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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/sfl-pbmail801sep08,0,1980232.story?coll=sfla-news-letters
Bilingual ballots are unnecessary
Eva Emmerich
Delray Beach
September 8, 2006
I applaud the author of Sunday's letter, "Bilingual voting card last straw,"for her comments on bilingual voting cards issued in Palm Beach County. Iwas shocked as well when I received my voting card.
I am also an immigrant -- a legal one. I came to the United States in 1968from a country behind the Iron Curtain, not speaking one word of English. Ireceived my citizenship on Sept. 6, 1974. I vividly remember my exam at theImmigration and Naturalization Service office in New York City where I hadto prove that I could read, write and speak English. That was therequirement for obtaining citizenship.
I have missed only a few elections since I received my citizenship. I didnot need the voting instructions and ballots printed in my native tongue. Iam a citizen of this country and I use the language of this country. Rightnow I am very confused, because what really is the language of these United States of America? Isn't it time that Congress finally put an end to this and proclaim English as the official language of the USA?
Why do we have bilingual voting cards and ballots? Everyone who is eligibleto vote must be a citizen and therefore has to read, write and speak English.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/legislature/sfl-felxgop08sep08,0,900592.story
Attacks from Gallagher helped Crist shed 'Chain-Gang Charlie' image
By Mark Hollis
Tallahassee Bureau
September 8, 2006
TALLAHASSEE· Attorney General Charlie Crist has a lot of people to thank for winning the Republican nomination for governor. The first one could be TomGallagher.
A multi-million-dollar campaign against Crist waged by Gallagher, his rival for the GOP nomination, and other social conservatives gave Crist a bufferfrom attacks that he's too closely affiliated with the right wing of theRepublican Party.
The blows from conservatives have softened Crist's inflexible-sounding"Chain-Gang Charlie" image, which he acquired by talking tough aboutcriminals as a St. Petersburg state senator more than a decade ago. Thatimage had threatened to get in the way of his wooing independents and otherswing voters in his new fight with a political moderate, Jim Davis, the Democratic candidate for governor.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-amajority08sep08,0,1028306.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Florida Republicans escape major damage from George Bush factor
By William E. Gibson
Washington Bureau Chief
September 8, 2006
WASHINGTON · President Bush's unpopularity in much of the country hasdamaged Republican prospects in close congressional campaigns, but not inSouth Florida's hotly contested House race, a poll released this weekindicated.
An independent poll found that Democrats are poised to gain at least 13seats in this fall's elections, and likely more than the 15 seats they needto seize majority control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
But in closely watched Florida District 22, which hugs the east coast ofBroward and Palm Beach counties, Republican Rep. Clay Shaw is running aheadof his Democratic challenger, state Sen. Ron Klein, by a margin of 8 percentage points, according to the poll of 1,000 voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
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http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/08/news_pf/Opinion/Primary_injustice.shtml
St. Petersburg Times
Floridians decided that when a primary directly elects someone to office, all voters should get a say. The parties are thwarting that will.
A Times Editorial
Published September 8, 2006
Four primaries have passed since Florida voters made a simple demand of partisan politics. Whenever a primary directly elects someone to office, they decided, all voters should have a say. Unfortunately, Tuesday's elections provided fresh evidence that the partisans are determined to disenfranchise voters by closing the open primary door.
The most common trick is the write-in. Under a dubious 2000 state Division of Elections opinion, a write-in candidate is deemed sufficient general election competition to close what would otherwise be an open primary. This is laughable, and not merely because the elections division has no business translating constitutional provisions. Write-in candidates are competitive in theory only. They pay no qualifying fee, file no petitions and their names don't appear on the ballot. A Senate analysis of 30 legislative races between a primary winner and a write-in pegged the average margin of victory at 99.8 percent. In six races, the write-in candidates got no votes, including their own.
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http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/09/08/m12a_cramercol_0908.html
The Palm Beach Post
Crist takes wrong lesson from Jeb
By Elisa Cramer
HASH(0x715870)
Friday, September 08, 2006
Now that Tuesday's primary election is over, Florida voters have an easy choice for governor.
If you're still undecided, try answering one simple question: Do you value public education?
If the answer is yes, if you believe that every child in Florida should be able to attend a high- quality public school, then Jim Davis should get your vote on Nov. 7.
Anyone who doubts that Charlie Crist would be worse for Florida's public schools than Jim Davis must not have been paying attention to the campaign leading up to the primary election - or the past eight years of Gov. Bush's leadership.
Mr. Crist, who as attorney general serves on the Florida Cabinet with Gov. Bush, desperately wants to continue the Bush administration's legacy. So expect his fawning over the powerful governor only to increase over the next two months. On mentioning Gov. Bush repeatedly in his campaign speeches, Mr. Crist told a Palm Beach Post reporter last month: "The reason I do it is
because I have so much respect for him. I think he's been a tremendous governor for this state. I really believe he is the best governor in America. Florida and I owe him a lot. I try to honor him every day."
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http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/08/news_pf/State/Davis_urged_to_choose.shtml
Davis urged to choose a black running mate
Backers say it could help repair a campaign weakness: a poor standing with African-Americans in South Florida.
STEVE BOUSQUET and ALEX LEARY
Published September 8, 2006
TALLAHASSEE - Supporters of Jim Davis say the Democratic nominee for governor should choose an African-American running mate from South Florida to shore up his weak standing with black voters in the state's most populous region.
Two of the most talked-about names to join the ticket as Davis' lieutenant governor are former state Sen. Daryl Jones of Miami, a high-ranking Air Force reservist who ran for governor in 2002, and state Rep. Chris Smith of Fort Lauderdale, the outgoing House minority leader.
Jones said Thursday that he wouldn't rule it out, while Smith aggressively campaigned for the job.
Jones said he received eight or nine phone calls and e-mails from people about the position, and also was called by the Davis campaign on Thursday afternoon. He was reluctant to discuss the call but said he would not dismiss an offer out of hand."I have far too much respect for JimDavis, for the process and for the state of Florida to totally dismiss anything like that," said Jones, who had endorsed Davis' primary rival, Rod Smith.
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http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/09/08/m12a_voterreg_edit_0908.html
A ruling for all voters
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Friday, September 08, 2006
Florida has become the latest state where the courts will have to block Republican-led efforts to suppress the vote.
Last week in Miami, U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz halted enforcement of the Third Party Voter Registration Act, which the Legislature passed in 2005. She declared it unconstitutional for the most basic of reasons: The law effectively shuts down nonpartisan voter registration drives with
penalties that don't apply to drives by political parties.
In Georgia, Missouri and Indiana, GOP legislatures approved new photo ID requirements for voting. The requirements would place an unfair burden, in time and money, on poor voters without driver licenses, and two courts in Georgia have stopped that law from taking effect. In Florida, the approach was different. The Legislature went after unions and the League ofWomen Voters. Unions tend to support Democratic candidates. The league seeks to register the "disenfranchised" - minorities and the poor, who tend to vote Democratic.
The tool was a system that places unreasonable demands for "prompt" reporting of voter registration applications to supervisor of elections offices, and fines that could bankrupt these organizations even if the organization was not to blame for problems with the applications. As Judge Seitz noted, the law makes voter registration drives "catastrophically risky." The league and the unions stopped their drives this year rather than face the risk.
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http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/090806/met_4906418.shtml
The Florida Times-Union
September 8, 2006
Crist, Gallagher appear sans Harris
By J. TAYLOR RUSHING and TIA MITCHELL
The Times-Union
A cadre of Florida's top Republicans ended a three-city "unity tour" in Jacksonville Thursday, with one notable absence and a howl of criticism from Democrats.
Gov. Jeb Bush, GOP gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist and state Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher conducted the day trip through Miami, Orlando and Jacksonville to demonstrate Republican unity ahead of November's elections.
Taking his first foray into the 2006 governor's race, Bush bashed Democrat Jim Davis, Crist's opponent for governor, calling the two-term congressman from Tampa unaccomplished and ineffective.
"Name one thing Jim Davis has done. Name one bill Jim Davis has passed," Bush said. "The guy has not offered a whole lot."Bush, Crist and Gallagher were joined by numerous state officials and politicians and a local delegation that included Mayor John Peyton, City Councilman Kevin Hyde and Duval County Republican Party leader Mike Hightower.
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http://www.indynews.4t.com/0318/oped1.html
The Independent Gay News
6,000 in Broward Without Medical Care for HIV
By Michael Rajner
Guest Editorial
AIDS is still a major problem in Broward County. As was publicized recently, Broward County has the highest rate of incidence of new cases of HIV of any county in the entire United States. African Americans continue to be the most impacted race in Broward County accounting for 52% of the total, while Men Having Sex with Men account for 43% of the Broward's HIV/AIDS
population.
On August 24, a group of African American women living with AIDS that serve on the Broward HIV Planning Council demanded, in no uncertain terms, that funding for Outreach to ALL populations be increased. The women shared passionately with those present that had it not been for Outreach initiatives many of them would not be in medical care, or possibly even
alive, today.
In the past two years of attending HIV Planning Council meetings I have never seen such a positive and passionate display of courage from members of the HIV Planning Council that live with HIV. The women successfully led the argument in a close and controversial vote to increase the funding for Outreach to all populations irregardless of race. Broward County Mayor Ben
Graber was absent for this vote, as he has been for other votes for the past two and a half years. He turned his back on the HIV/AIDS community when he stopped participating on the HIV Planning Council and failed to provide any leadership.
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To Express Gay News
by Marc Paige
If the Express Gay News had a history of extensive and balanced reporting onthe conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors, Mubarak Dahir's August18th editorial describing the Israeli military's "typical hubris anddisregard for civilian life" might not have been so incendiary. But thisnewspaper obviously has another focus. That is why Dahir's piece, taken withthe description in Lou Chibbaro's June 30th Express article of Jerusalem as"a city occupied like the rest of the West Bank by Israel," is so troubling.
In the limited coverage the Express has given the region, the newspaper hasshown a decidedly anti-Israel bias. My purpose for responding is not todefend Israel, but rather to offer balance and accuracy to a newspaper thatignores both where Israel is concerned.
Jerusalem is not considered occupied territory, except by extremists likethe President of Iran, and the militant Hamas and Hezbollah organizations,all of whom regard the whole of Israel as an entity that needs to bedestroyed. Most world governments do consider Arab-dominated East Jerusalemto be territory illegally occupied by Israel, and want to see this area asthe future capital of a Palestinian state. But West Jerusalem, includingareas home to the central business district, the Israeli Parliament, andSupreme Court, is sovereign Israeli territory, and to write otherwiseexpresses a dangerous and radical viewpoint.
Please contact rays.list@comcast.net if you would like the full article.
Marc Paige of Ft. Lauderdale is a gay and AIDS activist, and can be reached at marcpaige@msn.com.
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National Latino AIDS Awareness Day
Miami-Dade County Health Department - Office of HIV/AIDS
Invites you to a Breakfast Premier
At
The RUSTY Pelican
3201 Rickenbacker Cswy, Key Biscayne.
October 12, 2006
9:00am - 12:00pm
Space is limited. Please RSVP for this event by Monday October 2, 2006 by contacting Maria_Umana@doh.state.fl.us or at (305) 470-6999. We look forward to seeing your participation at this event.
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http://www.indynews.4t.com/0318/features1.html
The Independent Gay News
Real Estate: What's Going On?
After relationships (and sex) probably the next most discussed subject in Gay South Florida at the moment is real estate.
Recently we have seen a large New York Stock Exchange property development company, Toll Brothers, announce a 19% drop in profits for their latest financial quarter and they lowered their estimates for the whole year for the THIRD time! What affects the nation in terms of real estate obviously affects us here in South Florida if not more so because of the sometimes erratic nature of our climate. Hurricane Wilma last year was the worst storm to hit us in 57 years. We have all heard anecdotes about properties staying on the market for ages and real estate professionals being forced to do other things to make a living. We have also had to deal with rising property
taxes and insurance and some of us have had assessments to finance the repairs to the buildings that we live in.
The Independent decided to address the issue of real estate which obviously affects so many of us. We have talked to a good cross-section of realtors active in the South Florida market to try to bring you, our readers, up to speed.
We wanted to know if the bubble had burst? Is this a good time to buy? Can prices go much lower? Will interest rates go higher?
Is there enough demand for all the new townhouses and condos being built? Have the "flippers" who have been making money hand over fist for the past few years finally been caught with their pants down? How many more realtors are going to have to take other employment simply to pay their bills?
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For Immediate Release:
Cong. Etz Chaim hosts lecture series: "Myth and Magic in the Bible" (Oct. 16 & 30).
For more information call (954) 564-9232
Dr. Murray Lichtenstein, retired Associate Professor of Classical and Oriental Studies at Hunter College and now Education Director of Congregation Etz Chaim in Wilton Manors, will lecture on "Myth and Magic in the Bible" at the Synagogue (1881 N.E. 26 Street) on Monday, October 16 andon Monday, October 30. "Mythology in the Bible" will be offered at 7:30p.m. on the 16th and "Magic in the Bible" will be offered at 7:30 p.m. onthe 30th. There will be no admission charge for the lectures.
According to Dr. Lichtenstein, "the religion of ancient Israel was engaged in an ongoing war of ideas against the myths of her polytheistic neighbors.Instead of banning these myths, the biblical writers transformed them to serve their monotheistic beliefs. Therefore, throughout the Bible we meet sea monsters, pagan gods, and the members of G-d's own 'divine council.' "Regarding magic, Dr. Lichtenstein tells us that "while the teachers of biblical Israel rejected the belief in it and made its practice strictlyforbidden, many of the people continued to be attracted to this supposedlypowerful and reliable means of controlling the world around them. The
resulting tension left an indelible imprint on the scriptures. This lecturewill uncover and explore those imprints and the way the Bible's authors neutralized them and made them serve religion."
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Movies/Books/Pre-Castro Cuba from a gay man's eyes?
You can't be more diverse with the following programs coming up at the Stonewall.
Friday, September 8, 2006 7 PM Out Boys Movie Night - Almost Normal (2005). Brad is 40, gay and not partnered. On his way home to attend his dysfunctionalparents' 45th Anniversary an accident lets him go back in time to high schoolwhere he sees himself as straight and "alone" in a school where all the"normal" boys like boys and the girls like girls. The first time in school
hefancied the star of the basketball team and knew he couldn't get him. Now he's there and the star is hoping to make it with him. Brad couldn't fix a car ordo lots of other "straight" appearing things. Now he can and it makes himdifferent. He doesn't like it. He comes out as straight in high school duringthe second visit and is attacked for it. The boy he wanted as a boyfriendturns out to be his friend and the girl he wanted as a friend turns out to behis girl friend. Handled with humor and sincerity by a cast that handled thejob well. Best Quote: " If God had wanted a man and a woman together, hewould have made women like football." Suggested Donation $2. Discussion aftermovie if time permits. Movie starts promptly @ 7PM at the Library.
Please contact us at rays.list@comcast.net for the full article.
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Stonewall Book Discussion Group Returns September 14
For Immediate Release
For further information call SLA at 954-763-8565
The Stonewall Library and Archives is happy to announce that its monthlyGLBT book discussion group will return from its summer hiatus on Thursday,September 14, at 7:30 p.m. Jesse Monteagudo, author of "The Book Nook" andan award-winning authority on GLBT literature, will lead the discussions onthe second Thursday of every month. The first book to be discussed,appropriately enough, is "Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the GayRevolution," David Carter's history of the pivotal event in GLBT history(that incidentally gave SLA its name). In addition to discussing"Stonewall," participants will have the opportunity to discuss other topicsof interest and to choose October's title. The Stonewall Library and Archives is located at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of SouthFlorida, 1717 North Andrews Avenue, in Fort Lauderdale. Admission to the book discussion group is free and the event is open to the public.
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Please join HRC at South Florida's Monthly Social -
CLUB BLUE!
Club Blue is a monthly social and networking event designed to promote the Human Rights Campaign and its membership in South Florida. It is held on the third Thursday of each month!
Join the HRC South Florida Committee each month to network with other LGBT professionals and to learn about HRC in South Florida.
September 21, 2006
6:00pm-8:00pm
Howl at the Moon
17 S Ft. Lauderdale Beach Blvd.
(3rd floor of Beach Place, directions here)
$10 suggested donation
No RSVP required!
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White Party 2006 Volunteer Applications are ready! Are you?
The time to make the difference has come again. The 22nd Annual White Partyis scheduled for November 22nd through November 27th, 2006, and we want youto be part of it! As our major fundraising event, the White Party week ofevents benefits all of Care Resource programs and with assistance fromvolunteers like you we have been able to make this a successful event year
after year. Your help means so much!
Attached you will find a volunteer application and release form. Pleasecomplete the Application and sign the Release Form, and return them as soonas possible either through regular mail or via fax to (305) 571-2020. Asalways, assignments are made on a "first-come, first-serve" basis. For theschedule of events please visit www.whiteparty.com.
Please do not hesitate to contact the Volunteer Program at 305-576-1234 ext. 278 with any questions or via e-mail at volunteer@careresource.org.
Orientation meetings will be on November 9th and November 15th. The locationfor these meetings is still to be determined; we will notify you in October.Remember, you must attend an orientation in order to volunteer.
And keep an eye out for Holiday Lights Info and Volunteer Applications that will be distributed in early October.
On behalf of the clients that with your help Care Resource serves we thank you and hope to see you this November!
Sincerely,
Chassah Perez
Care Resource -- Your One Source
Administrative Coordinator
OUR MISSION: "Through prevention, education, care and treatment, researchand support, Care Resource strives to end the HIV pandemic."
W. 305.576.1234 x 278
F. 305.571.2020
cperez@careresource.org
3510 Biscayne Boulevard
Suite 300
Click here to sign up for the Care Resource Newsletter
GET INVOLVED: Right now in Miami, in good health. For more information, go
to www.stepstudies.com or call us at (305) 576-1234 ext 244 or 276.
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