**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
The Sunday Times December 31, 2006
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2524441,00.html
Archbishop faces clash over gay marriages of 50 priests
Christopher Morgan
THE Church of England is facing a new rift over homosexual clergy with thedisclosure that more than 50 gay or lesbian priests have "married" in civilpartnership ceremonies.
Traditionalists and evangelicals opposed to gay clerics said this weekendthey would force open debate of the issue at February's meeting of theGeneral Synod. Campaigners have criticised bishops for shying away fromenforcing the church's policy of ensuring gay clergy are celibate beforethey are given authorisation to enter civil partnerships.
Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is also likely to facecriticism from primates of the Anglican communion at a meeting in Tanzaniain February. The summit was called to mend splits caused by the ordinationof Gene Robinson, a gay bishop, in America in 2003.
The figures on clerical civil partnerships come from Changing Attitude, agay campaigning organisation in the Church of England. The figures show thatat least 51 priests, including four lesbians, are now in partnerships. ColinCoward, director of Changing Attitude, said: "Civil partnerships have helpedto increase the stability of same-sex relationships and reduced the socialexclusion to which lesbian and gay people are often subjected."
=
From Marc Adams - HeartStrong
End of the Year
Hi everyone...
Two things...
First, we hope that everyone is enjoying this long holiday weekend. Its agreat time to pause and reflect on the things that matter most in ourlives. We at HeartStrong are extremely grateful that this year has beenthe most productive yet. We are into our tenth year of outreach work andit's only been possible because of all of you who support us in the workwe do. So thank you & Happy New Year!
Second, we've received some emails today from some of you wishing to makelast minute year end donations. We are working all weekend on variousprojects. If you want to make a end of the year donation to receive taxcredit for 2006 you can do so online at http://www.heartstrong.org untilabout 11:30pm New Year's Eve January 31. You can also call me at206-351-9993 until the same time. I hope that helps answer yourquestions.
See you in the new year!
Marc Adams
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
MA: Mass. lawmakers ask lawsuit be found "frivolous"
Associated Press, December 29, 2006
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/12/29/pro_gay_marriage_mass_lawmakers_ask_lawsuit_be_found_frivolous/
Mass. lawmakers ask lawsuit be found "frivolous"
BOSTON - Lawmakers targeted in a $5 million federal lawsuit by an anti-gaymarriage group shot back on Friday, giving the group 21 days to withdraw thesuit on the grounds that it is "frivolous."
The lawsuit, filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court byVoteOnMarriage.org, argues the 109 lawmakers who voted to recess a jointconstitutional convention instead of voting on a proposed constitutionalamendment barring same-sex marriage, violated the supporters' rights to freespeech, to petition the government and due process under the law.
The group is asking the federal court to interpret the vote to recess ajoint meeting of the House and Senate as a vote in favor of the amendmenteven though many lawmakers said the vote was designed to kill the amendment.
The lawsuit also seeks $500,000 from the lawmakers for the cost of thegroup's legal battles and another $5 million in punitive damages. Thedamages would be split 109 ways and lawmakers would be held personallyliable.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
AK: Editorial--Alaska shouldn't institutionalize discrimination
Juneau Empire, AK, December 29, 2006
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/122906/opi_20061229030.shtml
Alaska shouldn't institutionalize discrimination
This editorial appeared in The Voice of the Times:
Gay rights is a complicated and emotional set of issues unlikely to eithergo away or be resolved anytime soon. Calls for expansion of those rightshave posed a political dilemma for virtually every state in the union, andnow we can add Alaska to that growing list.
The question here is whether committed same-sex partners should be treatedunder the law like traditional married couples when it comes to governmentbenefits.
For now, the Alaska Supreme Court says it would be discriminatory andviolate the constitution's promise of equal protection to deny the benefitsto state workers. The justices ordered them in place by Jan. 1. For therecord, several large companies and government entities - including themunicipality of Anchorage - already offer such benefits.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
Sunday, December 31, 2006
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST DECEMBER 31, 2006
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901237_pf.html
The 2006 Bill of Wrongs
By Dahlia Lithwick
Sunday, December 31, 2006; B02
I must confess that I love all those year-end lists of greatest movies andalbums and lip glosses and tractors of the past 12 months -- it's reassuringthat all human information can be wrestled into bundles of 10. In thatspirit, herewith are my top 10 civil liberties nightmares of 2006.
10) Attempt to Get Death Penalty for Zacarias Moussaoui: Long after it wasclear that the hapless Frenchman was neither the "20th hijacker" nor a keyplotter in the attacks of 9/11, the government pressed to execute him as a"conspirator" in those attacks. Moussaoui's alleged participation? Byfailing to confess to what he may have known about the plot, which couldhave led the government to disrupt it, Moussaoui directly caused the deathsof thousands of people. This massive over-reading of the federal conspiracylaws would be laughable were the stakes not so high. Fortunately, a juryrejected the notion that Moussaoui could be executed for the crime of merelywishing there had been a real connection between himself and 9/11.
9) Guantanamo Bay: After the Supreme Court struck down the militarytribunals planned to try hundreds of detainees on the U.S. base in Cuba, andafter President Bush agreed that it may be a good idea to close down theprison, the worst public relations fiasco since the Japanese internmentcamps lives on. Prisoners once deemed "among the most dangerous,best-trained, vicious killers on the face of the Earth" are either quietlyreleased or still awaiting trial. The lucky 75 to be tried there will becheered to hear that the Pentagon has just announced plans to build a $125million legal complex for the hearings. The government has now officiallyput more thought into the design of Guantanamo's court bathrooms than thecharges against its prisoners.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901238_pf.html
While You Were at War . . .
By Richard A. Clarke
Sunday, December 31, 2006; B01
In every administration, there are usually only about a dozen barons who canreally initiate and manage meaningful changes in national security policy.For most of 2006, some of these critical slots in the Bush administrationhave been vacant, such as the deputy secretary of state (empty since RobertB. Zoellick left for investment bank Goldman Sachs) and the deputy directorof national intelligence (with Gen. Michael V. Hayden now CIA director). Andwith the nation involved in a messy war spiraling toward a bad conclusion,the key deputies and Cabinet members and advisers are all focusing on oneissue, at the expense of all others: Iraq.
National Security Council veteran Rand Beers has called this the"7-year-old's soccer syndrome" -- just like little kids playing soccer,everyone forgets their particular positions and responsibilities and runslike a herd after the ball.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901421_pf.html
What the Dictators Can't Stop
By Jim Hoagland
Sunday, December 31, 2006; B07
Dictators die harder than most of us. Having wielded unlimited power inlife, they seem to be sustained by a stubborn belief in their ability tostare down death, too. In his final moments yesterday, Saddam Husseinrefused the offer of a hood to cover his eyes.
Such defiance lends a particularly morbid quality to the last days ofdictators such as Hussein and the now-infirm Fidel Castro. They follow inthe reluctant footsteps of Spain's Francisco Franco and of many othertyrants-in-extremis before el rais Saddam and el jefe Fidel were confronted,respectively, with a hangman's rope and the withering ravages of disease.
Survival is the dictator's primary occupation -- as well as hisjustification for ruthlessness. "His main contribution to life, finally, isfear; but fear such as thunder, cancer or madness may provoke," authorWilliam Kennedy wrote of the fictional caudillo that Gabriel GarcÃa Márquezcreated in "The Autumn of the Patriarch." Facing death, the dictator is "theembodiment of egocentric evil unleashed," Kennedy continued in a masterful1976 book review for the New York Times.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/world/31world.html?pagewanted=print
December 31, 2006
Around the World, Unease and Criticism of Penalty
By ALAN COWELL
LONDON, Dec. 30 - With gradations of unease rather than outrage inspired bythe hanging of Saddam Hussein, Western politicians sought a cautious balanceon Saturday between revulsion at his record, support for his executionersand concern at the use of a capital penalty they largely shun in their owncountries.
But religious leaders - Christian and Muslim - used stronger and morecritical language in response to the news of Mr. Hussein's execution, whichgreeted most Western Europeans on their breakfast time news shows and insome newspaper headlines two days before the New Year.
Perhaps the most delicately choreographed response came from Britain, whoseprime minister, Tony Blair, took a lead as America's closest ally intoppling Mr. Hussein while his Labor Party prides itself on opposing thedeath penalty.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901240_pf.html
'No Point In Being Bitter'
Bob Woodward and Christine Parthemore
Sunday, December 31, 2006; B01
Upon becoming president in August 1974, Gerald R. Ford faced the task ofending a war -- a war not of his own making. In two wide-ranging interviewswith Ford conducted in 2004 and 2005 by The Washington Post's Bob Woodwardand Christine Parthemore, the former president revealed the depths of hisdisillusionment and frustration during the final years and months of theVietnam War. The interviews, excerpted below, were granted on the conditionthat they not be made public until Ford's death.
***Bob Woodward : [Vietnam] is the big master problem you got handed.
Gerald R. Ford: My approach was, we inherited the problem with the job. It'smy obligation on behalf of the country to try and solve the damn thing.
You know, there was a fundamental mistake made back after World War II, whenthe French had committed to support the Vietnamese. In fact, I went down toSaigon [in 1953]. . . . I wanted to find out why we're going to spend a lotof money in South Vietnam on behalf of the South Vietnamese. I was inSaigon, stayed at the ambassador's residence, and I went over to the Frenchmilitary headquarters, and boy, all these French generals and colonels weredressed up here out in Saigon and telling me how they were gonna win the waragainst the [North] Vietnamese.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Who-Well-Miss.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Some Lawmakers Will Be Missed on Hill
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 2:31 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's just not going to be the same. When the new Congressconvenes next month, a few high achievers and a few lawmakers known more forbeing characters than for their legislative skills won't be around.
Some left by choice, others rejected by voters in what President Bush calleda Democratic ''thumping'' of his fellow Republicans in November. A few --such as Florida's Katherine Harris, former Nebraska football coach TomOsborne -- reached for the brass ring of higher office and fell short.
A couple of those most prominent among the missing are Democrats, but mostare Republicans.
Whether cherished for their political skills or their entertainment value,they leave a vacuum.
=
Sacbee.com
http://www.sacbee.com/110/v-print/story/100393.html
George F. Will: Don't ration political speech
By George F. Will -
Published 12:00 am PST Sunday, December 31, 2006
A three-judge federal court recently tugged a thread that may begin theunraveling of the fabric of murky laws and regulations that traduce theFirst Amendment by suppressing political speech. Divided 2-1, the courtheld -- unremarkably, you might think -- that issue-advocacy ads can runduring an election, when they matter most. This decision will strike zealous(there is no other kind) advocates of ever-tighter regulation of politicalspeech (campaign finance "reformers") as ominous. Why? Because it partiallyemancipates millions of Americans who incorporate thousands of groups toadvocate their causes, groups such as the ACLU and the NRA.
And Wisconsin Right to Life. It is another organization by which peopleassemble (see the First Amendment) to speak (see it again) in order to seekredress of grievances (the Amendment, one more time). In 2004, WRTL wasdistressed because Wisconsin's senators, Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, werehelping to block confirmation votes on some of President Bush's judicialnominees, and wanted to run ads urging people to "contact Senators Feingoldand Kohl and tell them to oppose the filibuster."
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/business/30pay.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1167573673-HCOvadrY2SQU5oR/Jh7ltQ&pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Gilded Paychecks
Compensation Experts Offer Ways to Help Curb Executive Salaries
By ERIC DASH
Nothing, it seems, can put the brakes on runaway executive pay.
Shareholder advocates and lawmakers have harshly criticized hugecompensation packages. Better disclosure has led only to bigger gains. Evenwhen investors get the chance, they rarely vote against outsized pay.
Despite the growing attention over the last 25 years, the average chiefexecutive's compensation at big companies has increased more than 600percent, to $8 million dollars a year after adjusting for inflation.Meanwhile, the ratio between the average pay for a top executive and aworker, which held steady in the 30 years before 1980, has more thanquadrupled, to a multiple of 170, according to recent academic research.
"I don't actually believe we have made any real progress - or very, verylittle," said Robert A. G. Monks, a longtime corporate governance advocate."If we cannot effectively monitor and control what the principal executivesare paid, we are kidding ourselves if we can control anything else."
=
The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/opinion/31kristof.html?pagewanted=print
December 31, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
Ten Suggestions for Rescuing the Bush Legacy
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Particularly after all the tributes to Gerald Ford in the last few days,President Bush may be pondering his own legacy and obituary. Sorry, Mr.Bush, but it doesn't look good right now, with your obit perhaps beginningsomething like this:
"George W. Bush, who achieved tremendous acclaim for his handling of the9/11 terror attacks but left office vilified and disgraced, mired in theIraq war and stalemated at home, his hard-line partisan tactics souring theelectorate and crippling his beloved Republican Party for a generation,died. ..."
But Mr. Bush, your plight isn't hopeless. In the holiday spirit, let meoffer you 10 suggestions for what you can do in 2007 to try to rescue yourlegacy.
=
The New York Times
The article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/world/middleeast/31gallows.html?ei=5094&en=5db66dae7cb12d0e&hp=&ex=1167541200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
The video:
http://nytimes.feedroom.com/?fr_story=ef62d9032ea946d555a7ce2b5bcc362345edc920
December 31, 2006
Hussein Video Grips Iraq; Attacks Go On
By MARC SANTORA
BAGHDAD, Dec. 30 — Saddam Hussein never bowed his head, until his necksnapped.
His last words were equally defiant.
“Down with the traitors, the Americans, the spies and the Persians.”
The former ruler of Iraq’s final hour began about 5 a.m., when Americantroops escorted him from Camp Cropper, near the Baghdad airport, to anotherAmerican base at the heart of the city, Camp Justice.
There, he was handed over to a newly trained unit of the Iraqi NationalPolice, with whom he would later exchange curses. Iraq took full custody ofMr. Hussein at 5:30 a.m.
Two American helicopters flew 14 witnesses from the Green Zone to theexecution site — a former headquarters of the deposed government’s muchfeared military intelligence outfit, the Istikhbarat, now inside theAmerican base.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901237_pf.html
The 2006 Bill of Wrongs
By Dahlia Lithwick
Sunday, December 31, 2006; B02
I must confess that I love all those year-end lists of greatest movies andalbums and lip glosses and tractors of the past 12 months -- it's reassuringthat all human information can be wrestled into bundles of 10. In thatspirit, herewith are my top 10 civil liberties nightmares of 2006.
10) Attempt to Get Death Penalty for Zacarias Moussaoui: Long after it wasclear that the hapless Frenchman was neither the "20th hijacker" nor a keyplotter in the attacks of 9/11, the government pressed to execute him as a"conspirator" in those attacks. Moussaoui's alleged participation? Byfailing to confess to what he may have known about the plot, which couldhave led the government to disrupt it, Moussaoui directly caused the deathsof thousands of people. This massive over-reading of the federal conspiracylaws would be laughable were the stakes not so high. Fortunately, a juryrejected the notion that Moussaoui could be executed for the crime of merelywishing there had been a real connection between himself and 9/11.
9) Guantanamo Bay: After the Supreme Court struck down the militarytribunals planned to try hundreds of detainees on the U.S. base in Cuba, andafter President Bush agreed that it may be a good idea to close down theprison, the worst public relations fiasco since the Japanese internmentcamps lives on. Prisoners once deemed "among the most dangerous,best-trained, vicious killers on the face of the Earth" are either quietlyreleased or still awaiting trial. The lucky 75 to be tried there will becheered to hear that the Pentagon has just announced plans to build a $125million legal complex for the hearings. The government has now officiallyput more thought into the design of Guantanamo's court bathrooms than thecharges against its prisoners.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901238_pf.html
While You Were at War . . .
By Richard A. Clarke
Sunday, December 31, 2006; B01
In every administration, there are usually only about a dozen barons who canreally initiate and manage meaningful changes in national security policy.For most of 2006, some of these critical slots in the Bush administrationhave been vacant, such as the deputy secretary of state (empty since RobertB. Zoellick left for investment bank Goldman Sachs) and the deputy directorof national intelligence (with Gen. Michael V. Hayden now CIA director). Andwith the nation involved in a messy war spiraling toward a bad conclusion,the key deputies and Cabinet members and advisers are all focusing on oneissue, at the expense of all others: Iraq.
National Security Council veteran Rand Beers has called this the"7-year-old's soccer syndrome" -- just like little kids playing soccer,everyone forgets their particular positions and responsibilities and runslike a herd after the ball.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901421_pf.html
What the Dictators Can't Stop
By Jim Hoagland
Sunday, December 31, 2006; B07
Dictators die harder than most of us. Having wielded unlimited power inlife, they seem to be sustained by a stubborn belief in their ability tostare down death, too. In his final moments yesterday, Saddam Husseinrefused the offer of a hood to cover his eyes.
Such defiance lends a particularly morbid quality to the last days ofdictators such as Hussein and the now-infirm Fidel Castro. They follow inthe reluctant footsteps of Spain's Francisco Franco and of many othertyrants-in-extremis before el rais Saddam and el jefe Fidel were confronted,respectively, with a hangman's rope and the withering ravages of disease.
Survival is the dictator's primary occupation -- as well as hisjustification for ruthlessness. "His main contribution to life, finally, isfear; but fear such as thunder, cancer or madness may provoke," authorWilliam Kennedy wrote of the fictional caudillo that Gabriel GarcÃa Márquezcreated in "The Autumn of the Patriarch." Facing death, the dictator is "theembodiment of egocentric evil unleashed," Kennedy continued in a masterful1976 book review for the New York Times.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/world/31world.html?pagewanted=print
December 31, 2006
Around the World, Unease and Criticism of Penalty
By ALAN COWELL
LONDON, Dec. 30 - With gradations of unease rather than outrage inspired bythe hanging of Saddam Hussein, Western politicians sought a cautious balanceon Saturday between revulsion at his record, support for his executionersand concern at the use of a capital penalty they largely shun in their owncountries.
But religious leaders - Christian and Muslim - used stronger and morecritical language in response to the news of Mr. Hussein's execution, whichgreeted most Western Europeans on their breakfast time news shows and insome newspaper headlines two days before the New Year.
Perhaps the most delicately choreographed response came from Britain, whoseprime minister, Tony Blair, took a lead as America's closest ally intoppling Mr. Hussein while his Labor Party prides itself on opposing thedeath penalty.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901240_pf.html
'No Point In Being Bitter'
Bob Woodward and Christine Parthemore
Sunday, December 31, 2006; B01
Upon becoming president in August 1974, Gerald R. Ford faced the task ofending a war -- a war not of his own making. In two wide-ranging interviewswith Ford conducted in 2004 and 2005 by The Washington Post's Bob Woodwardand Christine Parthemore, the former president revealed the depths of hisdisillusionment and frustration during the final years and months of theVietnam War. The interviews, excerpted below, were granted on the conditionthat they not be made public until Ford's death.
***Bob Woodward : [Vietnam] is the big master problem you got handed.
Gerald R. Ford: My approach was, we inherited the problem with the job. It'smy obligation on behalf of the country to try and solve the damn thing.
You know, there was a fundamental mistake made back after World War II, whenthe French had committed to support the Vietnamese. In fact, I went down toSaigon [in 1953]. . . . I wanted to find out why we're going to spend a lotof money in South Vietnam on behalf of the South Vietnamese. I was inSaigon, stayed at the ambassador's residence, and I went over to the Frenchmilitary headquarters, and boy, all these French generals and colonels weredressed up here out in Saigon and telling me how they were gonna win the waragainst the [North] Vietnamese.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Who-Well-Miss.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Some Lawmakers Will Be Missed on Hill
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 2:31 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's just not going to be the same. When the new Congressconvenes next month, a few high achievers and a few lawmakers known more forbeing characters than for their legislative skills won't be around.
Some left by choice, others rejected by voters in what President Bush calleda Democratic ''thumping'' of his fellow Republicans in November. A few --such as Florida's Katherine Harris, former Nebraska football coach TomOsborne -- reached for the brass ring of higher office and fell short.
A couple of those most prominent among the missing are Democrats, but mostare Republicans.
Whether cherished for their political skills or their entertainment value,they leave a vacuum.
=
Sacbee.com
http://www.sacbee.com/110/v-print/story/100393.html
George F. Will: Don't ration political speech
By George F. Will -
Published 12:00 am PST Sunday, December 31, 2006
A three-judge federal court recently tugged a thread that may begin theunraveling of the fabric of murky laws and regulations that traduce theFirst Amendment by suppressing political speech. Divided 2-1, the courtheld -- unremarkably, you might think -- that issue-advocacy ads can runduring an election, when they matter most. This decision will strike zealous(there is no other kind) advocates of ever-tighter regulation of politicalspeech (campaign finance "reformers") as ominous. Why? Because it partiallyemancipates millions of Americans who incorporate thousands of groups toadvocate their causes, groups such as the ACLU and the NRA.
And Wisconsin Right to Life. It is another organization by which peopleassemble (see the First Amendment) to speak (see it again) in order to seekredress of grievances (the Amendment, one more time). In 2004, WRTL wasdistressed because Wisconsin's senators, Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, werehelping to block confirmation votes on some of President Bush's judicialnominees, and wanted to run ads urging people to "contact Senators Feingoldand Kohl and tell them to oppose the filibuster."
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/business/30pay.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1167573673-HCOvadrY2SQU5oR/Jh7ltQ&pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Gilded Paychecks
Compensation Experts Offer Ways to Help Curb Executive Salaries
By ERIC DASH
Nothing, it seems, can put the brakes on runaway executive pay.
Shareholder advocates and lawmakers have harshly criticized hugecompensation packages. Better disclosure has led only to bigger gains. Evenwhen investors get the chance, they rarely vote against outsized pay.
Despite the growing attention over the last 25 years, the average chiefexecutive's compensation at big companies has increased more than 600percent, to $8 million dollars a year after adjusting for inflation.Meanwhile, the ratio between the average pay for a top executive and aworker, which held steady in the 30 years before 1980, has more thanquadrupled, to a multiple of 170, according to recent academic research.
"I don't actually believe we have made any real progress - or very, verylittle," said Robert A. G. Monks, a longtime corporate governance advocate."If we cannot effectively monitor and control what the principal executivesare paid, we are kidding ourselves if we can control anything else."
=
The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/opinion/31kristof.html?pagewanted=print
December 31, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
Ten Suggestions for Rescuing the Bush Legacy
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Particularly after all the tributes to Gerald Ford in the last few days,President Bush may be pondering his own legacy and obituary. Sorry, Mr.Bush, but it doesn't look good right now, with your obit perhaps beginningsomething like this:
"George W. Bush, who achieved tremendous acclaim for his handling of the9/11 terror attacks but left office vilified and disgraced, mired in theIraq war and stalemated at home, his hard-line partisan tactics souring theelectorate and crippling his beloved Republican Party for a generation,died. ..."
But Mr. Bush, your plight isn't hopeless. In the holiday spirit, let meoffer you 10 suggestions for what you can do in 2007 to try to rescue yourlegacy.
=
The New York Times
The article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/world/middleeast/31gallows.html?ei=5094&en=5db66dae7cb12d0e&hp=&ex=1167541200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
The video:
http://nytimes.feedroom.com/?fr_story=ef62d9032ea946d555a7ce2b5bcc362345edc920
December 31, 2006
Hussein Video Grips Iraq; Attacks Go On
By MARC SANTORA
BAGHDAD, Dec. 30 — Saddam Hussein never bowed his head, until his necksnapped.
His last words were equally defiant.
“Down with the traitors, the Americans, the spies and the Persians.”
The former ruler of Iraq’s final hour began about 5 a.m., when Americantroops escorted him from Camp Cropper, near the Baghdad airport, to anotherAmerican base at the heart of the city, Camp Justice.
There, he was handed over to a newly trained unit of the Iraqi NationalPolice, with whom he would later exchange curses. Iraq took full custody ofMr. Hussein at 5:30 a.m.
Two American helicopters flew 14 witnesses from the Green Zone to theexecution site — a former headquarters of the deposed government’s muchfeared military intelligence outfit, the Istikhbarat, now inside theAmerican base.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
FLORIDA DIGEST December 31, 2006
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-ckennedy31dec31,0,5486958.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
Hospitalized Kennedy is improving
Staff report
December 31, 2006
The Rev. D. James Kennedy, who was hospitalized last week after a heartattack, showed improvement Saturday, his spokesman said.
By mid-afternoon, the longtime pastor of Fort Lauderdale's Coral RidgePresbyterian Church was taken off a ventilator, talked to people andresponded to neurologists' commands to move his limbs, said Kennedyspokesman John Aman. "We're quite encouraged," Aman said.
Kennedy, 76, a driving force in the national religious conservativemovement, suffered a heart attack Thursday night and was rushed from hisCoral Ridge home to a local hospital.
Church officials declined to say which hospital Kennedy was at.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-ptraffic31dec31,0,4521188.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
PALM BEACH COUNTY TRANSPORTATION
Transportation officials say expanding roads not the answer in Palm BeachCounty
By Angel Streeter
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 31, 2006
Building miles of roads and wider lanes to ease congestion is atransportation strategy that's reached the end of the road in Palm BeachCounty.
That seems to be the consensus among local and state transportationofficials who say it's time to come up with new ways to help people commute.
The reason: The county is quickly running out of space to build and widenroads except in the far western reaches of the county. Plus, the money isn'tthere to build the roads needed to keep up with growth and development.
"It's a very grim picture," said James Wolfe, Florida Department ofTransportation District 4 secretary. "The state can't build enough roads tostay ahead of the [development] curve."
For the past 25 years, laying down asphalt was the cheapest and easiest wayto help commuters in suburban enclaves reach their destinations.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16354068.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sun, Dec. 31, 2006
POLITICS
Crist setting early bipartisan tone
As Florida prepares to swear in its 44th governor this week, Charlie Cristwants his first days in office to be remembered for a populist tone andbipartisan harmony.
BY MARY ELLEN KLAS
meklas@MiamiHerald.com
TALLAHASSEE - When he takes the oath of office on Tuesday, Charlie Cristwill become the first Republican governor of Florida since 1874 to succeed aRepublican, but he wants his first days on the job to be remembered for theway he treats Democrats -- and the public.
''Reaching across the aisle to work with people regardless of party --that's the example I want to set and the tone -- because it's clear that'swhat the people want,'' said Crist, who has had 56 days since Election Dayto prepare for his inauguration.
With the retirement of Gov. Jeb Bush and the dominance the GOP commandedunder Bush's eight years in office, Crist's promise of inclusiveness is botha recognition of Florida's changing political climate and his centristapproach to government.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16348777.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Dec. 30, 2006
TOURISM
Slow winter season starts to get busy for hotel industry
Hotel rooms were emptier in November as the lodging industry still tries torecover from punishing hurricane seasons in 2004 and 2005.
BY DOUGLAS HANKS
dhanks@MiamiHerald.com
The winter tourism season got off to a slow start last month, with occupancydown across the region, according to a report released Friday.
Tourism officials and hotel executives blamed the downturn on unfavorablecomparisons to November 2005, when utility crews and other clean-up workerspacked hotels in the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma.
''Absolutely, it's a hurricane effect,'' Broward County tourism directorNicki Grossman said of that market's nine-point occupancy drop to 68percent. ``I think Florida Power & Light was our market in November 2005.''
Still, the slump follows a shaky year for Florida tourism amid decliningdemand for South Florida hotel rooms. November continued a string of downmonths for room bookings across South Florida, according to the new SmithTravel Research report, at a time when hotels are charging record rates.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fjebstats31dec31,0,1506532.story?coll=sfla-news-florida
Florida before and after Bush
Posted December 31 2006
Indicator 1998 - 2006
Population 15 million - 17.8 million
Unemployment 4.3% - 3.1%
Children living in
poverty 22.3% - 17.2%*
Floridians without
health insurance 17.5% - 20.7%**
Average teacher pay $34,475 - $43,302**
Prison inmates 66,280 - 86,496
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-chomeless31dec31,0,2151571.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Teen charged with attacking homeless man twice in one day
By Tonya Alanez
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 31, 2006
A Fort Lauderdale teenager was arrested Saturday and charged with attackinga homeless man Saturday with metal shears and a metal pipe in two incidentsseven hours apart, authorities said.
John Palmer, 52, is recovering at Broward General Medical Center in stablecondition, Keyla Concepción, spokeswoman for the Broward Sheriff's Office,said late Saturday.
The first attack happened shortly before 2 a.m., when Palmer was sleepingbehind a Dumpster at the Madison Apartments, 2531 NW Eighth Place inunincorporated central Broward County.
[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]
#####
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-ckennedy31dec31,0,5486958.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
Hospitalized Kennedy is improving
Staff report
December 31, 2006
The Rev. D. James Kennedy, who was hospitalized last week after a heartattack, showed improvement Saturday, his spokesman said.
By mid-afternoon, the longtime pastor of Fort Lauderdale's Coral RidgePresbyterian Church was taken off a ventilator, talked to people andresponded to neurologists' commands to move his limbs, said Kennedyspokesman John Aman. "We're quite encouraged," Aman said.
Kennedy, 76, a driving force in the national religious conservativemovement, suffered a heart attack Thursday night and was rushed from hisCoral Ridge home to a local hospital.
Church officials declined to say which hospital Kennedy was at.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-ptraffic31dec31,0,4521188.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
PALM BEACH COUNTY TRANSPORTATION
Transportation officials say expanding roads not the answer in Palm BeachCounty
By Angel Streeter
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 31, 2006
Building miles of roads and wider lanes to ease congestion is atransportation strategy that's reached the end of the road in Palm BeachCounty.
That seems to be the consensus among local and state transportationofficials who say it's time to come up with new ways to help people commute.
The reason: The county is quickly running out of space to build and widenroads except in the far western reaches of the county. Plus, the money isn'tthere to build the roads needed to keep up with growth and development.
"It's a very grim picture," said James Wolfe, Florida Department ofTransportation District 4 secretary. "The state can't build enough roads tostay ahead of the [development] curve."
For the past 25 years, laying down asphalt was the cheapest and easiest wayto help commuters in suburban enclaves reach their destinations.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16354068.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sun, Dec. 31, 2006
POLITICS
Crist setting early bipartisan tone
As Florida prepares to swear in its 44th governor this week, Charlie Cristwants his first days in office to be remembered for a populist tone andbipartisan harmony.
BY MARY ELLEN KLAS
meklas@MiamiHerald.com
TALLAHASSEE - When he takes the oath of office on Tuesday, Charlie Cristwill become the first Republican governor of Florida since 1874 to succeed aRepublican, but he wants his first days on the job to be remembered for theway he treats Democrats -- and the public.
''Reaching across the aisle to work with people regardless of party --that's the example I want to set and the tone -- because it's clear that'swhat the people want,'' said Crist, who has had 56 days since Election Dayto prepare for his inauguration.
With the retirement of Gov. Jeb Bush and the dominance the GOP commandedunder Bush's eight years in office, Crist's promise of inclusiveness is botha recognition of Florida's changing political climate and his centristapproach to government.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16348777.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Dec. 30, 2006
TOURISM
Slow winter season starts to get busy for hotel industry
Hotel rooms were emptier in November as the lodging industry still tries torecover from punishing hurricane seasons in 2004 and 2005.
BY DOUGLAS HANKS
dhanks@MiamiHerald.com
The winter tourism season got off to a slow start last month, with occupancydown across the region, according to a report released Friday.
Tourism officials and hotel executives blamed the downturn on unfavorablecomparisons to November 2005, when utility crews and other clean-up workerspacked hotels in the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma.
''Absolutely, it's a hurricane effect,'' Broward County tourism directorNicki Grossman said of that market's nine-point occupancy drop to 68percent. ``I think Florida Power & Light was our market in November 2005.''
Still, the slump follows a shaky year for Florida tourism amid decliningdemand for South Florida hotel rooms. November continued a string of downmonths for room bookings across South Florida, according to the new SmithTravel Research report, at a time when hotels are charging record rates.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fjebstats31dec31,0,1506532.story?coll=sfla-news-florida
Florida before and after Bush
Posted December 31 2006
Indicator 1998 - 2006
Population 15 million - 17.8 million
Unemployment 4.3% - 3.1%
Children living in
poverty 22.3% - 17.2%*
Floridians without
health insurance 17.5% - 20.7%**
Average teacher pay $34,475 - $43,302**
Prison inmates 66,280 - 86,496
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-chomeless31dec31,0,2151571.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Teen charged with attacking homeless man twice in one day
By Tonya Alanez
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 31, 2006
A Fort Lauderdale teenager was arrested Saturday and charged with attackinga homeless man Saturday with metal shears and a metal pipe in two incidentsseven hours apart, authorities said.
John Palmer, 52, is recovering at Broward General Medical Center in stablecondition, Keyla Concepción, spokeswoman for the Broward Sheriff's Office,said late Saturday.
The first attack happened shortly before 2 a.m., when Palmer was sleepingbehind a Dumpster at the Madison Apartments, 2531 NW Eighth Place inunincorporated central Broward County.
[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]
#####
Saturday, December 30, 2006
GLBT DIGEST - December 30, 2006
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US ATrays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/nyregion/30quinn.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Under Madam Speaker, Conflict Gives Way to Collaboration
By DAMIEN CAVE
When Christine C. Quinn became speaker of the New York City Council lastJanuary, she inherited a rabble-rousing body that relished its role asheckler of the establishment.
She was the first female speaker and the first to be openly gay, and she hadalready clashed with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg over his stand on gaymarriage and his plans for a football stadium on the West Side.
But over the last year, Ms. Quinn, 40, has broken with Council tradition andreshaped the institution from a theater of opposition to a rigidlydisciplined body where, in exchange for private collaboration, open dissentis barely tolerated.
=
The Advocate
http://advocate.com/
COVER STORY
People of the year
We have gay bloggers, freedom riders, whistle-blowers, pilots, straightallies, sports legends, and people who just want to get married: TheAdvocate salutes 55 remarkableindividuals who stood up, spoke out, and rocked our world in 2006
Online profiles:
Cholene Espinoza & Ellen Ratner
Jake Reitan & Haven Herrin
Wayne Besen
Mitchell Gold
Helena Stone
Russ Feingold
The anti-ex-gay
Wayne Besen
From The Advocate January 16, 2007
When Wayne Besen heard that President Bush had invited Alan Chambers, headof the “ex-gay” group Exodus International, to a June 2006 White House pressconference in support of amending the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sexmarriage, he reached into his pocket and bought a plane ticket toWashington, D.C. “That was one straw too many,” Besen says. “I rented a roomat the National Press Club and flew in a kid who had been hurt by an ‘ex-gay’camp.” Besen, 36, held his own press conference to educate people on theharmful nature of the “ex-gay” movement.
Author of the 2003 book Anything but Straight: Unmasking the Scandals andLies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth, Besen has in recent years become a powerfulforce against those who argue that gays are called by God to “change” theirsexual orientation.
=
The Advocate
http://advocate.com/
|| Cover story ||
Bill Maher doesn't care if you're gay (and that's why we love him)
Our 2006 Advocate Person of the Year is a regular guy who speaks his mind,makes TV that matters, and proves to America that real men don't sweat thegay stuff.
By HeathCliff Rothman
From The Advocate January 16, 2007
He's about as fearless a voice as we have in America right now. If you tellhim that, as I did, over drinks at the Beverly Hills Hotel-just down thestreet from where he lives-he'll scoff and remind you that bravery involvesdismantling bombs. But gays have no better friend in the media than BillMaher, who treats the still-verboten topic of total equality for gays andlesbians-from gay marriage to gay sex to gay anything-with nonchalantconviction as he muses, pontificates, jostles, and hammers mainstreamAmerica weekly from his television platform. Maher was practicallyincinerated by the media and the public immediately following 9/11 when hesuggested that the hijackers were brave in their own way-a statement hemeant not as a compliment but an acknowledgment of fact-and lost his ABCplatform, only to rise like a phoenix on the more hospitable HBO with hisweekly Real Time With Bill Maher.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://newyorklawschool.typepad.com/leonardlink/2006/12/jamaican_lesbia.html
Jamaican Lesbian Fails to Win Relief under Convention Against Torture
by New York Law School Professor Arthur S. Leonard, December 28, 2006 inLegal Issues
The federal appeals court in Philadelphia has upheld a decision by the Boardof Immigration Appeals that a lesbian from Jamaica had failed to show thatthings are so bad for gay people there that she would face a risk of torturewere she to be returned to her homeland. Rejecting an appeal by MarciaForrester, the court ruled in Forrester v. Attorney General, 2006 WL 3789329(Dec. 27), that although there was evidence of intolerance by the Jamaicanpublic, there was no proof it was abetted by the government.
Ms. Forrester attained legal immigrant status in the United States in 1992,but was convicted of being involved in drug dealing in 2003. The JusticeDepartment considers this to be the kind of serious offense that justifiesloss of legal status and deportation under the immigration laws, but suchdeportation can be blocked if an individual can show that there is a seriousrisk that they will be subjected to serious injury or torture upon return totheir home country due to their membership in a particular social group.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
MA: Gay marriage showdown expected Tuesday
MetroWest Daily News, MA, December 29, 2006
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/homepage/8999323606831857663
Gay marriage showdown expected Tuesday
By Emelie Rutherford, Daily News Staff
After lawmakers last month delayed voting on a gay marriage ban until thelast day of the legislative session on Jan. 2, some gay marriage supportersjoked there would be a "really big snowstorm" that second day of January.
The proposed referendum on same-sex nuptials will die if lawmakers don'tvote on it at Tuesday's Constitutional Convention. And there are ways gaymarriage backers in the Legislature can avoid a vote, including staying hometo prevent a quorum and not taking a vote on the measure before midnight.
State Rep. Thomas Sannicandro, D-Ashland, said even though the state's highcourt ruled lawmakers have the constitutional duty to vote on the ballotinitiative, gay marriage supporters have not ruled out using procedural waysto kill the measure.
=
From Jesse Monteagudo
jessemonteagudo@aol.com.
Jesse's Journal
by Jesse Monteagudo
"The Dream of a Gay Nation"
The Dream of a gay nation was born in the "heroic age" that followed theStonewall Riots (1969-1971), when militants tried to imitate the work ofZionists and others to create an autonomous "gay nation." L. CraigSchoonmaker, head of the aptly-named Homosexuals Intransigent!, argued thatgays could never achieve equality as permanent minorities in a country wherethe majority rules. According to Donn Teal's activist history, The GayMilitants, Schoonmaker urged gays to "become the majority." by designating"certain geographical areas for demographic takeover by homosexuals. Weshould leave the farms and villages, the small towns and small cities, andcome to specific neighborhoods of specific big cities. We should take overentire election districts and cities, and vote our people in to speakmilitantly for our rights. The blacks have done it. Puerto Ricans,Italians, Irish, and others too. It works...." Schoonmaker's plan was to"create a homosexual majority in Manhattan's 19th and 20th CongressionalDistricts - which we have designated the 'First Gay-Power District.'"
more....
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
MA: Gay marriage supporters left with choice: follow law or heart
Associated Press via Boston Globe, MA, December 28, 2006
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/12/28/gay_marriage_supporters_left_with_choice_follow_law_or_heart/
Gay marriage supporters left with choice: follow law or heart
By Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press Writer
BOSTON --Throughout the gay marriage debate, opponents of a proposedconstitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage argued nothing in theMassachusetts Constitution required lawmakers to vote on the measure.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Judicial Court stripped away that argument andleft lawmakers who support gay marriage with the starkest of choices: eitherfollow the constitution and allow a vote; or follow their heart and doeverything they can to avoid a vote.
For die-hard gay marriage backers like Rep. Carl Sciortino, D-Somerville,the choice is clear.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/526301.html
Kan. attorney general blocked in prosecution of abortion doctor
John Hanna, The Associated Press, Dec 29, 2006
TOPEKA, KAN. - Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline spent more than two yearsinvestigating a nationally known abortion provider, but he'll likely leaveoffice next month with little to show for it.
A judge Wednesday refused to reinstate the 30 criminal charges Kline filedagainst Dr. George Tiller, and Kline's successor said Thursday that he won'tkeep the special prosecutor Kline appointed on the case.
Democrat Paul Morrison, who defeated Kline in November and takes office asattorney general Jan. 8, did not rule out an investigation into Tiller.
But he said any investigation won't involve Kline's special prosecutor.Kline on Wednesday had named Wichita lawyer Don McKinney, saying having himas a special prosecutor would keep politics out of the investigation. ButMcKinney, who had campaigned for Kline, is viewed as a strong anti-abortionactivist.
"He is extraordinarily political and, in my opinion, would absolutely notpresent any kind of independent perspective," Morrison said Thursday.
=
The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid40735.asp
Study: Most gay teens don't reveal their sexuality to doctors
Only about one third of gay, lesbian, and bisexual teens involved in arecent study said they tell their doctors about their sexual orientation.The survey, released by the RAND Corporation on Thursday, revealed that eventhough 70% of those who took part said they were aware of their sexualorientation as teens, just 35% told their doctors.
"We were surprised by these results," Garth Meckler, assistant professor ofemergency medicine and pediatrics with the Oregon Health and ScienceUniversity, Portland, told United Press International. "We figured theywould have a higher disclosure rate than most youth, and yet, despite beingout to almost everyone in their lives, only 35% had told their doctor abouttheir sexual orientation."
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/lifestyle/sfl-politicsdec30,0,3708390.story
Politicians' books take on religious right
By Richard N. Ostling
The Associated Press For AP Weekly Features
December 30, 2006
During this election year, U.S. publishers have put out 20-some booksassailing religious conservatives' political activism, often with angrytitles such as Religion Gone Bad or The Hijacking of Jesus.
Now two prominent "mainline" Protestants are sounding off with somewhat moremoderate pre-election manifestos.
One is Faith and Politics: How the `Moral Values' Debate Divides America andHow to Move Forward Together (Viking) by John Danforth, former RepublicanU.S. Senator and United Nations ambassador.
The other is Middle Church: Reclaiming the Moral Values of the FaithfulMajority From the Religious Right (Simon & Schuster) by Bob Edgar, formerDemocratic Congressman and now National Council of Churches generalsecretary.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/nyregion/30quinn.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Under Madam Speaker, Conflict Gives Way to Collaboration
By DAMIEN CAVE
When Christine C. Quinn became speaker of the New York City Council lastJanuary, she inherited a rabble-rousing body that relished its role asheckler of the establishment.
She was the first female speaker and the first to be openly gay, and she hadalready clashed with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg over his stand on gaymarriage and his plans for a football stadium on the West Side.
But over the last year, Ms. Quinn, 40, has broken with Council tradition andreshaped the institution from a theater of opposition to a rigidlydisciplined body where, in exchange for private collaboration, open dissentis barely tolerated.
=
The Advocate
http://advocate.com/
COVER STORY
People of the year
We have gay bloggers, freedom riders, whistle-blowers, pilots, straightallies, sports legends, and people who just want to get married: TheAdvocate salutes 55 remarkableindividuals who stood up, spoke out, and rocked our world in 2006
Online profiles:
Cholene Espinoza & Ellen Ratner
Jake Reitan & Haven Herrin
Wayne Besen
Mitchell Gold
Helena Stone
Russ Feingold
The anti-ex-gay
Wayne Besen
From The Advocate January 16, 2007
When Wayne Besen heard that President Bush had invited Alan Chambers, headof the “ex-gay” group Exodus International, to a June 2006 White House pressconference in support of amending the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sexmarriage, he reached into his pocket and bought a plane ticket toWashington, D.C. “That was one straw too many,” Besen says. “I rented a roomat the National Press Club and flew in a kid who had been hurt by an ‘ex-gay’camp.” Besen, 36, held his own press conference to educate people on theharmful nature of the “ex-gay” movement.
Author of the 2003 book Anything but Straight: Unmasking the Scandals andLies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth, Besen has in recent years become a powerfulforce against those who argue that gays are called by God to “change” theirsexual orientation.
=
The Advocate
http://advocate.com/
|| Cover story ||
Bill Maher doesn't care if you're gay (and that's why we love him)
Our 2006 Advocate Person of the Year is a regular guy who speaks his mind,makes TV that matters, and proves to America that real men don't sweat thegay stuff.
By HeathCliff Rothman
From The Advocate January 16, 2007
He's about as fearless a voice as we have in America right now. If you tellhim that, as I did, over drinks at the Beverly Hills Hotel-just down thestreet from where he lives-he'll scoff and remind you that bravery involvesdismantling bombs. But gays have no better friend in the media than BillMaher, who treats the still-verboten topic of total equality for gays andlesbians-from gay marriage to gay sex to gay anything-with nonchalantconviction as he muses, pontificates, jostles, and hammers mainstreamAmerica weekly from his television platform. Maher was practicallyincinerated by the media and the public immediately following 9/11 when hesuggested that the hijackers were brave in their own way-a statement hemeant not as a compliment but an acknowledgment of fact-and lost his ABCplatform, only to rise like a phoenix on the more hospitable HBO with hisweekly Real Time With Bill Maher.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://newyorklawschool.typepad.com/leonardlink/2006/12/jamaican_lesbia.html
Jamaican Lesbian Fails to Win Relief under Convention Against Torture
by New York Law School Professor Arthur S. Leonard, December 28, 2006 inLegal Issues
The federal appeals court in Philadelphia has upheld a decision by the Boardof Immigration Appeals that a lesbian from Jamaica had failed to show thatthings are so bad for gay people there that she would face a risk of torturewere she to be returned to her homeland. Rejecting an appeal by MarciaForrester, the court ruled in Forrester v. Attorney General, 2006 WL 3789329(Dec. 27), that although there was evidence of intolerance by the Jamaicanpublic, there was no proof it was abetted by the government.
Ms. Forrester attained legal immigrant status in the United States in 1992,but was convicted of being involved in drug dealing in 2003. The JusticeDepartment considers this to be the kind of serious offense that justifiesloss of legal status and deportation under the immigration laws, but suchdeportation can be blocked if an individual can show that there is a seriousrisk that they will be subjected to serious injury or torture upon return totheir home country due to their membership in a particular social group.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
MA: Gay marriage showdown expected Tuesday
MetroWest Daily News, MA, December 29, 2006
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/homepage/8999323606831857663
Gay marriage showdown expected Tuesday
By Emelie Rutherford, Daily News Staff
After lawmakers last month delayed voting on a gay marriage ban until thelast day of the legislative session on Jan. 2, some gay marriage supportersjoked there would be a "really big snowstorm" that second day of January.
The proposed referendum on same-sex nuptials will die if lawmakers don'tvote on it at Tuesday's Constitutional Convention. And there are ways gaymarriage backers in the Legislature can avoid a vote, including staying hometo prevent a quorum and not taking a vote on the measure before midnight.
State Rep. Thomas Sannicandro, D-Ashland, said even though the state's highcourt ruled lawmakers have the constitutional duty to vote on the ballotinitiative, gay marriage supporters have not ruled out using procedural waysto kill the measure.
=
From Jesse Monteagudo
jessemonteagudo@aol.com.
Jesse's Journal
by Jesse Monteagudo
"The Dream of a Gay Nation"
The Dream of a gay nation was born in the "heroic age" that followed theStonewall Riots (1969-1971), when militants tried to imitate the work ofZionists and others to create an autonomous "gay nation." L. CraigSchoonmaker, head of the aptly-named Homosexuals Intransigent!, argued thatgays could never achieve equality as permanent minorities in a country wherethe majority rules. According to Donn Teal's activist history, The GayMilitants, Schoonmaker urged gays to "become the majority." by designating"certain geographical areas for demographic takeover by homosexuals. Weshould leave the farms and villages, the small towns and small cities, andcome to specific neighborhoods of specific big cities. We should take overentire election districts and cities, and vote our people in to speakmilitantly for our rights. The blacks have done it. Puerto Ricans,Italians, Irish, and others too. It works...." Schoonmaker's plan was to"create a homosexual majority in Manhattan's 19th and 20th CongressionalDistricts - which we have designated the 'First Gay-Power District.'"
more....
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
MA: Gay marriage supporters left with choice: follow law or heart
Associated Press via Boston Globe, MA, December 28, 2006
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/12/28/gay_marriage_supporters_left_with_choice_follow_law_or_heart/
Gay marriage supporters left with choice: follow law or heart
By Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press Writer
BOSTON --Throughout the gay marriage debate, opponents of a proposedconstitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage argued nothing in theMassachusetts Constitution required lawmakers to vote on the measure.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Judicial Court stripped away that argument andleft lawmakers who support gay marriage with the starkest of choices: eitherfollow the constitution and allow a vote; or follow their heart and doeverything they can to avoid a vote.
For die-hard gay marriage backers like Rep. Carl Sciortino, D-Somerville,the choice is clear.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/526301.html
Kan. attorney general blocked in prosecution of abortion doctor
John Hanna, The Associated Press, Dec 29, 2006
TOPEKA, KAN. - Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline spent more than two yearsinvestigating a nationally known abortion provider, but he'll likely leaveoffice next month with little to show for it.
A judge Wednesday refused to reinstate the 30 criminal charges Kline filedagainst Dr. George Tiller, and Kline's successor said Thursday that he won'tkeep the special prosecutor Kline appointed on the case.
Democrat Paul Morrison, who defeated Kline in November and takes office asattorney general Jan. 8, did not rule out an investigation into Tiller.
But he said any investigation won't involve Kline's special prosecutor.Kline on Wednesday had named Wichita lawyer Don McKinney, saying having himas a special prosecutor would keep politics out of the investigation. ButMcKinney, who had campaigned for Kline, is viewed as a strong anti-abortionactivist.
"He is extraordinarily political and, in my opinion, would absolutely notpresent any kind of independent perspective," Morrison said Thursday.
=
The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid40735.asp
Study: Most gay teens don't reveal their sexuality to doctors
Only about one third of gay, lesbian, and bisexual teens involved in arecent study said they tell their doctors about their sexual orientation.The survey, released by the RAND Corporation on Thursday, revealed that eventhough 70% of those who took part said they were aware of their sexualorientation as teens, just 35% told their doctors.
"We were surprised by these results," Garth Meckler, assistant professor ofemergency medicine and pediatrics with the Oregon Health and ScienceUniversity, Portland, told United Press International. "We figured theywould have a higher disclosure rate than most youth, and yet, despite beingout to almost everyone in their lives, only 35% had told their doctor abouttheir sexual orientation."
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/lifestyle/sfl-politicsdec30,0,3708390.story
Politicians' books take on religious right
By Richard N. Ostling
The Associated Press For AP Weekly Features
December 30, 2006
During this election year, U.S. publishers have put out 20-some booksassailing religious conservatives' political activism, often with angrytitles such as Religion Gone Bad or The Hijacking of Jesus.
Now two prominent "mainline" Protestants are sounding off with somewhat moremoderate pre-election manifestos.
One is Faith and Politics: How the `Moral Values' Debate Divides America andHow to Move Forward Together (Viking) by John Danforth, former RepublicanU.S. Senator and United Nations ambassador.
The other is Middle Church: Reclaiming the Moral Values of the FaithfulMajority From the Religious Right (Simon & Schuster) by Bob Edgar, formerDemocratic Congressman and now National Council of Churches generalsecretary.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST December 30, 2006
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US ATrays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sns-ap-saddam,0,5157119.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Saddam Hanged for War Crimes in Iraq
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
Associated Press Writers
December 30, 2006, 9:06 AM EST
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Saddam Hussein struggled briefly after American militaryguards handed him over to Iraqi executioners. But as his final momentsapproached, he grew calm.
He clutched a Quran as he was led to the gallows, and in one final moment ofdefiance, refused to have a hood pulled over his head before facing the samefate he was accused of inflicting on countless thousands during aquarter-century of ruthless power.
A man whose testimony helped lead to Saddam's conviction and executionbefore sunrise said he was shown the body because "everybody wanted to makesure that he was really executed."
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901066_pf.html
We Can't Ignore Iraq's Refugees
By Edward M. Kennedy
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A21
With the nation still at war in Iraq, each of us is deeply grateful to thebrave men and women in our armed forces who celebrated the holidays thisyear with half their hearts at home and half in Iraq. But this yearespecially it is essential that we also reflect on another human cost of thewar -- the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women and childrenwho have fled their homes and often their country to escape the violence ofa nation increasingly at war with itself.
The refugees are witnesses to the cruelty that stains our age, and theycannot be overlooked. America bears heavy responsibility for their plight.We have a clear obligation to stop ignoring it and help chart a sensiblecourse to ease the refugee crisis. Time is not on our side. We must actquickly and effectively.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901220_pf.html
Trounced at Polls, Kansas GOP Is Still Plagued by Infighting
Party Puts Ousted Official In His Opponent's Old Post
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A02
CHICAGO, Dec. 29 -- Phill Kline is not one to slink away -- and theideological wars inside the Kansas Republican Party show no sign of ending.
The fiercely antiabortion Republican attorney general in Kansas lost hisreelection bid in November when moderate Republicans voted in droves forPaul Morrison, a longtime Johnson County district attorney who became aDemocrat in hopes of vanquishing Kline.
Statewide, Kline got barely 4 in 10 votes. In Johnson County, the state'smost populous county, his loss was more dramatic. That made it especiallyshocking after the election when Republican precinct leaders in the countychose Kline to finish the final two years of Morrison's term as prosecutor.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), a vocal Kline foe, refused to sign hisnomination papers, a ceremonial task, lambasting a "small narrow group ofpartisan political operatives" for choosing him. At the Westside FamilyChurch in Lenexa, after precinct leaders backed Kline over a Morrison aide316 to 291, Republicans showed just how divided they are.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122900142.html
Saddam Hussein Is Put to Death
Former Iraqi President Hanged Before Dawn in Baghdad to Divided Reaction
By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A01
BAGHDAD, Dec. 30 -- Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was hanged in thepredawn hours of Saturday for crimes against humanity in the mass murder ofShiite men and boys in the 1980s, sent to the gallows by a government backedby the United States and led by Shiite Muslims who had been oppressed duringhis rule, Iraqi and American officials said.
In the early morning, Hussein, 69, was escorted from his U.S. militaryprison cell at Camp Cropper, near the Baghdad airport, and handed over toIraqi officials. He was executed on the day Sunni Muslims, of which he wasone, were to begin celebrating the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.
Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser, described on statetelevision Hussein's last moments. The execution took place in theheadquarters of Hussein's former military intelligence service in Baghdad'sKadhimiyah neighborhood.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/world/middleeast/30hussein.html?ei=5094&en=adda570db73a7e34&hp=&ex=1167541200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Dictator Who Ruled Iraq With Violence Is Hanged for Crimes Against Humanity
By MARC SANTORA, JAMES GLANZ and SABRINA TAVERNISE
BAGHDAD, Saturday, Dec. 30 - Saddam Hussein, the dictator who led Iraqthrough three decades of brutality, war and bombast before American forceschased him from his capital city and captured him in a filthy pit near hishometown was hanged just before dawn Saturday during the morning call toprayer.
The final stages for Mr. Hussein, 69, came with terrible swiftness after helost the appeal, five days ago, of his death sentence for the killings of148 men and boys in the northern town of Dujail in 1982. He had received thesentence less than two months before from a special court set up to judgehis reign as the almost unchallenged dictator of Iraq.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/science/earth/30ice.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Arctic Ice Shelf Broke Off Canadian Island
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
A 25-square-mile shelf of floating ice that jutted into the Arctic Ocean for3,000 years from Canada's northernmost shore broke away abruptly in thesummer of 2005, apparently freed by sharply warming temperatures andjostling wind and waves, scientists said yesterday.
The Ayles ice shelf, as the ancient 100-foot-thick slab was called, driftedout of a fjord along the north coast of Ellesmere Island when the jumbledsheath of floating sea ice that tended to press against the coast there evenin summers was replaced by open waters because of the warming, thescientists said.
The change was first noticed by Laurie Weir of the Canadian Ice Service asshe examined satellite images taken of Ellesmere and surrounding ice on andafter Aug. 13, 2005. In less than an hour, around midday that day, a broadcrack opened and the ice shelf was on its way out to sea.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30sat1.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Editorial
Sex Offenders in Exile
Of all the places that sexual predators could end up after prison, the worstis out of sight, away from the scrutiny and treatment that could preventthem from committing new crimes. But communities around the country aretaking that risk, with zoning laws that banish pedophiles to the literaledges of society.
There is a powerful and wholly understandable impulse behind laws thatforbid sex offenders to live within certain distances of schools, day carecenters and other places that children gather. Scores of states andmunicipalities have created such buffer zones, then continued adding layerupon layer to the enforcement blanket.
This has placed a heavy burden on law enforcement agencies, which alreadymust struggle to meet exacting federal and state requirements forregistering and monitoring the ever-growing population of released sexoffenders, many of whom must be tracked for life. Lawmakers have shown nohesitation in piling on the administrative load, but frequently are lessquick to pay foradditionalpeople to do the work.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Edwards-2008.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Edwards Wraps Up Early Campaign Blitz
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:00 a.m. ET
RENO, Nev. (AP) -- In the three-day blitz launching his 2008 presidentialcampaign, John Edwards has prodded enthusiastic crowds to get active.
''We cannot stay at home and wait for the next election. The power is notwith the politicians in Washington, the power is with you,'' he told nearly1,000 people gathered in the convention hall of a Reno casino Friday.
Still in the first blush of presidential courtship, Nevada Democratswelcomed the former North Carolina senator and Democratic vice presidentialcandidate with a standing-room-only crowd and pointed questions about thedeficit, immigration and the war in Iraq.
Reno was the fourth stop on Edwards' six-state tour announcing his secondbid for the Democratic presidential nomination. His next stop Saturday wasBrookland Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., one of the largest blackchurches in the state. He was wrapping up his tour Saturday evening with a arally in Chapel Hill, N.C.
=
The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid40734.asp
Senate control still with Democrats as Johnson recovers
South Dakota Democratic senator Tim Johnson (pictured) won't be present asthe new Congress convenes next week, but he is continuing to improve afterundergoing emergency surgery to repair a brain hemorrhage.
Julianne Fisher, a spokeswoman for South Dakota Democratic senator TimJohnson, said Johnson won't be present in the first days of the new Congressnext week but that he is continuing to improve two weeks after he hademergency surgery to repair a brain hemorrhage that has left him in criticalcondition. Johnson, who turned 60 on Thursday, is responsive to directionsfrom his wife but has not yet spoken, Fisher said, adding that it's tooearly to tell how long recovery will take.
The senator's sudden illness raised questions about the Democrats' one-votemajority in the upcoming Senate session. South Dakota's Republican governor,Mike Rounds, would appoint a replacement if Johnson's seat were vacated byhis death or resignation.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30karim.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
Justice, but No Reckoning
By NAJMALDIN KARIM
Washington
MY personal battle with Saddam Hussein - which began in 1972 when Iabandoned my medical career in Mosul, Iraq, and joined the Kurdish armedresistance - is at an end. To execute such a criminal, a man who reveled inhis atrocities, is an act of justice.
The only issue for me is the timing - executing him now is both too late andtoo early. Too late, because had Saddam Hussein been removed from the scenemany years ago, many lives would have been saved.
Killing Saddam now, however, for ordering the massacre at Dujail in 1982,means that he will not face justice for his greatest crimes: the so-calledAnfal campaign against the Kurds in the late 1980s, the genocidal assault onthe Marsh Arabs in the 1990s, and the slaughtering of the Shiite Arabs andKurds who rose up against him, with American encouragement, in 1991.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/30/AR2006123000254_pf.html
Edwards Wraps Up Early Campaign Blitz
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
The Associated Press
Saturday, December 30, 2006; 3:00 AM
RENO, Nev. -- In the three-day blitz launching his 2008 presidentialcampaign, John Edwards has prodded enthusiastic crowds to get active.
"We cannot stay at home and wait for the next election. The power is notwith the politicians in Washington, the power is with you," he told nearly1,000 people gathered in the convention hall of a Reno casino Friday.
Still in the first blush of presidential courtship, Nevada Democratswelcomed the former North Carolina senator and Democratic vice presidentialcandidate with a standing-room-only crowd and pointed questions about thedeficit, immigration and the war in Iraq.
Reno was the fourth stop on Edwards' six-state tour announcing his secondbid for the Democratic presidential nomination. His next stop Saturday wasBrookland Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., one of the largest blackchurches in the state. He was wrapping up his tour Saturday evening with a arally in Chapel Hill, N.C.
=
The Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/needtoknow/2006/12/china_colonizing_africa.html
Panelist's View
China Colonizing Africa?
William Gumede - Is China becoming Africa's new colonizer? In what isreminiscent of a new scramble for Africa, China has rushed to plant its flagon the continent, offering soft credit, bricks and mortar investment andpromising non-interference in local politics. China's political clout inAfrica has never been greater.
But is this all too good to be true? In November, China hosted an Africasummit in Beijing attended by 50 African leaders, the biggest showcase ofChina's new foreign policy shift towards the developing world, to expand itspolitical reach and to secure raw materials to feed its rapidly growingeconomy. Beijing offered Africa US$3bn in preferential loans and US$2bn inexport credits over the next three years. China envisaged annual trade withAfrica to reach $100bn by 2010. Whereas Western nations such as the US,France and UK have year-on-year slashed development aid, China promised todouble aid by 2009. Most of the Chinese aid to Africa is tied to businessdeals. Nevertheless, China has offered aid without insisting on onerousconditions as Western donors do. This is sweet music to African nations, whofor long now have protested the hypocritical insistence by Western countriesthat they must open their markets, while they (Western nations) heavilysubsidize their own agriculture sectors and maintain prohibitively hightariff barriers.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901354_pf.html
The Status Quo Is Rejected
By Kevin Eckstrom
Religion News Service
Saturday, December 30, 2006; B07
Elections, the late columnist Franklin P. Adams once said, "are won by menand women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than forsomebody."
And whatever Americans were voting for in 2006, it seems clear that whatthey were voting against was the status quo. Episcopalians, for one, decidedto give a woman a shot and elected their first female leader, PresidingBishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. U.S. Muslims turned to Ingrid Mattson asthe first woman to lead the Islamic Society of North America. SouthernBaptists, dissatisfied with the old guard, chose a relative unknown, FrankPage, to lead the nation's largest Protestant denomination.
In church basements, school gymnasiums and fire stations across the country,Americans in November registered their frustration at the voting booth andgave control of Capitol Hill to the Democrats, making 2006 a year whenvotes -- sacred and secular -- became the year's biggest religion newsstory.
After years of vowing to "get religion," Democrats saw modest gains amongreligiously minded voters after a concerted effort to cast their policiesthrough a moral lens. The party gained ground among Catholics, weeklyworship attenders and those who rarely or never attend worship services.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30sat3.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Editorial
Dealing With Congressman Inc.
As the Democrats regain power in Congress next week they would be wise tolook to one of their own - Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania - forironic inspiration in enacting the ethics reforms they promised voters. Evenin the minority, Mr. Murtha made himself a legend at mastering the same quidpro quo culture that Democrats denounced in running against the Republicans'manipulations of Washington's money trough. His deliverance of masses ofpork to favored campaign donors and lobbyists has been laid bare in a reportby The Washington Post, detailing the sort of classic money churn thathelped drive the Republicans from power.
It began with Mr. Murtha's securing $500,000 in federal start-up money for anonprofit agency created by a staff member who eventually left to run theagency and, in turn, lobby his old boss. The nonprofit, with a goal offinding jobs for the disabled, soon became a magnet for Murtha-friendlylobbyists, contractors and other insiders. They became members of its boardand raised money for the cause. In the process, they reaped millions infederal contracts with the congressman's help. And, needless to say, theyclosed the loop with regular donations to Murtha campaign kitties.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122900253_pf.html
Apple Admits Wrongdoing But Rallies Around Leader
By Alan Sipress and Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A01
Apple Computer disclosed yesterday that it had falsified approval of 7.5million stock options for its chief executive and innovative co-founder,Steve Jobs, raising new questions about the role he may have played in ascandal that has swirled around the dynamic technology company for months.
Apple said in a pair of overdue earnings filings to the Securities andExchange Commission that it had recorded a fictitious meeting at whichJobs's options were ratified and that he may have recommended the dates forsome of the stock options issued to company employees. The company repeatedyesterday that Jobs did not benefit from the options.
Apple's board, which includes former vice president Al Gore, gave Jobs itsfull support. "The board of directors is confident that the Company hascorrected the problems that led to the restatement, and it has completeconfidence in Steve Jobs and the senior management team," said the statementby Gore and Jerome York, who heads Apple's audit and finance committee.
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30patterson.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Guest Columnist
The Last Race Problem
By ORLANDO PATTERSON
When W. E. B. DuBois, the patrician black leader, predicted in 1903 that theproblem of the 20th century would be the color line, he had in mind anethno-racial problem with a dual character. One side was the near completeexclusion of African-Americans and other minorities from the upper echelonsand leadership of American society, public life and national identity. Theother was the segregation of blacks from the social, communal and intimatecultural life of white Americans.
America's resolution of the public side of the color line would have amazedDuBois. The nation stands today as a global model in the sophistication andenforcement of its civil rights laws, the diversity of its elite, theparticipation of blacks and other minorities in its great corporations andits public cultural life, and in the embrace of blacks as an integral partof the nation and what it means to be an American.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/world/middleeast/30assess.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
News Analysis
Joy of Capture Muted at the End
By JEFF ZELENY
CRAWFORD, Tex., Dec. 29 - The capture of Saddam Hussein three years ago wasa jubilant moment for the White House, hailed by President Bush in atelevised address from the Cabinet Room. The execution of Mr. Hussein,though, seemed hardly to inspire the same sentiment.
Before the hanging was carried out in Baghdad, Mr. Bush went to sleep hereat his ranch and was not roused when the news came. In a statement writtenin advance, the president said the execution would not end the violence inIraq.
After Mr. Hussein was arrested Dec. 13, 2003, he gradually faded from view,save for his courtroom outbursts and writings from prison. The growing chaosand violence in Iraq has steadily overshadowed the torturous rule of Mr.Hussein, who for more than two decades held a unique place in the politicsand psyche of the United States, a symbol of the manifestation of evil inthe Middle East.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30sat2.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Editorial
Obstacles in Turkey's Path
It came as no surprise when the European Union recently suspended some ofits planned membership talks with Turkey. The sticking points pertain to thestrained relations between Turkey and Cyprus, which have long threatened toundermine Turkey's membership bid. What is surprising - and dismaying - isthat the union is treating this as primarily a legal problem. That's adistortion.
Turkey is indeed in violation of European law on the proper treatment ofCyprus. But the problem is mainly political, and of the union's own making.The E.U. blundered when it allowed a divided Cyprus to join the union in2004. Reunification - of Greek Cypriots in the south and Turkish Cypriots inthe north - should have been a precondition. Still, it's widely acknowledgedthat Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots did their utmost to reunite the islandso that both Cyprus and Turkey could peacefully join the E.U. But the GreekCypriots scotched a United Nations reunification plan.
That has left Turkey in an untenable position. Other European leaders shouldbe pressuring the Greek Cypriot leadership to end the impasse and workingwith Turkey to find a solution. Instead, some are using the stalemate as anexcuse to hamstring Turkey's entry.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]#####
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sns-ap-saddam,0,5157119.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Saddam Hanged for War Crimes in Iraq
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
Associated Press Writers
December 30, 2006, 9:06 AM EST
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Saddam Hussein struggled briefly after American militaryguards handed him over to Iraqi executioners. But as his final momentsapproached, he grew calm.
He clutched a Quran as he was led to the gallows, and in one final moment ofdefiance, refused to have a hood pulled over his head before facing the samefate he was accused of inflicting on countless thousands during aquarter-century of ruthless power.
A man whose testimony helped lead to Saddam's conviction and executionbefore sunrise said he was shown the body because "everybody wanted to makesure that he was really executed."
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901066_pf.html
We Can't Ignore Iraq's Refugees
By Edward M. Kennedy
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A21
With the nation still at war in Iraq, each of us is deeply grateful to thebrave men and women in our armed forces who celebrated the holidays thisyear with half their hearts at home and half in Iraq. But this yearespecially it is essential that we also reflect on another human cost of thewar -- the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women and childrenwho have fled their homes and often their country to escape the violence ofa nation increasingly at war with itself.
The refugees are witnesses to the cruelty that stains our age, and theycannot be overlooked. America bears heavy responsibility for their plight.We have a clear obligation to stop ignoring it and help chart a sensiblecourse to ease the refugee crisis. Time is not on our side. We must actquickly and effectively.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901220_pf.html
Trounced at Polls, Kansas GOP Is Still Plagued by Infighting
Party Puts Ousted Official In His Opponent's Old Post
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A02
CHICAGO, Dec. 29 -- Phill Kline is not one to slink away -- and theideological wars inside the Kansas Republican Party show no sign of ending.
The fiercely antiabortion Republican attorney general in Kansas lost hisreelection bid in November when moderate Republicans voted in droves forPaul Morrison, a longtime Johnson County district attorney who became aDemocrat in hopes of vanquishing Kline.
Statewide, Kline got barely 4 in 10 votes. In Johnson County, the state'smost populous county, his loss was more dramatic. That made it especiallyshocking after the election when Republican precinct leaders in the countychose Kline to finish the final two years of Morrison's term as prosecutor.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), a vocal Kline foe, refused to sign hisnomination papers, a ceremonial task, lambasting a "small narrow group ofpartisan political operatives" for choosing him. At the Westside FamilyChurch in Lenexa, after precinct leaders backed Kline over a Morrison aide316 to 291, Republicans showed just how divided they are.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122900142.html
Saddam Hussein Is Put to Death
Former Iraqi President Hanged Before Dawn in Baghdad to Divided Reaction
By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A01
BAGHDAD, Dec. 30 -- Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was hanged in thepredawn hours of Saturday for crimes against humanity in the mass murder ofShiite men and boys in the 1980s, sent to the gallows by a government backedby the United States and led by Shiite Muslims who had been oppressed duringhis rule, Iraqi and American officials said.
In the early morning, Hussein, 69, was escorted from his U.S. militaryprison cell at Camp Cropper, near the Baghdad airport, and handed over toIraqi officials. He was executed on the day Sunni Muslims, of which he wasone, were to begin celebrating the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.
Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser, described on statetelevision Hussein's last moments. The execution took place in theheadquarters of Hussein's former military intelligence service in Baghdad'sKadhimiyah neighborhood.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/world/middleeast/30hussein.html?ei=5094&en=adda570db73a7e34&hp=&ex=1167541200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Dictator Who Ruled Iraq With Violence Is Hanged for Crimes Against Humanity
By MARC SANTORA, JAMES GLANZ and SABRINA TAVERNISE
BAGHDAD, Saturday, Dec. 30 - Saddam Hussein, the dictator who led Iraqthrough three decades of brutality, war and bombast before American forceschased him from his capital city and captured him in a filthy pit near hishometown was hanged just before dawn Saturday during the morning call toprayer.
The final stages for Mr. Hussein, 69, came with terrible swiftness after helost the appeal, five days ago, of his death sentence for the killings of148 men and boys in the northern town of Dujail in 1982. He had received thesentence less than two months before from a special court set up to judgehis reign as the almost unchallenged dictator of Iraq.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/science/earth/30ice.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Arctic Ice Shelf Broke Off Canadian Island
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
A 25-square-mile shelf of floating ice that jutted into the Arctic Ocean for3,000 years from Canada's northernmost shore broke away abruptly in thesummer of 2005, apparently freed by sharply warming temperatures andjostling wind and waves, scientists said yesterday.
The Ayles ice shelf, as the ancient 100-foot-thick slab was called, driftedout of a fjord along the north coast of Ellesmere Island when the jumbledsheath of floating sea ice that tended to press against the coast there evenin summers was replaced by open waters because of the warming, thescientists said.
The change was first noticed by Laurie Weir of the Canadian Ice Service asshe examined satellite images taken of Ellesmere and surrounding ice on andafter Aug. 13, 2005. In less than an hour, around midday that day, a broadcrack opened and the ice shelf was on its way out to sea.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30sat1.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Editorial
Sex Offenders in Exile
Of all the places that sexual predators could end up after prison, the worstis out of sight, away from the scrutiny and treatment that could preventthem from committing new crimes. But communities around the country aretaking that risk, with zoning laws that banish pedophiles to the literaledges of society.
There is a powerful and wholly understandable impulse behind laws thatforbid sex offenders to live within certain distances of schools, day carecenters and other places that children gather. Scores of states andmunicipalities have created such buffer zones, then continued adding layerupon layer to the enforcement blanket.
This has placed a heavy burden on law enforcement agencies, which alreadymust struggle to meet exacting federal and state requirements forregistering and monitoring the ever-growing population of released sexoffenders, many of whom must be tracked for life. Lawmakers have shown nohesitation in piling on the administrative load, but frequently are lessquick to pay foradditionalpeople to do the work.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Edwards-2008.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Edwards Wraps Up Early Campaign Blitz
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:00 a.m. ET
RENO, Nev. (AP) -- In the three-day blitz launching his 2008 presidentialcampaign, John Edwards has prodded enthusiastic crowds to get active.
''We cannot stay at home and wait for the next election. The power is notwith the politicians in Washington, the power is with you,'' he told nearly1,000 people gathered in the convention hall of a Reno casino Friday.
Still in the first blush of presidential courtship, Nevada Democratswelcomed the former North Carolina senator and Democratic vice presidentialcandidate with a standing-room-only crowd and pointed questions about thedeficit, immigration and the war in Iraq.
Reno was the fourth stop on Edwards' six-state tour announcing his secondbid for the Democratic presidential nomination. His next stop Saturday wasBrookland Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., one of the largest blackchurches in the state. He was wrapping up his tour Saturday evening with a arally in Chapel Hill, N.C.
=
The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid40734.asp
Senate control still with Democrats as Johnson recovers
South Dakota Democratic senator Tim Johnson (pictured) won't be present asthe new Congress convenes next week, but he is continuing to improve afterundergoing emergency surgery to repair a brain hemorrhage.
Julianne Fisher, a spokeswoman for South Dakota Democratic senator TimJohnson, said Johnson won't be present in the first days of the new Congressnext week but that he is continuing to improve two weeks after he hademergency surgery to repair a brain hemorrhage that has left him in criticalcondition. Johnson, who turned 60 on Thursday, is responsive to directionsfrom his wife but has not yet spoken, Fisher said, adding that it's tooearly to tell how long recovery will take.
The senator's sudden illness raised questions about the Democrats' one-votemajority in the upcoming Senate session. South Dakota's Republican governor,Mike Rounds, would appoint a replacement if Johnson's seat were vacated byhis death or resignation.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30karim.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
Justice, but No Reckoning
By NAJMALDIN KARIM
Washington
MY personal battle with Saddam Hussein - which began in 1972 when Iabandoned my medical career in Mosul, Iraq, and joined the Kurdish armedresistance - is at an end. To execute such a criminal, a man who reveled inhis atrocities, is an act of justice.
The only issue for me is the timing - executing him now is both too late andtoo early. Too late, because had Saddam Hussein been removed from the scenemany years ago, many lives would have been saved.
Killing Saddam now, however, for ordering the massacre at Dujail in 1982,means that he will not face justice for his greatest crimes: the so-calledAnfal campaign against the Kurds in the late 1980s, the genocidal assault onthe Marsh Arabs in the 1990s, and the slaughtering of the Shiite Arabs andKurds who rose up against him, with American encouragement, in 1991.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/30/AR2006123000254_pf.html
Edwards Wraps Up Early Campaign Blitz
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
The Associated Press
Saturday, December 30, 2006; 3:00 AM
RENO, Nev. -- In the three-day blitz launching his 2008 presidentialcampaign, John Edwards has prodded enthusiastic crowds to get active.
"We cannot stay at home and wait for the next election. The power is notwith the politicians in Washington, the power is with you," he told nearly1,000 people gathered in the convention hall of a Reno casino Friday.
Still in the first blush of presidential courtship, Nevada Democratswelcomed the former North Carolina senator and Democratic vice presidentialcandidate with a standing-room-only crowd and pointed questions about thedeficit, immigration and the war in Iraq.
Reno was the fourth stop on Edwards' six-state tour announcing his secondbid for the Democratic presidential nomination. His next stop Saturday wasBrookland Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., one of the largest blackchurches in the state. He was wrapping up his tour Saturday evening with a arally in Chapel Hill, N.C.
=
The Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/needtoknow/2006/12/china_colonizing_africa.html
Panelist's View
China Colonizing Africa?
William Gumede - Is China becoming Africa's new colonizer? In what isreminiscent of a new scramble for Africa, China has rushed to plant its flagon the continent, offering soft credit, bricks and mortar investment andpromising non-interference in local politics. China's political clout inAfrica has never been greater.
But is this all too good to be true? In November, China hosted an Africasummit in Beijing attended by 50 African leaders, the biggest showcase ofChina's new foreign policy shift towards the developing world, to expand itspolitical reach and to secure raw materials to feed its rapidly growingeconomy. Beijing offered Africa US$3bn in preferential loans and US$2bn inexport credits over the next three years. China envisaged annual trade withAfrica to reach $100bn by 2010. Whereas Western nations such as the US,France and UK have year-on-year slashed development aid, China promised todouble aid by 2009. Most of the Chinese aid to Africa is tied to businessdeals. Nevertheless, China has offered aid without insisting on onerousconditions as Western donors do. This is sweet music to African nations, whofor long now have protested the hypocritical insistence by Western countriesthat they must open their markets, while they (Western nations) heavilysubsidize their own agriculture sectors and maintain prohibitively hightariff barriers.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901354_pf.html
The Status Quo Is Rejected
By Kevin Eckstrom
Religion News Service
Saturday, December 30, 2006; B07
Elections, the late columnist Franklin P. Adams once said, "are won by menand women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than forsomebody."
And whatever Americans were voting for in 2006, it seems clear that whatthey were voting against was the status quo. Episcopalians, for one, decidedto give a woman a shot and elected their first female leader, PresidingBishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. U.S. Muslims turned to Ingrid Mattson asthe first woman to lead the Islamic Society of North America. SouthernBaptists, dissatisfied with the old guard, chose a relative unknown, FrankPage, to lead the nation's largest Protestant denomination.
In church basements, school gymnasiums and fire stations across the country,Americans in November registered their frustration at the voting booth andgave control of Capitol Hill to the Democrats, making 2006 a year whenvotes -- sacred and secular -- became the year's biggest religion newsstory.
After years of vowing to "get religion," Democrats saw modest gains amongreligiously minded voters after a concerted effort to cast their policiesthrough a moral lens. The party gained ground among Catholics, weeklyworship attenders and those who rarely or never attend worship services.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30sat3.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Editorial
Dealing With Congressman Inc.
As the Democrats regain power in Congress next week they would be wise tolook to one of their own - Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania - forironic inspiration in enacting the ethics reforms they promised voters. Evenin the minority, Mr. Murtha made himself a legend at mastering the same quidpro quo culture that Democrats denounced in running against the Republicans'manipulations of Washington's money trough. His deliverance of masses ofpork to favored campaign donors and lobbyists has been laid bare in a reportby The Washington Post, detailing the sort of classic money churn thathelped drive the Republicans from power.
It began with Mr. Murtha's securing $500,000 in federal start-up money for anonprofit agency created by a staff member who eventually left to run theagency and, in turn, lobby his old boss. The nonprofit, with a goal offinding jobs for the disabled, soon became a magnet for Murtha-friendlylobbyists, contractors and other insiders. They became members of its boardand raised money for the cause. In the process, they reaped millions infederal contracts with the congressman's help. And, needless to say, theyclosed the loop with regular donations to Murtha campaign kitties.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122900253_pf.html
Apple Admits Wrongdoing But Rallies Around Leader
By Alan Sipress and Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A01
Apple Computer disclosed yesterday that it had falsified approval of 7.5million stock options for its chief executive and innovative co-founder,Steve Jobs, raising new questions about the role he may have played in ascandal that has swirled around the dynamic technology company for months.
Apple said in a pair of overdue earnings filings to the Securities andExchange Commission that it had recorded a fictitious meeting at whichJobs's options were ratified and that he may have recommended the dates forsome of the stock options issued to company employees. The company repeatedyesterday that Jobs did not benefit from the options.
Apple's board, which includes former vice president Al Gore, gave Jobs itsfull support. "The board of directors is confident that the Company hascorrected the problems that led to the restatement, and it has completeconfidence in Steve Jobs and the senior management team," said the statementby Gore and Jerome York, who heads Apple's audit and finance committee.
=
The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30patterson.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Guest Columnist
The Last Race Problem
By ORLANDO PATTERSON
When W. E. B. DuBois, the patrician black leader, predicted in 1903 that theproblem of the 20th century would be the color line, he had in mind anethno-racial problem with a dual character. One side was the near completeexclusion of African-Americans and other minorities from the upper echelonsand leadership of American society, public life and national identity. Theother was the segregation of blacks from the social, communal and intimatecultural life of white Americans.
America's resolution of the public side of the color line would have amazedDuBois. The nation stands today as a global model in the sophistication andenforcement of its civil rights laws, the diversity of its elite, theparticipation of blacks and other minorities in its great corporations andits public cultural life, and in the embrace of blacks as an integral partof the nation and what it means to be an American.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/world/middleeast/30assess.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
News Analysis
Joy of Capture Muted at the End
By JEFF ZELENY
CRAWFORD, Tex., Dec. 29 - The capture of Saddam Hussein three years ago wasa jubilant moment for the White House, hailed by President Bush in atelevised address from the Cabinet Room. The execution of Mr. Hussein,though, seemed hardly to inspire the same sentiment.
Before the hanging was carried out in Baghdad, Mr. Bush went to sleep hereat his ranch and was not roused when the news came. In a statement writtenin advance, the president said the execution would not end the violence inIraq.
After Mr. Hussein was arrested Dec. 13, 2003, he gradually faded from view,save for his courtroom outbursts and writings from prison. The growing chaosand violence in Iraq has steadily overshadowed the torturous rule of Mr.Hussein, who for more than two decades held a unique place in the politicsand psyche of the United States, a symbol of the manifestation of evil inthe Middle East.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30sat2.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Editorial
Obstacles in Turkey's Path
It came as no surprise when the European Union recently suspended some ofits planned membership talks with Turkey. The sticking points pertain to thestrained relations between Turkey and Cyprus, which have long threatened toundermine Turkey's membership bid. What is surprising - and dismaying - isthat the union is treating this as primarily a legal problem. That's adistortion.
Turkey is indeed in violation of European law on the proper treatment ofCyprus. But the problem is mainly political, and of the union's own making.The E.U. blundered when it allowed a divided Cyprus to join the union in2004. Reunification - of Greek Cypriots in the south and Turkish Cypriots inthe north - should have been a precondition. Still, it's widely acknowledgedthat Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots did their utmost to reunite the islandso that both Cyprus and Turkey could peacefully join the E.U. But the GreekCypriots scotched a United Nations reunification plan.
That has left Turkey in an untenable position. Other European leaders shouldbe pressuring the Greek Cypriot leadership to end the impasse and workingwith Turkey to find a solution. Instead, some are using the stalemate as anexcuse to hamstring Turkey's entry.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]#####
FLORIDA DIGEST December 30, 2006
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
From Paul Harris, Publisher of "The Independent"
People of the Year Awards - Thursday, February 1
Put Thursday, February 1 in your calendars. It is the date of the "SecondAnnual Independent People of the Year Awards." As with last year's sell-outevent it will be held at "Laffing Matterz," the wonderful comedy theaterrestaurant on South Andrews Avenue. The evening allows the GLBT community tohonor some of the many people who 'make a difference' in South Florida. Weshall be announcing the names of the honorees and full details about theevening in the next issue of "The Indy."
Some of the names of the people to be honored are ones that everyone willrecognize, but, as with last year, we shall also be honoring some people whogive greatly of themselves and are to a large extent 'unsung.' Without manyof these amazing people the organizations so important to the life of ourcommunity would not function. So, mark Thursday, February 1 in yourcalendars now. We look forward to seeing you there.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16348734.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Dec. 30, 2006
MIAMI BEACH
Blairs blend in on Beach holiday
Tony who? He may be a foreign dignitary, but in celebrity-saturated MiamiBeach, Blair is barely a boldface name.
BY ELINOR J. BRECHER
ebrecher@MiamiHerald.com
On the Miami Beach celebrity scale of J.Lo to your Aunt Hadassah at theHebrew Home, British Prime Minister Tony Blair ranks somewhere around thathomeless guy on Lincoln Road who wears a Santa suit all year round.
After an initial flurry of activity Wednesday outside Oak Hall -- former BeeGee Robin Gibb's estate, where the Blairs are staying -- interest in hispresence had dwindled Friday morning to a brace of neighbors dropping off abook.
No paparazzi. No autograph hounds. Not even protesters against the war inIraq, Blair's support of which has made him about as popular back home asJack the Ripper.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16349371.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Dec. 30, 2006
VERBATIM
Getting ex-offenders into law-abiding lives
By EX-OFFENDER TASK FORCE
Below are excerpts from the recent report by Gov. Jeb Bush's Ex-OffenderTask Force. The full report is at http://exoffendermyflorida.com.
We began our work by studying the magnitude of the challenge of makingreentry successful and quickly learned that Florida has the third largestprison population in America and more than 30,000 people returning home fromprison each year. The continual growth of imprisonment has created anunprecedented challenge for our state and for the local communities thatmust absorb these individuals upon their return home.
Under the current conditions, most ex-offenders will fail at leadinglaw-abiding lives when they return home. This will result in new crimesbeing committed with new victims unnecessarily traumatized at a huge cost ofhundreds of millions of dollars to the taxpayers and their communities.
How, we asked, might prisoners be best prepared for their foreseeable returnhome? To answer this, we identified and referenced many promising programs,innovative practices and ongoing interventions that are working in Floridaand elsewhere. These examples have guided our recommendations and assistedus in establishing a formal reentry framework that can reduce recidivism.
=
Naplesnews.com
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/dec/30/medicare_fraud_florida_has_doubled_past_year/?print=1
Medicare fraud in Florida has doubled in the past year
By Liz Freeman
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Medicaid fraud investigators in Florida have recovered nearly $75 million intaxpayer money in abuse and fraud activity this past year involvinghealth-care providers, almost double the $42 million recovered in 2005,according to a state report released Friday.
The Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration and the Florida AttorneyGeneral's Office both have Medicaid fraud units and jointly announcedresults of fraud detection and recovery efforts for fiscal 2005-06.
The two Medicaid fraud units work together on joint investigations andcollaborate to improve ways to combat fraud in the $16.6 billion stateMedicaid program involving 32,000 health-care providers, from nursing homesto durable medical equipment suppliers.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cunidentified00dec30,0,4694858.story?coll=sfla-news-front
Broward falling behind at reporting unidentified dead to FBI
By Sofia Santana
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 30, 2006
For a growing legion of souls, home is a pit in potter's field and a manilafolder with a number on it.
Almost 900 rest in the realm of Florida's unidentified dead, includingmurdered children.
Investigators across the country rely on an FBI database that links thesecases to missing person reports, but fewer than half of Broward County'sunidentified bodies are listed in it.
Broward law enforcement agencies overall have the worst record in SouthFlorida and one of the worst in the state when it comes to reportingunidentified remains to the FBI, according to an ongoing inventory of thecases by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and state medicalexaminers.
=
PalmBeachPost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2006/12/30/m1a_childdeath_1230.html
97 kids died of abuse in Fla. in '05, report says
By Kathleen Chapman
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Ninety-seven Florida children died of abuse or neglect in 2005, including 10deaths that might have been prevented by the state, according to a reportreleased Friday.
The Florida Child Abuse Death Review team report, which looks back on deathsfrom the previous year, included children who were murdered, infants whowere accidentally suffocated by parents and toddlers who drowned while noone was watching.
Fifty-four of those children who died had previous involvement with theDepartment of Children and Families. That analysis included only 94 of thedeaths, however, because the remaining three were reported late.
Across the country in 2004, the last year for which national statistics areavailable, an estimated 1,490 children died of abuse or neglect.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901048_pf.html
AT& T Completes BellSouth Takeover
FCC Approves $85 Billion Deal
By Alan Sipress and Sara Kehaulani Goo
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A01
The Federal Communications Commission yesterday overcame a seven-monthdeadlock and approved AT&T's $85 billion purchase of BellSouth, creating anew corporate giant that will stand astride the telecommunications industrylike none other in the generation since the old AT&T empire was broken up in1984.
The acquisition, which closed yesterday, reunites large parts of AT&T'sformer domain by folding BellSouth's nine-state territory into AT&T'sexisting operations spanning the Midwest, Southwest and West Coast. It givesAT&T complete control of Cingular Wireless, the country's largestmobile-telephone provider, at a time when wireless is the newest frontierfor reaching the Internet. Cingular is jointly owned by AT&T and BellSouth.
=
Tallahassee.com
http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061230/OPINION05/612300307/1006/OPINION&template=printart
Article published Dec 30, 2006
Jeb's legacy deserves a more sober view
By Howard L. Simon
MY VIEW
As the Jeb Bush administration ends, the battle to characterize the legacyheats up.
How Bush is characterized has future political consequence, given hisrelative youth, the cache of name recognition (though its value may betemporarily diminished), and the war chest stored in his foundation, whichis a potential campaign structure.
Anyone who has followed news about state government in Tallahassee over thelast eight years appreciates that the governor is an engaging, telegenic andintelligent policy wonk.
He has been a Reaganesque governor. For some that is the supreme compliment,but it also means that our Teflon governor has been immune from blame forthe harsh consequences of his policies and the mismanagement of the reins ofstate government.
President Ronald Reagan was so liked that the public often looked the otherway: He didn't screw up; he was "poorly advised." Case in point: Reagan wasnot involved in swapping arms for hostages and illegally funding theContras. That was the work of Oliver North and others who acted without thepresident's knowledge.
=
floridatoday.com
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061230/OPINION/612300303/1004&template=printart
December 30, 2006
Our view: Guarding your money
Florida CFO Sink should hold state accountable for private sector deals
Protecting Florida taxpayers is a big job, but it rests on the simplepremise of honest accounting for every dollar saved or squandered.
That accountability has gone lacking under Gov. Jeb Bush's relentless pushto outsource state services such as foster care, personnel and payrollfunctions to private companies.
That's why Alex Sink, Florida's newly elected Chief Financial Officer, isright in pledging to kick off her term in office by investigating thebillions of dollars in private sector contracts the state hands out eachyear.
She's said she'll scrutinize the books to see if privatization is actuallysaving the state money and improving services. Previous studies indicatethat's often not the case.
=
From Paul Harris, Publisher of "The Independent"
People of the Year Awards - Thursday, February 1
Put Thursday, February 1 in your calendars. It is the date of the "SecondAnnual Independent People of the Year Awards." As with last year's sell-outevent it will be held at "Laffing Matterz," the wonderful comedy theaterrestaurant on South Andrews Avenue. The evening allows the GLBT community tohonor some of the many people who 'make a difference' in South Florida. Weshall be announcing the names of the honorees and full details about theevening in the next issue of "The Indy."
Some of the names of the people to be honored are ones that everyone willrecognize, but, as with last year, we shall also be honoring some people whogive greatly of themselves and are to a large extent 'unsung.' Without manyof these amazing people the organizations so important to the life of ourcommunity would not function. So, mark Thursday, February 1 in yourcalendars now. We look forward to seeing you there.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-1229revkennedy,0,2363156.story?coll=sfla-home-headlinesRev.
D. James Kennedy hospitalized after suffering heart attack
By Scott Wyman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 29, 2006, 7:30 PM EST
The Rev. D. James Kennedy, the longtime pastor of Fort Lauderdale's Coral Ridge PresbyterianChurch and a prominent leader of the national religious right movement, suffered a heart attackThursday night and is hospitalized in serious condition. Church officials said Friday thatKennedy, 76, was rushed to a local hospital from his home in the affluent Coral Ridgeneighborhood. Although they are extremely concerned about his health, they also said Kennedyis becoming more alert and responsive.
As one of the largest religious broadcasters in the country and pastor of one of nation's firstmega-churches, Kennedy has been at the forefront of social conservative causes from abortionto homosexuality. Americans United for the Separation of Church and State this year rankedKennedy's Coral Ridge Ministries as the nation's third most powerful religious right group,behind only the Christina Broadcasting Network and Focus on the Family.
=
[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]
#####
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
From Paul Harris, Publisher of "The Independent"
People of the Year Awards - Thursday, February 1
Put Thursday, February 1 in your calendars. It is the date of the "SecondAnnual Independent People of the Year Awards." As with last year's sell-outevent it will be held at "Laffing Matterz," the wonderful comedy theaterrestaurant on South Andrews Avenue. The evening allows the GLBT community tohonor some of the many people who 'make a difference' in South Florida. Weshall be announcing the names of the honorees and full details about theevening in the next issue of "The Indy."
Some of the names of the people to be honored are ones that everyone willrecognize, but, as with last year, we shall also be honoring some people whogive greatly of themselves and are to a large extent 'unsung.' Without manyof these amazing people the organizations so important to the life of ourcommunity would not function. So, mark Thursday, February 1 in yourcalendars now. We look forward to seeing you there.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16348734.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Dec. 30, 2006
MIAMI BEACH
Blairs blend in on Beach holiday
Tony who? He may be a foreign dignitary, but in celebrity-saturated MiamiBeach, Blair is barely a boldface name.
BY ELINOR J. BRECHER
ebrecher@MiamiHerald.com
On the Miami Beach celebrity scale of J.Lo to your Aunt Hadassah at theHebrew Home, British Prime Minister Tony Blair ranks somewhere around thathomeless guy on Lincoln Road who wears a Santa suit all year round.
After an initial flurry of activity Wednesday outside Oak Hall -- former BeeGee Robin Gibb's estate, where the Blairs are staying -- interest in hispresence had dwindled Friday morning to a brace of neighbors dropping off abook.
No paparazzi. No autograph hounds. Not even protesters against the war inIraq, Blair's support of which has made him about as popular back home asJack the Ripper.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16349371.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Dec. 30, 2006
VERBATIM
Getting ex-offenders into law-abiding lives
By EX-OFFENDER TASK FORCE
Below are excerpts from the recent report by Gov. Jeb Bush's Ex-OffenderTask Force. The full report is at http://exoffendermyflorida.com.
We began our work by studying the magnitude of the challenge of makingreentry successful and quickly learned that Florida has the third largestprison population in America and more than 30,000 people returning home fromprison each year. The continual growth of imprisonment has created anunprecedented challenge for our state and for the local communities thatmust absorb these individuals upon their return home.
Under the current conditions, most ex-offenders will fail at leadinglaw-abiding lives when they return home. This will result in new crimesbeing committed with new victims unnecessarily traumatized at a huge cost ofhundreds of millions of dollars to the taxpayers and their communities.
How, we asked, might prisoners be best prepared for their foreseeable returnhome? To answer this, we identified and referenced many promising programs,innovative practices and ongoing interventions that are working in Floridaand elsewhere. These examples have guided our recommendations and assistedus in establishing a formal reentry framework that can reduce recidivism.
=
Naplesnews.com
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/dec/30/medicare_fraud_florida_has_doubled_past_year/?print=1
Medicare fraud in Florida has doubled in the past year
By Liz Freeman
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Medicaid fraud investigators in Florida have recovered nearly $75 million intaxpayer money in abuse and fraud activity this past year involvinghealth-care providers, almost double the $42 million recovered in 2005,according to a state report released Friday.
The Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration and the Florida AttorneyGeneral's Office both have Medicaid fraud units and jointly announcedresults of fraud detection and recovery efforts for fiscal 2005-06.
The two Medicaid fraud units work together on joint investigations andcollaborate to improve ways to combat fraud in the $16.6 billion stateMedicaid program involving 32,000 health-care providers, from nursing homesto durable medical equipment suppliers.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cunidentified00dec30,0,4694858.story?coll=sfla-news-front
Broward falling behind at reporting unidentified dead to FBI
By Sofia Santana
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 30, 2006
For a growing legion of souls, home is a pit in potter's field and a manilafolder with a number on it.
Almost 900 rest in the realm of Florida's unidentified dead, includingmurdered children.
Investigators across the country rely on an FBI database that links thesecases to missing person reports, but fewer than half of Broward County'sunidentified bodies are listed in it.
Broward law enforcement agencies overall have the worst record in SouthFlorida and one of the worst in the state when it comes to reportingunidentified remains to the FBI, according to an ongoing inventory of thecases by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and state medicalexaminers.
=
PalmBeachPost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2006/12/30/m1a_childdeath_1230.html
97 kids died of abuse in Fla. in '05, report says
By Kathleen Chapman
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Ninety-seven Florida children died of abuse or neglect in 2005, including 10deaths that might have been prevented by the state, according to a reportreleased Friday.
The Florida Child Abuse Death Review team report, which looks back on deathsfrom the previous year, included children who were murdered, infants whowere accidentally suffocated by parents and toddlers who drowned while noone was watching.
Fifty-four of those children who died had previous involvement with theDepartment of Children and Families. That analysis included only 94 of thedeaths, however, because the remaining three were reported late.
Across the country in 2004, the last year for which national statistics areavailable, an estimated 1,490 children died of abuse or neglect.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901048_pf.html
AT& T Completes BellSouth Takeover
FCC Approves $85 Billion Deal
By Alan Sipress and Sara Kehaulani Goo
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A01
The Federal Communications Commission yesterday overcame a seven-monthdeadlock and approved AT&T's $85 billion purchase of BellSouth, creating anew corporate giant that will stand astride the telecommunications industrylike none other in the generation since the old AT&T empire was broken up in1984.
The acquisition, which closed yesterday, reunites large parts of AT&T'sformer domain by folding BellSouth's nine-state territory into AT&T'sexisting operations spanning the Midwest, Southwest and West Coast. It givesAT&T complete control of Cingular Wireless, the country's largestmobile-telephone provider, at a time when wireless is the newest frontierfor reaching the Internet. Cingular is jointly owned by AT&T and BellSouth.
=
Tallahassee.com
http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061230/OPINION05/612300307/1006/OPINION&template=printart
Article published Dec 30, 2006
Jeb's legacy deserves a more sober view
By Howard L. Simon
MY VIEW
As the Jeb Bush administration ends, the battle to characterize the legacyheats up.
How Bush is characterized has future political consequence, given hisrelative youth, the cache of name recognition (though its value may betemporarily diminished), and the war chest stored in his foundation, whichis a potential campaign structure.
Anyone who has followed news about state government in Tallahassee over thelast eight years appreciates that the governor is an engaging, telegenic andintelligent policy wonk.
He has been a Reaganesque governor. For some that is the supreme compliment,but it also means that our Teflon governor has been immune from blame forthe harsh consequences of his policies and the mismanagement of the reins ofstate government.
President Ronald Reagan was so liked that the public often looked the otherway: He didn't screw up; he was "poorly advised." Case in point: Reagan wasnot involved in swapping arms for hostages and illegally funding theContras. That was the work of Oliver North and others who acted without thepresident's knowledge.
=
floridatoday.com
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061230/OPINION/612300303/1004&template=printart
December 30, 2006
Our view: Guarding your money
Florida CFO Sink should hold state accountable for private sector deals
Protecting Florida taxpayers is a big job, but it rests on the simplepremise of honest accounting for every dollar saved or squandered.
That accountability has gone lacking under Gov. Jeb Bush's relentless pushto outsource state services such as foster care, personnel and payrollfunctions to private companies.
That's why Alex Sink, Florida's newly elected Chief Financial Officer, isright in pledging to kick off her term in office by investigating thebillions of dollars in private sector contracts the state hands out eachyear.
She's said she'll scrutinize the books to see if privatization is actuallysaving the state money and improving services. Previous studies indicatethat's often not the case.
=
From Paul Harris, Publisher of "The Independent"
People of the Year Awards - Thursday, February 1
Put Thursday, February 1 in your calendars. It is the date of the "SecondAnnual Independent People of the Year Awards." As with last year's sell-outevent it will be held at "Laffing Matterz," the wonderful comedy theaterrestaurant on South Andrews Avenue. The evening allows the GLBT community tohonor some of the many people who 'make a difference' in South Florida. Weshall be announcing the names of the honorees and full details about theevening in the next issue of "The Indy."
Some of the names of the people to be honored are ones that everyone willrecognize, but, as with last year, we shall also be honoring some people whogive greatly of themselves and are to a large extent 'unsung.' Without manyof these amazing people the organizations so important to the life of ourcommunity would not function. So, mark Thursday, February 1 in yourcalendars now. We look forward to seeing you there.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-1229revkennedy,0,2363156.story?coll=sfla-home-headlinesRev.
D. James Kennedy hospitalized after suffering heart attack
By Scott Wyman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 29, 2006, 7:30 PM EST
The Rev. D. James Kennedy, the longtime pastor of Fort Lauderdale's Coral Ridge PresbyterianChurch and a prominent leader of the national religious right movement, suffered a heart attackThursday night and is hospitalized in serious condition. Church officials said Friday thatKennedy, 76, was rushed to a local hospital from his home in the affluent Coral Ridgeneighborhood. Although they are extremely concerned about his health, they also said Kennedyis becoming more alert and responsive.
As one of the largest religious broadcasters in the country and pastor of one of nation's firstmega-churches, Kennedy has been at the forefront of social conservative causes from abortionto homosexuality. Americans United for the Separation of Church and State this year rankedKennedy's Coral Ridge Ministries as the nation's third most powerful religious right group,behind only the Christina Broadcasting Network and Focus on the Family.
=
[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]
#####
Friday, December 29, 2006
GLBT DIGEST - December 29, 2006
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2006/12-29/news/worldnews/un.cfm
Rights groups win new status at U.N.
Change gives gays a 'seat at the table'
By JOSHUA LYNSEN
Friday, December 29, 2006
Three gay groups have won long sought inclusion at the United Nations.
The International Lesbian & Gay Association's European office, plus twoother groups, obtained the coveted consultative status Dec. 11. They are theonly gay groups among 3,100 organizations that have the status.
Consultative status enables non-government organizations to speak at U.N.meetings and lobby member nations.
"It grants them a seat at the table," said Mark Bromley, a spokesperson forGlobal Rights, an international human rights organization that supported themove.
"It allows them to submit documents and evidence of human rights abusesagainst LGBT communities in a formal way to the U.N. and many human rightsexperts."
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2006/12-29/news/national/national.cfm
2006: A swan song for the closet
Politicians, performers step outside the walls of secrecy
By LOU CHIBBARO JR and JOSHUA LYNSEN & ELIZABETH PERRY
Friday, December 29, 2006
Having confined and defined much, if not most, of modern gay existence, "thecloset" showed once again in 2006 that it is still a mighty force, albeit ashadow of its once powerful self.
In fact, some believe the closet is steadily inching toward irrelevance, assuccessive generations of gay and lesbian youth settle into their sexualorientation without first surrounding it with four walls of angst, denial,duplicity and shame.
Far from being a place that only harbors half-truths and paralyzing secrets,the 2006 version of the closet helped fuel best-selling memoirs and abreathtaking power shift in Congress. The closet opened its doors on the setof America's most popular primetime television series and inside one of thenation's most influential megachurches.
And whereas coming out of the closet was long considered social andprofessional suicide, in 2006 it proved anything but.
=
The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid40713.asp
December 29, 2006
Meehan to push for repeal of gay soldier ban
Democratic congressman Marty Meehan of Massachusetts said on Wednesday thathe will reintroduce a bill to repeal the military's ban on openly gaysoldiers.
A Democratic congressman from Massachusetts said on Wednesday that he willreintroduce a bill to repeal the military's ban on openly gay soldiers. Rep.Marty Meehan said that 112 members of Congress from both parties have signedon to cosponsor the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would end thearmed services' "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
"I'll be working tirelessly to bring new members of both parties onboard ourcampaign to lift the ban," Meehan said in an end-of-the-year letter toconstituents released by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, whichadvocates for gays in the military. "I will also be asking for the firstcongressional hearings on gays in the military since 1993. I know that whenmy colleagues see and understand the evidence against "don't ask, don'ttell," they will be motivated to join me in the fight for repeal."
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2006/12-29/arts/feature/feature.cfm
All the talk
2006 in quotes
Friday, December 29, 2006
2006 could one-day be known as the year of transparency. Closetedcelebrities and politicians saw their secrets exposed, largely due to helpfrom news reporters and dogged bloggers.
It was American voters who made the loudest statement of all though, lookingpast, and, perhaps through, gay issues that once galvanized the right, andhanding the U.S. House and Senate back to a Democratic majority.
Here are some notable quotables by celebrities and politicians from 2006.
"I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights oflesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice. .But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King, Jr., said, 'Injusticeanywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' . I appeal to everyone whobelieves in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream to make room at the table ofbrotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people."
Coretta Scott King, who died in February at the age of 78, at the 25thanniversary event for the Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund (March 31,1998)
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2006/12-29/view/editorial/editorial.cfm
Stories you might have missed
Everyone knows about the Mark Foley scandal but did you hear about the newpro-gay 401(k) rule change?
Friday, December 29, 2006
WE ALL KNOW that Mark Foley sent lewd e-mails and IMs to young male pages.And that Ted Haggard resigned in a gay sex scandal as a leading voice of theevangelical Christians who work so feverishly to demonize gays and lesbians.And we know that most gays cheered the midterm election results.
But there were hundreds of other stories in the past year that you may havemissed. Here are just a few that merit repeating.
Late this summer, President Bush signed into law sweeping changes to thecountry's pension laws that altered 401(k) rules in significant ways forgays and lesbians.
The changes allow any 401(k) beneficiary to inherit those funds slowly,avoiding a full and immediate payment that would be subject to stiffer taxpenalties. Prior to the change, the slow payout option was available only tostraight, married couples.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Concord Monitor, NH , December 28, 2006
http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061228/REPOSITORY/612280329/1027/OPINION01
Editorial: No more study, please
Monitor staff
The 2007 Legislature will see at least two bills to make civil unions legalfor same-sex couples. In response, Gov. John Lynch has suggested, through aspokesman, that he may deploy one of the most potent weapons ever designedto kill time, a committee. He should not make good on that threat.
It's true the legislative commission former governor Craig Benson appointedto study the implications of legalizing same-sex marriage was fatallycompromised by the lack of objectivity of many of its members. The group'stempestuous meetings and bigoted conclusions embarrassed the state. But nomatter how fairly constituted the next group could be, its contribution tothe debate would be insignificant compared with the real-world experiencesof neighboring states.
Vermont made civil unions legal in 2000, and Massachusetts recognizedsame-sex marriage in 2004.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
NJ: Perform civil unions or nothing
Bridgeton News, NJ, December 28, 2006
http://www.nj.com/news/bridgeton/local/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1167284456271280.xml&coll=10
Perform civil unions or nothing
By MATT DUNN, Staff Writer
HOPEWELL TWP. -- Mayor Hal Bickings Jr. takes great pride in the marriageceremony he has honed over the years.
He reads to the couple from 1 Corinthians 13, informally known as theBible's "love chapter," which states "Love is patient and kind; love is notjealous or boastful."
Then he offers some biblical advice.
"I tell them love is the cornerstone of a great marriage -- to beconsiderate of each other," Bickings said Wednesday. "I tell the husband,you must love your wife as Christ loved the church."
After rings and vows are exchanged, Bickings prays with the newlyweds.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=17420
FOCUS ON ISSUES
When Abba becomes Ima: Transsexuals in the Orthodox world
By Meira Maierovitz Drazin
TORONTO, Dec. 25 (JTA) - Mordechai, a 31-year-old Orthodox lawyer from Toronto, gave his wife a Jewish divorce this summer.
Then he began his life as Nicole, a woman.
Nicole isn't the first transgender person to live an Orthodox life, but asfar as anyone knows she is the first Orthodox person to transition publiclyand "in place."
Transsexuals may always face obstacles and taboos in mainstream Westernsocieties, but Orthodox Jews who make the transition face even greatercomplications.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/us/29drugs.html?pagewanted=print
December 29, 2006
Waiting List for AIDS Drugs Causes Dismay in South Carolina
By SHAILA DEWAN
COLUMBIA, S.C. - More than 350 poor people infected with H.I.V. are on awaiting list for free life-saving drugs in South Carolina, by far thelongest such list in the country.
Four people waiting for drugs supplied by the state have died, said LyndaKettinger, the director of the state health department's H.I.V. division,and the wait is six months to a year.
The list is so long largely because the Legislature's contribution to the drug program is relatively tiny - less than one-twentieth of North Carolina's, for example - even though South Carolina has the ninth-highest AIDS rate andthe fifth-highest H.I.V. infection rate among states that record such data.
"There's only two ways to get off of the wait list right now," said KarenBates, one of a group of South Carolina H.I.V. patients who have demandedthat the state take emergency action. "One of them is if somebody else diesand you get their slot. The other is if you die."
=
The current issue of The Express Gay News is online
http://expressgaynews.com/
=
Gay victims of Franco era to win compensation
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2108206.ece
In the dying days of General Francisco Franco'sdictatorship, Antoni Ruiz found out for himselfwhat thousands of others had already suffered for being gay.
Antoni, then just 17, from Valencia, easternSpain, told his mother he was homosexual and hisfamily sought advice from a nun. "She wentstraight to the police and I was arrested and sent for trial," said Mr Ruiz.
"I spent three months in prison. I was rapedthere and in the police cells and psychologicallytortured by both the guards and the prison doctor."
Now, 31 years later, Mr Ruiz and a dwindling bandof others who suffered General Franco's ruthlessrepression of homosexuals, may finally be offered compensation by the state.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2006/12-29/news/worldnews/un.cfm
Rights groups win new status at U.N.
Change gives gays a 'seat at the table'
By JOSHUA LYNSEN
Friday, December 29, 2006
Three gay groups have won long sought inclusion at the United Nations.
The International Lesbian & Gay Association's European office, plus twoother groups, obtained the coveted consultative status Dec. 11. They are theonly gay groups among 3,100 organizations that have the status.
Consultative status enables non-government organizations to speak at U.N.meetings and lobby member nations.
"It grants them a seat at the table," said Mark Bromley, a spokesperson forGlobal Rights, an international human rights organization that supported themove.
"It allows them to submit documents and evidence of human rights abusesagainst LGBT communities in a formal way to the U.N. and many human rightsexperts."
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2006/12-29/news/national/national.cfm
2006: A swan song for the closet
Politicians, performers step outside the walls of secrecy
By LOU CHIBBARO JR and JOSHUA LYNSEN & ELIZABETH PERRY
Friday, December 29, 2006
Having confined and defined much, if not most, of modern gay existence, "thecloset" showed once again in 2006 that it is still a mighty force, albeit ashadow of its once powerful self.
In fact, some believe the closet is steadily inching toward irrelevance, assuccessive generations of gay and lesbian youth settle into their sexualorientation without first surrounding it with four walls of angst, denial,duplicity and shame.
Far from being a place that only harbors half-truths and paralyzing secrets,the 2006 version of the closet helped fuel best-selling memoirs and abreathtaking power shift in Congress. The closet opened its doors on the setof America's most popular primetime television series and inside one of thenation's most influential megachurches.
And whereas coming out of the closet was long considered social andprofessional suicide, in 2006 it proved anything but.
=
The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid40713.asp
December 29, 2006
Meehan to push for repeal of gay soldier ban
Democratic congressman Marty Meehan of Massachusetts said on Wednesday thathe will reintroduce a bill to repeal the military's ban on openly gaysoldiers.
A Democratic congressman from Massachusetts said on Wednesday that he willreintroduce a bill to repeal the military's ban on openly gay soldiers. Rep.Marty Meehan said that 112 members of Congress from both parties have signedon to cosponsor the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would end thearmed services' "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
"I'll be working tirelessly to bring new members of both parties onboard ourcampaign to lift the ban," Meehan said in an end-of-the-year letter toconstituents released by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, whichadvocates for gays in the military. "I will also be asking for the firstcongressional hearings on gays in the military since 1993. I know that whenmy colleagues see and understand the evidence against "don't ask, don'ttell," they will be motivated to join me in the fight for repeal."
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2006/12-29/arts/feature/feature.cfm
All the talk
2006 in quotes
Friday, December 29, 2006
2006 could one-day be known as the year of transparency. Closetedcelebrities and politicians saw their secrets exposed, largely due to helpfrom news reporters and dogged bloggers.
It was American voters who made the loudest statement of all though, lookingpast, and, perhaps through, gay issues that once galvanized the right, andhanding the U.S. House and Senate back to a Democratic majority.
Here are some notable quotables by celebrities and politicians from 2006.
"I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights oflesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice. .But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King, Jr., said, 'Injusticeanywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' . I appeal to everyone whobelieves in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream to make room at the table ofbrotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people."
Coretta Scott King, who died in February at the age of 78, at the 25thanniversary event for the Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund (March 31,1998)
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2006/12-29/view/editorial/editorial.cfm
Stories you might have missed
Everyone knows about the Mark Foley scandal but did you hear about the newpro-gay 401(k) rule change?
Friday, December 29, 2006
WE ALL KNOW that Mark Foley sent lewd e-mails and IMs to young male pages.And that Ted Haggard resigned in a gay sex scandal as a leading voice of theevangelical Christians who work so feverishly to demonize gays and lesbians.And we know that most gays cheered the midterm election results.
But there were hundreds of other stories in the past year that you may havemissed. Here are just a few that merit repeating.
Late this summer, President Bush signed into law sweeping changes to thecountry's pension laws that altered 401(k) rules in significant ways forgays and lesbians.
The changes allow any 401(k) beneficiary to inherit those funds slowly,avoiding a full and immediate payment that would be subject to stiffer taxpenalties. Prior to the change, the slow payout option was available only tostraight, married couples.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Concord Monitor, NH , December 28, 2006
http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061228/REPOSITORY/612280329/1027/OPINION01
Editorial: No more study, please
Monitor staff
The 2007 Legislature will see at least two bills to make civil unions legalfor same-sex couples. In response, Gov. John Lynch has suggested, through aspokesman, that he may deploy one of the most potent weapons ever designedto kill time, a committee. He should not make good on that threat.
It's true the legislative commission former governor Craig Benson appointedto study the implications of legalizing same-sex marriage was fatallycompromised by the lack of objectivity of many of its members. The group'stempestuous meetings and bigoted conclusions embarrassed the state. But nomatter how fairly constituted the next group could be, its contribution tothe debate would be insignificant compared with the real-world experiencesof neighboring states.
Vermont made civil unions legal in 2000, and Massachusetts recognizedsame-sex marriage in 2004.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
NJ: Perform civil unions or nothing
Bridgeton News, NJ, December 28, 2006
http://www.nj.com/news/bridgeton/local/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1167284456271280.xml&coll=10
Perform civil unions or nothing
By MATT DUNN, Staff Writer
HOPEWELL TWP. -- Mayor Hal Bickings Jr. takes great pride in the marriageceremony he has honed over the years.
He reads to the couple from 1 Corinthians 13, informally known as theBible's "love chapter," which states "Love is patient and kind; love is notjealous or boastful."
Then he offers some biblical advice.
"I tell them love is the cornerstone of a great marriage -- to beconsiderate of each other," Bickings said Wednesday. "I tell the husband,you must love your wife as Christ loved the church."
After rings and vows are exchanged, Bickings prays with the newlyweds.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=17420
FOCUS ON ISSUES
When Abba becomes Ima: Transsexuals in the Orthodox world
By Meira Maierovitz Drazin
TORONTO, Dec. 25 (JTA) - Mordechai, a 31-year-old Orthodox lawyer from Toronto, gave his wife a Jewish divorce this summer.
Then he began his life as Nicole, a woman.
Nicole isn't the first transgender person to live an Orthodox life, but asfar as anyone knows she is the first Orthodox person to transition publiclyand "in place."
Transsexuals may always face obstacles and taboos in mainstream Westernsocieties, but Orthodox Jews who make the transition face even greatercomplications.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/us/29drugs.html?pagewanted=print
December 29, 2006
Waiting List for AIDS Drugs Causes Dismay in South Carolina
By SHAILA DEWAN
COLUMBIA, S.C. - More than 350 poor people infected with H.I.V. are on awaiting list for free life-saving drugs in South Carolina, by far thelongest such list in the country.
Four people waiting for drugs supplied by the state have died, said LyndaKettinger, the director of the state health department's H.I.V. division,and the wait is six months to a year.
The list is so long largely because the Legislature's contribution to the drug program is relatively tiny - less than one-twentieth of North Carolina's, for example - even though South Carolina has the ninth-highest AIDS rate andthe fifth-highest H.I.V. infection rate among states that record such data.
"There's only two ways to get off of the wait list right now," said KarenBates, one of a group of South Carolina H.I.V. patients who have demandedthat the state take emergency action. "One of them is if somebody else diesand you get their slot. The other is if you die."
=
The current issue of The Express Gay News is online
http://expressgaynews.com/
=
Gay victims of Franco era to win compensation
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2108206.ece
In the dying days of General Francisco Franco'sdictatorship, Antoni Ruiz found out for himselfwhat thousands of others had already suffered for being gay.
Antoni, then just 17, from Valencia, easternSpain, told his mother he was homosexual and hisfamily sought advice from a nun. "She wentstraight to the police and I was arrested and sent for trial," said Mr Ruiz.
"I spent three months in prison. I was rapedthere and in the police cells and psychologicallytortured by both the guards and the prison doctor."
Now, 31 years later, Mr Ruiz and a dwindling bandof others who suffered General Franco's ruthlessrepression of homosexuals, may finally be offered compensation by the state.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST December 29, 2006
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/weekinreview/24gettleman.html?pagewanted=print
December 24, 2006
The World
Across Africa, a Sense That U.S. Power Isn't So Super
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
MOGADISHU, Somalia
THE rally was supposed to be against Ethiopia, Somalia's neighbor andhistoric archenemy, which in the past few weeks had sent troops streamingacross the border in an attempt to check the power of the increasinglypowerful Islamists who rule Mogadishu.
But the cheers that shook the stadium (which had no roof, by the way, andwas riddled with bullet holes) were about another country, far, far away.
"Down, down U.S.A.!" thousands of Somalis yelled, many of them waving cockedKalashnikovs. "Slit the throats of the Americans!"
Not exactly soothing words, especially when the passport in your pocket hasone of those golden eagles on it.
Somalia may be the place that best illustrates a trend sweeping across theAfrican continent: After Sept. 11, 2001, the United States concluded thatanarchy and misery aid terrorism, and so it tried to re-engage Africa. Butanti-American sentiment on the continent has only grown, and becomeincreasingly nasty. And the United States seems unable to do much about it.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/washington/29funeral.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1167401247-gRY9JUXj9kMz4L2oXeFkkg&pagewanted=print
December 29, 2006
Ford Arranged His Funeral to Reflect Himself and Drew in a Former Adversary
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 - As he helped in recent years arrange the details ofhis own funeral, Gerald R. Ford reached out to an old adversary: JimmyCarter, who defeated him for the presidency in 1976.
Mr. Ford asked whether his successor might consider speaking at his funeraland offered, lightheartedly, to do the same for Mr. Carter, depending on whodied first.
The invitation was decades in the making, associates of Mr. Ford's said.And, they said, it was typical for Mr. Ford, who came to his ownfuneral-planning sessions adamant that his coffin not be carried to theCapitol in an elaborate horse-drawn caisson but a motorcade instead.
During services for Mr. Ford, the 38th president, over the next few days,the simplicity he sought will be on display in Washington and, later, inMichigan, where he will be interred. His coffin is expected to be carriedinto the Capitol through the House of Representatives, where he served for25 years, rather than up the sweeping front staircase. A band will play asomber version of the University of Michigan fight song, a Ford favoritefrom his undergraduate alma mater, and a song he preferred to "Hail to theChief" while he was president.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cgrilldec29,0,7537107.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
For Haitian deportees, American-style 'grills' mark them as targets for
violence, hate
By Ruth Morris
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 29, 2006
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI -- When authorities deported Marc-Henry Petion fromWest Palm Beach he was a chubby kid nicknamed Pillsbury who spoke almost noCreole and sported a grill -- a line of gold caps affixed to his front teeththat served as his flashy, street-smart calling card.
Three years later, he has picked up the language and altered his appearance.The dreadlocks he once wore are stuffed in a plastic bag in the tinycinderblock room he rents on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. He lopped themoff to avoid calling attention to himself as a deportee, a classificationthat carries a heavy stigma on Haiti's unstable streets. He's also forgonethe oversized clothes he wore in South Florida, another telltale sign of hisU.S. upbringing.
But he doesn't have the money to remove his grill, so has learned to keephis mouth shut, literally.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/28/AR2006122801074_pf.html
The Legal Year in Review
By Andrew Cohen
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, December 29, 2006; 12:00 AM
The good news from the world of the law in 2006 is that we did not for oncein recent memory have to endure an avalanche of vapid news coverage about asolitary trashy tale of sex and fame and crime. There was no Michael Jacksonmolestation trial or Kobe Bryant rape trial or Laci Peterson saga to drawour attention away from trials and cases and legal issues of true merit.
The bad news from the world of the law in 2006 is that we didn't take thatextra time given to us by divine providence and follow or absorb with anydepth or sense of passion or outrage the truly monumental and generallyominous things that were done in the law, in our name, in thisfifth-going-on-sixth year of the legal war on terrorism. Tens of millions ofAmericans know and care about the identity of the latest winner of AmericanIdol. But only a tiny fraction of those know, too, of the manifold pressurescurrently pushing upon the rule of law. Hey, you didn't really think thatParis and Britney really were going to end up best-friends-forever, did you?
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/opinion/29fri4.html?pagewanted=print
December 29, 2006
Editorial Observer
Middle School Girls Gone Wild
By LAWRENCE DOWNES
It's hard to write this without sounding like a prig. But it's just as hardto erase the images that planted the idea for this essay, so here goes. Thescene is a middle school auditorium, where girls in teams of three or fourare bopping to pop songs at a student talent show. Not bopping, actually,but doing elaborately choreographed re-creations of music videos, in tinyskirts or tight shorts, with bare bellies, rouged cheeks and glittery eyes.
They writhe and strut, shake their bottoms, splay their legs, thrust theirchests out and in and out again. Some straddle empty chairs, like lapdancers without laps. They don't smile much. Their faces are locked fromgrim exertion, from all that leaping up and lying down without poles to holdonto. "Don't stop don't stop," sings Janet Jackson, all whispery. "Jerk itlike you're making it choke. ...Ohh. I'm so stimulated. Feel so X-rated."The girls spend a lot of time lying on the floor. They are in the sixth,seventh and eighth grades.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122900142_pf.html
Saddam to hang, but confusion over how soon
By Mariam Karouny
Reuters
Friday, December 29, 2006; 8:28 AM
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Senior Iraqi officials on Friday dismissed suggestionsfrom Washington that they would hang Saddam Hussein this weekend and saidsome in cabinet were pushing for the execution to be put off for a month ormore.
But Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has called for the oustedpresident put to death this year for killing and oppressing Shi'ites, saidthere would be "no review or delay" in the sentence following this week'sfailure of Saddam's appeal.
And a defense lawyer said he thought Saddam might well die on Saturday afterlawyers were told to collect his belongings.
But in a continuation of public confusion at the highest levels and secrecyover the historic proceedings, Iraq's Justice Ministry, which must carry outthe execution, denied it had taken custody of Saddam from his U.S. militaryjailers and said it could not legally hang him for nearly a month.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/28/AR2006122801056_pf.html
Walking a Tightrope Into 2007
By David Ignatius
Friday, December 29, 2006; A27
As the new year approaches, I think of three people who symbolize for mesome of the difficulties of the year we have just lived through and also thepromise and potential of the one ahead. Each of them reminds me that we arewalking into the future balanced on a tightrope.
The first is Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the mayor of Tehran. As an official ofthe Islamic Republic of Iran, he is part of a regime that posed the biggeststrategic challenge to the United States in 2006. But he also embodiesIran's potential to become a great nation -- and perhaps to escape theapocalyptic confrontation with the West that is proclaimed by his politicalrival, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
For all of Ahmadinejad's headline-grabbing fulminations this year, it wasQalibaf who was the big political winner.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/28/AR2006122801171_pf.html
Sen. Johnson Improves, Is Expected to Miss Start of Congress
Associated Press
Friday, December 29, 2006; A17
Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) turned 60 yesterday, two weeks after emergencysurgery to repair a brain hemorrhage that has left him in criticalcondition.
Julianne Fisher, a spokeswoman for the senator, said Johnson will not bepresent in the first days of the new Congress next week but is continuing toimprove. She said he is responsive to directions from his wife but has notyet spoken.
It is too soon to tell how long recovery will take, Fisher said.
In a statement yesterday, Johnson's doctors said he remains in intensivecare at George Washington University Hospital. They have released few newdetails about Johnson's condition and prognosis since the days after theDec. 13 surgery to stop bleeding in his brain.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/opinion/29fri3.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 29, 2006
Editorial
Under-the-Rug Oversight
The wondrously named Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board held itsfirst public hearing the other day on the National Security Agency's illegaleavesdropping program. If you expected it to discover any truths about thesecret program, you can forget it. The board spent its time explaining whyit was more important to work from within the administration than tochallenge it. Thus wags the tail of a watchdog with neither bark nor bite.
The board was created two years ago by the White House and the RepublicanCongress as a pale substitute for the independent monitor recommended by theSept. 11 commission. Its members (four Republicans and one lone Democrat)serve at the pleasure of the administration. It has a paltry budget and nosubpoena power, and any requests for documents can be vetoed by the attorneygeneral.
=
The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/opinion/29krugman.html
December 29, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
A Failed Revolution
By PAUL KRUGMAN
After first attempting to deny the scale of last month's defeat, theapologists have settled on a story line that sounds just like Marxistexplanations for the failure of the Soviet Union. What happened, you see,was that the noble ideals of the Republican revolution of 1994 wereundermined by Washington's corrupting ways. And the recent defeat was a goodthing, because it will force a return to the true conservative path.
But the truth is that the movement that took power in 1994 - a movement thathad little to do with true conservatism - was always based on a lie.
The lie is right there in "The Freedom Revolution," the book that DickArmey, who had just become the House majority leader, published in 1995. Hedeclares that most government programs don't do anything "to help Americanfamilies with the needs of everyday life," and that "very few Americanfamilies would notice their disappearance." He goes on to assert that "thereis no reason we cannot, by the time our children come of age, reduce thefederal government by half as a percentage of gross domestic product."
=
The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/12/29/political_early_adopters_its_your_time/
ELLEN GOODMAN
Political early adopters: It's your time
By Ellen Goodman | December 29, 2006
MAYBE IT WASN'T such a great Christmas gift after all. The baseball caps,emblazoned with the last day of the Bush presidency -- Jan. 19, 2009 --seemed to offer my favorite Democratic couple a light at the end of thetunnel. But sometimes it's easier to see the tunnel than the light.
Nevertheless, January is about to mark the earliest opening for anypresidential campaign in memory. So allow me to end the old year and beginthe new by taking a look at the question dominating the news magazines andtalk shows: Is America ready for a president who isn't a white male?
The only Democrats who so far have actually announced their candidacies areindeed white and male, from Tom Vilsack to John Edwards. But the sexier andracier question dominating the early chatter is the possible mano-a-womano,black-and-white matchup that could be offered with Hillary Rodham Clinton orBarack Hussein Obama atop the national ticket.
Ready? Political readiness is not exactly like reading readiness. Forgenerations, strategists and psychologists have posed the samechicken-and-egg riddle for social change. Do you need a change in attitudesbefore you can succeed in changing real life? Or does a change in realityproduce a change in attitudes?
The answer is, of course, yes.
=
Local10.com
http://www.local10.com/weather/10629367/detail.html
Local10.com
Ancient Ice Shelf Breaks Free In Canadian Arctic
Global Warming Blamed
POSTED: 8:41 am EST December 29, 2006
TORONTO -- A giant ice shelf has snapped free from an island south of theNorth Pole, scientists said Thursday, citing climate change as a "major"reason for the event.
The Ayles Ice Shelf -- all 41 square miles of it -- broke clear 16 monthsago from the coast of Ellesmere Island, about 500 miles south of the NorthPole in the Canadian Arctic.
Scientists discovered the event by using satellite imagery. Within one hourof breaking free, the shelf had formed as a new ice island, leaving a trailof icy boulders floating in its wake.
Warwick Vincent of Laval University, who studies Arctic conditions, traveledto the newly formed ice island and couldn't believe what he saw.
=
CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/28/ap/entertainment/mainD8MA14GO1.shtml
AP Poll: Bush, Britney Get Thumbs-Down
AP Poll: President Bush and Britney Spears top thumbs-down list for 2006
WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 2006
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press Writer
(AP) Bad guy of 2006: President Bush. Good guy of 2006: President Bush. Whenpeople were asked in an AP-AOL News poll to name the villains and heroes ofthe year, Bush topped both lists, in a sign of these polarized times.
Among entertainment celebrities, Oprah Winfrey edged out Michael J. Fox asthe best celebrity role model while Britney Spears outdistanced Paris Hiltonas the worst.
Bush won the villain sweepstakes by a landslide, with one in fourrespondents putting him at the top of that bad-guy list. When people wereasked to name the candidate for villain that first came to mind, Bush faroutdistanced even Osama bin Laden, the terrorist leader in hiding; andformer Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who is scheduled for execution.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/weekinreview/24gettleman.html?pagewanted=print
December 24, 2006
The World
Across Africa, a Sense That U.S. Power Isn't So Super
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
MOGADISHU, Somalia
THE rally was supposed to be against Ethiopia, Somalia's neighbor andhistoric archenemy, which in the past few weeks had sent troops streamingacross the border in an attempt to check the power of the increasinglypowerful Islamists who rule Mogadishu.
But the cheers that shook the stadium (which had no roof, by the way, andwas riddled with bullet holes) were about another country, far, far away.
"Down, down U.S.A.!" thousands of Somalis yelled, many of them waving cockedKalashnikovs. "Slit the throats of the Americans!"
Not exactly soothing words, especially when the passport in your pocket hasone of those golden eagles on it.
Somalia may be the place that best illustrates a trend sweeping across theAfrican continent: After Sept. 11, 2001, the United States concluded thatanarchy and misery aid terrorism, and so it tried to re-engage Africa. Butanti-American sentiment on the continent has only grown, and becomeincreasingly nasty. And the United States seems unable to do much about it.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/washington/29funeral.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1167401247-gRY9JUXj9kMz4L2oXeFkkg&pagewanted=print
December 29, 2006
Ford Arranged His Funeral to Reflect Himself and Drew in a Former Adversary
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 - As he helped in recent years arrange the details ofhis own funeral, Gerald R. Ford reached out to an old adversary: JimmyCarter, who defeated him for the presidency in 1976.
Mr. Ford asked whether his successor might consider speaking at his funeraland offered, lightheartedly, to do the same for Mr. Carter, depending on whodied first.
The invitation was decades in the making, associates of Mr. Ford's said.And, they said, it was typical for Mr. Ford, who came to his ownfuneral-planning sessions adamant that his coffin not be carried to theCapitol in an elaborate horse-drawn caisson but a motorcade instead.
During services for Mr. Ford, the 38th president, over the next few days,the simplicity he sought will be on display in Washington and, later, inMichigan, where he will be interred. His coffin is expected to be carriedinto the Capitol through the House of Representatives, where he served for25 years, rather than up the sweeping front staircase. A band will play asomber version of the University of Michigan fight song, a Ford favoritefrom his undergraduate alma mater, and a song he preferred to "Hail to theChief" while he was president.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cgrilldec29,0,7537107.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
For Haitian deportees, American-style 'grills' mark them as targets for
violence, hate
By Ruth Morris
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 29, 2006
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI -- When authorities deported Marc-Henry Petion fromWest Palm Beach he was a chubby kid nicknamed Pillsbury who spoke almost noCreole and sported a grill -- a line of gold caps affixed to his front teeththat served as his flashy, street-smart calling card.
Three years later, he has picked up the language and altered his appearance.The dreadlocks he once wore are stuffed in a plastic bag in the tinycinderblock room he rents on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. He lopped themoff to avoid calling attention to himself as a deportee, a classificationthat carries a heavy stigma on Haiti's unstable streets. He's also forgonethe oversized clothes he wore in South Florida, another telltale sign of hisU.S. upbringing.
But he doesn't have the money to remove his grill, so has learned to keephis mouth shut, literally.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/28/AR2006122801074_pf.html
The Legal Year in Review
By Andrew Cohen
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, December 29, 2006; 12:00 AM
The good news from the world of the law in 2006 is that we did not for oncein recent memory have to endure an avalanche of vapid news coverage about asolitary trashy tale of sex and fame and crime. There was no Michael Jacksonmolestation trial or Kobe Bryant rape trial or Laci Peterson saga to drawour attention away from trials and cases and legal issues of true merit.
The bad news from the world of the law in 2006 is that we didn't take thatextra time given to us by divine providence and follow or absorb with anydepth or sense of passion or outrage the truly monumental and generallyominous things that were done in the law, in our name, in thisfifth-going-on-sixth year of the legal war on terrorism. Tens of millions ofAmericans know and care about the identity of the latest winner of AmericanIdol. But only a tiny fraction of those know, too, of the manifold pressurescurrently pushing upon the rule of law. Hey, you didn't really think thatParis and Britney really were going to end up best-friends-forever, did you?
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/opinion/29fri4.html?pagewanted=print
December 29, 2006
Editorial Observer
Middle School Girls Gone Wild
By LAWRENCE DOWNES
It's hard to write this without sounding like a prig. But it's just as hardto erase the images that planted the idea for this essay, so here goes. Thescene is a middle school auditorium, where girls in teams of three or fourare bopping to pop songs at a student talent show. Not bopping, actually,but doing elaborately choreographed re-creations of music videos, in tinyskirts or tight shorts, with bare bellies, rouged cheeks and glittery eyes.
They writhe and strut, shake their bottoms, splay their legs, thrust theirchests out and in and out again. Some straddle empty chairs, like lapdancers without laps. They don't smile much. Their faces are locked fromgrim exertion, from all that leaping up and lying down without poles to holdonto. "Don't stop don't stop," sings Janet Jackson, all whispery. "Jerk itlike you're making it choke. ...Ohh. I'm so stimulated. Feel so X-rated."The girls spend a lot of time lying on the floor. They are in the sixth,seventh and eighth grades.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122900142_pf.html
Saddam to hang, but confusion over how soon
By Mariam Karouny
Reuters
Friday, December 29, 2006; 8:28 AM
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Senior Iraqi officials on Friday dismissed suggestionsfrom Washington that they would hang Saddam Hussein this weekend and saidsome in cabinet were pushing for the execution to be put off for a month ormore.
But Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has called for the oustedpresident put to death this year for killing and oppressing Shi'ites, saidthere would be "no review or delay" in the sentence following this week'sfailure of Saddam's appeal.
And a defense lawyer said he thought Saddam might well die on Saturday afterlawyers were told to collect his belongings.
But in a continuation of public confusion at the highest levels and secrecyover the historic proceedings, Iraq's Justice Ministry, which must carry outthe execution, denied it had taken custody of Saddam from his U.S. militaryjailers and said it could not legally hang him for nearly a month.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/28/AR2006122801056_pf.html
Walking a Tightrope Into 2007
By David Ignatius
Friday, December 29, 2006; A27
As the new year approaches, I think of three people who symbolize for mesome of the difficulties of the year we have just lived through and also thepromise and potential of the one ahead. Each of them reminds me that we arewalking into the future balanced on a tightrope.
The first is Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the mayor of Tehran. As an official ofthe Islamic Republic of Iran, he is part of a regime that posed the biggeststrategic challenge to the United States in 2006. But he also embodiesIran's potential to become a great nation -- and perhaps to escape theapocalyptic confrontation with the West that is proclaimed by his politicalrival, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
For all of Ahmadinejad's headline-grabbing fulminations this year, it wasQalibaf who was the big political winner.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/28/AR2006122801171_pf.html
Sen. Johnson Improves, Is Expected to Miss Start of Congress
Associated Press
Friday, December 29, 2006; A17
Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) turned 60 yesterday, two weeks after emergencysurgery to repair a brain hemorrhage that has left him in criticalcondition.
Julianne Fisher, a spokeswoman for the senator, said Johnson will not bepresent in the first days of the new Congress next week but is continuing toimprove. She said he is responsive to directions from his wife but has notyet spoken.
It is too soon to tell how long recovery will take, Fisher said.
In a statement yesterday, Johnson's doctors said he remains in intensivecare at George Washington University Hospital. They have released few newdetails about Johnson's condition and prognosis since the days after theDec. 13 surgery to stop bleeding in his brain.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/opinion/29fri3.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 29, 2006
Editorial
Under-the-Rug Oversight
The wondrously named Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board held itsfirst public hearing the other day on the National Security Agency's illegaleavesdropping program. If you expected it to discover any truths about thesecret program, you can forget it. The board spent its time explaining whyit was more important to work from within the administration than tochallenge it. Thus wags the tail of a watchdog with neither bark nor bite.
The board was created two years ago by the White House and the RepublicanCongress as a pale substitute for the independent monitor recommended by theSept. 11 commission. Its members (four Republicans and one lone Democrat)serve at the pleasure of the administration. It has a paltry budget and nosubpoena power, and any requests for documents can be vetoed by the attorneygeneral.
=
The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/opinion/29krugman.html
December 29, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
A Failed Revolution
By PAUL KRUGMAN
After first attempting to deny the scale of last month's defeat, theapologists have settled on a story line that sounds just like Marxistexplanations for the failure of the Soviet Union. What happened, you see,was that the noble ideals of the Republican revolution of 1994 wereundermined by Washington's corrupting ways. And the recent defeat was a goodthing, because it will force a return to the true conservative path.
But the truth is that the movement that took power in 1994 - a movement thathad little to do with true conservatism - was always based on a lie.
The lie is right there in "The Freedom Revolution," the book that DickArmey, who had just become the House majority leader, published in 1995. Hedeclares that most government programs don't do anything "to help Americanfamilies with the needs of everyday life," and that "very few Americanfamilies would notice their disappearance." He goes on to assert that "thereis no reason we cannot, by the time our children come of age, reduce thefederal government by half as a percentage of gross domestic product."
=
The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/12/29/political_early_adopters_its_your_time/
ELLEN GOODMAN
Political early adopters: It's your time
By Ellen Goodman | December 29, 2006
MAYBE IT WASN'T such a great Christmas gift after all. The baseball caps,emblazoned with the last day of the Bush presidency -- Jan. 19, 2009 --seemed to offer my favorite Democratic couple a light at the end of thetunnel. But sometimes it's easier to see the tunnel than the light.
Nevertheless, January is about to mark the earliest opening for anypresidential campaign in memory. So allow me to end the old year and beginthe new by taking a look at the question dominating the news magazines andtalk shows: Is America ready for a president who isn't a white male?
The only Democrats who so far have actually announced their candidacies areindeed white and male, from Tom Vilsack to John Edwards. But the sexier andracier question dominating the early chatter is the possible mano-a-womano,black-and-white matchup that could be offered with Hillary Rodham Clinton orBarack Hussein Obama atop the national ticket.
Ready? Political readiness is not exactly like reading readiness. Forgenerations, strategists and psychologists have posed the samechicken-and-egg riddle for social change. Do you need a change in attitudesbefore you can succeed in changing real life? Or does a change in realityproduce a change in attitudes?
The answer is, of course, yes.
=
Local10.com
http://www.local10.com/weather/10629367/detail.html
Local10.com
Ancient Ice Shelf Breaks Free In Canadian Arctic
Global Warming Blamed
POSTED: 8:41 am EST December 29, 2006
TORONTO -- A giant ice shelf has snapped free from an island south of theNorth Pole, scientists said Thursday, citing climate change as a "major"reason for the event.
The Ayles Ice Shelf -- all 41 square miles of it -- broke clear 16 monthsago from the coast of Ellesmere Island, about 500 miles south of the NorthPole in the Canadian Arctic.
Scientists discovered the event by using satellite imagery. Within one hourof breaking free, the shelf had formed as a new ice island, leaving a trailof icy boulders floating in its wake.
Warwick Vincent of Laval University, who studies Arctic conditions, traveledto the newly formed ice island and couldn't believe what he saw.
=
CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/28/ap/entertainment/mainD8MA14GO1.shtml
AP Poll: Bush, Britney Get Thumbs-Down
AP Poll: President Bush and Britney Spears top thumbs-down list for 2006
WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 2006
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press Writer
(AP) Bad guy of 2006: President Bush. Good guy of 2006: President Bush. Whenpeople were asked in an AP-AOL News poll to name the villains and heroes ofthe year, Bush topped both lists, in a sign of these polarized times.
Among entertainment celebrities, Oprah Winfrey edged out Michael J. Fox asthe best celebrity role model while Britney Spears outdistanced Paris Hiltonas the worst.
Bush won the villain sweepstakes by a landslide, with one in fourrespondents putting him at the top of that bad-guy list. When people wereasked to name the candidate for villain that first came to mind, Bush faroutdistanced even Osama bin Laden, the terrorist leader in hiding; andformer Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who is scheduled for execution.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
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