Somalia

I am thinking about Somalia. I watched two old documentaries about Somalia from the 1960s: The Parching Winds of Somalia and another one that I can't locate right now...a nice one about a Somali nomad boy and his way of life. The documentaries were made available for viewing on Bartamaha.com, a Somali website that provides Somali news, videos, etc in English, so I am assuming if they were approved by the Somalis who created this website that a certain percentage of Somalis (at least, perhaps the ones living in the United States) would approve of them as true history as well. I think the regime changes and wars that they had endured changed some of their old time culture, and I am sure that the refugees who are here in the States who lived during the "good times" have some nostalgia for those older more peaceful times.

Even in the more peaceful times, most Somalis lived a life that would be very hard by Western standards, but according to these documentaries they seemed very happy to live this life. Even those living in the Somali cities had a much different lifestyle in more peaceful days than what they have now...in the 1960s, for example, they had an incredibly strong feminist movement--even supported by some men--which was fighting against forced cliterectomies for girls. I don't know if the Somali women are still fighting against it in their own communities; I know that women like Ayaan Hirsi Ali and films such as Wustenblume (Desert Flower) are educating the world about this issue...

In any case, the more I learn about Somalia, the more I want to learn, to better understand my neighbors here in St. Cloud.

LGBT Folks: Backbone of America

If my partner dies, because we could never file as a couple on federal taxes, my Social Security payment would be affected. I would not receive the extra payment that widows and widowers normally receive from the federal government. Watch this video and see what I mean.

This is not propaganda. This is the honest truth. We pay more tax than anyone, and then get nothing when we become too old to work and outlive our partners.

BTW--folks who lose their partners as war casualties will not get extra government payments either.

This is why straight folks should know every single LGBT person serving alongside them in the military. They should hear firsthand how we pay double to be citizens, and serve with honor, for no reward. They should know that we are the slaves of this system, and the economic backbone of America, and this should come to an end.

Pagans Now Welcome in the Air Force

"Earth religions" get worship area at Air Force Academy

Why not? Appeal to the special Wotan clan of white supremacists and pagan folks who normally aren't military joiners to make the military seem like a friendly place for pagans. Think long and hard before you sign those papers!

Maybe We Aren't Ready for Gays in the Military

Here is a big problem in the US military that no one is talking about:

One third of female veterans of the US military have been raped by male soldiers within their own units, and 71% of post-traumatic stress disorder cases reported by female veterans of the US military involve sexual assault committed by male soldiers within their own units.

No one talks about this, because the government wants to encourage young women to serve in the military just as much as men, especially during this time when we need young soldiers.

If women aren't safe in the US military, and very little has been done to address this, then how are openly LGBT servicepeople going to have safety in their own unit in the military?

LibraryThing

am gathering data on LibraryThing users who have joined LibraryThing groups. According to the website, there are 900,000 LibraryThing users around the world, but based on the numbers that I am adding up right now, not everyone has chosen to join a special group to discuss books or other topics.

Counting up the number of people who could fit neatly into different categories is also a challenge, as some can be counted in more than one category. For example, if someone is a member of a Hogwarts LibraryThing group, they could be counted in the Childrens/YA category, the fantasy category, the single-author fan category, and the fiction category, so categorizing LibraryThing folks is not always an exact, obvious science. Not only that, but a member of one LibraryThing group could potentially belong to other groups; I can only count them once, though.

Martin Luther King Day

As today is Martin Luther King Day, here are a few words from the man in relation to race and humanity. I would like to believe that when King uses the word "man", he speaks for all human beings. I also am going to interpret the use of "God" here as the network of Nature, circle of life, the image of our ancestors, the strength of our DNA that has been passed down to us from the generations that have survived...we all must play our part to keep the Earth turning, to keep human civilization alive...this is what we all have in common, and why we have to work together in achieving that goal, to strengthen and improve human civilization.

Deeply rooted in our religious heritage is the conviction that every man is an heir of dignity and worth. Our Judeo-Christian tradition refers to this inherent dignity of man in the Biblical term "in the image of God". The image of God is universally shared in equal proportions by all men...Every human being has etched in his personality the indelible stamp of the Creator. Every man must be respected because God loves him. The worth of an individual does not lie in the measure of his intellect, his racial origin or social position. Human worth lies in relatedness to God. An individual has value because he has value to God. Whenever this is recognized, "whiteness" and "blackness" pass away as determinants in a relationship and "son" and "brother" are substituted.
(Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community, 1967)

CALL FOR FILM REVIEWS AND ARTICLES: JURA GENTIUM CINEMA

The online journal "Jura Gentium Cinema" (www.jgcinema.org) is seeking film reviews (between 500 and 1000 words) and articles (3,000-7,000 words) for a special issue on Jewish film.

As the Jura Gentium is a center devoted to the study of international law and global politics, the films addressed in this issue should address at least one aspect of this broad field and how it relates to Jewish people, culture, history, or religion anywhere in the world. Acceptable topics would also include documentaries about or film interpretations of the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, the Jew as "other", Jewish identity, culture clashes among Jews of different ethnicities/cultures/nationalities, minorities within the Jewish community, relationships between Israelis/Palestinians, the kosher food industry, Jewish geography, the Israeli movie industry, and the Israeli film fund.

Film reviews should be informative and evaluative, without being dismissive; that is, the reviewer should find some value in the work being reviewed.

For examples of previous publications, please go to our website www.jgcinema.org. For questions regarding submissions for this issue, please contact Rachel Wexelbaum at rswexelbaum@stcloudstate.edu .

Deadline for submissions is March 1, 2010.

News Becomes Entertainment

Sarah Palin signed a multiyear contract with Fox News to be a regular contributor and commentator.

Kind of funny when just yesterday I watched a 60 Minutes video clip about how the Republican presidential campaign folks kept repeating that they were very sorry that they chose Sarah Palin as McCain's running mate because, in their words, "there was so much that she did not know".

Maybe Sarah Palin will fudge 9/11 stories and the George Bush legacy as well...after all, she could not see it from her window in Alaska.

American Jewish Group Creates Fund for LGBT Rights in Uganda

The American Jewish World Service (AJWS) has created the "Urgent LGBT Uganda Fund" in response to the proposed anti-gay legislation that would broaden the criminalization of same-sex relationships in the African nation. A donation website has been set up for those wanting to make a difference.

As AJWS president, Ruth Messinger, said in the press release:

"AJWS's work is propelled by a very basic value: the essential dignity of every human being...We are especially reminded of this in supporting the work of LGBT communities around the globe."

Established in Boston in 1985, the AJWS is an international development organization committed to fighting hunger and poverty, while advocating human rights and promoting the values and responsibilities of global citizenship within the Jewish community.

BIG FAT LIARS

I will never feel guilty about telling little white lies again, because some people told BIG FAT LIES today. Like Rudy Giuliani, who actually said that there were no domestic terror attacks while George W. Bush was president. Hello, remember 9/11, that happened in YOUR CITY while you were mayor??? What the hell??? Are the Republicans having a contest to see who can tell the biggest lie, or who can be the biggest homophobe, in order to become the next president? I used to like Rudy Giuliani. NOT ANYMORE.

The American people are tired and beaten down. They are out of work or overworking, worrying about healthcare, debts, their kids, their families, while they count their pennies, pop two Ibuprofen and go back to work. They do not have enough time to focus on the news. And so the politicians are taking this opportunity to LIE AS MUCH AS THEY CAN to keep good Americans oppressed and confused, and to make them turn on each other.

Uganda Anti-Gay Bill "Not Necessary"

Ugandan minister says that the gay death penalty is "unnecessary".

Under current Ugandan law, a person can go to prison for 14 years if they are caught involved in a homosexual act, and Minister of State Investments Aston Kajara says that this punishment is "quite enough".

Some countries, like Sweden, are threatening to stop their aid to Uganda if they pass the anti-gay bill, and so this voice of dissension in the government may be financially--rather than humanistically--motivated, but it is a start. I hope that, under the current system in Uganda, no one accuses Kajara of homosexuality or tortures or murders him for his dissension. If that is the case, then Uganda is not a democracy after all.

Be Careful What You Wish For

This article was published in today's New York Times online:
US Evangelical's Role Seen in Uganda Anti-Gay Push

The best part is that some of the American gay haters who are invited to Uganda feign total ignorance regarding what their words mean to Ugandans. Don Schmierer, a board member of Exodus International who was invited to Uganda to to tell Ugandans how to convert homosexuals to heterosexuals, had the nerve to say that "He felt duped", and even goes so far as to say "That's horrible, absolutely horrible. Some of the nicest people I have ever met are gay people".

That's right, Schmierer. Once you are gay, you are always gay, and your life may now be in danger if you set foot in Uganda...unless the proposed laws do not affect mzungus. That's horrible, indeed! Wishing for the eradication of gay people, and then saying that some of them are the nicest you have ever met...

Scott Lively, Caleb Lee Brundridge, Don Schmierer, and Rick Warren who funded it with the money from his church--you all might as well be eugenicists, or Nazis. And now you all claim shame, even though your books and actions express that you want gay and lesbian people not to exist. Well, you got your wish in Africa. Now innocent lesbians are being raped by HIV-positive men, and innocent gay men are being beaten, castrated, and murdered, with full consent from the Ugandan government, church, and general public.

To all of you church goers out there--please read the fine print on where your donations might end up. If your church is supporting homophobic missions to Africa that promote the persecution and eradication of gay people, or missions that provide faulty information about HIV/AIDS, do a few hours in the soup kitchen or make sure that your donation is specifically earmarked for your local Sunday school or coffee money. Make it a resolution in 2010 not to fuel further hatred or ignorance in this world.

Ugandan Travel Videos

They are not travel videos, nor safari videos, but the sickest anti-gay rally videos you will see in the modern world.

If the Ugandans weren't going after LGBT folks, they would be going after albinos, or Indians ("the Jews of East Africa"), or Muslims. Ultimately, someone is responsible for why Uganda is messed up. Instead of exercising the powers of critical thinking, the Ugandan government would resort to Dark Age witchhunts and the mass murder of innocent human beings.

Blame the British and German colonizers of this land, blame Christian missionaries, blame American AIDS educators who were sorely uneducated about the true needs of Ugandans, and last but not least for fundies like Rick Warren for pumping money into Christian missions going to Africa, for what we have now.

At the same time, do not use what is happening in Uganda as a smokescreen to make LGBT civil rights in the United States look so much better. Use it as a tool to show people that the same thing could happen here in the United States should the same right wing and Christian fundamentalists who pumped money into Uganda pump money into anti-LGBT legislation and perpetual resistance here in the United States.

What Uganda and the United States Have In Common

Uganda and the United States both start with the letter "U". They share a more insidious similarity as well. The governments of Uganda and the United States both reduce LGBT people to second class citizenship. Both governments are manipulated by religious leaders who consider homosexuality an abomination.

The proposed government plan for LGBT people and their allies in Uganda involves the "eradication of homosexuality" and withdrawal from international treaties or protocols that recognize the human rights of gay people. Ugandans who speak against the bill will also be labeled gay and targeted for persecution.

The Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 would jail consenting adults who engage in gay sex. It would give life sentences to people in same-sex marriages. It would also extradite gay Ugandans living abroad and prosecute them.

David Bahati, the writer of this bill, calls it a "very wonderful piece of legislation".

American evangelicals can be blamed for encouraging Ugandan homophobia. Their limited imaginations did not envision an African government taking the big step. In the United States, human beings have many protections under the law, while in Uganda they do not. This is why Americans must be careful as to what they preach in Uganda.

If you would like to stay current on LGBT rights in Uganda, bookmark Gay Rights Uganda to watch how our brothers and sisters in Uganda are living. Do not think for one moment that LGBT people in the United States are safe from discrimination, when our own Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty expresses regret over his passing of an LGBT anti-discrimination bill because it protects "cross-dressers".

What Does "White" Really Mean?

"White" is not a culture. And yet so many American people will claim that it is. So will white supremacists.

Although many Americans will identify as "white", so will white supremacists. White supremacists will go one step further to identify the white people whom they believe do not fall into that category.

The concept of "white" only exists when people descended from Europeans, or people of a lighter complexion, separate themselves culturally, physically, legally, and ideologically from those who are not descended from Europeans, or those people with a darker complexion. The same is almost true of "black", although there were no "black" people until those who considered themselves "white" enslaved the poor and people of color.

Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsay

Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsay both run "Hell's Kitchen"--Marco in the United Kingdom, and Gordon in the United States. Although Marco Pierre White trained Gordon Ramsay, his training is reflected in Ramsay's culinary style and quest for perfection, not his management style. Marco, who may cut a more menacing figure than Ramsay, never loses his temper in the kitchen, never curses, and gives his cooks sufficient training and warning before they get the chop.

The British and American versions of "Hell's Kitchen", while both reality television shows, have different goals. British and American celebrities are selected to cook in Marco's kitchen, while culinary students and working cooks/chefs are selected to cook in Gordon's kitchen. The winner of the British "Hell's Kitchen" simply lives to tell the tale of the experience (maybe they get some prize money to go to charity, not sure), while the winner of the American "Hell's Kitchen" is selected to run one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants.

I enjoy watching Marco Pierre White a lot more than watching Gordon Ramsay. Marco walks around his kitchen with a kaffiyeh tied around his head, wielding a twelve inch chef's knife, like a barbarian king...but he is wise and gentle. He has a sweet tooth and crazy hair. And the man is a real artist.

Skinheads, NeoNazis, Veterans Day, and Cocksuckers

I stayed up late last night watching documentaries on YouTube about skinheads and NeoNazis in the United States, Europe, and Russia. One of the documentaries was actually a National Geographic special, as opposed to one renegade filmmaker's perspective, which validated all of the other independent filmmakers' work on this subject for me. These are terrorists among us, on American soil, and these are the people that red-blooded Americans should be weeding out, imprisoning and torturing in Guantanamo!

Today we celebrate Veterans Day in the United States. Our World War Two veterans sacrificed the best years of their lives to overthrow the Nazis. Meanwhile, some of their children and grandchildren are buying into the neo-Nazi and skinhead movements due to lack of employment, hatred of Mexican immigrants engaged in low paying jobs, and greedy companies outsourcing.

Today, the United States military has thousands if not millions of Americans serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. A percentage of these people are doing their military time in order to train for the white revolution. Some of the soldiers who return from the Middle East bring a hatred of Muslims back with them. Some who have not even served in the US military are writing asinine editorials titled "Why Can Muslims Serve, Not Gays?". The Advocate, normally a reputable news source for the LGBT community, has used extremely poor judgement in publishing an Islamophobic editorial written by--wait for it--A PORN STAR DIRECTOR/PRODUCER.

The best part is that the editorial has nothing to do with allowing gays to serve in the military, but everything to do with the incredibly flawed belief that Muslims cannot be patriotic citizens because they "hear the Koran". I am so ashamed that The Advocate published this trash! And what about all of those gay Arabic interpreters who were booted from the military simply because of their sexual orientation--some of them were Muslims, too. I was shocked to find out that many of those who responded to this porno guy's editorial agreed with him! I could not help but post a comment in response to the editorial.

Just replace "Muslim" with "Jew", or "queer", or your choice of minority in Lucas' editorial, and it is chilling. Read the comments posted, and see how many people agree with this guy. I wonder if Lucas is going to suck the cocks of closeted White Power dudes next.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Amira Hass received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Women's Media Foundation. This has not been written about in any mainstream paper, nor has it made the headlines of Ha'aretz, Amira's own paper. This is very sad, especially since so many people have criticized the fact that she received the award.

Amira's critics make the argument that she has never truly been in danger, and has never been silenced. Amira agrees that Israel is a democracy, and freedom of speech is supported there. At the same time, the fact that she is Jewish and an Israeli, and dares to criticize Israeli policies of Occupation, does make her a brave soul, a strong person who does not care what the Jewish community thinks about her. The fact that she is one of the only Jewish people who nails it right on the head--that the modern state of Israel cannot sustain its existence through the oppression of Palestinians, that Israeli citizens (including herself) are all guilty of perpetuating the oppression, and that things have to change in order for Israel to exist--makes her an outsider, and that is a hard life. She has not gone through her career unscathed; she has been beaten up by Jewish settlers, she has had stories go unpublished, she has been "banned" from Gaza. Amira Hass has sacrificed a lot to bring her stories to the world, and we must recognize her for this.

Great video of Amira's acceptance speech for her award, as well as an interview with Democracy Now!.

Reaction to Obama's Speech to America's Schoolchildren

President Barack Obama spoke to America's schoolchildren at Wakefield High School in Arlington County, Virginia on Tuesday September 8, 2009. High school senior Timothy Spicer-- athlete, AP student, and class president--had the honor of introducing the President to his school. Spicer was introduced before he got on stage. The fact that he is a successful African-American student made his role in the event even more significant.

The speech only lasted for twenty minutes, which was just enough time to make the point. Just about everything that Obama said was what a parent who values education would have said to their child. And more. This is because Obama had a similar childhood as many poor kids from single-parent homes. He knew every excuse that a kid could make for not succeeding in school, and he was on to all of them.

Some quotes from Obama's speech:

"We can have the best teachers, the best schools, the best parents--but it won't make a difference unless you put in the work."

"You have a responsibility to yourself to find out what you are good at."

"If you quit school, you're not just quitting on yourself--you are quitting on your country."

"Some of the most successful people in the world have had the most failures."

He encouraged students to study hard, to set their own goals for their education, and to use failure as a teacher, not as an identifier. He encouraged students to ask adults whom they trusted to help them stay on track of their educational goals. He told students that right now, school is their job.

I heard a lot of these things from my own parents. I am sure that a lot of Republicans heard this from their parents as well. I hope they feel good and silly making all of that fuss about this speech. If they are still mad, well...they will have to attend an anti-racism workshop or two.

Obama's Speech to America's Schoolchildren

The concept of children writing essays about the President, or what they could do for their country, or what they could do to help the President, is not new. Only now, people getting bent out of shape because a president actually provided lesson plans to accompany his speech to schoolchildren. You can access these lesson plans for K-6 and 7-12 here.

No one said that the assignments were mandatory. In fact, no one said that listening to the speech was mandatory. Actually listening to the speech would be a good idea, though, simply to overcome one's fears, or to have something tangible to critique. Maybe this speech would encourage kids to become more engaged in civics and public affairs, and make them realize that they are not too small to make a difference. Where is the harm in this?