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The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/print.cfm?content_id=3031
Gay activists encouraged by primary wins
Gallagher's anti-gay campaign backfires; Gottlieb wins big in school board race
By
Sep. 09, 2006
Mark up a win in the gay-rights column. That's what local gay-rightsactivists are saying about the Sept. 5 primary results, which included theresounding defeat of an anti-gay candidate in the governor's race and a bigwin for a gay-backed candidate for Broward County School Board.
For gay-rights supporters, Tom Gallagher's loss to Attorney General CharlieCrist in the Republican gubernatorial primary was the highlight of anelection that saw several far-right candidates lose throughout the state.Gallagher, the state's chief financial officer, ran anti-gay TV ads thattarred Crist for supporting civil unions for gay couples. Among Gallagher'soutspoken conservative backers was John Stemberger, president of the FloridaFamily Policy Institute, the group that has been petitioning for an anti-gaymarriage amendment. But when the votes were counted, Gallagher was trounced.Crist received 70 percent of the vote compared to Gallagher's 27 percent.
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http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBTP3KHVRE.html
Davis' Campaign Must Toughen Up, Democrats Say
By MICHAEL FECHTER The Tampa Tribune
Published: Sep 9, 2006
Supporters of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jim Davis say he isbattle-hardened by millions of dollars of sugar industry-financed attack adshe endured during the last month of the primary.
But a few other Democrats say he never should have been in such a vulnerableposition to start with and, absent significant changes in his campaign, hemay have little chance against Attorney General Charlie Crist in November.
Davis defeated state Sen. Rod Smith by 52,000 votes - less than 6 percentagepoints - Tuesday. Derek Newton, a South Florida Democratic consultant, saidit wouldn't have been that close if Davis raised money more aggressivelyearly in his campaign and responded more forcefully to the attacks.
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The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/print.cfm?content_id=3032
Gay shop vandalized in Wilton Manors
Vandals splatter green paint all over Joshua Tree
By PHIL LAPADULA
Sep. 09, 2006
The Joshua Tree, a gay-owned furnishings and accessories shop in WiltonManors, was vandalized Sept. 2, said the store's owner, Robert Joshua.
Vandals splattered green paint all over the shop's front door, signage,windows and awnings, causing thousands of dollars in damage, Joshua said.When he opened the shop Sunday, Joshua discovered the damage and filed apolice report, he said.
Joshua said he has insurance for the inside contents of his shop but not forthe outside area. He said the shop has a security camera, but he believesthe perpetrators must have stood in the parking lot out of the camera'srange and tossed the paint.
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The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/print.cfm?content_id=3030
LOCAL NEWS | www.expressgaynews.com
Gay rights groups split over voter's guide
Palm Beach group faults Equality Florida for confusing voters, omitting
supportive candidates
By PHIL LAPADULA
Sep. 09, 2006
A gay voter's guide has sparked a rift between two gay-rights groups.
Equality Florida, a statewide gay rights group, produced a voter's guide,which rates candidates on gay issues based on answers to a questionnaire. Ina mass e-mail circulated late last week, a spokesman for the Palm BeachCounty Human Rights Council, a local gay rights group, sharply criticizedthe guide's Palm Beach edition, saying it confused voters by including racesfor districts that are not in the county.
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http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-ltgov0906sep09,0,1061381.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state
ELECTION 2006: GOVERNOR'S RACE
Running-mate options begin to emerge - Crist, Davis must choose by Thursday
Jason Garcia and John Kennedy
Tallahassee Bureau
September 9, 2006
TALLAHASSEE -- Republican Charlie Crist and Democrat Jim Davis are about tomake their first significant decisions as nominees for governor -- pickingsomeone to join them at the top of the ticket.
Neither candidate has yet tipped his hand. But people close to bothcampaigns say the short lists are filled with black and Hispaniccontenders -- and speculation is rising that one or both general-electiontickets will feature a black and/or Hispanic running mate for the first timein Florida history.
Many supporters are urging Davis, who was badly scarred during theDemocratic primary for his 1990 vote against compensating two black menwrongly imprisoned for murder, to name a black running mate to his ticket.
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http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060909/NEWS01/609090317/1010/NEWS01&template=printart
Article published Sep 9, 2006
Democrats stand together - Leaders hope to beat GOP counterparts
By Bill Cotterell
FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU POLITICAL EDITOR
TAMPA - Democratic Party leaders told the party faithful Friday that thebest way to start a political comeback in Florida is to brace for a negativeonslaught from Republicans and reach out to conservative independents andmoderates who may be wearying of GOP rhetoric.
Three days after the end of a bruising primary for governor, Democraticleaders staged a brief, loud show of unity at an Ybor City restaurant -or restruggling races of U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, the party nominee for governor, andthose of Cabinet candidates Alex Sink and Walter "Skip" Campbell.
Post-primary divisions have doomed Democratic hopes in some past races -back when they controlled most of state government - so party leaders made aparticular point of stressing that last week's wounds are all but forgottenas the Democrats regroup to go up against the well-financed, entrenched GOP.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fltgov09sep09,0,5911203.story?coll=sfla-news-florida
Florida - Minorities on lists for running mates - Lieutenant governor picks
due in days
By Jason Garcia and John Kennedy
Tallahassee Bureau
September 9, 2006
TALLAHASSEE · Republican Charlie Crist and Democrat Jim Davis are about tomake their first significant decisions as nominees for governor -- pickingsomeone to join them on the ticket.
People close to both campaigns say the short lists for lieutenant governorare filled with black and Hispanic contenders. A black or Hispanic runningmate would be a first in Florida history.
Many supporters are urging Davis, who was badly scarred during theDemocratic primary for his 1990 vote against compensating two black menwrongly imprisoned on murder convictions, to name a black candidate to histicket.
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QUILT AT THE U.S. CONFERENCE ON AIDS
The National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC) will host the10th annual Unitedtates Conference on AIDS (USCA) in Hollywood, Fla. From Sept. 21-25, 2006,and as always, The AIDS Memorial Quilt will be a vital part of thegathering. USCA is a the largest annual AIDS-related gathering in the UnitedStates, and will draw more than 4,000 workers from all fronts of theHIV/AIDS epidemic who will come together to build national support networks,exchange the latest information and learn cutting-edge tools to address thechallenges of HIV/AIDS.
The AIDS Memorial Quilt will be among the very first thing attendees willwill greet travelers in Terminal 1 Baggage Claim from Sept. 16-30, marking the first Quilt display in any U.S. airport since 9/11. The Westin DiplomatHotel in Hollywood, the site of the conference, will host another 40 blocks,320 panels, of The AIDS Memorial Quilt from Sept. 20-25. This display isfree and open to the public, and will feature Quilt that has ties to the 10cities that have previously hosted the annual conference. In addition, TheNAMES Project Foundation will staff an information booth in the Exhibit Hallthroughout the conference.
The Quilt will also be highlighted in two special evening programs. At 6p.m. on Friday, Sept. 22, the Conference will host a night of remembrancetitled "No More Names" which will feature a dramatic choreographedpresentation of ten 12 foot by 12 foot signature squares of The AIDSMemorial Quilt - one from each of the previous conferences - marched in bydifferent NMAC and Quilt constituencies. The reading of the names will addto the poignancy of the evening as well as the dedication of new panels.Rounding out the event will be a screening of the Academy Award-winningdocumentary on The Quilt, "Common Threads."
Blocks of Quilt will also provide the backdrop for a second evening, "LatinFiesta: Education Especial" to be presented at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept.23, at the International Game Fish Association. This event will include aLatino HIV/AIDS resource fair, live music and dancing, and a fashion show.For further information on the United States Conference on AIDS, please go
to nmac.org.
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From: Michael Rajner
Mayor and Commissioners:
This open letter of appeal is to implore the Board of County Commissionersto order the Broward County HIV Health Services Planning Council toreconvene and reconsider the decision surrounding eligibility that willessentially abandon people living with HIV/AIDS and terminate their accessto primary medical care and prevent others from accessing life saving care,services and treatment.
With over 23,000 people living with HIV/AIDS that are taxpaying voters of
Broward County, an estimated 6,000 remain unidentified are not accessing
primary medical care for various reasons. Some do not even know they live
with HIV.
We lead the nation with the highest HIV infection rate, and approximately
25% of the HIV/AIDS population remains out of care. Are we going to
continue to lead the nation as the breeding ground for HIV infection?
For the past year, I have repeatedly urged, you, the Broward County Board of
County Commissioners to take action to demand and demonstrate greater
leadership in the HIV/AIDS crises we face in Broward County.
For too long, we have allowed the stigma of this lethal virus to infect ourcommunity with apathy and complacency prompting the lack of action we nowexperience. During that time, infection rates have continued to escalateand come next year, individuals earning more than 300% of the federalpoverty limit and dependant upon the Ryan White CARE Act for primary medicalservices will be kicked to the curb and abandoned by a county governmentestablished to meet the needs of all the people.
As a person living with AIDS, I have been blessed with resources to providemy primary medical care. With the enactment of new eligibility criteriaestablished by the Broward County HIV Health Services Planning Council, manywill be turned away and denied care, services and treatment that can meanthe difference between life and death. For these people, they have no otherhope or financial resource to turn for hope of a continued life. AIDSrelated death rates are sure to rise as we turn our backs to individualsthat are desperate and in need.
Even if the total were 18 people that are turned away, as a compassionatecounty that spends approx. $4,500 annually on medical care per individualplus medications, we must put a name and face to these 18 people and do ourbest to stand by their side and assure them that asresidents of BrowardCounty they will have access to primary medical services, care andtreatment.
AIDS Vote, a project of Campaign to End AIDS demands that we "work todevelop, fund and implement a plan to end the AIDS epidemic in Florida, inthe U.S. and around the world - a plan that includes universal access toprevention, treatment, care and support by 2010." With actions taken by theBroward County HIV Health Services Planning Council on August 24, 2006, as acounty government, we have terminated universal access to care, treatmentand support by placing a cap of 300% of the federal poverty limit whileindividuals fail the ability to access other means of care.
As National Secretary of the national coalition for Campaign To End AIDS andFounding Member of Campaign To End AIDS-FLORIDA, I urge the Board of CountyCommissioners to order the HIV Planning to reconvene and reconsider optionswhere individuals are able to "buy-in" to the system of care. How importantdo we value the life of an HIV+ individual when there are no guarantees formedical services? Homeowners enjoy programs such as flood and windstorm coverage where there is a universal option to "buy-in". Why not for healthcare access?
In the State of Washington, individuals that earn in excess of 300% of thefederal poverty limit are able to access the AIDS Drug Assistance Program(ADAP) by enrolling and paying a nominal monthly fee. As an individual whounderstand restrictions that budgets impose on reality, this is a realitywith options and universal access.
On September 21, 2006, the United States Conference on AIDS will be hostedhere in Hollywood, FL. As we welcome this event, I implore the actions ofthe Board of County Commissioners to stand as leaders in the fight toprovide universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support and EndAIDS!
We await your advocacy and leadership efforts for ALL persons living withHIV/AIDS in Broward County. Should you wish to meet and discuss thisfurther, I am available and eager to meet upon your request to work aspartners in meeting the needs of our residents.
Michael Emanuel Rajner
National Secretary - Campaign To End AIDS
Founding Member - Campaign To End AIDS-Florida
Tel: (954) 272-8131 or (305) 677-3506
Fax: (954) 566-0144
Cell: (954) 288-1999
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Saturday, September 09, 2006
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST September 9, 2006
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/opinion/09tierney.html?pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
Waiting for Al Qaeda
By JOHN TIERNEY
John Mueller has an awkward question for those of us in the terrorism industry, which is his term for the journalists, politicians, bureaucrats and assorted "risk entrepreneurs" who have alarmed America about terrorism.
For five years, we've been telling Americans that Sept. 11 changed everything. "It will always be a defining moment in our history," President Bush says in this year's Patriot Day proclamation. We declared it a harbinger of a new clash of civilizations, a global ideological struggle - World War III, in Newt Gingrich's words.
We reported intelligence estimates of thousands of Al Qaeda terrorists and supporters in "sleeper cells" in America. In May 2004, Attorney General John Ashcroft said that Al Qaeda's preparations for an attack were 90 percent complete. We braced for acts of terrorism forecast to occur during the political conventions, the presidential campaign, on Election Day, after
Election Day. Through yellow and orange alerts, we kept in mind the Department of Homeland Security's warning: "Today's terrorists can strike at any place, at any time and with virtually any weapon."
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/opinion/09dowd.html
September 9, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
The Unslammed Phone
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON
Sandy Berger is lucky they didn't show him stuffing government documents into his bra. After all, cinematic license is cinematic license.
Regarding ABC's tarted-up 9/11 movie that sparked a furor among Clintonites who felt they were unfairly blamed for the rise of Osama, I hate to be so quaint as to defend reality. There's not much point. It's as dead as dial-up.
In Hollywood, reality comes with quotation marks around it, as in fixed and scripted "reality" shows. In New York, hybrids of fiction and nonfiction are lavishly rewarded; publishers want the reality part to sell the fiction part and the fiction part to enhance the reality part. In Washington, the Bush team is on a cynical and dangerous new pre-election push to present its fantasies about Iraq as reality, accusing reality-based critics of "moral or intellectual confusion," as Rummy put it.
When a reporter asked President Bush a couple of weeks ago what Iraq had to do with 9/11, he blurted out the truth: "Nothing." But momentarily dismissing that fantasy isn't about to dissuade him from others. "One of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror,'' President Bush told Katie Couric this week. I bet. Making up is hard to do.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/business/09ford.html?pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
Ford Chairman Receives Call From Bush
By MICHELINE MAYNARD
DETROIT, Sept. 7 - Although he has put off a meeting with Detroit automotiveleaders until after the November elections, President Bush called thechairman of Ford Motor on Friday, only days after the struggling automakernamed a new chief executive.
The phone call came the same day that Ford disclosed details of itsemployment agreement with the new chief, Alan R. Mulally, the former BoeingCompany executive whose appointment was announced this week.
Ford said Mr. Mulally would receive a salary of $2 million a year, plus a$7.5 million signing bonus. He will also receive $11 million to offsetperformance awards and stock options that he forfeited by leaving Boeing,where he was chief executive of the commercial airplanes business.
Mr. Bush's call to the Ford chairman, William Clay Ford Jr., came as thePresident flew to the Detroit area, where he attended a fund-raising eventnorth of Detroit for Mike Bouchard, the Republican candidate for the UnitedStates Senate. Mr. Bouchard is challenging Senator Debbie Stabenow, aDemocrat who is completing her first term.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/us/09immig.html?pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
Boston Tests System Connecting Fingerprints to Records of Immigration
Violations
By ERIC LIPTON
WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 - Immigration officials will automatically be notifiedanytime the local or state police do a federal fingerprint check on asuspect who also happens to be wanted for serious immigration violations,under a new system being tested in Boston.
The automated notification is part of a Department of Homeland Securityprogram that could expand the role that the local and state policenationwide play in the immigration enforcement effort.
To federal officials, it is a natural next step as police forces havehundreds of thousands of officers who routinely come into contact withillegal immigrants, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a squad ofonly about 6,000 criminal investigators.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/world/middleeast/09iran.html?pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
U.N. Is Moving to Punish Iran, U.S. Envoy Says
By JUDY DEMPSEY, International Herald Tribune
BERLIN, Sept. 8 - The United States wants the major powers to begin talksnext week on a draft United Nations resolution against Iran if it does nothalt its enrichment of uranium, a senior American official said Friday.
"We are heading toward the U.N. Security Council to consider a sanctionsregime," R. Nicholas Burns, the United States under secretary of state forpolitical affairs, said in a speech at the American Academy in Berlin aftermeeting with diplomats from Britain, France and Germany. He also metseparately with representatives of China, Russia, Japan, Italy and Canada.
Mr. Burns said that the meeting with the European diplomats, held Thursday,was "the first time we sat together to discuss what type of sanctions" toimpose on Iran. He said talks with them and the diplomats from Russia andChina would resume Monday by conference call, and then shift to the UnitedNations.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/08/AR2006090800714_pf.html
Politics
If the Democratic Party has lost its way, will democracy itself be sure to
follow?
By Matthew Dallek
Sunday, September 10, 2006; BW13
In the 1990s, several important books sought to explain, as Washington Postcolumnist E.J. Dionne Jr. succinctly put it, "why Americans hate politics."Dionne's answer was that American democracy was "decaying" because liberalsand conservatives had ineffective governing philosophies. In The System: TheAmerican Way of Politics at the Breaking Point , Haynes Johnson and David S.Broder described how "private interest" trumped "the public interest" in
dooming President Clinton's health care reform. And journalist James Fallowsfound that a media elite attached to profits and entertaining "distort[s] the processes by which we . . . resolve our public problems."
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/us/politics/09elect.html?pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
Before Speeches, a Bush Strategy to Regain Edge
By DAVID E. SANGER and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 - When President Bush and his top aides gathered in July to sketch out a strategy for the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks,it was clear to all that they had to try to reset the clock - back to atime, before Iraq, when portraying Mr. Bush as a steely commander in chiefwas a far simpler task, and before Hurricane Katrina, when questions about the administration's competence did not weigh so heavily.
From those discussions emerged the speeches Mr. Bush has delivered over thelast week, the leading edge of a remarkably intensive and aggressivecampaign in which he has tried to regain ground he has lost for more thantwo years, by turning the conversation away from Iraq and back toward thebroader war on terror.
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http://www.local10.com/health/9804002/detail.html?treets=mia&tid=2655619429813&tml=mia_health&tmi=mia_health_1_11150109072006&ts=H
Eye Disorder Blamed on Computer Use
POSTED: 12:52 pm EDT September 7, 2006
UPDATED: 12:55 pm EDT September 7, 2006
HALLANDALE, Fla. -- If you sit at a computer for several hours a day, youmay suffer from a condition the American Optometric Association says affectsmore than 10 million Americans.
It's called computer vision syndrome. And this eye disorder has a lot of ussitting in the dark.
Like many Americans today, Mario Shirley, 38, spends a lot of time on hiscomputer.
"Seventy-five percent of my day I was in front of the computer," saidShirley.
His eyes began to irritate him so much, he would sit in the dark for most ofthe day.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/washington/09cuba.html?pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
U.S. Paid 10 Journalists for Anti-Castro Reports
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
MIAMI, Sept. 8 - The Bush administration's Office of Cuba Broadcasting paid10 journalists here to provide commentary on Radio and TV MartÃ, whichtransmit to Cuba government broadcasts critical of Fidel Castro, a spokesmanfor the office said Friday.
The group included three journalists at El Nuevo Herald, theSpanish-language sister newspaper of The Miami Herald, which fired themThursday after learning of the relationship. Pablo Alfonso, who reports onCuba for El Nuevo Herald, received the largest payment, almost $175,000
Other journalists have been found to accept money from the Bushadministration, including Armstrong Williams, a commentator and talk-showhost who received $240,000 to promote its education initiatives. But whilethe Castro regime has long alleged that some Cuban-American reporters inMiami were paid by the government, the revelation on Friday, reported in The
Miami Herald, was the first evidence of that.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/world/middleeast/09khamenei.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
A Cleric Steeped in Ways of Power
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
TEHRAN, Sept. 3 - As Iran defies the West over its nuclear program, thepublic face of the nation has become the outspoken president, MahmoudAhmadinejad. But it is the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who bymost accounts has been the primary architect of Iran's combative foreignpolicy, and the force behind the president's own power.
Cloaked in religious robes, with a black turban signaling that he is adescendant of the Prophet Muhammad, Ayatollah Khamenei delivers the sameblistering anti-American, anti-British, anti-Israeli message as thepresident.
His political evolution charts his own rise to power. As the Friday Prayerleader nearly two decades ago, he questioned the absolute power of Iran'ssupreme leader, saying Islamic law and the Constitution must come first.Today, he has emerged as an aggressive defender of his own right to have thefinal say in all matters of state and religion - a power he has not beenafraid to exercise.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/07/AR2006090701615_pf.html
Tehran's Two Worlds - Veering Between Conciliation and Confrontation
By David Ignatius
Friday, September 8, 2006; A17
TEHRAN -- At the end of a 10-day visit here, I am struggling with aquestion: Is the Iranian revolution of 27 years ago following the normal arcof history and moving toward a rational and stable society? Or is thiscountry still exploding with radical energy and a desire to export itsrevolution to other Muslim nations?
The answer, I'm afraid, is that while Iran is maturing as a nation, the heat of the Islamic revolution is still intense -- and dangerous.This should be Iran's moment, in which this big, dynamic country claims itsplace as the region's dominant power, with commensurate responsibilities.But its leaders seem unable to make the compromises that would lock inIran's gains. They have an "up" staircase toward confrontation but not a"down" staircase toward agreement.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/08/AR2006090801967_pf.html
Antiabortion Centers Offer Sonograms to Further Cause
By Michael Alison Chandler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 9, 2006; A01
On June 6, Cheryl Smith took her last $600 and drove her teenage daughterfrom Baltimore to Severna Park to get an abortion.When they got there, a receptionist told them the clinic had changed hands.The abortion provider had moved a few miles away, she said, but the newclinic would offer a pregnancy test and sonogram for free.
The Smiths stayed. After they saw a picture of the fetus at 21 weeks witharms and legs and a face, their thoughts of termination were gone.
"As soon as I seen that, I was ready. It wasn't no joke. It was real,"Makiba Smith, 16, said. "It was like, he's not born to the world yet, but heis inside of me growing."
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/opinion/09terrill.html?pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
China Is Not Just Rising, but Also Changing
By ROSS TERRILL
Xian, China
CHINA'S advance toward global economic pre-eminence appears irresistible.Having recently surpassed Britain, France and Italy, its economy is now thefourth-largest in the world, growing, Beijing says, at the startling rate of10 percent a year. Brokers in Hong Kong and New York entertain themselves bypredicting the year in which China's gross domestic product will outstripthat of the United States.
The speculation is understandable. China's appetite for oil, gas and othernatural resources from abroad is all but insatiable. Its urban middle classenjoys cellphones, poodles, Häagen-Dazs, gated apartments, psychiatrists,overseas vacations and cars for which city streets have little room in anation that is now 40 percent urban.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/opinion/09sat1.html?pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
Editorial
Veterans of Sept. 11
One of the worst things about listening to those who rushed to ground zeroafter the attacks on Sept. 11 is that you can barely hear their stories. Formany, the lungs hardly work. The cough, the ragged breathing, the confusionand even the bitterness make it hard for some of those who labored in thattoxic cloud to explain how they feel forgotten. Like Steven Centore, aformer federal worker from Flanders, N.Y., who became so emotional at aCongressional hearing in Manhattan yesterday that he had to be gentlyreminded of his own condition.
Sick from his time working at ground zero, Mr. Centore was forced to pay forhis treatment, and the federal government offered only one thing, he said: a"screening" that determined he was indeed sick. "You mean I'm just a datapoint for you," he recalled saying to the nurse filling out his forms.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/opinion/09sat2.html?pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
Editorial
With All Deliberate Foot-Dragging
We were certainly relieved that the Senate Intelligence Committee finallymade official yesterday what pretty much everyone but President Bush andVice President Dick Cheney had already acknowledged: There never was anyconnection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, not even between Mr. Husseinand the self-styled Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Iraq also was not busily trying to build a nuclear weapon before the war,nor did it have a biological weapons program.
Those conclusions were contained in documents released by the committee aspart of the second phase of its investigation into the prewar intelligenceon Iraq. Releasing any documents was a change of pace for the panel'schairman, Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, who has consistently tried tostymie this phase of the investigation.
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Subject(s): 2006 Elections, 2008 Elections, Bush Crimes, Bush Enemy of Civil
Liberties, Civil Liberties
Local Area(s): None
September 8, 2006 at 10:03:55
Sen. Feingold Stands Up Again
by Dave Lindorff
http://www.opednews.com
Once again, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), has nailed it, doing exactly theright thing, acting in a courageous manner as a progressive politicianshould act.
It is clear to everyone in Congress that President Bush knows he's in deeppolitical and legal trouble over his warrantless NSA spying program. It hasbeen declared a violation of the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence lawpassed by Congress in 1978, and the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, bya federal judge in Detroit. His justification for breaking those laws--thathe is the commander in chief in a so-called "war" on terror--was summarilyslapped down and tossed out by the U.S. Supreme Court in the course of itsHamdi v. Rumsfeld decision in June.
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Forwarded from Ron Mills
http://www.RonMills.us
http://www.pewtrusts.org/ideas/ideas_item.cfm?content_item_id=3574&content_type_id=18&issue_name=Public%20opinion%20and%20polls&issue=11&page=18&name=Public%20Opinion%20Polls%20and%20Survey%20Results
Many Americans Uneasy with Mix of Religion and Politics
August 24, 2006
Polls/Survey Results
The relationship between religion and politics is a controversial one. While the public remains more supportive of religion's role in public life than in the 1960s, Americans are uneasy with the approaches offered by both liberals and conservatives. Fully 69% of Americans say that liberals have gone too far in keeping religion out of schools and government. But the proportion who express reservations about attempts by Christian conservatives to impose their religious values has edged up in the past year, with about half the public (49%) now expressing wariness about this.
The Democratic Party continues to face a serious "God problem," with just 26% saying the party is friendly to religion. However, the proportion of Americans who say the Republican Party is friendly to religion, while much larger, has fallen from 55% to 47% in the past year, with a particularly sharp decline coming among white evangelical Protestants (14 percentage points).
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http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/editorial/outlook/4173654
Sept. 8, 2006, 8:19PM
Couric blew first chance to stand up for women
Anchor lightened up when weight was weighed
By BEVERLY MCPHAIL
All eyes were on Katie Couric this week as she moved from the cheery NBCmorning show Today to the more somber CBS Evening News. However, prior toher first appearance as network anchor, Couric's image created a stir whenit was revealed that a CBS promotional magazine doctored a studio photographof Couric in order to make her look much slimmer in the face, arms andwaist. Before she uttered a word in her new role as anchor, she had alreadybeen cut down to size.
Although the airbrushing of photographs of women to remove pounds and hideso-called flaws is not new, such machinations have largely affected modelspromoting a product rather than powerful professional women. Airbrushingphotographs of women creates unrealistic and unattainable standards ofbeauty. When young girls and women peruse these pictures, often unfavorablycomparing themselves to these artificial depictions, problematic behaviorscan result. These range from body dissatisfaction to yo-yo dieting, plasticsurgery, eating disorders and self-objectification.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/31/opinion/printable1956701.shtml
For Democrats, Some Tactical Advice
Sept. 1, 2006
(The American Prospect) This column was written by Thomas F. Schaller.
A few weeks before the Democrats' 2002 midterm disaster, I found myself at apolitical event seated next to a longtime Democratic congressman. During alull, I asked him why Democrats were unable to nationalize the congressionalelections as Republican Newt Gingrich did in 1994. "It's a lot tougher forus," he bemoaned. "We're more heterogenous, and it's hard to find a messagewe can all agree on."
He was more or less right: The Democrats are the bigger tent party, makingit difficult to fashion a national policy umbrella under which 200incumbents and another 200-plus challengers can fit comfortably. Take Iraq,this election's most salient issue. Prominent national Democrats have stakedout at least four positions. Feingold Democrats opposed the war from thestart and want America to withdraw. Kerry-Edwards Democrats voted for thewar, complained frequently about its management, and later admitted theirwar votes were a mistake. Hillary Democrats are akin to Kerry-Edwards ones,only they express no regret for their war votes. Finally, there areLieberman Democrats, proud of their war votes and determined to "stay thecourse." From such divergence a concerted electoral plan is unlikely to
emerge.
=
Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2006/09/dublin_out_prou.htmltypepad.com/direland/2006/09/dublin_out_prou.html
New from DIRELAND, September 8
DUBLIN: OUT, PROUD, AND YOUNG
The entire new issue of Ireland's gay magazine, GCN, written andedited solely by gay and lesbian teenagers, symbolizes the explosionof Ireland's out gay community, despite the traditionally austere andstrict Irish Catholic culture and the country's legendary history ofsexual repression, long the stuff of plays and novels. For a look atschools, the new gay Ireland, and the evolution of the Irish gaymovement in the last three decades, click on:
=
Forwarded from Susan Fishkorn
Tri-County - chances@attglobal.net
The New York Times Company
August 20, 2006
The Count
A Nonpartisan Look at the Price Tag of Overseas Wars
By HUBERT B. HERRING
What, exactly, are the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan costing us? (In merely dollar terms, that is; the human cost is another, unthinkable matter entirely.) That's what the Congressional Research Service, Congress's nonpartisan public policy research arm, explored in a recent study.
As the study notes, the Defense Department recently put the "burn rate" - a term for the sums being spent - for Iraq and Afghanistan at $6.8 billion a month. But as the study says, that excludes maintaining and replacing equipment or building and improving facilities. The official "burn rate," it concludes, is only about 70 percent of the true cost.For fiscal 2006, monthly costs for Iraq alone could hit $8 billion, the study projected.
The study found a bit of surprising news: that the cost of feeding troops in Iraq fell in fiscal 2005 to $1.2 billion from $2 billion, despite comparable troop levels. No, we have not cut rations. The change may simply reflect success at reducing costs, the study says.
=
From: The Whimsy LOOPS
THE WASHINGTON POST / The STATESMAN JOURNAL (Salem,OR)
AUGUST 17, 2006
A political earthquake
By: DAVID S. BRODER, The Washington Post
August 17, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio - When The Columbus Dispatch's respected poll recentlyreported that Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell was trailingDemocratic Rep. Ted Strickland by 20 points in the race for governor ofOhio, there was dismay but no shock among his fellow Republicans. Those Iinterviewed during a recent visit here said they had seen it coming for along time.
But it is a political earthquake. Democrats have not been able to win asingle statewide office in Ohio for most of the past decade and arecompletely shut out of power in the capitol at this moment. Strickland hasnever run a statewide campaign and is trying to break a tradition that haskept any congressman from ever being elected as governor of Ohio. Blackwellhas
=
In Chicago, Adalberto United Methodist Church is Offering Sanctuary As
Deportation Nears
From: The Whimsy LOOPS
THE WASHINGTON POST
AUGUST 17, 2006
Church Is Sanctuary As Deportation Nears
Immigrant Activist Defies U.S. Order
By: Kari Lydersen, Washington Post Staff Writer
CHICAGO, Aug. 16 -- A 31-year-old illegal immigrant who has become a spokeswoman for undocumented workers is defying a deportation order and has taken sanctuary in a church on this city's West Side.
Elvira Arellano refused to comply with the order directing her to return to her native Mexico on Tuesday. She is camped out in the Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago's Humboldt Park, a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood.
The church's storefront and pulpit are plastered with signs declaring it a holy sanctuary, invoking the sanctuary movement of the 1980s in which churches sheltered undocumented refugees from civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala.
#####
The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/opinion/09tierney.html?pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
Waiting for Al Qaeda
By JOHN TIERNEY
John Mueller has an awkward question for those of us in the terrorism industry, which is his term for the journalists, politicians, bureaucrats and assorted "risk entrepreneurs" who have alarmed America about terrorism.
For five years, we've been telling Americans that Sept. 11 changed everything. "It will always be a defining moment in our history," President Bush says in this year's Patriot Day proclamation. We declared it a harbinger of a new clash of civilizations, a global ideological struggle - World War III, in Newt Gingrich's words.
We reported intelligence estimates of thousands of Al Qaeda terrorists and supporters in "sleeper cells" in America. In May 2004, Attorney General John Ashcroft said that Al Qaeda's preparations for an attack were 90 percent complete. We braced for acts of terrorism forecast to occur during the political conventions, the presidential campaign, on Election Day, after
Election Day. Through yellow and orange alerts, we kept in mind the Department of Homeland Security's warning: "Today's terrorists can strike at any place, at any time and with virtually any weapon."
=
The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/opinion/09dowd.html
September 9, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
The Unslammed Phone
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON
Sandy Berger is lucky they didn't show him stuffing government documents into his bra. After all, cinematic license is cinematic license.
Regarding ABC's tarted-up 9/11 movie that sparked a furor among Clintonites who felt they were unfairly blamed for the rise of Osama, I hate to be so quaint as to defend reality. There's not much point. It's as dead as dial-up.
In Hollywood, reality comes with quotation marks around it, as in fixed and scripted "reality" shows. In New York, hybrids of fiction and nonfiction are lavishly rewarded; publishers want the reality part to sell the fiction part and the fiction part to enhance the reality part. In Washington, the Bush team is on a cynical and dangerous new pre-election push to present its fantasies about Iraq as reality, accusing reality-based critics of "moral or intellectual confusion," as Rummy put it.
When a reporter asked President Bush a couple of weeks ago what Iraq had to do with 9/11, he blurted out the truth: "Nothing." But momentarily dismissing that fantasy isn't about to dissuade him from others. "One of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror,'' President Bush told Katie Couric this week. I bet. Making up is hard to do.
=
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/business/09ford.html?pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
Ford Chairman Receives Call From Bush
By MICHELINE MAYNARD
DETROIT, Sept. 7 - Although he has put off a meeting with Detroit automotiveleaders until after the November elections, President Bush called thechairman of Ford Motor on Friday, only days after the struggling automakernamed a new chief executive.
The phone call came the same day that Ford disclosed details of itsemployment agreement with the new chief, Alan R. Mulally, the former BoeingCompany executive whose appointment was announced this week.
Ford said Mr. Mulally would receive a salary of $2 million a year, plus a$7.5 million signing bonus. He will also receive $11 million to offsetperformance awards and stock options that he forfeited by leaving Boeing,where he was chief executive of the commercial airplanes business.
Mr. Bush's call to the Ford chairman, William Clay Ford Jr., came as thePresident flew to the Detroit area, where he attended a fund-raising eventnorth of Detroit for Mike Bouchard, the Republican candidate for the UnitedStates Senate. Mr. Bouchard is challenging Senator Debbie Stabenow, aDemocrat who is completing her first term.
=
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/us/09immig.html?pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
Boston Tests System Connecting Fingerprints to Records of Immigration
Violations
By ERIC LIPTON
WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 - Immigration officials will automatically be notifiedanytime the local or state police do a federal fingerprint check on asuspect who also happens to be wanted for serious immigration violations,under a new system being tested in Boston.
The automated notification is part of a Department of Homeland Securityprogram that could expand the role that the local and state policenationwide play in the immigration enforcement effort.
To federal officials, it is a natural next step as police forces havehundreds of thousands of officers who routinely come into contact withillegal immigrants, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a squad ofonly about 6,000 criminal investigators.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/world/middleeast/09iran.html?pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
U.N. Is Moving to Punish Iran, U.S. Envoy Says
By JUDY DEMPSEY, International Herald Tribune
BERLIN, Sept. 8 - The United States wants the major powers to begin talksnext week on a draft United Nations resolution against Iran if it does nothalt its enrichment of uranium, a senior American official said Friday.
"We are heading toward the U.N. Security Council to consider a sanctionsregime," R. Nicholas Burns, the United States under secretary of state forpolitical affairs, said in a speech at the American Academy in Berlin aftermeeting with diplomats from Britain, France and Germany. He also metseparately with representatives of China, Russia, Japan, Italy and Canada.
Mr. Burns said that the meeting with the European diplomats, held Thursday,was "the first time we sat together to discuss what type of sanctions" toimpose on Iran. He said talks with them and the diplomats from Russia andChina would resume Monday by conference call, and then shift to the UnitedNations.
=
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/08/AR2006090800714_pf.html
Politics
If the Democratic Party has lost its way, will democracy itself be sure to
follow?
By Matthew Dallek
Sunday, September 10, 2006; BW13
In the 1990s, several important books sought to explain, as Washington Postcolumnist E.J. Dionne Jr. succinctly put it, "why Americans hate politics."Dionne's answer was that American democracy was "decaying" because liberalsand conservatives had ineffective governing philosophies. In The System: TheAmerican Way of Politics at the Breaking Point , Haynes Johnson and David S.Broder described how "private interest" trumped "the public interest" in
dooming President Clinton's health care reform. And journalist James Fallowsfound that a media elite attached to profits and entertaining "distort[s] the processes by which we . . . resolve our public problems."
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/us/politics/09elect.html?pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
Before Speeches, a Bush Strategy to Regain Edge
By DAVID E. SANGER and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 - When President Bush and his top aides gathered in July to sketch out a strategy for the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks,it was clear to all that they had to try to reset the clock - back to atime, before Iraq, when portraying Mr. Bush as a steely commander in chiefwas a far simpler task, and before Hurricane Katrina, when questions about the administration's competence did not weigh so heavily.
From those discussions emerged the speeches Mr. Bush has delivered over thelast week, the leading edge of a remarkably intensive and aggressivecampaign in which he has tried to regain ground he has lost for more thantwo years, by turning the conversation away from Iraq and back toward thebroader war on terror.
=
http://www.local10.com/health/9804002/detail.html?treets=mia&tid=2655619429813&tml=mia_health&tmi=mia_health_1_11150109072006&ts=H
Eye Disorder Blamed on Computer Use
POSTED: 12:52 pm EDT September 7, 2006
UPDATED: 12:55 pm EDT September 7, 2006
HALLANDALE, Fla. -- If you sit at a computer for several hours a day, youmay suffer from a condition the American Optometric Association says affectsmore than 10 million Americans.
It's called computer vision syndrome. And this eye disorder has a lot of ussitting in the dark.
Like many Americans today, Mario Shirley, 38, spends a lot of time on hiscomputer.
"Seventy-five percent of my day I was in front of the computer," saidShirley.
His eyes began to irritate him so much, he would sit in the dark for most ofthe day.
=
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/washington/09cuba.html?pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
U.S. Paid 10 Journalists for Anti-Castro Reports
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
MIAMI, Sept. 8 - The Bush administration's Office of Cuba Broadcasting paid10 journalists here to provide commentary on Radio and TV MartÃ, whichtransmit to Cuba government broadcasts critical of Fidel Castro, a spokesmanfor the office said Friday.
The group included three journalists at El Nuevo Herald, theSpanish-language sister newspaper of The Miami Herald, which fired themThursday after learning of the relationship. Pablo Alfonso, who reports onCuba for El Nuevo Herald, received the largest payment, almost $175,000
Other journalists have been found to accept money from the Bushadministration, including Armstrong Williams, a commentator and talk-showhost who received $240,000 to promote its education initiatives. But whilethe Castro regime has long alleged that some Cuban-American reporters inMiami were paid by the government, the revelation on Friday, reported in The
Miami Herald, was the first evidence of that.
=
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/world/middleeast/09khamenei.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
A Cleric Steeped in Ways of Power
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
TEHRAN, Sept. 3 - As Iran defies the West over its nuclear program, thepublic face of the nation has become the outspoken president, MahmoudAhmadinejad. But it is the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who bymost accounts has been the primary architect of Iran's combative foreignpolicy, and the force behind the president's own power.
Cloaked in religious robes, with a black turban signaling that he is adescendant of the Prophet Muhammad, Ayatollah Khamenei delivers the sameblistering anti-American, anti-British, anti-Israeli message as thepresident.
His political evolution charts his own rise to power. As the Friday Prayerleader nearly two decades ago, he questioned the absolute power of Iran'ssupreme leader, saying Islamic law and the Constitution must come first.Today, he has emerged as an aggressive defender of his own right to have thefinal say in all matters of state and religion - a power he has not beenafraid to exercise.
=
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/07/AR2006090701615_pf.html
Tehran's Two Worlds - Veering Between Conciliation and Confrontation
By David Ignatius
Friday, September 8, 2006; A17
TEHRAN -- At the end of a 10-day visit here, I am struggling with aquestion: Is the Iranian revolution of 27 years ago following the normal arcof history and moving toward a rational and stable society? Or is thiscountry still exploding with radical energy and a desire to export itsrevolution to other Muslim nations?
The answer, I'm afraid, is that while Iran is maturing as a nation, the heat of the Islamic revolution is still intense -- and dangerous.This should be Iran's moment, in which this big, dynamic country claims itsplace as the region's dominant power, with commensurate responsibilities.But its leaders seem unable to make the compromises that would lock inIran's gains. They have an "up" staircase toward confrontation but not a"down" staircase toward agreement.
=
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/08/AR2006090801967_pf.html
Antiabortion Centers Offer Sonograms to Further Cause
By Michael Alison Chandler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 9, 2006; A01
On June 6, Cheryl Smith took her last $600 and drove her teenage daughterfrom Baltimore to Severna Park to get an abortion.When they got there, a receptionist told them the clinic had changed hands.The abortion provider had moved a few miles away, she said, but the newclinic would offer a pregnancy test and sonogram for free.
The Smiths stayed. After they saw a picture of the fetus at 21 weeks witharms and legs and a face, their thoughts of termination were gone.
"As soon as I seen that, I was ready. It wasn't no joke. It was real,"Makiba Smith, 16, said. "It was like, he's not born to the world yet, but heis inside of me growing."
=
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/opinion/09terrill.html?pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
China Is Not Just Rising, but Also Changing
By ROSS TERRILL
Xian, China
CHINA'S advance toward global economic pre-eminence appears irresistible.Having recently surpassed Britain, France and Italy, its economy is now thefourth-largest in the world, growing, Beijing says, at the startling rate of10 percent a year. Brokers in Hong Kong and New York entertain themselves bypredicting the year in which China's gross domestic product will outstripthat of the United States.
The speculation is understandable. China's appetite for oil, gas and othernatural resources from abroad is all but insatiable. Its urban middle classenjoys cellphones, poodles, Häagen-Dazs, gated apartments, psychiatrists,overseas vacations and cars for which city streets have little room in anation that is now 40 percent urban.
=
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/opinion/09sat1.html?pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
Editorial
Veterans of Sept. 11
One of the worst things about listening to those who rushed to ground zeroafter the attacks on Sept. 11 is that you can barely hear their stories. Formany, the lungs hardly work. The cough, the ragged breathing, the confusionand even the bitterness make it hard for some of those who labored in thattoxic cloud to explain how they feel forgotten. Like Steven Centore, aformer federal worker from Flanders, N.Y., who became so emotional at aCongressional hearing in Manhattan yesterday that he had to be gentlyreminded of his own condition.
Sick from his time working at ground zero, Mr. Centore was forced to pay forhis treatment, and the federal government offered only one thing, he said: a"screening" that determined he was indeed sick. "You mean I'm just a datapoint for you," he recalled saying to the nurse filling out his forms.
=
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/opinion/09sat2.html?pagewanted=print
September 9, 2006
Editorial
With All Deliberate Foot-Dragging
We were certainly relieved that the Senate Intelligence Committee finallymade official yesterday what pretty much everyone but President Bush andVice President Dick Cheney had already acknowledged: There never was anyconnection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, not even between Mr. Husseinand the self-styled Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Iraq also was not busily trying to build a nuclear weapon before the war,nor did it have a biological weapons program.
Those conclusions were contained in documents released by the committee aspart of the second phase of its investigation into the prewar intelligenceon Iraq. Releasing any documents was a change of pace for the panel'schairman, Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, who has consistently tried tostymie this phase of the investigation.
=
Subject(s): 2006 Elections, 2008 Elections, Bush Crimes, Bush Enemy of Civil
Liberties, Civil Liberties
Local Area(s): None
September 8, 2006 at 10:03:55
Sen. Feingold Stands Up Again
by Dave Lindorff
http://www.opednews.com
Once again, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), has nailed it, doing exactly theright thing, acting in a courageous manner as a progressive politicianshould act.
It is clear to everyone in Congress that President Bush knows he's in deeppolitical and legal trouble over his warrantless NSA spying program. It hasbeen declared a violation of the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence lawpassed by Congress in 1978, and the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, bya federal judge in Detroit. His justification for breaking those laws--thathe is the commander in chief in a so-called "war" on terror--was summarilyslapped down and tossed out by the U.S. Supreme Court in the course of itsHamdi v. Rumsfeld decision in June.
=
Forwarded from Ron Mills
http://www.RonMills.us
http://www.pewtrusts.org/ideas/ideas_item.cfm?content_item_id=3574&content_type_id=18&issue_name=Public%20opinion%20and%20polls&issue=11&page=18&name=Public%20Opinion%20Polls%20and%20Survey%20Results
Many Americans Uneasy with Mix of Religion and Politics
August 24, 2006
Polls/Survey Results
The relationship between religion and politics is a controversial one. While the public remains more supportive of religion's role in public life than in the 1960s, Americans are uneasy with the approaches offered by both liberals and conservatives. Fully 69% of Americans say that liberals have gone too far in keeping religion out of schools and government. But the proportion who express reservations about attempts by Christian conservatives to impose their religious values has edged up in the past year, with about half the public (49%) now expressing wariness about this.
The Democratic Party continues to face a serious "God problem," with just 26% saying the party is friendly to religion. However, the proportion of Americans who say the Republican Party is friendly to religion, while much larger, has fallen from 55% to 47% in the past year, with a particularly sharp decline coming among white evangelical Protestants (14 percentage points).
=
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/editorial/outlook/4173654
Sept. 8, 2006, 8:19PM
Couric blew first chance to stand up for women
Anchor lightened up when weight was weighed
By BEVERLY MCPHAIL
All eyes were on Katie Couric this week as she moved from the cheery NBCmorning show Today to the more somber CBS Evening News. However, prior toher first appearance as network anchor, Couric's image created a stir whenit was revealed that a CBS promotional magazine doctored a studio photographof Couric in order to make her look much slimmer in the face, arms andwaist. Before she uttered a word in her new role as anchor, she had alreadybeen cut down to size.
Although the airbrushing of photographs of women to remove pounds and hideso-called flaws is not new, such machinations have largely affected modelspromoting a product rather than powerful professional women. Airbrushingphotographs of women creates unrealistic and unattainable standards ofbeauty. When young girls and women peruse these pictures, often unfavorablycomparing themselves to these artificial depictions, problematic behaviorscan result. These range from body dissatisfaction to yo-yo dieting, plasticsurgery, eating disorders and self-objectification.
=
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/31/opinion/printable1956701.shtml
For Democrats, Some Tactical Advice
Sept. 1, 2006
(The American Prospect) This column was written by Thomas F. Schaller.
A few weeks before the Democrats' 2002 midterm disaster, I found myself at apolitical event seated next to a longtime Democratic congressman. During alull, I asked him why Democrats were unable to nationalize the congressionalelections as Republican Newt Gingrich did in 1994. "It's a lot tougher forus," he bemoaned. "We're more heterogenous, and it's hard to find a messagewe can all agree on."
He was more or less right: The Democrats are the bigger tent party, makingit difficult to fashion a national policy umbrella under which 200incumbents and another 200-plus challengers can fit comfortably. Take Iraq,this election's most salient issue. Prominent national Democrats have stakedout at least four positions. Feingold Democrats opposed the war from thestart and want America to withdraw. Kerry-Edwards Democrats voted for thewar, complained frequently about its management, and later admitted theirwar votes were a mistake. Hillary Democrats are akin to Kerry-Edwards ones,only they express no regret for their war votes. Finally, there areLieberman Democrats, proud of their war votes and determined to "stay thecourse." From such divergence a concerted electoral plan is unlikely to
emerge.
=
Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2006/09/dublin_out_prou.htmltypepad.com/direland/2006/09/dublin_out_prou.html
New from DIRELAND, September 8
DUBLIN: OUT, PROUD, AND YOUNG
The entire new issue of Ireland's gay magazine, GCN, written andedited solely by gay and lesbian teenagers, symbolizes the explosionof Ireland's out gay community, despite the traditionally austere andstrict Irish Catholic culture and the country's legendary history ofsexual repression, long the stuff of plays and novels. For a look atschools, the new gay Ireland, and the evolution of the Irish gaymovement in the last three decades, click on:
=
Forwarded from Susan Fishkorn
Tri-County - chances@attglobal.net
The New York Times Company
August 20, 2006
The Count
A Nonpartisan Look at the Price Tag of Overseas Wars
By HUBERT B. HERRING
What, exactly, are the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan costing us? (In merely dollar terms, that is; the human cost is another, unthinkable matter entirely.) That's what the Congressional Research Service, Congress's nonpartisan public policy research arm, explored in a recent study.
As the study notes, the Defense Department recently put the "burn rate" - a term for the sums being spent - for Iraq and Afghanistan at $6.8 billion a month. But as the study says, that excludes maintaining and replacing equipment or building and improving facilities. The official "burn rate," it concludes, is only about 70 percent of the true cost.For fiscal 2006, monthly costs for Iraq alone could hit $8 billion, the study projected.
The study found a bit of surprising news: that the cost of feeding troops in Iraq fell in fiscal 2005 to $1.2 billion from $2 billion, despite comparable troop levels. No, we have not cut rations. The change may simply reflect success at reducing costs, the study says.
=
From: The Whimsy LOOPS
THE WASHINGTON POST / The STATESMAN JOURNAL (Salem,OR)
AUGUST 17, 2006
A political earthquake
By: DAVID S. BRODER, The Washington Post
August 17, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio - When The Columbus Dispatch's respected poll recentlyreported that Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell was trailingDemocratic Rep. Ted Strickland by 20 points in the race for governor ofOhio, there was dismay but no shock among his fellow Republicans. Those Iinterviewed during a recent visit here said they had seen it coming for along time.
But it is a political earthquake. Democrats have not been able to win asingle statewide office in Ohio for most of the past decade and arecompletely shut out of power in the capitol at this moment. Strickland hasnever run a statewide campaign and is trying to break a tradition that haskept any congressman from ever being elected as governor of Ohio. Blackwellhas
=
In Chicago, Adalberto United Methodist Church is Offering Sanctuary As
Deportation Nears
From: The Whimsy LOOPS
THE WASHINGTON POST
AUGUST 17, 2006
Church Is Sanctuary As Deportation Nears
Immigrant Activist Defies U.S. Order
By: Kari Lydersen, Washington Post Staff Writer
CHICAGO, Aug. 16 -- A 31-year-old illegal immigrant who has become a spokeswoman for undocumented workers is defying a deportation order and has taken sanctuary in a church on this city's West Side.
Elvira Arellano refused to comply with the order directing her to return to her native Mexico on Tuesday. She is camped out in the Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago's Humboldt Park, a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood.
The church's storefront and pulpit are plastered with signs declaring it a holy sanctuary, invoking the sanctuary movement of the 1980s in which churches sheltered undocumented refugees from civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala.
#####
GLBT DIGEST - September 9, 2006
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gay Rights Activists Stage Protest Ahead of Pope Visit
08.09.2006
Deutsche Welle
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2168183,00.html
The pope's stance on homosexuality has riled gay activistsThe pope's stanceon homosexuality has riled gay activistsWhile hundreds of thousands are expected to cheer Pope Benedict XVI when hevisits Bavaria starting Saturday, his critics got a chance to speak up onFriday -- respectfully, that is.
Around 10:30 a.m. on Friday morning, Pope Benedict's most visible critics -- at least for the coming days -- quietly gathered in the centre of Munich.
It was the only official demonstration scheduled to take place during thepontiff's visit. In a state with regions where up to 87 percent of thepopulation are Catholic, at least on paper, few seemed interested instanding up against Bavarian-born Benedict.
=
http://expressgaynews.com/2006/9-9/view/letters/ltrs.cfm
Express Gay News
Hate is not a principle of any religious teaching
Saturday, September 09, 2006
To the Editors:
Mubarak Dahir's editorial, ("Personal truce, Aug. 18) brought home somerealistic experiences dealing with my visit to Palestine and Israel during aDecember 2005 sojourn to a divided Holy Land revered by Christians, Jews andMuslims alike.
Having personally been to that land, and garnered a subsequent understandingof it, I can comprehend what Karl Marx referred to when he suggested that"religion is the opium of the masses."
If anyone thinks there isn't plenty of suffering, abuse and shared guilt byall in the Holy Land, then that person is seeing the situation through aflawed observation.
=
The current issue of The Express Gay News is online
http://expressgaynews.com/
=
http://expressgaynews.com/2006/9-9/news/religion/ribs.cfm
The Express Gay News
Religion News
Archbishop: Gays must change to be welcome in Anglican church
Saturday, September 09, 2006
LONDON - Gays must change their behavior if they expect to be welcomed intothe Anglican church, the archbishop of Canterbury said, according to theSunday Telegraph. Rowan Williams, head of the Anglican Communion, is puttingdistance between himself and his once-liberal support of gay relationships.Instead, Williams is emphasizing that the tradition and teaching of thechurch is not altered in any way by the consecration of its first openly gaybishop. In a newspaper interview, Williams said it is not time for thechurch to accept gay relationships, and that the church should welcome gaysif not their relationships. "I don't believe incluion is a value in itself. Welcome is," Williams told a Dutch journalist. "We don't say 'Come in and we ask no questions.' I do believe conversion means conversion of habits, behaviors, ideas, emotions. Ethics is not a matter of a set of abstractrules, it is a matter of living the mind of Christ. That applies to sexual ethics."
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http://expressgaynews.com/2006/9-9/news/religion/ribs.cfm
Some calls intensify for parents to avoid 'pro-gay' public schools
NEW YORK (AP) - Led mainly by evangelical Christians, a new movement depicts public education as hostile to religious faith and claims to be behind asurge in the number of students being schooled at home. The movement is ledby such groups as Exodus Mandate and the Alliance for Separation of School &State. One new campaign aims to monitor public schools for whatconservatives see as pro-gay curriculum and programs. "Homeschoolers avoidharmful school environments where God is mocked, where destructive peerinfluence is the norm, where drugs, alcohol, promiscuity and homosexualityare promoted," says the California-based Considering Homeschooling Ministry.
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The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/print.cfm?content_id=3027
Getting over coming out
Exiting the closet was never a good strategy for winning equality.
Societal problems require collective action.
By JULIE ENSZNER
Sep. 09, 2006
IT'S BEEN A hard conclusion for me to embrace. I organized "Speak Outs" forNational Coming Out Day in the 1990s. I advocated coming out as critical toour liberation.
I've come out to everyone and reveled it in. When I ran out of familymembers, I moved on to dry cleaners and grocery baggers and state senatorsand plumbers and metro passengers. I can't think of a person I haven't told.
Even still, it's come time for me to admit that coming out is a flawedstrategy. In fact, coming out is the wrong strategy for queer liberation.
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French presidential hopeful rules out gay marriage
Same sex couples should not be able to marry or adopt, the leader ofFrance's Union for a Popular Movement ((Union pour un MouvementPopulaire) and potential presidential candidate Nicolas Sarzoky has announced http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-2441.html
07-September-2006
Marc Shoffman
Same sex couples should not be able to marry or adopt, the French interior minister and presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarzoky has announced.
Mr Sarzoky outlined his policies and campaigning strategy in a Frenchmagazine interview this month gearing up for the country's 2007 presidentialelections.
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http://www.washblade.com/2006/9-8/view/columns/macisaac.cfm
Tiptoeing around an epidemic
AIDS infection rates are soaring in Thailand, but conservative U.S.
watchdogs keep gay men at risk.
By VINCENT MACISAAC, Sep. 08, 2006
"I'M FRIGHTENED ENOUGH that talking to you makes me nervous," a seniorofficial at an American health organization tells me in an interview that is- for the most part - off the record.
"I'm an American. We have free speech," he continues, as though this is afact he needs to remind himself.
We're talking about AIDS. Specifically, the epidemic among gay and bisexualmen in Thailand, where infection rates in Bangkok have surged by more than50 percent in two years to a 28.3 percent increase last year, according tostudies by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
What I want to know is whether the U.S. government's "ABC" preventionstrategy - abstinence, be faithful in relationships, and condoms - ishindering efforts to contain this epidemic.
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Moscow gay march organizers call for probe into attack on Bundestag member
08 September 2006, 17:28
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=1968
Moscow, September 8, Interfax - Organizers of the unsanctioned gay pridemarch that took place in Moscow on May 27 have filed an appeal with theMoscow prosecutor's office, which earlier refused to open a criminal caseinto an attack on German Bundestag Member Volker Beck, a participant in theevent.
"Organizers of the gay march protest the decision by the deputy prosecutor
of the Tverskaya inter-district prosecutor's office to refuse to open a
criminal case into the attack on Bundestag member Beck," a statement
published on the GayRussia.ru web site on Friday reads.
"Beck sent an appeal to the Russian Prosecutor's General Office demanding acriminal case be opened against Aleksey Napylov, who said that he does notregret his actions in an interview with the Russian version of the Newsweekjournal," the press release reads.
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Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=123&art_id=qw1155747244653B232
August 16, 2006
Riyadh - Saudi authorities arrested 20 young men after raiding a suspectedgay wedding in the southern town of Jizan, a newspaper reported onWednesday.
The detainees, who were among some 400 men attending "the wedding party oftwo men" on Tuesday, had been "emulating women," the Al-Watan paper said.
In all, some 250 people were detained in the police raid on the party butthe rest were later released.
Police had "arrested the wanted people and released those who have nothingto do with the matter," the paper quoted a police commander as saying.
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Daily Queer News
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http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/8/4/232320.shtml?s=icp
NewsMax.com
Friday, Aug. 4, 2006 11:21 p.m. EDT
Indiana Court Lets Gay Adoption Stand
Indiana's Supreme Court let stand a ruling that allows unmarried couples, including those of the same sex, to adopt children through a joint petition that gives both partners equal custody.
In a 4-1 decision posted Friday, the high court refused to hear arguments in the case. That left in tact the April ruling by the Indiana Court of Appeals, which had overturned a lower court's ruling that state law limits adoption to married couples and individuals.
"The court acknowledged that two people can create a caring, stable, loving home for children without being married," said Patricia Logue, senior counsel for Lambda Legal's Midwest office in Chicago. "Not only is this a decision that will keep our clients' family intact, but this is a victory
for the thousands of children in Indiana desperately in need of a caring home."
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http://www.startribune.com/614/story/664005.html
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Gay activist's book says right has gone wrong
The Rev. Mel White, former Pat Robertson speechwriter turned gay activist, says in a new book that liberals and progressives should aggressively counter Christian fundamentalists' beliefs and actions on issues involving gays.
Pamela Miller, Star Tribune
Last update: September 08, 2006 - 10:28 AM
WHITE TO VISIT MINNESOTA
An unlikely couple often attend services at the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va. -- the Rev. Mel White, a gay activist and author, and his partner, Gary Nixon.
The two attend as a quiet protest against what they view as a dangerous anti-gay agenda pushed by Falwell and other fundamentalist Christians.
White is author of several books, including the memoir "Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay and Christian in America," and founder of Soulforce Inc., an organization that works to end faith-based bias against gays.
The former evangelical pastor, professor and ghostwriter for Billy Graham and Pat Robertson came out in 1994 after years of struggle to reconcile his homosexuality with his conservative Christianity. He argues in his new book, "Religion Gone Bad: The Hidden Dangers of the Christian Right," that fundamentalist beliefs about gays cause suffering and can lead to violence.
The book implores progressives to challenge preachers and politicians who believe the United States would be best ruled by fundamentalist Christian principles.
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http://www.southafrica-carhire.com/blog/2006/09/call-for-one-law-on-marriage.html
Call for one law on marriage
Cape Town - The general secretary of the SA Council of Churches, Eddie Makue, has called for a single law governing all forms of marriage, including same-sex unions, rather than the dual legislation proposed by the government.
He made the call in an open letter, released on Thursday, to the chairs of parliament's home affairs and justice portfolio committees.
"Our national history illustrates all too painfully the folly and injustice of creating multiple legal and administrative mechanisms to perform essentially the same functions for different categories of people," he said.
"Separate institutions are rarely, if ever, equal.
Consulted with key figures
"Their chances of achieving equal impact are further reduced if they are embedded in a society that remains afflicted by prejudice and discrimination."
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Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.gaypeopleschronicle.com/stories06/september/0908063.htm
September 8, 2006
Diversity and ARC Ohio groups denied entry to parade
by Anthony Glassman
Kettering, Ohio--For the second year in a row, an LGBT organization was denied entry into the Holiday at Home parade in this Dayton suburb.
This year, a nationally-recognized HIV prevention program was also barred from marching in the Labor Day parade.Diversity Dayton and the AIDS Resource Center Ohio's Mu Crew both saw their applications to join in the festivities rejected by parade committee.
The Mu Crew, an offshoot of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Mpowerment program, is an HIV prevention and education program that targets young gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning men.
The Mu Crew was recognized by Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin for their efforts in
the area.
Mu Crew coordinator Andrew Hyde said that Holiday at Home, the private group that sponsors
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Michigan Womyn's Fest ends ban on Trans Women
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 21, 2006
CONTACT: Emilia Lombardi, 412-480-4032; Bryn Kelly,
614-352-4782
www.camp-trans.org
Michigan Women's Music Festival ends policy of discrimination against Trans women
After 15 years of controversy, supporters welcome trans women to 'theland'
HART, MICHIGAN - The Michigan Women's Music Festival began admitting openly trans (transgender/transsexual) women last week, bringing success to a longstanding struggle by trans activists both inside and outside the festival.
"Seeing trans women inside the festival for the first time brought me to tears," said Sue Ashman, who attends the festival every year. "It's restored my faith in women's communities."
Ashman said "I have friends who have already committed to bringing themselves and others for the first time next year."
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http://newyorklawschool.typepad.com/leonardlink/2006/08/ny_court_says_s.html
NY Court Says State Law Protects Transsexuals from Discrimination
by New York Law School Professor Arthur S. Leonard, August 17, 2006 in Legal Issues
In what appears to be the first such ruling by a New York State court, a Westchester County judge ruled in Buffong v. Castle on the Hudson, anemployment discrimination case, that "transgendered persons" are protectedfrom workplace discrimination by the sex discrimination provision in NewYork State's Human Rights Law.
Justice Joan B. Lefkowitz's August 9 decision, first made public in a NewYork Law Journal article published August 17, does not describe the facts ofthe case, but the Law Journal article reported them based on an interviewwith one of the plaintiff's attorneys, Louis Ginsberg of White Plains.
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http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?2006/08/18/2
Study warns of skyrocketing HIV rate
Friday, August 18, 2006
SUMMARY: Fifty-eight percent of gay 20-year-olds in the Western world willbe HIV-positive by the time they are 60 if current trends hold, a new studyasserts.
HIV prevalence is set to skyrocket among gay men in the Western world asthey age, a University of Pittsburgh researcher said Thursday at theinternational AIDS conference in Toronto.
The Pittsburgh study, a review of papers published in journals, indicatesthat the number of new cases of HIV has been rising by about 1.9 percenteach year since 2001, meaning that as gay men as a group get older, more andmore of them will become HIV-positive, Agence-France Presse reported.
"Ongoing incidence rates at this level will yield very high HIV prevalencerates within each generation of gay men," University of Pittsburgh researcher Ron Stall told AFP.
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Princeton Review listing of MOST lgbt-friendly colleges
Message-ID: <030901c6c5fe$a818f210$6601a8c0@masterken>
School Name Save Apply Request Info
1 New York University
2 Eugene Lang College/New School University
3 New College of Florida
4 Macalester College
5 College of the Atlantic
Contact rays.list@comcast.net if you would like the full article.
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Princeton Review listing of LEAST lgbt-friendly colleges
Demographics Alternative Lifestyles Not an Alternative
Is there very little discrimination against homosexuals?
School Name Save Apply Request Info
1 University of Notre Dame
2 Hampden-Sydney College
3 Brigham Young University (UT)
4 Wheaton College (IL)
5 College of the Holy Cross
Contact rays.list@comcast.net if you would like the full article.
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Blithe House Quarterly : queer fiction lives here
URL: http://www.blithe.com/
** featured in the January 2005 New York Times article on the literary magazine boom **
Blithe House Quarterly, the leading journal of lesbian and gay literaryfiction, is pleased to open submissions for its Spring 2007 issue.
"*The* journal, online or off, for gay short fiction. Blithe House Quarterlyis one of the best literary sites on the Internet. Period." -- 42opus.com
"Internet-based fiction journals have become a significant force inpublishing, especially for serious short fiction. In Web-only lit journalssuch as Blithe House Quarterly, the short-story form is alive and clicking."
-- Baltimore City Paper
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http://www.washblade.com/2006/8-18/news/national/policy.cfm
DNC rejects affirmative action status for gays
Dean backs compromise 'Inclusion Policy' that satisfies many gay Dems
By LOU CHIBBARO JR, Aug. 18, 2006
After months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, top officials at theDemocratic National Committee last week turned down a proposal by the DNC'sGay & Lesbian Americans Caucus to add gays to the party's affirmative actionrules for selecting delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
DNC officials instead agreed to create a new "inclusion" section to theparty's delegate selection rules that recognizes the "LGBT community andpeople with disabilities" as underrepresented groups within the party.
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http://washingtontimes.com/national/20060811-123451-9447r.htm
'Significant' drop in risky sex among teens, study finds
By Joyce Howard Price, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, Published August 11, 2006
The proportion of sexually experienced U.S. high school students fell by 13percent from 1991 to 2005, according to a new federal study that examinedprevalence of HIV-related risk behaviors of teenagers.
The research by epidemiologists for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control andPrevention found that the share of teens who acknowledged ever having hadsexual intercourse dropped from 54.1 percent to 46.8 percent during thatnearly 15-year period.
Among students who said they were sexually active, the study showed a 24percent drop in the proportion of those who said they had experienced fouror more sex partners during their lifetime and a 9 percent decline amongthose who said they were currently sexually active.
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Am. Psychological Assn. to pull its meetings out of Virginia
APA plans to pull its meetings out of Virginia Medical group cites anti-gay
laws, amendment for move to D.C.
By ELIZABETH A. PERRY
Aug. 11, 2006
http://www.washblade.com/print.cfm?content_id=8920
Washington Blade
The American Psychological Association will move its meetings out ofVirginia because of the possible impact of the Affirmation of Marriage Actand a proposed gay marriage ban on its members and their domestic partners.
The APA announced July 21 that governance meetings scheduled to be held inVirginia in 2007 and 2008 will be moved to Washington, D.C.
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http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-pope-gays.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
The New York Times
September 8, 2006
Pope Calls Gay Marriage "Folly, " Warns Politicians
By REUTERS
Filed at 8:58 a.m. ET
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Friday Catholic politicians could not be swayed by opinion polls and social trends into supporting practices such as abortion and the ``folly'' of gay marriage.
The Pope repeated his opposition to abortion and gay marriage in a toughly worded address to visiting bishops from Canada.``In the name of tolerance' your country has had to endure the folly of the redefinition of spouse, and in the name of freedom of choice' it is confronted with the daily destruction of unborn children,'' the Pope said.
``When the Creator's divine plan is ignored the truth of human nature is lost,'' he said.
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http://civilliberty.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=civilliberty&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aclu.org%2Fwomensrights%2Fdiscrim%2F26423prs20060810.html
ACLU Challenges Denial of Housing Permit to Unmarried Couple in Black Jack, Missouri
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
8/10/2006
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
ST. LOUIS, MO -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri andthe ACLU Women's Rights Project filed a lawsuit today on behalf of a familythat was denied a permit to live in the city of Black Jack because of a lawthat prohibits more than three people from living together unless they arerelated by "blood, marriage or adoption."
"The City of Black Jack's behavior is both pompous and unconstitutional,"said Brenda Jones, Executive Director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri."Black Jack's attempt to criminalize people's choice to live together as afamily has earned international ridicule for Missouri."
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Houston Chronicle, TX, August 14, 2006
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/4114566.html
Gay foster families sought
Counseling center hopes to keep gay teens from street life By SARAH VIREN,
sarah.viren@chron.com
Elana Arthur inhales smoke, exhales, then explains:
"My mom kicked me out when I was 14 because I was a lesbian."
Her black hair is cropped short, her eyes serious. Across the street is her latest home: the Covenant House, a Montrose-area youth shelter.
The 21-year-old has flirted with homelessness for the past sevenyears: first at a foster home, from which she ran away, then a family home,where she said she was sexually abused and later moving from couch to couchat friends' and girlfriends' residences.
Now she is trying to remake her life at a homeless shelter.
Blocks from where she stands, smoking on the street corner, a Houston gayadvocacy organization has drafted a plan to save youths like Arthur - orlike Arthur seven years ago - from the streets.
The idea - to recruit gay and gay-friendly parents to the foster care system- comes amid debates about caregiving by gays and lesbians. At least onestate, Florida, outlaws adoption by this segment of the population, andothers, including Texas, recently debated stopping them from serving asfoster parents.
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By Deb Price
The Detroit News
August 14, 2006
Michigan colleges among most gay friendly
W hen freshman Jen Hsu arrived at the University of Michigan twoyears ago, her first stop was at Gayz Craze, a picnic for gaystudents noted in the welcoming handbook.
That gay-affirming introduction to college life, Hsu recalls, gother off to a great start -- personally and academically: She jumpedinto gay activities, eventually becoming one of the most familiar lesbian faces on campus as co-chairwoman of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs Commission, which is part of the student assembly.
"I feel really supported and really happy with who I am here," Hsu says. "I'd hate to think about what I would feel like without all the support."
At U-M, gay students can participate in a 10-week coming outworkshop; skate on "Flames on Ice" night; and speed date, gettingacquainted with other gay singles on five-minute "mini dates."
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http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid35700.asp
August 17, 2006 A tale of persecution in Iran
Maryam knew she was a lesbian from an early age, but in Iran, being gay ispunishable by death. Facing far more than parental disapproval, she waskicked out of school, fired from a job, imprisoned, and tortured, all in anunsuccessful effort to change her sexual orientation. Finally, she escapedto France, where her asylum request was still pending at press time.
By Doug Ireland
In this international exclusive, a lesbian victim of torture in the IslamicRepublic of Iran speaks on the record for the first time about the horrorsshe suffered at the hands of a regime that has made homosexuality illegaland punishable by death. Maryam, 25, was expelled from school, forciblyhospitalized, arrested, and tortured for being a lesbian before finallyescaping Iran. She eventually wound up in France, where she currently livesin an internment camp. Although she's filed an application for asylum as asexual refugee, given the conservative French government's new crackdown onillegal immigrants, Maryam could be deported back to Iran at any moment. "I
don't know what I will do if the French government sends me back to where myexecution pillar is awaiting me!" she says. Doug Ireland spoke to her by phone, aided by a Persian translator, from Paris, where she had traveled for a day to file documents for her asylum request. Here, in her own words, is Maryam's story.
=
Hi Everyone,
We will be sending out a more official update to our current outreach tripshortly. Its a little hard to find the time and internet connectionsometimes on the road.
As most of you know already, we still need about $6500.00 for this tripwhich lasts through September 26.
Last Tuesday, we held an educational forum hosted by PFLAGStanislaus/Modesto, CA. It is not typical for the Outreach Team to betreated to dinner before a presentation but Cathy and Dean Jennisonprovided a wonderful dinner for us which was greatly appreciated. Withour budget constraints we rarely eat anything other than cheap fast food.
It was also announced that the chapter had decided to donate $1000.00 toHeartStrong. This is the single largest donation to HeartStrong from anyPFLAG chapter in the ten year history of our work. It is also the secondlargest donation to HeartStrong from any other organization.
It was such an encouragement to receive this donation from Stanislaus PFLAG. Their commitment to support the work of HeartStrong was both encouraging and energizing.
=
A Message from Marc Adams of HeartStrong
Hi Everyone,
Here we are in toasty Phoenix. It's been a while since I lived here andits easy to forget about dry heat.
At any rate, our outreach trip is going well. We've been on the road nowfor two weeks. We held five educational forums so far (four in CA and one in AZ).
We've been delivering some of our outreach materials to some of thereligious themed entertainment venues here in PHX in hopes that ourmessage might reach someone. We've made a few church visits...churchesthat sponsor religious schools. Since school isnt quite in yet, we'vegone into some churches to leave our materials. We've visited oneSeventh-day Adventist, two Baptist and one Catholic church so far.
I will continue to keep you updated on how things are going. As youalready know we are still in need of about $5,000.00 for this trip. Asalways, you can make a donation online at http://www.heartstrong.org or by mailing a check to HeartStrong, PO Box 2051, Seattle WA 98111. We needyour help!
Please contact rays.list@comcast.net if you would like the full article.
#####
Gay Rights Activists Stage Protest Ahead of Pope Visit
08.09.2006
Deutsche Welle
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2168183,00.html
The pope's stance on homosexuality has riled gay activistsThe pope's stanceon homosexuality has riled gay activistsWhile hundreds of thousands are expected to cheer Pope Benedict XVI when hevisits Bavaria starting Saturday, his critics got a chance to speak up onFriday -- respectfully, that is.
Around 10:30 a.m. on Friday morning, Pope Benedict's most visible critics -- at least for the coming days -- quietly gathered in the centre of Munich.
It was the only official demonstration scheduled to take place during thepontiff's visit. In a state with regions where up to 87 percent of thepopulation are Catholic, at least on paper, few seemed interested instanding up against Bavarian-born Benedict.
=
http://expressgaynews.com/2006/9-9/view/letters/ltrs.cfm
Express Gay News
Hate is not a principle of any religious teaching
Saturday, September 09, 2006
To the Editors:
Mubarak Dahir's editorial, ("Personal truce, Aug. 18) brought home somerealistic experiences dealing with my visit to Palestine and Israel during aDecember 2005 sojourn to a divided Holy Land revered by Christians, Jews andMuslims alike.
Having personally been to that land, and garnered a subsequent understandingof it, I can comprehend what Karl Marx referred to when he suggested that"religion is the opium of the masses."
If anyone thinks there isn't plenty of suffering, abuse and shared guilt byall in the Holy Land, then that person is seeing the situation through aflawed observation.
=
The current issue of The Express Gay News is online
http://expressgaynews.com/
=
http://expressgaynews.com/2006/9-9/news/religion/ribs.cfm
The Express Gay News
Religion News
Archbishop: Gays must change to be welcome in Anglican church
Saturday, September 09, 2006
LONDON - Gays must change their behavior if they expect to be welcomed intothe Anglican church, the archbishop of Canterbury said, according to theSunday Telegraph. Rowan Williams, head of the Anglican Communion, is puttingdistance between himself and his once-liberal support of gay relationships.Instead, Williams is emphasizing that the tradition and teaching of thechurch is not altered in any way by the consecration of its first openly gaybishop. In a newspaper interview, Williams said it is not time for thechurch to accept gay relationships, and that the church should welcome gaysif not their relationships. "I don't believe incluion is a value in itself. Welcome is," Williams told a Dutch journalist. "We don't say 'Come in and we ask no questions.' I do believe conversion means conversion of habits, behaviors, ideas, emotions. Ethics is not a matter of a set of abstractrules, it is a matter of living the mind of Christ. That applies to sexual ethics."
=
http://expressgaynews.com/2006/9-9/news/religion/ribs.cfm
Some calls intensify for parents to avoid 'pro-gay' public schools
NEW YORK (AP) - Led mainly by evangelical Christians, a new movement depicts public education as hostile to religious faith and claims to be behind asurge in the number of students being schooled at home. The movement is ledby such groups as Exodus Mandate and the Alliance for Separation of School &State. One new campaign aims to monitor public schools for whatconservatives see as pro-gay curriculum and programs. "Homeschoolers avoidharmful school environments where God is mocked, where destructive peerinfluence is the norm, where drugs, alcohol, promiscuity and homosexualityare promoted," says the California-based Considering Homeschooling Ministry.
=
The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/print.cfm?content_id=3027
Getting over coming out
Exiting the closet was never a good strategy for winning equality.
Societal problems require collective action.
By JULIE ENSZNER
Sep. 09, 2006
IT'S BEEN A hard conclusion for me to embrace. I organized "Speak Outs" forNational Coming Out Day in the 1990s. I advocated coming out as critical toour liberation.
I've come out to everyone and reveled it in. When I ran out of familymembers, I moved on to dry cleaners and grocery baggers and state senatorsand plumbers and metro passengers. I can't think of a person I haven't told.
Even still, it's come time for me to admit that coming out is a flawedstrategy. In fact, coming out is the wrong strategy for queer liberation.
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French presidential hopeful rules out gay marriage
Same sex couples should not be able to marry or adopt, the leader ofFrance's Union for a Popular Movement ((Union pour un MouvementPopulaire) and potential presidential candidate Nicolas Sarzoky has announced http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-2441.html
07-September-2006
Marc Shoffman
Same sex couples should not be able to marry or adopt, the French interior minister and presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarzoky has announced.
Mr Sarzoky outlined his policies and campaigning strategy in a Frenchmagazine interview this month gearing up for the country's 2007 presidentialelections.
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http://www.washblade.com/2006/9-8/view/columns/macisaac.cfm
Tiptoeing around an epidemic
AIDS infection rates are soaring in Thailand, but conservative U.S.
watchdogs keep gay men at risk.
By VINCENT MACISAAC, Sep. 08, 2006
"I'M FRIGHTENED ENOUGH that talking to you makes me nervous," a seniorofficial at an American health organization tells me in an interview that is- for the most part - off the record.
"I'm an American. We have free speech," he continues, as though this is afact he needs to remind himself.
We're talking about AIDS. Specifically, the epidemic among gay and bisexualmen in Thailand, where infection rates in Bangkok have surged by more than50 percent in two years to a 28.3 percent increase last year, according tostudies by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
What I want to know is whether the U.S. government's "ABC" preventionstrategy - abstinence, be faithful in relationships, and condoms - ishindering efforts to contain this epidemic.
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Moscow gay march organizers call for probe into attack on Bundestag member
08 September 2006, 17:28
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=1968
Moscow, September 8, Interfax - Organizers of the unsanctioned gay pridemarch that took place in Moscow on May 27 have filed an appeal with theMoscow prosecutor's office, which earlier refused to open a criminal caseinto an attack on German Bundestag Member Volker Beck, a participant in theevent.
"Organizers of the gay march protest the decision by the deputy prosecutor
of the Tverskaya inter-district prosecutor's office to refuse to open a
criminal case into the attack on Bundestag member Beck," a statement
published on the GayRussia.ru web site on Friday reads.
"Beck sent an appeal to the Russian Prosecutor's General Office demanding acriminal case be opened against Aleksey Napylov, who said that he does notregret his actions in an interview with the Russian version of the Newsweekjournal," the press release reads.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=123&art_id=qw1155747244653B232
August 16, 2006
Riyadh - Saudi authorities arrested 20 young men after raiding a suspectedgay wedding in the southern town of Jizan, a newspaper reported onWednesday.
The detainees, who were among some 400 men attending "the wedding party oftwo men" on Tuesday, had been "emulating women," the Al-Watan paper said.
In all, some 250 people were detained in the police raid on the party butthe rest were later released.
Police had "arrested the wanted people and released those who have nothingto do with the matter," the paper quoted a police commander as saying.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/8/4/232320.shtml?s=icp
NewsMax.com
Friday, Aug. 4, 2006 11:21 p.m. EDT
Indiana Court Lets Gay Adoption Stand
Indiana's Supreme Court let stand a ruling that allows unmarried couples, including those of the same sex, to adopt children through a joint petition that gives both partners equal custody.
In a 4-1 decision posted Friday, the high court refused to hear arguments in the case. That left in tact the April ruling by the Indiana Court of Appeals, which had overturned a lower court's ruling that state law limits adoption to married couples and individuals.
"The court acknowledged that two people can create a caring, stable, loving home for children without being married," said Patricia Logue, senior counsel for Lambda Legal's Midwest office in Chicago. "Not only is this a decision that will keep our clients' family intact, but this is a victory
for the thousands of children in Indiana desperately in need of a caring home."
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.startribune.com/614/story/664005.html
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Gay activist's book says right has gone wrong
The Rev. Mel White, former Pat Robertson speechwriter turned gay activist, says in a new book that liberals and progressives should aggressively counter Christian fundamentalists' beliefs and actions on issues involving gays.
Pamela Miller, Star Tribune
Last update: September 08, 2006 - 10:28 AM
WHITE TO VISIT MINNESOTA
An unlikely couple often attend services at the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va. -- the Rev. Mel White, a gay activist and author, and his partner, Gary Nixon.
The two attend as a quiet protest against what they view as a dangerous anti-gay agenda pushed by Falwell and other fundamentalist Christians.
White is author of several books, including the memoir "Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay and Christian in America," and founder of Soulforce Inc., an organization that works to end faith-based bias against gays.
The former evangelical pastor, professor and ghostwriter for Billy Graham and Pat Robertson came out in 1994 after years of struggle to reconcile his homosexuality with his conservative Christianity. He argues in his new book, "Religion Gone Bad: The Hidden Dangers of the Christian Right," that fundamentalist beliefs about gays cause suffering and can lead to violence.
The book implores progressives to challenge preachers and politicians who believe the United States would be best ruled by fundamentalist Christian principles.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.southafrica-carhire.com/blog/2006/09/call-for-one-law-on-marriage.html
Call for one law on marriage
Cape Town - The general secretary of the SA Council of Churches, Eddie Makue, has called for a single law governing all forms of marriage, including same-sex unions, rather than the dual legislation proposed by the government.
He made the call in an open letter, released on Thursday, to the chairs of parliament's home affairs and justice portfolio committees.
"Our national history illustrates all too painfully the folly and injustice of creating multiple legal and administrative mechanisms to perform essentially the same functions for different categories of people," he said.
"Separate institutions are rarely, if ever, equal.
Consulted with key figures
"Their chances of achieving equal impact are further reduced if they are embedded in a society that remains afflicted by prejudice and discrimination."
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.gaypeopleschronicle.com/stories06/september/0908063.htm
September 8, 2006
Diversity and ARC Ohio groups denied entry to parade
by Anthony Glassman
Kettering, Ohio--For the second year in a row, an LGBT organization was denied entry into the Holiday at Home parade in this Dayton suburb.
This year, a nationally-recognized HIV prevention program was also barred from marching in the Labor Day parade.Diversity Dayton and the AIDS Resource Center Ohio's Mu Crew both saw their applications to join in the festivities rejected by parade committee.
The Mu Crew, an offshoot of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Mpowerment program, is an HIV prevention and education program that targets young gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning men.
The Mu Crew was recognized by Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin for their efforts in
the area.
Mu Crew coordinator Andrew Hyde said that Holiday at Home, the private group that sponsors
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Michigan Womyn's Fest ends ban on Trans Women
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 21, 2006
CONTACT: Emilia Lombardi, 412-480-4032; Bryn Kelly,
614-352-4782
www.camp-trans.org
Michigan Women's Music Festival ends policy of discrimination against Trans women
After 15 years of controversy, supporters welcome trans women to 'theland'
HART, MICHIGAN - The Michigan Women's Music Festival began admitting openly trans (transgender/transsexual) women last week, bringing success to a longstanding struggle by trans activists both inside and outside the festival.
"Seeing trans women inside the festival for the first time brought me to tears," said Sue Ashman, who attends the festival every year. "It's restored my faith in women's communities."
Ashman said "I have friends who have already committed to bringing themselves and others for the first time next year."
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://newyorklawschool.typepad.com/leonardlink/2006/08/ny_court_says_s.html
NY Court Says State Law Protects Transsexuals from Discrimination
by New York Law School Professor Arthur S. Leonard, August 17, 2006 in Legal Issues
In what appears to be the first such ruling by a New York State court, a Westchester County judge ruled in Buffong v. Castle on the Hudson, anemployment discrimination case, that "transgendered persons" are protectedfrom workplace discrimination by the sex discrimination provision in NewYork State's Human Rights Law.
Justice Joan B. Lefkowitz's August 9 decision, first made public in a NewYork Law Journal article published August 17, does not describe the facts ofthe case, but the Law Journal article reported them based on an interviewwith one of the plaintiff's attorneys, Louis Ginsberg of White Plains.
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?2006/08/18/2
Study warns of skyrocketing HIV rate
Friday, August 18, 2006
SUMMARY: Fifty-eight percent of gay 20-year-olds in the Western world willbe HIV-positive by the time they are 60 if current trends hold, a new studyasserts.
HIV prevalence is set to skyrocket among gay men in the Western world asthey age, a University of Pittsburgh researcher said Thursday at theinternational AIDS conference in Toronto.
The Pittsburgh study, a review of papers published in journals, indicatesthat the number of new cases of HIV has been rising by about 1.9 percenteach year since 2001, meaning that as gay men as a group get older, more andmore of them will become HIV-positive, Agence-France Presse reported.
"Ongoing incidence rates at this level will yield very high HIV prevalencerates within each generation of gay men," University of Pittsburgh researcher Ron Stall told AFP.
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Princeton Review listing of MOST lgbt-friendly colleges
Message-ID: <030901c6c5fe$a818f210$6601a8c0@masterken>
School Name Save Apply Request Info
1 New York University
2 Eugene Lang College/New School University
3 New College of Florida
4 Macalester College
5 College of the Atlantic
Contact rays.list@comcast.net if you would like the full article.
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
<030601c6c5fe$35cbedc0$6601a8c0@masterken>
Princeton Review listing of LEAST lgbt-friendly colleges
Demographics Alternative Lifestyles Not an Alternative
Is there very little discrimination against homosexuals?
School Name Save Apply Request Info
1 University of Notre Dame
2 Hampden-Sydney College
3 Brigham Young University (UT)
4 Wheaton College (IL)
5 College of the Holy Cross
Contact rays.list@comcast.net if you would like the full article.
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Blithe House Quarterly : queer fiction lives here
URL: http://www.blithe.com/
** featured in the January 2005 New York Times article on the literary magazine boom **
Blithe House Quarterly, the leading journal of lesbian and gay literaryfiction, is pleased to open submissions for its Spring 2007 issue.
"*The* journal, online or off, for gay short fiction. Blithe House Quarterlyis one of the best literary sites on the Internet. Period." -- 42opus.com
"Internet-based fiction journals have become a significant force inpublishing, especially for serious short fiction. In Web-only lit journalssuch as Blithe House Quarterly, the short-story form is alive and clicking."
-- Baltimore City Paper
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.washblade.com/2006/8-18/news/national/policy.cfm
DNC rejects affirmative action status for gays
Dean backs compromise 'Inclusion Policy' that satisfies many gay Dems
By LOU CHIBBARO JR, Aug. 18, 2006
After months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, top officials at theDemocratic National Committee last week turned down a proposal by the DNC'sGay & Lesbian Americans Caucus to add gays to the party's affirmative actionrules for selecting delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
DNC officials instead agreed to create a new "inclusion" section to theparty's delegate selection rules that recognizes the "LGBT community andpeople with disabilities" as underrepresented groups within the party.
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20060811-123451-9447r.htm
'Significant' drop in risky sex among teens, study finds
By Joyce Howard Price, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, Published August 11, 2006
The proportion of sexually experienced U.S. high school students fell by 13percent from 1991 to 2005, according to a new federal study that examinedprevalence of HIV-related risk behaviors of teenagers.
The research by epidemiologists for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control andPrevention found that the share of teens who acknowledged ever having hadsexual intercourse dropped from 54.1 percent to 46.8 percent during thatnearly 15-year period.
Among students who said they were sexually active, the study showed a 24percent drop in the proportion of those who said they had experienced fouror more sex partners during their lifetime and a 9 percent decline amongthose who said they were currently sexually active.
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Am. Psychological Assn. to pull its meetings out of Virginia
APA plans to pull its meetings out of Virginia Medical group cites anti-gay
laws, amendment for move to D.C.
By ELIZABETH A. PERRY
Aug. 11, 2006
http://www.washblade.com/print.cfm?content_id=8920
Washington Blade
The American Psychological Association will move its meetings out ofVirginia because of the possible impact of the Affirmation of Marriage Actand a proposed gay marriage ban on its members and their domestic partners.
The APA announced July 21 that governance meetings scheduled to be held inVirginia in 2007 and 2008 will be moved to Washington, D.C.
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http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-pope-gays.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
The New York Times
September 8, 2006
Pope Calls Gay Marriage "Folly, " Warns Politicians
By REUTERS
Filed at 8:58 a.m. ET
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Friday Catholic politicians could not be swayed by opinion polls and social trends into supporting practices such as abortion and the ``folly'' of gay marriage.
The Pope repeated his opposition to abortion and gay marriage in a toughly worded address to visiting bishops from Canada.``In the name of tolerance' your country has had to endure the folly of the redefinition of spouse, and in the name of freedom of choice' it is confronted with the daily destruction of unborn children,'' the Pope said.
``When the Creator's divine plan is ignored the truth of human nature is lost,'' he said.
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://civilliberty.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=civilliberty&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aclu.org%2Fwomensrights%2Fdiscrim%2F26423prs20060810.html
ACLU Challenges Denial of Housing Permit to Unmarried Couple in Black Jack, Missouri
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
8/10/2006
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
ST. LOUIS, MO -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri andthe ACLU Women's Rights Project filed a lawsuit today on behalf of a familythat was denied a permit to live in the city of Black Jack because of a lawthat prohibits more than three people from living together unless they arerelated by "blood, marriage or adoption."
"The City of Black Jack's behavior is both pompous and unconstitutional,"said Brenda Jones, Executive Director of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri."Black Jack's attempt to criminalize people's choice to live together as afamily has earned international ridicule for Missouri."
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To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Houston Chronicle, TX, August 14, 2006
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/4114566.html
Gay foster families sought
Counseling center hopes to keep gay teens from street life By SARAH VIREN,
sarah.viren@chron.com
Elana Arthur inhales smoke, exhales, then explains:
"My mom kicked me out when I was 14 because I was a lesbian."
Her black hair is cropped short, her eyes serious. Across the street is her latest home: the Covenant House, a Montrose-area youth shelter.
The 21-year-old has flirted with homelessness for the past sevenyears: first at a foster home, from which she ran away, then a family home,where she said she was sexually abused and later moving from couch to couchat friends' and girlfriends' residences.
Now she is trying to remake her life at a homeless shelter.
Blocks from where she stands, smoking on the street corner, a Houston gayadvocacy organization has drafted a plan to save youths like Arthur - orlike Arthur seven years ago - from the streets.
The idea - to recruit gay and gay-friendly parents to the foster care system- comes amid debates about caregiving by gays and lesbians. At least onestate, Florida, outlaws adoption by this segment of the population, andothers, including Texas, recently debated stopping them from serving asfoster parents.
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To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
By Deb Price
The Detroit News
August 14, 2006
Michigan colleges among most gay friendly
W hen freshman Jen Hsu arrived at the University of Michigan twoyears ago, her first stop was at Gayz Craze, a picnic for gaystudents noted in the welcoming handbook.
That gay-affirming introduction to college life, Hsu recalls, gother off to a great start -- personally and academically: She jumpedinto gay activities, eventually becoming one of the most familiar lesbian faces on campus as co-chairwoman of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs Commission, which is part of the student assembly.
"I feel really supported and really happy with who I am here," Hsu says. "I'd hate to think about what I would feel like without all the support."
At U-M, gay students can participate in a 10-week coming outworkshop; skate on "Flames on Ice" night; and speed date, gettingacquainted with other gay singles on five-minute "mini dates."
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http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid35700.asp
August 17, 2006 A tale of persecution in Iran
Maryam knew she was a lesbian from an early age, but in Iran, being gay ispunishable by death. Facing far more than parental disapproval, she waskicked out of school, fired from a job, imprisoned, and tortured, all in anunsuccessful effort to change her sexual orientation. Finally, she escapedto France, where her asylum request was still pending at press time.
By Doug Ireland
In this international exclusive, a lesbian victim of torture in the IslamicRepublic of Iran speaks on the record for the first time about the horrorsshe suffered at the hands of a regime that has made homosexuality illegaland punishable by death. Maryam, 25, was expelled from school, forciblyhospitalized, arrested, and tortured for being a lesbian before finallyescaping Iran. She eventually wound up in France, where she currently livesin an internment camp. Although she's filed an application for asylum as asexual refugee, given the conservative French government's new crackdown onillegal immigrants, Maryam could be deported back to Iran at any moment. "I
don't know what I will do if the French government sends me back to where myexecution pillar is awaiting me!" she says. Doug Ireland spoke to her by phone, aided by a Persian translator, from Paris, where she had traveled for a day to file documents for her asylum request. Here, in her own words, is Maryam's story.
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Hi Everyone,
We will be sending out a more official update to our current outreach tripshortly. Its a little hard to find the time and internet connectionsometimes on the road.
As most of you know already, we still need about $6500.00 for this tripwhich lasts through September 26.
Last Tuesday, we held an educational forum hosted by PFLAGStanislaus/Modesto, CA. It is not typical for the Outreach Team to betreated to dinner before a presentation but Cathy and Dean Jennisonprovided a wonderful dinner for us which was greatly appreciated. Withour budget constraints we rarely eat anything other than cheap fast food.
It was also announced that the chapter had decided to donate $1000.00 toHeartStrong. This is the single largest donation to HeartStrong from anyPFLAG chapter in the ten year history of our work. It is also the secondlargest donation to HeartStrong from any other organization.
It was such an encouragement to receive this donation from Stanislaus PFLAG. Their commitment to support the work of HeartStrong was both encouraging and energizing.
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A Message from Marc Adams of HeartStrong
Hi Everyone,
Here we are in toasty Phoenix. It's been a while since I lived here andits easy to forget about dry heat.
At any rate, our outreach trip is going well. We've been on the road nowfor two weeks. We held five educational forums so far (four in CA and one in AZ).
We've been delivering some of our outreach materials to some of thereligious themed entertainment venues here in PHX in hopes that ourmessage might reach someone. We've made a few church visits...churchesthat sponsor religious schools. Since school isnt quite in yet, we'vegone into some churches to leave our materials. We've visited oneSeventh-day Adventist, two Baptist and one Catholic church so far.
I will continue to keep you updated on how things are going. As youalready know we are still in need of about $5,000.00 for this trip. Asalways, you can make a donation online at http://www.heartstrong.org or by mailing a check to HeartStrong, PO Box 2051, Seattle WA 98111. We needyour help!
Please contact rays.list@comcast.net if you would like the full article.
#####
Friday, September 08, 2006
FLORIDA DIGEST September 8, 2006
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
=
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.
=
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?
=
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."
=
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.
=
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.
=
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!
=
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.
#####
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.
=
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.
=
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.
=
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.
=
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."
=
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.
=
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.
=
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.
=
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.
=
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.
=
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.
=
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?
=
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."
=
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.
=
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.
=
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!
=
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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