Obama's Mother was NEVER IN KENYA

Letter From the Editor: 'Birther' Movement Reeks With the Rotten Stench of Racism

Why Is CNN's Lou Dobbs Giving a Platform for Conspiracy Theorists Linked to White Supremacists Who Falsely Insist -- Despite Overwhelming Documentary Evidence to the Contrary -- That the Hawaii-Born Obama is a Foreigner Who's Constitutionally Ineligible to be President?



Lou Dobbs, the longtime CNN financial news anchor-turned-commentator, has seen the ratings for his nightly program, "Lou Dobbs Tonight," plunge dramatically in recent weeks, after Dobbs repeatedly challenged -- despite being repeatedly contradicted on-air by both his CNN colleagues and by his rivals on other networks -- the veracity of President Obama's birth in Hawaii in 1961, effectively agreeing with conspiracy theorists who insist that the nation's first African-American president is a foreigner who is constitutionally ineligible to be the nation's chief executive. But the so-called "Birther" movement against Obama has ties to known white supremacists -- including the gunman in the attack on the U.S. Holocaust Museum in June -- who cannot countenance a black man occupying the nation's highest office. (Photo courtesy CNN)


(Posted 5:00 a.m. EDT Monday, August 3, 2009)
(Updated 5:00 p.m. EDT Wednesday, August 5, 2009)

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A 'SKEETER BITES REPORT EDITORIAL
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Has Lou Dobbs taken leave of his senses?

The longtime CNN financial news anchor-turned-outspoken commentator who in recent years has generated a lot of controversy over his campaign against illegal immigration -- a campaign that critics have charged is motivated by anti-Latino bias -- may very well have bitten off more than he can chew by airing on his nightly show claims that President Obama is not a native-born U.S. citizen, despite overwhelming documentary evidence to the contrary.

The Associated Press reported Saturday that Dobbs, who's said on the air his belief that the president was born in Hawaii, "has become a publicity nightmare for CNN, [embarrassing] his boss and [hosting] a show that seemed to contradict the network's 'no bias' brand" that seeks to set CNN apart from the left-leaning MSNBC and the right-leaning Fox News Channel.

Dobbs has on several occasions invited members of the so-called "Birther Movement" who stubbornly insist Obama is not a native-born U.S. citizen to air their claims without providing a shred of proof to back them up -- and has even gone so far as to demand that the president make public his birth certificate, even though he did just that during the 2008 election campaign.

But Dobbs kept the controversy alive on his "Lou Dobbs Tonight" program despite a memorandum from CNN President Jon Klein that declared the Obama birth-certificate story "dead" -- and despite a precipitous plunge in the ratings for Dobbs' nightly 6 p.m. EDT program as a result of the controversy, according to the New York Observer.

The newspaper reports that since Dobbs brought up the Obama birth certificate issue in mid-July, his show's ratings have nosedived by 15 percent of his total viewership and by an even more precipitous 27 percent in the all-important 25-54 age bracket most sought after by advertisers.

That Dobbs has given a platform for the "Birthers" on his program has drawn fire even from conservative commentators Ann Coulter and Mike Huckabee -- neither of whom will likely ever be accused of being allies of the president.

A NEW BREED OF CONSPIRACY THEORISTS: THE 'BIRTHER MOVEMENT'

By now, you know the story of the so-called "Birther Movement" -- conspiracy theorists who bullheadedly insist without a shred of proof that Obama is a Kenyan-born foreigner who is barred by the Constitution from even running for president, let alone being the nation's CEO and commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Never mind the fact that Obama was born on August 4, 1961 -- two years after Hawaii became America's 50th state -- in Honolulu's Kapiolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital and that the document exists to prove it. Obama's birth certificate was issued by the Hawaii Department of Health, which confirmed last week that it has the document -- copies of which have been circulating on the Internet for months -- on file.

Never mind the fact that both of Honolulu's major newspapers, the Advertiser and the Star-Bulletin, published announcements about the president's birth to "Mr. & Mrs. Barack H. Obama [of] 6085 Kalanianaole Hwy." in Honolulu, in their August 13 and August 14, 1961 editions, respectively.

Never mind the fact that a Honolulu resident, Eleanor Nordyke, gave birth to twin girls in the same hospital the day after Obama was born -- and whose daughters attended the same Honolulu school Obama attended -- and likely knew the boy who would grow up to become America's first African-American president.

Never mind the fact that certified copies of the president's birth certificate can be ordered through the Hawaii Department of Health's Online Vital Records Ordering System, albeit on a strictly limited basis in accordance with the state's privacy law.

Never mind the fact that the original Obama birth certificate itself was viewed, verified as authentic, photographed and posted online last November by the nonpartisan Web site, FactCheck.org, which declared that the document "meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship. Claims that the document lacks a raised seal or a signature are false."

ALLEGED KENYAN BIRTH CERTIFICATE RIDDLED WITH INCONSISTENCIES

The far-right-wing WorldNetDaily.com posted what it said were photographs purporting to show a certified copy of a birth certficate for Barack Hueesin Obama II on August 4, 1961 at the Central Coast Provincial Hospital in Mombasa, Kenya.

The photos were released by California attorney Orly Taitz, who has filed a number of lawsuits demanding proof of Obama's eligibility to serve as president -- only to see the suits dismissed as being without merit.

An examination of the photos reveal several inconsistencies in the alleged Kenyan birth certificate. They do not show the signatures of either the president's white, Kansas-born mother, Ann Dunham or of his black, Kenyan-born father, Barack Obama, Sr. Nor do they show any signatures by the registrar or by the attending physicians. Kenya was under British rule in 1961. Under British law, birth certificates are not legally valid without such signatures.

Other discrepancies in the alleged Kenyan birth certificate include listing Obama's mother under his father's surname -- when, in fact, Dunham legally kept her maiden name throughout her marriage. And it lists Dunham's age as 16, when, in fact, she was 18 when she gave birth to the future president.

The lower-left-hand corner of the alleged documents refers to the "Republic of Kenya." But Kenya did not gain its independence from Britain until 1963 -- when the young Barack was two years old.

Most importantly, Dunham never set foot on Kenyan soil -- it would have been extremely unsafe for her to be there. Tribal warfare between the Kikuyus and the Luos was raging in Kenya at the time of her pregnancy. The ethnic warfare erupted in the immediate aftermath of the Mau Mau uprising against the British colonialists. There's no way that Barack Obama Sr., a Luo, would have dared to bring his pregnant white American wife to Kenya at the time, knowing full well that her safety -- and that of their unborn son -- would have been in grave jeopardy.

In fact, the president's mother did not leave the United States until 1967, when she moved to Indonesia to live with her second husband, Lolo Seotoro (She divorced the senior Obama in 1964 after she learned that he was married to another woman in Kenya).

And contrary to the claims of the "Birthers," Dunham never renounced her U.S. citizenship, returning to the States -- with 11-year-old Barack -- in 1972.

WHITE SUPREMACISTS INVOLVED IN 'BIRTHER' MOVEMENT

So why, despite so much clear evidence that the president was indeed born in Hawaii two years after statehood and is therefore a native-born U.S. citizen, are these conspiracy theorists continuing to insist that Obama was not born in the U.S., but rather in his father's native Kenya?

Conspiracy theorists are notorious for stubbornly clinging to their beliefs, no matter how much or how solid evidence exists to disprove their theories. And the "Birther Movement" is no exception.

But this particular conspiracy-theory movement is more sinister than most. The 'Skeeter Bites Report has uncovered a wealth of evidence that the "Birther Movement" against the president is inextricably tied to white supremacists and other far-right extremists -- and is profoundly marked by an absolute refusal among its practitioners to accept Obama as president because he is black, or because of an equally-false belief that he is a Muslim.

The person who planted the seeds for the "Birther Movement" is Andy Martin, a perennial fringe candidate for public office who is also credited with first spreading false rumors of the president being a Muslim with ties to Islamic extremists. Martin -- a frequent guest on Sean Hannity's Fox News Channel program -- was exposed as a notoriously anti-Jewish bigot.

In a campaign fundraising letter he issued during an unsuccessful run for a Connecticut congressional seat in 1986, Martin -- then known as Anthony R. Martin-Trigona -- pledged to "exterminate Jew Power in America," claimed that "Jew babies are fed with subsidized American taxpayer money" and that Jews were "schooled in blood-sucking and money-grubbing from birth." Martin's anti-Semitic diatribe was obtained and posted by TheSmokingGun.com.

Martin subsequently moved to Florida and sought the Republican nomination for a state Senate seat a decade later. After learning of Martin's prior anti-Semitic fundraising pitch, GOP officials withdrew their support for him. The 62-year-old Martin now lives in Chicago, the president's adopted hometown.

Martin started his anti-Obama smear campaign in 2004 after Obama, then a U.S. Senate candidate, delivered the keynote address that electrified the delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Boston and put the future president on the national political radar screen.

In several guest appearances on the "Hannity" show, Martin accused Obama -- without offering any proof -- of being "in training for radical overthrow of the government," based on his relationship with former 1960s radical William Ayres.

According to TheSmokingGun.com, Martin was wanted in New York and Florida on outstanding arrest warrants as of last October. The New York warrant, out of Ulster County, resulted from harassment charges related to a child custody battle. The Florida warrant, from Palm Beach County, was filed in connection with a criminal contempt conviction.

WHITE-SUPREMACIST WEB SITES TOUTING OBAMA'S ALLEGED FOREIGN BIRTH

The belief that Obama is a foreigner has spread like wildfire among white- supremacist circles and Web sites, including Stormfront, the largest and best-known self-styled "white nationalist" site on the Web; the Council of Conservative Citizens, listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as "the largest white nationalist group in America," a reincarnation of the old White Citizens Councils that were formed to resist desegregation in the 1950s and 1960s; and VDARE.com, a virulently anti-immigrant site.

That white-supremacist groups are heavily involved in the "Birther Movement" against the president should come as no surprise, given the massive coronary they collectively suffered last November when Obama was elected. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which monitors and exposes extremist activity and rhetoric, anger among white supremacists and other right-wing extremists in response to Obama's victory "resulted in an avalanche of vitriolic postings on racist Web sites" -- at one point, causing Stormfront's server to crash.

HOLOCAUST MUSEUM GUNMAN WAS ALSO A WHITE-SUPREMACIST 'BIRTHER'

Questions remain unanswered about James von Brunn, the 89-year-old white supremacist gunman who shot and killed a black security officer inside the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington in June. Investigators found a notebook in von Brunn's car that listed up to nine other target areas in the nation's capital -- including the White House.

According to Abraham Foxman, national director of the ADL, von Brunn not only believed that Obama was not born in the U.S. and ineligible to be president, but "he also believed that Hitler didn't kill enough Jews. He had a history of anti-Semitic, hateful views."

Von Brunn is also the founder of a white-supremacist Web site, HolyWesternEmpire,org, which is laced with anti-Semitic quotations.

The site was taken offline after von Brunn's arrest, but according to former Fox News host Alan Colmes, von Brunn published on his Web site in 2002 a book that detailed anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, with chapters such as "The Holocaust Hoax" and "The Negro." The book was mostly anti-Semitic but also attacked all nonwhite ethnicities.

"We are witnessing today on the world stage a tragedy of enormous proportions: the calculated destruction of the White Race," Colmes quoted von Brunn as having written. He threatened to take action against nonwhites, writing, "We will offer a plan to remove the cancer from our cultural organism."

IS DOBBS' ATTITUDE TOWARD OBAMA ALSO RACIALLY TAINTED?

This is not the first time that Dobbs has come under fire about Obama. Last September, while attending a Values Voters summit over the weekend in Washington, Dobbs purchased a box of so-called "Obama Waffles" that featured racially offensive charactures of the then-Illinois senator.

Photographs of Dobbs with the controversial waffle mix, which portrays Obama with popping eyes and big, thick lips as he stares at a plate of waffles and smiles broadly -- an image more reminiscent of Stephin Fetchit than of Aunt Jemima -- were taken down from the Web site of the Family Research Council, the conservative organization that hosted the summit -- but not before DailyKos.com snapped a screen shot of the photos.

"My wife will love this!" Dobbs was quoted as saying about the "Obama Waffles."

Nearly a year later, we have to wonder if Mrs. Dobbs still does -- if she ever did. And if America still loves Lou Dobbs. Based on the latest Nielsens, it sure doesn't look like it.

Sincerely,
Skeeter Sanders
Editor & Publisher
The 'Skeeter Bites Report

Widespread Domestic Surveillance Continues Under Obama: Restore My Goddam 4th Amendment rights!!!

Widespread Domestic Surveillance Continues Under Obama: Restore My Goddam 4th Amendment rights!!!

AUDIO: Peter B. Collins speaks to the whistleblowers and experts still sounding the alarm as Bush-era big government intrusion continues unabated...

Guest Blogged by Peter B. Collins

Since I signed off the syndicated Peter B. Collins radio show in March, I've been able to zoom out from the close-up view of day-to-day political combat.

On a daily basis, I reflect on the "change we can believe in" that candidate Obama promised us just a year ago. Certainly, the new administration is better than the Bush/Cheney gang on many fronts; and Bush left Obama an economic meltdown and other serious problems that need attention.

But consider:

• we still have 135,000 troops and even more contractors in Iraq, with no clear plan or timeline for our exit, just vague promises and the hope that the Iraqis will kick us out next year. Most of the US troops that have left Iraq went to Afghanistan;

• the escalation of our presence in Afghanistan is very dangerous, and contradicts some of Obama's own statements about the prospects for "success" there. He had the chance to reverse direction after the election, but chose to double down on the "good war";

• the massive interception of domestic electronic communications continues, and the Obama Justice Department has reinforced and expanded on the bad legal precedents set under Bush/Cheney. Most Democrats are silent on this issue, and I see no effort to restore our privacy rights.

Remember how they dubbed Ronnie Reagan the "Teflon president"? Obama seems to have a new and improved coating, I call it "Leftlon", protecting him from challenges from the progressives who helped him beat Hillary for the nomination.

He keeps reaching out to GOP nuts who want to scuttle his tepid health care "reform", refuses to allow investigations while Cheney spits at him regularly, and expects us to trust the Goldman Sachs Alumni Association to fix the economy that they continue to plunder.

When will Obama deliver for the progressives who got him elected?

That's the central question I'm exploring in my new podcast series. Drop in to www.peterbcollins.com or you can subscribe (free, FREE!) at iTunes.

Here are two fresh programs I'd like you to check out. You can download each and/or listen online below. One is co-hosted with me by FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, featuring NSA expert James Bamford as guest. The other is my exclusive interview with Mark Klein, former AT&T technician turned NSA surveillance program whistleblower...

• Episode #18 is the first episode of The Boiling Frogs, an interview series co-hosted by Sibel Edmonds. Sibel, who was famously "gagged" by the Bush Justice Department, is now speaking quite freely, and our first show features NSA expert James Bamford. He describes the massive scale of domestic surveillance, the complicity of Democrats in legalizing Bush's violations of our 4th Amendment rights, and the bungling of pre-9/11 intel by the spook community, especially the NSA.

Download MP3, or listen online here (appx. 1 hour)...

• Episode #19 is an exclusive 90-minute conversation with Mark Klein, a former technician at AT&T who exposed the NSA's secret room in San Francisco where they installed a splitter that routes all traffic to the NSA. Klein tells what he discovered, and how big media outlets like 60 Minutes, NY Times and the LA Times spiked or buried his story. The LA Times took his confidential information directly to Intel Czar Negroponte and NSA chief Hayden, then screwed Klein by not running a story and leaving him exposed. Klein also explains how leading Democrats like Sen. Feinstein knew about his revelations, refused to meet with him or allow him to testify, and worked to protect the phone giants and the NSA.

Download MP3, or listen online here (appx. 90 mins)...

Give them a listen

Heretic’s Foundation VIII: Seeing Beneath Twelfth Night

Heretic’s Foundation VIII: Seeing Beneath Twelfth Night

Friday, July 24, 2009
Heretic’s Foundation

By John Hudson
darkladyplayers@aol.com
Special to the Clyde Fitch Report

http://www.clydefitchreport.com/?p=3294&cpage=1#comment-3527

Arab leaders forced Palestinians to become refugees

A Palestinian blames Arab leaders for causing his parents to become refugees. Ibrahim Sarsur, head of Islamic Movement in Israel, affirms and condems.
[PATV (Fatah), April 30, 1999]

Phone caller from Gaza:
"Mr. Ibrahim, I address you as a Muslim. My father and grandfather told me that during the "Catastrophe" [establishment of Israel - 1948] our district officer issued an order that whoever stays in Palestine and in Majdel [near Ashkelon, southern Israel] is a traitor, he is a traitor... "
Ibrahim Sarsur, head of Islamic Movement in Israel, responds:
"I don't want to blame the one who caused this situation, but we are forced to cope with this situation. The one who gave the order forbidding them to stay there bears guilt for this, in this life and the Afterlife, throughout history until Resurrection Day."

SHAKESPEARE- A biblical allegory

Arab leaders are responsible for refugee problem

PMW Bulletins Arab leaders are responsible for refugee problem by by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik July 23, 2009 " valign="center">

"The radio stations of the Arab regimes kept repeating to us: 'Get away from the battle lines. It's a matter of ten days or two weeks at the most, and we'll bring you back to Ein-Kerem [near Jerusalem].' And we said to ourselves, 'That's a very long time. What is this? Two weeks? That's a lot!' That's what we thought [then]. And now 50 years have gone by." [PATV, July 7, 2009] With these words an Arab resident of a refugee camp recounts the reason why his family left Israel in 1948, in an interview broadcast on PA TV this month. In recent years, Palestinian leaders, writers and refugees have spoken out in the Palestinian media, blaming the Arab leadership for the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem. According to these accounts, and contrary to the Palestinian myth that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were deported by Israel in 1948, the vast majority of the Arab exodus from Israel was voluntary, and the result of orders by the Arab leadership. Furthermore, the fact that this information has been openly discussed by public figures and refugees in the Palestinian Authority media itself suggests that awareness of this responsibility may be widespread - even though Palestinian leaders continue to blame Israel for "the expulsion" for propaganda purposes. The following statements in the PA media shed significant light on the events of 1948 and counter the attempts by the Palestinian Authority to hide this part of history. Click here to view the Palestinian testimonies 1. Arab resident of refugee camp: "This picture was taken a week before we left Ein-Kerem [near Jerusalem] in June 1948, in front of our house. The radio stations of the Arab regimes kept repeating to us: 'Get away from the battle lines. It's a matter of ten days or two weeks at the most, and we'll bring you back to Ein-Kerem.' And we said to ourselves, 'That's a very long time. What is this? Two weeks? That's a lot!' That's what we thought [then]. And now 50 years have gone by." [PATV, July 7, 2009] 2. Jawad Al-Bashiti, Palestinian journalist in Jordan: "Remind me of one real cause from all the factors that have caused the 'Palestinian Catastrophe' [the establishment of Israel and the creation of the refugee problem], and I will remind you that it still exists... The reasons for the Palestinian Catastrophe are the same reasons that have produced and are still producing our Catastrophes today. During the Little Catastrophe, meaning the Palestinian Catastrophe, the following happened: the first war between Arabs and Israel had started and the 'Arab Salvation Army' came and told the Palestinians: 'We have come to you in order to liquidate the Zionists and their state. Leave your houses and villages, you will return to them in a few days safely. Leave them so we can fulfill our mission (destroy Israel) in the best way and so you won't be hurt.' It became clear already then, when it was too late, that the support of the Arab states (against Israel) was a big illusion. The Arabs fought as if intending to cause the 'Palestinian Catastrophe'." [Al-Ayyam, May 13, 2008] 3. Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Palestinian journalist in PA official daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida: "The leaders and the elites promised us at the beginning of the 'Catastrophe' in 1948 that the duration of the exile would not be long, and that it would not last more than a few days or months, and afterwards the refugees would return to their homes, which most of them did not leave only until they put their trust in those "Orkubian" promises made by the leaders and the political elites. Afterwards, days passed, months, years and decades, and the promises were lost with the strain of the succession of events..." [The term "Orkubian" invokes Orkub, a figure from Arab tradition who was known for breaking his promises and for his lies.] [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 13, 2006] 4. Asmaa Jabir Balasimah, woman who fled Israel in 1948: "We heard sounds of explosions and of gunfire at the beginning of the summer in the year of the 'Catastrophe' [1948]. They [Arab leaders] told us: The Jews attacked our region and it is better to evacuate the village and return after the battle is over. And indeed there were among us [those who fled Israel] those who left a fire burning under the pot, those who left their flock [of sheep] and those who left their money and gold behind, based on the assumption that we would return after a few hours." [Al-Ayyam, May 16, 2006] 5. Ibrahim Sarsur, Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel: An Arab viewer called Palestinian Authority TV and quoted his father, saying that in 1948 the Arab District Officer ordered all Arabs to leave Palestine or be labeled traitors. In response, Ibrahim Sarsur, now Arab Member of Israeli Parliament Knesset, then Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, cursed those Arab leaders, thus acknowledging Israel's historical record. Viewer: "Mr. Ibrahim [Sarsur]: I address you as a Muslim. My father and grandfather told me that during the 'Catastrophe' [in 1948], our District Officer issued an order that whoever stays in Palestine and in Majdel [near Ashkelon - southern Israel] is a traitor, he is a traitor." Ibrahim Sarsur, now MK, then Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel: "The one who gave the order forbidding them to stay there bears guilt for this, in this life and the Afterlife throughout history until Resurrection Day." [PA TV April 30, 1999] 6. Fuad Abu Hajla, senior Palestinian journalist: Fuad Abu Hajla, then a regular columnist in the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, wrote an article before an Arab Summit, criticizing Arab leaders. One of the failures he cited, in the name of a prisoner, was that an earlier generation of Arab leaders had "forced" them to leave Israel in 1948. "I have received a letter from a prisoner in Acre prison, to the Arab summit: To the [Arab and Muslim] Kings and Presidents: Poverty is killing us, the symptoms are exhausting us and the souls are leaving our body, yet you are still searching for the way to provide aid, like one who is looking for a needle in a haystack or like the armies of your predecessors in the year of 1948, who forced us to leave [Israel], on the pretext of clearing the battlefields of civilians... So what will your summit do now?" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 19, 2001]

Free Events in NYC

Dessert Walking Tour

FreeNYC Event Flyer

Date: Sunday, July 26th
Time: 11:00am
Location: Meet at Madeleine Patisserie, (132 West 23rd St, b/n 6th & 7th)
Cost: Free

This may take the cake for NYC walking tours. This is the 9th consecutive monthly tour of the city's neighborhood sweet spots. This walk will explore Union Square which has 5 delicious dessert makers. For starters a small Parisian bakery offers the freshest macaroons, followed by a dense Belgian brownie, our third stop has a totally original
pretzel croissant, next up are gourmet chocolates, and our last course is home-made gelato. Tour lasts approximately 2 hours and the walking distance is about 1 mile. The desserts are free to drool over, but affordably priced for consumption. For more info on the Walking Tours site and be on the look-out for a tour guide in a red ball cap.

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Additionally, Walking Tours Manhattan has used these free sugary treks to help raise money for Food Bank NYC. So, if you're feeling it, they ask that you donate $5 via PayPal through sales@walkingtoursmanhattan.com.

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Posted by Lindsay at 11:00 AM | View This Article | Email to a friend

The New Museum Block Party

FreeNYC Event Flyer

Date: Sunday, July 26th
Time: 12:00pm - 7:00pm
Location: Sara D. Roosevelt Park
Cost: Free

"A day of art activities and performances in Sara D. Roosevelt Park. First, enjoy a range of artist- and educator-led interactive projects and programs related to the neighborhood and the New Museum. Then join the Block Party Parade in a raucous processional marching from the park to the New Museum. Explore the current exhibitions with a free docent-led highlights tour, culminating in a special performance at the New Museum. The New Museum Block Party is free and open to the public. Participants receive a complementary guest pass to visit the New Museum on the day of the event."

Cine Brunch - Yojimbo

FreeNYC Event Flyer

Date: Sunday, July 26th
Time: 12:30pm
Location: (Le) Poisson Rouge (158 Bleeker St.)
Cost: Free

"Cine-Brunch at (Le) Poisson Rouge is a new take on the summer movie season - a free afternoon screening of art-house cinema classics... Cine-Brunch offers an alternative to the summer blockbuster: refined entertainment in a cool, comfortable environment where viewers can enjoy brunch or LPR's regular menu of tapas while taking in classic cinema and sipping a cocktail. And best of all, it's free!" Today's film is the Akira Kurosawa samauri classic Yojimbo. The screening is free but you're brunch ($7) and cocktails ($3 specials, $7 bloodies) are not.

Ain't Nothin' But a Beach Party

FreeNYC Event Flyer

Date: Sunday, July 26th
Time: 1:00pm - 10:00pm
Location: Water Taxi Beach (2 Bordon Ave, LIC)
Cost: Free

NYC House music legend Jellybean Benitez brings his feel vibes (a la their Ain't Nothin' But a House Party events) to the Water Taxi Beach today. This is a great, rare chance to catch a classic house spinner on the waterfront. 21+

Pool Parties on the Waterfront: And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead

FreeNYC Event Flyer

Date: Sundays through August 30th
Time: gates at 2pm
Location: Kent St btw. N 8th and N 9th Sts on the East River, W'burg)
Cost: Free

With the McCarren Pool under renovations, the Williamsburg Pool Parties move to the waterfront this summer with seven weeks of free shows. In edition to the free music there will be "DODGEBALL, basketball, DJ’s, bands, burgers the works!" for you to enjoy. Afterparties at Public Assembly. This week features And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, The Black Lips, Health, and Grupo Fantasmo. Full line-up below. All ages!

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Sunday, July 19 — Dirty Projectors, Magnolia Electric Co., Crystal Antlers*
Sunday, July 26 — And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, The Black Lips, Health, Grupo Fantasmo*
Sunday, Aug 02 — Round Robin show w/ Deerhunter, No Age and Dan Deacon*
Sunday, Aug 09 — Simian Mobile Disco (DJ set), Fiery Furnaces, Dark Meat, The Netherlands*
Sunday, Aug 16 — Del tha Funky Homosapien, Gravytrain!!!, DD/MM/YYYY, Kenan Bell*
Sunday, Aug 23 — Girl Talk, Max Tundra, Wiz Khalifa*
Sunday, Aug 30 — Beach House & Grizzly Bear*

* A free Pool Party: Gates open at 2pm for all shows. For eight consecutive Sundays in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (July 12th — August 30th), party-goers will be regaled with on-site dodgeball, three-on-three basketball, and, oh yeah, rip-roarin' live performances on the main stage.

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Judy Collins on Governor's Island

FreeNYC Event Flyer

Date: Sunday, July 26th
Time: 2:00pm
Location: Governor's Island (Travel Directions)
Cost: Free

"For forty years, folk music legend Judy Collins has created music of hope and healing that speaks to the heart and inspires the world." (River to River) Today Judy Collins sings the day away on Governor's Island. Whether you are a fan or not the island is always worth the free ferry ride. Part of Folks on the Island.

Ginuwine, Joe and Chico DeBarge at Summerstage

FreeNYC Event Flyer

Date: Sunday, July 26th
Time: 3:00pm - 6:00pm
Location: Summerstage (Rumsey Playfield, Central Park)
Cost: Free

"After a four-year hiatus from making records, Ginuwine is back in the saddle with the release of his new album A Man’s Thoughts. Ginuwine first emerged on the music scene in 1996 with the multi-platinum release of The Bachelor which paired his silky smooth vocals with Timbaland’s jagged, hyperkinetic beats, creating a fresh new R&B sound... R&B singer Joe has had a remarkable career, having sold over eleven million albums worldwide. The son of two preachers, Joe grew up in the church playing guitar and eventually directing the choir... In 2000 Joe released his break-out, multi-platinum album My Name is Joe forever securing his place among the finest in R&B history. Sultry soul crooner Chico DeBarge will make a return to music with the forthcoming release of his new album Addiction. Earning his musical chops as a member of the famed Motown group, Switch and DeBarge, the singer broke out on his own in 1986, with the release of his debut solo album." More info here.

3rd Ward Pig Roast and Dance Party

FreeNYC Event Flyer

Date: Sunday, July 26th
Time: 4:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: 3rd Ward (195 Morgan Ave., BK)
Cost: Free with RSVP

"3rd Ward & Brooklyn Based present the 2nd Annual Pig Roast & Dance Party... Stand by as Pig Roasting Extraordinaire Tom Mylan (from Marlow and Sons, Diner and Bonita) and Chef Eric Sherman turn 200 lbs. of hog into finger-licking good & nicely priced pork tacos. We'll also have sides-a rice, beans and mexi-slaw and Brooklyn Based will top you off with some ice cream. The Colt 45 will be free from 4 to 5pm and the cold drinks will all be under $6. Featuring live music from Stumblebum Brass Band, Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers, In Cadeo and DJ Tanner all afternoon long. Plus bring your own t-shirts for $1 pig inspired screen-printing and bring your sweetest smile for a carnival style photobooth."

A Shadow in the Dark

FreeNYC Event Flyer

Date: Sunday, July 26th
Time: 8:00pm
Location: The Living Theatre (21 Clinton Street)
Cost: Free

Tonight, The Living Theatre continues it Readings Above Realism Series with a free staged reading of A Shadow in the Dark by Jared Latore. "The subject of Latore’s stunning play is simple enough: a man who spreads disease to his partners. The characters are like us, dealing as best they can with the realities of life. What’s extraordinary is that they meet their fates among characters who are perhaps not personalities at all. They may be ideas… demons? The world of the play is like ours – actual and imagined, with spirits walking among us." All Ages

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Drug rescues memory lost to Alzheimer's disease

Irvine, Calif., July 14, 2009 A drug similar to one used in clinical trials for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis has been found to rescue memory in mice exhibiting Alzheimer's symptoms.

The discovery by UC Irvine scientists offers hope that a new treatment may be on the horizon for people in the early stages of Alzheimer's, the leading cause of elderly dementia afflicting more than 5 million people in the U.S. and for which no cure exists.

The drug, called PMX205, prevented inflamed immune cells from gathering in brain regions with Alzheimer's lesions called amyloid plaques. Cell inflammation in these areas accelerates neuron damage, exacerbating the disease.

"We used a multidisciplinary approach combining an understanding of immunology and neurobiology to uncover a completely different target than other therapies," said Andrea Tenner, lead author of the study that led to the findings and a molecular biology & biochemistry professor at UCI.

Study results are reported in the July 15 edition of the Journal of Immunology.

For 12 weeks, Tenner and colleagues added PMX205 to the drinking water of mice genetically altered to develop age-related Alzheimer's-like symptoms. The treatment occurred at an age when plaques were accumulating in their brains.

Scientists gave the treated mice learning and memory tests and then examined their brains for evidence of the disease. Alzheimer's mice that were not given the drug performed significantly worse on the test than normal mice. But in all but one case the treated Alzheimer's mice performed almost as well as the normal mice. Those with the rescued cognitive ability had more than 50 percent fewer Alzheimer's lesions and inflammatory immune cells than the untreated diseased mice.

PMX53, a similar drug that can be taken orally, passed Phase 1 human clinical trials for safety with no major problems reported. Possible side effects include
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NAACP refuses to take a position on gay marriage; discounts connection between black civil rights and gay civil rights

NAACP refuses to take a position on gay marriage; discounts connection between black civil rights and gay civil rights

by John Aravosis (DC) on 7/12/2009 04:20:00 PM

It's pretty sickening to watch the head of the NAACP, Benjamin Todd Jealous, squirm when asked about the civil rights of gays and lesbians, as he does throughout this interview. I suspect the NAACP leadership is afraid of its own membership on this issue.

You simply do not get to be a real civil rights organization by taking polls on whether or not you're going to get criticized for recognizing the civil rights of other human beings. Would the NAACP have us take polls on whether its membership's civil rights should be recognized and accepted as equal to other civil rights struggles? Just as bad, the NAACP head seems to suggest in this interview that it may take the NAACP decades before they endorse gay marriage. He then goes on to disagree with those who equate gay civil rights with the African-American civil rights struggle (good thing that the head of the NAACP agrees with John McCain about the civil rights of gays and lesbians). Though, while agreeing with John McCain, Mr. Jealous disagrees with Coretta Scott King, who says the civil rights battles are all the same.

Definitely not your daddy's civil rights leaders.

Read More......

Jesus, the World's Most Popular Literary Character

Heretic’s Foundation VII: Jesus, the World’s Most Popular Literary Character

Friday, July 10, 2009
Heretic’s Foundation

By John Hudson
darkladyplayers@aol.com
Special to the Clyde Fitch Report

The Heretic’s Foundation is now ready to address one of our most pressing literary and cultural problems: the figure of Jesus. Atheists are getting more attention nowadays, with an atheist campaign in London to put ads on the sides of buses, while in the U.S., according to the New York Times, atheists are linking up and “liken their strategy to that of the gay-rights movement, which lifted off when closeted members of a scorned minority decided to go public.” It has been a long time in coming.

For the last 2,000 years, expressing disbelief in Jesus has been a heresy that led directly to the torture chamber or the bonfire. Yet, the view that the Gospels are literary texts, and Jesus no more than a literary character, goes back to the philosopher Porphyry in the 3rd century, whose works were suppressed and burnt by the church. In Elizabethan London, the most prominent nonbeliever in Jesus was Christopher Marlowe, one of the most expert literary figures of his age, a man who certainly knew how to distinguish a work of clever, imaginative, Menippean literature from a historical, factual account. Marlowe knew the difference between fact and fiction.

He claimed, for example, that the sacred Gospels were “all of one man’s making”; that, as Thomas Beard recorded, the figure of Jesus was merely a “deceiver” in “vain and idle stories.” Marlowe makes Barabas in The Jew of Malta state that “swine-eating Christians…were never thought upon” until after Titus and Vespasian conquered Jerusalem — in other words, that Christianity itself did not exist before. It is becoming clear in my research that Marlowe was right: the Gospels are not accounts of the life of a historical, Jewish Jesus compiled by his followers 60 years after his death, but Roman literary creations. As one of the most radical strands of New Testament scholarship is showing, the Gospels were devised as war propaganda to trick Messianic Jews into worshipping the Roman Flavian emperors “in disguise.” They were written by the Romans as literary satires of the battles in the Roman-Jewish war (66-73 C.E.) in which the Jews were defeated.

The evidence shows that most of the key events in the “life” of Jesus were satirical; many are elegant literary satires of a military battle in which the Jewish armies had been defeated by the Romans. The Jewish War, culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem temple in 70 C.E., devastated the Mediterranean economy and the Romans were anxious to prevent another outbreak of messianiac fervor. To make any economic and civil reconstruction lasting, the Romans needed to offer the Jews alternative stories to distract them from the messianic messages inherent in the Torah, and to persuade them to accept Roman values and worship Caesar.

The Romans’ solution was to create a special kind of postwar propaganda. They called it, in Greek, evangelion, a technical term meaning “good news of military victory,” which is translated into English as “gospel.” The word is, in fact, ironic humor: the Romans were amusing themselves with the notion of making the Jews accept, as the actions of the messiah Jesus, what were literary echoes of the very battles in which they had defeated Jewish armies. A further joke was buried in unmistakable parallels between the life of Jesus and that of Titus: In worshiping Jesus, those Jews who adopted Christianity, as it came to be called, were in proxy hailing the emperor of their conquerors as god, the key strategic Roman objective.

To replace the Torah, this view maintains that the Romans created a literary parody in the Gospel of Matthew and shortly thereafter rewrote it as the versions known as Luke and Mark, modeled respectively on the Aeneid and on Homer. The central literary character of the Gospels, called Jesus (or Joshua), inhabits a plot with various peculiar features. He begins his efforts by the Lake of Galilee. He sends a legion of devils out of a demon-possessed man and into pigs. He offers his flesh to be eaten. He mentions signs of the destruction of Jerusalem. In Gethsemane, a naked man escapes. Jesus is captured at Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. Simon denies knowing him. He is crucified with two other men and only he survives. He is taken down from the cross by a man called Joseph of Arimathea. His disciple, John, survives, but his disciple Simon is sent off to die in Rome. After his death, his disciple Judas dies by eviscerating himself.

Each of these peculiar events has a parallel in the writings of Josephus, our sole record of the military encounters between the Jews and their Roman conquerors — even to the unusual crucifixion in which three men are crucified and a man named Joseph takes one, who survives, down.

There are a dozen such examples which appear in both sets of texts — in the same order — providing statistical evidence that both works were created together as a single literary endeavor in the 80s C.E., thus demonstrating the anti-historicity of the Gospel accounts. Individual parallels have also been detected by half a dozen well known New Testament scholars, but the entire set of them, with all their implications, is summarized in Atwill’s book Caesar’s Messiah, long out of print but now available inexpensively online.

The evidence shows that Marlowe was right: the Gospels are, indeed, vain and idle stories; the figure of Jesus is, indeed, a “deceiver” because the stories in the Gospels are not historical accounts of events that happened in the 30s C.E. On the contrary, they are literary satires of battles and other events fought by Titus and Vespasian in the aforementioned Roman-Jewish war. And so, Jesus was not a historical figure but simply, as Harold Bloom suggested, the world’s best known literary character – a sort of allegorical disguise for Titus, the man who destroyed Jerusalem and became the second Flavian Caesar. Anyone who succumbed and worshipped Jesus would merely be worshipping Caesar in disguise.

Because Marlowe alludes to all this in the allegories in his plays, this was almost certainly the knowledge in the lecture on atheism he gave to the School of the Night, and which provided “more sound reasons” for his non belief than any clergyman had for divinity. Presumably this was also the specific knowledge that got Marlowe killed, and led the author of the Shakespearean plays to conceal aspects of the same knowledge as the deepest allegorical level of the plays, such as in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the comic, scathing parodies of the Virgin Mary.

Today, thankfully, this knowledge can be posted to the Internet and even on the sides of buses. Perhaps one day it will even stimulate a new interest in understanding the deepest allegorical meanings of Elizabethan plays.

John Hudson is a strategic consultant who specializes in new industry models and has helped create several telecoms and Internet companies. He has recently been consulting to a leading think tank on the future of the theater industry and is pioneering an innovative Shakespeare theory, as dramaturge to the Dark Lady Players. This Fall he will be Artist in Residence at Eastern Connecticut State University. He has degrees in Theater and Shakespeare, in Management, and in Social Science.

AIDS activists shut down US Capitol rotunda

AIDS activists shut down US Capitol rotunda over Obama reversal on AIDS policy

by John Aravosis (DC) on 7/09/2009 12:35:00 PM

UPDATE: That White House Web site pledge to support repeal of the federal ban on needle exchange? It appears to be gone.

Woah. Joe and I got wind of this last night. (Great picture on the home page of Roll Call.)

A group of 26 AIDS activists chained themselves to each other in the Capitol Rotunda on Thursday morning, startling visitors, shutting down the landmark area and prompting their arrest by Capitol Police.

The group, which was protesting President Barack Obama’s failure to get rid of a ban on funding needle exchange programs, arrived at the Rotunda around 10 a.m.

Candidate Obama said he would help overturn the ban on needle exchange. President Obama reversed himself and banned federal funding for needle exchanges in his budget this year.

The quote from Obama's spokesman is priceless:

Obama, during the primary campaign, pledged his support of needle exchange programs to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS. When he took over the White House, the administration website affirmed: "The President also supports lifting the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users."

Yet Obama's budget includes language that bans spending federal money on needle-exchange programs.

White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said the administration isn't yet ready to lift the ban - but Obama still supports needle exchange.

"We have not removed the ban in our budget proposal because we want to work with Congress and the American public to build support for this change," he said.

Let's see...

1. The candidate promised to lift the ban.
2. The White House Web site reaffirmed the president's commitment to lifting the ban.
3. The White House Web site no longer reaffirms his commitment to lifting the ban.
4. The president now refuses to lift the ban.
5. The president actually affirmatively makes things worse by administratively supporting defending the ban.
6. The spokesman reiterates the president's support for lifting the ban, some day, once Congress gets around to it.

Sound familiar?

My Interview with Prisca Ouya of Luzimbu Opera

“The Trial”: Prisca Ouya ’s Luzimbu Opera Presents Tragedy and Judgement in the Congo

La MaMa E.T.C. is pleased to announce the presentation of a new opera, sung in African languages, Korean and English, by popular director, actor and choreographer Prisca Ouya, o pening June 18-28, 2009 in New York.

Synopsis of Luzimbu: The Trial

A secret abortion has left Lila, a young Congolese woman, sterile. Her new husband, Minimona, is unhappy with their childless relationship and decides to marry a second wife, Biwa , to bear him children. Biwa quickly produces two children, making her the more “successful” wife by community standards. Lila’s jealousy increases, pushing her to invoke the Goddess of Fertility and make a pact that ultimately will have terrible consequences for both women. Meanwhile, Biwa , still young, is not a responsible mother; she is unwilling to give up partying and drinking with her friends every day. She leaves the care of her two children to her co-spouse Lila. Caring for Biwa 's children only makes Lila crave children of her own even more. One day, while bathing the baby at the river, Lila hears the older child screaming as she falls from a tree. Horrified, Lila's instinctive reaction is to rush to help, but by doing so, she leaves the baby in the water. At the foot of the tree, the child dies, and the baby, left behind, drowns. To avoid facing the wrath of her rival, Lila runs away and finds refuge in a society of outcast women. But the day soon arrives when Biwa finds Lila and asks the community for justice. The outcast elder, Mfumu Nzonzi, agrees to a death-penalty trial on the condition that both women, not just Lila, are to be judged.

At its core, Luzimbu exposes women's hopes and fears and lays bare the consequences of judgments based on traditional morals. Do both of the women share responsibility for the childrens’ deaths? Lila was the one on duty when the children died, but Biwa is their real mother and therefore the one ultimately responsible for their well-being. The outcome of the trial, and what follows afterwards, are based on traditional Congolese morality and a complex spiritual value system overlayed by the often tragic and brutal experiences suffered by the women. Who is judged guilty, and by whom?

The Music and Dance of Luzimbu

Luzimbu is an opera sung in two of the languages of the Congo , Lingala and Lari, with narrative song in Korean and English. The spectacular performances choreographed throughout Luzimbu reflect the duality of its director – they are essentially traditional Congolese dance fused and updated with American modern staging.

Just as the dance is a modern take on Congolese tradition, so is the music of Luzimbu – its powerful rhythms draw from both traditional Congolese and modern Western music. In the hands of master drummers, a hollowed-out log is transformed into an ngoma, a powerful and expressive musical voice that lends power and direction to the dance. In the Congo , the ngoma drum is considered a healing force and certain traditional rhythms are associated with particular life events and rituals. In Luzimbu, the drums evoke the power of tradition while adapting new musical elements into the performance.

Humanitarian Action

Violence against women in the Congo has been at a crisis point for far too long. In keeping with the philosophy of Luzimbu and its director, a portion of the proceeds from the performances will be contributed to two international non-profit organizations:

1. Doctors Without Borders. Doctors Without Borders is an international independent medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, natural disasters, or exclusion from health care in nearly 60 countries. MSF received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. Website: www.msf.org.

2. V-Day. Founded by playwright, performer and activist Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues), V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. Website: www.vday.org.

The director and cast salute these organizations and encourage our audiences to learn about the crisis in the Congo and do whatever they can to end the violence in the beautiful countries of the region.

About Prisca Ouya

Luzimbu is Prisca Ouya 's second show as a director at LaMaMa. Her first show, Mami Wata, opened in December 2005 and was brought back by popular demand in January 2006. She has performed in numerous shows at LaMaMa under the direction of LaMaMa founder Ellen Stewart, and elsewhere. Ms. Ouya teaches master-level Congolese dance workshops in Hawaii , California and New York . Ms. Ouya is a gifted and spectacular dancer; the professional dance magazine Attitude once described her as having “magic hips.” She is able to fuse traditional African dance and modern Western dance with grace, strength and beauty. The result, as seen in Luzimbu, continues to delight audiences with its expression of powerful femininity. In 2008, Le Maintenant, a major Congolese newspaper, said: “Ms. Ouya is the ambassador of Congolese dramatic art in the U.S.”

Ms. Ouya was born and raised in Paris and has lived in the United States for twelve years. The third of four sisters, Ms. Ouya draws much of her inspiration from the female members of her family. She is also strongly influenced by the ongoing tragedies resulting from the violence in both of the Congos ( Republic of Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo). However, Ms. Ouya was drawn to the script of Luzimbu in some measure because of her desire to show the more positive side of Congolese men than recent media coverage of the war has shown. “Although women in the Congo are victims of rape and sexual mutilation by soldiers and guerilla fighters, and I don’t want to lessen our outrage over these atrocities, I also want people to know that there are good and decent men in the Congo , trying to hold their families together and earn a living. They are not all barbarians.”

Show Times and Ticket Information

Thursday - Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 2:30 pm. $25 / $20 for students and seniors.

The meaning of Neda

The meaning of Neda

By scarce Monday Jun 22, 2009 1:00pm

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Melody Moezzi, a contributor to the Huffington Post, explains the the deep significance of martyrs in Shia culture. In Farsi, they are now saying on the streets of Tehran "Give me the power of Neda."

ENDA, DADT and DOMA have no chance

Top gay in the administration says ENDA, DADT, and DOMA have no chance at this point (and then he lies, to boot)

by John Aravosis (DC) on 6/14/2009 09:24:00 PM

UPDATE: Pam Spaulding is no more than impressed than I with Berry's interview.

John Berry, the openly gay head of the Office of Personnel Management, did an interview today with Kerry Eleveld of the Advocate. It's horrifying. I have to parse it for you. I'm simply astounded that they let him speak publicly, and that he let himself be used like this.

1. Berry suggests that Obama may wait until his second term to do anything on gay rights.

BERRY: Now, I’m not going to pledge -- and nor is the president -- that this is going to be done by some certain date. The pledge and the promise is that, this will be done before the sun sets on this administration – our goal is to have this entire agenda accomplished and enacted into law so that it is secure.

THE ADVOCATE: Does that include a second term? A lot of people have talked about DOMA being pushed back until a second term.

BERRY: I say this in a broad sense -- our goal is to get this done on this administration’s watch.

2. The president does not have the option to oppose existing law, at all, no exceptions, zero, nothing -- Berry claims. That's a flat out lie, as we showed earlier with the essay by former Clinton White House special assistant Richard Socarides. (We also listed four cases where Reagan, Bush Sr, Clinton and Bush Jr. all refused to defend existing statutes.)

BERRY: This president took a solemn oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and he does not get to decide and choose which laws he enforces. He has to enforce the laws that have been enacted appropriately and that he has inherited. It would be wrong for me or any of our community to advise him to lie or to shirk his responsibility. He’s doing his job.

That's a flat out lie. The president can ask DOJ to oppose laws in cases where there are important political and social issues at stake. Period. We've proven that they're lying about this, it's no longer debatable.

Oh, and where in the Constitution does it say that the president is required to compare our marriages to incest and pedophilia? We still haven't heard an explanation for that one. Nor have we heard an apology.

3. Did you catch how Berry said, above, that if we asked the president to file a brief opposing DOMA, we'd be asking him to "lie"? (First off, Berry admits that Obama owns the brief - so no more of this, "it was the lawyers" - it's Obama.) Anyway, so asking Obama to oppose DOMA in the brief would be asking him to "lie." What the hell is that supposed to mean? You mean the president was telling the truth when his brief claimed that gay marriage is like incest? He actually believes that? When the president claimed that Loving v. Virginia has nothing to do with our battle for marriage equality, he was saying he really believes that somehow the civil rights battle of African-Americans is different, better, than ours? Obama really believes that it's unfair to ask straight taxpayers to pay for our spousal benefits when we already pay for theirs? Obama thinks DOMA doesn't discriminate against gays? That it doesn't deny us benefits? That it's good for America in these tight budget times?

We're now to believe that Obama actually agrees with the bigoted crap that the White House let the DOJ put in that hateful brief? WTF?

4. We shouldn't be bothering Obama with our pesky complaints, we should be busy rallying votes for overturning DOMA on the Hill:

He has made clear that he stands for the repeal of DOMA. It will be part of this administration’s agenda to accomplish that act. We ought not waste energy and angst attacking him when we should be focusing the energy and effort on getting 218 votes in the house and 60 votes in the Senate, and that’s where we ought to target the energy and the strength of this community and this president is with us, this is our agenda and it’s his agenda.

Yes, we should be lobbying Congress over DOMA. But what about YOU? What do you plan to do about DOMA? All we've heard is that the president still supports repeal, but we haven't heard one thing about him lifting a finger to help? Writing a brief detailing why DOMA is good for the country does not help us convince Congress to repeal it.

5. And best of all, the White House, Berry tells us, thinks we currently have no chance of getting ENDA, DADT or DOMA. Whoopee!

The Advocate: And what about “don’t ask, don’t tell,” is that being pushed back?

Berry: We don’t have the votes to do Hate Crimes right now, we don’t have the votes to do ENDA, how are we going [to get “don’t ask, don’t tell]?

Yes, how are we going to get Don't ask Don't Tell? Clearly the White House doesn't think we stand a chance.

Anybody still think these people are committed to doing something, anything, to help us secure our civil rights?

Armageddon Prophecy

Main Articles - Disaster Prophecy

Written by Armageddon Online Articles

June 04, 2007

2012: The End of the World? The ancient peoples of Mesoamerica were of a vast interconnected empire, filled with rich art, education and destruction. The Maya were one of these tribes. Other than archaeological intrigue why are these people so studied? Their written language was based on pictographs, much like the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Mayan culture was like most other native cultures. The Maya had an understanding of mathematics and understood the value of zero long before its discovery in the Eastern parts of the world. Their understanding of numbers and astronomy gave us the Mayan calendars of the Long and Short Counts. So why does this calendar attract so much attention now? The Mayan calendar ends on the Gregorian calendar date of December 21, 2012, which most people believe is the total end of civilization, as we know it, while others believe it is simply a change of enlightenment in this current time. Many theories have sprung up about this end date, ranging from the laughable, to the religious, to the scientific. There are actually three Mayan calendar systems, the 365-day Solar year, the 260-day Ritual year, and the 5,128 years of the World Time calendar. The Haab or Solar year was broken down into an 18 month plus five days cycle. 18 months of 20 days and the 5 soulless days which were thought to be of ill omen, kind of like 5 days of Friday the 13th. The Tzolkin (zol-KEEN) or Sacred Round was the 260-day ritual calendar was broken down by days, not months. This religious calendar was the basis on how the people, singly and collectively, went on with their day-to-day lives according to destiny. August 11, 3.114 B.C. when the world began in, long count to Gregorian translation. This beginning date was reached by finding a point in future time (December 21 2012) and counting backwards, as theories go, which gives us a 5,126 year span, not including year zero. This is still one year off if year zero is included. The Mayan World calendar is a series of 5,128 years per span. What is the extra year? Were translations wrong somehow, it is quite possible. So what is supposed to happen on this magical date of December 21, 2012? One theory suggests that a Magnetic Field shift will occur around this time, that the calendar was based on pole shifts, which have occurred repetitively throughout the Earths history. The Maya, understanding the time periods between these shifts created their Long count calendar around them and come up with the final date for the next pole shift. But how would they know what to look for to expect another shift? How much time was supposed to pass between these shifts and how did they know it? Was there record passed down to them from long ago recounting a time when there was a prior pole shift so that mathematics could be used to predict the next one to come? Or did the ancients study a form of dendrochronology the study of climate changes by looking at tree rings. Others suggest a much more mythical or religious approach. December 21, 2012 is also the Winter Solstice, and provides us with a view that will not be seen again in any of our lifetimes. The Sun will conjunct the intersection of the Milky Way in the ecliptic, giving us view of the Sacred Tree as called by the Maya, giving us view of the Tree of Life. Both of these scenarios are quite possible, one scientific explanation, and one religious. What we still do not know, and probably will not know is what will happen after this end date until it actually occurs. A new dawn of enlightenment would be a step towards progression, in that mankind would become more aware of their surroundings and the impact that they have on the Earth as well as a higher intelligence and consciousness and a better mindset for helping their fellow man. Perhaps this is the end, when Mother Nature finally decides to shrug off the oppressiveness that has been created by the children and start anew. We may just end up living through another doomsday prophecy, going to work or school as usual, looking back on the prophecies and laughing them off. Peter may have cried wolf too often for our cynical minds.

City21: Multiple Perspectives on Urban Futures

http://city21.info/
This film production is designed to be a unique cinematic journey into the various experimental forms that will influence and shape the 21st Century City.

The underlying quest of the filmmakers is to reframe the conventional and uninspiring visions of the urban future with an unprecedented combination of fresh, invigorating, sustainable, economically viable, and life enhancing concepts.

Below are some of the themes we have explored in an effort to loosen the geometric and economic grip on the urban imagination:

-The Sacred Origins of the City: Arnold Toynbee on the origin of Civilization/City Plans through time.

-Magic Architecture: The intentional eco-community of Damanhur, Italy.

-Utopia Imagination: Poetry and Architecture/The Open City Project
in Ritoque, Chile.

-Regenerative Design: Nature and Architecture, the transformation of
the Biosphere2 Project into Eco-Village design.

-Nation State Energy Independence: The White Gold of the North/Renewable energy in Iceland.

-The City as Memory Theater: mythic design wisdom transmitted through the generations.

-The Creative Green City: The Lighthouse Project in Glasgow.

-Creating Eco-Villages--The Findhorn Experiment in Scotland

-Cities and Time—The Long Now perspective with Stewart Brand

While the filmmakers have been enormously pleased with the success of our previous documentary: Ecological Design: Inventing the Future.
We are convinced that powerfully destructive forces like: over-population, unrelenting urban sprawl, and generic design programs, threaten the promising conceptual breakthrough of recent times.


A debilitating resignation about these pressures, often expressed in jaded phrases like:you cant fight City Hall makes it imperative that alternative and eminently achievable visions of the future be known to as many people as possible. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, otherwise we will get the cities we deserve.

This quest is an example of heuristic filmmaking in search of a magic synthesis that inspires new insights and actions in support of making the World a more livable place for the children of all the species on planet Earth.....
Christopher Zelov