US-based toy retailer Toys"R"Us has been reprimanded for gender discrimination following a complaint filed by a group of Swedish sixth graders about the store’s 2008 Christmas catalogue. According to the youngsters, the Toys"R"Us Christmas catalogue featured “outdated gender roles because boys and girls were shown playing with different types of toys, whereby the boys were portrayed as active and the girls as passive”. Thumbing through the catalogue, 13-year-old Hannes Psajd explained that he and his twin sister had always shared the same toys and that he was concerned about the message sent by the Toys"R"Us publication. “Small girls in princess stuff…and here are boys dressed as super heroes. It’s obvious that you get affected by this.” – Read the full article at The Local

Hey Koes, it’s a pony! ;) Photo made by Cheatara

I’m well aware of what kind of comments will be posted by some of our readers but I don’t really care. I’m so sick of these stupid gender clichés. You like boys to be “boyish”? Well, good for you but that doesn’t mean they want to be boyish just because you or the society expects them to be. We should get rid of the whole concept of acting masculine or feminine. The case above isn’t really special for Sweden but I’m glad to see that this Swedish attitude comes to Germany too (even if some Swedes might already be annoyed by all the political correctness ;p).

UPDATE: Boing Boing had a post about this too earlier today and the first 2 comments there made my day. Sorry America, you just got pwned ;o) On a more serious note: Stop thinking of teenagers as brainless mutants, kthx.

• Study finds no difference between children raised by gay or straight adoptive parents
• Poland’s lower house approves forcible chemical castration for sex offenders
• Amnesty calls for immediate repeal of new medieval anti-gay laws in Indonesia
• Germany obviously dumb: Gets Center-Right government of Christians & Capitalists  
• Germany mulls realities of first openly gay foreign minister in Europe but he’s a bitch
• Pirate Party and Socialists with strong results at German Federal Election (at least)
• Vatican doesn’t want that monopoly, says child abuse is rife in other religions too
• Wal-Mart employee reports mother to police over her kids’ bath time photos
• Apropos Wal-Mart: Short overview of the “values” of one of the biggest US companies
• UK  Border Agency wants DNA test to detect “true race” of asylum seekers
• 3 of 763 house searches under PATRIOT Act in US in 2008 were related to terrorism
• New law in France to cut off your internet if industry says you’re a pirate

• Weitere Studie bestätigt: Gleichgeschlechtliche Paare sind keine schlechteren Eltern
• ..in die Traufe: FDP würde gern in eimem Runumschlag den Sozialstaat abschaffen
• FDP als Bürgerrechtler? Haha. Erste Amtshandlung in Sachsen: Mehr Überwachung
• Dass ist also der Politikwechsel in Thüringen? SPD will mit CDU statt mit Linken regieren
• Rechtstaatlichkeit in Bayern: Zwei “Islamisten” werden grundlos “vorsorglich” festgenommen
• Potenzieller Außenminister Westerwelle spricht kaum Englisch, lässt BBC-Reporter abblitzen
• Studie des Bundesumweltamtes: Atomausstieg und Kohleverzicht keine Gefahr für Stromversorgung
• Verdammt in alle Ewigkeit: Amerikas Gesetze für Sexualdelikte erklären verliebte Teenies zu Verbrechern

• Change we can believe in: White House seeks renewal of Bush’s surveillance laws
• Leftist government of Labour Party, Socialists and Greens in Norway re-elected
• An American dies every 12 minutes because there is no universal health care in the USA
• France passes three-strikes-law, will cut off internet if music or film industry says you’re a pirate
• Child-safety software sells kids’ IM conversations to market-research companies
• Israeli government ads warn people against marrying Non-Jews
• German police beats up guy at demonstration because he tried to report another cop
• US author of middle-grade novels not allowed to see class via Skype because he might be a pedo
• For peace in the world? US holds huge lead in global weapons sales
• Sci-Fi becomes real: US High-Tech drone software fails and ignores human commands
• How the financial crisis changes the markets: Europe now richer than the USA 
• Man in Brazil held because he dared to kiss his own daughter, faces 15 years in jail

• Verfassungsschutz überwacht komplette Fraktion der Linken im Bundestag
• Wolfagng Schäuble will die parlamentarische Kontrolle der Geheimdienste abschaffen
• Warum die Pläne der Linken kein unfinanzierbarer Populismus sind
• BKA und CDU warnen mal wieder for Terroranschlägen vor der Wahl damit auch ja alle CDU wählen
• Dokumentation von Polizeigewalt in Frankreich durch neues Gesetz verboten
• Französische Nationalversammlung winkt Three-Strikes-Sperrgesetz durch
• Italien entsorgt Atommüll bequem über die Mafia im Mittelmeer, 120 Behälter entdeckt
• Wie die Interessen einen deutsches Konzerns die Souveränität eines ganzen Staates gefährden…

Text stolen from Karl over at the Destroyer Blog <3 ‘cause i couldn’t make it to the demo this year sadly.

Like last year, the Freedom not Fear (Freiheit statt Angst) demonstration in Berlin attracted thousands of people (25,000 according to a press release found at Netzpolitik). Peter Sunde of The Pirate Bay was there, as well as Pirate Party supporter Oscar Swartz, and Claudia Roth of the German Green Party. [comment by Josh: The Left party was there also of course. The fact that the Green Party tries to act like they are the civil rights party is somewhat  hypocritical seeing how they supported surveillance laws when they were in the German government.]

 
The Pirate Party at the demo. I just wish they would use the Swedish Purple as their colour, not that fugly Orange.

A few rainbow flags could be seen in the crowd. I think the gay movement in general has missed that the privacy issues that the Pirate Parties have put on the agenda are very relevant to gay people. For example, when the Berlin gay guide Siegessäule interviewed politicians about gay issues, the focus was mostly marriage and adoption – the traditional gay issues. But those fights are won; today politicians compete in offering gay people human rights. It’s time to look upon gay politics from another angle. If gay people knew their history, they would worry about excessive surveillance laws, since gays and just about anyone with a different lifestyle are common targets in a society that aims to control its citizens. Surveillance laws will be misused, period.

More photos (yes, also of cute boys)

• Indian government tipped to allow gay sex ruling, decriminalizing homosexuality 
• State of Washington to hold referendum on new gay rights laws
• New  Bill would give US president power to shut down internet for all Americans
• Lawless surveillance, warrantless rationales – Obama’s continuation of Bush policies
• DNA data bases useless? Scientists learn to fabricate DNA evidence
• How the UK government lies about number of file sharers with fantasy calculating
• Sweden seeks way out of selfish capitalism with negative interest rate for banks

• Umfragen zu Gewalt gegen Schwule manipuliert um Stimmung gegen Ausländer zu machen
• Unzensierte Nach-Wahl-Pläne der CDU aufgetaucht: Kein Mindestlohn und höhere Steuern
• FDP verhindert BND-Untersuchungsausschuss & klagt nur gegen Netztzensur wenn sie nicht gewählt werden
• CDU traut nicht mal den eigenen Parteimitgliedern, liest heimlich vertrauliche Mails mit
• Bundeswehr fordert Luftschlag gegen dutzende Zivilisten an, aber das ist natürlich eine Friedensmission…
• Nur gegen Kinderpornos? Österreich sperrt Website eines kritischen Journalisten
• Contentmafia mahnt jetzt schon der Wiederverkauf legal erworbener CDs ab
• Air France verbietet Männern neben allein reisenden Kindern zu sitzen

• UK tells police to ignore human rights court ruling over DNA database
• UK govt. accessing private telephone and e-mail records 1.500 times a day
• German high court case against gay marriage withdrawn by opposing state
• Pirate Party officially registered as political party and ready to go in the UK
• Rich NY town tries to shut down children’s library because poor kids might use it
• US college gives students credits for trolling web with creationist propaganda
• Police in NY using devious trick to arrest people for pot possession
• US Judge sentences man to 6 months in jail — for yawning in court

• FDP entsetzt über “Linksrutsch” der CDU und für Ausweitung des Überwachungsstaats
• Bayern zieht Klage gegen Stiefkind-Adoption bei gleichgeschlechtlichen Paaren zurück
• Auch die Grünen finden das Internet braucht schärfere Gesetzte als das “echte Leben”
• SPD-Kandidatin für Familienminesterium findet Zensur sollte schneller implementiert werden
• CDU will möglichst schnell Studiengebühren von über 1000 Euro für Erststudium einführen
• CDU will im Falle eines Wahlsieges 1,5 Milliarden Euro in deutsche Mondmission investieren
• Auf Hitlers Spuren: In Israel werden Ehen zwischen Juden und Nichtjuden vom Staat nicht anerkannt

• 2 teens murdered, 12 injured in Tel Aviv shooting at gay youth meeting
• Gay couples protest Australian gay marriage ban with mock weddings
• Aussie MP attacks plans to allow gay adoption, says homosexuality isn’t normal
• Cambodia relocates HIV families to AIDS Ghettos lacking clean water
• Boy dies after being shot in the back by police, Amnesty demands investigation
• UK wants to set thousands of families under 24/7 surveillance
• Football clubs take a stand for gay pride in Sweden

• Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz will mehr & schärfere Netzzensur
• Meinungsfreiheit als Sondermüll – CDU will Zensur ebenfalls ausweiten
• SPD-Spitzenkandidat meint, das Grundgesetz ist nicht so wichtig
• Auch Grüne wollen zensieren: Kommentar des Bremer Fraktionsvorsitzenden
• SPD will Grundrechte zu Gunsten von Urheberrechten schwächen
• CDU weiß seit 13 Jahren von Sicherheitsproblem in Atommülllager

• Children as young as 10 on public sex offender lists in the USA
• France, New Zealand, Australia want “3-Strikes-Law” against file sharers
• New Zealand introduces Internet censorship, sparks outrage
• UK will subject everyone who works with kids to multiple, repeated police-checks
• Change we can believe in: Obama puts *another* lobbyist into a crucial position
• Italian secret Internet censorship list leaked, contains mostly legal Gay porn

• Government starts to search homes without suspicion in the Netherlands
• Mother’s letter inspires gay marriage protest outside Irish parliament
• Fears for the world’s poor countries as the rich grab land to grow food
• Surprise, surprise: CIA director admits they were lying to Congress for years
• Sweden moves closer to nursing homes for gays, starting in Stockholm
• IPREDator, the global anonymity service from The Pirate Bay, goes live soon

• Zensursula will 1.000 Websites ohne Richtervorbehalt sperren – pro Tag!
• Grundrechtspartei? Wie die FDP in Hessen für den Polizeistaat übt
• FDP will versprochene Steuersenkungen mit Obdachlosigkeit finanzieren
• Vorwärts Marsch zum Deutschnetz – Sperrungen: der Nächste bitte
• Linke reicht Verfassungsklage für Gleichstellung von Homo-Ehe ein
• Tiefe Einblicke ins Private: Gutachten zur Vorratsdatenspeicherung
• Deutschland verschwendet mal wieder (3,1) Milliarden für nutzlose Panzer
• Witz des Tages: Klimaberater der Kanzelrin ist… der Chef von Vattenfall!

Aktuelle Petitionen and den Bundestag

Big Brother, the TV show, was invented in the Netherlands. Maybe that should have been telling us something about this country. Fiction turns reality over there at the moment, at least partly. The Dutch government is collecting “some” data about every person under 18 living in the Netherlands. These data are coming mostly from school doctors who have to fill out a dossier of 30 pages with 1185 (!) different data records about every child and teenager. They don’t only save the name, address, phone number, religion, tax and ID numbers and income of the parents and such things but also details about the sexual activity of the kid,  the size of the genitals and the look of the pubes, the penis respectively the labia and even the scrotum!  

Seriously… WTF is going on there!? I couldn’t find English articles about this and the only German source (written by a Dutch ‘tho) says they say they need the data to identify and find abused children later. I’d be thankful if some of our Dutch readers could tell us more about this, there must have been a public discussion about this at least.