Katherine Jenkins Visits BMI's London Outpost

BMI & Classical Music

From John Adams, who was recently named the "most performed living American Composer" to Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Music, BMI composers cover the full spectrum of contemporary classical music… read more

BMI Foundation Presents Student Composer Awards

The BMI Foundation held its 58th Annual BMI Student Composer Awards May 17 at the Jumeirah Essex House Hotel in New York, where eleven young classical composers were recognized with scholarship grants totaling $20,000 for their superior creative tale...

Student Composer Award Winners

The BMI Student Composer Awards is a competition for young composers of classical music. Founded in 1951, the competition has become one of the most coveted and prestigious awards for young composers in the Western Hemisphere. See all winners

Pulitzer Prize Winners

The Pulitzer Prize in Music is given for distinguished musical composition by an American in any of the larger forms including chamber, orchestral, choral, opera, song, dance, or other forms of musical theater, which has had its first performance in the United States during the year. As of 2008, 29 BMI composers have won the Pulitzer Prize in Music. See all winners

Academy of Arts & Letters

Election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an honor society of 50 composers, 100 architects and artists, and 100 writers, is considered the highest formal recognition of artistic merit in the United States. Members are elected for life and pay no dues. As vacancies occur, the Academicians nominate and elect new members. As of 2009, BMI is proud to represent 27 of the 46 composer members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. See all

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Wednesday, June 15, 2011

mensfeetvideos1@ymail.com has shared: A victory over bigotry — NewsWorks

NATIONAL INTEREST... What are YOUR THOUGHTS? We want to hear from YOU! LEAVE COMMENT!
A victory over bigotry — NewsWorks Source: newsworks.org It s always good news when the bigots lose Some of them have been assailing the federal judge who famously struck down California s ban on gay marriage Vaughn Walker chief judge of the U S District

mensfeetvideos1@ymail.com sent this using ShareThis.

Friday, June 10, 2011

TOMMY LEE LOVES TO LICK MENS FEET !

Motley Cure's foot licker Tommy Lee

Tommy Lee has started sucking men's toes, it has been claimed.The Motley Crue drummer - who has previously confessed he is so obsessed by feet he prowls shoe shops in the hope of catching a glimpse of womens' toes - shocked onlookers at Seattle's Feniz club when he abandoned a groupie's toes in favor of his male bandmates. A source told the National Enquirer magazine: "Tommy was sucking the feet of a buxom red-head while his band Supernova watched."But when lead singer Lucas Rossi pulled off his shoes and socks and asked for 'a good licking' Tommy ditched her and started tonguing Rossi's feet."He then sucked the feet of other band members while onlookers howled in disgust. Meanwhile, Tommy's ex-wife Pamela Anderson has denied the pair are back together.The pair sparked rumors they were rekindling their relationship after they were photographed kissing outside Santa Monica restaurant The Ivy earlier this month. But Pammie - who has two sons, ten-year-old Brandon and nine-year-old Dylan, with Tommy - has now quashed the speculation, saying: "My biggest concern has always been my boys - they are completely well adjusted, happy and thriving."Their dad has been in their lives in a productive but small way over the years. Like any other single mom I've tried to create a healthy example for my kids. That's why I realised early on that we are better off on our own right now, but I will work on my friendship, if nothing else, with their father who has admittedly made mistakes but adores us."

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Herman Cain and Gradients of Hate (Video)

Herman Cain and Gradients of Hate (Video)

Completely improbable presidential candidate Herman Cain said he would hire a gay man or woman for his hypothetical cabinet, but remains firm in his prohibition of Muslims. Why? Because the gays, Republican Cain claims, won’t impose Shariah law.

Asked by ThinkProgress reporter Marie Diamond whether he would “be opposed” to appointing an “openly gay, qualified person” to his cabinet, Cain replied, “Nope, not at all. I wouldn’t have a problem with that at all.”

“I want them qualified, I want them to basically believe in the Constitution of the United States of America. So, yup, I don’t have a problem with appointing an openly gay person.” Cain then cackled, “Because they are not going to try to put Sharia law in our laws.”

Cain’s comment today, made at an Iowa conservative event, was an allusion to why Diamond asked the question in the first place: Cain last March said he would not appoint a Muslim to his inner circle because they may try to usurp American law.

“There’s this creeping attempt, there’s this attempt, to gradually ease Shariah Law, and the Muslim faith into our government. It does not belong in our government,” said Cain, the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza who started a radio show, became a wildly popular conservative darling and is well on his way to becoming this election’s best side show.

Cain’s supporters will point to the candidate’s gay preference as proof he has fair-minded roots. The candidate can now tout superficial gay tolerance. But tolerance and acceptance are far different emotions, and Cain remains far from recognizing LGBT people’s humanity: He still supports Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, loathes marriage equality and works hand-in-hand with the devotedly homophobic Family Research Council.

Basically, Cain hates gays, hates Muslims and double-hates gay Muslims.

But it’s all still hate, and Cain’s illusory gay good will is nothing short of loathsome. But more offensive than Cain playing nice with the gays, and even more odious than the fact that he pulled the Constitution into his vile swamp of bigotry, is his remark’s utter transparency.

People and governments hoping to gain or hold power have always pitted minority groups against one another to maintain the status quo. That’s precisely what South Africa’s apartheid government did between various black populations and Indian populations, and it was done with American slaves, with lighter skinned people often granted privileges darker skinned men and women weren’t afforded. The same thing happened during Brazil’s segregated past.

And blacks and LGBT people were erroneously portrayed as enemies as pollsters skewed data to make it seem African-Americans were responsible for the passage of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California.

Cain’s comments on preferring gays to Muslims follows the same thought process, one that courses through so many Republican strategies: divide and conquer, no matter how much rubbish you have to spew.

YouTube Video

Catholic School Bans Rainbows At Pro-LGBT Event

posted by: Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux 1 hour ago

3 comments

A Catholic high school in Mississauga, Canada, took a strange tack in curtailing the activities of its "unofficial" gay-straight alliance: it banned rainbows from a student-run anti-homophobia event. The students got around the ban by baking cupcakes and dyeing them different colors to form a rainbow. They then sold the cupcakes and raised more than $200 for charity. But the school then informed them that they could not donate the money to any LGBT-related organization. Instead, they were told to donate to a Catholic homeless shelter.

The students, understandably, are outraged. And the whole episode is part of a peculiar effort for Catholic schools to navigate students' desire to support gay rights, despite the Vatican's stance on homosexuality. Students were not allowed to form gay-straight alliances, but they were permitted to form groups to combat homophobia or bullying. And they were allowed to have a booth against homophobia during the school's social justice week, but not to display a rainbow flag. This, school officials said, would "lead to activism." The students were also not permitted to display materials about trans health, sexual orientation and gender identity, or AIDS.

"We proposed a whole bunch of resources and only about four got approved, and the ones that were approved were censored," said Leanne Iskander, the founder of the unofficial GSA. "They wouldn’t let us have this one booklet because it had one or two sentences on safe sex."

"The Catholic board gave the students a carrot to try to silence them when they announced the anti-bullying clubs. But it’s not enough and it’s not meeting the needs of youth," explained one Canadian gay rights activist who has advised the students. "The students recognize that and they are fighting for what they want."

The students are planning to march in a Pride Parade, despite the fact that they are not allowed to mention the school's name. During the parade, they will give out buttons encouraging support for gay-straight alliances in Catholic schools.

"Marching in Pride is important to us because it will allow us to advocate for GSAs in Catholic Schools to a large audience," explained Iskander. "Handing out buttons will be an excellent way to spread the message that GSAs are needed in Catholic schools."

The spokesman for the school's board, Bruce Campbell, had some unconvincing excuses for the board's decisions. He said that the rainbow was banned, not because the board has anything against rainbows, but because an "in-house logo" had already been designed. For a later event, he said that putting up a rainbow flag "certainly wouldn’t be outside the realm that is something acceptable to ask." Although who knows what kind of event outside his control - like the "logo" - would stand in the way when that day rolled around.

It's inspiring to see students like Iskander fighting for the right to advocate for social justice in their schools, even when they're up against an institution as powerful and complex as the Catholic Church. But, as Anna North points out on Jezebel, all of these actions are making Iskaner's school look pretty desperate. After all, as she writes, "When you have to start banning rainbows to keep kids from speaking up for what they believe in, it might be time to just listen."