Archive for March 2013

Queen Bey posted a picture of a handwritten red note Tuesday on Instagram with a variation of her signature "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" lyrics scrawled on it.

"If you like it you should be able to put a ring on it #wewillunite4marriageequality! B" she wrote. The pic was liked by more than 220,000 people in about 24 hours.
Her sentiments echo those of husband Jay-Z, who in May 2011 equated the issue to being racist against African Americans.

"It's discrimination, plain and simple," he told CNN, adding, "What people do in their own homes is their business and you can choose to love whoever you love... That's their business.”

"it's about time #equality#prop8#marriageislove show your support!!," Beyoncé wrote, reposting a pic of the red and pink equal-sign logo that went viral this week. The logo itself is a variation of the Human Rights Campaign's bright yellow and blue logo. The organization re-purposed its symbol this week with red and pink, the colors of love, according to the Associated Press.

Martha Stewart and George Takei have also reposted the emblem but they aren't the only celebrities who have spoken as the Supreme Court considers two controversial cases involving whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry: Proposition 8, California's 2008 ban on gay marriage, and the Defense of Marriage Act, which since 1996 has defined marriage for federal purposes as a union between a man and a woman. Ben Affleck, Padma Lakshmi, Leonardo DiCaprio, Seth MacFarlane, Ricky Martin, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Kristen Bell are just a few of the celebrities who have unleashed messages about gay marriage this week.

For more Times coverage on the topic, click here.

"Today, the Supreme Court is hearing 1 of the most important cases in history," Kristen Bell tweeted. "Don't sleep on it. Equality matters." The pregnant "House of Lies" actress said she and fiancé Dax Shepard won't tie the knot until same-sex marriage is legalized on the federal level, Us Weekly reported. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have also made a similar statement, though they might backpedal because their union is becoming more and more important to their children.

Madonna also posted a handwritten note on Instagram, writing, "Marriage equality! Let's start a revolution."

Even President Barack Obama tweeted, urging people to "reach up and close that gap.

more on same sex marrige as our popular artist beyonce {queen b}shows her view

A TYPICAL VIEW OF OSAMA BIN LADEN HIDE OUT HOW PPLE HEARING OF THE DEATH OF HIM CAME TO SEE AND HOWW A DEMOLITION CREW COMES TO BRING DOWN THE BUILDING AND ALSO CHILDREN PLAYING CRICKET NEAR THE DEMOLITION SITE

After news of bin Laden's death spread, people gather outside the compound on May 3, 2011.

A demolition crew works to dismantle the compound on February 26, 2012.

A closer view of one of the buildings in the compound is seen on May 7, 2011.

A local man walks through a field near the compound on May 3, 2011.

The compound where Osama bin Laden was killed is guarded by Pakistani police on May 4, 2011.

A general view of the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, is seen on May 5, 2011.

Osama bin Laden was killed by a team of U.S. SEALS on May 2, 2011, at a compound near Abbottabad, Pakistan. Click through to see images of the compound where he spent the last days of his life.

who really kiied OSAMA BIN LADEN..>>....>>....>...>..WE NEVER REALLY DID ASK OURSELFS

(CNN) -- In February, Esquire magazine published a lengthy profile of "The Man Who Killed Osama bin Laden." The story did not identify the killer by his real name, referring to him only as "the Shooter."

The Shooter told Esquire that the night bin Laden was killed he had encountered al Qaeda's leader face-to-face in the top-floor bedroom of the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where bin Laden had been hiding for more than five years.

The Shooter explained that when he found bin Laden in his bedroom the al Qaeda leader was standing up and had a gun "within reach" and it was only then that the Shooter fired the two shots into bin Laden's forehead that killed him. That account was in conflict with the account from another raid participant in a wildly successful book "No Easy Day."

Peter Bergen

Now, another member of the secretive SEAL Team 6, which executed the bin Laden raid, tells CNN the story of the Shooter as presented in Esquire is false. According to this serving SEAL Team 6 operator, the story is "complete B-S."

Watch more: Peter Bergen examines the differing accounts on "The Lead with Jake Tapper"

SEAL Team 6 operators are now in "serious lockdown" when it comes to "talking to anybody" about the bin Laden raid and say they have been frustrated to see what they consider to be the inaccurate story in Esquire receive considerable play without a response. Phil Bronstein, who wrote the 15,000-word piece about the Shooter for Esquire, was booked on CNN, Fox and many other TV networks after his story came out.

Twenty-three SEALs and their interpreter assaulted the bin Laden compound just after midnight on the morning of May 2, 2011. They shot and killed bin Laden's two bodyguards, one of bin Laden's sons and the wife of one of the bodyguards and they also wounded two other women.

Who really killed bin Laden?

Reported Bin Laden killer speaks out

2011: 3 of bin Laden's wives identified

The first three SEALs to make it to the top floor of bin Laden's compound where he was believed to be living were "the point man," "the Shooter" profiled by Esquire, and Matt Bissonette, the SEAL who wrote "No Easy Day" under the pseudonym Mark Owen.

What actually happened the night of the raid, according to the SEAL Team 6 operator who I interviewed, is that the "point man" ran up the stairs to the top floor and shot bin Laden in the head when he saw what looked like bin Laden poking his head out his bedroom door. The shot gravely wounded al Qaeda's leader.

Having taken down bin Laden, the point man proceeded to rush two women he found in bin Laden's bedroom, gathering them in his arms to absorb the explosion in case they were wearing suicide vests, something that was a real concern of those who planned the raid.

Two more SEALs then entered bin Laden's bedroom and, seeing that al Qaeda's leader was lying mortally wounded on the floor, finished him off with shots to the chest.

This account of bin Laden's demise is considerably less heroic than how the Shooter is presented in Esquire, in which he says he shot bin Laden while he was standing up and only after he saw that al Qaeda's leader had a gun within reach.

More: Bin Laden confidant emerged as voice of al Qaeda

The SEAL Team 6 operator who spoke to me says there is no way the Shooter could have seen a gun in bin Laden's reach because the two guns that were found in bin Laden's bedroom after al Qaeda's leader was killed were only found after a thorough search of the room and were sitting on a high shelf above the frame of the door that opened to bin Laden's bedroom.

The SEAL operator also points out there was a discussion before the raid in which the assault team was told "don't shoot the guy [bin Laden] in the face unless you have to" because the CIA would need to analyze good pictures of bin Laden's face for its facial recognition experts to work effectively. Yet the Shooter in the Esquire story says he shot bin Laden on purpose twice in the forehead.

A U.S. official familiar with the details of the raid said what the SEAL Team 6 operator told me about how Bin Laden was killed is in line with what happened, and that account "has it right in my view."

The SEAL Team 6 operator also tells CNN that the Shooter was "thrown off" of Red Squadron, the core of the SEAL Team 6 group that carried out the bin Laden raid, because he was bragging about his role in the raid in bars around Virginia Beach, Virginia, where SEAL Team 6 is based. In the Esquire article, the Shooter complains he is receiving no pension, since he left the military four years before the minimum 20 required to be eligible.

CNN spoke with Bronstein, the Esquire writer, who says he passed on CNN's written questions about the Shooter's role in the bin Laden raid to his story's main character. The Shooter has not responded to those questions and Bronstein declined to be interviewed on-the-record for this story.

Stephanie Tuck, a spokeswoman for Esquire, said via e-mail, "The Esquire article, 'The Shooter: The Man Who Killed Osama Bin Laden,' in the March 2013 issue, is based on information from numerous sources, including members of SEAL Team 6 and the Shooter himself, as well as detailed descriptions of mission debriefs. We stand by our story."

2011: SEALs who killed bin Laden concerned for their safety

According to present and former members of SEAL Team 6, the "point man" who fired the shot that likely mortally wounded bin Laden will never "in a million years" speak publicly about his role in the raid. All laud the point man for his courageous decision to throw himself on the two women in bin Laden's room.

The new account of the night of the bin Laden raid provided by the serving SEAL Team 6 operator is essentially the same as in Bissonnette's "No Easy Day." Bissonnette says he was one of the first to run into bin Laden's bedroom and he saw that the point man's shots had mortally wounded bin Laden, and Bissonette then shot the dying al Qaeda leader as he lay on the floor.

Present and former members of SEAL Team 6 say they regard Bissonnette as more credible than the Shooter.

In a previous CNN.com story about the Esquire profile, I noted that I was the only outside observer allowed to tour bin Laden's Abbottabad compound before it was demolished in late February 2012.

During that tour I looked around the bedroom where bin Laden was killed. The Pakistani military officers who were guiding me pointed out a patch of dark, dried blood on the low ceiling of bin Laden's bedroom. This patch of congealed blood seems to be consistent with the Shooter's story that he fired two shots at the forehead of a "surprisingly tall terrorist" while he was standing up. At the time, the precise location of bin Laden when he was shot was not a matter of dispute.

But the blood patch could also be consistent with the account that it was the "point man" who first shot bin Laden. The point man is 5 feet 6 inches tall and was shooting upward at a tall man as he poked his head out of his bedroom.

2011: Obama meets bin Laden raiders, promises victory over al Qaeda

The compound is, of course, now gone, so it is no longer possible to reconstruct what happened the night of the raid based on forensic evidence, although it is possible the Abbottabad Commission, a panel that was appointed by the Pakistani government to look into the raid, could shed some light on this question should its findings ever be publicly released.

Finally, by all accounts, it was a confusing situation the night of the bin Laden raid in Abbottabad. One of the SEAL team's helicopters had crashed and there was then a firefight with one of bin Laden bodyguards. All the electricity in the bin Laden compound and indeed the surrounding neighborhood was off on a moonless night and the SEALs were all wearing night vision goggles that allowed them only quite limited vision.

What seems incontrovertible is that the point man, the Shooter and Bissonnette were the first three SEALs to assault bin Laden's bedroom. But to determine exactly which of them killed bin Laden may never be possible.

What is certain is that it was a team effort.

Five days after the bin Laden raid, members of the SEAL team who killed al Qaeda's leader briefed President Obama. According to those in the room, the SEAL team commander explained to the president, "If you took one person out of the puzzle, we wouldn't have the competence to do the job we did; everybody's vital. It's not about the guy who pulled the trigger to kill bin Laden, it's about what we all did together." MODIFIED BY OSHOZONE

FULL DETAILS ABT OSAMA BIN LADEN HIDE OUT AND HIS DEATH

Wednesday arguments focus on federal Defense of Marriage Act
Law enacted in 1996 defines marriage as between a man and a woman
It also denies Social Security, other spousal benefits to same-sex couples
Tuesday's arguments focused on California same-sex marriage ban; court offered no clear direction

Washington (CNN) -- Day Two of the culture wars at the Supreme Court over same-sex marriage, and another opportunity for the justices to give political and legal clarity to a contentious issue.

The momentous week kicked off on Tuesday with arguments over California's same-sex marriage ban, and there was little indication when they concluded how the court might rule.

The stakes are high as the justices could, in one scenario, fundamentally alter how American law treats marriage with polls showing the public becoming more aware of the issue, and in some cases, more in favor of allowing gays and lesbians to legally wed.

This all further intensifies interest in Wednesday's arguments on the constitutionality of a federal law that, like California, defines marriage as only between a man and a woman.

The fight over same-sex marriage

Justices divided over same-sex marriage

But a practical impact of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act means federal tax, Social Security, pension, and bankruptcy benefits, and family medical leave protections -- do not apply to gay and lesbian couples.

The appeal centers on that element and involves Edith "Edie" Windsor, who was forced to assume an estate tax bill much larger than other married couples would have to pay.

Because her decades-long partner was a woman, the federal government did not recognize the same-sex marriage in legal terms, even though their home state of New York did.

Obama opposes law, House to defend

The justices on Tuesday seemed to lack consensus on both jurisdictional and constitutional questions of the voter-approved California law, known as Proposition 8.

The federal statute also presents tricky gateway or "standing" questions that threaten to stall any final consideration of its constitutionality.

Those were expected to be the focus of much of Wednesday's arguments.

Key questions answered

Led by President Barack Obama's recent political about-face on same-sex marriage, his administration opposes the Defense of Marriage Act.

Same-sex marriage "too new" for court?

Traditionally the solicitor general would defend the government's interest in a Supreme Court case. But Obama, who supports same-sex marriage, has already ordered the Justice Department to not take up the matter in court.

That raised the question of whether any party could rightfully step in and defend the law.

Besides the constitutional issue, the justices had specifically ordered both sides to argue a supplemental question: Whether congressional Republicans, operating officially as the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the House, have "standing" or legal authority to make the case.

Lawyers representing the House GOP said that they should be able to take the lead, since both Windsor and the administration are taking the same legal position.

Photos: Same-sex marriage at a crossroads

"Without the House's participation," said attorney Paul Clement, representing House leaders, "it is hard to see how there is any case or controversy here at all."

Windsor's legal team also said the House leaders could defend the law, at least partially, suggesting she wants resolution to the constitutional questions as soon as possible.

Five things to watch

"I was devastated by the loss of the great love of my life, and I was also very sick, then had to deal with pulling together enough money to pay for the taxes," the 83-year-old Windsor told CNN recently.

The California case

The overriding legal question in the California case is whether the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law prevents states from defining marriage as that state has done.

Some 80 minutes of arguments left no clear picture of how things might go.

The court could historically alter how the law treats marriage, striking down laws across the country banning same-sex marriage and matching an apparent cultural shift toward acceptance of same-sex couples.

Or it could leave the current patchwork of state laws in place, choosing to let state legislatures and state courts sort it all out.

"This was a deeply divided Supreme Court, and a court that seemed almost to be groping for an answer here," CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin said after the arguments.

Four of the more liberal justices seemed at least open to the idea that same-sex marriage should be allowed in California. Three of the more conservative justices seemed aligned with the view that it should only be for a man and a woman, and it's likely they'd be joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, who doesn't speak at arguments.

Same-sex marriage amendments

Same-sex marriage dividing GOP

That could leave Justice Anthony Kennedy as, has often been the case, the swing vote.

While admitting the law's defenders are "not just any citizens," Kennedy raised concerns about whether just the possibility of same-sex marriage was enough to establish they had suffered harm -- a key jurisdictional hurdle allowing them to appeal in the first place.

Weigh your state with CNN's LGBT rights calculator

A decision is not likely before June.

Andrew Pugno, general counsel for the Protect Marriage Coalition, the group defending Proposition 8, said its attorney had "credibly presented the winning case for marriage."

"We think the hearing went very well," he told reporters.

Attorneys representing the two couples seeking to overturn Proposition 8, meanwhile, said they couldn't tell how the court would rule.

"We are confident where the American people are going with this," said Theodore Olson. "We don't know for sure what the United States Supreme Court is going to do, but we're very, very grateful they listened, they heard, they asked hard questions, and there's no denying where the right is."

Nine states permit same-sex marriage

One of the plaintiff couples -- Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo of Burbank, California, who want to marry but can't because of Proposition 8 -- contend the state is discriminating against them because of their sexuality.

Same-sex marriage: By the numbers

"This is about our freedom and our liberty," Katami said. "We are not trying to topple marriage. We are not trying to redefine marriage. What we are trying to say is that equality is the backbone of our country."

Forty-one states now forbid same-sex marriage, although nine of them allow civil partnerships. Nine other states allow same-sex marriage, and about 120,000 same-sex couples have gotten married, according to estimates.

Prohibitions seem to run counter to polls that show rising support overall for same-sex marriage.

A CNN/ORC International poll released on Monday found 53% of Americans now support same-sex marriage, up from 40% in 2007. As to how the federal government should handle the issue, another CNN/ORC International poll out Tuesday found 56% of the public feels the federal government should also legally recognize same-sex marriages.

the fight for dose in same sex marriage what a time

love as a joke

Marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right and the other is a husband.
Don't marry the person you want to live with, marry the one you cannot live without...but whatever you do, you'll regret it later.
My wife and I always compromise; I admit I'm wrong and she agrees with me.
It doesn't matter how often a married man changes his job, he still ends up with the same boss.
They call our language the mother tongue because the father seldom gets to speak.
First Guy (proudly): "My wife's an angel!" Second Guy: "You're lucky, mine's still alive."
Marriage is grand -- and divorce is at least 100 grand.
Married life is very frustrating. In the first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens. In the second year, the woman speaks and the man listens. In the third year, they both speak and the neighbors listen.
When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you can be sure of one thing: either the car is new or the wife.
A woman rushed home from work and exclaimed to her husband, "Pack your bags, I've won the lottery!" The husband excitedly asks, "Should I pack clothes for cold or warm weather?" She says, "Pack'em all, you're leaving!"
A couple came upon a wishing well. The wife leaned over, made a wish and threw in a penny. The husband decided to make a wish, too But he leaned over too much, fell into the well, and drowned. The wife was stunned for a moment but then smiled, "It really works!"
Two women friends meet on the street, but they haven't seen each other for years. As they are talking one women notices that her friend has a 5 carat diamond ring, and says "My what a magnificent ring." Her friend relies, "Yes, it is, but unfortunately it comes with a curse. It comes
with my husband!"
Before marriage, a man will lie awake all night thinking about something you say. After marriage, he will fall asleep before you finish.
Every man wants a wife who is beautiful, understanding, economical, and a good cook. But the law allows only one wife.
One woman's hobby is another woman's hubby.
Many a man owes his success to his first wife and his second wife to his success.
I recently read that love is entirely a matter of chemistry. That must be why my wife treats me like toxic waste.
A man is incomplete until he is married. After that, he is finished.
I'm an excellent housekeeper. Every time I get a divorce, I keep the house.
We in the industry know that behind every successful screenwriter stands a woman. And behind her stands his wife.
Marriage is when a man and woman become as one; the trouble starts when they try to decide which one.
Marriages are made in heaven. But so again, are thunder and lightning.
If you want your wife to listen and pay strict attention to every word you say, talk in your sleep.