Thursday, October 31, 2013

"It's Not So Funny... Or Is It?"





"The Scary Facts About Obamacare..."

There are a lot of ways Obamacare provides better, more affordable care for millions of Americans. 

But if any of the following apply to you, you might be on your own...

Obamacare covers vision appointments for children -- sadly, it doesn't cover care for supernatural eyesight. 

Enable images to see what you're missing

Obamacare removed lifetime limits on coverage. It doesn't extend into the afterlife. 

Ghosts are on their own

Obamacare covers children with pre-existing conditions. It does not protect you from something you loved in your childhood coming back to haunt you.

But he was so nice!

Obamacare covers an annual wellness visit where you could talk to your doctor about dizzy spells. It can't prevent someone from putting a spell on you.

If you believe in magic...

Obamacare covers maternity and newborn care. It can't help if you give birth to Satan's son.

What happened to the baby?

At least these are all just scary movies ... right?


******

Kudos Mr. President... Thanks for having our back!

"Ever Has It Been So..."


"Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worse kind of suffering."

- Paulo Coelho 



"The Imitation Of Life..."




"The GIFt Of Love..."


"Fear Eats the Soul"



"Watch Out For All The Little Ghouls And Goblins Tonight..."

"Happy Halloween"


"The Truth About Love..."


"When we are in love, our love is too big a thing for us to be able together to contain it within ourselves. It radiates towards the loved one, finds there a surface which arrests it, forcing it to return to its starting-point, and it is this repercussion of our own feeling which we call the other's feelings and which charms us more then than on its outward journey because we do not recognise it as having originated in ourselves."

- Marcel Proust



"Gay PDA Is Okay!"

"Let Life And Love Be A Celebration... Live Fearlessly"




"A Thought To Ponder..."


"Fear Eats the Soul"


"We Were Always There..."


"Happiness came with his every shore leave..."


"Same Gender Loving People - No. 1503"

"Love, Marriage And Family, This Is A Joyful Life..."

Positive images of people like me... The truth of the matter is that we all need to see people like ourselves. So everyday, I'll post a photo, drawing or some other artwork that depicts Same Gender Loving People as what we are... Only Human.


"The Artist's Corner..."






Wednesday, October 30, 2013

"A Love Song..."


"Nothing Compares 2 U"
Music and lyrics by Prince

It's been seven hours and fifteen days
Since u took your love away
I go out every night and sleep all day
Since u took your love away

Since u been gone I can do whatever I want
I can see whomever I choose
I can eat my dinner in a fancy restaurant
But nothing
I said nothing can take away these blues

`Cause nothing compares
Nothing compares 2 u

It's been so lonely without u here
Like a bird without a song
Nothing can stop these lonely tears from falling
Tell me baby where did I go wrong

I could put my arms around every boy I see
But they'd only remind me of you
I went to the doctor and guess what he told me
Guess what he told me
He said, "Girl, you better try to have fun no matter what you do."
But he's a fool

`Cause nothing compares
Nothing compares 2 u

All the flowers that u planted, mama
In the back yard
All died when u went away
I know that living with u baby was sometimes hard
But I'm willing to give it another try

Nothing compares
Nothing compares 2 u
Nothing compares
Nothing compares 2 u
Nothing compares
Nothing compares 2 u




"Gay PDA Is Okay!"

"Life Is Filled With Moments Of Love And Joy... Live Fearlessly"




"This Made Me Smile..."


"Girls, I think there's something you should know about these boys..."



"In Mother Russia, They Don't Ask And They Don't Tell..."




"We were always there..."




"The Truth About Hate Was Never More Eloquently Stated..."

Emmanuel Olisamedualim Chukwuma, Bishop of Enugu

Dear Bishop of Enugu, why cherry pick bible verses in order to tell gay people they are evil?


Richard Queripel writes an open letter to Reverend Emmanuel Olisamedualim Chukwuma, who last week criticised the Archbishop of Canterbury for being “sympathetic” to gay people.
Dear Right Reverend Doctor Emmanuel Olisamedualim Chukwuma, Bishop of Enugu, Nigeria,
I read with interest this morning of the scathing attack you made this week on the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, in a conversation with journalists at a Nigerian airport, in which you condemned him for being “sympathetic” to homosexuals and threatened that the whole of the African church would secede from the Anglican Communion if he continued to be so nice to them.
Upon reading of this attack, I simply had to write to you to say thank you. It’s high time that a man of such great importance, influence and standing in the world, respected and revered by millions (that’s you) stood up to Archbishop of Canterbury Welby (who’s even heard of him anyway?) and the permissive society of today that says that homosexual people are actually quite nice and shouldn’t be repressed, discriminated against and forced back into their proverbial closets. Who does this Welby think he is telling them things like that?! For God’s sake, he’s the Archbishop of a church whose job it is to tell people how evil they are! And now he’s saying nice things to gays…even apologising?! At one time, his church would have prided itself on ensuring that no gay child in its ranks grew up unaware of how evil he/she was, but now, it would appear, it’s only a few brave dissenters, often based in Africa who are left fighting to make sure that the Anglican church does not forget its primary purpose: letting gay people know how evil they are.
You should be proud of yourself, Bishop Chukwuma, quoting confidently Ephesians 5:7 to the assembled journalists, to remind them and the many countless billions of people around the world who hang on your every word, that God Himself has told you and all other Anglicans (because, let’s face it, you’re the best kind of Christians) to have nothing to do with the sexually immoral (i.e. gays). You have stood up and allowed yourself to be counted as one who is prepared, unashamedly, to spread pain and suffering in the name of the Lord. And there can be nothing more heart-warming to a Christian former teacher than that, I am sure.
But you are no stranger to standing up and exposing yourself to total ridicule in the name of what some people call bigotry and you prefer to call Christianity. Back in 1998, when the bishops of the worldwide Anglican Communion met at its decennial Lambeth Conference in the UK, and the issue of human sexuality and the Anglican Church’s response to it was a hot topic of discussion, you made a name for yourself outside the assembly hall when you laid hands on Reverend Richard Kirker, the then general secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, and prayed “Father, in the name of Jesus, deliver him. Father I pray to you, make him a Christian, in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah, hallelujah!”.  It was a characteristically bold and strident gesture on your part and one that risked making you look like a total idiot, but, yet again, you didn’t let that stop you. You know who the real Christians are and it’s your job to make sure that the fake ones (especially the gay ones) know that they can’t fool you. Good job Bishop. You must have slept well that night.
And you must have slept well every night since then, I imagine, happy in the knowledge that you have now become something of a mouthpiece for some of your fellow African bishops, who also believe that Archbishop Welby is too wishy-washy on the topic of homosexuality. You regularly issue warnings on their behalf that, if Welby does not come out and condemn homosexuals as evil, the African Church will secede from the Anglican Communion and set up on its own with proper Christians who don’t pick and choose from the Bible to support their own views. Because, let’s face it, there’s nothing more heinous and un-Christian than cherry-picking verses from the Bible to support a particular point of view, whilst ignoring ones that clearly state the opposite. One either takes the word of Lord as written or one is evil. Simple. Of course, every proper Christian (I’m using here, of course, your definition of “proper”) knows that this applies only to Bible verses that talk about men lying with men and other icky homosexual stuff like that and definitely does notapply to Bible verses that support things that you, Bishop, don’t agree with. For example, every proper Christian knows that Leviticus 25: 44-46, which supports slavery, is outdated, wrong and must be ignored, but that Leviticus 20:13, which condemns homosexual behaviour as an abomination, is completely correct and must be shoved down homosexual people’s throats at every available opportunity.
Leviticus 20:13
If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
COMPLETELY RELEVANT AND TO BE BELIEVED (except maybe for the killing bit, as in some countries this is still sometimes seen as a little un-PC)
…but, five chapters later in the same book…
Leviticus 25:44-46 
However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance.
COMPLETELY OUTDATED AND TO BE IGNORED
I imagine it must be very difficult for proper Christians to know which parts of the Bible they must believe word for word and which they must ignore, so I hope the above summary helps a little. I hope you don’t think I’ve stepped on your toes by including it, however. I’d hate you to think I was trying to do your job for you. You were the one hired by the Anglican Church to spread bigotry and hatred, not me. And I would never want to swap places.
Well, I’d really better not keep you any longer from the many countless billions of people around the world who hang on your every word. Someone needs to keep reminding them what they should be believing and what they should be ignoring! Perish the thought that they decide for themselves. God knows, if that happened, they might end up being nice to gay people! And we all know where that would lead. Yes, to a schism in the worldwide Anglican Communion, with the African churches seceding and setting up their own proper Christian Church! I can’t imagine an event that would be more earth-shattering for myself and every other person on earth than that. We would scarcely be able to carry on functioning if the African churches split from Canterbury. Life as we know it would change in ways I cannot even imagine. The thought of it happening keeps me awake at night.
So, onwards and upwards, Bishop Chukwuma, you have work to do. You have a Church to save. And, whilst you’re at it, there are still some gay children out there who don’t know how evil they are.
Yours,
Richard
P.S. Just FYI, when perusing your diocese website, I found a lovely article about you and your wife, which lists all of your many accomplishments. However, I was struck by this sentence describing your wife: “Since she [your wife] got to Enugu Diocese, the women have become so strong and recognised in the governance and affairs of the State and Church”. I was struck by this sentence because, as I’m sure you are aware, in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, St Paul writes the following: ”Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.”
I was just a bit concerned that maybe your wife being involved “in the governance and affairs of the State and Church” might mean that she is actually speaking in church, which is clearly forbidden by the Bible. I’m sure that this isn’t the case but I just wanted to check.
P.P.S. 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 may be one of the Bible passages that proper Christians are allowed to ignore, of course. In which case, forgive my even mentioning it!
Richard Queripel blogs at Queerily.com

"We Were Always There..."


"Our moments of freedom were few, but when they came we loved one another..."



"The Truth About Love..."

"Love is trembling happiness."

Khalil Gibran




"The GIFt Of Love..."


"The beauty and joy of love is revealed in a kiss..."



"Same Gender Loving People - No. 1502"

"Love Is Life's Grand Reason..."

Positive images of people like me... The truth of the matter is that we all need to see people like ourselves. So everyday, I'll post a photo, drawing or some other artwork that depicts Same Gender Loving People as what we are... Only Human.




"The Poet's Corner..."

 
“The Nymph’s Reply to The Shepherd"
Sir Walter Raleigh *

If all the world and love were young, 
And truth in every shepherd' s tongue, 
These pretty pleasures might me move 
To live with thee and be thy love. 

Time drives the flocks from field to fold, 
When rivers rage and rocks grow cold; 
And Philomel becometh dumb; 
The rest complains of cares to come. 

The flowers do fade, and wanton fields 
To wayward winter reckoning yields: 
A honey tongue, a heart of gall, 
Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall. 

The gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses, 
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies 
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten,— 
In folly ripe, in reason rotten. 

Thy belt of straw and ivy buds, 
Thy coral clasps and amber studs, 
All these in me no means can move 
To come to thee and be thy love. 

But could youth last and love still breed, 
Had joys no date nor age no need, 
Then these delights my mind might move 
To live with thee and be thy love. 


* “The Nymph’s Reply to The Shepherd” is widely regarded as Sir Walter Raleigh's reply to his lover Christopher Marlowe's  famous love poem, "The Passionate Shepherd."


"The Artist's Corner..."




Tuesday, October 29, 2013

"The Truth About Love..."




"We Were Always There..."


"We didn't care who knew it, we were in love..."



"Same Gender Loving People - No. 1501"

"All Love Is Ordained Of God..."

Positive images of people like me... The truth of the matter is that we all need to see people like ourselves. So everyday, I'll post a photo, drawing or some other artwork that depicts Same Gender Loving People as what we are... Only Human.



"The Truth About Same Sex Marriage..."





"Fear Eats the Soul"



"The Poet's Corner..."

 
"Song of the Open Road"
Walt Whitman

Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
strong and content I travel the open road.
I inhale great draughts of space,
The east and the west are mine, and the north and the south are mine.
I am larger, better than I thought,
I did not know I held so much goodness.
Comrade, I give you my hand!
I give you my love more precious than money,
I give you myself before preaching or law;
Will you give me yourself? will you come travel with me?
Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?



"Gay PDA Is Okay!"

"Love Is Rare and Beautiful... Live Fearlessly"




"A Thought To Ponder..."

 
"Darkness may hide the trees and the flowers from the eyes but it cannot hide love from the soul."

- Khalil Gibran



"This Made Me Smile..."


"Real men can wear pink too..."



"The Artist's Corner..."




Monday, October 28, 2013

"The Poet's Corner..."

 
"Toleration"
John Barford

Is it too much to ask
That I should be
Allowed to prove
God's gift of infinite variety
In human love?

I do not seek that
All should understand,
Much less forgive;
But surely heed man's
Commonsense command
"Live and let live"

And, if the Greatest Lover's
Mind divine
Further can move -
(Who had Himself all natures,
even mine,)
Love - and let love.


"The Truth Is Love..."

 
Superdads! Couple Adopts 14 Kids From Foster Care

Jasmin Aline Persch
September 23, 2013

Steven and Roger Ham couldn’t have predicted they’d one day foot a $1,500 monthly grocery bill, drive a 15-passenger van, and do four loads of laundry a day — but that’s what life now looks like for the couple, as they raise more than one dozen kids from the foster care system.

“It was never our intent to adopt 14 children,” Steven Ham told TODAY.com, of the parenting journey that started a decade ago.

When the Hams first set out to adopt, they excitedly formed a mental picture of their future child: the one baby they'd bring into their home. But their family quickly diverged from what they originally imagined.

It all started with Michael, in 2003. Child Protective Services sent the Hams to meet the 5-year-old, who was living in a group home, so that the couple could consider adopting him. In a whisper, Michael confided to Steven and Roger that he was beaten up because he was the littlest. Steven’s heart broke.

“He’s been with us ever since,” he said.

 
After he was adopted, Michael revealed that he was worried about how his four younger siblings were doing, who he’d helped feed and clothe before foster care split them up. Inspired by Michael's devotion to his family members, the Hams vowed to try to keep them together.

A call to CPS led to a poignant reunion for Michael with two of his younger siblings, 4-year-old Elizabeth and 3-year-old Andrew.

“Tears were rolling down these kids’ faces,” Steven said. “What child at three, four and five has tears of joy?”

The Hams soon adopted both Elizabeth and Andrew, and found they couldn’t ignore the children’s pleas to see their other siblings, 2-year-old twins, Jackson and Madison. The couple ultimately adopted the twins, and by 2004, they had five children.

In 2006, Steven became a stay-at-home dad. In the groove of fatherhood, he was ready to raise a baby. Though he says he was told by CPS time and again that he would likely not be selected to care for an infant in the state of Arizona because he was gay, he continued to try, and sure enough, was one day asked to foster an infant.

He poured his “heart and soul” into taking care of the infant, but the baby went back to his mother after five months, an experience that still brings tears to Steven’s eyes. Just three days later, however, a new bundle of joy arrived: Marcus, then 15 months old, came to the Hams and stayed.

Roger and Steven Ham
“He was the cutest kid you could imagine,” Steven gushes.

Two weeks later, the Hams faced a rapid-fire decision on 11-year-old Vanessa, a cousin of Michael and his sibling, who had been kicked out by her aunt. Guided by the principle of what it means to be a Ham, they took her in.

“We built our family on the value that family is family,” Steven says Roger told him.

After adopting Vanessa, the Hams raised their brood while functioning as a “revolving door” for foster children in emergency situations. Some of these children also ended up making the Hams’ house their permanent home, like Cooper, the 6-month-old baby they brought home in 2008 after he was abandoned behind a Wal-Mart, and his little sister Olivia, abandoned at a local hospital.

And their family continued to grow. One Halloween, as Steven and the kids were hanging decorations in their front yard, CPS showed up with 10-month-old Ambrose. Again, Steven devoted himself to this baby, his “shining star,” only to see Ambrose return to her mother through the foster care system. But she continued to visit the Hams, and when she was 3 years old, her mother asked Steven if he’d take her.

The couple also adopted Logan, a 4-year-old boy from Washington with an ear deformity, and his sister Isabel in 2009, after learning there were plans to separate them.

“At that point, we were 12 and done,” Steven said. The Hams closed their foster-care license.

Then, last January, they saw a local news story that changed their minds. A teacher reported finding bruises on a 4-year-old girl, leading to the arrests of her foster parents on child-abuse charges. The state also took her 2-year-old brother into care.

The report hit close to home — the children resembled Ambrose’s half-siblings. A call to CPS confirmed the Hams’ hunch: They were actually Ambrose’s relatives. The Hams called a family meeting to make a joint decision with their children.

The Ham Children
“When can we get them?” Michael, who is now 15, interjected.

The family agreed to expand its numbers once again, and in February, the Hams brought Ambrose’s siblings, Julian and Bella, home.

For such a large family, the Ham household is surprisingly quiet, said Heather Shew-Plummer, the Hams' adoption case worker. “When you walk into their home, you wouldn’t know there are 14 kids living there,” she said. “It’s clean and orderly.”

Most of the Hams’ children experienced the instability of life in foster care. That makes structure and stability crucial. Each child must have an extracurricular activity and a household chore, with one exception.

“I don’t have them babysit,” Steven said. “Their job is to be a kid. My job is to make sure they have what they need. That they have the skills to be a successful adult.”

Shew-Plummer says the Hams have turned their children’s lives around. ”Their hearts are amazing,” she said of the couple. "They will fight all day to get what they need for their kids.”

*****

"Fear Eats the Soul"



"Gay PDA Is Okay!"

"All Love Is Love... Live Fearlessly"




"The Truth About Hate...



"Fear Eats The Soul"



"The Truth About Love..."


"People try to reconcile you to a disappointment in love by asking why you should cherish a passion for an object that has proved itself worthless. Had you known this before, you would not have encouraged the passion; but that having been once formed, knowledge does not destroy it. If we have drank poison, finding it out does not prevent its being in our veins: so passion leaves its poison in the mind!"

- William Hazlitt



This Made Me Smile..."




"A Thought To Ponder..."