My thoughts and prayers go out to this young lady's family and friends. I hope they catch this jackass and the cops hold him accountable for his/her actions.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...victim/?page=1

This is a interesting article that was posted in the Houston Chronicles. About being Transgendered and transitioning. Started from the MTF that was married to the Fireman. Any way. It is an article that will either interest you, or create confrontation, or perhaps conversation.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/7215138.html

For all of us coffee lovers who are looking to save a little money..

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home...nt-you-to-know

ARGH! I hate these kinds of things! Throws suspicion on all serving in Afghanistan. And these troops do NOT represent our military!! Have to follow this- maybe it just isn't true.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapc...ex.html?hpt=T2

UT classes called off after shooting at library
By PEGGY FIKAC and R.G. RATCLIFFE
AUSTIN BUREAU
Sept. 28, 2010, 10:33AM

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/7221548.html

I cannot tell you the number of hours I have spent working and studenting in this library. I am so glad he didn't kill anybody but himself.

another youth sucide
 

http://www.towleroad.com/2010/09/tee...ay-taunts.html

When will it end?????????

SHOCK: Gay Texas 13-Year-Old Asher Brown Shoots Himself In The Head After Horrific School Torment




http://www.queerty.com/wp/docs/2010/09/asherbrown.jpg
There is no good news in this story. None. It's sad, and it's endemic of the nightmares today's LGBT youth continue to face every. single. day. Asher Brown, a 13-year-old eighth grader at Hamilton Middle School outside Houston, shot himself in the head last week after being "bullied to death."

Asher was tormented for being small. For his religious beliefs. For the way he dressed. And for being gay. His bullies acted out mock gay sex acts in phys ed class.
As is growing increasingly typical, Asher's mother and stepfather Amy (pictured below) and David Truong say they notified administrators at the Harris, Texas school about how their son was being taunted. They say it's been a year and a half since they first alerted the school, but no action was taken. Calls to the school went unanswered. The school, meanwhile, says it never received any calls. School district spokeswoman Kelli Durham insists no students or teachers registered complaints, either.

That statement infuriated the Truongs, who accused the school district of protecting the bullies and their parents. "That's absolutely inaccurate — it's completely false," Amy Truong said. "I did not hallucinate phone calls to counselors and assistant principals. We have no reason to make this up. … It's like they're calling us liars." David Truong said, "We want justice. The people here need to be held responsible and to be stopped. It did happen. There are witnesses everywhere."

http://www.queerty.com/wp/docs/2010/09/amytruong.jpg
Asher took his own life with his stepfather's 9 mm Beretta, which was "stored on one of the closet's shelves." There was no suicide note. His stepfather David found his body, lifeless, after coming home from work. "I thought he was laying there reading a book or something," he says. "My son put a gun to his head because he couldn't take what he was hearing and the constant teasing."
His mother Amy came home to police sirens and yellow tape at her house. "They called him different names for being homosexual," she says. "He just had enough."
One report says Asher came out to his parents over the summer, and that they were so accepting he might have come out to his classmates. Another report says the morning of his death, Asher came out to David.
The day before, a student tripped him on the school steps and kicked his books all over the floor.
There's no more room to debate whether LGBT kids need our protection. It's inarguable. That American people, who love their children and their families and their sons and daughters and brothers and sisters can even fathom voting for bigots like Tom Emmer, who doesn't think queer kids need our kindness and our strength and our safety, is unconscionable.




Read more: http://www.queerty.com/shock-gay-tex...#ixzz10qW3S9Ys

Jimmy Carter has been hospitalized. :/

My thoughts are with him. :candle::candle::candle::candle:

I missed Jimmy Carter by one day. I was just at the Cleveland Clinic yesterday. However, there were an awful lot of codes going on while I was there, people scampering about....

As far as I'm concerned, they meet terrorist criteria! No, not referred to as such and I believe this has to do with our inability to take responsibility and admit to our bigotry as a country overall. I would love to see the stats on how much nut-cake crimes have increased since Obama took office. I certainly feel like home-grown terrorists are acting-out in greater numbers.

Last night I watched one of Ken Burn's docs on the Statue of Liberty. One immigrant spoke of how he felt that to those of us born here, it (concept of liberty, not the symbol) was taken for granted. Also, African Americans most certainly have a different take on "the Lady." What was not covered in the film was how native Americans think about "Liberty," which is what usually happens with these kinds of documentaries.

Having liberty is not license to terrorize other citizens. And that is exactly what is going on. No better than much of what happens in other countries that we view as "less than" the US. The US is a very violent developed nation, far more so than many.

Frankly, I think there should be a moratorium on white middle-class candidates being allowed to run for office (including women) for at least 5 decades! Yanno, some affirmative action in elections!! I know, rather extreme (maybe even lefty-nut-cake bound).... And certainly not democratic, but every time I watch something coming out of Congress, all I see are white men - GOP or Democrats. Or, white Palin-like women. The institutions and structures MUST change! When are we going to get that?

On another note- looks like Carter is doing fine....

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...says28-ON.html

Ontario Superior Court judge strikes down prostitution law

Fuck yes.

The entire text of the ruling can be found here.

This really pisses me off ... equal rights my a$$ ....

http://www.lemondrop.com/2010/09/28/..._lnk3%7C173950

Army's largest base reeling from four apparent suicides

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/09/29/tex...aths/?hpt=Sbin

(CNN) -- Four soldiers from the Fort Hood Army base in Texas -- all decorated veterans from the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan -- died in the past week, a Fort Hood spokesman said.

In all four cases, it appears the soldiers took their own lives, spokesman Christopher Haug said.
If confirmed as suicides, it would be on top of 14 other suicides on the huge base in central Texas already this year. Base officials called a news conference for Wednesday afternoon to discuss the issue.
The most recent spate of incidents began Friday, when the body of Pvt. Antonio E. Heath, 24, of Warren, New York, was found in Temple, Texas. He died of an apparent gunshot wound, Fort Hood officials said. Heath was deployed to Iraq for most of 2009 and earned a number of medals, including the Army Commendation Medal.
On Saturday, Master Sgt. Baldemar Gonzales, 39, of Victoria, Texas, was found dead in his residence on Fort Hood, the base's public affairs office said. During his service he fought in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, earning a Bronze Star, a Meritorious Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster, an Army Commendation Medal with four oak leaf clusters, and numerous other decorations.
Gonzales was assigned to the Warrior Transition Brigade, which indicates he had been wounded during a deployment.
The same day, the body of Sgt. Timothy Ryan Rinella, 29, of Chester, Virginia, was found in his home in Copperas Cove, just outside of Fort Hood. He also had an "apparent gunshot wound," according to information released by the base.
Rinella served three tours of duty in Iraq and one tour in Afghanistan.
Sunday, Sgt. Michael F. Franklin and his wife, Jessie, were found dead of apparent gunshot wounds in their home on the post. The case is being investigated as a murder-suicide, Fort Hood officials said. The couple had a 6-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son. Sgt. Franklin served two tours of duty in Iraq in the past four years, earning an Army Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters and several other decorations.
"It is frustrating that so many Fort Hood soldiers have decided to take their own lives," Maj. Gen. William Grimsley, the senior commander of Fort Hood, said in a statement released Wednesday.
It's yet more violence for the facility, which was the site of the worst shooting on an American military base in decades. On November 5, 2009, a gunman opened fire in a building on the post, killing 13 people and injuring dozens of others. Maj. Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, faces murder charges in the case. He was shot and paralyzed by police who responded to the incident.

Subject: Equality California Issues Statement Regarding Teen’s Suicide Due to Anti-Gay Bullying

https://www.kintera.com/accounttempf...s/web_logo.gif
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 29, 2010
CONTACT: Vaishalee Raja, Equality California
PHONE: 916-284-9187 EMAIL: vaishalee@eqca.org
Equality California Issues Statement Regarding Teen’s Suicide Due to Anti-Gay Bullying

Sacramento – Seth Walsh, a 13-year-old from Tehachapi, California, died yesterday after he hung himself nine days ago because of years of bullying he endured for being perceived as being gay, according to his peers.

In response to this tragedy, Geoff Kors, Equality California Executive Director issued the following statement.

“We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Seth Walsh who are facing an unimaginable loss. This heartbreaking tragedy is not an isolated incidence but rather another terrible loss caused by those who promote hatred and intolerance. It is essential that we do everything in our power to end bullying and to provide youth the support they need to lead safe, healthy lives. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth, and those perceived to be LGBT, are more likely than their heterosexual peers to commit suicide, often because they are tormented at school and rejected by their communities.

“It’s time that as a society we shun the bigotry spread by groups like NOM and other anti-gay extremist organizations, as well as politicians who fan the flames of hatred and create a climate of terror for many LGBT youth and youth perceived to be LGBT. NOM should immediately stop their bus tour of California and their harmful rhetoric that causes tremendous damage to so many young people and that breeds a hostile climate, which leads to bullying.

“The Governor can also do his part to help prevent future tragedies by signing a bill this week that would enable countless at-risk youth to access mental healthcare services and to receive the support and care they need to thrive.”

The Mental Health Services for At-Risk Youth Act (SB 543) would expand access to essential mental health services, especially prevention and early intervention programs, for youth ages 12-17 by allowing them to obtain counseling without parental consent. The bill is currently on the governor’s desk. SB 543 was introduced by Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and is co-sponsored by Equality California, the National Association of Social Workers California Chapter, Mental Health America of Northern California, and the GSA network.

To find out more information about EQCA's legislation, visit http://www.eqca.org/legislation

Equality California (EQCA) is the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights advocacy organization in California. Over the past decade, Equality California has strategically moved California from a state with extremely limited legal protections for LGBT individuals to a state with some of the most comprehensive civil rights protections in the nation. Equality California has passed over 80 pieces of legislation and continues to advance equality through legislative advocacy, electoral work, public education and community empowerment. www.eqca.org

Michigan State attorney launches bizarre Internet war on openly gay college student

Here's a curious test case for any public servant pondering a sideline as an online political activist. An assistant state attorney general for Michigan has created a blog devoted to discrediting the University of Michigan's student body president, who is openly gay.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell has called student Chris Armstrong a "pervert" and "Satan's representative" on his blog, and admits to protesting outside the 21-year-old's home. He scours Armstrong's Facebook page and Armstrong's friends' Facebook pages and posts defaced photos of Armstrong on his site.

"You might wonder how is this man still employed in the attorney general's office," CNN's Anderson Cooper observed in a Tuesday-night segment on Shirvell.

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, Shirvell's boss, provided a written statement to CNN calling Shirvell's opinions "his alone," not those of the AG's office. "But his immaturity and lack of judgment outside the office are clear," Cox's statement added. Cox declined to comment further.

State laws protect employees' rights to express political opinions in off-hours.