Air Force chief: Test weapons on testy U.S. mobs

Via my friend Ian at [Link deprecated: http://www.socialoracle.com/node/538] Social Oracle, this CNN article:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before being used on the battlefield, the Air Force secretary said Tuesday.

The object is basically public relations. Domestic use would make it easier to avoid questions from others about possible safety considerations, said Secretary Michael Wynne.

The Air Force has paid for research into nonlethal weapons, but he said the service is unlikely to spend more money on development until injury problems are reviewed by medical experts and resolved. They should not be issues like how people claim for compensation for slip and fall injury .If you are injured in any accident, it is advised to first contact a reputed injury claims law firm serving in Canada to claim compensation for the injury caused and give you legal representation. If you’re interested in helping car accident victims, then you can check for attorneys here! If you are from another country and are finding it difficult to communicate with native lawyers, you may contact expert traffic injury lawyers for Chinese speakers or other languages to help you out legally.

Nonlethal weapons generally can weaken people if they are hit with the beam. Some of the weapons can emit short, intense energy pulses that also can be effective in disabling some electronic devices.

And… Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne is getting fired when?

Wait, wait, what country are we in again? I keep forgetting and thinking we have the right to public assembly. Silly f*%&ing me. Yes, let’s microwave people!

[Link deprecated: http://www.socialoracle.com/node/538] As Ian says:

What’s the setting for this “non-lethal” weapon, defrost?

I’m basically at a loss on the definition of a mob, so I consulted a dictionary which says:

1 : a large or disorderly crowd; especially : one bent on riotous or destructive action
2 : the lower classes of a community : MASSES, RABBLE
3 chiefly Australian : a flock, drove, or herd of animals
4 : a criminal set : GANG; especially often capitalized : MAFIA 1
5 chiefly British : a group of people : CROWD

I’m not entirely comfortable with 2,3 and 5. Number 2 would be the ’70’s version of a pale grey meal not entirely appealing or cooked thoroughly.

Given that the police have a proven tendency to not be respectful of people at people public demonstrations (see the raging controversy about the police laughing about shooting a woman in the face with rubber bullets) I don’t think I want the police to have the ability to MICROWAVE ME.

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“I’m not a bigot”

Via the Consumerist, this incredibly funny quote:

Now, I am NOT trying to bash homosexuals and I am not a bigot; however, I feel homosexuality is morally wrong and should not be “promoted” as what is the norm for society.

Shorter: “I am not a basher or a bigot, however, I am a basher and a bigot.”

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Freedom From Religion

From Good As You:

I mean just the other day this was chatting with this Jewish friend of mine who keeps kosher, and he was all like, ” Ya know, my religious beliefs tell me that consuming pork is not in my best interest, so I think I’m gonna take that belief to the public, church/state separated realm of governance and try and get pork banned for all.” You can check here to know more about the merit of prayer and the support it provides. After grabbing a hot dog, I then trekked down to visit my Muslin chum, who told me about this new “one woman, one head cover” bill he’s hoping to have enforced on people of all faiths. After briefly imagining the career death of virtually every female celebrity under 30, I continued to my Scientologist pal’s mansion, where he told me to stop being “glib” and start helping him ban psychiatric medicine and drugs in this country. Weirded out, I finally swung by my Atheist friend’s home, where she eagerly told me about her “One nation under self-replicating molecules” changes she was proposing for this nation’s pledge of allegiance.
It was only after visiting all of these folks that I finally realized, “Hey, why let the facts that there are many different beliefs and that we, as Americans, have the right to subscribe to any or none of them stop each of us from pushing our own versions of moral fitness onto the public at large?” My world view has been changed at the hand of extremist religious conviction!

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Prize for killing gay people

Via Good As You:

Just a month before the 2006 WorldPride Parade is scheduled to be held in Jerusalem (Aug. 6-12), protest flyers are reportedly being distributed to residents of the capital city offering a cash reward to “anyone who brings about the death of one of the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

I haven’t always been a fan of our local pride celebrations, and I need to stop taking them for granted.

The anonymous letter also suggests using Molotov cocktails against marchers and adds instructions as to how to make them at home. The explosives are nicknamed “Shliesel Special”, in honor of the Haredi protester who disrupted the Jerusalem Pride Parade last year by stabbing three marchers.

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Equality

“Equality is not a concept. It’s not something we should be striving for. It’s a necessity. Equality’s like gravity. We need it to stand on this earth as men and women. The misogyny that is in every culture is not a true part of the human condition. It is life out of balance, and that imbalance is sucking something out of the soul of every man and woman who is confronted with it. We need equality. Kinda now.” – Joss Whedon.

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AFA Sues Michigan State To Block Same-Sex Benefits

Advance Indiana comments on a recently announce lawsuit from the American Family Association — suing to block same-sex couples from receiving university health care benefits on the basis of Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriages.
I’m blogging this specifically for my mom and other family members — THIS IS THE REASON THESE BANS ARE SO DANGEROUS. Because they aren’t just after preventing same-sex marriages. They’re after outlawing ANY legal relationships between gay people, including health-care benefits.
And the law that Indiana is trying to pass (SJR7) is even more broad than Michigan’s: “Constitution or any other Indiana law may not be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents of marriage be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.”
Which means that regardless of a legal marriage, a whole host of legal rights that Stephanie and I have today because we own property together could suddenly be considered invalid, including some of our property rights if one of us dies.
Please recognize how dangerous this is, and help me fight this law. The best way that you can do this is by not putting the same bigotted Republican officials back in the state legislature. They have to vote on this law a second time (it’s already passed once) for it to be put on a state ballot.

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The Soulforce Equality Riders Arrested at Falwell’s “Liberty” University

I mentioned the planned Equality Rides a few weeks ago — modeled after the student “Freedom Riders” of the 1960s who travelled around to centers of intolerance and bigotry, these students are traveling to Universities and military institutions that ban LGBT students. Yesterday, 20 equality ride students were arrested at Jerry Fallwell’s “Liberty” University.

LYNCHBURG, Va. – More than 20 gay rights activists were arrested on trespassing charges Friday as they tried to step onto the campus of Liberty University, the school founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell.

Many of the activists were part of Soulforce, a group on its first stop of a nationwide “Equality Ride” tour to promote gay rights at the nation’s conservative Christian universities and military academies.

Invoking the memory of the civil rights movement, Soulforce member Jacob Reitan said: “We want to come to the school today to say, ‘learn from history.'”
“We have a right to be here, because this school teaches that being gay is being sick and sinful,” said Reitan, co-director of Equality Ride. “We have a right to question and to show how we are children of God.”

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Johnny Weir Dodges the Gay Question

Johnny’s flamboyant, but he’s not officially out

“I think it’s funny that people care,” Weir said before ultimately placing fourth. “I don’t have a problem with people saying anything. People could be saying, ‘Oh, let’s poll about Bode Miller. Let’s poll about Michelle Kwan being a lesbian. It’s not a big deal. Who I sleep with doesn’t affect what I’m doing on the ice or what I’m doing in a press conference.”

Earlier in the week, the Tribune interviewed Rudi Galindo, a former U.S. champion and one of the only openly gay figure skaters in the business. Galindo complained that the media was not confronting Weir about the question of whether he is gay.

“He’s drinking tea with his pinkie finger in the air, and he’s so over the top and feminine, why is everybody asking him about his style and not just ask him if he’s gay?” Galindo told the Tribune. “It’s the funniest thing to watch.”

Weir has never publicly discussed rumors that he is gay, though according to the Tribune, at nationals he said he had been through a tumultuous personal relationship recently that had had a negative impact on his skating. When asked to further discuss that issue again at the Olympics, he declined.

In past news conferences, Weir has described himself as a “diva” and called himself “princess-y,” making sure to point out that he is not a jock but an athlete dressed in rhinestones and sequins.

Then, when asked about the subject on his personal Web site, Weir replied: “People talk. Figure skating is thought of as a female sport, something that only girly men compete in. I don’t feel the need to express my sexual being because it’s not part of my sport and it’s private. I can sleep with whomever I choose.”

I’ve seen it a dozen different places already online, but I can’t help making the reference myself, because I sing the song every time I think of him – Johnny Are You Queer?

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Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Costs $363.8 million

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon’s costs for firing service members for homosexuality under its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy were nearly twice as high as a government estimate made last year, an independent commission said on Tuesday.
A University of California commission of military experts said it cost at least $363.8 million to implement the policy from 1994 to 2003. That is 91 percent more than the $190.5 million estimated a year ago by the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ investigative arm.
Opponents of the policy — a compromise forged when former President Bill Clinton tried to lift the Pentagon’s ban on gays serving in the military — said the report showed more reason to end restrictions entirely.
Under the policy, gays could serve if their sexual orientation remained secret and if they refrained from homosexual conduct. More than 10,000 service members have been fired for homosexuality since 1994, the panel said.

Too bad the government didn’t go with the “So they’re gay, get over it” policy instead — it cost $0.00. And we could have built a few schools with the savings.

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