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Pat Robertson Blames Mother For Her Son Being Deaf, Says She Did Something Wrong During Prayer

Pat Robertson Blames Mother For Her Son Being Deaf, Says She Did Something Wrong During Prayer (VIDEO)

Author: Stephen D. Foster Jr. October 25, 2013 3:23 am

During his 700 Club show, Robertson took a question from a woman who has a deaf son. She told Robertson that despite her prayers, God hasn’t restored her child’s hearing. Instead of comforting the woman, the conservative charlatan shamed her for not being able to heal her son with prayer. Image: CKM Addicting Info

Pat Robertson claims prayer is the best medicine for just about anything. But what does he say when prayer fails? Well, like any other fraudulent huckster, he blames the person who prayed instead of the deity who is supposed to answer them. Such was the case on Wednesday, when Robertson told a mother that it’s her fault her prayers haven’t healed her deaf child.

Pat Robertson blamed a mother for not being able to heal her child with prayer.

During his 700 Club show, Robertson took a question from a woman who has a deaf son. She told Robertson that despite her prayers, God hasn’t restored her child’s hearing. Instead of comforting the woman, the conservative charlatan shamed her for not being able to heal her son with prayer. Robertson told her that she must have done something wrong that caused God to reject her pleas. Robertson also claimed that he has successfully healed deafness himself.
“I have dealt with people who are deaf and you rebuke the spirit of deafness and they get healed,” Robertson claimed. “I don’t know what you’re doing wrong. Why don’t you try that and if it doesn’t work, try something else.”Here’s the video via Right Wing Watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=b0z-LUIwJH8

Pat Robertson wrongfully blamed a mother for having a deaf child.

Robertson wrongfully blamed a parent for having a child with special needs. Unfortunately, this is something that happens all the time in this country. Whether it is blindness, deafness, autism, or any other disability, people place blame upon the parents instead of understanding that no one is at fault. It doesn’t matter how perfectly healthy expecting parents are or how great the pregnancy went, a child can still be born with a defect. Blaming parents for something they have absolutely zero control over is despicable.

Robertson has no compassion for people in need.

This isn’t the first time Robertson has blamed people for something outside of their control. Last March, Robertson blamed tornado victims for the disaster that struck their community. He said they should have prayed away the tornadoes.
Robertson has also shown that he has no compassion for people who are struggling. Two years ago, the televangelist told a women with children that she should keep giving money to the church even though she was barely scraping by.
Pat Robertson has no compassion for people. Instead of telling this poor mother that it’s her fault her son is still deaf, he could have simply told her to accept her child the way he is. But he didn’t. Robertson can’t accept that prayer isn’t the bulletproof solution he thinks it is, so he blamed the mother for its failure. But what else would we expect from a con artist who has shamelessly used religion to get rich.

IL Bishop: Praying for Marriage Equality Is Blasphemy

IL Bishop: Praying for Marriage Equality Is Blasphemy

Filed By John M. Becker | October 25, 2013 11:30 AM |

Thomas Paprocki, the infamously homophobic Catholic bishop of Springfield, Illinois, got his cassock in a bunch earlier this week when he heard that a group of pro-LGBT Catholics planned to pray the rosary for marriage equality inside the city's cathedral after rallying at the state capitol.

As soon as Paprocki got wind of plans by members of the Rainbow Sash Movement to pray for marriage equality before the 5:15 p.m. Mass on Tuesday, he issued a statement calling such prayers "blasphemous" and warning that anyone who attempted to enter the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception while wearing a rainbow sash or otherwise identified themselves as a pro-equality Catholic would be blocked from entering and turned away. Anyone who prayed for same-sex marriage inside the cathedral would be asked to leave.

"It is blasphemy to show disrespect or irreverence to God or to something holy," Paprocki said. "Since Jesus clearly taught that marriage as created by God is a sacred institution between a man and a woman (see Matthew 19:4-6 and Mark 10:6-9), praying for same-sex marriage should be seen as blasphemous and as such will not be permitted in the cathedral. People wearing a rainbow sash or who otherwise identify themselves as affiliated with the Rainbow Sash Movement will not be admitted into the cathedral and anyone who gets up to pray for same-sex marriage in the cathedral will be asked to leave."

And just to show those queer-loving Catholics that he meant business, Bishop Paprocki called the police. Details, and video footage of the bishop's statement, after the jump.

Springfield's State Journal-Register reports that Paprocki enlisted the help of law enforcement: squad cars were parked near the church, and at least one police officer could be seen standing in the doorway, apparently ready to physically prevent pro-equality Catholics from entering the cathedral.
Rick Garcia, political director for Civil Rights Agenda, an Illinois equality group, was able to slip into the church before Mass because he wasn't wearing a rainbow sash. He told reporter Lauren Leone-Cross that it was the bishop, not pro-equality Catholics, who were committing blasphemy. "This is the first time in all of my years of coming here that I see police officers in front of this church... It angers me because I'm a life-long Catholic. That a bishop would say this about me or my people is outrageous."
It's not just outrageous, it's completely tone-deaf: as I've written time and time again, almost two-thirds of American Catholics reject the homophobic teachings of their bishops and support marriage equality. I wonder, does Bishop Paprocki really think that all those good people are committing "blasphemy?"
Sadly, given his long history of homophobia, I wouldn't be entirely surprised. In the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, for example, Paprocki released a video message where he enumerated what he called the "intrinsic evils" in the Democratic Party platform (choice and marriage equality) and implied that Catholics who voted for Democratic candidates were going to hell. This year, Paprocki bashed marriage equality on Valentine's Day and said that same-sex relationships were based on sin rather than love. And at a debate this summer with Sr. Jeannine Gramick, a pro-equality Catholic nun, Paprocki callously cited the murder of Matthew Shepard as evidence of alleged pro-gay bias in the media and said that pro-LGBT Catholics should leave the church.
Paprocki is a spiritual bully of the highest order, but his hateful rhetoric and cowardly use of law enforcement to enforce his homophobia shows that deep down, he's nothing but a scared little man. I can't wait to see his epic meltdown when -- either by an act of the legislature or an order of the court -- marriage equality becomes law in Illinois.

Read more at http://www.bilerico.com/2013/10/il_bishop_praying_for_marriage_equality_is_blasphe.php#aZUAhzDOkMLKp2bS.99

Christian Couple Stiffs Gay Waiter, Says “Queers Do Not Share In The Wealth Of God”

Christian Couple Stiffs Gay Waiter, Says “Queers Do Not Share In The Wealth Of God” A gay waiter at Carrabba’s Italian Grill in Kansas was denied a tip by patrons because of his sexual orientation. Instead the couple left him the following note: “Thank you for your service, it was excellent. That being said, we cannot in good conscience tip you, for your homosexual lifestyle is an affront to GOD. [...]... more

IDF Abandons Greater Gaza

IDF Abandons Greater Gaza
 
at
 
http://www.roitov.com/articles/otefaza.htm
 
"On October 24, 2013, the Israeli Ministry of Defense announced that it will stop settlements' protection in the Gaza Envelope area. "It was a unilateral decision," complained ..."
 
 
==============================================

INFORMATION

Due to technical difficulties temporary no updates/postings!

Master Adrian

French-Moroccan gay couple win right to marry in France

French-Moroccan gay couple win right to marry in France

Binational couples are celebrating after a Court of Appeal overturns a decade old agreeement between France and Morocco allowing same-sex couples from those two countries to marry
read more

Edinburgh police demand condom ban in saunas

Edinburgh police demand condom ban in saunas

Gay saunas have hit out at the proposed condom ban proclaiming it 'unfair' while HIV experts warn it will stop safer sex and be a 'public health own goal'
read more

FRIENDSHIP

> FRIENDSHIP
>
> One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class
> walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was
> carrying all of his books.
>
> I thought to myself, 'Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday?
> He must really be a nerd.'
>
> I had quite a weekend planned: parties and a football game with my friends
> tomorrow afternoon, so I shrugged my shoulders and went on. As I was
> walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward Kyle. They ran at him,
> knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the
> dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten
> feet from him. He looked up and I saw terrible sadness in his eyes. My
> heart went out to him.
>
> So, I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I
> noticed a tear in his eye. As I handed him his glasses, I said, 'Those guys
> are jerks. They really should get lives.'
>
> He looked at me and said, 'Hey thanks!' There was a big smile on his face.
> It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.
>
> I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned
> out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before.
> Turns out he had gone to private school before now. I would have never hung
> out with a private school kid before. We talked all the way home, and I
> carried some of his books.
>
> He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play a
> little football with my friends and he said yes. We hung out all weekend
> and fucked around all the nights. As I got to know Kyle, the more I liked
> him, and my friends thought the same of him also.
>
> Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again.
>
> I stopped him and said, 'Boy, you are gonna really build some serious
> muscles with this pile of books everyday! He just laughed and handed me
> half the books.
>
> Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were
> seniors we began to think about college, sex and girls. Kyle decided on
> Georgetown and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends,
> that the miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor and I
> was going for business on a football scholarship.
>
> Kyle was valedictorian of our class. I teased him all the time about being
> a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn't
> me having to get up there and speak on Graduation day,
>
> I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was one of those guys that really found
> himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in
> glasses. He had more dates than I had, and all the girls loved him.
> Sometimes I was jealous and today was one of those days. I could see that
> he was nervous about his speech. I smacked him on the ass and said, 'Hey,
> big guy, you'll be great!
>
> He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and
> smiled. 'Thanks,' he said. As he started his speech, he cleared his
> throat, and began: 'Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make
> it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings,
> maybe a coach...but mostly your friends... I am here to tell all of you
> that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am
> going to tell you a story.'
>
> I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first
> day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of
> how he had cleaned out his locker so his mom wouldn't have to do it later
> and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little
> smile.
>
> 'Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.'
>
> I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us
> all about his weakest moment. I saw his mom and dad looking at me and
> smiling that same grateful smile. Not until that moment did I realize it's
> depth.
>
> Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture you
> can change a person's life. For better or for worse. We are all in each
> others lives to impact one another in some way. Look for good in others.

'Friends are angels who lift us to our feet

when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.'

NOM-skull Brian Brown Cries In His Borscht Over New Jersey’s Same Sex Marriages

NOM-skull Brian Brown Cries In His Borscht Over New Jersey’s Same Sex Marriages

by Will Kohler

"The refusal of the New Jersey Supreme Court to order a stay of the same-sex 'marriage' ruling was wrong, and the latest example of an activist judiciary running amok, substituting their views for those of the people of the state. Still, we are extremely disappointed in Governor Chris Christie for withdrawing the state's appeal of the underlying decision, effectively throwing in the towel on marriage. The mark of a leader is to walk a principled walk no matter the difficulty of the path. Chris Christie has failed the test, abandoning both voters and the core institution of society - marriage as the union of one man and one woman. It's a sad day for the voters of New Jersey. An activist judiciary has once again imposed its views and ignored the rights of voters. We will continue to fight for the right of New Jersey voters to determine the definition of marriage. Regrettably, Governor Christie's decision to surrender on marriage reveals him to be a man who lacks the courage of his supposed convictions. As far as we are concerned, it's a disqualifying failure. His surrender on marriage effectively surrenders any chance he might have had to secure the GOP nomination for president."- Hate group leader - NOM President Brian Brown taking a break from his Hateymoon with Scott Lively and seems to get a pretty good internet coonnection in Russia

Will Kohler

14 Down, 36 To Go

14 Down, 36 To Go

Oct 21, 2013 | By CAP Action War Room

Marriage Equality Comes to New Jersey

Beth Asaro and Joanne Schailey exchange vows just after midnight.

CREDIT: Rich Schultz/Associated Press.

Following a ruling by the state’s highest court last week, marriage equality came to New Jersey this morning at 12:01 a.m. The Garden State joins thirteen other states and the District of Columbia in extending full marriage equality to its citizens.
Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ), who previously vetoed a marriage equality bill, also announced today that he would not continue to pursue an appeal attempting to block marriage equality. In last week’s ruling allowing the weddings to proceed today, the state’s highest court noted that the Christie administration’s appeal had not shown “a reasonable probability or likelihood of success on the merits.”
(For their part, marriage equality opponents immediately denounced Christie for fighting against civil rights with insufficient fervor, despite the fact that today Christie continued to denounce the ruling legalizing marriage equality and reaffirmed his position that marriage is between one man and one woman.)
Here’s a roundup of some of the first marriages in the state, via ThinkProgress.

Newark, New Jersey

Newark Mayor and Senator-elect Cory Booker (D) happily presided over several marriages just after midnight. Booker had previously refused to officiate any weddings in his capacity as mayor until same-sex couples were allowed to marry as well. He married seven same-sex couples as well as two opposite-sex couples in a ceremony at City Hall.
During the first wedding, a heckler interrupted the ceremony to proclaim, “This is unlawful in the name of God.” Booker asked that he be escorted out, then proceeded, adding, “I do not hear any substantive worthy objections.” Watch a clip of Booker marrying Orville Bell and Joseph Panessidi HERE.

Lambertville, New Jersey

Lambertville Mayor David DelVecchio presided over the wedding of Beth Asaro and Joanne Schailey, who had also been the first couple to obtain a civil union in New Jersey. Schailey compared the moment to “winning the Super Bowl.” Watch the ceremony HERE.

Elizabeth, New Jersey

Louise Walpin and Marsha Shapiro are one of the couples that joined the lawsuit challenging New Jersey’s ban on same-sex marriage. They married at the home of state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D), who co-sponsored the marriage equality bill the legislature passed but Gov. Chris Christie (R) vetoed. Walpin and Shapiro raised four children and are eagerly awaiting their second grandchild. Watch a clip featuring the happy couple HERE.

Asbury Park, New Jersey

Three same-sex couples also married just after midnight at the Paramount Theatre on the boardwalk of Asbury Park. Retired Catholic priest Tom Pivinski officiated. Watch a clip HERE.

Which of the 36 states is going to be next? Check out a rundown of some of the possibilities HERE.

First interactive map of galaxy's habitable planets

by Adam Becker and Peter Aldhous posted on October 21, 2013 12:34AM GMT

You might have wondered, looking up at the night sky, how many other beings are out there looking back at us. Help is at hand. Using data from NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, New Scientist has made an interactive map illustrating the stars that we might expect to host roughly Earth-sized, potentially habitable planets.

Kepler's patch

The grid of squares to the right represents the patch of sky that Kepler stared at for nearly four years. So far, the space telescope – nicknamed the Planet Hunter – has confirmed the existence of 151 exoplanets and identified more than 3500 strong candidates.
Now, using what we know from Kepler, and simulations from its data by Courtney Dressing and David Charbonneau of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, New Scientist has estimated and mapped the density of habitable worlds across the whole sky. Given that the Milky Way is thought to contain between 100 and 200 billion stars, our best estimate of the total number of such planets in our galaxy is 15 to 30 billion.

continue to source article at newscientist.com

Can Guantanamo detainees challenge confinement conditions?

Can Guantanamo detainees challenge confinement conditions?

October 19, 2013  -  By: LGHR  -  Forced Feedings, Hunger Strike  -  No Comment   //   98 Views WASHINGTON — Force-feeding of Guantanamo Bay detainees confronted federal judges Friday with complicated questions including how far judicial review can stretch for hunger strikers.
In a case closely watched by inmate advocates nationwide, a three-judge appellate panel pushed back against an Obama administration claim that courts are powerless to review the complaints of Guantanamo detainees who refuse to eat as a form of protest. But the judges also puzzled over whether they have the legal authority to consider such cases.“This is a unique situation,” Judge Thomas Griffith said, adding that “Guantanamo is a different sort of prison.”
The 45-minute oral argument Friday before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit marked the latest, and potentially most significant, in a series of legal challenges to force-feeding. Prison authorities in California and other states, as well as the federal authorities at Guantanamo, support the tactic when faced with inmates on extended hunger strikes.
In August, a San Francisco-based federal judge approved plans to force-feed California inmates, if necessary, who were taking part in a long hunger strike to protest solitary confinement conditions. The appellate judges on Friday cited the California developments several times, though the Guantanamo circumstances aren’t strictly comparable.
Guantanamo “is a facility in which even more deference should be accorded (the government), given the nature of the detainees,” Justice Department attorney Daniel J. Lenerz told the court Friday.
Guantanamo is also a facility that Congress has tried, in several ways, to put beyond the traditional reach of U.S. courts. During Friday’s oral arguments, held before a standing-room-only audience, judges seemed at least a little uncomfortable with that legal isolation.
“Does the government always prevail . . . by saying, ‘It’s obvious to us that hunger strikes have a corrosive effect on inmate morale?’” a skeptical-sounding Griffith asked, further questioning whether the government’s assertion is really “the end of the inquiry.”
In a prior case, the Supreme Court ruled that Guantanamo detainees enjoy the constitutionally protected right to file a habeas corpus petition challenging their detention. On Friday, Judge David Tatel noted that the high court left open the scope of that right. In particular, the question is whether it entails an ability to challenge the conditions of confinement.
“Isn’t the core question whether the condition that’s being complained of is unconstitutional?” Tatel added.
The court spent almost no time Friday discussing an auxiliary argument that the force-feeding – blandly called “enteral feeding” by Lenerz – violated the detainees’ religious rights. Judges also avoided the details of the painful feeding process, as they focused on the technical but essential gateway question of whether the case can be heard.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 says “no court, justice or judge shall have jurisdiction” to consider legal actions concerning the treatment or “conditions of confinement” of those who “have been properly detained as an enemy combatant.” Two federal judges in July said the law prevented them from issuing preliminary injunctions to stop the Guantanamo force-feeding.
At the same time, one of the judges – U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler – used her July 8 decision to denounce the practice she said she was powerless to stop.
“It is perfectly clear . . . that force-feeding is a painful, humiliating and degrading process,” Kessler wrote, adding that the detainees “set out in great details in (their) papers what appears to be a consensus that force-feeding of prisoners violates Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits torture or cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.”
Guantanamo detainees began a broad-based hunger strike in about March, protesting conditions that included intrusive searches and indefinite detention. At the hunger strike’s peak earlier this year, U.S. military authorities declared that 106 of Guantanamo’s detainees were participating, with 46 designated for force-feeding. There are currently 164 detainees, and the number of those on a hunger strike has sharply fallen.
During force-feeding, the detainee is restrained while a two-foot long feeding tube is passed via the nasal passage into the stomach. The tube is secured to the nose with tape, and liquid nutrients are pumped in over a period of about 20 to 30 minutes.
The specific challenge considered Thursday is being pressed by three detainees, each of whom has been cleared for release but nonetheless remain confined.
“Force-feeding is unethical, it’s inhumane (and) it’s a violation of international law,” Oakland, Calif.-based attorney Jon B. Eisenberg, representing the detainees, told the court. He added that “these are unlawful conditions of confinement, these are unlawful restraints . . . (but) the threshold question is, does this court have jurisdiction?”
Source

Opera Fights Hungary’s Rising Anti-Semitism

Opera Fights Hungary’s Rising Anti-Semitism

By RACHEL DONADIO

The Budapest Festival Orchestra’s premiere of “The Red Heifer,” an opera by Ivan Fischer, serves as a response to a recent rise in anti-Semitism in Hungary.

Zambia started the 1964 Summer Olympics as one country and ended them as another

Zambia started the 1964 Summer Olympics as one country and ended them as
another.

Zambia officially achieved independence on 24 October 1964 after having
been under the control of Great Britain and known as Northern Rhodesia
since 1890. The country’s independence occurred during the 1964 Summer
Olympics, so athletes from the country arrived in Tokyo, Japan, for the
Games on 10 October 1964 as representatives from Northern Rhodesia and
returned after the Games ended on 24 October as citizens of Zambia. The
Zambia Independence Act of 1964 was passed that day, declaring Zambia a
free and independent republic. Kenneth Kaunda was elected president and
served from 1964 through 1991.
Read More: http://www.wisegeek.com/when-did-zambia-achieve-independence.htm?m

Nazi Flag Seen Flying Above Palestinian Arab Town, Again

A Nazi flag was seen raised by Arab residents of Beit Umar over a major road, between Halhoul and the Etzion Bloc, not far from Hebron in the West Bank, Israel National News reported Saturday.

Soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces Haruv battalion of the Kfir Regiment tried to take down the flag, but were unable to because of its height, INN said.

In May, Arab residents of the same town hoisted a Nazi flag over Highway 60.

The incident comes as Israel and the Palestinian Authority continue along the path of the current ongoing  U.S.-led peace talks.

In a recent speech, Prime Minister Netanyahu pointed to the historic Palestinian Arab support for the Nazis during the Holocaust.

 

 

Riot Police Battle 1500 Anti-Gay Extremists At Montenegro’s First Gay Pride Parade

Riot Police Battle 1500 Anti-Gay Extremists At Montenegro’s First Gay Pride Parade – Video

by Will Kohler

Over 1,500 anti-gay extremists fought with riot police today in the country of as authorities struggled to protect the participants in the first gay pride event ever held in the nation's capital. None of parade's 150 participants were injured or arrested but reports suggest that about 20 police officers and 40 extremists were injured during the skirmish. Sixty of the rioters were arrested, some of whom were reportedly carrying Molotov cocktails.

The march, guarded by almost 2,000 police officers, took place on Sunday afternoon in Podgorica, the capital of the staunchly conservative Balkan state. The violence occurred when the attackers tried to push through cordons of hundreds of police. Such pride marches are seen as a test of Montenegro's commitment to human rights as it seeks to join the European Union. The half-hour walk through the centre of Podgorica was the second attempt to hold a gay pride march in Montenegro, a mountainous country of 680,000 people which began EU accession talks last year. Gay rights opponents attacked a similar march in July in the coastal town of Budva. This time streets were cordoned off and uniformed policemen were deployed on the roofs of nearby buildings while a police chopper hovered above the scene. March organiser Danijel Kalezic says the protection allowed about gay activists to walk peacefully through the city of Podgorica.

You have to o hand it to admire our LGBT brethren for their bravery in standing up to this ignorance.  Courage personified.

Will Kohler

UK public service company Serco entwined in major fraud scandal

UK public service company Serco entwined in major fraud scandal

by aletho

RT | October 19, 2013

UK service company Serco has its fingers in numerous government pies, running British services from transport to prisons while staying invisible to the ‘man on the street.’ The global giant now faces investigation for fraud as it seeks new contracts.

Towards the end of September, the company was alleged in a government report to have charged for the service of tagging criminals who were dead, in prison, or were never tagged at all.

Serco and private security giant G4S overcharged the government by tens of millions of pounds for the practice, which, according to Big Four accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, could date back as far as 1999.

The expose prompted Britain’s Serious Fraud Office to confirm that they are assessing information on Serco provided by the Ministry of Justice.

“We are clear that new business can only be awarded where the integrity of the contracts and the conduct of suppliers can be assured,” the Ministry of Justice stated.

This could lead to an official investigation, and has thrown the company’s leadership into the spotlight as the global giant seeks new defense contracts.

On Friday, it emerged that Serco had been one of three main bidders filing proposals with the UK Ministry of Defence for the role of running a £400 million ($646 million) contract. While it can still bid, it cannot be chosen until present issues are resolved. The deal would run for ten years.

Serco, Telereal Trillium, and Capita-led groups submitted initial proposals in June, while the new bids were executed this week. The contract winner is expected to be chosen by the end of the year.

“Are they competent? Do they have the expertise? Can they really effectively manage the service? I think the answer is becoming clear that no they can’t,” Jane Lethbridge from Public Services International Research Unit told RT.

Meanwhile, Serco has apparently been attempting to rejuvenate its public image, particularly in Britain where its headquarters are based. Some 25 percent of its £4.9 billion ($7.9 billion) annual revenue is acquired through work with the UK government. Around 45 percent of its total revenue comes from the British public sector.

“We will embed quickly and effectively any changes needed into the way we do business, and we expect Serco to emerge stronger as a result,” the company stated.

On Thursday, the Financial Times reported that Serco is predicted to be purging its senior UK management as part of the drive to improve its governmental relationship following its tumultuous year. However, the news left critics doubting whether a mere change in personnel could reform an entire company culture.

“You can’t change a culture in three months,” Andre Spicer, professor of organizational behavior at Cass Business School, told the paper. “The only times that might be possible is if there’s a severe external threat or emergency but I don’t think Serco is in that position at the moment.”

Lethbridge appeared to agree. “Their practices and their publicity are two different things,” she said.

Further commentators have urged caution on the part of Serco. “One of the reasons that these public service markets often go wrong is because the pace and scale of reform is causing significant problems. In the rush to develop public service markets, avoidable errors have been made in design and oversight,” Nechal Panchamia, a researcher at the Institute for Government, told RT.

“What we would urge the government is to slow down, learn quickly from mistakes, and correct them out of the system before another mistake grabs the headline,” she said.

The incident marks the latest in a long line of controversies surrounding the company.

In August, the City of London police were called in by UK Justice Secretary Chris Grayling to probe alleged fraud by the company’s staff working on a £285 million ($460 million) prisoner escorting contract.

“It has become very clear there has been a culture within parts of Serco that has been totally unacceptable,” Grayling said upon launching the investigation.

Early in September, Serco was booted off the FTSE 100. Following the September fraud allegations, Serco's shares dropped 8p (13 cents) - nearly 1.5 percent - to 543p (942 cents) over the course of a day.

The fraud-related claims follow a list of allegations of detainees facing sexual abuse at Serco-run UK immigration center Yarl’s Wood in September. The reports were corroborated later in the month by further detainees, according to the Guardian.

Although companies like Serco, Capita, and G4S are behind public bicycle rental schemes, speed cameras, military and nuclear weapons contracts, ambulances, and the government’s work program for the jobless, it is apparent that the nation’s general public still remain relatively oblivious to the major role they play in modern society. An RT survey conducted on the streets of London indicated that the average ‘man on the street’ recognized very few of the company names mentioned.

aletho

NSA leaks: Years of spying on Mexico govt gave US investment benefits

NSA leaks: Years of spying on Mexico govt gave US investment benefits

by aletho

RT | October 20, 2013

US electronic surveillance in Mexico reportedly targeted top officials, including both current and previous presidents. Intelligence produced by the NSA helped Americans get an upper hand in diplomatic talks and find good investment opportunities.

The US National Security Agency was apparently very happy with its successes in America’s southern neighbor, according to classified documents leaked by Edwards Snowden and analyzed by the German magazine, Der Spiegel. It reports on new details of the spying on the Mexican government, which dates back at least several years.

The fact that Mexican President Peña Nieto is of interest to the NSA was revealed earlier by Brazilian TV Globo, which also had access to the documents provided by Snowden. Spiegel says his predecessor Felipe Calderon was a target too, and the Americans hacked into his public email back in May 2010.

The access to Calderon electronic exchanges gave the US spies "diplomatic, economic and leadership communications which continue to provide insight into Mexico's political system and internal stability," the magazine cites an NSA top secret internal report as saying. The operation to hack into presidential email account was dubbed “Flatliquid” by the American e-spooks.

The bitter irony of the situation is that Calderon during his term in office worked more closely with Washington than any other Mexican president before him. In 2007 he even authorized the creation of a secret facility for electronic surveillance, according to a July publication in the Mexican newspaper, Excelsior.

The surveillance on President Nieto started when he was campaigning for office in the early summer of 2012, the report goes on. The NSA targeted his phone and the phones of nine of his close associates to build a map of their regular contacts. From then it closely monitored those individuals’ phones as well, intercepting 85,489 text messages, including those sent by Nieto.

After the Globo TV report, which mentioned spying on Mexico only in passing, Nieto stated that US President Barack Obama had promised him that he would investigate the accusations and punish those responsible of any misconduct. The reaction was far milder than that from Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff, another target of NSA’s intensive interest, who has since canceled a planned trip to the US and delivered a withering speech at the UN General Assembly, which condemned American electronic surveillance.

Another NSA operation in Mexico dubbed “Whitetamale” allowed the agency to gain access to emails of high-ranking officials in country’s Public Security Secretariat, a law enforcement body that combats drug cartels and human trafficking rings. The hacking, which happened in August 2009, gave the US information about Mexican crime fighting, but also provided access to "diplomatic talking-points," an internal NSA document says.

In a single year, this operation produced 260 classified reports that facilitated talks on political issues and helped the Americans plan international investments.

"These TAO [Tailored Access Operations – an NSA division that handles missions like hacking presidential emails] accesses into several Mexican government agencies are just the beginning - we intend to go much further against this important target," the document reads. It praises the operation as a "tremendous success" and states that the divisions responsible for this surveillance are "poised for future successes."

Economic espionage is a motive for NSA spying, which the agency vocally denied, but which appears in the previous leaks. The agency had spied on the Brazilian oil giant, Petrobras, according to earlier revelations. This combined with reports that the NSA hacked into the email of Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff, triggered a serious deterioration of relations between the two countries.

While the NSA declined comment to the German magazine, the Mexican Foreign Ministry replied with an email, which condemned any form of espionage on Mexican citizens. The NSA presumably could read that email at the same time as the journalists, Der Spiegel joked.

aletho

Newfound skull has scientists rethinking human family tree

Recently found fossils point to just one human ancestor, say researchers. Differences once seen as marks of separate species are just normal variation.

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VANO SHLAMOV / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

This well-preserved skull from 1.8 million years ago found in the remains of a medieval hilltop city in Dmanisi, Georgia offers new evidence that early man was a single species with a vast array of different looks, researchers said.

By: Monte Morin Los Angeles Times, Published on Fri Oct 18 2013

In the humid foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, deep within a carnivore’s bloody lair, an early human ancestor fought a life-or-death struggle — and lost.

He had entered the den on a scavenging mission, possibly with several others. Their plan: use a stone to scrape meat from the bones of freshly killed prey, then flee before a sabretooth cat or other giant predator caught him in the act.

“It seems that they were fighting for the carcasses, and unfortunately ... they were not always successful,” said David Lordkipanidze, a paleoanthropologist and director of the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi.

Now, almost two million years later, the stunningly intact remains of that failed foraging mission are causing researchers to question the shape of our ancestral family tree. Most notable among the fossilized relics are a cranium and jaw of an adult male that together comprise “Skull 5.”

In a paper published Thursday in the journal Science, Lordkipanidze and colleagues say skull and four other fossil craniums recovered at the site contain features previously ascribed to three different species of human ancestor: Homo habilis, Homo rudolfensis and Homo erectus.

The explanation, they say, for this is clear: all three species must be one and the same. Differences once perceived to be the mark of separate species are in fact the result of normal variation in physical features, age and gender.

The assertion has struck a nerve in a field in which some paleoanthropologists complain that peers are all too quick to classify small or badly crushed fossil finds as evidence of new species.

“It’s a little like the emperor’s new clothes,” study co-author Christoph Zollikofer, a neurobiologist at the Anthropological Institute and Museum in Zurich, Switzerland, told reporters. “At some point you have to step out of a given perspective and take a new one.”

Others say that while the discovery of Skull 5 is a spectacular fossil find, the authors have failed to convince them that it applies to fossils recovered in Africa.

Fred Spoor, a professor of evolutionary anatomy at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, said he’s not about to “say goodbye to Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis.”

Famous Hackers Make Headlines Again--Demanding Justice For Two Kids--Drugged & Raped!

Famous Hackers Make Headlines Again--Demanding Justice For Two Kids--Drugged & Raped!

CONTRIBUTOR: LynLeahz. “I thought I was dead at first,” Daisy later told local station KCUR. “I was really confused. I was, like: what is happening? I couldn't even make sense of anything.” -The Guardian Famous hackers and freedom fighters, Anonymous, seeks justice on behalf of two helpless, young girls who were drugged,...

Click here to read, "Famous Hackers Make Headlines Again--Demanding Justice For Two Kids--Drugged & Raped!"...

Anthropologist sets out to disprove ‘there are no gays in Vietnam’ creed

Anthropologist sets out to disprove ‘there are no gays in Vietnam’ creed

Dr Natalie Newton’s online project to highlight the contributions of LGBTs in Vietnamese and Vietnamese-American history
read more

Gay blogger threatened and branded ‘pedophile’ for challenging politicians

Gay blogger threatened and branded ‘pedophile’ for challenging politicians

Martin Brookes has won a court case accusing him of harassing local political leaders, but his nightmare isn’t over
read more

Russian lawmaker drops anti-gay parenting bill

Russian lawmaker drops anti-gay parenting bill

The bill, which threatened to remove children from gay parents, has been dropped after lack of support from Russian politicians
read more

Major League Baseball teams under fire from anti-gay fans for taking a stand on LGBT bullying

Major League Baseball teams under fire from anti-gay fans for taking a stand on LGBT bullying

Several MLB teams including the New York Yankees were critisised for showing support to bullied LGBT youth
read more

Police use tear gas against protestors during Montenegro gay pride march

Police use tear gas against protestors during Montenegro gay pride march

Anti-gay protestors throw stones and firecrackers at police who were protecting the first gay pride parade in Montenegro's capital
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Tony Blair A ' Sad, Shady' Man Says Ousted BBC Chief Greg Dyke

The Huffington Post UK  |  Posted: 20/10/2013 10:06 BST  |  Updated: 20/10/2013 10:06 BST

Tony Blair has been called "a shady figure" and a "very sad man" by former BBC director-general Greg Dyke.
In an explosive interview with the Financial Times, he also said the former Prime Minister had betrayed the very ethos of the Labour Party.

Mr Dyke is a well-known critic of Mr Blair since a BBC reporter claimed the intelligence dossier on Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass destruction, was "sexed up" by Blair's administration to strengthen the case for the invasion of Iraq.
Downing Street was furious and Mr Dyke resigned following the resultant inquiry into the claims.
He revealed Mr Blair had attempted "patch things up" after the spat – which he dismissed, claiming the relationship was beyond repair.
"He invited me for tea. I didn’t go," he said.
"My relationship with him, which wasn’t worth anything, was completely broken."
"I think Blair now is a very sad man, rich, but [he] betrayed everything the Labour Party was about."
Mr Dyke – now the chairman of the Football Association – also slammed Mr Blair’s current pursuits, deriding the multimillionaire for his "shady" business ventures.
"He’s a bit of a shady figure. If you go around a bunch of suspect Middle Eastern governments, taking vast sums for advising them – I laugh when everyone talks about senior pay, saying that no one must earn more than the Prime Minister.
"I keep saying, 'Hang on, is this what the Prime Minister earns in office or what the Prime Minister earns over the next 20 years?'"
In his 2004 autobiography, Inside Story, Mr Dyke, 66, condemned the former PM as "a man without real principle."
He wrote: "He was either incompetent and took Britain to war on a misunderstanding or he lied."
"We were all duped. What is really frightening is that Blair still doesn't believe or understand that what he did was fundamentally wrong."

NOM’s Brian Brown and “Crimes Against Humanity” Scott Lively Take A Roadtrip To Russia

NOM’s Brian Brown and “Crimes Against Humanity” Scott Lively Take A Roadtrip To Russia

by Will Kohler

Even though Scott Lively is currently being sued for "crimes against humanity" for his actions in helping spread anti-gay propaganda in Uganda and  NOM's President Brian Brown's is facing the threat of felony litigation for violation of the Logan Act, both "men" are on their way to to Moscow to attend the planning meeting of the anti-gay World Congress of Families.

The World Congress of Families, an organization that is so far right and so anti-gay that it’s virtually fascist is a strong supporter of Russia's anti-gay laws and contains the usual list of right-wing loony bigots among their sponsors, including Bryan Fischer's American Family Association, Peter LaBarbera's Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, Concerned Women of America, and Tony Perkins' Family Research Council.

In a recent email, Brown praised the World Congress of Families and suggested that people send them donations.

“The World Congress of Families is THE group standing up for the family around the world. They have done amazing work in uniting all of those who stand for the truth about marriage and family. It has been an honor to partner with WCF and to be a part of their most recent Congress in Australia and regional conference in Trinidad and Tobago. I wholeheartedly endorse their work and urge you to financially support their efforts.” ~ Brian Brown, president, National Organization for Marriage"

It was the World Congress of Families who arranged for t Brian Brown to testify before a committee of Russia’s parliament in support of a law banning gay couples and single people in countries that allow marriage equality to adopt Russian orphans. Also in a press release, World Congress managing director Larry Jacobs boasted of his group’s “support” for Russia’s “child protection law” (the “propaganda” ban) and adds that he’ll soon be taking his advocacy to Ukraine:

"Prior to the Moscow meeting, Komov and WCF Communications Director Don Feder, along with Srdjan Nogo of the Serbian group Dveri (WCF’s newest Partner) and French pro-marriage activist Fabrice Sorlin, will be in Kiev for meetings with key Ukrainian leaders, including members of parliament."

Comrade Brown and Comrade Lively losing the war in America are branching out to a softer target which is exactly the reason we should keep the pressure on Russia and keep exposing these evil bastards.

What amazes me is that both, especially Lively is allowed to travel to Russia while being involved in a lawsuit for crimes against humanity in Uganda.  That the State Department doesn't revoke his VISA or he is put on a terrorist watch list is mind boggling.

Will Kohler

Revealed: How GPs are paid £50 bonus to put elderly on 'death lists'

Revealed: How GPs are paid £50 bonus to put elderly on 'death lists'
GPs have been paid bonuses to put elderly patients on controversial ‘death lists’ in an attempt to save the NHS money by cutting the number of people who die in hospital....  Revealed: How GPs are paid £50 bonus to put elderly on 'death lists'

End of immunity for 1 Para: Bloody Sunday troops face murder arrests 41 years after massacre

• Retired British Paratroopers will be questioned under criminal caution
• Twelve-year Saville Inquiry concluded murdered protestors were unarmed
• Soldiers could face murder, attempted murder and criminal injury charges for deaths which occurred in 1972

By Jennifer Smith
PUBLISHED: 00:16 GMT, 20 October 2013 | UPDATED: 00:55 GMT, 20 October 2013

 

 

As many as 20 retired British soldiers could face being arrested for murder in connection with the Bloody Sunday shootings of 1972.
Attempted murder and criminal injury charges could also be brought against the men, most of whom are now in their sixties and seventies.
The soldiers face questioning under criminal caution for their involvement in the incident which killed 14 Catholic civil rights protestors in Londonderry, Ireland.

An armed soldier attacks a protestor on Bloody Sunday when British Paratroopers shot dead 14 civilians on a civil rights march in Derry City

As many as 20 British Paratroopers could face murder charges for the deaths of Irish protestors on Bloody Sunday in 1972

The development comes three years after a £200m inquiry by Lord Saville into the shootings produced its report based on 12 years of investigation.
Its findings concluded that all those shot by paratroopers during the march in the Bogside area of Londonderry were unarmed, rendering their deaths 'unjustified and unjustifiable'.

 

The judge added the army had lost control of the situation which is known as one of the most poignant incidents of the Troubles.

Colonel Edward Loden commanded the unit involved in the Bloody Sunday shootings

The Ministry of Defence has started sourcing legal representatives on behalf of the soldiers, who have never been formally interviewed by police in relation to the shootings.
Colonel Edward Loden, who commanded the unit involved in the attack, was killed earlier this year in Kenya.
Loden was exonerated by the Saville Inquiry into the killings, which said that he did not realise his soldiers might be firing at people who did not pose a threat.
A source close to the case told The Sunday Times: 'It is possible that some of the soldiers will be prosecuted', adding that action would be 'imminent'.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland however said the case could take a little longer.
A spokesman said: 'Preliminary work has begun into what will be a lengthy and complex investigation into the events of January 30, 1972.
'For the investigation to be as comprehensive and effective as possible, police will be asking for public support in the form of witnesses who gave evidence to the Saville inquiry.'
The representative also revealed detectives would be prohibited from including Saville testimony to pursue criminal charges.

Fourteen unarmed protestors were murdered at the march which was held in the name of Catholic civil rights in Londonderry

A mural by by the Bogside Artists, in Bogside, Derry, pays homage to the protestors whose lives were taken by British paratroopers on Bloody Sunday

The soldiers gave anonymous evidence at the Saville Inquiry which cannot be used to pursue criminal charges

A Catholic priest prays above one of the shooting's victims on Bloody Sunday which killed 14

The expensive Saville inquiry concluded that 26 British Army soldiers had opened fire although not all of their shots hit demonstrators.

By-standers hover over one of the 13 men who were killed in the riot on January 30 1972

Two soldiers, identified only as Lance Corporal F and Soldier G, may have shot as many as eight or 10 people between them, it suggested.
Most of the soldiers involved are still alive though their identities have been protected to safeguard them from reprisals. 
They each gave anonymous evidence at the Saville inquiry, in the hope their testimony would help resolve the situation once and for all.
The soldiers were given legal assurances their testimony would not later be used against them in pursuit of criminal activity.
Their accounts relied on the defence they acted under 'yellow card' rules of engagement which permits soldiers to open fire if a legitimate threat to life is identified.
Several of the men claimed they believed they were under fire, though the shots they heard were in fact echoes of those being fired near a block of flats by their colleagues.
Thirteen were killed on January 30 after soldiers opened fire on the streets of Londonderry.
A fourteenth protestor died as a result of injuries sustained on the same day.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2468333/End-immunity-1Para-Bloody-Sunday-troops-face-murder-arrests-41-years-massacre.html#ixzz2iFcN99Lv