Alabama State Representative Revisits Nazi Tactics in Heartland America.Written by Ryan Kelly
In an unbelievable move, Alabama Rep. Gerald Allen, a Republican, introduced a bill that would prohibit use of public funds for "the purchase of textbooks or library materials that recognize or promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle." With total disregard of The First Amendment of our Bill of Rights, one can clearly see Falwellian nature of his actions. One has to assume that Allen didn't get elected because he's ignorant and bigoted, yet his own words raise that possibility. Allen said that if his bill passes, novels with gay protagonists and college textbooks that suggest homosexuality is natural would have to be removed from library shelves and destroyed. "I guess we dig a big hole and dump them in and bury them," he said. Now why would Allen single out one group and show enthusiasm in a book burying? Is that leadership? Perhaps it's grandstanding, and not leadership. It's clear that Allen wishes only to make a name for himself and draw on conservative Christian movement as his vehicle. He might as well have chosen to introduce a bill burning and burying all bibles. After all, only purpose of bill is to further divide this great country. Ken Baker, a board member of Equality Alabama, a gay rights organization, said Allen was "attempting to become George Wallace of homosexuality. Mark Potuk, a spokesman for Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center called bill censorship. "It sounds like Nazi book burning to me," he said.
| | A Secret Organisation: Short story on a possible future.Written by Jesse S. Somer
Roger Ricketson’s smile was enigmatic. When anyone looked his way they could not help being infected by his contagious facial expression. Something was definitely going right in this man’s life, but until now no one could quite put his or her finger on it. But now, as I look through my office window at man packing up his briefcase at end of workday, turning off his computer, I can’t help sneaking out my own mini-smile. I know his secret. Funny thing is, it wasn’t that hard to discover-it just took a few simple searches on my super-magic machine. The name computer doesn’t really give device enough credibility anymore, it has come a long way in last hundred years, computing is least of its positive attributes. I’m not your average woman in workforce. Vice-President of a huge multinational corporation, millionaire, you’d think I’d be fulfilled with my life’s successes, but no matter how hard I try, something always seems to be missing. I wanted a bit of what Roger’s got and now I know what makes him tick. He wasn’t always like this, hell he used to be quite a grump. Being CEO of a giant pharmaceutical company can be a bit boring, especially when all your competitors are just mindless drones with only one thing on their mind-making more money. However, over last couple of years Roger’s persona had gradually changed, and I was sure it wasn’t from his business life. So, being a bit of a sleuth-cross-hacker I recently tapped into Roger’s personal email account, definitely not an easy task, but then again I’ve always been far from average. It still took me 6 months in my spare time. I could be arrested but I just needed to know this man’s secret, and whenever someone would ask him why he was so happy, he would just smile and wink and then walk away. Well, now I know answer and I can tell you it sure was a shock! Roger belongs to a secret organization. The members of this group aren’t to be scoffed at either; world leaders, billionaires, famous intellectuals and academics fill boss’s contact list. There are also a lot of names I’ve never heard of; there are over 10 thousand members! As far as I can tell they only communicate on Internet, but from their dialogue they all seem tightly connected, and they do get a lot done. This is mind-blowing part, what they do! They call themselves ‘Fixers’. People from every nationality, religion and creed are involved, and I can see why Roger smiles so widely. War, starvation, poverty, sickness, and religious and nationalistic separation have plagued our world for generations. The ‘Fixers’ have decided that enough’s enough. These people from so-called ‘different’ backgrounds are diminishing human-made boundaries of past. ‘Country’ means little to these new-world souls whose only ‘country’ is Internet, and all are allowed to belong. Their goal is to fix Earth: to create a planet where all people have an equal opportunity, where quality of life is high, environment is sustainable, and all are informed of intrinsic ‘togetherness’ of all humans. Spirituality is to be recognized as a common thread instead of focusing on separate cultures’ different practices.
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