TELL IT, BROTHER!

Our man with the plan : Lt. Dan! At the " Meet in the Middle Rally" In Fresno , California on Saturday.

Mendon Fireman's Carnival

Yesterday. 

A large time was had by all.

If you are going to have a pretty lengthy parade, it's good to have it in front of a bar.

Field Trip Buddy

We made out annual pilgrimage to Borglums Iris Farm on Friday, taking Mert with us! 

It was just the absolute perfect time of year to go, everything , well , at least all the Iris' were at their peak.

This is what we brought home with us


Mert  and my finger in the flowers
The weather held out for us

Ever so sorry....

SO! Much fun stuff has gone on, and I have just been as sick as a .. sick dog . I'll post about it all, asap...

Welcome Harry!

( from Time.com) "On Friday, the 24-year-old prince begins a two-day tour of New York City, his first international trip as a representative of the British royal family. Among other things, he'll meet with families who lost loved ones on September 11 and visit soldiers injured in Afghanistan and Iraq at Manhattan's Veterans Affairs Medical Center. (See pictures of Prince Harry in Afghanistan.)

With those engagements in mind, the royal heartthrob, who has a well-known penchant for long, alcohol-fueled nights, won't be hitting New York City's dance floors. "Quite frankly I think he will be cream-crackered and will want a good night's kip," said the prince's private secretary, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton.
By which he meant that Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne, will need his rest."

We have to go out this morning, BUT, the key is under the mat, make yourself at home. Walk Pookie the second you get inside....

Ghandi, King, Chavez.... Choi?

"We need a King" 

We need a leader, someone who can , with a single voice, take our message to the masses. Have we found him in Lt. Dan Choi ??? From yesterdays rally in front of the hotel where President Obama was at a fund raiser.

David and Ted's Excellent Adventure, part two.

Yesterday I wrote that " For Marriage Equality be successful in California and Nation wide, we can not rely only on the GLBT community, but are  Going to need a little help from our friends". Ted Olsen and David Boies are some pretty high powered friends. If the names sound a little familiar, it is because of a little case the two lawyers argued in front of the Supreme Court in 2000 : Bush v. Gore. ( Ted was the bad guy )

Seriously, when it comes to legal power-houses in the country in 2009 America, it is these two men, and it looks like they are on our side. From the NYT :

"Eight and a half years after their epic partisan battle over the fate of the 2000 presidential election, the lawyers David Boies and Theodore B. Olson appeared on the same team on Wednesday as co-counsel in a federal lawsuit that has nothing to do with hanging chads, butterfly ballots or Electoral College votes.

Their mutual goal: overturning Proposition 8, California’s freshly affirmed ban on same-sex marriage. It is a fight that jolted many gay rights advocates — and irritated more than a few — but that Mr. Boies and Mr. Olson said was important enough to, temporarily at least, set aside their political differences."

Its all a very complex legalese sort of case, but boils down to" arguing against Proposition 8 on the basis of federal constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process." 18,000 same -sex couple ARE married, but no one today can be. Seems cut and dried to me, and a no brainier to file the case. People and groups much much wiser than me do not think so.

All the gay powers that be, save Madonna, Cher and David Geffen have come out and said SLOW DOWN, don't go this Federal route, now is not the time. BUT, Isn't that just these groups being self serving and protecting THEIR turf? The umbrella group FREEDOMTOMARRY says not:

New York, May 27, 2009 — In response to the California Supreme Court decision allowing Prop 8 to stand, four LGBT legal organizations and five other leading national LGBT groups are reminding the LGBT community that ill-timed lawsuits could set the fight for marriage back. The groups released a new publication, “Why the ballot box and not the courts should be the next step on marriage in California.” This publication discourages people from bringing premature lawsuits based on the federal Constitution because, without more groundwork, the U.S. Supreme Court likely is not yet ready to rule that same-sex couples cannot be barred from marriage. The groups also revised “Make Change, Not Lawsuits,” which was released after the California Supreme Court decision ending the ban on marriage for same-sex couples in California.

I just don't know. Why are GLBT groups so very afraid of the courts? Gay Marriage in the United States started with the Massachusetts courts GIVING marriage equality to the people of their state. Do we have Scalia and his lap dog Thomas, gosh no, but we never ever will. I do think that if anyone on the planet can argue this case successfully before the Court, it would be these two men, NOT lawyers for the GLBT groups. 

LOOK at the dismal job that the lawyers who argued prop 8 before the California Supreme Court did. The Court likes gravitas.. They like seeing the big guns come in. Olsen and Boies elevate our argument to a whole new FEDERAL level. It also helps that neither lawyer has a dog in this fight. Neither is gay, neither is one of the shaggy old skeletons that have been rattling around the lgbtqi legal closet for years and years. Let's just see where this goes. The US Supreme Court would not be decided " GAY MARRIAGE" but the specific merits of the case that Olsen and Boies present them, right?

And you know, HOPEFUL Kyle, has visions of a little Amicus love coming down from the White House.

Olbermann and John Dean's take on the case.

Lacroix - Baby Spew , Lacroix - Baby Spew

 The recession gets serious!

Christian Lacroix files for bankruptcy protection!

( from the NYT ) Christian Lacroix, the French couturier whose artistic and exuberant pouf dresses propelled him to fame in the 1980s, became the latest victim of the global financial crisis Thursday as the U.S.-owned fashion house bearing his name filed for court protection from creditors. ( full story)

This is long, but will give you a little laugh on a Thursday:

Rainy, Rainy, Rainy Mendon Morning

All itsy bitsy spiders have long been washed out to sea, soggy has set in. "Where on Earth has the sun, hid away?"

O.K., really GOP : STOP MAKING IT SO DARN EASY...

I need a little bit of a challenge.


Rove explains: "I know lots of stupid people who went to Ivy League schools."

The County Seat, Cumberland Mall, 1978.....

Good Ole Levi-Straus!



From the NYT : " LEVI’S is getting in the spirit of the season by dressing its storefront mannequins in white. In Levi’s-owned stores in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco, that means more than just marking the passing of Memorial Day, the traditional date to begin wearing white: in 20 stores, the mannequins’ white Levi’s jeans and shirts are adorned with White Knots, a symbol of solidarity with the same-sex marriage movement....."

THANK YOU!

SURPRISE! Hey, we just thought we'd drop in......

From the timing is everything file:

President Obama is jetting west today to appear at a fund raiser tonight at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Not sure who we are raising funds for - I could use a few - BUT, there are going to be a few Party Crashers out front as Mr. Obama makes his spiel.

From the very popular a very cute Andy Towle :

" President Obama, the alleged "fierce advocate" for LGBT rights, is scheduled to attend a Democratic Party fundraiser at the Beverly Hilton tonight, one day after White House spokesman Robert Gibbs refused to offer any official response to the Supreme Court's decision to uphold Proposition 8 in California.

A Courage Campaign-organized demonstration is scheduled to take place in front of the Beverly Hilton this evening. The group writes: "Let's take this opportunity, just one day after the CA Supreme Court makes its decision on Proposition 8, to show our President our support for his daring promise to our community and to highlight the growing movement towards FULL FEDERAL EQUALITY."

Attending the demonstration will be recently discharged (under 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell') Lt. Dan Choi and other LGBT military servicemembers: "They will ask for response from President Obama to the letter signed by 136,000 people asking the president not to fire Lt. Choi by ending DADT."


How long can President Obama remain mute on his promises to the LGBT voters who elected him? "

I guess you could say that if the President is getting grief from the right and left that he is doing a good job. This will be the first time he has faced this sort of large protest from the left. Will be interesting to see how or if  the Pride of Auburn press secretary Robert Gibbs addresses the protest. 

The Great White Way......

Hugh Jackman ( Wolverine) and Daniel Craig ( James Bond) will be on Broadway TOGETHER this fall in Keith Huff's " A STEADY RAIN ". The play is about two Chicago cops whose lifelong friendship is put to the test when they become involved in a domestic dispute in a poor neighborhood.

Lets all hope that these two cops tend to dance a lot... shirtless.

We Shall Overcome - 2009, [with a disco beat]

I was born in Atlanta , Ga. - let's just go with " in the early 60's". I grew up with the tornado of the civil rights movement all around me. I'm not saying I was all cool and a part of it or anything, no not at all. I was pretty much totally unaware of - well, anything. But, people and places that have become Icons of that movement were very real to Georgians, not just pictures in books or grainy black and white tv moments.

John Lewis was my Congressman for ever. Andrew Young was the Mayor and Hosea could not stay off the 6:00 news, ( not always for good reasons...) on and on. One of the , if not THE, iconic moment/word/event of the 1960's Civil Rights movement ( ok, second behind the I Have a Dream speech..) were the marches from Selma , Alabama - across the Pettus Bridge.

"The first march took place on March 7, 1965 — "Bloody Sunday" — when 600 civil rights marchers were attacked by state and local police with billy clubs and tear gas. The second march took place on March 9. Only the third march, which began on March 21 and lasted five days, made it to Montgomery, 54 miles away."

Congressman Lewis, under the billy clubs of Governor Wallace.

The racist South won on that first bloody Sunday, but awakened the sleeping tiger of righteous anger. Imagine, people just marching for equality, beaten back my the majority. There was a second and a massive third march over that bridge, and within five months of the third march, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Turns out , there is a Selma , California.

Equality March ~ Sat May 30th
from Selma, CA to Fresno, CA

Leaders from the Civil Rights Movement, the United Farm Workers Movement and the Gay Rights Movement will March from Selma, CA to Fresno, CA in a symbolic sign of respect to the social movements before us.

This 14.5 mile march will take 5 hours and will arrive after the MITM rally has started, where rally participants will be anxiously awaiting the march arrivals.

MITM is the group MEET IN THE MIDDLE in California, who are doing the BRILLIANT task of taking the Pro Marriage Equality movement out of We-ho, and San Francisco and Marin into the heart of RED California. Re phrase our movement, get people over the ICK factor and view it as what it truly is, a CIVIL RIGHTS movement. 

I hope that yesterdays " setback" will make , not just Californians but everyone involved in our movement realize that WE CAN NOT DO THIS ALONE. Yes, you are the vast majority there in the happy gay ghetto where you live, and life is good, but there are Fresnos, and Macons, and .. Mendon , New Yorks out there as well. We shall overcome this, but we are going to need a little help from our friends.

This march will be controversial, the African American torch bearers are VERY protective of the words " Civil Rights", and many , many African Americans proudly voted FOR prop eight. This is what Pam Spaulding (♥) of Pamshouseblend has to say on that: 

 

"As someone who is black and lesbian, it's tiring and absurd to encounter the argument that the black civil rights movement somehow exclusively owns the ability to use "civil rights." And the result of that is any challenge to this thinking amounts to stepping on the third rail.

There is no Oppression Olympics that requires a certain level of historic suffering by a group of people to be able to use those words. I refuse to cede them to anyone."

Morning Iris Fix

Battle: Bigotry and fear / War : unknown

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility;
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger. . . .
  - Henry The Fifth Act 3, scene 1, 1–6

The not unexpected vote from the California Supreme Court : Prop 8 is the law of the land. Sacred marriage in the Golden State is ONLY the right of Opposite sex couples. Except for the 18,000 or so men and women who were married pre prop 8, they are married. So in my glass half full world, California has same sex marriage. It was not about law I guess, as much as the ability to find a caterer in a hurry.

Too many thoughts , and really, we just got kicked in the teeth as a group, so its a little early for all out reflection. " IT'S NOT FAIR" , said with that bottom lip stuck all the way out. Our thick skin becomes us.

It is so SO!, very black and white for gay and lesbian Americans , -right is right and wrong is wrong, etc.. I think this ( get ready for some Orwell) , I think this clarity clouds our vision . I just don't understand why it is such a freaking big deal, why does the other side care so much ? Why do they pick THAT particulate verse in Leviticus to get all bent out of shape over? I don't see throngs of marching Evangelical Hispanics demanding that there be boil and lice checkers at all entrances to public buildings , but they will miss Sunday Lunch to stop same sex marriage. I think it is also news to the larger " US" on what a tiny minority we are....

So, back on the ballot it goes in California, it's already in the works. Pour a truck load more of that LDS money into the state. HEY! on the bright side , there will be NO money out there to keep up roads and sidewalks and such, So, the percentage of buff weho boys who are capable of making to the polls will go up.

How self destructive is the GOP in 2009 ?

President Obama's first nominee for the Supreme Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor is Hispanic, a long needed first for the Court. The usual rabid dog Republicans are already out in force. 

"She is an activist", " She just is not smart enough", on and on and on. Judge Sotomayer was appointed by President Bush the first and approved by the Senate twice , for two lower Courts. Go for it Grand Old Party, and you will entrench yourself even more as the party of Southern white guys over 40 named LeRoy. Piss off the fastest growing electoral block in the country see how far that gets you.

Add this to the mix "U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, a Republican candidate for governor of Georgia, has proposed changing the long-standing federal policy that automatically grants citizenship to any baby born on U.S. soil, a move opposed by immigrant rights advocate. That "long standing federal policy" as the AP is calling it, is known in some non caveman circles at the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” 

Guess Mr. Deal can get elected with just the LeRoy vote.

A little lesser known Buffett

Sand, Summer, Jimmy...


watch this , if only for the low country boil ...

North Korea, meh.....

You want a real explosion? Watch the gay blog-o-sphere over the next twenty-four hours , as the California Supreme Court comes down with it's ruling on Prop 8. Can the majority, - a slim majority, but never the less... remove Constitutionally given civil rights from a tiny minority???

Will the couples that got married while " it was legal" get to remain , in the eye of the state, legally married? 

I mean there is precedent. The South got to vote on Brown V. Broad, and luckily, their better Angels came through and blacks and whites got to go to school together....

Your Holiday Iris fix:

And their good pals, the Alliums

Memorial Day

Mendon  at its most Mayberry. 

Veterans, the ones of a certain age in convertibles. Middle School band, cub scouts. Really, it could rain apple pie and baseballs.....

It's a fast moving parade. They march up to an OLD cemetery around the corner and lay a wreath. Taps and 21 gun salute. Very old school Americana. I like it.

Dinner

Salad, Grilled turkey breast, spinach with mushrooms, brown rice.

Sunset over Lake Ontario

" Messrs Houghton and Crawford traveled last night to dine at the lovely Lake Ontario home of Bishop and Mrs. Jack ( and Linda ) McKelvey. As the sun set over the lake the couples dined on a delicious chicken french, rice and asparagus with hollandaise sauce. As night fell the couples lingered over delightful conversation....."

This is only a little bit funny if you grew up with your Great Aunt reading the social column of the Jackson Country Herald to you. " Mrs. Maddox traveled to visit her sister, Mrs. Holland, where they had pie". It was news people....

But as for me and my house, we shall serve Frank

Make sure to read Frank Rich's column in the New York Times this morning. Adam Lambert, Dr. Martin Luther King and  Evan Wolfson , come on, you know it has to be a barn burner!. A mild spanky of our President for his fence sitting. 

"The gay civil rights movement has fewer obstacles in its path than did Dr. King’s Herculean mission to overthrow the singular legacy of slavery. That makes it all the more shameful that it has fewer courageous allies in Washington than King did. If “American Idol” can sing out for change on Fox in prime time, it ill becomes Obama, of all presidents, to remain mute in the White House."



As Mr. Rich points out, President Obama went very GAY positive during the campaign to out flank Senator , now Secretary of State , Clinton on the left. Smart move on his part. Did She return the favor this week?

 ( from that same Sunday NYT ) "The State Department will offer equal benefits and protections to same-sex partners of American diplomats, according to an internal memorandum Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sent last week to an association of gay and lesbian Foreign Service officers.
Mrs. Clinton said the policy change addressed an inequity in the treatment of domestic partners and would help the State Department recruit diplomats, since many international employers already offered such benefits."

Great!, all those over achieving, overly pretty Harvard's Kennedy School of Gov't  graduates can take their husbands with them when they go off to serve in East bumble Whatever. Good for them, but let's look a little bit deeper. This is against Federal Law, that pesky little troll under the bridge that is my life : DOMA.

1.) No state (or other political subdivision within the United States) needs to treat a relationship between persons of the same sex as a marriage, even if the relationship is considered a marriage in another state.
2.) The federal government may not treat same-sex relationships as marriages for any purpose, even if concluded or recognized by one of the states.

Hmmmmm... not exactly sure how the Department of State will get around this minor caveat, but looks like they are. ( and I apologize for this next sentence, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar) Is this the first crack in the dike that will lead to the ultimate downfall of D.O.M.A.?

I do not for one second think that Barack and Michelle Obama , as double Ivy League Graduates, who are my age, do not FULLY support all out  register- at- Pottery Barn - pick- out-a- hat- to -wear- to- the- fabulous- afternoon-wedding , Gay Marriage. Really, it just does not make sense to think so. I also understand why , still in 2009 he can not do so publicly. We just have to hope that A CHANGE IS GONNA COME....

Snowballs and lemon meringue pie!

adventures in your own back yard.

BEST LAST DAY OF SCHOOL EVER...

The Day-Lawsons at play.

FAIL or EWWWWWW....

I just ran to the corner to get some Ice at our little market and there was a big vat of these on sale:

Breakfast beer? 

Ana Marie: PITT BULL

" Stop already", sighed Robert Gibbs as he saw Ana Marie Cox enter the White House briefing room. " Really, Ana. Just give us the doe eyed all out love that you gave us back on the campaign, that's all we want"

"bite me" replied the pixieish Ms Cox.......

Some real Mommy Issues...

I did not say anything about this when was just the Star Magazine reporting it. Partly because of my loyalty to the Weekly World News, and partly cause it was just too.... bizarre.

But, now it's ABC news letting go with the story: 

Carrie Prejean's Mother is a Diesel Dyke. ( not that there is anything wrong with that)

May 21, 2009 —

That Miss California crown may be still firmly affixed to her head, but controversy won't stop swirling around Carrie Prejean and her family.

Valerie Vetrano, an openly gay sales rep from Corona, Calif., claims she had a lesbian relationship with Prejean's mom, Francine Coppola.

"I did date her," she told ABCNews.com Wednesday evening. "I'm not going to deny it, but I'm not going to say anything else."

Vetrano, whose connection to Coppola was first reported by Star magazine, declined to comment on how long their relationship lasted but confirmed it ended "a couple weeks before Carrie Prejean was in the Miss USA competition."

According to an unnamed friend quoted by Star, Coppola's family knew nothing of her affair, although during her 1996 divorce from the beauty queen's father, Wil Prejean, both parties made gay allegations against the other.

dinner

So, I have all but become a chicken-atarian. Close to all I am eating these days, but HEY, I've dropped like 50# . SO , Chicken it is.

The Margarita Chicken was just not good. Tonight was something new. 

• 1/2 a cupish Siracha Sauce
• 1/4 cup Texas Pete
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• cleaned and dried chicken halves with just some salt and pepper.
• place on hot grill and just start slathering the chickens in the sauce. I used a turkey baster, keep turning and coating ever few min. Let the top get nice and caramelized.
• This was GOOD, spicy as ALL get out, but Y-U-M-M-Y !

A nice cooling cucumber salad to go along with the chicken, and I won't lie, I ate a hotdog too...

" How was your afternoon , Kyle? "

The back of my house , after the explosion of green
Pookie, as Babe, the Big Blue Ox
Kyle gets his inner Avedon on and takes a pic of Koda rolling in the grass, post swim.
MEAT. Neil is sick to death of chicken, and I figured just cook enough for a few meals
My grilling audience

and now a few words from the American Fucking Taliban:

 " There are thousands of Christian students at Castro Valley High School and our values need to be respected, not trampled on" 

Get a freaking clue woman, You live in the Bay Area AND your kid's school is called the Castro, for crying out loud. That's a little like you being upset that your kid , who goes to Yenta's Yeshiva High hearing a little Yiddish.

Is it time?

Yesterday David Mixner ( don't ask, and I will never tell) came out in support of a new GLBT March on Washington this fall. Mr. Mixner is a long time civil rights activists who worked with the Clinton Administration on Gay and Lesbian issues.

"My plea is for our LGBT leaders to call a March on Washington for Marriage Equality this November and if they won't do it, I appeal to our young to come together and provide the leadership."

Today Cleve Jones , another glbt activist, came out in support. There is something in the air supporting this. I am a little bit torn.. which is new for me. 

Number one, who are LGBT leaders ?? Contrary to popular belief we do not hold meetings like the Moose or Elk's, and believe  it or not we don't all know each other.  I found out this year that there is more or less a  vacuum of leadership , at least here in upstate NY . A leader is pretty much anyone who will step up to the plate and use facebook.

There have been two MAJOR GLBT marches on Washington. 1979 was the first, and the numbers were not that large , but the " shock value" was there. It was a success. The second was October 11 1987, the apex of the Aids epidemic - the end of Ronald Reagan and the ACT UP years. Gay Americans were PISSED off.. as well they should have been. A huge success at showing the uncaring Reagan White House , impending death can be a good rallying tool. There were other smaller , less successful marches on Washington , 1993 being one.

IS it time for another one? Beginning to organize is as easy as the click of a mouse. In 1979 the simple fact that there were gay Americans was news to folks, and 1987 will hopefully never happen again. 2009 , a March for Marriage Equality. In lieu of the rodger doger stance that the Obama White House has been taking with our issues as of late, after MANY promises during the campaign.. is it time we take our demands to his doorstep????

(photo is the aids quilt , which was started by Cleve Jones )

IF there is a new March, here is a suggestion :

THE BAYARD RUSTIN MEMORIAL MARCH ON WASHINGTON

Sort of head off a little bit of the opposition at the get go.....

WHY ??

When has this EVER happened before?

Just watched the President give a very good speech on National Security.

Now DICK Cheney is doing what... giving freaking rebuttal?

• 9-11. 9-11, 9-11, 9-11.
• This is making my brain hurt. Did DICK exist in a pre 9-11 world?
• Dear Flying Spaghetti Monster in Heaven, keep Guantanamo open and STICK DICK in there.
• WHY IS HE ON msnbc, fox and CNN ?? This is their fault. He is not news! Are they covering Dan Quails speeches?
• I am stopping watching this, it is just too pretty of a day outside.
• HE NEEDS TO BE IN JAIL !!!
• uh-oh... he is not well.. I may have to watch , just to see if he falls out.. would not want to miss that
• what is wrong with me that I am sitting here watching this?
• Torture is good!
• He lives in Cheney-land...
• last one, really, I am stopping this. BUT.. Seriously, this is approaching treason.

Andrew's take : " A simple note having now read the former vice-president's despicable and disgraceful speech. It confirms the very worst of him, and reveals just how callow, just how arrogant, and just how reckless and unrepentant this man is and has long been. There was not a whisper of regret or reflection; there was a series of lies and distortions, a reckless attack on a graceful successor, inheriting a world of intractable problems, and a reminder that while serious men and women will indeed move on, Cheney never will. He remains a threat to this country's constitution as he remains a stain on its honor and moral standing. I never believed I would hear a vice-president of the United States not simply defend torture but insist on pride in it, insist on its honor. But that is what he said, with that sly grin insisting that fear always beats reason, that violence always beats dialogue, and that torture is always an American value." ( read the rest..)

D.A.D.T.

Flogging a Dead Horse - Sex Pistols , 1980

Ana Marie Cox, ex Wonkette, keeps Robert Gibbs feet to the fire over the loss of good American Soldiers.

I contacted my Congressman, Eric Massas' office. He is in the unique position of being a Annapolis Grad and retired Navy, BUT also on the House Armed Forces Committee, the folks that if and when will help overturn this ridiculous rule. The nice guy here at his local office seemed supportive... I will keep in touch. 

Tempest in a Teapot

Take a deep breath.. now, let it out. Repeat.

It was just a TV show people, NOT a referendum on President Obama or the state of GLBT life in 2009 America.

The Kris kid is all the cute, perfect little middle of the road , state fair singer, and from the looks of it , just an all around very nice young man. Adam is more of an acquired taste.  BUT - having the both of them sing WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS was a little unfair. That arena rock, over the top stuff is right up Adams alley where as Kris is more of the " House at Pooh Corner" sort of guy, AND Mr. Lambert blew the place away with the KISS stuff.. that was outrageous and just plain fun.

SO! No great conspiracy, no culture war battle, none of that stuff. Just TV, and this picture of the winning moment is priceless.

That said, the produces were taking NO CHANCES and had Kris and Mr. Kidman singing some song about kissing girls....

But, it's different now that Summertime's calling me....

From frost and freeze warnings last week to mid 80's yesterday and today. Life is good here in the Greater Finger Lake Area. 

Summertime. (yes, It's the Catalinas)

Dinner

Pork tenderloin on the grill, sweet potatoes with apple, zucchini. Gets close to 90 and I think Fall.... 

Bill, web feet, feathers....

My , oh my! NOTHING gets the right wing wackos more irate than someone who SHOULD be one of them, who they would LOVE to have... but is not. 

Remember Governor Jesse " The Body" Ventura. The ex Navy Seal, ex Wrestler , who became the Governor of Minnesota. That picture is not him. The picture is Bill Goldberg, who is sexier, played football for GEORGIA and is a nice Jewish boy 

( G_d forgive the tattoos )

Anyway - from just the looks of things Governor Ventura, he would be a Darling of Fox news. Not so much. He went on a spanking tour this week first up: 

Go get the belt, Sean.

Next up, Elizabeth has to stand in the corner:

Then the Bozo the Clown Show Fox and Friends Morning Show:


AND just for the fun of it, and keeping with our theme. Whoopie Calls Glen Beck a lyin' sack of dog shit, on National TV. :


OH, my! and in the next segment, Barbara actually said : " Glen Beck, you are a douche" ( here is the link to the huffpo story with the clip )  Damn, I may have to start watching the View again.

Yes, Adam was robbed...

BUT, Pretty sure it's not the last we will see of him.

Lieutenant Colonel Victor J. Fehrenbach

From Huffpo, via heads up from Rachel :

Lieutenant Colonel Victor J. Fehrenbach, a fighter weapons systems officer, has been flying the F-15E Strike Eagle since 1998. He has flown numerous missions against Taliban and al-Qaida targets, including the longest combat mission in his squadron's history. On that infamous September 11, 2001, Lt. Col. Fehrenbach was handpicked to fly sorties above the nation's capital. Later he flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has received at least 30 awards and decorations including nine air medals, one of them for heroism, as well as campaign medals for Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He is now a flight instructor in Idaho, where he has passed on his skills to more than 300 future Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force weapons systems officers.

Since 1987, when Fehrenbach entered Notre Dame on a full Air Force ROTC scholarship, the government has invested twenty-five million dollars in training and equipping him to serve his country, which he has done with what anyone would agree was great distinction. He comes from a military family. His father was a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, his mother an Air Force nurse and captain. Lt. Col. Fehrenbach has honored that tradition.

And the Air Force is about to discharge this guy, a virtual poster boy for Air Force recruiting, because he is gay. 

The rest of the story.

I have said it before and it bears repeating. It is easy to hate a nameless group. Who ever it is. I hate Blacks, but not the guy I work with. I hate Mexicans, but not the parents of my kids friends, and I hate gays, nameless , faceless weak pansies. Faggots, who when the light it shined on them will scurry under the closest rock, or closet , as the case may be. Not really what these  brave men and women are doing - Are the once bastions of manliness so full of old bigots that they are keeping change at bay? Every victim of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, that comes forward, every man or woman that becomes a face , a name , a chest full of medals can only hasten the end of this idiotic policy that is DAMAGING OUR COUNTRY.

This is outrageous. Two wars, the Armed Forces stretched beyond their limits, and THEY are kicking out Heroes. And it is (IS) President Barack Obama who is allowing this to happen. Where is this great deep vat of fear and hate that is allowing these Americans to be railroaded out of the Armed Services. 

watch this.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Dinner

raw
charred
Pookie watching the fire.

Another attempt at this Margarita Chicken, this time at least it was bone in. 

Really, Tequila, Cointreau, lime ( plus onions, garlic and chili flakes). Plastic bag , a couple of hours. Was not what I wanted it to be, BUT: I came into the house to get a clean plate to bring the chicken in, and came back out to a conflagration, grill-a-blaze! 

So, it was a little charred. I'll try it one more time.

Yvonne DeCarlo and the Golden Calf

4.)  You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

SO, Lawrence Welk Bill O. and some dill weed from Newsweek , of all places, are going off on this tangent of how tonight's IDOL is the battle roy-al in the culture wars, with Adam the Gay versus Kris the Christian.   Not going to link, cause I don't want the bad karma of having the BillO on the k+b, but watch HERE.

Two quick things:

• I am pretty sure , COULD BE WRONG, but pretty sure the swarms of 13 year old girls that dominate the callers of this show are really thinking like this. I think they just let their hormones do the dialing. I have not been a die hard watcher this season , but the Kris kid is all the cute.
• Ummmm... In the Faux News universe there are no such things as Christians who could EVER be supportive of gays and lesbians or Yahweh forbid ... GAY CHRISTIANS. Nope, its cut and dried, black and white. All Christians hate the Gays, cause that's what Jesus would have done.

( go Adam )

" can't live with them, can't shoot them"

Sigh.

Michelle Obama is not Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, Barbara Bush , Nancy Reagan or Roselyn Carter (♥).

There are not going to be any boxy Oscar de la Renta suit jackets on here, it's not going to happen. Not that there is anything wrong with that. 

That said, NOTE TO THE WORLDS PRESS ( and for the most part, I mean the  straight  white men that are still running things,for now). If you are going to write and talk about what the First Lady is wearing then you HAVE TO PRINT BETTER PICTURES. Trust me, she knows how its done. She went to college in the 80's , she knows ALL about what Picture Man is. 

Seriously breeder, this is not cutting it.☟

Dan! , Dan! He's our man.....

DON'T FIRE Lt. DAN CHOI

Dear President Barack Obama,

The time has come to end discrimination in our armed forces. We, the undersigned, ask you to stop the discharge of Lt. Dan Choi and any other soldier as a result of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. We ask that you uphold your pledge and push Congress to quickly put a bill on your desk to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Sincerely,

An online petition. It's easy, just name and zip code. This is just flat our wrong, and this is one small thing people can do. 

Like John Stewart said - " You can water board the info out of them, but you can't make it come out in English"

Keith reads the K+B !

And along the same lines: Gay marriages pump 111 MILLION into Massachusetts economy.

dinner....

Black beans with  spicy chorizo , white rice, Salad, Wegmans light blended peach yogurt

Whole lot of Love

Yesterdays Dueling Rallies, the men, the myth, the legend.

BUT , lets start it all off with a little BROADWAY and the best legs since ERIC HEIDEN ( yes, Lake Placid 1980, I am not afraid to go that old school )

Cheyenne sings at the '08 Tony's:

The immovable object met the irresistible force yesterday in Manhattan as New York State Senator Rubin Diaz of the Bronx brought his traveling mariachi band of oh.. TEN THOUSAND or so bible beating , homo hating throngs to the door step of Governor Pattersons NYC office. Really, bus load after busload of evangelical Hispanics came to show their opposition to same sex marriage. They believe marriage should be just as God decreed it, just between two white straight people one man and one woman for ever and ever...

An odd and very powerful collection of evangelicals and Catholics, in certain small sections of NY City VERY powerful, state wide, not so much, BUT this is not the case in Texas and California, and soon much more of the Southwest. Ironic part of this is, as these groups grow more and more socially Conservative, they will find themselves less powerful, where are they going to go? The GOP doest want them , and they will alienate the left with all this Jesus ( HAY-soos) talk. Strange bedfellow steal the covers.

Speaking of strange bedfellows, new BFF JOE JERVIS has posted a video of Rabbi who-ever going on and on at the HISPANICS HATE HOMOS ( H③ for short) . Some wack  shofar and all.  Short memory Rabbi ?? Or has 1492 just slipped  your mind ?? It wasn't the gays that kicked you out of Spain.

The LOVE = LOVE turn out to balance the HUGE turnout by the anti marrige forces was pretty slim, BUT: It was held at the exact same time as the ANNUAL NYC AIDS WALK in Central Park. So, not really a horrible thing that more did not show up to protest, they were out doing the Lord's work and helping the sick and needy ( salt in wound). One person who was there was k+b favorite : Lt DAN CHOI and his BOYFRIEND!

Thanks to the ladies of AUTO STRADDLE for the video, and stay till the end for some asking AND telling. ( was SO hoping Lt Dan liked the more bearish man...)

So, all the H3  muchedumre and their walkers got back on the buses and headed back to the outer boroughs and the Gays and their pals all went to brunch. Some eggs and mimosas to steel ourselves for the REAL reason for the day.

THE BIG PRO MARRIAGE RALLY !

Our numbers were not as large but our power base was MUCH more so. I see your 10.000 screaming Hispanic Evangelicals and raise you a few BILLION ,as in how much money the VERY pro same sex marriage Mayor Michael Bloomberg has. He spoke at the rally , as did the Governor , as did the openly gay President of the New York City Council, as did half the SATC ladies. 

Mayor Bloomberg is one of the most successful , smartest men in the world, AND is running for re-election. IF ( IF!!!) Senator Diaz and his haters had the numbers to do anything , I promise you , the Mayor would be listening to them, BUT, he was there yesterday, in full support of equality. Read this again Senators on Long Island.

We sang, we danced, we laughed , we cried. We demanded to be treated just like everybody else, " ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL" not " IN THE BEGINNING" . Cynthia Nixon showed off her new engagement ring, Audra brought the house down, and just as we stated , we shall end. 

CHYENNE SANG.

NYT COVERAGE

NYP COVERAGE

NYDN COVERAGE

Coming in out of the cold

After a chilly night it is a BEAUTIFUL DAY.. Koda and I are off to enjoy it , it just a few minutes.

Dinner....

The thermometer goes below 32... I'm out there with the hot dogs and hamburgers. 

Upstate = love

☜ Neil, ketchup, mustard and relish

☞ Kyle, no relish ( and I have stopped putting mayonnaise on hot dogs.. NOT becoming a yankee, just stopping being THAT fat...)

Frost and Freeze Warning....

 Tonight..Seriously....

Curiouser and curiouser!

Up with the chickens and straight through the looking glass this morning as Neil and I ventured into the previously unknown world of the " family fun run". Many issues with all three of those words, used in that order  - BUT, we were there to cheer on sbf DAHN as she did her very first of these " runs" . She set a goal and accomplished it, so many HUZZAHS to her for getting it done!

Justin and Neil in a deep conversation , Lycra: a women's friend or foe?

Someone wearing a sash!  We think it might have been Miss Lilac, no tiara, but this is the North. May not have been her, not like I have never just worn a sash for no real reason.
Dahn and Rachel finish the race

Crossing the lilac band!

Post race we had to stop in at Wegmans where they had these beautiful Peonies

AND a hand full of these wild ramps -  for 12.99 $ a pound!

For some unknown reason Wegmans gets all pissy when you take pics in there, so I had to sneak today. Went to petco for Koda a new leash post Wegmans, then home to use the new leash, and this was ALL before 11:am.  

CURIOUSER and CURIOUSER!, indeed.

Angels and Demons , Part Deux

Lord, It's all of Chelsea versus the " Hispanic evangelical" set. Jets and Sharks , in real life.

The NYPD has been advised to prepare for 10,000 - 20,000 Hispanic evangelicals rallying outside Gov. Paterson's Manhattan office tomorrow at 1PM for their self-described anti-gay protest. LGBT folks and our allies are urged to show up too, "not in a fight against our dissenters, but in a gesture of support for Governor Paterson, who has supported us." Gay organizers are requesting "no hostility" towards the other side. Please keep your signs and talking points positive.

Later that afternoon is the JUMBO Star studded PRO MARRIAGE RALLY  right off TIME SQUARE put on by Broadway Impact.

We SOOOO wanted to go down for this , CHEYENNE  Jackson .. a full 1/2 of the SATC gals AND AUDRA McDonald., but just could not swing such a fast trip down and back. We will be there in spirit. 

And the Sharks are gonna get whats comin' to 'um.

Dinner....

Margarita Chicken and the usual suspects....

If its the weekend...

It must be our weekly Summer Blockbuster!

Today was Tom and Opie's latest, 

ANGELS AND DEMONS.

It was fine, maybe a hair less good than the first one, but still a good movie.

One thing I noticed, unless they filmed inside the Vatican, which I am pretty darn sure they did not, it is some VERY good CGI. I mean we are used to GIANT Star Wars/Trek type CGI stuff, but this is just , a real place, in real time, and it looks great.

One other thing, Ewan McGregor has gone the SJP route and had a mole-ectomy. I enjoy his films. Let's have a little of Mr McGregor singing:

Savannah would be better for ya. You'd just get in trouble in Atlanta.

Savannah, that most hospitable of all Southern cities, welcomed none other than Republican Spokes puppet, Michael  Steele to her fair shores today.

Hope he enjoyed the ho cakes and collards at Miss Paula's!

While there, Mr. Steele took a brand new swipe at GAY MARRIAGE. " It's bad for business!!!"

(from HUFFPO ) SAVANNAH, Ga. — Republicans can reach a broader base by recasting gay marriage as an issue that could dent pocketbooks as small businesses spend more on health care and other benefits, GOP Chairman Michael Steele said Saturday.

Steele said that was just an example of how the party can retool its message to appeal to young voters and minorities without sacrificing core conservative principles. Steele said he used the argument weeks ago while chatting on a flight with a college student who described herself as fiscally conservative but socially liberal on issues like gay marriage.

"Now all of a sudden I've got someone who wasn't a spouse before, that I had no responsibility for, who is now getting claimed as a spouse that I now have financial responsibility for," Steele told Republicans at the state convention in traditionally conservative Georgia. "So how do I pay for that? Who pays for that? You just cost me money."

Not so fast there, Snoop Doggie Do. I am way ahead of you on this one.

Mr. Small Business man sitting there and now thinking, "well hiring gays and lesbians will cost me lost of money, cause I will have to pay for their spouses..... but, ( he thinks on, scratching his head) Gays and Lesbians can't get married. Hmmm."

( with LIGHT BULB over head he thinks out loud) 

" HEY!, now wait just a minute here... If I only hire GAY and LESBIAN employees, then I wont have to pay ANY spousal benefits!  DAMN, I will save an Elephant's poop load full of money on this one"

The next day at the Savannah Widget Company:

NOTICE TO STAFF, Effective immediately, all NON GAY Employees will be fired. Sorry.

Good try , Mr. Steele, but this ain't my first time at the rodeo.

Dinner

MEX-A-CALI CASSEROLE!

Kyle and Neil get their inner Lutheran on with a good Friday Night Hot Dish.....

Geneva , New York 6:30 pm

World traveler Dr. Tinkler is back safe and sound in the bosom of the Finger Lakes, after an Almost SIX MONTH trip , to all the Hot Spots, Paris, Rome, Berlin and Chattanooga.

Row houses in Geneva, New York
Lake Geneva, in Geneva , New York.
Happy Graduations to the H and the W.S. folk....

a very nice day..

The snow ball bush is getting all snowbally
The May Apples are getting all appley
Koda was being all Koda-ie

Friday.

Everything is coming into full color.

FEET TO THE FIRE

So, so , so , so , so easy to kick out " the gays"

Not so easy to kick out Dan Choi, Arab Linguist.

Today in the press room....

Ari Fleischer Robert Gibbs did a great job staying on talking point.

HAPPY FRIDAY

The new phone book is here! The new phone book is here.

There is just this political vibe in the air, now that the NY Marriage Bill has passed the house and will or will not go to the Senate. Nothing happens for , well ever.. then everything all at once , very fast . 

Righteous anger does have it's place in the world, even for beings of pure Zen and Christian love, like me, but even I am getting a little tired of it.  Some baseball, NEEDS to be in my near future.

That said. 

2010 census. Like I needed one more thing to be all riled up about.

Six states have full blown all out GAY MARRIAGE. Cake, Pottery Barn, " till death do you part".. blah blah blah. BUT, which box to check? and is it against the law to lie on the census ??

( from J.M.G. ) 

Led by openly gay reps Tammy Baldwin, Barney Frank, and Jared Polis, a coalition of 48 congressional members have sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget demanding the the 2010 census count LGBT couples.

 Part of their letter reads : Last year, the Bush administration, citing the Defense of Marriage Act which prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex unions, announced that lawfully married same-sex couples who marked “married” on their census forms would be changed to “unmarried partners.” But congressional members are calling on Orszag to reverse course. “We are deeply concerned about the implications of this policy for same-sex couples and for the integrity of the census as a whole and firmly believe the (Census) Bureau’s primary objective should be to collect data and report it, not collect data and alter it,” the Members said in their letter.

SO, couples who are LEGALLY married, like us, have to lie?  My very own government does not think I exist ??  To steal from Keith as well as Joe : W T F  ??

My suggestion was for all legally married same sex couples just check the INIUT box when asked about race, then let the powers that be try and figure out how and why so damned many Eskimos ended up all over the country..

do you think she just enjoys hurting me ?

 

Two of Alexis' many new sinks. 

MORE HERE.

America, the Beautiful.

  "Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night."

 Dan Choi with a little Dylan Thomas on the side.

 (from CBS news ) - White House spokesman Robert Gibbs today indicated that President Obama will not intervene to keep gay servicemembers from being dismissed from the military, despite his vow to end the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
Gibbs said "the policy isn’t working for our national interests," but added that ending it will "require more than the snapping of one's fingers."  The full story here.

Yes Mr. Gibbs, you are right , snapping your fingers won't do it, you have to have some back bone and an ink pen.

On 26 July 1948, President Harry S Truman signed Executive Order 9981, establishing the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services. It was accompanied by Executive Order 9980, which created a Fair Employment Board to eliminate racial discrimination in federal employment.

Here is the thing about Don't Ask, Don't Tell. 

It assumes that Gay Service have something to hide. They will " go gentle into that good night" because THEY HAVE SOMETHING TO BE ASHAMED OF! are so scared of someone finding out that they are gay or lesbian that they will tuck their tails between their camouflaged legs and allow themselves to be drummed out of their jobs and lives.

Stupid 1950's Mentality, Meet Lt. Dan Choi.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Moral Kombat
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Dan Choi Is Gay
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Dinner

Chicken, brown rice, broccoli.. back on track after my little brush with pollen death.

Good day at Jim's, Took Koda for some walks...

New Hampshire

And then there were six... drip , drip, drip.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch said Thursday he will sign a bill to make his state the sixth to legalize gay marriage, but only if it the already-approved legislation is revised to strengthen protections for churches and people who worked for them.

SO, not going to bitch about this, I mean , the Theocrats are suffering a death by 1000 cuts. It's just that the oh-so-hetero Governor is sooo careful to protect " churches and the people who work for them " from the on coming menace of CASH being dumped in their lap by gay weddings.

First, Church's have always been able to pick and choose who gets married in their properties. Want to get married in that oh so fancy Roman Catholic Cathedral down town? BE A ROMAN CATHOLIC.... 

Second, he is a little fearful for the Knights of Columbus and their ilk, who you know rent to SOME folks, but SHOULD not have to be MADE to rent to other folks. Looks like he may be backing down on that one. Which is a good thing, cause you know, it really did not work that well the first go round.
This is still VERY much a reason to celebrate. This gives all of New England, save tiny little Rhode Island Marriage Equality. BUT, they , like New York, recognize all legal marriages.

New York, New York ,a hellava......

Or how I learned to love gerrymandering!

I was a little bit in love with Nate Silver during the election this past fall, but after my morning of swimming through the cess pool that is New York State politics , it is a re-kindled, mad burning love... I need to send that man a pie.

Nate (❤ ❤ ❤)'s website is FIVETHIRTYEIGHT.COM,  [ and really, it goes into details that you did not even know you wanted to know ! " Senator So and So from Schenectady does not like prunes... etc." ] , 538 is saying .. that it does look like an uphill battle for Marriage Equality in the New York Senate. NOT a done deal, but an uphill battle

As someone who is , even though I have lived here a while now, NEW to NEW YORK politics, I did not understand the HUGE divide between upstate and New York City  politics. I did not understand that . There are as many folks in that small area as the rest of the state. LOTS of Numbers, really, I was a pig in poop this morning, broke out the colored pens and did some maps.

I can not find a map, but there are AS many Senate Districts IN New York City as here in the rest of the state, and only a hand full of State Senators from " upstate" ( meaning on this map) are voting FOR marriage. The city is the opposite.

In the end, it all comes down to a very small number of swing district Senators, who are now Republicans, on Long Island. 

Kyle: The Disturbingly Young Years.....

I guess Sidney Sheldon was not enough to keep Susan awake. Many thanks to Celia for taking us down memory lane tonight.  I was thin, I am going to guess , for about a day.

Mendon Lilac Festival...

( really just the big ole lilac that is in my side yard )




and you know it, you love it: KODA SWIMS!

Sending a little love, Keith's way.....

In case you missed it:

My Hero

Congratulations, Many Thanks and SNAPS! to U.W.S. State Assemblyman, and bear-about-town,  DANNY O'DONELL for basically walking the MARRIAGE EQUALITY BILL through the New York House for the SECOND TIME yesterday:

( from the NYT ) ALBANY — The State Assembly approved legislation on Tuesday night that would make New York the sixth state to allow same-sex marriage — a pivotal vote that shifts the debate to the State Senate, where gay rights advocates and conservative groups alike are redoubling their efforts.

In a sign of how opinion in Albany has shifted on the issue, several members of the Assembly who voted against the measure in 2007 voted in favor of it on Tuesday.

The final vote was 89 to 52, including the backing of five Republicans.

Supporters of the bill aggressively sought new votes, particularly from Assembly members whose districts lie within Senate districts where a senator’s vote is believed to be in play. As a matter of strategy, same-sex marriage advocates said that they hoped to use those votes as a way to leverage support from senators who are worried that supporting the measure could cost them politically.
“The margin of victory and the balance of where the people come from who voted for this is broadening,” said Daniel J. O’Donnell, a Democratic assemblyman from the Upper West Side who led the effort in the Assembly to gain support for the bill. “The state is demanding that we provide equality, and that’s the message here.”

We are doing out parts here.. hoping for the best.

A very nice bio piece from last Monday's Times:

Assemblyman Makes Gay Marriage Bill Personal

Spring in Rochester

A most happy SUNNY, warm spring day yesterday, and Neil and I hit the LILAC FESTIVAL. This  year the weather and the plants and the calendars were all on the same page - some years , not so much. 

This really is a lovely event here in Upstate New York, we live with ice and snow for so long that this celebration of Spring is just wondrous! 






and Lilacs are not just... well, lilac

Lt. Daniel Choi update

  I am going into full pit bull mode on this story, so if it does not interest  you, then the k+b wont be the place for you for a while. 

A little back ground. Lt Choi is a West Point Grad and an ARAB LANGUAGE LINGUIST in the Army. Gosh, you would think we would need more of these, but nope. He is being kicked out of the Army because he is black , Jewish , uses a wheel chair , gay. Has not done ANYTHING wrong. Is just gay.

But this West Point grad is not simply going the old solider route. This West Point grad is fighting back. 

By Lt. Daniel Choi


Open Letter to President Obama and Every Member of Congress:

I have learned many lessons in the ten years since I first raised my right hand at the United States Military Academy at West Point and committed to fighting for my country. The lessons of courage, integrity, honesty and selfless service are some of the most important.

At West Point, I recited the Cadet Prayer every Sunday. It taught us to “choose the harder right over the easier wrong” and to “never be content with a half truth when the whole can be won.” The Cadet Honor Code demanded truthfulness and honesty. It imposed a zero-tolerance policy against deception, or hiding behind comfort.

Following the Honor Code never bowed to comfortable timing or popularity. Honor and integrity are 24-hour values. That is why I refuse to lie about my identity.

I have personally served for a decade under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: an immoral law and policy that forces American soldiers to deceive and lie about their sexual orientation. Worse, it forces others to tolerate deception and lying. These values are completely opposed to anything I learned at West Point. Deception and lies poison a unit and cripple a fighting force.

As an infantry officer, an Iraq combat veteran and a West Point graduate with a degree in Arabic, I refuse to lie to my commanders. I refuse to lie to my peers. I refuse to lie to my subordinates. I demand honesty and courage from my soldiers. They should demand the same from me.

I am committed to applying the leadership lessons I learned at West Point. With 60 other LGBT West Point graduates, I helped form our organization, Knights Out, to fight for the repeal of this discriminatory law and educate cadets and soldiers after the repeal occurs. When I receive emails from deployed soldiers and veterans who feel isolated, alone, and even suicidal because the torment of rejection and discrimination, I remember my leadership training: soldiers cannot feel alone, especially in combat. Leaders must reach out. They can never diminish the fighting spirit of a soldier by tolerating discrimination and isolation. Leaders respect the honor of service. Respecting each soldier’s service is my personal promise.

When Sam Nunn put the fear of brave American boys being in the shower in freaking submarines with creepy gay guys and got the insipid DON'T ASK DON'T TELL put into law, He nor anyone else ( INCLUDING PRESIDENT CLINTON.... that is not forgotten here , at all..) NEVER expected a strong, brave solider like Lt. Choi to fight them. 

2009..... UN-BELIEVABLE , and UN-ACCEPTABLE.

I am going to be calling and writing my all lefty Congressman, ANNAPOLIS grad ,Eric Massa about this.

Eric Massa!

My wonderfully all lefty Congressman ERIC MASSA was on RACHEL tonight! 

dinner:

left over chicken, left over lentils and salad.

Having a moment

Pittsford , New York, 2:30 pm

STAR TREK... best SUMMER movie since the first Indiana Jones. I'll give my review in a bit..

To Boldly Go.....

Am I the only one that did not know this?

New obsession CHRIS PINE'S dad is ROBERT PINE .

Who?

The Sergent from CHiP's ! 

Small World...

Lovely Spring Day

Mr. Fox watched us for a good long while.⬆
a fern explosion!

ARE HUGH AND LIEV IN DANGER ???

We are going to see the movie tomorrow.. oh PLEASE ,let it be a BRAND NEW side of Kirk and Spock .......

Dinner

Much too pretty a table for Turkey Burgers with spinach and red peppers, Spicy Vegan Lentils and salad.

Spicy Vegan Lentils

Wegmans makes this Thai stock, ( on sale 99¢!) very sort of garlicky/lemongrassy, good. I use it often. ( less than 100 calories in the whole box)

Lentils

onion

carrot

garlic

ginger

chili
onion / jalapeno pepper / carrot , little bit of olive oil
micro plane the garlic and ginger into the pot
half stock, half water, little salt

Cover, check the liquid, cook half an hourish.. VERY good! 

In case you have a life..

and you know, were not sitting at home watching C-SPAN on Saturday Night.

• The " person of color " thing is explained
• YOU can watch couples get all touchy feeley in the glow of Obama: Ashton and Demi  AND Alan Greenspan give Andrea Mitchell a nice rub!
• mothers DAY , Rahm.. 

just watch it.. its long, but F-U-N-N-Y !

Person of Color

Peed in my pants.

דײַטלעך פֿאַלש

 ( just plain wrong , in Yiddish for B. Day.. who is a David Lynch fan )

What if David Lynch had directed DIRTY DANCING : ( from andrew..)

Neil's dinner

  I had chicken and salad and some of this asparagus, which was off the charts good. Very fresh, plain , no oil - nothing onto the HOT grill... maybe a minute, then roll it over.. 60-90 seconds  more ( try one, should be close to done) 

Stuck them in a zip lock bag with a little bit ( really) of butter, could have been olive oil, a half a lime that I had already squeezed on the chicken and some sea salt. Let it steam just till I got everything else off the grill and back into the house.

  BEST EVER! 

Hugh and Me.

  Hugh light up my life?

With or without Hugh?

Hugh drive me crazy?

Can you guess what we did this afternoon?

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

My own little Sophie's Choice: Hugh or Liev ?

It was a fine movie. Not really as rock-em sock-em as the first X-Men movies, but it was still very good. I was an extreme X-Men devotee in my youth, and I liked it, Neil is new to all this and he liked it as well, so either way.

It opened to an 85 million domestic weekend, SO, I am guessing that no matter what, Mr. Jackman will not be singing and dancing and kissing boys on the Great White Way anytime soon, but you never know. He does seem to enjoy all those things. He is a pretty amazing that he can do both. No, he is not the boy next door.

Mendon in Bloom

Dinner

Kyle, the good moopah of the North:



Big pink bowl full of salad, no calorie Russian dressing and some chicken ( that may have been in the refrigerator one day too long, I am guessing we will be able to tell by morning...)

Back on track. Good long walk with Koda, full gym work out, sensible dinner, and keeping in the PINK theme, a little Kristen :

D'OH !

During the campaign then candidate Barack Obama promised to give a major address in a Muslim country soon after taking office.

  from Huffpo :WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama plans to deliver a speech in Egypt on U.S. relations with the Muslim world when he sets out on an overseas trip next month.The White House says Obama also will visit Germany and France.In Dresden, Germany, he will visit the Buchenwald concentration camp. In France, he will help commemorate the 65th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy.
Obama had promised to make an Arab country the setting for a major speech on U.S. relations with the Muslim world.
Asked why Egypt, press secretary Robert Gibbs said the country in many ways represents the "heart of the Arab world."

GOSH DARN IT!  IF ONLY, IF ONLY, there was a West Point graduate Lt. Colonel  who was also an Arabic translator! 

 next:

cry me a river......

SHAME!  

The horrors that Carrie Prejean are going through.

 

from myexAndrewSullivan:

I really appreciate the way that you point out how unjust it is that Carrie Prejean has to go through all of this solely because she espoused an opinion that the mainstream elite disagree with.
You should ask your readers this; if she had gone the other way, and said that she supports Gay Marriage, can anyone imagine that all of this dirt would be coming out about her? Would the National Organization for Marriage be digging up her parents divorce records, or lying about her appearing topless (those aren't topless photos) like NBC did? What does that say about the decency of each "side"?

blah, blah, blah.

Meet First Lieutenant Dan Choi.

The West Point grad and Arabic Linguist was booted out of the Army, lost his job - not because he did anything, but because of who he is. For UPHOLDING the Army honor code, and not living a lie. We can debate the need  for any more vapid empty headed beauty queens, I don't think any one would say the same for ARABIC LINGUISTS!

More on Lt. Choi from HUFFPO and Americablog.

Is our country's security in ANY WAY served by this? 

Last Wednesday, and everything afterwards.

All of New England and Iowa , funny.

This week was a lot to take in all at once, reaction came slowly. Walking out of the storm shelter, it takes a minute for the fact that your house did not blow away to sink in. Equal Marriage - from the " love that dare not speak its name " to Mr. and Mr. Cleaver, in a historic blink of an eye. Goodness knows there is still eons of work left to do, and the forces against us are out there and very powerful, BUT, there really seemed to be a sea change this week.

" Miss America claims to like apple pie", not going to be a headline. ( dog bites man ) , but - Miss California stands up for marriage is all the controversial, to the point of , it being an extreme negative. She seems like the odd ball... come on, think about that. Big haired, new boobed, flat rock of a lovely young woman is the outsider, and happy committed gay couples are the norm? fast, fast, fast...

Unbelievably stupid Joe - the - single celled being plumber says that the " queers aint comin' near my kids" , and last months right wing poster blond Elizabeth Hasselbeck, gives him a smack down, on national television. faster, faster, faster.

This is why the Mormon Church and its lackeys are fighting SO hard to keep gay Americans as second, ( third, twelfth) class citizens. The more we are out there, the more times that the sun comes up over the beautiful rocky coast of Maine, the more  times  that folks in Iowa don't have to deal with brimstone at the Walmart, the more GAY COUPLES that GET MARRIED.. the more straight Americans are just fine with it. A great big YAWN seemed to be the non religious crazy reaction to the major advancements in civil rights this week.

Like I said, a long long way to go, but with a full 10th! of the country now with full blown gay marriage and California and New York, still up in the air, we can take a little bit of a breather, and just sort of bask in the glory of equality! 

Where are my pearls.....

darn! The lack of smell-o-blogging!

Today is the start of the Rochester Lilac Festival!

This is what is outside my door . Smells WONDERFUL....

This is the poster for the 2009 Lilac Festival.

bandwagon

SPONG AND ALBER

" Sometimes there is God, so quickly " - Blanche DuBois

SPONG AND ALBER.

I want to type it again.. Jack Spong and Matt Alber.

Can't sleep, Am not in the mood to start this mess over again, so back on the healthy living bandwagon tomorrow. Heck or high water.

If one must find a bright side to insomnia, and one must, it's just getting all crazy on the Internets, goodness knows where it will take you.

Spong and Alber.

I think I have written about Bishop John Spong here before, if not, it's because kyle+blog started just as the Spong Jihad I was on for a while was waning. But, there for a while, I had Spong Turrets. I've only seen him speak once, but seriously, five more minutes and I would have made me a full out altar call... some walking on my knees, speaking in tongues  looking for me a snake to handle . Like the good lord didn't know when to make the man stop talking....

Even casual readers should know about the planet sized crush I have on Mr. Alber. Thanks to the 'net, the two are .. sort of , together. Throw in a few pissed on Tri -Delts from Vanderbilt, and you have got yourself a night! Who needs sleep! ( tell me what thats for!)

and one more matt... cause you know, it's my blog....

made my head hurt, a little....

Jeff suggested that I add Johnny Pucci as a facebook friend. Made my brain go places it had not in a LONG time, made me a little woozy. ( could be the dissolved sponge animals kicking in some sort of non- acid flash-back).

How to dress like an 80's rocker.

His Truth is Marching On.....

from the Portland Press Herald : "Democratic Gov. John Baldacci today signed into law a bill allowing gay marriage, making Maine the fifth state to allow same-sex marriage. The governor's signature came barely an hour after the measure won final approval in the state Legislature, with a final 31-8 vote in favor in the Maine Senate. Baldacci said in a statement that while he has opposed gay marriage in the past, “I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage."

Lobster for dinner tonight!

at last , SOMETHING IMPORTANT.

FASHION !

Feat not , readers. The end of red carpet season does not mean the end of being able to judge very rich thin women for just their appearance. THIS is AMERICA!.

Let's start with a bottom of the 9th grand slam:

After a somewhat questionable first trip to Europe for our First Lady, Michelle's gays are back from the White Party , or where ever they were. She stole the show last night at the TIME 100 party. This is close to perfection.  She is wearing  a Azzedine Alaïa dress and a Peter Sorenon corset. I wish I could find a better pic, but she is more viral than Miss Cally today ( thank FSM !). So, I'm sure there will be some. 

 Here are a couple of other links with pics.  PRG boys./ Huffpo. 

Last Monday was the 2009 Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala.  ( link ) Real fashion, non-red carpet. The over the top famous types with what is left of the NYC moneyed set, post Apocalypse. The Met is a SERIOUS storehouse of American fashion and NOT just for the Nan Kempner Collection. ( but lets face it , all else pales in comparison).

Let's discuss a just a few. 

• The Good :

Tyra Banks in Badgely Mischka pre-fall 2009
Posh, but just for the shoes... 
Claudia Schiffer in Atelier Versace Spring 2009 Couture
and the winner is Dalton grad and one time Yale student,  Claire Danes in Armani Prive' ( but I would have lost the bow thing..)

• THE BAD

Jessica Alba, what? did she run in Loeman's on the way to the event and pic up something on the half off rack?
and sadly, and surprisingly , our Miss Brooks.... ummm, a little less linebackery next time, and ... don't go to the make-up guy that is mad at you.

• and the one that everyone is talking about:

Material mom herself,  Madonna.

Laugh all the way to the ink factory, this "outfit" got more press than everyone else combined. Ridiculously too young for her, does not go with the boots ( which alone are fantastic) and.. lord, she has a skunk sittin on top of her head . But, the smartest woman on the planet knows the way to get the 40m for her new Upper East Side townhouse is to GET TALKED ABOUT. Let's face it, she's Madonna.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA HIGHT RYCKELEY

This is the photo that she and I were going to use for our wedding announcement for the New York Times. If only I could recall that exact shade of lipstick.....

• ( and again, why-o-why did B2 EVER stop making that shirt!!! )

THE NEXT CARRIE

Ok, so the NOM crowd has lost their #1 spokesperson , just cause Carrie took a few risque pictures. Turns out that really good Christian types don't flaunt their new boobies. Darn the luck! Live and learn....BUT, there is a Miss Runner-up!

Meet BRAND NEW marriage champion, four times married, convicted crack addict,three times indicted for tax evasion, one DUI arrest the ex Mayor of Washington DC... to know him is to love him.. MARION BERRY!

"After accidentally voting FOR marriage equality today, then calling for a second vote because he wasn't paying attention, former DC mayor and current City Councilman Marion Barry said that a "civil war" may erupt in the nation's capitol over same-sex marriage. Pandemonium ensued in the council's building after the vote and police and security had to removing screaming evangelicals."

from this afternoons WAPO : Barry warns of civil war over gay marriage:

"D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), the only council member to vote against the bill today to legalize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, predicted today there could be a "civil war" in the District if the Council decides to take up a broader gay marriage bill later this year."

Hate makes for some strange bedfellows.

It's also odd that right wing darling Mr Drudge, has not uttered a peep about  the peeps  at Carrie's peeps!

Pink is the new black.

it's a legal thing.

Section 743, part 11,  line 4 of the gay mans blogging act of 2006 requires that I post the annual TONY AWARD NOMINEES. 

I've seen nothing at all this season. Neil caught NEXT TO NORMAL over the weekend while down in the city. Looks like its all about BILLY ELLIOT this year....

Bonjour Paris

From Intrepid kyle+blog reader and WORLD TRAVELER , Susan we read:

Bonjour,

Since the technologically-advanced, yet neo-ludite Lovell-Spencers neither blog nor do the Facebook, I'll have to email this. We are in Paris for 5 days before Paul goes on to business trip in England and I return to being a Dunwoody Hausfrau (yeah, I know, wrong foreign lanquage).

Photo is taken on the Eiffel Tower. I have video from the ground when they turned on some kind of flashing light, disco ball effect. I kept expecting Gay Parisians to come out of the woodwork and commence to disco dancing and exchanging phone numbers.

Au Revoir
Susan and Paul

No Thugs in Our House...

Hail Britannia!

  Great Britain to ban dangerous psyychopaths from entering their country:

"Fred Waldron Phelps Snr, a 79-year-old American Baptist pastor, and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper are barred for their anti-gay comments. Both have picketed the funerals of Aids victims and celebrated the deaths of US soldiers as "punishment" for US tolerance of homosexuality. Talk show host Michael Savage - real name Michael Weiner - is also excluded. His views on immigration, Islam, rape and autism have caused great offence in America."

HOT SEXY 21 YEAR OLD BEAUTY QUEENS

Philip Johnson's Glass House.

You KNEW this one was coming folks......

Carrie Prejean has nudie pics, welcome to the age of the Internet , Miss California. Turns out you are a nasty ,nasty girl.

( wow.. you get some really interesting e-mails when you post something with this title)

I ♥ technology

LD 1020 - Marriage Equality.

I am watching the Maine House of Representatives live on the web. These are some crazy folks... Maine is a funky place. So, very hard core New England , but also so very much their own people.. Mainers.

You can just tell when someone stands up the way they are going to vote. 

Was their debate like this in the late 60's in the South? Did old white men stand up in Atlanta and Montgomery and Tallahassee and Jackson and say things about God and natural law and such?

"If God had meant for the races to mix, why did he put them on different continents?" 

I'll update this as it goes on....

 

IT PASSED.. and now on its way to the Governor... not sure what he will do. 

ALSO: DC now , just like NEW YORK. recognizances ALL out of district marriages.

and I'm not jealous... really... REALLY....

  from Newsweek: "Mindful of his predecessor, Barack Obama seems to be trying harder to make sure he hears all sides. On the night of April 27, for instance, the president invited to the White House some of his administration's sharpest critics on the economy, including New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and Columbia University economist Joseph Stiglitz. Over a roast-beef dinner, Obama listened and questioned while Krugman and Stiglitz, both Nobel Prize winners, pushed for more aggressive government intervention in the banking system."

although I have never really liked Marc Jacobs....

It's 1187... do you know where your boiling oil is?

Eleanor: " I even made poor Louis take me on Crusade. How's that for blasphemy. I dressed my maids as Amazons and rode bare-breasted halfway to Damascus. Louis had a seizure and I damn near died of windburn... but the troops were dazzled." 

Death to the Infidel! America ROCKS!

NOW the water boarding makes sense! A little forced Christianity at the point of a few zillion dollars in military advancement. USA! USA! USA!. Watch it and learn kiddies, your tax dollars and blood of our sons and daughters for JESUS:

( taken straight from huffpo) 

PUT THEM IN JAIL.....

Are ya'll watching these....

They are stuck in my head. I think these guys are a little silly but very funny...sha-day!

( and Hillary was having a GOOD hair day...)

this one won't fully load , so click on it for full dance numbers...

Sleepers Awake.. crusty eyes may open now...

Going on the offensive, AT LAST! and with a little of those BLOOMBURG BILLIONS to float around!  Good for  you Empire State Pride Agenda. I , as a rule, don't say a lot of good things about Todd and his clique.. but this is a smart move. 

Truth wins out in the end, and come on , New York is NOT Nevada. ( we kicked them out first...) from this mornings NY Daily News:

"Over the past several months, the group commissioned polls from Boston-based Kiley & Co. in the districts of at least 10 GOP state senators. The group plans to use the results to convince reluctant state lawmakers that voting "yes" on gay marriage is not political suicide. The polling from four Long Island districts obtained by the Daily News shows voters support granting the right to marry to same-sex couples, 52-42%. Support is strongest among women, voters younger than 30 and independents - a key constituency that can make or break tight races".
"Anybody who thinks we're not serious about winning this in 2009 better throw cold water on themselves and wake up," said Alan Van Capelle, executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda. ( Mr Van Capelle, seen here last week with Bishop Prince Singh )

The majority of New York voters FAVOR marriage equality! A fact that I tried my best, with real numbers to explain to my granite headed Assemblyman. Point in fact.

When "you-know-who" Voldermort (Eliot Spitzer... really, you cant say his name in Albany.. they do the fingers in the ears, LA LA LA thing.. cracked me up) ran for Governor and KICKED BUTT.. he did so by running on full out , say it loud , say it proud GAY MARRIAGE. 

When asked: " would you like fries with that Mr. Spitzer? ", his answer was "GAY MARRIAGE". 

"how is the weather today , Eliot "... " GAY MARRIAGE". Really, every other word the man said was about marriage equality, and look at what he did:

( the one question he did not answer with " gay marriage" was  " are you really going to leave your socks on".. and that is the one that he SHOULD HAVE said gay marriage too!!!)

There are just these little pockets of resistance, a few small minded men keeping New York from going forward.

In addition to the poll campaign, a consulting firm that does a lot of business with Mayor Bloomberg is working pro bono to create a pro-marriage equality television ad for the Pride Agenda. My state is different than every other one so far. The people want this to happen and a few bonehead Christianists are keeping it from happening.

Let's hope ESPA can get the word out.

" Sleepers Awake...." ( you Cobbco crowd will LOVE the end of this little BLAST from the past... I had never seen this before)

Guadalcanal Diary

Green Grow the Rushes

Green comes fast, this far North... like it knows the white will be back , so explode, don't trickle.
Bleeding hearts popping up, seriously over night.
head is clearing... smooth sailing ahead

Spring has Sprung.

and a little Monday morning rem-age to ease the way:

Sumter 2.0

You know, in a post Rick Perry world, I would not write about this EXCEPT for the shockingly high number.

Nearly one-third of Georgia Republicans would be in favor of leaving the United States.

32%, yeah that's darn close to 1/3erd.

How do you Begin any sort of debate with these people, any sort of communal path forward, when " Ill just take my toys and go home" is their first response. Of course this is just silly people venting on silly polls, but the underlying feeling of " its not my problem" is there. These are the exact same people who would have had the " America, love it or leave it" signs during the 60's. Except now its them that are leaving.

 

Oh, sure the whole tea-bagger ( the new PC word for right wing nut job) response is "the country left us." Yes, thankfully it did. The whole Senator Spector bru-ha-ha of the last week just proves that as the GOP concentrates down to the  more pure -  ( really guys, is PURE the word you want to use... as in pure Arian blood??)  - form of Conservatism , the movement guys, your Jindals and Palins and the Prime time faux news set becomes more and more powerful. No room for the Romneys and Snows of the party, certainly not the Brooks' or Will branches of conservatism.

Good news for me, the more brownshirt they become the more the country reacts by moving  slightly left to disassociate themselves from the hard core right wing of the Republican party. Just look at what happened in the marriage equality movement this past week. As Miss Prejean went off on one tear after another, she solidified the center and left of the country to , for the first time, not be opposed to either civil unions or out and out marriage. 

 

As candidates have to go farther and farther to " out right wing" each other , stupid , time wasting debates over things like SUCCESSION will take up valuable time that needs to be spent on the real problems that OUR COUNTRY is going through.

 

Let's just think about what would happen if the " GOVERNMENT IS THE PROBLEM" set ( NO TAXES EVER.... blah, blah, blah) had their way AND the United States government was pared down to almost nothing.. when gosh, what do you know , a potential PANDEMIC hits us. QUICK action by the CDC, and lots of Government departments looks to have made this new flu, much less of a threat than it could have been. I'm guessing the countries of TEXAS and Georgia would not have fared so well...

I will survive....

It took all the strength I had not to fall apart....

Finally, I think I am going to survive Allergy Season '09. It was touch and go there for a while, but yesterday, the will to live sort of started creeping back in. Today I would go as far as say I do not feel terrible! yeah, progress.
I know, I know , go to the doctor... BUT, all he would do would be pat me on the head and send me out with a perception of Claritin, or maybe even tell me to use over the counter. Kyle and Claritin are NOT a good mix.. .makes me nuttier than bat poop... not fun. SO, I suffer, in silence.. no, don't worry about me... Ill be fine.


Started mowing the lawn for the first time this season ...will finish when the kiddies stop with the little league in my back yard.

My ( pretend ) boyfriend is ever so dreamy.....

some guys dream of rock stars or British football stars... I tend to go straight for the Nobel prize winning Princeton professors.... 

REALLY ?!?

Have we , as a nation, become THIS STUPID ?

I have just watched Secretaries Napolitano and Sebelius and some CDC guy make the rounds of the three Sunday Morning shows. GOOD that they are out there, giving a calm , rational response to the H1N1 flu event. 

BUT, have we de-evolved as a people that we need the Nanny State to tell us to :

• cover our mouths when we cough ( elbow NOT hands)
• wash your hands
• don't go to school/work if you are sick
• take your kid to the Doctor if they are really sick

The President himself even had to say all of this.

Did folks NOT listen in Kindergarten?

Rudy and the Gays.....

Oh, for the day when that would have been a nice bubble gum pop band......

A little back story. 

Rudy Giuliani is a nasty boy. 

When he was KICKED out of Gracie Mansion by his then ( second ) wife , Donna Hanover ( mother of his children), for being a lying , cheating, bad husband, he moved in with his good pals , Howard and Mark. The NYC media market is a giant way overly covered fish bowl and so the grunion that populate the airwaves there were all over this. It was a juicy soap opera for them, making Messrs Koeppel and Hsiao famous.

Ex Mayor and big time loser in the last Presidential Primaries , Giuliani just came out HARD and FAST for TRADITIONAL marriage... one man, one woman, etc. Hurts my head a little bit when the thrice married Rudys and Newts go all white picket fence.

BUT, this weekend, I am guessing with out Mr Giuliani attending, Howard and Mark got MARRIED.  Traditionally!

( My first stop , when its not football season, on Sunday Mornings, is the NYT wedding page. ) 

HAIL COMRADES!

Happy May Day !

A sign of things to come ?

HOT GUYS IN FLU MASKS.