Thursday, November 16, 2006

GLBT DIGEST - November 16, 2006

**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.

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The current issue of The Independent Gay News is online

http://www.indynews.4t.com/


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The Miami Herald

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/performing_arts/16015779.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


Posted on Thu, Nov. 16, 2006


THEATER
Clash of sexuality, religion weighs heavy in plays

BY STEVE ROTHAUS
srothaus@MiamiHerald.com

Del Shores' Sordid Lives and Southern Baptist Sissies are two hitcomedies sure to generate lots of laughs this weekend at Parker Playhouse.But growing up gay in the Baptist church really isn't very funny, accordingto the shows' star, Emmy-winning actor Leslie Jordan.

''I was raised in the Baptist church,'' said Jordan, 51, a gay man whowon the Emmy this year for his role as Beverly Leslie in NBC's Will & Grace.``When you're raised in that environment, you are told there is somethingwrong with you -- very, very wrong with you.''



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Haggard-Therapy-Debate.html?pagewanted=print


November 15, 2006

Haggard Case Revives Gay Therapy Debate
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:51 p.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- Evangelical leader Ted Haggard, in apologizing for contactswith a gay prostitute, said he had sought help to combat a ''repulsive anddark'' side of his life -- but no approach had proven effective.

Even as he pledges to undergo further counseling, Haggard's comments haverekindled debate over the controversial premise that people can overcomesame-sex attractions through ''reparative therapy.'' It's a concept espousedby many religious conservatives, and disputed by many mental health experts.



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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org


Global Campaign to Decriminalize Gay Sex Aimed at U.N. (TheAdvocate)

From The Advocate -- the national U.S. magazine for gays and lesbians
http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid39427.asp
Why should being gay be a crime?

In 75 countries being gay is still a crime. French activist Prof.Louis-George Tin, founder of the International Day Against Homophobia, hopesto change that by having the United Nations adopt a resolution calling forthe decriminalization of homosexuality worldwide. Tin spoke to The Advocateahead of a press conference in Paris where he announced the news.

By Doug Ireland

An Advocate.com exclusive posted November 15, 2006


On November 17 the Paris-based International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO)will launch a global campaign for a United Nations resolution declaring thathomosexuality should no longer be considered a crime anywhere in the world.

The proposed U.N. resolution is the brainchild of IDAHO's founder,Louis-Georges Tin, 32, a professor and author of a number of books(including the Dictionary of Homophobia) who is also a rising star ofFrance's emerging black movement for equality.



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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org


http://blabbeando.blogspot.com/2006/11/argentina-gay-civil-unions-reality.html

BLOG: Blabbeando

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Argentina: Gay civil unions? Reality might surprise you

While some of us are celebrating that Mexico City and South Africa seempoised to grant partial or full recognition of same-sex partnerships, let'stake a look at what's been going on in Buenos Aires, Argentina (the firstcity in Latin America ever to pass a gay-friendly "civil union" law back in2002).

In yesterday's Clarin, Argentina's leading newspaper, Rosario Medina takes alook at the number of couples that have sought to have their partnershipsrecognized through a civil union in Buenos Aires since 2003. Granted, thearticle says that only one office in all of Buenos Aires is allowed to grantcivil union rights to same-sex couples, but the numbers might still surpriseyou.



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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org

Please help the National AIDS Fund:

We need your help! The National AIDS Fund is once again teaming up withBristol-Myers Squibb to promote the Light To Unite World AIDS Day campaign.From November 1st until World AIDS Day - December 1st, people from all overthe county will be able to log on to <http://www.LightToUnite.org>

www.LightToUnite.org and light a virtual candle. For every candle lit,Bristol-Myers Squibb will provide a $1 (up to $100,000) donation to theNational AIDS Fund to help support community based organizations throughoutthe U.S. in their fight against HIV/AIDS. In addition, participants willalso be given an opportunity to make a personal donation directly to theNational AIDS Fund.

Please forward to your friends. Thanks!




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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5072/is_9_23/ai_71690704

Anti-Porn Effort May Have Wide Free Speech Impact - Utah appoints anObscenity and Pornography Complaints Ombudsman - Brief Article

Joe Salkowski

IT'S easy to smirk about a place like Utah. It's where religion dominatespolitics and where sex outside of marriage isn't just frowned upon, it'sprosecuted.

But a newly appointed Utah official is getting ready to wipe that smile offyour face, particularly if you've been leering at Internet porn.

A former local prosecutor named Paula Houston has been named the state'sfirst Obscenity and Pornography Complaints Ombudsman, a title that mostpeople are shortening to Porn Czar. She's the first state official in thenation whose job is devoted exclusively to stamping out smut, and stateAttorney General Mark Shurtleff says her top priority will be the Internet.


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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501365_pf.html


Church Won't Punish Minister For Gay Wedding

By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 16, 2006; A03

Citing a procedural error, a tribunal of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)dismissed all charges yesterday against a Pittsburgh minister who wasaccused of violating the church's rules by conducting a marriage ceremonyfor two women.

The Rev. Janet Edwards, 56, said she was relieved, but also disappointed notto have her day in church court.

"Scripture teaches me that the heart of marriage is the love and commitmentbetween the partners. Life has taught me that gay and lesbian partners canshow as much love and commitment as anyone else," she said. "I was reallyeager to make that case."



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The Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-gay-marriage-fallout,0,2199919.story


Wis. Same-Sex Vote Has Some Job-Hunting

By RYAN J. FOLEY
Associated Press Writer

November 16, 2006, 4:22 AM EST


MADISON, Wis. -- Gay and lesbian faculty and staff at the University ofWisconsin-Madison say they might quit their jobs because of the state'spassage of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civilunions.

"I think that a lot of people are looking elsewhere," said Concha Gomez, anacademic staff member in the mathematics department.

Meeting Wednesday with about 100 concerned students, faculty and staff,UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley said the amendment makes it unlikely thatWisconsin's legislature will add health insurance benefits for domesticpartners.




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The Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-presbyterians-gays,0,6765672.story


Pa. Church Panel Drops Gay Marriage Case

By DAN NEPHIN
Associated Press Writer

November 16, 2006, 6:57 AM EST

PITTSBURGH -- Restrained applause broke the silence as Presbyterian leadersannounced their decision to dismiss charges against a minister accused ofbreaking church law by presiding over the marriage of two woman.

Those among the 200 people who crowded into a rented hall Wednesday tosupport pastor Janet Edwards clearly approved of the decision, but theirmeasured enthusiasm reflected the fact that the larger issue remainedunresolved.



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501395_pf.html


So Close, Yet So Far Apart
Once Solidly Part of the South, the Old Dominion Now Encompasses a WideningCultural Chasm

By Brigid Schulte and Chris L. Jenkins
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, November 16, 2006; B01

Alexandria still has its Jefferson Davis Highway and Springfield its RobertE. Lee High School, but if last week's election showed anything, it's thatNorthern Virginia is not only different than the rest of the state, it is adifferent state. And it's no longer in the South.

That line now starts at the Rappahannock River, where things change -- the
accents, the attitudes, the pace and a comfort with the way things are. It'swhat some historians call the new "grits line." To them, it's no surprisethat the state's northernmost welcome center on Interstate 95 is inFedericksburg.

State politics in Richmond is still controlled by leaders south of theRappahannock. But as Northern Virginia continues to grow, both in populationand influence, the profound difference between the two Virginias is likelyto become not just an uneasy alliance but a full-blown identity crisis.




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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111500455_pf.html


Letters To the Editor

Thursday, November 16, 2006; VA02


Marriage Amendment: Shame on Us for Our Bias


I am so completely disappointed in the state of Virginia that I truly wish Idid not live here. I cannot believe that Virginians are so small-minded andmean-spirited that they would attempt to control the lives of others. I amtalking about the amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

What is it that makes people think that they have the right to happiness andchoice at the same time that they work to deny others the same? Exactly whatproblems do people who voted for the amendment think will come from allowingsame-sex marriage? Is it that they think that their own marriages willsomehow fall apart because of this? If that is the case, they should beworking on their own lives and not the lives of others. I really don'tunderstand.



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The New York Times


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/nyregion/16mother.html?pagewanted=print


November 16, 2006

Child Born to Lesbian Couple Will Have 2 Mothers Listed

By LAURA MANSNERUS
TRENTON, Nov. 15 - A lesbian couple in South Jersey won court approval thisweek to have both of their names listed as parents on the birth certificateof their newborn, and the attorney general's office said it will no longeroppose such applications.

The decision, in Family Court in Burlington County, stems from an Oct. 25ruling by the New Jersey Supreme Court holding that same-sex couples areentitled to the same legal rights and protections as heterosexual couples.The court gave the Legislature 180 days either to bring gay couples withinthe state's marriage laws or establish a parallel system of civil unions.



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Gay-Marriage-Fallout.html?pagewanted=print


November 16, 2006
Wis. Same - Sex Vote Has Some Job - Hunting
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 4:22 a.m. ET

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Gay and lesbian faculty and staff at the University ofWisconsin-Madison say they might quit their jobs because of the state'spassage of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civilunions.

''I think that a lot of people are looking elsewhere,'' said Concha Gomez,an academic staff member in the mathematics department.

Meeting Wednesday with about 100 concerned students, faculty and staff,UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley said the amendment makes it unlikely thatWisconsin's legislature will add health insurance benefits for domesticpartners.


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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Internet-Outing.html?pagewanted=print


November 16, 2006
New Gay 'Outings' Sign of Gossip Culture
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:06 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- When the comedian Bill Maher went on ''Larry King Live''and alleged that some top Republican operatives were gay, it was too muchdetail for CNN, which edited the remarks out of later broadcasts and off thetranscript on its Web site.

But the remarks couldn't be edited out of cyberspace, where they remainavailable, along with virtually everything else these days.

Maher's comments last week, and a series of recent coming-out announcementsby Hollywood figures responding to persistent rumors, show just how much theInternet has changed the rumor mill, and consequently the process of''outing'' celebrities.

Where anti-gay sentiment used to fuel these revelations, these days they aremore likely to be merely a byproduct of a voracious Web-based gossip culturewhere no part of a celebrity's life is off limits -- or, in the case ofpoliticians, an attempt by one side or the other to score political points.



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Massachusetts-Gay-Marriage.html?pagewanted=print


November 16, 2006
Gay Marriage Showdown Looms in Mass.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:25 a.m. ET

BOSTON (AP) -- Gov. Mitt Romney plans to appear at a rally Sunday to demandthat lawmakers, who have largely ignored him on the matter, vote on aproposed ballot question that would end gay marriage in Massachusetts.

Last week, the Legislature again refused to take up the question at a jointsession, voting instead to recess until Jan. 2, which all but killed themeasure because a vote then is unlikely.

Romney's spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, said the fight won't be over until thepeople vote.

''No matter how you may feel about the marriage issue, people have a rightto participate in their own government,'' he said.



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Presbyterians-Gays.html?pagewanted=print


November 16, 2006
Pa. Church Panel Drops Gay Marriage Case
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 6:57 a.m. ET

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Restrained applause broke the silence as Presbyterianleaders announced their decision to dismiss charges against a ministeraccused of breaking church law by presiding over the marriage of two woman.

Those among the 200 people who crowded into a rented hall Wednesday tosupport pastor Janet Edwards clearly approved of the decision, but theirmeasured enthusiasm reflected the fact that the larger issue remainedunresolved.



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The Palm Beach Post


http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2006/11/16/m1a_OGAY_1116.html


Lesbian alleges bias at school
By Rachel Simmonsen

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, November 16, 2006

An Okeechobee High School senior and the club she helped form to promotetolerance of lesbians and gay men has sued the school principal and theOkeechobee County School Board, claiming they wrongfully prohibited the clubfrom meeting on school grounds.

Yasmin Gonzalez, 17, who is being represented by the American CivilLiberties Union, argues that the school's failure to recognize theGay-Straight Alliance of Okeechobee High School and allow it to meet at theschool violates the federal Equal Access Act.

According to her complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Miami,the federal law mandates that if a school allows one non-curricular group tomeet on campus, it must allow all other non-curricular groups to meet there.



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Op-Ed: A Global Overview of LGBT Rights - by Paula Ettelbrick



http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/needtoknow/2006/11/a_global_overview_of_gay_right.html

From the Washington Post Editor's Inbox - 11/02/06

A Global Overview of Gay Rights - by Paula Ettelbrick

After the New Jersey court ruling on gay marriage last week, this questionhas come again to the political fore in the U.S. There, an increasinglysuccessful gay rights movement battles a Republican political-religiousalliance in an epic conflict. Around the world gays are viscouslypersecuted. It is critical that opposition to same-sex marriage does not addfuel to the fire which leads to the arrest, torture and death of homosexualsaround the world.

After the New Jersey court ruling on gay marriage last week, this questionhas come again to the political fore in the U.S. There, an increasinglysuccessful gay rights movement battles a Republican political-religiousalliance in an epic conflict.


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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/print.php3?what=news&id=115461


09:17 Nov-14-06 / 23 Cheshvan 5767

'Armed Religious Anti-Gay Detainees' Tell Their Story
Tuesday, November 14, 2006 / 23 Cheshvan 5767


(IsraelNN.com) The widely-reported story of a group of religious men, onewith a gun, arrested Friday for planning to attack the Gay Pride event wasapparently manufactured by the police.

Binyamin P. spoke with Arutz-7, recounting his arrest while he and a groupof students were engaging in their weekly martial arts practice inJerusalem's
Gan Sachar park.

"They stopped us and when they heard we were from Gush Etzion they calledbackup, accused us of planning to use the practice rubber knives and sticksfor an attack and accused me of planning to use my licensed pistol,"Binyamin said.



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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com


http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_061114eltonjohn.shtml


Elton John invited to 'see how gay Christians behave' -14/11/06

The Metropolitan Community Church in East London (MCCEL) has issued aninvitation to Sir Elton John following his call for religion to be 'banned'.

Sir Elton claimed organised religion only worked to chastise homosexualityand convince people it's wrong.

He said, "Religion promotes the hatred and spite against gays. I would banreligion completely. Organised religion doesn't seem to work. It turnspeople into really hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate."




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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com



http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5143082,00.html


Focus on Family VP joins Haggard panel
By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News
November 14, 2006

The Rev. H.B. London, a mentor to pastors and an expert on the stresses ofthe ministry, has joined the counseling panel which will supervise the"spiritual restoration" of disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard.

London is vice president of church and clergy at Focus on the Family and alongtime colleague of Focus founder James Dobson, whom he will replace onthe three-member panel. Dobson said he did not have enough time to devote tothe task.



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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com



http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2006/11/15/notes111506.DTL&type=printable


Gay Marriage Is Still Evil?
Because the funny thing is, despite all the frantic state bans, no one canreally say why
- By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Which reminds me, I still have yet to hear it.

Despite all the right-wing puling, all the Bible-humping and the anti-gaymarriage campaigning in all those states that just banned it and howeveryone in the nation has apparently been deeply contemplating what hot gaysex must really be like because, oh my God, it sure has been in the news alot lately (thanks, Pastor Ted!), I still, as of this writing, to this veryday, I still have yet to hear a single coherent and comprehensiveexplanation from the nation's homophobes as to what, exactly, is so wrongabout gay love.




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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com



http://www.alternet.org/stories/44244/


Who's to Blame for the Decline of Marriage?
By Julie Enszner, AlterNet

Posted on November 15, 2006, Printed on November 15, 2006
http://www.alternet.org/story/44244/
This piece originally appeared as an op-ed in the Washington Blade.

The milestone court decision from New Jersey paves the way for another stateto recognize gay and lesbian relationships. The decision hinges on theeffect of naming -- do we call it marriage or not? -- but still requiresthat the state extend all the rights and benefits to gay and lesbiancouples.

I spent the better part of the next day telling my beloved that this doesn'tclear the way for us to move to Jersey. She laughed. We feel certain thatthe moment is coming for Maryland so we won't have to move. I wonder,though, if what we are seeing right now is not the entry of gay and lesbiancouples into the system of marriage, but the end of marriage as aninstitution completely?

[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]


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NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST NOVEMBER 16, 2006

**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.

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http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2006/11/16/baker_rescue/print.html


All the father's men

Bush family guardians James Baker and others are trying to rescue "Sonny"from his failed Middle East policies. Will he listen this time?
By Sidney Blumenthal

Nov. 16, 2006 | Even before the electoral repudiation of President Bush, or"Sonny," as Colin Powell refers to him, the guardians of the Bush familytrust surfaced as the presumptive executive committee of the executivebranch. For years, Bush's father and his former national security team haveattempted to rescue the president from himself -- and the clutches of DickCheney, Donald Rumsfeld and their neoconservative centurions. Earlier thisyear the elder Bush quietly approached a retired four-star general toinquire whether he would be willing to replace Rumsfeld, but that prematurecoup came to naught.


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http://insidehighered.com/layout/set/print/news/2006/11/16/ncaa


Nov. 16

The NCAA Responds
Last month, Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), the departing chairman of the U.S.House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means, sent an eight-pageletter addressed to Myles Brand that asked the National Collegiate AthleticAssociation president to justify the organization's tax-exempt status.

Intercollegiate sports, as sponsored by the NCAA and its member colleges,are considered to fall within the scope of the tax-exempt mission of highereducation. But in recent years, as many aspects of college sports havebecome big business, some have begun to question whether the association andbig-time sports programs still deserve their current classification. Inother words, as the Thomas letter bluntly asks: "Why should the federalgovernment subsidize the athletic activities of educational institutionswhen that subsidy is being used to help pay for escalating coaches'salaries, costly chartered travel, and state-of-the-art facilities?"


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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501339_pf.html


Pelosi's First Mistake

By Robert D. Novak
Thursday, November 16, 2006; A27



As the new House majority caucus prepared to pick its leadership today,Democrats were trying to make the best of the inevitability of Nancy Pelosias the party's first speaker in a dozen years. They have put out the wordthat she was not serious in endorsing Rep. John Murtha for majority leader.How much effort she has exerted for her longtime ally is irrelevant, but shehas actively solicited votes this week.

The damage to her was irrevocable when she wrote her colleagues Sundayurging them to pick Murtha over Rep. Steny Hoyer. Close associates of Hoyersay her letter stunned him, and he was not alone. While Pelosi had made itclear that she would vote for Murtha, the public endorsement was unexpected.



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The Sun-Sentinel


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-avotes16nov16,0,3601409.story?coll=sfla-news-sfla


Push on again in Congress for law to require paper trail for voting machines

By William E. Gibson
Washington Bureau Chief

November 16, 2006


WASHINGTON · With a very tight congressional race in the Sarasota area stillundecided, Florida once again is the focus of a national debate overelection reform.

Democratic Reps. Robert Wexler of Boca Raton and Rush Holt of New Jerseypromoted legislation on Wednesday that would require a paper trail atpolling places to ensure that ballots can be recounted and verified.

They said the lack of a paper backup at electronic polling places hasimpeded several close elections around the country, notably in SarasotaCounty, where more than 18,000 ballots were cast with no choice recorded inthe House race in District 13.

Democrat Christine Jennings and Republican Vern Buchanan are still locked ina close contest, awaiting final results that probably will be decided by thecourts. Both have come to Washington in the meantime to attend orientationsessions for new members of Congress.



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111500138_pf.html


Pakistan Moves to Amend Rape Laws
Islamic Conservatives Angered, but Effort Is Short of Rights Groups' Goal

By Paul Garwood
Associated Press
Thursday, November 16, 2006; A19

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 15 -- Pakistan's lower house of Parliament passedamendments to the country's rape laws Wednesday, ditching the death penaltyfor extramarital sex and revising a clause on making victims produce fourwitnesses to prove rape cases.

Consensual sex outside marriage would remain a crime punishable by fiveyears in prison or a $165 fine, said a parliamentary official, who spoke oncondition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

International and local calls for change intensified after the 2002 gangrape of Mukhtar Mai. A tribal council in her village in Punjab provinceordered the rape as punishment for her 13-year-old brother's alleged affairwith a woman of a higher caste.



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501076_pf.html


Former Enron Accountant Gets 5 1/2 Years for Fraud

By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 16, 2006; D01

The former chief accountant for Enron Corp. received a 5 1/2 -year prisonsentence yesterday, becoming the last member of the energy trader's upperechelon to face judgment for a fraud that cost thousands of employees theirjobs and left investors billions of dollars poorer.

Richard A. Causey, 46, pleaded guilty to a single count of securities fraudin December, weeks before he was to face trial on conspiracy and fraudcharges in a case that government lawyers have called the most complexwhite-collar prosecution in history. Causey, who must also serve two yearsof probation, remained free yesterday while prison officials determinedwhether to send him to the facility he requested, in Bastrop, Tex.

Causey's sentence follows prison terms recently handed to two other keyEnron figures. Former chief executive Jeffrey K. Skilling was sentenced lastmonth to 24 years and four months, while onetime finance chief Andrew S.Fastow was sentenced in September to six years.


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The Sun-Sentinel


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/sfl-brmail816nov16,0,7354202.story?coll=sfla-news-letters


Another aspect of sex offender laws

C.M. Rivera
Pembroke Pines

November 16, 2006

My husband was wrongly convicted in military law and now we are stuck withthe sexual offender label. In our case, a family member made up a story, andin military law you are always guilty and must be proven innocent. We lostthe case.

After six months of living here, the police showed up to tell us we neededto move right away, giving us a copy of the ordinance proposed in 2005.

Are we back in the last century when blacks were segregated because theywere black? It seems to me that yes, however, the word "black" has now beenchanged to "sex offenders." It seems to me that what all officials arelooking for is to segregate sex offenders outside of their jurisdiction, butwhat happens next? Can you tell me where the sex offenders are supposed tolive?




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The Washington Post


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501336_pf.html

A Better Way to Fight Terrorism

By John Hamre
Thursday, November 16, 2006; A27



In the warm glow of post-election bipartisanship, Congress and PresidentBush would do well to take on a crucial task: forging a new legal foundationfor the global war on terrorism. The current policy framework is a disaster.While I know it's not true, still, the world believes that America condonestorture, prison camps and "disappearance" tactics.

Let me recount an analogy. I remember a day back in 1986, when I was workingfor the Senate Armed Services Committee. An intelligence officer told methat the Navy had just recovered a Soviet sonobuoy and, in taking it apartfor intelligence assessment, our government had discovered anAmerican-designed computer chip -- one that we had not yet even certifiedfor production in our own systems. The Soviet Union clearly had superiorintelligence and counterintelligence capabilities.



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/washington/16nominees.html?pagewanted=print


November 16, 2006

Bush to Put Nominations Back on Table
By NEIL A. LEWIS

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 - White House officials said Wednesday that PresidentBush would renominate six of his earlier choices to sit on the federalappeals court, leaving Democratic senators and other analysts to ponder whatmessage he is sending.

At least four of the nominations have been declared dead on arrival in theSenate by Democrats who have consistently opposed them as unacceptable. Allsix nominations will remain before the Senate through the lame-duck sessionof Congress and then will expire.

When the 110th Congress is seated in January, Mr. Bush can deliver anotherlist of judicial nominees to the Senate, which will by then have aDemocratic majority.



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CBS News

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/15/politics/main2186726.shtml


McCain Moves Closer To White House Run

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2006

(CBS/AP) Republican Sen. John McCain will file paperwork with the FederalElection Commission on Thursday to create a presidential exploratorycommittee, his aides said.

The Arizona senator also launched a Web site - www.exploremccain.com - thatallows supporters to donate and join his effort by donating money.

The four-term Arizona senator will deliver back-to-back speeches Thursday toorganizations considered conservative cornerstones of the Republican Party -the Federalist Society and GOPAC. He will discuss the current and futurestate of the GOP.



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boston.com


http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/11/16/abramoff_ruing_nightmare_begins_six_year_prison_term?mode=PF


Abramoff, ruing 'nightmare,' begins six-year prison term
By Matt Apuzzo and David Dishneau, Associated Press | November 16, 2006



CUMBERLAND, Md. -- One time power broker Jack Abramoff lamented "thisnightmare" political scandal that stretches from Congress to the White Houseand looked toward being with family and friends again someday as he entereda federal prison yesterday.

Abramoff, who parlayed campaign donations and expensive gifts into politicalinfluence, arrived at about 6:30 a.m. at a relatively secluded prisonfacility in western Maryland. He will serve a sentence of nearly six yearsfor a fraudulent Florida business deal.



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L.A. Times



http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-na-earmarks16nov16,0,4797096.story?track=mostviewed-homepage

Democratic leadership hopefuls marked by ethical questions
The two candidates for House majority leader know how to leverage theirconnections.
By Tom Hamburger and Chuck Neubauer
Times Staff Writers

November 16, 2006

WASHINGTON - Though incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promises to pushthrough ethical reforms in Congress, both of the Democrats vying to be hersecond-in-command have long histories of earmarking, close relationshipswith corporate interests, and using their positions to raise millions ofdollars in campaign contributions.

Pelosi's choice for the job, Rep. John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, used hisseat on the appropriations committee and the largely secret earmark processto obtain $121 million in earmarks during the current session, making himone of the top earmarkers in Congress, according to the watchdog groupTaxpayers for Common Sense.


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http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061116/OPINION05/611160320/1006/OPINION&template=printart


Hillary rides high with the rise of the Mommy Party

By Michael Goodwin
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS



With Democrats seizing control of the House and Senate, a debate has startedover how significant their victory was. Does it potentially mark agenerational power shift? Was it more a repudiation of George Bush and theGOP than an embrace of Democrats? What does it mean for the presidentialelection in two years?

My answers: Yes, yes and Hillary.

To start with the last, I think the mood of the country has shifted sosharply that Hillary Clinton has gone from being the front-runner for herparty's 2008 nomination to being virtually unstoppable. The odds of herbeing elected president are greater today than they were a mere week ago.

Her own re-election landslide is a big reason, but not the only one. So manyAmericans, I believe, are so disgusted with the Republican Party that theyare open to electing a Democratic president - even if that Democrat is awoman. There's a clear gender and cultural issue in politics today, and itfavors Democrats.



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The Washington Post


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501431_pf.html


Black Lawmakers in Line for Key Posts
Leadership of 5 House Panels, Majority Whip's Job Could Go to Caucus Members

By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 16, 2006; A25

Three days after workers broke ground for the Martin Luther King Jr.Memorial on the Mall, the Congressional Black Caucus is preparing to breaknew ground of its own.

Five of its members are poised to take the helm of key House committees whenDemocrats assume control of Congress next year: John Conyers Jr. (Mich.) ofJudiciary, Alcee L. Hastings (Fla.) of intelligence, JuanitaMillender-McDonald (Calif.) of House Administration, Reps. Charles B. Rangel(N.Y.) of Ways and Means, and Bennie Thompson (Miss.) of Homeland Security.

Another member, Rep. James E. Clyburn (S.C.), is slated to be named majoritywhip, which would make him the third-ranking Democrat in the House. MinorityLeader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the presumed speaker of the 110th Congress,has campaigned on his behalf.



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The Washington Post


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501334_pf.html



Time of Testing for Harry Reid

By David S. Broder
Thursday, November 16, 2006; A27

When Virginia Sen. George Allen conceded to Jim Webb last week, giving theDemocrats their 51st seat in the Senate, the responsibility for the work ofthe legislative branch shifted definitively -- and a potential weak pointfor the new majority was exposed.

Hours earlier it became clear that the Democrats had won a majority in theHouse of almost the same size that Republicans had enjoyed for the past twoyears -- a working margin large enough to support a fairly ambitious agenda.Nancy Pelosi, who will be speaker of the House, has the personal strengthand political skills to hold that majority together at least as well asDennis Hastert did in his time at the helm. House rules favor majoritycontrol, so Pelosi can be generous toward the minority without jeopardizingher chances of success.


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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111500533_pf.html


Lott Rejoins Senate Leadership
In Comeback, Mississippian Is Elected GOP Whip Over Alexander

By Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 16, 2006; A04



Four years after racially impolitic remarks cost him the Senate's top post,Sen. Trent Lott (Miss.) rejoined Congress's leadership ranks yesterday whenhis Republican colleagues turned to the veteran insider and skilledvote-counter to help them plot their return to majority status.

By a 25 to 24 secret-ballot vote, Lott defeated Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.)for the position of minority whip, the party's second-highest post. Asexpected, GOP senators elected Mitch McConnell (Ky.) as Senate minorityleader for the new Congress that will convene in January. But his victorywas tempered by Lott's come-from-behind win over Alexander, who was seen asMcConnell's and the Bush administration's preferred choice for whip.



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boston.com


http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/11/15/senate_chairmen_glance?mode=PF


Senate Chairmen Glance
By The Associated Press | November 15, 2006

A look at the new Democratic committee chairmen in the Senate when the newCongress convenes in January.

------

Agriculture: Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. Harkin, 66, remains an idealistic butpragmatic liberal after more than two decades in the Senate. He was aprincipal author of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.His previous brief chairmanship of the committee and championing of farmsubsidies helped him four years ago overpower a conservative challenger in aswing state.

------

Appropriations: Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. Byrd, the longest-serving member of theSenate, has held more Senate party leadership positions -- including twoterms as majority leader -- than anyone. Now 88, he has grown increasinglyliberal since his first statewide race in 1946. Byrd joined theAppropriations Committee in 1959 and chaired it from 1989 to 1994 and againin 2001. His control of the panel and its role in federal spending promptedcritics to label him "the king of pork-barrel politics."


more....


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The New York Times


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/education/16reportcard.html?pagewanted=print


November 16, 2006

Most Students in Big Cities Lag Badly in Basic Science
By DIANA JEAN SCHEMO


WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 - A least half of eighth graders tested in sciencefailed to demonstrate even a basic understanding of the subject in 9 of 10major cities, and fourth graders, the only other group tested, fared littlebetter, according to results released here Wednesday.

The outcome of those tests, part of the National Assessment of EducationalProgress, often called the nation's report card, showed that studentperformance in urban public schools was not only poor but also far short ofscience scores in the nation as a whole.



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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org

Blogcritics.org, November 14, 2006

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/11/14/164942.php

The United States and South Africa: A Historic Role Reversal Written by
Richard Rothstein

Having lived through years of segregation, race riots and civil rightsstruggles in mid-20th century America followed by an American "holier thanthou" attitude towards South Africa's policy of Apartheid, I find myselfunusually stunned by the legalization of gay marriage in South Africa. Atbest I would describe this as a bittersweet moment in history. And forsomeone of my age who came into this world the same year as Apartheid, 1948,more bitter than sweet.

Apartheid was an oftentimes violently enforced system of racialdiscrimination and separation on a fascist scale. Some would say that it wassecond only to the Holocaust among 20th Century crimes against humanity.Both events have certainly become icons of man's inhumanity to man.



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111500836_pf.html


Racial Slur Spurs Student to Seek Change in Curriculum

By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 16, 2006; GZ05


Afreshman at Quince Orchard High School on Tuesday politely requested thatthe school board remove a racial epithet against African Americans from thehigh school English curriculum. Her request put school administrators on thespot to explain why the word was there in the first place.

Maya Jean-Baptiste told board members that she and several classmates hadbecome visibly uncomfortable during a discussion in her ninth-grade Englishclass last week that broached the racial slur as a precursor to the HarperLee classic "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Lee's book is set in the Old South, and racism is among its themes. By wayof preparation, Maya's teacher presented the class with two readingselections, an essay and a poem, dealing with the power and traumatizingeffect of the epithet.



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The New York Times


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/opinion/16kuo.html?pagewanted=print


November 16, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor

Putting Faith Before Politics
By DAVID KUO
Alexandria, Va.

SINCE 1992, every national Republican electoral defeat has been accompaniedby an obituary for the religious right. Every one of these obituaries hasbeen premature - after these losses, the religious right only grew stronger.After the defeat of President George H. W. Bush in 1992, the conventionalwisdom held that Christian evangelicals would be chastened. As one majormagazine put it, Mr. Bush's defeat meant that "time had run out on theircrusade to create a Christian America." Yet in the next two years, theChristian Coalition grew by leaps and bounds; in 1994, it helped usher inthe Gingrich revolution.



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The Washington Post


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/15/AR2006111501521_pf.html


Pelosi Splits Democrats With Push For Murtha
Speaker-to-Be Accused Of Strong-Arm Tactics

By Jonathan Weisman and Lois Romano
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, November 16, 2006; A01



A showdown over the House majority leader's post today has Democratsbitterly divided only a week after their party took control of Congress andhas prompted numerous complaints that Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi(Calif.) and her allies are using strong-arm tactics and threats to try toelect Rep. John P. Murtha (Pa.) to the job.

Murtha, 74, a former Marine who was among the first on Capitol Hill to callfor a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, may have hurt his own chances Tuesdaynight when he derided the Democrats' ethics and lobbying package beforesaying he will push for its passage anyway out of deference to Pelosi. Hisstatement, at a gathering of conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats, was cited bybackers of his rival, Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (Md.), as further proof thatMurtha's controversial ethics record disqualifies him to lead the party in anew political era.



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USA Today


http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-11-15-bush-asia-trip_x.htm?csp=34


Bush seeks to reassure Asian allies
Updated 11/16/2006 8:56 AM ET


SINGAPORE (AP) - From across the world, President George W. Bush took onanti-war and anti-free trade Democrats who won control of Congress, sayingThursday any drift toward isolationism would hinder America's security andeconomic vitality.

"We hear voices calling for us to retreat from the world and close our doorsto its opportunities," he said in a speech at the National University ofSingapore. "These are the old temptations of isolationism and protectionism,and America must reject them."

Asserting that the spread of weapons of mass destruction to terrorists is"the greatest danger in our world today," Bush has the standoff over NorthKorea's nuclear weapons program atop the agenda for most of the meetings onhis eight-day Asian trip. He urged allies to stand firm against anuclear-armed North Korea - which he called "the most immediate threat ofproliferation" in the region - and enforce U.N. sanctions against thecountry for test-firing a nuclear bomb last month.


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The L.A. Times


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-mccain16nov16,1,4307274.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

McCain moves toward '08 presidential run

GOP losses may help him stand out on fiscal and ethical issues -- butcalling for more troops in Iraq could cost him.

By Janet Hook
Times Staff Writer

November 16, 2006

WASHINGTON - Striding through the wreckage of the midterm election, Sen.John McCain (R-Ariz.) will take a major step today toward a 2008presidential bid by announcing he has established a committee to formallyexplore a campaign and making two major speeches laying out his vision forthe future of the GOP.

McCain has been considered the front-runner for the Republican nomination ina field that changed rapidly after the tumultuous midterms.




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The New York Times

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/opinion/16brooks.html?pagewanted=print


November 16, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist

The Heyday of Snobbery
By DAVID BROOKS

And so we enter the era of mass condescension. Thanks to the creativity ofour cultural entrepreneurs, we enter a time when we can gather in largegroups and look down at our mental, social and spiritual inferiors.

In retrospect, it's easy to see how this cultural moment crept up on us.There is "American Idol," which allows the millions to watch Simon Cowellridicule people who don't realize how talentless they are. There is themiddle segment of "The Daily Show," during which correspondents sometimes goout and use postmodern interviewing techniques to humiliate rural gooberswho think they were abducted by aliens or some such.

Then there is the rise of culture-war comedians whose jokes heap scorn onthe sorts of people who are guaranteed not to be in the audience.("Megachurches," Bill Maher joked recently on HBO, "are presided over by thesame skeevy door-to-door Bible salesmen that we've always had, just in anage of better technology. But they're selling the same thing: fear. Fear tokeep you in line."



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Subject: DP World -- Still In The Port Management Game? - The
Carlyle Group Intertwined

Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2006
From: The Whimsy LOOPS


DP World and Carlyle Group Intertwined
November 15, 2006
By: Michael Hughes,

Go To: http://uspolitics.about.com/b/a/207930.htm to see article in full onthe web

Regarding Friday's piece on DP World and management of US ports, a readerasks: Is there a connection between The Carlyle Group and the French firmCMA CGM? Both are mentioned as finalists in the bidding for management of20+ US ports. And ports remain a weak area in US "homeland security."

Given the meteoric increase in Carlyle's assets since 9-11, as well as itspolitical connectedness, the question seems worth a probe. Then there's thistidbit: In 2003, Carlyle bought CSX World Terminals for $300 million and in2004 they sold the firm to Dubai Ports World (now DP World) for $1.15billion. Today they're looking to buy DP World's US assets that came aboutfrom its purchase of Britain's P&O. Circular.


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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com


http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3886/printmode/true


GPS Surveillance Creeps into Daily Life
by Catherine Komp

Public-interest advocates say cell phone surveillance is becoming cheaperand more pervasive, but companies and governments are lagging behind inestablishing policies to protect the right to privacy.

Nov. 14 - For $5.99 per month, you can turn a cell phone into a surveillancedevice and track when your target leaves home, where he or she travels andat what speed. You can even detect how much battery power is left on thephone. Marketed as "virtual eyes" on your kids or employees, the servicealso allows you to construct a virtual "fence" so that you can receiveelectronic alerts if the phone's carrier crosses into forbidden areas.



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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/print/2894/


Stunning Revelations
The untold story of Taser-related deaths
By Silja J.A. Talvi

TASER International Inc. maintains that its stun-guns are "changing theworld and saving lives everyday." There is no question that they changedJack Wilson's life. On Aug. 4, in Lafayette, Colo., policemen on a stakeoutapproached Jack's son Ryan as he entered a field of a dozen young marijuanaplants. When Ryan took off running, officer John Harris pursued the22-year-old for a half-mile and then shot him once with an X-26 Taser. Ryanfell to the ground and began to convulse. The officer attemptedcardiopulmonary resuscitation, but Ryan died.

According to his family and friends, Ryan was in very good physical shape.The county coroner found no evidence of alcohol or drugs in his system andruled that Ryan's death could be attributed to the Taser shock, physicalexertion from the chase and the fact that one of his heart arteries wasunusually small.



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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061113/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/detainees_lawsuits_1&printer=1


Administration: Detainees have no rights
By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press WriterMon Nov 13, 3:16 PM ET



The Bush administration said Monday that Guantanamo Bay prisoners have noright to challenge their detentions in civilian courts and that lawsuits byhundreds of detainees should be dismissed.

The detainees are challenging the military's authority to arrest peopleoverseas and detain them indefinitely without allowing them to use the U.S.courts to contest their detention.

Human rights groups and attorneys say that's unconstitutional. Prisonersnormally have the right to challenge their imprisonment.



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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DETAINEES_LAWSUITS?SITE=CAVEN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Nov 14, 6:39 AM EST

US: Immigrants may be held indefinitely

By MATT APUZZO
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Immigrants arrested in the United States may be heldindefinitely on suspicion of terrorism and may not challenge theirimprisonment in civilian courts, the Bush administration said Monday,opening a new legal front in the fight over the rights of detainees.

In court documents filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals inRichmond, Va., the Justice Department said a new anti-terrorism law beingused to hold detainees in Guantanamo Bay also applies to foreigners capturedand held in the United States.



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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/13/AR2006111301221_pf.html


CIA Acknowledges 2 Interrogation Memos
Papers Called Too Sensitive for Release

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 14, 2006; A29



After years of denials, the CIA has formally acknowledged the existence oftwo classified documents governing aggressive interrogation and detentionpolicies for terrorism suspects, according to the American Civil LibertiesUnion.

But CIA lawyers say the documents -- memos from President Bush and theJustice Department -- are still so sensitive that no portion can be releasedto the public.



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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/printer_111406F.shtml


Pentagon Lacks Independent Watchdog
By John Solomon
The Associated Press

Monday 13 November 2006



Washington - The Pentagon has been without its chief watchdog for morethan a year, even as the military spends billions of dollars a month in Iraqand controversy simmers over warrantless surveillance, missing weapons andfriendly fire deaths.

President George W. Bush's nominee for the inspector general job isbeing held up because answers he gave lawmakers have raised concerns with akey senator about his independence.



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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/13/AR2006111301205_pf.html


Witness Is Silent in Terror Probe
Ex-Professor Says Grand Jury Testimony Would Endanger Him

By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 14, 2006; B05



A potentially key witness has refused to testify in the long-runninginvestigation into whether Islamic charities in Northern Virginia werefinancing terrorist organizations, according to recently unsealed courtdocuments.

Former Florida professor Sami al-Arian declined to answer questions before afederal grand jury in Alexandria last month, according to documents unsealedin federal court in Tampa. Arian, who was acquitted in one of the nation'shighest-profile terrorism cases but then pleaded guilty to a single charge,believes his life would be in danger if he testified, his attorneys told ajudge.



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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://www.observer.com/printpage.asp?iid=13675&ic=Joe+Conason


G.O.P. Campaign Tactics Reveal True Character

By: Joe Conason
Date: 11/13/2006
Page: 5


What exactly is wrong with the Republicans?

Today, that question applies not to their rigidly right-wing ideology, norto their routine betrayal of their rigidly right-wing ideology, nor even totheir weird sexual hang-ups and hypocrisy, fascinating as all of thosetopics may be. Instead, on the day after Election Day, what is at issue isthe bad nature of the Republican political class-meaning the partyofficials, the consultants, and the elected officials who oversee both-andthe poisoning of America's democratic process by their habitual misconduct.

Republicans tend to talk about honor, integrity, morality and character inalmost mystical terms, often attributing those qualities to themselves andtheir leaders. But the daily behavior of those who maintain the party'spower shows how irrelevant those concepts have become in reality.



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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20061115&Category=OPINION02&ArtNo=611150315&SectionCat=&Template=printart


Article published November 15, 2006

The fall of Ted Haggard


IT HAS been spoken from the pulpit and expounded to kids on their mother'sknee: Practice what you preach. It's a simple lesson, like most of thoseupon which Americans try to base their lives.

But sometimes the most basic of life lessons are the hardest to learn. Justask the Rev. Ted Haggard.

His precipitous fall from grace was shocking and unexpected, as the formerhead of the National Association of Evangelicals and founding pastor of theNew Life Church in Colorado Springs, was ousted amid allegations of gay sexand drugs.



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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://www.sacbee.com/110/v-print/story/77067.html


Editorial: Eyes, ears everywhere
How much surveillance is too much?

Published 12:00 am PST Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Privacy International, a British civil liberties group, found in a survey of37 countries that the United Kingdom ranks with Russia, China, Singapore andMalaysia as the most watched societies in the world. The survey consideredsuch criteria as visual surveillance, wiretapping and privacy laws.

The average Briton, it calculated, is seen by a surveillance camera 300times a day. The United States finished somewhere in the middle, along withThailand and the Philippines. The least spied-upon were Germans andCanadians, thanks to strong privacy-protection laws.




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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/news/publish/Bush_Leagues_21/Welcome_to_America_Now_surrender_your_rights_printer.shtml


Bush Leagues
Welcome to America; Now surrender your rights
By DALE McFEATTERS
Nov 15, 2006 - 5:22:47 AM

The Bush administration is unrelenting in its push for the power to jailpeople indefinitely.

In a brief filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court in Richmond, the JusticeDepartment argued that the controversial new detainee law empowers it toarrest and imprison indefinitely immigrants _ green card residents,students, tourists, illegals, basically any foreigner _ on suspicion ofterrorism or designation as an "enemy combatant."

The Bush administration gets to decide on what grounds someone is aterrorist suspect or an enemy combatant. And the jailed foreigner is stuckthere for as long as the Justice Department wants to keep him because theadministration says he has no right to challenge his imprisonment in acivilian court.



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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/news/publish/Ain_t_This_America_24/Wiccans_sue_feds_over_military_headstone_rule_printer.shtml


From Capitol Hill Blue

Ain't This America
Wiccans sue feds over military headstone rule
By LAUREN SMITH
Nov 14, 2006 - 3:56:30 AM




A religious watchdog group sued the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs onMonday in reaction to the federal government's refusal to permit followersof the Wiccan faith to adorn their military headstones with the religion'ssymbol.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed suit on behalf ofRoberta Stewart, who has been pressing the VA for more than a year to allowthe Wiccan pentacle symbol to be placed on the headstone of her husband, aNevada National Guard soldier who died last September in Afghanistan.



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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com


http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/135068,CST-NWS-kingside14a.article


Whites' income 2/3 higher than blacks'

November 14, 2006

BY STEPHEN OHLEMACHER


WASHINGTON -- Decades after the civil rights movement, racial disparities inincome, education and home ownership persist and, by some measurements, aregrowing.

White households had incomes that were two-thirds higher than blacks and 40
percent higher than Hispanics last year, according to data released today by
the Census Bureau.

White adults were also more likely than black and Hispanic adults to havecollege degrees and to own their own homes. They were less likely to live inpoverty.

''Race is so associated with class in the United States that it may not bedirect discrimination, but it still matters indirectly,'' said DaltonConley, a sociology professor at New York University and the author of BeingBlack, Living in the Red.

''It doesn't mean it's any less powerful just because it's indirect,'' hesaid.




[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]

#####

FLORIDA DIGEST NOVEMBER 16, 2006

**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.


=


The Independent


http://www.indynews.4t.com/0323/features1.html

November 16, 2006
Election Aftermath: Looking


By Paul Harris
PHarris@OurIndy.com

The election results in South Florida brought good news to GLBT activists byand large although the governorship of the state, as was very much expected,went to Charlie Crist, who may or may not be bisexual. Locally, gayactivists were delighted that long term enemy to the gay cause, CongressmanE. Clay Shaw, was finally removed after 26 years to be replaced by RonKlein, who polled a whisker over half the votes cast. The race gained thedistinction of being the most expensive congressional race in the countrywith a total of $8 million being spent by both sides.


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The Independent


http://www.indynews.4t.com/0323/oped2.html


November 16, 2006

Guest Editorial: One

Perspective After Election Day

By Leon Van Dyke

For the first time in six now very long years I can take heart that theAmerica for which I hold a fervent brand of personal patriotism is not lost.Americans of voting age descended upon the polls yesterday and swept outmany of the non-thinking rubber stamp politicians in the House ofRepresentatives.

And, as I write this many are waiting for vote recounts establishing whichpolitical party will hold sway in the US Senate for the next two years. Iwas overjoyed to realize what a fantastic turnout at the polls took placehere in Broward County where over 44% of registered voters showed up. Thatwas a significant change from the less than 10% of registered voters in bothFort Lauderdale's mayoral election and the primaries held earlier this year.



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The Miami Herald


http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16023182.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


Posted on Thu, Nov. 16, 2006

SARASOTA RECOUNT
Paper trail for Florida ballots gains an ally

Calls for adding some sort of paper trail for Florida's touch-screen votingmachines picked up an influential new voice -- incoming state House SpeakerMarco Rubio.

BY MARC CAPUTO, PHIL LONG AND JACK DOLAN
jdolan@MiamiHerald.com

The Miami Republican lawmaker who's about to be one of Florida's two mostpowerful legislators says he supports the concept of having a paper trailfor all voting systems in the state.

Rep. Marco Rubio, who next week will be sworn in as House speaker, said it'stough not to consider some additional measures to verify election results inlight of the recount over the 18,380 nonvotes, called ''undervotes'' inSarasota County's 13th Congressional District race.



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The Sun-Sentinel


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cnature16nov16,0,4018745.story?coll=sfla-news-broward


Wilton Manors to be designated wildlife habitat by national federation

By Elizabeth Baier
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

November 16, 2006


Wilton Manors · Some residents planted native species such as bromeliads andcrinum lilies. Others started small herb gardens. Officials cleaned thecity's riverfront parks and mangrove preserve. And children helped buildbutterfly gardens at the library and Wilton Manors Elementary School.

After the city's four-year effort to become an environmentally friendlycommunity, the National Wildlife Federation today will officially certifyWilton Manors as a community wildlife habitat.




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The Miami Herald


http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16023032.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


Posted on Thu, Nov. 16, 2006


ED FOLEY, 85
Retired educator, father of former congressman

WEST PALM BEACH -- (AP) -- Ed Foley, a longtime educator andfather of former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, has died. He was 85.

Funeral services for Edward Foley were set for Saturday in WestPalm Beach, Gale Schiffman, co-owner of the Quattlebaum-Holleman-BurseFuneral Home, said Wednesday.

Foley, who had been ill with cancer, died Tuesday, Schiffmansaid.

A Massachusetts native, Edward Foley moved to Florida in the1950s. He was a teacher and principal who frequently campaigned on his son'sbehalf.

The younger Foley made headlines this fall in the waning weeksof his campaign for reelection when it was revealed that the congressmanwrote sexually explicit messages he sent to teenage pages who worked onCapitol Hill. He resigned Sept. 29. State and federal authorities areinvestigating whether Foley broke any laws.

Mark Foley abandoned a bid for the U.S. Senate in 2003 after hisfather was diagnosed with cancer. His decision to bow out of the race alsocame shortly after an alternative newspaper reported that Mark Foley wasgay. Foley denounced the allegations as rumors spread by his politicalopponents, but he refused to answer questions about whether he washomosexual. He has been in a treatment center in Arizona for alcoholismsince Oct. 1, according to his attorneys.

Foley's civil attorney, Gerald Richman, would not commentWednesday on whether Foley would come out of treatment to attend hisfather's funeral. A message left for his criminal attorney, David Roth, wasnot immediately returned.

Efforts by The Associated Press to reach his sister, Donna FoleyWinterson, were unsuccessful. Her telephone number is unpublished, and shedid not answer a knock on her door.



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The Miami Herald


http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/16023039.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


Posted on Thu, Nov. 16, 2006

OKEECHOBEE
School sued over gay club ban

OKEECHOBEE - (AP) -- Students at Okeechobee High School have beenbanned from holding meetings of the Gay-Straight Alliance on high schoolgrounds, a lawsuit filed Wednesday claims.

The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in federaldistrict court in Miami, alleges that school officials refuse to recognizethe club. At the same time, the suit states that other extracurricularclubs, like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Key Club, meetregularly on school grounds.

According to the federal Equal Access Act, schools that allow anyextracurricular activities to meet on campus must allow all groups to do thesame.

Students Yasmin Gonzalez, a senior who is gay, and Amber Sewell, whois not, formed the club after Gonzalez and her girlfriend were not allowedto attend the prom as a couple, the lawsuit said.




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The Sun-Sentinel


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-c3bdig16nov16,0,1678890.story?page=2&coll=sfla-news-broward


Nova hosting program to raise awareness of HIV challenges


Nova Southeastern University today will host Operation Get Tested to raiseawareness of the challenges of living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The event, sponsored by the national nonprofit Who's Positive, will featureaccounts from young adults who are coping with the disease. It also willoffer free, rapid-HIV tests that provide results in 20 minutes.

The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association from NSU's College of OsteopathicMedicine is coordinating the event, which will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. onthe first floor of NSU's University Center, 3301 College Ave., Davie.



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The LA Times



http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-florida16nov16,1,5214459.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

In Florida, much ado about touch screens
Reminiscent of the 2000 election fight, ballots that didn't record a Houserace pick are in dispute.
By Carol J. Williams
Times Staff Writer

November 16, 2006

SARASOTA, FLA. - The reluctant touch screen now joins the hanging chads andbutterfly ballots of Florida election scandal paraphernalia.

More than 21,000 electronic ballots cast Nov. 7 in the 13th CongressionalDistrict race failed to record a selection to replace Rep. Katherine Harris,triggering accusations of machine malfunction and demands for a revote ofwhat voter advocacy groups call a greatly flawed election.

The latest chapter in this state's history of electoral irregularities hasrekindled the fiery partisan confrontations that followed the 2000presidential vote.

Harris, then secretary of state, certified that election for George W. Bushover Al Gore, despite unresolved disputes about tens of thousands of voters'intentions.



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The Miami Herald


http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16023356.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


Posted on Thu, Nov. 16, 2006

UP FRONT | GAMBLING
Las Vegas-style casino opens in Broward

BY JENNIFER LEBOVICH
jlebovich@MiamiHerald.com

Charlie Smigrod made $560 during his lunch break Wednesday.

It wasn't from sealing a business deal or getting a bank loan.

He got lucky on a virgin 50-cent slot machine on opening day of LasVegas-style gambling at Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino.

''I just decided to come over for lunch,'' Smigrod said, 59, who made hiswinnings after 15 minutes on the casino floor. ``I just wanted to try myluck.''



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The New York Times


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/opinion/16thur1.html?ei=5040&en=d4ce57a4abedf90c&ex=1164344400&partner=MOREOVERFEATURES&pagewanted=print


November 16, 2006
Editorial
Counting the Vote, Badly

Last week's elections provided a lot of disturbing news about thereliability of electronic voting - starting, naturally, with Florida. In aCongressional race there between Vern Buchanan, a Republican, and ChristineJennings, a Democrat, the machines in Sarasota County reported that morethan 18,000 people, or one in eight, did not choose either candidate. That"undervote" of nearly 13 percent is hard to believe, given that only about2.5 percent of absentee voters did not vote in that race. If there was aglitch, it may have made all the difference. Ms. Jennings trails Mr.Buchanan by about 400 votes.



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The New York Times


http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/business/epaper/2006/11/16/m1a_INSURE_1116.html


Special session on insurance up to Crist
By Randy Diamond

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Gov. Jeb Bush said Wednesday that there appears to be broad consensus amonglegislative leaders that a special session should be called to tackleFlorida's property insurance crisis.

But the governor, who leaves office Jan. 2, stopped short of calling thelegislature into session, saying he would defer to Gov.-elect Charlie Crist.

Bush added that before any special session is called, he would want toensure that it would be productive and that leaders were in agreement overchanges they wanted in the property insurance market.

Crist declined to comment earlier in the week. A spokeswoman for him did notreturn phone calls Wednesday.




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The Palm Beach Post


http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/11/16/a12a_district13_edit_1116.html


Touch-screen controversy doesn't indict machines
Palm Beach Post Editorial

Thursday, November 16, 2006

On Nov. 7, Sarasota County residents voted to dump their electronictouch-screen ballots in favor of paper fill-in-the-bubble voting. Votersundoubtedly feel vindicated because of what happened next.

The race between Republican Vern Buchanan and Democrat Christine Jenningsfor the five-county District 13 congressional seat vacated by KatherineHarris went to a recount. Mr. Buchanan leads by slightly less than 400votes. What puzzles elections officials is why Sarasota County residents,voting on touch-screen machines similar to those in Martin County but notPalm Beach County, skipped the congressional race at such adisproportionately high rate.

In Sarasota County, 13 percent of 142,000 voters made no selection in therace. In Manatee County, which had nearly 100,000 voters, only 2.4 percentmade no District 13 selection.


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The Palm Beach Post

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/nation/epaper/2006/11/16/a8a_wexler_1116.html


Paper trail bill backed by Wexler
By Christine Grimaldi

Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau

Thursday, November 16, 2006

WASHINGTON - Spurred by electronic voting controversies last week in Floridaand elsewhere, two representatives Wednesday called on Congress to require apaper trail for all electronic ballots.

Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, cited the ongoing recount in Florida's13th congressional district - where more than 18,000 Sarasota County voterselectronically cast ballots for local, state and federal offices but not forthe House seat - as an example of why a paper trail is needed.



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The Miami Herald

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16023191.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


Posted on Thu, Nov. 16, 2006


TALLAHASSEE
Incoming state House speaker unveils `100 ideas'
Marco Rubio, the incoming state House speaker, previewed his 100Innovative Ideas for Florida, a list that includes strengthening schools andcracking down on sex crimes.
BY MARY ELLEN KLAS
meklas@MiamiHerald.com

TALLAHASSEE - Florida should replace its public school curriculum tokeep pace with global competitors, require all felons to give DNA samples,prohibit child predators from trolling on MySpace, and give stripperswhistle-blower protection to report sex crimes.

Those are among a sweeping list of new ideas that will be proposed byincoming House Speaker Marco Rubio of Miami and Republican leaders of theFlorida House when they are sworn into office next Tuesday.



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The Miami Herald


http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/16023189.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


Posted on Thu, Nov. 16, 2006


100 IDEAS


Highlights of the state House's ``100 Innovative Ideas'':

EDUCATION:

. Replace school curriculum and apply more rigorous requirements.

. Create career academies to train students seeking alternatives to college.

. Provide incentives to private companies for after-school programs.

HEALTHCARE:

. Reward providers that demonstrate better outcomes at lower costs.

. Provide one-stop assistance to uninsured.

CRIME:

. Require all convicted felons to give DNA samples by 2012, especially thosewith a ``propensity for sexually deviant behavior.''

. Deny registered sex offenders and stalkers access to websites such asMySpace.com, commonly used by underage children.

. Require social networking sites to verify a user's age.

. Afford whistle-blower status to individuals, such as strippers, who reportsex crimes.

- end -


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The Miami Herald


http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16021808.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


Posted on Thu, Nov. 16, 2006


Panel offers quick fixes for state insurance crisis

A special committee offered recommendations geared to provide quick reliefto the insurance crisis and possibly lower costs for homeowners.

BY BEATRICE E. GARCIA
bgarcia@MiamiHerald.com

A special committee appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush to find solutions to thestate's growing insurance crisis is emphasizing measures that could bringrate relief but also more risk to homeowners.

Armed with the 50 recommendations put forward Wednesday from the committee,headed by Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings, lawmakers are expected to hold a specialsession -- possibly next month -- to craft some quick fixes. However, it'sup to Bush to call the special session, and he's still waiting for consensuson the issues to be discussed.



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The Sun-Sentinel


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-zinsure15nov15,0,899519.story?coll=sfla-news-sfla


Bush panel gets cool reception for its plan on reforming home insurance



By Kathy Bushouse
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

November 15, 2006


Some homeowners would be allowed to buy only the property insurance coveragethey want, and insurers would have easier access to the state HurricaneCatastrophe Fund, under broad recommendations from a state insurancecommittee appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush.

The recommendations released Tuesday come at a time when home and businessowners are reeling from soaring insurance prices after destructive hurricaneseasons in 2004 and 2005 put Florida's property insurance market into atailspin.

The nonbinding proposals could serve as a template for a special legislativesession on insurance, should Bush choose to call one before the end of histerm. The Property and Casualty Insurance Reform Committee, led by Lt. Gov.Toni Jennings, will meet today in Tallahassee to finalize more than 50recommendations.



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The Miami Herald


http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16023038.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


Posted on Thu, Nov. 16, 2006

MIAMI-DADE SCHOOLS
Deal may mean pay hike for teachers in Dade
The school district and teachers union agreed to a contract that would raise
the starting teacher salary to $37,000 in January.
BY TANIA deLUZURIAGA
tdeluzuriaga@miamiherald.com

Miami-Dade's 21,000 classroom teachers could receive something akin to aholiday bonus if they approve a tentative contract reached by the UnitedTeachers of Dade and the school district on Wednesday.

The proposed three-year deal calls for immediate raises of between 2 and 6percent.



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Orlando Sentinel

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-mlawyerbill1606nov16,0,3926748.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state

Lawyers for poor face loss of pay
State money to compensate attorneys for low-income clients is running low.
Sarah Lundy
Sentinel Staff Writer

November 16, 2006


After raiding public defenders' trust funds to pay for last year's deficit,the state is running out of money to pay court-appointed attorneys at a muchfaster pace this year.

The Justice Administration Commission, which administers the money, doledout the last of its second-quarter money Nov. 9 -- almost two months beforethe period ends.

That means the state has paid $18.2 million for criminal work and $11.5million for civil/dependency work since July 1. Last year, the state hadspent $16.2 million on criminal work and $8.3 million on civil work duringthe entire first half of the fiscal year.



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Palm Beach Post


http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbccentral/content/local_news/epaper/2006/11/16/s3c_dcfverdict_1116.html


Judges uphold verdict of millions
By Kathleen Chapman

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, November 16, 2006



Appellate judges unanimously upheld a verdict of $26.8 million against theFlorida Department of Children and Families for failing to protect a toddlerfrom a near-fatal beating.

In a ruling issued Wednesday, a panel of judges from the 4th District Courtof Appeal said there was enough evidence to support a Palm Beach Countyjury's ruling that DCF was negligent in its handling of Marissa Amora'scase.

Marissa, formerly named Moesha Sylencieux, was beaten into a coma in January2001 after DCF failed to complete its child abuse investigation of herfamily in Lake Worth. Her adoptive parents, who have since moved to NorthFlorida, sued the state for the cost of her lifetime care.



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The Miami Herald


http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16022024.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


Posted on Wed, Nov. 15, 2006


Supreme Court sets deadline for execution appeals

The Florida Supreme Court ordered that appeals for death row inmate AngelDiaz be expedited Wednesday, a day after Gov. Jeb Bush signed a second deathwarrant for the convicted killer.

Diaz, who fatally shot a Miami topless club manager during a 1979 robbery,is scheduled to die by lethal injection Dec. 13.

His lawyer, Suzanne Myers Keffer, said he already had a Circuit Court appealpending in Miami before Bush signed the death warrant Tuesday.



=

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[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest to Rays.List@Comcast.net ]

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Wednesday, November 15, 2006

NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST NOVEMBER 15, 2006

**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.

=

Forwarded from Susan Fishkorn
Tri-County - chances@attglobal.net


Published on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 by the Washington Spectator


Calling Nancy Pelosi: The People's Case for Impeaching Bush
by Elizabeth Holtzman

Editor's note: With their party back in power for the first time since1994, some senior House Democrats who will be rising to committeechairmanships are already planning to conduct investigations intowrongdoings of the Bush administration in everything thing from fraud andabuse in Iraq War contracting to illegal domestic surveillance and detaineeinterrogations. Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other party leaders,however, are signaling that any investigations will be kept on a tightleash. They fear that scrutiny of the administration will make Democratsappear excessively partisan and cost the party votes in 2008. As for thepossible impeachment of President George W. Bush, Pelosi has explicitlydeclared it to be "off the table."



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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/15/opinion/15wed1.html?pagewanted=print


November 15, 2006
Editorial

Spin and Consequences

When President Bush announced in September that he was transferring 14 mensuspected of heinous acts of terrorism to Guantánamo Bay, his aim was baldlypolitical - to stampede Congress into passing a profoundly flawed law thatset up military tribunals to try "illegal enemy combatants" and absolvedU.S. officials of liability for illegally detaining and torturing prisoners.

But that cynical White House move may also have unintentionally provided theloose thread to unravel the secrecy and lawlessness that have cloaked theadministration's handling of terrorism suspects.




=

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/14/AR2006111401208_pf.html


Lawmakers Concerned About U.S.-India Nuclear Trade Deal
White House Hasn't Provided Long-Awaited Intelligence Assessment and OtherKey Information

By Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 15, 2006; A14


Congressional leaders requested a secret intelligence assessment of India'snuclear program and its government's ties to Iran in January amid concernsabout a White House effort to provide nuclear technology to New Delhi. Tenmonths later, as the Senate prepares to vote on nuclear trade with India,the intelligence assessment has yet to be seen on Capitol Hill,congressional and intelligence sources say.



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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/14/AR2006111401246_pf.html


U.S. Commander in Iraq to Face Democrats Eager for Troop Cuts

By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 15, 2006; A06



Senate Democrats impatient to start withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq willinject a new political dynamic into the debate over the war beginning todayas they question the military's top Middle East commander for the first timesince their party swept into control of Congress this month.

Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central Command, which overseesAmerican forces in the Middle East, will face questions on the violence inIraq and what it means for the roughly 145,000 U.S. troops there duringscheduled testimony today before the Senate Armed Services Committee,senators from both parties said.


=

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/14/AR2006111401225_pf.html


Conservatives in Denial

By Harold Meyerson
Wednesday, November 15, 2006; A21

On their journey through the stages of grief, conservatives don't yet seemto have gotten past denial.

Republicans may have lost, conservatives argue, but only because theymisplaced their ideology. "[T]hey were punished not for pursuing but forforgetting conservatism," George F. Will, conservatism's most trenchantchampion, wrote on this page last week.

Their mortal sin, in this gospel, was their abandonment of fiscal prudence.



=

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/16014282.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp


Posted on Wed, Nov. 15, 2006


REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE
Some in GOP grumble over choice of Martinez
Sen. Mel Martinez was tapped for the top job at the Republican
National Committee, spurring complaints from conservatives who fear he willpush for relaxed immigration laws.
BY LESLEY CLARK
lclark@MiamiHerald.com



WASHINGTON - A week after Republicans were routed at the polls amidslipping support from Hispanics, President Bush Tuesday welcomed Cuban-bornFlorida Sen. Mel Martinez as the leader of the national party, touching offcomplaints from a conservative base that opposes the senator's embrace ofimmigration reform.

The freshman senator -- who said he sought assurances from Bush thathis ''main job'' of senator would come ''first and foremost'' -- took thejob as general chairman of the Republican National Committee only afterprodding from the president, and suggested he would not be an ``attackdog.''



=

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/14/AR2006111401263_pf.html


Rumsfeld Probe Sought in Germany

Associated Press
Wednesday, November 15, 2006; A15



BERLIN, Nov. 14 -- Attorneys for inmates detained by the United States atIraq's Abu Ghraib prison and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, asked Germanprosecutors Tuesday to open a war crimes investigation of outgoing DefenseSecretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other U.S. officials for their allegedroles in abuse at the detention centers.

"We are not expecting that Rumsfeld will appear in a court, but we arehoping investigators will begin looking into the case," said WolfgangKaleck, a German lawyer involved in the suit. German federal prosecutorssaid they would examine the case.



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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/15/opinion/15wed4.html?pagewanted=print


November 15, 2006
Editorial

What's Right With Kansas

It would be remiss to finish the election post-mortems without noting amajor shift in the nation's heartland. Kansas - lately considered thereddest of red states - emerged from the election as a bastion ofmoderation.

Just two years after President Bush carried the state by 25 percentagepoints, Kansas voters rebelled against continued domination of the state'spolitics by the sharply conservative state Republican Party. The DemocraticParty posted major gains, including some by former Republicans who switchedparties.



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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/15/ap/politics/mainD8LD7R581.shtml


Analysis: Humbled Bush Faces Test Abroad
AP Analysis: Weakened at home, Bush faces tests abroad as he meets withworld leaders

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15, 2006
By TOM RAUM Associated Press Writer


(AP) Humbled by elections at home, President Bush is heading into talks withleaders in Asia and Europe who will be watching for signs of weakness,uncertainty or retrenchment.

Bush's challenge is to demonstrate that U.S. leadership as the world's lastsuperpower is undiminished on the world stage.

"I think he will go vigorous, I think he'll give a powerful performance,"said Kurt Campbell, a top Pentagon official in the Clinton administrationwho now is with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.




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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/15/ap/world/mainD8LDH4P00.shtml


Al-Jazeera Service in English Starts
Al-Jazeera starts English-language service but lacks major U.S. distribution

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 15, 2006
By JIM KRANE Associated Press Writer


(AP) Ten years after it started Arabic-language broadcasts that angeredleaders in the region and Washington, Al-Jazeera on Wednesday launched anEnglish-language news channel available in more than 80 million homes butlacking major U.S. distribution.

Al-Jazeera English went on the air at 3 p.m. (8 a.m. EST), broadcasting fromthe station's headquarters in Doha, capital of the tiny Persian Gulf stateof Qatar.



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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/14/AR2006111401176_pf.html


Think Tank Will Promote Thinking
Advocates Want Science, Not Faith, at Core of Public Policy

By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 15, 2006; A19

Concerned that the voice of science and secularism is growing ever fainterin the White House, on Capitol Hill and in culture, a group of prominentscientists and advocates of strict church-state separation yesterdayannounced formation of a Washington think tank designed to promote"rationalism" as the basis of public policy.

The brainchild of Paul Kurtz, founder of the Center forInquiry-Transnational, the small public policy office will lobby andsometimes litigate on behalf of science-based decision making and againstreligion in government affairs.



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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/15/opinion/15wed3.html?pagewanted=print


November 15, 2006
Editorial

Will Fair Pay Have Its Day?

At his first post-election news conference last week, President Bush saidthat he believed he could find common ground with the new Congress onDemocrats' longstanding drive to raise the federal minimum wage. That iswelcome, but long overdue. The minimum wage has been stuck at a miserly$5.15 an hour since 1997, with Republican lawmakers blocking repeatedattempts since then to raise it. Adjusted for inflation, the purchasingpower of the wage has dropped to its lowest level since 1955.

Clearly, the bottom is falling out for the nation's estimated 5.6 millionminimum-wage workers. That's bad for the economy. Even Wal-Mart, not exactlyan advocate for high wages, favors raising the minimum wage to supportconsumer spending.



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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/14/national/printable2180498.shtml


Keeping America Competitive

Nov. 14, 2006

Christian Science Monitor) This article was written by Mark Trumbull.


Two factors could revive concerns about how America finds a stronger footingin today's increasingly competitive global economy. One is economic. One ispolitical.

Politically, the sudden ascendance of Democrats on Capitol Hill promises toput the trend of globalization under a more skeptical lens - or at least toseek sharing the gains of global trade with a larger slice of U.S. society.

The economic factor is related: America's is importing a lot more than itexports. And when other nations sell goods to the U.S., they often plow theresulting dollars back into the U.S. as loans or investments. It's a gooddeal for now, but it effectively makes U.S. dependent on foreign lending.



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http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2006/11/15/lieberman_gets_warm_welcome_from_senate_democrats?mode=PF


Lieberman gets warm welcome from Senate Democrats
By Andrew Miga, Associated Press Writer | November 15, 2006

WASHINGTON --Sen. Joe Lieberman, who won re-election as an independent, gota warm reception - and even a standing ovation - from Senate Democrats onCapitol Hill Tuesday who gathered for postelection meetings.

"Obviously, I've been changed by the election, so now I'm an independentDemocrat, but everybody was very warm and welcomed me back," Lieberman said."I look forward to working with them."

Lieberman, who wants to be identified as an "Independent Democrat," said hewas welcomed back to the party fold at a luncheon caucus by SenateDemocratic leader Harry Reid, who likened Democrats to a family and saidfamilies occasionally go through crises.



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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/15/ap/politics/mainD8LD6V5G0.shtml


Poll: Most Doubt Dems Have Plan for Iraq
AP-Ipsos Poll: Iraq is top issue for Americans, but majority doubts Demshave plan for war


WASHINGTON, Nov. 15, 2006
By JIM KUHNHENN Associated Press Writer


(AP) More Americans rank Iraq as the top priority of the newDemocratic-controlled Congress, but nearly three out of five say the partydoes not have a plan to deal with the war.

In the aftermath of an anti-Republican wave, the latest AssociatedPress-Ipsos poll showed lingering uncertainty about the country's directionand the ability of Democrats and President Bush to work together.Underscoring the country's political divisions, Democrats expressed moreconfidence and optimism than Republicans.



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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/14/AR2006111401230_pf.html


Unfit for Majority Leader

By Ruth Marcus
Wednesday, November 15, 2006; A21



The videotape is grainy, dark and devastating. The congressman and the FBIundercover agents -- the congressman thinks they represent an Arab sheikwilling to pay $50,000 to get immigration papers -- are talking business inthe living room of a secretly wired Washington townhouse.

Two other congressmen in on the deal "do expect to be taken care of," thelawmaker says. But for the time being -- and he says repeatedly that hemight change his mind and take money down the road -- he'd rather trade hishelp for investment in his district, maybe a hefty deposit in the bank of apolitical supporter who's done him favors.


=

Forwarded from Susan Fishkorn
Tri-County - chances@attglobal.net


Published on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 by CommonDreams.org

Ten Reasons Congress Must Investigate Bush Administration Crimes

by Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith

Few elections in history have provided so clear a mandate. As the NewYork Times put it, Democrats were "largely elected on the promise to act asa strong check on [Bush's] administration." [1] But the first response ofthe new Congressional leadership has been to proclaim a new era of civilityand seek accommodation with the very people who need to be held accountablefor war crimes and subversion of the Constitution.

Democratic strategists who argue for this kind of bipartisanshipmaintain that the American people want their political leaders to addressthe problems of the future, not pursue recriminations about the past. Theytherefore oppose the kind of penetrating investigation that a White Housestrategist told Time would lead to a "cataclysmic fight to the death"[2] ifDemocrats start issuing subpoenas. If such "peace at any price" Democratsprevail, the result will be a catastrophe not only for the Democratic partybut for American democracy.



=

Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org



http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/11/12/6th_grade_book_stirs_rethinking?mode=PF

DOVER-SHERBORN

6th-grade book stirs rethinking
By Lisa Kocian, Globe Staff | November 12, 2006

The Dover-Sherborn Regional School Committee is grappling with whether toban an award-winning book from sixth-grade classes after complaints fromsome parents that the book is racist and sexually explicit.

A review committee that included the middle school librarian and two Englishteachers unanimously voted to recommend removing "So Far from the BambooGrove" from the curriculum after 13 parents complained. Superintendent ofSchools Perry Davis backed the recommendation.

The School Committee has the final say. Members took no action after ahearing on the proposed book ban last week , instead referring the matter toa subcommittee for review.


[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]

#####