~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Newark-Episcopal-Bishop.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
September 23, 2006
Newark Episcopal Diocese to Pick Bishop
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 4:39 a.m. ET
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- The Episcopal Diocese of Newark was voting for a new bishop Saturday, with an openly gay priest among the six candidates.
The election in the historically liberal diocese comes at a time when divisions over the Bible and sexuality are threatening the denomination and the worldwide Anglican family.
A win by Canon Michael Barlowe, 51, would put the diocese at the center of a
crisis over whether Anglicans who disagree about ordaining gays can stay in the same fellowship.
The election will determine the replacement for Bishop John Palmer Croneberger, who is resigning to spend more time with his ill wife, said the Rev. Sandye Wilson, a spokeswoman for the diocese. The winner will become the diocese's 10th bishop. The bishop will be chosen Saturday by 339 lay people and nearly 200 clergy from the diocese, which serves about 35,000 people in seven northern New Jersey counties.
He or she must then be approved nationally by diocesan standing committees, which are panels of local lay people and clergy similar to a board of directors, and a majority of the more than 100 Episcopal bishops who lead U.S. dioceses.
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http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/09/092206zimbabwe.htm
Gays Barred From UN Sponsored Zimbabwe Human Rights Meeting
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
September 22, 2006 - 3:00 pm ET
(Harare) The Zimbabwean government has banned gays and lesbians fromparticipating in a United Nations sponsored meeting between the governmentand human rights groups.
The 3-day meeting taking place in Kariba was organized following UN concernsabout human rights abuses in the African nation.The meetings are expected to lay the groundwork for an independent HumanRights Commission in Zimbabwe.
NANGOs - the National Association of Non Governmental Organizations - anumbrella group which represents minorityorganizations in Zimbabwe and a key component of any human rights commissionsays it was told by the government of PresidentRobert Mugabe that the Gay and Lesbian Association of Zimbabwe could notattend.
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http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/09/092206sandiego.htm
Trio Change Pleas In San Diego Gay Pride Attacks
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
September 23, 2006 - 12:01 am ET
(San Diego, California) Three men accused of brutal attacks on men leavingSan Diego's gay pride festival last July changed their pleas to guilty Friday after two days of damning testimony.
James Carroll, Lyonn Tatum, and Kenneth Lincoln will be sentenced on Monday.
Six men were attacked as they left Balboa Park where San Diego's gay pridewas being held on July 29. The victims were tauntedwith homophobic remarks then beaten.
At least two of the victims were struck by a baseball bat. One victim,Oscar Foster, is expected to be released from hospital next week followingreconstructive surgery on his face. He was struck nearly a dozen times withan aluminum bat.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/health/sfl-rxaids23sep23,0,346318.story
AIDS activists urge more funds for treatment
By Bob LaMendola
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Health Writer
September 23, 2006
Minority AIDS activists meeting in Hollywood praised federal healthofficials Friday for urging routine HIV tests for everyone ages 13 to 64 butsaid the government failed to back up the move with more money forprevention and treatment.
"Testing without treatment is amoral," Phill Wilson, executive director ofthe Black AIDS Institute, told an audience at the United States Conferenceon AIDS, taking place through Monday in Hollywood.
"What good does it do to tell people they have HIV if we can't treat them?"Wilson said. "If we don't spend the money to prevent them from getting HIV,when they test positive, we have failed them."
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Thursdaythat HIV tests be made a routine part of medical checkups that would be doneunless the person explicitly refused it.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/world/europe/23wowereit.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
September 23, 2006
The Saturday Profile
Berlin Mayor, Symbol of Openness, Has National Appeal
By MARK LANDLER
BERLIN
FRESH from his never-in-doubt re-election as Berlin's mayor, Klaus Wowereit was soaking up the vibe at Popkomm, a music-industry trade show where the conventioneers favor fishnet stockings and motorcycle boots. In short: a typical Berlin scene.
It is Mr. Wowereit's kind of scene, too, though the sunny, 52-year-old mayor was trying hard to look statesmanlike as he toured the floor with a scrum of television cameras. Famous for once being photographed at a party sipping Champagne from an actress's red pump, Mr. Wowereit politely declined the bubbly offered by the organizers, drinking water instead.
Only when he spied a bank of headphones did the mayor break into a grin. Strapping on a pair, he bobbed his head to a new release by the American hip-hopper Lupe Fiasco. Later, Mr. Wowereit, whose nickname is Wowi, confided that his favorite pop singer was Madonna.
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http://www.365gay.com/opinion/Libby/Libby.htm
Commonwealth For The Common Good
by Libby Post
Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell are headquartered there. State legislatorsconsidered creating anti-gay marriage license plates there.The state's attorney general has declared that the governor doesn't have theauthority to include sexual orientation in an executive order protectingstate employees there.
Where is there? The state of Virginia--where a battle royale is shaping upover the upcoming vote on a proposed amendment to the state constitution toban same-sex marriage.
I had previously written that passing that ban was a slam dunk witheverything over but the shouting. Now, I'm not so sure.
The coalition of groups fighting the amendment which would not only bansame-sex marriage but also civil union and quite possiblyany type of domestic partner benefits are raising more money to supporttheir effort than the anti folks at a rate of two to one according toVirginia State Board of Elections filings.
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From Wayne Besen
http://www.truthwinsout.org/
TRUTH WINS OUT CALLS ON FOCUS ON THE FAMILY TO DROP THERAPIST AS CONFERENCE SPEAKER AFTER HIS GROUP JUSTIFIES SLAVERY
In Letter, National Black Justice Coalition Urges Dr. Joseph Nicolosi To Apologize For His Organization's Divisive Article
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - Truth Wins Out called on Focus on the Family today tocancel a Saturday keynote speaking appearance by Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, theExecutive Director of The National Association for Research and Therapy ofHomosexuality (NARTH), after a column was discovered on the group's websitethat appeared to justify slavery.
The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) also wrote a letter to Dr.Nicolosi this afternoon, calling on his organization to apologize forposting the article. NBJC is a national civil rights organization of blacklesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people that fosters equality byfighting racism and homophobia.
"In the name of propriety, respect, common decency and professionalintegrity, the National Black Justice Coalition strongly urges NARTH toissue a public apology on the front page of its website for publishing suchan outrageous and offensive article," wrote H. Alexander RobinsonCEO/Executive Director in the group's letter. "We also hope that youreevaluate your relationship with Dr. Schoenewolf whose peculiar views haveno place in civilized discourse."
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?2006/09/21/2
S. Korea picks gay film for Oscar contention
Thursday, September 21, 2006 / 11:04 AM
SUMMARY: "King and the Clown," about a male clown caught between the love of a despotic ruler and a fellow performer, is the country's No. 2 all-time hit.
South Korea has selected a gay-themed movie that became an unexpected domestic box-office hit to put forward as its candidate for best foreign film at the U.S. Academy Awards, the country's state-run film agency said Thursday in Seoul.
"King and the Clown," a tale by director Lee Jun-ik about a male clown caught between the affections of a despotic king and the love of a fellow performer, is the No. 2 film in all-time ticket sales in South Korea. It only lost the top spot this month to "The Host," a thriller about a family's fight against a mutant monster.
The Korean Film Council said it reviewed the two films and another, "Time," by internationally renowned director Kim Ki-duk, and decided to pick "King and the Clown" because it was believed to have a better chance of winning an Oscar nomination. Nominated films are scheduled to be announced in January, the council said. A Korean film has never been nominated for an Academy Award.(AP)
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2006/09/20/exxonmobil-not-a-gay-friendly-workplace/
ExxonMobil: NOT a gay-friendly workplace
Posted Sep 20th 2006 12:25PM by Michael Fowlkes
Filed under: Other issues, Bad news, Management, Apple Computer (AAPL), Dell (DELL), Time Warner (TWX), Ford Motor (F), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Employees
ExxonMobil, says the Human Rights Campaign, is a big zero. A new report out from HRC, the nation's largest lesbian and gay political organization, scores American companies on how well they are reaching out to their gay and lesbian workforce, and ExxonMobil finds itself at the bottom of the list.
According to the report from HRC, companies are scored in handful of areas. For a company to receive a perfect score they must demonstrate that they have policies in place for banning discrimination based on sexual orientation, they must provide partner benefits, offer diversity training, and advertise to the gay community. Several companies that we follow closely on BloggingStocks scored perfect 100's in the report. They include Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), Apple Computer Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL). Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX) came in with an 85 score.
As For ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM)... well, the picture isn't so pretty. Exxon managed to be one of only three companies in the report that came in with a score of zero. Why the poor score? The company did not even offer minimal benefits or workplace protection for gay employees.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52052
America's pro-homosexual giants: 2006
List of companies scoring perfect 100 percent from 'gay'-rights group
Posted: September 20, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
Below is the list of companies scoring a perfect 100 percent on the HumanRights Campaign's 2006 Corporate Equality Index, with policies beneficialtoward homosexuals:
Adobe Systems
Aetna
Agere Systems
Agilent Technologies
Allianz Life Insurance
Alston & Bird
American Express
AMR Corp. (American Airlines)
Anheuser-Busch
Apple Computer
Arnold & Porter
AT&T
Avaya
Bain & Company
Bank of America
Bausch & Lomb
Bell South
Best Buy
Boeing
BP America
Bright Horizons Family Solutions
Bristol-Myers Squibb
California State Automobile Association
Capital One Financial
Cargill
more.....
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.washblade.com/2006/9-22/view/editorial/editorial.cfm
EDITORIAL | washingtonblade.com
You've got hate mail
Gays should empathize with other minority groups. Instead, I received death threats after writing about my Palestinian father.
By MUBARAK DAHIR
Sep. 22, 2006
THE ONLY GOOD ARAB is a dead Arab."
I knew I was going to get this e-mail, or something similar, long before I opened it casually one recent afternoon at work as I was sorting through my regular deluge of electronic correspondence.
It was hardly the only such letter I received in response to an editorial I wrote several weeks ago detailing my two-decades-long struggle with my Palestinian father over my sexual orientation.
Despite my very difficult history with my father, Sabir - who I haven't seen in 17 years - I still worry about him becoming a casualty of war, as he currently lives in the West Bank, part of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian Territories.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5368300.stm
Gay Italians defy Vatican power
By Charis Dunn-Chan
Rome
Muslim fury at Pope Benedict XVI over his comments on Islam has overshadowed another sensitive issue involving the Vatican - the question of gay rights in Italy.
Gay marriage is already legal in several European countries, including traditionally Catholic Spain.
But the Pope has said gay marriage would "obscure the value and function of the legitimate family".
Italian rights activists say the Vatican - a state within a state - has used its power to block reforms it deems to be contrary to Catholic teaching.
They point to the Vatican's influence on a referendum on fertility last year. The call to ease Italy's strict fertility laws failed after the Church had urged voters to boycott it.
Vatican opposition
The Vatican is hostile to moves to give gay people civil marriage rights.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.washblade.com/2006/9-22/news/national/boycott.cfm
Washington Blade
NATIONAL NEWS | washingtonblade.com
Mich. politician criticized over ties to Ford boycott Automaker is one of state's largest employers
By LOU CHIBBARO JR
Sep. 22, 2006
A conservative foundation for which the wife of Republican gubernatorial candidate Richard DeVos of Michigan serves as vice president gave money to an anti-gay group that has organized a boycott of the Ford Motor Company.
News of the DeVos family's ties to a foundation that contributed funds to the American Family Association, which called on consumers to boycott Ford because of Ford's support for gay rights causes, surfaced at a time when DeVos has pledged to reverse Michigan's high rate of unemployment.
"If DeVos claims he wants to bring jobs to Michigan, why is his family trying to put one of Michigan's largest companies out of business?" asked Sean Kosofsky, director of policy for the Triangle Foundation, Michigan's largest gay rights group. The AFA announced its call for a Ford boycott on May 31, 2005, saying it was aimed at forcing Ford to end its advertising in gay publications, its gay-supportive workplace policies, and its sponsorship of Gay Pride festivals.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.gaywired.com/article.cfm?section=9&id=10721
Historic Resolution for LGBT Rights Adopted Overwhelmingly at National Meeting of Latino/a Organizations
09.20.06
(Washington, D.C.) - The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has applauded the National Latino Congreso for the passage of a historic resolution calling for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights equality and civil rights protections. The resolution was adopted at the Latino/a community gathering earlier this month in Los Angeles, CA. The Task Force also praises the work of the many Latino/a LGBT activists and allies who promoted this resolution, including Bienestar, Equality California, Lambda Legal and the Latino Coalition for Justice-Los Angeles.
"The passage of this historic resolution brings new meaning to the concept of 'familia' for the Latino community," said Matt Foreman, the Task Force's executive director. "The acknowledgment behind this resolution is that no one should be left behind and that when the Latino community speaks about 'familia,' it is talking about embracing everyone, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Latinos. We are deeply grateful to the activists and organizations that made possible this resolution and we honor the courage of the Latino Congreso in putting out such a powerful statement to the Latino community."
"True equality, full justice and our community's well-being can only be achieved through a unified front," said Oscar De La O, president and CEO of Bienestar. "As an organization that advocates for Latinos, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Latinos, we are pleased to see that the broader Latino community is placing the well-being of all Latinos on the agenda."
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Link to Daily Show - Gay Watch
Have a look... it's from YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FULd92phP1Q
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjYiEc92dVw
Link to Video Description
Daily Show examination of Massachusetts, 1 year after passing the gaymarriage bill.
#####
Saturday, September 23, 2006
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST September 23, 2006
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/23/ap/politics/printableD8KA8T000.shtml
Dean Expedites Courting of Black Vote
DETROIT, Sep. 23, 2006
(AP) The Democratic Party can no longer sit back and wait until three weeksbefore an election to ask minorities for their vote, Democratic NationalCommittee Chairman Howard Dean said Friday.
"In many ways, the Democratic Party hasn't moved itself out of the '60s and'70s," Dean said in remarks to the DNC's African-American Leadership Summit,which is aimed at mobilizing black voters and encouraging more minoritycandidates for state offices.
"If we don't get smart about having folks on the ticket that look like thepeople whose votes were asking for, in meaningful positions of authority,then we're not going to win. And the party that gets to do that first is theparty that's going to win," Dean said.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/world/23aid.html?ei=5040&en=9d64eadf56f86706&ex=1159675200&partner=MOREOVERNEWS&pagewanted=print
September 23, 2006
Clinton Effort Reaps Pledges of $7.3 Billion in Global Aid
By CELIA W. DUGGER
A Sheraton hotel in Midtown Manhattan was the scene of feverish matchmakingover the past three days during Bill Clinton's second annual gathering onglobal problems.
Only those who promised to do something concrete about poverty, disease,conflict or climate change were invited. The entry fee for aspiringphilanthropists was $15,000. Hundreds lined up for the privilege.
In cafes, hallways and conference rooms, some of the many rich people Mr.Clinton has gotten to know over the years - and others he has never met orknows only as acquaintances - brainstormed with leaders of nonprofit groups,African health ministers and others who had their own plentiful ideas abouthow to put that wealth to work.
Kathy Sloane, a real estate broker with a cream-colored Chanel bag danglingon her arm, listened intently at workshops on global warming and religiousand ethnic conflict.
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http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20060923&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=609230322&SectionCat=&Template=printart
Saturday, September 23, 2006
'Values Voters' Back in Spotlight
By ADELLE M. BANKS
Religion News Service
WASHINGTON -- With the primaries concluded and the general election looming,the question in Washington seems to be: Will the real values voter pleasestand up?
As conservative Christian groups gear up for their "Values Voters Summit" inthe nation's capital this weekend, critics on the liberal end of thespectrum are hosting events to say they have values too.
"We love the same God, read the same Bible and all aspire to follow the sameChrist," said the Rev. Robert Franklin, an Emory University professor andmember of the newly formed Red Letter Christians, which is named for thered-colored words of Jesus in many Bibles.
Rather than focusing only on abortion and homosexuality, voters also careabout issues like poverty, racial discrimination and HIV/AIDS, saysupporters of progressive groups like Sojourners/Call to Renewal, Catholicsin Alliance for the Common Good and Faith in Public Life.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15592338.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Sep. 23, 2006
Abbas: Effort on gov't is 'back to zero'
MAGGIE MICHAEL
Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt - Efforts to form a Palestinian government acceptable to theWest have gone "back to zero," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas saidSaturday, a day after Hamas said a coalition government that recognizesIsrael is unacceptable.
The Islamic militant group has ruled alone since March, but this monthagreed to share power with Abbas' moderate Fatah Party in hopes of ending acrippling international aid boycott of the Palestinian Authority.
The Hamas-Fatah coalition deal sidestepped recognition of Israel. Instead,it said the government would seek to establish a Palestinian state alongsideIsrael, which implies recognition. However, the U.S. and Israel demanded aclear commitment from Hamas on the subject, and Abbas was forced to revisitthe issue.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/15590222.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Sep. 23, 2006
TRANSITION IN IRAQ
Chaos imperils women, religious sects
Law and order is breaking down in Iraq as militias, death squads and others take the law into their own hands. Women and religious minorities are among those vulnerable.
BY MARK BRUNSWICK
McClatchy News Service
BAGHDAD - A new report on human-rights violations in Iraq documents how devastatingly easy it is to die here -- and how increasingly difficult it is to live.
The report, prepared by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, said a breakdown of law and order threatens the fabric of life. Militias, death squads, organized crime and people who are ''taking the law into their own hands'' are filling the vacuum left by a central government incapable of providing stability.
The report documented how perilous everyday life is in Iraq for lawyers, journalists, police recruits, travelers and street vendors.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/22/AR2006092201404_pf.html
Afghan Girls, Back in the Shadows
Home Classes Proliferate as Anti-Government Insurgents Step Up Attacks on
Schools
By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, September 23, 2006; A10
SHEIKHABAD, Afghanistan -- In a small, sunlit parlor last week, 20 little girls seated on rush mats sketched a flower drawn on the blackboard. In a darker interior room, 15 slightly older girls memorized passages from the Koran, reciting aloud. Upstairs was a class of teenage girls, hidden from public view.
The location of the mud-walled home school is semi-secret. Its students
include five girls who once attended another home school nearby that was torched three months ago. The very existence of home-based classes is a direct challenge to anti-government insurgents who have attacked dozens of schools across Afghanistan in the past year, especially those that teach girls.
"We are scared. All the home schools are scared. If I even hear a dog bark, I don't open the gate. I go up on the roof to see who is there," said Mohammed Sulieman, 49, who operates home schools for girls in several villages in the Sheikhabad district of Wardak province.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/22/AR2006092201444_pf.html
In Iraq, a Journalist in Limbo
By Tom Curley
Saturday, September 23, 2006; A19
Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi photographer who helped the Associated Press win a Pulitzer Prize last year, is now in his sixth month in a U.S. Army prison in Iraq. He doesn't understand why he's there, and neither do his AP colleagues.
The Army says it thinks Bilal has too many contacts among insurgents. He has taken pictures the Army thinks could have been made only with the connivance of insurgents. So Bilal himself must be one, too, or at least a sympathizer.
It is a measure of just how dangerous and disorienting Iraq has become that suspicions such as these are considered adequate grounds for locking up a man and throwing away the key.
After more than five months of trying to bring Bilal's case into the daylight, AP is now convinced the Army doesn't care whether Bilal is or isn't an insurgent. The Army doesn't have to care. Bilal is off the street, and the military says it doesn't consider itself accountable to any judicial authority that could question his guilt.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/us/23legal.html?ei=5094&en=48fa1d71c13d8435&hp=&ex=1159070400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
September 23, 2006
News Analysis
Detainee Deal Comes With Contradictions
By ADAM LIPTAK
The compromise reached on Thursday between Congressional Republicans and the White House on the interrogations and trials of terrorism suspects is, legal experts said yesterday, a series of interlocking paradoxes.
It would impose new legal standards that it forbids the courts to enforce.
It would guarantee terrorist masterminds charged with war crimes an array of procedural protections. But it would bar hundreds of minor figures and people who say they are innocent bystanders from access to the courts to challenge their potentially lifelong detentions.
And while there is substantial disagreement about just which harsh interrogation techniques the compromise would prohibit, there is no dispute that it would allow military prosecutors to use statements that had been obtained under harsh techniques that are now banned.
The complex, technical and often ambiguous language in the 94-page measure was a subject of debate, posturing and, perhaps, some wishful thinking yesterday. Each side in the hard-fought negotiations - the White House and the three opposing Republican senators - declared victory.
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The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/09/23/playing_shell_games_on_responsibility_with_iraq?mode=PF
Playing shell games on responsibility with Iraq
By Derrick Z. Jackson | September 23, 2006
THE SAME White House that trashed generals and bean counters for saying it would take hundreds of thousands of more troops and billions more dollars to secure Iraq is now blaming the puppet government for not securing the country.
The blame is arriving through one of those senior- administration- official-speaking -on- background" whisper campaigns. One such official told The New York Times that President Bush is peeved at Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq. ``The thing you hear the most is that he never makes any decisions," the official said. ``And that drives Bush crazy. He doesn't take well to anyone who talks about getting something accomplished and then refuses to take the first step."
In the Los Angeles Times, a Bush official said that the White House is getting ``frustrated. . . . There is a little bit of impatience." Another official said Maliki's get-tough-on-violence ``rhetoric has to be matched by concrete action . . . acting on the ground on its own behalf."
While his minions cut the knees out from under Maliki, Bush himself acts like the general manager of a sports team who declares he has full confidence in the coach during a losing season. Bush said on CNN, ``I'm impressed by President Maliki. I've talked to him. I've seen the decision-making process that he's put in place." White House press secretary Tony Snow continues to declare that reports of Bush losing faith in Maliki are ``absolutely false."
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The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2006/09/23/a_toturous_compromise?mode=PF
GLOBE EDITORIAL
A toturous compromise
September 23, 2006
JOHN MCCAIN and two other Republican senators rebelled last week against President Bush's bid to pass rules for interrogating and trying terrorism suspects that violate the Geneva Conventions, but the senators have now agreed to a compromise that leaves the conventions on life support at best. Under the deal struck Thursday, the Geneva rules on abusive interrogations are not formally rewritten. Yet Bush -- who undercut McCain's own 2005 anti torture law with a signing statement -- is granted the right, an aide said, to permit methods that he will not have to disclose.
One of the three senators, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, says he thinks the compromise will forbid the use of ``waterboarding," or simulated drowning, but that's not certain. Unless Congress wants to set a precedent for other countries to use in mistreating US troops in future conflicts, it should insist that interrogations be conducted in accordance with the Army's field manual and that any special trial commissions use the military's court-martial procedures, which are sound.
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Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/09/23/congress_in_dark_on_terror_program?mode=PF
Congress in dark on terror program
Few briefed on CIA interrogation
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | September 23, 2006
WASHINGTON -- As lawmakers prepare to debate the CIA's special interrogation program for terrorism suspects, fewer than 10 percent of the members of Congress have been told which interrogation techniques have been used in the past, and none of them know which ones would be permissible under proposed changes to the War Crimes Act.
Only about 40 of the 535 senators and representatives -- the top members of leadership in both parties, members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, and a small handful of others -- have been briefed on the past practices of the CIA program, which permits more aggressive interrogation tactics than those used by other agencies.
The lack of consultation means that senators and representatives will be voting next week to authorize a program that most know little about, raising questions about Congress's oft-repeated vow to increase its oversight of the war on terrorism.
``You're not having any checks and balances here," said Norman J. Ornstein,
a resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. ``It
sure doesn't look to me as if they stood up and did anything other than bare their teeth for some ceremonial barking, before giving the president a whole lot of leeway. I find it really troubling."
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http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/09/092206hiv.htm
Roche Allows 3 African Companies To Produce Anti-HIV Drug
by The Associated Press
September 22, 2006 - 7:00 pm ET
(Basel, Switzerland) Pharmaceutical company Roche Holding AG said Friday it will help three African companies produce one of its anti-HIV drugs.
Roche will provide the companies - Aspen Pharmacare in South Africa, Cosmos Ltd. and Universal Corp. in Kenya - with the technical assistance necessaryto produce saquinavir, the active ingredient in the Swiss-basedpharmaceutical's Invirase treatment.
The three companies will produce the drug in Africa and will be allowed toexport it to other developing countries.
``It is both encouraging and heartening that local African manufacturers aretaking steps to increase their capacity to produce and provide HIV medicineslocally,'' said Lembit Rago, a medicine expert at the World HealthOrganization.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/opinion/23sat2.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
September 23, 2006
Editorial
A Bad Court-Splitting Plan
The Senate held hearings this week on a proposal to split the SanFrancisco-based United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in two.The idea is being promoted as a way to reduce the court workload. The NinthCircuit is very large and busy, but the proposal would actually do little tosolve the overload problem. Its real aim is not efficiency, but aconservative, anti-environmental agenda.
The Ninth Circuit, which covers nine Western states plus Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, is the largest of the nation's federal judicialcircuits. The reason is simple: California. With the state's enormousgrowth, the number of cases presented to the Ninth Circuit has also grownrapidly, although there is no evidence that the court has been unable tohandle its work.
If Congress wanted to help, it would divide California into two differentcircuits. But instead, it is considering a bill that would put Californiaand Hawaii into a "new" Ninth Circuit, which would have more than 70 percentof the court's current caseload, while putting the remaining states in anewly created 12th Circuit. To make matters worse, the new Ninth Circuitwould get less than 60 percent of the allotment of permanent judges.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/opinion/23sat4.html?pagewanted=print
September 23, 2006
Editorial
Punishing Refugees Twice
America's excellent record of giving refuge to the persecuted is flagging - and one of the biggest barriers seems to have arisen inadvertently.
In their haste, Congressional authors of the Patriot Act and its sister RealID provision tucked a clause into the immigration laws barring entry toanyone who has provided "material support" to a terrorist organization. Whocould argue with barring people who have aided terrorists?
But the Bush administration has chosen to interpret "material support" toinclude people who act under duress - someone pressed at gunpoint to supplya glass of water, or forced to dig graves or pay ransom for a kidnappedchild, or held hostage in her home (and thus provided shelter toterrorists). The result is to victimize these people twice.
The law's definition of a terrorist group - two or more people who take uparms against a state - also makes no allowance for motive. Members of theVietnamese Montagnards and Cuban Alzados - groups created by the UnitedStates that remain staunch supporters - are now blocked from entry.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/22/AR2006092201439_pf.html
The War of the Hacks
By Colbert I. King
Saturday, September 23, 2006; A19
It's amazing what a few days away from this politics-obsessed town can dofor one's perspective. Seen from afar, the congressional debate over the warand terrorism comes across as a Washington event designed to show thatDemocrats are wimps on national security and to boost Republicans as truedefenders of the homeland. Or Republicans are portrayed as clueless warmongers hell-bent on sending other people's sons and daughters intobattle.
In reality, the struggle on Capitol Hill is not about terrorism. It's aboutgaining and holding power in the fall election. And it is a disgusting sightto behold.
Only five years after a horrifying new reality crashed into America, thepolitical parties have lost sight of the nation's interests. Now it's allabout getting elected.
=
The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/opinion/23dowd.html?pagewanted=print
September 23, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
Axis of Sketchy Allies
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON
It helps to plug your book at the White House.
At a news conference with President Bush, Pervez Musharraf was asked about his claim on "60 Minutes" that Richard Armitage had threatened to bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age if it did not cooperate in routing the Taliban in Afghanistan. After coyly sidestepping the question, saying he had to save such juicy tidbits for his book's publication next week, he shot up over 1,000 spots on Amazon.com.
General Musharraf told Steve Kroft he found the Stone Age crack "very rude,'' and Mr. Armitage was on the defensive yesterday, explaining that he had been tough with Pakistan just after 9/11 but had not made any Flintstones threats.
The former deputy to Colin Powell needn't apologize. That was the last time our foreign policy was on track, when we were pursuing the real enemy. It's all been downhill from there.
The Pakistan president is a smooth operator, a military dictator cruising around the capital with his elegant wife and enormous security contingent, talking about how much he likes democracy, which he won't yet allow.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/opinion/23sat1.html?pagewanted=print
September 23, 2006
Editorial
Turning Back the Clock on Rape
In recent decades, women's advocates and human rights activists have made huge progress on the issues of rape and sexual assault - in the United States and globally. Both crimes are now more powerfully defined in state and federal laws. In international law, where rape and sexual assault have long been classified as torture and war crimes, the world has begun to accept the importance of enforcement. In 1998, a tribunal convicted a paramilitary chief for watching one of his men rape a woman in Serbia. A year ago, the world rose up in outrage when United Nations peacekeepers raped women in Congo.
You'd think this was a settled issue. But it's been opened up again in the bill on jailing, interrogating and trying terror suspects that President Bush is trying to ram through Congress in a pre-election rush. Both the White House and Senate versions contain provisions on rape and sexual assault that turn back the clock alarmingly. They are among the many flaws that must be fixed before Congress can responsibly pass this legislation.
Rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse are mentioned twice in the bill - once as crimes that could be prosecuted before military tribunals if committed by an "illegal enemy combatant," and once as "grave breaches" of the Geneva Conventions that could be prosecuted as war crimes if committed by an American against a detainee. But in each case, the wording creates new and disturbing loopholes.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/washington/23detain.html?pagewanted=print
September 23, 2006
Differences Settled in Deal Over Detainee Treatment
By KATE ZERNIKE and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 - After weeks of internal wrangling over legislation to interrogate and prosecute terrorism suspects, Republicans on Friday put aside their differences, setting the House and Senate on a path to approve a compromise struck with the White House before lawmakers break to campaign for the midterm elections.
The House leader who on Thursday had been the only Republican to raise objections to the deal between Senate Republicans and the White House said Friday that he decided he liked the compromise legislation even better than the bill his committee had passed.
"The new provisions are excellent," said the leader, Representative Duncan Hunter, the California Republican who is chairman of the Armed Services Committee. "I like them."
Mr. Hunter, whose committee had endorsed a bill looking much like what the White House had initially proposed, said that although he was still reading the compromise, he believed that the House and the Senate could agree on a common bill, eliminating the need for a conference between the two, and making it possible to win final passage in the five days before Congress adjourns for the midterms.
=
Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060921.wmushareff21/BNStory/International/?cid=al_gam_nletter_newsUp
Musharraf: U.S. threatened to bomb Pakistan 'into stone age'
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan says the United States threatened to bomb his country back to the Stone Age after the 9-11 attacks if he did not help America's war on terror.
Mr. Musharraf says the threat was delivered by Richard Armitage, then the deputy secretary of state, to Mr. Musharraf's intelligence director, the Pakistani leader told CBS-TV's 60 Minutes.
"The intelligence director told me that (Armitage) said, 'Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age,"' Mr. Musharraf said in the interview to be shown Sunday on the CBS television network.
It was insulting, Mr. Musharraf said. "I think it was a very rude remark," he told reporter Steve Kroft.
But, Mr. Musharraf said he reacted responsibly. "One has to think and take actions in the interests of the nation and that is what I did," he said.
=
Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-922pakistanstoneage,0,6290844.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
White House denies it threatened to bomb ally Pakistan back to 'the Stone Age'
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press
September 22, 2006, 4:15 PM EDT
WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Friday he was ``taken aback'' by apurported U.S. threat to bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age if it did notcooperate in the fight against terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks.
He praised Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf for being one of thefirst foreign leaders to come out after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to standwith the U.S. to ``help root out an enemy.''
At a joint White House news conference, Musharraf said a peace treatybetween his government and tribes along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border isnot meant to support the Taliban.
He said news reports had mischaracterized the deals. ``The deal is not atall with the Taliban. This deal is against the Taliban. This deal is withthe tribal elders,'' Musharraf said.
Said Bush: ``I believe him.''
He said that Musharraf had looked him in the eye and vowed that ``the tribaldeal is intended to reject the Talibanization of the people and that therewon't be a Taliban and there won't be al-Aqaida (in Pakistan).''
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/23/ap/politics/printableD8KA8T000.shtml
Dean Expedites Courting of Black Vote
DETROIT, Sep. 23, 2006
(AP) The Democratic Party can no longer sit back and wait until three weeksbefore an election to ask minorities for their vote, Democratic NationalCommittee Chairman Howard Dean said Friday.
"In many ways, the Democratic Party hasn't moved itself out of the '60s and'70s," Dean said in remarks to the DNC's African-American Leadership Summit,which is aimed at mobilizing black voters and encouraging more minoritycandidates for state offices.
"If we don't get smart about having folks on the ticket that look like thepeople whose votes were asking for, in meaningful positions of authority,then we're not going to win. And the party that gets to do that first is theparty that's going to win," Dean said.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/world/23aid.html?ei=5040&en=9d64eadf56f86706&ex=1159675200&partner=MOREOVERNEWS&pagewanted=print
September 23, 2006
Clinton Effort Reaps Pledges of $7.3 Billion in Global Aid
By CELIA W. DUGGER
A Sheraton hotel in Midtown Manhattan was the scene of feverish matchmakingover the past three days during Bill Clinton's second annual gathering onglobal problems.
Only those who promised to do something concrete about poverty, disease,conflict or climate change were invited. The entry fee for aspiringphilanthropists was $15,000. Hundreds lined up for the privilege.
In cafes, hallways and conference rooms, some of the many rich people Mr.Clinton has gotten to know over the years - and others he has never met orknows only as acquaintances - brainstormed with leaders of nonprofit groups,African health ministers and others who had their own plentiful ideas abouthow to put that wealth to work.
Kathy Sloane, a real estate broker with a cream-colored Chanel bag danglingon her arm, listened intently at workshops on global warming and religiousand ethnic conflict.
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http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20060923&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=609230322&SectionCat=&Template=printart
Saturday, September 23, 2006
'Values Voters' Back in Spotlight
By ADELLE M. BANKS
Religion News Service
WASHINGTON -- With the primaries concluded and the general election looming,the question in Washington seems to be: Will the real values voter pleasestand up?
As conservative Christian groups gear up for their "Values Voters Summit" inthe nation's capital this weekend, critics on the liberal end of thespectrum are hosting events to say they have values too.
"We love the same God, read the same Bible and all aspire to follow the sameChrist," said the Rev. Robert Franklin, an Emory University professor andmember of the newly formed Red Letter Christians, which is named for thered-colored words of Jesus in many Bibles.
Rather than focusing only on abortion and homosexuality, voters also careabout issues like poverty, racial discrimination and HIV/AIDS, saysupporters of progressive groups like Sojourners/Call to Renewal, Catholicsin Alliance for the Common Good and Faith in Public Life.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15592338.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Sep. 23, 2006
Abbas: Effort on gov't is 'back to zero'
MAGGIE MICHAEL
Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt - Efforts to form a Palestinian government acceptable to theWest have gone "back to zero," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas saidSaturday, a day after Hamas said a coalition government that recognizesIsrael is unacceptable.
The Islamic militant group has ruled alone since March, but this monthagreed to share power with Abbas' moderate Fatah Party in hopes of ending acrippling international aid boycott of the Palestinian Authority.
The Hamas-Fatah coalition deal sidestepped recognition of Israel. Instead,it said the government would seek to establish a Palestinian state alongsideIsrael, which implies recognition. However, the U.S. and Israel demanded aclear commitment from Hamas on the subject, and Abbas was forced to revisitthe issue.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/15590222.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Sep. 23, 2006
TRANSITION IN IRAQ
Chaos imperils women, religious sects
Law and order is breaking down in Iraq as militias, death squads and others take the law into their own hands. Women and religious minorities are among those vulnerable.
BY MARK BRUNSWICK
McClatchy News Service
BAGHDAD - A new report on human-rights violations in Iraq documents how devastatingly easy it is to die here -- and how increasingly difficult it is to live.
The report, prepared by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, said a breakdown of law and order threatens the fabric of life. Militias, death squads, organized crime and people who are ''taking the law into their own hands'' are filling the vacuum left by a central government incapable of providing stability.
The report documented how perilous everyday life is in Iraq for lawyers, journalists, police recruits, travelers and street vendors.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/22/AR2006092201404_pf.html
Afghan Girls, Back in the Shadows
Home Classes Proliferate as Anti-Government Insurgents Step Up Attacks on
Schools
By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, September 23, 2006; A10
SHEIKHABAD, Afghanistan -- In a small, sunlit parlor last week, 20 little girls seated on rush mats sketched a flower drawn on the blackboard. In a darker interior room, 15 slightly older girls memorized passages from the Koran, reciting aloud. Upstairs was a class of teenage girls, hidden from public view.
The location of the mud-walled home school is semi-secret. Its students
include five girls who once attended another home school nearby that was torched three months ago. The very existence of home-based classes is a direct challenge to anti-government insurgents who have attacked dozens of schools across Afghanistan in the past year, especially those that teach girls.
"We are scared. All the home schools are scared. If I even hear a dog bark, I don't open the gate. I go up on the roof to see who is there," said Mohammed Sulieman, 49, who operates home schools for girls in several villages in the Sheikhabad district of Wardak province.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/22/AR2006092201444_pf.html
In Iraq, a Journalist in Limbo
By Tom Curley
Saturday, September 23, 2006; A19
Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi photographer who helped the Associated Press win a Pulitzer Prize last year, is now in his sixth month in a U.S. Army prison in Iraq. He doesn't understand why he's there, and neither do his AP colleagues.
The Army says it thinks Bilal has too many contacts among insurgents. He has taken pictures the Army thinks could have been made only with the connivance of insurgents. So Bilal himself must be one, too, or at least a sympathizer.
It is a measure of just how dangerous and disorienting Iraq has become that suspicions such as these are considered adequate grounds for locking up a man and throwing away the key.
After more than five months of trying to bring Bilal's case into the daylight, AP is now convinced the Army doesn't care whether Bilal is or isn't an insurgent. The Army doesn't have to care. Bilal is off the street, and the military says it doesn't consider itself accountable to any judicial authority that could question his guilt.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/us/23legal.html?ei=5094&en=48fa1d71c13d8435&hp=&ex=1159070400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
September 23, 2006
News Analysis
Detainee Deal Comes With Contradictions
By ADAM LIPTAK
The compromise reached on Thursday between Congressional Republicans and the White House on the interrogations and trials of terrorism suspects is, legal experts said yesterday, a series of interlocking paradoxes.
It would impose new legal standards that it forbids the courts to enforce.
It would guarantee terrorist masterminds charged with war crimes an array of procedural protections. But it would bar hundreds of minor figures and people who say they are innocent bystanders from access to the courts to challenge their potentially lifelong detentions.
And while there is substantial disagreement about just which harsh interrogation techniques the compromise would prohibit, there is no dispute that it would allow military prosecutors to use statements that had been obtained under harsh techniques that are now banned.
The complex, technical and often ambiguous language in the 94-page measure was a subject of debate, posturing and, perhaps, some wishful thinking yesterday. Each side in the hard-fought negotiations - the White House and the three opposing Republican senators - declared victory.
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The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/09/23/playing_shell_games_on_responsibility_with_iraq?mode=PF
Playing shell games on responsibility with Iraq
By Derrick Z. Jackson | September 23, 2006
THE SAME White House that trashed generals and bean counters for saying it would take hundreds of thousands of more troops and billions more dollars to secure Iraq is now blaming the puppet government for not securing the country.
The blame is arriving through one of those senior- administration- official-speaking -on- background" whisper campaigns. One such official told The New York Times that President Bush is peeved at Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq. ``The thing you hear the most is that he never makes any decisions," the official said. ``And that drives Bush crazy. He doesn't take well to anyone who talks about getting something accomplished and then refuses to take the first step."
In the Los Angeles Times, a Bush official said that the White House is getting ``frustrated. . . . There is a little bit of impatience." Another official said Maliki's get-tough-on-violence ``rhetoric has to be matched by concrete action . . . acting on the ground on its own behalf."
While his minions cut the knees out from under Maliki, Bush himself acts like the general manager of a sports team who declares he has full confidence in the coach during a losing season. Bush said on CNN, ``I'm impressed by President Maliki. I've talked to him. I've seen the decision-making process that he's put in place." White House press secretary Tony Snow continues to declare that reports of Bush losing faith in Maliki are ``absolutely false."
=
The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2006/09/23/a_toturous_compromise?mode=PF
GLOBE EDITORIAL
A toturous compromise
September 23, 2006
JOHN MCCAIN and two other Republican senators rebelled last week against President Bush's bid to pass rules for interrogating and trying terrorism suspects that violate the Geneva Conventions, but the senators have now agreed to a compromise that leaves the conventions on life support at best. Under the deal struck Thursday, the Geneva rules on abusive interrogations are not formally rewritten. Yet Bush -- who undercut McCain's own 2005 anti torture law with a signing statement -- is granted the right, an aide said, to permit methods that he will not have to disclose.
One of the three senators, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, says he thinks the compromise will forbid the use of ``waterboarding," or simulated drowning, but that's not certain. Unless Congress wants to set a precedent for other countries to use in mistreating US troops in future conflicts, it should insist that interrogations be conducted in accordance with the Army's field manual and that any special trial commissions use the military's court-martial procedures, which are sound.
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Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/09/23/congress_in_dark_on_terror_program?mode=PF
Congress in dark on terror program
Few briefed on CIA interrogation
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | September 23, 2006
WASHINGTON -- As lawmakers prepare to debate the CIA's special interrogation program for terrorism suspects, fewer than 10 percent of the members of Congress have been told which interrogation techniques have been used in the past, and none of them know which ones would be permissible under proposed changes to the War Crimes Act.
Only about 40 of the 535 senators and representatives -- the top members of leadership in both parties, members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, and a small handful of others -- have been briefed on the past practices of the CIA program, which permits more aggressive interrogation tactics than those used by other agencies.
The lack of consultation means that senators and representatives will be voting next week to authorize a program that most know little about, raising questions about Congress's oft-repeated vow to increase its oversight of the war on terrorism.
``You're not having any checks and balances here," said Norman J. Ornstein,
a resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. ``It
sure doesn't look to me as if they stood up and did anything other than bare their teeth for some ceremonial barking, before giving the president a whole lot of leeway. I find it really troubling."
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http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/09/092206hiv.htm
Roche Allows 3 African Companies To Produce Anti-HIV Drug
by The Associated Press
September 22, 2006 - 7:00 pm ET
(Basel, Switzerland) Pharmaceutical company Roche Holding AG said Friday it will help three African companies produce one of its anti-HIV drugs.
Roche will provide the companies - Aspen Pharmacare in South Africa, Cosmos Ltd. and Universal Corp. in Kenya - with the technical assistance necessaryto produce saquinavir, the active ingredient in the Swiss-basedpharmaceutical's Invirase treatment.
The three companies will produce the drug in Africa and will be allowed toexport it to other developing countries.
``It is both encouraging and heartening that local African manufacturers aretaking steps to increase their capacity to produce and provide HIV medicineslocally,'' said Lembit Rago, a medicine expert at the World HealthOrganization.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/opinion/23sat2.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
September 23, 2006
Editorial
A Bad Court-Splitting Plan
The Senate held hearings this week on a proposal to split the SanFrancisco-based United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in two.The idea is being promoted as a way to reduce the court workload. The NinthCircuit is very large and busy, but the proposal would actually do little tosolve the overload problem. Its real aim is not efficiency, but aconservative, anti-environmental agenda.
The Ninth Circuit, which covers nine Western states plus Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, is the largest of the nation's federal judicialcircuits. The reason is simple: California. With the state's enormousgrowth, the number of cases presented to the Ninth Circuit has also grownrapidly, although there is no evidence that the court has been unable tohandle its work.
If Congress wanted to help, it would divide California into two differentcircuits. But instead, it is considering a bill that would put Californiaand Hawaii into a "new" Ninth Circuit, which would have more than 70 percentof the court's current caseload, while putting the remaining states in anewly created 12th Circuit. To make matters worse, the new Ninth Circuitwould get less than 60 percent of the allotment of permanent judges.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/opinion/23sat4.html?pagewanted=print
September 23, 2006
Editorial
Punishing Refugees Twice
America's excellent record of giving refuge to the persecuted is flagging - and one of the biggest barriers seems to have arisen inadvertently.
In their haste, Congressional authors of the Patriot Act and its sister RealID provision tucked a clause into the immigration laws barring entry toanyone who has provided "material support" to a terrorist organization. Whocould argue with barring people who have aided terrorists?
But the Bush administration has chosen to interpret "material support" toinclude people who act under duress - someone pressed at gunpoint to supplya glass of water, or forced to dig graves or pay ransom for a kidnappedchild, or held hostage in her home (and thus provided shelter toterrorists). The result is to victimize these people twice.
The law's definition of a terrorist group - two or more people who take uparms against a state - also makes no allowance for motive. Members of theVietnamese Montagnards and Cuban Alzados - groups created by the UnitedStates that remain staunch supporters - are now blocked from entry.
=
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/22/AR2006092201439_pf.html
The War of the Hacks
By Colbert I. King
Saturday, September 23, 2006; A19
It's amazing what a few days away from this politics-obsessed town can dofor one's perspective. Seen from afar, the congressional debate over the warand terrorism comes across as a Washington event designed to show thatDemocrats are wimps on national security and to boost Republicans as truedefenders of the homeland. Or Republicans are portrayed as clueless warmongers hell-bent on sending other people's sons and daughters intobattle.
In reality, the struggle on Capitol Hill is not about terrorism. It's aboutgaining and holding power in the fall election. And it is a disgusting sightto behold.
Only five years after a horrifying new reality crashed into America, thepolitical parties have lost sight of the nation's interests. Now it's allabout getting elected.
=
The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/opinion/23dowd.html?pagewanted=print
September 23, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
Axis of Sketchy Allies
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON
It helps to plug your book at the White House.
At a news conference with President Bush, Pervez Musharraf was asked about his claim on "60 Minutes" that Richard Armitage had threatened to bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age if it did not cooperate in routing the Taliban in Afghanistan. After coyly sidestepping the question, saying he had to save such juicy tidbits for his book's publication next week, he shot up over 1,000 spots on Amazon.com.
General Musharraf told Steve Kroft he found the Stone Age crack "very rude,'' and Mr. Armitage was on the defensive yesterday, explaining that he had been tough with Pakistan just after 9/11 but had not made any Flintstones threats.
The former deputy to Colin Powell needn't apologize. That was the last time our foreign policy was on track, when we were pursuing the real enemy. It's all been downhill from there.
The Pakistan president is a smooth operator, a military dictator cruising around the capital with his elegant wife and enormous security contingent, talking about how much he likes democracy, which he won't yet allow.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/opinion/23sat1.html?pagewanted=print
September 23, 2006
Editorial
Turning Back the Clock on Rape
In recent decades, women's advocates and human rights activists have made huge progress on the issues of rape and sexual assault - in the United States and globally. Both crimes are now more powerfully defined in state and federal laws. In international law, where rape and sexual assault have long been classified as torture and war crimes, the world has begun to accept the importance of enforcement. In 1998, a tribunal convicted a paramilitary chief for watching one of his men rape a woman in Serbia. A year ago, the world rose up in outrage when United Nations peacekeepers raped women in Congo.
You'd think this was a settled issue. But it's been opened up again in the bill on jailing, interrogating and trying terror suspects that President Bush is trying to ram through Congress in a pre-election rush. Both the White House and Senate versions contain provisions on rape and sexual assault that turn back the clock alarmingly. They are among the many flaws that must be fixed before Congress can responsibly pass this legislation.
Rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse are mentioned twice in the bill - once as crimes that could be prosecuted before military tribunals if committed by an "illegal enemy combatant," and once as "grave breaches" of the Geneva Conventions that could be prosecuted as war crimes if committed by an American against a detainee. But in each case, the wording creates new and disturbing loopholes.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/washington/23detain.html?pagewanted=print
September 23, 2006
Differences Settled in Deal Over Detainee Treatment
By KATE ZERNIKE and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 - After weeks of internal wrangling over legislation to interrogate and prosecute terrorism suspects, Republicans on Friday put aside their differences, setting the House and Senate on a path to approve a compromise struck with the White House before lawmakers break to campaign for the midterm elections.
The House leader who on Thursday had been the only Republican to raise objections to the deal between Senate Republicans and the White House said Friday that he decided he liked the compromise legislation even better than the bill his committee had passed.
"The new provisions are excellent," said the leader, Representative Duncan Hunter, the California Republican who is chairman of the Armed Services Committee. "I like them."
Mr. Hunter, whose committee had endorsed a bill looking much like what the White House had initially proposed, said that although he was still reading the compromise, he believed that the House and the Senate could agree on a common bill, eliminating the need for a conference between the two, and making it possible to win final passage in the five days before Congress adjourns for the midterms.
=
Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060921.wmushareff21/BNStory/International/?cid=al_gam_nletter_newsUp
Musharraf: U.S. threatened to bomb Pakistan 'into stone age'
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan says the United States threatened to bomb his country back to the Stone Age after the 9-11 attacks if he did not help America's war on terror.
Mr. Musharraf says the threat was delivered by Richard Armitage, then the deputy secretary of state, to Mr. Musharraf's intelligence director, the Pakistani leader told CBS-TV's 60 Minutes.
"The intelligence director told me that (Armitage) said, 'Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age,"' Mr. Musharraf said in the interview to be shown Sunday on the CBS television network.
It was insulting, Mr. Musharraf said. "I think it was a very rude remark," he told reporter Steve Kroft.
But, Mr. Musharraf said he reacted responsibly. "One has to think and take actions in the interests of the nation and that is what I did," he said.
=
Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-922pakistanstoneage,0,6290844.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
White House denies it threatened to bomb ally Pakistan back to 'the Stone Age'
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press
September 22, 2006, 4:15 PM EDT
WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Friday he was ``taken aback'' by apurported U.S. threat to bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age if it did notcooperate in the fight against terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks.
He praised Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf for being one of thefirst foreign leaders to come out after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to standwith the U.S. to ``help root out an enemy.''
At a joint White House news conference, Musharraf said a peace treatybetween his government and tribes along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border isnot meant to support the Taliban.
He said news reports had mischaracterized the deals. ``The deal is not atall with the Taliban. This deal is against the Taliban. This deal is withthe tribal elders,'' Musharraf said.
Said Bush: ``I believe him.''
He said that Musharraf had looked him in the eye and vowed that ``the tribaldeal is intended to reject the Talibanization of the people and that therewon't be a Taliban and there won't be al-Aqaida (in Pakistan).''
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FLORIDA DIGEST September 23, 2006
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060923/LOCAL/209230328&template=printart
Article published Sep 23, 2006
Sep 22, 2006
Democrat's No. 2 says he won't back down
By DEBORAH BALL
Sun staff writer
Daryl Jones, who is running for lieutenant governor with gubernatorialcandidate Jim Davis on the Democratic ticket, speaks Friday at theFirefighters Union Hall in Gainesville.
Daryl Jones isn't one to walk away from a fight.
When he was a boxer in his youth, the Democratic lieutenant governorcandidate said he never backed down in the ring. Jones said that as a staterepresentative and senator, he fought to help the victims of HurricaneAndrew recover.
And with the Nov. 7 gubernatorial elections just over a month away, Jones,51, said he plans on waging another battle - and winning.
"You've got to put some skin in the game," Jones said as he locked eyes witheast Gainesville residents on Friday.
=
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/22/news_pf/State/Nelson_still_dogged_b.shtml
Nelson still dogged by ?98 insurance decision
His foes zero in on the Florida-only subsidiaries.
JONI JAMES and WES ALLISON
Published September 22, 2006
Ahead in the polls, flush with campaign money and blessed with acontroversial challenger, Sen. Bill Nelson's bid for re-election seems allbut assured.
But could a decision the Democrat made nearly a decade ago to address agrowing insurance crisis in Florida after Hurricane Andrew come back tohaunt him?
On the campaign trail, you'd certainly think so.
For weeks, in races from governor to state legislator, candidates from bothparties have blamed Nelson's decision in 1998 to allow national insurancecompanies to create Florida-only subsidiaries for Florida's skyrocketinginsurance rates.
=
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/15590059.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
IN MY OPINION
Ex-chief is Democrats' big symbolic hope
By BETH REINHARD
breinhardr@MiamiHerald.com
To hear some Democratic strategists tell it, the fate of the western worldrests on the shoulders of a squat, Cuban-American retiree in Miami Beach.
The party sees Luis Garcia, a city commissioner and former fire chief, asmuch more than a candidate for the Florida House. He's part of a strategyfor winning the presidency in 2008.
If Garcia won, he would be the only Cuban-American Democrat in theLegislature, one of the only partisan officeholders with those ethnic andpolitical stripes in Florida's biggest county. That's symbolism. Practicallyspeaking, Garcia would be a key ambassador for state and national candidates courting Hispanic voters.
In other words, when potential presidential contenders like Hillary Clintoncome to town, they could call on someone who knows his way around Little Havana.
=
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-cash2306sep23,0,7012440.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state
SENTINEL EXCLUSIVE
The more cash candidates raise, the more you kick in
Campaigns can spend $21 million and still receive public funds.
John Kennedy
Tallahassee Bureau Chief
September 23, 2006
TALLAHASSEE -- It's no surprise that highly popular Republican Charlie Cristis well on his way to raising a record amount of money for his governor'scampaign this year. But what might surprise some people -- and annoy government watchdogs -- iswho has contributed the most cash. It's Florida taxpayers.
Already, Crist has raked in more than $2.2 million in public financing undera law crafted 15 years ago to help low-budget candidates.
Crist doesn't appear underfunded. He has collected $13 million in privatecontributions from individuals, corporations and business associations. Hehas a parade of national Republican luminaries coming to Florida to helpwith fundraising, including an Orlando visit from President Bush this past Thursday.
=
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cdozier23sep23,0,2163062.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Crist camp drops controversial Pompano minister
Dozier's `cult' remarks about Islam behind split.
By Gregory LewisSouth Florida Sun-Sentinel
September 23, 2006
Republican gubernatorial nominee Charlie Crist on Friday removed from
his"Strengthening Florida's Families" policy council the Rev. O'Neal Dozier, acontroversial Pompano Beach minister who has called Islam a "cult.
"Erin Isaacs, Crist's deputy campaign press secretary, said Dozier was takenoff the campaign advisory panel. A statement from the Crist campaign saidCrist respects Dozier's right to express his political and religiousbeliefs, but he does not agree with Dozier's statements on Islam."Charlie Crist believes that we must not confuse those who practice anyreligion with a prayer toward peace with extremists who pervert religion tofurther a radical cause," the statement said.Dozier, the pastor of the Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach, hasled the charge against a mosque moving to a predominantly black section ofPompano Beach.
He has called Islam a "cult" that teaches "evil and hatred."Dozier, who for months has been one of Crist's key African-American supporters, said he was told he was being removed from the council "because of the pamphlets I've been passing out in the area where the Muslims want tomove."Crist, Florida's attorney general, is the second Republican leader todistance himself from Dozier and his comments. Gov. Jeb Bush in July removedDozier from the Broward Judicial Nominating Committee after the ministercalled Islam a "cult" on a radio show.
=
The Broward County Get Out The Vote Center is FINALLY happening.
We had a great building donated to us about a month ago but it's taken thatlong to work through all of the city and utility requirements. Yesterday wefinally got the power turned on and verified that the cooling system works,so we're ready to go.
The GLBT GOTV center is located at 1700 N. Andrews Ave. in Fort Lauderdale,right across the street from the South Florida Gay & Lesbian Community Center.
We're really excited about getting this office open. We believe it will helpcreate a sense of community for GLBT voters and allow us to postively impactseveral races in Broward County. It will also provide a resource for theCaucus to assist other chapters in the state with their GOTV efforts.
IF YOU'RE IN THE FORT LAUDERDALE AREA:
We could use your help getting the place ready. We have a work party
scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday, September 23 from 10am to 3pm. We've hadsome cleaning products donated, but anything you can bring will beappreciated. We need to sweep, vacuum, mop, clean and dust. It's really agreat space - it's just been vacant for a few months and needs somefreshening up. If you have any questions, please call JD Camp at954-802-2202. There's plenty of parking, so stop by, roll up your sleevesand help out!
IF YOU'RE OUTISDE THE FORT LAUDERDALE AREA:
Consider stopping by our website and making a contribution to the Caucus'get out the vote effort. We have received seed money to get this operationrunning and have other sources in the works, but every bit helps.
Watch our website as more information develops about this excitingopportunity.
=
[TheDolphinDemocrats] CLEANING CREW NEEDED THIS SATURDAY, Sept.23rd!
C L E A N I N G C R E W N E E D E D T H I S S A T U R D A Y,
Sept. 23rd!
The GLBT VOTE CENTER now has electric and air conditioning, but boy does it need a good cleaning!
Actually it is not that bad. But we do need people to come and sweep, vaccume and mop, some light dusting, but NO WINDOWS! I promise!
Member Stan Weiner is donating some cleaning products (not all), but we need people to bring mops, buckets, rags, vaccume cleaners, cleaning products, etc. AND ELBOW GREESE to help us get the space in better shape.
We need YOU to come help us this Saturday, Sept. 23rd from 10am to 3pm. And bring your cleaning supplies. You don't have to stay the whole time, but please come and give us what you can. I also need some muscle to deal with a dead carpet!
Address is 1700 N. Andrews Ave. in Ft. Lauderdale, immediately East across Andrews from the GLCC. You can't miss it. It used to be a daycare academy. Parking in front, in back, and on the side street. Please call JD Camp with any questions 954-802-2202.
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!
- campaign committee
PS - a wish list will go out next week for specific office items we need for this program. Also, be thinking of items in your home you wish to donate to our upcoming HUGE yard sale as a fundraiser. More to come on that as well!
=
We have added a bake sale element to the Starving Artists Sale next Saturday afternoon to draw more people in and help cover some of the costs associated with advertising and promotion. Any one interested in providing baked goods for sale, should drop me a note back and then bring the items to the GLCC between 11 AM and 1 PM on Saturday September 30th. Your donations will be appreciated!
thanks,
Chuck Williams
President
ArtsUnited, Inc.
954-530-2723
=
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Stonewall Book Discussion Group takes on "Running with Scissors",
Thursday, October 12, 2006 @ 7.30PM
The Stonewall Library and Archives will hold the second in its new monthlyseries of book discussions on Thursday, October 12, at 7:30 PM Freelanceauthor and book critic Jesse Monteagudo will moderate a discussion of"Running with Scissors," Augusten Burroughs's best-selling memoir now a major motionpicture. The Stonewall Library is located at the Gay and Lesbian CommunityCenter of South Florida, 1717 North Andrews Avenue, in Fort Lauderdale. Formore information phone the Stonewall Library at (954) 763-8565
Out Boys Movie Night, Friday, October 13, 2006 @ 7.00 PM Suggested Donation $2
FAQS From Everett Lewis (Luster, Natural History of Parking Lots) comes adrama celebrating queer activism in the 21st century, where intolerancestillprevails and prejudice can be found everywhere. Destiny (Allan Louis), avigilante drag queen takes in India (Joe Lia), a homeless teenage runaway,after saving him from a queer bashing. Together with her other rainbowchild,a boyish lesbian named Lester (Minera Vier), the three live togetherinan unconventional but fully functioning queer family. Will India find truelove or forever be a cute one night stand? Will Lester find a girlfriend andshave her legs and will Destiny find herself a man? Anything can happen and inFAQS everything does happen in a very short space of time, as our queermusketeers free themselves from the homophobic bonds of an oppressivesociety.
Discussion Following if Time Permits.
Stonewall Library in Association with BlackOut Fest Friday, October 20, 2006 @ 7PM at the Library Suggested Donation $5 Disscussion Following if Time Permits.
THE AGGRESSIVES
They don't aspire to be men, and they can't be called drag kings, though they doparticipate in NYC's predominantly African-American lesbian drag balls.The fascinating documentary reveals the lives of a varied group of aggressivewomen. Homeboy Marquis fosters a masculine image by strapping her chestuntil suddenly forced to be a woman after enlisting in the Army.
Passing as a femme boy, Tiffany does not identify as a lesbian because sheonly dates transgender men. Raw and uninhibited ex-con Octavia goes from drug
dealer to construction worker=2E Androgynous Kisha balances her aggressivelife with a career as a fashion model. The Aggressives is an insightful lookat a little explored subculture.
Stonewall Library & Archives
1717 N Andrews Ave
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311
(954) 763-8565
Nate Klarfeld
President
Stonewall Library & Archives
954-763-8565 voice
954-763-8533 fax
#####
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060923/LOCAL/209230328&template=printart
Article published Sep 23, 2006
Sep 22, 2006
Democrat's No. 2 says he won't back down
By DEBORAH BALL
Sun staff writer
Daryl Jones, who is running for lieutenant governor with gubernatorialcandidate Jim Davis on the Democratic ticket, speaks Friday at theFirefighters Union Hall in Gainesville.
Daryl Jones isn't one to walk away from a fight.
When he was a boxer in his youth, the Democratic lieutenant governorcandidate said he never backed down in the ring. Jones said that as a staterepresentative and senator, he fought to help the victims of HurricaneAndrew recover.
And with the Nov. 7 gubernatorial elections just over a month away, Jones,51, said he plans on waging another battle - and winning.
"You've got to put some skin in the game," Jones said as he locked eyes witheast Gainesville residents on Friday.
=
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/22/news_pf/State/Nelson_still_dogged_b.shtml
Nelson still dogged by ?98 insurance decision
His foes zero in on the Florida-only subsidiaries.
JONI JAMES and WES ALLISON
Published September 22, 2006
Ahead in the polls, flush with campaign money and blessed with acontroversial challenger, Sen. Bill Nelson's bid for re-election seems allbut assured.
But could a decision the Democrat made nearly a decade ago to address agrowing insurance crisis in Florida after Hurricane Andrew come back tohaunt him?
On the campaign trail, you'd certainly think so.
For weeks, in races from governor to state legislator, candidates from bothparties have blamed Nelson's decision in 1998 to allow national insurancecompanies to create Florida-only subsidiaries for Florida's skyrocketinginsurance rates.
=
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/15590059.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
IN MY OPINION
Ex-chief is Democrats' big symbolic hope
By BETH REINHARD
breinhardr@MiamiHerald.com
To hear some Democratic strategists tell it, the fate of the western worldrests on the shoulders of a squat, Cuban-American retiree in Miami Beach.
The party sees Luis Garcia, a city commissioner and former fire chief, asmuch more than a candidate for the Florida House. He's part of a strategyfor winning the presidency in 2008.
If Garcia won, he would be the only Cuban-American Democrat in theLegislature, one of the only partisan officeholders with those ethnic andpolitical stripes in Florida's biggest county. That's symbolism. Practicallyspeaking, Garcia would be a key ambassador for state and national candidates courting Hispanic voters.
In other words, when potential presidential contenders like Hillary Clintoncome to town, they could call on someone who knows his way around Little Havana.
=
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-cash2306sep23,0,7012440.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state
SENTINEL EXCLUSIVE
The more cash candidates raise, the more you kick in
Campaigns can spend $21 million and still receive public funds.
John Kennedy
Tallahassee Bureau Chief
September 23, 2006
TALLAHASSEE -- It's no surprise that highly popular Republican Charlie Cristis well on his way to raising a record amount of money for his governor'scampaign this year. But what might surprise some people -- and annoy government watchdogs -- iswho has contributed the most cash. It's Florida taxpayers.
Already, Crist has raked in more than $2.2 million in public financing undera law crafted 15 years ago to help low-budget candidates.
Crist doesn't appear underfunded. He has collected $13 million in privatecontributions from individuals, corporations and business associations. Hehas a parade of national Republican luminaries coming to Florida to helpwith fundraising, including an Orlando visit from President Bush this past Thursday.
=
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cdozier23sep23,0,2163062.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Crist camp drops controversial Pompano minister
Dozier's `cult' remarks about Islam behind split.
By Gregory LewisSouth Florida Sun-Sentinel
September 23, 2006
Republican gubernatorial nominee Charlie Crist on Friday removed from
his"Strengthening Florida's Families" policy council the Rev. O'Neal Dozier, acontroversial Pompano Beach minister who has called Islam a "cult.
"Erin Isaacs, Crist's deputy campaign press secretary, said Dozier was takenoff the campaign advisory panel. A statement from the Crist campaign saidCrist respects Dozier's right to express his political and religiousbeliefs, but he does not agree with Dozier's statements on Islam."Charlie Crist believes that we must not confuse those who practice anyreligion with a prayer toward peace with extremists who pervert religion tofurther a radical cause," the statement said.Dozier, the pastor of the Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach, hasled the charge against a mosque moving to a predominantly black section ofPompano Beach.
He has called Islam a "cult" that teaches "evil and hatred."Dozier, who for months has been one of Crist's key African-American supporters, said he was told he was being removed from the council "because of the pamphlets I've been passing out in the area where the Muslims want tomove."Crist, Florida's attorney general, is the second Republican leader todistance himself from Dozier and his comments. Gov. Jeb Bush in July removedDozier from the Broward Judicial Nominating Committee after the ministercalled Islam a "cult" on a radio show.
=
The Broward County Get Out The Vote Center is FINALLY happening.
We had a great building donated to us about a month ago but it's taken thatlong to work through all of the city and utility requirements. Yesterday wefinally got the power turned on and verified that the cooling system works,so we're ready to go.
The GLBT GOTV center is located at 1700 N. Andrews Ave. in Fort Lauderdale,right across the street from the South Florida Gay & Lesbian Community Center.
We're really excited about getting this office open. We believe it will helpcreate a sense of community for GLBT voters and allow us to postively impactseveral races in Broward County. It will also provide a resource for theCaucus to assist other chapters in the state with their GOTV efforts.
IF YOU'RE IN THE FORT LAUDERDALE AREA:
We could use your help getting the place ready. We have a work party
scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday, September 23 from 10am to 3pm. We've hadsome cleaning products donated, but anything you can bring will beappreciated. We need to sweep, vacuum, mop, clean and dust. It's really agreat space - it's just been vacant for a few months and needs somefreshening up. If you have any questions, please call JD Camp at954-802-2202. There's plenty of parking, so stop by, roll up your sleevesand help out!
IF YOU'RE OUTISDE THE FORT LAUDERDALE AREA:
Consider stopping by our website and making a contribution to the Caucus'get out the vote effort. We have received seed money to get this operationrunning and have other sources in the works, but every bit helps.
Watch our website as more information develops about this excitingopportunity.
=
[TheDolphinDemocrats] CLEANING CREW NEEDED THIS SATURDAY, Sept.23rd!
C L E A N I N G C R E W N E E D E D T H I S S A T U R D A Y,
Sept. 23rd!
The GLBT VOTE CENTER now has electric and air conditioning, but boy does it need a good cleaning!
Actually it is not that bad. But we do need people to come and sweep, vaccume and mop, some light dusting, but NO WINDOWS! I promise!
Member Stan Weiner is donating some cleaning products (not all), but we need people to bring mops, buckets, rags, vaccume cleaners, cleaning products, etc. AND ELBOW GREESE to help us get the space in better shape.
We need YOU to come help us this Saturday, Sept. 23rd from 10am to 3pm. And bring your cleaning supplies. You don't have to stay the whole time, but please come and give us what you can. I also need some muscle to deal with a dead carpet!
Address is 1700 N. Andrews Ave. in Ft. Lauderdale, immediately East across Andrews from the GLCC. You can't miss it. It used to be a daycare academy. Parking in front, in back, and on the side street. Please call JD Camp with any questions 954-802-2202.
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!
- campaign committee
PS - a wish list will go out next week for specific office items we need for this program. Also, be thinking of items in your home you wish to donate to our upcoming HUGE yard sale as a fundraiser. More to come on that as well!
=
We have added a bake sale element to the Starving Artists Sale next Saturday afternoon to draw more people in and help cover some of the costs associated with advertising and promotion. Any one interested in providing baked goods for sale, should drop me a note back and then bring the items to the GLCC between 11 AM and 1 PM on Saturday September 30th. Your donations will be appreciated!
thanks,
Chuck Williams
President
ArtsUnited, Inc.
954-530-2723
=
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Stonewall Book Discussion Group takes on "Running with Scissors",
Thursday, October 12, 2006 @ 7.30PM
The Stonewall Library and Archives will hold the second in its new monthlyseries of book discussions on Thursday, October 12, at 7:30 PM Freelanceauthor and book critic Jesse Monteagudo will moderate a discussion of"Running with Scissors," Augusten Burroughs's best-selling memoir now a major motionpicture. The Stonewall Library is located at the Gay and Lesbian CommunityCenter of South Florida, 1717 North Andrews Avenue, in Fort Lauderdale. Formore information phone the Stonewall Library at (954) 763-8565
Out Boys Movie Night, Friday, October 13, 2006 @ 7.00 PM Suggested Donation $2
FAQS From Everett Lewis (Luster, Natural History of Parking Lots) comes adrama celebrating queer activism in the 21st century, where intolerancestillprevails and prejudice can be found everywhere. Destiny (Allan Louis), avigilante drag queen takes in India (Joe Lia), a homeless teenage runaway,after saving him from a queer bashing. Together with her other rainbowchild,a boyish lesbian named Lester (Minera Vier), the three live togetherinan unconventional but fully functioning queer family. Will India find truelove or forever be a cute one night stand? Will Lester find a girlfriend andshave her legs and will Destiny find herself a man? Anything can happen and inFAQS everything does happen in a very short space of time, as our queermusketeers free themselves from the homophobic bonds of an oppressivesociety.
Discussion Following if Time Permits.
Stonewall Library in Association with BlackOut Fest Friday, October 20, 2006 @ 7PM at the Library Suggested Donation $5 Disscussion Following if Time Permits.
THE AGGRESSIVES
They don't aspire to be men, and they can't be called drag kings, though they doparticipate in NYC's predominantly African-American lesbian drag balls.The fascinating documentary reveals the lives of a varied group of aggressivewomen. Homeboy Marquis fosters a masculine image by strapping her chestuntil suddenly forced to be a woman after enlisting in the Army.
Passing as a femme boy, Tiffany does not identify as a lesbian because sheonly dates transgender men. Raw and uninhibited ex-con Octavia goes from drug
dealer to construction worker=2E Androgynous Kisha balances her aggressivelife with a career as a fashion model. The Aggressives is an insightful lookat a little explored subculture.
Stonewall Library & Archives
1717 N Andrews Ave
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311
(954) 763-8565
Nate Klarfeld
President
Stonewall Library & Archives
954-763-8565 voice
954-763-8533 fax
#####
Friday, September 22, 2006
GLBT DIGEST - September 22, 2006
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Express Gay News
http://expressgaynews.com/blog/index.cfm?type=blog&start=9/20/06&end=9/23/06#9195
The danger of gay Arab linguists
Sometimes I think "The Daily Show" does more to educate Americans about the problems gays face than all of the national gay organizations combined.
Monday night's segment about gay Arab linguists being discharged from the military was both funny and telling.
You can find "Tangled Up In Bleu" here.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vuJRpZTNhQ>
Former Army Sgt. Bleu Copas didn't find it difficult to resist "correspondent" Jason Jones' come-on. Perhaps if Jones hit the gym like a gay man, he would have been more successful.
And no one could make the anti-gay zealot and chairman of the Family Research Institute, Paul Cameron, look more ridiculous than Paul Cameron. HRC should buy 30 minutes of airtime for this guy and just let him talk. He'd bring a Swift boatload of social conservatives over to our side after just a few minutes.
=
http://expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=9240
Congregation says anti-gay minister resigned over financial questions
Rev. Fox led Kansas fight
against same-sex marriage
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) | Sep 22, 12:01 AM
Wichita's Reverend Terry Fox resigned last month from the church where he led a statewide fight against same sex marriage.Now leaders at Wichita's Immanuel Baptist Church say Fox left in part because he had used church money to support his national radio program.
Fox was pastor of Immanuel Baptist for about nine years, and said his frequent travels for speaking engagements prompted his departure.
But yesterday, Chairman of the Deacons Don James issued the church's first official comment about the unexpected resignation. He also says witnesses testified that Fox had threatened to sue people who say anything negative about him.
Fox denies the threat claims and also says he didn't misuse church donations for his nationally syndicated radio show, "Answering the Call.'
=
Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.247gay.com/article.cfm?section=66&id=10739
Colorado Poll Shows Voters Support Rights for Same-Sex Unions
09.21.06
By Troy Espera
A statewide poll conducted last week by Colorado news agencies shows thatthe majority of Colorado voters support giving gay and lesbian couples' legal rights.
The same survey, conducted by CBS4 News/Rocky Mountain News poll also found the majority of those polled want to define marriage as only between a manand a woman.
"Eight in ten voters say they personally know someone who is gay orlesbian," said Lori Weigel of Public Opinion Strategies.
According to CBS4 News, the poll found that 58 percent of Colorado voterswould vote in favor of the domestic partnership measure also known asReferendum I on the November ballot.
=
From: "Marc Paige" <marcpaige@msn.com>
To: jgoldberg@latimescolumnists.com
Subject: letter
Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2006 23:57:52 -0400
Mr Goldberg:
Your cold heart where Governor McGreevey is concerned is indicative of theproblem. When I grew up, my parents taught me to be proud of being Jewish,but when I realized I was gay, I knew not to seek support at home, associety had already taught me well to be ashamed of my sexual orientation.Can you imagine how much that screws a person up? Especially someone bornin the late 50's?
I overcame my self-hatred in my late teens. It took Jim McGreevey anunfortunate affair with another self-loathing Israeli man to force him toembrace his identity, although too late to avoid the wreckage of twomarriages. But your right-wing cronies still want us to be "ex-gays,"closeted, and miserable.
I have no idea what kind of Governor McGreevey was, but I do know that hesuffered years of torment and self-hatred promoted by your friends, the"family values" folks. So don't attack him for overcoming years of this psychological torture.
Marc Paige
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/health/22hiv.html?pagewanted=print
September 22, 2006
U.S. Urges H.I.V. Tests for Adults and Teenagers
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
In a major shift of policy, the federal government recommended yesterday that all adults and teenagers have H.I.V. tests as part of routine medicalcare because too many Americans are infected with the AIDS virus withoutknowing it.
The recommendation, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, urgestesting at least once for everyone from 13 to 64 and annual tests for thosewith high-risk behavior.
The proposal is a sharp break from the early days of the AIDS epidemic, whenthe stigma of the disease and the fear of social ostracism caused manypeople to avoid being tested. That led to heated debate about whetherpositive test results could be shared by medical and governmentalauthorities in their effort to contain the epidemic by reaching out topartners of those who might be infected.
Under the agency's plan, patients would be told they are being tested, butthe tests would be voluntary. So that the tests could be easilyadministered, however, the agency urged the removal of two major barriers:separate signed consent forms and lengthy counseling before each test. Thatwould require new laws in some states, however, which could take yearsbecause some civil liberties groups and lobbyists for people with AIDS oppose the changes.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Fire-Chief-Harassment.html?pagewanted=print
September 22, 2006
Female Fire Chief Accused of Harassment
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:22 a.m. ET
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Bonnie Bleskachek knows what discrimination feels like.
After she joined the Minneapolis Fire Department years ago, malefirefighters would leave the room whenever she walked in, a union officialhurled an anti-gay slur at her because she is a lesbian, and a male comradehit her in the head with a soda can, according to her lawyer.
Bleskachek endured, becoming Minneapolis' first female fire chief and theonly openly gay fire chief of a major U.S. city.
But now, two years after ascending to the top job, Bleskachek is the one whostands accused of harassing women.
The 43-year-old chief is on leave as the city conducts an internalinvestigation amid lawsuits from three female firefighters who allegevarious acts of discrimination and sexual harassment. Also, a cityinvestigation found evidence that the department gave preferential treatmentto lesbians or those who socialize with them.
''It's really kind of unfortunate because of her position and her minoritystatus,'' said Theresa Glomb, a professor of human resources and industrialrelations at the University of Minnesota. ''I imagine, even if found to befalse, it could be very difficult for her to regain the respect that herachievement deserves.''
=
http://www.stonewalldemocrats.org/trailmix/2006/09/progay_muslim_w_1.php
September 13, 2006
Pro-Gay Muslim Wins Democratic Nod
Photo Credit: Craig Lassig/AP Photo
Keith Ellison last night claimed the Democratic nomination for Minnesota's overwhelmingly- Democratic 5th Congressional District. Many news outlets have focused on the fact that Ellison will become the first Muslim elected to Congress with a victory in November. However, what many reports filed from outside Minnesota have overlooked is his strong record of support for LGBT issues.
Ellison has not only been a supporter, but a dogged advocate for LGBT families in Minnesota. He helped lead the Democratic opposition to an anti-marriage amendment in the state legislature and rallied the Black religious community against it in speeches and editorials. This, in part, earned him the endorsement of the Minnesota Stonewall DFL - our local chapter.
Ellison is a candidate who has admitted his flaws (having his drivers license suspended for failing to pay traffic tickets), and who seems able to learn and grow from them. Opponents attacked Ellison for his college-days defense of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan from charges of anti-Semitism. However, Jewish political leaders in the district quickly rallied around the Ellison campaign to point out his work with their community.
#####
The Express Gay News
http://expressgaynews.com/blog/index.cfm?type=blog&start=9/20/06&end=9/23/06#9195
The danger of gay Arab linguists
Sometimes I think "The Daily Show" does more to educate Americans about the problems gays face than all of the national gay organizations combined.
Monday night's segment about gay Arab linguists being discharged from the military was both funny and telling.
You can find "Tangled Up In Bleu" here.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vuJRpZTNhQ>
Former Army Sgt. Bleu Copas didn't find it difficult to resist "correspondent" Jason Jones' come-on. Perhaps if Jones hit the gym like a gay man, he would have been more successful.
And no one could make the anti-gay zealot and chairman of the Family Research Institute, Paul Cameron, look more ridiculous than Paul Cameron. HRC should buy 30 minutes of airtime for this guy and just let him talk. He'd bring a Swift boatload of social conservatives over to our side after just a few minutes.
=
http://expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=9240
Congregation says anti-gay minister resigned over financial questions
Rev. Fox led Kansas fight
against same-sex marriage
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) | Sep 22, 12:01 AM
Wichita's Reverend Terry Fox resigned last month from the church where he led a statewide fight against same sex marriage.Now leaders at Wichita's Immanuel Baptist Church say Fox left in part because he had used church money to support his national radio program.
Fox was pastor of Immanuel Baptist for about nine years, and said his frequent travels for speaking engagements prompted his departure.
But yesterday, Chairman of the Deacons Don James issued the church's first official comment about the unexpected resignation. He also says witnesses testified that Fox had threatened to sue people who say anything negative about him.
Fox denies the threat claims and also says he didn't misuse church donations for his nationally syndicated radio show, "Answering the Call.'
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Forwarded from Ken's List <Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu>
To: kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.247gay.com/article.cfm?section=66&id=10739
Colorado Poll Shows Voters Support Rights for Same-Sex Unions
09.21.06
By Troy Espera
A statewide poll conducted last week by Colorado news agencies shows thatthe majority of Colorado voters support giving gay and lesbian couples' legal rights.
The same survey, conducted by CBS4 News/Rocky Mountain News poll also found the majority of those polled want to define marriage as only between a manand a woman.
"Eight in ten voters say they personally know someone who is gay orlesbian," said Lori Weigel of Public Opinion Strategies.
According to CBS4 News, the poll found that 58 percent of Colorado voterswould vote in favor of the domestic partnership measure also known asReferendum I on the November ballot.
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From: "Marc Paige" <marcpaige@msn.com>
To: jgoldberg@latimescolumnists.com
Subject: letter
Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2006 23:57:52 -0400
Mr Goldberg:
Your cold heart where Governor McGreevey is concerned is indicative of theproblem. When I grew up, my parents taught me to be proud of being Jewish,but when I realized I was gay, I knew not to seek support at home, associety had already taught me well to be ashamed of my sexual orientation.Can you imagine how much that screws a person up? Especially someone bornin the late 50's?
I overcame my self-hatred in my late teens. It took Jim McGreevey anunfortunate affair with another self-loathing Israeli man to force him toembrace his identity, although too late to avoid the wreckage of twomarriages. But your right-wing cronies still want us to be "ex-gays,"closeted, and miserable.
I have no idea what kind of Governor McGreevey was, but I do know that hesuffered years of torment and self-hatred promoted by your friends, the"family values" folks. So don't attack him for overcoming years of this psychological torture.
Marc Paige
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/health/22hiv.html?pagewanted=print
September 22, 2006
U.S. Urges H.I.V. Tests for Adults and Teenagers
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
In a major shift of policy, the federal government recommended yesterday that all adults and teenagers have H.I.V. tests as part of routine medicalcare because too many Americans are infected with the AIDS virus withoutknowing it.
The recommendation, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, urgestesting at least once for everyone from 13 to 64 and annual tests for thosewith high-risk behavior.
The proposal is a sharp break from the early days of the AIDS epidemic, whenthe stigma of the disease and the fear of social ostracism caused manypeople to avoid being tested. That led to heated debate about whetherpositive test results could be shared by medical and governmentalauthorities in their effort to contain the epidemic by reaching out topartners of those who might be infected.
Under the agency's plan, patients would be told they are being tested, butthe tests would be voluntary. So that the tests could be easilyadministered, however, the agency urged the removal of two major barriers:separate signed consent forms and lengthy counseling before each test. Thatwould require new laws in some states, however, which could take yearsbecause some civil liberties groups and lobbyists for people with AIDS oppose the changes.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Fire-Chief-Harassment.html?pagewanted=print
September 22, 2006
Female Fire Chief Accused of Harassment
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:22 a.m. ET
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Bonnie Bleskachek knows what discrimination feels like.
After she joined the Minneapolis Fire Department years ago, malefirefighters would leave the room whenever she walked in, a union officialhurled an anti-gay slur at her because she is a lesbian, and a male comradehit her in the head with a soda can, according to her lawyer.
Bleskachek endured, becoming Minneapolis' first female fire chief and theonly openly gay fire chief of a major U.S. city.
But now, two years after ascending to the top job, Bleskachek is the one whostands accused of harassing women.
The 43-year-old chief is on leave as the city conducts an internalinvestigation amid lawsuits from three female firefighters who allegevarious acts of discrimination and sexual harassment. Also, a cityinvestigation found evidence that the department gave preferential treatmentto lesbians or those who socialize with them.
''It's really kind of unfortunate because of her position and her minoritystatus,'' said Theresa Glomb, a professor of human resources and industrialrelations at the University of Minnesota. ''I imagine, even if found to befalse, it could be very difficult for her to regain the respect that herachievement deserves.''
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http://www.stonewalldemocrats.org/trailmix/2006/09/progay_muslim_w_1.php
September 13, 2006
Pro-Gay Muslim Wins Democratic Nod
Photo Credit: Craig Lassig/AP Photo
Keith Ellison last night claimed the Democratic nomination for Minnesota's overwhelmingly- Democratic 5th Congressional District. Many news outlets have focused on the fact that Ellison will become the first Muslim elected to Congress with a victory in November. However, what many reports filed from outside Minnesota have overlooked is his strong record of support for LGBT issues.
Ellison has not only been a supporter, but a dogged advocate for LGBT families in Minnesota. He helped lead the Democratic opposition to an anti-marriage amendment in the state legislature and rallied the Black religious community against it in speeches and editorials. This, in part, earned him the endorsement of the Minnesota Stonewall DFL - our local chapter.
Ellison is a candidate who has admitted his flaws (having his drivers license suspended for failing to pay traffic tickets), and who seems able to learn and grow from them. Opponents attacked Ellison for his college-days defense of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan from charges of anti-Semitism. However, Jewish political leaders in the district quickly rallied around the Ellison campaign to point out his work with their community.
#####
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST September 22, 2006
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/21/terror/printable2030685.shtml
GOP Makes Deal On Detainees
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22, 2006
(CBS/AP) The Bush administration and Senate Republicans announced agreementThursday on terms for the interrogation and trial of terror suspects.
"I'm pleased we have agreement," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist,emerging from a session in his office where national security adviserStephen Hadley and key lawmakers reviewed the compromise.
Hadley called it a "framework for compromise," and Sen. John Warner said hewill not consider the agreement sealed until President Bush signs it.
President Bush hailed the agreement, saying it will "help us crack theterror network to save American lives."
Mr. Bush thanked the Senate for the deal and said it will allow the CIA tocontinue interrogations of suspected terrorists. Mr. Bush said he hopes thelegislation passes before Congress adjourns next week, reports CBS NewsWhite House correspondent Mark Knoller.
=
From Marc Adams
HeartStrong Outreach Trip
http://www.heartstrong.org
=
Hi everyone...
Time has just been flying by for us as we continue this outreach trip.The first thing I want to mention is a Thank You to an anonymous donor whodonated the $2500.00 we needed for the costs of the rest of this trip.This is a tremendous help to us and we are incredibly grateful.
We also received several other donations which have helped us lower theamount we need for the second portion of this trip (starting October 16)from $8,000.00 to $7200.00. We are so grateful for the donations that arehelping us do our work.
The El Dorado Human Rights Council is hosting us for a program on Sunday,September 24, in Placerville CA. They have afundamentalist/neo-evangelical local minister who has been a thorn in theside of many different groups of people. In response to the newspaper'sanouncement of our program, the minister's son, Luke Otterstad, wrote aletter to the editor calling me a Sodomite who hates Christians.
For the full article contact us a rays.list@comcast.net
=
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/15578351.htm
The Miami Herald
Posted on Fri, Sep. 22, 2006
Outsourcing torture should be stopped
OUR OPINION: CANADIAN VICTIM'S CASE CALLS 'RENDITION' INTO QUESTION
Of all the extraordinary techniques employed by the Bush administration to get information from terrorism suspects in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the practice known as ''rendition'' is one of the most questionable. Under this policy, U.S. interrogators don't whip, kick or brutalize anyone -- they just let someone else do it. Anyone who thinks this is a swell idea should consider the case of Canadian citizen Maher Arar, who was snared in an Orwellian nightmare involving rendition.
Suspected terrorist
Mr. Arar was seized by U.S. authorities in 2002 after he landed in New York on his way home from a holiday in Tunisia. Without informing the government of Canada -- one of our staunchest allies -- U.S. authorities shipped him off to his country of origin, Syria, where he was imprisoned and beaten as a suspected terrorist. His captors routinely ignored his pleas of innocence. After nearly a year of beatings and harsh interrogations, however, the Syrians determined that he was telling the truth all along and let him go.Earlier this week, a Canadian government commission exonerated the computer ngineer of any ties to terrorism. The U.S. government refused to cooperate with the inquiry. The panel was highly critical of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which had wrongly labeled Mr. Arar an ''Islamic extremist'' and put his name on a terrorist database shared with U.S. officials.
=
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15578389.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
The Miami Herald
Posted on Fri, Sep. 22, 2006
At Large
Fear, not terror, threatens our way of life
Leonard Pitts Jr.
Colin Powell is late.
Late by weeks, late by months. Truth to tell, late by years.
''The world,'' he wrote in a letter to Sen. John McCain last week, ``is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism.''
The eyes goggle at the word, neon obvious in its understatement. Beginning to doubt? Au contraire. Surely the world began to doubt when we barreled unilaterally into Iraq, crying, ''WMD! WMD!'' Surely, the world began to doubt when, finding no WMD, we declared that not finding WMD didn't matter. Surely, the world began to doubt when it read headlines of our soldiers committing acts of torture at Abu Ghraib. Surely the world began to doubt when news broke of the United States sending terror suspects to countries where they could be tortured by interrogators. Surely the world began to doubt when Dick Cheney lobbied to exempt the CIA from rules prohibiting torture. Surely the world has doubted for a long time.
SHOW OF SUPPORT
Powell's letter was meant as a show of support for a group of dissident GOP senators on the Armed Services Committee -- McCain, John Warner, Lindsay Graham, Susan Collins -- who joined Democrats in rebuffing a White House legislative attempt to reinterpret Article 3 of the Geneva Convention. The White House wanted to allow the use of torture in the interrogation of supposed terrorists, including a technique that simulates drowning. President Bush also wants to be able to try terror suspects without allowing them to see, much less rebut, the evidence against them -- the very definition of a kangaroo court.
The two sides reached a tentative agreement on Thursday. But it's a mark of how far we have fallen since Sept. 11, 2001, that these things were even being discussed, much less seriously. So, belated as it is, Powell's evocation of morality also feels, paradoxically, like the timeliest of reminders for a nation that has so obviously forgotten who and what it is supposed to be.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/21/AR2006092101800_pf.html
Students Rebel Against Database Designed to Thwart Plagiarists
By Maria Glod
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 22, 2006; A01
When McLean High School students write this year about Othello or immigration policy, their teachers won't be the only ones examining the papers. So will a California company that specializes in catching cheaters.
The for-profit service known as Turnitin checks student work against a database of more than 22 million papers written by students around the world, as well as online sources and electronic archives of journals. School administrators said the service, which they will start using next week, is meant to deter plagiarism at a time when the Internet makes it easy to copy someone else's words.
But some McLean High students are rebelling. Members of the new Committee for Students' Rights said they do not cheat or condone cheating. But they object to Turnitin's automatically adding their essays to the massive database, calling it an infringement of intellectual property rights. And they contend that the school's action will tar students at one of Fairfax County's academic powerhouses.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/21/AR2006092101310.html
The Super-Rich Get Richer: Forbes 400 Are All Billionaires
By Frank Ahrens
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 22, 2006; A01
It's not news that Bill Gates is the richest person in America, according to Forbes magazine's annual list of the nation's 400 richest people, released yesterday. He has been for 13 years. Barring a second Stone Age in which computers are good only for hurling at other cavemen, Gates will always be rich.
The news is: On this list, $999 million is chump change.
For the first time, all 400 Gotbucks on the Forbes tally are billionaires, from Gates (worth $53 billion) down to the bottom, Los Angeles semiconductor magnate Sehat Sutardja ($1 billion).
It's not just the accumulated wealth that draws attention to the list; it's the eye-popping numbers that show the speed with which wealth is gained -- and lost -- at the dawn of this millennium.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/21/AR2006092100400_pf.html
Wal-Mart Sets $4 Price For Many Generic Drugs
By Kathleen Day
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 22, 2006; A01
Retailing giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc., known for forcing prices down to dominate nearly every market it enters, said yesterday that it would sell nearly 300 generic drugs for $4 per prescription, whether or not a customer has insurance.
Using its might as the nation's largest retailer and its legendary ability to force suppliers to cut prices to the bone, the company will begin the $4 price program in its 65 stores in the Tampa area today, in all of Florida in January, and in as many other states as possible by the end of 2007. The $4 is for a typical monthly supply of medicine, and included on the Wal-Mart list are generic versions of many popular prescription drugs, including the antibiotic amoxicillin and the heart and blood-pressure treatment lisinopril, sold under the brand names Prinivil and Zestril.
Health-care industry analysts said the program has the potential to transform the $230 billion prescription-drug business the way Wal-Mart has transformed other industries, including groceries and toys, where its aggressive pricing has forced some competitors out of business and allowed it to dominate entire categories of merchandise.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/nyregion/22immigrant.html?pagewanted=print
September 22, 2006
Pakistani Youth Wins Political Asylum Despite U.S. Protests
By NINA BERNSTEIN
An orphaned young man living in Queens won a battle against deportation to his native Pakistan yesterday when an immigration judge granted his plea for political asylum over legal objections by the Department of Homeland Security.
The judge, Patricia A. Rohan, ruled that the young man, Mohammad Sarfaraz Hussain, 21, had reason to be afraid that if deported, he would become the target of violent extremists "who would try to use him as a 'poster child' for anti-American views."
"Return to Pakistan would not only jeopardize his safety, but his emotional development as well," Judge Rohan said, citing "the very compelling circumstances of his life." The judge referred to a psychological report describing his symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder since an earlier reprieve from deportation was unexpectedly withdrawn by immigration officials in January.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/us/politics/22memo.html?ei=5094&en=af83a99286b9a89c&hp=&ex=1158984000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
September 22, 2006
Political Memo
Volatile Mix: Campaigning and Religions
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 - In one of the more awkward moments surrounding the disclosure of his Jewish heritage this week, Senator George Allen, Republican of Virginia, volunteered that his background had hardly inspired him to start keeping kosher. "I still had a ham sandwich for lunch," Mr. Allen told The Richmond Times-Dispatch, referring to rules against eating pork, "and my mother made great pork chops."
If Mr. Allen did not fully grasp the sensitivities at first, he did find himself in a growing group of political figures who have discovered their Jewish roots late in life.
The responses to his situation, which included bad ethnic humor and serious debates about denial and anti-Semitism, focused attention on the power of religious, ethnic and racial identities in politics, forces that may not have the power they once did. But those forces remain sufficiently alive that Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, a Mormon, will almost certainly face questions about his religion if he runs for the Republican presidential nomination.
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Inside Higher Education
http://insidehighered.com/views/2006/09/22/toth
How to Teach a Dirty Book
By Emily Toth
My students like to take it on the road.
At Penn State, they used to take it to the laundromat. While their undies thrashed about and everyone around them was struggling with Principles of Accounting and Introduction to Physics, my students would be turning page after page - laughing, crying, panting.
They still do, though now most of my Louisiana State University students also have full-time jobs. They take it with them to offices, beauty parlors, and fast food joints - and they leave their greasy thumbprints on the best pages.
They even take it home and read it in front of their parents - something my generation never did.
We knew we weren't supposed to read Peyton Place in front of our parents.
Grace Metalious's novel, 50 years old this month, is still a byword for lusty secrets. When South Carolina Congressman Lindsey Graham opened the impeachment hearings against Bill Clinton in 1998, he demanded, "Is this Watergate or Peyton Place?"My students ask about Watergate - but they know about Peyton Place.
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Inside Higher Education
http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/09/22/columbia
Sept. 22
The Speech That Wasn't
For an event that won't take place, the planned appearance by Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, resulted in plenty of announcements from Columbia University on Wednesday and Thursday.
After university officials dismissed reports that he had been invited to talk on the Manhattan campus as "rumors," they then confirmed that he had been invited - first in a short statement from Lee C. Bollinger, the president, and then in a longer version. Then the university sent word that Ahmadinejad wouldn't be appearing because of "logistical" problems and then another statement from Bollinger, saying that the university had been unable to arrange the visit in a way that would "reflect the academic values that are the hallmark" of a Columbia event.
As rumors about the speech swirled around Columbia's campus, students who are members of a pro-Israel group distributed leaflets criticizing the invitation by their university, which has been trying to overcome accusations - considered unfair by many on the campus - that the institution has been insensitive to Jewish and pro-Israel students.
The furor at Columbia follows both criticism and strong defenses of the decision by Harvard University to invite Mohammed Khatami, a former president of Iran, to speak on its campus earlier this month. Some objected to giving Khatami a platform, given Iran's record of human rights abuses. But many others at Harvard and elsewhere defended the invitation, citing the university's commitment to being a place of open debate and Khatami's reputation as a reformer (at least within the context of Iranian politics).
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The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/09/22/keep_choice_in_the_debate_on_abortion?mode=PF
ELLEN GOODMAN
Keep 'choice' in the debate on abortion
By Ellen Goodman | September 22, 2006
SOMETIMES YOU have to remember exactly what it means to be prochoice. Sometimes the word ``choice" is more than a focus-group label to avoid saying the word ``abortion." Sometimes the slick bumper sticker -- Who Decides? -- actually defines the argument.
The reminder now comes from Maine, where a bizarre and sorry family narrative is unfolding. Nicholas and Lola Kampf are accused of something that sounds linguistically impossible, not to mention criminal: kidnapping their daughter.
According to the arrest warrant, the Kampfs grabbed a pregnant 19-year-old Katelyn, allegedly tying her feet and hands, and carried her to the car and headed south. The plan, said Katelyn, who escaped in New Hampshire and called police on a cellphone, was to force her to have an abortion.
The headlines -- ``Daughter Kidnapped to Force Abortion" -- repeated this baldly across the news cycle. It was as if distraught parents could really deliver a captive wrapped in rope and duct tape to a doctor who would perform an abortion against the patient's will.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Religion-IRS.html?pagewanted=print
September 22, 2006
Church to Fight IRS Demand for Documents
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:17 a.m. ET
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- A liberal church that has been threatened with theloss of its tax-exempt status over an anti-war sermon delivered just daysbefore the 2004 presidential election said Thursday it will fight an IRSorder to turn over documents on the matter.
''We're going to put it in their court and in a court of law so that we canget an adjudication to some very fundamental issue here that we see as anintolerable infringement of rights,'' Bob Long, senior warden of All SaintsChurch, told The Associated Press.
He said the church's 26-member vestry voted unanimously to resist IRSdemands for documents and an interview with the congregation's rector by theend of the month.
The church's action sets up a high-profile confrontation between the churchand the IRS, which now must decide whether to ask for a hearing before ajudge, who would then decide on the validity of the agency's demands.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/21/AR2006092101513_pf.html
Tolerance: A Two-Way Street
By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, September 22, 2006; A17
Religious fanatics, regardless of what name they give their jealous god,invariably have one thing in common: no sense of humor. Particularly aboutthemselves. It's hard to imagine Torquemada taking a joke well.
Today's Islamists seem to have not even a sense of irony. They fail to seethe richness of the following sequence. The pope makes a reference to a14th-century Byzantine emperor's remark about Islam imposing itself by thesword, and to protest this linking of Islam and violence:
· In the West Bank and Gaza, Muslims attack seven churches.
· In London, the ever-dependable radical Anjem Choudary tells demonstratorsat Westminster Cathedral that the pope is now condemned to death.
· In Mogadishu, Somali religious leader Abubukar Hassan Malin calls onMuslims to "hunt down" the pope. The pope not being quite at hand, they dothe next best thing: shoot dead, execution-style, an Italian nun who workedin a children's hospital.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/opinion/22fri1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
September 22, 2006
Editorial
A Bad Bargain
Here is a way to measure how seriously President Bush was willing tocompromise on the military tribunals bill: Less than an hour after anagreement was announced yesterday with three leading Republican senators,the White House was already laying a path to wiggle out of its one realconcession.
About the only thing that Senators John Warner, John McCain and LindseyGraham had to show for their defiance was Mr. Bush's agreement to drop hisinsistence on allowing prosecutors of suspected terrorists to introduceclassified evidence kept secret from the defendant. The White House agreedto abide by the rules of courts-martial, which bar secret evidence.
(Although the administration's supporters continually claim this meansgiving classified information to terrorists, the rules actually provide forreviewing, editing and summarizing classified material. Evidence that cannotbe safely declassified cannot be introduced.)
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/opinion/22krugman.html?pagewanted=print
September 22, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
Insurance Horror Stories
By PAUL KRUGMAN
"When Steve and Leslie Shaeffer's daughter, Selah, was diagnosed at age 4 with a potentially fatal tumor in her jaw, they figured their health insurance would cover the bulk of her treatment costs." But "shortly after Selah's medical bills hit $20,000, Blue Cross stopped covering them and eventually canceled her coverage retroactively."
So begins a recent report in The Los Angeles Times titled "Sick but Insured? Think Again," which offers a series of similar horror stories, and suggests that these stories represent a growing trend: more and more health insurers are finding ways to yank your insurance when you get sick.
This trend helps explain something that has been puzzling me: why is the health insurance industry growing rapidly, even as it covers fewer Americans?
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http://www.advocate.com/print_article_ektid36638.asp
September 21, 2006
IRS investigation into liberal church draws fire from Right and Left
A liberal, pro-gay California church is locked in an escalating dispute withthe IRS over an antiwar sermon that could cost the congregation itstax-exempt status.
With the campaign season in full swing, a liberal Pasadena, Calif., churchis locked in an escalating dispute with the IRS over an antiwarsermon-delivered two days before the 2004 presidential election-that couldcost the congregation its tax-exempt status.
Religious leaders on both the right and left are watching closely, afraidthe confrontation at All Saints Church in this Los Angeles suburb willcompromise their ability to speak out on issues they see as morallyimportant, such as abortion and same-sex marriage, during the midtermelection campaign.
Under federal tax law, church officials can legally discuss politics, but toretain tax-exempt status, they cannot endorse candidates or parties. Mostwho do so receive a warning.
#####
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/21/terror/printable2030685.shtml
GOP Makes Deal On Detainees
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22, 2006
(CBS/AP) The Bush administration and Senate Republicans announced agreementThursday on terms for the interrogation and trial of terror suspects.
"I'm pleased we have agreement," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist,emerging from a session in his office where national security adviserStephen Hadley and key lawmakers reviewed the compromise.
Hadley called it a "framework for compromise," and Sen. John Warner said hewill not consider the agreement sealed until President Bush signs it.
President Bush hailed the agreement, saying it will "help us crack theterror network to save American lives."
Mr. Bush thanked the Senate for the deal and said it will allow the CIA tocontinue interrogations of suspected terrorists. Mr. Bush said he hopes thelegislation passes before Congress adjourns next week, reports CBS NewsWhite House correspondent Mark Knoller.
=
From Marc Adams
HeartStrong Outreach Trip
http://www.heartstrong.org
=
Hi everyone...
Time has just been flying by for us as we continue this outreach trip.The first thing I want to mention is a Thank You to an anonymous donor whodonated the $2500.00 we needed for the costs of the rest of this trip.This is a tremendous help to us and we are incredibly grateful.
We also received several other donations which have helped us lower theamount we need for the second portion of this trip (starting October 16)from $8,000.00 to $7200.00. We are so grateful for the donations that arehelping us do our work.
The El Dorado Human Rights Council is hosting us for a program on Sunday,September 24, in Placerville CA. They have afundamentalist/neo-evangelical local minister who has been a thorn in theside of many different groups of people. In response to the newspaper'sanouncement of our program, the minister's son, Luke Otterstad, wrote aletter to the editor calling me a Sodomite who hates Christians.
For the full article contact us a rays.list@comcast.net
=
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/15578351.htm
The Miami Herald
Posted on Fri, Sep. 22, 2006
Outsourcing torture should be stopped
OUR OPINION: CANADIAN VICTIM'S CASE CALLS 'RENDITION' INTO QUESTION
Of all the extraordinary techniques employed by the Bush administration to get information from terrorism suspects in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the practice known as ''rendition'' is one of the most questionable. Under this policy, U.S. interrogators don't whip, kick or brutalize anyone -- they just let someone else do it. Anyone who thinks this is a swell idea should consider the case of Canadian citizen Maher Arar, who was snared in an Orwellian nightmare involving rendition.
Suspected terrorist
Mr. Arar was seized by U.S. authorities in 2002 after he landed in New York on his way home from a holiday in Tunisia. Without informing the government of Canada -- one of our staunchest allies -- U.S. authorities shipped him off to his country of origin, Syria, where he was imprisoned and beaten as a suspected terrorist. His captors routinely ignored his pleas of innocence. After nearly a year of beatings and harsh interrogations, however, the Syrians determined that he was telling the truth all along and let him go.Earlier this week, a Canadian government commission exonerated the computer ngineer of any ties to terrorism. The U.S. government refused to cooperate with the inquiry. The panel was highly critical of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which had wrongly labeled Mr. Arar an ''Islamic extremist'' and put his name on a terrorist database shared with U.S. officials.
=
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15578389.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
The Miami Herald
Posted on Fri, Sep. 22, 2006
At Large
Fear, not terror, threatens our way of life
Leonard Pitts Jr.
Colin Powell is late.
Late by weeks, late by months. Truth to tell, late by years.
''The world,'' he wrote in a letter to Sen. John McCain last week, ``is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism.''
The eyes goggle at the word, neon obvious in its understatement. Beginning to doubt? Au contraire. Surely the world began to doubt when we barreled unilaterally into Iraq, crying, ''WMD! WMD!'' Surely, the world began to doubt when, finding no WMD, we declared that not finding WMD didn't matter. Surely, the world began to doubt when it read headlines of our soldiers committing acts of torture at Abu Ghraib. Surely the world began to doubt when news broke of the United States sending terror suspects to countries where they could be tortured by interrogators. Surely the world began to doubt when Dick Cheney lobbied to exempt the CIA from rules prohibiting torture. Surely the world has doubted for a long time.
SHOW OF SUPPORT
Powell's letter was meant as a show of support for a group of dissident GOP senators on the Armed Services Committee -- McCain, John Warner, Lindsay Graham, Susan Collins -- who joined Democrats in rebuffing a White House legislative attempt to reinterpret Article 3 of the Geneva Convention. The White House wanted to allow the use of torture in the interrogation of supposed terrorists, including a technique that simulates drowning. President Bush also wants to be able to try terror suspects without allowing them to see, much less rebut, the evidence against them -- the very definition of a kangaroo court.
The two sides reached a tentative agreement on Thursday. But it's a mark of how far we have fallen since Sept. 11, 2001, that these things were even being discussed, much less seriously. So, belated as it is, Powell's evocation of morality also feels, paradoxically, like the timeliest of reminders for a nation that has so obviously forgotten who and what it is supposed to be.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/21/AR2006092101800_pf.html
Students Rebel Against Database Designed to Thwart Plagiarists
By Maria Glod
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 22, 2006; A01
When McLean High School students write this year about Othello or immigration policy, their teachers won't be the only ones examining the papers. So will a California company that specializes in catching cheaters.
The for-profit service known as Turnitin checks student work against a database of more than 22 million papers written by students around the world, as well as online sources and electronic archives of journals. School administrators said the service, which they will start using next week, is meant to deter plagiarism at a time when the Internet makes it easy to copy someone else's words.
But some McLean High students are rebelling. Members of the new Committee for Students' Rights said they do not cheat or condone cheating. But they object to Turnitin's automatically adding their essays to the massive database, calling it an infringement of intellectual property rights. And they contend that the school's action will tar students at one of Fairfax County's academic powerhouses.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/21/AR2006092101310.html
The Super-Rich Get Richer: Forbes 400 Are All Billionaires
By Frank Ahrens
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 22, 2006; A01
It's not news that Bill Gates is the richest person in America, according to Forbes magazine's annual list of the nation's 400 richest people, released yesterday. He has been for 13 years. Barring a second Stone Age in which computers are good only for hurling at other cavemen, Gates will always be rich.
The news is: On this list, $999 million is chump change.
For the first time, all 400 Gotbucks on the Forbes tally are billionaires, from Gates (worth $53 billion) down to the bottom, Los Angeles semiconductor magnate Sehat Sutardja ($1 billion).
It's not just the accumulated wealth that draws attention to the list; it's the eye-popping numbers that show the speed with which wealth is gained -- and lost -- at the dawn of this millennium.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/21/AR2006092100400_pf.html
Wal-Mart Sets $4 Price For Many Generic Drugs
By Kathleen Day
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 22, 2006; A01
Retailing giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc., known for forcing prices down to dominate nearly every market it enters, said yesterday that it would sell nearly 300 generic drugs for $4 per prescription, whether or not a customer has insurance.
Using its might as the nation's largest retailer and its legendary ability to force suppliers to cut prices to the bone, the company will begin the $4 price program in its 65 stores in the Tampa area today, in all of Florida in January, and in as many other states as possible by the end of 2007. The $4 is for a typical monthly supply of medicine, and included on the Wal-Mart list are generic versions of many popular prescription drugs, including the antibiotic amoxicillin and the heart and blood-pressure treatment lisinopril, sold under the brand names Prinivil and Zestril.
Health-care industry analysts said the program has the potential to transform the $230 billion prescription-drug business the way Wal-Mart has transformed other industries, including groceries and toys, where its aggressive pricing has forced some competitors out of business and allowed it to dominate entire categories of merchandise.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/nyregion/22immigrant.html?pagewanted=print
September 22, 2006
Pakistani Youth Wins Political Asylum Despite U.S. Protests
By NINA BERNSTEIN
An orphaned young man living in Queens won a battle against deportation to his native Pakistan yesterday when an immigration judge granted his plea for political asylum over legal objections by the Department of Homeland Security.
The judge, Patricia A. Rohan, ruled that the young man, Mohammad Sarfaraz Hussain, 21, had reason to be afraid that if deported, he would become the target of violent extremists "who would try to use him as a 'poster child' for anti-American views."
"Return to Pakistan would not only jeopardize his safety, but his emotional development as well," Judge Rohan said, citing "the very compelling circumstances of his life." The judge referred to a psychological report describing his symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder since an earlier reprieve from deportation was unexpectedly withdrawn by immigration officials in January.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/us/politics/22memo.html?ei=5094&en=af83a99286b9a89c&hp=&ex=1158984000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
September 22, 2006
Political Memo
Volatile Mix: Campaigning and Religions
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 - In one of the more awkward moments surrounding the disclosure of his Jewish heritage this week, Senator George Allen, Republican of Virginia, volunteered that his background had hardly inspired him to start keeping kosher. "I still had a ham sandwich for lunch," Mr. Allen told The Richmond Times-Dispatch, referring to rules against eating pork, "and my mother made great pork chops."
If Mr. Allen did not fully grasp the sensitivities at first, he did find himself in a growing group of political figures who have discovered their Jewish roots late in life.
The responses to his situation, which included bad ethnic humor and serious debates about denial and anti-Semitism, focused attention on the power of religious, ethnic and racial identities in politics, forces that may not have the power they once did. But those forces remain sufficiently alive that Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, a Mormon, will almost certainly face questions about his religion if he runs for the Republican presidential nomination.
=
Inside Higher Education
http://insidehighered.com/views/2006/09/22/toth
How to Teach a Dirty Book
By Emily Toth
My students like to take it on the road.
At Penn State, they used to take it to the laundromat. While their undies thrashed about and everyone around them was struggling with Principles of Accounting and Introduction to Physics, my students would be turning page after page - laughing, crying, panting.
They still do, though now most of my Louisiana State University students also have full-time jobs. They take it with them to offices, beauty parlors, and fast food joints - and they leave their greasy thumbprints on the best pages.
They even take it home and read it in front of their parents - something my generation never did.
We knew we weren't supposed to read Peyton Place in front of our parents.
Grace Metalious's novel, 50 years old this month, is still a byword for lusty secrets. When South Carolina Congressman Lindsey Graham opened the impeachment hearings against Bill Clinton in 1998, he demanded, "Is this Watergate or Peyton Place?"My students ask about Watergate - but they know about Peyton Place.
=
Inside Higher Education
http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/09/22/columbia
Sept. 22
The Speech That Wasn't
For an event that won't take place, the planned appearance by Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, resulted in plenty of announcements from Columbia University on Wednesday and Thursday.
After university officials dismissed reports that he had been invited to talk on the Manhattan campus as "rumors," they then confirmed that he had been invited - first in a short statement from Lee C. Bollinger, the president, and then in a longer version. Then the university sent word that Ahmadinejad wouldn't be appearing because of "logistical" problems and then another statement from Bollinger, saying that the university had been unable to arrange the visit in a way that would "reflect the academic values that are the hallmark" of a Columbia event.
As rumors about the speech swirled around Columbia's campus, students who are members of a pro-Israel group distributed leaflets criticizing the invitation by their university, which has been trying to overcome accusations - considered unfair by many on the campus - that the institution has been insensitive to Jewish and pro-Israel students.
The furor at Columbia follows both criticism and strong defenses of the decision by Harvard University to invite Mohammed Khatami, a former president of Iran, to speak on its campus earlier this month. Some objected to giving Khatami a platform, given Iran's record of human rights abuses. But many others at Harvard and elsewhere defended the invitation, citing the university's commitment to being a place of open debate and Khatami's reputation as a reformer (at least within the context of Iranian politics).
=
The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/09/22/keep_choice_in_the_debate_on_abortion?mode=PF
ELLEN GOODMAN
Keep 'choice' in the debate on abortion
By Ellen Goodman | September 22, 2006
SOMETIMES YOU have to remember exactly what it means to be prochoice. Sometimes the word ``choice" is more than a focus-group label to avoid saying the word ``abortion." Sometimes the slick bumper sticker -- Who Decides? -- actually defines the argument.
The reminder now comes from Maine, where a bizarre and sorry family narrative is unfolding. Nicholas and Lola Kampf are accused of something that sounds linguistically impossible, not to mention criminal: kidnapping their daughter.
According to the arrest warrant, the Kampfs grabbed a pregnant 19-year-old Katelyn, allegedly tying her feet and hands, and carried her to the car and headed south. The plan, said Katelyn, who escaped in New Hampshire and called police on a cellphone, was to force her to have an abortion.
The headlines -- ``Daughter Kidnapped to Force Abortion" -- repeated this baldly across the news cycle. It was as if distraught parents could really deliver a captive wrapped in rope and duct tape to a doctor who would perform an abortion against the patient's will.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Religion-IRS.html?pagewanted=print
September 22, 2006
Church to Fight IRS Demand for Documents
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:17 a.m. ET
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- A liberal church that has been threatened with theloss of its tax-exempt status over an anti-war sermon delivered just daysbefore the 2004 presidential election said Thursday it will fight an IRSorder to turn over documents on the matter.
''We're going to put it in their court and in a court of law so that we canget an adjudication to some very fundamental issue here that we see as anintolerable infringement of rights,'' Bob Long, senior warden of All SaintsChurch, told The Associated Press.
He said the church's 26-member vestry voted unanimously to resist IRSdemands for documents and an interview with the congregation's rector by theend of the month.
The church's action sets up a high-profile confrontation between the churchand the IRS, which now must decide whether to ask for a hearing before ajudge, who would then decide on the validity of the agency's demands.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/21/AR2006092101513_pf.html
Tolerance: A Two-Way Street
By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, September 22, 2006; A17
Religious fanatics, regardless of what name they give their jealous god,invariably have one thing in common: no sense of humor. Particularly aboutthemselves. It's hard to imagine Torquemada taking a joke well.
Today's Islamists seem to have not even a sense of irony. They fail to seethe richness of the following sequence. The pope makes a reference to a14th-century Byzantine emperor's remark about Islam imposing itself by thesword, and to protest this linking of Islam and violence:
· In the West Bank and Gaza, Muslims attack seven churches.
· In London, the ever-dependable radical Anjem Choudary tells demonstratorsat Westminster Cathedral that the pope is now condemned to death.
· In Mogadishu, Somali religious leader Abubukar Hassan Malin calls onMuslims to "hunt down" the pope. The pope not being quite at hand, they dothe next best thing: shoot dead, execution-style, an Italian nun who workedin a children's hospital.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/opinion/22fri1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
September 22, 2006
Editorial
A Bad Bargain
Here is a way to measure how seriously President Bush was willing tocompromise on the military tribunals bill: Less than an hour after anagreement was announced yesterday with three leading Republican senators,the White House was already laying a path to wiggle out of its one realconcession.
About the only thing that Senators John Warner, John McCain and LindseyGraham had to show for their defiance was Mr. Bush's agreement to drop hisinsistence on allowing prosecutors of suspected terrorists to introduceclassified evidence kept secret from the defendant. The White House agreedto abide by the rules of courts-martial, which bar secret evidence.
(Although the administration's supporters continually claim this meansgiving classified information to terrorists, the rules actually provide forreviewing, editing and summarizing classified material. Evidence that cannotbe safely declassified cannot be introduced.)
=
The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/opinion/22krugman.html?pagewanted=print
September 22, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
Insurance Horror Stories
By PAUL KRUGMAN
"When Steve and Leslie Shaeffer's daughter, Selah, was diagnosed at age 4 with a potentially fatal tumor in her jaw, they figured their health insurance would cover the bulk of her treatment costs." But "shortly after Selah's medical bills hit $20,000, Blue Cross stopped covering them and eventually canceled her coverage retroactively."
So begins a recent report in The Los Angeles Times titled "Sick but Insured? Think Again," which offers a series of similar horror stories, and suggests that these stories represent a growing trend: more and more health insurers are finding ways to yank your insurance when you get sick.
This trend helps explain something that has been puzzling me: why is the health insurance industry growing rapidly, even as it covers fewer Americans?
=
http://www.advocate.com/print_article_ektid36638.asp
September 21, 2006
IRS investigation into liberal church draws fire from Right and Left
A liberal, pro-gay California church is locked in an escalating dispute withthe IRS over an antiwar sermon that could cost the congregation itstax-exempt status.
With the campaign season in full swing, a liberal Pasadena, Calif., churchis locked in an escalating dispute with the IRS over an antiwarsermon-delivered two days before the 2004 presidential election-that couldcost the congregation its tax-exempt status.
Religious leaders on both the right and left are watching closely, afraidthe confrontation at All Saints Church in this Los Angeles suburb willcompromise their ability to speak out on issues they see as morallyimportant, such as abortion and same-sex marriage, during the midtermelection campaign.
Under federal tax law, church officials can legally discuss politics, but toretain tax-exempt status, they cannot endorse candidates or parties. Mostwho do so receive a warning.
#####
FLORIDA DIGEST September 22, 2006
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15578402.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
REPUBLICANS
Fundraiser host being investigated
The Florida Bar is investigating a complaint against the law firm that employs the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor.
BY MARY ELLEN KLAS AND BETH REINHARD
breinhard@MiamiHerald.com
The trial lawyer who co-hosted a major fundraiser Thursday in Orlando forRepublican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist is under investigation bythe Florida Bar for what was described in a complaint as illegal ''patientbrokering'' with a chiropractic chain.
The lawyer, John Morgan, heads Morgan & Morgan, which specializes inpersonal injury cases, among other things.
Crist's running mate, state Rep. Jeff Kottkamp of Fort Myers, is a lawyer atthe firm.
=
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-celxvotereg21sep21,0,3217458.story?coll=sfla-news-sfla
Washington group criticizes Florida's system for checking IDs of voters
By Anthony Man
Political Writer
September 21, 2006
A Washington-based advocacy group on Wednesday criticized Florida's newsystem for verifying the identities of people registering to vote,suggesting it disenfranchises potential voters.
Although the organization that complained, the Advancement Project, said thesystem was affecting "a large percentage of otherwise eligible registrants,"that doesn't appear to be the case in Broward County.
In Broward, 32,726 people have registered to vote in 2006; the new systemhas denied registration to 364 -- slightly more than 1 percent, said MaryCooney, public service director at the Supervisor of Elections Office.Sterling Ivey, spokesman for the state Division of Elections, said he didn'thave statewide numbers.
Federal law required the conversion this year to a statewide voterregistration system, Ivey said. Supervisor of elections offices submitapplication information to the state, which double-checks identificationinformation such as driver's license or Social Security numbers, Ivey andCooney said. If the numbers don't match, the application is rejected.
=
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/nation/epaper/2006/09/21/a7a_wexler_0921.html
Florida Congressmen break tradition with public attacks
By Larry Lipman
Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau
Thursday, September 21, 2006
WASHINGTON - Call it the doughnut-hole skirmish.
Breaking with a long-standing tradition among the Florida congressionaldelegation, Democratic Reps. Robert Wexler of Delray Beach and DebbieWasserman Schultz of Pembroke Pines sharply attacked Rep. Clay Shaw Jr. ofFort Lauderdale on Wednesday over an article by Shaw published Sunday in theOpinion section of The Palm Beach Post.
Shaw's article was a rebuttal of an Opinion-section article by Wexler,published in The Post Aug. 13, which criticized President Bush andRepublicans in Congress for devising a Medicare prescription drug benefitthat has a gap in coverage for drug costs exceeding $2,250 up to $5,100 inout-of-pocket spending.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15578395.htm
Posted on Fri, Sep. 22, 2006
CAMPAIGN 2006 | GOVERNOR
President pitches Crist to party faithful
President Bush appeared at two Republican fundraisers in the state, urging party members to campaign for Charlie Crist and other GOP candidates.
BY MARY ELLEN KLAS
meklas@MiamiHerald.com
ORLANDO - Conjuring up images of tax-obsessed Democrats and emphasizing the need to stay the course in America's ''great ideological struggle'' against terrorism, President Bush urged party faithful in Florida on Thursday to defeat Democrats in November and put Charlie Crist in the governor's office.
The president took his blue-state pitch to a Tampa fundraiser for congressional candidate Gus Bilirakis and later to a high-end fundraiser for Crist and the Republican Party of Florida in Orlando.
At Orlando's Ritz-Carlton, a throng of lobbyists, business leaders and community activists from around the state agreed to pay $25,000 apiece just to get in the door.
''This is an extraordinarily successful event, and I thank you,'' the president told the cheering crowd.
=
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-chomeless21sep22,0,1098421.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Surveillance camera captures images of 4 youths linked to beating of homeless man
By Brian Haas and Macollvie Jean-François
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
September 22, 2006
FORT LAUDERDALE -- Police are searching for four boys seen in a surveillancevideo minutes before the beating and slashing of a homeless man in EsplanadePark, where a homeless man was beaten to death in January.
The four, thought to be between 12 and 15, are considered "persons ofinterest" by detectives after William Teeters was left bleeding and bruisedWednesday night in the park, said police spokeswoman Detective KatherineCollins. She said the four match the description of the attackers given byTeeters, and the video places the boys within a quarter-mile of the park 10minutes before the attack.
Teeters, 44, who has been homeless for almost a decade, according to peoplewho know him, left Broward General Medical Center Wednesday night withstaples and stitches closing wounds in his head and back. He declined tospeak to reporters Thursday. The city provided him housing assistance.
=
GLCC NEWS FOR SEPTEMBER 21, 2006
Contact us at rays.list@comcast.net for the full announcement.
=
http://www.local10.com/news/9902145/detail.html
Group Proposes 11-Mile Bridge Over Everglades
POSTED: 11:39 am EDT September 21, 2006
UPDATED: 11:42 am EDT September 21, 2006
CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- A group is kicking off a campaign to get funding tobuild a bridge that would span 11 miles of the Everglades.
The Everglades Skyway Coalition, made up of business, tourism, governmentand environmentalism leaders, held a summit conference at the Biltmore Hotelin Coral Gables Thursday.
The event kicks off a campaign to build an elevated highway over a longstretch of the Everglades. Those involved in the summit said that theTamiami Trail, a road built in 1928, acts as a dam that blocks the flow ofwater into Everglades National Park and Florida Bay. They said that anelevated roadway would cure the problem and it is essential to restoring theEverglades.
Because of a lack of funding, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is planningto build only three miles of bridge, which the coalition said is well shortof restoration goals.
#####
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15578402.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
REPUBLICANS
Fundraiser host being investigated
The Florida Bar is investigating a complaint against the law firm that employs the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor.
BY MARY ELLEN KLAS AND BETH REINHARD
breinhard@MiamiHerald.com
The trial lawyer who co-hosted a major fundraiser Thursday in Orlando forRepublican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist is under investigation bythe Florida Bar for what was described in a complaint as illegal ''patientbrokering'' with a chiropractic chain.
The lawyer, John Morgan, heads Morgan & Morgan, which specializes inpersonal injury cases, among other things.
Crist's running mate, state Rep. Jeff Kottkamp of Fort Myers, is a lawyer atthe firm.
=
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-celxvotereg21sep21,0,3217458.story?coll=sfla-news-sfla
Washington group criticizes Florida's system for checking IDs of voters
By Anthony Man
Political Writer
September 21, 2006
A Washington-based advocacy group on Wednesday criticized Florida's newsystem for verifying the identities of people registering to vote,suggesting it disenfranchises potential voters.
Although the organization that complained, the Advancement Project, said thesystem was affecting "a large percentage of otherwise eligible registrants,"that doesn't appear to be the case in Broward County.
In Broward, 32,726 people have registered to vote in 2006; the new systemhas denied registration to 364 -- slightly more than 1 percent, said MaryCooney, public service director at the Supervisor of Elections Office.Sterling Ivey, spokesman for the state Division of Elections, said he didn'thave statewide numbers.
Federal law required the conversion this year to a statewide voterregistration system, Ivey said. Supervisor of elections offices submitapplication information to the state, which double-checks identificationinformation such as driver's license or Social Security numbers, Ivey andCooney said. If the numbers don't match, the application is rejected.
=
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/nation/epaper/2006/09/21/a7a_wexler_0921.html
Florida Congressmen break tradition with public attacks
By Larry Lipman
Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau
Thursday, September 21, 2006
WASHINGTON - Call it the doughnut-hole skirmish.
Breaking with a long-standing tradition among the Florida congressionaldelegation, Democratic Reps. Robert Wexler of Delray Beach and DebbieWasserman Schultz of Pembroke Pines sharply attacked Rep. Clay Shaw Jr. ofFort Lauderdale on Wednesday over an article by Shaw published Sunday in theOpinion section of The Palm Beach Post.
Shaw's article was a rebuttal of an Opinion-section article by Wexler,published in The Post Aug. 13, which criticized President Bush andRepublicans in Congress for devising a Medicare prescription drug benefitthat has a gap in coverage for drug costs exceeding $2,250 up to $5,100 inout-of-pocket spending.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15578395.htm
Posted on Fri, Sep. 22, 2006
CAMPAIGN 2006 | GOVERNOR
President pitches Crist to party faithful
President Bush appeared at two Republican fundraisers in the state, urging party members to campaign for Charlie Crist and other GOP candidates.
BY MARY ELLEN KLAS
meklas@MiamiHerald.com
ORLANDO - Conjuring up images of tax-obsessed Democrats and emphasizing the need to stay the course in America's ''great ideological struggle'' against terrorism, President Bush urged party faithful in Florida on Thursday to defeat Democrats in November and put Charlie Crist in the governor's office.
The president took his blue-state pitch to a Tampa fundraiser for congressional candidate Gus Bilirakis and later to a high-end fundraiser for Crist and the Republican Party of Florida in Orlando.
At Orlando's Ritz-Carlton, a throng of lobbyists, business leaders and community activists from around the state agreed to pay $25,000 apiece just to get in the door.
''This is an extraordinarily successful event, and I thank you,'' the president told the cheering crowd.
=
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-chomeless21sep22,0,1098421.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Surveillance camera captures images of 4 youths linked to beating of homeless man
By Brian Haas and Macollvie Jean-François
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
September 22, 2006
FORT LAUDERDALE -- Police are searching for four boys seen in a surveillancevideo minutes before the beating and slashing of a homeless man in EsplanadePark, where a homeless man was beaten to death in January.
The four, thought to be between 12 and 15, are considered "persons ofinterest" by detectives after William Teeters was left bleeding and bruisedWednesday night in the park, said police spokeswoman Detective KatherineCollins. She said the four match the description of the attackers given byTeeters, and the video places the boys within a quarter-mile of the park 10minutes before the attack.
Teeters, 44, who has been homeless for almost a decade, according to peoplewho know him, left Broward General Medical Center Wednesday night withstaples and stitches closing wounds in his head and back. He declined tospeak to reporters Thursday. The city provided him housing assistance.
=
GLCC NEWS FOR SEPTEMBER 21, 2006
Contact us at rays.list@comcast.net for the full announcement.
=
http://www.local10.com/news/9902145/detail.html
Group Proposes 11-Mile Bridge Over Everglades
POSTED: 11:39 am EDT September 21, 2006
UPDATED: 11:42 am EDT September 21, 2006
CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- A group is kicking off a campaign to get funding tobuild a bridge that would span 11 miles of the Everglades.
The Everglades Skyway Coalition, made up of business, tourism, governmentand environmentalism leaders, held a summit conference at the Biltmore Hotelin Coral Gables Thursday.
The event kicks off a campaign to build an elevated highway over a longstretch of the Everglades. Those involved in the summit said that theTamiami Trail, a road built in 1928, acts as a dam that blocks the flow ofwater into Everglades National Park and Florida Bay. They said that anelevated roadway would cure the problem and it is essential to restoring theEverglades.
Because of a lack of funding, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is planningto build only three miles of bridge, which the coalition said is well shortof restoration goals.
#####
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