Breaking News Events

[Corkey]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110327/...discrimination

SCOTUS to take up Wal-Mart discrimination case on Tuesday.

[Blade]

Originally Posted by Corkey

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110327/...discrimination

SCOTUS to take up Wal-Mart discrimination case on Tuesday.

Walmart discriminate? WOW imagine the concept....butt holes! I'm glad they have enough complaints for a possible class action. You almost never win a single case, and if you do you've spent your winnings on lawyers. All you have is satisfaction. Course satisfaction what's important, if money is no object and you can afford to fight it single handed.

[AtLast]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...fi-forces.html

[betenoire]

Originally Posted by AtLastHome

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...fi-forces.html

Has there been any update to this? I mean, was anybody able to follow them? I'm really bothered not knowing what happened to her.

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by betenoire

Has there been any update to this? I mean, was anybody able to follow them? I'm really bothered not knowing what happened to her.

Me, too- I'm searching for some answers. Last thing I read was that she was in a mental health facility.

OK- just edited post to post this-

Tobruk, Libya (CNN) -- Aysha Ahmed and Attique Saleh lived in silence for more than four decades under the ironfisted rule of Moammar Gadhafi. But not anymore. Not after they watched their daughter manhandled and dragged away from a Tripoli hotel.

Eman al-Obeidy's parents told CNN Tuesday they are no longer afraid to publicly condemn the Libyan strongman, an act that would have been unthinkable just weeks ago.

If Gadhafi were to face Ahmed now, she would slap him, she told CNN Tuesday.

Al-Obeidy burst into the hotel housing international journalists in Tripoli Saturday and told them she had been raped by 15 militia men. Cameras captured the drama as al-Obeidy, sobbing and screaming, wanted the world to know the brutality of Gadhafi's regime.


Rape suspects accuse woman of slander
The Libyan government said al-Obeidy has been freed and that a criminal case is underway. The men accused of raping al-Obeidy have filed counter-charges for slander, Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said Tuesday.

But Ahmed contradicted the government, saying the government was still detaining her daughter, in an interview in the eastern city of Tobruk. She said she wanted Gadhafi to air footage of al-Obeidy as proof of her safety.
Ahmed said she cannot forgive the grave injustice her daughter has suffered.

She said the family has even received phone calls offering bribes to reject their daughter's claims and to tell their daughter to change her story.

But they stand by her. They believe that Gadhafi's regime is trying to discredit her as a woman who has been raped and -- as some people in conservative Muslim societies believe -- therefore dishonored.

An in-absentia engagement ceremony held at a mosque in Tobruk Monday night proves that al-Obeidy's family and tribe stand by her, Ahmed said.

She described her daughter, 29, as a kind, caring woman who wanted to be a journalist. She chose to study law instead when she realized there was no freedom of the press in her homeland.

The government first portrayed al-Obeidy as mentally ill and a prostitute. It has since changed its story, saying she is sane and therefore able to withstand legal proceedings.

She also harbored a deep love of languages, particularly Italian and French, Ahmed said. As a young girl, she looked out over the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean and called on the oil tankers to carry her to France.

A government spokesman said Sunday that al-Obeidy had been released and was with her family.
Moussa Ibrahim said then that al-Obeidy and her family were asked if they wanted to be interviewed by "one or two, preferably female, reporters to verify that she's fine, she's healthy, she's free with her family."

He refused to take further questions on the issue, repeatedly stating that Libyan society is "very conservative."

A group of lawyers and human rights activists tried to approach al-Obeidy's sister's house Monday, but were blocked by security forces. The sister's mobile phone has apparently been turned off, a source with the opposition in Tripoli told CNN, and no one has seen her since the incident at the hotel.

Ahmed said she was also concerned for the safety of her other daughter.

Al-Obeidy stormed into the Rixos Hotel as international journalists were having breakfast Saturday morning. Her face was bruised. So were her legs. She showed reporters blood on her right inner thigh.

Speaking in English, she said had been held against her will for two days and raped by 15 men.

Though her injuries appeared consistent with what she said, CNN could not independently verify al-Obeidy's story.

"Look at what Gadhafi's brigades did to me," she said. "My honor was violated by them." Al-Obeidy displayed what appeared to be visible rope burns on her wrists and ankles.

Government officials tried to stifle her, but she persisted. Security forces moved to subdue her, and even a member of the hotel's kitchen staff drew a knife. "Traitor!" he shouted. Another staffer tried to throw a dark tablecloth over her head.

One government official, who was there to facilitate access for journalists, pulled a pistol from his belt. Others scuffled with reporters and wrestled them to the ground in an attempt to take away their equipment. Some journalists were beaten and kicked. CNN's camera was confiscated and deliberately smashed beyond repair.

As security forces subdued the screaming woman and dragged her away, al-Obeidy warned, "If you don't see me tomorrow, then that's it."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa...ase/index.html

[betenoire]

Witness to Rape: The Resistance of Eman al-Obeidi

according to one of the comments officials want her charged with treason and executed. jesus.

[Greyson]

Obama calls for deep cuts in U.S. oil imports

By Alister Bull and Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama set an ambitious goal on Wednesday to cut U.S. oil imports by a third over 10 years, taking up a challenge that eluded previous U.S. leaders, as high gasoline prices threaten to undermine the country's economic recovery.

Obama outlined his strategy in a speech after spending days explaining U.S.-led military action in Libya, where fighting, accompanied by unrest elsewhere in the Arab world, has helped push U.S. gasoline prices toward $4 a gallon.

"There are no quick fixes...And we will keep on being a victim to shifts in the oil market until we get serious about a long-term policy for secure, affordable energy," Obama said.

In his speech to roll out a blueprint on energy security that directly acknowledged the "big concern" caused by fuel prices, Obama said the country must curb dependence on foreign oil that makes up roughly half of its daily fuel needs.

But previous presidents have made similar promises on energy imports and failed. And any new policy initiatives can expect tough opposition from Republicans who control the House of Representatives and see high energy prices hurting Democrats in the 2012 presidential and congressional elections.

Republicans have mocked the idea of Obama curbing oil imports a week after visiting Brazil, where he said the United states wanted to be a good customer for its oil exports.

Obama laid out four areas to help reach his target of curbing U.S. dependence on foreign oil: lifting domestic energy production, fostering the use of more natural gas in vehicles like city buses, making cars and trucks more efficient, and boosting alternative energy by encouraging biofuels.

"We cannot keep going from shock to trance on the issue of energy security, rushing to propose action when gas prices rise, then hitting the snooze button when they fall again," he told students at Georgetown University in Washington.

HARD SELL

Analysts and experts said Obama's goal is ambitious.

"All U.S. presidents since the early 1970s have outlined ambitious plans to reduce their reliance on imported oil," said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at the Banque Saudi Fransi.

Truly reforming U.S. energy use would involve sweeping changes, including possible fuel taxes to encourage Americans to change their habits, which could be politically toxic, analysts said.

Polls show Americans have mixed feelings about getting entangled in a third Muslim country, with the United States still engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they are clearly worried by high gas prices before the summer driving season.

The latest measures of consumer confidence have also been dented by rising energy prices, which sap household spending and could derail the U.S. recovery if prices stay high enough for a long time, hurting Obama's re-election prospects.

A Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday showed that 48 percent of American voters disapprove of Obama's job performance, and 50 percent think he does not deserve to be re-elected in 2012, compared with 42 percent who approve and 41 percent who feel he does deserve to be re-elected.

Those were his lowest ratings ever, Quinnipiac said.

The poll of 2,069 registered voters, conducted March 22-28, has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.

Some analysts reckon Obama may tap America's emergency oil stockpiles if U.S. oil prices hit $110 a barrel. Prices were hovering just over $104 a barrel in Wednesday's trade.

The United States consumed almost 20 million barrels of oil a day in 2010 of which roughly half was imported. Canada and Mexico are the country's two largest suppliers, followed by Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

The U.S. Interior Department estimates millions of acres (hectares) of U.S. energy leases are not being exploited by oil companies and the White House wants that to change.

This argument also helps the administration push back against Obama's Republican opponents, who claim he is tying the hands of the U.S. energy industry by denying leases and restricting offshore drilling in the wake of the 2010 BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/30/us-obama-energy-idUSTRE72S3C820110330?pageNumber=1

[Kobi]

I watched Obama's energy speech today. It aggravated me.
I am weary of politicians with lofty goals and no discernable
plan to reach them.

Just more bull caca in an effort to make Americans think he
is doing something when he is doing nothing but giving speeches,
increasing the deficit, and turning us into warmongers.

Obama is becoming more and more of a disappointment.

[Greyson]

April 4, 2011
Police Raid Shanghai Gay Bar and Detain More than 60

By ANDREW JACOBS

BEIJING—More than 60 patrons and employees at a gay bar in Shanghai were swept up in a police raid early Sunday morning and held for more 12 hours, according to the state media and several of those detained.

Shanghai Daily, a state-owned English language newspaper, said the police were investigating reports that a male go-go dancer had been performing a “pornographic” show at the bar, named Q Bar, which recently opened on the city’s revitalized historic waterfront.

A man answering the phone at the local police station where the detainees were held declined to answer questions on Monday evening.

The raid, which coincides with one of the most concerted government crackdowns on dissent in a decade, sent a chill through China’s burgeoning gay community, which in recent years has grown self-confident despite intermittent harassment from the authorities. Gay activists say they cannot recall an incident in which so many people were taken into custody in one fell swoop.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1997 and officially removed from a list of mental disorders in 2001 although it remains largely taboo, and invisible.

During the past two years, organizers in Shanghai have tried to stage a low-key gay pride festival, although on both occasions the authorities have ordered the last-minute cancellation of several events — including social mixers, film screenings and a play performance — without explanation.

After bursting into the bar shortly after 1 a.m. on Sunday, the police allowed foreign patrons to leave but took almost everyone else to the Xiaodongmen police station, where they were photographed, questioned and held without food or water until the following afternoon, a number of those detained said.

A few complained of rough treatment and at least one man said he was told to sign a statement saying the performers had danced lewdly— a statement he said was false. “They asked me whether the dancer wore transparent underwear and if people were putting money in his underwear,” another man, who gave his name as Xiaobai, said in a phone interview Monday.

News of the raid quickly spread on microblogs, partly fed by indignant postings from those who had been detained. “What law have we broken just drinking at a bar?” one man asked in a posting after his release. “If there was any problem with the bar, why let it operate in the first place?”


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/world/asia/05shanghai.html?ref=world

[Corkey]

Because the US has no standing in how it treats LGBTQA people, what makes us think China will not take a que from official policy of the US.
We have to keep working for our rights here and through out the international community.

[Tommi]

Nashhville and Beyond Tornado: Violent Storms Pass Through Middle Tennessee, West. Kentucky, Miss.
At least two tornadoes and one funnel cloud have passed through the Nashville area, according to reports received by the National Weather Service.

Today 1:54 PM Tornado Warnings Still In Affect TN, Kentucky, LA,
Tornado warnings are still in affect for some counties in Tennessee, though have since expired for Nashville/Davidson County. Find the latest warnings here.

The Tennessean reported that the first tornado was spotted one mile west of Nashville's CoolSprings Mall at about 2:10 p.m. local time. The second was nearby Dickson, west of Nashville. A funnel cloud was seen five miles southeast of Nashville.

The Weather Channel tweeted this picture with the caption, "Multiple trees snapped in this photo from Nashville, TN. Indication of a tornado."

More than 68,000 are without power, the Nashville Electric Service posted on its website.

Follow live updates here*

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by Tommi

Nashhville and Beyond Tornado: Violent Storms Pass Through Middle Tennessee, West. Kentucky, Miss.
At least two tornadoes and one funnel cloud have passed through the Nashville area, according to reports received by the National Weather Service.

Today 1:54 PM Tornado Warnings Still In Affect TN, Kentucky, LA,
Tornado warnings are still in affect for some counties in Tennessee, though have since expired for Nashville/Davidson County. Find the latest warnings here.

The Tennessean reported that the first tornado was spotted one mile west of Nashville's CoolSprings Mall at about 2:10 p.m. local time. The second was nearby Dickson, west of Nashville. A funnel cloud was seen five miles southeast of Nashville.

The Weather Channel tweeted this picture with the caption, "Multiple trees snapped in this photo from Nashville, TN. Indication of a tornado."

More than 68,000 are without power, the Nashville Electric Service posted on its website.

Follow live updates here*

Yikes! I hope our members in that area are OK.

[AtLast]

Libyan woman who claimed rape by government troops says she gets death threats
Associated Press

NEW YORK - A Libyan woman who says she is the person who burst into a Tripoli hotel to tell foreign journalists that she had been gang raped by Moammar Gadhafi's troops has told a CNN interviewer that she is out of custody but is receiving death threats from regime thugs.

CNN said it was confident that the woman they interviewed Monday is in fact Iman al-Obeidi, who made headlines on March 26 when she was dragged away from the hotel by government agents as she screamed her allegations of rape.

The CNN interviewer, Anderson Cooper, says the network could not be certain that the woman they spoke to is al-Obeidi, but they were satisfied that it was her from their research and from the testimony of people who had seen her at the hotel.

She tells CNN that "Yes, yes, I want to leave Tripoli. In the middle of the night I get nightmares, and they are constantly threatening me, to kill me."

[AtLast]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/...en?sc=fb&cc=fp

An NPR piece (also video) on Iman al-Obeidi.

[Jess]

April 06,2011



President Obama appointed Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz as the chair of the Democratic National Committee on Tuesday, making her the first female to hold the position in over 15 years and just the third to hold it in history.
Wasserman has been an invaluable ally to the LGBT community throughout her political career. She was a founding member of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus and has spoken out for diverse causes such as the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the repeal of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and federal funding for HIV/AIDS programs. Last year, Wasserman also won a Voice for Equality award from Equality Florida. The organization’s executive director Nadine Smith describes her as “an absolute champion” with a “fighting spirit.” In her acceptance speech for the award, Wasserman reaffirmed her commitment to LGBT people and issues. “Without equality, we do not live up to our greatest potential as a nation. … We must remember the importance of action and continue to advocate equality for all.” She served eight years in the Florida House and four years in the state Senate, and became a congresswoman in 2005.
Wasserman was chosen to chair the DNC on account of her strength as a fundraiser, her media messaging abilities, and her influence in the crucial swing state of Florida, according to Politico. “In selecting Debbie to lead our party, President Obama noted her tenacity, her strength, her fighting spirit and her ability to overcome adversity,” Vice President Joe Biden told the committee’s members. Former DNC Chairman Dan Fowler described her as “a strong, very bright, aggressive, talented person who has made her mark in Congress in a few short years like almost nobody else has done.”
Wasserman will succeed Tim Kaine, who plans to run for a Virginia Senate seat. GLAAD applauds President Obama’s decision to choose Representative Wasserman Schultz and congratulates her on this achievement.

[Corkey]

Women get ski jumping in 2014 Olympics. Only 1 event but it's a start.

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by Corkey

Women get ski jumping in 2014 Olympics. Only 1 event but it's a start.

YES!!! This is great- can't wait to see this!

[MsDemeanor]

Originally Posted by Jess

April 06,2011



President Obama appointed Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz as the chair of the Democratic National Committee

I adore her, and am thrilled by this news.

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by Jess

April 06,2011



President Obama appointed Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz as the chair of the Democratic National Committee on Tuesday, making her the first female to hold the position in over 15 years and just the third to hold it in history.
Wasserman has been an invaluable ally to the LGBT community throughout her political career. She was a founding member of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus and has spoken out for diverse causes such as the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the repeal of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and federal funding for HIV/AIDS programs. Last year, Wasserman also won a Voice for Equality award from Equality Florida. The organization’s executive director Nadine Smith describes her as “an absolute champion” with a “fighting spirit.” In her acceptance speech for the award, Wasserman reaffirmed her commitment to LGBT people and issues. “Without equality, we do not live up to our greatest potential as a nation. … We must remember the importance of action and continue to advocate equality for all.” She served eight years in the Florida House and four years in the state Senate, and became a congresswoman in 2005.
Wasserman was chosen to chair the DNC on account of her strength as a fundraiser, her media messaging abilities, and her influence in the crucial swing state of Florida, according to Politico. “In selecting Debbie to lead our party, President Obama noted her tenacity, her strength, her fighting spirit and her ability to overcome adversity,” Vice President Joe Biden told the committee’s members. Former DNC Chairman Dan Fowler described her as “a strong, very bright, aggressive, talented person who has made her mark in Congress in a few short years like almost nobody else has done.”
Wasserman will succeed Tim Kaine, who plans to run for a Virginia Senate seat. GLAAD applauds President Obama’s decision to choose Representative Wasserman Schultz and congratulates her on this achievement.

Fantastic choice!!

[Jesse]

Quake hit Japan today, 7.4 This was only moments ago. It is actually still considered an aftershock. Tsunami warning issued.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42473172...s-asiapacific/