Jewish prayers for Egypt’s uprising

Many Jews from around the world support Egyptian self-determination because of Judaism’s own historic past with Egypt.—Rabbi Michael Lerner, in Al Jazera (in English).

Lerner voices the feelings of many Jews, throughout the world, Compares Mubarak to the Pharaoh who enslaved the Hebrews.

“We hope that Egyptians will hear the news that they have strong support from many in the Jewish world. We are not waffling like Obama – we want the overthrow of Mubarak, the freeing of all political prisoners, the redistribution of wealth in a fair way, trials for those who perpetrated torture and other forms of injustice, and the democratisation of all aspects of Egyptian life.”

Read Lerner’s full post HERE.

URJ–Unrest in Egypt Cause for Both Hope and Concern

Yoffie: “The people of Egypt should have the rights of all citizens of the earth to peacefully assemble, to express their opinion openly and without fear of oppression, and to express their political desires through fair and legitimate elections.”

Washington, D.C. January 31, 2011- In response to the ongoing unrest in Egypt, Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism issued the following statement:

“We are watching the developing situation in Egypt with concern, and with hope.

We agree with President Obama that it is essential that the Egyptian government use restraint when dealing with peaceful protests.  Our prayers go out to all those who have been injured and the families of those who have been killed in this conflict.

The people of Egypt should have the rights of all citizens of the earth to peacefully assemble, express their opinion openly and without fear of oppression and express their political desires through fair and legitimate elections.

We, therefore, join with the governments of the United States and Canada in calling for President Mubarak to implement the political, social and economic reforms that will move the country forward.

We urge and pray that these reforms be moved forward through a peaceful dialogue between the protesters and the government and not through the use of violence on either side.

We hope that whatever the outcome of these events, the Republic of Egypt continues to work for peace in the greater Middle East and continue its more-than-thirty-years peace agreement with the State of Israel.”

Windy City Times political charts available for early voting

The Windy City Times is Chicago’s premier LGBT Newspaper.

Windy City Times political charts are now available for early voting. The Windy City Times election guide charts are now available and include the candidates’ responses to 16 LGBT related questions sent by the newspaper.

Just a quick FYI about why this blog is moderated

The reason is not censorship; as you can see, I have no problem with comments from people who disagree.  The discussions in the comment section would be boring if everyone agreed. The blog is moderated for two reasons: The first is that too much spam has slipped through my spam filters in the past. The second is that I have seen too many conversations devolve into free-for-alls while the moderators were only gone for a couple of hours; since we don’t have full-time moderators, the best solution is to hold comments for moderation whenever we don’t have a moderator on duty.

We don’t censor comments for content, unless they contain ad hominem attacks, hate speech or calls to violence. And we don’t block users unless they repeatedly break the rules.

Reform Jewish Movement Comments On Egyptian Unrest

Reform Movement Comments On Egyptian Unrest

In response to the ongoing unrest in Egypt, the Union for Reform Judaism has issued a statement of support for the rights of all citizens of the world to peacefully assemble and is urging Egyptian President Mubarak and the Egyptian government to use restraint when dealing with peaceful protest and implement needed political, social and economic reform.

Union of Reform Judaism President Rabbi Eric Yoffie  asserts:

The people of Egypt should have the rights of all citizens of the earth to peacefully assemble, express their opinion openly and without fear of oppression and express their political desires through fair and legitimate elections.

For more background on the conflict see this most recent New York Times article. Additionally, NYTimes columnist Nick Kristof has been updating on his facebook and twitter pages from Egypt.

The Reform Movement continues to monitor the situation closely, keeping in mind our support for civil discourse and basic democratic rights as well as our support for the state of Israel.

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House Republicans trying to redefine rape

Via MoveOn.org:

“A far-reaching anti-choice bill, introduced by Republican Chris Smith and supported by 173 members of the House, includes a provision that could redefine rape and set women’s rights back by decades.

Right now, federal dollars can’t be used for abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or when the woman’s life is in danger. But the Smith bill would narrow that use to “cases of ‘forcible’ rape but not statutory or coerced rape.”

As far too many women know, bruises and broken bones do not define rape – a lack of consent does.”

In-depth coverage by CBS, here.  No big shock, but my own asshole representative, Cathy McMorris-Rogers is a co-sponsor.  Full list of co-sponsors here.
Stand up for what is right. E-mail, call and visit your Representatives today, to tell them that the “unintended” consequences of this bill set women’s rights back decades by seeking to redefine rape.

AP reporting that Egyptian Army is now supporting Mubarak

Oh, crap.  This does not bode well:

“The Egyptian military called Wednesday for an end to more than a week of demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak, throwing its support behind his embattled regime hours after he defiantly rejected demands to step down immediately and said he would serve out his term in office.”

As much as I firmly side with the protesters on general principle, there is some logic in letter Mubarak remain in power (on paper, anyway) until the next election, which is only months away. It would give candidates time to put some thought into their platforms and allow time to arrange objective international observers, to oversee the election and ensure that it is fair (as far as any election goes, at least) and not rigged in any way.  But this news cannot be good; it sets the stage for people–a lot of people–getting hurt, with average soldiers, most of whom apparently agree with the protesters, caught in the middle.

No, this is definitely not good news. At best, this is going to be Chicago, 1968 all over again. At worst…anyone remember Tiananmen Square?

Hilarious post on Truth Wins Out

Oh good grief. Don’t these people ever get tired of making public fools of themselves?

I can’t top Evan’s comments…

You see, Bob Nelson has a twenty dollar bill, and he says we need to find out if it’s real by asking the creators of the bill [apparently he doesn't one of those fancy pens], and likewise, we need to ask the author of marriage [surely, his conception of an invisible sky-being!] what marriage really is, and then he reveals that he’s never opened a history book that isn’t approved by his pastor by stating that “never in history” has marriage ever been anything more than one man-one woman.

You have to see it to believe it. The idiocy speaks for itself.

Really interesting post on “Joy and Desperation = Life”

Great post that raises some interesting and well-taken points.  Well worth the read.

My first article for Yahoo Associated Content is up!

I haven’t written a darn thing for the blog in ages, because I have been so busy with the combination of Family Stuff and volunteering for KRFP.

So…be that as it may, I have been thinking a lot about wanting to get my voice out to a wider audience when I saw that Yahoo is looking for contributors.  I have really wanted to start writing, again–really writing, not just the news broadcast–and AC contributors actually get paid if their work performs (e.g. draws web traffic),  which is not a small consideration; we could use the money.  So, while I do want to get the blog going again, it seemed like the only logical thing to do was to make Yahoo AC first priority.  I  started writing for Yahoo yesterday; everything else I have submitted is still waiting for approval, but–to my total surprise–the article I wrote for their Valentine series was just posted.  I don’t think it was my best piece, or even the most time-sensitive, but I gave them what they asked for & viola!  I am a Yahoo Associated Content contributor.

The more hits I get, the more hits my future work will get (its one of those Mysteries of the Search engine ranking formula) plus, I only get paid per hit, so everybody, please help me get off to a good start with Yahoo! Follow the link and share it, if you like what you read.