The church must not be complicit in gay persecution in Africa
Law must protect gay asylum seekers
It is wrong to deny asylum on the grounds that those seeking it should simply suppress their sexuality to avoid torture at home
Sunday, May 23, 2010
The church must not be complicit in gay persecution in Africa | Observer Editorial | Comment is free | The Observer
After 30 years, the truth behind Cruyff's World Cup absence | Football | The Guardian
After 30 years, the truth behind Cruyff's World Cup absence
Skinheads attack Slovakia gay rights parade: report - Yahoo!Xtra News
Skinheads attack Slovakia gay rights parade: report
Gays parade in Bucharest under tight security - Yahoo!Xtra News
Gays parade in Bucharest under tight security
UK to withdraw troops from Afghanistan « Aletho News
UK to withdraw troops from Afghanistan
Press TV – May 22, 2010
In a U-turn in Britain’s policy regarding the Afghan war, senior government officials say they want UK soldiers to return home as soon as possible.
In an interview with The Times newspaper before arriving in Kabul on Saturday, Defense Secretary Liam Fox described the Afghan war as Britain’s most urgent priority. He said no more troops will be deployed in Afghanistan, adding that he wants to speed up the withdrawal of UK soldiers and training of Afghan forces.
Fox emphasized that the new government in London will put national security issues on top of its priority list.
“National security is the focus now. We are not a global policeman. We are not in Afghanistan for the sake of the education policy in a broken 13th-century country. We are there so the people of Britain and our global interests are not threatened,” Fox said.
Britain is the second-largest contributor of troops to Afghanistan. It has deployed some 10,000 soldiers in the war-torn country. The number of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001 stands at 286.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
201005214097 | Pagan altar unearthed at Ashkelon hospital construction site
Pagan altar unearthed at Ashkelon hospital construction site
201005214093 | Where the ancients studied the moon and stars
Where the ancients studied the moon and stars
201005214091 | Americas architectural heritage: Chaco Canyon, New Mexico
Americas architectural heritage: Chaco Canyon, New Mexico
Israel blocks mail between Gaza, West Bank « Aletho News
Israel blocks mail between Gaza, West Bank
Ma’an – 20/05/2010
Gaza – Israel has halted the flow of government sector mail between Gaza and the West Bank, causing a delay in the receipt of official documents, officials said on Thursday.
Maher Abu Ouf, Palestinian director for the Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel, said Israel shut-down all mail services last Wednesday after forces detained Gaza-based postal service official Sufian Abu Zubda.
“We do not know the reasons for Abu Zubda’s detention,” Abu Ouf told Ma’an.
The crossings official said they had called on Israel to resume the postal service between Gaza and the West Bank, but had yet to receive an official response.
Said Ash-Sharfa, head of Gaza exports, said only DHL still has permits to operate.
A representative from Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment on the report.
Despite unilaterally withdrawing its forces and citizens living on illegal Gaza settlements, Israel maintains strict control over the Gaza Strip, notably over the passage of goods in and out of the coastal enclave since Hamas’ takeover in 2007.
Until late 2009, all mail sent and received by Palestinians went through the Israeli Postal Service with letters designated for the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem often marked “via Israel.”
However, with support from USAID’s PA Capacity Enhancement Program, implemented by Chemonics International, the Palestine Postal Service was awarded an International Mail Processing Center Code by the Universal Postal Union, allowing the Palestine Postal Service to send and receive mail directly to and from other postal administrations around the world, rather than through Israel.
It also enables the Palestine Postal Service to receive payment from other postal administrations to facilitate delivery of incoming international mail to addresses in the West Bank and Gaza. Previously, the Israeli Postal Service received the payments.
More than half of Facebook users may quit site, poll finds - Computerworld
More than half of Facebook users may quit site, poll finds
Saudi woman beats up virtue cop after he stops her for walking with a man | Mail Online
Saudi woman beats up religious police officer who stopped her for walking with a man
Soldiers fire at ambulance evacuating injured demonstrator « Aletho News
Soldiers fire at ambulance evacuating injured demonstrator
International Solidarity Movement | 22 May 2010
The West Bank village of An Nabi Saleh held their weekly demonstration on Friday, attempting to reach the village land that has been annexed by the illegal settlement of Halamish. Demonstrators marched down from the village mosque till they were blocked by a line of Israeli soldiers and jeeps. Participants chanted, danced and sang for approximately half an hour before the military decided to violently disperse the group by throwing tear gas and sound grenades directly at the participants.
Soldiers continued to fire gas and rubber-coated steel bullets at the villagers for several hours, injuring several people, including a local teenage boy who was hit directly in the face by a canister. It opened up a hole in his face and shattered his cheek bone. As the ambulance tried to drive him away to hospital, soldiers fired volleys of tear gas at it, forcing it to turn around and take a much longer route round.
Towards the end of the demonstration, two internationals were arrested. The two, Swedish and Canadian citizens, were not taken to military base, but were held for four hours in a small shack. They were blindfolded and had their hands tied behind their backs for the whole four hours, before being released without charge. A similar ordeal was endured by three Israeli activists arrested earlier in the day in Bili’in.
The hilltop village of An Nabi Saleh has a population of approximately 500 residents and is located 30 kilometers northeast of Ramallah along highway 465. Today and every Friday since January 2010, around 100 un-armed demonstrators leave the village center in an attempt to reach a spring which borders land confiscated by Israeli settlers. The District Coordination Office has confirmed the spring is on Palestinian land, but nearly a kilometer before reaching the spring, the demonstration is routinely met with dozens of soldiers armed with M16 assault rifles, tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and percussion grenades.
Electric Taxis with Switchable Batteries Tested in Japan | Care2 Healthy & Green Living
Electric Taxis with Switchable Batteries Tested in Japan
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World's Strongest Animal | Care2 Healthy & Green Living
World’s Strongest Animal
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Iran protests US visa denial to diplomat « Aletho News
Iran protests US visa denial to diplomat
Homophobic Protesters To Crash Graduation Ceremonies | CarnalNation
Homophobic Protesters To Crash Graduation Ceremonies
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NYC Students Get OK to Say "Furburger" In Class | CarnalNation
NYC Students Get OK to Say "Furburger" In Class
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New HIV Testing Technology Could Improve Diagnostic Procedures | CarnalNation
New HIV Testing Technology Could Improve Diagnostic Procedures
via carnalnation.com
RapidShare Isn't Liable for Infringement, Federal Court Rules - XBIZ.com
RapidShare Isn't Liable for Infringement, Federal Court Rules
via www.xbiz.com
Arizona Law Reveals Tension in G.O.P. on Immigration - NYTimes.com
Immigration Law in Arizona Reveals G.O.P. Divisions
via www.nytimes.com
LSD Abuse Help
LSD Abuse Help
Friday, May 21, 2010
Pentagon Plan to Beef Up Afghan Base Near Iran May Rile Regime « Aletho News
Pentagon Plan to Beef Up Afghan Base Near Iran May Rile Regime
By Tony Capaccio | Bloomberg | May 21, 2010
A U.S. plan to upgrade its airbase in southwestern Afghanistan just 20 miles from Iran’s border will likely rile the Islamic regime, bolstering suspicions the West is trying to pressure it with military might, analysts say.
The Defense Department is requesting $131 million in its fiscal year 2011 budget to upgrade Shindand Air Base so it can accommodate more commando helicopters, drone surveillance aircraft, fuel and munitions.
Plans to expand the base come as the U.S. works to strengthen the militaries and missile defenses of allies in the region and presses at the United Nations for a new round of sanctions aimed at forcing Iran to curb its nuclear program.
U.S. military officials say the base is only to support U.S. and Afghan military operations in Afghanistan. Iran will likely view the Shindand buildup as another step to squeeze it, said Kenneth Pollack, director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
“Whatever U.S. intentions, the Iranian regime will see it as a threat — as another American effort to surround Iran with U.S. military forces,” Pollack said in an interview.
“The Iranians are almost certainly going to assume that a beefed-up intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance presence is really about spying on them,” he said.
Andrew Krepinevich, president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, shares that view.
“The positioning of the base gives us the opportunity to monitor any efforts by Iran to serve as a sanctuary for anti- government Taliban and allied forces, and to support operations in Iran itself if that were to become necessary,” he said.
Sanctions
The Pentagon planning for Shindand comes as the U.S. is helping to strengthen missile defense systems in Israel and allied nations in the Persian Gulf.
The U.S. Navy is coordinating its ship-borne Aegis missile defense with Israel’s land-based systems, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates and other top U.S. military officials have encouraged Persian Gulf nations to strengthen and coordinate their individual defenses.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also are upgrading their air, ground and naval forces, spurred by Iran’s military buildup.
The United Arab Emirates has spent $18 billion since 2008 on U.S.-supplied training, munitions and equipment such as the Patriot missile defense built by Lockheed Martin Corp.
Fighter Jets, Missiles
Saudi Arabia has bought 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets and is in negotiations to buy 24 more. The nation also has bought Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, laser-guided equipment to enhance the accuracy of its air-to-ground missiles, Black Hawk helicopters and U.S. kits to upgrade Apache helicopters and armored personnel carriers.
“We have worked hard in the region to build a network of shared early warning, of ballistic missile defense and of other security relationships,” General David Petraeus, the U.S. military commander in the Middle East and Central Asia, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 16.
Strengthening Gulf partners is important because containing Iran “will be a challenge as long as Iran’s theocracy keeps building asymmetric forces, moving towards nuclear capability and using proxies and non-state actors in neighboring states,” Anthony Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studi
Israel Expels Palestinian Legislator From Jerusalem « Aletho News
Israel Expels Palestinian Legislator From Jerusalem
By Saed Bannoura – IMEMC & Agencies – May 21, 2010
The Israeli Police decided, Thursday, to expel Palestinian Legislator, Mohammad Abu Teir, from occupied East Jerusalem and claimed that he lost his residency right in the city after he decided to run for the Palestinian Legislative Elections in 2006.
Abu Teir is an elected legislator of the Hamas movement. He was informed that he has until June 19 to implement the order and leave the city.
The decision also poses a threat on legislators Mohammad Totah and Ahmad Attoun and former Jerusalem Affairs Minister, Khaled Abu Arab.
Abu Teir was handed the order at the al-Maskobiyya police station in Jerusalem, and as he was leaving the station, a number of fundamentalist settlers of the Eretz Yisrael Shelano (Our Land Israel) fundamentalist group, tried to attack him and shouted “terrorist” at him and that “he would have been hanged in a normal country”.
He was imprisoned by Israel for 43 months and was approached by police only a few hours after he was released.
Abu Teir was interrogated at the al-Maskobiyya before he was handed the illegal order.
The Hamas movement and its government in Gaza said that Israel is pushing the area towards further escalation by targeting and expelling the Palestinians in Jerusalem and their elected leaders.
Japan backs Tehran declaration « Aletho News
Japan backs Tehran declaration
Press TV – May 21, 2010
As Washington is trying to impose new sanctions on Tehran, Japan’s foreign minister has backed a nuclear declaration signed by Iran, Turkey and Brazil.
During the separate teleconference with his Turkish and Brazilian counterparts, Katsuya Okada stressed the importance of implementing the new initiative in settling Iran’s nuclear issue, Kyodo News quoted Japan’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday.
The declaration was signed by the foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey, and Brazil in Tehran on Monday.
It commits Iran to deposit 1,200 kilograms of 3.5% low-enriched uranium in Turkey, which would be exchanged for 120 kilograms of 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment.
Okada called on Ahmet Davutoglu and Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim to keep in close consultation with Iran on the declaration.
The foreign ministers said that the declaration “provides a chance to settle the standoff diplomatically,” the ministry added.
The talks came as the top Japanese diplomat is scheduled to meet US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Tokyo on Friday to discuss Iran’s nuclear program.
US officials have stressed that despite the declaration they will continue pursuing the imposition of more UN restrictions on Iran and have stepped up efforts to garner the support of veto-wielding members of UN Security Council on a draft sanctions resolution.
Iran argues that as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) it is entitled to a civilian nuclear program.
US Congress Approves Iron Dome Spending - Politics & Gov't - Israel News - Israel National News
US Congress Approves Iron Dome Spending
WickedGayBlog.com: Oz ’Family Values’ Office Holder Resigns After Being Filmed Leaving Bath House
Oz ’Family Values’ Office Holder Resigns After Being Filmed Leaving Bath House
White Pentagram Contact Lenses- Buy Jewellery
White Pentagram Contact Lenses
'Pixie Dust' made from pig bladders regrows limbs of wounded soldiers | Mail Online
Magic 'Pixie Dust' made from pig bladders helps 'regrow' limbs of wounded soldiers
Lesbian albatrosses, gay giraffes and some very open-minded penguins. So, can animals really be gay? | Mail Online
Lesbian albatrosses, gay giraffes and some very open-minded penguins. So, can animals really be gay?
Children in Lockdown: Richard Ross Photographs Juvenile Detention « Solitary Watch
Children in Lockdown: Richard Ross Photographs Juvenile Detention
May 21, 2010by Jean Casella and James RidgewayEarlier this month, Pete Brook’s Prison Photography blog recently featured the work of Richard Ross, whose latest project is “Suitable Placement: Juvenile Justice in America.” This large and devastatingly powerful collection of photographs includes many of children held in some form of solitary confinement, from traditional cells to “rubber rooms.”
Harrison County Juvenile Detention Center in Biloxi, Mississippi
Giddings State School Giddings, Texas 2008
Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility, Kailua, Hawaii
Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center for mentally and emotionally disturbed juveniles, Mendota, Wisconsin
On his web site, Ross describes the project:
“Suitable Placement” is the expression used when trying to place a minor who is either in distress or in trouble with the authorities. I am doing research on the placement and treatment of juveniles in America and the facilities that house, treat, and assist them.
I have visited these “troubled-teen” facilities acros
Children in Lockdown: Richard Ross Photographs Juvenile Detention
May 21, 2010by Jean Casella and James RidgewayEarlier this month, Pete Brook’s Prison Photography blog recently featured the work of Richard Ross, whose latest project is “Suitable Placement: Juvenile Justice in America.” This large and devastatingly powerful collection of photographs includes many of children held in some form of solitary confinement, from traditional cells to “rubber rooms.”
Harrison County Juvenile Detention Center in Biloxi, Mississippi
Giddings State School Giddings, Texas 2008
Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility, Kailua, Hawaii
Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center for mentally and emotionally disturbed juveniles, Mendota, Wisconsin
On his web site, Ross describes the project:
“Suitable Placement” is the expression used when trying to place a minor who is either in distress or in trouble with the authorities. I am doing research on the placement and treatment of juveniles in America and the facilities that house, treat, and assist them.
I have visited these “troubled-teen” facilities acros
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Crowning of Arab-American As Miss USA Unleashes Torrent of Attacks From the Right « JONATHAN TURLEY
The extreme right has gone ballistic –painting Fakih as a mole for Hamas and part of some Islamic threat despite her appearing in a bikini and contradicting most conservative Islamic mores — including new allegations that she won a stripper contest, here. One commentator put it this way:
Moscow Pride banned as protesters say they will march anyway - from Pink News - all the latest gay news from the gay community - Pink News
Moscow Pride banned as protesters say they will march anyway
How LSD Destroyed God's (and Dad's) Rigid Authority and Ended the Dull 1950s | | AlterNet
How LSD Destroyed God's (and Dad's) Rigid Authority and Ended the Dull 1950s
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U.S. and Canadian Officers Died in Kabul Attack - NYTimes.com
Toll in Kabul Suicide Attack Included U.S. and Canadian Officers
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U.S. Cools to Afghan Political Rival, Abdullah - NYTimes.com
U.S. Rolls Up Red Carpet for Karzai Rival
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Tea Party Pick Causes Uproar on Civil Rights - NYTimes.com
Tea Party Pick Causes Uproar on Civil Rights
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Senate passes massive financial regulation bill - latimes.com
Senate passes massive Wall Street regulation bill
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Maryland To Offer Gay Workers Equal Marriage Benefits | On Top Magazine :: Gay & Lesbian News, Entertainment, Commentary & Travel
Maryland To Offer Gay Workers Equal Marriage Benefits
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'Don't Ask' Discharges Underreported, Gay Group Says | On Top Magazine :: Gay & Lesbian News, Entertainment, Commentary & Travel
'Don't Ask' Discharges Underreported, Gay Group Says
via www.ontopmag.com
Marine vet walks to D.C. to press 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com
Marine vet walks to D.C. to press 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal
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Thursday, May 20, 2010
U.S. allies say integrating gays in military was nonissue - CNN.com
U.S. allies say integrating gays in military was nonissue
via www.cnn.com
WickedGayBlog.com: Planned Fenway Gay Retirement Community Faces Foreclosure
Planned Fenway Gay Retirement Community Faces Foreclosure
WickedGayBlog.com: Stories from the Frontlines: Letters to President Barack Obama
Stories from the Frontlines: Letters to President Barack Obama
Officials’ anti-gay, anti-Muslim comments spark controversy in Fla. city :: EDGE New England
Officials’ anti-gay, anti-Muslim comments spark controversy in Fla. city
Gay couple sentenced to maximum 14 years in Malawi :: EDGE New England
Gay couple sentenced to maximum 14 years in Malawi
Anti-gay professor dumped from oil spill team over writings :: EDGE New England
Anti-gay professor dumped from oil spill team over writings
U.S. Drug Czar Admits ´War on Drugs´ Has Been Pointless
U.S. Drug Czar Admits ´War on Drugs´ Has Been Pointless
Moroccan gay magazine causes concern among Islamists
Moroccan gay magazine causes concern among Islamists
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