Thursday, October 31, 2013
"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.
Obamacare removed lifetime limits on coverage. It doesn't extend into the afterlife.
Obamacare covers children with pre-existing conditions. It does not protect you from something you loved in your childhood coming back to haunt you.
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.
Obamacare covers maternity and newborn care. It can't help if you give birth to Satan's son.
At least these are all just scary movies ... right?
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.
Obamacare removed lifetime limits on coverage. It doesn't extend into the afterlife.
Obamacare covers children with pre-existing conditions. It does not protect you from something you loved in your childhood coming back to haunt you.
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.
Obamacare covers maternity and newborn care. It can't help if you give birth to Satan's son.
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 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
"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.
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
"The Truth About Hate Was Never More Eloquently Stated..."
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| Emmanuel Olisamedualim Chukwuma, Bishop of Enugu |
Dear Bishop of Enugu, why cherry pick bible verses in order to tell gay people they are evil?
"We Were Always There..."
"Our moments of freedom were few, but when they came we loved one another..."
"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..."
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“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."
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
"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 Poet's Corner..."
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"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?
"A Thought To Ponder..."
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- Khalil Gibran
Monday, October 28, 2013
"The Poet's Corner..."
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"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..."
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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.
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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.
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| Roger and Steven Ham |
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.
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| The Ham Children |
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"
"The Truth About Love..."
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- William Hazlitt
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