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Cardinal Dolan To Gay Couples: You’re Only ‘Entitled To Friendship’

By Igor Volsky

Cardinal Timothy Dolan told ABC’s This Week on Sunday that gay people are entitled to “friendship” but not a long-last romantic relationship in the eyes of the Catholic Church.

Appearing on the program following oral arguments at the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of two laws targeting gay and lesbian couples, Dolan said that the Church should treat same-sex couples with love, while reminding them that “sexual love…is intended only for a man and a woman”:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (HOST): And you know, especially this week – because it’s been at the top of the news – for many gay and lesbian Americans –– gay and lesbian Catholics, they feel unwelcome –– in the Church. And what do you say as a minister, as a pastor – to a gay couple that comes to you and say, “We love God. We love the Church. But we also love each other, and we –– want to raise a family in faith. What do you say to them?

DOLAN: Well, the first thing I’d say to them is, “I love you, too. And God loves you. And you are made in God’s image and likeness. And – and we – we want your happiness. But – and you’re entitled to friendship.” But we also know that God has told us that the way to happiness, that – especially when it comes to sexual love – that is intended only for a man and woman in marriage, where children can come about naturally. We gotta be – we gotta do better to see that our defense of marriage is not reduced to an attack on gay people. And I admit, we haven’t been too good at that.

Dolan has been vocal in his opposition to marriage equality, repeatedly condemning the rights of same-sex couples under the guise of love and support for the gay community.

After lobbying against New York’s marriage equality law, Dolan prohibited by decree any Church personnel or property from being utilized for same-sex marriage ceremonies under penalty of “canonical sanctions,” calling the state’s law “irreconcilable with the nature and the definition of marriage as established by Divine law.” He has also compared the “threat” posed to marriage by gays and lesbians to that of polygamy, adultery, forced marriage, communist dictatorships, and incest.

Despite his rhetoric, a majority of New York Catholics supported the marriage equality bill months before it came to a vote and still do.

TP

‘I need a guy who can treat me like a woman’

Background

I am Beverly Naya and was born in the United Kingdom. I am Delta Igbo from Ibuzo. My full name is Beverly Ifunanya. Growing up was quiet and fun and I had a lot of cousins. I think there are about 27 of us, so we always got together.

Becoming an actress

Acting has always been a major passion of mine. I actually started in London when I was 17. I was studying sociology and psychology in school and later switched to drama and scriptwriting. I have always been more of a creative person. That is where my heart really was. In the United Kingdom, I did a few short films for the British Broadcasting Corporation and The Metropolitan Police. I acted in a couple of theatre productions including one by Debbie Tucker-Green, called Stoning Mary and then Psychosis and Crave. My mother came back before I did because she had always known how much I love the craft. So, she started building contacts for me preparatory to my return. It was just about the love and passion she knows I have for the industry. She just wanted to encourage and help me as much as possible because she did not want me to be in England and probably do a nine-to-five job when I could utilise my full potential in this industry. I like the fact that I can choose what I want to do and how I want to do it.

My first role

I was a lead actress in Lancelot Imasuen’s Living in Exile, which my mother produced. It was an incentive for me to come back because before then, I was not too willing. She bankrolled it to encourage me. Obviously, after shooting that film, it was a great experience and I felt motivated to work more in Nigeria.

Challenges

It has been rocky and I will not deny that. This industry has its difficulties but for the most part, it has been worth it. Watching my brand grow, my fan base increase and watching my friends and family comment on my jobs gives joy.

Nollywood

This industry allows you to be involved in production as much as possible, whereas in the film industry in England, you could be working once a year. I prefer to be working as often as possible and building my brand. As they say, charity begins at home. I also think we are growing. We have a lot of creative and innovative minds coming into the industry and these minds will ensure that Nollywood gets to where it should be in the next 10 to 15 years.

Success

I would say because my first movie was funded it helped to a degree but I believe most of my success can be attributed to my diligence, passion and my positive energy. I do not believe there is nothing on this earth I cannot achieve especially if I put my mind to it. God has been good to me also.

Role models

I think Joke Silva is a great role model if you want to look at someone who has achieved a lot, who is married, working hard and inspirational. I would give it to her any time, any day. She is very graceful and loves to encourage emerging talents.

Style

I do not work with a stylist. I have fashion designers that I can contact if I need something to wear. For my everyday dressing, everything comes from my wardrobe or my mother’s and I borrow mainly her accessories and bags. I like to look classy, sexy, and glamorous.  I like to stand out for the right fashion reasons. I love to wear high heels and I love bags.

Marriage

Fortunately as an only child, nobody is breathing down my neck. Of course, I am looking forward to the day I will get married but God’s time is the best. First, he has to be a man, he has to be God-fearing, eloquent and brilliant. I like it when a guy knows how to treat a woman. I do not like conceited men. I just like a guy that is down-to-earth and knows how to make a woman feel special.

Leisure

I do many things like modelling, script-writing, directing, dance and sing. I try to incorporate all of these things into my acting career. I write scripts all the time in my free time. None has been produced but I intend to produce a film either this year or next. It is a script that I hold very dear to my heart.

Punch Nigeria

Why I Didn’t Talk To Fela For Six Years –Femi Kuti

Fela Anikulapo’s son, Femi, tells OLUFEMI ATOYEBI and GBENGA ADENIJI what people didn’t know about the late Afrobeat musician

Why did your father choose a controversial lifestyle?

It was because he was too honest about his way of life. He liked women and he did not hide it. He liked to smoke marijuana and he did it in the open. Many people like women but they do it secretly. There are so many brothels all around the world but Fela never patronised them, many people go there to pay for s*x.

You will be shocked to know the number of people that smoke marijuana in Nigeria and all over the world. I hope you know that some countries are legalising the smoking of marijuana now.  He was truthful about his way of life while many of us are hypocritical about ours. Many people were envious that he was too honest and bold and that was why there were so many controversies about his life.

Most of his friends who are highly-placed admire women even girls young enough to be their daughters. They leave their matrimonial homes to meet them secretly. Some of them hide in hotels to do what they cannot do in the open. Many of them smoke but they are not brave enough to say they smoke.  All the call girls you see on Allen Avenue, who picks them? Fela never did.

How was he able to manage his many wives?

It was very stressful for him. Do not forget that he divorced all of them. They were not faithful to him. When he decided to marry them, he did so for a reason. He said they had been with him in difficult times. They endured police harassment and beating. But they never left. Though they were very loyal to him, they still had a bad image in the public because people were calling them prostitutes.

He felt that the best way to protect them was to marry them. They became Fela’s queens, so the society had to respect them.  I believe he loved them and he was already sleeping with them before he married them. It was not really a big deal to anybody that knew them. For instance, my mother knew this was happening so it was not a hidden thing. The big deal was how he was able to convince the 27 of them to marry him same day.

Did Fela talk you into music? 

He did not influence me as such. I always knew I would go into music. It was just a question of how and when. He was however a big motivation in my life because every child wants to be like his or her father. The son of a plumber will want to be like his father, especially if he is learning the trade early.  If the son loves the father, he will want to emulate him. I am not a different son.  I love my father and wanted to do what he was doing. The only question hanging over that ambition was whether I could fulfil that ambition perfectly.

How did he punish any of his children who misbehaved?

He beat us. In fact, I was the one who got the most beating in the house when we were young.

Can you remember things you did that made him beat you?

I stole my mother’s £1 to buy chewing gum one day. You can imagine how many wraps of chewing gum that money would buy. They were not less than 100. My friend convinced me to go and steal the money but we were caught while chewing the gum. When my father asked me where I got the money from, I was speechless. I was still thinking of what to say when he started beating me with his hand. He then warned me never to steal again.

He also beat me when he caught me with cigarette in 1969. My mother used to smoke and he saw me put the cigarette in my mouth. I did not really smoke the cigarette because it was not lit, I only put it in my mouth but it angered him when he saw what I did. He beat me again and warned me not to touch cigarette again.

Why do you think it has been difficult to replicate Fela’s style of music?

It is so because the foundation of the band was truthful. He was not pretentious. He really believed in what he was saying. Despite all the police harassment, he was not moved. Many people would have gone to seek political asylum in another country but Fela did not do that. He had so many opportunities outside Nigeria and he would have taken advantage of them to run away from his enemies. These are the things that every generation admires in him.

What are those things you imbibed from your father?

I may not be able to mention them. In the way I deal with people, I am very truthful. If I say I am going to do something, I would do it. But I am more of my mother than my father. My elder sister has more of my father than I do. I am more of a practical person. If I plan to do something, I will think of the consequences. My father would never weigh any decision before executing it. If he planned to go to Dodan Barracks, he would just go there. As for me, I make plans before I do anything. My father would not write a Will. But because I know that I could get killed, I had written my Will a long ago.

I know that in a divorce case, my wife could claim one third of my property, so I would not go into wedlock. The most important thing to me right now are my children. Now, I will not play to the gallery. I will not say because people love me, they must come first before my family. Who are my family? My children of course. So, whether you love me or not, I will let you know that my children come before you, take it or leave it. I live this way because I learnt from my father’s life, the decisions he took and the consequences. When you learn from someone, you don’t have to do what he did. Fela did what he did for his own reasons. I cannot criticise why he did what he did.

Also, we must remember the stardom. Nobody was as big as my father. He had over 100 people around him daily when he became a star. I cannot live like that because I don’t want too many people around me. I saw what people did to him. It was too much. I can keep the Afrika Shrine open to everybody but not my house.

If you come to my home, you will only see me, my kids and may be my girlfriend. Sometimes, my friends visit but I don’t keep a crowd around for any reason, my father did. I like women but I saw the harassment he went through with 27 wives. It is not that I don’t want 27 wives but I know what will happen because of what happened to my father. I can’t tell a woman that I will be faithful in our relationship. That was part of the problem of my marriage. I cannot be faithful. I will not lie about that. It is not that I cannot be faithful, but I cannot start my relationship by saying I am going to be faithful till death do us part. There are possibilities that if another woman comes and I like her, I cannot give the assurance that I will not have an affair with her. I have no intention whatsoever to bring all of them under one roof. My intention now is to cater for my children and do my job to the best of my ability.

Did Fela have any special food?

He ate any food. He liked cakes and ice cream too. I don’t like cakes. I can eat ice cream and chocolate once in a while but my father loved them all. If somebody is celebrating and there is a cake, I can take a little piece not to offend my host. My father could die for cakes. If you visited him and looked inside his refrigerator, you would see lots of cake in it.

Your father did not hide his hatred for western medicine. Is it the same with you?

I grew up not liking tablets too. I grew up to be a traditionalist like my dad. But I later realised that there are too many fake traditional medicine in our society. The government must understand that many of these herbs are claiming the lives of our people. We must ask ourselves which of the herbs has been scientifically proven to cure malaria and the ailment they claim to cure. I once had malaria and I drank herbs but I was not cured. I felt very uncomfortable. I will not say that herb does not work because Africa believes in it. It is a fact that we did survive before orthodox medicine came.

There was African traditional medicine, but where is it today? Everywhere, you will see people hawking herbs, saying it work for this and that. People buy them and mix with hot drinks. Really, when you are mixing alcohol with herbs, you are damaging your liver. While you think you are curing one thing, if it does work, you are damaging another thing in your body. Until we have concrete fact to say something works for the body, we will be deceiving ourselves.

Why do you think Fela hated former President Olusegun Obasanjo?

Olusegun Obasanjo was a bad leader. He did not do well for Nigeria. He ruled this country three times but has nothing to show for it. They called the soldiers that burnt Kalakuta Republic and killed my grandmother unknown soldiers. The Federal Government is yet to apologise for their action against the Kuti family. Whether they like it or not, Fela was one of the biggest stars from Africa. As the days go by, people are beginning to understand the importance of his music. The Lagos State Government is building a museum in his honour. The family does not have that kind of money to build a museum. It is not the governor’s money but the state government money. But the governor took the decision on behalf of the people.

Another museum is also being built Ogun State. Governors are beginning to understand that Kuti’s name cannot be swept under the carpet. The family has done so much for Nigeria and the world. Many people are playing afrobeat style of music today because Fela invented it. Some people are saying he did not start it. But the question is: Who started it and stood firm using the music creatively?  Fela stood for many great things and his contribution to the society cannot be pushed aside.

Did he have time to take the family out for leisure?

In 1967, I remember that he took us to Onikan swimming pool and also Federal Palace Hotel. That was the first and last outing for fun with us. He always made it clear that he was not a conventional father. He did not want us to go to school not because he did not like education, but because he believed that education was colonial. He believed that it was structured to show that Europe is supreme and Africa is not good. Even when he took me out of school in my fourth year in secondary school, I had acquired vast knowledge about the outside world through the books I read at home. I was known as a professor in the Kalakuta Republic. I read books such as Blackman and Walter Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. I read so much that I even found there was a Pharaoh Kuti in Egypt. I wondered if this Egyptian Pharaoh Kuti was in any way related to the Kuti family in Nigeria. My father said we are probably related.

Which school were you attending before Fela made that decision?

I was studying at Baptist Academy and he withdrew me from there when Obasanjo  deployed soldiers to the school. I later went to Igbobi College and spent a year. He advised me to leave the school in form four. Many believed I would become a nonentity because of his action. There was disagreement within the family, my mother was against it, but my dad stood his ground. She wondered why my dad took me out of school when he went to one of the best schools in the UK.

She also said since he did not teach me music how then would I be great in life? My father told her not to worry that I would be great. I was not happy too and did not speak to him for six years. He told me that he was confident that I would be great. I did not know what he saw in me. The day my album, Wonder Wonder, became popular and I was becoming a household name in Nigeria, he called our family members and told them that the same boy he withdrew from school had become a successful musician.

At that time, it was only my father and King Sunny Ade that were travelling abroad frequently for musical concerts. But I suddenly started travelling abroad more than the two of them because I was becoming known more outside the country.

Will I do the same for my son? No. He will get a good education. I will let him understand street life which I grew up to know so that he will have a feel of it, but he must be formally educated.

Where were you when soldiers invaded Kalakuta Republic?

I was coming back from the school when I saw the soldiers. They wanted to arrest me. But I managed to escape through a place called Alagbole behind Kalakuta. I ran and went to pick my younger sister at Mary Magdalene Primary School. We then crossed over the railway and went home.

Is there anything you miss about Fela?

I miss his being a grandfather. I think he would have been a fantastic grandfather. He had already been showing the signs with my sister’s daughter and my son. He died in 1997 and my son was born in 1995. I know that what he was not able to do for us, he would have done for our children if he were still alive.

Punch Nigeria

Khloe Kardashian Is A Victim Of Mother Nature! Wind Blows Up Her Skírt & Exposes Her Spánx

Khloe Kardashian was the unfortunate victim of Mother Nature on Friday and it all went down outside of mom Kris Jenner's LA office!

While chatting with her sisters, an overzealous gust of wind blew up her printed Thakoon dress and exposed her Spánx for the entire world to see! Just moments after the tragic mishap, Khloe tweeted:

Shorts, spánks, boy shorts under a dréss/skírt are a must!

Exactly! It could've been way worse! What if Khloe was wearing a sheer thóng? Or no underweár at all?! Always look on the bright side, people! Lolz

Jim Carrey: Fox News 'A Media Colostomy Bag That Has Begun To Burst At The Seams'

Jim Carrey blasts Fox News.

Jim Carrey has some harsh words for Fox News. Carrey released a statement on Friday blasting the conservative news network as "a media colostomy bag that has begun to burst at the seams."

Carrey's issue with Fox News stems from the response to his recent anti-gun lobby video "Cold Dead Hand," produced in conjunction with Funny or Die.

Greg Gutfeld, a Fox News personality,attacked Carrey after the clip went viral, saying, "He is probably the most pathetic tool on the face of the earth and I hope his career is dead and I hope he ends up sleeping in a car. [...] This video made me want to go out and buy a gun. He thinks this is biting satire going after rural America and a dead man... He's a dirty, stinking coward... He's such a pathetic, sad, little freak. He's a gibbering mess. He's a modern bigot."

Carrey responded to some of the attacks on Twitter -- "I'd like to respond to all the conservative bundits out there personally but I'm far too busy NOT stumping for the gun companies," he wrote -- but took things one step further on Friday. Carrey's full statement against Fox News is below:

Since I released my "Cold Dead Hand" video on Funny or Die this week, I have watched Fux News rant, rave, bare its fangs and viciously slander me because of my stand against large magazines and assault rifles. I would take them to task legally if I felt they were worth my time or that anyone with a brain in their head could actually fall for such irresponsible buffoonery. That would gain them far too much attention which is all they really care about.

I'll just say this: in my opinion Fux News is a last resort for kinda-sorta-almost-journalists whose options have been severely limited by their extreme and intolerant views; a media colostomy bag that has begun to burst at the seams and should be emptied before it becomes a public health issue.

I sincerely believe that in time, good people will lose patience with the petty and poisonous behavior of these bullies and Fux News will be remembered as nothing more than a giant culture fart that no amount of Garlique could cure.

I wish them all the luck that accompanies such malevolence.

Carrey hasn't backed down on Twitter either. On March 28 he wrote that the success of "Cold Dead Hand" was "forcing intolerent goons everywhere to show their hideous face."

Law Enforcement Officials Gunned Down In Possible White Supremacist Plot

By Aviva Shen 

A Texas district attorney and his wife were shot to death in their home in Kaufman County last night, the latest instance in a recent spate of suspicious shootings of law enforcement officials. The deaths of Mike and Cynthia McLelland follow the shooting of a Kaufman County assistant district attorney in January, which stoked suspicions of a conspiracy to target law enforcement officials by a white supremacist group.

The assistant district attorney, Mark Hasse, was killed on the same day the Justice Department released a statement noting the Kaufman County district attorney’s involvement in a racketeering case against the Aryan Brotherhood, a white supremacist group based in Texas. The FBI had also begun investigating links between Hasse’s slaying and last week’s shooting of Colorado prison chief Tom Clemons by a member of another white supremacist group.

The news of McLelland’s death broke shortly before the Sunday morning news shows. CNN’s State of the Union host Candy Crowley asked Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) if there was anything he thought could be done to protect law enforcement officials from the recent spate of violence. Graham said he would support measures within the “local community” to protect law enforcement, but stopped short of endorsing any federal action:

CROWLEY: Just off the top, let me ask you, when we see the death of the head of a prison official, two deaths of a D.A. and an assistant D.A. This is a dangerous business, i know prosecuting bad guys, incarcerating bad guys. do you think we need to look at the protection of these people?

GRAHAM: Well, anything that would make our law enforcement officers safer.Obviously yes, anything the local community can do to make life safer for those who carry out the law on our behalf, count me in. There’s clearly some kind of criminal vendetta against people who enforce the law.

As a possible conspiracy seems more and more likely, the FBI and ATF have gotten involved in the cases to bolster local investigations, which do not have access to the same resources as federal forces. Crowley then turned the discussion to the Senate’s gun violence prevention package, which Graham said would not pass as long as universal background checks on private gun sales were still included. Currently, criminals are able to evade background checks to purchase firearms at gun shows or from unlicensed dealers.

Sen. Dick Blumenthal (D-CT), a former U.S. attorney, noted that because prosecutors and other law enforcement “face this kind of horror every day,” they strongly support measures curbing illegal gun trafficking and straw purchases like the one that may have enabled the murder of the Colorado prison chief. included in the Senate’s plan. Thus far in 2013, 12 law enforcement officers have been killed by gunfire.

TP