“EastEnders is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985. It currently ranks as one of the most watched shows in the UK. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End of London. ”
 
One of the characters on EASTENDERS is”Syed Masood, a Muslim property developer with a girlfriend who arrivedin Albert Square six weeks ago, fall for openly gay Christian Clarke. The pair will share an on-screen kiss.”
 
In a scene aired last week, the gay Muslim, SYED MASOOD threw the Koran down.

“Hundreds of angry viewers have complained to the BBC over a scene in ‘EastEnders’, where a Muslim character slams down a copy of the Qur’an on a table.
 
…In the episode, gay character Syed Masood (played by Marc Elliott) was seen to drop the religious text in frustration.”
 
“Desperate not to lose his family, Syed is trying to suppress his homosexuality. He has vowed to read and learn from the Qur’an in an attempt to re-connect with his Muslim faith, hoping it will help him in his quest,” The Sun quoted a BBC statement, as saying.
 
“Feeling unable to reconcile his feelings for another man with his religious beliefs, Syed slams down the Qur’an in frustration.” THE SUN
 
BBC defends EastEnders Koran Outrage

EastEnders chiefs have defended the controversial scene, saying that they had not intended to cause offence, but to demonstrate Syed’s “utter confusion”.” LondonMuslims

 
Memo to American artists, the BBC has guts; they don’t just attack the Amish.
 
 EastEnders: Syed Masood, played by Marc Elliott Photograph: BBC
 
The Following Is a Public POSTING FROM A BRITISH MUSLIM 
 
Homosexuality (doing homosexual acts) is forbidden in Islam. So if someone has gay tendencies, they could control
themselves and remain celibate. And he could get married to a woman later if he finds that he’s not so gay afterall. Anyone who loves Allah (subhana wa’a ta’la) more than themselves would be willing to do that. This is their test.

• “Within the context of Islamic thought, this attitude originated from the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and since he is considered by all Muslim to be the Uswa Hasana (the perfect example) we find that the majority of Muslims in the East still consider this harsh treatment of homosexuals to be perfectly justified. Muhammad himself had stated, “If you find anyone doing as Lot’s people did, kill the one who does it, and the one to whom it is done.”As if this were not harsh enough,
• he even went so far as to condemn the “appearance” of homosexuality, when he cursed effeminate men and masculine women and ordered his followers to “Turn them out of your houses.” This ruling on homosexuals was naturally adopted by his later successors. The father of Aisha and Muhammad’s first successor, Abu Bakr, had a homosexual burned at the stake. The fourth caliph, Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali, ordered homosexuals to be stoned, and even had one thrown from the minaret of a mosque.
• …” among the Western ‘moderate’ Muslims, homosexuality is seen as something that is vile and unacceptable. For example, a Gallup survey carried out in early 2009 found that British Muslims have zero tolerance for Homosexuality. Not even a single British Muslim interviewed believed that homosexual acts were morally          acceptable. A worrying statistic to be found among Muslims in the UK, is that although they comprise just 2% of the total British population, they commit 25% of all anti-Homosexual crimes.”                                                                                                                  
• So, with the rise of Islam in the UK and the rest of the Western world [through incredibly high birth-rate figures and immigration] we also see the inadvertent return to the morality of seventh-century Arabia, with Muslim gangs scouring the streets of England, carrying out violent attacks on gays and mosques labelled as “moderate” calling for the murder of homosexuals at the hands of their congregation …. as Islam swallows up the culture and freedom of its hosts from the inside-out. “

“Touré (March 20, 1971) is an American novelist, music journalist, cultural critic, and television personality based in New York City“. Touré is, I think it is fair to say, a liberal commentator. He is a very smart man.

“George F. Will (born May 4, 1941) is a U.S. newspaper columnist, journalist, and author. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winner best known for his conservativecommentary on politics. By the mid 1980s the Wall Street Journal reported he was “perhaps the most powerful journalist in America,” in a league with Walter Lippmann (1899-1975).” As noted, Mr. Will is a conservative. Mr. Will is a very smart man.

I doubt if Toure and Mr. Will agree on many things;one thing these giants of American intelligentsia do agree on is the future of Gay Rights in America.

In their television comments, they both agree that, in the future, Gay marriage, Gays openly serving in the Military, and Gay Parenting will be accepted at all levels of society, without argument.

There is a glowing Los Angeles Times review of the new film, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, about a family with two moms, “let’s start by getting past any hesitations or reservations about the lesbian household premise on which “The Kids Are All Right” is based. The issue of gay marriage is not what’s on the table here. At its heart, this is a movie about how families, whatever their composition, stay together, love each other through difficult times, and weather the particularly storm-tossed seas that come when the kids hit their teenage years”..Betsy Sharkey.

As for the Emmy nominations:“.. At long last it really is, honest to God, OK to be gay on television. The success of two of this year’s biggest hits — “Glee” and “Modern Family” — rests squarely on the shoulders of their gay characters and cast members”….Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times

“… the phenomenally successful “Glee” …. quietly epic tale of Kurt’s coming out to his father (beautifully played by Mike O’Malley, who got a guest star nomination) has consistently grounded “Glee” in real drama when it threatened to lose itself to theatrics.” Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times

While a film about a family with two Moms is winning praise from the Los Angeles Times, while a TV show, MODERN FAMILY,  with a happy family of two Dads is winning Emmy nominations,  while Laura Bush is endorsing  Gay Marriage; while all this is going on,  something is happening in Mankind’s Homeland that is  historically  remarkable, dangerous, unusual and deadly.

In Africa,  we are seeing a phenomenal growth of Christianity, at the expense of all other religions, including Islam. In Africa, we are seeing a remarkable growth in Protestantism, at the expense of all other forms of Christianity. In Africa we are seeing  a remarkable growth of Evangelical Protestants, at the expense of everyone.

In Uganda, we have the following: a historical blip?  an aberration?  an anomaly? a societal mutation? a phenomenon? or a precursor of the future? Only history will be able to pass judgment on what is happening in Uganda. But something is happening.

In Uganda, for the first time since the rise of Islam, we are seeing a rapid conversion of Muslims to Christianity , not just any form of Christianity  but Protestantism, not just any form of Protestantism  but Evangelicalism.

In the past, they have been FORCED conversions of Muslims into Christians, as in Spain, after the Reconquest of the country by the  Catholics, under Ferdinand and Isabella, from the Muslims. At that time, many Muslims converted under the threat of the Inquisition.

But in Uganda, this conversion is peaceful.

What is causing it?

Anti Gay hatred.

For the first time,  Evangelicals have out gay bashed Islam. The Evangelicals in Uganda are now equal in their hatred of Gays to the Wahhabism of Saudi Arabia, and the Taliban.  Wahhabis behead Gays; the Christians in Uganda want to hang them. 

 ”According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, about 17m Africans described themselves as born-again Christians in 1970. Today the figure has soared to more than 400m, which accounts for over a third of Africa’s population. ……, the efforts of new churches in neighbouring Uganda have made political controversies out of homosexuality and the right of Muslims to convert to Christianity…..

….anti-homosexuality bill in the Ugandan parliament, which advocates spying on gays and proscribes imprisonment for sodomy. Earlier versions of the law called for the death penalty in some instances.

…… The largest denomination, Kale Heywet, which claims 5m members, has been influenced by the new church movement, as has the 2.5m strong Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. It now says that it will reject money from Lutheran churches in richer countries to protest against their support for gay marriage. Returning refugees have introduced Pentecostalism into Burundi and Rwanda. Burundi’s president, Pierre Nkurunziza, is a born-again Christian. He holds prayer sessions and has overseen the introduction of new laws criminalising homosexuality in the country.”..THE ECONOMIST

American intellectuals may continue to ignore the religious atavism stirring in Africa;but in the Age of Globalization,  no wind stays within its borders.

In 2010, one third of Africa are congregants of preachers who want to hang gays; and that is not even counting Muslims listening to Imams who want to behead Gays. 

The fastest growing religions in the world are African Evangelicalism, which wants to hang gays, and Islamic fundamentalism;whether it be the Sunni Wahhabis, or Shia Zealots. In Shiite Iran the penalty for homosexuality is  ”The methods of killing lesbians and gays in Iran include: beheading with a sword, stoning to death, burning alive, and throwing from a mountain top or high building.”

So where, in the scope of history, in the future demographics of the world, does the enlightenment of Toure, George F. Will,Laura Bush,  THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, GLEE and MODERN FAMILY stand? The answer may be, in Weimar, before the storm.

I went to see THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT after I had reviewed the demographics of the rise of African Evangelicalism; as I watched the film, about very beautiful people, in a slice of family life on the West Side of Los Angeles, or the East Bay or Greenwich Village, or the Back Bay, or Westport, all I could think about was the wonderful literature of Sholom Aleichem.

He wrote about Jewish life in the schetl, those marvelously colorful Eastern European Jewish towns and villages so well memorialized in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF.

The towns, the villages, the way of life are all dead now, driven to destruction by zealous reactionaries. He wrote about a way of life before the Cossacks and the Nazis came.

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT is about a lesbian schetl, wondrously normal, right before the beheading Wahhabis and the hanging Evangelicals come.

If this is a progressive interlude, before the storm is imported from Uganda and Iran, may this Blog humbly suggest to Gay Activists and their friends this observation, that their best allies in the coming struggle will be People of Faith who do not want to hang them, behead them, or throw them off of high mountains.

When this storm is exported to our shores, as this Blog surely believes it will, Gay Activists will need People of Faith, more than People of Faith will need them.

Consequently, may this Blog further suggest that Gay Activists and their allies stop trashing Jesus Christ on cartoon shows, in the movies, and on CNN documentaries. There is no point in ridiculing the faithful when the alternative is the murderous.

IRAN and GAYS

Iran will soon be a nuclear power; it has a population of 72 million people(2008).

It is 86% literate, with a brilliant film making art form.

Its government is a Shiite Islamic Republic.

” Since 1980, when the fundamentalists came to power , over 4,000 lesbians and gay men have been executed, according to the exiled Iranian homosexual rights group, Homan.   

In the early 1980’s, for example, 70 people were executed after they attempted to set up a lesbian and gay organisation. Nearly 100 homosexuals were sentenced to death in 1992 following a raid on a private party. “

Rosa Briseno, 16, came to Los Angeles from Mexico as an infant and has attended U.S. schools her entire life. She says she speaks English with her sister and mother, a seamstress, and Spanish with her father, a construction worker. She seems to have no trouble with spoken English.

 Her English-language development test scores placed her at intermediate levels for speaking and writing but beginning levels for reading.

She says the English class is easy but the biggest reason she can’t pass her tests is because she never bothers with homework. Her lack of interest in academics is reflected in a low grade-point average, but Rosa says she is determined to buckle down and test out of the English-development class.

“I want to learn new stuff,” she said.

In contrast, Nathanael Cueva, 16, was born in Los Angeles, moved to Mexico at age 2 and returned to L.A. nine months ago. His father, a poultry salesman, sent him to English classes twice a week in Mexico to develop his language skills.

Nathanael will transition out of the English-development class next year and has already passed his high school exit exams.

The bright, articulate student is earning straight A’s at El Monte — and transcripts show he was also a straight-A student in Mexico. He is full of dreams for himself — to travel the world, to become an engineer, to study German or Italian next.”

“Nearly 60% in California high schools are not proficient despite more than six years of a U.S. education. Flaws in the English-language programs could imperil the state’s economic future, report says.LOS ANGELES TIMES

Let me clarify this for you Reader, the only Mexican kids doing well in learning English in the California school system are Mexican kids who learned their English in MEXICO.

This is the best of the absurd MONTY PYTHON skits.

But that begs the question, why is that so? 

My father was an union organizer, so I am an old Union man….but …I was educated in the Brooklyn, New York school system, when teaching, the PROFESSION of teaching was not  an organized industry but a vocation.

My teachers were war veterans and Holocaust survivors…..they had seen and survived evil. They did not want to empower you, nor did they give a damn about your self esteem.

They wanted to impart knowledge to you, for two reasons; one to prepare you to fight evil, and two, to educate you on how to recognize and enjoy  life’s beauties as you fought evil.

They were marvelous.  To this day, I have fought what I consider evil,  and I have enjoyed every ounce of beauty that has stumbled across my path.

The Brooklyn school system was a  Paradise; and then Paradise was Lost. Albert Shanker, the head of the teacher’s union, came into the Garden of Education and said this:“When school children start paying union dues, that ’s when I’ll start representing the interests of school children.”

It has been all downhill in American schools since that quote.

Woody Allen when he was funny (and isn’t it a shame that Woody lived past being funny?) made this reference to Mr. Shanker, “In the Woody Allen movie Sleeper (1973) the protagonist is transported to the future, where he is told that the old world was destroyed when “a man named Albert Shanker got hold of a nuclear warhead.” Shanker was president of the American Federation of Teachers at that time.”:

MEMO TO TEACHERS

I am developing a screenplay, with a LA school teacher,  about the current state of the Los Angeles school system, which is a CITY OF GOD scenario. (CITY OF GOD is that great Brazilian Film about the death of civilization among youth).

I understand that teaching is currently an underpaid and DANGEROUS occupation, and that financing the public school system is unpopular but may I suggest certain symbolic steps that the teaching corps of Los Angeles could take to improve their lot.

1- I NEVER saw a teacher without a suit and tie, or not in a proper dress until I got to college. One of my teachers only had one suit, but he wore it every day…and a shirt and a tie. They were teachers and they dressed in dignity. I saw teachers in the Los Angeles school system, both men and women, teaching in shorts. Teaching is not a sport; teaching is not casual. May I humbly suggest to teachers, THEY DRESS THE ROLE.

2-I never called a teacher by his first name until I got to graduate school. It was either Mr. Minor or Sir. The respect inherent in that speech pattern set a Natural Order. Mr. Minor was to be respected. I have seen teachers in the Los Angeles school system allow pimple faced, zit covered students call them by their first name. That is so wrong.

3- After your family and your spouse, the most important person in your life is your teacher. Teachers are not supposed to be your friend,they are not there to share LIFETIME TV moments of mutual self esteem, or dare I say it, empowerment. Teachers are not friends; they are mentors. There is a difference. Teachers are DI(Drill Instructors) preparing students for the combat of life. Students,to survive,  don’t need empowerment or a day off to picket and demonstrate, they need discipline and knowledge. From those pillars, they  will distill a fair chance for love and respect. I suggest teachers stop being surrogate Oprahs and start teaching.

MEMO TO ENGLISH LEARNING STUDENTS

Learn English, be proficient in it.

Why?

Because it is the LANGUAGE OF LIBERATION.  Go to Mexico, or Guatemala, or Haiti, or Russia or China, or Venezuela, or Saudi Arabia or Iran, you understand ENGLISH IS THE LANGUAGE OF LIBERATION.

In the History of the English speaking peoples, the only successful dictator has been Oliver Cromwell, and he fought for Parliament, over throwing and beheading a corrupt and tyrannical  king.

The key to liberty is in the Language itself. When English says inalienable, it means inalienable.

Learn it, without hesitation or delay.

MEMO TO ACTIVIST STUDENTS

High School is not GLEE; it is not musical theater. Our high schools are full of Activities, summer camp activities. The goal of our high schools seems to be, first  warehouse the kIds, then entertain them. As a society, we  must take, once again, the risk of making high school relevant to the future of these kids; we can only do that by educating them.

I have never seen a more politicized universe than the Los Angeles school system, the teachers spend more time advising arcane interest groups than teaching. There are interest groups for Shakers, Mohicans, Estrucans, Chuds,Huns, followers of Jan Hus, People with Vestigial Tails,  Whigs, Free Prussia Proponents, Oppressed Norwegians, Lapps Without Borders, Followers of Festivus,  and Wiccans of America Unite.

The Los Angeles School System has allowed the centrifrugal forces  of arcane Political Groups to fragment the Student Body. High school has devolved from a Common Experience into a permanent, floating  meeting of  1936 Spanish Anarchists dedicated to figuring out “anarcho-syndicalism.” The arcane has been glorified. 

This blog suggests that this intoxicating, melodramatic pursuit of arcana by our  school system must end. System wide, the Student Groups system must be refitted into a zero sum game, with each school allowed only three such Groups, total. All the time, and resources expended on these Groups should be rechanneled to fundamental study groups. Algebra is more important than the study of the film, THE NOTEBOOK.

“The revolution is not a tea party“. (Mao Tse-tung). Neither is a high school education. 

He was not the master of hand and eye coordination. Gym class and shop class to him were torture.

This was how he was treated, before High School Gay politics intruded; every male in his Gym class stayed on the field, and out of the showers until he finished his mile run, cheering him on,a real life RUDY moment.

Why?

Because he was our friend.

Johnny The M,  who went to Attica(New York State Prison) for committing a contract killing, held the rope so JS could climb it and touch the ceiling.

 Why? Because Johnny The M was JS’s friend.

Kenny B, the tough Irish heavyweight showed JS how to work the lathe in Shop Class.Why?

Because he was JS’s friend.

Before Gay Politics in High School, straight guys had Gay friends,and Gay guys had straight friends. Since Gay Politics, Gay guys have only female friends, who treat them like poodles.

The current school system is enlightened about Gays, what is the result?

 The Impressive entrance to Harvey Milk High School