5/19/06-6/1/06

AN ACT OF DEFIANCE 6/1/06

I read banned blogs. That is what today's tag reads. And I do.

I do read banned blogs. I read blogs banned from 360-land. I read a few blogs that were banned from other places. I read banned blogs because they show THOUGHT, TALENT, and TRUTHFULNESS.

Do YOU read banned blogs?

Someday I hope to write a book that is good enough to get banned from some schools, libraries, AND countries.

Happy blogging!

spike q

ps I made the tag myself.

USA VS. MOSCOW ON GLBT STRUGGLES 5/28/06

The Sunday Gazette (the locally owned voice of the capital region)-- that is to say, newspaper (http://www.dailygazette.com) -- today, 5/28/06-- ran two articles in its' section A.

The headline of the first one (page A1) read: Will state let gays marry? (Appeals court to take up four cases this week, by Sara Foss) discussed the fact that "...the state's highest court is scheduled to hear arguments on the constitutionality of barring gays and lesbians from marrying."

The headline of the second one (page A5) read: Moscow gay pride parade thwarted (by Henry Meyer, The Associated Press) opened with "Gay rights activists were pummeled by right-wing protesters and detained by police Saturday, preventing them from putting on a display of gay pride in defiance of a city ban." The attempted parade was held yesterday. "Anti-gay" protesters were there as were the police. The organizer "ringleader" was "detained" by police ..."as he attempted to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a symbol of Russia's victory against fascism in World War II, just outside the Kremlin wall." Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia 13 years ago yesterday.

Tomorrow is a day of remembrance. I hope that all of us remember those who have given their lives in service to the United States of America so that way we could live in freedom. In this country, we who are not heterosexual have the opportunity to argue for our civil rights in courts of law. Saturday was Moscow's first ever gay pride parade. We over here have been having parades for a number of years (thanks in large measure to the drag queens in the bars at Stonewall). We currently still have the right to peaceably assemble. People in other places do not.

I also hope that the Bureau of Veteran Affairs will realize that at least one of the vets that we honor tomorrow was a pagan. His widow awaits word on approval for his religious sacred symbol [and mine]-- the pentacle-- to be allowed to be carved onto his tombstone.

Memorial Day is not all barbeques and an extra day off from work. People had to die in order for us to have what we have today. Our own apathy is the surest way to guarantee that the government will continue to take away from us what we have taken for granted all of these years. In our struggle to obtain the same civil rights that heterosexuals take for granted, let us not forget that people in other places are struggling to hold gay pride parades.

It is a long way that we have yet to go. It is also a long way that we have come. It takes one person and a friend to start a revolution. Change begins with me and gains momentum with us.

~spike q

BALLS TO THE WALL 5/22/06

The other day, I picked up after my husband and put something away. Then he picked up after me and put something away. I was thinking about that later on and I told him, "We are like two dogs chasing each other's balls."

~spike q

HITLER IS ALIVE AND LIVING IN IRAN 5/20/06

6/20/06 NOTE: The following story is a total fabrication.

I would like to thank the Sword of Damocleus for

pointing this out to me.

Just goes to show that fraud can slip past any of us.

~spike q

Iran eyes badges for Jews

Law would require non-Muslim insignia

Chris Wattie

National Post

Friday, May 19, 2006

Jews were made to wear stars to identify them in Nazi Germany.

Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims.

Jews were made to wear stars to identify them in Nazi Germany.

"This is reminiscent of the Holocaust," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. "Iran is moving closer and closer to the ideology of the Nazis."

Iranian expatriates living in Canada yesterday confirmed reports that the Iranian parliament, called the Islamic Majlis, passed a law this week setting a dress code for all Iranians, requiring them to wear almost identical "standard Islamic garments."

The law, which must still be approved by Iran's "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenehi before being put into effect, also establishes special insignia to be worn by non-Muslims.

Iran's roughly 25,000 Jews would have to sew a yellow strip of cloth on the front of their clothes, while Christians would wear red badges and Zoroastrians would be forced to wear blue cloth.

"There's no reason to believe they won't pass this," said Rabbi Hier. "It will certainly pass unless there's some sort of international outcry over this."

Bernie Farber, the chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said he was "stunned" by the measure. "We thought this had gone the way of the dodo bird, but clearly in Iran everything old and bad is new again," he said. "It's state-sponsored religious discrimination."

Ali Behroozian, an Iranian exile living in Toronto, said the law could come into force as early as next year.

It would make religious minorities immediately identifiable and allow Muslims to avoid contact with non-Muslims.

Mr. Behroozian said it will make life even more difficult for Iran's small pockets of Jewish, Christian and other religious minorities -- the country is overwhelmingly Shi'ite Muslim. "They have all been persecuted for a while, but these new dress rules are going to make things worse for them," he said.

The new law was drafted two years ago, but was stuck in the Iranian parliament until recently when it was revived at the behest of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

A spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa refused to comment on the measures. "This is nothing to do with anything here," said a press secretary who identified himself as Mr. Gharmani. "We are not here to answer such questions."

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has written to Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, protesting the Iranian law and calling on the international community to bring pressure on Iran to drop the measure.

"The world should not ignore this," said Rabbi Hier. "The world ignored Hitler for many years -- he was dismissed as a demagogue, they said he'd never come to power -- and we were all wrong."

Mr. Farber said Canada and other nations should take action to isolate Mr. Ahmadinejad in light of the new law, which he called "chilling," and his previous string of anti-Semitic statements.

"There are some very frightening parallels here," he said. "It's time to start considering how we're going to deal with this person."

Mr. Ahmadinejad has repeatedly described the Holocaust as a myth and earlier this year announced Iran would host a conference to re-examine the history of the Nazis' "Final Solution." He has caused international outrage by publicly calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

Iran does not yet have nuclear weapons, but Tehran believed by Western nations to be developing its own nuclear military capability, in defiance of international protocols and peace treaties.

The United States, France and Israel accuse Iran of using a civilian nuclear program to secretly build a weapon. Iran denies this, saying its program is confined to generating electricity.

cwattie@nationalpost.com

© National Post 2006

spike q sez: thanks and a big shout out to friend neal for sending this article on to me. why isn't this being publicised more? if this is accurate, why aren't we filling the streets in protest? have we forgotten the holocaust in our collective indifference? regardless of any personal political idealogies, i believe that all of us should be upset enough to do something instead of sitting on our buttocks being seduced by the internet and teevee into believing that all is right with the world.

6/20/06 My apologies for helping to spread a lie. spike q

THANKS BUNCHES, CONGRESS 5/19/06

DOUG THOMPSON
May 19, 2006, 09:37

© Copyright 2006 by Capitol Hill Blue

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_8663.shtml

Sadly, homophobia rules in the United State Senate.

I suppose I should expect such intolerance in a legislative body ruled by the Republican Party - the home of racists, bigots and hate. Led by the biggest homophobe of all - President George W. Bush - the GOP continues to represent repression at the highest level.

The latest assault comes at the hands of the Senate Judiciary Committee in a session so heated that Democratic member Russ Feingold stalked out as Chairman Arlen Specter chanted "Good riddance!"

The committee, in a private session, approved a constitutional ban on gay marriage - just the latest Republican assault on liberty - a measure that mandates that marriage is only legal between a man and a woman.

Bush, the homophobe-in-chief, declared the constitutional amendment a major part of his "political capital" after the 2004 election. His fellow homophobes in the Senate appear determined to back his bigoted ways.

I'm not surprised. I worked with enough Republicans while in Washington to realize the party is overrun by gay-bashers, racists and bigots. What they call "family values" is nothing more than a call to arms against anyone who doesn't buy into their limited, hate-filled view of life. What they call decent is nothing more than old-fashioned intolerance at its worst.

These right-wing fanatics tout the Bible when they think they have found an obscure verse that supports their narrow-minded views and then ignore the overall teachings of religion that promote love and tolerance. Not surprisingly, they treat the Constitution with the same, callous disregard.

Bush claims to be a Christian but calls the Constitution "just a goddamned piece of paper." In fact, "goddamn" is one of Bush's favorite obscenities. At the very least, this is odd behavior for a so-called Christian.

But I don't, for a second, believe Bush is a Christian or a religious man. He is an opportunist who uses religion as a political tool as do far too many of the so-called family-value Republicans who infect Congress like a rampaging cancer.

True Christians would not promote the hate, intolerance and bigotry that come out of Congress. True Christians would not continue to back an illegal invasion of another country, one that had led to the deaths of thousands of American soldiers and many thousands of Iraqi civilians.

True Christians would not try to amend the U.S. Constitution to declare love the sole province of heterosexuals.

True Christianity cannot exist in a Congress ruled by the Republican Party.

sapphoq comments: it is indeed a sad day when the politicians and the president of the untied states think it is their christian duty to deny an entire segment of our population the rights, responsibilities, and protections inherent in officially-recognized marriage. people who object to same-gender marriages shouldn't do it! calling us "anti-family" and denying us legal recognition of our families in the same breath keeps us glbt CITIZENS as extra-legals. thanks for less than nothing oh un-sacred governing body of this great land. ~spike q not feeling the love today

ps thanks to my sister ischade for forwarding this article