News and Current Events - 2012

[brokebacktom]

In my State


A group of conservative Christian parents are demanding Minnesota's Anoka-Hennepin School District teach "ex-homosexual" therapy and "gay-related-immune deficiency" (or "GRID"), the Twin Cities Daily Planet reports.

The demands come as the school district is in the middle of changing their "sexual orientation curriculum policy," which students claim produces a "hostile school environment" by banning the discussion of LGBT issues.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/conservative-parents-demand-school-teach-ex-gay-therapy_n_1231409.html#comments

[janjo]

In my State


A group of conservative Christian parents are demanding Minnesota's Anoka-Hennepin School District teach "ex-homosexual" therapy and "gay-related-immune deficiency" (or "GRID"), the Twin Cities Daily Planet reports.

The demands come as the school district is in the middle of changing their "sexual orientation curriculum policy," which students claim produces a "hostile school environment" by banning the discussion of LGBT issues.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/conservative-parents-demand-school-teach-ex-gay-therapy_n_1231409.html#comments

Good God! Any thinking parent should get their children out of there!

What a contrast with the student I was teaching last night whose BA assignment was on "Promoting Equality and Diversity in Education."

Thank goodness we don't have to deal with the religious right here in the UK.

[brokebacktom]

^^^

Really you guys don't have that problem in the UK? Wow, I'm jealous.

[Lyle (Mooska)]

Is that in Michele Bachmann's district?  Maybe her husband is looking for new clientele.

[Lyle (Mooska)]

2. Yes, it's not surprising that the article BBT mentioned would appear in multiple places -- a lot of newspaper sources in your list  actively subscribe to established news wire services e.g., Reuters, AP, etc... IOW, they likely are "feeding from the same trough."

What news sources/outlets do you have any trust in; ascribe any legitmacy to?

Yup.     

You could answer, too, Kathy.

[brokebacktom]

Is that in Michele Bachmann's district?  Maybe her husband is looking for new clientele.

It's part of her's, but not all of it. 

[Tony_]

Thank goodness we don't have to deal with the religious right here in the UK.

 I am sure you aren't saturated by them over there, Jess, but Ian Paisley, while technically from Northern Ireland, had some sympathy in the UK. And he's more than anti-Catholic; he has so many fundamentalist beliefs, he used to come to the most right-wing church in my area, every year, to preach and collect funds.
 The religious right wing is, IMO, an international infection.  But, I do agree, we don't see the British elections pivoting on these whackos, nor your culture reflecting their prejudices openly. As far as I know, the Canadians and Aussies are also not too influenced, either.
  But they are everywhere.  I hope you guys always keep them contained.  We can't.  It's epidemic here.

[janjo]

^^^

Really you guys don't have that problem in the UK? Wow, I'm jealous.

There are religious groups here that try to influence things to a certain degree, but there is no equivalent to the right wing evangelism that you have in the USA. There are groups against abortion etc, but no one group with much in the way of political power. We are a much, much more secular society here in the UK than is the case in the US.
I do remember when my daughter was at junior school a group of parents from the Baptist Church locally, objecting to children reading books about witches, which most of us thought was ridiculous, because young children tend to love those kinds of books.
That sort of thing tends to be very small scale.

As far as discrimination of all other kinds is concerned, schools and colleges can't do it because it is against the law. It is illegal to discriminate in any way against a student, or teacher for that matter, on grounds of race, religion, culture, gender, age, sexual orientation, trans-gender issues, or disability.
Equality and Diversity are required to be encouraged and valued. It is expected that, for instance, something like Black History Month will be used to teach the students  aspects of how they, or their fellows came to be where they are. Lessons are also encouraged regarding famous gay people and what they have achieved, womens history, and the achievements of disabled people, and the problems associated with disability.

Whilst we still have problems with discrimination here it is quite different to the American situation.

[garyd]

It is my impression that the UK is not immune to the contagion of the radical right wing religious crowd.

http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2010/04/conservative-christian

http://barthsnotes.com/2008/05/20/documentary-looks-at-uk-christian-right/

[AZ.bbm]

Thank you for sharing, irrelevant as most of it was.

BTW, my name isn't "Marcie."

-Likewise. 

[AZ.bbm]

What news sources/outlets do you have any trust in; ascribe any legitmacy to?

I trust the Christian Science Monitor to large extent; but still I would hesitate to give any source a 'blanket endorsement.'

PBS is also a favorite..

'Russia Today' is brutally honest about everything except perhaps Russia, itself...

Hillary Clinton  recently recommended 'Al Jazeera' as a good source for real news; we'll see.

Veterans Today is another one that doesn't pull its punches, although VT may be a bit too shrill for shrinking violet types.

Only a few of the outlets on Marcie's Reply #399 would be considered "reliable sources."


Peace, out.
-Az

+I forgot to mention, 'Democracy Now!, the War and Peace Report' with Dr. Amy Goodman.

[kathy]

What news sources/outlets do you have any trust in; ascribe any legitmacy to?

You could answer, too, Kathy.

Well, Lyle, when I said "yup" as an answer to stan's post I was simply agreeing with his post about so-called "news" agencies.

Once - years ago - the media in the U.S., especially the television networks, presented real, traditional news stories.  I believe that mostly starting with cheney/bush rule, it is now so government controlled we get almost nothing about what goes on in the world.
On CBS one evening, the entire half hour consisted of 20 minutes of nonsense, e.g. the upcoming Super Bowl and an abundance of commercials that got louder and louder as each one showed.  The rest of the broadcast was relegated to one-two minute statements of what is allowed by the gov't. to be...uh...'reported'.  (As far as newspapers are concerned, my opinion of most of them is bad and very biased, based on the views of the owners).
 
I believe the BBC is very good at providing true, unbiased news happening around the world.  The stories are some that would never be shown in the U.S., and the reporters seem unbiased.  The news on PBS and Al-Jazeera is also very good.  I used to think that CNN was real good; I'm not sure now.  Sometimes it is; sometimes it is not.  Maybe it just depends on the day.

Well, FWIW...

kathy

[AZ.bbm]

I concur with Kathy, CNN is 50% drivel.

Cheney/Bush shopped White House-brewed "video news releases" into the TV studios, videos that were broadcast sans any attribution, meaning that the "news reels" looked like real news but in reality they were little more than gov't propaganda segments that stations could use to fill unallocated air time..

The real problem started with Reagan-Bush, and their SNAFU deregulation ideas and policies which led to rampant consolidation. and the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine. This and the consolidation of our media from 50+ media companies with a variety of messages, down to 5 or 6 companies owning it all, and all with a similar (right-wing extremist) message.  That's why, today, we have an AM radio band in US that is littered with right-wing hooey, and the FM band is following suit...

Eventually there may be only one media company in the entire United States, and from it there will be a single, unified message  emitted, 100% of the time: Pro-corporate, Pro-globalist,  Pro-Zionist, Pro-war. And this would be consistent with what we had during the last regime,  virtually a one-party State -- Congress, the Supreme Court,  the Presidency itself, all marching to the same drum, which is what  that the corporate-sponsored rascals crave, on both sides of the aisle, in order to keep them in power.

FWIW.

[kathy]

Hi Stan: 

Now that you mention it, that's true about AM and FM; I had forgotten that.  I recently had to purchase a battery radio because if the power goes out it will still play.  (The power goes off very frequently here).  I was so surprised at how much AM and FM has changed.

I remember under bush I how it really became very clear how much the government controlled 'news' (?) the public is allowed to see began to turn 360 degrees to propaganda and out and out lies.  And of course under the cheney/bush II dictatorship it just became worse (understatement)! 

Now it is so bad that I can't stand to look at the network news anymore.  It is purely gov't. controlled.  It's going to go on and on and I can't say this surprises me.  The military/industrial complex reigns supreme.

kathy     
p.s.  Good for your paragraph that begins with "eventually there may be...


     

[janjo]

It is my impression that the UK is not immune to the contagion of the radical right wing religious crowd.

http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2010/04/conservative-christian

http://barthsnotes.com/2008/05/20/documentary-looks-at-uk-christian-right/

Oh no, I'm not saying we are immune, or that such groups don't exist, just that as we are a much more secular society here, the support for such groups is much more limited, and it is therefore much harder for them to get a toehold as far as political power is concerned.
We have religious nutters of all persuasions here, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Fundamentalist groups can be a threat, and are a threat from time to time, but they do not have a hold on the levers of power in the same way as they do in the USA.

I would say that the extreme political right wing, such as the English Defence League are more worrying.