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International News
Focus on Africa's Woes, Not Gay Clergy: Tutu
Friday, January 26, 2007
Focus on Africa's Woes, Not Gay Clergy: Tutu
NAIROBI, Kenya - An archbishop within the African-Anglican church lastweek urged his fellow believers to concentrate on the continent'ssevere problems and not to allow differences of opinion over gayissues sidetrack the church. Archbishop Desmond Tutu also saidpersecuting gay people is akin to racism, the Africa-based news website the Mail and Guardian Online reported. The Anglican Churchworldwide, which has 77 million members, is facing a split overdebates about homosexuality. "I am deeply disturbed that in the faceof some of the most horrendous problems facing Africa, we concentrateon 'what do I do in bed with whom,'" the South African Nobel LaureateTutu told a news conference in Nairobi. "For one to penalize someonefor their sexual orientation is the same as penalizing someone forsomething they can do nothing about, like ethnicity or race. I cannotimagine persecuting a minority group which is already beingpersecuted." Homosexuality is taboo in most African societies.
=
Gays And Lesbians Step Out to Demand Rights
The Nation (Nairobi)
NEWS
January 26, 2007
Posted to the web January 25, 2007
By Lucas Barasa
Nairobi
A new phenomenon is gaining currency in the country: Lesbians, gaysand transsexuals are coming out openly to demand their rights.
The group stole the show at the World Social Forum which ended at theMoi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, yesterday with their standbeing a crowd puller.
University of Nairobi law student Judith Ngunjiri who confessed tobeing a lesbian at the world Social Forum.
Lesbians, gays and transsexuals who have been going on with theirlifestyles secretly joined colleagues from other parts of the world inpublicly declaring they were not ashamed of their situation.
In fact it was only at their stand, adjacent to Gate 7, where visitorswere offered free tea and cookies before being invited for "lessons onlesbianism, gay relationships and transsexuals."
=
365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012607conn.htm
Conn. Gov: No Gay Marriages
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 27, 2007 - 12:01 am ET
(Hartford, Connecticut) Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell said Friday that ifthe legislature passes a same-sex marriage bill she will veto it.
The threat comes as LGBT civil rights groups prepare for a new push nextweek on lawmakers to approve same-sex marriage.
In 2005, Rell, a Republican, signed a civil union bill - at the time thesecond in the nation, after Vermont, and the first to enact such a lawwithout being ordered by a court.
"When I signed the civil union bill that I believed it covered the concernsthat had been raised," Rell told reporters Friday when asked about apotential marriage bill in the legislature..
"And I believe that that bill was the appropriate way to go and I stilldo,'' Rell said.
=
Advocate.com
Gay Foe Huckabee To Enter GOP Presidential Race
January 27, 2007
Mexican lawmaker pioneers transsexual rights
A Mexican congressman said Thursday he will submit a bill in March thatwould amend the country's constitution to guarantee the rights oftranssexuals.
A Mexican congressman said Thursday he will submit a bill in March thatwould amend the country's constitution to guarantee the rights oftranssexuals and change civil laws to ensure that they can legally changetheir name and gender. David Sánchez Camacho's bill would insert a paragraphinto Article 4 of the Mexican constitution stating that ''every person hasthe right to the recognition and free exercise of their gender identity andtheir gender expression.''
Article 4 currently guarantees equal rights for women and men and states therights of children and families, but it does not mention gays, lesbians, ortranssexuals. A transsexual is a person who has undergone a sex-changeoperation or whose sexual identification does not correspond with the genderat birth.
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11062
Democrat blocks 'gay' amendment to minimum wage bill
Gay GOP group demandsvote on D.P. measure
By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | Jan 26, 10:29 AM
A prominent Senate Democrat this week took steps to block an amendment tothe minimum wage bill that would provide tax deductions foremployer-generated health benefits for domestic partners.
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, threatenedto invoke a parliamentary rule to stop Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) fromintroducing the domestic partner amendment.
Baucus said the partner amendment could jeopardize a compromise package oftax relief amendments for small businesses that Republicans have demanded asa condition for backing the minimum wage bill, according to Baucusspokesperson Carol Guthrie.
R.C. Hammond, a spokesperson for Smith, said Smith backed down fromintroducing his amendment in committee on Jan. 17 and on the Senate floor onJan. 24 after Baucus and Democratic leaders informed him they would rule theamendment non-germane, preventing it from coming up for a vote.
=
SoVo.com
http://www.sovo.com/print.cfm?content_id=6430
Firing gay workers still legal in Ga.
Best hope for job protections lies at federal level
By RYAN LEE
Jan. 26, 2007
Fresh out of law school, where she finished sixth in her graduating class,Robin Shahar was well versed in Georgia law and justice.
But she was also grounded in a sense of right and wrong, and before herlegal career could even begin she learned that what is legal does not alwaysharmonize with what is right.
"I was extremely surprised," Shahar said this week, recalling the day in1991 that she was summoned into her new boss's office and received the newsthat she was being fired for being a lesbian.
"Obviously the law doesn't provide protection for gay men and lesbians inthe workplace, but despite that I was brought up to believe you would beevaluated as an employee based on the value of your work," said Shahar, whonow works in the law department of the city of Atlanta.
=
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Activists predict progress in N.Y., Calif., Wash., this year
By ELIZABETH A. PERRY
Friday, January 26, 2007
http://www.washblade.com/2007/1-26/news/national/progress.cfm
As legislative sessions get under way in statehouses across the country,same-sex marriage is again emerging as a hot topic in a handful of states.
From Vermont to California, gay rights advocates are hopeful for advancesin marriage-related legislation, while in Massachusetts, where gay marriageis already legal, activists are working to avert a repeal of the historicgay rights measure.
Massachusetts
A constitutional amendment to repeal the Bay State's gay marriage law passed134-62 on Jan. 2, the final day of the 2005-06 session. The amendment stillhas to survive another legislative vote in the new session to become aballot referendum. The measure needed 50 votes to pass.
more....
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'NYC' CONDOMS GET HEALTH CZAR EXCITED
By CARL CAMPANILE
City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden is pumped up about putting outNew York City's own brand of condoms to combat AIDS.
Frieden elaborated yesterday on a recent Post report about the "NYC"condom, which the condom maker said will be presented in packets with avariety of colors resembling city subway lines.
"Brands work, and people use branded items more than they use non-brandeditems, whether it's a cola or a medicine even," Frieden said. "Brands addvalue, and they increase use."
The city hands out 1.5 million free condoms each month, or about 18million a year, to groups to distribute.
The city Health Department just approved a new $1.57 million contractwith Ansell-Lifestyle, an order that will deliver more than 20 millioncondoms plus packets of lubricants. The condoms will be unveiled soon.
New York City leads the nation in HIV/AIDS cases. In 2005, 1,400 cityinhabitants died of AIDS, the third-leading cause of death amongresidents under 65 behind cancer and heart disease.
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New from DIRELAND: U.N. Report Confirms Iraqi Gay Killings
NEW from DIRELAND, January 26, 20006
U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT CONFIRMS IRAQI GAY KILLINGS
A new human rightsreport by the United Nations Aid Mission in Iraq (UNAMI)has, for the very first time, confirmed the widespread killings of Iraqigays as part of a campaign of "sexual cleansing" being carried out byreligious death squads, and includes a description of so-called religious"courts" that try Iraqi same-sexers and sentence them to death.
For the details, click on:
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2007/01/for_the_very_fi.html
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Poll: Half of Americans Back Same-Sex Marriage Ban
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/14474
Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research Half of Americans Back Same-SexMarriage Ban January 24, 2007
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - A majority of adults in the United Stateswould forbid same-sex partners from entering wedlock, according to a poll byOpinion Dynamics released by Ipsos-Public Affairs released by the AssociatedPress. 51 per cent of respondents would favour a law that would ban gaymarriage.
In 2004, marriage certificates were issued to same-sex couples by localgovernments in the states of California, Oregon, New Mexico and New York. InMay 2004, the state of Massachusetts allowed gay and lesbian partners toapply for marriage licenses, the first state-sanctioned homosexual weddingsin the U.S.
Civil union and domestic partnership laws in Vermont, Connecticut andCalifornia grant same-sex couples all state-level rights and obligations ofmarriage-in areas such as inheritance, income tax, insurance and hospitalvisitation. Other forms of domestic partnership exist in the District ofColumbia, Hawaii and Maine. There are more than 1,000 federal-level rightsof marriage that cannot be granted by states.
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African LGBT activists at the World Social Forum
WORLD SOCIAL FORUM:
Long Fight for Justice for Homosexuals
Joyce Mulama
NAIROBI, Jan 23 (IPS) - Even with tens of thousands of activists at theWorld Social Forum (WSF) denouncing injustices of all kinds, the issue ofdiscrimination against homosexuals is making its voice heard amidst the din.At the five-day forum, which opened Jan. 20 here in Kenya's capital,lesbians and gays from across Africa have come out to express how they havebeen ill-treated by society.
In most African countries, homosexuality is taboo. It is regarded by some assatanic and un-African.
However, the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK), an umbrella body ofgay and lesbian groups, and which has brought together colleagues fromacross the continent to share experiences, is hopeful that after the WSF,this perception will have changed.
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Blair urged to speed up gay adoption reforms
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2186511.ece
Tony Blair is under new pressure on gay adoptions as cabinet ministers andLabour MPs called for the Roman Catholic Church to be given only months tocome to terms with a new anti-discrimination law.
Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary, wants a transitional period of sixmonths to allow the church to decide how to respond and possibly transferthe 80 staff employed in its 10 adoption agencies to other agencies. Butsome professionals working in the adoption service say they need athree-year period to ensure children do not suffer from any changes.Catholic leaders have warned that the agencies may be closed unless theGovernment exempts them from a law banning discrimination in the provisionof goods and services on grounds of sexuality.
A study by officials at the Department for Education and Skills, which isresponsible for adoption, has found that only six months would be needed toensure that children were not harmed by the change. There is currently someover-provision in the adoption service and so the Catholic agencies mightnot need to be fully replaced. Some might decide to continue despite theirleaders' opposition to children being adopted by gay and lesbian couples.
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http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012407tax.htm
Measure Would End Tax Penalties For Small Companies Offering DomesticPartner Insurance
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 24, 2007 - 7:00 pm ET
(Washington) Senator Gordon H. Smith (R) has filed an amendment to FairMinimum Wage Act that would eliminate an extra tax burden on small companiesoffering domestic partner benefits to their workers.
The number of companies offering domestic partner benefits is growingrapidly but those taking advantage of it are hit with higher taxes.Under federal tax law domestic partner benefits are considered income andsubject to taxation.
Smith's amendment would eliminate the provision in the tax code. But becausethe Minimum Wage Act only applies to small business the amendment is limitedto those companies.
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http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2184265.ece
Independent News and Media Limited
Gay Adoption: True stories
The Catholic church should be allowed to deny same-sex couples the right toadopt. So says Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. Kate Hilpern, who helps toplace children in new homes, and was adopted herself, explains why he'swrong. And five gay parents share their experiences of bringing up a familyPublished: 25 January 2007
It takes guts to apply to adopt children knowing that your life is about tobe closely scrutinised. If you're a lesbian or gay individual or couple,that bravery is all the greater. I've heard countless stories from thoseI've worked with in the field of adoption of lengthy and dishearteningstruggles, of overt discrimination. And I know first-hand, from seven years'service on a local authority adoption panel, that some adoption workersreveal inadvertent prejudices even when they'd be horrified at the thoughtof being considered anything other than liberal.
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More at stake than just a TV show
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-eastasia.asp?parentid=61999
AsiaMedia
The Regents of the University of California More at stake than just a TVshow
Chris Yeung calls for a spirit of debate in the controversy over Hong Kongbroadcaster RTHK's program about homosexuality
South China Morning Post
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
By Chris Yeung
The issue of gay marriage has proved to be controversial even in countriesknown for their liberal thinking. It is no different in Hong Kong. That isclear from the views expressed on the letters pages of the South ChinaMorning Post, and on radio phone-in programmes over the past two days.
The subject has drawn strong, sharply divided views from society. If mostpeople welcome the divisive -- and at times acrimonious -- debate, it isbecause they cherish the right of people to express their views, howeverdifferent those opinions may be from their own. That is part and parcel ofthe free society that Hong Kong has embraced.
It is against this background that a row over the RTHK programme Gay Lovershas caused some jitters among media professionals and within some quartersof society.
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Struggling for a Massachusetts equal marriage strategy
In Newsweekly
http://www.innewsweekly.com/innews/?class_code=Ne&article_code=3333&article_page=1
Struggling for a Massachusetts equal marriage strategy Chuck Colbert January25, 2007
IN COMMUNITY FORUMS THROUGHOUT THE STATE, MASSEQUALITY SAYS IT STILL HOPESTO DEFEAT THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT BANNING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE IN THE LEGISLATURE; OTHERS THINK THERE SHOULD BE A GREATER FOCUS ON STATEWIDE INITIATIVES AND RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE
Just two weeks after Massachusetts lawmakers voted to advance a ballotmeasure defining marriage as the union of a man and woman, marriage equalityadvocates are struggling to determine strategy.
MassEquality, the umbrella coalition of organizations formed to preserve theright to marry, held community forums throughout the state, saying it stillhopes to stop the amendment from going to a statewide ballot."We are focused right now on defeating the amendment in the Legislature,"said MassEquality Campaign Director Marc Solomon on Wednesday, Jan. 17, atSt. Paul's Cathedral across from the Boston Common.
Some of the approximately 50 people who attended the open communitydiscussion in Boston expressed concerns about an emphasis on a Statehouseapproach.
"Maybe we need to change strategy," said longtime gay community activistRich Braun, and "push with the people."
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Gay rights surface in the Mexican desert
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/mexico/stories/012607dnintgay_.e61032.html
07:00 PM CST on Thursday, January 25, 2007
Cox News Service
SALTILLO, Mexico - San Francisco this isn't.
Here on the outskirts of the forbidding Chihuahua desert, where ranchessprawl for miles and cowboy culture rules, life is marked by a conservativestreak that dates back to the Spanish friars of the 1500's.
So, many residents in the border state of Coahuila were surprised earlierthis month when the legislature approved civil unions for gay couples,instantly placing Texas's neighbor on the vanguard of gay rights in theAmericas. Coahuila joins Mexico City, Buenos Aires and a southern state inBrazil as Latin America locales approving gay unions.
Coahuila's new law did not result from a vigorous grassroots movement - thestate has never hosted a gay rights march, say gay activists in Coahuila. Infact some of the most astonished reactions have come from members of thestate's largely low-key gay community.
"I never thought it would happen, much less here in Coahuila," said RobertoMartinez, a 30-year-old hair stylist in Coahuila's capital Saltillo, whoplans to take advantage of the new law. "There's still a lot of machismo inCoahuila."
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16774861/site/newsweek/
Transgendered Clergy Encouraged to Come Out
Workplace difficulties can arise for trangendered persons in nearly allprofessions, but what about those who are called to work for God?
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Lauren McCauley
Special to Newsweek
Updated: 4:42 p.m. ET Jan 23, 2007
Jan. 23, 2007 - In 1973, Eric Karl Swenson was ordained in the PresbyterianChurch and went to work doing what he'd always dreamed of: ministering to acongregation of the Southern Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. More than 20years later, one dream almost ended when another began. When the Presbyteryof Greater Atlanta discovered in 1996 that Swenson had finally fulfilledanother lifelong desire-having sex-change surgery to become a woman-itstarted proceedings to revoke Swenson's ordination.
At the time of her "transition," Swenson did not resist the church'squestions nor blame its reluctance. "I had been in the closet for 30 years,learning to accept myself," she says. "It is difficult for me to be angry atothers for not accepting." Married with two daughters before her transition,Swenson described her struggle, years later, in a sermon: "I had spent thebetter part of four decades wrestling secretly with the unreasonable andincorrigible desire to be female." After almost three years of gruelingquestions and debate, the Presbytery finally agreed, 181-161, to sustain herordination, making Swenson the first known Protestant minister to transitionfrom male to female while remaining in office. Now 59, Swenson is tall andblond, with shoulder-length hair and an assertive manner. Erin, as she'scalled, continues to work as a pastoral counselor and, she hopes, as aninspiration for others who find themselves living out, what may be, the lasttaboo in society, let alone organized religion.
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SPIEGEL ONLINE - January 26, 2007, 05:44 PM
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,462516,00.html
SEX-CHANGE OPERATIONS
Mistakes in God's Factory
Even as children, transsexuals have the feeling of living in the wrong body.When should they be allowed to switch genders? Two years ago, atwelve-year-old German boy became the world's youngest person to starthormone treatments for a sex change.
Tanja Pfeil, a 49-year-old transsexual from northern Germany. "Michael
dissolved and became Tanja," she says. "She is stronger than he was."<http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,785984,00.jpg>Stephan Elleringmann
Tanja Pfeil, a 49-year-old transsexual from northern Germany. "Michaeldissolved and became Tanja," she says. "She is stronger than he was."
Kim P. is 14 years old. She wears light eyeshadow, a navel-baring topand embroidered jeans. She plays with strands of her long hair as shedescribes her dream of going to Paris one day to be a fashion designer. Herattic bedroom in her parents' house is a girl's paradise in pink, with therequisite fashion magazines, a makeup table, a sewing machine and even aclothes mannequin near the window.
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http://www.vox.gi/index.php?news=1813
Minorities Group to Raise Gibraltar Concerns with Brussels
Gibraltar Government's disappointing record in the sphere of gay rights isto be the subject of questions in both the European Parliament and inWestminster, the equality rights group GGR said in a statement issued thisweek. And, as well as the questions affecting discrimination on sexualorientation and other issues which are to be raised in both parliaments, GGRis to approach the European Commission to air its doubts whether theGovernment has fully complied with the EC's Race Directive.
GGR also criticizes Keith Azopardi and the PDP for its slowness inresponding to the group's request for the party to "clarify" its policy onsexual minorities.
"At European level, and working closely with Lib-Dem MEP Graham Watson,several questions have been tabled regarding the fact that Gibraltarcontinues to discriminate on the issue of the legal age of consent forsexual minority citizens and counter to judgments from the European Court ofHuman Rights," the statement says.
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To journalists asking pols 'the gay question'
By Mark Segal
PGN Publisher
C 2007 Philadelphia Gay News
Last Sunday on ABC-TV's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," Kansas Sen.Sam Brownback appeared as the latest candidate for the Republicanpresidential nomination. Brownback, like former Gov. Mitt Romney ofMassachusetts, intends to campaign as the darling of the Republican rightwing, emulating the way George W. Bush won that nomination and becamepresident. The difference between Romney and Brownback is that the former isa flip-flopper on gay issues and reproductive choice, while the latter is atrue dyed-in-the-wool conservative who has always supported a ban on gaymarriage and abortion.
As the new candidate on the scene, Brownback gets his 15 minutes on theSunday political talk shows and gets to answer the volley of questions fromthe host. Stephanopoulos tackles our issues, asking about Mary Cheney,noting the announcement that the vice president's lesbian daughter waspregnant brought consternation from the conservatives. He quoted JamesDobson, of the anti-gay group Focus on the Family, then asked Brownback whathis reaction was. Brownback responded that it was a personal choice on herpart and that he believes the best way to raise a baby is in a family with amother and a father, male and female bonded for life. Stephanopoulos thenasks if gay adoption and parenting should be legal; Brownback dodges thequestion by stating that he believes it is important to strengthen Americanfamilies.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
Saturday, January 27, 2007
GLBT DIGEST - January 27, 2007
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US ATrays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
International News
Focus on Africa's Woes, Not Gay Clergy: Tutu
Friday, January 26, 2007
Focus on Africa's Woes, Not Gay Clergy: Tutu
NAIROBI, Kenya - An archbishop within the African-Anglican church lastweek urged his fellow believers to concentrate on the continent'ssevere problems and not to allow differences of opinion over gayissues sidetrack the church. Archbishop Desmond Tutu also saidpersecuting gay people is akin to racism, the Africa-based news website the Mail and Guardian Online reported. The Anglican Churchworldwide, which has 77 million members, is facing a split overdebates about homosexuality. "I am deeply disturbed that in the faceof some of the most horrendous problems facing Africa, we concentrateon 'what do I do in bed with whom,'" the South African Nobel LaureateTutu told a news conference in Nairobi. "For one to penalize someonefor their sexual orientation is the same as penalizing someone forsomething they can do nothing about, like ethnicity or race. I cannotimagine persecuting a minority group which is already beingpersecuted." Homosexuality is taboo in most African societies.
=
Gays And Lesbians Step Out to Demand Rights
The Nation (Nairobi)
NEWS
January 26, 2007
Posted to the web January 25, 2007
By Lucas Barasa
Nairobi
A new phenomenon is gaining currency in the country: Lesbians, gaysand transsexuals are coming out openly to demand their rights.
The group stole the show at the World Social Forum which ended at theMoi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, yesterday with their standbeing a crowd puller.
University of Nairobi law student Judith Ngunjiri who confessed tobeing a lesbian at the world Social Forum.
Lesbians, gays and transsexuals who have been going on with theirlifestyles secretly joined colleagues from other parts of the world inpublicly declaring they were not ashamed of their situation.
In fact it was only at their stand, adjacent to Gate 7, where visitorswere offered free tea and cookies before being invited for "lessons onlesbianism, gay relationships and transsexuals."
=
365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012607conn.htm
Conn. Gov: No Gay Marriages
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 27, 2007 - 12:01 am ET
(Hartford, Connecticut) Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell said Friday that ifthe legislature passes a same-sex marriage bill she will veto it.
The threat comes as LGBT civil rights groups prepare for a new push nextweek on lawmakers to approve same-sex marriage.
In 2005, Rell, a Republican, signed a civil union bill - at the time thesecond in the nation, after Vermont, and the first to enact such a lawwithout being ordered by a court.
"When I signed the civil union bill that I believed it covered the concernsthat had been raised," Rell told reporters Friday when asked about apotential marriage bill in the legislature..
"And I believe that that bill was the appropriate way to go and I stilldo,'' Rell said.
=
Advocate.com
Gay Foe Huckabee To Enter GOP Presidential Race
January 27, 2007
Mexican lawmaker pioneers transsexual rights
A Mexican congressman said Thursday he will submit a bill in March thatwould amend the country's constitution to guarantee the rights oftranssexuals.
A Mexican congressman said Thursday he will submit a bill in March thatwould amend the country's constitution to guarantee the rights oftranssexuals and change civil laws to ensure that they can legally changetheir name and gender. David Sánchez Camacho's bill would insert a paragraphinto Article 4 of the Mexican constitution stating that ''every person hasthe right to the recognition and free exercise of their gender identity andtheir gender expression.''
Article 4 currently guarantees equal rights for women and men and states therights of children and families, but it does not mention gays, lesbians, ortranssexuals. A transsexual is a person who has undergone a sex-changeoperation or whose sexual identification does not correspond with the genderat birth.
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11062
Democrat blocks 'gay' amendment to minimum wage bill
Gay GOP group demandsvote on D.P. measure
By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | Jan 26, 10:29 AM
A prominent Senate Democrat this week took steps to block an amendment tothe minimum wage bill that would provide tax deductions foremployer-generated health benefits for domestic partners.
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, threatenedto invoke a parliamentary rule to stop Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) fromintroducing the domestic partner amendment.
Baucus said the partner amendment could jeopardize a compromise package oftax relief amendments for small businesses that Republicans have demanded asa condition for backing the minimum wage bill, according to Baucusspokesperson Carol Guthrie.
R.C. Hammond, a spokesperson for Smith, said Smith backed down fromintroducing his amendment in committee on Jan. 17 and on the Senate floor onJan. 24 after Baucus and Democratic leaders informed him they would rule theamendment non-germane, preventing it from coming up for a vote.
=
SoVo.com
http://www.sovo.com/print.cfm?content_id=6430
Firing gay workers still legal in Ga.
Best hope for job protections lies at federal level
By RYAN LEE
Jan. 26, 2007
Fresh out of law school, where she finished sixth in her graduating class,Robin Shahar was well versed in Georgia law and justice.
But she was also grounded in a sense of right and wrong, and before herlegal career could even begin she learned that what is legal does not alwaysharmonize with what is right.
"I was extremely surprised," Shahar said this week, recalling the day in1991 that she was summoned into her new boss's office and received the newsthat she was being fired for being a lesbian.
"Obviously the law doesn't provide protection for gay men and lesbians inthe workplace, but despite that I was brought up to believe you would beevaluated as an employee based on the value of your work," said Shahar, whonow works in the law department of the city of Atlanta.
=
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Activists predict progress in N.Y., Calif., Wash., this year
By ELIZABETH A. PERRY
Friday, January 26, 2007
http://www.washblade.com/2007/1-26/news/national/progress.cfm
As legislative sessions get under way in statehouses across the country,same-sex marriage is again emerging as a hot topic in a handful of states.
From Vermont to California, gay rights advocates are hopeful for advancesin marriage-related legislation, while in Massachusetts, where gay marriageis already legal, activists are working to avert a repeal of the historicgay rights measure.
Massachusetts
A constitutional amendment to repeal the Bay State's gay marriage law passed134-62 on Jan. 2, the final day of the 2005-06 session. The amendment stillhas to survive another legislative vote in the new session to become aballot referendum. The measure needed 50 votes to pass.
more....
=
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'NYC' CONDOMS GET HEALTH CZAR EXCITED
By CARL CAMPANILE
City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden is pumped up about putting outNew York City's own brand of condoms to combat AIDS.
Frieden elaborated yesterday on a recent Post report about the "NYC"condom, which the condom maker said will be presented in packets with avariety of colors resembling city subway lines.
"Brands work, and people use branded items more than they use non-brandeditems, whether it's a cola or a medicine even," Frieden said. "Brands addvalue, and they increase use."
The city hands out 1.5 million free condoms each month, or about 18million a year, to groups to distribute.
The city Health Department just approved a new $1.57 million contractwith Ansell-Lifestyle, an order that will deliver more than 20 millioncondoms plus packets of lubricants. The condoms will be unveiled soon.
New York City leads the nation in HIV/AIDS cases. In 2005, 1,400 cityinhabitants died of AIDS, the third-leading cause of death amongresidents under 65 behind cancer and heart disease.
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New from DIRELAND: U.N. Report Confirms Iraqi Gay Killings
NEW from DIRELAND, January 26, 20006
U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT CONFIRMS IRAQI GAY KILLINGS
A new human rightsreport by the United Nations Aid Mission in Iraq (UNAMI)has, for the very first time, confirmed the widespread killings of Iraqigays as part of a campaign of "sexual cleansing" being carried out byreligious death squads, and includes a description of so-called religious"courts" that try Iraqi same-sexers and sentence them to death.
For the details, click on:
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2007/01/for_the_very_fi.html
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Poll: Half of Americans Back Same-Sex Marriage Ban
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/14474
Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research Half of Americans Back Same-SexMarriage Ban January 24, 2007
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - A majority of adults in the United Stateswould forbid same-sex partners from entering wedlock, according to a poll byOpinion Dynamics released by Ipsos-Public Affairs released by the AssociatedPress. 51 per cent of respondents would favour a law that would ban gaymarriage.
In 2004, marriage certificates were issued to same-sex couples by localgovernments in the states of California, Oregon, New Mexico and New York. InMay 2004, the state of Massachusetts allowed gay and lesbian partners toapply for marriage licenses, the first state-sanctioned homosexual weddingsin the U.S.
Civil union and domestic partnership laws in Vermont, Connecticut andCalifornia grant same-sex couples all state-level rights and obligations ofmarriage-in areas such as inheritance, income tax, insurance and hospitalvisitation. Other forms of domestic partnership exist in the District ofColumbia, Hawaii and Maine. There are more than 1,000 federal-level rightsof marriage that cannot be granted by states.
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African LGBT activists at the World Social Forum
WORLD SOCIAL FORUM:
Long Fight for Justice for Homosexuals
Joyce Mulama
NAIROBI, Jan 23 (IPS) - Even with tens of thousands of activists at theWorld Social Forum (WSF) denouncing injustices of all kinds, the issue ofdiscrimination against homosexuals is making its voice heard amidst the din.At the five-day forum, which opened Jan. 20 here in Kenya's capital,lesbians and gays from across Africa have come out to express how they havebeen ill-treated by society.
In most African countries, homosexuality is taboo. It is regarded by some assatanic and un-African.
However, the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK), an umbrella body ofgay and lesbian groups, and which has brought together colleagues fromacross the continent to share experiences, is hopeful that after the WSF,this perception will have changed.
=
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Blair urged to speed up gay adoption reforms
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2186511.ece
Tony Blair is under new pressure on gay adoptions as cabinet ministers andLabour MPs called for the Roman Catholic Church to be given only months tocome to terms with a new anti-discrimination law.
Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary, wants a transitional period of sixmonths to allow the church to decide how to respond and possibly transferthe 80 staff employed in its 10 adoption agencies to other agencies. Butsome professionals working in the adoption service say they need athree-year period to ensure children do not suffer from any changes.Catholic leaders have warned that the agencies may be closed unless theGovernment exempts them from a law banning discrimination in the provisionof goods and services on grounds of sexuality.
A study by officials at the Department for Education and Skills, which isresponsible for adoption, has found that only six months would be needed toensure that children were not harmed by the change. There is currently someover-provision in the adoption service and so the Catholic agencies mightnot need to be fully replaced. Some might decide to continue despite theirleaders' opposition to children being adopted by gay and lesbian couples.
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http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012407tax.htm
Measure Would End Tax Penalties For Small Companies Offering DomesticPartner Insurance
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 24, 2007 - 7:00 pm ET
(Washington) Senator Gordon H. Smith (R) has filed an amendment to FairMinimum Wage Act that would eliminate an extra tax burden on small companiesoffering domestic partner benefits to their workers.
The number of companies offering domestic partner benefits is growingrapidly but those taking advantage of it are hit with higher taxes.Under federal tax law domestic partner benefits are considered income andsubject to taxation.
Smith's amendment would eliminate the provision in the tax code. But becausethe Minimum Wage Act only applies to small business the amendment is limitedto those companies.
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http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2184265.ece
Independent News and Media Limited
Gay Adoption: True stories
The Catholic church should be allowed to deny same-sex couples the right toadopt. So says Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. Kate Hilpern, who helps toplace children in new homes, and was adopted herself, explains why he'swrong. And five gay parents share their experiences of bringing up a familyPublished: 25 January 2007
It takes guts to apply to adopt children knowing that your life is about tobe closely scrutinised. If you're a lesbian or gay individual or couple,that bravery is all the greater. I've heard countless stories from thoseI've worked with in the field of adoption of lengthy and dishearteningstruggles, of overt discrimination. And I know first-hand, from seven years'service on a local authority adoption panel, that some adoption workersreveal inadvertent prejudices even when they'd be horrified at the thoughtof being considered anything other than liberal.
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More at stake than just a TV show
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-eastasia.asp?parentid=61999
AsiaMedia
The Regents of the University of California More at stake than just a TVshow
Chris Yeung calls for a spirit of debate in the controversy over Hong Kongbroadcaster RTHK's program about homosexuality
South China Morning Post
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
By Chris Yeung
The issue of gay marriage has proved to be controversial even in countriesknown for their liberal thinking. It is no different in Hong Kong. That isclear from the views expressed on the letters pages of the South ChinaMorning Post, and on radio phone-in programmes over the past two days.
The subject has drawn strong, sharply divided views from society. If mostpeople welcome the divisive -- and at times acrimonious -- debate, it isbecause they cherish the right of people to express their views, howeverdifferent those opinions may be from their own. That is part and parcel ofthe free society that Hong Kong has embraced.
It is against this background that a row over the RTHK programme Gay Lovershas caused some jitters among media professionals and within some quartersof society.
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Struggling for a Massachusetts equal marriage strategy
In Newsweekly
http://www.innewsweekly.com/innews/?class_code=Ne&article_code=3333&article_page=1
Struggling for a Massachusetts equal marriage strategy Chuck Colbert January25, 2007
IN COMMUNITY FORUMS THROUGHOUT THE STATE, MASSEQUALITY SAYS IT STILL HOPESTO DEFEAT THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT BANNING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE IN THE LEGISLATURE; OTHERS THINK THERE SHOULD BE A GREATER FOCUS ON STATEWIDE INITIATIVES AND RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE
Just two weeks after Massachusetts lawmakers voted to advance a ballotmeasure defining marriage as the union of a man and woman, marriage equalityadvocates are struggling to determine strategy.
MassEquality, the umbrella coalition of organizations formed to preserve theright to marry, held community forums throughout the state, saying it stillhopes to stop the amendment from going to a statewide ballot."We are focused right now on defeating the amendment in the Legislature,"said MassEquality Campaign Director Marc Solomon on Wednesday, Jan. 17, atSt. Paul's Cathedral across from the Boston Common.
Some of the approximately 50 people who attended the open communitydiscussion in Boston expressed concerns about an emphasis on a Statehouseapproach.
"Maybe we need to change strategy," said longtime gay community activistRich Braun, and "push with the people."
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Gay rights surface in the Mexican desert
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/mexico/stories/012607dnintgay_.e61032.html
07:00 PM CST on Thursday, January 25, 2007
Cox News Service
SALTILLO, Mexico - San Francisco this isn't.
Here on the outskirts of the forbidding Chihuahua desert, where ranchessprawl for miles and cowboy culture rules, life is marked by a conservativestreak that dates back to the Spanish friars of the 1500's.
So, many residents in the border state of Coahuila were surprised earlierthis month when the legislature approved civil unions for gay couples,instantly placing Texas's neighbor on the vanguard of gay rights in theAmericas. Coahuila joins Mexico City, Buenos Aires and a southern state inBrazil as Latin America locales approving gay unions.
Coahuila's new law did not result from a vigorous grassroots movement - thestate has never hosted a gay rights march, say gay activists in Coahuila. Infact some of the most astonished reactions have come from members of thestate's largely low-key gay community.
"I never thought it would happen, much less here in Coahuila," said RobertoMartinez, a 30-year-old hair stylist in Coahuila's capital Saltillo, whoplans to take advantage of the new law. "There's still a lot of machismo inCoahuila."
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16774861/site/newsweek/
Transgendered Clergy Encouraged to Come Out
Workplace difficulties can arise for trangendered persons in nearly allprofessions, but what about those who are called to work for God?
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Lauren McCauley
Special to Newsweek
Updated: 4:42 p.m. ET Jan 23, 2007
Jan. 23, 2007 - In 1973, Eric Karl Swenson was ordained in the PresbyterianChurch and went to work doing what he'd always dreamed of: ministering to acongregation of the Southern Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. More than 20years later, one dream almost ended when another began. When the Presbyteryof Greater Atlanta discovered in 1996 that Swenson had finally fulfilledanother lifelong desire-having sex-change surgery to become a woman-itstarted proceedings to revoke Swenson's ordination.
At the time of her "transition," Swenson did not resist the church'squestions nor blame its reluctance. "I had been in the closet for 30 years,learning to accept myself," she says. "It is difficult for me to be angry atothers for not accepting." Married with two daughters before her transition,Swenson described her struggle, years later, in a sermon: "I had spent thebetter part of four decades wrestling secretly with the unreasonable andincorrigible desire to be female." After almost three years of gruelingquestions and debate, the Presbytery finally agreed, 181-161, to sustain herordination, making Swenson the first known Protestant minister to transitionfrom male to female while remaining in office. Now 59, Swenson is tall andblond, with shoulder-length hair and an assertive manner. Erin, as she'scalled, continues to work as a pastoral counselor and, she hopes, as aninspiration for others who find themselves living out, what may be, the lasttaboo in society, let alone organized religion.
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SPIEGEL ONLINE - January 26, 2007, 05:44 PM
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,462516,00.html
SEX-CHANGE OPERATIONS
Mistakes in God's Factory
Even as children, transsexuals have the feeling of living in the wrong body.When should they be allowed to switch genders? Two years ago, atwelve-year-old German boy became the world's youngest person to starthormone treatments for a sex change.
Tanja Pfeil, a 49-year-old transsexual from northern Germany. "Michael
dissolved and became Tanja," she says. "She is stronger than he was."<http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,785984,00.jpg>Stephan Elleringmann
Tanja Pfeil, a 49-year-old transsexual from northern Germany. "Michaeldissolved and became Tanja," she says. "She is stronger than he was."
Kim P. is 14 years old. She wears light eyeshadow, a navel-baring topand embroidered jeans. She plays with strands of her long hair as shedescribes her dream of going to Paris one day to be a fashion designer. Herattic bedroom in her parents' house is a girl's paradise in pink, with therequisite fashion magazines, a makeup table, a sewing machine and even aclothes mannequin near the window.
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http://www.vox.gi/index.php?news=1813
Minorities Group to Raise Gibraltar Concerns with Brussels
Gibraltar Government's disappointing record in the sphere of gay rights isto be the subject of questions in both the European Parliament and inWestminster, the equality rights group GGR said in a statement issued thisweek. And, as well as the questions affecting discrimination on sexualorientation and other issues which are to be raised in both parliaments, GGRis to approach the European Commission to air its doubts whether theGovernment has fully complied with the EC's Race Directive.
GGR also criticizes Keith Azopardi and the PDP for its slowness inresponding to the group's request for the party to "clarify" its policy onsexual minorities.
"At European level, and working closely with Lib-Dem MEP Graham Watson,several questions have been tabled regarding the fact that Gibraltarcontinues to discriminate on the issue of the legal age of consent forsexual minority citizens and counter to judgments from the European Court ofHuman Rights," the statement says.
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To journalists asking pols 'the gay question'
By Mark Segal
PGN Publisher
C 2007 Philadelphia Gay News
Last Sunday on ABC-TV's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," Kansas Sen.Sam Brownback appeared as the latest candidate for the Republicanpresidential nomination. Brownback, like former Gov. Mitt Romney ofMassachusetts, intends to campaign as the darling of the Republican rightwing, emulating the way George W. Bush won that nomination and becamepresident. The difference between Romney and Brownback is that the former isa flip-flopper on gay issues and reproductive choice, while the latter is atrue dyed-in-the-wool conservative who has always supported a ban on gaymarriage and abortion.
As the new candidate on the scene, Brownback gets his 15 minutes on theSunday political talk shows and gets to answer the volley of questions fromthe host. Stephanopoulos tackles our issues, asking about Mary Cheney,noting the announcement that the vice president's lesbian daughter waspregnant brought consternation from the conservatives. He quoted JamesDobson, of the anti-gay group Focus on the Family, then asked Brownback whathis reaction was. Brownback responded that it was a personal choice on herpart and that he believes the best way to raise a baby is in a family with amother and a father, male and female bonded for life. Stephanopoulos thenasks if gay adoption and parenting should be legal; Brownback dodges thequestion by stating that he believes it is important to strengthen Americanfamilies.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
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International News
Focus on Africa's Woes, Not Gay Clergy: Tutu
Friday, January 26, 2007
Focus on Africa's Woes, Not Gay Clergy: Tutu
NAIROBI, Kenya - An archbishop within the African-Anglican church lastweek urged his fellow believers to concentrate on the continent'ssevere problems and not to allow differences of opinion over gayissues sidetrack the church. Archbishop Desmond Tutu also saidpersecuting gay people is akin to racism, the Africa-based news website the Mail and Guardian Online reported. The Anglican Churchworldwide, which has 77 million members, is facing a split overdebates about homosexuality. "I am deeply disturbed that in the faceof some of the most horrendous problems facing Africa, we concentrateon 'what do I do in bed with whom,'" the South African Nobel LaureateTutu told a news conference in Nairobi. "For one to penalize someonefor their sexual orientation is the same as penalizing someone forsomething they can do nothing about, like ethnicity or race. I cannotimagine persecuting a minority group which is already beingpersecuted." Homosexuality is taboo in most African societies.
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Gays And Lesbians Step Out to Demand Rights
The Nation (Nairobi)
NEWS
January 26, 2007
Posted to the web January 25, 2007
By Lucas Barasa
Nairobi
A new phenomenon is gaining currency in the country: Lesbians, gaysand transsexuals are coming out openly to demand their rights.
The group stole the show at the World Social Forum which ended at theMoi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, yesterday with their standbeing a crowd puller.
University of Nairobi law student Judith Ngunjiri who confessed tobeing a lesbian at the world Social Forum.
Lesbians, gays and transsexuals who have been going on with theirlifestyles secretly joined colleagues from other parts of the world inpublicly declaring they were not ashamed of their situation.
In fact it was only at their stand, adjacent to Gate 7, where visitorswere offered free tea and cookies before being invited for "lessons onlesbianism, gay relationships and transsexuals."
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012607conn.htm
Conn. Gov: No Gay Marriages
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 27, 2007 - 12:01 am ET
(Hartford, Connecticut) Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell said Friday that ifthe legislature passes a same-sex marriage bill she will veto it.
The threat comes as LGBT civil rights groups prepare for a new push nextweek on lawmakers to approve same-sex marriage.
In 2005, Rell, a Republican, signed a civil union bill - at the time thesecond in the nation, after Vermont, and the first to enact such a lawwithout being ordered by a court.
"When I signed the civil union bill that I believed it covered the concernsthat had been raised," Rell told reporters Friday when asked about apotential marriage bill in the legislature..
"And I believe that that bill was the appropriate way to go and I stilldo,'' Rell said.
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Advocate.com
Gay Foe Huckabee To Enter GOP Presidential Race
January 27, 2007
Mexican lawmaker pioneers transsexual rights
A Mexican congressman said Thursday he will submit a bill in March thatwould amend the country's constitution to guarantee the rights oftranssexuals.
A Mexican congressman said Thursday he will submit a bill in March thatwould amend the country's constitution to guarantee the rights oftranssexuals and change civil laws to ensure that they can legally changetheir name and gender. David Sánchez Camacho's bill would insert a paragraphinto Article 4 of the Mexican constitution stating that ''every person hasthe right to the recognition and free exercise of their gender identity andtheir gender expression.''
Article 4 currently guarantees equal rights for women and men and states therights of children and families, but it does not mention gays, lesbians, ortranssexuals. A transsexual is a person who has undergone a sex-changeoperation or whose sexual identification does not correspond with the genderat birth.
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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11062
Democrat blocks 'gay' amendment to minimum wage bill
Gay GOP group demandsvote on D.P. measure
By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | Jan 26, 10:29 AM
A prominent Senate Democrat this week took steps to block an amendment tothe minimum wage bill that would provide tax deductions foremployer-generated health benefits for domestic partners.
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, threatenedto invoke a parliamentary rule to stop Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) fromintroducing the domestic partner amendment.
Baucus said the partner amendment could jeopardize a compromise package oftax relief amendments for small businesses that Republicans have demanded asa condition for backing the minimum wage bill, according to Baucusspokesperson Carol Guthrie.
R.C. Hammond, a spokesperson for Smith, said Smith backed down fromintroducing his amendment in committee on Jan. 17 and on the Senate floor onJan. 24 after Baucus and Democratic leaders informed him they would rule theamendment non-germane, preventing it from coming up for a vote.
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SoVo.com
http://www.sovo.com/print.cfm?content_id=6430
Firing gay workers still legal in Ga.
Best hope for job protections lies at federal level
By RYAN LEE
Jan. 26, 2007
Fresh out of law school, where she finished sixth in her graduating class,Robin Shahar was well versed in Georgia law and justice.
But she was also grounded in a sense of right and wrong, and before herlegal career could even begin she learned that what is legal does not alwaysharmonize with what is right.
"I was extremely surprised," Shahar said this week, recalling the day in1991 that she was summoned into her new boss's office and received the newsthat she was being fired for being a lesbian.
"Obviously the law doesn't provide protection for gay men and lesbians inthe workplace, but despite that I was brought up to believe you would beevaluated as an employee based on the value of your work," said Shahar, whonow works in the law department of the city of Atlanta.
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Activists predict progress in N.Y., Calif., Wash., this year
By ELIZABETH A. PERRY
Friday, January 26, 2007
http://www.washblade.com/2007/1-26/news/national/progress.cfm
As legislative sessions get under way in statehouses across the country,same-sex marriage is again emerging as a hot topic in a handful of states.
From Vermont to California, gay rights advocates are hopeful for advancesin marriage-related legislation, while in Massachusetts, where gay marriageis already legal, activists are working to avert a repeal of the historicgay rights measure.
Massachusetts
A constitutional amendment to repeal the Bay State's gay marriage law passed134-62 on Jan. 2, the final day of the 2005-06 session. The amendment stillhas to survive another legislative vote in the new session to become aballot referendum. The measure needed 50 votes to pass.
more....
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'NYC' CONDOMS GET HEALTH CZAR EXCITED
By CARL CAMPANILE
City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden is pumped up about putting outNew York City's own brand of condoms to combat AIDS.
Frieden elaborated yesterday on a recent Post report about the "NYC"condom, which the condom maker said will be presented in packets with avariety of colors resembling city subway lines.
"Brands work, and people use branded items more than they use non-brandeditems, whether it's a cola or a medicine even," Frieden said. "Brands addvalue, and they increase use."
The city hands out 1.5 million free condoms each month, or about 18million a year, to groups to distribute.
The city Health Department just approved a new $1.57 million contractwith Ansell-Lifestyle, an order that will deliver more than 20 millioncondoms plus packets of lubricants. The condoms will be unveiled soon.
New York City leads the nation in HIV/AIDS cases. In 2005, 1,400 cityinhabitants died of AIDS, the third-leading cause of death amongresidents under 65 behind cancer and heart disease.
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New from DIRELAND: U.N. Report Confirms Iraqi Gay Killings
NEW from DIRELAND, January 26, 20006
U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT CONFIRMS IRAQI GAY KILLINGS
A new human rightsreport by the United Nations Aid Mission in Iraq (UNAMI)has, for the very first time, confirmed the widespread killings of Iraqigays as part of a campaign of "sexual cleansing" being carried out byreligious death squads, and includes a description of so-called religious"courts" that try Iraqi same-sexers and sentence them to death.
For the details, click on:
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2007/01/for_the_very_fi.html
=
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Poll: Half of Americans Back Same-Sex Marriage Ban
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/14474
Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research Half of Americans Back Same-SexMarriage Ban January 24, 2007
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - A majority of adults in the United Stateswould forbid same-sex partners from entering wedlock, according to a poll byOpinion Dynamics released by Ipsos-Public Affairs released by the AssociatedPress. 51 per cent of respondents would favour a law that would ban gaymarriage.
In 2004, marriage certificates were issued to same-sex couples by localgovernments in the states of California, Oregon, New Mexico and New York. InMay 2004, the state of Massachusetts allowed gay and lesbian partners toapply for marriage licenses, the first state-sanctioned homosexual weddingsin the U.S.
Civil union and domestic partnership laws in Vermont, Connecticut andCalifornia grant same-sex couples all state-level rights and obligations ofmarriage-in areas such as inheritance, income tax, insurance and hospitalvisitation. Other forms of domestic partnership exist in the District ofColumbia, Hawaii and Maine. There are more than 1,000 federal-level rightsof marriage that cannot be granted by states.
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African LGBT activists at the World Social Forum
WORLD SOCIAL FORUM:
Long Fight for Justice for Homosexuals
Joyce Mulama
NAIROBI, Jan 23 (IPS) - Even with tens of thousands of activists at theWorld Social Forum (WSF) denouncing injustices of all kinds, the issue ofdiscrimination against homosexuals is making its voice heard amidst the din.At the five-day forum, which opened Jan. 20 here in Kenya's capital,lesbians and gays from across Africa have come out to express how they havebeen ill-treated by society.
In most African countries, homosexuality is taboo. It is regarded by some assatanic and un-African.
However, the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK), an umbrella body ofgay and lesbian groups, and which has brought together colleagues fromacross the continent to share experiences, is hopeful that after the WSF,this perception will have changed.
=
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Blair urged to speed up gay adoption reforms
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2186511.ece
Tony Blair is under new pressure on gay adoptions as cabinet ministers andLabour MPs called for the Roman Catholic Church to be given only months tocome to terms with a new anti-discrimination law.
Alan Johnson, the Education Secretary, wants a transitional period of sixmonths to allow the church to decide how to respond and possibly transferthe 80 staff employed in its 10 adoption agencies to other agencies. Butsome professionals working in the adoption service say they need athree-year period to ensure children do not suffer from any changes.Catholic leaders have warned that the agencies may be closed unless theGovernment exempts them from a law banning discrimination in the provisionof goods and services on grounds of sexuality.
A study by officials at the Department for Education and Skills, which isresponsible for adoption, has found that only six months would be needed toensure that children were not harmed by the change. There is currently someover-provision in the adoption service and so the Catholic agencies mightnot need to be fully replaced. Some might decide to continue despite theirleaders' opposition to children being adopted by gay and lesbian couples.
=
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http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012407tax.htm
Measure Would End Tax Penalties For Small Companies Offering DomesticPartner Insurance
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 24, 2007 - 7:00 pm ET
(Washington) Senator Gordon H. Smith (R) has filed an amendment to FairMinimum Wage Act that would eliminate an extra tax burden on small companiesoffering domestic partner benefits to their workers.
The number of companies offering domestic partner benefits is growingrapidly but those taking advantage of it are hit with higher taxes.Under federal tax law domestic partner benefits are considered income andsubject to taxation.
Smith's amendment would eliminate the provision in the tax code. But becausethe Minimum Wage Act only applies to small business the amendment is limitedto those companies.
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http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2184265.ece
Independent News and Media Limited
Gay Adoption: True stories
The Catholic church should be allowed to deny same-sex couples the right toadopt. So says Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. Kate Hilpern, who helps toplace children in new homes, and was adopted herself, explains why he'swrong. And five gay parents share their experiences of bringing up a familyPublished: 25 January 2007
It takes guts to apply to adopt children knowing that your life is about tobe closely scrutinised. If you're a lesbian or gay individual or couple,that bravery is all the greater. I've heard countless stories from thoseI've worked with in the field of adoption of lengthy and dishearteningstruggles, of overt discrimination. And I know first-hand, from seven years'service on a local authority adoption panel, that some adoption workersreveal inadvertent prejudices even when they'd be horrified at the thoughtof being considered anything other than liberal.
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More at stake than just a TV show
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-eastasia.asp?parentid=61999
AsiaMedia
The Regents of the University of California More at stake than just a TVshow
Chris Yeung calls for a spirit of debate in the controversy over Hong Kongbroadcaster RTHK's program about homosexuality
South China Morning Post
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
By Chris Yeung
The issue of gay marriage has proved to be controversial even in countriesknown for their liberal thinking. It is no different in Hong Kong. That isclear from the views expressed on the letters pages of the South ChinaMorning Post, and on radio phone-in programmes over the past two days.
The subject has drawn strong, sharply divided views from society. If mostpeople welcome the divisive -- and at times acrimonious -- debate, it isbecause they cherish the right of people to express their views, howeverdifferent those opinions may be from their own. That is part and parcel ofthe free society that Hong Kong has embraced.
It is against this background that a row over the RTHK programme Gay Lovershas caused some jitters among media professionals and within some quartersof society.
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Struggling for a Massachusetts equal marriage strategy
In Newsweekly
http://www.innewsweekly.com/innews/?class_code=Ne&article_code=3333&article_page=1
Struggling for a Massachusetts equal marriage strategy Chuck Colbert January25, 2007
IN COMMUNITY FORUMS THROUGHOUT THE STATE, MASSEQUALITY SAYS IT STILL HOPESTO DEFEAT THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT BANNING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE IN THE LEGISLATURE; OTHERS THINK THERE SHOULD BE A GREATER FOCUS ON STATEWIDE INITIATIVES AND RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE
Just two weeks after Massachusetts lawmakers voted to advance a ballotmeasure defining marriage as the union of a man and woman, marriage equalityadvocates are struggling to determine strategy.
MassEquality, the umbrella coalition of organizations formed to preserve theright to marry, held community forums throughout the state, saying it stillhopes to stop the amendment from going to a statewide ballot."We are focused right now on defeating the amendment in the Legislature,"said MassEquality Campaign Director Marc Solomon on Wednesday, Jan. 17, atSt. Paul's Cathedral across from the Boston Common.
Some of the approximately 50 people who attended the open communitydiscussion in Boston expressed concerns about an emphasis on a Statehouseapproach.
"Maybe we need to change strategy," said longtime gay community activistRich Braun, and "push with the people."
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Gay rights surface in the Mexican desert
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/mexico/stories/012607dnintgay_.e61032.html
07:00 PM CST on Thursday, January 25, 2007
Cox News Service
SALTILLO, Mexico - San Francisco this isn't.
Here on the outskirts of the forbidding Chihuahua desert, where ranchessprawl for miles and cowboy culture rules, life is marked by a conservativestreak that dates back to the Spanish friars of the 1500's.
So, many residents in the border state of Coahuila were surprised earlierthis month when the legislature approved civil unions for gay couples,instantly placing Texas's neighbor on the vanguard of gay rights in theAmericas. Coahuila joins Mexico City, Buenos Aires and a southern state inBrazil as Latin America locales approving gay unions.
Coahuila's new law did not result from a vigorous grassroots movement - thestate has never hosted a gay rights march, say gay activists in Coahuila. Infact some of the most astonished reactions have come from members of thestate's largely low-key gay community.
"I never thought it would happen, much less here in Coahuila," said RobertoMartinez, a 30-year-old hair stylist in Coahuila's capital Saltillo, whoplans to take advantage of the new law. "There's still a lot of machismo inCoahuila."
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16774861/site/newsweek/
Transgendered Clergy Encouraged to Come Out
Workplace difficulties can arise for trangendered persons in nearly allprofessions, but what about those who are called to work for God?
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Lauren McCauley
Special to Newsweek
Updated: 4:42 p.m. ET Jan 23, 2007
Jan. 23, 2007 - In 1973, Eric Karl Swenson was ordained in the PresbyterianChurch and went to work doing what he'd always dreamed of: ministering to acongregation of the Southern Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. More than 20years later, one dream almost ended when another began. When the Presbyteryof Greater Atlanta discovered in 1996 that Swenson had finally fulfilledanother lifelong desire-having sex-change surgery to become a woman-itstarted proceedings to revoke Swenson's ordination.
At the time of her "transition," Swenson did not resist the church'squestions nor blame its reluctance. "I had been in the closet for 30 years,learning to accept myself," she says. "It is difficult for me to be angry atothers for not accepting." Married with two daughters before her transition,Swenson described her struggle, years later, in a sermon: "I had spent thebetter part of four decades wrestling secretly with the unreasonable andincorrigible desire to be female." After almost three years of gruelingquestions and debate, the Presbytery finally agreed, 181-161, to sustain herordination, making Swenson the first known Protestant minister to transitionfrom male to female while remaining in office. Now 59, Swenson is tall andblond, with shoulder-length hair and an assertive manner. Erin, as she'scalled, continues to work as a pastoral counselor and, she hopes, as aninspiration for others who find themselves living out, what may be, the lasttaboo in society, let alone organized religion.
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SPIEGEL ONLINE - January 26, 2007, 05:44 PM
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,462516,00.html
SEX-CHANGE OPERATIONS
Mistakes in God's Factory
Even as children, transsexuals have the feeling of living in the wrong body.When should they be allowed to switch genders? Two years ago, atwelve-year-old German boy became the world's youngest person to starthormone treatments for a sex change.
Tanja Pfeil, a 49-year-old transsexual from northern Germany. "Michael
dissolved and became Tanja," she says. "She is stronger than he was."<http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,785984,00.jpg>Stephan Elleringmann
Tanja Pfeil, a 49-year-old transsexual from northern Germany. "Michaeldissolved and became Tanja," she says. "She is stronger than he was."
Kim P. is 14 years old. She wears light eyeshadow, a navel-baring topand embroidered jeans. She plays with strands of her long hair as shedescribes her dream of going to Paris one day to be a fashion designer. Herattic bedroom in her parents' house is a girl's paradise in pink, with therequisite fashion magazines, a makeup table, a sewing machine and even aclothes mannequin near the window.
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http://www.vox.gi/index.php?news=1813
Minorities Group to Raise Gibraltar Concerns with Brussels
Gibraltar Government's disappointing record in the sphere of gay rights isto be the subject of questions in both the European Parliament and inWestminster, the equality rights group GGR said in a statement issued thisweek. And, as well as the questions affecting discrimination on sexualorientation and other issues which are to be raised in both parliaments, GGRis to approach the European Commission to air its doubts whether theGovernment has fully complied with the EC's Race Directive.
GGR also criticizes Keith Azopardi and the PDP for its slowness inresponding to the group's request for the party to "clarify" its policy onsexual minorities.
"At European level, and working closely with Lib-Dem MEP Graham Watson,several questions have been tabled regarding the fact that Gibraltarcontinues to discriminate on the issue of the legal age of consent forsexual minority citizens and counter to judgments from the European Court ofHuman Rights," the statement says.
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To journalists asking pols 'the gay question'
By Mark Segal
PGN Publisher
C 2007 Philadelphia Gay News
Last Sunday on ABC-TV's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," Kansas Sen.Sam Brownback appeared as the latest candidate for the Republicanpresidential nomination. Brownback, like former Gov. Mitt Romney ofMassachusetts, intends to campaign as the darling of the Republican rightwing, emulating the way George W. Bush won that nomination and becamepresident. The difference between Romney and Brownback is that the former isa flip-flopper on gay issues and reproductive choice, while the latter is atrue dyed-in-the-wool conservative who has always supported a ban on gaymarriage and abortion.
As the new candidate on the scene, Brownback gets his 15 minutes on theSunday political talk shows and gets to answer the volley of questions fromthe host. Stephanopoulos tackles our issues, asking about Mary Cheney,noting the announcement that the vice president's lesbian daughter waspregnant brought consternation from the conservatives. He quoted JamesDobson, of the anti-gay group Focus on the Family, then asked Brownback whathis reaction was. Brownback responded that it was a personal choice on herpart and that he believes the best way to raise a baby is in a family with amother and a father, male and female bonded for life. Stephanopoulos thenasks if gay adoption and parenting should be legal; Brownback dodges thequestion by stating that he believes it is important to strengthen Americanfamilies.
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NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST January 27, 2007
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US ATrays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
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CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/25/politics/printable2398558.shtml
Obama Calls For Universal Health Care
WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2007
(AP) Every American should have health care coverage within six years,Democratic Sen. Barack Obama said Thursday as he set an ambitious goal soonafter jumping into the 2008 presidential race.
"The time has come for universal health care in America," Obama said at aconference of Families USA, a health care advocacy group.
"I am absolutely determined that by the end of the first term of the nextpresident, we should have universal health care in this country," theIllinois senator said.
Obama was previewing what is shaping up to be a theme of the 2008 Democraticprimary. His chief rivals, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards,also are strong proponents of universal health care and have promised tooffer their plans.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/16557923.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007
COURTS
Many obstacles standing in way of Padilla trial
From the defendant's competency for trial to the government's treatment ofhim, the Jose Padilla trial is fraught with hurdles that threaten to delaythe proceedings -- or cancel them completely.
BY CURT ANDERSON
Associated Press
When Jose Padilla was whisked from a Navy brig to Miami after 3 ½ years ofsolitary confinement as an enemy combatant, his lawyers and civil libertiesgroups jubilantly declared that Padilla's rights as a U.S. citizen werefinally being upheld and his day in court was near.
More than a year after he stepped off a government helicopter into thebright Florida sunshine, two things are clear: His rights are beingprotected, and it's not at all certain if and when he might actually standtrial on terrorism charges.
Federal prosecutors say there are at least two dozen major legal issues thatmust be resolved before trial can begin, ranging from whether Padilla ismentally competent to stand trial to a variety of challenges to evidence,expert witnesses and the validity of wiretaps used to intercept thousands oftelephone conversations.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/16557922.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007
ISSUES IN THE CASE AGAINST JOSE PADILLA
Some of the major issues yet to be resolved before trial can start in theterrorism case against alleged al Qaeda operative Jose Padilla and twocodefendants, according to court documents and lawyers involved in the case:
. Competency: Padilla's attorneys want a federal judge to decide whether heis mentally competent to stand trial. Two experts hired by the defense sayhe suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his 3 ½ yearsin isolated military custody as an enemy combatant. Those experts say he isunable to assist in his defense, exhibits paranoid tendencies, has frequentfacial tics and is often ''hypervigilant.'' The Bureau of Prisons isconducting an evaluation that is due in mid-February.
. Torture: Padilla claims he was tortured during his years in militarycustody, saying among other things that he was forced to stand in painfulstress positions, given LSD or some other drug as a ''truth serum,''subjected to loud noises and noxious odors and forced to endure sleepdeprivation, extreme heat and cold, and harsh lights. His lawyers want theentire case dismissed for this alleged ''outrageous government conduct,''which U.S. officials deny.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16557989.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Who, or what, will succeed U.S. supremacy?
BY TRUDY RUBIN
trubin@phillynews.com
DAVOS, Switzerland -- This year's focus of the World Economic Forum -- aconference with more than 2,400 global political, economic and culturalleaders -- is on ''the shifting power equation.'' This is another way ofsaying that global economic and political power is fragmenting and that theAmerican unipolar moment is gone.
There is no sense of triumphalism from non-Americans here at the slowdecline of U.S. power, nor is there any anointed successor. This year isunlike Davoses past, which extolled American economic and technologicalprimacy (late 1990s) or the rise of Asia, or the hope for a powerful UnitedEurope that would rival the United States.
This is a chastened Davos, with no country or region being lionized, and afrisson of unease about the political future. A survey of participantsshowed that 61 percent believed that the next generation will live in a lesssafe world.
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Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorial/sfl-edittdcheneyjan27,0,3004893,print.story?coll=sfla-news-editorial
Cheney
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board
January 27, 2007
`Vice' rebuffed Iran's offer of help
No wonder Vice President Dick Cheney likes to stay mostly out of sight.Anyone else who had done as much harm would want to hide too.
Now comes word that Cheney wrecked a chance for the United States to improverelations with Iran and perhaps get some help in stabilizing Iraq. Iranoffered such help in 2003, a former State Department official told the BBC,and also offered to make its nuclear program more transparent and drop itsmilitary support for Hezbollah and Hamas. It asked for relatively little inreturn.
The State Department wanted to accept the offer, but Cheney opposed eventalking to a member of the "Axis of Evil." A golden opportunity was lost,and America remains mired in Iraq and on a collision course with Iran.
When history assesses the Bush administration, it will not be kind to thepresident. But it will reserve its lowest marks for the vice president.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/26/AR2007012601602_pf.html
Diverse Voices To Denounce Iraq Troop Plan
By Michael E. Ruane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 27, 2007; B01
Tens of thousands of demonstrators from across the country are expected toconverge in Washington today to urge the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraqas President Bush is proposing to send more troops in an effort to stabilizethe country.
They plan to rally on the Mall, march around the north side of the Capitoland send a strong message to the government.
The event, which authorities said could draw 100,000 people, starts with arally at 11 a.m. Among those expected to address the crowd are Jane Fonda,Danny Glover, Susan Sarandon and Jesse Jackson.
The march, organized by the group United for Peace and Justice, is scheduledto start at 1 p.m.
It will proceed eastward toward the Capitol along Constitution Avenue, headsouth on First Street NE, then make a U-turn and retrace the route beforepassing the western front of the Capitol and returning to the Mall alongFourth Street SW.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/26/AR2007012601363_pf.html
What North Korea Really Wants
By Robert Carlin and John W. Lewis
Saturday, January 27, 2007; A19
Those who think that dealing with North Korea is impossible are wrong.Unfortunately, those who think that it is, in fact, possible to deal withNorth Korea often are not much closer to the truth. The basic problem isthat people of both views simply haven't figured out what it is that theNorth really wants.
We tend to confuse North Korea's short-term tactical goals with its broaderstrategic focus. We draw up list after list of things we think might appealto Pyongyang on the assumption that these will constitute a "leveragedbuyout," finally achieving what we want: the total, irreversibledenuclearization of North Korea.
But this list of "carrots" (energy, food, the lifting of sanctions) does notinclude what the North thinks it must have. It can, of course, help keep theprocess on track and moving ahead, and it could help cement a final deal andhold it together through the inevitable political storms. But these thingsare not the ends that North Korea seeks.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/26/AR2007012600841_pf.html
Saturday, January 27, 2007; 1:46 AM
(p)U.N. Approves Resolution Condemning Holocaust Denying(/p)
(p) By Bill Brubaker(/p)
(p)Washington Post Staff Writer(/p)
(p)The United Nations General Assembly today approved a resolution, draftedby the United States and co-sponsored by 103 countries, that condemnsdenials of the Holocaust.(/p)
(p)The resolution came six weeks after a conference in Tehran, organized byIranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, questioned whether six million Jewswere exterminated during World War II.(/p)
(p)Ahmadinejad and the conference were not mentioned in the resolution,which "condemns without any reservation any denial of the Holocaust" and"urges all member states unreservedly to reject any denial of the Holocaustas a historical event, either in full or in part, or any activities to thisend."(/p)
(p) The conference, which drew 67 Holocaust skeptics and deniers from 30nations, including former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, was widelydenounced.(/p)
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/26/AR2007012601488_pf.html
In Race for Iowa, Clinton Has to Make Up Ground
With Caucus a Year Away, Polls Show She's Behind in the State
By Anne E. Kornblut and Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, January 27, 2007; A02
DES MOINES, Jan. 26 -- When New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton arriveshere for her first presidential campaign events this weekend, she willencounter unfamiliar terrain -- a landscape where she is not the perceivedfront-runner for the Democratic nomination.
Although Clinton appears formidable at the national level, she has not builtup a lead in Iowa, home of the first caucuses of the 2008 campaign nextJanuary. Most recent polls of Iowa Democrats have shown former senator JohnEdwards of North Carolina in the lead, with Clinton in a pack that includesIllinois Sen. Barack Obama and former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack.
"This is anyone's race to win, including obviously Governor Vilsack, who isvery familiar with the landscape here," said newly elected Iowa Gov. ChetCulver (D), who met with Clinton shortly after she arrived Friday afternoonbut who is remaining neutral. "That's the wonderful thing about the caucusprocess. The winner will have to earn it."
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/26/AR2007012601717_pf.html
Tortured Man Gets Apology From Canada
By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, January 27, 2007; A14
MONTREAL, Jan. 26 -- The prime minister of Canada apologized Friday to MaherArar and agreed to give $9 million in compensation to the Canadian Arab, whowas spirited by U.S. agents to Syria and tortured there after being falselynamed as a terrorism suspect.
Arar, 36, a former computer engineer who was detained while changing planesat a New York airport in 2002 and imprisoned in a Syrian dungeon for 10months, said after the announcement that he "feels proud as a Canadian."
"We cannot go back and fix the injustice that occurred to Mr. Arar," PrimeMinister Stephen Harper said in issuing the formal apology in Ottawa."However, we can make changes to lessen the likelihood that something likethis will ever happen again." The head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Policeresigned over the affair, and the government has pledged to increaseoversight of its intelligence agencies.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012607norway.htm
Norway May End Ban On Stem Cell Research
by The Associated Press
Posted: January 26, 2007 - 9:00 pm ET
(Oslo) Norway's government proposed lifting a national ban on using humanembryonic stem cells for research, saying Friday that the change might helpfind cures to a broad range of diseases, including HIV/AIDS.
Embryonic stem cells have the ability to become any tissue in the body,leading scientists to see them as a possible source of medicalbreakthroughs. But the research typically involves the destruction of frozenembryos created for in vitro fertilization, a step that stirs passions overthe beginning of life.
Norwegian biotechnology law from 2003 bars use of fertilized eggs or stemcells taken from them in research, and requires eggs left over afterassisted pregnancies to be destroyed.
The proposed law would allow research on such eggs under strict legal andethnical limits, including consent from the parents and approval from anational ethics panel, the government proposal said.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/26/AR2007012601601_pf.html
Supreme Court TV
By Dahlia Lithwick
Sunday, January 28, 2007; B02
The justices of the Supreme Court have served hard time in the makeup chairin recent months. John Paul Stevens and John G. Roberts Jr. gave prime-timeinterviews to ABC's Jan Crawford Greenburg; Ruth Bader Ginsburg chatted withCBS's Mike Wallace in chambers; and Stephen G. Breyer has logged almost asmuch time on camera as Lindsay Lohan -- including a sit-down with CharlieRose and a gig on "Fox News Sunday." And Roberts, the chief justice, is partof a documentary airing on PBS next week.
Even some of the justices who are reluctant to talk on camera have been moreamenable to speaking on the record lately. Breyer and Antonin Scalia engagedin a wide-ranging public debate in December that is available on the Web.And ABC's Crawford Greenburg secured interviews with nine justices for hernew book, "Supreme Conflict." Nine justices. That's a far cry from "TheBrethren."
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/27/opinion/27sat1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
January 27, 2007
Editorial
The Bait-and-Switch White House
We often wonder whether there is a limit to the Bush administration'sobsession with secrecy, its assault on the rule of law, its disdain for thepowers of Congress, its willingness to con the public and its refusal toheed expert advice or recognize facts on the ground. Events of the past weeksuggest the answer is no.
In his State of the Union speech, Mr. Bush stuck to his ill-conceived plansfor Iraq, but at least admitted the situation was dire. He said he wanted towork with Congress and announced a bipartisan council on national security.
That lasted a day. By Wednesday evening, Vice President Dick Cheney was onCNN contradicting most of what Mr. Bush had said. We were left asking, onceagain, Who exactly is running this White House?
While Mr. Bush has been a bit more forthright lately about how badly thingshave gone in Iraq, Mr. Cheney spoke of "enormous successes" there andrefused to pay even curled-lip service to consulting Congress. Whatevervotes Congress takes on Iraq, Mr. Cheney said, "it won't stop us."
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http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/27/opinion/27dowd.html
The New York Times
January 27, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
Daffy Does Doom
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON
Dick Durbin went to the floor of the Senate on Thursday night to denouncethe vice president as "delusional."
It was shocking, and Senator Durbin should be ashamed of himself.
Delusional is far too mild a word to describe Dick Cheney. Delusionaldoesn't begin to capture the profound, transcendental one-flew-over daftness of theman.
Has anyone in the history of the United States ever been so singularly wrongand misguided about such phenomenally important events and continued toinsist he's right in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary?
It requires an exquisite kind of lunacy to spend hundreds of billionsdestroying America's reputation in the world, exhausting the U.S. military,failing to catch Osama, enhancing Iran's power in the Middle East andsending American kids to train and arm Iraqi forces so they can work againstAmerican interests.
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Technology Review
http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18102/
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Discovering the Surface of Greenland
A new Discovering the Surface of Greenland--and betterinsight into future sea-level increases.
By David Talbot
Greenland holds enough water to raise global sea levels seven meters, andsouthern Greenland is already showing accelerated melting. But the rate ofthis melting and other ice dynamics are poorly understood, partly becauseGreenland's surface is so inscrutably white and featureless in ordinarysatellite images. Now, a new image-processing approach gives a clearer viewof subtle inland features, providing sharper clues into glacialmovements--and better insight into future sea-level increases.
The technology starts with as many as 94 red and infrared images of the sameregion, taken by two NASA satellites, called Terra and Aqua, that have polarorbits and cross Greenland several times a day. Each raw image--a measure oflight from the surface--has a resolution of 250 meters per pixel. But byaligning and averaging values within areas of pixel overlap among multipleimages of the same area, researchers at the National Snow and Ice DataCenter at the University of Colorado at Boulder tightened the resolution toas little as 100 meters per pixel and roughly quadrupled contrastsensitivity.
As one example of a payoff, researchers are finally getting a clear pictureof a 600-by-50-kilometer eyedropper-shaped ice formation informally known asNEGIS (for Northeast Greenland Ice Stream). This massive feature--which issliding toward the sea at a few hundred meters per year--wasn't even knownto science until 1991.
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http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MattTowery/2007/01/18/hang_it_up,_obama_--_its_hillarys_nomination
Hang It Up, Obama -- It's Hillary's Nomination
by Matt Towery
Posted Jan 18, 2007
People often ask me who will be the Democratic nominee for president in2008. I always answer without a trace of hesitation: "Hillary Clinton."
Usually they look stunned. Whether they are rabidly pro-Hillary or rabidHillary-haters from the GOP side of the fence, it makes no difference. Theyall seem to be buying into the misguided notion that Sen. Clinton is socontroversial that she is entirely unelectable.
Partly thanks to that belief, "Obama mania" is sweeping the nation vianewspaper and magazine headlines, and television news shows.
Like it or don't like it, but trust me: Hillary will win the Democraticnomination.
For one thing, Obama is a red herring. Sure, it's a novel and refreshingconcept that a highly appealing black man could leapfrog to the head of theDemocratic ticket. But black is not the key color here, green is.
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Forwarded from Susan Frishkorn
Tri-County - chances@attglobal.net
Published on Friday, January 26, 2007 by The Nation
http://www.thenation.com
Impeachment: The Case in Favor
by Elizabeth Holtzman
Approximately a year ago, I wrote in this magazine that President George W.Bush had committed high crimes and misdemeanors and should be impeached andremoved from office. His impeachable offenses include using lies anddeceptions to drive the country into war in Iraq, deliberately andrepeatedly violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) onwiretapping in the United States, and facilitating the mistreatment of USdetainees in violation of the Geneva Conventions and the War Crimes Act of1996.
Since then, the case against President Bush has, if anything, beenstrengthened by reports that he personally authorized CIA abuse ofdetainees. In addition, courts have rejected some of his extreme assertionsof executive power. The Supreme Court ruled that the Geneva Conventionsapply to the treatment of detainees, and a federal judge ruled that thePresident could not legally ignore FISA. Even Attorney General AlbertoGonzales's recent announcement that the wiretapping program would from nowon operate under FISA court supervision strongly suggests that Bush's priorclaims that it could not were untrue.
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CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/25/politics/printable2398558.shtml
Obama Calls For Universal Health Care
WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2007
(AP) Every American should have health care coverage within six years,Democratic Sen. Barack Obama said Thursday as he set an ambitious goal soonafter jumping into the 2008 presidential race.
"The time has come for universal health care in America," Obama said at aconference of Families USA, a health care advocacy group.
"I am absolutely determined that by the end of the first term of the nextpresident, we should have universal health care in this country," theIllinois senator said.
Obama was previewing what is shaping up to be a theme of the 2008 Democraticprimary. His chief rivals, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards,also are strong proponents of universal health care and have promised tooffer their plans.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/16557923.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007
COURTS
Many obstacles standing in way of Padilla trial
From the defendant's competency for trial to the government's treatment ofhim, the Jose Padilla trial is fraught with hurdles that threaten to delaythe proceedings -- or cancel them completely.
BY CURT ANDERSON
Associated Press
When Jose Padilla was whisked from a Navy brig to Miami after 3 ½ years ofsolitary confinement as an enemy combatant, his lawyers and civil libertiesgroups jubilantly declared that Padilla's rights as a U.S. citizen werefinally being upheld and his day in court was near.
More than a year after he stepped off a government helicopter into thebright Florida sunshine, two things are clear: His rights are beingprotected, and it's not at all certain if and when he might actually standtrial on terrorism charges.
Federal prosecutors say there are at least two dozen major legal issues thatmust be resolved before trial can begin, ranging from whether Padilla ismentally competent to stand trial to a variety of challenges to evidence,expert witnesses and the validity of wiretaps used to intercept thousands oftelephone conversations.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/16557922.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007
ISSUES IN THE CASE AGAINST JOSE PADILLA
Some of the major issues yet to be resolved before trial can start in theterrorism case against alleged al Qaeda operative Jose Padilla and twocodefendants, according to court documents and lawyers involved in the case:
. Competency: Padilla's attorneys want a federal judge to decide whether heis mentally competent to stand trial. Two experts hired by the defense sayhe suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his 3 ½ yearsin isolated military custody as an enemy combatant. Those experts say he isunable to assist in his defense, exhibits paranoid tendencies, has frequentfacial tics and is often ''hypervigilant.'' The Bureau of Prisons isconducting an evaluation that is due in mid-February.
. Torture: Padilla claims he was tortured during his years in militarycustody, saying among other things that he was forced to stand in painfulstress positions, given LSD or some other drug as a ''truth serum,''subjected to loud noises and noxious odors and forced to endure sleepdeprivation, extreme heat and cold, and harsh lights. His lawyers want theentire case dismissed for this alleged ''outrageous government conduct,''which U.S. officials deny.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16557989.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Who, or what, will succeed U.S. supremacy?
BY TRUDY RUBIN
trubin@phillynews.com
DAVOS, Switzerland -- This year's focus of the World Economic Forum -- aconference with more than 2,400 global political, economic and culturalleaders -- is on ''the shifting power equation.'' This is another way ofsaying that global economic and political power is fragmenting and that theAmerican unipolar moment is gone.
There is no sense of triumphalism from non-Americans here at the slowdecline of U.S. power, nor is there any anointed successor. This year isunlike Davoses past, which extolled American economic and technologicalprimacy (late 1990s) or the rise of Asia, or the hope for a powerful UnitedEurope that would rival the United States.
This is a chastened Davos, with no country or region being lionized, and afrisson of unease about the political future. A survey of participantsshowed that 61 percent believed that the next generation will live in a lesssafe world.
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Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorial/sfl-edittdcheneyjan27,0,3004893,print.story?coll=sfla-news-editorial
Cheney
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board
January 27, 2007
`Vice' rebuffed Iran's offer of help
No wonder Vice President Dick Cheney likes to stay mostly out of sight.Anyone else who had done as much harm would want to hide too.
Now comes word that Cheney wrecked a chance for the United States to improverelations with Iran and perhaps get some help in stabilizing Iraq. Iranoffered such help in 2003, a former State Department official told the BBC,and also offered to make its nuclear program more transparent and drop itsmilitary support for Hezbollah and Hamas. It asked for relatively little inreturn.
The State Department wanted to accept the offer, but Cheney opposed eventalking to a member of the "Axis of Evil." A golden opportunity was lost,and America remains mired in Iraq and on a collision course with Iran.
When history assesses the Bush administration, it will not be kind to thepresident. But it will reserve its lowest marks for the vice president.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/26/AR2007012601602_pf.html
Diverse Voices To Denounce Iraq Troop Plan
By Michael E. Ruane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 27, 2007; B01
Tens of thousands of demonstrators from across the country are expected toconverge in Washington today to urge the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraqas President Bush is proposing to send more troops in an effort to stabilizethe country.
They plan to rally on the Mall, march around the north side of the Capitoland send a strong message to the government.
The event, which authorities said could draw 100,000 people, starts with arally at 11 a.m. Among those expected to address the crowd are Jane Fonda,Danny Glover, Susan Sarandon and Jesse Jackson.
The march, organized by the group United for Peace and Justice, is scheduledto start at 1 p.m.
It will proceed eastward toward the Capitol along Constitution Avenue, headsouth on First Street NE, then make a U-turn and retrace the route beforepassing the western front of the Capitol and returning to the Mall alongFourth Street SW.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/26/AR2007012601363_pf.html
What North Korea Really Wants
By Robert Carlin and John W. Lewis
Saturday, January 27, 2007; A19
Those who think that dealing with North Korea is impossible are wrong.Unfortunately, those who think that it is, in fact, possible to deal withNorth Korea often are not much closer to the truth. The basic problem isthat people of both views simply haven't figured out what it is that theNorth really wants.
We tend to confuse North Korea's short-term tactical goals with its broaderstrategic focus. We draw up list after list of things we think might appealto Pyongyang on the assumption that these will constitute a "leveragedbuyout," finally achieving what we want: the total, irreversibledenuclearization of North Korea.
But this list of "carrots" (energy, food, the lifting of sanctions) does notinclude what the North thinks it must have. It can, of course, help keep theprocess on track and moving ahead, and it could help cement a final deal andhold it together through the inevitable political storms. But these thingsare not the ends that North Korea seeks.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/26/AR2007012600841_pf.html
Saturday, January 27, 2007; 1:46 AM
(p)U.N. Approves Resolution Condemning Holocaust Denying(/p)
(p) By Bill Brubaker(/p)
(p)Washington Post Staff Writer(/p)
(p)The United Nations General Assembly today approved a resolution, draftedby the United States and co-sponsored by 103 countries, that condemnsdenials of the Holocaust.(/p)
(p)The resolution came six weeks after a conference in Tehran, organized byIranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, questioned whether six million Jewswere exterminated during World War II.(/p)
(p)Ahmadinejad and the conference were not mentioned in the resolution,which "condemns without any reservation any denial of the Holocaust" and"urges all member states unreservedly to reject any denial of the Holocaustas a historical event, either in full or in part, or any activities to thisend."(/p)
(p) The conference, which drew 67 Holocaust skeptics and deniers from 30nations, including former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, was widelydenounced.(/p)
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/26/AR2007012601488_pf.html
In Race for Iowa, Clinton Has to Make Up Ground
With Caucus a Year Away, Polls Show She's Behind in the State
By Anne E. Kornblut and Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, January 27, 2007; A02
DES MOINES, Jan. 26 -- When New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton arriveshere for her first presidential campaign events this weekend, she willencounter unfamiliar terrain -- a landscape where she is not the perceivedfront-runner for the Democratic nomination.
Although Clinton appears formidable at the national level, she has not builtup a lead in Iowa, home of the first caucuses of the 2008 campaign nextJanuary. Most recent polls of Iowa Democrats have shown former senator JohnEdwards of North Carolina in the lead, with Clinton in a pack that includesIllinois Sen. Barack Obama and former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack.
"This is anyone's race to win, including obviously Governor Vilsack, who isvery familiar with the landscape here," said newly elected Iowa Gov. ChetCulver (D), who met with Clinton shortly after she arrived Friday afternoonbut who is remaining neutral. "That's the wonderful thing about the caucusprocess. The winner will have to earn it."
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/26/AR2007012601717_pf.html
Tortured Man Gets Apology From Canada
By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, January 27, 2007; A14
MONTREAL, Jan. 26 -- The prime minister of Canada apologized Friday to MaherArar and agreed to give $9 million in compensation to the Canadian Arab, whowas spirited by U.S. agents to Syria and tortured there after being falselynamed as a terrorism suspect.
Arar, 36, a former computer engineer who was detained while changing planesat a New York airport in 2002 and imprisoned in a Syrian dungeon for 10months, said after the announcement that he "feels proud as a Canadian."
"We cannot go back and fix the injustice that occurred to Mr. Arar," PrimeMinister Stephen Harper said in issuing the formal apology in Ottawa."However, we can make changes to lessen the likelihood that something likethis will ever happen again." The head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Policeresigned over the affair, and the government has pledged to increaseoversight of its intelligence agencies.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012607norway.htm
Norway May End Ban On Stem Cell Research
by The Associated Press
Posted: January 26, 2007 - 9:00 pm ET
(Oslo) Norway's government proposed lifting a national ban on using humanembryonic stem cells for research, saying Friday that the change might helpfind cures to a broad range of diseases, including HIV/AIDS.
Embryonic stem cells have the ability to become any tissue in the body,leading scientists to see them as a possible source of medicalbreakthroughs. But the research typically involves the destruction of frozenembryos created for in vitro fertilization, a step that stirs passions overthe beginning of life.
Norwegian biotechnology law from 2003 bars use of fertilized eggs or stemcells taken from them in research, and requires eggs left over afterassisted pregnancies to be destroyed.
The proposed law would allow research on such eggs under strict legal andethnical limits, including consent from the parents and approval from anational ethics panel, the government proposal said.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/26/AR2007012601601_pf.html
Supreme Court TV
By Dahlia Lithwick
Sunday, January 28, 2007; B02
The justices of the Supreme Court have served hard time in the makeup chairin recent months. John Paul Stevens and John G. Roberts Jr. gave prime-timeinterviews to ABC's Jan Crawford Greenburg; Ruth Bader Ginsburg chatted withCBS's Mike Wallace in chambers; and Stephen G. Breyer has logged almost asmuch time on camera as Lindsay Lohan -- including a sit-down with CharlieRose and a gig on "Fox News Sunday." And Roberts, the chief justice, is partof a documentary airing on PBS next week.
Even some of the justices who are reluctant to talk on camera have been moreamenable to speaking on the record lately. Breyer and Antonin Scalia engagedin a wide-ranging public debate in December that is available on the Web.And ABC's Crawford Greenburg secured interviews with nine justices for hernew book, "Supreme Conflict." Nine justices. That's a far cry from "TheBrethren."
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/27/opinion/27sat1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
January 27, 2007
Editorial
The Bait-and-Switch White House
We often wonder whether there is a limit to the Bush administration'sobsession with secrecy, its assault on the rule of law, its disdain for thepowers of Congress, its willingness to con the public and its refusal toheed expert advice or recognize facts on the ground. Events of the past weeksuggest the answer is no.
In his State of the Union speech, Mr. Bush stuck to his ill-conceived plansfor Iraq, but at least admitted the situation was dire. He said he wanted towork with Congress and announced a bipartisan council on national security.
That lasted a day. By Wednesday evening, Vice President Dick Cheney was onCNN contradicting most of what Mr. Bush had said. We were left asking, onceagain, Who exactly is running this White House?
While Mr. Bush has been a bit more forthright lately about how badly thingshave gone in Iraq, Mr. Cheney spoke of "enormous successes" there andrefused to pay even curled-lip service to consulting Congress. Whatevervotes Congress takes on Iraq, Mr. Cheney said, "it won't stop us."
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http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/27/opinion/27dowd.html
The New York Times
January 27, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
Daffy Does Doom
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON
Dick Durbin went to the floor of the Senate on Thursday night to denouncethe vice president as "delusional."
It was shocking, and Senator Durbin should be ashamed of himself.
Delusional is far too mild a word to describe Dick Cheney. Delusionaldoesn't begin to capture the profound, transcendental one-flew-over daftness of theman.
Has anyone in the history of the United States ever been so singularly wrongand misguided about such phenomenally important events and continued toinsist he's right in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary?
It requires an exquisite kind of lunacy to spend hundreds of billionsdestroying America's reputation in the world, exhausting the U.S. military,failing to catch Osama, enhancing Iran's power in the Middle East andsending American kids to train and arm Iraqi forces so they can work againstAmerican interests.
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Technology Review
http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18102/
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Discovering the Surface of Greenland
A new Discovering the Surface of Greenland--and betterinsight into future sea-level increases.
By David Talbot
Greenland holds enough water to raise global sea levels seven meters, andsouthern Greenland is already showing accelerated melting. But the rate ofthis melting and other ice dynamics are poorly understood, partly becauseGreenland's surface is so inscrutably white and featureless in ordinarysatellite images. Now, a new image-processing approach gives a clearer viewof subtle inland features, providing sharper clues into glacialmovements--and better insight into future sea-level increases.
The technology starts with as many as 94 red and infrared images of the sameregion, taken by two NASA satellites, called Terra and Aqua, that have polarorbits and cross Greenland several times a day. Each raw image--a measure oflight from the surface--has a resolution of 250 meters per pixel. But byaligning and averaging values within areas of pixel overlap among multipleimages of the same area, researchers at the National Snow and Ice DataCenter at the University of Colorado at Boulder tightened the resolution toas little as 100 meters per pixel and roughly quadrupled contrastsensitivity.
As one example of a payoff, researchers are finally getting a clear pictureof a 600-by-50-kilometer eyedropper-shaped ice formation informally known asNEGIS (for Northeast Greenland Ice Stream). This massive feature--which issliding toward the sea at a few hundred meters per year--wasn't even knownto science until 1991.
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http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MattTowery/2007/01/18/hang_it_up,_obama_--_its_hillarys_nomination
Hang It Up, Obama -- It's Hillary's Nomination
by Matt Towery
Posted Jan 18, 2007
People often ask me who will be the Democratic nominee for president in2008. I always answer without a trace of hesitation: "Hillary Clinton."
Usually they look stunned. Whether they are rabidly pro-Hillary or rabidHillary-haters from the GOP side of the fence, it makes no difference. Theyall seem to be buying into the misguided notion that Sen. Clinton is socontroversial that she is entirely unelectable.
Partly thanks to that belief, "Obama mania" is sweeping the nation vianewspaper and magazine headlines, and television news shows.
Like it or don't like it, but trust me: Hillary will win the Democraticnomination.
For one thing, Obama is a red herring. Sure, it's a novel and refreshingconcept that a highly appealing black man could leapfrog to the head of theDemocratic ticket. But black is not the key color here, green is.
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Forwarded from Susan Frishkorn
Tri-County - chances@attglobal.net
Published on Friday, January 26, 2007 by The Nation
http://www.thenation.com
Impeachment: The Case in Favor
by Elizabeth Holtzman
Approximately a year ago, I wrote in this magazine that President George W.Bush had committed high crimes and misdemeanors and should be impeached andremoved from office. His impeachable offenses include using lies anddeceptions to drive the country into war in Iraq, deliberately andrepeatedly violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) onwiretapping in the United States, and facilitating the mistreatment of USdetainees in violation of the Geneva Conventions and the War Crimes Act of1996.
Since then, the case against President Bush has, if anything, beenstrengthened by reports that he personally authorized CIA abuse ofdetainees. In addition, courts have rejected some of his extreme assertionsof executive power. The Supreme Court ruled that the Geneva Conventionsapply to the treatment of detainees, and a federal judge ruled that thePresident could not legally ignore FISA. Even Attorney General AlbertoGonzales's recent announcement that the wiretapping program would from nowon operate under FISA court supervision strongly suggests that Bush's priorclaims that it could not were untrue.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
FLORIDA DIGEST January 27, 2007
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US ATrays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
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PalmBeachPost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2007/01/27/a4a_crist_0127.html
Crist wins lawmakers' raves, respect
By S.V. Date
Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
Saturday, January 27, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - He came, he saw, and if he didn't quite conquer, he at leastput the property insurance industry on notice that it is now the enemy.
"None of this is personal, but it's business to me. And it's your business,"Gov. Charlie Crist told a luncheon crowd two days after pushing through aspecial session law that aims to lower premiums at least in part by reducingindustry profits. "I ran as the people's governor, and I wasn't kidding."
"The governor did a masterful job of delivering on his promise," saidAssociated Industries of Florida chief Barney Bishop, whose membershipincludes the insurance industry. On the industry's behalf, he had urgedCrist to soften his approach.
"I'm sorry we lost," Bishop said.
In winning, Crist upended the state's decades-long relationship withinsurers, which had been based on the idea that private companies werebetter than government programs. If that meant insurers would get biggersubsidies while raising premiums, then that was a necessary evil.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/16557950.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007
FLORIDA'S INSURANCE CRISIS
Businesses stand to benefit from wider Citizens coverage
Commercial insurance rates remain high and coverage is still scarce. But nowthe state-run pool will enter the market.
BY BEATRICE E. GARCIA
bgarcia@MiamiHerald.com
Florida's new insurance law promises to provide relief for homeowners. Butit also might address an even more urgent crisis: the inability of somebusinesses to find coverage at all.
The bill, signed by Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday, allows Citizens PropertyInsurance to expand into the commercial insurance business in a big way.
Until now, the insurer of last resort could write windstorm policies forbusinesses only in the state's designated windpool, generally east ofInterstate 95 or U.S. 1 in South Florida. And because hurricane coverage wascapped at $1 million, it could cover only very small businesses.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/16557662.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007
FLORIDA'S CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
Sink begins her tenure with a full plate
With the insurance bill passed, the state's CFO will focus on helpingresidents understand the law's risks -- and other priorities.
BY BRENT KALLESTAD
Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE - Three weeks into her new job as Florida's chief financialofficer -- most of it focused on the Legislature's special session onhomeowners insurance -- Alex Sink said Friday she now wants to help peopleunderstand the extra risks they could face under the new law.
Sink, 58, broke the Republican lock on the executive branch with her victoryover former Senate President Tom Lee in November and joins Gov. CharlieCrist and Attorney General Bill McCollum as the new members handling Cabinetissues along with holdover Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson. Sink isthe only Democrat on the panel.
And with a new cast, Sink believes Floridians will benefit from freshleadership.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/16557664.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007
THE HOLOCAUST | RAIL CAR A GRIM REMINDER
German railroad car a grim Holocaust reminder
The leaders of a Hollywood Holocaust museum on Friday unveiled a railroadcar that might have been used to transport millions of Jews to concentrationcamps.
BY TRENTON DANIEL
tdaniel@MiamiHerald.com
The sight of a railroad car on Friday jogged Halina Laster's memory of whenthe Nazis shuttled her around German-occupied Poland in crowded cattle carsfor almost three years.
A Holocaust survivor, Laster recalled Nazis putting lime on the floorboards,saying the powdery substance was used for sanitary reasons. But whenpassengers relieved themselves, the chemical mixture produced fumes thatkilled some of the passengers who weren't already dying of starvation ordehydration.
''For it to be here, it is a symbol of remembrance,'' said Laster, 85,president of the Century-Pines Holocaust Survivor Group at Century Villagein Pembroke Pines.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16557979.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007
VERBATIM
`Simply put, our water isn't right'
By U.S. SEN. BILL NELSON
Below are excerpts from Florida Sen. Bill Nelson's speech to the EvergladesCoalition (www.everglades coalition.org) last Saturday in Orlando.
We are joined by a common cause, a common devotion to protecting andpreserving the vast flowing river we call the Everglades. This is a regionof strange beauty and environmental diversity. Yet it also is one of ourmost important sources of water.
Listen to the words of the late Marjory Stoneman Douglas, from her 1987autobiography, Voice of the River: ``Much of the rainfall on which SouthFlorida depends comes from evaporation in the Everglades. The Evergladesevaporate, the moisture goes up into the clouds, the clouds are blown to thenorth, and the rain comes down over the Kissimmee River and Lake Okeechobee.
``Lake Okeechobee, especially, is fed by these rains. When the lake getsfilled, some of the excess drains down the Caloosahatchee River into theGulf of Mexico, or through the St. Lucie River and into the Atlantic Ocean.The rest of the excess -- the most useful part -- spills over the southernrim of the lake into the great arc of the Everglades.''
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16557986.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007
EDUCATION
Good salaries retain good teachers
BY KAREN ARONOWITZ
KarenA@utofd.com
Much of what masquerades as educational policy around this state is really abitter discussion about money -- who gets it and who does not -- and how welabel the recipients of those dollars. Take the current debate about STAR(Special Teachers Are Rewarded), which is supposed to help retain Florida'sbest teachers with a performance bonus.
The proviso language for this has been transmuted by the Department ofEducation into a cudgel used to beat up teachers in an illegal overreach ofthe department's authority. The DOE would have teachers and the publicaccept the premise that teachers will be motivated by performance paybonuses based 80 percent on increased student scores on a state assessmentor other, undefined instruments. FCAT raises its ugly head again, this timeto rank all the teachers in this state based on an instrument that leavesout 75 percent of teachers from consideration of the bonus. Supposedly,districts and their unions are to negotiate the plan (subject to DOEapproval) for those others in order to allow them to be considered for thebonuses. Talk about a morale booster!
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16557952.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007
RELIGION
Coral Springs church wants to talk about sex
A Coral Springs church is tackling the topic of sex with a controversialthree-part series and a provocative billboard advertisement.
BY JENNIFER MOONEY PIEDRA
jmooney@MiamiHerald.com
There's a three-letter word that has long been taboo in church: S-E-X.
Not anymore.
Next weekend, Church by the Glades in Coral Springs starts a three-weekseries, The Bare Naked Truth on Sex.
And as if the topic weren't controversial enough, the unorthodox church isadvertising the sex talks with a racy billboard -- showing two pairs offeet, interwined, hanging off the end of a bed.
The billboard, on Interstate 595 between Pine Island and Nob Hill roads inDavie, is raising eyebrows.
''That's not what church is supposed to represent,'' said David Lino, 19, ofDavie. ``It's kind of shocking.''
Yet the program isn't meant to be offensive or vulgar, said David Hughes,44, senior pastor at the sprawling, 3,600-member church.
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Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-ccomish27jan27,0,7090936,print.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
Financial trouble looms for Broward
Report lists scenarios as budget work begins
By Bill Hirschman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
January 27, 2007
The Broward County Commission faces potential deficits of $5 million to $61million each year over the next five years as it tries to meet sharplyrising expenses with modest increases in taxes from property owners, acounty report revealed Friday.
County staff forecast how much money Broward would collect through 2012under three scenarios.
Each is based on different financial assumptions, such as stagnant propertyvalues as opposed to moderately rising housing prices.
Even the lower shortfalls underscore what commissioners like John Rodstromand Mayor Josephus Eggelletion have warned for months.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Plan unequal for gays
http://www.alligator.org/pt2/070124insurance.php
Alligator Online and Campus Communications
By ALEX TIEGEN
Alligator Writer
When Nora Spencer heard a year ago that UF would offer health insurancebenefits to partners of gay and lesbian employees, she and her partnerthought it was wonderful.
But when the former adjunct professor became eligible for the benefits asthe director of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs in August,she realized the plan came with a heavy cost. The plan would give her extrataxable income of at least $5,000, which is why she decided not to use it.
"I just looked at it, and it doesn't make any sense," Spencer said.
Almost a year after the university first offered domestic partner benefits,the plan is meeting mixed reception from faculty.
While it is seen as a step forward in gay and lesbian rights, those whobenefit from the plan said it is not equal to the spouse plan forheterosexual couples and, most importantly, not enough.
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Youth Leadership Miami (YLM) is a FREE program targeted to sophomores,juniors and seniors who are in good standing scholastically and attendeither public or private high schools located in Miami-Dade County.
This exciting and fun program is patterned after the highly successful andwidely recognized Leadership Miami program. YLM brings together young peoplefrom different backgrounds and experiences for leadership and personaldevelopment.
YLM is a two-day conference that will take place on March 30 and 31, 2007,at the Florida International University Kovens Center.
Day one will kick off the conference with the exciting Team Ropes AdventureChallenge. This unique series of activities is focused on team membersworking together to solve structured problems in an outdoor setting. Daytwo consists of a series of leadership and personal development activities.
Applications for YLM are due March 1 and can be downloaded in PDF format byclicking this link: http://www.leadershipmiami.org/eng/documents/youth.pdf
More information is available at http://www.leadershipmiami.org/
[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]
#####
=
PalmBeachPost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2007/01/27/a4a_crist_0127.html
Crist wins lawmakers' raves, respect
By S.V. Date
Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
Saturday, January 27, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - He came, he saw, and if he didn't quite conquer, he at leastput the property insurance industry on notice that it is now the enemy.
"None of this is personal, but it's business to me. And it's your business,"Gov. Charlie Crist told a luncheon crowd two days after pushing through aspecial session law that aims to lower premiums at least in part by reducingindustry profits. "I ran as the people's governor, and I wasn't kidding."
"The governor did a masterful job of delivering on his promise," saidAssociated Industries of Florida chief Barney Bishop, whose membershipincludes the insurance industry. On the industry's behalf, he had urgedCrist to soften his approach.
"I'm sorry we lost," Bishop said.
In winning, Crist upended the state's decades-long relationship withinsurers, which had been based on the idea that private companies werebetter than government programs. If that meant insurers would get biggersubsidies while raising premiums, then that was a necessary evil.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/16557950.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007
FLORIDA'S INSURANCE CRISIS
Businesses stand to benefit from wider Citizens coverage
Commercial insurance rates remain high and coverage is still scarce. But nowthe state-run pool will enter the market.
BY BEATRICE E. GARCIA
bgarcia@MiamiHerald.com
Florida's new insurance law promises to provide relief for homeowners. Butit also might address an even more urgent crisis: the inability of somebusinesses to find coverage at all.
The bill, signed by Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday, allows Citizens PropertyInsurance to expand into the commercial insurance business in a big way.
Until now, the insurer of last resort could write windstorm policies forbusinesses only in the state's designated windpool, generally east ofInterstate 95 or U.S. 1 in South Florida. And because hurricane coverage wascapped at $1 million, it could cover only very small businesses.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/16557662.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007
FLORIDA'S CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
Sink begins her tenure with a full plate
With the insurance bill passed, the state's CFO will focus on helpingresidents understand the law's risks -- and other priorities.
BY BRENT KALLESTAD
Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE - Three weeks into her new job as Florida's chief financialofficer -- most of it focused on the Legislature's special session onhomeowners insurance -- Alex Sink said Friday she now wants to help peopleunderstand the extra risks they could face under the new law.
Sink, 58, broke the Republican lock on the executive branch with her victoryover former Senate President Tom Lee in November and joins Gov. CharlieCrist and Attorney General Bill McCollum as the new members handling Cabinetissues along with holdover Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson. Sink isthe only Democrat on the panel.
And with a new cast, Sink believes Floridians will benefit from freshleadership.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/16557664.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007
THE HOLOCAUST | RAIL CAR A GRIM REMINDER
German railroad car a grim Holocaust reminder
The leaders of a Hollywood Holocaust museum on Friday unveiled a railroadcar that might have been used to transport millions of Jews to concentrationcamps.
BY TRENTON DANIEL
tdaniel@MiamiHerald.com
The sight of a railroad car on Friday jogged Halina Laster's memory of whenthe Nazis shuttled her around German-occupied Poland in crowded cattle carsfor almost three years.
A Holocaust survivor, Laster recalled Nazis putting lime on the floorboards,saying the powdery substance was used for sanitary reasons. But whenpassengers relieved themselves, the chemical mixture produced fumes thatkilled some of the passengers who weren't already dying of starvation ordehydration.
''For it to be here, it is a symbol of remembrance,'' said Laster, 85,president of the Century-Pines Holocaust Survivor Group at Century Villagein Pembroke Pines.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16557979.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007
VERBATIM
`Simply put, our water isn't right'
By U.S. SEN. BILL NELSON
Below are excerpts from Florida Sen. Bill Nelson's speech to the EvergladesCoalition (www.everglades coalition.org) last Saturday in Orlando.
We are joined by a common cause, a common devotion to protecting andpreserving the vast flowing river we call the Everglades. This is a regionof strange beauty and environmental diversity. Yet it also is one of ourmost important sources of water.
Listen to the words of the late Marjory Stoneman Douglas, from her 1987autobiography, Voice of the River: ``Much of the rainfall on which SouthFlorida depends comes from evaporation in the Everglades. The Evergladesevaporate, the moisture goes up into the clouds, the clouds are blown to thenorth, and the rain comes down over the Kissimmee River and Lake Okeechobee.
``Lake Okeechobee, especially, is fed by these rains. When the lake getsfilled, some of the excess drains down the Caloosahatchee River into theGulf of Mexico, or through the St. Lucie River and into the Atlantic Ocean.The rest of the excess -- the most useful part -- spills over the southernrim of the lake into the great arc of the Everglades.''
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16557986.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007
EDUCATION
Good salaries retain good teachers
BY KAREN ARONOWITZ
KarenA@utofd.com
Much of what masquerades as educational policy around this state is really abitter discussion about money -- who gets it and who does not -- and how welabel the recipients of those dollars. Take the current debate about STAR(Special Teachers Are Rewarded), which is supposed to help retain Florida'sbest teachers with a performance bonus.
The proviso language for this has been transmuted by the Department ofEducation into a cudgel used to beat up teachers in an illegal overreach ofthe department's authority. The DOE would have teachers and the publicaccept the premise that teachers will be motivated by performance paybonuses based 80 percent on increased student scores on a state assessmentor other, undefined instruments. FCAT raises its ugly head again, this timeto rank all the teachers in this state based on an instrument that leavesout 75 percent of teachers from consideration of the bonus. Supposedly,districts and their unions are to negotiate the plan (subject to DOEapproval) for those others in order to allow them to be considered for thebonuses. Talk about a morale booster!
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16557952.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Jan. 27, 2007
RELIGION
Coral Springs church wants to talk about sex
A Coral Springs church is tackling the topic of sex with a controversialthree-part series and a provocative billboard advertisement.
BY JENNIFER MOONEY PIEDRA
jmooney@MiamiHerald.com
There's a three-letter word that has long been taboo in church: S-E-X.
Not anymore.
Next weekend, Church by the Glades in Coral Springs starts a three-weekseries, The Bare Naked Truth on Sex.
And as if the topic weren't controversial enough, the unorthodox church isadvertising the sex talks with a racy billboard -- showing two pairs offeet, interwined, hanging off the end of a bed.
The billboard, on Interstate 595 between Pine Island and Nob Hill roads inDavie, is raising eyebrows.
''That's not what church is supposed to represent,'' said David Lino, 19, ofDavie. ``It's kind of shocking.''
Yet the program isn't meant to be offensive or vulgar, said David Hughes,44, senior pastor at the sprawling, 3,600-member church.
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Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-ccomish27jan27,0,7090936,print.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
Financial trouble looms for Broward
Report lists scenarios as budget work begins
By Bill Hirschman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
January 27, 2007
The Broward County Commission faces potential deficits of $5 million to $61million each year over the next five years as it tries to meet sharplyrising expenses with modest increases in taxes from property owners, acounty report revealed Friday.
County staff forecast how much money Broward would collect through 2012under three scenarios.
Each is based on different financial assumptions, such as stagnant propertyvalues as opposed to moderately rising housing prices.
Even the lower shortfalls underscore what commissioners like John Rodstromand Mayor Josephus Eggelletion have warned for months.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Plan unequal for gays
http://www.alligator.org/pt2/070124insurance.php
Alligator Online and Campus Communications
By ALEX TIEGEN
Alligator Writer
When Nora Spencer heard a year ago that UF would offer health insurancebenefits to partners of gay and lesbian employees, she and her partnerthought it was wonderful.
But when the former adjunct professor became eligible for the benefits asthe director of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs in August,she realized the plan came with a heavy cost. The plan would give her extrataxable income of at least $5,000, which is why she decided not to use it.
"I just looked at it, and it doesn't make any sense," Spencer said.
Almost a year after the university first offered domestic partner benefits,the plan is meeting mixed reception from faculty.
While it is seen as a step forward in gay and lesbian rights, those whobenefit from the plan said it is not equal to the spouse plan forheterosexual couples and, most importantly, not enough.
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Youth Leadership Miami (YLM) is a FREE program targeted to sophomores,juniors and seniors who are in good standing scholastically and attendeither public or private high schools located in Miami-Dade County.
This exciting and fun program is patterned after the highly successful andwidely recognized Leadership Miami program. YLM brings together young peoplefrom different backgrounds and experiences for leadership and personaldevelopment.
YLM is a two-day conference that will take place on March 30 and 31, 2007,at the Florida International University Kovens Center.
Day one will kick off the conference with the exciting Team Ropes AdventureChallenge. This unique series of activities is focused on team membersworking together to solve structured problems in an outdoor setting. Daytwo consists of a series of leadership and personal development activities.
Applications for YLM are due March 1 and can be downloaded in PDF format byclicking this link: http://www.leadershipmiami.org/eng/documents/youth.pdf
More information is available at http://www.leadershipmiami.org/
[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]
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