World AIDS Day 2009

Today is World AIDS Day. According to the CDC, more than one million Americans are infected with HIV, the virus believed to cause AIDS; and nearly 35 million people worldwide are infected with HIV, with most living in thirdworld nations in African and southeast Asia.

World AIDS Day is observed every year on December 1st. The World Health Organization established World AIDS Day in 1988. World AIDS Day encourages governments, national AIDS programs, faith-based organizations, local community organizations and people everywhere to raise awareness and direct scrutiny on the global AIDS epidemic. With hundreds of organizations and NGOs (non-government organizations) working to eradicate the disease, much work remains to discover a vaccine that would finally put an end to this scourge.

Former President Bill Clinton's foundation has worked tirelessly to ensure that poor third world nations have access to medications that helps bring relief to those afflicted with HIV yet who are unable to afford treatment. Former President George W. Bush also directed attention to the worldwide problem by allocating funding for medicines and other humanitarian aid (yes, once in rare moment I can find something good to say about W), albeit he also implemented "strings attached" that many, including myself found repugnant... nonetheless, he did much to help those in need.

Remember, the best means of safeguarding your sexual well-being and your health is sexual abstinence. The remaining options are practicing safe sex, not sharing intravenous needles (don't use illicit drugs and do not drink excessively--lowering one's inhibitions is an invitation to reckless behaviors that makes infection possible), stay educated, know the facts... and get regular HIV testing so that your HIV status is not a mystery.

Just because...

Danger! Danger, Will Robinson! My sensors detect the presence of an intruder!










Capt.Bugs: Ain't I a stinker?

Daffy Spock: Most illogical.

Doctor Sylvester: Dammit, I'm a doctor not a critic!

Chief Engineer Montgomery Pig: b'd, b'd, captain, my poor engines, they're breakin' up!

Nurse Tweety: I tat I taw a bowl of plomeek soup!

Red Shirt Yosemite: Awwwh hate you!

Tasmanian Sulu: rrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, warp two, Captain!

Happy Thanksgiving Day

Even in these rough times we have so much to be thankful for.

I am thankful for my son Wes, my parents and my siblings. I am especially thankful for my friends who are as much my family as my relatives.

Having served in Afghanistan last year I can say without doubt that we are the most blessed people in the world. I invite everyone to take a moment to make a difference for those less fortunate than us.









Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Happy Veteran's Day

World War I, "the war to end all wars," officially came to its end on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.

U.S President Woodrow Wilson first called for an "Armistice Day," a day to honor veterans of World War I on November 11, 1919.

Not until June 4, 1926 was an official act of Congress made that brought federal recognition of the holiday honoring veterans of war.

The holiday known as 'Remembrance Day' or 'Armistice Day' in other countries is concurrently observed on the day Germany signed the armistice, thus officially bringing one of the bloodiest, most costly wars (up to its day) to a close.

In the United States--Veteran's Day--in the intervening years, has become a federal holiday and amended to recognize veterans of all wars, past and present.

We live in a country where we have more freedoms than any nation on earth, and while our country is far from perfect, our servicemembers work tirelessly to ensure that that tenet of our lives never changes. Perhaps it is a cliche, but the adage 'Freedom is never free' is more appropriate today than ever before.

Happy Veteran's Day!



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Today, I would like to thank Applebees restaurant for their act of kindness. This year, in recognition of Veteran's Day, the franchise offered all U.S. servicemembers and veterans all over the country a free lunch or dinner. Taking them up on their kind offer, I went to dinner tonight with friends and we found a packed house with veterans of all ages. In fact, I met a World War II veteran and another from the Vietnam War!

The franchise gained a customer in me because of this very kind act! Thank you, Applebees!

Bigots

This goes out as old news, actually.

But tell me what's wrong with this photo? How can people be so exuberantly gleeful when they are spreading so much hurt and pain?

This photo makes me ill looking at people who so happily celebrate the hurt they have caused.

The reverberations of last's week's hateful vote will spread like concentric waves after throwing a rock in the water of a lake; the ripple effect will assuredly touch countless lives.

How can people band together to spend millions of dollars so to deny all citizens equal rights? And why are people's civil rights being put forth for people to vote upon? To be trampled on? To be denied? To be bartered?

Last month when I attend the historic march for Equality in Washington, D.C. I saw a man carrying a placard that read, "If you don't like gay marriage, don't have one!" So why cannot *these* people take care of their own lives and let others tend to their own? Rhetorical question, I know.

Some people just cannot help themselves in throwing their judgment around without thought or care who they hurt.

If so-called Christians are so worried about the sanctity of marriage, why aren't they working to pass laws to outlaw divorce? Why don't they devote those misspent millions of dollars to provide counseling to protect troubled marriages? So let me ask another question... did the sky fall when gays were permitted to marry in Vermont? in New Hampshire? in Massachusetts? in Connecticut? or in Iowa? or in Europe where gay marriages have been legal for decades? No?

This is Christianity at its worst! And it certainly doesn't display the love of God that I follow and love. Justice denied for some is injustice for all.

So my question is, what are these people so afraid of? This is just wrong in so many ways!