The popular Cult Of Mac tech blog is polling its readers as to whether Apple should have allowed its employees to make an It Gets Better video. This is too asinine to even call for a freeping, but hit the link if you want to bother.
Out Magazine has issued this year's list of the 50 "most powerful" gay people. New Apple "acting" CEO Tim Cook heads the list on his first appearance. Billionaire GOProud moneyman and libertarian whackadoodle Peter Thiel ranks at #7. Another GOProud member and the 21st century Roy Cohn, Ken Mehlman, debuts at #37. Hit the link for bios on everybody.
"Today’s politically correct America would have seemed like a paradise to the homosexual activists of a quarter-century ago but today’s activists have become frustrated with the pace of change. Since neither research, persuasion nor politics have been effective in implementing the full homosexual agenda, which seeks unqualified celebration and subsidization of homosexual conduct in every realm of society, some in the homosexual movement have turned to brute force, using censorship to trample on freedom of speech and freedom of religion. [snip]
You will join the Apple Borg, my child.According to ThinkGeek, the set "introduces children to the magic of Apple technology." There's an entire two-level Apple Store staffed by PLAYMOBILâ„¢ associates, with tiny demo tables filled with minuscule Apple gear, software shelves, and even the kid's corner on the ground floor. Upstairs, there's a Genius Bar and a Keynote Theater staffed by a mini Steve Jobs figure. The Store is designed so that you can use your own iPhone 4 as Steve's screen in the theater, and there are simulated Keynote presentations available for download on the PLAYMOBILâ„¢ website.
"Liberals are on a crusade to end bullying--when the biggest bullies are the ones in their own movement! Decisions like Apple's are rooted in the same anti-Christian prejudice that's led to the Left's persecution of donors, businesses, voters, churches, and even students. What do you call 146,000 people ganging up on a company because they don't like someone else's point of view? Bullies! They have to resort to intimidation because they know the rest of the country isn't with them. They also know that if they had to debate conservatives out in the open on issues like marriage and morality, they'd lose! If you're an iTunes user, contact Apple and tell them that squashing free speech is bad for business. Ask them to show real tolerance and reinstate the Exodus app!" - Family Research Council head bully Tony Perkins, via press release.
Truth Wins Out, the organization that fights the "ex-gay" movement, has launched a petition calling on Apple to remove Exodus International's new iPhone app.This new iPhone app is the latest move in Exodus’ dangerous new strategy of targeting youth. In light of the recent wave of LGBT youth suicides, this tactic is particularly galling as it creates, legitimizes, and fuels the ostracism of LGBT youth by their families. According to a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, LGBT teens who experienced negative feedback from their family were 8 times more likely to have attempted suicide, 6 times as vulnerable to severe depression, and 3 times more likely to use drugs (Caitlin Ryan, San Francisco State University, June 2009). Apple doesn’t allow racist or anti-Semitic apps in its app store, yet it gives the green light to an app targeting vulnerable LGBT youth with the message that their sexual orientation is a “sin that will make your heart sick†and a “counterfeit.†This is a double standard that has the potential for devastating consequences. Apple needs to be told, loud and clear, that this is unacceptable. Stand with Truth Wins Out — demand that the iTunes store stop supporting homophobia and remove the Exodus app.Sign the petition here.
Apple plans to install what would be their largest outlet in the world in the massive balcony area of Grand Central Terminal. The 16,000 square foot store will displace at least one of the restaurants presently in that location. The store will be Manhattan's fifth Apple location. While relatively low-profile tenants like restaurants and their tables and chairs don't detract much from the physical beauty of Grand Central, I'd imagine that Apple will face the ire of city purists if their store design involves very much that can be easily seen from the main floor.
The second attempt to get Apple to accept a retweaked version of the anti-gay Manhattan Declaration iPhone app has failed. And the Christianists are so not happy."Inasmuch as the Manhattan Declaration simply reaffirms the moral teachings of our Christian faith on the sanctity of human life, marriage and sexual morality, and religious freedom and the rights of conscience, Apple's statement amounts to the charge that our faith is 'potentially harmful to others,'" a statement at ManhattanDeclaration.org reads. "It is difficult to see how this is anything other than a statement of animus by a major American corporation against the beliefs of millions of Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox citizens. The statement adds, "It is our sincere hope that Apple will draw back from this divisive and deeply offensive position. The corporation's leaders must be made to understand that they do the country no good service in capitulating to efforts to stigmatize, marginalize or defame people on one side or the other in important moral debates."The Manhattan Declaration asks its signees to vow to civilly disobey any law that grants LGBT rights. Its authors say they will make a third run at Apple in the new year. Oh, and they'll need you to send them LOTS OF MONEY for that.
