Notable Nudists Update

The following is a list of notable persons living and deceased who have embraced nudism.
It is a growing list ...

John Quincy Adams
Christina Aguilera
Jennifer Aniston
Fiona Apple

Kevin Bacon
Oksana Baiul
Josephine Baker
Eric Balfour
Kylie Bax
Drew Barrymore
David Beckham
Victoria Adams Beckham
Amanda Beard
Jack Black
Lara Flynn Boyle
Kevin Brauche
Melanie Brown
Jimmy Buffett
Robert Burns
Gene Burton

Winston Churchill
Kelly Clarkson
Nadia Comaneci
Billy Connolly
Cindy Crawford

Johnny Depp
Athena Demos
Alan Dershowitz
Cameron Diaz
Dido
Isadora Duncan
Erica Durance

Marianne Faithful
Ralph Fiennes
Colin Farrel
Ralph Fiennes
Colin Fletcher
Flea
Bridget Fonda
Peter Fonda
Matthew Fox
Jamie Foxx
Benjamin Franklin

Eva Gabor
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Gerald Gardner
Ian Gillian
Jeff Goldblum
Cuba Gooding Jr
Amy Grant
Macy Gray
Spalding Gray

Ginger Haliwell
Linda Hamilton
Tom Hanks
Daryl Hannah
Woody Harrelson
Melissa Joan Hart
Nina Hartley
PJ Harvey
Goldie Hawn
Carole Henderson
Robert A. Heinlein
Ernest Hemingway
Margaux Hemingway
Mariel Hemingway
Alfred Hitchcock
Paris Hilton
Fiona Horne
Kate Hudson
Kate Humble
Elizabeth Hurley
Angelica Huston

Enrique Igelsias
Julio Iglesias
Natalie Imbruliga

Hugh Jackman
Janet Jackson
Jade Jagger
Famke Janssen
Lyndon Johnson
Raul Julia

Nicole Kidman
Kiera Knightly
Olga Korbut
Heidi Klum

Avril Lavigne
Lucy Lawless
Heath Ledger
Hyapatia Lee
Lindsay Lohan
Jennifer Lopez
Mario Lopez
Peter Lupus

Andie MacDowell

Matthew McConaughey
Ewan McGregor
Sir Ian McKellen
Sarah McLachlan
Patrick McNee
Elle McPherson

Madonna
Barry Manilow
James Mason
Eva Mendes
Christopher Meloni
Helen Mirren
Demi Moore
Alanis Morrisette
Kate Moss

Jack Nicholson

Patrick "Tip" O'Neal
George Orwell

Paloma Picasso
Pink
Brad Pitt
Sidney Pollock

Sheryl Lee Ralph
Daniel Ratcliffe
Keanu Reeves
Lynn Regrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Tara Reid
Christina Ricci
Fred Rogers
Sara Rue

Claudia Schiffer
Seal
Jerry Seinfeld
Shakira
George Bernard Shaw
Sherri Shepherd
Alicia Silverstone
Jessica Simpson
Rod Sirling
PJ Soles
Britney Spears
Princess Stephanie of Monaco
Patrick Stewart
Joss Stone

Emma Thompson
Henry David Thoreau
Justin Timberlake
Leeann Tweedon

Vince Vaughn

Liv Ullman
Tracey Ullman

Robbie Williams
Bruce Willis
Walt Whitman
Katrina Witt

Xuxu

Adrian Young

Chatter

I see on several forums where Global Warming is back on the front burner and the resurgence in the 'discussion' is being fueled by the haters, deniers, and the ilk trying to shout down any who know better than to believe that Global Warming is not occurring or that humans are not the chief cause in its rapidity.

I guess stupidity is the new Politically Correct thing because any who have called those trolling and spewing such refuse on their nonsense have been censored on all forums I have checked in on. Even one dedicated to the topic(s) of Global Warming and the Environment, where the haters, deniers, and the ilk have invaded and have been trolling unabated for a week now.

So in lieu of discussing solutions the forums have been debased into ranting platforms for the haters, deniers and the ilk and all who opposed the haters, deniers, and the ilk are censored when they have the temerity to present facts and reality in place of lies and fantasy and to name the haters, deniers, and the ilk for what they are - haters, deniers, and the ilk.

George Orwell wherever you are you have to be laughing your ass off at this moment.

Turkish court upholds college head scarf ban

In World News:

Turkey's top court ruled Thursday that Islamic head scarves violate secularism and cannot be allowed at universities, deepening a divide between the country's Islamic-oriented government and secular institutions.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government had tried to allow the scarves at universities as a matter of personal and religious freedom.

But the Constitutional Court verdict said constitutional amendments that were passed by Parliament in February went against secularism.

The head scarf issue is an explosive one Turkey, where the government is locked in a power struggle with secular groups that have support from the military and other state institutions.

The verdict is likely to bode ill for the government. Turkey's chief prosecutor is seeking to disband the ruling party on grounds that it is "the focal point of anti-secular activities" in a separate case at the Constitutional Court. The prosecutor - who has also asked that Erdogan and other party officials be banned from politics for five years - has cited attempts to allow head scarves at universities as a case in point.

Many see the head scarf as an emblem of political Islam, and consider any attempt to allow it in schools as an attack against modern Turkey's secular laws.

There was no immediate comment from the government. Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek said the government would like to see the court's reasoning behind the decision before commenting.

But Bekir Bozdag, a senior lawmaker of the ruling party, said "the Constitutional Court has overstepped its power and interfered in democracy."

"However, this verdict is binding and will be obeyed," he added.

Devlet Bahceli, the leader of a nationalist party which backed the amendments, predicted the decision would accelerate "the divide over religion."

The court's 11 judges voted 9-2 to annul the amendments, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. At least seven votes would be required to disband the party.

A brief statement from the court said the amendments were annulled because they were in violation of some articles of the Constitution, including one that states that "The Turkish Republic is a secular state" and another that says that altering the secular nature of the state "cannot even be proposed."

Onur Oymen, a senior lawmaker of the opposition Republican People Party, said the verdict spelled the end to such amendments.

"From now on, no one will be able to attempt to change the Constitution," Oymen told NTV television.

"This decision reminds the ruling party what it can or cannot do despite winning 47 percent of the votes," Husamettin Cindoruk, former parliament speaker, told NTV television. "This decision has set the boundaries and reshaped the state."

In February, Parliament passed constitutional amendments to allow head scarves to be worn at universities - but not in schools or state offices. The secular opposition immediately appealed the ruling to the top court.

Turkey's 70 million people are predominantly Muslim. But secularists feared that lifting the ban at universities would erode Turkey's secular nature and create pressure on all female students to cover themselves.

Pious female students have been forced to remove their head scarves at the entrance to campuses. Some have attended classes wearing wigs.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded modern Turkey after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, banned religious attire in daily life. The ban has been vigorously enforced in public office and schools after a 1980 military coup.

It just goes to show that the very in the minority fundies are trying to dictate to all everywhere.

Everyone remembers that fallacy we had here called the "moral majority" which was neither moral or a majority - not even close to either one.

These idiots are the same no matter what grandiose self labels they claim for themselves, they are petty, small-minded, haters and no amount of protestation on their part will alter reality.

The court in Turkey ruled as the law is and should be, something the fundies are finding more and more as their whiny tirades have worn out a long time ago for everyone with a functioning brain in the world - which has caused those tirades to become even more and more shrill as the desperation sinks in deeper and deeper into their fragile ideology.

Lesbian kiss at Seattle ballpark stirs up gay-friendly town

Off the Newswire:

Most of the time, a kiss is just a kiss in the stands at Seattle Mariners games. The crowd hardly even pays attention when fans smooch.

But then last week, a lesbian complained that an usher at Safeco Field asked her to stop kissing her date because it was making another fan uncomfortable.

The incident has exploded on local TV, on talk radio and in the blogosphere and has touched off a debate over public displays of affection in generally gay-friendly Seattle.

"Certain individuals have not yet caught up. Those people see a gay or lesbian couple and they stare or say something," said Josh Friedes of Equal Rights Washington. "This is one of the challenges of being gay. Everyday things can become sources of trauma."

As the Mariners played the Boston Red Sox on May 26, Sirbrina Guerrero and her date were approached in the third inning by an usher who told them their kissing was inappropriate, Guerrero said.

The usher, Guerrero said, told them he had received a complaint from a woman nearby who said that there were kids in the crowd of nearly 36,000 and that parents would have to explain why two women were kissing.

"I was really just shocked," Guerrero said. "Seattle is so gay-friendly. There was a couple like seven rows ahead making out. We were just showing affection."

On Monday, Mariners spokeswoman Rebecca Hale said that the club is investigating but that the usher was responding to a complaint of two women "making out" and "groping" in the stands.

"We have a strict non-discrimination policy at the Seattle Mariners and at Safeco Field, and when we do enforce the code of conduct it is based on behavior, not on the identity of those involved," Hale said.

The code of conduct - announced before each game - specifically mentions public displays of affection that are "not appropriate in a public, family setting." Hale said those standards are based on what a "reasonable person" would find inappropriate.

Guerrero denied she and her date were groping each other, saying that along with eating garlic fries, they were giving each other brief kisses.

On Tuesday, Guerrero said a Mariners director of guest services had apologized to her. The team spokeswoman could not immediately confirm that.

After the story broke, the Mariners were blasted by the sex-advice columnist Dan Savage, who wrote about the incident on the blog of the Stranger, an alternative weekly paper.

"I constantly see people making out," Savage said. "My son has noticed and asked, `Do they show the ballgame on women's foreheads?'"

Savage called for a "kiss-in" to protest against the Mariners.

Web sites have been swamped with blog postings for and against Guerrero and her date. And the story has people talking in Seattle.

"I would be uncomfortable" seeing public displays of affection between lesbians or gay men, said Jim Ridneour, a 54-year-old taxi driver. "I don't think it's right seeing women kissing in public. If I had my family there, I'd have to explain what's going on."

"It all depends on the degree," Mark Ackerman said as he waited for a hot dog outside Safeco Field before Wednesday's game. "Even for heterosexual couples."

Since the incident, Guerrero's job and her past have come under scrutiny. She works at a bar known for scantily clad women and was a contestant on the MTV reality show "A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila," in which women and men compete for the affection of a bisexual Internet celebrity.

"People are saying it's 15 more minutes for my career," Guerrero said of the ballpark furor, "but this is not making me look very good."

In 2007, an Oregon transit agency chief apologized after a lesbian teenager was kicked off a bus when a passenger complained about her kissing another girl.

Also in 2007, a gay rights group protested a Kansas City, Mo., restaurant they said ejected four women because two of them kissed, and a Texas state trooper was placed on probation in 2004 for telling two gay men who were kissing at the state Capitol that homosexual conduct was illegal in Texas.

"There's a double standard. That's the bottom line," said Pat Griffin, director of the It Takes a Team! Education Campaign, an initiative from the Women's Sports Foundation to eliminate homophobia in sports.

*****

I agree with Mr. Ackerman's assessment it all depends on the degree of 'affection' being shown in public by anyone.

Holding hands or a kiss - even one of those deep sweep'em off their feet ones ... depending on the situation - are fine by me. Hell, the Mrs., is forever wont to grab my ass in the grocery store and I've seen others doing that as well.

Grabbing the genitals off your significant other in public is pushing the line out of the way and is not appropriate public behavior. Also, the horizontal mambo is best kept out of public view.

So, unless the ladies were involved in mutual public masturbation or copulation there is no problem.

All right there is a problem ... and it is in the mind of the 'woman' who complained, who is just another example of ignorant busy-bodies trying to dictate what others can do.