divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/13396?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+Canada%27s+PM+clings+on+to+power+as+parliament+suspendedch=World+newsc3=The+Guardianc4=Canada+%28News%29%2CWorld+newsc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CNorth+America+Travelc6=Suzanne+Goldenbergc7=2008_12_05c8=1129183c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Canadac13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FCanada" width="1" height="1" //divpCanada's prime minister managed to head off the fall of his conservative minority government and cling to power yesterday after engineering the suspension of parliament./ppThe extraordinary decision by Canada's governor general, Michaeuml;lle Jean, to grant Stephen Harper's request to suspend parliament saved him from a confidence vote set for Monday that he was almost certain to lose. It also spares Canadians from going to the polls again, just weeks after elections in October./ppBut the reprieve for Harper takes Canada into uncharted constitutional territory and creates a political vacuum at a time of global economic crisis. It is also temporary. Parliament will resume in the new year and the government is due to introduce its budget on January 27./ppIn attempt to shore up his political prospects in the interim, Harper told reporters in Ottawa yesterday that his budget would include measures to help the economy, and that he would try to regain the confidence of the opposition. "Obviously we have to do some trust-building," he said./ppYesterday's decision brought angry protests from the opposition Liberal and New Democratic parties, which had called on Jean to refuse the prime minister's request to prorogue parliament. They accused her of disregarding the will of the majority in parliament. /ppCanada's crisis was provoked last week when Harper introduced an economic plan that included no stimulus measures but called for a three-year ban on strikes by civil servants and the abolition of public financing for political parties. The Liberal party leader, Steacute;phane Dion, accusing Harper of seeking to politicise the economic crisis, formed a coalition with the leftwing New Democratic party. The two also secured support from the separatist Bloc Queacute;beacute;cois to bring down the government. /ppAlthough Harper retreated on both measures, the opposition refused to back off, raising a political skirmish to yesterday's crisis proportions./ppDonna Dasko, one of Canada's best-known pollsters, said the move to scrap public financing was the tipping point for an opposition that had been demoralised by Harper's re-election. "It was so provocative," she said. "It was purely an effort to take away the modest public support that the political parties have."/ppAs tensions rose, Harper appeared on national television on Wednesday night vowing to block a coalition from coming to power. "Canada's government will use every legal means to protect our democracy, to protect our economy," he said./ppHe said his opponents were undemocratic and accused Dion of being allied with Queacute;beacute;cois separatists. Harper used the word "separatist" four times in the five-minute address./ppSpeaking after Jean's decision, the NDP leader, Jack Layton, said his party would vote down the government in January./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/canada"Canada/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/mq-CanhNnXhxaw8dOmh7uwCUw-4/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/mq-CanhNnXhxaw8dOmh7uwCUw-4/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/6401?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+Israeli+riot+police+evict+settlers+in+Hebronch=World+newsc3=The+Guardianc4=Israel+and+the+Palestinian+territories+%28News%29%2CMiddle+East+%28News%29%2CWorld+newsc5=Not+commercially+usefulc6=Rory+McCarthyc7=2008_12_05c8=1129174c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Israel+and+the+Palestinian+territoriesc13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FIsrael+and+the+Palestinian+territories" width="1" height="1" //divpRiot police forcibly evacuated a house filled with dozens of Jewish settlers in the West Bank city of Hebron yesterday in the most public showdown between the government and the increasingly violent settler movement for more than two years./ppHundreds of police mounted a surprise raid on the three-storey house, which had become the latest symbol of defiance for Israeli settlers. Troops fired teargas into the crowds and dragged settlers from the house one by one. Around 30 people were injured, including one policeman who had acid thrown in his eyes./ppAlthough the house was emptied within an hour, the operation triggered broad settler protests across the occupied West Bank and in Jerusalem that continued into the night. In Hebron, masked settlers set Palestinian trees ablaze and attacked buildings. The Israeli military declared the southern West Bank a closed military zone, setting up roadblocks to prevent more settlers descending on the city./ppThe building, dubbed the House of Peace by the settlers and the House of Contention by the Israeli press, was home to 15 settler families, but their numbers had swelled as supporters poured in. Earlier this week there were riots between the settlers and Palestinians which left several people hurt on both sides. Settlers daubed a black Star of David on several graves in a nearby Palestinian cemetery as well as the word "revenge" on a Palestinian house. /ppYesterday morning the house was full mostly of young people, sitting on the cold concrete floors, praying in the hallways or playing football in the road outside. One poster read: "This land is our land."/ppThe settlers claim they bought the house nearly two years ago from a Palestinian for just short of $1m (pound;670,000) and said they had documents and videotape as proof. However, the Palestinian has since denied selling the building to the settlers. Last month, the Israeli supreme court said the house should be evacuated until the ownership dispute was settled./ppJust minutes before the raid, Nadia Matar, a prominent settler figure who had spent the past week living in the house, defended the project. "They were able to do what we have been doing since the beginning of Jewish history: to live in the land of Israel, to purchase land like Abraham did," she said. /ppThe house sits just outside the large Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba and, Matar said, was a strategic asset that linked the settlement to the centre of Hebron, the burial place of the patriarch Abraham./ppLike most in the house, she believes Israel has a biblical right to take all the land between the Mediterranean sea and the River Jordan. All Jewish settlements in the occupied territories are illegal under international law./ppMatar was one of the last to be dragged from the building and as she crouched in the dirt after being deposited by the four policemen who carried her out, she said: "Shame on the government for using all this force against us."/ppRuth Hizmi was one of the first to rent an apartment in the house and she lived there with four of her children. Her flat had bare concrete walls and floor, with electricity cables stretching across the ceiling and sheets of cloth dividing the bedrooms. /pp"We are citizens who are holding on to our country, the only country we have and they are giving it away. They are throwing Jews out of their homes," she said, just hours before the raid. /ppWhen the police arrived Hizmi was out collecting children from school but quickly returned, forced her way through rows of police and briefly back into the house before she too was carried out. /ppPolice will now occupy the building and prevent the settlers returning./ppFor the settlers, holding on to the house was also an act of defiance against the Yesha council, the traditional settler leadership, which has lost support among a younger, more hardline generation, particularly after Israel removed its settlers from Gaza three years ago. /ppHowever, there has been growing antipathy to the settlers within Israel itself. Yesterday, the left-leaning Ha'aretz newspaper described their actions in Hebron this week as "Jewish terrorism"./ph2Clashes/h2pstrongHebron/strong is the second largest and most contentious city in the occupied strongWest Bank/strong. It is home to about strong600 Jewish settlers /strongand strong170,000 Palestinians/strong. The settlers arrived just after the strong1967 war /strongand are protected by the Israeli military. They insist on a biblical right to live in the city - the burial place of the strongpatriarch Abraham/strong. As a result, strongPalestinians/strong are kept out of the city centre and their strongshops/strong strongclosed/strong, leaving the old commercial heart deserted. The city frequently witnesses strongviolent clashes./strong/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/israelandthepalestinians"Israel and the Palestinian territories/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middleeast"Middle East/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/z7eLKqOoFLkEtVP8cPhow9jjFoI/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/z7eLKqOoFLkEtVP8cPhow9jjFoI/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/69467?ns=guardianpageName=Education%3A+Betraying+the+student+body%3Fch=Educationc3=The+Guardianc4=Students%2CGender+%28News%29%2CWomen+and+women%27s+interests%2CEducation%2CLife+and+style%2CWorld+newsc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CEducation+Weekly+Education%2CWomen%2CStudents+Educationc6=Emine+Sanerc7=2008_12_05c8=1129229c9=articlec10=GUc11=Educationc12=Studentsc13=c14=h2=GU%2FEducation%2FStudents" width="1" height="1" //divpOver the past few months, a series of beauty contests has been held in London. So far, so sexist. But what distinguishes this particular competition is that all the women taking part are students at some of London's best universities. Last week, for instance, Lile He, a politics and economics student, was named Miss School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas), at a pageant staged at a nightclub. And at the final in February she will compete against female students from five other universities - including the London School of Economics, King's College and University College London. /ppAround 400 students have entered the competition; some were "spotted" at nightclubs and encouraged to apply, while others filled out an online application form, giving information about their age and height, and answering searching questions such as "Which Sex and the City character would you most relate to?" The winner will receive prizes from the event's sponsors, which include the cosmetics company Clinique and a jewellery firm. /ppWhile some women have clearly embraced the pageant concept with open arms, the contest is a source of consternation and protest for others. At the "Miss Soas" event there was a rally, with around 40 students carrying banners and signs, and shouting slogans such as "Soas is for education, not for your ejaculation!" Eleanor James, women's officer at the Soas Student Union, helped to organise the protest and says that she sees the beauty contest "as part of the backlash against the fragile gains that feminism has won. I think it's really sad this is happening, but it doesn't surprise me because, at the moment in universities, you find pole dancing societies; because of top-up fees, there are students who work in lap-dancing clubs. So having a beauty pageant is a natural progression."/ppThe Miss University London contest was started in 2006 by Christian Emile. A former student at LSE, Emile was organising student events for nightclubs when a friend from Italy - where beauty pageants are relatively common - suggested they try to launch one here. Emile's company, 121 Entertainment, br /organises other events for nightclubs, including the supply of belly dancers. He describes the university beauty pageant as "a bit of fun" and says that, contrary to some reports, the women involved have not been asked to give waist and breast measurements. "I can understand the apprehension, but it's due largely to a misconception of the event," he says. "We don't have a bikini contest, the girls wear evening dresses of their own choosing and there are a series of questions to demonstrate their personality and charisma." But the competition is, basically, about their physical appearance? "Yes, I'm not denying that. But I want to emphasise that a lot of it has to do with personality." Fair enough, although it's arguable how much you can deduce by asking questions such as "What three items would you take to a desert island?"./pp"I don't think it objectifies women," he says. "If you talk to any of the contestants, they will tell you it is actually empowering. They get their moment in the spotlight, it's a bit of fun." Keelin Gavaghan, an accountancy undergraduate who was named as Miss London School of Economics at that university's heat last month, has said that she fails "to see what is wrong with feeling glamorous for one night. We hardly sold our souls. Nowadays I believe that we are post-feminism." /ppLooking into the set-up of the event - the venues where it is held, the audiences it attracts - I started to wonder just who it is aimed at. Most of the preliminary rounds are being held at the Crystal Club in London, which markets itself as an exclusive venue that has "hosted some of the world's most celebrated elite society". There is a pound;15 fee to get in, with tables then costing up to pound;1,000. To have a bottle of vodka or champagne delivered to your table costs at least pound;150, while drinks at the bar average around pound;8. It seems very expensive for students. "You do get students who can afford that," says Emile. "If you want to come and have a drink at the bar, that's fine. But if you want a pound;1,000 table, that's also fine." The tickets are available by guestlist and Emile admits that the contest isn't only open to a student audience. According to some reports, around a third of the 300 people at one event were not students, but older men. Emile disagrees, saying about "five non-students go to the events", including, he says, a professional footballer or two, "though I can't say who". At last year's pageant, the London Student newspaper approached the Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner, who told a reporter, "I came here for the pretty girls." Much has been made of the idea that the contest benefits the charity Cancer Research, but Emile says that while his company "tries" to give 20% of the event's profits to them, "it depends on how much we make"./ppMiss University London isn't the only beauty pageant for students. Earlier this year, a beauty contest called Miss Student Body was launched in Edinburgh, with contestants from five colleges in the city. It was forced to close when the organisers ran out of money. /ppEmile plans to launch his beauty contests in university cities around the country over the next few years, and there is already a popular national competition, Miss Student UK, which advertises at freshers' fairs and in nightclubs popular among students: the first prize is pound;10,000. The website for Miss Student UK includes pictures and videos uploaded by women, in which they are often wearing nothing more than a bikini or underwear, or are dressed as Playboy bunnies. In 2006, Loughborough University student union hosted the FHM "High Street Honeys Tour", where female students were "spotted" to appear in shoots for the men's magazine. Loughborough has also held a "Playboy mansion party" with performances from pole dancers. York University has a pole dancing club, and other universities, including Warwick and Bath, have sold calendars of female students posing in their underwear./ppAll of this may be indicative of a new sexism in student life. But many women are fighting back. Katie Curtis, the National Union of Students' women's officer, says that "it is unacceptable for events which objectify women to take place in our educational institutions. Universities should be about expanding people's minds, not judging them on their appearance." /ppRuby Buckley, women's officer at LSE, and part of the group that has been protesting against these events, agrees. I ask her why she thinks educated young women are choosing to get involved in a contest that seems, at best, like a sad throwback to a more sexist age. She says some of the contestants are finding ways to justify taking part "but it's an illusion, a con from society telling women that this is emancipation. I think what summed it up for me was when one contestant was asked, 'Would you rather have brains or beauty?' and she said beauty, because if she wasn't beautiful, nobody would want to listen to her anyway. This isn't fulfilling, to be ogled at and judged and it's such a shame that these are educated women, who could be the future leaders of the world, who are not standing up and questioning what they are doing. They are worth more than this competition and they need to realise that."/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/students"Students/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gender"Gender/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/women"Women/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/v4-bKfr1w2w2jsWlE7yx_lJG5Ac/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/v4-bKfr1w2w2jsWlE7yx_lJG5Ac/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

There is some sort of chain email currently going around which claims that section 49-0 of the People’s Representative Act (PRA) allows people to file a protest vote which would lead to countermanding of the election if the numbers of people casting a negative vote is higher than people voting for a candidate.

There is no concept of negative vote in India. You can refuse to vote for a candidate but it won’t affect the eventual results. Please don’t fall for such emails.

If an elector, after his electoral roll number has been duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A and has put his signature or thumb impression thereon as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L, decided not to record his vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark.
This Infers that in no case will there be a re polling in the said constituency, however the negative/neutral vote is registered and counted so as to cross check on the total number of votes polled. VoteIndia.in encourages Voters to cast a protest vote incase they feel there is no right candidate to vote for.[link]

And yes, please do VOTE. Please don’t lose faith in democracy–it is India’s greatest strength. It matters. It is what makes India what it is.

Posted in Views On News      

div style='clear:left;'img style="float:left;padding-right:5px;" src="http://www.faz.net/m/{F64A5F06-F0BE-45D5-836D-3D84C99428C5}File2.jpg" width=111 height=148 border=0 /Der Wolfsburger Trainer Felix Magath will 10.000 Euro Strafe wegen Schiedsrichterbeleidigung nicht hinnehmen. Nun wollen die VfL-Fans symbolisch für Magath sammeln - und damit gegen den DFB protestieren. Im FAZ.NET-Interview erklärt VfL-Fan Thomas Neuhäußer die Solidaritätsaktion.div style="margin: 5px 0 5px 0; border-top:1px solid #7A89CC; font: 10px arial; color: #7A89CC; clear: both;" a href="http://www.faz.net/s/homepage.html" style="font-size: 10px; color: #7A89CC; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"FAZ.NET - Homepage/a a href="http://www.faz.net/politik" style="font-size: 10px; color: #7A89CC; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" | Politik/a a href="http://www.faz.net/gesellschaft" style="font-size: 10px; color: #7A89CC; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" | Gesellschaft/a a href="http://www.faz.net/wirtschaft" style="font-size: 10px; color: #7A89CC; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" | Wirtschaft/a a href="http://www.faz.net/finanzmarkt" style="font-size: 10px; color: #7A89CC; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" | Finanzmarkt/a a href="http://www.faz.net/sport" style="font-size: 10px; color: #7A89CC; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" | Sport/a a href="http://www.faz.net/feuilleton" style="font-size: 10px; color: #7A89CC; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" | Feuilleton/a a href="http://www.faz.net/reise" style="font-size: 10px; color: #7A89CC; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" | Reise/a a href="http://www.faz.net/wissen" style="font-size: 10px; color: #7A89CC; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" | Wissen/a a href="http://www.faz.net/auto" style="font-size: 10px; color: #7A89CC; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" | Auto/a a href="http://www.faz.net/computer" style="font-size: 10px; color: #7A89CC; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" | Computer/a /div /div

Kurz vor seinem 105. Geburstag hat sich Johannes Heesters mit unüberlegten Äußerungen über Adolf Hitler in die Nesseln gesetzt. Er bejahte die Frage eines niederländischen Journalisten, ob Hitler ein "guter Kerl" gewesen sei. Auch der Protest seiner Ehefrau brachte ihn davon nicht ab.

Relatives of Jean Charles de Menezes have staged a dramatic courtroom protest during the closing stages of the inquest into his death.

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/33509?ns=guardianpageName=Education%3A+Faith+schools+urged+to+end+selection+on+basis+of+religionch=Educationc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Faith+schools%2CSecondary+schools%2CPrimary+schools%2CSchools%2CReligion+%28News%29%2CUK+newsc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CSchools+Educationc6=Donald+MacLeodc7=2008_12_04c8=1128668c9=articlec10=GUc11=Educationc12=Faith+schoolsc13=c14=h2=GU%2FEducation%2FFaith+schools" width="1" height="1" //divpFaith schools should stop selecting pupils on the basis of their religious background in order to promote social cohesion, the Runnymede Trust, a charity set up to promote a multi-ethnic Britan, said today. /ppA report, Right to Divide? Faith Schools and Community Cohesion, examines how faith schools operate and is based on consultations with more than 1,000 people over the last two years./ppThe trust's proposals, launched at a conference attended by the education minister Sarah McCarthy-Fry, will reopen the fierce arguments provoked by the government's failed attempts two years ago to impose quotas of pupils from other religions on faith schools. /ppAlan Johnson, then education secretary, was forced to back down after strong protests from the Catholic and Anglican churches in favour of a voluntary code. br / br /The Runnymede Trust has identified six key recommendations, which the report's authors say will clarify the role of faith schools within England's education system./ppIt argues that the schools should end selection on the basis of faith, as they should be "for the benefit of all in society rather than just some"./ppIt says: "If faith schools are convinced of their relevance for society, that should apply equally for all children./pp"With state funding comes an obligation to be relevant and open to all citizens."/ppThe report calls for pupils to be given a greater say in how they are educated, and claims there is little discussion about children's voices in the faith schools debate./ppIt says faith schools should address concerns that they educate a disproportionately small number of children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds./ppAnd it argues that faith schools should value all young people, regardless of religion, while religion should be more highly valued in non-denominational schools. /ppThe report also says religious education should be a part of the core national curriculum./ppIt concludes that faith schools "should remain a significant and important part of our education system, offering diversity in the schooling system as a means of improving standards, offering choice to parents, and developing effective responses to local, national and global challenges in education."/ppFigures put forward in the report show that there are more than 4,600 Church of England primary and secondary schools in England, over 2,000 Roman Catholic schools, 26 Methodist primary schools, 88 schools of other Christian denominations, 27 Jewish schools, seven Muslim schools, two Sikh schools, and two of other denominations./ppThere are more than 11,100 state primary schools of no religious character, and 2,756 secondary schools./ppThe Accord coalition, which argues faith schools should not be able to discriminate against pupils or staff on grounds of religion, welcomed the report./ppAccord chairman, Rabbi Jonathan Romain, said: "We are witnessing a major change in attitude towards faith schools: previously flavour of the month, they are now being seriously questioned - both in the way they operate and whether they serve the public good. /pp"It is a debate that is long overdue and may save much heartache later."/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/faithschools"Faith schools/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/secondaryschools"Secondary schools/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/primaryschools"Primary schools/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/schools"Schools/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/religion"Religion/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/nMcGeWus2yd03JNwzsSFvuYQ8As/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/nMcGeWus2yd03JNwzsSFvuYQ8As/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

Benoit Denizet-Lewis talks to Barney Frank about his personal life, the recent economic bail-out, campaigning, and gay rights legislation in a new Advocate cover story.

In the piece, Frank discusses his House reprimand for a relationship with a male prostitute who said he ran an escort service out of Frank's apartment: " I was not emotionally healthy back when I was closeted. I was very fat, very disheveled, and I now know that job satisfaction is no substitute for personal satisfaction. [The scandal] never would have happened if I wasn’t closeted. When I had this secret, it stopped me from relating to people in a healthy way."

Frank also talks about what LGBT people should expect in the coming years.

"Once we get out of Iraq, we’ll get rid of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell'. There’s not going to be that much of a fight over that—people are over it. Plus it’s hard to argue today that 20-year-olds freak out at the sight of a gay guy. We will also get hate-crimes legislation with transgender included, and we will get employment nondiscrimination with transgender included -- if transgender people keep working for it and lobbying for it. Many people assumed that Nancy Pelosi and I could just deliver that, but that’s not how it works. I think they understand now that they have to go to each congressperson and make the case."

The discussion also turns to marriage equality: "When the conversation turns to gay marriage, Frank says he is 'cautiously optimistic' about Proposition 8 being defeated in California. 'I just wish more time had passed since it was legalized and this election,' he says. 'With discrimination, the fear always outweighs the reality of it. You just hope there’s enough time to show everyone that everything is fine, that gay marriage has no impact on heterosexual marriage.'"

Frank also disagrees with protests on achieving that goal: "[Some gay activists] have this notion that Martin Luther King and the rest of the gang just let it all hang out, that the civil rights movement was just a series of spontaneous outbursts. But it was in fact a series of strategic decisions.... I care deeply about [marriage equality], but the more deeply I care, the more sensible I have to be in achieving it...I’ve seen anti-Semitism essentially disappear in my adult life as a social and economic factor. There may be some nuts out there, but generally things are fine. I think the same thing will happen with gayness. We’ll get to a point soon enough where it’s not even an issue anymore. But progress can be slow. I filed my first gay rights bills in 1972 in Massachusetts. Forty years later, it would be nice to have this wrapped up and put to bed."

Harrumph! [the advocate]

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Congressman Barney Frank Talks to Towleroad at the DNC [tr]

pThe home secretary, Jacqui Smith, is to make a Commons statement today on the arrest of the Tory frontbencher Damian Green. Senior political correspondent strongAndrew Sparrow/strong assesses the implications of yesterday's allegations from the Speaker, Michael Martin, that the police didn't have a search warrant before they entered Green's Commons office - and failed to inform Commons officials that they were entitled to ask for one./ppHome affairs editor, strongAlan Travis/strong, looks at a new government advertisement warning young people of the perils of cocaine./ppstrongChris McGreal/strong reports from Harare on the breakdown of order in Zimbabwe, with the economy destroyed, public employees joining street protests, and an epidemic of cholera./ppEach year 35m items of post go undelivered because the sender hasn't written the address clearly. The letters, parcels and packages find their way to a sorting centre in Belfast, from where strongHenry McDonald/strong reports./ppThe New Yorker music critic strongAlex Ross/strong was named last night as the winner of the Guardian First Book Award for The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, a tour de force through 100 years of classical music./ppAnd X-Factor star strongRachel Hylton/strong talks to G2's strongHannah Pool/strong./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/1rgyzSwEAfEtdrxI3vlgLIWUn8I/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/1rgyzSwEAfEtdrxI3vlgLIWUn8I/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

San Francisco Catholic Archbishop George Niederauer has spoken out on his role in the passage of Proposition 8 in the aftermath of the ensuing protests, asking, "What is the way forward for all of us together? Even though we supporters of Proposition 8 did not intend to hurt or offend our opponents, still many of them, especially in the gay community, feel hurt and offended. What is to be done?"

Niederauer, who is credited with bringing in the Mormon church and the massive finances of its donors, urged people to tone down the rhetoric: "Tolerance, respect, and trust are always two-way streets, and tolerance respect and trust often do not include agreement, or even approval. We need to be able to disagree without being disagreeable. We need to stop talking as if we are experts on the real motives of people with whom we have never even spoken. We need to stop hurling names like 'bigot' and 'pervert' at each other. And we need to stop it now."

The SF Chronicle reports:

"During the campaign, Niederauer issued statements, sent flyers and gave a videotaped interview posted at www.marriagematterstokids.org. But Niederauer's most prominent action was drawing in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members responded with intensive grassroots organizing and an estimated $20 million in campaign contributions from individuals that accounted for half of the Yes on 8 campaign's total. Niederauer noted that many other Christian denominations supported Prop. 8, including evangelical Protestant, Orthodox and historically African American churches. The Mormon church has said Niederauer, previously the bishop of Salt Lake City for 11 years, played a pivotal role in its joining the cause. 'We were invited to join the coalition,' Michael Otterson, managing director of public affairs for the church, told The Chronicle in an interview shortly after the election. 'We didn't unilaterally go into the battle.' Otterson said Niederauer's letter persuaded the Mormon church that they wouldn't be fighting this battle alone, a status that would have made them vulnerable."

Niederauer wants everyone to accept the procreation argument for the family and the "marriage" label, and wants gays to accept "a contract for the benefit of a relationship between adults" but not call it marriage.

He forgives "single parents, grandparents, foster parents and others" who "fail to realize" the ideal procreative one man-one woman model but doesn't deny them his permission to marry, because they are heterosexual.

Basically, Niederauer wants gays and lesbians (many of whom do procreate through surrogates, etc, I might add) to accept our status as second-class citizens and move on.

Read his full message, entitled "Moving Forward Together," AFTER THE JUMP...

S.F. archbishop defends role in Prop. 8 passage [sf chronicle]

***

SAN FRANCISCO CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP NIEDERAUER - "MOVING FORWARD TOGETHER"

“Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” In the weeks since the adoption of this amendment the media have carried many speculations about the role of the Catholic bishops in California, and about my role in particular, in the passage of this proposition. It is my wish to clarify here what was done and why it was done, and offer some thoughts about the way forward amid so many misunderstandings and hard feelings.

Five years before my appointment as Archbishop of San Francisco, in the year 2000, Proposition 22 was placed on the California ballot. This statute, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman, passed with 61% of the vote. On May 15th of this year, the California State Supreme Court declared that statute unconstitutional and legalized same-sex marriage in California. Around the same time, Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment qualified for the ballot.

The Catholic bishops of California, organized as the California Catholic Conference, and speaking through their office of public policy in Sacramento, endorsed Proposition 8 and urged Catholics, and organizations of lay Catholics, to work for its passage, by means of grass roots activity and contributions from their resources. We bishops also endorsed Proposition 4, regarding parental notification of a minor child’s intended abortion (defeated at the polls) and we opposed Proposition 6, a “tough on crime” initiative inconsistent with the principles of restorative justice (defeated).

The Archdiocese of San Francisco did not donate or transfer any Archdiocesan funds to the campaign in favor of Proposition 8. As far as I know, that is also true of other Catholic dioceses in California. The Archdiocese did pay, and appropriately disclose, printing and distribution of flyers to parishes.

Last May the staff of the Conference office informed me that leaders and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) had given their support to the campaign for Proposition 22 in the year 2000, and were already considering an involvement in connection with Proposition 8. Accordingly, I was asked to contact leaders of the LDS Church whom I had come to know during my eleven years as Bishop of Salt Lake City, to ask them to cooperate again, in this election cycle. I did write to them and they urged the members of their Church, especially those in California, to become involved.

It is important to point out here that a wide range of churches became active in favor of Proposition 8: in addition to Catholics and LDS members, evangelical Protestant churches and churches with many African-American members joined the effort, and, among the Orthodox churches, the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of San Francisco and three other Orthodox bishops signed and published a joint statement in favor of Proposition 8.

That is what was done. Why was it done? Some voices in the wider community declare that there could be only one motive: hatred, prejudice and bigotry against gays, along with a determination to discriminate against them and deny them their civil rights. That is not so. The churches that worked in favor of Proposition 8 did so because of their belief that the traditional understanding and definition of marriage is in need of defense and support, and not in need of being re-designed or re-configured.

Some of our opponents respond with this question: Even if these churches saw the California State Supreme Court decision in May as damaging to the institution of marriage as they understood and valued it, shouldn’t they have kept quiet and stayed on the sidelines? Some would say that, in light of the separation of church and state, churches should remain silent about any political matter. However, religious leaders in America have the constitutional right to speak out on issues of public policy. Catholic bishops, specifically, also have a responsibility to teach the faith, and our beliefs about marriage and family are part of this faith.

Indeed, to insist that citizens be silent about their religious beliefs when they are participating in the public square is to go against the constant American political tradition. Such a gag order would have silenced many abolitionists in the nineteenth century and many civil rights advocates in the twentieth. Quite a number of important political issues regularly touch upon the ethical, moral, and religious convictions of citizens: immigration policy, the death penalty, torture of prisoners, abortion, euthanasia, and the right to health care are some such issues.

Members of churches who supported Proposition 8 sincerely believe that defining marriage as only between a man and a woman is one such issue. They see marriage and the family as the basic building blocks of human society, existing before government and not created by it. Marriage is for us the ideal relationship between a man and woman, in which, through their unique sexual complementarity, the spouses offer themselves to God as co-creators of new human persons, a father and mother giving them life and enabling them to thrive in the family setting.

Are there many instances in which this ideal fails to be realized? Of course there are. Single parents, grandparents, foster parents and others deserve praise and support for their courage, sacrifice and devotion in raising the children for whom they are responsible. Still, the proponents of Proposition 8 subscribe to a definition of marriage that recognizes and protects its potential to create and nurture new human life, not merely a contract for the benefit of a relationship between adults.

Whatever others may say, the proponents of Proposition 8 supported it as a defense of the traditional understanding and definition of marriage, not as an attack on any group, or as an attempt to deprive others of their civil rights. The fact remains that, under California law, after the passage of Proposition 8, same sex couples who register as domestic partners will continue to have “the same rights, protections and benefits” as married couples. Proposition 8 simply recognizes that there is a difference between traditional marriage and a same sex partnership.

What is the way forward for all of us together? Even though we supporters of Proposition 8 did not intend to hurt or offend our opponents, still many of them, especially in the gay community, feel hurt and offended. What is to be done?

Tolerance, respect, and trust are always two-way streets, and tolerance respect and trust often do not include agreement, or even approval. We need to be able to disagree without being disagreeable. We need to stop talking as if we are experts on the real motives of people with whom we have never even spoken. We need to stop hurling names like “bigot” and “pervert” at each other. And we need to stop it now.

For our part, we churchgoers need to speak and act out of the truth that all people are God’s children and are unconditionally loved by God. While we argue among ourselves, the people who need our help with hunger, unemployment, homelessness and other problems wait for us to turn together toward them. More particularly, we Catholics in the Archdiocese of San Francisco need to minister to the needs of all Catholics in this local Church. Whoever they are, and whatever their circumstances, their spiritual and pastoral rights should be respected, together with their membership in the Church. In that spirit, with God’s grace and much prayer, perhaps we can all move forward together.

***END OF STATEMENT***

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divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/62108?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+Zimbabwe+moves+to+tackle+cash+shortage+as+soldiers+riotch=World+newsc3=The+Guardianc4=Zimbabwe%2CWorld+newsc5=Not+commercially+usefulc6=Chris+McGrealc7=2008_12_04c8=1128359c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Zimbabwec13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FZimbabwe" width="1" height="1" //divpThe Zimbabwe government has greatly increased the amount of money people can withdraw from banks from today in an attempt to quell unrest, including riots and looting by soldiers this week, over a cash shortage caused by hyperinflation. /ppThe central bank has raised the withdrawal limit from the equivalent of 18p a day to about pound;33 a week following protests in which scores of troops angry at waiting in long bank queues targeted shops in th capital, Harare, that will only accept payment in US dollars and black market money changers dealing on the streets. /ppThe anger among soldiers and other Zimbabweans is in part because of the difficulty of using the national currency to buy anything but a few locally produced vegetables and bread after the US dollar was made legal tender. /ppThe central bank is also issuing new Zimbabwe dollar banknotes today worth Z$50m (pound;17) and Z$100m to keep pace with inflation officially put at 231,000,000 percent in July but which economists now estimate runs in to the billions./ppRiot police yesterday arrested trade union leaders and broke up a protest over limits on cash withdrawals. The union leaders were detained as they led a march of a few dozen people to deliver a petition to the central bank demanding an end to the restrictions. /ppThe demonstrators carried placards reading "No to cash limits" and "We are tired of sleeping at the banks" - many people spend hours queuing each day just to get enough money to cover transport and a few basic foodstuffs./ppThe police yesterday also broke up a protest by doctors and nurses trying to deliver a petition to the health ministry in Harare objecting to the lack of medical supplies and the closure of some large government hospitals. /ppThe collapsing health service is grappling with the extra burden of cholera. The UN said yesterday that it had confirmed 565 deaths from cholera among 12,546 reported cases but medical charities say the real toll is at least double. /ppOne-third of the deaths were in Harare, where water has been cut off for days because of a lack of chemicals to treat the supply./ppThe government said it will punish troops involved in the protests but some of Robert Mugabe's critics suspect the demonstrations may have been orchestrated to justify a further crackdown on his opponents and possibly the introduction of a state of emergency. /ppThe former home affairs minister Dumiso Dabengwa, who has joined a breakaway faction from Mugabe's Zanu-PF party, told the IRIN news service that the protests may not be what they seem. /pp"I do hope the demonstrations by the soldiers are genuine and that it is not a ruse to come up with an excuse to crack down on the people, or even worse," he said. "You can't rule out what they [the government] might do. They have so many problems ... such as cholera and money shortages. They want to rule a country where they have total control over the people."/ppSuspicion is rife because the government has sought to retain the backing of the army by ensuring that banks regularly delivered cash to the barracks. /ppHowever, the troops still have much to be disgruntled about. The central bank is issuing the new banknotes today as the national currency continues its interminable decline. A new Zimbabwe dollar was launched in August after 10 zeros were wiped off the currency because banks and shops could no longer handle the numbers./ppBut the new dollar has plummeted just as fast, falling from about Z$10 to the pound in early August to Z$3m today for cash. Twenty-seven new currency denominations have been introduced in Zimbabwe this year alone./ppThe government caught up with reality by legalising the use of US dollars and other hard currency in September. Dollars and South African rand were already in use in what amounted to underground supermarkets selling imports. Now the transactions are legal, it is almost impossible to buy anything in Zimbabwe dollars./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/zimbabwe"Zimbabwe/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/9v-rkuzkooZ4O2uXuEkN2RsAna4/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/9v-rkuzkooZ4O2uXuEkN2RsAna4/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/14725?ns=guardianpageName=Politics%3A+Speaker%27s+allegations+set+constitutional+crisis+rollingch=Politicsc3=The+Guardianc4=Michael+Martin%2CDamian+Green%2CConservatives%2CPolice+%28politics%29%2CPolitics%2CUK+newsc5=Policy+Society%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CUnclassifed+Contributorsc6=Nicholas+Wattc7=2008_12_04c8=1128407c9=articlec10=GUc11=Politicsc12=Michael+Martinc13=c14=h2=GU%2FPolitics%2FMichael+Martin" width="1" height="1" //divpA constitutional crisis was sparked yesterday when Michael Martin, the Speaker of the House of Commons, all but accused the Metropolitan police of breaking the law by failing to follow proper procedures before searching the parliamentary office of Damian Green MP./ppAmid growing cross-party criticism of his handling of the affair, the Speaker took the unprecedented step in modern times of censuring the police. In a nine-minute statement he expressed his "regret" at their failure to produce a search warrant - and their failure to explain to the Commons authorities that the officials were entitled to demand such a warrant before allowing the search to take place./ppThere were signs last night that the Speaker's statement had failed to stabilise his position as the government refused to offer him support and the Tories said he was "severely damaged"./ppAsked repeatedly on BBC2's Newsnight whether she had confidence in the Speaker, the Commons leader Harriet Harman said: "Well I'm not saying I've got full confidence in anything or anybody."/ppHarman's intervention capped a dramatic day at Westminster. There were gasps when the Speaker said the police may have breached the law when they searched the parliamentary office of Green after simply persuading Jill Pay, the serjeant at arms, to sign a "consent form". Green, who is suspected by police of encouraging a junior Home Office official to leak a series of embarrassing documents, was arrested last Thursday and detained for nine hours./ppTo cries of protest, Martin told MPs: "I was not told that the police did not have a warrant. I have been told that the police did not explain, as they are required to do, that the serjeant was not obliged to consent or that a warrant could have been insisted on."/ppSir Ken Macdonald, the former director of public prosecutions, said last night the police had failed to follow proper procedures. "They should convey to the individual that consent can be withheld. It doesn't appear to be the case that they did that," he said./ppThe statement by the Speaker set the scene for noisy parliamentary exchanges and prompted demands for police to be summoned to the Commons to explain their actions. The Speaker responded to these concerns with three commitments: that the police will never be allowed to search the Commons again without a warrant and his personal approval; that a Commons debate would be held on Monday; and that he would appoint a seven-strong committee, composed of senior MPs, to review the police action./ppHarman said she may push for even tougher restrictions. She told Radio 4 that MPs might be put "on the same footing as judges, which is not just a magistrate's warrant but perhaps a warrant granted only by a high court judge"./ppHer comments came after the Tories attempted to turn the pressure on to Gordon Brown, and Green used the occasion to defend his actions. "An MP endangering national security would be a disgrace," he said. "An MP exposing embarrassing facts about Home Office policy which ministers are hiding is doing a job in the public interest."/ppDavid Cameron, the Tory leader, offered support. "Parliament is here to call the government to account, to question, to challenge and to publish information that is in the public interest," he said./ppBoris Johnson, the London mayor, said he had a "hunch" Green would not be charged. Speaking as chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority, he admitted speaking to Green after his arrest and said he had yet to be convinced police did not act "disproportionately", adding that he knew the arrest would cause "huge political convulsions"./ppJacqui Smith, the home secretary, who has faced Tory accusations that she is presiding over a police state, will attempt to wrest control of the agenda today when she makes a statement to MPs on the incident./ppShe will outline a two-pronged approach: an acknowledgment that serious questions were raised by the search, but also attack on the Tories for encouraging an official to leak documents./ppThis approach was outlined by Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, who said the anger of many Tory MPs was a "smokescreen" to hide their party's role in colluding in law-breaking. Mandelson told the Today programme: "The separate and equally important issue is the apparent relationship between the opposition and a Home Office official who, in an attempt to pursue his political ambitions in the Conservative party, allegedly systematically passed sensitive and classified Home Office papers to the Conservative party."/ppConservative frontbenchers conceded last night that Cameron was "skating on thin ice" in this area after former home secretary John Reid mocked him for endorsing the leaks. "He is announcing in advance that [as prime minister] he will be perfectly happy that any civil servant on their own judgment can release any information and he will support that in terms of publishing that," Reid said./ppThe prime minister made clear Smith would stand by her insistence that it would be wrong to question a police operation. He said: "You cannot pick and choose whether you support the operational independence of the police."/ppMPs believe the Speaker has bought himself some time but he has been damaged by his failure to ask more searching questions and his attempt to blame Pay./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/michaelmartin"Michael Martin/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/damian-green"Damian Green/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/conservatives"Conservatives/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/police"Police/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/-cRrflvZkNrLvEkyO2vlKJlHUDg/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/-cRrflvZkNrLvEkyO2vlKJlHUDg/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p