Saturday, June 11, 2011

[Peckers_Pics] Male/Gay Health-Discussion-PICS Model Wars-PICS-Health-News-Jun 12, 2011-Boycott Trump-NBC-TARGET-FOX NEWS



Model Wars-PICS-Health-News-Jun 12, 2011-
Safe PICS For All Ages/Boycott Trump-NBC-TARGET-FOX NEWS
Support Keith Olbermann's show "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" - coming to "CURRENT TV" June 20. About time, we need progressive un-censored news!

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"

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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:
Premature aging seen as issue for AIDS survivors
 
By LISA LEFF, Associated Press - June 11, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Having survived the first and worst years of the AIDS epidemic, when he was losing three friends to the disease in a day and undergoing every primitive, toxic treatment that then existed, Peter Greene is grateful to be alive.

But a quarter-century after his own diagnosis, the former Mr. Gay Colorado, now 56, wrestles with vision impairment, bone density loss and other debilitating health problems he once assumed he wouldn't grow old enough to see.

"I survived all the big things, but now there is a new host of things. Liver problems. Kidney disease. It's like you are a 50-year-old in an 80-year-old body," Greene, a San Francisco travel agent, said. "I'm just afraid that this is not, regardless of what my non-HIV positive friends say, the typical aging process."

Even when AIDS still was almost always fatal, researchers predicted that people infected with HIV would be more prone to the cancers, neurological disorders and heart conditions that typically afflict the elderly. Thirty years after the first diagnoses, doctors are seeing these and other unanticipated signs of premature or "accelerated" aging in some long-term survivors.

Government-funded scientists are working to tease apart whether the memory loss, arthritis, renal failure and high blood pressure showing up in patients in their 40s and 50s are consequences of HIV, the drugs used to treat it or a cruel combination of both. With people over 50 expected to make up a majority of U.S. residents infected with the virus by 2015, there's some urgency to unraveling the "complex treatment challenges" HIV poses to older Americans, according to the National Institutes of Health.

"In those with long-term HIV infection, the persistent activation of immune cells by the virus likely increases the susceptibility of these individuals to inflammation-induced diseases and diminishes their capacity to fight certain diseases," the federal health agency's chiefs of infectious diseases, aging and AIDS research wrote, summing up the current state of knowledge on last September's National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day. "Coupled with the aging process, the extended exposure of these adults to both HIV and antiretroviral drugs appears to increase their risk of illness and death from cardiovascular, bone, kidney, liver and lung disease, as well as many cancers not associated directly with HIV infection."

In San Francisco, where already more than half of the 9,734 AIDS cases are in people 50 and over, University of California, San Francisco AIDS specialists are collaborating with geriatricians, pharmacists and nutritionists to develop treatment guidelines designed to help veterans of the disease cope with getting frail a decade or two ahead of schedule and to remain independent for as long as possible.

"Wouldn't it be helpful to be able to say, are you at high risk, low risk or moderate risk for progressing to dependency in the next five, the next 10 years, being less mobile, less able to be functional in the workplace. Are you going to be safe in your home, are you going to remember to take all those medications? How are they going to interact?" explained Dr. Malcolm John, who directs UCSF's HIV clinic. "All those questions need to be brought into the HIV field at a younger age."

Research so far suggests that HIV is not directly causing conditions that mimic old age, but hastens patients toward ailments to which they may have been genetically or environmentally predisposed. Plus, their immune systems are being weakened over time even when they are being successfully treated for AIDS, John said.

"That's probably true for a lot of these things. We aren't saying HIV's starting the problem, but it's added fuel on top," he said.

Stokes, a patient of John's who goes by only his last name, is a prime example. At 53, HIV-positive since 1985 and in substance abuse recovery for the last 11 years, he says he is happier than he ever has been. Yet the number of ailments for which he is being treated would be more commonly found in someone 30 years his senior: a condition called Ramsay Hunt syndrome that causes facial paralysis, a rare cartilage disorder for which he has undergone four ear surgeries, bone death in the hip and shoulder, deterioration of his heart muscle, osteoporosis and memory loss.

A specialist recently diagnosed a Kaposi's sarcoma spot on Stokes' ankle. Although the cancer is not life-threatening, the sight of young men disfigured by KS lesions was a harbinger of the early AIDS crisis, and its presence on his own body is unsettling.

At his therapy group for men with HIV, aging "comes up frequently," he said. "I say, 'Just think what we have come through to have a life today.'" At the same time, he acknowledges sometimes feeling self-conscious about his physical appearance and worries if "people are not attracted to me and unwilling to go the length of what it means to be with me, no matter how brilliant my mind or my zest for life."

Loneliness, financial worries and concerns about who will care for them and where can weigh on long-term AIDS survivors in the same way as all adults living in a society that values youth, Charles Emlet, a social work professor at the University of Washington, Tacoma, said.

As they get older and sicker, many feel "doubly stigmatized," he said. Some people who have lived with the virus for a long time have been getting by on private disability benefits that will run out when they turn 65, forcing them to move to less expensive locations or to consider turning to estranged family members. Like soldiers from a distant war, many lost partners and their closest friends to AIDS.

Such emotional side effects, combined with the physical toll of managing chronic health problems, put older AIDS patients at risk for depression. At the same time, Emlet has uncovered evidence that a majority of long-term survivors also share another trait that typically comes with advanced age: that is, the ability to draw strength from their difficult experiences.

"The older adults I've interviewed, many of them talk about how much it means to them to give back, to do something positive with the years they never expected to have," he said.

Peter Greene can relate to that. At times, like the days he is so exhausted he can't get out of bed or the pain from his multiple maladies is too intense, he asks himself "the Carrie Bradshaw question--are we really lucky to still be alive?"

As frightening and uncertain as this phase of AIDS is, he thinks he knows the answer.

"I've tried to make the time I have count, and really, now that I have the body of an 80-year-old, I probably have the wisdom of an 80-year-old as well, which counts for a lot," Greene said. "Everything becomes clear at the end of your life and in some ways, thinking you've been dying all these years, you get moments of clarity that I don't think everyone gets."
Take Action:
  • 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! In conclusion, O'Reilly expressed out-right Hatrad of the LGBT Community.
  • 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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Update 4/8/2011: Target lost it's case to stop the LGBT from canvassing in front of their stores. A huge PR Disaster for TARGET! Perhaps Target should go out of business as they betrayed their investers and customers. Target contributed massive funds to a politician who would like to exterminate gays. Now, Target can not stop us from Boycotting them, nor picketing, nor talking to customers near their stores; although, Target allows a anti-gay company such as the Salvation Army to stand outside their door and speak with customers and raise money. Isn't this a double standard? Perhaps TARGET would better understand the issue if they cared about David Kato - Uganda, who was slain because he is gay! That is because Uganda wants to kill gay people. Again, TARGET invested in a political candidate that would Kill the Gays!
  • 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: "Tune Out Trump", Boycott all Trump Hotel, casinos, holdings, The Apprentice and NBC Network! At CPAC, Trump said 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 when Donald Trump has stated he may run for president? After making racist remarks about Obama and recv'g public backlash, Trump decided not to run for president after NBC renewed his awful TV Show. How can NBC renew the clown's show after he pulled all such low-class shenanigans? Boycott NBC! Boycott advertisers of The Apprentice and Trump's other business's. Don't shop at any bullding with Donald Trump's name to include Trump Hotels, Casinos, Condo's, Offices, Shops! The Donald has expressed extreme Hatred towards gays and blacks with his birther remarks and anti-gay rhetoric. Remember how poorly Trump treated Rosie O'Donnel? Now we know why he did that! It was hate against a lesbian as we now know he is biget. Unforgiveable! Dump NBC because they re-newed Donald Trump's "The Apprentice"! NBC, Really? Update June 1, 2011: Trump now claims that Obama's long form, original birth certificate is fake. And NBC keeps this hater? NBC, You Kidding Us?

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.
 
RONI MAZON
 
VS
HADRIEN PIERRE MAZELIER
 
You Decide!
Rome, Italy; Pride; June 11, 2011
Stoked?
Rome, Italy; Pride; June 11, 2011
Super Stoked?
Rome, Italy; Pride; June 11, 2011
Obama Extends Medicaid Protections To Gay, Lesbian Couples
By Carlos Santoscoy - June 11, 2011 - On Top Magazine
 
The Obama administration on Friday extended Medicaid's financial protections to gay and lesbian couples.

The new regulations were laid out in a letter to state Medicaid agencies written by The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency under the direction of the department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Currently, Medicaid policies protect the financial assets of married straight couples when a spouse enters a nursing home or care facility.

"Low-income same-sex couples are too often denied equal treatment and the protections offered to other families in their greatest times of need," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "This is now changing. Today's guidance represents another important step toward ensuring that the rights and dignity of every American are respected by their government."

The letter, in effect, encourages states to recognize the spouses of gay men and lesbians, even though federal agencies are banned from recognizing such unions under the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

DOMA defines marriage for federal agencies as a heterosexual union. Medicaid polices refer to DOMA in defining who qualifies as a spouse.

The law gives states the flexibility not to pursue liens when the gay spouse of a Medicaid beneficiary continues to reside in the home the couple once shared, the CMS asserted.

"States choosing not to pursue liens when the same-sex spouse or domestic partner beneficiary continues to lawfully reside in the home would exercise their existing discretion in determining the scope or circumstances, either prior to, or when pursuing liens," the agency wrote.

States are also encouraged to recognize gay couples in other circumstances, including estate recovery and transfers of assets.

"The exemptions for transferring assets to a spouse cannot be directly applied to same-sex spouses or partners as a result of DOMA," the agency concedes in its guidance. "However … a transfer of assets penalty period will not be applied if the State determines, under procedures established by the State, that denial of eligibility would create an undue hardship."

"Because of the flexibility afforded to States in determining undue hardship, we believe that States may adopt criteria, or even presumptions, that recognize that imposing transfer of assets penalties on the basis of ownership interests in a shared home to a same-sex spouse or domestic partner would constitute an undue hardship."

Gay rights groups praised the new guidance but added that DOMA remains the law.
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!


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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)



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