Parks scandal

The whole flap about California state park closure has had me kind of upset - aside from the great importance I place on parks, which play a key role in keeping myself sane in this state, it has been obvious all along that the park closures were political in nature and had little to do with lack of funds per se. (Yes, the state is short on cash, but parks are not exactly a big part of the budget; what they are, however, is highly visible, making for lots of drama and teeth-gnashing.)

Still, I was astonished to recieve this email this morning:

After an intensive and successful year-long effort to keep Hendy Woods State Park open, the Board of the Hendy Woods Community was stunned, along with others who have struggled to avoid closure of parks around the state, to discover the Department of Parks and Recreation was hiding funds that could have kept every targeted park open...

I thought, no F'ing way. But it's true - the parks chief has resigned, though it wasn't her doing, and the secret-funds scandal is being covered by major news outlets.

This is a good example of why I mostly ignore charitable causes. The Hendy Woods issue in particular has occupied a lot of time and attention, and I have personally contributed quite a lot of money, only to get burned.

I'm starting to think that nearly all "charities" are actually frauds, one way or another. Although nearly all of the people involved are acting in good faith, it takes only a few crooks to ruin everything. A sad conclusion, but even with my extremely discriminating approach I've still been duped, and I find it less than amusing to consider all the good things that money could have gone towards. In a world with so many urgent needs, the lack of credibility and accountability throughout the private-charity sphere is truly depressing.

I'm voting for "dick around".

My favorite T-shirts are those which are completely innocent, yet still make straight people feel vaguely uncomfortable. Particularly when they take standard heteronormative tropes and queer them up to the point that not even the most clueless breeders could miss them. Rey found us a worthy example of this, a delightful twist on the genre of black biker tees:



If you look closely he's sporting a nipple ring. [SWOON] I just ordered mine off of Ebay and am anxiously awaiting its arrival. Quite a few VKMC members had theirs already, glad I got a chance to get one of my own!

This year's run T-shirt was also a welcome addition to the collection. Another Gerard Wing original, not available in stores!

Bionic Daddybear

Oooh, here's something I had forgotten to post. This is a snapshot I took in the Ft. Lauderdale airport. I tried REALLY hard to get a discreet shot showing his face, but it's hard to beat a fantasy with reality no matter how good he might look. So rather than share a blurry front shot that isn't going to show you anything you don't already know, I will leave you with the fantasy.

Anyway, he was quite obviously a biker, and most likely lost his leg in a motorcycle accident. His body language was really fierce, as if a prosthetic limb was no more than a minor inconvenience. Probably a vet, too, you can sort of tell by the way a guy walks. It's not like he wouldn't have been smokin' hot without an amputation, it's just that the injury proves it. I did everything I possibly could to catch his eye short of pushing him over and molesting him, but he seemed quite immune to my mighty cruising powers. He's probably used to it. :-P



Wish there was a good way to let guys like this know they're appreciated. I don't care if it doesn't go anywhere, just a wink and a nod would have me walking on the clouds for a week.