News & Current Events

[andy]

2 gay men spared 14-year sentence in Malawi

The president of Malawi has pardoned two gay men who were sentenced to 14 years in prison this month for gross indecency and unnatural acts, the country's solicitor general, Anthony Kamanga, said Saturday.

President Bingu wa Mutharika announced his pardon of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga after meeting with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Kamanga said.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/05/29/malawi.gay.couple/index.html?hpt=T2

Well, this is wonderful news indeed but what now? I can't believe they will be safe in that country if the mob crowd reaction to their predicament is anything to go on.

[Sandy]

For those who believe that the CIA has been a competent espionage organization, I can suggest "Legacy of Ashes," a detailed history of the agency's bumbling and misadventures (among some seriously horrific stuff). As a small, rather recent example, they were caught completely unawares that India had developed atomic weaponery. Anyway, the book is a sobering account of how often the agency got it wrong.

[Marge_Innavera]

To Lyle and Ellen: in response to their posts above --

Yes!!   
Cheney    is back in his bunker now.  That's what he does - he comes out of the bunker with that sour grin, lies and tries to revise history (oh, he's a true revisionist), then retreats  back to the bunker.    cheney/bush, all their oil buddies...
And you notice how Palin is sooo silent about the explosion - remember when all she said was "drill, baby, drill" and try to get a rig off Alaska - How much $$$ did she get too?  Everything she does is for the buck.
 
And how about all of those warnings to BP, Transocean, Halliburton - cheney's Halliburton    - they did nothing!!  Well, I suppose when you're so busy bribing partners in crime, they just forgot and ignored.  But they sure kept on bribing!!

The beautiful ocean/shores, wildlife, lost livelihoods, billions & billions of ugly, destroying spilled oil is never going to stop.  Look at the tons and tons of damage already.  This is disgusting.    Spill, baby, spill.

kathy      

This is so tragic and so infuriating.  We were just starting out in changing over from this clunky 19th century techology in the 1970s and then an amiable B-move stooge, aided and abetted by voters who cheered his "morning in America" bromides, dismantled it all, along with just about every other protection from the type of robber-baron destruction that was a hallmark of the late 1800s.  And now the bill has finally come; as it turns out, the collapse of the Ponzi scheme our economy had turned into was the least of it.

If this spill isn't stopped, it will not only kill everything in the Gulf of Mexico: ocean currents will carry death all over the globe and when the oceans die, it's goodbye to civilization as we know it.  So much for the illusion that the human species can thrive apart from nature, which is just put there for our use.

This could result in a massive dieoff or worse; and Jesus isn't going to appear out of the sky to put everything right, nor are Superman or Mighty Mouse.  And so many people are still in denial about it.

[doodler]

For those who believe that the CIA has been a competent espionage organization, I can suggest "Legacy of Ashes," a detailed history of the agency's bumbling and misadventures (among some seriously horrific stuff). As a small, rather recent example, they were caught completely unawares that India had developed atomic weaponery. Anyway, the book is a sobering account of how often the agency got it wrong.

Yes, it is so out of character for a local, state or federal government agency in the US, or elsewhere, for that matter, to get things wrong or to follow its own agenda. What COULD they have been thinking over there?

First, there is subliminal suggestion embedded in advertising and entertainment, and now this.

[janjo]

The spirit of Ennis del Mar lives on, this time within the life and loves of David Laws an outstanding member of the new UK government who has been forced to resign because he hid his homosexuality from friends, family and constituents by denying that him and his long term lover were acually in a relationship, and in order to hide it claimed expenses he may or may not have been entitled to.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7140189.ece

[andy]

His resignation and offer to repay immediately, speaks to me of guilt, whatever his talents or gifts. Cameron's comment made it sound like he'll be able to do a come-back after a while and probably get a peerage into the bargain. Me cynical? Nooooo. 

[kathy]

For those who believe that the CIA has been a competent espionage organization, I can suggest "Legacy of Ashes," a detailed history of the agency's bumbling and misadventures (among some seriously horrific stuff). As a small, rather recent example, they were caught completely unawares that India had developed atomic weaponery. Anyway, the book is a sobering account of how often the agency got it wrong.

You're completely correct.  And there is another very good book "The Secret Team" detailing the same.  The CIA    is now the "empire" they always aimed for and aspired to be.  So many coups and crimes instigated all over the world and carried out.  Countless, unending lies, and murders continuing to this minute.

How this government allowed this to happen is beyond imagination; U.S. Presidents follow their bidding.  I remember a friend of mine who worked in the gov't. during the first Bush's 4 yrs. when he had his war.  He said to me (because Bush had once been a Director of the CIA for a couple of years): "Once CIA, always CIA.  Everything is and will be hidden".  Unfortunately for us, a 2nd, dumber Bush - with Cheney - came along and had his two wars.    

kathy

[kathy]

To Dal -- from kathy in response to your Reply #5320 yesterday:  (Mods - if you feel this is not proper in the forum, pls. do as you see fit.  I cannot let his reply go unanswered; I would not forgive myself; it is too important.)
I omit any comment on the last paragraph, because it clearly is nuts. 

1)  Pres. Kennedy did not want to go to Dallas.  He was repeatedly urged to because of a feud between Connolly and Johnson.
2)  An attempt on JFK's life by the same killers was planned in New Orleans a week or two before; it did not succeed.  An informant was asked if the President knew he was a doomed man and answered "I think he must have".  Oh, yes, New Orleans was very important in all of this.  
3)  Johnson -repeatedly in his "career" benefited by lies and the deaths of men running against him.  Johnson - called "landslide Lyndon" by TX pols because of his propensity to be elected by cheating, even by a very few votes.  
4)  Johnson - who ducked down in his car before any shots were fired.
5) Johnson - who was playing cards with the powerful oilmen (who had repeatedly fought against Pres. Kennedy) the night before the murder.    
6)  The President's automobile route was changed at the last minute so that he would be taken into a perfect "kill zone" - high buildings on all sides and a crossfire.  He did not have a chance.  Witnesses heard and saw the shots and powder from the grassy knoll, ran to it, and also heard definitely more than 3 shots coming from all sides.  Suddenly all action was directed to the Depository by police.  
7)  The doctors @ Parkland Hosp. said immediately that the fatal wounds to the President were from the front and there were much more than 3 wounds.  He was also hit in the back, but not fatally.  The entire side of his head was missing - caused by a fatal entry wound from the front, as they repeatedly said until told to say nothing.  
 So-called judge @ airport - conveniently - gives oath to johnson.   Johnson - who sent for a shell-shocked Mrs. Kennedy to stand there for that picture, with him and his phony wife and their phony faces.  
9) Johnson - who immediately told white house staff to take everything of JFK's out of the oval office.  Immediately.
10)  Johnson - who immediately ordered the car (operated by Secret Svc. agent "Leadfoot" Greer) back to Washington to be cleaned and stripped, thereby eliminating all the contents of the car  - everything that was crucial evidence.

There is no way to go into everything - Spector's and Ford's "magic bullet" (!!) thing, Warren's dislike for being in charge of a (fictional) "report" on this horrific crime, Johnson's insistence to put the crime on a single "patsy" Oswald so the truth would never come out until 2018 - when everyone would most likely be gone.  So that the "nation" would be, with the help of a complacent media - especially Life Magazine - very glad that it was not a conspiracy.   Johnson -  so eager for an end to the whole thing, rushing a "report" into print.  (Pres. Eisenhower was never convinced this was done by a single killer; he was silent on that report until his death).   And noone can shoot a bullet through a tree obstructing the view.     

The CIA was up to its teeth in everything - along with their other partners in crime.  Allen Dulles, former CIA director and fired by Pres. Kennedy after the Bay of Pigs fiasco, was a major member of the "commission".   And they never attended all meetings - shoddy from the start.  Unbelievable.

I will NEVER forget, when a young girl, hearing and seeing Oswald say on TV "I'm just a patsy" to every reporter in the place when he was in custody.  Never.  And later when I was older, I determined to find out & learn by experts.  Not wait until the year 2018, the year Johnson chose for "information" to be released.  Sure - chosen information from the CIA, FBI, and all the others who knew the truth but chose to silence it in November 1963 up to this very day.

p.s.  when I worked for the state gov't. Health Dept., two physicians on staff there had been in Dallas @ Parkland Hosital on that day.  More than once they'd speak of that day, telling me that elite specialist dr's. were subsequently shown film (never released) detailing that the fatal frontal shot came from the grassy knoll.   One told me he was so disgusted w/what the "gov't." was putting out to the media, he wanted to shout it to the rooftops.  "It was a complete coverup, kathy.  A complete coverup.  There were shots fired at him from all directions. He had no chance.  That fatal frontal shot was from the grassy knoll.  Others may have seen this crucial piece of film - I  don't know.  But we saw it". 

[Dal]

^^^^^^
I see now!

~ As a small, rather recent example, (the CIA)  were caught completely unawares that India had developed atomic weaponery.

Pity they don't have Harrison Ford on staff, like in the movies.

My favorite CIA boo-boo was their utter failure to see that the USSR was headed for breakup,  and thus the geopolitics of the whole planet was about to change, especially for Europe.  They were completely blindsided, according to sources at the time -- although by now, they have doubtless had plenty of time to alter history.

If the CIA missed signs of breakdown of  the USSR, I would think that it is legitimate to ask "What good is the CIA?"  It seems to be completely unreliable, as far the larger picture (nucs on India, collapse of Communism etc).  Maybe it's good for something else, who knows.  They are good at 3rd-world coups,  but the regime they put in power often disappoints.

Dick Cheney was challenged a number of times re his belief , before the war,  that Saddam had WMD.  "Even our own CIA didn't think so," the challenger often said.   Cheney sometimes replied that he didn't trust the info from info agencies 100%.  I never thought I would find myself saying this, but:  CIA has given very, very bad information at times.  And there is no reason to think that any other country's agency's is any better, or the UN's either.  So IOW, Cheney's taking CIA (and other agency) info w/ a grain of salt was justified.  I'm just sayin.  Of course, that is not to say the war is/was defensible.

[Lyle (Mooska)]

And now back to our regularly scheduled deprogramming.

[BayCityJohn]

President Obama and his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel are lifetime members of the same gay bath house in uptown Chicago, according to informed sources in Chicago’s gay community, as well as veteran political sources in the city. 

The bath house, Man’s Country, caters to older white men and it has been in business for some 30 years and is known as one of uptown Chicago’s “grand old bathhouses.” WMR was told by sources who are familiar with the bath house that it provides one-year “lifetime” memberships to paying customers and that the club’s computerized files and pre-computer paper files, include membership information for both Obama and Emanuel. The data is as anonymized as possible for confidentiality purposes. However, sources close to “Man’s Country” believe the U.S. Secret Service has purged the computer and filing cabinet files of the membership data on Obama and Emanuel. 

http://beforeitsnews.com/news/51/828/Washington_Insider:_Obama_Member_of_Chicago_Gay_Mans_Club.html

[Rosewood]

This is so tragic and so infuriating.  We were just starting out in changing over from this clunky 19th century techology in the 1970s and then an amiable B-move stooge, aided and abetted by voters who cheered his "morning in America" bromides, dismantled it all, along with just about every other protection from the type of robber-baron destruction that was a hallmark of the late 1800s.  And now the bill has finally come; as it turns out, the collapse of the Ponzi scheme our economy had turned into was the least of it.

If this spill isn't stopped, it will not only kill everything in the Gulf of Mexico: ocean currents will carry death all over the globe and when the oceans die, it's goodbye to civilization as we know it.  So much for the illusion that the human species can thrive apart from nature, which is just put there for our use.

This could result in a massive dieoff or worse; and Jesus isn't going to appear out of the sky to put everything right, nor are Superman or Mighty Mouse.  And so many people are still in denial about it.

I'm so glad to see that Reagan didn't fool you either, Marge. I often despair of revisionist history that likens this 'B-movie stooge' to Roosevelt or Lincoln or some other President truly entitled to greatness.
I thought him a charlatan then and nothing has happened over the years to change my opinion. A man who 'acted' the role of his life when a foolish nation voted him into the White House. (Obviously he
was a better actor than we give him credit for. Or the country is simply that easy to fool. A guy knows how to ride a horse, of course he'll make a good commander-in-chief.) And his speeches! Oh my
lord, what bastions of boring feel good platitudes bumblingly delivered. How this man can be known at 'the great communicator' is beyond my understanding. What world am I living in? All during that era
I kind of felt as if I were in the Twilight Zone.

And sure, let's name an airport after him. Why not? All he did was devastate the entire air traffic controller corps by firing them for rightly going on strike.
What a putrid joke.

As for the oil spill, I am simply horrified. My new granddaughter inherits a world where millions of miles of US coastline are devastated beyond the human ability to repair (or so it seems), not to mention,
again, the millions of sea creatures gone, the livelihoods lost. If nothing else, this is a mortal hit to the economy of the Southern coastal states. And as this vile oil stain continues to grow and begins to
travel the ocean currents, God only knows what BP has wrought. This is something from which the coastline may never recover. If this isn't criminal behavior by, at the very least BP, then I don't know what is.
Not that throwing the lot of them in jail would eliminate the tragic consequences, but I still say hitting these lowlifes in the pocket book is the way to go. This is ALL they understand. Hit 'em where they live.
Not that that would bring one single beautiful bird or shrimp or fish or turtle or crab or plant back to life.

[andy]

Are there no gay movie moguls out there who could work to ensure that this arse-wipe never works again in Hollywood?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/05/rampage-jackson-brings-a-bad-attitude-to-ateam-acting-is-kind-of-gay.html

[oilgun]

Perhaps it's not entirely surprising that countries that ban gays from serving in the military also tend to embrace the death penalty. And a look at how America's no-gays-in-the-military/pro-capital punishment position stacks up against the rest of the world reveals some surprising bedfellows — we're in full agreement with Iran, China, and North Korea on these two fronts. But if "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" were to change, only one other country would have the same stance on these issues.

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/dont-ask-dont-tell-statistics-052710#ixzz0pReCJWUh

One of the maps:

They are: Cuba, China, Egypt, Greece, Iran, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Somalia, South Korea, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uganda, United States, Venezuela, and Yemen

[doodler]

And sure, let's name an airport after him. Why not? All he did was devastate the entire air traffic controller corps by firing them for rightly going on strike.

As the mother of an air traffic controller, let me pass on some advice... fly NOW because in just a couple years all those controllers hired to replace the strikers are going to reach MANDATORY retirement age. And there is no back-up in the pipeline.