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Gay marriage won in RI with coordinated strategy

Posted on April 27, 2013

PROVIDENCE Phone banks, an army of volunteers and alliances with organized labor, business leaders and religious clergy propelled gay marriage to victory in Rhode Island this week, a savvy and coordinated strategy that relied on growing public support and old-fashioned bare-knuckle politics.

Gay marriage legislation had failed every year in Rhode Island since 1997, leaving the heavily Catholic state the lone holdout in New England as the five other states changed their marriage laws. Thats soon set to change. The state Senate voted Wednesday to allow gay marriage, and Gov. Lincoln Chafee plans to sign the bill into law following a final, procedural vote in the House next week.

The successful campaign could serve as a model for similar efforts in other states and reflects the increasingly sophisticated political strategy driving what just two decades ago was dismissed as a fringe issue with little public support, advocates and lawmakers alike say.

This was a victory won by many people, because thats what it takes, House Speaker Gordon Fox, a Providence Democrat who is gay and led House efforts to pass gay marriage, said Thursday. You bring everyone together, and youre stronger for it. Its a recipe that could definitely be replicated in other states.

Opponents, however, say their defeat in Rhode Island was less about dogged political strategy than it was the national conversation on gay marriage.

Its a campaign thats been promoted by Hollywood, by the news media, by educational institutions, said Scott Spear, a spokesman for the National Organization for Marriages Rhode Island chapter. I think the local group was just on that wave. They didnt create it, they just rode it.

Rhode Island will be the 10th state to allow gay marriage when the legislation takes effect Aug. 1. Supporters in Delaware and Illinois are also hoping to follow this year. Efforts are also underway in other states, including New Jersey, Oregon and Minnesota.

Polls show support has surged since 1996, when Gallup found that 27 percent of Americans backed same-sex marriage. Now Gallup finds that 53 percent support giving gay and lesbian couples the right to marry.

The momentum is clear in Rhode Island. Two years ago, gay marriage legislation didnt even get a vote in the General Assembly. This year, it passed the House 51-19 and the Senate 26-12.

We are close to the end of a journey that began in 1997, said Ray Sullivan, campaign director for Rhode Islanders United for Marriage, which led the push for the legislation. When we began this campaign in January, many thought wed never succeed in the Senate.

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Gay marriage won in RI with coordinated strategy

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RI on Track to Be 10th State With Gay Marriage

Posted on April 25, 2013

Phone banks, an army of volunteers and alliances with organized labor, business leaders and religious clergy propelled gay marriage to victory in Rhode Island this week, a savvy and coordinated strategy that relied on growing public support and old-fashioned bare-knuckle politics.

Gay marriage legislation had failed every year in Rhode Island since 1997, leaving the heavily Catholic state the lone holdout in New England as the five other states changed their marriage laws. That’s soon set to change. The state Senate voted Wednesday to allow gay marriage, and Gov. Lincoln Chafee plans to sign the bill into law following a final, procedural vote in the House next week.

The successful campaign could serve as a model for similar efforts in other states and reflects the increasingly sophisticated political strategy driving what just two decades ago was dismissed as a fringe issue with little public support, advocates and lawmakers alike say.

“This was a victory won by many people, because that’s what it takes,” House Speaker Gordon Fox, a Providence Democrat who is gay and led House efforts to pass gay marriage, said Thursday. “You bring everyone together, and you’re stronger for it. It’s a recipe that could definitely be replicated in other states.”

Opponents, however, say their defeat in Rhode Island was less about dogged political strategy than it was the national conversation on gay marriage.

“It’s a campaign that’s been promoted by Hollywood, by the news media, by educational institutions,” said Scott Spear, a spokesman for the National Organization for Marriage’s Rhode Island chapter. “I think the local group was just on that wave. They didn’t create it, they just rode it.”

Rhode Island will be the 10th state to allow gay marriage when the legislation takes effect Aug. 1. Supporters in Delaware and Illinois are also hoping to follow this year. Efforts are also underway in other states, including New Jersey, Oregon and Minnesota.

Polls show support has surged since 1996, when Gallup found that 27 percent of Americans backed same-sex marriage. Now Gallup finds that 53 percent support giving gay and lesbian couples the right to marry.

The momentum is clear in Rhode Island. Two years ago, gay marriage legislation didn’t even get a vote in the General Assembly. This year, it passed the House 51-19 and the Senate 26-12.

“We are close to the end of a journey that began in 1997,” said Ray Sullivan, campaign director for Rhode Islanders United for Marriage, which led the push for the legislation. “When we began this campaign in January, many thought we’d never succeed in the Senate.”

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RNC Doubles Down On Gay Marriage

Posted on April 14, 2013

With support for gay marriage at a record high among Americans, Republican party leaders from around the country doubled down to oppose it at the Republican National Committee’s spring meeting in Los Angeles Friday.

Members of the committee voted unanimously to reaffirm the language in the GOP platform defining marriage “as the union of one man and one woman.” The resolution went further, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to “uphold the sanctity of marriage in its rulings on Proposition 8 and the Federal Defense of Marriage Act.”

An ABC News-Washington Post poll conducted in March found that 58 percent of Americans said it should be legal for gay and lesbian couples to marry. And support for gay marriage has been increasing among Republicans: In the latest poll, 34 percent of them said they supported it — an 18 point uptick from 2004.

Earlier today, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus joked in his remarks to the group that Lady Gaga won’t be “chairing our platform committee.” Gaga is a noted gay rights activist.

“It’s absolutely not true that I asked Lady Gaga to perform at the Reagan Library dinner tonight,” according to a text of Priebus’s prepared comments, a reference to reports that a separate GOP group offered to pay the entertainer to perform at an event during last summer’s Republican National Convention. “For the record, she also won’t be chairing our platform committee or serving as our new director of surrogate operations.”

Republican leaders have been meeting this week at a hotel less than a mile from West Hollywood, Calif., a city with a large gay and lesbian population.

The vote may appease social conservatives who have been threatening to withhold their support from the GOP over rifts about where the party is headed on social issues.

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RNC Doubles Down On Gay Marriage

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US Republicans oppose gay marriage, in Hollywood

Posted on April 14, 2013

US Republicans reaffirmed their opposition to gay marriage, as they closed a three-day meeting vowing to reach out to liberals, symbolically in the lion’s den of liberal Hollywood.

The Republican National Committee proclaimed that marriage was a “relationship that only a man and a woman can form” and urged the Supreme Court to rule against same-sex marriage in two key cases before it.

The RNC “affirms its support for marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and as the optimum environment in which to raise healthy children for the future of America,” said a resolution passed at its Spring Meeting.

It rejected the “unfounded accusation that support for marriage is based only on irrational prejudice against homosexuals,” while imploring the top US court to “uphold the sanctity of marriage” in landmark rulings.

President Barack Obama last year came out in favor of same-sex marriage, which is the subject of California’s Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act, both being considered by the Supreme Court.

Following Obama’s November election victory, the Republican Party has been grappling with how to reach out to liberal voters on issues like same-sex marriage, abortion and immigration, without alienating its conservative base.

The choice of famously liberal Hollywood for its spring meeting was symbolic — as acknowledged by RNC chairman Reince Priebus in his keynote address before the end-of-meeting resolutions.

“Welcome to Hollywood! That’s not something you hear RNC chairmen say very often,” said Priebus. “It really is great to be here in Hollywood. Or as President Obama would call it, Real America.”

The long list of Obama’s A-list re-election supporters included George Clooney, Robert De Niro, Samuel L Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Morgan Freeman and Robert Redford.

Republican Mitt Romney’s celebrity backers were far fewer in number — the most high-profile, Clint Eastwood, raised eyebrows by talking to an imaginary Obama in an empty chair at the Republican convention in August.

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RNC Doubles Down On Gay Marriage Stance Amid Conservative Pressure

Posted on April 13, 2013

With support for gay marriage at a record high among Americans, Republican party leaders from around the country doubled down to oppose it at the Republican National Committee’s spring meeting in Los Angeles Friday.

Members of the committee voted unanimously to reaffirm the language in the GOP platform defining marriage “as the union of one man and one woman.” The resolution went further, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to “uphold the sanctity of marriage in its rulings on Proposition 8 and the Federal Defense of Marriage Act.”

An ABC News-Washington Post poll conducted in March found that 58 percent of Americans said it should be legal for gay and lesbian couples to marry. And support for gay marriage has been increasing among Republicans: In the latest poll, 34 percent of them said they supported it — an 18 point uptick from 2004.

Earlier today, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus joked in his remarks to the group that Lady Gaga won’t be “chairing our platform committee.” Gaga is a noted gay rights activist.

“It’s absolutely not true that I asked Lady Gaga to perform at the Reagan Library dinner tonight,” according to a text of Priebus’s prepared comments, a reference to reports that a separate GOP group offered to pay the entertainer to perform at an event during last summer’s Republican National Convention. “For the record, she also won’t be chairing our platform committee or serving as our new director of surrogate operations.”

Republican leaders have been meeting this week at a hotel less than a mile from West Hollywood, Calif., a city with a large gay and lesbian population.

The vote may appease social conservatives who have been threatening to withhold their support from the GOP over rifts about where the party is headed on social issues.

After the Republican National Committee hinted at new outreach to gay voters, and possibly changing its stance or at least its tone on gay-rights issues, 11 influential social-conservative groups aired their grievances in a letter addressed to Priebus timed to coincide with the start of the RNC’s meeting.

Led by Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, who told donors not to give national Republican leaders “a dime of your hard-earned money” until the party clarified its positions on social issues.

“We respectfully warn GOP leadership that an abandonment of its principles will necessarily result in the abandonment of our constituents to their support,” the groups warned Priebus. “We could not change that even if we wished to.”

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RNC Doubles Down On Gay Marriage Stance Amid Conservative Pressure

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Max Keiser Endorses Gold, Silver and Bitcoin

Posted on March 28, 2013

I recommend Gold, Silver and Bitcoin as a safehaven, says the host of RTs Keiser Report.”

(PRWEB) March 28, 2013

He then writes, As always, I recommend Gold, Silver and Bitcoin as a safe haven during this turbulent time.

Keiser is also trying to produce the first Hollywood movie ever financed using Bitcoin. To learn more click here! He has followed Bitcoin through its monumental rise to its headline-topping $90 price. Max Keiser has also predicted $500 silver bullion.

Bitcoin has gained attention over the last months, especially as the crisis in Cyprus has erupted.

Justin Gold Silver Bitcoin 307.222.8700 Email Information

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West Bank Boys & Girls Club benefits from children’s talent showcase in Metairie

Posted on March 20, 2013

Hollywood South has a new generation of stars to look forward to, as several New Orleans child actors performed for an audience at Jaq’s Acting Studio in Metairie during a recent event designed to benefit the West Bank Boys and Girls Club and Children’s Hospital, and showcase local talent to professionals in the film industry.

Free and open to the public, the event took place on March 2 and attracted dozens of people, including a handful of local business owners, film producers, booking agents and other professionals in the entertainment industry. Donations were accepted for the Boys and Girls Club and the Hospital.

“These kids here have never even met me, and they put on an event for an organization that helps other kids. That speaks volumes for what they’re trying to do here today,” said Tim Joyce, unit director of the Boys and Girls Club in Gretna.

The cast consisted of 12 children, ages 5 to 10, who also wrote, produced and directed the approximately 45-minute long show. Each scene carried its own plot and demonstrated the actors’ abilities to perform in a variety of genres ranging from comedy to drama.

Many professionals in the film industry took notice of the talent, including University of New Orleans alumna Mel Caudle, a producer and screenwriter who operates LACA NOLA Talent Group, an agency that began in Los Angeles and expanded into Hollywood South.

“One of the reasons I came was to scout talent for the agency, and I actually signed four kids today,” Caudle said.

The children, each of whom is booked for either a film or television production, train at Jaq’s Acting Studio, located at 3121 Metairie Road and owned by actress Jaqueline “Jaq” Fleming, a Kenner resident who moved from Los Angeles to Hollywood South several years ago. Fleming holds credits in dozens of feature productions, such as “Contraband,” “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” and HBO’s hit series “Treme.”

“Hollywood South and its citizens offer an unparalleled friendship to the film industry, and I think if the industry wants to keep that relationship, it has to find additional ways to give back,” Fleming said. “So that was part of our goal today.”

Fleming said that one way Louisiana might secure its dominance in the film industry is by cultivating local talent.

“Hollywood South has everything the industry needs, including very talented actors from inner-city New Orleans,” Fleming said. “With celebrities like Brad Pitt and John Goodman living and working down here, we have the abilities to groom the local talent into the future leaders of show business.”

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Oscars From West Bank to Hollywood. – Video

Posted on February 22, 2013



Oscars From West Bank to Hollywood.
The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is the subject of two documentaries competing in the Best Documentary category at Sunday's Oscars. They tell the story in very different ways. 5 Broken Cameras chronicles life under the Israeli occupation in the West Bank village of Bal'in, and its weekly protests against the Israeli army. Meanwhile, The Gatekeepers chronicles modern Israel through the eyes of every living former director of the Israeli internal security agency. Kevin Connolly reports from the West Bank

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Oscars From West Bank to Hollywood. – Video

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Oscars From West Bank to Hollywood – Video

Posted on February 22, 2013



Oscars From West Bank to Hollywood
We are all used to the glitzy rituals of the Oscar season. Once again this month reputations will be made, frocks will be scrutinised and thanks will be gushed. But this year's ceremony will differ from its predecessors in at least one important respect – it will offer a starring role to the Middle East peace process. Two of the films nominated for the Academy Award for best documentary deal with the vexed issue of Israel and the Palestinians. They tell the story in very different ways.

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Palestinians protest in West Bank, holy site

Posted on February 22, 2013

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JERUSALEM (AP) – Palestinians rallying in support of four hunger striking prisoners have clashed with Israeli forces in the West Bank and at a holy site in Jerusalem.

Israel’s military said hundreds of Palestinians in Hebron and elsewhere in the West Bank threw rocks at soldiers who responded with tear gas. Palestinian emergency services said dozens were treated for tear gas inhalation and rubber bullet wounds.

In Jerusalem, dozens of Palestinians emerging from Friday prayers threw rocks at officers who responded with stun grenades, police said. That clash was at a key holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

Protests have been ongoing for about a week. Israel holds a few thousand Palestinians on charges ranging from rock throwing to deadly attacks.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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