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March 20, 2006
Public Service Announcement
Sunday March 26th 2006
NEW YORK
Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Avenue (at Second Street)
Telephone: (212) 505-5181
2.30pm for 3pm Screening
(tickets available at venue)
Posted by jody at 5:05 PM | Comments (1)
March 10, 2006
Hifu#$@inglarious
Posted by jody at 1:23 PM | Comments (4)
March 8, 2006
Whoopee!!
I just bought my ticket for India Im so excited I could spit!!!
And REW is gonna be there at the same time!!
Cant wait!
Posted by jody at 2:59 PM | Comments (2)
March 7, 2006
Om
Swasthi-praja bhyah pari pala yantam
Nya-yena margena mahi-mahishaha
Go-bramanebhyaha-shubamastu-nityam
Lokaa-samastha sukhino-bhavantu
Om
Om shanti, shanti, shanti
Posted by jody at 6:52 PM | Comments (0)
March 3, 2006
(New York City) Legal arguments were filed Friday in the second of at least four lawsuits seeking the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York State.
This case involves gay and lesbian couples who had registered to marry in New Paltz, New York but were blocked by a court ruling last year that ordered Mayor Jason West to cease performing weddings.
The ACLU is representing 12 same-sex couples, among them New York State Assemblyman Danny O'Donnell and his partner John Banta. (story) O'Donnell is the brother of Rosie O'Donnell.
A midlevel New York state appeals court ruled earlier this month that it is not unconstitutional to prevent same-sex couples from marrying.
In its brief to the Court of Appeals - the state's highest court - the ACLU argues that New York's law banning gay people from marriage violates the equal protection, due process, and free expression provisions of the New York constitution.
"We've known all along that it would ultimately be up to New York's high court to end the unfairness that lesbian and gay couples face because they are unable to secure marriage protections for their families," said James Esseks, Litigation Director for the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project.
"Same-sex couples who commit to each other and raise families together shouldn't be treated as legal strangers."
The ACLU case will likely be argued at the same time the court hears arguments in a case brought by Lambda Legal also seeking marriage for same-sex couples.
That case involves five gay and lesbian couples. Lambda filed its arguments last month with the Court of Appeals also arguing that banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
The other two cases remain in mid level courts and it is possible all four will be wrapped together for the high court.
The Court of Appeals has not set a date for the arguments.
One of the couples involved in the ACLU case outlined some of the problems faced by same-sex couples unable to marry.
"My partner Heather was grilled by hospital staff over and over about who she was and why she was there when I was in the hospital for breast cancer surgery," said Carol Snyder.
"We never would have had to go through such an ordeal if we were only able to be married," she said.
Snyder and her partner Heather McDonnell live in White Plains and have been together for more than 15 years
Posted by jody at 3:31 PM | Comments (0)
Fruit of Ignorance
(03-03) 04:38 PST Charleston, W.Va. (AP) --
A small-town police chief was accused in a federal lawsuit Thursday of stopping a would-be rescuer from performing CPR on a gay heart attack victim because he assumed the ailing man had HIV and posed a health risk.
Claude Green, 43, died June 21 after being stricken yards from City Hall in Welch, a community of about 2,400.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of his mother.
Police Chief Bobby Bowman called the allegations "a boldface lie." He said that he called an ambulance and that Green was taken to the hospital in "no more than nine minutes."
"No one refused him CPR as his sister and mom are saying. They can do what they want, but if they're saying I refused him CPR, that is no way true," Bowman said.
The lawsuit accuses Bowman of pulling off Green's friend Billy Snead as Snead was performing chest compressions on the man. Snead was a passenger in Green's pickup truck when Green collapsed; Snead had managed to pull over the vehicle.
Snead said in an interview that he didn't realize at first it was Bowman giving the order and continued working on his friend. Bowman repeated his command to get away, saying that Green was HIV positive, then grabbed Snead by the shoulders and told him to sit on the curb, Snead said.
"He was a police officer so I got out the way. I assumed he would help. I didn't want to be a hindrance," Snead said. "He also told the ambulance drivers that he was HIV positive and to be careful."
Green was pronounced dead at the hospital after about 30 minutes of attempts to revive him.
Rose Saxe, a lawyer with the ACLU's AIDS Project, said Bowman's alleged actions contributed to Green's death and violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, equal protection laws and due process rights.
Saxe said Green's death was "tragically senseless" because he did not have the AIDS virus, but added that he should have received lifesaving care even if he was HIV-positive.
"He was simply a gay man in Welch, West Virginia. And because of that we can only assume that Chief Bowman assumed he had HIV and it was unsafe to even touch him," Saxe said.
When asked if he knew if Green was gay, Bowman would not answer and referred questions to McDowell County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Danny Barie, who also represents the City of Welch.
Barie said Thursday he had received a copy of the complaint but could not comment because he had not reviewed it or discussed it with Bowman.
Posted by jody at 9:29 AM | Comments (2)
March 2, 2006
thursday
triang muhka ... this asana has always been on the not so fun side for me. unless of course i cheat and not worry about wether or not my knees are touching for the forwadbend. up until recently it was really difficult for me not to feel as though i was tipping over. maddening really, it seems like a not so difficult posture. well i finally figured out, forgive me if this remedial to y'all, that the trick to keeping the knees touching without the tipping sensation is all in the placement of the bent legs foot. i had up to now had the top of my foot resting on the ground which when you think about it does nothing other than create force in the oppsite direction, thus the tipping over sensation. i had been dutifully rotating my bent leg calf so as to make room and lessen the force that my foot was creating but it was never enough and id either have to use my elbow or a towel to keep from falling over. well i think it was monday that it clicked that it was my foot creating all this force and that to counter it i had to rotate the foot along witht the calf so that the foot was snug up against my bum and that the outer edge, the one on the pinky toe side, was touching the floor not the top. its made a big difference. i also go D both sides 1st try.
i got my haircut lastnight which takes maybe half an hour tops well as i walked home there was a HUGE fire in a building on Ave A which started and basically destroyed every apartment within the 4 story building within that time.
i was so deeply affected by a sense of loss for those people. their entire life was gone in the flames of that fire. the east village while in the thores of gentrification is still full of normal working class people who dont have a lot and who more often than not do not have renters insurance. its sad, and i hope they are alright. luckily it didnt seem like there were any casualties at least that i could tell.
Posted by jody at 8:21 AM | Comments (2)
March 1, 2006
iron will
not really. i ended my well intentioned fast last night after work almost by accident. i say that to mean that i was on auto pilot when i opened the fridge, grabbed the most delicious oil cured morrocan olives from the "Whole Paycheck" olive bar and went for some crakers along with it. up until the crakers part i had no conscience realization that i was not suppsed to be eating as i was fasting. once i grabbed the crakers i came to and in a phrase said...screw this shit Im STARVING!
so i ate more olives than i care to mention and quarter box of stoned wheat thins and i feel fantastic about the decision. strange because i wasnt weak or exhausted from not eating, i felt fine in fact. but mentally there was some ritual that i had left out for the past couple of days and the loss of that was more then i could bear. it didnt help that in a meeting yesterday an entire basket of baked goodies were sat directly in front of me. all sorts of cookies and brownies and chocolate covered strawberries. ughhh. thats my weak spot ,sweets i love em. if anything it was this that did me in. i couldnt get my mind off them for the rest of the day.
i dont know what if anything i accomplised with a two day fast, other than perhaps a realization that most of my "hunger" is mental as opposed to physical. which in itself is a pretty good lesson. it makes the idea of 1/2 for food 1/4 for liquid and 1/4 for air seem much more accessible. tonight im going to make a kitchari of sorts wth lentils, rice and hominy...yum!
Posted by jody at 9:43 AM | Comments (2)