links for 2009-01-25

Hundreds of gay-rights activists gathered today at the Los Angeles Convention Center to make plans for repealing Proposition 8, the November ballot measure that banned gay marriage in California.

The Equality Summit began with invocations from a rabbi and a minister, followed by strategy sessions about how to reach out to different ethnic groups, including Asian and Pacific islander Americans, and religious communities.

In the afternoon, attendees were invited to a session about religion and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement. Finally, there were sessions broken out by regions around the state.

King said he's "seriously considering a run" and has planned trips to Brooklyn and Rockland County.

He also said he expected to Gillibrand to quickly alter her positions to diffuse anger from liberals.

"I don't know what she is," he said when asked to describe her political philosophy. "But I do know that Chuck Schumer is telling everybody she's gonna do a 180 on gun control."
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Gillibrand is vulnerable in 2010 and the campaign has started.

Vatican officials said Saturday they were disappointed by President Barack Obama's decision to end a ban on federal funding for international groups that perform abortions or provide information on them.

Monsignor Rino Fisichella, who heads the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life, urged Obama to listen to all voices in America without "the arrogance of those who, being in power, believe they can decide of life and death."

Fisichella said in an interview published Saturday in Corriere della Sera that "if this is one of President Obama's first acts, I have to say, in all due respect, that we're heading quickly toward disappointment."
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Obama's firsts acts: Giving terrorists rights and promoting abortion = FAIL

Two men released from the US "war on terror" prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have appeared in a video posted on a jihadist website, the SITE monitoring service reported.

One of the two former inmates, a Saudi man identified as Abu Sufyan al-Azdi al-Shahri, or prisoner number 372, has been elevated to the senior ranks of Al-Qaeda in Yemen, a US counter-terrorism official told AFP.

Three other men appear in the video, including Abu al-Hareth Muhammad al-Oufi, identified as an Al-Qaeda field commander. SITE later said he was prisoner No. 333.

A Pentagon spokesman, Commander Jeffrey Gordon, on Saturday declined to confirm the SITE information.

"We remain concerned about ex-Guantanamo detainees who have re-affiliated with terrorist organizations after their departure," said Gordon.
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Yet Obama wants to close Gitmo. Well, we will see.