New red hat made especially for Equality Maryland's hard work to codify Marriage Equality into Maryland law.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Marriage Equality Maryland
New red hat made especially for Equality Maryland's hard work to codify Marriage Equality into Maryland law.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Marriage Equality in Maryland
Many people in Maryland and across this country believe THIS is the year that a Marriage Equality Bill will pass in the Maryland legislature.
An anti-Equality group has already mobilized in our state. THEY ARE AFRAID that our legislature, which is more heavily Democratic than it has been in years, will pass a marriage bill this year. We in the LGBT community are more excited than ever before. We have momentum with us and it is growing.
PFLAG Baltimore County working cooperatively with Equality Maryland and a representative will present a discussion about Marriage Equality and the work that needs to be done in the next 90 days. Please come and listen. If you can help once or twice for an hour in the next few weeks (even in a minor way) you can be part of this CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY.
Many Maryland voters, some from your district, have been part of “Lobby Day” in Annapolis for the past few years. We meet with our delegates and senators in a group from our district to discuss our support for LGBT civil equality. We need your help if you have done this before and we need your help even if all you do is come with us to help fill the room. If this is your first time you do not need to speak unless you want to. We need to fill our delegate’s offices with supporters.
I would like to personally and publically thank everyone who has been a part of this effort in the past and invite you to join us this year. This is urgent and more important than ever.
The PFLAG meeting will be held at Towson Unitarian Universalist Church on January 25 at 7pm, & Lobby Day will be held in Annapolis on February 14th.
Contact me if you have any questions: Mark Patro 443-255-1484
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Friday, January 7, 2011
First Knitted Project
Back to making things...
This is a scarf I have been knitting for the last few weeks. Its finished now. This is the first thing I have ever knitted. Next is a skull cap. Photos to be posted when its done. Thanks to Karen at Woolworks Baltimore (Mount Washington) for her helpful patience.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Homeland Organic Coffee Baltimore
Click here to read the Organic Coffee Blog
Homeland Organic is Baltimore's only "All Organic & All Fair Trade" coffee roaster. We are a new micro roaster in the Baltimore area selling our coffee at the Owings Mills Farmer's Market on Sunday mornings 9am to 1pm at the JCC on Gwynnbrook Road (21117). A map can be found here
Homeland Organic Coffee & Tea Baltimore has a website for the convenience of our regular customers. Please take a look. We are focused on roasting and selling our fresh roasted coffee in the Baltimore County area, but we are willing and able to ship our coffee, tea, coffee brewers and coffee grinders across the country.
In the very near future, once I get the packaging worked out, we will be providing a variety of Organic and Fair Trade teas.
Homeland Organic believes that "Organic and Fair Trade" does not need to be exclusively about "image", here at Homeland Organic Tea & Coffee Baltimore, we are sensitive to flavor. Our plan is to sell exclusively organic and fair trade products but they must meet the discriminating taste of our customers.
To learn more about how and why I started this company please read our story.
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Wednesday, January 20, 2010
In Good Conscience, the film and Discussion
PFLAG will be showing In Good Conscience with a discussion to follow.
Sister Jeanine Gramick will be taking questions from those interested in her journey while ministering to the LGBT Community with New Ways Ministry.
In Good Conscience Web Site
Saturday, March 6, 2010
11am to 2pm
Towson Unitarian Universalist Church
1710 Dulaney Valley Road
Lutherville, MD
Please contact PFLAG Baltimore County with any questions
443-255-1484
this presentation is free of charge
donations (at your discretion) will be collected at the door
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Buy Organic Fair Trade coffee at Homeland Organic or visit us at the Owings Mills Farmers Market on Sunday Morning.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Size Queen to Show at The Maryland State Fair
Last night I dropped of my entry into the Maryland State Fair for this year. For those of you who have not yet seen "Size Queen" this years extravaganza will take place in Timonium Maryland from August 28th through September 7th.
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Buy Organic Fair Trade coffee at Homeland Organic or visit us at the Owings Mills Farmers Market on Sunday Morning.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
I went to a Public Forum on Health Care Reform
I decided to go to a public forum on Health Care reform to take a look for myself. I was disturbed by television news depiction of these public forums.
There seems to be deficiencies on both sides of this issue.
First, some voters I had a chance to talk to were swearing there were Mandatory requirements about “end of life” elements in this bill. So I asked myself if the writers of the bill were trying to slip one in on us or if something else was happening.
(I urge you to verify all that you hear or read in the media, including on this blog. And I encourage you to make a comment.)
So I went here to learn more
The Truth About Health Care
It seems as though there are well intentioned folks misreading the language of the bill. Or maybe there are mean spirited folk purposely twisting the truth trying to add confusion and fear into this process. Either way, I could not find the word “Mandatory” anywhere on page 425, or related to the topics covered there. The word Suicide or anything that implying it was not to be found there either.
Here is the text of the bill:
The actual bill
You should read it yourself.
More about the public forum, I was overwhelmed by the screaming and interruptions by opponents of this bill. I am not saying these people oppose health care reform. I did get the impression they wanted some kind of reform, but they were not discussing reform. They were attacking my representative, screaming, no chanting that he worked for them. I would like to inject that he works for all of us and must balance the wishes of those who want to pass this at all costs with those who want it to fail on partisan or philosophical grounds as well as with those who actually wish to discuss how to make this system better.
My intention here is not to support this specific bill’s language or to reject it outright. I personally like some aspects of this bill and wish to have other elements removed. I would ask my neighbor how his or her ideas fit into which of those categories. We will get nothing done if all we do is make an effort to scream louder than our neighbors. This process is devolving into Bully Politics.
We must learn to participate in a constructive way. We must voice positive solutions to our VERY REAL problems.
Americans pay three times what everyone else pays for prescription medicine. I would ask, "Why?" Are we subsidizing what the rest of the world pays or is their government picking up the difference with that country’s tax money? I don’t know, but I would like to know. And then discuss how or if we wish to change the way we do things. Why do some people scream about their taxes being too high but they see getting charged 300% of what everyone else pays as fair? I don’t understand that. Why are we always shooting ourselves in the foot over political philosophy?
Sixty percent of those who filed bankruptcy last year did so because of catastrophic medical expenses. Eighty percent of those had health insurance before they got sick. They got too sick to work and lost their health insurance. This can be fixed. We need to talk about how. I don’t hear this conversation taking place. This could happen to you. And when it does your children and grandchildren will regress economically because you have lost your economic foundation all due to holding on to a stubborn political philosophy.
The other thing that bothers me is the condescending attitude of some of my neighbors, “that the people that do not have health insurance do not have it because they do not work, because they are lazy.” Then my neighbors ask, “Why should I pay for their health insurance?” I would say to my neighbors that we all pay less when we are all contributing. How we get to the point of universal coverage can be reached in different ways. We need to discuss how we can reach that goal. Is every way of doing this a socialized approach? I don’t think it has to be.
I personally am not opposed to having a public option. It will not necessarily create the only option available to us. And its creation will not force Corporate Insurance providers out of business. (I know... we could argue this point alone for months to come.) It will most likely compel competition. It will, without a doubt, put downward pressure on service costs. What’s wrong with that? What it so patriotic about allowing corporate America to squeeze every last penny out of our pockets in the name of Political Philosophy?
The market place provides competition, I agree. Government, on the other hand provides regulation from allowing the power of corporate giants to smash us with their greed. We need both government and business. Allowing business to control the market place is no better than allowing government to stifle or replace the market place. If there is a government option it will have to compete with business. Greed and tyranny do need to be kept in check.
I am not standing behind any kind of government program that takes anything away from those who like things the way they are. I am, however advocating that we change things to fix problem areas. We can do this and we need to voice our opinions about how we can do this, not simply object to the solutions others have proposed.
Go to a public forum on health care reform and voice your constructive opinion. If all you’re going to do is complain, whine and disrupt the meeting I suggest you stay home and scream at your television.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Buy Organic Fair Trade coffee at Homeland Organic or visit us at the Owings Mills Farmers Market on Sunday Morning.
There seems to be deficiencies on both sides of this issue.
First, some voters I had a chance to talk to were swearing there were Mandatory requirements about “end of life” elements in this bill. So I asked myself if the writers of the bill were trying to slip one in on us or if something else was happening.
(I urge you to verify all that you hear or read in the media, including on this blog. And I encourage you to make a comment.)
So I went here to learn more
The Truth About Health Care
It seems as though there are well intentioned folks misreading the language of the bill. Or maybe there are mean spirited folk purposely twisting the truth trying to add confusion and fear into this process. Either way, I could not find the word “Mandatory” anywhere on page 425, or related to the topics covered there. The word Suicide or anything that implying it was not to be found there either.
Here is the text of the bill:
The actual bill
You should read it yourself.
More about the public forum, I was overwhelmed by the screaming and interruptions by opponents of this bill. I am not saying these people oppose health care reform. I did get the impression they wanted some kind of reform, but they were not discussing reform. They were attacking my representative, screaming, no chanting that he worked for them. I would like to inject that he works for all of us and must balance the wishes of those who want to pass this at all costs with those who want it to fail on partisan or philosophical grounds as well as with those who actually wish to discuss how to make this system better.
My intention here is not to support this specific bill’s language or to reject it outright. I personally like some aspects of this bill and wish to have other elements removed. I would ask my neighbor how his or her ideas fit into which of those categories. We will get nothing done if all we do is make an effort to scream louder than our neighbors. This process is devolving into Bully Politics.
We must learn to participate in a constructive way. We must voice positive solutions to our VERY REAL problems.
Americans pay three times what everyone else pays for prescription medicine. I would ask, "Why?" Are we subsidizing what the rest of the world pays or is their government picking up the difference with that country’s tax money? I don’t know, but I would like to know. And then discuss how or if we wish to change the way we do things. Why do some people scream about their taxes being too high but they see getting charged 300% of what everyone else pays as fair? I don’t understand that. Why are we always shooting ourselves in the foot over political philosophy?
Sixty percent of those who filed bankruptcy last year did so because of catastrophic medical expenses. Eighty percent of those had health insurance before they got sick. They got too sick to work and lost their health insurance. This can be fixed. We need to talk about how. I don’t hear this conversation taking place. This could happen to you. And when it does your children and grandchildren will regress economically because you have lost your economic foundation all due to holding on to a stubborn political philosophy.
The other thing that bothers me is the condescending attitude of some of my neighbors, “that the people that do not have health insurance do not have it because they do not work, because they are lazy.” Then my neighbors ask, “Why should I pay for their health insurance?” I would say to my neighbors that we all pay less when we are all contributing. How we get to the point of universal coverage can be reached in different ways. We need to discuss how we can reach that goal. Is every way of doing this a socialized approach? I don’t think it has to be.
I personally am not opposed to having a public option. It will not necessarily create the only option available to us. And its creation will not force Corporate Insurance providers out of business. (I know... we could argue this point alone for months to come.) It will most likely compel competition. It will, without a doubt, put downward pressure on service costs. What’s wrong with that? What it so patriotic about allowing corporate America to squeeze every last penny out of our pockets in the name of Political Philosophy?
The market place provides competition, I agree. Government, on the other hand provides regulation from allowing the power of corporate giants to smash us with their greed. We need both government and business. Allowing business to control the market place is no better than allowing government to stifle or replace the market place. If there is a government option it will have to compete with business. Greed and tyranny do need to be kept in check.
I am not standing behind any kind of government program that takes anything away from those who like things the way they are. I am, however advocating that we change things to fix problem areas. We can do this and we need to voice our opinions about how we can do this, not simply object to the solutions others have proposed.
Go to a public forum on health care reform and voice your constructive opinion. If all you’re going to do is complain, whine and disrupt the meeting I suggest you stay home and scream at your television.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Buy Organic Fair Trade coffee at Homeland Organic or visit us at the Owings Mills Farmers Market on Sunday Morning.
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