District silences union critic, claims he insulted 'gay' staff member
Posted: July 02, 2008
11:30 pm Eastern
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
A school is punishing two admired high school social studies teachers, one described as conservative, for promoting a "locker room" and "boys club" environment in their classrooms, but students are firing back and demanding the school board reconsider its disciplinary action.
Matt Nelligan and Anne Marie McManus, two former instructors at Guilderland High School in Guilderland Center, N.Y., were reassigned June 26 to Farnsworth Middle School and neither understands why, according to Times Union reports.
Nelligan, an outspoken critic of the teachers union, has been accused by school officials of calling a "gay" staff member disparaging names. However, the administration is refusing to allow him access to their culture climate report and have not provided substantiated evidence of the accusation.
The social studies teacher said he believes the district accused him of intolerance because he disagrees with union leaders' close relationships with district administrators, and they wanted to silence him.
"It's an absolute abuse of power, and it's shameful," he said. "Taxpayers should be outraged that (the district) should waste their money going after people they don't like."
McManus was not teaching at the school when the inquiry took place because she was on maternity leave. She said news of her reassignment had her in tears for several days because school officials never revealed why they were punishing her. They simply said the decision was to protect the culture of the social studies department.
"I've given my life to that place," she said. "I feel lost."
Several students have created Facebook and MySpace website pages to support the teachers. More than 615 people joined the groups as of Wednesday, and an online petition is circulating to dispute the school's disciplinary action. Hundreds of supporters also attended a school board meeting to protest the administration's treatment of the teachers. The gathering reportedly became so heated, the board left early and went into private executive session after declining to accept public comment on the matter.
Former student Liz Sherman said Nelligan, her conservative instructor, was one of the finest instructors she's ever had because he challenged her to think about why she held liberal political views, the Times Union reported. She said he never shied away from expressing his own ideas, but he was respectful and open-minded about her dissenting views as well.
"He makes you think about why that's your opinion," Sherman said. "He's not derogatory by any means."
Many students refer to themselves as liberal on the social networks and express disappointment at the school's actions toward two of their valued instructors.
While records indicate the department is dysfunctional, social studies students earned many of the highest Regents exams scores in the district, and Nelligan's performance reviews show exemplary marks. He has received top awards and been selected as an outstanding teacher twice.
Teacher Lisa Bedian has worked in the school's social studies department for six years. She said the board's report of it as a boys club is "baffling" and that she has never observed intolerant behavior from instructors.
"It's a healthy environment where everyone can agree to disagree," she said.
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Saturday, July 5, 2008
Friday, July 4, 2008
Democratic Congressional Candidate's Ties to Bizarre AIDS Research
By JOSEPH RHEE
July 3, 2008
Dr. Victoria Wulsin Is Under Attack for Her Ties to a Debunked Research Project Seeking to Cure AIDS with Malaria.
The Democratic congressional candidate in Ohio, Dr. Victoria Wulsin, is being attacked by her Republican opponent for her work looking into a widely debunked theory that AIDS can be cured with malaria. The controversial treatment, known as "malariotherapy", has been denounced by leading AIDS researchers as dangerous, scientifically unfounded and unethical.
U.S. Representative Jean Schmidt (R-OH), locked in a tight race with Wulsin for an Ohio congressional seat, recently sent out a fund-raising letter sharply denouncing Wulsin for her work on a malariotherapy project. The letter states that "Wulsin's contempt for the culture of life has even led her to participate in grotesque medical experiments. Wulsin was paid for her work in medical "studies" where victims of AIDS in Africa and China were...injected with the malaria virus, all in the name of "scientific inquiry."
Dr. Wulsin, an epidemiologist who had worked with AIDS patients in Africa, was hired in 2004 by the Heimlich Institute in Cincinnati to conduct research into malariotherapy. The institute is headed by famed doctor Henry Heimlich, inventor of the life-saving Heimlich maneuver and as reported on ABC News 20/20, a leading proponent of using malaria to cure AIDS. In the 1990s, Heimlich commissioned a study where AIDS patients in China were deliberately infected with malaria and he was recently involved with a research project involving AIDS patients from Ethiopia who were initially denied available medicines to treat malaria.
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July 3, 2008
Dr. Victoria Wulsin Is Under Attack for Her Ties to a Debunked Research Project Seeking to Cure AIDS with Malaria.
The Democratic congressional candidate in Ohio, Dr. Victoria Wulsin, is being attacked by her Republican opponent for her work looking into a widely debunked theory that AIDS can be cured with malaria. The controversial treatment, known as "malariotherapy", has been denounced by leading AIDS researchers as dangerous, scientifically unfounded and unethical.
U.S. Representative Jean Schmidt (R-OH), locked in a tight race with Wulsin for an Ohio congressional seat, recently sent out a fund-raising letter sharply denouncing Wulsin for her work on a malariotherapy project. The letter states that "Wulsin's contempt for the culture of life has even led her to participate in grotesque medical experiments. Wulsin was paid for her work in medical "studies" where victims of AIDS in Africa and China were...injected with the malaria virus, all in the name of "scientific inquiry."
Dr. Wulsin, an epidemiologist who had worked with AIDS patients in Africa, was hired in 2004 by the Heimlich Institute in Cincinnati to conduct research into malariotherapy. The institute is headed by famed doctor Henry Heimlich, inventor of the life-saving Heimlich maneuver and as reported on ABC News 20/20, a leading proponent of using malaria to cure AIDS. In the 1990s, Heimlich commissioned a study where AIDS patients in China were deliberately infected with malaria and he was recently involved with a research project involving AIDS patients from Ethiopia who were initially denied available medicines to treat malaria.
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Schoolboys punished with detention for refusing to kneel in class and pray to Allah
I had the same problem when my world geography teach tried to force me to do Hindu meditation! So now this problem is spreading and its not just with Shiva worship but now with Allah! So read this article and learn!
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:30 AM on 04th July 2008
Two schoolboys were given detention after refusing to kneel down and 'pray to Allah' during a religious education lesson.
Parents were outraged that the two boys from year seven (11 to 12-year-olds) were punished for not wanting to take part in the practical demonstration of how Allah is worshipped.
They said forcing their children to take part in the exercise at Alsager High School, near Stoke-on-Trent - which included wearing Muslim headgear - was a breach of their human rights.
One parent, Sharon Luinen, said: "This isn't right, it's taking things too far.
"I understand that they have to learn about other religions. I can live with that but it is taking it a step too far to be punished because they wouldn't join in Muslim prayer.
"Making them pray to Allah, who isn't who they worship, is wrong and what got me is that they were told they were being disrespectful.
"I don't want this to look as if I have a problem with the school because I am generally very happy with it."
Another parent Karen Williams said: "I am absolutely furious my daughter was made to take part in it and I don't find it acceptable.
"I haven't got a problem with them teaching my child other religions and a small amount of information doesn't do any harm.
"But not only did they have to pray, the teacher had gone into the class and made them watch a short film and then said 'we are now going out to pray to Allah'.
"Then two boys got detention and all the other children missed their refreshment break because of the teacher.
"Not only was it forced upon them, my daughter was told off for not doing it right.
"They'd never done it before and they were supposed to do it in another language."
"My child has been forced to pray to Allah in a school lesson." The grandfather of one of the pupils in the class said: "It's absolutely disgusting, there's no other way of putting it.
"My daughter and a lot of other mothers are furious about their children being made to kneel on the floor and pray to Islam. If they didn't do it they were given detention.
"I am not racist, I've been friendly with an Indian for 30 years. I've also been to a Muslim wedding where it was explained to me that alcohol would not be served and I respected that.
"But if Muslims were asked to go to church on Sunday and take Holy Communion there would be war."
Parents said that their children were made to bend down on their knees on prayer mats which the RE teacher had got out of her cupboard and they were also told to wear Islamic headgear during the lesson on Tuesday afternoon.
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Click Here to read the rest.
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:30 AM on 04th July 2008
Two schoolboys were given detention after refusing to kneel down and 'pray to Allah' during a religious education lesson.
Parents were outraged that the two boys from year seven (11 to 12-year-olds) were punished for not wanting to take part in the practical demonstration of how Allah is worshipped.
They said forcing their children to take part in the exercise at Alsager High School, near Stoke-on-Trent - which included wearing Muslim headgear - was a breach of their human rights.
One parent, Sharon Luinen, said: "This isn't right, it's taking things too far.
"I understand that they have to learn about other religions. I can live with that but it is taking it a step too far to be punished because they wouldn't join in Muslim prayer.
"Making them pray to Allah, who isn't who they worship, is wrong and what got me is that they were told they were being disrespectful.
"I don't want this to look as if I have a problem with the school because I am generally very happy with it."
Another parent Karen Williams said: "I am absolutely furious my daughter was made to take part in it and I don't find it acceptable.
"I haven't got a problem with them teaching my child other religions and a small amount of information doesn't do any harm.
"But not only did they have to pray, the teacher had gone into the class and made them watch a short film and then said 'we are now going out to pray to Allah'.
"Then two boys got detention and all the other children missed their refreshment break because of the teacher.
"Not only was it forced upon them, my daughter was told off for not doing it right.
"They'd never done it before and they were supposed to do it in another language."
"My child has been forced to pray to Allah in a school lesson." The grandfather of one of the pupils in the class said: "It's absolutely disgusting, there's no other way of putting it.
"My daughter and a lot of other mothers are furious about their children being made to kneel on the floor and pray to Islam. If they didn't do it they were given detention.
"I am not racist, I've been friendly with an Indian for 30 years. I've also been to a Muslim wedding where it was explained to me that alcohol would not be served and I respected that.
"But if Muslims were asked to go to church on Sunday and take Holy Communion there would be war."
Parents said that their children were made to bend down on their knees on prayer mats which the RE teacher had got out of her cupboard and they were also told to wear Islamic headgear during the lesson on Tuesday afternoon.
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Click Here to read the rest.
Messianic Jews say they are persecuted in Israel
By LAURIE COPANS – Jun 21, 2008
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Safety pins and screws are still lodged in 15-year-old Ami Ortiz's body three months after he opened a booby-trapped gift basket sent to his family. The explosion severed two toes, damaged his hearing and harmed a promising basketball career.
Police say they are still searching for the assailants. But to the Ortiz family the motive of the attackers is clear: The Ortizes are Jews who believe that Jesus was the Messiah.
Israel's tiny community of Messianic Jews, a mixed group of 10,000 people who include the California-based Jews for Jesus, complains of threats, harassment and police indifference.
The March 20 bombing was the worst incident so far. In October, a mysterious fire damaged a Jerusalem church used by Messianic Jews, and last month ultra-Orthodox Jews torched a stack of Christian holy books distributed by missionaries.
Israel's Foreign Ministry and two chief rabbis were quick to condemn the burning, but the Ortiz family says vigorous police action is needed.
"I believe that it will happen again, if not to us, then to other Messianic believers," said Ami's mother, Leah Ortiz, a 54-year-old native of South Orange, N.J.
Proselytizing is strongly discouraged in Israel, a state that was established for a people that suffered centuries of persecution for not accepting Jesus and has little tolerance for missionary work.
At the same time, Israel has warm relations with U.S. evangelical groups, which strongly support its cause, but these generally refrain from proselytizing inside Israel. Even the Mormon church, which has mission work at its core worldwide, agreed when it opened a campus in Jerusalem to refrain from missionary activity.
"Historically the core of Christianity ... was 'convert or die,' so it was seen and is still seen as an assault on Jewish existence itself," said Rabbi David Rosen, who oversees interfaith affairs for the American Jewish Committee. "When you are called to join another religion, you are being called on to betray your people."
Messianic Jews consider themselves Jewish, observing the holy days and reciting many of the same prayers. The Ortiz family lights candles on the Jewish Sabbath, shuns pork and eats matzoth on Passover.
Ami Ortiz, interviewed at the Tel Aviv hospital where he is being treated, comes across as no different from any Jewish Israeli his age. He's a sabra, or native-born Israeli, who speaks English with a Hebrew accent, has an older brother in an elite Israeli army unit and was hoping to join the youth squad of Maccabi Tel Aviv, a league-topping basketball team.
But his religion also holds that one can embrace Jesus — Ami calls him by his Hebrew name, Yeshua — as the Messiah and remain Jewish. Orthodox Jews, on the other hand, believe that the Messiah has yet to come, that he will do so only when he chooses, and that any attempt to pre-empt his coming is a grievous sin.
Rabbi Sholom Dov Lifschitz, head of the ultra-Orthodox Yad Leahim organization that campaigns against missionary activity in Israel, says Messianic Jews give him "great pain."
"They are provoking ... it's a miracle that worse things don't happen," he said.
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Click Here to read the rest.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Safety pins and screws are still lodged in 15-year-old Ami Ortiz's body three months after he opened a booby-trapped gift basket sent to his family. The explosion severed two toes, damaged his hearing and harmed a promising basketball career.
Police say they are still searching for the assailants. But to the Ortiz family the motive of the attackers is clear: The Ortizes are Jews who believe that Jesus was the Messiah.
Israel's tiny community of Messianic Jews, a mixed group of 10,000 people who include the California-based Jews for Jesus, complains of threats, harassment and police indifference.
The March 20 bombing was the worst incident so far. In October, a mysterious fire damaged a Jerusalem church used by Messianic Jews, and last month ultra-Orthodox Jews torched a stack of Christian holy books distributed by missionaries.
Israel's Foreign Ministry and two chief rabbis were quick to condemn the burning, but the Ortiz family says vigorous police action is needed.
"I believe that it will happen again, if not to us, then to other Messianic believers," said Ami's mother, Leah Ortiz, a 54-year-old native of South Orange, N.J.
Proselytizing is strongly discouraged in Israel, a state that was established for a people that suffered centuries of persecution for not accepting Jesus and has little tolerance for missionary work.
At the same time, Israel has warm relations with U.S. evangelical groups, which strongly support its cause, but these generally refrain from proselytizing inside Israel. Even the Mormon church, which has mission work at its core worldwide, agreed when it opened a campus in Jerusalem to refrain from missionary activity.
"Historically the core of Christianity ... was 'convert or die,' so it was seen and is still seen as an assault on Jewish existence itself," said Rabbi David Rosen, who oversees interfaith affairs for the American Jewish Committee. "When you are called to join another religion, you are being called on to betray your people."
Messianic Jews consider themselves Jewish, observing the holy days and reciting many of the same prayers. The Ortiz family lights candles on the Jewish Sabbath, shuns pork and eats matzoth on Passover.
Ami Ortiz, interviewed at the Tel Aviv hospital where he is being treated, comes across as no different from any Jewish Israeli his age. He's a sabra, or native-born Israeli, who speaks English with a Hebrew accent, has an older brother in an elite Israeli army unit and was hoping to join the youth squad of Maccabi Tel Aviv, a league-topping basketball team.
But his religion also holds that one can embrace Jesus — Ami calls him by his Hebrew name, Yeshua — as the Messiah and remain Jewish. Orthodox Jews, on the other hand, believe that the Messiah has yet to come, that he will do so only when he chooses, and that any attempt to pre-empt his coming is a grievous sin.
Rabbi Sholom Dov Lifschitz, head of the ultra-Orthodox Yad Leahim organization that campaigns against missionary activity in Israel, says Messianic Jews give him "great pain."
"They are provoking ... it's a miracle that worse things don't happen," he said.
--------------
Click Here to read the rest.
Algerians convicted for Christianity
From Afrol News.
Two Algerian Christians were each handed a (British Pounds) £800 fine and six-month suspended jail terms yesterday, after Algerian court found them guilty of unlawfully trying to convert Muslims to their faith.
According to their lawyer, Khelloudja Khalfoun, convicts, Rachid Mohammed Seghir, 40, and Jammal Dahmani, 36, were sentenced for distributing documents that aimed at weakening the faith of Muslims.
The first respondent, Mr Seghir was also convicted of same offence, in a separate trial in June, in Tiaret town, where he received same sentence.
Ms Khalfoun told media after leaving courthouse in Tissemsilt, some 150 miles southwest of Algerian capital, Algiers that they were likely to appeal.
"The accusations were not proven, and the court's decision is not justified," she reportedly said.
The lawyer said her clients who are both Evangelical Protestants were first prosecuted in 2007, when extracts from Bible and other Christian books were found in one of their cars, during a routine check.
They were reportedly charged for trying to spread their faith among Muslims, as well as praying in a building that had not been granted a religious permit by authorities.
Only a tiny fraction of Algeria's 34 million people are not Muslim, with Christians and Jews comprising up to 1 percent of population, according to United States government estimates.
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Click here to read the rest.
Two Algerian Christians were each handed a (British Pounds) £800 fine and six-month suspended jail terms yesterday, after Algerian court found them guilty of unlawfully trying to convert Muslims to their faith.
According to their lawyer, Khelloudja Khalfoun, convicts, Rachid Mohammed Seghir, 40, and Jammal Dahmani, 36, were sentenced for distributing documents that aimed at weakening the faith of Muslims.
The first respondent, Mr Seghir was also convicted of same offence, in a separate trial in June, in Tiaret town, where he received same sentence.
Ms Khalfoun told media after leaving courthouse in Tissemsilt, some 150 miles southwest of Algerian capital, Algiers that they were likely to appeal.
"The accusations were not proven, and the court's decision is not justified," she reportedly said.
The lawyer said her clients who are both Evangelical Protestants were first prosecuted in 2007, when extracts from Bible and other Christian books were found in one of their cars, during a routine check.
They were reportedly charged for trying to spread their faith among Muslims, as well as praying in a building that had not been granted a religious permit by authorities.
Only a tiny fraction of Algeria's 34 million people are not Muslim, with Christians and Jews comprising up to 1 percent of population, according to United States government estimates.
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Click here to read the rest.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Muslims in Britain should be able to live under Sharia law, says top judge
By Christopher Hope and James Kirkup
Last Updated: 9:57PM BST 03/07/2008
Muslims in Britain should be able to live according to Sharia law, the country's most senior judge has said.
Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, the Lord Chief Justice, strongly backed Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, over his suggestion earlier this year that aspects of Sharia law should be adopted in Britain.
The archbishop's remarks sparked a national debate and led to calls for his resignation.
Risking inflaming that controversy again, Lord Phillips has said that Muslims in Britain should be able to use Sharia to decide financial and marital disputes.
The judge did add that only the criminal courts should have the power to decide when a crime has been committed and when to impose punishment.
But his suggestion that different religious groups should run their affairs according to different rules sparked warnings that community cohesion could be undermined.
In a speech at the East London Muslim Centre in east London, Lord Phillips said it was "not very radical" for Dr Williams to argue that Sharia law can be used to help govern issues like family disputes and the sale of financial products.
Lord Phillips said: "It is possible in this country for those who are entering into a contractual agreement to agree that the agreement shall be governed by law other than English law."
Therefore, he said, he could see no reason why Sharia law should not be used to settle disputes in this country.
He said: "There is no reason why principles of Sharia law, or any other religious code, should not be the basis for mediation or other forms of alternative dispute resolution."
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Israel Closes Border Crossings into Gaza After Rocket Fire
By VOA News
03 July 2008
The Israeli military has closed the border crossings into the Gaza Strip, after a rocket was fired from the Hamas-controlled territory into southern Israel.
An Israeli army spokesman says the rocket landed near the southern Israeli town of Sderot Thursday. There were no reports of casualties, and no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket launch.
Several rockets have been fired at Israel from Gaza, straining a fragile cease-fire deal between Israel and the territory's Hamas rulers that went into effect two weeks ago.
Gaza's Hamas leaders have warned militant factions in the coastal territory that it will take action against anyone violating the truce.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also has warned that Israel will respond militarily if Palestinian militants continue attacks from Gaza in violation of the Egyptian-brokered truce.
Israel has responded to previous rocket fire by closing the border crossings used to bring supplies into the Gaza Strip. Israel re-opened the crossings Wednesday to allow cement shipments into Gaza.
The border crossings were closed earlier this week in response to a rocket attack on southern Israel Monday. There were no casualties in that incident.
Mr. Olmert has warned that Israel's restraint in the face of rocket attacks up to now should not be interpreted as a weakness.
03 July 2008
The Israeli military has closed the border crossings into the Gaza Strip, after a rocket was fired from the Hamas-controlled territory into southern Israel.
An Israeli army spokesman says the rocket landed near the southern Israeli town of Sderot Thursday. There were no reports of casualties, and no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket launch.
Several rockets have been fired at Israel from Gaza, straining a fragile cease-fire deal between Israel and the territory's Hamas rulers that went into effect two weeks ago.
Gaza's Hamas leaders have warned militant factions in the coastal territory that it will take action against anyone violating the truce.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also has warned that Israel will respond militarily if Palestinian militants continue attacks from Gaza in violation of the Egyptian-brokered truce.
Israel has responded to previous rocket fire by closing the border crossings used to bring supplies into the Gaza Strip. Israel re-opened the crossings Wednesday to allow cement shipments into Gaza.
The border crossings were closed earlier this week in response to a rocket attack on southern Israel Monday. There were no casualties in that incident.
Mr. Olmert has warned that Israel's restraint in the face of rocket attacks up to now should not be interpreted as a weakness.
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