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Just when you thought Madonna on NBC, OJ Simpson books being destroyed, and Tom Cruise spelled the sweeps weeks for television news there is another story that is shocking in the way it was presented.  The local FOX affiliate in Oklahoma City ran a story where they interviewed gay people in gay bars (yes, drinking or drunk I would assume) speaking about having unprotected sex or bareback sex as some call it.

Here is a post from a friend of mine on Myspace regarding the story carried by a local fox affiliate:

I stand by my comments, do you think anyone who goes bareback or prefers bareback has a death wish? Of course not, that’s silly. Just like anyone who smokes wants to die of lung cancer, or anyone that drinks wants to smash the car and kill somebody on their way home? Of course not. People take stupid chances. Always have, always will. That’s not an alarming trend, that’s human nature.

-Quote from Floyd, Editor of Floyd’s Newsletter

The FOX reporter (I will leave his name out since this is a national blog) saw the bulletin that Floyd had sent out and responded:

I agree this may not be a problem right here in our own backyard (Oklahoma City, OK)…but if it’s happening..anywhere at all…don’t you agree that it’s a problem?

A study done by the CDC reports a rise in the number of intentional infections. Studies done wherein positive patients openly admit they sought out the disease….there was an increase in those claiming this to be the case…that is scary..but more importantly is the truth behind the story.

I will also stand by my disappointment in the community on those occasions…because the sad thing is that I was asking these people to talk to me about safe sex, Gay sex education, and very general, positive promoting topics..in no way did I approach a potential interview to ask them about Bug-Chasing (”bareback sex for hiv/aids infection”)…I would understand the hesitation if that were the case..but I was turned down…DOZENS of times by people who simply did not want to be bothered.

My advice for this FOX news station reporter in Oklahoma City:  You should look for real newsworthy stories that represent 100% of the gay population like the fact the republicans cut most of the HIV/AIDS funding, most gay people do not have adequate health care, and look for news reports that represent something other than a chat room cybersex.

I saw this story about the home with a peace wreath on our local news.  So much for freedom of speech or just plain human freedom.  This neighborhood association has a little too much power and has gone overboard on their authority to homeowners.  I thought everyone wanted PEACE?  The next sign I would put up would be a “For Sale” sign.  I surely would not want to live in a neighborhood with an association that can control your freedom of speech and tell you not to want peace in your life.

They calculated the wreath to cost the resident $1,000 in fines for the thought of peace on her door.  This sure sounds like a very uptight neighborhood that would rather be throwing their kids on the battleground than having them here at home safe for the holidays.  The neighborhood association controls over 200 homes in the Denver, Colorado area.  We sure hear lots of crazy news coming from the conservative nut jobs in Denver.  I bet the tourism takes a hit when no one wants to vacation in such a uptight, neo-conservative, hypocritical area.

The funniest part of the story is that some residents believed the PEACE symbol was a symbol of Satan.  Yes, a peace symbol looking like Satan.  I am amused that people are so ignorant.  Peace is actually one of the symbols of the holiday spirit.  I remember my grandmother used to have NOEL, PEACE, LOVE, JESUS, among other words in her Christmas decorations which were spelled out in little squares.  These neo-conservatives are so crazy they actually think the devil is peace.  It makes you think these neo-conservatives really are the devil hiding in disguise of  “Christians”.

Woman faces fine for wreath with peace sign

By Robert Weller

The Associated Press

DENVER – A homeowners association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan.

If you have not had a chance to see the uncut version of the Kramer character from Seinfeld going off on hecklers in his comedy appearance you must see it now. Here it is on Youtube. Michael Richards made it big off the NBC sitcom playing the Kramer character on “Seinfeld,” but may now fall victim of a media sweeps week. Move over O.J. Simpson…

I was amazed by this temper tantrum from Michael Richards. I know African-Americans are known to be loud and dis-respectful sometimes (since I went to an all black highschool) but to go off on anyone in this type of extremity is a little too far. Richards should have just said “you are outta-here” maybe embarrassed them by making fun of them like they do at drag shows I go to but not by saying racial slurs – unless they mean it in a funny way without so much hate involved.

We’re a racist society and I bet if any of us were pushed by a black person hard enough, that would come out. But I think his career was already in a nose dive anyway. The heckler was right, all he had was Seinfeld and that was about it. One trick pony. Go back to college.

This is the age of viral videos on Youtube and sites like TMZ.com. Celebrities, politicians, preachers, and anyone in the public eye cannot hide from cell phone video recordings. If you put your foot in your mouth it will be there for a long time. Even the police need to think before beating up people because cell phone cameras are watching everyone wherever we go!

I received an email stating that the New York Times archives were free for a trial period. I had been looking at it for almost a week now and not even realizing you could go back to 1851 and see selected articles of the Titanic sinking and the Eiffel Tower reaching its height. Thanks for the tip about free New York Times. This looks like a week long promotion for the New York Times to increase online and print customers since it’s just a tease that ends in a day or so. I have to wonder how charging for their content is working out for them. I quit visiting their website because the main thing I was interested in was the editorials and they don’t even let you peek at those anymore without paying $60 or so a year.

You only have a few more days to browse through the archives but its neat they back date all the way until 1851. As you can see below it has been since 1916 since the first woman was elected to Congress and we finally have the first woman speaker of the House. Here are some of the articles from the files of the New York Times:

• March on Washington, Aug. 28, 1963
• Supreme Court Ruling on School Segregation, May 18, 1954
• The Defense of Fort Sumter, April 19, 1861
• Draft Riots, July 14, 1863
• Gen. Sherman Marches Into Atlanta, Sept. 3, 1864
• Cuban Missile Crisis, Oct. 23, 1962
• Sinking of the Titanic, April 16, 1912
• Hindenburg Burns, May 8, 1937
• Review: Elvis Presley on the Milton Berle Show, June 6, 1956
• Prohibition Begins, Jan. 1, 1920
• First Woman Elected to Congress, Nov. 12, 1916
• Opening of the Subways, Oct. 28, 1904
• Opening of the World Trade Center, April 5, 1973
• Moon Landing, July 21, 1969
• Publication of Pentagon Papers Allowed, July 1, 1971
• Versailles Treaty Signed, Jan. 11, 1920
• German Reparations, April 28, 1921
• Nazi Troops March, April 6, 1941
• Report From Iwo Jima, Feb. 25, 1945

I just voted in the Collin County area of Dallas, TX. I searched the web and found a few voter guides but the one on the Collin county site and the Dallas Morning News helped out some for the local issues. When you go to vote you will notice a lot of the Judges are already assigned seats who are Republican – but I did notice fewer of these this election. I hope there will be a day that every party has someone run against them. These people should not be able to hold on to their seats without some kind of competition.  Here are the issues I voted on November 7, 2006:

City of Dallas Bond Election
Voted Yes (for) to:

• The Issuance of general obligation bonds for street and transportation improvements
• The issuance of bonds for flood protection and storm drainage facilities
• The issuance of bonds for park and recreation facilities
• The issuance of bonds for library facilities
• The issuance of bonds for cultural arts facilities
• The issuance of bonds for city hall, city service, and city maintenance facilities
• The issuance of bonds for farmers market improvement
• The issuance of bonds for court facilities

Voted No (against) to:

• The issuance of general obligation bonds for land acquisition under the land bank program development for low and moderate income family homes
• The issuance of bonds for acquisition of land in the Cadillac Heights area for future location of city facilities
• $41,495,000 bonds to promote economic development in the southern area of Dallas and in other areas of the city in connection with transit oriented development

Never Vote Straight Ticket - I think you should never vote straight party because there are many judges and other politicians who may not be listed who are not in the party you voted for but are the only people running against the party you do not want to win.

United States Senator

DEM – Barbara Ann Randofsky
REP – Kay Bailey Hutchison

US Representative District 3

DEM – Dan Dodd
REP – San Johnson

Governor

IND - Carole Keeton Strayhorn (Grandma)
DEM – Chris Bell   IND – Richard Kinky Friedman  REP – Rick Perry

Lt. Governor

DEM – Maria Luisa Alvarado
REP – David Dewhurst  LIB – Judy Baker

Attorney General

DEM – David Van OS
REP – Greg Abbot

Comptroller of Public Accounts

DEM – Fred Head
REP – Susan Combs

Commissioner of the General Land Office

REP – Jerry Patterson 

DEM – Valinda Hathcox 

Commissioner of Agriculture

REP – Todd Staples

DEM – Hank Gilbert

Railroad Commissioner

DEM – Dale Henry
REP – Elizabeth Ames Jones

Chief Justice, Supreme Court- Unexpired Term

REP – Wallace Jefferson

DEM – Tom Oxford

I noticed that the rest of the Judges were Libertarians running against republicans so make sure you vote for the Libertarians instead of the republicans to help rid of republican control. They abbreviate on the ballots so some may even confuse LIB with Liberals. I hope everyone gets out to vote this midterm election and helps take back the government here in Texas. If not this election there is hope for the next election. Stay tuned for the Dallas, Texas voter updates.

Fortune magazine had the funniest political quote of the week in my opinion.  They were speaking of Senator John McCain having a problem with ethanol.  I agree with the flip-flopping and presidential brown-nosing senator on this one issue.  Even though McCain just seems so fake in what he says that nothing is believable.

McCain’s argument says that gasoline prices are higher because of the government support for ethanol.  I agree, there are better alternatives we should be promoting besides ethanol but every other politician wants the votes from farmers.  In reality, Hawaii could probably produce sugar into ethanol cheaper than the Iowa farmers could use their corn resources like they do at Archer Midland Daniels (ADM).

Mike “Heckuva Job” Brown would stand a better chance of winning an election in New Orleans than an anti-ethanol candidate would of winning Iowa’s caucus.

- QUOTE from Jon Birger, Fortune senior writer

I found a website that details some interesting statistics for your neighborhood.  This could even help you move into a neighborhood to find out who you have the best interests with.  The website neighboroo.com which displays a Google API map to show you different stats while pointing to the address you are researching.  My zip code came up as Very Republican with a population of 55,500 it has 71% Repubs, 30% Democrats, and 1% Independents.  While I went to vote today for early voting I felt like giving up because they all looked like Republicans (especially after looking at this site).  This neighboroo.com site also displays the air quality index which came up at two (I assume the two means good) for my area.

This has nothing to do with politics but this is a site about living real and we surely love our wine. I saw this question asked the other day on Yahoo Answers and was not satisfied with the answers so here is mine. The person asked if it was ok to keep the wine in the fridge for 6 months. Here is my answer:

I know a little something about wine. The bad news is, I have lousy taste and will drink anything, no matter how vile, before I will throw it out. In any case, bad wine becomes vinegar, so if you can’t drink it, you can always cook with it. White wine will keep overnight or so in the refrigerator. Red wine you pretty much have to drink once it’s opened. We do have one of those vacuum seal doohickeys and that keeps the white wine pretty okay for the next day.

Hard booze, on the other hand, will keep pretty much forever if it’s tightly sealed. And vodka, sherries and port wines, which have a lot more alcohol than regular wine, will keep for a while too. But pitch the wine. Spring for a new bottle or two and keep it on its side, like it says in the movie Sideways. Guess you didn’t see that? Pretty good movie, lots of wine talk.

The thing with wine is the quality.  If you are going to drink it you need to be willing to pay for a decent bottle. Cheap wine has no health benefits and the flavor is an insult to the senses.