HASTA LA VISTA! I´ve Got A Date!

It´s a very important date. It´s three years ago TODAY that I met and immediately enjoyed the company and friendship of my dear Juan Carlos.


Tomorrow, we´re going off with a group of six friends to celebrate our Anniversary with a Road Trip that will no doubt be filled with unexpected discoveries and treasured memories!



Last year we went with the same friends to Tikal, Peten, Guatemala.

This year I´m giving you all sorts of visual aids/clues! I will be reporting, in depth no doubt, when we return.


Ole´ Mole´ Piñatas, Enchiladas and Shrimp Cocktails tambien!

So there you have it friends. I´ll be away for a few days/daze on a under-the-covers mission...I´ll be thinking of many of you, well, mostly I will.


I hope and pray for your happiness, peace of mind and overall well-being while I´m frolicing beyond any borders that I may find.

Lord, hear my prayer

EVANGELICAL WARFARE: American ¨selective¨ Scriptural bigots are spreading slander and lies in Uganda, Nigeria, Jamaica and our own communities!

American Fundamentalist/Filth Spewing Christians are not content with ONLY TWO U.S. Wars...these ¨self and sex-obsessed¨ religious fanatics have plotted/initiated the All-Africa Hate Inquistion, Fear Crusade and THE GREAT HUMAN SACRIFICE/HATE CRIME FRAME UP in a neighborhood near YOU! Who will notice their self-styled-God-appeasing GENOCIDE against LGBT people as Muslims, Hindus, Jews and Christians are being blownup and sacrificed in Iraq, Iran, Israel/Palestine, Pakistan and Afghanistan and elsewhere in the World every day?




SPIRITUAL HATEMONGERING OF THE DEMONIZING VARIETY

Scott Lively is the deadly author of the anti-social fictional, Holocaust revisionist trash entitled the The Pink Swastika

¨Let me be clear: Gay people as a group had nothing to do with the Holocaust. The “gay agenda” is full legal equality and the safety to live our lives without fear of harm. Not only are gay people as a group NOT “anti-Christian,” a remarkable number of American GLBTQ people are Christians themselves (in spite of the abuse they often take from fellow “Christians”).

And make no mistake about it: What Scott Lively and his cohorts are doing is dangerous to the safety and well-being of GLBTQ people, both in Uganda and the United States. It’s also harmful to any one who listens to him, since it leaves them ignorant, frightened, and completely unprepared to live in a diverse society.¨ Sacramento News and Review, click HERE

HATE BEGETS HATE

¨Uganda’s government, which has a shameful record of discrimination against gay men and lesbians, is now considering legislation that would impose the death sentence for homosexual behavior. The United States and others need to make clear to the Ugandan government that such barbarism is intolerable and will make it an international pariah.


Corruption and repression — including violence against women and children and abuse of prisoners — are rife in Uganda. According to The Times’s Jeffrey Gettleman, officially sanctioned homophobia is particularly acute. Gay Ugandans are tormented with beatings, blackmail, death threats and what has been described as “correctional rape.”


The government’s venom is chilling: ¨Homosexuals can forget about human rights,¨ James Nsaba Buturo, who holds the cynically titled position of minister of ethics and integrity, said recently... The New York Times, click HERE


Puritan extremist/hatefilled Americans and some overseas Christian zealot well-paid accomplices are ¨selective¨ Scriptural bigots, opportunists and thieves. They often spew/preach/spit slander with grossly ignorant/intolerable lies (Anglican Archbishop Henry Orombi/Uganda, I´m playing your song) against OUR LGBT family members, loved ones, coworkers/worshipers and friends...part of the ¨Beloved¨ amongst all of the ¨Beloved¨ are inferior and disponsable and ¨abominations¨ according to this ¨selfrighteous¨ gang.

Archbishop Pete Akinola/Nigeria, Archbishop Henry Orombi/Uganda

PURPOSE DRIVEN RELIGIOUS INSANITY (Grandstanding, Slandering, Outcasting, Theft and Murder)

Archbishop Drexel Gomez, former Primate of LGBT blooddrenched Anglican Province of JAMAICA/West Indies (number ONE leader in Crimes of Hate in the Western Hemisphere against LGBT people).

+Drexel is Chairperson on The Anglican Communion ´Covenant´ Inquistion document/pogrom promoted by dangerous Gafcon/Global South Provinces (extremists with whom he is allied) who would exclude and outcast LGBT people who are ¨called¨ to participate at ALL levels of Christian church life.


¨You know, just in case there was any doubt that, like here in America, Uganda's gay hatred is based in misguided Bible teachings.¨


¨If Uganda's Gays Kept Their Disgusting Lifestyle 'Behind Closed Doors,' The Law Wouldn't Be Necessary¨, read it all, click HERE

·Thanks to The Sacramento Bee
·Thanks to The New York Times
·Thanks to Gay Uganda, sidebar
·Thanks to Kel´s Hot Flash, blog
·Thanks to Flickr Photosharing
·Thanks to Queerty, sidebar

¨THE WORLD AROUND US SHOULD REALLY ASTOUND US...

...and not cause us to whine and complain. It´s the *way* that we see things that makes the World *be* things...¨ Dorothy Johnson


Recent arrivals in my garden of eternal delights


¨Deep Feelings¨, private collection, Guatemala City, 2009


¨My Friends Suzy and Elizabeth¨ December 2009


¨Splendid Garden¨ private collection, Antigua, Guatemala


My Inner Garden, Rainy Season, 2009


¨Joyous¨, 2009, private collection, Antigua


Juan Carlos, astounding


¨Sweeping Landscape¨, private collection, Lake Forest, Illinois


Fido Knows Things, Sala, 2009


¨The Fuego Volcano¨ private collection, Maine, United States


¨Work¨ in progress, a large oblong table (seats 8), 2010


Thinking of YOU, Thank you. 2010

·Gracias a Dios
·Gracias Amigos
·Gracias Christian Troll, GAFCON, sidebar
·Gracias Padre Mickey, sidebar
·Gracias Fr. Jake, sidebar
·Gracias My Mother is a Father, sidebar
·Gracias Kirkepiscatoid, sidebar
·Gracias Gay Spirit Diary/Josh, sidebar
·Gracias Gay Uganda, sidebar
·Gracias Episcopal Cafe, sidebar
·Gracias Counterlight's Peculiars, sidebar
·Gracias Mad Priest, sidebar
·Gracias Unthinking Anglican, sidebar
·Gracias PRELUDIUM, sidebar
·Gracias Göran Koch-Swahne, sidebar
·Gracias The World of Doorman-Priest, sidebar
·Gracias Noble Wolf, sidebar
·Gracias Real Anglicans,sidebar
·Gracias Jim's Thoughts,sidebar
·Gracias The Grapevine, sidebar
·Gracias Wounded Bird, sidebar
·Gracias Lionel Deimel's Web Log, sidebar
·Gracias Changing Attitudes, U.K., sidebar
·Gracias Caminante/Lee, no hay camino, sidebar
·Gracias In a Godward Direction/Tobias, sidebar
·Gracias Hillbilly Musing, sidebar
·Gracias The Three Legged Stool/James, sidebar
·Gracias Lavender Wolves/Mike in Texas, sidebar
·Gracias A Christian Voice for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights, sidebar

INSULATED FROM REALITY? ¨events suddenly shake us out of complacency and remind us that fear, prejudice and rage are always the shadows just beyond...

...the light of our reason¨



¨Silence killed Matthew Shepard.


Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury

¨The silence of Christians who know that our scriptures on homosexuality are in interpretation and far outweighed by the words of a savior whose only comment on human relationships was to call us to never judge but only to love.¨

Martyn Minns of the CANA cult and his boss Bishop Akinola/Nigeria

¨The silence of well meaning educated people who pretend to have an enlightened view of homosexuality while quietly tolerating the abuse of gays and lesbians in their own communities.¨

Bishop Drexel Gomez, Primate of LGBT blood drenched Jamaica and the West Indies, retired, however he is the current Chair of the tainted Anglican Covenant Design Group

¨The silence of our elected officials who have the authority to make changes but prefer to count votes.¨

Republican Minority Leader John Boehner of The United States Congress and his Republican accomplices. Silence still equals death and obstruction equals punishment for most Americans.

The silence of the majority of "straight" Americans who shift uncomfortably when confronted by the thought that gays and lesbians may be no different from themselves, save for the fact that they are walking targets for bigotry, disrespect, cheap humor, and apparently, of murder...¨A Chaplain's Reflection, click HERE


STOP THE SILENCE


·Thanks to A Chaplains´ Reflection
·Thanks to Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston
·Thanks to Flickr Photosharing

REPENT ++HENRY OROMBI/UGANDA: ¨If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”

ARCHBISHOP HENRY OROMBI/UGANDA: ¨If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth...¨

REPENT! You may NOT CLAIM to have ¨fellowship¨ with ¨him¨ or others when you refuse ¨Communion with Anglican Primates/others¨ and/or refuse to live by TRUTH while excluding, marginalizing, abusing, lieing, persecuting and demonizing others at The Anglican Communion.

REPENT! May we hear from YOU regarding the brutal and deadly anti-Homosexuality law before the Parliament of Uganda?

REPENT! Why do you NOT condemn torture and rape of Lesbians and Gay Men and Women?

REPENT! Why did you EXCOMMUNICATE Heterosexual Bishop Christopher Ssenyonjo, Retired bishop of West Buganda, Uganda, after he established a ministry to ease the suffering of gay and lesbian Christian believers?

REPENT! Pastor Rick Warren, your dear friend and accomplice in international ministry, CONDEMNS Ugandas anti-Homosexuality Bill before Parliament but YOU, Henry Orombi, remain silent while LGBT Anglicans are threatened, slandered, outcasted and fully abused at the Anglican Church of Uganda and are persecuted in everyday life in Uganda.

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:5-9).

ATTN PRIMATE +HENRY OROMBI of UGANDA: When will you CONDEMN the anti-Homosexuality law pending before Parliament?

Henry Luke Orombi, Primate of the Anglican Church of Uganda

·UGANDA MUST NOT ALLOW WESTERN INFLUENCE PRESSURE US INTO ABANDONING OUR HERITAGE·

¨I call upon our government leaders to uphold marriage between one man and one woman, and the family they produce, as a foundational building block for our society and our country. This part of our African culture is affirmed in the Bible and we must not let Western influence pressure us into abandoning this part of our heritage. HERE

·ARCHBISHOP OROMBI REFUSES TO CONDEMN TORTURE AND RAPE OF LESBIAN AND GAY MEN AND WOMEN·

¨During the press conference an intervention was also made by Riazat Butt of the UK's Guardian newspaper who pointed out that the Archbishops had not condemned the torture and rape of Lesbian and Gay men and women.

Archbishop Henry Orombi said in response: "I would not believe a thing like that is done in the public knowledge of the people of Uganda because the gay people who are Ugandans are citizens of the country and we would cherish the fact that we would want to send it our people. For some of those things probably you get information in England and we may not even get information, I don't know how they get their information." HERE

·PASTOR RICK WARREN CONDEMNS UGANDAS ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY BILL BUT THERE HAS BEEN NO CONDEMNATION OF THIS SAME BILL FROM ARCHBISHOP HENRY OROMBI·

¨A gay man from Uganda responded to this article, saying "It is sad that untruths are peddled. Uganda is a majority Christian country. Most of us are Catholics. Then come protestants, or Anglicans and Pentecostals. No. There is no 'Muslim majority' which demanded the death penalty and life imprisonment. It is our Christian brothers and sisters who wrote that bill. Who wrote in the death penalty. Who wrote in all the other things. They did it because of their abhorence of all things homosexual. Please, tell the story like it is. Dont sanitize the Christians in Uganda. Because, they are actually suprised at what you say. They love the bill, as it is now." HERE


·EVERY MAJOR RELIGIOUS LEADER OF EVERY MAJOR RELIGIOUS DENOMINATION REJECTS THE ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY LAW BEFORE PARLIAMENT IN UGANDA. THEY DETERMINE IT TO BE EVERYTHING FROM ¨SHOCKING¨ TO THE REAL PROMOTION OF ¨GENOCIDE¨ IN UGANDA·

When will we have a clear STATEMENT from ARCHBISHOP HENRY of Uganda on further promotion or a well-thought-out rejection of the ¨anti-Homosexuality¨ bill?

Does the Anglican Church of Uganda support the anti-Homosexuality bill? Does the Anglican Church of Ugandan support ¨listening¨ and ¨ministering¨ to LGBT Anglicans who have suffered? Does +Henry intend to excommunicate priests and more bishops, as he did Heterosexual Bishop Christopher Ssenyonjo, Retired bishop of West Buganda, Uganda, who was excommunicated by Archbishop Orombi, after establishing a ministry for gay and lesbian believers? The World and OUR vulnerable LGBT Ugandan Christians and other citizens need to know immediately. Do you wish to know our individual HEARTS and SOULS? Bishop Orombi, are you prepared to LISTEN and LEARN?

Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda--where are YOU?


·Thanks to Gay Uganda, sidebar
·Thanks to Rick Warren
·Thanks to The Archbishop of Canterbury
·Thanks to The Archbishop of York
·Thanks to President Barack Obama
·Thanks to The Government of France
·Thanks to The Government of Australia
·Thanks to Prime Minister Gordon Brown
·Thanks to Ekklesia, sidebar
·Thanks to Riazat Butt
·Thanks to The Guardian, U.K.
·Thanks to The Anglican Bishops of Canada
·Thanks to Presiding Bishop Jefferts-Schori
·Thanks to The Archbishop Barry Morgan, Wales
·Thanks to The Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil
·Thanks to The Government of Sweden
·Thanks to Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State

“Noche Buena” the most exuberant celebration in all Latin America.

The furthest north of the five Central American countries, Guatemala is a modern country with very old traditions. Many of them originated in Spain and were brought to the city by the Hispanic conquerors in l525. However, in the middle of the XVII Century, amalgamated with the Mayan’s traditions and those of other cultures, the Guatemalan traditions became “unique.”

Being a Catholic country, a characteristic of most of the traditions in Guatemala is that they are religious in nature. The two most important traditions are: “Semana Santa” (Holy Week) and Christmas, called “Noche Buena,” (Good Night) by the Guatemalan people.
Because the latter celebrates Jesus’ birth, during December most Guatemalans externalize their joy for life, making “Noche Buena” the most exuberant celebrations in all Latin America.


Those visiting Guatemala in December discover that the “Noche Buena” season has sounds: cohetes (firecrackers) are heard every night and marimbas play in the streets. It also has its own aroma: produced by ropes made out of pine, and manzanilla (chamomile) rosaries hang around the frames of the doors. The sights include: elaborate Christmas trees, and life-size nacimientos (nativities) in the shopping malls. In the markets, one can see rolls of “Pico de Gallo” (a red bush used for decoration) and “Flores de Pascua” (poinsettias). For sale on the stands are small clay figures depicting the Holy Family, the three kings, and the “pastores” (shepherds). There are also sheep, made out of cotton, all types of cardboard houses, and pine trees. They are used to create the “nacimientos,” (A miniature representation of the manger in Bethlehem) another Guatemalan tradition. To create them, sawdust painted in different colors become the fields and little stones form the winding roads.


Mountains are built using corrugated paper and broken mirrors create lakes and rivers. In the sky, lights sparkle simulating the stars and angels, sustained in golden strings, fly over the manger. This tradition from Spain is believed to have been brought to Guatemala by the yet to be canonized Saint, Hermano Pedro de San Jose de Bethancourt in the XVI Century.


The Christmas season in Guatemala begins on December 7th. With “La Quema del Diablo.” (The burning of the devil). On this day, at exactly 6 p.m. most Guatemalans build a “fogata,” (bonfire) outside their houses and toss the “devil,” (constructed like a piñata and filled with firecrackers) into it. The “devil” stands for all the sins people accumulated during the year.

People believe that “burning his efigy” cleanses them and makes them ready to receive in their hearts the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception whose feast is celebrated the next day (Dec 8). According to Guatemalan historian Miguel Álvarez Arévalo, the origin of “the bonfires” may be traced to colonial times when, the well-to-do, placed elaborate lanterns in the front of their homes to celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The poor could not afford lanterns, so they lit bonfires made from paper and trash. How the “devil” came into the tradition is unknown, but according to historian Celso A. Lara Figueroa, the preaching priests described how the Virgin Mary squashed the head of the devil established the link.


The Feast of “La Inmaculada.” (Dec 8) is considered holy in Guatemala. People attend mass and it is celebrated with firecrackers and processions in the churches’ courts. This ritual is repeated on December 12 to honor La Virgen de Guadalupe “Patron of the Americas.” “Las Posadas” (representing St. Joseph and the Virgin Mary looking for lodging) begins around December 14.


Guatemalans celebrate “Noche Buena” on December 24. On this night, the families get together, exchange gifts, drink ponche (punch) and eat tamales.
Throughout the night one can hear the bells ringing and the firecrackers.

Santa Claus can now be seen in many shopping malls but he is not yet considered “a tradition,” For the Guatemalans the reason Noche Buena is joyous is because it is the day Jesus was born.

·Thanks to Iride Aparicio
·Thanks to La Oferta
·Thanks to Flickr Photosharing

CHRISTMAS REALITY ALERT: ¨President Obama is succeeding without the help of his lefty ´supporters´ or hate-filled Republican detractors!¨

Barack Hussein Obama II , OUR 44th President United States of America and his family

Obama Will Triumph — So Will America
By Frank Schaeffer

Before he’d served even one year President Obama lost the support of the easily distracted left and engendered the white hot rage of the hate-filled right. But some of us, from all walks of life and ideological backgrounds -- including this white, straight, 57-year-old, former religious right wing agitator, now progressive writer and (given my background as the son of a famous evangelical leader) this unlikely Obama supporter -- are sticking with our President. Why?-- because he is succeeding.


Barack Obama takes the oath of office of the president of the United States January 20, 2009

Meanwhile back in the reality-based community – in just 12 short months -- President Obama:

#Continued the draw down the misbegotten war in Iraq
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

#Thoughtfully and decisively picked the best of several bad choices regarding the war in Afghanistan
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

#Gave a major precedent-setting speech supporting gay rights
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

#Restored America’s image around the globe
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

#Banned torture of American prisoners
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

#Stopped the free fall of the American economy
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

#Put the USA squarely back in the bilateral international community
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

#Put the USA squarely into the middle of the international effort to halt global warming
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

#Stood up for educational reform
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

#Won a Nobel peace prize
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

#Moved the trial of terrorists back into the American judicial system of checks and balances
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

#Did what had to be done to start the slow, torturous and almost impossible process of health care reform that 7 presidents had failed to even begin
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

#Responded to hatred from the right and left with measured good humor and patience
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

#Stopped the free fall of job losses
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

#Showed immense personal courage in the face of an armed and dangerous far right opposition that included the sort of disgusting people that show up at public meetings carrying loaded weapons and carrying Timothy McVeigh-inspired signs about the “blood of tyrants” needing to “water the tree of liberty”…
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

#Showed that he could not only make the tough military choices but explain and defend them brilliantly
(But that wasn’t good enough for his critics)

Other than those "disappointing" accomplishments -- IN ONE YEAR -- President Obama “failed”! Other than that he didn’t “live up to expectations”!

Who actually has failed...

...are the Americans that can’t see the beginning of a miracle of national rebirth right under their jaded noses. Who failed are the smart ass ideologues of the left and right who began rooting for this President to fail so that they could be proved right in their dire and morbid predictions. Who failed are the movers and shakers behind our obscenely dumb news cycles that have turned “news” into just more stupid entertainment for an entertainment-besotted infantile country.

Here’s the good news: President Obama is succeeding without the help of his lefty “supporters” or hate-filled Republican detractors!

The Future Looks Good

After Obama has served two full terms, (and he will), after his wisdom in moving deliberately and cautiously with great subtlety on all fronts -- with a canny and calculating eye to the possible succeeds, (it will), after the economy is booming and new industries are burgeoning, (they will be), after the doomsayers are all proved not just wrong but silly: let the record show that not all Americans were panicked into thinking the sky was falling.

Just because we didn’t get everything we wanted in the first short and fraught year Obama was in office not all of us gave up. Some of us stayed the course. And we will be proved right.

Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays, depending on your point of view) to everyone!

PS. if you agree that Obama is shaping up to be a great president please pass this on and hang in there! Read it all, by Frank Schaeffer, click HERE


Frank Schaeffer is a writer and author of “Patience With God – Faith For People Who Don’t Like Religion (Or Atheism).”

Frank may be contacted at Frankschaeffer.com

·Thanks to Frank Schaeffer, at the sidebar
·Thanks to Wikipedia
·Thanks to Flickr Photosharing