La Fe (The Faith)

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La Fe or "The Faith", sculpted in stone 
from Badajoz in 1752–53.
Veil symbolizes the impossibility 
to know directly the evidences

John 3:16 says something like: For GOD so love the world that he gave his only begotten son, that who shall believes in him should not die, but have everlasting life." Sometimes I wonder if GOD really is up there ready to receive his followers when they physically die. Does he or she or what ever GOD is, care about us so much that what the Bible says is true? I have been taught by those who go before me, that I need to have faith in GOD and GOD's teachings, that if I want to have salvation and everlasting life I must "truly" believe. I think here is where I get a little worried, I think I "truly" believe, but sometimes I question. Doubts crop up in my mind that tell me that it is all movement of humans that want to believe in something. So they invented this elaborate story about a man who was thought to have a  direct connection with the sky or "GOD", kinda like the Inca Kings with the sun god or "The Beatles." They rode the waves of mass hysteria into our history books and like so many men in the past, stories were handed down from generation to generation until the written word had be perfected by scribes and finally after a few hundred or maybe thousand years, I am not sure, was scribed onto parchment and stowed away, only to be found and studied and then taken as GOD's word.
Now I believe in GOD, and I believe there are powers or beings out there that I cannot even comprehend, but I still have a nagging feeling pulling me, asking me, "Is this the right direction?", "Is this the right religious view?", Can I really believe in the human race to inturpret and bring me the truth?" 
I am not sure if I will ever get the answer to this question during my quest here on earth. The true task at hand, for me atleast, is to grab ahold of my belief and faith and build a wholesome, healty, and happy life, having faith that my GOD has given these books filled with stories of men and women to those who came before me and those that will be after so that we can use them as tools to live a wonderful, faithfilled, peaceful lives, so we can treat each other with love & tolerance and overcome whatever comes our way until that day, that we leave here and go wherever it is we go after we die.

GOD give me love for the Earth, compassion for my Earthmates and Faith to believe that YOU have it under control.

My New found Friends

The San Diego Cruisers 

event

"THE TOP SECRET RIDE"

These guys are all awesome and I had a great time with them today.  My partner and I had a blast and was a wonderful ride.

Judge overturns Calif. gay marriage ban

NBC, msnbc.com and news services

Share Print Font: +-SAN FRANCISCO — In a major victory for gay rights advocates, a federal judge on Wednesday struck down a California ban on same-sex marriage.Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that the voter-approved ban, known as Proposition 8, violates due process and equal-protection rights under the U.S. Constitution.

"Moral disapproval alone is an improper basis on which to deny rights to gay men and lesbians. The evidence shows conclusively that Proposition 8 enacts, without reason, a private moral view that same-sex couples are inferior to opposite-sex couples," Walker wrote.

The judge added in the conclusion of the 136-page opinion: "Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license."

His ruling came in response to a lawsuit brought by two same-sex couples and the city of San Francisco seeking to invalidate the law as an unlawful infringement on the civil rights of gay men and lesbians. The landmark case is expected to be appealed and could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

Outside the federal courthouse in San Francisco, a cheer went up among a group of about 70 same-sex marriage supporters carrying small U.S. flags, as a large rainbow-striped flag — the symbol of the gay rights movement — waved overhead.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and California Attorney General Jerry Brown, who both refused to back Prop 8 in court, praised Walker's decision.

."For the hundreds of thousands of Californians in gay and lesbian households who are managing their day-to-day lives, this decision affirms the full legal protections and safeguards I believe everyone deserves," Schwarzenegger said. "At the same time, it provides an opportunity for all Californians to consider our history of leading the way to the future, and our growing reputation of treating all people and their relationships with equal respect and dignity."

"In striking down Proposition 8, Judge Walker came to the same conclusion I did when I declined to defend it," Brown said. "Proposition 8 violates the equal protection guarantee of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution by taking away the right of same-sex couples to marry, without a sufficient governmental interest."

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Opponents of same-sex marriage derided the ruling.

South Carolina Republican Sen. James Demint called the decision "another attempt to impose a secular immorality on the American people who keep voting to preserve traditional marriage."


"Traditional marriage has been the foundation of civil society for centuries and we cannot simply toss it aside to fit the political whims of liberal activists with gavels," Demint said.

Prop 8, which outlawed gay marriages in California five months after the state Supreme Court legalized them, passed with 52 percent of the vote in November 2008 following the most expensive campaign on a social issue in U.S. history.

Both sides previously said an appeal was certain if Walker did not rule in their favor. The case would go first to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, then the Supreme Court if the high court justices agree to review it.

Walker heard 13 days of testimony and arguments since January during the first trial in federal court to examine if states can prohibit gays from getting married.

The ruling puts Walker at the forefront of the gay marriage debate. The longtime federal judge was appointed by President Ronald Reagan.

The verdict was the second in a federal gay marriage case to come down in recent weeks. A federal judge in Massachusetts decided last month the state's legally married gay couples had been wrongly denied the federal financial benefits of marriage because of a law preventing the U.S. government from recognizing same-sex unions.

The plaintiffs in the California case presented 18 witnesses. Academic experts testified about topics ranging from the fitness of gay parents and religious views on homosexuality to the historical meaning of marriage and the political influence of the gay rights movement.

Former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson delivered the closing argument for opponents of the ban. He told Judge Walker that tradition or fears of harm to heterosexual unions were legally insufficient grounds to discriminate against gay couples.

Olson teamed up with David Boies to argue the case, bringing together the two litigators best known for representing George W. Bush and Al Gore in the disputed 2000 election.

Defense lawyers called just two witnesses, claiming they did not need to present expert testimony because U.S. Supreme Court precedent was on their side. The attorneys also said gay marriage was an experiment with unknown social consequences that should be left to voters to accept or reject.

Former U.S. Justice Department lawyer Charles Cooper, who represented the religious and conservative groups that sponsored the ban, said cultures around the world, previous courts and Congress all accepted the "common sense belief that children do best when they are raised by their own mother and father."

In an unusual move, the original defendants, Brown, the state attorney general, and Schwarzenegger refused to support Proposition 8 in court.

That left the work of defending the law to Protect Marriage, the group that successfully sponsored the ballot measure that passed with 52 percent of the vote after the most expensive political campaign on a social issue in U.S. history.

Currently, same-sex couples can only legally wed in Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Washington, D.C.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Prayer of Confession

Image by D.Munoz-Santos via Flickr

Holy God, Our lives are far from Holy.  Thoughts we have held in secret have erupted into hurtful words and deeds.  We have not avoided lies and slander.  We have given into pessimism and suspicion.  We resent people whose lives seem easier than ours.  We hate the thought of passing on tho those less worthy the things we have worked so hard tp possess.  O God, we need your wisdoms in order to live peacefully within ourselves.  Amen.

Blast from the past (Hawk McAllistar)

Today I received a post from my good Friend Paul Kent. He forwarded a fan letter that someone sent him inquiring about Hawk McAllistar, and here is what he wrote.

wcbroccoli


has sent you a message:
Hawk McAllistar
Dear Paul:
Today, while in the grip of a sudden, inexplicable urge to seek out all things Hawk McCallistar, I stumbled upon your very entertaining YouTube video "gay men on The Paul Kent Show".
I say sudden and inexplicable because I haven't seen, heard or thought of him in many years, even though he's been a favorite of mine ever since I first saw him in some Falcon videos years ago, near the beginning of his porn career. He's one of the most beautiful men I've ever seen, and even though he must be in his early 40s by now, I suspect that if he's taken care of himself, he's still stunning.
Hawk seemed just as nice in your interview as he was when I chatted with him online about 10 years ago.
When did you interview him? Do you have more extended interviews with him?
-Brach

I am do flattered that someone would still be interested in me and I remember this man, I think, I hope that he is able to contact me.

Energy Drink Ingredients

Its seems energy drink companies are cramming more and more ingredients into their products. “What do all these ingredients supposedly do to/for my body?”, has become a common question among consumers. So here is a list of the most common ingredients and their alleged effects on the body. Look here for energy drink side effects.

Caffeine
The most common stimulant, found in coffee, Coke and Mountain Dew. Found in much higher quantities in energy drinks. Most energy drinks contain between 70 and 200 mg. An 8 oz cup of coffee contains 110-150mg for drip, 65-125mg for percolated, and 40-80 mg for instant. Dr. Pepper gives you 41mg, and a can of Coke provides 34mg. A full can of RockStar has 160mg. Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system giving the body a sense of alertness. It can raise heart rate and blood pressure while dehydrating the body. A lot of people experience side effects above 200mg, which include sleeplessness, heart palpitations, headaches, nausea, and most commonly the jitters.
We’re tracking the caffeine levels of virtually all energy drinks. Go knock yourself out.
For other questions about caffeine visit Caffiene FAQ a great resource for caffeine information.

Taurine
Taurine is an amino acid that your body naturally produces. It helps regulate heartbeat, muscle contractions, and energy levels. Usually your body makes enough that you don’t need to supplement. It’s thought, but not proven, that under “stress conditions” like illness, physical exertion, or injury, the body does not create enough and supplements can help. Taurine might be a “mild inhibitory neurotransmitter”, some studies show it helps with excitable brain states. While this isn’t exactly what we want, maybe it helps level us out so we function better with elevated levels of other stimulants.

Guarana
Guarana comes from plants in South America. Amazonians have used it for a long time to increase alertness and energy. It’s more dense in caffeine than coffee beans (3-4% vs 1-2%). It’s not just called “caffeine” because it contains a couple other things: theobromine and theophylline. They’re found in coffees and teas, and are known stimulants. Marketing will sometimes call this one guaranine, as if it’s something different. It’s not.

B Vitamins
These are essentially the things that help you convert food to energy, like sugar which is found in abundance in energy drinks. The jury’s still out on whether or not they increase energy levels via supplementation. Search the interweb for info on proper dosing of the different vitamins. Common names for B vitamins are insotol, niacin, riboflavin, cyanocobalamin, and pyridoxine hydrochloride.

Ginseng
Ginseng, an adaptogenic herb, is known to increase energy, has some anti-fatigue components, supposedly relieves stress, and increase memory. Right now it’s suspected that ginseng helps stimulate the hypothalamic and pituitary glands, which then secrete something called adrenal corticotropic hormone. With a name like that, it can’t possibly be bad. Ginseng is nothing that’s naturally created by your body, so having this in your drink certainly won’t hurt. 200mg/day seems to be the standard dose, but you can safely take up to 2700mg. Rare side effects such as diarrhea and headache have been reported.

Ginkgo Biloba
This ingredient is named after the rare tree it originates from. It is believed to help with memory retention, concentration, circulation, acts as an anti-depressant, and even shows signs of helping people with Alzheimer’s. The German government recognizes it as something that helps with memory loss, concentration, and depression. 60mg is a standard supplementation dose, and you can easily take 240mg. It is advised, however, that most energy drinks do not contain enough ginkgo to be of any benefit. People on anti-depressants shouldn’t take ginkgo and some of the other side effects include blood thinning, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, dizziness, heart palpitations, and restlessness.
L-Carnitine
An amino acid usually created by your liver and kidneys, this stuff helps up your metabolism and energy levels. Because of the way it interacts with your body, it may act as a thermogenic and help increase weight loss and endurance during exercise. The jury’s still out on whether or not you need to supplement unless you have an unusual diet, but you can take 2-6 grams without worry. Make sure you get L-Carnitine, which is the type your body creates and can use. D-Carnitine is “inactive” and may actually hurt endurance levels. Rare side effects include include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.

Sugars
Glucose is the body’s preferred fuel. That’s why you get hyper with a lot of sugar. Energy drinks contain a ton of sugar. Therefore, energy. It’s a carbohydrate, and a lot of exercise regiments suggest a good dose of carbs for workouts lasting more than an hour. However, to much sugar intake has been linked to diabetes. See the sugar in energy drinks database for a sortable table of beverage sugar content.

Anti-oxidants
Anti-oxidants are things that help your body gracefully recover from the damage of free radicals. Vitamin C is an anti-oxidant, so claiming that your energy drink has a lot of anti-oxidants is like saying you’re buying really expensive orange juice. But they’re good, they help fend off illness and prevent cellular damage. Vitamins C and E, Vitamin A (aka retinol, beta-carotene), and selenium are all anti-oxidants.

Glucuronolactone
Glucuronolactone (DGL) occurs naturally in the human body as glucose is broken down by the liver. All connective tissue contains this compound. DGL is believed to aid in detoxification, freeing hormones and other chemicals, and the biosynthesis of vitamin C. It is placed in energy drinks because it is believed to help with glycogen depletion by preventing other substances from depleting glycogen supplies in the muscles.

Yerba Mate
This substance is derived from leaves of a shrub in the Holly family. It is a natural source of caffeine, but some believe that the form of caffeine in Yerba Mate’ doesn’t produce the negative side affects like the caffeine in coffee and guarana.

Creatine
Creatine is naturally obtained by eating meat. Creatine helps with supplying energy to the muscles and is usually found in energy drinks and products that are marketed to body builders.

Acai Berry
This ingredient (pronounced ah-sah-ee) is finding its way into more and more energy drinks. Acai berry comes from the Acai Palm tree which is found in South America. The berries are rich in anti-oxidants, but not as much as a concord grape or blueberry. Most of the acai berry benefits have no scientific basis and are attributed to marketing hype.

Milk Thistle
This ingredient mainly found in Rockstar and a few other drinks is used as a liver detoxifying agent. It is placed in energy drinks not really for any energy enhancing properties but as a counter agent to mixing energy drinks with alcohol as milk thistle is supposed to help with hangovers and detoxing the liver from alcohol. However, studies show that the amount put in energy drinks would be of hardly any benefit to consumers.




Sources: Kavita M. Babu, MD, Richard James Church, MD, William Lewander, MD. “Energy Drinks: The New Eye-Opener For Adolescents”. Clinical Pediatric Emergency Medicine. 2008

The Body Weight Warm Up

The Body Weight Warm Up