Bobservations

The other day Carlos had a dentist’s appointment, so I dropped him off and returned home. When he was finished, he called me to pick him up …

“I’m running late to work so I’ll drive by and slow down in front of the office and open the door and you can jump in.”

“Um, sweetiepie, you’re on speaker phone!”

“What’s your point?”

In the background I heard someone in the office laugh and say:

“He’s funny.”

She’s right, and she’s my new best friend.

This Tuxedo Memory is from August 2018 and is creatively entitled, “Oy! The Punim on That Cat.”

‘Someone was clearly not pleased that I was disturbing the post-breakfast nap.’

That’s my boy … I like to think he got that resting bitch face from me!

President Biden is expected to give a primetime address on the first night of the Democratic National Convention next month in Chicago with a “big tribute” is planned for him that same night.

He deserves all that and more and I will be tuned in!

Celine Dion showed up in Paris in a designer track suit from Gucci that cost $7,000.00. My question is: for 7 g’s you couldn’t get one that fit?

The FBI is examining numerous metal fragments found near the stage at that Felon campaign to determine whether it was an assassin’s bullet—or potential debris—that grazed The Felon’s ear. The bureau has asked to interview The Felon as part of its investigation, hoping to provide insights into the shooting and possibly a more complete record of his injury. i.e., paper cut.

It was funny that MAGAts were fuming that the FBI director was using the word ‘fragment’ to describe what he thinks hit The Felon’s ear and so the FBI director changed his wording and called it ‘shrapnel’ and suddenly they were happy.

Um, MAGAts? Shrapnel is defined as, ahem, “fragments” of a bomb, shell, or other object thrown out by an explosion.

You cannot make this shiz up.

In the days since Vice President Kamala Harris launched her presidential bid, more than 170,000 volunteers have joined her cause, and she’s raised so much money that Clarence Thomas wants to go on vacation with her.

In July 2021, Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill resigned from his post as the general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops [USCCB] ahead of a report by The Pillar alleging that he had engaged in inappropriate behavior and frequent use of Grindr. And now Jeffrey is suing the gay “hookup” app saying the company failed to protect his data, leading to his resignation.

You might wanna just come out, padre, and then take a seat.

Vice President Kamala Harris has a message for The Felon is he’s too scared to debate her: she’ll do the debate by herself.

And maybe just put a few fast-food wrappers on the stage to represent the chicken-shiz gelatinous gasbag.

Speaking of The Felon, he spoke about Melanie watching the shooting live and when he asked her feelings about it she said she couldn’t talk about it. Couldn’t talk about it? That means that either the check didn’t clear or she didn’t get the result she wanted. But then The Felon said that was Ok “because that means she likes me or she loves me.”

Her husband is ALLEGEDLY almost gunned down and she likes him?

Judge Joel Cohen has banned Wayne LaPierre, the former head of the National Rifle Association [NRA] from holding a paid position with the organization for a decade.

Should’a made it permanent, giving him time to wash decades of blood off his hands.

Kilian Isaak Zeugin is a Swiss model, based in Athens, who works around the work, but the real issue is, Would You Hit It?

Meme Dump

Bobservations

Last weekend, after watching a bit of the funeral on TV, we were out running errands. Carlos now uses a cane when he’s out, especially in unfamiliar areas, to help him get about; it also alerts people standing around to maybe step aside and be a little more aware themselves.

But this day, as we walked into our local Lowes store, and thinking about the funeral, I said to Carlos:

“C’mon, McCane.”

Then I laughed and reminded him that I’m hilarious, and then said:

“I’m gonna start calling you Carlos McCane.”

He replied:

“I don’t like you.”

And we all know that’s a lie; but then cut to a few days later, while walking into a movie theater. I turned to him and started laughing, and said:

“I cannot wait for Christmas!”

“Why?

“Cuz then I can call you Candy Cane!”

“I really don’t like you.”

Again, we all know that’s not true, but thank god for his sense of humor, and how he gets me.

Karma is a Bitch … last week six Republican members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives who opposed the state’s teacher pay bill were voted out of office in their runoff elections.

In fact, 15 of the 19 legislators who voted against the teacher pay bill will not be returning next term; eight lost their primaries, four chose not to run for reelection and three are leaving because of term limits.

The Resistance is working.

Remember that episode of Friends where Joey, annoyed by Chandler, put on all of Chandler’s clothes? If you missed it, that’s him up there.

Perhaps the costume designers on Friends were on to something, or were way ahead of time, because last week fashion house Balenciaga introduced the “layered Oversized Parka.”

It retails for $9,000. Really.

Last week _____ lied again; nothing new, I know. But it was such a stupid lie, told for no other reason than to boost his flaccid … ego.

He bragged during an event in North Carolina that his golf course in the state was on the “largest man-made lake in the world”:

“You know where my club is, right? _____ National. It’s a very big success on Lake Norman. Beautiful. Largest man-made lake in the world by far, right?”

But the facts are that Lake Norman doesn’t even crack the list of the 10 largest U.S. reservoirs; in fact, Nevada’s Lake Mead, the largest on that list, holds 25 times more water than Lake Norman.

Seriously, the man cannot even tell the truth about lakes.

Carla Maloney, secretary of the Republican Committee of Beaver County, resigned last week after it was revealed that she repeatedly called NFL players who kneeled during the national anthem “baboons.”

“Tired of these over paid ignorant blacks telling me what I should believe in. I will tell you what I believe in and that is our Flag the National Anthem and America period end of story. You don’t like it here go to Africa see how you like it there. We are all Americans not African American not Hispanic American. WE ARE ALL AMERICAN. [The] Steelers are now just as bad as the rest of the over paid baboons. You respect your flag, country and our national anthem. How many men and women have lost limbs or died to protect this country and you baboons want respect.”

The party, the racist party, rots from the head down.

Speaking of athletes who kneel, this week Nike announced that Colin Kaepernick, who started the Take a Knee movement to protest racial injustice in this country, is one of the faces of the company’s 30th anniversary of the “Just Do It” campaign.

I love it; he deserves it.

Sidenote: people are now burning their Nike merch because they are pissed about Kap but they seem to forget that they’ve already paid for the stuff so they are only hurting themselves.

Asshats.

Diego Berrio and Edwin Giraldo Cortez, two Catholic priests from the Chicago area, were arrested in Miami Beach after bystanders along Ocean Drive reported the men having oral sex … in their car … in broad daylight.

In fact, Diego and Edwin were so busy getting’ busy they didn’t even notice that police had arrived to arrest them.

That’s all.

It starts … Next Wednesday at 10PM … the mashup of Murder House and Coven and the return of Jessica Lange!

Over the long weekend we watched two movies, one at home, and one at the local theater.

First up, was The Light Between Oceans, the story of a couple living alone on an island—he’s a lighthouse keeper—who suffer two miscarriages, and when a rowboat drifts ashore with a baby and a dead man on it, they take the child in as their own … until they learn that the child’s mother is looking for her daughter.

Good film, but the best part, for me, because I’m shallow, is Michel Fassbender as the lighthouse keeper. Tall and dreamy, is he.

Then we went to see BlacKkKlansman, the true story of a black cop, Ron Stallworth, who infiltrated the KKK back in the early 70s; it’s a great film, relevant to America today, sadly, and the ending should, should, make you cry.

Again, though, shallow me, couldn’t help but be enthralled by John David Washington, son of Denzel and Pauletta, who is quite a dreamboat.

I was also, as I have been before, taken by Adam Driver, unconventionally hot, in my mind. 

And also, very good in the film. So there!

At Least This Catholic Sex Scandal Doesn't Involve Child Rape

The Reverend Peter Miqueli, a  Catholic priest, is accused of stealing over a million dollars from the collection plate to pay for drugs and sex with his S&M master, Keith Crist.

He is accused to stealing the money while working as pastor of churches on Roosevelt Island and in The Bronx — where he remains, for now, as pastor of St. Frances de Chantal.

The lawsuit ALLEGES Miqueli used the money to act out fantasies of being a sex “slave” for the ironically named Christ, er, Crist, spending up to $1,000 at a time on bondage-and-discipline sessions where Crist “would force Father Miqueli to drink his urine. In addition, Miqueli is accused of spending $60,000 in stolen funds for drugs, another $264,000 for a home for himself, and some $1,075.50 a month in rent for Crist’s East Harlem apartment. He is even accused of, at one point, moving Crist into the rectory … tee hee … rectory … to live with him.

And it all broke when, back in summer of 2014, maintenance workers at St. Frances de Chantal saw “several unstacked piles of cash, each approximately one foot high, scattered throughout Father Miqueli’s rectory residence.”

But what makes this even more delicious, is that the suit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court , also charges that the Archdiocese of New York and Cardinal Timothy Dolan — a virulently anti-gay Catholic leader — knew all about Miqueli’s “illegal scheme” and did nothing to stop it.

The suit seeks unspecified damages from Father Miqueli, Keith Crist, Cardinal Dolan and the archdiocese on grounds that include negligent supervision, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and unjust enrichment. Naturally, a spokesman for the archdiocese says it “has . . . taken these allegations seriously and has been investigating them.”

You know, kinda like the way they “investigated” all those charges of child rape by moving the rapists from  parish to parish to protect them.

NY Post

Photo: Michael Berman

Reverend Warren Hall Comes Out

The Reverend Warren Hall, who worked at Seton Hall University until he posted an image of himself with the NOH8 logo on his cheek to his Facebook page and was fired by Archbishop John Myers, has another announcement:

He’s gay.

“I have to be myself. I can’t worry what other people think.”

Hall believes another priest saw the image on Hall’s personal Facebook page ... Hall says it was a response to a lecture on bullying and hate ... and alerted university and archdiocesan officials; Hall says he was called in to explain the post, first by the university and then by the archdiocese, and agreed to delete it from his page. He thought that would be the end of it, but then five months later he was fired from the school by Archbishop Myers, who told him:

“None of us want bullying, but you have a further agenda here, and I can’t have you at Seton Hall because of that.”

The Reverend Hall said that in the past year a few people had learned of his sexual orientation but now, especially in light of his dismissal, he wanted to be completely open:

“The best way to live is to live honestly. Honesty with oneself is the most important thing, but you have to be honest with other people. I’m not afraid of those questions anymore.”

Welcome out, Father, welcome out. And please accept as our gift to you, from HOMO HQ, a copy of The Gay Agenda and the Obligatory Coming Out Toaster Oven.

And, again, Welcome out.

Huffington Post

Father Brian Sistare: A Bully In The Pulpit

Father Brian Sistare, a Catholic priest at Sacred Heart in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, is apparently emailing his state legislator’s — just the ones who voted for marriage equality —threatening to use his pulpit as a church leader to get them unelected.

Apparently the not-so-good father is unaware that, as a non-profit entity, his church, and others, are legally, legally, forbidden from engaging in political activity.

But, he says, in his email: “I’m praying for each of you, that you turn back to God. I’m also going to let my Parish know exactly how you voted, so come re-election time, you will not be re-elected.”

Using God as a weapon; how so very Catholic of Sistare.

His email was sent to the 26 state senators who voted for marriage equality and was signed by Sistare, though he has not commented further.

Sistare is also said to have told married, legally married, I remind you, gay parishioners that he would not serve them communion unless they ended their marriages.

Here is the full email sent to Rhode Island senators:

Dear RI Senators who voted for “marriage” between members of the same sex,

       Yesterday was a very sad day for our little state of Rhode Island.  I’m still shocked that each of you took it upon yourself to take the place of God and redefine what He has established.  Marriage has always been understood as the union between one man and one woman.  This is a 5,000 year old fact!  I’m wondering what you will do when a mother comes to you and asks to be married to her son, or a cousin wants to marry her first cousin, or when a man wants to marry 2 or 3 women, or a human being wants to marry his animal?  What will you do, now that you have decided that Marriage is no longer a sacred union between one man and one woman?

        For those of you Senators who are baptized Catholics, I invite you to go to the Sacrament of Confession to receive God’s Mercy and Forgiveness for your grave sin of voting against God yesterday, so you’ll be able to receive Holy Communion again in the Catholic Church.

        For those of you who claim to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, I also invite you to repentance in your own faith tradition; and to those who claim no religious affiliation, I pray that you also see the error of your ways.

        Your decision yesterday will have a lot of consequences on those of us who hold God’s definition of Marriage between one man and one woman.  Already my Pastor from my hometown of Westerly is being accused by a confirmed lesbian, of violating the tax exempt status of the Catholic Church for telling his parishioners to contact Senator Algiere about his upcoming vote – unfortunately, Senator Algiere, you betrayed your own Catholic Faith and your constituents in voting for sodomy yesterday.  Also, my little niece Giana was coming out of school the other day when her fellow 4 year old classmate remarked to her that 2 women could marry.  Thankfully, my niece told the little boy the TRUTH that this isn’t the case, that Marriage is only between one man and one woman.

        I’m praying for each of you, that you turn back to God.  I’m also going to let my Parish know exactly how you voted, so come re-election time, you will not be re-elected.

Fr. Sistare

St. Rocco Church

Johnston, RI

I pray that God gets a copy of the email and forwards her answer to Sistare that she is all about love, and she is not too keen on this bully using his pulpit to threaten either a state senator who voted for equality, or a gay couple in his congregation.

I don’t think God would look favorably on Sistare.

I would also like to see those Rhode Island senators enact legislation to begin taxing the Catholic Church since they are obviously now a full-fledged political organization.

And God isn’t happy about that either.

source

Hidden Voices, Coming Out

Coming out as gay is a hard thing to do because you never know what might happen. You could lose your friends, you could lose your family, your job, and, sometimes, even your life. I can understand why some folks struggle with the idea, even though the view from this side of the closet door is much nicer.

One person who had a lot to lose by coming out was Gary Meier. In fact, Meier really struggled with staying closeted because the idea of making that announcement could cost him everything he held dear. So he thought about it, and thought about, and even took a leave of absence from his job so he could make a decision. And since we’re talking about it, it’s clear what decision he made.

Last June, the Reverend Gary Meier told his parishioners at Saints Teresa and Bridget Church in St. Louis that he was taking a leave of absence “to discern what ministry God was calling me to do.” He’d already told his boss, St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson that he would no longer teach the Catholic Church’s stance on homosexuality.

“I have tried over the years to reconcile my silence as a gay priest with that of the Church’s increasingly anti-gay stance. I have been unsuccessful. I was hopeful that I could find a way to have integrity while remaining part of a hierarchy that is anti-gay — I was unsuccessful.”—Gary Meier, from his book, Hidden Voices: Reflections of a Gay, Catholic Priest

Hidden voices. An apt title because Meier had first published the book back in 2011, anonymously, in an effort to keep his job, and keep his identity a secret. Now, however, the book has been republished with one change: his name is on the cover.

His decision to out himself, in print, and in person, came from watching the Church harden their stance more vocally, and more actively, on the LGBT community. Meier firmly believes that the Catholic Church’s position on homosexuality is a contributing factor in growing suicide rates among gay teenagers.

“My position is that our teaching is causing harm … We ought to own some of that. The church’s hard line against homosexuality causes that kind of damage.”—Gary Meier

Interestingly enough, the Catholic Church, while it has a very clear view on homosexuality, does not have an ‘official’ stance on gay priests; their belief is that a priest must be celibate, and that is all that matters; a good priest is a good priest. Of course, a good priest is also one who stays closeted, and silent, and doesn’t question the faith, but it was because of the Catholic Church’s stance against LGBT rights, including marriage equality, DOMA, ENDA, the Boy Scouts recent acceptance of gay scouts, etc., that Gary Meier questioned his church, and its leaders, and decided to come out.

While keeping the secret from his ‘boss,’ Meier—who recently celebrated the 15th anniversary of his ordination—says his sexual orientation was never a secret to his family and friends. In fact, during his interviews at the Kenrick Seminary, he answered truthfully to questions about his orientation. When he was asked if he could be celibate, he said, “I think so.”

“Celibacy is a rule the church imposes on its clergy. It’s always part of the package. This is not about celibacy.”—Gary Meier

Meier says his only relationship is “with the people of God,” and that he’s been faithful to his vows. He would like to continue with his work in the Church, continue leading his parishioners, those ‘people of God,’ but knows that it’s highly unlikely he’ll be allowed to do so.

“To be a priest and active in ministry, you can’t say what I’m saying. I don’t think I’ll be getting any more paychecks from the archdiocese.”—Gary Meier

And by saying what he says, Meier has effectively removed himself from the priesthood, By standing with gay Catholics, and against the Church’s teaching, and by taking a leave of absence to find himself, understand himself, and accept himself, he has stopped administering the sacraments. But, I doubt he’ll miss it, because what he says now, and what he does now, is the real Gary Meier, not the man behind the robes, the man who, in silence, often, stood with the Catholic Church against the LGBT community.

“I see my speaking out as an act of love toward a community which was born of God’s radical inclusivity.”—Gary Meier

Coming out is hard. You can lose so much, but, as Gary Meier says, he gained personal integrity. And that’s worth the price of stepping from the darkness into the light. He may have lost his job, he may have lost his voice within the Church, but he hasn’t lost his faith, and he hasn’t lost himself.

Plus, he gets a copy of The Gay Agenda and the obligatory Coming Out Toaster Oven.

source

Random Musings

In the Color Me Not Surprised News, actor and singer, and Gomer Pyle of The Andy Griffith Show, Jim Nabors has come out as a gay man. Not exactly the biggest secret, you know. But, in the Pleasant Surprise News, is the fact that Nabors came out, to the world, because he married his longtime partner, Stan Cadwallader, in Seattle.

Nabors released a statement to Hawaii News Now:

"I'm 82 and he's in his 60s and so we've been together for 38 years and I'm not ashamed of people knowing, it's just that it was such a personal thing, I didn't tell anybody. I'm very happy that I've had a partner of 38 years and I feel very blessed. And, what can I tell you, I'm just very happy."

Congratulations to the happy couple, and, of course, as both a wedding gift and coming out present, they will be receiving the Homo HQ Coming Out Toaster Oven with our good wishes.

So, Cissy Houston has written a book about her daughter, Whitney, and timed it to come out right before the first anniversary of Whitney’s death.

Lovely parenting, but, hey, she’s got bills.

But one of the most interesting parts of Houston’s new almost-tell-all is that if Whitney had come out to Cissy as a lesbian she would not have liked it, or condoned it.

Lovely parenting.

Also comes word that it wasn’t Bobby Brown who hooked Whitney on The Cocaine; it was Whitney’s own brother, Michael, who says she began using back in the 80s, loooooong before she met Brown. Now, Brown doesn’t get points for that because he’s a drug addict and spousal batterer, but now we know that the whole Houston clan was wrong that he got Whitney into drugs.

Cissy also mentions that, as Whitney got older, she rarely saw her daughter, which got me to wondering….

Whitney is gay. Whitney’s longtime friend, and personal assistant, Robyn Crawford was her lover. Whitney knew Mama Houston would not be having as lesbian daughter so she distanced herself from Mama. Whitney wanted a relationship with Mama, and wanted to be open about Robyn, but couldn’t, so she took to drugs to self-medicate.

Now, this could be totally off-base, or Whitney Houston could have been just another case of a young gay person turning to drugs because their own family refused to accept their sexual orientation.

That’s just my Two Cents.

Out in Wyoming a bill to make same-sex marriage legal failed by a 5-4 vote.

But, and this is a little but, the vote for a domestic partnerships bill was approved by a 7-2 vote.

It’s nice, you know, but it’s ‘less than’.

You can do better Wyoming.
UPDATE: Apparently not. 
The first pro-gay legislation that has reached Wyoming's House floor for debate was defeated Wednesday as the House voted 35-24 to reject a domestic partnership bill that would have given same-sex couples in the state the opportunity to gain most of the legal rights of marriage.

This.Kills.Me.

A former Episcopal priest, who is royally pissed off that his church hierarchy has accepted The Gays, has decided to switch teams and play for the Catholics because their Gay Hate runs deep.

So, John Cornelius has become New York state's first married Catholic priest, though he has agreed, as part of the deal to switch sides, to stop screwing his wife and become celibate.

His wife is said to be ecstatic over the arrangement.

So, Immigration Reform, huh?

And bipartisan at that.

Meaning the GOP is onboard. And what a surprise that is, considering one of those GOPers is John McCain who was so virulently anti-immigration that just a couple of years ago, while running for re-election, he proposed stricter immigration laws, higher border fences and guards with guns to shoot the brown folks who might be sneaking in through Arizona.

Why the switch Grampa? Did you suddenly have a change of heart or….what’s that? Yes, the GOP lost the White House this last November in large part because their candidate was a dick and because the Hispanic vote went overwhelmingly Obama.

So, you’re pandering.

Same old GOP.

But, while we’re on the subject of Immigration reform, and that bipartisan effort, which came just minutes before President Obama unveiled his Reform plans, let’s take note that McCain’s plan doesn’t include any mention of same-sex binational couples because he says, and I’ll paraphrase, “The Gays don’t matter.”

Obama’s plan, however, does have inclusions for same-sex binational couples.

So, while McCain and his ilk are trying to pander to the Hispanic vote they’re still unable to handle The Gays.

Again, same old GOP.

MGB™, aka Mama Grizzly Bore™, aka Half-Term-Quitter-Delusional-Fuck-Monkey-Blabberer™, has been quietly ‘let go’ from FauxNews.

Finally they did something right.

But MGB™ says her fight isn’t over and she’ll be Teabaggin’ till the End Times:

"I was raised to never retreat [unlike when she quit being Governor of Alaska because it got too hard] and to pick battles wisely, and all in due season. When it comes to defending our republic, we haven't begun to fight! But we delight in those who underestimate us."

This is nearly everyone in the world with more than two brain cells to rub together.

Face it, MGB™, you’re done. When the most inane, rightwing, conservative, Tea Party loving news channel calls you irrelevant, you’re irrelevant.

Go have someone write a book for your, and I suggest the title, Going Unemployed.

The Westboro Baptist Church has filed a Supreme Court amicus brief against the repeal of Proposition 8 and while they say they support "neither party" in the case, their, um, legal citations are all Bible verses.

Yeah.

So, there was this guy, in Tennessee naturally, who took his dog to be euthanized.

The dog was mean? No.

The dog was rabid? No.

The dog was incurably ill? No.

The man thought the dog was .... wait for it .... gay.

So, of course, like most things that are presumed to be gay it should be put to death,

Luckily there are sane heads, even in Tennessee--sorry to the Sane Headed Tennesseans who read ISBl .... I don't count you among the crazies--have rescued the dog and will neuter him and give him all the appropriate shots and set him up for adoption.

To an owner with a brain, this time.