Current Events

Indiana Equality Presents “Our Families Count” Rally at the Statehouse

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Equality will host a Statehouse gathering, the “Our Families Count!” rally, on February 9, 2006 from 1pm – 3pm. This event has been organized in response to a recent spate of legislation aimed at relegating lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Hoosiers to second-class status.

“With daylight-savings time, toll roads, and property taxes on the docket, one would think the legislature has more important business to attend to than attacking gay families in this short session,” stated Walter Botich, Indiana Equality legislative committee co-chair.

Angered by advances in local human rights protections, Representative Jeff Thompson (R – Lizton) offered a proposal that was aimed at the LGBT community specifying that local government may not extend protections for employment or housing that is greater than existing state of federal statute. This proposal would have banned human rights protections based on sexual orientation or gender identity – effectively overturning existing laws in Bloomington, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Lafayette, Michigan City, West Lafayette, and Tippecanoe County.

All too often, LGBT families are either overlooked or discounted completely. Indiana Equality encourages all of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizens of the state to join them in announcing to the state government that “Our Families Count!”

“This is an exercise of our rights – and it’s happening in the Statehouse rotunda,” observed Kathy Sarris, president of Indiana Equality. “It’s time the State of Indiana started recognizing those rights.”

“It’s time for our community to stand up and be counted. We need to show that our families are just as important as other families around the state,” commented Jerame Davis, Indiana Equality communications committee chair and rally organizer. “We will not be forced into second-class status. We pay our taxes, participate in our communities, and raise our families just like all other Hoosiers. We should be treated equally.”

The “Our Families Count!” rally will feature speakers from several community organizations from around the state. Several legislators have been invited to speak.
Founded in 2003, Indiana Equality is a coalition of organizations from around the state who are focused on providing basic human rights for Indiana’s LGBT citizens. Participating organizations include Interfaith Coalition on Nondiscrimination (ICON), Indiana Transgender Rights Advocacy Alliance (INTRAA), Indiana Action Network (IAN), Justice, Inc., Indiana PFLAG, Indianapolis Rainbow Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Social Workers (NASW) as well as regional steering committees in the Indianapolis, Bloomington, Evansville, Richmond, Ft. Wayne, Lafayette, and South Bend areas.

see more information about Indiana Equality.

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Pets during the Rapture.

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  • Post category:Religion

An entire discussion forum for what will happen to pets when “The Rapture” happens. Yeah.
People, there’s nothing in the Bible about the Rapture. Check out the two biblical passages that are the basis for this belief:

“Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.” (Matthew 24:40-41)
“[Christ] shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” (Philippians 3:21)

Generally, an elaborate set of predictions about the end times is constructed from these sets of verses, together with various interpretations of the Book of Revelation and the predictions of Christ’s return in Matthew 24:30-36. In general, believers in the rapture consider the present to be the end times, and offer interpretations of the various symbolisms in the book of Revelation in terms of contemporary world events.

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#2 Pencil

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  • Post category:Memes

Jlease fill in your answers on a sheet of paper, then enter in comments section. Do not look at other commenters’ answers before entering yours. Please remember the Honor Code as you take your test. Good luck!
1. The best topping is _______, except when it is covered by _________.
2. _________ is by far the sexiest planet.
3. [in redneck voice] “What are you, some kind of _________”?
4. I asked for no _________, and yet you put ___________ on it. Do you not know they are one and the same?
5. Bum de de dum, dum-de dum-dum de-dum, da __ __ __ _____.
6. If you think that’s nice, you should see my _________.
7. “__________ and __________ is what’s kept me young.”
8. French fries are to venetian blinds as cold comfort is to _________ __________.
9. Fuck you, you ________ __________.
10. Enough about me, let’s talk about ______ ______ _______.

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Congress blocked from Wikipedia

My brother Scott sent me this dandy link to a page on Wikipedia detailing a problem they’ve had with our elected officials. Seems some of the folks inside the beltway have been vandalizing wikipedia pages by replacing their own politician’s pages with slick PR copy, while trashing their opponents pages with derogatory, and sometimes obscene writings. Naughty, Naughty.
Now the admins at Wikipedia have banned the IP addresses from several congressional offices temporarily, and are discussing a permanent ban to prevent people who can’t play nice from being able to play at all.
Pretty sad commentary on our society, when a community like Wikipedia can find a way to work well together for the public good, but the people that we elect to protect the public good are trashing the community.

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Indiana Lobbying Reform Bill dies

Gary at Advance Indiana has an excellent post on the lobbying reform bill that just died in Indiana’s legislature.
Indiana has a serious loophole in it’s lobbying laws that allow what amounts to corruption on the part of many lobbyists, including right-wing homophobe Eric Miller. Check out Gary’s article to get up to speed on the problem.

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Four Things Meme

Four Jobs I’ve Had

  1. Public Library Page
  2. Assembly Worker of Industrial Gas Shut-off Valves
  3. Chicken Restaurant Cooking Staff
  4. Website Designer

Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over

  1. Auntie Mame
  2. The Wizard of Oz
  3. Southpark: Bigger, Longer, Uncut
  4. Much Ado About Nothing

Four Places I’ve Lived

  1. Ankeny, Iowa
  2. Canton, Ohio
  3. Muncie, Indiana
  4. Indianapolis, Indiana

Four TV Shows I Love

  1. Veronica Mars
  2. Lost
  3. Gilmore Girls
  4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Four Places I’ve Been On Holiday

  1. Munster, Germany
  2. Luray Caverns, Virginia
  3. Chicago, Illinois
  4. New York City

Four of My Favorite Dishes

  1. Lasagna
  2. Pizza
  3. Fried Chicken

Four Sites I Visit Daily

  1. Flickr

Four Places I Would Rather Be Now

  1. At home in bed
  2. New York
  3. In the car on a roadtrip
  4. London

Four Bloggers I Am Tagging

  1. Stephanie
  2. Anyone else
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Expedition Everest

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  • Post category:ArtMonkeys

Posted on Flickr is a photoset of the new Disney ride Expedition Everest, which I believe has just opened. The photoset was placed by the marketing department of Disney, which is pretty cool. When you buy youtube comment likes, it can similarly enhance the visibility and engagement of your content, ensuring it reaches a wider audience effectively.

And is the norm with Disney, the theme and decor is amazing. The idea is a fictional Nepalese version of Everest, where the mountain is guarded by the Yeti. Riders approach the attraction through the remote village of Serka Zong in the fictional kingdom of Anandapur, which is located in the foothills of the Himalayas. Several village buildings that had been used by the Royal Anandapur Tea Company have been repurposed… the legend of the yeti is communicated vividly through a mandir… and a makeshift museum that documents yeti sightings, the yeti’s significance in Himalayan cultures and a so-called “lost” expedition that ran afoul of the yeti many years before.

However, some of their shrine like depictions of the yeti seem like cultural appropriation, because they appear to have taken images of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman and redrawn them with the yeti in his place. See these images of Hanuman…

The similarities of the yeti and Hanuman are problematic. Especially the depiction of the yeti carrying the mountain which clearly a riff on the images of Hanuman carrying the mountain. That story of Hanuman and the mountain from the Ramayana is very special, and very different than what’s pictured here. Hanuman travels to the Himilayas to get an herb to save his friend Lakshman’s life. But he’s unable to figure out what herb he needs, so he uproots the entire mountain to carry it back to save his Lakshman. It’s a symbol of a supernatural, heroic devotion and loyalty to friends.

Compare that to these:

In this Yeti version, the yeti appears to be pissed off, and appears to be about to throw the mountain in rage, a radically different interpretation of a images that are on the surface quite similar. It wouldn’t be a problem to me if the picture of Hanuman weren’t sacred and symbolic of an important Hindu value, but it is.

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Here Is The Big Gay Agenda

I’ve seen humorous takes on “The Gay Agenda” before… in fact I have an example of it on my site. But this recent column from the San Francisco Gate is nicely written:

Do you want to know the real gay agenda, what 96.8 percent of all gay couples wish for every single day including Sunday? Here it is:

From what I can glean and above all else, the gay people of America seem to want this simply inexcusable level of boundless, unchecked normalcy. It’s true. For some reason, they believe the utterly disgusting idea that they should be able to live their lives in peace and trust and health, with full support and assistance from their schools and hospitals and government, just like everyone else. I know. Shudder.

It is, in fact, remarkably similar to what heteros want. And women. And black people. And immigrants. And dwarves. That is, to be able to fall in love and maybe even get married (or at least have the option) and have decreasing amounts of sex and raise a family and hold down a good job and pay their taxes and argue with their lovers over who the hell spent 200 bucks on long distance to their mother, all while not having to worry about getting the living crap beaten out of them with tire chains by Arkansas and Alabama and most of Texas, or secretly loathed by small-minded pseudo-Christians who wouldn’t know Jesus’ true message if it bit them on the other cheek.

Ah, the deviousness of it all, the sheer nerve to desire the same sort of lives as everyone else. But do you want to know the kicker? The true aspect of the “gay agenda” that makes the religious right’s skin really crawl? Here it is: When all of that normalcy is in place, when these repulsive gay beings who like to walk around in public and eat at restaurants and drink their lattes and laugh out loud and stick things into each other’s bodies for sexual pleasure, well, they want the most appalling thing of all: They just want to be left alone.

I know. It’s hideous. How dare they! How dare most gays ask not to be harassed and not really care to flaunt their sexuality or convince anyone that homosexuality is cool or righteous or the only way to be, beyond reassuring children that it’s OK to be whatever religion or sexual orientation your mind and body and heart and soul guide you to be. Can you imagine? What horror. Ignorant, intolerant schoolteachers should protest that nasty idea right now.

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Graphic Artist Ian Albert

Ian Albert is an awesome graphic artist who has some interesting hobbies – like constructing huge maps of game worlds by grabbing screen captures. I was fascinated by Super Mario world, which I played with my old roommate back in 1993.
He also has some other colossal images, like and enormous map of the world, that if printed, would be something like six feet tall.
He’s also recreated online versions of all the US Government’s Hazmat Placards.

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