NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST August 17, 2007

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Join The Miami-Dade Democratic Party and Senator Barack Oobama

Saturday, August 25th, 2007 at 3:00PM at the Miami Dade County Auditorium,2901 W. Flagler St. , Miami 33135

Featuring a performance by Ellen Bukstel

Tickets: $30pp - General Admission - $100pp - "VIP Seating"call 305-477-4994 (please say your from Broward County )



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

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081507A.shtml

No Center, No Centrists
By George Lakoff
t r u t h o u t | Guest Contributor
Wednesday 15 August 2007

"Centrism" is the creation of an inaccurate, self-serving metaphor, andit is time to bury it.

There is no left-to-right linear spectrum in the American politicallife. There are two systems of values and modes of thought - call themprogressive and conservative (or nurturant and strict, as I have). There aretotal progressives, who use a progressive mode of thought on all issues. Andtotal conservatives. And there are lots of folks who are what I've called"biconceptuals": progressive on certain issue areas and conservative onothers. But they don't form a linear scale. They are all over the place:progressive on domestic policy, conservative on foreign policy; conservativeon economic policy, progressive on foreign policy and social issues;conservative on religion, but progressive on social issues and foreignpolicy, and on and on. No linear scale. No single set of values defining a"center." Indeed, many such folks are not moderate in their views; they canbe quite passionate about both their progressive and conservative views.

Barack Obama has it right: Get rid of the very idea of the right and theleft and the center. American ideas are fundamentally progressive ideas -the ideas on which this country was founded and which carry forth thatspirit. Progressives care about people and the earth, and act withresponsibility and strength on that care.



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/us/17spy.html?pagewanted=print

August 17, 2007
Liberties Advocates Fear Abuse of Satellite Images
By ERIC SCHMITT

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 - For years, a handful of civilian agencies have usedlimited images from the nation's constellation of spy satellites to trackhurricane damage, monitor climate change and create topographical maps.

But a new plan to allow emergency response, border control and, eventually,law enforcement agencies greater access to sophisticated satellites andother sensors that monitor American territory has drawn sharp criticism fromcivil liberties advocates who say the government is overstepping the use ofmilitary technology for domestic surveillance.

"It potentially marks a transformation of American political culture towarda surveillance state in which the entire public domain is subject toofficial monitoring," said Steven Aftergood, director of the Project onGovernment Secrecy for the Federation of American Scientists.

At issue is a newly disclosed plan that Mike McConnell, director of nationalintelligence, approved in May in a memorandum to Homeland Security SecretaryMichael Chertoff, which puts some of the nation's most powerfulintelligence-gathering tools at the disposal of domestic security officialsas early as this fall.



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Florida

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20070816/APF/708160893

Sarasota Herald Tribune
Property tax 'portability' gets frosty reception from tax panel
BY BILL KACZOR
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A proposal to let homeowners take at least part of their existing tax breaks with them when they move received a frosty reception Thursday from part of a commission studying Florida's tax structure.

Several members of the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission's property tax work group said the "portability" proposal would exacerbate inequities caused by the Florida Constitution's Save Our Homes Amendment, which voters adopted in 1992.

"As I look 20 years out into the future and I see this portability that you're talking about, I see a disaster that's going to make Save Our Homes seem like a walk in the park," said Commissioner Nancy Riley, also president of the Florida Association of Realtors.


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