key—he has advised Clinton and both Bushes. He oversaw US policy toward Israel/Palestine. He pushed the principle that the legal rights of the Palestinians, the rights recognized under international law, must be subordinated to the needs of the Israeli government—in other words, their desires, their desires to expand to do whatever they want in the Occupied Territories. And Ross was one of the people who, interestingly, led the political assault on former Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Carter, no peacenik—I mean, Carter is the one who bears ultimate responsibility for that Timor terror that Holbrooke was involved in. But Ross led an assault on him, because, regarding Palestine, Carter was so bold as to agree with Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa that what Israel was doing in the Occupied Territories was tantamount to apartheid. And so, Ross was one of those who fiercely attacked him.

Another Obama adviser, Sarah Sewall, who heads a human rights center at Harvard and is a former Defense official, she wrote the introduction to General Petraeus’s Marine Corps/Army counterinsurgency handbook, the handbook that is now being used worldwide by US troops in various killing operations. That’s the Obama team.

http://www.playlist.com/

2008-01-01T15:34:00.000-08:00

2007 year end recap...

2007-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

Well… I’m not so narcissistic as to think that the world is waiting for Christopher Hubble’s year-end report. :P But I thought it would be fun to post one anyway… here it is…

BIG DEAL HEADLINE news… FINALLY feel like I can call myself a non-smoker… in the last ten years, I’ve now technically been quit for at least seven… think I’ve finally turned the corner on that scourge…

2007 was a decent year. I left a part-time teaching gig because the three-hour commute and minimal income became unbearable. I miss teaching, but I like being able to pay bills and have a little be extra left over.

Finally have my weight back under 210 AGAIN... think I'm due for another cleansing fast... I did a week-long supplemented fast last January and dropped 20 pounds. I think I'm going to go for two weeks this time.

Did a major de-cluttering of possessions a few weeks ago... gave away about ten years' and $2,000 worth of SCHTUFF that had been hanging around... it felt good to get rid of it, good that it will benefit someone else and REALLY good that I can put it down as a deduction on my taxes. :)

I should be clear. No one is perfect, but I feel I really struggle with the control passions and limit possessions part of the nonviolence vows. The vows to truth, love and voluntary redemptive suffering aren't simple either, but are more easily understood and implemented. I have always struggled with my sense attachments. So that's what I'm focusing on now in my spiritual activities.

A little nervous about starting school at CU-Denver... already have all my books for this semester and have started reading. The workload is going to be over 300 pages per week. That's daunting, but it's not as if I wasn't expecting it. History is a reading-intensive sport. It's just when you're undergrad, your JOB is to be a student. Now, I'm working 40 hrs/wk PLUS trying to go to school.

The whole thing with my brother-in-law returning all these comic books has been interesting and strange. It's like being reintroduced to a part of yourself (or should I say an old friend) that you had submerged or turned your back on for many, many years and that you had almost forgotten existed. My life when I was in the Marines was very different than it is now. Would anyone who knows me now EVER take me for a comic books reading kind of guy? Doubt it… LOL

On an abstract meets the mundane level, I don't remember having any appreciation for what the artists put into these comic books. 18 years ago I read them just for the entertainment value... now I look at them and am astounded by the artistry (although I recognize that some might "sniff" at that idea). It's been cool flipping through them all again. I put images of the covers online. Some of them are spectacular:

COMIC BOOK COVERS

I have bags and boards on order to preserve them better, but I'm shocked by how well some of them have held up... a few still look like they just came off the newsstand... spent the last week inventorying and grading them. I don't plan to sell any except the ones I don't want. I'll leave the rest for my godson/nephew. By the time I croak at age 90+, they might be worth something.

I've also re-subscribed to a few that I was reading before. We'll just have to see where this reawakened interest in pop art leads.

Things may shift radically during the next month if I hear from the War Resisters League... I applied for a job posting that was up in early December:

http://warresisters.org/employment.htm

Mailed them my resume and portfolio. This seems like almost made to order for my interests and skills. But I'm also sure that there must be hundreds of volunteer activists just like me who feel the same way.

IF they call and IF they decide to hire me, then I'll be dropping everything to reorganize and move to NYC. BUT... I have no clue when that might happen and don't know how the administrative processes would work to withdraw from classes after census date. So we'll have to see. Right now, I have a four-week window. In any event, I’m committed to moving to NYC either during the next two months or after I finish my degree at CU-Denver.

Am moving to some sort of transitional denouement with the Soulforce work. One of my cohorts in civil disobedience is also a filmmaker. Last year we filmed nearly every workshop and direct action that we staged. So we are going to compile a training DVD for the purpose of facilitating a faster training cycle of organizers and action participants. I'm convinced that a decentralized model of organizing is the best approach in today's social conditions... BUT one person just can't do it all. By developing this DVD, we can equip a lot more people to teach and learn about Soulforce and nonviolence. We're also going to post the videos online after we finish producing the DVD.

I'm not leaving Soulforce... but I do intend to focus this year on education over actions--to focus on building the network of organizers.

Well, I guess that's it for now.

Until next year…

An unexpected blast from the past...

2007-12-29T23:59:00.000-08:00

When I was in the Marines many, many years ago, I developed a temporary infatuation with comic books. Once you’ve seen all the main tourist sites, there's really not much for a gay man to do on Okinawa (yes, I drank... but I certainly couldn't chase tail like the other guys did)--so I was heavily addicted to the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Batman, Hulk, Spider-Man, you name it. I never thought of myself as a “collector” per se—just bought the books for entertainment purposes:

After I got out of the service (as the result of unintentionally disclosing my sexual orientation—long story—I was then a practicing alcoholic and had no clue that I was in "crisis"—ended up on the psych ward of the local naval hospital on Camp Lester), I went into a "time to move on with my life" phase and was giving away or throwing away every possession that had anything to do with my time in the Corps (give me a dunce cap, I know… I even threw out my sword and commissioning certificate)...

Anyway, I gave to my brother-in-law about 100 comic books that I had collected over the course of my year and a half tour of duty on Okinawa. The irony is that I don't even remember giving them to him. For some strange reason, he’s held onto them all these years.

Last Tuesday--Christmas Day--he kind of casually mentioned them to me and said that he wanted to return them. I looked at him like he had just told me he’d seen a pink elephant: “I gave them to you? Really? I’d completely forgotten!” Sounds trite and corny, I know, but why did he hang onto them? CRAZY!

So I've spent the last week inventorying and grading them. I’m not even close to being finished yet... But based on how well they grade (thankfully, Colorado has a VERY dry climate), there's potential for this VERY small collection to be worth a minuscule amount... or so it seems.

The collection includes, for example, in nearly pristine quality the original first five issues of the Spider-Man (Marvel Comics, 1990 - 1998, 112 issues) series… yes, the much-maligned “Torment” collection written and drawn by Todd McFarlane (cover of this particular first issue sports a green background). A few choice Uncanny X-Man and New Mutant issues have turned up as well. Who knows what the Fantastic Four and Iron Man will reveal? Iron Man may actually experience heightened demand in the next few years with the new film coming out this spring. Heck, even my 13 year old nephew knows who Fin Fang Foom is!

Of course, the actual exchange value for some of these comics may be quite a bit less than the appraised intrinsic value. But I wouldn’t want to sell them anyway. My main priority is to finish grading them and then bag and board them--THEN I'll have the more potentially valuable comics appraised by a professional.

In any event, I owe my brother-in-law big-time for hanging on to these comic books for over a decade and a half.…

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness...

2007-12-22T18:44:00.000-08:00

This lecture is a little long, but highly illuminating and entertaining as well. Julie Nemecek and S. Bear Bergman speak about their experiences as transgender people living in the United States.

Priceless...

2007-12-18T18:48:00.000-08:00

The Mary Poppins Primary Song

2007-12-15T23:12:00.000-08:00

Heard this several weeks ago on the Best of the Left podcast:

The Mary Poppins Primary Song

The Chomsky Effect

2007-12-08T23:13:00.000-08:00

Fantastic lecture about Noam Chomsky by Robert Barsky, author of the new book:

"The Chomsky Effect: A Catalyst for Social Justice Beyond the Ivory Tower."

Homegrown Radicalism in the United States

2007-12-01T23:14:00.000-08:00

An excellent podcast for understanding the psychology of the terrorist:

The Washington Institute's Weinberg Founders Conference

A must listen for foreign policy geeks...

2007-11-30T23:16:00.000-08:00

Mon 11/26--Iraq: Status Report and Options - Stephen Biddle, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, advisor to the Central Command in Iraq (Special Event - Lipman Room)

Before You Enlist!

2007-11-29T23:17:00.000-08:00

Democracy Now!: Tutu speaks in Boston...

2007-11-28T23:19:00.000-08:00

“When you uphold an unjust dispensation, it corrodes your humanity.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu

On civil liberties...

2007-11-24T23:23:00.000-08:00

At this Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts event, A. C. Grayling, Claire Fox, and Marcel Berlins speak on the topic How we won our civil liberties, and how we can protect them.

http://uc.princeton.edu/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2121

Hilarious spot about Phelps clan from Australian show...

2007-11-18T12:56:00.000-08:00

Political Fallout in Pakistan

2007-11-18T12:55:00.000-08:00

Pun intended...

November 18, 2007
U.S. Secretly Aids Pakistan in Guarding Nuclear Arms
By DAVID E. SANGER and WILLIAM J. BROAD

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 — Over the past six years, the Bush administration has spent almost $100 million on a highly classified program to help Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president, secure his country’s nuclear weapons, according to current and former senior administration officials.

Impeach Cheney!!!

2007-11-18T12:53:00.000-08:00

Nancy Pelosi has promised Cindy Sheehan that she will permit hearings to impeach Dick Chaney IF she receives 10,000 hand written letters requesting it.

Cindy urges us to write the letters but send them to her campaign office so she can count them before delivery:

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi
c/o Cindy for Congress
Re: Impeach Dick Chaney
1260 Mission Blvd.
San Francisco CA 94103

Lets get these hearings begun before Thanksgiving!

Write One Now!

Kucinich for President!!!!

2007-11-17T13:10:00.000-08:00

Now I know who I'm voting for...

Colby College Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award

2007-11-17T12:27:00.000-08:00

New York Times foreign correspondent John Burns

http://uc.princeton.edu/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2146

PBS profiles FAITH IN AMERICA campaign...

2007-11-16T15:18:00.000-08:00

Rev. Jimmy Creech was once the president of Soulforce's board of directors. Now, he runs his own organization called Faith in America. FIA stages media campaigns around the country drawing attention to religion-based bigotry... sometimes provoking the ire of evangelicals who accuse Creech of "church-bashing"...

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week1111/newsfeature.html

The Politics of the Cynical...

2007-11-13T15:20:00.000-08:00

"The Nation -- Congressional democrats, civil rights groups and now the New York Times frame The Employment Non-Discrimination Act as an example of the politics of the possible. But an almost-definite Presidential veto makes it look like a convoluted example."

MORE

CYNICAL

New Focus on the Facts Visit to Dr. Dobson's Ministry Headquarters...

2007-11-12T22:51:00.000-08:00

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Local Gay Musician and Friends Visit Dobson’s Ministry Headquarters

Soulforce “Focus on the Facts” Campaign Pursues Dialogue and Reconciliation

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Soulforce Press Release: November 12, 2007
For Immediate Release

Contact(s):
James Roy, Blue Disco Records, Ltd, 303-906-4603, james@bluediscorecords.com

Christopher Hubble, Soulforce Colorado State Organizer, 303-241-3225, cahubble05@yahoo.com

Video and still photos available here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/exgaysurvivordan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arQRh0Bf0MM

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(Colorado Springs CO) – In a low-key visit, Denver-based musician James Roy and a group of friends toured the Welcome Center of Dobson's mega-organization Saturday in order to learn more about the operations of his ministry first-hand. The visit was intended to remind the partisan evangelical leader and his associates that Soulforce continues to observe the hurtful anti-LGBT rhetoric which emanates from America’s leading source of misinformation about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

In a personal letter to Dobson, James Roy wrote about his own commitment to being a positive impact in the lives of others. “I think it benefits us to reflect on what we have in common… I am here today to take a tour to better understand you and invite you to the possibility of dialogue.”

In the spirit of the nonviolent teachings of Gandhi and King, at the conclusion of the tour, each participant left a single yellow rose for Dobson to symbolize their desire for dialogue. Gandhi and King were the preeminent advocates of nonviolent conflict resolution in the twentieth century. They are best remembered not only for their desire to achieve justice for their respective constituencies but also to attain reconciliation with their adversaries.

Two of Saturday's participants were a lesbian couple from Denver who have adopted children together. During the tour, they asked whether they would be welcome to bring their own children during a future visit to the campus, "I was surprised and gratified when our tour guide encouraged my partnered friends to return as a family so that their children may also enjoy the many recreational resources available on the lower level of the welcome center," Lead Focus on the Facts Organizer Christopher Hubble observed.

This quiet, unannounced visit was part of FOCUS ON THE FACTS, an ongoing campaign of nonviolent direct action which Soulforce launched at the beginning of 2007. Beginning in 1994, Soulforce has repeatedly attempted to engage Dobson and his associates in dialogue and has been continually rebuffed. FOCUS ON THE FACTS seeks to end religion-based oppression of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Coloradans and is modeled on Gandhi's Satyagraha campaigns in South Africa and India. In the words of Nelson Mandela, Gandhi "rightly believed in the efficacy of pitting the soul force of Satyagraha against the brute force of the oppressor and in effect converting the oppressor to the right and moral point."

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SOULFORCE is a national civil rights and social justice organization. Our vision is freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from religious and political oppression through the practice of relentless nonviolent resistance. To learn more about Soulforce and FOCUS ON THE FACTS, visit www.soulforce.org.

To learn more about JAMES ROY and his inspirational creative work, visit www.jamesroymusic.com. “It took a four-year electrical engineering degree and a taste of the corporate world before [James] realized that life is more about living than trying to meet the expectations of others. In the few years that followed, he built up a studio, founded the company Blue Disco Records, Ltd., and started capturing the world around him in high-energy songs with powerful lyrics.” Soulforce recently announced a new partnership with James Roy on his latest release, Rise Above. 10% of the proceeds of this CD will go to benefit the social justice work of Soulforce.

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“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” (Hamlet Act 1, scene 4)

2007-11-12T15:21:00.000-08:00

So, last week, I came across the following post by Ken Silverstein of Harper's Magazine.

http://harpers.org/archive/2007/11/hbc-90001616

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Feed: Harper's Magazine
Posted on: Wednesday, November 07, 2007 9:38 AM
Author: Ken Silverstein
Subject: KEN SILVERSTEIN—Not Just Republicans Spreading Rumors About Hillary’s Lesbian Affair

In Huma Abedin, finally a good reason to support Clinton. It’s not just Republicans who play rough in South Carolina. Rumors have been circulating in the Palmetto State, and elsewhere, that Hillary Clinton is having a lesbian affair. . .

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It seems to me much more than a coincidence that this rumor is circulating so shortly after Sen. Obama’s "Embrace the Change" concert during which Rev. Donnie McClurkin headlined his anti-LGBT message…

http://harpers.org/archive/2007/11/hbc-90001616:

But it’s not just Republicans who are pushing the story. Will Folks, a well-known blogger in South Carolina, reported yesterday that he’d “heard from sources at rival Democratic presidential campaigns who claim that they ‘know it to be true’ that Hill and Huma are romantically-involved.” I called Folks, and he said that two different Democratic campaigns had told him about the alleged affair, but neither had “presented anything remotely resembling proof.”

Folks [a former press secretary of South Carolina’s Republican Governor Mark Sanford] said he couldn’t identify which campaigns were spreading the story, so I called Rod Shealy, a top GOP consultant. Shealy told me he had no idea of who was talking up the story—but that the only Democrats with active staffs and organizations in South Carolina were Barack Obama, John Edwards, and Bill Richardson.

ALSO...

“Shealy has worked for numerous African-American political candidates…” but why would a Republican operative work with Sen. Obama?

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11/08 Update: When it Comes to Hillary, People Have No Sense of Huma

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11/09 Update:

Rod Shealy's son, Ross, blogs for Sen. Obama...

Things that make you go "hmm..."

The political intrigue underway in the Democratic primary campaign is mind-blowing.

I spent several hours last week reviewing the blog and media posts related to the McClurkin story. It is certainly clear that Sen. Obama's campaign meant for "Embrace the Change" to appeal to the Christian subculture. It's genius actually. No major Democratic candidate in decades has broken into the Christian press in a positive light. They may someday view this as their best idea that didn't work.

The story first broke, actually, in the Christian press on the 17th. Then, the New York Times covered it on the 19th. Initially, McClurkin's name was one of many on the ticket... apparently lost in the crowd.

Then, on the 20th, Washington D.C. attorney and political activist John Aravosis broke the negative 'spin', lambasting Sen. Obama for including McClurkin on the tour. Thereafter, between the 20th and the 27th, there were nearly 2300 blog and media posts on the story... mostly negative.

It would not be accurate, however, to say that Aravosis supports Clinton outright. He was as tough on Clinton in February for her campaign tactics and about a month or so before the Logo debate went after both Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama for their tepid support of LGBT issues. After Gen. Pace's March public comments about the immorality of homosexuality, Clinton gave an interview to Bloomberg News during which she publicly stated that she did not believe homosexuality is "immoral". Since then, Aravosis seems to have warmed to Clinton, but I wouldn't describe him as openly supportive. His comments have been decidedly less caustic, however.

Based on this research, it seems clear that Sen. Obama did NOT recruit McClurkin specifically to send an anti-LGBT message. As they admitted, he wasn't vetted well at all. Their mistakes related to how they handled the situation after the story turned negative and spun out of control. I remain troubled, however, that Sen. Obama couldn't do the right thing by taking the most sensible action and ask McClurkin to remove himself from the concert program.

As mentioned above, Harper's Magazine last week reported that rumors have been circulating in South Carolina about a "lesbian affair" involving Hillary and one of her top aides. As reported by one source, there are only three campaigns in SC with active operations: Richardson, Edwards and Obama. And another source asserted that one of those campaigns is responsible for floating the rumor. Both sources are well known Republican operatives, so they certainly have an interest in stirring up rancor amongst the Democratic candidates and campaigns. Are they reliable sources? They were willing to be quoted.

The second son of one of those operatives, Ross Shealy, seems to be a well known Democratic operative in South Carolina, however... his name appears frequently in the SC press and blogs. And the entire family (Rod Sr, Rod Jr, and Ross) is well-connected politically.

Ross seems to be actively involved with Obama campaign, organizing events and blogging frequently about Obama. He also maintains a profile and blog on Sen. Obama's website. How direct is the relationship? There's no way of knowing.

Could Shealy be responsible for circulating the Hillary lesbian affair rumor? Has Sen. Obama had anything to do with it? Probably not but we'll never know.

Most importantly, however, will it hurt Sen. Obama if it were to become public knowledge that an operative working on his behalf was directly involved in these types of smear tactics?

Absolutely.

Additional links:

http://palmettoramblings.blogspot.com/2007/07/so-whats-with-vouchers.html

http://doingthefirst.blogspot.com/2007/05/basics-of-barbecue.html

http://scbarbecue.blogspot.com/search?q=obama

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/rossshealy

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Differing Perspectives on Covering the Iraq War

2007-11-10T15:23:00.000-08:00

Conversation about journalists in Iraq hosted by the Colby College Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement included Andrea Bruce (Washington Post), Bill Nemitz (Portland Press Herald), and Christine Spolar (Chicago Tribune).

http://uc.princeton.edu/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2144

New Video of Sep 24 Marriage Equality Civil Disobedience

2007-11-04T15:28:00.000-08:00

"America's Response to Terrorists' Threats"

2007-11-03T15:29:00.000-07:00

Richard Clarke served as an anti-terrorism expert under Reagan, Bush the Elder, Clinton and Bush the Younger. His credentials are impeccable.

On Sep 24, 2007, he delivered a scathing critique of the Bush administration's campaign against Al Qaida. We ignore his insights at our peril:

Richard Clarke: "America's Response to Terrorists' Threats"

http://uc.princeton.edu/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2138

Waterboarding = Torture...

2007-11-02T15:31:00.000-07:00

How could anyone disagree after watching this?

A Season of Political Change

2007-11-01T23:52:00.000-07:00

In his autobiography, ghost-written by Roots author Alex Haley, Malcolm X said that he preferred southerners to northerners because at least he knew where he stood with southerners. We now have some idea how El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz felt--because his statement could be aptly applied to the differences between Republicans and Democrats this political season.

Conservatives and Republicans rarely hesitate to express their contempt for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Whether it's Ann Coulter's expletive-filled shock commentaries, Bill O'Reilly's trumped-up warnings about lesbian gangs in America's urban centers, or James Dobson comparing gay marriage with bestiality--we always know where we stand with them.

This is less so the case where Democrats are concerned. Many LGBTs still cling to the idea that they are our friends; that they care about our demands for justice and equality. Never mind that the president widely considered the most Queer-friendly in U.S. history gave us Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue and the so-called Defense of Marriage Act.

Never mind that the majority of Democratic presidential candidates this season offer lip service to equality with their half-hearted, grudging, seeming obligatory support of separate and unequal civil unions and domestic partnerships (ask residents of California, New Jersey and Vermont--or Massachusetts for that matter--whether they feel "equal").

A few months ago actually, we learned that Gov. Bill Richardson--a candidate widely assumed to have the "best" record on LGBT issues--had his own Coulter moment over a year ago, uttering the derogatory "maricon" on the infamous Don Imus radio talk show. When finally called to account, Richardson explained that he didn't think he had done anything wrong--that "maricon" meant "gay" in the dialect he grew up speaking. But shortly after his verbal gaffe in early ’06, he reportedly called the head of Equality New Mexico to privately apologize. Why, governor? How can you offer a sincere apology when you don't feel you've done anything wrong? The derision was public, why not make your apology public?

More recently, congressional Democrats produced their own inglorious moment when they attempted to use ENDA to drive congressional Republicans closer to Bush. When Pelosi & Co. discovered they didn't have the votes to pass a fully inclusive bill, they ceded to Uber Gay Godfather Rep. Barney Frank's "I don't care what 300-plus LGBT civil rights organizations think and will do this my way" strategy. Frank’s arrogant intransigence helped mobilize the LGBT community more effectively than anyone could have foreseen. And yet, at the time of this writing, Frank's bill is still alive pending a House floor vote in the near future.

Apparently, they didn't hear us the first time.

Or maybe they're not really listening. Maybe they never have been. Maybe, just maybe, the Democrats really are (gasp) politicians. Their support lasts only as long as your trip to the ballot box... and is only as deep as the pockets of whatever wealthy donor can afford to buy them a state legislature.

And so, as Giuliani and Clinton lead their respective nomination races by snubbing their parties' ideological bases and campaigning to the pragmatic center, LGBTs find themselves in a situation eerily similar to that experienced by our friends of the religious right: largely ignored. Our Democratic partners really don't think they need us anymore.

Senator Barack Obama’s recent campaign machinations perhaps best illustrate the subtle shift underway in the nation’s political sands. In a desperate bid to maintain his candidacy's viability by staging an insurgent upset in South Carolina's primary (which follows closely on the heels of Iowa and New Hampshire on the electoral calendar)--he has taken a page out of the Republican and the Religious Right's playbook. By giving anti-LGBT Rev. Donnie McClurkin a stage at his ironically named Embrace the Change concert, Sen. Obama seeks to appeal to the black churches of South Carolina. You see, the Republicans have already proven (especially in Ohio in '04) that churches, when properly motivated, are a decisive "get-out-the-vote" machine. And how does Sen. Obama intend to motivate South Carolina's black churches? With Karl Rove's most oft-played card: pander to homophobic bigotry.

In spite of his insistence that he really "supports" us anyway, Sen. Obama apparently hasn't been paying attention either. There is no ideology more poisonous, more deadly to LGBT people than that propagated by the ex-gay fraud. Numerous professional organizations concerned with public health have released positions and anecdotal evidence documenting its inefficacy and the harm it has caused. Sen. Obama was hoodwinked. During his recent appearance on the senator's stage in South Carolina, McClurkin couldn't resist demonstrating the same predilection for engaging in hate speech as Coulter, O’Reilly and Dobson. No matter how blithely the Senator may attempt to spin his way around this fact, when you give someone, anyone, a platform like the one he gave McClurkin, they WILL use it. Few--except Sen. Obama and his associates--deny that he has implicitly validated McClurkin's message in the process.

LGBT people must now ask themselves just how much ignorance and bigotry they're willing to endure to remain in this imprudent alliance. What's worse, an abusive friend or no friend at all?

There are at our disposal more constructive and effective nonviolent methods for promoting progressive social transformation. Since 2005, hundreds of LGBT Coloradoans and their allies have been engaged in an ongoing "soul force" campaign to end religion-based oppression of LGBT people and their families. We have marched, rallied, fasted, stood vigil, and even been arrested in our efforts to change the hearts and minds of our religious and political adversaries. In 2007, we have continued our Satyagraha campaign with “Focus on the Facts”, a series of direct "micro" actions in Colorado Springs and Denver. It's time, once again, to intensify our efforts to take our demands for justice and equality into the streets.

NYT: The Evangelical Crackup

2007-10-28T19:59:00.000-07:00

The hundred-foot white cross atop the Immanuel Baptist Church in downtown Wichita, Kan., casts a shadow over a neighborhood of payday lenders, pawnbrokers and pornographic video stores. To its parishioners, this has long been the front line of the culture war.

ENDA follow-up...

2007-10-27T19:57:00.000-07:00

From Rebecca Juro at The Bilerico Project:

If latest reports are true, the Baldwin amendment may be DOA.

Free Speech Movement Cafe Constitution Day Speakers Forum

2007-10-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

Prof. Daniel Farber spoke on the topic "Bong Hits 4 the Constitution: Free Speech Rights of Students Today"; Prof. Lowell Bergman spoke on the topic "Lots of Talk and No Action: Free Speech in the New Millennium"; Prof. Tom Goldstein spoke on the topic "Is Everyone a Journalist Now?"

Speakers: Daniel Farber, Professor, Boalt Environmental Law Program; Lowell Bergman, Professor, Graduate School of Journalism; Tom Goldstein, Professor/Former Dean, Graduate School of Journalism

http://webcast.berkeley.edu/media/fsm_cafe/fsm_20070918.mp3

Denver Post: Focus on Family execs more interested in parenting than politics

2007-10-27T19:54:00.000-07:00

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—James Dobson has become synonymous with the business empire that is Focus on the Family. Tourists clamor for photos of the group's founder when he's not taping a radio show, talking about the presidential race on a TV news show or writing another child-rearing book.

Sen. Obama's "Richardson Moment"

2007-10-25T21:14:00.000-07:00

This week, the blogosphere has been in an uproar over Sen. Obama's choice of concert stage mates...

To a certain degree, the entire discussion is a diversion from substantive issues--I submit that the operative question now is whether he REALLY has the judgment to be president.

McClurkin's views are certainly objectionable--indeed, numerous professional healthcare organizations have already adopted positions rejecting the supposed efficacy of reparative therapy and/or documenting the harm it causes. But touring South Carolina with McClurkin ALSO demonstrates Sen. Obama's poor judgment. I certainly couldn't have imagined Slick Willy ever inviting McClurkin to spend a night in the Lincoln Bedroom.

Do we consider publicly announcing his intent to violate the national sovereignty of one of our closest allies (albeit Pakistan is governed by an autocratic regime) by firing missiles into the South Asian hinterland sound and sane foreign policy? I bet Dubya would.

Is it REALLY necessary to remind other readers of Sen. Obama's insistence at a debate several weeks ago that he would meet with Ahmadinejad WITHOUT PRECONDITIONS? Is this really presidential?

AND--pay attention please those who have announced their concern for ending the Iraq War...

We have for MONTHS listened to Sen. Obama sermonize about his whole-hearted opposition to the Iraq War and how he would have voted against it... but how he wasn't actually in the Senate at the time of the vote. WELL... when the opportunity FINALLY arrived for Sen. Obama to match his words with ACTION--that is, when the Senate voted on the IRAN war resolution--where was Sen. Obama? He wasn't in the Senate!!!

He was CAMPAIGNING.

Only TWO senators felt it was necessary to miss THAT vote... Sen. Obama and McCain. I don't want to hear another word from Sen. Obama about his opposition to ANY war. He BLEW his opportunity to say something meaningful with concrete action.

Obama's Stumble Diminishes Hope for Change in U.S. Policy

I've asked this question before: what's worse, a lousy friend or no friend at all?

Sen. Obama’s double-speak about Iran is maddening. Taken in context with his public statements about firing missiles into Pakistan, I find his comments on this issue to be very troubling indeed—this statement doesn’t help me feel better about Sen. Obama as a presidential candidate, it makes me feel worse.

It is important to note that Sen. Obama does NOT actually renounce the use of military intervention in his Sep 12 statement Turning the Page in Iraq.

In fact, he affirms as fact SEVERAL key premises of the Bush administration regarding Iran.

Further, on a theoretical level, Sen. Obama validates the conventional approach that administrations have used for several decades when dealing with regimes they have identified as “rogue”: (1st) diplomacy; (2nd) economic sanctions; (3rd) military intervention (multilateral OR unilateral).

Sen. Obama certainly hasn’t rejected this methodology. He has simply criticized Bush’s refusal to engage in diplomacy. In other words, Bush’s error was NOT military intervention per se, but his abandonment of diplomacy as a step preceding military intervention.

I just don’t buy his “I was campaigning” excuse. With the exception of McCain, all the other candidates for president from the Senate WERE present and DID vote on this resolution.

One of Sen. Obama’s signature positions on which he has staked his candidacy has been his opposition to the war in Iraq. Words mean one thing… deeds mean another. If there were ever an opportunity for Sen. Obama to make his actions match his words, this was it.

For the record, I've been an unaffiliated, Independent voter for over 20 years... there's only one candidate in both parties right now who's done anything CONCRETE for LGBT people. Giuliani introduced and passed domestic partnerships in NYC during his tenure as mayor. Of course, one must decide whether that's really a positive step forward:

Civil Unions: The Missouri Compromise of the struggle for marriage and family equality

And I just can't vote for him, in any event, given his position on the war...

The Green Party is starting to look really good right now. They're the only major party that advocates Nonviolence...

MORE: Richardson's "Maricon Moment"...

Reuters: Gay men can earn 23 pct less than married men

2007-10-24T19:52:00.000-07:00

Reuters: Gay men can earn 23 pct less than married men

Wed Oct 24, 12:02 PM ET

Gay men, but not lesbians, face discrimination at work, earning up to 23 percent less than married men in some jobs, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Whittemore School of Business and Economics spent two years analyzing labor and wage data from 91,000 heterosexual and homosexual couples collected by a 2004 U.S. census.

“The Rise of Al Qaeda”, Peter Dale Scott, Emeritus Professor of English, UC Berkeley

2007-10-20T19:42:00.000-07:00

Peter Dale Scott, former Canadian diplomat and Emeritus Professor of English, UC Berkeley speaks at IAS 180 Issues in Foreign Policy after 911 about The Rise of Al Qaeda and reads from his new book, The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America (Hardcover).

A writer and researcher, Scott has published several books covering the “underworld of U.S. foreign policy” (Kreisler). This is another excellent primer (see more below) on the subject of international terrorism and the involvement of the United States in the origin of Al Qaida.

Download and listen to the podcast here:

http://webcast.berkeley.edu/stream.php?type=download&webcastid=19486

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Tufts University hosted The `War on Terrorism`: Where Do We Stand?--a two-day conference sponsored by the Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies. This series of podcasts including nearly 12 hours of forums and lectures constitutes a veritable crash course exploring the roots of international terrorism, intercultural discourse, and the direction of U.S. foreign policy during the final two years of King George II's ignominious reign.

Dec 17 Court Date Set for Lesbian Couple Who Sought Marriage License

2007-10-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

Court Date Set for Lesbian Couple Who Sought Marriage License
Charged with Trespassing for September 24 Soulforce Sit-In

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Press Release: October 16, 2007
For Immediate Release

Contact(s):
Kate Burns & Sheila Schroeder, kateburns303@comcast.net, 303-806-8444
Attorney Mari Newman; Killmer, Lane & Newman, LLP; mnewman@killmerlane.com, 303-571-1000
Christopher Hubble, Soulforce Colorado State Organizer, 303-241-3225,
cahubble05@yahoo.com
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The trial for Kate Burns and Sheila Schroeder, an Englewood, Colorado lesbian couple charged with trespassing for a peaceful sit-in protest, will begin on December 17, 2007. During their arraignment today, attorney Mari Newman entered a “not guilty” plea for the two women. Commenting on the process, Newman said, “We are looking forward to a public trial on this very important civil rights issue. The right to equal treatment under the law is fundamental to our American system of justice. I applaud Kate and Sheila for taking a stand against government oppression and marginalization of lesbians and gays, and am proud to represent them in this fight for equality.”

At approximately 5 p.m. on September 24, 2007, Burns and Schroeder of Englewood, Colorado were arrested and removed in police custody from the Wellington E. Webb Municipal Building. The couple had entered the Denver Clerk and Recorder Office to demand a marriage license. After requesting an application and being denied on the basis of state and federal law stating that marriage shall be between one man and one woman, Burns and Schroeder refused to leave, insisting that marriage laws which deny full equality to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people undermine America's tradition of religious pluralism protected by the U.S. Constitution and disregard equal protection guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. The two were issued citations for trespassing and were released without bail at 5:26 p.m.

When asked whether she regrets engaging in the sit-in now that the case is going to trial, Schroeder declared, “Not for one second have I wished to change anything that happened that day. Standing up for my rights and for the love of my family is a responsibility I welcome and cherish as an American citizen. Civil disobedience is an honorable tradition.”

“Some of the finest world leaders, and scores of good ordinary people, have employed relentless nonviolent resistance to fight for justice and equality in their communities,” agreed Burns. “It’s ironic that we are being charged with trespassing in a public office that is funded, in part, by the tax dollars of thousands of lesbian and gay residents—people who are regularly denied the same services granted to heterosexual couples.”

The marriage equality direct action is one action in the ongoing Soulforce FOCUS ON THE FACTS campaign, a nonviolent campaign launched at the beginning of 2007 under the leadership of Christopher Hubble and Soulforce In Colorado. To watch news coverage of the sit-in go to www.soulforce.org/article/1302. Still photos are available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kateburns/sets/72157602437421379/.

Awesome piece on "T" history at Salon...

2007-10-16T19:31:00.000-07:00

Why the T in LGBT is here to stay
Susan Stryker

Transgender people are not beggars at the civil rights table set by gay and lesbian activists. They are integral to the struggle for gender freedom for all.

"The Side of Love"*

2007-10-14T19:28:00.000-07:00

Nearly 100 members of Denver’s First Unitarian Church braved the wet and wind of mid-October to attend “Standing on the Side of Love”, a second annual public worship service in support of marriage and family equality. The Rev. Mike Morran began this year’s October 14 service to affirm inclusive family values with rousing defiance to the rain and cold, proclaiming: “We are dampened in body but not in spirit!”

“We think love is a good thing… worthy of honor and protection,” he continued. “So we’re holding our worship here at the State Capitol building because just about a year ago, our beloved state passed an amendment to its constitution that tries to put limits on love… Justice was not served last year.’”

Longtime local community activist Edward Carroll and his partner Glenn Barrows, marriage equality nonviolent resisters Kate Burns and Sheila Schroeder, and several other couples reaffirmed their vows during a holy commitment ceremony honoring the gift of love for all couples, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

To those couples, Morran said, “You do not stand alone… the actions of the state have not changed the worthiness and the legitimacy of the love that guides, binds and holds you. Love is bigger than the state or any human law.”

During an impromptu ceremony later at First Unitarian Church, Carroll and Barrows exchanged matching bands to celebrate their decades-long union.

After the service, Morran explained why Unitarian Universalists so doggedly advocate full marriage and family equality: “We’re a faith tradition that has always favored the use of reason in religion. We have arrived at what we think is an appropriate relationship between churches and states: that they must coexist peacefully. We err continually on the side of inclusion and justice. The phrase I used in the service was “God’s work, our hands”. Unitarian Universalists take creating a world of justice very seriously.”

First Unitarian launched this tradition on the steps of the State Capitol building last year when over 350 people of faith enjoyed rousing choral music and inclusive worship.

“The friends I dearly love and admire have to live in a world—this country, this state—that does not treat us equally and that is a travesty. It’s just not right.”

More information on the annual "Standing on the Side of Love" public worship service is available at www.uus4justmarriage.com. The Rev. Morran can be contacted by calling 303.831.7113 ext. 104, or by email at darev@firstunitariandenver.org.

EVENT PHOTOS:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kateburns/

http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t28/cahubble05/Standing%20on%20the%20Side%20of%20Love-101407/

* As published in Out Front Colorado

"Seven Straight Nights"*

2007-10-13T19:27:00.000-07:00

On Saturday evening, October 13, new and longstanding straight allies of GLBT Coloradoans and their families gathered at the State Capitol Building for “Seven Straight Nights for Equal Rights”, a vigil sponsored by Soulforce to continue the demand for equal rights for all Americans. Walking silently down Colfax from First Unitarian Church at 14th and Lafayette, over 50 vigil participants, led by Lorena Garcia, her partner Jennifer Stucka and Lorena’s parents, carried a large rainbow flag and luminaries adorned with personal messages. They were joined at the capitol by 15 to 20 members of Harmony: A Colorado Chorale, healthcare attorney and State House District 8 candidate Cindy Lowery, State House District 36 representative Morgan Carroll, and Broomfield city councilmember Bob Gaiser.

One of four Saturday-night vigils held nationwide and over 30 staged during the preceding week, the event was a complete success, according to volunteer organizer Lauren Johnston: “Having [the vigil] come to fruition with such force attests to the power of Coloradoans wanting change in our state.”

Lorri Knaus, her husband Chad, and their three young children traveled from Grand Junction to participate. Lorri and Chad Knaus first became involved with Soulforce in July 2006, at the “1,000 Watt Walk, Vigil and Concert” in Colorado Springs. “It boggles my mind that in 2007 this still isn’t recognized as a civil rights issue—that there are still people who believe that homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgender issues are a choice. Love between two humans is love between two humans,” Lorri Knaus said.

A self-identified, “committed populist”, Rep. Carroll reminded participants of their work’s importance: “Last year in Colorado we finally passed an employment nondiscrimination act I’m proud to have co-sponsored,” said Carroll. “… We have taken a clear stand and a clear step forward in Colorado saying ‘we do not tolerate workplace discrimination anymore.’ That happens because of activists like you. We really appreciate your vigilance.”

Broomfield Councilman Gaiser also spoke. “I’m one of the six openly gay elected officials [in Colorado],” he said. “I urge you to get involved in local politics, because that is where you can make a difference. Right now, in Washington D.C., there’s a campaign to get ENDA through. … Some people want to sacrifice our transgender brothers and sisters. I wish that you would be vocal and tell your congress people what you think.”

Organizers confirmed that Colorado State Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon had previously agreed to speak, and expressed surprise when he did not appear.

For additional information on “Seven Straight Nights for Equal Rights,” go to www.soulforce.org.

EVENT PHOTOS:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kateburns/

http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/btb/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/dsc_0054.jpg

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* As published in Out Front Colorado

Seven Straights Night Silent Walk & Vigil Denver

2007-10-13T19:25:00.000-07:00

Seven Straights Night Silent Walk & Vigil Denver Oct 13

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[Special thanks to Daniel Gonzales for still photos]

Fight for Inclusive ENDA Heats Up

2007-10-13T19:22:00.000-07:00

The efforts to move forward an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination
H.R. 2015 continue at a fast and furious pace.

http://www.bilerico.com/2007/10/fight_for_inclusive_enda_heats_up.php

ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES... SIGN THE PETITION:

http://www.nosubstitutes.org/