Why the US Won't be Speaking Out Against Brunei's Gay Stoning Laws

by Nomad

Does the silence from the Obama Administration about Brunei's decision to enact Sharia laws against homosexuality reveal a disturbing double-standard of the US government?
Or could this just another example of the kind of CIA miscalculation that has plagued the agency for decades?

When Existence Is Illegal

On April 22 2014, some of the most extreme anti-gay laws came into effect in the tiny Sultanate of Brunei. The Southeast Asia nation has enacted  punishments mandated by Sharia law for a number of offenses, including same-sex-activity. For crimes of a sexual nature, stoning to death- as well as slicing selected parts of criminal anatomy- will be a newly adopted method of punishment under the new laws. These laws will be gradually phased in over the next few years. 

"Rape, adultery, sodomy, extramarital sexual relations for Muslims, insulting any verses of the Quran and Hadith, blasphemy, declaring oneself a prophet or non-Muslim, and murder are the other offences for which the death penalty could be applied under the revised code."

Although tiny country is predominantly Muslim (67%) there are also Buddhists (13%), Christian (10%) who will from now on be obliged to live under Sharia laws.  

In point of fact, the Koran has this to say about the law when it comes to homosexuality.

If two men among you are guilty of lewdness, punish them both. If they repent and amend, leave them alone; for Allah is Oft-returning, Most Merciful (Sura al-Nisa' 4:16)

So, it would seem laws that require punishment are, strictly speaking, interpretations of the Sharia law and not based on what the religion actually dictates anyway. (But that's a matter for Koranic scholars to argue about.)

In any case, the United Nations Human Rights strongly condemned the new laws as a violation of human rights. Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Colville  said, 

“Application of the death penalty for such a broad range of offences contravenes international law.”

Colville pointed out other problems with the new laws. 

"Stoning to death, under international law, constitutes torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and is thus clearly prohibited,”

Additionally, he noted that  the "criminalization and application of the death penalty for consensual relations between adults in private also violates a whole host of rights, including the rights to privacy, to equality before the law, the right to health and freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention." 

Lawsuit by North Carolina Church A New and Surprising Challenge to Same-Sex Bans

by Nomad

One North Carolina Church has taken the unusual step of challenging the state's same-sex marriage ban. The suit claims that  the state's ban violates its constitutionally-protected freedom to worship and conduct religious rites. 
Turning the whole argument on its head, this latest objection is one that lawmakers in North Carolina- and other states- should take seriously. It could just be the final nail in the coffin for same-sex bans across the country. 

Religious Freedom Working Both Ways

This has to be the weirdest twist in the same-sex marriage debate so far. On Monday, a liberal Protestant denomination opened a lawsuit challenging North Carolina's laws prohibiting same-sex marriage in that state. The suit argues that by forbidding its clergy from blessing gay and lesbian couples, it is effectively violating constitutionally protected religious freedom. According to an article in the New York Times:

The lawsuit, filed in a Federal District Court by the United Church of Christ, is the first such case brought by a national religious denomination challenging a state’s marriage laws. The denomination, which claims nearly one million members nationwide, has supported same-sex marriage since 2005.

That NYT piece also quotes Donald Donald C. Clark Jr., general counsel of the United Church of Christ.

“We didn’t bring this lawsuit to make others conform to our beliefs, but to vindicate the right of all faiths to freely exercise their religious practices.

According to the leaders of this denomination, the state of North Carolina has no jurisdiction to criminalize what any church can and cannot do. It would, they argue, against the First Amendment which guarantees that the government, whether local, state or federal, keep a hands off policy when it comes to religious practice.

Clark points out that North Carolina laws is not only unconstitutional, it is clearly inconsistent. Although clergy of the denomination are allowed to bless same-sex couples who have been married in other states, they are prohibited by law from performing religious blessings or marriage rites for same-sex couples within their own congregation. Violating such a prohibition would, according to the state law, subject the clergy to prosecution and civil judgement in court.

A Nation Adrift: Studies Confirm The Slow Sinking of the US Middle Class

by Nomad

Due to economic policies of going back 30 years, studies show, the American middle-class is withering on the vine. While the US may still be the richest country in the world, that wealth has not trickled down to the middle class at all, compared to other nations. The effects of this shrinkage of the middle class could spell big trouble in America's future. 

Falling Behind

Most of us have known for quite some time now but a New York Times article has recently confirms the fact. According to an analysis of the numbers based on surveys reviewing the last 35 years, figures show that across the lower- and middle-income tiers, citizens of other advanced countries have received considerably larger raises over the last three decades.
In other words, the impact of income inequality based on flawed policy is driving Middle-class families to the point of extinction.

The numbers, based on surveys conducted over the past 35 years, offer some of the most detailed publicly available comparisons for different income groups in different countries over time. They suggest that most American families are paying a steep price for high and rising income inequality.

Hardly startling news, of course, but the proof is fairly conclusive when compared to other countries. 
If studies are anything to go by, then it isn't that America overall is being poorer, only that the middle-class is withering away. The top half of the income scale is still wealthier than any other nation. Indeed, when it comes to global economic growth, America is still a powerhouse, but that's not the problem. The problem is the middle class is clearly not benefiting. 

While America might remain the most wealthy country in the world, the actual distribution of that wealth has changed considerably since our parents' day. As a New York Times article explained:

With a big share of recent income gains in this country flowing to a relatively small slice of high-earning households, most Americans are not keeping pace with their counterparts around the world.

And a comparison of nations makes pretty grim reading. While median income has risen in other countries, in the US, adjusting for inflation, median income per capita has remained virtually unchanged since 2000.

The same measure, by comparison, rose about 20 percent in Britain between 2000 and 2010 and 14 percent in the Netherlands. Median income also rose 20 percent in Canada between 2000 and 2010, to the equivalent of $18,700. Other income surveys, conducted by government agencies, suggest that since 2010 pay in Canada has risen faster than pay in the United States and is now most likely higher. Pay in several European countries has also risen faster since 2010 than it has in the United States.

The cause of the decline are obvious but that doesn't mean they are easy to fix. There will be no quick fixes. It will take compromise and concerted effort to reverse the trend. 

That's something that seems to be in short supply in Washington.  

Musical Sanity Break: Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash

by Nomad

The combination of Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash might not, at first glance, seem to be a obvious pairing. Cash was, after all, a famous name in the older tradition of country music while Dylan was a icon of first folk music and later the protest songs of the 1960s. 

However, the two men actually had a warm relationship based on a deep respect, and it was  a friendship that was to last nearly 40 years. Despite that, they only had one two-day recording session that began on Feb. 17, 1969. 

How that friendship began was revealed in Cash's autobiography.

“I had a portable record player that I’d take along on the road. And I’d put on ‘[The] Freewheelin’ [Bob Dylan]‘ backstage, then go out and do my show, then listen again as soon as I came off. After a while at that, I wrote Bob a letter telling him how much of a fan I was. He wrote back almost immediately, saying he’d been following my music since ‘I Walk the Line,’ and so we began a correspondence.”

That mutual admiration remained throughout both careers. Upon Cash's passing in 2003, Dylan had this to say about the man. 

“In plain terms, Johnny was and is the North Star; you could guide your ship by him — the greatest of the greats then and now, Truly he is what the land and country is all about, the heart and soul of it personified and what it means to be here; and he said it all in plain English. I think we can have recollections of him, but we can’t define him any more than we can define a fountain of truth, light and beauty. If we want to know what it means to be mortal, we need look no further than the Man in Black. Blessed with a profound imagination, he used the gift to express all the various lost causes of the human soul.”

That's quite a eulogy.

Here's a site with more details of that relationship.

The clip below comes from the debut of The Johnny Cash Show in which Dylan made a guest appearance. (Along with Joni Mitchell.) The date was June 7th, 1969. The place: the Grand Ole Opry.

They are singing one of Dylan's previously-recorded songs,  "Girl from the North Country."

Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash - Girl From The North Country from brilliant orks on Vimeo.

The Sad Reality Behind Putin's Claim that the Internet is a CIA Project

by Nomad

Yesterday Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the Internet was an ongoing CIA plot. 

Once again, he demonstrated how he is not interested in providing an alternative to US-dominated hegemony. What Putin wants is something a bit more predictable and a bit more obvious.  

The Alternative that Wasn't

Sometimes I think there's a tendency in the West to give too much credit to Vladimir Putin. Oddly, the West has always seen the Russian leader as some kind of chess master when Putin's approach has been anything but subtle or even very clever. 

Lately and in many ways, the Russian president seems to have exposed himself as a somewhat backward leader without much in the way of a constructive vision. He is found playing the same word games that once discredited the Soviet Union. 

The great modern Russian tragedy is that it began with such promise. Over and over. Russia's greatest strength -even during Soviet times- has been that it offered an alternative view of the world. We didn't have to live in a world dominated by special interests. Through struggle, we could make the world better. True, it was always reactionary but at least, that vision provided a kind of independent analysis of the West. 

So went the theory at least. 

Today, only Edward Snowden might agree with that. Some American-born reporters on Russia Today might still think that's true but, from the outside, that idea looks a little naive.  While rushing to condemn the West for all its many faults and unscrupulous behavior, defenders of Putin require some skillful mental gymnastics to ignore something that is growing clearer every time Putin opens his mouth. 

Under Vladimir Putin, Russia's view is neither different and definitely not indifferent. The Kremlin's objectives are shaped by an agenda not unlike any corrupted capitalist empire in the West.