Sunday, April 3, 2011

Re: [Peckers_Pics] Model Wars; PICS + Articles; Apr 3, 2011/Boycott TARGET



A very nice piece.  It should be part of any school's curriculum on sexuality.

On Sat, Apr 2, 2011 at 10:14 PM, Jake <jakewest_tn@yahoo.com> wrote:


Model Wars; PICS + Articles; Apr 3, 2011
Safe PICS For All Ages/Boycott TARGET/Support Keith Olbermann-coming to CURRENT TV

Updates on Keith Olbermann  @ ObamaBiden2008 (Update: Keith joined "CURRENT TV").  Check with your cable provider to see if you have "Current TV".  Current TV's website has option for you to request service from your cable provider.   Current TV's founder is Al Gore.  Charter Cable does not carry "Current TV".  Please Contact Charter now!  Keith is a man who stuck his neck out for progressives, as well as the LGBT community. Update:  Keith began his FOK NEWS blog. 

Alert: Target + Minnesota Forward + Tom Emmer = Support for a rather dangerous and radical political philosophy that diminishes LGBT people to pests that should be murdered. And "Target" is cool with this?   ...Now Target is suing the LGBT community for their peaceful demonstrations in front of their stores.    ....Our answer:  BOYCOTT "TARGET"

Consider joining:

Diet & Fitness:

  • Reminder: Did you complete your Diet Journal today?
  • Did you do any physical activity?  If not, make a point of it by tomorrow! 
  • Perhaps our male fitness photos shall inspire you to get Fit!
Health - Wellness - Exercise - Reflections:
Is Spot Toning Possible?

By Jorge Cruise / March 31, 2011

By now you should know that spot reducing (losing weight in a targeted area of your body) isn't possible - unless you're willing to go under the knife. But what about spot toning? You may have heard that you can't spot tone and must learn to accept the shape of your body just the way it is. Well, I'm happy to tell you that the spot-toning caution is only half-true. Here's the whole truth: Moving one area of your body over and over doesn't burn fat in that one spot, but it will firm up the area.

For example, if you focus only on your thighs by doing hundreds of leg lifts, you probably won't slim down even though you will strengthen your leg muscles. However, if you target your entire body - upper, middle and lower - with certain resistance-training moves, you can boost your metabolism high enough that your body burns fat all day long. This will help burn fat all over your body, including your thighs.
 
Resistance-training is an important part of your fitness program. It helps strengthen your weak areas, balancing your entire body. Combine resistance training with a healthy eating plan, and you will shed the fat.
Take Action:
  • Boycott advertisers of Glenn Beck - Fox News.  Glenn Beck 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 be Al-Qaida friendly as well?  Imagine - Bill O'Reilly compares Gays to Al-Qaida!
  • Boycott Arizona the home of  "hater" - U.S. Senator John McCain. Arizona's Hateful anti-Immigration Law - encourages racial profiling and increases hatred towards minorities.  A remedy: Demand Republicans to  support Immigration Reform (The Dream Act). Further, Senator McCain voted against ending DADT and Blocked Immigration reform! 
  • Boycott Target, Best Buy, Gold's Gym - for donating money towards anti-gay political candidates/organizations. Update: (12/26/2010): Target is continuing to donate to anti-gay groups/causes/politicians. Update 03/08/11 - Lady Gaga Ends Target Partnership, Reportedly Over Target's Poor LGBT Stance. Update 3/25/2010 - Target displays their hypocrisy and Sues California Gay Rights Group for Lobbying Outside Stores.  Target is attempting to block the LGBT right of free speech!  STOP SHOPPING AT TARGET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • End DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act).  Prevents Federal employees and Gays in the Military from gaining equal benefits. Prevents Gay Partners from gaining equal benefits.    
  • Pass ENDA (Employee Non-Discrimination Act).  ENDA would prevent employment discrimination of  LGBT workforce.
  • Boycott Salvation Army as they will not hire Gays! "DO NOT DONATE TO THEM."
  • BOYCOTT "Chick-fil-a" for donating to anti-gay marriage groups.
  • BOYCOTT KOCH INDUSTRIES PRODUCTS- to include their products: Angel Soft toilet paper / Brawny paper towels / Dixie plates, bowls, napkins & cups / Mardi Gras napkins and towels / Quilted Northern toilet paper / Soft 'n Gentle toilet paper / Sparkle napkins / Vanity fair napkins / Zee napkins / Georgia-Pacific paper products & envelopes / All Georgia-Pacific lumber & building products (INVISTA Products) / Lycra / Stainmaster Carpet.   The billionaire - Koch brothers are ultra republican - tea bag founders/supporters that do not support causes of the LGBT community.
  • Boycott WALMART - The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, force criticized Wal-Mart for denying employee benefits to same-s-x partners and for failing to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. By comparison, the group said two other chain stores with a strong presence in New York, Costco and Walgreens, did much better.
  • NEW: Boycott Donald Trump, The Apprentice and NBC Network! Trump stated he is considering a run for president as a Republican. In a interview with the Des Moines Register, Trump added that he opposes all forms of legal recognition for gay couples, not just marriage. "They should not be able to marry," he said. So why does NBC keep the Apprentice running - when Donald Trump has stated he may run for president? Boycott NBC! Boycott advertisers of The Apprentice and Trump's other business's. Don't shop at any building with Donald Trump's name!  The Donald has expressed extreme Hatred.  Remember how poorly he treated Rosie O'Donnel?  Now we know why he did that!  It was hate against a lesbian as we now know he is hater.  Unforgiveable!  Ready to dump NBC because they air Donald Trump's "The Apprentice"?  Start Watching CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.
  • NEW: Boycott "APPLE." For the current owners and the aspiring owners of the I-phone,  Apple allows an application, "The Gay App", which is supposed to help gay individuals turn straight.  This is a step in the wrong direction.
    Apple needs to know that the decision to allow this App on their products is a fallacious idea! Update: March 23, 2011:  Apple removed this app from USA stores; but, possibly not from foreign stores.  This is offensive not just towards the LGBT community in the USA; but, offensive to  the entire LGBT community around the world.  How does anyone approve such a hateful, despicable app towards the LGBT community? Especially when Gay Teens are killing themselves after being harrassed by their church, parents, as well as  by bully's and teachers at school. The idea that this app was used, solicited is disgusting.  
  • Remember David Kato, Gay activist - Uganda, who was slain because he is gay!

And Now, Model Wars!

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, who is the model that may inspire you to exercise and "get fit?"  Warning: This may stoke you!
 
Your participation in discussion of health / news articles - appearing in this message is greatly appreciated.
Steve Gold
 
VS
NILS BUTLER
 
You Decide!
Nasty Night @ Powerhouse; San Francisco; Apr 1, 2011
Stoked?
Nasty Night @ Powerhouse; San Francisco; Apr 1, 2011
Real lives: Writer Jodi Picoult reveals how she felt when her son told her he was gay
By Jodi Picoult / 2nd April 2011 / Mail Online

When bestselling author Jodi Picoult found herself researching the topic of gay rights, a controversial issue in her native United States, the subject matter really hit home when her own son Kyle came out. Here she reveals what her hopes are for him and other homosexual teenagers...

My first crush was on a boy named Kal Raustiala when I was an eight-year-old in second grade. He had shaggy, leonine hair, a pet iguana and a climbing frame in his basement. Although I didn't really know why at the time, my heart beat faster near him. When he wasn't around, I wanted to be with him. And when I was with him, I never wanted to leave. It just sort of happened, in the way that love often does: naturally, instinctually, and wholeheartedly.

After college, I had a friend who, like me, was naturally, instinctually and wholeheartedly attracted to boys. His name was Jeff. My roommate and I spent many Friday nights with Jeff and his partner Darryl, catching the latest movies and dissecting them over dinner afterwards. Jeff was funny, smart and a technological whiz. In fact, the least interesting thing about him was that he happened to be gay.

Gay rights is not something most of us think about - because most of us happen to have been born straight (at no point before falling hard for Kal did I actively choose to be attracted to the opposite sex). But imagine how you'd feel if you were told that it was unnatural to fall in love with someone of the opposite gender. If you weren't allowed to get married or adopt a child with your partner. Imagine being a teenager who's bullied because of your sexual orientation; or being told by your church that you are immoral. In America, where I live, this is the norm for millions of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning) individuals. Only five out of 50 US states [plus Washington DC] conduct same-sex marriages, and only a handful recognise its legality.

Imagine how you'd feel if you were told that it was unnatural to fall in love with someone of the opposite gender.
 
Those opposed to gay rights often say that they have nothing against the individuals themselves - just their desire to redefine marriage as something other than a partnership between a man and a woman. Meanwhile, same-sex couples and their friends and families argue that they deserve the same rights as heterosexual couples. The result is a country bitterly divided along the fault line of a single contentious issue.

People are always afraid of the unknown - and banding together against the Thing That Is Different From Us is a time-honoured tradition for rallying the masses. I've noticed that most people who oppose gay rights don't have a personal connection to someone who is gay. On the other hand, those who have a gay uncle or a lesbian college professor or a transgendered supermarket cashier are more likely to support gay rights, because the Thing That Is Different From Us has turned out to be, well, pretty normal. Instead of plotting the demise of the traditional family, as some politicians and religious leaders would have you believe, gay people mow their lawns and watch American Idol and video their children's concerts and have the same hopes and dreams that their straight counterparts do. 

When I started writing Sing You Home, I wanted to create a lesbian character that readers could truly get to know. Zoe Baxter is a woman who - along with her husband Max – has been trying to get pregnant for years. After many failed IVF attempts she finally conceives - only to lose the baby. The tragedy is the final nail in the coffin of her strained marriage, and she and Max divorce. To cope, Zoe throws herself into her career as a music therapist. When Vanessa, a guidance counsellor, asks her to work with a suicidal teenager, their relationship moves from business to friendship and then - to Zoe's surprise - blossoms into love. As she begins to think of having a family again, she remembers that there are still frozen embryos at the IVF clinic that were never used by her and Max.

Meanwhile, Max has drunk himself into a downward spiral - until he is redeemed by an evangelical church, whose charismatic pastor has vowed to fight the `homosexual agenda' in America. But the mission becomes personal for Max when Zoe and her same-sex partner ask permission to raise his unborn child.

What does it mean to be gay today? How do we define a family? Those are two questions I hoped to answer while writing Sing You Home. I began by speaking to several same-sex couples, who shared their relationships and their sex lives and their struggles. Some of these people knew their sexual orientation in childhood; some - like Zoe - had same-sex relationships after heterosexual ones.

Then I spoke to representatives from a conservative Christian group, Focus on the Family, who oppose gay adoption, and support seminars to 'cure' gay people of same-sex attraction. They also back the Defense of Marriage Act, signed by Bill Clinton in 1996 (although President Obama recently stated that he will no longer defend the act), which allows any state to refuse recognition of any same-sex marriage performed in any other state. Like Pastor Clive in my novel, their objection to homosexuality is Biblical. Snippets from Leviticus and other Bible verses form the foundation of their anti-gay platform; although similar literal readings should require these people to abstain from playing football (touching pigskin) or eating scampi (no shellfish).

I didn't love Kyle any less because he was gay; I couldn't love him any more if he weren't

When I asked them if the Bible needs to be taken in a more historical context, I was told absolutely not - the word of God is the word of God. But when I then asked where in the Bible was a list of appropriate sex practices, I was told it's not a sex manual - just a guideline.

That circular logic was most heartbreaking when I brought up the topic of hate crimes. Focus on the Family insists that they love the sinner, just not the sin - and only try to help homosexuals who are unhappy being gay. I worried aloud that this message might be misinterpreted by those who commit acts of violence against gays in the name of religion, and the woman I was interviewing burst into tears. 'Thank goodness,' she said, 'that's never happened.' I am sure this would be news to the parents of Matthew Shepard, Brandon Teena or Ryan Keith Skipper - just a few of those murdered on account of their sexual orientation - or the FBI, which reports that 17.6 per cent of all hate crimes are motivated by sexual orientation, a number that is steadily rising. And it's not just in the US: in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Sudan, Mauritania and other parts of Africa, being gay is punishable by death.

Yet as eye-opening as all this research was, something else happened that truly made the subject hit home. My son Kyle, a brilliant, talented teenager, was applying to colleges while I was working on the book. One day, he brought me his finished application to read.

Part of it, an essay, was about being gay.

Did I know that Kyle was gay before he came out in his essay? Well, I'd had my suspicions since he was five. But it was his discovery to make, and to share. I wasn't surprised, but I was so happy for him – for being brave enough to be true to himself, and to admit that truth to his family. My husband gave him a huge hug. Kyle's little sister shrugged and said, 'So?' And his younger brother still calls to task those who carelessly say, 'That's so gay,' reminding them it's not a pejorative term.

Learning that Kyle was gay didn't change the way I felt about him. He was still the same incredible young man he'd been before I read that essay. I didn't love him any less because he was gay; I couldn't love him any more if he weren't. In the aftermath, I saw him blossom, finally comfortable in his own skin, because he wasn't living a lie any more. Yet, as a mother, I had my worries - not because of Kyle's sexual orientation, but because the rest of the world might not be as accepting as our family. Because one day, when he least expects it, he's going to be called a 'f-ggot'. Because - simply due to the way his brain is wired - life is going to be more complicated. 

As a mother, I had my worries - not because of Kyle's sexual orientation, but because the rest of the world might not be as accepting as our family.

Kyle is now at Yale University - which has a thriving gay community and a culture of acceptance. His boyfriend is a smart, sweet guy who has accompanied us on holidays and who makes my son incredibly happy. Still, it breaks my heart to know that, unlike Kyle, there are teenagers today who cannot come out to their parents because of deep-seated prejudice - which is too often cloaked in the satin robes of religion. Gay teenagers are four times as likely to attempt suicide as straight ones. I wish they knew that there's nothing wrong with them; that they are just a different shade of normal.

If I had any one great hope for the book, it would be to open the minds of those who have them closed tightly shut against those who are different - so that, one day, my son's children will live in a world where being gay does not mean you're denied rights automatically guaranteed by marriage. I hope they are just as puzzled as I am now when I see old photos of racially segregated schools and water fountains, and I wonder how could it possibly have taken so long for this country to come to its senses?

I hope the religious leaders of their generation focus on the best literal interpretation of their Bible: love your neighbour as yourself. But most of all, I hope that it reminds people that while homosexuality is not a choice, homophobia is. Why not opt for tolerance and kindness instead?
"Every gay and lesbian person who has been lucky enough to survive the turmoil of growing up is a survivor. Survivors always have an obligation to those who will face the same challenges."
....Jake
  
Important Notice: Our ObamaBiden2008 Group works hand - in - hand with Peckers PICS (Both groups were co-created to work with each-other).  To prevent duplication of articles and questions, all members of this group are expected  to join ObamaBiden2008. It is unfair for members that belong to both groups to hear members of just Peckers PICS (only) to make statements when the ObamaBiden2008 has covered such topics in detail.  Therefore, members need to join ObamaBiden2008  immediately.  This shall clear up communications and confusion.  The LGBT cause is too important and beyond 1 person's need to just look at pictures.   Therefore, please join ObamaBiden2008 now.  No you don't have to read every article! But, it covers the LGBT community and includes updates on Health insurance; LGBT boycott list; Westboro Church; and the end of DADT, etc...Also, updates with the multi - state gov't's war against unions and people with disabilities. The group is created for you!  There are gay teen suicides going on. There are Hate crimes against gay people. There are gays who are fired over their sexual identity.  There are gay people who died for our cause! You always reserve the right to remove yourself from all my groups if you do not appreciate this request.  I have done everything I can and now it is time for you to step up!  My Groups are for Yahoo members who sincerely care about LGBT rights and Gay Mens Health!   Please Join Now!


 

 

 






__._,_.___


All members of "Peckers PICS" are requested to join our "Obama Biden 2008" group as it runs in conjunction to this group.  Both groups shall not repeat articles from one group to another.  However, to gain full knowledge of Gay rights, members must belong to the Obama group as well as this group.  Therefore, please accept your invitation to join. 

To join the Obama group please click (or copy and paste the link into your browser) @  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ObamaBiden2008/join

Thank you!
 

"Every gay and lesbian person who has been lucky enough to survive the turmoil of growing up is a survivor. Survivors always have an obligation to those who will face the same challenges."

...Jake (Moderator)



Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)