Monthly Archives: August 2012

 

Former Ulster Unionist MP Ken Maginnis has quit the party after 50 years. The party leadership had distanced itself from Mr Maginnis when he referred to gay marriage as “unnatural and deviant behaviour”.

He later insisted he stood by his remarks, referring to “unnatural physical acts” by “deviants”.

“These are people that seem to take some pride expressing their particular rights. I disagree with those rights and that deviance,” he added.

Party leader Mike Nesbitt and senior party members were clearly embarrassed by his attack and today he said it was time to leave.

Ken Maginnis Quits Ulster Unionist Party After Controversial Comments (RTE News)

Thanks Lars Biscuits

Dubliner Juliet Casey (above) writes:

I have been training in classical ballet since I was three years old and have been a member of the Irish National Youth Ballet Company since I was 12. I am now 17 and have been accepted after a difficult audition process to the Northern Ballet School in Manchester. However, the fees are STG£11,310 and I have to raise this money before the beginning of term (September 2012) or I will not be able to take up my place. If anyone is interested there will be a fund-raising “Evening of Classical Music” at 7pm on Friday [August 31] in Kimmage Manor, Whitehall Road, Dublin 12. Thank you.

 

Thanks Joe Casey

Dream Of Being A Dancer In The Balance (Alison Healy, Irish Times, August 23)

 

An Israeli judge on Tuesday perpetuated the fiction that [Rachel] Corrie’s death [in March, 2003, while intervening in the demolition of a Palestinian home] was a terrible accident and upheld the results of the military’s own investigation, widely regarded as such a whitewash that even the US ambassador to Israel described it as neither thorough nor credible. Corrie’s parents may have failed in their attempt to see some justice for their daughter, but in their struggle they forced a court case that established that her death was not arbitrary but one of a pattern of killings as the Israeli army pursued a daily routine of attacks intended to terrorise the Palestinian population of southern Gaza into submission.

 

Rachel Corrie Verdict Exposes Israeli Military Mindset (Chris McGreal, Guardian)

Rachel Corrie?