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Feb. 24th, 2008
Here we go a-fucking-gain!
Feb. 24th, 2008 07:31 pm Jamaican Gays face beatings and mob-killings
Jamaican Gay Activist attacked by Mob seeks asylum in Canada (other links at botton of this story)
Why I am still boycotting Jamaica
EDIT: JFLAG.ORG, the Jamaican oraganization working towards tolerance and acceptance of LGBT
And, of course, when challenged on their bullshit, what do we hear? Its in the Bible. Somehow, of course, they manage to completely ignore the injunctions against casual sex, adultery, murder, stealing and the like. They utterly fail to understand that their problems are not the result of gay people, but at the result of their penchant for electing corrupt and inept leaders who have stolen their tax dollars and used said dollars for their own enrichment, leaving the majority of the country poverty-stricken and powerless. But do the blasted fundamentalist preachers ever preach agaisnt the smarmy, theiving, morally bankrupt polticians? Of course not! Do they ever pay attention to Jesus' message of compassion, or the example he set of moving aroud in the company of those who are less fortunate in society? Do they pay attention to his blasting of the self-righteous and his invitation to all, repeat, ALL of society? Hell no! That's not a juicy message! No, screaming down death and destruction upon people because they are different, THAT will get you Hallelujahs! And pray for the Rapture, oh congregation, contribute to hate and look forward to being cradled on teh bosom of Jesus! Praise the Lord!
*Snort* So much for "One Love"
Oh wait, the Rastafarians are also massively homophobic, as well...
Oh the wages of ignorance and fundamentalist religion!!!
I am done. Boycott them, totally. No tourists. No Jamaican products, nothing at all. This is the fucking 21st century, and by heaven and earth, this kind of uncivilized,ignorant, hateful behaviour cannot and must not be tolerated. I. am. done.
Jamaican Gay Activist attacked by Mob seeks asylum in Canada (other links at botton of this story)
Why I am still boycotting Jamaica
EDIT: JFLAG.ORG, the Jamaican oraganization working towards tolerance and acceptance of LGBT
And, of course, when challenged on their bullshit, what do we hear? Its in the Bible. Somehow, of course, they manage to completely ignore the injunctions against casual sex, adultery, murder, stealing and the like. They utterly fail to understand that their problems are not the result of gay people, but at the result of their penchant for electing corrupt and inept leaders who have stolen their tax dollars and used said dollars for their own enrichment, leaving the majority of the country poverty-stricken and powerless. But do the blasted fundamentalist preachers ever preach agaisnt the smarmy, theiving, morally bankrupt polticians? Of course not! Do they ever pay attention to Jesus' message of compassion, or the example he set of moving aroud in the company of those who are less fortunate in society? Do they pay attention to his blasting of the self-righteous and his invitation to all, repeat, ALL of society? Hell no! That's not a juicy message! No, screaming down death and destruction upon people because they are different, THAT will get you Hallelujahs! And pray for the Rapture, oh congregation, contribute to hate and look forward to being cradled on teh bosom of Jesus! Praise the Lord!
*Snort* So much for "One Love"
Oh wait, the Rastafarians are also massively homophobic, as well...
Oh the wages of ignorance and fundamentalist religion!!!
I am done. Boycott them, totally. No tourists. No Jamaican products, nothing at all. This is the fucking 21st century, and by heaven and earth, this kind of uncivilized,ignorant, hateful behaviour cannot and must not be tolerated. I. am. done.
The coming religious peace
by Alan Wolfe, The Atlantic
Thanks to Catalin for the link.
Reposted from:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/secularism
Also see these two related articles in The Atlantic this month:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/nigeria
and
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/evangelicals
Human beings have never lacked for things to fight over, but for the last two millennia, they have fought the most over ideas involving the divine. Politics, technology, military capacity, and diseases have all played decisive roles in shaping history, yet it is impossible to understand the rise and fall of empires, the clash of civilizations, and the evolving balance of power without appreciating the unique fervor that religion inspires, and the speed with which new religions can spread.
Christianity, a minority sect during much of the Roman Empire, became a world religion with a vast following after the Emperor Constantine converted to it, in the fourth century A.D. Then came Islam, in the seventh century: just a hundred years after Muhammad's death, in 632, the religion he founded reached beyond the Middle East to Africa, India, and significant parts of Spain and France. The Protestant Reformation of 1517 quickly engulfed half of Europe, migrated to the New World, and fueled the Counter-Reformation in the remaining Catholic states on the Continent—by 1618, the Thirty Years' War had begun, resulting in the devastation of large swaths of western Europe and the death of some 30 percent of Germany's population. Every new outburst of religious passion, while producing ecstasy and revelation for some, has disrupted established loyalties, fueled intolerance, and led to violence between the chosen and the damned.
Click to enlarge
( Read more... )
by Alan Wolfe, The Atlantic
Thanks to Catalin for the link.
Reposted from:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/secularism
Also see these two related articles in The Atlantic this month:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/nigeria
and
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/evangelicals
Human beings have never lacked for things to fight over, but for the last two millennia, they have fought the most over ideas involving the divine. Politics, technology, military capacity, and diseases have all played decisive roles in shaping history, yet it is impossible to understand the rise and fall of empires, the clash of civilizations, and the evolving balance of power without appreciating the unique fervor that religion inspires, and the speed with which new religions can spread.
Christianity, a minority sect during much of the Roman Empire, became a world religion with a vast following after the Emperor Constantine converted to it, in the fourth century A.D. Then came Islam, in the seventh century: just a hundred years after Muhammad's death, in 632, the religion he founded reached beyond the Middle East to Africa, India, and significant parts of Spain and France. The Protestant Reformation of 1517 quickly engulfed half of Europe, migrated to the New World, and fueled the Counter-Reformation in the remaining Catholic states on the Continent—by 1618, the Thirty Years' War had begun, resulting in the devastation of large swaths of western Europe and the death of some 30 percent of Germany's population. Every new outburst of religious passion, while producing ecstasy and revelation for some, has disrupted established loyalties, fueled intolerance, and led to violence between the chosen and the damned.
Click to enlarge
( Read more... )
Will surburbs become the new slums?
Feb. 24th, 2008 08:59 pmWill surburbs become the new slums
Does anyone else see the gentrification problems that are glossed over in this article? I mean, when minorities came to live in the inner cities, there was white flight. White flight led to property tax-income flying out the door, which led to no funds for schools and other amenities. Now the suburbs are not all they are cracked up to be, and so the middle-class and rich whites are coming back. Which means the price of housing goes up, and the poor get exiled to the suburbs. Except that they are worse off than before, because there is no transportation network, supermarkets will be impossible to get to,(which means cars will be a necessity) and on top of that, the same lack of resources to fix up schools and all the other stuff will be there as well. To make matters worse, the houses themselves, as the article points out, are substandard...
The experience of cities during the 1950s through the ’80s suggests that the fate of many single-family homes on the metropolitan fringes will be resale, at rock-bottom prices, to lower-income families—and in all likelihood, eventual conversion to apartments.
This future is not likely to wear well on suburban housing. Many of the inner-city neighborhoods that began their decline in the 1960s consisted of sturdily built, turn-of-the-century row houses, tough enough to withstand being broken up into apartments, and requiring relatively little upkeep. By comparison, modern suburban houses, even high-end McMansions, are cheaply built. Hollow doors and wallboard are less durable than solid-oak doors and lath-and-plaster walls. The plywood floors that lurk under wood veneers or carpeting tend to break up and warp as the glue that holds the wood together dries out; asphalt-shingle roofs typically need replacing after 10 years. Many recently built houses take what structural integrity they have from drywall—their thin wooden frames are too flimsy to hold the houses up.
Great. So in a few years they'll have their homes falling down about their ears to add to their troubles. Are we really going to sit back and watch the outskirts of our cities go to hell in a handbasket again?
Does anyone else see the gentrification problems that are glossed over in this article? I mean, when minorities came to live in the inner cities, there was white flight. White flight led to property tax-income flying out the door, which led to no funds for schools and other amenities. Now the suburbs are not all they are cracked up to be, and so the middle-class and rich whites are coming back. Which means the price of housing goes up, and the poor get exiled to the suburbs. Except that they are worse off than before, because there is no transportation network, supermarkets will be impossible to get to,(which means cars will be a necessity) and on top of that, the same lack of resources to fix up schools and all the other stuff will be there as well. To make matters worse, the houses themselves, as the article points out, are substandard...
The experience of cities during the 1950s through the ’80s suggests that the fate of many single-family homes on the metropolitan fringes will be resale, at rock-bottom prices, to lower-income families—and in all likelihood, eventual conversion to apartments.
This future is not likely to wear well on suburban housing. Many of the inner-city neighborhoods that began their decline in the 1960s consisted of sturdily built, turn-of-the-century row houses, tough enough to withstand being broken up into apartments, and requiring relatively little upkeep. By comparison, modern suburban houses, even high-end McMansions, are cheaply built. Hollow doors and wallboard are less durable than solid-oak doors and lath-and-plaster walls. The plywood floors that lurk under wood veneers or carpeting tend to break up and warp as the glue that holds the wood together dries out; asphalt-shingle roofs typically need replacing after 10 years. Many recently built houses take what structural integrity they have from drywall—their thin wooden frames are too flimsy to hold the houses up.
Great. So in a few years they'll have their homes falling down about their ears to add to their troubles. Are we really going to sit back and watch the outskirts of our cities go to hell in a handbasket again?
(CBS) Is Don Siegelman in prison because he’s a criminal or because he belonged to the wrong political party in Alabama? Siegelman is the former governor of Alabama, and he was the most successful Democrat in that Republican state. But while he was governor, the U.S. Justice Department launched multiple investigations that went on year after year until, finally, a jury convicted Siegelman of bribery.
Now, many Democrats and Republicans have become suspicious of the Justice Department’s motivations. As correspondent Scott Pelley reports, 52 former state attorneys-general have asked Congress to investigate whether the prosecution of Siegelman was pursued not because of a crime but because of politics.
Ten years ago life was good for Don Siegelman. After he became governor, many believed he was headed to a career in national politics. In 1999, Siegelman’s pet project was raising money to improve education, so he started a campaign to ask voters to approve a state lottery. He challenged Republicans to come up with a better idea.
“You tell us how you’re going to pay for college scholarships. You tell us how you’re going to put state of the art computers inside every school in this state,” he said.
But now the applause has long faded. Today, Siegelman is at a federal prison camp in Louisiana. He’s doing seven years. The main charge against him was that he took a bribe, giving a position on a state board to businessman Richard Scrushy, who had made a big donation to that lottery campaign. There was a star witness, Nick Bailey, a Siegelman aide who had a vivid story to tell.
“Mr. Bailey had indicated that there had been a meeting with Governor Siegelman and Mr. Scrushy, a private meeting in the Governor's office, just the two of them,” says Doug Jones, who was one of Siegelman’s lawyers. “And then, as soon as Mr. Scrushy left, the governor walked out with a $250,000 check that he said Scrushy have given him for the lottery foundation.”
“Had the check in his hand right then and there? “ Pelley asks.
“Had the check in his hand right then,” Jones says.
“That Scrushy had just handed to him, according to Bailey's testimony?” Pelley asks.
“That's right, showed it to Mr. Bailey. And Nick asked him, ‘Well, what does he want for it?’ And Governor Siegelman allegedly said, ‘A seat on the CON Board.’ Nick asked him, ‘Can we do that?’ And he said, ‘I think so,’” Jones says.
The CON board regulates hospital construction, and Scrushy ran a healthcare company. Both Siegelman and Scrushy were convicted in federal court.
But, as 60 Minutes found out, the imprisonment of Don Siegelman is not nearly as simple as that.
“I haven't seen a case with this many red flags on it that pointed towards a real injustice being done,” says Grant Woods, the former Republican attorney general of Arizona.
Woods is one of the 52 former state attorneys-general, of both parties, who’ve asked Congress to investigate the Siegelman case.
“I personally believe that what happened here is that they targeted Don Siegelman because they could not beat him fair and square. This was a Republican state and he was the one Democrat they could never get rid of,” Woods says.
Read rest and get video from "60 minutes" here
Now, many Democrats and Republicans have become suspicious of the Justice Department’s motivations. As correspondent Scott Pelley reports, 52 former state attorneys-general have asked Congress to investigate whether the prosecution of Siegelman was pursued not because of a crime but because of politics.
Ten years ago life was good for Don Siegelman. After he became governor, many believed he was headed to a career in national politics. In 1999, Siegelman’s pet project was raising money to improve education, so he started a campaign to ask voters to approve a state lottery. He challenged Republicans to come up with a better idea.
“You tell us how you’re going to pay for college scholarships. You tell us how you’re going to put state of the art computers inside every school in this state,” he said.
But now the applause has long faded. Today, Siegelman is at a federal prison camp in Louisiana. He’s doing seven years. The main charge against him was that he took a bribe, giving a position on a state board to businessman Richard Scrushy, who had made a big donation to that lottery campaign. There was a star witness, Nick Bailey, a Siegelman aide who had a vivid story to tell.
“Mr. Bailey had indicated that there had been a meeting with Governor Siegelman and Mr. Scrushy, a private meeting in the Governor's office, just the two of them,” says Doug Jones, who was one of Siegelman’s lawyers. “And then, as soon as Mr. Scrushy left, the governor walked out with a $250,000 check that he said Scrushy have given him for the lottery foundation.”
“Had the check in his hand right then and there? “ Pelley asks.
“Had the check in his hand right then,” Jones says.
“That Scrushy had just handed to him, according to Bailey's testimony?” Pelley asks.
“That's right, showed it to Mr. Bailey. And Nick asked him, ‘Well, what does he want for it?’ And Governor Siegelman allegedly said, ‘A seat on the CON Board.’ Nick asked him, ‘Can we do that?’ And he said, ‘I think so,’” Jones says.
The CON board regulates hospital construction, and Scrushy ran a healthcare company. Both Siegelman and Scrushy were convicted in federal court.
But, as 60 Minutes found out, the imprisonment of Don Siegelman is not nearly as simple as that.
“I haven't seen a case with this many red flags on it that pointed towards a real injustice being done,” says Grant Woods, the former Republican attorney general of Arizona.
Woods is one of the 52 former state attorneys-general, of both parties, who’ve asked Congress to investigate the Siegelman case.
“I personally believe that what happened here is that they targeted Don Siegelman because they could not beat him fair and square. This was a Republican state and he was the one Democrat they could never get rid of,” Woods says.
Read rest and get video from "60 minutes" here