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Hope everyone is having a great Halloween! Here is a collection of stories about some spooky places in Oklahoma. Have fun tonight! Got to get back to feeding all the neighbors kids tons of sugar so they can keep their parents up all night!
The Oklahoma State University ghost
Route 66 - Ghost of the Mother Road
I love this time of year. A light jacket needed in the morning and the late night and a fall shirt during the afternoons. It's almost impossible to resist being outside as much as possible.
Lucas to expand Star Wars universe with TV series:
George Lucas told the L.A. Times he has started work on a live-action TV series which will be set in the Star Wars universe. These will be different stories, with different characters, but I suppose Star Wars fans will be plenty interested all the same.
Rest of the story with The Star Phoenix
This should be covered under the Geneva Convention…
This week in Calcutta, India:
An Indian suspect was forced by police to eat 50 bananas as a laxative, to retrieve a necklace he was accused of stealing and swallowing. When the bananas failed to produce the desired effect, police fed Sheikh Mohsin rice, chicken and local bread. Finally the necklace, which appeared on an X-ray taken on the suspect, was excreted and retrieved.
Mr Mohsin will appear in court on Monday in the eastern city of Calcutta, and could face a prison sentence. Police say he snatched a gold necklace worth £550 ($1,100) from a woman as she shopped for toys on Saturday. When cornered by police, he swallowed the necklace.
The suspect was fed 50 bananas on doctor's advice, after the X-ray dealt a blow to his denials. But only after a further meal did he yield the necklace, Calcutta police deputy commissioner Gyanwant Singh told AFP news agency.
A sweeper was paid to retrieve the exhibit from the toilet. Mr Mohsin was asked to wash it.
Scarborough Research report just released finds that Austin, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle are the top markets for people who read or contribute to blogs. Oklahoma City hedges out Tulsa in the report but overall Oklahoma represents surprisingly well compared to other states. According to researchers:
Demographically, bloggers are young and hail from middle class families. They are 66 percent more likely than the national average to be between the ages of 18 and 34. Fifty percent of bloggers are part of a household that has children under 17, as opposed to 41 percent of the total population. Bloggers are 20 percent more likely than the national average to have an annual household income between $50k and $100k per year.
Scarborough list of the top cities:
Scarborough Local Market Analysis: Top Local Markets for Bloggers
I think with so many supposed Neo-Con's getting outed this is starting to be true!
Hat tip to Manly Pointer
It's been awhile since I did a web/tech post and I rather like the new Dell XPS all in one computer leaked on EndGadget. This machine is crammed with some respectable horsepower and almost everything else you need a multimedia computer to do for home use. Dell built the computer to compete with Gateway and other rivals in the multimedia PC market. Check it out.
The Bush Administration has issued a statement signaling The President will likely veto the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The act will add sexual orientation to the list of reasons an employer may not fire a person from their job. The loophole the Bush Administration has found to kill the bill is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 and the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 both signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The RFRA act prohibits the Federal Government from substantially burdening the free exercise of religion except for compelling reasons, and then only in the least restrictive manner possible. The DOM act states the Federal Government will not recognize the marriage of two adult citizens of the same gender.
So according to Bush, Christians should have the religious freedom to terminate the employment of someone for simply being homosexual. Following his logic through it should also be legal for a majority run Catholic business to be able to fire an employee for possibly being Jewish or a Jewish firm to fire someone for being Muslim. It should be legal for a business being run by someone who is Pentecostal to fire a female worker for having short hair and wearing a pant suit to work someone like Laura Bush perhaps. Basically Bush found a political loop hole to avoid stating outright to the American people that according to him, being a Christian and a good Republican means being against civil rights and is defined by homophobia.
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20503
October 23, 2007 (House Rules)
STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY
H.R. 3685 – The Employment Non-Discrimination Act
(Rep. Frank (D) MA and 9 cosponsors)
H.R. 3685 would extend existing employment-discrimination provisions of Federal law, including those in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to establish "a comprehensive Federal prohibition of employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation." The bill raises concerns on constitutional and policy grounds, and if H.R. 3685 were presented to the President, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.
H.R. 3685 is inconsistent with the right to the free exercise of religion as codified by Congress in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The Act prohibits the Federal Government from substantially burdening the free exercise of religion except for compelling reasons, and then only in the least restrictive manner possible. H.R. 3685 does not meet this standard. For instance, schools that are owned by or directed toward a particular religion are exempted by the bill; but those that emphasize religious principles broadly will find their religious liberties burdened by H.R. 3685.
A second concern is H.R. 3685's authorization of Federal civil damage actions against State entities, which may violate States' immunity under the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The bill turns on imprecise and subjective terms that would make interpretation, compliance, and enforcement extremely difficult. For instance, the bill establishes liability for acting on "perceived" sexual orientation, or "association" with individuals of a particular sexual orientation. If passed, H.R. 3685 is virtually certain to encourage burdensome litigation beyond the cases that the bill is intended to reach.
Provisions of this bill purport to give Federal statutory significance to same-sex marriage rights under State law. These provisions conflict with the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as the legal union between one man and one woman. The Administration strongly opposes any attempt to weaken this law, which is vital to defending the sanctity of marriage.
I came across this essay several months ago on the historical significance to war in our society and the current war we are involved in globally to fight Islamic Fascist and restore human rights, freedom and our national security. It is worth a read if for nothing else to give pause to those who want to "redeploy" our troops currently in overseas Middle East operations. I was startled this week when our President, George Bush, proclaimed "if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing [Iran] from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon." While I still have mixed feelings about invading Iraq and outrage in how the "liberation" has been executed in Iraq; the writer makes many startling references and I see our citizens lacking the backbone our Grandparents had to have to survive World War II. Is our nation willing again to make the sacrifices our ancestors made for the survival of our way of life? Or have we become too fat and lazy, leading ourselves to be washed away by the sands of history?
Historical Significance
Sixty-three years ago, Nazi Germany had overrun almost all of Europe and hammered England to the verge of bankruptcy and defeat. The Nazis had sunk more than 400 British ships in their convoys between England and America taking food and war materials. At that time the US was in an isolationist, pacifist mood, and most Americans wanted nothing to do with the European or the Asian war.
Then along came Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and in outrage Congress unanimously declared war on Japan, and the following day on Germany, who had not yet attacked us. It was a dicey thing. We had few allies. France was not an ally, as the Vichy government of France quickly aligned itself with its German occupiers. Germany was certainly not an ally, as Hitler was intent on setting up a Thousand Year Reich in Europe. Japan was not an ally, as it was well on its way to owning and controlling all of Asia. Together, Japan and Germany had long-range plans of invading Canada and Mexico, as launching pads to get into the United States over our northern and southern borders, after they finished gaining control of Asia and Europe. America's only allies then were England, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, Australia, and Russia. That was about it All of Europe, from Norway to Italy (except Russia in the East) was already under the Nazi heel. The US was certainly not prepared for war.
The US had drastically downgraded most of its military forces after WW I because of the depression, so that at the outbreak of WW II, Army units were training with broomsticks because they didn't have guns, and cars with "tank" painted on the doors because they didn't have real tanks A huge chunk of our Navy had just been sunk or damaged at Pearl Harbor. Britain had already gone bankrupt, saved only by the donation of $600 million in gold bullion in the Bank of England (that was actually the property of Belgium) given by Belgium to England to carry on the war when Belgium was overrun by Hitler (a little known fact). Actually, Belgium surrendered on day one, because it was unable to oppose the German invasion, and the Germans bombed Brussels into rubble the next day just to prove they could.
Britain had already been holding out for two years in the face of staggering losses and the near decimation of its Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain, and was saved from being overrun by Germany only because Hitler made the mistake of thinking the Brits were a relatively minor threat that could be dealt with later. Hitler first turned his attention to Russia, in the late summer of 1940 at a time when England was on the verge of collapse. Ironically, Russia saved America's butt by putting up a desperate fight for two years, until the US got geared up to begin hammering away at Germany. Russia lost something like 24,000,000 people in the sieges of Stalingrad and Moscow alone . . . 90% of them from cold and starvation, mostly civilians, but also more than 1,000,000 soldiers. Had Russia surrendered, Hitler would have been able to focus his entire war effort against the Brits, then America. If that had happened, the Nazis could possibly have won the war.
All of this has been brought out to illustrate that turning points in history are often dicey things. Now, we find ourselves at another one of those key moments in history. There is a very dangerous minority in Islam that either has, or wants, and may soon have, the ability to deliver small nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, almost anywhere in the world. The Jihadist, the militant Muslims, are basically Nazis in Kaffiyahs -- they believe that Islam, a radically conservative form of Wahhabi Islam, should own and control the Middle East first, then Europe, then the world. To them, all who do not bow to their will of thinking should be killed, enslaved, or subjugated. They want to finish the Holocaust, destroy Israel, and purge the world of Jews. This is their mantra. (Goal)
There is also a civil war raging in the Middle East -- for the most part not a hot war, but a war of ideas. Islam is having its Inquisition and its Reformation, but it is not yet known which side will win -- the Inquisitors, or the Reformationists. If the Inquisition wins, then the Wahhabis, the Jihadists, will control the Middle East, the OPEC oil, and the US, European, and Asian economies. The techno-industrial economies will be at the mercy of OPEC -- not an OPEC dominated by the educated, rational Saudis of today, but an OPEC dominated by the Jihadist. Do you want gas in your car? Do you want heating oil next winter? Do you want the dollar to be worth anything? You had better hope the Jihad, the Muslim Inquisition, loses, and the Islamic Reformation wins. If the Reformation movement wins, that is, the moderate Muslims who believe that Islam can respect and tolerate other religions, live in peace with the rest of the world, and move out of the 10th century into the 21st, then the troubles in the Middle East will eventually fade away. A moderate and prosperous Middle East will emerge. We have to help the Reformation win, and to do that we have to fight the Inquisition, i.e., the Wahhabi movement, the Jihad, Al Qaeda and the Islamic terrorist movements. We have to do it somewhere. We can't do it everywhere at once. We have created a focal point for the battle at a time and place of our choosing . . . . . in Iraq. Not in New York, not in London, or Paris or Berlin, but in Iraq, where we are doing two important things.
(1) We deposed Saddam Hussein. Whether Saddam Hussein was directly involved in the 9/11 terrorist attack or not, it is undisputed that Saddam had been actively supporting the terrorist movement for decades Saddam was a terrorist! Saddam was a weapon of mass destruction, responsible for the deaths of probably more than a 1,000,000 Iraqis and 2,000,000 Iranians.
(2) We created a battle, a confrontation, and a flash point, with Islamic terrorism in Iraq. We have focused the battle. We are killing bad people, and the ones we get there we won't have to get here. We also have a good shot at creating a democratic, peaceful Iraq, which will be a catalyst for democratic change in the rest of the Middle East, and an outpost for a stabilizing American military presence in the Middle East for as long as it is needed.
WW II, the war with the Japanese and German Nazis, really began with a "whimper" in 1928. It did not begin with Pearl Harbor. It began with the Japanese invasion of China. It was a war for fourteen years before the US joined it. It officially ended in 1945 -- a 17 year war -- and was followed by another decade of US occupation in Germany and Japan to get those countries reconstructed and running on their own again. A 27 year war. WW II cost the United States an amount equal to approximately a full year's GDP -- adjusted for inflation, equal to about $12 trillion dollars. WW II cost America more than 400,000 soldiers killed in action, and nearly 100,000 still missing in action. The Iraq war has, so far, cost the United States about $160,000,000,000, which is roughly what the 9/11 terrorist attack cost New York.
It has also cost about 3,000 American lives, which is roughly equivalent to lives that the Jihad killed (within the United States) in the 9/11 terrorist attack. The cost of not fighting and winning WW II would have been unimaginably greater -- a world dominated by Japanese Imperialism and German Nazism. This is not a 60-Minutes TV show, or a 2-hour movie in which everything comes out okay. The real world is not like that. It is messy, uncertain, and sometimes bloody and ugly. It always has been, and probably always will be. The bottom line is that we will have to deal with Islamic terrorism until we defeat it, whenever that is. It will not go away if we ignore it. If the US can create a reasonably democratic and stable Iraq, then we have an ally, like England, in the Middle East, a platform, from which we can work to help modernize and moderate the Middle East. The history of the world is the clash between the forces of relative civility and civilization, and the barbarians clamoring at the gates to conquer the world. The Iraq War is merely another battle in this ancient and never ending war. Now, for the first time ever, the barbarians are about to get nuclear weapons. Unless somebody prevents them from getting such weapons.
We have four options:
1. We can defeat the Jihad now, before it gets nuclear weapons.
2. We can fight the Jihad later, after it gets nuclear weapons (which may be as early as next year, if Iran's progress on nuclear weapons is what Iran claims it is).
3. We can surrender to the Jihad and accept its dominance in the Middle East now; in Europe in the next few years or decades, and ultimately in America.
OR
4. We can stand down now, and pick up the fight later when the Jihad is more widespread and better armed, perhaps after the Jihad has dominated France and Germany and possibly most of the rest of Europe. It will, of course, be more dangerous, more expensive, and much bloodier.
If you oppose this war, I hope you like the idea that your children, or grandchildren, may live in an Islamic America under the Mullahs and the Sharia, an America that resembles Iran today. The history of the world is the history of civilization clashes, cultural clashes. All wars are about ideas, ideas about what society and civilization should be like, and the most determined always win. Those who are willing to be the most ruthless always win. The pacifists always lose, because the anti-pacifists kill them.
Remember, perspective is everything, and America's schools teach too little history for perspective to be clear, especially in the young American mind. The Cold War lasted from about 1947 at least until the Berlin Wall came down in 1989; forty-two years! Europe spent the first half of the 19th century fighting Napoleon, and from 1870 to 1945 fighting Germany! World War II began in 1928, lasted 17 years, plus a ten year occupation and the US still have troops in Germany and Japan. World War II resulted in the death of more than 50,000,000 people, maybe more than 100,000,000 people, depending on which estimates you accept.
The US has taken more than 3,000 killed in action in Iraq. The US took more than 4,000 killed in action on the morning of June 6, 1944, the first day of the Normandy Invasion to rid Europe of Nazi Imperialism. In WW II the US averaged 2,000 KIA a week -- for four years. Most of the individual battles of WW II lost more Americans than the entire Iraq war has done so far. The stakes are at least as high. A world dominated by representative governments with civil rights, human rights, and personal freedoms. Or a world dominated by a radical Islamic Wahhabi movement, by the Jihad, under the Mullahs and the Sharia (Islamic law) It's difficult to understand why the average American does not grasp this. They favor human rights, civil rights, liberty and freedom, but evidently not for Iraqis. "Peace Activists" always seem to demonstrate here in America, where it's safe.
Why don't we see Peace Activist demonstrating in Iran, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, North Korea, in the places that really need peace activism the most? I'll tell you why! They would be killed! The liberal mentality is supposed to favor human rights, civil rights, democracy, multiculturalism, diversity, etc., but if the Jihad wins, wherever the Jihad wins, it is the end of civil rights, human rights, democracy, multiculturalism, diversity, etc. Americans who oppose the liberation of Iraq are coming down on the side of their own worst enemy!
Author Raymond S. Kraft is an attorney and writer in Northern California. He can be reached at rskraft@vfr.net
Comedian Stephen Colbert insisted on Sunday that his ambition to run for president was no joke -- then joked he would consider disgraced Republican Sen. Larry Craig as a vice presidential running mate. -Sydney Morning Herald
Now that I have two thirds of the hospital stays to correct my digestive system behind me, I feel some type of tribute to that often neglected part of our body is in order.The average human farts twelve times a day...
A fart it is a pleasant thing,
It gives the belly ease,
It warms the bed in winter,
And suffocates the fleas.
A fart can be quiet,
A fart can be loud,
Some leave a powerful,
Poisonous cloud
A fart can be short,
Or a fart can be long,
Some farts have been known
To sound like a song......
A fart can create
A most curious medley,
A fart can be harmless,
Or silent, and deadly.
A fart might not smell,
While others are vile,
A fart may pass quickly,
Or linger a while......
A fart can occur
In a number of places,
And leave everyone there,
With strange looks on their faces.
From wide-open prairie,
To small elevators,
A fart will find all of
Us sooner or later.
But farts are all bad,
Is simply not true.
We must never forget.......
Sweet farts like you!
I'm back everyone! You can't keep a good man down or if you listen to my partner, a Big Mary. The last two weeks have been terrible for me but interesting in a gross scientific way. As I explained in an earlier post I had a CT scan done and went into the hospital again for six days on October 9th. I had part one of a two part surgery for diverticulitis this past week after a weeklong stay in the hospital last month just treating the internal infections on the bad area and bed rest. I had damaged a section of my lower intestine by gaining 240 lbs, after working 60 hours a week for years running a business and eating junk for every meal.
I switched over a year ago to a very healthy high fiber diet but not with enough water and lost almost 50lbs. When I decided to change the way I ate and started exercising more the damage I had done from being overweight became painfully apparent. Over those years working constantly the damaged intestinal section had developed little blown out cyst pockets on the outside wall that was attaching to the back of my bladder and other parts of my entire lower intestine. The surgeon went in and basically gently pulled everything apart and drained the infection out of all the external growths on the outside of the bad part of the lower intestine walls. All of this was done Laparoscopic with only 5 incisions one for drainage and two right under my belly button, damn that hurt.
Both visits I had three IV bags going at once into my arms 24/7. Two bags where antibiotics and one basically was saline water pumping me to full hydration. I had the same three cocktail this time around with a morphine pump to top it off. My arms look like Keith Richard's during the 70's for Christ sake and for a few days I knew what that must have felt like.
The one thing that really pissed me off is when I came to in post op they had trimmed me from the lower, I mean lower abs half way up my chest. I was expecting them to stay a LOT lower only and I started looking around, after I could make a complete thought, I looked for some huge scar thinking something went horribly wrong. From the forest line up I slowly did an assessment looking for big cuts thinking the worse. Everything went great I was hurriedly told and I finished up the trim work so I don't have a quarter chest of hair. Thursday I had the huge JP tube taken out of my side. The Doctor's Assistant just grabbed it and pulled it out of my side with no drugs and it just felt bizarre, like well… someone pulling something out of your gut. Not really pain as much as a weird sensation. I wanted to do a happy dance in the office after they patched me back up and removed what looked like a Borg implant from my side that I had to care for this entire week.
So now I can see the problem spots quite glaringly in my abs and chest that need to work due to being sans body hair for the first time since I was 18 years old. Amazingly I weighed 192lbs when I started having this problem first of September and after drinking 80oz of water a day for a month plus the IV hydration for two weeks I have jumped back to 205 lbs. However none of the weight really went to my waist or stomach area. My stomach is still pretty flat with not much in the way of love handles. I think most of the extra water evenly distributed itself though out my body. I learned most Europeans and Americans are usually dehydrated most of their lives due to our modern diet. Poor hydration leads or contributes to a myriad of avoidable health problems. Due to my size my hydration was calculated at 80oz a day. No one's needs are exactly the same. Nutritionist base requirements for water on the patient's body mass, height, and weight so ignore what the work out sites may state and simply ask your family doctor during your next visit.
Actually the timing for all of this could not be better. I won't be going in for my next surgery until the week after Thanksgiving so I can enjoy lots of high fat low fiber food instead of a diet of Jell-O and broth. I am also getting all of this out of the way before I turn 40 and still improving my health from the stricter diet I will be on once this is all over. My Doctor's assistant instructed me not to lift anything over 15lbs until told otherwise so I can get out of the heavy lifting during the Thanksgiving and Christmas rush from owning a floral business. I get desk duty, talk on the phone with people all day and oversee things. I am still hoping for a busy holiday season this year!
I do want to thank Dr. Craig Johnson M.D. and his surgery staff for a job well done with my last hospital stay. I had both he, his staff and my family doctor Scott Sexter M.D. checking in on me daily and I felt in great hands during the entire ordeal that I can remember and felt much of nothing the rest of the time. Here is a page of photos from the actually surgery. How many bloggers can say they have gone so far as to publish pictures of their own guts for their blog readers! Not for the squeamish…
For those who don't keep up with my blog, I have been MIA for awhile now. I went back into the hospital last Tuesday after CT scans showed a very severe reoccurrence of diverticulitis flare-ups in my lower intestine. Wednesday night I had surgery and have been drifting around on a morphine pump until yesterday. Turns out the situation was more life threatening than anyone realized until the doctor started in on me on the surgery table. In six weeks I go back into the hospital for a final round and have 6" of my lower intestine removed; oh joy…
This morning after meeting with my surgeons I was released and sent home with a Jackson-Pratt tube in my side. Basically I have over a foot of tubing inside of my lower trunk draining off excess infection and blood. The surgeons though are very impressed with my recovery so far and I will be getting the tubing out in half the time of a normal patient. I will be posting a blow by blow with photos later of the surgery and my experiences in the hospital. Like I stated before the technology is amazing and my surgery team is second to none.
Right now I am extremely weak and flat worn out by the entire ordeal. I know better than to blog while on pain medication. I can start talking to you about GLBT rights and end talking about Mary Poppins and it will only make sense to me while taking these drugs for pain. I do want to extend my warmest thanks and love again to my support network of friends, family and my loving partner Billy. Without all of you guys I would not have near the fight in me to get through this without losing my faith. I will be back to a normal blogging schedule hopefully within a week or two and I sincerely hope you the reader will have patience and keep the faith during my absence.
Peace, Love and Hugs,
~T
This email from a Tulsa Resident arrived in my inbox this morning and I thought it was worth sharing.
I have been in the undecided
category on the "river tax" issue for the past few months, going back and forth between thinking the growth and development would be good for Tulsa and
also thinking that the money, however well intended, may not gain the
desired results.
Last night, I attended a
program, on all things, on pond and water conservation with a
presentation by the director of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife. The gentleman is in charge of fish and water
development and offices in Jenks. Well, the conversation of course went to the
river issue.
This was a perspective I have
not read in the hundreds of flyers I have received at my home, nor in
the hundreds of commercials I have seen on television in the past three
weeks.
We will be taking one of the
only prairie rivers IN THE COUNTRY and destroying what nature
created for us. Yes, there are times
that there is no water in the river- that
is what the river naturally does. That
is the definition of a prairie river. He also mentioned that Tulsa is one of the few, if not only, cities you
can fish for massive fish in the city limits.
Most Tulsan don't realize
there is excellent fishing on the west bank of the Arkansas. Ask my husband, Bob. He can't believe the fish he and others have caught there. Striped bass 25 pounds and more.
Another important fact. If we create these "lakes", we will
destroy the striped bass population that
is now incredibly abundant in our own backyards. They cannot survive in the newly created
lakes due to their spawning activities.
And in addition, with the
silt and sand issue in a prairie river, within a relatively short period of
time, these lakes will fill with these materials and only be two or three feet
deep and have an unsafe water condition for any sort of activity to happen. He said Keystone Lake has the same issue happening right now. The techniques that were used to test for
water quality to promote the tax
are tests that are archaic and only used currently in two states. Oklahoma being one of them.
He tried very hard not to be
political with his comments, but it was very clear that this man is a
naturalist and loves the wildlife and the natural prairie river that has
existed long before we did. If the tax
passes, the ecosystem that has a delicate
balance will be destroyed- the fish, the flow of the river, and potentially
change into a stinking mess because of shallow, stagnant water.
The developments that exist
right now seem to be doing quite well without the river development- after
Bob and I attended the seminar, we went to Red Rock Grill and it was packed-
even with the river as it is.
And have you ever wondered
why you are being inundated with mailers (I receive up to two a day) and
television commercials? Who is paying
for all of this? And how does all this benefit downtown?
I only share this with you
because I have never read, or heard a true discussion on the natural
side of the development and think this message should be considered. I guess I will decide Tuesday in the voting
booth.
Diane Hambric
President
Gold Medallion Senior Housing
It's been awhile since I spent time to sit down and fill everyone in on what's shaking in my world. Hopefully everyone has been enjoying my music reviews, LGBT news, horrible jokes, and commentary about the river tax. After this weekend the office chair is looking great! I spent Saturday moving my friend Buster into his new apartment, Saturday night at the Okie Blogger Round Up and Sunday helping my friend Chaz move into his very cool new downtown Tulsa condo. Forget about hitting the gym this weekend I got a good workout helping lug oversized furniture around. Why do all gay men have at least one piece of furniture you can bury an elephant in?
The blogger roundup was fun to attend this year. I have never been to one of these events and it was nice to visit with informed people and put faces with some of my favorite regional blogs. While the pizza was as good as always the service at Hide-Away Pizza on Cherry Street was really lacking for the awards. It was great to meet those who attended but I thought it was a bit rude for so many award winners to be a no show. I hope next year if and wherever we have the event that the turnout is better. Congratulations to those who won and it was a delight to see award winners in person.
Tomorrow is the big vote for the Arkansas River Development Tax for Tulsa County. As I wrote in an earlier post that those who vote for this tax increase are ill informed and falling for a lot of false promises pushed by members of the old media and our local politicians. The Tulsa Our River Yes supporters would have us think that putting water in a river is going to give us increases in new jobs and development. When new companies look at a place to relocate they look at taxes, infrastructure, talent pool, and quality of life. We have the Vision 2025 project that is improving the quality of life and we have lots to offer in talent pool however our taxes, roads, and schools are lacking.
Part of the sales pitch for Vision 2025 was river development. Now our politicians are saying "oh no you didn't read the fine print which is if we get matching federal money we can do the river development"; I feel scammed by those pushing Vision 2025. The entire river plan is ill-conceived with ecological experts saying the water will be too hazardous for human contact and placing a pedestrian bridge basically on top of our municipal sewer plant that smells what you would expect tens of thousands of gallons of poo to smell like. I look at Tulsa and see North Tulsa getting in worse shape, our infrastrucre crumbling, taxes going up and Tulsa's school buildings getting very old and ran down. Edison Senior High School where I graduated was built in 1953 and it's in better shape than several of our other schools in TISD. Our leaders are taking the eye off the ball of Vision 2025 and pushing another tax on residents demonstrating irresponsible leadership. Please vote no and send a message to our leaders to keep an eye on the basics before we tackle a dubious county wide river development.
Finally I want to give an update on my health ordeal I went through last month with a week in the hospital from diverticulitis. Since getting out of the hospital I have been doing everything the doctor has been telling me. I have stayed on a low fiber diet with 80 oz. of water and two cups of yogurt a day. I have had to avoid a lot of the standard food I got used to during my previous diet. A little over a year and a half ago I weighed in at 240lb. This may sound like a lot but I am 6'1" and have a large to medium frame. At 240lb I still wore a 34" waist size but by last summer I got down to 190lb and a 32" waist. Before my flare up I was eating a lot of healthy food but not nearly enough water to accommodate all the fiber in my health food diet. This caused intestinal damage and now I am just waiting for surgery.
I started back to working out again this month and helped a friend lug heavy furniture around Saturday then woke up at 4 am Sunday in some pain. I walked it off in a few hours and then helped Chaz move Sunday but didn't lift anything heavy otherwise I wouldn't have made it. Finally at my partners' insistence I called the doctor today and told them what was going on.
I am scheduled for a CAT scan tomorrow then possibly surgery later on this week. I haven't had any major surgery except getting a knee rebuilt from football. Needless to say I am a bit freaked about the concept of having 6" of my lower intestines removed. However in the 21st century they just make three small cuts in your lower abs and use a scope for the entire procedure; it's mind-blowing technology. I will post another personal update when I go in about how I am doing however I won't be blogging much due to the morphine. I am sure to be floating around on a painkiller vacation for a few days.
I read somewhere never drink and post or place comments online. I figured the same rule applies to intravenous morphine the nurses will be giving me during my hospital stay. If anything, I learned in the hospital whom my friends really are and how I should cherish each and every one of them and what a gift I have in relationships with these people. Strange what we learn through challenges. Now I am just rambling so I will close. Remember don't be a lemming and vote No! tomorrow and enjoy the very first hint of fall going on right now in Oklahoma.
Happy Columbus Day and the Start of Fall!
Dear Walter:
I hope you can help me here. The other day I set off for work leaving
my husband in the house watching the TV as usual. I hadn't gone more
than a few hundred yards down the road when my engine conked out and
the car shuddered to a halt. I walked back home to get my husband's
help.
When I got home I couldn't believe my eyes. He was parading in front of
the wardrobe mirror dressed in my underwear and high- heel shoes, and he
was wearing my make up.
I am 32, my husband is 34 and we have been married for twelve years.
When I confronted him, he tried to make out that he had dressed in my
lingerie because he couldn't find his own underwear. But when I asked
him about the make up, he broke down and admitted that he'd been
wearing my clothes for six months. I told him to stop or I would leave
him.
He was let go from his job six months ago and he says he has been
feeling increasingly depressed and worthless. I love him very much, but
ever since I gave him the ultimatum he has become increasingly distant.
I don't feel I can get through to him anymore. Can you please help?
Sincerely,
Mrs. Sheila Usk
Dear Sheila:
A car stalling after being driven a short distance can be caused by a
variety of faults with the engine. Start by checking that there is no
debris in the fuel line. If it is clear, check the jubilee clips holding
the vacuum pipes onto the inlet manifold. If none of these approaches
solves the problem, it could be that the fuel pump itself is faulty,
causing low delivery pressure to the carburetor float chamber. I hope
this helps.
Walter
Just a reminder to everyone the 2007 Okie Blogger Round-up is tomorrow, Saturday October 6th. The event will be held at Hideaway Pizza on Cherry Street in Tulsa between 4-6 pm. Hope to see lots of you there!
-Map to Event
My significant other, Billy saw the test results I have been posting from Personality.info and decided to take the Personality Type test to compare to mine. He has graciously given me permission to post his results. I found it interesting that we match up everywhere except in one area. Perhaps opposites do attract after all. I also wanted to share that my ninth year anniversary together with Billy is October 15th; looking for ideas for anniversary gifts!
Bruce Springsteen is back in true form with the release of Magic including the E-Street Band. Reviews already all say that Bruce has returned with the big E-Street sound and not a single track is a dud. Looking tanned, well rested and wiser, Springsteen the lyric master sounds resigned and angry about the world around us today in this newest album. Once again, Springsteen demonstrates brilliant insight into a variety of subject matters. He masterfully combines driving rhythms with lyrical observations. With so many poor releases in the music industry Magic does just that, performs magic and gives us a seminal Bruce Springsteen album amongst a vast wasteland of modern rock music. Check out the deal at amazon.com on the new cd or the Sony High Quality VINYL LP.
Check out his newest video Radio Nowhere
For curious readers here is another test from Personality.info that I took today. Turns out according to the test that I am an INTJ - "The Strategist". According to the web site only 1.5% of people score this personality type. Personality.info describes my personality type by stating:
INTJs are introspective, analytical, determined persons with natural leadership ability. Being reserved, they prefer to stay in the background while leading. Strategic, knowledgeable and adaptable, INTJs are talented in bringing ideas from conception to reality. They expect perfection from themselves as well as others and are comfortable with the leadership of another so long as they are competent. INTJs can also be described as decisive, open-minded, self-confident, attentive, theoretical and pragmatic.
Visit the Personality.info web site to take several different test and see what makes you tick.
A judge hearing the arguments that toe tapping Senator Larry Craig's guilty plea was given under duress has been rejected.
(Minneapolis, Minnesota) A Minnesota judge on Thursday refused to allow Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) to withdraw his guilty plea from a gay sex sting bust.
Hennepin County Judge Charles Porter in a written ruling said that Craig's guilty plea was made voluntarily.
"Because the defendant's plea was accurate, voluntary and intelligent, and because the conviction is supported by the evidence ... the Defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea is denied," Porter wrote in the ruling.
Rest of the Story with Gay News from 365
So much for the hypocritical Senator trying to sweep his need for public sex under the bathroom stall and keeping it a secret. Craig last week was among the Republicans who voted against the Matthew Shepard Act. No wonder Congress has a national approval rating of 11%!
October starts a month of GLBT activities in Tulsa and GLBT history month.
About GLBT History Month
In the 1990s, teachers and community leaders believed a month should be dedicated to the celebration and teaching of GLBT history. They selected October because public schools are in session and existing traditions, such as Coming Out Day (October 11), occur then.
GLBT History Month was endorsed by GLAAD, HRC, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and other national organizations. Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber declared October 1995 to be Lesbian and Gay History Month; and in July 1995, the National Education Association voted to support the concept. In 1996, the governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut and the mayors of Boston and Chicago also proclaimed October GLBT History Month.
In 2006, Equality Forum's Board of Directors and National Board of Governors voted unanimously to coordinate GLBT History Month, modeling it on Black History Month and Women's History Month.
GLBT History Month Official Site
During the month of October The GLBT History Month website will be showing documentaries each day about the fight for equal rights and interviews with gay and civil rights leaders. Some of which you may never have heard their stories yet or how they are changing out world, your world for the better. The Equality Forum is calling their October internet presentations "31 Days. 31 Icons".
Tulsa Events this month include:
The 2007 AIDS Walk Tulsa 15th annual AIDS Walk is 9am, October 6th, 2007 at Veteran's Park.
Out of the Closet: a T-shirt exhibit
Corporation Commissioner Jim Roth
Out and Proud Bar Crawl, several area bars
OK State Rep Al McAffrey: "A Living History"
Unity String Orchestra
Get involved in at least one of the above activities and visit the Oklahomans for Equality web site for more local events and dates.
Change is good
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