Proposta de lei nigeriana

Nigeria is days from passing the "Jail the Gays" bill - one of the harshest anti-gay laws the world has ever seen. The proposed law will mean 10 years in prison for two people daring to hold hands in public. * Live with someone of the same sex – 10 years in prison * Organise a gathering of gay people – 10 years in prison * Support the idea of a pride march – 10 years in prison After a year languishing in the House of Assembly, the "Jail the Gays" bill has been rushed through with zero notice. The only roadblock before it becomes law is one signature – President Goodluck Jonathan's. Last year, 65,000 of us stood against this bill and it was abandoned! Can you take one minute to help us do it again? It takes only one minute but it could change history: www.allout.org/nigeria-veto When the bill was first introduced, politicians said there were no gay people in their country. Our friends in Nigeria have said they are not taking this lying down - they've got a plan and they're asking for our help. Right now, they are organising an unprecedented response of African advocates – both straight and gay – to speak out against this bill. Today, we are showing that not only do Nigerian LGBT people exist, but the whole world has their back. Will you stand with Nigerians against this hateful law and help us to get to 100,000 signatures? www.allout.org/nigeria-veto The only way to stop this bill is to trumpet Nigerian voices for equality - supported by millions around the world. President Jonathan can veto the bill – and if he hears these Nigerian voices, he'll have to. We know we can drive the right message to every government and media organisation around the world to make sure President Goodluck Jonathan knows his people and their allies will not tolerate him signing this bill into law. Will you take one minute and add your name now? www.allout.org/nigeria-veto Thanks for going All Out. Best, Andre, Hayley, Jeremy, Sara and the rest of the All Out team. SOURCES Nigerian law-makers move ahead on anti-gay bill www.nation.co.ke/News/africa/Nigerian-lawmakers-move-ahead-on-anti-gay-bill [http://act.allout.org/o.gif?akid=949.76954.6r8ft7] All Out is bringing people together in every corner of the planet and of every identity - lesbian, gay, straight, bisexual, transgender and all that’s between and beyond - to build a world in which everyone can live freely and be embraced for who they are. Our mailing address is: Purpose Foundation 224 Centre St New York, NY 10013 Copyright © 2012 AllOut.org, All rights reserved.

O deplorável estado da nação portuguesa

De há uns 15 anos para cá, isto tem sido um pântano; vivemos na aflição. Há milhares de pessoas a ir às corridas de toiros e a fazer férias nas Américas ou na Ásia. Mas há milhões que não vão ao teatro, nem à ópera, nem ao bailado ou às livrarias. Há milhões de portugueses que não fazem férias no estrangeiro nem vão aos festivais de rock. Não nos podemos iludir com a desenvoltura de uns quantos, sete ou oito por cento da população. O que importa é que a maioria não chega a ganhar 2.000 euros e tem cada vez mais dificuldades para manter a casa e o carro. O que importa é a imensa maioria que não tem de forma alguma quatro ou cinco mil euros de reserva no banco. Enquanto houver tanta desigualdade, não podemos deixar de protestar, nem estar de acordo com nenhum partido que já tenha governado nestes últimos 15 anos e que deseje agora obter 35 ou 37 dos nossos votos. Como se os merecesse. Não nos podemos calar, pois que já sofremos demais. Jorge Heitor

Seis anos de tempo perdido, em Portugal

O senhor primeiro-ministro de Portugal, engenheiro José Sócrates, apresentou-se em Janeiro de 2006 no Palácio de Belém apoiado em muletas...porque sofrera um entorse ao esquiar na Suíça, enquanto uma grande parte do seu povo vivia na miséria. O senhor primeiro-ministro não poderia ter passado uns dias de descanso no Algarve, na Serra da Estrela ou nos Açores, tinha logo que ir para as montanhas da Suíça, como qualquer bom burguês?. Não foi uma boa actuação para um chefe de Governo que não conseguiu evitar que o seu país ficasse com mais de meio milhão de desempregados e milhões de cidadãos com salários abaixo dos 1.900 euros. Deveriam merecer uma sanção moral os governantes que assim se comportam, indo mais do que uma vez por ano de férias ao estrangeiro quando o país atravessa uma tão grave crise. ------ +++++ Era assim que há seis anos e 10 meses eu andava a denunciar a crise, de que alguns dos meus compatriotas parece que só se conscencializaram um pouco mais tarde. De facto, a crise não é de há dois ou três anos. Já em 2005 a sentíamos; já sabíamos muitos de nós que a vida estava a ser mais difícil do que em 1998 ou 1999. Foi pena que o Presidente da República ou outras instâncias não tivessem tomado medidas drásticas, há meia dúzia de anos, para evitar que descêssemos tão baixo. Há muito mais de ano e meio que deveríamos ter em funções um autêntico Governo de Salvação Nacional. JH

Uma história britânica longe do fim

The parents of Madeleine McCann yesterday won their latest court battle with a retired lawyer they say is waging a harassment campaign against them. Gerry and Kate McCann want the High Court to jail Tony Bennett, 65, who has accused them of causing their daughter’s death, disposing of her body and covering up what they had done. Mr Justice Tugendhat said the couple’s case against Mr Bennett should be heard “as soon as practicable”. In 2009, Mr Bennett, of Harlow, Essex, promised to stop making allegations against the McCanns. They claim he has breached that formal undertaking more than 150 times and are now seeking his imprisonment, or other punishment, for alleged contempt of court. Mr Bennett wants the court to “vary” the undertakings so he can publish his “credible evidence” Madeleine died in their holiday home in May 2007. - In reference to a story in the Daily Mirror, (page 29, Oct 25) Tony Bennett has asked us to record his position that he has undertaken to the High Court not to repeat allegations that the parents of Madeleine McCann are guilty of, or are suspected of, causing the death of their daughter, but has never made that accusation himself." Mirror News 25/10/2012

O mistério da família McCann

The Madeleine McCann case is so much MORE than a matter of a missing child and what might have happened to her; that it is clearly part of an, as yet, unfathomed SECRET involving an innumerable number of powerful, wealthy and influential individuals, some of whom extend to the very fabric of our Society, including the British Government itself. A secret? More internet lunacy? Conspiracy Theory? Well, permit me to cite a few MORE facts in support of this assertion. Anyone who has ever been unfortunate enough to suffer a tragedy or a serious problem whilst being abroad in a foreign Country is rightly afforded some assistance from their respective Embassy and its Ambassadors. Kerry Needham, for example, whose son BEN went missing in Kos in 1991, effectively got little more than a cup of tea and some sympathetic words from the British Consulate. She has been on record as stating that although she was appointed a wonderful Liaison Officer from South Yorkshire Police, she has effectively spent the past twenty years, fighting, ALONE, to keep her son’s disappearance in the public eye. Ironically, it is only recently, in light of developments in the McCann case, that she has received ANY worthwhile attention or response to her letters and pleas for assistance at all. The Needham family are NOT unique. In fact, every OTHER family who has ever had the misfortune and heartbreak of having their child kidnapped abroad, or who has suffered any OTHER kind of tragedy has come to realise the very same thing;- that, ultimately, when struck by disaster outside of one’s own Country, one has only limited resources and assistance. Every other family. Except the McCanns. Kate and Gerry McCann got rather more than tea and sympathy. Since the disappearance of their daughter in May, 2007, they have received, effectively, the assistance and attentions of, seemingly, the entire British Government, including the personal administrations of not one, NOR two; but THREE British Prime Ministers, no less! Tony Blair, just weeks before his stepping down, ensured that the McCanns had a whole TEAM of diplomats to assist them in the early days, and bizarrely even dispatched SHEREE DODD, described by the ‘TIMES’ as a “long-serving senior spokeswoman for the Government”. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office announced that she was being deployed as “press officer responsible to act as media liaison officer for the McCann family”. Why the family of a missing child NEED a Media & Press Liaison officer was never properly explained. Newspaper reports at the time show communications, advice and assistance being provided by then Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett and subsequently by HER replacement David Miliband. Even from the EARLY stages of this case, before being appointed in his full time role as the McCanns mouthpiece and agent provocateur in September 2007, the fragrant, ubiquitous and ridiculously contrived CLARENCE MITCHELL was involved.

Portugal precisa de um Governo bem diferente

O antigo Presidente Mário Soares quer novo Governo, mas sem eleições, pois que decerto não acreditará que os seus queridos socialistas venham a ser capazes de contabilizar muito mais de 34 por cento do voto dos portugueses. Só um povo muito pouco esclarecido é que iria agora dar 36 por cento ou mais dos seus votos ao partido de Mário Soares, de José Sócrates e de Francisco Assis. O PSD já demonstrou não estar à altura das esperanças que alguns teriam depositado nele no ano passado, mas o regresso ao PS também não me parece uma boa solução, pois que temos de ter presentes muitas coisas ocorridas há três ou há quatro anos. Nem um nem outro desses partidos merecem nas presentes circunstâncias receber o voto de 33, 35 ou 36 por cento dos portugueses, sendo pois necessário procurar outras forças políticas, que ainda não tenham sido para nós uma tão grande desilução, nesta última dúzia de anos. Ou então que se forme um Governo sobretudo de tecnocratas, uma grande coligação de competências, deixando à margem as direcções partidárias. Seja como for, não podemos continuar por mais tempo nos caminhos que temos vindo a trilhar desde o fim do século passado, pois que eles nos levaram ao desastre. Jorge Heitor

Mais seis cardeais

Le 24 octobre 2012, le pape Benoît XVI a annoncé la tenue du consistoire du 24 novembre, au cours duquel seront créés 6 nouveaux cardinaux, tous électeurs1. Mgr James Michael Harvey (1949-), préfet de la Maison pontificale SB Bechara Boutros Rahi (1940-), patriarche d'Antioche des maronites Mgr Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal (1959- ), archevêque majeur de Trivandrum des Syro-Malankares Mgr John Olorunfermi Onaiyekan (1944- ), archevêque d'Abuja Mgr Rubén Salazar Gómez (1942- ), archevêque de Bogota Mgr Luis Antonio Tagle (1957-), archevêque de Manille