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July 28, 2011

Happy Summer w/Kenny Chesney...



Everyone needs to have something to look at during the summer...  I think I found mine (see above).

Over and totally "Out" from Portsmouth, VA USA

ps:  I have been to a lot of places but I have never been in Cahoots. Apparently you can't go there alone! You have to be in Cahoots with someone. I've also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there! I have however been in Sane! They don't have an airport though, you have to be driven there. I've made several trips & I am planning another one in the near future...

July 26, 2011

Brian Williams on Letterman about Regis...


This was too funny not to post, especially if you are a fan of Live with Regis and Kelly:


Over and "Out" from Portsmouth, VA USA

July 24, 2011

Attack of the killer June Bugs...



Last night after a sweltering 102f degree day, we had a nice batch of thunderstorms move through the area. They were more like mini-monsoons and blew practically everything off our front porch.

Waking up this morning at around 6:30, I went out front and picked up the scattered mess only to find another disaster... June Bugs everywhere... Every time I opened the front door, several would make a dash for it and the inside of the house...

After a short walk around the "gayborhood" I realized that no other house has a swarm of these beetles hovering around the front yard...  WHAT THE HECK????

Must be something sweet in the grass, perhaps that crepe myrtle I trimmed last week, attracting them...

Over and "Out" from inside the house, in Portsmouth, VA USA

July 22, 2011

Sue Sylvester: Please... Save your money, this thing...


SUCKS, Or so Sue Sylvester says in the trailer...  Another I will probably wait for DVD, but you knows I likes me some GLEE!


Over and "Out" on another HOT day, from Portsmouth, VA USA

July 21, 2011

Neil Patrick Harris and the Smurfs...



While I was never a big fan of the Smurfs while on TV, my younger kids were... I remember them both "humming" that annoying tune for what seemed like years (yeah you all know the one)... I had heard they were making a Smurf Movie, but had no idea that NPH was in it. Based on the trailer (above) it looks cute in the same kind of way the Chipmunk Movies did...

NPH seems to have some great lines and "slapstick" kind of moves... I will probably wait for the DVD, but I thought it worth letting all the "Smurf-a-holics" know it is coming out next week...

Over and "Out" on a 100 degree day, from Portsmouth, VA USA

July 17, 2011

Sixty Thousand Thanks...



This is the 600th post I've made here (in five years and five months). Additionally, late yesterday evening, someone from Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, loaded up the 60,000th page-view (and yes, I think I know who that might be).

Every time I hit another little milestone I get all mushy inside. I can't tell you all how much it means to me that you are interested enough in "My New Life" and me, to come back and read my stories, points of view, and rants (without naked pictures or descriptions of my fairly normal sex life). 

Thanks to all the returning bloggers, non-bloggers, and even those that happen to google things that direct them to a photo or post that has little to do with anything other than a guy having a vehicle to express himself that he enjoys using... and I do enjoy it! Now only if my "followers" could gain some strength, I have been stuck on 37 for months...

Happy Sunday, over and "Out", from my world in Portsmouth, VA USA

July 16, 2011

The Edge of Glory taking on a new meaning...



Quick post today, saw this over at Wicked Gay Blog and had to repost. How could anyone deem this "Barbaric" or "Satan-like"?

Over and "Out" from Portsmouth, VA USA

July 15, 2011

Let's concentrate on the debt, not DADT...



If the administration has refused to defend DOMA, why would this be any different? Or is it just me?

From CNN News:

The Obama administration Thursday evening asked a federal appeals court in California to reconsider its order last week temporarily blocking the U.S. military from enforcing its "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays and lesbians serving in the military.

U.S. officials have been moving ahead with dismantling the policy but had objected to having the courts force the government to officially repeal it at this time.

At issue in the complex legal fight is whether "don't ask, don't tell" can remain in effect -- even in name only -- while the legal fight over its constitutionality is being carried out in the federal courts. Judges have been at odds over the enforcement issue for months.

The case has put the Obama administration in an unusual position of supporting a repeal, but at the same time filing court motions to prevent it from happening faster than planned. Military officials suggest the policy compliance changes eliminating "don't ask, don't tell" could be finished in a few weeks.

Federal courts -- including the Supreme Court -- have bounced back and forth over the temporary enforcement question, ignoring for now the larger question's of the federal law's constitutionality.

In its second appeal Thursday, the Justice Department in an emergency motion said the federal courts are overstepping their authority.

"The Armed Forces are moving forward expeditiously to prepare for the repeal of ("Don't Ask/ Don't Tell) in a fashion that Congress and the President consider the most effective way possible, and consistent with the nation's military needs," said the appeal. "The (judicial) panel's order cuts that process short and overrides the judgments of Congress and the President on a complex and important question of military policy."

In a brief order a week ago, the 9th U.S. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said "the process of repealing (the policy) is well underway, and the preponderance of the armed forces are expected to have been trained by mid-summer" on abiding by the new guidelines. However, said the three-judge panel, "The circumstances and balance of hardships have changed," concluding that as a result, "don't ask, don't tell" cannot remain in place.

The San Francisco-based appeals court's order is temporary, until it can fully hear the issue with oral arguments in late August.

A gay rights group -- the Log Cabin Republicans -- had sued over the 18-year-old ban on openly gay and lesbian members serving in the U.S. armed forces. In September, U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips declared the military's ban to be unconstitutional, and demanded the government immediately stop enforcing it.

Congress has since passed legislation signed by President Barack Obama to gradually eliminate "don't ask, don't tell," but Pentagon officials had refused to issue a timeline on when that policy change would be completed.

It is an issue Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who took over the post this month, will now have to confront.

If "don't ask, don't tell" is fully dismantled, and any current investigations of gay and lesbian service members are suspended, the legal appeals might quickly become moot. But the Log Cabin Republicans have vowed to continue the legal fight until then.

The Supreme Court last fall upheld an earlier order keeping the policy in place.

Log Cabin Republicans slammed the administration's newest court action. "This latest maneuver by the President continues a pattern of doublespeak that all Americans should find troubling. All this does is further confuse the situation for our men and women in uniform," said R. Clarke Cooper, the group's executive director, who is also a captain in the Army Reserve.

"'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is an offense to American values that should have been gone long ago. It is shameful that a president who has taken credit for opposing the policy is taking extreme measures to keep it on life support."

Obama had said he long wanted to repeal "don't ask, don't tell," and had reached an agreement with then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on a process that included a military review of how to make a successful transition to openly gay and lesbian soldiers serving.

The three men would then have to certify the repeal.

Gay rights groups say the policy -- even as it is being discarded -- violates the due process and First Amendment rights of military members. In their appeals, the Log Cabin Republicans said allowing the policy to remain in effect pending appeal would be unacceptable and would cause "irreparable harm."

The government presented "no evidence to support a finding that open service by gay and lesbian individuals harmed the military's interests, and ... both civilian and military leaders admitted that DADT actually impairs military interests," the appeal claimed.

"Deference to military judgment here tips the scales against a stay, rather than in favor of one," it said.

But the Obama administration, supported by Pentagon officials, argued that suspending the policy and forcing the military to immediately change course while the case is being appealed would cause problems during a time of war.

"The military should not be required to suddenly and immediately restructure a major personnel policy that has been in place for years, particularly during a time when the nation is involved in combat operations overseas," said the government in an earlier legal brief.

After the court's order last week, Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said the military "will of course comply with orders of the court, and are taking immediately steps to inform the field of this order."

He added, "In the meantime, implementation of the DADT repeal voted by the Congress and signed in to law by the President last December is proceeding smoothly, is well underway, and certification is just weeks away."

Gates last fall raised the level at which gay and lesbian troops can be discharged under "don't ask, don't tell" by ordering that it only be done by the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force.

In a memo written to the heads of all the military services, Gates said his action was taken in direct response to the legal uncertainty surrounding "don't ask, don't tell" law.

The case is Log Cabin Republicans v. U.S. (10-56634).


Over and "Out" from Portsmouth, VA USA

July 14, 2011

Attack of the Crepe Myrtle 2011...




While we did have three crepe myrtle trees in the back yard of our home in Miami Shores, they were always a bit shy in their foliage and blooms (perhaps it was the sub-tropical climate or the limestone based soil), they were not a common sight for me growing up there, or in the Bahamas and Caribbean.

Since moving to Virginia in 1999 it seems these colorful summer bloomers have taken over. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful to drive down most streets in the residential areas and see something similar to the above picture and the blooms last for months. They just keep on coming... The photos above were taken about six months apart, (the top was taken today, the bottom taken during one of our snow storms this winter). The following was taken on Independence Day looking towards the house (from down the street)..


Most of the blooms in our "gayborhood" are of the deep pink/fuchsia variety (seems the deep red and lavender are unusual up this way)... If not kept well groomed, the flowers are a mess. Covering cars, sidewalks, and even grassy areas. Fortunately, they are worth the headaches as they add a summer-like feeling to the whole area...

Over and "Out" from Portsmouth, VA USA

July 12, 2011

Bachmann's Turned her Overdrive...



I'm sure that many people watch The View on ABC... I try to record or watch it when there are first run episodes and the above clip (from yesterday) is just one reason why... I think by adding to the already huge list of gaffes by the Bachmann "sisters", even Elisabeth seems to have given up on the republican's chances of being a viable candidate...

Sherri's comment about watching out for politicians that are quick to judge others' behaviors without disclosing their own faults, is another strong point in this "Hot Topics" piece...

Whoopi takes offense to the single parent reference (regardless of race) and lastly, Joy finds a way to add a little humor to the mix...

Well done ladies, Well done!

Over and "Out" from Portsmouth, VA, USA

July 10, 2011

Neighborhood Ironman...



        Brian K
BIB
AGE
STATE/COUNTRY
PROFESSION
639
38
Portsmouth VA USA


SWIM
BIKE
RUN
OVERALL
RANK
DIV.POS.
39:11
2:53:03
1:39:38
5:16:54
218
42

LEG
DISTANCE
PACE
RANK
DIV.POS.
TOTAL SWIM
1.2 mi. (39:11)
2:03/100m
394
51
TOTAL BIKE
56 mi. (2:53:03)
19.42 mph
332
62
RUN SPLIT 1: 2.3 mi
2.3 mi (16:10)
7:01/mi
RUN SPLIT 2: 4.5 mi
2.2 mi (30:32)
13:52/mi
RUN SPLIT 3: 6.9 mi
2.4 mi (18:55)
7:52/mi
RUN SPLIT 4: 13.1 mi
6.2 mi (34:01)
5:29/mi
TOTAL RUN
13.1 mi (1:39:38)
7:36/mi
218
42


TRANSITION
TIME
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE
3:24
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN
1:38


Great job Brian...

Over and "Out" from Portsmouth, VA, USA

July 9, 2011

ASS-umptions... Follow-up



From a couple of the comments I received on my original post yesterday, some thought it was odd that our landlord (whom I absolutely love to death) is/was wrong in disclosing that we are gay (to perspective tenants of the upstairs unit)... 

Please remember, we live in the "Commonwealth of Vagina", one of the most backwards, conservative, provincial, homophobic, and unchanging states in our union... The last thing we want is an intolerant bigot living upstairs (see photo above, we share spaces such as back yard, front yard, and our doors are like 16" apart and can you tell which is our's?), why would anyone want to have a neighbor that close (potentially an Anita Bryant relative) find out, only after moving in, that there are "sinners" living in the same house???

I suggested to our landlord when she goes through the interviewing process, that she might want to mention that the couple downstairs was gay. Otherwise I honestly don't think she would have... Besides, it makes it easier for us, we don't have to explain anything, including the loud moans (of a potential sexual nature) that may emanate through the 85 year old structure...

Call me proactive, lazy, or just plain scared to have to "come-out" to strangers, but it has worked for the past 3 tenants upstairs...

Over and "Out" from our little Gayborhood, here in Portsmouth, VA, USA

July 8, 2011

ASS-umptions...


I got caught up in an assumption yesterday and I wonder if people do the same about us... Our navy neighbors (Audrey's parents) got reassigned from Portsmouth, VA to Portsmouth, NH at the end of June. We will miss them dearly...

The new neighbors (He, she, and their 3yo daughter) are also military. The landlord informed us they were being transferred from San Diego with the US Coast Guard... For the first couple of days they were here, we welcomed them and had some neighborly chats, mostly regarding the arrival of their household belongings that were somewhere in limbo. They spent the first two nights at a local hotel...

My assumption: He is USCG and she is "the military wife"...  

The truth: She is active military, he is going to be attending school (he was also USCG but finished his stint). I had to admit to them that my assumption was entirely wrong (they said that was not unusual)...

Our landlord has been very forthcoming with any potential tenants for the upstairs. She lets them know up-front that there is a gay couple in the downstairs unit. That we take care of the basic yard work and have exclusive use of the driveway (all other parking is on-street)... I guess the parallel to my misguided assumption is: I wonder what these folks "think" before they meet us and get to know us? So far (with the exception of one tenant) we have all become great friends and neighbors...  But I still wonder what preconceived notions they may have had...

Ok, just a short post today, Over and "Out" from Portsmouth, VA, USA 

July 6, 2011

Something New: Six on the Sixth...


I am in the mood to try something new... As some may have already noticed, I changed the blog header from the patriotic banner to something more "summer-y"... I have noticed several of my blogging friends have started to participate in something called "Five on the Fifth", where they snap five photos prior to the 5th of each month, then post them on the fifth... Since I don't take a lot of pictures, I am going to start posting something called "Six on the Sixth". Rather than photos, I will be disclosing six little known facts about myself or my life each month on the 6th (just a brief little monthly "me-me")... So here goes the first in the "Six on the Sixth" series:


1.  My second toe (on both feet) is longer than my Big Toe..

2.  I now have small hairs popping up on my ear lobes...

3.  I was addicted to All My Children, One Life to Live, and General Hospital
     in my college years...

4.  I had a crush on both Karen and Richard Carpenter...

5.  I played little league baseball as a youth, and hated it...

6.  I was born the same year that Disneyland (yes the one in CA) opened...

These could be fun, and may get a little more graphic as I run out of things to list (my life is not all that different than your's), but I'll bet there are a few of my regular readers that might have some fun and interesting things to list on their own blogs for Six on the Sixth...

Over and "Out", from the Gayborhood, here is Portsmouth, VA, USA

July 5, 2011

More Reasons to Continue our need for Fossil Fuel...



An Exxon Mobil pipeline ruptured on Friday night about 150 miles downstream from Yellowstone National Park near the town of Laurel, Montana, just southwest of Billings, dumping an estimated 1,000 barrels, or 42,000 gallons, of crude oil into the flood-swollen river.

Toxic fumes from the oil overcame a number of people who reported breathing problems and dizziness and were taken to local hospitals. But state and federal officials on Tuesday said they lacked a tally of health problems or the number of riverside homes that were evacuated after the accident.

The spill also has wreaked havoc on ranching and farming operations along the Yellowstone, the longest river without a dam in the United States, which provides irrigation and drinking water for communities along its banks.

Jerry Williams, who raises livestock, wheat, alfalfa and hay on some 800 acres of land around Laurel, said high water from the river has washed oil across much of his property.

"It was the night the river peaked, so the river water was flooded all over the place, and that brought oil all over both ranches," he told Reuters. "All of our grasslands ... have just thick, black crude stuck to all the grass, trees, low lands."

Williams said his spring wheat crop and alfalfa are both in need of irrigation, but farmers in the area were advised not to take water from the river for the time being. Drinking supplies also are in limbo, he said.

"We get all our drinking water from our wells and for our animals," Williams said. "We don't know if we'll be able to use them since the river was high. All the groundwater, I assume, is probably contaminated. We just don't know."

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer said on Tuesday he has told Exxon and federal agencies overseeing the spill response that the state alone will decide when the cleanup is done.

"The state of Montana is going to stay on this like the smell on a skunk," he told Reuters by telephone as he toured areas hit by the spill.

State and federal authorities had few answers to questions about the extent of oil pollution or the potential impacts on human health.

Environmental experts said it will likely take months, even years, for the ecosystem to rebound from the influx of crude.

"It will be unclear even next spring as to what kind of recovery has taken place," said Ronald Kendall, chairman of the department of environmental toxicology at Texas Tech University and head of its Institute of Environmental and Human Health.

"It's a very significant amount of oil moving downstream right now, and oil is a toxic substance in itself," he said. "A whole suite of organisms, from mink to herons to sturgeon to dragonflies, are going to be affected as waves of oil come through."

Concerns about petroleum contamination prompted downstream communities that rely on the river for drinking water to shut off their intake valves, but it was unclear whether residents who depend on well water had been urged to avoid drinking it.

Many state health and emergency workers had been told to direct inquiries about environmental contamination and health concerns to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA officials said on Tuesday that readings were not yet available from air and water monitors mostly downstream of the spill.

Some Montana residents have reported symptoms ranging from shortness of breath to fainting spells linked to exposure to petroleum-based chemicals.

Stacy Anderson said on Tuesday her parents, Bob and Patty Castleberry, are still living in a hotel after their home was evacuated Saturday along the Yellowstone less than a mile from the site of the ruptured pipeline. She said her mother, who suffers from a respiratory condition, passed out several times even after the couple left the house.

"All their clothes, the suitcase -- everything smelled like solid crude oil; when my mom got away from it, her symptoms disappeared," Anderson said.

She said Exxon is paying her parents' hotel bill as well as covering the cost of feed for the couple's 10 goats that have been steered away from oil-soaked grasslands.

The cause of the rupture was under investigation, but possible damage from erosion caused by unusually heavy river flows following a spring of heavy rains and runoff from record mountain snows are likely to be examined as a factor.

Exxon shut down the pipeline in May after the city of Laurel raised safety concerns due to rising river levels, but the company said it restarted the line after conducting an inspection.

Shares of Exxon Mobil fell slightly on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange as investors worried about the bad publicity from the oil spill. Exxon said its Billings, Montana oil refinery cut back production over the weekend as a result of the spill but other refineries in the area were operating normally.

The Montana oil spill is far smaller than the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year and the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989. The BP spill spewed 168 million gallons of oil and the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil. By contrast, Exxon estimates the Montana pipeline has leaked only (an estimated) 42,000 gallons of crude into the Yellowstone River.

All I can say is who is watching these guys?

Over and "Out" from Portsmouth, VA (which still prohibits offshore drilling), USA

July 4, 2011

Two-Hundred Thirty-five Years and Counting...



Happy Independence Day to the United States of America (July 4, 1776 - July 4, 2011)...

Over, "Out", and feeling a little Patriotic, from Portsmouth, VA, USA

July 3, 2011

Just in Case You Have Never Read it:





IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.


The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome
and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate
and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation
till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended,
he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation
of large districts of people, unless those people would
relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature,
a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual,
uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their
public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them
into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly,
for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the
rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions,
to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers,
incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People
at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the
mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from
without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States;
for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization
of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage
their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of
new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice,
by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone,
for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment
of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices,
and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people,
and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace,
Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of
and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to
a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged
by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

    For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

    For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment
    for any Murders which they should commit on the
    Inhabitants of these States:

    For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

    For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

    For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

    For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

    For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province,
    establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its
    Boundaries so as to render it at once an example
    and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

    For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws,
    and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

    For suspending our own Legislatures,
    and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate
    for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection
and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns,
and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries
to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny,
already begun with circumstances of Cruelty &
perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages,
and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive
on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country,
to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren,
or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us,
and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers,
the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare,
is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

Column 2

North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

Column 3

Massachusetts:
John Hancock

Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Column 4

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean

Column 5

New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

Column 6

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple

Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott

New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton 


Over and "Out" from Portsmouth, VIRGINIA on the 3rd day of July, 2011

July 1, 2011

Time to Lighten up a little...



The past three weeks have been a little depressing... While there has been lots of positive news from the gay community (including the NY Marriage Equality vote and passing), I have been job hunting and trying to deal with other financial issues here on the home-front... There are days I just want to curl up in bed and do absolutely nothing but feel sorry for myself...

This past week I went to my new doctor (who is absolutely wonderful), she listened, commented, and increased the Effexor dose on my prescription (I had been taking it for anxiety already) to try to compensate for the depression I had fallen into. After a couple of days with some funky side effects, I am feeling much better although getting back to work would help a lot more...

I saw the above picture on a FB friend of mine's wall, and it did to me exactly what it says...

Over and "Out" for now, from the beginning of Independence Day Weekend, here in Portsmouth, VA, USA