Month: August 2005

bookmark_borderGod and the Military

Posted on by PaulaO

No freakin’ comment, as if one was necessary.

Church: God Punishing GIs Over Gays

SMYRNA, Tenn. (AP) – Members of a church say God is punishing American soldiers for defending a country that harbors gays, and they brought their anti-gay message to the funerals Saturday of two Tennessee soldiers killed in Iraq.

The church members were met with scorn from local residents. They chased the church members cars’ down a highway, waving flags and screaming “God bless America.”

“My husband is over there, so I’m here to show my support,” 41-year-old Connie Ditmore said as she waved and American flag and as tears came to her eyes. “To do this at a funeral is disrespectful of a family, no matter what your beliefs are.”

The Rev. Fred Phelps, founder of Westboro Baptist in Kansas, contends that American soldiers are being killed in Iraq as vengeance from God for protecting a country that harbors gays. The church, which is not affiliated with a larger denomination, is made up mostly of Phelps’ children, grandchildren and in-laws.

The church members carried signs and shouted things such as “God hates fags” and “God hates you.”

About 10 church members protested near Smyrna United Methodist Church and nearly 20 stood outside the National Guard Armory in Ashland City. Members have demonstrated at other soldier funerals across the nation.

The funerals were for Staff Sgt. Asbury Fred Hawn II, 35, in Smyrna and Spc. Gary Reese Jr., 22, in Ashland City. Both were members of the Tennessee National Guard.

Hundreds of Smyrna and Ashland City residents and families of other soldiers turned out at both sites to counter the message the Westboro Baptist members brought.

So many counterdemonstrators were gathered in Ashland City that police, sheriff’s deputies and state troopers were brought in to control traffic and protect the protesters.

The church members held protesting permits, and counterprotesters in Smyrna turned their backs to Westboro Baptist members until time expired on the protest permits.

“If they were protesting the government, I might even join them,” Danny Cotton, 56, said amid cries of “get out of our town” and “get out of our country.”

“But for them to come during the worst time for this family – it’s just wrong.”

bookmark_borderProgress Report

Posted on by PaulaO

Actually got some work done today, despite my best efforts not to.

I’ve been in a fog all day and didn’t expect to get anything done. I tried to make some copies of some CDs so I had some for the truck. After arguing with it a while, I gave up.

Did some surfing, as you may have read, and did some mild research into some flower types.

Then, after Lorna had gone to bed and the house was quiet and I was considering going to bed myself, inspiration struck. Which means it is almost 3am and I am still awake.

Got over 2K done today on BG2b. I think it will go much faster now, as I have gotten over the ‘how to get them together’ hurdle. MC2 has just arrived at MC1’s house for the first time. I could have written more but I had to figure out the layout of the house first. What I have in my head and then try to ‘give the grand tour’ wasn’t sync-ing. I hate it when that happens.

I also went over BG1 in preparation to sending it off to Robin Smith next week. I know, it’s sounds like cleaning house before the maid arrives but I had to fix a name change. It could have waited until later when I was inputting her suggestions, but I got it in my head it needed to be done now. I hate it when that happens too. As I cruised through it, I found the end of a chapter that was…odd. I can’t remember exactly how it went, but it was something like:

“Hey! Nice to see you! What are you doing at my house?”

“I

and that is where the chapter ended. Took me almost 200 words just to draw the strings together.

Did you know conniving has a negative connotation? I used scheming instead. I think it will do.

And did you know that, when describing a backyard, that there are a lot of things ‘sitting’?? I need to come up with different words for that.

Okay, I am rambling now. Time for bed before Lorna comes in here and drags me off by the hair. Again. :lookaround: 😉

bookmark_borderBlog and ‘Net Cruising

Posted on by PaulaO

I’m doing lezbo web surfing today. And of course, having an absolute blast!

Was reading a new blog (new to me that is) Freelance Lesbian, and came across a post about an upcoming sitcom that has a lesbian character. The post, titled That’s Doctor Dyke to You…, led me to an article at AfterEllen.com: New Fall CBS Sitcom Out of Practice Features Leading Lesbian Character;

After reading that one, I went to AfterEllen.com’s main page and found another TV article about a reality show: Lesbian Contestant on America’s Next Top Model 5.

From there I read an article about openly gay model Amanda Moore.


From there I read an article on Angelina Jolie, who appearantly is bisexual. The four page article ends with a quote from her, one that has put her on my ‘good girl’ list.

…In Jolie’s interview with Barbara Walters on the July 11, 2003 edition of 20/20 (ABC), she talked about her bisexuality and the fact that she is still open to a relationship with a woman, saying “I consider myself a very sexual person who loves who she loves, whatever sex they may be.”

This whole things started when I cruised over to the Blogs-By-Women and their directory and went through the Lesbian/Bisexual/Queer listings. The Arts and Entertainment part of the directory has several writers.

bookmark_borderSynopsis

Posted on by PaulaO

Paperback Writer has a cool (and short) list of things to watch for and do when trying to write your novel’s synopsis. The post starts out with:

1. Eliminate excess adverbs and adjectives: write as spare and clean as you can. When you give someone directions, you don’t tell them what color all of the other houses on your block are.

Heh. So true!!

She also has another post about how to keep healthy as a writer.

bookmark_borderBookstore

Posted on by PaulaO

We went on several errands today. Kinda fun day, actually.

Anyway, the main stop was the book store. Books-a-million to be exact. Lessee, I got a Redwall book by Brian Jaques, Loamhedge. Lorna got a book for herself too, The Catswold Portal by Shirley Rousseau Murphy. We also got a literary magazine called Oxford American and two SciFi magazines, Azimov’s Science Fiction and Analog.

We also got a doohickey thingy for me. It’s a book holder of sorts. I’ve not had a chance to play with it much yet. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Oh, I also got a lemon-poppy seed and a drink. Lorna got a coffee with stuff in it and some sort of hard log cookie thing.

I love the Redwall books. I’ve got several of them already. The problem is that we are always so hungry after reading them!!

bookmark_borderQuery Letters

Posted on by PaulaO

I worked on my agent query letter last night. Also looked into which agents were accepting clients and were interested in what I write.

There are actually several who list Gay and Lesbian Fiction as one of their interests. I did a search for that ‘genre’ through the Agent Query website. It gave me 13 possible agents, 7 of which are interested in what I write. I did another search for Fantasy and SciFi, coming up with several more who, while not listing Gay and Lesbian as an interest, did list Romance. Those I will save for last.

I am going to send the query out to all 7 at once, something that is acceptable with agents. The no-no’s come when they ask for either part or all of a manuscript. Usually the request comes with an ‘exclusive’ term limit. The typical scenerio would be thus: Agent #4 asks for a two week exclusive to read my manuscript. After just a few days, Agent #7 also asks to see the manuscript. I have to wait until the two weeks is up (or Agent #4 is so disgusted with it she releases me from the agreement) before I can send it off to Agent #7.

I am in need of someone(s) to look over the query letter and give me feedback. If anyone is interested, please let me know either by email or using the comment form for this post.

Also, these are the agents I am considering approaching:

I am also considering others, like those with the SciFi/Fantasy/Romance likings. But since only one of them mentions an affinity to Gay and Lesbian Fiction, I will save the others for last.

I will go to all of the agents’ websites to make sure they really are accepting new clients and to make sure I fully understand their requirements. I will set up a spreadsheet so I can keep track of what I sent where when.

Let the fun begin!

bookmark_borderResponses

Posted on by PaulaO

UPDATE: Positive Atheism’s Big Scary List Of Pat Robertson Quotations

Responses to Robertson’s comment:

I like this statement:

Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said Venezuela was studying its legal options, adding that how Washington responds to Robertson’s comments would put its anti-terrorism policy to the test.

The article, Venezuela Slams Robertson Over Remarks, continues:

“The ball is in the U.S. court, after this criminal statement by a citizen of that country,” Rangel told reporters. “It’s huge hypocrisy to maintain this discourse against terrorism and at the same time, in the heart of that country, there are entirely terrorist statements like those.”

The State Department distanced itself from Robertson’s comments.

“We do not share his view, and his comments are inappropriate,” spokesman Sean McCormack said.

(inappropriate?? That’s all they have to say??)

Another article, also from My Way News, says this:

“It’s absolutely chilling to hear a religious leader call for the murder of any political leader, no matter how much he disagrees with such a leader’s policies or practices,” said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

David Brock, president of Media Matters, a liberal media watchdog group, said the remarks should discredit Robertson as a spokesman for the religious right.

The article ends with this:

Robertson has made controversial statements in the past. In October 2003, he suggested that the State Department be blown up with a nuclear device. He has also said that feminism encourages women to “kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.”

Stay tuned for more.

link to first article’s full story: Venezuela Slams Robertson Over Remarks
link to second article’s full story: Robertson Calls for Chavez Assassination

bookmark_borderAnd the Earth Trembled

Posted on by PaulaO

Ack!

Was in the FM chat room last night and the house started making noises. Only lasted a few seconds. We went outside and looked around, finding a limb down in the backyard. It looked like it may have bounced off the tin roof. The dogs never barked, and only one or two in the neighborhood were sounding off.

Found out this morning that there was a 3.8 earthquake nearby! According to the US Geological site, it was about 14 miles away. Too close by my books, let me tell you!

Earthquakes here in this part of the South are not unheard of. They are actually rather common, but are ‘deep’ in the rocks and not felt too much on the surface. Plus, the stereotypical shorter buildings, especially in the rural areas of TN and NC, make for less damage. However, of all of the lakes in Tennessee, there is only one natural lake, Reelfoot, formed during a huge earthquake in 1812. Ranked as one of the strongest earthquakes in the US, it caused very little damage due to the lack of population. North Carolina has its fair share of earthquakes too, but they tend to happen further ‘down east’.

bookmark_borderDisability Awareness Video

Posted on by PaulaO

From CripHumor:

DISABILITY AWARENESS [in this 15 second video…]

On 18th February EDF [Electricity of France] brought out a film by Euro RSCG C&O to demonstrate its commitment to the cause of accessibility for the disabled. The film shows a world turned upside down in which the able bodied discover the difficulties of living in an environment designed for the disabled.

Go to http://www.edf.fr/html/pubtv_2005/diversites/edf_en.html for English and Click on broad or narrowband.

Go to http://www.ad-awards.com/inc/video.swf?id=104 for French [original] version

It is a very good video. Short, since it is a commercial, but still excellent as far as a sampling of what it might be like.

bookmark_borderThought for the day

Posted on by PaulaO

Found this at the end of an email joke of sorts.

There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra today than on Alzheimer’s research. This means that by 2040, there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them.

Still laughing my ass off.