Waiting to be sacrificed. I took it as I was waiting for the green light...

At the end of the first day of Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, 1954 people were reported to be injured in Turkey as they were trying to slaughter sheep and cows, as Hürriyet reports.2 died of heart attack during the act of amateur butchership.

Previous year reports here.

And more the Turkish society:

I and Can were vaccinated a few days ago. A doctor friend of mine fixed us vaccination. It was Can’s idea, I did not mind much. Ministry of Health has a special page for flu here. It looks like a very informative site. At least two faculty members from Bilgi got swine flu and and they are healthy. A nuisance but no panic I sense around…

found in Obey CDC, or Thomas R. Frieden Has a Posse

How the H1N1 vaccine is made

The most striking feature of the H1N1 flu vaccine manufacturing process is the 1,200,000,000 chicken eggs required to make the 3 billion doses of vaccine that may be required worldwide. There are entire chicken farms in the US and around the world dedicated to producing eggs for the purpose of incubating influenza viruses for use in vaccines. No wonder it takes six months from start to finish. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

A visitor looks at the clothes of Turkey’s former first lady Mevhibe Inonu in an exhibition in Istanbul, November 26, 2009. An evening gown slit discreetly from the neck to the navel worn by Turkey’s former first lady Mevhibe Inonu is on show in an Istanbul exhibition, tracing how her style helped define the image of the young Turkish Republic. Picture taken November 26, 2009.

A visitor looks at the clothes of Turkey’s former first lady Mevhibe Inonu in an exhibition in Istanbul, November 26, 2009. An evening gown slit discreetly from the neck to the navel worn by Turkey’s former first lady Mevhibe Inonu is on show in an Istanbul exhibition, tracing how her style helped define the image of the young Turkish Republic. Picture taken November 26, 2009.

Teachers Get A Report Card

OECD’s 2009 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) provides the first internationally comparative perspective on the conditions of teaching and learning. For the report on Turkey’s teaching profession, click here. Some excerpts from the report:

New Poll On Religion in Turkey

Updating his 1999 social survey of Turkey, Sabanci University political scientist Ali Çarkoglu along with Ersin Kalaycioglu reported new research findings on religiosity in Turkey under the framework of the International Social Survey Program, or ISSP, which measures religious values from 43 different countries. Below are some excerpts. Click here for a news article in English, here in Turkish. Although both are from today’s Hurriyet newspaper, they relate quite different elements of the study. I don’t believe the actual report is available online yet.

The State Of Democracy and Local Administrations in Southeastern Turkey

Sedat Laciner-Director
Although it was the remnant of a multinational, multi-religious and multi-sectarian empire, the Turkish Republic had inherent biases against local administrations and minorities. Since the Ottoman Empire had disintegrated mainly due to the local uprisings and the local minorities the new state developed intense biases accordingly.”

Soul-Searching in Turkey After a Gay Man Is Killed

Ahmet Yildiz was shot last year outside his apartment in Istanbul, in what may have been the first “honor killing” of a gay man to gain public attention.

welcome back.

so we’ll give you some highlights of what’s been occupying our brains for the past few weeks:

my/our love affair with the sons of anarchy is going to come to teary (on my part), bloody pinnacle this tuesday.  season two is ending, and i’ve been wondering how i’m going to occupy my time once this huge part of my brain takes a departure until next september.  this season has been a big one, to say the least.  gemma has heart.  the way katey sagal has molded her character while still staying true to gemma’s hard-ass, fierce and sometimes scary persona deserves an award.  albeit her vengeful tendencies, i have fallen in love with gemma teller-morrow as each episode has waxed and waned.  thanks to AP, we can glimpse into katey’s struggle with gemma’s character.  and also worth mentioning is audra mae & the forest rangers’ rendition of the classic, “forever young”, which is on the show’s (short) soundtrack album, north country.

according to gossip column, TMZ, tiger woods’s car accident on friday morning was caused by his wife pursuing his SUV with a golf club.  it was originally reported that he had crashed and she had used a golf club to break him out of the car.   according to “sources”, they had gotten into an argument before he had left the house at 230am.  she apparently caused some damage to his face during this spat, and then he got into his car to get away from the house.  that is when she followed him with a golf club (oh, the irony) and smashed up the car, causing him to crash into a fire hydrant and then a nearby tree.

initially, the news story made me chuckle.  however, as i thought about it, that reaction caused me some disgust within myself.  how would i have felt if these roles were switched?  it would have filled me with rage and horror.  just another example of the “double standards” that have been gracing the news today.  just a thought…

speaking of these “double standards”, the lovely adam lambert story has been plastered all over every news and gossip website.  according to adam, the criticism and reaction he has gotten is all due to his homosexuality.  i agree with that, in a way… partly because all of the outrage has been due to the kiss between adam and one of his band members.  everyone is comparing this to the madonna/britney kiss, and rightfully so!  however, where are the photos of him simulating oral sex and dragging around two of his female dancers with a leash?!  i am all for making the gay community more visible in pop culture and other mainstream areas, but  what bothers me is that these two instances are not being examined and are not being criticized.  a commenter over at my favorite blog, feministing, says this: ” i’m not going to laud a performance where a man drags women around by their legs and leads kneeling people around on leashes like dogs. remember the outrage a few years ago when snoop dogg pulled a similar stunt? the fact that it’s a queer man participating in a transgressive and dehumanzing portrayal of sexuality doesn’t make it any less offensive.” my main concern, other than these aspects of the performance i found quite troubling, is the time of day the performance was shown.  i can honestly say that all i ever needed to know about sex was learned on MTV during my pre-adolescence.  i was not allowed to watch MTV at this time (a subject of contention between my parents and i during that age, but it is something i have come to respect).  however, while my mother was in the kitchen or walking the dogs, i’d impulsively switch it to this channel, as a typical child.  the things i saw were confusing and troubling for me at such a small age.  given that fact, i have always been very sensitive to anything shown on television– sexual and violent alike.  i cannot imagine the bewilderment on tween’s faces during this performance (many who were, i can imagine, watching this without permission just like i used to do).  the fact is, many of our children are learning about sex by watching shows like the real world and tila tequila: a shot at love. i am not for censoring, but i think that networks should review the times they are showing certain shows.  i am, however, absolutely in favor of comprehensive sex education. the truth is, if we were teaching our children the truth about sex, there would be no need for them to tune into shows and entertainment like this to receive and absorb information about something like sex.  i am not saying they wouldn’t continue to watch them (!), but atleast they would be aptly informed about what was actually going on, and be able to draw their own conclusions about what they were seeing.

also, i’m not one for championing dog shows or breeding, but this little bully was the winner of the non-sporting group in purina’s national dog show on thanksgiving!  it looks a lot like our charles, but this brachy is even fatter…

something to brighten your day:

]]> http://nealbinnyc.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/lesbians-and-gays-to-protest-vallejos-homophobic-mayor-osby-davis/ Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:28:53 +0000 nealbinnyc http://nealbinnyc.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/lesbians-and-gays-to-protest-vallejos-homophobic-mayor-osby-davis/

from: http://www.shewired.com/Article.cfm?ID=24007

Gay rights activists are planning a protest against Vallejo, California mayor Osby Davis after he called gays “sinful” in a interview with the New York Times.

Mayor Osby Davis told the New York Times gays are “committing sin and that sin will keep them out of heaven. But you don’t hate the person. You hate the sin that they commit.” The New York Times quoted Davis as part of an article titled “Faith and Tolerance Collide in Vallejo,” which explores rising tensions in the city between recent gay and lesbian transplants and evangelical Christians.

Davis defeated openly gay candidate Gary Cloutier by just two votes to take the post of mayor in Vallejo in 2007. Cloutier said the Vallejo city council is rife with anti-gay sentiment and he has repeatedly been introduced as “a gay” in council meetings.

Davis later apologized for the comments in a press statement, saying his words were taken out of context. “I have worked hard to unite Vallejo and I will continue to do so. To those I have offended by my comments, I apologize… I care for the entire community and my desire is to build consensus on our diversity. Let me be clear, I have and will stand against hatred, discrimination and divisiveness wherever they exist.”

Bay activist and former planning commissioner Charles Legalos is pushing for the mayor’s censure over his statement to the New York Times. “His comments were completely out of line,” Legalos told the Oakland Tribune. “They have no place coming from a city official.”

Openly gay Catholic priest Lou Bordisso, a former school board candidate, is planning a protest on Dec. 1 against Davis in front of City Hall. Bordisso told the New York Times he believes local evangelical Christians “have a hidden agenda to impose their particular version of Christianity on the citizens of Vallejo.”

“The mayor’s comments were of a theological nature and he was acting in his capacity as mayor and that’s completely unacceptable,” Bordisso said, according to Fox40.com. “There needs to be a separation of church and state.”

There’s really no other way to describe this: The formerly secret Christianist nationalist group called the Family now has members in other countries who are doing real damage:

GROSS: Let’s talk about The Family’s connection to Uganda, where there’s a, really a draconian anti-gay bill that has been introduced into parliament. Uganda already punishes the practice of homosexuality with life in prison. What would the new legislation do?

Mr. SHARLET: Well, the new legislation adds to this something called aggravated homosexuality. And this can include, for instance, if a gay man has sex with another man who is disabled, that’s aggravated homosexuality, and that man can be – I suppose both, actually, could be put to death for this. The use of any drugs or any intoxicants in seeking gay sex – in other words, you go to a bar and you buy a guy a drink, you’re subject to the death penalty if you go home and sleep together after that. What it also does is it extends this outward, so that if you know a gay person and you don’t report it, that could mean – you don’t report your son or daughter, you can go to prison.

And it goes further, to say that any kind of promotion of these ideas of homosexuality, including by foreigners, can result in prison terms. Talking about same sex-marriage positively can lead you to imprisonment for life. And it’s really kind of a perfect case study in the export of a lot of American, largely evangelical ideas about homosexuality exported to Uganda, which then takes them to their logical end.

GROSS: This legislation has just been proposed. It hasn’t been signed into law. So it’s not in effect yet and it might never be in effect. But it’s on the table. It’s before parliament. So is there a direct connection between The Family and this proposed anti-homosexual legislation in Uganda?

Mr. SHARLET: Well, the legislator that introduced the bill, a guy named David Bahati, is a member of The Family. He appears to be a core member of The Family. He works, he organizes their Ugandan National Prayer Breakfast and oversees a African sort of student leadership program designed to create future leaders for Africa, into which The Family has poured millions of dollars working through a very convoluted chain of linkages passing the money over to Uganda.

GROSS: So you’re reporting the story for the first time today, and you found this story – this direct connection between The Family and the proposed legislation by following the money?

Mr. SHARLET: Yes, it’s – I always say that The Family is secretive, but not secret. You can go and look at 990s, tax forms and follow the money through these organizations that The Family describe as invisible. But you go and you look. You follow that money. You look at their archives. You do interviews where you can. It’s not so invisible anymore. So that’s how working with some research colleagues we discovered that David Bahati, the man behind this legislation, is really deeply, deeply involved in The Family’s work in Uganda, that the ethics minister of Uganda, Museveni’s kind of right-hand man, a guy named Nsaba Buturo, is also helping to organize The Family’s National Prayer Breakfast. And here’s a guy who has been the main force for this Anti-Homosexuality Act in Uganda’s executive office and has been very vocal about what he’s doing, in a rather extreme and hateful way. But these guys are not so much under the influence of The Family. They are, in Uganda, The Family.

Our tax code is subsidizing religiously driven state-sanctioned murder in other countries. There’s no pretty face you can put on this, and there’s no way, in hell or on Earth, you can sell this to any thinking person as Christianity.

Commenter YellowJournalism at Balloon Juice asks, “For his birthday, can we get Jesus some new followers?”

Showing once more the business acumen that killed Firefly, Arrested Development, Futurama, and Family Guy — but keeps The Simpsons going ten seasons after it stopped being funny — Fox decided this week to put Glee on hiatus, effective 12/9/09 through 4/13/10, to make room for American Idol. Apparently, neither profitability nor objective quality will stop Fox from gambling a show’s future on a whim.

This amidst news that Fox executives have kept a close watch on Chris Colfer (“Kurt,” the flamboyantly gay singer/football star). Chris himself is gay, which the network  has tried to keep under wraps, to the point of censoring quotes in interviews that appeared supportive of gay rights, and raised the issue of the very real dangers faced by “out” gay teenagers. The given reason for canceling the quotes (“protecting” Chris) don’t match the edit point. To hell with Carrie Prejean: here’s a real case of a star being muzzled by a politically-sensitive network.

The decision to risk Glee proves that Fox will stop at nothing to mess up every popular but off-the-beaten-path show that come before it. Because of its astronomical ratings, though, and iTunes-driven hyper-profitability, there’s a good chance Glee will survive, despite Fox’s best efforts. Keep the show strong — buy the songs, buy the episodes on iTunes if you can, and — of course — don’t stop believin’.

Rep. Barney Frank talks on the floor of the House about discrimination against our LGBT community. Politics is supposed to be about policy, and is supposed to be a coat-check platform, where emotion and personal ties are left at the door. But I honestly don’t believe we live in that reality any longer.

He tried, but his true self showed through. And, according to me, good on him.

Comes from Scotteriology:

Prejean’s fallen humanity is a good example of the gradation of sin in evangelicalism; it’s like a pyramid with homosexuality at the top, and as long as you’re not doing that then you’re OK. The separation of orthodoxy and orthopraxy in some cases becomes nothing more than what I commonly identify as modern evangelical neognosticism: I don’t have to practice anything I believe as  a standard that I would demand from others because I believe in the right standard. I can be freak and have all sorts of illicit sex, but as long as it’s not gay sex, and I believe I shouldn’t be having illicit sex… then I’m good. Build my mansion next to Jesus.

A timely quote, given my latest post.

Truth and Peace,
Rod

I took this picture at the Getty Museum in Westwood on Saturday. It is a photo of a painting (from the first decade of the 1700s) by Sebastiano Rici, and depicts Perseus holding the head of Medusa in combat against Phineus and his not-so-merry band of men. Phineus, a failed suitor to Perseus’s bride-to-be, Andromeda, crashes their wedding, Dustin Hoffman style, but unlike Hoffman, doesn’t end up with the girl, but is turned to stone by Perseus holding before him and his men Medusa’s creep face. The ending of The Graduate  seems to be echoing the disrupted and chaotic wedding of Perseus and Andromeda, but with Phineus victorious:

All that cross swinging in the film above recalls the waving around of the Medusa’s head by Perseus, doesn’t it? I suppose that the moral of the story is this: Don’t let anybody get between you and the one you love. And if they do, consider wildly swinging before them a Freudian energized taboo symbol that frightens all opposition into stony silence. And if that doesn’t completely ward them off, go to Plan B: run like hell, hand in hand. Everybody has a right to their own choice of who to marry, right? (Opponents of gay marriage, are you listening?) Anyway, here’s a scene from Clash of the Titans, showing how Perseus got Medusa’s head in the first place:

Here is my friend Ryan Swayze who I’ve known since he was a little squirt, hard to believe he’s all grown up now!

Youtube – ryanswayze

Myspace Ryan Swayze

Here is the first Music Video ever by Ryan Swayze, its for the Human Rights Campaign.
The Song Intervention is a cover of a Madonna song that was re made by Ryan, The Video was filmed Summer 2007

for more info on the video watch Life with Ryan Swayze, Ryans Video blog

Filmed By Nicole Measel / Simone Measel / Micheal Dowell / Ryan Swayze

Edited By Ryan Swayze.

Clips from Human Rights Campaign.
Copy right 2007/ Apple Tree Music / Waner Music Canada

ryan swayze

ryan swayze car idea girl consulting

I guess no one cares about Michael Jordan anymore like they did in October.

Top words typed into search engines to find Political Jesus:

1. king david

2. boondocks

3. positive opinion obama peace prize cartoon

4. stanley hauerwas homosexuality

5. did american governors ever asked forgiv

A bit late, but still worth a watch.  Colbert eviscerates Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri and reveals the latest in efforts of evil gay activists.

More Rights for Gay Marriage

In New York last week, the state’s highest court upheld policies granting spousal benefits to some gay public employees who were married in another state or country.

In Washington state, voters recently endorsed an “everything but marriage” bill that expands domestic partnership rights to lesbians, gays and unmarried elderly couples.

In California last week, two federal judges ruled in separate cases in favor of awarding individual same-sex couples benefits for their spouses that previously had been denied.

And in Congress last week, a House committee approved legislation that would provide benefits, including health insurance, retirement and disability, to same-sex partners of federal employees.

“The picture on benefits and domestic partnerships has moved quite dramatically for same-sex couples, but marriage is the issue that has gotten all the attention and energy, so some of that progress has been eclipsed,” said Jane Schacter, a law professor at Stanford University. “Certainly, there has been movement on marriage as well, but nothing as much as domestic partnerships.”

Much of the attention has focused on a stinging loss for gay rights advocates in Maine this month, when voters repealed a state law that would have allowed same-sex couples to wed. The vote made Maine the 31st state to block same-sex marriage through a public referendum.

Although advocates of marriage equality had drawn more money, political support and volunteers in Maine than in similar campaigns nationwide, the outcome affirmed what some polls already indicated. About 57 percent of Americans oppose granting same-sex marriages legal status, compared with 40 percent who support it, according to a May Gallup poll. But 67 percent of Americans say same-sex domestic partners should have access to health insurance and other benefits, the same poll found.

Even one of the most prominent opponents of same-sex marriage, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has shown willingness to support rights outside of marriage. This month, in a surprise move, the church backed proposed Salt Lake City laws that would prohibit discrimination against gays in housing and employment.

Many private employers already offer domestic partnership benefits. About 57 percent of Fortune 500 companies, for example, provide domestic partner health insurance benefits, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a civil rights organization.

While states are offering benefits as well, the federal government has lagged behind because of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman, thus barring spousal benefits to same-sex partners.

But that is changing, according to Brad Sears, executive director of the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Sears cited President Obama’s memorandum in June that extended a limited set of benefits to same-sex partners, allowing them to be added to long-term-care insurance policies and to use sick leave to care for partners.

“I think really the newest thing happening here is that it’s reaching the federal level,” Sears said. “For the public sector to remain competitive, it needs to offer domestic partnership benefits.”

And gay rights groups believe the nation’s support for same-sex marriage will also grow.

“Public support for marriage hasn’t caught up to public support for relationship recognition benefits, but it will,” said Jarrett Barrios, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, a New-York based discrimination watchdog. “Because at the end of the day, the public sees that marriage and all the benefits associated with it are about . . . what people need to honor their commitment to their spouses and protect them.”

so, basically, stephanie meyer is a mormon, which means ten percent of all twilight proceeds go to the morman church. the morman church were huge, huge donators to the “yes to prop 8″ fund.

more info on that here

fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK TWILIGHT.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

BLACK FRIDAY HERE I COME!!!!

I have a friend who needs the community’s support. And we need his leadership.

A few months ago, while waiting for the start of the True Diversity Dinner, collecting myself in preparation for hosting the event, a stranger walked over to where I was sitting and randomly handed me a note card containing the names of every elected official in attendance. I was aware of most of the names, and had already planned on mentioning everyone. But there were a few important people who I had no idea had shown up, and all of a sudden, there they were, neatly compiled on the note card now sitting in front of me. This gentleman knew very well – better than I did – that it’s easier than you might think to blank on names while on stage (or during Katie Couric interviews), and he didn’t want me to leave anyone out; wanted to make sure the event went smoothly. Even after years of experience on stage, I had managed to space on a general rule. That’s how I met Christopher Constant. He had my back even before I knew his name.

Well, now Christopher wants to stand up for this community. He’s tired of the LGBT community being Jerry Prevo’s punching bag. He believes in this city and this state and thinks it’s about time that we drag that stubborn right foot out of the dark ages. Yesterday, I received this email from him:

“Please come support the effort to organize a campaign to elect an openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender Alaskan elected official. To the best knowledge of everyone I know, Alaska has never elected an OUT gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender candidate elected to public office. NOW IS THE TIME.

I (Christopher Constant) have been invited and given a scholarship to the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Institute’s candidate and campaign training coupled with the 25th annual LGBT International Leadership Conference in San Francisco, Dec 2 – Dec 6, 2009.

I was awarded a $1,200 scholarship for the training. I have invested my own treasure substantially. I am hoping you can come and share a small bit of your treasure to help cover the rest of the cost. I could use your help.

People have asked what seat I am planning to run for. This effort is bigger than me. It is about electing a candidate. It may be me, but I have no plans in the next two years of running. Instead, I intend to take the time to organize so that when 2012 rolls around, the effort has more chance of success.

http://www.glli.org/training/candidate_campaign
http://www.victoryfund.org/files/conference2009/glli.html

I have consulted with APOC and because this campaign is neither connected with a specific candidate nor a specific piece of legislation, I don’t have to say ‘Paid for by’ anybody.”

This is a huge step forward for our community. Leadership needs to be built from the bottom up, or else you end up with a few folks, who were already at the top, in control of those at the bottom. Alaska is known for it’s established, corrupt leadership; in government and religious institutions alike. We have a lot of great people working to change that, but they need our committed support, as well as a steady flow of reinforcements. This is an uphill struggle against very well rooted opposition, as many here in Anchorage most recently saw over the summer during the battle for equality, which failed due to fear mongering from certain radio personalities, bused in masses from Wal*churches like the Anchorage Baptist Temple, Change Point, and the Independent Baptist Church of Wasilla, and a final veto from a Mayor who knows a little something about dynastic privilege.

There is a good chance that we will lose some key seats on the Assembly this April if we don’t start to dig our heels in and fight back against the “sky is falling” mentality that is already spreading faster than the lies that created it. This is a time to connect with each other, strengthen bonds, educate, prepare. It takes a strong character to have the courage to vocally stand up and fight, but that’s exactly the medicine that we so desperately need.

You may not know him yet, but Christopher Constant already has your back.

I’ll personally be donating $100 to his effort, and it would mean a lot to me, personally, and a lot of other people if you came down and showed support as well. Twenty bucks, five bucks; a beer and well wishes. Whatever you can afford.

Monday night, 6-8pm at Mad Myrna’s, 503 East 5th Avenue, downtown Anchorage.

I truly hope to see you there.