QueerVisalia’s Pride In The Park hits the newspaper

May 24, 2010

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Monday’s Visalia Times Delta contains a short article about Saturday’s Pride in the Park celebration put on by QueerVisalia.  Although I thought the usage of  “alternate lifestyle” was a bit odd, overall I’m happy with the article.  I was mentioned by name in the article, so there’s that.  😉

Attendance was less than the previous two years, and we’re still trying to decide just why that might have been.  We’ll be kicking around ideas for next year’s event during the next weeks and months.  If you have any suggestions, be sure to send them along.

In the meantime, keep checking back at the online article, the comments are sure to get interesting, and probably maddening!

Busy Saturday! PITP, SFGMC, more!

May 23, 2010

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Katie, Kristeen, Amanda help kick off Pride in the Park 3

One of the big problems with working swing shifts forever, is that your body is trained, and firm in it’s patterns, about going to bed late, and rising late.  When something requires an early start, the body (mine anyway) doesn’t really see the need to cooperate.  I’m not one who can change my pattern on short notice, so I didn’t get much sleep the day before the festivities.   We had a fun 5 hours in Plaza Park, at Queer Visalia’s third annual Pride in the Park picnic and BBQ.  The weather was wonderful (a tad chilly for skinny guys like me whenever the sun went behind one of the cottonball looking clouds blowing overhead) but sunshiny and warm.  We avoided the 95+ degree temperatures of PitP’s of the past, and enjoyed a great afternoon of burgers, hotdogs, volleyball, and socializing.  Jesse brought his new puppy, and of course was the center of attention showing him off!  I neglected to get a picture, sorry!

After Pride in the Park, I went to Fresno to see the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus at the Tower Theater.

San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus

They came, they sang, they wore pink cowboy hats!  (in one song)  Such a powerful and moving performance, having the audience in tears one moment, and roaring in laughter the next.  The Fresno Gay Men’s Chorus also performed, doing several songs, my favorite which was “Color in Colorado”… very good!

Dinner afterwards at Livingstone’s, then home.  A busy day celebrating Visalia Pride and Harvey Milk Day!  This is the first annual Harvey Milk Day in California, as passed by the state legislature and signed by Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Harvy would have turned 80 yesterday.

More pics of the day after the jump.

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Remember…

May 21, 2010

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Keep things in perspective!

First Clue He’s Gay

May 21, 2010

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Some Old Signs Remain

May 20, 2010

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Photo by Sarah Goodyear, on Rachel Maddow's Blog

In a conversation with Republican Senate candidate from Kentucky, Rand Paul, Rachel Maddow asked about recent comments he made regarding the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  Rather than give a direct answer, Mr. Paul danced around the question, leaving the impression that he was fine with the idea that a private businessman should have the right to discriminate against anyone he wants, and that the government didn’t have the right to tell him he could not.  Mr. Paul defended the law as it applies to government, but would not come right out and say either businesses had a right to discriminate against anyone they liked, or they do not.  He may have just handed the election to his Democratic rival.

No, You Can’t. Don’t Hold Your Breath

May 15, 2010

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For the second year in a row, the National Defense Authorization Act request sent by the White House to Congress does not include language to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue”. After repeated assurances to gay rights groups and activists by President Obama that he wanted to repeal the rule, and that they were “working” on it, the budget request for FY 2011 is silent on DADT. Read the Service Members Legal Defense Network’s press release after the fold.

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Lady Gaga says (sorta) “Don’t Get Caught In A Bad Hotel”

May 14, 2010

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In what may be the cleverest picket action ever (of course it’s in San Francisco), the Westin St. Francis (a VERY nice hotel that I had a chance to stay in some years ago) is hit with a Lady Gaga inspired protest.

Employees are fighting for health care benefits, and apparently the hotel negotiators have dug in their heels.  Stay tuned.

Last Flight of the Shuttle Atlantis

May 14, 2010

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Space Shuttle Atlantis Photo Credit NASA

As of this writing, the Space Shuttle Atlantis sits on the pad at Kennedy Space Center Florida, ready for today’s liftoff on a mission to the International Space Station.  Barring any last-minute reprieves, this will be Atlantis’ last flight.  After this mission,  Orbiter OV-104,  first flown in 1985,  will be removed from service as NASA retires the Shuttle fleet.  There are only a few more flights remaining in the construction of the International Space Station, and once those flights are done, the shuttle program will be ended.  The orbiters will be safed, and shipped off to various museums and institutions for display.

Once the last Space Shuttle lands sometime in 2011, the United States will have no manned access to space.  While there is an impressive list of rockets in NASA’s fleet, once the Shuttles are retired, American astronauts will only be able to go into space on the rockets of other nations, primarily Russia.

Essentially, the only way for the United States to access it’s Space Station is to hail a cab.

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Advanced Dispatcher Training

May 12, 2010

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So for the past two days, I’ve been dragging my ass backside out of bed at 7am to attend “Advanced Dispatcher” training.  Held out at our “Training Facility” at Sequoia Field, the class starts at 8am.  As you can imagine, 8 am comes damned early to someone who is usually just entering REM sleep about that time!  15 + years of swing shift does not allow easy shifting of one’s biological rhythms!  One more day, then I’ll have a nice certificate that will tell all assorted and sundry individuals that I am a certified advanced dispatcher.  And that I really CAN get up at 7am, if I have to.  I will hate it, but I can.

Three of us from TCSO are attending, several from VPD,  Kings County, and surprisingly, Turlock and Tracy PD sent dispatchers all the way to Visalia’s boon-docks for the class.

The training is out at our offices at Sequoia Field, a WWII era pilot training facility.  Remodeled who knows how many times, several Sheriff’s Department offices are housed at the site.  It creates an interesting mix of the old and new.

One more day, and we’re done.  The two days so far have been interesting, and I feel that I’ve learned some things.  One, that all dispatchers are nuts, and two, that we all have the same problems!

The instructor is an interesting fellow, good speaker, tells some interesting stories, and is a fellow HAM radio operator!  With an repertoire like that, there’s no way the class can be boring.  The last day will be a different teacher, and rumors have been floated about her…  “different”…  methodology.  It will be interesting to see what happens.  I’ve heard things about a guitar, and candles.

Yeah, Thursday might be very interesting!

UPDATE: THURSDAY after the fold…

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Homosexual Families Don’t Count

May 10, 2010

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Merlin Bartz, Iowa State Senator

This man does not believe your family should be treated the same as other families.

Merlin Bartz, a state Senator in Iowa, is trying to block the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) from changing the wording of regulations regarding camping sites at state parks.   The regulations in question refer to the ability of a family group to pitch more than one tent in a campsite.  In one part of the regulations, a reference is made to “mother, father, children”.   “They’re citing the Supreme Court case and changing, you know, ‘husband and wife’ language to ’spouse,’ ” Bartz is quoted at RadioIowa. (He’s not even getting the regulation he doesn’t want changed correct!  It’s clear it’s not well functioning state campsites he’s worried about!)

Iowa’s Supreme Court ruled in April 2009 that denying same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. The court overturned the Iowa Defense of Marriage Act, in effect legalizing same sex marriage.  The ruling was unanimous. As government agencies move to make their regulations reflect the law, right wing forces have tried to prevent those changes.

Even after we’ve won, we can’t relax our vigilance.  The forces of hate will still be out there, and they’ll still think we’re evil.

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