**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US ATrays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/nyregion/30quinn.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Under Madam Speaker, Conflict Gives Way to Collaboration
By DAMIEN CAVE
When Christine C. Quinn became speaker of the New York City Council lastJanuary, she inherited a rabble-rousing body that relished its role asheckler of the establishment.
She was the first female speaker and the first to be openly gay, and she hadalready clashed with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg over his stand on gaymarriage and his plans for a football stadium on the West Side.
But over the last year, Ms. Quinn, 40, has broken with Council tradition andreshaped the institution from a theater of opposition to a rigidlydisciplined body where, in exchange for private collaboration, open dissentis barely tolerated.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/
COVER STORY
People of the year
We have gay bloggers, freedom riders, whistle-blowers, pilots, straightallies, sports legends, and people who just want to get married: TheAdvocate salutes 55 remarkableindividuals who stood up, spoke out, and rocked our world in 2006
Online profiles:
Cholene Espinoza & Ellen Ratner
Jake Reitan & Haven Herrin
Wayne Besen
Mitchell Gold
Helena Stone
Russ Feingold
The anti-ex-gay
Wayne Besen
From The Advocate January 16, 2007
When Wayne Besen heard that President Bush had invited Alan Chambers, headof the “ex-gay” group Exodus International, to a June 2006 White House pressconference in support of amending the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sexmarriage, he reached into his pocket and bought a plane ticket toWashington, D.C. “That was one straw too many,” Besen says. “I rented a roomat the National Press Club and flew in a kid who had been hurt by an ‘ex-gay’camp.” Besen, 36, held his own press conference to educate people on theharmful nature of the “ex-gay” movement.
Author of the 2003 book Anything but Straight: Unmasking the Scandals andLies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth, Besen has in recent years become a powerfulforce against those who argue that gays are called by God to “change” theirsexual orientation.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/
|| Cover story ||
Bill Maher doesn't care if you're gay (and that's why we love him)
Our 2006 Advocate Person of the Year is a regular guy who speaks his mind,makes TV that matters, and proves to America that real men don't sweat thegay stuff.
By HeathCliff Rothman
From The Advocate January 16, 2007
He's about as fearless a voice as we have in America right now. If you tellhim that, as I did, over drinks at the Beverly Hills Hotel-just down thestreet from where he lives-he'll scoff and remind you that bravery involvesdismantling bombs. But gays have no better friend in the media than BillMaher, who treats the still-verboten topic of total equality for gays andlesbians-from gay marriage to gay sex to gay anything-with nonchalantconviction as he muses, pontificates, jostles, and hammers mainstreamAmerica weekly from his television platform. Maher was practicallyincinerated by the media and the public immediately following 9/11 when hesuggested that the hijackers were brave in their own way-a statement hemeant not as a compliment but an acknowledgment of fact-and lost his ABCplatform, only to rise like a phoenix on the more hospitable HBO with hisweekly Real Time With Bill Maher.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://newyorklawschool.typepad.com/leonardlink/2006/12/jamaican_lesbia.html
Jamaican Lesbian Fails to Win Relief under Convention Against Torture
by New York Law School Professor Arthur S. Leonard, December 28, 2006 inLegal Issues
The federal appeals court in Philadelphia has upheld a decision by the Boardof Immigration Appeals that a lesbian from Jamaica had failed to show thatthings are so bad for gay people there that she would face a risk of torturewere she to be returned to her homeland. Rejecting an appeal by MarciaForrester, the court ruled in Forrester v. Attorney General, 2006 WL 3789329(Dec. 27), that although there was evidence of intolerance by the Jamaicanpublic, there was no proof it was abetted by the government.
Ms. Forrester attained legal immigrant status in the United States in 1992,but was convicted of being involved in drug dealing in 2003. The JusticeDepartment considers this to be the kind of serious offense that justifiesloss of legal status and deportation under the immigration laws, but suchdeportation can be blocked if an individual can show that there is a seriousrisk that they will be subjected to serious injury or torture upon return totheir home country due to their membership in a particular social group.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
MA: Gay marriage showdown expected Tuesday
MetroWest Daily News, MA, December 29, 2006
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/homepage/8999323606831857663
Gay marriage showdown expected Tuesday
By Emelie Rutherford, Daily News Staff
After lawmakers last month delayed voting on a gay marriage ban until thelast day of the legislative session on Jan. 2, some gay marriage supportersjoked there would be a "really big snowstorm" that second day of January.
The proposed referendum on same-sex nuptials will die if lawmakers don'tvote on it at Tuesday's Constitutional Convention. And there are ways gaymarriage backers in the Legislature can avoid a vote, including staying hometo prevent a quorum and not taking a vote on the measure before midnight.
State Rep. Thomas Sannicandro, D-Ashland, said even though the state's highcourt ruled lawmakers have the constitutional duty to vote on the ballotinitiative, gay marriage supporters have not ruled out using procedural waysto kill the measure.
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From Jesse Monteagudo
jessemonteagudo@aol.com.
Jesse's Journal
by Jesse Monteagudo
"The Dream of a Gay Nation"
The Dream of a gay nation was born in the "heroic age" that followed theStonewall Riots (1969-1971), when militants tried to imitate the work ofZionists and others to create an autonomous "gay nation." L. CraigSchoonmaker, head of the aptly-named Homosexuals Intransigent!, argued thatgays could never achieve equality as permanent minorities in a country wherethe majority rules. According to Donn Teal's activist history, The GayMilitants, Schoonmaker urged gays to "become the majority." by designating"certain geographical areas for demographic takeover by homosexuals. Weshould leave the farms and villages, the small towns and small cities, andcome to specific neighborhoods of specific big cities. We should take overentire election districts and cities, and vote our people in to speakmilitantly for our rights. The blacks have done it. Puerto Ricans,Italians, Irish, and others too. It works...." Schoonmaker's plan was to"create a homosexual majority in Manhattan's 19th and 20th CongressionalDistricts - which we have designated the 'First Gay-Power District.'"
more....
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
MA: Gay marriage supporters left with choice: follow law or heart
Associated Press via Boston Globe, MA, December 28, 2006
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/12/28/gay_marriage_supporters_left_with_choice_follow_law_or_heart/
Gay marriage supporters left with choice: follow law or heart
By Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press Writer
BOSTON --Throughout the gay marriage debate, opponents of a proposedconstitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage argued nothing in theMassachusetts Constitution required lawmakers to vote on the measure.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Judicial Court stripped away that argument andleft lawmakers who support gay marriage with the starkest of choices: eitherfollow the constitution and allow a vote; or follow their heart and doeverything they can to avoid a vote.
For die-hard gay marriage backers like Rep. Carl Sciortino, D-Somerville,the choice is clear.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/526301.html
Kan. attorney general blocked in prosecution of abortion doctor
John Hanna, The Associated Press, Dec 29, 2006
TOPEKA, KAN. - Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline spent more than two yearsinvestigating a nationally known abortion provider, but he'll likely leaveoffice next month with little to show for it.
A judge Wednesday refused to reinstate the 30 criminal charges Kline filedagainst Dr. George Tiller, and Kline's successor said Thursday that he won'tkeep the special prosecutor Kline appointed on the case.
Democrat Paul Morrison, who defeated Kline in November and takes office asattorney general Jan. 8, did not rule out an investigation into Tiller.
But he said any investigation won't involve Kline's special prosecutor.Kline on Wednesday had named Wichita lawyer Don McKinney, saying having himas a special prosecutor would keep politics out of the investigation. ButMcKinney, who had campaigned for Kline, is viewed as a strong anti-abortionactivist.
"He is extraordinarily political and, in my opinion, would absolutely notpresent any kind of independent perspective," Morrison said Thursday.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid40735.asp
Study: Most gay teens don't reveal their sexuality to doctors
Only about one third of gay, lesbian, and bisexual teens involved in arecent study said they tell their doctors about their sexual orientation.The survey, released by the RAND Corporation on Thursday, revealed that eventhough 70% of those who took part said they were aware of their sexualorientation as teens, just 35% told their doctors.
"We were surprised by these results," Garth Meckler, assistant professor ofemergency medicine and pediatrics with the Oregon Health and ScienceUniversity, Portland, told United Press International. "We figured theywould have a higher disclosure rate than most youth, and yet, despite beingout to almost everyone in their lives, only 35% had told their doctor abouttheir sexual orientation."
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/lifestyle/sfl-politicsdec30,0,3708390.story
Politicians' books take on religious right
By Richard N. Ostling
The Associated Press For AP Weekly Features
December 30, 2006
During this election year, U.S. publishers have put out 20-some booksassailing religious conservatives' political activism, often with angrytitles such as Religion Gone Bad or The Hijacking of Jesus.
Now two prominent "mainline" Protestants are sounding off with somewhat moremoderate pre-election manifestos.
One is Faith and Politics: How the `Moral Values' Debate Divides America andHow to Move Forward Together (Viking) by John Danforth, former RepublicanU.S. Senator and United Nations ambassador.
The other is Middle Church: Reclaiming the Moral Values of the FaithfulMajority From the Religious Right (Simon & Schuster) by Bob Edgar, formerDemocratic Congressman and now National Council of Churches generalsecretary.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
Saturday, December 30, 2006
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST December 30, 2006
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US ATrays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sns-ap-saddam,0,5157119.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Saddam Hanged for War Crimes in Iraq
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
Associated Press Writers
December 30, 2006, 9:06 AM EST
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Saddam Hussein struggled briefly after American militaryguards handed him over to Iraqi executioners. But as his final momentsapproached, he grew calm.
He clutched a Quran as he was led to the gallows, and in one final moment ofdefiance, refused to have a hood pulled over his head before facing the samefate he was accused of inflicting on countless thousands during aquarter-century of ruthless power.
A man whose testimony helped lead to Saddam's conviction and executionbefore sunrise said he was shown the body because "everybody wanted to makesure that he was really executed."
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901066_pf.html
We Can't Ignore Iraq's Refugees
By Edward M. Kennedy
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A21
With the nation still at war in Iraq, each of us is deeply grateful to thebrave men and women in our armed forces who celebrated the holidays thisyear with half their hearts at home and half in Iraq. But this yearespecially it is essential that we also reflect on another human cost of thewar -- the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women and childrenwho have fled their homes and often their country to escape the violence ofa nation increasingly at war with itself.
The refugees are witnesses to the cruelty that stains our age, and theycannot be overlooked. America bears heavy responsibility for their plight.We have a clear obligation to stop ignoring it and help chart a sensiblecourse to ease the refugee crisis. Time is not on our side. We must actquickly and effectively.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901220_pf.html
Trounced at Polls, Kansas GOP Is Still Plagued by Infighting
Party Puts Ousted Official In His Opponent's Old Post
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A02
CHICAGO, Dec. 29 -- Phill Kline is not one to slink away -- and theideological wars inside the Kansas Republican Party show no sign of ending.
The fiercely antiabortion Republican attorney general in Kansas lost hisreelection bid in November when moderate Republicans voted in droves forPaul Morrison, a longtime Johnson County district attorney who became aDemocrat in hopes of vanquishing Kline.
Statewide, Kline got barely 4 in 10 votes. In Johnson County, the state'smost populous county, his loss was more dramatic. That made it especiallyshocking after the election when Republican precinct leaders in the countychose Kline to finish the final two years of Morrison's term as prosecutor.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), a vocal Kline foe, refused to sign hisnomination papers, a ceremonial task, lambasting a "small narrow group ofpartisan political operatives" for choosing him. At the Westside FamilyChurch in Lenexa, after precinct leaders backed Kline over a Morrison aide316 to 291, Republicans showed just how divided they are.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122900142.html
Saddam Hussein Is Put to Death
Former Iraqi President Hanged Before Dawn in Baghdad to Divided Reaction
By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A01
BAGHDAD, Dec. 30 -- Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was hanged in thepredawn hours of Saturday for crimes against humanity in the mass murder ofShiite men and boys in the 1980s, sent to the gallows by a government backedby the United States and led by Shiite Muslims who had been oppressed duringhis rule, Iraqi and American officials said.
In the early morning, Hussein, 69, was escorted from his U.S. militaryprison cell at Camp Cropper, near the Baghdad airport, and handed over toIraqi officials. He was executed on the day Sunni Muslims, of which he wasone, were to begin celebrating the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.
Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser, described on statetelevision Hussein's last moments. The execution took place in theheadquarters of Hussein's former military intelligence service in Baghdad'sKadhimiyah neighborhood.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/world/middleeast/30hussein.html?ei=5094&en=adda570db73a7e34&hp=&ex=1167541200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Dictator Who Ruled Iraq With Violence Is Hanged for Crimes Against Humanity
By MARC SANTORA, JAMES GLANZ and SABRINA TAVERNISE
BAGHDAD, Saturday, Dec. 30 - Saddam Hussein, the dictator who led Iraqthrough three decades of brutality, war and bombast before American forceschased him from his capital city and captured him in a filthy pit near hishometown was hanged just before dawn Saturday during the morning call toprayer.
The final stages for Mr. Hussein, 69, came with terrible swiftness after helost the appeal, five days ago, of his death sentence for the killings of148 men and boys in the northern town of Dujail in 1982. He had received thesentence less than two months before from a special court set up to judgehis reign as the almost unchallenged dictator of Iraq.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/science/earth/30ice.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Arctic Ice Shelf Broke Off Canadian Island
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
A 25-square-mile shelf of floating ice that jutted into the Arctic Ocean for3,000 years from Canada's northernmost shore broke away abruptly in thesummer of 2005, apparently freed by sharply warming temperatures andjostling wind and waves, scientists said yesterday.
The Ayles ice shelf, as the ancient 100-foot-thick slab was called, driftedout of a fjord along the north coast of Ellesmere Island when the jumbledsheath of floating sea ice that tended to press against the coast there evenin summers was replaced by open waters because of the warming, thescientists said.
The change was first noticed by Laurie Weir of the Canadian Ice Service asshe examined satellite images taken of Ellesmere and surrounding ice on andafter Aug. 13, 2005. In less than an hour, around midday that day, a broadcrack opened and the ice shelf was on its way out to sea.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30sat1.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Editorial
Sex Offenders in Exile
Of all the places that sexual predators could end up after prison, the worstis out of sight, away from the scrutiny and treatment that could preventthem from committing new crimes. But communities around the country aretaking that risk, with zoning laws that banish pedophiles to the literaledges of society.
There is a powerful and wholly understandable impulse behind laws thatforbid sex offenders to live within certain distances of schools, day carecenters and other places that children gather. Scores of states andmunicipalities have created such buffer zones, then continued adding layerupon layer to the enforcement blanket.
This has placed a heavy burden on law enforcement agencies, which alreadymust struggle to meet exacting federal and state requirements forregistering and monitoring the ever-growing population of released sexoffenders, many of whom must be tracked for life. Lawmakers have shown nohesitation in piling on the administrative load, but frequently are lessquick to pay foradditionalpeople to do the work.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Edwards-2008.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Edwards Wraps Up Early Campaign Blitz
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:00 a.m. ET
RENO, Nev. (AP) -- In the three-day blitz launching his 2008 presidentialcampaign, John Edwards has prodded enthusiastic crowds to get active.
''We cannot stay at home and wait for the next election. The power is notwith the politicians in Washington, the power is with you,'' he told nearly1,000 people gathered in the convention hall of a Reno casino Friday.
Still in the first blush of presidential courtship, Nevada Democratswelcomed the former North Carolina senator and Democratic vice presidentialcandidate with a standing-room-only crowd and pointed questions about thedeficit, immigration and the war in Iraq.
Reno was the fourth stop on Edwards' six-state tour announcing his secondbid for the Democratic presidential nomination. His next stop Saturday wasBrookland Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., one of the largest blackchurches in the state. He was wrapping up his tour Saturday evening with a arally in Chapel Hill, N.C.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid40734.asp
Senate control still with Democrats as Johnson recovers
South Dakota Democratic senator Tim Johnson (pictured) won't be present asthe new Congress convenes next week, but he is continuing to improve afterundergoing emergency surgery to repair a brain hemorrhage.
Julianne Fisher, a spokeswoman for South Dakota Democratic senator TimJohnson, said Johnson won't be present in the first days of the new Congressnext week but that he is continuing to improve two weeks after he hademergency surgery to repair a brain hemorrhage that has left him in criticalcondition. Johnson, who turned 60 on Thursday, is responsive to directionsfrom his wife but has not yet spoken, Fisher said, adding that it's tooearly to tell how long recovery will take.
The senator's sudden illness raised questions about the Democrats' one-votemajority in the upcoming Senate session. South Dakota's Republican governor,Mike Rounds, would appoint a replacement if Johnson's seat were vacated byhis death or resignation.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30karim.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
Justice, but No Reckoning
By NAJMALDIN KARIM
Washington
MY personal battle with Saddam Hussein - which began in 1972 when Iabandoned my medical career in Mosul, Iraq, and joined the Kurdish armedresistance - is at an end. To execute such a criminal, a man who reveled inhis atrocities, is an act of justice.
The only issue for me is the timing - executing him now is both too late andtoo early. Too late, because had Saddam Hussein been removed from the scenemany years ago, many lives would have been saved.
Killing Saddam now, however, for ordering the massacre at Dujail in 1982,means that he will not face justice for his greatest crimes: the so-calledAnfal campaign against the Kurds in the late 1980s, the genocidal assault onthe Marsh Arabs in the 1990s, and the slaughtering of the Shiite Arabs andKurds who rose up against him, with American encouragement, in 1991.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/30/AR2006123000254_pf.html
Edwards Wraps Up Early Campaign Blitz
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
The Associated Press
Saturday, December 30, 2006; 3:00 AM
RENO, Nev. -- In the three-day blitz launching his 2008 presidentialcampaign, John Edwards has prodded enthusiastic crowds to get active.
"We cannot stay at home and wait for the next election. The power is notwith the politicians in Washington, the power is with you," he told nearly1,000 people gathered in the convention hall of a Reno casino Friday.
Still in the first blush of presidential courtship, Nevada Democratswelcomed the former North Carolina senator and Democratic vice presidentialcandidate with a standing-room-only crowd and pointed questions about thedeficit, immigration and the war in Iraq.
Reno was the fourth stop on Edwards' six-state tour announcing his secondbid for the Democratic presidential nomination. His next stop Saturday wasBrookland Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., one of the largest blackchurches in the state. He was wrapping up his tour Saturday evening with a arally in Chapel Hill, N.C.
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The Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/needtoknow/2006/12/china_colonizing_africa.html
Panelist's View
China Colonizing Africa?
William Gumede - Is China becoming Africa's new colonizer? In what isreminiscent of a new scramble for Africa, China has rushed to plant its flagon the continent, offering soft credit, bricks and mortar investment andpromising non-interference in local politics. China's political clout inAfrica has never been greater.
But is this all too good to be true? In November, China hosted an Africasummit in Beijing attended by 50 African leaders, the biggest showcase ofChina's new foreign policy shift towards the developing world, to expand itspolitical reach and to secure raw materials to feed its rapidly growingeconomy. Beijing offered Africa US$3bn in preferential loans and US$2bn inexport credits over the next three years. China envisaged annual trade withAfrica to reach $100bn by 2010. Whereas Western nations such as the US,France and UK have year-on-year slashed development aid, China promised todouble aid by 2009. Most of the Chinese aid to Africa is tied to businessdeals. Nevertheless, China has offered aid without insisting on onerousconditions as Western donors do. This is sweet music to African nations, whofor long now have protested the hypocritical insistence by Western countriesthat they must open their markets, while they (Western nations) heavilysubsidize their own agriculture sectors and maintain prohibitively hightariff barriers.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901354_pf.html
The Status Quo Is Rejected
By Kevin Eckstrom
Religion News Service
Saturday, December 30, 2006; B07
Elections, the late columnist Franklin P. Adams once said, "are won by menand women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than forsomebody."
And whatever Americans were voting for in 2006, it seems clear that whatthey were voting against was the status quo. Episcopalians, for one, decidedto give a woman a shot and elected their first female leader, PresidingBishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. U.S. Muslims turned to Ingrid Mattson asthe first woman to lead the Islamic Society of North America. SouthernBaptists, dissatisfied with the old guard, chose a relative unknown, FrankPage, to lead the nation's largest Protestant denomination.
In church basements, school gymnasiums and fire stations across the country,Americans in November registered their frustration at the voting booth andgave control of Capitol Hill to the Democrats, making 2006 a year whenvotes -- sacred and secular -- became the year's biggest religion newsstory.
After years of vowing to "get religion," Democrats saw modest gains amongreligiously minded voters after a concerted effort to cast their policiesthrough a moral lens. The party gained ground among Catholics, weeklyworship attenders and those who rarely or never attend worship services.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30sat3.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Editorial
Dealing With Congressman Inc.
As the Democrats regain power in Congress next week they would be wise tolook to one of their own - Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania - forironic inspiration in enacting the ethics reforms they promised voters. Evenin the minority, Mr. Murtha made himself a legend at mastering the same quidpro quo culture that Democrats denounced in running against the Republicans'manipulations of Washington's money trough. His deliverance of masses ofpork to favored campaign donors and lobbyists has been laid bare in a reportby The Washington Post, detailing the sort of classic money churn thathelped drive the Republicans from power.
It began with Mr. Murtha's securing $500,000 in federal start-up money for anonprofit agency created by a staff member who eventually left to run theagency and, in turn, lobby his old boss. The nonprofit, with a goal offinding jobs for the disabled, soon became a magnet for Murtha-friendlylobbyists, contractors and other insiders. They became members of its boardand raised money for the cause. In the process, they reaped millions infederal contracts with the congressman's help. And, needless to say, theyclosed the loop with regular donations to Murtha campaign kitties.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122900253_pf.html
Apple Admits Wrongdoing But Rallies Around Leader
By Alan Sipress and Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A01
Apple Computer disclosed yesterday that it had falsified approval of 7.5million stock options for its chief executive and innovative co-founder,Steve Jobs, raising new questions about the role he may have played in ascandal that has swirled around the dynamic technology company for months.
Apple said in a pair of overdue earnings filings to the Securities andExchange Commission that it had recorded a fictitious meeting at whichJobs's options were ratified and that he may have recommended the dates forsome of the stock options issued to company employees. The company repeatedyesterday that Jobs did not benefit from the options.
Apple's board, which includes former vice president Al Gore, gave Jobs itsfull support. "The board of directors is confident that the Company hascorrected the problems that led to the restatement, and it has completeconfidence in Steve Jobs and the senior management team," said the statementby Gore and Jerome York, who heads Apple's audit and finance committee.
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30patterson.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Guest Columnist
The Last Race Problem
By ORLANDO PATTERSON
When W. E. B. DuBois, the patrician black leader, predicted in 1903 that theproblem of the 20th century would be the color line, he had in mind anethno-racial problem with a dual character. One side was the near completeexclusion of African-Americans and other minorities from the upper echelonsand leadership of American society, public life and national identity. Theother was the segregation of blacks from the social, communal and intimatecultural life of white Americans.
America's resolution of the public side of the color line would have amazedDuBois. The nation stands today as a global model in the sophistication andenforcement of its civil rights laws, the diversity of its elite, theparticipation of blacks and other minorities in its great corporations andits public cultural life, and in the embrace of blacks as an integral partof the nation and what it means to be an American.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/world/middleeast/30assess.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
News Analysis
Joy of Capture Muted at the End
By JEFF ZELENY
CRAWFORD, Tex., Dec. 29 - The capture of Saddam Hussein three years ago wasa jubilant moment for the White House, hailed by President Bush in atelevised address from the Cabinet Room. The execution of Mr. Hussein,though, seemed hardly to inspire the same sentiment.
Before the hanging was carried out in Baghdad, Mr. Bush went to sleep hereat his ranch and was not roused when the news came. In a statement writtenin advance, the president said the execution would not end the violence inIraq.
After Mr. Hussein was arrested Dec. 13, 2003, he gradually faded from view,save for his courtroom outbursts and writings from prison. The growing chaosand violence in Iraq has steadily overshadowed the torturous rule of Mr.Hussein, who for more than two decades held a unique place in the politicsand psyche of the United States, a symbol of the manifestation of evil inthe Middle East.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30sat2.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Editorial
Obstacles in Turkey's Path
It came as no surprise when the European Union recently suspended some ofits planned membership talks with Turkey. The sticking points pertain to thestrained relations between Turkey and Cyprus, which have long threatened toundermine Turkey's membership bid. What is surprising - and dismaying - isthat the union is treating this as primarily a legal problem. That's adistortion.
Turkey is indeed in violation of European law on the proper treatment ofCyprus. But the problem is mainly political, and of the union's own making.The E.U. blundered when it allowed a divided Cyprus to join the union in2004. Reunification - of Greek Cypriots in the south and Turkish Cypriots inthe north - should have been a precondition. Still, it's widely acknowledgedthat Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots did their utmost to reunite the islandso that both Cyprus and Turkey could peacefully join the E.U. But the GreekCypriots scotched a United Nations reunification plan.
That has left Turkey in an untenable position. Other European leaders shouldbe pressuring the Greek Cypriot leadership to end the impasse and workingwith Turkey to find a solution. Instead, some are using the stalemate as anexcuse to hamstring Turkey's entry.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]#####
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sns-ap-saddam,0,5157119.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Saddam Hanged for War Crimes in Iraq
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
Associated Press Writers
December 30, 2006, 9:06 AM EST
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Saddam Hussein struggled briefly after American militaryguards handed him over to Iraqi executioners. But as his final momentsapproached, he grew calm.
He clutched a Quran as he was led to the gallows, and in one final moment ofdefiance, refused to have a hood pulled over his head before facing the samefate he was accused of inflicting on countless thousands during aquarter-century of ruthless power.
A man whose testimony helped lead to Saddam's conviction and executionbefore sunrise said he was shown the body because "everybody wanted to makesure that he was really executed."
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901066_pf.html
We Can't Ignore Iraq's Refugees
By Edward M. Kennedy
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A21
With the nation still at war in Iraq, each of us is deeply grateful to thebrave men and women in our armed forces who celebrated the holidays thisyear with half their hearts at home and half in Iraq. But this yearespecially it is essential that we also reflect on another human cost of thewar -- the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women and childrenwho have fled their homes and often their country to escape the violence ofa nation increasingly at war with itself.
The refugees are witnesses to the cruelty that stains our age, and theycannot be overlooked. America bears heavy responsibility for their plight.We have a clear obligation to stop ignoring it and help chart a sensiblecourse to ease the refugee crisis. Time is not on our side. We must actquickly and effectively.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901220_pf.html
Trounced at Polls, Kansas GOP Is Still Plagued by Infighting
Party Puts Ousted Official In His Opponent's Old Post
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A02
CHICAGO, Dec. 29 -- Phill Kline is not one to slink away -- and theideological wars inside the Kansas Republican Party show no sign of ending.
The fiercely antiabortion Republican attorney general in Kansas lost hisreelection bid in November when moderate Republicans voted in droves forPaul Morrison, a longtime Johnson County district attorney who became aDemocrat in hopes of vanquishing Kline.
Statewide, Kline got barely 4 in 10 votes. In Johnson County, the state'smost populous county, his loss was more dramatic. That made it especiallyshocking after the election when Republican precinct leaders in the countychose Kline to finish the final two years of Morrison's term as prosecutor.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), a vocal Kline foe, refused to sign hisnomination papers, a ceremonial task, lambasting a "small narrow group ofpartisan political operatives" for choosing him. At the Westside FamilyChurch in Lenexa, after precinct leaders backed Kline over a Morrison aide316 to 291, Republicans showed just how divided they are.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122900142.html
Saddam Hussein Is Put to Death
Former Iraqi President Hanged Before Dawn in Baghdad to Divided Reaction
By Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A01
BAGHDAD, Dec. 30 -- Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was hanged in thepredawn hours of Saturday for crimes against humanity in the mass murder ofShiite men and boys in the 1980s, sent to the gallows by a government backedby the United States and led by Shiite Muslims who had been oppressed duringhis rule, Iraqi and American officials said.
In the early morning, Hussein, 69, was escorted from his U.S. militaryprison cell at Camp Cropper, near the Baghdad airport, and handed over toIraqi officials. He was executed on the day Sunni Muslims, of which he wasone, were to begin celebrating the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.
Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser, described on statetelevision Hussein's last moments. The execution took place in theheadquarters of Hussein's former military intelligence service in Baghdad'sKadhimiyah neighborhood.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/world/middleeast/30hussein.html?ei=5094&en=adda570db73a7e34&hp=&ex=1167541200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Dictator Who Ruled Iraq With Violence Is Hanged for Crimes Against Humanity
By MARC SANTORA, JAMES GLANZ and SABRINA TAVERNISE
BAGHDAD, Saturday, Dec. 30 - Saddam Hussein, the dictator who led Iraqthrough three decades of brutality, war and bombast before American forceschased him from his capital city and captured him in a filthy pit near hishometown was hanged just before dawn Saturday during the morning call toprayer.
The final stages for Mr. Hussein, 69, came with terrible swiftness after helost the appeal, five days ago, of his death sentence for the killings of148 men and boys in the northern town of Dujail in 1982. He had received thesentence less than two months before from a special court set up to judgehis reign as the almost unchallenged dictator of Iraq.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/science/earth/30ice.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Arctic Ice Shelf Broke Off Canadian Island
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
A 25-square-mile shelf of floating ice that jutted into the Arctic Ocean for3,000 years from Canada's northernmost shore broke away abruptly in thesummer of 2005, apparently freed by sharply warming temperatures andjostling wind and waves, scientists said yesterday.
The Ayles ice shelf, as the ancient 100-foot-thick slab was called, driftedout of a fjord along the north coast of Ellesmere Island when the jumbledsheath of floating sea ice that tended to press against the coast there evenin summers was replaced by open waters because of the warming, thescientists said.
The change was first noticed by Laurie Weir of the Canadian Ice Service asshe examined satellite images taken of Ellesmere and surrounding ice on andafter Aug. 13, 2005. In less than an hour, around midday that day, a broadcrack opened and the ice shelf was on its way out to sea.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30sat1.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Editorial
Sex Offenders in Exile
Of all the places that sexual predators could end up after prison, the worstis out of sight, away from the scrutiny and treatment that could preventthem from committing new crimes. But communities around the country aretaking that risk, with zoning laws that banish pedophiles to the literaledges of society.
There is a powerful and wholly understandable impulse behind laws thatforbid sex offenders to live within certain distances of schools, day carecenters and other places that children gather. Scores of states andmunicipalities have created such buffer zones, then continued adding layerupon layer to the enforcement blanket.
This has placed a heavy burden on law enforcement agencies, which alreadymust struggle to meet exacting federal and state requirements forregistering and monitoring the ever-growing population of released sexoffenders, many of whom must be tracked for life. Lawmakers have shown nohesitation in piling on the administrative load, but frequently are lessquick to pay foradditionalpeople to do the work.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Edwards-2008.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Edwards Wraps Up Early Campaign Blitz
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:00 a.m. ET
RENO, Nev. (AP) -- In the three-day blitz launching his 2008 presidentialcampaign, John Edwards has prodded enthusiastic crowds to get active.
''We cannot stay at home and wait for the next election. The power is notwith the politicians in Washington, the power is with you,'' he told nearly1,000 people gathered in the convention hall of a Reno casino Friday.
Still in the first blush of presidential courtship, Nevada Democratswelcomed the former North Carolina senator and Democratic vice presidentialcandidate with a standing-room-only crowd and pointed questions about thedeficit, immigration and the war in Iraq.
Reno was the fourth stop on Edwards' six-state tour announcing his secondbid for the Democratic presidential nomination. His next stop Saturday wasBrookland Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., one of the largest blackchurches in the state. He was wrapping up his tour Saturday evening with a arally in Chapel Hill, N.C.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid40734.asp
Senate control still with Democrats as Johnson recovers
South Dakota Democratic senator Tim Johnson (pictured) won't be present asthe new Congress convenes next week, but he is continuing to improve afterundergoing emergency surgery to repair a brain hemorrhage.
Julianne Fisher, a spokeswoman for South Dakota Democratic senator TimJohnson, said Johnson won't be present in the first days of the new Congressnext week but that he is continuing to improve two weeks after he hademergency surgery to repair a brain hemorrhage that has left him in criticalcondition. Johnson, who turned 60 on Thursday, is responsive to directionsfrom his wife but has not yet spoken, Fisher said, adding that it's tooearly to tell how long recovery will take.
The senator's sudden illness raised questions about the Democrats' one-votemajority in the upcoming Senate session. South Dakota's Republican governor,Mike Rounds, would appoint a replacement if Johnson's seat were vacated byhis death or resignation.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30karim.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
Justice, but No Reckoning
By NAJMALDIN KARIM
Washington
MY personal battle with Saddam Hussein - which began in 1972 when Iabandoned my medical career in Mosul, Iraq, and joined the Kurdish armedresistance - is at an end. To execute such a criminal, a man who reveled inhis atrocities, is an act of justice.
The only issue for me is the timing - executing him now is both too late andtoo early. Too late, because had Saddam Hussein been removed from the scenemany years ago, many lives would have been saved.
Killing Saddam now, however, for ordering the massacre at Dujail in 1982,means that he will not face justice for his greatest crimes: the so-calledAnfal campaign against the Kurds in the late 1980s, the genocidal assault onthe Marsh Arabs in the 1990s, and the slaughtering of the Shiite Arabs andKurds who rose up against him, with American encouragement, in 1991.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/30/AR2006123000254_pf.html
Edwards Wraps Up Early Campaign Blitz
By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
The Associated Press
Saturday, December 30, 2006; 3:00 AM
RENO, Nev. -- In the three-day blitz launching his 2008 presidentialcampaign, John Edwards has prodded enthusiastic crowds to get active.
"We cannot stay at home and wait for the next election. The power is notwith the politicians in Washington, the power is with you," he told nearly1,000 people gathered in the convention hall of a Reno casino Friday.
Still in the first blush of presidential courtship, Nevada Democratswelcomed the former North Carolina senator and Democratic vice presidentialcandidate with a standing-room-only crowd and pointed questions about thedeficit, immigration and the war in Iraq.
Reno was the fourth stop on Edwards' six-state tour announcing his secondbid for the Democratic presidential nomination. His next stop Saturday wasBrookland Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., one of the largest blackchurches in the state. He was wrapping up his tour Saturday evening with a arally in Chapel Hill, N.C.
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The Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/needtoknow/2006/12/china_colonizing_africa.html
Panelist's View
China Colonizing Africa?
William Gumede - Is China becoming Africa's new colonizer? In what isreminiscent of a new scramble for Africa, China has rushed to plant its flagon the continent, offering soft credit, bricks and mortar investment andpromising non-interference in local politics. China's political clout inAfrica has never been greater.
But is this all too good to be true? In November, China hosted an Africasummit in Beijing attended by 50 African leaders, the biggest showcase ofChina's new foreign policy shift towards the developing world, to expand itspolitical reach and to secure raw materials to feed its rapidly growingeconomy. Beijing offered Africa US$3bn in preferential loans and US$2bn inexport credits over the next three years. China envisaged annual trade withAfrica to reach $100bn by 2010. Whereas Western nations such as the US,France and UK have year-on-year slashed development aid, China promised todouble aid by 2009. Most of the Chinese aid to Africa is tied to businessdeals. Nevertheless, China has offered aid without insisting on onerousconditions as Western donors do. This is sweet music to African nations, whofor long now have protested the hypocritical insistence by Western countriesthat they must open their markets, while they (Western nations) heavilysubsidize their own agriculture sectors and maintain prohibitively hightariff barriers.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901354_pf.html
The Status Quo Is Rejected
By Kevin Eckstrom
Religion News Service
Saturday, December 30, 2006; B07
Elections, the late columnist Franklin P. Adams once said, "are won by menand women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than forsomebody."
And whatever Americans were voting for in 2006, it seems clear that whatthey were voting against was the status quo. Episcopalians, for one, decidedto give a woman a shot and elected their first female leader, PresidingBishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. U.S. Muslims turned to Ingrid Mattson asthe first woman to lead the Islamic Society of North America. SouthernBaptists, dissatisfied with the old guard, chose a relative unknown, FrankPage, to lead the nation's largest Protestant denomination.
In church basements, school gymnasiums and fire stations across the country,Americans in November registered their frustration at the voting booth andgave control of Capitol Hill to the Democrats, making 2006 a year whenvotes -- sacred and secular -- became the year's biggest religion newsstory.
After years of vowing to "get religion," Democrats saw modest gains amongreligiously minded voters after a concerted effort to cast their policiesthrough a moral lens. The party gained ground among Catholics, weeklyworship attenders and those who rarely or never attend worship services.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30sat3.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Editorial
Dealing With Congressman Inc.
As the Democrats regain power in Congress next week they would be wise tolook to one of their own - Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania - forironic inspiration in enacting the ethics reforms they promised voters. Evenin the minority, Mr. Murtha made himself a legend at mastering the same quidpro quo culture that Democrats denounced in running against the Republicans'manipulations of Washington's money trough. His deliverance of masses ofpork to favored campaign donors and lobbyists has been laid bare in a reportby The Washington Post, detailing the sort of classic money churn thathelped drive the Republicans from power.
It began with Mr. Murtha's securing $500,000 in federal start-up money for anonprofit agency created by a staff member who eventually left to run theagency and, in turn, lobby his old boss. The nonprofit, with a goal offinding jobs for the disabled, soon became a magnet for Murtha-friendlylobbyists, contractors and other insiders. They became members of its boardand raised money for the cause. In the process, they reaped millions infederal contracts with the congressman's help. And, needless to say, theyclosed the loop with regular donations to Murtha campaign kitties.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122900253_pf.html
Apple Admits Wrongdoing But Rallies Around Leader
By Alan Sipress and Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A01
Apple Computer disclosed yesterday that it had falsified approval of 7.5million stock options for its chief executive and innovative co-founder,Steve Jobs, raising new questions about the role he may have played in ascandal that has swirled around the dynamic technology company for months.
Apple said in a pair of overdue earnings filings to the Securities andExchange Commission that it had recorded a fictitious meeting at whichJobs's options were ratified and that he may have recommended the dates forsome of the stock options issued to company employees. The company repeatedyesterday that Jobs did not benefit from the options.
Apple's board, which includes former vice president Al Gore, gave Jobs itsfull support. "The board of directors is confident that the Company hascorrected the problems that led to the restatement, and it has completeconfidence in Steve Jobs and the senior management team," said the statementby Gore and Jerome York, who heads Apple's audit and finance committee.
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30patterson.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Guest Columnist
The Last Race Problem
By ORLANDO PATTERSON
When W. E. B. DuBois, the patrician black leader, predicted in 1903 that theproblem of the 20th century would be the color line, he had in mind anethno-racial problem with a dual character. One side was the near completeexclusion of African-Americans and other minorities from the upper echelonsand leadership of American society, public life and national identity. Theother was the segregation of blacks from the social, communal and intimatecultural life of white Americans.
America's resolution of the public side of the color line would have amazedDuBois. The nation stands today as a global model in the sophistication andenforcement of its civil rights laws, the diversity of its elite, theparticipation of blacks and other minorities in its great corporations andits public cultural life, and in the embrace of blacks as an integral partof the nation and what it means to be an American.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/world/middleeast/30assess.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
News Analysis
Joy of Capture Muted at the End
By JEFF ZELENY
CRAWFORD, Tex., Dec. 29 - The capture of Saddam Hussein three years ago wasa jubilant moment for the White House, hailed by President Bush in atelevised address from the Cabinet Room. The execution of Mr. Hussein,though, seemed hardly to inspire the same sentiment.
Before the hanging was carried out in Baghdad, Mr. Bush went to sleep hereat his ranch and was not roused when the news came. In a statement writtenin advance, the president said the execution would not end the violence inIraq.
After Mr. Hussein was arrested Dec. 13, 2003, he gradually faded from view,save for his courtroom outbursts and writings from prison. The growing chaosand violence in Iraq has steadily overshadowed the torturous rule of Mr.Hussein, who for more than two decades held a unique place in the politicsand psyche of the United States, a symbol of the manifestation of evil inthe Middle East.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/30/opinion/30sat2.html?pagewanted=print
December 30, 2006
Editorial
Obstacles in Turkey's Path
It came as no surprise when the European Union recently suspended some ofits planned membership talks with Turkey. The sticking points pertain to thestrained relations between Turkey and Cyprus, which have long threatened toundermine Turkey's membership bid. What is surprising - and dismaying - isthat the union is treating this as primarily a legal problem. That's adistortion.
Turkey is indeed in violation of European law on the proper treatment ofCyprus. But the problem is mainly political, and of the union's own making.The E.U. blundered when it allowed a divided Cyprus to join the union in2004. Reunification - of Greek Cypriots in the south and Turkish Cypriots inthe north - should have been a precondition. Still, it's widely acknowledgedthat Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots did their utmost to reunite the islandso that both Cyprus and Turkey could peacefully join the E.U. But the GreekCypriots scotched a United Nations reunification plan.
That has left Turkey in an untenable position. Other European leaders shouldbe pressuring the Greek Cypriot leadership to end the impasse and workingwith Turkey to find a solution. Instead, some are using the stalemate as anexcuse to hamstring Turkey's entry.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]#####
FLORIDA DIGEST December 30, 2006
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
From Paul Harris, Publisher of "The Independent"
People of the Year Awards - Thursday, February 1
Put Thursday, February 1 in your calendars. It is the date of the "SecondAnnual Independent People of the Year Awards." As with last year's sell-outevent it will be held at "Laffing Matterz," the wonderful comedy theaterrestaurant on South Andrews Avenue. The evening allows the GLBT community tohonor some of the many people who 'make a difference' in South Florida. Weshall be announcing the names of the honorees and full details about theevening in the next issue of "The Indy."
Some of the names of the people to be honored are ones that everyone willrecognize, but, as with last year, we shall also be honoring some people whogive greatly of themselves and are to a large extent 'unsung.' Without manyof these amazing people the organizations so important to the life of ourcommunity would not function. So, mark Thursday, February 1 in yourcalendars now. We look forward to seeing you there.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16348734.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Dec. 30, 2006
MIAMI BEACH
Blairs blend in on Beach holiday
Tony who? He may be a foreign dignitary, but in celebrity-saturated MiamiBeach, Blair is barely a boldface name.
BY ELINOR J. BRECHER
ebrecher@MiamiHerald.com
On the Miami Beach celebrity scale of J.Lo to your Aunt Hadassah at theHebrew Home, British Prime Minister Tony Blair ranks somewhere around thathomeless guy on Lincoln Road who wears a Santa suit all year round.
After an initial flurry of activity Wednesday outside Oak Hall -- former BeeGee Robin Gibb's estate, where the Blairs are staying -- interest in hispresence had dwindled Friday morning to a brace of neighbors dropping off abook.
No paparazzi. No autograph hounds. Not even protesters against the war inIraq, Blair's support of which has made him about as popular back home asJack the Ripper.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16349371.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Dec. 30, 2006
VERBATIM
Getting ex-offenders into law-abiding lives
By EX-OFFENDER TASK FORCE
Below are excerpts from the recent report by Gov. Jeb Bush's Ex-OffenderTask Force. The full report is at http://exoffendermyflorida.com.
We began our work by studying the magnitude of the challenge of makingreentry successful and quickly learned that Florida has the third largestprison population in America and more than 30,000 people returning home fromprison each year. The continual growth of imprisonment has created anunprecedented challenge for our state and for the local communities thatmust absorb these individuals upon their return home.
Under the current conditions, most ex-offenders will fail at leadinglaw-abiding lives when they return home. This will result in new crimesbeing committed with new victims unnecessarily traumatized at a huge cost ofhundreds of millions of dollars to the taxpayers and their communities.
How, we asked, might prisoners be best prepared for their foreseeable returnhome? To answer this, we identified and referenced many promising programs,innovative practices and ongoing interventions that are working in Floridaand elsewhere. These examples have guided our recommendations and assistedus in establishing a formal reentry framework that can reduce recidivism.
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Naplesnews.com
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/dec/30/medicare_fraud_florida_has_doubled_past_year/?print=1
Medicare fraud in Florida has doubled in the past year
By Liz Freeman
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Medicaid fraud investigators in Florida have recovered nearly $75 million intaxpayer money in abuse and fraud activity this past year involvinghealth-care providers, almost double the $42 million recovered in 2005,according to a state report released Friday.
The Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration and the Florida AttorneyGeneral's Office both have Medicaid fraud units and jointly announcedresults of fraud detection and recovery efforts for fiscal 2005-06.
The two Medicaid fraud units work together on joint investigations andcollaborate to improve ways to combat fraud in the $16.6 billion stateMedicaid program involving 32,000 health-care providers, from nursing homesto durable medical equipment suppliers.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cunidentified00dec30,0,4694858.story?coll=sfla-news-front
Broward falling behind at reporting unidentified dead to FBI
By Sofia Santana
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 30, 2006
For a growing legion of souls, home is a pit in potter's field and a manilafolder with a number on it.
Almost 900 rest in the realm of Florida's unidentified dead, includingmurdered children.
Investigators across the country rely on an FBI database that links thesecases to missing person reports, but fewer than half of Broward County'sunidentified bodies are listed in it.
Broward law enforcement agencies overall have the worst record in SouthFlorida and one of the worst in the state when it comes to reportingunidentified remains to the FBI, according to an ongoing inventory of thecases by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and state medicalexaminers.
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PalmBeachPost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2006/12/30/m1a_childdeath_1230.html
97 kids died of abuse in Fla. in '05, report says
By Kathleen Chapman
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Ninety-seven Florida children died of abuse or neglect in 2005, including 10deaths that might have been prevented by the state, according to a reportreleased Friday.
The Florida Child Abuse Death Review team report, which looks back on deathsfrom the previous year, included children who were murdered, infants whowere accidentally suffocated by parents and toddlers who drowned while noone was watching.
Fifty-four of those children who died had previous involvement with theDepartment of Children and Families. That analysis included only 94 of thedeaths, however, because the remaining three were reported late.
Across the country in 2004, the last year for which national statistics areavailable, an estimated 1,490 children died of abuse or neglect.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901048_pf.html
AT& T Completes BellSouth Takeover
FCC Approves $85 Billion Deal
By Alan Sipress and Sara Kehaulani Goo
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A01
The Federal Communications Commission yesterday overcame a seven-monthdeadlock and approved AT&T's $85 billion purchase of BellSouth, creating anew corporate giant that will stand astride the telecommunications industrylike none other in the generation since the old AT&T empire was broken up in1984.
The acquisition, which closed yesterday, reunites large parts of AT&T'sformer domain by folding BellSouth's nine-state territory into AT&T'sexisting operations spanning the Midwest, Southwest and West Coast. It givesAT&T complete control of Cingular Wireless, the country's largestmobile-telephone provider, at a time when wireless is the newest frontierfor reaching the Internet. Cingular is jointly owned by AT&T and BellSouth.
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Tallahassee.com
http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061230/OPINION05/612300307/1006/OPINION&template=printart
Article published Dec 30, 2006
Jeb's legacy deserves a more sober view
By Howard L. Simon
MY VIEW
As the Jeb Bush administration ends, the battle to characterize the legacyheats up.
How Bush is characterized has future political consequence, given hisrelative youth, the cache of name recognition (though its value may betemporarily diminished), and the war chest stored in his foundation, whichis a potential campaign structure.
Anyone who has followed news about state government in Tallahassee over thelast eight years appreciates that the governor is an engaging, telegenic andintelligent policy wonk.
He has been a Reaganesque governor. For some that is the supreme compliment,but it also means that our Teflon governor has been immune from blame forthe harsh consequences of his policies and the mismanagement of the reins ofstate government.
President Ronald Reagan was so liked that the public often looked the otherway: He didn't screw up; he was "poorly advised." Case in point: Reagan wasnot involved in swapping arms for hostages and illegally funding theContras. That was the work of Oliver North and others who acted without thepresident's knowledge.
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floridatoday.com
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061230/OPINION/612300303/1004&template=printart
December 30, 2006
Our view: Guarding your money
Florida CFO Sink should hold state accountable for private sector deals
Protecting Florida taxpayers is a big job, but it rests on the simplepremise of honest accounting for every dollar saved or squandered.
That accountability has gone lacking under Gov. Jeb Bush's relentless pushto outsource state services such as foster care, personnel and payrollfunctions to private companies.
That's why Alex Sink, Florida's newly elected Chief Financial Officer, isright in pledging to kick off her term in office by investigating thebillions of dollars in private sector contracts the state hands out eachyear.
She's said she'll scrutinize the books to see if privatization is actuallysaving the state money and improving services. Previous studies indicatethat's often not the case.
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From Paul Harris, Publisher of "The Independent"
People of the Year Awards - Thursday, February 1
Put Thursday, February 1 in your calendars. It is the date of the "SecondAnnual Independent People of the Year Awards." As with last year's sell-outevent it will be held at "Laffing Matterz," the wonderful comedy theaterrestaurant on South Andrews Avenue. The evening allows the GLBT community tohonor some of the many people who 'make a difference' in South Florida. Weshall be announcing the names of the honorees and full details about theevening in the next issue of "The Indy."
Some of the names of the people to be honored are ones that everyone willrecognize, but, as with last year, we shall also be honoring some people whogive greatly of themselves and are to a large extent 'unsung.' Without manyof these amazing people the organizations so important to the life of ourcommunity would not function. So, mark Thursday, February 1 in yourcalendars now. We look forward to seeing you there.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-1229revkennedy,0,2363156.story?coll=sfla-home-headlinesRev.
D. James Kennedy hospitalized after suffering heart attack
By Scott Wyman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 29, 2006, 7:30 PM EST
The Rev. D. James Kennedy, the longtime pastor of Fort Lauderdale's Coral Ridge PresbyterianChurch and a prominent leader of the national religious right movement, suffered a heart attackThursday night and is hospitalized in serious condition. Church officials said Friday thatKennedy, 76, was rushed to a local hospital from his home in the affluent Coral Ridgeneighborhood. Although they are extremely concerned about his health, they also said Kennedyis becoming more alert and responsive.
As one of the largest religious broadcasters in the country and pastor of one of nation's firstmega-churches, Kennedy has been at the forefront of social conservative causes from abortionto homosexuality. Americans United for the Separation of Church and State this year rankedKennedy's Coral Ridge Ministries as the nation's third most powerful religious right group,behind only the Christina Broadcasting Network and Focus on the Family.
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[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]
#####
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
From Paul Harris, Publisher of "The Independent"
People of the Year Awards - Thursday, February 1
Put Thursday, February 1 in your calendars. It is the date of the "SecondAnnual Independent People of the Year Awards." As with last year's sell-outevent it will be held at "Laffing Matterz," the wonderful comedy theaterrestaurant on South Andrews Avenue. The evening allows the GLBT community tohonor some of the many people who 'make a difference' in South Florida. Weshall be announcing the names of the honorees and full details about theevening in the next issue of "The Indy."
Some of the names of the people to be honored are ones that everyone willrecognize, but, as with last year, we shall also be honoring some people whogive greatly of themselves and are to a large extent 'unsung.' Without manyof these amazing people the organizations so important to the life of ourcommunity would not function. So, mark Thursday, February 1 in yourcalendars now. We look forward to seeing you there.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16348734.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Dec. 30, 2006
MIAMI BEACH
Blairs blend in on Beach holiday
Tony who? He may be a foreign dignitary, but in celebrity-saturated MiamiBeach, Blair is barely a boldface name.
BY ELINOR J. BRECHER
ebrecher@MiamiHerald.com
On the Miami Beach celebrity scale of J.Lo to your Aunt Hadassah at theHebrew Home, British Prime Minister Tony Blair ranks somewhere around thathomeless guy on Lincoln Road who wears a Santa suit all year round.
After an initial flurry of activity Wednesday outside Oak Hall -- former BeeGee Robin Gibb's estate, where the Blairs are staying -- interest in hispresence had dwindled Friday morning to a brace of neighbors dropping off abook.
No paparazzi. No autograph hounds. Not even protesters against the war inIraq, Blair's support of which has made him about as popular back home asJack the Ripper.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16349371.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Dec. 30, 2006
VERBATIM
Getting ex-offenders into law-abiding lives
By EX-OFFENDER TASK FORCE
Below are excerpts from the recent report by Gov. Jeb Bush's Ex-OffenderTask Force. The full report is at http://exoffendermyflorida.com.
We began our work by studying the magnitude of the challenge of makingreentry successful and quickly learned that Florida has the third largestprison population in America and more than 30,000 people returning home fromprison each year. The continual growth of imprisonment has created anunprecedented challenge for our state and for the local communities thatmust absorb these individuals upon their return home.
Under the current conditions, most ex-offenders will fail at leadinglaw-abiding lives when they return home. This will result in new crimesbeing committed with new victims unnecessarily traumatized at a huge cost ofhundreds of millions of dollars to the taxpayers and their communities.
How, we asked, might prisoners be best prepared for their foreseeable returnhome? To answer this, we identified and referenced many promising programs,innovative practices and ongoing interventions that are working in Floridaand elsewhere. These examples have guided our recommendations and assistedus in establishing a formal reentry framework that can reduce recidivism.
=
Naplesnews.com
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/dec/30/medicare_fraud_florida_has_doubled_past_year/?print=1
Medicare fraud in Florida has doubled in the past year
By Liz Freeman
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Medicaid fraud investigators in Florida have recovered nearly $75 million intaxpayer money in abuse and fraud activity this past year involvinghealth-care providers, almost double the $42 million recovered in 2005,according to a state report released Friday.
The Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration and the Florida AttorneyGeneral's Office both have Medicaid fraud units and jointly announcedresults of fraud detection and recovery efforts for fiscal 2005-06.
The two Medicaid fraud units work together on joint investigations andcollaborate to improve ways to combat fraud in the $16.6 billion stateMedicaid program involving 32,000 health-care providers, from nursing homesto durable medical equipment suppliers.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cunidentified00dec30,0,4694858.story?coll=sfla-news-front
Broward falling behind at reporting unidentified dead to FBI
By Sofia Santana
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 30, 2006
For a growing legion of souls, home is a pit in potter's field and a manilafolder with a number on it.
Almost 900 rest in the realm of Florida's unidentified dead, includingmurdered children.
Investigators across the country rely on an FBI database that links thesecases to missing person reports, but fewer than half of Broward County'sunidentified bodies are listed in it.
Broward law enforcement agencies overall have the worst record in SouthFlorida and one of the worst in the state when it comes to reportingunidentified remains to the FBI, according to an ongoing inventory of thecases by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and state medicalexaminers.
=
PalmBeachPost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2006/12/30/m1a_childdeath_1230.html
97 kids died of abuse in Fla. in '05, report says
By Kathleen Chapman
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Ninety-seven Florida children died of abuse or neglect in 2005, including 10deaths that might have been prevented by the state, according to a reportreleased Friday.
The Florida Child Abuse Death Review team report, which looks back on deathsfrom the previous year, included children who were murdered, infants whowere accidentally suffocated by parents and toddlers who drowned while noone was watching.
Fifty-four of those children who died had previous involvement with theDepartment of Children and Families. That analysis included only 94 of thedeaths, however, because the remaining three were reported late.
Across the country in 2004, the last year for which national statistics areavailable, an estimated 1,490 children died of abuse or neglect.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901048_pf.html
AT& T Completes BellSouth Takeover
FCC Approves $85 Billion Deal
By Alan Sipress and Sara Kehaulani Goo
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, December 30, 2006; A01
The Federal Communications Commission yesterday overcame a seven-monthdeadlock and approved AT&T's $85 billion purchase of BellSouth, creating anew corporate giant that will stand astride the telecommunications industrylike none other in the generation since the old AT&T empire was broken up in1984.
The acquisition, which closed yesterday, reunites large parts of AT&T'sformer domain by folding BellSouth's nine-state territory into AT&T'sexisting operations spanning the Midwest, Southwest and West Coast. It givesAT&T complete control of Cingular Wireless, the country's largestmobile-telephone provider, at a time when wireless is the newest frontierfor reaching the Internet. Cingular is jointly owned by AT&T and BellSouth.
=
Tallahassee.com
http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061230/OPINION05/612300307/1006/OPINION&template=printart
Article published Dec 30, 2006
Jeb's legacy deserves a more sober view
By Howard L. Simon
MY VIEW
As the Jeb Bush administration ends, the battle to characterize the legacyheats up.
How Bush is characterized has future political consequence, given hisrelative youth, the cache of name recognition (though its value may betemporarily diminished), and the war chest stored in his foundation, whichis a potential campaign structure.
Anyone who has followed news about state government in Tallahassee over thelast eight years appreciates that the governor is an engaging, telegenic andintelligent policy wonk.
He has been a Reaganesque governor. For some that is the supreme compliment,but it also means that our Teflon governor has been immune from blame forthe harsh consequences of his policies and the mismanagement of the reins ofstate government.
President Ronald Reagan was so liked that the public often looked the otherway: He didn't screw up; he was "poorly advised." Case in point: Reagan wasnot involved in swapping arms for hostages and illegally funding theContras. That was the work of Oliver North and others who acted without thepresident's knowledge.
=
floridatoday.com
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061230/OPINION/612300303/1004&template=printart
December 30, 2006
Our view: Guarding your money
Florida CFO Sink should hold state accountable for private sector deals
Protecting Florida taxpayers is a big job, but it rests on the simplepremise of honest accounting for every dollar saved or squandered.
That accountability has gone lacking under Gov. Jeb Bush's relentless pushto outsource state services such as foster care, personnel and payrollfunctions to private companies.
That's why Alex Sink, Florida's newly elected Chief Financial Officer, isright in pledging to kick off her term in office by investigating thebillions of dollars in private sector contracts the state hands out eachyear.
She's said she'll scrutinize the books to see if privatization is actuallysaving the state money and improving services. Previous studies indicatethat's often not the case.
=
From Paul Harris, Publisher of "The Independent"
People of the Year Awards - Thursday, February 1
Put Thursday, February 1 in your calendars. It is the date of the "SecondAnnual Independent People of the Year Awards." As with last year's sell-outevent it will be held at "Laffing Matterz," the wonderful comedy theaterrestaurant on South Andrews Avenue. The evening allows the GLBT community tohonor some of the many people who 'make a difference' in South Florida. Weshall be announcing the names of the honorees and full details about theevening in the next issue of "The Indy."
Some of the names of the people to be honored are ones that everyone willrecognize, but, as with last year, we shall also be honoring some people whogive greatly of themselves and are to a large extent 'unsung.' Without manyof these amazing people the organizations so important to the life of ourcommunity would not function. So, mark Thursday, February 1 in yourcalendars now. We look forward to seeing you there.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-1229revkennedy,0,2363156.story?coll=sfla-home-headlinesRev.
D. James Kennedy hospitalized after suffering heart attack
By Scott Wyman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 29, 2006, 7:30 PM EST
The Rev. D. James Kennedy, the longtime pastor of Fort Lauderdale's Coral Ridge PresbyterianChurch and a prominent leader of the national religious right movement, suffered a heart attackThursday night and is hospitalized in serious condition. Church officials said Friday thatKennedy, 76, was rushed to a local hospital from his home in the affluent Coral Ridgeneighborhood. Although they are extremely concerned about his health, they also said Kennedyis becoming more alert and responsive.
As one of the largest religious broadcasters in the country and pastor of one of nation's firstmega-churches, Kennedy has been at the forefront of social conservative causes from abortionto homosexuality. Americans United for the Separation of Church and State this year rankedKennedy's Coral Ridge Ministries as the nation's third most powerful religious right group,behind only the Christina Broadcasting Network and Focus on the Family.
=
[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]
#####
Friday, December 29, 2006
GLBT DIGEST - December 29, 2006
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2006/12-29/news/worldnews/un.cfm
Rights groups win new status at U.N.
Change gives gays a 'seat at the table'
By JOSHUA LYNSEN
Friday, December 29, 2006
Three gay groups have won long sought inclusion at the United Nations.
The International Lesbian & Gay Association's European office, plus twoother groups, obtained the coveted consultative status Dec. 11. They are theonly gay groups among 3,100 organizations that have the status.
Consultative status enables non-government organizations to speak at U.N.meetings and lobby member nations.
"It grants them a seat at the table," said Mark Bromley, a spokesperson forGlobal Rights, an international human rights organization that supported themove.
"It allows them to submit documents and evidence of human rights abusesagainst LGBT communities in a formal way to the U.N. and many human rightsexperts."
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2006/12-29/news/national/national.cfm
2006: A swan song for the closet
Politicians, performers step outside the walls of secrecy
By LOU CHIBBARO JR and JOSHUA LYNSEN & ELIZABETH PERRY
Friday, December 29, 2006
Having confined and defined much, if not most, of modern gay existence, "thecloset" showed once again in 2006 that it is still a mighty force, albeit ashadow of its once powerful self.
In fact, some believe the closet is steadily inching toward irrelevance, assuccessive generations of gay and lesbian youth settle into their sexualorientation without first surrounding it with four walls of angst, denial,duplicity and shame.
Far from being a place that only harbors half-truths and paralyzing secrets,the 2006 version of the closet helped fuel best-selling memoirs and abreathtaking power shift in Congress. The closet opened its doors on the setof America's most popular primetime television series and inside one of thenation's most influential megachurches.
And whereas coming out of the closet was long considered social andprofessional suicide, in 2006 it proved anything but.
=
The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid40713.asp
December 29, 2006
Meehan to push for repeal of gay soldier ban
Democratic congressman Marty Meehan of Massachusetts said on Wednesday thathe will reintroduce a bill to repeal the military's ban on openly gaysoldiers.
A Democratic congressman from Massachusetts said on Wednesday that he willreintroduce a bill to repeal the military's ban on openly gay soldiers. Rep.Marty Meehan said that 112 members of Congress from both parties have signedon to cosponsor the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would end thearmed services' "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
"I'll be working tirelessly to bring new members of both parties onboard ourcampaign to lift the ban," Meehan said in an end-of-the-year letter toconstituents released by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, whichadvocates for gays in the military. "I will also be asking for the firstcongressional hearings on gays in the military since 1993. I know that whenmy colleagues see and understand the evidence against "don't ask, don'ttell," they will be motivated to join me in the fight for repeal."
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2006/12-29/arts/feature/feature.cfm
All the talk
2006 in quotes
Friday, December 29, 2006
2006 could one-day be known as the year of transparency. Closetedcelebrities and politicians saw their secrets exposed, largely due to helpfrom news reporters and dogged bloggers.
It was American voters who made the loudest statement of all though, lookingpast, and, perhaps through, gay issues that once galvanized the right, andhanding the U.S. House and Senate back to a Democratic majority.
Here are some notable quotables by celebrities and politicians from 2006.
"I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights oflesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice. .But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King, Jr., said, 'Injusticeanywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' . I appeal to everyone whobelieves in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream to make room at the table ofbrotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people."
Coretta Scott King, who died in February at the age of 78, at the 25thanniversary event for the Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund (March 31,1998)
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2006/12-29/view/editorial/editorial.cfm
Stories you might have missed
Everyone knows about the Mark Foley scandal but did you hear about the newpro-gay 401(k) rule change?
Friday, December 29, 2006
WE ALL KNOW that Mark Foley sent lewd e-mails and IMs to young male pages.And that Ted Haggard resigned in a gay sex scandal as a leading voice of theevangelical Christians who work so feverishly to demonize gays and lesbians.And we know that most gays cheered the midterm election results.
But there were hundreds of other stories in the past year that you may havemissed. Here are just a few that merit repeating.
Late this summer, President Bush signed into law sweeping changes to thecountry's pension laws that altered 401(k) rules in significant ways forgays and lesbians.
The changes allow any 401(k) beneficiary to inherit those funds slowly,avoiding a full and immediate payment that would be subject to stiffer taxpenalties. Prior to the change, the slow payout option was available only tostraight, married couples.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Concord Monitor, NH , December 28, 2006
http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061228/REPOSITORY/612280329/1027/OPINION01
Editorial: No more study, please
Monitor staff
The 2007 Legislature will see at least two bills to make civil unions legalfor same-sex couples. In response, Gov. John Lynch has suggested, through aspokesman, that he may deploy one of the most potent weapons ever designedto kill time, a committee. He should not make good on that threat.
It's true the legislative commission former governor Craig Benson appointedto study the implications of legalizing same-sex marriage was fatallycompromised by the lack of objectivity of many of its members. The group'stempestuous meetings and bigoted conclusions embarrassed the state. But nomatter how fairly constituted the next group could be, its contribution tothe debate would be insignificant compared with the real-world experiencesof neighboring states.
Vermont made civil unions legal in 2000, and Massachusetts recognizedsame-sex marriage in 2004.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
NJ: Perform civil unions or nothing
Bridgeton News, NJ, December 28, 2006
http://www.nj.com/news/bridgeton/local/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1167284456271280.xml&coll=10
Perform civil unions or nothing
By MATT DUNN, Staff Writer
HOPEWELL TWP. -- Mayor Hal Bickings Jr. takes great pride in the marriageceremony he has honed over the years.
He reads to the couple from 1 Corinthians 13, informally known as theBible's "love chapter," which states "Love is patient and kind; love is notjealous or boastful."
Then he offers some biblical advice.
"I tell them love is the cornerstone of a great marriage -- to beconsiderate of each other," Bickings said Wednesday. "I tell the husband,you must love your wife as Christ loved the church."
After rings and vows are exchanged, Bickings prays with the newlyweds.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=17420
FOCUS ON ISSUES
When Abba becomes Ima: Transsexuals in the Orthodox world
By Meira Maierovitz Drazin
TORONTO, Dec. 25 (JTA) - Mordechai, a 31-year-old Orthodox lawyer from Toronto, gave his wife a Jewish divorce this summer.
Then he began his life as Nicole, a woman.
Nicole isn't the first transgender person to live an Orthodox life, but asfar as anyone knows she is the first Orthodox person to transition publiclyand "in place."
Transsexuals may always face obstacles and taboos in mainstream Westernsocieties, but Orthodox Jews who make the transition face even greatercomplications.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/us/29drugs.html?pagewanted=print
December 29, 2006
Waiting List for AIDS Drugs Causes Dismay in South Carolina
By SHAILA DEWAN
COLUMBIA, S.C. - More than 350 poor people infected with H.I.V. are on awaiting list for free life-saving drugs in South Carolina, by far thelongest such list in the country.
Four people waiting for drugs supplied by the state have died, said LyndaKettinger, the director of the state health department's H.I.V. division,and the wait is six months to a year.
The list is so long largely because the Legislature's contribution to the drug program is relatively tiny - less than one-twentieth of North Carolina's, for example - even though South Carolina has the ninth-highest AIDS rate andthe fifth-highest H.I.V. infection rate among states that record such data.
"There's only two ways to get off of the wait list right now," said KarenBates, one of a group of South Carolina H.I.V. patients who have demandedthat the state take emergency action. "One of them is if somebody else diesand you get their slot. The other is if you die."
=
The current issue of The Express Gay News is online
http://expressgaynews.com/
=
Gay victims of Franco era to win compensation
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2108206.ece
In the dying days of General Francisco Franco'sdictatorship, Antoni Ruiz found out for himselfwhat thousands of others had already suffered for being gay.
Antoni, then just 17, from Valencia, easternSpain, told his mother he was homosexual and hisfamily sought advice from a nun. "She wentstraight to the police and I was arrested and sent for trial," said Mr Ruiz.
"I spent three months in prison. I was rapedthere and in the police cells and psychologicallytortured by both the guards and the prison doctor."
Now, 31 years later, Mr Ruiz and a dwindling bandof others who suffered General Franco's ruthlessrepression of homosexuals, may finally be offered compensation by the state.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2006/12-29/news/worldnews/un.cfm
Rights groups win new status at U.N.
Change gives gays a 'seat at the table'
By JOSHUA LYNSEN
Friday, December 29, 2006
Three gay groups have won long sought inclusion at the United Nations.
The International Lesbian & Gay Association's European office, plus twoother groups, obtained the coveted consultative status Dec. 11. They are theonly gay groups among 3,100 organizations that have the status.
Consultative status enables non-government organizations to speak at U.N.meetings and lobby member nations.
"It grants them a seat at the table," said Mark Bromley, a spokesperson forGlobal Rights, an international human rights organization that supported themove.
"It allows them to submit documents and evidence of human rights abusesagainst LGBT communities in a formal way to the U.N. and many human rightsexperts."
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2006/12-29/news/national/national.cfm
2006: A swan song for the closet
Politicians, performers step outside the walls of secrecy
By LOU CHIBBARO JR and JOSHUA LYNSEN & ELIZABETH PERRY
Friday, December 29, 2006
Having confined and defined much, if not most, of modern gay existence, "thecloset" showed once again in 2006 that it is still a mighty force, albeit ashadow of its once powerful self.
In fact, some believe the closet is steadily inching toward irrelevance, assuccessive generations of gay and lesbian youth settle into their sexualorientation without first surrounding it with four walls of angst, denial,duplicity and shame.
Far from being a place that only harbors half-truths and paralyzing secrets,the 2006 version of the closet helped fuel best-selling memoirs and abreathtaking power shift in Congress. The closet opened its doors on the setof America's most popular primetime television series and inside one of thenation's most influential megachurches.
And whereas coming out of the closet was long considered social andprofessional suicide, in 2006 it proved anything but.
=
The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid40713.asp
December 29, 2006
Meehan to push for repeal of gay soldier ban
Democratic congressman Marty Meehan of Massachusetts said on Wednesday thathe will reintroduce a bill to repeal the military's ban on openly gaysoldiers.
A Democratic congressman from Massachusetts said on Wednesday that he willreintroduce a bill to repeal the military's ban on openly gay soldiers. Rep.Marty Meehan said that 112 members of Congress from both parties have signedon to cosponsor the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would end thearmed services' "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
"I'll be working tirelessly to bring new members of both parties onboard ourcampaign to lift the ban," Meehan said in an end-of-the-year letter toconstituents released by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, whichadvocates for gays in the military. "I will also be asking for the firstcongressional hearings on gays in the military since 1993. I know that whenmy colleagues see and understand the evidence against "don't ask, don'ttell," they will be motivated to join me in the fight for repeal."
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2006/12-29/arts/feature/feature.cfm
All the talk
2006 in quotes
Friday, December 29, 2006
2006 could one-day be known as the year of transparency. Closetedcelebrities and politicians saw their secrets exposed, largely due to helpfrom news reporters and dogged bloggers.
It was American voters who made the loudest statement of all though, lookingpast, and, perhaps through, gay issues that once galvanized the right, andhanding the U.S. House and Senate back to a Democratic majority.
Here are some notable quotables by celebrities and politicians from 2006.
"I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights oflesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice. .But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King, Jr., said, 'Injusticeanywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' . I appeal to everyone whobelieves in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream to make room at the table ofbrotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people."
Coretta Scott King, who died in February at the age of 78, at the 25thanniversary event for the Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund (March 31,1998)
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2006/12-29/view/editorial/editorial.cfm
Stories you might have missed
Everyone knows about the Mark Foley scandal but did you hear about the newpro-gay 401(k) rule change?
Friday, December 29, 2006
WE ALL KNOW that Mark Foley sent lewd e-mails and IMs to young male pages.And that Ted Haggard resigned in a gay sex scandal as a leading voice of theevangelical Christians who work so feverishly to demonize gays and lesbians.And we know that most gays cheered the midterm election results.
But there were hundreds of other stories in the past year that you may havemissed. Here are just a few that merit repeating.
Late this summer, President Bush signed into law sweeping changes to thecountry's pension laws that altered 401(k) rules in significant ways forgays and lesbians.
The changes allow any 401(k) beneficiary to inherit those funds slowly,avoiding a full and immediate payment that would be subject to stiffer taxpenalties. Prior to the change, the slow payout option was available only tostraight, married couples.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Concord Monitor, NH , December 28, 2006
http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061228/REPOSITORY/612280329/1027/OPINION01
Editorial: No more study, please
Monitor staff
The 2007 Legislature will see at least two bills to make civil unions legalfor same-sex couples. In response, Gov. John Lynch has suggested, through aspokesman, that he may deploy one of the most potent weapons ever designedto kill time, a committee. He should not make good on that threat.
It's true the legislative commission former governor Craig Benson appointedto study the implications of legalizing same-sex marriage was fatallycompromised by the lack of objectivity of many of its members. The group'stempestuous meetings and bigoted conclusions embarrassed the state. But nomatter how fairly constituted the next group could be, its contribution tothe debate would be insignificant compared with the real-world experiencesof neighboring states.
Vermont made civil unions legal in 2000, and Massachusetts recognizedsame-sex marriage in 2004.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
NJ: Perform civil unions or nothing
Bridgeton News, NJ, December 28, 2006
http://www.nj.com/news/bridgeton/local/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1167284456271280.xml&coll=10
Perform civil unions or nothing
By MATT DUNN, Staff Writer
HOPEWELL TWP. -- Mayor Hal Bickings Jr. takes great pride in the marriageceremony he has honed over the years.
He reads to the couple from 1 Corinthians 13, informally known as theBible's "love chapter," which states "Love is patient and kind; love is notjealous or boastful."
Then he offers some biblical advice.
"I tell them love is the cornerstone of a great marriage -- to beconsiderate of each other," Bickings said Wednesday. "I tell the husband,you must love your wife as Christ loved the church."
After rings and vows are exchanged, Bickings prays with the newlyweds.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=17420
FOCUS ON ISSUES
When Abba becomes Ima: Transsexuals in the Orthodox world
By Meira Maierovitz Drazin
TORONTO, Dec. 25 (JTA) - Mordechai, a 31-year-old Orthodox lawyer from Toronto, gave his wife a Jewish divorce this summer.
Then he began his life as Nicole, a woman.
Nicole isn't the first transgender person to live an Orthodox life, but asfar as anyone knows she is the first Orthodox person to transition publiclyand "in place."
Transsexuals may always face obstacles and taboos in mainstream Westernsocieties, but Orthodox Jews who make the transition face even greatercomplications.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/us/29drugs.html?pagewanted=print
December 29, 2006
Waiting List for AIDS Drugs Causes Dismay in South Carolina
By SHAILA DEWAN
COLUMBIA, S.C. - More than 350 poor people infected with H.I.V. are on awaiting list for free life-saving drugs in South Carolina, by far thelongest such list in the country.
Four people waiting for drugs supplied by the state have died, said LyndaKettinger, the director of the state health department's H.I.V. division,and the wait is six months to a year.
The list is so long largely because the Legislature's contribution to the drug program is relatively tiny - less than one-twentieth of North Carolina's, for example - even though South Carolina has the ninth-highest AIDS rate andthe fifth-highest H.I.V. infection rate among states that record such data.
"There's only two ways to get off of the wait list right now," said KarenBates, one of a group of South Carolina H.I.V. patients who have demandedthat the state take emergency action. "One of them is if somebody else diesand you get their slot. The other is if you die."
=
The current issue of The Express Gay News is online
http://expressgaynews.com/
=
Gay victims of Franco era to win compensation
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2108206.ece
In the dying days of General Francisco Franco'sdictatorship, Antoni Ruiz found out for himselfwhat thousands of others had already suffered for being gay.
Antoni, then just 17, from Valencia, easternSpain, told his mother he was homosexual and hisfamily sought advice from a nun. "She wentstraight to the police and I was arrested and sent for trial," said Mr Ruiz.
"I spent three months in prison. I was rapedthere and in the police cells and psychologicallytortured by both the guards and the prison doctor."
Now, 31 years later, Mr Ruiz and a dwindling bandof others who suffered General Franco's ruthlessrepression of homosexuals, may finally be offered compensation by the state.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST December 29, 2006
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/weekinreview/24gettleman.html?pagewanted=print
December 24, 2006
The World
Across Africa, a Sense That U.S. Power Isn't So Super
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
MOGADISHU, Somalia
THE rally was supposed to be against Ethiopia, Somalia's neighbor andhistoric archenemy, which in the past few weeks had sent troops streamingacross the border in an attempt to check the power of the increasinglypowerful Islamists who rule Mogadishu.
But the cheers that shook the stadium (which had no roof, by the way, andwas riddled with bullet holes) were about another country, far, far away.
"Down, down U.S.A.!" thousands of Somalis yelled, many of them waving cockedKalashnikovs. "Slit the throats of the Americans!"
Not exactly soothing words, especially when the passport in your pocket hasone of those golden eagles on it.
Somalia may be the place that best illustrates a trend sweeping across theAfrican continent: After Sept. 11, 2001, the United States concluded thatanarchy and misery aid terrorism, and so it tried to re-engage Africa. Butanti-American sentiment on the continent has only grown, and becomeincreasingly nasty. And the United States seems unable to do much about it.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/washington/29funeral.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1167401247-gRY9JUXj9kMz4L2oXeFkkg&pagewanted=print
December 29, 2006
Ford Arranged His Funeral to Reflect Himself and Drew in a Former Adversary
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 - As he helped in recent years arrange the details ofhis own funeral, Gerald R. Ford reached out to an old adversary: JimmyCarter, who defeated him for the presidency in 1976.
Mr. Ford asked whether his successor might consider speaking at his funeraland offered, lightheartedly, to do the same for Mr. Carter, depending on whodied first.
The invitation was decades in the making, associates of Mr. Ford's said.And, they said, it was typical for Mr. Ford, who came to his ownfuneral-planning sessions adamant that his coffin not be carried to theCapitol in an elaborate horse-drawn caisson but a motorcade instead.
During services for Mr. Ford, the 38th president, over the next few days,the simplicity he sought will be on display in Washington and, later, inMichigan, where he will be interred. His coffin is expected to be carriedinto the Capitol through the House of Representatives, where he served for25 years, rather than up the sweeping front staircase. A band will play asomber version of the University of Michigan fight song, a Ford favoritefrom his undergraduate alma mater, and a song he preferred to "Hail to theChief" while he was president.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cgrilldec29,0,7537107.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
For Haitian deportees, American-style 'grills' mark them as targets for
violence, hate
By Ruth Morris
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 29, 2006
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI -- When authorities deported Marc-Henry Petion fromWest Palm Beach he was a chubby kid nicknamed Pillsbury who spoke almost noCreole and sported a grill -- a line of gold caps affixed to his front teeththat served as his flashy, street-smart calling card.
Three years later, he has picked up the language and altered his appearance.The dreadlocks he once wore are stuffed in a plastic bag in the tinycinderblock room he rents on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. He lopped themoff to avoid calling attention to himself as a deportee, a classificationthat carries a heavy stigma on Haiti's unstable streets. He's also forgonethe oversized clothes he wore in South Florida, another telltale sign of hisU.S. upbringing.
But he doesn't have the money to remove his grill, so has learned to keephis mouth shut, literally.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/28/AR2006122801074_pf.html
The Legal Year in Review
By Andrew Cohen
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, December 29, 2006; 12:00 AM
The good news from the world of the law in 2006 is that we did not for oncein recent memory have to endure an avalanche of vapid news coverage about asolitary trashy tale of sex and fame and crime. There was no Michael Jacksonmolestation trial or Kobe Bryant rape trial or Laci Peterson saga to drawour attention away from trials and cases and legal issues of true merit.
The bad news from the world of the law in 2006 is that we didn't take thatextra time given to us by divine providence and follow or absorb with anydepth or sense of passion or outrage the truly monumental and generallyominous things that were done in the law, in our name, in thisfifth-going-on-sixth year of the legal war on terrorism. Tens of millions ofAmericans know and care about the identity of the latest winner of AmericanIdol. But only a tiny fraction of those know, too, of the manifold pressurescurrently pushing upon the rule of law. Hey, you didn't really think thatParis and Britney really were going to end up best-friends-forever, did you?
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/opinion/29fri4.html?pagewanted=print
December 29, 2006
Editorial Observer
Middle School Girls Gone Wild
By LAWRENCE DOWNES
It's hard to write this without sounding like a prig. But it's just as hardto erase the images that planted the idea for this essay, so here goes. Thescene is a middle school auditorium, where girls in teams of three or fourare bopping to pop songs at a student talent show. Not bopping, actually,but doing elaborately choreographed re-creations of music videos, in tinyskirts or tight shorts, with bare bellies, rouged cheeks and glittery eyes.
They writhe and strut, shake their bottoms, splay their legs, thrust theirchests out and in and out again. Some straddle empty chairs, like lapdancers without laps. They don't smile much. Their faces are locked fromgrim exertion, from all that leaping up and lying down without poles to holdonto. "Don't stop don't stop," sings Janet Jackson, all whispery. "Jerk itlike you're making it choke. ...Ohh. I'm so stimulated. Feel so X-rated."The girls spend a lot of time lying on the floor. They are in the sixth,seventh and eighth grades.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122900142_pf.html
Saddam to hang, but confusion over how soon
By Mariam Karouny
Reuters
Friday, December 29, 2006; 8:28 AM
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Senior Iraqi officials on Friday dismissed suggestionsfrom Washington that they would hang Saddam Hussein this weekend and saidsome in cabinet were pushing for the execution to be put off for a month ormore.
But Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has called for the oustedpresident put to death this year for killing and oppressing Shi'ites, saidthere would be "no review or delay" in the sentence following this week'sfailure of Saddam's appeal.
And a defense lawyer said he thought Saddam might well die on Saturday afterlawyers were told to collect his belongings.
But in a continuation of public confusion at the highest levels and secrecyover the historic proceedings, Iraq's Justice Ministry, which must carry outthe execution, denied it had taken custody of Saddam from his U.S. militaryjailers and said it could not legally hang him for nearly a month.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/28/AR2006122801056_pf.html
Walking a Tightrope Into 2007
By David Ignatius
Friday, December 29, 2006; A27
As the new year approaches, I think of three people who symbolize for mesome of the difficulties of the year we have just lived through and also thepromise and potential of the one ahead. Each of them reminds me that we arewalking into the future balanced on a tightrope.
The first is Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the mayor of Tehran. As an official ofthe Islamic Republic of Iran, he is part of a regime that posed the biggeststrategic challenge to the United States in 2006. But he also embodiesIran's potential to become a great nation -- and perhaps to escape theapocalyptic confrontation with the West that is proclaimed by his politicalrival, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
For all of Ahmadinejad's headline-grabbing fulminations this year, it wasQalibaf who was the big political winner.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/28/AR2006122801171_pf.html
Sen. Johnson Improves, Is Expected to Miss Start of Congress
Associated Press
Friday, December 29, 2006; A17
Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) turned 60 yesterday, two weeks after emergencysurgery to repair a brain hemorrhage that has left him in criticalcondition.
Julianne Fisher, a spokeswoman for the senator, said Johnson will not bepresent in the first days of the new Congress next week but is continuing toimprove. She said he is responsive to directions from his wife but has notyet spoken.
It is too soon to tell how long recovery will take, Fisher said.
In a statement yesterday, Johnson's doctors said he remains in intensivecare at George Washington University Hospital. They have released few newdetails about Johnson's condition and prognosis since the days after theDec. 13 surgery to stop bleeding in his brain.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/opinion/29fri3.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 29, 2006
Editorial
Under-the-Rug Oversight
The wondrously named Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board held itsfirst public hearing the other day on the National Security Agency's illegaleavesdropping program. If you expected it to discover any truths about thesecret program, you can forget it. The board spent its time explaining whyit was more important to work from within the administration than tochallenge it. Thus wags the tail of a watchdog with neither bark nor bite.
The board was created two years ago by the White House and the RepublicanCongress as a pale substitute for the independent monitor recommended by theSept. 11 commission. Its members (four Republicans and one lone Democrat)serve at the pleasure of the administration. It has a paltry budget and nosubpoena power, and any requests for documents can be vetoed by the attorneygeneral.
=
The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/opinion/29krugman.html
December 29, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
A Failed Revolution
By PAUL KRUGMAN
After first attempting to deny the scale of last month's defeat, theapologists have settled on a story line that sounds just like Marxistexplanations for the failure of the Soviet Union. What happened, you see,was that the noble ideals of the Republican revolution of 1994 wereundermined by Washington's corrupting ways. And the recent defeat was a goodthing, because it will force a return to the true conservative path.
But the truth is that the movement that took power in 1994 - a movement thathad little to do with true conservatism - was always based on a lie.
The lie is right there in "The Freedom Revolution," the book that DickArmey, who had just become the House majority leader, published in 1995. Hedeclares that most government programs don't do anything "to help Americanfamilies with the needs of everyday life," and that "very few Americanfamilies would notice their disappearance." He goes on to assert that "thereis no reason we cannot, by the time our children come of age, reduce thefederal government by half as a percentage of gross domestic product."
=
The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/12/29/political_early_adopters_its_your_time/
ELLEN GOODMAN
Political early adopters: It's your time
By Ellen Goodman | December 29, 2006
MAYBE IT WASN'T such a great Christmas gift after all. The baseball caps,emblazoned with the last day of the Bush presidency -- Jan. 19, 2009 --seemed to offer my favorite Democratic couple a light at the end of thetunnel. But sometimes it's easier to see the tunnel than the light.
Nevertheless, January is about to mark the earliest opening for anypresidential campaign in memory. So allow me to end the old year and beginthe new by taking a look at the question dominating the news magazines andtalk shows: Is America ready for a president who isn't a white male?
The only Democrats who so far have actually announced their candidacies areindeed white and male, from Tom Vilsack to John Edwards. But the sexier andracier question dominating the early chatter is the possible mano-a-womano,black-and-white matchup that could be offered with Hillary Rodham Clinton orBarack Hussein Obama atop the national ticket.
Ready? Political readiness is not exactly like reading readiness. Forgenerations, strategists and psychologists have posed the samechicken-and-egg riddle for social change. Do you need a change in attitudesbefore you can succeed in changing real life? Or does a change in realityproduce a change in attitudes?
The answer is, of course, yes.
=
Local10.com
http://www.local10.com/weather/10629367/detail.html
Local10.com
Ancient Ice Shelf Breaks Free In Canadian Arctic
Global Warming Blamed
POSTED: 8:41 am EST December 29, 2006
TORONTO -- A giant ice shelf has snapped free from an island south of theNorth Pole, scientists said Thursday, citing climate change as a "major"reason for the event.
The Ayles Ice Shelf -- all 41 square miles of it -- broke clear 16 monthsago from the coast of Ellesmere Island, about 500 miles south of the NorthPole in the Canadian Arctic.
Scientists discovered the event by using satellite imagery. Within one hourof breaking free, the shelf had formed as a new ice island, leaving a trailof icy boulders floating in its wake.
Warwick Vincent of Laval University, who studies Arctic conditions, traveledto the newly formed ice island and couldn't believe what he saw.
=
CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/28/ap/entertainment/mainD8MA14GO1.shtml
AP Poll: Bush, Britney Get Thumbs-Down
AP Poll: President Bush and Britney Spears top thumbs-down list for 2006
WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 2006
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press Writer
(AP) Bad guy of 2006: President Bush. Good guy of 2006: President Bush. Whenpeople were asked in an AP-AOL News poll to name the villains and heroes ofthe year, Bush topped both lists, in a sign of these polarized times.
Among entertainment celebrities, Oprah Winfrey edged out Michael J. Fox asthe best celebrity role model while Britney Spears outdistanced Paris Hiltonas the worst.
Bush won the villain sweepstakes by a landslide, with one in fourrespondents putting him at the top of that bad-guy list. When people wereasked to name the candidate for villain that first came to mind, Bush faroutdistanced even Osama bin Laden, the terrorist leader in hiding; andformer Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who is scheduled for execution.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/weekinreview/24gettleman.html?pagewanted=print
December 24, 2006
The World
Across Africa, a Sense That U.S. Power Isn't So Super
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
MOGADISHU, Somalia
THE rally was supposed to be against Ethiopia, Somalia's neighbor andhistoric archenemy, which in the past few weeks had sent troops streamingacross the border in an attempt to check the power of the increasinglypowerful Islamists who rule Mogadishu.
But the cheers that shook the stadium (which had no roof, by the way, andwas riddled with bullet holes) were about another country, far, far away.
"Down, down U.S.A.!" thousands of Somalis yelled, many of them waving cockedKalashnikovs. "Slit the throats of the Americans!"
Not exactly soothing words, especially when the passport in your pocket hasone of those golden eagles on it.
Somalia may be the place that best illustrates a trend sweeping across theAfrican continent: After Sept. 11, 2001, the United States concluded thatanarchy and misery aid terrorism, and so it tried to re-engage Africa. Butanti-American sentiment on the continent has only grown, and becomeincreasingly nasty. And the United States seems unable to do much about it.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/washington/29funeral.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1167401247-gRY9JUXj9kMz4L2oXeFkkg&pagewanted=print
December 29, 2006
Ford Arranged His Funeral to Reflect Himself and Drew in a Former Adversary
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 - As he helped in recent years arrange the details ofhis own funeral, Gerald R. Ford reached out to an old adversary: JimmyCarter, who defeated him for the presidency in 1976.
Mr. Ford asked whether his successor might consider speaking at his funeraland offered, lightheartedly, to do the same for Mr. Carter, depending on whodied first.
The invitation was decades in the making, associates of Mr. Ford's said.And, they said, it was typical for Mr. Ford, who came to his ownfuneral-planning sessions adamant that his coffin not be carried to theCapitol in an elaborate horse-drawn caisson but a motorcade instead.
During services for Mr. Ford, the 38th president, over the next few days,the simplicity he sought will be on display in Washington and, later, inMichigan, where he will be interred. His coffin is expected to be carriedinto the Capitol through the House of Representatives, where he served for25 years, rather than up the sweeping front staircase. A band will play asomber version of the University of Michigan fight song, a Ford favoritefrom his undergraduate alma mater, and a song he preferred to "Hail to theChief" while he was president.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cgrilldec29,0,7537107.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
For Haitian deportees, American-style 'grills' mark them as targets for
violence, hate
By Ruth Morris
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 29, 2006
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI -- When authorities deported Marc-Henry Petion fromWest Palm Beach he was a chubby kid nicknamed Pillsbury who spoke almost noCreole and sported a grill -- a line of gold caps affixed to his front teeththat served as his flashy, street-smart calling card.
Three years later, he has picked up the language and altered his appearance.The dreadlocks he once wore are stuffed in a plastic bag in the tinycinderblock room he rents on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. He lopped themoff to avoid calling attention to himself as a deportee, a classificationthat carries a heavy stigma on Haiti's unstable streets. He's also forgonethe oversized clothes he wore in South Florida, another telltale sign of hisU.S. upbringing.
But he doesn't have the money to remove his grill, so has learned to keephis mouth shut, literally.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/28/AR2006122801074_pf.html
The Legal Year in Review
By Andrew Cohen
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, December 29, 2006; 12:00 AM
The good news from the world of the law in 2006 is that we did not for oncein recent memory have to endure an avalanche of vapid news coverage about asolitary trashy tale of sex and fame and crime. There was no Michael Jacksonmolestation trial or Kobe Bryant rape trial or Laci Peterson saga to drawour attention away from trials and cases and legal issues of true merit.
The bad news from the world of the law in 2006 is that we didn't take thatextra time given to us by divine providence and follow or absorb with anydepth or sense of passion or outrage the truly monumental and generallyominous things that were done in the law, in our name, in thisfifth-going-on-sixth year of the legal war on terrorism. Tens of millions ofAmericans know and care about the identity of the latest winner of AmericanIdol. But only a tiny fraction of those know, too, of the manifold pressurescurrently pushing upon the rule of law. Hey, you didn't really think thatParis and Britney really were going to end up best-friends-forever, did you?
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/opinion/29fri4.html?pagewanted=print
December 29, 2006
Editorial Observer
Middle School Girls Gone Wild
By LAWRENCE DOWNES
It's hard to write this without sounding like a prig. But it's just as hardto erase the images that planted the idea for this essay, so here goes. Thescene is a middle school auditorium, where girls in teams of three or fourare bopping to pop songs at a student talent show. Not bopping, actually,but doing elaborately choreographed re-creations of music videos, in tinyskirts or tight shorts, with bare bellies, rouged cheeks and glittery eyes.
They writhe and strut, shake their bottoms, splay their legs, thrust theirchests out and in and out again. Some straddle empty chairs, like lapdancers without laps. They don't smile much. Their faces are locked fromgrim exertion, from all that leaping up and lying down without poles to holdonto. "Don't stop don't stop," sings Janet Jackson, all whispery. "Jerk itlike you're making it choke. ...Ohh. I'm so stimulated. Feel so X-rated."The girls spend a lot of time lying on the floor. They are in the sixth,seventh and eighth grades.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122900142_pf.html
Saddam to hang, but confusion over how soon
By Mariam Karouny
Reuters
Friday, December 29, 2006; 8:28 AM
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Senior Iraqi officials on Friday dismissed suggestionsfrom Washington that they would hang Saddam Hussein this weekend and saidsome in cabinet were pushing for the execution to be put off for a month ormore.
But Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has called for the oustedpresident put to death this year for killing and oppressing Shi'ites, saidthere would be "no review or delay" in the sentence following this week'sfailure of Saddam's appeal.
And a defense lawyer said he thought Saddam might well die on Saturday afterlawyers were told to collect his belongings.
But in a continuation of public confusion at the highest levels and secrecyover the historic proceedings, Iraq's Justice Ministry, which must carry outthe execution, denied it had taken custody of Saddam from his U.S. militaryjailers and said it could not legally hang him for nearly a month.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/28/AR2006122801056_pf.html
Walking a Tightrope Into 2007
By David Ignatius
Friday, December 29, 2006; A27
As the new year approaches, I think of three people who symbolize for mesome of the difficulties of the year we have just lived through and also thepromise and potential of the one ahead. Each of them reminds me that we arewalking into the future balanced on a tightrope.
The first is Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the mayor of Tehran. As an official ofthe Islamic Republic of Iran, he is part of a regime that posed the biggeststrategic challenge to the United States in 2006. But he also embodiesIran's potential to become a great nation -- and perhaps to escape theapocalyptic confrontation with the West that is proclaimed by his politicalrival, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
For all of Ahmadinejad's headline-grabbing fulminations this year, it wasQalibaf who was the big political winner.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/28/AR2006122801171_pf.html
Sen. Johnson Improves, Is Expected to Miss Start of Congress
Associated Press
Friday, December 29, 2006; A17
Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) turned 60 yesterday, two weeks after emergencysurgery to repair a brain hemorrhage that has left him in criticalcondition.
Julianne Fisher, a spokeswoman for the senator, said Johnson will not bepresent in the first days of the new Congress next week but is continuing toimprove. She said he is responsive to directions from his wife but has notyet spoken.
It is too soon to tell how long recovery will take, Fisher said.
In a statement yesterday, Johnson's doctors said he remains in intensivecare at George Washington University Hospital. They have released few newdetails about Johnson's condition and prognosis since the days after theDec. 13 surgery to stop bleeding in his brain.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/opinion/29fri3.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 29, 2006
Editorial
Under-the-Rug Oversight
The wondrously named Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board held itsfirst public hearing the other day on the National Security Agency's illegaleavesdropping program. If you expected it to discover any truths about thesecret program, you can forget it. The board spent its time explaining whyit was more important to work from within the administration than tochallenge it. Thus wags the tail of a watchdog with neither bark nor bite.
The board was created two years ago by the White House and the RepublicanCongress as a pale substitute for the independent monitor recommended by theSept. 11 commission. Its members (four Republicans and one lone Democrat)serve at the pleasure of the administration. It has a paltry budget and nosubpoena power, and any requests for documents can be vetoed by the attorneygeneral.
=
The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/opinion/29krugman.html
December 29, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
A Failed Revolution
By PAUL KRUGMAN
After first attempting to deny the scale of last month's defeat, theapologists have settled on a story line that sounds just like Marxistexplanations for the failure of the Soviet Union. What happened, you see,was that the noble ideals of the Republican revolution of 1994 wereundermined by Washington's corrupting ways. And the recent defeat was a goodthing, because it will force a return to the true conservative path.
But the truth is that the movement that took power in 1994 - a movement thathad little to do with true conservatism - was always based on a lie.
The lie is right there in "The Freedom Revolution," the book that DickArmey, who had just become the House majority leader, published in 1995. Hedeclares that most government programs don't do anything "to help Americanfamilies with the needs of everyday life," and that "very few Americanfamilies would notice their disappearance." He goes on to assert that "thereis no reason we cannot, by the time our children come of age, reduce thefederal government by half as a percentage of gross domestic product."
=
The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/12/29/political_early_adopters_its_your_time/
ELLEN GOODMAN
Political early adopters: It's your time
By Ellen Goodman | December 29, 2006
MAYBE IT WASN'T such a great Christmas gift after all. The baseball caps,emblazoned with the last day of the Bush presidency -- Jan. 19, 2009 --seemed to offer my favorite Democratic couple a light at the end of thetunnel. But sometimes it's easier to see the tunnel than the light.
Nevertheless, January is about to mark the earliest opening for anypresidential campaign in memory. So allow me to end the old year and beginthe new by taking a look at the question dominating the news magazines andtalk shows: Is America ready for a president who isn't a white male?
The only Democrats who so far have actually announced their candidacies areindeed white and male, from Tom Vilsack to John Edwards. But the sexier andracier question dominating the early chatter is the possible mano-a-womano,black-and-white matchup that could be offered with Hillary Rodham Clinton orBarack Hussein Obama atop the national ticket.
Ready? Political readiness is not exactly like reading readiness. Forgenerations, strategists and psychologists have posed the samechicken-and-egg riddle for social change. Do you need a change in attitudesbefore you can succeed in changing real life? Or does a change in realityproduce a change in attitudes?
The answer is, of course, yes.
=
Local10.com
http://www.local10.com/weather/10629367/detail.html
Local10.com
Ancient Ice Shelf Breaks Free In Canadian Arctic
Global Warming Blamed
POSTED: 8:41 am EST December 29, 2006
TORONTO -- A giant ice shelf has snapped free from an island south of theNorth Pole, scientists said Thursday, citing climate change as a "major"reason for the event.
The Ayles Ice Shelf -- all 41 square miles of it -- broke clear 16 monthsago from the coast of Ellesmere Island, about 500 miles south of the NorthPole in the Canadian Arctic.
Scientists discovered the event by using satellite imagery. Within one hourof breaking free, the shelf had formed as a new ice island, leaving a trailof icy boulders floating in its wake.
Warwick Vincent of Laval University, who studies Arctic conditions, traveledto the newly formed ice island and couldn't believe what he saw.
=
CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/28/ap/entertainment/mainD8MA14GO1.shtml
AP Poll: Bush, Britney Get Thumbs-Down
AP Poll: President Bush and Britney Spears top thumbs-down list for 2006
WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 2006
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press Writer
(AP) Bad guy of 2006: President Bush. Good guy of 2006: President Bush. Whenpeople were asked in an AP-AOL News poll to name the villains and heroes ofthe year, Bush topped both lists, in a sign of these polarized times.
Among entertainment celebrities, Oprah Winfrey edged out Michael J. Fox asthe best celebrity role model while Britney Spears outdistanced Paris Hiltonas the worst.
Bush won the villain sweepstakes by a landslide, with one in fourrespondents putting him at the top of that bad-guy list. When people wereasked to name the candidate for villain that first came to mind, Bush faroutdistanced even Osama bin Laden, the terrorist leader in hiding; andformer Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who is scheduled for execution.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
FLORIDA DIGEST December 29, 2006
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US ATrays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/print.cfm?content_id=3326
The top dozen South Florida stories of 2006
Local gay candidates win at the polls as Mark Foley scandal rocks GOP andmarriage foes suffer setback
By PHIL LAPADULA
Dec. 29, 2006
It was a year of gains-and losses-for the gay community in South Florida. Inthis issue, the Express reflects on the top dozen local stories that madeheadlines and turned our heads in 2006.
Anti-gay marriage measure fails to qualify for 2006 ballot (Feb. 3 edition) - Was 2006 the year the tide turned in the gay-marriage fight? Thispast year, Florida joined Arizona in handing anti-gay marriage amendmentproponents a defeat. Supporters of an anti-gay marriage amendment in Floridafailed to collect the 611,009 signatures required to qualify the measure forthe 2006 election ballot. When the Feb. 1 deadline arrived, the FloridaCoalition to Protect Marriage, the right-wing group behind the amendment,was 155,000 signatures short.
The group is now aiming to place the amendment on the 2008 ballot. But itwill face a higher hurdle in '08. In November, voters approved a measurethat requires 60 percent of the vote to approve state constitutionalamendments instead of the simple majority of 50 percent plus one vote thathad been the prior rule.
Meanwhile, a Zogby International poll conducted later in the year showed 51percent of Florida voters were opposed to amending the state constitution toban gay marriage.
=
The Sun-Herald
http://www.sun-herald.com/NewsArchive2/122906/ew4.htm?date=122906&story=ew4.htm
12/29/06
Year end number 6
2006 a tough year for landowners
* Booming land values, spiraling assessments, state insurance crisisconspired to make region an expensive place to live
It wasn't the perfect storm -- it was the perfect tsunami. By the time itcrested, taxpayers were awash in a crosscurrent of financial riptides.
Not-so-suddenly, Southwest Florida was an expensive -- in some cases, very expensive -- place to live.
That realization was, perhaps, most dramatic in Charlotte County, long regarded as an affordable coastal enclave.
In 2005, that bubble burst. In 2006, it evaporated completely.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16340554.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Fri, Dec. 29, 2006
REAL ESTATE
S. Florida home prices retreat; sales slow
Buying a home in South Florida is cheaper than it was last year. Pricing and sales remain weak as the market comes down to reality from its lofty levels.
BY DOUGLAS HANKS
dhanks@MiamiHerald.com
South Florida home sellers dropped prices last month to combat a buyer'smarket that has taken firm hold of the real estate industry this year.
The median November sales price for existing homes declined 2 percent inMiami-Dade County over a year ago to $372,400, and 7 percent in Broward to$362,000, the Florida Association of Realtors reported Thursday. That markedthe second consecutive month with a price drop for Miami-Dade houses and thefifth for Broward.
The closely watched report offered the year's last look at a real estatemarket still adjusting to a post-boom era. Sales volume in single-familyhomes dropped in both counties for the 10th time in 11 months, with the paceoff about 24 percent from the end of 2005.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-ppumping29dec29,0,2301047.story?coll=sfla-news-palm
New pumps divert Wellington's polluted stormwater away from Everglades
By Andy Reid
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 29, 2006
Beginning today, new pumps should start steering Wellington's pollutedstormwater away from the Everglades.
Days before the ball was set to drop on a New Year's Eve deadline imposed bythe federal government, the village and state water managers completed workon pumps that can redirect polluted runoff water to treatment areas insteadof dumping it directly into the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee NationalWildlife Refuge -- part of the northern reaches of the Everglades.
Decades of environmental objections over polluted water flowing to theEverglades led to lawsuits, which prompted the Dec. 31 deadline. The newpumps are located south of Southern Boulevard, near Flying Cow Road.
Now stormwater carrying pollutants washed off roads, lawns and the horsemanure-laden fields in equestrian-friendly Wellington can be redirected tothe South Florida Water Management District's 6,500-acre stormwater
[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]
#####
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/print.cfm?content_id=3326
The top dozen South Florida stories of 2006
Local gay candidates win at the polls as Mark Foley scandal rocks GOP andmarriage foes suffer setback
By PHIL LAPADULA
Dec. 29, 2006
It was a year of gains-and losses-for the gay community in South Florida. Inthis issue, the Express reflects on the top dozen local stories that madeheadlines and turned our heads in 2006.
Anti-gay marriage measure fails to qualify for 2006 ballot (Feb. 3 edition) - Was 2006 the year the tide turned in the gay-marriage fight? Thispast year, Florida joined Arizona in handing anti-gay marriage amendmentproponents a defeat. Supporters of an anti-gay marriage amendment in Floridafailed to collect the 611,009 signatures required to qualify the measure forthe 2006 election ballot. When the Feb. 1 deadline arrived, the FloridaCoalition to Protect Marriage, the right-wing group behind the amendment,was 155,000 signatures short.
The group is now aiming to place the amendment on the 2008 ballot. But itwill face a higher hurdle in '08. In November, voters approved a measurethat requires 60 percent of the vote to approve state constitutionalamendments instead of the simple majority of 50 percent plus one vote thathad been the prior rule.
Meanwhile, a Zogby International poll conducted later in the year showed 51percent of Florida voters were opposed to amending the state constitution toban gay marriage.
=
The Sun-Herald
http://www.sun-herald.com/NewsArchive2/122906/ew4.htm?date=122906&story=ew4.htm
12/29/06
Year end number 6
2006 a tough year for landowners
* Booming land values, spiraling assessments, state insurance crisisconspired to make region an expensive place to live
It wasn't the perfect storm -- it was the perfect tsunami. By the time itcrested, taxpayers were awash in a crosscurrent of financial riptides.
Not-so-suddenly, Southwest Florida was an expensive -- in some cases, very expensive -- place to live.
That realization was, perhaps, most dramatic in Charlotte County, long regarded as an affordable coastal enclave.
In 2005, that bubble burst. In 2006, it evaporated completely.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16340554.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Fri, Dec. 29, 2006
REAL ESTATE
S. Florida home prices retreat; sales slow
Buying a home in South Florida is cheaper than it was last year. Pricing and sales remain weak as the market comes down to reality from its lofty levels.
BY DOUGLAS HANKS
dhanks@MiamiHerald.com
South Florida home sellers dropped prices last month to combat a buyer'smarket that has taken firm hold of the real estate industry this year.
The median November sales price for existing homes declined 2 percent inMiami-Dade County over a year ago to $372,400, and 7 percent in Broward to$362,000, the Florida Association of Realtors reported Thursday. That markedthe second consecutive month with a price drop for Miami-Dade houses and thefifth for Broward.
The closely watched report offered the year's last look at a real estatemarket still adjusting to a post-boom era. Sales volume in single-familyhomes dropped in both counties for the 10th time in 11 months, with the paceoff about 24 percent from the end of 2005.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-ppumping29dec29,0,2301047.story?coll=sfla-news-palm
New pumps divert Wellington's polluted stormwater away from Everglades
By Andy Reid
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 29, 2006
Beginning today, new pumps should start steering Wellington's pollutedstormwater away from the Everglades.
Days before the ball was set to drop on a New Year's Eve deadline imposed bythe federal government, the village and state water managers completed workon pumps that can redirect polluted runoff water to treatment areas insteadof dumping it directly into the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee NationalWildlife Refuge -- part of the northern reaches of the Everglades.
Decades of environmental objections over polluted water flowing to theEverglades led to lawsuits, which prompted the Dec. 31 deadline. The newpumps are located south of Southern Boulevard, near Flying Cow Road.
Now stormwater carrying pollutants washed off roads, lawns and the horsemanure-laden fields in equestrian-friendly Wellington can be redirected tothe South Florida Water Management District's 6,500-acre stormwater
[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]
#####
Thursday, December 28, 2006
GLBT DIGEST - December 28, 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.
=
Local10.com
http://www.local10.com/news/10621296/detail.html?treets=mia&tid=2655619429813&tml=mia_9am&tmi=mia_9am_1_08000312282006&ts=H
Rapist Preys On Men In Suburban Houston
At Least Five Young Men Attacked
POSTED: 8:40 am EST December 28, 2006
BAYTOWN, Texas -- A rapist who has struck at least five times since April inand around Baytown has not only spread fear in this working-class communitybut also piqued the interest of those who study the criminal mind.
The reason: He preys on other men.
That makes him something of a rarity in the world of crime.
"It's the least prevalent kind of serial rape, and largely underreported,"said Jack Levin, a leading criminologist and director of the Brudnick Centeron Violence at Northeastern University in Boston.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/28/garden/28kansas.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 28, 2006
In the Heartland and Out of the Closet
By GINIA BELLAFANTE
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.
KANSANS, as they will tell you, are not generally ones for trading inpersonal biography with neighbors and cubicle mates. The Midwesternconsciousness has long placed a premium on reserve. Even as American societygrew easier discussing gay and lesbian issues during the past decade, Kansaslagged behind, a place where the closet was well populated and the planet of"Will and Grace" seemed to spin very far away.
So it was with Cathy Jambrosic, a native Kansan, who divorced her husband inthe late 1970s because she was gay (as was he, it turned out). Even as shebuilt and moved into a house with a woman she planned to spend her lifewith, Ms. Jambrosic never discussed her orientation with her family orfriends.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://newyorklawschool.typepad.com/leonardlink/2006/12/news_on_legal_r.html
News on Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Couples
by New York Law School Professor Arthur S. Leonard, December 20, 2006 inLegal Issues
Two new State Supreme Court actions in the continuing struggles over legalrecognition for same-sex partners in the U.S.
In Alaska, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the regulations the statepersonnel department had issued to govern eligibility of same-sex partnersof state employees for spousal benefits were presumptively constitutionaland should be treated as in effect 30 days after issuance. The Courtrejected a request by the legislature (through an amicus brief) for anextension of time to comply with last year's decision ruling that same-sexpartners of state employees have an equal protection right to benefitscomparable to spouses of state employees. And it said that the trial court,to which the matter had been remanded last spring to monitor compliance, didnot have authority to reject the proposed regulations on constitutionalgrounds. The court said that it could have been clearer in its remand orderlast spring; if the ACLU (which is representing plaintiffs in the case)thinks there are problems with the regulations, they can bring a new actionto challenge their constitutionality.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://newyorklawschool.typepad.com/leonardlink/2006/12/phoenix_sex_clu.html
Phoenix Sex Club Owner Strikes Out on Privacy Appeal
by New York Law School Professor Arthur S. Leonard, December 25, 2006 in
Legal Issues
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has rejected an attempt by thecorporate owner of a gay sex club in Phoenix, Arizona, to assert the privacyrights of its patrons in an effort to invalidate a city law that may be usedto shut down the club. Ruling on December 22 in Fleck and Associates v.Phoenix, 2006 WL 3755201, court held that corporations do not themselveshave privacy rights, and that the club cannot bring suit to vindicate theprivacy rights of its "members."
In 1998, Phoenix enacted an ordinance banning "live sex act businesses,"which it defined as those "in which one or more persons may view, or mayparticipate in, a live sex act for a consideration." This presents a problemfor Fleck & Associates, a corporation that owns Flex, described by JudgeDorothy Nelson in the court's opinion as "a gay men's social club" inPhoenix that "limits access to adults who have purchased 'memberships' on ayearly, semi-yearly, or daily basis."
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
365Gay.com, December 26, 2006
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/12/122606ozACT.htm
Oz Gov't Threatens New Attempt To Pass Civil Unions Bill
by 365Gay.com
Newscenter Staff
(Canberra) A renewed attempt to pass legislation creating civil partnershipsin the Australian Capital Territory could be destined for the same federalveto as befell the last bill six months ago.
Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says he still is not satisfied thatthe new legislation conforms with the ban on gay marriage.
Ruddock said some of the government's concerns have been addressed by thenew bill but several key issues remain.
"I don't think the ACT Government demonstrated goodwill by essentiallyintroducing legislation without talking to us about it first," he said.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Log Cabin Republicans Mourn the Death of President Gerald Ford
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Scott Tucker
stucker@logcabin.org
Log Cabin Republicans Mourn the Death of President Gerald Ford
President Ford Advocated Freedom and Fairness for All Families
(Washington, DC) - Log Cabin Republicans mourn the death of former PresidentGerald Ford and send condolences to Mrs. Ford and their entire family."President Ford was a great man called to lead our country during one of itsmost difficult hours," said Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon. "He will beremembered for helping to heal a wounded nation and for acting as a forcefor tolerance and common sense American values."
In 2001, President Ford joined the advisory board of the Republican UnityCoalition, a gay-straight alliance which was formed to advocate for gay andlesbian issues within the Republican Party. Ford's decision to join thatboard marked the first time a past or current U.S. president had joined anorganization advocating for gay equality.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Angus Reid Global Monitor, Canada, December 27, 2006
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/14225
Mexicans Flatly Reject Same-Sex Marriage
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in Mexico believe homosexualpartners should not be allowed to enter wedlock, according to a poll byParametría. 61 per cent of respondents oppose a constitutional amendmentthat would permit same-sex marriage.
In addition, only 28 per cent of respondents are in favour of a law thatwould allow homosexual partners to legally register and obtain some benefitsand rights.
In November, Mexico City became the first municipality in the Latin Americancountry to legally recognize same-sex partners. The local legislature,dominated by the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), voted 43-17 to grantspecific pension and inheritance rights to gay and lesbian couples. Thesesame-sex unions will not be called marriage, and homosexual partners willremain unable to adopt children.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
365Gay.com, December 27, 2006
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/12/122606trans.htm
Marriage Oath In Ohio County Asks If Person Is Transsexual
by 365Gay.com
Newscenter Staff
(Springfield, Ohio) Couples planning to marry in Clark County, Ohio areasked if either person is transsexual. It is believed to be the onlyjurisdiction in the country where people are asked to swear they are nottransgendered before receiving a marriage license.
Under Ohio law a person's birth gender is the only one considered legal. Itdoes not bar transsexuals from marrying but means that a male to femaletranssexual can only marry a woman.
The practice in Clark County came to light when the Springfield News Sunasked county clerks across the state for copies of the oaths they use whenissuing marriage licenses.
"Do you solemnly swear you are not a transsexual..." the Clark clerk askspeople when they apply for a marriage license.
Applicants must also swear they are not related closer than second cousins,are under the influence of intoxicating liquor or a controlled substance orinfected with syphilis.
=
http://www.365gay.com/entertainment/news-gossip/nnn.htm
2006 - Best Moments in Queer Culture
365Gay.Com
NewNowNext
The best and the worst of everything gay in 2006
by John Polly
For the last few weeks LogoOnline has been celebrating 2006: The Queer Yearby asking visitors to vote in their fun polls to rate the best (andoccasionally not-so-best) moments in queer culture in this past year. Youcan sound off on gay reality shows, sexy movie stars, flashy pop icons, gayjocks, and celebs who came out.
So, to clue you in to the voting so far, here's a rundown of some of theleaders in more than a few of the questions... (I'm gonna serve up the topthree vote-getters for each question.) If there's a trend, it's worth notingthat there seem to be lots of women voting, as any female nominees aregarnering masses of votes. Check 'em out!
And if you wanna vote and be heard, head here to put in your gay two cents.
2006: THE QUEER YEAR POLLS
=
Advocate.com
http://www.advocate.com/print_article_ektid40691.asp
Gerald Ford supported gays and the end of sodomy laws
In a 2003 letter obtained exclusively by The Advocate, the late presidentGerald Ford (pictured) wrote to his friend and colleague Charles Francisthat he supported the pro-gay side in the Texas case that ultimately led theU.S. Supreme Court to abolish sodomy laws nationwide.
In a 2003 letter obtained exclusively by The Advocate, the late presidentGerald Ford wrote to his friend and colleague Charles Francis that hesupported the pro-gay side in the Texas case that ultimately led the U.S.Supreme Court to abolish sodomy laws nationwide. The letter was in responseto a request by Francis, cochair of the gay-inclusive GOP group RepublicanUnity Coalition-which Ford advised-asking Ford to sign an op-ed piececalling for an end to sodomy laws.
"Dear Charles," Ford wrote, "I thank you for your letter of March 3 withenclosures. I deeply appreciate Senator Alan Simpson's personal comments onthe Supreme Court case and his public support. I fully concur with Al andyou on 'gay equality before the law.' I sincerely hope that you prevail inthe case of Lawrence v. Texas. At this point, however, I am not signing theproposed op-ed piece for The New York Times. Several months ago I did anop-ed piece for The New York Times in the University of Michigan cases onstudent admission policies. Subsequently I joined with several otherspublicly supporting the university's position. I feel that it might beunwise to dilute my influence on the Michigan case by authorizing an op-edpiece. The same dilution would be true if I became active in the Texaslawsuit."
more....
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-gaymarriage-massachusetts.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 27, 2006
Court Won't Force Massachusetts Gay Marriage Vote
By REUTERS
Filed at 4:09 p.m. ET
BOSTON (Reuters) - In a setback to gay marriage opponents, Massachusetts'highest court said on Wednesday it would not require lawmakers to vote on aproposal that could ban gay marriage in the only U.S. state where it islegal.
Responding to a lawsuit spearheaded by Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, thestate's Supreme Judicial Court said it could not force another branch ofgovernment to act after lawmakers recessed last month without deciding toput the gay marriage issue on a 2008 statewide ballot.
``I certainly hope we do move on,'' said Lee Swislow, executive director ofGay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, which successfully sued in 2003 forsame-sex marriage in Massachusetts. ``The court cannot force a vote.''
=
http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid40355.asp
It's not easy being a gay pop star
By Ari Gold
An Advocate.com exclusive posted December 21, 2006
I’m having a blast being a full time "Homofessional Gaylebrity." When Ifirst started, everyone told me I couldn’t do it. Gay people, straightpeople, friends, family, music industry professionals, all said to me, “Whydo you have to make being gay an issue? It should be about the music.” Butits not just about the music. All the great music I can think of has beeninspired by political and social issues. The great artists write to changethe world. So I set out to do just that.
Growing up an Orthodox Jew in the Bronx, N.Y., I learned in yeshiva aboutthe way Jews throughout history were forced to hide their beliefs, rituals,and practices for fear of being killed. I learned this on the days that Iwasn't taken out of class to sing jingles on TV for Toys 'R' Us or My Buddy(the “butch” doll for boys.) I was the only yeshiva boy in show business. Idid my own share of hiding during this time by taking off my yarmulke andtucking in my tzitzit while I sang backup for Diana Ross when she needed achildren's choir. While I was considered “too ethnic” to be on camera, offcamera I was a huge success. I particularly enjoyed doing girls' voices forthe cartoon series Jem and the Holograms and for Cabbage Patch Kids—youcould dial me up on the Cabbage Patch Kid talking telephone and hear me say,“Hi,I’m Sybil Sadie, want to come play with me?” Playing girls' voices was notsomething I wanted to brag about in gym class, though, so the hidingcontinued in grade school as well.
=
Important Message from Founder of Al-Fatiha - Help Iranian Refugees &Sustain Al-Fatiha's Work in 2007
December 27, 2006
Dhul-Hijjah 5, 1427
Dear friends and colleagues,
Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones!
I'll keep this brief and to the point. I need your help and your support!
Since the attacks on 9/11, Muslims in the United States have come underincreased attack. Hate crimes, racial bias, ethnic discrimination, policeharrassment, bigoted op-eds in the press... you name it... it's happening -each and every day. And there doesn't seem to be an end in sight.
As most of you know Al-Fatiha, the only national organization dedicated tosupporting and empowering queer Muslims in this country, has been the onlyplace where LGBT Muslims can turn to - for spiritual counseling, asylumsupport, and a place where folks can come together in spirit and faith -without being judged for who they are.
In the last 5 years Al-Fatiha's work has become more important than everbefore. But under the constant attacks faced within the queer media andLGBT community, our small organization and its leaders have had to turninward and recuperate.
more....
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
Local10.com
http://www.local10.com/news/10621296/detail.html?treets=mia&tid=2655619429813&tml=mia_9am&tmi=mia_9am_1_08000312282006&ts=H
Rapist Preys On Men In Suburban Houston
At Least Five Young Men Attacked
POSTED: 8:40 am EST December 28, 2006
BAYTOWN, Texas -- A rapist who has struck at least five times since April inand around Baytown has not only spread fear in this working-class communitybut also piqued the interest of those who study the criminal mind.
The reason: He preys on other men.
That makes him something of a rarity in the world of crime.
"It's the least prevalent kind of serial rape, and largely underreported,"said Jack Levin, a leading criminologist and director of the Brudnick Centeron Violence at Northeastern University in Boston.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/28/garden/28kansas.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 28, 2006
In the Heartland and Out of the Closet
By GINIA BELLAFANTE
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.
KANSANS, as they will tell you, are not generally ones for trading inpersonal biography with neighbors and cubicle mates. The Midwesternconsciousness has long placed a premium on reserve. Even as American societygrew easier discussing gay and lesbian issues during the past decade, Kansaslagged behind, a place where the closet was well populated and the planet of"Will and Grace" seemed to spin very far away.
So it was with Cathy Jambrosic, a native Kansan, who divorced her husband inthe late 1970s because she was gay (as was he, it turned out). Even as shebuilt and moved into a house with a woman she planned to spend her lifewith, Ms. Jambrosic never discussed her orientation with her family orfriends.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://newyorklawschool.typepad.com/leonardlink/2006/12/news_on_legal_r.html
News on Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Couples
by New York Law School Professor Arthur S. Leonard, December 20, 2006 inLegal Issues
Two new State Supreme Court actions in the continuing struggles over legalrecognition for same-sex partners in the U.S.
In Alaska, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the regulations the statepersonnel department had issued to govern eligibility of same-sex partnersof state employees for spousal benefits were presumptively constitutionaland should be treated as in effect 30 days after issuance. The Courtrejected a request by the legislature (through an amicus brief) for anextension of time to comply with last year's decision ruling that same-sexpartners of state employees have an equal protection right to benefitscomparable to spouses of state employees. And it said that the trial court,to which the matter had been remanded last spring to monitor compliance, didnot have authority to reject the proposed regulations on constitutionalgrounds. The court said that it could have been clearer in its remand orderlast spring; if the ACLU (which is representing plaintiffs in the case)thinks there are problems with the regulations, they can bring a new actionto challenge their constitutionality.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://newyorklawschool.typepad.com/leonardlink/2006/12/phoenix_sex_clu.html
Phoenix Sex Club Owner Strikes Out on Privacy Appeal
by New York Law School Professor Arthur S. Leonard, December 25, 2006 in
Legal Issues
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has rejected an attempt by thecorporate owner of a gay sex club in Phoenix, Arizona, to assert the privacyrights of its patrons in an effort to invalidate a city law that may be usedto shut down the club. Ruling on December 22 in Fleck and Associates v.Phoenix, 2006 WL 3755201, court held that corporations do not themselveshave privacy rights, and that the club cannot bring suit to vindicate theprivacy rights of its "members."
In 1998, Phoenix enacted an ordinance banning "live sex act businesses,"which it defined as those "in which one or more persons may view, or mayparticipate in, a live sex act for a consideration." This presents a problemfor Fleck & Associates, a corporation that owns Flex, described by JudgeDorothy Nelson in the court's opinion as "a gay men's social club" inPhoenix that "limits access to adults who have purchased 'memberships' on ayearly, semi-yearly, or daily basis."
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
365Gay.com, December 26, 2006
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/12/122606ozACT.htm
Oz Gov't Threatens New Attempt To Pass Civil Unions Bill
by 365Gay.com
Newscenter Staff
(Canberra) A renewed attempt to pass legislation creating civil partnershipsin the Australian Capital Territory could be destined for the same federalveto as befell the last bill six months ago.
Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says he still is not satisfied thatthe new legislation conforms with the ban on gay marriage.
Ruddock said some of the government's concerns have been addressed by thenew bill but several key issues remain.
"I don't think the ACT Government demonstrated goodwill by essentiallyintroducing legislation without talking to us about it first," he said.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Log Cabin Republicans Mourn the Death of President Gerald Ford
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Scott Tucker
stucker@logcabin.org
Log Cabin Republicans Mourn the Death of President Gerald Ford
President Ford Advocated Freedom and Fairness for All Families
(Washington, DC) - Log Cabin Republicans mourn the death of former PresidentGerald Ford and send condolences to Mrs. Ford and their entire family."President Ford was a great man called to lead our country during one of itsmost difficult hours," said Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon. "He will beremembered for helping to heal a wounded nation and for acting as a forcefor tolerance and common sense American values."
In 2001, President Ford joined the advisory board of the Republican UnityCoalition, a gay-straight alliance which was formed to advocate for gay andlesbian issues within the Republican Party. Ford's decision to join thatboard marked the first time a past or current U.S. president had joined anorganization advocating for gay equality.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Angus Reid Global Monitor, Canada, December 27, 2006
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/14225
Mexicans Flatly Reject Same-Sex Marriage
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in Mexico believe homosexualpartners should not be allowed to enter wedlock, according to a poll byParametría. 61 per cent of respondents oppose a constitutional amendmentthat would permit same-sex marriage.
In addition, only 28 per cent of respondents are in favour of a law thatwould allow homosexual partners to legally register and obtain some benefitsand rights.
In November, Mexico City became the first municipality in the Latin Americancountry to legally recognize same-sex partners. The local legislature,dominated by the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), voted 43-17 to grantspecific pension and inheritance rights to gay and lesbian couples. Thesesame-sex unions will not be called marriage, and homosexual partners willremain unable to adopt children.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
365Gay.com, December 27, 2006
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/12/122606trans.htm
Marriage Oath In Ohio County Asks If Person Is Transsexual
by 365Gay.com
Newscenter Staff
(Springfield, Ohio) Couples planning to marry in Clark County, Ohio areasked if either person is transsexual. It is believed to be the onlyjurisdiction in the country where people are asked to swear they are nottransgendered before receiving a marriage license.
Under Ohio law a person's birth gender is the only one considered legal. Itdoes not bar transsexuals from marrying but means that a male to femaletranssexual can only marry a woman.
The practice in Clark County came to light when the Springfield News Sunasked county clerks across the state for copies of the oaths they use whenissuing marriage licenses.
"Do you solemnly swear you are not a transsexual..." the Clark clerk askspeople when they apply for a marriage license.
Applicants must also swear they are not related closer than second cousins,are under the influence of intoxicating liquor or a controlled substance orinfected with syphilis.
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http://www.365gay.com/entertainment/news-gossip/nnn.htm
2006 - Best Moments in Queer Culture
365Gay.Com
NewNowNext
The best and the worst of everything gay in 2006
by John Polly
For the last few weeks LogoOnline has been celebrating 2006: The Queer Yearby asking visitors to vote in their fun polls to rate the best (andoccasionally not-so-best) moments in queer culture in this past year. Youcan sound off on gay reality shows, sexy movie stars, flashy pop icons, gayjocks, and celebs who came out.
So, to clue you in to the voting so far, here's a rundown of some of theleaders in more than a few of the questions... (I'm gonna serve up the topthree vote-getters for each question.) If there's a trend, it's worth notingthat there seem to be lots of women voting, as any female nominees aregarnering masses of votes. Check 'em out!
And if you wanna vote and be heard, head here to put in your gay two cents.
2006: THE QUEER YEAR POLLS
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Advocate.com
http://www.advocate.com/print_article_ektid40691.asp
Gerald Ford supported gays and the end of sodomy laws
In a 2003 letter obtained exclusively by The Advocate, the late presidentGerald Ford (pictured) wrote to his friend and colleague Charles Francisthat he supported the pro-gay side in the Texas case that ultimately led theU.S. Supreme Court to abolish sodomy laws nationwide.
In a 2003 letter obtained exclusively by The Advocate, the late presidentGerald Ford wrote to his friend and colleague Charles Francis that hesupported the pro-gay side in the Texas case that ultimately led the U.S.Supreme Court to abolish sodomy laws nationwide. The letter was in responseto a request by Francis, cochair of the gay-inclusive GOP group RepublicanUnity Coalition-which Ford advised-asking Ford to sign an op-ed piececalling for an end to sodomy laws.
"Dear Charles," Ford wrote, "I thank you for your letter of March 3 withenclosures. I deeply appreciate Senator Alan Simpson's personal comments onthe Supreme Court case and his public support. I fully concur with Al andyou on 'gay equality before the law.' I sincerely hope that you prevail inthe case of Lawrence v. Texas. At this point, however, I am not signing theproposed op-ed piece for The New York Times. Several months ago I did anop-ed piece for The New York Times in the University of Michigan cases onstudent admission policies. Subsequently I joined with several otherspublicly supporting the university's position. I feel that it might beunwise to dilute my influence on the Michigan case by authorizing an op-edpiece. The same dilution would be true if I became active in the Texaslawsuit."
more....
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-gaymarriage-massachusetts.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 27, 2006
Court Won't Force Massachusetts Gay Marriage Vote
By REUTERS
Filed at 4:09 p.m. ET
BOSTON (Reuters) - In a setback to gay marriage opponents, Massachusetts'highest court said on Wednesday it would not require lawmakers to vote on aproposal that could ban gay marriage in the only U.S. state where it islegal.
Responding to a lawsuit spearheaded by Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, thestate's Supreme Judicial Court said it could not force another branch ofgovernment to act after lawmakers recessed last month without deciding toput the gay marriage issue on a 2008 statewide ballot.
``I certainly hope we do move on,'' said Lee Swislow, executive director ofGay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, which successfully sued in 2003 forsame-sex marriage in Massachusetts. ``The court cannot force a vote.''
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http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid40355.asp
It's not easy being a gay pop star
By Ari Gold
An Advocate.com exclusive posted December 21, 2006
I’m having a blast being a full time "Homofessional Gaylebrity." When Ifirst started, everyone told me I couldn’t do it. Gay people, straightpeople, friends, family, music industry professionals, all said to me, “Whydo you have to make being gay an issue? It should be about the music.” Butits not just about the music. All the great music I can think of has beeninspired by political and social issues. The great artists write to changethe world. So I set out to do just that.
Growing up an Orthodox Jew in the Bronx, N.Y., I learned in yeshiva aboutthe way Jews throughout history were forced to hide their beliefs, rituals,and practices for fear of being killed. I learned this on the days that Iwasn't taken out of class to sing jingles on TV for Toys 'R' Us or My Buddy(the “butch” doll for boys.) I was the only yeshiva boy in show business. Idid my own share of hiding during this time by taking off my yarmulke andtucking in my tzitzit while I sang backup for Diana Ross when she needed achildren's choir. While I was considered “too ethnic” to be on camera, offcamera I was a huge success. I particularly enjoyed doing girls' voices forthe cartoon series Jem and the Holograms and for Cabbage Patch Kids—youcould dial me up on the Cabbage Patch Kid talking telephone and hear me say,“Hi,I’m Sybil Sadie, want to come play with me?” Playing girls' voices was notsomething I wanted to brag about in gym class, though, so the hidingcontinued in grade school as well.
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Important Message from Founder of Al-Fatiha - Help Iranian Refugees &Sustain Al-Fatiha's Work in 2007
December 27, 2006
Dhul-Hijjah 5, 1427
Dear friends and colleagues,
Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones!
I'll keep this brief and to the point. I need your help and your support!
Since the attacks on 9/11, Muslims in the United States have come underincreased attack. Hate crimes, racial bias, ethnic discrimination, policeharrassment, bigoted op-eds in the press... you name it... it's happening -each and every day. And there doesn't seem to be an end in sight.
As most of you know Al-Fatiha, the only national organization dedicated tosupporting and empowering queer Muslims in this country, has been the onlyplace where LGBT Muslims can turn to - for spiritual counseling, asylumsupport, and a place where folks can come together in spirit and faith -without being judged for who they are.
In the last 5 years Al-Fatiha's work has become more important than everbefore. But under the constant attacks faced within the queer media andLGBT community, our small organization and its leaders have had to turninward and recuperate.
more....
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