Vinnie started doing Karate at the age of seven and he tries to never miss his training. He often takes part in championships, both national and international.
Usually Vinnie is more into girls but sometimes he feels like having sex with boys as well. Maybe there are some guys in his company to have some hot adventures with! ;-)
AlexBoys.com/free
Sean relates a story about trying to escape the "gay" word...
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Al Kamen for The Washington Post
Having an "auto-replace" filter seemed like a good notion at the time to folks at the conservative American Family Association's OneNewsNow.com Web site. There were certain words that would pop up from time to time in the Associated Press stories that moved onto the site that were a bit salacious, or unacceptable to post.
"We don't have the staff to monitor all the Hollywood stories," news director Fred Jackson said yesterday, "so we wanted an automated function." He said they put up the filter about a month or so ago.
One word they wanted to filter was "gay." The site felt that the term put the matter of homosexuality "in a positive light," Jackson said, when the evangelical Christian organization was much opposed. So when a wire story referred to gay marriage, for example, the phrase would automatically appear as "homosexual marriage."
Worked fine until Sunday, when the AP reported that "Tyson Homosexual easily won his semifinal for the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials." The story was headlined "Homosexual eases into 100 final at Olympic trials."
"On Saturday," the story said, "Homosexual misjudged the finish in his opening heat . . ."
That's world champion sprinter Tyson Gay, of course.
The filtered stories were spotted by the liberal People for the American Way. The organization has a "Right Wing Watch Blog," communications director Peter Montgomery said, and folks "who monitor religious-right Web sites as part of watchdogging the religious right and its political allies."
The organization took a screen capture, he said, just before OneNewsNow fixed the text. An earlier story on the Web site referred to pro basketball player Rudy Homosexual, better known as Rudy Gay.
Apparently there were no references in the past month to writer Homosexual Talese or to the Enola Homosexual.
As with all good pieces of software, Jackson said, there are drawbacks. It was "a lesson for us to learn," he said. Jackson didn't know what other words were targeted, but "we have taken ['gay'] off the filter."
So at Christmas you can don that gay apparel.
Sean recommends an article for you interested in gay adoption to all read...
Although Sam Harris is pretty much what Kathy Griffin would call a C- or D-List celebrity, he wrote a great article in The Advocate about his experience with his partner Danny Jacobsen in adopting a newborn son. The final line of the article is:
I am a dad. I can't believe I get to say those words. "I’m a dad."
The article is three pages long so I wasn't about to post it all here, but take a read and get further inspiration as I did.
Article Link, "I'm A Dad"
]]>The McFreeds share the following letter from Barack Obama with you...
Dear Friends,
Thank you for the opportunity to welcome everyone to the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club's Pride Breakfast and to congratulate you on continuing a legacy of success, stretching back thirty-six years. As one of the oldest and most influential LGBT organizations in the country, you have continually rallied to support Democratic candidates and causes, and have fought tirelessly to secure equal rights and opportunities for LGBT Americans in California and throughout the country.
As the Democratic nominee for President, I am proud to join with and support the LGBT community in an effort to set our nation on a course that recognizes LGBT Americans with full equality under the law. That is why I support extending fully equal rights and benefits to same-sex couples under both state and federal law. That is why I support repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy, and the passage of fully inclusive laws to protect LGBT Americans from hate crimes and employment discrimination. And that is why I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution, and similar efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution or those of other states.
For too long, issues of LGBT rights have been exploited by those seeking to divide us. It's time to move beyond polarization and live up to our founding promise of equality by treating all our citizens with dignity and respect. This is no less than a core issue about who we are as Democrats and as Americans.
Finally, I want to congratulate all of you who have shown your love for each other by getting married these last few weeks. My thanks again to the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club for allowing me to be a part of today's celebration. I look forward to working with you in the coming months and years, and I wish you all continued success.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
Sean reports...
Well, another federal U.S. Constitutional Amendment has been submitted before Congress. With the Democratic Party majority in charge, the amendment will probably not even come up for a vote. Here is the text:
Section 1. This article may be cited as the Marriage Protection Amendment.
Section 2. Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any State, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman.
The congressional sponsors? Senators Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and David Vitter (R-Louisiana).
(pauses for laughter)
It's nice to see that an allegedly (thank you Kathy Griffin) closeted gay man who thinks being in Congress means laws don't apply to him as well as his word (Didn't he say he was going to resign Sept 2007?) and an admitted former client of the DC Madam can in good conscience introduce legislation together affecting other people's lives especially in the area of defining marriage. Hypocrisy at its best.
I am sure there are other sponsors to this but I am just appalled. I know forgiveness is a virtue best practiced but this is to easy to just shake your head at and just groan at the audacity.
]]>Sean reports...
Dr. James Dobson of Focus on The Family said the following on the radio yesterday in response to a speech (link to text) by presumptive Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama to the Call To Renewal's Building A Covenant For New America on June 28, 2006:
"He's deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own world view, his own confused theology."
Dobson, Tom Minnery, and Dr Bill Maier go on to talk about how Obama talks about the application of Bible teachings from Leviticus and Deuteronomy in the Old Testament. Both Dobson and Minnery talk about how the Levitical law no longer applies today because it was only meant to apply to the Israelites after they came out of the desert. And in the same breath they say that the principles - such as on the issue of same-sex marriage - still apply.
HUH?
Does that make any sense? Aren't these two then doing what they are accusing Obama of doing?
Dobson even says that he isn't a reverand and a Bible expert but then responds to Obama like he is. For me I thought faith was a personal gift to yourself; a tool guided by your personal covenant with God and your own intrepretation of his vessels/prophets dictating a higher power's word - be it the Jewish God, the Catholic God, the Protestant God, the Islamic God, Buddha, Vishnu, or what even being your faith recognizes (Not to leave other faiths or Jewish/Christian/other denominations/sects out, I do want to say I am condensing here). In the end it is all a personal interpretation of how to live one's life well with the people and environment around us. My personal view in this instance is in deference to Jesus Christ's declaration of a Golden Rule in the Bible's New Testament, "Love thy neighbor as thyself."
I respect Dobson's right to give his opinion and have it heard. Many Christians utilize 1 Corinthians by Saint Paul as a counter to Levitical Law and maybe this is where Dobson and Minnery are coming from. But is it right to accuse people of hypocrisy and commit it in the same breath using his own interpretation? Funny how people don't even listen to their own voice sometimes.
For instance, Dobson and Minnery agree there are other faiths in America but since Christianity is the majority their views and morality should take precedence.
On the other side, Dobson and Minnery take presumptive Republican presidential nominee to task for not villifying same-sex marriage stong enough and supporting anti-gay marriage amendments on the state ballot in several states in November. So no side is left out in criticism from Dobson's moral view in this radio presentation.
It's funny to listen to someone feign that he isn't an expert than go on like he is and at the same time accuse someone of reinterpretation of the Bible while doing it in the same breath.
I will let you decide though in your own mind if Dobson is right or not. In deference to Dobson, here is a link to the full radio show. I am all for at least respecting disparaging views even though I think they are without real reason and hypocritical.
]]>The McFreeds relate a story from across the pond...
The following ad for a Heinz Deli Mayo product was recently removed from the air in Britain because "viewers complained to the [British] Advertising Standards Authority that it was 'offensive' and 'inappropriate to see two men kissing'" and other complaints said "unsuitable to be seen by children and that it raised the difficult problem of parents having to discuss the issue of same-sex relationships with younger viewers."
Judge for yourself...
Heinz's response after pulling ad:
"It is our policy to listen to consumers. We recognise that some consumers raised concerns over the content of the ad and this prompted our decision to withdraw it," said Nigel Dickie, director of corporate affairs for Heinz UK.
Dickie added that the campaign for the new Heinz Deli Mayo product, which was due to run for five weeks, was meant to be humorous (the deli man was supposed to be a representation of the wife and mother as she became one when dispersing Heinz's product) and that the company apologized to anyone who felt offended.
Help with this story came from an article in The Guardian.
So is it time to hold off on buying Heinz ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, and pickles in the store this month yet??
]]>It’s a San Diego online event! Well, an event I am trying to create. You see, there are some San Diego online personalities that I want to meet, and others I want to hang out with again. So I decided to Twitter about it on Monday night. It seemed my little local posse was up for meeting! So here’s the deal:
Daniel (danielphillip.com) and Richard (richardallen.vox.com) will be @ Urban Mo’s around 9ish. Joining us so far is Joelle (tenth-muse.com), Wes Stone (liveitupthepodcast.com), and Gooster (goostersd.blogspot.com) as well as a few more that haven’t super-confirmed (Jenn of jennifervangrove.com, Fred of jeffred.vox.com). I think the internet might explode. Kidding! But it does look to be a good time. There is no agenda, no set length of time that we’ll all be there (at least 2 hours for Richard and I), but do stop in and say hello if you are inclined…
