From bogus@does.not.exist.com Sat Jan 1 16:00:53 2011 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:53 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: if that helps you... compiled from Civil Defense reports, many city Emergency Committee reports, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, the Network for Local Development, the Network of Women Against Violence, the Communal Movement, the Moravian Church, FADCANIC, Kupia Lahpia Foundation, UNAG, FACS, CISAS, and others. Critical food needs for the population who are victims in the next two weeks: rice - 7.5 million quintales (1 quintal = 1 hundred pounds) beans - 7.5 million quintales. sugar - 9.4 million quintales. oil - 136 thousand gallons. salt - 1.9 million quintales. milk - 7.5 million quintales (powdered). corn - 18.9 million quintales. Also bread, coffee, canned goods, crackers. Most urgent adult and pediatric medicines: anti-biotics, anti-mycotics, anti-parasitics, anti-inflammatories, anti-malarial, anti-pyretics, anti-diarhhea, anti-cough, treatment for cholera, vitamins. Other: Potable water. Clothing, shoes, blankets Soap, brooms, plastic, bedding, candles, batteries, cooking utensils, clorox, water filters, flashlights, nails, hammers, shovels. National disaster specifics from a number of sources (and every source indicates that there are still parts of the country they have not heard from): 3,500 dead (numbers keep changing) International highways coming south are only passable as far as Guatemala, and coming north only as far as Costa Rica. 174 communities can only be reached by helicopter. 24 roads (major highways-2,500 km total), 120 bridges, and 16,500 homes destroyed. 200,000 homeless and at least 2,000 missing (and numbers constantly changing). 5,000 evacuated to date. 367,200 acres of currently planted crops lost (equivalent to 4.5 million quintales of basic food stuffs) --part0_910830879_boundary-- From bogus@does.not.exist.com Sat Jan 1 16:00:53 2011 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:53 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: "Gary Moulton, a history professor at the University of Nebraska, said he wanted officials to avoid showing Sacajawea pointing in a manner reminiscent of a guide, as two of the six designs do. 'She had a very important role, but being a guide was not one of them,' he said. 'Lewis and Clark thought of her as an interpreter. She was a go-between.' "He added, 'Through her they were able to purchase horses, which they desperately needed. "W. Ron Allen, president of the National Congress of American Indians, said showing Sacajawea with her baby would be 'very consistent with the maternal qualities and compassion of American Indian women.' But he said his colleagues leaned slightly toward a bust of Sacajawea looking west, her chin slightly upraised. "'It reflects the pride and the courage and the dignity of the American Indian woman,' he said. "Of the designs for the reverse, two show a soaring eagle against a backdrop of mountains and streams. Indian officials, Mr. Allen said, favor that concept. 'They reflect the land and the water that's so much a part of Indian culture and it relates to her journey through that kind of terrain,' he said." From bogus@does.not.exist.com Sat Jan 1 16:00:53 2011 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:53 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: years, I don't expect any more than the SERO official who referred to the matter as more "complicated" than the above letter. What AFSC officials probably hope is that this matter will be quickly forgotten, if for no other reason than it is not their practice to respond to such matters. Dealing with such matters in public, even among Quakers, is not in their handbook of good management style. One other personal note: there is a certain irony in Bill Holland's course of action and his charges, for when I resigned as my yearly meeting's representative to the AFSC Corporation after asking to be recorded as opposed to including non-Friends on the Board of Directors, Bill Holland publicly and privately admonished me for not blocking the move by "standing in the way," a course of action that I did not feel led to then nor now. Still, I have known him for many years, and I have been impressed with his openness and willingness to listen to criticism. And a background note: the Third World Coalition, a seventies-spawned, trendy-titled group representing nearly everyone except whites in AFSC, has always been a divisive force within AFSC's life. It has elevated a political agenda to a level higher than a commitment to Quakerism, has polarized AFSC into feuding factions, and pushed the national leadership to embrace an affirmative action policy for everyone but Quakers, of whom there are now less than 15% on the national staff. When I raised questions about it during the late 1970s as a member of SERO's Executive Committee because almost no black southerners felt comfortable with the phrase "Third World" and because it did not include Americans in the most obvious "third world" conditions--southern Appalachians--eyebrows arched at such "racist" comments. I trust that Bill Holland's principled resignation will initiate some much needed and radical changes within AFSC. But I'm not going to hold my breath, particularly if the changes are in the hands of the present governors. For what it's worth. Larry Ingle Larry-Ingle at utc.edu Chattanooga Meeting (SAYMA( From bogus@does.not.exist.com Sat Jan 1 16:00:53 2011 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:53 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: and a string of comically-bitter teen movies from Hollywood, pop culture has been trying to get this message out for years. For many kids - often the best and brightest -- school is a nightmare. People who are different are reviled as geeks, nerds, dorks. The lucky ones are excluded, the unfortunates are harassed, humiliated, sometimes assaulted literally as well as socially. Odd values - unthinking school spirit, proms, jocks - are exalted, while the best values - free thinking, non-conformity, curiousity - are ridiculed. Maybe the one positive legacy the Trenchcoat Mafia left was to ensure that this message got heard, by a society that seems desperate not to hear it. Minutes after the "Kids That Kill" column was posted on Slashdot Friday, and all through the weekend, I got a steady stream of e-mail from middle and high school kids all over the country -- especially from self-described oddballs. They were in trouble, or saw themselves that way to one degree or another in the hysteria sweeping the country after the shootings in Colorado. Many of these kids saw themselves as targets of a new hunt for oddballs -- suspects in a bizarre, systematic search for the strange and the alienated. Suddenly, in this tyranny of the normal, to be different wasn't just to feel unhappy, it was to be dangerous. Schools all over the country openly embraced Geek Profiling. One group calling itself the National School Safety Center issued a checklist of "dangerous signs" to watch for in kids: it included mood swings, a fondness for violent TV or video games, cursing, depression, anti-social behavior and attitudes. (I don't know about you, but I bat a thousand). The panic was fueled by a ceaseless bombardment of powerful, televised images of mourning and grief in Colorado, images that stir the emotions and demand some sort of response, even when it isn't clear what the problem is. The reliably blockheaded media response didn't help either. "Sixty Minutes" devoted a whole hour to a broadcast on screen violence and its impact on the young, heavily promoted by this tease: "Are video games turning your kids into killers?" The already embattled loners were besieged. "This is not a rational world. Can anybody help?" asked Jamie, head of an intense Dungeons and Dragons club in Minnesota, whose private school guidance counselor gave him a choice: give up the game or face counseling, possibly suspension. Suzanne Angelica (her online handle) was told to go home and leave her black, ankle-length raincoat there. On the Web, kids did flock to talk to each other. On Star Wars and X-Files mailing lists and websites and on AOL chat rooms and ICQ message boards, teenagers traded countless countless stories of being harassed, beaten, ostracized and ridiculed by teachers, students and administrators for dressing and thinking differently from the mainstream. Many said they had some understanding of why the killers in Littleton went over the edge. "We want to be different," wrote one of the Colorado killers in a diary found by the police. "We want to be strange and we don't want jocks or other people putting us down." The sentiment, if not the response to it, was echoed by kids all over the country. The Littleton killings have made their lives much worse. "It was horrible, definitely," e-mailed Bandy from New York City. "I'm a Quake freak, I play it day and night. I'm really into it. I play Doom a lot too, though not so much anymore. I'm up till 3 a.m. every night. I really love it. But after Colorado, things got horrible. People were actually talking to me like I could come in and kill them. It wasn't like they were really afraid of me - they just seemed to think it was okay to hate me even more? People asked me if I had guns at home. This is a whole new level of exclusion, another excuse for the preppies of the universe to put down and isolate people like me." It wasn't just the popular who were suspicious of the odd and the alienated, though. The e-mailed stories ranged from suspensions and expulsions for "anti-social behavior" to censorship of student publications to school and parental restrictions on computing, Web browsing, and especially gaming. There were unconfirmed reports that the sale of blocking software had skyrocketed. Everywhere, school administrators pandered and panicked, rushing to show they were highly sensitive to parents fears, even if they were oblivious to the needs and problems of many of their students. In a New Jersey private school, a girl was expelled for showing classmates a pocket-knife. School administrators sent a letter home: "In light of the recent tragedy in Littleton, Colorado, we all share a heightened sensitivity to potential threats to our children. I urge you to take this time to discuss with your children the importance of turning to adults when they have concerns about the behavior of others." This solution was straight out of "1984." In fact, this was one of the things it's protagonist Winston was jailed for: refusing to report his friends for behavior that Big Brother deemed abnormal and disturbing. Few of the weeks' media reports - in fact, none that I saw - pointed out that the FBI Uniform Crime reports, issued bi-annually, along with the Justice Departments reports (statistical abstracts on violence are available on the Department's website and in printed form) academic studies and some news reports have reporters for years now. Violence among the young is dropping across the country, even as computing, gaming, cable TV and other media use rises. Unhappy, alienated, isolated kids are legion in schools, voiceless in media, education and politics. But theirs are the most important voices of all in understanding what happened and perhaps even how to keep it from happening again. I referred some of my e-mailers to peacefire.org, a children's rights website, for help in dealing with blocking and filtering software. I sent others to freedomforum.org (the website Free!) for help with censorship and free speech issues, and to geek websites, especially some on ICQ.com where kids can talk freely. I've chosen some e-mailers to partially reprint here. Although almost all of these correspondents were willing to be publicly identified - some demanded it - I'm only using their online names, since some of their stories would put them in peril from parents, peers or school administrators. From bogus@does.not.exist.com Sat Jan 1 16:00:53 2011 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:53 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: "I stood up in a social studies class -the teacher wanted a discussion -- and said I could never kill anyone or condone anyone who did kill anyone. But that I could, on some level, understand these kids in Colorado, the killers. Because day after day, slight after slight, exclusion after exclusion, you can learn how to hate, and that hatred grows and takes you over sometimes, especially when you come to see that you're hated only because you're smart and different, or sometimes even because you are online a lot, which is still so uncool to many kids. After the class, I was called to the principal's office and told that I had to agree to undergo five sessions of counseling or be expelled from school, as I had expressed ‘sympathy' with the killers in Colorado, and the school had to be able to explain itself if I ‘acted out.' In other words, for speaking freely, and to cover their ass, I was not only branded a weird geek, but a potential killer. That will sure help deal with violence in America." From bogus@does.not.exist.com Sat Jan 1 16:00:53 2011 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:53 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: metal moving up Keanu Reeve's arm in the ‘The Matrix.' That's what I thought of when I saw it. You lose track of what is real and what isn't. The worst people are the happiest and do the best, the best and smartest people are the most miserable and picked upon. The cruelty is unimaginable. If Dan Rather wants to know why those guys killed those people in Littleton, Colorado, tell him for me that the kids who run the school probably drove them crazy, bit by bit. That doesn't mean all those kids deserved to die. But a lot of kids in America know why it happened, even if the people running schools don't." From bogus@does.not.exist.com Sat Jan 1 16:00:53 2011 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:53 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: shooters than the shootees. I am them. They are me. This is not to say I will end the lives of my classmates in a hail of bullets, but that their former situation bears a striking resemblance to my own. For the most part, the media are clueless. They're never experienced social rejection, or chosen non-conformity. Also, I would like to postulate that the kind of measures taken by school administration have a direct effect on school violence. School is generally an oppressive place; the parallels to fascist society are tantalizing. Following a school shooting, a week or two-week crackdown ensues, where students? constitutional rights are violated with impunity, at a greater rate than previous." From bogus@does.not.exist.com Sat Jan 1 16:00:53 2011 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:53 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: "I was stopped at the door of my high school because I was wearing a trenchcoat. I don't game, but I'm a geekchick, and I'm on the Web a lot. (I love geek guys, and there aren't many of us.) I was given a choice - go home and ditch the coat, or go to the principal. I refused to go home. I have never been a member of any group or trenchcoat mob or any hate thing, online or any other, so why should they tell me what coat to wear? Two security guards took me into an office, called the school nurse, who was a female, and they ordered me to take my coat off. The nurse asked me to undress (privately) while the guards outside the door went through every inch of my coat. I wouldn't undress, and she didn't make me (I think she felt creepy about the whole thing). Then I was called into the principal's office and he asked me if I was a member of any hate group, or any online group, or if I had ever played Doom or Quake. He mentioned some other games, but I don't remember them. I'm not a gamer, though my boyfriends have been. I lost it then. I thought I was going to be brave and defiant, but I just fell apart. I cried and cried. I think I hated that worse than anything." FromZBird in New Jersey: "Yeah, I've had some fantasies about taking out some of these jerks who run the school, have parties, get on teams, are adored by teachers, have all these friends. Sure. They hate me. Day by day, it's like they take pieces out of you, like a torture, one at a time. My school has 1,500 kids. I could never make a sports team. I have never been to a party. I sit with my friends at our own corner of the cafeteria. If we tried to join the other kids, they'd throw up or leave. And by now, I'd rather die. Sometimes, I do feel a lot of real pure rage. And I feel better when I go online. Sometimes I think the games keep me from shooting anybody, not the other way around. Cause I can get even there, and I'm pretty powerful there. But I'd never do it. Something much deeper was wrong with these kids in Colorado. To shoot all those people? Make bombs? You have to be sick, and the question they should be asking isn't what games do they play, but how come all these high-paid administrators, parents, teachers and so-called professional people, how come none of them noticed how wacked they were? I mean, in the news it said they had guns all over their houses! They were planning this for a year. Maybe the reporters ought to ask how come nobody noticed this, instead of writing all these stupid stories about video games?" From bogus@does.not.exist.com Sat Jan 1 16:00:53 2011 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:53 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: High school favors people with a certain look and attitude - the adolescent equivalent of Aryans. They are the chosen ones, and they want to get rid of anyone who doesn't look and think the way they do. One of the things which makes this so infuriating is that the system favors shallow people. Anyone who took the time to think about things would realize that things like the prom, school spirit and who won the football game are utterly insignificant in the larger scheme of things. So anyone with depth of thought is almost automatically excluded from the main high school social structure. It's like some horribly twisted form of Social Darwinism. I would never, ever do anything at all like what was done in Colorado. I can't understand how anyone could. But I do understand the hatred of high school life which, I guess, prompted it. From bogus@does.not.exist.com Sat Jan 1 16:00:53 2011 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:53 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: "Be careful! I wrote an article for my school paper. The advisor suggested we write about ‘our feelings' about Colorado. My feelings -what I wrote -- were that society is blaming the wrong things. You can't blame screwed-up kids or the Net. These people don't know what they were talking about. How bout blaming a system that takes smart or weird kids and drives them crazy? How about understanding why these kids did what they did, cause in some crazy way, I feel something for them. For their victims, too, but for them. I thought it was a different point-of-view, but important. I was making a point. I mean, I'm not going to the prom. You know what? The article was killed, and I got sent home with a letter to my parents. It wasn't an official suspension, but I can't go back until Tuesday. And it was made pretty clear to me that if I made any noise about it, it would be a suspension or worse. So this is how they are trying to figure out what happened in Colorado, I guess. By blaming a sub-culture and not thinking about their own roles, about how fucked-up school is. Now, I think the whole thing was a set-up, cause a couple of other kids are being questioned too, about what they wrote. They pretend to want to have a 'dialogue' but kids should be warned that what they really want to know is who's dangerous to them." From bogus@does.not.exist.com Sat Jan 1 16:00:53 2011 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:53 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: the Slashdot readers don't get it. You don't have the guts to stand up and say these games are not only not evil, they are great. They are good. They are challenging and stimulating. They help millions of kids who have nowhere else to go, because the whole world is set up to take care of different kinds of kids, kids who fit in, who do what they're told, who are popular. I've made more friends online on Gamespot.com than I have in three years of high school. I think about my characters and my competitions and battles all day. Nothing I've been taught in school interests me as much. And believe me, the gamers who (try to) kill me online all day are a lot closer to me than the kids I go to high school with. I'm in my own world, for sure, but it's my choice and it's a world I love. Without it, I wouldn't have one... Last week, my father told me he had cancelled my ISP because he had asked me not to game so much and I still was. And when he saw the Colorado thing online, he said, he told my Mom that he felt one of these kids could be me! I am a resourceful geek, and I was back online before he got to bed that night. But I have to go underground now. My guidance counselor, who wouldn't know a computer game from Playboy Bunny poster, told me was Dad was being a good parent, and here was a chance for me to re-invent myself, be more popular, to ‘mainstream.' This whole Colorado thing, it's given them an excuse to do more of what started this trouble in the first place - to make individuals and different people feel like even bigger freaks." From bogus@does.not.exist.com Sat Jan 1 16:00:53 2011 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:53 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: "Dear Mr. Katz. I am 10. My parents took my computer away today, because of what they saw on television. They told me they just couldn't be around enough to make sure that I'm doing the right things on the Internet. My Mom and Dad told me they didn't want to be standing at my funeral some day because of things I was doing that they didn't know about. I am at my best friend's house, and am pretty bummed, because things are boring now. I hope I'll get it back." From bogus@does.not.exist.com Sat Jan 1 16:00:53 2011 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:53 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: never happen again. Mary Calhoun >X-From_: mlshell at preferred.com Thu Apr 29 19:25:03 1999 >Return-Path: >From: "M. Shell" >Subject: Fw: >>>>> >>>>><< >To everyone that reads this: > >>>>> >My name is Jayson Martin from Littleton, Colorado, I would like >>>>for >>>>>>anyone >>>>> >who reads this to please write their name down. I would like to >>>>send >>>>>>prayers >>>>> >out to my friends who were in Columbine H.S. I would like >>>>everyone >>>>>to >>>>> >please >say a prayer for the safety of everyone who was involved >>>>in >>>>>this >>>>> >terrible >tragedy. it is something that has hurt me today as >>>well >>>>>as my >>>>> friends, >I'm >>>>> >grateful for my safety and their safety. Please Forward this to >>>>as >>>>>many >>>>> >people as you can, let us all come together and pray that this >>>>>tragedy >ends >>>>> >soon. Thank you. > > >***Copy this letter, add your name and >>>>forward >>>>> >it to as many people as you know. thank you. > >>>>> >1. Jayson L. Martin Littleton, Colorado >>>>> >2. Michelle R. Evans Aurora, Colorado >>>>> >3. Brooke A. Bayer Greeley and Littleton, Colorado >>>>> >4. Adam B. Mutzbauer Denver, Co. >>>>> >5. Brian P. Connors, Golden, CO, born in Littleton >>>>> >6. Jessica A. Harris, Fort Collins, Colorado >>>>> >7. Jackie M. Medina - Leadville, Colorado >>>>> >8. Kevin P. Donoher - Golden, Colorado > > 9. Sean Thorne - Golden,>>>>Colorado >>>>> >10. Mike Peel - Steamboat Springs, Co. >>>>> >11. Tom Brayden - Ft Collins, CO and Tucson, AZ >>>>> >12. TAmi Thornburg- Peoria, Az and tucson, Az >>>>> >13. Erin Murphy- Glendale, AZ & Los Angeles, CA >>>>> >14. Adriane Eng - Peoria, AZ and Tucson, AZ >>>>> >15. Yassiin Nasser - Tempe, Az and Tucson, Az >>>>> >16. Vivian R. Tang- Chandler, AZ & Los Angeles, CA >>>>> >17. Joel Yu - Paradise Valley, AZ & Tucson AZ >>>>> >18. Angel Ho - Mesa, AZ & Tempe, AZ >>>>> >19. Christie Catania - Mesa, AZ >>>>> >20. David Rice-phoenix,AZ >>>>> >21.Rachel Castaneda-Upland, california( kill with kindness not >>>>with >>>>>violence)love: silly >>>>> >22. Michael Smith - Newport News, VA>> >>>>> >23. Erin Winebarger- Newport News, VA >>>>> >24. Heather Jablonski- Newport News, VA >>>>> >25. Michael Via-Newport News, VA >>>>> >26.Katie Vander Linden- Lk stevens, WA >>>>> >27.Tiffany Nixon Lake Stevens, WA >>>>> >28. Paul Vander Linden- Lk Stevens, WA >>>>> >29. April Borek- Elma, WA >>>>> 30.Zada P. Richards-Fall Branch>Tn. > 31. Mitch Shell-Roan Mountain, TN 32. Mary Calhoun, Abingdon, VA >_______________________________________________________ >> > > From bogus@does.not.exist.com Sat Jan 1 16:00:53 2011 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:53 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Churches Contact: James N. Birkitt, UFMCC Director of Communications Universal Fellowship of Metropolitican Community Churches (310) 360-8640, Ext. 226 TEXAS JUDGE RULES WHICH CHURCHES ARE ACCEPTABLE FOR GAY FAMILIES, DECIDES METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH NOT ACCEPTABLE WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- A district judge in the Texas court system has released an official ruling that the predominantly gay Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) is not an acceptable church for the daughter of a lesbian mother. The ruling came in the midst of a custody ruling as part of a divorce between the lesbian mother and her husband. "I'm holding the judge's order in my hand and reading and re-reading his words. I can hardly believe what I am seeing," said the Rev. Troy D. Perry, Moderator of more than 300 MCC congregations. In his legal opinion, Judge Keith Nelson of the 78 Judicial District of Texas wrote: "The primary issue is where the child would attend Sunday school and church ... the intent was for mainline churches to be utilized in the religious training of the daughter. This would include the Catholic Church, and churches in the Protestant faith such as Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Christian, Episcopalian, which are considered to be the standard religious institutions in the Protestant field. The Metropolitan Community Church does not fall within this category." "This is a violation of the First Amendment protections to freedom of religion," said Perry. "We have joined hands with the National Center for Lesbian Rights to fight this injustice and protect the constitutional rights of this lesbian mother and her child." "This is not only shocking," said Perry, "it's an attack on GLBT [gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered] families and people of faith. Because we're gay or lesbian, this homophobic, sexist judge feels he can decide by official government decree which churches or synagogues are "acceptable" and which are not. What in God's name will it take to get the government out of our lives -- or from attempting to control our GLBT families?" The lesbian mother reports she tried to comply with the judge's ruling and attended the types of churches listed in his order. "We never felt comfortable in those places," said the mother, whose name is being withheld to protect her daughter's legal rights. "My heart almost broke when my daughter begged me to take her back to the MCC church." "I am asking all people of goodwill to support this case. And I encourage those who believe in prayer, to remember this courageous mother and her beautiful young daughter with their prayers," said Perry. According to Perry, an appeal of the judge's decision was filed in the Texas court system on Friday, April 23. "I have made a personal commitment to this family that we will pursure the appeals process as far as we have to to ensure that justice is done, and to protect other GLBT families from this kind of government interference into our personal, family and spiritual lives," added Perry. Since its founding in 1968, the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC) has been at the forefront of the drive for spiritual and social justice for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons. The denomination successfully fought for the of rights of gays and lesbians to serve as chaplains in public jails, and has fought a variety of anti-gay laws and ballot initiatives. UFMCC is composed of more than 300 local congregations in 15 countries. UFMCC has 42,000 official members and adherents, and more than 225,000 persons attend the services and programs of UFMCC annually. Additional information on UFMCC is available on the Internet at http://www.ufmcc.com. # # # # FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, CONTACT: James N. Birkitt, UFMCC Director of Communications Universal Fellowship of Metropolitican Community Churches 8704 Santa Monica Blvd., 2nd Floor West Hollywood, CA 90069 Tel. (310) 360-8640, Ext. 226 Fax: (310) 360-8680 E-Mail: Info at ufmcchq.com Web site: http://www.ufmcc.com ------------------------------------------------- I have spoken to The Rev. Troy Perry and he tells me that he considers this ruling a "slap in the face" to all minority faiths and to GLBT people in particular. He says that the denominational headquarters of the MCC Church are going to fight this in court, and that there is no other course of action planned right now. Rev. Perry tells me that he is planning to meet with leaders of other denominations tomorrow, and that already he is getting calls from denominational leaders all across the religious rainbow. Rev. Perry adds that the Metropolitan Community Church of Wichita Falls, the church in question, really needs to know they are not alone. I called Rev. Horvath, the pastor, and spoke to her and told her she has the support of many people of other faiths. She thanked me profusely, and told me that they are having a prayer vigil this evening over this matter. They are requesting the prayers of others. Her number at the church is (940) 322-4100. Rev. Perry also told me that he doesn't know if the judge was issuing a ruling reflecting his own views about an "acceptable" church, or if the ruling was reflective of a custody agreement. I've called the judge and was told he was in court and would call me back, but so far he hasn't done so. I plan to keep calling. His number is (940) 766-8182. As far as other media coverage of this event, Rev. Perry tells me that the Wichita Falls newspaper is breaking this story tomorrow morning. Peace, Cliff Pearson Communications Director The Dallas Peace Center 4301 Bryan Street, #202 Phone: (214) 823-7793 Fax: (214) 823-8356 E-mail: mapa at igc.apc.org Web: http://web2.airmail.net/pmc/dpc From bogus@does.not.exist.com Sat Jan 1 16:00:53 2011 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:53 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Willard Vaughn, Recording Clerk Minute 29-10 SAYMA has directed the Clerk to form an ad hoc committee that will work in conjunction with SAYF Steering, SAYF Oversight and SAYMA Finance Committee to bring back recommendations to SAYMA for the implementation of the paid staff position for SAYF. An initial report will be made to Fall Representative Meeting. The committee is charged to: 1) determind the needs of monthly meetings for more information, 2) determine the budget and financial requirements including benefits, and 3) determine the specific job description and oversight/supervision of the staff position. Minute 29-12 The Clerk, with the support of SAYMA, approves the following persons to serve as needed on an ad hoc committee as defined in the Proceedings of Yearly Meeting #29 in Minute 29-10. The members will be: Janet Reddy of Columbia, Kendall Ivie of West Knoxville, Becky Ingle of Chattanooga, and Sharon Annis of West Knoxville. ~~~~~~~end ^o^ ~~~~~~ (Message copies to Janet Minshall and Beth Keiter are for SAYMA insight into "how things are going at the office." If you have an overriding need for a "non-copied" exchange please say so clearly, and I'll honor the request.) From bogus@does.not.exist.com Sat Jan 1 16:00:53 2011 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:53 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: Willard Vaughn, Recording Clerk Discussion held concerned that SAYMA is beginning to grow and mature and as such needs to come into proper order to help support the appropriate direction for SAYMA growth. Minute 29-13 The SAYMA Administrative Oversight Committee will become the SAYMA Personnel Committee. The SAYMA Personnel Committee will continually develop policies and procedures that define the oversight, hiring, and supervision of the paid SAYMA staff and volunteers. Minute 29-14 The Finance Committee is authorized to purchase a computer system to include printer for use in the administrative office. The finance committee will oversee the purchase of the system. Minute 29-15 The finance Committee is requested to investigate and recommend the purchase of the appropriate property and liability insurance and employee benefits. ~~~~~~~end ^o^ ~~~~~~ ___________________________________________________________ IMP ^o^ ... semi-official information, faster than the SAYMA Friend newsletter can get to you, bulletins that you can print, post, announce, or pass around. (Message copies to Janet Minshall and Beth Keiter are for SAYMA insight into "how things are going at the office." If you have an overriding need for a "non-copied" exchange please say so clearly, and I'll honor the request.) From bogus@does.not.exist.com Sat Jan 1 16:00:53 2011 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:53 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: e-hugs. *!.* ~ "...with more wit than dignity..." submissions welcome e-mail moriah at preferred.com for guideline ___________________________ To subscribe to the free list server, sayma at kitenet.net, e-mail to sayma-subscribe at kitenet.net and write only the word subscribe in the body of your e-mail message ______________________*!.* _ From bogus@does.not.exist.com Sat Jan 1 16:00:53 2011 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:53 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: trendy, eastern drawing room types of solutions to problems, while the only tokens its leadership is willing to toss in Quakers' direction are such nondescript words as "spirit." The problem with AFSC is the problem that Gerald Rudolph highlights, namely, that it has a problem with speaking plainly. If one doubts that, then consider the phrase "third world people" as applied to black people in America's ghettoes. Larry Ingle ---------- >From: "Gerald L. Rudolph" >To: "sayma" >Subject: Re: IMP^o^051 Chatt AFSC Minute >Date: Sun, Mar 26, 2000, 7:02 PM > > Friends, > > Our meeting each year considers contributions it makes to other > organizations. We sometimes discontinue contributions to organizations and > add contributions to others, both Quaker and non-Quaker. Meetings normally > do this without much fanfare. For Chattanooga Meeting to announce to the > world that it is discontinuing the $100 annual contribution it currently > gives to AFSC is unfortunate and I hope that their intent was not to bring > harm to AFSC. > > AFSC has been courageous in some of the stands it has taken for the > oppressed and marginalized of the world. I applaud AFSC's work, and feel > that their work is very much in line with Quaker values and principles. I > encourage meetings to respond to concerns they might have related to AFSC > personnel policies and matters by increasing their involvement. AFSC has > done outstanding work for poor, for prisoners, for oppressed, and for > groups who are pushed outside the margins of our society, and I am dismayed > that Friends would respond to disagreement about personnel matters with such > a potentially harmful approach. > > As meetings consider the minute from Chattanooga, I encourage them to speak > plainly about their concerns related to AFSC and not hide their real > concerns behind questions about personnel matters and policies. For > example, if you are displeased with AFSC because of their stand on gay > rights, please say so plainly. If you are truly think AFSC should not be an > equal opportunity employer, but should require staff to be predominately > Quaker and are willing to withhold contributions for that reason, please > investigate the staff makeup of other organizations (Quaker and non-Quaker) > to which you contribute. > > In response to Chattanooga's suspension of their $100 contribution, I am > giving a $200 contribution to AFSC. I encourage Friends who support AFSC to > also respond by increasing their personal contributions. > > This is a personal response and did not come from my meeting. > > Gerald Rudolph > Columbia Friends Meeting > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Mary Calhoun > To: sayma > Cc: sharonAnnis ; GuilfordGwenErickson > ; bill Reynolds > Sent: Friday, March 24, 2000 4:44 PM > Subject: IMP^o^051 Chatt AFSC Minute > > >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >> IMP ^o^ Bulletin 051 >> Proposed Minute for SAYMA >> Regarding Contributions to AFSC >> ........................................................... >> from Chattanooga (TN) Monthly Meeting >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >> >> >> (from a 3-24-00 message from Penny Wright, SAYMA Clerk) >> >> <|> approved by Chattanooga Friends Meeting at Meeting for Business, >> 6-6-99 >> >> <|> The Meeting asked that the proposed minute be brought to the >> attention of SAYMA, and of other Monthly Meetings and Worship Groups. >> >> <|> "In Monthly Meeting for Business on sixth day of sixth month 1999 >> Chattanooga Friends Meeting approved the following proposal of a Minute >> for SAYMA: >> >> <|> 'Friends have considered Bill Holland's resignation and AFSC's >> actions that led up to it. We do not know everything about the matter so >> we seek clarification. We are so serious in our concern that we wish to >> withhold our $100 annual contribution to AFSC until the matter is >> clarified. Chattanooga Friends Meeting further proposes that SAYMA >> consider adopting the following minute: >> >> <|> In light of the serious indicators that the American >> Friends Service Committee has drifted away from >> Quaker principles in its internal operations, we will >> withhold financial contributions to AFSC until it has >> become fully clear to us that AFSC's internal >> operating processes are compatible with >> Spirit-led Quaker principles.' " >> >> ~~~~~~~end ^o^ ~~~~~~ >> _____________________________ >> IMP ^o^ ... "Information Made Present" >> >> is a bulletin service of the SAYMA office to provide practical details >> to >> our geographically-challenged Yearly Meeting via our free list server. >> Please address corrections and additions to moriah at preferred.com, >> 540-628-5852 (machine), or SAYMA Admin. Asst., c/o 165 Jackson Street, >> Abingdon, VA 24210. Thank you! ^o^ Mary Calhoun, AA >> ----------------------------------------------------- >> To receive IMP^o^ bulletins, subscribe to the free list server, >> sayma at kitenet.net; e-mail to sayma-subscribe at kitenet.net and write only >> the word subscribe in the body of your e-mail message. >> ----------------------------------------------------- >> IMP ^o^ ... semi-official information, faster than the SAYMA Friend >> newsletter can get to you, bulletins that you can print, post, announce, >> publish, or pass around. >> ----------------------------------------------------- >> >> > > From bogus@does.not.exist.com Sat Jan 1 16:00:53 2011 From: bogus@does.not.exist.com () Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:00:53 -0000 Subject: No subject Message-ID: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (from 5-11-01 message from Missy Ivie and Susan Carlyle, YM Registrars) <|> The SAYMA Yearly Gathering is fast approaching. Please pass this information along to those in your meeting without email. <|> "Dear Friend, On behalf of the Yearly Meeting Planning Committee we hope you will join us again this year on the beautiful mountain campus of Warren Wilson College. During worship, workshops, inter-generational activities, meeting for business and evening presentations we will explore the meaning of wholeness as Friends. <|> "Our theme: Teach Us to be Whole: Gather Us, Heal Us, Lead Us, is our prayer and emerged out of worship sharing. It contains a line from the refrain of the song 'Rainbows in the Sun:' Give me rainbows in the sun Give me peace when the day is done Give me love to fill my soul Teach me to be whole <|> "We will move toward greater wholeness as we experience the presence of God in our gathered spiritual community. Your own special Light will enrich others as you open yourself to giving and receiving the blessings of our time together. <|> "Yearly Meeting is being held 6/7-6/10/2001 at Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa, NC. Registrations need to be postmarked by 5/15/2001 to avoid a $30 late charge. <|> "Financial aid is available to enable ALL who wish to attend the Yearly Meeting to be able to do so. Friends are asked, first, to request money from their Monthly Meetings. Do so early enough to be able to bring a check from that source to registration. Yearly Meeting also has a scholarship fund that is built by individuals contributing on their registration forms. You may request money from this fund from the registrar. <|> "Information and registration forms are available on the SAYMA web site http://www.sayma.org <|> "Thank you for your time, Missy Ivie, Registrar MBIvie at home.com 865-482-8077 Susan Carlyle, Registrar Carlyle at juno.com 828-626-2572" ~~~~~~ end ^o^ ~~~~~~ 1stpost 050301 ~~~~~~ _______________________________________ IMP ^o^ ... "Information Made Present" is a bulletin service of the SAYMA office to provide practical details to our geographically-challenged Yearly Meeting via our free list-server: semi-official information, bulletins that you can print, post, announce, publish, or pass around. Please address questions, corrections and additions to moriah at preferred.com, 540-628-5852 (machine), or SAYMA Admin. Asst., c/o 165 Jackson Street, Abingdon, VA 24210. Thank you! ^o^ Mary Calhoun, AA ----------------------------------------------------- To receive IMP^o^ bulletins, subscribe to the free list server, sayma at kitenet.net. You can e-mail to sayma-request at kitenet.net, writing only the word subscribe in the body of your e-mail message. You can also subscribe on the web at http://kitenet.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sayma. ------------------------------------------------------