Global
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Turkey's first sex shop for devout Muslims has
opened for business online, prompting a debate among Turks, Islamists
and local media about the role their religion should play in the sale
of such items.
The website Bayan describes its aphrodisiacs, creams, condoms, alcohol-free lubricants and other intimate products as safe and "halal" -- which it spells "helal" -- meaning they conform to Islamic traditions.
"Scream Orgasm Cream" sells for 74 Turkish lire (about US $38.00).
"Bella Donna Spanish Fly" is available for 34 lire ($18.00).
"We don't sell vibrators for example, because they are not approved by Islam," said the website's owner, entrepreneur Haluk Murat Demirel, 38, according to Reuters.
"There are also other sections on the website that discuss sexual intercourse in terms of Islam," Turkey's Hurriyet Daily News reported.
Turkey's Muslim majority are Sunni and the government is constitutionally secular.
The website Bayan describes its aphrodisiacs, creams, condoms, alcohol-free lubricants and other intimate products as safe and "halal" -- which it spells "helal" -- meaning they conform to Islamic traditions.
"Scream Orgasm Cream" sells for 74 Turkish lire (about US $38.00).
"Bella Donna Spanish Fly" is available for 34 lire ($18.00).
"We don't sell vibrators for example, because they are not approved by Islam," said the website's owner, entrepreneur Haluk Murat Demirel, 38, according to Reuters.
"There are also other sections on the website that discuss sexual intercourse in terms of Islam," Turkey's Hurriyet Daily News reported.
Turkey's Muslim majority are Sunni and the government is constitutionally secular.
The U.N. and Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International recently released a flurry of deeply flawed reports on drone murders. According to the U.N.'s special rapporteur, whose day job is as law partner of Tony Blair's wife, and according to two major human rights groups deeply embedded in U.S. exceptionalism, murdering people with drones is sometimes legal and sometimes not legal, but almost always it's too hard to tell which is which, unless the White House rewrites the law in enough detail and makes its new legal regime public.
When I read these reports I was ignorant of the existence of a human rights organization called Alkarama, and of the fact that it had just released a report titled License to Kill: Why the American Drone War on Yemen Violates International Law. While Human Rights Watch looked at six drone murders in Yemen and found two of them illegal and four of them indeterminate, Alkarama looked in more detail and with better context at the whole campaign of drone war on Yemen, detailing 10 cases. As you may have guessed from the report's title, this group finds the entire practice of murdering people with flying robots to be illegal.
When I read these reports I was ignorant of the existence of a human rights organization called Alkarama, and of the fact that it had just released a report titled License to Kill: Why the American Drone War on Yemen Violates International Law. While Human Rights Watch looked at six drone murders in Yemen and found two of them illegal and four of them indeterminate, Alkarama looked in more detail and with better context at the whole campaign of drone war on Yemen, detailing 10 cases. As you may have guessed from the report's title, this group finds the entire practice of murdering people with flying robots to be illegal.
When you run a well-oiled political machine like Michael Coleman, you don’t expect to hear any squeaks. The Mayor’s commitment to pass Issues 50 and 51, the Columbus School levy issue and the establishment of an independent School auditor, appeared to be a non-controversial landslide.
Imagine his dismay now, with less than two weeks to go before Elect
ion Day, knowing opposition is spreading spontaneously in unexpected places. First, “It’s OK To Vote No on the Columbus City Schools Levy 50 & 51” popped up with a strong internet presence. Then “No Cheaters, No Charters Columbus” began placing “Vote No on 50/51” yard signs around the city. But the Mayor knew he was in for a battle, looking genuinely stunned and agitated when the Columbus Council of PTAs unanimously rejected his levy proposals.
Imagine his dismay now, with less than two weeks to go before Elect
ion Day, knowing opposition is spreading spontaneously in unexpected places. First, “It’s OK To Vote No on the Columbus City Schools Levy 50 & 51” popped up with a strong internet presence. Then “No Cheaters, No Charters Columbus” began placing “Vote No on 50/51” yard signs around the city. But the Mayor knew he was in for a battle, looking genuinely stunned and agitated when the Columbus Council of PTAs unanimously rejected his levy proposals.
We are in desperate need of documentary filmmakers at Fukushima.
The Japanese government is about to pass a national censorship law clearly meant to make it impossible to know what’s going on there.
Massive quantities of radioactive water have been flowing through the site since the 3/11/11 earthquake/tsunami.
At thousand flimsy tanks hold still more thousands of tons of radioactive water which would pour into the Pacific should they collapse.
An earthquake and two typhoons have have just hit there, flushing still more radioactive water into the sea.
The Japanese government is about to pass a national censorship law clearly meant to make it impossible to know what’s going on there.
Massive quantities of radioactive water have been flowing through the site since the 3/11/11 earthquake/tsunami.
At thousand flimsy tanks hold still more thousands of tons of radioactive water which would pour into the Pacific should they collapse.
An earthquake and two typhoons have have just hit there, flushing still more radioactive water into the sea.
On last Tuesday October 8 at 10:00 a.m. the day that the United States Supreme Court was hearing oral arguments on McCutcheon vs. FEC, Ohio PIRG held a press conference outside the Ohio Supreme Court on Front Street, just south of W. Broad Street in downtown Columbus. Speaking at the press conference were representatives of Ohio PIRG, Common Cause, Move to Amend, Communication Workers of America, and the Sierra Club.
Alabama political donor Shaun McCutcheon has asked the court to strike down the overall limit on what an individual can give to federal candidates, parties, and PACs in a two year election cycle. That limit currently stands at $123,200 – over twice the average household income in the U.S. In 2012, only 1,219 donors came within 10% of hitting the aggregate limit. New research from U.S. PIRG and Demos projects that if the limit is lifted, this small set of donors would raise their giving and inject an additional $1 billion in campaign contributions through the 2020 elections.
Alabama political donor Shaun McCutcheon has asked the court to strike down the overall limit on what an individual can give to federal candidates, parties, and PACs in a two year election cycle. That limit currently stands at $123,200 – over twice the average household income in the U.S. In 2012, only 1,219 donors came within 10% of hitting the aggregate limit. New research from U.S. PIRG and Demos projects that if the limit is lifted, this small set of donors would raise their giving and inject an additional $1 billion in campaign contributions through the 2020 elections.
The shutdown is has ended. But is the corporate takeover of our political system no longer an issue? During the past couple of years, hundreds of schools have been closed around the country and programs such as Food Stamps are under attack as the budgets of cities, states and the federal government are squeezed while as much as hundreds of billions of dollars of revenue, maybe more, are lost to tax havens, high-end tax evasion, and tax cuts for the uber-rich and companies that have replaced American workers with low-wage workers in other countries, some of whom are essentially slaves.
Cleveland fans have lived with the Indians name and logo for decades, but it is time to wake up and confront the fact that "Chief Wahoo" is a racist symbol that does real harm to real people. Why do something about it now? Because the logo should have been eliminated years ago. This isn't about "political correctness," it's about respect for fellow humans.
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Cleveland Baseball has a rich and storied history spanning more than a century: from Bob Feller to Rocky Colavito, from Municipal Stadium to The Jake, from 455 to Tom Hamilton and "the corner of Carnegie and Ontario." We broke the color line in the American League in 1947, the year before we won our second World Series. As we write the next chapter of Cleveland Baseball history, let's not pass on a racist legacy to future generations of fans.
Sign Petition<?a>
Cleveland Baseball has a rich and storied history spanning more than a century: from Bob Feller to Rocky Colavito, from Municipal Stadium to The Jake, from 455 to Tom Hamilton and "the corner of Carnegie and Ontario." We broke the color line in the American League in 1947, the year before we won our second World Series. As we write the next chapter of Cleveland Baseball history, let's not pass on a racist legacy to future generations of fans.
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As a sophomore at Upper Arlington High School, few things held more terror for Maddie Spielman than her public speaking/debate class.
“It was really a burden for me,” Maddie says with a laugh. “I’d get these sweaty palms every time I had to speak in front of my class.”
These days Maddie doesn’t have time for such anxiety attacks. During October, National Breast Cancer Awareness month, Maddie often is in front of groups two to three times a week as she carries on the message of her mother, cancer crusader Stefanie Spielman.
The Ohio State sophomore, who is majoring in communications, says she discovered a new-found courage to become a spokesperson for the Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research after her mother passed away on Nov. 19, 2009. Maddie is becoming the face of the organization that has raised over $13 million dollars for cancer research, appearing in Kroger ads with her father Chris and Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer and in Donato’s ads with chairman Jane Grote Abell.
“If someone would’ve told me I’d be doing this four years ago, I would’ve laughed but something seemed to click,” Maddie says.
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Women have been a part of geek culture since Marie Curie, Ada Lovelace and the fandom that sprung up around the original Star Trek. Women drive many fan communities, especially in fan fiction and on social sites such asTumblr. But on the internet and at conventions, outside of their own female-run communities, women are subjected to men accusing them of being “fake geek girls” who they imagine are driven to clad themselves in superhero spandex for male attention. The population of women involved in geek culture is only growing, but attending public events opens them up to criticism and ridicule from men who feel the ladies are muscling in on “their” turf. What's a geek girl to do?
In 2011 a group of women determined to give others a safe place to geek out founded GeekGirlCon. Every October in Seattle, WA the convention brings together people from the entire spectrum to celebrate the things we love – be it Star Trek, Doctor Who, superheroes or anything else that inspires what others might see as just a bit too much enthusiasm – in a safe place where all experiences are embraced and celebrated.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- The Dalai Lama said he supports the use of
medical marijuana, but if a person smokes the plant to get "a crazy
mind, that's not good."
Tenzin Gyatso, the self-exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, made the remarks in Mexico in response to a question during an event hosted by former Mexican president Vicente Fox.
When asked if he favors legalization of marijuana, the Dalai Lama replied that "the exception" would be for medical purposes, according to Agence France-Presse.
"But otherwise, if it's just an issue of somebody [using the drug to have] a crazy mind, that's not good," he said on Tuesday (Oct. 15) at the outdoor event in Guanajuato state.
Fox "laughed when the question was asked to the Dalai Lama," AFP reported.
The former president is a vocal supporter of marijuana's legalization to cut "a major revenue stream for ultra-violent drug cartels," according to AFP.
The Dalai Lama, 78, is not known to use marijuana for any illness.
In 2008, he underwent laparoscopic surgery to have a gallstone removed, his spokesman Chhime R. Chhoekyapa said at the time.
Tenzin Gyatso, the self-exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, made the remarks in Mexico in response to a question during an event hosted by former Mexican president Vicente Fox.
When asked if he favors legalization of marijuana, the Dalai Lama replied that "the exception" would be for medical purposes, according to Agence France-Presse.
"But otherwise, if it's just an issue of somebody [using the drug to have] a crazy mind, that's not good," he said on Tuesday (Oct. 15) at the outdoor event in Guanajuato state.
Fox "laughed when the question was asked to the Dalai Lama," AFP reported.
The former president is a vocal supporter of marijuana's legalization to cut "a major revenue stream for ultra-violent drug cartels," according to AFP.
The Dalai Lama, 78, is not known to use marijuana for any illness.
In 2008, he underwent laparoscopic surgery to have a gallstone removed, his spokesman Chhime R. Chhoekyapa said at the time.