***
Click to play then double-click video to watch full screen
Click to play then double-click video to watch full screen
***
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Teen Cheats Death … Until Christmas
***
After Christmas death, teen leaves online message behind
Have you cried yet today? No? Here, we can fix that.
Ben Breedlove, an 18-year-old high school senior in Austin, Texas, died on Christmas Day of a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, something he’d had all of his life. But he left behind two wordless videos on his YouTube channel, in which he used a series of note cards with handwritten messages to tell his life story, including the three times he “cheated death.” His family discovered the videos in the hours after his death, reports NBC’s Austin, Texas, affiliate station, KXAN.
[Continue reading here:]
http://todayhealth.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/28/9773999-after-christmas-death-teen-leaves-online-message-behind
12/31/11 Update:
Texas Teen Ben Breedlove: More than 1,500 Attend Memorial Service
This is my story – Part 1
This is my story – Part 2
***
Monday, December 26, 2011
“PEOPLE ARE AWESOME” (as is this video)
***
PLEASE WATCH FULL SCREEN: double click video or click on link below
PLEASE WATCH FULL SCREEN: double click video or click on link below
***
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
North Korea – A Country in the Dark
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Dramatic satellite photo shows North Korea’s near total lack of electricity
Country's capital is one of only a few places with light at night.
If the inhabitants of another world were to look at North Korea at night, they'd assume it was deserted. That's because the country is virtually without electricity, as evident in this nighttime satellite photo showing only its capital of Pyongyang and a few tiny spots within its borders illuminated.
The photo is a testament to the severe poverty of the nation, which was ruled by Kim Jong-il from 1980 until his death on December 17 from an apparent heart attack. Jong-il had been widely accused of pouring his country's resources into its military and nuclear programs, leaving a majority of its citizens without food and other basic necessities.
In this stunning photo, you can see the bright lights of China to the north and South Korea below. The bright white line of lights denote the border between the North and South that was established as part of the cease-fire agreement during the Korean War in 1953.
***
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Lenny Schultz – the Italian Restaurant
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Comic genius Lenny Schultz from NBC’s late 60’s-early 70’s “Laugh-In”. See a full video compilation of Lenny's skits here: http://youtu.be/zEZVusznRXA
***
Friday, December 16, 2011
Bill of Rights Undermined on Bill of Rights Day
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Indefinite Military Detention Measure Passes On Bill Of Rights Day
by Michael McAuliff • Dec. 15, 2011
WASHINGTON -- The Senate passed a defense bill Thursday that authorizes indefinite detentions of American terrorism suspects, coincidentally acting on the controversial measure on the 220th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights.
The bill, the National Defense Authorization Act, passed 86 to 13 and is expected to be signed quickly by President Obama, who withdrew a veto threat against the bill Wednesday. Six Democrats, six Republicans and one independent opposed the bill.
Though the legislation passed overwhelmingly, several senators argued that it was threatening fundamental provisions of the Bill of Rights, which is celebrated every Dec. 15.
"We as Americans have a right to a speedy trial, not indefinite detention," said Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.). "We as Americans have a right to a jury of our peers, which I would argue is ... not enlisted or military personnel sitting in a jury. You cannot search our businesses or place of business or our homes without probable cause under the Bill of Rights."
"You cannot be deprived of your freedom or your property without due process of law, and that, I would say, is not indefinite detention," added Kirk, who voted for the bill. "I would actually argue that no statute and no Senate and no House can take these rights away from you."
The 13 senators who voted against the bill were Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).
Supporters of the bill argued that current U.S. law is a combination of rulings and precedents that already allow indefinite detention of Americans. But they say that granting the military explicit authority to investigate and detain terrorism suspects -- including Americans -- is vital to ensuring the nation can keep up with an adaptable and changing enemy threat.
They point to court rulings that have found detentions of citizens to be proper. But opponents say the issue of grabbing up Americans on U.S. soil and putting them in military detention without trial has never actually been tested by the Supreme Court.
"This provision would for the first time in American history require our military to take custody of certain terrorism suspects in the United States," said Durbin, who was especially concerned with two sections of the bill -- 1021 and 1022 -- and voted "no."
He argued -- citing FBI Director Robert Mueller's opposition to the provisions -- that there was no reason to mess with a system that has worked well since Sept. 11, 2001.
"Since 9/11 our counterterrorism professionals have prevented another attack on the United States, and more than 400 terrorists have successfully been prosecuted and convicted -- prosecuted and convicted -- in federal court," Durbin said. "Why do we want to change this system when it's working so well to keep America safe? The fact that these detainee provisions have caused so many disagreements and such heated debate demonstrates the danger of enacting them into law."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who added an amendment to the bill that specifies the resulting measure would not affect current law regarding citizens, argued that her provision provides protection for Americans.
Nevertheless, in voting for the bill, she also proposed a new bill that she, Durbin, Kirk and others intend to pursue later in hopes of making her interpretation the law.
"I strongly believe that constitutional due process requires that United States citizens apprehended in the United States should never be held in indefinite detention," Feinstein said. "That is what this legislation would accomplish."
Feinstein offered a similar amendment during earlier debate over the $662 billion defense bill, and it failed. It was not clear that this measure would do any better, although she noted that it built on a law signed in 1971 by President Nixon meant to curb abuses such as the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II.
The bill requires military treatment for foreign terrorism suspects. Defenders of the bill have pointed to one part of the provisions that say U.S. citizens are "exempted" from the requirement to be detained by the military, but legal scholars note that even though that detention is not required, it is allowed.
President Obama had threatened to veto the measure. But after provisions were added that gave him the final say over which suspects stay in military custody, he relented. [Ed. Note: Even assuming President Obama can be trusted not to abuse the opportunity to hold Americans indefinitely, what about his successors? Obama’s apparent reason for not vetoing this bill is totally lame. The real reason, I suspect, is Republicans’ refusal to pass the bill without this Bill-of-Rights-busting provision and Obama’s refusal to stand up for the rights of American citizens in the face of yet another Republican roadblock.] Those provisions also ensured that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies would still be permitted to investigate and interrogate terrorist suspects. Mueller has called the provisions insufficient, warning that they will create bureaucratic roadblocks in the midst of vital investigations.
Obama could sign sign [sic] the bill as soon as Friday.
Civil liberties groups were infuriated that Obama retreated from the veto threat, and called on him to reconsider.
"The NDAA enshrines the war paradigm that has eroded the United States' human rights record and served it so poorly over the past decade as the country's primary counterterrorism tool," said Tom Parker, policy director of Amnesty International USA. "In doing so, the NDAA provides a framework for 'normalizing' indefinite detention and making Guantanamo a permanent feature of American life," he said, referring to a restriction in the measure on closing the Cuba prison for terror suspects.
"By withdrawing his threat to veto the NDAA, President Obama has abandoned yet another principled position with little or nothing to show for it," Parker said. "Amnesty International is appalled -- but regrettably not surprised."
***
Thursday, December 15, 2011
US Ally Saudi Arabia Beheads Woman for “Witchcraft”
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Saudi Woman Beheaded for ‘Witchcraft’
by RANDY KREIDER
A Saudi woman was beheaded after being convicted of practicing “witchcraft and sorcery,” according to the Saudi Interior Ministry, at least the second such execution for sorcery this year. [emphasis added]
The woman, Amina bint Abdulhalim Nassar, was executed in the northern Saudi province of al-Jawf on Monday.
A source close to the Saudi religious police told Arab newspaper al Hayat that authorities who searched Nassar’s home found a book about witchcraft, 35 veils and glass bottles full of “an unknown liquid used for sorcery” among her possessions. According to reports, authorities said Nassar claimed to be a healer and would sell a veil and three bottles for 1500 riyals, or about $400.
According to the ministry, Nassar’s death sentence was upheld by an appeals court and the Saudi Supreme Judicial Council.
Philip Luther, the interim direct of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa program, condemned Nassar’s killing, calling it “deeply shocking.”
“The charges of ‘witchcraft and sorcery’ are not defined as crimes in Saudi Arabia and to use them to subject someone to the cruel and extreme penalty of execution is truly appalling,” Luther said.
Luther said that a charge of sorcery is often used by the Saudi government as a smokescreen under which they punish people for exercising freedom of speech.
Nassar was not the first person to be executed for alleged witchcraft by the Saudi government this year. In September, a Sudanese man was publicly decapitated with a sword in the city of Medina after he was found guilty of the same crime.
According to Amnesty International, at least 79 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia so far in 2011, more than three times as many as in 2010. The human rights group condemned the kingdom’s reliance on capital punishment.
“Where the death penalty is used, under international law it should only be applied to the most serious crimes,” Luther said.
The Saudi embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
***
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Mumbai Train Station – Flash Mob
***
From the youtube blurb:
200 ordinary Mumbaikars (aged 4-60) come together one busy Sunday evening for the pure joy of dancing. The historic CST station [Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus] blares 'Rang De Basanti' on their speakers while surprised train commuters rush to see what’s going on.
[double-click video to watch full screen]
***
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
The GOP Nomination Circus – A Wicked View from Germany’s Der Spiegel
***
Below is a withering commentary from Germany’s Der Spiegel News Magazine’s Online International Edition.
The current Republican crop of candidates.
The Republicans' Farcical Candidates: A Club of Liars, Demagogues and Ignoramuses
A Commentary by Marc Pitzke • Dec. 1, 2011
The US Republican race is dominated by ignorance, lies and scandals. The current crop of candidates have shown such a basic lack of knowledge that they make George W. Bush look like Einstein. The Grand Old Party is ruining the entire country's reputation.
Africa is a country. In Libya, the Taliban reigns. Muslims are terrorists; most immigrants are criminal; all Occupy protesters are dirty. And women who feel sexually harassed -- well, they shouldn't make such a big deal about it.
Welcome to the wonderful world of the US Republicans. Or rather, to the twisted world of what they call their presidential campaigns. For months now, they've been traipsing around the country with their traveling circus, from one debate to the next, one scandal to another, putting themselves forward for what's still the most powerful job in the world.
As it turns out, there are no limits to how far they will stoop.
It's true that on the road to the White House all sorts of things can happen, and usually do. No campaign can avoid its share of slip-ups, blunders and embarrassments. Yet this time around, it's just not that funny anymore. In fact, it's utterly horrifying.
It's horrifying because these eight so-called, would-be candidates are eagerly ruining not only their own reputations and that of their party, the party of Lincoln lore. Worse: They're ruining the reputation of the United States.
'Freakshow'
They lie. They cheat. They exaggerate. They bluster. They say one idiotic, ignorant, outrageous thing after another. They've shown such stark lack of knowledge -- political, economic, geographic, historical -- that they make George W. Bush look like Einstein and even cause their fellow Republicans to cringe.
"When did the GOP lose touch with reality?" wonders Bush's former speechwriter David Frum in New York Magazine. In the New York Times, Kenneth Duberstein, Ronald Reagan's former chief-of-staff, called this campaign season a "reality show," while Wall Street Journal columnist and former Reagan confidante Peggy Noonan even spoke of a "freakshow."
That may be the most appropriate description.
Tough times demand tough and smart minds. But all these dopes have to offer are ramblings that insult the intelligence of all Americans -- no matter if they are Democrats, Republicans or neither of the above. Yet just like any freakshow, this one would be unthinkable without a stage (in this case, the media, strangling itself with all its misunderstood "political correctness" and "objectivity") and an audience (the party base, which this year seems to have suffered a political lobotomy).
Factually Challenged
And so the farce continues. The more mind-boggling its incarnations, the happier the US media are to cheer first one clown and then the next, elevating and then eliminating "frontrunners" in reliable news cycles of about 45 days.
Take Herman Cain, "businessman." He sat out the first wave of sexual harassment claims against him by offering a peculiar argument: Most ladies he had encountered in his life, he said, had not complained.
In the most recent twist, a woman accused Cain of having carried on a 13-year affair with her. That, too, he tried to casually wave off, but now, under pressure, he says he wants to "reassess" his campaign.
If Cain indeed drops out, the campaign would lose its biggest caricature: He has been the most factually challenged of all these jesters. [Ed. note: Cain “suspended” his campaign on Saturday 12/3/11.]
As CEO of the "Godfather's" pizza chain, Cain killed jobs -- but now poses as the job-creator-in-chief. Meanwhile, he seems to lack basic economic know-how, let alone a rudimentary grasp of politics or geography. Libya confounds him. He does not believe that China is a nuclear power. And all other, slightly more complicated questions get a stock answer: "Nine-nine-nine!" Remember? That's Cain's tax reduction plan that would actually raise taxes for 84 percent of Americans.
Has any of that disrupted Cain's popularity in the media or with his fan base? Far from it. Since Oct. 1, he has collected more than $9 million in campaign donations. Enough to plow through another onslaught of denouements.
No Shortage of Chutzpah
Then there's Newt Gingrich, the current favorite. He's a political dinosaur, dishonored and discredited. Or so we thought. Yet just because he studied history and speaks in more complex sentences than his rivals, the US media now reflexively hails him as a "Man of Ideas" (The Washington Post) -- even though most of these ideas are lousy if not downright offensive, such as firing unionized school janitors, so poor children could do their jobs.
Pompous and blustering, Gingrich gets away with this humdinger as well as with selling himself as a Washington outsider -- despite having made millions of dollars as a lobbyist in Washington. At least the man's got chutzpah.
The hypocrisy doesn't end here. Gingrich claims moral authority on issues such as the "sanctity of marriage," yet he's been divorced twice. He sprang the divorce on his first wife while she was sick with cancer. (His supporters' excuse: It's been 31 years, and she's still alive.) He cheated on his second wife just as he was pressing ahead with Bill Clinton's impeachment during the Monica Lewinsky affair, unaware of the irony. The woman he cheated with, by the way, was one of his House aides 23 years his junior -- and is now his perpetually smiling third wife.
Americans have a short memory. They forget, too, that Gingrich was driven out of Congress in disgrace, the first speaker of the house to be disciplined for ethical wrongdoing. Or that he consistently flirts with racism when he speaks of Barack Obama. Or that he enjoyed a $500,000 credit line at Tiffany's just as his campaign was financially in the toilet and he ranted about the national debt. Chutzpah, indeed.
Yet the US media rewards him with a daily kowtow. And the Republicans reward him too, by having put him on top in the latest polls. Mr. Hypocrisy, the bearer of his party's hope.
"I think he's doing well just because he's thinking," former President Clinton told the conservative online magazine NewsMax. "People are hungry for ideas that make some sense." Sense? Apparently it's not just the Republicans who have lost their minds here.
The Eternal Runner-Up
And what about the other candidates? Rick Perry's blunders are legendary. His "oops" moment in South Carolina [sic – actually in suburban Detroit]. His frequently slurred speech, as if he was drunk. His TV commercials putting words in Obama's mouth that he didn't say (such as, "Americans are 'lazy'"). His preposterous claim that as governor of Texas he created 1 million jobs, when the total was really just about 100,000. But what's one digit? Elsewhere, Perry would have long ago been disqualified. But not here in the US.
Meanwhile, Michele Bachmann has fallen off the wagon, although she's still tolerated as if she's a serious contender. Ron Paul's fan club gets the more excited, the more puzzling his comments get. Jon Huntsman, the only one who occasionally makes some sort of sense, has been relegated to the poll doldrums ever since he showed sympathy for the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators.
Which leaves Mitt Romney, the eternal flip-flopper and runner-up, who by now is almost guaranteed to clinch the nomination, even though no one in his party seems to like or want him. He stiffly delivers his talking points, which may or may not contradict his previous positions. After all, he's been practicing this since 2008, when he failed to snag the nomination from John McCain. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
As an investor, Romney once raked in millions and, like Cain, killed jobs along the way. So now he says he's the economy's savior. To prove that, he has presented an economic plan that the usually quite conservative business magazine Forbes has labeled "dangerous," asking incredulously, "About Mitt Romney, the Republicans can't be serious." Apparently they're not, but he is, running TV spots against Obama already, teeming with falsehoods.
Good for Ratings
What a nice club that is. A club of liars, cheaters, adulterers, exaggerators, hypocrites and ignoramuses. "A starting point for a chronicle of American decline," was how David Remnick, the editor of the New Yorker, described the current Republican race.
The Tea Party would take issue with that assessment. They cheer the loudest for the worst, only to see them fail, as expected, one by one. Which goes to show that this "movement," sponsored by Fox News, has never been interested in the actual business of governing or in the intelligence and intellect that requires. They are only interested in marketing themselves, for ratings and dollars.
So the US elections are a reality show after all, a pseudo-political counterpart to the Paris Hiltons, Kim Kardashians and all the American Idol and X Factor contestants littering today's TV. The cruder, the dumber, the more bizarre and outlandish -- the more lucrative. Especially for Fox News, about which the Fairleigh [sic- should be Farleigh] Dickinson University found out that its viewers are far less informed than people who don't watch TV news at all.
Maybe that's the solution: Just ignore it all, until election day. Good luck with that -- this docudrama with its soap-opera twists is way too enthralling. The latest rumor du jour involves a certain candidate who long ago seemed to have disappeared from the radar. Now she may be back, or so it is said, to bring order into this chaos. Never mind that her name is synonymous with chaos: Sarah Palin.
***
From Jonah Mowry
***
What’s goin on …
UPDATE, PLEASE READ
To all my friends and supporters,
I made this video 4 months ago just before school was about to start. I was 13. It was a very emotionally dark time in my life. I made the video at 4:00am in the morning; I hadn’t been sleeping at night for a long time, too many things going on in my head. I was dreading going back to school and I had not come out to my family yet. Only my closest friends knew. I didn’t know how to say what I needed to say. All I could think about were all the bad things that had been happening at school last year, every year for that matter. I just couldn’t bare to go through that anymore. I was done being fake happy, pretending hateful words didn’t hurt, done hiding it from my family.
So this video was made for my friends that had moved on to High School who were worried for me, to say to them that I was going to take a stand, and to the haters at my middle school that I’m not going anywhere. I am who I am. I posted the video here and told people were to find it. That was it.
My friends were moved by the video and thought I did something important. I was encouraged to upload it to my Facebook page so more people could see it. Maybe it could help someone else going through the same thing. So I linked it Dec. 1st. My Parents saw it for the first time Dec, 2nd.
Then..... all this happened.
I never expected in a million years that it would have such a wonderful impact on so many people. I am truly humbled and truly thankful for all the love, encouragement and support from people all over the world. It’s been incredibly overwhelming. I don’t know what to say. Thank you so, so much!
Lastly, yes you have seen me happy in a couple short videos replies I posted; I would think that would be a good thing, and yes I do have friends, my High School friends, and I have made friends because when I came out they realized that they had hurt me and that they fealt sorry. The video is real, and true.
In the last few months everything eventually came out in the open, I felt a huge weight off my shoulders; I’m happy, I’m excepted for who I am, I'm more confident and feel stronger every day.
Thank you all, Love and peace to all who are hurting.
Jonah Mowry
Read more here:
***
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Boarding School Bars 13 Year Old HIV+ Student Citing Threat to Students
***
HIV-Positive Boy Talks of Being Denied Entry to Hershey School
by RON CLAIBORNE • Dec. 2, 2011
A 13-year-old boy who applied to a Hershey, Pa., boarding school told ABC News that it never crossed his mind he would be denied entry because he was HIV-positive.
"I thought I would get into the school, because of the type of student and person I am," he told ABC News in a written interview through his lawyer.
As a result of the school's decision, he added, "my life has turned into fear, anger, confusion and tears."
The school said today that its residential setting and the risk of sexual activity made the teen too much of a "threat."
The AIDS Law Project has filed suit on behalf of the boy, whose name is being withheld because of his age, on Wednesday in Philadelphia District Court, alleging that the Milton Hershey School violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, which includes HIV in its scope.
"This young man is a motivated, intelligent kid who poses no health risk to other students, but is being denied an educational opportunity because of ignorance and fear about HIV and AIDS," said Ronda Goldfein, the boy's lawyer.
"I don't see the direct threat," the boy told ABC News. "In my home we respect what my mother tells us to do. ... We come straight home from school, do homework, chores and do things as a family unit. Isn't that what Milton Hershey school is supposed to be about, but with a great educational environment? I guess not?!"
Connie McNamara, spokesperson for Milton Hershey, told ABCNews.com the school carefully evaluated the situation and the needs of its 1,850 students, which span from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade.
"We had to balance his rights and interests with our obligation to provide for the health and safety of other students," she said. "And this meets a direct threat."
McNamara knows well that coughing, hugging, and public restrooms won't cause someone to get HIV.
She said the school was most worried the boy would have sex -- if not now, at some point in his future years at the school, where students in groups of 10 to 12 live together in on-campus housing.
"Our kids are no different than teenagers anywhere else," she said. "Despite encouraging abstinence, we can not be 100 percent certain our kids are not engaging in sexual activity."
Even making sure the boy and students were educated on how HIV is transmitted wasn't enough for the school to grant the teen admission.
The idea that anyone could be denied entry based on a disability is astounding, said Arthur Caplan, director of the Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics.
"This notion that you can't put him in residential housing at a school because he is a vector of death is a throwback to 1987, when people were worried you couldn't mainstream children in any school," he said. "It sets back what we know to be true about the disease."
Caplan suggested the school use this as a teaching opportunity to educate students about HIV.
"I'd like to see the school hold a seminar," said Caplan. "And if the school isn't going to do the right thing, students need to confront the administration."
Even the school seemed a bit conflicted during the application process. McNamara provided ABC News with a court document the school planned to file before the lawsuit, asking a judge to weigh in and make sure they were within the bounds of the law.
"We looked at the law and our unique program and made the best decision we could," she said. "Our heart goes out to this young man."
The Milton Hershey School was founded in 1909 by the chocolate magnate whose name it bears. The school was originally intended to house white male orphans, but now has a diverse student body hailing from all over the United States. Students must come from low-income families in order to be considered for admission.
Caplan said the case reminds him of Ryan White, the teenager who became the face of the AIDS virus in the 1980s after being kicked out of school for fear it would spead through everyday contact.
"I think they'll lose the lawsuit," he said. " So they better get ready to figure out how they're going to accept him."
For his part, the 13-year-old prospective student told ABC News: "As far as me still wanting to go to Milton Hershey I still do but I am now afraid to. I want them to apologize to me for making like I'm going to be a reckless teenager and put someone else in jeopardy. They should give me more credit than that.
"I don't feel like me anymore and there is no outcome for that," he added. "But if it will help others like me to NOT be discriminated against, I guess I could try to get over it one day. I don't know when, but one day. I'm 13 right now and still got a whole lot of life to live." [emphasis added]
<><><>
HIV Student ‘Health and Safety’ Issue
by ALYSSA NEWCOMB
The Hershey, Pa., boarding school that denied an HIV-positive 13-year-old boy entry said today that the school’s residential setting and the risk of sexual activity made the teen too much of a “threat.”
The AIDS Law Project filed suit on behalf of the unidentified boy Wednesday in Philadelphia District Court, alleging that the Milton Hershey School violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, which includes HIV in its scope.
“This young man is a motivated, intelligent kid who poses no health risk to other students, but is being denied an educational opportunity because of ignorance and fear about HIV and AIDS,” said Ronda Goldfein, the boy’s lawyer.
Connie McNamara, spokesperson for the Milton Hershey School, told ABCNews.com the school carefully evaluated the situation and the needs of its 1,850 students which span from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade.
“We had to balance his rights and interests with our obligation to provide for the health and safety of other students,” she said. “And this meets a direct threat.”
McNamara knows well that coughing, hugging, and public restrooms won’t cause someone to get HIV.
She said the school was most worried the boy would have sex – if not now, at some point in his future years at the school, where students in groups of 10-12 live together in on-campus housing.
“Our kids are no different than teenagers anywhere else,” she said. “Despite encouraging abstinence, we can not be 100 percent certain our kids are not engaging in sexual activity.”
Even making sure the boy and students were educated on how HIV is transmitted wasn’t enough for the school to grant the teen admission.
The idea that anyone could be denied entry based on a disability is astounding, said Arthur Caplan, the Director of the Pennsylvania Center For Bioethics.
“This notion that you can’t put him in residential housing at a school because he is a vector of death is a throwback to 1987 when people were worried you couldn’t mainstream children in any school,” he said. “It sets back what we know to be true about the disease.”
Caplan suggested the school use this as a teaching opportunity to educate students about HIV.
“I’d like to see the school hold a seminar,” said Caplan. “And if the school isn’t going to do the right thing, students need to confront the administration.”
Even the school seemed a bit conflicted during the application process. McNamara provided ABC News with a court document the school planned to file before the lawsuit, asking a judge to weigh in and make sure they were within the bounds of the law.
“We looked at the law and our unique program and made the best decision we could,” she said. “Our heart goes out to this young man.”
The Milton Hershey School was founded in 1909 by the chocolate magnate whose name it bears. The school was originally intended to house white male orphans but now has a diverse student body hailing from all over the United States. Students must come from low income families in order to be considered for admission.
Caplan said the case reminds him of Ryan White, the teenager who who became the face of the AIDs virus in the 1980s after being kicked out of school for fear it would spead through everyday contact.
“I think they’ll lose the lawsuit,” he said. “So they better get ready to figure out how they’re going to accept him.” [emphasis added]
***
Friday, December 2, 2011
Kentucky Church Bans Interracial Couples
***
Apparently the Freewill Baptist Church in Kentucky has nothing at all to do with free will as interracial couples are banned from exercising their free will to join the Freewill Church. What – are we back in the 1960’s?
Kentucky church votes to ban interracial couples
TOMAHAWK, Ky (Reuters) - A vote to bar interracial couples from a small church in eastern Kentucky has triggered hand-wringing and embarrassment.
Nine members of Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church backed their former pastor, with six opposed, in Sunday's vote to bar interracial couples from church membership and worship activities. Funerals were excluded.
The vote was taken after most of the 40 people who attended Sunday services had left the church in Pike County, near the border with West Virginia. Many members left to avoid the vote.
Most members of the church "didn't want anything to do with this," said longtime church official Dean Harville, whose daughter and her black fiance had drawn pastor Melvin Thompson's ire.
At services earlier this year, Stella Harville, 24, who is working on her master's degree in optical engineering, sang "I Surrender All" with her fiance, Ticha Chikuni, 29, a Zimbabwe native, according to her father. Chikuni, an employee at Georgetown College in Kentucky, played the piano.
"There didn't appear to be any problem," Dean Harville said on Wednesday. "None whatsoever."
But Harville said Thompson told him the couple would not be allowed to sing at the church again. Thompson resigned in August but would not drop the issue.
Thompson told a local radio outlet, "I do not believe in interracial marriages, and I do not believe this (ban) will give our church a black eye at all."
He could not be reached for comment.
The move has drawn scrutiny from the hierarchy of the Freewill Baptist Church, Harville said.
"This kind of thing brands all of us so easily," said Randy Johnson, president of the Pike County Ministerial Association. "That's not who we are. From all the churches I've talked to so far, it's really not anger so much as it is shock."
(Reporting by Lee Mueller, Editing by Andrew Stern)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/01/us-usa-church-race-idUSTRE7B003S20111201
12/5/11 Update:
Stacy Stepp, pastor of the Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church in Pike County, told The Associated Press that the vote by nine people last week was declared null and void after it was determined that new bylaws can't run contrary to local, state or national laws. He said the proposal was discriminatory, therefore it couldn't be adopted.
***
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