I suppose one of the rules of politics is never to admit anything, but I confess I had never thought of Gay marriage as such a political issue.
Granted, in parts of puritanical America (or backward bits of the Home Counties) it might cause convulsions or foaming at the mouth, but you might imagine by now most people, most adults, intelligent adults would have got over their hangups about homosexuality.
In the wake of President Obama’s support for Gay marriage I had noticed increasing commentary on this topic.
An Australian couple went all the way to Argentina to get married, because they couldn’t do it in Australia.
The Huff Post reports that 4 Gay men are soon to be hanged.
Pew Research shows changing attitudes in the US.
Norm on Gay marriage and Post-modernism, who else could combine the two? Great linkage and a good point.
Even Israel’s right-wing Vice Prime Minister says the State must recognize gay marriage.
An Oxbridge student makes a very pertinent point on societal racism:
“The fact is that society is self-perpetuating. These inequalities of access and opportunity exist and take their toll long before a black (or, for that matter, ‘relatively disadvantaged’) potential applicant even comes to think about applying. “
The Tablet looks at racism in an Israeli football club, Betar Jerusalem.
Last month Doug Saunders suggested that the US is more progressive than you might think.
A Green argues Gove and Hague: The Contradictions of Social Darwinism.
This Obama ad takes on Mitt Romney.
The Israeli military show how stupid they can be, effectively closing a Palestinian school.
Whilst in the Middle East, I had intended to write a long post on the Palestinian hunger strikers and how the Israeli government should try to come to some accord with them, and get around to implementing habeas corpus, but events passed me by and it seems a deal has been done.
Good for the moment but unless there is solid evidence leading to a trial then those under administrative detention should be released.
Habeas corpus is not a luxury, we cannot go back to the era of lettre de cachet. Habeas corpus needs applying, be it in the Middle East, Guantánamo Bay or Northern Ireland.
Dr. Nabeel Hameed, a Bahraini physician on CNN.
The ADL looks at antisemitic text books:
“The books contain passages contrasting Islam with “the Jews and the Nazis,” as well as descriptions of Jews as a “racist,” “treacherous” and “crafty” people.
The books, A Glance at the life of the Holy Prophet of Islam and Prophet Muhammad: A Brief Biography, justify engagement in violent acts of jihad “whenever the time comes for it,” and claim that the Jews of Medina “conspired to kill Prophet Muhammad” after signing covenants with Muhammad and his early followers.
One of the books even highlights to the reader that the very name “Jew” has become “synonymous for treachery” and “the slaying of prophets.” “
Finally, 7 UN peacekeepers were shot in the Congo. Maternal care and mothers in the Congo.
Soupy One 