CORRECTION AND APOLOGIES TO KING ZWELITHINI: The Zulu King, never called gay relationships “rotten” – Never said what the media said he said!

His Royal Majesty,  King Zwelithini

Zulu King is owed an apology
by Abdul Milazi

¨Gay rights and other rights activists have for the past weeks vilified King Zwelithini for having allegedly called gay relationships “rotten” – now it appears he never did.The media took a stance and condemned the King in centimetres and centimetres of editorial comments. To the media the King was guilty of whatever he was accused of. Interestingly, my colleague Sithembiso Msomi, who had listened to the recording of the speech, cautioned in his weekly column that this nationwide condemnation emanated from what he called “lost in translation”.Now isiZulu is my mother tongue and I was fortunate to listen to a discussion on Ukhozi FM (formerly Radio Zulu in my youth) and they played the parts of the King’s speech that was supposed to have called gay relationships rotten.

To my shock and horror, the King never said what the media said he said, even if translated literally.The King said when you are a man or woman abusing another man or woman, you are rotten. He was talking about abuse and not sexual abuse. He used the word “ukuhlukumeza” which means abuse in a general sense. If he had intended to abuse in a sexual context, he would have used the word “ukunukubeza” which is the IsiZulu word for sexual abuse.What he said was, any person abusing another, whether man versus man or woman versus woman, is rotten...¨ HERE

·  Thanks to Abdul Milazi
·  Thanks to Behind the Mask, sidebar
·  Thanks to Times Live,   HERE
·  Thanks to Ukhozi FM

WINTER SOLSTICE 2012: The end of a Maya calendar cycle and a rebirth of the Maya culture for the new cycle

Elizabeth Bell, Author, Historian and award winning Notable Citizen



The new b’aq tun begins on the winter solstice 2012
¨Calendars reflect how cultures and societies view the organization of time and space over the centuries. Many calendars have emerged and many have disappeared or been modified: the Julian calendar, the Republican calendar, the Gregorian calendar and the Maya calendar to name a few. Each one involved astronomical calculations and incorporate harvests and religious or spiritual fiestas.

I remember in the late 1970s, we all studied how it would be the “End of the World for the Maya” in 2012; we thought it was “pretty neat” as to how it tied into other doomsday calculations of other cultures. With very little bibliography by Maya writers at the time (in fact none in English), we continued to believe that indeed the world—at least in Mesoamerica—would end in 2012. I have recently referred to this as a “California spin.” Watching a recent TV program on the subject, I noted that the experts were all from California. I wondered why a Maya expert was not a participant!

Talking to the experts, we find it is the end of a Mayan calendar cycle and a rebirth of the Mayan culture for the new cycle. Some great references include: The Order of Days: the Maya World and the Truth about 2012 by David Stuart (Schele Professor of Mesoamerican Art and Writing, University of Texas/Austin), 2012: Science & Prophecy of the Ancient Maya by Mark van Stone, Ph.D., and Ri Rejqalem Kisamaj Ri Ajk’ Exelom Chuqa ‘Ri Ajq’ija by Calixta Gabriel (Maya spiritual guide/Thesis Universidad Rafael Landívar), which are all outstanding. Also, refer to the Dresden Codex.

The Maya Long Count calendar started at 13.0.0.0.0. (not “0”) in 3113 B.C. and comes to a complete cycle at the winter solstice this year. This marks a new cycle. There are two calendars that work together. The solar year (365 days), known as haab, has 18 months (20 days each) and a five-day period before the next year. A day (q’ij), a 20-day month (winäq), a year (tun), a 20-year cycle (katun) a 52-year cycle (tzolkin) and so forth up to the end of a b’aq tun (Kakchikel spelling). The sacred calendar, known as tzolk’in, has 13 months (20 days each), for a 260-day count. Each day has a nawal, look yours up in the calendar. The new b’aq tun begins on the winter solstice 2012—time for another fiesta but this one will be BIG!  please enjoy it all,  by Elizabeth Bell, HERE

·  Thanks to The Revue Magazine, Guatemala´s English-language Magazine
·  Thanks to Elizabeth Bell, award winning historian, author and notable citizen
·  Thanks to http://antiguatours.net/

DEAD SERIOUS -- FATHER CHRISTIAN TROLL: ¨Feeling sexually attracted to people of your own gender isn´t any more a sin than feeling attracted to people of a different gender.¨

¨Feeling sexually attracted to people of your own gender isn’t any more a sin than feeling attracted to people of a different gender. Despite what some (often very dishonest) Christians claim, being gay, or lesbian, or transgendered, or anywhere in between, doesn’t mean you can’t follow Christ without pretending to be someone you’re not. Nor does God hate your sexuality, and "biblical" arguments to the contrary are exactly the same as those once used to justify obscenities like slavery, as well as idiocies like the idea women shouldn’t vote, drive cars, or operate office typewriters (yep – people really did once use the bible to justify that last one).

If you’ve somehow wandered here from the type of places that want you to believe God doesn’t love you as you are, and you find the idea of walking away from self-hatred and guilt frightening, then – please – remember you’re not alone. A lot of people have been along that path before you, and their journeys are proof that you also can find life and the light of Christ on the other side of “ex-gay” judgmental bitterness.

Anyone wanting support along the way in North America should try contacting Integrity HERE those in Great Britain can get in touch with the wonderful team at Changing Attitude HERE. Or you’re always welcome to email me and I’ll do my best to confidentially find the details of someone in your region. Just please don’t ever buy into the lie that the Pharisees speak for God.

They don’t, and the love for you God revealed in Jesus proves so.¨  please read it all, HERE

‘Fr. C.’

·  Thanks to GAFCON, sidebar
·  Thanks to Father Christian Troll

WASHINGTON STATE ¨YES¨ TO GAY MARRIAGE: Home of my heart in the Great Northwest, Land of Beauty, Heavens Best -- Emerald State I love you...*

Gays and Lesbians can now marry in Washington State.

¨Lawmakers in the US state of Washington have passed a bill legalising gay marriage, making Washington the seventh US state to back the measure...¨  HERE

·  Thanks to Counterlight´s Peculiars, HERE
·  Thanks to BBC News
·  Thanks to The Legislature of Washington State
·  Thanks to Democratic Governor Chris Gregoire
·  Thanks to *Blue Monday, A song written by her (when I was a child), honoring Washington State

Thank Washington Governor Chris Gregoire For Making Marriage A Reality HERE

PARENTAL GUIDANCE ADVISED: There are dangerous G.O.P. ¨religious nuts¨ running as fast as they can all around us!

Beware of ¨Religious Nuts¨

Dearest Friends and fellow victims of some Republicans and their ¨religiouslike¨ nonsense heard on the 2012 Presidential campaign prowl!

Ít´s true, what ever happened to the decent men and women who are/were Republicans?  Those nice people? Where did they go?  Did they die off along with, President ¨Tricky Dick¨ Nixon, Wendell Willkie, Martha and John Mitchell,  Herbert Hoover, J. Edgar, Joseph McCarthy  and Anita Bryant  (oops, she´s not dead yet) ?

Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread Communist subversion.^[1] He was noted for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the United States federal government and elsewhere. Ultimately, McCarthy's tactics and his inability to substantiate his claims led him to be censured by the United States Senate

My very own Mom and Dad were modest citizens/Republicans (unlike any of the above mentioned) of the All American, yet tolerant of others, 4th of July celebrating/President Lincoln variety (and my Moms parents too) . They were level headed, sane, hardworking, generous of spirit, hospitable and God loving (as opposed to God fearing) Christians.  My folks lived industrious lives and helped build their/our American Dream and were NOT bigots, braggards, thieves, exploiters of others or greedsters covering themselves as ¨trickle downers¨ grandstanders and opportunists. 

Gracious, welcoming, friendly and ¨hardworking¨  my Dad the Republican

¨Generous of spirit and hospitable¨ my Mom the Republican

My parents were the ¨Golden Rule¨ type Christians who tried, very hard, and succeeded in staying out of demeaning other peoples religious beliefs (even when they really thought they were off-the-wall and extremist loons). 

My Republican parents weren´t bigots. Everyone, I mean everyone, were welcomed into our home (including me and my heterosexual older sister and all of our acquaintances and friends). 

I know, I was there, a Gay son who witnessed their unending kindness and genuine caring for me and my LGBT close ones whom I introduced them too.  My parents knew my friends and treated them with not only warm respect but also with a gracious and sincere welcome...their arms wide open! 

The ONLY time I heard either of my parents refer unkindly about anyone was when they warned me to be very cautious around/about ¨religious nuts¨!  

My devoted Republican parents, happy, loving in retirement (with adored grandbaby)

Although my parents have now passed on to the greater beyond of their well deserving, I feel I must speak up for them!  I speak for me and for the kind of quality people they were, their Republican friends were and for the inclusive America that evolved/evolves into ¨being¨ because of many generations of people just like them and just like all of the American welcoming WE´S!  Leonardo Ricardo

Tongqi Association and Pink Space Sexuality Research Centre in Beijing: ¨Millions of women married to gay men in China¨

Chinese women married to gay men are often known as "tongqi"meaning "wives of comrades,"

¨According to the state run China Daily quoting a prominent gay rights campaigner, as many as 12 to 16 million women in China may be married to homosexual men.

Zhang Bei-chuan, a medical professor at Qingdao University and an expert on AIDS and HIV, says about 80% of an estimated 16 million gay men in China have either married or are of marrying age. The number of women with gay husbands works out to be about 12 million, he said, given that same-sex marriage is not legal in the country and men face social pressure to marry and have children regardless of their sexual orientation...¨  HERE

·  Thanks to Zhang Bei-chuan
·  Thanks to Tongqi Association 
·  Thanks to Pink Space Sexuality Research Centre, Beijing
·  Thanks to Fridae, sidebar

http://blog.noanglicancovenant.org/

SUCCESS: ¨... To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children. ¨ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Dedicated to a great ¨Success¨ and dear friend  Beverly ¨Mom¨ Emiko Nakatani Sakai, February 1, 2012, Antigua, Sacatapequez, Guatemala, Central America, R.I.P. 

Success
by Ralph Waldo Emerson

¨To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;


To appreciate beauty,


To find the best in others,

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child,

A garden patch or a redeemed social condition;


To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.

This is to have succeeded.¨

·  Thanks to Lay Anglicana, sidebar
·  Thanks to UK Anglican (inspiration)
·  Thanks to Doña Joan F., photo
·  Thanks to Ralph Waldo Emerson

THE LAST LAUGH: President Obama is succeeding in spite of the fact that he’s been up against a Republican Party willing to destroy the economy in order to destroy him.

President Obama Will Be Vindicated

As Ryan Lizza writes in the NEW YORKER:

“Obama didn’t remake Washington. But his first two years stand as one of the most successful legislative periods in modern history. Among other achievements, he has saved the economy from depression, passed universal health care, and reformed Wall Street.”

Mitt Romney, ¨a vapid twit paid for by corporate interests¨

¨So when are President Obama’s critics, people like Paul Krugman and Mitt Romney, going to offer President Obama an apology? Both have often loudly predicted that he made the economy worse and was putting America on the wrong economic path. Both are being proved wrong by the economic comeback we are in. I mention them not to pick on Krugman, who I respect or even on Romney (who I regard as a vapid twit bought and paid for by corporate interests) but to make a point: President Obama is going to have the last laugh on his critics, no matter what ideological spectrum they hail from...¨  read it all, by Frank Schaeffer,  HERE

·  Thanks to The New Yorker
·  Thanks to Ryan Lissa 
·  Thanks to Frank Schaeffer, sidebar
·  Thanks to President Barack Obama

Goddess Ix Chel (wife of Votan) and the Bishop of Salisbury, both intend to set the Anglican World into a healthier/happier motion!

Ix Chel is the Maya Goddess of the Moon, Water, Weaving and Childbirth. She is shown here in three of Her many aspects. Left to right: Chak Chel, the Old Moon Goddess, called the Midwife of Creation; Ix Chel in Her main form as Mother Goddess and Weaver who set the Universe in motion; and the Young Moon Goddess, shown with Her totem animal the rabbit.

The Maya Goddess Ix Chel is a giver of life and her name means ¨Lady Rainbow¨

I was personally, albeit, very discreetly and quickly, just ¨informed/illuminated¨ (while reading  Not the same stream  blog ) that Maya Goddess Ixchel is pleased with the NEW Anglican, Church of England, Bishop Nick Holtam, Bishop of Salisbury. 

The Goddess, in her multi-talented capacity which includes midwife of all creation considers him a man who may set (again) the ANGLICAN WORLD IN MOTION!   Just imagine, imagination is key here, that our Bishop Nick Holtam already discovered that IF the punative Anglican Covenant had been subscribed to earlier in our recent Anglican Communion history there would be NO WOMEN PRIESTS!  The very insanity and imbalance and unholiness of it all!

The Good and Great Goddess of Moon, Water, Weaving and Childbirth, Ix Chel, is fully aware, along with the new Bishop of Salisbury, that the proposed Anglican Covenant intends to exclude whole groups of God loving human beings (even the ones who do or don´t believe in Maya Gods and Goddess) .  The architects of the Anglican Covenant document declare they are innocent and are not causing, nor promoting, any reason for dread.  They promise no inquisition. The Goddess and the Bishop of Salisbury have both heard similar lies before.

·  Thanks to Not the same stream, sidebar
·  Thanks to Votan, HERE
·  Thanks to The Maya Goddess Ix Chel
·  Thanks to The Bishop of Salisbury
·  Thanks to Paul Bagshaw, HERE

http://blog.noanglicancovenant.org/

Beloved Beverly Emiko Nakatani Sakai ¨Rest in Peace and Rise in Glory¨

Beverly Emiko Nakatani Sakai, February 1, 2012, Antigua, Sacatapequez, Guatemala, Central America

For all who need comfort, for all who mourn

All those whom we cherished will be reborn


All those whom we love but see no more


They are not perished, but gone before


And Lord keep them safe in your embrace


And fill their souls with your good grace


For now they see you face to face


Where they rest in peace, and rise in glory.
 
···
Para todos los que necesitan consuelo, para todos los que llorar



All those whom we cherished will be reborn Todos aquellos a los que va a renacer preciados


All those whom we love but see no more Todos los que amamos, pero no ven más


They are not perished, but gone before Ellos no han perecido, pero ha ido antes


And Lord keep them safe in your embrace Y el Señor mantenerlos a salvo en tu abrazo


And fill their souls with your good grace Y llenar el alma con su buen talante


For now they see you face to face Por ahora te ven cara a cara


Where they rest in peace, and rise in glory Donde descansan en paz, y el aumento de la gloria
 
Rest in peace and rise in glory 
Beloved Beverly Emiko

Beverly ¨Mom¨ and son Paul

One of my favorite stories that Beverly shared was of Pearl Harbor Sunday...she rushed her little sister home from Sunday School (she didn´t have a house key but knew where one was hidden to unlock and get in on emergencies)...she kept looking up at the sky to see the many airplanes circling about with O´s on their wings...the skies were black with smoke. Beverly´s Mom was a head nurse at Queens Hospital (Queen Anna of holy Anglican memory/history) and working hard to take care of the wounded and critically injured as they entered for care...it always struck me that Beverly was doing the same thing, taking good care of others on that deadly Sunday in Hawaii. A fine family of notable Japanese Americans...they´ve been a positive force in all of our lives for generations.   Leonardo Ricardo/Len

There were three.  They were a trio.  Sons Tom and Paul joined ¨Mom¨ years ago (and she happily joined them as she was a widow).  They first opened a Art Gallery in Hawaii and the three provided all of the much needed skills of good taste, muscle, maticulous accounting, responsible service and vibrant visual presentation that make a business a solid success.

¨Mom¨ amongst the fine art treasurers in the house that Tom and Paul built

Year after year the little ensemble of three traveled to the far corners of the earth in search of original, and authentic, art treasurers for their home and business...they were/are quite the ¨fine art¨ collectors and their home was filled with lovely personal statements of what they cherished and used through out as decor.  In most recent years they became collectors of Maya textiles and learned much about them, their intended use and their evolution into modern day ¨traje¨...their collection of  textiles is amongst the most beautiful and interesting to be found anywhere.

¨Mom¨  was always present amongst them/us at every social function in recent years.  Only in the last year did she begin to slow down and required a little more rest and intensive care...she was clearly amongst the treasures in all of our everyday lives.  Thanks be to God for our dear friend Beverly.

Leonardo Ricardo/Len,  Antigua, Guatemala