This is Alexander and Andrew in the innocent days. 

 Aren’t they cute!

This rocking horse was headed for the Salvation Army….it never made it there.  Mister found it first.

As the second stage debate on the Civil Partnership Bill 2009 gets under way, I thought it might be useful to point readers to some pieces of open access socio-legal scholarship that I’ve come across in other research which offer interesting perspectives on legal recognition of same-sex partnerships.

On the  Practical Significance of Recognition

• Beccy Shipman and Carol Smart, ‘It’s Made a Huge Difference’: Recognition, Rights and the Personal Significance of Civil Partnership. (interesting empirical research)

On the Special Nature of Legal Recognition

• Kathleen Hull, The Cultural Power of Law and the Cultural Enactment of Legality

On the Disciplinary Impact of Legal Recognition

• Yvonne Zylan, ‘Passions We Like…And Those We Don’t: Anti-Gay Hate Crime Laws and the Discursive Construction of Sex, Gender, and the Body‘ (not quite on topic but still on point)

On Politics

• Katherine Franke, ‘The Politics of Same Sex Marriage Politics’

On Religious Definitions of Marriage and Law

• ‘Preservationism, or the Elephant in the Room’ (heavy going at first but scroll through to the deconstruction of stock arguments against same-sex marriage)

The second stage debate on the Civil Partnership Bill takes place this evening starting from 6.45 pm. We have already blogged about the bill here, here and here. Maman Poulet has been providing excellent coverage of the politics around the Bill here. Of particular interest is discussion of the addition of a so-called ‘religious freedom optout‘ to the bill. Padraig has blogged on that issue here. Maman Poulet carries details of a liveblog of the debate, which is hosted here and will kick off at around 6.30 pm. You can join in on twitter, where the hashtag is #cpbill. And, as Suzy says ‘if you just want to watch the debate without the wit, banter and outrage of the viewing masses then you can watch it here.‘

Hi, I’m Syrika, Zarion’s younger sister. He’s letting me do a post. So here goes!!!!!!!!!!

Uhhhh……… What should I write  about? I know… Did you know lightning bolts can shoot out of a volcano? Did you know squid’s food passes through its brain on the way to its stomach? Did you know… BLAH, BLAH, BLAH!!! I talk a lot.

THE END!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, what are you waiting for? Why are you still reading? Go away!

Syrika.

P.S. Did you know, right now , as I’m writing this, I’m dressed in a homemade Minun (That’s a type of Pokemon) costume?

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni

The African nation of Uganda has been persecuting its homosexual population for some time. Under current law, homosexuality is punishable by life imprisonment. Now we read that their government is considering legislation that would impose the death penalty on HIV positive men who happen to be gay. The penalty would not apply to HIV-positive heterosexual men.

The proposed law would also criminalize those who know gay men but refuse to report them to authorities. The sentence for such a crime would be three years in prison. Anyone—even a foreigner residing in Uganda—who publicly defends a gay or lesbian person would be subjected to a seven-year prison term.

Jeff Sharlet has been following this story closely because of his interest in a secretive group of fundamentalist Christian lawmakers who are based in Washington D.C. and are known as The Family. The Family has a clear anti-gay, anti-abortion-rights, and pro-free-market agenda which they believe they can most effectively promote by cultivating powerful political connections in this country and abroad. Sharlet was recently interviewed on NPR by Terry Gross about his book, “The Family.”

According to Sharlet, the legislator who introduced the bill now under consideration is David Bahati, a member of the Ugandan branch of The Family. Sharlet identifies other key players (e.g., the ethics minister) and concludes that The Family has its fingerprints all over this legislation. President Museveni, he says, is The Family’s “key man” in Uganda.

Doughlas Remy

Minimum penalty is life in jail, under anti-homosexuality bill

From the Guardian newspaper

As a gay Ugandan, Frank Mugisha has endured insults from strangers, hate messages on his phone, police harassment and being outed in a tabloid as one of the country’s “top homos”. That may soon seem like the good old days.

Life imprisonment is the minimum punishment for anyone convicted of having gay sex, under an anti-homosexuality bill currently before Uganda’s parliament. If the accused person is HIV positive or a serial offender, or a “person of authority” over the other partner, or if the “victim” is under 18, a conviction will result in the death penalty.

Members of the public are obliged to report any homosexual activity to police with 24 hours or risk up to three years in jail – a scenario that human rights campaigners say will result in a witchhunt.Ugandans breaking the new law abroad will be subject to extradition requests.

“The bill is haunting us,” said Mugisha, 25, chairman of Sexual Minorities Uganda, a coalition of local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex groups that will all be banned under the law. “If this passes we will have to leave the country.”

Human rights groups within and outside Uganda have condemned the proposed legislation, which is designed to strengthen colonial-era laws that already criminalise gay sex. The issue threatened to overshadow the Commonwealth heads of government meeting that ended in Trinidad and Tobagotoday, with the UK and Canada both expressing strong concerns. Ahead of the meeting Stephen Lewis, a former UN envoy on Aids in Africa, said the law “makes a mockery of Commonwealth principles” and has “a taste of fascism” about it.

But within Uganda deeply-rooted homophobia, aided by a US-linked evangelical campaign alleging that gay men are trying to “recruit” schoolchildren, and that homosexuality is a habit that can be “cured”, has ensured widespread public support for the bill.

President Yoweri Museveni appeared to add his backing earlier this month, warning youths in Kampala that he had heard that “European homosexuals are recruiting in Africa”, and saying gay relationships were against God’s will.

“We used to say Mr and Mrs, but now it is Mr and Mr. What is that now?” he said. In a interview with the Guardian, James Nsaba Buturo, the minister of state for ethics and integrity, said the government was determined to pass the legislation, ideally before the end of 2009, even if meant withdrawing from international treaties and conventions such as the UN’s Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and foregoing donor funding.

“We are talking about anal sex. Not even animals do that,” Butoro said, adding that he was personally caring for six “former homosexuals” who had been traumatised by the experience. “We believe there are limits to human rights.”

Homosexuality has always been a taboo subject in Uganda, and is considered by many to be an affront both to local culture and religion, which plays a strong role in family life. This negative stigma and the real threat of job loss means that no public personality has ever “come out”.

Even local HIV campaigns – which have been heavily influenced by the evangelical church with a bias towards abstinence over condom use – have deliberately avoided targeting gay men for both prevention and access to treatment.

“This means many gay men here think Aids is a non-issue, which is so dangerous,” said Mugisha, who together with a few colleagues, has risked arrest by agitating in recent years for a change in the HIV policy.

At the same time, some influential religious leaders have warned about the dangers of accepting liberal western attitudes towards homosexuality.

Both opponents and supporters agree that the impetus for the bill came in March during a seminar in Kampala to “expose the truth behind homosexuality and the homosexual agenda”.

The main speakers were three US evangelists: Scott Lively, Don Schmierer and Caleb Lee Brundidge. Lively is a noted anti-gay activist and president of Defend the Family International, a conservative Christian association, while Schmierer is an author who works with “homosexual recovery groups”. Brundidge is a “sexual reorientation coach” at the International Healing Foundation.

The seminar was organised by Stephen Langa, a Ugandan electrician turned pastor who runs the Family Life Network in Kampala and has been spreading the message that gays are targeting schoolchildren for “conversion”. “They give money to children to recruit schoolmates – once you have two children, the whole school is gone,” he said in an interview. Asked if there had been any court case to prove this was happening, he replied: “No, that’s why this law is needed.”

After the conference Langa arranged for a petition signed by thousands of concerned parents to be delivered to parliament in April. Within a few months the bill had been drawn up.

Christopher Senyonjo, a retired Anglican bishop, said the bill would push Uganda towards being a police state. “This law is being influenced by some evangelicals abroad,” he said. “There’s a lack of understanding about homosexuality – it’s not recruitment, it’s orientation.”

But among religious leaders of all faiths his is a rare voice. Langa, the pastor, said the only thing lacking in the legislation was a clause for “rehabilitation” of homosexuals, whom he “loves” and wants to help. Gay rights had the potential to destroy civilisation, as the west could soon find out, he said.

“As one parent told me: ‘We would rather live in grass huts with our morality than in skyscrapers among homosexuals’.”

Editor’s Comment: Although this is coming from the Christians, at least they are moving in the right direction, back towards Allah’s laws when it comes to homosexuality and its punishment.

May Allah grant them guidance, and bring them into the fold of Islam, if only they could see the disgusting homosexuality of many of the Christian priests we could maybe use this as a tool, as leverage to show them their beliefs on Christianity are wrong and to bring them into Islam – Allah willing.

Wow–so I’ve totally fallen off the edge of the planet for the past week. I haven’t even been on Twitter, which is how you know something’s up in the Reese household.

Right after Thanksgiving (which was a wonderful day of food, football, and family) a personal crisis reared its big, fat, ugly head. Its taken most of my time away from writing, blogging, tweeting—you name it–so I’ve been pretty much AWOL for the past week. This problem has been (for the most part) resolved, and I’m finally falling back into the swing of things…at least as of 11am Monday morning.

My plan today is to write the ending to chapter 10 and work on chapter 11. Kate and Caleb are in a tough situation and they have to fight off the enemy and save the day–you know, all in a day’s work, right?

Will blog about my success tomorrow!

1. Michael Egnor & the Discovery Institute expose their anti-science bias – I’ve blogged about Egnor before, linking to the blog debate where Steven Novella refuted his every flawed, ridiculous argument in favor of a “soul.” Now he’s jumping on the so-called “ClimateGate” fiasco, where he insists, like so many other denialists, that a whole lot of private, innocuous emails climate scientists is somehow the smoking gun evidence that global warming is false. Of course he doesn’t pinpoint any statements in any of the emails that would lead any rational person to this conclusion. But who needs facts when you’ve got faith? Egnor proves once again how egnorant he can be.

Is that a serious headline?

2. Uganda proposes death penalty to HIV-positive gays – It suddenly becomes very clear why Uganda is known for having the best medical care in the world. Oh wait. No, it doesn’t. The positive news is that this suggests that maybe not all the Neanderthals did die out after all. Though it’s not really fair to blame Uganda. Stupidity this large can only come from one source:  the U.S.’s own THE FAMILY. I’m looking at you Sen. John Ensign, Rep. Bart Stupak and Rep. Joe Pitts. Can we please lock these psychopaths up now?

3. Ray “The Banana Man” Comfort gave a full interview to the Friendly Atheist – You can read the whole thing in all its idiocy in the link above.

4. The first honest homeopathy product? – As you can clearly read on the packaging, homeopaths have developed the first ever non-drowsy sleep aid. May I be the first to congratulate them on this amazing breakthrough. Good job, guys. Good job.

5. The official wine of woo – Age of Autism took some time off from shilling bogus autism treatments for profit to shill some silly wine site called “Wines For Autism.” Now at first the site might seem fine. It’s supporting autism awareness after all. So how bad could it b–oh:

From witnessing my son’s significant progress I have made it my goal to spread awareness of the effectiveness of biomedical interventions while supporting charities that share my beliefs.

In other words, she wishes to promote those who support her particular delusion and no actual scientific organization researching autism will receive a dime. In other words, she’s going to exploit autism pseudoscience to make money.

It’s sort of like my business where I sell used cars and give some of the profits to cancer research (please note:  cancer research means those promoting trepanning as an effective cancer treatment). Actually, now that I think about it, this whole story makes me feel like bludgeoning my skull with a large stick so that all that stupid can seep out of my brain.

6. Iron Jesus! -

random inputs of the day.

♥

exams are finally over!!!

didn’t have a very good feeling about MQ though; most questions spotted did not appear in the final paper. but i will survive, i guess.

no more mugging for at least 2 weeks! though i still have a pre-assignment to submit on the first day of lecture. boo…

♥

hongkong in 2 days time. excited.

♥

wakeboarding is fun! easier than cable-ski, and i love both.

♥

a trip to sitex set me back by almost 800 bucks, and i didn’t even buy anything for myself.

got a nice gps for mom and netbook for ying.

thank goodness that the presents are shared and i will still get back some monies from my sisters.

but there goes my blackberry fund. =(

♥

lots of photos to upload; no time.

it’s the month-end closing today.

♥

i am still quite amazed that penguins are actually birds.

love my penguin.

Happy Thanksgiving my Friends!

I hope you all enjoyed a fulfilling holiday, both in body and soul.

Our family enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with Zan’s family, and have had a great extended visit with his sister’s family who have been here since Wednesday.  (They will be leaving today.)  The only bummer of the week has been a “who knows what?” infection that took my voice and requires an antibiotic and Robitussin with Codeine to control the cough at night.  Fortunately (and quite miraculously) I feel much better than I sound and it hasn’t slowed me down *too* much.  I haven’t had a voice since it left after Thanksgiving dinner.  Extremely frustrating, especially for someone like me who loves to talk!  LOL 

Some highlights of the week:

• Zan took Little Girl to NYC for a Daddy/Daughter American Girl Place Day on Tuesday.  Not only did they “lunch” and shop at the American Girl store, but they also went to Rockefeller Center and Zan’s office, and ended the day at Carlos’ Bakery, bringing home boxes galore of goodies, and a photo of Little Girl with Buddy himself!  Talk about making memories!
• Sister-in-Law and I took the teenage daughters and nieces to see New Moon on Friday night….the squeals of delight coming out of the 17 year old were hilarious!!  On a personal note, I looked down the full row of girls at one point and was so overwhelmed by the fact that our babies are all so beautiful and grown-up, and such a pleasure to be with.  It seems like yesterday that they were fighting over dolls, in tears over one thing or another, cranky and overtired during the holidays, and that we played referee more than we enjoyed visiting.  And to see them all, leaning shoulder to shoulder, whispering and giggling together, enjoying each other, was good for the soul.
• Zan got “his” basement cleaned out! I call it “his” because he actually likes it down there!  I HATE it down there and if it weren’t for the fact that my washer and dryer live in that crypt, I would never see it.  (The house is 112 years old, so imagine how creepy it is….okay, maybe I exaggerate a little…it is well-lit, and dry, and as clean as a 112 year old basement can be…but still…..ick.)  So, tons of items for donations were trucked to Salvation Army over the past couple of weeks, and while we had the manpower this week, truckloads of metals, cardboard, and garbage were hauled to the recycling/waste center, and storage shelves were moved around.  It is a huge weight off Zan’s already overburdened shoulders.
• Food galore—Thanksgiving dinner with all the “fixins,” leftovers, a spaghetti and meatball dinner, a ham and homebaked mac and cheese dinner…..all comfort foods all the time!
• And the best for last—-numerous cups of tea and coffee enjoyed in pajamas while catching up on all the news….

I don’t even want to think about the next holiday yet.  I just want to savor this one a bit longer.

You may recall the expose concerning Doug Coe, Washington DC’s ‘The Family” and C Street this past summer (See story and video: Washington DC’s ‘The Family’).

If so, you’ll find this story from Kato Mivule, Yesu Mulungi ministry, interesting.

Its only been recently I’ve realized just how pervasive dominionist teachings are outside of “normal” false theology within the Church–how intertwined it has become with extreme right-wing politics. And not only in the US.

If you look closely at the beliefs and goals of many of the well known  “Christian” activist groups here in the US today, you will see the unbiblical root of dominionism:

Dominion theology is predicated upon three basic beliefs:

(a) Satan usurped man’s dominion over the earth through the temptation of Adam and Eve;
(b) The Church is God’s instrument to take dominion back from Satan; and
(c) Jesus cannot or will not return until the Church has taken dominion by gaining control of the earth’s governmental and social institutions.

One of the most important distinctions of DT is its belief in Theonomy. DT teaches that Christians are under the Law as a way of life, and are obligated to ultimately bring the world under that Law.

Dominionists believe the United States must be a Christian theocracy. For them the Constitution and Bill of Rights are merely addendum’s to Old Testament Biblical law. They claim that Christian men with specific theological beliefs are ordained by God to run society. Christians and others who do not accept their theological beliefs would be second-class citizens.

Recently we’ve seen Peter Wagner’s group move toward dominionism wrought through political activism, its one of the 7 Mountains, but Washington DC’s The Family has been at it for years–

Uganda’s President Museveni Named in a US Christian Cult, The Family

For those who have been following Evangelical Christianity in East Africa you will know that the story below of African Politicians being manipulated, used, and controlled by false Christians from the West, is not a new story but this has been going on for some time.

Dominionists and Political Christians from Peter Wagner and his Global Apostles, George Ortis and his false Revival Reports (Transformations), and now ‘The Family’ have all been pushing a false Christian Movement in East Africa bent on acquiring and maintaining Political Power.

Born Again Christians are simply seen as Political Tools and their Leaders as puppets. Yet Born Again Christians refuse to discern this important issue.

The so-called Fight Against Homosexuals is being used by Politicians to continue cementing their activity inside Born Again Churches.

What ‘The Family’ is replicating in Africa is simply another version of Right Wing Political Christian Lunacy and Madness in America and every Born Again Christian in Africa should reject such associations.

President Museveni is NOT a True Born Again Christian as widely  reported by Uganda’s Evangelical Christians but simply manipulating undiscerning Christians in Uganda for Political gain.

It is a shame that folks like George Ortis and Peter Wagner keep promoting stories of “Transformations” and a false revival in Uganda, yet the reality is that they are simply promoting ideologies of ‘The Family’…the real “Transformation” in Uganda is that’ The Family’ has had powerful political influence Uganda and the Evangelical Christians there did not even know it.

Museveni, Bahati, named in US ‘cult’
The Observer |November 25, 2009

NEW YORK: President Museveni, Ethics Minister Nsaba Buturo and MP David Bahati have been linked to a shadowy religious fundamentalist group in the United States known as the ‘The Family’.

‘The Family’ Fellowship Members In Uganda, From The Left: Minister of Ethics Dr. Nsaba Buturo, MP Bahati, and President Museveni- Image Source: The Observer

The group, comprising a number of influential congressmen, senators and other people in strategic positions, works secretively to promote its political, economic and religious ideas, some of them controversial, in the United States and across the world.

According to journalist, academic and author Jeff Sharlett, who has spent years researching on The Family, its core agenda includes fighting homosexuality and abortion, promoting free-market economics and dictatorship, an idea they once termed “totalitarianism for Christ”.

It recruits people in positions of power and influence to promote its agenda and, according to Sharlett, the group has had its sights on Uganda for over 20 years. He also says the group is behind the anti-gay legislation recently tabled in Parliament by Ndorwa West MP, David Bahati, which proposes the death penalty for men who have gay sex with disabled people, under-18s, or when the accused is HIV-positive.

In an extensive interview with National Public Radio (NPR), a privately and publicly funded non-profit radio network in the United States, Jeff Sharlett said that The Family identified President Museveni as their “key man in Africa” in 1986.

Individuals working for both the US government and The Family, he said, undertook trips to Uganda “to reach out to Museveni to make sure that he came into the American sphere of influence [and] that Uganda, in effect, becomes our proxy in the region”.

“They wanted to steer him away from neutrality or leftist sympathies and bring him into conservative American alliances, and they were able to do so.

They’ve since promoted Uganda as this bright spot – as I say, as this bright spot for African democracy, despite the fact that under their tutelage, Museveni has slowly shifted away from any even veneer of democracy: imprisoning journalists, tampering with elections, supporting – strongly supporting this Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2009,” he said.

Describing Museveni as a “core” member of the group, Jeff Sharlett alleged that President Museveni visits, spends time and “sits down for counsel” with Doug Coe, the leader of The Family, at the group’s headquarters at a place called The Cedars in Arlington, Virginia.

This Doug Coe, with whom Uganda’s President reportedly consults, is the same man who believes that ruthless dictators such as Hitler, Stalin and Mao mirror Jesus’ central message on power. Sharlett says that Core members of The Family participate in deciding the group’s agenda, a privilege not enjoyed by other members of the group.

More power, less love

One of The Family’s central ideas, according to Jeff Sharlett, is that Jesus Christ’s message was not about love, mercy, justice or forgiveness. Rather, it was about power. The group says that Jesus didn’t come to take sides, he came to take over.

“Doug Coe, the leader of the group, tries to illustrate this, for instance, by saying, sort of posing a puzzle: name three men in the 20th Century who best understood that message of The New Testament. And most people are going to say someone like Martin Luther King, or Bonhoeffer; or maybe the more conservative, they can say, [evangelist] Billy Graham.

And Coe likes to give an answer – Hitler, Stalin and Mao, which just makes your jaw drop. And he will say – he’s quick to say these are evil men, but they understood power. And that message recurs again, and again, and again in The Family”.

Sharlett, who spent time within The Family as an undercover researcher, given access to its leaders and archives, said that the group actively promotes dictators in pursuit of its economic and other interests. Because of its influence in Washington, the seat of the American government, foreign leaders find it in their interest to associate with the group.

Senator Tom Coburn, who also sits on the Senate Arms Forces Committee, is quoted to have said he has been on a mission to Uganda to “promote the political philosophy of Jesus as taught to him by Doug Coe.”

The group, Jeff Sharlett told NPR, creates “an invisible believing group of God-led politicians who get together and talk with one another about what God wants them to do in their leadership capacity. And that’s the nature of their relationship with Museveni.”

The Family, according to Sharlett, helped the Museveni family and other top politicians to start the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Uganda, to which it sends representatives, as a parallel to the United States National Prayer Breakfast the group has been running since 1935. This is the only group’s public event, which it uses to recruit new members.

The US National Prayer Breakfast has been attended by all American presidents since the 1950s.

Jeff Sharlett says he has established in recent investigations that the group has been channeling money to Uganda to promote its activities, including the anti-gay Bill.

Following paper trails, he discovered that the money was channeled through an “African leadership academy” called Cornerstone which runs a Youth Corps programme described as an “invisible family binding together world leaders” and an organisation called the “African Youth Leadership Forum” associated with MP David Bahati.

“The Family has poured millions of dollars working through a very convoluted chain of linkages passing the money over to Uganda,” he said. According to Jeff Sharlett, in Uganda, Museveni, Buturo and Bahati are not merely under the influence of The Family but they are, in effect, The Family.

The Observer tried to get MP Bahati to shed some light on these claims but he could not be reached on all known telephone numbers. Neither could we speak to Ethics and Integrity Minister, James Nsaba Buturo, as he did not answer his phone.

Presidential Press Secretary, Tamale Mirundi, said he was neither aware of an organisation called The Family nor of any relationship between it and President Museveni. But should such ties exist, Mirundi said, he would not be surprised.

“What would amaze me is if the President were associated with a group that is pro-homosexuality,” Mirundi told The Observer by phone. “But if the President is associated with a group opposed to homosexuality [I would not be amazed] because he has made his position on homosexuality very clear.”

Cash and sex

While The Family claims, on the surface at least, to promote family values, some of its more influential members have been ensnared by high-profile sexual scandals. In the latest scandal, Senator John Ensign of Nevada is alleged to have had an affair with the wife of a top aide, Doug Hampton and, on the advice of The Family, tried to buy Hampton off with $1.2 million.

The Family, also known as The Fellowship, was founded in the United States in 1935. According to its founder, Abraham Verene, God came to him one night in April, 1935, and told him that Christianity has been focusing on the wrong people, the poor and the suffering, “the down and out”.

He commanded him to be a missionary to and for the powerful, the “up and out”, who could then pass off the blessings to everybody else. The group does not maintain a website and prohibits its members from speaking about its activities.

Jeff Sharlett’s 2008 bestseller, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, is the most comprehensive expose of the group yet.

Uganda’s President Museveni Named in a US Christian Cult, The Family, by Kato Mivule

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?”

American Christianity's influence in Uganda

I’ve posted before (here, here and here) about U.S. evangelicals’ ties to a Ugandan proposal to establish the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”.  Now meet more U.S. politicians involved in Ugandan human rights politics, pols who want to see gay people dead.  The same pols supported by all the ‘good faithful in Christ’; the same ‘good faithful in Christ’ who are supporting the missionaries who go to African countries and inflame superstitions about witches.  The same African churches and governments who are executing and imprisoning suspected homosexuals and witches, most of whom are children.  Harsh prison sentences are also proposed for any person or organization who helps, councils, teaches or doctors a known or suspected homosexual child or adult.

This is the kind of thing some Americans would love to impose here, just like Muslims in the U.K. and elsewhere pushing for Sharia Law.  The American Taliban, wrapped in the Flag and carrying a Bible,  eager to force “Biblical Law” onto the secular populace.  Hell, none of them can even agree upon what “biblical law” is — just ask any of the hundreds of sects of christianity — they’re each one right.

Meet the politicians, Bart Stupak and Joe Pitts, working together to take away women’s rights in health care reform, are also part of the infamous “The Family” of the C-Street christian sex palace (who lost their tax-exempt status).

“Speaking yesterday on NPR’s Fresh Air, Jeff Sharlet – who wrote a best-selling book documenting the political influence of the family – noted that many U.S. politicians, straddling both sides of the political aisle, are involved with “The Family.” Sharlet spoke about how members of “The Family” have been quite active in Uganda, including Ugandan Parliamentarian David Bahati, who is a member of “The Family” and one of the legislators behind the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009.

“[Bahati] appears to be a core member of The Family. He works, he organizes their Uganda 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,” said Sharlet.

Not only that, but The Family has long considered Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to be their key point man in Uganda, according to Sharlet. And President Museveni, it turns out, is one of the biggest advocates for killing gay people in Uganda. He also just met with a bunch of Ugandan youth and urged them to resist the forces of homosexuality.

That’s a pretty direct, not to mention abhorrent, connection between U.S. evangelical political leadership and Ugandan human rights abusers. Do U.S. politicians like Congressmen Bart Stupak really want to have on their consciences the murder and imprisonment of gay people in Uganda? Urge his office to condemn this proposed bill now.”

It is absolutely shameful what our politicians and religious leaders are involved in.

It’s true! I mean, I’m also epic amounts of behind; I’m at about 35000, last I checked. My plan is to do 7k each at the Saturday and Sunday write-in, thus leaving me only 1000 to write on Monday, the 30th! Probably I will work on it a bunch today as well, just to tip myself over. To all of you saying-nay on my 7k in a day goal, I totally did it on the Write Dangerously night, so you can just act like a horse and nay yourself!

The telephone-interviewing job is going… well? Well, it’s going, anyway. I thought for sure I was going to drop out after a week, but then I got a check and it remembered why I was doing this anyway. So far I’ve been scolded for doing sudoku at my desk, and written up for not clarifying that the 0-10 scale is bad=0, great=10. When has it ever been any other way? If I were giving a survey on, say, how much people loved squids, I wouldn’t give them a 0-10 scale where 0 is ‘love them like an arterie in one of my own three hearts’ and 10 is ‘let’s nuke the ocean to get rid of them’. It doesn’t make sense! Ten is greater than zero! Anyway, anyway, the work is unbelievably boring and simple, but everybody I work with is really nice, and I can workk pretty much whenever, so it’ll do until I can find a better job. (Truthfully, the thing I hate most about this job is that it doesn’t matter if I try hard or try hardly. In fact, we’re supposed to underpreform so we don’t complete the quota ahead of schedule. So instead of dialing consistently, which would at keep me a little busy, I have to be really slow at it.) (Also, I suppose I need to change my sub-header. ‘For Love, For Poetry, For Unsatisfying Employment!’ perhaps?)

Thanksgiving! Oh, Thanksgiving was alright. It was just my mom, me, and Carl (who sat back and played Portal while I made pie, which I was totally fine with. Because Portal! Still my favorite game ever!). I made pumpkin pie ith a pecan strusel. And… yup, I guess that’s it. (Considering how the Stoeber Family Thanksgivings usually go- and remind me to tell those stories someday- this was pretty nice and low-key. Not sure what my Dad did.)

Oh! Speaking of what a terrible bummer family holidays are with this family, my grandma called and told me that for the gift exchange thing we do, I got her and she got me. Same as last year. Which meant that they forgot to put me into the drawing, same as last year. Probably I will make a token apperance and then come back home for some cuddle-by-the-fire-place-and-knit-action. (I think my sister’s going to be in town for Christmas, so I may in fact disappear altogether for a while).

Knitting action indeed: I bought a bunch of yarn today (on sale thanks to Black Friday, which I think sounds way too sinister to be just a shopping holiday). I’m going to make snazzy entrelac scarves for my dad and my friend Paul, who I think will appreciate it. First, however, I really have to finish my Rose Tyler Scarf, which I have had the tools/yarn for since the summer. Today! This is what I work on. Carl is heading out to Kentucky for wedding (I was supposed to go with, but I have NaNo duties to attend to), so I have a ton of Jenna-time to devote to knitting, and also Psychonauts because that is happening too.

To the needles!

-Jenna

What else do you need?

ToonBoom is having a Black Friday sale starting at 9 a.m., with some software up to 60% off.

Read an article in the latest Animation Magazine (link not yet available) that gave me a better Prep and Landing vibe. The guys mostly responsible are the guys who did the Goofy “How To Hook Up Your Home Theatre” short. And that was funny, as is Dave Foley, who’s voicing one of the main characters. So, we’ll tune in on Dec. 1st. Gayle’s a Charlie Brown fan anyway, and Prep and Landing has the after the beloved Charlie Brown Christmas slot, setting P and L up for launch as a holiday classic.

Shakespeare has popped into Nick for a visit, with the Little Shakespeare rapper character on True Jackson’s latest hour long event. Enjoyed it, funny, loved Jimmy and Ryan nonsensically running all over Galaxy Airlines…More Jimmy works; Robbie Amell does a good job.

On a business and personal note, we’ve been getting prepped aka trying to schedule the Lonely Pond annual meeting. I’m excited. I want to take the company in a new and more productive direction and really start combining my love for animation and Shakespeare in ways you can watch. So stayed tuned.

Well, Syrika brought a friend over, and I couldn’t get any sleep. 2 more hours, Zarion, 2 more hours. I can’t wait until I can relax. Her friend already went into my room, twice, when I told her not to. By the way, this is an Angry Rant. This is technically in the category about my family, because she’s my sister’s friend. Bye, I can’t put any funny stuff until my brain stops feeling foggy. Boy, I’m tired. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ(snore)ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

may Allah bless my little pixie!!!

we went to the hospital this morning for Fateha’s hearing test, for the second time. the first was done about 8 months ago and although the results were normal, the doctor there wasn’t too confident. she said preemie babies may have problems occur later. so we were reviewed today!

the ENT clinic looked cool with all the xmas decorations and murals on the walls. it so reminded me of my classroom. while we were there, a female staff was bending over, cutting and pasting and outlining the murals. i felt like going up to her to help haha.

waiting time was the crappiest. waiting for the doctor to prescribe the medication to sedate Fateha, that is. the nurses and other staff were ok, just the doctor. grr! i shall not nag elaborate on the tardiness of the doctor, attending to us for less than a minute after waiting for him almost an hour. WHY??

she didn’t take the sedation well. we struggled cos she wouldn’t cooperate while we fed her the bitterness. she tried to throw up on us and regurgitate the meds but of course she couldn’t get it done. HAHA. she got slightly groggy and we stocked her up with milk and off she went to the lala land that easy.

we went into the audiology procedure room and the doctor patted the bed that Fateha had to lie on. we were told to wait outside for about 1 hour while she ran the tests from Fateha’s brain stem. hubby and i took the golden opportunity to be together and had our brunch at the cafeteria.

we came back just in time for the doctor to call us in. Fateha was waking up and still looking drowsy. and for the results:

NORMAL

we didn’t have to come back for a review so there won’t be any third round of tests this time, unless we want to. which of course, we didn’t want HAHA. we’re crossing our fingers that her hearing will be normal for the rest of her life. looking at the hearing aid price list was like digging my own grave. never mind!

we felt very blessed for Fateha’s achievement. one problem down!

but many more to go.

This past week a friend proposed to his lady love.  He proposed in Central Park with a ring and a poem that he wrote himself.  After she said yes he took her back to his place where he busted out the champagne and cup-cakes (from Magnolia Bakery because she loved those).  Instead of being happy for them I was green with envy.  I have been married five years, I have no romantic interest at all in this friend of mine and I will go on record here to say I like his fiancé – BUT I was jealous.  I was jealous because I was forced to recollect how I was proposed to. 

My husband and I already lived together at the time and happened to be in the middle of a major fight.  We had spent two days ignoring each other – a pretty considerable feat given the size of our living quarters.  On the third day of the stand-off he suggested to me (in his usual condescending tone that always makes it sound like I am the crazy one) that we should perhaps talk about what the problem was.  We could not do this at home because we had a close friend of his staying with us and so he suggested we leave the apartment.  We live by Battery Park (good view of Lady Liberty) and so that is where we went to settle the score.  Better to create a scene in front of complete strangers than in front of people you know.

‘What seems to be the problem?’

‘What seems to be the problem is you are a condescending prick and I am sick of it.’

‘Listen Radhika, this type of abuse is not helpful.’

‘Well it’s helpful to me.’

‘Calm down.’

There are few words in the English language that get a bigger reaction out of me than ‘calm down’, ‘chill out’ and ‘relax’.

 ‘You calm down, you shit head! – And by the way the next time one of your stupid friends has a question about when it is that we plan to get married,  make sure they direct that to you because I am sick of telling them that I am living with a man who has no interest in marrying me.’

Long pause.  

‘Well – that was something I had been thinking about. But I didn’t know exactly how to bring it up.’

I could not believe it was happening. I was being proposed to by someone who had no idea how to and so now it was up to me to drag a proposal out of him.  I felt like a tug-boat bringing the cruise ship in to the Hudson. 

‘Are you asking me to marry you?’

‘Yes.’

Being the desperate, needy female that I am I said ‘Yes please’ and then called all my parents, his parents and my girl-friends before he could change his mind.  This was my proposal. No ring, no poem, no champagne and no bloody cup-cakes.

Can you imagine? I had to show up at work the next day – in a New York advertising agency that was full to the brim with girls whose boy-friends had really put in the work to become fiancés – with this!

In the retelling of the tale I had no choice but to embellish it with elements of romance that I imagined would make an appearance at the most average of proposals.  Plus, being a girl who always looked for a silver lining when it came to the dark clouds of my relationship, I thought that at the very least it was unique.  Until Seal proposed to Heidi Klum in a motherfucking igloo. 

Women like having a story. We want our girl-friends to think that you really thought about marrying us. That you obsessed about it, that all your friends were part of helping you plan, that for once you stopped trying to be cool and instead finally turned in to a pussy with a ring, a poem and cup-cakes (sorry Sanju!). 

If you want us to love you forever then make the proposal special or your wife will write a blog about it.

Good luck Sanju and Monika. I love you guys – it’s just my husband I’m fighting with.

yeah! yet another battle won!

*victory sign*

the fat brother finally can’t stand the clutter in the living room and spent 3 hours cleaning up. and he also stacked my books/bills/files into the bookshelf behind me.

my bookshelf is now nicely organized.

top layer are for my chinese novels which i hardly read nowadays, followed by my textbooks. frictions  are on the third shelf so that i can reach them easily, and study notes on the fourth. files, folders and some magazines are packed in the fifth and last shelf.

other than the living room, he also cleared the dirty dishes which i left in the sink for three weeks (it was previously declared that he is NOT gonna help me wash up this time, and will let the dishes rot in the basin).

i so love my fat brother la.

*beams*