Download movie, music , clip files

WORLD FOREX:Dollar Slips Back Again As Risk Appetite Returns

Administrator — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:59:47 +0000

By Nicholas Hastings Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)–Appetite for risk is returning a little, pushing the dollar lower and higher-yielders,.. such as the Australian dollar and even the pound, higher in Europe Wednesday. Optimism about the global economy was also reflected in equities, with most European bourses opening higher. The rallies mark the end of the downturn that swept through financial markets Tuesday after the Bank of Canada disappointed investors with its decision to leave interest rates unchanged. The BOC had widely been expected to follow the Reserve Bank of Australia with a rate hike - a move that would have reinforced the view that G10 economies had recovered enough for the unwinding of emergency credit-crunch policies. Instead, the Canadian central bank warned of the risks that the recent strength of the Canadian dollar posed to the economy and lowered its growth forecast for the next year or two. After that, a spate of third-quarter earnings results from the U.S. failed to live up to expectations, giving investors more reason to sell equities and preventing the euro from having enough momentum to break resistance at $1.50. The gloom spread into Asian trading with the Nikkei ending virtually flat and the Shanghai Composite falling 0.5%. The price of crude oil, which had previously rallied up over $80 a barrel briefly, fell back again to trade as low as $78.46 before rebounding to $78.65. The euro, meanwhile, lost its upward momentum and failed to make a sustained break over $1.50. However, as European trading got underway some of the gloom appeared to be lifting with analysts suggesting that the euro - and even the pound - should be bought on dips. Whether or not risk appetite recovers to former levels remains to be seen. Sue Trinh, senior currency strategist with RBC Capital Markets, said this could depend on whether the S&P500 can break and hold over the 1100-1200 range. It is now just under 1100. The currency strategist team at UniCredit Markets and Investment Banking said that firm gross domestic product data out of China later Wednesday could keep risk appetite high. By 0930 GMT, the dollar was up at Y90.93 from Y90.71, according to EBS, while the euro was up at $1.4945 from $1.4929 and at Y135.85 from Y135.40. The dollar was also down at CHF1.0115 from CHF1.0127. The pound rose to $1.6569 from $1.6361. At one stage it hit a one-month high of $1.6544 after the Bank of England published bullish minutes from its last meeting that suggested there is little pressure for quantitative easing to be extended next month as many had expected.from http://www.bkhmer.com/news/?p=13230

No action on ‘gay Jesus’ - police

Administrator — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 11:49:26 +0000

Police investigating a controversial theatre production which depicts Jesus as homosexual have said they will be taking no further action at the moment. Christian Voice has labelled Corpus Christi, now playing in St Andrews, a "hate-filled mockery". A member of the prayer group lodged a complaint of blasphemy with Fife police after walking out of the play on its opening night on Thursday. However, the director of Corpus Christi defended her version of the play. The piece by American playwright Terence McNally is being staged by student company Zuloo and is sold out at The Crawford Arts Centre until its run ends on Saturday night. I don’t like Christ portrayed as a filthy, swearing, pervert Christian Voice Protester Q & A: Blasphemy law The play originally opened in the US in 1997 to strong protests and is a modern retelling of the Gospels, taking place in the Texan town of Corpus Christi. Mr McNally’s play portrays Jesus and his disciples as sexually active homosexuals, which has since become the main focus for its many religious critics. About 20 Christian Voice protesters gathered outside the centre on Thursday. One of the protesters outlined her reasons for joining the demonstration to BBC Scotland and said: "I’m a Catholic Christian and I don’t like Christ portrayed as a filthy, swearing, pervert." While another added: "The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life, that there’s no way to Heaven but through him. Homosexual ’sin’ "And for people to come out and say he is a homosexual and to portray him as such is unacceptable. "Jesus was sinless. He wasn’t a homosexual. Homosexuality is a sin. "It’s a slur on Jesus Christ and these people will have to stand before God in judgement some day." However one Christian who went to see the play did not agree with their views. On leaving the opening night, she said: "I consider myself a born again Christian and a lot of stuff which happened in that play, I could see as being offensive. "But we live in a world where stuff like this happens and you’ve to take these things with a pinch of salt. Protest against the Corpus Christi production I fear for the town of St Andrews which has allowed this blasphemous, hate-filled mockery Stephen Green Director Christian Voice "You know what’s going to happen in the play and I enjoyed it." Stephen Green, director of Christian Voice, said he has not seen the play but stressed: "If there is a blasphemy like this Christians have to stand up about it. "What we have here is our beliefs, our saviour, being vilified and insulted and this wouldn’t happen against any other religion. "If they did this to Mohammed or Buddha all hell would break loose around them. "The fact is that Jesus Christ is being portrayed here as a foul-mouthed, drunken, promiscuous, homosexual and that is an insult to my faith. "Quite apart from that, God is not mocked, and I fear for the town of St Andrews which has allowed this blasphemous, hate-filled mockery." But the director of the play, Zsuzsi Lyndsay, was unbowed by the criticism. ‘Deepest respect’ She said: "What we were trying to do is to reiterate the fact that Jesus is for everyone, not just for people who are straight but for homosexuals as well. "I have the deepest respect for their beliefs, I’d have even more respect for them though if they came to see the show and saw what they were picketing against. Protesters at the Corpus Christi production Protesters have branded the production a "slur" "I’m afraid that Jesus is not portrayed as a drunken, foul-mouthed messiah and if you read the play you would know that. "He doesn’t say one bad word throughout the play." Responding to Mr Green’s criticisms, Ms Lyndsay invited him to see the play and judge its contents for himself. Fife Constabulary confirmed that it had received a complaint of blasphemy from a member of Christian Voice who walked out of the play in disgust. But Inspector Craig Dewar said they would be keeping a close eye on events. He said: "We’ll be here to facilitate each individual’s democratic rights and their freedom of expression, and that’s on both sides." The last man to be sent to prison in Britain for blasphemy was John William Gott. In 1922 he was sentenced to nine months’ hard labour for comparing Jesus with a circus clown. In Scotland, there has not been a public prosecution since 1843. In 1977 moral campaigner Mary Whitehouse brought a private prosecution against the Gay News for publishing a poem, The Love That Dares To Speak Its Name, depicting a centurion’s love for Christ. more from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4085023.stm

Gay History Project: The Unpublished Walter Cronkite Interview

Administrator — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:28:52 +0000

By: Mark Segal Edited by Jason Villemez Date of the interview was March 6, 1996 MS: What are your thoughts on gay marriage? WC: I don’t see why states should have any interest in gay marriage. That’s not an issue that the state government or any government should be involved in. This is a personal question and should be solved on a personal basis, and I just don’t believe the government has any role in it. If there is an attempt to legislate against it, like the attempt to legislate against abortion, this is an interference of personal and civil rights that should be protested and contested. Short of that, the attitude ought to be, “Well, that’s the way they feel. This doesn’t have to be the way I feel, but, let’s live and live together and accept these things.” So I think that I’m getting on very dangerous ground here, but I think there is a danger in trying to force an acceptance of your lifestyle. This ought to come through the more gradual educational process. But I don’t want to sound like [Republican presidential candidate Steve] Forbes and abortion It really isn’t your business to sell this to the public. Educate the public. But don’t try to sell it. And, and I think that there, sometimes the line is crossed there – that you’re trying to propagandize the people to, to accept what, what you believe to be right. There is a fine line there between defense and aggression, and that line has to be very clearly defined and closely observed. MS: Acceptance has been a long time coming, and we still have areas like the military where public support has risen but those in the leadership have not bought into the notion. WC: In the military, I believe fully that, there again, it’s a question of, of one’s civil rights and one certainly should have the right to live as one chooses. The suggestion that homosexuality is somehow going to be forced upon the other members of the barracks seems to me to be a non-issue. It’s just a ridiculous red herring. I know that some of my friends in the military think it’s a ridiculous issue to make, to make an issue of what could be, could be handled quite as easily, as well – open rights. MS: The right wing has used us as an election ploy for years, but there have been and still are legitimate conservative extremists who wish violence upon the gay community. How should we deal with people like that? WC: I think we all should be fearful of any issue regarding extremists – whether they’re left or right. And certainly, I’d be very concerned, particularly if I were one of the minority group about this attempt to enforce a moral code through some misinterpretation of some religious beliefs. I’d be very worried about that. Yeah, I’d be concerned. I’m concerned about that kind of attitude from both left and right in the country – militants who are fanatic in their beliefs are dangerous wherever they lie. I don’t like the word “attack.” I wouldn’t “attack” anybody. That’s certainly not necessarily, and probably counterproductive. But defense mechanism against the know-nothings in our world, certainly are required. There you have a duty to answer those arguments that are, to your mind, completely out of line. I think that that’s fundamental – a fundamental right and a fundamental duty, a fundamental responsibility to what you believe in. MS: What about demonstrations? WC: There’s no question that militant demonstrations offend a proportion of the population no matter what the subject matter is. There are people that would rather not be awakened to issues, rather not be bothered by issues, they do not like seeing the city streets used as theater for issues, and they are the people who do not understand the Constitution and the right to demonstrate. Those are the very ones, who, if you ask them if people have a right to demonstrate, if they said to you, “Do you believe in the Constitution? It says people have the right to express their opinion,” they’d all say, “Oh, yes, absolutely.” “Well, do they have the right to demonstrate in front of the White House?” “Oh, no! They shouldn’t be doing that!” People have a kind of, I guess, a cleavage between theory and what they really want to see happening on the streets. So, there’s always going to be that resentment towards demonstrators, no matter if its gay-rights demonstrators or political, other issues. I don’t think that you could make a judgment on the success of such a thing. You have to make a judgment on the basis of the entire approach, the public perceptions from the situation, as opposed to before such activity began, and I don’t think there’s any question that there’s a very positive, educational effect. Whatever can be done to educate the public to the nature of homosexuality, to the, to the rights, civil rights to those who have a different lifestyle than the majority, this sort of thing, this is what is required. MS: What do you think of the gay movement now compared to it beginnings? WC: It seems to me that the gay movement has been highly successful. I think there’s much more awareness, obviously, of the issue in the country. It seems to me that the approval rating among the polls is good, and if that’s the result, then the movement has been successful. About this interview: Mark Segal met Cronkite when he disrupted the live broadcast of the CBS Evening News in December 1973 by holding a sign in front of Cronkite which read “Gays Protest CBS Prejudice..” They later became friends and this interview was recorded during one of their lunches. Walter Cronkite’s candor surprised Segal who thought they were ahead of their time. Upon Cronkite’s death it was pulled out of the drawer where it has resided for 13 years un- published. From: http://downloadmovie.blogsome.com/wp-admin/post.php?posted=true