Ahhh, DUH!
Ricky Martin came out on his website Tuesday.
The singer, whose sexuality was the source of much speculation in his "Vida Loca" heyday, posted a long statement that ended with, "I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am."
Martin welcomed twin sons via a surrogate in 2008 and has largely stepped away from the limelight to be a dad.
Maria Ressa is the head of ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs Department and the former CNN International Jakarta News Bureau Chief
Also a guest on the segment was blogger Juned Sonido
YAY!
Washington (CNN) -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Thursday that the Pentagon will start to ease its enforcement of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy prohibiting homosexuals from serving openly in the military.
Among other things, Gates said the Pentagon is raising the threshold for what constitutes an appropriate level of information necessary to launch a "credible inquiry" into allegations of homosexual behavior.
The change, which will take effect in 30 days and apply to all current cases, is a reflection of "common sense" and "common decency," Gates said. "These changes reflect some of the insights we have gained over 17 years of implementing the current law, including the need for consistency, oversight and clear standards."
According to The Daily Mail, the firing orders came directly from the top, via Davide Sesia — Prada Japan’s now infamous CEO. Rina Bovrisse, the manager who filed the suit, says that 13 employees were consequently eliminated, with poor sales cited as the reason. So far, Prada has refused to comment, and while we hate to weigh in without seeing the evidence, well, where there’s smoke, there’s a fire.
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The brother of Pope Benedict said in an interview on Tuesday he slapped pupils in the face at a German school where he led the choir, but had been unaware of the brutality of discipline there.
Rev. Georg Ratzinger, 86, made the comments to a German paper following charges of sexual and physical abuse in Catholic schools in the pope’s native Bavaria. Sexual abuse scandals have also rocked the church in the United States and Ireland.
“Pupils told me on concert trips about what went on. But it didn’t dawn on me from their stories that I should do something. I was not aware of the extent of these brutal methods,” Ratzinger told the Passauer Neue Presse.
A series of allegations in Germany and Holland have plunged the Catholic Church into a renewed crisis over how it has dealt with child abuse after it emerged that the Pope's brother ran a renowned choir at the centre of some of the latest claims.
Reports of systematic historical abuse by clergy have surfaced at three schools in the Regensburg diocese in Bavaria. One of them is the much-heralded Regensburger Domspatzen, a thousand-year-old male choir and boarding school, whose choral master for 30 years was the Pope's older brother, Georg Ratzinger.
Dear Readers,
Marie may not have killed him with her hands, but she killed him with her hate. Roseanne Barr published her opinion on Marie on her own blog and it's become the hottest thing on-line today!
Battle of the Mormons! This will be good!
__________________________________
Roseanne wrote-
"marie osmonds poor gay son killed himself
because he had been told how wrong and how sick he was every day of his life by his church and the people in it. Calling that "depression" is a lie!
Yet the Osmonds still talk lovingly about their church, saying nothing about its extremely anti-gay Crusade. Marie also has a gay daughter! Hey, I want her and all the gay kids in the world to know that they are just fine being gay and that they deserve love and respect instead of insults and rebuke! I have gay people in my family and my circle of friends and I am kicking bigot ass and taking names!
That is how its done in my religion—(I have my own religion that I made up for myself and it is a great religion that actually works and respects facts and not fantasy!)
Gerald Lund one of the ex church apostles has three gay kids himself.
Yet, even though the people they say they love the most in all of their public displays and speeches (THEIR KIDS AND FAMILY!!) are gay,– their own children,for crying out loud- these people cannot find the christian decency and compassion within themselves to stop their hypocritical gay bashing!!
How sickening. I know so many mormon kids who were gay and committed suicide, and I just cannot and will not stay quiet in order to not offend bigots anymore. It is all so terribly depressing.Marie please don't talk about how your faith in your church has helped you get through this one! Please get some integrity and tell that church of yours that you will leave it and stop giving it ten percent of your money if they don't stop trying to destroy your kids' and all gay people's civil rights and dreams and hopes!!
G-d is trying to use you for something good and this is your opportunity! Your church is wrong and on the wrong wrong wrong side of things! Get as vocal about that as you are about your diet. G-d bless you too, Marie.
Take a hard look at the facts now as you use this very sad time for introspection, healing growth and prayer, and become a strong symbol for loving mothers who make no apologies for hatred against their own kids!"
"yes i know that people get mad at me for the things i say
here that they think are insensitive and unkind. I say what I think needs to be said, though, and I always will, even if nobody listens. I really could care less. My opinion is my own and is well thought out. I decided a long time ago that I would not cower and stay silent when I feel things are wrong, whether it wins me fans money or praise or the opposite of those things. I am not a wimp, I am no democrat!"
The Vatican has been thrown into chaos by reports that one of the Pope's ceremonial ushers, as well as a member of the elite Vatican choir, were involved in a homosexual prostitution ring.
The allegations came to light after Italian newspapers published transcripts of phone calls recorded by police, who had been conducting an unrelated corruption investigation.
The tapes appear to record Angelo Balducci, a Gentleman of His Holiness, negotiating with Thomas Chinedu Ehiem, a 29-year-old Nigerian Vatican chorister, about men he wanted brought to him for sexual purposes. Balducci was allegedly paying 2,000 euros ($2,714) for each man he met, according to the Irish Times.
Balducci is recorded describing precise physical details of the men he wanted. The transcripts record that during five months in 2008, Ehiem procured for Balducci at least 10 contacts with, among others, "two black Cuban lads," a former male model from Naples, and a rugby player from Rome.
A report by the Italian Carabinieri on the case said: "In order to organize casual encounters of a sexual nature, he availed himself of the intercession of two individuals who, it is maintained, may form part of an organized network, especially active in [Rome], of exploiters or at least facilitators of male prostitution."
The police probe into corruption resulted in Balducci and 4 others being arrested. Allegations of prostitution were only revealed later, and have resulted in Ehiem's dismissal from the Vatican choir.
Balducci held a high position within the Vatican and was one of the priests who carried the coffin of Pope John Paul at his 2005 funeral. He has now lost his position as a Gentleman of the Holiness. His trial for corruption is still pending.-HP
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Canada's (87) and teammates listen to the Canadian national anthem after the men's gold medal ice hockey game at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Top 10 Medal Winners
| Country | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNITED STATES | 9 | 15 | 13 | 37 |
| GERMANY | 10 | 13 | 7 | 30 |
| CANADA | 14 | 7 | 5 | 26 |
| NORWAY | 9 | 8 | 6 | 23 |
| AUSTRIA | 4 | 6 | 6 | 16 |
| RUSSIA | 3 | 5 | 7 | 15 |
| SOUTH KOREA | 6 | 6 | 2 | 14 |
| CHINA | 5 | 2 | 4 | 11 |
| SWEDEN | 5 | 2 | 4 | 11 |
| FRANCE | 2 | 3 | 6 | 11 |
