After eight months of recounts and bitter judicial quarrels, the Minnesota Supreme Court rules that Al Franken take one of the state’s two seats in the United States Senate.

I must admit I forgot about the messy election in Minnesota. In my mind, the dispute was settled months ago.

The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention has published a new report on hate crimes. From The Local:

Last year, almost 5,900 hate crimes (crimes with the intention of offending the victim) were reported in Sweden.

Almost 72 percent (4,225) were judged to have racial or xenophobic motives, 18 percent (1,055) were related to sexual orientation and 10 percent (around 600) had anti-religious motives.

The most common crimes are illegal threats and harassment, which occur twice as often as violent hate crimes.

The countries of the European Union are fed up with Iran’s treatment of British embassy employees. Now the union is threatening the collective withdrawal of their ambassadors in Teheran.

This is good news. A “strong and collective” response to the bullying of one EU member is helping not only Britain, but the entire union. Individual European countries are weak on their own, but working together, they possess a strong influence on world politics.

Meanwhile in Iran, the Guardian Council has confirmed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory after a partial recount. I still think it’s bogus, and so do most independent observers.

According to a new survey, a majority of gay Americans say faith is important to them. This may come as a shock to some as gay people are often portrayed as godless.

On this day forty years ago, the gay-rights movement was set in motion by the riots at Stonewall Inn in New York City. Had it not been for the brave drag queens and a new generation of angry gay men fed up with police harassment and oppression, people like me and many of this blog’s readers would still be forced to hide. The gay movement of today has many flaws, but at its core is still the very liberal idea that no state has the right to tell people whom to love and how to live as long as it does not infringe on other people’s equal rights.

Box Turtle Bulletin has more.

Wikipedia page on the riots here.

There is at least one man in China who does what I do. Xing Zhao hand out condoms and safe-sex information to gay men in Shanghai, which is precisely what I do in southern Sweden this summer.

And for the first time, the Census Bureau has decided to recognize these couples in their ten-yearly survey of the American people. Good.

I predict a blow to the popular homophobic myth that gay people are a tiny, tiny minority not worthy any respect or recognition. When CNN added sexual orientation to their survey of voters before the 2008 presidential election, about four per cent ticked the yes box.

The Daily Mail pictures the sad life and end of a superstar.

There’s still some sanity left in Vilnius.

Background here.

Sunset at midnight over the Strait of Öresund.

Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission—perhaps best known for advocating that Christians should disassociate themselves from gay people to avoid the risk of becoming more tolerant—is now defending the abuse of a gay sixteen-year-old boy by accusing gay-rights activism of racism. “White homosexual activists who demand tolerance for their sexual sin have no right to defame black Christians for practicing their Constitutional religious liberty,” he says in a statement.

Why is it always the most wicked people that label other people sinners?

Oh, in case you thought Gary Cass was black, I can tell you that he is very, very white.

Video clip and more information available here, here, and here.

In a statement published on his website, opposition leader Hosein Mousavi says the election organizers rigged the polls.

No surprise, really. The party leader did say that the Greens and the Liberals were the two most likely groups for his party to join. Now the Pirates have made their decision.

Singer and musician Michael Jackson has died at age fifty after suffering a cardiac arrest in Los Angeles. I was never a big fan, but I did enjoy his music when I was young. His album Thriller was the first tape I listened to when my father bought me my first Walkman in the mid-1980s.

My favourite headline of the day.

From the Shanghaiist:

It has been said that China has 20 million male homosexuals, of whom 80 per cent would marry a woman. These women are the ‘homowives’, and there are 16 million of them.

The ‘homowife’ phenomenon is a phenomenon unique to China, seldom witnessed in other countries. In other countries, homosexuals would remain single or live together or marry other homosexuals. Very few would enter into a heterosexual marriage. This difference comes about because Chinese culture places such a great emphasis on marriage and reproduction, as to make them compulsory.

Heteronormativity in the extreme. Fascinating.

I very much doubt this is unique to China though. The vast majority of gay men live heterosexual lives due to homophobia and social pressure.

Members of a church in Connecticut have exorcized a teenage boy in an attempt to free him of “homosexual demons”. They then posted the session on the Internet.

I am no expert on demons, but I do know that this is child abuse.

A bus in Malmö advertises American culture.

He is absolutely right on the Internet trolls.

I love what the Internet is doing to dictatorships. The old tyrants are losing the battle when even a single email to one blogger can spread around the globe in a few hours. Here is one of many letters from Iran in the past few days. A street artist in Teheran writes:

Yesterday after coming back from street riots, the government banned all satellite TV and all the internet sites like YouTube, and Facebook. They reduced the internet speed from 128k to 12k and so when I tried to send you a video of what was happening on the streets I found that it was impossible.

They bit and hit people and the young on the streets. They fear our power. We trusted them but they abused our votes. We could never imagine such pig minds. I just sent you this and hoped you could spread this news in many blogs. Not just from me but from all Iranian freedom seekers. They are banning us and they make us fear and be silent. Even the person we vote for told us to ‘be silent because these government has no fear to tear your breasts and pour your blood into all Persia rivers...’ The person we vote even asked us to be silent and forget it. He said they are not Muslim and they are liars.

Now the police is like a wolf here and Muslim people in neighbourhoods are trying to laugh and disrespect us as non-Iranians. The government made fires and robbed banks at night to say we (the people) had done this. But people did nothing dangerous or criminal, they just seek their votes. We elected someone else and they made someone else the winner. All the people say this but the government liars.

Some people are wrong for their job. Estate agent Per Karlqvist is one of these people. He is everything a service professional should not be. Swedish blogger Johan Folin tells the story about what happened when his former girlfriend sold her house.

The British Conservatives will form a new centre-right group with homophobes, anti-Semites, and racists in the European Parliament. It is a bad decision by David Cameron. Back in May, I predicted that this short-term populism will hurt him and his party in the end. I still think so. The Tories will now be associated with some of the most ludicrous politicians in Europe.

In an address to both houses of the French parliament yesterday, President Nicolas Sarkozy lashed out at the practice of wearing the Muslim burqa, insisting the full-body religious gown is a sign of subjugation of women and that it will not be welcome in France. He is making the same mistake so many militant secularist are doing these days. Religious practice—including religious clothing—is no problem in a secular state as long as it is not forced upon adult citizens. In fact, a secular state ought to enable people to led religious lives by refraining from normative legislation.

An unusual take on the problem of overeating.

When trying to follow the developments in Teheran, the New York Times’s blog The Lede has proven a valuable source of information. Just thought I recommend it to others interested in what now looks like a pro-democracy revolution in Iran.

I’m very exited about this. The reports about killed and wounded protesters are heartbreaking, but if the freedom fighters win, this could change the entire world. I’m not saying everything would be perfect at once, but imagine the impact if Iran stopped threatening Israel, started to take talks on its nuclear programme seriously, and perhaps even began to really care about its human-rights record. That would be a change for the better comparable to the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.

Fred Phelps, America’s most notorious missionary in homophobic theology, has decided to turn his anger against Jews. From Hatewatch:

Since the mid-1990s, Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) has spelled out its core message in neon-rainbow picket signs that read, “God Hate Fags.” In a series of outrageous stunts, members of WBC have disrupted the funerals of servicemen killed in Iraq for supporting a “Fag-loving” country, protested a memorial for victims of the 2006 Sago mine disaster claiming it was God’s punishment on the US for tolerating homosexuality, and picketed the University of Wisconsin, where three students had recently died in a house fire, claiming the parents were to blame for “teaching them to be whores and bastards.”

Now WBC has turned its ire on the Jewish community, targeting synagogues and Jewish community centers with a new hate-filled taunt, “God Hates Jews.”

It was only to be expected, I suppose. The largest Jewish organizations in America were among the first mainstream religious communities to welcome gay people. David Alex Nahmod, a commenter on Ex-Gay Watch, says it well:

As a Jew, I’m proud to say that outside of Orthodox denominations, Jews are indeed homosexual enablers. Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist Jews have always been supportive of gay rights AND civil rights!

This liberal attitude is, of course, what infuriates Phelps. According to him and his ludicrous church, sincere faith and worship is defined by how much one despises gay people.

(Photo copied from Flickr.)

Police hesitating to follow orders from the unelected leadership—this is how every overthrow of dictatorship in the past decades has begun:

The Iranian police commander, in green uniform, walked up Komak Hospital Alley with arms raised and his small unit at his side. “I swear to God,” he shouted at the protesters facing him, “I have children, I have a wife, I don’t want to beat people. Please go home.”

From Roger Cohen’s New York Times leader on Iran and its Supreme Leader, who has now lost his aura.

According to reports from Haaretz and CNN.

Good! Many Israelis doubt Barack Obama’s commitment to Israel.

Iran’s unelected president and the country’s theocratic regime are trying to stop all communication with the outside world. So far, they have failed. Equipped with mobile telephones, the people blog, text, and send pictures to news agencies around the world. Here is one picture I received in my email via one of the newsgroups I subscribe to.

The people are fighting for the freedom. Huffington Post live-blogs the revolution. So does Andrew Sullivan. And BBC has some regular updates, too.

The Midsummer Weekend is a big thing in this country. In fact, I think many Swedes would say it is the most important holiday of the year. Personally, I have always considered New Year’s Eve the annual highlight. However, I had looked forward to celebrate Midsummer with some nice Jägermeister, but my plans were ruined by extra work and the duty of the designated driver.

I found this picture on one the many blogs that report live from the rallies in Iran. The regime tries to shut down the Internet and stop international news agencies and journalists from reporting, but the Iranian people are fighting back with their mobile telephones and digital cameras.

In May and June, I had only about a dozen genuine reader comments while the number of spam messages rose sharply. Since I’m too busy to spend time go through hundreds of fake comments, I have decided to disable comments on my blog—at least for the time being. Readers are free to send me emails, and I invite you all to post comments on my Facebook page.

While gay people are still being harassed and imprisoned in Cuba, Swedish gay magazine QX publishes an article by hardcore communist Kalle Holmqvist celebrating the Castro regime. The daughter of Raúl Castro and her regime-loyal entourage visited a socialist centre in Stockholm and told the naïve freelancer what he so eagerly wanted to hear—that the Cuban revolution is gay friendly and so very, very progressive and open to new ideas. He ends his article by citing the enthusiastic crowd shouting, “Viva Fidel!”

I want to throw up! In the Jewish world, the self-hating Jew is a well-known phenomenon. The gay community certainly has its share of the same type of people.

My blogging is slow nowadays. I’m spending my days in the company car. Here is a picture I took during a break at Norra Mellby a couple of hours ago.

Koogle is like Google for the kosher-aware ultra-Orthodox Jew. In addition to filtering out any sexual material, the new search engine will stop people from doing online shopping on the Sabbath. “If you try to buy something on the Sabbath, it gets stuck and won’t let you,” website manager Yossi Altman says.

According to unconfirmed information, Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed out at gays in his first public speech after being declared the winner of last week’s fake election. Perhaps he shouldn’t have done that, considering about sixteen per cent of Iranian men have been involved in gay relationships.

Meanwhile, people are still rallying against the election fraud in the streets of Tehran. I suspect many gay men are among those most eager to get rid of Ahmadinejad and the theocratic regime.

Israeli blogger Anna Veeder has written an article in Swedish on why circumcision is so important to Jews. I think it is good that she focuses on the cultural significance of the ceremony, which should apply to at least some of the supposedly liberal atheists organized by the Swedish Humanist Association.

Social workers from a local council in West Yorkshire were so concerned about not appearing homophobic that they overlooked warning signs about two gay foster parents who were sexually abusing children.

I imagine the Christians will turn this into the usual cry over political correctness, but this is actually a perfect example of what homophobia makes to people. Had it not been for the homophobic bigots’ constant attempts to link homosexuality to paedophilia; decent people wouldn’t feel the need not to investigate suspected child abuse in a same-sex family.

If birds were Christians, this cartoon would be a picture of an actual event following the news of a gay male penguin couple adopting an egg at a German zoo.

(Picture from Slap Upside the Head.)

John Micklethwait, The Economist’s Editor in Chief, in his weekly email to newspaper subscribers:

Across the rich world governments are borrowing vast amounts, raising investors’ fears that politicians will inflate or default their way out of trouble. By 2014 the main rich-world governments will owe around $50,000 for every one of their citizens—and, unchecked, it will rise still more steeply because of the slow-motion budget-bust caused by greying populations. By 2050 a third of their citizens will be over 60, adding a fiscal burden ten times that of the financial crisis.

This I why Europe cannot afford to give in to the Far Right and its anti-immigration agenda. There is, of course, a much larger humanitarian argument for open borders and a liberal immigration policy, but the economics add some strength to the argument that Europe needs the influx of young people from Africa and the Middle East that so many populist politicians try to halt.

It seems the Swedish Board of Film Classification is about to be closed down for good. The censors will be missed by no one except the moralists.

I give up my new style of blogging. After the first three days of few but wordy blog entries, I realized that short and pithy is my style. The one-entry-a-day strategy is a good idea, but as I’m too busy to write something ambitious every day—some short entries now and then is all I muster.

I had my second interview with the Moderate Party’s local nominating committee on Tuesday and it now seems certain that my name will be on the ballot paper in the 2010 general election. I will run for a seat in the Swedish Parliament as well as the county and city councils.

I can’t help but feeling sorry for the Israeli business man who arranged a “date” with a prostitute only to find out it was his daughter.

The openly racist British National Party won two seats in the European Parliament. The kingdom that once fought Nazism in Europe will now be represented by two Nazis.

It’s been a long day. Comments will follow later in the week. Here is some of the top news:

• The Swedish Pirate Party wins one seat in the European Parliament.
• Anti-Europe party gets twenty per cent of the British votes.
• The Conservatives are the big winners.
• Far-right groups gain support in several countries.
• The ruling Labour Party comes third in British EU election.
• The Socialists are down across Europe.

Gay culture is coming to China. Beginning tomorrow, Shanghai will host China’s first ever Gay Pride Week. More information here and here.

Some news in short:

• Arnold Schwarzenegger says he wants to introduce flat tax in California. That is a good idea. Flat tax is both fair and simple.
• About a week ago, Venezuela’s de facto dictator Hugo Chávez “urged the nation’s attorney general, Supreme Court and telecommunications chief to take action against ‘poisonous’ private media or resign.” A few days later, Venezuelan prosecutors charged the head of an anti-government television station for violation of foreign-exchange rules that give importers access to dollars, which is a big no-no in Chávezland.
• The Dutch women’s-rights group Women on Waves and its front figure Dr Rebecca Gomperts caused some commotion when they tried to dock their abortion boat in Spain last October. Diana Whitten and Anita Schillhorn van Veen have published an article about Dr Gomperts and her organization on Huffington Post. Personally, I think it is a fundamental human right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Women on Waves are heroes in by book.
• A quarter of Swedish voters doesn’t know that the election to the European Parliament is tomorrow. Personally, I think it’s a good thing that people with no interest in European politics stay away from the polling booths.

Some of today’s noteworthy news:

• “The Lithuanian Parliament overwhelmingly voted in favour of moving forward to a final vote on an amendment to the ‘Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information’,” Pink News writes. The proposed amendment would make it illegal to discuss homosexuality in schools, and it would ban any reference to same-sex attraction in public information that can be viewed by children. Gay-rights group Tolerant Youth Association says that the amendment would ban any non-negative information on homosexuality. “It would be possible not only to ban websites and films positively presenting homosexual relations, but also discos, exhibitions, demonstrations and other public events related to homosexuality if these could be accessed by minors,” a spokesperson says in a statement. I guess old habits die hard. It’s difficult to tell the new hardline Catholicism from old-school Soviet oppression.
• After some turbulence, a same-sex marriage bill was signed into law in New Hampshire yesterday. Congratulations!
• The Masorti congregation in Stockholm has been searching for a new rabbi since Rabbi Dov Vogel left for Israel in 2006. Now it may have found one in progressive rabbi Stas Wojciechowicz. On it website, the Jewish Centre says it is working closely with the European Masorti Bet Din in London, which makes me wonder what this religious court think about a Masorti congregation hiring a Progressive rabbi. In America, interdenominational service has been the cause of many disputes within the Jewish community. I remember one big row over a Conservative Rabbi Ayelet S. Cohen who worked alongside a Reconstructionist Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum at the Beth Simchat Torah in New York. Cohen almost lost her rights within the Conservative/Masorti movement.

Today’s picture is of the Baltic Sea, seen from Österlen at the southernmost tip of Sweden.

Update: I nearly forgot to link to this brilliant article about Portugal’s successful decriminalization of drugs. It’s in Swedish and written by Daniel Berg, Carl-Michael Edenborg, and Ted Goldberg.

Some things that caught my attention when I browsed the Internet for news today:

• A New study suggests thirty per cent of gay black men in Chicago are HIV-positive. “A quarter of blacks aged 18-24 tested positive. More than 37 percent of blacks aged 25-34—the highest of any age group—tested positive. The numbers are similar to national figures.” Shocking.
• Local media reports about yet another case of devout Christian molesting children in Western Australia. I’m only mentioning it because homophobic Christians are so eager to blame all gay men for every case of “homosexual paedophilia”. The truth is that all communities and all societies host individuals who are sexually aroused by children. What makes the Christian communities so vulnerable is their anti-sex theology.
• If you like peace, then New Zealand is the place for you. According to the Global Peace Index, it is the most peaceful nation in the world.
• The municipality of Östhammar won the bid to store radioactive waste from Sweden’s nuclear industry. The waste must be kept safely underground for at least 100,000 years. Why would anyone want to store the most dangerous waste imaginable? One mistake and cancer will kill people in generations. Apparently the locals think its worth the risk because it will “create new jobs” for this generation. Stupidity.
• Israel’s demographic is changing, and by 2030 the secular Jews will be a minority. This could be the end of the State of Israel as the ultra-Orthodox Haredim are exempt from military service and do not produce anything of economic value. “The growth in the haredi population troubles secular Jews for a whole host of reasons, most of them economic, “Richard Cincotta and Eric Kaufmann write in their Foreign Policy article. “Ultra-Orthodox young men obtain draft deferments and student stipends by extending their study—for decades—in religious schools (yeshiva), which are also subsidized by the government. Because they don’t work or develop job skills, haredim contribute little to tax revenues and tend to be poor, qualifying them for welfare assistance. And because haredi family sizes are large, they receive government-sponsored child allowances.” Read the full article here.

Today’s picture is of the blue summery sky I’m looking at right now.

Some of the things that caught my attention during the day:

• North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il has named his youngest son as his successor. If he were to succeed his father as leader of the communist country, Kim Jong-un will be the third successive ruler of the Kim dynasty. It all makes perfect sense. When a state gains control and ownership of everything, the end-result is not communism per se but feudal totalitarianism. Without private ownership, government—and the person who controls it—becomes a monarch. The irony about communism is that in its extreme form it becomes the most class-divided society imaginable.
• Today began with the news of an Air France Airbus A33-200 gone missing over the Atlantic on its way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. The latest news reports say that the Brazilian air force have found debris in the area where the aeroplane is thought to have crashed. About 228 passengers are missing, among them are three Swedish citizens.
• A new study entitled Married against Their Will suggests many thousands of young Swedes feel they are not free to choose whom to marry. Now there is pressure on the government to criminalize forced marriages. I must admit that I was shocked to learn that it is still legal for parents as legal guardians to force their children into a marriage. I hope the law will be changed presently.
• A new American poll from Gallup shows the link between gays being out and the general attitude towards gay rights. (See graph below.) “If gays are really serious about marriage rights, they need to accelerate the process of coming out,” Andrew Sullivan writes in his blog. He’s absolutely right.

Today’s top picture is of the Öresund Bridge seen from Malmö.

A new poll suggests British Muslims are far more intolerant of gay people than Muslims in France and Germany. Not even one of the 1,001 people surveyed accepted homosexual acts. This may come as a surprise to some, but Britain has long been home to the most orthodox and backward Islam in the world.

A friend of mine is doing some research on radical Islam and its online activities. He informed me about some of the many homophobic websites based in Britain. Most of them do not differ from similar websites made by homophobic Jews and Christians, but unlike Judaism and Christianity, Islam has no established reform movements, which makes it far easier for the orthodox to run amok.

To illustrate what homophobic Islam is about, I publish a list based on a “preliminary solution for dealing with the threat of general acceptance of sexual perversions among Muslims” frequently quoted by Muslim homophobes in recent weeks. With some minor alterations and my own explanatory notes in brackets, here is the list:

• Homosexuality goes against human nature (common sense). Same-sex attraction is misguided shaytan [devilish and against God] suggested attraction (fine detail of the common sense). Both are spiritual ailments requiring spiritual cures. Believe that the cures for these ailments must come from the Koran (or the Sunnah).
• The Koran is the ultimate book regarding all matters. Give the Koranic solutions to same-sex attraction and homosexuality their proper due. Do not underestimate the power of adhering to Koranic rules that control the causes of perverted thoughts and behaviours. Present Koranic cures not just as potential solutions, but also as the ultimate ones.
• Realize that the Koranic information on homosexuality supersedes any contemporary psychological or biological research study. Incorporating Islamically invalid research implications in your suggested solutions is unwise. When you have the Koran on your side, you do not have to be a psychologist, biologist, or a rocket scientist to authoritatively claim that studies that validate homosexuality or same-sex attraction are flawed. So go ahead and be bold in your invalidation!
• Harshly condemn homosexuality and ideas that purport same-sex attraction as being natural and uncontrollable at every arising opportunity.
• Islamically appropriate anti-gay remarks are not hate speech. Do not apologize for them. Ever. Push the apologetic approach into the abyss (without falling in it yourself, of course!).
• Do not succumb to the pressures of being politically correct—neither from your peers nor from the general public—for making same-sex attraction normal and acceptable. Talk about Islam with accuracy, dignity, and confidence at all times. Stay away from people who try to overpower you with their sodomitic nonsense. Protecting your personal faith and strengthening yourself is more important than weakly “dealing” with societal problems.
• Be cautious in responding to questions and remarks that seek validation for shaytan suggested attraction and homosexuality. Imagine the number of Muslim people you have influence over. Then imagine hell. Your one misstatement or slip of tongue can mislead the masses; you will be held accountable for your words and their actions on the Day of Recompense. So speak cautiously. Don’t get swayed by sentiments.
• Above all, seek refuge in Allah from the accursed devil and ask for His support and guidance.

Important to note is that these ideas do not represent all Muslims. As with the orthodoxy within the other Abrahamic religions, the ideas expressed in the list above are based on the belief that there is but one possible interpretation of the holy text and that the truth this represents is threatened by science, reasoning, and modernity.

Moving on to other things:

• A gunman has killed a Kansas doctor who helped women terminate unwanted pregnancies. I would be surprised if the terror attack was not motivated by religious beliefs. More here and here.
• Swedish tennis player Robin Söderling made a stunning win at the French Open tournament. Congratulations to him. Personally, I don’t care much for tennis, but I do admire Mr Söderling for other qualities.
• According to World Net Daily, Barack Obama has promised Mahmoud Abbas a future Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. I realize Jerusalem has some value to the Arab population in the area, but it is in no way comparable to the significance the city has for Jews in Israel and the Diaspora. The best thing would be to allow full Jewish control of Jerusalem on the condition that the Israeli government guarantees Muslim and Christian access to the city’s many holy sites. Such a guarantee already exists, but it could be made into a more formal agreement as part of a final peace deal.
• German news magazine Der Spiegel has a photo gallery of “colourful candidates” for the European Parliament. The Pirate Party’s front person Christian Engström is among the colourful. By the way, I’m pretty sure I saw George Becali in a pornographic film once.
• “Sex with ducks and gay marriage are one and the same,” sings the duo Garfunkel and Oates. Even if interspecies sex were where marriage equality eventually brings us, it is not necessarily a bad thing. Personally, I love freaks and can’t wait to see the half-man-half-duck species that will come of this. The whole world will be like that bar on Tatooine in Star Wars IV. You know the one with that blue midget elephant playing the piano.

That’s it for now.