Tragic Rabbit

Adding to my youthful time-space confusion, I read very few children's books aside from the Alice books. Most of the children's books I've read were consumed during a blessed months-long doctor's reprieve from sports spent in a school library stocked with nothing else. I first heard of CS Lewis as a teenager, when I found that many of my friends who liked Tolkien also liked Lewis. I didn't much care for him. I did read enough as a tot, though, to always seek out secret doorways, passageways, and magical mirrors - something I still do, of course. TR PS Anthony, for a Yank, such houses are out of the ordinary. Americans endlessly tear down houses and build newer ones and carparks. And, of course, it's still a new country. I also dislike the floor heaters you speak of and prefer the old Roman hypocaust systems. I don't see why our homes ca'n't heat the floors with the hot water pipes, too. It's been a couple thousand years since the technology was introduced.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7348.html You can be gay behind closed doors says BNP 9th April 2008 13:10 Tony Grew The British National Party candidate for Mayor of London has given a wide-ranging interview to the BBC. Richard Barnbrook is a Barking and Dagenham councillor, along with eleven BNP colleagues. He told the BBC that the party plans to distribute 1.3 million leaflets in London before the election for Mayor and the 25-member Assembly on May 1st. On the issue of immigration, he denied the party is racist. "It's not immigrants that are at fault here, never has been, it's the establishment, our own governing powers and their greed or their ignorance or their simple gutlessness to do anything about it," he told the BBC. "They feel if they try to look at immigration they will have the finger pointed at them - 'racist'. "This is an easy get out clause - this is bullying people. "We're not racist at all. We do not perceive one person's religion, identity, culture or way of life as being better or worse than our own, we are simply different." The party, which has more than 50 councillors in England and Wales, is vehemently anti-gay, and at times maintained that homosexual acts should be recriminalised. Mr Barnbrook told the BBC: "You can be gay behind closed doors, you can be heterosexual behind closed doors, but you don't bring it onto the streets, demanding more rights for it." In the 2004 election for Mayor of London the BNP came sixth, marginally ahead of the Green party, with 58,405 first preference votes (3.0%) and 70,736 second preferences. The Greens won 57,331 or 2.9% of first preferences but got 208,686 second-preference votes. Incumbent Mayor of London and Labour candidate Ken Livingstone has warned that the BNP could win one of the 25 seats on the London Assmebly. "We have to get across one simple fact: there's only one way to stop the BNP, which is by actually going out to vote against them," he said yesterday. "A low voter turnout will help the BNP get elected." Last week the fascist party urged its supporters to cast their second preference votes for the Tory candidate to ensure that Mr Livingstone was removed from office. Boris Johnson responded: "I utterly and unreservedly condemn the BNP and have no desire whatsoever to receive a single second preference vote from a BNP supporter." Mr Barnbrook was ridiculed in 2006 when the Evening Standard newspaper publicised a copy of a film produced and directed by him described as "Marxist gay cinema." The film, HMS Discovery, A Love Story, contains scenes of men undressing and touching each other, coupled with nudity and sexual activities. Mr Barnbrook, who won one of the 12 BNP seats in Barking and Dagenham local elections in 2006, told the Standard: "It was an art film, not a bloody porn film. "The only nudity in it is a couple of guys running in a river. "This was done when I was a student. It was part of my extra education, part of my studies and that was it. "Anything to do with my past politics or my past work, I am not interested in commenting on." The BNP has previously told PinkNews.co.uk that homosexuality should not be promoted as equal to a straight lifestyle. "The word gay means happy, we have no problem with being happy," a spokesman said. "Some unfortunate people suffer from homosexuality so we will just have to tolerate them. "If I was one I would be ashamed and would remain celibate." Read Mr Barnbrook's BBC interview here. Ken Livingstone, Boris Johnson, Lib Dem Brian Paddick, Green candidate Sian Berry and Respect - The Left list candidate Lindsey German will all speak and answer questions at a Stonewall hustings event at BFI Southbank on Saturday 19th April. PinkNews.co.uk is proud to be Stonewall's media partner for the hustings, which will be held at the between 11am and 12.30pm.

Broken World News... (UK) Woops! HSBC loses customer data disc (China) Big Bird caught bird flu from son, Li'l Bird and, in a Broken News shocker! (Germany) Polar bear kills fish, mentions the war

When I was a small child, Bruin, I lived in a chilly Victorian stone manse complete with bricked up bedroom fireplaces and inadequate central heating, with a busy jet-traveling father and a frosty mum, and where the dusty library of turn-of-the-century English books beckoned - not realizing her vanished world was antique, for example, I thought that little Alice spoke lovely English - and thus did I learn the language. What I didn't know was that I was simultaneously imbibing over-voweled spelling and archaic Brit attitudes, and would never be free of them. Alas for wee me! TR, running a fever and seeing St George...

Beware the beast Man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him; drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of death.

Breaking UK News... Mysterious white substance falls across the UK

Breaking News... Soylent Green star Charlton Heston dies

While our Dude is the Dude and truly awesome, he is not the AwesomeDude. The actual AwesomeDude is pictured on the front page and also introduces TR's recent Tiny Tails - to wit, a feline Dude. Small point of clarification. TR, AD Forum member #38 (the order we joined AD Forums)

Welcome to AwesomeDude, Rose. Tragic Rabbit/TR

It's not genetic manipulation, it's just breeding to specification. Same thing we've been doing since we took cats and dogs in out of the cold - or, in the case of cats, persuaded them to mouse indoors and adorn our homes. For dogs, that's maybe over 50, 000 years; cats not so long but still longer than recorded history. Cat 'breeds' are just related pools of cathood with differing traits. A Persian, a Lilac Point Siamese, a Maine Coon, and a black housecat (ASH) are the same animal, the same species. 'Breed' is a human creation and perception, kind of like our concept of 'Time'. Neither has objective reality. TR

Chinese AIDS Activist Sent To Prison by The Associated Press Posted: April 3, 2008 - 11:00 am ET (Beijing) An outspoken Chinese civil rights activist was sentenced Thursday to three-and-a-half- years in prison on subversion charges, a ruling that drew international criticism ahead of the Beijing Olympics. Hu Jia, 34, is the most prominent activist to be tried and sentenced in a recent ongoing clampdown on dissent. He has been involved in key civil liberties issues, from HIV/AIDS awareness to environmental rights. In recent years, while largely under house arrest, he has served as a hub linking activists across China with the outside world. Hu was convicted of charges of "inciting subversion of state power," based on Internet articles he had written and interviews he gave to foreign media, said his lawyer, Li Fangping. Beijing routinely uses the charge of subversion to imprison dissidents for years. Hu had pleaded not guilty. "We're happy that he was not charged with a more severe crime but three years and six months, we still think is unacceptable," Li said. Hu has 10 days to appeal the sentence but that decision has not yet been made, Li said. Hu was calm and poised at the sentencing at the Beijing No. 1 People's Intermediate Court, for which he was "emotionally prepared," his lawyer said. No diplomats or journalists were allowed inside the courtroom during the trial, though his wife and mother were present. The court verdict said "Hu spread malicious rumors, and committed libel in an attempt to subvert the state's political power and socialist system," according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Hu's wife, activist Zeng Jinyan, said the police had been watching her around the clock, making her even more worried about her husband's safety. "If they can treat me like this so brazenly without any legal means, I can't imagine what they'll do next to me and Hu Jia when no one's watching. I'm terrified," she told The Associated Press outside her home. U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson expressed disappointment over the verdict on the "specious" charge, saying the world was closely watching China's progress on human rights ahead of August's Olympic Games. "In this Olympic year, we urge China to seize the opportunity to put its best face forward and take steps to improve its record on human rights and religious freedom," she said. Amnesty International condemned the sentence, saying it "betrays promises made by Chinese officials that human rights would improve in the run-up to the Olympics." "This verdict is a slap in the face for Hu Jia and a warning to any other activists in China who dare to raise human rights concerns publicly," said Mark Allison of the East Asia Team of Amnesty International. The European Union also called for Hu's immediate release, spokesman William Fingleton said. "We said clearly before the trial that he should not be detained in the first place, and he should be released," he said. Li said earlier this month that Hu's indictment cited comments he made during interviews with foreign media and articles he wrote that were posted on Boxun.com, a Chinese-language Web site that is banned in China. Boxun.com, based in North Carolina, carries reports and essays on a wide range of issues rarely seen in the Chinese state media, from corruption cases to calls for greater democracy. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao avoided mentioning Hu by name when questioned about the case in a news conference last month and denied that Beijing was rounding up government critics ahead of the Olympics. "China is a country ruled by law, and all these issues will be dealt with in accordance with law," Wen said. "As far as the critics' view that China is trying to arrest dissidents before the Olympics, there is no such issue at all." ?365Gay.com 2008 http://365gay.com/Newscon08/04/040308china.htm

I had a cross-breed ASH/bobcat for many years. Banshee was black but shaped like a bobcat with high back legs and a kinked stub tail. Like RIL's kitten, he wasn't much larger than the average tomcat. He'd been a feral cat whose tribe of crook-tailed bobcat crossbreeds was being eradicated by our principal. I took home the one no one else wanted - he was ragged, wild eyed, tough looking, had tattered ears...and was an adult. Banshee immediately warmed to housecat status, literally overnight, becoming a devoted companion to me and to my other black cat, JJ Flash, for two decades. He slept on my chest just below my chin, every night, while Flash slept along my neck and head. With love and attention, Flash lived to be 21 and Banshee to 24. Both died in my arms at the fragile far end of old age, Flash at the vet office but Banshee at home -- by then, I'd learned to recognize the death symptoms that vets can't fight. I still miss them, their ashes are in urns on a shelf here beside me. Joey

Toddlers No Longer Allowed To Wed In State That Bans Gay Marriage by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff Posted: April 3, 2008 - 5:00 pm ET (Little Rock, Arkansas) Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe has signed legislation erasing an error that allowed anyone except gay couples to marry - even toddlers - as long as they had parental permission. The original law was intended to establish 18 as the minimum age to marry but also allow pregnant teenagers to marry with parental consent. An extraneous "not" in the bill, however, allowed anyone who is not pregnant to marry at any age if the parents allow it. The original law read: "In order for a person who is younger than eighteen (18) years of age and who is not pregnant to obtain a marriage license, the person must provide the county clerk with evidence of parental consent to the marriage." Although the law does not specifically exclude same-sex pairs, Arkansas' constitutional amendment limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples would apply. A code revision commission - which fixes typographical and technical errors in laws - had tried to correct the mistake, but a group of legislators said the commission went beyond its powers. A judge agreed and the law remained on the books for a year making Arkansas what one lawmaker called the laughing stock of the nation. But even though a number of legislators warned the law could make easy for pedophiles to take advantage of the law Gov Beebe nixed a special session of the Legislature last year. This week when Beebe convened a special session to consider a tax hike the marriage bill was amended to correct the error. ?365Gay.com 2008 http://365gay.com/Newscon08/04/040308tod.htm

TOYGERS

Well, either that or it shows hey're great satirists. Let's all try our hand!

Watching Magnum PI Turned Me Into a Gay

Dunno why I write news satire when the real stuff is so damn funny. I don't need a contract before sex but would like drinks, dinner, some dancing... TR

Breaking UK News... Prince leads school storytelling

Breaking Science News... Dig yields ancient Parisian, accessories

Breaking News... Clinton to Obama: stay in the race, see if I care

You have to be kidding, this isn't 'for' April Fool's, it's just one of today's breaking headlines. Seek enlightenment elsewhere, Grasshopper. Well, I think this blows your chance at GLAAD's Diversity Awareness Award.

There is more logic in humor than in anything else. Because, you see, humor is truth. ~Victor Borge, London Times, 3 January 1984

Breaking UK News... Gay people expect discrimination, Jews expect a discount

Dunno. Try surrounding it, and see.

Zoom Background Music for YOUR Life Does your life seem dull and uninteresting compared to the drama and action of movies and television? Here at ThinkGeek Labs? we've examined this phenomenon carefully. With the bevy of reality TV shows and humdrum movies we quickly decided that what people do in real life is NOT significantly less exciting than what fictional characters on the screen experience... but for some reason, real life just SEEMS much more boring. However, after days of extensive highly-scientific double blind testing we were able to discover the difference... Background Music! Your real life experiences just don't have the needed dramatic soundtrack to back them up. Whether you're brushing your teeth, walking your dog or chatting up that cute girl in chemistry class you need the appropriate music and sound effects to enhance the experience. Fortunately we've developed the solution for this irritating life boredom problem with the Personal Soundtrack T-Shirt. This amazing new wearable audio solution features a working speaker embedded into the front of the shirt. When you push the appropriate button on the pocketable remote you get music or sound effects appropriate for any situation. Check out the chart below to see the extensive list of built in sounds and suggestions on using them for dramatic punctuation in your everyday life. After wearing and using the Personal Soundtrack T-Shirt for one week our test subjects reported that their lives were 143% more exciting than without the shirt... plus they got more dates and their friends commented on how much cooler they were. When we tried to take the shirts back after the testing period we were overwhelmed by the sound of melancholy background music and crying. Personal Soundtrack T-Shirt In Action Product Features Personal Soundtrack T-Shirt features a working speaker on the front and can play background music and sound effects at your command Perfect for making your ordinary life more exciting Pocket remote allows easy selection of 13 looping music themes and 11 different sound effects Music and sound effects fade up and down when choosing a new sound for a seamless experience Requires 4 AA batteries. Not included Built in Music Loops: Entrance Theme Chase Theme Romantic Theme "Sexy Time" Theme Melancholy Theme Comedic Theme Western Face-Off Theme Spy Theme Bored and Waiting Theme Thinking Theme Fight Theme Victory Theme Sad Accident Theme Scary Theme Suspense Theme Bedroom Theme Built in Sound Effects: Cheering Booing Crying Laugh Track Rim Shot Drum Roll "You Lose" Sound Clapping Gunshots Car Acceleration Congratulatory Crowd Fist-fight Police Siren Cat call whistle