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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://news.com.com/Senator+to+propose+surveillance+of+illegal+images/2100-1028_3-6156976.html
Story last modified Wed Feb 07 04:00:11 PST 2007
A forthcoming bill in the U.S. Senate lays the groundwork for a nationaldatabase of illegal images that Internet service providers would use toautomatically flag and report suspicious content to police.
The proposal, which Sen. John McCain is planning to introduce on Wednesday,also would require ISPs and perhaps some Web sites to alert the governmentof any illegal images of real or "cartoon" minors. Failure to do would bepunished by criminal penalties including fines of up to $300,000.
The Arizona Republican claims that his proposal, a draft of which wasobtained by CNET News.com, will aid in investigations of childpornographers. It will "enhance the current system for Internet serviceproviders to report online child pornography on their systems, making thefailure to report child pornography a federal crime," a statement from hisoffice said.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.citizensforethics.org/execcorruption/
CREW - Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
Today, CREW released a new report, "Criminals and Scoundrels: The 25 MostCorrupt Members of the Bush Administration." The full report with exhibitscan be found here.
CREW found and documented more than more than 160 cases of misconduct overthe last six years and then narrowed the list based on type of offense, theofficial's level of responsibility and the impact on the public trust. Themajority of the officials in the report have been convicted of crimes, arecurrently under criminal investigation, or are being investigated by theinspector generals of their respective agencies.
The 25 Most Corrupt Members of the Bush Administration are:
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/06/health/webmd/main2440089.shtml
Teen Sex May Take Emotional Toll
Feb. 6, 2007
(WebMD) Teen sex - oral or vaginal - may have negative emotionalconsequences, especially for girls, according to a new study in Pediatrics.
Parents and health professionals should help teens prepare for and cope withthe emotions attached to sex, say Sonya Brady, Ph.D., and BonnieHalpern-Felsher, Ph.D. The two researchers work at the University ofCalifornia, San Francisco.
They studied a diverse group of 273 sexually active students at twoCalifornia public schools between 2002 and 2004. The students, 56 percent ofwhom were girls, all reported having had vaginal and/or oral sex by springof 10th grade.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://fox40.trb.com/news/ktxl-020607sex,0,6288530.story?coll=ktxl-news-1
Ban On Sex Devices
February 6, 2007
SACRAMENTO COUNTY -- Sacramento County supervisors approved a first forCalifornia, a ban on the sale of sex devices near schools, churches, andparks. The move is in response to an Orangevale business that has drawnprotests by neighbors. The Cupid's Love Boutique was supposed to be alingerie shop when it opened in December, but it also sells adult materials,including DVD's, lotions, condoms, and exotic sex toys.
The county promptly limited those items to 25 percent of its floor space.Even so, it's near an elementary school, several day care centers, andhomes.
Manuel Sol runs the the Oranangevale Meat Shoppe a few doors down. He sayshis business is being hurt. Protests by neighbors prompted SupervisorRoberta McGlashen to craft an ordinance banning the sale of sex deviceswithin a thousand feet of schools, bus stops, libraries and child care
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/opinion/08herbert.html
February 8, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
'They Beat Gary So Bad'
By BOB HERBERT
ST. ROSE, La.
Juanita Tyler lives in a neat one-story house that sits behind a glisteningmagnolia tree that dominates the small front lawn.
She is 74 now and unfailingly gracious, but she admits to being tired from alifetime of hard work and trouble. I went to see her to talk about her son,Gary.
The Tylers are black. In 1974, when Gary was 16, he was accused of murderinga 13-year-old white boy outside the high school that they attended in nearbyDestrehan. The boy was shot to death in the midst of turmoil over schoolintegration, which the local whites were resisting violently.
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/world/middleeast/08saudi.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
February 8, 2007
Hamas and Fatah Pledge to Meet Until They Agree
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
MECCA, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 7 - The leaders of the two main Palestinianpolitical groups ended their first day of an emergency summit meeting onWednesday promising to stay until they agreed on a new government to end awave of violence in Gaza and the West Bank and salvage the moribundIsraeli-Palestinian peace effort.
The two, Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian prime minister, and Khaled Meshal,the Damascus-based militant leader, both of Hamas, faced the PalestinianAuthority president, Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, at a round table as otherPalestinian officials watched in a royal palace towering above the GrandMosque, where Islam was born.
The men held three sessions. Saudi officials and advisers remained outside,offering help but insisting that they would not get directly involved. Thesummit meeting is expected to last at least two days.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/us/politics/08money.html?pagewanted=print
February 8, 2007
Obama Proposes Candidates Limit General Election Spending
By DAVID K. KIRKPATRICK
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 - Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, a contender for theDemocratic presidential nomination, issued an unusual challenge to hisrivals on Wednesday. He proposed a voluntary agreement between the two majorparty nominees that would limit their fund-raising and spending for thegeneral election.
Mr. Obama's suggestion is notable because the 2008 presidential election iswidely expected to be the first campaign since President Richard M. Nixonleft office that would be paid for mainly by private donors and wagedwithout legal spending limits.
For the first time in 30 years, the leading candidates in both major partieshave indicated that they will not accept public money through thepresidential public financing system so that they will not be bound by itsspending limits. In previous general elections, the system provided all themoney for both major party candidates on the condition that they did nottake private contributions.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/washington/08cong.html?pagewanted=print
February 8, 2007
House Sets Path for Iraq Vote, but Must Decide What to Say
By JEFF ZELENY
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 - As the House prepares for three days of debate nextweek on Iraq, Democratic leaders sought Wednesday to reconcile deepdifferences within the party in order to shape a symbolic resolutiondenouncing President Bush's troop buildup plan.
Seventy-one Democratic representatives signed a statement urging Congress totake a stronger stance against the war, including setting a six-monthtimetable for withdrawing American forces from Iraq.
Democratic leaders have said that they favor a nonbinding resolution simplyrequiring lawmakers to support or reject the president's policy.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/02/05/drumheller/print.html
Bush and Cheney's dirty secrets
A former top CIA official blows the whistle on bogus intelligence, covertkidnappings and the alleged torture of terror suspects.
By Georg Mascolo and Holger Stark
Feb. 05, 2007 | Tyler Drumheller, 54, had a 25-year career working for theCIA. In 2001, he was promoted to become the intelligence agency's chief ofEuropean operations. The controversial kidnappings by CIA agents ofsuspected al-Qaida terrorists -- including the German-Syrian Mohammed HaydarZammar and the German-Lebanese Khaled el-Masri -- happened under his watch.Drumheller, who retired in 2005, recently published his memoir, "On theBrink," in the United States. He spoke recently about the CIA's role ininternational kidnappings and alleged torture (including Europe'scooperation with the U.S. government), Dick Cheney's mandate to go to the"dark side" in the war on terror, and the bogus intelligence that unleashedthe nightmare in Iraq.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/02/05/spanking_bill/print.html
Spanking mad
A California bill could make spanking a crime. But when did a swat on thebum become child abuse? And how far should the government go in tellingparents how to raise their children?
By Eilene Zimmerman
Feb. 05, 2007 | When I was a kid, I got hit with all kinds of things. Myfather would take his leather belt off and make a snapping sound with itbefore coming up the stairs; my mother chased us around the house withspatulas, wooden spoons, whatever was within reach when she hit her boilingpoint. Despite the occasional welt on an arm or leg, I survived. I didn'tgrow up to be a violent person and I still love my parents. That said, I'dnever do something like that to my own children, although I've certainlylost my cool and behaved in ways I regret. It may not have happened often,but in moments of frustration, exhaustion and anger, I have hit. Maybebecause it happens rarely, or maybe because I follow the slap with 45minutes of apologies, I bristled when California Assemblywoman Sally Lieberannounced Jan. 17 that she planned to introduce a bill making spanking acrime. Get a law like that on the books, I thought, and my slap could landme in handcuffs, dragged to court to face a judge (who knows nothing aboutme or my family).
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.tompaine.com/print/undermining_workers_again.php
Undermining Workers Again
Alec Dubro
February 06, 2007
Apparently, the Bush administration is having money troubles. In order toshovel $624 billion to the military and maintain generous tax cuts, theWhite House has to skimp on a few other items, like Medicaid and Medicare.
No departments actually lost money, though, except two-the EnvironmentalProtection Agency and the Department of Labor. One can understand why Bushwould want to defund that pesky EPA, what with its rules to clean this andclean that. But why Labor? Secretary Elaine Chao, the only cabinet officialwhos been in place since the beginning of Bush's first term, has spent thelast six years sitting quietly-maybe motionlessly-in her office doing asclose to nothing as possible. It seems unfair that Bush would cut DOL'sbudget by 9 percent. Away go the remaining worker assistance programs andOccupational Safety and Health Administration's intrusive inspections.Better to spend the money on immigration raids than enforcing worker safety.Cut, cut, cut.
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The Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/02/obama_to_forego_public_financi.html
Obama Is Latest Dem to Forgo Public Financing
UPDATE, 5:45 p.m. ET: Obama, apparently, hasn't entirely given up on theoption of accepting public cash for the general election. According to adocument filed today with the Federal Election Commission, Obama is seekinga ruling on whether accepting general election contributions precludes hisability to return them and accept public funds in the general.
ORIGINAL POST FROM EARLIER: Just days before he is scheduled to formallydeclare his campaign for president, Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) has decided toforego public financing for the primary and general elections, according tosources close to his campaign.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/07/AR2007020702550_pf.html
7 GOP Senators Back War Debate
Lawmakers Had Blocked Action on Troop Resolution
By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 8, 2007; A01
Senate Republicans who earlier this week helped block deliberations on aresolution opposing President Bush's new troop deployments in Iraq changedcourse yesterday and vowed to use every tactic at their disposal to ensure afull and open debate.
In a letter distributed yesterday evening to Senate leaders, John W. Warner(Va.), Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and five other GOP supporters of the resolutionthreatened to attach their measure to any bill sent to the floor in thecoming weeks. Noting that the war is the "most pressing issue of our time,"the senators declared: "We will explore all of our options under the Senateprocedures and practices to ensure a full and open debate."
The letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) andMinority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was not more specific about theRepublican senators' strategy for reviving the war debate. But under thechamber's rules, senators have wide latitude in slowing the progress oflegislation and in offering amendments, regardless of whether they haveanything to do with the bill.
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The Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/
Parsing the Polls: Likeability vs Electability
Regular Fix readers know that we're fascinated by the opinions voters holdabout the 2008 presidential candidates. While head-to-head matchups andfavorable /unfavorable ratings are important, the answer to questions like"Which candidate would you most like to have dinner with?" are often moretelling.
So, we were more than a little interested when the good folks at Gallupforwarded a poll they had conducted that compared voters' impressions of thethree Democratic frontrunners -- Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), Sen. HillaryRodham Clinton (N.Y.) and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.). The poll wasconducted Jan. 25-28 and tested 504 Democrats and Democratic leaning voters.The poll has a five percent margin of error.
Let's Parse the Poll!
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/07/AR2007020702112_pf.html
Sen. Clinton's Bundles
Who are the big-money fundraisers underwriting her campaign?
Thursday, February 8, 2007; A20
SEN. HILLARY Rodham Clinton had a party at her house the other night for anelite group: about 70 fundraisers who agreed to raise at least $250,000 --and some as much as $1 million -- for her presidential campaign. That soireeand a meeting for lower-level fundraisers ($25,000 and up) prompts us toraise again the question that we couldn't get the Clinton campaign to answerthe other day. What are the candidate's plans to release the names of herbig bundlers? Will she meet the standard of disclosure set by President Bushand every 2004 Democratic presidential contender except John Edwards andmake the fundraisers' identities available? So far -- though we've beenputting this question to the Clinton campaign since last Friday by telephoneand by e-mail -- we haven't gotten an answer.
Candidates are as indebted to big bundlers as they would be to bigcheck-writers; the public deserves to know who's underwriting theircampaigns. Disclosure of this sort should be a no-brainer. Sen. Barack Obama(D-Ill.) has promised to release the names of his big bundlers. So has Sen.John McCain (R-Ariz.), whose campaign told us of his promise yesterday. ButMr. Edwards won't say anything except that he'll abide by the law; votersmight ask how his refusal to identify big-money bundlers squares with hispopulist message. Meanwhile, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney andformer New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani haven't responded to our
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/07/AR2007020702136_pf.html
The Iran Option That Isn't on the Table
By Vali Nasr and Ray Takeyh
Thursday, February 8, 2007; A21
As Iran crosses successive nuclear demarcations and mischievously intervenesin Iraq, the question of how to address the Islamic republic is once morepreoccupying Washington. Economic sanctions, international ostracism,military strikes and even support for hopeless exiles are all contemplatedwith vigor and seriousness. One option, however, is rarely assessed:engagement as a means of achieving a more pluralistic and responsiblegovernment in Tehran.
The all-encompassing nuclear debate comes as Iran's political landscape ischanging once again. As America became reconciled to a monolithic Iran,represented by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his brand of rambunctiouspolitics, the results from December's local elections suggest Iranians weredoing otherwise. Ahmadinejad's defiant rhetoric and populist posturing didnot impress the Iranians who turned out in large numbers to elect citycouncils and members of the Assembly of Experts. Voters favored pragmaticconservatives and reformers who oppose their president's policies abroad andhis economic programs at home. Despite this show of dissent, though, itwould be a mistake to assume that Iran's regime is about to fall or that ademocratic spring is looming.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/opinion/08zarif.html?pagewanted=print
February 8, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
How Not to Inflame Iraq
By JAVAD ZARIF
BEFORE the United States invaded Iraq on false pretexts nearly four yearsago, the overwhelming view of analysts and diplomats was that war wouldplunge the region and the world into greater turmoil and instability.Echoing the views of my colleagues from the region and beyond, I told theSecurity Council on Feb. 18, 2003, that while the ramifications of the warcould go beyond anyone's calculations, "one outcome is almost certain:extremism stands to benefit enormously from an uncalculated adventure inIraq."
This assessment came not from any sympathy for the former Iraqi dictator orhis regime. Certainly Iran - which had suffered the carnage of an eight-yearwar with Iraq in the 1980s, and on which Saddam Hussein unleashed chemicalweapons - had no affinity for him. Rather, it was based on a soberrecognition of the realities of the region and the inescapable dynamics ofoccupation.
Now the United States administration is - unfortunately - reaping theexpected bitter fruits of its ill-conceived adventurism, taking the regionand the world with it to the brink of further hostility. But rather thanface these unpleasant facts, the United States administration is trying tosell an escalated version of the same failed policy. It does this by tryingto make Iran its scapegoat and fabricating evidence of Iranian activities inIraq.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/07/AR2007020702314_pf.html
Distrust Hinders FBI In Outreach to Muslims
Effort Aimed at Homegrown Terrorism
By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 8, 2007; A01
LOS ANGELES -- The FBI's worst fears that hidden homegrown terrorist groupscould take root in this country were fanned here in the summer of 2005, whenfour young Muslim men were charged with conspiring "to levy war against theUnited States" via deadly attacks on military installations and synagoguesin Southern California.
The men belonged to what Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales called a"radical Islamic organization" named Jamiyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh (JIS), orAssembly of True Islam. They were discovered before they could carry outtheir alleged plans.
Although Gonzales claimed an intelligence victory, the FBI had only stumbledupon JIS. Numbers on a cellphone dropped during a gas-station holdup ledlocal police to an apartment and a computer with documents that authoritiessaid outlined a terrorism spree.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/opinion/08thur1.html?pagewanted=print
February 8, 2007
Editorial
Mr. Bush's Improbable Budget
President Bush claims that his new $2.9 trillion budget request is atough-minded plan for balancing the books by 2012. In reality, it's asmokescreen for making Mr. Bush's tax cuts permanent - and either hollowingout the government in the process or digging the country deeper into debt.
The budget is based on a series of improbable, if not dishonest,assumptions. To make it appear as if the tax cuts are affordable in the nearterm, it assumes that the Pentagon will not spend a single penny on Iraq orAfghanistan after 2009. It also assumes there will be no costs for fixingthe alternative minimum tax after this year, even though Mr. Bush andvirtually every politician in America is committed to such relief.
The new budget would also slash key entitlement programs and punish many ofthe country's most vulnerable citizens. Sharp reductions are envisioned forMedicare, with cuts of $66 billion over five years, and Medicaid, downapproximately $11 billion. Some of the Medicare proposals could serve asuseful starting points for a debate on controlling costs through such stepsas raising premiums for high-income beneficiaries. But the Medicaid cutswould be largely counterproductive. At a time when the number of uninsuredchildren is rising, the cuts would force many states to reduce theirMedicaid rolls.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-US-Iraq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
February 8, 2007
Dems Take Simple Tack on Iraq War Debate
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 7:59 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Democratic leaders are considering astraightforward approach to next week's Iraq war debate, planning a shortand simple measure opposing President Bush's decision to send more forcesinto combat.
The bare-bones approach is intended to persuade Republicans to break rankswith the GOP and express their frustration with a war without turning offDemocrats who want to end the war by cutting funding.
In the Senate, meanwhile, a group of Republicans said Wednesday they wouldcontinue pushing for an Iraq resolution that stalled in the Senate earlierin the week.
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Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-newsom7feb07,0,3409236,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
In San Francisco, mayor's troubles not just personal
By John M. Glionna and Lee Romney
Times Staff Writers
February 7, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO - He's considered a darling of Democratic Party politics, asmooth-talking young millionaire with Kennedy good looks who has basked inthe media limelight while being courted as a possible national politicalfigure.
But beneath the surface, Mayor Gavin Newsom's Camelot has been crumbling.
After admitting in the last five days to adultery and alcohol abuse, Newsomhas suffered a public political meltdown that has rocked City Hall and ledone San Francisco supervisor to call for his resignation.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.tompaine.com/print/finally_a_hot_seat_for_bremer.php
Finally, A Hot Seat For Bremer
Isaiah J. Poole
February 06, 2007
The Associated Press story could hardly have made it more plain: "The formerU.S. occupation chief in Iraq on Tuesday defended the way he haphazardlydoled out billions of dollars in Iraqi funds after the U.S. invasion asDemocrats began a two-year effort to scrutinize fraud, waste and abuse underthe Bush administration."
Yes, L. Paul Bremer III was just that brazen. But the fact that these guyshave no shame is not breaking news.
What is breaking news is that the House Oversight and Government ReformCommittee, with Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., at the helm, is scrutinizingthe astonishing waste, mismanagement and, as some allege, criminal behaviorof Bush administration officials and contractors involved in the Iraqinvasion and the reconstruction effort.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/entertainment/16629739.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Tue, Feb. 06, 2007
Journalist Ray Suarez takes on religion and politics
When Minnesotan Keith Ellison used the Quran for his swearing-in as thefirst Muslim elected to Congress, it touched off a lively discussion inMinnesota about church and state. So local audiences should be especiallyinterested in award-winning journalist Ray Suarez's discussion Thursday ofhis new book "The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America'' (Rayo,$24.95).
Suarez is the bearded, genial senior correspondent for public television's"NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" and a former host of National Public Radio's"Talk of the Nation."
In "The Holy Vote," Suarez looks at the way Americans worship, how organizedreligion and politics intersect in America, and how this collision ispolarizing the country and transforming the current and future Americanmindset.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/lifestyle/sfl-ralph06feb06,0,2114866,print.column
Our gift to our grandchildren
Ralph De La Cruz
Lifestyle Columnist
February 6, 2007
It's pretty remarkable for 2,500 respected scientists from 113 countries tocome to a consensus about anything. Anytime you get so many educated peoplefrom so many different places and cultures, they usually have a tough timeagreeing that the sky is blue.
But the conclusions this group reached were anything but blue-sky:
The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reportedFriday that by the end of the century -- which my grandchildren, if not mychildren, will see -- average global temperatures could rise 2 to 11.5degrees Fahrenheit.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-airaqlesbians08feb08,0,7196804,print.story
U.S. policy on gays in military assailed
By Devlin Barrett
The Associated Press
February 8, 2007
WASHINGTON · A New York congressman Wednesday jokingly suggested the Bushadministration may fear a "platoon of lesbians" more than terrorists inBaghdad, given the military's resistance to letting homosexuals openlyserve.
Rep. Gary Ackerman's criticism of Pentagon policy came as Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Ackerman, a New York City Democrat, complained to Rice that the military hadfired Arabic and Farsi translators after learning the translators werehomosexuals.
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