Go Gaga
Posted by Michelle Moquin on September 21st, 2010
As in “Lady Gaga”. I didn’t quite get her “meat dress”, but I give Gaga kudos when it comes to her support to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.
Lady Gaga fights `don’t ask, don’t tell’ in Maine
PORTLAND, Maine — Lady Gaga visited the state Monday on the eve of a key Senate vote to urge its two U.S. senators to help repeal the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays.
More than 2,000 people attended a rally at Deering Oaks Park, where the Grammy Award-winning singer stood alongside Air Force, Army and Marine veterans who were discharged because of the policy, which prohibits service members from revealing if they’re gay and recruiters from asking about people’s sexual orientations.
Lady Gaga railed against what she called the injustice of having goodhearted gay soldiers booted from military service while straight soldiers who harbor hatred toward gays are allowed to fight for their country. She suggested a new policy should target straight soldiers who are “uncomfortable” with gay soldiers in their midst.
“Our new law is called ‘If you don’t like it, go home!’” she said.
The rally was organized by Washington-based Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. The organization is trying to pressure Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine to vote to allow a repeal of the “don’t ask” policy, put in place in 1993 by former President Bill Clinton.
The House has approved a defense authorization bill that includes a repeal of the “don’t ask” policy. In the Senate, Democrats need 60 votes on Tuesday to cut off debate and proceed to the bill, again putting Snowe and Collins in the role of casting what could be deciding votes.
Collins, who voted for a provision to repeal the “don’t ask” policy in the Armed Services Committee in May, said she favors changing the policy but disagrees with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s decision to limit debate on the defense bill and to reject Republican amendments.
Snowe has not decided how she’ll vote on Tuesday, a spokesman said Monday.
Speakers at Monday’s rally said they wanted to bring their fight to Snowe’s and Collins’ backyard. Mike Hall, a former Air Force major who was discharged after his superiors found out he’s gay, said he was proud when Collins voted in committee to repeal the policy.
“Now it’s time for her to do so again,” he said.
Lady Gaga, famous for such hits as “Bad Romance,” “Paparazzi” and “Poker Face,” skipped her trademark outlandish outfits in favor of a black suit and a pair of glasses.
At last week’s Video Music Awards ceremony, where she won eight awards, she was escorted by ex-servicemen who were discharged or left the military as the result of the “don’t ask” policy. She recently called on Reid to repeal the policy during an interview with talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.
Reid’s campaign and Lady Gaga traded talking points on Twitter afterward, and Reid told the singer repealing the measure was the right thing to do.
Readers: Blog me. That’s it.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)
September 21st, 2010 at 6:54 am
How to Be a Better Kisser
Cherie Byrd
Kissing is more than a prelude to intimacy — it is a healing act.
A soulful kiss triggers endorphins and melts away tension… brings us back into the moment… restores energy… cultivates profound closeness… and contributes to a fulfilling, loving relationship.
Most people kiss with only a fraction of their awareness. They deliver quick, routine pecks that send the message
This is all the time I have for you right now, or engage in longer kisses while their minds are elsewhere, such as wondering whether the kiss will lead to lovemaking.
Unfortunately, we lack good role models for kissing.
On TV and in the movies, kissing usually is depicted as mashing lips together roughly. Mashing, puckering up and the quick smooch all suggest that a person has predetermined how the kiss is going to be, rather than letting the kiss evolve through the back-and-forth interplay between partners.
The following exercises can help anyone become a better kisser — and are fun to do…
SLOW DOWN
Surprise your partner with a slow, luxuriant kiss. Place your hands on his/her face, and gently turn it toward you.
Look into his eyes and take two deep breaths — as though you are drinking in the essence of your partner.
Continue to look into each other’s eyes as you draw his face closer.
Feel your connection to each other throughout your whole body. Don’t kiss yet — instead, revel in your partner’s nearness and enjoy the tease and the hunger that precede the actual kiss.
Finally, gently embrace your partner’s lips by wrapping both your lips around one of his. Keep breathing as you let your whole body sense the tenderness between you.
DEVELOP YOUR SENSES
We spend a great deal of time thinking and planning and not enough time sensing and experiencing. To be better kissers and truly enjoy kissing, we need to reconnect with our bodies.
Practice becoming aware of physical sensations during everyday actions.
When you walk, feel the sensation of your foot striking and coming off the pavement and the temperature of the air on your face.
When cooking, let yourself fully appreciate the aroma and visual splendor of the food you are preparing. In the shower, feel the pulse and heat of the water on your skin.
Choose a favorite variety of chocolate, and eat it as slowly as possible. First, gaze at it, appreciating its shape and color.
Place it in your mouth. Before biting down, notice how it feels against your tongue. As you slowly consume it, savor the changes in texture and flavor.
Exchange foot massages with your partner, taking time to enjoy the relaxation and stimulation that arise from the sensitive nerve endings in the feet.
When you kiss, extend your sensual awareness to your partner as you delight in stroking his face and hair and inhaling his scent.
EXPRESS YOURSELF
Indulge in pillow talk. Before or after making love, or any time you are cuddling, share with your partner something he/she did that made you feel good.
Example: “When you touched me this morning, I felt alive, and I kept feeling your touch all day long.”
Make noise. When you are kissing, notice any urge to sigh, murmur or even moan. Give in to the urge to express your feelings in sound.
GET IN RHYTHM
Match your partner’s breathing. You can do this without telling the other person — just pay attention to the pace of your partner’s breath, and breathe in time with it. This creates a deep sense of connection.
The two of you also can do this together, consciously, deciding who will match whom. For most couples, it is a good idea for the man to match the woman’s breathing first.
Many women are used to attuning themselves to others, and they feel deeply appreciated when a partner attunes to them.
Don’t feel that you have to be serious doing this exercise. If you find yourselves giggling, that’s even better. Laughter is a powerful connecting force.
Put on some tango or other Latin music, embrace each other and dance around the room as you kiss. Feel the rhythm of the music throughout your body. Improvise with your lips as you let the music inspire you.
Take turns offering and receiving. Have one partner be the “lead kisser” for five minutes, then reverse roles for five minutes. After that, let spontaneity take over as each of you leads and responds.
SHARE FEEDBACK
It’s never too early or too late to begin a conversation about what you prefer in a kiss. Do you like moisture?
How much? Yes, a little, not so I have to wipe off my face, and never in my ear. Oh, and no loud smacking kisses anywhere near my ears, please.
Share feedback about what you and your partner most enjoy. Build on this, and keep adding to your repertoire for as long as you two shall kiss.
A word about tongues: As kissing continues, use your lips and tongue to invite your beloved’s tongue to come and play.
Tongues become something of a third lip, adding dimension and complexity to the kiss. Kisses, like your breath, your touch and your connection, become more fully and deeply engaged as you share your energy back and forth.
The conversation of tongues becomes more expressive — teeth begin to nibble and grab, sucking of lip or tongue may ensue and a pause of lip-locked stillness can open the moment into a rush of pure connection, engendering passion and floods of hormones.
Personal interviewed Cherie Byrd, MA, a holistic psychotherapist based in Seattle, who has been practicing and teaching the art and energy of intimacy for more than 35 years. She opened the Kissing School in Seattle in 1998 and is author of Kissing School: Seven Lessons on Love, Lips, and Life Force (Sasquatch). http://www.KissingSchool.com
September 21st, 2010 at 7:37 am
I believe that her meat dress was designed to put the message that “Lady GaGa” is (not) just a piece of meat. She wanted to show the world that she has talent and that “meat” won numerous awards. This action shows us that this “meat” has a brain and social awareness and consciousness that she is putting forward with the weight of her global fame and attention from that fan base to raise awareness. I commend her actions, and her words spoken! It is a bold move for the famous to put their voice out there on a more personal political level, as despite the fact that they are simply people just like anyone else, they have a viewpoint they wish to share on political subjects, just like those people in the “Tea Party” or the like. Many times the famous are told to keep it to themselves since they aren’t politicians and what would they know. Well, we’ve seen that most politicians don’t know anything, so what the hell…People must remember that all politicians are simply people like everyone else as well. Once people come to recognize that, will they realize that the O’Donnell’s, Snowe’s, Brewer’s, Boehner, McCain and Palin’s of the world are simply people that don’t know anything and would in many cases better serve the people of the country to let the Lady GaGa’s, and Sean Penn’s of the world take the stand…
September 21st, 2010 at 11:31 am
Hafa Adai
All I’ve got to say is whatever is in the Guam area or expected to be, we are bringing the arsenal to deal with the situation. Now we have the Global Hawks here.
=========================
NDERSEN AFB, GUAM — U.S. Air Force and Navy Global Hawks operating from Andersen AFB in Guam may share ground support and occasionally cover each other’s missions as part of a June 12 agreement between the two services to coordinate their high-altitude surveillance operations.
Speaking at a ceremony Sept. 20 to mark the arrival of the first of three Global Hawks to be based in Guam, Lt. Gen. Herbert Carlisle, commander of 13th Air Force, and Pacific Air Forces Cmdr. Gen. Gary North said the unmanned aircraft are not being deployed for operations against any particular country.
But “people have a tendency to behave when other people are watching them,” Carlisle added.
The Northrop Grumman-built Global Hawks being sent to Andersen AFB are RQ-4 Block 30s. The Navy is buying a variant called MQ-4 for its Broad Area Maritime Surveillance program. The MQ-4s will partly replace the P-3Cs the Navy operates from Guam.
Northrop Grumman is now working on the Block 40 version of the Global Hawk and would like the Air Force to deploy a development aircraft operationally to exploit and demonstrate its capabilities.
“There has been some discussion about that [deployment],” says Gerard Dufresne, general manager of Northrop Grumman’s strike and surveillance division.
“There has been nothing firmly committed. Certainly that would be something that we would support. We would be ready as early as the first quarter of next year.”
The Block 40 has the enlarged airframe of the Block 30 but carries the MP-RTIP radar, an active electronically scanned array sensor produced by Northrop Grumman and Raytheon.
The three RQ-4s at Guam will allow the Air Force to maintain a long-range continuous patrol from the base. Pointing to the range and endurance of the Global Hawk, North rejects the need for the UAVs to refuel and download data in nearby friendly countries.
While Global Hawks are taking on missions formerly assigned to Lockheed Martin U-2s, the two types remain complementary, Carlisle says. The U-2, which is increasingly costly to maintain, still has capabilities that the Global Hawk lacks, he says, declining to provide details.
============================
I would surely like to know what is here or what they expect to be here.
Henry
September 21st, 2010 at 11:33 am
Lady Gaga said it, boot the hetero with hatred in his heart. I had further comment but lost my train of thought when I read the first comment : ) Ms Kissing School dot com got my attention, by the time I got to ‘make noise’ it was over for me…although hmm, maybe it’s just me, but I think any kind of ear pleasure is a fine thing, wet/dry, loud/soft/growling…OK, moving right aloonnggg…
Doug, the sexy main dude, I agree though I think celebs often shrug off or really feel and understand the power they can weild, not referring to Lady Gaga or Sean Penn or Bono though, I’m digging these 3.
Luv, Zen Lill
September 21st, 2010 at 11:34 am
Gird your loins, people. It begins today. Harry Reid is hijacking major defense legislation and using it as a tool to pass amnesty.
Reid’s testing the waters Tuesday afternoon, as he seeks to end debate (“cloture”) on the National Defense Authorization Act, which funds military operations for the fiscal year 2011.
The Nevada senator has attached two outlandish provisions to the bill, one of which is called the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act essentially “creates a pathway to citizenship” for young illegal aliens who’ve been in the country for five years and crossed the border before the age of 16.
The politics are clear: Reid is in a tough reelection battle with Sharron Angle and hopes to galvanize Nevada’s coveted Hispanic vote by attaching a contentious amendment to a bill that has nothing to do with national defense.
Reid and his liberal shills are touting the provision as a way to integrate illegal aliens into our culture, but in reality the DREAM Act would only encourage more illegal behavior and also drain our already-drained economy.
Here are three things you need to know about the DREAM Act. And be sure to check Human Events throughout the day to see if any GOP Senators wimp out and allow Reid to proceed with the amnesty vote. — Jason Mattera
September 21st, 2010 at 11:36 am
All Star Salute! Join UNCF for An Evening of Stars® tribute to Chaka Khan September 25th at 7:00 p.m. at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.
Tickets on sale now at Ticketmaster. UNCF-the United Negro College Fund will present Chaka Khan with its prestigious Award of Excellence.
UNCF, the nation’s largest and most effective minority education organization, is proud to honor Chaka Khan for her long standing support of UNCF and for her commitment to at risk youth.
Chaka is a ten-time Grammy® award winner, best known for hits such as “I’m Every Woman,” “Through the Fire” and “I Feel for You.” Special guests include Fantasia, Mo’nique, Faith Evans, Boris Kudjoe, Angie Stone, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder and many more!
September 21st, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Sadly I moved off island to be closer to my children and for better job opportunities. I really miss my island lifestyle, but there are many things about the island that I don’t miss.
The electoral process is one of those things I don’t miss because of the articles I have read over the years in the PDN. I have since registered to vote and recently participated in my first off-island election. I was very impressed with the ballot and the electoral process.
Here is my recent voting experience: I was given an opportunity to cast my vote electronically, but I declined, opting for the old fashioned printed ballot and I was directed to a privacy booth.
On the ballot, I had to delineate whether I was voting for Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Independent or the Green Party. Next, I had to go to the list of candidates appearing under each respective party and was instructed to vote for not more than the number of vacancies listed, not cross or to vote for any other candidate not listed under the party selected.
Here in this state and others, since I saw it in the movie “Swing Vote” the bottom of the ballot is preforarated and serves as a receipt for your ballot.
When I completed my ballot, which I marked in pen, not pencil, I was instructed to put it in a sleeve protecting my privacy, then feed it right into the tabulator before I left the polling place.
Barring any computer hacking, I felt my ballot was safe and my vote counted. That meant the will of the people will truly be represented. Now that’s an election!
It made me wonder why we don’;t do this on Guam, avoiding all the post-election problems. I suggest the Guam Election Commission immediately look at upgrading their ballots and tabulation process.
After all, if you look at it from a “time and motion” standpoint, having the tabulators right at the polling place translates into quicker, more accurate results.
With our current election method, the costs of security, transportation, additional staff and overtime hours for existing staff, establishing a temporary tabulation center or “Election Central” at the University of Guam has to be more expensive than putting a tablulator in each polling place.
Additionally, the chances of compromising the integrity of the ballots in the boxes increases with the movement of those boxes.
Please note that if Guam adopts an election system that matches off-island stateside counterparts, then the support systems are more common and that translates to more affordabaility and economy when it comes to supply and demand.
September 21st, 2010 at 12:05 pm
I also wonder about the brownouts that occur whenever a certain individual is involved in an election, because it happens soon after the ballots arrive at Election Central and soon after, there appears to be a jump in votes in favor of this individual of about 3,000 to 4,000.
I wonder why this is the same number of pre-printed ballots in this most recent election. I guess that means there is someone handling the power grid that is in collusion with those that may be involved in illegal enterprising activities.
Do we need to borrow those in the military that have nothing to do with Guam elections to act as impartial observers at GPA and the Election Central?
Do we need to have a generator with an automatic switch timed to automatically kick on after 30 seconds as a continguency since there were two occasions when this happened? Inquiring minds want to know!
During a past election the very fact that 43 out of 72 precincts had ballots that didn’t match up with the number of registered voters is proof positive there was tampering with the ballots in the boxes after leaving the respective pollling places.
Now, we have a situation where 14% of the ballots cast were spoiled or were pre-printed with a certain gubernatoial team, suggesting collusion with Guam Election Commission staff or the official printer.
This confirms there is illegal enterprising going on and the true will of the people of Guam may not be represented. Further, the very tenets of democracy are usurped and stolen from the people!
While I don’t want to cast any aspersions on anyone without absolute proof, it makes we wonder why there are election irregularities whenever a certain person runs for office.
Perhaps it is time that the Legislative Committee with oversight into the Guam Election Commission needs to conduct a hearing to get to the bottom of these irregularities.
Given the recent history of election irregularities, I believe Guam cannot afford to continue with the status quo. Our island deserves better!
September 21st, 2010 at 12:37 pm
I see the Right(Daily Events) has latched on to your blog power Michelle.
Really!!
Do you think it is right to give access to your readers this bullshit?
These guys can afford to spread their lies without your help.
Cut’em off.
Lance
September 21st, 2010 at 5:12 pm
I’m Gaga alright. GAGA for you babe.
September 21st, 2010 at 7:00 pm
After just a year and a half, President Obama has already repaired much of the damage wrought during the eight years of the Bush Administration – restoring America’s reputation on the world stage and bringing an end to combat operations in Iraq.
Republican obstructionists want to halt our progress, take control of Congress and set President Obama up for failure. They want a return to the Bush-era policies.
Just this past week, Republicans spent hundreds of thousands on attack ads in California, Washington and Pennsylvania. We cannot allow them to get away with it. We have to fight back.
If the Democratic grassroots can come together at this crucial moment – just six weeks before Election Day – we can summon the enthusiasm, the resources and the votes we need to win.
But it is going to take a massive commitment by Democrats from every region of our country. Support the DSCC today, and your gift will be matched, doubling your impact!
Please join Democrats across the nation and make a contribution of $5 or more to the DSCC. Help us reach the critical goal of raising $789,210 by midnight Friday. Every dollar you give will become two.
The ultraconservative Republican candidates have been outspoken about their desire to close off America’s borders and shun cooperation with our partners throughout the world. That is why we Democrats must fight even harder to hold our ground.
It is going to be tough because the Republicans are getting hundreds of millions of dollars in help from right wing organizations like Karl Rove’s American Crossroads.
The amount of money the Republicans are spending this election cycle is staggering, but I know we can match them. If each and every Democrat rises up and commits to doing his or her part, we will prevail.
The DSCC has calculated that it must raise $789,210 by midnight Friday in order to stay competitive in races all over our country. We need to get the necessary funds to the races that matter most.
Click here to rush your donation of $5 or more to the DSCC so we can get much-needed funds to the races we must win. Every dollar you give will be matched, doubling your impact. We cannot let one seat be lost to the right-wing Republican agenda.
This isn’t the first time we Democrats have faced a determined opponent. We have beat them before, and we’ll do it again. But it will only happen if we all act now.
Thank you for all that you do for our party and our country.
Sincerely,
Madeleine Albright
September 21st, 2010 at 9:04 pm
Fyi on the above comment – there’s no click through so type https://dscc.org/ if you would like to donate. I love madeleine Albright, wish she were a younger woman I would vote for her in a minute, she’s got it going on. – ZL
September 23rd, 2010 at 9:01 am
[...] all of this talk about aircrafts, this one is for you Henry and Sam, and anyone else interested in amazing aerial vehicles, “manned or [...]