Amy Winehouse might have been denied a visa to enter the United States. But apparently the leading politician in Uganda working to pass a bill that would criminalize homosexuality with the death penalty or life imprisonment is allowed to walk the streets of Washington, D.C., attending an international conference on financial management.
According to Warren Throckmorton, a Christian psychologist and blogger covering Uganda’s efforts to criminalize homosexuality, Ugandan Member of Parliament David Bahati is set to attend a December 6-8 conference in D.C. held by the International Consortium on Government Financial Management. The conference is set to take place at the Enrique Iglesias Conference Center at the Inter-American Development Bank.
Throckmorton spoke to Bahati in mid-November. At the time, Bahati said that his Anti-Homosexuality Bill would not face a vote in parliament until after February 2011 elections. But Bahati is still very confident that the bill will pass.
“Bahati said that due to the upcoming elections no significant legislative work is anticipated. He continues to believe that the bill will be considered and debated in Parliament after the elections,” Throckmorton reports. “Mr. Bahati said that the delay should not be taken as a sign of lack of support by the committee chair or his peers in the Ugandan Parliament.”
So there you have it. The Anti-Homosexuality Bill — which would criminalize homosexuality with the death penalty or life imprisonment, and even throw in jail straight people who work on behalf of LGBT rights, or straight people who do not disclose to the government people they know who are LGBT — won’t become law before February 2011. But it is still very much on the table, and something that Bahati continues to champion every chance he gets.
And the International Consortium on Governmental Financial Management, as well as all their sponsors for the upcoming December 6-8 conference, are comfortable with someone like Bahati attending?
What a month for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT). Nearly pummeled to death by court rulings, embarrassing surveys, and a general population who would like to see it put to rest. If it weren’t for DADT’s BFF Sen. John McCain, who slung the battered policy over his shoulder and carried it through the Senate this week, the thing was surely on its last legs. Leave it to good old Margaret Witt to come by and knock the wind out of DADT, with a resounding court victory.
It may seem like a topic only a toddler could love: a battle over the cost and contents of infant formula. But a recent bill involving the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Woman, Infants, Children (WIC) exemplifies the food industry’s aggressive lobbying and marketing tactics, which could leave the government footing an unnecessary $100 million bill, while ensuring many low-income families stay hungry.
The bald eagle, America’s symbol of national freedom, apparently doesn’t hold a candle to the gun lobby’s perceived freedom to poison this beautiful bird.
Step aside, Thailand, and make room for Brazil, the fastest growing hotbed for child sex tourism. Sex-hungry tourists are flocking to South America in droves for the promise of cheap, young, and easily accessible prostitutes. Not only that, but they have their choice of young kids (cheaper than the price of an older girl, 
If Sabbar Kashur were Jewish, he would not have been convicted of rape.
In the game of politics being played around the Gulf oil spill — the cause, the response, who’s the blame, where to drill next — it’s the wildlife that stands to lose the most.
Monday, July 20, was 