Daily Kos

Reposted from Steveningen by Ojibwa

Tomorrow is World AIDS Day.

World AIDS Day is held on 1 December each year and is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died. World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day and the first one was held in 1988.

This is a day that Brian and I have set aside to remember our friends and remember hope.

For at least two of the most anti-LGBT profiteers in the business, it means something else entirely. It is an opportunity to stick it to the gays.

Since there's a World AIDS Day (Dec 1), is there a World Alzheimer's Day, + a World Diabetes Day, etc? #PoliticallyCorrectDisease #tcot

— Peter LaBarbera (@PeterLaBarbera) November 30, 2012

Yes, Mr. LaBarbera. There is a World Diabetes Day. It falls on November 14th every year. There are actually 30 World Alzheimer's Days. They all fall in September. The better question to ask, Mr. Labarbera, is if there is a World Bigoted Prick Day. If not, I say we proclaim November 30th in honor of your hateful and ignorant tweet.

Moving photo that captures the suffering of sin & the pain of a father. A metaphor of God's love for "gays" life.time.com/history/behind… #LGBT #Sin

— Matt Barber (@jmattbarber) November 30, 2012

His link takes you to photograph from Life's website. It is a picture of a man named David Kirby, surrounded by his grieving family at the moment of his death. It is a difficult image to look at, so I have opted to let you decide for yourself whether to link or not.

Now let's get to you, Mr. Barber. Peter LaBarbera may be a run of the mill ignoramus, but you are just evil. I don't think words will be able to express just how abhorrent an individual I think you are, but I will try. It is one thing to make your living off your hatred of gay people, which tells me just how little you have to offer the world. There are quite a few of you grifters out there. What has set you apart is the use of this iconic photograph of David Kirby's deathbed. This image is a touchstone to those of us who witnessed the plague that swept our community. The fact you have chosen this picture, this story, to exploit on the eve of World AIDS Day is the best measure of your cruelty and inhumanity. The way you have distorted the purpose of this photograph earns you a special place in what you call hell.

In November 1990 LIFE magazine published a photograph of a young man named David Kirby — his body wasted by AIDS, his gaze locked on something beyond this world — surrounded by anguished family members as he took his last breaths. The haunting image of Kirby on his death bed, taken by a journalism student named Therese Frare, quickly became the one photograph most powerfully identified with the HIV/AIDS epidemic that, by then, had seen millions of people infected (many of them unknowingly) around the globe.

More than two decades later, on World AIDS Day, LIFE.com shares the deeply moving story behind that picture, along with Frare’s own memories of those harrowing, transformative years.

Read more: http://life.time.com/...

Tomorrow is World AIDS Day. People across the globe will focus on research, funding, education, and most importantly, remembering the people they lost to this cruel disease. I will remember you too, Matt Barber, and not kindly.

Reposted from dirkster42 by linkage

Today is the release date of Voices of Feminist Liberation: Writings in Celebration of Rosemary Radford Ruether, which I co-edited with Emily Silverman and Whitney Bauman.  It was very much a labor of love.  It was released at a price meant for institutional buyers, so if you could ask your library to order a copy, I would be eternally grateful.

I've written previously about Ruether in my first diary in The Religious Left series, in a book review of her book of ecological theology and ethics Gaia and God, and for the My Favorite Authors/Books series.  Cassiodorus reviewed her book America, Amerikkka: Elect Nation and Imperial Violence.  A little overview of the contents of the book in her honor on the flip.

Reposted from Kos Katalogue by Sara R I am lucky enough to have two very special Kossacks interested in my paintings this year. Interested enough in fact, that each of them have expressed interest in owning one. Sara R and llbear have given tirelessly to this community. When Sara said she wanted my painting "Naptime" I was both honored and stunned. She is also working very hard to bring business to all of us in the Kos Katalogue, so I think if anyone deserves a gift from our Daily Kos Secret Santa, it's Sara R.

Then there is llbear. He is always there for us when needed. Last summer, when I was having such trouble with my blood work and diagnosis for multiple ailments, llbear stepped forward and called me just to talk one day while I was feeling pretty down. It takes a special person to offer time and advice to someone they have never met, and llbear was there for me, as I have seen him step up for so many others here at the Daily Kos. He wants a painting for a new room he designed with a Polynesian theme that goes with the Tiki Bar he had installed indoors there. And if llbear needs a painting from the Daily Kos Secret Santa, I think he should have one.

So please follow me beyond the fold to see how you can help get these two a little something special for the holidays from all of us this year...

Update:

Sara R  "Naptime" watercolor  $350   ($135 remaining)

lilbear "Cubby Bear" watercolor  $350  ($115 remaining)

Help us get there at Paypal, flabee at msn.com

Reposted from Kos Katalogue by Sara R

Sterling silver belt buckle by Wings, $225 + $10 shipping and insurance.  Classic.  Timeless.  To be treasured for a lifetime.

We love our men -- but sometimes they can be tricky to buy for.  Today's Kos Katalogue is sprinkled with suggestions. Find something neat for your special guy and support a small business at the same time!

Patinaed Brass Menorah by David M Bowman Studio, $370 -- is this gorgeous, or what!  This studio makes candleabras and single candle holders, too.

Reposted from lbl1162 by linkage Today I took my girl up to the "park". The park is a huge cemetery a few miles away. We drive up there. Lucy hates to ride in most any vehicle but if I tell her we're going to the park, she'll jump right in the car. The park is her most favorite place of all. Wide open spaces with meandering roads to trot down. Mostly treeless, there is heavy vegetation along three sides. She'll flush out a rabbit on occasion, and once, chased a fox for a bit. But the Canada geese are the main attraction. Hundreds gather there and I'm not certain why as there is no water nearby. Lucy doesn't chase but watches them with great interest. She'll lay on the grass watching their every move while I wander about and read the grave markers.  

This isn't an old resting place. Per the sign, it opened in 1938. It is an African-American cemetery and doesn't allow headstones, so each grave is marked with a bronze plaque. My favorite marker honors Benjamin Harrison Taylor.

Mr. Taylor played in the Negro League from 1908-1929. He started out as a pitcher but primarily played at first base.  He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. According to the marker, he was a great player and manager, and a gentleman. He was born on my spouse's birth day, and died the day I was born.

Here's the bit about Dog Power:

Reposted from Mortifyd by Ojibwa

The parsha for the week covers Bresheis 32:4 to 36:43. (Genesis)  I was asked to write and post a Dvar Torah - if I put it in the wrong place I apologize, I'm not actually all that good with anything other than Post? OKAY!  I just wanted people to have a chance to be er... Mortifyd before Shabbos started.

This is a Mortifyd dvar Torah.  That means it's pretty direct, modern language with commentary by yours truly thrown in along with some traditional points of view.  Please keep that in mind.

Welcome to Thursday Coffee Hour. This is an open topic thread so help yourself to the goodies and sit a spell and let us know what is going on in your life. I am currently scanning old photographs into the computer so I can put them on discs for the family.

Reposted from Native American Netroots by Ojibwa Editor's Note: Republished here because of the information about the Native American Church. -- Ojibwa The Navajo Reservation with its tribal headquarters in Window Rock, Arizona, is the largest Indian reservation in the United States. During the 1950s, the Navajo had to deal with an American government which was firmly committed to the destruction of the Indian way of life and to the transfer of any possible reservation wealth to large non-Indian corporations.

Reposted from Kos Katalogue by Horace Boothroyd III

BE MORE THAN A SECRET SANTA:

Fineena needs our help.  Please go to Ono's diary here, and give what you can.  She does BEAUTIFUL scarves and crochet work, so if you can buy something from her, all the better.  Thanks, everyone.

BE A KOS KATALOGUE SECRET SANTA!

As I wrote in my last Kos Katalogue diary:

As you may already have seen, Sara  has conceived of yet another brilliant idea for the holidays for those of us who participate in the Kos Katalogue merchant program:

If you're interested in a piece from one of us, but don't feel that you can spend the money on it for yourself, you can put yourself on a Secret Santa list, and people can contact the seller to contribute toward its purchase for you.  [Alternatively, you can play Santa's Elf by putting someone else's name on this list, and/or contributing toward such a purchase.]

Sara explains in greater detail here.

If you want to play Santa's Elf for someone on the list ut can't afford the entire cost of a piece, you can donate only a part, too - we can aggregate donations from multiple people. Contact me via e-mail (Ajijaakwe [at] gmail [dot] com), by Kosmail, or via the contact tab on our Web site to make arrangements.  

And while you're contemplating your Elfhood, please visit Sara R's diary here to help the elves buy a lavender quilt for our beloved Chacounne.

We've already received several nominees for Santa's list. At the top is our own peregrine kate, the founder of Monday Night Cancer Club and Motor City Kossacks who has done so much for this community. Another dear soul who knew she wanted a piece of Wings's hand-made Indian jewelry nominated her to receive the WhiteHawk necklace, on the theory that someone with "peregrine" in her name needed a bird to help her fly.  [Yes, we all know that a falcon is not a hawk, but they're close relations - and it turns out that it's the very piece she wants.] Here's the piece:

WhiteHawk necklace. Sterling silver and white aventurine. $625 (+ $15 for regular shipping/insurance). (Design by Aji.)

UPDATE:  Out of $640 total (including shipping and insurance) for peregrine kate's piece, we now have $205 $220 $230 committed.  That brings the balance on her gift to $435 $420 $410.

In no particular order, more Secret Santa nominees over the jump:

Reposted from Sara R by Sara R

Lavender Quilt #9 -- this one is sold, we're making something similar for Chacounne

Winglion Quilts (Sara R and sister Ann) is participating in the Kos Katalogue Secret Santa effort this season.  One of the people we have on our list is Chacounne.

Chacounne wants one of our lavender quilts -- a puffy lap throw filled with organic lavender flowers.  Lavender has particular associations with happy memories for Chacounne -- and she is really looking forward to having this special gift from the community.

Welcome to the Wednesday Coffee Hour here on Street Prophets. This is an open thread where we can hang out and talk about what’s going on in our worlds.

Some photos:

Some lovely Fuchsias in the rain

Reposted from The Tytalan Way by Ojibwa

Tip of the hat to the Friendly Atheist for introducing me to this ridiculous story. Leesburg, Virginia is the latest battleground in the war on xmas. As a supporter on the skeptics' side in this war, waged with such awful weapons of mass indoctrination as xmas decorations and the baby FSM in a manger, apparently I have become a terrorist.

Ok, admittedly the flying spaghetti monster is not a WMI. That was going a bit overboard.