Ofcom says OK to sex with animals

Note- OFCOM
in the United Kingdom is (from their website)
"Ofcom is the independent regulator and competition authority for the
UK communications industries, with responsibilities across television,
radio, telecommunications and wireless communications services"
----------------------------------------------------------------
"http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1491990,00.html
Radio | Special report: Ofcom | Television
2.30pm

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"Ofcom says OK to sex with animals

John Plunkett
Wednesday May 25, 2005

Clean-up TV campaigners seeking succour in Ofcom's new broadcasting
rules suffered an immediate blow today when the regulator gave the
all-clear to programmes about "sex with animals".
The comments by Richard Hooper, the Ofcom deputy chairman, came at the
unveiling of its long-awaited new broadcasting code and will have had
the regulator's spin doctors holding their heads in their hands.

Although Mr Hooper was at pains to point out that the new regulations
will not give carte blanche to broadcasters, he said certain offensive
material would be OK as long as it was shown at the right time and
with suitable warnings.

"[What about] a programme about sex with animals? Yes, it's
potentially possible. It all comes down to context," he said.

The new code, which will apply across all TV and radio networks,
allows broadcasters to "transmit challenging material, even that which
may be considered offensive by some, provided it is editorially
justified and the audience given appropriate information".

Mr Hooper's comments recalled Channel 4 bestiality documentary, Animal
Passions, which featured a man who admitted have sex with his pony and
a woman who had sex with her dog.

Although it was cleared by Ofcom last year, it generated 75 complaints
from viewers who said it "normalised bestiality" and could encourage
copycat behaviour."

police state

Capitol Hill Blue: Police State

Police State
By DAN K. THOMASSON
May 24, 2005, 07:12
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Some really scary things are happening around here these days.
Congress has become a place of great incivility and rancor, which threaten to undermine any hope of legislative remedy to a myriad of problems, from Social Security to soaring health-care costs to immigration to a steadily crumbling manufacturing base once the envy of the world.

But perhaps the most frightening prospect for Americans is an unfettered national police force with the sole discretion to determine who can be investigated as a potential terrorist. That's the impact of little-known proposals to greatly expand the powers of the FBI, permitting its agents to seize business records without a warrant and to track the mail of those in terrorist inquiries without regard to Postal Service concerns.

Because the government can label almost any group or individual a terrorist threat, the potential for abuse by not having to show probable cause is enormous, prompting civil libertarians to correctly speculate about who will guard against the guardians. Up until now the answer was the Constitution as interpreted by the judiciary. But it is clear that sidestepping any such restriction is the real and present danger of the post-9-11 era.

A wise man, the late Sen. John Williams of Delaware, once counseled that any proposed legislation should be regarded in the light of its worst potential consequence, particularly when it came to laws that enhance the investigative and prosecutorial powers of the government at the expense of civil rights. This is most likely to occur in times of national stress, when the Constitution is always vulnerable to assault _ i.e., the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. The scenario Williams warned about runs something like this.

You are innocently standing on a street corner waiting to cross when you are approached by a complete stranger who politely, but in a low voice, asks directions to a certain address or area. You, of course, are utterly unaware that the person is under surveillance in a terrorist investigation. You respond in a friendly manner. And although the exchange takes only a few seconds, it is enough to make those following the suspect curious about you. You are identified and a background check reveals that you or your spouse has a relative of Middle Eastern extraction or that you recently traveled to a Middle Eastern country or that you contributed to a charity bazaar sponsored by a church or group under suspicion of passing money through to a terrorist cause.

Suddenly, you are caught in a major inquiry, your personal business records are seized and your mail is tracked. It doesn't take long for your friends and neighbors to learn that you are being investigated, and the result of that is predictable. You and your family are shunned. Your business begins to dwindle and before the nightmare has ended, which can take months, your life is in shambles. The truth never catches up with the fiction and the bureau, which has difficulty in saying the word "sorry," leaves you high and dry, twisting slowly in the wind.

Think it can't happen that way? Well, it does all the time. Ask the lawyer in Oregon whom the FBI misidentified as having taken part in the terrorist bombing of the Spanish railway. Ask any number of persons since Sept. 11, 2001, arrested and detained for months without charges or counsel before they were released.

If that isn't enough to satisfy you about the inadvisability of these proposals, think back to the Cold War days when the most casual acquaintance with a group or person on J. Edgar Hoover's anti-communist watch list could land one in water hot enough to make life miserable for a long time _ maybe even put him or her on one of the infamous blacklists.

If you weren't around in those times, read about them. One thing you will learn quickly is that the sole determination of who or what had communist inclinations belonged to the FBI. Even then, however, Congress was smart enough not to rescind the checks and balances that protect our civil liberties. Federal law-enforcement officers outside the FBI have complained of late about the bureau's penchant for seizing jurisdiction over almost any crime by relating it to terrorism.

Both of these over-reactive proposals are as fearsome as the threat of another al Qaeda attack, for they accomplish the same thing: the intrusion on and disruption of the rights of Americans. Like portions of the Patriot Act, which are rightly being challenged by conservatives as well as liberals, they are medicine worse than the cancer.

MUST SEE WEBSITE

http://filmstripinternational.com/

PASTOR SAYS ONLY BUSH SUPPORTS MAY ATTEND CHURCH

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44152

A Baptist pastor in North Carolina has touched off an exodus in his church by declaring Democrats are not welcome as members.

The Rev. Chan Chandler of East Waynesville Baptist Church in Waynesville ex-communicated nine members who refuse to support President Bush, according to WLOS-TV in Asheville, N.C.

Another 40 have left in protest in a controversy that began before the election last November and came to a head Sunday.

Chandler insists he's acting according to the Word of God, acknowledging in a sermon Sunday he has upset church members by calling them out for their political loyalties.

But WLOS said Chandler, who could not be reached for comment, has insisted his actions are not politically motivated.

Church member Lewis Inman said to the Asheville station: "[Chandler] told us that if we didn't support George Bush we needed to resign our position and get out, or go to the altar and repent, and support George Bush."

Among the ex-communicated were leaders who had been in the church 30 or 40 years.

"The members that were there even stood up and applauded that we left," an outgoing church member said.

Former member Frank Lowe told WLOS: "He says if we supported John Kerry, we have supported abortion and homosexuality."

But Lowe and other departed members insist they don't agree to those stances.

Responding to the news, the Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of The Interfaith Alliance, a left-leaning group, issued a statement.

"This sad spectacle is the predictable consequence of the Religious Right's insistence on measuring a person’s religion by social-political litmus tests," Gaddy said.

"Not only does the pastor's reported action violate both the spirit and substance of the United States Constitution's provisions of religious liberty, it also offends the conscience of people who understand religion in terms of the realm of the spirit, not votes in a presidential election."

Addressing the Baptist pastor's call for repentance on the part of those who didn't vote for Bush, Gaddy said, "The screaming need is for repentance among those who would tie religion to partisan politics."

A contributor to the leading liberal weblog Daily Kos wrote: "For those that thought that there has not been a full scale war lanched against liberals; for those who didn't take the radical right's promise to "eradicate liberals" seriously, I present to you, Exhibit A: East Waynesville Baptist Church has just kicked out all its Democratic members."

In a later post, the contributor commented: "This isn't a 'culture' war, people. This isn't some sort of political game. This action merely foreshadows what is to come: the radical religious right seeking to impose a theocracy upon this nation. Purge the liberals from society.

"Welcome to the Blue Scare. Welcome to Grade-A, government-sanctioned McCarthyism against liberals and against anyone who doesn't embrace their distorted worldview. Here is the face of the American jihad."
===================================================
MORE...


Minister ex-communicates
Democrat church members
Baptist pastor reportedly insisted
supporting president is God's will

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/06/AR2005050601317.html

Dempcrats Booted From N.C. Church Over Politics

WAYNESVILLE, N.C. -- A pastor of a small Baptist church led an effort to kick out church members because they didn't support President Bush, members said

The nine members were voted out at a Monday meeting of the East Waynesville Baptist Church in this mountain town about 120 miles west of Charlotte. WLOS-TV in Asheville reported that 40 other members resigned in protest.

"It's all over politics," said Selma Morris, the church's treasurer. "We've never had a pastor like that before."

Pastor Chan Chandler had told the congregation before last year's presidential election that anyone who planned to vote for Democratic Sen. John Kerry should either leave the church or repent, said Lorene Sutton, who said she and her husband were voted out of the church this week.

"He's the kind of pastor who says do it my way or get out," she said. "He's real negative all the time."

Morris said some church members left after Chandler made his ultimatum in October.

Chandler didn't return a message left by The Associated Press at his home Friday, and several calls to the church went unanswered. He told WLOS that the actions were not politically motivated.

North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek sharply criticized the pastor Friday, saying Chandler jeopardized his church's tax-free status by openly supporting a candidate for president.

"If these reports are true, this minister is not only acting extremely inappropriately by injecting partisan politics into a house of worship, but he is also potentially breaking the law," Meek said.

==========================================
more on this ...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0505080215may08,1,6246571.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true"WAYNESVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA -- Some members of a small Baptist church say their pastor led a charge last week to kick out nine members because they don't support President Bush.

They said Pastor Chan Chandler told the congregation before last year's election that they should support Bush and that anyone who planned to vote for Democrat John Kerry should get up and leave.

Selma Morris, a member and treasurer of East Waynesville Baptist Church, said some members of the church left in October when Chandler first made his ultimatum.

Chandler told WLOS-TV in Asheville that the actions were not politically motivated, and then hung up."

PASTOR SAYS ONLY BUSH SUPPORTS MAY ATTEND CHURCH

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44152

A Baptist pastor in North Carolina has touched off an exodus in his church by declaring Democrats are not welcome as members.

The Rev. Chan Chandler of East Waynesville Baptist Church in Waynesville ex-communicated nine members who refuse to support President Bush, according to WLOS-TV in Asheville, N.C.

Another 40 have left in protest in a controversy that began before the election last November and came to a head Sunday.

Chandler insists he's acting according to the Word of God, acknowledging in a sermon Sunday he has upset church members by calling them out for their political loyalties.

But WLOS said Chandler, who could not be reached for comment, has insisted his actions are not politically motivated.

Church member Lewis Inman said to the Asheville station: "[Chandler] told us that if we didn't support George Bush we needed to resign our position and get out, or go to the altar and repent, and support George Bush."

Among the ex-communicated were leaders who had been in the church 30 or 40 years.

"The members that were there even stood up and applauded that we left," an outgoing church member said.

Former member Frank Lowe told WLOS: "He says if we supported John Kerry, we have supported abortion and homosexuality."

But Lowe and other departed members insist they don't agree to those stances.

Responding to the news, the Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of The Interfaith Alliance, a left-leaning group, issued a statement.

"This sad spectacle is the predictable consequence of the Religious Right's insistence on measuring a person’s religion by social-political litmus tests," Gaddy said.

"Not only does the pastor's reported action violate both the spirit and substance of the United States Constitution's provisions of religious liberty, it also offends the conscience of people who understand religion in terms of the realm of the spirit, not votes in a presidential election."

Addressing the Baptist pastor's call for repentance on the part of those who didn't vote for Bush, Gaddy said, "The screaming need is for repentance among those who would tie religion to partisan politics."

A contributor to the leading liberal weblog Daily Kos wrote: "For those that thought that there has not been a full scale war lanched against liberals; for those who didn't take the radical right's promise to "eradicate liberals" seriously, I present to you, Exhibit A: East Waynesville Baptist Church has just kicked out all its Democratic members."

In a later post, the contributor commented: "This isn't a 'culture' war, people. This isn't some sort of political game. This action merely foreshadows what is to come: the radical religious right seeking to impose a theocracy upon this nation. Purge the liberals from society.

"Welcome to the Blue Scare. Welcome to Grade-A, government-sanctioned McCarthyism against liberals and against anyone who doesn't embrace their distorted worldview. Here is the face of the American jihad."
===================================================
MORE...


Minister ex-communicates
Democrat church members
Baptist pastor reportedly insisted
supporting president is God's will

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/06/AR2005050601317.html

Dempcrats Booted From N.C. Church Over Politics

WAYNESVILLE, N.C. -- A pastor of a small Baptist church led an effort to kick out church members because they didn't support President Bush, members said

The nine members were voted out at a Monday meeting of the East Waynesville Baptist Church in this mountain town about 120 miles west of Charlotte. WLOS-TV in Asheville reported that 40 other members resigned in protest.

"It's all over politics," said Selma Morris, the church's treasurer. "We've never had a pastor like that before."

Pastor Chan Chandler had told the congregation before last year's presidential election that anyone who planned to vote for Democratic Sen. John Kerry should either leave the church or repent, said Lorene Sutton, who said she and her husband were voted out of the church this week.

"He's the kind of pastor who says do it my way or get out," she said. "He's real negative all the time."

Morris said some church members left after Chandler made his ultimatum in October.

Chandler didn't return a message left by The Associated Press at his home Friday, and several calls to the church went unanswered. He told WLOS that the actions were not politically motivated.

North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Meek sharply criticized the pastor Friday, saying Chandler jeopardized his church's tax-free status by openly supporting a candidate for president.

"If these reports are true, this minister is not only acting extremely inappropriately by injecting partisan politics into a house of worship, but he is also potentially breaking the law," Meek said.

==========================================
more on this ...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0505080215may08,1,6246571.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true"WAYNESVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA -- Some members of a small Baptist church say their pastor led a charge last week to kick out nine members because they don't support President Bush.

They said Pastor Chan Chandler told the congregation before last year's election that they should support Bush and that anyone who planned to vote for Democrat John Kerry should get up and leave.

Selma Morris, a member and treasurer of East Waynesville Baptist Church, said some members of the church left in October when Chandler first made his ultimatum.

Chandler told WLOS-TV in Asheville that the actions were not politically motivated, and then hung up."

VLAD SLAPS BUSH

New York Post Online Edition:May 7, 2005 -- President Bush arrived in Latvia last night to start his third European trip this year and found a blunt message from Russia's Vladimir Putin: Stop trying to export democracy.
"Democracy cannot be exported to some other place. [Democracy] must be a product of internal domestic development in a society," Putin told "60 Minutes" in an interview to be aired tomorrow.

Putin is fuming over Bush's support for emerging democracies in the former Soviet Union, such as Georgia and Ukraine, which are no longer under Moscow's thumb and instead lean West — like the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

Bush strongly renewed his vow to spread democracy — in the former Soviet Union as well as Iraq — as the best way to make the world safer and said he intends to tell Putin just that when they meet tomorrow.

"When I see President Putin, I will remind him again that democracies on his border will make it easier for Russia to grow in a peaceful way. Democracies are peaceful," Bush told Georgia's state TV in an interview released yesterday.

"I will remind him that this is not a plot by anybody or any nation. This is just the inevitable course of humankind because all humans want to be free," added Bush, who will become the first U.S. president ever to visit Georgia.

Bush's trip centers around Monday's parade in Moscow to mark the Allied victory over Europe in World War II.

But Bush bracketed his Moscow stop with visits to ex-Soviet and pro-Western Latvia today and Georgia on Tuesday to show he's not endorsing Soviet domination or Putin's current crackdown on democracy.

The long-distance back-and-forth between Bush and Putin underscored the renewed post-Cold War rivalry between Russia and America even as the two leaders insist they're friends.

In interviews, Bush said he was going to Georgia "to feel the sense of a new democracy." He pledged to stand with Latvia if Russia tries to "intimidate" it and blasted pro-Moscow Belarus as the "last dictator in Europe."

Meanwhile, Senate Dem-ocratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada touched off a kerfuffle yesterday by breaking the taboo against criticizing a president while he's overseas.

Reid blasted Bush by saying "I think this guy's a loser" — and then hastily apologized.

After Republicans called Reid's gibe "sad" and said it showed the Democrats to be "devoid of ideas," Reid aides said he called White House political guru Karl Rove to admit that he had crossed the line and to offer an apology.

Bushy's Pal, Pat Robertson SPEAKS HS MIND

Pat Robertson, self proclaimed "Chairman of the Board, and CEO of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN)" wrote a bizarre letter to congressman, Frank Lautenberg, on May 3, 2004. Here is a portion of the text...

"...However, it is my feeling that no crazed terrorists hiding out in mountain caves on the border of Afghanistan can threaten America. America will remain strong as long as we hold to those enduring values which made this country great.

It is my firm conviction that Supreme Court decisions which led to the wanton slaughter of 40 million unborn babies; the removeal of cherished religious truth from the schoolroom and the public square. the usurpation of the constitutional powers of our elected representatives, such as yourself; the sanctoning of pornography and the potential destruction of marriage, are all themselves graver dangers in the decades to come than the terrorists which our great nation has defeated in Afghanistan and Iraq.

I owe no one any apology for my point of view, because in these matters I believe that history will bear me out."