Political Lies

I know... the title is a little redundant. Anyway, I came across this graph the other day and thought it striking.

Now, I don't want to read too much into this graph, because I'm not sure that the start of the recession is all Bush's fault any more than I believe that the turnaround in-progress is completely Obama's doing (although as unpopular as they were, I think the bank bailout brought us back from the brink of disaster and stimulus probably helped bend the curve a little).

My only point is that saying the opposite is disingenuous and hurts our nation in that when all of the political discussion by the supposed experts and leaders focus on known lies, solely for political gain, it obfuscates the real issues and discussions that must take place.

Liberty or Death

So I keep seeing this image appear on the right of my facebook page and being a Liberty graduate (prior posting here), I think I'm going to finally give in and join. In spite of their craziness that they espouse, I do have fond memories and many friends.

Goodbye FTL

More FTL

Yesterday we spent the day on the beach where I ran into someone that I had met from Chicago. He has the most beautiful, fuzzy ass. It always amazes how often we run into people we know when travelling. The beach was beautiful, with just enough sun to make it comfortable even though it was fairly windy.

Fuzzy ass.

Naked At Last

These past few weeks I really haven't had any chances to be naked. It's not that there weren't things going on, but a combination of travel when events were taking place combined with our severe weather just meant that the stars haven't aligned. In fact, the last time I was naked with others was the New Years party.

That all said, I just can't say how nice it is to finally be in sunny and warm weather.

Indiscreet

Craziness

So me and 7 of friends were supposed to be heading off for Ft Lauderdale today and tomorrow. If anyone's following DC weather, you'll know that we have had (a) record snow fall this season, (b) a 20+ inch snow storm this past weekend and (3) in the midst of one helluva snow storm right now with wind storms up to 50 miles per hour.

One friend was not impacted since he was leaving from Richmond, where they were forecasted to get less snow than here. I helped arrange for another 4 of us to rent a one-way van to drive down to Ft. Lauderdale yesterday and the final 3 are renting another vehicle today.

We'll were just about 2 hours away from our destination. Inspite of the long drive, we're actually arriving a full day early since we left early to get out before the storm got too bad. The drive itself was relatively easy since there were 4 drivers between us and more than enough room for 2 people to stretch out and lay down at the same time. The weather's not going to as warm as I would like, but we're looking temperatures ranging from 68 to 72 degress.

Let it Snow

This weekend DC and most of the east coast got hit by yet another big snow storm. This storm was the biggest one yet, and keep in mind that we had already passed last years complete snow fall weeks ago! Anyway, the area got anywhere from 18 to 33 inches depending on exactly where you lived. I've now shoveled snow on 4 consecutives days. Below is a picture of my street:

Pictures

Mystery Solved

Over the past month or so I've been having trouble sleeping. Normally, I can put my head down and be out within a few minutes, but these months even when I managed to get to sleep I haven't been able to sleep a full night without repeatedly awaking throughout the night.


Well my recent trip to Vegas has helped me solve the mystery. While there I had no trouble sleeping at all. The first night back in my own bed was even better. It was the best sleep I had had for quite a while. All this helped me develop a theory… Could it be the coffee? Now I know this seems like a no-brainer, but keep in mind that I've always drank significant amounts of coffee so I hadn't suspected this as a likely cause.

My experiment began the next day. I went to work and drank my normal 3 mega-cups of coffee. I'm guessing that this equates to roughly 6 to 8 normal cups (see mega-cup below).

Well, that first night after being back to my normal coffee routine landed me back to my normal restless nights. The solution… I've bought some instant decaf (I know, yuck!). I now allow myself 2 mega-cups of half-regular/half-decaf so long as it is before 2pm. If I want a 3rd another cup I've restricted myself to a cup of full-decaf.

Since the change, I've been sleeping much better.

Full Burn

A fellow member of one of the local nudist groups posted the following:

Anyone planning to go, interested in going? Looking to link up with one or more for my first time. Let me know, thanks!

Woohoo! Since then we’ve communicated a number of times to discuss travel there, arrival city, shelter, food, water and everything else. Two other members also responded so as it stands there are 3 or 4 of us. Since the BF has definitely said HELL NO, I have been hoping to find someone who to go with since the logistics of such a trip seem way to daunting to attempt alone for my first time. We’re discussing a range of options including the Green Tortoise Bus and renting a van and sleeping in a large tent that one of the guys has who has been there before. For the first time I’m feeling like this might really happen. Woohoo!

New Fetishwear

My two new articles of fetishwear that I acquired during mal are a neoprene outfit and a kilt. In this picture I was trying on the kilt while I still was wearing the neoprene. The neoprene outfit consists of a zippered, sleeveless top and assless shorts, which I wore for the rest of the day after I bought them.

Obama Taking Republican Questions

This video is Obama taking questions from the Republican congressional caucus. This is the first refreshing, political moment I've had in quite a while and gives me a smidgen of hope. It's refreshing because it shows someone (Obama) standing up and and speaking reasonably about the nations real problems and the kind of the things such as cooperation required to solve them. On the bad side, it stood in stark contrast to the majority of the questions that were obviously mere attempts to score political gain. That said, I must cede that some of the comments about Speaker Pelosi did strike me sincere.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Blogger Rant

So when is Blogger going to re-add the spell checker that they removed in their latest site update? It's crazy that we don't have such an essential tool and I'm surprised that they would even release this software without it.

Bin Laden on Climate Change

Bin laden discusses climate change. Never thought I'd say it, but besides the whole "death to the infidels stuff" I kind of agree with his main point here. I'm inclined to think that this latest tape is a fake just because it seems so way off of his usual topics. That said, the world would be a better place if he focused more on climate change and less on death and destruction.

Talk about climate change is not an ideological luxury but a reality.


All of the industrialized countries, especially the big ones, bear responsibility for the global warming crisis.

Could we be seeing a kinder, gentler Bin Laden? I think not!

Funny

Not quite my cup of tea, but I thought this was funny. Below are the accompanying puns that I received along with the picture.

A woman was proudly driving her 'pubic beetle'. Until the police arrested her after a series of accidents. The court ruled that her car was creating a dangerous situation on the roads. It was ruled that she had to paint over her car's hood. Here's a picture of her VW before she had to repaint it.  

Random Pictures

Vegas

Recently I went to Vegas with the BF. We had a good time playing tourist, going to shows and visiting a couple of gay bars at night. When we went out we met some of the nicest people and had a good time. I haven't been to Vegas in a number of years and hadn't really experienced the gay scene when I was last there, so this was kind of my first experience of gay Vegas.

For all Vegas' reputation of sin, it's gay scene is quite tame. We went to two of the seemingly roughest bars (Buffaly and Hog Heaven) and even these seemed almost like pretty-boy bars. They certainly weren't anything like leather bars in DC, but then, perhaps out west "leather" seems more mainstream.

The other thing that struck me was that several, different locals that I met at different times made the same comment to me. That is, that so many of the people living in Vegas work in the casinos to some capacity and are in fear of the random and not-so-random drug checks. The locals seem to think that this has a huge dampening effect on Vegas' scene.

MAL Es Bueno

This weekend DC hosts its annual Mid Atlantic Leather Festival. I'm one of thoses people that can't help smiling, but I tried to look as serious as possible in keeping with the leather theme. Am I convincing?

Haiti

I read this absolutely heart-wrenching account from Haiti today. I comes from this blog.

All I could see was her face and left arm, and she frantically called out to me. I asked her to calm down because it would help me to work and asked her to pray for both of us. She calmed down and became very brave. I was having trouble seeing her where she was jammed under the slab. I pulled out a very large piece of rubble that didn’t really help Jacqueline at all (her name was Jacqueline). There was some sort of object behind that rubble and when I went to move it it turned out to be another girl’s bottom. The girl cried out but I could barely hear her – her whole head was underneath rubble.


At this point I began to realize that I was in over my head.

All I had was a hammer, and it was quickly becoming pitch dark with twilight fading and no electricity anywhere. I tried to borrow a flashlight, but it was impossible. I had a moment of feeling intense helplessness. After thinking and praying for a minute, I told Jacqueline that I had to leave her and find more help. I couldn’t do anything without a flashlight, and she needed to keep praying and remember that her parents were coming to look for her.

I walked 4 or 5 miles to a place where I could get a bus, then got on one eventually made it home just after 9pm. On my way home, I resolved to return to Port au Prince the next day with 2 trucks full of tools and workers to do whatever we could. I met a guy on the bus who was holding a sandwich. He had left his house to go buy a sandwich when the earthquake hit. He returned to his home to find it flattened, then went to the school that he teaches at to find it flattened. With nothing left but a sandwich in his hand, and $7 in his sock, he set out for Cap Haitien to be with the rest of his family.

I slept a little bit last night even though I kept thinking of Jacqueline and her classmate stuck in the rubble, in the dark. This morning all of the workers enthusiastically loaded all the tools we could use into the trucks along with food and water and set off for Port au Prince. I took them to the school and quickly made my way to the place Jacqueline and the other student were but both of them were dead.

A Picture and a Story

The following set of pictures were taken at my former home in Northern Virginia. We rent it out so when the last set of renters left, we went there several times to do the kinds of things that one does before re-renting. I can never figure out how it happens, but as usual I somehow winded up with my clothes off.

The Pledge

I came across this while reading Pi's blog. It's some powerful stuff and just the kind of proactive and positive thinking that I don't think we do enough of:

A Picture and a Story

I've decided to start a new series of blog posts naming them 'a picture and a story'. My idea is select a picture and write something about the circumstances of the picture or anything else that comes to mind.

One of the reasons why I really like this picture is that it makes me look far more daring that I actually am. This picture was taken in Barcelona in June '09. Just beyond the bushes on the right, there are lots of people naked on the beach. In fact the people that are walking behind me will have a perfect and unobstructed view of all the nude people on the beach if they keep waling just about 20 feet. That said, in all the days I went to the beach, I never saw anyone walk off the beach or come nearly as far as I did nude. I did this as part of a dare that I made to a friend from DC that was visiting me there. He took the picture, but took about 2 steps off the beach before quickly putting his clothes on.

Kisses for Chistmas

I finally figured out what I want!

2010...

I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions because I believe that we make a thousand little decisions everyday that, when combined, constitute our lives. So instead of resolutions, I’ll share some desires, wishes and goals for the next year.


• The BF and I will celebrate our 17th year together and I want this next year to bring us even closer together.

• I love my family and friends and sometimes I think that I don’t tell them enough just what they mean to me. I hope to tell them that I love them more often.

• I want to not fear making myself more vulnerable in front of others. I want to reach out with kindness to people I don’t even know only because that’s the kind of person I want to be. Some will certainly reject the gesture unsure of what I want and yet others will reject me, but that should not stop me.

• I want to travel. I want to go to Ft Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Dore, Berlin and the naked gatherings hosted by GNI and IMEN as well as other not yet determined places.

• I would like to figure out a way to go to Burning Man. This will be difficult especially since I’ll be away from home the entire week prior for the GNI Naked Gathering. If I am to attend I’ll have to find a way to get home from Pennsylvania, gather everything I’d need for a week in the middle of nowhere (think tent and 12 gallons of water!), fly to Reno, etc. Seems overwhelming, but I’m still hoping to find a partner in crime. The BF has already said, “Absolutely not.”

• I’d like to be nude and participate in nude activities as much as possible including lots of time at nude beaches.

• I want to play lots of tennis, preferably 4+ times per week. I want to engage in other activities as well such as bicycling and exploring DC and other locales.

• I want to increase my Spanish language proficiency.

• I want to be positive.

• I want to put a smile on people’s faces.

• I want to replace the back deck of my apartment.

• I want to fulfill my obligations at home and at work.

Avatar

When I first saw the preview for this movie, I flagged it as a move to definitely avoid. The whole premise seemed to me like a kid playing a video game and wishing it were all real. It was only after hearing so many good things about the movie over the past few weeks from critics and viewers alike that I decided that I had to see it. Well tonight was the night.

I bought my tickets online and on the confirmation page I noticed the unusually high price. So I went back to figure out why. It turns out there the movie is in 3D. The BF said that his eyes have problems with 3D so we tried to find a regular showing, but none would fit into our timeframe. In the end we went to the 3D showing.

WOW!!! I'm so glad we say the 3D version! I tend to be very critical of stupid movies, which is why I thought I wouldn't like this one, but there was nothing stupid about it. The acting was good, the plot was interesting and visuals were fantastic.

On the technology front (only because I'm a geek), I can't believe how much better 3D movies have gotten since I've last seen one. This was the first 3D movie I've ever seen where the 3D was not either a gimmick or a distraction, but rather fit naturally and seamlessly into the move. The other thing that amazed me was the special effects. I have no idea how the graphically created the natives, but man was it impressive and completely believable.

Disgusting

I ran across this ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING chart today and had to repost. If there's any wonder about how absolutely fucked up our healthcare system really is, this chart dispells it all. Click the picture to view full-size.

A Look Forward

I had a friend post the following to his facebook page the other day:

If I had a dime for every time I heard someone say to me ... "You're gay!!! Homo!!!!!!" ... Like its some sort of newsflash, I'd be rich. Am I THAT fabulous really? Or are they just stupid idiots with no respect? I think the latter AND the former are both correct.

The friend is a beautiful and sexy, 24 year old black guy. Truth is that I really never had to endure name-calling like this. As a kid I was the typical sports-oriented boy with a secret. Although I never had girlfriends, but somehow no one ever suspected me of being gay. At this point in my life I've reached a point where I really don't care what people say or think too much. I've come to set my own standards based on principles that I think are important such as treating all people with respect and not littering, but I could care less if someone doesn't like the hot pink pants that I'm wearing (for the record I don't own said pants, but if I did...).

But it pains me that my friend, or anyone for that matter, has to ensure this. It pains me that the world could be so cruel. Is it any wonder that so many of us are slightly damaged? Be who you are and never forget that love cannot make you less of a person.

Burning Man

I've always heard of Burning Man and wanted to go. The past 5 years of my life I've forced myself wish less and do more so I really considered going in 2010. That said it seems like such a daunting task because:

• The GNI Naked Gathering is the week prior so I'll already be out of work and vacationing for a week prior to Burning Man. The biggest issue however is rushing to get back to DC, get all my stuff in order and fly out west the very next day.
• Since you have to take everything you need with you, I'd have to bring all my food, clothing and 12 gallons of water. How do I even carry 12 gallons of water without a car?
• I like the idea of 'surviving' the wild, but let's face it I'm a native-NYC boy. Now I went camping as a boy on several occasions but I'd feel much better doing such a large thing like this with someone else for support.

For these reasons I'm beginning to doubt whether I'll be going next year. This wouldn't be too terrible since I have a friend in Baton Rouge that has been trying to get me down to New Orleans for Southern Decadence during that same weekend. Besides, New Orleans wouldn't be bad at all since every time I've been with him has always been tremendously fun in the absolute worst kind of way.

Feeling Better

So I've been kind of down on how the healthcare debate has been going and what it says about our country and our political system's ability to get anything done. I wrote about it a little bit here. I began to wonder if the healthcare bill as passed by the Senate was even worth it or whether we should scap it and fight for something better. Well, now that passage seems imminent, I realized that I over-reacted and now feel much better. There's a lot in this bill that will help us as a nation.

I'll be honest though. I think that this bill may cause some problems. The problems will arise when people are forced to purchase health insurance out of their own pockets if the cost of healthcare is not affordable. One of three things I could see happening at that point:

1. Congress makes further changes to the system and implement the public option or something similar,
2. Congress takes away the requirement that everyone must have health insurance or be fined, or
3. Nothing happens, people suffer, and people blame the Democrats and elect Republicans.

Obviously I'm hoping for number 1.

Political Despair...

So I think I've finally figured something out... and it is not good. I've determined that people (as in "we" as opposed to "them") are fundamentally flawed. Ready for my grand revelation? It's that we're fundamentally selfish. Don't get me wrong because I'm not trying to be negative, but am coming to accept the nature that evolution has given us.

We are by nature communal creatures. However our interest in community fundamentally conflicts with our strong instinct for preservation of self. I guess I would've liked to believe that we've evolved more than we have. I wish it was like it was Star Trek (original series) when mankind almost blew itself up at the end of the 20th century and then collectively realized that war works in our mutual dis-benefit. But we're not there yet and probably never will be.

So what led to this revelation?

• The completely asinine statements by Republicans against any kind of meaningful healthcare reform. The truth is that they're really against any healthcare reform that it is not completely either (a) remove lawsuits or (b) reduce taxes and public programs. What's even more disheartening is that even this is trumped by their real goal... to see the Democratic president fail at any cost.
• Real life is complex. I haven't met a single person that resembles the caricatures that we try to make them out to be sometimes. Real problems require hard thought with trade-offs and determined follow through. It would be nice if our national discourse were moving in a direction that realizes this and values thoughtfulness. However, I'm realizing that sound bites and one-liners trumps the complexity of truth and reason. Unfortunately with all the good associated with the advent of television and the subsequently the Internet, these new technologies have also enabled the stupid statements such as "death panels".

Return of Super Nekkid Saturday

Super nekkid Saturday are those weekends when multiple nude parties occur on the same day. Of course I love the chance to bare all for (nearly) the entire day. I've written about prior super nekkid Saturdays here and here.

This particular Saturday started with us going to a baby shower. A gay couple that are friends of ours have been working to adopt/surrogate for at least over a year now. Well, just about a month ago their baby girl was born and she's is absolutely adorable. The funny thing is in all of their pictures they look completely haggard and utterly frightened. That said, I think gay couples are generally way more prepared for children then straight couples because they have to work at it so long and hard. All I'm saying is generally speaking most gay couples don't have "accidents".

After the shower was the naked cocktails. I can say how glad I am that these monthly events have returned to DC. Once again we had about 100 naked guys there on a Saturday afternoon. Anyone who's ever thinking of participating in a naked event, but is feeling apprehensive, this is a great event to come to.

Directly from naked cocktails we went to a naked holiday party hosted by one of the members up in southern Maryland. He has a terrific place nicely on a nicely secluded lot. About 100 guys showed up there too. I've been to two other parties that he's hosted before, but they were typically smaller parties of 30 or so where he only invited people he knew. This party was open to the full membership of one of the local nudist groups. There was light food, a great selection of wines, beers and spirits. Have I mentioned the naked men?

Why do I love being naked with others so much? Well, aside from the obvious reasons I'd like to share a message that was posted on the message board of one of the nudist groups I belong to (identity removed). This was submitted in response to an open question regarding the gay communities tendency to treat each other harshly based on appearance or perceived worth or lack there of. Here's the response:

It's a funny thing about looks and how people judge us. I'm not a horrible looking guy. But I'm certainly not great looking. Am also 45, hairy and about 50 pounds overweight. Have I encountered rejection in clothed social situations? YES. Many times. I do feel I look better clothed than naked.


In clothes free situations, I experience rejection far less. This is true of a variety of clothes free groups. Why? Have no idea.

My sentiments exactly. At both of the parties as well as in Key West and every other naked party everyone intermingles far more than I see at almost any other open gathering of people. The young with the old, the trim with the rotund. This is community at its best.

Naked in Key West

The BF, a good friend and I all went down to Key West for the Bone Island Bare It All Weekend. We had gone last year and enjoyed it so we decided to go again this year. We flew into Miami airport since for some reason flying directly into Key West always seems to be twice as expensive. So we rented a car and drove the 3 hours or so from Miami through the Keys. It's actually a pretty drive once you get onto the Overseas Highway and out of traffic.
This year we stayed at the Island House and were pretty much naked as often as possible. We met quite a few people that we had met last year as well as people that we met at the GNI Gathering in Pennsylvania. Interestingly enough we also ran into several people from DC, some of which we knew and others that we were meeting for the first time.

Highlights of the weekend included:

• Welcome party at the Island House (naked)
• Naked event at 801 Bourbon. Activities included things that would get you arrested in DC. Of course I participated.
• Lunch at the Blue Heaven amongst the cats, roosters and chickens. One of the cats popped a squat 4 feet from our table, but diligently covered it up.
• Playing tourist at the southernmost tip of the continental US.
• Taking a pedicab from the most beautiful Croatia guy. Interestingly enough he first said Romania. I'm always interested in how people regard themselves.
• Pool party at the Equator Guest House (naked)
• Dance party at the Aqua (naked).
• Night at Bourbon Street Pub (naked). The foam machine was so much fun last year, but this year it got cold on Saturday night so we didn't get the chance to enjoy the foam.
• And of course all the time and events at the Island House.

I came across these words from the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell today...

"I've got a cheerful, upbeat, optimistic team ready to go to battle over what most of my members, if not all of them, believe may well be the most important issue they will ever deal with in their time in Congress -- this effort to transform the American health care system into a European type system," he said. "So we are anxious for the debate and are going to give it our best shot. And I don't know how it's going to turn out."

I believe that people reveal themselves in the little things they say. That is, I believe that if you observe someone closely enough you can get peeks into what motivates them. What I get from this short quote is that he's not sure if he'll win what he describes as the most important issue he'll ever face, but yet he is happy because he thinks he'll get a couple of extra seats in the senate out of it. Can there any more glaring example of putting politics way ahead of policy?

The other thing that strikes me about this is the long-standing theme that Republicans have espoused that say that anything European is anti-American. If they really want to insult something/someone, they'll say it's French even.

Well having been there a few times I can tell you that we have much to learn from Europeans. Don't misunderstand me now... because they have much to learn from us too. But to refuse to learn from another's successes and failures is just plain stupid.

Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend felt like old times. On Friday I just hung out with a good friend of mine at the Eagle. At his suggestion we stripped down to our jockstraps (what a coincidence that we both were wearing one) and just talked for a good time. I really enjoy times like these when you can just connect with people on a personal level.

Saturday afternoon was our second naked cocktail gathering. About 112 people showed up, dwarfing the size of our first gathering last month and showing just how much people really do love this event. As normal, it was completely non-sexual. We just talked to old friends and met new ones. I had invited a Latino friend of mine that is almost 40 but still has one foot firmly in the closet due to an intense fear of his self-admitted, homophobic family. He's never had close gay friends or allowed himself a real boyfriend, but has replaced these meaningful relationships with random sex. Partly I invited him just to get him into a specifically social and non-sexual event. He was very timid in the beginning, but warmed up to the atmosphere after a little while and had a really good time.

Later we went out to a couple's house that was having a clothing-optional party and invited the group that attended the naked cocktails to join them. Given that there were several things going on that evening that I knew about, I was surprised by how many people showed up. As always, we had a fantastic time and it was a wonderful way to complete our weekend.

In Memory of ...

In memory of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, a life taken from us way too soon and because no one should have to suffer through this.

On Racism and Discrmination

I recently heard someone spout racist remarks about people of another ethnicity. Their ire was neither directed at me nor blacks nor gays nor any other group to which I consider myself and yet still it bothered me. There are characteristics that I hold in very, very high esteem and among these are how do we treat our fellow human, do we respect others, and are we nice and caring. To me racism and discrimination directly indicates the exact opposite to an entire group of people based solely on the circumstances of their birth.

Truth be told, there are two kinds of racism out there. There's the overt racism in which the person understands that they have a preference for some over others. Then there's the more insidious racism of those that tell ourselves that we are not racists, but our actions still hurt or disadvantage others along arbitrary lines.

So how is it that some of are so sure that this insidious form of racism is so wide-spread whereas others are equally sure that it is not? How can these points of view be so far apart? The answer is hard to accept and lies deep within the nature of our species. We humans naturally define concentric circles of "us versus them" in which we almost always favor the inner circle when compared to an outer circle. We tend to lookout for our own interest before another; our own family before strangers; and our village before the world.

This very natural act that has been fruitful in binding communities together for millenia is also the root of racism and other forms discrimination. It defines "us" and skews our mind's perception of what is good so to benefit the "us". It is why we'll fight for our friends, family, village, tribe or country even if something deep inside of us knows that we are in the wrong. Want and example of this? Think of any movie in which the main character is obviously in the wrong and yet by the director showing us the movie from this character's perspective we are drawn into sympathizing and even routing for him to win. The director has succeeded in making the bad guy one of "us". It is part of our survival and self-preservation instinct.

What does this mean? That we're all racists to some extent. Understanding and accepting this is critical to overcoming the problems of racism and discrimination. It is only when we understand our natural tendencies to choose others like us over those that are different that we can free ourselves from its ill-effects.

So the next question is "why"? Why should we even fight these natural tendencies if they have served us so well throughout time? The answer is because our world has changed. No longer do we live in villages where everyone looks like us and acts like us. No longer are the actions of one village divorced from ramifications on the other side of the planet. Today, our village is multi-racial, multi-ethnic and diverse and therefore even this low-grade, insidious racism destroys the fabric of our community.