Homophobia Sweeps the Muslim World

From Spiegel Online, a must-read report.

The Gay Sons of Allah
Wave of Homophobia Sweeps the Muslim World
By Juliane von Mittelstaedt and Daniel Steinvorth
In most Islamic countries, gay men and women are ostracized, persecuted and in some cases even murdered. Repressive regimes are often fanning the flames of hatred in a bid to outdo Islamists when it comes to spreading 'moral panic.'

'Unbridled capitalism doesn't work'

Joseph Stiglitz, Roubini, Krugman: All agree that we have not even hit bottom yet.

From Der Spiegel, by way of Salon:

Joseph Stiglitz: "It's going to be bad, very bad. We're experiencing the worst downturn since the Great Depression, and we haven't reached the bottom yet. I'm very pessimistic. Governments are indeed reacting better today than during the global economic crisis. They're lowering interest rates and boosting the economy with economic stimulus plans. This is the right direction, but it's not enough."

'Frightening' UN Climate Report May Be Too Optimistic

Volker Mrasek has a piece in Der Spiegel, offering realities on global warming for which no one is to be very thankful.

Writes Mrasek:

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called the latest climate report "as frightening as a science-fiction movie." However, the IPCC report may already be out of date and the true situation could be even more serious than previously thought.

Check out Mrasek's piece in Der Spiegel.
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Republicans: Get Away Bush, You Pest

Stay no longer and get away fast is the message from Republicans for the fading President George W. Bush. [Bush is pictured at right.] But God still loves him.

From Der Spiegel, Gabor Steingart reports:

It's twilight at the White House. First it was voters and now it's the president's friends who are abandoning him. Thank God, says conservative luminary Newt Gingrich. According to Gingrich, Republicans can only hope to hold onto power by breaking their ties with Bush. The end of an era has many faces. One is that of a narrow-lipped president appearing on primetime TV, asking Americans for money and their confidence. Another is that of Utah native Nathan Barnes, 23, who didn't survive his deployment to Iraq and whose photo appeared in the obituaries section of his local paper.

My personal message to the ass-in-chief is: Take a long walk on a Baghdad street.

This is pretty much the message delivered by the UN listening to Bush's speech today, though you won't read it in the American papers. See L.C. Johnson at Daily Kos.
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