Category Archives: human rights

Kansas anti-gay segregation bill is an abomination.

If that sounds overblown, consider the bill itself. When passed, the new law will allow any individual, group, or private business to refuse to serve gay couples if “it would be contrary to their sincerely held religious beliefs.” Private employers can continue to fire gay employees on account of their sexuality. Stores may deny gay couples goods and services because they are gay. Hotels can eject gay couples or deny them entry in the first place. Businesses that provide public accommodations—movie theaters, restaurants—can turn away gay couples at the door. And if a gay couple sues for discrimination, they won’t just lose; they’ll be forced to pay their opponent’s attorney’s fees. As I’ve noted before, anti-gay businesses might as well put out signs alerting gay people that their business isn’t welcome.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to barring all anti-discrimination lawsuits against private employers, the new law permits government employees to deny service to gays in the name of “religious liberty.” This is nothing new, but the sweep of Kansas’ statute is breathtaking. Any government employee is given explicit permission to discriminate against gay couples—not just county clerks and DMV employees, but literally anyone who works for the state of Kansas. If a gay couple calls the police, an officer may refuse to help them if interacting with a gay couple violates his religious principles. State hospitals can turn away gay couples at the door and deny them treatment with impunity. Gay couples can be banned from public parks, public pools, anything that operates under the aegis of the Kansas state government.

via Kansas anti-gay segregation bill is an abomination..

MAJOR FAiL! Lebanon issues jail sentence for tweet insulting president – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

Assy added that he wrote his famous tweets “because he felt provoked after the army was attacked in Arsal.”

“My brother is a soldier, and I felt that the president was not playing his role to protect the army. On the contrary, he sent people to negotiate with the army’s attackers. I am not saying insults are the right way to go, but why insist on trying me when people who are publicly inciting murder and bloodshed of the innocent are left alone? Why is the government afraid of the tweets of Ahmad al-Assir and Fadel Shaker, but is acting all tough on my tweets? Why is the president preoccupied with my case, while he has much bigger fish to fry that is of concern to the Lebanese? I am an ideal citizen. I don’t even have a speeding ticket, and I have never broken the law. I will not accept to be imprisoned in the same cell as terrorist bombers,” Assy stated.

via Lebanon issues jail sentence for tweet insulting president – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

Paula Deen Plots $75M Comeback

“Interesting – racist to get support from firm whose CEO is Vice Chairman for the Phoenix Suns and an A Governor on the board of the National Basketball Association. So indirectly the NBA and Phoenix Suns will be investing in racism?”

Paula Deen has found a key ingredient to bringing some sizzle back to her career — a cash infusion worth at least $75 million from a private investment firm.

The Savannah-based celebrity cook announced Wednesday that she’s launched an umbrella company that will oversee her restaurants, cookbooks, product endorsements and other remaining slices of her media empire. The new company, called Paula Deen Ventures, said private-equity firm Najafi Companies is investing $75 million to $100 million to help Deen make a comeback.

Deen’s fortunes took a dive last year after comments she made under oath during proceedings in a lawsuit, namely that she had used racial slurs in the past, became public. The Food Network dropped Deen, as did pork producer Smithfield Foods, book publisher Ballantine and several other companies that paid her to endorse their products.

via Paula Deen Plots $75M Comeback.

Avian Flu Diary: Malaysian MOH Statement On Imported H7N9

We have met the enemy who will perhaps spread a world pandemic that may kill half or more of the human race – It is us!

Last month, in Start Spreading the Flus, we talked about the potential downsides of using antipyretic meds (ibuprofen, acetaminophen or paracetamol, etc) when experiencing flu-like symptoms, as they can lull one into going to work or school, or even on vacation, and end up exposing others to the virus.

In 2009, in Vietnam Discovers Passengers Beating Thermal Scanners we looked at reports of people using fever reducing meds to evade airline passenger screening during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.
When the bills have to be paid, a deadline has to be met, or a long-planned vacation is at risk, most people will try to find a way to fight through what they believe is a `minor’ viral infection.
And while penny wise and  pound foolish, society tends to reward perfect attendance and `toughing it out’ when sick, while punishing those who follow the advice of medical authorities to `stay home’ when sick.  All of which conspires to make it virtually impossible to stop even a moderately infectious respiratory virus from spreading rapidly in a susceptible population.

 

Avian Flu Diary: Malaysian MOH Statement On Imported H7N9.

Amazon CARES: Deforestation of Peru’s Rainforest Threatens The Amazon & The World

But now, the Romero Group, a wealthy and powerful conglomerate of several international corporations, has started to destroy the Amazon rainforest at an accelerated pace. They are planning to destroy as much as 43million acres (18 million hectares) of our forests, to create palm oil plantations.

via Amazon CARES: Deforestation of Peru’s Rainforest Threatens The Amazon & The World.

Top 10 states dependent on federal aid are Republican-led | Latina Lista

Oklahoma ranks seventh in the nation in its reliance on federal funding to supplement state revenue, according to calculations by State Treasurer Ken Miller.

Of each dollar spent by Oklahoma government during the 2011 fiscal year, more than 43 cents was provided by the federal government, Miller said in his latest Oklahoma Economic Report, released Friday.

Only six states relied more on federal funds. In Mississippi, almost 53 cents of every dollar spent came from the feds. At the other end of the spectrum, the federal government provided less than 10 cents of every dollar spent in Connecticut…

via Top 10 states dependent on federal aid are Republican-led | Latina Lista.

Tim’s El Salvador Blog: News drone covered El Salvador election

What’s that buzzing I hear as I line up to vote for president?   Last week El Salvador’s La Prensa Grafica newspaper and media outlet used a remote drone-mounted camera to provide scenes from El Salvador’s elections.  As reported on one website:

During El Salvador’s recent presidential elections, Salvadoran newspaper La Prensa Gráfica found a unique angle from the skies. LPG used a quadcopter to capture scenes on voting day as voters flocked to the polls in the Central American country. It’s fascinating to see drones find more acceptance in journalism, but the story also serves to highlight the fact that US journalists currently are barred from doing the same thing.

via Tim’s El Salvador Blog: News drone covered El Salvador election.

The Positive Futures Guide

Creating and sustaining the Positive Future you desire may well begin right here…

I have created the Positive Futures Guide to assist you in creating & sustaining a positive future for yourself, your family, organization, community, or the issue that fires your passion.

Ned Hamson (that’s me stuck into the photo above): Activist, Author, Researcher, Innovator, and Believer in creating Positive Futures Now is your Chief Guide here.

You may “guide” yourself with the content here at no charge. I’m offering these 30 plus years of experience creating and researching positive futures that “work and stick” to you as “payback” to the world for what thousands of people, animals and the earth taught me.

The practical “how to” tools and examples of how these tools, processes and methods have worked for others are all free for individual use. If you need, or want help, for-fee services are readily available here too.

Please see the articles matrix below to begin your journey.

via The Positive Futures Guide.

Lebanese inventor makes “alive” app for war-torn regions | Green Prophet

“I’m alive.” I’ve made that call, maybe you have too. That surreal statement instantly erases panic in whomever’s on the other end of the line.  It reconstructs a momentarily unglued world.

When I made that call, mobile phones were in their infancy, and landlines were choked by overloaded phone networks. Now a Lebanese woman has developed an app to let you get that most urgent message out loud and clear, “Hey, I am alive!”

Bombings are a frequent reality in Lebanon, and Syria, and Egypt, and Iraq. Sandra Hassan, a Lebanese-born graduate student studying abroad in Paris heard about a car bomb in a Beirut suburb; and the idea was hatched.

“It was a little bit frustrating that, in Lebanon at least, we’re living in a situation that makes such an application necessary or useful,” Hassan told National Public Radio in a recent interview. “My way to express that frustration was to publish this app, kind of as a statement against what was happening, a statement of discontent if you will.”

Lebanon was bombed several times in January, and Hassan said it was stressful trying to contact family and friends to check on their safety. So this student of public health decided to develop an app that allows users to quickly get the message out. With one click, using the internet and avoiding potentially disrupted phone networks, they can instantly tweet the message: “I am still alive!” using with the hashtags and #LatestBombing.

The app is based on Twitter, but Hassan plans updates so that it is compatible with Facebook and could work like an instant messaging independent of social media; a single click to update everyone who wants proof that you are okay.

via Lebanese inventor makes “alive” app for war-torn regions | Green Prophet.