Monday, December 31, 2007

GLBT DIGEST December 31, 2007

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

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To Form a More Perfect Union: Marriage Equality News

Information, news, and discussion about the legal recognition of same-sexcouples and their families, including marriages, domestic partnerships,civil unions, adoptions, foster children and similar issues.

http://samesexmarriage.typepad.com/weblog/

Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
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Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards demonstrated in favour of the traditionalfamily in the centre of Madrid on Sunday, in a show of force by Catholics inwhat is now one of the most liberal countries in Europe. Organisers saidmore than one-and-a-half million people packed Colon Square and surroundingstreets for the event, which was addressed by Pope Benedict in a live videolink. While they said they had no political motives, the huge demonstrationcame just over two months before general elections in which a Socialistgovernment which has legalised gay marriage and made divorce easier bids foranother term in office. Under the shadow of Colon Square's huge Spanish flagand just a short walk from the gay bars of Madrid's Chueca district,families and churchgoers [bused] in from all over the country heard speakerscall for the defence of the traditional family. "Founded in the indissolubleunion between man and woman, it is the place in which human life issheltered and protected from its beginning until its natural end," said PopeBenedict.
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A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order delaying theimplementation of Oregon's new Domestic Partnership Law. The law would havegiven some spousal rights to same-sex couples. In response Basic RightsOregon has canceled its January 2 celebration at Portland's Gerding Theatre.
Instead, Basic Rights Oregon, Portland's Q Center, and community leaderswill hold a candlelight vigil to draw attention to the delay and the impactthat it will have on some Oregon families. Basic Rights Oregon's ExecutiveDirector, Jeana Frazzini, called the judge's ruling "nothing short of anoutrage." To join the vigil, meet at Portland's Q Center, 69 SE TaylorStreet in Portland on January 2 at 5:30 p.m. Vigils are also replacingcommunity celebrations in Bend, Ashland, Eugene and Corvallis. For moreinformation, visit the Basic Rights Oregon Web site at basicrights.org.
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Six-year-old Fernando came home from school recently with a slight fever,but here he is, running and jumping on the couch, without a smidgen ofdistress."I feel bad, but I am running," he says, happily, to his mother,Elizabeth Kerrigan, seated nearby. "I know," she says wryly. "That's weird."
He'll wind down shortly, and rest in the arms of his mother, Joanne Mock,when she returns from their neighborhood school with his twin brother,Carlos. Kerrigan and Mock are lead plaintiffs in a landmarkmarriage-equality case argued in front of the state Supreme Court last May.
The woman and other same-sex couples are part of a lawsuit filed in 2004 byGay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) of Boston, after the couples weredenied marriage licenses.
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On Jan. 1, same-sex couples [in New Hampshire] will be able to demonstratetheir commitment to each other by entering into a legally sanctioned civilunion. The state of New Hampshire will recognize this union and respect thebonds that it creates. In the course of two decades, our country has movedfrom criminalizing adult consensual sexual behavior to, if not embracing it,at least coming to terms with it. On this historic occasion, let's take alook back at the legal landscape we have traversed. DES MOINES -- The twoyoug men in neat oxford shirts stand on the shady front lawn and hug.
Brand-new wedding bands gleam on their ring fingers. Cameras click. They reoblivious. Happy. And legally married."This is it," Sean Fritz told TimMcQuillan in August, after the rapid-fire ceremony in a Unitarian minister'syard here in the middle of middle America. "I love you."As Iowans ponderwhom to support in the Jan. 3 caucuses, their state is the first in theheartland to even consider legalizing same-sex marriage -- placing Iowaagain in the vanguard and reminding the Democratic presidential hopefulsthat progressives here help shape history.Much of coastal blue-state Americahas long dismissed the Hawkeye State as it has the rest of "flyovercountry" -- all conservatives, cornfields and clapboard churches -- ignoringa succession of cultural and legal firsts and liberal politicians who madetheir way to Washington [D.C.].
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When Senate President Therese Murray announced last March that she would bebringing the marriage amendment up for a vote at that year's constitutionalconvention (ConCon), it's no stretch to say that marriage equality advocateswere sweating. To beat the amendment on a vote on the merits, advocateswould have to convince three-quarters of the state legislature to vote theirway, a difficult feat on any issue. For months advocates had been pushingfor a much easier, although highly controversial, strategy of killing theamendment through a procedural maneuver, which required only a simplemajority. But Murray, who as Senate president holds the gavel at the ConConand determines who will speak, said she felt that without an up-or-down voteon the amendment, the fight to preserve same-sex marriage would never end.
"If we had tried to do it procedurally, which a lot of people wanted us todo because they thought we were going to lose in the votes, it would havecome back 10 more times, and the public outrage would have been very loud,"said Murray. "So when I told the public that I was committed to a vote a lotof the steam went out of that argument."On top of that, Murray said ifsame-sex marriage went on the ballot in 2008, the campaign around theamendment would wreak havoc not only in Massachusetts but at the nationallevel, giving the Republican Party a strong wedge issue to leverage againstthe Democrats. Murray received phone calls from a Who's Who of nationalDemocratic power brokers, from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to formerPresident Bill Clinton to party chairman Howard Dean to Sen. Ted Kennedy,all relaying the same message: Get rid of the marriage amendment before the2008 elections.
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In Lawrence v. Texas the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed a Texas law thatcriminalized "deviate sexual intercourse" between consenting same sexadults. This time the court overturned the law. What had changed in just 17years? In his majority opinion Justice Anthony Kennedy demonstrated a muchmore nuanced understanding of the nature of same-sex relationships. He wrotethat it was demeaning to characterize gay and lesbian relationships just interms of sex acts. In sweeping language, he wrote: "Liberty presumes anautonomy of self that includes freedom of thought, belief, expression, andcertain intimate conduct." The court based its decision solidly on the rightto privacy.



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National Gay News

http://nationalgaynews.com/

Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
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Pro-Gay Romney Upsets Family Values Leader
A prominent pro-family leader is urging fellow conservatives to withdrawtheir support for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney over hisrecent expressed support for a "sexual orientation" non-discriminationlaw.Romney during an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" said he supportsthe contentious Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which adds "sexualorientation" to a list of federally protected classes that prohibitsdiscrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or nationalorigin.
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Local PFLAG Gets National Recognition
For these parents, having a child who is gay is so ingrained into theirlives, it's hard to imagine life any differently.Their children aresuccessful, have partners, and have children of their own.But the group thatstarted southeastern Connecticut's PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends ofLesbians and Gays) knows that it didn't always come so easily.
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Major Gay Paper Endorses Clinton Despite Big Reservations
Hillary Clinton deserves the support of gay voters, despite the presidentialrecord of her husband and her own refusal to support gay marriage, a majorgay weekly says.In the current issue of the Washington Blade, editor KevinNaff argues that Hillary Clinton's mastery of policy detail, Washingtonexperience, and campaign tenacity makes her a far better presidentialcandidate than Barack Obama or any of her Democratic rivals.



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http://blog.sina.com.cn/chengqingsong

China 2007 Top 10 LGBT News

published in the blog of Cheng Qingsong, one of the most popular gay blogsin China
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"Extreme Hot Songs" - First LGBT Singing Competition Held in Beijing"Extreme Hot Songs" singing competition between QQ Chat groups was the mosttalked about summer LGBT entertainment activity in Beijing this summer.
Eight singers from twelve QQ groups competed in the event. It was a showcaseof LGBT talent. Famous actors Li Jia, Pan Jie, Accordionist Yang Fan,folksong singer Hong Qi, composer and Lyricist Li Guang Ping, femalepersonality Wei Jia Qing, openly gay artists such as director Cui Zi En,playwright Cheng Qing Song, photographer Gao Bo served as judges, to showtheir support for the LGBT community and to promote social acceptance formLGBT people. The competition was sponsored by Beijing Aizhixing Institutewith collaboration from Beijing Tongxing Group.
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"Lesbian Activists Training Camp" in Zhu Hai
In recent years, twenty or so lesbian groups have sprung up across china.They are devoted to mutual support between lesbians and to promoting socialacceptance. About half of these were established during 2007. In July, 2007,the first non-regional Chinese lesbian activist training camp wassuccessfully completed in Zhu Hai. Nearly a hundred lesbians, femalebisexuals and transgendered persons from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwanand US joined the four day event, sharing experiences and receivingtraining. The participants included representatives of 40 LGBT groups fromremote areas of China. They span four generations and consisted of the coreleadership of lesbian movement. This historical event was planed andorganized by Common Language Group, a lesbian group in Beijing.
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First LGBT Art Camp for College Students in Bejing
The third annual LGBT summer camp for college students was held from July20th to 29th, 2007 in Beijing. This year's camp theme was art, in order topromote LGBT artistic talents and produce art works, and to foster thedevelopment of LGBT art in general. During the nine days, a range ofactivities took place, including lectures that challenge traditionalgender/sexual demarcation, famous artists sharing experiences, LGBT filmappreciation, field trips and creative workshops. The campers created artworks surrounding to subjects: "Sex/Taboo" and "Sex/ Utopia". Their work wasshowcased on July 29th at Beijing Shan Mu Lan Bar. The camp was sponsored byBeijing Aizhixing Institute and planned and executed by Aibai Cultural &Education Center and Beijing Common Language Group.
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LGBT Delegate Attend Hong Kong "Anti-Homophobia Parade" and Taipei LGBTFestival
The third Hong Kong international anti-homophobia day parade was held onJune 20th this year. In October, the fifth Taipei's gay parade coincidedwith the eighth Taipei LGBT Festival. This year, mainland Chinese LGBTgroups organized a delegate and attended the events in Hong Kong and Taipei.During their visit, they had friendly exchanges with local LGBT publicservice organizations to promote mutual cooperation.
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Gay Pride Month Rainbow Kite Flying
June is Gay Pride Month. Beginning in 2005, Chinese LGBT groups have beencelebrating this event. Flying rainbow colored kites has become a fixture atsuch celebrations. This June, at Beijing Yuan Ming Park, Cheng Du BotanicalPark and Sheng Yang North Mausoleum Park, and many other locations, rainbowkites flown again, commemorating gay pride.
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LGBT Community and People from Other Segments of Society Criticize Sun Hai
Ying's View that Homosexuality is Crime
On August 13th, 2007, Chinese actor Sun Hai Ying claimed that homosexualityis a crime during an interview. This brought about swift reaction from theLGBT community and society at large. Cheng Qing Song, Ah Qiang and othersquickly published articles on Sina.com denouncing Sun. Well knownsociologist Li Yin He wrote in her blog refuting Sun, and said that what hesaid was "ignorant, cruel and crass". These reactions reflected society'sgrowing tolerance and understanding on this issue.
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Courage Mother on "Time Out"
Mm. Wu You Jian, whose son is openly gay, bravely accepted media interviewexpressing her open support to her son and to the gay community. For thisshe was widely admired and respected by the LGBT community and society ingeneral. This year, Mm. Wu published articles on her person blog asking formore understanding and fair treatment of LGBT. In November, the well knownEnglish magazine "Time Out" published a special interview. She againannounced bravely that "My son is gay and I am quite OK with it, because Iknow being gay is neither a crime nor an embarrassment."
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"Relax!" Win Second Prize in Sina Webcast Competition
September 2007, an episode titled "Qiao Qiao Gay" of the program "Relax!"win second prize at the first Sina Webcast Competition. The prize includedcash and a DV. Deputy Editor in Chief Li Duo Yu of "New Beijing" newspaperawarded the prize. This episode was watched by close to one million viewers.
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The Third Queer Film Forum in Beijing
There have been two attempts at organizing a LGBT film festival in Beijing.This led to the Queer Film Forum. It was part of the Beijing IndependentFilm Forum. It opened on December 2nd and closed on the 4th. Films shownincluded "Mei Mei", "Yang Chun Zhi Chun", "Tang Tang" and "DestinationShanghai". It was planned and organized by Cun Zi En.
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Seeking Support for Gay Marriage on Valentine's Day
On February 14th, several LGBT activists went to street corners in Beijing,presented fresh flowers to pedestrians, asking them to support marriagebetween same sex couples. Many domestic and international media outlets,such as "New Beijing", The Advocate, Fridae.com reported this event.
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In November, Ma Tian Yu sued Gao Po in Beijing Eastern Regional Court forlibel, alleging that Gao spread over the internet that Ma is gay, which hebelieves is a defamation of character. Aside generating a lot of mediaattention, this action also brought out a heated debate within the LGBTcommunity. Many believe that being gay should not be a basis for libel andthat Ma's suit defames gays.



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From EuroQueer

New comment on post "Mehdi, Gay Iranian Teenager Is Facing Deportation FromU.K."

http://gayswithoutborders.wordpress.com/2007/12/29/mehdi-gay-iranian-teenager-is-facing-deportation-from-uk/

Author : Omar Kuddus
E-mail : gayasylum@yahoo.co.uk

"Mehdi" (19 yrs old) has failed in the courts in Netherlands and is due tobe returned to the UK, from where he is likely to be deported back to Iran.
(http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/07/Dec/2401.htm)

The long holiday season in the UK means that an injunction may not be madein the High Court in London to prevent deportation until the court has heardan appeal, which, when in front of a real judge, Mehdi would more thancertainly win, with light of recent events in Iran and the public disclosureof Iran's policy on homosexuality to the British government.

However the fear and threat is that the UK, HOBIA will take him off a flightfrom Amsterdam and put him on the next flight to Tehran.If this is happens over the holidays, then there is little chance of alawyers getting an injunction.

How many more young Iranians have to die before the British government takesaction? It's time that the gay community finally open our mouths and showour protests and disgust, and make ourselves heard that such barbaricbehaviour is not acceptable.

The Iranian Minister Mohsen Yahyavi (who is the highest-ranked politician toadmit that Iran believes in the death penalty for homosexuality) toldBritish MP's at the Inter-Parliamentary Union in May this year, thathomosexuals should be executed [he initially said tortured but changed it toexecuted].

And Iran has again recently kept its word, with the execution of MakvanMouloodzedeh, despite President Ahmadinejad, questioned by students in NewYork two months ago about the executions of homosexuals, claimed there wereno gays in Iran.

Britain regularly challenges Iran about its gay torture, hangings, stoningsand executions for perceived moral criminals, Foreign and CommonwealthOffice (FCO) papers show. Yet it still stands back and does nothing.

Other than send failed asylum seekers back in the hope that they do not facea similar fate.



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365Gay.Com

http://www.365gay.com/

Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
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Buying The White House
(Washington) Two multimillionaires in the presidential race - two ways tospend their money. Republican Mitt Romney has pumped more than $17 millionof his own into his race; Democrat John Edwards, by law, can tap his fortunefor no more than $50,000.

Voter ID Law Heads To Supreme Court
(Washington) The dispute over Indiana's voter ID law that is headed to theSupreme Court in January is as much a partisan political drama as a legaltussle.
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Could A Third Party Candidate Win?
(Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and otherpotential independent presidential candidates are joining prominentRepublican and Democratic centrists at a meeting that will consider themerits of a third-party bid for the White House.
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Massive Rallies For Papal Slam At Gays
(Vatican City) Tens of thousands gathered in Madrid and Vatican City forCatholic rallies promoting traditional families on Sunday.



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Your gay agenda: January and February events

from Planet Out

http://www.planetout.com/travel/article.html?sernum=13201

GT McCallan

The editorial staff at Gay.com and The Out Traveler takes your travel needsvery seriously. We continually scour the globe on the lookout for gay,gay-friendly or queer (in both senses of the word!) events to put on yourgay agenda.

Cruise to the Caribbean with the girls; show your winter pride on the slopesat Whistler; do some "reel" travel at Sundance's Queer Lounge; or snap up ahot bachelor in Dallas!

Pick of the month
WinterPRIDE
February 3-10, 2008, Whistler, B.C.
Whistler's gay ski celebration (www.gaywhistler.com), Canada's biggest andbrightest, brings color to the slopes with an avalanche of events. Sizzlingparties, upbeat mixed, men-only and women-only après-ski events and ampleopportunities to slalom down the slopes make this one of the world's hottestgay snow shows. (LGBT)

Coming up in January:
Sundance Film Festival
January 17-27, 2008, Park City, Utah
Sundance (www.sundance.org), the fairy godfather of independent filmfestivals, hits the screens of Utah's Park City, near Salt Lake City, onceagain. Having showcased many LGBT cinematic spectaculars from "Tarnation" to"D.E.B.S.," the festival is known as a springboard for LGBT filmmakers. In2008, for the fifth year running, the Queer Lounge (www.queerlounge.org),hub of homosexual goings on for queer/queer-friendly festival participants,is back (January 18-24, 2008). (Straight/LGBT)

Caribbean Dreams Cruise
January 26-February 2, 2008, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Idyllic islands, the lure of adventure and vibrant nightlife are all on themenu for Olivia's hot Caribbean cruise. The perfect escape from winter, thisseven-night delight visits one luxurious port after another, including thepristine beaches and lagoons of Grand Turk and Tortola, the Dutch/Frenchisland of St. Maarten and Olivia's exclusive private paradise, Half MoonCay. On board the gloriously indulgent MS Zuiderdam, the majority ofstaterooms have verandas and the Greenhouse Spa offers even more relaxationto pampered passengers. The chic Ocean Bar and sultry Queen's Lounge are thesetting for Olivia's legendary entertainment. (Lesbian)

San Diego Restaurant Week
January 27-February 1, 2008, San Diego, California
San Diego's culinary community will join forces for San Diego RestaurantWeek (www.sandiegorestaurantweek.com). During this tasty time, the city'shottest restaurants offer special three-course dinners for $30 or $40 perperson. With 125 restaurants to choose from, it's the perfect time to takeyour sweetie south and savor a spectacularly delicious escape.
(Straight/LGBT)

Start planning for February:

2008 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras
February 9-March 2, 2008, Sydney, Australia
Perhaps the globe's most glamorous and gargantuan gay event sashays backinto sight once more to celebrate its 30th birthday. With a schedule ofdaily events that astounds in scope, variety, decadence, frivolity and sheerfabulous fun, Sydney's really is the ultimate Mardi Gras(www.mardigras.org.au). Highlights include the deliciously crowded andcruisey Fair Day on February 17, the splashy Pool Party on February 16 andMarch 1's Parade and Party. (LGBT)

5th Annual Gay Bachelor Auction
February 10, 2008, Dallas, Texas
Benefiting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the Gay Bachelor Auction (www.gayauction.org) is the perfect place to bid for the man or woman ofyour dreams. Coordinated completely by volunteers, this fun event places hoteligible women and men on the auction block for a chance to win a customdate package. Wearing T-shirts that double as bid sheets, bachelors minglein a crowded bar while patrons write bids on the backs of their shirts.Raffle prizes, free giveaways and host Edna Jean Robinson are otherenticements to lure boy and girl buyers down to JR's Bar & Grill (3923 CedarSprings; 214-559-0650; www.caven.com). (LGBT)



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Detroit News

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071231/OPINION03/712310351/1272/OPINION0310

Gays are wary of GOP's future

Deb Price
Monday, December 31, 2007

For more than three decades, Brian Bennett threw himself into Republicanpolitics, including serving as a delegate to five national conventions.

The pro-life, fiscal conservative was also part of the "Austin 12," a groupof 11 gay men and one lesbian who, in an historic meeting in 2000, sharedabout the joys and difficulties of being gay in a session with George W.Bush, then the presumptive Republican nominee.

But when Bush made a sharp turn away from earlier gay-supportive words anddeeds, most notably by pushing for an anti-gay constitutional amendment,Bennett got fed up and cut back on his time and money commitments to theGOP.

Bennett is among the 25 percent of gay Americans who vote Republican. Icaught up with several Austin 12-ers as well as other gay Republicans justbefore the kickoff to the caucuses and primaries that will select the GOPpresidential nominee. I heard a lot of pain, frustration and dwindlingpatience.

Most, like Bennett, said they are backing Rudy Giuliani. As mayor of NewYork, he pushed for and signed a sweeping domestic partnership law in 1998.

"I will do everything I can to get him elected because we need a shift inthe party," said Carl Schmid, an Austin 12-er and co-chair of the Giulianieffort in Washington, D.C.

more . . . . .



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NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/world/europe/31spain.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

Throng in Madrid Rallies for Traditional Family

By REUTERS
December 31, 2007

MADRID (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards demonstrated in favorof the traditional family here on Sunday, in a show of force by RomanCatholics in what is now one of the most liberal countries in Europe.

Organizers said more than 1.5 million people packed Colón Square andsurrounding streets for the event, which was addressed by Pope Benedict XVIin a live video link from St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. Other crowdestimates were lower.

While the organizers said they had no political motives, the largedemonstration came just over two months before general elections in whichthe Socialist government, which has legalized same-sex marriage and madedivorce easier, is seeking another term in office.

Under the shadow of Colón Square's huge Spanish flag and just a short walkfrom the gay bars of the Chueca district, families and churchgoers bused infrom all over the country heard speakers call for the defense of thetraditional family.

"Founded in the indissoluble union between man and woman, it is the place inwhich human life is sheltered and protected from its beginning until itsnatural end," Pope Benedict said.

more . . . . .



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Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-flaintdig12313sbdec31,0,2498785,print.story

Spain: Rally held in defense of traditional families

December 31, 2007

MOGADISHU BRUSSELS SAO PAULO MADRID

Tens of thousands in predominantly Roman Catholic Spain rallied Sunday indefense of the traditional family in a country where the government haslegalized gay marriage and facilitated divorce.

The crowd roared when Pope Benedict XVI appeared on giant TV screens in alive hookup from St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, praising the crowd.

The pope, speaking during the traditional noon Sunday Angelus prayer, saidthe family is "based on the unbreakable union of man and woman andrepresents the privileged environment where human life is welcomed andprotected from the beginning to its natural end."


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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
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NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST December 31, 2007

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


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Inside Higher Education

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/12/31/mla

A Moderate MLA

The Modern Language Association frequently helps out its critics withprovocative session titles and left-leaning political stands offered by itsmembers. At this year's annual meeting, in Chicago, some MLA members haveworried that the association was poised to take stances that would have sentDavid Horowitz's fund raising through the roof with resolutions thatappeared to be anti-Israel and pro-Ward Churchill.

But in moves that infuriated the MLA's Radical Caucus, the association'sDelegate Assembly refused to pass those resolutions and instead adopted muchnarrower measures. The association acknowledged tensions over the MiddleEast on campus, but in a resolution that did not single out pro-Israelgroups for criticism. And the association criticized the University ofColorado for the way it started its investigation of Ward Churchill, buttook no stand on whether the outcome (his firing) was appropriate.

The votes by the MLA's largest governing council came in an at-times-surrealfive-hour meeting. Cary Nelson, author of Manifesto of a Tenured Radical,was in the position of being the leading moderate, offering alternativelanguage to defeat Radical Caucus proposals. Critics of Israel repeatedlytalked about "facts on the ground" to refer to the treatment of Israel'scritics on campuses today, and it was unclear whether the term was beingused ironically in light of the phrase's use to describe Israel's settlementpolicy on the West Bank and a recent book at the center of a Barnard Collegetenure controversy.

While material distributed by those seeking to condemn Churchill's firingportrayed him favorably, and as a victim of the right wing, some of thosewho criticized the pro-Churchill effort at the meeting are long-time expertsin Native American studies and decidedly not conservative. Many attendeeswere confused by the parliamentary procedure, and at least one proposedamendment that appeared to have significant backing (in theory) fell apartwhen questions were raised about its syntax.

After one vote that his side lost, Grover Furr, a Radical Caucus leader whoteaches at New Jersey's Montclair State University, called the meeting "aperversion of parliamentary procedures."
The Middle East and Academic Freedom

Furr was the author of the original resolution on the campus climate forcritics of Israel. The resolution as he wrote it said that some whocriticize Zionism and Israel have been "denied tenure, disinvited to speak... [or] fraudulently called 'anti-Semitic.'" The resolution called this a"serious danger to academic study and discussion in the USA today" and thenresolved that "the MLA defend the academic freedom and the freedom of speechof faculty and invited speakers to criticize Zionism and Israel." Theresolution made no mention of the right of others on campus to embraceZionism or Israel or to hold middle-of-the-road views or any views otherthan being critical of Israel and Zionism.

more....



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Inside Higher Education

http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2007/12/31/wilson

The Attack on Student Voting Rights
The 2008 elections have created some bizarre situations, particularly inIowa, home of the first votes during the caucuses on January 3. After yearsof struggles to get more college students to vote and engage in politics, itis strange (and disappointing) to watch Democratic candidates suddenlydeclaring that students shouldn't vote.

The debate over student voting was sparked when Barack Obama's campaign gaveout 50,000 fliers on college campuses declaring, "If you are not from Iowa,you can come back for the Iowa caucus and caucus in your collegeneighborhood." Since Obama has the strongest support of any candidate amongcollege students, and many out-of-state students in Iowa come from his homestate of Illinois, this was no surprise. But the reaction may have startledObama, who worked in the field of voting rights as a lawyer and a lawprofessor at the University of Chicago.

Hillary Clinton proclaimed, "This is a process for Iowans. This needs to beall about Iowa, and people who live here, people who pay taxes here."Apparently that doesn't include the out-of-state students who pay highertuition in Iowa, not to mention the various taxes on their books, supplies,and pizza, and the income taxes on their salaries.

A Clinton spokeswoman went even further, "We are not systematically tryingto manipulate the Iowa caucuses with out-of-state people. We don't haveliterature recruiting out-of-state college students."

It wasn't only the Clinton campaign that complained. Chris Dodd's Iowadirector, Julie Andreeff Jensen, said in a statement: "I was deeplydisappointed to read today about the Obama campaign's attempt to recruitthousands of out-of-state residents to come to Iowa for the caucuses....That may be the way politics is played in Chicago, but not in Iowa." EvenDodd's wife claimed about voters, "They really resent it when candidates tryto sign up people who are not really from Iowa."

more....



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Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/ats-ap_top13dec31,0,1197169.story

Kenya: Police Claim Shoot to Kill Orders

By KATHARINE HOURELD
Associated Press Writer
6:55 AM EST, December 31, 2007

NAIROBI, Kenya

Police battled thousands of opposition supporters who charge President MwaiKibaki stole his way to re-election, and several officers said Monday theyhad orders to shoot to kill to quell the violence.

The officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals,said the order had divided the police force, saying many officers sympathizewith the protesters. Three officers told The Associated Press independentlythat they had been ordered to shoot to kill, although a government spokesmandenied such an order was given.

Meanwhile, Raila Odinga, the firebrand opposition candidate who led earlyresults and public opinion polls, postponed a planned rally Monday inNairobi, but called on 1 million people to gather Thursday.

"We are calling for mass action. We will inform police of the march, and wewill march wearing black bands," he said.

The death toll was rising Monday from three days of rioting in Nairobi'sslums -- home to tens of thousands of opposition supporters -- and elsewherein the country, including the coastal city of Mombasa, a tourism hotspot.

more . . . . .



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Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/362097.html

In Texas, they're quick with the needle

Posted on Mon, Dec. 31, 2007

The state of Texas apparently didn't get the same message that the rest ofthe country got. Most states put executions on hold temporarily after theU.S. Supreme Court agreed in September to hear a case challenging lethalinjections. Not Texas. On the day that the Supreme Court made itsannouncement, a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals judge ordered the courtclerk's office to close promptly at 5 p.m., denying a Death Row inmate alast-minute appeal to the High Court. The inmate was executed hours later.Not a good example

This rush to the death chamber helps to explain why 60 percent of all U.S.executions this year were in Texas. It's an example no state shouldemulate -- and, in fact, most states are doing the opposite. A recent reportby the Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes the death penalty,found that while Texas led the nation in executions this year with 26,executions in the United States were at a 13-year low.

The decline is attributed to a de facto moratorium by states that havedecided to wait for the Supreme Court's decision in the appeal of twoKentucky Death Row inmates. The men say that lethal injections violate theConstitution's Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusualpunishment. The court will hear arguments on Monday.

Of the 42 executions in the United States last year, almost all of them --90 percent -- were in the South, with Texas claiming the lion's share, thereport said.

more . . . . .



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Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/362073.html

Palm Beach: Family vs. police over droopy pants

BY DWAYNE ROBINSON
Posted on Mon, Dec. 31, 2007

Six members of a family were arrested at The Mall at Wellington Green in anincident that began last week benignly enough over a pair of droopy jeansbut ended like a chaotic scene out of the Cops television show.

An estimated 20 deputies, two canine units and a police helicopter swarmedthe area surrounding the mall's food court, shutting down roads, all toarrest a 52-year-old man, his 50-year-old wife and four other relatives,ages 16 to 20, Thursday evening.

''It's a family affair. They get to spend the holiday in jail together,''Palm Beach County sheriff's Lt. Jay Hart said.

For the Leger family, a Haitian family which has lived in Wellington since1992, though, this is no laughing matter. They say sheriff's deputiesoverreacted with not just their numbers but also with sheer force.

Their arrests, along with the physical and verbal abuse family members saythey endured, were punishment for both questioning the arrest of one oftheir sons and for leveling racism charges on the deputies, they contend.

That isn't so, deputies say. The family attempted to stop deputies fromarresting a relative, which led to the situation spiraling out of control.

`COMMON COURTESY'

The fracas began around 7 p.m. Thursday when deputies arrested Frantz Leger,the Legers' 20-year-old son. He had returned to the mall where he was bannedfor violating its ''Rules of Common Courtesy'' in or around August. TheFlorida State University sophomore business major was verboten for wearinghis pants too low.

''I know I'm not a criminal just because my pants are too low below yourexpectations,'' Frantz Leger said from his Wiltshire Village home Saturday.

His return to the mall was a violation of that trespass warning, deputieslater charged.

''The mall doesn't put up with that tomfoolery bullcrap,'' Hart said. ``Hispants were down below his butt. No one goes to the mall and wants to see thecrack of someone's butt.''

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New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/opinion/31mon1.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

Editorial: Looking at America

December 31, 2007

There are too many moments these days when we cannot recognize our country.Sunday was one of them, as we read the account in The Times of how men insome of the most trusted posts in the nation plotted to cover up the tortureof prisoners by Central Intelligence Agency interrogators by destroyingvideotapes of their sickening behavior. It was impossible to see thefounding principles of the greatest democracy in the contempt these men andtheir bosses showed for the Constitution, the rule of law and human decency.

It was not the first time in recent years we've felt this horror, thissorrowful sense of estrangement, not nearly. This sort of lawless behaviorhas become standard practice since Sept. 11, 2001.

The country and much of the world was rightly and profoundly frightened bythe single-minded hatred and ingenuity displayed by this new enemy. Butthere is no excuse for how President Bush and his advisers panicked - howthey forgot that it is their responsibility to protect American lives andAmerican ideals, that there really is no safety for Americans or theircountry when those ideals are sacrificed.

Out of panic and ideology, President Bush squandered America's position ofmoral and political leadership, swept aside international institutions andtreaties, sullied America's global image, and trampled on the constitutionalpillars that have supported our democracy through the most terrifying andchallenging times. These policies have fed the world's anger and alienationand have not made any of us safer.

In the years since 9/11, we have seen American soldiers abuse, sexuallyhumiliate, torment and murder prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq. A few havebeen punished, but their leaders have never been called to account. We haveseen mercenaries gun down Iraqi civilians with no fear of prosecution. Wehave seen the president, sworn to defend the Constitution, turn his powerson his own citizens, authorizing the intelligence agencies to spy onAmericans, wiretapping phones and intercepting international e-mail messageswithout a warrant.

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New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/opinion/31krugman.html?ref=opinion

Op-Ed Columnist: The Great Divide

By PAUL KRUGMAN
December 31, 2007

Yesterday The Times published a highly informative chart laying out thepositions of the presidential candidates on major issues. It was, I'd argue,a useful reality check for those who believe that the next president cansomehow usher in a new era of bipartisan cooperation.

For what the chart made clear was the extent to which Democrats andRepublicans live in separate moral and intellectual universes.

On one side, the Democrats are all promising to get out of Iraq and offeringstrongly progressive policies on taxes, health care and the environment.That's understandable: the public hates the war, and public opinion seems tobe running in a progressive direction.

What seems harder to understand is what's happening on the other side - thedegree to which almost all the Republicans have chosen to align themselvesclosely with the unpopular policies of an unpopular president. And I'm notjust talking about their continuing enthusiasm for the Iraq war. The G.O.P.candidates are equally supportive of Bush economic policies.

Why would politicians support Bushonomics? After all, the public is veryunhappy with the state of the economy, for good reason. The "Bush boom,"such as it was, bypassed most Americans - median family income, adjusted forinflation, has stagnated in the Bush years, and so have the real earnings ofthe typical worker. Meanwhile, insecurity has increased, with a decliningfraction of Americans receiving health insurance from their employers.

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New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/opinion/31cohen.html?ref=opinion

Op-Ed Columnist: On America's Watch

By ROGER COHEN
December 31, 2007

In recent years, Pakistan has been the home of banks that wired money forthe 9/11 plot, been the chief source of illicit nuclear proliferation,offered a tribal-area haven for planners of worldwide terrorism, abetted thereconstitution of the Taliban and educated many a suicide bomber in Islamicreligious schools.

At the same time, President Pervez Musharraf, in power since a 1999 coup,has received about $10 billion in U.S. aid, much of it to reinforce thePakistani military in fighting Al Qaeda, the Taliban and global jihadism inSouth Waziristan and other tribal areas.

If a U.S. policy was ever broken, this is it.

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the Western-educated former primeminister who returned from exile on Oct. 18 under a flawed U.S.-mediatedplan to shift Pakistan from direct to indirect military rule with a civilianveneer, has given the coup de grâce to this botched American attempt tomanage a nuclear-armed Islamic state.

It's not clear who killed Bhutto, although hers was a chronicle of a deathforetold. Musharraf's government, whose credibility is shot, says thatBaitullah Mehsud, a militant with links to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, wasbehind it. That would exonerate the military, whose opposition to thedemocratic movement Bhutto personified goes back to its execution of herfather; the intelligence services that long nurtured Taliban zealots asagents of influence in Afghanistan; and Musharraf himself, who knew Bhutto'svulnerability.

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New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/world/africa/31kenya.html?hp

Tribal Rivalry Boils Over After Kenyan Election

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
December 31, 2007

NAIROBI, Kenya - It took all of about 15 minutes on Sunday, after Kenya'spresident was declared the winner of a deeply controversial election, forthe country to explode.

Thousands of young men burst out of Kibera, a shantytown of one millionpeople, waving sticks, smashing shacks, burning tires and hurling stones.Soldiers poured into the streets to fight them. In several cities acrossKenya, witnesses said, gangs went house to house, dragging out people ofcertain tribes and clubbing them to death.

"It's war," said Hudson Chate, a mechanic here. "Tribal war."

The dubious conclusion of the most fiercely fought election in Kenya'shistory has pitched the country toward chaos. The opposition rejected theresults and vowed to inaugurate its leader, Raila Odinga, as "the people'spresident," which the government warned would be tantamount to a coup. Asthe riots spread, the government took the first steps toward martial law onSunday night and banned all live media broadcasts.

Western observers said Kenya's election commission ignored undeniableevidence of vote rigging to keep the government in power. Now, one of themost developed, stable nations in Africa, which has a powerhouse economy anda billion-dollar-a-year tourism industry, has plunged into intenseuncertainty, losing its sheen as an exemplary democracy and quicklydescending into tribal bloodletting.

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New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/world/americas/31mexico.html?hp

Mexico City Journal: In Prison, Toddlers Serve Time With Mom

By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
December 31, 2007

MEXICO CITY - Beyond the high concrete walls and menacing guard towers ofthe Santa Martha Acatitla prison, past the barbed wire, past the iron gates,past the armed guards in black commando garb, sits a nursery school withbrightly painted walls, piles of toys and a jungle gym.

Fifty-three children under the age of 6 live inside the prison with theirmothers, who are serving sentences for crimes from drug dealing tokidnapping to homicide. Mothers dressed in prison blue, many with tattoos,carry babies on their hips around the exercise yard. Others lead toddlersand kindergartners by the hand, play with them in the dust or bounce them ontheir knees on prison benches.

Karina Rendón, a 23-year-old serving time for drug dealing, said her2-year-old daughter thought of the 144-square-foot cell she shared with twoother mothers and their children as home. "She doesn't know it is a prison,"she said, smiling sadly. "She thinks it's her house."

While a prison may seem an unhealthy place for a child, in the early 1990sthe Mexico City government decided it was better for children born in prisonto stay with their mothers until they were 6 rather than to be turned overto relatives or foster parents. The children are allowed to leave onweekends and holidays to visit relatives.

A debate continues among Mexican academics over whether spending one's earlyyears in a jail causes mental problems later in life, but for the moment thelaw says babies must stay with their mothers. So the prison has a schoolwith three teachers.

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Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2007/12/30/ST2007123002739.html?hpid=topnews

Bhutto's Son Chosen As Eventual Party Chief: 19-Year-Old's Father ToPreside in Interim

By Griff Witte
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, December 31, 2007; A01

KARACHI, Pakistan, Dec. 30 -- Pakistan's largest and most storied politicalparty chose Sunday to continue its dynastic traditions, anointing the19-year-old son of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto to be herultimate successor but picking her husband to lead for now.

The selections mean that the Pakistan People's Party, which casts itself asthe voice of democracy in Pakistan, will stay in family hands for a thirdgeneration.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who had largely been shielded from the spotlight byhis mother and has not lived in Pakistan since he was a young boy, will leadthe party when he finishes his studies at Oxford University.

Speaking briefly but forcefully at a news conference in the Bhutto family'sancestral home, he said he would strive to honor his mother's legacy. "Theparty's long and historic struggle will continue with renewed vigor," hesaid. "My mother always said democracy is the best revenge."

Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, whose reputation has long been taintedby corruption charges, will run the party for at least the next severalyears. He said Sunday that the succession strategy reflected the wishes ofhis wife, who died in a gun-and-bomb attack at a rally Thursday afternoon.

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Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/30/AR2007123002238.html

Make-or-Break Time in Iraq?
What the U.S. Decides About Post-Surge Troop Levels Could Prove Decisive

By Jackson Diehl
Monday, December 31, 2007; A15

For five years Washington-based officials and pundits have repeatedly madethe mistake of predicting that the next six or 12 months in Iraq would bedecisive. Under the hardheaded leadership of Gen. David H. Petraeus andAmbassador Ryan C. Crocker such talk has been banned: "Nobody says anythingabout turning a corner, seeing lights at the end of tunnels, any of thosephrases," Petraeus recently declared.

Yet, for once, saying that the next six to 12 months will win or lose thewar just might be right.

That's not because Iraqis have suddenly developed the capacity to meet theunrealistic timelines drawn up in Washington ever since 2003 -- when thePentagon planned to reduce U.S. troops to a skeleton force of 30,000 withinsix months of the capture of Baghdad. On the contrary, Petraeus and Crockerhave spent the past year attempting to drive home the point that the U.S.goal of a stable, democratizing Iraq, if it can be achieved at all, willrequire an American commitment well beyond any of the timetables discussedin Washington -- despite the remarkable success of this year's militarysurge.

So the next six to 12 months are not crucial because of what will happen inIraq -- where, at best, violence will continue to decline incrementally,while Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds make painful and partial progress towardpolitical settlements. The test will come in the United States -- wherefirst the Pentagon and the White House, and then the country, will decidewhether to invest enough resources in Iraq to keep the hope of eventualsuccess alive.

The number of American soldiers in Iraq started coming down last month. ByJuly it will have dropped from the peak of 180,000 it reached briefly inNovember to 130,000, or 15 brigades, the force level before the surge. ThePentagon has until March to judge how Iraqis react to the initialwithdrawals -- whether violence in volatile places such as Anbar provinceremains low or escalates again as U.S. troops depart. Then another decisionwill be made, on whether to reduce the force by five more brigades, to atotal of about 100,000 troops, by the end of 2008.

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Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/30/AR2007123002237.html

What Bhutto Was Worried About

By Robert D. Novak
Monday, December 31, 2007; A15

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto followed two months of urgent pleas tothe State Department by her representatives for better protection. The U.S.reaction was that she was worried over nothing, expressing assurance thatPakistani President Pervez Musharraf would not let anything happen to her.

That attitude led a Bhutto agent to inform a high-ranking State Departmentofficial that her camp no longer viewed the backstage U.S. effort to brokera power-sharing agreement between Musharraf and the former prime minister asa good-faith effort toward democracy. It was, according to the writtencomplaint, an attempt to preserve the politically endangered Musharraf asGeorge W. Bush's man in Islamabad.

President Bush confirmed that judgment with his statement Thursday, withinhours of learning that Bhutto was dead, when he urged that the electionsscheduled for Jan. 8 be held in furtherance of Pakistani "democracy." Thatmay be Musharraf's position, but it definitely is not the position of hiscritics. They believed the election would be a sham with Bhutto dead andwith Saudi-backed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif boycotting theballoting, though Sharif's party reversed course yesterday.

The Bush administration decided months ago to broker a power-sharingarrangement, with the deeply unpopular Musharraf retiring from the army butremaining as president and the popular Bhutto taking a third try as primeminister (after twice being ousted by the military). That decision was basedon Pakistan's strategic importance as a sanctuary for al-Qaeda and Talibanfighters. Bush was in a quandary. Bhutto was much tougher than Musharraf onIslamist extremists, but Bush had invested heavily in the general.

When I last saw Bhutto, over coffee in August at Manhattan's Pierre Hotel,she was deeply concerned about U.S. ambivalence but asked me not to writeabout it. She had not heard from Musharraf for three weeks after theirsecret July meeting in Abu Dhabi. She feared the Pakistani militarystrongman was not being prodded from Washington.

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Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/30/AR2007123002487.html?hpid=sec-politics

The Fastest Gavel in the Senate

By Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 31, 2007; A13

Vacationing in Rhode Island with his family over the weekend, Sen. Jack Reed(D-R.I.) cut short his holiday break and raced back to Washington today tobe part of a Democratic line of defense against the White House.

All told, Reed's work today will likely last no more than 25 seconds. It'sthe latest effort made by a Senate Democrat in the party's months-longbattle against President Bush's ability to make interim appointments whilethe Senate is on recess.

From the lowest-ranking freshmen to long-serving lions of the chamber,Democrats have queued up this holiday season to take turns overseeing proforma sessions for the Senate. The Senate is considered to be in a pro formasession if a member officially gavels it open and then gavels it closed.

As long as these sessions are held at least every fourth day, the Senate isnot considered in recess, and, therefore, Bush cannot make interimappointments to high-level posts that would otherwise require Senateconfirmation.

Such interim appointments last only for the remainder of that particularCongress. But with just 12 months remaining in Bush's presidency, a recessappointment would last almost to the end of his term. So, when the Senatefinished its legislative session on Dec. 19, for the second time in a monthSenate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) called for pro forma sessions.

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Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/30/AR2007123000719.html?hpid=sec-politics

Voter ID Law Heads to Supreme Court

By MARK SHERMAN
The Associated Press
Sunday, December 30, 2007; 12:15 PM

WASHINGTON -- The dispute over Indiana's voter identification law that isheaded to the Supreme Court next week is as much a partisan political dramaas a legal tussle.

The mainly Republican backers of the law, including the Bush administration,say state-produced photo identification is a prudent measure to cut down onvote fraud _ even though Indiana has never had a prosecution of the kind offraud the law is supposed to prevent.

The opponents, mainly Democrats, view voter ID a modern-day poll tax thatdisproportionately affect poor, minority and elderly voters _ who tend toback Democrats. Yet, a federal judge found that opponents of the law wereunable to produce evidence of a single Indiana resident who had been barredfrom voting because of the law.

The Supreme Court, which famously split 5-4 in the case that sealed the 2000presidential election for George Bush, will take up the Indiana law onJanuary 9, just as the 2008 presidential primaries are getting under way.

A decision should come by late June, in time to be felt in the Novemberelections in Indiana and in Georgia, the other state with a strict photo IDrequirement, as well as in a handful of other states.

The justices will be asked to decide whether the law is an impermissibleattempt to discourage certain voters or a reasonable precaution amongseveral efforts aimed at cutting down on illegal voting.

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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####

FLORIDA DIGEST December 31, 2007

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

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Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flbtowtogo1231sbdec31,0,912102,print.story?coll=sofla_tab01_layout

Get a free tow tonight and avoid a DUI arrest

By Juan Ortega
December 31, 2007

Drunk and can't drive home on New Year's Eve?

You and your car can get a free lift home on a tow truck by calling 800-AAA-HELP (222-4357). When the automated machine answers, dial 1, wait for an operator and say "Tow to Go."

More than 100 South Florida tow truck drivers have been participating in this year's "Tow to Go" program, meant to deter holiday revelers from driving while drunk. Tonight, the program, sponsored by the American Automobile Association and beer maker Anheuser-Busch, will hit its 10th nniversary. "It's good we keep them off the road," said Henry Michael Abdulahad, 44, manager of H.B. Fleet Services, a tow company in Deerfield Beach. "I have family and friends and the last thing I want them to do is to be hit by a drunk driver."

The program, which started in Sarasota, has been extended to all of Florida and metropolitan areas of Nashville, Tenn., Savannah, Ga., and Atlanta, said Mandy Llanes, an Anheuser-Busch spokesman in Miami. It is offered during holidays when revelers are prone to hit the booze, such as St. Patrick's Day, Llanes said. AAA has been accepting calls 24 hours a day since late November. The program stops after Jan. 1 and resumes during Super Bowl Weekend, which will be Feb. 1-4.

A vehicle tow, normally costing from $50 to more than $100, is offered free partly because of Anheuser-Busch's annual contribution of more than $50,000, Llanes said. Also, the program is open to everyone, not just AAA members. While companies aim to respond within 40 minutes, their arrival might take longer, especially tonight and Tuesday morning, they said.

Tow truck drivers in South Florida said demand has been lower than in past years but they expect tonight to be their busiest night. As usual, they said they're also willing to risk drunken passengers getting physically sick.

"Sometimes when people get into a truck, you offer them a barf bag," said Gene Ziobro, a fleet manager for AAA, in Pompano Beach. "That comes with the territory. You hope not, but it happens."

Juan Ortega can be reached at jcortega@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4701.



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Sun-Sentinel.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbsafety1231sbdec31,0,2286102,print.story

Safely ring in 2008, officials urging South Floridians

By Sofia Santana
December 31, 2007

From putting more officers on the roads to airing announcements on TV and radio, authorities across South Florida are taking steps to promote caution during the New Year's holiday.

Authorities typically report an increased number of alcohol-involved crashes during the last days of the year. Last New Year's holiday, from Dec. 30, 2006, to Jan. 1, 2007, crashes on Broward and Palm Beach County roads and highways claimed 10 lives. The deaths were from eight crashes and alcohol was ruled a factor or suspected in all but one of the wrecks, according to law enforcement reports.

This year the Florida Highway Patrol, in addition to assigning extra troopers to the roads, has assigned reserve and auxiliary troopers to patrol duties through the last half of this month.

"I've asked our troop commanders to ensure that all available personnel are assigned to either routine patrol duties or specific enforcement operations throughout both holiday periods, which includes all personnel normally assigned to administrative duties." FHP Director Col. John Czernis said.

Meanwhile, local police departments are stepping up their traffic enforcement operations with DUI checkpoints. Motorists can help by reporting drivers who appear to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs by dialing *FHP from their cell phones.

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Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbyearend1231sbdec31,0,7509435,print.story?coll=sofla_tab01_layout

2007 in review: the top stories in Broward County

By Robert Nolin
December 31, 2007

No hurricanes loomed on Broward's horizon in 2007, despite tempestuouspredictions. But it was a stormy year nonetheless. Deputies were killed inthe line of duty. Corruption, in Hollywood's City Hall and PoliceDepartment, was exposed. Official misconduct also led to the fall of SheriffKen Jenne, once considered a possible for the governor's mansion. The suddendeath of celebrity party girl Anna Nicole Smith sparked a media firestorm,and a mayor's comments about gay people ignited spirited skirmishes oversexuality. Here are some snapshots of the stories that snared our attentionover the year.

Tribe negotiates a controversial gambling pact with state, but also faces investigation of spending
The already prosperous Seminole Indian Tribe is poised to rake in moreprofits after Gov. Charlie Crist signed a 25-year agreement allowing it tooffer blackjack and Las Vegas-style slot machines at its seven Floridacasinos. In return, the Seminoles will share gambling proceeds with thestate, beginning with $100 million in the first year. The compact is beingchallenged in court, however, and the Seminoles are under federalinvestigation for how they spent gambling revenue. The action came as aSouth Florida Sun-Sentinel investigation revealed tribal leaders had spentmillions on themselves, their families and associates.

A tragic year for law enforcement officers
Deadly traffic stops, ambushes and accidents claimed the lives of sevenSouth Florida law enforcement officers in the past six months. BrowardSheriff's Sgt. Chris Reyka of Wellington was fatally shot outside a PompanoBeach drugstore; the case is still open. Another sheriff's deputy, PaulRein, was shot dead by a prisoner he was transporting, authorities said; adefendant is in custody. An assault rifle-wielding suspect shot fourMiami-Dade police officers during a traffic stop, killing Officer JoseSomohano. Palm Beach County Sheriff's Deputies Donta J. Manuel and JonathanD. Wallace were killed when struck by another deputy's car during a pursuitnear Pahokee, and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission OfficerMichelle Lawless died when she was pinned under an all-terrain vehicle inthe Everglades. Off-duty Palm Beach Sheriff's Deputy Timothy Crandall diedin a one-vehicle accident on a rural road. Broward Sheriff's Detective MauryHernandez, shot in the head during a traffic stop, survived, went home andis expected to recover.

Jenne toppled
Corruption on a higher scale cost the career and freedom of Ken Jenne,former sheriff and longtime political powerhouse. A onetime prosecutor,state legislator and potential candidate for governor, Jenne admittedaccepting more than $151,625 in improper payments, income and other benefitsfrom Sheriff's Office contractors. He is serving a year and a day in afederal minimum-security camp in the rural hills of western Virginia. "Ifeel hollow," Jenne said at sentencing.

Celebrity's death starts media blitz and bizarre court saga
The drug overdose death at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood of AnnaNicole Smith, Playboy playmate, B-grade actress and millionaire heiress,attracted a blizzard of not-always-welcome media. It also generated abizarre maelstrom of legal subplots about where she should be buried, whofathered her infant daughter and who should inherit her Bahamas home.
Broward Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin, ruling on the issue of Smith's remainsgained national notoriety for sobbing on the bench. Once angling tocapitalize on his fame with a TV show, he later resigned while underinvestigation for unrelated improprieties.

Hollywood government tarnished
State and federal investigators were busy in Hollywood this year. CityCommissioner Keith Wasserstrom was found guilty of two counts of officialmisconduct for failing to disclose his interest in an $18 million sludgecontract the city awarded. His sentence could range from probation to 10years. Already serving lengthy prison terms are four police officers caughtin an FBI sting. The officers, who had believed they were working for themob, pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess and distribute heroin. Theyreceived sentences ranging from nine to 14 years. Chief James Scarberry, whowasn't charged in the case, resigned.

Mayor Naugle's comments anger gays
"I don't use the word gay. I use the word homosexual. Most of them aren'tday. They're unhappy." With those words Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugletouched off a ferocious debate about gays, tourism, AIDS and library books.
Naugle's comments came as the city considered installing a $250,000self-cleaning robotoilet that the mayor said would curb "homosexualactivity." He was also against moving the adults-only Stonewall Library'sgay and lesbian collection into a city building. His actions infuriated gaysand inspired supporters. For weeks the city roiled with rallies, bannerplanes, signs and sidewalk confrontations. County commissioners, chafing ata loss of gay tourist dollars because of Naugle's views, removed him fromthe Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Two terror cases have South Florida ties
Federal prosecutors had split success in convicting alleged terroristsaccused of grand, near-delusional schemes. Former Broward County residentJose Padilla, originally charged with plotting to detonate a "dirty"radioactive bomb, was convicted along with two others, including a formerSunrise computer programmer, of sending money and supplies to radicalIslamic groups. He is awaiting sentencing. Federal prosecutors were lesseffective against the so-called Liberty City Seven, charged with conspiringto blow up buildings. The case ended with a hung jury and one acquittal.



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Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/362096.html

First, always make it easier to vote

Posted on Mon, Dec. 31, 2007

When it comes to elections, the first principle in a democracy should be to encourage, not discourage, voting. This basic rule sometimes seems to elude Florida lawmakers and elections officials. The principle was certainly missing last spring when the Legislature approved a handful of new election rules under review by the U.S. Justice Department. If Justice follows the spirit of the law, it will reject these provisions on the grounds that they make it harder, not easier, to vote here.
Questions on changes

Because of past discrimination in five counties, the federal government must approve any changes in the state's election laws before they can be applied.
Justice's questions on the changes are:

. Why does the state want to eliminate two of the nine forms of photo dentification -- a buyers' club card and employee badges -- that voters can use when voting?

. Why reduce to two days from three the time that voters have to prove their dentity if they vote by provisional ballot?

. What would be the impact of imposing fines on groups that hold voter-registration drives?

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Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/v-print/story/362096.html

First, always make it easier to vote

Posted on Mon, Dec. 31, 2007

When it comes to elections, the first principle in a democracy should be toencourage, not discourage, voting. This basic rule sometimes seems to eludeFlorida lawmakers and elections officials. The principle was certainlymissing last spring when the Legislature approved a handful of new electionrules under review by the U.S. Justice Department. If Justice follows thespirit of the law, it will reject these provisions on the grounds that theymake it harder, not easier, to vote here.
Questions on changes

Because of past discrimination in five counties, the federal government mustapprove any changes in the state's election laws before they can be applied.
Justice's questions on the changes are:

. Why does the state want to eliminate two of the nine forms of photoidentification -- a buyers' club card and employee badges -- that voters canuse when voting?

. Why reduce to two days from three the time that voters have to prove theiridentity if they vote by provisional ballot?

. What would be the impact of imposing fines on groups that holdvoter-registration drives?

. What are the merits of Florida's ''no match'' law that requiresinformation on a voter-registration application to match either a driver'slicense or Social Security numbers kept by the state and federalgovernments.

In the case of the ''no match'' law, civil-rights groups filed a federallawsuit challenging its constitutionality. The ''no match'' law overlooksclerical errors -- a common mistake in government bureaucracies -- thatcreate discrepancies in ID numbers.

So far, Florida elections officials have removed the names of more than14,000 people whose applications to vote were rejected because of suchdiscrepancies. Thousands are from Broward and Miami-Dade counties. As partof the lawsuit, a federal judge this month ordered the state to stopenforcing the ''no match'' law until this is resolved. Last week, a federalappeals court in Atlanta blocked Florida's request to lift the injunction.

The right call

There is no doubt for those 14,000-plus rejected voters that the ''nomatch'' law prevents rather than enables voting. They will have their day atthe polls, however, because the injunction requires the state to restoretheir names to voting rosters in time for Florida's Jan. 29 presidentialprimary.

Because the Justice Department has until Jan. 25 to rule on the questionableprovisions, Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning rightly advised stateelection supervisors to ignore them for early-primary voting to avoidconfusion. Fair enough. But let Justice make the right call so that Floridavoters will never be subjected to these rules.



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Florida Today

http://www.flatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071231/NEWS01/712310326/1006

Political storms cast dark clouds: Taxes, insurance battles still loom

BY PAIGE ST. JOHN and
PAUL FLEMMING
December 31, 2007

In 2007 there was a new governor and no hurricanes, but storms nonetheless over property taxes and homeowners insurance.

There were four special sessions of the Legislature, in addition to the 60-day regular session that passed a $72 billion state spending plan.

It only took five months for that to unravel, as the ongoing downturn in the real estate market necessitated a billion-dollar trim to cover falling tax revenue. Projections got worse at the end of the year, and another billion is expected to be cut from spending in the May budget.

Gov. Charlie Crist's new administration and the year began with a January special session to fix property insurance. At the end of the year, with a blooming crisis in state investments and property taxes still a hot topic as an election year kicks off, insurance still is a top concern of many Floridians.

For insurance companies in Florida, 2007 represented a strong bottom line. Year-end reports show private insurers expect a profit of $3.4 billion for insuring Florida homes this year.

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St. Petersburg Times

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/12/31/State/Crist_earns_mixed_mar.shtml

Crist earns mixed marks: Tough insurance and tax issues detract from his progress in his first year in office.

By STEVE BOUSQUET, Tallahassee Bureau Chief
Published December 31, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Charlie Crist's schedule these days reads like a candidate running for office. Photo-ops with suburban families. Automated phone calls to voters. Fundraising parties aimed at raising millions.

But this campaign isn't for re-election. It's the runup to the Jan. 29 vote on a property tax plan, and it comes after a politically successful inaugural year for the populist governor.

The St. Petersburg Republican had spent the past year governing Florida with a centrist brand of politics that has won high approval ratings, appreciation from Democratic allies and growing unease among conservative Republicans.

His first-year successes included a crackdown on probation violators, a streamlined system for felons to regain civil rights and a switch from touch screen voting to paper ballots. He launched a search for new energy sources to combat global warming and promoted quicker access to government records.

Crist, 51, who began his political career in 1992 as a state senator, appears content to settle for incremental progress. After his first year, he has no complaints.

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Orlando Sentinel

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-recountmovie3007dec30,0,6617168.story?track=rss

Film on 2000 election generates buzz: 'Recount' revisits the political battle that thrust Florida voters into the national spotlight.

Mark Hollis
December 30, 2007

In Hollywood circles, it's known as "The Black List."

But for Danny Strong, a television actor-turned-screenwriter, it might be a golden ticket to fame.

The list is a compilation of hot movie scripts that certain film executives consider their unofficial forecast of Oscar-caliber flicks.

Near the top of the secretive 2007 list of 130 film scripts, according to The New York Times, is Recount. The film, written by Strong, is about the 2000 election battle in Florida that for six emotional weeks thrust Palm Beach County voters into the national political spotlight.

Production of the movie finished only a few days ago, and Recount is now targeted to premiere in the spring amid the run-up to the 2008 election.

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Lakeland Ledger

http://www.theledger.com/article/20071231/NEWS/712310350/1374

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: Legal Challenges Halt Executions

By TODD RUGER
N.Y. Times Regional Newspapers
Published: Monday, December 31, 2007

The state did not execute any death-row inmates this year for the first time in 25 years, the result of legal and ethical challenges to lethal injection that have temporarily halted executions nationwide.

Florida was under a moratorium for the first six months of the year, after the botched execution of Angel Diaz in 2006 triggered a state commission's review of the lethal injection process.

Gov. Charlie Crist signed a death warrant in July, but the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the execution as part of a national de facto moratorium while it considers the appeals of two Kentucky inmates who are challenging the same lethal three-drug combination of drugs used in Florida.

Experts say the nation's attitudes have shifted away from using the death penalty, leading to the increased scrutiny of the lethal injection process. But support remains higher in Florida, which is expected to begin executions again once the Supreme Court rules on the matter.

There is little chance the nation's highest court will put an end to the death penalty altogether when it decides the Kentucky case next year. And the Florida Supreme Court has already ruled this year that the state's updated lethal injection protocol is constitutional, and not cruel and unusual punishment.

more . . . . .


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Sunday, December 30, 2007

GLBT DIGEST December 30, 2007

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

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New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/magazine/30reilly-somers.html

Charles Nelson Reilly | b. 1931
Brett Somers | b. 1924
A Perfect Match

By ROB HOERBURGER
December 30, 2007

Fill in the blank: In the mid-'70s, most Americans could name more membersof the celebrity panels on "Match Game" or "Hollywood Squares" than theycould name ______. If your answer was a) Romantic poets, b) Renaissancepainters, c) justices of the Supreme Court or d) anything else highbrow orcivic-minded, you'd probably have "matched" any of the anthro-critics whoconsidered American discourse in deep decline. Among their usual culprits:television in general and in particular game shows, perhaps the strongest aposteriori evidence that Americans' brains were getting flabby on culturaljunk food.

But if you were one of the millions of housewives orhome-sick-from-schoolers or summer vacationers who carved out a portion ofthe day to spend with these shows, you knew that there could be a form ofhigher intelligence involved: the campy rejoinders of Paul Lynde (who diedin 1982) on "Hollywood Squares"; the droll sarcasm of Richard Dawson on"Match Game" (before he became a kissing fool on "Family Feud"); and, onthat same show, the daily barb exchange of Brett Somers and Charles NelsonReilly. For nine years Somers and Reilly provided a midafternoon snack ofcomedic pas de deux that was sometimes bawdy, sometimes puerile but somehownever cheap. The repartee was hardly the stuff of Mike Nichols and ElaineMay or even Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca - they basically tried to matchcontestants' answers to questions that called for a lot of toilet andunderwear jokes - but with Somers and Reilly what mattered more was not whatwas being said exactly but who was saying it.

Many viewers were introduced to Somers and Reilly on "Match Game," as ifthey'd sprung straight from the Spiegel catalog, the Paris Hiltons of theirday, famous for being famous. But both were already accomplished veterans ofstage and screen. Somers acted on Broadway and had a scroll of movie and TVcredits. Reilly won a Tony in 1962 for "How to Succeed in Business WithoutReally Trying," was an acclaimed theater director and had multiple Emmynominations. And that acting talent could be why on "Match Game" they weren't just panelists but characters. Somers was the middle-aged man-hungry "dumbbrunette" with the lefty chicken scrawl, Reilly, the fussbudget foreverdisparaging her answers, her wardrobe, her decorating skills. In that sensethey were forerunners of Will and Grace, the gay man and his gal pal with abitchy, loving disregard for each other.

Not that there wasn't a sexual vibe on the show. In those days, daytime wasgetting really racy, as young, robust actors on soap operas started showingmore skin and stepped up their bed-hopping. But Somers might have been thetrue sexual pioneer. She wasn't Mae West, 80 trying to act 20, or anembalmed Gabor, but rather, with her Elton John glasses and Toni Tennillehairdo and saucy answers, an average-looking menopausal woman with a healthyregard for sex. In one of the most memorable broadcasts, Somers's husband,Jack Klugman, was on the panel and seemed to be rushing the host, GeneRayburn, along, as if to say that he and Somers had something better to do.

Reilly, meanwhile, was both strapping and doughy, in one sense theembodiment of the pre-AIDS sissy stereotype, with his ascots, hairpieces,shirts opened to the third button and tidy penmanship, and also a propheticsend-up of the post-AIDS hypermasculine gay man, especially when he loweredhis voice and became "Chuck," the pipe-smoking alter-ego. Reilly, like Lyndeand other gay actors of the time, never named the love that dared not speakits name, but neither did he try to hide it.

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New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/us/30calif.html

Effort to Block California Anti-Bias Bill

By REBECCA CATHCART
December 30, 2007

LOS ANGELES - Conservative groups in California are gathering signatures totry to block an anti-discrimination bill because it includes language thatwould extend protection to public-school students based on their sexualorientation and gender identity.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, signed the bill in October, but itdoes not become law until Jan. 1. Opponents have until Jan. 10 to gather500,000 signatures to put a referendum on the next ballot.

Lawyers for two groups, the Alliance Defense Fund and Advocates for Faithand Freedom, sued the state in a federal court in San Diego soon after thebill was signed to oppose the definition of "gender" and the inclusion of"sexual orientation" in the education code.

California defines gender - along with other protected classes like race,nationality, disability and religion - as "actual or perceived." The groupsopposing the bill say that definition could lead to false accusations ofdiscrimination.

"This lawsuit argues that the redefinition of gender should be declaredunconstitutional because it is too vague," said Jennifer Monk, a lawyer forAdvocates for Faith and Freedom. "If it's not based on physical anatomy orhow they act or dress, and it's all based on what they think they are, thenhow is a teacher to know how a student identifies?"

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Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122800863.html

The Role TV Knows Too Well: Inane Asylum

By Lisa de Moraes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 30, 2007; M14

Let's face it -- the television industry will never again rise to theheights of ridiculousness achieved in 2004 with just one breast, a breakawaybustier and the prying fingers of Justin Timberlake.

Still, by all accounts, 2007 was one of the industry's more spectacularefforts. Here's a look at the best:

Sanjaya Malakar's Hair. Millions of little girls and middle-aged women areirresistibly drawn to the "American Idol" contestant's gorgeous, faux-hawkedtresses, a reaction that threatens to bring down the country's most-watchedtelevision program, the backbone of the No. 1 network's ratings. Majorpapers weigh in with op-ed pieces on the cultural crisis. "Idol" producerssearch frantically for things that the competition judges can say on airabout Sanjaya's awful performances that will not mobilize those millions ofpreteens and 24-to-54-year-old chicks to vote for their pet.

Alec Baldwin's Parental Alienation. Caught on voice mail calling his11-year-old daughter a "rude, thoughtless little pig," Baldwin becomes thelatest disgraced Hollywood star ordered by his reps to do the Stations ofthe Apology. That includes a stop on "The View" to announce he will quitNBC's "30 Rock" to devote himself over the next five years to the fightagainst Parental Alienation, from which he is suffering thanks to his evilex, Kim Basinger. Sadly, Parental Alienation is not one of NBC's designated"The More You Know" causes, and when the network realizes it cannot monetizeBaldwin's announcement, it responds by issuing a strongly worded statementin which it says Baldwin remains an important part of "30 Rock" and thenetwork looks forward to having him continue his work on the show. Baldwincontinues to work on the sitcom. Parental Alienation continues, unchecked.

Paris. See Paris head to jail. See Paris leave jail. See news choppers hoverover Paris Hilton's Hollywood Hills home as she is removed by authoritiesand sent back to jail, virtually naked -- no makeup, no purse dog, nocellphone, no hair extensions. See media critics sneer at the press forembracing tabloid instincts when, in truth, they're just sticking their owngreedy snouts into the trough holding the juiciest pop-culture gruel servedup in ages.

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365Gay.com

http://www.365gay.com/opinion/besen/besen.htm

Stealing the Election

by Wayne Besen

With Republicans deeply dissatisfied with their presidential candidates,they have turned to chicanery to try to steal the 2008 election. This time,they have recruited surrogates on the Religious Right to place aconstitutional amendment banning gay unions on the ballot. Although theydeny their intentions are politically motivated, it can hardly be acoincidence that the Republican Party of Florida was the largest contributorof the petition drive, funneling $300,000 of the $557,000 raised.

Such cynical manipulation worked wonders for the Republicans in 2004 - whenthey used this strategy to turn out right wing voters in droves. In total,there are now 27 states that have constitutional amendments prohibitingmarriage equality. The anti-marriage train seemed unstoppable until it wasderailed in Arizona, where voters narrowly rejected a ban by a 52-48 vote.

The key to this desert victory was that voters were persuaded that theproposed amendment would affect domestic partner benefits for unmarriedheterosexual partners - particularly senior citizens. This message couldresonate in Florida with its huge population of seniors. Indeed, informingthis demographic of the consequences of passing this amendment appears to bethe central strategy in defeating it.

"Because of how the laws are structured on Social Security, they've [seniorcitizens] set up their households together as opposed to getting marriedbecause they would be penalized in terms of eligibility," Bentley Lipscomb,AARP's 1999-2006 state director, told The Florida Times-Union. "The way thatamendment is worded, it would affect those individuals even though they'renot homosexual."

Unfortunately, John Stemberger, state chairman of the Florida4Marriage.orgcampaign has also studied the Arizona battle.

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365Gay.com

http://www.365gay.com/lifestylechannel/health/122807health.htm

More HIV Testing for Babies

by Tom Hester, Associated Press

HIV testing will soon become part of routine prenatal care and be requiredfor some newborns in New Jersey under a new law that supporters say isputting the state in the forefront of the national fight against HIVtransmission to babies.

Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey signed the measure into law Wednesday atUniversity Hospital in Newark. The law will take effect in six months.

"We can significantly reduce the number of infections to newborns and helpbreak down the stigma associated with the disease," Codey said. "Fornewborns, early detection can be the ultimate lifesaving measure."

Codey, the acting governor while Gov. Jon S. Corzine is out of the countrythis week for the holidays, sponsored the bill as the Senate president.

Meanwhile, a ban in Washington, D.C., against using city money forneedle-exchange programs was lifted Wednesday, a move officials say willhelp reduce the soaring rate of AIDS and HIV there.

more . . . . .



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365Gay.com

http://www.365gay.com/

Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
--
Queen Honors Gay Actor, Activist
(London) Openly gay actor and LGBT rights activist Ian McKellen has beenawarded one of Britain's highest honors.
--
Is A Democrat About To Be Culled From The Race?
(Des Moines, Iowa) Iowa could make or break a Democratic candidate onThursday. The question is, who?
--
Will Iowa Shake Up GOP Race?
(Des Moines, Iowa) The Republican presidential race has gone from merely unpredictable to chaotic.
--
Subject Of LGBT Bias Complaint Becomes Gay Bar
(Scottsdale, Arizona) The room was crowded, the music was high energy andthe liquor flowed for the opening Friday night of Scottsdale's newest gayclub.
--
Federal Court Halts Oregon Gay Partner Registry
(Portland, Oregon) A federal judge on Friday placed on hold a state domesticpartnership law that was set to take effect Jan. 1, pending a Februaryhearing.
--
Attorneys Seek To Avoid Death Penalty In Gay Murder Case
(Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) Attorneys for one of two men charged in thekilling of a man who ran a gay porn company say they will seek to have thedeath penalty removed if their client is convicted.
--
Rape, Hate Crime Charges In Attack On Gay Man
(Cicero, Illinois) An Illinois man has been charged with sexual assault anda hate crime in an attack on a gay man.
365Gay.com



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

http://ga4.org/join-forward.html?domain=nbjcoalition&r=Vd1XFtKqsu5O

Happy Kwanzaa From NBJC!! Dec. 26-Jan. 1

In This Issue
NBJC Cooperative Economics At Work
Help Continue The Cooperative Economics

Kwanzaa Facts

Kwanzaa is an African American and Pan- African holiday whichcelebrates family, community and culture. Kwanzaa was created tointroduce and reinforce seven basic values of African culturewhich contribute to building and reinforcing family, communityand culture among African American people as well as Africansthroughout the world African community.

Kwanzaa was created by Dr. Maulana Karenga.
The holiday introduces and reinforces seven basic values ofAfrican culture which contribute to building and reinforcingfamily, community and culture among African American people aswell as Africans throughout the world African community.
Kwanzaa is celebrated from December 26 thru January 1, itsorigins are in the first harvest celebrations of Africa fromwhich it takes its name.

Day 4: Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)

To build and maintain our community together and make ourbrother's and sister's problems our problems and to solve themtogether.



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To Form a More Perfect Union: Marriage Equality News

Information, news, and discussion about the legal recognition of same-sexcouples and their families, including marriages, domestic partnerships,civil unions, adoptions, foster children and similar issues.

http://samesexmarriage.typepad.com/weblog/

Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
--
Florida voters will get the chance next November to incorporate a ban onsame-sex marriages into the state Constitution. Florida4Marriage.org, thegroup pushing the amendment, recently expressed confidence that it hascleared the last hurdle, gathering the required 611,009 petition signatures,to put the issue on the ballot.
Thus, Florida stands to become the 28th state to enact such an amendment,which, as its language says, defines marriage as the "legal union of onlyone man and one woman" with "no other legal union that is treated asmarriage or the substantial equivalent thereof" able to be recognized orvalidated within the state.
--
S. Africa: We met in the heady days of 1994. The ANC had finally come topower and we were filled with a sense of possibility. We were members of theANC's Yeoville branch and met in the branch choir. Being a same-sex couplefelt like an extension of that liberation. By the year 2000 we felt ready tocommit ourselves to each other and held our wedding ceremony on a Kensingtonkoppie, about six years before the law caught up with same-sex marriage. Wewere both keen to be parents and started exploring ways to have children. Atfirst artificial insemination seemed the obvious route. But somewhere downthe line it started feeling like the wrong idea. Why create a new life whenso many babies, already born, were waiting to be adopted? There were alsoother reasons to adopt. If we went the insemination route only one of uscould be the biological mother. This would introduce a strange inequalityinto the family.
--
Sandra Veronica Campuzano Trevizo, and partner Abbie Green share anemotional moment this month outside their apartment in Chihuahua, Mexico.
The couple has gone from Phoenix to Canada to Chihuahua in an effort to staytogether legally. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)] Since 1965, U.S.immigration policy has had a clearly stated priority: "familyreunification." In the past five years alone, this policy has enabled thelegal spouses of 1.3 million Americans to gain permanent legal residencyhere. But for the 35,820 U.S. citizens counted by the 2000 census as livingwith same-gender partners from other countries - nearly half with children -this provision does not apply. If separated, binational gay and lesbianfamilies trying to unify, legally, can face a bureaucratic, heartbreakingand often insurmountable challenge. Caught in the swirl of two of the mostcontentious issues on America's docket - domestic-partner rights andimmigration reform - many face an impossible choice: Live apart from theperson they love, or leave the country they love.
--
CONCORD, N.H. - New Hampshire's new civil unions law - thoughwell-intentioned - makes a promise to gay couples it can't keep: that allthe rights, obligations and responsibilities of marriage will be theirs. Infact, they will not be treated equally, either inside New Hampshire orbeyond its borders. They will fall into a separate, evolving legal classrecognized by only a handful of states. And more than 1,100 federal lawswill discriminate against them regardless where they live. Gay couplestaking advantage of the law - which takes effect Tuesday - indeed acquiresubstantial new state protections ranging from important health benefits tothe ability to inherit without a will. But they will be treated legally astwo unmarried adults in all but New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut andCalifornia.
--
A small fight broke out in the first few minutes of today's hearing thatended with a judge issuing a temporary injunction against domesticpartnership taking effect next week in Oregon. An unidentified manskirmished with two security guards during Judge Michael Mosman's openingstatements at the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse. Once restrained, the manmuttered under his breath: "Get thee behind me, Satan." That was but oneexample of how herves, tempers and emotions ran high in Mosman's courtroom,as the judge presided over a 90-minute hearing in the case brought by theAlliance Defense Fund against the Oregon Secretary of State's office. TheAlliance successfully sought a temporary injunction against theimplementation startng Jan. 2 of House Bill 2007, a law providing over 500rights and benefits through state-sanctioned domestic partnerships tosame-sex couples in Oregon (see Been There, Done That" in this week'spaper).



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National Gay News

http://nationalgaynews.com/

Go to the website, above, for the following article:
--
California: Gay Rights Under Attack
Proponents have started gathering signatures for a ballot initiative thatcould wipe out rights for domestic partnerships. Friday the Secretary ofState gave proponents the go-ahead. It's the eighth initiative to entercirculation that aims to void the rights of those involved in same-sexmarriages.


=


[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####

NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST December 30, 2007

**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.

=

New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/washington/30intel.html?hp

Tapes by C.I.A. Lived and Died to Save Image

By SCOTT SHANE and MARK MAZZETTI
December 30, 2007

WASHINGTON - If Abu Zubaydah, a senior operative of Al Qaeda, died inAmerican hands, Central Intelligence Agency officers pursuing the terroristgroup knew that much of the world would believe they had killed him.

So in the spring of 2002, even as the intelligence officers flew in asurgeon from Johns Hopkins Hospital to treat Abu Zubaydah, who had been shotthree times during his capture in Pakistan, they set up video cameras torecord his every moment: asleep in his cell, having his bandages changed,being interrogated.

In fact, current and former intelligence officials say, the agency's everyaction in the prolonged drama of the interrogation videotapes was promptedin part by worry about how its conduct might be perceived - by Congress, byprosecutors, by the American public and by Muslims worldwide.

That worry drove the decision to begin taping interrogations - and to stoptaping just months later, after the treatment of prisoners began to includewaterboarding. And it fueled the nearly three-year campaign by the agency'sclandestine service for permission to destroy the tapes, culminating in aNovember 2005 destruction order from the service's director, Jose A.Rodriguez Jr.

Now, the disclosure of the tapes and their destruction in 2005 have becomejust the public spectacle the agency had sought to avoid. To the alreadyfierce controversy over whether the Bush administration authorized torturehas been added the specter of a cover-up.

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New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/world/asia/30pakistan.html?hp

Local Pakistani Militants Boost Qaeda Threat

By CARLOTTA GALL
December 30, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The Qaeda network accused by Pakistan's government ofkilling the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto is increasingly made up not offoreign fighters but of homegrown Pakistani militants bent on destabilizingthe country, analysts and security officials here say.

In previous years, Pakistani militants directed their energies againstAmerican and NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan and avoidedclashes with the Pakistani Army.

But this year they have very clearly expanded their ranks and turned to adirect confrontation with the Pakistani security forces while also aiming at political figures like Ms. Bhutto, the former prime minister who died when asuicide bomb exploded as she left a political rally on Thursday.

According to American officials in Washington, an already steady stream ofthreat reports spiked in recent months. Many concerned possible plots tokill prominent Pakistani leaders, including Ms. Bhutto, President PervezMusharraf and Nawaz Sharif, another opposition leader.

"Al Qaeda right now seems to have turned its face toward Pakistan andattacks on the Pakistani government and Pakistani people," Defense SecretaryRobert M. Gates told reporters in Washington on Dec. 21.

more . . . . .



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New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/opinion/30sun1.html?ref=opinion

Editorial | In Office
Immigration and the Candidates

December 30, 2007

Even by the low standrds of presidential campaigns, the issue of immigrationhas been badly served in the 2008 race. Candidates - and by this we mean theRepublicans, mostly - have been striking poses and offering prescriptionsthat sound tough but will solve nothing. They have distorted or disownedtheir pasts and attacked one another ferociously, but over appearances, notideas - over who can claim to be the authentic scourge of illegalimmigrants, and who is the Lou-Dobbs-Come-Lately

Voters deserve much better than what these candidates have given them. TheDemocrats have done better, though they have not always responded with thecourage and specifics this difficult issue demands. Before voters pick acandidate and a president, they should insist on serious answers toquestions like these:

What should be the role of immigrant labor in our economy? How does thecountry maximize its benefits and lessen its ill effects? Once the border isfortified, what happens to the 12 million illegal immigrants already here?Should they be expelled or allowed to assimilate? How? What about thecompanies that hire them?

And what about the future flow of workers? Should the current system oflegal immigration, with its chronic backlogs and morbid inefficiencies, betweaked or trashed? What is the proper role of state and local governmentsin enforcing immigration laws? And will a national identity card forimmigrants bring on Big Brother for everyone?

.

The first thing to know about the Republicans' immigration debate is that itis not much of a debate. The candidates speak essentially with one voice,calling for a bristling border and stiffer penalties against companies thathire the undocumented. Some call for new instruments of law and order, liketamper-proof ID cards.

more . . . . .



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New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/opinion/30sun2.html?ref=opinion

Editoriald: The Poles Get Cold Feet

December 30, 2007

Poland's new government is right to be taking a skeptical second look at theBush administration's proposal to station 10 interceptor missiles there aspart of a European-based missile-defense system. The pragmatic conservativesvoted into power in October want to make sure that the project offers realsecurity benefits to Poland that outweigh its potential diplomatic costs.

The Poles are not the only ones with doubts. Last month, a thousand Czechsmarched through Prague demanding a referendum on whether the system's radarshould be built in the Czech Republic, as the Bush administration wants. InWashington, Congress has voted to withhold money from the entire projectuntil the Poles and the Czechs give final parliamentary approval.

It now seems that the only one with any enthusiasm for the effort isPresident Bush, who continues to argue that the shield is necessary toprotect Europe and the United States from a potential attack by Iran.

Meanwhile, Moscow is using the system as an excuse for its blustering andserial misbehavior. Paying a huge monetary and diplomatic price to respondto a threat that does not yet exist with a system that does not yet work hasalways seemed foolish and counterproductive. Polish and Czech leaders seemedinitially to like the idea because they saw an American military presence ontheir soil as further protection against Russia. Russia's theatrical furyover the plan, coupled with the Bush administration's general decline, hastaken the gloss off.

We don't buy Moscow's crocodile tears about how a handful of interceptorspose a threat to Russia's huge arsenal. But we also don't see the point ofprovoking a state whose help is essential for containing Iran's nuclearambitions. And then there is that other problem: the technology is nowhereeven close to ready.

Moscow shows little interest these days in pressuring Iran to comply withSecurity Council resolutions on the nuclear issue - to the contrary, itunhelpfully began delivering fuel for Iran's Russian-built power reactorearlier this month.

Why not put Russia's intentions to a practical test by seriously exploringPresident Vladimir Putin's offer to share a Russian early-warning radar inAzerbaijan? American officers who have checked out the site have come awayimpressed with its capabilities. A joint United States-Russian militaryoperation on Iran's borders could do a lot to get Tehran to rethink itsnuclear plans



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New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/opinion/30foner.html?ref=opinion

Op-Ed Contributor: Forgotten Step Toward Freedom

By ERIC FONER
December 30, 2007

WE Americans live in a society awash in historical celebrations. The lastfew years have witnessed commemorations of the bicentennial of the LouisianaPurchase (2003) and the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II (2005).Looming on the horizon are the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth(2009) and the sesquicentennial of the outbreak of the Civil War (2011). Butone significant milestone has gone strangely unnoticed: the 200thanniversary of Jan. 1, 1808, when the importation of slaves into the UnitedStates was prohibited.

This neglect stands in striking contrast to the many scholarly and publicevents in Britain that marked the 2007 bicentennial of that country'sbanning of the slave trade. There were historical conferences, museumexhibits, even a high-budget film, "Amazing Grace," about WilliamWilberforce, the leader of the parliamentary crusade that resulted inabolition.

What explains this divergence? Throughout the 1780s, the horrors of theMiddle Passage were widely publicized on both sides of the Atlantic and by1792 the British Parliament stood on the verge of banning the trade. Butwhen war broke out with revolutionary France, the idea was shelved. Finalprohibition came in 1807 and it proved a major step toward the abolition ofslavery in the empire.

The British campaign against the African slave trade not only launched themodern concern for human rights as an international principle, but todayoffers a usable past for a society increasingly aware of its multiracialcharacter. It remains a historic chapter of which Britons of all origins canbe proud.

In the United States, however, slavery not only survived the end of theAfrican trade but embarked on an era of unprecedented expansion. Americanshave had to look elsewhere for memories that ameliorate our racialdiscontents, which helps explain our recent focus on the 19th-centuryUnderground Railroad as an example (widely commemorated and oftenexaggerated) of blacks and whites working together in a common cause.

more . . . . .



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New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/weekinreview/30cave.html?hp

The World: A Marine's Order: Feed the Hand That Bit You

By DAMIEN CAVE
FALLUJA, Iraq
December 30, 2007

CAPT. SEAN MILLER shook his head like a big brother. He and his marines hadjust walked by a cluster of large orange garbage bins, American-bought, fromwhich thieves had ripped the wheels, and now they confronted a cemeteryentrance that Captain Miller had paid an Iraqi contractor to fix. It wasstill broken.

He snapped a photograph and moved on.

It was one more day on the job here in Anbar Province, where fighting hasgiven way to fixing. But reconstruction was hardly the only thing on thecaptain's mind. Falluja's past as the epicenter of the Sunni rebellion waswith him too.

"The road we just walked down, I lost three marines on that road," said thecaptain, a compact 32-year-old company commander from Virginia. "I waswounded in Falluja too, so walking down these streets - it's not easy."

"Reconciliation," he said, eyeing some Iraqi policemen nearby. "It's a hardpill to swallow."

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New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-palestinians-israel.html

Olmert Warns Palestinians on Security After Attack

By REUTERS
Filed at 8:34 a.m. ET
December 30, 2007

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday ruled outrelaxing Israel's grip on the occupied West Bank until the Palestinians reinin militants after a shooting attack killed two off-duty Israeli soldiers.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's government has condemned Friday'sshooting near Hebron and said it was meeting its security obligations bycarrying out a crackdown in West Bank cities.

Olmert and Abbas agreed at a U.S.-sponsored peace conference last month inAnnapolis, Maryland, to launch negotiations with the goal of reaching astatehood agreement by the end of 2008.

But Olmert has said Israel will not implement any agreement until thePalestinians meet their obligations under the long-stalled "road map" peaceplan to rein in militants in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Citing security concerns, Israel has so far rebuffed U.S. and Westernpressure to remove some of the hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints thatrestrict Palestinian travel in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

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New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-YE-Democrats-in-Charge.html

2007: Democrats in Control, but Thwarted

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:16 a.m. ET
December 30, 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's a painful irony for Democrats: In the space of ayear, the Iraq war that was the source of party's resurgence in Congressbecame the measure of its impotence.

By the end of the 2007, a Congress controlled by Democrats for the firsttime since 1994 had an approval rating of only 25 percent, down from 40percent last spring. Then the debate over the war split the party and castshadows over other issues, spawning a series of legislative failures andlosing confrontations with President Bush.

What to do about Iraq has turned into a dissing match so far-reaching andnasty that Congress's accomplishments are seen, even by some who run it,through the lens of their failure to override Bush and start bringing thetroops home.

''There is no question that the war in Iraq has eclipsed much of what wehave done,'' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters. ''If you asked me ina phone call, as ardent a Democrat as I am, I would disapprove of Congressas well.''

It's not as if the new Democrat-controlled Congress did nothing during 2007.

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New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/opinion/30krauze.html

Op-Ed Contributor: Humanizing the Revolution

By ENRIQUE KRAUZE
Caracas, Venezuela
December 30, 2007

IF President Hugo Chávez has dreamed of turning Venezuela into a Cuba withoil, the Venezuelans who oppose him have discovered the perfect antidote:the student movement.

At the time of last month's referendum on Mr. Chávez's efforts to remake theConstitution to his liking, I got to know some of the "chamos," as thestudent activists are known. What struck me was not only how effective theywere, but how different their movement was from almost all its manyantecedents in the region.

Most important, the Venezuelans are not calling for socialist revolution,but for liberal democracy. Instead of vindicating the statist ideologies ofthe 20th century or the romantic passions of the 19th, they have embracedclassic 18th-century humanism. "Our struggle is historic," Yon Goicoechea, alaw student at Andrés Bello Catholic University and one of the politicalmovement's leaders, told me as we sat, along with eight of his fellowleaders, in the offices of the independent newspaper El Nacional. They hadbrought with them pads and pens, but I was the one who learned and tooknotes. As Mr. Goicoechea puts it, "Like Martin Luther King, we do not fightagainst a man, we fight for the vindication of civil and human rights foreveryone in Venezuela."

As with the radicals who preceded them, they have genuine concern for thepoor. But they also have concrete plans to develop their country, and theyembody a hope for reconciliation across the brutal divisions of Venezuelansociety.

Student movements have long been a decisive factor in Latin Americanpolitics. The first erupted in Córdoba, Argentina, in 1918, over theseemingly innocent ideal of "university autonomy." In 1921, an InternationalCongress of Students was convened in Mexico; one of its goals was to set upa continent-wide repudiation of Venezuela's dictator, Juan Vicente Gómez. In1928, Venezuelan students tried to overthrow him. They failed, but theirmovement forged the generation responsible for the democratic pact that -despite its many deficiencies and discontinuities - so displeases Mr. Cháveztoday

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New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/us/politics/30issuesD.html

How to Divine Foreign Policy of Candidates

By DAVID E. SANGER
December 30, 2007

If there is one thing to listen for in judging how the presidentialcandidates would engage with the rest of the world, it may be how they talkabout embracing, changing or abandoning the Bush doctrine.

That doctrine has been interpreted to mean different things at differenttimes by different people, including President Bush and his aides, who madeit up on the fly in the days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

But it has evolved from Mr. Bush's black-and-white declaration in 2001 thatcountries are "with us or against us" in battling terrorism, to his decisiona year later to elevate military pre-emption - and by extension, regimechange - to a defense strategy, right up there with containment anddeterrence.

Along with it came dismissive comments about weak-kneed allies and theimportance of never relying on the United Nations for a "permission slip" toact.

Mr. Bush, of course, has strayed far from the doctrine. He is talking, oroffering to talk, to the surviving dictators of what he once labeled an"axis of evil," and he has learned that some allies (read: Pakistan) arewith the United States on Mondays and Wednesdays and absent on Tuesdays andThursdays.

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New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/us/politics/30issuesE.html

Polls Indicate Voter Anxiety on Economy

By DAVID LEONHARDT
December 30, 2007

In a Gallup Poll this month, only 28 percent of respondents said the economywas in excellent or good condition.

It was a remarkable number in several ways. During the most recentrecession, in 2001, that same measure never fell so low. It did not dropbelow 30 percent until 2002 and 2003 (when it also briefly dipped below 20percent), at which point the economy was mired in a jobless recovery and thestock market was about 40 percent below its high.

As 2007 comes to an end, the economy is in much better shape by almost anystandard, but as the poll numbers suggest, economic anxiety could still havea major impact on the presidential campaign.

"The economic mood is grimmer than it has been since 1992," said AndrewKohut, president of the Pew Research Center.

In 1992, Bill Clinton won the White House with a message directed at thenation's economic unhappiness. At the time, the economy was struggling toshake off the effects of the 1990-1 recession.

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WashingtonPost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/29/AR2007122901490.html?hpid=topnews

U.S. Strives to Keep Footing In Tangled Pakistan Situation

By Robin Wright and Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, December 30, 2007; A24

For the Bush administration, there is no Plan B for Pakistan.

The assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto dramaticallyaltered Pakistani politics, forcing the largest opposition party to find newleadership on the eve of an election, jeopardizing a fragile transition todemocracy, and leaving Washington even more dependent on the controversialPresident Pervez Musharraf as the lone pro-U.S. leader in a nation facinggrowing extremism.

Despite anxiety among intelligence officials and experts, however, theadministration is only slightly tweaking a course charted over the past 18months to support the creation of a political center revolving aroundMusharraf, according to U.S. officials.

"Plan A still has to work," said a senior administration official involvedin Pakistan policy. "We all have to appeal to moderate forces to cometogether and carry the election and create a more solidly based government,then use that as a platform to fight the terrorists. "

U.S. policy remains wedded to Musharraf despite growing warnings fromexperts, presidential candidates and even a former U.S. ambassador toPakistan that his dictatorial ways are untenable. Some contend that Pakistanwould be better off without him.

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Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2007/12/29/ST2007122901861.html?hpid=topnews

Pakistan at Standstill as Discord and Unrest Grow
Election Delay Considered In Wake of Bhutto's Killing

By Griff Witte
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, December 30, 2007; A01

KARACHI, Pakistan, Dec. 29 -- Nationwide rioting brought life in Pakistan toa standstill Saturday and forced government officials to consider delayingnext month's elections, as discord spread over the killing of former primeminister Benazir Bhutto.

The death toll from the violence climbed above 40, with many peoplefearfully staying indoors while others ventured out to torch governmentbuildings or battle with police firing tear gas.

The unrest turned streets in this normally frenetic city, Pakistan'slargest, into empty expanses of asphalt. Dozens of burned-out cars and buseslay by the sides of the roads, evidence of nighttime mobs that roamed thecity in defiance of soldiers and police.

Food shortages were reported in some areas of the country, and most gasstations and shops were closed. With a large percentage of the populationidle and angry, there was concern Saturday that the violence could worsen.

"These are the sentiments of the people. This is their natural reaction,"said Zahid Hussain, 30, a truck driver who had pulled over Thursday night inrural Sindh province, Bhutto's stronghold, and had not moved since for fearof attack.

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Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/29/AR2007122901490.html?hpid=topnews

U.S. Strives to Keep Footing In Tangled Pakistan Situation

By Robin Wright and Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, December 30, 2007; A24

For the Bush administration, there is no Plan B for Pakistan.

The assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto dramaticallyaltered Pakistani politics, forcing the largest opposition party to find newleadership on the eve of an election, jeopardizing a fragile transition todemocracy, and leaving Washington even more dependent on the controversialPresident Pervez Musharraf as the lone pro-U.S. leader in a nation facinggrowing extremism.

Despite anxiety among intelligence officials and experts, however, theadministration is only slightly tweaking a course charted over the past 18months to support the creation of a political center revolving aroundMusharraf, according to U.S. officials.

"Plan A still has to work," said a senior administration official involvedin Pakistan policy. "We all have to appeal to moderate forces to cometogether and carry the election and create a more solidly based government,then use that as a platform to fight the terrorists. "

U.S. policy remains wedded to Musharraf despite growing warnings fromexperts, presidential candidates and even a former U.S. ambassador toPakistan that his dictatorial ways are untenable. Some contend that Pakistanwould be better off without him.

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Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/29/AR2007122901847.html?hpid=topnews

Sorting Truth From Campaign Fiction

By Michael Dobbs
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 30, 2007; A01

Mitt Romney says he "saw" his father "march" with Martin Luther King Jr.Rudolph W. Giuliani claims that he is one of the "five best-known Americansin the world." According to John McCain, the Constitution established theUnited States as a "Christian nation." Ron Paul believes that a "NAFTAsuperhighway" is being planned to link Mexico with Canada and undermine U.S.sovereignty.

On the other side of the political divide, Sen. Barack Obama says there aremore young black males in prison than in college. Sen. Hillary RodhamClinton claims she has a "definitive timetable" for withdrawing U.S. troopsfrom Iraq. John Edwards insists that NAFTA -- the North American Free TradeAgreement -- has cost Americans "millions of jobs." Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr.boasts about his experience negotiating an arms-control treaty with LeonidBrezhnev.

All those claims, made over the past four months as part of the presidentialcampaign, are demonstrably false.

With just four days until the Iowa caucuses, the art of embellishment anddownright fibbing is alive and well in American politics. But the popularityof blogs, YouTube and information databases such as LexisNexis, along withthe 24-hour news cycle, has made it easier than ever for the media and rivalcampaigns to spot the mistakes and exaggerations of presidential candidates.

"The rules of the game are changing," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, aUniversity of Pennsylvania professor and veteran observer of politicalcampaigns. "A claim that something is inaccurate is being vetted morequickly and moving into the media more quickly."

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Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/29/AR2007122901033.html?hpid=sec-nation

Global Warming to Alter Calif. Landscape

By NOAKI SCHWARTZ
The Associated Press
Saturday, December 29, 2007; 3:04 PM

LOS ANGELES -- California is defined by its scenery, from the mountains thatenchanted John Muir to the wine country and beaches that define its culturearound the world.

But as scientists try to forecast how global warming might affect thenation's most geographically diverse state, they envision a landscape thatcould look quite different by the end of this century, if not sooner.

Where celebrities, surfers and wannabes mingle on Malibu's world-famousbeaches, there may be only sea walls defending fading mansions from theencroaching Pacific. In Northern California, tourists could have to drivefarther north or to the cool edge of the Pacific to find what is left of theregion's signature wine country.

Abandoned ski lifts might dangle above snowless trails more suitable formountain biking even during much of the winter. In the deserts, Joshua treesthat once extended their tangled, shaggy arms into the sky by the thousandsmay have all but disappeared.

"We need to be attentive to the fact that changes are going to occur,whether it's sea level rising or increased temperatures, droughts andpotentially increased fires," said Lisa Sloan, a scientist who directs theClimate Change and Impacts Laboratory at the University of California, SantaCruz. "These things are going to be happening."

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Sun-Sentinel

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/theslant/blog/2007/12/ward_connerly_makes_a_comeback.html

Ward Connerly makes a comeback

Posted by Doug Lyons at 6:00 PM

Ward Connerly, the man who successfully campaigned against affirmativeaction in California, Michigan and Washington, is at it again. In theprocess, he might affect the results of next year's presidential election.

The California management consultant is leading petition drives in Arizona,Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma to put initiatives on the November2008 ballot that would end programs to increase minority and femaleparticipation in government programs and public education.

The effort, part of Connerly's drive to ban race and gender based porgramsnationwide, comes as Democrats have made gains in parts of the West due togrowing unpopularity of President Bush and the Iraq War. Republicancandidates in those states are seen as big beneficiaries. A hot-button issuelike affirmative action is expected to spur voters to the polls who opposegender and racial preferences and would be more likely to supportconservative candidates.

Connerly tried a similar effort here in Florida, but his effort fell shortthanks to then Gov.Jeb Bush who opposed the ballot initiative and theFlorida Supreme Court and its single subject requirement which barsconfusing and misleading initiatives from the ballot.

Category: Election 2008



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Sun-Sentinel

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/theslant/blog/2007/12/a_taxing_proposition.html

A taxing proposition for Floridians

Posted by Doug Lyons at 11:32 AM
Taxes and government spending remains one of Florida's most importantissues. So says a recent poll by Leadership Florida and several other recentpolls that typically sprout at year's end. What's left unsaid is thelikelihood of crafting some kind of comprehensive solution.

The outlook is not good.

Don't expect much from the Florida Legislature. Lawmakers tried,tried andtried some more to come up with a revolutionary way to cut property taxeswithout hurting the services those tax revenues support -- public schoolsbeing a chief beneficiary.

Suffice it to say the Legislature came up short.In the minds of many, thelaw that prompted modest reductions and the Jan. 29th constittuionalamendment won't make much of a dent in how the government collects taxrevenues or more importantly how that revenue is spent. Worse, if theJanuary ballot question fails -- as many are predicting -- it's not likestate lawmakers are awash with alternatives.

Don't count on any Kumbayah from the Republican legislative leaders, HouseSpeaker Marco Rubio and Senate President Ken Pruitt (pictured leftrespectively) this time around. Neither man is expected to make the issue ahigh legislative priority next year. In fact, Rubio has given up on theLegislature addressing the issue and has thrown his efforts into a newconstitutitonal amendment for November 2008 ballot.

Don't look for much from the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission.They've already grappled with that hot potato issue of sales tax exemptions,and the fallout from those discussions don't suggest much political will forenactment. Expect the commission to put forth some ideas to help cut taxes,particularly for businesses. Besides, board chairman Allan Bense has alreadyruled out tackling any issues designed to raise revenue, deferring that taskto the Florida Legislature.

At the moment, the projections for 2008 look pretty clear when it comes totaxes.Have a happy new year but expect the same ol' same ol'.



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Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-flzforeign1230sbdec30,0,101386.story

More foreigners buying U.S. homes: Weak dollar, falling prices attractinterest from abroad

By LESLIE WINES
The Associated Press
December 30, 2007

NEW YORK

Panden Rota, a Nepalese producer of fine rugs, is about to become aManhattanite, the owner of a sumptuous apartment in the luxurious downtownneighborhood of Battery Park City.

His primary residence will remain Katmandu, but his new home will allow himto spend more time at U.S. showrooms that display his rugs and with abrother and sister in New York.

"I looked at many places, and I decided that a Manhattan apartment willalways hold its value," he said.

Rota is part of a growing wave of foreigners who buy second homes in theUnited States for work and play and as an investment.

Cosmopolitan cities such as New York and Miami have long served as secondhomes for affluent and accomplished foreigners. But the trend is growing.One in five American Realtors has sold a home to a foreign investor in thepast year, according to the National Association of Realtors.

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Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/ats-ap_top12dec30,0,738415.story

Analysis: Romney and the Candor Gap

By GLEN JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer
7:24 AM EST, December 30, 2007
BOSTON

As a presidential contender, Mitt Romney has the looks, the money and thecampaign machine. He also has something of a candor gap.

When confronted with questions that might conflict with his message of theday or political record, the Republican candidate has shown a tendency tobob and weave or simply dismiss history. He has done so all year, providingan easy target for his opponents.

"If a person is dishonest in his approach to get the job, do you believe hewill be honest in telling you the truth when he does get the job?" formerminister and Romney opponent Mike Huckabee said Saturday.

This past week, Romney did it again over questions about whether he wasplanning to air negative ads -- in particular on the subject of illegalimmigration -- against John McCain. The Arizona senator has been surging inNew Hampshire, where Romney is angling for back-to-back victories after ahoped-for win in this week's Iowa caucuses.

"I haven't made any decisions on what issue ads might come forward, down theroad, but those aren't what we shot today," Romney told reporters onWednesday. "What we shot today was just me to camera."

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Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/359898.html

The longer the delay, the higher the cost

Posted on Sun, Dec. 30, 2007

As the world's biggest producer of greenhouse gases, the United Statesshould take the lead in efforts to abate global warming. Proposals to curbcarbon emissions already are being proposed by state and federal lawmakers.Happily, those efforts may actually cost less than you think.

Power plants and various industries, which produce more than half of thenation's emissions, should be offered incentives to reduce their carbonoutput. At least seven proposals in Congress would do this with''cap-and-trade'' plans. This approach allows companies to buy and sellcredits for the gases that their operations release into the atmosphere.Companies with emissions below the cap can profit by selling credits.Polluters who exceed the cap would pay more to offset emissions by buyingcredits.

The cap-and-trade approach sounds good, and it appeals to politicians. Butit is a less reliable proposition than carbon fees. With cap-and-trade, forexample, reducing carbon emissions would depend on how the government setsthe caps and distributes the credits -- a process susceptible to fraud andpolitical meddling. Moreover, giving away credits would reward polluters.Conversely, auctioning credits would increase costs for the firms with theworst carbon emissions.

A better, more-direct approach is to assess fees for carbon emissions, anidea supported by most economists, by FPL Group chief executive Lewis HayIII and by Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore. This approach would impose afee for every ton of pollutants. The fee, or tax if you prefer, would fixpenalties based on emissions.

Companies like FPL, which has invested in cleaner technology for years,would pay less -- and that's as it should be. Companies with coal-fueledoperations -- the worst emitters of carbon -- would, and should, pay more.

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Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/851/story/360510.html

Peace with the Earth

By ELLEN GOODMAN
Posted on Sat, Dec. 29, 2007

Since this is the list-making time of year, allow me to add a tiny trophy toAl Gore's very full shelf: the prize for the most elegant speech of 2007.

I wasn't sure how the politician-turned-environmentalist fit the profile fora Nobel Peace Prize, but his acceptance speech connected the dots. ''Withoutrealizing it,'' Gore said, ``we have begun to wage war on the Earth itself.Now, we and the Earth's climate are locked in a relationship familiar to warplanners: mutually assured destruction.''

How many Americans actually heard these words of war and peace? The coveragefrom Oslo was overshadowed by the coverage from Iowa. The presidentialcampaigns used up the oxygen that might have been reserved for thegreenhouse gases.

The inconvenient truth of the 2008 election year is that climate change isstill way down the dance card of most-talked-about topics. It's No. 12 amongDemocratic candidates and No. 15 among Republicans. Out of the 2,275questions on the Sunday morning talk shows, the League of ConservationVoters counted only three on global warming.

No political will

Indeed, the environment has made little more than a cameo appearance on thecampaign trail. Climate showed up in the last Iowa debate at the Tinker Bellmoment when Republican candidates were asked to raise their hands if theybelieved climate change was a real threat and caused by human activity. Itgot a star turn in July when an animated snowman at the YouTube debate askedtheDemocrats if his little snow-son would live a ``full and happy life.''

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Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/456/v-print/story/359900.html

Democratic beliefs

Posted on Sun, Dec. 30, 2007

Re the Dec. 25 letter GOP and Hispanics: As a son of and a father ofhard-working Democrats, I take offense at being cast as anti-family andanti-faith.

Rather, we are against giving big corporations freedom to plunder oureconomy with no oversight. Illegal immigrants who work for the wealthy heremore than help the once-unionized work force.

We are against blindly signing into law every privacy-destroying tool thatBig Brother uses to watch over us.

We will never trade freedom for security. That said, it is amazing that weare the only modern country that doesn't make providing healthcare aresponsibility. It costs money to run a great country.

Taxes aren't evil if they are equitable, stringently applied and honestlyused -- there is no free lunch. As for abortion, I know no one who likes it,but a woman, rather than the government, must deal with that devastatingdecision.

As for faith, we were raised to pray in private.

BURTON L. BOSLEY, Key Largo


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