Archive | Tuesday , December 14 , 2010
Tuesday , December 14 , 2010  

Poem: The Closet By Orville Lloyd Douglas.

I keep my old photographs, books, T-shirts, DVDs, and clothes  in my closet.

I sometimes forget which artifacts are important or not?

I don’t dwell about the objects in my closet because it is not a temporal space.

I know whenever I need to pick up something it has a telepathic power.

Everything in this place has a feeling, a moment, that I can access this energy.

For some the closet is wonderful, during the winter cold nights an old black turtleneck keeps me warm.

I remember an old white and red  high school T-shirt my beloved gave me.

I still wear it at night time.

Sometimes I have visions that I am constricted in a chair with my hands tied behind my back.

My mouth is covered with tape and I can’t move.

I turn and try to move but I can’t seem to become free.

I hate wearing that red and white T-shirt, it reminds me of being a  prisoner to the emotions of others.

I am drowning in the anguish of not really being me.

I recall not being a human being whenever I have this shirt it feels like ticks are eating my flesh.

I toss and turn as maggots, bed bugs, spiders,  are circling my body whenever I put this shirt on.

I finally decided to burn the white and red T shirt and set it on fire.

Now I no longer have to worry about insects crawling or hurting me anymore.

 

Tuesday , December 14 , 2010  

Shocking News: German Doctors Say They Have Cured An HIV Positive Man!!!

By Clay Dillow Posted 12.14.2010 at 5:13 pm 0 Comments
 

HIV-1 particles assembling at the surface of an infected macrophage. Gross L, PLoS Biology Vol. 4/12/2006, e445 via Wikimedia

A huge story with implications that aren’t all immediately clear is emerging in Berlin this week: doctors treating an HIV-infected with leukemia believe they have, in a roundabout way, cured his HIV infection via a stem cell transplant containing cells that happened to be impervious to HIV infection. And while the story by no means indicates that a cure for HIV has been discovered, the unexpected finding certainly opens the door to further review and great optimism in a frustrating battle that has now spanned several decades.

The “Berlin patient,” an American citizen living in Berlin, received a stem cell transplant back in 2007 as a treatment for his leukemia. Before the transplant he received chemotherapy treatment and total body irradiation that eradicated most of his immune cells, and received further immunosuppressive drugs to prevent his body from rejecting the stem cells.

But these were no ordinary stem cells – a mutation found in just one percent of Caucasians in northern and western Europe causes CD4 cells to lack the CCR5 receptor, a receptor necessary for early-stage HIV to infect CD4 immune system cells. People with this mutation are more or less immune to HIV infection.

Those anti-HIV stem cells took root in the Berlin patient and repopulated there. At the same time, the host CD4 cells that hadn’t been destroyed in chemotherapy and radiation completely disappeared. After 38 months, doctors still couldn’t find HIV infection in the Berlin patient – in other words, it seems by all measures that his HIV has been cured.

Now, his road to recovery from HIV was excruciating and by no means should this single case of recovery be declared a cure. But it does provide a lot of hope and perhaps new mechanisms for deterring the spread of HIV in infected patients and perhaps, someday, a means to defeat the disease in vivo through gene therapy or transplants. More than anything, it defies the idea that HIV is incurable.

That’s not the only stem cell news coming out of Berlin this week. Researchers there have also grown the world’s first hair follicle from stem cells, creating a potential cure for baldness. We don’t mean to cheapen the HIV breakthrough by lumping it in with something so cosmetic as a cure for male pattern baldness, but rather to show just how much promise this branch of scientific research likely still holds. If researchers can find potential cures for both a life-threatening disease and a widespread condition affecting millions around the world in the same vein of science in the same week, imagine what other potentially life-changing discoveries may be hiding in stem cell science.

Tuesday , December 14 , 2010  

Rabble Article: Jewish Lesbian Activist Jennifer Peto Slams Israel For Their Homophobia & Racism!!!!

Coming out against Israeli apartheid: The case for solidarity

| March 11, 2010

Each year, in the lead up to Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), organizers expect backlash and attempts to shut down events. IAW 2010 was no different. The Ontario Legislature condemned IAW, The Toronto District School Board banned IAW from its premises even though no events were scheduled there, and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff slammed IAW for the second year in a row.

One noticeable difference is that this year queer issues have been front and centre in the attacks on IAW. This is no doubt in response to the “Coming out Against Apartheid” event at IAW, along with the huge success of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA). This backlash is an indication of success — our movement is growing and evoking strong reactions from Israel’s supporters. While this is something to be proud of, it means that now more than ever, all of us need to be prepared to answer these attacks by clearly giving our reasons for being queers against Israeli apartheid. My goal in writing is to give everyone the rationale behind queer Palestine solidarity organizing so that they can be empowered to counter the homophobic, sexist and racist arguments put forward by Israel’s supporters.

So I am going to take you on a little journey into pro-Israel logic around queer issues — along the way, I will challenge their rationale and dismantle their arguments, so that when readers are confronted with them, they can readily do the same.

The Zionists attacks queer down into three main points:

1. Palestinian society is inherently homophobic.

2. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and the only safe-haven for queers.

3. Queers worldwide should naturally align with queer-friendly Israel, not homophobic Palestinians.

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Palestine is Homophobic

Let’s look at the first argument: Palestinian society is homophobic. I cannot disagree with that statement. Queer Palestinians do face violence and discrimination and it is unacceptable. I oppose homophobia in Palestine, but I oppose it everywhere because it exists everywhere, even here. Queers in Canada have achieved some rights and many people have dedicated their lives to fighting for those rights. Despite what Canadian nationalists want us to believe, we didn’t get these rights because we live in the enlightened, tolerant west — it was not simply the natural course of history here. Social movements achieved these changes through struggle. Anyone engaged in activism knows how hard it is to mobilize people even under the best of circumstances. Now imagine trying to organize under military occupation and apartheid — these are the enormous additional challenges facing Palestinian queer social movements.

Just take for example the fact that there is no place on earth, not one square foot where a queer Palestinian citizen of Israel, a queer from Gaza, the West Bank, and a queer Palestinian refugee could meet. Gazans are under siege and cannot leave, people in the West Bank need permits to travel, Palestinian citizens of Israel cannot go to Gaza or the West Bank and many refugees cannot go anywhere. So before we criticize Palestinian homophobia, we need to look at the challenges facing activists there, and remember that there are activists there. We need to ask how can we best support queer Palestinian social movements? The answer to me is clearly that we fight Israeli apartheid. Ending apartheid is good for all Palestinian social movements — queer and straight.

Queer Palestinians are oppressed by Israel as Palestinians, not just as queers. We cannot choose to support them as queers, but not as Palestinians or vice versa. Real support comes through solidarity — it can and does effect change. In South Africa, alongside queer mobilizing there, international queer anti-apartheid activism shifted the ANC’s position on queer issues and to this day, South Africa has some of the most progressive gay rights in the world. This can happen in Palestine if we work alongside queer Palestinians through genuine solidarity and supporting the campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). You can see that happening already. When queer filmmaker John Greyson pulled his film from the Toronto International Film Festival in protest over the city-to-city spotlight on Tel Aviv, he was attacked in fiercely homophobic ways. In response, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) put out a statement condemning the homophobia of those attacks. In early 2010, Judith Butler, one of the most famous queer theorists taught guest lectures at Bir Zeit University near Ramallah. How does this happen? It happens because Greyson and Butler stand with Palestinians, support BDS and their solidarity is clearly having an impact.

Israel is a safe haven for queers in the Middle East

Since we are on a journey into the pro-Israel mind, for the sake of argument I will take their first point as true — Palestinian society is inherently homophobic. That brings me to point two — Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and the only safe haven for queers. First of all, Israel is not a democracy — it is an apartheid state. Apartheid is a crime under international law, a crime of systematic segregation based on race or ethnicity. Israel’s war crimes in the West Bank — settlements, checkpoints, the Apartheid Wall — and last year’s brutal military assault and the now three-year-long siege of Gaza are well documented, but the situation inside Israel itself is also one of apartheid. Palestinian citizens of Israel are second-class citizens — they cannot own much of the land, their towns and villages receive limited services, if any, and recently Israel banned the teaching of the Nakba — Arabic for catastrophe, referring to the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine in order to create the State of Israel. Israel is at best an ethnic democracy, meaning that membership in an ethnic group is required to have full rights. An ethnic democracy is not a democracy, it is apartheid.

In terms of queer rights, yes, Israel has pride parades, some protection against discrimination and homosexuality is not illegal. Israel is not free of homophobia — the murder of two queer people in Tel Aviv last year, the stabbings at Jerusalem Pride in 2005 prove that homophobic violence still exists in Israel. The militarization of Israeli society only increases the level of violence there. However, for the sake of argument I will humour the Zionists and say that queers in Israel have a good thing going. The problem is that none of these rights are truly extended to queer Palestinians. I want to exemplify this by recounting part of my trip to Palestine this summer. I was in the West Bank and was invited to Jerusalem Pride. With a Canadian passport, I can make a trip from Ramallah to Jerusalem, but a queer Palestinian from the West Bank would have to sneak into Jerusalem for Pride and could easily wind up in jail instead. At Pride in Jerusalem, soldiers and police outnumber participants by at least two to one. It may seem obvious, but if you need an army for your parade, your country is not safe for queers. All the speeches made at Pride revolved around the theme of making Jerusalem an open, diverse and welcoming city. It was clearly a message to homophobes, but in an occupied city that is off limits to millions of Palestinians, the message is sickeningly ironic. I am not arguing that queer Israelis should not fight for their rights. My point here is that whatever rights queer Israeli’s enjoy, queer Palestinians do not. You cannot have true equality when apartheid exists.

Queers Must Support Israeli Apartheid

I now turn to the final, crucial step in Zionist logic: queers worldwide must support gay positive Israel, not homophobic Palestine. Intuitively we know this is wrong. It is offensive that they think that as queers we define our solidarity based on their narrow definition of gay rights and that they think we would forgive racism because they grant some gay rights. Yet somehow this argument is proving effective. To untangle this one fully though, we need to talk about what is really going on here. It comes down to this — Israel, like most western imperial powers, has managed to co-opt the language of feminist and queer rights.

To explain how this works, it helps to look at Canada first. So we have the real Canada — where there are over 500 murdered or missing aboriginal women that the police are not searching for, thousands of people, predominantly women living in poverty across the country and a Minister of Citizenship and Immigration appointing homophobes to the Immigration and Refugee Board. Then we have the mythical tolerant multicultural Canada, gay rights leader and liberator of Afghan women. I must admit the strategy is brilliant — commit massive human rights violations, but trumpet the human rights you do offer in order to cover up your crimes. Then you can claim that unlike non-western states you respect women and queers and therefore you are civilized, democratic countries. That is how they demonize non-Western states — label them intolerant and justify military occupations that bring tolerance to the intolerant.

In Israel’s case, they claim to be democratic, civilized and tolerant because, unlike the allegedly sexist, homophobic Palestinians, they respect women and defend the human rights of gays and lesbians. This becomes blatantly obvious when you see the way the Israeli State promotes that they allow women and queer people to serve in the army. This inclusion is used to make the Israeli army appear tolerant and inclusive. This ignores, of course, that this “open” and “welcoming” army commits war crimes against Palestinians — including women and queer people. There are no gay-friendly bombs, no feminist checkpoints and no such thing as a moral army.

If we do not challenge Israeli Apartheid as queer people, we allow the Israeli state to continue to propagate the myth that it is a tolerant, civilized democracy, even as it commits war crimes and repeatedly violates international law. When queer people visibly stand up against Israeli apartheid we interfere, not just with their PR campaigns, but with myth-making that is vital to letting them get away with apartheid.

Pride and ‘Politics’

One of the pro-Israel arguments that came out during protests against QuAIA marching in the Toronto Pride parade last year was the charge that QuAIA marching was politicizing Pride. Yes, it is offensive that straight, mostly homophobic Zionists are trying to tell us what pride is supposed to be about, but here I am inclined to agree with their assessment. Pride has, in many ways, lost touch with its radical roots and QuAIA is a return to good old-fashioned radical queer politics.

At a time where the Canadian military, the police, all political parties and major corporations march in pride, we need groups like QuAIA and other radical queer activists to make Pride political again. I often think that it would not be such a bad thing if pride lost all its corporate sponsorships. Think about it. What if queers here refused to buy into Canadian nationalism that tells us how great this country is because we have gay marriage? What if we instead demand to know why our country is involved in imperialist wars worldwide and wars on poor people, sex workers, migrants and First Nations people here at home? What if we recognize that we have won rights through struggle and honour those who fought, but at the same time critically examine how some of these rights were because some corporations know there is money to be made off us? What if we refuse to be a niche market, walking homo-dollar bills and instead spent our time, energy and resources to stand up against homophobia, racism, capitalism and apartheid? When that happens, we will have something to be proud of. So I am encouraging everyone to get involved — join Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, and come out for Pride 2010 to make the anti-apartheid contingent bigger, bolder and louder than last year.

Jenny Peto is an activist with the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid.

Tuesday , December 14 , 2010  

68th Annual Golden Globe Nominations!!!

Nominees 

68th Annual Golden Globe Awards

Winners to be announced on Sunday, January 16th.

Also: Critics Awards Grid | Independent Spirit Awards | Critics Choice Awards

Best Motion Picture – Drama

Nominees:

Black Swan (2010)

The Fighter (2010)

Inception (2010)

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

Nominees:

Burlesque (2010/I)

Red (2010/I)

The Tourist (2010)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Best Director – Motion Picture

Best Original Song – Motion Picture

Nominees:

Burlesque (2010/I): Samuel Dixon, Christina Aguilera, Sia Furler(“Bound to You”)

Burlesque (2010/I): Diane Warren(“You Haven’t Seen The Last of Me”)

Country Strong (2010): Bob DiPiero, Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey, Troy Verges(“Coming Home”)

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010): Carrie Underwood, David Hodges, Hillary Lindsey(“There’s A Place For Us”)

Tangled (2010): Alan Menken, Glenn Slater(“I See the Light”)

Best Original Score – Motion Picture

Best Animated Film

Nominees:

Despicable Me (2010)

Tangled (2010)

Toy Story 3 (2010)

Best Foreign Language Film

Nominees:

Biutiful (2010)(Mexico/Spain)

The Concert (2009)(France)

The Edge (2010)(Russia)

I Am Love (2009)(Italy)

In a Better World (2010)(Denmark)

Best Television Series – Drama

Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy

Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Tuesday , December 14 , 2010  

I Select The Best & Worst Performances By Female Tennis Players This year.

Best Female Tennis Player award: Kim Clijsters of Belgium  had an incredible 2010, she won four WTA tour titles and the 2010 US Open. Although Serena Williams won two out of the four slams, Kim completed the entire year. Kim deserves credit for continuing to improve. I also want to point out Kim has a 7-0 record in her comeback in 2009 against her main rivals Venus, Justine, and Serena.

Most improved player award: I have decided it is a tie between Samantha Stosur and Vera Zvonareva. I believe Samantha can win a grand slam she has an awesome serve, incredible powerful groundstrokes, and she volleys very well. She rose from just being a doubles specialist to number six on the WTA computer rankings.

Samantha deserves a lot of credit for her incredible performances at the French Open, US Open, and WTA Championships. Stosur knocked defeated Justine Henin and Serena Williams back to back in Paris. Meanwhile, at the US Open she blasted Elena Dementieva and at the WTA Championships blasted Caroline Wozniacki.

The only concern I have for Samantha is, the doubt she still has in her mind. I was not impressed when she lost the French Open final to the Italian woman Francesca Schiavone. Schiavone played the match of her life, but Samantha Stosur was too tight, she just wasn’t playing her game. I am still concerned that Samantha  Stosur’s lack of belief may prevent her from reaching her potential. Samantha has so much talent but she’s got to be fearless when she has a lead she has to play like it is match point. I think Samantha has the capability to win a grand slam it is just a matter of time before she breaksthrough.

Meanwhile, Vera rose to number two in the world by reaching the Wimbledon and US Open women’s finals. However, Vera lost to Serena and Kim easily in the Wimbledon and US Open finals. I am not convinced at Vera can win a grand slam because she is still emotionally unstable. Vera deserves some credit for getting stronger mentally but I feel the top women have too much consistency and power. I think if the top women are on their games Vera will lose.

I don’t think Vera can win a grand slam on her own she would need some help. If some of the top women lose early in a grand slam that’s her only chance at winning a major.

Worst comeback award: Justine Henin’s 2010 was terrible she started off strong by reaching the finals of the  Australian Open but failed to win a grand slam. Justine was inconsistent her performances were up and down. Justine’s loss to Samantha Stosur at the French Open was a shocking upset. I am not sure Justine can comeback but 2011 will prove whether she is still a force in women’s tennis.

Time to retire award: Venus Williams is finished, she is no longer a contender on the WTA Tour. Kim Clijsters defeated Venus three times this year and Venus hasn’t beaten Kim in five years. Venus choked at the Australian Open against Li Na of China despite leading 6-2 5- 3 she found a way to lose that match.  Next, Venus disgraceful performance at Wimbledon losing in the quarterfinals to a low ranked player was abhorrent. It is time for Venus to quit tennis and move on with her life.

Tuesday , December 14 , 2010  

Coronation Street Actresses Talk About The Lesbian Romance On The Show.

Tuesday , December 14 , 2010  

Coronation Street Clip: Sophie Is No Longer Confused She Decides To Enter A Lesbian Relationship With Sian.

Tuesday , December 14 , 2010  

Movie Line Article: Star Wars Actress Carrie Fisher Confirms John Travolta Is A Closeted Homosexual Man.

Grease  ||  by Dixon Gaines ||  12 12 2010  4:40 PM

Carrie Fisher Outed John Travolta. Good.

john-travolta-scientology-1.jpgAbout a year ago, Carrie Fisher off-handedly outed John Travolta in an interview with the Advocate and recently circled back around in the same publication to underscore what already is an open secret: John Travolta is gay. And frankly it’s about damn time someone said it so blatantly.

There’s been a fair amount of hand-wringing online about the outing, with most of the vitriol directed at Fisher, claiming she overstepped her bounds, invaded her friend’s privacy, and betrayed his trust. The argument goes that, if Travolta truly is gay, it’s up to him when to decide to come out, not Carrie Fisher.

Which is a fair argument if Travolta A.)Wasn’t married to a woman and B.)Wasn’t a prominent member of a notorious cult that claims that homosexuality is a perverse illness that can be cured. There are plenty of movie and television stars who are gay but simply don’t talk about it; that’s not what Travolta is doing. He’s actively participating in a sham, a fraud that further perpetuates the idea that being gay is shameful and should be kept secret and tamped down.

Frankly, just about everyone knows John Travolta is gay. I know it. You probably know it. My grandmother knows it and she barely speaks English. It’s time, John. It’s not 1976, it’s almost 2011. Every day that you put off admitting what the world already knows will just make it that much more absurd when you finally do come out.

And I think that’s what Fisher was trying to do, trying to get John to realize that this is a different world now. Not the Hollywood where Merv Griffin couldn’t be called gay even after death, but the Hollywood of Chris Colfer, where it can be all just very matter-of-fact. So hurry up, John—we’re all waiting for you.

Tuesday , December 14 , 2010  

Coronation Street Clips: Sophie & Sian Lesbian Storyline Scenes.

Tuesday , December 14 , 2010  

Australian Lesbian TV Show Out Of The Blue Episode Clip.

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