T Town Tommy

Monday Morning Humor - Michael Stipe Press Announcement

Prequel to The Easter Bunny Hates You

New for 2008 the origins of the Easter Bunny ... the true story of what happens when a bunny goes wrong. Happy Easter everyone!

Happy Easter 2008

After traveling almost 5,000 miles this month I'm tired but I wanted to wish all of you a Happy Easter 2008! Enjoy this repost in high quality video of what the Easter bunny is doing the other 364 days a year with "The Easter Bunny Hates You", if crucifixion was not violent enough! I'm going back to bed folks... enjoy the video and hands off the Peeps and chocolate bunnies.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

Graphics at WishAFriend.com

Weekend Update

Last Friday the Air National Guard mistook Tulsa for Kansas and dropped a 22 lb practice bomb about 3 miles from my house! The drop occurred at night which begs the question how can one mistake a lit up mid-sized city, in this case Tulsa for Kansas, a huge flat square dark empty expanse. The bomb hit Canyon Creek Apartments and buried itself in the buildings concrete foundation, lucky no one was hurt and the bomb was not armed.

On a positive note this weekend the City of Tulsa is finally shutting down its makeshift mulch factory behind my house. Imagine living right next to a lumber mill going 24/7 and trying to keep a pool clean much less endure the smell and dust penetrating your clothing and home. The city has ground enough trees limbs to make 120,000 cubic yards of mulch … in my back yard and it's gross. The mulch has been pretty much removed now but we are left with a huge city park that looks like a tilled empty pasture with a big concrete parking lot. I think the persons whose bright idea it was to setup a mulch factory in a city park should have to replant the entire park by themselves. My heart goes out to the residents living around the airport and across the Arkansas River in the Turkey Mountain area as mulching is most likely going to be ramped up in these areas. Fun!

Tuesday Oklahomans for Equality and Oklahoma PFLAG will be hosting two rallies in Oklahoma both at the Tulsa Equality Center and at the State Capitol building as Oklahoma citizens call for Rep. Sally Kern to either apologize or step down due to hate speech and her expressed bigotry towards the LGBT community and Oklahoma Muslims. Everyone is encouraged to attend and express your support of equal rights for all Oklahomans. 

 

 

Finally on a personal note I will be leaving for Texas after the rally on Tuesday to check on my Father who is scheduled to leave soon from the physical rehabilitation center he has been in for the last few months. Most of my time will be consumed taking care of his affairs but I hope to snap some photos of Spring 08 in East Texas. It's very pretty this time of year in Texas and will make for a wonderful drive south.  Have a great week everyone and I hope to see many of you at the Tulsa rally Tuesday.

Special thanks to My Tulsa World for Image 

 

Time to Ramble On

Photo by Jack C. High

It's been a great break from the real world but I'm back in Oklahoma after a whirl wind ten days in Seattle and Vancouver B.C. Time to ramble on back with the business of living now. My travel back took about two hours longer than it was suppose to but customs had to clear the plane coming from Dallas to Tulsa before I was allowed to come home in a nasty thunderstorm. Turns out spring break started a bit sooner for some travelers going to Cancun Mexico and they trashed the 757 airplane coming back to Texas. The flight made for a bumpy ride and a few green faces but I was more than happy to be back in my own bed. I want to thank my host during my stay up north, Allen, Nicola, little S and little V.

I did a few things I couldn't manage to squeeze into my post such as attend a charity auction for a local Washington youth group, touring Paul Allen's Science Fiction Museum, and browsing the shops and street vendors in downtown Seattle. I suppose I truly am a creature of the big city still and feel more at home blending into the masses on the city streets going about their business of the day. Seattle is a great city for fish and chips from some old school cooks, yet another thing you can't get fresh living in the middle of the country.

I will be writing more about Representative Kern and the fallout from her hateful bigoted diatribe later today but I wanted to let everyone know that I am back at the helm for what is sure to be a drawn out fight to get her removed from office, despite the praises heaped on her by Oklahoma Republicans.

Until then enjoy your Sunday everyone!

Tuesday Travel Update

A week has passed on my trips to Canada and Washington State! My stay in Vancouver B.C. was everything I thought it would be to my pleasant surprise. Vancouver itself and its surrounding communities combine to make for a huge city with a population over 2.2 million with over half its residents not having English as their primary language. I would have been in culture shock had I not grown up in a major metropolitan city "not Tulsa" and am somewhat use to hearing Japanese, Chinese, French and a multitude of other various languages walking around the malls and down the crowded city streets. It was a welcome change from just hearing Spanish and English in Oklahoma.

I now understand why Vancouver is called the Emerald City with all the conifers and green area parks, the buildings look like they were all built by the same company with the green glass and drab concrete. Vancouver in 2010 is hosting the Olympics and many areas are being torn up with new mass transit trams and venues being hurriedly built. It should be interesting to see how all the heavy construction effects it's ranking as one of the top three livable cities in the world. Overall it was a great trip, I don't know if I would want to live in Vancouver but traveling over 2,000 miles to visit was worth it. Check out over twenty photos from my trip on the T Town Tommy flickr site.

Monday Morning Humor - A Satirical Reaction to Rep. Sally Kern's Bigotry

On the Fritz! Observations of Modern Life has posted a hilarious satire of Sally Kern's bigoted theories about her Oklahoma LGBT constituents. One of the most powerful options when in the ugly face of hate is laughter.

Enjoy!

Show Representative Sally Kern your exercising your other options and demand action on the part of your local Oklahoma state leaders to have her removed from office. Hate and bigotry is not the kind of family values we support in 21st Century Oklahoma.

Thanks to the internet and the global media the eyes and judgment of the world is now upon us as one people, Oklahomans. We will be judged as a state in how our leaders tackle the issues of hate and bigotry in light of this recent event and upcoming legislation to protect Oklahoma's LGBT citizens from hate crimes and unequality in everyday living.

At the end of the video is contact information to file your complaints or follow this link to the Oklahoma House of Representatives to find out how to contact your state leaders today. Phone calls and letters are much more powerful than an email. Let your voice be heard!

Oklahoma Mountain Man

Day six is now over on my trip to Northern Washington State and Canada. I spent yesterday traveling east, deeper into the Cascade Mountain Range. It was amazing driving on the sides of the mountains at altitudes up to 3,600 feet. This is the skiing area for most Seattle residents and the lodges where bristling with residents getting in the last of decent powder before spring hits. Growing up on the US Gulf Coast and then moving to Oklahoma I am pretty much a flat-lander and couldn't ski down a hill if my very life depended on it.

Fortunately there is a little Bavarian alpine village called Leavenworth nestled in the beautiful Cascades that offers tons of shopping and the best in German food and of course BEER. Far be it for me to pass up a good stout pint! I never really considered Washington State as being a skiing state but the mountain views made me dizzy and my palms where sweating the entire drive.

Tomorrow I am off to Vancouver B.C. after having my birth certificate sent to me via FedEx so I can get across the border. I had wrongfully assumed a driver license would be enough to get into Canada. Turns out you need to have a passport now or at the very least a U.S. government ID and a birth certificate or you're not getting into Canada. It crossed my mind to perform a Mexican style crossing but the rivers up north are a bit colder than the Rio Grande.

Oklahomans for Equality Speaks Out on State Reps Hate Speech

Although anti-gay speech is a depressingly common element of U.S. political discourse, rarely does one hear the pure poison recently spewed by Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern in a YouTube video now circulating on the Internet with astonishing speed.

 

Unaware that her remarks to 50 supporters were being taped, Rep. Kern offers a shocking anti-gay tirade in which she asserts that homosexuality is "the biggest threat that our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam." She adds, "No society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than, you know, a few decades."

 

While Rep. Kern rants, fellow members of the Oklahoma state legislature seem unwilling to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender citizens. Oklahoma is one of 17 states whose hate crimes laws do not encompass sexual orientation and gender identity & expression. Despite last fall's senseless murder of Steven Domer, a 62 year-old gay man killed by Aryan supremacists in Oklahoma City, it is highly likely that the legislature will kill four bills that propose to amend the state hate crimes statute.

Let Rep. Kern and her colleagues know that hate speech is dangerous, that such words create a climate where physical assaults and killings are more likely, that it is abhorrent for a public official to use her authority to discriminate and defame law-abiding, contributing citizens.
 
Call or write your legislator (remember phone calls and handwritten letters are far more effective than email) and share your outrage at Rep. Kern's remarks. Urge them to demand that revision of Oklahoma's hate crimes law be considered by the full legislature.
To find your legislator, search here.

Contact Rep. Kern: 

Capitol Address
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd. Room 332
Oklahoma City, OK 73105

Phone: (405) 557-7348

Email: sallykern@okhouse.gov 

Law Maker Caught Bashing Gay Oklahoma Citizens

A new YouTube video has been released of State Representative Sally Kern bashing Gay Oklahomans during a recent speech. Below is the video of her bigoted ignorant hate filled speech in it's entirety including the claim that gays are a bigger threat to the US than terrorism and that LGBT Oklahoma citizens are after 2 year olds. The Oklahoma City lawmaker goes on to say that gays have a shorter lifespan than the rest of Oklahomans.

Other bigoted and disgusting claims made by Rep. Kern that I care not to repeat are heard on the video and displays the horrible ignorance and a total lack of respect for basic human rights on the lawmakers part. I strongly urge everyone to contact their local lawmakers demanding the censure and removal of Rep. Sally Kern from the Oklahoma House of Representatives and make crystal clear the message that in the 21st century hate and bigotry will no longer will be tolerated from our elected Oklahoma leaders.

More on the story with KOTV tulsa

Newest Iron Man Trailer

Iron Man: Trailer 2 - More free videos are here

Mountain Hike

Anyone up for a hike? Keeping to my word on this vacation I decided today to take in nature and accomplish a big challenge for me. For those of you new to the site I went through two major surgeries a few months ago and I have been taking it easy for a bit too long now. So I decided to embark on a seven mile mountain hike up and along the river and falls in Wallace Falls State Park, Washington. I took the more difficult but much more scenic hike right along the water and up the mountain for 3.5 miles up and 3.5 miles back down following the waters edge and switchbacks. I'm certainly sore tonight but the pictures, physical challenge and knowing I am now healed from three months worth of surgeries was worth every step I took.

Enjoy the photos both here and more mind blowing scenes on the T Town Tommy flickr page.

  Made it to the top!

Overlook of water fall

Touchdown

After dragging my butt out of bed at 4 am and six hours of air travel I am finally back in Seattle. Everything is still where I left it and the view of Mt. Rainer from the airplane is spectacular. I sent several emails to random gay people in the LGBT Northwest Washington area hoping to get a feel for its gay society or lack of society, especially in the rural areas of Washington State. I have never visited with any gay people up here and have no clue what the community offers its residents.

Unfortunately I have only received one response from a man in Everett Washington a small town north of Seattle. He responded “if you want to meet a guy then go to a bar! (i am trying to be polite)”. So much for some post about the LGBT community here! If this kind of rudeness is the standard of the greater LGBT Seattle community I think I will stick to enjoying the restaurants, natural beauty of the area and visiting family. How sad indeed.

Off Again to the Great Northwest

Valentine's Day is finally behind me and my staff at the flower shop for another year and now is the best time for me to escape Oklahoma for a bit before the start of spring weddings. As usual I am making my annual pilgrimage to Seattle, Washington and northwest Canada starting tomorrow. I will be flying out of Tulsa at 6:00 a.m. and hopefully there will be no delays with SNOW. Yes snow, I was wearing shorts this weekend with weather flirting around springtime temps and now we have a 90% possibly of snow tonight and Tuesday morning. At least in Seattle I know what to expect, rain, rain and more rain however the outlook is good for a few sunny days during my visit.

As always I will be taking lots of photos during my stay and on the agenda this trip is hiking  on Orcas island off the Washington coast and a road trip from Seattle to Vancouver B.C. for some sightseeing. I know my postings where a little light nonexistent last week but trying to get everything caught up so I can leave have taken up much of my time. 

T Town Tommy will be back to a normal schedule upon my return on March 14^th. Till then stay tuned for some amazing photos and my ad hoc travel journal on what will most likely be my only trip out of Oklahoma/Texas this spring and summer. Let the adventure begin…

Monday Morning Humor Late Edition - Betty Butterfield on Election 2008

Here is some drag queen logic applied to the 2008 Presidential Election

Research Study for Lesbian, Bisexual, and Questioning Women

A lesbian research team lead by Dawn Szymanski, Ph.D. is conducting a study on lesbian or bisexual women's experiences related to gender and sexual orientation. The online survey asks about experiences related to being a woman and a lesbian/bisexual person, connections to the LGB and feminist communities, ways of dealing with stressful events, and psychological well-being. All participants will be given the chance to win a $75 online gift certificate to Amazon. If you are a woman who is at least 18 years old and has experienced same-sex attraction, please click here to participate in this anonymous, 30-minute research study.

Monday Morning Humor - Strange Vehicles

Here is a montage collection of very strange and cool vehicles accompaniment music by the Doors. Enjoy!

Strange Vehicles - The most popular videos are a click away

B-2 Stealth Bomber Crashes

Reuters is reporting that a B-2 stealth bomber has crashed at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. The B-2 Spirit stealth bomber and support crews are based out of Whiteman Air Force Base south east of Kansas City, Missouri. Both pilots ejected safely and are in good condition.

Tulsa seems to be in the occasional flight paths of these modern marvels and some have had a rare treat of seeing the B-2 overhead. Our prayers go out to the two pilots and their famlies back home.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. B-2 stealth bomber crashed at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam just after taking off but the two pilots on board ejected safely, the U.S. Air Force said late on Friday.

"They have been evaluated by medical authorities and are in good condition," the Air Force said in a statement.

An Air Force spokeswoman did not have details about bomber's mission in Guam. The aircraft, which cost almost $1.2 billion each, is based at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

Developing Story With Reuters News

Events at the Tulsa Equality Center

For those of you not familiar with the Tulsa Equality Center a number of LGBT community events are happening weekly in downtown Tulsa. The Tulsa Equality Center offers free of charge; confidential HIV testing, support groups, video phone for the deaf and free internet Wi-Fi. Below is a listing of upcoming and current events.

"Exploring Balance": a Yoga Workshop by Stephen Saunders
Saturday, February 23, 3 - 5:30pm
Stephen Saunders leads the first-ever yoga workshop at the Equality Center, focusing on reducing tension, anxiety and stress, and replacing them with positive feelings of ease and grace.
This workshop is open to individuals with all levels of experience. Registration is $40, deadline is Monday, February 18. For more information or to register, download the flier. 

"Heroes and the Boogie Man: Celebrating Life Beyond Sexual Abuse"
Friday, April 18, University of Phoenix Tulsa Campus, 10810 East 45th Street
Heroes and the Boogie Man, is a powerful workshop designed and facilitated by Carlos Michael with one intended purpose--to demonstrate that it is possible to celebrate life beyond sexual abuse.

HOPE HIV Testing
Monday - Thursday: 6 - 8pm, Saturday: 4 - 7pm, Health Testing Center
Free, anonymous HIV testing with results in 20 minutes for MSM (men who have sex with men) and high-risk individuals. Also available by appointment.

L Word Tuesdays
Tuesdays, 7pm, Sue Welch Hall
“Excited about the new season of The L Word? So are we! Join us each Tuesday for the latest episode.”

Gender Outreach
Wednesdays, 7:30pm, Conference Room
A support and social group for transgender individuals.

Center Cinema: The Deep End
Fridays, 7pm, Sue Welch Hall
With her husband perpetually away at work, a mother raises her children virtually alone. Her teenage son is testing the waters of the adult world, and early one morning she wakes to find the dead body of his gay lover on the beach of their rural lakeside home. What would you do? What is rational and what do you do to protect your child? How far do you go and when do you stop?
 

Tulsa Unity String Orchestra Rehearsal
Thursdays, 6pm, Wellness Center
The Tulsa Unity String Orchestra, an all-volunteer ensemble,  practices in the Equality Center and performs at OkEq and area events. 

Faith in Crisis
Second and fourth Saturdays, 3 - 4:30pm, Conference Room
A support group for those experiencing religious/spiritual crises related to sexual orientation and identity, Faith in Crisis provides a safe, confidential environment for sharing questions and concerns, supporting others, learning from others' experiences, and collaboratively exploring religious/spiritual crises and ways to manage, cope, grow and heal from such experiences. For more information on the group and its facilitators, visit their website.

Game Night @ the Center
Saturdays, 6:30pm, Sue Welch Hall
New game each week. No need to RSVP, just drop in! 

Beginner's Yoga
Mondays, 6pm, Wellness Center
Center Yourself with OkEq's beginner's yoga class, instructed by certified yoga teacher Janet Parachin. Cost is $10 per session or $50 for six sessions, paid in advance. Students are advised to please bring a yoga mat.

Tulsa Pride 2008 Planning
Mondays, 7pm, Event Center
The Pride Committee meets each week to plan what promises to be the best Tulsa Pride event in history. We need your voice and energy on the Pride Committee! To volunteer your time, join the weekly planning meetings or email pride@okeq.org. For more, visit the official Pride 2008 website.

Inside Out ACA
Mondays, 7pm
The Inside Out group of ACA, Adult Children of Alcoholics, is a twelve-step, twelve tradition program of men and women who grew up in alcoholic or otherwise dysfunctional homes.

Equality Center Gallery: Oils and fine drawings by Jessica Newman
February's exhibit spotlights young artist Jessica Newman, whose work is themed around the human body and uses pencil, watercolors, oil paints, and charcoal.

Nancy & Joe McDonald Rainbow Library
The Equality Center lending library has thousands of LGBT-related books in dozens of genres, including fiction and non-fiction, as well as many free magazines like the Advocate, Gay Parents and the Ozark Star. 

Logo Network

The Equality Center features the Logo Network, the first and only 24-hour LGBT television channel, on the big screen in Sue Welch Hall. For programming information, visit the LOGO website.

David Bohnett CyberCenter
Nine high-speed-internet-connected computers and a network printer available to the public. The Equality Center also provides free wireless internet!

Relay Videophone for the Deaf
The Equality Center is fortunate to feature a broadband video relay service for the deaf in the David Bohnett CyberCenter. The Equality Center is the only publicly-accessible videophone available after 5pm in the city of Tulsa.

For more information contact The Dennis R. Neill Equality Center at 918.743.GAYS (4297) or visit the Oklahomans for Equality Web Site.

Oklahoma is a Very Strange State

Have you ever had that cold chill run up your spine in a strange building in the middle of the night? Caught a glimpse out of the corner of your eye of something that's just not right our maybe even seen a UFO? UFO's, ghost, the paranormal, Bigfoot and everything else that doesn't fit into the normal world is being explored by Cullan Hudson on his blog "Strange State".

Hudson is the graphic designer of our current masthead on T Town Tommy and is a special interest blogger covering the weird stuff that goes on in the heartland of America. He is also the author of Strange State: Mysteries and Legends of Oklahoma, a nonfiction collection of strange stories from Oklahoma. If you're curious about what new weird stuff is going on in the Sooner State or have your own strange but true Oklahoma story you want to share head over to his site. Those wanting to read about true and creepy stories in Oklahoma, buy the book Strange State: Mysteries and Legends of Oklahoma for some late night reading sure to leave you sleeping a little lighter.

Possible Freedom For Gay Cubans as Castro Steps Down

Although Havana may have a thriving gay community, communist dictator Fidel Castro has a long history of human rights abuse against LGBT Cuban citizens. With the dictator stepping down new hopes are stirred for gay civil rights.

Fidel Castro today announced his resignation as the political and military leader of Cuba, 49 years after he seized power and installed a Communist regime in the Caribbean island nation.

The 81-year-old's poor health in recent years has sparked a renewed national debate about the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans Cubans.

Sexual diversity was seen by Fidel Castro as a corrupt consequence of capitalism. Cuban poet Jose Mario, an important artistic figure in the country, suffered in Cuban labour camps as Castro's regime 're-educated' homosexuals.

At the entrance of the camp there was a sign which said "work shall make you men", similar to the motto of the Nazi concentration camps, "work shall set you free."

Last month Mariela Castro, who is the daughter of acting President Raul Castro and niece of Fidel, revealed that the Cuban Communist party is considering granting legal recognition to same-sex unions, as health officials prepare to authorise sex-change operations.

The proposed change to Cuban family law would put members of same-sex unions on a par with heterosexual couples.

The principal needs of Cuban homosexuals "are related to the right to their recognition as consensual couples, as non-matrimonial couples, but that authorities recognise their property and inheritance rights in those non-legalised unions," she said.

"That is their principal interest. They are not interested in marriage, they are not interested in adoption, because in Cuba there are hardly any children to adopt."

Rest of the story with European News Agency Pink News

Monday Morning Humor - Groan

I planted some birdseed. A bird came up. Now I don't know what to feed it.

I had amnesia once -- or twice.

I went to San Francisco. I found someone's heart. Now what?

Protons have mass? I didn't even know they were Catholic.

All I ask is a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.

If the world were a logical place, men would be the ones who ride horses sidesaddle.

What is a "free" gift? Aren't all gifts free?

They told me I was gullible and I believed them.

Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to merge his car onto the freeway.

Experience is the thing you have left when everything else is gone.

One nice thing about egotists: they don't talk about other people.

My weight is perfect for my height -- which varies.

I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not sure.

The cost of living hasn't affected its popularity.

How can there be self-help "groups"?

If swimming is so good for your figure, how do you explain whales?

Show me a man with both feet firmly on the ground, and I'll show you a man who can't get his pants off.

Is it me--or do buffalo wings taste like chicken!

NFL Browns Quarterback Shouts Slurs at Gays

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Cleveland Browns Quarterback Brady Quinn accused of using anti-gay slurs towards restaurant patrons

Cleveland Browns QB Brady Quinn reportedly used the word "faggot" toward a man leaving Columbus gay spot Union Cafe Bar + Food on New Year's Eve. Quinn was among a group of perhaps 10 people outside La Fogata Grill, a Mexican restaurant adjacent to the gay bar, but according to a 911 caller from the scene, used the slur as tensions rose between patrons of the establishments. – More with Towleroad

Video News Report and Tape of the 911 Call with AP

There is Only One T Town Tommy

I sometimes do a Google search on this blog's name to see what new results come up. I wasn't expecting to find a biker guy in Sapulpa, Oklahoma using my site name "T Town Tommy" for his myspace page. So let me go on the record, if you do a myspace or google search and find some myspace page for a biker that wants to join the Bandidos bike gang, that is not me! This is the link to my myspace page.

Now back to regular programming...