Oppose the self-hatred lie-peddlers

Something which deserves publicity - I can't make it but all power to those who can. The self-hatred movement needs to be exposed - all these people need to give up is their religion!

Protest/Demonstration:
Against Conference on Treatment to Eliminate Homosexuality in Gay Men & Women

Saturday 25 April 2009
13:00 - 15:00
at "The Emmanuel Centre", 9-23 Marsham Street, London, UK.

For further details of this protest see:
facebook.com/event.php?eid=71287658602

For background see:
pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-12074.html#
pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-12110.html#
guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2004/apr/03/weekend.deccaaitkenhead

Joseph Nicolosi, the main speaker at the above Conference, claims that academic research has verified that his "Reparative Therapy" works and works well, but it has since been found that the "academic research" was flawed: people whose homosexuality was treated were simply approached and asked if the therapy had worked, yes or no. Of course, the vast majority of the self-hating gay men and women who had put themselves under Nicolosi's therapy simply said "Yes" to their interviewer . . . but many have subsequently been found continuing to exercise their true gay or lesbian identities on the quiet. However, devout Catholic fundamentalist Joseph Nicolosi and his associates continue to ply their trade, "Reparative Therapy". They are charlatans and frauds.

50p top tax rate in the budget

The only question is - why the hell this wasn't done before, and why the proceeds could not have been used to ensure a stronger manufacturing base and a stop to privatisation.

New Labour have squandered their opportunities. This is the right move, but done for the wrong reasons.

If only there was a reasonable social democratic alternative. I think the Tories would be worse, and Nick Clegg is a Tory, through and through. No alternatives there.

A trip to the States

The Deep South no less, that land of many syllables and very loony right-wing views. Perhaps less so in the cities, but out in the boondocks - well....

Its interesting to see just how livid the right wing are. Rage, rage and more rage. And they just don't get that they lost the election, and think the reason they did so was that they weren't conservative enough. Bizarre. Fox News appears to be even more right wing than ever, MSNBC more liberal - watch the two stations report on the same event, it could be about two entirely different things.

We visited Atlanta, Charleston and Savannah, doing all the 'Midnight in the garden....' stuff in the latter. Savannah is certainly a stunningly beautiful place, very relaxed and Southern. Southern hospitality is certainly apparent everywhere we went, almost exaggeratedly so - at times I longed for some sharp New York backchat. We went out to North Georgia on one of the days and entered a shop to try and find out where the local potters shop was. We were met by three people who looked like extras from the Beverly Hillbillies. They stared at us as if we had landed from another planet - we could imagine them saying, after we left 'well, they weren't from these parts.....'. 80% in those areas voted Republican.

Saw some great music in Atlanta - saxophonist Boney James. I do like the US narrow-cast radio policy where the stations focus on one style of music - there are some excellent R&B/soul stations in the area.

New director of Vatican plc's UK branch

Don't know what it is about Crosby which produces Archbishops. Robert Runcie for the Anglos and now the Vaticanists have their revenge.

A predictable choice of someone who is not only a redshite, but the expected homophobe and cultural conservative, which goes with the territory. thankfully, this means that he will be further marginalised and seen as a sectarian figure in a country which continues to lose interest in religionism. The Vaticanist variety is particularly struggling, and as the Poles go home, there are no obvious replacements.

I wonder if he will do Ratfinger's bidding with regard to the frankly, hypocritical stance of the English church with regard to gay Catholic priests. The former Hitler Youth member would like to sort this out (meaning 'clear out the gays' from the seminaries - and on one level, I sympathise, as there presence signifies lack of openness and self-acceptance which I think is regrettable). Will Nichols have the bottle to do this?

The G20

Is there anything much to say? Brown got some of what he wanted, but not everything. No-one really knows whether what has been announced will 'work' or not. There were the usual demonstrations, some of which ended up in the pointless breaking of windows - and haven't the RBS heard of shutters?

Is it just me or are there others who find the whole thing unremarkable? We have a cyclical downturn which in a globalised world will inevitably affect every country. Continue to see free trade and globalisation as the answer and expect the same at some time in the future.