2009 Bug Swap!

The last Bug Swap I did was in '06. It's time for another one!!

Check out the images on my flickr pages of the of all the cool buggies!

http://flickr.com/photos/connie_clays/sets/72157612141175559/

NO details of the swap as of yet, except I AM hosting it, and due date won't be until March!! So email me conniepelkey@gmail.com if you are interested, PLENTY of time to plan for this! It'll be fun!!

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Copyright © 2008 by Constance Pelkey.

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Thanks!! Connie

The Choice Is Ours Now

This is quite definitely high up on my "Things that make ya go 'HHmmmmmmmm...' list!"

I'm thinking; she has a point.


This is a message for my brothers and sisters who have fought so long and so hard for gay rights and liberty. We have spent a long time climbing up this mountain, looking at the impossible, changing a thousand year-old paradigm. We have asked for the right to love the human of our choice, and to be protected equally under the laws of this great country. The road at times has been so bloody, and so horrible, and so disheartening. From being blamed for 9/11 and Katrina, to hateful crimes committed against us, we are battle weary. We watched as our nation took a step in the right direction, against all odds and elected Barack Obama as our next leader. Then we were jerked back into the last century as we watched our rights taken away by prop 8 in California. Still sore and angry we felt another slap in the face as the man we helped get elected seemingly invited a gay-hater to address the world at his inauguration.

continued...

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Copyright © 2008 by Constance Pelkey.

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Thanks!! Connie

Snagglepuss on SNL Weekend Update - commenting on Prop8 - WAAY too funny!

Best Day Ever

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Copyright © 2008 by Constance Pelkey.

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Thanks!! Connie

If the world could vote?

If the world could vote?

An Open Letter to God, from Michael Moore

Sunday, August 31st, 2008

Dear God,

The other night, the Rev. James Dobson's ministry asked all believers to pray for a storm on Thursday night so that the Obama acceptance speech outdoors in Denver would have to be cancelled.

I see that You have answered Rev. Dobson's prayers -- except the storm You have sent to earth is not over Denver, but on its way to New Orleans! In fact, You have scheduled it to hit Louisiana at exactly the moment that George W. Bush is to deliver his speech at the Republican National Convention.

Now, heavenly Father, we all know You have a great sense of humor and impeccable timing. To send a hurricane on the third anniversary of the Katrina disaster AND right at the beginning of the Republican Convention was, at first blush, a stroke of divine irony. I don't blame You, I know You're angry that the Republicans tried to blame YOU for Katrina by calling it an "Act of God" -- when the truth was that the hurricane itself caused few casualties in New Orleans. Over a thousand people died because of the mistakes and neglect caused by humans, not You.

Some of us tried to help after Katrina hit, while Bush ate cake with McCain and twiddled his thumbs. I closed my office in New York and sent my entire staff down to New Orleans to help. I asked people on my website to contribute to the relief effort I organized -- and I ended up sending over two million dollars in donations, food, water, and supplies (collected from thousands of fans) to New Orleans while Bush's FEMA ice trucks were still driving around Maine three weeks later.

But this past Thursday night, the Washington Post reported that the Republicans had begun making plans to possibly postpone the convention. The AP had reported that there were no shelters set up in New Orleans for this storm, and that the levee repairs have not been adequate. In other words, as the great Ronald Reagan would say, "There you go again!"

So the last thing John McCain and the Republicans needed was to have a split-screen on TVs across America: one side with Bush and McCain partying in St. Paul, and on the other side of the screen, live footage of their Republican administration screwing up once again while New Orleans drowns.

So, yes, You have scared the Jesus, Mary and Joseph out of them, and more than a few million of your followers tip their hats to You.

But now it appears that You haven't been having just a little fun with Bush & Co. It appears that Hurricane Gustav is truly heading to New Orleans and the Gulf coast. We hear You, O Lord, loud and clear, just as we did when Rev. Falwell said You made 9/11 happen because of all those gays and abortions. We beseech You, O Merciful One, not to punish us again as Pat Robertson said You did by giving us Katrina because of America's "wholesale slaughter of unborn children." His sentiments were echoed by other Republicans in 2005.

So this is my plea to you: Don't do this to Louisiana again. The Republicans got your message. They are scrambling and doing the best they can to get planes, trains and buses to New Orleans so that everyone can get out. They haven't sent the entire Louisiana National Guard to Iraq this time -- they are already patrolling the city streets. And, in a nod to I don't know what, Bush's head of FEMA has named a man to help manage the federal government's response. His name is W. Michael Moore. I kid you not, heavenly Father. They have sent a man with both my name AND W's to help save the Gulf Coast.

So please God, let the storm die out at sea. It's done enough damage already. If you do this one favor for me, I promise not to invoke your name again. I'll leave that to the followers of Rev. Dobson and to those gathering this week in St. Paul.

Your faithful servant and former seminarian,

Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. To all of God's fellow children who are reading this, the city New Orleans has not yet recovered from Katrina. Please click here for a list of things you can do to help our brothers and sisters on the Gulf Coast. And, if you do live along the Gulf Coast, please take all necessary safety precautions immediately.

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Copyright © 2008 by Constance Pelkey.

This bloggy feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this content in a news reader or on a website related to Constance Pelkey Designs, the you are reading it from is in violation of copyright!
Thanks!! Connie

The cost of George Bush's war

Reposted from Judy Dunn's website.

"... I finally made a video I had been planning for about two weeks. As I told everyone at the retreat on Saturday night, I had folded a crane to represent Bobby a few days prior to the retreat. I never knew Bobby personally, but his story played an important role in shifting how I looked at my cranes, and what they could represent. Once again, the production is far from perfect, but I think it conveys his story, and why I feel compelled to take on this major project. I have titled the video Bobby's Crane. I struggled with my video editing software yesterday, so the title is not on the video itself. Things I could do the last time I made a video suddenly seemed impossible! But the message comes through. Hope you like it."

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Copyright © 2008 by Constance Pelkey.

This bloggy feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this content in a news reader or on a website related to Constance Pelkey Designs, the you are reading it from is in violation of copyright!
Thanks!! Connie

Christian Civic League drops its campaign to repeal the state's equal rights law

Christian Civic League drops its campaign to repeal the state's gay-rights law and prevent other safeguards for gays and lesbians, saying in an e-mail to supporters that it lacks money and volunteers to pursue a referendum in November 2009.

Wednesday's decision, which was made public Thursday, came about two months after the league announced that it hoped to collect 55,087 voters' signatures to place its proposal on the ballot, and less than one month after the state issued petitions to the league on May 21.

In addition to repealing the anti-discrimination law, the referendum would have prohibited unmarried couples from adopting children.

It also would have barred the state from recognizing civil unions, prohibited municipal officials from licensing same-sex marriages and eliminated funding for the state's civil-rights teams.

Supporters say the teams fight bullying in Maine schools. The league argues that the teams persuade teenagers to accept homosexuality.

Thursday's e-mail to supporters from Michael Hein, the league's administrator, said the league dropped the drive because it has "neither enough funds nor enough volunteer support to continue the effort."

An open letter to Micheal Heath.

(No, I didn't write this, a minister from Bangor did)

Dear Michael Heath and assorted Maine bigots,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from you and understand why you would be for banning same sex marriage.

As you said "in the eyes of God marriage is based between a man a woman." I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination... End of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Laws and how to follow them.

1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify?

Why can't I own Canadians?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanness - Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is, my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2. clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?

6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees' of abomination? Oh, sorry. IS there degrees ...

7. Lev.21:20 states that I may ! not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?

8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev.19:27. How should they die?

9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot.
Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

11. And one of my real concerns is that gay lobsterman who wears clothes made of two or more fabrics and hauls lobsters on the Sabbath....Four abominations in one day....Wow......

12. And one last question.....Why are Christian bigots so obsessed with who people love? I think I know the answer.

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Thanks,
Bible Readers of America

A sweet story...

I came out many years ago - to myself. You see this was 1980. We, my then partner and I, were each others' "firsts." As in, first foray into lesbianism and all it's glory! We quite literally thought we were the only two women who loved women, who ever lived on this planet, in this life form - EVER!

Ah! To be young and innocent again!

Ha!

We first learned of other lesbians by going to the library and taking out any book we'd find on the subject. I ran across a number of books that touted the virtues of Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin.

Wow! I really grew to look up to these two as true pioneers in the lesbian visibility/ rights department!

I'm so heartened to know that they are still together! Here I am on my 7th relationship. Yep, all with women, I've never been with a man.

I wish I could have found the woman I'm with now when we both were kids!

I really want to spend the rest of my life with this woman. Whatever life is left for us, I am 47 years old ya know? My Mom wonders how she could have a 47 year old kid!!?

I want to be with this woman so much so that I want to be legally married to her!


Nancy,

Will you marry me?

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"I now pronounce you wife and wife"

If you cry at weddings, grab a hankie; the news of these upcoming nuptials already has me tearing up at my desk. Next Monday, June 16, at 5 p.m. PDT, Mayor Gavin Newsom will preside over the marriage of Del Martin, 87, and Phyllis Lyon, 83, at San Francisco City Hall, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

You may well remember these two brides from their first trip to the altar back in February 2004. Martin and Lyon, who have been together more than 50 years, were the first same-sex couple to be issued a marriage license by the city of San Francisco. (For a refresher, their iconic wedding photos are here and here.)

Mayor Newsom has said that Lyon and Martin's love story inspired him to start issuing marriage licenses to lesbians and gays. But the couple's first marriage license and those of more than 4,000 other couples who got hitched during San Francisco's Winter of Love were later ruled invalid by the courts. Undaunted, Lyon and Martin became plaintiffs in the lawsuit that in May led the California Supreme Court to rule that same-sex couples do have a right to marry.

This isn't the first time that Lyon and Martin have broken new ground. Back in the '50s, they were also pioneers, founding the country's very first lesbian organization. "The couple first met in Seattle in 1950 and moved in together in a Castro Street apartment on Valentine's Day 1953," reports the San Francisco Chronicle. "Two years later, Lyon and Martin and three other lesbian couples founded the Daughters of Bilitis, which historians call the first lesbian organization in the United States. Lyon and Martin have been leaders of the lesbian community ever since. Their organization's monthly magazine, the Ladder, was an influential publication in the LGBT rights movement and began publication in 1956. Both women were inducted into the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association Hall of Fame. A San Francisco medical organization founded in 1979 as a clinic for lesbians -- Lyon Martin Health Services -- was named for them."

The state of California officially starts issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on the morning of June 17. But California has granted permission to San Francisco to start conducting same-sex ceremonies at 5:01 p.m. on June 16, after the state's official workday ends. In deference to their pioneering role, Lyon and Martin's wedding will be the only same-sex marriage held in San Francisco on the evening of June 16. The next morning, same-sex couples around the state will be free to marry, too.

Broadsheet Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, think it's fitting for San Francisco to honor Lyon and Martin's lifetimes of activism by letting them go first: "At a time when being openly gay cost you everything you cared about, they were. And they took risks and spoke out from the 1950s on in a way that I certainly do not believe I would have nor would most of us," Kendell said. Inviting the couple to be the first to marry "is the absolute least we can do to acknowledge how critical their legacy is to the lives of all of us."

Lyon told the San Francisco Chronicle that it's "heartwarming" that San Francisco wants her and Martin to be the first couple to marry, but ever the activist, she said that what really matters is that so many other couples will now have the chance to do so, too: "Hundreds of thousands of couples will be getting married this time, and that's the important thing," Lyon said. "It's something that has been due for a long time, and thank God, it's here."

-- Katharine Mieszkowski

Offensive?? I think not!!

Yesterdays post was NOT my norm. I'm not very political, although I do follow what affects me. This blog is for me, a place where I can talk about me, my loving partner, our home, our beloved pets and of course my main focus is my art work. It seems every time I stray from my regular focus and comment on something political, as I did yesterday, that's the day that someone comes to my blog, for the first time, looking for polymer clay work or jewelry, they see that political (usually about my Lesbianism) post and wham! They are so offended that they find it necessary to shoot me an email telling me what a terrible person I am for throwing my sexuality in their face! They (innocently) are looking for artwork and they happen across my "offensive post!" Sheesh! Get a grip people! Talking about my basic rights as a human being having been denied me is NOT offensive. Talking about what my (yes, female) partner did to help me whilst I was having shoulder surgery is NOT offensive! I read other artistic blogs all the time and they always post about their family life and various things that affect them. Do I find that offensive?? Nope. And if I did, I'd simply mark it as "read" in my reader and go on about my day! We all have things in our lives and beliefs that not everyone is going to agree upon! Just let it be and don't bash someone because they do or believe in something that you don't!

*shaking head*

So, without further political ado.... here's some shots of the flowers and yard I took the other day!

Ah spring!

Here's Dilly underneath the flowering tree in our back yard. It always puts on a glorious show in the spring! It smells nice too! Anyone know what kind of tree it is?

Dilly and the lilac...

Lilac close up.

My tomatoes, jalepeno peppers, basil and chive plants.

A flowering bush out front, I believe it's some kind of holly.

Our house plants live on the front porch all summer, the aloe has seen better days, seems every time it gets to looking good the dog knocks it over and breaks a bunch of leaves! The orangy-red begonia was sent to me by a dear woman I know when I had my shoulder surgery. It's quite lovely!

And our front porch...

ooops!

Better not look at that last foto, it has a rainbow flag (gay pride) hanging there in your face!

*removing tongue from cheek!*

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!!!

Connie

~ Life's too short to use cheap beads! ~

Bloggers Unite for Human Rights

Edited to add the new overturning of the gay marriage ban in California!!! Yay!!

My Bloggers Unite Post

*SIGH*

I'm not all that political, but I do try to follow things that will affect me and my partner. Micheal Heath is a man who potentially could have a big affect on us. He believes we do not and should not have the same basic rights as anyone else. I'm certainly not sure about what drives this man and the group he belongs to - the Christian Civic League of Maine - but the idea that some of the folks in our society are not as - important, deserving, worthy as anyone else, simply because of who they love is mind boggling to me.

Referendum aims to undo gay rights

April 09, 2008

By Ann S. Kim Portland Press Herald Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – Marriage would be limited to heterosexual couples and civil unions would be prohibited under a referendum being pursued by the Christian Civic League of Maine.

Under the proposed legislation, same-sex couples would not be allowed to adopt, sexual orientation would be removed from the Maine Human Rights Act and funding for the civil rights teams in the Attorney General’s Office would be eliminated.

Michael Heath, the organization’s executive director, initiated the process last week. The effort will need to gather 55,087 signatures – a figure equal to 10 percent of votes cast in the last gubernatorial election – within 18 months of the issuance of an approved petition by the Secretary of State.

In 2005, voters supported a state law that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation. In 1998 and 1990, voters had opposed gay-rights laws.

MSNBC Video

Connie

~ Life's too short to use cheap beads! ~