- Reminder: Did you complete your Diet Journal today? Get it done!
- Did you do any physical activity? If not, make a point of it by tomorrow! Own a bike? Ride it to lunch, work, park, lake!
- It is our hope that our male fitness photos shall inspire you!
Today's Health - Wellness / Exercise / Reflections:When Fear Is GoodPosted by Michael Specter / New Yorker / Dec 17, 2010History may not always fit neatly into Karl Marx's theorems, but there is something undeniably tragic about the way some gay leaders are responding to the AIDS epidemic in New York City. As was the case nearly thirty years ago, at the beginning of the epidemic, there are gay activists who would rather bury themselves in false comforts than deal with harsh facts. We know from bitter experience where that leads: to death.
Last week, city health officials began a deeply unsettling campaign to fight increasing complacency among men who have sex with men. In a video advertisement (above), a voiceover states, "When you get H.I.V., it's never just H.I.V.," noting "dozens of diseases" for which H.I.V.-positive persons are at increased risk, "even if you take medications." The ad graphically depicts dementia, noting "permanent memory loss," and osteoporosis, "a disease that dissolves your bones." It states that, with H.I.V., "you're over twenty-eight times more likely to get anal cancer," which is visually depicted. "Stay H.I.V.-free. Always use a condom," the voiceover ends.
This has sent a number of H.I.V. activists into a frenzy -- and many have demanded that the city pull the ad. Why? For the same reason that Larry Kramer, who founded both Gay Men's Health Crisis, the New York-based H.I.V.-advocacy group, and ACT UP, was ostracized in the early days of the epidemic: unpleasant truths are never welcome. "It really paints this picture of gay men as these sort of disease-ridden vessels, and so the message is really sort of, `Stay away from gay men,' " said Francisco Roque, director of community health for Gay Men's Health Crisis. The ad's "horror movie" quality and eerie sounds seem to demonize gay men, he said. G.M.H.C. and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said the ad creates a grim portrait of life with H.I.V., further stigmatizing those with the infection.
Nasty messages are unpleasant and they don't always work. But they do work sometimes, and there is research to suggest in cases like this, where it has become easy to shrug off the truth, harsh reminders are particularly effective. Kramer is beside himself about the opposition to the ad, which is not a rare condition for him. But he has every right to be outraged. He has watched too many of his friends die. Both he and I remember another set of gay leaders arguing, powerfully, that closing bathhouses in New York and San Francisco would be an unconscionable infringement on civil liberties, that it would cast aspersions on the sexuality of gay men, that it would be unfair.
I wish those people were here to scream at Kramer today. And I am sure that he does, too. Unfortunately, however, too many of them are dead.
Consider joining:
- Members of Peckers Pics should join our President Barack Obama group . (Health Care Public Option, Gay Rights, Gay Marriage, Repeal DOMA @ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ObamaBiden2008/join
- Bearhug Submission - Roommates (Wrestling fiction)(Your Yahoo Profile must have Age, Gender, Location before you apply for membership!). http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BearhugSubmission_/join
Take Action:
- Boycott advertisers of Glenn Beck on Fox News as well as all of FOX NEWS! Glenn has lied about Health-care, called our President a racist, and is anti-gay rights.
- Update: DADT has been repealed. President Obama has kept his promise!
- Boycott Bill O'Reilly and FOX News and their advertisers. Bill discussed a French commercial by McDonalds that was meant to show that McDonalds is Gay Friendly. Bill said what is next? Is McDonalds going to get be Al-Qaida friendly as well? Further, Bill said that McDonalds would never show a gay friendly commercial in the USA. Imagine, Bill is comparing Gays to Al-Qaida!
- Boycott Arizona the home of senile - Sen. John McCain: because of their Hateful anti-Immigration Law that encourages racial profiling and increases hatred towards minorities. A remedy: Demand Republicans to support Immigration Reform. Further, Their Senator McCain voted against ending DADT and blocked Immigration reform! We shall hold the voters of Arizona responsible!
- NEW: Boycott Target and Best Buy for donating money towards anti-gay political candidates/organizations.
- NEW: Boycott Gold's Gym for donating loads of money to anti-gay candidates.
This group is called "Peckers PICS." The English - slang definition of "pecker" is to pluck at the truth. Therefore, we peck at items such as Gay Men's Health, Male Fitness, Gay (LGBT) Politics & Issues. In this section you may peck at each photo in order to decide the winner of the "war of the fittest!" Whereas, you should select the guy that may inspire you to exercise and "get fit!" Warning: This may stoke you!
Remember your participation in discussion of health / news articles - appearing in this message is greatly appreciated.
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USA TODAY / Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 / by David JacksonPresident Obama thanks his political supporters for congressional repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays.
"This victory belongs to you," Obama said in an e-mail to members of Organizing For America, the pro-Obama political arm of the Democratic National Committee. "Without your commitment, the promise I made as a candidate would have remained just that."
Obama also credited Democratic congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and urged Organizing For America members to sign thank-you letters to them and other lawmakers.
OFA lobbying against "don't ask, don't tell" proved "no one should underestimate this movement," Obama wrote. "Every phone call to a senator on the fence, every letter to the editor in a local paper and every message in a congressional inbox makes it clear to those who would stand in the way of justice: We will not quit."
In pledging to sign the repeal of the military's policy, Obama wrote, "I will never know what it feels like to be discriminated against because of my sexual orientation."
But the nation's first African-American president said, "I know my story would not be possible without the sacrifice and struggle of those who came before me -- many I will never meet and can never thank."
Obama's e-mail in full:
Moments ago, the Senate voted to end "don't ask, don't tell."
When that bill reaches my desk, I will sign it, and this discriminatory law will be repealed.
Gay and lesbian servicemembers -- brave Americans who enable our freedoms -- will no longer have to hide who they are.
The fight for civil rights, a struggle that continues, will no longer include this one.
This victory belongs to you. Without your commitment, the promise I made as a candidate would have remained just that.
Instead, you helped prove again that no one should underestimate this movement. Every phone call to a senator on the fence, every letter to the editor in a local paper and every message in a congressional inbox makes it clear to those who would stand in the way of justice: We will not quit.
This victory also belongs to Sen. Harry Reid, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and our many allies in Congress who refused to let politics get in the way of what was right.
Like you, they never gave up, and I want them to know how grateful we are for that commitment.
Will you join me in thanking them by adding your name to Organizing for America's letter?
I will make sure these messages are delivered -- you can also add a comment about what the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" means to you.
As commander in chief, I fought to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" because it weakens our national security and military readiness. It violates the fundamental American principles of equality and fairness.
But this victory is also personal.
I will never know what it feels like to be discriminated against because of my sexual orientation.
But I know my story would not be possible without the sacrifice and struggle of those who came before me -- many I will never meet and can never thank.
I know this repeal is a crucial step for civil rights and that it strengthens our military and national security. I know it is the right thing to do.
But the rightness of our cause does not guarantee success, and today, celebration of this historic step forward is tempered by the defeat of another -- the DREAM Act. I am incredibly disappointed that a minority of senators refused to move forward on this important, common-sense reform that most Americans understand is the right thing for our country. On this issue, our work must continue.
Today, I'm proud that we took these fights on.
Please join me in thanking those in Congress who helped make "don't ask, don't tell" repeal possible:
http://my.barackobama.com/Repealed
Thank you,
Barack
Video: http://bcove.me/q1djka17
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