A new opinion poll suggests Sweden’s socialist opposition dips in popularity.

About a half an hour ago, members of the extreme far-left organization AFA held a demonstration to protest against the police. I think of them as toddler commies with the compulsive sadist’s fetish for human suffering. A funny thing about their demonstration was the speaker who referred to the gathered few as “the masses”.

“Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired at least five projectiles at southern Israel on Saturday morning, with a Grad-type rocket hitting an Asheklon school,” the Jerusalem Post reports.

I have heard many similar stories to this one. Being gay and religious is tough.

This is scary stuff, from The Onion:

A little more than a month after the first family’s move to the White House, reports of strange happenings have continued to surface, with Sasha Obama confirming Tuesday that she had once again been visited by the eerie specter of the Bush twins.

Expect a sea of blood in the stairs shortly.

A new study suggests a link between conservative opinions and consumption of pornography. “Those states that do consume the most porn tend to be more conservative and religious than states with lower levels of consumption,” Ewen Callaway of New Scientist writes. This seems to be confirmed by the fact that Utah is the single biggest consumer of online pornography in America. Now we know what all those well-dressed Mormon men do when no one is watching.

I have written an article about the many rockets fired into Israel from Gaza and the City of Malmö’s political decision not to allow an audience at the forthcoming Davis Cup tournament in protest against Israel’s response to these rocket attacks. Swedish newspaper Sydsvenska Dagbladet publishes my article in its online edition today. Read it here, or download it here.

Doug Ireland in Gay City News:

When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made his infamous claim at a September 2007 Columbia University appearance that ““In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country,” the world laughed at the absurdity of this pretense.

Now, a forthcoming book by a leading Iranian scholar in exile, which details both the long history of homosexuality in that nation and the origins of the campaign to erase its traces, not only provides a superlative reply to Ahmadinejad, but demonstrates forcefully that political homophobia was a Western import to a culture in which same-sex relations were widely tolerated and frequently celebrated for well over a thousand years.

Well, Western import is one thing. However, I think the Islamic Revolution did more to harm gay people in Iran than Christianity. But I could be wrong. I will add Janet Afary’s Sexual Politics in Modern Iran to my “to read” list.

I have made a few changes to the design of this website, so if it looks really messed up, I suggest you reload. I’m not sure why, but sometimes it takes a couple of reloads.

James Kirchick comments on a gay organization in San Francisco that advocates financial divestment from the Jewish State:

Although you will find few out-and-out Marxists in the leadership of gay organizations today, most gay activists still view the world with the same sort of “oppression” complex epitomized by the early radicals who led the GLF. They believe gay people to be “oppressed,” and hold that any other group claiming the same victim status should earn the support of gays.

It’s for this reason that every major gay organization was so hesitant to talk about the overwhelming support among African-Americans to ban gay marriage in California, and why the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force went so far as to commission a bogus study ostensibly refuting that disturbing statistic itself. In the estimation of the gay rights establishment, African-Americans, like gays, are “oppressed,” and there is no room for enemies on the left.

But gays will never get anywhere as long as they view the world in this constrictive and counterproductive way. Indeed, if one wanted to construe a “gay” position on the Arab-Israeli conflict—that is, examine the issue purely through the prism of the welfare of gay people—the inescapable stance is nothing less than partiality for Israel. Israel, after all, is the only state in the Middle East that legally enshrines the rights of gay people. Gays serve openly in the military and occupy high-profile positions in business and public life, and Tel Aviv is an international gay mecca. As cliched as it may sound, Israel is an oasis of liberal tolerance in a reactionary religious backwater, and if gay people want to stand with the “oppressed” of the region, it is the Palestinians seeking a peaceful, two-state solution, not the murderers of Hamas or their backers in Tehran, who merit support.

There is another aspect to the matter. Israel has granted asylum to many gay men and women fleeing homophobic harassment in Palestinian and Arab communities. Had it not been for the Jewish State—with its devotion to democracy and human rights—more gay Muslims would have seen an early death. Why, then, do so many prominent gays and lesbians in Europe and North America side with Hamas and Hezbollah against Israel? Have they internalized the homophobic idea that the welfare of homosexuals is somehow less important than that of heterosexuals?

Early this morning, an extreme left-wing group calling itself Global Intifada completely destroyed three Swedish supermarkets to protest America.

The love affair is not new, but the subject is taboo in leftist circles. It’s the new love that dare not speak its name.

Communist writer Jan Myrdal and Islamist poet Mohamed Omar found each other during an interview about their joint fear of homosexuality and gay rights. It’s quite a fascinating read. Unfortunate for some of my readers, it’s in Swedish and too long to translate.

Relating to my previous entry on homophobic conspiracy theories, here is a contemporary classic. According to Kuwaiti Islamist Sa’d Al-’Inzi, the regular death penalty is too good for people who make love to someone of the same sex. He thinks gay people are “an epidemic plaguing society.”

This is so sad. Still, I cannot stop laughing at the organized homophobes’ latest conspiracy theory about the gay takeover. Apparently, Scott Lively—author of the popular myth that gays controlled the Nazi Party in Germany and subsequently are to blame for everything Hitler did—has inspired Christian radio host Stephen Langa’s imagination. Box Turtle Bulletin quotes him as saying:

In most cases, porn is a tool used by the homosexuals as the first step toward introducing homosexuality (sex between people of the same sex) to a conservative society like Uganda. They know that if they come directly, they will not be accepted, so what they do is introduce pornography first to that society. The porn then corrupts the minds and morals of that society. After that goal has been achieved, they then introduce homosexuality as an acceptable alternative to heterosexual (sex between a man and a woman) sex. This is because it is much easier to introduce homosexuality to a porn addict than a non-consumer of porn. For example, the founder of Playboy Magazine, was a self-professed homosexual.

This man is now arranging a seminar against homosexuality in Uganda in order to fight back the big gay conspiracy, which, according to a press release, is “recruiting school boys and girls at an alarming rate using a variety of methods.” Needless to say, Mr Lively will attend the seminar, too. I wonder what the two men will come up with next. Perhaps they can somehow link the gay lobby to the Rwandan Genocide.

Read more at Afro Gay and Gay Uganda.

“If we weren’t meant to eat animals, why are they made of meat?” I heard someone say rhetorically earlier today. Who can argue against such a strong argument?

There’s not enough time. Sweden’s tennis match with Israel will remain in Malmö. The Local has more.

Related: Fredrik Sieradzki writes that growing hostility towards Jews has made life nearly impossible in Malmö.

This is a course I would like to do:

The seminar will examine the historical context, the factual matrix and the legal issues concerning the trial(s) of Jesus by the Jewish and Roman authorities. Readings will include some of the principal primary sources and a selection from the vast secondary literature.

The dream case for any lay juror.

Like all true Trotskyites, Swedish blogger Katarina Wikström does not allow critical comments on her website. But you can always count on a blogger’s narcissism, so by posting my brief comment to her here—in an English translation—she will most surely read it (even if she will deny it).

Dear Ms Wikström,

You write that those of us who are upset over the recent outburst of anti-Semitism in Europe are using the term carelessly. I beg to differ and would like to draw your attention to you own organization and its habit of labelling all criticism of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran “Islamophobia”. In all honesty, don’t you think your attack on us is merely a case of projection bias?

Turns out Catholic bishop Richard Williamson not only denies the Holocaust but also denies women’s ability to think. According to a BBC profile, he has said, “A woman can do a good imitation of handling ideas, but then she will not be thinking properly as a woman.” The same article states that Williamson, less than a year ago, described The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as “authentic”.

Interesting in these times of camouflaged anti-Semitism is the bishop’s own definition of the term:

“My definition of anti-Semitism is to be against every single Jew purely because he’s a Jew. That’s not at all my case. I once had a Jewish rabbi come and speak to seminarians. Does that sound to you like anti-Semitism?”

It sounds a lot like the excuse all bigoted people use.

In its context, this is quite funny.

In a response to the Pope inviting Holocaust-denier Richard Williamson back into the Catholic family, Jewish comedian and talk-show host Lior Shlein (Israel’s answer to Jay Leno) thought it appropriate to mock Christian beliefs by speculating about Jesus being obese and unable to walk on water. “He was so fat he was ashamed to leave the house, let alone go to the Sea of Galilee with a bathing suit,” he said on Israeli television.

The Vatican protests the stunt.

(Seen in picture is Fat Jesus by Anna Krenz.)

Update at 16:25: BBC reports that Lior Shlein has apologized.

Dustin Lance Black, winner of the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, in his thank-you speech a few hours ago:

When I was 13 years old, my beautiful mother and my father moved me from a conservative Mormon home in San Antonio, Texas to California and I heard the story of Harvey Milk. And it gave me hope. It gave me the hope to live my life, it gave me the hope to one day live my life openly as who I am and that maybe even I could fall in love and one day get married.

I want to thank my mom who has always loved me for who I am, even when there was pressure not to. But most of all, if Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he’d want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told that they are less than by their churches or by the government or by their families that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights, federally, across this great nation of ours. Thank you, thank you, and thank you God for giving us Harvey Milk.

(Via Box Turtle Bulletin and Tor Billgren.)

Swedish media reports that Sweden might have its Davis Cup match with Israel moved to Stockholm after local socialist politicians in Malmö decided not to allow spectators in the stands. Moving the game is preferred to the shameful treatment the Israeli tennis players will experience in Malmö, but this local outburst of “politically correct” anti-Semitism is embarrassing to all decent people living in this city.

Swedish newspaper Kvällsposten asked its online readers what they think about the political decision not to allow a live audience at the tennis match between Sweden and Israel. A majority of 62 per cent says the game should go ahead with an audience in the stands.

Background here.

“The Moderate Party lost 6,400 members last year,” The Local writes. “Over the last two years, the party’s membership has shrunk by 20 percent, and now stands at 54,858.”

This is an odd country. People are willing to pay more than half their wages in taxes, but only a tiny few are willing to makes sure the money is well spent. People expect politicians to do more, but refuse to become politicians themselves.

This attitude reminds me of Homer Simpson’s slogan when running for Sanitation Commissioner in Springfield—“Can’t Someone Else Do It?”

The print edition of QX Magazine, which I co-founded in 1995, had a record large circulation in 2008 according to official statistics. And the online edition had approximately 100,000 readers a week. This makes QX by far the largest gay publication in Scandinavia.

A big hug from me to the editors and staff at QX. You not only provide the gay community with great products, you also make sure I get some sweet new money in my bank account every now and then.

The Royal Court Theatre in London runs a new play whish “portrays Israeli parents as inhuman triumphalists who care little about anything except their children’s feelings and who teach them that Arabs are sub-human and must be hated,” accordning to the Jerusalem Post. The play is written by Caryl Churchill and said to be a “10-minute history of Israel, ending with the bombing of Gaza”. However, this history lesson fails to mention that the Six Day War was a defensive war, that all Jewish settlers left Gaza in 2005, and that the bombing of Gaza came after Hamas had launched more than 6,000 rockets against Israeli civilians.

I guess the next step for modern anti-Semites will be to deny the Holocaust and confirm Hitler’s ideas about Jews being like rats. All camouflaged as legitimate criticism of Israel, naturally.

(Seen in picture is a cartoon from a Nazi exhibition in 1938. An octopus with a Star of David over its head has its tentacles encompassing a globe, symbolizing the global Jewish conspiracy and disrespect for other people.)

The City of Malmö’s governing socialist majority decided yesterday to bar any audience from watching three forthcoming tennis matches between Sweden and Israel. The games, scheduled for 6-8 March, are part of the first round of the Davis Cup.

The Social Democratic Party voted in favour of the communist Left Party’s motion to enforce empty seats in the stand at the games. Officially, it is a protest against Israeli attacks in retaliation for Hamas rockets; but in reality, it is one of the communist party’s many public displays of solidarity with Palestinian terrorism. The message is as simple as it is disturbing—Israeli civilians are legitimate targets of rocket attacks while Hamas militants are not.

My own party, the Moderates, voted against the motion.

“It’s a black day for Malmö,” says the Moderate Party’s representative in a statement. “This is a matter of democracy. It’s our responsibility to find measures to protect these five young Israeli tennis players.”

A number of socialist and Islamist groups have announced their intention to hold the biggest ever anti-Jewish rally during the games.

I expect we will hear more people hailing Hitler in the streets presently. And I predict the Swedish far-left bloggers will say attacks on Jewish people and institutions are criticism of Israel rather than anti-Semitism.

Postscript: This entry was meant to be posted early this morning, but my Internet connection has been down most of the day.

Alan Dershowitz:

Every time Israel seeks to defend its civilians against terrorist attacks, it is accused of war crimes by various United Nations agencies, hard left academics and some in the media. It is a totally phony charge concocted as part of Hamas’ strategy—supported by many on the hard left—to delegitimate and demonize the Jewish state. Israel is the only democracy in the world ever accused of war crimes when it fights a defensive war to protect its civilians. This is remarkable, especially in light of the fact that Israel has killed far fewer civilians than any other country in the world that has faced comparable threats.

Continuing:

Just to take one comparison, consider the recent wars waged by Russia against Chechnya. In these wars Russian troops have killed tens of thousands of Chechnyan civilians, some of them willfully, at close range and in cold blood. Yet those radical academics who scream bloody murder against Israel (particularly in England) have never called for war crime tribunals to be convened against Russia. Nor have they called for war crime charges to be filed against any other of the many countries that routinely kill civilians, not in an effort to stop enemy terrorists, but just because it is part of their policy.

Nor did we see the Nuremburg-type rallies that were directed against Israel when hundreds of thousands of civilians were being murdered in Rwanda, in Darfur and in other parts of the world. These bigoted hate-fests are reserved for Israel.

It’s remarkable, yes, but it’s easy to why the hard-left academics behave this way. Socialism is closely linked to racism: it advocates collectivism and sees people as group members rather than individuals. Furthermore, contemporary socialist academics tend to be cultural relativists, which means they don’t hold any moral values for facts but rather expressions of values held in a certain context. Judgements are based on stereotypes rather than any objective analysis. This contempt for human dignity is grotesque only if one holds certain human rights to be universal. The hard left does not. To them, a human being has only the rights his cultural context allows him. This is why thousands of deaths in Darfur are nothing compared to a few hundred killed in Gaza. To paraphrase George Orwell’s Animal Farm—a novel about this exact problem with socialism: All people are equal, but some people are more equal than others.

Ken Starr—previously obsessed with Bill Clinton’s penis—has filed a brief to retroactively annul the 18,000 same-sex couples married in California before Proposition 8 was passed in November 2008.

On 14 February, I wrote about one of my many gay cyberfriends, an orthodox Jew who planned to come out to his wife and parents at the weekend. In case you are curious, I can tell you that he changed his mind about his parents but told his wife about his gayness. Her reply stunned him. All she said was, “I know, I’ve known since I met you.” The two decided to remain married and deal with any future problems when they arise.

In some twisted way, the Hamas propagandists have a sense of humour. Or at least it appears that way after Yaakov Kirschen has interpreted their children programming.

A Moderate Party working group led by Migration Minister Tobias Billström proposes that naturalized Swedes who received their citizenship by using bribes or a false identity could have their citizenship revoked.

I understand why the group thinks this is a good idea, but I beg to differ. In my opinion, the citizenship is for life unless the citizen himself applies for citizenship in another country. If there is a problem with people getting a Swedish citizenship under false pretences, the authorities should enforce stricter procedures. Once citizenship is granted, it should be like adopting a child—an irreversible decision.

More in Swedish here.

A drug that appears to erase painful memories has been developed by scientists. It raises some ethical questions:

Dr Daniel Sokol, a lecturer in medical ethics at St George’s, University of London, said: ‘Removing bad memories is not like removing a wart or a mole. It will change our personal identity since who we are is linked to our memories.

‘It may perhaps be beneficial in some cases, but before eradicating memories, we must reflect on the knock-on effects that this will have on individuals, society and our sense of humanity.’

A pill like this would be perfect for the morally challenged serial one-night-stander. Could be marketed in combination with the already existing day-after pill.

- Do you often come to this bar?
- I don’t have the faintest idea.

A Jewish freak offers a thought experiment:

Imagine you are looking at a drop of blood under a powerful microscope. You are able to see white blood cells attacking and consuming foreign invaders. You say: It sure does seem like the white blood cells want to go after those foreigners! But they are pretty complacent when there are no invaders. What vigilant guardians are these beings! But then you come back to reality and realize that although it seems that they have a will and mind of their own, it’s really all just chemical reactions.

Imagine giant alien beings are looking down at humanity. One says: Look at those humans, they seek pleasure, avoid pain, they often act according to a moral code; they even make scientific discoveries! The other one says: It sure does seem that way, but we both know that it’s really all just chemical reactions.

How are we different from the white blood cells?

The author thinks of this as a “free will experiment”. I’m not sure it has much to do with free will, it is rather an argument for moral realism.

Hugo Chávez expels European politician for calling him a dictator:

Luis Herrero, a Spanish MEP from the right-wing Popular Party, was asked by the National Electoral Council to leave “to preserve the peace and guarantee the election’s normal development,” according to a statement from the Venezuelan foreign ministry, which added that the lawmaker was on a commercial flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil.

In comments to journalists, Mr Herrero had earlier called on Venezuelans to vote freely.

“They should never be carried away when they vote by the fear that a dictator tries to impose in a premeditated way,” the Spanish MEP said.

One of Hugo Chávez’s best friends, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il, will celebrate his birthday by firing a long-range rocket. Personally, I hope the rocket hits the “Dear Leader” in the face. That would be a truly divine birthday gift.

Hugo Chávez won the referendum to abolish presidential term limits the second time around. With the courts, the legislature, the media, and the election council all under his control, I think we can expect Chávez’s totalitarian regime to stay in power until he dies.

An anonymous Swedish blogger thinks a sentence in my presentation is hilarious. I’m not sure what exactly triggers the laugher, but I guess it has something to do with my pretentious tone. In any event, I have now changed “Although I master the Swedish language flawlessly” to “Although Swedish is my native language”. No one can claim to master a language flawlessly, so I hereby admit my imperfection. Now, don’t tell me I never listen to criticism.

Speaking of anonymous bloggers, I once asked an American blogger why he withheld his real name when his blog contained such serious analyses of politics and literature. “When I’m drunk I like to post pictures of my erect cock,” he replied. That, in my opinion, is one of very few legitimate reasons for a blogger not to disclose his real name.

“For the first time in history more than half the world is middle-class,” The Economist writes in a special report.

What sad news for those who argued that globalization would only create more poverty.

A truly rewarding thing about writing this blog is the development of online friendships with people I normally would not know. One of these friends is an orthodox Jew who struggles with his homosexuality. For some reason, he says corresponding with me through occasional emails helps him in his daily life. I am not sure how my often brutish comments about his line of Judaism help him; but apparently, they do.

I was too tired to check my emails when I came home yesterday, so I missed a short message from my frum friend that says he will come out to his wife and parents after the Sabbath this evening. This might not seem as big of a deal to many of my secular and Swedish readers, but knowing what his community is about, I almost fear for his life if he goes through with it.

To illustrate the intensity of homophobia within the orthodox community, I post this letter by Kevin J. Cohen, published in In Jerusalem in 1998:

I am an orthodox Jewish man and I’m gay. Did I want to be this way?

Did I choose this? Did I try to change? No, I never chose this, didn’t want it and did try to change. I tried to change because people like Chaya Rochel Schwartz and the anonymous haredi [ultra-orthodox] rabbi hate me for what I am. I tried to change because I was told by the anonymous rabbi’s fellow haredim that what I am is evil and if I can’t change and can’t keep myself from acting on what I am, I should kill myself. This was not something said to me by some schoolyard bully nor by an ignoramus. This was said by prominent rabbis in the haredi world. I’m sick. I’m disgusting. I don’t deserve respect.

Anonymous Rabbi, Ms. Schwartz, Ms. Anonymous, and all the rest who feel this way about me, allow me to clear the record once and for all. I’m not ill. I was going crazy, but it was because I was trying to fit into what I was told I should be. Not because of what I am. Perhaps you are not aware of the statistics, so allow me to enlighten you. According to the most optimistic estimates, it is possible for only 1/3 of all homosexuals to change in any way. These are not my numbers. These numbers are from Rabbi David Bleich of Yeshiva University in his responsa on homosexuality. These numbers are from NARTH, a national organization in the United States dedicated to “curing” homosexuality. These numbers also include those who claimed they had changed after being tortured with such barbarous acts as electro-shock therapy. It includes those who learned to lie. It includes those who got married and a few years later destroyed their families because they realized they were fooling themselves. It includes those who claimed to have changed and killed themselves a few years later when they realized that they hadn’t.

Finally, allow me to address your readers who feel as Ms. Schwartz and the anonymous rabbi do. I am an orthodox Jew. I keep as many mitzvot as I can. I keep Shabbat, kashrut, teffilin—all manner of Jewish law in fact. However, Anonymous Rabbi, Ms. Schwartz, there is one particular Jewish law that you may have forgotten in your zeal. One which I have tried to hold to as much as possible. It is “v’ahavta lre’echa kamocha.” Love your fellow Jew as yourself.

I know my friend will not read emails or my blog on the Sabbath, but I wish him all the best no matter what he decides to do later today.

A reader has sent me a link to an article about Salman Rushdie and the controversies following the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses. The article says a lot about Western cowardice towards Islamism, as this quotation from Jimmy Carter makes it blatantly clear:

Rushdie’s book is a direct insult to those millions of Moslems whose sacred beliefs have been violated... The death sentence proclaimed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, however, was an abhorrent response. It is our duty to condemn the threat of murder [but] we should be sensitive to the concern and anger that prevails even among the more moderate Muslims.

What is the point of freedom of expression if one is not allowed to insult sacred beliefs?

This blog is not fun to read at the moment. I realize that. Hopefully, it will get back to some kind of normality in a few days when things are calming down. Here are a few things I have done the past week instead of blogging.

On Monday, I was interviewed by the Moderate Party’s nominating committee. The interview went well, and I got the impression the two questioners were pleased with my performance. I will probably regret writing this on my blog, but I have the strange feeling that this might actually take me all the way to the Swedish Parliament. In the past few weeks, things have happened that make me think I just might be a popular candidate.

During the week, I have prepared for a big exam on Friday. The topic is Richard M. Hare, the British philosopher most famous for his meta-ethical theory of prescriptivism. When I began to read his three books, I thought he might actually have found a middle road between strict realism and non-cognitive emotivism; but as the reading progressed, the feeling that he is simply naïve and/or mad gained strength. In short, what Hare is saying over a few hundred pages is, simply, that people ought to try to think rationally about ethical dilemmas by considering other people’s preferences before making judgements. Look, I said it one sentence!

My other assignment this week is a short seminar paper on Derek Parfit, a British philosopher who hates ethical egoism so much he writes a 500-page book about it without actually bother with the correct definition. If there were an award for wasting time on refuting straw-man arguments, Parfit would win it. Not even Swedish philosopher Roland Poirier Martinsson’s latest fantasies about liberals would stand a chance.

And finally, my big project for the semester will be my thesis on identity politics, ethics, and how the democratic state should treat its minority groups. I will write more about this later.

My regular political work is taking its fair share of my time as well. All this has left me with only a few minutes a day to answer emails and post blog entries.

Clemens Heni:

Germany witnessed probably the biggest anti-Jewish rallies since 1945 during the Gaza war. Meanwhile research centers keep silent, refusing even to discuss such events with Jewish journalists, focusing instead on “Islamophobia.” Why? Are Muslims threatened on German streets by Jewish gangsters screaming, “Death to all Muslims?”

The reality is the opposite, yet no one is listening. Scholars are to take a wait and see attitude as to whether Iran is really dangerous.

Germans (and Austrians) prefer to deal with dead Jews. In that, they are really experienced.

I wonder why Europeans are so eager to condemn Islamophobia while doing nothing about anti-Semitism. I think it has a lot to do with the socialist hegemony in European media and academia, which tends to favour radical Islam because of its opposition to individual liberty and capitalism. The stereotype Jew, on the other hand, represents everything the radical left hates about the liberal democracy.

A new American study suggests smokers are more likely to quit the habit to safeguard their pet’s health than their own.

I recently came across another study that suggested one of the top-ten reasons people buy a dog is severe depression. Perhaps the two studies combined give us an idea on how to deal with suicidal thoughts. In solitude, the depressed mind cannot motivate a healthy lifestyle change; but with a pet about the house, it is doable.

It might seem like a small thing, but often enough bad habits—such as overeating, inactivity, and smoking—are linked or caused by depression, which in turn creates a downward spiral resulting in an even worse state of mind. I think being able to kick a bad habit can bring much-needed self-confidence.

Another good thing about buying a dog is that you are forced to leave the house at least a few times a day, which many people suffering from severe depression do not do by themselves without an external motivator. Taking a few short walks outside is good not only for the body, but for the mind as well.

Solidarity with southern Israel.

Frank Kelber and Jehoshua Kaufman.

People sing the Swedish and Israeli national anthems.

Liberal MEP Olle Schmidt speaks.

The crowd.

Liberal MP Birgitta Ohlsson speaks.

Update: Swedish newspaper Sydsvenska Dagbladet has more pictures.

Update at 19:34: The Local has a report in English, and Martin Olsvenne has more pictures.

Venezuelan people are fed up with Hugo Chávez after ten mostly wasted years. BBC quotes Venezuelan media that reports that about 600,000 people turned out in Caracas yesterday to march against Chávez’s plans for lifelong presidency.

These are only two of the many racist names the Swedish police use as fictional characters in their training. Racist jargon is a huge problem among police officers. Unfortunately, no one dares to address the problem seriously. Instead, people tend to discuss immigration, as if the number of Arabs and Africans in Sweden and Europe excuses racism.

It turns out I’m not gay at all. But my supposedly straight friend with two children and a wife is so gay. Now I don’t know if I dare to get undressed in the locker room when he’s around. He might jump me...

Benny Dagan, Israel’s ambassador to Sweden, was attacked during a seminar at Stockholm University yesterday. A 36-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman interrupted his lecture on Israel’s forthcoming election when they began to throw shoes and books at him. This is the latest in a number of attacks on Jews in Sweden in recent weeks.

Update: Jerusalem Post has more on the attack.

A new Swedish study suggests that gay men who regularly perform fellatio on their HIV-positive partners develop antibodies protecting themselves against infection.

This is good news. I hope we can stop the ridiculous paranoia about oral sex now.

This blog has been silent for two days. I don’t like it, but there simply are not enough hours in a day for me to do all the things I want to. At the university, I’m not only preparing my thesis on ethics and identity politics, I’m also finishing two smaller philosophy courses needed to get my degree before the summer break. At the same time, I have to do my regular political work and get ready for the nominating committee’s final interview before the primary election—and I must do well to stand any chance of getting my name on the Moderate Party’s ballot paper in the next general election. In other words, I’m under a lot of pressure now, and, unfortunately, the blog has to be a lesser priority the next few weeks.

This made me laugh aloud:

S we can! exclaimed the Social Democrat leader Mona Sahlin at the party’s conference in Västerås in southern Sweden on Saturday.

She had intended to evoke associations with US president Barack Obama. But what Sahlin was not aware was that this is the name of an organisation that advocates the legalization of hash and marijuana in Sweden.

“Swecan is a meeting place for cannabis enthusiasts and a source for accurate and science-based information about the weed,” explains the group on their homepage.

“It was fun yesterday (Friday), but if I am to use it again then I shall have to add that I am not calling for the legalisation of cannabis,” Mona Sahlin said to news agency TT.

I think she was stoned when she said that.

In a perfect world, a politician’s sexual orientation shouldn’t matter. Unfortunately, the world is full of people who hate and discriminate gays and lesbians, and subsequently it does matter that Johanna Sigurdardottir, Iceland’s new prime minister, is a lesbian.

“An armed gang ransacks a synagogue in Venezuela, and demands that Jews are expelled from the country,” BBC reports. The Chávez regime denies it has anything to do with the attack. However, a personal friend in Venezuela tells me a government controlled radio station only last week said Jews were to blame for capitalism and subsequently are enemies of the socialist revolution.

“The climate is very tense. We feel threatened, intimidated, attacked,” says Elias Farache, president of Venezuela’s Jewish Association.