Obamacare! Major Corporations looking to pay penalty, drop employer-sponsored insurance.

It works out the best for both the companies and Obama. It cuts costs for the companies to pay the penalty and dump employees. It also pleases Obama because it is one step closer to getting a single payer system run by the government that Obama has called for in the past.

Don't think the way the bill was made that this was not a result Obama and the Dems didn't think would happen. This is what they want from the get-go.

Internal documents recently reviewed by Fortune, originally requested by Congress, show what the bill's critics predicted, and what its champions dreaded: many large companies are examining a course that was heretofore unthinkable, dumping the health care coverage they provide to their workers in exchange for paying penalty fees to the government.

That would dismantle the employer-based system that has reigned since World War II. It would also seem to contradict President Obama's statements that Americans who like their current plans could keep them. And as we'll see, it would hugely magnify the projected costs for the bill, which controls deficits only by assuming that America's employers would remain the backbone of the nation's health care system.

Hence, health-care reform risks becoming a victim of unintended consequences. Amazingly, the corporate documents that prove this point became public because of a different set of unintended consequences: they told a story far different than the one the politicians who demanded them expected.

Prince William immigration law what Arizona's law will become?

This was a big fight a couple of years ago and proponents say its doing its job of handling illegal immigration.

Three years after the Prince William County board approved an ordinance similar to the controversial immigration legislation passed last month in Arizona, county residents are still arguing about whether it has achieved its intended effects. The results might offer some insight into how Arizona's new law will play out.

The Prince William ordinance, which initially required police to check the status of detainees they suspected of being undocumented immigrants, raised ire among immigrant advocates and drew sharp criticism from the county police chief, who said it would cost taxpayers more, lead to allegations of racism and erode police-community relations -- predictions now being made by opponents of the Arizona law.

The Prince William ordinance was modified in 2008 amid charges that it was unconstitutional and could lead to racial profiling. In the end, rather than questioning only people they suspected of being undocumented immigrants, officers were directed to question all criminal suspects about their immigration status once an arrest was made.

....Proponents of the Arizona and Prince William laws worked with the Federation for American Immigration Reform, an organization that advocates for lower U.S. immigration levels, and its legal affiliate, the Immigration Reform Law Institute, which helped write both laws and is working on similar legislation for other jurisdictions.

"Like in Arizona, this was a response to overwhelming demand," said Ira Mehlman, a federation spokesman, of the Prince William law. "People were congregating on street corners and in Home Depot parking lots; there was overcrowded housing. It was affecting what most people considered to be quality of life."

County board Chairman Corey Stewart, who championed the Prince William ordinance, called it a success, saying it has reduced crime and neighborhood complaints, and reduced the number of immigrants using county services such as public schools.

"We were trailblazers here; no one else in the country had really adopted an ordinance similar to this," he said. "I suspect that Arizona's policy will end up evolving into something similar to what Prince William County ultimately adopted."

Morgan Hill Hispanic students march, demand respect, says American flag an insult.

This is the Morgan Hill fiasco in a nutshell. Regardless of why the five wore the American flag shirts.

You are in American High School celebrating a Mexican event.

The fact they are actual students at that school who think its wrong to wear an American flag shirt on Cinco shows an incredible lack of intelligence and tolerance.

Its an American school on American soil with all the rights that are afforded to people in this country. Just because you celebrate Cinco De Mayo doesn't mean American patriotism goes on the backburner and its never disrespectful to show the American flag on American soil no matter the event.

It is disrespectful to think that it is wrong to show the flag.

Students showing their Mexican-American pride walked out of class at Live Oak High School on Thursday, and rallied at the Morgan Hill Civic Center, calling the actions of the students who wore the American T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo offensive. They also demanded to speak with the mayor.

"I think they should apologize because it is a Mexican heritage day," Annicia Nunez, a Live Oak High student, told NBC BayArea. "We don't deserve to be disrespected like that. We wouldn't do that on Fourth of July."

Morgan Hill Times.

"It's disrespectful to do it on Cinco de Mayo," said Jessica Cortez, a Live Oak sophomore. "They can be a patriot on some other day. Not that specific day."

More than 200 Hispanic teens skipped school Thursday and marched through Morgan Hill yelling "We want respect!" and "Si se puedes!" At least six Morgan Hill police cars and several sheriff's vehicles caravanned alongside the line of teens wearing red, white and green and carrying Mexican flags.

The crowd - mostly high school students - left school Thursday morning after the story of four students who were sent home because they wore American flag T-shirts went viral on TV and online.

The students say they want people to know they're proud of their heritage and those who wore red, white and blue on Cinco de Mayo weren't showing them any respect.

"We did this to support the Latino/Hispanic community," said Francine Roa, who graduated from Live Oak High School in 2005. She brought her 2-year-old son Elias Martinez on the march.

During the march, several car donned American flags on the bed of trucks or from windows and repeatedly drove past the crowd.

The teens responded by yelling "Give us respect!" but some screamed obscenities. At least three people driving yelled derogatory slurs at the largely Hispanic group.

The fact the holiday is allowed to be celebrated is showing respect and no amount of people wearing American flag shirts makes it disrespectful.

Someone else said it best on another post paraphasing that if the American flag is not welcomed on Cinco De Mayo then the holiday shouldn't be officially observed in the country.

CBS Channel 2 Chicago dispute over Mark Kirk and Broadway Bank.

Here is their spin over a reporter telling Republican candidate Mark Kirk to stop talking the Dem candidate's bank problems.

Chicago's conservative talk radio station, WLS-AM, is going after the local CBS affiliate for a reporter's warning to Republican candidate Mark Kirk.

"Channel 2's made a decision that we’re really not going to cover the Senate race if it consistently, only in your terms is about Broadway Bank," the reporter, whom a colleague identified as veteran political producer Ed Marshall says in the clip, said to be from a Monday press conference. "The bank's been taken over by the government. Alexi’s been pilloried. Tell me – what is your campaign going forward?"

Kirk answers gamely about small business and corruption, but it's an unusual question, and suggests the local media is growing a bit bored of the bank story and of Kirk's attempts to run on it, a sentiment that offers Giannoulias his best hope of getting past the mess.

UPDATE: "Anyone who characterizes our position as a refusal to cover the Kirk campaign or the Giannoulias campaign is not only wrong, they are recklesly and purposefully wrong," Kiernan tells me. "My suggestion is to ask them why they're doing it. I absolutely stand by the spirit of that question -- of course we're going to aggressively cover candidates Kirk and Giannoulias -- however we refuse to let the candidates and their managers reduce a U.S. Senate campaign to a single issue of one candidate's relationship with a bank. Yes, that is an important issue and one that I will affirmatively tell you we have consistently reported on and will continue to do so, but we will also aggressively challenge the candidates to talk about other substantive and critically important issues facing the citizens of Illinois and the United States."

Kiernan noted that the station has pushed both candidates, with limited success, to talk about subjects other than the bank, and that Kirk himself, in the exchange played on WLS, "moves beyond Broadway Bank."

Question: Roles reversed and its the Republican with the bank question, do you think Channel 2 would say the same thing? I didn't think so.

Neil Cavuto calls out Robert Gibbs for lying as usual.

Nice job Neil.

Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had some advice for Neil Cavuto, channeled through Fox News’ Washington correspondent Wendell Goler: don’t let former Bush administration officials propagate conspiracy theories on your show. Except Gibbs didn’t quite get the theory right, which Cavuto took him to task for on today’s program, along with extending Gibbs an invitation to come on the show himself.

Gibbs accused former FEMA director during Hurricane Katrina Michael Brown of suggesting that the White House deliberately set off the oil spill to impact energy policy. As our own Tommy Christopher pointed out yesterday, this wasn’t quite right. “No, no, he didn’t say that, Robert,” Cavuto corrected him. “Michael Brown never said the administration deliberately set off the leak. Not once, not ever.” He then played the clip from his program yesterday where Brown suggested a delay in the response to the disaster, not direct involvement with creating it.

Obama shameless pandering to the "Los Suns" and Hispanics.

Well, he is not going to get Amnesty supporters their wish before the November elections, so every bit of shameless gutless pandering helps along the way.

“I know that a lot of you would rather be watching tonight’s game,” President Obama said this evening to a crowd assembled at the White House Rose Garden for a Cinco de Mayo celebration. “The Spurs against Los Suns from Phoenix.”

The Phoenix Suns are calling themselves Los Suns today in honor of the celebration, with the owner of the team blasting the immigration reform law in their home state, Arizona…

But that said, he continued, “we can’t start singling out people because of what they look like, how they talk or how they dress….We can’t divide the American people that way.”

Dying Newsweek put up for sale.

Jon Meacham dedication to making Newsweek Obama's official propaganda magazine seems to have failed. I won't deny being gleeful when whoever buys them takes an axe to the workforce. Its a liberal rag that has become even a parody of itself.

Donald E. Graham, chairman and chief executive of the Washington Post Company, said in an interview that the decision was purely economic.

“I did not want to do this, but it is a business,” he said. The magazine would lose money in 2010, he said, and “we don’t see a sustained path to profitability for Newsweek.”

The move comes as companies have been sloughing off and revamping other mass magazines. TV Guide was sold for $1 to a private equity firm; Businessweek was sold for $5 million in cash to Bloomberg L.P.; and Reader’s Digest was given an editorial overhaul as it slashed circulation.

The circulations of Time and Newsweek now stand about where they were in 1966, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

“Those magazines had much more stature in those days,” said Edward Kosner, who began at Newsweek in 1963 and was its editor in the late 1970s. “It was really important what was on the cover of Newsweek and what was on the cover of Time because it was what passed for the national press. They helped set the agenda; they helped make reputations.”

“The era of mass is over, in some respect,” said Charles Whitaker, research chairman in magazine journalism at the Northwestern University school of journalism. “The newsweeklies, for so long, have tried to be all things to all people, and that’s just not going to cut it in this highly niche, politically polarized, media-stratified environment that we live in today.”

Greek protestors kill three bank workers over budget cuts.

Eventually it was going to happen when you have segments of the population allowed to run wild.

Anarchists’ Blaze

The debate in the Greek parliament will be overshadowed by the violence of yesterday’s strike that turned deadly when protesters, who police described as self-styled anarchists, set fire to a branch of Marfin Egnatia Bank SA, killing two women and a man trapped inside the building.

Athens police swept through the anarchist stronghold of Exarhia yesterday, arresting 25, and detaining 70, according to a police statement. A total of 29 officers were injured in yesterday’s protests, the statement said.

Opposition leaders warned Papandreou not to try to exploit the deaths to push through the austerity measures.

“The tragic death of three people is absolutely condemned,” Aleka Papariga, the head of the Communist Party of Greece, said yesterday on state-run NET TV. “But it can’t be used by the government as an alibi for the people to accept these anti-democratic measures -- measures that will come every three, six, nine months.”

More Strikes

The violence may not be enough to end the protests. Local government workers are continuing their strike for another 24 hours, with garbage collectors due to begin a walkout tomorrow morning, according to the state-run Athens News Agency. Stavros Koukos, the president of the federation of bank unions OTOE, told Alter TV that a 24-hour strike would be held tomorrow after the deaths of the three bank employees.

Senate passes no taxpayer funded bailout for banks or investment firms.

The Republicans won this battle.

In a rare show of bipartisanship, the Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the financial regulatory bill aimed at ensuring that taxpayers never again be on the hook for bailing out collapsed banks and investment firms.

The 93 to 5 vote brought together senators as diverse as ultra-liberal Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) and Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), the conservative who co-wrote the amendment with Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate banking committee.

The vote came as Democrats on Wednesday also sought to undercut key GOP objections to the bill, a strategy aimed at securing much-needed Republican support for the sweeping legislation in the days ahead.

Comedy Central to debut show about Jesus escaping God's shadow.

Mohammed is off limits but mocking Jesus is a-okay. Gutless coward.

Standout ideas include a live sex-chat talk show, a program based on a Funny or Die Web short, an update of "The Odd Couple" and an animated series about Jesus Christ.

That last item could raise eyebrows coming on the heels of the network's recent censorship of "South Park" for attempting to depict the Prophet Muhammad. The show in development, "JC," is a half-hour about Christ wanting to escape the shadow of his "powerful but apathetic father" and live a regular life in New York.

"In general, comedy in its purest form always makes some people uncomfortable," said Comedy Central head of original programming Kent Alterman, who returned to the network in January after a stint at New Line.

(Pic) UK's The Sun takes Obama logo for David Cameron.

So very subtle.

Go see Robert Rodriguez MACHETE for free, don't buy a ticket.

So when the usher comes and ask for it, just say you have a right to be in theater without needing a ticket because you didn't cross into the movie theater, the movie theater crossed you.

Black only field trip causes controversy in Ann Arbor.

Racist, patronizing, belittling victimology bullshit. So if other kids went to hear the rocket scientist, somehow the black kids wouldn't have been as interested and awestruck? Then he goes and tries an intimidation tactic on the others kids who were not happy about going on the field trip.

Principal Mike Madison must be fired.

An Ann Arbor elementary school principal used a letter home to parents tonight to defend a field trip for black students as part of his school’s efforts to close the achievement gap between white and black students.

Dicken Elementary School Principal Mike Madison wrote the letter to parents following several days of controversy at the school after a field trip last week in which black students got to hear a rocket scientist.

“In hindsight, this field trip could have been approached and arranged in a better way," Madison wrote. "But as I reflect upon the look of excitement, enthusiasm and energy that I saw in these children’s eyes as they stood in the presence of a renowned African American rocket scientist in a very successful position, it gave the kids an opportunity to see this type of achievement is possible for even them.

“It was not a wasted venture for I know one day they might want to aspire to be the first astronaut or scientist standing on the Planet Mars.

“I also think it’s important that you know that I have talked to the children who did not go on the field trip, and I think they have a better understanding of the purpose of the AA Lunch Bunch now, as I hope you do. I’m sorry if any kids were upset by the field trip or my discussion afterwards with them, and I have let them know that.


....
District spokeswoman Liz Margolis said after the trip was over, those who went returned to their fifth-grade class and were greeted by boos by those who didn’t go on the trip. Margolis said Madison, who is black, heard the boos, and went to talk to the class. She said he and the class had a “discussion” about race issues.

“He wasn’t yelling at them. He was very passionate about it,” Margolis said.

Parents have complained he was yelling at the class and belittled a Muslim girl who said she also had experienced racism and discrimination.

China to force internet users to register real names

Not to stop trolling but to make sure you say the correct things.

The move comes less than a week after China announced a hardening of its State Secrets law, requiring internet and mobile phone operators to inform on their customers and co-operate with police demands for information on users.

Plans to make all online users register have been debated for years in China, but senior officials have confirmed that the government is now actively investigating how to implement a system of real-name registration.

Ghetto fab: Fight over guy at a Wendy's plus a bag of weed.

This is grade A ghetto drama.

Wendy's employee Lorissa Mendez, 19, of Archer Street told police she and Roberts know each other. They have been at odds over the father of Mendez's child, according to a police report.


"Mendez stated that the subjects in the vehicle were 'talking (deleted),' which provoked her to throw the fruit punch at Roberts," Officer Jaymes Swain wrote in a report released Monday.


Roberts told police the fruit punch hit her and damaged her car.


Swain said as he looked at the inside of the driver's side door, he spotted a small plastic bag containing what appeared to be marijuana.


Roberts would not say whose bag it was, so she was arrested on charges of marijuana possession and marijuana possession in a motor vehicle, police said. She also was advised of her option to file complaints against Mendez.


Roberts' passengers were identified as Marcus Terrell Harris, 23, of the 2200 block of South 2nd Street and Tonya J. Garron, 23, of Port Cumberland Road. Harris initially gave a false name to police, authorities said.


Harris and Garron also would not say who owned the plastic bag, according to police.

Phoenix Suns, ESPN and the NBA against Arizona's illegal immigration law.

To all three I say drop dead. I won't spend any more money on NBA merchandise and will root actively against the Suns/Spurs and their owners for their stupidity.

The Phoenix Suns will wear "Los Suns" on their jerseys in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals on Wednesday night, owner Robert Sarver said, "to honor our Latino community and the diversity of our league, the state of Arizona, and our nation."

The decision to wear the jerseys on the Cinco de Mayo holiday stems from a law passed by the Arizona Legislature and signed by Gov. Jan Brewer that has drawn widespread criticism from Latino organizations and civil rights groups that say it could lead to racial profiling of Hispanics. President Barack Obama has called the law "misguided."

Sarver, who was born and raised in Tucson, said frustration with the federal government's failure to deal with the illegal immigration issue led to the passage of what he called "a flawed state law."

"However intended, the result of passing the law is that our basic principles of equal rights and protection under the law are being called into question," he said, "and Arizona's already struggling economy will suffer even further setbacks at a time when the state can ill-afford them."

Two ESPN columnists rail against the law implying the majority who are for it are nothing but bigots. Thats fine. You want to involved yourself into political issues better be prepared for the backlash

Greece's Costs More than the $147 Billion bailout.

Greece in the next couple of months is going to be interesting to watch.

BRUSSELS—The €110 billion ($147 billion) three-year Greek bailout by euro-zone countries and the International Monetary Fund won't be enough to cover Greece's costs, an examination of Greek financial figures shows, setting Europe up for more tough choices if private markets don't start lending again.

The bailout announced here over the weekend will solve one pressing problem: Greece will have enough cash to repay an €8.5 billion bond that comes due in two weeks. But the bailout package is based on assumptions that by the end of 2011 Greece will be able to borrow again from capital markets. That may be optimistic, say some bond-market specialists.

"Investors are going to look at [a fresh debt issue] with a lot of trepidation," says Brian Yelvington, an analyst at Knight Capital in Greenwich, Conn. "It will come down to how Greece performs."

(Pics) Leopard lunges at Vladimir Putin..then realizes its Vladimir Putin

Don't ever lunge before you think people.

The leopard growled, flashed its teeth and lunged at the fence of its new enclosure at a national park in Russia’s near the southern city of Sochi.

Standing on the other side of the fence was Russian prime minister, and animal lover, Vladimir Putin, who smiled broadly

The rare Persian leopard is one of two that Iran recently gifted to Russia in exchange for two Amur, or Siberian, Tigers. Putin was on hand to open an enclosure for Russia’s new cats, the second of which was too ill to come out, according to Russia Today.

"ROAR!!!!"


"ERK... Its Putin.. damn it, act natural and calm."

Illegals are moving out of Arizona part deux.

Buried in an article over the shooting of a deputy in Arizona by an illegal drug smuggler is this gem of reasoning.

Still, events like Friday's shooting have persuaded some of Arizona's millions of residents that the new law may improve their lives without alienating peoples' civil rights.

"I don't have a problem with the new law," says Abraham Candelaria, who lives in Chandler, Arizona. "We've been struggling for years to secure our borders and, meanwhile, these guys are becoming more aggressive—that officer was shot by an AK-47—you don't want that kind crime at your doorstep."

But not all Arizonans are so enthusiastic about the new measure.

Thousands gathered on Saturday to protest the new law and rally for immigration reform. In Phoenix, some 8,000 people rallied downtown, carrying signs denouncing Ms. Brewer and asking questions such as, "What does an illegal alien look like?" Other protestors donned t-shirts reading "Legalize Arizona."

Alex Rodriguez, a 20-year-old community-college student living in Mesa, Ariz., traveled todowntown Phoenix on Saturday night with his father, mother and 10-year-old brother to protest the law.

He says the law will force him and his family to move out of the state. Hailing originally from Mexico, Mr. Rodriguez and his family have lived in Arizona illegally for the past 10 years.

"We came tonight because we have to stop this law from happening," he says. "It will prevent us from being able to walk down the street. It makes me afraid just to, say, wave my hand out of fear that somebody will stop me."
Mr. Rodriguez says he has talked with his parents, a house cleaner and handyman, about moving to California or New Mexico if the law takes effect.

The lack of respect for American immigration laws and a sense of entitlement is not going to win many friends

Kevin Rudd to tax the hell out of mining companies for votes.

It must be election time as Chairman Rudd decides to tax one of the main industries that has kept Australia out of recession due to a booming business.

Shares of mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto tumbled Monday after the Australian government proposed a new 40 percent tax on the booming profits of resource companies.

The big miners' losses dragged the Australian market down by about 1 percent in morning trade after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced Sunday that the tax would be introduced in 2012 and raise an additional 9 billion Australian dollars ($8.3 billion) per year.

The new tax targets miners that have made bumper profits as burgeoning demand from manufacturers in China and India pushed up the price of iron ore and other commodities.

The mining industry has warned that such a tax would stall investment or shift it to other countries.

Analysts say the reforms are aimed at attracting votes for the ruling Labor Party which will seek a second three-year term in government at elections due late this year.

Rudd said he expected the mining industry would campaign against him ahead of the elections. He said BHP Billiton was only 60 percent Australian-owned and Rio Tinto was less than 30 percent Australian.

"That means these massively increased profits ... built on Australian resources are mostly ... going overseas," Rudd told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Monday.

Greece gets 146 Billion dollar bailout, Euro still drops.

Now its about seeing if Portugal and Spain are the next to fall though not as badly or as embarrassing as Greece.

The euro dropped on Monday, after a 110 billion euros ($145.4 billion) bailout of Greece made skeptical investors wonder which country might be next, while a third increase in China's bank reserves this year added to uncertainty about the near term outlook.

China

The emergency aid, the most ever for a country, alleviated some fears of a Greek debt default, but still had to obtain parliamentary approvals.

Market reaction reflected the view that promised spending cuts and tax increases by Athens worth 30 billion euros over three years on top of belt-tightening measures already taken were hardly reasons to cheer.

"The longer-term sustainability of this level of austerity has got to be open to question," said Tony Morriss, senior currency strategist with ANZ Bank in Sydney.

"The other issue is would this mean that the market will focus on the longer-term sustainability of countries like Portugal and Spain?" Morriss said.

(Video) Boondocks' Dick - Riding Obama song pisses off Will.I.Am

Via his twitter

Boondocks is funny "Sayin I'm dick ridin" if I didn't stand up "we would have mc cain" who else stood up? Now arizona is hating mexicans

Right, NO ONE ELSE stood up for Obama, only because of Will.I.Am did Obama get voted in to be President.

Muslim students clash with Jewish students in Wisconsin university.

It looks like Muslim students decided to crash the Jewish event and it broke down from that point.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee officials said Friday that they will investigate whether student conduct rules were violated when Muslim and Jewish students clashed during a protest of a Jewish-sponsored event on campus Thursday.

One Jewish student was reported injured and a Muslim student was arrested by campus police in the incident on Spaights Plaza outside the UWM Union during an event meant to mark the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel.

The event erupted into shouting and then violence after members of the Muslim Student Association confronted the Jewish students over Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, and a Jewish student attempted to throw a Palestinian flag in the trash.
Jewish students said Friday that they felt threatened and were seeking a meeting with university officials to ensure a safe environment for future events. And a small group of Jewish and Muslim students met on the plaza Friday to quietly discuss the conflict and how they might move beyond it.

"It was very difficult, but it was good to do," said Diana Azimov, president of the Jewish Student Association who planned the Israel anniversary party and was offended by the protest - particularly a swastika that was scrawled along with other anti-Israel rhetoric on the plaza the night before the event.

"I think it says something about these groups that we could clash one day and the next day come together to share our feelings," she said.

Yamin Masalkhi, who is president of the Muslim Student Association and participated in the protest, said that he apologized to the organizers, but that many members in his organization are of Palestinian descent and have strong feelings about Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.

"We didn't go there intending to cause trouble, we just wanted to have a conversation," said Masalkhi, who stressed their actions were personal and not affiliated with the Muslim Student Association. "Things unwound so quickly," he said.

UK- Gay cop arrests preacher for saying homosexuality is a sin

This seems to be an abused of power to quell free speech rights even in the UK.

Christian campaigners said last night they were alarmed that the police seemed to be using legislation originally introduced to deal with violent and abusive rioters and football hooligans to curb free speech.

Neil Addison, a barrister and expert on religious law, said: ‘People should be able to express their opinions freely as long as their conduct is reasonable. In fact, it is part of the duty of the police to protect free speech.’

Mike Judge, a spokesman for the Christian Institute, which is supporting Mr Mcalpine, said: ‘Dale is an ordinary, everyday Christian with traditional views about sexual ethics.

'Some people will agree with him, others will disagree. But it’s not for the police to arrest someone just because others may disagree with what is said.’


.....Mr Mcalpine says that as the woman left, one of the two officers, PCSO Sam Adams, approached her and had a brief chat before walking towards him. Mr Mcalpine asked Mr Adams if everything was OK.

According to Mr Mcalpine, Mr Adams said there had been complaints and warned him that if he made racist or homophobic remarks he could be arrested. Mr Mcalpine said: ‘I told him I was not homophobic but sometimes I did say that the Bible says homosexuality is a crime against the Creator, but it was not against the law to say this.

‘The PCSO then told me he was gay and he was the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender liaison officer for the police. ‘I said, “It is still a sin”, and our conversation ended. It wasn’t a loud or aggressive conversation.’