News & Current Events

[fritzkep]

Thank you for thinking it was me!  But no, I'm just a 54 year old Heathen.   

Young'un!

[tonydude]

 Oilgun is probably asleep by now, but hopefully, it won't cause disorientation when he returns:
   According to the blog "The Raw Story", as carried by Huffington Post, conservative Christian Pat Robertson has criticized the criminalization of marijuana, on his program, "The 700 Club".  He says it wastes money, and is arbitrary.
  I guess the world is coming to an end  !

[tfferg]

Contact your Government and/or media regarding yesterday's vote at the UN

This media release was issued by ARC International on 22.12.10

What’s new?

- While we celebrate the amazing victory yesterday to restore sexual orientation to the UN resolution on extrajudicial executions, there are two more things to do before we all relax for the holidays:

1) Please contact your government to express appreciation if they supported the amendment to include "sexual orientation" in the resolution, or to express concern if they did not.

2) Please also consider issuing a Press Release or writing a letter to the Editor about your government's position.

What happened?

(snip)

Why is it important?

- If your government supported sexual orientation inclusion, it is important that they know that their efforts were noticed and appreciated. If they did not support inclusion, it is important that they know that activists in their country are paying attention, and that they are challenged for not being supportive. Media attention is also helpful in raising awareness of these important issues.

- Advancing respect world-wide for the human rights of LGBTI people is an incremental long-term effort. Yesterday's vote was a significant step forward, but much work still lies ahead. Killings of transgender people represent a significant source of global concern that remain largely unaddressed.

- The relationships built with your government, the dialogues that have taken place over the past week, and the networks with other groups working on these issues will all be important as we move forward in future. Prompt follow-up now will help strengthen and maintain those relationships in preparation for the challenges ahead.

(snip)

What's next?
- Once you have followed up with your government and/or media, suggested next steps include:

1. Celebrate;

2. Relax;

3. Brace yourself for 2011, when we are expecting a major joint statement on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity to be presented at the UN Human Rights Council in March! We will again need all your support to ensure the success of this important next step.
Questions or further information?

- The coalition of international NGOs working on this and future initiatives may be contacted for any further information at:

coordination@arc-international.net


Thank you for your contribution to this tremendous victory, and your follow-up efforts to help build upon this success!


-----------------------------------------
John Fisher
Co-Director, ARC International
Cell: +41-79-508-3968
john@arc-international.net
www.arc-international.net

[janjo]

That's one of the more ironic facts about gay people being discharged from the military. In peacetime the opponent politicians say that the presence of gays in the armed forces would disrupt unit cohesion, yet in a real war such as WW2, gay people were fairly immune to being discharged, as long as combat was going on. Hypocrites.

That reminded me of all the stories one hears on the TV / radio about many of the great comedians / actors etc who fought in World War II or did national service who were obviously gay, or revealed to be gay in later life.
There are also many ex servicemen on this forum.
So all this change in the law does actually is to make legal what has been going on for aeons anyway.
Having said that, it is a great step forward for gay rights that people are not singled out for discrimination at the whim of the authorities.

[tfferg]

Modified rapture, Jess.

I understand that the repeal of DADT doesn't include provisions for equal spousal benefits and against discrimination within the military against openly gay and lesbian personnel even though they will soon be able to serve openly.

"But already many LGBT Americans are turning their attention back to other urgent reforms, including the repeal of the federal Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA) and marriage equality generally (I fear at the expense of post-DADT military issues like equal spousal benefits and anti-discrimination protections for LGBTI troopers, both of which took years to achieve in Australia after we repealed our equivalent of DADT in 1992, although things are much improved now)."

http://www.rodneycroome.id.au/weblog.php

[janjo]

OH yes Tony, there is still a whole lot to do.

[tfferg]

ADF supports diversity
Posted on 21 May 2010
 
(snip)

Australian Defence Force (ADF) is doing all it can for gay and lesbian military personnel, according to Australia’s defence gay and lesbian network, Defence Gay and Lesbian Information Service (DEFGLIS).

Australian Navy Chief Petty Officer and DEFGLIS founder Stuart O’Brien told Sydney Star Observer he believes acceptance of gay and lesbian military personnel is a battle largely won.

“I don’t think there’s much more we could ask for. We’ve got really good policies in place to protect everyone from discrimination, we’ve got the housing benefits that are extended to married couples and de facto couples,” he said.

(snip)

While O’Brien served alongside US troops in Baghdad, he said the US military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy can have tragic consequences for those it forces to keep quiet.

“A young US solider approached me … and was pretty happy he had met some Australians he could talk freely to, because his partner was killed in Iraq and he had no one he could talk to.

“We obviously sat with him for quite some time and helped him with his grieving and offered him counselling and support from our chaplain to help him through."

(snip)

O’Brien has been giving talks in the US over the last two years at the Georgetown University Law Centre and the Truman Library to explain how the ADF deals with gay and lesbian servicemen and women since the 1992 ban on homosexuals serving in the ADF was lifted.

“We’ve marched in Mardi Gras the last three years running and had really good feedback,” he said.

“I think that’s spreading the word that we’re not a homophobic environment any more, that defence embraces diversity.”
Since DEFGLIS was founded in 2002, the group has grown from 12 to 400 members.

O’Brien said the overall attitude — including from the top — is matter-of-fact.

“At the end of the day, it’s a case of, ‘Can the person do the job? Yes, they can’, then they get on with it.”

On the inside culture of the ADF, O’Brien said he has always felt supported.

“Do we have issues coming out? Yeah, of course we do. It’s always a difficult time to come to that acceptance and finding if there’s support around, but nine times out of 10, I think we see our fellow colleagues do support us through that.

“The feedback I’ve had from people in the services when they come out is they’re very accepted in their area, which is good to see.”

http://www.starobserver.com.au/news/australia-news/new-south-wales-news/2010/05/21/adf-supports-diversity/25574

[tfferg]

Factbox  Gays in the ADF
23 December 2010 | 12:38:22 PM | Source: SBS Staff

 - The [Australian Defence Forces] ADF ended a ban on gay, lesbian and bisexual personnel in 1992.

- Defence’s mission statement on diversity states the department seeks ‘to provide support and increase consideration for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Intersex and Transgender community, complementarily with the Australian Defence Organisation and established Defence and civilian support organisations.’

- The same sex relationships of ADF personnel now benefit from the same conditions as other de facto relationships. According to Air Force news, changes mean benefits will now include ‘Defence housing assistance, removals on posting, leave travel and location allowances when posted to remote localities, reunion travel when separated and education assistance’ for openly gay personnel.

- The ADF is currently reviewing transgender policies, reports SX News. While educational seminars for military personnel recognize that discrimination is far from eradicated, openly gay personnel from the unofficial Defence Gay and Lesbian Information Service (DEFGLIS) which supports Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) serving members of the ADF have said there is ‘not a lot more they can ask for.’

(snip)


http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1450617/Factbox---Gays-in-the-ADF

I understand that it took some years for gays in the Australian military to be afforded equal benefits with personnel in opposite-sex de facto relationships and marriage. I think it was when some 84 Acts of Federal legislation were amended in 2008-09 to remove discrimination against gay and lesbian couples in all rights and benefits under Federal law - except equal marriage.

[Dal]

:
   According to the blog "The Raw Story", as carried by Huffington Post, conservative Christian Pat Robertson has criticized the criminalization of marijuana, on his program, "The 700 Club".  He says it wastes money, and is arbitrary.

What kind of bong would Jesus use?

[Lyle (Mooska)]

I don't know, but Australians use billa-bongs.

[CellarDweller115]

http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/

This site states that they're tracking the more than 500 promises that President Obama made on the campaign trail.

Of those promises, he has kept 113 of the promises.  He has compromised on 34 of them.  He has broken only 19. 253 are in the works, and 82 have stalled.

Here is a link to the promises kept.

http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/rulings/promise-kept/

Quoting myself, but I just wanted to update. 

In the past 6 months, he's kept 14 more promises, bringing "Promises Kept" up to 127
                               he's compromised on 6 more, bringing "compromised" up to 40
                               he's broken 9 more, bringing that to 28, still the smallest number.
                               he has not increased the "stalled" number, it's still at 82.
                               promisese that are still "in the works" has decreased by 27 to 226. 

[Dal]

In the past 6 months, he's kept 14 more promises, bringing "Promises Kept" up to 127
                               he's compromised on 6 more, bringing "compromised" up to 40
                               he's broken 9 more, bringing that to 28, still the smallest number.
                               he has not increased the "stalled" number, it's still at 82.

I looked at only 2 promises, very quickly.  Both had to do w/ civil liberties.  One was getting rid of indefinite imprisonment without charges, also known as suspension of habeas corpus.  I couldn't find that in the list of promises.  But actually, he never made that promise, did he. 

The other one I looked at, at Truth-o-Meter, was radical reduction in warrantless wiretapping and searches.  That site calls it 'stalled';  I believe that 'stalled' is a very generous rating indeed, and even makes me suspicious of bias on the part of the site's owners.   Even their own expanded explanation of that 'stalled' rating fails to justify it.  I would call it 'failed', since Justice lobbied against  a bill to increase oversight, and failed to lobby against an extension of the present FISA bill.   That represents a deliberate continuation of Bush civil liberties policies, also knows as 'no civil liberties.'

I guess another promise he failed to make was to extricate ourselves from our South Central Asian war(s).  Instead, drones kill civilians and make terrorists (according to Gen. McChrystal), Blackwater will soon take over our job in Iraq, Pakistan is shaking more each day, and we are involved in a civil war in Yemen, and on and on.   This is not just 'the mess Bush left behind him'  -- it is a different mess, but no less a mess.  And it hits right here at home -- thru the expense, thru the loss of respect of other nations, thru terrorism.  And nobody is trying to find a way to get out of the wars, except by 'winning them', which is only a grammatical construction.  A bit like Vietnam, but worse. 

During the campaign,  I was troubled by Obama's readiness to bomb Pakistan;  Wikileaks has shown that things are worse than I had expected.   Prob'ly only Fritz and me are old enough to remember    Rolling Thunder and the other secret bombing operations against Laos and Cambodia, which did not help us, and which destabilized those little countries and ultimately let to Pol Pot.  But here we are, droning Waziristan and pressuring Pakistan to invade it, while our CIA pressures Washington for U.S. boots on the ground there. 

All the campaign promises dealing w/ social issues are great.  But I think the wars are the gorilla.  Obama thinks about the war and its goals very conventionally.  He needs to stop doing that, and to get some input from outside the beltway.   Otherwise, the wars will ruin his Presidency and a whole lot else besides.   

[doodler]

Perhaps shutting down the wars is like shutting down manufacturing... not possible economically.

[Marz]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1341676/Missing-architect-Joanna-Yeates-We-assume-shes-dead--lives-gone-say-parents.html

so sad and the the body was found and her parents were told on christmas day makes it even more heartbreaking

[CellarDweller115]

Recording Artist Teena Marie was found dead at the age of 54.

Teena had numerous hits on the Soul/R&B/Dance Charts, but a few crossed over to the Hot 100, and she had quite a few gold and platanum albums.  She was best known for the songs "I Need Your Lovin'", "Square Biz" and the smash "Lover Girl" which hit #4 on the Hot 100 chart.

"I Need Your Lovin'"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJmQNSNvZJQ

"Square Biz"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L8EoH0rj3I

"Lover Girl"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYVWoi72Ow4