Breaking News Events [Archive] - Page 5

Greyson

12-13-2010, 11:43 AM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

December 12, 2010

LGBT Books Vandalized With Urine in Lamont Library

By Sirui Li, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Approximately 40 books dealing with LGBT issues were vandalized with what appeared to be urine in Lamont Library on November 24, according to a report filed Friday by the library security staff to the Harvard University Police Department.

HUPD spokesman Steven G. Catalano wrote in an e-mail that the vandalized books' subject matters included lesbian and gay issues and same-sex marriage. Due to the nature of books, HUPD is currently investigating the incident as a bias crime.

"The HUPD has zero tolerance for any bias-related incidents or crimes," Catalano said.

"Harvard College will not tolerate acts of vandalism, especially those that appear to be motivated by hate or bias," Harvard College Dean Evelynn M. Hammonds wrote in an e-mail to The Crimson. "[As] a community, we will continue to affirm our shared values of dignity and respect for everyone in our community."

The library staff members found an empty bottle next to the vandalized books that may have contained the urine, according to Harvard College Library spokeswoman Beth S. Brainard. The staff initially responded to the incident as a health hazard, quickly removing the bottle and relocating the damaged books to the Collections Conservation Lab on Level D of Widener Library.

Brainard said that the library staff assessed the value of the vandalized books before reporting the incident, accounting for the space of two weeks between the incident and the report to HUPD. The books—which Brainard estimated to be worth a few thousand dollars—will be discarded due to the severity of the damage.

"Once the urine is poured, they can’t really fix [the books]," she said.

It remains unclear whether Lamont will replace the books, since Widener usually has copies of the books in Lamont, according to Brainard.

Marco Chan '11, co-chair of the Harvard College Queer Students and Allies, called the incident "extremely frustrating" and "disconcerting," and said that it represents a concern not only for the LGBT community, but for the Harvard community at large.

"I am very outraged. It is hard to conceive this as a coincidence when there are 40 books on the same subject," Chan said. "The message that this incident sent to me is that we need more resources not only for the LGBT community but also targeted towards other people."

Chan suggested workshops on homosexual, bisexual, and transsexual issues—similar to the mandatory freshman orientation event Sex Signals—as one possible way to respond to the bias evidenced by the incident.

"Everyone in our community should know that they play an important role in adjusting homophobia," Chan said.

Books about LGBT issues are located on Level B of Lamont Library.

—Staff Writer Sirui Li can be reached at sli@college.harvard.edu.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/12/12/books-library-incident-community/

Greyson

12-13-2010, 02:45 PM

Africa's gays said to face increasing persecution

Monday, December 13, 2010

Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post

Kampala, Uganda -- Persecution of gays is intensifying across Africa, fueled by fundamentalist preachers, intolerant governments and homophobic politicians. Gay people have been denied access to health care, detained, tortured and even killed, human rights activists and witnesses say.

The growing tide of homophobia comes at a time when gays in Africa are expressing themselves more openly, prompting greater media attention and debates about homosexuality. The rapid growth of Islam and evangelical forms of Christianity, each espousing conservative views on family values and marriage, have convinced many Africans that homosexuality should not be tolerated in their societies.

"It has never been harder for gays and lesbians on the continent," said Monica Mbaru, Africa coordinator for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, based in Cape Town, South Africa. "Homophobia is on the rise."

Fearing for their lives, many activists are in hiding or have fled their countries.

In Uganda, a bill introduced in parliament last year would impose the death penalty for repeated same-sex relations and life imprisonment for other homosexual acts. Local newspapers are outing gays, potentially inciting the public to attack them, activists say.

A day after a newspaper article said gays should be hanged, Sheila Hope Mugisha became a target. As the prominent gay-rights activist neared her home, she said, boys from the neighborhood threw stones at the gate and chanted, "You are a homo." Mugisha ran inside and locked the door. She didn't leave for several days.

"Here, homosexuality is like you have killed someone," she said.

American gay activists have sent money to help the community in Uganda. Western governments, including aid donors, have vocally criticized the bill and denounced the treatment of gays.

More than two-thirds of African countries have laws criminalizing homosexuality. In May, a judge in Malawi imposed a maximum prison sentence of 14 years with hard labor on a gay couple convicted of "unnatural acts" for holding an engagement ceremony. Malawi's president pardoned the couple after international condemnation, particularly from Britain, Malawi's largest donor.

Gays have also been attacked this year in Zimbabwe, and in Senegal their graves have been desecrated. Gays in Cameroon have been attacked by police and targeted in the media. In Gambia, President Yahya Jammeh has vowed to expel gays from the country and urged citizens not to rent homes to them.

A survey by the Forum on Religion and Public Life released in April found that 79 percent of Ugandans consider "homosexual behavior morally wrong," with even higher percentages in other African nations.

One exception is South Africa, whose Constitution was the first in the world to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation and is among a few countries in the world that have legalized same-sex marriages. Still, even there, negative attitudes toward gays persist in many rural areas and townships.

Mbaru's organization has seen a 10 percent increase in reported attacks against gays in Africa in the past year, she said.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/13/MN9S1GPMDM.DTLThis article appeared on page A - 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle

katsarecool

12-13-2010, 03:03 PM

Greyson This is terrible!!! And as far as I know the US won't accept refugees for protection because they are gay! And Immigration won't allow for same-sex married partners to immigrate because they are married. This is one huge one step backwards.

ABCNews did a piece about this and found some of the evengelical ministers that helped spur on hatred of gays in Uganda and none of them were apologetic! Some Christian Minister eh?

Sparkle

12-14-2010, 10:07 AM

Are Gay Rights 'Civil Rights'?

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/12/14/are-gay-rights-civil-rights.html

/snip
As the fight over same-sex marriage and “don’t ask, don’t tell” rages in the courts, Congress, and the media, gay activists and their allies are invoking the language and imagery of the civil-rights battles of a half century ago.

And their efforts are changing the tenor of the debate. Sen. Joe Lieberman, calling for repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” told a Connecticut reporter earlier this month that the fight for gay rights is the new “front lines” of the civil-rights movement.

When President Obama included protections for gays and lesbians in federal hate-crime legislation earlier this year, the Associated Press called it “the biggest expansion of the civil-rights-era law in decades.”

And at last week’s federal appellate-court hearing in San Francisco on same-sex marriage, one of the judges pointedly asked whether California voters, whose 2008 passage of Proposition 8 stripped gays of the right to marry, were entitled to reinstate school segregation. “How is this different?”
/snip

Medusa

12-14-2010, 12:17 PM

A CURE for HIV!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/14/hiv-cure-berlin-patient_n_796521.html

katsarecool

12-14-2010, 12:28 PM

Amazing and thank you for this link!

Soon

12-14-2010, 07:25 PM

US will seek to have gay protection measure returned to UN resolution (http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/12/14/us-will-seek-to-have-gay-protection-measure-returned-to-un-resolution/)

The United States said on Friday that it would seek to have a reference to gays and lesbians returned to a UN resolution condemning violence.

Last month, a UN vote removed mention of gays and lesbians from a resolution which condemns extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions and other killings.

Arabic and African countries had lobbied for the amendment. The resolution explicitly mentions other minority statuses.

Gay rights campaigners said that the move would give a “green light” to homophobic countries to target LGBT people.

Speaking at a panel on Human Rights Day, US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said she was “incensed” at the vote.

“We are going to fight to restore the reference to sexual orientation,” she said.

“We’re going to stand firm on this basic principle. And we intend to win.”

The vote on this resolution is expected to come up in the General Assembly on 20 December 2010.

The resolution, which the UN votes on every two years, has contained a reference to lesbian and gay people since 1999. It condemns extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions and other killings.

It still includes references to a variety of other groups, such as human rights defenders, religious and ethnic minorities and street children.

Corkey

12-15-2010, 04:26 PM

The stand alone bill repealing DADT has passed the House.
On to the do nothing Senate......

MsTinkerbelly

12-15-2010, 05:31 PM

The stand alone bill repealing DADT has passed the House.
On to the do nothing Senate......

Prop 8 Trial Tracker ( A Little more info)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
House votes to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”; Courage Campaign to host conf. call with Rep. Patrick Murphy
By Adam Bink

Just now, the House voted to pass legislation repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. The vote count was 250-175, with 9 not voting. We got 10 more Republicans voting yea than in May, with 16 more yea votes overall than in May. I’ll have a full list of the yeas and nays when it’s available.

Tonight at 4 PM PST/7 PM EST, Courage Campaign will be hosting a post-vote strategy conference call with Rep. Patrick Murphy, an Iraq veteran and the lead sponsor and advocate in the House, to discuss the most important next steps for advocates and what the landscape looks like in the Senate. And you’re all invited! Click here to obtain the call-in number.

http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/UrgentDADTCall

I will be updating this post with reactions and further info on the timeline. One good update- Sen. Snowe announced she will vote to repeal DADT.

See you on the call

Nat

12-16-2010, 09:17 AM

Just received this email from one of my senators :( (by the way, I did not write to him as "Mr." anything.

*
Dear Mr. _______,
*
Thank you for contacting me about current Department of Defense (DoD) policy regarding sexual orientation and military service. *I appreciate having the benefit of your comments on this matter.
*
As you know, in 1993, Congress passed legislation to codify the existing military “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT) policy, which governs homosexuals serving in the Armed Forces. *This policy has served our nation well, and I oppose any effort to repeal it. *The readiness of our Armed Forces must always be the foremost consideration in any decision regarding military personnel policies, especially as our troops are serving in harm’s way in two active theaters of conflict. *Now is not the time to increase the level of stress on our force through such a dramatic policy change.
*
Moreover, as you may know, three of the four military service chiefs recently testified before Congress as to their clear reservations with repealing the policy at the present time. *I believe that it would be a profound mistake to disregard the informed opinion of these military leaders, and I am deeply concerned by the blatant disregard that some members of Congress have shown to their concerns by including provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 (H.R. 5136; S. 3454) that would repeal this law. *For these reasons, I opposed the motion to proceed to consideration of S. 3454, and I will continue to oppose the attempt to repeal the DADT policy.
*
The United States Government has no higher purpose than keeping the American people safe from harm. *Our national security depends on the ability of our Armed Forces’ to maintain military readiness at all times. *The linchpin of military readiness lies in maintaining cohesive units consisting of competent, fully trained personnel who share a sense of common purpose and confidence in their unit’s ability to accomplish its mission. *Our Armed Forces recruit the finest individuals possible and help them develop into world-class Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines.
*
My father served in the military for thirty-one years, and I was privileged to grow up around men and women dedicated to protecting our country. *As such, I remain committed to ensuring that our military is the best-trained, best-equipped force in the world and able to maintain a strong national defense. *I appreciate your thoughts regarding current military policies, and you may be certain that I will keep your views in mind as these matters are discussed. *Thank you for taking the time to contact me.
*
Sincerely,
JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator
*
*
517 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-2934
Fax: (202) 228-2856
http://www.cornyn.senate.gov
*
Please sign up for my monthly newsletter at http://www.cornyn.senate.gov/newsletter.
*
PLEASE NOTE:
Due to the nature of electronic communication, if you did not receive this e-mail directly from my office, I cannot guarantee that the text has not been altered. *If you have questions about the validity of this message, or would like to respond to this message, please use the web form available at my website, http://www.cornyn.senate.gov/contact.

Greyson

12-16-2010, 10:13 AM

New York Times

December 15, 2010

In France, Civil Unions Gain Favor Over Marriage
By SCOTT SAYARE and MAÏA DE LA BAUME

PARIS — Some are divorced and disenchanted with marriage; others are young couples ideologically opposed to marriage, but eager to lighten their tax burdens. Many are lovers not quite ready for old-fashioned matrimony.

Whatever their reasons, and they vary widely, French couples are increasingly shunning traditional marriages and opting instead for civil unions, to the point that there are now two civil unions for every three marriages.

When France created its system of civil unions in 1999, it was heralded as a revolution in gay rights, a relationship almost like marriage, but not quite. No one, though, anticipated how many couples would make use of the new law. Nor was it predicted that by 2009, the overwhelming majority of civil unions would be between straight couples.

It remains unclear whether the idea of a civil union, called a pacte civil de solidarité, or PACS, has responded to a shift in social attitudes or caused one. But it has proved remarkably well suited to France and its particularities about marriage, divorce, religion and taxes — and it can be dissolved with just a registered letter.

“We’re the generation of divorced parents,” explained Maud Hugot, 32, an aide at the Health Ministry who signed a PACS with her girlfriend, Nathalie Mondot, 33, this year. Expressing a view that researchers say is becoming commonplace among same-sex couples and heterosexuals alike, she added, “The notion of eternal marriage has grown obsolete.”

France recognizes only “citizens,” and the country’s legal principles hold that special rights should not be accorded to particular groups or ethnicities. So civil unions, which confer most of the tax benefits and legal protections of marriage, were made available to everyone. (Marriage, on the other hand, remains restricted to heterosexuals.) But the attractiveness of civil unions to heterosexual couples was evident from the start. In 2000, just one year after the passage of the law, more than 75 percent of civil unions were signed between heterosexual couples. That trend has only strengthened since then: of the 173,045 civil unions signed in 2009, 95 percent were between heterosexual couples.

“It’s becoming more and more commonplace,” said Laura Anicet, 24, a student who signed a PACS last month with her 29-year-old boyfriend, Cyril Reich. “For me, before, the PACS was for homosexual couples.”

As with traditional marriages, civil unions allow couples to file joint tax returns, exempt spouses from inheritance taxes, permit partners to share insurance policies, ease access to residency permits for foreigners and make partners responsible for each other’s debts. Concluding a civil union requires little more than a single appearance before a judicial official, and ending one is even easier.

It long ago became common here to speak of “getting PACSed” (se pacser, in French). More recently, wedding fairs have been renamed to include the PACS, department stores now offer PACS gift registries and travel agencies offer PACS honeymoon packages.

Even the Roman Catholic Church, which initially condemned the partnerships as a threat to the institution of marriage, has relented; the National Confederation of Catholic Family Associations now says civil unions do not pose “a real threat.”

While the partnerships have exploded in popularity, marriage numbers have continued a long decline in France, as across Europe. Just 250,000 French couples married in 2009, with fewer than four marriages per 1,000 residents; in 1970, almost 400,000 French couples wed.

Germany, too, has seen a similar plunge in marriage rates. In 2009, there were just over four marriages per 1,000 residents compared with more than seven per 1,000 in 1970. In the United States, the current rate is 6.8 per 1,000 residents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

France is not the only European nation to allow civil unions between straight couples, but in the few countries that do — Luxembourg, Andorra, the Netherlands — they are not as popular. In the Netherlands in 2009, for example, there was just one civil union for every eight marriages.

If current trends continue in France, new civil unions could soon outnumber marriages, as they already do in Paris’s youthful 11th Arrondissement.

François Lambert, 28, and his girlfriend, Maud Moulin, 27, signed a civil union in 2007 for what he described as logistical reasons. Both public schoolteachers, they would be assured of postings to the same district only if they filed joint tax returns, which civil unions allow.

“We didn’t have time to prepare for a marriage,” he said. “It was a question of speed.”

Sophie Lazzaro, 48, an event planner in Paris, signed a civil union in 2006 with her longtime companion, Thierry Galissant, who is 50. (She said she was drawn to a civil union largely for the legal protections and stability it offered.)

“I have two daughters, and if something happens to me, I want us to stay together as a family,” she said. “But without getting married.”

In addition to their practical advantages, she said, civil unions are ideologically suited to her generation, which came of age after the social rebellions of the 1960s. “We were very free,” she said. “AIDS didn’t exist, we had the pill, we didn’t have to fight. We were the first generation to enjoy all of this.” She added, “Marriage has a side that’s very institutional and very square and religious, which didn’t fit for us.”

Though French marriages are officially concluded in civil ceremonies held in town halls, not in churches, marriage is still viewed here as a “heavy and invasive” institution with deep ties to Christianity, said Wilfried Rault, a sociologist at the National Institute for Demographic Studies.

“Marriage bears the traces of a religious imprint,” he said, often anathema in a country where secularism has long been treated as a sacred principle. “It’s really an ideological slant, saying, ‘No one is going to tell me what I have to do.’ ”

For some, civil unions are simply a form of premarital engagement. Ms. Anicet, the student, said she and her boyfriend would probably be married were they not of different religions. She is Catholic, he is Jewish, and his mother disapproves of marrying outside the faith, Ms. Anicet said.

“We’re realizing that this is a test,” she said, “a way to get our families used to it.”

Though the two had considered a civil union for tax reasons, now “it’s a jumping-off point to getting married, later,” she said, adding after a pause, “I hope.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/world/europe/16france.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp

MsTinkerbelly

12-17-2010, 11:08 AM

Sen. Reid schedules Saturday cloture vote on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal
By Adam Bink

Just this evening, Sen. Reid filed cloture on DADT repeal, paving the way for a Saturday vote.

The time period delay is because the cloture motions have to “ripen” or “mature” (one of the quirky parts of the Senate) for a few days until the vote can be taken. On Saturday, the Senate will vote first on the DREAM Act (on which Reid also filed cloture), and if it does not pass, will proceed immediately to a vote on DADT repeal. If the cloture vote, which requires 60 votes to pass, succeeds, then there will be 30 hours of debate until the final vote. The 30 hours can be waived if DADT repeal opponents agree to do so, but that remains to be seen.

Also, concerns that Sen. Wyden would miss the votes because of impending surgery are lessened, as he announced he would make both votes. There is a concern, though, that because Scott Brown said he would only support cloture if tax AND government spending legislation were enacted, and Reid just pulled the omnibus spending bill from the floor for lack of support, that Brown may not come through. However, Collins, Murkowski and Snowe haven’t (so far) made any such conditions, so we may still have 60 (and perhaps more, as Lieberman has hinted).

This is very good news, though, as he’s perhaps listened to Sen. Lieberman’s call today to put repeal ahead of the new START treaty. This is a wiser move on the merits.

So, stay tuned for a busy Saturday, and perhaps an early one for those of you on the West Coast. I’ll be up and Adam (rimshot!) blogging the coverage as usual.

Update: I should clarify that the above schedule assumes the DREAM vote will fail. If it passes, they go 30 hours of debate, have a final vote on the DREAM Act, then vote on cloture for DADT repeal, go 30 hours, vote. So, a vote on DADT repeal could come as early as Saturday depending on what happens with the DREAM Act, but it could also be Sunday.

Update 2: To answer another procedural question, the 30 hours encompasses time for consideration, not just debate. E.g., if they go into quorum call and everyone just mills about, that counts against the 30 hours. So do motions, parliamentary inquiries, etc. So don’t expect 30 hours of Senators talking non-stop with the clock stopping and starting.

Update 3: Another question on amendments. Under Senate Rule XXII, amendments have to be filed by 1 PM on the day following the filing of the cloture petition. E.g., 1 PM tomorrow. It appears that Reid filled the amendment tree has been filled so no hostile amendments at all (read: fun and games from Sen. McCain) will be allowed. You can motion to suspend Rule XXII and allow late amendments, etc., but that requires 67 votes to pass and is unlikely. So, it looks like we’ll be fine on the poison pill amendment front.

MsTinkerbelly

12-17-2010, 11:10 AM

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” cloture vote and the story on amendments
By Adam Bink

The most common question asked lately about the impending Senate vote this weekend is “will there be amendments/poison pills that could screw the whole thing up”?

The short answer is no. Sen. Reid, using his prerogative as Majority Leader, has filled the “amendment tree“, which precludes other Senators from offering amendments. Filling the tree generally means blocking anyone from offering anything. The Majority Leader uses his preferential recognition to file friendly or even pro-forma amendments solely for the purpose of blocking anyone else from offering friendly or hostile amendments. A brief explanation from CRS (via, oh noes, Wikileaks!):

”Amendment trees” are charts that illustrate certain principles of precedence which guide the Senate amendment process. When all of the amendments permitted simultaneously by these principles have been offered and are pending, an amendment tree is said to be ”filled,” and no additional amendments may be offered until one or more of those pending is disposed of or laid aside. Given that the presiding officer traditionally affords the Senate majority leader or his designee priority over all others in being recognized, a majority leader can repeatedly secure recognition and ”fill the amendment tree” himself by sequentially offering all of the amendments permitted under applicable circumstances. By doing so, a leader can ”freeze” the amendment process in place, blocking additional floor amendments, at least temporarily. A majority leader might ”fill the tree” in this way to prevent the offering of or voting on of non-germane amendments, to try speed consideration of a measure, or to control the subject or sequence of amendments that may be offered.

[...]

A Senator, particularly the majority leader, might pursue a strategy of “filling the amendment tree” for several reasons, including preventing non-germane (and perhaps politically controversial) amendments to a measure from being offered or voted upon;

attempting to expedite overall Senate consideration of legislation by limiting the overall number of amendments offered;

[...]

After filling an amendment tree, the majority leader may file a cloture petition, either on a pending amendment or on the underlying measure. If cloture is invoked on the measure, not only does it establish a 30-hour limit for further consideration of the bill, it limits amendments that may be offered to those that are germane and any pending nongermane amendments fall. By keeping a tree full until cloture is invoked, a majority leader may be able to prevent action on a pending non-germane amendment, prevent all non-germane amendments from being offered, or limit the consideration of additional amendments altogether.

According to the Senate calendar, Sen. Reid filled the amendment tree last night, which means no room for McCain to offer “poison pill” amendments that could sink the whole bill. You can always try to offer a motion to suspend Rule XXII, which governs cloture, and allow late amendments, etc., but such a motion would need 2/3rds (67 Senators) and is unlikely to happen.

Of course, Sen. Scott Brown’s spokesperson said “if and when a clean repeal bill comes up for a vote, he will support it”, so if the Majority Leader has any substantive amendments that are added that could complicate matters, but if they are merely pro-forma amendments for the purpose of blocking hostile amendments and we get a clean, straight up-or-down vote, then the chance increases that cloture would be invoked on the bill. But the bottom line is that, as David Waldman over at DKos notes, there will be a “straight shot” at the issue as hostile amendments are blocked.

katsarecool

12-17-2010, 01:41 PM

Jon Stweart interviews four First Responders to 9/11 and they discuss their illnesses and the deaths of others since 9/11 to cancer, heart disease, lung problems etc. And what it is like trying to get and maintain their lives on Workers Compensation. If this does not make us angry nothing will. Rep Senators have blocked the bill that would assist our First Responders! Freaking lame assed politicians make me angry!

YouTube - Jon Stewart Interviews Four Patriots: 9/11 First Responders.Please Respond Senate

MsTinkerbelly

12-17-2010, 03:25 PM

Breaking News:President Obama signs bill to extend tax cuts

Big shock....not

Sparkle

12-18-2010, 11:01 AM

Senate paves the way (via cloture vote) for final vote on the repeal of DADT

vote 63-33 in favour of repeal

http://www.towleroad.com/2010/12/dadt-vote.html

Julie

12-18-2010, 11:10 AM

VICTORY for US!

WASHINGTON – The Senate today took a monumental step toward repealing the military’s discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that prevents gay and lesbian troops from serving openly.

In a procedural matter called cloture, the Senate voted 63-33 to limit debate on DADT.

A final vote on DADT will be called by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sometime today or soon thereafter. The chances of passage are now greatly improved.

During the limited debate this morning, each side reiterated the familiar arguments. Opponents of repeal such as Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., tried to convince his colleagues that the world will end if the military stops discriminating against gays and lesbians. Other Republican senators ignored the overwhelming evidence supporting repeal, produced in the Pentagon's exhaustive study of troops, and dug deep to find obscure statistics to justify the continuation of the policy.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., made the most compelling argument for repeal when he noted that the first American soldier wounded during the Iraq War was Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, a gay Marine who lost a leg when he stepped on a land mine.

“That mine didn’t care if he was gay or straight,” Levin said.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., pointed out that 14,000 gay and lesbian troops have been discharged under DADT, including many linguists who are vital in the war against terror.

Miss Scarlett

12-18-2010, 01:01 PM

OMG, they had cloture?!? That is amazing! The vote is at 3 PM EST today. Hoping it will be on C-Span.

Miss Scarlett

12-18-2010, 02:25 PM

DADT - final vote in Senate happening now. Watching on C-Span 2

christie

12-18-2010, 02:27 PM

DADT - final vote in Senate happening now. Watching on C-Span 2

I'm watching too... seems to be dragging on forevah!!

Miss Scarlett

12-18-2010, 02:30 PM

Motion passed 65 - 31

Corkey

12-18-2010, 02:31 PM

65-31
Motion to repeal DADT passes!

christie

12-18-2010, 02:38 PM

Motion passed 65 - 31

65-31
Motion to repeal DADT passes!

:party: This is great news!

Greyson

12-18-2010, 02:42 PM

Today is very big news indeed. One more step toward full equality.

Oiler41

12-18-2010, 04:32 PM

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a great day! I served in fear of being discovered back in the 80's. I marched as part of the Uniformed Color Guard at the March on Washington in 1993 when the theme was to "Lift the Ban on Gays in the Military" and now here we are, 17 plus years later and it is finally a reality!! A huge day in history for GLBT Service Members and Veterans!

Glynn

Leigh

12-18-2010, 06:20 PM

Good news for the day, DADT gone bye bye :)

Kobi

12-18-2010, 07:16 PM

This is great news....even if I had to look up what cloture meant.

Now the part of me that doesnt trust politicians has 2 questions:

1. Anybody have a clue why there was this sudden change in heart? Was there some trade off here?

2. Is there anything that can throw a wrench in this at this point?

Corkey

12-18-2010, 07:52 PM

Soon

12-18-2010, 08:22 PM

More than 13,500 service members have been dismissed under the 1993 law.

"It is time to close this chapter in our history," Obama said in a statement. "It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed."

Nat

12-20-2010, 03:20 PM

If you want to know how your senators voted on the repeal of DADT

State Senator How They Voted
AK Begich (D) For Repeal
AK Murkowski (R) For Repeal
AL Sessions (R) Against Repeal
AL Shelby (R) Against Repeal
AR Lincoln (D) For Repeal
AR Pryor (D) For Repeal
AZ McCain (R) Against Repeal
AZ Kyl (R) Against Repeal
CA Boxer (D) For Repeal
CA Feinstein (D) For Repeal
CO Bennet (D) For Repeal
CO Udall (D) For Repeal
CT Dodd (D) For Repeal
CT Lieberman (I) For Repeal
DE Carper (D) For Repeal
DE Coons (D) For Repeal
FL LeMieux (R) Against Repeal
FL Nelson (D) For Repeal
GA Chambliss (R) Against Repeal
GA Isakson (R) Against Repeal
HI Akaka (D) For Repeal
HI Inouye (D) For Repeal
IA Grassley (R) Against Repeal
IA Harkin (D) For Repeal
ID Crapo (R) Against Repeal
ID Risch (R) Against Repeal
IL Durbin (D) For Repeal
IL Kirk (R) For Repeal
IN Bayh (D) For Repeal
IN Lugar (R) Against Repeal
KS Brownback (R) Against Repeal
KS Roberts (R) Against Repeal
KY Bunning (R) Did Not Vote
KY McConnell (R) Against Repeal
LA Landrieu (D) For Repeal
LA Vitter (R) Against Repeal
MA Brown (R) For Repeal
MA Kerry (D) For Repeal
MD Cardin (D) For Repeal
MD Mikulski (D) For Repeal
ME Collins (R) For Repeal
ME Snowe (R) For Repeal
MI Levin (D) For Repeal
MI Stabenow (D) For Repeal
MN Franken (D) For Repeal
MN Klobuchar (D) For Repeal
MO Bond (R) Against Repeal
MO McCaskill (D) For Repeal
MS Cochran (R) Against Repeal
MS Wicker (R) Against Repeal
MT Baucus (D) For Repeal
MT Tester (D) For Repeal
NC Burr (R) For Repeal
NC Hagan (D) For Repeal
ND Conrad (D) For Repeal
ND Dorgan (D) For Repeal
NE Johanns (R) Against Repeal
NE Nelson (D) For Repeal
NH Gregg (R) Did Not Vote
NH Shaheen (D) For Repeal
NJ Lautenberg (D) For Repeal
NJ Menendez (D) For Repeal
NM Bingaman (D) For Repeal
NM Udall (D) For Repeal
NV Ensign (R) For Repeal
NV Reid (D) For Repeal
NY Gillibrand (D) For Repeal
NY Schumer (D) For Repeal
OH Brown (D) For Repeal
OH Voinovich (R) For Repeal
OK Coburn (R) Against Repeal
OK Inhofe (R) Against Repeal
OR Merkley (D) For Repeal
OR Wyden (D) For Repeal
PA Casey (D) For Repeal
PA Specter (D) For Repeal
RI Reed (D) For Repeal
RI Whitehouse (D) For Repeal
SC DeMint (R) Against Repeal
SC Graham (R) Against Repeal
SD Johnson (D) For Repeal
SD Thune (R) Against Repeal
TN Alexander (R) Against Repeal
TN Corker (R) Against Repeal
TX Cornyn (R) Against Repeal
TX Hutchinson (R) Against Repeal
UT Bennett (R) Against Repeal
UT Hatch (R) Did Not Vote
VA Warner (D) For Repeal
VA Webb (D) For Repeal
VT Leahy (D) For Repeal
VT Sanders (I) For Repeal
WA Cantwell (D) For Repeal
WA Murray (D) For Repeal
WI Feingold (D) For Repeal
WI Kohl (D) For Repeal
WV Manchin (D) Did Not Vote
WV Rockefeller (D) For Repeal
WY Barrasso (R) Against Repeal
WY Enzi (R) Against Repeal

I'm kinda feeling like sending handmade valentines this year to those who voted for the repeal and maybe for those who abstained too.

MsDemeanor

12-21-2010, 02:38 AM

My Senators are Boxer and Feinstein, and my Rep is Woolsey; it's generally not necessary to check a list to see how they voted 'cause they tend to do the correct thing :thumbsup:

I should probably drop a couple thank you notes...

Nat

12-21-2010, 11:13 AM

I live in Texas so I don't generally have to look to know they probably did the incorrect thing. :/

Greyson

12-21-2010, 11:56 AM

According to Census Bureau data released Tuesday morning, Texas will gain 4 congressional seats. Florida will gain 2 seats. Arizona, Georgia, South Carolina, Utah, Washington and Nevada will each gain an additional congressional district.

New York and Ohio will each lose two congressional seats. Eight states will lose one congressional district in reapportionment: Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan and New Jersey.

http://www.politico.com/arena/

The population shifts to Republican-leaning states are clearly good news for the GOP.

MsDemeanor

12-21-2010, 12:28 PM

I demand a recount......

Greyson

12-21-2010, 01:57 PM

Fresh Off ‘Don’t Ask’ Win, Gay-Rights Groups Look Ahead
By Bennett Roth
Dec. 20, 2010, 6:05 p.m.

The repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy” has boosted the spirits of gay-rights activists, but it is not expected to bolster the rest of their legislative agenda, which likely will hit roadblocks in the 112th Congress.

Lobbyists for gay-rights organizations say that next year they will focus on unfinished business including employment nondiscrimination legislation, providing domestic partnership benefits to federal workers and repealing the Defense of Marriage Act.

But they are not optimistic that Republican leaders in the House will push through their issues.

“I don’t think they will go negative on us. I just think they will not do anything to bring about positive change,” said Fred Sainz, the vice president for communications and marketing for the Human Rights Campaign, the largest gay-rights organization.

Some of the activists’ priorities, such as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, have been lingering for years. The House passed a version of ENDA in 2007, but a revised measure that included protections for transgendered people did not make it out of committee this year.

Sainz said his group will focus more on executive branch agencies to pursue equality issues for gay people as well as lobbying at the state level for passage of laws allowing gay marriage. Outside the legislative arena, HRC is pushing more companies to enact gay-friendly policies, such as domestic partner benefits.

R. Clarke Cooper, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, said GOPers have made it clear they will focus more on fiscal rather than social issues next year.

But he added that Republicans may be receptive to legislation that deals with taxes, such as extending tax breaks on health benefits for partners of employees.

Cooper cited as progress the fact that many Republicans have become more comfortable with having gay advocates in their midst, noting that his group participated in the Young Guns events spearheaded by GOP House leaders during the 2010 midterm campaigns.

Cooper also said he has met several times with Speaker-designate John Boehner (R-Ohio), including having his first conversation with the leader at a fundraiser at the Capitol Hill Club.

“He said, ‘Not everyone can be a Susan Collins or Ileana Ros-Lehtinen,’” said Cooper, referring to two socially moderate Republicans, the Maine Senator and Florida House Member, who voted for the repeal.

Cooper said Log Cabin agreed to help raise money and work on behalf of certain Republican candidates. In return, Cooper said, he asked that Republican leaders convey to social conservatives in the party that “if they had nothing nice to say about gays and lesbians that they say nothing at all.”

And a number of conservative Republicans, including Rep. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Sen. Richard Burr (N.C.), surprised gay activists in their support of the DADT repeal.

The Log Cabin Republicans had also successfully sued in federal court in California to overturn the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Cooper said that his group would likely wait to drop the suit until after the Pentagon completes its implementation of the new policy, which could take months.

Before the repeal is officially dropped, the president, the defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff must certify that the military is ready for the change.

Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which has been active in pushing for the repeal, said his group will now pivot to monitoring the certification process.

Sarvis added that the Pentagon should not prolong the next stage. “They’ve had 10 months to work on these things,” he said.

In the past year, gay-rights lobbyists have spent much of their time and financial resources on fighting to repeal the Clinton-era policy banning openly gay people from serving in the military.

HRC spent $3.5 million on its lobbying efforts, the most ever for any advocacy campaign spearheaded by the association, Sainz said.

He added that the Senate’s approval of the repeal should bolster the group’s fundraising among donors who might otherwise have been dispirited if the measure had failed.

Raising money, however, will be more difficult for groups whose mission has been primarily advocating on behalf of gay members of the military.

“This will definitely change the fundraising calculus for us,” said Alex Nicholson, the executive director of Servicemembers United, a group that advocates on behalf of gay soldiers. Nicholson said about half the group’s funds come from gay foundations.

But he added that his group will still play a major role providing support for gay military members, who now may feel more free to join such an association.

Nicholson, who tangled with some of the other gay-rights groups, said the lobbying campaign was challenging. Part of the difficulty, he said, was having to “cut through the inter-organizational politics.”

“Various groups can be vicious sometimes,” he said, referring to arguments about “who’s going to stand next to whom.”

Other gay-rights lobbyists, however, complained that Nicholson, who criticized Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for his strategy, was often impolitic in his public comments.

There were also disputes among gay-rights groups over whether celebrities such as Lady Gaga helped their cause by publicly lobbying for the repeal.

Despite the lobbying challenges, gay activists see the final results as historic.

“I liken what happened on Saturday to the Berlin Wall coming down,” Sainz said.

http://www.rollcall.com/news/-201746-1.html

Corkey

12-21-2010, 02:06 PM

I do not trust republicans, even log cabin ones.

Greyson

12-21-2010, 02:12 PM

I do not trust republicans, even log cabin ones.

Fair enough. I am not a Republican and I am weary of Republicans and Democrats. However, I put my vote with the lesser of two evils.

Corkey

12-21-2010, 02:41 PM

http://www.broadbandforamerica.com/blog/baker-fcc-regulating-internet-because-it-wants

And look what an Obama appointee just did.

atomiczombie

12-21-2010, 02:43 PM

Fair enough. I am not a Republican and I am weary of Republicans and Democrats. However, I put my vote with the lesser of two evils.

I don't trust either party as well. The lesser of two evils is no choice, as far as I am concerned. I am with the Green Party for this reason. I don't agree with everything on the platform, but if no one supports a 3rd party like the Greens, how will there ever be an alternative? I say if you don't like the democrats then don't be one. Seems to me they get more and more conservative as time goes by, and cave to the republicans instead of making a stand and fighting for their convictions. I question whether their convictions really mean anything to them anymore. And yes, some Dems are a lot better than others. But most compromise way too much and do a disservice to their constituents. Just my .02

Greyson

12-21-2010, 02:55 PM

I don't trust either party as well. The lesser of two evils is no choice, as far as I am concerned. I am with the Green Party for this reason. I don't agree with everything on the platform, but if no one supports a 3rd party like the Greens, how will there ever be an alternative? I say if you don't like the democrats then don't be one. Seems to me they get more and more conservative as time goes by, and cave to the republicans instead of making a stand and fighting for their convictions. I question whether their convictions really mean anything to them anymore. And yes, some Dems are a lot better than others. But most compromise way too much and do a disservice to their constituents. Just my .02

Drew, with the recent abolishment of the closed primaries here in the State of California, I am more willing to vote my concious instead of straight down the party line. There have been a few times I could not vote straight party and in those cases, I could not bring myself to vote for "other" either. Not all elected positions are partisan. For example City Council races. Thanks for putting in your 2 cents.

Greyson

12-21-2010, 03:19 PM

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Come Back?
Congress voted to repeal DADT. Can gay soldiers who were discharged under the old rules re-enlist?

Brian Palmer

Dec. 20, 2010

The Senate voted to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on Saturday after weeks of wrangling. More than 13,000 service members have been fired since that rule came into effect in 1993. Can those people re-enlist?

Probably. For the past 17 years, service members discharged for homosexual conduct have been permanently barred from the military, even if they swore that their sexual preference had changed. During that time, Congress has considered several bills to repeal DADT, many of which would have explicitly permitted discharged service members to rejoin. (The process is technically called reaccession.) In the end, the bare-bones legislation that Congress is about to send to the president punts the re-enlistment issue to the Pentagon. We don't yet know for sure how the secretary of defense will handle the discharged soldiers, but the military's November report (PDF) supporting repeal recommended that they be permitted to come back. Secretary Gates commissioned the report and has so far endorsed its findings.

Any plan to take back dismissed soldiers may run into snags with the paperwork. Most gay people released under DADT received what's called an involuntary honorable discharge, which also applies to personnel with mental health problems or parental duties that preclude military service. Those who receive an involuntary honorable discharge are usually assigned the RE-4 re-enlistment code, which means they're not allowed to come back.

It's not clear how the Pentagon is going to work around this bureaucratic problem. Normally, each branch of the service would draft its own set of rules, but General James F. Amos, the top man in the Marines, has been less than enthusiastic about repealing the policy. Secretary Gates may have to issue a special blanket rule that either alters the re-enlistment codes after the fact for fired gay soldiers, or instructs recruiters to ignore the code when the reason for discharge was homosexual conduct.In any case, gay soldiers who wanted to return would have to be otherwise eligible for active service. For example, the maximum age for enlistment is between 27 and 42, depending on the branch, so a man who was discharged in 1994 might now be too old to get back into uniform. (Age waivers are sometimes available.) Soldiers who gained weight during their involuntary retirement years may also find it impossible to re-enlist.

Aside from special permission to reenlist, fired gay soldiers shouldn't expect any special favors or apologies from Uncle Sam. The Pentagon's recent report considered and rejected calls for compensation for those discharged under DADT. Nor will the military give returning service members credit for the years spent living the civilian life, so anyone who rejoins will have to go back to the pay grade he or she left with, and work the same number of years to qualify for retirement benefits.

Will married gay soldiers get spousal benefits? Not the good ones. Certain military benefits, like family health insurance and additional housing allowances, are limited to service members with dependents. The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act legally bars the military from treating gay partners as dependents, even if they wed in a gay-marriage-friendly state. Gay service members will be able to grab a few extra perks. Many of them are now afraid to add their partner as a life insurance beneficiary, since it might tip the military off about their sexual preference. Once DADT is repealed, they can designated whomever they like. In addition, the November Pentagon report recommended extending a small category of benefits, like free legal services, to same-sex partners.

Will repealing DADT cost us anything? Yes. According to the Pentagon report, same-sex partner benefits, education and training programs on how to behave in a fully integrated military will cost up to $60 million annually. (That figure includes "minor privacy accommodations"—like shower curtains.) On the other hand, the military will save $20 million on recruiting and training replacements for discharged gay soldiers.

Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2278627/

Soon

12-21-2010, 03:23 PM

Not breaking news just yet...but oh please happen!

-------------------------

from joemygod: (http://joemygod.blogspot.com/)

Wonkette reports that outing kingpin Mike Rogers finally has the goods on Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Lindsey Graham, South Carolina’s favorite lifelong bachelor and former military prosecutor, is always reliably against homosexuals having any basic human rights in America because Lindsey’s a Republican, y’all. Anyway, famous outer-of-self-hating-queers Mike Rogers says he’s got pictures of one of Lindsey’s boy toys leaving Lindsey’s house. This would be SHOCKING because come on, everybody knows Republicans cannot be gay because Jesus did not make gays.

Mike Rogers has a 100% track record for correctly outing anti-gay closet cases. He's never been proven wrong.

from Wonkette (http://wonkette.com/433064/loathsome-southern-dandy-lindsey-graham-about-to-be-outed#more-433064):

Lindsey Graham, South Carolina’s favorite lifelong bachelor and former military prosecutor, is always reliably against homosexuals having any basic human rights in America because Lindsey’s a Republican, y’all. Anyway, famous outer-of-self-hating-queers Mike Rogers says he’s got pictures of one of Lindsey’s boy toys leaving Lindsey’s house. This would be SHOCKING because come on, everybody knows Republicans cannot be gay because Jesus did not make gays.

Mike Rogers says on his Twitter:

I wonder if Lindsey Graham knows I have pictures of a man who spent the night at his house. pls RT
– 10:57 AM Dec 18th

Just reached lawyer at home. Meeting set for Tues. on releasing pix of man who spent night at Lindsey Graham’s.
– 11:05 AM Dec 18th

Corkey

12-21-2010, 03:27 PM

Why am I not surprised.

Mitmo01

12-21-2010, 04:50 PM

Toughy

12-21-2010, 05:03 PM

Senator Graham is 'best buds' with Senator John McCain and has been for several years..........

<snicker>

Corkey

12-21-2010, 05:13 PM

http://www.sdgln.com/news/2010/12/21/breaking-news-un-says-it-s-not-ok-kill-people-because-they-are-gay

It's a busy news day.

UofMfan

12-22-2010, 07:15 AM

Target Continues To Make The Political Donations They Had Previously Apologized For Making

jason@huffingtonpost.com | HuffPost Reporting

First Posted: 12-21-10 06:39 PM | Updated: 12-21-10 06:39 PM

This past fall, mega-retailer Target caught a heap of bad publicity when it was revealed that they had made campaign donations in support of then-Minnesota gubernatorial hopeful Tom Emmer, whose hostility to the LGBT community began "with opposition to same-sex marriage and runs through to wholesale denial of equal rights and alliances with organizations whose takes on the gay community neatly align with those Ugandan madmen." Target CEO Greg Steinhafel was forced to make an apology, and promised to begin a "review process for future political donations."

Over at The Awl, Abram Sauer, who covered this story thoroughly during the election season, has made a review of this review process. You'll never guess what he found out!

According to documents filed with the FEC in October 2010, Target continued donating to a bevy of anti-gay politicians even after Steinhafel apologized and committed to reforming the review process for future political donations. These donations even included some of the same anti-gay politicians the company had already been criticized for supporting.

Here's a taste of the specifics:

After Steinhafel's August 5 letter, Target's Political Action Committee, helmed by the former right hand of Senator Thune, Matt Zabel, recorded $41,200 in federal election activity. Of that total, $31,200 went to anti-gay rights politicians or PACs supporting those candidates.

Supporters of gay equality did get some money. In September, Target PAC gave $1,000 to Chuck Schumer. It also sent a whole $500 to Keith Ellison, the Minnesota Congressman that anti-gay leader Bradley Dean accuses of supporting LGBT rights as a way to bring Sharia law to America.

But donations such as $1,000 to Kelly Ayotte (reported on September 22), who resigned her state post in protest of the legalization of gay marriage and same sex adoption, are far more the norm.

That same day, there is a record of a donation by Target PAC to Spencer Bachus, who voted to ban same-sex adoption. Michigan's David Camp, who, in addition to supporting a Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage, voted against protecting gays from job discrimination based on sexual orientation, also reported money. Through October, Target PAC thousands of dollars in donations were recorded to Michael Crapo and Dave Reichert, both supporters of anti-gay Constitutional amendments, and Rob Portman, a supporter of banning gays from adopting. Portman's position on other gay rights won't surprise. On October 4, a donation was reported: $2,000 to David Dreier, whose position on gay rights is quite a bit of theatre.

Sauer also digs up this magical puff piece by Bill George at the Star Tribune, attesting to Steinhafel's general wonderfulness as a CEO. Amid the assertion that Steinhafel is "always classy" and the insistence that it "isn't easy being CEO of a public company," (I mean, you try living off this pittance in America) there's glancing mention of that minor dust-up over these anti-gay political donations:

Suggestions that Target was somehow "anti-gay" cut deeply. The worst one could say about this incident is that Steinhafel may have been naive. But he admitted his mistake and reaffirmed the company's long-standing support for gay rights. As he told me, "Target has the most gay-friendly policies in this state."

I don't think the worst you could say about Steinhafel is that he is naive! More like, "is a liar." But, as Sauer points out, this Strib handjob was written by a former member of Target's board and the author of a book titled 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis that "just happens to count Gregg Steinhafel as one of its profiled 'leaders.'" So, you know: hard-hitting.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/21/target-continues-political-donations_n_799950.html

Soon

12-22-2010, 08:14 AM

http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/22/obama-signing-dadt-repeal-live-video/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/22/dadt-repeal-obama-signing_n_800126.html

Tommi

12-22-2010, 08:31 AM

http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/22/obama-signing-dadt-repeal-live-video/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/22/dadt-repeal-obama-signing_n_800126.html

Thank you. I sit here watching it live on CNN.

Tears stream down my face for those who know, and those who do not. For those who ended their careers and their lives for coming out in the military.

For those who fought for this for years, and for those that have risen above and know our truth. Now we can serve openly and proud.

Honorably Discharged, but by the grace of God.
http://www.c21learners.com/multimedia/images/usaf_logo.gif

morningstar55

12-23-2010, 05:30 AM

ya know this is and was soo disgusting..... it was on the local news here again this morning.. about the sentencing of this idiot who adopted this cat from the SPCA.. geezz..
thank god.... the cat was yelling for help when the cops stoped him.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/08/10/cat-marinating-car-trunk-traffic-stop-new-york/

Greyson

12-23-2010, 09:31 AM

Who killed the bill to prevent forced child marriages

The Cable
Foreign Policy Magazine
Wednesday, December 22, 2010; 6:22 PM

Incoming House Foreign Affairs chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) defeated a bill Dec. 16 that would have committed the United States to combating forced child marriages abroad. The episode - in which she invoked concerns about the legislation's cost and that funds could be used to promote abortion - highlights the tough road that the Obama administration will face in advancing its women's rights and foreign aid agenda during the next congressional session.

Nongovernmental organizations, women's rights advocates and lawmakers from both parties spent years developing and lobbying for the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2010, which the House failed to pass in a vote Thursday. The bill failed even though 241 representatives voted for it and only 166 voted against, because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) brought it up under "suspension of the rules." This procedure has the advantage of not allowing any amendments or changes to the bill, but carries the disadvantage of requiring two-thirds of the votes for passage.

Even still, supporters in both parties fully expected the bill to garner the 290 votes needed - right up until the bill failed. After all, it passed the Senate unanimously Dec. 1 with the co-sponsorship of several Republicans.

So what happened? Ros-Lehtinen first argued that the bill was simply unaffordable. In a Dec. 16 "Dear Colleague" letter, she objected to the cost of the bill, which would be $108 million over five years, and criticized it for not providing an accounting of how much the United States was already spending on this effort. Ros-Lehtinen introduced her own version of the bill, which she said would cost only $1 million. But in a fact sheet, organizations supporting the original legislation said that Ros-Lehtinen's bill removed the implementation procedures that gave the legislation teeth.

Regardless, the supporters still thought the bill would pass because House Republican leadership had not come out against it. But about an hour before the vote, every Republican House office received a message on the bill from GOP leadership, known as a Whip Alert, saying that leadership would vote "no" on the bill and encouraging all Republicans do the same. The last line on the alert particularly shocked the bill's supporters. "There are also concerns that funding will be directed to NGOs that promote and perform abortion and efforts to combat child marriage could be usurped as a way to overturn pro-life laws," the alert read.

The bill doesn't contain any funding for abortion activities and federal funding for abortion activities is already prohibited by what's known as the Helms Amendment, which has been federal statute since 1973. Invoking the abortion issue sent the bill's supporters reeling. Republican anti-abortion senators had carefully reviewed the legislation and concluded it would not have an impact on the abortion issue.

Rep. Stephen LaTourrette (R-Ohio) called out the Republican leadership for invoking the abortion issue to defeat the forced child marriage act in a floor speech Friday morning.

"All of a sudden there was a fiscal argument," LaTourette said. "When that didn't work, people had to add an abortion element to it. This is a partisan place. I'm a Republican. I'm glad we beat their butt in the election, but there comes a time when enough is enough."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/22/AR2010122204815.html?wpisrc=nl_fed

Jet

12-23-2010, 08:05 PM

Gays ousted from military now hoping to return

Associated Press

NEW YORK – Joseph Rocha reported being cruelly hazed by Navy colleagues. Katherine Miller resigned from West Point halfway through, weary of concealing her sexual orientation. David Hall was outed by a fellow Air Force cadet and booted from the career he loved.

The exits from military service were wrenching consequences of "don't ask, don't tell," the policy prohibiting gay and lesbian personnel from being open about their sexuality. Yet Hall, Rocha and Miller savored military duty and now — with "don't ask, don't tell" heading toward oblivion — they want to return.

Rocha, 24, was in Washington on Wednesday, watching euphorically as President Barack Obama signed the bill clearing the way for repeal of the 17-year-old policy. Obama encouraged those who were discharged to re-enlist, and Rocha said he hopes to do just that by enrolling in the Marine Corps' Officer Candidates School in Quantico, Va.

"I had a rough childhood, and the only father figure I had was a godfather who was a Marine," Rocha said in a telephone interview after the ceremony. "To me the Marine Corps exemplified honor, integrity, a sense of family — things that were drastically the opposite of what I experienced as a child."
Rocha's eagerness to serve is remarkable, given his experience in Bahrain in 2005 with a Navy bomb-sniffer dog unit. He reported being tied to a chair and left in a dog kennel, hosed down while in uniform and forced to simulate oral sex on another sailor — part of series of hazing incidents that prompted a high-level Navy review earlier this year.

After Bahrain, Rocha attended the U.S. Naval Academy Preparatory School in Rhode Island but decided to leave the Navy in 2007 by telling his commander he's gay. He's scheduled to graduate in May from the University of San Diego.

A recent Pentagon survey found that the Marine Corps, among all the service branches, had the highest portion of members worried that repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" would cause problems. But that hasn't deterred Rocha from aspiring to a Marine career."Marines are very loyal to their leadership, and unfortunately they have leaders who've been insubordinate to the president," he said. "But I know the Marines appreciate to a great degree how a person's qualifications — if they're willing to die for their country — is far more important than a person's sexuality."

More than 13,500 people were discharged under "don't ask, don't tell." The question of reinstatement was addressed earlier this year in a Pentagon study. It recommended that ousted gays and lesbians "be considered for re-entry, assuming they qualify in all other respects."

The study said the fact that they violated "don't ask, don't tell" should not be held against them but added that if they received an "other than honorable" discharge for accompanying reasons, those reasons should be considered.
Miller, a 21-year-old from Findlay, Ohio, wasn't discharged, but "don't ask, don't tell" was the reason she left the U.S. Military Academy despite impressive achievements there.

She ranked ninth in her class of more than 1,150 and relished most aspects of academy life. But lying about her sexual orientation — in conflict with West Point's honor code — took its toll. "Every day was a compromise — portraying myself as something I was not," she said.
She said she also felt anguished over her reluctance to speak up when some members of her military ethics class used anti-gay slurs and suggested that sexually active gays were going to hell.
She resigned from the academy in August and is now halfway through her junior year at Yale University. But with "don't ask, don't tell" soon ending, she has already reapplied to West Point and hopes to return there this summer to complete her final two years.

Why go back?
"Retrospectively, now that I've been to Yale, everything at West Point is more of a team effort," she said. "You get a feeling of cohesion, camaraderie. I like that." If she does pursue an Army career, it's not a desk job she wants. First choice, if combat units are opened to women, would be duty with an armored unit. If not, flying helicopters.
Hall is a former staff sergeant with the Air Force, which he joined in 1996, following in the footsteps of a father and stepfather who each served more than 20 years.

After basic training, Hall served with fighter squadrons at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia and Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska. He was honorably discharged as an enlisted man in 2001 to enroll in the Air Force ROTC program with hopes of becoming an officer, but he was discharged the next year after a female cadet told his commanders that he's gay.

"You can't even imagine how that feels," Hall wrote in a letter to Obama in May. "Almost 8 years later, I still remember wearing my flight suit for the last time and handing my ID card to the NCO who was trying not to cry."
Hall subsequently got a job as fundraiser and information technology manager with the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which campaigned against "don't ask, don't tell." On Wednesday, Hall was on hand as Obama signed the repeal bill.

Now, at age 36, he's pondering whether to return to the Air Force.
"I definitely do want to look into it," he said. "If the Air force does want me, what do they want me to do? Do I go back an enlisted man or to officer candidates school?"
He said he enjoyed the structured schedule and the team spirit of the Air Force. "You make a lot of close friends," he said. "And you know everyone's going to do their job."

Another potential re-enlistee is Jeremy Johnson, who is pursuing a bachelor's degree in sociology at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.
Johnson, 33, served 10 years in the Navy, specializing in public affairs and journalism while traveling to far-flung posts and advancing to chief petty officer first class. But he eventually tired of "don't ask, don't tell" hypocrisy and told his commanding officer in 2007 that he's gay.
"I basically just had that moment where you choose integrity over career," he said.

Now Johnson wants to talk with recruiters about options for serving again — perhaps in the Navy Reserves, perhaps trying to become an officer.
"Professionally, the military was a great experience," he said. "When it came to personal life, it was very difficult."

Greyson

12-24-2010, 11:48 AM

Gates: 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Ban Still in Effect
by Yochi J. Dreazen

Thursday, December 23, 2010

A day after President Obama signed legislation repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" ban on openly gay troops, Defense Secretary Robert Gates had a different message for senior Pentagon officials: The restrictions remain in effect, and service members who violate the 17-year-old law could still face "adverse consequences."

The memorandum from the Defense chief highlights the unusual nature of the compromise legislation that Obama signed into law in a high-profile ceremony at the Interior Department on Wednesday. The bill formally struck down the don't ask, don't tell provisions, but openly gay troops will only be allowed to serve 60 days after Obama, Gates, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen each certify that the Pentagon is prepared to implement the repeal without harming military readiness.Until those two months have elapsed, Gates noted in the memo, the don't ask, don't tell provisions "remain in force and effect."

"To prevent any confusion, I want to be perfectly clear: At this time, there are no new changes to any existing department or service policies," Gates wrote to senior officials such as Clifford Stanley, undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness, who is the department's point man on implementing the repeal. "Service members who alter their personal conduct during this period may face adverse consequences."

The final phase of the long political struggle over the restrictions exposed deep fissures within the Pentagon: Gates and Mullen lobbied lawmakers for a repeal of don't ask, don't tell, while other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff--most notably Gen. James Amos, the Marine Corps commandant--argued strongly for keeping the provisions in place, at least until the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan came to an end. In congressional testimony, Amos warned that Marine ground forces who live and fight in close quarters would be uneasy about having openly gay troops in their midst, potentially disrupting the units while they are already engaged in difficult and dangerous combat.

Still, the Gates memo is in many ways a formality. Even before Wednesday's signing ceremony, the law had been effectively repealed months earlier when the Pentagon--at Gates's direction--adopted bureaucratic changes making it extraordinarily difficult to investigate or discharge gay troops.

Last March, Gates put in place new rules that limited the use of third-party accusations when investigating troops who were outed against their will. He also mandated that only Army colonels, Navy commanders, and other senior officers were allowed to open fact-finding proceedings against troops suspected of violating the don't ask, don't tell restrictions.

Gates went even further this fall, putting in place a second set of changes that meant that troops in violation of the ban could only be discharged by the secretaries of the Army, Navy or Air Force. Even then, the secretaries need the approval of two other high-ranking Pentagon officials--Stanley and Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson--before the troops are actually drummed out of the military.

The two sets of changes slowed the number of investigations and discharges dramatically. Pentagon statistics show that just 428 troops were discharged in 2009, the last full year for which data are available. That is down sharply from the 633 discharged in 2003 and the 1,273 drummed out of the military in 2001, the highest figure on record. Defense officials and advocates for gay troops expect the 2010 figures to be even lower. Several advocacy groups say they haven't heard of any discharges at all in months.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/gates-don-t-ask-don-t-tell-ban-still-in-effect-20101223

Corkey

12-26-2010, 09:16 PM

http://proamlib.blogspot.com/2010/12/president-obama-acknowledges-need-for.html

This is long overdue, and a welcome sign of progress.

Blade

12-27-2010, 08:07 AM

Big step.....remember this is the south

Gay man leads N.C. church association
Stan Kimer of Raleigh breaks ground as president of the N.C. Council of Churches' board.

RALEIGH As the newly elected president of the N.C. Council of Churches, Stan Kimer is typical of those who served before him: a retired business executive, longtime churchgoer and member of several nonprofit organization boards.

He's also openly gay. And that sets him apart.

Only one other of the country's 33 similar church councils has elected an openly gay leader. In California, a lesbian was elected president in the late 1990s. That makes Kimer's presidency of the N.C. Council - a coalition of 17 Christian denominations and eight individual churches that work on social issues - historic in the South.

It also signals an acceptance among member denominations - Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians and Roman Catholics - that even if they have theological differences about homosexuality, they are OK with a gay man at the helm. Or at least, they don't see it as an issue worth fighting.

"A lot of our member denominations have internal battles about this," said the Rev. George Reed, the council's executive director. "But the governing board felt the fact that he is a gay man was not a disqualifying factor."

As president, Kimer leads a 35-member governing board that sets the council's direction on a host of social issues, including racial equality, health care, immigrant rights and environmental conservation. He was elected to a one-year term and could run for a second one-year term.

Kimer's election has its roots in a controversial 1993 decision by the N.C. council to add the Metropolitan Community Churches to its roster of cooperating denominations. The MCC is made up of nearly 200 U.S. churches, including seven in North Carolina, and caters to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people.

Soon after the MCC became part of the N.C. council, Kimer joined the board as a representative of St. John's MCC, a Raleigh church where he has been a member for 18 years.

Kimer, 55, said he was elected president because he was able to convince the board that his agenda is broader than issues of sexuality.

"I have a strong belief that as a Christian I'm called to make the world a better place," he said. "I like to spend my time with groups where I can see an impact."

He cited the council's efforts to educate churches about immigration, obesity and disease, as well as about the need for diversity in public schools.

As president, he wants to help the council grow and attract younger people to its mission. He hopes to bring more churches into the mix, too, including independent evangelical churches that share concerns about the environment.

Kimer anticipates tough battles ahead as the state legislature transfers power to Republican hands. The council promotes a left-leaning legislative agenda on immigration, health care, tax policy, guns and the death penalty.

"Instead of helping pass good legislation, we'll be helping prevent bad legislation," Kimer said. "Probably a lot of our efforts will be on defense."

Kimer, who retired from IBM last year after serving as director of sales operations for its global business services, is now a private consultant. He lives in Raleigh with his partner of 19 years, Rich Roark, a loan manager for Capital Bank.

"Stan's getting elected president is not a referendum on gay individuals," said Jimmy Creech, a former Methodist minister and a champion for gay causes. "It's about Stan's leadership."

Kimer said that as president he intended to find consensus whenever possible.

But in the short term, his election may cause some friction. Back in 1993, when the council voted to admit his church as a member, the N.C. Conference of the United Methodist Church objected and withheld dues for nine years.

Still, the Rev. Steve Hickle, a Methodist pastor who sits on the governing board, said Kimer's election was possible because the council does not require theological agreement. Members work together on social issues where they can find common ground.

"The point of interreligious conversation is to continue to find common ground and understanding," Hickle said. "We want to work together on social justice whenever we can."

Greyson

12-28-2010, 03:09 PM

Where are the jobs? For many companies, overseas

By PALLAVI GOGOI
Dec 28, 2010

Corporate profits are up. Stock prices are up. So why isn't anyone hiring?

Actually, many American companies are - just maybe not in your town. They're hiring overseas, where sales are surging and the pipeline of orders is fat.

More than half of the 15,000 people that Caterpillar Inc. has hired this year were outside the U.S. UPS is also hiring at a faster clip overseas. For both companies, sales in international markets are growing at least twice as fast as domestically.

The trend helps explain why unemployment remains high in the United States, edging up to 9.8 percent last month, even though companies are performing well: All but 4 percent of the top 500 U.S. corporations reported profits this year, and the stock market is close to its highest point since the 2008 financial meltdown.

But the jobs are going elsewhere. The Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank, says American companies have created 1.4 million jobs overseas this year, compared with less than 1 million in the U.S. The additional 1.4 million jobs would have lowered the U.S. unemployment rate to 8.9 percent, says Robert Scott, the institute's senior international economist.

"There's a huge difference between what is good for American companies versus what is good for the American economy," says Scott.

American jobs have been moving overseas for more than two decades. In recent years, though, those jobs have become more sophisticated - think semiconductors and software, not toys and clothes.

And now many of the products being made overseas aren't coming back to the United States. Demand has grown dramatically this year in emerging markets like India, China and Brazil.

Meanwhile, consumer demand in the U.S. has been subdued. Despite a strong holiday shopping season, Americans are still spending 3 percent less than before the recession on essential items like clothing and more than 10 percent less on jewelry, furniture, electronics, and big appliances, according to MasterCard's SpendingPulse.

"Companies will go where there are fast-growing markets and big profits," says Jeffrey Sachs, globalization expert and economist at Columbia University. "What's changed is that companies today are getting top talent in emerging economies, and the U.S. has to really watch out."

With the future looking brighter overseas, companies are building there, too. Caterpillar, maker of the signature yellow bulldozers and tractors, has invested in three new plants in China in just the last two months to design and manufacture equipment. The decision is based on demand: Asia-Pacific sales soared 38 percent in the first nine months of the year, compared with 16 percent in the U.S. Caterpillar stock is up 65 percent this year.

"There is a shift in economic power that's going on and will continue. China just became the world's second-largest economy," says David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's, who notes that half of the revenue for companies in the S&P 500 in the last couple of years has come from outside the U.S.

Take the example of DuPont, which wowed the world in 1938 with nylon stockings. Known as one of the most innovative American companies of the 20th century, DuPont now sells less than a third of its products in the U.S. In the first nine months of this year, sales to the Asia-Pacific region grew 50 percent, triple the U.S. rate. Its stock is up 47 percent this year.

DuPont's work force reflects the shift in its growth: In a presentation on emerging markets, the company said its number of employees in the U.S. shrank by 9 percent between January 2005 and October 2009. In the same period, its work force grew 54 percent in the Asia-Pacific countries.

"We are a global player out to succeed in any geography where we participate in," says Thomas M. Connelly, chief innovation officer at DuPont. "We want our resources close to where our customers are, to tailor products to their needs."

While most of DuPont's research labs are still stateside, Connelly says he's impressed with the company's overseas talent. The company opened a large research facility in Hyderabad, India, in 2008.

A key factor behind this runaway international growth is the rise of the middle class in these emerging countries. By 2015, for the first time, the number of consumers in Asia's middle class will equal those in Europe and North America combined.

"All of the growth over the next 10 years is happening in Asia," says Homi Kharas, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and formerly the World Bank's chief economist for East Asia and the Pacific.

Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent often points out that a billion consumers will enter the middle class during the coming decade, mostly in Africa, China and India. He is aggressively targeting those markets. Of Coke's 93,000 global employees, less than 13 percent were in the U.S. in 2009, down from 19 percent five years ago.

The company would not say how many new U.S. hires it has made in 2010. But its latest new investments are overseas, including $240 million for three bottling plants in Inner Mongolia as part of a three-year, $2 billion investment in China. The three plants will create 2,000 new jobs in the area. In September, Coca-Cola pledged $1 billion to the Philippines over five years.

The strategy isn't restricted to just the largest American companies. Entrepreneurs, whether in technology, retail or in manufacturing, today hire globally from the start.

Consider Vast.com, which powers the search engines of sites like Yahoo Travel and Aol Autos. The company was founded in 2005 with employees based in San Francisco and Serbia.

Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria worries that the trend could be dangerous. In an article in the November issue of the Harvard Business Review, he says that if U.S. businesses keep prospering while Americans are struggling, business leaders will lose legitimacy in society. He exhorted business leaders to find a way to link growth with job creation at home.

Other economists, like Columbia University's Sachs, say multinational corporations have no choice, especially now that the quality of the global work force has improved. Sachs points out that the U.S. is falling in most global rankings for higher education while others are rising.

"We are not fulfilling the educational needs of our young people," says Sachs. "In a globalized world, there are serious consequences to that."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OVERSEAS_HIRING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-12-28-07-59-38

MsDemeanor

12-28-2010, 06:08 PM

Wouldn't it be nice if journalists and the MSM would have bothered doing this sort of reporting before the election?

dreadgeek

12-29-2010, 11:35 AM

So, the good news is that the number of Americans taking a strict creationist view has dropped seven percent. The bad news is that this means only 40% of Americans believe that the Earth was created some 2500 years AFTER we know (not think but know) that the Babylonians learned to brew beer.

"A small minority of Americans hold the "secular evolution" view that humans evolved with no influence from God -- but the number has risen from 9% in 1982 to 16% today. At the same time, the 40% of Americans who hold the "creationist" view that God created humans as is 10,000 years ago is the lowest in Gallup's history of asking this question, and down from a high point of 47% in 1993 and 1999. There has been little change over the years in the percentage holding the "theistic evolution" view that humans evolved under God's guidance.

Americans' views on human origins vary significantly by level of education and religiosity. Those who are less educated are more likely to hold a creationist view. Those with college degrees and postgraduate education are more likely to hold one of the two viewpoints involving evolution."

http://www.gallup.com/poll/145286/four-americans-believe-strict-creationism.aspx

This might seem a relatively trivial issue but it actually is quite important. This effect science education (particularly the teaching of biology) in drastic ways. What's more many of the deliberately dishonest tactics one sees deployed on the right come from the creationist movement. (And yes, I have debated enough creationists to know of what I speak.)

Cheers
Aj

Greyson

12-30-2010, 03:19 PM

I came across this article today in the San Francisco Chronicle today. IMO, more telling than the article is the comments made by readers. The homo/lesbian phobia is blatant. There are also racist comments made. Keep in mind as you read this, Oakland is in the San Francisco Bay Area, considered to be one of the most liberal parts of the USA.

As a side note, I am compelled as a planner to point out to anyone reading this the power of Land Use decisions left to the discretion of city and county governments. The City of Oakland has granted a permit variance that is attached to the property. This means it does not matter the nature of the business or who owns it. This particular piece of property will now be free of some of the regulations, laws in this commercially zoned area. As a professional Planner, I do not think this is the best decision made in the interests of the residents of Oakland. My concern is not because it is a "sex shop" per se, it is the use of City Councils via the Planning and Zoning recommendations usurping zoning regulations and perhaps environmental laws. I digressed a bit from the Racism and Queer Phobic angle. The text highlighted in red is a comment made by a reader of the article.
Plans for a sex shop near a school, youth programs get mixed reactions

By: Roberto Daza | December 30, 2010

"We'll open as soon as we're finished," said Feelmore510 owner Nenna Joiner. The 36-year-old Las Vegas native is hoping to have the 750-square foot retail space ready for business by Valentine's day.

Plans to open a sex boutique in downtown Oakland near a school and several youth program offices have caused some mixed reactions among neighboring businesses, although opponents seem unlikely to appeal a recent decision by the Oakland City Planning Commission allowing the shop to operate within close proximity to a school.

On December 15, the Oakland City Planning Commission voted 4-0 to grant the boutique a variance permit allowing it to operate within 500 feet of the Oakland School for the Arts, a public charter school for children grades 6–10. Sex shops or other adult businesses are usually required to be outside a 500 foot radius from schools and 1,000 feet away from residential zones.

The boutique, Feelmore510, is set to open its doors to the public by Valentine’s Day at 1703 Telegraph Avenue, formerly home to Wigs by Tiffany. Feelmore510 will be located around the corner and about 235 feet from the school’s Broadway location. In addition, the boutique will be located across the street from the offices of Youth Radio, an organization that teaches media skills to teenagers, and about 220 feet from First Place for Youth, an organization that helps young people transition out of foster care.

Feelmore510 is modeled after Good Vibrations, a female-friendly, sex-positive erotic boutique with locations in Berkeley and San Francisco that sell lotions, sex toys, erotic videos and other adult-themed merchandise. “I want people to think about sex differently,” said Feelmore510 owner Nenna Joiner, who plans to offer erotica and pornography that caters to ethic minorities and positively portrays women, in addition to educational material about healthy relationships and safe sex practices. “I noticed the sex industry caters to more of a white clientele, and people of color are left out.”

Nenna Joiner, 36, owner of Feelmore510, a sex boutique fashioned after Good Vibrations, will carry adult-themed merchandise that caters to people of color and portrays women in a positive light.“This is more than just a sex store, this is a company that understands that there isn’t a business like this in Oakland,” she said.

Along with retail sales, Feelmore 510 will provide health education workshops and space for local artists to display erotic and sexually suggestive artwork.

The plans have gotten a mixed reception from some of the nearby youth programs. Officials from the Oakland School of the Arts have not responded to phone calls and emails seeking comment, and have yet to make public an opinion regarding the sex boutique. But Youth Radio executives have voiced concerns. “We feel that we would support this business if it was in another location,” said Youth Radio executive director Jacinda Abcarian. “We have kids walking past there all the time. We don’t want to bring anything into the neighborhood that would make our children uncomfortable.”

Abcarian’s biggest concern isn’t Joiner’s plans for the shop itself, but the variance permit allowing the 750-square-foot storefront to operate a business specializing in “adult entertainment activity” within 500 feet of a school. The variance permit does not expire when the current owner decides to leave and is instead permanently associated with the property, making it for difficult for neighbors to control what kind of business replaces it should Feelmore510 vacate the retail space.

Abacarian sent a letter to the planning commission on December 3 detailing her concern that the boutique will one day outgrow its space and allow another less ethical business owner to move in and retain the adult entertainment permit. “It’s not about this specific business,” said Abcarian. “What we’re really worried about is that this is a permanent permit.”

At First Place Fund For Youth, the organization was originally opposed to Joiner’s boutique opening so close to their Uptown location, said executive director Sam Cobbs, but since then he has had a change of heart. “My initial reaction to the to proposition wasn’t a good one,” said Cobbs, who along with some of his colleagues was present at the December 15 public hearing. “After I learned about the restrictions, I was fine with it.”

The variance permit requires some strict regulations outlined by Joiner in her application. According to the conditions of the permit, Feelmore510 must ensure that its merchandise faces away from passersby. It also prohibits the frosting of the windows and the use of video booths. There is also adults-only entry policy, which Joiner plans to strictly enforce.

Cobbs said he had previously worked across the street from Good Vibrations as a program director for Larkin Street Youth Services in San Francisco and added that the proximity had caused no problems for the youth. He was also sympathetic to the trouble Joiner is having getting a business opened amid resistance. “It’s no different from me having to go before a planning commission trying to open an emergency shelter in a neighborhood where nobody wants it there,” he said.

City officials say that allowing a variance for Feelmore510 will ultimately make it harder for other adult businesses to move into the neighborhood. As a result of this variance permit, any other adult store will have to be opened at least 1,000 feet away. “It’s going to be hard to get a variance for anything that isn’t as good as Feelmore,” said Oakland city planner David Valeska. “In a sense, it has created a protective ring around that neighborhood.”

The closest adult store to the Feelmore510 site is currently located about a mile away in Chinatown.

Feelmore510’s planned upscale decor is that of a low-key retail shop resembling a reading room, rather than the traditional pornography shop with covered windows and interior booths, and it will have an exterior appearance visually similar to the surrounding businesses. That assuaged the concerns of the planning commission’s four-person panel, said Valeska. “They felt comfortable with it because the business model is so restrictive compared to other adult business,” he said.

The public has until 4 p.m. on January 3 to appeal the variance permit to the city council. The odds of a challenge, which costs the appealing party $1,300 to file, are low, according to Valeska.

Joiner says that she plans build a successful and lasting retail business that she hopes to make into an inclusive and positive atmosphere for her clients and the community of Oakland. “I plan to be here for the long run, “ said Joiner, a Las Vegas native who has been living in Oakland for more than 10 years, and has signed a five-year lease on the property. She has produced pornographic films for Good Vibrations, in addition to volunteering as a speaker for San Francisco Sex Information, a hotline providing information and referrals about sex. “This is more than just a sex store, this is a company that understands that there isn’t a business like this in Oakland,” she said.

“Why should all our retail dollars go to San Francisco and Berkeley when we can keep them here?” she added.

ThinkerFree

11:40 AM on December 30, 2010

As usual, what isn't stated in the story--but can be gleaned from the photo and just a bit of general knowledge of Oakland--is the most interesting part. This isn't just a 'sex-positive' shop for 'people of color'; this is a sex shop for Lesbians--of any color. The chances that a male 'of color' (with a long white T-shirt, dreds, and saggys) would be welcomed or welcome there are less than nil.

For those not in the know, Oakland has been turning into the Mecca for Lesbians for some time now, and this is just another addition. Not that there's anything wrong with that; much better than the populations they're replacing IMHO, but God forbid that the Chron just state what's really happening. What the Chron should focus on is what to call this newly emerging 'identity'. 'Lebsterdam'? 'Lestro'? 'Oakbian'? Ideas?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/inoakland/detail?entry_id=80018

weatherboi

12-30-2010, 05:54 PM

I am sad!!!

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/48333/

Nat

01-02-2011, 03:00 PM

Arkansas officials stumped as birds fall from sky (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE7010UO20110102)

State wildlife officials were going door-to-door on Sunday in the town of Beebe, Arkansas, to collect dead birds after thousands of mostly blackbirds mysteriously fell from the sky.

Workers were searching Beebe, a town of about 4,500 people located 30 miles northeast of the state capital, to collect what officials estimated as between 4,000 and 5,000 birds which began falling from the sky late on New Year's Eve and continued into the next day.

"It could be weather-related or possibly stress-related," said Keith Stephens, a spokesman for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. "There were some fireworks shot off at midnight and it is possible that the birds were on their roost and stressed so bad that it could have killed them."

The birds were still being collected from rooftops, trees and yards and will be sent on January 3 to testing facilities in Little Rock and Madison, Wisconsin.

Stephens said hail or lightning in recent days also could have injured the birds but he had seen no physical signs of injuries in the birds so far collected.

High winds and tornadoes struck Arkansas on New Year's Eve, with the hardest hit area more than 150 miles to the west of Beebe.

Nat

01-04-2011, 03:15 PM

More redwinged blackbirds falling from the sky - this time in Louisiana :(

http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=12534427

http://www.pbcgov.com/parks/nature/green_cay_nature_center/_images/BirdChecklist/Red-wingedBlackbird.jpg

MsDemeanor

01-04-2011, 11:38 PM

I can't wait to see how they blame this one on the gays.

Mister Bent

01-05-2011, 02:59 PM

Balding may be a stem cell problem

If you're a guy who's lost a lot of hair, there may be hope in getting it back, via stem cells.

New research in the Journal of Clinical Investigation suggests that male-pattern baldness may result from stem cells in the scalp failing to give rise to progenitor cells, which are responsible for growing hair.

That means that a potential treatment could make use of stem cells to grow new hair, researchers say.

Read more. (http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/05/balding-may-be-a-stem-cell-problem/?hpt=T2)

This guy may change his position.
http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/cheney.jpg

Nat

01-05-2011, 06:26 PM

several hundred more dead birds fell out of the sky in Murray Ky

about 100 dead crows fell dead in Sweden while millions of dead fish have washed up in the United States, Brazil and New Zealand.

The fish kill was first reported when 100,000 dead drum fish were discovered on the banks of the Arkansas River this week.

http://www.examiner.com/cultural-oddities-in-national/dead-fish-and-birds-hundreds-of-dead-birds-found-kentucky

Corkey

01-05-2011, 06:35 PM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110105/ts_yblog_thelookout/mysterious-bird-deaths-caused-by-fireworks

One conclusion.

Nat

01-05-2011, 06:47 PM

200 birds in east Texas too.

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/7800408-now-east-texas-also-reports-hundreds-of-dead-birds

And my friend bill found two dead owls in Austin today...

Corkey

01-05-2011, 06:50 PM

Any body ever thought that the extreme cold which has held much of the nation in below average temps is partly to blame?

Nat

01-05-2011, 06:53 PM

Blunt force trauma mid-air?

Passionaria

01-05-2011, 06:53 PM

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ANNOUNCES QUALIFIED SUPPORT FOR THE UN DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

“Implementation is what we are waiting for now”

The International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) welcomed the announcement today by US President Barack Obama of the United States’ support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The President's long-awaited statement of support was made in Washington DC during a Tribal Nations Conference attended by over 300 Tribal Leaders from throughout the US.

The President stated that “... today I can announce that the United States is lending its support to this Declaration. The aspirations it affirms -- including the respect for the institutions and rich cultures of Native peoples -- are ones we must always seek to fulfill.”

This endorsement by the US for the Declaration is a positive, necessary and long-overdue step forward. The US is the last country to express its support for the Declaration which recognizes a broad range of rights for Indigenous Peoples in the US and around the world.

Australia, New Zealand and Canada joined with the US to vote “NO” when the Declaration was adopted by a vote of 144 countries in favor at the UN General Assembly on September 13, 2007. With today’s announcement, all 4 of the opposing States have changed their position.

IITC Executive Director Andrea Carmen, Yaqui Nation, participated in the work on the Declaration at the United Nations over many years. Hearing today’s news, she expressed IITC’s appreciation to the thousands of Indigenous Nations, organizations and human rights allies who called upon the US to express unqualified support for the Declaration since the US announced the “formal review” of its position in April of this year.

However, she also expressed IITC’s strong disappointment with the limitations the US decided to place on its support. The “Announcement of U.S. Support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples” released today contains a number of qualifications which call into serious question the US government’s intention to fully recognize and implement many of the key rights contained in the Declaration.

Corkey

01-05-2011, 07:04 PM

Blunt force trauma mid-air?

Hail and or running into each other.

Miss Scarlett

01-05-2011, 07:21 PM

From today's Charlotte Observer. I heard about this right after it happened. I'm glad there has been some resolution.

Bar spat spurs Facebook boycott page and apology from Dixie's Tavern

By Eric Frazier

Posted: Wednesday, Jan. 05, 2011

Two women who launched a Facebook page to organize a boycott of a Charlotte bar - after they say they were told to leave because the bar didn't serve lesbians - have won an apology from the manager and a promise of sensitivity training for the staff.

Tracy Thomas said she and her friend Kelly Johnson created the page after visiting Dixie's Tavern on Seventh Street in uptown Charlotte on Dec. 17 at around dinner time. She says they grew upset after about 20 minutes passed and no waiter came to their table, although waiters were serving tables nearby.

When they finally got to put in their drink order, Thomas said, another 10 minutes passed before it came and they decided to leave. She said a member of the staff asked if they were going to pay for the drinks and they said no.

They said as they walked out, the staffer said, "Good, we don't want to serve lesbians here anyway," followed by cuss words and other degrading comments. Thomas said when her friend burst into tears and asked what the man's name was, he said he was "one of the owners."

"Never, ever would I have dreamed that anybody would be treated like that," Thomas told the Observer Wednesday. "I was just shocked."

She said Johnson declined to talk about the situation with the Observer because she's still shaken by what happened.

Thomas says she posted a note on her own personal Facebook page about the encounter several days after it happened, and found herself flooded by 60 responses within hours.

The women created the boycott page on Dec. 30. By this week, it had more than 500 followers, many of whom angrily denounced the bar.

On Wednesday, Thomas posted a note on the page saying they'd met with the bar's manager and found him to be "very sincere in (his) apology for what happened."

The bar's general manager, in a telephone interview with the Observer, said a bartender had been placed on unpaid suspension because of the incident. He added that all staff would be given sensitivity training.

The manager, who identified himself as Danny but declined to give his last name, said the bar took issue with some parts of the women's account, but he said he ordered bar employees not to post their opinions on the boycott page.

He said he wanted to focus on resolving the situation and didn't want to get into "a he-said, she-said thing" about the details of what happened.

"I wasn't there, so I don't know if it was just his word against theirs," he said. "I had a good long talk with these ladies yesterday. We're very sorry this happened to them."

Thomas, an former bank employee who does bar promotions, said she had considered legal action, but can't afford to pay for a lawsuit. She says she's happy with the result, and hopes it will help prevent similar incidents.

"We're angry about what happened," she said. "But if what comes out of this is that everybody has more awareness and a more sensitive side, I guess that's the best-case scenario."

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/01/05/1958048/bar-spat-spurs-facebook-boycott.html#ixzz1ADJBircR

Linus

01-08-2011, 12:44 PM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/08/gabrielle-giffords-shot-c_n_806211.html

Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic congresswoman from Arizona, was shot today, according to NPR (http://www.npr.org/2011/01/08/132764367/congresswoman-shot-in-arizona).
Scroll down for the latest updates.

live blog

Oldest Newest
1:37 PM ET Shooter Reportedly In Custody

(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/08/gabrielle-giffords-shot-c_n_806211.html#4_shooter-reportedly-in-custody) More from NPR (http://www.npr.org/2011/01/08/132764367/congresswoman-shot-in-arizona):Giffords was talking to a couple when the suspect ran up firing indiscriminately and then ran off, Michaels said. According to other witnesses, he was tackled by a bystander and taken into custody. 1:28 PM ET Congresswoman Reportedly Shot In Head

(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/08/gabrielle-giffords-shot-c_n_806211.html#3_congresswoman-reportedly-shot-in-head) According to Tucson Citizen (http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/2011/01/08/gabrielle-giffords-shot-in-head-in-tucson/), Rep. Giffords was shot "point blank in the head."

1:25 PM ET Safeway Shooting

(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/08/gabrielle-giffords-shot-c_n_806211.html#2_safeway-shooting) According to KOLD, a Tucson CBS affiliate, the shooting occurred just after 10:00 AM local time at a Safeway grocery store. KOLD has not confirmed that Rep. Giffords was shot.

1:19 PM ET At Least Five Others Hurt

(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/08/gabrielle-giffords-shot-c_n_806211.html#1_at-least-five-others-hurt) NPR reports that Giffords was shot at a public event at a grocery store in Tucson, Ariz. Peter Michaels of of Arizona Public Media tells NPR that at least five others, including staff, were hurt as well.

=================

My comments/thoughts: The shooter was captured and no motive has been released yet but if this turns out to be a Tea Partier then things do not bode well in general, IMO, for the US. "2nd Amendment solutions" will just lead to civil war if given a chance. :(

Soon

01-08-2011, 01:11 PM

Congresswoman, 6 Others, Killed By Gunman (http://www.npr.org/2011/01/08/132764367/congresswoman-shot-in-arizona)

Nat

01-08-2011, 01:30 PM

Congresswoman, 6 Others, Killed By Gunman (http://www.npr.org/2011/01/08/132764367/congresswoman-shot-in-arizona)

I guess those are the "2nd amendment remedies" they were talking about. :(

http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2011/01/08/giffords13_custom.jpg?t=1294513186&s=1

Nat

01-08-2011, 02:02 PM

This image was on sarah palin's twitter page, but it has since been removed. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marty-kaplan/sarah-palins-bullseye-on_b_806232.html)
http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/images/palin-crosshairs.jpg

Here's another lovely palin tweet:

Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: "Don't Retreat, Instead - RELOAD!" Pls see my Facebook page. (http://twitter.com/#!/SarahPalinUSA/status/10935548053)

Nat

01-08-2011, 02:21 PM

Giffords Still Alive and in surgery (http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=13807906)

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is in surgery in critical condition after being shot at a public event Saturday.

Several media outlets reported that Giffords had been killed, but a UMC spokesperson and C.J. Karamargin with Gifford's office confirmed the congresswoman initially survived the attack and is in surgery.

Nat

01-08-2011, 07:38 PM

This is supposedly the shooter's youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/Classitup10)

and this appears to be by him too (http://www.youtube.com/user/Starhitshnaz)

made back in october

3L1lsLU-kUw

Diavolo

01-08-2011, 08:30 PM

Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, speaking about Arizona:

"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And, unfortunately, Arizona I think has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry.

"It's not unusual for all public officials to get threats constantly, myself included. And that's the sad thing of what's going on in America. Pretty soon, we're not going to be able to find reasonable, decent people who are willing to subject themselves to serve in public office."

At what point does Glenn Beck's name get mentioned?

Novelafemme

01-08-2011, 09:33 PM

I just returned home from a candlelight vigil outside of University Medical Center where Congresswoman Gifford and 10 other shooting victims are being treated. The atmosphere here in Tucson is one of shock and disbelief. Tonight there are five vigils planned. A dear friend of mine is on Gabrielle's staff and my thoughts were full of panic when I first heard the news. Fortunately, she is safe and alive but grieving heavily over the loss of life today.

So many things NEED to change, but first and foremost Arizona gun laws need to be seriously addressed. The suspect had serious mental health issues as well as a criminal history yet was still allowed to purchase a firearm, no questions asked.

I have so much more to say...right now my heart is heavy and I just don't know what to say about the state of the world right now. Honestly, I'd like to take the nearest shuttle to a new planet.

katsarecool

01-08-2011, 11:07 PM

I am deeply saddened too! I am glad that your friend is ok!

Peach

01-09-2011, 08:04 AM

Keith Obermanns take on yesterdays tragedy. I adore this man.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/ns/msnbc_tv-countdown_with_keith_olbermann/#40983401

Toughy

01-09-2011, 09:49 AM

but first and foremost Arizona gun laws need to be seriously addressed. The suspect had serious mental health issues as well as a criminal history yet was still allowed to purchase a firearm, no questions asked.

While I do understand this sentiment, stricter gun laws won't change anything. Over the years States and the Feds have passed hundreds of gun laws and crimes committed with guns continue to stay the same or increase.

Anybody who wants a gun can get one regardless of legislation. I can walk out my door and get a gun in half an hour. I will be buying the gun on the street, not in a gun shop. Gun laws are for law abiding citizens. Criminals/extemists don't give a shit about the laws and they have access to guns on the street.

Legislating who can have a weapon based on mental status is a huge ass problem. You can't just blanket say if you are mentally ill you cannot own a gun. It ain't that easy. I would venture that half of the folks on this site could not buy a weapon if mental illness was an exclusion criteria.

What MUST be addressed is the climate of hate and fear being created by extremists who continue to get a bully pulpit from the mainstream media. I know Walter Cronkite is rolling in his grave. His kind of journalism seems to be gone.

UofMfan

01-09-2011, 09:57 AM

They make me sick!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/09/westboro-baptist-church-arizona_n_806319.html

Toughy

01-09-2011, 10:08 AM

If Westboro got no more publicity, I wonder what they would do?

I don't care if they go to any funeral for anyone.....stop talking about them.....stop saying where they will be........ignore them in the media. Let the cops deal with them where ever they show up.

UofMfan

01-09-2011, 10:19 AM

"They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."

~Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)

To me, ignoring is not a viable option.

Toughy

01-09-2011, 12:15 PM

I feel like quoting the They came is like using a sledge hammer to shell pecans.............

Wesboro Church is made up of about 30 or so folks with most of them being close bio family. They have been around at least 20 years spewing their vitriol at funerals and other events. They are not newsworthy. The membership is stable over those years. They are not a growing grass roots or corporate movement.

I think we have forgotten what 'news' means. There was a time when the News Department of TV and radio stations was a stand alone department that did not have to make a profit or have high ratings. The news was too important in a democracy.

Today the News Department is in the Entertainment Department. The news must turn a profit and have high ratings. I doubt Walter Cronkite would be a news anchor today. What is reported is driven by that need for profit and ratings.

UofMfan

01-09-2011, 12:55 PM

We are all entitled to our opinions.

dreadgeek

01-09-2011, 01:21 PM

I feel like quoting the They came is like using a sledge hammer to shell pecans.............

Can we call that Toughy's Law which is a corollary of Godwin's Law?

Wesboro Church is made up of about 30 or so folks with most of them being close bio family. They have been around at least 20 years spewing their vitriol at funerals and other events. They are not newsworthy. The membership is stable over those years. They are not a growing grass roots or corporate movement.

These are the groups that I would like to see the media take a long, hard look at.

I think we have forgotten what 'news' means. There was a time when the News Department of TV and radio stations was a stand alone department that did not have to make a profit or have high ratings. The news was too important in a democracy.

I also think that journalists have forgotten what their jobs are, as well. Over the next few days we're going to be put through the usual spectacle cycle. Several people will make comments on national TV about the violent rhetoric in modern political discourse. There will be denials that statements about 'second amendment remedies' or maps with the names of members of Congress iin the crosshairs have any corrosive or poisonous effect on our discourse. Equivalencies will be made to the left-wing radicals of the 60's (and here a valid point will be hard to argue against) but there will be a suggestion that since the left-wing radicals got away with it (which they didn't, by the way) now it's the turn of the right-wing radicals. The news media will paint almost precisely this picture of things because, well, false equivalency has become the new American pastime.

Today the News Department is in the Entertainment Department. The news must turn a profit and have high ratings. I doubt Walter Cronkite would be a news anchor today. What is reported is driven by that need for profit and ratings.

Absolutely! I doubt that Cronkite, Murrow, or Daniel Shchorr would be able to work today. Perhaps it's time for the media to recall that it is unofficially the Fourth Estate and is the *only* industry granted explicit Constitutional protections.

Cheers
Aj

Soon

01-09-2011, 06:19 PM

R7046bo92a4

Soon

01-09-2011, 07:02 PM

"You need to riot": Right-wing uses violent rhetoric (http://mediamatters.org/research/201003260037)

Nat

01-10-2011, 11:26 AM

Meet Daniel Hernandez - the intern credited with saving Gabby Giffords' life

DVRDRxnNbto

The fact that he is Latino and gay in intolerant Arizona - and also a hero - is not escaping media attention. He's also only 20 years old and already has the composure and leadership skills beyond most seasoned politicians. I hope he stays on the political radar.

Jet

01-10-2011, 08:23 PM

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr257/lionoflionsman/Picture13-10.png

omg what a f**ckin nightmare

betenoire

01-10-2011, 08:33 PM

MsDemeanor

01-11-2011, 02:43 AM

Newly-elected Georgia Governor Nathan Deal (R) gets it right. I hope the backlash from the anti-drug law and order folks don't get him to change his mind. From his inaugural address:

For violent and repeat offenders, we will make you pay for your crimes. For other offenders who want to change their lives, we will provide the opportunity to do so with Day Reporting Centers, Drug, DUI and Mental Health Courts and expanded probation and treatment options. As a State, we cannot afford to have so many of our citizens waste their lives because of addictions. It is draining our State Treasury and depleting our workforce.

linklyloo (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/10/nathan-deal-drug-addicts-jail_n_807016.html)

Nat

01-11-2011, 08:37 AM

I can't wait to see how they blame this one on the gays.

And here you go -

V17WGTvPHGg

theoddz

01-11-2011, 10:11 AM

I'm confused. Did you just call him ugly? I really hope I misread you, cuz that is totally irrelevant.

It's not that he's "ugly", but looking at that picture....I think it's the way he's smiling and that look in his eyes, and knowing what he did. That's the nightmare, really.

Otherwise, he might look just like any other person, with a bald/shaven head and a silly grin. :|

I guess it's one of those, "ugly is as ugly does".

~Theo~ :bouquet:

Julie

01-11-2011, 10:22 AM

And here you go -

V17WGTvPHGg

This is actually quite terrifying.
This moron could in fact be inciting hatred.

Propaganda at it's finest!

MsDemeanor

01-11-2011, 04:52 PM

Thanks Nat, I feel much better knowing that someone has found the link. I guess the countries that already allow gays are either heathen or don't have any more birds.

Hack

01-11-2011, 05:49 PM

And here you go -

V17WGTvPHGg

Wow.

I don't live in Arkansas, but I do work for a natural resources management agency that is in touch with wildlife officials there regarding this recent incident. The red-winged blackbird is notorious for having poor night vision. There were reports of fireworks in the area. Wildlife biologists surmise the birds were flushed from a roost by the sound of the fireworks. In flight, they were probably confused by both the sight and sound of the fireworks. This caused them to fly lower than normal, thus hitting trees, buildings and other structures. The necropsy results on the birds show they died from blunt force trauma, similar to striking something at a high speed. Their toxicology reports don't show anything toxic or unusual.

Birds and fish die off in large groups all the time for a variety of reasons that have to do with a sudden, significant change in their environment (air or water temperature change is a huge stress factor for fish) or from something contaminating their environment. Most wildlife is highly adaptable to environmental change, though that is going to be put to the extreme test for some species as we watch climate change progress.

Why are there so many reports of this lately? That is a uniquely human phenomena involving awareness. Once we are all aware of something significant, we become hyper-aware for a period of time and take notice of things we normally wouldn't. That and until the tragic incident in Arizona, it was a relatively slow news period (around the major holidays in most countries) and things that normally wouldn't make the news made the news.

Jake

Tommi

01-11-2011, 07:12 PM

Gay intern credited with saving Giffords’ life

Daniel Hernandez Jr., a 20-year-old University of Arizona student who’d been working as an intern for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords for only five days, is being credited with saving her life after she was shot on Saturday.

Hernandez, who confirmed that he is gay in an interview with Instant Tea on Sunday morning, is a member of the City of Tucson Commission on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Issues. “She’s been a great ally to the LGBT community,” Hernandez said of Giffords during the brief interview across a bad connection.

According to the Arizona Republic, Hernandez was standing about 30 feet from Giffords during the “Congress on Your Corner” event outside a Safeway store near Tucson. When the gunshots began, Hernandez ran toward them and began checking the pulses of people who’d been hit. When Hernandez got to Giffords, he used his hand to apply pressure to the entry wound on her forehead. He pulled her into his lap and held her upright so she wouldn’t choke on her blood.

Daniel Hernandez is shown with Giffords in this image from his Facebook page.

Hernandez used his hand to apply pressure to the wound until someone brought clean smocks from the meat department of the grocery store. He stayed with Giffords until paramedics arrived, then climbed into an ambulance with her. On the way to the hospital, he squeezed her hand and she squeezed back. From the Republic:

When they arrived at the hospital, Hernandez was soaked in blood. His family brought him clean clothes because the FBI took his for evidence.

He waited at the hospital while she went into surgery. He needed to tell police what had happened. He overheard people walking by talking about how Giffords had died. He also heard this on NPR. Later, he learned she had lived.

“I was ecstatic,” he said. “She was one of the people I’ve looked up to. Knowing she was alive and still fighting was good news. She’s definitely a fighter, whether for her own life, or standing up for people in southern Arizona.”

The fact that Hernandez was nearby and able to react quickly probably saved Giffords’ life, said state Rep. Matt Heinz, D-Tucson, and a hospital physician. He talked to Hernandez at the hospital after the shooting.

Eight hours after the shooting, Hernandez stood with Giffords’ friends and staff and told them what had happened. The tall, strong 20-year-old said, “Of course you’re afraid, you just kind of have to do what you can.”

They hugged and thanked him. Later, he sat with his mom and sisters and told them about his friends and the staffers who had died that day.

“You just have to be calm and collected,” he said. “You do no good to anyone if you have a breakdown. … It was probably not the best idea to run toward the gunshots, but people needed help.”

http://www.dallasvoice.com/meet-gay-intern-saved-rep-giffords-life-1060085.html

Nat

01-12-2011, 06:51 PM

I'm confused. Did you just call him ugly? I really hope I misread you, cuz that is totally irrelevant.

I agree. But tell me this:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs074.snc6/168415_1728208815624_1550556217_1658484_4738632_n. jpg

Is THIS irrelevant?

betenoire

01-12-2011, 07:30 PM

I agree. But tell me this:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs074.snc6/168415_1728208815624_1550556217_1658484_4738632_n. jpg

Is THIS irrelevant?

Lol, maybe irreverent. ;)

It made me giggle.

Nat

01-12-2011, 08:11 PM

Lol, maybe irreverent. ;)

It made me giggle.

I'll count that as a win. :)

Nat

01-13-2011, 07:15 AM

The Pope finally addresses a pressing issue!

Pope rails against rise of un-Christian names (http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Chocolate+poached+boarder/4101301/story.html)

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/4073582.bin

The Pope has warned parents against giving children celebrity-inspired names and urged them to turn to the Bible for inspiration instead.

While names such as Sienna and Scarlett have become fashionable in recent years, Pope Benedict XVI called for a return to tradition.

During Mass at the Sistine Chapel, he said: "Every baptised child acquires the character of the son of God, beginning with their Christian name, an unmistakable sign that the Holy Spirit causes man to be born anew in the womb of the Church." He added that a name was an "indelible seal" that set children off on a lifelong "journey of religious faith".

...

Monsignor Andrew Faley, the assistant general secretary to the Catholic Bishops' Conference, said: "The name is not just a label but it moves us into a deeper significance of what it means to be human as revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.

"Naming children after perfumes, bicycles and countries is putting a limit on their potential. They are not merchandise or commodities.

"When I was a parish priest, if I didn't agree with the name I'd suggest they should give the second name of a saint."

The_Lady_Snow

01-13-2011, 09:11 AM

I swear the Pope is like the Tony The Tiger of Catholocism. His antiquated suggestions are a prime example of why Christianity is laughed at.

dreadgeek

01-13-2011, 12:10 PM

I want this to be satire, I really, really do.

Cheers
Aj

The Pope finally addresses a pressing issue!

Pope rails against rise of un-Christian names (http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Chocolate+poached+boarder/4101301/story.html)

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/4073582.bin

The Pope has warned parents against giving children celebrity-inspired names and urged them to turn to the Bible for inspiration instead.

While names such as Sienna and Scarlett have become fashionable in recent years, Pope Benedict XVI called for a return to tradition.

During Mass at the Sistine Chapel, he said: "Every baptised child acquires the character of the son of God, beginning with their Christian name, an unmistakable sign that the Holy Spirit causes man to be born anew in the womb of the Church." He added that a name was an "indelible seal" that set children off on a lifelong "journey of religious faith".

...

Monsignor Andrew Faley, the assistant general secretary to the Catholic Bishops' Conference, said: "The name is not just a label but it moves us into a deeper significance of what it means to be human as revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.

"Naming children after perfumes, bicycles and countries is putting a limit on their potential. They are not merchandise or commodities.

"When I was a parish priest, if I didn't agree with the name I'd suggest they should give the second name of a saint."

betenoire

01-13-2011, 12:18 PM

Ryobi

01-13-2011, 12:34 PM

I'm assuming (and I don't like that) that he's talking specifically about first names?

A lot of Christians get married and someone usually changes their name, though last name. Does that mess up their faith and or journey? What if a Christan woman marries a Jewish man and takes his last name? Does that automatically seal her to hell?

Maybe I need more coffee.

waxnrope

01-13-2011, 12:35 PM

In the past, before he became pope, they didn't call him "the rat-singer" for nothing ... I wonder if he's bothered to read of global disasters, the rise of poverty, etc. for which he could use his considerable world position to influence. Just my $0.02.
That one, he's always been a dufus.

Ryobi

01-13-2011, 01:06 PM

LMAO! Wax thinks I need more coffee. Sorry folks!

MsDemeanor

01-13-2011, 04:56 PM

What if a Christan woman marries a Jewish man and takes his last name? Does that automatically seal her to hell?
I think you could have ended the question at 'Jewish man'.

Jet

01-13-2011, 05:17 PM

Tanker carrying 2400 tons of sulfuric acid capsizes

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?cl=23837854

Jet

01-13-2011, 05:25 PM

http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/rr257/lionoflionsman/Picture13-10.png

omg what a f**ckin nightmare

I'm confused. Did you just call him ugly? I really hope I misread you, cuz that is totally irrelevant.

It's not that he's "ugly", but looking at that picture....I think it's the way he's smiling and that look in his eyes, and knowing what he did. That's the nightmare, really.

Otherwise, he might look just like any other person, with a bald/shaven head and a silly grin. :|

I guess it's one of those, "ugly is as ugly does".

~Theo~ :bouquet:

Thanks theo, I don't see the word ugly anywhere in my post. What I see is crazy ass with a look that there is something terribly wrong, and who killed a child among others and I think that's fucking goddamn relevant.

Gemme

01-13-2011, 08:03 PM

I know, right? I mean I get that "Apple" and "Blanket" as names for children is incredibly obnoxious - but to say that it limits their potential and endangers their souls?

Really?

The Pope needs a hobby.

I fully agree. To be accurate, though, Blanket is not MJ's third child's name. It's a nickname. His name is Prince Michael II.

betenoire

01-13-2011, 08:51 PM

I fully agree. To be accurate, though, Blanket is not MJ's third child's name. It's a nickname. His name is Prince Michael II.

OH, cuz Prince Micheal II is way less obnoxious. ;)

Nat

01-13-2011, 08:54 PM

I want this to be satire, I really, really do.

Cheers
Aj

Maybe he's satirizing himself, and he's just waiting for us all to get it.

Gemme

01-13-2011, 09:04 PM

OH, cuz Prince Micheal II is way less obnoxious. ;)

:giggle:

At least MJ just named his kids Michael, Paris and Prince. Now that I think about it, wouldn't Gwenyth Paltrow and Chris Martin be praised by the Pope for what they named their kids? You can't get much more biblical than Apple and Moses. :blink:

Corkey

01-14-2011, 03:13 PM

http://www.hrcbackstory.org/2011/01/new-hospital-visitation-regulations-for-lgbt-families-go-into-effect-tuesday/

Tommi

01-15-2011, 10:32 AM

TODAY
Sat., Jan. 15, 4:30 PM ET CBS
Pittsburgh and Baltimore Divisional Playoffs

Sat., Jan. 15, 8:00 PM ET FOX
Green Bay
Atlanta

Behind enemy lines: Local Steelers fandom thrives
By ERIN COX, Staff Writer
Published 01/15/11

Awash in a sea of purple, B.J. Nibeck remains steadfastly dedicated to the black-and-gold.

Before the Ravens even existed, Nibeck wed herself to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and like many fans, it's a marriage that transcends distance and local animosity.

"We know we are in Ravenstown, but as far as we're concerned, Steeler Nation is everywhere," said Nibeck, head of the Naptown Steelers Fan Club. "We don't even see it as Ravens country, because most of us have lived here longer than Baltimore has even had a team."

As the Steelers faithful tell it, isolation from their Pittsburgh roots breeds community here in Maryland. And the proximity to the Ravens stokes rivalry. Still, even though they live just outside the Ravens' nest, throngs of local Steelers fans have persuaded several area businesses to cast aside their own allegiances and cater to them

http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr347/yulookinhuh/electricsteelerslogo-1.gif

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l80skmOIrB1qz82gvo1_500.jpg

http://www.sapu.net/wp-content/uploads/images/steelers-vs-ravens.jpg

Nat

01-17-2011, 07:18 AM

Pakistan's Lesbians Live In Silence, Love In Secret (http://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132711102/pakistans-lesbians-live-in-silence-love-in-secret)

NPR (audio available by noon eastern)

January 17, 2011 The names in this story have been changed to protect the women's identities out of concern for their safety.

Five years ago, Fatima was 23 and studying law in Lahore, Pakistan. She wore blue jeans and a loose shirt and sported short boyish hair. That was the first sign she wasn't a typical Pakistani woman.

She leaned in to share a secret she had revealed to only a few other people before: "I'm lesbian," she said hesitantly.

"I think I knew since a very early age," she said. "It felt quite isolating, I feel. Like, I didn't see people or kids around me feel the same way."

In an Islamic country like Pakistan, lesbians can be imprisoned for life. However, Fatima says, it is not the law that gays and lesbians fear — it's family and neighbors, whom she suspects murder many gays and lesbians in honor killings.

A Secret Teen Romance

Fatima grew up in a house with sisters who were always obsessing over boys, a reality that Fatima says she could never relate to.

"From the time that I've known this about myself, every day that I've felt that I'd wish I was just like everybody else," she says.

But her attraction to women became undeniable when she found herself in love with her best friend in high school. She was 18. And she finally worked up the nerve to tell her.

"What was really surprising, I really didn't expect her to like me back. I really didn't," Fatima says. "It was one of the best surprises in my life. I just thought, 'I am going to tell her and she's just going to be like, 'Are you crazy? What's wrong with you?' And the fact that she didn't say that just blew my mind."

My insides are at war with each other. There are days I wake up and think I should just embrace myself. And there are days I think I should just kill myself.

- Fatima, a fake name to protect the woman who was interviewed
The two dated for years, but always in secret.

They would hold hands walking down the street as many women do in Pakistan — it's simply regarded as "sisterly love."

And that idea of "sisterly love" allows female lovers to stay under the radar, even more easily than in the West — until they reach the age of marriage. That's when a lesbian relationship comes into conflict with the very fabric of Pakistani society.

After years of a secret romance, Fatima's girlfriend suddenly left her, saying there was no future for them in Pakistan. She married a man.

Fatima says she can understand why her girlfriend made that decision.

"I mean, I think from the time that you're born you're socialized into believing that homosexuality is unnatural," she says. "It is a disease, and it is completely prohibited."

That sense of abnormality, Fatima says, haunts her.

"My insides are at war with each other," she says. "There are days I wake up and think I should just embrace myself. And there are days I think I should just kill myself."

Leaving the country, Fatima says, is not an option. She says she thinks it's her calling to be a human rights lawyer in Pakistan, to change the country, which is in severe crisis.

'I Hated That Girl'

Fatima recounts the day when she decided to tell her grandmother that she had been in love with her best friend.

According to Fatima, her grandmother said, "That's why I always hated that girl. I just hated that girl."

"But miraculously, when she came back from work, [my grandmother] was completely fine — as if that discussion never had taken place," Fatima says. "The way I looked at it, she was in complete denial of the whole thing."

Shortly after, Fatima married a man, in an attempt to conform to Pakistani values. She told him before the wedding that she was attracted to women, but like no many others in her life he had assumed it was a phase that she'd get over. But two months into her marriage, Fatima met another woman, Kiran, and the two fell in love.

After months of begging, Fatima's family finally agreed to let her get a divorce. "I said, 'I am a lesbian. I am in love with a woman. I need to get out of this marriage, please,'" she says. "All hell broke loose, essentially."

But Fatima won her battle for a divorce. She says meeting Kiran gave her the strength to fight — gave her something to fight for.

They're now living together, and Fatima is a human rights lawyer.

But now there were other problems for the couple, Kiran says.

"There were security concerns in that her husband, who was in a bad place, was freely talking about this situation to other people," she says.

Kiran says that made them scared for a while, with so many people knowing their secret.

But, Kiran says, "it would take some doing" for people to really imagine they are lesbians.

"Yeah, it's not within the realm of possibility," Fatima says, holding her girlfriend's hand as the two giggle. "People don't usually contemplate two women living together, that they are into each other. Good for us."

Kiran agrees.

"Because in our society, women don't have sexual needs, desires, drives, whatever. And those that do, run brothels," Kiran says. "Either you are a nice girl, or you are a fast girl. So if we are fast girls, it means that men come and visit us. If we are nice girls, it means that girls come and visit us, which works out."

suebee

01-18-2011, 11:13 AM

Canadian broadcasters ban uncensored version of "Money for Nothing" LINK (http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/canada/110117/dire-straits-money-nothing)

Greyson

01-20-2011, 10:39 AM

Judge rules for gay-rights backers in health suit

The Associated Press
Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge has issued a favorable ruling for gay-rights advocates involving state employees and long-term health care.

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken of Oakland ruled that state employees in California can sue for discrimination over the federal government's exclusion of their same-sex spouses from a long-term health care program.

The San Francisco Chronicle says in issuing the ruling Tuesday, the judge turned down an Obama administration request to dismiss the suit.

The Chronicle reports the suit was filed over the California Public Employees' Retirement System's refusal to enroll the spouses in a federally approved long-term care plan.

The agency says it does not sign up same-sex spouses because the Defense of Marriage Act denies federal tax benefits to any state that covers them.

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/01/19/3337685/judge-rules-for-gay-rights-backers.html#

Soon

01-20-2011, 03:55 PM

House GOP Budget Axe May Fall Heavily On Low-Income Women (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/20/house-gop-budget-axe-low-income-women_n_811687.html)

Fancy

01-28-2011, 09:14 AM

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/01/27/uganda.gay.activist.killed/index.html?hpt=T1

"Kampala, Uganda (CNN) -- A Ugandan gay rights activist whose name was published on a list of the nation's "top homosexuals" was bludgeoned to death in his home near the capital, his lawyer said Thursday."

May David Kato rest in peace. May his murder inspire a renewed movement for LGBT freedom in Uganda, and across the world. Let us never forget his courageous love.

Greyson

01-31-2011, 02:30 PM

Judge rules health law unconstitutional
By: Jennifer Haberkorn
January 31, 2011

A federal judge on Monday ruled that the entire health care overhaul is unconstitutional, but he stopped short of ordering the federal government to stop implementing it.

Judge Roger Vinson ruled that Congress overstepped its legal bounds when it included the provision requiring nearly all Americans to buy insurance. Because the provision is key to the rest of the law, he declared the whole thing unconstitutional.

Last year, a Virginia judge knocked down the key piece of the law, but he didn’t declare the whole law unconstitutional.

Vinson said the Congress has no right to require Americans to purchase a product.

“Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire Act must be declared void. This has been a difficult decision to reach, and I am aware that it will have indeterminable implications.,” he wrote in his ruling.

The issue is widely expected to eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

The suit was filed by the state of Florida shortly after the reform law was signed in March. But since then, 25 additional states and the National Federation of Independent Business joined the case, making it the most high-profile and politically charged lawsuit against health reform.

But it’s just one of about two dozen legal challenges to the health care reform law, most of which center around the requirement to buy insurance. Proponents of health reform argue that the so-called individual mandate is pivotal to delivering key insurance industry reforms in the law, such as a ban on denying patients over pre-existing conditions. It’s due to go into effect in 2014.

The states and NFIB also argued that the law’s mandatory expansion of the Medicaid program commandeered the states into federal service. But Vinson ruled with the federal government on the point, arguing that the states can leave Medicaid at any time.

The ruling is unlikely to have any immediate impact on the health care reform legislation. But opponents of health reform are likely to hail the ruling as another sign of the law’s imperfections.

Only four judges have ruled on whether the requirement to buy insurance is constitutional. Two federal judges have upheld the individual mandate. One other judge, Henry Hudson in Virginia, also knocked down the individual mandate in a Virginia lawsuit. A dozen other cases have been thrown out on procedural grounds.

One of the key legal questions in the numerous lawsuits has come down to whether the Constitution’s Commerce Clause gives Congress the power to regulate the decision to buy insurance.

The states and NFIB argued during oral arguments in December that the Congress has no constitutional right to force Americans buy insurance coverage. They said that while Congress is authorized to regulate activity, they can’t regulate inactivity— or not buying insurance.

The federal government argued that Congress has a right to regulate the insurance market because it is unique— it’s fair to assume that every single person will need health care at one point in his or her life. If they’re not insured, their costs will have to get picked up by other consumers, driving up rates for everyone and putting them in the insurance market whether they plan to or not.

During oral arguments in December, Vinson suggested that it would be a “giant leap” for the Supreme Court to say a decision to buy or not buy insurance is the same as activity. He questioned whether Congress could require people to buy other products if they have a positive impact.

Could they "mandate everybody has to buy a certain amount of broccoli?” Vinson questioned, comparing the positive impact both could have on health.

The federal government argued that health insurance and health care are unique markets and that Congress has the power to regulate them.

“It’s not shoes. It’s not broccoli,” said Ian Gershengorn, arguing for the federal government. “Health insurance is a product that is a financing mechanism."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/48517.html

Corkey

01-31-2011, 02:32 PM

Bastard, the judge not Grey

betenoire

01-31-2011, 02:50 PM

Is being (I think) the only industrialised nation without affordable healthcare for all what people are talking about when they say "american exceptionalism"?

*shrug*

MissItalianDiva

01-31-2011, 03:10 PM

While I agree with everyone's irritation and perhaps even disgust with the attempted disposal of the new Health Care Reform, I have SLE and happen to personally shell out over 500 bucks a month on my insurance since I am considered high risk in the eyes of the insurance companies, and to some even considered not eligible for insurance.

However, with that being said I have a few points in the aritcle Greyson posted that are good points and honestly something everyone really needs to think about on a deeper level and I will explain why in my points.

Point One
“Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire Act must be declared void. This has been a difficult decision to reach, and I am aware that it will have indeterminable implications.,” he wrote in his ruling.

The Judge obviously does not have an issue with the Act due to his later statement regarding his decision but from a LEGAL standpoint the Judge I feel made the appropriate and necessary ruling. The individual mandate within the Act is absolutely unconstitutional without a doubt. You can not require anyone to buy anything and to do so is not constitutional especially when this is still considered a consumer affair.

Point Two
"The states and NFIB argued during oral arguments in December that the Congress has no constitutional right to force Americans buy insurance coverage. They said that while Congress is authorized to regulate activity, they can’t regulate inactivity— or not buying insurance."

Here is the worry with allowing this provision within the Act to pass, it establishes precedence within the legal world for EVERY other single lawsuit and we will lose our protection for the government to not be able to mandate us into purchasing anything they so see fit. If this was to have passed without being shot down or addressed we would never be able to argue another point such as this without losing. Once precedence is set within a court of law it is used as a reference for ruling and to establish if something even needs to be allowed into a courtroom.

I just don't see any good coming out of this mandate being allowed. It is going to open a can of worms that will follow us and cause issues as well as government intrusion for years to come.

Corkey

01-31-2011, 03:18 PM

MissItalianDiva

01-31-2011, 03:23 PM

If point one were true the government couldn't require auto insurance, so that doesn't fly.
Point 2 I am on medicare, and I am required to purchase separate coverage that medicare doesn't cover. So point 2 is mute.

It is legal for the government to require health care coverage, because president has been set.

Actually neither is mute and here is why

We are not REQUIRED to purchase auto insurance....you are only required if you are operating a motor vehicle...therefore that has no stance where this law is concerned because you STILL have a CHOICE.

As for medicare and being required to purchase additional coverage once again you have a CHOICE you are not required to be on Medicare therefore you are not required to purchase the supplement.

Neither one establishes precedence in the court of law due to CHOICE

Corkey

01-31-2011, 03:29 PM

Actually neither is mute and here is why

We are not REQUIRED to purchase auto insurance....you are only required if you are operating a motor vehicle...therefore that has no stance where this law is concerned because you STILL have a CHOICE.

As for medicare and being required to purchase additional coverage once again you have a CHOICE you are not required to be on Medicare therefore you are not required to purchase the supplement.

Neither one establishes precedence in the court of law due to CHOICE

Actually one is required to purchase auto insurance when one buys a new vehicle, whether they intend to drive it or not. If one is on Social security one is required to buy supplemental insurance. Precedence. I do believe that ALL americans should have health care and be required to have it to keep costs down for taxpayers, it's called personal responsibility. I also believe it should be affordable. You and I are not going to agree, and we don't have to.

MissItalianDiva

01-31-2011, 03:42 PM

Actually one is required to purchase auto insurance when one buys a new vehicle, whether they intend to drive it or not. If one is on Social security one is required to buy supplemental insurance. Precedence. I do believe that ALL americans should have health care and be required to have it to keep costs down for taxpayers, it's called personal responsibility. I also believe it should be affordable. You and I are not going to agree, and we don't have to.

Actually once again.....not correct but you are right we are not going to agree on the dynamics within the issue. I never said I do not want affordable healthcare nor did I specify that I do not want it to be affordable or even that the ACT itself is flawed or a bad idea. What I did say and will continue to say is the MANDATE within the ACT is unconstitutional and if auto insurance or medicare supplement was in FACT a set precedent we would not even be having this discussion because this issue would not be sitting within a federal court. It would have not gotten that far based on precedent.

So once again I will clarify.....I do believe EVERYONE should have Healthcare and actually would love to have this Act passed for personal and non personal reasons but I will not support or agree to a mandate within the Act that is unconstitutional but like you said Corkey there is a need and everyone should have access to health care without a question.

Corkey

01-31-2011, 03:51 PM

Which is why it is going to the SCOUS. There is precedence.

MissItalianDiva

01-31-2011, 04:16 PM

Which is why it is going to the SCOUS. There is precedence.

Actually that is why no judge is going to ALLOW them to claim precedence....it is not the same thing nor will it go anywhere. It is a shot in the dark claim by an idiot lawyer that is hoping for a shot in the dark. Had this been a real precedence this issue would have been presented well before it has gone this far.....in reality this would have been brought to the table FIRST not after multiple rulings. Read the rules for precedence...

Toughy

01-31-2011, 08:52 PM

Federal Courts disagree on the legality of mandating the purchase of health insurance. That is why it is going to end up in SCOTUS....

I'm not so sure it is Constitutional to mandate the purchase of health insurance. I need more information.....I haven't read the decisions handed down by the different federal courts......some say yes it is and some say no it's not.

IF you have single-payer system the Constitutional question is moot

MsDemeanor

01-31-2011, 09:04 PM

Toughy

01-31-2011, 10:40 PM

I'm sure that it would have been Constitutional back when Republicans came up with the idea and drew up legislation for it. You know, back when Clinton was President. Back then, they insisted that it was all about "personal responsibility". Damn hypocrites.

of course they are hypocrites...........laughin.....that is not the question........

Can you require a person to purchase basic health insurance?

MissItalianDiva

01-31-2011, 10:45 PM

of course they are hypocrites...........laughin.....that is not the question........

Can you require a person to purchase basic health insurance?

Well I am sure if they wanted to and got a judge who agreed then perhaps they could try but......the question still remains. What is the point anyways. You are still going to have a large population of people who can not afford even the basic so then what happens....oh of course the same thing that happens now. Really what is the purpose of doing it.

Not to mention I view it as unconstitutional......personal responsibility how....Whats next we mandate everyone to see a Dr every 3 months...oh maybe because that is after all making one accept personal responsibility right. What about those who do not support or follow modern medicine for personal or even religious reasons?

Greyson

02-01-2011, 02:00 PM

I don't know why UCLA chose to take a look at the State of Oklahoma. The report is 8 pages long. I know Oklahoma is snowed in today. Here is offered more reading while trying to stay warm.
______________________________________________

UCLA’s Williams Institute Releases New Study Examining Employment Discrimination Against LGBT People in Oklahoma and Analyzing the Impact of Adding Sexual Orientation to Existing Non-Discrimination in the State

January 31, 2011

LOS ANGELES - Today, the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law released a new research study providing evidence of employment discrimination against LGBT people in Oklahoma. The new study also shows that adding sexual orientation and gender identity to Oklahoma’s existing non-discrimination laws would be beneficial for employees and employers, while not overburdening the administrative system.
The study estimates that there are between 43,000 and 57,000 LGB people working in Oklahoma, along with as many as 6,800 transgender people. Several sources of data demonstrate that LGBT Oklahomans face harassment and discrimination in the workplace because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. For instance, a survey of LBGT people in Tulsa revealed that 22 percent had experienced employment discrimination because of their sexual orientation. National surveys also find that large percentages of LGBT people report discrimination in the workplace.
Discrimination has many negative effects that may affect income. According to Census Bureau data, men in same-sex couples in Oklahoma face an earnings gap, earning 26% less than married men. Employment discrimination also hurts businesses. When LGBT employees fear discrimination in the workplace, they hide their identity, have less job-satisfaction, and are less productive.
“Laws that provide protection from discrimination not only benefit employees, but also help businesses recruit and retain highly-skilled employees,” explains study co-author Lee Badgett, Research Director of the Williams Institute and director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
A number of Oklahoma-based corporations, including Devon Energy Corp., OKEOK Inc., Williams Companies Inc., and OGE Energy Corp., have already adopted such policies.
The estimated impact on the state administrative agencies resulting from expanding the existing non-discrimination law is negligible. “Considering the experience of states that have already adopted non-discrimination laws protecting LGBT employees, we do not expect that such a law in Oklahoma would overwhelm state agencies or the courts,” said Christy Mallory, study co-author and Williams Institute Legal Research Fellow. The study finds that expanding Oklahoma’s non-discrimination law to include sexual orientation and gender identity will result in an estimated increase in filings of 21-29 complaints per year.

The full report may be found at: http://www2.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/home.html

Soon

02-01-2011, 02:49 PM

Release: Iowa House Passes Amendment Seeking to Add Discrimination to Constitution
(http://oneiowa.org/news-events/release-iowa-house-passes-amendment-seeking-add-discrimination-constitution)
DES MOINES – The Iowa House today, by a vote of 62-37, passed an amendment (House Joint Resolution 6) that would deny any form of legal recognition for gay couples. The amendment seeks to prohibit not only the freedom to marry for gay couples, but also civil unions or domestic partnerships.

The bill now moves on to the Iowa Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal has vowed to fight attempts to pass the amendment. If passed through both legislative bodies in two consecutive General Assemblies, the issue could be on the ballot as soon as 2013.

“The proposed amendment devalues families and divides Iowans,” said One Iowa Executive Director Carolyn Jenison. “The Constitution is meant to protect the freedoms and liberties of all Iowans. It is inappropriate to use the political process to single out and deny a group of Iowans of their constitutional protections.”

“This goes beyond politics,” said Iowa City resident Katie Imborek. “This is about our family and the ability for Paula and me to care for one another and our two children. At a time when so many Iowans are struggling just to make ends meet, I don’t understand why legislators would choose to take up this issue.”

“From a business perspective, we do have a history of civility, tolerance and respect for the individual. I believe these same values mark the path to economic recovery,” said Suku Radia, CEO and President of Bankers Trust.

---------------

weatherboi

02-03-2011, 09:01 AM

it is official...i will no longer be watching or participating in football anything!!! i think i will take Ms to see Black Swan!!!

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41360579/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/ article

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/ video

:mohawk:

weatherboi

02-03-2011, 12:35 PM

DapperButch

02-07-2011, 01:21 PM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/07/aol-huffington-post_n_819375.html?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk3%7C199922

Soft*Silver

02-07-2011, 02:01 PM

Yesterday, two gunman walked into a frat party and opened fire, killing one, shooting twelve.

Youngstown is known for its crime rate. This crime actually had its root at a bar downtown, where they began their shooting, over a woman, left and went to the frat party...where the young man who was killed made them leave. They returned and opened fire.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110207/ap_on_re_us/us_fraternity_house_shootings

I posted this under the candle thread too. Pray in whatever form you wish, for our community and families are all in shock...

MsTinkerbelly

02-08-2011, 01:39 PM

PUERTO RICO: Murderer Of Transwoman Ashley Santiago Sentenced To 111 Years

Some hefty justice has been doled out to the murderer of transwoman Ashely Santiago, whose brutally stabbed body was found in her Puerto Rico home last April. Michael Lavers reports at Edge News:
A Puerto Rican man who confessed to murdering a transgender woman in her Corozal home received a 111-year prison sentence on Monday, Feb. 7. Primera Hora reported Judge Jesús Peluyera imposed the sentence upon Emanuel Adorno Ayala, who confessed to stabbing Ashley Santiago more than a dozen times in April 2010. Primera Hora further reported Santiago’s mother, Carmen Ocasio, tearfully said "this pain will last for the rest of my life" after Peluyera sentenced Ayala

Nat

02-08-2011, 08:03 PM

Popularity increases aggression in kids: study
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-02/09/c_13723274.htm)

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Previous studies showed that aggression makes kids more popular, but a new study suggests that becoming more popular makes kids more aggressive.

To determine the link between popularity and aggression, researchers at the University of California, Davis examined surveys involving about 3,700 students. The surveys asked the students about their friendships as well as whom they picked on and who picked on them. The surveys' questions concerned both physical aggression and relationship aggression such as name- calling and ostracism.

After controlling for variables known to influence aggression, including dating activity, sports participation, grade-point average, socioeconomic status and physical development, the researchers found that students who were more central in their social networks were also more aggressive.

Network centrality is a bit more complex than popularity: It means that a kid has not only a lot of friends, but a lot of friends who are also socially prominent. These school-age movers and shakers have a lot of social power among their peers, lead researcher Bob Faris said in remarks published by LiveScience.com on Tuesday.

"For the most part, we find that status increases aggression," Faris told LiveScience.

"For some people, that will be a surprise. For other people who have grown up quoting 'Mean Girls,' it might be an 'Oh, duh' kind of revelation," he added, referring to the 2004 comedy about a clique of vicious but popular high school girls.

In the study, Faris and his colleagues not only examined individual traits, but also social networks where bullying takes place, using data from a long-term study of public school children in three counties in North Carolina, according to LiveScience.com.

Their approach is different from many previous studies on kid aggression which only focused on the traits of bullies and their victims. These studies suggested that bullies often have troubled family lives and may be at higher risk for depression and other mental health disorders. Their victims are often unpopular.

The gradual increase of aggression with popularity continues until one reaches the top two percent of popular students, Faris said. At that point, aggression suddenly drops off. The top two percent are even less aggressive than the kids at the very bottom of the heap, Faris said.

"We can't preclude the possibility that kids at the very top are just somehow really different, that they're incredibly nice and everybody loves them," Faris said. But other evidence suggests that these extremely popular kids are just secure enough in their positions that they don't need to be aggressive anymore, he said.

betenoire

02-08-2011, 09:02 PM

Keith Olbermann launching primetime news show on "current" network this spring (http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecutline/20110208/ts_yblog_thecutline/olbermann-launching-primetime-current-tv-show-this-spring)

Mwah Keith!

Jesse

02-10-2011, 01:55 PM

Wasn't sure if this got posted or not.

Atlanta Eagle Awarded $1M for Police Raid

http://www.edgeonthenet.com/?113815

rlin

02-10-2011, 02:03 PM

Wasn't sure if this got posted or not.

Atlanta Eagle Awarded $1M for Police Raid

http://www.edgeonthenet.com/?113815
not only that but projectq reported a coupla days ago that the guy that headed up the raid was arrested for dwi and a coupla other shameless hypocrisies the other night!... if that woulda happened b4 they settled it they may have gotten more than about 30k apiece!

rlin

02-10-2011, 02:18 PM

Well I am sure if they wanted to and got a judge who agreed then perhaps they could try but......the question still remains. What is the point anyways. You are still going to have a large population of people who can not afford even the basic so then what happens....oh of course the same thing that happens now. Really what is the purpose of doing it.

Not to mention I view it as unconstitutional......personal responsibility how....Whats next we mandate everyone to see a Dr every 3 months...oh maybe because that is after all making one accept personal responsibility right. What about those who do not support or follow modern medicine for personal or even religious reasons?

im stuck on this one... on the onehand i do believe its ridiculous... ive been railing about the states that mandate auto insurance forever...
that said... i hate the insurance industry owning all of us... the only way that we can have a say is if everyone is insured... when it is a matter of an entire population we regain control thru real regulation...
hmmm... this is the US... where corporations rule...so not total control of course... but more than we have now...
its sorta a two sided coin for me...
i cant figure out where to flip it...
well... if i had my drothers... socialized is the way i would vote.. but this is (for damned sure) entirely my own thinking...

Gayla

02-10-2011, 08:37 PM

I don't remember seeing a thread on the goings on in Egypt so I'm just tossing this up here. Heard part of this interview on the way home today. The woman they spoke to is from Seattle but has been teaching in Egypt for 20 years.

Article and Link to Interview (http://westseattle.komonews.com/news/politics/west-seattle-professor-cairo-it-going-be-bloodbath/620686)

I haven't been following this as much as I should but I get bits and pieces of updates online. I've fascinated by these first hand accounts that aren't coming from reporters but from people looking out their windows and watching it happen.

rlin

02-19-2011, 01:04 PM

thisll be coming up for a vote in the senate soon... and

If you think we have a solid pro-choice majority in the Senate, think again.

It's up to the Senate to stop the attacks on women now that the House has passed legislation to defund family planning services -- shamefully wiping out federal funding for Planned Parenthood's non-abortion health care for women, and pushing a bill that would allow hospitals to let pregnant women die rather than perform life-saving abortions.

But we cannot take for granted our ability to stop these bills in the Senate. Anti-choice forces in the Senate now out number pro-choice senators 46-40, and we need 41 votes to sustain a filibuster of the anti-woman, anti-choice bills coming out of the House.

go do something... whatever it is that is put to our govt about this will only help!

rlin

02-19-2011, 02:39 PM

an open letter to westboro from anonymous... fred is done!
We, the collective super-consciousness known as ANONYMOUS - the Voice of Free Speech & the Advocate of the People - have long heard you issue your venomous statements of hatred, and we have witnessed your flagrant and absurd displays of inimitable bigotry and intolerant fanaticism. We have always regarded you and your ilk as an assembly of graceless sociopaths and maniacal chauvinists & religious zealots, however benign, who act out for the sake of attention & in the name of religion.
Being such aggressive proponents for the Freedom of Speech & Freedom of Information as we are, we have hitherto allowed you to continue preaching your benighted gospel of hatred and your theatrical exhibitions of, not only your fascist views, but your utter lack of Christ-like attributes. You have condemned the men and women who serve, fight, and perish in the armed forces of your nation; you have prayed for and celebrated the deaths of young children, who are without fault; you have stood outside the United States National Holocaust Museum, condemning the men, women, and children who, despite their innocence, were annihilated by a tyrannical embodiment of fascism and unsubstantiated repugnance. Rather than allowing the deceased some degree of peace and respect, you instead choose to torment, harass, and assault those who grieve.
Your demonstrations and your unrelenting cascade of disparaging slurs, unfounded judgments, and prejudicial innuendos, which apparently apply to every individual numbered amongst the race of Man - except for yourselves - has frequently crossed the line which separates Freedom of Speech from deliberately utilizing the same tactics and methods of intimidation and mental & emotional abuse that have been previously exploited and employed by tyrants and dictators, fascists and terrorist organizations throughout history.

ANONYMOUS cannot abide this behavior any longer. The time for us to be idle spectators in your inhumane treatment of fellow Man has reached its apex, and we shall now be moved to action. Thus, we give you a warning: Cease & desist your protest campaign in the year 2011, return to your homes in Kansas, & close your public Web sites.
Should you ignore this warning, you will meet with the vicious retaliatory arm of ANONYMOUS: We will target your public Websites, and the propaganda & detestable doctrine that you promote will be eradicated; the damage incurred will be irreversible, and neither your institution nor your congregation will ever be able to fully recover. It is in your best interest to comply now, while the option to do so is still being offered, because we will not relent until you cease the conduction & promotion of all your bigoted operations & doctrines.

The warning has been given. What happens from here shall be determined by you.

WE ARE ANONYMOUS.
WE ARE LEGION.
WE DO NOT FORGIVE.
WE DO NOT FORGET.
EXPECT US.

Toughy

02-19-2011, 05:13 PM

Lynn

02-19-2011, 05:40 PM

I am kind of invigorated by the letter, but, unfortunately, I view Anonymous as a hate group, also. They target other groups and incite violence to further their own agenda. It's kind of ironic that they attack WBC when there are some similarities between them.

Sparkle

02-19-2011, 07:05 PM

/snip
I understand what has motivated the above letter, however it very well could have been written by Sarah Palin or Rush or Sean or Glenn, et al. Just put 'homosexual' or 'pagan' or 'move on.org' in place of fred phelps.....
/snip

You're quite right but ...

I can't help but admit the letter does bring me a distinct pang of glee.

betenoire

02-19-2011, 10:34 PM

an open letter to westboro from anonymous... fred is done!
We, the collective super-consciousness known as ANONYMOUS - the Voice of Free Speech & the Advocate of the People

Fair enough, but I find it laughable to read that a group calling itself "the Voice of Free Speech" is going to kick some ass because they don't like someone else's free speech.

rlin

02-19-2011, 11:28 PM

Note to rlin: my post is absolutely not directed towards you personally....it is not about you personally.....it's about the letter and it's meaning.

I understand what has motivated the above letter, however it very well could have been written by Sarah Palin or Rush or Sean or Glenn, et al. Just put 'homosexual' or 'pagan' or 'move on.org' in place of fred phelps.....

It's hateful and mean and violence is implied. I don't see any reason for any of us to be crawling around in the gutter with any of them.

you are correct about it being a terroristic threat... cuz... it obviously is...

that said... we already have what you said could be... we have palin and hannity and beck attacking us daily... i cant help being elated that someone may hit them as hard as they hit us...

i guess im not as easy going as i once was... the other cheek hurts too...

R

rlin

02-21-2011, 07:20 AM

from anonnews.org

Dear Phred Phelps and WBC Phriends,
So we've been hearing a lot about some letter that we supposedly sent you this morning. Problem is,
we're a bit groggy and don't remember sending it. Our best guess is that you heard about us on that
newfangled TV of yours and thought we might be some good money for your little church.
You thought you could play with Anonymous. You observed our rising notoriety and thought you
would exploit our paradigm for your own gain. And then, you thought you could lure some idiots into a
honeypot for more IPs to sue.
This is not so foreign to us; as you may have heard, we trade in Lulz. You just do not have enough to
offer right now.
While Anonymous thanks you for your interest, and would certainly like to take a break and have some
fun with you guys, we have more pressing matters to deal with at the moment.
But, we will keep this application on file, and will certainly contact you if any openings become
available in future.
Next time, don't call us. We'll call you.
Additionally, as your "Press Release" failed to understand: When Anonymous says we support free
speech, we mean it. We count Beatrice Hall among our Anonymous forebears: "I disapprove of what
you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Do some among our number hate you and your cynical exploitation of your human rights for monetary
gain? Of course. But the MoralFags are also the first to admit that they are, in fact, your rights to
exploit.
In closing, let us assure you: We are not BAWWWING sissies, nor are we afraid of your false god;
we're just really busy. Stay tuned, and we'll come back to play another day.
We promise.
To the Media: Just because it was posted on AnonNews doesn't mean every single Anon is in
agreement, in fact in this case it doesn't even mean a single Anon is in agreement. Next time, if you
could give us a few minutes to put all our paperwork in order, we'll be sure to let you know what we're
up to. (LOL)
To Anonymous: It's a trap. They've got their ports wide open to harvest IPs to sue. Don't DDoS, and
boycott Operation Westboro. If you really want to continue messing with them, just send them a few
male prostitutes and faxes of goatse. Nothing more.
(Note: This letter was written by more than 20 Anons, at the same time, and none of them were inbred
family members. Unlike that other, shitty "Press Release".)
We are Anonymous.
We are legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us.

Mister Bent

02-21-2011, 04:38 PM

The TSA is out of hand.

I am of the mind that certain measures to protect air travel are necessary, but there must be some measure of common sense among TSA agents.

Rep. Sharon Cissna underwent a body scan as she was preparing to leave Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Sunday and was then required to undergo the pat-down by Transportation Safety Administration officials, said Michelle Scannell, her chief of staff.

Scannell said the TSA called for the pat-down because the scan showed Cissna had had a mastectomy.

The TSA, on its website, says security officers "will need to see and touch your prosthetic device, cast or support brace as part of the screening process."

Read more here (http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1110ap_us_lawmaker_airport_search.html)

Sparkle

02-23-2011, 11:19 AM

http://www.hrcbackstory.org/2011/02/administration-drops-defense-of-discriminatory-doma-law/

Today the Obama Administration announced it won’t continue its defense of the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA) in court. DOMA denies federal recognition and benefits to legally married same-sex couples and purports to allow states to deny recognition to those couples as well.

“This is a monumental decision for the thousands of same-sex couples and their families who want nothing more than the same rights and dignity afforded to other married couples,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “As the President has stated previously, DOMA unfairly discriminates against Americans and we applaud him for fulfilling his oath to defend critical constitutional principles.”

Sparkle

02-23-2011, 11:55 AM

and the Washington Post article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/23/AR2011022303428.html?hpid=topnews

EnderD_503

03-01-2011, 03:24 PM

Another good step forward.

Rutgers University to allow co-ed dorm rooms
Published: Monday, February 28, 2011, 9:00 PM

NEW BRUNSWICK — Starting this fall, Rutgers University will allow male and female students to live in the same dormitory room for the first time in a pilot program designed to make the New Brunswick campus more welcoming to gay students.

More than 100 undergraduates in Demarest Hall, New Gibbons and Rockoff Hall will have the option of selecting a roommate of the opposite sex, campus officials said. The pilot program will allow gay, lesbian and transgender students to choose either male or female roommates. Heterosexual students will also be permitted to live in co-ed rooms with their boyfriends, girlfriends or platonic friends of the opposite sex.

The new option — called gender-neutral housing — was created at the request of gay, lesbian and transgender students who objected to Rutgers rules that require undergraduates to choose roommates of the same sex.

"I’m really glad they did it, although I wish it wouldn’t have taken as long," said Aaron Lee, a Rutgers senior who is a self-described transgender student. "We live in a world where in order to be considered a human being you have to be male or female, and not everyone fits into that kind of binary. It’s important to have spaces where people don’t necessarily have to worry."

Rutgers-Newark will offer a similar program this fall, though campus officials said they will limit the mixed-sex housing to a maximum of three rooms in either University Square or Woodward Hall.

Gay campus groups had been asking for gender-neutral housing options for years without success. University officials reconsidered the idea after the death of Tyler Clementi, a freshman who made national headlines when he committed suicide last semester.

Clementi, 18, jumped off the George Washington Bridge a few days after his roommate allegedly used a webcam to watch him in an intimate encounter with another man. It is unclear exactly why Clementi committed suicide, but the freshman’s death prompted Rutgers officials to take a closer look at how gay students are treated on campus.

The number of colleges offering mixed-sex housing options has been growing steadily in recent years, according to the National Student Genderblind Campaign, a grassroots group that advocates for changes in campus housing policies. Columbia University, George Washington University, Emory University, Ohio University and Ramapo College in Mahwah already offer gender-neutral options.

At Rutgers, the pilot program will be limited to Demarest Hall on the College Avenue Campus, New Gibbons on the Douglass Campus and some apartments in Rockoff Hall, a 12-story building in downtown New Brunswick.

Students will get into the dorms through the student housing lottery, campus officials said. Then, students will be given the option of naming a roommate of either sex. Parents will not be permitted to veto their children’s roommates. Undergraduates will not be asked to reveal if they are gay.

"We’re not asking students their relationships," said Joan Carbone, the university’s executive director of residence life. "People should not have to declare their sexual preference to us."

The halls will include gender-neutral bathrooms, where men and women share bathing facilities. Individual shower stalls will have doors instead of curtains to allow for more privacy, residence life officials said. Access to the locked bathrooms will be limited to residents with key cards.

The mixed-sex rooms will not be available to freshmen, Rutgers officials said. But first-year gay and lesbian students will be given the option on their housing form of requesting a roommate who is supportive of their sexual preference.

Steven Goldstein, head of Garden State Equality, said Rutgers’ decision to allow mixed-gender housing is a small part of the changes needed to help gay students be safe on campus.

"Our experience is that students get bullied both by students of the same gender and the opposite gender, so integrated housing may be a step. But it’s not nearly enough and cannot substitute for more comprehensive anti-bullying policy," said Goldstein, chairman of the statewide gay rights organization.

Source:http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/02/rutgers_to_allow_co-ed_rooms_i.html

UofMfan

03-01-2011, 03:41 PM

What can I say, this is breaking news to me.

Fascinating (http://miami.craigslist.org/brw/apa/2240928898.html)

betenoire

03-01-2011, 05:15 PM

What can I say, this is breaking news to me.

Fascinating (http://miami.craigslist.org/brw/apa/2240928898.html)

What did it used to say? Now at the top of the screen it says only "Stating a discriminatory preference in a housing post is illegal - please flag discriminatory posts as prohibited"

UofMfan

03-01-2011, 05:23 PM

What did it used to say? Now at the top of the screen it says only "Stating a discriminatory preference in a housing post is illegal - please flag discriminatory posts as prohibited"

That is interesting. That is what happens when I multitask.

Let's try again. (http://www.themedguru.com/20091206/newsfeature/stare-boobs-longer-life-study-86131320.html)

Corkey

03-01-2011, 05:43 PM

Just announced on ABC news, Nitwit Newt to run for republican nomination for President. Will announce his nitwit self sometime this week.

Jess

03-01-2011, 06:33 PM

Think we could get his sis to run instead???

betenoire

03-01-2011, 06:54 PM

That is interesting. That is what happens when I multitask.

Let's try again. (http://www.themedguru.com/20091206/newsfeature/stare-boobs-longer-life-study-86131320.html)

Can I stare at my on in the mirror or down my top? Or do I have to stare at others? THIS IS AN IMPORTANT QUESTION!

UofMfan

03-01-2011, 07:00 PM

Can I stare at my on in the mirror or down my top? Or do I have to stare at others? THIS IS AN IMPORTANT QUESTION!

What am I, the expert?

I would think stare at others, more so in your case :D

betenoire

03-01-2011, 07:05 PM

What am I, the expert?

I would think stare at others, more so in your case :D

Whatever. My boobs are awesome. I know this because I am looking down my top right this second.

You're so mean to me. I'm going to dwell on that while I walk to the store to buy catfood right now.

Jess

03-02-2011, 03:53 PM

from gayrva.com:

According to today’s Supreme Court ruling, the controversial Westboro Baptist Church will be able to picket funerals. The 8-1 vote in favor of the WBC upholds an appeals court ruling that prevented the father of a deceased Marine from suing the church for $5 million.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the court’s opinion.

More from the Associated Press: ( http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_supreme_court_funeral_protests )

Roberts said free speech rights in the First Amendment shield the funeral protesters, noting that they obeyed police directions and were 1,000 feet from the church.

“Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and — as it did here — inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker,” Roberts said. “As a nation we have chosen a different course — to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.”

AtLast

03-02-2011, 06:35 PM

Corkey

03-02-2011, 06:46 PM

Even though I abhor WBC, I have to agree with the court. And it really is a visceral kind of agreement, because If I want my voice heard, then I have to acknowledge they have that right. No matter how vehemently I disagree with them. They cause pain to those they demonstrate against, we, all of us want our rights. I wish we could punish them more on hate speech, but that isn't going to happen. There is a petition brought against the ones who are lawyers in that group to disbar them. That may be, legally, the only course left.

Jess

03-02-2011, 06:56 PM

I agree. It's very difficult to ( gnaw a hole through your jaw) and say "yes, you have the right to speak, even when others disagree with you".

I am finding it more and more important to ignore folks like that and not give over "our" power to those mindsets. Giving them any attention at all only adds fuel to their fire. That is really hard to do though, when you see the hateful things they do.

The only way the system works is if it works for all.

socialjustice_fsu

03-02-2011, 08:53 PM

I live on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. Remember the horrendous BP Deep Horizon oil spill? There is not much in the news these days about it and the residual is now emerging ever so quickly. We are having pods of dolphins wash ashore near my home. The water is a murky color. And yet...children play in the surf, people in denial eat tainted seafood, swimmers ingest the sea water and the marketing to visit/live here screams that all is well. It is not.
I bring this to light because people need to educate themselves about where their seafood comes from and what dangerous toxins can do to oneself even in years to come. Independent scientists are proving day after day that our waters and environment are more dangerously ill than it ever has been.
My plea is that you educate yourself, your family and your firends about what IS NOT being reported by the media. We are living in the midst of gas, oil, and all of the toxins injected below the surface to break up the oil.
I am fortunate enough to have the means to be tested by an independent health lab to measure if I have any toxins in my bloodstream. The cost for this simple test: $295.00. This does not begin to include the cost of detoxifying in the event any lab variables are critical. I thought initially BP should pay for this test for everyone along the coast, however, I do not trust them. Now or ever.

Please send out pleas to the Universe that our Gulf will return to life through the work of fair and unbribed analysts that do not bow to the BP Corportation.

TIJ48Ittl_4

AtLast

03-02-2011, 09:42 PM

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2011/03/02/dnt.lesbian.couple.has.quadruplets.YNN?hpt=T2

Lesbian couple has Quadruplets!!

betenoire

03-02-2011, 10:17 PM

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2011/03/02/dnt.lesbian.couple.has.quadruplets.YNN?hpt=T2

Lesbian couple has Quadruplets!!

Oh fuck, those poor women. FOUR babies? UGH, that's going to be so much work.

Oh, I meant to say CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR FOUR BABIES!

*laughing* Seriously, though. A girl in the building I work in had triplets last year...and she always looks like she's about to burst into tears because she's so exhausted.

AtLast

03-02-2011, 10:28 PM

This is so interesting to me as Carter is an evangelical- and also founder of Habitat for Humaity, a former US president, a peanut farmer, and was a nuclear physicist among other things.

This goes to my feelings about just not being able to apply cultural relativity to sexism for justification.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/12/jimmy-carter-womens-rights-equality

The words of God do not justify cruelty to womenDiscrimination and abuse wrongly backed by doctrine are damaging society, argues the former US president

"Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status ..." (Article 2, Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28)

I have been a practising Christian all my life and a deacon and Bible teacher for many years. My faith is a source of strength and comfort to me, as religious beliefs are to hundreds of millions of people around the world.

So my decision to sever my ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, after six decades, was painful and difficult. It was, however, an unavoidable decision when th e convention's leaders, quoting a few carefully selected Bible verses and claiming that Eve was created second to Adam and was responsible for original sin, ordained that women must be "subservient" to their husbands and prohibited from serving as deacons, pastors or chaplains in the military service. This was in conflict with my belief - confirmed in the holy scriptures - that we are all equal in the eyes of God.

This view that women are somehow inferior to men is not restricted to one religion or belief. It is widespread. Women are prevented from playing a full and equal role in many faiths.

Nor, tragically, does its influence stop at the walls of the church, mosque, synagogue or temple. This discrimination, unjustifiably attributed to a Higher Authority, has provided a reason or excuse for the deprivation of women's equal rights across the world for centuries. The male interpretations of religious texts and the way they interact with, and reinforce, traditional practices justify some of the most pervasive, persistent, flagrant and damaging examples of human rights abuses.

At their most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities.

The impact of these religious beliefs touches every aspect of our lives. They help explain why in many countries boys are educated before girls; why girls are told when and whom they must marry; and why many face enormous and unacceptable risks in pregnancy and childbirth because their basic health needs are not met.

In some Islamic nations, women are restricted in their movements, punished for permitting the exposure of an arm or ankle, deprived of education, prohibited from driving a car or competing with men for a job. If a woman is raped, she is often most severely punished as the guilty party in the crime.

The same discriminatory thinking lies behind the continuing gender gap in pay and why there are still so few women in office in Britain and the United States. The root of this prejudice lies deep in our histories, but its impact is felt every day. It is not women and girls alone who suffer. It damages all of us. The evidence shows that investing in women and girls delivers major benefits for everyone in society. An educated woman has healthier children. She is more likely to send them to school. She earns more and invests what she earns in her family.

It is simply self-defeating for any community to discriminate against half its population. We need to challenge these self-serving and out-dated attitudes and practices - as we are seeing in Iran where women are at the forefront of the battle for democracy and freedom.

I understand, however, why many political leaders can be reluctant about stepping into this minefield. Religion, and tradition, are powerful and sensitive area to challenge.

But my fellow Elders and I, who come from many faiths and backgrounds, no longer need to worry about winning votes or avoiding controversy - and we are deeply committed to challenging injustice wherever we see it.

The Elders have decided to draw particular attention to the responsibility of religious and traditional leaders in ensuring equality and human rights. We have recently published a statement that declares: "The justification of discrimination against women and girls on grounds of religion or tradition, as if it were prescribed by a Higher Authority, is unacceptable."

We are calling on all leaders to challenge and change the harmful teachings and practices, no matter how ingrained, which justify discrimination against women. We ask, in particular, that leaders of all religions have the courage to acknowledge and emphasise the positive messages of dignity and equality that all the world's major faiths share.

Although not having training in religion or theology, I understand that the carefully selected verses found in the holy scriptures to justify the superiority of men owe more to time and place - and the determination of male leaders to hold onto their influence - than eternal truths. Similar Biblical excerpts could be found to support the approval of slavery and the timid acquiescence to oppressive rulers.

At the same time, I am also familiar with vivid descriptions in the same scriptures in which women are revered as pre-eminent leaders. During the years of the early Christian church women served as deacons, priests, bishops, apostles, teachers and prophets. It wasn't until the fourth century that dominant Christian leaders, all men, twisted and distorted holy scriptures to perpetuate their ascendant positions within the religious hierarchy.

I know, too, that Billy Graham, one of the most widely respected and revered Christians during my lifetime, did not understand why women were prevented from being priests and preachers. He said: "Women preach all over the world. It doesn't bother me from my study of the scriptures."

The truth is that male religious leaders have had - and still have - an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter.

Their continuing choice provides the foundation or justification for much of the pervasive persecution and abuse of women throughout the world. This is in clear violation not just of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but also the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, Moses and the prophets, Muhammad, and founders of other great religions - all of whom have called for proper and equitable treatment of all the children of God. It is time we had the courage to challenge these views.

• Jimmy Carter was US president from 1977-81. The Elders are an independent group of eminent global leaders, brought together by Nelson Mandela, who offer their influence and experience to support peace building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity.

MsDemeanor

03-03-2011, 12:39 PM

Another disgusting item buried in Scott Walker's budget:

Scott Walker’s Budget Bans Birth Control Coverage And Eliminates Access To Health Care Services For Women (http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/03/walker-birth-control-women-health/)

MsDemeanor

03-03-2011, 06:01 PM

Secretary Clinton praises Al Jazeera - right wing nut job heads across America explode!!

Faux Newz will go nuts over this!! (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/03/hillary-clinton-calls-al-_n_830890.html)

rlin

03-03-2011, 06:40 PM

MsDemeanor

03-03-2011, 09:11 PM

fucking genius...
i guess this will teach everyone how important state elections are...
Yep. Democrats - screw yer apathy; get yer ass to the voting booth.

rlin

03-04-2011, 09:55 AM

i am again temporarily living in ga... not in marietta where this dumbass serves but still...

this is indicative of what happens when we dont try hard enough in local elections... cuz... state shit dont matter... see above WI posts... see this crazy shit... this is also the man that tried to get rape victims to turn into accusers... not victims... crazy bastard...

damn i cant wait to gtfo of ga

Last week the abortion debate (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/22/georgia-anti-abortion-bill-would-require-investigations-of-miscarriages/) took a turn down crazy street when Georgia lawmaker Bobby Franklin introduced a bill in the state legislature with the potential to find a miscarriage criminal, and a state mandate to track and investigate all pregnancy.
The bill, HB 1, would make the sexual health a matter of public concern. The measure would make abortion the legal equivalent of murder, and force the criminal investigation of women who suffer miscarriages.
The bill (http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/23/headlines/georgia_measure_calls_for_investigating_miscarriag es) would classify the removal of a fetus under any circumstance other than during a live birth or to remove a dead fetus as "prenatal murder." Doctors and hospitals would be forced to report miscarriages to authorities, who would then have to investigate if the miscarriage occurs without medical attention. Many find (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/17/946257/--GALegislator-Wants-to-Create-The-Uterus-Police-to-Investigate-Miscarriages) the bill to be draconian. Many believe that for the state to investigate all unsupervised miscarriages as a crime scene is to take misogyny to a new level, and breathes new life into the notion that women really are nothing but chattel, second class citizens to be monitored and disciplined by the state.

Many find (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/23/antiabortion-georgia-lawm_n_827340.html) the proposal a preposterous invasion into a woman's constitutionally protected right to privacy. No surprise, Bobby Franklin is a Republican. His official biography on the Georgia General Assembly's website reads:

“Representative Franklin has been called ‘the conscience of the Republican Caucus’ because he believes that civil government should return to its biblically and constitutionally defined role."

AtLast

03-04-2011, 03:19 PM

Fox News' Lies Keep Them Out of Canada
readersupportednews.org
‎'Fox News will not be moving into Canada after all! The reason: Canadian regulators today announced they would reject efforts by Canada's right-wing Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to repeal a law that forbids lying on broadcast news.' Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Reader Supported News

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/276-74/5123-fox-news-lies-keep-them-out-of-canada

EnderD_503

03-06-2011, 05:52 PM

AtLast

03-06-2011, 07:05 PM

And we continue to be spared! Thank the gods of news broadcasting o/

I want you to send the folks up there that made this decision down! We need them!

betenoire

03-06-2011, 10:57 PM

I want you to send the folks up there that made this decision down! We need them!

Can't. We -need- them. Won't share. Get your own!

AtLast

03-07-2011, 01:20 AM

Can't. We -need- them. Won't share. Get your own!

Damn!

:byebye:

Nat

03-08-2011, 04:54 PM

NPR exec called tea party racist and xenophobic and also said NPR would be better off without national funding
(http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fn%2Fa%2F2011%2F03%2F08%2Fnational %2Fa141439S23.DTL)

Assuming the recording wasn't tampered with..

Nat

03-10-2011, 06:53 AM

9LQl1RcnCF0

1C6Y4S3p__c

key

03-10-2011, 08:09 AM

General Strike Time

MsDemeanor

03-10-2011, 11:36 AM

dreadgeek

03-10-2011, 12:01 PM

Strikes will just get people fired (it's in the new law) and piss off folks. Legal action and recall elections are the way to go. Someone struggling with where to stash their kids because the teachers aren't in school or who can't get services because everyone is on strike isn't going to be sympathetic. Better that they go back to their jobs and let people know that they are at work because they know how much they are needed by the people of WI.

This is spot-on, Ms D! We--liberals, I mean--have an opportunity to make visible the case some of us have been making for a while now; namely, that radical conservative ideology is a direct assault on the middle class. But we have to be tactically smart about it (something that seems to be very difficult for liberals to do--an issue I'm exploring on my blog). The people who are ordinary workers should go back to work so people know how much they are needed. At the same time, legal action and recall elections should be engaged in. I also hope that the national Democrats are looking at what is happening and deciding that they are *finally* willing to dance with those who brought them instead of always kowtowing to conservatives (who would vote for a red devil before they would vote for a liberal) and Wall Street bankers.

Cheers
Aj

AtLast

03-10-2011, 04:38 PM

Strikes will just get people fired (it's in the new law) and piss off folks. Legal action and recall elections are the way to go. Someone struggling with where to stash their kids because the teachers aren't in school or who can't get services because everyone is on strike isn't going to be sympathetic. Better that they go back to their jobs and let people know that they are at work because they know how much they are needed by the people of WI.

From some of last night's coverage, it looked like the WI Dems were pursuing legal action via the Atty General- my hpe is that this does go to the courts there- appears to be a WI constitutional issue to the max.

Striking might well turn public opinion against the public employees in the end. The union folks have a very strong statement in their prior agreement on monetary concessions.

I was a bit confused - is the sitting WI and Dem or GOP? Although, constutional law is the bottom line about the procedures in the state legislative bodies.

AtLast

03-10-2011, 04:42 PM

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/148583-us-muslim-radicals-hearing-set?sms_ss=twitter&at_xt=4d79090d3cb6312f,0

King defends Muslim 'radicalization' hearing, saying critics are 'in denial'
By Jordy Yager - 03/10/11 01:53 PM ET

Republicans pushed back on Democratic objections Thursday at a controversial hearing on whether American Muslims should be investigated for radicalized tendencies.

Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Pete King (R-N.Y.), defended his decision to hold the hearing, saying his panel “could not live in denial.”

“I am well-aware that the announcement of these hearings has generated considerable controversy and opposition,” King said at the hearing.

“The committee cannot live in denial, which is what some would have us do when they suggest that this hearing dilute its focus by investigating threats unrelated to al Qaeda.”

But Rep. Bennie Thompson (Miss.), the ranking Democrat on King's committee, said Thursday he was concerned the hearing could be used to further radicalize people to attack the U.S. and that it unfairly singled out Muslim Americans.

“The U.S. is accused of engaging in a modern-day crusade against Islam,” said Thompson in his opening remarks. “We cannot give this lie a place to rest.

“I cannot help but wonder how propaganda about this hearing’s focus on the American Muslim community will be used by those who seek to inspire a new generation of suicide bombers.”

In preparation for the hearing, bomb-sniffing dogs swept the outside of the Cannon House Office Building on Thursday morning.

Several demonstrators stood silently outside the building with signs reading, “Today I am a Muslim too” and “Pluralism or perish.”

More than 100 people filled the cramped hearing room on Cannon’s third floor. The audience was largely quiet, save for a few outbursts of applause, and a demonstrator from Code Pink who sat silently throughout.

The atmosphere was more tense than normal as U.S. Capitol Police officers stood posted near the hearing room. One officer at a screening entrance to Cannon told a man to remove his trench coat. When he turned his back to the police officer and went to unbutton it, she said, "Turn toward me, sir!" He complied.

In the days leading up to the hearing, King received threatening phone calls, pleas from more than 60 of his House colleagues and denunciations from civil liberty and religious groups, all trying to persuade him to cancel Thursday’s hearing.

Instead, members pushed King to broaden the scope of the hearing, titled “The extent of radicalization in the American Muslim community and that community's response,” to encompass extremist environmental and neo-Nazi groups.

King said he is fulfilling his congressional duty and probing one of the most serious threats to national security.

“There is no equivalency of threat between al Qaeda and neo-Nazis, environmental extremists or other isolated madmen,” said King. “Only al Qaeda and its Islamist affiliates in this country are part of an international threat to our nation.”

King’s critics argue that the hearing unfairly targets Muslim Americans and will likely widen the divide between them and law enforcement.

A group of 56 Democratic lawmakers wrote to King on Wednesday in a last-ditch effort to get him to call the hearing off. They said “the stated narrow scope and underlying premises of these hearings unfairly stigmatizes and alienates Muslim Americans.”

In a separate letter Wednesday evening, nine other Democratic lawmakers also pushed King to cancel the proceeding. They pointed to the shooting in January of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, neither of which has been linked to Islamic extremism, as evidence that other extremists deserve scrutiny.

Thompson last month asked King to broaden the scope of the hearing to encompass other extremists. King said he “will not allow political correctness to obscure a real and dangerous threat to the safety and security of the citizens of the United States.”

The hearing has sparked a furor in the media and among Islamic and civil-liberty groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which — along with 40 other groups — maintained in a letter Tuesday that the “committee can carry out its important function in a wide variety of ways without trampling on the constitutional rights of American Muslims.”

King announced plans for the hearing in December and has never wavered since. He said he has received threatening phone calls, some from overseas. He’s receiving increased protection and authorities are investigating the matter, he said.

In defending the hearing, King said he doesn’t want to feel guilty for not going forward in case another attack, like that of Sept. 11, 2001, takes place. Instead, he has blamed the mainstream media for inciting the public over an issue he says is vital to the national security — and which has not been adequately addressed so far.

“What are they afraid of? What are they hiding from? Why are they attacking me in such a rabid way?” King told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” earlier this week. “I can take the hits, that doesn’t bother me at all.

“I don’t ever want it on my conscience that if another attack comes, I wake up the next morning and say, ‘I backed down to political correctness, I backed down to The Washington Post, or the left-wing New York Times, because I was afraid of political retribution.’ I’m going to do what I have to do, and I’m going to do it.”

But some in the intelligence community are concerned that the hearing — which is aimed at investigating recruitment tactics — could be used by ideological extremists as a recruitment tool.

“If the Islamic community feels that they’re being targeted, it could fuel the fire of people who are recruiting [and] saying, ‘This is discrimination, this is why we want you to join our side, this is why we want you to attack,’ ” Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (Md.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in an interview. “And unfortunately, they could use the religion to get to the endgame of an attack.”

Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper voiced similar concerns in testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last month, saying terrorist recruiters could attempt to exploit “anti-Islamic incidents, legislation and activities, such as threat of Koran burning and restrictions on Muslim attire.”

King told The Hill he was somewhat surprised by the public outcry; the Senate Homeland Security panel has held multiple hearings of the same nature in recent years, with little or no opposition, he said.

Hearings before the Senate panel have included titles such as: “Violent Islamist Extremism: Al-Shabab Recruitment in America,” “The Roots of Violent Islamist Extremism and Efforts to Counter It” and “Violent Islamist Extremism: Government Efforts to Defeat It.”

But unlike King’s hearing, the Senate panel’s hearings have always included either experts or government officials. The first Muslim member of Congress, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), is scheduled to testify at Thursday’s hearing, as is Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.).

Also scheduled to appear are Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, a group that argues for the separation of mosque and state; Abdirizak Bihi, director of the Somali Education and Social Advocacy Center, which focuses heavily on youth in Minneapolis, where some young people have reportedly been recruited overseas to the militant Islamist group Al-Shabab; L.A. County Sheriff Leroy Baca; and Melvin Bledsoe, the father of a man who claims to be a part of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and stands accused of killing a man at an Arkansas military recruiting center.

For all of the opposition to the hearing, King does have his supporters. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called it essential to understanding the evolving domestic terrorist threat against the U.S.

“That’s where the war is going,” Graham told The Hill. “The more we know about what’s out there and how we can prevent it, the better off we are. No one’s suggesting putting anyone in jail, but Peter is suggesting that we try to find out what is being used out there by our enemies directed toward young Americans. I think that’s a good thing to inquire into.”

The White House, sensing the damage the hearing could do to relations with the Muslim-American community, sent President Obama’s deputy national security adviser, Denis McDonough, to address the All Dulles Area Muslim Society on Sunday in Northern Virginia.

“Our challenge, and the goal that President Obama has insisted that we also focus on, is on the front end [of] preventing al Qaeda from recruiting and radicalizing people in America in the first place,” McDonough said. “And we know this isn’t the job of government alone. It has to be a partnership with you.”

MsTinkerbelly

03-11-2011, 01:16 AM

Omg japan 8.9 earthquake tsunami Omg

AtLast

03-11-2011, 01:28 AM

Omg japan 8.9 earthquake tsunami Omg

Here is a link-

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/11/japan.quake/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1

AtLast

03-12-2011, 02:05 PM

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/world/asia/13nuclear.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1299945623-VOC6Hk7tncMZfKoM24bUDQ

Whew!

Who else remembers Chernobyl and Three Mile Island?

dreadgeek

03-12-2011, 11:06 PM

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/world/asia/13nuclear.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1299945623-VOC6Hk7tncMZfKoM24bUDQ

Whew!

Who else remembers Chernobyl and Three Mile Island?

I remember both of them. I grew up in a town with a nuclear reactor. One of the things I considered when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do in the military was as a nuclear technician. As I thought about the field I read everything I could get my hands on and grasp on Three Mile Island. (This was the early 80s so a number of post-mortems had been written.) As it turned out, cryptography sounded more interesting.

I remember Chernobyl because I was on duty when we started getting all of this traffic about an emergency in Pripyat. I remember, as it became clear what was happening, this feeling of us going into terra incognita.

Once again we're in unknown territory. That said, the model is closer to TMI than Chernobyl. For one, the Chernobyl reactor wasn't mediated with water it was mediated with graphite. Graphite burns and once it starts burning you pretty much can't put it out. Because this is a liquid mediated reactor, they have the option of just pumping sea water into the reactor. Water will not *stop* the reaction but it slows things down. It buys time. The other difference is that Chernobyl was not in a containment building. Containment buildings are those big cement buildings that, in the United States, look like cans. They are designed to keep the reactor safely encased so that even in a serious event, there should be a minimal release of radiation. Japanese reactors are encased in containment buildings. Now the explosion was not *in* the reactor is was in the out wall.

Cheers
Aj

AtLast

03-13-2011, 05:14 AM

I remember both of them. I grew up in a town with a nuclear reactor. One of the things I considered when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do in the military was as a nuclear technician. As I thought about the field I read everything I could get my hands on and grasp on Three Mile Island. (This was the early 80s so a number of post-mortems had been written.) As it turned out, cryptography sounded more interesting.

I remember Chernobyl because I was on duty when we started getting all of this traffic about an emergency in Pripyat. I remember, as it became clear what was happening, this feeling of us going into terra incognita.

Once again we're in unknown territory. That said, the model is closer to TMI than Chernobyl. For one, the Chernobyl reactor wasn't mediated with water it was mediated with graphite. Graphite burns and once it starts burning you pretty much can't put it out. Because this is a liquid mediated reactor, they have the option of just pumping sea water into the reactor. Water will not *stop* the reaction but it slows things down. It buys time. The other difference is that Chernobyl was not in a containment building. Containment buildings are those big cement buildings that, in the United States, look like cans. They are designed to keep the reactor safely encased so that even in a serious event, there should be a minimal release of radiation. Japanese reactors are encased in containment buildings. Now the explosion was not *in* the reactor is was in the out wall.

Cheers
Aj

There seems to be conflicting reports about exactly how much radiation is being released. And not much by experts weighing in. My guess is that this will change and hopefully some factual information will come out instead of speculation.

Dominique

03-13-2011, 06:50 AM

There seems to be conflicting reports about exactly how much radiation is being released. And not much by experts weighing in. My guess is that this will change and hopefully some factual information will come out instead of speculation.

That is exactly how it was with the Three Mile Island *accident*.It took days before we really knew the severity of the situation. Keep in mind, cell phones and social media did not exist, and we really only had news media to rely on. The steam was releasing radiation. That was all we knew. We knew nothing about a melt down, as I am recalling, for close to a week. It seemed as if everything was a secret. Far more people were affected than the 100,000 they estimated. Years later....the numbers were still acrueing. One thing I can recall, in hindsight, they said you can't alarm while informing.....:|

dreadgeek

03-13-2011, 11:07 AM

Current state of things:

At noon local time (0400 GMT), Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), which operates the plant, gave this status report:

Reactor 1 - shut down, under inspection because of Saturday's explosion, sea water and boric acid being pumped in

Reactor 2 - water level "lower than normal", but stable

Reactor 3 - high pressure coolant injection was "interrupted"; but injection of sea water and boric acid were under way.

Later, officials said seawater and boric acid were also being pumped into reactor 2.

Materials for talking people down:

In the middle of such a confused and changing picture, what can safely be said?

Firstly, the reactors involved will not operate again, even if there has not been a meltdown.

Seawater is corrosive. But it clearly appears to the operators that it is the only available medium for keeping the cores cool.

(Comment: This is actually a fairly encouraging sign. I would be FAR more worried if the operators were trying to salvage the reactors. At this point, they are going to bring these things down and stop the reactions (thus the boron, see below)

Boric acid, meanwhile, is used because it absorbs neutrons, slowing down the residual nuclear activity. The term "acid" is not really relevant - it is the atoms of boron in the acid that do the job.

Secondly, the release of radioactive materials, whatever the route, is so far of only local importance.

Russian authorities, with territory to the north and west within 1,000km of the plant, say they have detected nothing abnormal.

Thirdly, levels of radioactivity - although above safe limits - are far lower than were detected during the Chernobyl accident in Ukraine, for example.

(Comment: We are not out of the woods yet. But the simple fact of them pumping sea water in gives us both a sense of how serious they are taking this (VERY seriously) and how critical the situation is (VERY). Like I said above, that they are willing to let the reactors die means that their *first* priority is preventing a meltdown, not salvaging the huge sums of money that the reactor cores represent. I'll feel better about it if by Tuesday it's clear that the sea water/boric acid combination has kept the reactors cool and slowed down the rate of reaction.)

Cheers
Aj

AtLast

03-14-2011, 01:31 AM

That is exactly how it was with the Three Mile Island *accident*.It took days before we really knew the severity of the situation. Keep in mind, cell phones and social media did not exist, and we really only had news media to rely on. The steam was releasing radiation. That was all we knew. We knew nothing about a melt down, as I am recalling, for close to a week. It seemed as if everything was a secret. Far more people were affected than the 100,000 they estimated. Years later....the numbers were still acrueing. One thing I can recall, in hindsight, they said you can't alarm while informing.....:|

There seems to be a difference in the reporting. Although, politicians have sounded off about future nuke plants in the US and I do feel that coverage has been throwing out words like catastrophic, meltdown, and explosion in a way that isn't informing, but causing fear.

Just feels like there is a lack of truely explaning things like the role of containment structures and the types of filters that are used when steam is let out as part of the attempts at cooling. Finally, today a prof from Georgia Tech was on CNN that addressed the events and possibilities along with the systems for safety and how these work. he also did not try to deny that this is serious and he was not condescending.

Of course this is a serious event and worrisome and I want sound information, not fear laced reporting. And yes, I recall what you are talking about here with 3MI. many more people were affected than was reported- and data is still being collected. We need to have this information as well to make decisions or stands on nuclear power.

AtLast

03-14-2011, 06:53 PM

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/14/japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html?hpt=T1

New blast causes fresh trouble at Japanese nuclear plantBy the CNN Wire Staff
March 14, 2011 7:54 p.m. EDT

Tokyo (CNN) -- A new explosion rocked the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan early Tuesday from a reactor that workers had struggled to keep under control since a blast at a neighboring unit, the plant's owner announced.

The "explosive impact" took place shortly after 6 a.m. Tuesday (5 p.m. Monday ET) inside the housing of the plant's No. 2 reactor, and pressure readings indicated some damage to the reactor's containment structure, officials of the Tokyo Electric Power Company reported at a news conference. No further details were immediately released, but TEPCO said some of its workers were evacuated following the blast due to elevated radiation levels.

Workers have been trying to keep sea water pouring into the No. 2 reactor since Monday, when a hydrogen explosion at reactor No. 3 damaged the cooling system at unit 2 and injured 11 people, Japanese authorities said. A similar hydrogen explosion on Saturday blew the roof off the containment structure around the No. 1 reactor.

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Tuesday that up to 2.7 meters (8.8 feet) of the No. 2 reactor's control rods -- about half -- have been uncovered. And Yukio Edano, Japan's chief Cabinet secretary, said he could not rule out the possibility of a meltdown at all three troubled reactors at the plant.

Explainer: Producing nuclear energy While sea water was being pumped into the reactors in an effort to prevent further damage, "It cannot necessarily be called a stable situation," Edano said early Tuesday.

The buildup of hydrogen in the reactor vessels is "the first sign that things are going haywire," said Kenneth Bergeron, a physicist who used to work at the Energy Department's Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico. The release of radioactive material such as cesium, a reactor byproduct that has been detected outside the Fukushima Daiichi plant, is another, he said.

"What is fairly clear, from the release of hydrogen and the fission products, is that all of these reactors have probably had fuel rods exposed for significant periods of time over a portion of their length," Bergeron told CNN.Authorities began pumping a mix of sea water and boron into the No. 2 reactor after Monday's explosion, as they have been doing with units 1 and 3. But the pump ran low on fuel when workers left it unattended, and the water soon burned off and exposed the reactor's fuel rods, allowing them to emit levels of heat and steam that can melt the reactor's core.

When that problem was resolved, Edano said, a new problem sent the water levels plummeting again. A valve that was supposed to be open to allow the heat and steam to escape was closed, causing pressure to build up inside the reactor building, according to TEPCO. But pumping had resumed by early Tuesday, Edano said.

Officials earlier said that they were operating on the presumption that there may be a partial meltdown in the No. 3 and No. 1 nuclear reactors at the Daiichi plant. Authorities have not yet been able to confirm a meltdown, because it is too hot inside the affected reactors to check.

While steam was being released from reactor No. 2, officials took readings of the radiation level just outside the power plant's front gate and found it to be twice the maximum level previously detected, though only briefly. At 9:35 p.m. Monday, the level was at 760 microsieverts per hour; two minutes later it was up to 3,130 microsieverts. The level dropped to 431 microsieverts per hour at 10:15 p.m., and 321 microsieverts at 10:35 p.m., TEPCO said.

A microsievert is an internationally recognized unit measuring radiation dosage. People typically are exposed during an entire year to a total of about 2,400 microsieverts, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency -- and a CT scan produces nearly 3,000 microsieverts in a matter of minutes, said David J. Brenner, director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University in New York.

If the effort to cool the nuclear fuel inside the reactor fails completely -- a scenario that experts who have spoken to CNN say is unlikely -- the resulting release of radiation could cause enormous damage to the plant, and possibly release radiation into the atmosphere or water. That could lead to widespread cancer and other health problems, experts say.

But Bergeron said that while it is likely the reactor cores have been damaged, "it will have to get a lot hotter" for the dense uranium in the reactor's fuel rods to melt down. That would give authorities and the surrounding population time to prepare."I believe they would be able to tell from various signals having to do with release of radioactivity and other things that things were a lost cause, you might say, and they might start initiating additional evacuations," Bergeron said.

"There would be warning, but we're talking massive, massive responses required," he added.

About 200,000 people have evacuated the area following a government order over the weekend. And after Monday's blast, authorities ordered at least 500 residents remaining within 20 kilometers (12 miles) of the plant to stay inside, Edano said.

And low levels of radiation were detected at least as far as 100 miles (about 160 kilometers) northeast of the plant, according to the U.S. Navy, which repositioned ships and planes after detecting low-level "airborne radioactivity." Tests also detected low levels of radioactivity on 17 U.S. Navy helicopter crew members when they returned to the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, but no further contamination was detected after the crew members washed with soap and water, the Navy said.

Physicist: 'Wide range' of possibilities

Nuclear expert: This is no Chernobyl
Anatomy of a meltdown

Radioactive leak? What to do The Navy said the maximum potential radiation dose received by any ship personnel when it passed through the area was "less than the radiation exposure received from about one month of exposure to natural background radiation from sources such as rocks, soil, and the sun."

The United States has sent a team of experts to assist Japan at the nuclear site, including two cooling experts. U.S. officials are also "assembling a team of experts that would be dispatched in the near future," Greg Jaczko, chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said Monday.

Japan has asked for additional types of equipment that will help provide water and keep the reactors cool, he said.

Based on the reactor design and nature of the accident, there is very low probability of any harmful radiation levels reaching the United Sates, including Hawaii and U.S. territories, Jaczko said.

suebee

03-15-2011, 11:11 AM

Wisconsin GOP Denies Legislative Democrats Voting Rights link (http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/03/15-2)

AtLast

03-16-2011, 08:29 AM

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/greenblog/2011/03/nuclear_regulatory_commission.html?camp=misc:on:sh are:blog

AtLast

03-16-2011, 02:50 PM

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/03/15/nr.hiroshima.survivor.radiation.cnn?hpt=C2

Julie

03-16-2011, 03:47 PM

XrgGNNPkJ_g

AtLast

03-18-2011, 09:22 PM

http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2011/03/killer-stoned-his-victim-to-death-because-bible-refers-to-stoning-gays/

Killer stoned his victim to death because Bible refers to stoning gays

LANSDOWNE, Pa. — Police in suburban Philadelphia have arrested a man and charged him with murder in the brutal beating of an elderly man. The suspect told police he killed his victim using a sock stuffed with rocks because the Old Testament refers to stoning homosexuals.

John Joe Thomas, 28, of Sunshine Road in Upper Darby, spent almost every day with 70-year-old Murray Seidman at Seidman’s Lansdowne home, police say. Days before Seidman’s body was found on Jan. 12, Thomas allegedly beat Seidman to death with a sock full of rocks.

Thomas told authorities that he read in the Old Testament that homosexuals should be stoned to death. When Seidman allegedly made homosexual advances toward him over a period of time, Thomas said he received a message in his prayers that he must end Seidman’s life, according to court documents.
.
Murray Seidman
Though the relationship between the two men is still unknown, Thomas was
the sole executor of Seidman’s will and knew how much money was in Seidman’s bank accounts, police say.

Thomas also told police he had spent nearly every day with Seidman, and he had the power of attorney over Seidman’s affairs.

Lansdowne police Chief Daniel Kortan said the break in the investigation
came when Thomas allegedly told a witness he beat an older man to death.

Thomas allegedly described for the witness how he placed batteries and rocks in a sock, and hit Seidman in the head at least 10 times.

Jesse

03-19-2011, 05:19 AM

This is unreal! :explode:

http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/181996/250/Former-KKK-grand-dragon-running-for-Lake-Wales-mayor

AtLast

03-19-2011, 05:45 AM

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/17/world/la-fgw-japan-quake-nrc-20110318

Japan nuclear crisis could last for weeks, U.S. nuclear official says

AtLast

03-19-2011, 01:41 PM

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42164455/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/?gt1=43001

Allies launch first attacks against Gadhafi forces in Libya
Four Libyan tanks destroyed in French airstrikes, Al Jazeera reported; US preparing to launch missiles

Greyson

03-23-2011, 11:29 AM

Finally, a modicum of justice specific to Immigration laws in the USA and Same Sex Couples / Queer Families.
__________________________________________________ ______________________________

Bi-National Lesbian Couple Can Press US Marriage Claim
In unprecedented move, Immigration Judge adjourns deportation proceeding amidst DOMA litigation

BY PAUL SCHINDLER

Published: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 2:22 PM CDT

It what appears to be the first such action of its type, an Immigration Judge in Manhattan has adjourned deportation proceedings for the Argentine lesbian spouse of an American citizen to allow the couple to proceed with their application to have their marriage recognized for purposes of federal immigration law.

Monica Alcota, 35, who came to the US a decade ago, married her partner of nearly three years, 25-year-old Cristina Ojeda, last August in Connecticut.

The couple’s attorneys, Lavi Soloway and Noemi Masliah, argue that their clients’ marital status should qualify Alcota for permanent residency, as would be the case with any different-sex couple.

A 2010 US court ruling striking down the Defense of Marriage Act’s denial of federal recognition for legal same-sex marriages, they say –– coupled with the Justice Department’s recent decision that it could not and would not defend DOMA’s constitutionality on that point –– opens up the real possibility that Alcota and Ojeda may be accorded recognition.

In a March 22 hearing in the US courthouse at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan, Immigration Judge Terry A. Bain gave the couple the go-ahead to press their claim with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) –– a unit of the Department of Homeland Security –– through what is known as Form I-130, a petition to have Alcota recognized as “the spouse of USC.”

For now, the couple’s case has been adjourned until December, a decision supported by the government's attorney.

“It is almost impossible to overstate the significance of what happened in there,” Soloway said immediately after the hearing. “An adjournment based on an I-130. It would never have happened a year ago. I don’t think I even would have filed it.”

Describing the development as “huge,” Soloway also credited Bain with being “very kind, very generous” in her handling of the case.

Masliah echoed her law partner’s assessment, terming Bain’s action “benevolent”; she added, however, that it is also “realistic in light of recent developments.”

On July 8 last year, US District Court Judge Joseph L. Tauro in Boston struck down the DOMA provision that bars federal recognition of legal same-sex marriages, finding that it violated the equal protection rights of such couples and impermissibly interfered with prerogatives of the state of Massachusetts to accord recognition under joint state-federal benefit programs.

The Department of Justice appealed that ruling to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, where the established precedent regarding claims of sexual orientation discrimination is that plaintiffs must show there is no rational basis for the distinction in law they are challenging.

However, when confronted with similar lawsuits brought in Connecticut and New York –– courts in the 2nd Circuit, where there is no existing precedent on anti-gay bias claims –– Attorney General Eric Holder, with the support of the White House, concluded that such claims should appropriately be held to a heightened level of scrutiny, and that under that type of review, DOMA’s constitutionality could not be justified.The Department of Justice (DOJ) concurred with Tauro that denial of federal recognition was a violation of the equal protection rights of same-sex couples. The government, Holder announced, would no longer defend DOMA in federal court.

Steve Ralls, a spokesman for Immigration Equality, which advocates on behalf of bi-national gay and lesbian couples whose right to stay together in the US is threatened, agreed with the assessments by Soloway and Masliah that Bain’s action was both significant and appropriate in the current context.

“It sounds like what happened in this case is what should have happened,” Ralls said. “We hope it will set a precedent for future rulings. We have other families planning to file I-130s, and this should be good news for them.”

Ralls noted that his use of the word precedent was intended in an informal way –– as in example –– rather than as any suggestion that Bain’s action has legally binding impact on other Immigration Judges. He said that to the best of his group’s knowledge, Bain’s move was unprecedented.

Last week, Immigration Equality wrote to Holder asking that proceedings against immigrant same-sex spouses facing deportation be placed on hold while the DOMA issue remains in the courts.

“We write to request that until there is a final resolution in the DOMA litigation, you instruct the Board of Immigration Appeals to hold in abeyance the appeals of immigrant visa petitions (I-130) filed by American citizens or lawful permanent residents on behalf of their lesbian or gay spouses,” Rachel B. Tiven and Victoria F. Neilson, the group’s executive director and legal director, wrote on March 16. “We ask further that you instruct the Executive Office for Immigration Review to grant long continuances in removal proceedings where the foreign national could adjust status based on his or her marriage.”

Tiven and Neilson acknowledged that Holder said the government would continue to enforce DOMA pending resolution of court challenges, but they emphasized their suggestions represented the only way to maintain the status quo for bi-national families during that process.

For Alcota and Ojeda, the legal developments of the last eight months –– in Boston, Washington, and now Manhattan –– represent some respite from what has been “hanging over our heads,” Ojeda explained –– “that I would lose her.”

That’s exactly what happened to Ojeda –– for three months at least –– in 2009. As the couple traveled through upstate New York by bus to bring Ojeda’s belongings from Buffalo, where she had just finished up a master’s degree in social work, to Queens, where the two women now live, a spot border control check resulted in Alcota being detained by immigration officials. She ended up in a privately-run detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey, from which she could have been deported at any time.

Finally, an Immigration Judge — a woman, the couple noted — saw Alcota and determined she had “a reasonable fear” of persecution should she be returned to Argentina. She had fled her home country, where she lived in a region near the Chilean border, with her then-partner because the two believed their lives were at risk.

Soloway noted that should the court challenges to DOMA ultimately proved unsuccessful, he will argue Alcota deserves asylum based on her provable fear of persecution back home.After the ten-minute hearing, Alcota remained nervous, the adrenalin apparently not yet having worked its way through her system. Still, she expressed relief that she will have the chance to fight for the validity of her marriage.

“Now I feel relieved,” Alcota’s spouse Ojeda said. “That they are going to give us a chance to argue our case.”

Ojeda said Bain’s action “acknowledged our marriage,” and she added that when DOJ changed its posture on DOMA, she felt that President Barack Obama had “definitely” moved into the couple’s corner in their fight.

There is no way of knowing how long the DOMA litigation will go on, but it certainly will still be alive in December. It is also likely Ojeda’s I-130 application on Alcota’s behalf will still be working its way through USCIS –– or potentially through appeal of an adverse decision. In that event, Alcota’s next appearance before Judge Bain could amount to nothing more than a perfunctory status update and a further adjournment.

Of course, every day the couple can stay together is precious in their lives.

http://www.gaycitynews.com/articles/2011/03/22/gay_city_news/news/doc4d88e4f2b3e0a156734109.txt

betenoire

03-24-2011, 08:54 AM

First Official Republican 2012 Candidate Is Gay (http://www.nationaljournal.com/dailyfray/first-official-republican-2012-candidate-is-gay-20110323)

Oh hi, we are the Republican Party. We want to trick you into giving us the gay vote. Then we will fuck you up the ass, but not in the way that y'all generally like it.

:whoop:

The very first Republican officially to declare his candidacy for president is gay. Fred Karger, who has worked on several presidential campaigns, including Ronald Reagan's, has been indicating his intention to run for some time, but many in the Republican establishment don't want him to. His filling with the Federal Elections Commission Wednesday will help Karger pry his way into the primary debates.

Corkey

03-27-2011, 03:01 PM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110327/ap_on_bi_ge/us_supreme_court_wal_mart_discrimination

SCOTUS to take up Wal-Mart discrimination case on Tuesday.

Blade

03-27-2011, 03:12 PM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110327/ap_on_bi_ge/us_supreme_court_wal_mart_discrimination

SCOTUS to take up Wal-Mart discrimination case on Tuesday.

Walmart discriminate? WOW imagine the concept....butt holes! I'm glad they have enough complaints for a possible class action. You almost never win a single case, and if you do you've spent your winnings on lawyers. All you have is satisfaction. Course satisfaction what's important, if money is no object and you can afford to fight it single handed.

AtLast

03-29-2011, 01:38 PM

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8408506/Fight-as-woman-dragged-from-press-by-Gaddafi-forces.html

betenoire

03-29-2011, 04:52 PM

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8408506/Fight-as-woman-dragged-from-press-by-Gaddafi-forces.html

Has there been any update to this? I mean, was anybody able to follow them? I'm really bothered not knowing what happened to her.

AtLast

03-29-2011, 08:06 PM

Has there been any update to this? I mean, was anybody able to follow them? I'm really bothered not knowing what happened to her.

Me, too- I'm searching for some answers. Last thing I read was that she was in a mental health facility.

OK- just edited post to post this-

Tobruk, Libya (CNN) -- Aysha Ahmed and Attique Saleh lived in silence for more than four decades under the ironfisted rule of Moammar Gadhafi. But not anymore. Not after they watched their daughter manhandled and dragged away from a Tripoli hotel.

Eman al-Obeidy's parents told CNN Tuesday they are no longer afraid to publicly condemn the Libyan strongman, an act that would have been unthinkable just weeks ago.

If Gadhafi were to face Ahmed now, she would slap him, she told CNN Tuesday.

Al-Obeidy burst into the hotel housing international journalists in Tripoli Saturday and told them she had been raped by 15 militia men. Cameras captured the drama as al-Obeidy, sobbing and screaming, wanted the world to know the brutality of Gadhafi's regime.

Rape suspects accuse woman of slander
The Libyan government said al-Obeidy has been freed and that a criminal case is underway. The men accused of raping al-Obeidy have filed counter-charges for slander, Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said Tuesday.

But Ahmed contradicted the government, saying the government was still detaining her daughter, in an interview in the eastern city of Tobruk. She said she wanted Gadhafi to air footage of al-Obeidy as proof of her safety.
Ahmed said she cannot forgive the grave injustice her daughter has suffered.

She said the family has even received phone calls offering bribes to reject their daughter's claims and to tell their daughter to change her story.

But they stand by her. They believe that Gadhafi's regime is trying to discredit her as a woman who has been raped and -- as some people in conservative Muslim societies believe -- therefore dishonored.

An in-absentia engagement ceremony held at a mosque in Tobruk Monday night proves that al-Obeidy's family and tribe stand by her, Ahmed said.

She described her daughter, 29, as a kind, caring woman who wanted to be a journalist. She chose to study law instead when she realized there was no freedom of the press in her homeland.

The government first portrayed al-Obeidy as mentally ill and a prostitute. It has since changed its story, saying she is sane and therefore able to withstand legal proceedings.

She also harbored a deep love of languages, particularly Italian and French, Ahmed said. As a young girl, she looked out over the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean and called on the oil tankers to carry her to France.

A government spokesman said Sunday that al-Obeidy had been released and was with her family.
Moussa Ibrahim said then that al-Obeidy and her family were asked if they wanted to be interviewed by "one or two, preferably female, reporters to verify that she's fine, she's healthy, she's free with her family."

He refused to take further questions on the issue, repeatedly stating that Libyan society is "very conservative."

A group of lawyers and human rights activists tried to approach al-Obeidy's sister's house Monday, but were blocked by security forces. The sister's mobile phone has apparently been turned off, a source with the opposition in Tripoli told CNN, and no one has seen her since the incident at the hotel.

Ahmed said she was also concerned for the safety of her other daughter.

Al-Obeidy stormed into the Rixos Hotel as international journalists were having breakfast Saturday morning. Her face was bruised. So were her legs. She showed reporters blood on her right inner thigh.

Speaking in English, she said had been held against her will for two days and raped by 15 men.

Though her injuries appeared consistent with what she said, CNN could not independently verify al-Obeidy's story.

"Look at what Gadhafi's brigades did to me," she said. "My honor was violated by them." Al-Obeidy displayed what appeared to be visible rope burns on her wrists and ankles.

Government officials tried to stifle her, but she persisted. Security forces moved to subdue her, and even a member of the hotel's kitchen staff drew a knife. "Traitor!" he shouted. Another staffer tried to throw a dark tablecloth over her head.

One government official, who was there to facilitate access for journalists, pulled a pistol from his belt. Others scuffled with reporters and wrestled them to the ground in an attempt to take away their equipment. Some journalists were beaten and kicked. CNN's camera was confiscated and deliberately smashed beyond repair.

As security forces subdued the screaming woman and dragged her away, al-Obeidy warned, "If you don't see me tomorrow, then that's it."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/03/29/libya.rape.case/index.html

betenoire

03-29-2011, 08:27 PM

Witness to Rape: The Resistance of Eman al-Obeidi (http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/03/28/witness-to-rape-the-resistance-of-eman-al-obeidi/)

according to one of the comments officials want her charged with treason and executed. jesus.

Greyson

03-30-2011, 01:09 PM

Obama calls for deep cuts in U.S. oil imports

By Alister Bull and Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama set an ambitious goal on Wednesday to cut U.S. oil imports by a third over 10 years, taking up a challenge that eluded previous U.S. leaders, as high gasoline prices threaten to undermine the country's economic recovery.

Obama outlined his strategy in a speech after spending days explaining U.S.-led military action in Libya, where fighting, accompanied by unrest elsewhere in the Arab world, has helped push U.S. gasoline prices toward $4 a gallon.

"There are no quick fixes...And we will keep on being a victim to shifts in the oil market until we get serious about a long-term policy for secure, affordable energy," Obama said.

In his speech to roll out a blueprint on energy security that directly acknowledged the "big concern" caused by fuel prices, Obama said the country must curb dependence on foreign oil that makes up roughly half of its daily fuel needs.

But previous presidents have made similar promises on energy imports and failed. And any new policy initiatives can expect tough opposition from Republicans who control the House of Representatives and see high energy prices hurting Democrats in the 2012 presidential and congressional elections.

Republicans have mocked the idea of Obama curbing oil imports a week after visiting Brazil, where he said the United states wanted to be a good customer for its oil exports.

Obama laid out four areas to help reach his target of curbing U.S. dependence on foreign oil: lifting domestic energy production, fostering the use of more natural gas in vehicles like city buses, making cars and trucks more efficient, and boosting alternative energy by encouraging biofuels.

"We cannot keep going from shock to trance on the issue of energy security, rushing to propose action when gas prices rise, then hitting the snooze button when they fall again," he told students at Georgetown University in Washington.

HARD SELL

Analysts and experts said Obama's goal is ambitious.

"All U.S. presidents since the early 1970s have outlined ambitious plans to reduce their reliance on imported oil," said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at the Banque Saudi Fransi.

Truly reforming U.S. energy use would involve sweeping changes, including possible fuel taxes to encourage Americans to change their habits, which could be politically toxic, analysts said.

Polls show Americans have mixed feelings about getting entangled in a third Muslim country, with the United States still engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they are clearly worried by high gas prices before the summer driving season.

The latest measures of consumer confidence have also been dented by rising energy prices, which sap household spending and could derail the U.S. recovery if prices stay high enough for a long time, hurting Obama's re-election prospects.

A Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday showed that 48 percent of American voters disapprove of Obama's job performance, and 50 percent think he does not deserve to be re-elected in 2012, compared with 42 percent who approve and 41 percent who feel he does deserve to be re-elected.

Those were his lowest ratings ever, Quinnipiac said.

The poll of 2,069 registered voters, conducted March 22-28, has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.

Some analysts reckon Obama may tap America's emergency oil stockpiles if U.S. oil prices hit $110 a barrel. Prices were hovering just over $104 a barrel in Wednesday's trade.

The United States consumed almost 20 million barrels of oil a day in 2010 of which roughly half was imported. Canada and Mexico are the country's two largest suppliers, followed by Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

The U.S. Interior Department estimates millions of acres (hectares) of U.S. energy leases are not being exploited by oil companies and the White House wants that to change.

This argument also helps the administration push back against Obama's Republican opponents, who claim he is tying the hands of the U.S. energy industry by denying leases and restricting offshore drilling in the wake of the 2010 BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/30/us-obama-energy-idUSTRE72S3C820110330?pageNumber=1

Kobi

03-30-2011, 02:48 PM

I watched Obama's energy speech today. It aggravated me.
I am weary of politicians with lofty goals and no discernable
plan to reach them.

Just more bull caca in an effort to make Americans think he
is doing something when he is doing nothing but giving speeches,
increasing the deficit, and turning us into warmongers.

Obama is becoming more and more of a disappointment.

Greyson

04-04-2011, 01:44 PM

April 4, 2011
Police Raid Shanghai Gay Bar and Detain More than 60

By ANDREW JACOBS

BEIJING—More than 60 patrons and employees at a gay bar in Shanghai were swept up in a police raid early Sunday morning and held for more 12 hours, according to the state media and several of those detained.

Shanghai Daily, a state-owned English language newspaper, said the police were investigating reports that a male go-go dancer had been performing a “pornographic” show at the bar, named Q Bar, which recently opened on the city’s revitalized historic waterfront.

A man answering the phone at the local police station where the detainees were held declined to answer questions on Monday evening.

The raid, which coincides with one of the most concerted government crackdowns on dissent in a decade, sent a chill through China’s burgeoning gay community, which in recent years has grown self-confident despite intermittent harassment from the authorities. Gay activists say they cannot recall an incident in which so many people were taken into custody in one fell swoop.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1997 and officially removed from a list of mental disorders in 2001 although it remains largely taboo, and invisible.

During the past two years, organizers in Shanghai have tried to stage a low-key gay pride festival, although on both occasions the authorities have ordered the last-minute cancellation of several events — including social mixers, film screenings and a play performance — without explanation.

After bursting into the bar shortly after 1 a.m. on Sunday, the police allowed foreign patrons to leave but took almost everyone else to the Xiaodongmen police station, where they were photographed, questioned and held without food or water until the following afternoon, a number of those detained said.

A few complained of rough treatment and at least one man said he was told to sign a statement saying the performers had danced lewdly— a statement he said was false. “They asked me whether the dancer wore transparent underwear and if people were putting money in his underwear,” another man, who gave his name as Xiaobai, said in a phone interview Monday.

News of the raid quickly spread on microblogs, partly fed by indignant postings from those who had been detained. “What law have we broken just drinking at a bar?” one man asked in a posting after his release. “If there was any problem with the bar, why let it operate in the first place?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/world/asia/05shanghai.html?ref=world

Corkey

04-04-2011, 02:28 PM

Because the US has no standing in how it treats LGBTQA people, what makes us think China will not take a que from official policy of the US.
We have to keep working for our rights here and through out the international community.

Tommi

04-04-2011, 03:03 PM

Nashhville and Beyond Tornado: Violent Storms Pass Through Middle Tennessee, West. Kentucky, Miss.
At least two tornadoes and one funnel cloud have passed through the Nashville area, according to reports received by the National Weather Service.

Today 1:54 PM Tornado Warnings Still In Affect TN, Kentucky, LA,
Tornado warnings are still in affect for some counties in Tennessee, though have since expired for Nashville/Davidson County. Find the latest warnings here.

The Tennessean reported that the first tornado was spotted one mile west of Nashville's CoolSprings Mall at about 2:10 p.m. local time. The second was nearby Dickson, west of Nashville. A funnel cloud was seen five miles southeast of Nashville.

The Weather Channel tweeted this picture with the caption (http://twitpic.com/4gz97g), "Multiple trees snapped in this photo from Nashville, TN. Indication of a tornado."

More than 68,000 are without power, the Nashville Electric Service posted on its website.

Follow live updates here* (http://www.weather.com/weather/newscenter/alerts/nswxcategory/TN)

AtLast

04-04-2011, 09:14 PM

AtLast

04-04-2011, 09:18 PM

Libyan woman who claimed rape by government troops says she gets death threats
Associated Press

NEW YORK - A Libyan woman who says she is the person who burst into a Tripoli hotel to tell foreign journalists that she had been gang raped by Moammar Gadhafi's troops has told a CNN interviewer that she is out of custody but is receiving death threats from regime thugs.

CNN said it was confident that the woman they interviewed Monday is in fact Iman al-Obeidi, who made headlines on March 26 when she was dragged away from the hotel by government agents as she screamed her allegations of rape.

The CNN interviewer, Anderson Cooper, says the network could not be certain that the woman they spoke to is al-Obeidi, but they were satisfied that it was her from their research and from the testimony of people who had seen her at the hotel.

She tells CNN that "Yes, yes, I want to leave Tripoli. In the middle of the night I get nightmares, and they are constantly threatening me, to kill me."

AtLast

04-05-2011, 12:28 AM

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/04/04/135114911/iman-al-obeidi-every-day-i-am-beaten?sc=fb&cc=fp

An NPR piece (also video) on Iman al-Obeidi.

Jess

04-06-2011, 07:27 PM

April 06,2011
http://glaadblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Debbie-Wasserman-Schultz.jpg

President Obama appointed Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz as the chair of the Democratic National Committee on Tuesday, making her the first female to hold the position in over 15 years and just the third to hold it in history.
Wasserman has been an invaluable ally to the LGBT community throughout her political career. She was a founding member of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus and has spoken out for diverse causes such as the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the repeal of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and federal funding for HIV/AIDS programs. Last year, Wasserman also won a Voice for Equality award from Equality Florida. The organization’s executive director Nadine Smith describes her as “an absolute champion” with a “fighting spirit.” In her acceptance speech for the award, Wasserman reaffirmed her commitment to LGBT people and issues. “Without equality, we do not live up to our greatest potential as a nation. … We must remember the importance of action and continue to advocate equality for all.” She served eight years in the Florida House and four years in the state Senate, and became a congresswoman in 2005.
Wasserman was chosen to chair the DNC on account of her strength as a fundraiser, her media messaging abilities, and her influence in the crucial swing state of Florida, according to Politico. “In selecting Debbie to lead our party, President Obama noted her tenacity, her strength, her fighting spirit and her ability to overcome adversity,” Vice President Joe Biden told the committee’s members. Former DNC Chairman Dan Fowler described her as “a strong, very bright, aggressive, talented person who has made her mark in Congress in a few short years like almost nobody else has done.”
Wasserman will succeed Tim Kaine, who plans to run for a Virginia Senate seat. GLAAD applauds President Obama’s decision to choose Representative Wasserman Schultz and congratulates her on this achievement.

Corkey

04-06-2011, 07:52 PM

Women get ski jumping in 2014 Olympics. Only 1 event but it's a start.

AtLast

04-06-2011, 10:52 PM

Women get ski jumping in 2014 Olympics. Only 1 event but it's a start.

YES!!! This is great- can't wait to see this!

MsDemeanor

04-07-2011, 12:45 AM

AtLast

04-07-2011, 02:48 AM

Jesse

04-07-2011, 09:19 AM

Quake hit Japan today, 7.4 This was only moments ago. It is actually still considered an aftershock. Tsunami warning issued.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42473172/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

AtLast

04-07-2011, 01:18 PM

Quake hit Japan today, 7.4 This was only moments ago. It is actually still considered an aftershock. Tsunami warning issued.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42473172/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

Damn! Japan sure is getting big time after shocks. This would measure as some quake anywhere. I hope the hell nothing more happens to the nuke plant.

These could go on for months!

Corkey

04-07-2011, 01:24 PM

Damn! Japan sure is getting big time after shocks. This would measure as some quake anywhere. I hope the hell nothing more happens to the nuke plant.

These could go on for months!

They are on the ring of fire, it will go on til the earth is no more.

AtLast

04-07-2011, 01:56 PM

Glenn Beck's Fox show dropped as ratings sag

10:14 AM, Apr. 7, 2011

NEW YORK — Glenn Beck's talk show is being dropped by the Fox News Channel after sinking in the ratings and suffering financially due to an advertiser boycott.

Fox and Beck's company, Mercury Radio Arts, said Wednesday they will stay in business creating other projects for Fox television and digital, starting with some documentaries Beck is preparing.

Beck was a quick burn on Fox News Channel. Almost immediately after joining the network in January 2009, he doubled the ratings at his afternoon time slot. Fans found his conservative populism entertaining, while Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert described Beck's 'crank up the crazy and rip off the knob' moments.

He was popular with Tea Party activists and drew thousands of people to the National Mall in Washington last August for a 'restoring honor' rally.

Yet some of his statements were getting him in trouble, and critics appealed to advertisers to boycott his show last summer after Beck said President Barack Obama had 'a deep-seated hatred for white people.'

Beck said that he went to Roger Ailes, Fox News chairman and CEO, in January to discuss ways they could continue to work together without the daily show.

'Half of the headlines say he's been cancelled,' Ailes said. 'The other half say he quit. We're pretty happy with both of them.'

Beck said he noted on his show Tuesday that 'how many times can I tell the (George) Soros story,' referring the liberal donor that Beck has made a target of attacks.

'We felt Glenn brought additional information, a unique perspective, a certain amount of passion and insight to the channel and he did,' Ailes said. 'But that story of what's going on and why America is in trouble today, I think he told that story as well as could be told. Whether you can just keep telling that story or not ... we're not so sure.'

More than 400 Fox advertisers told the company they did not want their commercials on Beck's show. Beck's advertisers were dominated by financial services firms, many touting gold as an investment.

http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20110407/ENT/110407007/0/CATEGORYPLUCK_REGISTER/Glenn-Beck-s-Fox-show-dropped-ratings-sag?odyssey=nav|head

Corkey

04-07-2011, 03:52 PM

One of our Pro-Life Senators voted to fund Planned Parenthood and Title X.
If the other one gets his head out of the tea party's ass he might survive a recall. Naaaaaa.

AtLast

04-13-2011, 06:38 AM

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-japan-earthquake-20110412,0,2410014.story

Japan raises nuclear crisis rating to highest level
The level 7 rating for the crisis at the quake- and tsunami-stricken Fukushima power plant is based on the amount radiation released. A day earlier, three new quakes hit as Japan announces plans to expand the evacuation zone.

April 12, 2011
Reporting from Tokyo and Rikuzentakata, Japan— Japanese nuclear regulatory officials Tuesday raised the severity rating at the earthquake- and tsunami-damaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant to the highest level by international standards, equaling the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown in the former Soviet Union.

The country's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency announced that because of the amount of radioactive material released from the plant after the magnitude 9 earthquake a month ago, the rating would be changed to level 7, a "major accident" on the International Atomic Energy Agency's scale, up from a level 5, an "accident with wider consequences."

In a nationally televised news conference, the agency's spokesman, Hidehiko Nishiyama, said the decision was based on the amount of radioactive iodine and cesium spewed from the power plant in Fukushima, north of Tokyo.

Nishiyama stressed that the radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant was 10% of the amount at Chernobyl. He also said that unlike at Chernobyl, there had been no deaths linked to the accident at Fukushima.

"At Chernobyl, the reactor itself exploded," he said. "At Fukushima some radioactivity has leaked from the reactor, but the reactor itself continues to keep most of the radioactive material inside. In that sense, this is different from Chernobyl."

Before the rating was elevated, the disaster had been rated at the same level as the 1979 Three Mile Island accident near Middletown, Pa.

But Minoru Ogoda of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the change in the severity rating came because "the impact of radiation leaks has been widespread from the air, vegetables, tap water and the ocean," the Associated Press reported.

Measuring severity on the international scale involves factors including the amount of radiation released, how wide an area it reaches and how long any problems may last.

Officials said the rating reflects the severity of the problem at the outset, when radiation levels were highest. Those levels have since fallen sharply, they said.

Experts, nevertheless, say it will take years to recover from the damage incurred at the Fukushima plant.
More than 27,000 people were left dead or missing as the disaster last month, centered in the northeast, destroyed fishing towns and caused severe damage to homes, businesses and almost everything else along more than 200 miles of coastline. The government has estimated economic losses of as much as $300 billion, not including costs such as the cleanup of the Fukushima plant, which is operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co.

The announcement by nuclear agency officials came the day after three powerful aftershocks struck already jittery northeastern Japan within the span of 10 minutes, as the government announced new plans to expand the evacuation area near the stricken nuclear plant due to high radiation levels.

Japan is trying to rebuild after the March 11 quake triggered a deadly tsunami that also left tens of thousands homeless. The tsunami has caused several fires and explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which has leaked dangerous isotopes into the air, soil and water.

The first of Monday's temblors, which trapped some victims in collapsed homes and vehicles, hit at 5:16 p.m. near the coast in Fukushima prefecture, registering a magnitude 7.1 at a depth of 6 miles underground, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

It was sizable enough to rock buildings in Tokyo, about 150 miles to the south. A magnitude 6 quake hit a minute later in the same area, followed by another temblor, measuring magnitude 5.6, nine minutes after that.

Aftershocks continued hours later, the agency said. In neighboring Ibaraki prefecture, one man died after falling and hitting his head during the shaking, according to the local Ryugasaki fire department.

The quakes also triggered a landslide that buried three homes in Iwaki city. Two people died in the landslide, including a 16-year-old girl, according to public broadcaster NHK. Three other men pulled from the rubble were unconscious and taken to a hospital, NHK said. Rescuers continued their efforts Tuesday.

Officials issued a tsunami warning after the quakes but later lifted it.

The quakes temporarily knocked out the power to the Fukushima plant and led to a 50-minute stoppage in the water-spraying operations to cool four of the plant's six reactors. Highways were closed, bullet train services to the region were halted briefly, and as many 220,000 homes in Fukushima prefecture were without power.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said a fire broke out on the plant's premises Tuesday morning at a building where batteries are stored. Within minutes, firefighters put out the blaze, and there appeared to be no impact on workers' efforts to cool four of the reactors, the company said in a statement.

On Monday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the government would expand a 12-mile evacuation area near the nuclear plant, adding to the ranks of the thousands who have already been told to leave their homes.

Unlike the government's previous evacuation orders, the new one is based on data that show higher than normal radiation levels extending to towns and villages that lie beyond the 12- to 18-mile zone around the plant. The government has advised residents in the zone to stay indoors.

It was unclear how many residents would be affected by the new order, which the government plans to carry out over the next month. Edano noted that the risk of a massive radiation leak from the Fukushima plant was "considerably lower."

Greyson

04-19-2011, 01:41 PM

April 19 2011

Republicans paying $575 an hour to defend DOMA

House Republicans issued a contract today to pay former Solicitor General Paul Clement $575 an hour, up to $500,000 to defend the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. Sacramento Rep. Dan Lungren, chair of the House Administration Committee and a big supporter of the idea, signed the contract.

Republicans claim they will take the money out of the Justice Department's budget, as if that will hold taxpayers harmless. But a cost is a cost and taxpayers will pay it either way. Any funds removed from DOJ are funds removed from other work.

Drew Hammill, spokesman for House minority leader Nancy Pelosi said, "The hypocrisy of this legal boondoggle is mind-blowing."

But it's great bait for social conservatives whose support the GOP needs to shore up.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=87338#ixzz1K01vpraC

Greyson

04-19-2011, 01:49 PM

House GOP hires top-flight lawyer to defend DOMA

House Speaker John Boehner has hired former Bush administration Solicitor General Paul Clement to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, signaling a robust legal strategy and bid for his party's social conservatives, who have taken a back seat to the budget fight./p>

Clement argued the administration's cases to the Supreme Court as the nation's highest ranking lawyer. He is now a partner at King & Spaulding and won't come cheap. The defense could cost millions.

Human Rights Campaign chief Joe Solmonese said the pick means Boehner is "ready to go to great lengths, and the great expense of a high-power law firm, to try to score some cheap political points on the backs of same-sex couples. King & Spaulding were not required to take up this defense and should be ashamed of associating themselves with an effort to deny rights to their fellow citizens."

Boehner also wrote House minority leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco informing her that Republicans plan to defund part of the Justice Department because of its finding that DOMA is unconstitutional. Purportedly to offset the costs to taxpayers of high-priced outside defense counsel.

Notably, another (and more luminous) former Bush Solicitor General, Ted Olson, is fighting FOR same-sex marriage, teaming with Democrtic lawyer David Bois to fight California Proposition 8..
Brian Brown, head of the anti-gay-marriage National Organization for Marriage, said, "At last we have a legal eagle on this case who actually wants to win in court! Paul Clement is a genuinely distinguished lawyer...who we are confident will win this case....Speaker Boehner is also quite right that the money to defend DOMA should be deducted from the Justice Department's budget, since they will be doing the job DOJ should have done, but refused to do."

Pelosi again asked Boehner for an estimate of how much the defense will cost.

Ironically, the DOMA case at issue involves estate taxes, to which Republicans are opposed on principle, at least for straight couples.

The case of Edie Windsor is in federal court in New York. Windsor spent more than 40 years with her partner, Thea Spyer, before they were married in 2007. When Spyer died, Windsor was unable to claim the federal estate marital tax benefit because of DOMA and the federal government imposed estate taxes of more than $360,000 on the money left to her.

Can you say hypocrisy?

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=87267#ixzz1K04TtFVn