Clipmarks | Civil rights Clips

Removing the Mask of Religious Identity: A Psychological Assessment

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:52:35 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Excellent analysis, read at the source, this is what we need! I'm sure CM's atheist friends here will also appreciate this dialog.

Clip Source: docs.google.com

In this age of globalization on an ever shrinking planet, can humanity expect to survive as a species by holding on to our notions of religious identity? Will it come down to your God versus my God, your sacred scripture versus my sacred scripture, your sacred places and worship practices versus mine? Can these conflicts and tensions really be resolved by interfaith and ecumenical dialogue and collaboration resulting in a plausible appreciation, if not a celebration, of our diversity as a species or do our hopes for a common humanity require a complete deconstruction of our religio-cultural myths and a removal of our masks of religious identity, while our civil and human rights continue to be guaranteed by a more “just” secular order?

Tags: psychology, religion

Airport Rules Changed After Ron Paul Aide Detained

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:39:02 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: Know your rights.

Clip Source: blog.puppetgov.com

An angry aide to Rep. Ron Paul, an iPhone and $4,700 in cash have forced the Transportation Security Administration to quietly issue two new rules telling its airport screeners they can only conduct searches related to airplane safety.

In response, the American Civil Liberties Union is dropping its lawsuit on behalf of Steve Bierfeldt, the man who was detained in March and who recorded the confrontation on his iPhone as TSA and local police officers spent half an hour demanding answers as to why he was carrying the money through Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

The new rules, issuedin September and October, tell officers “screening may not be conducted to detect evidence of crimes unrelated to transportation security” and that large amounts of cash don’t qualify as suspicious for purposes of safety.

TSA had earlier defended the search, though it had criticized officers’ abusive behavior.

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Editor’s note: Hear the actual raw audio below

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Clip Source: www.youtube.com

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Clip Source: www.youtube.com

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Thomas Sowell: Random Thoughts

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:03:43 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: But what this means is that even the record-breaking federal deficit understates the government's real financial liabilities, because agencies like FDIC and the Federal Housing Authority are likely to need increased amounts of money to keep going.

An e-mail from a reader says that liberals like to take the moral high ground, even though their own moral relativism means that there is no moral high ground.

I doubt whether the man responsible for the massacre at Fort Hood will pay with his life for the lives that he took. He may well be free again someday. We can only hope that he does not get a hero's welcome when he arrives in some terror-sponsoring country, the way the Lockerbie bomber did.

A recent study by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights showed that, after the housing boom and bust, blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asian Americans and American Indians all reduced their subprime mortgage loans. Only politicians seem not to have learned anything from the economic disaster ...

Clip Source: townhall.com

If politicians stopped meddling with things they don't understand, there would be a more drastic reduction in the size of government than anyone in either party advocates.

It was fascinating to see Barack Obama warning us not to leap to conclusions about the killings at Fort Hood, Texas-- after the way he leaped to conclusions over the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, when he knew less about the facts than we already know about the massacre at Fort Hood.

My first column, more than 30 years ago, was titled "The Profits of Doom." Recent news stories about the millions of dollars that Al Gore has made out of his "global warming" hysteria suggest that some things haven't changed much in three decades.

Although the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation backs up bank accounts, a recent audit suggests that the FDIC does not have enough money in its own account to do its job. No doubt more money will be printed in Washington if necessary.

Tags: al gore gw hysteria, fdic and fha, housing bubble, federal deficit, fort hood texas, henry gates

'Devil Worshipper’ Retort May Burn Employer

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:39:45 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan
clipper's remarks: Despite the obvious misinformation, like "believers gathering in Salem" as if it were Mecca, I think she has a good case.

Clip Source: www.ctlawtribune.com

Like many people, Gina Uberti wanted to take time off from work for a religious holiday.

Unlike most Connecticut workers, her religion is Wicca, the largest of the neo-pagan, earth-based faiths. Wiccans worship multiple deities, use magic in their rituals, adhere to a basic code of morality, and hold four major seasonally based festivals.

Uberti attended one of those festivals last October. A dispute with a supervisor over that vacation has led to an unusual federal lawsuit.

Jarad M. Lucan, who practices employment law at Durant, Nichols, Houston, Hodgson, & Cortese-Costa in Bridgeport, is not involved with the case. But he said it should send a message to employers that, no matter how common or obscure the religion, if a worker sincerely believes it to be their religion, then employers must reasonably accommodate them under the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“You have to try to accommodate a sincerely held religious belief,”

Tags: wicca, religion, work, legal

Gay Marriage Not Comming to Washington Any Time Soon

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:41:22 GMT

clipped by: iulawboy
clipper's remarks: We have a lot of grassroots work to do before we get to marriage in this state. Conversations have to take place between urban gays and their relatives in rural areas.

Clip Source: heraldnet.com

Gay marriage issue can wait, say Referendum 71 partisans

Those who opposed each other on Referendum 71 agree on one thing: Don't look for gay marriage on a ballot in 2010.

And don't expect the Legislature to make it legal or a judge to decide the issue.

Leaders on both sides say it's too soon to revisit the issue.

Proponents know they must build support in those rural areas before a marriage measure gets pushed to a statewide vote. As of Friday, voters in 29 counties were rejecting the measure — and in some places, by more than 70 percent

Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, introduced a bill legalizing marriage for same-sex couples last January. He said he's not expecting it to receive a hearing in 2010.

“The closeness of the results indicates we have a lot of work to do before we move marriage legislatively or on the ballot,” said. Murray, who authored the law put before voters.

Tags: gay marriage, r-71, referendum 71, civil unions, civil rights

A quiet voice for gay marriage

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:41:43 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: Many of these former spouses -- from those who still feel raw resentment toward their exes to those who have reached a mutual understanding -- see the legalization of same-sex marriage as a step toward protecting not only homosexuals but also heterosexuals. If homosexuality was more accepted, they say, they might have been spared doomed marriages followed by years of self-doubt.

"It's like you hit a brick wall when they come out," Brooks said. "You think everything is fine and then, boom!"

Carolyn Sega Lowengart calls it "retroactive humiliation." It's that embarrassment that washes over her when she looks back at photographs or is struck by a memory and wonders what, if anything, from that time was real. Did he ever love her?

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

If anyone could have talked himself out of being gay, Kimberly Brooks said, it was her husband.

He wanted to be straight; she wanted him to be straight. She once followed his gaze across the beach to another man but quickly dismissed the thought. No, he couldn't be. Then he started spending more time with one particular friend, and an unease pushed Brooks to ask the question that ultimately confirmed her fear

"He said, 'I don't know.' And in that moment, I knew," said Brooks, who is a therapist in Falls Church. "That day, the marriage was over."

As the debate over legalizing same-sex marriage in the District grows louder and more polarized, there are people whose support for the proposal is personal but not often talked about. They are federal workers and professionals, men and women who share little except that their former spouses tried to live as heterosexuals but at some point realized they could not.

Tags: ex, gay, marriage, civil, rights

Egyptian Security Arrests Several Christians for Praying At Home

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:05:34 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: In other news, here is a link to the recent Obama/Egypt "PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF ALL HUMAN RIGHTS, CIVIL,
POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS" resolution:

http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/LTD/G09/161/50/PDF/G0916150.pdf?OpenElement

Clip Source: www.aina.org

Egypt (AINA) -- On October 24, 2009 Egyptian State Security arrested a Christian Copt in the village of Deir Samalout, Samalout, Minia province, for praying "without a license." He was held in prison for two days before being released on "compassionate grounds." Maurice Salama Sharkawy, 37 years old, had invited Pastor Elia Shafik, to conduct the sacrament of the 'Anointing of the Sick' for his sick father, who had suffered a stroke. State Security broke into his house while the prayers were ongoing, handcuffed Maurice, put him into a police car and took him to a police station for interrogation.

Authorities accused him of carrying out "religious rites without a license" and "causing sectarian sedation" by calling a priest into the village. A number of his cousins living in the same family house and who attended the prayers were also detained with him.

State Security has placed Maurice under observation by three policemen.

Tags: welcome to the twilight zone, egypt, obama, freedom denied

Carrie Prejean Goes Down. Literally!

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:02:18 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: Of course, all of this should have little effect on her career. If anything it will add fuel to it with the way Americans are infatuated with hypocrites and fallen angels. Vivid Entertainment Group, which specializes in adult films, made an offer of a million dollars to Prejean back in May to make a movie for them. Seems she might be a natural. This could only raise her value in the porn market. Practice makes perfect.

I'm curious as to how all the rightwing Prejean backers will spin this and find a way to blame this on everyone but Prejean. I might even turn on Fox News to check it out. With Prejean's looks and attitude, she may end up with her own show over there since credibility isn't a factor in Fox's hiring practices.

And for those of you who don’t remember who actually won the Miss California Pageant, her name is Tami Ferrell from Malibu. How soon we forget those with actual morals.

Clip Source: open.salon.com

Former Miss California runner-up, Carrie Prejean had her day in court yesterday, though it didn’t turn out quite the way she had hoped. The Beauty Pageant almost Queen was suing the Miss California Pageant officials for a litany of charges including public ridicule, anxiety, depression and loss of sleep stemming from the official’s handling of her career.

Everything was going fine until the defendants started playing an extremely graphic homemade sex tape starring none other than Miss Prejean, herself.

It’s been reported that it only took about fifteen seconds of playing the tape before Prejean decided to drop her lawsuit. If all litigation could only end so quickly.

How fast and far can one star fall.

Naturally there was a book deal for Prejean announced in July with a launch date slated for mid-November. The title, “Still Standing: The Untold Story of My Fight Against Gossip, Hate, and Political Attacks” may need a little work. I’ll leave it to you to come up with a new title.

Tags: miss california, almost, carrie prejean, far right, homophobia, gay, marriage, civil rights, hypocrisy

Italy Convicts 23 Americans In CIA Terrorist Kidnapping Case

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:02:13 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: One of those convicted, former Milan consular official Sabrina De Sousa, accused Congress of turning a blind eye to the entire matter.

"No one has investigated the fact that the U.S. government allegedly conducted a rendition of an individual who now walks free and the operation of which was so bungled," she said, speaking through her lawyer Mark Zaid.

Despite the convictions capping the nearly three-year Italian trial, several Italian and American defendants – including the two alleged masterminds of the abduction – were acquitted due to either diplomatic immunity or because classified information was stricken by Italy's highest court.

The case has been politically charged from the beginning, with attempts to mislead investigators looking into the cleric's disappearance and derail the judicial proceedings once the trial was under way. But the Italian-American relationship, conditioned on such issues as participation in the Afghan campaign, is unlikely to be hurt by the convic

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

MILAN — An Italian judge found 23 Americans and two Italians guilty Wednesday in the kidnapping of an Egyptian terror suspect, delivering the first legal convictions anywhere in the world against people involved in the CIA's extraordinary renditions program.

Human rights groups hailed the decision and pressed President Barack Obama to repudiate the Bush administration's practice of abducting terror suspects and transferring them to third countries where torture was permitted. The American Civil Liberties Union said the verdicts were the first convictions stemming from the rendition program.

The Obama administration ended the CIA's interrogation program and shuttered its secret overseas jails in January but has opted to continue the practice of extraordinary renditions.

The Americans, who were tried in absentia, now cannot travel to Europe without risking arrest as long as the verdicts remains in place.

Tags: italy, cia, courts, justice, extraordinary renditions, convictions

Civil Rights Lose Again

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:12:19 GMT

clipped by: AtlLiberal
clipper's remarks: Fear and prejudice win again. Congratulations Maine for being able to deny rights to another minority.

Clip Source: www.trib.com

It's a civil rights issue

After the disappointing vote in Maine I think it is important to point this out: same-sex marriage should be a federal law. Americans are denying other Americans their rights solely on a biased attitude. There is no reason why anyone should feel threatened by two people living their life and loving who they want. If homosexual marriages are wrong to you, have you considered that maybe heterosexual ones might be wrong to someone else? There should be a separation of church and state and the only excuse people can come up with to oppose same sex marriage is the Bible.

giving the states a choice about refusing rights to a certain group of people is appalling. If LBJ had given the states a choice about segregation, I assure you the South would still be segregated.

It's Never Easy

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:25:50 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: iamonetoo told me once that she didn't understand why it had to be so hard to be herself.

She could have taken the easy way. But she didn't and I admire her.

Social change is hard, long and difficult work. It will often spawn hatred by other's who are just ignorant of human differences.

That's ok; the struggle of civil rights for everyone is always worth it

Clip Source: www.365gay.com

listen up peoples: freedom struggles are difficult and filled with losses and setbacks. It’s not fair and many of us are not going to see the very things we are fighting for, but if you want quick results it’s time to find something else to do. If you are not in it for the long haul, what’s the point? If you think struggles for rights are easily earned in one election cycle, you are not paying attention to the narrative called American history.

Nothing wrong with being angry and disappointed today, but when you are finished put the armor back on because the struggle still continues.

Republicans Need to Dump the Neoconservatives

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:45:00 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: The republicans need a "tea party" within their own camp! The Bush and present GOP "conservatives" are pushing big government Statism as much as Democrats, with only a different slant. Wars for democracy are a key element of both parties now.

There is an insidious philosophy underlying this acceptance of the "natural" growth of statism. Neoconservative columnist David Brooks wrote ... we need "a vigorous One Nation Conservatism ... by making the nation great, individuals are able to join their narrow concerns to a larger national project."

Actually, it was originally the Democrats that used to believe in curtailing the powers of the Federal government. (This was after the Civil War where they were called Dixie-crats).

See this related Clipmark: Danger--America Becoming Statist, First Bush Now Obama

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

The GOP should dump the neocons

Limited-government conservatives have been undermined by big-government neoconservatives.

The founders envisioned a federal government constitutionally limited to defending our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. For that to happen, we must have at least one political party that strongly advocates limiting the power of government. For much of the 19th century, that party was the Democrats. For the early part of the 20th century and from the early 1960s through 1988, that party was the Republicans.

Today, it is difficult to find noninterventionists in either party.

It is important to realize that neocons are not just nation-building, America-first advocates. They like big government across the board.

As for the GOP, it has outwardly abandoned the limited-government principles of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan.

What happened to the Republicans? Well, the two Bush presidencies didn't help.

Tags: republicans, democrats, neoconservatives, constitution, limited government, statism

Prop 8 Redux

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:57:35 GMT

clipped by: spooba
clipper's remarks: Now it's Mains turn, keep your eye on this.
What happen here can have major impact

Clip Source: www.theroot.com

Prop 8 Redux

Gay marriage is a civil rights issue, and that means it’s a black issue, too.

This is a national scandal, but it moves the issue to the forefront again and gives the African-American community a chance to reaffirm its support for equal rights by supporting gay marriage. Black communities have a long, sad history of homophobia which has led many black people to oppose same-sex marriage, sometimes on religious or moral grounds. But after having served as the moral conscience of the nation during the long struggle for justice and equal rights in the last century, black Americans cannot be absent from, or take the wrong side in, this latest struggle for basic human rights.

Noor Almaleki is Dead :(

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:22:57 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks:

Let's pray Rifqa Bary isn't next.

Btw: I met Pam Geller, Robert Spencer and a whole wack of other awesome folks at the International Legal Conference of Free Speech and Religion last week in Washington Dc.

It was a real honor.

You can hear much more about the conference at :
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2009/11/legal-conference-on-freedom-of-speech.html#readfurther

(and on a much needed lighter note, I had the good fortune to run into Steven Crowder at Dulles Airport last night and got to thank him for his work---he was exactly like he is in the videos---good guy )

Clip Source: atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com

Another victim of Islamic honor killing. Her Muslim father ran her over with his car. She hung on for weeks. She succumbed, she did not submit. Respect Islam.

Her father was apprehended in the UK. The muslim underground that serves jihad made sure he got away like Yaser Said, father of double honorcide murder victims Sarah and Amina Said. He is still at large, in Canada, I hear.

Muslim Father in Arizona Apprehended for Running Down His daughter with a car for being too American

"A 20-year-old Peoria woman has died of injuries sustained in what prosecutors are calling an 'honor killing.'"

No more martyrs. No more dead girls. Stand up for your children, your daughters, your wives, your lovers. STAND UP AGAINST ISLAMIC LAW. Another terrible addition to the gruesome gallery of Islamic gender apartheid.

SAVE RIFQA BARY.

RALLY FOR RIFQA, November 16. Attendance is mandatory.

Rally for Rifqa's Civil Rights on November 16th

Tags: sharia law, murder, violence against women, loss of freedom, injustice, islam

PETITION OF THE CITIZENS OF EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES AGAINST LISBON TREATY RATIFICATION

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:57:58 GMT

clipped by: brightlight4
clipper's remarks: For those Europeans who wish to have more information about the Lisbon Treaty and recognition of European Human Rights, etc.

Clip Source: www.petice.eu

PETITION OF THE CITIZENS OF EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES
AGAINST LISBON TREATY RATIFICATION

We, the citizens of the sovereign countries of the European Union, aware of our civil rights and in an effort to prevent steps leading to a bureaucratic lack of freedom across Europe, hereby express our disapproval of the Lisbon Treaty ratification.

The Lisbon Treaty is basically the European Constitution, which has already been rejected once. It gives the EU new powers to the detriment of the member countries (the right to veto measures is cancelled 68 times). It takes away our independent foreign, economic, social and energy policies and much more. Countries will lose control over indirect tax rates.

On the basis of the above, we refuse ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and ask the governments of the various countries, in the interests of maintaining the liberty of the nations and their future generations, to initiate negotiations on a new direction for the European Union,

to be built on equality