Obama tells gay activists he is committed to equality

Washington (WBN) President Barack Obama, speaking to a gathering of gay and lesbian activists, said Saturday that he is committed to equality, citing the repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy as an example.
Obama said his accomplishments on gay rights issues have been substantial since he last headlined the annual National Dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, in 2009.
He acknowledged "we have more work to do," including on the issue of bullying.
The president currently supports same-sex civil unions, and has said his views on gay marriage are "evolving." He recently announced his support of the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Organizations working actively to legalize same-sex marriage say they hope Obama eventually changes his stance.
While Obama spoke Saturday about equality, he did not speak on the marriage issue.
The president chided participants in a Republican presidential debate last month for not rebuking members of the audience who booed a gay soldier who asked about the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
"We don't believe in standing silent when that happens," Obama said of the debate incident. "You want to be commander-in-chief, you can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States even when it is not politically convenient."
After the debate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum said he hadn't heard the booing when the question was asked. Santorum was being asked the question when the incident occurred.
Obama spoke of growing tolerance measured, he said, by ordinary Americans:
"A father realizes he doesn't just love his daughter but also her wife."
Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said after the speech that Obama reaffirmed commitment to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. "It was a remarkable experience to see openly gay and lesbian uniformed service members in the audience be able to salute their commander in chief" about the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Obama's remarks were delivered to a key constituency that hasn't always been receptive to the president's policies and style of leadership.
"I'd like to see the president bring his message of support for the freedom to marry to a broader audience, perhaps in a conversational setting, so that all Americans can hear him talk about why marriage matters to loving gay and lesbian couples and their families," said Evan Wolfson, the founder and president of Freedom to Marry. "It is important that the president lay out the case for Americans opening their hearts to the values of fairness and treating others as they would want to be treated."
Wolfson, along with other organizations advocating for legal same-sex marriages, said the Obama administration had made significant progress on some issues, but that support for marriage equality was still an important goal.
"We applaud the administration's progress, while we also encourage him to 'evolve faster' on supporting full marriage equality," Stuart Gaffney, media director for Marriage Equality USA, said Saturday. He said he wasn't aware of any opposition within his organization to the HRC's selection of Obama as their keynote speaker.
"We look forward to the day soon when our president stands with that pro-equality majority," Gaffney added.
The Log Cabin Republicans, an organization that represents gay and lesbian conservatives, said Obama's appearance Saturday night was more about politics than substantive policy change.
"President Obama's appearance at the Human Rights Campaign Dinner this evening is more emblematic of their role as an ostensibly partisan organization than a representation of the gay and lesbian community," said Christian Berle, the group's deputy executive director.
Berle said Obama's stance on gay marriage didn't match that of most Americans.
"As all Americans are becoming open to marriage equality, the president is taking a retreat," Berle said. "Instead he is turning to the gay community for money and applause.
"If the president wants to deserve all the money and adulation he has already received from the gay community, he should announce his firm support for everyone's freedom to marry," Berle said.
Saturday's event was expected to draw 3,000 gay activists, and took place at a convention center in downtown Washington. The speech was streamed live online.
A CNN/ORC International poll taken Sept. 9-11 showed 53% of Americans believe marriages between gay and lesbian couples should be considered valid. That number has steadily been rising in CNN/ORC International polls since 2008.

'Children killed' fleeing Gaddafi's home town

FIERCE fighting is raging in Muammar Gaddafi's hometown Sirte as new regime forces press their campaign to capture it from determined loyalists of Libya's former leader. As military casualties mount, a rocket has killed two children when their family joined the desperate exodus of thousands who have already fled a city suffering from a growing humanitarian crisis.
An alternate report said two children and two adults had been killed by machinegun fire as they tried to flee the city.
The focus of the latest fighting was the Ouagadougou Conference Centre, a showpiece venue where Col Gaddafi hosted the launch of the African Union.
A large force of about 100 National Transitional Council (NTC) vehicles, including anti-tank guns and multiple missile launchers, entered the city from the south and circled the compound.
"We are surrounding the Ouagadougou Centre," fighter Osama Blao told AFP as he returned from the front line.

Several NTC fighters said the Red Crescent had asked them to stop firing because Red Cross officials were inspecting the nearby hospital. Some of the fighters pulled back after two hours of intense clashes, during which loyalist forces used snipers and mortar fire.

south Korea moves drills to land border

SOUTH Korea has vowed to "punish the enemy" as hundreds of troops, fighter jets, tanks and attack helicopters prepared massive new drills near the heavily armed border a month after a deadly North Korean artillery attack.

Although the North backed down from its threat to retaliate over South Korean drills on Monday in waters of the west coast claimed by both countries, South Korean forces have been on high alert this week, warning of surprise attacks.
The North responded to a November 23 artillery drill on South Korea's front-line Yeonpyeong Island with an artillery bombardment that killed four, including two civilians.
The North has made some conciliatory gestures in recent days - telling a visiting US governor that it might allow international nuclear inspections of its atomic programs - but Seoul appears unmoved and is bracing for possible aggression.
"We will completely punish the enemy if it provokes us again like the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island," Brigadier General Ju Eun-sik, chief of the army's 1st armored brigade, said.

Start of sidebar.

South Korea's army and air force also planned joint firing drills tomorrow near the Koreas' land border.
The training - the 48th of its kind this year - will be the biggest-ever wintertime joint firing exercise that South Korea's army and air force have staged, the army said.  The drill will involve 800 troops, F-15K and KF-16 jet fighters, K-1 tanks, AH-1S attack helicopters and K-9 self-propelled guns.
South Korea had planned to conduct only 47 drills of this type this year but decided to conduct one more because of continuing tension with North Korea, an army officer said on condition of anonymity citing department rules.
North Korea, meanwhile, indicated to visiting New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson that it was prepared to consider ways to work with the South on restoring security along the border.
Mr Richardson praised Pyongyang for refraining from retaliation and said his visit to the North provided an opening for a resumption of negotiations aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear program.  North Korea pulled out of six-nation talks to provide Pyongyang with aid in exchange for disarmament in April 2009, but since has said it is willing to resume them.
The White House, however, rejected the idea, saying Pyongyang needed to change its "belligerent" behaviour first and was not "even remotely ready" for negotiations.
In Seoul, a senior South Korean government official said the military would remain prepared for the possibility of a "surprise" attack in coming days.  He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
South Korea's Navy began annual four-day firing and anti-submarine exercises today off the country's less-tense east coast.  The east coast was used by the North as a submarine route for communist agents to infiltrate South Korea in the past.

US woman, Wendy Naidas, bursts into WSOC-TV station wielding gun

December 22, 2010

A gun-wielding woman has burst into a US television station, forcing the evening news bulletin off the air, though no one was injured, the station said.

After a brief stand-off with a police SWAT team that surrounded the building of ABC Charlotte, North Carolina affiliate WSOC-TV, the woman was taken into custody. ABC News said she had pulled out a gun and put it to her head, though police later learned the gun was not loaded.

A CBS affiliate in Charlotte, WBTV, identified the woman as Wendy Naidas.

The station went black during the incident, which interrupted its 5pm bulletin but was back on air an hour later. Employees were evacuated to the back section of a parking lot during the incident.

"Not on air. Distraught woman with gun in lobby. Police have building surrounded. Employees evacuated," WSOC-TV anchor Blair Miller said in a message on the Twitter microblog, from inside the station.

Start of sidebar.

Police chief Rodney Monroe told WBTV that Naidas threatened the receptionist and herself while they were barricaded in the building. Although police initially said Naidas had fired at least one shot, Monroe later said no shots had been fired.