T Town Tommy

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...

2008 Tulsa Gay Pride Theme and Events Announced

Oklahomans for Equality has released this year's Tulsa 2008 Gay Pride logo and schedule for an expanded two weeks of events. June's Gay Pride events and activities are centered around the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center, Tulsa's new 18,000 sq ft state of the art LGBT community center located in downtown Tulsa. The theme for 2008 Tulsa Gay Pride is "Equality, Love, Tulsa".

Tulsa Pride 2008 Official Site

Dennis R. Neill Equality Center

Oklahomans for Equality

Valentine's Day Outlawed in Middle East

The BBC is reporting that Saudi religious police is banning again this year the sale of Valentine's gifts deeming the holiday "Un-Islamic". 

The Saudi Gazette quoted shop workers as saying that officials had warned them to remove all red items including flowers and wrapping paper.

Black market prices for roses were already rising, the paper said.

Saudi authorities consider Valentine's Day, along with a host of other annual celebrations, as un-Islamic.

In addition to the prohibition on celebrating non-Islamic festivals, the authorities consider Valentine's Day as encouraging relations between men and women outside wedlock - punishable by law in the conservative kingdom.

The Saudi Gazette reported that some people placed orders with florists days or weeks before Valentine's Day in anticipation of the ban, which is a regular occurrence.

"Sometimes we deliver the bouquets in the middle of the night or early morning, to avoid suspicion," one florist said.

Link to BBC

Monday Morning Humor - Only on the Internet

Daft Bodies - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Becoming My Parent’s Parent

Ok so that's not my parents, in reality the Cleavers where nowhere close to resembling anyone's family. Studies have suggested that almost 85% of all families can be considered dysfunctional in some way. A far cry from the homogonous sappy life on "Leave it to Beaver". I guess one takes some comfort in knowing you're not alone in having a fucked up family. It's up to us once we become adults how we deal with our parents and mold the next generation. Hopefully it's in a healthier manner. Whether we accept the mistakes, character flaws and sometimes horrible decisions our parents made from an adult perspective or harbor resentments in many ways defines who we are today, whether we want to admit it or not.

I left home in Texas shortly after my Mother passed away from cancer when I was 15 years old. My father was never well equipped to be a parent so I was given a choice of going to an orphanage or going to live with my Grandparents in Oklahoma and support myself. I harbored a lot of hurt and resentment over the years of having my family scattered and being forced to become an adult over night at such a young age. I saw my Father only once in the following decade, during an awards ceremony where I was getting a medal and he could be a proud parent.

However a lot changed in my mid 20's and I came to see my Father as a person flaws and all and not an authority figure. My friends and cousins where all having children and becoming parents and for a change I was one of the authority figures. Now enough years have passed that my Father's health has taken a turn for the worse. Decades of chain smoking, a poor diet, lack of exercise and bad health choices have left him almost bed ridden at age 70. He had his appendix burst at home and underwent emergency surgery about six weeks ago. It's a medical miracle he survived and after a two week stay in the hospital he was moved to a nursing home for physical therapy. However he cannot walk more than 100 feet before he tires and must rest.

Most of his family lives in East Texas and he is in good hands but this week he has asked to come to Oklahoma to live with my partner and me and have physical therapy in the home. I work from home so I am there most of the day and he knows this after several visits. Members of my family have taken over various roles in his life from carrying for his place, to paying his bills, doctor's appointments and moral support. I would be taking on all of these roles and basically becoming my parent's parent. I find myself on the fence if I want him up here or not and I don't think it's for selfish reasons.

My partner and I cared for my Grandmother till she passed away about three years ago at age 85. It was a real challenge for the both of us. While we gained many rewards from having my Grandmother in our lives having to put those lives on hold for everyday care was a large burden. Am I just being fucked up and in the 85% again for not wanting to have to care for my Father now or just being realistic on what I want for myself and my partner? Medical science has done a good job of rushing ahead to treat the bad health decisions of our parents and extend their lives. However medicine has lagged behind at extending their quality of life. This leaves millions of families in the same situation I am in now. For right now I am tabling such a huge decision until I get through the busiest time of year for my shop. Next week I am planning a trip back to Texas and see what is happening and visit with family.

What have been your experiences? Between now and then let me hear from you and get your input.

Newest Iron Man Trailer

Been neck deep in stock for Valentine's Day in the flower shop but wanted to share the newest Iron Man ad from the Super Bowl. Most of Marvel Comic's movies have sucked but I think this is going to a huge exception. Note to bloggers, I try to use Metacafe instead of YouTube for my videos, the quality difference is amazing. Enjoy!

ironmanmovie.com

Monday Morning Humor - Kennedy Endorses Obama