Tuesday, February 10, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2015/02/10/384959376/the-french-debate-free-speech-versus-hate-speech

The French Debate: Free Speech Versus Hate Speech
Eleanor Beardsley
FEBRUARY 10, 2015 

Photograph – French comedian Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala, center, gestures as he exits the courtroom after his trial in Paris last Wednesday. He was ordered to pay $37,000 for condoning terrorism. His lawyer argues he was denied the same freedom of expression that the satirical magazine Charlie Hedbo received.
Ian Langsdon/EPA/Landov

When terrorists attacked a satirical magazine in Paris last month, killing eight journalists, millions took to the streets in support of free speech. They waved pencils and carried signs in solidarity with the magazine Charlie Hebdo.

But in the weeks since those attacks, scores have also been arrested for condoning terrorism and inciting racial and religious hatred. Many now wonder if the government's crackdown on hate speech is compromising free speech.

One of those arrested in the wake of the attacks was controversial stand-up comedian Dieudonne M'Bala M'bala. Last Wednesday, a judge ordered him to pay the equivalent of a $37,000 fine for condoning terrorism.

The comic has faced prosecution many times in the past for his crude, anti-Semitic jokes. This time it was for posting "I feel like Charlie Coulibaly" on his Facebook page. The judge said Dieudonne's remark was clear support for Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman who killed a police officer and four people in a kosher grocery store.

Dieudonne's lawyer Jacques Verdier says his client is consistently denied the same freedom of expression that magazine Charlie Hebdo is granted.

"Dieudonne is constantly hounded and harassed, which is why he said he feels like a terrorist," says Verdier.

In France, as in the United States, people are free to express their opinions. But in France that freedom of speech ends at insulting others based on their race, religion or sex.

"Hate speech laws were inspired by the horrors of the Second World War, and in particular the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews," says Christopher Mesnooh, an American attorney who practices law in France.

Jean-Yves Camus is a specialist on extremist organizations. He says French hate speech laws have evolved over time. They were first enacted in 1939 to fight the enormous amount of anti-Semitic propaganda in the popular press.

In the 1970s they were strengthened to protect Muslims. And in the late 1980s the French parliament passed a law making it a crime to deny the Holocaust. This was in response to the realization among the French public of the extent of the crimes committed by the Vichy collaborationist government.

"And then, after 9/11, we saw a huge growth of Islamist fundamentalism, which was very active on the Internet," says Camus. "So lawmakers and anti-racism groups again strengthened hate speech laws to take this into account."

But for France's nearly 6 million Muslims, Charlie Hebdo being allowed to insult Islam while others are jailed for racist remarks seems hypocritical.

Myriam Doudech, 36, says she condemns the attack on the journalists who drew caricatures of the prophet Mohammed. But as a Muslim, she sees a double standard when it comes to free speech.

"You know, in France you cannot attack some religions, but they laugh about Islam," she says. "We all need respect. But the rules have to be the same for everybody."

Camus says some people are confusing hate speech with blasphemy, which was abolished as a crime after the French Revolution.

"You really can make fun in France of any religion. And this is what the Muslim community has to understand," says Camus. "We have this tradition and we will stand by it."

People who would have been fined for hate speech before the attacks are now facing jail terms. One defense lawyer denounced what he called a collective hysteria gripping the nation.

But Camus says Muslims have also been protected by hate speech laws. He says people must understand the difference between attacking a belief and attacking individuals.

"You can say, for example, that you stand against Islam, but you cannot say anything negative about Muslims as a group," he says.

Camus says the French won't tolerate a U.S.-style Patriot Act that gives the government surveillance powers over the private lives of citizens. But the French will accept stricter limits on freedom of speech to stop the spread of terrorist ideology, he says.




“French comedian Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala, center, gestures as he exits the courtroom after his trial in Paris last Wednesday. He was ordered to pay $37,000 for condoning terrorism.... But in the weeks since those attacks, scores have also been arrested for condoning terrorism and inciting racial and religious hatred. Many now wonder if the government's crackdown on hate speech is compromising free speech. One of those arrested in the wake of the attacks was controversial stand-up comedian Dieudonne M'Bala M'bala. Last Wednesday, a judge ordered him to pay the equivalent of a $37,000 fine for condoning terrorism. The comic has faced prosecution many times in the past for his crude, anti-Semitic jokes. This time it was for posting "I feel like Charlie Coulibaly" on his Facebook page.... "And then, after 9/11, we saw a huge growth of Islamist fundamentalism, which was very active on the Internet," says Camus. "So lawmakers and anti-racism groups again strengthened hate speech laws to take this into account." But for France's nearly 6 million Muslims, Charlie Hebdo being allowed to insult Islam while others are jailed for racist remarks seems hypocritical.... "You know, in France you cannot attack some religions, but they laugh about Islam," she says. "We all need respect. But the rules have to be the same for everybody." Camus says some people are confusing hate speech with blasphemy, which was abolished as a crime after the French Revolution. "You really can make fun in France of any religion. And this is what the Muslim community has to understand," says Camus. "We have this tradition and we will stand by it."... But Camus says Muslims have also been protected by hate speech laws. He says people must understand the difference between attacking a belief and attacking individuals. "You can say, for example, that you stand against Islam, but you cannot say anything negative about Muslims as a group," he says. Camus says the French won't tolerate a U.S.-style Patriot Act that gives the government surveillance powers over the private lives of citizens. But the French will accept stricter limits on freedom of speech to stop the spread of terrorist ideology, he says.”

It seems to me that the overall problem here is that some hate speech is being narrowly defined as that leveled against people, and that is banned; while the right to speak in very highly disrespectful ways of cultural traditions, traits or beliefs is allowed. I must say, in the US we may have too much cultural disrespect without any punishment. I believe that sort of thing is harmful in itself, and a danger to our society. Personally, I would much rather see more “PC” behavior required than hear the free use of antisemitic, anti-Islamic, antifeminist, antigay and racist speech or behavior of all kinds.

I have grown up with a certain amount of those hate mongering statements, and I understand our Constitutional rulings about it. We are not allowed to take up a gun or a knife, or even a mailed fist over such a slur, without running the risk of going to jail. I would rather see the speech itself be disallowed than the amount of cultural hatred and abuse that we have in this country. It is, after all, “fighting words,” and it is increasing the tension between people of all backgrounds. It coincides directly with the rise of a hard right trend in our culture since 9/11, especially in the Tea Party.

“The Internet is full of things like free use of the N word and open verbal warfare between fundamentalist Christians and atheist groups, or worse, Islamists. Then there are the Rush Limbaughs of the world. He has used two slurs against women that I read about, and undoubtedly has against blacks as well, and has not been jailed. His show has lost business, however, but he needs to pay fines for those things, I think.

I am meandering around to the statement that I don't believe Charlie Hebdo should be allowed to draw abusive pictures of Muhammad any more than Islamists and European hate mongerers of all kinds should be allowed to abuse Jews, Christians or other religions. There's too much of that kind of thing occurring now, and to me it is a sign that the hatred meter has reached a 9 on a 10 point scale. The emergence of a new Hitler somewhere in Europe wouldn't surprise me. Whatever the religion we espouse, it's the hatred and heartless abuse that is evil and, worse still, dangerous. I'm glad to see that the French are studying the issue. I think it's time. I would like to see similar reconsideration here in this country. A BBC article on this subject is recommended. – http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-31246808 , Ban racists from social media, anti-Semitism report says, 9 February 2015.



http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/limbaugh.asp

Top 10 Racist Rush Limbaugh Quotes 

1. "I mean, let's face it, we didn't have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I'm not saying we should bring it back; I'm just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark." 

2. "You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray [the confessed assassin of Martin Luther King]. We miss you, James. Godspeed." 

3. "Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?" 

4. "Right. So you go into Darfur and you go into South Africa, you get rid of the white government there. You put sanctions on them. You stand behind Nelson Mandela — who was bankrolled by communists for a time, had the support of certain communist leaders. You go to Ethiopia. You do the same thing." 

5. "Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it." 

6. "The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies." 

7. "They're 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?" 

8. "Take that bone out of your nose and call me back (to an African American female caller)." 

9. "I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They’re interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. I think there’s a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn’t deserve."
 

Origins:   With the October 2009 brouhaha over talk radio host Rush Limbaugh's seeking to buy an interest in the NFL's St. Louis Rams franchise (and his previous resignation from ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown program over comments concerning Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb), the game of digging up examples of his making racially insensitive or offensive remarks was afoot again: 
 


"I mean, let's face it, we didn't have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I'm not saying we should bring it back; I'm just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark."
The only source we've turned up so far that putatively documents this quote is the 2006 book 101 People Who Are Really Screwing America, which attributes it to Rush Limbaugh but itself cites no source. On his program of 12 October 2009, Limbaugh disclaimed this quote as a fabricated one:
There's a quote out there that I first saw it in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last week that I somehow, some time ago, defended slavery and started cracking jokes about it. And, you know, you say a lot of things in the course of 15 hours a week, over the course of 21 years. We've gone back, we have looked at everything we have. There is not even an inkling that any words in this quote are accurate. It's outrageous, but it's totally predictable. 

It's being repeated by people who have never listened to this program, they certainly didn't hear it said themselves because it was never said.


"You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray. We miss you, James. Godspeed."
Likewise, this statement is attributed (without sourcing) to Limbaugh in 101 People Who Are Really Screwing America. Although it is often cited as something he said on his radio program on 23 April 1998, we haven't turned up any references to this quote from earlier than 2005. 
 


"Right. So you go into Darfur and you go into South Africa, you get rid of the white government there. You put sanctions on them. You stand behind Nelson Mandela — who was bankrolled by communists for a time, had the support of certain communist leaders. You go to Ethiopia. You do the same thing."
Media Matters for America documents this statement (with an audio clip) as one made by Rush Limbaugh in the course of his radio program on 21 August 2007. 
 


"Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it."
Media Matters also documents this statement as one made by Rush Limbaugh in the course of his radio program on 19 January 2007. 
 


"The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies."
This putative statement dates at least as far back as 1992, so the only documentation we've been able to locate for it is indirect. All the sources we've found that reference it cite the January 1993 issue of Flush Rush Quarterly as their source. 
 


"They're 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?"
This statement has been indirectly referenced as something Rush Limbaugh once said on the air since at least as far back as 2000, but we have found no documenting source for it. 
 


"Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?"
"Take that bone out of your nose and call me back."
Rush Limbaugh acknowledged making these statements in a 1990 Newsday article (although the latter, at least, occurred not on Limbaugh's now-familiar talk and political commentary radio program, but at the beginning of his broadcast career back in the early 1970s when he was hosting a Top 40 music show under the name "Jeff Christie" on either WIXZ or KQV in Pittsburgh):
For all his bravado, however, Limbaugh is immensely sensitive to charges of insensitivity. When asked about the racist they-all-look-alike connotation of a statement like "Have you ever noticed how all newspaper composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?" this professional talker from a family of lawyers pleads total innocence. 

"You may interpret it as that, but I, no, honest-to-God, that's not how I intended it at all. Gee, don't get me in this one. I am the least racist host you'll ever find." Recalling a stint as an "insult-radio" DJ in Pittsburgh, he admits feeling guilty about, for example, telling a black listener he could not understand to "take that bone out of your nose and call me back."


"I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They're interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. I think there's a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn't deserve."

Rush Limbaugh made this statement about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb during a September 2003 broadcast of ESPN television's Sunday NFL Countdown program. The controversy generated by the remark prompted Limbaugh's resignation from his position as a commentator on that show. 

Last updated:   26 September 2014 

Read more at http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/limbaugh.asp#gft1Md69duJJvU8w.99







http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ex-cop-drew-peterson-accused-of-trying-to-hire-hitman/

Ex-cop Drew Peterson accused of trying to hire hitman
By STEPHANIE SLIFER CBS NEWS
February 9, 2015

CHICAGO - Drew Peterson, the former suburban Chicago police officer who is serving 38 years in prison for the murder of his third wife, is accused of trying to hire a hitman to kill a prosecutor who helped put him behind bars, reports CBS Chicago.

The 61-year-old Peterson is charged with solicitation of murder and solicitation of murder for hire after he allegedly tried to put a hit out on Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow, who led the prosecution team in Peterson's 2012 murder trial.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said Peterson appeared in court Monday and was informed of the charges against him. He is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on March 3.

Peterson is currently being held at a maximum-security prison in Randolph County, Ill., about 50 miles southeast of St. Louis., for the murder of his third wife, 40-year-old Kathleen Savio, who was found dead in a dry bathtub in March 2004 while the couple was in the midst of a divorce.

Peterson is also a suspect in the disappearance of his much-younger fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, but he hasn't been charged in that case. Savio's death was originally ruled an accident, but was re-examined after Stacy Peterson vanished in 2007 at the age of 23.

Savio's death was eventually ruled a homicide. Stacy Peterson is still missing.

Drew Peterson's case attracted widespread media attention and was the basis for a TV movie. Many speculated he sought to use his law enforcement expertise to get away with murder.

Drew Peterson's defense attorney, Steve Greenberg, said Monday that the new allegations against his client are "absurd," reports CBS Chicago.




Some people are truly evil. Peterson, no matter when I see him, has a smirk on his face and hatred in his eyes. He's like Zimmerman, he just can't stop misbehaving.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/02/10/385155253/isis-seen-profiting-from-informal-money-system-in-spain

ISIS Seen Profiting From Informal Money System In Spain
Bill Chappell
FEBRUARY 10, 2015

The extremist group ISIS is exploiting an informal finance network in Spain to pay its fighters in Syria, according to intelligence officials in Spain. The system has no oversight; it's often used by immigrants to send money to their families back home.

From Madrid, Lauren Frayer reports:

"Spanish officials are investigating a network of 250 local businesses — butchers, small grocery stores, mobile phone shops — allegedly funneling money to jihadi fighters in Syria. They're accused of doing so through Spain's hawala network.

"It's an informal money transfer system that bypasses banks and government oversight. It's believed to manage the savings of about 150,000 Muslims in Spain. The vast majority of transactions are legal. But Spanish officials say the system has been hijacked by ISIS sympathizers who are using it to pay the salaries of Spanish radicals who've gone to fight in Syria.

"They say the majority of the suspect shops are run by Pakistani immigrants, who might not realize for whom the money is intended."

Spanish officials tell El Pais that while they can't estimate how many people have left Spain to conduct jihad in northern Syria, they believe the jihadists "receive about $800 if they are single and $1,200 if they are married."

The newspaper reports:

"Hundreds of young residents in Spain — mostly Moroccans — have joined ISIS. At least 13 have died in suicide missions that caused dozens of deaths among Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's military forces."

In another possible approach to combating militants, Spain's interior minister suggested Sunday that the European Union should look at restricting mobility among its member nations.

Referring to the 1995 Schengen borders agreement that allows people to move between 26 European countries without passport controls, Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz told El Pais, "The existing mobility in the European Union is facilitating the movements (of jihadists) to any country and also to our country."


Hawala is not a currency like Bitcoin. It's a system that allows people to transfer money internationally via an informal network of money lenders and businessmen who rely on their reputation rather than formal contracts.
.Feb 7, 2014




“The extremist group ISIS is exploiting an informal finance network in Spain to pay its fighters in Syria, according to intelligence officials in Spain. The system has no oversight; it's often used by immigrants to send money to their families back home.... "It's an informal money transfer system that bypasses banks and government oversight. It's believed to manage the savings of about 150,000 Muslims in Spain. The vast majority of transactions are legal. But Spanish officials say the system has been hijacked by ISIS sympathizers who are using it to pay the salaries of Spanish radicals who've gone to fight in Syria. "They say the majority of the suspect shops are run by Pakistani immigrants, who might not realize for whom the money is intended."... "Hundreds of young residents in Spain — mostly Moroccans — have joined ISIS. At least 13 have died in suicide missions that caused dozens of deaths among Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's military forces." In another possible approach to combating militants, Spain's interior minister suggested Sunday that the European Union should look at restricting mobility among its member nations. Referring to the 1995 Schengen borders agreement that allows people to move between 26 European countries without passport controls, Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz told El Pais, "The existing mobility in the European Union is facilitating the movements (of jihadists) to any country and also to our country."

Freedom around the world may be becoming an expensive commodity. The trouble with ISIS and other Islamic jihadis is that they operate for the most part secretly, while in plain sight. They don't wear uniforms, have a government, have a readily distinguishable religion, but rather they hover in the shadows of Islam. The non-radical Islamic believers need to flush them out into the open and cut off their money supply by denying contributions to the “charities” that Islam favors so highly. The money starts out in the hands of a charity, but ends up with al-Qaeda or ISIS instead. They are supposed to give money to the poor as a part of their religion, but they could do that locally rather sending the money overseas. There are hungry people in every country. One way to fight ISIS is to starve them financially.

In this case, it seems to me that the Hawala network needs to be banned and infiltrated, with its member business owners fined or arrested for illegally supporting jihad. Likewise, any users of the system could be arrested or fined. I wonder how many money transfer systems like that exist in Europe? It's a lot like the sale of drugs, and in the US every now and then an Islamic person is arrested for giving money to a “charity” that funnels its funds to Hezbollah or another such group. Giving money to radical organizations is illegal here.






http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/02/09/385028138/supreme-court-wont-stop-gay-marriages-in-alabama

Supreme Court Won't Stop Gay Marriages In Alabama
Nina Totenberg Correspondent, Legal Affairs
FEBRUARY 09, 2015

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to step in and stop gay marriages from taking place in Alabama. The move sent the strongest signal to date that the justices are on the verge of legalizing gay marriage nationwide. Within hours of the high-court ruling, same-sex marriages began taking place in Alabama, despite an eleventh-hour show of defiance by the state's chief justice.

The sensational legal twists and turns in Alabama began in January when federal Judge Callie Granade, a George W. Bush appointee to the federal bench, struck down Alabama's ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional. She ordered probate judges in Alabama to begin issuing marriage licenses but stayed her order until Feb. 9 to allow the state time for an appeal.

Alabama first went to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Atlanta; when it failed there, it went to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking that it put a hold on gay marriages in the state until the justices resolve the underlying gay marriage issue in a set of cases already scheduled to be argued later this term.

On Monday, however, the Supreme Court refused to step in and stop same- sex marriages from taking place in Alabama.

The action provoked widespread speculation among court observers that the outcome of the gay marriage dispute is "a done deal" in favor of allowing such unions in every state.

It wasn't just court watchers making that observation. Dissenting from the court's refusal to temporarily block same-sex marriages in Alabama were justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, who said the refusal to intervene "would be been as a signal" of how the court ultimately intends to decide the gay marriage issue later this term.

As the two conservative dissenters pointed out, it is fairly common for the Supreme Court to put lower court decisions on hold to preserve the status quo at the request of a state. In fact, the court did that a year ago when lower federal courts began to decide gay marriage cases, first in Utah, and then, in Virginia.

But in October, the justices declined to review all those existing rulings. They released all the holds and allowed same-sex marriages to proceed in those states.

The rationale, since offered by several justices, was that there was no disagreement among the lower courts of appeal, and thus no conflict for the Supreme Court to resolve. In November, however, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld bans on gay marriage in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee, so there was a conflict among the lower courts — a conflict that the Supreme Court has agreed to resolve later this term.

Because it is not at all unusual for the Supreme Court to issue a stay to preserve the status quo, it thus was perfectly rational for Alabama to expect that the Supreme Court might grant its request to put same-sex marriages on hold in the state, pending a Supreme Court decision on the issue expected in June.

Now it is similarly rational to infer the decision to let gay marriages proceed in Alabama is a pretty strong indicator of where the Supreme Court is headed.

The decision upholding the order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Alabama came just hours after the state's chief justice, Roy Moore — knowing that the nation's highest court was about to rule on the state's request for a stay — issued his own decree ordering state probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Chief Justice Moore is no neophyte to the modern, post-Civil War battle to preserve states' rights, even in the face of federal court orders to the contrary.

In 2003, a state judicial panel unseated him from the state court after he defied a federal court order to remove a refrigerator-sized Ten Commandments monument, which Moore himself had ordered installed in the rotunda of the Alabama judicial building to "acknowledge the sovereignty of God."

After Moore's ouster, he rose again in 2013, to be elected chief justice once more. His dramatic confrontation with the federal courts over gay marriage provoked one wag to suggest that Moore sounds like someone "who is still awaiting news from Gettysburg." But in conservative Alabama, often hostile to the federal government and the federal courts, Moore's cultural, religious and legal message is likely to resonate in many parts of the state.

In defiance of his order, however, probate judges in Birmingham, Montgomery and Huntsville did issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Monday, citing the need to comply with federal court orders. But the pro-gay marriage Human Rights Campaign reported that as many as 50 of the state's 67 counties were refusing to issue licenses.

By day's end, the status quo was very much in flux, as same-sex couples in Mobile filed a motion in federal court seeking to hold Mobile probate Judge Don Davis in contempt of court for failing to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples there. Other similar motions likely will be filed this week.

Alabama's ban on same-sex marriage was approved by an 81 percent majority of the public in 2006.




"The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to step in and stop gay marriages from taking place in Alabama. The move sent the strongest signal to date that the justices are on the verge of legalizing gay marriage nationwide. Within hours of the high-court ruling, same-sex marriages began taking place in Alabama, despite an eleventh-hour show of defiance by the state's chief justice.... On Monday, however, the Supreme Court refused to step in and stop same- sex marriages from taking place in Alabama. The action provoked widespread speculation among court observers that the outcome of the gay marriage dispute is "a done deal" in favor of allowing such unions in every state. It wasn't just court watchers making that observation. Dissenting from the court's refusal to temporarily block same-sex marriages in Alabama were justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, who said the refusal to intervene "would be been as a signal" of how the court ultimately intends to decide the gay marriage issue later this term.... The rationale, since offered by several justices, was that there was no disagreement among the lower courts of appeal, and thus no conflict for the Supreme Court to resolve. In November, however, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld bans on gay marriage in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee, so there was a conflict among the lower courts — a conflict that the Supreme Court has agreed to resolve later this term.... Chief Justice Moore is no neophyte to the modern, post-Civil War battle to preserve states' rights, even in the face of federal court orders to the contrary. In 2003, a state judicial panel unseated him from the state court after he defied a federal court order to remove a refrigerator-sized Ten Commandments monument, which Moore himself had ordered installed in the rotunda of the Alabama judicial building to "acknowledge the sovereignty of God."... But in conservative Alabama, often hostile to the federal government and the federal courts, Moore's cultural, religious and legal message is likely to resonate in many parts of the state. In defiance of his order, however, probate judges in Birmingham, Montgomery and Huntsville did issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Monday, citing the need to comply with federal court orders. But the pro-gay marriage Human Rights Campaign reported that as many as 50 of the state's 67 counties were refusing to issue licenses.”

“Alabama's ban on same-sex marriage was approved by an 81 percent majority of the public in 2006.” The South really is, in some ways, a nation apart from the North. I wouldn't be surprised by a movement to break off again from the rest of the country. Texas, for one, has already had a movement in one section to do just that within the last ten years. I don't think, no matter how popular the Tea Party is, that our federal government will allow that, of course. I don't really understand all the hullabaloo about gay rights. It's really just a specialized segment of human rights. Still, up until 1967, interracial marriage was against the law here. According to Wikipedia we were the only nations to ban it except for Germany under the Nazis and South Africa under apartheid. I'm proud of many things about our country, but not about that.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/stay-at-home-fathers-find-support-in-national-at-home-dad-network/

Stay-at-home dads putting kids before careers
CBS NEWS
February 10, 2015

Commercials like the recent Dove Super Bowl ad are just one sign of the powerful bond between dads and their kids. The number of fathers staying home nearly doubled from a quarter-century ago and now many are choosing to put a commitment to parenting ahead of their careers, reports CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds.

The scene at a bowling alley in suburban Chicago had the look of a typical weekend outing of dads and their kids, but it happened to be a Thursday. These dads weren't taking a day off from their jobs, because hanging with their kids is their job -- their full-time job.

"It's unconventional, but it's right for our family and that's all that matters," stay-at-home dad Brian Dykes said.

He's a former lighting director whose job now is to take care of his two daughters, ages 3 and 5. He has no problem that his wife is the breadwinner even if most of the mothers he meets at the playground think the arrangement is a little strange.

"Sometimes they're like, 'Oh, you just took a day off from work.' And you're like 'Yeah. I took every day off from work,'" Dykes said.

A Pew Research Center study last year found stay-at-home dads account for more than 16 percent of at-home caretakers. With more than 20 percent of wives now out-earning their husbands the trend is growing.

"The statistics are hard to get a good handle on, what the Pew Research Center says is there's about two million stay-at-home dads. And I think that's pretty close to accurate in this country," National At-Home Dad Network president Al Watts said.

Over the last twelve years, as each of his four children were born, Al has been the primary care-giver. His wife Shirley is a well-paid executive at ConAgra Foods.

Like many stay-at-home dads, he initially suffered from social isolation, but says networking has eased the anxiety.

"Stay-at-home dads are discovering that when they find other stay at home dads like them, they feel more competent in their own self," Al said. "They feel more confident themselves, they enjoy the camaraderie."

Shirley said in her eyes, her husband's willingness to take care of their children makes him more of a man.

"He's willing to, you know, go beyond what the stereotype would say is required of a man," she said.

A separate survey by Boston College found that a majority of working men wish they could switch places with their stay-at-home wives if it was financially feasible.

Al said it's surprisingly doable and he's written a book called "Dads Behaving Dadly," a compendium of stories dads like him have to tell.

He does the cooking, the laundering, the housekeeping, the snow-shoveling and of course the schlepping to soccer practice, in addition to his parenting TLC.

"I certainly know that a lot of my female counterparts and colleagues are like, 'Wow! How can I get one of those?'" Shirley said.



http://athomedad.org/author/alwatts/

About Al Watts

Al is an 11 year veteran stay-at-home dad to 4 children ages 12 to 6. He is the President of the National At-Home Dad Network when he is not running kids to soccer, hockey, theater or the emergency room. In his rare spare time, Al enjoys a well-crafted beer, watching the Kansas City Chiefs and portraying a Union infantry soldier at Civil War Re-enactments. Before staying home, he was a classified advertising sales rep for the Omaha World-Herald. Al recently released his first and favorite book he has written, "Dads Behaving DADLY: 67 Truths, Tears, and Triumphs of Modern Fatherhood" with Motivational Press in 2014.




“The number of fathers staying home nearly doubled from a quarter-century ago and now many are choosing to put a commitment to parenting ahead of their careers, reports CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds. The scene at a bowling alley in suburban Chicago had the look of a typical weekend outing of dads and their kids, but it happened to be a Thursday. These dads weren't taking a day off from their jobs, because hanging with their kids is their job -- their full-time job. "It's unconventional, but it's right for our family and that's all that matters," stay-at-home dad Brian Dykes said.... A Pew Research Center study last year found stay-at-home dads account for more than 16 percent of at-home caretakers. With more than 20 percent of wives now out-earning their husbands the trend is growing.... Like many stay-at-home dads, he initially suffered from social isolation, but says networking has eased the anxiety. "Stay-at-home dads are discovering that when they find other stay at home dads like them, they feel more competent in their own self," Al said. "They feel more confident themselves, they enjoy the camaraderie." Shirley said in her eyes, her husband's willingness to take care of their children makes him more of a man. "He's willing to, you know, go beyond what the stereotype would say is required of a man," she said. A separate survey by Boston College found that a majority of working men wish they could switch places with their stay-at-home wives if it was financially feasible.”

I have a male cousin who to our surprise declared himself a “house husband” and spent his work time writing and taking care of the house and kids. This was around 1980, if I remember correctly. There's absolutely no sign that he is in any way less than masculine, but his wife had money, so he chose not to take a job outside the home. Nuff said!





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/100-hundred-ancient-cult-sites-discovered-in-israel/

100 ancient cult sites discovered in Israel
By OWEN JARUS LIVESCIENCE.COM
February 10, 2015

Photograph – Humanlike stone carvings were also found at the 100 cult sites. They reach up to 46 centimeters (1.5 feet) in height. In one instance a carving was found buried within a circle, an act symbolically associated with death. COURTESY UZI AVNER

Photograph – One of the 100 cult sites, dating back around 8,000 years, discovered in Israel's Eilat Mountains reveals a penis-shaped structure pointing toward the remains of a stone circle.
 UZI AVNER

Some 100 prehistoric "cult sites," complete with penis stone structures and artifacts with vulva shapes cut into them, have been discovered in the Eilat Mountains, an extremely arid area of the Negev Desert in Israel.

At the sites, which date back around 8,000 years, archaeologists discovered a variety of stone structures and artifacts, including stone circles that measure 1.5 to 2.5 meters across (roughly 5 to 8 feet) with penis-shaped installations pointing toward them. Other findings there include standing stones that reach up to 2.6 feet (80 centimeters) high, stone bowls and stone carvings that have a humanlike shape.

These sites are often clustered together. In one area the team discovered 44 cult sites in a spot encompassing only 0.8 square kilometers (less than 200 acres). "Taking in[to] consideration the topography, environmental conditions and the small number of known Neolithic habitations in the general southern Negev, the density of cult sites in this region is phenomenal," the team wrote in an article published recently in the Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society. [See Photos of the Cult Sites and Stone Structures]

These sites were used for ritual activities of some form. Archaeologists know little about what activities went on at these sites although animal sacrifice, as seen from bones found there, seems to be one of them.

Fertility and death

Archaeologists are working to decipher any meaning from the artifacts and structures, noting that both death and fertility seem to be symbolized at the sites.

For instance, in addition to the penis-shaped structures, researchers also found that some of the stones have vulva-shaped holes cut into them. The circles that the penis-shaped structures point to also seem to represent females.

"The circle is a female symbol, and the elongated cell is a male one (phallus)," said Uzi Avner, a researcher with the Arava-Dead Sea Science Center and the Arava Institute, in an email to Live Science.

Death is "signified by the burial of stone objects and by setting them upside down," the team members wrote in their paper. In one case, a humanlike stone carving was found buried "with only the very top visible on the surface."

The two symbols identified so far, fertility and death, go hand in hand in many cultures. "Combinations of both are actually well-known in anthropological studies as relating to ancestral cult," the archaeologists wrote.

Harsh landscape

The 100 cult sites were found in a mountainous area that receives only 20 mm (0.79 inches) of rain per year, on average, the archaeologists said.

Around 8,000 years ago it would have been somewhat wetter. "The climate of the 7th-6th millennia B.C. was a little moister than that of the present, 40%-20% more rainfall, but the desert was a desert," said Avner in the email.

The cult sites tended to be built in relatively flat sections of the mountains. "Their position on topographic 'shoulders' or comparatively flat locations probably enabled several dozens of people to gather around them, for example, an extended family," the archaeologists wrote.

The sites also provide a good view. "Commonly, a broad view is seen from the sites, so possibly, the scenery was one element in the selection of their location," the archaeologists added.

While the researchers discovered many cult sites, they found few domestic ones. "In contrast to the density of cult sites, only two small habitations and one small campsite were found on the ridge," they wrote, noting that these three sites were all associated with the cult sites.

More cult sites to discover

Many more sites in the area remain to be surveyed and described in published papers, Avner told Live Science. A "survey of a larger area yielded to date 349 cult sites," he said, adding that researchers are preparing these finds for publication.

"The number of cult sites recorded to date suggests that many more still await discovery," the researchers wrote."Many more may be found on the mountains of the Negev, southern Jordan and Sinai."

One "may think now of a vast phenomenon, of hundreds of mountain cult sites in the desert."



Stone circle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A stone circle is a monument of standing stones arranged in acircle. Such monuments have been constructed in many parts of the world throughout history for many different reasons. Outside of Europe, stone circles have also been erected, such as the 6300~6900 BCE Atlit Yam in Israel and 3000~4000 BCE Gilgal Refaim nearby, or the Bronze Age examples from Hong Kong.

The best known tradition of stone circle construction occurred across the British Isles and Brittany in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with over 1000 examples still surviving to this day, including famous examples like Avebury, the Rollright Stones and Stonehenge. Another prehistoric stone circle tradition occurred in southern Scandinavia during the Iron Age, where they were built to be mortuary monuments to the dead.

The size and number of the stones varies from example to example, and the circle shape can be an ellipse.

Dates and archaeology of European Megalithic stone circles[edit]

All experts agree that stone circles are of pre-Christian date, but beyond that stone circles have proven difficult to date accurately. Radiocarbon dating has produced a wide range of dates at different sites. This is at least partly due to an inadequacy of materials suitable for radiocarbon dating that can be reliably obtained from the sites. The diversity of radiocarbon evidence may also suggest that stone circles were constructed over a very long period, or were sometimes reconstructed at later dates. It is often not clear when building started.[citation needed] A further obstacle to dating is that there are generally no other archaeological artifacts associated with the stone circles. Traditional archaeological artifacts, such as pottery sherds, bones, etc., are not often found at the sites, and when found are frequently of a later date than the associated stone circle.




Israel – “In one instance a carving was found buried within a circle, an act symbolically associated with death.... Some 100 prehistoric "cult sites," complete with penis stone structures and artifacts with vulva shapes cut into them, have been discovered in the Eilat Mountains, an extremely arid area of the Negev Desert in Israel. At the sites, which date back around 8,000 years, archaeologists discovered a variety of stone structures and artifacts, including stone circles that measure 1.5 to 2.5 meters across (roughly 5 to 8 feet) with penis-shaped installations pointing toward them. Other findings there include standing stones that reach up to 2.6 feet (80 centimeters) high, stone bowls and stone carvings that have a humanlike shape. These sites are often clustered together. In one area the team discovered 44 cult sites in a spot encompassing only 0.8 square kilometers (less than 200 acres). "Taking in[to] consideration the topography, environmental conditions and the small number of known Neolithic habitations in the general southern Negev, the density of cult sites in this region is phenomenal," … These sites were used for ritual activities of some form. Archaeologists know little about what activities went on at these sites although animal sacrifice, as seen from bones found there, seems to be one of them.... For instance, in addition to the penis-shaped structures, researchers also found that some of the stones have vulva-shaped holes cut into them. The circles that the penis-shaped structures point to also seem to represent females. "The circle is a female symbol, and the elongated cell is a male one (phallus)," said Uzi Avner, a researcher with the Arava-Dead Sea Science Center and the Arava Institute, in an email to Live Science. Death is "signified by the burial of stone objects and by setting them upside down," the team members wrote in their paper. In one case, a humanlike stone carving was found buried "with only the very top visible on the surface." The two symbols identified so far, fertility and death, go hand in hand in many cultures. … Around 8,000 years ago it would have been somewhat wetter. "The climate of the 7th-6th millennia B.C. was a little moister than that of the present, 40%-20% more rainfall, but the desert was a desert," said Avner in the email. The cult sites tended to be built in relatively flat sections of the mountains. "Their position on topographic 'shoulders' or comparatively flat locations probably enabled several dozens of people to gather around them, for example, an extended family," the archaeologists wrote.... While the researchers discovered many cult sites, they found few domestic ones. "In contrast to the density of cult sites, only two small habitations and one small campsite were found on the ridge," they wrote, noting that these three sites were all associated with the cult sites. More cult sites to discover – Many more sites in the area remain to be surveyed and described in published papers, Avner told Live Science. A "survey of a larger area yielded to date 349 cult sites," he said, adding that researchers are preparing these finds for publication.”

In college I did a term paper on megalithic monuments, which include more forms than merely circles. Some of today's remaining stone circles are thought to have been originally tombs. There are linear alignments, stones in the shape of a ship in Scandinavia where ship burials were practiced in the Iron Age, huge tombs in locations from Britain and France down to the Mediterranean areas which were settled by the predecessors of the Greeks such as the Minoans. The Minoans are thought to have possibly been one of the groups named in the Bible as the “Sea Peoples” in the territory which is now Israel, but they are dated to 1200BC.

In the Bronze Age, Britain became a part of a trade route due to their tin mines and the area called Wessex was quite wealthy. Tin and copper were combined to form bronze. Stonehenge is thought to have been begun – it was completed in several stages – around 3100 BC, and the earliest stage included human burials or possibly sacrificial bone deposits.

Megalithic monuments and tombs began to appear in the Neolithic and continued into the Bronze age and are found as far away as the far East and Africa. It seems clear that very early on there was social communication between widely separated tribal peoples, and that the sacredness of megalithic monuments was part of their shared cultures. All I have to do is look at Stonehenge or Avebury and see why they would be dramatic and wondrous to the beholder – and therefore holy.

To move those stones overland from the quarry site to the burial place or ritual site (often assumed to be fertility religions) took large numbers of men with ropes and probably logs used as rollers. The wheel is not known to have been invented that early. That would have required some government, no matter how loose. Tribes linked by marriage, perhaps, and wealth accumulated as cultural centers began to grow up around the farming sites.

See the following articles on megalithic monuments. http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsMiddEast/CanaanCityStates.htm, Canaanite City States (Kinakhna),which does speak of stone circles, but different in size and type from those mentioned in this news article and also later than the 6,000 BC stated in the article. The UK scholarly article mentioned above is interesting and gives a long time line going back to 5000 BC. A Wikipedia article on the term “megalith” puts the earliest such monuments in the Middle East, especially a large one in Turkey dated around 9000 BC. It occurred much later in Europe, around 6000 BC. It was possibly the result of a movement of peoples from the Middle East into Europe and Britain. The Wikipedia article called “Megalith” gives a timeline of megalithic building beginning in the Middle East and on into Europe at the website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalith.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-is-causing-the-boomerang-generation/

What's fueling the boomerang generation
By MARK THOMA MONEYWATCH
February 10, 2015

In a well-documented trend, the number of young Americans living with their parents has grown over the last 15 years. Some have returned home after striking out on their own, earning the nickname "the boomerang generation," while others never left at all. One consequence of this is that home ownership among the young has fallen considerably.

Though the trend is clear, the question remains: What's driving it? Are poor job prospects causing the young to live with parents until a decent employment opportunity comes along? Has increased tuition and high debt levels from student loans forced students to stay at home while attending college, or return home to live less expensively while they pay off those debts? Are housing and rent too costly for them to live on their own, more so than for previous generations?

A new Federal Reserve Bank of New York staff report suggests the most important factor is the rising student debt of college graduates. This "appears to be driving young people home and keeping them there." (The New York Fed examined data from what it calls the Consumer Credit Panel, or CCP, which is based on quarterly consumer credit information Equifax has collected since 1999.)

In addition, the "results demonstrate that local economic growth is a mixed blessing when it comes to building youth independence: Improvement in youth employment conditions enables young people to move away from their parents, but rising local house prices are estimated to have forced many young people to move back home. These two effects partially offset each other."

The researchers (Zachary Bleemer, Meta Brown, Donghoon Lee, and Wilbert van der Klaauw) begin by documenting the large change in living arrangements for the young in recent decades. For example, in 1999 approximately 30 percent of 25-year-olds lived with their parents, but by 2013 the percentage had risen to nearly 50 percent (chart above). In addition, home ownership for 25-year-olds has fallen from approximately 23 percent in 2003 to just over 10 percent in 2013 (for 30-year-olds, it fell from around 44 percent to 33 percent).

The next step is to compare the trends in living arrangements for the young with "trends in the local economic environment faced by twenty-five-year-olds in our sample from 2003 to 2013." If local economic conditions for jobs and housing are the driving force, then the trends ought to track the ups and downs of the local economy over the business cycle.

But that's not what the researchers find. The trend of living with parents rises steadily over the CCP sample despite considerable variation in the local economies due to the financial and housing crashes associated with the Great Recession.

However, the correlation between the number of young people living with their parents and growing student debt burdens is much larger. Further analysis estimates that a $10,000 increase in student debt per student leads to a 2.9 percentage point rise in the rate of students living with their parents.

The rising price of a college education in recent years has many costs, including the loss of opportunity for some students. This research highlights another cost that has not been widely recognized: the loss of independence for young Americans.

It has become more difficult for the young to get an education, strike out on their own, and not have to rely on their parents for support. And there's little reason to suspect this trend will end any time soon.




“In a well-documented trend, the number of young Americans living with their parents has grown over the last 15 years. Some have returned home after striking out on their own, earning the nickname "the boomerang generation," while others never left at all. One consequence of this is that home ownership among the young has fallen considerably. Though the trend is clear, the question remains: What's driving it? Are poor job prospects causing the young to live with parents until a decent employment opportunity comes along? Has increased tuition and high debt levels from student loans forced students to stay at home while attending college, or return home to live less expensively while they pay off those debts? Are housing and rent too costly for them to live on their own, more so than for previous generations?.... The researchers (Zachary Bleemer, Meta Brown, Donghoon Lee, and Wilbert van der Klaauw) begin by documenting the large change in living arrangements for the young in recent decades. For example, in 1999 approximately 30 percent of 25-year-olds lived with their parents, but by 2013 the percentage had risen to nearly 50 percent (chart above). In addition, home ownership for 25-year-olds has fallen from approximately 23 percent in 2003 to just over 10 percent in 2013 (for 30-year-olds, it fell from around 44 percent to 33 percent).... But that's not what the researchers find. The trend of living with parents rises steadily over the CCP sample despite considerable variation in the local economies due to the financial and housing crashes associated with the Great Recession. However, the correlation between the number of young people living with their parents and growing student debt burdens is much larger.... It has become more difficult for the young to get an education, strike out on their own, and not have to rely on their parents for support. And there's little reason to suspect this trend will end any time soon.”

Multiple generations living in the same house was common enough when I was young in North Carolina. It may also have been partly a Southern tradition. There were two reasons. The young couple got married and had no birth control, so they soon had babies, often before they had a good job. The oldest generation, the grandparents, were often taken in by the young adults, partly to give the elders a safe and secure home environment as their health declined, unless they were wealthy and could hire helpers. That arrangement was also helpful to the young adults as an aid in child care and home management.

In this current period when jobs are still scare and pay is low, and as the article mentioned the student loans have to be addressed, it just makes sense for kids to live with their parents until they can get some savings built up. Owning a house has become “the American dream” in this country, but it is not always feasible. It also isn't necessary. The poorer the households, the more multi-generational homes will occur. For a while, the last five years or so, articles would comment on this as though it were a personal failing on the part of the young people – that the “helicopter parents” had reared a generation who couldn't or wouldn't take care of themselves. It is not a coincidence that the increasing impoverishment of what used to be “the Middle Class” – not a group of professionals like lawyers and doctors, but factory workers – has gradually but consistently increased. Those factory jobs are all but gone now, and the relatively uneducated people are finding it hard to get jobs.

We have been in a period of relative joblessness since long before 2008 when the Great Recession hit. Businesses have been sending their jobs oversees where labor is so much cheaper since the 1990s, the cost of living has risen and the base wages have not increased in commensurate measure. As a nation we are just going through a very difficult time economically. I think we should lighten up on the young people. It will take them awhile to make it economically, and several generations living in the same house isn't really a bad thing.