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Sometimes I wonder, we demand that governments apologise for the misdeeds of their predecessors whether it comes to the Nanjing Massacre, the slaughter of civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the enslavement of Africans, the 'stolen generation' of Australia, the extermination of the Jews in WWII.....but why no such demands when it comes to the soldiers who died in wars, as opposed to 'glorification'.

In Remembrance of the Victims of War

“About 300 protesters held a candlelit protest outside a Glasgow theatre over the staging of a play which portrays Jesus as a transsexual. The protest was held outside the Tron Theatre, where Jesus Queen of Heaven, in which Christ is a man who wants to become a woman, is being staged. It is part of the Glasgay! arts festival, a celebration of Scotland's gay, bi-sexual and transsexual culture.” [source] Though I’m officially a catholic – even though I’ve given the ‘roman’ prefix an irreverent boot for their playing ‘bourgeois socialist’ in global affairs – I’m not overly concerned about the portrayal of Jesus as a transsexual. After all, if God made man in his image, and if the overuse of ‘man’ and ‘his’ in biblical texts is due to the patriarchal state of affairs wherein it is made sense of, than it would be more true to say that God made WO/man in HER/is image wouldn’t it? Therefore, God might simply be a hermaphrodite, at least insofar as we are to literally appreciate the phrase, ‘God made wo/man in her/is image’.

Most certainly. That is why I saw nothing amiss with Chavez proclaiming Jesus as the ‘greatest socialist in history’ during his inauguration as el presidente of Venezuela – though whether he lives up to the ideals of his spiritual mentor is another matter altogether.

“At this time of year we remember all those who have lost their lives in conflicts around the world both past and present. You can leave a message on a virtual poppy anywhere in the world to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.” Goes the ‘Plant a virtual Poppy’ appeal on BritishLegion.org.uk. I can’t say that I like this association between performing the ‘ultimate sacrifice’ and ‘our freedom’. It strikes me as awfully Orwellian for what is left unsaid – ‘at the behest of the state despite what the rest of you buggers have to say’. I mean, it’s not like a referendum was held was it? Before going on to asking what ‘ultimate sacrifices’ had been made in wars, shouldn’t we be asking what oversights had led to the war? Or does the term ‘ultimate’ in ‘ultimate sacrifice’ serve as an implicit admonishment of those who dare to question beyond the unquestionable ‘ultimate’ –thus presenting the entire divide in terms of a, ‘you’re either with us or against us’. So all it takes for a cause to be for ‘freedom’ is the death of a soldier?

It is said that the battleship is made up of steel melted from the remains of the ‘Twin Towers’. But its metaphorical substance, may not be the resilience of the human spirit, but a waterborne relic of self-absorbed arrogance.

Some have stated that the rise in racial intolerance in the UK can increase the generic incidence of intolerance and impact negatively on gay rights. Quite, but... …it could also be said that the rise of racial intolerance does not necessarily exacerbate homophobia. For instance, if the BNP had successfully ruled Britain for quite some time and achieved its racialist agenda, and moved on to the phase of ‘democratic fascism’ where more rights are demanded by and for the ‘preferred race’, we might actually see increasing respect for gays.

This series of videos is recommended for singaporeans whom claim or aspire to being empathetic - with regards to race relations and integration. It is too easy to claim to be 'democrats' but not as simple to be aware of how one might be fascist especially when such a condition has served as the overarching milieu wherein one was reared.

Eid in the Square celebrates Eid ul-Fitr, the Islamic holiday marking the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting.  It is a day of both cultural significant in Islamic life as well as an occasion for spiritual blessings.  It is a festival of great happiness and celebration and is rejoiced by millions of Muslims around the world, bringing communities, families and friends together.

Obama hails historic resolution to rid world of nuclear weapons• President steers vote through security council• 'A day to celebrate,' say pro-disarmament groups• Datablog: the world in nuclear weapons

"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion," says the Human Rights Act. This freedom includes "the right to manifest his (or her) religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance."

Embarrassment about sex was once the greatest cause of British double standards. Now children, the result of sex, fuel the hypocrisies of perfidious Albion. According to the received wisdom of our times, we are living through a phenomenal feminist advance. Women have stormed the bastions of male privilege and cracked, if not smashed, the glass ceiling.

Sharing a bed may not be conducive for sleepCouples should consider sleeping apart for the good of their health and relationship, say experts.Sleep specialist Dr Neil Stanley told the British Science Festival how bed sharing can cause rows over snoring and duvet-hogging and robs precious sleep. One study found that, on average, couples suffered 50% more sleep disturbances if they shared a bed. Dr Stanley, who sleeps separately from his wife, points out that historically we were never meant to share our beds.

The plot is believed by intelligence sources to have been directed by al-Qaeda. The BBC understands that the key contact for the plotters in Pakistan was a British man, Rashid Rauf. He was reported to have been killed in November 2008 by a US missile strike against militants in Pakistan.

The National Health Service has become the butt of increasingly outlandish political attacks in the US as Republicans and conservative campaigners rail against Britain's "socialist" system as part of a tussle to defeat Barack Obama's proposals for broader government involvement in healthcare.

A Guardian inquiry has also discovered that MPs could be breaking the rules. Ministers have estimated that unpaid interns work up to 18,000 hours a week inside parliament, a saving of more than £5m a year on the national minimum wage. MPs are each given a staffing allowance of £104,000pa.

'Everyone's a pagan now'From morris dancers in mirror shades to green activists getting in touch with their spiritual side, paganism is going mainstream. Cole Moreton reports on a new national faithBuzz up!Digg it

The Italian prime minister has successfully deflected and sidestepped lurid allegations about his supposed liaisons in recent weeks, helped by some timely international summitry which let him demonstrate his statesmanship, not to mention his commitment to dealing with the aftermath of the L'Aquila earthquake.