http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americ...ex.html?hpt=T1

The crater is unbelievable. You can see this youtube (if someone can translate some of it, that'd be great!): [nomedia="http://youtube.com/watch?v=RN3_dnClvAM"]YouTube- Tormenta Agatha Guatemala Crater en San Cristobal, Mixco[/nomedia]

That would explain the near perfectness of the crater I guess. Very cool. Still.. it's :|

This Supreme Court brough to you thanks to GWB.
 

Supreme Court Miranda Ruling: Suspects Must Explicitly Tell Police They Want To Remain Silent

JESSE J. HOLLAND | 06/ 1/10 10:59 AM | AP

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that suspects must explicitly tell police they want to be silent to invoke Miranda protections during criminal interrogations, a decision one dissenting justice said turns defendants' rights "upside down."

A right to remain silent and a right to a lawyer are the first of the Miranda rights warnings, which police recite to suspects during arrests and interrogations. But the justices said in a 5-4 decision that suspects must tell police they are going to remain silent to stop an interrogation, just as they must tell police that they want a lawyer.

The ruling comes in a case where a suspect, Van Chester Thompkins, remained mostly silent for a three-hour police interrogation before implicating himself in a Jan. 10, 2000, murder in Southfield, Mich. He appealed his conviction, saying that he invoked his Miranda right to remain silent by remaining silent.

But Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing the decision for the court's conservatives, said that wasn't enough.

"Thompkins did not say that he wanted to remain silent or that he did not want to talk to police," Kennedy said. "Had he made either of these simple, unambiguous statements, he would have invoked his 'right to cut off questioning.' Here he did neither, so he did not invoke his right to remain silent."

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court's newest member, wrote a strongly worded dissent for the court's liberals, saying the majority's decision "turns Miranda upside down."

"Criminal suspects must now unambiguously invoke their right to remain silent – which counterintuitively, requires them to speak," she said. "At the same time, suspects will be legally presumed to have waived their rights even if they have given no clear expression of their intent to do so. Those results, in my view, find no basis in Miranda or our subsequent cases and are inconsistent with the fair-trial principles on which those precedents are grounded."

Van Chester Thompkins was arrested for murder in 2001 and interrogated by police for three hours. At the beginning, Thompkins was read his Miranda rights and said he understood.

The officers in the room said Thompkins said little during the interrogation, occasionally answering "yes," "no," "I don't know," nodding his head and making eye contact as his responses. But when one of the officers asked him if he prayed for forgiveness for "shooting that boy down," Thompkins said, "Yes."

He was convicted, but on appeal he wanted that statement thrown out because he said he invoked his Miranda rights by being uncommunicative with the interrogating officers.

The Cincinnati-based appeals court agreed and threw out his confession and conviction. The high court reversed that decision.

The case is Berghuis v. Thompkins, 08-1470.

Oh GAAAHHHHHH. I think this is terrible!!

Makes me wonder how they intend to handle people who are intoxicated or mentally ill or who lack socially conformed communication skills.

Wow! Got to hand it to those Peruvians :)
 

Joran Van Der Sloot Confession: Natalee Holloway Murder Suspect Confesses To Killing Stephany Flores In Peru

AP/Huffington Post | FRANKLIN BRICENO

A Joran van der Sloot confession may close one murder case while raising more questions in another.

The Dutchman, long the prime suspect in U.S. teen Natalee Holloway's 2005 disappearance in Aruba, confessed to killing a different young woman in his Lima hotel room last week, a police spokesman says.

Police Col. Abel Gamarra, head of the Information Directorate of Police, told The Associated Press late Monday that Van der Sloot admitted under questioning by police that he killed 21-year-old Stephany Flores.

Gamarra said the case will be turned over to prosecutors who will present formal charges against Van der Sloot. The National Prison Institute will determine which prison he will be held in while awaiting trial.

Police planned to take Van der Sloot to the hotel on Tuesday to participate in a reconstruction of the events leading to Flores' slaying, Gamarra said.

Gamarra did not provide further details about the confession.

NBC reports a chilling account of the van der Sloot confession from a local paper:

According to La Republica newspaper, van der Sloot said he broke Stephany Flores' neck after she grabbed his laptop without his permission and found out that he was involved in the disappearance of an American woman.
Story continues below

The paper quoted van der Sloot as saying, "I did not want to do it. The girl intruded into my private life... she didn't have any right.

"I went to her and I hit her. She was scared, we argued and she tried to escape. I grabbed her by the neck and hit her."

A Peruvian television station, Channel 4, also said it had obtained details about Van der Sloot's confession in which he reportedly told police that he killed Flores because he got angry when he found out that she had looked up information about his past on his laptop.

Flores, a university student studying business administration, was found beaten to death in the hotel room where the Dutchman had stayed while participating in a poker tournament. Flores is thought to have met Van der Sloot at the casino.

She was last seen alive on a hotel video the night of May 30 entering Van der Sloot's room. The Dutchman is seen on the video leaving the room several hours later with his baggage and walking out of the hotel.

Police said he took a bus to Chile, where he was captured several days later and returned to Peru.

Van der Sloot has long been considered the main suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teenager Holloway on the Caribbean resort island of Aruba. He was arrested twice, but freed both times for lack of evidence.

GM recalling 1.5M vehicles over fire concerns

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gm_recall

Oh yeah! prison in Peru will be quite an experience! To be honest, he may not make it through his sentence. It will not be like Aruba!

If anything concerning Natalee Holloway comes out of this, I hope it is not only his confessing to killing her too, but telling her family where her remains are. They deserve something to bring her home. And this situation with him trying to get $ from her relatives for info about where her body is makes me think there is hope still for recovery of her remains. I have always thought Jouran's father disposed of her body and that it is on their property in Aruba. The elder Van Der Sloot died about a year ago. He creeped me out almost more than the kid, actually. Something sinister there with the two of them. And I still think the 2 Kalpo (sp?) brothers were involved in some way.

This guy has got to be put away!

I agree, I think the two other guys are most likely involved.

I do hope the Halloways get some closure. Finding the body wold go along way toward that. I can't believe the scum bag is trying to make money like this, gross!

This is a perfect example of old family money gone wrong. I also agree about the his dad, he creeped me out.

Let's see how he fares in Peru, but like you said, this is not Aruba where his family had some govt. officials in their pocket.

Thanks Linus for posting this video and thanks for the translation UofMfan!

This reminds me of Maude Barlow's speech on the water crisis: Barlow (a Canadian activist, are you familiar with her Linus?) spoke about a process called - dessertification - the displacement of water from land and thus, leading to heightened "dry states" (not a drought, its worse) wherein water is robbed from land to produce material goods or even ideas centering upon sprawling urban land use (concrete social scapes). In addition, when water is displaced like this, it causes underground water systems to cave in because the eco-system has been disrupted (i.e., the video that Linus found). Barlow was saying that by the year 2030, demand for water will outstrip supply by 40% (+/-) making the water the biggest symbol of inequality.

If anyone is interested in learning further about the looming water crisis, I embedded several videos of her speech in the news/poltical forums. Thanks for posting the video Linus (props to UofMfan too)!!!:candle::candle::candle:

Which is why big corporations are doing their best to privatize water all across the globe. You think the price of gasoline is high..........snort..........just wait til you see what is going to happen to your water bill.....

See, in Peru they don't have the father's "influence" they had in Aruba. So now the PR campaign begins from the Dutch.


Joran Van Der Sloot To Be Taken To Crime Scene, Peru Officials Say
FRANKLIN BRICENO | 06/ 8/10 10:20 PM | AP

LIMA, Peru — Peruvian police plan to take Joran van der Sloot, who they say has confessed to last week's killing of a 21-year-old business student in his Lima hotel room, to visit the crime scene, officials said Tuesday.

They also said police have until the weekend to file criminal charges against the Dutchman in the May 30 killing of Stephany Flores.

The beating death occurred exactly five years after U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway disappeared in Aruba – an assumed death in which Van der Sloot has long been considered the prime suspect by authorities on the Dutch Caribbean island.

It wasn't clear if Van der Sloot has obtained private counsel, and there was no immediate word from either him or his family about the reported confession.

Peru's chief police spokesman, Col. Abel Gamarra, told The Associated Press late Monday that Van der Sloot confessed earlier in the day.

Several Peruvian media outlets reported, without identifying their sources, that he admitted to killing Flores in a rage after learning she looked up information about his past on his laptop without permission.

The newspaper La Republica said Van der Sloot tearfully confessed, in the presence of a prosecutor and a state-appointed attorney, to grabbing Flores by the neck and hitting her because she had viewed images about the Aruba case on his computer while he was out buying coffee.

Neither Gamarra, senior police officials nor prosecutors would provide details of the alleged confession, which came on Van der Sloot's third full day in Peruvian custody at criminal police headquarters.

Meanwhile, the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant quoted the suspect's lawyer in the Netherlands as suggesting the confession may have been coerced.


"Joran told his mother crying Monday that he was being interrogated under reasonably barbaric conditions," the paper quoted Bert De Rooij saying. "He said the police were trying to force him to confess."

Under such conditions, he said, the "confession was possibly false."

The state-appointed lawyer who represented Van der Sloot in initial interrogations, Carla Odria, told the AP that a different lawyer, who she said was hired by the suspect, was with Van der Sloot on Monday. She said she did not know the lawyer's name. Authorities would not release the name of the lawyer.

Officials at the Dutch Embassy, who said the suspect's family was attempting to obtain private counsel for Van der Sloot, could not be reached for comment Tuesday on whether a private lawyer had in fact been retained.

Van der Sloot's mother, who apparently lives in Aruba, also could not be located for comment. The suspect's father, a former judge and attorney on Aruba, died in February.

Flores, the daughter of a Peruvian circus empresario and former race car driver, was found beaten to death, her neck broken, in the 22-year-old Dutchman's hotel room. Police said the two met playing poker at a casino.

The chief of Peru's criminal police, Gen. Cesar Guardia, said the crime scene visit at the TAC hotel would most likely occur Wednesday. A psychological exam of the suspect is also required before a judge can decide whether he should stand trial.

Asked about the alleged confession, a brother of the victim, Enrique Flores, had no comment. "What we as a family want to do now is rest a bit and let this follow the judicial path," he said.

Video from hotel security cameras shows the two entering Van der Sloot's room together at 5 a.m. Sunday and Van der Sloot leaving alone four hours later with his bags. Police say Van der Sloot also left the hotel briefly at 8:10 a.m. and returned with two cups of coffee and bread purchased across the street at a supermarket.

Murder convictions carry a maximum of 35 years in prison in Peru, and it was not immediately clear if a confession could lead to a reduced sentence.

Van der Sloot remains the key suspect in Aruba for the 2005 disappearance of Holloway, an 18-year-old from Alabama who was on the resort island celebrating her high school graduation. He was arrested twice in the case – and gave a number of conflicting confessions, some in TV interviews – but was freed for lack of evidence.

Holloway's father, Dave, told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Tuesday that Van der Sloot should tell all he knows about the disappearance of his daughter. "Hopefully this is his last victim."

The girl's mother, Beth Holloway, said her heart and prayers were with the Flores family.

A fixture on true crime shows and in tabloids after Holloway's disappearance, Van der Sloot gained a reputation for lying – even admitting a penchant for it – and also exhibited a volatile temper. In one Dutch television interview he threw a glass of wine in a reporter's eyes. In another, he smashed a glass of water against a wall in a fury.

The 6-foot-3 (191-centimeter) Van der Sloot has been held at Peru's criminal police headquarters since arriving Saturday in a police convoy from Chile, where he was captured Thursday.

He had crossed into Chile on Monday – roughly a day after leaving the Lima hotel.

Lima's deputy medical investigator, Victor Tejada, told the AP that Flores was killed by blows with a blunt object, probably a tennis racket found in the hotel room. Guardia said her body was found face down and clothed with no indication of sexual assault.

Chilean police who questioned Van der Sloot the day of his arrest said he declared himself innocent of the Lima slaying but acknowledged knowing Flores.

There were indications Van der Sloot may have been traveling on money gained through extortion. The day of his arrest in Chile, Van der Sloot was charged in the United States with trying to extort $250,000 from Holloway's family in exchange for disclosing the location of her body and describing how she died.

U.S. prosecutors say $15,000 was transferred to a Dutch bank account in his name May 10. He arrived in Peru four days later, coinciding with the runup to a June 2-5 Latin America Poker Tour tournament with a $930,000 prize pool.

Tournament organizers said Van der Sloot did not sign up for the event, which required a $2,700 entrance fee.

Van der Sloot is an avid gambler and was known to frequent Aruba's casino hotels, one of which was where Holloway stayed.

In a lengthy 2006 interview with Greta Van Susteren on Fox News, Van der Sloot described drinking shots of rum with Holloway, whom he said he met while playing poker at a casino, then taking her to a beach and leaving her there around 3:30 a.m.

Two years later, a Dutch television crime reporter captured hidden-camera footage of Van der Sloot saying that after Holloway, drunk, collapsed on the beach while the two were kissing, he asked a friend to dump her body in the sea.

"I would never murder a girl," he said.

That interview prompted authorities in Aruba to reopen the case, but Van der Sloot later said he made up the whole story and he was not charged.

The crime reporter, Peter de Vries – the victim of the wine-throwing incident – reported later in 2008 that Van der Sloot was recruiting Thai women in Bangkok for sex work in the Netherlands.

Aruba's prime minister, Mike Eman, said he assured Holloway's mother Tuesday that his government is committed to pursuing any new leads in the case. He said Van der Sloot's arrest in Peru raised hope of determining what happened to the teenager.

Holloway's family has faulted Aruban investigators, saying they botched the case. Eman said he told the mother that he hopes his government can "repair some broken relationships."

Considering Peru's history of the last 75 years, I am truly amazed the maximum sentence for murder is 35 years. I didn't expect the death penalty.....the US is the only 'civilized' country with a death penalty.......but I would have thought life in prison....no parole would be possible.

Truth is stranger than fiction.....

http://www.aolnews.com/world/article...eding/19504280


Saudi Clerics Advocate Adult Breast-Feeding

(June 5) -- Women in Saudi Arabia should give their breast milk to male colleagues and acquaintances in order to avoid breaking strict Islamic law forbidding mixing between the sexes, two powerful Saudi clerics have said. They are at odds, however, over precisely how the milk should be conveyed.

A fatwa issued recently about adult breast-feeding to establish "maternal relations" and preclude the possibility of sexual contact has resulted in a week's worth of newspaper headlines in Saudi Arabia. Some have found the debate so bizarre that they're calling for stricter regulations about how and when fatwas should be issued.

Sheikh Al Obeikan, an adviser to the royal court and consultant to the Ministry of Justice, set off a firestorm of controversy recently when he said on TV that women who come into regular contact with men who aren't related to them ought to give them their breast milk so they will be considered relatives.

"The man should take the milk, but not directly from the breast of the woman," Al Obeikan said, according to Gulf News. "He should drink it and then becomes a relative of the family, a fact that allows him to come in contact with the women without breaking Islam's rules about mixing."


there is more in the link.....shaking my head

my boobs hurt.

and before anyone asks? NO. :blink:

Mexican officials decry U.S. Border Patrol shooting of teenager
By William Booth
Thursday, June 10, 2010

MEXICO CITY -- Mexican leaders on Wednesday condemned the fatal shooting of a Mexican teenager by the U.S. Border Patrol at the border in El Paso, as U.S. officials scrambled to investigate the circumstances surrounding the second killing of a Mexican by a U.S. agent in two weeks.

Full article-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/09/AR2010060903823.html

Con't.
 

Joran Van Der Sloot Told Chile Police Thief Killed Stephany Flores

FRANKLIN BRICENO | 06/13/10 02:02 PM | AP

LIMA, Peru — Joran van der Sloot told police in Chile that it was an unidentified robber who beat a young woman to death in his hotel room, a killing for which the Dutchman has been charged with murder in Peru.

Peruvian police say Van der Sloot, long suspected in the 2005 disappearance of U.S. teen Natalee Holloway, has confessed to killing 21-year-old business student Stephany Flores on May 30 after they met playing poker.

But according to a Chilean police report obtained by The Associated Press through Peruvian authorities late Saturday, Van der Sloot gave a different account of events while in custody in neighboring Chile, where he was captured after the killing and quickly extradited.

In the version offered to Chilean investigators, Van der Sloot said he and Flores were surprised in the early morning by two robbers in an apparent assault.

"A man came out of the bathroom blocking the access door with a knife in his hand. On the bed was another man with a gun," the Spanish-language report quotes him as saying. "The man with the knife said to be quiet, but Stephany began talking in a loud voice and he hit her in the face, making her nose bleed."

It also says Van der Sloot told Chilean agents that the previous day, he and Flores had been extorted by apparent police officers who demanded $4,000 and a wristwatch he brought from Thailand.

Chilean police told their Peruvian colleagues that the 22-year-old Dutchman responded in English to their questioning but refused to sign a declaration after learning he would be expelled to Peru.

On Friday, a Peruvian judge ordered Van der Sloot jailed on first-degree murder and robbery charges.

Police in Peru say he confessed to beating Flores to death after she learned details of the Holloway case from his laptop. He allegedly broke her nose, strangled her, threw her to the floor, then emptied her wallet and drove away in her SUV, said Gen. Cesar Guardia, chief of the criminal police. He then traveled south to Chile by bus.

If convicted on the murder and robbery charges, Van der Sloot could get 15 to 35 years in prison.

Van der Sloot's newly hired Peruvian attorney, Maximo Altez, has asked the judge to declare his client's confession void on the grounds it was made in the presence of a defense lawyer appointed by police.

Van der Sloot remains the lone suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway on the Caribbean resort island of Aruba.

Peru's criminal police chief said recently that Van der Sloot told interrogators he knows where Holloway's body is, but Aruba's attorney general said Friday he is skeptical Van der Sloot was telling the truth.

Have you been following how Peru enters mitigating factors into sentencing? One is that he admited being high on grass during the killing. That will be considered as mitigating under Peruvian sentencing! Also, he stated he slapped him and said he began attacking her in self-defense! Yanno, he is not a small man and you break someone's neck because she slapped you? He has all the classic blame everyone and everthing else for my actions of a sociopath and narcissistic personality. And of course, I think van der Sloot is lying through his teeth.

My hope is, although it would be very difficult, is that his mother faces what her son is and has done and starts talking. She has to have information about the Aruba crime and has kept her mouth shut.

Oh, and we can only guess at what will be made of the fact that this young woman was a lesbian....

But, if he will only serve a few years for the murder in Peru, his attorney is not going to let him or anyone speak about the Hollaway case.

6-Story Jesus Statue In Ohio Struck By Lightning
 

Lightning



poor jesus :(

That was one big !Jees-us

:byebye:

Salt lake city, ut Oil spill
 

The link to the story on the Cincinnati Enquirer web site this morning was:
"Jesus statue destroyed by act of God"

Priceless...

Campbell Soup recalls 15M pounds of SpaghettiOs
By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press Writer M– Fri Jun 18, 7:07 am ET

WASHINGTON – Campbell Soup Co. is recalling 15 million pounds of SpaghettiOs with meatballs after a cooker malfunctioned at one of the company's plants in Texas and left the meat undercooked.

The Agriculture Department announced the recall late Thursday. Campbell spokesman Anthony Sanzio said the company is recalling certain lots of the product manufactured since December 2008 "out of an abundance of caution" because officials don't know exactly when the cooker at the Paris, Texas, plant malfunctioned. Officials believe it happened recently but aren't sure, he said.

The meatballs that went through the cooker did not get the requisite amount of heat, according to the company.

Recalled are certain lots of three varieties of the pasta product often consumed by children: SpaghettiOs with Meatballs, SpaghettiOs A to Z with Meatballs, and SpaghettiOs Fun Shapes with Meatballs (Cars).

The USDA said there are no reports of illnesses associated with the product and Sanzio said the company has received no customer complaints to date.

The recalled products have "EST 4K," as well as a use-by date between June 2010 and December 2011 printed on the bottom of the can. The products were manufactured between December 2008 and June 2010 and distributed to retail establishments nationwide.

Sanzio said the company believes there are about 35,000 cases of SpaghettiOs subject to the recall on the market right now. He said USDA announced the recall of 15 million pounds because that is all of the product that has been manufactured since December 2008. Much of it has likely been consumed.

Consumers with questions about the recall can call Campbell's Hotline at (866) 495-3774.

Cat Food - Friskies by Purina
 

AtLast, here is the Mother's first public statement. I am guessing she is hoping for the "insanity" defense to work. Notice how she states she doesn't think he killed Holloway but blames the media for his mental deterioration.


Joran Van Der Sloot Mentally Ill, Mother Says

TOBY STERLING | 06/20/10 09:18 AM | AP

AMSTERDAM — Joran van der Sloot, the main suspect in the killing of a young woman in Peru last month and in the 2005 disappearance of U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway, suffers from mental problems, his mother told a Dutch newspaper in an interview published on its website Sunday.

"My son is sick in his head," De Telegraaf quoted Anita van der Sloot as saying in her first public comment since her son's latest arrest.

Joran van der Sloot, 22, has been jailed in Peru on suspicion of killing 21-year-old Stephany Flores on May 30 – five years to the day after Holloway's still-unsolved disappearance while on vacation in Aruba. Holloway was last seen alive with Van der Sloot.

Police in Peru say Van der Sloot has confessed to killing Flores. He is due to be interviewed by a judge in Lima next week.

The Van der Sloot family lives in Aruba, where the interview was conducted. Anita told the paper her son had abruptly disappeared in mid-May two days before he was due to travel to the Netherlands to stay at a mental institution. He left a note saying he was going to Peru.

Van der Sloot had been traveling the world but returned to Aruba in April after his father Paul died of a heart attack while playing tennis.

Van der Sloot confessed to, then later retracted, involvement in Holloway's disappearance several times publicly and privately. He has told his jailers in Peru he is ready to clarify the Holloway case – but only with Aruba authorities.

In the Telegraaf interview Anita told the paper she does not believe Joran killed Holloway.

"But if he killed Stephany, he'll have to pay the price. I won't visit him in his cell, I cannot embrace him," she was quoted saying.

She said Joran's mental health had deteriorated steadily from the time of the Holloway disappearance. She attributed his decline in part to intense media scrutiny.

She told the paper he had called her several days before Flores' death.

"He said he was being followed. He had been arrested together with a girl and robbed. He was not making sense," the paper quoted her as saying.

"I can't cry for Joran like I did for Paul. I hope that he gets psychological help."

About time!
 

Gay Workers To Get Family Leave From New Labor Department Regulations

PHILIP ELLIOTT | 06/21/10 08:00 PM | AP


WASHINGTON — The Labor Department intends to issue regulations this week ordering businesses to give gay employees equal treatment under a law permitting workers unpaid time off to care for newborns or loved ones.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis planned to announce Wednesday that the government would require employers to extend the option that has been available to heterosexual workers for almost two decades, two officials briefed on the plan said Monday. Neither was authorized to speak publicly ahead of the announcement.

The move, coming less than five months before November's congressional elections, seemed likely to incite conservatives and Republicans who stood in lockstep against the Obama administration's earlier efforts to repeal a ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. It also appeared likely to be popular with loyal Democrats and organized labor.

The Family and Medical Leave Act allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year to take care of loved ones or themselves. The 1993 law, which also allows employees to take time off for adoptions, has previously only been applied to heterosexual couples.

The Labor Department planned to extend those rights based on a new interpretation of the law, the officials said. There was no plan to ask Congress to change the law, which means future presidents could reverse the decision.

President Barack Obama and his administration have slowly rolled out policies to help gays and lesbians, who supported his candidacy but have soured on what they consider his slow pace in making incremental instead of wholesale changes. He planned to meet with gay activists Tuesday at the White House, the second time such a reception has been held at the executive mansion.

Gay activists have been frustrated with Obama's approach to gay policies. The White House reluctantly backed a compromise on the military's "don't ask don't tell" policy on gays in the military that would move ahead on repeal but still allow the Pentagon time to implement new policies.

Earlier this month, Obama issued orders for government agencies to extend child care services and expanded family leave to their workers. Obama's order for federal employees, though, covers only benefits that can be extended under existing law, without congressional action. Legislative action would be required for a full range of health care and other benefits.

Last year, Obama gave federal workers' same-sex partners a first round of benefits including visitation and dependent-care rights. He also authorized child-care services and subsidies; more flexibility to use family leave to attend to the needs of domestic partners and their children; relocation benefits; giving domestic partners the same status as family members when federal appointments are made; and access to credit union and other memberships when those are provided to federal workers.

Texas GOP platform:
criminalize gay
marriage and ban
sodomy, outlaw strip
clubs and pornography

Aliyah Shahid
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, June 22nd 2010, 12:36 PM

The GOP there has voted on a platform that
would ban oral and anal sex. It also would give
jail sentences to anyone who issues a marriage
license to a same-sex couple (even though such
licenses are already invalid in the state).

“We oppose the legalization of sodomy,” the
platform says. “We demand that Congress
exercise its authority granted by the U.S.
Constitution to withhold jurisdiction from the
federal courts from cases involving sodomy.”

The Lone Star state initially passed a law barring
sodomy in 1860. Violators faced anywhere from
five to 15 years in prison. The ban was
overturned in 2003.

In addition, the platform says that homosexuality
“tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the
breakdown of the family unit and leads to the
spread of dangerous communicable diseases.”

It also states that homosexuality must not be
presented as an acceptable “alternative” lifestyle
in public schools and “family” should not be
redefined to include homosexual couples.

The 25-page proposal, presented last week as a
guide for the state GOP over the next two years,
includes other measures including outlawing
“sexually oriented businesses” like strip clubs
and banning “all pornography.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/fdcp?1277265821564

McChrystal got the boot. Good riddance,