Celebrity Politics, Political Celebrities

by Darrell M. West

It is the Age of Celebrity in the United States. Glamorous movie stars run for elective office and win. Former politicians play fictional characters on television shows. Rock stars and actresses raise money for a variety of humanitarian causes. Musicians, athletes, and artists speak out on issues of hunger, stem cell research, international development, and foreign policy. Princess Diana herself was known for her campaigns against landmines and global poverty. Indeed, some observers claim that celebrity humanitarianism began with her actions.

But celebrity activism is nothing new. For years, celebrated writers, artists, and non-politicos have spoken out on issues of the day. For example, Mark Twain’s political satire and quips twitted many a prominent public figure. Ernest Hemingway was involved in a number of foreign and domestic controversies of his era, such as the Spanish Civil War. Charles Lindbergh gained fame as the first pilot to fly solo, nonstop across the Atlantic, and then used his new-found prominence to lead America’s isolationist movement in the 1930s and 1940s.

In the 1960s and 1970s, a number of singers and actors became active in civil affairs. Folksinger Arlo Guthrie did political benefits to back Chilean freedom fighters. Phil OchsMarlon Brando raised money in 1966 for the United Nations International Children’s Education fund for famine relief. organized a tribute to President Salvador Allende, who was assassinated during a military coup. Actor

In 1971, Beatles star George Harrison performed a concert for Bangladesh to raise money for starving refugees. He persuaded Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, and others to play at Madison Square Garden and their joint concert raised $240,000 for the United Nations Children’s Fund for Relief to Refugee Children of Bangladesh. Singer Harry Chapin led efforts to alleviate world hunger. From 1973 to 1981, he raised half a million dollars per year to fight hunger.

Throughout the Vietnam war, a number of celebrities spoke out against administration policies. In 1968, actor Robert Vaughn worked in the “Dump LBJ” movement, and celebrities such as Paul Newman, Tony Randall, Myrna Loy, and Leonard Nimoy labored on behalf of presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy. In 1972, actor Warren Beatty organized celebrities for Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern, while John Wayne and Sammy Davis, Jr. supported Republican Richard Nixon.

In the 1980s, a series of “No Nukes” concerts organized by Musicians United for Safe Energy raised awareness about the danger of nuclear energy. Following that effort, Jackson BrowneLinda Ronstadt and James Taylor played benefit concerts in New York City to raise money for a nuclear freeze. helped to build the nuclear freeze movement designed to stop the arms race. In the summer of 1982, he along with

Meanwhile, Stevie Wonder lent his voice to the battle against apartheid in South Africa and in favor of a Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday within the United States. In the mid-1980s, Irish rocker Bob Geldof conceived of Live Aid concerts to raise money for starving people in Ethiopia. After seeing a BBC film documenting the starvation and famine in Ethiopia, he organized two giant 1985 concerts called “Live Aid” that reached over a billion people and raised over $140 million for the people of Ethiopia.

Seeing the success of this effort, Willie Nelson organized a “Farm Aid” concert for American farmers. Joining with Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and John Cougar Mellencamp, the group raised money and consciousness about the plight of the rural poor. Mellencamp recorded songs about farmers on his Scarecrow and Lonesome Jubilee albums and testified in support of the Family Farm Bill. Singer Bruce Springsteen headlined an Amnesty International Human Rights Now tour along with Sting, Tracy Chapman, and Peter Gabriel. This worldwide effort called attention to the problem of political prisoners in a variety of countries.

More recently, actor Michael J. Fox has given speeches and worked for candidates who supported stem cell research. Hoping to find a cure for Parkinson’s research, Fox has appeared frequently with boxer Muhammad Ali; he featured prominently in Democratic efforts to regain control of the U.S. Congress. Actress Mia Farrow has campaigned to raise awareness about mass genocides. Actress Angelina Jolie has worked extensively on issues of international development, world hunger, and child adoption.

Princess Diana was active in the fight against landmines. U2 Singer Bono created the DATA organization (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) to fight poverty and has toured Africa with administration officials in an effort to encourage debt relief for poor countries. Ocean’s 13 stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon used their Cannes Film Festival release to publicize the Darfur genocide.

While celebrity activism is not new, several trends over the past few decades have given celebrities new prominence in debates over public policy. Changes in the structure and operation of the media have contributed to a celebrity culture that provides actors, musicians, and athletes a platform from which to speak out. The line between politics and entertainment has blurred to the point where actors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger have become politicians and former politicians such as Senator Fred Thompson star in prominent television shows.

With the rise of new technologies such as cable television, talk radio, blogs, and the Internet, the news business has become very competitive and more likely to focus on famous personalities. Tabloid shows such as “Access Hollywood” attract millions of viewers, glorify celebrities, and provide a “behind-the-scenes” look at the entertainment industry. Reporters stake out “star” parties, and report on who is in attendance. The old “establishment” press has been replaced by a news media that specializes in reporting on the private lives of politicians and Hollywood stars.

Changes in public opinion have given celebrities stronger credibility to speak out on political matters. From the standpoint of political activists, celebrities are a way to reach voters jaded by political cynicism. In the 1950s, two-thirds of Americans trusted the government in Washington to do what is right. Presidents had high moral authority, and citizens had confidence in the ethics and morality of their leaders.

However, following scandals in Vietnam and Watergate, economic stagflation, and controversies over Iran-Contra and Monica Lewinsky, the public became far less trusting. They no longer are confident about political leaders and are less likely to trust their statements.

When asked whether they trust the government in Washington to do what is right, two-thirds of Americans currently express mistrust. Citizens feel that politicians are in it for themselves and that they serve special interests. An electorate that trusts politicians to tell the truth has been replaced by a public that is highly skeptical about rhetoric and intentions.

Uganda rejects a gay rights call

The gay activists in Kampala wore masks in case of recognition

Uganda will not give equal rights to gays and lesbians nor has it plans to legalise homosexuality, Ethics Minister James Nsaba Buturo has said.

He was responding to a call from the Sexual Minorities Groups in Uganda (Smug) which for the first time held a press conference demanding recognition.

They also accused the police of brutality and harassment.

The gay community is estimated by activists to number 500,000 in Uganda where they face much discrimination.

The BBC's Joshua Mmali in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, said many of those present at the press conference on Thursday wore masks, fearing to show their faces.

We have had enough of the abuse, neglect and violence Smug leader Victor Juliet Mukasa Is Africa homophobic?

Smug leader Victor Juliet Mukasa said she had been a victim of inhuman treatment.

She said police raided her home in 2005, took away documents and arrested her guest, whom they later forced to strip naked.

"We were treated in a degrading and inhumane way. Many of us have suffered similar injustice," she told journalists.

"We are here today to proclaim that these human rights violations are completely unacceptable. We have had enough of the abuse, neglect and violence."

But Mr Buturo told the BBC News website that homosexuality was "unnatural" and denied claims of police brutality and rights abuses.

"If they were being harassed, they would be in jail. We know them, we have details of who they are," he said.

'Demonised'

At the press conference, gay activist Dr Paul Ssemugoma called for education on same sex-relationships to reduce the incidence of HIV and other sexually-transmitted diseases among the gay community.

Uganda has won praise for its vigorous campaign against HIV/Aids.

It has helped to reduce the prevalence of the virus - which reached 30% in the 1990s - to single-digit figures.

Activists also hit out at the church, accusing the clergy of demonising them.

A Kenyan gay man, who had travelled to Kampala to show solidarity with his Ugandan counterparts, said homosexuals in East Africa are forced to live double lives.

"These people are subjected into being in forced marriages to cover up, yet they suffer inside," he said.

Exhibit showing gay Jesus inspires fracas

A melee broke out in Sweden outside a photography exhibit depicting Jesus as a homosexual.

Artist Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin created the Ecce Homo exhibit 10 years ago, and it has been controversial ever since.

On Sunday, a group of young people tried to set fire to a poster at the Jonkoping Kulturhuset, The Local reported. Staff members tried to stop them, leading to a fight involving about 30 people, said Tony el Zouki, the director of the Kulturhuset.

Jonkoping is a major center of the Swedish Evangelical movement.

If this is some Christian group, then I really do not understand them. The message of Christianity is that people should understand and love each other, el Zouki said. I really can't see how this can have a Biblical explanation.

RockOut artists in their undies

Sex and rock and roll go together like black leather and fresh whipped cream (so we've heard). So in honor of National Underwear Day, we contacted some of the sexy and talented emerging musicians we've featured on our RockOut channel and asked them to join in the skin-baring fun by sending us pics of themselves in their undies.

We told them not to hire professional photographers, but to take the shots themselves and just go wild. We also left it totally up to them to imagine creative settings for their photo shoots and take their own pictures. In other words: Express yourselves in your undies.

And express themselves they did!

Jim Verraros shot himself in boxers in bed, listening to music. The smile says it all. Punk-rock band the Dead Betties barbecued on the beach in their tightie-whities, then they took it to the laundromat for more clean fun. Hip-hop sensation in the making (and Tyra Banks best-friends-forever) Josh Klipp just knocked it out plain and simple in white briefs and tank, while indie rocker Dudley Saunders showed how at home he feels in boxers and a backpack.

Homosexual Teens coming out earlier to more accepting Environment

Josh Delsman, an 18 year old from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., reluctantly revealed he was a homosexual at age 14 after a friend told middle school officials, who later informed his parents.

"I didn't want to come out," Delsman said. "But I realized I was gay a lot younger than that. I knew when I was 8 or 9, but I just didn't know what to call it."

Delsman, along with two straight classmates, went on to found a Gay Straight Alliance at his high school. GSAs are clubs in schools that promote tolerance and acceptance of all students.

"We were tired of hearing 'that's so gay' and other LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) slurs," Delsman said.

Ritch Savin-Williams, who chairs Cornell University's human development department and wrote the book "The New Gay Teenager," said kids are "coming out" sooner these days.

According to Savin-Williams' book, as reported in the Albuquerque Journal, the average age people used to come out was in their mid-20s, but that has dropped to the mid-teens over the last two decades.

And anecdotally, the median age for high school students to come out is between 15 and 17, according to Kevin Jennings, founder of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

Media's role

Jennings, a 44-year-old former high school teacher who took the organization from a local school-based group to a national one during the 1994-95 school-year, said he believes coming out earlier is directly related to the greater accessibility of information from the Internet, TV and people's peers.

"In my generation, it was very rare to come out in high school. I didn't really know or understand the language for it. They [teens today] have a language to explain what they're feeling that wasn't available to teens in the past," Jennings said.

Part of the reason that young people are coming out sooner may be that as a whole, Generation Nexters -- those aged 16-25 -- are more accepting of homosexuality in general.

Nearly six in 10 people in that age bracket say "homosexuality is a way of life that should be accepted by society," according to a survey released by the Pew Research Center in January. In comparison, the same survey found that only 50 percent of those aged 25 and older felt the same way.

Greater exposure to media images of gay people also has increased homosexuality's awareness and acceptance.

Like Jennings, Jennifer Santiago, a 20 year old who identifies herself as straight, thinks her generation has more exposure to images of LGBT people in the media than ever before, and that for her generation meeting a gay person is not uncommon.

But Santiago thinks many of the images in the media are not positive. One example is MTV's reality program "The Real World."

"On 'The Real World' they always make the one gay person and make it insane. They find the craziest person who is gay and put that person on the show. It's stereotypical. My friends aren't like that," she said.

Some say, however, that the increase in LGBT images across media are encouraging teens to take up a lifestyle they might not have chosen otherwise. Additionally, some socially conservative groups say the teenage years are too chaotic to make decisions about "sexual identity."

"All kids around puberty are confused about who they are," Barbara Swallow of Free Indeed Ministries, a Christian organization that counsels people away from homosexuality, told the Albuquerque Journal.

"Then they're told it's acceptable to be whatever you want to be -- homosexual, bisexual, transgender," she added. "That's not the way God created it."

In an interview with USA Today, Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council said that "Homosexuality is harmful to society, and young people have no business committing to a sexual identity until they're adults."

On the other hand, experts such as Dr. Jack Drescher of the American Psychiatric Association, who has studied programs that attempt to alter sexuality, say that pretending to be heterosexual when you're not is bad for teens.

"They are not learning social skills, but developing hiding skills," he told the Albuquerque Journal. "In the process, they lose the ability to know who they are."

Emergence of clubs that promote tolerance

Currently more than 3,000 GSAs across the country are registered with the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, a group that works to create safe school environments for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or identification.

Many of the clubs have been founded by students who identify themselves as straight, or "straight allies"; they see the direct impact that bullying and discrimination has on their peers.

"Kids with privilege are saying 'this isn't OK by me anymore.' They witness this everyday. They want to make a difference and this is something that they can do. Washington seems very far away. But they can make a difference in their schools," Jennings said.

Delsman, who says coming out is a life-long process, said he's directly seen the positive effect these clubs can have on school environments and students. There's less bullying and fewer discriminatory comments.

"My friend [who] just came out two weeks ago, he moved down from Albany. He had never met another gay person before," Delsman said. "He came down here and the environment was so much better. It was so amazing because I know that 10 years ago he wouldn't have been able to do that at all."

Erik Stegman, a 24-year-old UCLA law student and current co-chairman of GLSEN's National Leadership Council, said the student-run movement helps build confident leaders.

"I became more confident than ever before. This is who I am. On a personal level, I absolutely think it was a positive experience. I gained a lot. We all have to mature real fast coming out," he said.

He said he would like to "turn the whole country's attitude toward what it means to be GLBT, especially as you're young, change the perception that it's a disadvantage, that it's something to feel sad about, guilty about."

-- By Annie Schleicher

As Time (no) goes by / ¡Cómo no pasa el tiempo!;

Hitler is like a Pils: goes always. And still once.

El Hitler parece a un Pils: va siempre. Y todavía una vez.

Razzia against refugees in Oujda (Morocco)

Using the opportunity of the summer vacation when the Oujda university students are not present, Moroccan security forces carried out a raid on the campus, which has served as a space to live for the migrants for quite some time, in the early morning of 26 July 2007. This searching and raid action was very vigorous and the biggest of its kind since the well-known incidents of Ceuta and Melilla. More than 450 persons have been arrested.

Big razzia against refugees in Oujda (Morocco)

Using the opportunity of the summer vacation when the Oujda university students are not present, Moroccan security forces carried out a raid on the campus, which has served as a space to live for the migrants for quite some time, in the early morning of 26 July 2007. This searching and raid action was very vigorous and the biggest of its kind since the well-known incidents of Ceuta and Melilla. More than 450 persons have been arrested.
According to the information from some migrants who could escape and Morrocans living near the campus, police, military and supporting forces surrounded the migrants around 4 o'clock in the morning, arresting, maltreating and beating them down in a brutal and violent manner with straps and batons made of hard rubber. Then they took them and made them enter their police vehicles.
The migrants fleed from the campus towards the neighbouring forest, chased by police forces and their dogs. The security forces passed over the refugees' camp with a bulldozer. They destroyed and burned down everything that was there. Everyone is now talking about several persons injured, but up to now their exact number is not clear yet.

The police continue to do patrols on the campus and in the neighbouring quarters, looking for migrants.

At the moment this report is sent, information is coming in that a first group of migrants were made to enter two police cars at the police station. There is no doubt that they are going to be taken to the Algerian border.

Police Attack Oaxaca’s Alternative Guelaguetza

One Person Confirmed Dead, 62 Detained, Disappearances

On July 16th in Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, a confrontation between the APPO (Popular Assembly of The Peoples of Oaxaca) and security forces of the State of Oaxaca as well as Federal Preventive Police has left at least one movement participant dead as a result of police violence, at least 62 detained, and an unknown number of people disappeared.

According to an APPO press statement released the same day, the police launched “a broad offense” against the people of Oaxaca who were celebrating an alternative Guelaguetza. The APPO announced two days previous that it would hold an alternative cultural festival in the main Guelaguetza auditorium, located in the Fortin Mountain outside of the city.

Federal Preventive Police and State police surrounded the perimeter of the Guelaguetza auditorium in order to prevent people from entering the festival. A caravan heading to the festival, tailed by 10,000 people, arrived to the auditorium, and in that moment the police attacked the crowd with tear gas, rocks, sticks, and explosive projectiles. People retreated, and the police advanced, beating and arresting people. Three photographers were reported to have been beaten. Countless others were tossed into the back of police pick up trucks with serious injuries.

Video, Lunes del Cerro, by Mal de Ojo TV: part I | part II

For the moment the state and the municipal police continue a citywide operation in the streets of Oaxaca City, detaining people in the open. The military are reported to have surrounded the city on the highways.

Several people are reported to be in grave conditions, and police apparently apprehended injured festival participants and APPO supporters while they were transported by the red cross to receive medical attention.

There are reports that the detained are suffering torture and constant beatings at the hands of the state and federal police.

Emeterio Merino Cruz Vazquez, the one confirmed fatality from police violence, was killed from impact from a unidentified explosive projectile fired by police, which split his intestines open.

The alternative Guelaguetza was planned by the APPO in response to the government co-optation of the cultural festival that reflects indigenous tradition through dance. The movement charges that the festival has been made into a spectacle for tourists for years, and that the “official” Guelaguetza is an economic excursion on the part of multinational corporations and Ulises Ruiz, the state Governor targeted by the Oaxaca popular uprising. Last year, in actions against the official Guelaguetza, members.

Corrections

Jim 17.Jul.2007 16:38

The writer of this article failed to mention that APPO set fire to cars and busses, that they tried to burn down a hotel.

The police did not attack APPO, APPO attacked the police. As a resident of Oaxaca I have been watching APPO/police interactions the only time that you don't see police patrolling Oaxaca is when APPO is marching.

Yes, I agree that Ruiz needs to go but it seems to fail to understand that APPO is out of control. The fact that APPO is a human right organization does not give the license to not report the truth.

AUDIO de oaxaca

Julio 2007:
Transmisiones de Radio por internet en emergencia desde Oaxaca, tras nueva masacre
escucha la Comuna radial transmitiendo en vivo desde oaxaca

* Radio Disturbio

* Radio Plantón

* Radio Escopeta

Hungarian politician comes out

Szetey Gabor, a member of Hungary's Socialist Party, has broken convention by becoming the first governing politician in Hungary to come out as gay.

Gabor stepped from the closet Thursday night as he opened the 12th Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Film and Cultural Festival in Budapest.

Gabor said in his speech: "I am the personnel state secretary of the government of the Republic of Hungary. I believe in God, love, freedom and equality. I am Hungarian and European. I am an economist and a personnel leader. I am a partner, a friend, sometimes an opponent. And I am gay."

His announcement came on the same day as junior coalition member the Alliance of Free Democrats announced it will ask for same-sex unions to be legalized.

He has been working as a state secretary at the prime minister's office since last July. His inspirational announcement provoked a terse response from his peers. Tibor Navracsics, parliamentary caucus leader of main right-of-center opposition party Fidesz, said his party considered Gabor's sexuality a private matter.

The 38-year-old politician admitted it took him 28 years to accept his sexuality. It was a topic he was unable to discuss with his now deceased mother.

Gabor hopes his public coming out will make it easier for other Hungarians to do the same. He is the second Hungarian politician to come out publicly after Klara Ungar, a member of the liberal party SZDSZ.

Hungary is one of the more progressive Eastern European countries, but while Budapest has a functioning gay scene, the country still has a long way to go.

Common-law same-sex marriage was approved by the country's parliament by a wide margin in May 1996. This is best described as a halfway house to same-sex marriage. Inheritance, widow's pension and immigrant rights are possible but not automatic.

Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany avoided firm answers when asked by reporters Wednesday whether Socialists supported the introduction of registered life partnerships.

"One of the most delicate social questions is how we adapt to changes," Gyurcsany said.

Hungary is the host country of the forthcoming Mr. Gay Europe contest and the Olympic Games for Transgender in 2007.

Hungary: Anti-Gay Protesters Throw Eggs, Smoke Bombs At Budapest Gay Rights Marchers

Several hundred skinheads and right-wing activists threw rotten eggs and smoke bombs at people participating in a gay rights parade in Hungary's capital Saturday.

Police detained several of the protesters and tried to disperse the rest, some of whom threw beer bottles at police. No injuries were reported.

Members of the Movement For A Better Hungary and the Hungarian National Front said they were angry about two recent developments.

On Thursday, Gabor Szetey, a state secretary in the prime minister's office, announced he was gay while the smaller party in the Socialist-led ruling coalition said it would seek to legalize gay marriages.

Some 2,000 people participated in Saturday's march, which took place over several kilometers, from Heroes' Square to the foot of one of the bridges over the Danube River.

Violence at Croatian Gay Pride march

ZAGREB - Police said they arrested eight people on Saturday after violence marred a Gay Pride march through the centre of the Croatian capital Zagreb.

Organisers said more than 20 marchers had been the target of homophobic attacks. "Around 10 people were hurt, with two needing medical treatment," Marko Jurcic, one of the organisers, told AFP.

Italian senator Gianpaolo Silvestri was in one of the groups attacked, but was unhurt, Jurcic said.

Police said the eight arrests were for threatening behaviour towards the marchers.

"Five of them were carrying what appeared to be Molotov cocktails, but the contents of the bottles they were carrying has yet to be analysed," police spokesman Marina Burazer said.

Earlier, around 200 homosexuals braved the jeers of onlookers to take part in the annual Gay Pride march through Zagreb to back demands for gay rights.

The marchers were protected by almost as many police as they made their way through the city centre, jeered and taunted by around 20 youths.

The leaders of the city's gay and lesbian association said they faced rejection, discrimination, job dismissals and physical assault in Croatia, whose population of 4.4 million is nearly 90 percent Roman Catholic.

The Croatian parliament passed legislation giving limited recognition for same-sex unions in 2003.

Robo-toilets proposed to stop 'gay' cruising

Mayor: 'Homosexuals ... engaging in sex, anonymous sex, illegal sex'

---

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle says his city has a problem with "homosexual activity" in public restrooms and he has a plan to stop it – robotic toilets that allow occupants to stay inside for only a short time before the door automatically opens.

"We're trying to provide a family environment where people can take their children who need to use the bathroom without having to worry about a couple of men in there engaged in a sex act," Naugle told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The $250,000 self-cleaning robo-johns have been installed in San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta and New York. The modular units play music and can be accessed for a fee or for free, depending on each city's policies.

Fort Lauderdale police officials said male sex in public restrooms is no longer a problem, but Naugle insists the practice persists and has used recent public meetings and e-mails to constituents to raise the issue.

Public restrooms are pickup places for "homosexuals. ... They're engaging in sex, anonymous sex, illegal sex," he said.

Naugle said the proposed location for the city's first experimental unit is "the rainbow parking lot" at a local beach considered by some to be the area's "gay beach."

"The homosexual newspaper said it's the 'gay parking lot.' That's not me saying that," Naugle told the Sun-Sentinel, "that's what they said. I don't use the word 'gay.' I use the word 'homosexual.' Most of them aren't gay. They're unhappy."

Dean Trantalis, an openly homosexual former member of the City Commission who served with Naugle for three years, welcomes the restrooms at the beach but said the decision should not be made based on whether they will be used for sexual activity.

"I'm not an expert on public toilet sex," said Trantalis, "but there are those who would say one minute would be enough. Or 30 seconds."

If approved by the City Commission, the timed toilets will be paid for with property-tax funds.

Cat survives 3 weeks crossing ocean

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — A cat whose owners thought was lost spent nearly three weeks crossing the Pacific Ocean in a shipping container with no food or water—and appears to be just fine.

The voyage began after Pamela Escamilla lost sight of her 3-year-old calico, Spice, while packing a huge container with household goods in Waikoloa Village, Hawaii.

The container was shipped June 15 to Southern California. Escamilla, 39, and her husband couldn't find the cat before taking their flight and asked neighbors in Hawaii to call if Spice returned.

While the Escamillas feared the worst, Spice spent 18 days in the pitch-black container without food or water as it crossed the Pacific before arriving at the San Bernardino home of Escamilla's parents on Tuesday.

"We really thought that cat was going to be dead," said Edward Gardner, Escamilla's father.

When Escamilla opened the container, she and family members huddled around her noticed fluffs of cat hair on the floor.

They started removing items, and Escamilla climbed into the container to search.

"I saw (Spice) poke her head out from behind some bicycles, and I started to scream," said Escamilla. She gently picked up the cat and went to the veterinarian, who said the feline's prognosis was good.

"It's always a good day when the cat's alive," said Escamilla. "We didn't know what we would find."

Spice's kidneys had shrunk and her bowels were backed up, but she managed to get some food and water down at the vet, Escamilla said. The vet gave the Escamillas a soup recipe for Spice made of chicken broth and marrow. The vet said: "That's a calico for you, they have a survival instinct."

World Bank Official Linked to Opus Dei 'Fought' Contraception

Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)

A senior World Bank official with alleged links to Opus Dei reportedly removed all references to contraception in the bank's program for Madagascar.
Media reports indicate that El Salvadorean, Juan Jose Daboub, ordered staff to remove all references to family planning from its country assistance program document for Madagascar.
Specific targets relating to contraception were also deleted from the document. The original draft committed the Bank to work to increase contraception uptake from 14 per cent in 2004 to 20 per cent; the final document contained no goal.
Mr Daboub was appointed by the World Bank president, Paul Wolfowitz, and has been the focus of opposition from bank staff.
In the past, the World Bank has championed the sexual and reproductive rights of women. Wolfowitz is being accused of undermining the bank's commitment to women's health by appointing the El Salvadorian Catholic.
Mr Daboub's intervention was reportedly revealed through a leaked email from the country program co-ordinator at the bank, Lilia Burunciuc, who warned that the absence of family planning policies would be a problem because Madagascar had specifically asked for them. Mr Daboub has defended himself, saying the bank's policies had not changed, and Mr Wolfowitz also said there was no change.
Mr Daboub is the former finance minister of El Salvador and a member of the Arena party, which is close to the Catholic church. It is said he is a member of Opus Dei.

Nigeria: Mend Ends Truce With FG - Five Oil Workers Kidnapped

Vanguard (Lagos)
5 July 2007

Hector Igbikiowubo, George Onah & Jimitota Onoyume - Port Harcourt

THE Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), yesterday, announced the end of its month-long suspension of attacks on oil installations in the area, called to allow talks with the new government.
Simultaneously, militants attacked rig two in Soku community, belonging to Shell and abducted five expatriate workers: a Venezuelan, two New Zealanders, an Australian and a Lebanese.

"We have decided to put an end to the truce," the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in an email.
The group announced the truce on June 3, but said it would resume attacks after a month if certain conditions were not met.
These include the release of two detained Niger Delta separatist leaders, Mujahid Asari Dokubo, jailed since 2005, and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, the former governor of Bayelsa State.
Asari Dokubo was released by the Federal High Court, Abuja on June 14 for "health reasons", but MEND spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, said in the email: "After the release of Asari, nothing else has happened."
There were now "more serious" issues which "foster militancy" in the oil-rich region, the statement said, "such as the theft of our resources and the enslavement of the people of the delta.
"The military has continued to murder unarmed civilians with impunity and there are countless indigenes of the delta still in jail without trial. We cannot afford to remain silent in the face of all this," it said.
The truce was called soon after President Umaru Yar'Adua took power on May 29. MEND said it wanted to give the new administration time to work towards a "just peace" in the Niger Delta.
"So far, we have little cause to think that Yar'Adua will be entirely different from the previous government. It is too early for him to be trusted," Jomo Gbomo said.
The Rivers State police command confirmed the latest abduction, saying the affected persons were picked up along the waterways of Soku Community in the early hours of the day.
Contacted, a high-ranking official of MEND, who gave his name as Comrade Johnson Dagger-Point said: "When the government is ready to talk with us, we will be ready to listen. What they are talking about now is certainly not about the sufferings in the creeks, fishing ports, villages and our towns.
Dagger-Point's identity could not be verified because his phone number was not displayed but he, however, warned that the "demands of MEND to the Federal Government have not been fully met. Until these demands are fully met, we shall continue to wage war against the government to the end."

He did not disclose what the outstanding demands were but simply said: "We will not repeat ourselves any more."
A security source told Vanguard that the Joint Task Force (JTF) team had deployed gun boats in the area. This was coming barely a day after two Naval personnel reportedly met their end on the high sea in the hands of a dreaded cult group. According to the Director, Navy Information, Captain Obiora Medani, the militants in about 12 speed boats opened fire on a single Naval boat. He said two of his men had been missing since after the attack
This was coming a few days after the visit of Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to the state to specifically appeal to militants to cease hostilities in the region for meaningful development to be recorded in the area.

Baghdad Orphanage Horror

Young Iraqi boys, some tied to their cribs, lie on the floor at a Baghdad orphanage on June 10, 2007, after they were discovered by U.S. and Iraqi soldiers. A total of 24 naked and abused boys, ages 3 to 15 years old, were found in a darkened room without any windows. Many of the children were too weak to stand once released. A locked room full of food and clothing was found nearby.

A young boy lies on the floor tethered to his crib in an orphanage in Baghdad's Fajr neighborhood after it was raided by U.S. and Iraqi soldiers who discovered a total of 24 naked and abused boys, ages 3 to 15 years old, in a darkened room without any windows. After initially being treated by Army medics, the boys were transported to a nearby hospital for further treatment.

Three naked and abused orphans lie on a cement floor in a Baghdad orphanage that was raided by U.S. and Iraqi soldiers on June 10, 2007. The soldiers found a total of 24 malnourished boys between the ages of 3 and 15. In May, according to sources, the boys had been removed from a coed orphanage located in Atafiyah by order of the Ministry of Health because they believed the boys and girls should not live together.

Several boys lie in a sparse, filthy room after they were discovered by U.S. and Iraqi Army forces on June 10, 2007. The soldiers found 24 naked and abused boys, ages 3 to 15, in the darkened room without any windows. The Ministry of Health moved them to this orphanage that allegedly doubled as a brothel operated by several men, sources said. Some men fled when Iraqi and Coalition Forces arrived.

Soldiers provide medical care to boys discovered naked and abused in a Baghdad orphanage on June 10, 2007. Soldiers found 24 severely malnourished boys, some tied to their beds, in the orphanage, yet there was a room full of food and clothing nearby.

Some of the boys, ages 3 to 15, are seen after they were discovered in a Baghdad orphanage. Members of the Fajr Neighborhood Advisory Council vowed to take action and ensure the boys were properly cared for in the future.

U.S. and Iraqi soldiers load an orphan onto an ambulance for transport to a Baghdad hospital after finding 24 naked and abused boys, ages 3 to 15 years old, in a darkened room without any windows at a Baghdad orphanage. Many of the children were tied to their beds and were too weak to stand once released. A room full of food and clothing that could have aided the children was found nearby.

A hospital worker hands juice boxes to some of the 24 boys found by U.S. and Iraqi military personnel on June 10, 2007, naked and abused in a Baghdad orphanage. Sources who checked on the boys on June 11 reported that they were in better health and spirits. The boys will stay at another orphanage temporarily until they can be moved to Karbala where they will live under the care of social services.

Some of the 24 severely malnourished and abused boys found by U.S. and Iraqi Army soldiers at a Baghdad orphanage drink juice after they were taken to a nearby hospital for care in this photo provided to CBS.

Two men thought to be guards at the orphange are seen in this photo obtained by CBS News. Three women claiming to be caretakers were also found at the site.

The soldiers found kitchen shelves packed with food in the stock room. Instead of giving it to the boys, the soldiers believe it was being sold to local markets.

A woman working at an orphanage smiles for pictures in front of the naked boys as if there was nothing wrong. She and another female worker have disappeared. (all Photos: CBS)

Interview with deported roma family in Peje / (Kosova/o)

A young women talks about the deportation from germany to Kosova.
She jumped from a 2. floor window to escape the police.

Interview mit einer aus Deutschland abgeschobenen Familie in den Kosovo.
Die junge Ftau sprang damals aus einem Fenster im 2. Stock um der Abschiebung zu entgehen.

Audio: Indymedia Dance Remix

Thousands march for Gay Pride in Tel Aviv

Thousands of gays, lesbians and activists marched and partied at the annual Gay Pride parade and beach bash on Friday hosted by Israel's commercial capital Tel Aviv.

Participants walked and danced in a carnival atmosphere from the central Rabin Square to a strip of downtown Mediterranean beach to hear DJs, musical acts, performance artists and local singing stars.

Police put attendance at 10,000 and reported no serious incident, despite threatened disruption from right-wing and religious opponents of the parade, which has been organised in liberal Tel Aviv by its municipality since 1998.

Mike Hamel, who chairs the national association of gay, lesbian and bi community in Israel, hoped that tens of thousands would attend what he called "sand, sun and lots of fun" twined to a meaningful political rally.

"It's an empowering experience. It's uplifting and at the same time it's meaningful. It's not just a party. It's not just music and fun. It's a political rally talking about human rights," he told AFP.

A handful of opponents, kept behind police barricades, hurled insults at the participants walking past largely oblivious. "God hates debauchery," was written on placards that they waved in anger.

The parade came two days after parliament passed, in a preliminary reading, a bill that would allow Jerusalem municipality to ban such parades -- those "which would hurt public order, public feelings or for religious reasons."

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, one of whose daughters is openly lesbian, is opposed to the initiative -- which needs to pass three more readings to become law.

Last year, a much-delayed Gay Pride parade through the streets of Jerusalem was scrapped and instead held under tight security at a stadium after violent protests by ultra-Orthodox Jews and denunciations by other religious leaders.

During a 2005 Gay Pride event in the Holy City, an ultra-Orthodox Jew stabbed and wounded three participants, and was later jailed for 12 years.

Movie series shows gay films, before and after the Code

By Robert W. Butler

The Kansas City Star

Homosexuals have always played a creative role in Hollywood. But gay stories almost never made it to celluloid.

Or did they?

On Monday, Turner Classic Movies cable channel began "Screened Out," an ambitious series on how American movies from 1912-70 dealt with homosexuality. Forty-four films, ranging from rarely seen silent features to mainstream hits, will be shown starting at 5 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays throughout June. (For a complete schedule, go to www.tcm.com.)

"What people don't realize is that 77 years ago homosexual themes were considered viable enough to be part of mainstream entertainment," said Richard Barrios, whose 2005 book "Screened Out" is the basis for the series. "I think it's going to open a lot of eyes."

But all that stopped in 1934 with the adoption of the Motion Picture Production Code, which set standards so strict that for 20 years thereafter movie married couples had to sleep in twin beds. Any open mention of homosexuality was forbidden.

"Screened Out" looks at films made before and after the code. They cover lots of territory, from early sound comedies featuring "sissy boys" ("Our Betters") to decadent, gender-bending costume melodramas dripping with lurid sex and violence (Cecil B. DeMille's "The Sign of the Cross").

From the '50s there are social dramas such as "Tea and Sympathy" that take a veiled approach to homosexuality (effeminate young men aren't gay, they're "sensitive"). The thaw that began in the late '60s is represented by such movies as "The Fox" and "The Boys in the Band" that capitalized on new artistic freedom to unambiguously depict homosexuality.

Barrios not only chose the films for the series but also did on-camera commentaries with TCM host Robert Osborne for more than 30 of them.

It's easy to see the potential for gay content in a movie such as 1955's "Women's Prison." But Garbo's "Queen Christina"? Or "Gilda" and "The Maltese Falcon"?

"Yeah, I've had people come up to me and say, 'What was gay about that movie?" ' Barrios said from his home outside Philadelphia. "And other people get it instantly. They're like, 'Ohhh, yeah.' "

Losing the meaning

That's because for much of Hollywood's so-called Golden Age, gay themes and attitudes could be expressed only between the lines.

"Filmmakers couldn't be literal in dealing with certain subjects, so they had to create a text more open to interpretation," said Thom Poe, film historian and chairman of the University of Missouri — Kansas City communications department. "As a result, the vast majority of people were able to watch these movies and not recognize what they were really about."

The irony, Poe said, was that Hollywood was always taking material from Broadway and then bowdlerizing it until it lost much of its meaning.

"Take a movie like 'The Children's Hour,' " Poe said. "Watching the play, it was obviously about a lesbian relationship. But you can watch the movie and never figure out what's going on. Or 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.' In the play, Brick is dealing with his homosexual feelings. But the movie had to sidestep that."

Making "Screened Out" special is the breadth of its material. Not content to recycle films in the Turner library, Barrios went looking for movies that are hardly seen today.

"We're leading off with this silent movie from 1912, 'Algie, the Miner,' that we had to go to the Library of Congress to get."

"Algie" is a comedy about an effeminate tenderfoot who goes out West to make his fortune and win his girl.

Until the adoption of the Production Code, American movies were getting racier and racier. Released just before the code went into effect, "The Sign of the Cross" was about the persecution of the early Christians. It contained a gay Nero and a lesbian dance that Barrios calls "jaw dropping."

Another pre-code title, 1929's "The Broadway Melody," was a backstage romance that featured a clearly gay costume designer.

But with the code, gay messages had to be camouflaged.

"In 'Sylvia Scarlett' you have Katharine Hepburn posing as a boy, and Brian Aherne is being drawn to this boy and not really understanding why," Barrios said. "Straight audiences might read that one way; gay audiences saw it in an entirely different light."

"Sissy cowboy" problem

Some movies got away. Barrios couldn't strike a deal to show Hitchcock's "Rope" (with two college students, obviously gay lovers, killing a friend) and "Strangers on a Train" (two men discuss a deal in which each would kill the other's wife). He was unable to find a print of the 1930 Western comedy "The Dude Wrangler."

"You've got this sissy cowboy and the poster announces, 'Oh, my Dear!' which became a gay catchphrase."

One of the last films in the series is 1970's "The Boys in the Band," a study of a group of gay men. It was a big-studio film that exploited the new post-code openness.

The problem, Barrios said, is that the film is overflowing with gay self-loathing, with one character saying, "You show me a happy homosexual and I'll show you a gay corpse."

"In places like New York and San Francisco gay consciousness had been raised so quickly [after Stonewall] that the movie was already seen as a throwback to the bad old days," Barrios said. "Still, in places like Kansas City, people found a window on a new world."

Some of the films, he admits, are artistically suspect.

"But you can learn as much from flops and stinkers as you do from 'Brokeback Mountain.' "

Some of the films present negative images of gays. Many current films aren't much better, Barrios said.

"Even today you get something like 'Wild Hogs' with lots of stupid gay jokes and stereotypes."

Growing pains set in

So, what's the current state of gays in film?

Filmmakers today are free to depict homosexual characters as they choose. But they rarely take advantage of that freedom to make artistic statements, according to Jamie Rich, executive director of the Kansas City Gay and Lesbian Film and Video Festival.

"You can have gay characters finally be real," Rich said. "No longer does a gay character have to be panicked about being gay. No longer must he be portrayed as a weird outsider."

On the other hand, Rich said, "in this country we want to see the stock characters telling the same stories over and over again. Hollywood does it, and gay cinema is no different."

Gay cinema is going through significant growing pains, according to Corey Scholibo, entertainment editor of The Advocate, the national gay and lesbian magazine.

"Gay cinema has evolved beyond gayness being the singular point," Scholibo said. "The coming-out story is over.

"I'm trying to expand the idea of what a gay sensibility is. 'The Devil Wears Prada' may be the gayest movie of last year. 'Ugly Betty' is the gayest TV show out there. But they're not specifically about gay people."

Rich said that while he doesn't miss censorship, he does miss the sort of secret bond between filmmaker and audience that existed at the time of the Production Code.

"What made gay audiences such avid movie watchers was they were constantly examining movies for things that meant something to them," Rich said. "You'd watch Doris Day in her Calamity Jane outfit singing about her secret love ... gay people really identified with that.

"There was pleasure in being able to decipher the code."

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company

Heiligendamm = far from Justice (Gerechtigkeit)