Thursday, April 06, 2006

Read below. More Proof of Evolution.


Updated: 10:46 AM EDT
Fossil Called Missing Link From Sea to Land Animals

By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD, The New York Times


(April 6) -- Scientists have discovered fossils of a 375-million-year-old fish, a large scaly creature not seen before, that they say is a long-sought missing link in the evolution of some fishes from water to a life walking on four limbs on land.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

CSUDH LGBT Faculty and Staff Assoc.

CSUDH LGBT Faculty and Staff Assoc. Gay-Straight Alliance

California State University Dominguez Hills located in Carson, California (90747) part of the CSU system. For information on the Gay-Straight Alliance (the student group) contact TTamayo@csudh.edu or sraphael@csudh.edu. CSUDH In process of restarting the group.

Sharon Raphael

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,Transgender Faculty & Staff Association (LGBTFSA)

go to http://www.csudh.edu/brokeback/LGBTFSA.html

Background:

CSUDH LGBTFSA was conceived in 2002 with the intent to provide a support network for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Faculty and Staff on campus and with the hope that a LGBT student club would develop as a result of faculty and staff being more visible on campus.

Purpose:

CSUDH LGBTFSA is comprised of a group of LGBT persons and friends who come together on a regular (almost monthly) basis to socialize, exchange information, and to serve as a support group. It is our intent to provide a positive setting
where LGBT persons and non LGBT persons can learn about LGBT issues in a positive setting.

Examples of Activities:

LGBTFSA Sponsors luncheons and get togethers for its members and potential new members and Friends.

LGBTFSA Brings off campus speakers on campus to train faculty and staff about how to confront homophobia.

LGBTFSA has sponsored workshops where LGBT students,
faculty & staff can share information.

LGBTFSA networks with other offices at the university
and by our very presence makes visible the existence of LGBT concerns on campus.

Future Directions:

LGBTFS would like to hold more educational Forums
that Reach the entire campus community.

LGBTFS would like to enlarge its membership and spark
creation of a student LGBT or Gay-Straight Alliance on campus.

LGBTSA would like to have its own Pride Center or similar type office
on campus.

We are open to new ideas and encourage your involvement.

If you would like to join LGBTFSA Contact
Co-chair Sharon Raphael at SRaphael@csudh.edu
or Co-Chair Tomas Tamayo at TTamayo@csudh.edu.
Our meetings are usually located in Welch Hall in the
College of Health and Human Services 3rd Floor

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Crowd of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn Protest Over Arrest

Borough Park Arrest Sparks Protest, Street Fires
Residents Claim Ticket Blitz Reason For Animosity


Lou Young
Reporting

Save It
E-mail It
Print It
(CBS) BROOKLYN The street fires in Borough Park on Tuesday night began near the spot where elderly Arthur Schick was pulled over for talking on his cell phone and somehow ended up under arrest.

Those who saw all or part of the incident insist the NYPD's behavior was excessive.

When CBS 2 arrived on the scene, Schick's Cadillac was still parked curbside near the bakery he once owned that still bears his name.

Police said he became uncooperative when they pulled him over, and that he and three others who tried to intercede were arrested. As crowds of black clad orthodox and Hasidic Jews shouted complaints about the arrest, police moved in and tried to clear the streets.

Firefighters did their best to get to the trash fires, pushing, shoving and shouting.

At one point a police cruiser was physically blocked from moving until riot officers cleared the protesters away.

Many in the crowd complained of strained relations with the local precinct. Some suggested an on-going parking ticket blitz has this community on edge.

News From the Gay Sports Movement

There are two competing gay sports events set for 2006--Gay Games VII in Chicago, and what are now called the OutGames in Montreal. The latter is the result of a split in the gay sports movement after the Federation of Gay Games and Montreal could not reach an agreement on a contract for Gay Games.

Proposed Gay Games Event Divides Town

By DON BABWIN, AP


CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill. (April 4) - Among the items on the City Council's agenda seems a simple matter: whether to give rowers a permit to have a boat race this summer on a small man-made lake.


Nam Y. Huh, AP

Crystal Lake, Ill., Mayor Aaron Shepley said he thinks the City Council will allow the rowing competition. Gay Games organizers would be treated like anyone else who has an event in the town, he said.

But because the rowers are gay - participating in something called the Gay Games - what would normally be a mundane debate about parking and street closures instead has become a heated battle between those who see the event as a threat to their small-town way of life and those who see such views as small-minded.


The City Council was scheduled Tuesday to discuss whether to allow the Olympics-style Gay Games to hold its rowing event in this 40,000-population suburb, about 50 miles northwest of Chicago.


Angry letters to the editor have frequently appeared in the local newspaper.


"Make no mistake: The purpose of the Gay Games is to legitimize homosexuality and make it appear as a wholesome lifestyle choice," wrote Tim Coakley, a critic of the games.


In the same day's paper, Perry and Christine Koste dismissed such views, asking: "How proud are we to live in such a narrow-minded, backward hateful community?"


"How proud are we to live in such a narrow-minded, backward hateful community?"
-- Perry and Christine Koste


The debate over the Gay Games was the subject of two city park district hearings last month. The full board ultimately voted to approve the race, sending it to the City Council.


If the City Council approves it, the race would only need permission from neighboring Lakewood, which also borders the lake, before the event can be held. Officials in Lakewood said they planned to approve the games.


One of the Gay Games' missions is to raise awareness about gays to reduce stereotypes - a point organizers discussed during the park district hearings, spokesman Kevin Boyer said.


"It is very difficult to disregard what these people said and just deal with how boats are unloaded and loaded," Boyer said. "You are going to say this is not right, and this is why the Gay Games are needed."


Most of the events for the Gay Games are set in Chicago. Organizers have said the weeklong competition set for July is expected to draw 12,000 participants, tens of thousands of spectators and pump more than $50 million into the economy.


The games, which started in 1982 in San Francisco, are held every four years and are open to gay and straight participants. Other sports include badminton, basketball, cycling, flag football and racquetball.


The furor in Crystal Lake about the games goes to the heart of why many people say they live such a community.

"There's no reason to start making things racy. If you want to go to Chicago to do that, that's fine. I'm not going to go there."
-- Sunita Stone

Coakley said one reason he and his family moved to Crystal Lake a decade ago was because "there is more of a family values kind of atmosphere" there.


It is the same with Sunita Stone. "There's no reason to start making things racy," she said. "If you want to go to Chicago to do that, that's fine. I'm not going to go there."


Such talk does not surprise Al Hunter, a Northwestern University sociologist who has studied local communities. Hunter said that as suburbs have grown, a number of businesses and industries have abandoned big cities in favor of outlying areas.


That means that as people work closer to home, they travel less to the city and identify less with it, he said. The Gay Games, he said, may feel like an outside invasion.


Mayor Aaron Shepley said the Gay Games organizers have made the event more about a statement on gays and lesbians and not rowing, thus putting Crystal Lake at the center of a debate about social values.


"To the extent that part of the agenda of promoters was to draw attention to a social platform, they've been successful," he said. "And to an extent, it's been at the expense of Crystal Lake's image."


Still, Shepley believes the City Council will vote to allow the rowing competition, and said Gay Games organizers would be treated like anyone else who has an event in the town.


"This is only an endorsement of the First Amendment and the anti-discrimination laws of the state," Shepley said. "That's all it is - following the law."

Talk About It: Post Thoughts




04/04/06 04:07 EDT