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Rabbi arrested at New York demo over gays in the military
Thu Mar 15, 2:38 PM ET
Two leading US gay rights activists, one of them a rabbi, were arrested in
New York Thursday at a demonstration to express outrage over a top USgeneral's comments that homosexuality was immoral.
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum and National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce chief MattForeman were detained after sitting down in the road to block trafficpassing a military recruiting station in the bustling Times Squareintersection.
The ad hoc group of around 50 demonstrators were protesting comments made by
the US military's top officer, General Peter Pace, who said in an interview
published Tuesday that homosexual acts were immoral.
Shouting "Pace is immoral, gays are fabulous" and "military bigots have got
to go," protesters, some wearing t-shirts saying "Queer Guerilla" and wavingplacards calling for Pace to quit, wrapped themselves in a giant rainbowflag.
Former New Jersey governor and gay activist Jim McGreevey condemned the USmilitary's official policy on gays in the military, known as "don't ask,don't tell," saying it treated homosexuals as second class citizens.
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http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/cda/article_print/0,1983,DRMN_23906_5418591_ARTICLE-DETAIL-PRINT,00.html
Rocky Mountain News
Boulder rep shares own story in 'second parent' adoption debate
By Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News
March 15, 2007
A Boulder lawmaker on Wednesday injected a strong dose of reality into thefierce ideological debate over whether cohabitating couples - includinggays - should be allowed to adopt.
Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, rose to cap two days of charged exchanges overthe "Second Parent Adoption Bill," including one Republican's insistencethat "these families" without a married man and woman "do not exist."
"I have three beautiful nieces," said Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, her voiceshaking. "They're gorgeous girls.
"They have two mothers - my sister and her partner. They live in . . . aloving, supportive family. It is everything anyone would want in a family."
Levy said that under state law, her sister and partner can't get married,and her sister's partner can't adopt their children.
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http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-3938.html
Analysis: Beginning of the end for "Don't Ask Don't Tell"
16th March 2007 11:44
Marine General Peter Pace, the US military's chairman of the Joint Chiefs ofStaff, called homosexuality "immoral" on Tuesday and likened it to adultery.
Now military analysts said his comments suggest the armed forces have runout of rationales for banning known gays from service.
"This might be the beginning of the end," says Aaron Belkin, director of theMichael D. Palm Centre and associate professor of Political Science atUniversity of California, Santa Barbara.
"But it may be a long, drawn-out ending."
The policy of "Don't Ask Don't Tell," introduced in the United States ArmedForces in 1993 by then-President Bill Clinton.
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Republicans Dodge Homosexuality Question
By: Jonathan Martin
March 16, 2007 06:33 AM EST
The Democratic candidates have all been pressed if they concur with JointChiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace's remark that homosexuality is immoral.But where do their GOP counterparts stand on the question? Notsurprisingly, few of the candidates are eager to rush in to this articularconversation.
I posed the question -- is homosexuality immoral -- to representatives ofall three of the top Republican candidates. None answered it directly.
Sen. John McCain: "The senator thinks such questions are a matter ofconscience and faith for people to decide for themselves. As a publicofficial, Senator McCain supports don't ask, don't tell." --McCainspokesman Danny Diaz. Per the AP, McCain was asked about the matter on thecampaign trail in Iowa yesterday and declined to answer.
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani's campaign didn't respond to the question,instead citing comments the candidate made on FOX News last month when askedabout gay marriage. "We should be tolerant, fair, open, and we shouldunderstand the rights that all people have in our society."
Former Gov. Mitt Romney's campaign also declined to answer the question,rather pointing to the response their candidate gave earlier this week onthe campaign trail in Arizona. "I think General Pace has said that heregrets having said that, and I think he was wise to have issued an apology,or a withdrawal of that comment. I think that we, as a society, welcomepeople of all differences, whether there are differences in ethnicity, faithor sexual preference, and I think he was wise to correct his comment and tosuggest that that was an inappropriate point to have made."
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http://gaycitynews.com/site/printerFriendly.cfm?brd=2729&dept_id=568864&newsid=18084437
03/15/2007
Berlin's Harshly Felt Divide
By: BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
A same-sex kiss is never simply a same-sex kiss.
The Danish and Norwegian duo of gay artists Michael Elmgreen and IngarDragset designed a memorial for the homosexual victims of the Nazi periodshowing a continuously running black and white film of two men kissingwithin a concrete sculpture. Many German lesbians as well as the feministmagazine EMMA objected to this depiction.
"A ghetto of clichés of male homosexuality," wrote Alice Schwarzer, thefounder and publisher of EMMA, a kind of Ms. Magazine for German women.
A more succinct rationale for Schwarzer's dissatisfaction with the memorialcan be found on the EMMA-initiated petition campaign waged in the summer of2006.
"I protest that the planned homosexual memorial in Berlin shows exclusivelymale homosexuality and demand that female homosexuality be adequatelyconsidered," reads the manifesto's opening sentence.
Last August, EMMA reached out to Germany's most famous gay man, KlausWowereit, the mayor of Berlin, who responded to the magazine's request witha letter supporting the homosexual memorial as originally agreed upon.Nonetheless, EMMA placed Wowereit's name on its online petition as one ofthe first signatories to its protest.
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http://www.tompaine.com/print/general_paces_skewed_morality.php
General Pace's Skewed Morality
David McReynolds
March 16, 2007
David McReynolds was on the staff of the War Resisters League for manyyears, and, as the Socialist Party candidate in 1980 and 2000, the firstopenly gay person to run for the U.S. presidency. He lives with two cats onManhattan's Lower East Side.
When General Peter Pace presented his view that homosexuality was immoral, Ithought, "Good heavens, there is a danger the military may be infused withmoral concerns-this could lead to mass desertions at the highest level."
Leaving to one side the question of whether homosexuality is immoral (thoughnot before noting that Jesus, who had clear views on many issues, neveruttered a single recorded word on this subject), if the general is to takeup moral issues, surely there should be a certain priority. If, in thecourse of his busy day, he gets a chance to think about it, which would bemore immoral: two soldiers making love or any soldier shooting people inanother country, at the order of the president, for the clear purpose ofgaining control over the oil in that country? If we learned anything fromNuremberg, it was that wars of aggression are a crime against humanity. Wealso know that torture violates international treaties, and yet torture hasbeen an intrinsic part of the U.S. misadventure in Iraq.
In my youth, then a devout believer and a member of the Baptist Church, Ihad serious struggles reconciling my homosexuality with the "socialcontrols" that taught me that I was trapped in sin. I long ago resolvedthose conflicts (and, in the process, became what might be called a"religious atheist"). Of course I believe that homosexuals and lesbians musthave the same rights as any other person to serve in the U.S. military.
The issue, however, is whether those of us who have had to go through thisintense struggle to gain self-knowledge-some sense of what is truly rightand wrong-should not also have learned that our very process of facingpainful decisions made us more aware than the average person of just what istruly immoral. The gay and lesbian struggle should focus-must focus-on thefact that the war in Iraq is a criminal adventure, in violation of theUnited Nations charter. There is not a question of this realization being"left" or "right"-rather, it is a question of right and wrong. If, on theone hand, we demand military service be open to our gay and lesbian brothersand sisters, surely, on the other hand, we must urge them to avoid suchservice when they may find themselves used as pawns of what the ruling classperceives as its interests. (And the interests of those who run a countryare usually quite different from the interests of the rest of us.)
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http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/307247_paceed.html
Gays In The Military: Ask not, think not
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Why is it that when it comes to gay rights, it seems we take one stepforward, and three steps back? In a New York Times op-ed (published Jan. 5in the P-I), retired Army Gen. John Shalikashvili said that he no longerthinks the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy (a law since 1993) isneeded, as he doesn't think that having homosexuals in the armed forceswould damage troop morale. Several polls show that Americans -- includingthose serving -- think the same.
Too bad Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, didn't getthe memo. "Homosexual acts between individuals are immoral," he said Monday,adding that the military also opposes heterosexual adultery. "We prosecutethat kind of immoral behavior." Oh, please. Anyone who has ever lived on ornear a military base can attest to the rampant extra-marital lechery thattakes place, which is acceptable, we suppose, because we're talking aboutheterosexuals here. Pace has backtracked somewhat since, but the cat is outof the bag, and now we all know just where the top brass stand.
The foundation of the don't-ask-don't-tell law is flawed. A double standard,it mandates that in order to succeed, or just serve, in the military, gayswould have to lie about who they are, while straights could be open. It alsorequires that the government go along with the lie. It didn't make sense in1993, and it doesn't make sense now.
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http://www.gaycitynews.com/site/printerFriendly.cfm?brd=2729&dept_id=569476&newsid=18084776
03/15/2007
Why I'm Marching in Dublin This St. Patrick's Day
By: CHRISTINE C. QUINN
New Yorkers should feel proud that ours is one of the most diverse, open,and welcoming cities anywhere. We take pride in celebrating our differentcultures. It is no wonder that we have more ethnic parades than any othercity in the world - and they are amazing displays of culture and community.
In this spirit of diversity, all of New York City's parades should be trulyinclusive, and allow people to openly express all of who they are.
Since 1991, Irish lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered New Yorkers havebeen unable to march openly in our city's St. Patrick's Day parade.Unfortunately, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the group that organizes theParade, won a 1993 federal court ruling that gave them the right to includeor exclude groups from the parade.
The most extraordinary aspect of this ruling is that it was based on thenotion that by barring LGBT groups, the AOH was exercising its right tofreedom of expression. Ironic as this is, and illogical as it seems,successive court rulings have upheld the right of private groups like theAOH to select who can and cannot participate in parades they organize.And despite years of legal efforts and direct action by community activists,city officials, LGBT groups, and others over the years, the AOH has notbudged in its position.
Last year, my first as City Council speaker, I tried to find a way thatwould finally allow Irish LGBT New Yorkers to march openly, celebrating ouridentity and heritage. As the first Irish-American, openly gay speaker ofthe New York City Council, I hoped I could make things different.
Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we did not make progress. Whenasked by a reporter last year why the AOH continued to prohibit LGBT peoplefrom marching openly, the Parade organizer said it was akin to "barring theKu Klux Klan from marching in Harlem, or Nazis from joining an Israeliparade."
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http://www.washblade.com/print.cfm?content_id=10201
Gen. Pace's gift to gays
Timing of anti-gay remark helps shine a bright light on discriminatory anddoomed 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy.
By KEVIN KNAFF
Mar. 16, 2007
NOT MANY GAY rights supporters are lining up to thank Marine Gen. PeterPace, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, so let me be the first.
Sure, his anti-gay remarks made earlier this week are deplorable, but theensuing media attention is shining a very timely spotlight on the military'sdated and doomed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
In an interview with the Chicago Tribune Monday, Pace said he considershomosexual acts "immoral" and opposes lifting "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
"I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that weshould not condone immoral acts," he said. "I do not believe the UnitedStates is well served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in anyway."
Pace said he based his views on his upbringing.
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http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070316/OPINION01/703160352/1035/OPINION&template=printart
Published March 16, 2007
In commentary or teen culture, gay slurs are about bullying
By ERIC FRALICK
IOWA VIEW
When Ann Coulter, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Committeeconference last week, called presidential candidate John Edwards a faggot,she raised predictable tuttings from establishment conservatives who, onceagain, had "no idea she'd go that far."
A few more newspapers canceled her column, and she got a tremendous amountof attention from practically every media outlet in the country, whatevertheir politics.
Her word choice, which has since been taken up by several right-wingcommentators, most notably James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal and, ofcourse, Rush Limbaugh, might have seemed mysterious, considering Edwards'well-known record of public service, his wife and children, and his lack ofa Ted Haggard or even Newt Gingrich moment. It makes sense only if you knowthat George Bush and particularly Dick Cheney (yes, they are the presidentand vice president of our country) have been calling Edwards "the BreckGirl" since the summer of 2004, around the same time the Swiftboaters werebrought around to sink the Democrats' election chances.
So, for some, this is what politics has become: If you can't win on theissues - and Edwards has been right on domestic issues and foreign policyabout as often as anyone in the country - then you try to destroy thempersonally, by questioning their patriotism and, with increasing frequency,their sexuality.
Here in Iowa, our new Legislature has taken heat from some local bloggersfor passage of a schoolhouse anti-bullying bill that, along with banningracial and religious insults, specifically includes gay slurs. The idea isto inject some fairness into a teen culture where the most used put-down is"that's so gay" and where the perception of being gay, true or not, can andoften does lead to the adolescent version of gang violence.
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http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-3933.html
Gay bishop says coming out is God at work
15th March 2007 17:37
Tony Grew
The openly gay bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, has robustly defendedhis position.
At a public meeting in Washington DC Bishop Robinson claimed that of thenearly 8000 parishes in the American Episcopal Church, only 47 have soughtguidance from outside bishops after his ordination.
"If you want to know my homosexual agenda, it's Jesus," Bishop Robinsonsaid, according to crosswalk.com
"I feel that this is a real extension of what I've been called to do in thegospels.
"And I would propose to you that peoples' coming out - gay and lesbian folkbeing honest about who they are, what their lives are, what their familiesare like, their desire to contribute to this culture, to serve in themilitary, to take their place as full citizens of this country - is God atwork," he added.
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http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-3943.html
Cardinal says Pope should stop giving orders
16th March 2007 17:43
Rachel Charman
An Italian cardinal has criticised other church leaders for opposing thelegal recognition of same-sex partnerships.
Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini told Italian pilgrims in Bethlehem yesterdaythat, "The Church does not give orders."
His statement is seen by many as a clear rebuke to the Pope's stance in thecurrent Italian same-sex union row.
The retired cardinal was speaking at the basilica of the Nativity,celebrating mass with 1,300 visitors from Milan.
Cardinal Martini, 80, also believes that the Catholic church should activelytry to make Catholic beliefs attractive to the secular community.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/03/031607startrek.htm
Star Trek's Gay Episode Finally Gets Made
by Greg Hernandez, AfterElton.com
Posted: March 16, 2007 - 6 pm ET
(New York) When David Gerrold left Star Trek: The Next Generation back in1988, it was with a bit of a broken heart. He had penned an episode called"Blood and Fire" which dealt with an epidemic caused by a blood-bornepathogen that was an allegory for AIDS. The episode was to have featured thefirst openly gay couple in Star Trek history, something that Star Trekcreator Gene Roddenberry was said to fully support.
Gerrold was with Roddenberry at a Star Trek convention when Roddenberry wasasked whether there would be gay characters in Next Generation. Gerroldrecalls him saying, "You're right, it's time we do that."
But Roddenberry was in fading health by that time, and he had less to dowith the show's day-to-day operations than he had on the original Star Trekseries that ran from 1966-69. So after reviewing Gerrold's completed script,the show's producers got cold feet.
"This script was written as a promise," says Gerrold, an associate produceron Next Generation who was largely credited with mapping out the new series."There was a subtext that they were gay, but we treated them like they werereally good friends. But someone does ask them: 'How long have you beentogether?' Well, a few people in the office went ballistic! A memo came downthat said, 'We don't want to risk the franchise by having mommies callingthe station because they saw gay people on Star Trek.'"
Frustrated by office politics and upset that the gay-themed episode had beenshelved, Gerrold left the franchise that had meant to much to him. "I walkedaway disappointed at the stories that weren't going to be told," he says. "Iwanted to recreate the spirit of the original series. The episode where youare up against some terrible threat [and] as long as you were fighting itand seeing [it] as an enemy, you were going the wrong way. The only way [tosucceed] was to stop resisting and learn how to be friends."
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/03/031607hatch.htm
Survivor's Hatch on Prison: "Horrendous"
by the Associated Press
Posted: March 16, 2007 - 3:30 pm ET
(New York) Richard Hatch, who won $1 million on "Survivor," says being inprison for failing to pay taxes on his reality TV prize and other income isno day at the beach.
Hatch, who became known as the "naked fat guy" for refusing to wear clothesfor much of the CBS show, was convicted last year. He was sentenced to 51months in prison, and is at the Federal Correctional Institution inMorgantown, W.Va., a minimum security facility.
"Obviously, this is better than the county lockup," Hatch tells Peoplemagazine in its March 26 issue. "There's no fence here. But people thinkI've come to a country club. It's not. This is prison. Just because it's gota beautiful view of the countryside doesn't make it a resort. And it'shorrendous because I'm an innocent man in jail."
Following his conviction, Hatch says he spent "six horrendous months" at thePlymouth County Correctional Facility in Plymouth, Mass.
"We were all in a small room - 52 people: child molesters, murderers,rapists and me," he recalls. "For six months I never left that room. Therewere no doors, no privacy. There were two TVs in that room, so I lived allday long with 'Jerry Springer' blaring."
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/03/031607pace.htm
Retired Military Officers Come Out, Demand Apology from Gen. Pace
by 365gay Staff
Posted: March 16, 2007 - 11:30 am ET
(Washington) A group of seven high-ranking military veterans today respondedto recent remarks by General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs ofStaff, who earlier this week called lesbian, gay and bisexual servicemembers 'immoral' and re-iterated his support for the military's "Don't Ask,Don't Tell" ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual service members.
The officers, who are all lesbian or gay, called on Congress to repeal thelaw, and demanded that General Pace apologize for his remarks.
COL Stewart Bornhoft, USA (Ret.); CAPT Joan E. Darrah, USN (Ret.); CAPTRobert D. Dockendorff, USNR (Ret.); Chaplain (COL) Paul W. Dodd, USA (Ret.);CAPT Sandra Geiselman, USNR (Ret.); COL E. A. Leonard, USA (Ret.); and CAPTRobert Michael Rankin, USN (Ret.) issued their statement on Friday morning.
"Our community has a long history of serving our country in the armedforces," the group said. "Today, there are more than 65,000 lesbian and gaytroops on duty. Another one million gay and lesbian veterans, including theseven of us, have served in our fighting forces. General Pace's remarksdishonor that service, as does the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' law. General Pacemust offer an immediate and unqualified apology for his remarks and Congressmust take action to repeal the ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual Americanswho want to serve our country."
The highly-decorated officers each served more than 20 years, and severalconsiderably longer. They have earned scores of awards, honors andcommendations during their careers. Four served in the Vietnam War. Theyhave served as company commanders, helicopter pilots, medical officers,commanding officers, psychologists, chaplains, combat engineers, platoonleaders, infantry officers, supply corps officers and intelligence officers.
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Advocate.com
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid43046.asp
New Mexico governor, presidential candidate Bill Richardson calls for end to"don't ask, don't tell"
Bill Richardson, the Democratic governor of New Mexico and 2008 presidentialcandidate, announced Thursday that he believes "don't ask, don't tell"should be repealed.
Bill Richardson, the Democratic governor of New Mexico and 2008 presidential candidate, announced Thursday that he believes "don't ask, don't tell"should be repealed. Responding to Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman PeterPace's antigay comments earlier this week, the onetime congressman said hedoesn't agree that homosexuality is immoral, instead saying discriminationagainst gay people in the U.S. military should end, the Associated Pressreports.
"I voted against it when I served in Congress," Richardson told the AP inSanta Fe, referring to the ban on openly gay service members, signed intolaw by then-president Bill Clinton in the 1990s. "People should not bejudged based on their sexual orientation. Throughout my entire career I havefought for equal rights and against discrimination of any kind."
Richardson added that Pace's remarks were "unfortunate" and called onPresident Bush to condemn them. In his interview with the AP he also pointedto his own pro-gay record: his support of civil unions and his signing intolaw a state measure that provides civil rights protections for gays andlesbians.
Two of his competitors for the Democratic presidential nod, senators HillaryClinton and Barack Obama, also disavowed Pace's comment's Thursday,according to the AP, finally saying that they disagree that homosexuality isimmoral after avoiding the issue earlier in the week. (The Advocate)
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Advocate.com
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid43050.asp
March 17, 2007
Desmond Tutu likens antigay discrimination to apartheid
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu, the former Anglican archbishop ofCape Town, South Africa, warned African churches against focusing too muchon homosexuality while ignoring major issues, reports the Episcopal NewsService.
"I am deeply, deeply distressed that in the face of the most horrendousproblems-we've got poverty, we've got conflict and war, we've gotHIV/AIDS-and what do we concentrate on? We concentrate on what you are doingin bed," Tutu told journalists in Nairobi, Kenya, during the World SocialForum.
Tutu went on to compare discrimination against gays to what black peoplesuffered under South Africa's apartheid. "To penalize someone because oftheir sexual orientation is like what used to happen to us; to be penalizedfor something which we could do nothing [about]-our ethnicity, our race,"said Tutu, according to the Associated Press. "I would find it quiteunacceptable to condemn, persecute a minority that has already beenpersecuted."
The worldwide Anglican Communion has been divided by the issue ofhomosexuality, with some dioceses cutting links with the U.S. EpiscopalChurch. But three days after the close of the WSF, the Reverend SamuelNjoroge of the Anglican Church in Kenya expressed hope that tolerance shownby Christian leaders could woo back gay and lesbian parishioners.
"We need to reexamine our doctrine on sexual matters," Tutu told EcumenicalNews International on January 29. "We have to find how we approach theissue, but not throw them [gays] out. As pastors, we are supposed tominister to the good, bad, and ugly."
Sheikh Mohammed Dor, leader of the Islamic Preachers of Kenya, took adifferent position, demanding that the government crack down on gays. "TheMuslim community is against homosexuality because the vice is ungodly. Boththe Quran and the Bible condemn it," Dor told Kenya's Daily Nation newspaperon January 28. (The Advocate)
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid43062.asp
March 17, 2007
New Mexico mulls domestic partnerships
New Mexico's senate was poised to vote Friday on a bill to legalize same-sexpartnerships in the state, and equality advocates expect a fight as the 2007legislative session counted down to its final hours.
HB 603, the Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act, would create aregistry in which two adults in a committed relationship could becomedomestic partners, gaining access to basic health care coverage and familyleave as well as presumption of parentage, inheritance rights, and decisionmaking in case of a partner's incapacity. It would apply to both same-sexand unmarried heterosexual partners.
The bill, carried by Democratic representative Mimi Stewart of Albuquerque,passed New Mexico's house in February by an unexpectedly strong 33-24 vote.It faces a tougher battle in the state senate, where it is among more than300 bills to be acted upon before the legislative session ends Saturday.
"We strongly believe that all New Mexicans deserve full equality under thelaw," Equality New Mexico said in a statement on its Web site. "However, webelieve that domestic-partner legislation has the best chance of passingthis session. As the statewide LGBT advocacy organization, we are committedto obtaining the maximum rights and benefits for as many as possible, assoon as possible."
New Mexico is one of only four states that has not defined marriage as theunion of a man and a woman, though efforts to make the marriage applicationgender-neutral have failed. A so-called defense of marriage bill was killedin the house this year. (Barbara Wilcox, The Advocate)
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid42715.asp
March 16, 2007
If Edwards is the f word, what word is Coulter?
Ann Coulter tried to explain away her antigay remark about Democraticpresidential candidate John Edwards as a mere "schoolyard taunt." But ascomedian Jim David points out, the calculating blond pressmonger knewexactly what she was doing-and her deliberate verbal gaffe betrays theconservative spirit at its most vile.
By Jim David
Just when you thought we were all safe from the f word, Little MissSunshine, a.k.a. Ann Coulter, shows up at the Conservative Political ActionConference, a.k.a. the Reichstag, and knocks Anna Nicole's baby off the newsby calling John Edwards a "faggot." "C'mon, it's just a joke," she said ofthis brilliant bit of Swiftian satire, explaining that she was trying topoke fun at the Isaiah Washington controversy. The f word, she said, was a"schoolyard taunt" that means "wuss" or "sissy" and has nothing to do withgay people.
Golly, I seem to remember a remarkably similar schoolyard taunt directed atme by similar satirists in the ninth grade, which resulted in a black eyeand a sprained wrist. It was accompanied by the brilliant lampoon "gay boy"(another ribald retort Coulter has used), but since my face was beingsmashed in at the time, the humor escaped me. It's nice to know-at last-thatit had nothing to do with my being gay and that the guys were justpracticing their budding stand-up skills.
Even though I'm out, maybe I don't get out enough. I've heard "wuss" used todescribe, well, a wuss, but any moron knows that "faggot," if not directlymeant as antigay, is pretty freakin' close. I guess I wasn't brought up inthe right place. In England, a "fag" is a cigarette, and "bitch" refers to afemale dog. That goes for Merican canine, too, though it's more commonlyused as a slur against women. To paraphrase Rodney Dangerfield, if you lookup "bitch" in the dictionary, there's Ann's picture. C'mon, it's just ajoke.
Coulter has the right to call a presidential candidate a faggot in public orto say that liberals should worry about being killed, as she previously has,as long as I retain the right to call her proof of the need for retroactiveabortion. C'mon, it's just a joke. Oh, wait, she got me-I've been draggeddown to her level. Not only that, I'm talking about her, again. Who said,"There's no such thing as bad publicity?" Coulter should buy them aMercedes.
But why even go there, for heaven's sake? Why swim in all that negativeenergy? Because Coulter and her comrades Limbaugh, Hannity, and Savage havelowered the tenor of the debate to the point that the only response isanother "schoolyard taunt" or the actual threat of physical violence. Youcan't reason with these people. The only thing you can do, to preserve yoursanity, is ignore them completely or express your displeasure to theorganizations that promote them.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid43068.asp
March 17, 2007
Elton stirs up controversy in Trinidad and Tobago
Elton John concerts are usually greeted by cheers, but not this time.
The pop legend is set to play at Plymouth Jazz Festival on the Caribbeanisland of Tobago next month, but local church leaders are condemning hisvisit because he's gay. Philip Issac, archdeacon of Trinidad and Tobago,doesn't want John to come, saying his orientation didn't conform to theBible and that he could cause people to turn gay.
"The artist is one of God's children, and while his lifestyle isquestionable, he needs to be ministered unto," Isaac told the U.K. DailyMail. "His visit to the island can open the country to be tempted towardpursuing his lifestyle."
Trinidad and Tobago has laws, though rarely enforced, that can prevent gaypeople from entering the nation. Concert promoters are saying John is stillcoming. (The Advocate)
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The Local
http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=6713&print=true
Swedish bishops say yes to gay church weddings
Published: 16th March 2007 15:12 CET
The Church of Sweden's leaders have said that they are willing to allow gaypeople to marry in church on the same basis as heterosexual couples,although bishops are unsure whether to call the unions marriage.
"We are prepared to carry out partnerships for homosexuals that have theforce of law," said Bishop Claes-Bertil Ytterberg of the church's Västeråsdiocese.
Ytterberg said the decision will make the church the first majordenomination in the world to allow full gay church marriage in practice.However, the United Church of Canada, the second largest Canadiandenomination, already carries out gay marriages.
An official government report proposing changes to marriage laws is to bepresented next week. The report is expected to call for all couples, gay orstraight, to be given equal marriage rights.
Under the system proposed in the report, churches would retain the right toperform marriages but each individual priest would be forced to seek amarriage licence independently. Today's move means that the church isaccepting the proposals.
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St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/16/news_pf/Tampabay/With_no_transition_pl.shtml
With no transition plan, Stanton wrote one
Many companies have policies to protect transgender employees, but the city
of Largo didn't.
By LORRI HELFAND
Published March 16, 2007
LARGO - Transgender people are a tiny fraction of the population, but theirpresence in the workplace increasingly is catching the attention of theirbosses.
By one count, 469 employers, including a quarter of the Fortune 500, haveantidiscrimination policies protecting transgender employees.
Some also have guidelines to ease their transition at work.
Largo has an internal antidiscrimination policy for city employees, butuntil recently it had nothing like a transition plan for transgenderworkers.
Then City Manager Steve Stanton started to write one.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mexico-gays.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
March 16, 2007
Gay Couple Tie Knot in First Mexico City Civil Unions
By REUTERS
Filed at 8:18 p.m. ET
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Two gay lawyers celebrated a civil union in MexicoCity on Friday, becoming the first legally recognized homosexual couple inthe traditionally macho capital of one of the world's most Catholiccountries.
Dressed in somber suits, Alejandro Diaz and Rafael Ramirez tied the knot ina short ceremony held in a city council building, the first since the cityapproved a law permitting civil unions in November.
After signing papers and listening to a short speech from a local councilor,Diaz, 27, said ``Married.'' Ramirez, 31, said ''My husband.'' They huggedbut declined to kiss.
``The era of plurality and diversity is permeating Mexico City,'' JulioCesar Moreno, the local councilor who oversaw the ceremony, told dozens ofwellwishers and journalists.
Throughout the day, around 10 gay couples exchanged vows in the city.
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Social Justice in Action:
HeartStrong Outreach Trip Embarks on 19th Trip in Ten Years
HeartStrong needs your financial support for this landmark outreach trip.
Want to help HS raise the $10,000 needed for this trip?
Make a donation here.. http://www.heartstrong.org or mail yourdonation to HeartStrong, PO Box 2051, Seattle WA 98111.
Your gift is tax deductible and goes a long way to helpingHeartStrong reach persecuted GLBT students and others inreligious educational institutions.
Please distribute the below release to anyone you wish. We needeveryone's help!
OUTREACH TEAM EMBARKS ON 19TH TRIP
Seattle WA - On April 3, 2007, the most extensive grassroots outreacheffort in the history of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgenderedmovement continues with its 19th outreach trip. HeartStrong, Inc., is anon-profit educational organization hich provides support to GLBTstudents in religious educational institutions and ducates the publicabout the legalized persecution of GLBT students and others in heseinstitutions.
"With the frightening growth in religious schools over the past decade,our work is more vital than ever," executive director Marc Adams says."There have only been increases in the numbers of students coming to usfor help. Fortunately for them, HeartStrong is now well into its eleventhyear of outreach."
Like most countries, religious schools in the United States utilizereligious freedom to expel any student for any reason. This includes,Adams states, the persecution of students and others who are perceived tobe or actually are GLBT. "It's not a question of whether or not theseschools have the right to treat students so horrifically, they do. But ashistory has always proven, having the right to do something, doesn'talways make it right to do."
Students who come to HeartStrong for assistance share stories of publicoutings, brutal restorative therapy, exorcisms, and continuous attempts torecruit them into simulated heterosexual lifestyles. Many students havereported the use of the common religious theology of 'death for sin'proposed to them as divine punishment for their thoughts and actions.
Since October, 1996, more than 950 students have come to HeartStrong forhelp. The journey to self-acceptance begins with any one of HeartStrong's14 outreach programs. Many of those programs are put into action by theOutreach Team during their outreach trips.
Founded in 1996 by author/activist Marc Adams, Todd Tuttle and ClintKendrick, the HeartStrong Outreach Team has embarked on 18 previousoutreach trips throughout the United States and parts of Canada.Additionally, HeartStrong's outreach has spanned the globe, assistingstudents in places like the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, SouthAfrica, Indonesia, India, and Scotland.
The HeartStrong Outreach Team first began traveling the road by car inOctober, 1996. Since then the team has self-driven more than 336,000miles around the United States holding educational forums and reaching outto students in need.
The Spring 2007 Outreach Trip takes the team through Texas, Oklahoma,Florida, Tennessee, the Carolinas and Georgia. The trip will also includethe annual HeartStrong Board of Directors meeting in Miami hosted byHeartStrong President, Shelley Craig, LCSW.
In addition to outreach efforts, more than 20 educational forums arescheduled through May 31, 2007. HeartStrong is an all volunteerorganization and relies on the tax deductible donations of supporters tocontinue its life-saving work.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-People-McGreevey.html?pagewanted=print
March 17, 2007
Former N.J. Governor Discusses Sexuality
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:37 a.m. ET
SANTA FE (AP) -- Former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey, who resigned afterrevealing that he was gay, says culture is outpacing politics in theacceptance of homosexuality.
McGreevey, who is in Santa Fe this weekend to speak at a fundraiser for theHuman Rights Alliance, called his decision to come out ''one of the mostpainful but honest decisions of my life.''
Even though the revelation of being gay can hurt family and friends,McGreevey said Friday that people must learn at an early age to be openabout their sexuality.
''Hopefully, this generation will be the last generation of American youththat has to choose between their heart and their career, between love andacceptance,'' he said.
McGreevey also addressed comments made earlier this week by the Pentagon'stop general. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs,remarked that homosexual acts are immoral and said the military should notcondone homosexuality by allowing gay personnel to serve openly.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/education/17utah.html?pagewanted=print
March 17, 2007
Statehouse Journal
Utah Sets Rigorous Rules for School Clubs, and Gay Ones May Be Target
By KIRK JOHNSON
SALT LAKE CITY, March 16 - Most people would probably not consider theaverage high school chess club to be a hotbed of disorder or immorality. Buta club is a club, and Utah has decided that student groups need some sternpolicing and regulation.
Next month, a 17-page law will take effect governing just about every nuanceof public school extracurricular clubs, from kindergarten jump rope to highschool drama. How groups can form, what they can discuss in their meetings,who can join, and what a principal must do if rules are violated areaddressed.
But the school clubs law, signed last week by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., was notreally intended to rein in the rowdies down at the audio-visual club, somelawmakers said. The real target was homosexuality.
"This is all about gay-straight alliance clubs, and anybody who tells youdifferent is lying," said State Senator Scott D. McCoy, Democrat from SaltLake City, who voted against the law.
State Senator D. Chris Buttars, a Republican from the Salt Lake City suburbsand the law's co-sponsor, said in an interview that he saw the need for themeasure after parents from a high school in Provo, Utah, protested theformation of a gay-straight club in 2005.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031602116_pf.html
On Asking, Telling and Serving the Country
Saturday, March 17, 2007; A18
Regarding the coverage of the remarks of Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of theJoint Chiefs of Staff [news story, editorial, and op-ed, March 14]:
There is a general misimpression that the military gay ban, colloquially termed "don't ask, don't tell," was created in 1993. Actually, that ismerely when statutory law incorporated an exclusionary policy that has beenferociously enforced for at least six decades.
I ran into the ban firsthand when, as a gay American, I enlisted in the Armyon May 18, 1943, at the height of World War II, three days before my 18thbirthday. I saw combat in Europe and am proud of my service, but I haveresented for 64 years that, in order to serve in a war effort I stronglysupported, I had to lie to my government in response to questions about myhomosexuality.
As a gay activist, I have vigorously fought this policy for 45 years. I haveseen its administration gradually and significantly softened; I discoveredgay men and lesbians now get honorable discharges instead of dishonorableones accompanied by imprisonment, which was our fate in past decades.
Still, "don't ask, don't tell" is a disgrace to America. Let us move now torid ourselves of this shameful relic of a benighted past.
FRANKLIN E. KAMENY
Washington
--
I will always be proud of the fact that I served in the U.S. military, asdid my father before me and his before him. I was a Russian interpreterduring the Cold War. I am also gay.
My commander knew of my sexual orientation. When someone confronted him withthe fact that there were several gay men and lesbians in his unit, hepointed out that we were the backbone of his unit. His response was, "If Iget rid of them, who will run my battalion?" The vast majority of peopleunder his command knew who the gays were; they also knew who had brown eyes.And to most of them the two facts were of equalimportance.
But that was 20 years ago. Today we have "don't ask, don't tell," aridiculous policy that has cost taxpayers almost $200 million. It's time tostop wasting money. It's time to honor all our veterans.
STUART MERRILL
Salt Lake City
--
When a staunch conservative such as former Wyoming senator Alan K. Simpson[op-ed, March 14] says it's okay to have gays in the military, you know,happily, that the tide has turned.
JAMES M. MATAYA
Annandale
-
Gen. Peter Pace owes no one an apology for voicing his opinion.
Moreover, I think Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has nerve to take a manof Gen. Pace's stature to task for exercising his right to free speech [newsstory, March 14]. If a person, based on his or her values and beliefs, indssomething offensive or immoral, he or she should be able to say so withoutfear of retaliation or reprimand merely because someone else believesotherwise.
I'm with the general all the way on this one.
GABE RENZO
Dearborn Heights , Mich.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/opinion/l17pace.html?pagewanted=print
March 17, 2007
Pace Needn't Apologize
To the Editor:
Re "General Pace and Gay Soldiers" (editorial, March 15):
Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, owes no one anapology for stating his personal view that homosexuality is an intolerableimmoral act. His is a view shared by a large, mostly religious plurality ofmilitary personnel and their families.
Lifting the ban on homosexuals to serve openly would alienate that pool ofreligious conservatives who have demonstrated a proclivity to serve in thevolunteer military. There is zero evidence that eliminating the ban wouldinduce avowed homosexuals to flock to the armed forces.
General Pace has good standing to defend the ban from a militaryeffectiveness point of view as well. There is longstanding evidence thatsoldier performance in combat is based on unit cohesion - trust andconfidence - and readiness.
In 1993, the Army's surgeon general declared homosexual behavior to be areadiness detractor and further concluded that same-sex tensions in forcedintimate situations undermine the unit cohesion necessary for a soldier'ssuccess in combat.
Robert L. Maginnis
Woodbridge, Va., March 15, 2007
The writer, a retired United States Army lieutenant colonel, advised the1993 Pentagon task force that wrote the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031601920.html
Gay couple tie knot in first Mexico City civil unions
By Gunther Hamm
Reuters
Friday, March 16, 2007; 8:18 PM
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Two gay lawyers celebrated a civil union in MexicoCity on Friday, becoming the first legally recognized homosexual couple inthe traditionally macho capital of one of the world's most Catholiccountries.
Dressed in somber suits, Alejandro Diaz and Rafael Ramirez tied the knot ina short ceremony held in a city council building, the first since the cityapproved a law permitting civil unions in November.
After signing papers and listening to a short speech from a local councilor,Diaz, 27, said "Married." Ramirez, 31, said "My husband." They hugged butdeclined to kiss.
"The era of plurality and diversity is permeating Mexico City," Julio CesarMoreno, the local councilor who oversaw the ceremony, told dozens ofwellwishers and journalists.
Throughout the day, around 10 gay couples exchanged vows in the city.
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The Desert Sun
http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20070316&Category=BUSINESS02&ArtNo=703160305&SectionCat=business&Template=printart
Commission clears way for gay club for Latinos
Nelsy Rodriguez and Xochitl Peña
The Indio Sun
March 16, 2007
Indio's destination gay club is one step closer to opening.
The city's Planning Commission approved a provisional-use permit for theland at the corner of Indio Boulevard and Civic Center Drive to be used by aclub called El Destino. The vote Wednesday was unanimous.
The club, which is expected to open in mid-April, will cater to the gayLatinos in the valley and Southern California.
"Hopefully, it will help jump start the area," Commissioner Glenn Millersaid about the project.
For years, the city has worked on the revitalization of Old Town and hadmentioned the desire for more restaurants and businesses that will promotefoot traffic and bring people to the downtown.
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
Saturday, March 17, 2007
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST March 17, 2007
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
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DallasNews.com
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/industries/energy/stories/031607dnbushalliburton.39f6818.html#
Halliburton's move creates hullabaloo
Oil giant's move is bad for politics, good for business
08:09 AM CDT on Friday, March 16, 2007
The Associated Press, The New York Times and the Washington Post contributedto this report.
WASHINGTON - Ever since Erle Halliburton established the New Method Oil WellCementing Co. in Oklahoma in 1919, his name has been associated withAmerican corporate know-how in the oilfield services business.
But over the weekend, the company now known as Halliburton announced thatits chief executive, Dave Lesar, would move to a new corporate headquartersin Dubai to focus on business in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia.
The announcement sparked outrage from the company's critics, who suggestedit was possibly part of an effort to dodge U.S. taxes and investigations.
Industry experts, however, say the move makes sense.
"There's not much oil in Texas anymore," said Dalton Garis, an Americanenergy economist at the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi. "Halliburton is inthe oil and gas industry, and guess what? Sixty percent of the world's oiland gas is right here. If they didn't move now, they'd have to do it later."
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The LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-oe-feinstein17mar17,1,2528678,print.story?coll=la-news-a_section
Why Democrats are raising a stink
Congressional investigations into the firing of U.S. attorneys are aboutchecks and balances, not politics, says Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
By Dianne Feinstein
DIANNE FEINSTEIN is California's senior U.S. senator.
March 17, 2007
A FIRESTORM has been ignited over the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, withnew revelations about the Bush administration's abuses exposed on a dailybasis. We now know that this isn't about some partisan "conspiracy theory"concocted by administration critics, as a Times editorial claimed on Jan.26.
The record shows that this was a premeditated plan to remove U.S. attorneysand replace them indefinitely with others - who might not be qualified - Without Senate confirmation. The means to accomplish this was a provisionslipped into the 2006 reauthorization of the Patriot Act with no notice. Theend result is a clear abuse of power that reaches into the highest officesof the Department of Justice and the White House, touching Atty. Gen.Alberto R. Gonzales, former White House Counsel Harriet E. Miers andpresidential advisor Karl Rove.
The way to curb this abuse is to return to our nation's basic principle thatchecks and balances on power are necessary and desirable.
That's why I have proposed legislation to restore the process that was inplace before 2006, which would require Senate approval of every U.S.attorney. This legislation would allow the attorney general to appoint aninterim U.S. attorney for 120 days when vacancies occur. If, after thattime, the president has not sent a nominee to the Senate and had thatnominee confirmed, the authority to appoint an interim U.S. attorney wouldfall to a local district court. This was the process put in place under theReagan administration.
This legislation was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee last monthwith bipartisan support and will be debated in the Senate next week. Timeseditorials have called this legislation "misguided," but had it been inplace, it would have prevented the abuses.
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The LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-mccain17mar17,1,2558621,print.story?coll=la-news-a_section
McCain loses some of his rebel edge
Because he's aligned himself more closely with Bush, past primary supportersmay defect.
By Janet Hook and Michael Finnegan
Times Staff Writers
March 17, 2007
WASHINGTON - Derek Patterson is just the kind of voter that made John McCaina star on the national political scene.
Patterson, a teacher in Lancaster, N.H., was one of the thousands ofindependents who were attracted to the Arizona senator's maverickpresidential campaign in 2000, propelling his upset victory over George W.Bush in the state's primary, first up in the election season.
But as McCain returns to New Hampshire today on his second quest for thepresidency, Patterson worries that many erstwhile supporters will desert theRepublican lawmaker because he has spent much of the last seven yearscourting the Bush establishment and the party's conservative base.
"He was the anti-Bush," Patterson said. "It soured a lot of people when hebecame like Bush-light."
That is in part why McCain, once widely seen as the front-runner for theGOP's 2008 presidential nod, has failed to live up to that presumption.Instead, recent nationwide polls have shown him trailing former New YorkMayor Rudolph W. Giuliani by as much as 20 percentage points amongRepublican voters.
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The LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-thompson17mar17,1,69448,print.story
Thompson would be candidate from conservative central casting
Activists court the actor and GOP ex-senator for a White House bid. Theyconsider other hopefuls too moderate on key social issues.
By Peter Wallsten and Janet Hook
Times Staff Writers
March 17, 2007
WASHINGTON - Conservatives often ridicule Democrats for espousing the"culture of Hollywood." But in the latest sign of Republican discontent withthe field of 2008 presidential hopefuls - and in a familiar plot twist - some of those same activists are eyeing an actor as the party's potentialsavior.
Fred Thompson, the former GOP senator from Tennessee who once played a WhiteHouse chief of staff on the big screen and who appears now as a politicallysavvy prosecutor on TV's "Law & Order," is positioning himself to answer thecall and, perhaps, follow the script that saw Ronald Reagan jump fromHollywood to the White House.
Thompson is scheduled to visit Capitol Hill in a few weeks, a trip designedto dovetail with efforts by three well-connected Tennessee friends to lineup support for drafting him into a GOP campaign that so far has left manycore Republican leaders discouraged.
One of those friends, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, has calledfor a Thompson candidacy in postings on his political action committee'sblog. Meanwhile, Howard Baker, another former Senate majority leader whoalso served as a White House chief of staff under President Reagan, and Rep.Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) have been recruiting congressional endorsements.
Thompson "is in the process of getting his personal affairs in order so thishas a chance of happening," said Wamp, who spoke at length this week withThompson.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/lifestyle/307668_religion16.html
Meditate on this: We're tempted to think we know more than we do
Friday, March 16, 2007
By PHIL KLOER
THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
"Americans are both deeply religious and profoundly ignorant of religion,"Stephen Prothero writes in his new book, "Religious Literacy."
- Test your knowledge of religion
Prothero, chairman of the religion department at Boston University, notesthat about 85 percent of Americans say they are Christian, and aboutone-third claim to be biblical literalists. Yet, in survey after survey,many people can't name the four Gospels, or don't know who delivered theSermon on the Mount. He quotes an evangelical Christian who calls the Bible"The Greatest Story Never Read."
So Prothero wrote "Religious Literacy" (Harper, $24.95), which came outTuesday. It's partly a history of religious instruction in the United Statesand partly an argument toward teaching religion in the Bible in publicschools as a standard academic course. At the end, he includes a Dictionaryof Religious Literacy (with a nod to E.D. Hirsch's "Dictionary of CulturalLiteracy" -- about 150 key names and concepts from major world religions,from Abraham to Zionism, that he believes everyone ought to know).
He spoke with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution by phone from BostonUniversity.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/0315nj1.htm
DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE
Internal Affairs
Aborted DOJ Probe Probably Would Have Targeted Gonzales
By Murray Waas, National Journal
© National Journal Group Inc.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Shortly before Attorney General Alberto Gonzales advised President Bush lastyear on whether to shut down a Justice Department inquiry regarding theadministration's warrantless domestic eavesdropping program, Gonzaleslearned that his own conduct would likely be a focus of the investigation,according to government records and interviews.
Bush personally intervened to sideline the Justice Department probe in April2006 by taking the unusual step of denying investigators the securityclearances necessary for their work.
It is unclear whether the president knew at the time of his decision thatthe Justice inquiry -- to be conducted by the department's internal ethicswatchdog, the Office of Professional Responsibility -- would almostcertainly examine the conduct of his attorney general.
Sources familiar with the halted inquiry said that if the probe had beenallowed to continue, it would have examined Gonzales's role in authorizingthe eavesdropping program while he was White House counsel, as well as hissubsequent oversight of the program as attorney general.
Both the White House and Gonzales declined comment on two issues -- whetherGonzales informed Bush that his own conduct was about to be scrutinized, andwhether he urged the president to close down the investigation, which hadbeen requested by Democratic members of Congress.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://journalstar.com/articles/2007/03/16/news/nebraska/doc45fac50f2decf361429260.prt
State supreme court: Boy's bullying was stalking
By ANNA JO BRATTON / The Associated Press
Friday, Mar 16, 2007 - 11:26:01 am CDT
When a 16-year-old Omaha boy threw food at a classmate and called her a "fatpenguin" and other names in front of other students for months, it wasn'tjust schoolyard bullying, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The boy, identified as Jeffrey K., yelled at the fellow Omaha Westside HighSchool student close to 200 times in a two-month period in fall 2004. Heonce shoved a chair directly into her path, causing her to stumble, calledher a "whore" and threw food at her, yelling "eat some more, fat ass,"according to court documents.
The "ongoing verbal and physical attacks" amounted to stalking, a criminalmisdemeanor, Judge Lindsey Miller-Lerman wrote in the court opinion.
The Nebraska Court of Appeals ruled earlier that the boy's conduct wascarried out for his "own juvenile amusement" and did not demonstratestalking.
But the high court agreed with an original decision of the juvenile court ofDouglas County, saying that "the cumulative effect of Jeffrey's words andactions, and the extensive, ongoing, and escalating nature of his conduct... clearly show that Jeffrey intended to intimidate the victim in thiscase."
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/local/states/california/16908022.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Mar. 15, 2007
GUEST COMMENTARY
Why not Hagel or Thompson, GOP needs something new
By E.J. Dionne Jr
SYNDICATED COLUMNIST
WHY NOT Chuck Hagel? For that matter, why not Fred Thompson? ForRepublicans, 2008 promises to be a disconcerting if exciting year becausefor the first time since the 1964 Goldwater insurgency, the party isstruggling over its philosophical direction.
The old conservatism is in crisis, Bush Republicanism (of the son's varietybut not the father's) is a tainted brand, and no candidate has emerged asthe Next New Thing that the party wants or needs.
That's why Hagel, the Nebraska senator and Iraq war critic, suggested Mondaythat he might seek the presidency.
It's why Thompson, the actor and former senator from Tennessee, said on FoxNews the day before that he was "giving some thought" to joining the race.And who knows whether Newt Gingrich will get in?
Hagel was onto something when he spoke of the country "experiencing apolitical reorientation, a redefining and moving toward a new politicalcenter of gravity" and of our current problems "overtaking the ideologicaldebates of the last three decades." And he hinted that he might seek theWhite House as an independent. "This movement is bigger than both parties,"he said, tantalizingly.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/climate_change/article2362744.ece
Collapse of Arctic sea ice 'has reached tipping-point'
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Published: 16 March 2007
A catastrophic collapse of the Arctic sea ice could lead to radical climatechanges in the northern hemisphere according to scientists who warn that therapid melting is at a "tipping point" beyond which it may not recover.
The scientists attribute the loss of some 38,000 square miles of sea ice -
in area the size of Alaska - to rising levels of carbon dioxide in theatmosphere as well as to natural variability in Arctic ice.
Ever since satellite measurements of the Arctic sea ice began in 1979, thesurface area covered by summer sea ice has retreated from the long-termaverage. This has increased the rate of coastal erosion from Alaska toSiberia and caused problems for polar bears, which rely on sea ice forhunting seals.
However, in recent years the rate of melting has accelerated and the sea iceis showing signs of not recovering even during the cold, dark months of theArctic winter. This has led to even less sea ice at the start of the summermelting season.
Mark Serreze, a senior glaciologist at the University of Colorado atBoulder, said the world was heading towards a situation where the Arcticwill soon be almost totally ice-free during summer, which could have adramatic impact on weather patterns across the northern hemisphere.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/column.aspx?UrlTitle=addition_or_subtraction__ann_coulter_and_the_conservative_crossroads&ns=MichaelMedved&dt=03/07/2007&page=full&comments=true
Townhall.com:
Addition or Subtraction?: Ann Coulter and the Conservative Crossroads
By Michael Medved
Wednesday 03.07.07
In the run-up to the fateful election of 2008, conservatives face aclear-cut choice: we can rebuild our movement as a broad-ranging, mainstreamcoalition and restore our governing majority, or else settle for asemi-permanent role as angry, doom-speaking complainers on the fringes ofAmerican politics and culture.
We can either invite doubters and moderates to join with us in new effortsto affirm American values, or we can push them away because they fail tomeasure up to our own standards of indignation and ideological purity.
In short, we must choose between addition and subtraction: either buildingour cause by adding to our numbers or destroying it by discouraging all butthe fiercest ideologues.
No political party or faction has ever thrived based on purges and insultsand internal warfare, but too many activists on the right seem determined toreduce the conservative cause to self-righteous irrelevance.
The most recent outrage involving Ann Coulter provides a revealing exampleof the self-destructive tendencies of some dedicated partisans on the right.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Feds Seek To Gag D.C. Madam
Prosecutors fear leak of sensitive client, escort information
MARCH 7--
Federal prosecutors want to gag an indicted former Washington, D.C. madamwho has recently threatened to go public with details about her formercustomers. In a motion filed Monday in U.S. District Court, investigatorsare seeking a protective order covering discovery material to be provided toDeborah Palfrey and her lawyers.
Palfrey, 50, was indicted last week on racketeering and money launderingcharges stemming from her operation of thePamela Martin & Associates escortservice, which closed last summer after 13 years in business.
In their motion, a copy of which you'll find below, governmentlawyers claim that some discovery documents contain "personal information"about Palfrey's former johns and prostitutes that is "sensitive." Theprosecution filing does not detail the nature of this confidentialinformation, though the identity of Palfrey's D.C. customers would surely becloaked if the protective order was signed by Judge Gladys Kessler.
According to the prosecution motion, while Palfrey and her lawyers would beable to use the discovery material to help prepare a defense, they would notbe allowed to disclose the documents to anyone else (nor use the materialfor any other purposes). Palfrey, whose assets were frozen late last year,has recently floated the idea of selling her escort business's phonerecords.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.washingtontimes.com/business/20070315-111351-6624r.htm
Proposal blocks funding for HPV vaccine
By Gregory Lopes, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, March 16, 2007
A Georgia member of Congress yesterday introduced legislation to prohibitfederal money from being used by states to make vaccines against the humanpapillomavirus (HPV) mandatory for school-age children.
"Mandating the HPV vaccination is both unprecedented and unacceptable,"said Rep. Phil Gingrey, a Republican, who is an obstetrician andgynecologist. "Whether or not girls get vaccinated against HPV is a decisionfor parents and physicians, not state governments."
Because HPV is unlike communicable diseases such as measles and mumps,which children are routinely vaccinated against, Mr. Gingrey said HPVvaccines should be taken voluntarily. He is chairman of the RepublicanHealthcare Public Affairs Team and chairman of the Healthcare Reformsubcommittee of the Republican Policy Committee.
HPV is a sexually transmitted virus that can lead to cervical cancer.Data on the time HPV takes to develop into cervical cancer is scant, butsome physicians estimate it can take 15 years.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/washington/17testify.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
March 17, 2007
'Purely Political Motives' in Outing, Ex-Agent Says
By MARK LEIBOVICH and NEIL A. LEWIS
WASHINGTON, March 16 - Valerie Wilson finally spoke Friday, after almostfour years at the silent center of a political scandal that touchedWashington's most rarefied circles of government and news media.
Now was her time to testify about the White House leaks that set the wholestory in motion, the newspaper column that revealed her as an undercoverC.I.A. agent, the marathon criminal investigation and the trial thatconvicted the vice president's former chief of staff.
"My name and identity were carelessly and recklessly abused by seniorgovernment officials in both the White House and the State Department," Ms.Wilson testified before the House Committee on Oversight and GovernmentReform in a hearing room packed with reporters, photographers andspectators.
She spoke at first in a quiet but insistent voice that was nearly inaudibleover the crackle of three dozen camera shutters. Fumbling with the base ofher microphone, Ms. Wilson looked at once nervous and bored waiting out thephotographers. As she talked more, her voice seemed to gain force, volumeand velocity - a confident bearing to match her appearance.
She said the security breach might have endangered agency officials but also"jeopardized and even destroyed entire networks of foreign agents, who inturn risk their own lives and those of their families to provide the UnitedStates with needed intelligence. Lives are literally at stake."
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Scotus-Bong-Hits.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
March 16, 2007
'Bong' Case Tests Students' Free Speech
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:36 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The message connected drug use and religion in anonsensical phrase that was designed to provoke, and it got Joseph Frederickin a heap of trouble.
After he unfurled his 14-foot ''Bong Hits 4 Jesus'' banner on a Juneau,Alaska, street one winter morning in 2002, Frederick got a 10-day schoolsuspension. Five years later, he has a date Monday at the Supreme Court inwhat is shaping up as an important test of constitutional rights.
Students don't leave their right to free speech at the school door, the highcourt said in a Vietnam-era case over an anti-war protest by high schoolstudents.
But neither can students be disruptive or lewd or interfere with a school'sbasic educational mission, the court also has said.
How to strike that balance is the question, particularly since the Columbinemassacre and the Sept. 11 attacks have made teachers and administratorsquicker to tamp down on unruly or unusual behavior.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031602194.html
Giuliani Works to Catch Up in Michigan
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
The Associated Press
Friday, March 16, 2007; 9:42 PM
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. -- Rudy Giuliani, leading in national polls buttrailing his opponents' organizations in Michigan, spent Friday picking upendorsements and some criticism in Macomb County north of Detroit.
James Tignanelli, president of the 14,000-member Police Officers Associationof Michigan, announced he was giving the prominent group's backing to theformer New York mayor because of the leadership he showed after the attacksof Sept. 11, 2001.
"It seemed only hours after the planes had hit, Americans found a leader.... Rudy Giuliani had arrived at the scene," Tignanelli said during a newsconference with Giuliani and other police officers. "We need someone whowill finish the job, not turn and run."
Giuliani said winning the police officers' endorsement was an important stepin a swing state that could affect his chances in the GOP primaries and thegeneral election.
"Having the support of an organization that represents more than 14,000police officers in Michigan means more to me than just a politicalendorsement," he said. "They are my heroes."
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031601164_pf.html
Analysis: Clinton Talks About Dark Times
By BETH FOUHY
The Associated Press
Friday, March 16, 2007; 4:41 PM
NEW YORK -- The vast right-wing conspiracy. Evil and bad men. Sticking withpeople who stick with you.
As she campaigns, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton is conjuring the painfulmemories of her husband's presidency: his affair with White House internMonica Lewinsky, independent counsel Ken Starr's politically charged pursuitand finally, in 1998, the Republican-controlled Congress' impeachment ofBill Clinton.
Humiliated and enraged, Hillary Clinton stuck with her husband throughoutthe ordeal _ her most famous "stand by your man" moment.
Now making her own White House bid, the New York senator speaks in generallyglowing terms about Bill Clinton's presidency. From the economic prosperityof the 1990s to his fondness for Dunkin' Donuts, she has eagerly embracedher husband's legacy.
At the same time, she's ventured into the darker shadows of the ClintonWhite House years, a move that allows her to define it on her own terms fora new generation of voters.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/washington/17miers.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
March 17, 2007
Investigation Thrusts Former Counsel Back Into the World of Politics
By LYNETTE CLEMETSON
WASHINGTON, March 16 - By all accounts, Harriet E. Miers was delighted to beback in Dallas. It was Valentine's Day. She had been unemployed for littlemore than two weeks, and when she met a friend, Jerry K. Clements, for lunchat an elegant Uptown neighborhood restaurant, Ms. Miers looked happier andmore rested, Ms. Clements said, than she had in years.
Having been forced out of her job as White House legal counsel and havinghad her competence questioned, Ms. Miers deflected all talk of work. Insteadshe spent the meal asking about old friends, speaking of her desire to bewith family again and longing for a return to a regular supply of authenticTex-Mex food.
"She was very upbeat, very positive," said Ms. Clements, a managing partnerat Locke Liddell & Sapp, the Dallas law firm where Ms. Miers once worked."But she made it clear that this was just a girls chitchat kind of lunch,that she needed time to rest and just decompress."
The respite from Washington was short-lived. The disclosure this week ofe-mail messages sent in 2005 and 2006 between Ms. Miers and a top aide inthe Justice Department regarding the dismissal of seven federal prosecutorslast December placed her at the center of the investigation into the WhiteHouse's role in the removals.
As former colleagues and fellow Bush loyalists point fingers of blame in herdirection, Ms. Miers faces a forced return to the bruising political circlesthat, in her last years in the administration, excoriated her for everythingfrom her intellect to her eye shadow.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/education/17middle.html?pagewanted=print
March 17, 2007
The Critical Years
For Teachers, Middle School Is Test of Wills
By ELISSA GOOTMAN
When a student at Seth Low Intermediate School loudly pronounced CorinneKaufman a "fat lady" during a fire drill one recent day, Mrs. Kaufman, a45-year-old math teacher, calmly turned around.
"Voluptuous," she retorted, then proceeded to define the unfamiliar term,cutting off the laughter and offering a memorable vocabulary lesson in theprocess.
Such are the survival skills Mrs. Kaufman has acquired over 17 years at SethLow, a large middle school in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn: How to snuff outbrewing fistfights before the first punch is thrown, how to coax adolescentscrippled by low self-esteem into raising their hands, how to turn everycurveball, even the biting insult, into a teachable moment.
But not all middle school teachers can do it.
Faced with increasingly well-documented slumps in learning at a criticalage, educators in New York and across the nation are struggling to rethinkmiddle school, particularly in cities, where the challenges of adolescentvolatility, spiking violence and lagging academic performance are moreacute.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/opinion/17sat1.html?pagewanted=print
March 17, 2007
Editorial
Taming Fossil Fuels
Each day seems to bring news of another prominent convert to the cause ofrequiring mandatory reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.Each day also seems to bring news of technological advances that would makeit possible to achieve those reductions without serious economic damage. Putall these glad tidings together, and Congress has all the reasons it needsto move quickly to regulate global warming emissions here at home, thussetting an example for the world.
Last week the chief executives of America's largest automobile companies -
eneral Motors, Ford, Chrysler and Toyota North America - pledged to supportmandatory caps on carbon emissions, as long as the caps covered all sectorsof the economy. They delivered their promise to a House committee run byJohn Dingell - the crusty Michigan Democrat who is another convert to thecause and has taken to describing the global warming threat with phraseslike "Hannibal is at the gates."
Meanwhile, dozens of major institutional investors organized by Ceres, acoalition of investors and environmentalists, will gather in Washington onMonday to offer support for mandatory controls. The group will includeCalpers, the huge California state pension fund with a history of makingenvironmentally friendly investments, and Merrill Lynch, whose credentialsare less impressive.
The news on the technology side is also good - particularly several recentannouncements about coal. The first came from TXU, a huge Texas utilitywhere the bidders have agreed to drop plans to build 11 old-fashionedcoal-burning power plants. TXU has now announced that it will build twoexperimental plants intended to capture carbon dioxide before it escapesinto the atmosphere. American Electric Power, another large utility, hasalso announced that it will build a coal-fired plant based on slightlydifferent technology but with the same intended result: capturing carbon.
The importance of these projects cannot be overstated. As a report releasedWednesday by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technologyobserved, coal produces more than 30 percent of America's carbon dioxideemissions. It is also a huge problem in China, where the equivalent of onelarge coal-fired power plant is being built each week, using antiquatedmethods. Unless coal can be tamed, the game is essentially lost.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/opinion/17sat3.html?pagewanted=print
March 17, 2007
Editorial
More Rights in Egypt, Not Fewer
Last month, a 22-year-old Egyptian blogger was sentenced to four years inprison for what he had posted online; he'd been charged with criticizingPresident Hosni Mubarak and insulting Islam. This week, the police violentlybroke up a peaceful protest against pending constitutional amendments anddetained a number of people. None of these things bode well for human rightsor democracy in Egypt.
President Mubarak says the amendments - soon to be voted on by Parliament -
re meant to create a more open, balanced government. They are almost sureto do the opposite. One change would put elections under the control of asupposedly independent commission, but democracy advocates suspect it wouldbe a puppet of the government.
Under pressure from Washington, Mr. Mubarak allowed limited competition inthe 2005 parliamentary elections - and some independent oversight. Criticsfear that the new commission would roll back those gains, clearing the wayfor Mr. Mubarak's son to take power. Equally worrisome is an amendment thatwould weaken privacy rights and standards for arrest and detention.
This week, the courts rejected an appeal by the blogger, Abdel Kareem Nabil.The Bush administration has rightly condemned his conviction as a "setbackfor human rights." Washington should also express concern over the rights ofpeaceful protesters. Before the amendments come to a vote, President Bushneeds to tell Mr. Mubarak privately that this is not the path to long-termstability. Washington and the European Union should also speak out publiclyagainst the most dangerous pieces of legislation.
If the amendments pass, the next step will be a referendum. Washingtonshould help independent groups organize in the event of such a vote.Dissenting voices are essential if there is to be any hope of free debateand democracy in Egypt.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031601940_pf.html
North Korea's Cruelty
By Kay Seok
Saturday, March 17, 2007; A19
SEOUL -- North Korea is again dominating headlines by signing a deal toclose its main nuclear reactor and allow international inspectors to returnin exchange for energy and economic assistance. As North Korea watcherscautiously welcome this possible step toward a nuclear-free KoreanPeninsula, a deeply disturbing development has garnered almost no attention:Pyongyang's hardening policy toward North Korean border-crossers.
In an ominous reversal, North Korea has apparently scrapped its 2000 decreethat it would be lenient toward citizens who "illegally" crossed theborder -- in effect, almost everyone leaving the country -- to China to findfood or earn money to feed their families. According to recentborder-crossers interviewed by Human Rights Watch, Pyongyang has implementedharsher punishments for those repatriated.
The North Koreans interviewed recounted the chilling language officials useto describe the policies the North reinstated perhaps as long ago as late2004: Those crossing the border without state permission "won't beforgiven," no matter why they went to China or what they did there,including first-time "offenders."
The hardening policy shows how Pyongyang is violating the obligations itundertook when it signed major human rights conventions in the 1990s.
North Korea is denying its citizens their fundamental rights by preventingthem from freely leaving the country; arresting those who make such anattempt; and arbitrarily detaining, mistreating, torturing and sometimeseven executing border-crossers who are repatriated. China, too, regularlyflouts its obligations under the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention by labelingall North Koreans "illegal economic migrants" and sending them back.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/03/16/BL2007031601087_pf.html
The Politics of Distraction
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, March 16, 2007; 2:50 PM
As far as the White House public-relations machine is concerned, here is allyou need to know about the firing of eight U.S. attorneys last year: TheJustice Department made some mistakes in how it communicated that thoseprosecutors were let go for appropriate reasons. And, oh yes, there is noevidence that White House political guru Karl Rove ever advocated the firingof all 93 U.S. attorneys previously appointed by President Bush.
But from the very beginning of this scandal, the central question has beenand remains: Was there a plot hatched in the White House to purgeprosecutors who were seen as demonstrating insufficient partisanship intheir criminal investigations?
Everything else is deception or distraction.
The latest development in the case is an e-mail chain showing that Rove andAlberto Gonzales (then White House counsel, soon to become attorney general)were both mulling the idea of replacing U.S. attorneys as early as the firstmonth of Bush's second term.
According to the e-mails, Rove stopped by the White House counsel's officein early January 2005 to find out whether it was Gonzales's plan to keep orreplace all or some of the U.S. attorneys that Bush had appointed in hisfirst term.
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The Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/benchconference/2007/03/gonzopart_ivmeet_your_new_atto.html
Link to Special Report by Robert Cohen
4-part series
Rough Justice - The Case Against Alberto Gonzales
If the first three parts of this series have made a reasonable if notairtight case for the resignation or firing of Alberto Gonzales as attorneygeneral, and with his legal and political failings becoming clearer by theday, it seems only fitting that this final part make the case for aparticular successor.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031601046_pf.html
Accounts of Prosecutors' Dismissals Keep Shifting
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 17, 2007; A01
More than two weeks after a New Mexico U.S. attorney alleged he was firedfor not prosecuting Democrats, the White House and the Justice Departmentare still struggling to explain the roles of President Bush, AttorneyGeneral Alberto R. Gonzales and other key officials in the dismissals ofeight federal prosecutors last year.
Yesterday, the White House retreated from its four-day-old claim that formercounsel Harriet E. Miers started the process two years ago by proposing thefiring of all 93 U.S. attorneys.
"It has been described as her idea . . . but I don't want to vouch fororigination," press secretary Tony Snow said. "At this juncture, people havehazy memories."
In addition, D. Kyle Sampson, who resigned as Gonzales's chief of staffMonday, disputed the reasons given for his departure in a statement issuedthrough his attorney last night.
"The fact that the White House and Justice Department had been discussingthe subject for several years was well-known to a number of other seniorofficials at the department, including others who were involved in preparingthe department's testimony to Congress," according to the statement bySampson's lawyer, Bradford A. Berenson.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031600276_pf.html
Plame Says Administration 'Recklessly' Revealed Her
Hill Testimony Breaks Ex-CIA Agent's Silence on Leak
By Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 17, 2007; A01
Valerie Plame, the former CIA officer at the heart of a four-year politicalfuror over the Bush administration's leak of her identity, lashed out at theWhite House yesterday, testifying in Congress that the president's aidesdestroyed a career she loved and slipped her name to reporters for "purelypolitical motives."
Plame, breaking her public silence about the case, contended that her nameand job "were carelessly and recklessly abused" by the government. Althoughshe and her colleagues knew that "we might be exposed and threatened byforeign enemies," she aid, "it was a terrible irony that administrationofficials were the ones who estroyed my cover."
Plame calmly but firmly knocked down longstanding claims by administrationallies that the disclosure was not criminal because she had not worked in acovert capacity.
"I am here to say I was a covert officer of the Central IntelligenceAgency," Plame told House members, a horde of journalists and a few antiwaractivists. Her work, she said, "was not common knowledge on the Georgetowncocktail circuit."
Plame also provided the most detailed account to date of her role in adecision by the agency to dispatch her husband, former U.S. ambassadorJoseph C. Wilson IV, to Niger five years ago to assess reports that Iraq hadsought to buy nuclear material from the African nation.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031602446_pf.html
Zimbabwean Defiant After Police Beating
Mugabe Foe Sees Resistance Growing
By Craig Timberg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, March 17, 2007; A01
HARARE, Zimbabwe, March 16 -- Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirairelaxed in the lush garden of his home Friday, a 5-month-old grandson on hisknee. But for the five blue stitches on Tsvangirai's head or the bandagecovering his broken left hand, there were few clues that he had spent thethree previous days in intensive care, or the two before that in prisoncells, bloodied and dazed by vicious beatings from police.
In his first hours home, with international outrage still high over Sunday'spolice crackdown on an opposition rally, Tsvangirai declared himselfundaunted.
Despite the arrests and police assaults on nearly 50 top oppositionactivists, he said, the movement had been strengthened by an experience thathas left many wounds but also a new determination to confront PresidentRobert Mugabe's nearly 27-year-old government.
"This incident has just heightened the stakes," said Tsvangirai, 55, aformer mineworker and union organizer. "This has created even more impetusand more determination on the part of Zimbabweans."
Political tension has risen sharply in recent months as years of economictroubles have turned increasingly acute, with inflation so high -- theofficial annual rate is 1,730 percent -- that Zimbabweans say they rush tothe store whenever they get cash before prices rise yet again. Fees forschooling, transportation and health care have moved beyond the means ofmany. The few luxuries of Zimbabwean life, such as milk for tea, have beenlargely abandoned.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031601941_pf.html
A More Islamic Islam
By Geneive Abdo
Saturday, March 17, 2007; A19
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A small group of self-proclaimed secular Muslimsfrom North America and elsewhere gathered in St. Petersburg recently forwhat they billed as a new global movement to correct the assumed wrongs ofIslam and call for an Islamic Reformation.
Across the state in Fort Lauderdale, Muslim leaders from the Council onAmerican-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Washington-based advocacy group whosemembers the "secular" Muslims claim are radicals, denounced any notion of aReformation as another attempt by the West to impose its history andphilosophy on the Islamic world.
The self-proclaimed secularists represent only a small minority of Muslims.The views among religious Muslims from CAIR more closely reflect the viewsof the majority, not only in the United States but worldwide. Yet Westernmedia, governments and neoconservative pundits pay more attention to thesecular minority.
The St. Petersburg convention is but one example: It was carried live onGlenn Beck's conservative CNN show. Some of the organizers and speakers atthe convention are well known thanks to the media spotlight: Irshad Manji,author of "The Trouble With Islam," and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the former Dutchparliamentarian and author of "Infidel," were but a few there claiming tohave suffered personally at the hands of "radical" Islam. One participant,Wafa Sultan, declared on Glenn Beck's show that she doesn't "see anydifference between radical Islam and regular Islam."
The secular Muslim agenda is promoted because these ideas reflect a Western
vision for the future of Islam. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, everyone from
high-ranking officials in the Bush administration to the author Salman
Rushdie has prescribed a preferred remedy for Islam: Reform the faith so it
is imbued with Western values -- the privatization of religion, the
flourishing of Western-style democracy -- and rulers who are secular, not
religious, Muslims. The problem with this prescription is that it is
divorced from reality. It is built upon the principle that if Muslims are
fed a steady diet of Western influence, they, too, will embrace modernity,
secularism and everything else the West has to offer.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-ascotus17mar17,0,5097379,print.story
Justices to hear case on free speech rights
`Bong Hits 4 Jesus' banner start of 5-year legal journey
By Mark Sherman
The Associated Press
March 17, 2007
WASHINGTON - The message connected drug use and religion in a nonsensicalphrase that was designed to provoke, and it got Joseph Frederick in a heapof trouble.
After he unfurled his 14-foot "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner on a Juneau,Alaska, street one winter morning in 2002, Frederick got a 10-day schoolsuspension. Five years later, he has a date Monday at the Supreme Court inwhat is shaping up as an important test of constitutional rights.
Students don't leave their right to free speech at the school door, the highcourt said in a Vietnam-era case over an anti-war protest by high schoolstudents.
But neither can students be disruptive or lewd or interfere with a school'sbasic educational mission, the court also has said.
How to strike that balance is the question, particularly since the Columbinemassacre and the Sept. 11 attacks have made teachers and administratorsquicker to tamp down on unruly or unusual behavior.
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
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DallasNews.com
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/industries/energy/stories/031607dnbushalliburton.39f6818.html#
Halliburton's move creates hullabaloo
Oil giant's move is bad for politics, good for business
08:09 AM CDT on Friday, March 16, 2007
The Associated Press, The New York Times and the Washington Post contributedto this report.
WASHINGTON - Ever since Erle Halliburton established the New Method Oil WellCementing Co. in Oklahoma in 1919, his name has been associated withAmerican corporate know-how in the oilfield services business.
But over the weekend, the company now known as Halliburton announced thatits chief executive, Dave Lesar, would move to a new corporate headquartersin Dubai to focus on business in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia.
The announcement sparked outrage from the company's critics, who suggestedit was possibly part of an effort to dodge U.S. taxes and investigations.
Industry experts, however, say the move makes sense.
"There's not much oil in Texas anymore," said Dalton Garis, an Americanenergy economist at the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi. "Halliburton is inthe oil and gas industry, and guess what? Sixty percent of the world's oiland gas is right here. If they didn't move now, they'd have to do it later."
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The LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-oe-feinstein17mar17,1,2528678,print.story?coll=la-news-a_section
Why Democrats are raising a stink
Congressional investigations into the firing of U.S. attorneys are aboutchecks and balances, not politics, says Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
By Dianne Feinstein
DIANNE FEINSTEIN is California's senior U.S. senator.
March 17, 2007
A FIRESTORM has been ignited over the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, withnew revelations about the Bush administration's abuses exposed on a dailybasis. We now know that this isn't about some partisan "conspiracy theory"concocted by administration critics, as a Times editorial claimed on Jan.26.
The record shows that this was a premeditated plan to remove U.S. attorneysand replace them indefinitely with others - who might not be qualified - Without Senate confirmation. The means to accomplish this was a provisionslipped into the 2006 reauthorization of the Patriot Act with no notice. Theend result is a clear abuse of power that reaches into the highest officesof the Department of Justice and the White House, touching Atty. Gen.Alberto R. Gonzales, former White House Counsel Harriet E. Miers andpresidential advisor Karl Rove.
The way to curb this abuse is to return to our nation's basic principle thatchecks and balances on power are necessary and desirable.
That's why I have proposed legislation to restore the process that was inplace before 2006, which would require Senate approval of every U.S.attorney. This legislation would allow the attorney general to appoint aninterim U.S. attorney for 120 days when vacancies occur. If, after thattime, the president has not sent a nominee to the Senate and had thatnominee confirmed, the authority to appoint an interim U.S. attorney wouldfall to a local district court. This was the process put in place under theReagan administration.
This legislation was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee last monthwith bipartisan support and will be debated in the Senate next week. Timeseditorials have called this legislation "misguided," but had it been inplace, it would have prevented the abuses.
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The LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-mccain17mar17,1,2558621,print.story?coll=la-news-a_section
McCain loses some of his rebel edge
Because he's aligned himself more closely with Bush, past primary supportersmay defect.
By Janet Hook and Michael Finnegan
Times Staff Writers
March 17, 2007
WASHINGTON - Derek Patterson is just the kind of voter that made John McCaina star on the national political scene.
Patterson, a teacher in Lancaster, N.H., was one of the thousands ofindependents who were attracted to the Arizona senator's maverickpresidential campaign in 2000, propelling his upset victory over George W.Bush in the state's primary, first up in the election season.
But as McCain returns to New Hampshire today on his second quest for thepresidency, Patterson worries that many erstwhile supporters will desert theRepublican lawmaker because he has spent much of the last seven yearscourting the Bush establishment and the party's conservative base.
"He was the anti-Bush," Patterson said. "It soured a lot of people when hebecame like Bush-light."
That is in part why McCain, once widely seen as the front-runner for theGOP's 2008 presidential nod, has failed to live up to that presumption.Instead, recent nationwide polls have shown him trailing former New YorkMayor Rudolph W. Giuliani by as much as 20 percentage points amongRepublican voters.
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The LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-thompson17mar17,1,69448,print.story
Thompson would be candidate from conservative central casting
Activists court the actor and GOP ex-senator for a White House bid. Theyconsider other hopefuls too moderate on key social issues.
By Peter Wallsten and Janet Hook
Times Staff Writers
March 17, 2007
WASHINGTON - Conservatives often ridicule Democrats for espousing the"culture of Hollywood." But in the latest sign of Republican discontent withthe field of 2008 presidential hopefuls - and in a familiar plot twist - some of those same activists are eyeing an actor as the party's potentialsavior.
Fred Thompson, the former GOP senator from Tennessee who once played a WhiteHouse chief of staff on the big screen and who appears now as a politicallysavvy prosecutor on TV's "Law & Order," is positioning himself to answer thecall and, perhaps, follow the script that saw Ronald Reagan jump fromHollywood to the White House.
Thompson is scheduled to visit Capitol Hill in a few weeks, a trip designedto dovetail with efforts by three well-connected Tennessee friends to lineup support for drafting him into a GOP campaign that so far has left manycore Republican leaders discouraged.
One of those friends, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, has calledfor a Thompson candidacy in postings on his political action committee'sblog. Meanwhile, Howard Baker, another former Senate majority leader whoalso served as a White House chief of staff under President Reagan, and Rep.Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) have been recruiting congressional endorsements.
Thompson "is in the process of getting his personal affairs in order so thishas a chance of happening," said Wamp, who spoke at length this week withThompson.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/lifestyle/307668_religion16.html
Meditate on this: We're tempted to think we know more than we do
Friday, March 16, 2007
By PHIL KLOER
THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
"Americans are both deeply religious and profoundly ignorant of religion,"Stephen Prothero writes in his new book, "Religious Literacy."
- Test your knowledge of religion
Prothero, chairman of the religion department at Boston University, notesthat about 85 percent of Americans say they are Christian, and aboutone-third claim to be biblical literalists. Yet, in survey after survey,many people can't name the four Gospels, or don't know who delivered theSermon on the Mount. He quotes an evangelical Christian who calls the Bible"The Greatest Story Never Read."
So Prothero wrote "Religious Literacy" (Harper, $24.95), which came outTuesday. It's partly a history of religious instruction in the United Statesand partly an argument toward teaching religion in the Bible in publicschools as a standard academic course. At the end, he includes a Dictionaryof Religious Literacy (with a nod to E.D. Hirsch's "Dictionary of CulturalLiteracy" -- about 150 key names and concepts from major world religions,from Abraham to Zionism, that he believes everyone ought to know).
He spoke with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution by phone from BostonUniversity.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/0315nj1.htm
DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE
Internal Affairs
Aborted DOJ Probe Probably Would Have Targeted Gonzales
By Murray Waas, National Journal
© National Journal Group Inc.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Shortly before Attorney General Alberto Gonzales advised President Bush lastyear on whether to shut down a Justice Department inquiry regarding theadministration's warrantless domestic eavesdropping program, Gonzaleslearned that his own conduct would likely be a focus of the investigation,according to government records and interviews.
Bush personally intervened to sideline the Justice Department probe in April2006 by taking the unusual step of denying investigators the securityclearances necessary for their work.
It is unclear whether the president knew at the time of his decision thatthe Justice inquiry -- to be conducted by the department's internal ethicswatchdog, the Office of Professional Responsibility -- would almostcertainly examine the conduct of his attorney general.
Sources familiar with the halted inquiry said that if the probe had beenallowed to continue, it would have examined Gonzales's role in authorizingthe eavesdropping program while he was White House counsel, as well as hissubsequent oversight of the program as attorney general.
Both the White House and Gonzales declined comment on two issues -- whetherGonzales informed Bush that his own conduct was about to be scrutinized, andwhether he urged the president to close down the investigation, which hadbeen requested by Democratic members of Congress.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://journalstar.com/articles/2007/03/16/news/nebraska/doc45fac50f2decf361429260.prt
State supreme court: Boy's bullying was stalking
By ANNA JO BRATTON / The Associated Press
Friday, Mar 16, 2007 - 11:26:01 am CDT
When a 16-year-old Omaha boy threw food at a classmate and called her a "fatpenguin" and other names in front of other students for months, it wasn'tjust schoolyard bullying, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The boy, identified as Jeffrey K., yelled at the fellow Omaha Westside HighSchool student close to 200 times in a two-month period in fall 2004. Heonce shoved a chair directly into her path, causing her to stumble, calledher a "whore" and threw food at her, yelling "eat some more, fat ass,"according to court documents.
The "ongoing verbal and physical attacks" amounted to stalking, a criminalmisdemeanor, Judge Lindsey Miller-Lerman wrote in the court opinion.
The Nebraska Court of Appeals ruled earlier that the boy's conduct wascarried out for his "own juvenile amusement" and did not demonstratestalking.
But the high court agreed with an original decision of the juvenile court ofDouglas County, saying that "the cumulative effect of Jeffrey's words andactions, and the extensive, ongoing, and escalating nature of his conduct... clearly show that Jeffrey intended to intimidate the victim in thiscase."
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/local/states/california/16908022.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Mar. 15, 2007
GUEST COMMENTARY
Why not Hagel or Thompson, GOP needs something new
By E.J. Dionne Jr
SYNDICATED COLUMNIST
WHY NOT Chuck Hagel? For that matter, why not Fred Thompson? ForRepublicans, 2008 promises to be a disconcerting if exciting year becausefor the first time since the 1964 Goldwater insurgency, the party isstruggling over its philosophical direction.
The old conservatism is in crisis, Bush Republicanism (of the son's varietybut not the father's) is a tainted brand, and no candidate has emerged asthe Next New Thing that the party wants or needs.
That's why Hagel, the Nebraska senator and Iraq war critic, suggested Mondaythat he might seek the presidency.
It's why Thompson, the actor and former senator from Tennessee, said on FoxNews the day before that he was "giving some thought" to joining the race.And who knows whether Newt Gingrich will get in?
Hagel was onto something when he spoke of the country "experiencing apolitical reorientation, a redefining and moving toward a new politicalcenter of gravity" and of our current problems "overtaking the ideologicaldebates of the last three decades." And he hinted that he might seek theWhite House as an independent. "This movement is bigger than both parties,"he said, tantalizingly.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/climate_change/article2362744.ece
Collapse of Arctic sea ice 'has reached tipping-point'
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Published: 16 March 2007
A catastrophic collapse of the Arctic sea ice could lead to radical climatechanges in the northern hemisphere according to scientists who warn that therapid melting is at a "tipping point" beyond which it may not recover.
The scientists attribute the loss of some 38,000 square miles of sea ice -
in area the size of Alaska - to rising levels of carbon dioxide in theatmosphere as well as to natural variability in Arctic ice.
Ever since satellite measurements of the Arctic sea ice began in 1979, thesurface area covered by summer sea ice has retreated from the long-termaverage. This has increased the rate of coastal erosion from Alaska toSiberia and caused problems for polar bears, which rely on sea ice forhunting seals.
However, in recent years the rate of melting has accelerated and the sea iceis showing signs of not recovering even during the cold, dark months of theArctic winter. This has led to even less sea ice at the start of the summermelting season.
Mark Serreze, a senior glaciologist at the University of Colorado atBoulder, said the world was heading towards a situation where the Arcticwill soon be almost totally ice-free during summer, which could have adramatic impact on weather patterns across the northern hemisphere.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/column.aspx?UrlTitle=addition_or_subtraction__ann_coulter_and_the_conservative_crossroads&ns=MichaelMedved&dt=03/07/2007&page=full&comments=true
Townhall.com:
Addition or Subtraction?: Ann Coulter and the Conservative Crossroads
By Michael Medved
Wednesday 03.07.07
In the run-up to the fateful election of 2008, conservatives face aclear-cut choice: we can rebuild our movement as a broad-ranging, mainstreamcoalition and restore our governing majority, or else settle for asemi-permanent role as angry, doom-speaking complainers on the fringes ofAmerican politics and culture.
We can either invite doubters and moderates to join with us in new effortsto affirm American values, or we can push them away because they fail tomeasure up to our own standards of indignation and ideological purity.
In short, we must choose between addition and subtraction: either buildingour cause by adding to our numbers or destroying it by discouraging all butthe fiercest ideologues.
No political party or faction has ever thrived based on purges and insultsand internal warfare, but too many activists on the right seem determined toreduce the conservative cause to self-righteous irrelevance.
The most recent outrage involving Ann Coulter provides a revealing exampleof the self-destructive tendencies of some dedicated partisans on the right.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Feds Seek To Gag D.C. Madam
Prosecutors fear leak of sensitive client, escort information
MARCH 7--
Federal prosecutors want to gag an indicted former Washington, D.C. madamwho has recently threatened to go public with details about her formercustomers. In a motion filed Monday in U.S. District Court, investigatorsare seeking a protective order covering discovery material to be provided toDeborah Palfrey and her lawyers.
Palfrey, 50, was indicted last week on racketeering and money launderingcharges stemming from her operation of thePamela Martin & Associates escortservice, which closed last summer after 13 years in business.
In their motion, a copy of which you'll find below, governmentlawyers claim that some discovery documents contain "personal information"about Palfrey's former johns and prostitutes that is "sensitive." Theprosecution filing does not detail the nature of this confidentialinformation, though the identity of Palfrey's D.C. customers would surely becloaked if the protective order was signed by Judge Gladys Kessler.
According to the prosecution motion, while Palfrey and her lawyers would beable to use the discovery material to help prepare a defense, they would notbe allowed to disclose the documents to anyone else (nor use the materialfor any other purposes). Palfrey, whose assets were frozen late last year,has recently floated the idea of selling her escort business's phonerecords.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.washingtontimes.com/business/20070315-111351-6624r.htm
Proposal blocks funding for HPV vaccine
By Gregory Lopes, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, March 16, 2007
A Georgia member of Congress yesterday introduced legislation to prohibitfederal money from being used by states to make vaccines against the humanpapillomavirus (HPV) mandatory for school-age children.
"Mandating the HPV vaccination is both unprecedented and unacceptable,"said Rep. Phil Gingrey, a Republican, who is an obstetrician andgynecologist. "Whether or not girls get vaccinated against HPV is a decisionfor parents and physicians, not state governments."
Because HPV is unlike communicable diseases such as measles and mumps,which children are routinely vaccinated against, Mr. Gingrey said HPVvaccines should be taken voluntarily. He is chairman of the RepublicanHealthcare Public Affairs Team and chairman of the Healthcare Reformsubcommittee of the Republican Policy Committee.
HPV is a sexually transmitted virus that can lead to cervical cancer.Data on the time HPV takes to develop into cervical cancer is scant, butsome physicians estimate it can take 15 years.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/washington/17testify.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
March 17, 2007
'Purely Political Motives' in Outing, Ex-Agent Says
By MARK LEIBOVICH and NEIL A. LEWIS
WASHINGTON, March 16 - Valerie Wilson finally spoke Friday, after almostfour years at the silent center of a political scandal that touchedWashington's most rarefied circles of government and news media.
Now was her time to testify about the White House leaks that set the wholestory in motion, the newspaper column that revealed her as an undercoverC.I.A. agent, the marathon criminal investigation and the trial thatconvicted the vice president's former chief of staff.
"My name and identity were carelessly and recklessly abused by seniorgovernment officials in both the White House and the State Department," Ms.Wilson testified before the House Committee on Oversight and GovernmentReform in a hearing room packed with reporters, photographers andspectators.
She spoke at first in a quiet but insistent voice that was nearly inaudibleover the crackle of three dozen camera shutters. Fumbling with the base ofher microphone, Ms. Wilson looked at once nervous and bored waiting out thephotographers. As she talked more, her voice seemed to gain force, volumeand velocity - a confident bearing to match her appearance.
She said the security breach might have endangered agency officials but also"jeopardized and even destroyed entire networks of foreign agents, who inturn risk their own lives and those of their families to provide the UnitedStates with needed intelligence. Lives are literally at stake."
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Scotus-Bong-Hits.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
March 16, 2007
'Bong' Case Tests Students' Free Speech
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:36 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The message connected drug use and religion in anonsensical phrase that was designed to provoke, and it got Joseph Frederickin a heap of trouble.
After he unfurled his 14-foot ''Bong Hits 4 Jesus'' banner on a Juneau,Alaska, street one winter morning in 2002, Frederick got a 10-day schoolsuspension. Five years later, he has a date Monday at the Supreme Court inwhat is shaping up as an important test of constitutional rights.
Students don't leave their right to free speech at the school door, the highcourt said in a Vietnam-era case over an anti-war protest by high schoolstudents.
But neither can students be disruptive or lewd or interfere with a school'sbasic educational mission, the court also has said.
How to strike that balance is the question, particularly since the Columbinemassacre and the Sept. 11 attacks have made teachers and administratorsquicker to tamp down on unruly or unusual behavior.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031602194.html
Giuliani Works to Catch Up in Michigan
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
The Associated Press
Friday, March 16, 2007; 9:42 PM
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. -- Rudy Giuliani, leading in national polls buttrailing his opponents' organizations in Michigan, spent Friday picking upendorsements and some criticism in Macomb County north of Detroit.
James Tignanelli, president of the 14,000-member Police Officers Associationof Michigan, announced he was giving the prominent group's backing to theformer New York mayor because of the leadership he showed after the attacksof Sept. 11, 2001.
"It seemed only hours after the planes had hit, Americans found a leader.... Rudy Giuliani had arrived at the scene," Tignanelli said during a newsconference with Giuliani and other police officers. "We need someone whowill finish the job, not turn and run."
Giuliani said winning the police officers' endorsement was an important stepin a swing state that could affect his chances in the GOP primaries and thegeneral election.
"Having the support of an organization that represents more than 14,000police officers in Michigan means more to me than just a politicalendorsement," he said. "They are my heroes."
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031601164_pf.html
Analysis: Clinton Talks About Dark Times
By BETH FOUHY
The Associated Press
Friday, March 16, 2007; 4:41 PM
NEW YORK -- The vast right-wing conspiracy. Evil and bad men. Sticking withpeople who stick with you.
As she campaigns, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton is conjuring the painfulmemories of her husband's presidency: his affair with White House internMonica Lewinsky, independent counsel Ken Starr's politically charged pursuitand finally, in 1998, the Republican-controlled Congress' impeachment ofBill Clinton.
Humiliated and enraged, Hillary Clinton stuck with her husband throughoutthe ordeal _ her most famous "stand by your man" moment.
Now making her own White House bid, the New York senator speaks in generallyglowing terms about Bill Clinton's presidency. From the economic prosperityof the 1990s to his fondness for Dunkin' Donuts, she has eagerly embracedher husband's legacy.
At the same time, she's ventured into the darker shadows of the ClintonWhite House years, a move that allows her to define it on her own terms fora new generation of voters.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/washington/17miers.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
March 17, 2007
Investigation Thrusts Former Counsel Back Into the World of Politics
By LYNETTE CLEMETSON
WASHINGTON, March 16 - By all accounts, Harriet E. Miers was delighted to beback in Dallas. It was Valentine's Day. She had been unemployed for littlemore than two weeks, and when she met a friend, Jerry K. Clements, for lunchat an elegant Uptown neighborhood restaurant, Ms. Miers looked happier andmore rested, Ms. Clements said, than she had in years.
Having been forced out of her job as White House legal counsel and havinghad her competence questioned, Ms. Miers deflected all talk of work. Insteadshe spent the meal asking about old friends, speaking of her desire to bewith family again and longing for a return to a regular supply of authenticTex-Mex food.
"She was very upbeat, very positive," said Ms. Clements, a managing partnerat Locke Liddell & Sapp, the Dallas law firm where Ms. Miers once worked."But she made it clear that this was just a girls chitchat kind of lunch,that she needed time to rest and just decompress."
The respite from Washington was short-lived. The disclosure this week ofe-mail messages sent in 2005 and 2006 between Ms. Miers and a top aide inthe Justice Department regarding the dismissal of seven federal prosecutorslast December placed her at the center of the investigation into the WhiteHouse's role in the removals.
As former colleagues and fellow Bush loyalists point fingers of blame in herdirection, Ms. Miers faces a forced return to the bruising political circlesthat, in her last years in the administration, excoriated her for everythingfrom her intellect to her eye shadow.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/education/17middle.html?pagewanted=print
March 17, 2007
The Critical Years
For Teachers, Middle School Is Test of Wills
By ELISSA GOOTMAN
When a student at Seth Low Intermediate School loudly pronounced CorinneKaufman a "fat lady" during a fire drill one recent day, Mrs. Kaufman, a45-year-old math teacher, calmly turned around.
"Voluptuous," she retorted, then proceeded to define the unfamiliar term,cutting off the laughter and offering a memorable vocabulary lesson in theprocess.
Such are the survival skills Mrs. Kaufman has acquired over 17 years at SethLow, a large middle school in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn: How to snuff outbrewing fistfights before the first punch is thrown, how to coax adolescentscrippled by low self-esteem into raising their hands, how to turn everycurveball, even the biting insult, into a teachable moment.
But not all middle school teachers can do it.
Faced with increasingly well-documented slumps in learning at a criticalage, educators in New York and across the nation are struggling to rethinkmiddle school, particularly in cities, where the challenges of adolescentvolatility, spiking violence and lagging academic performance are moreacute.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/opinion/17sat1.html?pagewanted=print
March 17, 2007
Editorial
Taming Fossil Fuels
Each day seems to bring news of another prominent convert to the cause ofrequiring mandatory reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.Each day also seems to bring news of technological advances that would makeit possible to achieve those reductions without serious economic damage. Putall these glad tidings together, and Congress has all the reasons it needsto move quickly to regulate global warming emissions here at home, thussetting an example for the world.
Last week the chief executives of America's largest automobile companies -
eneral Motors, Ford, Chrysler and Toyota North America - pledged to supportmandatory caps on carbon emissions, as long as the caps covered all sectorsof the economy. They delivered their promise to a House committee run byJohn Dingell - the crusty Michigan Democrat who is another convert to thecause and has taken to describing the global warming threat with phraseslike "Hannibal is at the gates."
Meanwhile, dozens of major institutional investors organized by Ceres, acoalition of investors and environmentalists, will gather in Washington onMonday to offer support for mandatory controls. The group will includeCalpers, the huge California state pension fund with a history of makingenvironmentally friendly investments, and Merrill Lynch, whose credentialsare less impressive.
The news on the technology side is also good - particularly several recentannouncements about coal. The first came from TXU, a huge Texas utilitywhere the bidders have agreed to drop plans to build 11 old-fashionedcoal-burning power plants. TXU has now announced that it will build twoexperimental plants intended to capture carbon dioxide before it escapesinto the atmosphere. American Electric Power, another large utility, hasalso announced that it will build a coal-fired plant based on slightlydifferent technology but with the same intended result: capturing carbon.
The importance of these projects cannot be overstated. As a report releasedWednesday by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technologyobserved, coal produces more than 30 percent of America's carbon dioxideemissions. It is also a huge problem in China, where the equivalent of onelarge coal-fired power plant is being built each week, using antiquatedmethods. Unless coal can be tamed, the game is essentially lost.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/opinion/17sat3.html?pagewanted=print
March 17, 2007
Editorial
More Rights in Egypt, Not Fewer
Last month, a 22-year-old Egyptian blogger was sentenced to four years inprison for what he had posted online; he'd been charged with criticizingPresident Hosni Mubarak and insulting Islam. This week, the police violentlybroke up a peaceful protest against pending constitutional amendments anddetained a number of people. None of these things bode well for human rightsor democracy in Egypt.
President Mubarak says the amendments - soon to be voted on by Parliament -
re meant to create a more open, balanced government. They are almost sureto do the opposite. One change would put elections under the control of asupposedly independent commission, but democracy advocates suspect it wouldbe a puppet of the government.
Under pressure from Washington, Mr. Mubarak allowed limited competition inthe 2005 parliamentary elections - and some independent oversight. Criticsfear that the new commission would roll back those gains, clearing the wayfor Mr. Mubarak's son to take power. Equally worrisome is an amendment thatwould weaken privacy rights and standards for arrest and detention.
This week, the courts rejected an appeal by the blogger, Abdel Kareem Nabil.The Bush administration has rightly condemned his conviction as a "setbackfor human rights." Washington should also express concern over the rights ofpeaceful protesters. Before the amendments come to a vote, President Bushneeds to tell Mr. Mubarak privately that this is not the path to long-termstability. Washington and the European Union should also speak out publiclyagainst the most dangerous pieces of legislation.
If the amendments pass, the next step will be a referendum. Washingtonshould help independent groups organize in the event of such a vote.Dissenting voices are essential if there is to be any hope of free debateand democracy in Egypt.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031601940_pf.html
North Korea's Cruelty
By Kay Seok
Saturday, March 17, 2007; A19
SEOUL -- North Korea is again dominating headlines by signing a deal toclose its main nuclear reactor and allow international inspectors to returnin exchange for energy and economic assistance. As North Korea watcherscautiously welcome this possible step toward a nuclear-free KoreanPeninsula, a deeply disturbing development has garnered almost no attention:Pyongyang's hardening policy toward North Korean border-crossers.
In an ominous reversal, North Korea has apparently scrapped its 2000 decreethat it would be lenient toward citizens who "illegally" crossed theborder -- in effect, almost everyone leaving the country -- to China to findfood or earn money to feed their families. According to recentborder-crossers interviewed by Human Rights Watch, Pyongyang has implementedharsher punishments for those repatriated.
The North Koreans interviewed recounted the chilling language officials useto describe the policies the North reinstated perhaps as long ago as late2004: Those crossing the border without state permission "won't beforgiven," no matter why they went to China or what they did there,including first-time "offenders."
The hardening policy shows how Pyongyang is violating the obligations itundertook when it signed major human rights conventions in the 1990s.
North Korea is denying its citizens their fundamental rights by preventingthem from freely leaving the country; arresting those who make such anattempt; and arbitrarily detaining, mistreating, torturing and sometimeseven executing border-crossers who are repatriated. China, too, regularlyflouts its obligations under the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention by labelingall North Koreans "illegal economic migrants" and sending them back.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/03/16/BL2007031601087_pf.html
The Politics of Distraction
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, March 16, 2007; 2:50 PM
As far as the White House public-relations machine is concerned, here is allyou need to know about the firing of eight U.S. attorneys last year: TheJustice Department made some mistakes in how it communicated that thoseprosecutors were let go for appropriate reasons. And, oh yes, there is noevidence that White House political guru Karl Rove ever advocated the firingof all 93 U.S. attorneys previously appointed by President Bush.
But from the very beginning of this scandal, the central question has beenand remains: Was there a plot hatched in the White House to purgeprosecutors who were seen as demonstrating insufficient partisanship intheir criminal investigations?
Everything else is deception or distraction.
The latest development in the case is an e-mail chain showing that Rove andAlberto Gonzales (then White House counsel, soon to become attorney general)were both mulling the idea of replacing U.S. attorneys as early as the firstmonth of Bush's second term.
According to the e-mails, Rove stopped by the White House counsel's officein early January 2005 to find out whether it was Gonzales's plan to keep orreplace all or some of the U.S. attorneys that Bush had appointed in hisfirst term.
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The Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/benchconference/2007/03/gonzopart_ivmeet_your_new_atto.html
Link to Special Report by Robert Cohen
4-part series
Rough Justice - The Case Against Alberto Gonzales
If the first three parts of this series have made a reasonable if notairtight case for the resignation or firing of Alberto Gonzales as attorneygeneral, and with his legal and political failings becoming clearer by theday, it seems only fitting that this final part make the case for aparticular successor.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031601046_pf.html
Accounts of Prosecutors' Dismissals Keep Shifting
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 17, 2007; A01
More than two weeks after a New Mexico U.S. attorney alleged he was firedfor not prosecuting Democrats, the White House and the Justice Departmentare still struggling to explain the roles of President Bush, AttorneyGeneral Alberto R. Gonzales and other key officials in the dismissals ofeight federal prosecutors last year.
Yesterday, the White House retreated from its four-day-old claim that formercounsel Harriet E. Miers started the process two years ago by proposing thefiring of all 93 U.S. attorneys.
"It has been described as her idea . . . but I don't want to vouch fororigination," press secretary Tony Snow said. "At this juncture, people havehazy memories."
In addition, D. Kyle Sampson, who resigned as Gonzales's chief of staffMonday, disputed the reasons given for his departure in a statement issuedthrough his attorney last night.
"The fact that the White House and Justice Department had been discussingthe subject for several years was well-known to a number of other seniorofficials at the department, including others who were involved in preparingthe department's testimony to Congress," according to the statement bySampson's lawyer, Bradford A. Berenson.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031600276_pf.html
Plame Says Administration 'Recklessly' Revealed Her
Hill Testimony Breaks Ex-CIA Agent's Silence on Leak
By Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 17, 2007; A01
Valerie Plame, the former CIA officer at the heart of a four-year politicalfuror over the Bush administration's leak of her identity, lashed out at theWhite House yesterday, testifying in Congress that the president's aidesdestroyed a career she loved and slipped her name to reporters for "purelypolitical motives."
Plame, breaking her public silence about the case, contended that her nameand job "were carelessly and recklessly abused" by the government. Althoughshe and her colleagues knew that "we might be exposed and threatened byforeign enemies," she aid, "it was a terrible irony that administrationofficials were the ones who estroyed my cover."
Plame calmly but firmly knocked down longstanding claims by administrationallies that the disclosure was not criminal because she had not worked in acovert capacity.
"I am here to say I was a covert officer of the Central IntelligenceAgency," Plame told House members, a horde of journalists and a few antiwaractivists. Her work, she said, "was not common knowledge on the Georgetowncocktail circuit."
Plame also provided the most detailed account to date of her role in adecision by the agency to dispatch her husband, former U.S. ambassadorJoseph C. Wilson IV, to Niger five years ago to assess reports that Iraq hadsought to buy nuclear material from the African nation.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031602446_pf.html
Zimbabwean Defiant After Police Beating
Mugabe Foe Sees Resistance Growing
By Craig Timberg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, March 17, 2007; A01
HARARE, Zimbabwe, March 16 -- Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirairelaxed in the lush garden of his home Friday, a 5-month-old grandson on hisknee. But for the five blue stitches on Tsvangirai's head or the bandagecovering his broken left hand, there were few clues that he had spent thethree previous days in intensive care, or the two before that in prisoncells, bloodied and dazed by vicious beatings from police.
In his first hours home, with international outrage still high over Sunday'spolice crackdown on an opposition rally, Tsvangirai declared himselfundaunted.
Despite the arrests and police assaults on nearly 50 top oppositionactivists, he said, the movement had been strengthened by an experience thathas left many wounds but also a new determination to confront PresidentRobert Mugabe's nearly 27-year-old government.
"This incident has just heightened the stakes," said Tsvangirai, 55, aformer mineworker and union organizer. "This has created even more impetusand more determination on the part of Zimbabweans."
Political tension has risen sharply in recent months as years of economictroubles have turned increasingly acute, with inflation so high -- theofficial annual rate is 1,730 percent -- that Zimbabweans say they rush tothe store whenever they get cash before prices rise yet again. Fees forschooling, transportation and health care have moved beyond the means ofmany. The few luxuries of Zimbabwean life, such as milk for tea, have beenlargely abandoned.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031601941_pf.html
A More Islamic Islam
By Geneive Abdo
Saturday, March 17, 2007; A19
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A small group of self-proclaimed secular Muslimsfrom North America and elsewhere gathered in St. Petersburg recently forwhat they billed as a new global movement to correct the assumed wrongs ofIslam and call for an Islamic Reformation.
Across the state in Fort Lauderdale, Muslim leaders from the Council onAmerican-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Washington-based advocacy group whosemembers the "secular" Muslims claim are radicals, denounced any notion of aReformation as another attempt by the West to impose its history andphilosophy on the Islamic world.
The self-proclaimed secularists represent only a small minority of Muslims.The views among religious Muslims from CAIR more closely reflect the viewsof the majority, not only in the United States but worldwide. Yet Westernmedia, governments and neoconservative pundits pay more attention to thesecular minority.
The St. Petersburg convention is but one example: It was carried live onGlenn Beck's conservative CNN show. Some of the organizers and speakers atthe convention are well known thanks to the media spotlight: Irshad Manji,author of "The Trouble With Islam," and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the former Dutchparliamentarian and author of "Infidel," were but a few there claiming tohave suffered personally at the hands of "radical" Islam. One participant,Wafa Sultan, declared on Glenn Beck's show that she doesn't "see anydifference between radical Islam and regular Islam."
The secular Muslim agenda is promoted because these ideas reflect a Western
vision for the future of Islam. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, everyone from
high-ranking officials in the Bush administration to the author Salman
Rushdie has prescribed a preferred remedy for Islam: Reform the faith so it
is imbued with Western values -- the privatization of religion, the
flourishing of Western-style democracy -- and rulers who are secular, not
religious, Muslims. The problem with this prescription is that it is
divorced from reality. It is built upon the principle that if Muslims are
fed a steady diet of Western influence, they, too, will embrace modernity,
secularism and everything else the West has to offer.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-ascotus17mar17,0,5097379,print.story
Justices to hear case on free speech rights
`Bong Hits 4 Jesus' banner start of 5-year legal journey
By Mark Sherman
The Associated Press
March 17, 2007
WASHINGTON - The message connected drug use and religion in a nonsensicalphrase that was designed to provoke, and it got Joseph Frederick in a heapof trouble.
After he unfurled his 14-foot "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner on a Juneau,Alaska, street one winter morning in 2002, Frederick got a 10-day schoolsuspension. Five years later, he has a date Monday at the Supreme Court inwhat is shaping up as an important test of constitutional rights.
Students don't leave their right to free speech at the school door, the highcourt said in a Vietnam-era case over an anti-war protest by high schoolstudents.
But neither can students be disruptive or lewd or interfere with a school'sbasic educational mission, the court also has said.
How to strike that balance is the question, particularly since the Columbinemassacre and the Sept. 11 attacks have made teachers and administratorsquicker to tamp down on unruly or unusual behavior.
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
FLORIDA DIGEST March 17, 2007
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
Ft. Lauderdale
Fourth Annual Valuing Our Families Conference
Gay Families Conference to honor activist Judy Shepard and actor Peter Paige
The fourth annual Valuing Our Families Conference, jointly presented byBroward-based social services agency SunServe and Washington, DC basedFamily Pride Coalition, has announced this year's National Valuing OurFamilies Award winners.
Judy Shepard, left top, mother of Matthew Shepard, the young gay manbrutally beaten and hung on a fence to die in sub-zero weather in Wyoming in1998, is being honored for her advocacy as executive director of the MatthewShepard Foundation. Peter Paige, left bottom, who played Emmett onShowtime's Queer as Folk is being recognized for his film, "Say Uncle," which countersnegative stereotypes of gay men as caretakers for children.
The awards will be presented at a special celebration on Saturday, March 24at 6:30 p.m. following the day-long conference at Sunshine Cathedral MCC,1480 SW 9th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale.
Sharon Gless, spokesperson for SunServe, and a past national award winnerwill present both awards. The conference sponsors will also give awards tostate and local advocates who have helped promote the value of LGBT familiesin South Florida, and across the state. The Fort Lauderdale Gay Men'sChorus will entertain the guests during the program.
"Valuing Our Families is pleased to be able to bring such influentialcultural and political leaders to our annual conference that celebrates allfamilies," said SunServe executive director Mark Adler. "Their presence isparticularly important in a year when our community has a chance to persuadeFlorida legislators to overturn the ban on adoption by gay men and lesbians." [Florida is the only state that bans gays and lesbians fromadopting, although it allows them to be foster parents. Florida'slegislature will probably consider new legislation this year.]
Previous national award winners have included openly gay U.S. CongressmanBarney Frank, award winning novelist Armistead Maupin, and gay activist andtelevision personality Rosie O'Donnell.
The event is free and open to the public. Conference attendees will havereserved seats. A private reception for the award winners is also planned.Tickets for the reception are available from SunServe.
The all-day Valuing Our Families Conference features advocacy training forgay and lesbian adults, youth and their straight allies. Activities foryoung children in gay and lesbian headed households and an intergenerationalgeneral session keynoted by Jennifer Chrisler, Executive Director of FamilyPride Coalition round out the offerings.
On Sunday, March 25, the conference co-sponsors will hold a specialtown-hall meeting at the First Congregational Church of Fort Lauderdale at2501 NE 30th Street Fort Lauderdale, FL, to discuss the Florida adoptionban.
For information, conference registration or tickets for the honoreesreception visit www.sunserve.org. or call 954-764-5150
=
The Orlando Sentinel
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-adoption1507mar15,0,7345042,print.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state
Gay adoption back on agenda
Lawmakers who want to repeal Florida's ban say people need to 'wake up.'
Anthony Man
Tallahassee Bureau
March 15, 2007
TALLAHASSEE -- Thousands of Florida children could have vastly better lives,advocates said Wednesday, if the state repeals its 30-year-old ban on gaysadopting.
A coalition of state legislators, mostly Democrats from Broward and PalmBeach counties, wants to eliminate what they said was a relic of formerbeauty queen and orange-juice pitchwoman Anita Bryant's anti-gay crusade ofthe 1970s.
"It is the most sweeping anti-gay parenting law in the country, something ofwhich we should not be proud in the state of Florida," said state Sen. NanRich, D-Weston. "The law is devoid of any basis in social science andcontradicts public policy on child welfare. It denies children and adultsconstitutional rights and jeopardizes, most importantly, the best interestsof children."
Lifting the ban would allow gay men and lesbians to become adoptive parentsof some of the 3,919 foster children who were available for adoption inFlorida at the end of last month, Rich said.
State Rep. Kelly Skidmore, D-Boca Raton, said she hopes her colleagues "wakeup" and realize it is 2007, not the Bryant era.
=
We need your help for PrideFest of the Palm Beaches 2007
The Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus will be participating in the 14th annualPrideFest of the Palm Beaches, March 24 & 25 at Bryant Park in Lake Worth.
The Caucus will have an information booth at the festival both days and willbe participating in the Grand Parade on Sunday.
We need volunteers to help with the booth on both days and would like asmany as possible to join us in the Grand Parade. We will have a decked-outtruck in the parade for those who are unable to walk the route.
We must staff the booth between 12 noon and 8 pm on Saturday and between 12noon and 6 pm on Sunday.
Kick-off for the parade is 12 noon on Sunday. You should be there for theparade no later than 11:30 am. We will need people to staff the booth fromnoon on Sunday who do not wish to participate in the parade.
If you can give us an hour or two on either day it would greatly help oureffort. Visit the PrideFest websitehttp://www.compassglcc.com/events/pridefest.html for more information.
Tickets are $6.
If you can help, please drop Kevin Muth an email at
kmuth.caucus@yahoo.com.
See you at PrideFest.
=
MAKE YOUR DOG A STAR! at the
MIDDLE RIVER TERRACE FESTIVAL
"Dog Day in the Park"
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Judging will be in the following categories:
· Best Pedigree
· Most Marvelous Mutt
· Most Talented Trickster
· Ugliest Mug
· Dog Most Resembling its Owner
The winner of each category will go on to the final competition for theGrand Prize - "Best of Show"
Registration is FREE To register call 954 237-1769
=
From Leanna Bradley
leanna.bradley@gmail.com
Hello to one and all
It has come to my attention that there is a great need for GLBT doctor andmedical clinics that will accept all including transgender people who arein transition.
I am in the process of obtaining any information so as those in need willhave a resource list to call
If any one has any information as to contacts or referrals to the medicalcommunity PLEASE contact me at my NEW e-mail address
leanna.bradley@gmail.com
954-297-3638
954-462-2004 ext 201
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-316pbccyberbully,0,2123033,print.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Palm Beach County schools chief asks parents to help halt cyber-bullying
By Marc Freeman
sun-sentinel.com
March 16, 2007, 1:28 PM EDT
WEST PALM BEACH -- Palm Beach County Schools Superintendent Art Johnson onFriday appealed to parents to help stop cyber-bullying, which he termed a"dangerous situation" that can lead to violence against children.
Using a mass-calling system to send a recorded message, Johnson cited an NBCNews report that found 90 percent of middle school students are bullied ine-mails, cell phone text messages and at popular online networking sites.
The school district's Public Affairs Web site, www.palmbeachschools.org,includes a link to the NBC video.
"Parents, we must act or the cyber bullying will get worse," Johnson said inhis call out, asking for immediate help. "We must stop it from hurting ourchildren and disrupting their education when they bring these issues toschool."
The warning to parents comes two days after Johnson and the School Boardagreed to seek a change in state law that will allow the school district toimpose a cell phone ban on students while they are on campus. The proposedcell phone restriction is a way to quash cyber-bullying, officials say.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/569/story/44295.html
ART AND HISTORY
'Hanging' Dixie's banner
An unusual display of the Confederate flag in a Tallahassee museum revivesan old Florida debate.
BY STEPHANIE GARRY
sgarry@MiamiHerald.com
TALLAHASSEE --
Bob Hurst walked into a Tallahassee art museum this week and saw the symbolof his Southern heritage hanging by a noose.
The art work, which has led to a standoff between descendants of Confederatesoldiers and the museum, is a life-size gallows with the Confederate flagdangling from a frayed rope. Created by a black artist from Detroit andtitled The Proper Way to Hang a Confederate Flag, the piece has brought anold debate to Florida anew.
Hurst and his compatriots at the Sons of Confederate Veterans want theexhibit taken down, and they've invoked a 1961 Florida law to support them.
''I didn't find it clever. I didn't find it amusing. I found it offensive. Ifound it tasteless,'' said Hurst, whose great-great-grandfather led acompany for the Confederacy and committed suicide after the South'ssurrender.
The leaders of the Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science decided this weekthey'll put up with the backlash for the sake of freedom of speech andpolitical dialogue. Since then, executive director Chucha Barber said, shehas received at least a dozen threatening phone calls and contacted thepolice. She said she was blindsided by the negative response.
''Frankly, Tallahassee is a very academic community, filled with manyenlightened people,'' she said. ``It's not this institution's position tout forth an ideology or a political viewpoint. It's not our way or thehighway. It is our hope that we stimulate dialogue.''
=
The Palm Beach Post
http://palmbeachpost.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=School+vouchers+lose+champions+with+Bush%27s+exit&expire=&urlID=21579264&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.palmbeachpost.com%2Fnews%2Fcontent%2Fstate%2Fepaper%2F2007%2F03%2F17%2Fm1a_XGR_vouchers_0317.html&partnerID=491
School vouchers lose champions with Bush's exit
By S.V Date
Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
Saturday, March 17, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - A year ago: After a state Supreme Court ruling struck downschool vouchers, Republican leaders moved heaven and earth in an attempt torevive them with a constitutional amendment, all to please a governor whoconsidered them his personal legacy.
Today: "Vouchers?" said Senate Majority Leader Daniel Webster. "Don't know."
Without the strong personality of former Gov. Jeb Bush pushing a particularpolicy in the Capitol, "school choice," as proponents call it, is generatingmuch less enthusiasm this year than it has in the previous eight.
A handful of pro-voucher bills have been filed in both chambers, but nothingas sweeping as Bush's proposal - ultimately unsuccessful - to insert wordinginto the state constitution specifically permitting the spending of publicmoney at private schools.
The Florida Supreme Court in January 2006 struck down Bush's first voucherplan, the Opportunity Scholarship Program. When he pushed the idea throughthe legislature during his first months in office in 1999, it became thefirst statewide voucher plan in the country and gave parents of students atfailing public schools state money to send their children to privateschools, including religious schools.
=
Florida Today
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/CD/20070317/CAPITOLNEWS/703170328/-1/capitolnews&template=printart
March 17, 2007
House committee passes property-tax bill
Vote follows six hours of exasperated testimony
By Aaron Deslatte
FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU
A divided Florida House committee advanced a controversial plan Friday toslash nearly $6 billion in property tax revenue from the budgets of localgovernments.
The 24-7 vote by the House Policy and Budget Council came after six hours oftestimony from exasperated property owners who want relief and city andcounty officials afraid of the price tag.
''You all spend everything you get,'' said Bob Hampton, a Panhandle realestate guide owner who said he heard every day about the souring propertymarket.
''You need to roll back the ... taxes.''
The bill would roll back local property tax rates for cities, counties andsome special taxing districts to an inflation-adjusted 2000 level, whichlawmakers claim will save the average homeowner 19 percent on their taxbill.
=
TBO.com
http://www.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Citizens+To+Reduce+Premiums&expire=&urlID=21578077&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tbo.com%2Fnews%2Fmetro%2FMGBWPK9JDZE.html&partnerID=97476
Citizens To Reduce Premiums
By KEVIN BEGOS and JEROME R. STOCKFISCH The Tampa Tribune
Published: Mar 17, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - Citizens Property Insurance Corp. will reduce premiums on its1.2 million customers - on average, 14.5 percent for high-risk policyholders and 6.7 percent for others.
Most Hillsborough County homeowners who are outside the highest risk areaswill see reductions of about 4.5 percent.
"We are working very hard to provide rate relief to our policyholders assoon as possible," said Paul Palumbo, senior vice president of underwriting.
Citizens' announcement of rate reductions comes a day after private insurersfiled their proposals for cutting homeowners insurance rates.
The top five private companies in the Tampa Bay area proposed statewideaverage decreases of 3.1 percent to 14.2 percent. At the same time, somealso have announced thousands of cancellations.
=
Join us for a town hall meeting on this pressing topic currently beingdebated in the Florida legislature:
SHOULD GAYS AND LESBIANS BE ALLOWED TO ADOPT CHILDREN IN FLORIDA?
Sunday, March 25, 1:30 - 3:00
"Our Families, Our Future: A Town Hall for Floridians"
First Congregational Church
2501 NE 30th St., Fort Lauderdale
(Near the Target at Oakland Park Blvd. & Federal Hwy.)
RSVP HERE!
http://www.sporg.com/pom/registration?cmd=event_info&event_id=75417
For full article and contact information for Palm Beach townhall meetingemail rays.list@comcast.net
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
Ft. Lauderdale
Fourth Annual Valuing Our Families Conference
Gay Families Conference to honor activist Judy Shepard and actor Peter Paige
The fourth annual Valuing Our Families Conference, jointly presented byBroward-based social services agency SunServe and Washington, DC basedFamily Pride Coalition, has announced this year's National Valuing OurFamilies Award winners.
Judy Shepard, left top, mother of Matthew Shepard, the young gay manbrutally beaten and hung on a fence to die in sub-zero weather in Wyoming in1998, is being honored for her advocacy as executive director of the MatthewShepard Foundation. Peter Paige, left bottom, who played Emmett onShowtime's Queer as Folk is being recognized for his film, "Say Uncle," which countersnegative stereotypes of gay men as caretakers for children.
The awards will be presented at a special celebration on Saturday, March 24at 6:30 p.m. following the day-long conference at Sunshine Cathedral MCC,1480 SW 9th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale.
Sharon Gless, spokesperson for SunServe, and a past national award winnerwill present both awards. The conference sponsors will also give awards tostate and local advocates who have helped promote the value of LGBT familiesin South Florida, and across the state. The Fort Lauderdale Gay Men'sChorus will entertain the guests during the program.
"Valuing Our Families is pleased to be able to bring such influentialcultural and political leaders to our annual conference that celebrates allfamilies," said SunServe executive director Mark Adler. "Their presence isparticularly important in a year when our community has a chance to persuadeFlorida legislators to overturn the ban on adoption by gay men and lesbians." [Florida is the only state that bans gays and lesbians fromadopting, although it allows them to be foster parents. Florida'slegislature will probably consider new legislation this year.]
Previous national award winners have included openly gay U.S. CongressmanBarney Frank, award winning novelist Armistead Maupin, and gay activist andtelevision personality Rosie O'Donnell.
The event is free and open to the public. Conference attendees will havereserved seats. A private reception for the award winners is also planned.Tickets for the reception are available from SunServe.
The all-day Valuing Our Families Conference features advocacy training forgay and lesbian adults, youth and their straight allies. Activities foryoung children in gay and lesbian headed households and an intergenerationalgeneral session keynoted by Jennifer Chrisler, Executive Director of FamilyPride Coalition round out the offerings.
On Sunday, March 25, the conference co-sponsors will hold a specialtown-hall meeting at the First Congregational Church of Fort Lauderdale at2501 NE 30th Street Fort Lauderdale, FL, to discuss the Florida adoptionban.
For information, conference registration or tickets for the honoreesreception visit www.sunserve.org. or call 954-764-5150
=
The Orlando Sentinel
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-adoption1507mar15,0,7345042,print.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state
Gay adoption back on agenda
Lawmakers who want to repeal Florida's ban say people need to 'wake up.'
Anthony Man
Tallahassee Bureau
March 15, 2007
TALLAHASSEE -- Thousands of Florida children could have vastly better lives,advocates said Wednesday, if the state repeals its 30-year-old ban on gaysadopting.
A coalition of state legislators, mostly Democrats from Broward and PalmBeach counties, wants to eliminate what they said was a relic of formerbeauty queen and orange-juice pitchwoman Anita Bryant's anti-gay crusade ofthe 1970s.
"It is the most sweeping anti-gay parenting law in the country, something ofwhich we should not be proud in the state of Florida," said state Sen. NanRich, D-Weston. "The law is devoid of any basis in social science andcontradicts public policy on child welfare. It denies children and adultsconstitutional rights and jeopardizes, most importantly, the best interestsof children."
Lifting the ban would allow gay men and lesbians to become adoptive parentsof some of the 3,919 foster children who were available for adoption inFlorida at the end of last month, Rich said.
State Rep. Kelly Skidmore, D-Boca Raton, said she hopes her colleagues "wakeup" and realize it is 2007, not the Bryant era.
=
We need your help for PrideFest of the Palm Beaches 2007
The Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus will be participating in the 14th annualPrideFest of the Palm Beaches, March 24 & 25 at Bryant Park in Lake Worth.
The Caucus will have an information booth at the festival both days and willbe participating in the Grand Parade on Sunday.
We need volunteers to help with the booth on both days and would like asmany as possible to join us in the Grand Parade. We will have a decked-outtruck in the parade for those who are unable to walk the route.
We must staff the booth between 12 noon and 8 pm on Saturday and between 12noon and 6 pm on Sunday.
Kick-off for the parade is 12 noon on Sunday. You should be there for theparade no later than 11:30 am. We will need people to staff the booth fromnoon on Sunday who do not wish to participate in the parade.
If you can give us an hour or two on either day it would greatly help oureffort. Visit the PrideFest websitehttp://www.compassglcc.com/events/pridefest.html for more information.
Tickets are $6.
If you can help, please drop Kevin Muth an email at
kmuth.caucus@yahoo.com.
See you at PrideFest.
=
MAKE YOUR DOG A STAR! at the
MIDDLE RIVER TERRACE FESTIVAL
"Dog Day in the Park"
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Judging will be in the following categories:
· Best Pedigree
· Most Marvelous Mutt
· Most Talented Trickster
· Ugliest Mug
· Dog Most Resembling its Owner
The winner of each category will go on to the final competition for theGrand Prize - "Best of Show"
Registration is FREE To register call 954 237-1769
=
From Leanna Bradley
leanna.bradley@gmail.com
Hello to one and all
It has come to my attention that there is a great need for GLBT doctor andmedical clinics that will accept all including transgender people who arein transition.
I am in the process of obtaining any information so as those in need willhave a resource list to call
If any one has any information as to contacts or referrals to the medicalcommunity PLEASE contact me at my NEW e-mail address
leanna.bradley@gmail.com
954-297-3638
954-462-2004 ext 201
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-316pbccyberbully,0,2123033,print.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Palm Beach County schools chief asks parents to help halt cyber-bullying
By Marc Freeman
sun-sentinel.com
March 16, 2007, 1:28 PM EDT
WEST PALM BEACH -- Palm Beach County Schools Superintendent Art Johnson onFriday appealed to parents to help stop cyber-bullying, which he termed a"dangerous situation" that can lead to violence against children.
Using a mass-calling system to send a recorded message, Johnson cited an NBCNews report that found 90 percent of middle school students are bullied ine-mails, cell phone text messages and at popular online networking sites.
The school district's Public Affairs Web site, www.palmbeachschools.org,includes a link to the NBC video.
"Parents, we must act or the cyber bullying will get worse," Johnson said inhis call out, asking for immediate help. "We must stop it from hurting ourchildren and disrupting their education when they bring these issues toschool."
The warning to parents comes two days after Johnson and the School Boardagreed to seek a change in state law that will allow the school district toimpose a cell phone ban on students while they are on campus. The proposedcell phone restriction is a way to quash cyber-bullying, officials say.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/569/story/44295.html
ART AND HISTORY
'Hanging' Dixie's banner
An unusual display of the Confederate flag in a Tallahassee museum revivesan old Florida debate.
BY STEPHANIE GARRY
sgarry@MiamiHerald.com
TALLAHASSEE --
Bob Hurst walked into a Tallahassee art museum this week and saw the symbolof his Southern heritage hanging by a noose.
The art work, which has led to a standoff between descendants of Confederatesoldiers and the museum, is a life-size gallows with the Confederate flagdangling from a frayed rope. Created by a black artist from Detroit andtitled The Proper Way to Hang a Confederate Flag, the piece has brought anold debate to Florida anew.
Hurst and his compatriots at the Sons of Confederate Veterans want theexhibit taken down, and they've invoked a 1961 Florida law to support them.
''I didn't find it clever. I didn't find it amusing. I found it offensive. Ifound it tasteless,'' said Hurst, whose great-great-grandfather led acompany for the Confederacy and committed suicide after the South'ssurrender.
The leaders of the Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science decided this weekthey'll put up with the backlash for the sake of freedom of speech andpolitical dialogue. Since then, executive director Chucha Barber said, shehas received at least a dozen threatening phone calls and contacted thepolice. She said she was blindsided by the negative response.
''Frankly, Tallahassee is a very academic community, filled with manyenlightened people,'' she said. ``It's not this institution's position tout forth an ideology or a political viewpoint. It's not our way or thehighway. It is our hope that we stimulate dialogue.''
=
The Palm Beach Post
http://palmbeachpost.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=School+vouchers+lose+champions+with+Bush%27s+exit&expire=&urlID=21579264&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.palmbeachpost.com%2Fnews%2Fcontent%2Fstate%2Fepaper%2F2007%2F03%2F17%2Fm1a_XGR_vouchers_0317.html&partnerID=491
School vouchers lose champions with Bush's exit
By S.V Date
Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
Saturday, March 17, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - A year ago: After a state Supreme Court ruling struck downschool vouchers, Republican leaders moved heaven and earth in an attempt torevive them with a constitutional amendment, all to please a governor whoconsidered them his personal legacy.
Today: "Vouchers?" said Senate Majority Leader Daniel Webster. "Don't know."
Without the strong personality of former Gov. Jeb Bush pushing a particularpolicy in the Capitol, "school choice," as proponents call it, is generatingmuch less enthusiasm this year than it has in the previous eight.
A handful of pro-voucher bills have been filed in both chambers, but nothingas sweeping as Bush's proposal - ultimately unsuccessful - to insert wordinginto the state constitution specifically permitting the spending of publicmoney at private schools.
The Florida Supreme Court in January 2006 struck down Bush's first voucherplan, the Opportunity Scholarship Program. When he pushed the idea throughthe legislature during his first months in office in 1999, it became thefirst statewide voucher plan in the country and gave parents of students atfailing public schools state money to send their children to privateschools, including religious schools.
=
Florida Today
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/CD/20070317/CAPITOLNEWS/703170328/-1/capitolnews&template=printart
March 17, 2007
House committee passes property-tax bill
Vote follows six hours of exasperated testimony
By Aaron Deslatte
FLORIDA CAPITAL BUREAU
A divided Florida House committee advanced a controversial plan Friday toslash nearly $6 billion in property tax revenue from the budgets of localgovernments.
The 24-7 vote by the House Policy and Budget Council came after six hours oftestimony from exasperated property owners who want relief and city andcounty officials afraid of the price tag.
''You all spend everything you get,'' said Bob Hampton, a Panhandle realestate guide owner who said he heard every day about the souring propertymarket.
''You need to roll back the ... taxes.''
The bill would roll back local property tax rates for cities, counties andsome special taxing districts to an inflation-adjusted 2000 level, whichlawmakers claim will save the average homeowner 19 percent on their taxbill.
=
TBO.com
http://www.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Citizens+To+Reduce+Premiums&expire=&urlID=21578077&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tbo.com%2Fnews%2Fmetro%2FMGBWPK9JDZE.html&partnerID=97476
Citizens To Reduce Premiums
By KEVIN BEGOS and JEROME R. STOCKFISCH The Tampa Tribune
Published: Mar 17, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - Citizens Property Insurance Corp. will reduce premiums on its1.2 million customers - on average, 14.5 percent for high-risk policyholders and 6.7 percent for others.
Most Hillsborough County homeowners who are outside the highest risk areaswill see reductions of about 4.5 percent.
"We are working very hard to provide rate relief to our policyholders assoon as possible," said Paul Palumbo, senior vice president of underwriting.
Citizens' announcement of rate reductions comes a day after private insurersfiled their proposals for cutting homeowners insurance rates.
The top five private companies in the Tampa Bay area proposed statewideaverage decreases of 3.1 percent to 14.2 percent. At the same time, somealso have announced thousands of cancellations.
=
Join us for a town hall meeting on this pressing topic currently beingdebated in the Florida legislature:
SHOULD GAYS AND LESBIANS BE ALLOWED TO ADOPT CHILDREN IN FLORIDA?
Sunday, March 25, 1:30 - 3:00
"Our Families, Our Future: A Town Hall for Floridians"
First Congregational Church
2501 NE 30th St., Fort Lauderdale
(Near the Target at Oakland Park Blvd. & Federal Hwy.)
RSVP HERE!
http://www.sporg.com/pom/registration?cmd=event_info&event_id=75417
For full article and contact information for Palm Beach townhall meetingemail rays.list@comcast.net
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
Friday, March 16, 2007
GLBT DIGEST March 16, 2007
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/285/v-print/story/43139.html
Posted on Fri, Mar. 16, 2007
Don't ask this general about morality
By LEONARD PITTS JR.
lpitts@MiamiHerald.com
I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that weshould not condone immoral acts. I do not believe the United States is wellserved by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way.
-- Gen. PETER PACE, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
In other words, it's wrong because it's wrong.
Boil down Gen. Pace's controversial comments in a recent interview with theChicago Tribune to their essence, and that's what you get. Bypass intellect,detour around critical reasoning, and there you are: wrong because it'swrong. No other explanation necessary.
That, says the general, is why he opposes repeal of the military's ''don'task, don't tell'' policy. He doesn't want homosexuals to serve openly -- they already serve clandestinely -- in the armed forces.
People like the general -- in other words, bigots -- often wrap up theirobjections in claims of fundamental right and wrong where sexual orientationis concerned: I have a moral objection to homosexuality, they will say,loftily.
I've always thought ''visceral'' would be a better and truer adjective. Asin, a gut-level objection to people of the same sex engaging in physical oremotional intimacy.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
Americal Chronicle
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=22133
Gay Rights Find an Unlikely Champion, and Face an Old Foe
Steve Shives
March 14, 2007
In the past month the gay rights movement won a minor victory behind theefforts of an unexpected hero, and was dealt a public blow by one of itslongest-standing opponents.
The victory came in the Wyoming state legislature the last week of February,when 27 year-old Republican Representative Dan Zwonitzer spoke passionatelybefore the House Rules Committee in opposition to a bill that would havedenied legal recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states.Zwonitzer, who is heterosexual, told the Jackson Hole Star Tribune on March6 that he didn't care if his stand cost him his seat in the legislature.
"I tell myself that there are some issues that are greater than me, and Ibelieve this is one of them," he said. "And if standing up for equal rightscosts me my seat, so be it. I will let history be my judge, and I can goback to my constituents and say I stood up for basic rights. I will tell mychildren that when this debate went on, I stood up for basic rights forpeople." The crusade for gay equality, Rep. Zwonitzer told the RulesCommittee, is the civil rights struggle of his generation.[1][2]
The blow came from the United States military in the person of Joint ChiefsChairman General Peter Pace, who told the Chicago Tribune during a telephoneinterview this past Monday, "[Allowing gays to serve openly in the military]to me says that we, by policy, would be condoning what I believe is immoralactivity, and therefore, as an individual, I would not want that to be ourpolicy." In case that wasn't clear enough, Pace later reiterated, "I believethat military members who sleep with other military members' wives areimmoral in their conduct, and that we should not tolerate that. I believethat homosexual acts between individuals are immoral, and that we should notcondone immoral acts."[3]
Pace issued a statement through the Defense Department the next dayattempting to soften his words to the Tribune, saying "In expressing mysupport for the current policy, I also offered some personal opinions aboutmoral conduct. I should have focused more on my support of the policy andless on my personal moral views." At least Pace is sticking to his guns, andnot compounding bigotry with cowardice.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-3929.html
NY Mayor slams St Patrick's Day parade gay ban
15th March 2007 14:57
Tony Grew
The Mayor of New York City has criticised the organising committee of thecity's famous St Patrick's Day parade for banning gay and lesbians fromparticipating.
Michael Bloomberg, the city's leader since 2002, will march in the parade.
"I think all parades in this city should be open to everybody, no matterwhat your orientation or ethnicity or anything else is," Mr. Bloomberg saidyesterday.
New York City Council speaker Christine Quinn, who is openly gay, hasannounced she will march in Dublin's St. Patrick's Day parade this year.
The move is a direct snub to organisers of the New York City parade who haveagain banned gay and lesbian groups from participating in the event.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1131ap_brownback_gays.html
Thursday, March 15, 2007 · Last updated 8:02 p.m. PT
Brownback supports Pace's remark on gays
By SAM HANANEL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback is backing thePentagon's top general over his remarks that homosexual acts are immoral.The Kansas senator planned to send a letter on Thursday to President Bushsupporting Marine Gen. Peter Pace, who earlier this week likenedhomosexuality to adultery and said the military should not condone it byallowing gay personnel to serve openly.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs also said in an interview with the hicagoTribune: "I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral andthat we should not condone immoral acts. I do not believe the United Statesis well-served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way."
Lawmakers of both parties criticized the remarks, but Brownback's lettercalled the criticism "both unfair and unfortunate."
"We should not expect someone as qualified, accomplished and articulate asGeneral Pace to lack personal views on important moral issues," Brownbacksaid. "In fact, we should expect that anyone entrusted with such greatresponsibility will have strong moral views."
Asked whether he agreed with Pace's comments, Brownback said: "I do notbelieve being a homosexual is immoral, but I do believe homosexual acts are.I'm a Catholic and the church has clear teachings on this."
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6445337.stm
Ghana's secret gay community
By Orla Ryan
BBC News, Accra
When Patrick Williams told his mother he was gay, she packed his bags andthrew him out of the house, disowning her son for what she saw as an evilact.
The 21-year-old Ghanaian had known he was gay since he was 13, but hadhesitated to tell anyone.
"I was scared and I knew in our society, it was not accepted. It was bestfor me to keep it inside until I saw someone who was similar," he said.
When a schoolmate told his mother of rumours that the 18-year-old Patrickwas having sex with another boy, he admitted he was gay.
"She said because of what I chose to be, I was no longer her son. Was thewhole world against me? This was the biggest question in my mind. My ownmother sometimes says she wishes I was dead," he said.
His experience is by no means unusual in the West African country, wherehomosexuality is seen as an unnatural sexual act and, as such, is illegal.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007703150373&template=printart
End discrimination, cost of 'don't ask, don't tell'
During a recent interview with the Chicago Tribune, Gen. Peter Pace,chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said homosexuality is "immoral" andthe military should continue its "don't ask, don't tell" policy, whichallows gays to serve as long as they keep quiet about being gay. The nextday, he said he regretted sharing his personal views on the subject andshould have stuck to just supporting the policy.
In other words, it's fine to harbor homophobic views as long as you keepthem under wraps. Of course, the government's own homophobic, discriminatorypolicy seems to condone that.
Congress is planning hearings on a bill that would repeal "don't ask, don'ttell," and lawmakers should finally do exactly that.
The policy is not only legalized discrimination, but also an expensiveundertaking.
According to a 2005 report from the Government Accountability Office, from1994 through 2003, 9,488 troops were discharged from the armed forcesbecause of the policy. Recruiting and training replacements cost nearly $200million.
Of the soldiers discharged, 757 held occupations important enough that theywarranted special re-enlistment bonuses. These included voice interceptors,data-processing technicians and interpreter/translators. Also, 322 members"had some skills in an important foreign language such as Arabic, Farsi andKorean," according to the GAO.
The military is stretched thin, fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.Military recruiters are trying to attract new soldiers, offering big signingbonuses in some cases. Meanwhile, the military continues a policy thatresults in kicking out thousands of competent soldiers.
It makes discrimination not only unacceptable, but downright unaffordable.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007703130365&template=printart
Boost work force, reverse brain drain by passing law on sexual orientation
By ALICIA CLAYPOOL and RALPH ROSENBERG
IOWA VIEW
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have historically andpervasively been singled out for discrimination and harassment based onsexual orientation or gender identity.
Now, the Iowa Legislature is considering legislation to prohibitdiscrimination in employment, housing, credit, public accommodations andeducation based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Passage of this legislation would help ensure an opportunity to apply for ajob, rent an apartment and enjoy a quality of life that many of us take forgranted.
There is an economic imperative to strengthen and increase the size of ourwork force. We are competing in a global market. Any waste of talent is aloss in productivity, innovation and wealth that we cannot permit. Simplyput, Iowa cannot afford to lose the contributions of any Iowan.
Passage of this law will help reverse the brain drain, in which many of ouryoung people leave for more diverse cities, such as Minneapolis and Chicago,in states with inclusive policies. We need to make sure that Iowa is seen asa welcoming state. Adding sexual orientation and gender identity to Iowacivil-rights law is a piece of the solution to the work-force shortage andbrain-drain problems.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-3927.html
Comment: Does religion breed homophobia?
15th March 2007 13:53
Comment
There is no debate about the acceptance of homosexuality in Britain. It isuseless to try and create a religious one, argues Balaji Ravichandran.
So, the Sexual Orientations Regulations, which outlaw discrimination on thebasis of sexual orientation when accessing goods and services, will finallycome to effect this April.
It seems like only yesterday that anti-gay lobbies took to the streets tohold a torch-lit demonstration protesting these same regulations.
Funnily enough, religious groups that otherwise go head-to-head on greatmany issues stood united in their opposition to homosexuality.
Thankfully, their opposition was in vain.
Unlike the United States, religious fundamentalists are a minority in theUK, but just as vociferous.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=25150
FIRST-PERSON:
Lesbian activist set free in Christ
By Kelly Boggs
Mar 9, 2007
ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP)--Imagine a prominent conservative Christian publiclyannouncing that he has renounced heterosexuality and will henceforth andforever be homosexual. Add to the scenario the leader declaring he isdedicated to promoting the glory of gayness and encouraging others to becomehomosexual. Now try to imagine the mainstream media ignoring such anannouncement.
Try as I might, I cannot, for the life of me, imagine the mainstream pressfailing to report such news. Instead, there would be a media firestorm. Thenews would spread fast and furious from sea to shining sea -- even if theleader was prominent only on a regional or state level.
If the mainstream media types would be quick to pounce on the news of aChristian leader coming out of the closet, and I believe they would, do youthink they would be as eager to cover a prominent homosexual activist whoembraced Christianity and renounced his or her homosexuality?
You need not ponder the aforementioned question very long. A prominenthomosexual activist has become a Christian. She has also become anevangelist pointing homosexuals to a way out of their aberrant lifestyles.And, thus far, the mainstream media has completely ignored the story.
Charlene E. Cothran, a prominent homosexual activist and publisher andeditor-in-chief of the black homosexual-oriented publication "VenusMagazine," recently announced that she had embraced Christianity andrenounced homosexuality.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=14264
Controversy Over Deerfield Gay Panel
2007-03-14
By Charlsie Dewey
Deerfield High School has recently come under attack from a small group ofparents seeking the termination of a panel that includes a presentation bythe Straight and Gay Alliance as part of a diversity unit.
Lora Sue Hauser, head of North Shore Student Advocacy, the group pressingfor the panel's end, declined to speak with Windy City Times about why hergroup so adamantly wants the program canceled, but she did recently tell theChicago Tribune, "The school makes heterosexuality and homosexualityequivalent, and our country is deeply divided on that."
Suzan Hebson, assistant superintendent for human resources for Township HighSchool District 113, says that there is a misunderstanding regarding thepurpose of the panel and what exactly the Straight and Gay Alliancepresentation's focus is.
"The class covers issues pertaining to student safety and the overallclimate of the school, so that's why this particular panel happens to bespeaking," Hebson said. "It's part of a diversity unit. Others who speak aremembers of our minority report group-students of different races are on apanel as part of that club, and we also have students who have disabilities,physical and intellectual disabilities. So, the unit overall is a diversityunit."
Hebson said that parents are upset that the students openly state theirsexuality: "They [ the parents ] believe that that's inappropriate, and theyhave the misperception that students on the panel are speaking about sexualissues, but they're not."
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The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11978
HRC paid former leader $160,000 last year
New headquarters building cost $26.4 million
By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | Mar 15, 11:59 AM
The Human Rights Campaign disclosed for the first time this week that thetotal cost for buying and renovating its headquarters building in Washingtoncame to $26.4 million. HRC also paid a former executive director who leftthe organization in 2004 nearly $160,000 last year.
According to IRS 990 forms for fiscal year 2006 (April 1, 2005 to March 31,2006), HRC Inc. paid its former executive director, Cheryl Jacques, $117,652during that period. Jacques received additional compensation of $41,590 fromthe HRC Foundation for a total of $159,242.
Jacques abruptly resigned on Nov. 30, 2004, just weeks after that year'selections in which 11 states voted to ban same-sex marriage and PresidentBush was re-elected. She served as executive director for just 11 months.
Jim Rinefierd, HRC's vice president for finance and operations, declined tocomment on the payments to Jacques, citing a confidentiality agreement. Buthe said those 2006 payments were the last to be made to Jacques under termsof her departure.
HRC also released new details about the cost of its headquarters buildingand the financing arrangement at the request of the Washington Bladefollowing criticism by gay commentator and blogger Andrew Sullivan that thebuilding was too expensive and detracted from resources that should havebeen used to advance gay rights causes.
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The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11990
Gay marriage gains support in N.H.
Governor is opposed to bill granting marriage equality
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) | Mar 16, 7:23 AM
Gay marriage supporters made a strong showing Wednesday, but the outcome isfar from certain.
Supporters far outnumbered opponents at a hearing on same sex marriage. Samesex couples, parents of gay and lesbian children and the State EmployeesAssociation were among those asking the House Judiciary to endorse themarriage bill; 142 people signed sheets supporting gay marriage and 27 wereagainst.
Even the sponsor of a competing civil unions bill threw his support behindDemocratic Rep. Mo Baxley's bill for marriage equality, asking legislatorsto choose her proposal over his.
But it is a long way before New Hampshire can add its name to the short listof states giving gays legal unions. The marriage bill must survive asubcommittee review and votes in the House and Senate, and faces anuncertain future with Gov. John Lynch, who opposes gay marriage but supportsproviding health care benefits to state workers' same sex partners.
Lynch avoided a question Wednesday from a reporter who asked why he opposesgay marriage.
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The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11966
Governor says comments on gay foster ban did not address adoptionBeebe won't say if he'll veto bill banning adoptions by gaysLITTLE ROCK (AP) | Mar 15, 3:24 PM
Gov. Mike Beebe said Wednesday his comments last year supporting a ban ongay foster parents did not include banning homosexuals from adoptingchildren, as a bill that has passed the Senate would do.
Beebe would not tell reporters whether he supports a bill that has passedthe Senate that would ban gays and other unmarried couples living togetherfrom fostering or adopting children.
The bill by Sen. Shawn Womack (R-Mountain Home) is a response to a stateSupreme Court ruling that overturned Arkansas' ban on gay foster parents.
During the gubernatorial campaign, Beebe said he would support reinstatingthe ban if it were constitutional. Beebe said he's continuing to reviewWomack's bill, but said it goes beyond the ban discussed last year.
"What I said was limited to the foster-care situation," Beebe said at a newsconference at the state Capitol.
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The Washington Blade
http://www.washblade.com/print.cfm?content_id=10212
NATIONAL NEWS | washingtonblade.com
HRC hits back at blogger criticisms
Group says Sullivan's accusations could hurt efforts to pass gay rightsbills
By LOU CHIBBARO JR
Mar. 16, 2007
Gay conservative commentator and author Andrew Sullivan unleashed a seriesof attacks during the past two weeks against the Human Rights Campaign, thenation's largest gay political group, calling it a "racket" that raiseslarge sums of money while failing to use its resources effectively for gayrights causes.
In an entry earlier this month on his popular blog, the Daily Dish, Sullivandescribed HRC as a "corporation designed to milk the gay market to hire morefund-raisers and marketers to milk more gay pockets."
"It's a racket with a plush new multi-million dollar headquarters andsalaries that would make corporate America blush," he said.
HRC officials called Sullivan's attacks inaccurate and unfair. They quicklyaccused him of seeking to weaken the Washington-based gay rights group - which generated $34.6 million in revenue in 2006 - just as it is expected tolead efforts to advance two important gay rights bills pending in Congress.
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, which calls for banningemployment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,and a hate crimes bill, which covers gays and transgender persons, areexpected to come up for a vote in late summer or early fall.
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The Denver Post
http://test.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=5429604&siteId=36
House votes for same-sex adoptions
Critics call it an end-run around voters who rejected Referendum I.
By Jeri Clausing
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated:03/14/2007 06:23:19 AM MDT
The Colorado House on Tuesday endorsed a plan to let same-sex and otherunmarried couples adopt the children of their partners - a directcontradiction, opponents said, of voters who rejected Referendum I inNovember.
"Referendum I created civil unions. This bill does not," said House MajorityLeader Alice Madden, a Boulder Democrat who sponsored the measure.
"It's about parental responsibility ... the economic and emotional stabilityof these children."
The bill faces a final vote in the House before it can go to the Senate.
The debate about the will of voters came right after House members gavepreliminary approval to a proposal to let voters clarify the intent of asecond November ballot measure, the broad Amendment 41 ethics measure thatbans gifts to elected officials and government workers.
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Philly.com
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/living/16906509.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Mar. 15, 2007
Tattle | Garrison's take on gay marriage
By LAURIE T. CONRAD
conradl@phillynews.com 215-854-2270
GARRISON Keillor's never hesitated to tell the world how he really feels.Writing in defense of the traditional family unit in an article forsalon.com, the radio host didn't mince words.
Definitely no mincing.
On the subject of gay marriage and its suitability as an environment forchild-rearing, our (thrice-married) man in Lake Wobegon, Minn., had this tosay:
"The country has come to accept stereotypical gay men - sardonic fellowswith fussy hair who live in over-decorated apartments with a striped sofaand a small weird dog and who worship campy performers and go in forflamboyance now and then themselves. If they want to be accepted as couplesand daddies, however, the flamboyance may have to be brought under control.Parents are supposed to stand in back and not wear chartreuse pants andblack polka-dot shirts. That's for the kids. It's their show."
What could we add to that?
Except that we first learned of the story through TMZ.com, which filed itunder the irresistible heading, "A Prairie Homophobic Companion?"
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The Washington Blade
Debunking the 'Bible defense'
Posted by Greg Marzullo, Washington Blade Features Editor
Mar. 13 at 5:45 PM
GMarzullo@washblade.com
I am sick of what I call "the Bible defense." The latest installment of thistiresome trope comes courtesy of actor Terrence Howard. According to thePost Chronicle, an online news source, the actor said, "Do I agree withhomosexuality? No, I'm a Bible-based young man. But I know the Bible alsospeaks about homosexuality with liars, adulterers, thieves. I've lied, I'vecheated on my wife, I've stolen. So how can I judge somebody for somethingthat's mentioned in the same exact scripture?"
This is all in response to a conversation about the appalling misogyny andhomophobia evidenced in hip-hop music and the culture it's spawned. Howardtops it off with, "I believe we're all sinners."
This kind of homophobia needs to be pursued with the same aggressive energyas gay groups have with the recent usage of the word "faggot." In fact, Ifind the Bible defense to be more insidious and dangerous than simple namecalling.
As with much of current religious trends, falling back on the Bible allowsthe individual to abdicate him or herself (witness Jennifer Hudson orallegedly Carol Channing) of any responsibility about hateful rhetoric.Well, if the Bible says it's a sin, then A) it must be a sin B) it can belumped together with other sins to which I am party and C) (here comes thetrump card) you can't challenge my relationship with and belief in God.
I suggest, however, that's exactly what queer people need to do. Americanstend to shrink from religious discussion partly because it's such acontentious and hot-button issue (especially in the midst of what is, inshort, an executive branch run by Christian fundamentalists or at the veryleast Machiavellian wannabes).
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The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/print.cfm?content_id=3528
Drop the charges against Nadine Smith now
Arrest of activist at public hearing raises chilling First Amendmentconcerns
By PHIL LAPADULA
Mar. 16, 2007
In about a year and a half, the Democratic and Republican conventions willdominate our TV screens with their weeklong propaganda festivals. Theconvention halls will be filled with signs, placards, fliers and buttonspromoting just about every political viewpoint and interest group on theplanet. Now, imagine what would happen if the host city of one of theconventions decided to prohibit placards and fliers in the convention hall.
That's exactly what happened in Largo, Fla., Feb. 27 when cityofficials and the police department decided to prohibit the distribution offliers and the display of signs at a public hearing on the firing of CityManager Steve Stanton. Police gave a variety of reasons for prohibitingfliers in the meeting room, including their potential to be disruptive, firecode issues and the possibility of someone slipping on a dropped flier. Idon't know why these issues have never surfaced in all the years that theDemocratic and Republican national conventions have been held.
As most of you probably know by now, the Largo Police Department'sdecision to ban fliers in the hearing room led to the arrest of NadineSmith, executive director of Equality Florida. She has been charged withresisting arrest with violence and disturbing an assembly. She could face upto five years in prison on the felony resisting arrest charge.
According to witnesses, Sgt. Butch Ward of the Largo Police Departmentconfronted Smith and ordered her to take back a flier that she had given toa supporter. When Smith asked why, Ward forced her into a side room whereseveral officers shoved her to the floor and arrested her, according tomedia reports.
As is always the case with news stories printed in the Express, we wentout of our way to get both sides of the story. In fact, Matt McMullen, thespokesperson for the Largo Police Department, was cooperative in conveyingthe police side of the story. His full comments were included in the storyin the exact context that they were presented. After hearing all sides, the
problem I have is that not even the police version of events seems tojustify the abusive treatment of Ms. Smith.
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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/print.cfm?content_id=3517
Rethinking the marriage fight
Why are gays buying into an institution that everyone else seems to beabandoning?
By PETER ROSENSTEIN
Mar. 16, 2007
I READ WITH interest Blaine Harden's recent article in The Washington Poston a fundamental change in American life. It confirmed for me that gays andlesbians haven't actually ruined the institution of marriage but that it hasbeen falling apart as an institution without our help for decades.
It was fascinating to read that the 1950s ideal of Ozzie and Harriet withtheir 2.3 kids and a white picket fence has long since been just that, anideal in the minds of the right wing. The facts are that married coupleswith children now occupy fewer than one in every four households. That isless than half of the number in 1960 and is the lowest ever recorded by thecensus.
Now with these facts in mind, the next time you hear a right wing bigot likeGary Bauer finding a way to blame us for everything that goes wrong in theworld, we need to counter that anyone with a brain will find it hard toequate that our right to marry in Massachusetts has had any great impact onmarriage.
These numbers didn't just drop precipitously in the last two years since afew gays and lesbians in Massachusetts married. Actually marriage has beencollapsing for years without our help, and the greatest decrease seems tohave occurred in the 1980s during Ronald Reagan's presidency.
It appears that married couples having children now are overwhelmingly thosewho are more educated and have more money. I guess that is where we fit in.I think if you look at those gays and lesbians who are the most concernedabout marriage and wanting to have children it is those who are bettereducated and richer (the Mary Cheney types). The Post article stated that ascohabitation and out-of-wedlock births increase among the broaderpopulation, social scientists predict that marriage with children willcontinue its decades-long retreat into relatively high-income exclusivity.It went on to quote Peter Francese, a demographic trends analyst for Ogilvy& Mather, who said, "We seem to be reverting to a much older pattern, whenelites marry and a great many others live together and have kids."
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The current issue of The Independent is online
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The Independent
http://www.indynews.4t.com/Issue79/feature2.html
Today's Date: March 16, 2007
Ray's Roundup
By Ray Rideout and Michael Cooper
CALIFORNIA
A cash gift of $1-million from John McDonald and Rob Wright to UCLA LawSchool will establish the nation's first endowed professorship in sexualorientation law. The school's Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Lawand Public Policy investigates such topics as anti-homosexualdiscrimination, the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policies and thedemographics of same-sex couples who have adopted children.
COLORADO
James Dobson and Focus on the Family are taking heat from an on-going civildisobedience campaign conducted by gay activists with SoulForce.. Dobsonmisrepresents research by New York University and Yale social scientistsregarding gay parenting. Wayne Besen, founder of Truth Wins Out, joinedSoulForce announcing a new website, www.RespectMyResearch.org, with acollection of videos showing social scientists refuting James Dobson'sdishonest claims.
FLORIDA
Florida has received negative national publicity due to a 5 to 3 decision bythe Largo City Commission to fire its city manager, Steve Stanton. With thecity 14 years, Stanton announced he is transgender and plans sexualreassignment surgery. The decision violates city policy which includesgender identity protections. "If Jesus was here tonight, I can guarantee youhe'd want him terminated," said Pastor Ron Saunders of Largo's LighthouseBaptist Church.
GEORGIA
A disciplinary committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ruledthat a gay pastor in Atlanta must give up his pulpit, saying it wasreluctantly enforcing a "bad policy." Rev. Bradley E. Schmeling endured a4-day church trial after announcing he is in a committed relationship with aformer Lutheran pastor. The church's current standards allow gay pastors,but bar them from same-gender relationships. Schmeling holds the fullsupport of his congregation.
MICHIGAN
What is it about a transgender person in a wig and a dress that sets off thefundamentalists? Spring Arbor University, a private Christian school, fireda male faculty member, now living as a woman, three days after learning shehad changed her name from "John" to "Julie." Nemecek, an ordained Baptistminister, has been with the University for 16 years as an associate dean ofadult studies. She said she is heterosexual and is attracted to only onewoman, Joanne, to whom she has been married for 35 years. Nemecek wears ablond wig and dresses as a woman but has no plans to undergo sex-changesurgery.
more....
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid43018.asp
Would Pace call Turing "immoral"?
Would Alan Turing, who helped win World War II for the Allies by crackingNazi codes, be considered too "immoral" to serve in the U.S. military?That's a question posed by Republican former U.S. senator Alan Simpson.
Simpson cited the late gay British mathematician in his criticism of therecent "homosexuality is immoral" comment from Marine Corps general PeterPace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In a op-ed for The Washington Post printed Wednesday, Simpson, of Wyoming,cited the accomplishments of Turing, who committed suicide in 1954 after hewas convicted of "gross indecency" for having a same-sex relationship.
"In World War II, a British mathematician named Alan Turing led the effortto crack the Nazis' communication code," Simpson wrote. "[Turing] masteredthe complex German enciphering machine, helping to save the world, and hiswork laid the basis for modern computer science. Does it matter that Turingwas gay? Would Pace call Turing 'immoral'?"
On Monday, Pace told a Chicago Tribune reporter that he considershomosexuality to be "immoral" and that the military should not condone it byallowing gay and lesbian soldiers to serve openly.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid43010.asp
L.A. seminary admits gay and lesbian applicants
A West Coast seminary for Conservative Judaism has accepted its first openlygay and lesbian applicants since the movement decided to ease its ban onordination of gays.The Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, based at theUniversity of Judaism in Los Angeles, has admitted a gay man and a lesbianfor the fall semester, a school spokeswoman said Tuesday. The New YorkCity-based Jewish Theological Seminary, the movement's flagship school, isstill debating its policy. In December a panel of scholars who interpretJewish law for the movement voted to allow the seminaries to decide on theirown whether to admit openly gay students.But the Committee on Jewish Law andStandards left enough leeway to allow synagogues that consider same-sexrelations contrary to Jewish law to bar gay clergy from their pulpits.Conservative Judaism holds the middle ground in American Judaism, adheringto tradition while allowing some change for modern circumstances.
The larger and more liberal Reform Jewish branch and the smallerReconstructionist wing allow gays to become rabbis; the Orthodox bar gaysand women from ordination. (AP)
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/03/031607bishop.htm
Conservative Episcopal Bishop Rejected
by the Associated Press
Posted: March 16, 2007 - 1 am ET
(South Carolina) Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori tookthe highly unusual step Thursday of invalidating the election of a bishop inthe tradition-minded Diocese of South Carolina, which has rejected herauthority because of her liberal theological outlook.
The elevation of the Very Rev. Mark Lawrence had become a flash point in thedenomination's struggle over whether parishioners with conflicting views ofthe Bible on gays and other issues could stay in the same denomination. Thelast time the Episcopal Church threw out a bishop's election was more thanseven decades ago.
Jefferts Schori made the decision on the eve of a key private meeting inTexas involving all Episcopal bishops. The church leaders must decide bySept. 30 whether they should meet demands from Anglican archbishops to rollback their support for gays or lose their place as the U.S. wing of theworld Anglican family.
In the South Carolina case, Jefferts Schori concluded that several Episcopaldioceses had failed to submit proper written consent for the election asrequired by church law, according to the Rev. J. Haden McCormick, head ofthe committee that administers the South Carolina Diocese.
A majority of Episcopal dioceses must approve an election before a bishopcan be consecrated and installed. The diocese said it had received 57diocesan consents - one more than required. But McCormick said in astatement that some dioceses wrongly "thought that electronic permission wassufficient as had been their past accepted practice."
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AfterEllen.com
http://www.afterellen.com/people/2007/3/rosieodonnell
A Chat With Rosie O'Donnell
by Kim Ficera, Contributing Writer
March 15, 2007
Last January I argued in my column, Don't Quote Me, that the rancoroussituation between Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell is not, as the media soinnocently calls it, a "feud," but rather a very public display of Trump'smisogyny and homophobia. Despite Trump's many efforts to make O'Donnell lookbad, all he did was make himself look worse. His eagerness to expose a sideof his character that most people would try to hide proved that he not onlylacks a mental edit function, but that he lacks a conscience, as well.
It's been a few months since Trump made the worst of his remarks. So when Ilearned yesterday that he had emerged from his gold-plated sewer just longenough to share with Entertainment Tonight his insensitive views onO'Donnell and her methods of dealing with depression, I thought, "Yippee!Three more months of lesbian-bashing!"
Oh, no. I'm sorry. That was my Trumpified alter ego speaking fromInsaneland. The real me fired off a passionate email to O'Donnell,requesting an interview. Although she doesn't normally give interviews, sheagreed to take a few questions by email, which she answered in typicalblogworthy Rosie fashion.
AfterEllen.com: You haven't agreed to an interview on the Donald Trumpsituation until now. What changed your mind?
Rosie O'Donnell: i don't do interviews as i have a blogu asked nicelyso i said yes
AE: Why do you think that a man who has nothing valuable to say won't shutup?
RO: he is showing his true self
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/us/politics/16clinton.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
March 16, 2007
2 Democrats Clarify Beliefs About Gays
By PATRICK HEALY
Under pressure from gay rights groups, two rivals for the Democraticpresidential nomination, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama,issued statements yesterday saying they believed homosexuality was notimmoral.
Mrs. Clinton, who has particularly cultivated gay voters and donors, foundherself under the most intense fire yesterday after she said on Wednesdaythat the morality of homosexuality was for "others to conclude." Later thatday, after complaints from gay rights groups, she put out a statementindicating she thought homosexuality was not immoral, though she did not usethose words.
Her remarks left some gay donors and advocates angry; several said yesterdaythat they believed she was afraid to say the words "moral" or "immoral"because Republicans might use them against her.
The issue arose this week after Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff, said in published remarks that he believed homosexualitywas immoral.
Officials from the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights organization, saidthey had a conference call with Clinton campaign officials yesterday toargue for a clearer statement; they did not speak to Mrs. Clinton directly.Other gay advocates, including the Empire State Pride Agenda, also lodgedcomplaints. Blogs about gay politics and culture, too, excoriated Mrs.Clinton for raising money from gay donors yet being unable to reject theidea that homosexuality was immoral.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cgaynews16xmar16,0,3587698,print.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
Fort Lauderdale lawyer launches online gay national newspaper
March 16, 2007
Fort Lauderdale lawyer Norm Kent announced this week the launch of an onlinedaily gay national electronic newspaper, www.nationalgaynews.com.
The Web site will include daily news updates, links to national gay andlesbian advocacy groups. It also will offer interactive features forreaders' to submit their favorite photos and links to their favorite Websites.
In 1999, Kent founded and served as the original publisher of the ExpressGay News, a weekly newspaper that serves the gay and lesbian community inSouth Florida. He sold that publication in Dec. 2003 to WashingtonD.C.-based Unite Media, which is affiliated with Window Media, publisher ofother gay and lesbian newspapers and magazines around the country. Kent willbe the online newspaper's publisher.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-agonorrhea16mar16,0,7368093,print.story?coll=sfla-news-nationworld
Gonorrhea rates soar in 8 states, report says
Staff and wire reports
March 16, 2007
The rate of the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea rose 42 percent infive years in eight western U.S. states, while other regions reporteddeclines, a new report says.
The states -- Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utahand Washington -- had historically seen lower rates than other regions, saidthe U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a report releasedThursday.
Florida ranked 17th nationally in the number of gonorrhea cases per capitain 2005, but last year saw a renewed surge in new cases, led by SouthFlorida. New infections jumped statewide by 15 percent last year, to 23,247,state figures show, with cases up 22 percent in Palm Beach County and 18percent in Broward County.
Local health officials have attributed the rise in gonorrhea to laxattitudes toward unsafe sex practices, especially among some gay men, thatbegan pushing up the numbers of some sexually transmitted diseases startingin 2000.
The rate in the South overall declined 22 percent, the Northeast rate fell16 percent and the Midwest rate dropped 5 percent during the periodsurveyed.
Staff Writer Bob LaMendola contributed to this report, which includesinformation from Bloomberg News.
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Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2033173,00.html
It's all over for homophobia
When gay-bashing is the preserve of mealy-mouthed euphemism, its death knellhas sounded
Zoe Williams
Wednesday March 14, 2007
The Guardian
The idea is straightforward - fairytales covering homosexual themes will beintroduced into primary schools for pupils aged between four and 11. I balkat the notion of a "homosexual theme", since what theme worthy of the namecould be pinned down to a sexual preference? Love? Death? Sex? There is nosuch thing as a homosexual theme beyond "non-conformity".
But I am nit-picking. The aim is to normalise homosexuality in the eyes ofchildren. Fourteen schools and one local authority have taken up the scheme."Church groups" disapprove, or at least are credited as so doing innewspapers trying to stir up disapproval. John Humphrys disapproves, or atleast made a valiant stab at pretending to on the Today programme yesterday.In conversation with Elizabeth Atkinson, from the organisation No Outsiders,he kicked off gruffly: "This is propaganda, isn't it?" "No more so thanCinderella," Atkinson started. Double-gruffly, Humphrys rejoined, "Wellthey're fairytales. That's quite different." But close analysts of theprogramme, and his voice in particular, will know his heart wasn't in it.
Nobody's heart really seems to be into homophobia any more. The classictemples of gay hate - the Daily Mail, "middle England", the Tory party - arestill happy to call organisations like No Outsiders "controversial". Theywill still refer obliquely to opposition from "church groups", as if thiswere a warrior class that they could line up behind, without having tocommit themselves. But you cannot borrow Christianity, or any other faith,for its homophobia. If you were a Tory grandee today, and you wanted tobring back section 28, you would not be able to do so under the banner of"some church groups think ..." or "some faiths object ...". You would need acase beyond "because God exists, and he says so", otherwise you might justas well start legislating against adultery. That movement, gratifyingly, haslost its muscle. While there is still a spectrum of tolerance for themulish, malicious homophobia on the edges of faith groups, there seems to beno stomach at all for secular gay hate.
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Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Stonewall Democrats respond to Clinton/Obama
Stonewall Democrats Satement on Comments by Senators Clinton and ObamaDemocrats Must be Clear in Speaking of Morality and American Families
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Washington, DC - Today, the National Stonewall Democrats issued thefollowing statement in response to remarks made by Senators Hillary Clinton(D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) when each was asked to clarify if a same-sexsexual orientation made someone immoral. Both Senators have refused toanswer the question which followed comments made by Marine General PeterPace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to the editorial board of theChicago Tribune in which called American service personnel immoral:
"Most Democrats understand, and should understand, that morality isn'tderived from sexual orientation or gender identity. Morality is how youtreat your neighbor, support your community and sacrifice for your familyand country. When I tuck my daughter into bed at night, those are the valuesI teach her. We expect Democratic candidates and elected officials toreaffirm those same values, to speak up when families or individuals arescapegoated or maligned for political gain, and to proactively argue thebenefits of treating all Americans equally under the law without regard totheir sexual orientation or gender identity.
Morality is also embodied in action. Our Democratic presidential candidatessupport employment non-discrimination legislation, the extension of healthcare benefits to our families, and oppose constitutional amendments thatattack lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people for political gain.Those are moral actions and positions that each candidate should be proud tocampaign on.
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Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0703/13/sitroom.01.html
I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Let's get some more now on the controversy regarding Attorney GeneralAlberto Gonzales and the controversy over those words from the chairman ofthe joint chiefs of staff.
How is one presidential candidate responding?
AndSenator Edwards, thanks very much for coming in.
FORMER SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Glad to be with you.
BLITZER: Let's talk about General Peter Pace, the chairman of the jointchiefs. He suggested today, his own personal opinion, homosexuality, hesaid, was immoral. As a result, don't change the don't ask, don't tellpolicy.
First of all, in your opinion, is homosexuality immoral?
EDWARDS: I don't -- don't share that view. And I would go -- go further thanthat, Wolf. I think the don't ask, don't tell is not working. And aspresident of the United States I would change that policy.
BLITZER: Is the don't ask, don't tell policy immoral?
EDWARDS: I think the don't ask, don't tell policy is wrong. It's notworking. I think what it's done, effectively, is kept us from having some ofthe most talented people we could have in our military. It's caused --caused more problems than it's solved. And it ought to be changed.
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Polish teachers who promote gay rights risk being fired
http://www.eux.tv/article.aspx?articleId=4685
15.03.2007
Warsaw (dpa) - Teachers who promote gay rights in schools risk losing theirjobs under draft regulations currently being drawn up by Poland's Ministryof Education, Polish Radio reported Thursday.
Poland's Deputy Education Minister Miroslaw Orzechowski told Polish Radiothe proposed regulations do not sanction the firing of homosexual teachers.Only teachers who present homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle tostudents could lose their jobs.
Teachers who promote or have been convicted of paedophilia will also befired should the proposed legislation be approved.
The controversial news comes on the heels of news that the Polish Ministryof Education is also preparing legislation to sanction school principals
who allow members of gay rights organisations to speak with pupils.
Both moves are being masterminded by Roman Giertych, Poland'sCatholic-nationalist Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education.
Giertych recently sparked outrage in Heidelberg, Germany, during a meetingof EU education ministers when he openly criticized abortion rights and whathe termed "homosexual propaganda."
"The propaganda of homosexuality is reaching ever younger children,"Giertych said in the Heidelberg speech.
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Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rum,_Sodomy_and_the_Lash
By Andrew Sullivan
"Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy andthe lash."
But, as always, it's worth considering the argument. Pace makes a clearanalogy in an attempt to argue that he is not being prejudiced toward agroup, just punctilious in enforcing his view of morality. He says excludingopenly gay servicemembers is morally equivalent to excluding servicemembers whocommit adultery with the wives of other servicemembers. But those are twodifferent issues, right? We're not talking merely about gay servicemembers who haveaffairs with other servicemembers, are we? That would fall into the categoryof conduct obviously detrimental to morale and cohesion. We're talkingmerely about gay servicemembers who may or may not have relationships orsex withpeople off-base or in their private lives. If the military threw out everystraight servicemember who has ever had a sexual indiscretion or failingoff-base or in their private lives, how many people would be left in themilitary?
So the analogy falls apart upon inspection.
The question to ask Pace now is: why does he think a homosexual act isimmoral? Is it because such a sexual act cannot procreate, as the Catholichierarchy argues?
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Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-frank15mar15,0,410469.story?coll=la-opinion-center
The immorality of 'don't ask, don't tell'
A general's disparagement of gays runs counter to public good and theevidence.
By Nathaniel Frank, NATHANIEL FRANK is senior research fellow at the MichaelD. Palm Center at UC Santa Barbara.
March 15, 2007
WHEN MARINE Gen. Peter Pace said this week that he opposed letting gaysserve openly in the military because homosexuality is "immoral," he raisedimportant questions about the role of individual moral codes in shapingbroad social policy. But even more elementary is the question of what"morality" actually is. For a concept that's thrown around in discussionsincluding abortion, global warming and the war in Iraq, there's often verylittle reflection about what it truly means to call a person or an actimmoral.
The word "moral" shares a Latin root with "mores," which refers to generallyaccepted norms and customs. But this gives us only limited insight into howmost people use the word "morality" today. After all, some cultures andhistorical eras found acceptable behaviors that most people now findgrotesque, such as genocide in Nazi Germany or slavery in the Old South.
The modern meaning of "moral" is broader than this, referring to standardsof goodness and rightness in character and conduct. To put it simply,something that is moral is beneficial to society, and something that'simmoral causes society harm.
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Polish President to Serve as Honorary Patron and Open World Congress ofFamilies IV
Posted on : 2007-03-15 | Author : World Congress of Families
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,75543.shtml
ROCKFORD, Ill., March 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Allan Carlson, founderand chairman of The World Congress of Families, announced today that PolishPresident Lech Kaczynski will give the opening address at World Congress ofFamilies IV in Warsaw, May 11-13.
Poland's president has also agreed to serve as Honorary Patron of theCongress, which is expected to bring more than 3,500 pro-family leaders,activists, scholars and parliamentarians to Warsaw in May.
Carlson expressed his delight with Kaczynski's involvement. "We are honored
to have President Kaczynski as the keynote speaker and Patron of theCongress," Carlson declared. "His well-known commitment to the family isvery much in keeping with the theme of World Congress of Families IV -- beyond Demographic Winter: The Natural Family And The Springtime forNations."
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Russian society must oppose gay pride parade - Metropolitan Kirill
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=2736
Moscow, March 15, Interfax - The idea of conducting a gay pride parade inMoscow is directed against the majority of Russian society, chairman of theMoscow Patriarchate Department of External Church Relations MetropolitanKirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad told the Vesti-24 TV Channel.
"We believe that the law should not interfere in citizens' private lives.You can sin if you want to, but you will answer to God. However, if you aretrying to propagate your sin by seducing and degrading people, society mustoppose it," Kirill said.
If a gay pride parade is staged in central Moscow, then it would "meansomething is wrong with democracy. Democracy should be for everyone, but itappears that we have double standards," he said.
-
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The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States(SIECUS) is pleased to announce the release of our report, Who's Who atWorld Congress of Families IV: The Natural Family, Social Belonging and theFuture of Nations.
The World Congress of Families (WCF) brings together many United States andInternational organizations whose work focuses on denying sexual andreproductive health and rights by pushing a radical right-wing, anti-choice,and "pro-family" agenda. The first World Congress was held in Prague in1997, followed by the World Congress of Families II in Geneva, and the WorldCongress of Families III in Mexico. This year's World Congress of Familieswill be held in Poland in May 2007.
In this report, we provide detailed information about the mission, areas offocus, and key leadership of the organizations involved. The first sectionof our report includes information about those organizations listed asco-sponsors of the conference on the WCF IV website (www.worldcongress.org
We believe that this document will be useful in building the foundation forefforts to monitor and potentially counter the Congress and we hope thatthis publication will be equally useful for advocates and policy-makersalike as they monitor, strategize and potentially plan activities inopposition to the WCF.
If you would like to receive this publication and be placed on our emaillist to receive our monthly International Right Wing Watch publication,please email edunngeorgiou@siecus.org.
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
####
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/285/v-print/story/43139.html
Posted on Fri, Mar. 16, 2007
Don't ask this general about morality
By LEONARD PITTS JR.
lpitts@MiamiHerald.com
I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that weshould not condone immoral acts. I do not believe the United States is wellserved by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way.
-- Gen. PETER PACE, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
In other words, it's wrong because it's wrong.
Boil down Gen. Pace's controversial comments in a recent interview with theChicago Tribune to their essence, and that's what you get. Bypass intellect,detour around critical reasoning, and there you are: wrong because it'swrong. No other explanation necessary.
That, says the general, is why he opposes repeal of the military's ''don'task, don't tell'' policy. He doesn't want homosexuals to serve openly -- they already serve clandestinely -- in the armed forces.
People like the general -- in other words, bigots -- often wrap up theirobjections in claims of fundamental right and wrong where sexual orientationis concerned: I have a moral objection to homosexuality, they will say,loftily.
I've always thought ''visceral'' would be a better and truer adjective. Asin, a gut-level objection to people of the same sex engaging in physical oremotional intimacy.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
Americal Chronicle
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=22133
Gay Rights Find an Unlikely Champion, and Face an Old Foe
Steve Shives
March 14, 2007
In the past month the gay rights movement won a minor victory behind theefforts of an unexpected hero, and was dealt a public blow by one of itslongest-standing opponents.
The victory came in the Wyoming state legislature the last week of February,when 27 year-old Republican Representative Dan Zwonitzer spoke passionatelybefore the House Rules Committee in opposition to a bill that would havedenied legal recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states.Zwonitzer, who is heterosexual, told the Jackson Hole Star Tribune on March6 that he didn't care if his stand cost him his seat in the legislature.
"I tell myself that there are some issues that are greater than me, and Ibelieve this is one of them," he said. "And if standing up for equal rightscosts me my seat, so be it. I will let history be my judge, and I can goback to my constituents and say I stood up for basic rights. I will tell mychildren that when this debate went on, I stood up for basic rights forpeople." The crusade for gay equality, Rep. Zwonitzer told the RulesCommittee, is the civil rights struggle of his generation.[1][2]
The blow came from the United States military in the person of Joint ChiefsChairman General Peter Pace, who told the Chicago Tribune during a telephoneinterview this past Monday, "[Allowing gays to serve openly in the military]to me says that we, by policy, would be condoning what I believe is immoralactivity, and therefore, as an individual, I would not want that to be ourpolicy." In case that wasn't clear enough, Pace later reiterated, "I believethat military members who sleep with other military members' wives areimmoral in their conduct, and that we should not tolerate that. I believethat homosexual acts between individuals are immoral, and that we should notcondone immoral acts."[3]
Pace issued a statement through the Defense Department the next dayattempting to soften his words to the Tribune, saying "In expressing mysupport for the current policy, I also offered some personal opinions aboutmoral conduct. I should have focused more on my support of the policy andless on my personal moral views." At least Pace is sticking to his guns, andnot compounding bigotry with cowardice.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-3929.html
NY Mayor slams St Patrick's Day parade gay ban
15th March 2007 14:57
Tony Grew
The Mayor of New York City has criticised the organising committee of thecity's famous St Patrick's Day parade for banning gay and lesbians fromparticipating.
Michael Bloomberg, the city's leader since 2002, will march in the parade.
"I think all parades in this city should be open to everybody, no matterwhat your orientation or ethnicity or anything else is," Mr. Bloomberg saidyesterday.
New York City Council speaker Christine Quinn, who is openly gay, hasannounced she will march in Dublin's St. Patrick's Day parade this year.
The move is a direct snub to organisers of the New York City parade who haveagain banned gay and lesbian groups from participating in the event.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer2/index.asp?ploc=t&refer=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1131ap_brownback_gays.html
Thursday, March 15, 2007 · Last updated 8:02 p.m. PT
Brownback supports Pace's remark on gays
By SAM HANANEL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback is backing thePentagon's top general over his remarks that homosexual acts are immoral.The Kansas senator planned to send a letter on Thursday to President Bushsupporting Marine Gen. Peter Pace, who earlier this week likenedhomosexuality to adultery and said the military should not condone it byallowing gay personnel to serve openly.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs also said in an interview with the hicagoTribune: "I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral andthat we should not condone immoral acts. I do not believe the United Statesis well-served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way."
Lawmakers of both parties criticized the remarks, but Brownback's lettercalled the criticism "both unfair and unfortunate."
"We should not expect someone as qualified, accomplished and articulate asGeneral Pace to lack personal views on important moral issues," Brownbacksaid. "In fact, we should expect that anyone entrusted with such greatresponsibility will have strong moral views."
Asked whether he agreed with Pace's comments, Brownback said: "I do notbelieve being a homosexual is immoral, but I do believe homosexual acts are.I'm a Catholic and the church has clear teachings on this."
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6445337.stm
Ghana's secret gay community
By Orla Ryan
BBC News, Accra
When Patrick Williams told his mother he was gay, she packed his bags andthrew him out of the house, disowning her son for what she saw as an evilact.
The 21-year-old Ghanaian had known he was gay since he was 13, but hadhesitated to tell anyone.
"I was scared and I knew in our society, it was not accepted. It was bestfor me to keep it inside until I saw someone who was similar," he said.
When a schoolmate told his mother of rumours that the 18-year-old Patrickwas having sex with another boy, he admitted he was gay.
"She said because of what I chose to be, I was no longer her son. Was thewhole world against me? This was the biggest question in my mind. My ownmother sometimes says she wishes I was dead," he said.
His experience is by no means unusual in the West African country, wherehomosexuality is seen as an unnatural sexual act and, as such, is illegal.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007703150373&template=printart
End discrimination, cost of 'don't ask, don't tell'
During a recent interview with the Chicago Tribune, Gen. Peter Pace,chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said homosexuality is "immoral" andthe military should continue its "don't ask, don't tell" policy, whichallows gays to serve as long as they keep quiet about being gay. The nextday, he said he regretted sharing his personal views on the subject andshould have stuck to just supporting the policy.
In other words, it's fine to harbor homophobic views as long as you keepthem under wraps. Of course, the government's own homophobic, discriminatorypolicy seems to condone that.
Congress is planning hearings on a bill that would repeal "don't ask, don'ttell," and lawmakers should finally do exactly that.
The policy is not only legalized discrimination, but also an expensiveundertaking.
According to a 2005 report from the Government Accountability Office, from1994 through 2003, 9,488 troops were discharged from the armed forcesbecause of the policy. Recruiting and training replacements cost nearly $200million.
Of the soldiers discharged, 757 held occupations important enough that theywarranted special re-enlistment bonuses. These included voice interceptors,data-processing technicians and interpreter/translators. Also, 322 members"had some skills in an important foreign language such as Arabic, Farsi andKorean," according to the GAO.
The military is stretched thin, fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.Military recruiters are trying to attract new soldiers, offering big signingbonuses in some cases. Meanwhile, the military continues a policy thatresults in kicking out thousands of competent soldiers.
It makes discrimination not only unacceptable, but downright unaffordable.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007703130365&template=printart
Boost work force, reverse brain drain by passing law on sexual orientation
By ALICIA CLAYPOOL and RALPH ROSENBERG
IOWA VIEW
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have historically andpervasively been singled out for discrimination and harassment based onsexual orientation or gender identity.
Now, the Iowa Legislature is considering legislation to prohibitdiscrimination in employment, housing, credit, public accommodations andeducation based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Passage of this legislation would help ensure an opportunity to apply for ajob, rent an apartment and enjoy a quality of life that many of us take forgranted.
There is an economic imperative to strengthen and increase the size of ourwork force. We are competing in a global market. Any waste of talent is aloss in productivity, innovation and wealth that we cannot permit. Simplyput, Iowa cannot afford to lose the contributions of any Iowan.
Passage of this law will help reverse the brain drain, in which many of ouryoung people leave for more diverse cities, such as Minneapolis and Chicago,in states with inclusive policies. We need to make sure that Iowa is seen asa welcoming state. Adding sexual orientation and gender identity to Iowacivil-rights law is a piece of the solution to the work-force shortage andbrain-drain problems.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-3927.html
Comment: Does religion breed homophobia?
15th March 2007 13:53
Comment
There is no debate about the acceptance of homosexuality in Britain. It isuseless to try and create a religious one, argues Balaji Ravichandran.
So, the Sexual Orientations Regulations, which outlaw discrimination on thebasis of sexual orientation when accessing goods and services, will finallycome to effect this April.
It seems like only yesterday that anti-gay lobbies took to the streets tohold a torch-lit demonstration protesting these same regulations.
Funnily enough, religious groups that otherwise go head-to-head on greatmany issues stood united in their opposition to homosexuality.
Thankfully, their opposition was in vain.
Unlike the United States, religious fundamentalists are a minority in theUK, but just as vociferous.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=25150
FIRST-PERSON:
Lesbian activist set free in Christ
By Kelly Boggs
Mar 9, 2007
ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP)--Imagine a prominent conservative Christian publiclyannouncing that he has renounced heterosexuality and will henceforth andforever be homosexual. Add to the scenario the leader declaring he isdedicated to promoting the glory of gayness and encouraging others to becomehomosexual. Now try to imagine the mainstream media ignoring such anannouncement.
Try as I might, I cannot, for the life of me, imagine the mainstream pressfailing to report such news. Instead, there would be a media firestorm. Thenews would spread fast and furious from sea to shining sea -- even if theleader was prominent only on a regional or state level.
If the mainstream media types would be quick to pounce on the news of aChristian leader coming out of the closet, and I believe they would, do youthink they would be as eager to cover a prominent homosexual activist whoembraced Christianity and renounced his or her homosexuality?
You need not ponder the aforementioned question very long. A prominenthomosexual activist has become a Christian. She has also become anevangelist pointing homosexuals to a way out of their aberrant lifestyles.And, thus far, the mainstream media has completely ignored the story.
Charlene E. Cothran, a prominent homosexual activist and publisher andeditor-in-chief of the black homosexual-oriented publication "VenusMagazine," recently announced that she had embraced Christianity andrenounced homosexuality.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=14264
Controversy Over Deerfield Gay Panel
2007-03-14
By Charlsie Dewey
Deerfield High School has recently come under attack from a small group ofparents seeking the termination of a panel that includes a presentation bythe Straight and Gay Alliance as part of a diversity unit.
Lora Sue Hauser, head of North Shore Student Advocacy, the group pressingfor the panel's end, declined to speak with Windy City Times about why hergroup so adamantly wants the program canceled, but she did recently tell theChicago Tribune, "The school makes heterosexuality and homosexualityequivalent, and our country is deeply divided on that."
Suzan Hebson, assistant superintendent for human resources for Township HighSchool District 113, says that there is a misunderstanding regarding thepurpose of the panel and what exactly the Straight and Gay Alliancepresentation's focus is.
"The class covers issues pertaining to student safety and the overallclimate of the school, so that's why this particular panel happens to bespeaking," Hebson said. "It's part of a diversity unit. Others who speak aremembers of our minority report group-students of different races are on apanel as part of that club, and we also have students who have disabilities,physical and intellectual disabilities. So, the unit overall is a diversityunit."
Hebson said that parents are upset that the students openly state theirsexuality: "They [ the parents ] believe that that's inappropriate, and theyhave the misperception that students on the panel are speaking about sexualissues, but they're not."
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The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11978
HRC paid former leader $160,000 last year
New headquarters building cost $26.4 million
By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | Mar 15, 11:59 AM
The Human Rights Campaign disclosed for the first time this week that thetotal cost for buying and renovating its headquarters building in Washingtoncame to $26.4 million. HRC also paid a former executive director who leftthe organization in 2004 nearly $160,000 last year.
According to IRS 990 forms for fiscal year 2006 (April 1, 2005 to March 31,2006), HRC Inc. paid its former executive director, Cheryl Jacques, $117,652during that period. Jacques received additional compensation of $41,590 fromthe HRC Foundation for a total of $159,242.
Jacques abruptly resigned on Nov. 30, 2004, just weeks after that year'selections in which 11 states voted to ban same-sex marriage and PresidentBush was re-elected. She served as executive director for just 11 months.
Jim Rinefierd, HRC's vice president for finance and operations, declined tocomment on the payments to Jacques, citing a confidentiality agreement. Buthe said those 2006 payments were the last to be made to Jacques under termsof her departure.
HRC also released new details about the cost of its headquarters buildingand the financing arrangement at the request of the Washington Bladefollowing criticism by gay commentator and blogger Andrew Sullivan that thebuilding was too expensive and detracted from resources that should havebeen used to advance gay rights causes.
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The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11990
Gay marriage gains support in N.H.
Governor is opposed to bill granting marriage equality
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) | Mar 16, 7:23 AM
Gay marriage supporters made a strong showing Wednesday, but the outcome isfar from certain.
Supporters far outnumbered opponents at a hearing on same sex marriage. Samesex couples, parents of gay and lesbian children and the State EmployeesAssociation were among those asking the House Judiciary to endorse themarriage bill; 142 people signed sheets supporting gay marriage and 27 wereagainst.
Even the sponsor of a competing civil unions bill threw his support behindDemocratic Rep. Mo Baxley's bill for marriage equality, asking legislatorsto choose her proposal over his.
But it is a long way before New Hampshire can add its name to the short listof states giving gays legal unions. The marriage bill must survive asubcommittee review and votes in the House and Senate, and faces anuncertain future with Gov. John Lynch, who opposes gay marriage but supportsproviding health care benefits to state workers' same sex partners.
Lynch avoided a question Wednesday from a reporter who asked why he opposesgay marriage.
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The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11966
Governor says comments on gay foster ban did not address adoptionBeebe won't say if he'll veto bill banning adoptions by gaysLITTLE ROCK (AP) | Mar 15, 3:24 PM
Gov. Mike Beebe said Wednesday his comments last year supporting a ban ongay foster parents did not include banning homosexuals from adoptingchildren, as a bill that has passed the Senate would do.
Beebe would not tell reporters whether he supports a bill that has passedthe Senate that would ban gays and other unmarried couples living togetherfrom fostering or adopting children.
The bill by Sen. Shawn Womack (R-Mountain Home) is a response to a stateSupreme Court ruling that overturned Arkansas' ban on gay foster parents.
During the gubernatorial campaign, Beebe said he would support reinstatingthe ban if it were constitutional. Beebe said he's continuing to reviewWomack's bill, but said it goes beyond the ban discussed last year.
"What I said was limited to the foster-care situation," Beebe said at a newsconference at the state Capitol.
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The Washington Blade
http://www.washblade.com/print.cfm?content_id=10212
NATIONAL NEWS | washingtonblade.com
HRC hits back at blogger criticisms
Group says Sullivan's accusations could hurt efforts to pass gay rightsbills
By LOU CHIBBARO JR
Mar. 16, 2007
Gay conservative commentator and author Andrew Sullivan unleashed a seriesof attacks during the past two weeks against the Human Rights Campaign, thenation's largest gay political group, calling it a "racket" that raiseslarge sums of money while failing to use its resources effectively for gayrights causes.
In an entry earlier this month on his popular blog, the Daily Dish, Sullivandescribed HRC as a "corporation designed to milk the gay market to hire morefund-raisers and marketers to milk more gay pockets."
"It's a racket with a plush new multi-million dollar headquarters andsalaries that would make corporate America blush," he said.
HRC officials called Sullivan's attacks inaccurate and unfair. They quicklyaccused him of seeking to weaken the Washington-based gay rights group - which generated $34.6 million in revenue in 2006 - just as it is expected tolead efforts to advance two important gay rights bills pending in Congress.
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, which calls for banningemployment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,and a hate crimes bill, which covers gays and transgender persons, areexpected to come up for a vote in late summer or early fall.
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The Denver Post
http://test.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=5429604&siteId=36
House votes for same-sex adoptions
Critics call it an end-run around voters who rejected Referendum I.
By Jeri Clausing
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated:03/14/2007 06:23:19 AM MDT
The Colorado House on Tuesday endorsed a plan to let same-sex and otherunmarried couples adopt the children of their partners - a directcontradiction, opponents said, of voters who rejected Referendum I inNovember.
"Referendum I created civil unions. This bill does not," said House MajorityLeader Alice Madden, a Boulder Democrat who sponsored the measure.
"It's about parental responsibility ... the economic and emotional stabilityof these children."
The bill faces a final vote in the House before it can go to the Senate.
The debate about the will of voters came right after House members gavepreliminary approval to a proposal to let voters clarify the intent of asecond November ballot measure, the broad Amendment 41 ethics measure thatbans gifts to elected officials and government workers.
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Philly.com
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/living/16906509.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Mar. 15, 2007
Tattle | Garrison's take on gay marriage
By LAURIE T. CONRAD
conradl@phillynews.com 215-854-2270
GARRISON Keillor's never hesitated to tell the world how he really feels.Writing in defense of the traditional family unit in an article forsalon.com, the radio host didn't mince words.
Definitely no mincing.
On the subject of gay marriage and its suitability as an environment forchild-rearing, our (thrice-married) man in Lake Wobegon, Minn., had this tosay:
"The country has come to accept stereotypical gay men - sardonic fellowswith fussy hair who live in over-decorated apartments with a striped sofaand a small weird dog and who worship campy performers and go in forflamboyance now and then themselves. If they want to be accepted as couplesand daddies, however, the flamboyance may have to be brought under control.Parents are supposed to stand in back and not wear chartreuse pants andblack polka-dot shirts. That's for the kids. It's their show."
What could we add to that?
Except that we first learned of the story through TMZ.com, which filed itunder the irresistible heading, "A Prairie Homophobic Companion?"
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The Washington Blade
Debunking the 'Bible defense'
Posted by Greg Marzullo, Washington Blade Features Editor
Mar. 13 at 5:45 PM
GMarzullo@washblade.com
I am sick of what I call "the Bible defense." The latest installment of thistiresome trope comes courtesy of actor Terrence Howard. According to thePost Chronicle, an online news source, the actor said, "Do I agree withhomosexuality? No, I'm a Bible-based young man. But I know the Bible alsospeaks about homosexuality with liars, adulterers, thieves. I've lied, I'vecheated on my wife, I've stolen. So how can I judge somebody for somethingthat's mentioned in the same exact scripture?"
This is all in response to a conversation about the appalling misogyny andhomophobia evidenced in hip-hop music and the culture it's spawned. Howardtops it off with, "I believe we're all sinners."
This kind of homophobia needs to be pursued with the same aggressive energyas gay groups have with the recent usage of the word "faggot." In fact, Ifind the Bible defense to be more insidious and dangerous than simple namecalling.
As with much of current religious trends, falling back on the Bible allowsthe individual to abdicate him or herself (witness Jennifer Hudson orallegedly Carol Channing) of any responsibility about hateful rhetoric.Well, if the Bible says it's a sin, then A) it must be a sin B) it can belumped together with other sins to which I am party and C) (here comes thetrump card) you can't challenge my relationship with and belief in God.
I suggest, however, that's exactly what queer people need to do. Americanstend to shrink from religious discussion partly because it's such acontentious and hot-button issue (especially in the midst of what is, inshort, an executive branch run by Christian fundamentalists or at the veryleast Machiavellian wannabes).
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The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/print.cfm?content_id=3528
Drop the charges against Nadine Smith now
Arrest of activist at public hearing raises chilling First Amendmentconcerns
By PHIL LAPADULA
Mar. 16, 2007
In about a year and a half, the Democratic and Republican conventions willdominate our TV screens with their weeklong propaganda festivals. Theconvention halls will be filled with signs, placards, fliers and buttonspromoting just about every political viewpoint and interest group on theplanet. Now, imagine what would happen if the host city of one of theconventions decided to prohibit placards and fliers in the convention hall.
That's exactly what happened in Largo, Fla., Feb. 27 when cityofficials and the police department decided to prohibit the distribution offliers and the display of signs at a public hearing on the firing of CityManager Steve Stanton. Police gave a variety of reasons for prohibitingfliers in the meeting room, including their potential to be disruptive, firecode issues and the possibility of someone slipping on a dropped flier. Idon't know why these issues have never surfaced in all the years that theDemocratic and Republican national conventions have been held.
As most of you probably know by now, the Largo Police Department'sdecision to ban fliers in the hearing room led to the arrest of NadineSmith, executive director of Equality Florida. She has been charged withresisting arrest with violence and disturbing an assembly. She could face upto five years in prison on the felony resisting arrest charge.
According to witnesses, Sgt. Butch Ward of the Largo Police Departmentconfronted Smith and ordered her to take back a flier that she had given toa supporter. When Smith asked why, Ward forced her into a side room whereseveral officers shoved her to the floor and arrested her, according tomedia reports.
As is always the case with news stories printed in the Express, we wentout of our way to get both sides of the story. In fact, Matt McMullen, thespokesperson for the Largo Police Department, was cooperative in conveyingthe police side of the story. His full comments were included in the storyin the exact context that they were presented. After hearing all sides, the
problem I have is that not even the police version of events seems tojustify the abusive treatment of Ms. Smith.
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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/print.cfm?content_id=3517
Rethinking the marriage fight
Why are gays buying into an institution that everyone else seems to beabandoning?
By PETER ROSENSTEIN
Mar. 16, 2007
I READ WITH interest Blaine Harden's recent article in The Washington Poston a fundamental change in American life. It confirmed for me that gays andlesbians haven't actually ruined the institution of marriage but that it hasbeen falling apart as an institution without our help for decades.
It was fascinating to read that the 1950s ideal of Ozzie and Harriet withtheir 2.3 kids and a white picket fence has long since been just that, anideal in the minds of the right wing. The facts are that married coupleswith children now occupy fewer than one in every four households. That isless than half of the number in 1960 and is the lowest ever recorded by thecensus.
Now with these facts in mind, the next time you hear a right wing bigot likeGary Bauer finding a way to blame us for everything that goes wrong in theworld, we need to counter that anyone with a brain will find it hard toequate that our right to marry in Massachusetts has had any great impact onmarriage.
These numbers didn't just drop precipitously in the last two years since afew gays and lesbians in Massachusetts married. Actually marriage has beencollapsing for years without our help, and the greatest decrease seems tohave occurred in the 1980s during Ronald Reagan's presidency.
It appears that married couples having children now are overwhelmingly thosewho are more educated and have more money. I guess that is where we fit in.I think if you look at those gays and lesbians who are the most concernedabout marriage and wanting to have children it is those who are bettereducated and richer (the Mary Cheney types). The Post article stated that ascohabitation and out-of-wedlock births increase among the broaderpopulation, social scientists predict that marriage with children willcontinue its decades-long retreat into relatively high-income exclusivity.It went on to quote Peter Francese, a demographic trends analyst for Ogilvy& Mather, who said, "We seem to be reverting to a much older pattern, whenelites marry and a great many others live together and have kids."
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The current issue of The Express Gay News is online
http://expressgaynews.com/
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The current issue of The Independent is online
http://www.indynews.4t.com/
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The Independent
http://www.indynews.4t.com/Issue79/feature2.html
Today's Date: March 16, 2007
Ray's Roundup
By Ray Rideout and Michael Cooper
CALIFORNIA
A cash gift of $1-million from John McDonald and Rob Wright to UCLA LawSchool will establish the nation's first endowed professorship in sexualorientation law. The school's Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Lawand Public Policy investigates such topics as anti-homosexualdiscrimination, the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policies and thedemographics of same-sex couples who have adopted children.
COLORADO
James Dobson and Focus on the Family are taking heat from an on-going civildisobedience campaign conducted by gay activists with SoulForce.. Dobsonmisrepresents research by New York University and Yale social scientistsregarding gay parenting. Wayne Besen, founder of Truth Wins Out, joinedSoulForce announcing a new website, www.RespectMyResearch.org, with acollection of videos showing social scientists refuting James Dobson'sdishonest claims.
FLORIDA
Florida has received negative national publicity due to a 5 to 3 decision bythe Largo City Commission to fire its city manager, Steve Stanton. With thecity 14 years, Stanton announced he is transgender and plans sexualreassignment surgery. The decision violates city policy which includesgender identity protections. "If Jesus was here tonight, I can guarantee youhe'd want him terminated," said Pastor Ron Saunders of Largo's LighthouseBaptist Church.
GEORGIA
A disciplinary committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ruledthat a gay pastor in Atlanta must give up his pulpit, saying it wasreluctantly enforcing a "bad policy." Rev. Bradley E. Schmeling endured a4-day church trial after announcing he is in a committed relationship with aformer Lutheran pastor. The church's current standards allow gay pastors,but bar them from same-gender relationships. Schmeling holds the fullsupport of his congregation.
MICHIGAN
What is it about a transgender person in a wig and a dress that sets off thefundamentalists? Spring Arbor University, a private Christian school, fireda male faculty member, now living as a woman, three days after learning shehad changed her name from "John" to "Julie." Nemecek, an ordained Baptistminister, has been with the University for 16 years as an associate dean ofadult studies. She said she is heterosexual and is attracted to only onewoman, Joanne, to whom she has been married for 35 years. Nemecek wears ablond wig and dresses as a woman but has no plans to undergo sex-changesurgery.
more....
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid43018.asp
Would Pace call Turing "immoral"?
Would Alan Turing, who helped win World War II for the Allies by crackingNazi codes, be considered too "immoral" to serve in the U.S. military?That's a question posed by Republican former U.S. senator Alan Simpson.
Simpson cited the late gay British mathematician in his criticism of therecent "homosexuality is immoral" comment from Marine Corps general PeterPace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In a op-ed for The Washington Post printed Wednesday, Simpson, of Wyoming,cited the accomplishments of Turing, who committed suicide in 1954 after hewas convicted of "gross indecency" for having a same-sex relationship.
"In World War II, a British mathematician named Alan Turing led the effortto crack the Nazis' communication code," Simpson wrote. "[Turing] masteredthe complex German enciphering machine, helping to save the world, and hiswork laid the basis for modern computer science. Does it matter that Turingwas gay? Would Pace call Turing 'immoral'?"
On Monday, Pace told a Chicago Tribune reporter that he considershomosexuality to be "immoral" and that the military should not condone it byallowing gay and lesbian soldiers to serve openly.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid43010.asp
L.A. seminary admits gay and lesbian applicants
A West Coast seminary for Conservative Judaism has accepted its first openlygay and lesbian applicants since the movement decided to ease its ban onordination of gays.The Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, based at theUniversity of Judaism in Los Angeles, has admitted a gay man and a lesbianfor the fall semester, a school spokeswoman said Tuesday. The New YorkCity-based Jewish Theological Seminary, the movement's flagship school, isstill debating its policy. In December a panel of scholars who interpretJewish law for the movement voted to allow the seminaries to decide on theirown whether to admit openly gay students.But the Committee on Jewish Law andStandards left enough leeway to allow synagogues that consider same-sexrelations contrary to Jewish law to bar gay clergy from their pulpits.Conservative Judaism holds the middle ground in American Judaism, adheringto tradition while allowing some change for modern circumstances.
The larger and more liberal Reform Jewish branch and the smallerReconstructionist wing allow gays to become rabbis; the Orthodox bar gaysand women from ordination. (AP)
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/03/031607bishop.htm
Conservative Episcopal Bishop Rejected
by the Associated Press
Posted: March 16, 2007 - 1 am ET
(South Carolina) Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori tookthe highly unusual step Thursday of invalidating the election of a bishop inthe tradition-minded Diocese of South Carolina, which has rejected herauthority because of her liberal theological outlook.
The elevation of the Very Rev. Mark Lawrence had become a flash point in thedenomination's struggle over whether parishioners with conflicting views ofthe Bible on gays and other issues could stay in the same denomination. Thelast time the Episcopal Church threw out a bishop's election was more thanseven decades ago.
Jefferts Schori made the decision on the eve of a key private meeting inTexas involving all Episcopal bishops. The church leaders must decide bySept. 30 whether they should meet demands from Anglican archbishops to rollback their support for gays or lose their place as the U.S. wing of theworld Anglican family.
In the South Carolina case, Jefferts Schori concluded that several Episcopaldioceses had failed to submit proper written consent for the election asrequired by church law, according to the Rev. J. Haden McCormick, head ofthe committee that administers the South Carolina Diocese.
A majority of Episcopal dioceses must approve an election before a bishopcan be consecrated and installed. The diocese said it had received 57diocesan consents - one more than required. But McCormick said in astatement that some dioceses wrongly "thought that electronic permission wassufficient as had been their past accepted practice."
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AfterEllen.com
http://www.afterellen.com/people/2007/3/rosieodonnell
A Chat With Rosie O'Donnell
by Kim Ficera, Contributing Writer
March 15, 2007
Last January I argued in my column, Don't Quote Me, that the rancoroussituation between Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell is not, as the media soinnocently calls it, a "feud," but rather a very public display of Trump'smisogyny and homophobia. Despite Trump's many efforts to make O'Donnell lookbad, all he did was make himself look worse. His eagerness to expose a sideof his character that most people would try to hide proved that he not onlylacks a mental edit function, but that he lacks a conscience, as well.
It's been a few months since Trump made the worst of his remarks. So when Ilearned yesterday that he had emerged from his gold-plated sewer just longenough to share with Entertainment Tonight his insensitive views onO'Donnell and her methods of dealing with depression, I thought, "Yippee!Three more months of lesbian-bashing!"
Oh, no. I'm sorry. That was my Trumpified alter ego speaking fromInsaneland. The real me fired off a passionate email to O'Donnell,requesting an interview. Although she doesn't normally give interviews, sheagreed to take a few questions by email, which she answered in typicalblogworthy Rosie fashion.
AfterEllen.com: You haven't agreed to an interview on the Donald Trumpsituation until now. What changed your mind?
Rosie O'Donnell: i don't do interviews as i have a blogu asked nicelyso i said yes
AE: Why do you think that a man who has nothing valuable to say won't shutup?
RO: he is showing his true self
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/us/politics/16clinton.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
March 16, 2007
2 Democrats Clarify Beliefs About Gays
By PATRICK HEALY
Under pressure from gay rights groups, two rivals for the Democraticpresidential nomination, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama,issued statements yesterday saying they believed homosexuality was notimmoral.
Mrs. Clinton, who has particularly cultivated gay voters and donors, foundherself under the most intense fire yesterday after she said on Wednesdaythat the morality of homosexuality was for "others to conclude." Later thatday, after complaints from gay rights groups, she put out a statementindicating she thought homosexuality was not immoral, though she did not usethose words.
Her remarks left some gay donors and advocates angry; several said yesterdaythat they believed she was afraid to say the words "moral" or "immoral"because Republicans might use them against her.
The issue arose this week after Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff, said in published remarks that he believed homosexualitywas immoral.
Officials from the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights organization, saidthey had a conference call with Clinton campaign officials yesterday toargue for a clearer statement; they did not speak to Mrs. Clinton directly.Other gay advocates, including the Empire State Pride Agenda, also lodgedcomplaints. Blogs about gay politics and culture, too, excoriated Mrs.Clinton for raising money from gay donors yet being unable to reject theidea that homosexuality was immoral.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cgaynews16xmar16,0,3587698,print.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
Fort Lauderdale lawyer launches online gay national newspaper
March 16, 2007
Fort Lauderdale lawyer Norm Kent announced this week the launch of an onlinedaily gay national electronic newspaper, www.nationalgaynews.com.
The Web site will include daily news updates, links to national gay andlesbian advocacy groups. It also will offer interactive features forreaders' to submit their favorite photos and links to their favorite Websites.
In 1999, Kent founded and served as the original publisher of the ExpressGay News, a weekly newspaper that serves the gay and lesbian community inSouth Florida. He sold that publication in Dec. 2003 to WashingtonD.C.-based Unite Media, which is affiliated with Window Media, publisher ofother gay and lesbian newspapers and magazines around the country. Kent willbe the online newspaper's publisher.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-agonorrhea16mar16,0,7368093,print.story?coll=sfla-news-nationworld
Gonorrhea rates soar in 8 states, report says
Staff and wire reports
March 16, 2007
The rate of the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea rose 42 percent infive years in eight western U.S. states, while other regions reporteddeclines, a new report says.
The states -- Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utahand Washington -- had historically seen lower rates than other regions, saidthe U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a report releasedThursday.
Florida ranked 17th nationally in the number of gonorrhea cases per capitain 2005, but last year saw a renewed surge in new cases, led by SouthFlorida. New infections jumped statewide by 15 percent last year, to 23,247,state figures show, with cases up 22 percent in Palm Beach County and 18percent in Broward County.
Local health officials have attributed the rise in gonorrhea to laxattitudes toward unsafe sex practices, especially among some gay men, thatbegan pushing up the numbers of some sexually transmitted diseases startingin 2000.
The rate in the South overall declined 22 percent, the Northeast rate fell16 percent and the Midwest rate dropped 5 percent during the periodsurveyed.
Staff Writer Bob LaMendola contributed to this report, which includesinformation from Bloomberg News.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2033173,00.html
It's all over for homophobia
When gay-bashing is the preserve of mealy-mouthed euphemism, its death knellhas sounded
Zoe Williams
Wednesday March 14, 2007
The idea is straightforward - fairytales covering homosexual themes will beintroduced into primary schools for pupils aged between four and 11. I balkat the notion of a "homosexual theme", since what theme worthy of the namecould be pinned down to a sexual preference? Love? Death? Sex? There is nosuch thing as a homosexual theme beyond "non-conformity".
But I am nit-picking. The aim is to normalise homosexuality in the eyes ofchildren. Fourteen schools and one local authority have taken up the scheme."Church groups" disapprove, or at least are credited as so doing innewspapers trying to stir up disapproval. John Humphrys disapproves, or atleast made a valiant stab at pretending to on the Today programme yesterday.In conversation with Elizabeth Atkinson, from the organisation No Outsiders,he kicked off gruffly: "This is propaganda, isn't it?" "No more so thanCinderella," Atkinson started. Double-gruffly, Humphrys rejoined, "Wellthey're fairytales. That's quite different." But close analysts of theprogramme, and his voice in particular, will know his heart wasn't in it.
Nobody's heart really seems to be into homophobia any more. The classictemples of gay hate - the Daily Mail, "middle England", the Tory party - arestill happy to call organisations like No Outsiders "controversial". Theywill still refer obliquely to opposition from "church groups", as if thiswere a warrior class that they could line up behind, without having tocommit themselves. But you cannot borrow Christianity, or any other faith,for its homophobia. If you were a Tory grandee today, and you wanted tobring back section 28, you would not be able to do so under the banner of"some church groups think ..." or "some faiths object ...". You would need acase beyond "because God exists, and he says so", otherwise you might justas well start legislating against adultery. That movement, gratifyingly, haslost its muscle. While there is still a spectrum of tolerance for themulish, malicious homophobia on the edges of faith groups, there seems to beno stomach at all for secular gay hate.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Stonewall Democrats respond to Clinton/Obama
Stonewall Democrats Satement on Comments by Senators Clinton and ObamaDemocrats Must be Clear in Speaking of Morality and American Families
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Washington, DC - Today, the National Stonewall Democrats issued thefollowing statement in response to remarks made by Senators Hillary Clinton(D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) when each was asked to clarify if a same-sexsexual orientation made someone immoral. Both Senators have refused toanswer the question which followed comments made by Marine General PeterPace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to the editorial board of theChicago Tribune in which called American service personnel immoral:
"Most Democrats understand, and should understand, that morality isn'tderived from sexual orientation or gender identity. Morality is how youtreat your neighbor, support your community and sacrifice for your familyand country. When I tuck my daughter into bed at night, those are the valuesI teach her. We expect Democratic candidates and elected officials toreaffirm those same values, to speak up when families or individuals arescapegoated or maligned for political gain, and to proactively argue thebenefits of treating all Americans equally under the law without regard totheir sexual orientation or gender identity.
Morality is also embodied in action. Our Democratic presidential candidatessupport employment non-discrimination legislation, the extension of healthcare benefits to our families, and oppose constitutional amendments thatattack lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people for political gain.Those are moral actions and positions that each candidate should be proud tocampaign on.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0703/13/sitroom.01.html
I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Let's get some more now on the controversy regarding Attorney GeneralAlberto Gonzales and the controversy over those words from the chairman ofthe joint chiefs of staff.
How is one presidential candidate responding?
AndSenator Edwards, thanks very much for coming in.
FORMER SENATOR JOHN EDWARDS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Glad to be with you.
BLITZER: Let's talk about General Peter Pace, the chairman of the jointchiefs. He suggested today, his own personal opinion, homosexuality, hesaid, was immoral. As a result, don't change the don't ask, don't tellpolicy.
First of all, in your opinion, is homosexuality immoral?
EDWARDS: I don't -- don't share that view. And I would go -- go further thanthat, Wolf. I think the don't ask, don't tell is not working. And aspresident of the United States I would change that policy.
BLITZER: Is the don't ask, don't tell policy immoral?
EDWARDS: I think the don't ask, don't tell policy is wrong. It's notworking. I think what it's done, effectively, is kept us from having some ofthe most talented people we could have in our military. It's caused --caused more problems than it's solved. And it ought to be changed.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Polish teachers who promote gay rights risk being fired
http://www.eux.tv/article.aspx?articleId=4685
15.03.2007
Warsaw (dpa) - Teachers who promote gay rights in schools risk losing theirjobs under draft regulations currently being drawn up by Poland's Ministryof Education, Polish Radio reported Thursday.
Poland's Deputy Education Minister Miroslaw Orzechowski told Polish Radiothe proposed regulations do not sanction the firing of homosexual teachers.Only teachers who present homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle tostudents could lose their jobs.
Teachers who promote or have been convicted of paedophilia will also befired should the proposed legislation be approved.
The controversial news comes on the heels of news that the Polish Ministryof Education is also preparing legislation to sanction school principals
who allow members of gay rights organisations to speak with pupils.
Both moves are being masterminded by Roman Giertych, Poland'sCatholic-nationalist Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education.
Giertych recently sparked outrage in Heidelberg, Germany, during a meetingof EU education ministers when he openly criticized abortion rights and whathe termed "homosexual propaganda."
"The propaganda of homosexuality is reaching ever younger children,"Giertych said in the Heidelberg speech.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rum,_Sodomy_and_the_Lash
By Andrew Sullivan
"Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy andthe lash."
But, as always, it's worth considering the argument. Pace makes a clearanalogy in an attempt to argue that he is not being prejudiced toward agroup, just punctilious in enforcing his view of morality. He says excludingopenly gay servicemembers is morally equivalent to excluding servicemembers whocommit adultery with the wives of other servicemembers. But those are twodifferent issues, right? We're not talking merely about gay servicemembers who haveaffairs with other servicemembers, are we? That would fall into the categoryof conduct obviously detrimental to morale and cohesion. We're talkingmerely about gay servicemembers who may or may not have relationships orsex withpeople off-base or in their private lives. If the military threw out everystraight servicemember who has ever had a sexual indiscretion or failingoff-base or in their private lives, how many people would be left in themilitary?
So the analogy falls apart upon inspection.
The question to ask Pace now is: why does he think a homosexual act isimmoral? Is it because such a sexual act cannot procreate, as the Catholichierarchy argues?
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-frank15mar15,0,410469.story?coll=la-opinion-center
The immorality of 'don't ask, don't tell'
A general's disparagement of gays runs counter to public good and theevidence.
By Nathaniel Frank, NATHANIEL FRANK is senior research fellow at the MichaelD. Palm Center at UC Santa Barbara.
March 15, 2007
WHEN MARINE Gen. Peter Pace said this week that he opposed letting gaysserve openly in the military because homosexuality is "immoral," he raisedimportant questions about the role of individual moral codes in shapingbroad social policy. But even more elementary is the question of what"morality" actually is. For a concept that's thrown around in discussionsincluding abortion, global warming and the war in Iraq, there's often verylittle reflection about what it truly means to call a person or an actimmoral.
The word "moral" shares a Latin root with "mores," which refers to generallyaccepted norms and customs. But this gives us only limited insight into howmost people use the word "morality" today. After all, some cultures andhistorical eras found acceptable behaviors that most people now findgrotesque, such as genocide in Nazi Germany or slavery in the Old South.
The modern meaning of "moral" is broader than this, referring to standardsof goodness and rightness in character and conduct. To put it simply,something that is moral is beneficial to society, and something that'simmoral causes society harm.
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Polish President to Serve as Honorary Patron and Open World Congress ofFamilies IV
Posted on : 2007-03-15 | Author : World Congress of Families
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,75543.shtml
ROCKFORD, Ill., March 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Allan Carlson, founderand chairman of The World Congress of Families, announced today that PolishPresident Lech Kaczynski will give the opening address at World Congress ofFamilies IV in Warsaw, May 11-13.
Poland's president has also agreed to serve as Honorary Patron of theCongress, which is expected to bring more than 3,500 pro-family leaders,activists, scholars and parliamentarians to Warsaw in May.
Carlson expressed his delight with Kaczynski's involvement. "We are honored
to have President Kaczynski as the keynote speaker and Patron of theCongress," Carlson declared. "His well-known commitment to the family isvery much in keeping with the theme of World Congress of Families IV -- beyond Demographic Winter: The Natural Family And The Springtime forNations."
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Russian society must oppose gay pride parade - Metropolitan Kirill
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=2736
Moscow, March 15, Interfax - The idea of conducting a gay pride parade inMoscow is directed against the majority of Russian society, chairman of theMoscow Patriarchate Department of External Church Relations MetropolitanKirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad told the Vesti-24 TV Channel.
"We believe that the law should not interfere in citizens' private lives.You can sin if you want to, but you will answer to God. However, if you aretrying to propagate your sin by seducing and degrading people, society mustoppose it," Kirill said.
If a gay pride parade is staged in central Moscow, then it would "meansomething is wrong with democracy. Democracy should be for everyone, but itappears that we have double standards," he said.
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The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States(SIECUS) is pleased to announce the release of our report, Who's Who atWorld Congress of Families IV: The Natural Family, Social Belonging and theFuture of Nations.
The World Congress of Families (WCF) brings together many United States andInternational organizations whose work focuses on denying sexual andreproductive health and rights by pushing a radical right-wing, anti-choice,and "pro-family" agenda. The first World Congress was held in Prague in1997, followed by the World Congress of Families II in Geneva, and the WorldCongress of Families III in Mexico. This year's World Congress of Familieswill be held in Poland in May 2007.
In this report, we provide detailed information about the mission, areas offocus, and key leadership of the organizations involved. The first sectionof our report includes information about those organizations listed asco-sponsors of the conference on the WCF IV website (www.worldcongress.org
We believe that this document will be useful in building the foundation forefforts to monitor and potentially counter the Congress and we hope thatthis publication will be equally useful for advocates and policy-makersalike as they monitor, strategize and potentially plan activities inopposition to the WCF.
If you would like to receive this publication and be placed on our emaillist to receive our monthly International Right Wing Watch publication,please email edunngeorgiou@siecus.org.
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
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NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST March 16, 2007
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.sltrib.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=5437839&siteId=297
Romney's assimilationist act raises more Mormon questions
By Mark Silk
Special to The Hartford Courant
Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:03/14/2007 07:49:43 PM MDT
How much of a ''Mormon question'' does former Massachusetts Gov. MittRomney face in his presidential campaign?
According to recent polls, a quarter of Americans say they wouldn't votefor a Mormon as president. That compares with only 5 percent who say theywouldn't vote for a Catholic or a Jew.
Romney's biggest problem is with evangelicals, who constitute nearlyhalf of all Republican primary voters in the South and more than one-thirdin the Midwest. A Rasmussen poll shows that 53 percent of evangelicalswouldn't vote for a Mormon as president. If that is anything close to right,Romney has a huge amount of suspicion-allaying ahead of him.
The Boston Globe reported last week that a Romney campaign documentsuggests stressing how he has lived his life rather than what church hebelongs to; acknowledging Mormon theological differences with mainstreamChristian bodies while steering clear of the details; and confronting theissue directly, perhaps by giving a speech at George H.W. Bush'spresidential library near Houston - the very city where John F. Kennedyaddressed the ''Catholic question'' when he ran for president in 1960.
Religious concerns about Mormon politicians are nothing new. When ReedSmoot, one of the 12 apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints, was sent to represent Utah in the U.S. Senate in 1902, 3 millionletters of protest, mostly stirred up by Protestant churches, flooded thenation's capital. It took three years of hearings before Smoot was finallyseated.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.tompaine.com/print/damn_right_were_angry.php
Damn Right, We're Angry
Paul Waldman
March 14, 2007
Paul Waldman is a senior fellow at Media Matters for America and the authorof the new book, Being Right is Not Enough: What Progressives Can Learn FromConservative Success. The views expressed here are his own.
We can't deny it any longer. There's no point in hiding it, no point intrying to explain it away.
Yes, it's true: We progressives are angry. And we no longer care if thecentrist, moderate guardians of the establishment scold us for it.
Our anger is not just some vague feeling whose source we can't put ourfinger on. It isn't based on absurd conspiracy theories and it isn'tillogical.
We're angry because of what has happened to our country, because of how we'vebeen treated, and because of the innumerable crimes the conservatives havecommitted. We're angry at the president, we're angry at the Congress, we'reangry at the news media. And we have every right to be.
Yes, we're angry at George W. Bush. We're not angry at him because of who hesleeps with, and we're not angry at him because we think he represents somesocio-cultural movement we didn't like 40 years ago, or because he hung outwith a different crowd than we did in high school. We're angry at himbecause of what he's done.
It's true, we don't like the fact that the most powerful human being on theplanet is such a ridiculous buffoon that he can't put two coherent sentencestogether without beginning to giggle and shimmy his shoulders. But we're notangry because we think he's stupid; we're angry because he treats us asthough we're stupid. We're angry that he lied to us, and lied to us and liedto us again. We're angry that when he lies to us it isn't because he'scaught up in scandal or got caught doing something he shouldn't have, it'spart of a carefully constructed plan to fool the public.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/49187
The Richest Year in History
By Tula Connell, TomPaine.com
Posted on March 15, 2007, Printed on March 16, 2007
Billionaires have it made.So what's new? What's new is that there are lotsmore of them and they're a lot richer. The number of billionaires around theworld grew by 19 percent since last year, up to 946, with a total net worthincreasing by 35 percent to $3.5 trillion, according to a report released byForbes magazine. That's trillion with a "T."
Says Forbes Chief Executive Steve Forbes: "This is the richest year ever inhuman history. Never in history has there been such a notable advance."
Of course this historic advance is largely confined to those who werealready mind-bogglingly rich to begin with. For working people as a whole,there's at best a holding action and at worst a retreat. Let's look at thefigures without Steve Forbes' rose-colored glasses.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
From 2003 to 2004, the average incomes of the bottom 99 percent ofhouseholds grew by less than 3 percent, after adjusting for inflation. Incontrast, the average incomes of the top one percent of householdsexperienced a jump of more than 18 percent, after adjusting for inflation.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501061_pf.html
With Earlier Primary, Calif. Reshapes Race
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 16, 2007; A01
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) signed legislation yesterdaymoving the state's presidential primary to Feb. 5, 2008, a change that couldlead to the earliest and biggest single-day test of candidate strength ever.
Half a dozen other large states, including New York, Texas, Florida,Illinois and New Jersey, are also considering moving their primaries to thefirst Tuesday in February, with the possibility that nearly two dozencontests will be held that day. Together, those states could account formore than half of the total number of delegates at stake.
While the rush to move to dates earlier in the nominating process has beenmotivated by states' desire to have more say in selecting the Republican andDemocratic nominees, analysts said it may enhance the importance of the fewsmall states whose contests will be held in January.
The kingmaker status of Iowa and New Hampshire, which have the firstcaucuses and first primary, respectively, in the nation, has been undersiege in recent presidential cycles as other states have sought to shifttheir primaries ever earlier.
"California is important again in presidential nomination politics, and wewill restore the voters' confidence in government, and we will get therespect that California deserves, and our issues will get the due respectalong the campaign trail and also in Washington," Schwarzenegger said insigning the legislation yesterday.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501868_pf.html
Christians Who Won't Toe the Line
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Friday, March 16, 2007; A21
Evangelical Protestantism in the United States is going through a NewReformation that is disentangling a great religious movement from a partisan political machine. This historic change will require liberals andconservatives alike to abandon their sometimes narrow views of whoevangelicals are.
The reformers won an important victory this month when the board of theNational Association of Evangelicals faced down right-wing partisans andreaffirmed its view that solving global warming was an important moralcause. In so doing, it also expressed confidence in the Rev. Rich Cizik, theNAE's vice president for governmental affairs.
Cizik, who combines opposition to abortion with a firm commitment to humanrights, the poor and the environment, came under attack from a gang ofideologues who would freeze evangelicals on a political course set more thana quarter-century ago.
"This tussle over the issue of climate change is part of a bigger tussleover the definition of evangelicalism and who speaks for evangelicals,"Cizik said in an interview.
Calling on evangelicals to "return to being people who are known for ourlove and care for our fellow human beings and the Earth," Cizik warned that"if you put the politics first and make it primary, I believe that is atragic and fateful choice."
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The St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/16/news_pf/Opinion/Don_t_be_so_quick_to_.shtml
Don't be so quick to count out the Republicans
By DAVID BRODER Washington Post Writers Group
Published March 16, 2007
WASHINGTON - Months before the first votes are cast in the campaign of 2008,some in the media are conducting last rites for the Republicans. The rush tobury the GOP is as hasty as it is premature.
The headline atop Page 1 of Tuesday's New York Times read, "GOP Voters VoiceAnxieties On Party's Fate." It sounded like the death knell for the partythat has held the White House for 26 of the past 38 years. But the evidencewas thin.
A New York Times/CBS News poll that included 698 self-identified Republicansfound that 40 percent of them thought the Democrats were likely to win thepresidency in 2008. That finding is hardly a surprise. A great manyDemocrats I know still have trouble admitting that their candidates lost toGeorge W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.
The New York Times, which is not normally solicitous of Republicans'feelings, also reported widespread concern among those it interviewed "thattheir party had drifted from the principles of Ronald Reagan."
The fine print told a different story. Support for Bush and his policiesremains high among Republicans. His job rating among GOP voters is 75percent.
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Boston.com
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/03/16/alberto_gonzales_should_go?mode=PF
GLOBE EDITORIAL
Alberto Gonzales should go
March 16, 2007
IT IS customary for newly elected presidents to replace large numbers of USattorneys, especially if the new president is from a different party. It isnot customary for presidents to sweep out many of their own appointees tothese positions in the middle of their administration.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales caved in to pressure from the White Housefor such a housecleaning in recent months. Then department officials ledCongress to believe that the eight US attorneys in question were forced outfor performance problems, not for what now appears to be the real reason inat least some cases -- that the prosecutors were not sufficiently partisanin election and political corruption cases. Gonzales has lost anycredibility he had with Congress and the public as the nation's chief lawenforcer. He should resign.
This page opposed Gonzales's nomination two years ago when, during hisconfirmation hearings, he failed to disavow two documents that contributedto the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. One was a memo hewrote as White House counsel in 2002; in it, he dismissed Geneva Conventionregulations on prisoners of war as "obsolete" and "quaint" and said theUnited States could operate as though they did not apply to the war inAfghanistan.
The other document was a 2002 administration guide on interrogationtechniques. Gonzales did not write it but discussed it with administrationofficials, including its assertion that the president has the power toauthorize torture despite a 1994 law banning it. Through his failure torepudiate this memo and his own views on the Geneva Conventions, Gonzalesmarked himself as a lawyer who lacked the independence to stand up for theConstitution and the nation's laws and not bend to the will of his boss,George Bush.
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The LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-brownstein16mar16,0,5199654,print.story?coll=la-opinion-center
Opinion Daily
Fox hounded
How the Democrats are turning on Fox News.
By Ronald Brownstein
March 16, 2007
In the history of capitalism has any company had more success with just awink and a nod than the Fox News Channel? And can Democrats be successful inthe 2008 campaign by refusing to wink or nod back?
Last week's decision by Nevada Democrats, under pressure from liberalactivists, to drop Fox as the co-sponsor of a party presidential debate hasthe virtue of crystallizing the questions about the network's nature and itsunique role in the modern media ecosystem.
Fox cloaks itself in the mantle of objectivity with the nudge-nudgeinsistence that it-and it alone-provides "fair and balanced" coverage of thenews. Then it advances its financial and ideological interests by promotinglurid accusations from conservatives against Democrats, accusations that areroutinely debunked later by the mainstream media. Many Fox reporters arefair. But overall the network-through its language, its news decisions andits hosts-generally functions more like a cog in the Republican messagemachine than as a conventional news organization that attempts to abide,however imperfectly, by the traditional standards of (yes) fairness andbalance.
Fox's possible participation in the Nevada debate, one of several the stateparty is sponsoring before next January's presidential caucus, presentedDemocrats with a conundrum that may become increasingly common for bothsides as they navigate a media landscape in which overtly partisan sourcesof information are proliferating.
Democrats, with justification, consider Fox tilted against them. Yet thenetwork has a large audience, at least some of whom may be open toDemocratic arguments (though exactly how many remains subject to spiriteddispute). The question the party faced was whether access to Fox's viewerswas worth the validation the network would receive from hosting a Democraticdebate.
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The LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-stein16mar16,0,6835716,print.column?coll=la-home-commentary
JOEL STEIN
End the presidential pardon
Letting Thanksgiving turkeys off is stupid; giving convicted crooks a freepass mocks justice.
Joel Stein
March 16, 2007
IT'S NOT THAT I care if "Scooter" Libby gets pardoned. Sure, he obstructedjustice, but putting someone named Scooter in jail seems a little harsh.Putting someone named Scooter in elementary school seems a little harsh.
I object to the idea of the pardon itself. I may have dropped my politicalscience major, but I know that giving one person the right to let people outof jail without any reason might lead to abuse of power. This is why wedon't give one person the right to put people in jail without any reason.
I know the pardon leads to corruption because if I were President Bush, I'dpardon the hell out of Libby. If a guy working for me got arrested foressentially protecting my No. 1 employee, and I had an unlimited stack ofget-out-of-jail-free cards, I'd slip him one for sure. But first I'd makehim agree to go on "Dancing With the Stars." With just a little power, Iturn into a jerk.
The pardon, which had been the right of the monarch since Henry VIII, wasput into Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution by AlexanderHamilton, who argued in the Federalist Papers that without it, "justicewould wear a countenance too sanguinary and cruel." Hamilton did not realizethat in the future, judges would cry about Anna Nicole Smith. He also didn'trealize that challenging Aaron Burr to a duel might kill him. So maybe weshouldn't be taking advice from the guy.
It turns out that despite Hamilton's expectations, not many poor peoplewithout political connections get spared the cruelty of justice. In fact,almost all presidential pardoning has been bad policy. The first one wasused by George Washington to forgive members of the Whiskey Rebellion. Idon't know all that much about the Whiskey Rebellion, but I'm guessing fromthe words "whiskey" and "rebellion" that these may not be the first guysyou'd want to let out of San Quentin. Unless the only other people therewere members of the Meth Rape Bunch.
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The LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-subprime16mar16,0,7335691,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
THE MORTGAGE MELTDOWN
Clinton: Industry 'clearly broken'
The senator tells a community group that 'we've got to take action' toprotect the economy.
By Jonathan Peterson
Times Staff Writer
March 16, 2007
WASHINGTON - Exotic-sounding mortgages that hardly anyone even heard of afew years ago might seem an unlikely topic for the national politicaldebate.
But that was before rising defaults threatened the housing market and,perhaps, the broader economy.
"We've got to take action," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) told anaudience of community activists Thursday.
Rising defaults in so-called sub-prime loans for people with shaky credit -
any of them 2/28 loans (fixed for two years, adjustable for the final 28years) with low introductory teaser rates - have triggered debate over howfar the damage will extend to the broader economy.
But it is already obvious that the threat of foreclosures has richingredients for political theater. Many borrowers claim that they were nottold the real costs they were taking on. Further, such disputes crystallizea difference between laissez faire Republicans and Democrats who are moresympathetic to government regulation.
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The Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-070315rove,1,5054610,print.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Email shows Rove's role in ouster of prosecutors
By Mark Silva
Washington Bureau
March 15, 2007, 10:32 PM CDT
WASHINGTON -- Both presidential adviser Karl Rove and then-incoming AttorneyGeneral Alberto Gonzales knew about a White House proposal to dismiss all 93U.S. attorneys in early January 2005, according to government e-mails thatshed new light on the Justice Department's firings last year of eight of thefederal prosecutors.
Rove, deputy chief of staff and architect of President Bush's electioncampaigns, was keeping his eye on an internal discussion of dismissing allthe U.S. attorneys, according to a White House e-mail to the JusticeDepartment. And the Justice Department had discussed the idea of firing all93 attorneys with Gonzales, who was outgoing White House general counsel atthe time and facing confirmation hearings for appointment as attorneygeneral, according to a response to the January 2005 e-mail.
The moves came at a time when the Bush White House, and Rove in particular,were talking about the president's reelection as marking a majorconservative realignment in the country, presenting the administration withthe opportunity to remake much of the government. The revelation that Rovemay have known more about the plan is likely to further embolden Democratswho are demanding that he testify in congressional hearings.
The White House maintains that Harriet Miers, who succeeded Gonzales ascounsel early that year, had recommended dismissing all 93 federalprosecutors after the president's reelection in 2004, but that Rove and theJustice Department alike had rejected the idea.
An e-mail exchange obtained Thursday by the Tribune indicates that Karl Roveknew of the discussion in early 2005.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/washington/16cong.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
March 16, 2007
Senate Rejects Democrats' Call to Pull Troops
By ROBIN TONER and JEFF ZELENY
WASHINGTON, March 15 - The Senate on Thursday rejected a Democraticresolution to withdraw most American combat troops from Iraq in 2008, but asimilar measure advanced in the House, and Democratic leaders vowed to keepchallenging President Bush to change course in Iraq.
The vote in the Senate was 50 against and 48 in favor, 12 short of what wasneeded to pass, with just a few defections in each party. It came just hoursafter the House Appropriations Committee, in another vote largely on partylines, approved an emergency spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan thatincludes a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq. The House will vote on thatlegislation next Thursday, setting the stage for another confrontation.
The action in both houses threw into sharp relief the Democratic strategy ofratcheting up the pressure, vote by vote, to try to force the White House tobegin withdrawing troops from Iraq. But it also highlighted Republican unityin opposition; in the Senate, only one Republican, Gordon H. Smith ofOregon, voted with the Democrats.
Republican leaders said they counted the day as a victory. "It is clear nowthat the majority of the Senate opposes a deadline for the withdrawal oftroops," said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader.Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, countered, "TheRepublicans are rubber-stamping the president's failed policy. That's themessage here."
President Bush, speaking at a Republican fund-raising dinner, applauded thesenators who voted against a timetable. "Many of those members know what Iknow: that if American forces were to step back from Baghdad now, before thecapital city is more secure, the scale and scope of attacks would increaseand intensify," he said.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/opinion/16fri1.html?pagewanted=print
March 16, 2007
Editorial
Phony Fraud Charges
In its fumbling attempts to explain the purge of United States attorneys,the Bush administration has argued that the fired prosecutors were notaggressive enough about addressing voter fraud. It is a phony argument;there is no evidence that any of them ignored real instances of voter fraud.But more than that, it is a window on what may be a major reason for some ofthe firings.
In partisan Republican circles, the pursuit of voter fraud is code forsuppressing the votes of minorities and poor people. By resisting pressureto crack down on "fraud," the fired United States attorneys actually appearto have been standing up for the integrity of the election system.
John McKay, one of the fired attorneys, says he was pressured by Republicansto bring voter fraud charges after the 2004 Washington governor's race,which a Democrat, Christine Gregoire, won after two recounts. Republicanswere trying to overturn an election result they did not like, but Mr. McKayrefused to go along. "There was no evidence," he said, "and I am not goingto drag innocent people in front of a grand jury."
Later, when he interviewed with Harriet Miers, then the White House counsel,for a federal judgeship that he ultimately did not get, he says, he wasasked to explain "criticism that I mishandled the 2004 governor's election."
Mr. McKay is not the only one of the federal attorneys who may have beenbrought down for refusing to pursue dubious voter fraud cases. Before DavidIglesias of New Mexico was fired, prominent New Mexico Republicansreportedly complained repeatedly to Karl Rove about Mr. Iglesias's failureto indict Democrats for voter fraud. The White House said that last October,just weeks before Mr. McKay and most of the others were fired, PresidentBush complained that United States attorneys were not pursuing voter fraudaggressively enough.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/opinion/16fri2.html?pagewanted=print
March 16, 2007
Editorial
Relighting Snuffed Candles
The Bush administration's mania for secrecy has been dealt an overdue blowby the House. Significant numbers of Republicans voted with Democrats toreverse the erosion of the public's right to know how its governmentoperates. A package of strong open-government measures would repair some ofthe damage inflicted in the past six years on laws governing taxpayers'access to federal records and presidential archives, while bolstering thestanding of whistle-blowers to report abuses in agencies without fear ofretaliation.
Overwhelming majorities were registered for the measures despite the WhiteHouse's threat of a presidential veto. We say bring it on. The majoritieswere vetoproof in size, and an override confrontation is just the medicinethe administration needs for the hubris it has shown in enshrouding allmanner of information. The Senate should move quickly on companion sunshinemeasures. The bipartisan support that's emerging is no doubt driven by theadministration's unalloyed dedication to secret machinations - whether inthe Iraq war fiasco or the bare-knuckled purging of federal prosecutors.
The freedom of information law has been steadily undermined, to the pointwhere agencies are blithely ducking their lawful responsibility and takingyears to answer legitimate requests.
The House voted to mandate initial answers within 20 days, and computerizedtracking of pending requests. Another measure would effectively revokePresident Bush's 2001 executive order that allows former presidents and vicepresidents to use their official libraries as mausoleums to burycontroversial and historical documents indefinitely beyond public discovery.Who knows - if lawmakers stand firm against White House objections,historians may someday be able to plumb the full depths of the Bush-Cheneyadministration's devotion to governance by murk.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031502448_pf.html
Valerie Plame, the Spy Who's Ready to Speak for Herself
Years of Silence Will End Today With Capitol Hill Testimony
By Richard Leiby and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, March 16, 2007; A01
She has been silent nearly four years. Today, the CIA officer whoseunmasking fueled a political uproar and criminal probe that reached into theWhite House is poised to finally tell her own story -- before Congress.
Valerie Plame's testimony will have all the trappings of a "Garbo speaks"moment on Capitol Hill, with cameras and microphones arrayed to capture thevoice of Plame, the glamorous but mute star of a compelling politicalintrigue. But while she hopes to clear up her status as an agency operativewhen her name first hit newspapers in July 2003, America's most publicizedspy is unlikely to betray any details in open session about her mysteriouscareer.
The reason: Plame remains gagged by the same secrecy rules that governed her20 years as a CIA employee working overseas and at Langley in classifiedpositions.
People close to Plame say her primary goal in testifying before the HouseCommittee on Oversight and Government Reform is to knock down persistentclaims that she did not serve undercover. "She is so tired of hearing that,"her mother, Diane Plame, said in an interview earlier this week.
In the years since her outing, the debate over Plame's CIA status has oftendevolved into hairsplitting feuds over nomenclature and legalisms, argumentsawash in partisan bile. Little about her work is publicly known, leavingcommentators to speculate on her cloak-and-dagger activities. She hasremained opaque, this willowy blonde with the beguiling smile. Into afactual void the public has poured its imagery of the female spy, from HalleBerry and Eva Green in James Bond movies to Jennifer Garner on TV's "Alias."
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501877_pf.html
Memo to Gonzales
By Eugene Robinson
Friday, March 16, 2007; A21
Was it arrogance or ignorance that led the Bush administration to think itcould pull off what looks, walks and quacks like a transparently politicaldecision to fire those eight U.S. attorneys? A good deal of both, I'mguessing.
Actually, I take that back. No guesswork is needed.
Arrogance has been the most consistent hallmark of George W. Bush'spresidency. His administration's simple philosophy of government has beenconsistent: We can do any damn thing we want.
We can invade Iraq. We can blow off the Geneva Conventions. We can listen toyour private phone calls, Mr. and Ms. America, and we can read your privatee-mails, too. We can arrest anybody we want and hold them as long as wewant, and we don't even have to tell them why, much less file formal chargesor hold a trial. We can even defy the laws of science -- or at least ignorethe ones that annoy us, such as that whole "greenhouse effect" thing. We canuse the troops for photo ops when they come back from war grievously woundedand then basically forget about them.
And we don't have to explain ourselves, either. The nerve of anyone to evenask us. Don't you people understand that asking impertinent questions of theWhite House is exactly what Osama bin Laden wants you to do?
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501871_pf.html
Diagnosis: Cheney
By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, March 16, 2007; A21
"What is wrong with Dick Cheney?" asks Michelle Cottle in the inauguralissue of the newly relaunched New Republic. She then spends the next 1,900words marshaling evidence suggesting that his cardiac disease has left himdemented and mentally disordered.
The charming part of this not-to-be-missed article (titled "Heart ofDarkness," no less) is that it is framed as an exercise in compassion. SinceCottle knows that the only way for her New Republic readers to understandCheney is that he is evil -- "next time you see Cheney behaving oddly, don'tautomatically assume that he's a bad man," she advises -- surely thegenerous thing for a liberal to do is write him off as simply nuts. In thewonderland of liberalism, Cottle is trying to make the case for Cheney byoffering the insanity defense.
She doesn't seem to understand that showing how circulatory problems canaffect the brain proves nothing unless you first show the existence of apsychiatric disorder. Yet Cottle offers nothing in Cheney's presentingsymptoms or behavior to justify a psychiatric diagnosis of any kind, letalone dementia.
What behavior does she cite as evidence of Cheney's looniness?
(a) Using a four-letter word in an exchange with Sen. Patrick Leahy. GoodGod, by that standard, I should long ago have been committed and the entireborough of Brooklyn quarantined.
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The Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/benchconference/2007/03/gonzo_part_iithe_presidential_1.html
Part II: Alberto Gonzales, Presidential Enabler
Three episodes in the career of Alberto R. Gonzales before he becameAttorney General of the United States tell us what kind of a job he waslikely do as the nation's top attorney at the Justice Department. In eachinstance, history has not been kind either to Gonzales' actual substantivework or to the ethical and moral judgment he exercised on behalf of hisclients at the time. In each case, the advice Gonzales offered -- legallydubious to begin with -- created not just political embarrassment andbacklash for his bosses, but unfortunate, even catastrophic results.
Not only did the three pre-Justice Department episodes turn out to beremarkable predictors for his troubled and disappointing tenure as AttorneyGeneral -- but many predicted two years ago that they might be. For example,Sen. Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.) looked Gonzales in the eye at the latter'sSenate confirmation hearing in January 2005 and said: "My concern is thatduring several high-profile matters in your professional career you'veappeared to serve as a facilitator rather than as an independent force inthe policy-making process."
Gonzales reassured Sen. Leahy -- and anyone else who cared to lodge the samecomplaint back then -- that he knew the difference between the role he wouldhave to play as Attorney General and those he had played as White Housecounsel and as counsel to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
But let us judge him by his deeds and not his words. The Attorney General'srecord at the Justice Department strongly suggests that he has still actedas a docile and dogged "facilitator" for White House initiatives rather thanas a wise, high-minded legal counselor willing and able on occasion toexercise independent judgment and power. The roads to the current scandalover the dismissal of federal prosecutors, to the Justice Department's rabidsupport for warrantless domestic surveillance, and to department's tepiddefense of civil liberties for resident aliens all are paved with stonesthat Gonzales and Bush laid down before the former took the oath of officein early 2005.
For the first two examples, I lean heavily upon the distinguished work ofAlan Berlow, who brilliantly chronicled in the July/August 2003 issue of TheAtlantic Monthly Gonzales' appallingly unprofessional work on death penaltycases when he was counsel for Gov. Bush.
According to Berlow, Gonzales "repeatedly failed to apprise Bush of some ofthe most salient issues in the cases at hand: ineffective counsel, conflictof interest, mitigating evidence, even actual evidence of innocence"(emphasis in original) in a series of memoranda Gonzales prepared for thegovernor's review as part of the state's clemency process. Berlow believesthat this was not mere negligence on the part of Gonzales -- that would havebeen bad enough -- but rather part of a concerted effort by both men toensure for both political and ideological reasons that there would be noclemency petitions granted. The dice were loaded, you might say, by the manwho now is the nation's top lawyer.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031500865_pf.html
Two Senators Secretly Flew to Cuba for Alleged 9/11 Mastermind's Hearing
By Dafna Linzer and Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, March 16, 2007; A11
Two key congressional leaders secretly flew to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, onSaturday to observe the closed military hearing for al-Qaeda leader KhalidSheik Mohammed, according to Capitol Hill staff members and Pentagonofficials.
Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, andSen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a committee member, watched the proceedingsover closed-circuit television from an adjacent room, said Tara Andringa, aspokeswoman for Levin.
They were joined by a representative from the CIA, according to one U.S.government official. Lawyers from the Justice Department did not attend thehearing, a spokesman for the department said.
The official transcript of Mohammed's hearing, called to establish whetherhe qualifies as an "enemy combatant," acknowledged the presence of fiveunnamed military officers, a translator and an official tribunal reporter.It is unclear why the presence of two senators who helped write the lawcodifying the tribunals was not announced. Yesterday evening, Graham said hewas not prepared to discuss the trip, citing an agreement with Levin. "We'llissue a joint statement tomorrow, but we were there together," Graham said.
Saturday's trip underscores congressional efforts to exert oversight of one of President Bush's most controversial programs in his fight againstal-Qaeda. After recent criticism from the Justice Department's inspectorgeneral over its use of surveillance powers under the USA Patriot Act, theBush administration is under pressure to demonstrate greater transparencythan it has been willing to offer in the past.
Though there have been hundreds of status hearings for Guantanamo detainees,last week's hearings for Mohammed and two other al-Qaeda suspects marked thefirst time that Combatant Status Review Tribunals were closed to the mediaand the public. Pentagon officials argued that hearings for Mohammed and 13others who were held inside the CIA's secret detention program, some foryears, have to be secret for unspecified national security reasons.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501841_pf.html
Democrats Fundraise For Sidelined Senator
By Mary Ann Akers
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Friday, March 16, 2007; A19
Even as he convalesces after a severe brain hemorrhage in December,Democrats are holding campaign fundraisers for Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.),and his spokeswoman said his staff and other senators are working hard tomake sure his agenda is fulfilled.
If Johnson is not back by fall, when spending bills are considered, hispriorities still will be "pushed through" the Appropriations Committee,Julianne Fisher said, "for the state of South Dakota." As a committeemember, Johnson sends millions of dollars to his state. "He's expressing hiswishes on what he wants," Fisher said.
Johnson issued his first public statement this week, and Democrats heldthree fundraisers for his reelection. A luncheon on Monday was hosted bySen. Max Baucus (Mont.), and a reception on Tuesday was hosted by SenateMajority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and Sen. Evan Bayh (Ind.). Wednesdaynight, Reid hosted another fundraiser, where, according to sources whoattended the private event, he assured the crowd that Johnson is doing"really well," that his speech is "almost back to normal" and that thesenator's popularity in South Dakota is "higher than ever."
Publicly, Republicans are taking a deferential approach to Johnson'sillness. "Tim Johnson's well-being continues to be our number one concern inthe state of South Dakota," said Rebecca Fisher, communications director forthe National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Behind the scenes, though, Johnson's GOP colleagues were peeved to learn ofthe Democrats' aggressive fundraising. "Democrats are taking advantage ofthe situation," one Senate Republican told washingtonpost.com.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031502175_pf.html
Christian Groups To Stage Protest
Thousands Expected to March To White House to Voice Opposition
By Michael E. Ruane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 16, 2007; B03
Several thousand Christian peace activists plan to march on the White Housetonight to demonstrate their opposition to the war in Iraq, organizers saidyesterday.
The march, which is unrelated to tomorrow's antiwar rally at the Pentagon,will be preceded by a 7 p.m. service at the National Cathedral, 3101Wisconsin Ave. NW. At 8:15 p.m., participants will proceed downtown onMassachusetts Avenue NW, then south on 16th Street NW to Lafayette Park, theorganizers said.
The event is sponsored by the District-based Sojourners/Call to Renewal, aprogressive religious group, along with the American Friends ServiceCommittee, Lutheran Peace Fellowship, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, andmore than two dozen other Protestant and Catholic groups.
Organizers have said that although most marchers will adhere to the permitregulations for the demonstration, several hundred "volunteered" to stageactions of peaceful civil disobedience and face arrest.
U.S. Park Police said they will arrest demonstrators who violate rulescovering protests in front of the White House. Marchers must keep moving,for example, and cannot hang signs on the White House fence, said Lt. ScottFear, a Park Police spokesman. Buses will be on standby in case largenumbers of protesters are taken into custody, Fear said.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031502033_pf.html
Move Seen Complicating Rice's Middle East Effort
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 16, 2007; A13
The completion of a Palestinian unity government yesterday that includesministers from the radical Islamic group Hamas will further complicateSecretary of State Condoleezza Rice's efforts to rekindle peace efforts inthe region.
Already, the prospect of the government has driven a wedge between IsraeliPrime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President MahmoudAbbas, the two interlocutors on whom Rice had rested her hopes for progress.Middle East analysts said the new government has also hardened Israeliskepticism about Arab commitment to a peace process -- particularly SaudiArabia's role -- and exposed fissures between the United States and Europeon how to deal with respected Palestinian officials who decided to join thenew government. Signs of tensions are also emerging between the UnitedStates and Israel about how fast to push the process.
The United States and Israel have sought to thwart creation of a Palestinianunity government, but U.S. officials are withholding public judgment aboutthe new government until the Palestinian parliament ratifies it tomorrow.But they privately acknowledge that Abbas's announcement last month that hehad struck a deal with Hamas was a blow to U.S. and Israeli efforts toelevate Abbas as an alternative to Hamas.
"Abbas promised us several times he would not agree to a national unitygovernment," a senior Israeli diplomat said this week. "But then he sold thestore to Hamas. He left us flabbergasted and without a strategy."
Yet U.S. officials say Rice remains determined to try to make headway on theIsraeli-Palestinian issue after six years of stagnation.
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.sltrib.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=5437839&siteId=297
Romney's assimilationist act raises more Mormon questions
By Mark Silk
Special to The Hartford Courant
Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:03/14/2007 07:49:43 PM MDT
How much of a ''Mormon question'' does former Massachusetts Gov. MittRomney face in his presidential campaign?
According to recent polls, a quarter of Americans say they wouldn't votefor a Mormon as president. That compares with only 5 percent who say theywouldn't vote for a Catholic or a Jew.
Romney's biggest problem is with evangelicals, who constitute nearlyhalf of all Republican primary voters in the South and more than one-thirdin the Midwest. A Rasmussen poll shows that 53 percent of evangelicalswouldn't vote for a Mormon as president. If that is anything close to right,Romney has a huge amount of suspicion-allaying ahead of him.
The Boston Globe reported last week that a Romney campaign documentsuggests stressing how he has lived his life rather than what church hebelongs to; acknowledging Mormon theological differences with mainstreamChristian bodies while steering clear of the details; and confronting theissue directly, perhaps by giving a speech at George H.W. Bush'spresidential library near Houston - the very city where John F. Kennedyaddressed the ''Catholic question'' when he ran for president in 1960.
Religious concerns about Mormon politicians are nothing new. When ReedSmoot, one of the 12 apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints, was sent to represent Utah in the U.S. Senate in 1902, 3 millionletters of protest, mostly stirred up by Protestant churches, flooded thenation's capital. It took three years of hearings before Smoot was finallyseated.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.tompaine.com/print/damn_right_were_angry.php
Damn Right, We're Angry
Paul Waldman
March 14, 2007
Paul Waldman is a senior fellow at Media Matters for America and the authorof the new book, Being Right is Not Enough: What Progressives Can Learn FromConservative Success. The views expressed here are his own.
We can't deny it any longer. There's no point in hiding it, no point intrying to explain it away.
Yes, it's true: We progressives are angry. And we no longer care if thecentrist, moderate guardians of the establishment scold us for it.
Our anger is not just some vague feeling whose source we can't put ourfinger on. It isn't based on absurd conspiracy theories and it isn'tillogical.
We're angry because of what has happened to our country, because of how we'vebeen treated, and because of the innumerable crimes the conservatives havecommitted. We're angry at the president, we're angry at the Congress, we'reangry at the news media. And we have every right to be.
Yes, we're angry at George W. Bush. We're not angry at him because of who hesleeps with, and we're not angry at him because we think he represents somesocio-cultural movement we didn't like 40 years ago, or because he hung outwith a different crowd than we did in high school. We're angry at himbecause of what he's done.
It's true, we don't like the fact that the most powerful human being on theplanet is such a ridiculous buffoon that he can't put two coherent sentencestogether without beginning to giggle and shimmy his shoulders. But we're notangry because we think he's stupid; we're angry because he treats us asthough we're stupid. We're angry that he lied to us, and lied to us and liedto us again. We're angry that when he lies to us it isn't because he'scaught up in scandal or got caught doing something he shouldn't have, it'spart of a carefully constructed plan to fool the public.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/49187
The Richest Year in History
By Tula Connell, TomPaine.com
Posted on March 15, 2007, Printed on March 16, 2007
Billionaires have it made.So what's new? What's new is that there are lotsmore of them and they're a lot richer. The number of billionaires around theworld grew by 19 percent since last year, up to 946, with a total net worthincreasing by 35 percent to $3.5 trillion, according to a report released byForbes magazine. That's trillion with a "T."
Says Forbes Chief Executive Steve Forbes: "This is the richest year ever inhuman history. Never in history has there been such a notable advance."
Of course this historic advance is largely confined to those who werealready mind-bogglingly rich to begin with. For working people as a whole,there's at best a holding action and at worst a retreat. Let's look at thefigures without Steve Forbes' rose-colored glasses.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
From 2003 to 2004, the average incomes of the bottom 99 percent ofhouseholds grew by less than 3 percent, after adjusting for inflation. Incontrast, the average incomes of the top one percent of householdsexperienced a jump of more than 18 percent, after adjusting for inflation.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501061_pf.html
With Earlier Primary, Calif. Reshapes Race
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 16, 2007; A01
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) signed legislation yesterdaymoving the state's presidential primary to Feb. 5, 2008, a change that couldlead to the earliest and biggest single-day test of candidate strength ever.
Half a dozen other large states, including New York, Texas, Florida,Illinois and New Jersey, are also considering moving their primaries to thefirst Tuesday in February, with the possibility that nearly two dozencontests will be held that day. Together, those states could account formore than half of the total number of delegates at stake.
While the rush to move to dates earlier in the nominating process has beenmotivated by states' desire to have more say in selecting the Republican andDemocratic nominees, analysts said it may enhance the importance of the fewsmall states whose contests will be held in January.
The kingmaker status of Iowa and New Hampshire, which have the firstcaucuses and first primary, respectively, in the nation, has been undersiege in recent presidential cycles as other states have sought to shifttheir primaries ever earlier.
"California is important again in presidential nomination politics, and wewill restore the voters' confidence in government, and we will get therespect that California deserves, and our issues will get the due respectalong the campaign trail and also in Washington," Schwarzenegger said insigning the legislation yesterday.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501868_pf.html
Christians Who Won't Toe the Line
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Friday, March 16, 2007; A21
Evangelical Protestantism in the United States is going through a NewReformation that is disentangling a great religious movement from a partisan political machine. This historic change will require liberals andconservatives alike to abandon their sometimes narrow views of whoevangelicals are.
The reformers won an important victory this month when the board of theNational Association of Evangelicals faced down right-wing partisans andreaffirmed its view that solving global warming was an important moralcause. In so doing, it also expressed confidence in the Rev. Rich Cizik, theNAE's vice president for governmental affairs.
Cizik, who combines opposition to abortion with a firm commitment to humanrights, the poor and the environment, came under attack from a gang ofideologues who would freeze evangelicals on a political course set more thana quarter-century ago.
"This tussle over the issue of climate change is part of a bigger tussleover the definition of evangelicalism and who speaks for evangelicals,"Cizik said in an interview.
Calling on evangelicals to "return to being people who are known for ourlove and care for our fellow human beings and the Earth," Cizik warned that"if you put the politics first and make it primary, I believe that is atragic and fateful choice."
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The St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/16/news_pf/Opinion/Don_t_be_so_quick_to_.shtml
Don't be so quick to count out the Republicans
By DAVID BRODER Washington Post Writers Group
Published March 16, 2007
WASHINGTON - Months before the first votes are cast in the campaign of 2008,some in the media are conducting last rites for the Republicans. The rush tobury the GOP is as hasty as it is premature.
The headline atop Page 1 of Tuesday's New York Times read, "GOP Voters VoiceAnxieties On Party's Fate." It sounded like the death knell for the partythat has held the White House for 26 of the past 38 years. But the evidencewas thin.
A New York Times/CBS News poll that included 698 self-identified Republicansfound that 40 percent of them thought the Democrats were likely to win thepresidency in 2008. That finding is hardly a surprise. A great manyDemocrats I know still have trouble admitting that their candidates lost toGeorge W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.
The New York Times, which is not normally solicitous of Republicans'feelings, also reported widespread concern among those it interviewed "thattheir party had drifted from the principles of Ronald Reagan."
The fine print told a different story. Support for Bush and his policiesremains high among Republicans. His job rating among GOP voters is 75percent.
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Boston.com
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/03/16/alberto_gonzales_should_go?mode=PF
GLOBE EDITORIAL
Alberto Gonzales should go
March 16, 2007
IT IS customary for newly elected presidents to replace large numbers of USattorneys, especially if the new president is from a different party. It isnot customary for presidents to sweep out many of their own appointees tothese positions in the middle of their administration.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales caved in to pressure from the White Housefor such a housecleaning in recent months. Then department officials ledCongress to believe that the eight US attorneys in question were forced outfor performance problems, not for what now appears to be the real reason inat least some cases -- that the prosecutors were not sufficiently partisanin election and political corruption cases. Gonzales has lost anycredibility he had with Congress and the public as the nation's chief lawenforcer. He should resign.
This page opposed Gonzales's nomination two years ago when, during hisconfirmation hearings, he failed to disavow two documents that contributedto the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. One was a memo hewrote as White House counsel in 2002; in it, he dismissed Geneva Conventionregulations on prisoners of war as "obsolete" and "quaint" and said theUnited States could operate as though they did not apply to the war inAfghanistan.
The other document was a 2002 administration guide on interrogationtechniques. Gonzales did not write it but discussed it with administrationofficials, including its assertion that the president has the power toauthorize torture despite a 1994 law banning it. Through his failure torepudiate this memo and his own views on the Geneva Conventions, Gonzalesmarked himself as a lawyer who lacked the independence to stand up for theConstitution and the nation's laws and not bend to the will of his boss,George Bush.
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The LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-brownstein16mar16,0,5199654,print.story?coll=la-opinion-center
Opinion Daily
Fox hounded
How the Democrats are turning on Fox News.
By Ronald Brownstein
March 16, 2007
In the history of capitalism has any company had more success with just awink and a nod than the Fox News Channel? And can Democrats be successful inthe 2008 campaign by refusing to wink or nod back?
Last week's decision by Nevada Democrats, under pressure from liberalactivists, to drop Fox as the co-sponsor of a party presidential debate hasthe virtue of crystallizing the questions about the network's nature and itsunique role in the modern media ecosystem.
Fox cloaks itself in the mantle of objectivity with the nudge-nudgeinsistence that it-and it alone-provides "fair and balanced" coverage of thenews. Then it advances its financial and ideological interests by promotinglurid accusations from conservatives against Democrats, accusations that areroutinely debunked later by the mainstream media. Many Fox reporters arefair. But overall the network-through its language, its news decisions andits hosts-generally functions more like a cog in the Republican messagemachine than as a conventional news organization that attempts to abide,however imperfectly, by the traditional standards of (yes) fairness andbalance.
Fox's possible participation in the Nevada debate, one of several the stateparty is sponsoring before next January's presidential caucus, presentedDemocrats with a conundrum that may become increasingly common for bothsides as they navigate a media landscape in which overtly partisan sourcesof information are proliferating.
Democrats, with justification, consider Fox tilted against them. Yet thenetwork has a large audience, at least some of whom may be open toDemocratic arguments (though exactly how many remains subject to spiriteddispute). The question the party faced was whether access to Fox's viewerswas worth the validation the network would receive from hosting a Democraticdebate.
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The LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-stein16mar16,0,6835716,print.column?coll=la-home-commentary
JOEL STEIN
End the presidential pardon
Letting Thanksgiving turkeys off is stupid; giving convicted crooks a freepass mocks justice.
Joel Stein
March 16, 2007
IT'S NOT THAT I care if "Scooter" Libby gets pardoned. Sure, he obstructedjustice, but putting someone named Scooter in jail seems a little harsh.Putting someone named Scooter in elementary school seems a little harsh.
I object to the idea of the pardon itself. I may have dropped my politicalscience major, but I know that giving one person the right to let people outof jail without any reason might lead to abuse of power. This is why wedon't give one person the right to put people in jail without any reason.
I know the pardon leads to corruption because if I were President Bush, I'dpardon the hell out of Libby. If a guy working for me got arrested foressentially protecting my No. 1 employee, and I had an unlimited stack ofget-out-of-jail-free cards, I'd slip him one for sure. But first I'd makehim agree to go on "Dancing With the Stars." With just a little power, Iturn into a jerk.
The pardon, which had been the right of the monarch since Henry VIII, wasput into Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution by AlexanderHamilton, who argued in the Federalist Papers that without it, "justicewould wear a countenance too sanguinary and cruel." Hamilton did not realizethat in the future, judges would cry about Anna Nicole Smith. He also didn'trealize that challenging Aaron Burr to a duel might kill him. So maybe weshouldn't be taking advice from the guy.
It turns out that despite Hamilton's expectations, not many poor peoplewithout political connections get spared the cruelty of justice. In fact,almost all presidential pardoning has been bad policy. The first one wasused by George Washington to forgive members of the Whiskey Rebellion. Idon't know all that much about the Whiskey Rebellion, but I'm guessing fromthe words "whiskey" and "rebellion" that these may not be the first guysyou'd want to let out of San Quentin. Unless the only other people therewere members of the Meth Rape Bunch.
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The LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-subprime16mar16,0,7335691,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
THE MORTGAGE MELTDOWN
Clinton: Industry 'clearly broken'
The senator tells a community group that 'we've got to take action' toprotect the economy.
By Jonathan Peterson
Times Staff Writer
March 16, 2007
WASHINGTON - Exotic-sounding mortgages that hardly anyone even heard of afew years ago might seem an unlikely topic for the national politicaldebate.
But that was before rising defaults threatened the housing market and,perhaps, the broader economy.
"We've got to take action," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) told anaudience of community activists Thursday.
Rising defaults in so-called sub-prime loans for people with shaky credit -
any of them 2/28 loans (fixed for two years, adjustable for the final 28years) with low introductory teaser rates - have triggered debate over howfar the damage will extend to the broader economy.
But it is already obvious that the threat of foreclosures has richingredients for political theater. Many borrowers claim that they were nottold the real costs they were taking on. Further, such disputes crystallizea difference between laissez faire Republicans and Democrats who are moresympathetic to government regulation.
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The Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-070315rove,1,5054610,print.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Email shows Rove's role in ouster of prosecutors
By Mark Silva
Washington Bureau
March 15, 2007, 10:32 PM CDT
WASHINGTON -- Both presidential adviser Karl Rove and then-incoming AttorneyGeneral Alberto Gonzales knew about a White House proposal to dismiss all 93U.S. attorneys in early January 2005, according to government e-mails thatshed new light on the Justice Department's firings last year of eight of thefederal prosecutors.
Rove, deputy chief of staff and architect of President Bush's electioncampaigns, was keeping his eye on an internal discussion of dismissing allthe U.S. attorneys, according to a White House e-mail to the JusticeDepartment. And the Justice Department had discussed the idea of firing all93 attorneys with Gonzales, who was outgoing White House general counsel atthe time and facing confirmation hearings for appointment as attorneygeneral, according to a response to the January 2005 e-mail.
The moves came at a time when the Bush White House, and Rove in particular,were talking about the president's reelection as marking a majorconservative realignment in the country, presenting the administration withthe opportunity to remake much of the government. The revelation that Rovemay have known more about the plan is likely to further embolden Democratswho are demanding that he testify in congressional hearings.
The White House maintains that Harriet Miers, who succeeded Gonzales ascounsel early that year, had recommended dismissing all 93 federalprosecutors after the president's reelection in 2004, but that Rove and theJustice Department alike had rejected the idea.
An e-mail exchange obtained Thursday by the Tribune indicates that Karl Roveknew of the discussion in early 2005.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/washington/16cong.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
March 16, 2007
Senate Rejects Democrats' Call to Pull Troops
By ROBIN TONER and JEFF ZELENY
WASHINGTON, March 15 - The Senate on Thursday rejected a Democraticresolution to withdraw most American combat troops from Iraq in 2008, but asimilar measure advanced in the House, and Democratic leaders vowed to keepchallenging President Bush to change course in Iraq.
The vote in the Senate was 50 against and 48 in favor, 12 short of what wasneeded to pass, with just a few defections in each party. It came just hoursafter the House Appropriations Committee, in another vote largely on partylines, approved an emergency spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan thatincludes a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq. The House will vote on thatlegislation next Thursday, setting the stage for another confrontation.
The action in both houses threw into sharp relief the Democratic strategy ofratcheting up the pressure, vote by vote, to try to force the White House tobegin withdrawing troops from Iraq. But it also highlighted Republican unityin opposition; in the Senate, only one Republican, Gordon H. Smith ofOregon, voted with the Democrats.
Republican leaders said they counted the day as a victory. "It is clear nowthat the majority of the Senate opposes a deadline for the withdrawal oftroops," said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader.Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, countered, "TheRepublicans are rubber-stamping the president's failed policy. That's themessage here."
President Bush, speaking at a Republican fund-raising dinner, applauded thesenators who voted against a timetable. "Many of those members know what Iknow: that if American forces were to step back from Baghdad now, before thecapital city is more secure, the scale and scope of attacks would increaseand intensify," he said.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/opinion/16fri1.html?pagewanted=print
March 16, 2007
Editorial
Phony Fraud Charges
In its fumbling attempts to explain the purge of United States attorneys,the Bush administration has argued that the fired prosecutors were notaggressive enough about addressing voter fraud. It is a phony argument;there is no evidence that any of them ignored real instances of voter fraud.But more than that, it is a window on what may be a major reason for some ofthe firings.
In partisan Republican circles, the pursuit of voter fraud is code forsuppressing the votes of minorities and poor people. By resisting pressureto crack down on "fraud," the fired United States attorneys actually appearto have been standing up for the integrity of the election system.
John McKay, one of the fired attorneys, says he was pressured by Republicansto bring voter fraud charges after the 2004 Washington governor's race,which a Democrat, Christine Gregoire, won after two recounts. Republicanswere trying to overturn an election result they did not like, but Mr. McKayrefused to go along. "There was no evidence," he said, "and I am not goingto drag innocent people in front of a grand jury."
Later, when he interviewed with Harriet Miers, then the White House counsel,for a federal judgeship that he ultimately did not get, he says, he wasasked to explain "criticism that I mishandled the 2004 governor's election."
Mr. McKay is not the only one of the federal attorneys who may have beenbrought down for refusing to pursue dubious voter fraud cases. Before DavidIglesias of New Mexico was fired, prominent New Mexico Republicansreportedly complained repeatedly to Karl Rove about Mr. Iglesias's failureto indict Democrats for voter fraud. The White House said that last October,just weeks before Mr. McKay and most of the others were fired, PresidentBush complained that United States attorneys were not pursuing voter fraudaggressively enough.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/opinion/16fri2.html?pagewanted=print
March 16, 2007
Editorial
Relighting Snuffed Candles
The Bush administration's mania for secrecy has been dealt an overdue blowby the House. Significant numbers of Republicans voted with Democrats toreverse the erosion of the public's right to know how its governmentoperates. A package of strong open-government measures would repair some ofthe damage inflicted in the past six years on laws governing taxpayers'access to federal records and presidential archives, while bolstering thestanding of whistle-blowers to report abuses in agencies without fear ofretaliation.
Overwhelming majorities were registered for the measures despite the WhiteHouse's threat of a presidential veto. We say bring it on. The majoritieswere vetoproof in size, and an override confrontation is just the medicinethe administration needs for the hubris it has shown in enshrouding allmanner of information. The Senate should move quickly on companion sunshinemeasures. The bipartisan support that's emerging is no doubt driven by theadministration's unalloyed dedication to secret machinations - whether inthe Iraq war fiasco or the bare-knuckled purging of federal prosecutors.
The freedom of information law has been steadily undermined, to the pointwhere agencies are blithely ducking their lawful responsibility and takingyears to answer legitimate requests.
The House voted to mandate initial answers within 20 days, and computerizedtracking of pending requests. Another measure would effectively revokePresident Bush's 2001 executive order that allows former presidents and vicepresidents to use their official libraries as mausoleums to burycontroversial and historical documents indefinitely beyond public discovery.Who knows - if lawmakers stand firm against White House objections,historians may someday be able to plumb the full depths of the Bush-Cheneyadministration's devotion to governance by murk.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031502448_pf.html
Valerie Plame, the Spy Who's Ready to Speak for Herself
Years of Silence Will End Today With Capitol Hill Testimony
By Richard Leiby and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, March 16, 2007; A01
She has been silent nearly four years. Today, the CIA officer whoseunmasking fueled a political uproar and criminal probe that reached into theWhite House is poised to finally tell her own story -- before Congress.
Valerie Plame's testimony will have all the trappings of a "Garbo speaks"moment on Capitol Hill, with cameras and microphones arrayed to capture thevoice of Plame, the glamorous but mute star of a compelling politicalintrigue. But while she hopes to clear up her status as an agency operativewhen her name first hit newspapers in July 2003, America's most publicizedspy is unlikely to betray any details in open session about her mysteriouscareer.
The reason: Plame remains gagged by the same secrecy rules that governed her20 years as a CIA employee working overseas and at Langley in classifiedpositions.
People close to Plame say her primary goal in testifying before the HouseCommittee on Oversight and Government Reform is to knock down persistentclaims that she did not serve undercover. "She is so tired of hearing that,"her mother, Diane Plame, said in an interview earlier this week.
In the years since her outing, the debate over Plame's CIA status has oftendevolved into hairsplitting feuds over nomenclature and legalisms, argumentsawash in partisan bile. Little about her work is publicly known, leavingcommentators to speculate on her cloak-and-dagger activities. She hasremained opaque, this willowy blonde with the beguiling smile. Into afactual void the public has poured its imagery of the female spy, from HalleBerry and Eva Green in James Bond movies to Jennifer Garner on TV's "Alias."
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501877_pf.html
Memo to Gonzales
By Eugene Robinson
Friday, March 16, 2007; A21
Was it arrogance or ignorance that led the Bush administration to think itcould pull off what looks, walks and quacks like a transparently politicaldecision to fire those eight U.S. attorneys? A good deal of both, I'mguessing.
Actually, I take that back. No guesswork is needed.
Arrogance has been the most consistent hallmark of George W. Bush'spresidency. His administration's simple philosophy of government has beenconsistent: We can do any damn thing we want.
We can invade Iraq. We can blow off the Geneva Conventions. We can listen toyour private phone calls, Mr. and Ms. America, and we can read your privatee-mails, too. We can arrest anybody we want and hold them as long as wewant, and we don't even have to tell them why, much less file formal chargesor hold a trial. We can even defy the laws of science -- or at least ignorethe ones that annoy us, such as that whole "greenhouse effect" thing. We canuse the troops for photo ops when they come back from war grievously woundedand then basically forget about them.
And we don't have to explain ourselves, either. The nerve of anyone to evenask us. Don't you people understand that asking impertinent questions of theWhite House is exactly what Osama bin Laden wants you to do?
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501871_pf.html
Diagnosis: Cheney
By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, March 16, 2007; A21
"What is wrong with Dick Cheney?" asks Michelle Cottle in the inauguralissue of the newly relaunched New Republic. She then spends the next 1,900words marshaling evidence suggesting that his cardiac disease has left himdemented and mentally disordered.
The charming part of this not-to-be-missed article (titled "Heart ofDarkness," no less) is that it is framed as an exercise in compassion. SinceCottle knows that the only way for her New Republic readers to understandCheney is that he is evil -- "next time you see Cheney behaving oddly, don'tautomatically assume that he's a bad man," she advises -- surely thegenerous thing for a liberal to do is write him off as simply nuts. In thewonderland of liberalism, Cottle is trying to make the case for Cheney byoffering the insanity defense.
She doesn't seem to understand that showing how circulatory problems canaffect the brain proves nothing unless you first show the existence of apsychiatric disorder. Yet Cottle offers nothing in Cheney's presentingsymptoms or behavior to justify a psychiatric diagnosis of any kind, letalone dementia.
What behavior does she cite as evidence of Cheney's looniness?
(a) Using a four-letter word in an exchange with Sen. Patrick Leahy. GoodGod, by that standard, I should long ago have been committed and the entireborough of Brooklyn quarantined.
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The Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/benchconference/2007/03/gonzo_part_iithe_presidential_1.html
Part II: Alberto Gonzales, Presidential Enabler
Three episodes in the career of Alberto R. Gonzales before he becameAttorney General of the United States tell us what kind of a job he waslikely do as the nation's top attorney at the Justice Department. In eachinstance, history has not been kind either to Gonzales' actual substantivework or to the ethical and moral judgment he exercised on behalf of hisclients at the time. In each case, the advice Gonzales offered -- legallydubious to begin with -- created not just political embarrassment andbacklash for his bosses, but unfortunate, even catastrophic results.
Not only did the three pre-Justice Department episodes turn out to beremarkable predictors for his troubled and disappointing tenure as AttorneyGeneral -- but many predicted two years ago that they might be. For example,Sen. Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.) looked Gonzales in the eye at the latter'sSenate confirmation hearing in January 2005 and said: "My concern is thatduring several high-profile matters in your professional career you'veappeared to serve as a facilitator rather than as an independent force inthe policy-making process."
Gonzales reassured Sen. Leahy -- and anyone else who cared to lodge the samecomplaint back then -- that he knew the difference between the role he wouldhave to play as Attorney General and those he had played as White Housecounsel and as counsel to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
But let us judge him by his deeds and not his words. The Attorney General'srecord at the Justice Department strongly suggests that he has still actedas a docile and dogged "facilitator" for White House initiatives rather thanas a wise, high-minded legal counselor willing and able on occasion toexercise independent judgment and power. The roads to the current scandalover the dismissal of federal prosecutors, to the Justice Department's rabidsupport for warrantless domestic surveillance, and to department's tepiddefense of civil liberties for resident aliens all are paved with stonesthat Gonzales and Bush laid down before the former took the oath of officein early 2005.
For the first two examples, I lean heavily upon the distinguished work ofAlan Berlow, who brilliantly chronicled in the July/August 2003 issue of TheAtlantic Monthly Gonzales' appallingly unprofessional work on death penaltycases when he was counsel for Gov. Bush.
According to Berlow, Gonzales "repeatedly failed to apprise Bush of some ofthe most salient issues in the cases at hand: ineffective counsel, conflictof interest, mitigating evidence, even actual evidence of innocence"(emphasis in original) in a series of memoranda Gonzales prepared for thegovernor's review as part of the state's clemency process. Berlow believesthat this was not mere negligence on the part of Gonzales -- that would havebeen bad enough -- but rather part of a concerted effort by both men toensure for both political and ideological reasons that there would be noclemency petitions granted. The dice were loaded, you might say, by the manwho now is the nation's top lawyer.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031500865_pf.html
Two Senators Secretly Flew to Cuba for Alleged 9/11 Mastermind's Hearing
By Dafna Linzer and Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, March 16, 2007; A11
Two key congressional leaders secretly flew to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, onSaturday to observe the closed military hearing for al-Qaeda leader KhalidSheik Mohammed, according to Capitol Hill staff members and Pentagonofficials.
Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, andSen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a committee member, watched the proceedingsover closed-circuit television from an adjacent room, said Tara Andringa, aspokeswoman for Levin.
They were joined by a representative from the CIA, according to one U.S.government official. Lawyers from the Justice Department did not attend thehearing, a spokesman for the department said.
The official transcript of Mohammed's hearing, called to establish whetherhe qualifies as an "enemy combatant," acknowledged the presence of fiveunnamed military officers, a translator and an official tribunal reporter.It is unclear why the presence of two senators who helped write the lawcodifying the tribunals was not announced. Yesterday evening, Graham said hewas not prepared to discuss the trip, citing an agreement with Levin. "We'llissue a joint statement tomorrow, but we were there together," Graham said.
Saturday's trip underscores congressional efforts to exert oversight of one of President Bush's most controversial programs in his fight againstal-Qaeda. After recent criticism from the Justice Department's inspectorgeneral over its use of surveillance powers under the USA Patriot Act, theBush administration is under pressure to demonstrate greater transparencythan it has been willing to offer in the past.
Though there have been hundreds of status hearings for Guantanamo detainees,last week's hearings for Mohammed and two other al-Qaeda suspects marked thefirst time that Combatant Status Review Tribunals were closed to the mediaand the public. Pentagon officials argued that hearings for Mohammed and 13others who were held inside the CIA's secret detention program, some foryears, have to be secret for unspecified national security reasons.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031501841_pf.html
Democrats Fundraise For Sidelined Senator
By Mary Ann Akers
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Friday, March 16, 2007; A19
Even as he convalesces after a severe brain hemorrhage in December,Democrats are holding campaign fundraisers for Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.),and his spokeswoman said his staff and other senators are working hard tomake sure his agenda is fulfilled.
If Johnson is not back by fall, when spending bills are considered, hispriorities still will be "pushed through" the Appropriations Committee,Julianne Fisher said, "for the state of South Dakota." As a committeemember, Johnson sends millions of dollars to his state. "He's expressing hiswishes on what he wants," Fisher said.
Johnson issued his first public statement this week, and Democrats heldthree fundraisers for his reelection. A luncheon on Monday was hosted bySen. Max Baucus (Mont.), and a reception on Tuesday was hosted by SenateMajority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and Sen. Evan Bayh (Ind.). Wednesdaynight, Reid hosted another fundraiser, where, according to sources whoattended the private event, he assured the crowd that Johnson is doing"really well," that his speech is "almost back to normal" and that thesenator's popularity in South Dakota is "higher than ever."
Publicly, Republicans are taking a deferential approach to Johnson'sillness. "Tim Johnson's well-being continues to be our number one concern inthe state of South Dakota," said Rebecca Fisher, communications director forthe National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Behind the scenes, though, Johnson's GOP colleagues were peeved to learn ofthe Democrats' aggressive fundraising. "Democrats are taking advantage ofthe situation," one Senate Republican told washingtonpost.com.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031502175_pf.html
Christian Groups To Stage Protest
Thousands Expected to March To White House to Voice Opposition
By Michael E. Ruane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 16, 2007; B03
Several thousand Christian peace activists plan to march on the White Housetonight to demonstrate their opposition to the war in Iraq, organizers saidyesterday.
The march, which is unrelated to tomorrow's antiwar rally at the Pentagon,will be preceded by a 7 p.m. service at the National Cathedral, 3101Wisconsin Ave. NW. At 8:15 p.m., participants will proceed downtown onMassachusetts Avenue NW, then south on 16th Street NW to Lafayette Park, theorganizers said.
The event is sponsored by the District-based Sojourners/Call to Renewal, aprogressive religious group, along with the American Friends ServiceCommittee, Lutheran Peace Fellowship, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, andmore than two dozen other Protestant and Catholic groups.
Organizers have said that although most marchers will adhere to the permitregulations for the demonstration, several hundred "volunteered" to stageactions of peaceful civil disobedience and face arrest.
U.S. Park Police said they will arrest demonstrators who violate rulescovering protests in front of the White House. Marchers must keep moving,for example, and cannot hang signs on the White House fence, said Lt. ScottFear, a Park Police spokesman. Buses will be on standby in case largenumbers of protesters are taken into custody, Fear said.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031502033_pf.html
Move Seen Complicating Rice's Middle East Effort
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 16, 2007; A13
The completion of a Palestinian unity government yesterday that includesministers from the radical Islamic group Hamas will further complicateSecretary of State Condoleezza Rice's efforts to rekindle peace efforts inthe region.
Already, the prospect of the government has driven a wedge between IsraeliPrime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President MahmoudAbbas, the two interlocutors on whom Rice had rested her hopes for progress.Middle East analysts said the new government has also hardened Israeliskepticism about Arab commitment to a peace process -- particularly SaudiArabia's role -- and exposed fissures between the United States and Europeon how to deal with respected Palestinian officials who decided to join thenew government. Signs of tensions are also emerging between the UnitedStates and Israel about how fast to push the process.
The United States and Israel have sought to thwart creation of a Palestinianunity government, but U.S. officials are withholding public judgment aboutthe new government until the Palestinian parliament ratifies it tomorrow.But they privately acknowledge that Abbas's announcement last month that hehad struck a deal with Hamas was a blow to U.S. and Israeli efforts toelevate Abbas as an alternative to Hamas.
"Abbas promised us several times he would not agree to a national unitygovernment," a senior Israeli diplomat said this week. "But then he sold thestore to Hamas. He left us flabbergasted and without a strategy."
Yet U.S. officials say Rice remains determined to try to make headway on theIsraeli-Palestinian issue after six years of stagnation.
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
FLORIDA DIGEST March 16, 2007
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
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The Independent
http://www.indynews.4t.com/Issue79/news4.html
Today's Date: March 16, 2007
Disabled Talent to Star At Closing of Arts Festival
By Paul Harris
PHarris@OurIndy.com
Greg Walloch is an unusual comedian. The fact that he is gay in this day andage is not that unusual. Thanks to the fact that there are many gay andlesbian festivals seeking performers many gays find places to perform. Whatmakes Walloch unusual is that he is also disabled and has lived withcerebral palsy all his life. Walloch is going to be one of the threeperformers who close the two week arts festival the has been organized byArtsUnited. He will be performing alongside Marga Gomez and Joe Kovacs withhis puppet "Madame."
The Independent was able to get hold of Walloch at his home in West Harlembefore he hit the road again. He describes his new show as a collection of"new stories and some of his greatest hits." It will include an excerpt fromhis show White Disabled Talent that was turned into an HBO special as wellas part of his show F**k The Disabled.
He has performed all over the place including Poland and even Tel Aviv inIsrael. In New York City he has played "Joe's Pub," which is a venue at theNew York Shakespeare Festival downtown, two or three times. He is a veryunusual performer and apart from being wickedly funny has the ability tomake the audience think, and, hopefully, challenge their preconceptions.
Walloch will be one of the three performers who will be performing at thefestival sponsored and, in large part, organized by ArtsUnited. The eveningwill be held at the Amaturo Theatre at the Broward Center starting at7.30pm. Tickets are available from the Broward Center box office at954.462.0222. See you there!
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The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/print.cfm?content_id=3524
Another makeover on Wilton Drive
Townhomes and retail space to replace boarded up strip south of Shoppes
By SHERI ELFMAN
Mar. 16, 2007
For more than a year now, the strip mall that formerly housed WiltingManners, CJ's Comics & Collectibles, About Town Lock & Sale and MarsupiumInc. has remained empty and boarded up.
Soon enough, the strip mall will no longer be an eyesore for the dwellers ofWilton Drive. It will be knocked down to make way for a 19,030-square-footdevelopment called Wilton Park.
Wilton Park, which will have 145 residential units, is being developed byNew Urban Communities, a company based in Delray Beach. The project shouldstart coming together late this year or early next, says Tim Hernandez,principal of the project.
The development will be a mix of townhomes and lofts, a pool and retailshops on the bottom floor.
Wilton Manors, which has fewer than 13,000 residents, ranks third in theUnited States for most gay residents per capita. When asked whether any ofthe shops will be gay-owned, Hernandez says he's not sure.
"I don't know yet," he says. "I'm sure there will be a mix of shops thatwill appeal to every aspect of the community."Local business owners are pleased
The addition of more shops is expected to make Wilton Drive even moreof a destination for gay residents and visitors. The area has a large mix ofgalleries, boutiques, restaurants, bars and clubs that rivals the shoppingarea on Las Olas.
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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/print.cfm?content_id=3525
Sounds of freedom
Flamingo Freedom Band to celebrate 20th anniversary with concert
By SHERI ELFMAN
Mar. 16, 2007
A prism breaks light up into several colors, an effect the Flamingo FreedomBand is hoping to mimic with its newest show called "Prism." Their concerton March 25 will break their band up into several smaller sections to createbeautiful music.
"It's modeled on a concert done annually at Florida State University," saysDan Bassett, the band's new artistic director.
This concert is in celebration of the Flamingo Freedom Band's 20thanniversary. The band is composed of 40 gay or lesbian performers and a fewstraight members. The band has grown a lot from its humble beginnings.
"It started out as a small number of people meeting in someone's livingroom," Bassett says. "We now have to rent space."
In fact, the band started out with only five members. Its first gigs werebacking the local Gay Men's Chorus and preparing marches to do at local gayfund-raisers. In the spring of 1987, the band became a nonprofitorganization. Through the years, as its grown, the band has performed atseveral Pride events and has traveled across the United States to perform.
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The Independent
http://www.indynews.4t.com/Issue79/feature3.html
Staff Report
News@OurIndy.com
Recently, AIDS activists held an event at Georgie's Alibi, one of SouthFlorida's leading gay watering holes, in an attempt to increase awarenessinside the gay population. The event which was attended by hundreds duringthe course of the evening had as its theme "Take Me, I Am Free" with condomsin upbeat and colorful packaging. Broward County Health Department launchedits new effort to inform the gay community where to get free condoms andhealth information on AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.According to recently produced statistics Broward County has the highestrate of new infections in the entire US.
One of those attending, Alberto M. Santana, an HIV Prevention CommunityPlanner and a statewide Latino AIDS Coordinator from Miami, said that theevent "reminded me of the late 1980's early 1990's outreach/prevention education days" and that he looked forward to trying to replicate similarevents in Miami-Dade.
He commented that "We need to reinvigorate our HIV prevention efforts bycreating events such as this one - because it brings the information to thepeople in a creative, non-judgment and interactive manner."
The new marketing campaign will highlight prevention messages targeting gaymen and list local contacts for condom distribution and health information.
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The Independent
http://www.indynews.4t.com/Issue79/feature4.html
Today's Date: March 16, 2007
Lambda Legal Annual Event at Bonnet House
By Paul Harris
PHarris@OurIndy.com
Lambda Legal, the organization that fights for the legal rights of gays,lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people, along with those living withHIV, is holding its annual reception at Fort Lauderdale's noted Bonnet Houseon Sunday, March 25. The event starts at 5pm and runs until 7:30pm. Lastyear the guest speaker was Paul Smith, the attorney who successfully foughtthe crucial Lawrence vs. Texas case before the U.S. Supreme Court, theresult of which has changed the legal landscape for gays throughout thecountry.
This year there will be two guest speakers. One of the speakers is aplaintiff that Lambda Legal is currently representing, Lorenzo Taylor, whowas denied employment in 2001 by the US State Department in the ForeignService because of his HIV status. This was in spite of the fact that otherpeople with chronic conditions have been employed overseas and that he wassuperbly qualified.
Taylor is fluent in three languages, holds an International Relations degreefrom Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and has worked innational and international non-profit organizations on designing andevaluating disease prevention programs.
Since Condoleeza Rice is the Secretary of State, heading the StateDepartment, the legal docket identifies the case as "Taylor v. Rice." Thecase will be argued before the United States District Court for the Districtof Columbia Circuit. The Independent was able to interview Taylor eventhough the case is still very much 'active.'
Taylor said that he had been "dissuaded from pursuing employment in thestarkest of terms and told in writing by the state medical office that'Because new applicants for the Foreign Service must be available worldwide(Class 1), those who are HIV-positive will not be eligible for employment,'effectively and illegally barring anyone with HIV from being hired to serveas a foreign service officer. This policy is flat wrong and someday it willchange."
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-315water,0,6858737,print.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Water-use restrictions start next week in South Florida
By David Fleshler
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 15, 2007, 11:28 PM EDT
City inspectors, armed with citation books, will cruise the streets ready topounce if they find a sprinkler operating illegally. Neighbors will beencouraged to rat each other out for watering on the wrong day. Helicopterswill hover above farms and golf courses, taking satellite coordinates ofpumps operating in violation of water-shortage orders.
This is the new era of water restrictions. It begins next Thursday, whenrules approved by the South Florida Water Management District take effect.
With South Florida enduring its worst drought since 2001 and the risk ofwildfires growing, the district's governing board on Thursday unanimouslyapproved restrictions on lawn watering, car washing, golf course irrigationand other activities that use large amounts of water. Residents will beallowed to use sprinklers on alternate days and at specified times, with thegoal of reducing consumption by 15 percent.
Almost half of all drinking water in South Florida goes toward wateringlawns, according to the district, which controls water supply and drainagefor 16 counties in Central and South Florida.
District officials said the restrictions may become permanent and thattougher rules may be necessary.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cexemptmar16,0,742148,print.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Want to wipe out high property taxes? End exemptions to sales tax, studysays
By Jamie Malernee
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 16, 2007
In Florida, clothing and gasoline are taxed, but Super Bowl tickets and cowsteroids aren't.
In fact, so many items are exempted by law from the state's sales tax thatif those loopholes were closed, state legislators could reduce or eveneliminate property taxes on residents' homes, according to official stateestimates released Thursday.
Instead, Republican and Democratic legislators have proposed raising thesales tax; one plan would make it the highest in the nation.
Items exempt from the 6-cent-per-dollar state tax range include necessitiessuch as food and medicine and oddities like ostrich feed, human organs, fishbreeding products and fill dirt.
And rather than revoke special privileges for even a sizable fraction ofthose items, state legislators this year have proposed a new crop of salestax exemptions, including breaks for anyone buying a part-ownership in aprivate jet.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/sfl-315zinsurance,0,7431350,print.story?coll=sfla-business-front
Savings on property insurance may be much less than state officialspredicted
By Kathy Bushouse
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 15, 2007, 9:28 PM EDT
Florida's biggest private property insurers are asking for price cuts farless than state estimates, which means many home and condominium ownersmight not see the double-digit annual premium savings state leaderspredicted in the wake of the state's new insurance law.
Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty recently estimated insurersshould be able to give property owners an average rate cut of 24 percentstatewide on their overall premiums. He said companies would have to justifytheir figures if they were below the state's numbers.
The state's estimates are based on savings insurers would get from changesthe Legislature made to the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund in January.Private insurers are now able to get less expensive reinsurance coverage tohelp pay hurricane claims from the state fund and are required by law topass the savings to customers. Thursday was the deadline for insurancecompanies to submit rate reduction requests to the state.
State Farm Florida Insurance Co., the state's largest private home insurerwith more than a million customers, on Thursday requested a statewideaverage decrease of 7 percent, mirroring projections the company made backin January. In Broward County, State Farm Florida's proposed savings rangefrom 8 percent to 9.4 percent for customers west of the IntracoastalWaterway, while in Palm Beach County the savings is from 8.5 percent to 9.4percent for customers west of the Intracoastal.
USAA, the state's No. 5 property insurer, on Thursday requested a decreaseof 3.1 percent.
=
Gainesville.com
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070315/APN/703153654&template=printart
Article published Mar 15, 2007
Mar 15, 2007
Florida Democrats urge congressional action on election dispute
The Associated Press
Florida Democrats asked a U.S. House committee Thursday to begin reviewing adisputed election in the state's 13th Congressional District after thedisclosure that touchscreen voting machines used in Sarasota County had ananomaly.
The nine Florida representatives cited press reports that Elections Systems& Software had informed state and local election officials of the matternearly three months before the November election, which was decided by just369 votes.
The company's iVotronic machines were exhibiting slow response times inhighlighting candidates' names after voters had made their selections,according to an Aug. 15 memo.
The Floridians sent a letter to House Administration Committee ChairwomanJuanita Millender-McDonald, D-Calif., asking for the immediate formation ofa task force to review the election, won by Vern Buchanan, a Longboat KeyRepublican.
"That these revelations are coming to light now, through press reports,suggests that the potential for fraud in this election was real, that it wasknown by the responsible officials and that these officials did nothingabout it," the lawmakers wrote.
=
The Palm Beach Post
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/business/epaper/2007/03/16/m1a_INSURE_0316.html
Insurers whittle proposed rate drops
By Randy Diamond
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 16, 2007
For thousands of frustrated Floridians, the big homeowners insurance ratereductions promised by state lawmakers and Gov. Charlie Crist may nevermaterialize, judging by the companies' own filings.
The state's homeowners insurers were required to file proposed reductions inpremium rates by Thursday, according to the reform hammered out by lawmakersin a weeklong special session in January.
Little relief
Florida's homeowners insurers filed their proposed premium rate reductionsThursday, many of which fell short of the state's goal of 24 percent.Following are the filings submitted by some of the state's biggestcompanies:
State Farm Florida Insurance Co. - 7.0 percent
Allstate Floridian Insurance Co. - 14.2 percent
Nationwide Insurance Co. of Florida - 4.6 percent
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cexemptmar16,0,742148,print.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Want to wipe out high property taxes? End exemptions to sales tax, studysays
By Jamie Malernee
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 16, 2007
In Florida, clothing and gasoline are taxed, but Super Bowl tickets and cowsteroids aren't.
In fact, so many items are exempted by law from the state's sales tax thatif those loopholes were closed, state legislators could reduce or eveneliminate property taxes on residents' homes, according to official stateestimates released Thursday.
Instead, Republican and Democratic legislators have proposed raising thesales tax; one plan would make it the highest in the nation.
Items exempt from the 6-cent-per-dollar state tax range include necessitiessuch as food and medicine and oddities like ostrich feed, human organs, fishbreeding products and fill dirt.
And rather than revoke special privileges for even a sizable fraction ofthose items, state legislators this year have proposed a new crop of salestax exemptions, including breaks for anyone buying a part-ownership in aprivate jet.
=
West Palm Beach Pride Festival
March 25th
12pm-6pm
Bryant Park
Lake Worth, FL
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
Email hrc_southflorida@yahoo.com
to sign up for one of the following time
slots on Sunday, March 25th:
12:00pm-3:00pm
3:00pm-6:00pm
=
Please Join Us for
West Palm Beach Pride!
Mark your calendars! HRC needs you to be part of the HRC Equality Mission!Your help is needed to make an America where GLBT people are ensured oftheir basic equal rights, and can be open, honest and safe at home, at workand in the community.
The HRC booth needs your help! Come volunteer with us!
Or just come stop by the booth to see fabulous items we will have forpurchase!
Don't worry if you have never volunteered or if you are a veteran with us -
e welcome everyone!
=
Reminder From Terry Bush & Rob Hepler
Endless Summers Realty
Endlesssummers@aol.com
This is a reminder that the Island City Art Walk is Friday March 16th from 7pm - 10 pm. Endless Summers Realty is proud to have artist Peter Sentkowskipresent a new photography exhibit put together for this event. Thephotography will be available for sale. The exhibit is titled "PAIRS OFPEARS"........
Hope To See You Friday Night!
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
The Independent
http://www.indynews.4t.com/Issue79/news4.html
Today's Date: March 16, 2007
Disabled Talent to Star At Closing of Arts Festival
By Paul Harris
PHarris@OurIndy.com
Greg Walloch is an unusual comedian. The fact that he is gay in this day andage is not that unusual. Thanks to the fact that there are many gay andlesbian festivals seeking performers many gays find places to perform. Whatmakes Walloch unusual is that he is also disabled and has lived withcerebral palsy all his life. Walloch is going to be one of the threeperformers who close the two week arts festival the has been organized byArtsUnited. He will be performing alongside Marga Gomez and Joe Kovacs withhis puppet "Madame."
The Independent was able to get hold of Walloch at his home in West Harlembefore he hit the road again. He describes his new show as a collection of"new stories and some of his greatest hits." It will include an excerpt fromhis show White Disabled Talent that was turned into an HBO special as wellas part of his show F**k The Disabled.
He has performed all over the place including Poland and even Tel Aviv inIsrael. In New York City he has played "Joe's Pub," which is a venue at theNew York Shakespeare Festival downtown, two or three times. He is a veryunusual performer and apart from being wickedly funny has the ability tomake the audience think, and, hopefully, challenge their preconceptions.
Walloch will be one of the three performers who will be performing at thefestival sponsored and, in large part, organized by ArtsUnited. The eveningwill be held at the Amaturo Theatre at the Broward Center starting at7.30pm. Tickets are available from the Broward Center box office at954.462.0222. See you there!
=
The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/print.cfm?content_id=3524
Another makeover on Wilton Drive
Townhomes and retail space to replace boarded up strip south of Shoppes
By SHERI ELFMAN
Mar. 16, 2007
For more than a year now, the strip mall that formerly housed WiltingManners, CJ's Comics & Collectibles, About Town Lock & Sale and MarsupiumInc. has remained empty and boarded up.
Soon enough, the strip mall will no longer be an eyesore for the dwellers ofWilton Drive. It will be knocked down to make way for a 19,030-square-footdevelopment called Wilton Park.
Wilton Park, which will have 145 residential units, is being developed byNew Urban Communities, a company based in Delray Beach. The project shouldstart coming together late this year or early next, says Tim Hernandez,principal of the project.
The development will be a mix of townhomes and lofts, a pool and retailshops on the bottom floor.
Wilton Manors, which has fewer than 13,000 residents, ranks third in theUnited States for most gay residents per capita. When asked whether any ofthe shops will be gay-owned, Hernandez says he's not sure.
"I don't know yet," he says. "I'm sure there will be a mix of shops thatwill appeal to every aspect of the community."Local business owners are pleased
The addition of more shops is expected to make Wilton Drive even moreof a destination for gay residents and visitors. The area has a large mix ofgalleries, boutiques, restaurants, bars and clubs that rivals the shoppingarea on Las Olas.
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/print.cfm?content_id=3525
Sounds of freedom
Flamingo Freedom Band to celebrate 20th anniversary with concert
By SHERI ELFMAN
Mar. 16, 2007
A prism breaks light up into several colors, an effect the Flamingo FreedomBand is hoping to mimic with its newest show called "Prism." Their concerton March 25 will break their band up into several smaller sections to createbeautiful music.
"It's modeled on a concert done annually at Florida State University," saysDan Bassett, the band's new artistic director.
This concert is in celebration of the Flamingo Freedom Band's 20thanniversary. The band is composed of 40 gay or lesbian performers and a fewstraight members. The band has grown a lot from its humble beginnings.
"It started out as a small number of people meeting in someone's livingroom," Bassett says. "We now have to rent space."
In fact, the band started out with only five members. Its first gigs werebacking the local Gay Men's Chorus and preparing marches to do at local gayfund-raisers. In the spring of 1987, the band became a nonprofitorganization. Through the years, as its grown, the band has performed atseveral Pride events and has traveled across the United States to perform.
=
The Independent
http://www.indynews.4t.com/Issue79/feature3.html
Staff Report
News@OurIndy.com
Recently, AIDS activists held an event at Georgie's Alibi, one of SouthFlorida's leading gay watering holes, in an attempt to increase awarenessinside the gay population. The event which was attended by hundreds duringthe course of the evening had as its theme "Take Me, I Am Free" with condomsin upbeat and colorful packaging. Broward County Health Department launchedits new effort to inform the gay community where to get free condoms andhealth information on AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.According to recently produced statistics Broward County has the highestrate of new infections in the entire US.
One of those attending, Alberto M. Santana, an HIV Prevention CommunityPlanner and a statewide Latino AIDS Coordinator from Miami, said that theevent "reminded me of the late 1980's early 1990's outreach/prevention education days" and that he looked forward to trying to replicate similarevents in Miami-Dade.
He commented that "We need to reinvigorate our HIV prevention efforts bycreating events such as this one - because it brings the information to thepeople in a creative, non-judgment and interactive manner."
The new marketing campaign will highlight prevention messages targeting gaymen and list local contacts for condom distribution and health information.
=
The Independent
http://www.indynews.4t.com/Issue79/feature4.html
Today's Date: March 16, 2007
Lambda Legal Annual Event at Bonnet House
By Paul Harris
PHarris@OurIndy.com
Lambda Legal, the organization that fights for the legal rights of gays,lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people, along with those living withHIV, is holding its annual reception at Fort Lauderdale's noted Bonnet Houseon Sunday, March 25. The event starts at 5pm and runs until 7:30pm. Lastyear the guest speaker was Paul Smith, the attorney who successfully foughtthe crucial Lawrence vs. Texas case before the U.S. Supreme Court, theresult of which has changed the legal landscape for gays throughout thecountry.
This year there will be two guest speakers. One of the speakers is aplaintiff that Lambda Legal is currently representing, Lorenzo Taylor, whowas denied employment in 2001 by the US State Department in the ForeignService because of his HIV status. This was in spite of the fact that otherpeople with chronic conditions have been employed overseas and that he wassuperbly qualified.
Taylor is fluent in three languages, holds an International Relations degreefrom Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and has worked innational and international non-profit organizations on designing andevaluating disease prevention programs.
Since Condoleeza Rice is the Secretary of State, heading the StateDepartment, the legal docket identifies the case as "Taylor v. Rice." Thecase will be argued before the United States District Court for the Districtof Columbia Circuit. The Independent was able to interview Taylor eventhough the case is still very much 'active.'
Taylor said that he had been "dissuaded from pursuing employment in thestarkest of terms and told in writing by the state medical office that'Because new applicants for the Foreign Service must be available worldwide(Class 1), those who are HIV-positive will not be eligible for employment,'effectively and illegally barring anyone with HIV from being hired to serveas a foreign service officer. This policy is flat wrong and someday it willchange."
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-315water,0,6858737,print.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Water-use restrictions start next week in South Florida
By David Fleshler
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 15, 2007, 11:28 PM EDT
City inspectors, armed with citation books, will cruise the streets ready topounce if they find a sprinkler operating illegally. Neighbors will beencouraged to rat each other out for watering on the wrong day. Helicopterswill hover above farms and golf courses, taking satellite coordinates ofpumps operating in violation of water-shortage orders.
This is the new era of water restrictions. It begins next Thursday, whenrules approved by the South Florida Water Management District take effect.
With South Florida enduring its worst drought since 2001 and the risk ofwildfires growing, the district's governing board on Thursday unanimouslyapproved restrictions on lawn watering, car washing, golf course irrigationand other activities that use large amounts of water. Residents will beallowed to use sprinklers on alternate days and at specified times, with thegoal of reducing consumption by 15 percent.
Almost half of all drinking water in South Florida goes toward wateringlawns, according to the district, which controls water supply and drainagefor 16 counties in Central and South Florida.
District officials said the restrictions may become permanent and thattougher rules may be necessary.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cexemptmar16,0,742148,print.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Want to wipe out high property taxes? End exemptions to sales tax, studysays
By Jamie Malernee
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 16, 2007
In Florida, clothing and gasoline are taxed, but Super Bowl tickets and cowsteroids aren't.
In fact, so many items are exempted by law from the state's sales tax thatif those loopholes were closed, state legislators could reduce or eveneliminate property taxes on residents' homes, according to official stateestimates released Thursday.
Instead, Republican and Democratic legislators have proposed raising thesales tax; one plan would make it the highest in the nation.
Items exempt from the 6-cent-per-dollar state tax range include necessitiessuch as food and medicine and oddities like ostrich feed, human organs, fishbreeding products and fill dirt.
And rather than revoke special privileges for even a sizable fraction ofthose items, state legislators this year have proposed a new crop of salestax exemptions, including breaks for anyone buying a part-ownership in aprivate jet.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/sfl-315zinsurance,0,7431350,print.story?coll=sfla-business-front
Savings on property insurance may be much less than state officialspredicted
By Kathy Bushouse
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 15, 2007, 9:28 PM EDT
Florida's biggest private property insurers are asking for price cuts farless than state estimates, which means many home and condominium ownersmight not see the double-digit annual premium savings state leaderspredicted in the wake of the state's new insurance law.
Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty recently estimated insurersshould be able to give property owners an average rate cut of 24 percentstatewide on their overall premiums. He said companies would have to justifytheir figures if they were below the state's numbers.
The state's estimates are based on savings insurers would get from changesthe Legislature made to the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund in January.Private insurers are now able to get less expensive reinsurance coverage tohelp pay hurricane claims from the state fund and are required by law topass the savings to customers. Thursday was the deadline for insurancecompanies to submit rate reduction requests to the state.
State Farm Florida Insurance Co., the state's largest private home insurerwith more than a million customers, on Thursday requested a statewideaverage decrease of 7 percent, mirroring projections the company made backin January. In Broward County, State Farm Florida's proposed savings rangefrom 8 percent to 9.4 percent for customers west of the IntracoastalWaterway, while in Palm Beach County the savings is from 8.5 percent to 9.4percent for customers west of the Intracoastal.
USAA, the state's No. 5 property insurer, on Thursday requested a decreaseof 3.1 percent.
=
Gainesville.com
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070315/APN/703153654&template=printart
Article published Mar 15, 2007
Mar 15, 2007
Florida Democrats urge congressional action on election dispute
The Associated Press
Florida Democrats asked a U.S. House committee Thursday to begin reviewing adisputed election in the state's 13th Congressional District after thedisclosure that touchscreen voting machines used in Sarasota County had ananomaly.
The nine Florida representatives cited press reports that Elections Systems& Software had informed state and local election officials of the matternearly three months before the November election, which was decided by just369 votes.
The company's iVotronic machines were exhibiting slow response times inhighlighting candidates' names after voters had made their selections,according to an Aug. 15 memo.
The Floridians sent a letter to House Administration Committee ChairwomanJuanita Millender-McDonald, D-Calif., asking for the immediate formation ofa task force to review the election, won by Vern Buchanan, a Longboat KeyRepublican.
"That these revelations are coming to light now, through press reports,suggests that the potential for fraud in this election was real, that it wasknown by the responsible officials and that these officials did nothingabout it," the lawmakers wrote.
=
The Palm Beach Post
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/business/epaper/2007/03/16/m1a_INSURE_0316.html
Insurers whittle proposed rate drops
By Randy Diamond
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 16, 2007
For thousands of frustrated Floridians, the big homeowners insurance ratereductions promised by state lawmakers and Gov. Charlie Crist may nevermaterialize, judging by the companies' own filings.
The state's homeowners insurers were required to file proposed reductions inpremium rates by Thursday, according to the reform hammered out by lawmakersin a weeklong special session in January.
Little relief
Florida's homeowners insurers filed their proposed premium rate reductionsThursday, many of which fell short of the state's goal of 24 percent.Following are the filings submitted by some of the state's biggestcompanies:
State Farm Florida Insurance Co. - 7.0 percent
Allstate Floridian Insurance Co. - 14.2 percent
Nationwide Insurance Co. of Florida - 4.6 percent
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cexemptmar16,0,742148,print.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Want to wipe out high property taxes? End exemptions to sales tax, studysays
By Jamie Malernee
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 16, 2007
In Florida, clothing and gasoline are taxed, but Super Bowl tickets and cowsteroids aren't.
In fact, so many items are exempted by law from the state's sales tax thatif those loopholes were closed, state legislators could reduce or eveneliminate property taxes on residents' homes, according to official stateestimates released Thursday.
Instead, Republican and Democratic legislators have proposed raising thesales tax; one plan would make it the highest in the nation.
Items exempt from the 6-cent-per-dollar state tax range include necessitiessuch as food and medicine and oddities like ostrich feed, human organs, fishbreeding products and fill dirt.
And rather than revoke special privileges for even a sizable fraction ofthose items, state legislators this year have proposed a new crop of salestax exemptions, including breaks for anyone buying a part-ownership in aprivate jet.
=
West Palm Beach Pride Festival
March 25th
12pm-6pm
Bryant Park
Lake Worth, FL
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
Email hrc_southflorida@yahoo.com
to sign up for one of the following time
slots on Sunday, March 25th:
12:00pm-3:00pm
3:00pm-6:00pm
=
Please Join Us for
West Palm Beach Pride!
Mark your calendars! HRC needs you to be part of the HRC Equality Mission!Your help is needed to make an America where GLBT people are ensured oftheir basic equal rights, and can be open, honest and safe at home, at workand in the community.
The HRC booth needs your help! Come volunteer with us!
Or just come stop by the booth to see fabulous items we will have forpurchase!
Don't worry if you have never volunteered or if you are a veteran with us -
e welcome everyone!
=
Reminder From Terry Bush & Rob Hepler
Endless Summers Realty
Endlesssummers@aol.com
This is a reminder that the Island City Art Walk is Friday March 16th from 7pm - 10 pm. Endless Summers Realty is proud to have artist Peter Sentkowskipresent a new photography exhibit put together for this event. Thephotography will be available for sale. The exhibit is titled "PAIRS OFPEARS"........
Hope To See You Friday Night!
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
Thursday, March 15, 2007
GLBT DIGEST March 15, 2007
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11954
Crown Publishing backs Coulter after gay slur
Random House division plans October launch for new book
NEW YORK (AP) | Mar 14, 12:37 PM
While conservative pundit Ann Coulter has been dropped by several newspapersfor using an anti-gay slur regarding Democratic presidential candidate JohnEdwards, she remains in good standing with her book publisher.
The Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., plans anOctober release for her next book, "If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd BeRepublicans."
"We have a book with her on our fall list and have no plans on altering ourcurrent publication plans," Crown publisher and senior vice president SteveRoss told the Associated Press in a recent e-mail.
According to Editor & Publisher, at least eight newspapers have droppedCoulter's syndicated column since her comments about Edwards.
On March 2, speaking to Republican activists attending the annualConservative Political Action Conference, Coulter said, "I was going to havea few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards,but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ... "
Coulter has declined to apologize.
=
The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11948
Ark. Senate passes ban of foster care, adoptions by gay couplesBill's author cites recent arrest of gay man for sexual assault and abuseLITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) | Mar 14, 9:09 AM
A bill passed by the Arkansas Senate banning gays and any unmarried couplesfrom adopting or serving as foster parents stands on "solid, legal ground,"its sponsor says.
Sen. Shawn Womack stresses his bill addresses a procedural point used by thestate Supreme Court last year to overturn Arkansas' ban. Senators voted 20-7Tuesday to support the bill, though other senators warned the measure onlydiscriminated against a group of people at a time when the state needs morefoster families.
"The right to adopt does not exist to give the adult the right to become aparent," said Womack (R-Mountain Home). "It is our obligation, our highestobligation to ensure we place that child with the best care."
Womack went on to mention the case of a Bella Vista man arrested last weekon sexual assault and abuse charges. The man cared for 28 boys the stateplaced with him over the past two years.
However, Womack said under questioning by colleagues that he did not believebeing gay made a person a pedophile, though he called the two "notnecessarily mutually exclusive either."
=
The Deseret News
http://deseretnews.com/dn/print/1,1442,660202808,00.html
Deseret Morning News, Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Gay activists to stage 'Jericho' walk at BYU
By Tad Walch
PROVO - Last year, Soulforce's gay activists staged a die-in at BrighamYoung University that led to 29 arrests.
Next week, the group will return to BYU with a new plan for publicity - aplan based on a Bible story.
The college-age Soulforce Equality Riders style themselves after the FreedomRiders of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. Their 2007 tour beganeventfully last week with eight arrests, six at Notre Dame University, andwith an apology from one college president.
The group's BYU game plan includes a six-hour walk around the perimeter of
the campus on March 22, a public demonstration meant to recall the story inthe Old Testament Book of Joshua about the walls of Jericho.
In the story, God instructs Joshua to have the Israelites march around thecity of ericho once a day for six days, then seven times on the seventhday. The walls, as the song goes, came "a tumblin' down" when the Israelitesshouted after they circled it the final time.
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/blog/index.cfm?type=blog&start=3/8/07&end=3/15/07#11961
By Steve Koval
Hillary is a poor choice for gay voters
If the folks at HRC don't feel used and abused, then they must bemasochists.
After the Clinton-HRC love fest behind closed doors on March 2, you mightexpect that Sen. Hillary Clinton could be bring herself to publicly say thathomosexuality isn't immoral. Unfortunately, you'd be disappointed.
CNN reported the sad truth Wednesday evening:
Sen. Hillary Clinton sidestepped a question about whether she thinkshomosexuality is immoral Wednesday, less than two weeks after tellinggay-rights activists she was "proud" to stand by their side.
Clinton was asked the question by ABC News, in the wake of Joint Chiefs ofStaff Chairman Peter Pace's controversial comment that he believedhomosexual acts were immoral.
"Well, I'm going to leave that to others to conclude," she said.
With friends like these...
=
365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/03/031407baptists.htm
Furor Over Baptist's Gay-Baby Article
by the Associated Press
Posted: March 14, 2007 - 5 pm ET
(Washington) The president of the leading Southern Baptist seminary hasincurred sharp attacks from both the left and right by suggesting that abiological basis for homosexuality may be proven, and that prenataltreatment to reverse gay orientation would be biblically justified.
The Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., one of the country's pre-eminent evangelicalleaders, acknowledged that he irked many fellow conservatives with anarticle earlier this month saying scientific research "points to some levelof biological causation" for homosexuality.
Proof of a biological basis would challenge the belief of many conservativeChristians that homosexuality - which they view as sinful - is a matter ofchoice that can be overcome through prayer and counseling.
However, Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary inLouisville, Ky., was assailed even more harshly by gay-rights supporters.They were upset by his assertion that homosexuality would remain a sin evenif it were biologically based, and by his support for possible medicaltreatment that could switch an unborn gay baby's sexual orientation toheterosexual.
"He's willing to play God," said Harry Knox, a spokesman on religious issuesfor the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay-rights group. "He's more thanwilling to let homophobia take over and be the determinant of how heresponds to this issue, in spite of everything else he believes about nottinkering with the unborn."
=
The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid42989.asp
Pentagon dismissed 612 personnel in 2006 under "don't ask, don't tell"
The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed that 612 service members weredismissed last year under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy ongays, fewer than half of the total number of discharges in the fiscal yearpreceding the September 11, 2001, attacks.
The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed that 612 service members weredismissed last year under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy ongays. The number of troops dismissed in 2006 is fewer than half of the totalnumber of discharges in the fiscal year preceding the September 11, 2001,attacks.
Following recent media attention concerning the ban, the Pentagon releasedthe data Tuesday.
C. Dixon Osburn, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network,an advocacy group for gay and lesbian service personnel, said in a statementthat the data "shines a bright light" on the ban's inner workings.
"When military leaders need the talent, skills, and qualifications of gaypersonnel, dismissals decline," Osburn said. "Then, during peacetime, thedismissal rate climbs again. The Pentagon's own data shows that, duringtimes of war, when unit cohesion is most important, fewer gay troops aredismissed. In fact, lesbian and gay Americans are making importantcontributions to our national security. The ban on their service, and nottheir service itself, is what erodes cohesion most."
In 2005 the Pentagon dismissed 742 service members. The 2006 figure showsthe fewest number of people discharged since the law's enactment. (TheAdvocate)
=
The Advocate
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid42976.asp
March 15, 2007
George Soros pledges $3 million to fight TB
Billionaire George Soros pledged $3 million Wednesday to fight a deadlystrain of tuberculosis in Africa.
Since an outbreak of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, or XDR-TB wasidentified in South Africa last year, health experts have repeatedly issueddire warnings about the disease's spread across the continent, fueled by theAIDS pandemic. But aside from a series of worldwide meetings, littleconcrete action has been taken.
Soros's Open Society Institute announced a $3 million grant to the nonprofitorganization Partners in Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston,Mass. The donation will be used to design a model project of community-basedXDR-TB treatment in Lesotho. Once treatment guidelines are developed,experts hope the program might be adopted in other poor countries.
Partners in Health has previously implemented community-based programs fordrug-resistant TB in countries including Peru and Rwanda. ''It is possibleto treat highly resistant tuberculosis,'' said Dr. Paul Farmer, cofounder ofPartners in Health, who disputed characterizations of the disease as''virtually untreatable.'' Farmer emphasized the need for HIV and TBtreatment to be integrated.
''It's great that Soros has stepped forward, but what we really need ismassive investments from governments,'' said Mark Harrington, executivedirector of the Treatment Action Group, a United States-based healthadvocacy group. ''Governments have been embarrassed about the outbreak andterrified of not knowing what to do about it,'' he said, calling the XDR-TBproblem ''out of control.''
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-gay-parents.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
March 14, 2007
Gay Male Parents Get Dedicated Fertility Program
By REUTERS
Filed at 8:50 a.m. ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Los Angeles fertility clinic has launched what itsays is the first dedicated program for gay men wanting to become parents.
The Fertility Institutes, already a pioneer in the controversial area ofgender selection, said it was responding to huge demand from gay malecouples around the world who want their own biological children but areoften thwarted by prejudice and bureaucracy.
``There are a lot of centers that dibble and dabble in this. But we are theonly program for gay men that has psychological, legal, medical, surrogates,donors and patients all taken care of in one place,'' Dr Jeffrey Steinberg,director of The Fertility Institutes, told Reuters in an interview.
``The demand is incredible. The United States has always been busy but weare seeing more and more demand from abroad.''
The last few years have seen a large increase in the number of gay men whowant to father children using surrogate mothers rather than opting foradoption, which is difficult or impossible for homosexuals or lesbians inseveral U.S. states.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/opinion/15thu4.html?pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
Editorial
General Pace and Gay Soldiers
There's a good reason that military officers avoid commenting on politics,society and public policy. The results are usually bad.
Consider the offensive comments that Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff, made this week about gay people. They carried a specialmeasure of hurt coming from the nation's highest military officer whenthousands of gay men and lesbians are serving their country in Iraq.
By refusing to apologize, General Pace compounded the injury and remindedthe entire country of what happened the last time the top brass took on thissubject. It was Gen. Colin Powell's public rebuke of a new president, BillClinton, for even entertaining the idea of allowing homosexuals to serveopenly that led to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
It is a bad system, which has ruined people's lives and hurt the military,but it still is the policy, established by General Pace's civilian bosses,and it allows gay people to serve as long as they don't say anything abouttheir orientation.
Which made it all the more offensive to read that General Pace told theeditorial board of The Chicago Tribune that he believes homosexuality is anintolerable immoral act equivalent to adultery.
=
Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?Do ask ... for an apology
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
IT'S INSULTING enough to the untold thousands of gays and lesbians inuniform that the U.S. military clings to its "don't ask, don't tell" policyof 1993. Now they must deal with the indignity of hearing the chairman ofthe Joint Chiefs of Staff express his view that "homosexual acts betweenindividuals are immoral."
Worse yet, Marine Gen. Peter Pace did not have the class to apologize or toretract his offensive statements Tuesday. Instead, he merely issued astatement of regret that his comments were not focused more on Department ofDefense policy and less on "my personal moral views."
In the interview with the Chicago Tribune, Pace attributed his opinion thatgay sex was immoral -- comparable to adultery -- was a result of hisupbringing. "My upbringing" is not an acceptable excuse for any form ofbigotry from a high-level public official in 2007. The adultery comparisonis just plain ludicrous in view of the laws against same-sex marriage.
The "don't ask, don't tell" policy, an anachronism when promoted as acompromise by President Clinton in 1993, is all the more outrageous at atime when we are asking soldiers who are serving their country so ably --risking their lives in combat -- to conceal their sexual orientation, as ifit were a matter of shame.
Pace should apologize.
=
Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/state/16900207.htm?emplate=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Wed, Mar. 14, 2007
FDA says gay blood ban stays in effect
By MATT KING
MediaNews
SANTA CRUZ - U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials say they have noplans to lift the prohibition against gay men donating blood, despitepressure from blood collection agencies and civil liberties groups, who saythe rules are outdated and discriminatory.
"Blood safety depends not only on donor testing, but on reducing the numberof contaminated donations that may take place," FDA spokeswoman HeidiRebello said. "This is why we continue to defer persons whose behaviorplaces them at high risk for infection."
FDA rules preclude any man who's had one sexual encounter with another mansince 1977 from donating blood. According to the FDA, such men are 60 timesmore likely to have HIV than the general population, 200 times more likelythan first-time donors, and 2,000 times more likely than repeat donors.
The issue flared up in Santa Cruz in December when Harbor High Schoolstudent body president Ronnie Childers helped organize a blood drive butwasn't allowed to donate because he is gay. Since then, Harbor students andfaculty have lobbied state and federal legislators to pressure the FDA tochange the rules.
Rebello said the FDA will change the rules only when it can be shown "thatblood safety would not decrease... and that errors of testing and inventorycontrol are prevented."
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11954
Crown Publishing backs Coulter after gay slur
Random House division plans October launch for new book
NEW YORK (AP) | Mar 14, 12:37 PM
While conservative pundit Ann Coulter has been dropped by several newspapersfor using an anti-gay slur regarding Democratic presidential candidate JohnEdwards, she remains in good standing with her book publisher.
The Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., plans anOctober release for her next book, "If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd BeRepublicans."
"We have a book with her on our fall list and have no plans on altering ourcurrent publication plans," Crown publisher and senior vice president SteveRoss told the Associated Press in a recent e-mail.
According to Editor & Publisher, at least eight newspapers have droppedCoulter's syndicated column since her comments about Edwards.
On March 2, speaking to Republican activists attending the annualConservative Political Action Conference, Coulter said, "I was going to havea few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards,but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ... "
Coulter has declined to apologize.
=
Deseretnews.com
http://deseretnews.com/dn/print/1,1442,660202808,00.html
Deseret Morning News, Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Gay activists to stage 'Jericho' walk at BYU
By Tad Walch
Deseret Morning News
PROVO - Last year, Soulforce's gay activists staged a die-in at BrighamYoung University that led to 29 arrests.
Next week, the group will return to BYU with a new plan for publicity - aplan based on a Bible story.
The college-age Soulforce Equality Riders style themselves after the FreedomRiders of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. Their 2007 tour beganeventfully last week with eight arrests, six at Notre Dame University, andwith an apology from one college president.
The group's BYU game plan includes a six-hour walk around the perimeter ofthe campus on March 22, a public demonstration meant to recall the story inthe Old Testament Book of Joshua about the walls of Jericho.
In the story, God instructs Joshua to have the Israelites march around thecity of Jericho once a day for six days, then seven times on the seventhday. The walls, as the song goes, came "a tumblin' down" when the Israelitesshouted after they circled it the final time.
=
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6449321.stm
French gay marriage fight goes on
By Petru Clej
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2007/03/14 12:36:30 GMT
A mayor who conducted the first gay wedding in France has vowed to continuehis fight in spite of a court decision which ruled it illegal.
Noel Mamere, Mayor of Begles in south-west France, officiated at the"marriage" of two gay men in June 2004.
But it was declared illegal by France's highest court on Tuesday.
The two men, Stephane Chapin and Bertrand Charpentier, have said they willappeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Mr Mamere told BBC News he was not surprised by the decision of the Court deCassation, which confirmed earlier decisions by two lower courts.
"It is a part of a conservative conception of marriage", Noel Mamere said.
"I have no regrets. I subscribe to this cause and I will persist."
=
Deutsche Welle
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2383308,00.html
Poland Considers Outlawing Homosexual Material in Schools
14.03.2007
Poland is debating a bill that would make all material dealing withhomosexuality, including educational information, illegal as way ofprotecting school children from "homosexual propaganda."
Roman Giertych, Poland's deputy prime minister and education minister, ispreparing legislation to sanction school principals who allow members of gayrights organizations to speak with pupils, a Polish education ministryspokesperson confirmed Tuesday.
Deputy Education Minister Miroslaw Orzechowski said the bill is intended toprotect Polish families and could come before parliament by the end ofMarch.
"The Polish constitution says that the state should protect families,because of that, we are obligated to take this step," he said at a pressconference. "There are children in schools who could be susceptible tohomosexual political agitation, and that puts homosexual propaganda indirect opposition to the elementary interests of our state."
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/us/politics/15gays.html?pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
Clinton Seesaws on Question of Gay Morality
By PATRICK HEALY
WASHINGTON, March 14 - Asked if she believed homosexuality was immoral,Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, initially saidWednesday that it was for "others to conclude," but later issued a statementsaying she did not think being gay was immoral.
Her remarks came a day after Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefsof Staff, said he should not have publicly expressed his personal view thathomosexual acts were immoral and akin to adultery, a position that he saidwas a factor in his opposition to gay men and lesbians serving openly in themilitary. His views had appeared in The Chicago Tribune on Monday.
A rival of Mrs. Clinton for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination,Senator Barack Obama of Illinois was asked the same question three times onWednesday and sidestepped the issue, according to an article in Newsday.
But a spokesman for Mr. Obama said last night that the senator disagreedwith General Pace's remarks and believed that homosexuality was not immoral.
Mrs. Clinton supports allowing gay men and lesbians to serve in themilitary, which differs from the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy,adopted under President Bill Clinton in 1993.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/454/story/42081.html
Posted on Thu, Mar. 15, 2007
They bleed red, too
'
'It is not our place in the military, those of us in senior leadershippositions, to make moral or religious judgments with respect tohomosexuality.'' That's what Gen. Colin Powell told Congress in 1993 when,as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he unveiled the Don't Ask, Don'tTell policy on gays in the military.
He was right then, and he's still right today. Gen. Peter Pace, the currentchairman of the Joint Chiefs, forgot this wise counsel when he recentlycalled homosexual acts immoral.
The military has no official position on the morality of homosexuality,which makes Gen. Pace's remarks all the more puzzling. His opinion servesonly to denigrate the inestimable contribution made by thousands of gay menand women who have served honorably in Iraq and elsewhere and continue toput their lives on the line every day.
=
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2007/03/ann_coulter_and.html
March 14, 2007
ANN COULTER AND H.R.C.--A QUESTION OF CENSORSHIP
I wrote the following commentary for Gay City News, which will publish ittomorrow:
You'd have to be living under a rock in Fiji without electricity to not haveheard by now how the odious ultra-conservative pitbull Ann Coulter (left)called Sen. John Edwards (right) a "faggot" during her remarks last week atthe Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). But what you may nothave heard is what an organization calling itself the Human Rights Campaign(HRC) did in response to Coulter's bigoted slur.
Not content with simply denouncing this latest evidence that Coulter isinfected with a particularly virulent form of intellectual rabies, HRCdecided to reach deep into the Christian right's grab-bag of intimidationtricks and organize a national letter-writing campaign demanding ofUniversal Press Syndicate that it simply stop distributing her column to the100-odd newspapers around the country that publish Coulter's syndicatedlacerations.
And now it's HRC that is taking incoming from gay writers and editors whostill hold to the increasingly quaint notion that freedom of speech applieseven to those whose speech we don't like -- that it is, in fact, a humanright.
The first Scud launched at HRC came from longtime gay columnist PaulVarnell, whose work appears in the Chicago Free Press and is syndicated to anumber of other gay papers around the country.
"Doesn't this smack of an attempt at censorship, even prior censorship?After all Coulter hasn't used 'faggot' in her column, so far as I know,"Varnell (left) wrote in an e-mail to HRC that he circulated to others of uswho write for gay media, adding, "This just seems like trying to silence aperson whose politics the HRC disagrees with. That's never a very goodgrounds for attempts at censorship."
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/03/031507blackgaymen.htm
Crossing the Gay Color Lines
by James Hillis, AfterElton.com
Posted: March 15, 2007 - 1 am ET
(New York) Isaiah Washington, an African American actor, uses the word"faggot" during an altercation on the set of ABC's Grey's Anatomy. TimHardaway, a black former NBA star, hears that another former NBA player isgay and responds: "I hate gay people. . I am homophobic. It shouldn't be inthe world or in the United States."
White gay men see these incidents as examples of a homophobic AfricanAmerican culture. Straight African Americans see a cynical media exploitingcaricatures of the angry, ignorant black man. Neither appraisal reveals themore complex truths about why GLBT people and African Americans still eyeeach other suspiciously across the cultural divide.
Are the parallels that gays make between GLBT struggles and the civil-rightsmovement instructive or offensive? What is the deeper meaning behind theperceived homophobia in the African American community? And what aboutinclusiveness in the gay community? Do gays of all ethnicities live up tothe ideal of the "rainbow" people?
AfterElton.com recently spoke to five gay African American men - artists whoare fiercely active within their communities - to explore how white gaypeople and African Americans can better understand each other, andultimately come together to promote the equality of all people. That journeymay begin with uncovering some hard truths.
Controversies Spark Conversation
Out filmmaker Lee Daniels is the producer and director of last year'sShadowboxer, which starred recent Oscar-winner Helen Mirren and Cuba GoodingJr. He also produced Monster's Ball, which featured Halle Berry'sOscar-winning performance. During the Isaiah Washington controversy, some inthe gay press compared the word "faggot" with the N-word, and as a gayAfrican American, Daniels sees this as a fair analogy. "I think it's anabsolute comparison," he said. Washington "should have been fired on thespot."
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
March 14, 2007
Contact: Scott Tucker
Log Cabin Republicans-Washington, DC Office
(202) 347-5306
stucker@logcabin.org
Log Cabin Republicans Praise Bi-Partisan Introduction of Early Treatment forHIV Act
President Bush and Congress Should Support this Bill to Tackle EarlyTreatment of HIV/AIDS
(Washington, DC) - Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR), joined by Senator HillaryClinton (D-NY), has re-introduced the Early Treatment for HIV Act (ETHA)."Log Cabin praises Senator Gordon Smith for re-introducing this criticalpiece of legislation," said Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon. "This billwill save lives, reduce the transmission rates of HIV, and save millions ofdollars."
This program will expand access to vital medical services for low-incomeHIV-positive individuals before they develop full-blown AIDS. Medicaidcurrently offers no help until a person has AIDS.
"HIV/AIDS touches the lives of millions of Americans from a variety ofbackgrounds," said Senator Smith. "Some get the proper medications theyneed to remain healthy, but far too many do not. The inability to accesslife-saving treatment literally creates a 'life and death' situation formany of our most vulnerable citizens. Fortunately, ETHA can give thoseindividuals access to the care they need so they can look forward to a longand healthier life."
"We call on President Bush and Congress to join in this bi-partisan effortand support ETHA," said Sammon.
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11954
Crown Publishing backs Coulter after gay slur
Random House division plans October launch for new book
NEW YORK (AP) | Mar 14, 12:37 PM
While conservative pundit Ann Coulter has been dropped by several newspapersfor using an anti-gay slur regarding Democratic presidential candidate JohnEdwards, she remains in good standing with her book publisher.
The Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., plans anOctober release for her next book, "If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd BeRepublicans."
"We have a book with her on our fall list and have no plans on altering ourcurrent publication plans," Crown publisher and senior vice president SteveRoss told the Associated Press in a recent e-mail.
According to Editor & Publisher, at least eight newspapers have droppedCoulter's syndicated column since her comments about Edwards.
On March 2, speaking to Republican activists attending the annualConservative Political Action Conference, Coulter said, "I was going to havea few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards,but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ... "
Coulter has declined to apologize.
=
The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11948
Ark. Senate passes ban of foster care, adoptions by gay couplesBill's author cites recent arrest of gay man for sexual assault and abuseLITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) | Mar 14, 9:09 AM
A bill passed by the Arkansas Senate banning gays and any unmarried couplesfrom adopting or serving as foster parents stands on "solid, legal ground,"its sponsor says.
Sen. Shawn Womack stresses his bill addresses a procedural point used by thestate Supreme Court last year to overturn Arkansas' ban. Senators voted 20-7Tuesday to support the bill, though other senators warned the measure onlydiscriminated against a group of people at a time when the state needs morefoster families.
"The right to adopt does not exist to give the adult the right to become aparent," said Womack (R-Mountain Home). "It is our obligation, our highestobligation to ensure we place that child with the best care."
Womack went on to mention the case of a Bella Vista man arrested last weekon sexual assault and abuse charges. The man cared for 28 boys the stateplaced with him over the past two years.
However, Womack said under questioning by colleagues that he did not believebeing gay made a person a pedophile, though he called the two "notnecessarily mutually exclusive either."
=
The Deseret News
http://deseretnews.com/dn/print/1,1442,660202808,00.html
Deseret Morning News, Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Gay activists to stage 'Jericho' walk at BYU
By Tad Walch
PROVO - Last year, Soulforce's gay activists staged a die-in at BrighamYoung University that led to 29 arrests.
Next week, the group will return to BYU with a new plan for publicity - aplan based on a Bible story.
The college-age Soulforce Equality Riders style themselves after the FreedomRiders of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. Their 2007 tour beganeventfully last week with eight arrests, six at Notre Dame University, andwith an apology from one college president.
The group's BYU game plan includes a six-hour walk around the perimeter of
the campus on March 22, a public demonstration meant to recall the story inthe Old Testament Book of Joshua about the walls of Jericho.
In the story, God instructs Joshua to have the Israelites march around thecity of ericho once a day for six days, then seven times on the seventhday. The walls, as the song goes, came "a tumblin' down" when the Israelitesshouted after they circled it the final time.
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/blog/index.cfm?type=blog&start=3/8/07&end=3/15/07#11961
By Steve Koval
Hillary is a poor choice for gay voters
If the folks at HRC don't feel used and abused, then they must bemasochists.
After the Clinton-HRC love fest behind closed doors on March 2, you mightexpect that Sen. Hillary Clinton could be bring herself to publicly say thathomosexuality isn't immoral. Unfortunately, you'd be disappointed.
CNN reported the sad truth Wednesday evening:
Sen. Hillary Clinton sidestepped a question about whether she thinkshomosexuality is immoral Wednesday, less than two weeks after tellinggay-rights activists she was "proud" to stand by their side.
Clinton was asked the question by ABC News, in the wake of Joint Chiefs ofStaff Chairman Peter Pace's controversial comment that he believedhomosexual acts were immoral.
"Well, I'm going to leave that to others to conclude," she said.
With friends like these...
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/03/031407baptists.htm
Furor Over Baptist's Gay-Baby Article
by the Associated Press
Posted: March 14, 2007 - 5 pm ET
(Washington) The president of the leading Southern Baptist seminary hasincurred sharp attacks from both the left and right by suggesting that abiological basis for homosexuality may be proven, and that prenataltreatment to reverse gay orientation would be biblically justified.
The Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., one of the country's pre-eminent evangelicalleaders, acknowledged that he irked many fellow conservatives with anarticle earlier this month saying scientific research "points to some levelof biological causation" for homosexuality.
Proof of a biological basis would challenge the belief of many conservativeChristians that homosexuality - which they view as sinful - is a matter ofchoice that can be overcome through prayer and counseling.
However, Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary inLouisville, Ky., was assailed even more harshly by gay-rights supporters.They were upset by his assertion that homosexuality would remain a sin evenif it were biologically based, and by his support for possible medicaltreatment that could switch an unborn gay baby's sexual orientation toheterosexual.
"He's willing to play God," said Harry Knox, a spokesman on religious issuesfor the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay-rights group. "He's more thanwilling to let homophobia take over and be the determinant of how heresponds to this issue, in spite of everything else he believes about nottinkering with the unborn."
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid42989.asp
Pentagon dismissed 612 personnel in 2006 under "don't ask, don't tell"
The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed that 612 service members weredismissed last year under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy ongays, fewer than half of the total number of discharges in the fiscal yearpreceding the September 11, 2001, attacks.
The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed that 612 service members weredismissed last year under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy ongays. The number of troops dismissed in 2006 is fewer than half of the totalnumber of discharges in the fiscal year preceding the September 11, 2001,attacks.
Following recent media attention concerning the ban, the Pentagon releasedthe data Tuesday.
C. Dixon Osburn, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network,an advocacy group for gay and lesbian service personnel, said in a statementthat the data "shines a bright light" on the ban's inner workings.
"When military leaders need the talent, skills, and qualifications of gaypersonnel, dismissals decline," Osburn said. "Then, during peacetime, thedismissal rate climbs again. The Pentagon's own data shows that, duringtimes of war, when unit cohesion is most important, fewer gay troops aredismissed. In fact, lesbian and gay Americans are making importantcontributions to our national security. The ban on their service, and nottheir service itself, is what erodes cohesion most."
In 2005 the Pentagon dismissed 742 service members. The 2006 figure showsthe fewest number of people discharged since the law's enactment. (TheAdvocate)
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid42976.asp
March 15, 2007
George Soros pledges $3 million to fight TB
Billionaire George Soros pledged $3 million Wednesday to fight a deadlystrain of tuberculosis in Africa.
Since an outbreak of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, or XDR-TB wasidentified in South Africa last year, health experts have repeatedly issueddire warnings about the disease's spread across the continent, fueled by theAIDS pandemic. But aside from a series of worldwide meetings, littleconcrete action has been taken.
Soros's Open Society Institute announced a $3 million grant to the nonprofitorganization Partners in Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston,Mass. The donation will be used to design a model project of community-basedXDR-TB treatment in Lesotho. Once treatment guidelines are developed,experts hope the program might be adopted in other poor countries.
Partners in Health has previously implemented community-based programs fordrug-resistant TB in countries including Peru and Rwanda. ''It is possibleto treat highly resistant tuberculosis,'' said Dr. Paul Farmer, cofounder ofPartners in Health, who disputed characterizations of the disease as''virtually untreatable.'' Farmer emphasized the need for HIV and TBtreatment to be integrated.
''It's great that Soros has stepped forward, but what we really need ismassive investments from governments,'' said Mark Harrington, executivedirector of the Treatment Action Group, a United States-based healthadvocacy group. ''Governments have been embarrassed about the outbreak andterrified of not knowing what to do about it,'' he said, calling the XDR-TBproblem ''out of control.''
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-gay-parents.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
March 14, 2007
Gay Male Parents Get Dedicated Fertility Program
By REUTERS
Filed at 8:50 a.m. ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Los Angeles fertility clinic has launched what itsays is the first dedicated program for gay men wanting to become parents.
The Fertility Institutes, already a pioneer in the controversial area ofgender selection, said it was responding to huge demand from gay malecouples around the world who want their own biological children but areoften thwarted by prejudice and bureaucracy.
``There are a lot of centers that dibble and dabble in this. But we are theonly program for gay men that has psychological, legal, medical, surrogates,donors and patients all taken care of in one place,'' Dr Jeffrey Steinberg,director of The Fertility Institutes, told Reuters in an interview.
``The demand is incredible. The United States has always been busy but weare seeing more and more demand from abroad.''
The last few years have seen a large increase in the number of gay men whowant to father children using surrogate mothers rather than opting foradoption, which is difficult or impossible for homosexuals or lesbians inseveral U.S. states.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/opinion/15thu4.html?pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
Editorial
General Pace and Gay Soldiers
There's a good reason that military officers avoid commenting on politics,society and public policy. The results are usually bad.
Consider the offensive comments that Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff, made this week about gay people. They carried a specialmeasure of hurt coming from the nation's highest military officer whenthousands of gay men and lesbians are serving their country in Iraq.
By refusing to apologize, General Pace compounded the injury and remindedthe entire country of what happened the last time the top brass took on thissubject. It was Gen. Colin Powell's public rebuke of a new president, BillClinton, for even entertaining the idea of allowing homosexuals to serveopenly that led to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
It is a bad system, which has ruined people's lives and hurt the military,but it still is the policy, established by General Pace's civilian bosses,and it allows gay people to serve as long as they don't say anything abouttheir orientation.
Which made it all the more offensive to read that General Pace told theeditorial board of The Chicago Tribune that he believes homosexuality is anintolerable immoral act equivalent to adultery.
=
Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?Do ask ... for an apology
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
IT'S INSULTING enough to the untold thousands of gays and lesbians inuniform that the U.S. military clings to its "don't ask, don't tell" policyof 1993. Now they must deal with the indignity of hearing the chairman ofthe Joint Chiefs of Staff express his view that "homosexual acts betweenindividuals are immoral."
Worse yet, Marine Gen. Peter Pace did not have the class to apologize or toretract his offensive statements Tuesday. Instead, he merely issued astatement of regret that his comments were not focused more on Department ofDefense policy and less on "my personal moral views."
In the interview with the Chicago Tribune, Pace attributed his opinion thatgay sex was immoral -- comparable to adultery -- was a result of hisupbringing. "My upbringing" is not an acceptable excuse for any form ofbigotry from a high-level public official in 2007. The adultery comparisonis just plain ludicrous in view of the laws against same-sex marriage.
The "don't ask, don't tell" policy, an anachronism when promoted as acompromise by President Clinton in 1993, is all the more outrageous at atime when we are asking soldiers who are serving their country so ably --risking their lives in combat -- to conceal their sexual orientation, as ifit were a matter of shame.
Pace should apologize.
=
Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/state/16900207.htm?emplate=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Wed, Mar. 14, 2007
FDA says gay blood ban stays in effect
By MATT KING
MediaNews
SANTA CRUZ - U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials say they have noplans to lift the prohibition against gay men donating blood, despitepressure from blood collection agencies and civil liberties groups, who saythe rules are outdated and discriminatory.
"Blood safety depends not only on donor testing, but on reducing the numberof contaminated donations that may take place," FDA spokeswoman HeidiRebello said. "This is why we continue to defer persons whose behaviorplaces them at high risk for infection."
FDA rules preclude any man who's had one sexual encounter with another mansince 1977 from donating blood. According to the FDA, such men are 60 timesmore likely to have HIV than the general population, 200 times more likelythan first-time donors, and 2,000 times more likely than repeat donors.
The issue flared up in Santa Cruz in December when Harbor High Schoolstudent body president Ronnie Childers helped organize a blood drive butwasn't allowed to donate because he is gay. Since then, Harbor students andfaculty have lobbied state and federal legislators to pressure the FDA tochange the rules.
Rebello said the FDA will change the rules only when it can be shown "thatblood safety would not decrease... and that errors of testing and inventorycontrol are prevented."
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11954
Crown Publishing backs Coulter after gay slur
Random House division plans October launch for new book
NEW YORK (AP) | Mar 14, 12:37 PM
While conservative pundit Ann Coulter has been dropped by several newspapersfor using an anti-gay slur regarding Democratic presidential candidate JohnEdwards, she remains in good standing with her book publisher.
The Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., plans anOctober release for her next book, "If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd BeRepublicans."
"We have a book with her on our fall list and have no plans on altering ourcurrent publication plans," Crown publisher and senior vice president SteveRoss told the Associated Press in a recent e-mail.
According to Editor & Publisher, at least eight newspapers have droppedCoulter's syndicated column since her comments about Edwards.
On March 2, speaking to Republican activists attending the annualConservative Political Action Conference, Coulter said, "I was going to havea few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards,but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ... "
Coulter has declined to apologize.
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Deseretnews.com
http://deseretnews.com/dn/print/1,1442,660202808,00.html
Deseret Morning News, Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Gay activists to stage 'Jericho' walk at BYU
By Tad Walch
Deseret Morning News
PROVO - Last year, Soulforce's gay activists staged a die-in at BrighamYoung University that led to 29 arrests.
Next week, the group will return to BYU with a new plan for publicity - aplan based on a Bible story.
The college-age Soulforce Equality Riders style themselves after the FreedomRiders of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. Their 2007 tour beganeventfully last week with eight arrests, six at Notre Dame University, andwith an apology from one college president.
The group's BYU game plan includes a six-hour walk around the perimeter ofthe campus on March 22, a public demonstration meant to recall the story inthe Old Testament Book of Joshua about the walls of Jericho.
In the story, God instructs Joshua to have the Israelites march around thecity of Jericho once a day for six days, then seven times on the seventhday. The walls, as the song goes, came "a tumblin' down" when the Israelitesshouted after they circled it the final time.
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BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6449321.stm
French gay marriage fight goes on
By Petru Clej
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2007/03/14 12:36:30 GMT
A mayor who conducted the first gay wedding in France has vowed to continuehis fight in spite of a court decision which ruled it illegal.
Noel Mamere, Mayor of Begles in south-west France, officiated at the"marriage" of two gay men in June 2004.
But it was declared illegal by France's highest court on Tuesday.
The two men, Stephane Chapin and Bertrand Charpentier, have said they willappeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Mr Mamere told BBC News he was not surprised by the decision of the Court deCassation, which confirmed earlier decisions by two lower courts.
"It is a part of a conservative conception of marriage", Noel Mamere said.
"I have no regrets. I subscribe to this cause and I will persist."
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Deutsche Welle
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2383308,00.html
Poland Considers Outlawing Homosexual Material in Schools
14.03.2007
Poland is debating a bill that would make all material dealing withhomosexuality, including educational information, illegal as way ofprotecting school children from "homosexual propaganda."
Roman Giertych, Poland's deputy prime minister and education minister, ispreparing legislation to sanction school principals who allow members of gayrights organizations to speak with pupils, a Polish education ministryspokesperson confirmed Tuesday.
Deputy Education Minister Miroslaw Orzechowski said the bill is intended toprotect Polish families and could come before parliament by the end ofMarch.
"The Polish constitution says that the state should protect families,because of that, we are obligated to take this step," he said at a pressconference. "There are children in schools who could be susceptible tohomosexual political agitation, and that puts homosexual propaganda indirect opposition to the elementary interests of our state."
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/us/politics/15gays.html?pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
Clinton Seesaws on Question of Gay Morality
By PATRICK HEALY
WASHINGTON, March 14 - Asked if she believed homosexuality was immoral,Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, initially saidWednesday that it was for "others to conclude," but later issued a statementsaying she did not think being gay was immoral.
Her remarks came a day after Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefsof Staff, said he should not have publicly expressed his personal view thathomosexual acts were immoral and akin to adultery, a position that he saidwas a factor in his opposition to gay men and lesbians serving openly in themilitary. His views had appeared in The Chicago Tribune on Monday.
A rival of Mrs. Clinton for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination,Senator Barack Obama of Illinois was asked the same question three times onWednesday and sidestepped the issue, according to an article in Newsday.
But a spokesman for Mr. Obama said last night that the senator disagreedwith General Pace's remarks and believed that homosexuality was not immoral.
Mrs. Clinton supports allowing gay men and lesbians to serve in themilitary, which differs from the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy,adopted under President Bill Clinton in 1993.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/454/story/42081.html
Posted on Thu, Mar. 15, 2007
They bleed red, too
'
'It is not our place in the military, those of us in senior leadershippositions, to make moral or religious judgments with respect tohomosexuality.'' That's what Gen. Colin Powell told Congress in 1993 when,as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he unveiled the Don't Ask, Don'tTell policy on gays in the military.
He was right then, and he's still right today. Gen. Peter Pace, the currentchairman of the Joint Chiefs, forgot this wise counsel when he recentlycalled homosexual acts immoral.
The military has no official position on the morality of homosexuality,which makes Gen. Pace's remarks all the more puzzling. His opinion servesonly to denigrate the inestimable contribution made by thousands of gay menand women who have served honorably in Iraq and elsewhere and continue toput their lives on the line every day.
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http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2007/03/ann_coulter_and.html
March 14, 2007
ANN COULTER AND H.R.C.--A QUESTION OF CENSORSHIP
I wrote the following commentary for Gay City News, which will publish ittomorrow:
You'd have to be living under a rock in Fiji without electricity to not haveheard by now how the odious ultra-conservative pitbull Ann Coulter (left)called Sen. John Edwards (right) a "faggot" during her remarks last week atthe Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). But what you may nothave heard is what an organization calling itself the Human Rights Campaign(HRC) did in response to Coulter's bigoted slur.
Not content with simply denouncing this latest evidence that Coulter isinfected with a particularly virulent form of intellectual rabies, HRCdecided to reach deep into the Christian right's grab-bag of intimidationtricks and organize a national letter-writing campaign demanding ofUniversal Press Syndicate that it simply stop distributing her column to the100-odd newspapers around the country that publish Coulter's syndicatedlacerations.
And now it's HRC that is taking incoming from gay writers and editors whostill hold to the increasingly quaint notion that freedom of speech applieseven to those whose speech we don't like -- that it is, in fact, a humanright.
The first Scud launched at HRC came from longtime gay columnist PaulVarnell, whose work appears in the Chicago Free Press and is syndicated to anumber of other gay papers around the country.
"Doesn't this smack of an attempt at censorship, even prior censorship?After all Coulter hasn't used 'faggot' in her column, so far as I know,"Varnell (left) wrote in an e-mail to HRC that he circulated to others of uswho write for gay media, adding, "This just seems like trying to silence aperson whose politics the HRC disagrees with. That's never a very goodgrounds for attempts at censorship."
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/03/031507blackgaymen.htm
Crossing the Gay Color Lines
by James Hillis, AfterElton.com
Posted: March 15, 2007 - 1 am ET
(New York) Isaiah Washington, an African American actor, uses the word"faggot" during an altercation on the set of ABC's Grey's Anatomy. TimHardaway, a black former NBA star, hears that another former NBA player isgay and responds: "I hate gay people. . I am homophobic. It shouldn't be inthe world or in the United States."
White gay men see these incidents as examples of a homophobic AfricanAmerican culture. Straight African Americans see a cynical media exploitingcaricatures of the angry, ignorant black man. Neither appraisal reveals themore complex truths about why GLBT people and African Americans still eyeeach other suspiciously across the cultural divide.
Are the parallels that gays make between GLBT struggles and the civil-rightsmovement instructive or offensive? What is the deeper meaning behind theperceived homophobia in the African American community? And what aboutinclusiveness in the gay community? Do gays of all ethnicities live up tothe ideal of the "rainbow" people?
AfterElton.com recently spoke to five gay African American men - artists whoare fiercely active within their communities - to explore how white gaypeople and African Americans can better understand each other, andultimately come together to promote the equality of all people. That journeymay begin with uncovering some hard truths.
Controversies Spark Conversation
Out filmmaker Lee Daniels is the producer and director of last year'sShadowboxer, which starred recent Oscar-winner Helen Mirren and Cuba GoodingJr. He also produced Monster's Ball, which featured Halle Berry'sOscar-winning performance. During the Isaiah Washington controversy, some inthe gay press compared the word "faggot" with the N-word, and as a gayAfrican American, Daniels sees this as a fair analogy. "I think it's anabsolute comparison," he said. Washington "should have been fired on thespot."
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
March 14, 2007
Contact: Scott Tucker
Log Cabin Republicans-Washington, DC Office
(202) 347-5306
Log Cabin Republicans Praise Bi-Partisan Introduction of Early Treatment forHIV Act
President Bush and Congress Should Support this Bill to Tackle EarlyTreatment of HIV/AIDS
(Washington, DC) - Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR), joined by Senator HillaryClinton (D-NY), has re-introduced the Early Treatment for HIV Act (ETHA)."Log Cabin praises Senator Gordon Smith for re-introducing this criticalpiece of legislation," said Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon. "This billwill save lives, reduce the transmission rates of HIV, and save millions ofdollars."
This program will expand access to vital medical services for low-incomeHIV-positive individuals before they develop full-blown AIDS. Medicaidcurrently offers no help until a person has AIDS.
"HIV/AIDS touches the lives of millions of Americans from a variety ofbackgrounds," said Senator Smith. "Some get the proper medications theyneed to remain healthy, but far too many do not. The inability to accesslife-saving treatment literally creates a 'life and death' situation formany of our most vulnerable citizens. Fortunately, ETHA can give thoseindividuals access to the care they need so they can look forward to a longand healthier life."
"We call on President Bush and Congress to join in this bi-partisan effortand support ETHA," said Sammon.
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST March 15, 2007
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/11/AR2007031100986_pf.html
A Self-Inflicted Wound
The U.S. is blocking the best and brightest immigrants.
Monday, March 12, 2007; A12
ONE OF the more self-defeating aspects of this nation's immigration policyis its insistence on denying work visas to thousands of the world's mostsought-after doctors, scientists, engineers and technical specialists,including those finishing their degrees at American universities.
Understandably, U.S. technological corporations, which, unlike Congress,live in the real world of innovation and cutthroat competition for skilledworkers, are furious that their own government's visa policies give foreignfirms a leg up. As Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp., told a Senatecommittee last week, "America will find it infinitely more difficult tomaintain its technological leadership if it shuts out the very people whoare most able to help us compete."
That, unfortunately, is precisely the effect of current policy, which forthe past few years has limited the number of visas reserved for skilledworkers to 65,000 annually -- many fewer than American firms would like tohire. The immigration legislation passed by the Senate last year would haveincreased that number to 115,000, but the bill died in the House. As aresult, it is a certainty that thousands of highly trained workers, theirhopes of staying and working in America dashed, are now giving firms inEurope or Japan a competitive advantage in some of the world's mostcutting-edge industries.
The lunacy of the current state of affairs is exposed by the fact that from2001 to 2003, Congress raised the number of visas for skilled workers to195,000 annually, in recognition of marketplace realities, then allowed itto revert back to 65,000 through what amounted to inattention. At thispoint, with the demand for skilled workers soaring, the 65,000 cap is soinadequate that every single such visa is snapped up by skilled workers whoapply each spring, before the federal government's fiscal year even beginsin October. The system's dysfunction has been recognized by Congress, whichfelt compelled to make some exemptions to its own cap. That eased but didnot solve the problem.
Entangled in the broader debate about immigration, the skilled-worker visaproblem has been neglected for too long. Tighter immigration curbs imposedafter the terrorist attacks of 2001 may have been an understandable reactionat the time.
But there's no excuse for the current logjams, particularly since alegislative fix is relatively simple: increase the number of visas. Andwhile Congress is at it, it should also raise the woefully inadequate annualcap on green cards, which are needed for permanent residency status. Just140,000 are granted annually, and the backlog in applications now requires awaiting period of about five years.
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Forwarded from Susan Fishkorn
Tri-County - chances@attglobal.net
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329744438-103677,00.html
The Guardian - UK
Was I a good American in the time of George Bush?
Too many of us have done too little to stop the crimes of this White House.We are waking up but what took us so long?
Rebecca Solnit
Wednesday March 14, 2007
Guardian
Was I a good American? How good an American was I? Did I do what I could toresist the takeover of my country and the brutalisation of my fellow humanbeings? How much further could I have gone? Were the crimes of the Bushadministration those that demand you give up your life and everydaycommitments to throw yourself into maximum resistance? If not, then whatwere we waiting for? The questions have troubled me regularly these lastfive years, because I was one of the millions of American citizens who didnot shut down Guantánamo Bay and stop the other atrocities of theadministration.
I wrote. I gave money, sometimes in large chunks. I went to anti-warmarches. I demonstrated. I also planted a garden, cooked dinners, playedwith children, wandered around aimlessly, and did lots of other things youdo when the world is not crashing down around you. And maybe when it is. Wasit? It was for the men in our gulag. And the boys there. And the rule of lawin my native land.
Before the current administration, it had always been easy to condemn the"good Germans" who did nothing while Jews, Gypsies and others were roundedup for extermination. One likes to believe that one will be different, willharbour Anne Frank in one's secret annex, smuggle people across the border,defy the authorities who do evil. Those we scornfully call good Germansmerely did little while the mouth of hell opened up.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/ats-ap_top11mar14,0,4124643,print.story?coll=sns-newsnation-headlines
Republican Says Gonzales Should Be Fired
By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press Writer
March 15, 2007, 2:52 AM EDT
WASHINGTON -- A Senate Republican is calling for Attorney General AlbertoGonzales' dismissal as Democrats weigh subpoenaing President Bush's topaides in the escalating political furor over the firing of eight federalprosecutors.
Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire, a longtime Bush administration criticfacing a tough re-election campaign, called for Gonzales' ouster Wednesdayjust hours after Bush expressed confidence in the attorney general, who is alongtime friend.
"I think the president should replace him," Sununu said in an interview. "Ithink the attorney general should be fired."
Although some Republicans have been tepid in their support for the attorneygeneral, Sununu was the first to go so far in the wake of an uproar over theJustice Department's firing of the attorneys and its response tocongressional questions, plus a separate report that the administrationabused its power to secretly investigate suspected terrorists.
The White House issued a curt response to Sununu's remarks.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/washington/15clinton.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
If Elected ...
Clinton Says Some G.I.'s in Iraq Would Remain
By MICHAEL R. GORDON and PATRICK HEALY
WASHINGTON, March 14 - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton foresees a "remainingmilitary as well as political mission" in Iraq, and says that if electedpresident, she would keep a reduced military force there to fight Al Qaeda,deter Iranian aggression, protect the Kurds and possibly support the Iraqimilitary.
In a half-hour interview on Tuesday in her Senate office, Mrs. Clinton saidthe scaled-down American military force that she would maintain would stayoff the streets in Baghdad and would no longer try to protect Iraqis fromsectarian violence - even if it descended into ethnic cleansing.
In outlining how she would handle Iraq as commander in chief, Mrs. Clintonarticulated a more nuanced position than the one she has provided at hercampaign events, where she has backed the goal of "bringing the troops home."
She said in the interview that there were "remaining vital national securityinterests in Iraq" that would require a continuing deployment of Americantroops.
The United States' security would be undermined if parts of Iraq turned intoa failed state "that serves as a petri dish for insurgents and Al Qaeda,"she said. "It is right in the heart of the oil region," she said. "It isdirectly in opposition to our interests, to the interests of regimes, toIsrael's interests."
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/us/15marijuana.html?pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
Dying Woman Loses Appeal on Marijuana as Medication
By JESSE McKINLEY
SAN FRANCISCO, March 14 - Federal appellate judges here ruled Wednesday thata terminally ill woman using marijuana was not immune to federal prosecutionsimply because of her condition, and in a separate case a federal judgedismissed most of the charges against a prominent advocate for the medicinaluse of the drug.
The woman, Angel McClary Raich, says she uses marijuana on doctors'recommendation to treat an inoperable brain tumor and a battery of otherserious ailments. Ms. Raich, 41, asserts that the drug effectively keeps heralive, by stimulating appetite and relieving pain, in a way thatprescription drugs do not.
She wept when she heard the decision.
"It's not every day in this country that someone's right to life is takenfrom them," said Ms. Raich, appearing frail during a news conference inOakland, where she lives. "Today you are looking at someone who really iswalking dead."
In 2002, she and three other plaintiffs sued the government, seeking relieffrom federal laws outlawing marijuana. The case made its way to the SupremeCourt, and in 2005, the court ruled against Ms. Raich, finding that thefederal government had the authority to prohibit and prosecute thepossession and use of marijuana for medical purposes. But the justices leftelements of Ms. Raich's case to a lower court to consider.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/opinion/15thu1.html?pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
Editorial
Immigration Misery
A screaming baby girl has been forcibly weaned from breast milk and taken,dehydrated, to an emergency room, so that the nation's borders will besecure. Her mother and more than 300 other workers in a leather-goodsfactory in New Bedford, Mass., have been terrorized - subdued by guns anddogs, their children stranded at school - so that the country will noticethat the Bush administration is serious about enforcing immigration laws.Meanwhile, tens of thousands of poor Americans, lacking the rightcitizenship papers, have been denied a doctor's care so that not a penny ofMedicaid will go to a sick illegal immigrant.
As the country waits for Congress and the president to enact immigrationreform, the indecency of existing policies is becoming intolerable. Theimmigrant underclass is in a growing state of misery and fear. States andlocalities have rushed to fill the vacuum of Congressional inaction with ajumble of enforcement regimes. Farmers are worrying about crops rotting astheir immigrant workers retreat further into the shadows. Officials inColorado have settled on one solution: replacing those workers with prisonchain gangs.
Senator Edward Kennedy, infuriated after visiting a New Bedford churchbasement and hearing tales of separated families and sick children, hasgiven up on drafting a new immigration bill. He has decided instead to getCongress moving quickly by reintroducing a bill passed last year by theSenate Judiciary Committee. That bill - sponsored by Senator Arlen Specter,then the committee's chairman - was seriously flawed to start and furtherdistorted by harsh Republican amendments.
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/opinion/15brooks.html
March 15, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
The Long Exit
By DAVID BROOKS
Senator Carl Levin has always been one of the most serious participants inthe Iraq debate. He's one of those politicians who could actually pass atest of Middle East cultural literacy - who could tell you what the Mahdirmy is or whether Al Qaeda is a Sunni or Shiite organization. He's one ofthe Democrats who generally hasn't formed his Iraq position with an eye toIowa primary voters or the party's donor base.
Which is why it's significant that his speeches during yesterday's Senatewar debate were so utterly unconvincing.
The essential Levin argument was that the Iraqi leaders have been shirkingtheir duties and it's time to force them to get serious. "It is time forCongress to explain to the Iraqis that it is your country," Levin declared.It is time to shift responsibility for Iraq firmly onto Iraqi shoulders, andgive them the incentives they need to make the tough choices. The Democratictimetable resolution, Levin concluded, "will deliver a cold dose of realityto Iraqi leaders."
But does anybody think that Iraqi leaders, many of whom have seen theirbrothers and children gunned down, need a cold dose of reality deliveredfrom the U.S. Congress? Does anybody buy the Levin model of reality, whichholds that Iraqi leaders are rational game theorists who just need to havetheir incentives rearranged in order to make peace? Does anybody believe therifts in Iraqi society can be bridged by a few "tough choices" made by thelargely reviled Green Zone politicians?
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/opinion/15herbert.html
March 15, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
The Danger Zone
By BOB HERBERT
The national unemployment rate came in at 4.5 percent last week and wasgenerally characterized as pretty good. But whatever universe those numberscame from, it was not the universe that black men live in.
Black American males inhabit a universe in which joblessness is frequentlythe norm, where the idea of getting up each morning and going off to workcan seem stranger to a lot of men than the dream of hitting the lottery,where the dignity that comes from supporting oneself and one's family hastoo often been replaced by a numbing sense of hopelessness.
What I'm talking about is extreme joblessness - joblessness that is coursingthrough communities and being passed from one generation to another, like adeadly virus.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031402279_pf.html
At Candidates Forum, Silence About the War Speaks Volumes
By Dana Milbank
Thursday, March 15, 2007; A02
John McCain -- fighter pilot, prisoner of war, tormentor of Pat Robertson --
s seldom wanting in courage. But even so, what he did yesterday wasnoteworthy.
The Republican senator from Arizona was one of 11 presidential candidates --
emocrat and Republican -- to address the annual gathering of thefirefighters union. But he was the only one to risk making a passionate casebefore the left-leaning group about why the war in Iraq must continue."It is not hopeless," McCain told them. No response other than somebodycoughing.
Reading his speech and stealing quick glances at his listeners, hecontinued. "The hour is late, but we must try, we must!" Beefy firemen, armsfolded on chests, stared back silently.
"We do have some evidence that the new tactics . . . have begun to makeprogress," he pleaded. Audience members whispered. Some shook heads. Oneraised the comics section in front of her face.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Bush-Conservatives.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
For Wary Conservatives, All Eyes on Bush
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 4:57 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Every time President Bush makes an overture toDemocrats -- and he makes plenty these days -- conservative Republicans getedgy. They fear he might be so willing to cross the aisle that he will endup crossing them.
''Everybody should be very concerned and very active,'' said GroverNorquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and a conservative leaderwith close White House relations.
''The temptation for an administration in the last two years is to dosomething for legacy purposes,'' Norquist said. ''And with a DemocraticHouse and Senate, doing something cannot be good.''
The White House sees it differently.
Mired in an unpopular war, slumping in the polls and knocked off course byone setback after another, Bush still has time. He can score a fewlegislative victories and burnish his domestic legacy before he leavesoffice if he gets help from both parties.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-World-Markets.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
Asian and European Markets Recover
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 7:56 a.m. ET
LONDON (AP) -- European and Asian stock markets rebounded Thursday, relievedby a recovery on Wall Street after a plunge earlier in the week triggered byworries about a slowdown in the U.S. economy.
Europe's three biggest markets were trading higher around midday in Europe.The U.K. benchmark FTSE 100 Index rose 1.8 percent to 6,107.00, Germany'sDAX Index advanced 1.8 percent to 6,561.38 and France's CAC rose 1.6 percentto 5,378.05.
Investors who had dumped stocks a day earlier in the wake of sharp declinein the U.S. market snapped up shares in a broad rally that stretched acrossmost markets from Japan to London.
''U.S. stocks rebounded sharply,'' said Lawrence Peterman, investmentdirector at Eden Financial in London. ''Bargain hunting was evident.''
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 183.50 points, or 1.10 percent, to16,860.39, a day after sliding 2.92 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Indexadvanced 132.51 points, or 0.7 percent, to 18,969.44 after sliding 2.6percent Wednesday.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq-Saddams-Deputy.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
Hussein's Vice President to Be Hanged
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 6:16 a.m. ET
BAGHDAD (AP) -- An Iraqi court has upheld the death sentence against SaddamHussein's former deputy for his role in the killing of 148 Shiites in 1982,a judge said Thursday.
Taha Yassin Ramadan, who was Saddam's vice president when the regime wasousted by the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, will be hanged, the method ofexecution in Iraq, the judge Mounir Haddad said at a news conference. Thedecision was final.
The appeals court decision was relayed to the government of Prime MinisterNouri al-Maliki, which will set the date for the execution, he added.Haddad, a member of the court's nine-judge panel, said the decision touphold the death sentence was unanimous.
Ramadan was convicted in November along with Saddam and six others in thekillings of Shiites in Dujail following an assassination attempt against theformer Iraqi leader in 1982 in the Shiite town north of Baghdad. Three otherdefendants were sentenced to 15 years in jail in the case, while one wasacquitted.
Ramadan was sentenced to life in prison but an appeals court ruled that wastoo lenient and asked that the lower court reconsider. The court sentencedhim to death last month.
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The New York Times
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/clinton-obama-and-gays/
March 14, 2007, 10:36 pm
Clinton, Obama and Gays
By Patrick Healy
After Hillary Clinton came under fire for not directly addressing thequestion of whether she thought homsexuality was immoral, her campaign lastnight released a statement from the Senator. In her statement, Mrs. Clintonaddressed the remarks of General Peter Pace, the chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff, who said he should not have publicly expressed his viewthat homosexual conduct was immoral and akin to adultery.
"I disagree with what he said and do not share his view, plain and simple,"the Senator said. "It is inappropriate to inject such personal views intothis public policy matter, especially at a time in which there are young menand women in such grave circumstances in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and in otherdangerous places around the world."
And Mrs. Clinton is not the only one coming under fire tonight. According toNewsday, Senator Barack Obama gave indirect responses to repeatedquestioning on the same issue, saying, for instance, that traditionally theJoint Chiefs chairman comments only on military matters.
A spokesman for Mr. Obama said last night that the senator, too, disagreedwith General Pace's remarks and believed that homosexuality was not immoral.Joe Solmonese, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rightsorganization, said he was concerned about the initial responses of bothDemocratic senators, and compared their comments unfavorably to the rebukeby a Republican senator, John Warner of Virginia, who said he "respectfullybut strongly" disagreed that homosexuality was immoral.
"It is a problem, and we're going to reach out to both of those campaignsThursday and ask them to clarify their answer," Mr. Solmonese said.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/washington/15justice.html?pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
Gonzales's Critics See Lasting, Improper Ties to White House
By ERIC LIPTON and DAVID JOHNSTON
WASHINGTON, March 14 - As he pressed his case to be confirmed as attorneygeneral, Alberto R. Gonzales made a promise to the Senate JudiciaryCommittee - and to the nation at large.
"I will no longer represent only the White House," he testified in 2005 ashe prepared to leave his job as White House counsel. "I will represent theUnited States of America and its people. I understand the differencesbetween the two roles."
Yet in one of his first acts in his new job, Mr. Gonzales brought over twotop White House aides and elevated a third, D. Kyle Sampson, a JusticeDepartment staff member who had worked in the White House. Within days, Mr.Sampson began identifying federal prosecutors to oust, an effort initiatedby Harriet E. Miers, the fellow Texan who succeeded Mr. Gonzales at theWhite House.
The attorney general's accumulating critics point to the removal of sevenprosecutors in December as evidence that Mr. Gonzales, a longtime Bushloyalist, had failed to distance himself and his agency from the White Houseand its political agenda.
As attorney general, Mr. Gonzales became a vocal defender of some of theadministration's most contentious antiterrorism initiatives, including theNational Security Agency's eavesdropping program, for which he helpeddevelop the legal rationale while at the White House.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/business/worldbusiness/15warming.html?pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
Push to Fix Ozone Layer and Slow Global Warming
By KEITH BRADSHER
HONG KONG, March 14 - An unusual coalition of industrial and developingcountries began pushing Wednesday for stringent limits on the world's mostpopular refrigerant for air-conditioners, as evidence mounts that therefrigerant harms the earth's ozone layer and contributes to global warming.The coalition is pitted against China, which has become the world's leadingmanufacturer of air-conditioners that use the refrigerant, HCFC-22. Mostwindow air-conditioners and air-conditioning systems in the United Statesuse this refrigerant, as well.
International pressure has grown rapidly this winter for quick action. "Wescientifically have proof: if we accelerate the phaseout of HCFC, we aregoing to make a great contribution to climate change," said RominaPicolotti, the chief of Argentina's environmental secretariat.
An accelerated phaseout of the refrigerant could speed up by five years thehealing of the ozone layer of the atmosphere. It could also cut emissions ofglobal-warming gases by the equivalent of at least one-sixth of thereductions called for under the Kyoto Protocol.
The United States joined Argentina, Brazil, Iceland, Mauritania and Norwayon Wednesday in notifying the Ozone Secretariat of the United NationsEnvironment Program that they want to negotiate an accelerated phaseout ofhydrochlorofluorocarbons, or HCFC's, at an international conference inMontreal in September.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/business/15carbon.html?pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
In a Test of Capturing Carbon Dioxide, Perhaps a Way to Temper GlobalWarming
By MATTHEW L. WALD
WASHINGTON, March 14 - American Electric Power, a major electric utility, isplanning the largest demonstration yet of capturing carbon dioxide from acoal-fired power plant and pumping it deep underground.
Various experts consider that approach, known as sequestration, essential toreining in climate change by preventing the gas from being added to theatmospheric blanket that promotes global warming.
The project, to be announced Thursday by American Electric Power, based inColumbus, Ohio, will use a new process - so far tested only at laboratoryscale - that uses chilled ammonia to absorb the gas for collection. Theprocess was developed by Alstom, a major manufacturer of generatingequipment, and aims to reduce the amount of energy required to capture thecarbon dioxide.
Some experts have estimated that nearly a third of a power plant's energyoutput might be needed to pull carbon dioxide from the waste stream. Alstomhopes to hold it to 15 percent.
The cost must be kept as low as possible if the technology is to be used ona wide scale. Congress is seen as unlikely to impose enormously expensiverestraints on emissions. And under proposals to cap emissions nationally andlet companies trade credits for extra reductions, only the cheapest methodsof reducing greenhouse gases would thrive in the marketplace.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031402178_pf.html
Reports of the GOP's Death . . .
By David S. Broder
Thursday, March 15, 2007; A19
Months before the first votes are cast in the campaign of 2008, some in themedia are conducting last rites for the Republicans. The rush to bury theGOP is as hasty as it is premature.
The headline atop Page 1 of Tuesday's New York Times read, "GOP Voters VoiceAnxieties on Party's Fate." It sounded like a death knell for the party thathas held the White House for 26 of the past 38 years. But the evidence wasthin.
A New York Times-CBS News poll that included 698 self-identified Republicansfound that 40 percent of them thought the Democrats were likely to win thepresidency in 2008, while only 12 percent of Democrats said they believed aRepublican would win. That finding is hardly a surprise. A great manyDemocrats I know still have trouble admitting that their candidates lost toGeorge W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. They are still mentally counting votes inFlorida and Ohio that they are convinced were overlooked.
The Times, not normally solicitous of Republicans' feelings, also reportedwidespread concern among those it interviewed "that their party had driftedfrom the principles of Ronald Reagan, its most popular figure of the past 50years."
The fine print of the survey, though, told a somewhat different story.Support for President Bush and his policies remains high among Republicans.His overall job rating among GOP voters is 75 percent, "and by overwhelmingnumbers they approve of his handling of foreign policy, the war in Iraq andthe management of the economy."
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031402179_pf.html
The Wrath Of Tom DeLay
By Robert D. Novak
Thursday, March 15, 2007; A19
Newt Gingrich's attempted phoenix-like rise from his own political ashes toa presidential candidacy will run next week into a harsh assessment by hisformer House Republican colleague Tom DeLay. The former majority leader'sforthcoming memoir assails Gingrich as an "ineffective" House speaker with aflawed moral compass.
Gingrich is not the only erstwhile political ally to feel DeLay's wrath. In"No Retreat, No Surrender: One American's Fight," DeLay is even morecritical of his predecessor as majority leader, Dick Armey, and assailsGeorge W. Bush as being more compassionate than conservative. Even the manDeLay handpicked to succeed Gingrich as speaker, J. Dennis Hastert, isaccused along with Gingrich and Armey of opening the door to the Democraticpurge of DeLay.
DeLay is an angry man after being driven from the leadership, from Congressand, so far, from public life by "a concerted effort to destroy me legally,financially and personally" through a 2005 indictment in Texas. DeLay'sresponse to Democratic District Attorney Ronnie Earle is familiar. What isunusual are his claims that "pre-existing tensions I had with Gingrich andArmey" partially explain their role in kicking DeLay out of the leadership.
DeLay admits that the Republican leaders empowered by the 1994 elections --
omprising himself as majority whip, Gingrich as speaker and Armey asmajority leader -- "were not a cohesive team, and this hindered our abilityto change the nation." He puts most blame "at Newt Gingrich's door."
In describing Gingrich as an "ineffective Speaker," DeLay writes: "He knewnothing about running meetings and nothing about driving an agenda." Headds: "Nearly every other day he had a new agenda, a new direction he wantedus to take. It was impossible to follow him."
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031402176_pf.html
Why This Primary Push?
By George F. Will
Thursday, March 15, 2007; A19
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once."
-- attributed to Albert Einstein
That is, however, a very good reason. And a reason that the emerging natureof the 2008 process for picking presidential nominees is regrettable.With scant thought given to the national interest, particular statespursuing what they fancy is in their interest are propelling the nation intoa delegate selection process so compressed that it will resemble a nationalprimary. These states may exacerbate what they consider a problem -- theimportance of early voting in small states.
It is, of course, a commandment graven on the heart of humanity by thefinger of the Almighty that Iowa's caucuses shall come first and then NewHampshire shall have its say. Or at least it was so graven until Democratsdecided that the Almighty's purposes would be better served by insertingbetween Iowa (population 3 million) and New Hampshire (population 1.3million) some caucuses in Clark County, Nevada.
Technically, the caucuses are in all of Nevada (population 2.5 million), butoutside of Clark County -- basically, Las Vegas -- where about 70 percent ofNevadans live, the state is mostly federally owned land (91 percent) andsheep and other quadrupeds. Were Nevada to try to have a primary before NewHampshire, that irritable state might move its primary up to May.
Anyway, until recently, nine states had primaries scheduled for Feb. 5. Butsoon perhaps 20 states, including California (population 36.5 million),will. If that many states do, this will increase the importance of Iowa,Clark County and New Hampshire.
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The Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/benchconference/2007/03/gonzo_part_iithe_presidential_1.html
Rough Justice - The Case Against Alberto Gonzales
Part I | Part II
Part II: Alberto Gonzales, Presidential Enabler
Three episodes in the career of Alberto R. Gonzales before he becameAttorney General of the United States tell us what kind of a job he waslikely do as the nation's top attorney at the Justice Department. In eachinstance, history has not been kind either to Gonzales' actual substantivework or to the ethical and moral judgment he exercised on behalf of hisclients at the time. In each case, the advice Gonzales offered -- legallydubious to begin with -- created not just political embarrassment andbacklash for his bosses, but unfortunate, even catastrophic results.
Not only did the three pre-Justice Department episodes turn out to beremarkable predictors for his troubled and disappointing tenure as AttorneyGeneral -- but many predicted two years ago that they might be. For example,Sen. Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.) looked Gonzales in the eye at the latter'sSenate confirmation hearing in January 2005 and said: "My concern is thatduring several high-profile matters in your professional career you'veappeared to serve as a facilitator rather than as an independent force inthe policy-making process."
Gonzales reassured Sen. Leahy -- and anyone else who cared to lodge the samecomplaint back then -- that he knew the difference between the role he wouldhave to play as Attorney General and those he had played as White Housecounsel and as counsel to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
But let us judge him by his deeds and not his words. The Attorney General'srecord at the Justice Department strongly suggests that he has still actedas a docile and dogged "facilitator" for White House initiatives rather thanas a wise, high-minded legal counselor willing and able on occasion toexercise independent judgment and power. The roads to the current scandalover the dismissal of federal prosecutors, to the Justice Department's rabidsupport for warrantless domestic surveillance, and to department's tepiddefense of civil liberties for resident aliens all are paved with stonesthat Gonzales and Bush laid down before the former took the oath of officein early 2005.
For the first two examples, I lean heavily upon the distinguished work ofAlan Berlow, who brilliantly chronicled in the July/August 2003 issue of TheAtlantic Monthly Gonzales' appallingly unprofessional work on death penaltycases when he was counsel for Gov. Bush. According to Berlow, Gonzales"repeatedly failed to apprise Bush of some of the most salient issues in thecases at hand: ineffective counsel, conflict of interest, mitigatingevidence, even actual evidence of innocence" (emphasis in original) in aseries of memoranda Gonzales prepared for the governor's review as part ofthe state's clemency process. Berlow believes that this was not merenegligence on the part of Gonzales -- that would have been bad enough -- butrather part of a concerted effort by both men to ensure for both politicaland ideological reasons that there would be no clemency petitions granted.The dice were loaded, you might say, by the man who now is the nation's toplawyer.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031402398_pf.html
Google to Tighten Privacy
Personal Data to Be Cut From Archived Searches
By Sam Diaz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 15, 2007; D03
Google said yesterday that it plans to alter its privacy policy and stripcertain identifying information from archived Internet searches.
The change, which is to go into effect by the end of the year, was welcomedby privacy advocates who have challenged Google to respect its users'privacy as it pursues its goal of organizing the world's information. Thenew policy will affect only searches conducted from the Google home page,not from Google Calendar or correspondence sent through Google's Web e-mailservice, Gmail.
Under the new policy, Google will continue to store search terms, but after18 to 24 months it will remove the Internet protocol addresses, which canhelp identify the location of computers that conducted searches. Google willalso erase cookies, which are bits of information that stay on computer harddrives after searches are conducted and might help an observer learn moreabout other Web sites visited by the person using the computer at a giventime.
"It's something we've been complaining about for years," said Ari Schwartz,deputy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington."This is a big deal because they're saying, 'We really do value privacy.'This is definitely a step in the right direction."
Last year, a federal judge ordered Google to turn over Web-search records tothe Justice Department, which was trying to prove that filtering softwarewas failing to limit children's access to online pornography. The governmentlater scaled back its request, asking instead for a sampling of randomsearches.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031401364_pf.html
Medical Marijuana Use Dealt Setback
Associated Press
Thursday, March 15, 2007; A11
SAN FRANCISCO, March 14 -- A woman whose doctor says marijuana is the onlymedicine keeping her alive can face federal prosecution on drug charges, afederal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The ruling was the latest legal defeat for Angel Raich, a mother of two fromOakland suffering from scoliosis, a brain tumor, chronic nausea and otherailments who sued the government preemptively to avoid being arrested forusing the drug. On her doctor's advice, Raich eats or smokes marijuana everytwo hours to ease her pain.
The Supreme Court ruled against Raich in June 2005, saying medical marijuanausers and their suppliers could be prosecuted for breaching federal druglaws even if they lived in a state such as California, where medical use ofthe drug is legal.
When told of the decision, Raich, 41, began sobbing. "I'm sure not going tolet them kill me," she said.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031402741_pf.html
Dozens in GOP Turn Against Bush's Prized 'No Child' Act
By Jonathan Weisman and Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, March 15, 2007; A01
More than 50 GOP members of the House and Senate -- including the House'ssecond-ranking Republican -- will introduce legislation today that couldseverely undercut President Bush's signature domestic achievement, the NoChild Left Behind Act, by allowing states to opt out of its testingmandates.
For a White House fighting off attacks on its war policy and dealing with aburgeoning scandal at the Justice Department, the GOP dissidents' move is afresh blow on a new front. Among the co-sponsors of the legislation areHouse Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a key supporter of the measure in2001, and John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Bush's most reliable defender in the Senate.Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.), the House GOP's chief deputy whip and a supporter in2001, has also signed on.
Burson Snyder, a spokesman for Blunt, said that after several meetings withschool administrators and teachers in southwest Missouri, the HouseRepublican leader turned against the measure he helped pass. Blunt wasconvinced that the burdens and red tape of the No Child Left Behind Act areunacceptably onerous, Snyder said.
Some Republicans said yesterday that a backlash against the law wasinevitable. Many voters in affluent suburban and exurban districts -- GOPstrongholds -- think their schools have been adversely affected by the law.Once-innovative public schools have increasingly become captive to federaltesting mandates, jettisoning education programs not covered by those tests,siphoning funds from programs for the talented and gifted, and discouragingcreativity, critics say.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/569/v-print/story/42048.html
Posted on Thu, Mar. 15, 2007
`I'm responsible for 9/11'
BY CAROL ROSENBERG
Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the man the United States says masterminded the Sept.11 terrorist attacks, confessed to the attack and to plotting a reign ofanti-American terror across the planet, according to a military transcriptof a weekend hearing at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, released Wednesday.
''I was responsible for the 9/11 operation -- from A to Z,'' he is quoted assaying in the 26-page transcript, posted on the Defense Department websiteat the close of business Wednesday.
The confession likely clears the way for the Pentagon to try the man thatthe United States says was Osama bin Laden's operations chief before amilitary war-crimes court empowered to sentence alleged terrorists to death.
No attorney was present at the status hearing in front of a panel chaired bya Navy captain and meant to determine whether he could be classified as an''enemy combatant.'' The Pentagon also barred the news media.
According to the transcript, an Air Force lieutenant colonel read a 31-pointlist of operations -- some completed, some planned -- while Mohammed sat ina hearing room on Saturday.
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ChicagoTribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0703140343mar14,0,7044569,print.column?coll=chi-ed_opinion_columnists-utl
Sharpton spell is fading fast
Kathleen Parker
March 14, 2007
Al Sharpton's desperation is showing.
His recent attacks on presidential candidate Barack Obama and his threat towithhold his support have exposed the trick behind Sharpton's magic act. Hisaudience is leaving the tent and Sharpton is scrambling for relevancy.
Sharpton has been challenging Obama's credentials in the black community andsaying that Obama is the darling of white leadership, according toDemocratic sources.
Sharpton told CBS News that he is withholding his endorsement until afterhis National Action Network summit next month. Meanwhile, he's playing hardto get between the Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton camps, even declining toreturn calls from Obama's campaign.
Now, it is fair to ask, what is Sharpton really up to? What is his realobjection to Obama? That Obama has white supporters? That Obama has becomethe first serious black presidential candidate in U.S. history? That helacks the civil rights bona fides that Sharpton claims for himself?
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USAToday.com
http://usatoday.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Can+Edwards+win+with+an+%27us+vs.+them%27+pitch%3F+-+USATODAY.com&expire=&urlID=21528315&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fnews%2Fwashington%2F2007-03-13-edwards-cover_N.htm&partnerID=1660
Can Edwards win with an 'us vs. them' pitch?
By Judy Keen, USA TODAY
OTTUMWA, Iowa - Dan Murphy, a Democrat and a sixth-grade teacher, isshopping for a presidential candidate in a community college conference roomon a sunny Saturday. He's here to hear John Edwards' pitch.
Murphy, 50, likes Sen. Barack Obama but says the Illinois freshman "hasn'tbeen around long enough." New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is "too muchof a Washington politician." Edwards, he says, "is pretty down to earth andknows what's going on with people at my income level."
Murphy's assessment of the candidate in broken-in jeans, blue shirt andyellow "Live Strong" wristband is exactly what Edwards hopes to achieve inhis second presidential run.
This time, the 2004 vice presidential nominee has a repackaged messageframing the campaign as a struggle that pits the political and corporateelite against regular people who just want to make a decent living, affordhealth care and end the Iraq war. Edwards, who made millions as apersonal-injury lawyer taking on big business, tells audiences heunderstands that they feel squeezed because they "pay more for everything .but their pay is not going up."
Edwards' challenge is to convince voters in primaries and caucuses that heis a populist who would put their interests above those of big corporationsand big government. He must prove that message will triumph over thepersonal and political appeal of Clinton and Obama, and sell across thenation, especially to moderate and independent voters important in a generalelection.
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CBSNews.com
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/13/politics/printable2563352.shtml
Clinton: "Right-Wing Conspiracy" Is Real
WASHINGTON, March 13, 2007
(AP) The "vast, right-wing conspiracy" is back, presidential candidateHillary Rodham Clinton is warning, using a phrase she once coined todescribe partisan plotting.
Once derided for her use of the phrase, Clinton is now trying to turn theimagery to her advantage.
Speaking Tuesday to Democratic municipal officials, the New York senatorused the term to hammer Republicans on election irregularities. She alsoused the phrase similarly during a campaign appearance over the weekend inNew Hampshire.
Clinton was first lady when she famously charged allegations of an affairbetween her then-president husband Bill Clinton and White House internMonica Lewinsky were the result of a conservative conspiracy.
As evidence of the affair eventually came to light, the comment wasridiculed. But many Democrats have since insisted that Clinton was correct,pointing to the well-documented efforts by conservative financier RichardMellon Scaife to fund a network of anti-Clinton investigations.
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USAToday.com
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/03/post_32.html
Why bash Dubai?
If there is any place in the Arab world that the United States should nothave a beef with, it is Dubai. One of seven Persian Gulf states looselylinked into the United Arab Emirates, Dubai is a booming monument tocapitalism.
Yet this oil-rich emirate, known for its opulent hotels and shopping malls,has quickly become a political piñata for Democrats (and some Republicans).
Last year, lawmakers thwarted a merger that would have let a Dubai-basedcompany run several American ports. Never mind that few, if any, expertsinvolved in port security thought the deal would have made U.S. ports anyless safe.
Now a controversy is erupting over the announcement by Halliburton, the oilservices giant run by Dick Cheney before he became vice president, that itwill move its headquarters to Dubai from Houston. Never mind that there arelegitimate business reasons for the move.
Dubai has become a convenient symbol to stoke fears about global securityand globalization. It can be depicted as a terrorist haven, as it was duringthe ports debate, or a tax haven, as it is now. The image one is left withis rather incongruous, kind of like a Bermuda run by the Taliban.
The irony is that Dubai is one of the best things going in the Middle East.While other Arab nations are contending with growing ranks of Islamicextremists with medieval notions, Dubai is a center of free trade, religioustolerance and pro-Western attitudes.
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Forwarded from Susan Frishkorn
Tri-County - chances@attglobal.net
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/14/1324202
It Can Happen Here: Journalist Joe Conason on "Authoritarian Peril in theAge of Bush"
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/14/1324202
Political journalist Joe Conason joins us in our firehouse studio to discusshis new book, "It Can Happen Here: Authoritarian Peril in the Age of Bush."Conason writes, "For the first time since the resignation of Richard M.Nixon more than three decades ago, Americans have had reason to doubt thefuture of democracy and the rule of law in our own country. [includes rushtranscript]
Joe Conason, national correspondent for The New York Observer, columnist orSalon.com and head of the Nation Institute Investigative Fund.. His latestbook is "It Can Happen Here: Authoritarian Peril in the Age of Bush."
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
This transcript is available free of charge. However, donations help usprovide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TVbroadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution.
Donate - $25, $50, $100, more...
AMY GOODMAN: It Can Happen Here.
JOE CONASON: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: Why did you choose that title?
JOE CONASON: That's the title -- well, there was a book in 1935 written bySinclair Lewis called It Can't Happen Here, which was kind of a satiricalnovel about the rise of fascism in the United States, which doesn't soundlike a very funny subject, but he managed to bring some humor to a very grimsubject, which was our descent into an authoritarian state after the 1936election.
Sinclair Lewis was married at the time to a foreign correspondent namedorothy Thompson, who was one of the greatest of her time and maybe of alltime, who had been kicked out of Nazi Germany in 1934 and had come home -- or telling the truth about Hitler -- and had come home and basically spenta lot of time telling her husband that the world was on the verge of apotential fascist takeover and he ought to try to do something about it. Andthis is why he wrote this novel.
I read that book at the urging of my editor at St. Martin's Press, and itoccurred to me that there were many striking parallels, actually, betweenwhat Sinclair Lewis had imagined as the kind of authoritarianism that couldcome to America and some of the things that we had been seeing in the lastseveral years here.
AMY GOODMAN: You make some stark parallels between what's happening now andthe Nixon administration, when it came to trying to obliterate the checksand balances. Explain.
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The Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0703150099mar15,0,6122474,print.column?coll=chi-ed_opinion_columnists-utl
If Gonzales gets boot, who should fill shoes?
Steve Chapman
March 15, 2007
When James Buckley ran for the United States Senate in New York in 1970, hiscampaign billboards asked a question: "Isn't it time we had a senator?" Thelatest controversy surrounding the Justice Department raises a question ofits own: "Isn't it time we had an attorney general?" Alberto Gonzalesstarted out in Washington as the president's man, and he has done nothing toendanger his favored status. But that leaves the rest of us sorelyunrepresented.
The uproar over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys may be a case whereGonzales actually had sound reasons, rather than unsavory political motives,for doing what he did. Someone who has consistently been a pliableadministration functionary, though, can hardly expect the benefit of thedoubt when scandal erupts. That makes this a good time to consider what sortof person ought to replace Gonzales in the likely event that he will soonreturn to private life.
The short answer is: someone very different. This attorney general owesalmost everything to George W. Bush, who brought him on as his legal adviserwhen he was governor of Texas, appointed him to the state supreme court,gave him the job of White House counsel and installed him at Justice. It'sabout as easy to imagine Gonzales standing up to the president as it is topicture Mickey Mouse biting Walt Disney.
Whatever else he has done in Washington, he has conspicuously failed to earna reputation for fearless and independent judgment, so everything that hascome out about the removal of the prosecutors has been interpreted in themost incriminating fashion.
Some of it is hard to interpret any other way. The attorney general isentitled to get rid of mediocre prosecutors. Yet of the seven who got thegate in December, two had just been given high grades by Kyle Sampson, thenGonzales' chief of staff. One of those rated unsatisfactory was Bud Cumminsof Arkansas, who the department now admits was removed only to make room fora former aide to Karl Rove. And now we also know that the White House, whichhad denied any role in the firings, was involved from the start.
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/11/AR2007031100986_pf.html
A Self-Inflicted Wound
The U.S. is blocking the best and brightest immigrants.
Monday, March 12, 2007; A12
ONE OF the more self-defeating aspects of this nation's immigration policyis its insistence on denying work visas to thousands of the world's mostsought-after doctors, scientists, engineers and technical specialists,including those finishing their degrees at American universities.
Understandably, U.S. technological corporations, which, unlike Congress,live in the real world of innovation and cutthroat competition for skilledworkers, are furious that their own government's visa policies give foreignfirms a leg up. As Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp., told a Senatecommittee last week, "America will find it infinitely more difficult tomaintain its technological leadership if it shuts out the very people whoare most able to help us compete."
That, unfortunately, is precisely the effect of current policy, which forthe past few years has limited the number of visas reserved for skilledworkers to 65,000 annually -- many fewer than American firms would like tohire. The immigration legislation passed by the Senate last year would haveincreased that number to 115,000, but the bill died in the House. As aresult, it is a certainty that thousands of highly trained workers, theirhopes of staying and working in America dashed, are now giving firms inEurope or Japan a competitive advantage in some of the world's mostcutting-edge industries.
The lunacy of the current state of affairs is exposed by the fact that from2001 to 2003, Congress raised the number of visas for skilled workers to195,000 annually, in recognition of marketplace realities, then allowed itto revert back to 65,000 through what amounted to inattention. At thispoint, with the demand for skilled workers soaring, the 65,000 cap is soinadequate that every single such visa is snapped up by skilled workers whoapply each spring, before the federal government's fiscal year even beginsin October. The system's dysfunction has been recognized by Congress, whichfelt compelled to make some exemptions to its own cap. That eased but didnot solve the problem.
Entangled in the broader debate about immigration, the skilled-worker visaproblem has been neglected for too long. Tighter immigration curbs imposedafter the terrorist attacks of 2001 may have been an understandable reactionat the time.
But there's no excuse for the current logjams, particularly since alegislative fix is relatively simple: increase the number of visas. Andwhile Congress is at it, it should also raise the woefully inadequate annualcap on green cards, which are needed for permanent residency status. Just140,000 are granted annually, and the backlog in applications now requires awaiting period of about five years.
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Forwarded from Susan Fishkorn
Tri-County - chances@attglobal.net
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329744438-103677,00.html
The Guardian - UK
Was I a good American in the time of George Bush?
Too many of us have done too little to stop the crimes of this White House.We are waking up but what took us so long?
Rebecca Solnit
Wednesday March 14, 2007
Guardian
Was I a good American? How good an American was I? Did I do what I could toresist the takeover of my country and the brutalisation of my fellow humanbeings? How much further could I have gone? Were the crimes of the Bushadministration those that demand you give up your life and everydaycommitments to throw yourself into maximum resistance? If not, then whatwere we waiting for? The questions have troubled me regularly these lastfive years, because I was one of the millions of American citizens who didnot shut down Guantánamo Bay and stop the other atrocities of theadministration.
I wrote. I gave money, sometimes in large chunks. I went to anti-warmarches. I demonstrated. I also planted a garden, cooked dinners, playedwith children, wandered around aimlessly, and did lots of other things youdo when the world is not crashing down around you. And maybe when it is. Wasit? It was for the men in our gulag. And the boys there. And the rule of lawin my native land.
Before the current administration, it had always been easy to condemn the"good Germans" who did nothing while Jews, Gypsies and others were roundedup for extermination. One likes to believe that one will be different, willharbour Anne Frank in one's secret annex, smuggle people across the border,defy the authorities who do evil. Those we scornfully call good Germansmerely did little while the mouth of hell opened up.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/ats-ap_top11mar14,0,4124643,print.story?coll=sns-newsnation-headlines
Republican Says Gonzales Should Be Fired
By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press Writer
March 15, 2007, 2:52 AM EDT
WASHINGTON -- A Senate Republican is calling for Attorney General AlbertoGonzales' dismissal as Democrats weigh subpoenaing President Bush's topaides in the escalating political furor over the firing of eight federalprosecutors.
Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire, a longtime Bush administration criticfacing a tough re-election campaign, called for Gonzales' ouster Wednesdayjust hours after Bush expressed confidence in the attorney general, who is alongtime friend.
"I think the president should replace him," Sununu said in an interview. "Ithink the attorney general should be fired."
Although some Republicans have been tepid in their support for the attorneygeneral, Sununu was the first to go so far in the wake of an uproar over theJustice Department's firing of the attorneys and its response tocongressional questions, plus a separate report that the administrationabused its power to secretly investigate suspected terrorists.
The White House issued a curt response to Sununu's remarks.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/washington/15clinton.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
If Elected ...
Clinton Says Some G.I.'s in Iraq Would Remain
By MICHAEL R. GORDON and PATRICK HEALY
WASHINGTON, March 14 - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton foresees a "remainingmilitary as well as political mission" in Iraq, and says that if electedpresident, she would keep a reduced military force there to fight Al Qaeda,deter Iranian aggression, protect the Kurds and possibly support the Iraqimilitary.
In a half-hour interview on Tuesday in her Senate office, Mrs. Clinton saidthe scaled-down American military force that she would maintain would stayoff the streets in Baghdad and would no longer try to protect Iraqis fromsectarian violence - even if it descended into ethnic cleansing.
In outlining how she would handle Iraq as commander in chief, Mrs. Clintonarticulated a more nuanced position than the one she has provided at hercampaign events, where she has backed the goal of "bringing the troops home."
She said in the interview that there were "remaining vital national securityinterests in Iraq" that would require a continuing deployment of Americantroops.
The United States' security would be undermined if parts of Iraq turned intoa failed state "that serves as a petri dish for insurgents and Al Qaeda,"she said. "It is right in the heart of the oil region," she said. "It isdirectly in opposition to our interests, to the interests of regimes, toIsrael's interests."
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/us/15marijuana.html?pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
Dying Woman Loses Appeal on Marijuana as Medication
By JESSE McKINLEY
SAN FRANCISCO, March 14 - Federal appellate judges here ruled Wednesday thata terminally ill woman using marijuana was not immune to federal prosecutionsimply because of her condition, and in a separate case a federal judgedismissed most of the charges against a prominent advocate for the medicinaluse of the drug.
The woman, Angel McClary Raich, says she uses marijuana on doctors'recommendation to treat an inoperable brain tumor and a battery of otherserious ailments. Ms. Raich, 41, asserts that the drug effectively keeps heralive, by stimulating appetite and relieving pain, in a way thatprescription drugs do not.
She wept when she heard the decision.
"It's not every day in this country that someone's right to life is takenfrom them," said Ms. Raich, appearing frail during a news conference inOakland, where she lives. "Today you are looking at someone who really iswalking dead."
In 2002, she and three other plaintiffs sued the government, seeking relieffrom federal laws outlawing marijuana. The case made its way to the SupremeCourt, and in 2005, the court ruled against Ms. Raich, finding that thefederal government had the authority to prohibit and prosecute thepossession and use of marijuana for medical purposes. But the justices leftelements of Ms. Raich's case to a lower court to consider.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/opinion/15thu1.html?pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
Editorial
Immigration Misery
A screaming baby girl has been forcibly weaned from breast milk and taken,dehydrated, to an emergency room, so that the nation's borders will besecure. Her mother and more than 300 other workers in a leather-goodsfactory in New Bedford, Mass., have been terrorized - subdued by guns anddogs, their children stranded at school - so that the country will noticethat the Bush administration is serious about enforcing immigration laws.Meanwhile, tens of thousands of poor Americans, lacking the rightcitizenship papers, have been denied a doctor's care so that not a penny ofMedicaid will go to a sick illegal immigrant.
As the country waits for Congress and the president to enact immigrationreform, the indecency of existing policies is becoming intolerable. Theimmigrant underclass is in a growing state of misery and fear. States andlocalities have rushed to fill the vacuum of Congressional inaction with ajumble of enforcement regimes. Farmers are worrying about crops rotting astheir immigrant workers retreat further into the shadows. Officials inColorado have settled on one solution: replacing those workers with prisonchain gangs.
Senator Edward Kennedy, infuriated after visiting a New Bedford churchbasement and hearing tales of separated families and sick children, hasgiven up on drafting a new immigration bill. He has decided instead to getCongress moving quickly by reintroducing a bill passed last year by theSenate Judiciary Committee. That bill - sponsored by Senator Arlen Specter,then the committee's chairman - was seriously flawed to start and furtherdistorted by harsh Republican amendments.
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/opinion/15brooks.html
March 15, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
The Long Exit
By DAVID BROOKS
Senator Carl Levin has always been one of the most serious participants inthe Iraq debate. He's one of those politicians who could actually pass atest of Middle East cultural literacy - who could tell you what the Mahdirmy is or whether Al Qaeda is a Sunni or Shiite organization. He's one ofthe Democrats who generally hasn't formed his Iraq position with an eye toIowa primary voters or the party's donor base.
Which is why it's significant that his speeches during yesterday's Senatewar debate were so utterly unconvincing.
The essential Levin argument was that the Iraqi leaders have been shirkingtheir duties and it's time to force them to get serious. "It is time forCongress to explain to the Iraqis that it is your country," Levin declared.It is time to shift responsibility for Iraq firmly onto Iraqi shoulders, andgive them the incentives they need to make the tough choices. The Democratictimetable resolution, Levin concluded, "will deliver a cold dose of realityto Iraqi leaders."
But does anybody think that Iraqi leaders, many of whom have seen theirbrothers and children gunned down, need a cold dose of reality deliveredfrom the U.S. Congress? Does anybody buy the Levin model of reality, whichholds that Iraqi leaders are rational game theorists who just need to havetheir incentives rearranged in order to make peace? Does anybody believe therifts in Iraqi society can be bridged by a few "tough choices" made by thelargely reviled Green Zone politicians?
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/opinion/15herbert.html
March 15, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
The Danger Zone
By BOB HERBERT
The national unemployment rate came in at 4.5 percent last week and wasgenerally characterized as pretty good. But whatever universe those numberscame from, it was not the universe that black men live in.
Black American males inhabit a universe in which joblessness is frequentlythe norm, where the idea of getting up each morning and going off to workcan seem stranger to a lot of men than the dream of hitting the lottery,where the dignity that comes from supporting oneself and one's family hastoo often been replaced by a numbing sense of hopelessness.
What I'm talking about is extreme joblessness - joblessness that is coursingthrough communities and being passed from one generation to another, like adeadly virus.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031402279_pf.html
At Candidates Forum, Silence About the War Speaks Volumes
By Dana Milbank
Thursday, March 15, 2007; A02
John McCain -- fighter pilot, prisoner of war, tormentor of Pat Robertson --
s seldom wanting in courage. But even so, what he did yesterday wasnoteworthy.
The Republican senator from Arizona was one of 11 presidential candidates --
emocrat and Republican -- to address the annual gathering of thefirefighters union. But he was the only one to risk making a passionate casebefore the left-leaning group about why the war in Iraq must continue."It is not hopeless," McCain told them. No response other than somebodycoughing.
Reading his speech and stealing quick glances at his listeners, hecontinued. "The hour is late, but we must try, we must!" Beefy firemen, armsfolded on chests, stared back silently.
"We do have some evidence that the new tactics . . . have begun to makeprogress," he pleaded. Audience members whispered. Some shook heads. Oneraised the comics section in front of her face.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Bush-Conservatives.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
For Wary Conservatives, All Eyes on Bush
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 4:57 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Every time President Bush makes an overture toDemocrats -- and he makes plenty these days -- conservative Republicans getedgy. They fear he might be so willing to cross the aisle that he will endup crossing them.
''Everybody should be very concerned and very active,'' said GroverNorquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and a conservative leaderwith close White House relations.
''The temptation for an administration in the last two years is to dosomething for legacy purposes,'' Norquist said. ''And with a DemocraticHouse and Senate, doing something cannot be good.''
The White House sees it differently.
Mired in an unpopular war, slumping in the polls and knocked off course byone setback after another, Bush still has time. He can score a fewlegislative victories and burnish his domestic legacy before he leavesoffice if he gets help from both parties.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-World-Markets.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
Asian and European Markets Recover
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 7:56 a.m. ET
LONDON (AP) -- European and Asian stock markets rebounded Thursday, relievedby a recovery on Wall Street after a plunge earlier in the week triggered byworries about a slowdown in the U.S. economy.
Europe's three biggest markets were trading higher around midday in Europe.The U.K. benchmark FTSE 100 Index rose 1.8 percent to 6,107.00, Germany'sDAX Index advanced 1.8 percent to 6,561.38 and France's CAC rose 1.6 percentto 5,378.05.
Investors who had dumped stocks a day earlier in the wake of sharp declinein the U.S. market snapped up shares in a broad rally that stretched acrossmost markets from Japan to London.
''U.S. stocks rebounded sharply,'' said Lawrence Peterman, investmentdirector at Eden Financial in London. ''Bargain hunting was evident.''
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 183.50 points, or 1.10 percent, to16,860.39, a day after sliding 2.92 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Indexadvanced 132.51 points, or 0.7 percent, to 18,969.44 after sliding 2.6percent Wednesday.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq-Saddams-Deputy.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
Hussein's Vice President to Be Hanged
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 6:16 a.m. ET
BAGHDAD (AP) -- An Iraqi court has upheld the death sentence against SaddamHussein's former deputy for his role in the killing of 148 Shiites in 1982,a judge said Thursday.
Taha Yassin Ramadan, who was Saddam's vice president when the regime wasousted by the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, will be hanged, the method ofexecution in Iraq, the judge Mounir Haddad said at a news conference. Thedecision was final.
The appeals court decision was relayed to the government of Prime MinisterNouri al-Maliki, which will set the date for the execution, he added.Haddad, a member of the court's nine-judge panel, said the decision touphold the death sentence was unanimous.
Ramadan was convicted in November along with Saddam and six others in thekillings of Shiites in Dujail following an assassination attempt against theformer Iraqi leader in 1982 in the Shiite town north of Baghdad. Three otherdefendants were sentenced to 15 years in jail in the case, while one wasacquitted.
Ramadan was sentenced to life in prison but an appeals court ruled that wastoo lenient and asked that the lower court reconsider. The court sentencedhim to death last month.
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The New York Times
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/clinton-obama-and-gays/
March 14, 2007, 10:36 pm
Clinton, Obama and Gays
By Patrick Healy
After Hillary Clinton came under fire for not directly addressing thequestion of whether she thought homsexuality was immoral, her campaign lastnight released a statement from the Senator. In her statement, Mrs. Clintonaddressed the remarks of General Peter Pace, the chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff, who said he should not have publicly expressed his viewthat homosexual conduct was immoral and akin to adultery.
"I disagree with what he said and do not share his view, plain and simple,"the Senator said. "It is inappropriate to inject such personal views intothis public policy matter, especially at a time in which there are young menand women in such grave circumstances in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and in otherdangerous places around the world."
And Mrs. Clinton is not the only one coming under fire tonight. According toNewsday, Senator Barack Obama gave indirect responses to repeatedquestioning on the same issue, saying, for instance, that traditionally theJoint Chiefs chairman comments only on military matters.
A spokesman for Mr. Obama said last night that the senator, too, disagreedwith General Pace's remarks and believed that homosexuality was not immoral.Joe Solmonese, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rightsorganization, said he was concerned about the initial responses of bothDemocratic senators, and compared their comments unfavorably to the rebukeby a Republican senator, John Warner of Virginia, who said he "respectfullybut strongly" disagreed that homosexuality was immoral.
"It is a problem, and we're going to reach out to both of those campaignsThursday and ask them to clarify their answer," Mr. Solmonese said.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/washington/15justice.html?pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
Gonzales's Critics See Lasting, Improper Ties to White House
By ERIC LIPTON and DAVID JOHNSTON
WASHINGTON, March 14 - As he pressed his case to be confirmed as attorneygeneral, Alberto R. Gonzales made a promise to the Senate JudiciaryCommittee - and to the nation at large.
"I will no longer represent only the White House," he testified in 2005 ashe prepared to leave his job as White House counsel. "I will represent theUnited States of America and its people. I understand the differencesbetween the two roles."
Yet in one of his first acts in his new job, Mr. Gonzales brought over twotop White House aides and elevated a third, D. Kyle Sampson, a JusticeDepartment staff member who had worked in the White House. Within days, Mr.Sampson began identifying federal prosecutors to oust, an effort initiatedby Harriet E. Miers, the fellow Texan who succeeded Mr. Gonzales at theWhite House.
The attorney general's accumulating critics point to the removal of sevenprosecutors in December as evidence that Mr. Gonzales, a longtime Bushloyalist, had failed to distance himself and his agency from the White Houseand its political agenda.
As attorney general, Mr. Gonzales became a vocal defender of some of theadministration's most contentious antiterrorism initiatives, including theNational Security Agency's eavesdropping program, for which he helpeddevelop the legal rationale while at the White House.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/business/worldbusiness/15warming.html?pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
Push to Fix Ozone Layer and Slow Global Warming
By KEITH BRADSHER
HONG KONG, March 14 - An unusual coalition of industrial and developingcountries began pushing Wednesday for stringent limits on the world's mostpopular refrigerant for air-conditioners, as evidence mounts that therefrigerant harms the earth's ozone layer and contributes to global warming.The coalition is pitted against China, which has become the world's leadingmanufacturer of air-conditioners that use the refrigerant, HCFC-22. Mostwindow air-conditioners and air-conditioning systems in the United Statesuse this refrigerant, as well.
International pressure has grown rapidly this winter for quick action. "Wescientifically have proof: if we accelerate the phaseout of HCFC, we aregoing to make a great contribution to climate change," said RominaPicolotti, the chief of Argentina's environmental secretariat.
An accelerated phaseout of the refrigerant could speed up by five years thehealing of the ozone layer of the atmosphere. It could also cut emissions ofglobal-warming gases by the equivalent of at least one-sixth of thereductions called for under the Kyoto Protocol.
The United States joined Argentina, Brazil, Iceland, Mauritania and Norwayon Wednesday in notifying the Ozone Secretariat of the United NationsEnvironment Program that they want to negotiate an accelerated phaseout ofhydrochlorofluorocarbons, or HCFC's, at an international conference inMontreal in September.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/15/business/15carbon.html?pagewanted=print
March 15, 2007
In a Test of Capturing Carbon Dioxide, Perhaps a Way to Temper GlobalWarming
By MATTHEW L. WALD
WASHINGTON, March 14 - American Electric Power, a major electric utility, isplanning the largest demonstration yet of capturing carbon dioxide from acoal-fired power plant and pumping it deep underground.
Various experts consider that approach, known as sequestration, essential toreining in climate change by preventing the gas from being added to theatmospheric blanket that promotes global warming.
The project, to be announced Thursday by American Electric Power, based inColumbus, Ohio, will use a new process - so far tested only at laboratoryscale - that uses chilled ammonia to absorb the gas for collection. Theprocess was developed by Alstom, a major manufacturer of generatingequipment, and aims to reduce the amount of energy required to capture thecarbon dioxide.
Some experts have estimated that nearly a third of a power plant's energyoutput might be needed to pull carbon dioxide from the waste stream. Alstomhopes to hold it to 15 percent.
The cost must be kept as low as possible if the technology is to be used ona wide scale. Congress is seen as unlikely to impose enormously expensiverestraints on emissions. And under proposals to cap emissions nationally andlet companies trade credits for extra reductions, only the cheapest methodsof reducing greenhouse gases would thrive in the marketplace.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031402178_pf.html
Reports of the GOP's Death . . .
By David S. Broder
Thursday, March 15, 2007; A19
Months before the first votes are cast in the campaign of 2008, some in themedia are conducting last rites for the Republicans. The rush to bury theGOP is as hasty as it is premature.
The headline atop Page 1 of Tuesday's New York Times read, "GOP Voters VoiceAnxieties on Party's Fate." It sounded like a death knell for the party thathas held the White House for 26 of the past 38 years. But the evidence wasthin.
A New York Times-CBS News poll that included 698 self-identified Republicansfound that 40 percent of them thought the Democrats were likely to win thepresidency in 2008, while only 12 percent of Democrats said they believed aRepublican would win. That finding is hardly a surprise. A great manyDemocrats I know still have trouble admitting that their candidates lost toGeorge W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. They are still mentally counting votes inFlorida and Ohio that they are convinced were overlooked.
The Times, not normally solicitous of Republicans' feelings, also reportedwidespread concern among those it interviewed "that their party had driftedfrom the principles of Ronald Reagan, its most popular figure of the past 50years."
The fine print of the survey, though, told a somewhat different story.Support for President Bush and his policies remains high among Republicans.His overall job rating among GOP voters is 75 percent, "and by overwhelmingnumbers they approve of his handling of foreign policy, the war in Iraq andthe management of the economy."
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031402179_pf.html
The Wrath Of Tom DeLay
By Robert D. Novak
Thursday, March 15, 2007; A19
Newt Gingrich's attempted phoenix-like rise from his own political ashes toa presidential candidacy will run next week into a harsh assessment by hisformer House Republican colleague Tom DeLay. The former majority leader'sforthcoming memoir assails Gingrich as an "ineffective" House speaker with aflawed moral compass.
Gingrich is not the only erstwhile political ally to feel DeLay's wrath. In"No Retreat, No Surrender: One American's Fight," DeLay is even morecritical of his predecessor as majority leader, Dick Armey, and assailsGeorge W. Bush as being more compassionate than conservative. Even the manDeLay handpicked to succeed Gingrich as speaker, J. Dennis Hastert, isaccused along with Gingrich and Armey of opening the door to the Democraticpurge of DeLay.
DeLay is an angry man after being driven from the leadership, from Congressand, so far, from public life by "a concerted effort to destroy me legally,financially and personally" through a 2005 indictment in Texas. DeLay'sresponse to Democratic District Attorney Ronnie Earle is familiar. What isunusual are his claims that "pre-existing tensions I had with Gingrich andArmey" partially explain their role in kicking DeLay out of the leadership.
DeLay admits that the Republican leaders empowered by the 1994 elections --
omprising himself as majority whip, Gingrich as speaker and Armey asmajority leader -- "were not a cohesive team, and this hindered our abilityto change the nation." He puts most blame "at Newt Gingrich's door."
In describing Gingrich as an "ineffective Speaker," DeLay writes: "He knewnothing about running meetings and nothing about driving an agenda." Headds: "Nearly every other day he had a new agenda, a new direction he wantedus to take. It was impossible to follow him."
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031402176_pf.html
Why This Primary Push?
By George F. Will
Thursday, March 15, 2007; A19
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once."
-- attributed to Albert Einstein
That is, however, a very good reason. And a reason that the emerging natureof the 2008 process for picking presidential nominees is regrettable.With scant thought given to the national interest, particular statespursuing what they fancy is in their interest are propelling the nation intoa delegate selection process so compressed that it will resemble a nationalprimary. These states may exacerbate what they consider a problem -- theimportance of early voting in small states.
It is, of course, a commandment graven on the heart of humanity by thefinger of the Almighty that Iowa's caucuses shall come first and then NewHampshire shall have its say. Or at least it was so graven until Democratsdecided that the Almighty's purposes would be better served by insertingbetween Iowa (population 3 million) and New Hampshire (population 1.3million) some caucuses in Clark County, Nevada.
Technically, the caucuses are in all of Nevada (population 2.5 million), butoutside of Clark County -- basically, Las Vegas -- where about 70 percent ofNevadans live, the state is mostly federally owned land (91 percent) andsheep and other quadrupeds. Were Nevada to try to have a primary before NewHampshire, that irritable state might move its primary up to May.
Anyway, until recently, nine states had primaries scheduled for Feb. 5. Butsoon perhaps 20 states, including California (population 36.5 million),will. If that many states do, this will increase the importance of Iowa,Clark County and New Hampshire.
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The Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/benchconference/2007/03/gonzo_part_iithe_presidential_1.html
Rough Justice - The Case Against Alberto Gonzales
Part I | Part II
Part II: Alberto Gonzales, Presidential Enabler
Three episodes in the career of Alberto R. Gonzales before he becameAttorney General of the United States tell us what kind of a job he waslikely do as the nation's top attorney at the Justice Department. In eachinstance, history has not been kind either to Gonzales' actual substantivework or to the ethical and moral judgment he exercised on behalf of hisclients at the time. In each case, the advice Gonzales offered -- legallydubious to begin with -- created not just political embarrassment andbacklash for his bosses, but unfortunate, even catastrophic results.
Not only did the three pre-Justice Department episodes turn out to beremarkable predictors for his troubled and disappointing tenure as AttorneyGeneral -- but many predicted two years ago that they might be. For example,Sen. Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.) looked Gonzales in the eye at the latter'sSenate confirmation hearing in January 2005 and said: "My concern is thatduring several high-profile matters in your professional career you'veappeared to serve as a facilitator rather than as an independent force inthe policy-making process."
Gonzales reassured Sen. Leahy -- and anyone else who cared to lodge the samecomplaint back then -- that he knew the difference between the role he wouldhave to play as Attorney General and those he had played as White Housecounsel and as counsel to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
But let us judge him by his deeds and not his words. The Attorney General'srecord at the Justice Department strongly suggests that he has still actedas a docile and dogged "facilitator" for White House initiatives rather thanas a wise, high-minded legal counselor willing and able on occasion toexercise independent judgment and power. The roads to the current scandalover the dismissal of federal prosecutors, to the Justice Department's rabidsupport for warrantless domestic surveillance, and to department's tepiddefense of civil liberties for resident aliens all are paved with stonesthat Gonzales and Bush laid down before the former took the oath of officein early 2005.
For the first two examples, I lean heavily upon the distinguished work ofAlan Berlow, who brilliantly chronicled in the July/August 2003 issue of TheAtlantic Monthly Gonzales' appallingly unprofessional work on death penaltycases when he was counsel for Gov. Bush. According to Berlow, Gonzales"repeatedly failed to apprise Bush of some of the most salient issues in thecases at hand: ineffective counsel, conflict of interest, mitigatingevidence, even actual evidence of innocence" (emphasis in original) in aseries of memoranda Gonzales prepared for the governor's review as part ofthe state's clemency process. Berlow believes that this was not merenegligence on the part of Gonzales -- that would have been bad enough -- butrather part of a concerted effort by both men to ensure for both politicaland ideological reasons that there would be no clemency petitions granted.The dice were loaded, you might say, by the man who now is the nation's toplawyer.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031402398_pf.html
Google to Tighten Privacy
Personal Data to Be Cut From Archived Searches
By Sam Diaz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 15, 2007; D03
Google said yesterday that it plans to alter its privacy policy and stripcertain identifying information from archived Internet searches.
The change, which is to go into effect by the end of the year, was welcomedby privacy advocates who have challenged Google to respect its users'privacy as it pursues its goal of organizing the world's information. Thenew policy will affect only searches conducted from the Google home page,not from Google Calendar or correspondence sent through Google's Web e-mailservice, Gmail.
Under the new policy, Google will continue to store search terms, but after18 to 24 months it will remove the Internet protocol addresses, which canhelp identify the location of computers that conducted searches. Google willalso erase cookies, which are bits of information that stay on computer harddrives after searches are conducted and might help an observer learn moreabout other Web sites visited by the person using the computer at a giventime.
"It's something we've been complaining about for years," said Ari Schwartz,deputy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington."This is a big deal because they're saying, 'We really do value privacy.'This is definitely a step in the right direction."
Last year, a federal judge ordered Google to turn over Web-search records tothe Justice Department, which was trying to prove that filtering softwarewas failing to limit children's access to online pornography. The governmentlater scaled back its request, asking instead for a sampling of randomsearches.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031401364_pf.html
Medical Marijuana Use Dealt Setback
Associated Press
Thursday, March 15, 2007; A11
SAN FRANCISCO, March 14 -- A woman whose doctor says marijuana is the onlymedicine keeping her alive can face federal prosecution on drug charges, afederal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The ruling was the latest legal defeat for Angel Raich, a mother of two fromOakland suffering from scoliosis, a brain tumor, chronic nausea and otherailments who sued the government preemptively to avoid being arrested forusing the drug. On her doctor's advice, Raich eats or smokes marijuana everytwo hours to ease her pain.
The Supreme Court ruled against Raich in June 2005, saying medical marijuanausers and their suppliers could be prosecuted for breaching federal druglaws even if they lived in a state such as California, where medical use ofthe drug is legal.
When told of the decision, Raich, 41, began sobbing. "I'm sure not going tolet them kill me," she said.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031402741_pf.html
Dozens in GOP Turn Against Bush's Prized 'No Child' Act
By Jonathan Weisman and Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, March 15, 2007; A01
More than 50 GOP members of the House and Senate -- including the House'ssecond-ranking Republican -- will introduce legislation today that couldseverely undercut President Bush's signature domestic achievement, the NoChild Left Behind Act, by allowing states to opt out of its testingmandates.
For a White House fighting off attacks on its war policy and dealing with aburgeoning scandal at the Justice Department, the GOP dissidents' move is afresh blow on a new front. Among the co-sponsors of the legislation areHouse Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a key supporter of the measure in2001, and John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Bush's most reliable defender in the Senate.Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.), the House GOP's chief deputy whip and a supporter in2001, has also signed on.
Burson Snyder, a spokesman for Blunt, said that after several meetings withschool administrators and teachers in southwest Missouri, the HouseRepublican leader turned against the measure he helped pass. Blunt wasconvinced that the burdens and red tape of the No Child Left Behind Act areunacceptably onerous, Snyder said.
Some Republicans said yesterday that a backlash against the law wasinevitable. Many voters in affluent suburban and exurban districts -- GOPstrongholds -- think their schools have been adversely affected by the law.Once-innovative public schools have increasingly become captive to federaltesting mandates, jettisoning education programs not covered by those tests,siphoning funds from programs for the talented and gifted, and discouragingcreativity, critics say.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/569/v-print/story/42048.html
Posted on Thu, Mar. 15, 2007
`I'm responsible for 9/11'
BY CAROL ROSENBERG
Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the man the United States says masterminded the Sept.11 terrorist attacks, confessed to the attack and to plotting a reign ofanti-American terror across the planet, according to a military transcriptof a weekend hearing at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, released Wednesday.
''I was responsible for the 9/11 operation -- from A to Z,'' he is quoted assaying in the 26-page transcript, posted on the Defense Department websiteat the close of business Wednesday.
The confession likely clears the way for the Pentagon to try the man thatthe United States says was Osama bin Laden's operations chief before amilitary war-crimes court empowered to sentence alleged terrorists to death.
No attorney was present at the status hearing in front of a panel chaired bya Navy captain and meant to determine whether he could be classified as an''enemy combatant.'' The Pentagon also barred the news media.
According to the transcript, an Air Force lieutenant colonel read a 31-pointlist of operations -- some completed, some planned -- while Mohammed sat ina hearing room on Saturday.
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ChicagoTribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0703140343mar14,0,7044569,print.column?coll=chi-ed_opinion_columnists-utl
Sharpton spell is fading fast
Kathleen Parker
March 14, 2007
Al Sharpton's desperation is showing.
His recent attacks on presidential candidate Barack Obama and his threat towithhold his support have exposed the trick behind Sharpton's magic act. Hisaudience is leaving the tent and Sharpton is scrambling for relevancy.
Sharpton has been challenging Obama's credentials in the black community andsaying that Obama is the darling of white leadership, according toDemocratic sources.
Sharpton told CBS News that he is withholding his endorsement until afterhis National Action Network summit next month. Meanwhile, he's playing hardto get between the Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton camps, even declining toreturn calls from Obama's campaign.
Now, it is fair to ask, what is Sharpton really up to? What is his realobjection to Obama? That Obama has white supporters? That Obama has becomethe first serious black presidential candidate in U.S. history? That helacks the civil rights bona fides that Sharpton claims for himself?
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USAToday.com
http://usatoday.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Can+Edwards+win+with+an+%27us+vs.+them%27+pitch%3F+-+USATODAY.com&expire=&urlID=21528315&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fnews%2Fwashington%2F2007-03-13-edwards-cover_N.htm&partnerID=1660
Can Edwards win with an 'us vs. them' pitch?
By Judy Keen, USA TODAY
OTTUMWA, Iowa - Dan Murphy, a Democrat and a sixth-grade teacher, isshopping for a presidential candidate in a community college conference roomon a sunny Saturday. He's here to hear John Edwards' pitch.
Murphy, 50, likes Sen. Barack Obama but says the Illinois freshman "hasn'tbeen around long enough." New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is "too muchof a Washington politician." Edwards, he says, "is pretty down to earth andknows what's going on with people at my income level."
Murphy's assessment of the candidate in broken-in jeans, blue shirt andyellow "Live Strong" wristband is exactly what Edwards hopes to achieve inhis second presidential run.
This time, the 2004 vice presidential nominee has a repackaged messageframing the campaign as a struggle that pits the political and corporateelite against regular people who just want to make a decent living, affordhealth care and end the Iraq war. Edwards, who made millions as apersonal-injury lawyer taking on big business, tells audiences heunderstands that they feel squeezed because they "pay more for everything .but their pay is not going up."
Edwards' challenge is to convince voters in primaries and caucuses that heis a populist who would put their interests above those of big corporationsand big government. He must prove that message will triumph over thepersonal and political appeal of Clinton and Obama, and sell across thenation, especially to moderate and independent voters important in a generalelection.
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CBSNews.com
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/13/politics/printable2563352.shtml
Clinton: "Right-Wing Conspiracy" Is Real
WASHINGTON, March 13, 2007
(AP) The "vast, right-wing conspiracy" is back, presidential candidateHillary Rodham Clinton is warning, using a phrase she once coined todescribe partisan plotting.
Once derided for her use of the phrase, Clinton is now trying to turn theimagery to her advantage.
Speaking Tuesday to Democratic municipal officials, the New York senatorused the term to hammer Republicans on election irregularities. She alsoused the phrase similarly during a campaign appearance over the weekend inNew Hampshire.
Clinton was first lady when she famously charged allegations of an affairbetween her then-president husband Bill Clinton and White House internMonica Lewinsky were the result of a conservative conspiracy.
As evidence of the affair eventually came to light, the comment wasridiculed. But many Democrats have since insisted that Clinton was correct,pointing to the well-documented efforts by conservative financier RichardMellon Scaife to fund a network of anti-Clinton investigations.
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USAToday.com
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/03/post_32.html
Why bash Dubai?
If there is any place in the Arab world that the United States should nothave a beef with, it is Dubai. One of seven Persian Gulf states looselylinked into the United Arab Emirates, Dubai is a booming monument tocapitalism.
Yet this oil-rich emirate, known for its opulent hotels and shopping malls,has quickly become a political piñata for Democrats (and some Republicans).
Last year, lawmakers thwarted a merger that would have let a Dubai-basedcompany run several American ports. Never mind that few, if any, expertsinvolved in port security thought the deal would have made U.S. ports anyless safe.
Now a controversy is erupting over the announcement by Halliburton, the oilservices giant run by Dick Cheney before he became vice president, that itwill move its headquarters to Dubai from Houston. Never mind that there arelegitimate business reasons for the move.
Dubai has become a convenient symbol to stoke fears about global securityand globalization. It can be depicted as a terrorist haven, as it was duringthe ports debate, or a tax haven, as it is now. The image one is left withis rather incongruous, kind of like a Bermuda run by the Taliban.
The irony is that Dubai is one of the best things going in the Middle East.While other Arab nations are contending with growing ranks of Islamicextremists with medieval notions, Dubai is a center of free trade, religioustolerance and pro-Western attitudes.
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Forwarded from Susan Frishkorn
Tri-County - chances@attglobal.net
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/14/1324202
It Can Happen Here: Journalist Joe Conason on "Authoritarian Peril in theAge of Bush"
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/14/1324202
Political journalist Joe Conason joins us in our firehouse studio to discusshis new book, "It Can Happen Here: Authoritarian Peril in the Age of Bush."Conason writes, "For the first time since the resignation of Richard M.Nixon more than three decades ago, Americans have had reason to doubt thefuture of democracy and the rule of law in our own country. [includes rushtranscript]
Joe Conason, national correspondent for The New York Observer, columnist orSalon.com and head of the Nation Institute Investigative Fund.. His latestbook is "It Can Happen Here: Authoritarian Peril in the Age of Bush."
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
This transcript is available free of charge. However, donations help usprovide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TVbroadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution.
Donate - $25, $50, $100, more...
AMY GOODMAN: It Can Happen Here.
JOE CONASON: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: Why did you choose that title?
JOE CONASON: That's the title -- well, there was a book in 1935 written bySinclair Lewis called It Can't Happen Here, which was kind of a satiricalnovel about the rise of fascism in the United States, which doesn't soundlike a very funny subject, but he managed to bring some humor to a very grimsubject, which was our descent into an authoritarian state after the 1936election.
Sinclair Lewis was married at the time to a foreign correspondent namedorothy Thompson, who was one of the greatest of her time and maybe of alltime, who had been kicked out of Nazi Germany in 1934 and had come home -- or telling the truth about Hitler -- and had come home and basically spenta lot of time telling her husband that the world was on the verge of apotential fascist takeover and he ought to try to do something about it. Andthis is why he wrote this novel.
I read that book at the urging of my editor at St. Martin's Press, and itoccurred to me that there were many striking parallels, actually, betweenwhat Sinclair Lewis had imagined as the kind of authoritarianism that couldcome to America and some of the things that we had been seeing in the lastseveral years here.
AMY GOODMAN: You make some stark parallels between what's happening now andthe Nixon administration, when it came to trying to obliterate the checksand balances. Explain.
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The Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0703150099mar15,0,6122474,print.column?coll=chi-ed_opinion_columnists-utl
If Gonzales gets boot, who should fill shoes?
Steve Chapman
March 15, 2007
When James Buckley ran for the United States Senate in New York in 1970, hiscampaign billboards asked a question: "Isn't it time we had a senator?" Thelatest controversy surrounding the Justice Department raises a question ofits own: "Isn't it time we had an attorney general?" Alberto Gonzalesstarted out in Washington as the president's man, and he has done nothing toendanger his favored status. But that leaves the rest of us sorelyunrepresented.
The uproar over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys may be a case whereGonzales actually had sound reasons, rather than unsavory political motives,for doing what he did. Someone who has consistently been a pliableadministration functionary, though, can hardly expect the benefit of thedoubt when scandal erupts. That makes this a good time to consider what sortof person ought to replace Gonzales in the likely event that he will soonreturn to private life.
The short answer is: someone very different. This attorney general owesalmost everything to George W. Bush, who brought him on as his legal adviserwhen he was governor of Texas, appointed him to the state supreme court,gave him the job of White House counsel and installed him at Justice. It'sabout as easy to imagine Gonzales standing up to the president as it is topicture Mickey Mouse biting Walt Disney.
Whatever else he has done in Washington, he has conspicuously failed to earna reputation for fearless and independent judgment, so everything that hascome out about the removal of the prosecutors has been interpreted in themost incriminating fashion.
Some of it is hard to interpret any other way. The attorney general isentitled to get rid of mediocre prosecutors. Yet of the seven who got thegate in December, two had just been given high grades by Kyle Sampson, thenGonzales' chief of staff. One of those rated unsatisfactory was Bud Cumminsof Arkansas, who the department now admits was removed only to make room fora former aide to Karl Rove. And now we also know that the White House, whichhad denied any role in the firings, was involved from the start.
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
FLORIDA DIGEST March 15, 2007
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
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Forwarded from Michael Emanuel Rajner
National Secretary - Campaign to End AIDS
Founding Member - Campaign to End AIDS-FLORIDA
merajner@gmail.com
The Miami Beach Coalition for Safe and Drug Free Communities,
The Miami Coalition, And The Village South, Inc
Proudly invite you to an important screening of HBO's documentary series:
To be held:
March 18, 2007
The Miami Beach Cinematheque
512 Espanola Way
Miami Beach, FL 33139
(305) 67-FILMS (673-4567)
8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Directions and parking information will be issued upon receipt of your RSVP.
Introduction by:
Carl Arrogante, MS, The Miami Beach Coalition
This event's objective is to educate and engage the Miami Beach Community onthe issues of addiction and recovery. The Miami Beach Coalition for Safeand Drug Free Communities and the Village South, in partnership with theMiami Coalition, will screen the HBO documentary titled "ADDICTION". Thisevent will be part of a nationwide 30-city community outreach campaignfunded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and coordinated by JoinTogether, Faces and Voices of Recovery, and the Community Anti-DrugCoalitions of America (CADCA). The Miami Beach Coalition and The VillageSouth will join other community organizations in Miami that are also ostingscreenings throughout Dade County in the month of March.
Please RSVP by responding to this email
*Seating is Limited*
For more information please contact:
Carl Arrogante, MS, Project Coordinator
The Miami Beach Coalition for Safe and Drug Free Communities
Ph: (786) 312-6406
email: carl.arrogante@villagesouth.com
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News-press.com
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070314/NEWS0120/703140403/1075
Gay protections enter anti-bullying debate
By Aaron Deslatte
Originally posted on March 14, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - A bill intended to curb bullying at public schools is onceagain becoming a lightning rod for Florida lawmakers' views onhomosexuality.
Several students who came to Tallahassee this week on behalf of the "JeffreyJohnston Stand Up For All Students Act," were told by one lawmaker that theyneeded psychological treatment because they're gay.
The bill named for a Cape Coral teenager who killed himself in 2005 afterbeing bullied at school would define "bullying" and direct schools to set upclear rules for how to handle threatening behavior.
But a group of students called the Florida Safe Schools Coalition implored aHouse committee Tuesday to include specific protections for gay students.
The bill defines "sexual, religious or racial harassment" as bullying, butmakes no mention of sexual orientation.
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Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fadoption15mar15,0,3151912,print.story?coll=sfla-news-florida
Democratic legislators join to seek repeal of ban on gay adoption
By Anthony Man
Political Writer
March 15, 2007
Tallahassee - Thousands of Florida children could have vastly better lives,advocates said Wednesday, if the state repeals its 30-year-old ban on gaysadopting.
A coalition of state legislators, mostly Democrats from Broward and PalmBeach counties, wants to eliminate what they said was a relic of formerbeauty queen and orange juice pitchwoman Anita Bryant's anti-gay crusade ofthe 1970s.
"It is the most sweeping anti-gay parenting law in the country, something ofwhich we should not be proud in the state of Florida," said state Sen. NanRich, D-Weston. "The law is devoid of any basis in social science andcontradicts public policy on child welfare. It denies children and adultsconstitutional rights and jeopardizes, most importantly, the best interestsof children."
Lifting the ban would allow gay men and lesbians to become adoptive parentsof some of the 3,919 foster children who were available for adoption inFlorida at the end of last month, Rich said.
State Rep. Kelly Skidmore, D-Boca Raton, said she hopes her colleagues "wakeup" and realize it is 2007, not the Bryant era.
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Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-pcell15mar15,0,666159,print.story
School Board seeks total ban on cell phones in Palm Beach County
By Marc Freeman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 15, 2007
Palm Beach County school leaders on Wednesday said they want to forbidstudents from carrying cell phones on campus as a way of blocking
cyber-bullying.
Violating rules against using cell phones at school, bullies send textmessages and make Web postings that belittle their classmates, and arrangeattacks before, during or after school, officials say.
Citing a rise of high-tech bullying, the School Board unanimously agreed tolobby for a change in state law that would enable school districts to banishcell phones. Superintendent Art Johnson wants the Legislature to considerthe request during its session.
The law, adopted in 2004, allows students to take cell phones to school, buta local School Board policy bars students from using them at any time oncampus. Students are not allowed to carry or use camera phones.
Board members say they expect many parents would oppose a total cell phoneban because they depend on the phones to stay in touch with their childrenduring emergencies or after school.
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Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-mscairport15mar15,0,7893540,print.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
Commissioners urged to rethink Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport expansion
Commission won't decide until May
By Bill Hirschman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 15, 2007
Thirty people paraded to a podium Wednesday -- some for the fifth time in adecade -- to plead with the Broward County Commission to reconsider its planto expand the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
Environmentalists, newly elected city commissioners and people living nearthe airport crowded a hearing about whose homes would be affected by thenoise and how the county would compensate them.
"We are united here tonight to preserve our quality of life and to protectour outdoor use and enjoyment of our most valuable asset: our homes," saidRudy Herman, president of the Chula Vista Isles Homeowners Association.
"If we are stripped of the simple pleasures we've come to love -- barbecues,pools, gardening, parks and playgrounds with our kids -- then why in theworld should we stay here?"
For 12 years, commissioners have debated adding a second major runway orlengthening one of the two smaller runways, but they do not plan to choosean option, or even whether to undertake any expansion, until May 7.
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Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-panderson15mar15,0,7007058,print.story?coll=sfla-news-palm
Candidates in Palm Beach County livid over election-night errors
By Stephanie Horvath and Sally Apgar
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 15, 2007
Outraged candidates in Palm Beach County, many of them losers who thoughtthey'd won their elections, lobbed criticism Wednesday at ElectionsSupervisor Arthur Anderson for posting incorrect results on his office's Website the night before.
Satisfying answers weren't to be found. As candidates pointed fingers,Anderson in turn placed the blame on a software company he hired.
It was the fourth election in the last year where some glitch or problemwreaked havoc with the results, the second because of software.
"It's just maddening that Palm Beach County can't seem to get it right,"said Michael Bornstein, campaign manager for West Palm Beach mayoralcandidate Al Zucaro, who lost after earlier declaring victory based onincorrect results. "Arthur Anderson got his job over the issue of makingsure the election process is fair and can be trusted. For the last fewelections that hasn't happened."
Anderson said Wednesday that a glitch in the software that puts the electionresults on the agency's Web site failed. He said that the column displayingthe thousands in the vote tally was dropped in some races so that insteadof, for example, reporting 6,758, the program reported 758.
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Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-padl15mar15,0,2858693,print.story?coll=sfla-news-florida
Number of reported Anti-Semitic incidents drops 10 percent in state
By Lois K. Solomon
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 15, 2007
After steadily rising for three years, the number of anti-Semitic incidentsin Florida has fallen, the Anti-Defamation League reported on Wednesday.
The organization tallied 179 episodes of harassment and vandalism last year.That's down 10 percent from 199 in 2005. There were 93 incidents documentedin 2002, 102 in 2003 and 173 in 2004.
Still, while the number of harassment incidents fell, vandalism across thestate jumped 32 percent, a figure that shows the decline in 2006 may be afluke, said Andrew Rosenkranz, ADL's Florida director.
"There is still anti-Semitism in our community," Rosenkranz said. "It'sstill something we need to react to."
Of the 37 vandalism incidents documented in Florida last year, several werein South Florida, including Boca Raton and its western suburbs, and anincident in Hollywood, according to the ADL.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-chall15mar15,0,4954725,print.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
The Sun-Sentinel
11 seniors to be feted in Broward
Hall of Fame entrants recognized for work
By Diane C. Lade
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 15, 2007
Allegra Webb Murphy won two elections in 24 hours.
The first, in Tuesday's race that returned Murphy to her Oakland Park citycommission seat, followed a three-month campaign. But her second victory aday later was a total surprise.
Murphy, 72, didn't even know she had been nominated for the Broward SeniorHall of Fame.
A six-person panel headed by County Mayor Josephus Eggelletion Jr.,recognized Murphy and 10 other seniors Wednesday for their exemplary civicactivism and volunteer efforts over many years.
"I campaigned hard for my commission seat, but this one took my breathaway," said Murphy. A former Broward County school system teacher andadministrator, she has spent her retirement organizing homeowner's groupsand serving her city, becoming its first black mayor.
This year's roster, chosen from 37 nominations, range in age from61-year-old state Rep. Eleanor Sobel, of Hollywood, to 97-year-old LucilleD'Orso. A retired hairdresser from Lauderdale Lakes, D'Orso has logged 32years tutoring schoolchildren through Broward's Foster GrandparentProgram -- making her the organization's oldest and most longstandingvolunteer.
Broward's Aging & Disability Resource Center has given the award annuallysince 1978 to county residents 60 and older. Their names, now totaling 303,are placed on a plaque hanging in the county's Governmental Center in FortLauderdale.
Several 2007 honorees were cited for their work after Hurricane Wilma. Onewas Sister Germana Sala, 66, who lives in a convent at St. David's CatholicChurch in Davie and is involved with Hope Outreach Center Inc., a nonprofitsocial service agency founded by St. David's pastor.
Ron English, 62, was named for his advocacy for gay and lesbian seniors,including his support of the Noble A. McArtor Adult Day Care Center, thefirst of its kind in the nation.
The nominees will be honored on May 16 at a breakfast in Tamarac. Ticketsare $20 each and can be purchased by calling 954-714-3456.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/460/v-print/story/40871.html
Posted on Wed, Mar. 14, 2007
Bill would allow closed-door talks
BY CHARLES RABIN
Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman Bruno Barreiro picked a bad week tobegin a push to change Florida's Sunshine Law by proposing that electedofficials should be allowed to meet behind closed doors and out of publicview.
In recognition of the law's long history of requiring open meetings ofFlorida's public agencies, Gov. Charlie Crist declared this week Governmentin the Sunshine Week.
Barreiro is offering a resolution urging the Legislature to change the law:His change would allow any two members of a government commission or councilto meet privately, if that group is made up of 12 members or more. OnlyMiami-Dade and Duval counties would be affected.
''I don't see the community losing out,'' said Barreiro. ``There's still aprocess in place that will ensure all items are deliberated on.''
Crist was inclined to disagree Tuesday, when he served as the guest speakerat a First Amendment Foundation luncheon.
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SPTimes.com
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/15/news_pf/State/Gay_adoption_push_ren.shtml
Gay adoption push renewed
By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published March 15, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - Florida's three-decades-old ban on allowing gays to adoptchildren is under attack once again.
But the ban has powerful allies, including Gov. Charlie Crist and Sen. RondaStorms of Brandon, who ran for office on a pledge to prevent gays from beingfoster parents.
Florida is one of three states, with Mississippi and Utah, that prohibitsgays from adopting.
Some state lawmakers, backed by human rights and gay rights groups, want toallow gay foster parents to adopt children if a judge rules it's in thechild's best interest or if a gay adult were the legal guardian of a childwhose biological parents had died.
"We're coming back this year," said Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston, a sponsor ofthe bill. "Every child needs and deserves a permanent, loving home."
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Palm Beach Post
http://palmbeachpost.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Touch+screens+could+be+scrapped&expire=&urlID=21544105&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.palmbeachpost.com%2Fstate%2Fcontent%2Fstate%2Fepaper%2F2007%2F03%2F15%2Fa14a_XGR_ballot_0315.html&partnerID=494
Touch screens could be scrapped
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
Thursday, March 15, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning said Wednesday he hasa plan that could allow large counties to completely scrap touch-screenvoting machines, even for early voting.
Gov. Charlie Crist has proposed doing away with the electronic machines onelection days, but continuing to allow counties to use them for early votingif they choose because some large counties have hundreds of precincts, eachof which may require a different ballot.
Elections supervisors say they do not have room to store that many paperballots at the limited number of early voting sites, where people from manydifferent precincts may come to vote.
Paper ballots are needed for the optical-scan voting machine that is thealternative voting technology supported by Crist.
Browning's solution would be to keep a ballot for every precinct on acomputer and put printers at early voting sites that would create "ballotson demand" for any precinct that a voter could show he was a resident of.
That printed paper ballot could then be used in the optical-scan machines atthe early voting site.
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HeraldTribune.com
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070313/BLOG29/70313022
March 13. 2007 6:33PM
Crist takes stand in bullying legislation
By JOE FOLLICK
jfollick@earthlink.net
With a brief statement, Gov. Charlie Crist appeared to weigh in Tuesday onan effort to include sexual orientation as a specific protected status in ananti-bullying bill.
The effort to list certain reasons for which a student or school employeeshould not be bullied -- such as race, appearance or religion -- has been asticking point for years with some lawmakers, who say such delineations onlyserve to heighten the prejudice.
Gay rights supporters and others said bullying due to sexual orientationshould be specifically banned to send a strong message.
Crist said Tuesday that he agreed with the latter argument.
"Nobody should be bullied, for anything," he said. "So I wouldn't object tothat at all."
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/569/v-print/story/42028.html
Posted on Thu, Mar. 15, 2007
Utah expert lectures GOP lawmakers
BY GARY FINEOUT
Republican lawmakers who met for an hour to listen to an expert play downthe promises of embryonic stem-cell research did not let the public knowthey were meeting, even though the Florida Legislature is considering twobills on the issue.
As many as 25 House Republicans gathered at the University Club at FloridaState University on Monday night to hear a lecture by Maureen Condic, aneurobiologist and professor at the University of Utah School of Medicine.The dinner and Condic's expenses were paid by the Republican Party ofFlorida.
The lecture comes at the same time that legislators are considering twobills to set aside $20 million for stem-cell research. The main differencebetween the measures: the version backed by Democrats authorizes spendingmoney on embryonic stem-cell research, which results in the destruction ofhuman embryos, while the GOP version does not.
Republican leaders said the meeting -- which was first disclosed by the PalmBeach Post -- did not violate any public meetings laws.
''There was no secret meeting,'' said Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, a FortLauderdale Republican. ``It was a lecture to provide people with valuableinformation.''
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The Saint Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/15/news_pf/State/Bonus_plan_reconfigur.shtml
Bonus plan reconfigured
By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published March 15, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - Hoping to end months of acrimony within Florida's schools,House and Senate leaders Wednesday unveiled a proposed teacher bonus planthat gives school districts significant flexibility and control in how theyassess and reward top teachers and administrators.
The measure would repeal the controversial, $147.5-million Special TeachersAre Rewarded plan adopted last year under Gov. Jeb Bush and replace it witha new bonus program that educators say is much more palatable and fair.
"STAR was probably one of the most acrimonious programs to be implemented inrecent memory," said Christian Doolin, a lobbyist representing more thanthree dozen small school districts including Citrus and Hernando. "Thisproposal places responsibility and decisionmaking in the hands of thedistricts and school administrators. It's much better."
Lawmakers hope to pass the proposed fix and send it to the governor by theend of next week.
"We listened," said Rep. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, chairman of aHouse education committee that's been working on the proposal for weeks. "Wereally listened."
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2007 FAIR ADOPTION TOWN HALL BROWARD/MIAMI DADE
From: Equality Florida
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 10:02 AM
Subject: Please join us for the Adoption Town Meeting
Join us for a town hall meeting on this pressing topic currently beingdebated in the Florida legislature:
SHOULD GAYS AND LESBIANS BE ALLOWED TO ADOPT CHILDREN IN FLORIDA?
Sunday, March 25, 1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Dear Friends,
As you all know, Florida is the only state in the country to have alegislative ban on gay and lesbian adoption. Last year we saw unprecedentedorganizing and legislative momentum on this issue in Tallahassee and acrossthe state. This year we will see legislation on gay adoption move inTallahassee, how far and to what degree depends on us.
"Our Families, Our Future: A Town Hall for Floridians"
First Congregational Church
2501 NE 30th St., Fort Lauderdale
(Near the Target at Oakland Park Blvd. & Federal Hwy.)
Sunday, March 25, 1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
SHOULD GAYS AND LESBIANS BE ALLOWED TO ADOPT CHILDREN IN FLORIDA?
Join us for a town hall meeting on this pressing topic currently beingdebated in the Florida legislature.
THE FACTS:
Florida is the only state with an outright ban on gay and lesbian adoption.Thousands of children are trapped in Florida's overburdened foster caresystem.
Thousands gay and lesbian parents are raising children but cannot legallyadopt them under current law.The Florida legislature will be debating the ban on gay and lesbian adoptionin the next 60 days.
WHAT YOU WILL EXPERIENCE AT THE TOWN HALL:
A panel of presenters, including lesbian and gay parents and their children,South Florida political and faith community leaders as well as socialscience research specialists, who are there to share their thoughts and hearyours
Your chance to be heard in a heart to heart dialogue about family issuesthat concern all Floridians Ideas about taking the next step toward insuring what is right for Florida'schildren.
RSVP HERE!
https://www.sporg.com/pom/registration?cmd=init&user_session_process=process_registration
For more information, contact Tobias Packer at tobias@eqfl.org or DustinKight at dustin.kight@familypride.org.
For more about other activities in the Valuing Our Families Weekend,including workshops, celebrations and family fun, go to www.sunserve.org.
Co-sponsoring Organizations: SunServe, Family Pride Coalition, EqualityFlorida, NOW/Florida, Planned Parenthood of South Palm Beach and BrowardCounties, Women in Distress of Broward County, ACLU/Florida, PFLAG/ Florida,South Florida Family Pride, Salvaging our Children's Rights, National Centerfor Lesbian Rights, GLSEN/South Florida, GLAAD, National Gay and LesbianTask Force, The GLCC of South Florida, GSSA/Nova Southeastern University.
If you can't make the Broward/Miami Dade meeting on the 25th, attend thePalm Beach County town hall on the 27th.
Please save the date:
What: Palm Beach County Fair Adoption Town Hall
When: Tue. Mar. 27th; 7:00pm- 9:00pm
Where: New Hope First Community Church;
2929A South Seacrest Blvd., Boynton Beach, FL 33435
I-95 to Woolbright East, at Seacrest (the light) take a right, approx. onemile. The Church is on the Ascension Lutheran Campus, just south of thelarger church.
Who: Child welfare advocates, concerned citizens, LGBT parents, children ofLGBT parents, faith leaders, community leaders, straight allies and thoseseeking more information on the subject. We need those in the Palm BeachCounty who are committed to ensuring that the best interest of the child isthe only concern this state has when granting parental rights.
RSVP: CLICK HERE
if you have trouble with the above link, cut and paste without spaces
http://ga4.org/Equalityflorida/events/2007/palmbeachadoptsummit/details.tcl
This Town Hall will involve a panel of experts in the legal field, childwelfare field, faith leaders, personal stories and a legislative update.Panelist will share their knowledge and be available to answer questions.All are welcome to attend.
For More Information or to RSVP contact:
Tobias Packer at 305-924-1899 tobias@eqfl.org
or
Allan Hendricks at 561-541-3700 eqflpbc@yahoo.com
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
Forwarded from Michael Emanuel Rajner
National Secretary - Campaign to End AIDS
Founding Member - Campaign to End AIDS-FLORIDA
merajner@gmail.com
The Miami Beach Coalition for Safe and Drug Free Communities,
The Miami Coalition, And The Village South, Inc
Proudly invite you to an important screening of HBO's documentary series:
To be held:
March 18, 2007
The Miami Beach Cinematheque
512 Espanola Way
Miami Beach, FL 33139
(305) 67-FILMS (673-4567)
8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Directions and parking information will be issued upon receipt of your RSVP.
Introduction by:
Carl Arrogante, MS, The Miami Beach Coalition
This event's objective is to educate and engage the Miami Beach Community onthe issues of addiction and recovery. The Miami Beach Coalition for Safeand Drug Free Communities and the Village South, in partnership with theMiami Coalition, will screen the HBO documentary titled "ADDICTION". Thisevent will be part of a nationwide 30-city community outreach campaignfunded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and coordinated by JoinTogether, Faces and Voices of Recovery, and the Community Anti-DrugCoalitions of America (CADCA). The Miami Beach Coalition and The VillageSouth will join other community organizations in Miami that are also ostingscreenings throughout Dade County in the month of March.
Please RSVP by responding to this email
*Seating is Limited*
For more information please contact:
Carl Arrogante, MS, Project Coordinator
The Miami Beach Coalition for Safe and Drug Free Communities
Ph: (786) 312-6406
email: carl.arrogante@villagesouth.com
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News-press.com
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070314/NEWS0120/703140403/1075
Gay protections enter anti-bullying debate
By Aaron Deslatte
Originally posted on March 14, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - A bill intended to curb bullying at public schools is onceagain becoming a lightning rod for Florida lawmakers' views onhomosexuality.
Several students who came to Tallahassee this week on behalf of the "JeffreyJohnston Stand Up For All Students Act," were told by one lawmaker that theyneeded psychological treatment because they're gay.
The bill named for a Cape Coral teenager who killed himself in 2005 afterbeing bullied at school would define "bullying" and direct schools to set upclear rules for how to handle threatening behavior.
But a group of students called the Florida Safe Schools Coalition implored aHouse committee Tuesday to include specific protections for gay students.
The bill defines "sexual, religious or racial harassment" as bullying, butmakes no mention of sexual orientation.
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Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fadoption15mar15,0,3151912,print.story?coll=sfla-news-florida
Democratic legislators join to seek repeal of ban on gay adoption
By Anthony Man
Political Writer
March 15, 2007
Tallahassee - Thousands of Florida children could have vastly better lives,advocates said Wednesday, if the state repeals its 30-year-old ban on gaysadopting.
A coalition of state legislators, mostly Democrats from Broward and PalmBeach counties, wants to eliminate what they said was a relic of formerbeauty queen and orange juice pitchwoman Anita Bryant's anti-gay crusade ofthe 1970s.
"It is the most sweeping anti-gay parenting law in the country, something ofwhich we should not be proud in the state of Florida," said state Sen. NanRich, D-Weston. "The law is devoid of any basis in social science andcontradicts public policy on child welfare. It denies children and adultsconstitutional rights and jeopardizes, most importantly, the best interestsof children."
Lifting the ban would allow gay men and lesbians to become adoptive parentsof some of the 3,919 foster children who were available for adoption inFlorida at the end of last month, Rich said.
State Rep. Kelly Skidmore, D-Boca Raton, said she hopes her colleagues "wakeup" and realize it is 2007, not the Bryant era.
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Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-pcell15mar15,0,666159,print.story
School Board seeks total ban on cell phones in Palm Beach County
By Marc Freeman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 15, 2007
Palm Beach County school leaders on Wednesday said they want to forbidstudents from carrying cell phones on campus as a way of blocking
cyber-bullying.
Violating rules against using cell phones at school, bullies send textmessages and make Web postings that belittle their classmates, and arrangeattacks before, during or after school, officials say.
Citing a rise of high-tech bullying, the School Board unanimously agreed tolobby for a change in state law that would enable school districts to banishcell phones. Superintendent Art Johnson wants the Legislature to considerthe request during its session.
The law, adopted in 2004, allows students to take cell phones to school, buta local School Board policy bars students from using them at any time oncampus. Students are not allowed to carry or use camera phones.
Board members say they expect many parents would oppose a total cell phoneban because they depend on the phones to stay in touch with their childrenduring emergencies or after school.
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Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-mscairport15mar15,0,7893540,print.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
Commissioners urged to rethink Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport expansion
Commission won't decide until May
By Bill Hirschman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 15, 2007
Thirty people paraded to a podium Wednesday -- some for the fifth time in adecade -- to plead with the Broward County Commission to reconsider its planto expand the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
Environmentalists, newly elected city commissioners and people living nearthe airport crowded a hearing about whose homes would be affected by thenoise and how the county would compensate them.
"We are united here tonight to preserve our quality of life and to protectour outdoor use and enjoyment of our most valuable asset: our homes," saidRudy Herman, president of the Chula Vista Isles Homeowners Association.
"If we are stripped of the simple pleasures we've come to love -- barbecues,pools, gardening, parks and playgrounds with our kids -- then why in theworld should we stay here?"
For 12 years, commissioners have debated adding a second major runway orlengthening one of the two smaller runways, but they do not plan to choosean option, or even whether to undertake any expansion, until May 7.
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Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-panderson15mar15,0,7007058,print.story?coll=sfla-news-palm
Candidates in Palm Beach County livid over election-night errors
By Stephanie Horvath and Sally Apgar
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 15, 2007
Outraged candidates in Palm Beach County, many of them losers who thoughtthey'd won their elections, lobbed criticism Wednesday at ElectionsSupervisor Arthur Anderson for posting incorrect results on his office's Website the night before.
Satisfying answers weren't to be found. As candidates pointed fingers,Anderson in turn placed the blame on a software company he hired.
It was the fourth election in the last year where some glitch or problemwreaked havoc with the results, the second because of software.
"It's just maddening that Palm Beach County can't seem to get it right,"said Michael Bornstein, campaign manager for West Palm Beach mayoralcandidate Al Zucaro, who lost after earlier declaring victory based onincorrect results. "Arthur Anderson got his job over the issue of makingsure the election process is fair and can be trusted. For the last fewelections that hasn't happened."
Anderson said Wednesday that a glitch in the software that puts the electionresults on the agency's Web site failed. He said that the column displayingthe thousands in the vote tally was dropped in some races so that insteadof, for example, reporting 6,758, the program reported 758.
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Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-padl15mar15,0,2858693,print.story?coll=sfla-news-florida
Number of reported Anti-Semitic incidents drops 10 percent in state
By Lois K. Solomon
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 15, 2007
After steadily rising for three years, the number of anti-Semitic incidentsin Florida has fallen, the Anti-Defamation League reported on Wednesday.
The organization tallied 179 episodes of harassment and vandalism last year.That's down 10 percent from 199 in 2005. There were 93 incidents documentedin 2002, 102 in 2003 and 173 in 2004.
Still, while the number of harassment incidents fell, vandalism across thestate jumped 32 percent, a figure that shows the decline in 2006 may be afluke, said Andrew Rosenkranz, ADL's Florida director.
"There is still anti-Semitism in our community," Rosenkranz said. "It'sstill something we need to react to."
Of the 37 vandalism incidents documented in Florida last year, several werein South Florida, including Boca Raton and its western suburbs, and anincident in Hollywood, according to the ADL.
=
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-chall15mar15,0,4954725,print.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
The Sun-Sentinel
11 seniors to be feted in Broward
Hall of Fame entrants recognized for work
By Diane C. Lade
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 15, 2007
Allegra Webb Murphy won two elections in 24 hours.
The first, in Tuesday's race that returned Murphy to her Oakland Park citycommission seat, followed a three-month campaign. But her second victory aday later was a total surprise.
Murphy, 72, didn't even know she had been nominated for the Broward SeniorHall of Fame.
A six-person panel headed by County Mayor Josephus Eggelletion Jr.,recognized Murphy and 10 other seniors Wednesday for their exemplary civicactivism and volunteer efforts over many years.
"I campaigned hard for my commission seat, but this one took my breathaway," said Murphy. A former Broward County school system teacher andadministrator, she has spent her retirement organizing homeowner's groupsand serving her city, becoming its first black mayor.
This year's roster, chosen from 37 nominations, range in age from61-year-old state Rep. Eleanor Sobel, of Hollywood, to 97-year-old LucilleD'Orso. A retired hairdresser from Lauderdale Lakes, D'Orso has logged 32years tutoring schoolchildren through Broward's Foster GrandparentProgram -- making her the organization's oldest and most longstandingvolunteer.
Broward's Aging & Disability Resource Center has given the award annuallysince 1978 to county residents 60 and older. Their names, now totaling 303,are placed on a plaque hanging in the county's Governmental Center in FortLauderdale.
Several 2007 honorees were cited for their work after Hurricane Wilma. Onewas Sister Germana Sala, 66, who lives in a convent at St. David's CatholicChurch in Davie and is involved with Hope Outreach Center Inc., a nonprofitsocial service agency founded by St. David's pastor.
Ron English, 62, was named for his advocacy for gay and lesbian seniors,including his support of the Noble A. McArtor Adult Day Care Center, thefirst of its kind in the nation.
The nominees will be honored on May 16 at a breakfast in Tamarac. Ticketsare $20 each and can be purchased by calling 954-714-3456.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/460/v-print/story/40871.html
Posted on Wed, Mar. 14, 2007
Bill would allow closed-door talks
BY CHARLES RABIN
Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman Bruno Barreiro picked a bad week tobegin a push to change Florida's Sunshine Law by proposing that electedofficials should be allowed to meet behind closed doors and out of publicview.
In recognition of the law's long history of requiring open meetings ofFlorida's public agencies, Gov. Charlie Crist declared this week Governmentin the Sunshine Week.
Barreiro is offering a resolution urging the Legislature to change the law:His change would allow any two members of a government commission or councilto meet privately, if that group is made up of 12 members or more. OnlyMiami-Dade and Duval counties would be affected.
''I don't see the community losing out,'' said Barreiro. ``There's still aprocess in place that will ensure all items are deliberated on.''
Crist was inclined to disagree Tuesday, when he served as the guest speakerat a First Amendment Foundation luncheon.
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SPTimes.com
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/15/news_pf/State/Gay_adoption_push_ren.shtml
Gay adoption push renewed
By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published March 15, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - Florida's three-decades-old ban on allowing gays to adoptchildren is under attack once again.
But the ban has powerful allies, including Gov. Charlie Crist and Sen. RondaStorms of Brandon, who ran for office on a pledge to prevent gays from beingfoster parents.
Florida is one of three states, with Mississippi and Utah, that prohibitsgays from adopting.
Some state lawmakers, backed by human rights and gay rights groups, want toallow gay foster parents to adopt children if a judge rules it's in thechild's best interest or if a gay adult were the legal guardian of a childwhose biological parents had died.
"We're coming back this year," said Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston, a sponsor ofthe bill. "Every child needs and deserves a permanent, loving home."
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Palm Beach Post
http://palmbeachpost.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Touch+screens+could+be+scrapped&expire=&urlID=21544105&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.palmbeachpost.com%2Fstate%2Fcontent%2Fstate%2Fepaper%2F2007%2F03%2F15%2Fa14a_XGR_ballot_0315.html&partnerID=494
Touch screens could be scrapped
By Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
Thursday, March 15, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning said Wednesday he hasa plan that could allow large counties to completely scrap touch-screenvoting machines, even for early voting.
Gov. Charlie Crist has proposed doing away with the electronic machines onelection days, but continuing to allow counties to use them for early votingif they choose because some large counties have hundreds of precincts, eachof which may require a different ballot.
Elections supervisors say they do not have room to store that many paperballots at the limited number of early voting sites, where people from manydifferent precincts may come to vote.
Paper ballots are needed for the optical-scan voting machine that is thealternative voting technology supported by Crist.
Browning's solution would be to keep a ballot for every precinct on acomputer and put printers at early voting sites that would create "ballotson demand" for any precinct that a voter could show he was a resident of.
That printed paper ballot could then be used in the optical-scan machines atthe early voting site.
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HeraldTribune.com
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070313/BLOG29/70313022
March 13. 2007 6:33PM
Crist takes stand in bullying legislation
By JOE FOLLICK
jfollick@earthlink.net
With a brief statement, Gov. Charlie Crist appeared to weigh in Tuesday onan effort to include sexual orientation as a specific protected status in ananti-bullying bill.
The effort to list certain reasons for which a student or school employeeshould not be bullied -- such as race, appearance or religion -- has been asticking point for years with some lawmakers, who say such delineations onlyserve to heighten the prejudice.
Gay rights supporters and others said bullying due to sexual orientationshould be specifically banned to send a strong message.
Crist said Tuesday that he agreed with the latter argument.
"Nobody should be bullied, for anything," he said. "So I wouldn't object tothat at all."
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/569/v-print/story/42028.html
Posted on Thu, Mar. 15, 2007
Utah expert lectures GOP lawmakers
BY GARY FINEOUT
Republican lawmakers who met for an hour to listen to an expert play downthe promises of embryonic stem-cell research did not let the public knowthey were meeting, even though the Florida Legislature is considering twobills on the issue.
As many as 25 House Republicans gathered at the University Club at FloridaState University on Monday night to hear a lecture by Maureen Condic, aneurobiologist and professor at the University of Utah School of Medicine.The dinner and Condic's expenses were paid by the Republican Party ofFlorida.
The lecture comes at the same time that legislators are considering twobills to set aside $20 million for stem-cell research. The main differencebetween the measures: the version backed by Democrats authorizes spendingmoney on embryonic stem-cell research, which results in the destruction ofhuman embryos, while the GOP version does not.
Republican leaders said the meeting -- which was first disclosed by the PalmBeach Post -- did not violate any public meetings laws.
''There was no secret meeting,'' said Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, a FortLauderdale Republican. ``It was a lecture to provide people with valuableinformation.''
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The Saint Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/15/news_pf/State/Bonus_plan_reconfigur.shtml
Bonus plan reconfigured
By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published March 15, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - Hoping to end months of acrimony within Florida's schools,House and Senate leaders Wednesday unveiled a proposed teacher bonus planthat gives school districts significant flexibility and control in how theyassess and reward top teachers and administrators.
The measure would repeal the controversial, $147.5-million Special TeachersAre Rewarded plan adopted last year under Gov. Jeb Bush and replace it witha new bonus program that educators say is much more palatable and fair.
"STAR was probably one of the most acrimonious programs to be implemented inrecent memory," said Christian Doolin, a lobbyist representing more thanthree dozen small school districts including Citrus and Hernando. "Thisproposal places responsibility and decisionmaking in the hands of thedistricts and school administrators. It's much better."
Lawmakers hope to pass the proposed fix and send it to the governor by theend of next week.
"We listened," said Rep. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, chairman of aHouse education committee that's been working on the proposal for weeks. "Wereally listened."
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2007 FAIR ADOPTION TOWN HALL BROWARD/MIAMI DADE
From: Equality Florida
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 10:02 AM
Subject: Please join us for the Adoption Town Meeting
Join us for a town hall meeting on this pressing topic currently beingdebated in the Florida legislature:
SHOULD GAYS AND LESBIANS BE ALLOWED TO ADOPT CHILDREN IN FLORIDA?
Sunday, March 25, 1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Dear Friends,
As you all know, Florida is the only state in the country to have alegislative ban on gay and lesbian adoption. Last year we saw unprecedentedorganizing and legislative momentum on this issue in Tallahassee and acrossthe state. This year we will see legislation on gay adoption move inTallahassee, how far and to what degree depends on us.
"Our Families, Our Future: A Town Hall for Floridians"
First Congregational Church
2501 NE 30th St., Fort Lauderdale
(Near the Target at Oakland Park Blvd. & Federal Hwy.)
Sunday, March 25, 1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
SHOULD GAYS AND LESBIANS BE ALLOWED TO ADOPT CHILDREN IN FLORIDA?
Join us for a town hall meeting on this pressing topic currently beingdebated in the Florida legislature.
THE FACTS:
Florida is the only state with an outright ban on gay and lesbian adoption.Thousands of children are trapped in Florida's overburdened foster caresystem.
Thousands gay and lesbian parents are raising children but cannot legallyadopt them under current law.The Florida legislature will be debating the ban on gay and lesbian adoptionin the next 60 days.
WHAT YOU WILL EXPERIENCE AT THE TOWN HALL:
A panel of presenters, including lesbian and gay parents and their children,South Florida political and faith community leaders as well as socialscience research specialists, who are there to share their thoughts and hearyours
Your chance to be heard in a heart to heart dialogue about family issuesthat concern all Floridians Ideas about taking the next step toward insuring what is right for Florida'schildren.
RSVP HERE!
https://www.sporg.com/pom/registration?cmd=init&user_session_process=process_registration
For more information, contact Tobias Packer at tobias@eqfl.org or DustinKight at dustin.kight@familypride.org.
For more about other activities in the Valuing Our Families Weekend,including workshops, celebrations and family fun, go to www.sunserve.org.
Co-sponsoring Organizations: SunServe, Family Pride Coalition, EqualityFlorida, NOW/Florida, Planned Parenthood of South Palm Beach and BrowardCounties, Women in Distress of Broward County, ACLU/Florida, PFLAG/ Florida,South Florida Family Pride, Salvaging our Children's Rights, National Centerfor Lesbian Rights, GLSEN/South Florida, GLAAD, National Gay and LesbianTask Force, The GLCC of South Florida, GSSA/Nova Southeastern University.
If you can't make the Broward/Miami Dade meeting on the 25th, attend thePalm Beach County town hall on the 27th.
Please save the date:
What: Palm Beach County Fair Adoption Town Hall
When: Tue. Mar. 27th; 7:00pm- 9:00pm
Where: New Hope First Community Church;
2929A South Seacrest Blvd., Boynton Beach, FL 33435
I-95 to Woolbright East, at Seacrest (the light) take a right, approx. onemile. The Church is on the Ascension Lutheran Campus, just south of thelarger church.
Who: Child welfare advocates, concerned citizens, LGBT parents, children ofLGBT parents, faith leaders, community leaders, straight allies and thoseseeking more information on the subject. We need those in the Palm BeachCounty who are committed to ensuring that the best interest of the child isthe only concern this state has when granting parental rights.
RSVP: CLICK HERE
if you have trouble with the above link, cut and paste without spaces
http://ga4.org/Equalityflorida/events/2007/palmbeachadoptsummit/details.tcl
This Town Hall will involve a panel of experts in the legal field, childwelfare field, faith leaders, personal stories and a legislative update.Panelist will share their knowledge and be available to answer questions.All are welcome to attend.
For More Information or to RSVP contact:
Tobias Packer at 305-924-1899 tobias@eqfl.org
or
Allan Hendricks at 561-541-3700 eqflpbc@yahoo.com
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
GLBT DIGEST March 14, 2007
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mexico-abortion.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
March 14, 2007
Mexico's Capital Plans to Legalize Abortion
By REUTERS
Filed at 1:17 a.m. ET
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico City is preparing to legalize abortion -- thefirst region to do so in heavily Roman Catholic Mexico -- a move theinfluential church has vowed to challenge.
A bill that would allow abortions in the first three months of pregnancy ismaking its way through the capital city's assembly and supporters say theyhave well over the majority needed to pass it despite threats of protests bythe Catholic Church. The measure is expected to pass within months and thefirst legal abortions could happen later this year.
``No church, no religion can impose its vision of the world in this city,''said assembly leader Victor Hugo Cirigo, whose leftist Party of theDemocratic Revolution runs City Hall and holds 34 of 66 city legislativeseats.
The assembly battled with the Catholic Church in December, allowing gaycivil unions to begin in Mexico City on Friday. The northern state ofCoahuila followed suit and has already begun allowing such ceremonies,holding its first in January.
Special laws in Mexico City already permit abortion when a mother's life isthreatened, but the rest of the country allows it only in case of rape, saidMaria Luisa Sanchez, president of leading Mexican abortion rights groupGIRE.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/arts/entertainment-lauper.html?pagewanted=print
March 14, 2007
Lauper, Erasure Headline Gay - Themed Tour
By REUTERS
Filed at 4:56 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Cyndi Lauper, Erasure and Debbie Harry will anchor asummer tour of 15 North American cities designed to raise awareness ofgay-rights issues.
The True Colors trek, which begins June 8 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas,will also include the Dresden Dolls, the Gossip and the Misshapes, alongwith host Margaret Cho.
``This tour was created to celebrate our differences by raising awarenessfor liberty, fairness and dignity for everyone -- not just some of us,''Lauper said in a statement. ''Our fans can come out to celebrate a greatcause while also hearing some great music.''
Rufus Wainwright, the Indigo Girls and Rosie O'Donnell will make specialappearances throughout the tour, which is sponsored by gay/lesbian TVnetwork Logo.
Stops include Chicago's Auditorium Theater (June 12), Boston's Bank ofAmerica Pavilion (June 16), New York's Radio City Music Hall (June 18),Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre (June 19) and Berkeley's Greek Theater (June29). It ends the next day at the Greek in Los Angeles.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Military-Gays.html?pagewanted=print
March 14, 2007
No Apology From Gen. Pace for Gay Stance
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 4:55 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon's top general said Tuesday he should nothave voiced his personal view that homosexuality is immoral and should havejust stated his support for the military's ''don't ask, don't tell'' policyin an interview that has drawn criticism from lawmakers and gay-rightsgroups.
The written statement by Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff, did not apologize for his stance on homosexuality. In anewspaper interview Monday, Pace likened homosexual acts to adultery andsaid the military should not condone it by allowing gays to serve openly inthe armed forces.
After a flurry of condemnation Tuesday, Pace issued a statementacknowledging that the Defense Department's ''don't ask, don't tell'' policyon gays is a sensitive subject and said: ''I should have focused more on mysupport of the policy and less on my personal moral views.''
The military lets gay men and lesbians serve if they keep their sexualorientation private. Commanders may not ask, and service members may nottell. More than 10,000 troops, including more than 50 specialists in Arabic,have been discharged since President Clinton signed it into law in 1994.
In an interview with the Pentagon Channel, the military's in-housetelevision station, Defense Secretary Robert Gates declined to answer aquestion on his opinion of the policy but made what seemed to be a mildrebuke of Pace.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Adopting-Adults.html?pagewanted=print
March 14, 2007
Adoption: Not Just for Children
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 4:03 a.m. ET
CHICAGO (AP) -- Linc Morris admits it took him a while to get used to theidea of eing adopted -- which probably explains why he was 42 years old bythe time it appened.
Morris' mother and father divorced when he was young, and he grew up withoth parents and their new spouses, spending the bulk of his formative yearswith his mother and stepfather.
He and his stepfather talked about adoption on and off for years, but''never pulled the trigger,'' he said. It was his biological father's deaththree years ago that led Morris to the realization that he finally wasready. The adoption was finalized in 2005.
''It made me evaluate a lot of things that were happening in my life, thingsthat had happened in my life,'' Morris said. ''It occurred to me that thiswas the right thing to do.''
Morris' story might not be the adoption scenario most people imagine, but itisn't unique. Adoption lawyers say adults adopt other adults more often thanone might think.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/world/europe/14vatican.html?pagewanted=print
March 14, 2007
Pope Reaffirms View Opposing Gay Marriage and Abortion
By IAN FISHER
BOLOGNA, Italy, March 13 - Pope Benedict XVI strongly reasserted on Tuesdaythe church's opposition to abortion, euthanasia and gay marriage, sayingthat Roman Catholic politicians were "especially" obligated to defend thechurch's beliefs in their public duties.
"These values are non-negotiable," the pope wrote in a 130-page "apostolic exhortation," a distillation of opinion from a worldwide meeting of bishopsat the Vatican in 2005.
"Consequently, Catholic politicians and legislators, conscious of theirgrave responsibility before society, must feel particularly bound, on thebasis of a properly formed conscience, to introduce laws inspired by valuesgrounded in human nature."
In the meantime on Tuesday, the pope met at the Vatican with PresidentVladimir V. Putin of Russia, in their first encounter since Benedict becamepope in April 2005.
A Vatican statement said the men discussed improving relations betweenCatholics and Orthodox - an issue that Benedict has put near the center ofhis papacy. They spoke in the papal residence, mostly in German, the pope'snative language.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/world/europe/14briefs-gaymarriage.html?pagewanted=print
March 14, 2007
World Briefing | Europe
France: High Court Voids First Gay Marriage
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Court of Cassation, France's highest appeals court, rejected as unlawfulthe first marriage by a gay couple in France and annulled the men's union.Stéphane Chapin, at left in photo, 36, and Bertrand Charpentier, 33, weremarried by the mayor of Bègles in the southwest in June 2004. The governmentimmediately said the union was outside the law, and a series of courtdecisions unfavorable to the couple has followed. In the latest decision,the court ruled that "under French law, marriage is a union between a manand a woman." No other gay couple has married in France.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/opinion/l14nigeria.html
Gays in Nigeria (1 Letter)
Published: March 14, 2007
To the Editor:
Re "Denying Rights in Nigeria" (editorial, March 8):
I am embarrassed to learn that an archbishop of the Anglican Communion, theMost Rev. Peter J. Akinola, is a major supporter of the odious Nigerianlegislation designed to deny basic human rights to gay and lesbian people.
What deeply saddens me is that he is a well-regarded leader to many of themost conservative Episcopalians in this country. But what puzzles me is theapparent willingness of the archbishop of Canterbury and other primates ofthe Anglican Communion to appease him in his insistence that the EpiscopalChurch's welcome of gay and lesbian people is somehow un-Christian.
As your editorial rightly concludes, this proposed legislation, and hissupport of it, are a chilling reminder of the profound dangers to whichbigotry can open us.
Supine complicity with such a view, as you rightly stated, "sets atreacherous example for the region and the world."
(Rt. Rev.) Mark S. Sisk
New York, March 9, 2007
The writer is bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Moderate-Giuliani.html?pagewanted=print
March 13, 2007
Moderate Stances Not Hindering Giuliani
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 2:04 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Presidential contender Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor ofultraliberal New York City, supports a woman's right to choose an abortion,domestic partnership benefits for gay couples and gun-control measures -- and he's a Republican.
Strikingly, such moderate positions haven't thus far impeded his efforts towin the GOP nomination.
But his rivals still have hope they will.
''We don't all agree on everything. I don't agree with myself oneverything,'' Giuliani says at nearly every campaign appearance, astump-speech line that allows him to allude to -- and then dismiss -- hisdifferences with cultural and religious conservatives on social issues.
''We do believe in many of the same things,'' he assures his audiences.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Gay-Governor-Divorce.html?pagewanted=print
March 13, 2007
McGreevey Seeks Custody of Daughter
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:40 p.m. ET
ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) -- Former Gov. James McGreevey, who resigned fromoffice after revealing that he was gay and had an affair with a malestaffer, is seeking custody of his 5-year-old daughter and child supportfrom his estranged wife.
The revised divorce lawsuit by McGreevey, who resigned in November 2004,does not mention the ''matrimonial settlement agreement'' that McGreeveyoriginally said had resolved all custody and support issues concerning hisdaughter, Jacqueline.
McGreevey's wife, Dina Matos, has 35 days to respond to the revised filing.
The papers filed last month in Union County Superior Court ask the judge toassign McGreevey custody, to award visitation to the noncustodial parent andto award him ''suitable support and maintenance.''
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301507_pf.html
Bigotry That Hurts Our Military
By Alan K. Simpson
Wednesday, March 14, 2007; A15
As a lifelong Republican who served in the Army in Germany, I believe it iscritical that we review -- and overturn -- the ban on gay service in themilitary. I voted for "don't ask, don't tell." But much has changed since1993.
My thinking shifted when I read that the military was firing translatorsbecause they are gay. According to the Government Accountability Office,more than 300 language experts have been fired under "don't ask, don'ttell," including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. This when evenSecretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently acknowledged the nation's"foreign language deficit" and how much our government needs Farsi andArabic speakers. Is there a "straight" way to translate Arabic? Is there a"gay" Farsi? My God, we'd better start talking sense before it is too late.We need every able-bodied, smart patriot to help us win this war.
In today's perilous global security situation, the real question is whetherallowing homosexuals to serve openly would enhance or degrade our readiness.The best way to answer this is to reconsider the original points ofopposition to open service.
First, America's views on homosexuals serving openly in the military havechanged dramatically. The percentage of Americans in favor has grown from 57percent in 1993 to a whopping 91 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds surveyed ina Gallup poll in 2003.
Military attitudes have also shifted. Fully three-quarters of 500 vetsreturning from Iraq and Afghanistan said in a December Zogby poll that theywere comfortable interacting with gay people. Also last year, a Zogby pollshowed that a majority of service members who knew a gay member in theirunit said the person's presence had no negative impact on the unit orpersonal morale. Senior leaders such as retired Gen. John Shalikashvili andLt. Gen. Daniel Christman, a former West Point superintendent, are callingfor a second look.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301174_pf.html
Sharp Drop in Gays Discharged From Military Tied to War Need
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 14, 2007; A03
The number of homosexuals discharged from the U.S. military under the "don'task, don't tell" policy dropped significantly in 2006, according to Pentagonfigures released yesterday -- continuing a sharp decline since theAfghanistan and Iraq conflicts began and leading critics to charge that themilitary is retaining gay men and lesbians because it needs them in a timeof war.
According to preliminary Pentagon data, 612 homosexuals were discharged infiscal 2006, fewer than half the 1,227 discharged in 2001. On average, morethan 1,000 service members were discharged each year from 1997 to 2001 -- cut in the past five years the average has fallen below 730. The data wereprovided to The Washington Post in response to a request.
"It is hypocritical that the Pentagon seems to retain gay and lesbianservice members when they need them most, and fires them when it believesthey are expendable," said Steve E. Ralls, a spokesman for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a nonprofit that opposes the policy.
Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sparked anoutcry among gay-advocacy groups on Monday when he said he considershomosexual acts "immoral" and therefore opposes lifting the "don't ask,don't tell" rule and allowing homosexuals to serve openly. "We should notcondone immoral acts," Pace told the Chicago Tribune in an interview.
Yesterday, Pace said it would have been better to refrain from offeringopinions. "I should have focused more on my support of the policy and lesson my personal moral views," he said in a statement, noting that the policyitself "does not make a judgment about the morality of individual acts."
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/health/sfl-rxhiv14mar14,0,2563216,print.story?coll=sfla-news-health
New HIV cases decline again in South Florida
By Bob LaMendola
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 14, 2007
Partly because of one-on-one talks in barbershops and coin laundries, newcases of HIV infections fell by 8 to 13 percent last year in South Florida,health officials said.
Grassroots education campaigns by community groups and institutions appearto be making an impact on the spread of the virus in one of the nation'sepicenters for it, according to state figures released Tuesday.
"You can't know for sure but hopefully that's a result of preventionefforts," said David Begley, chairman of the Palm Beach County HIV CareCouncil. "Hopefully some of it is sinking in."
Broward reported 880 people newly infected with HIV, down 12 percent. PalmBeach County had 361, down eight percent. Miami-Dade had 1,203, down 13percent. Statewide, cases fell 5 percent.
The drop continues a downward trend since 2002, the peak for HIV cases inthe state and South Florida. The three counties for years have ranked in thenation's top 10 in HIV/AIDS cases per capita.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorial/sfl-editgsjointcapmar14,0,7839631,print.story?coll=sfla-news-editorial
Gays in Military
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board
March 14, 2007
A general display of intolerance
The good news is Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs ofStaff, isn't afraid to speak his mind. The bad news is that what came out ofhis mouth was insulting and intolerant.
In an interview with The Chicago Tribune, Pace said homosexuality isimmoral, and said gays should not be allowed to serve openly in themilitary. The fact is, about 10,000 troops, including more than 50 Arabiclanguage specialists, have been discharged under the military'sdiscriminatory "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Also, an unknown number ofgays and lesbians are undoubtedly serving bravely in the military, riskingtheir lives daily.
After criticism poured in, Pace expressed regret about his remarks, butisn't apologizing. While he is reconsidering his remarks, he and the rest ofthe military should reconsider the need for the "don't ask, don't tell"policy.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/939/v-print/story/29782.html
Posted on Wed, Mar. 14, 2007
Whitaker, Hudson win NAACP awards
By PETER PRENGAMAN
Oscar winners Forest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudson kept their winning streaksalive Friday, while "Grey's Anatomy" star Isaiah Washington claimed a bestactor prize at the 38th annual NAACP Image Awards. "Ugly Betty" took toptelevision honors.
Hudson, a former "American Idol" finalist, garnered a best supportingactress award for her role in the musical "Dreamgirls," the same categoryshe won at the Academy Awards on Sunday.
"There is nothing like being recognized and honored by your own," saidHudson.
Whitaker, who won a best actor Oscar for "The Last King of Scotland," earnedthe same prize at Friday's ceremony, which honor projects and individualswho promote diversity in the arts.
"Doing this role gave me so many blessings," said Whitaker, who plays aUgandan dictator in the film. "One was being able to go back to Africa andtouch my roots."
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/588/v-print/story/41076.html
Posted on Wed, Mar. 14, 2007
Hardaway looking for second chance
A month ago today, Tim Hardaway uttered the toxic comments that created afirestorm and won't soon be forgotten.
Twice a day, the former Heat All-Star still asks himself: Why did I answerDan Le Batard's question on 790 The Ticket about how I would deal with a gayteammate? And why did I say, ``I hate gay people''?
''People have been trying to kick me when I'm down,'' he said this week,reflecting on everything that has happened. The reaction was ``very, veryshocking. People saying my wife left me -- that's not true. My family is OKand my finances are OK.
``. . . I'm looking for a second chance and trying to clean up my image. Ihaven't been in trouble with drugs or guns. I'm an upstanding citizen. LikeI told my children, life is not easy. This is a big bump I have to overcome.I'm going to deal with it like a champ. I've got to make sure people know Idon't hate gay people.''
Hardaway, who attended a Heat game last week, said he soon will speak with agay organization (he's considering three) to ''make them understand'' why hemade his comments -- which he apologized for -- and to gain a betterunderstanding of their perspective. He rejected an offer to spend a day withNorth Miami Mayor Kevin Burns, who is gay, ``because that was more forpublicity for him.''
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid42922.asp
Former Idol finalist Mario Vazquez accused of sexual harassment
Former American Idol finalist Mario Vazquez is being accused of sexualharassment by an assistant accountant for the company that produces theshow. Vazquez had made it to the final round of 12 contestants during Idol's2005 season before mysteriously dropping out.
Former American Idol finalist Mario Vazquez is being accused of sexualharassment by Magdaleno Olmos, the assistant accountant for Fremantle Media,which produces American Idol, reports TMZ.com.
Vazquez is accused of masturbating in front of Olmos in a bathroom on theset of American Idol back in February 2005. Soon after the alleged incident,Vazquez suddenly dropped out of the final round of 12 contestants, citing"family reasons."
Olmos claims in the lawsuit that "Vazquez stared lasciviously, smiledlasciviously...and on one occasion followed him into a bathroom...knocked onthe door of the plaintiff's stall and made eye contact through the space inthe stall door." Vazquez then allegedly "started to rub his genitals overhis pants. Attempting to leave the bathroom, Olmos opened the door of thestall and saw Vasquez standing in front of him with his pants down."
Olmos claims Vazquez pushed him "further into the stall and continuedmasturbating with one hand and trying to pull down Olmos' pants with anotherhand," and that Vazquez touched his "chest and stomach underneath his shirt"and his genitals. Vazquez then allegedly "attempted to unzip" Olmos's pantsand asked "if he wanted oral sex."
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid42942.asp
Two arrested in Colorado hate slugfest
Two men have been arrested in connection with an attack early Sunday on agay pedestrian in Boulder, Colo., while assailants of a lesbian last monthremained at large and Boulder's top officials condemned hate violence theycalled "extremely troublesome" to their college town.
University of Colorado student Eric Schorling, 21, was arrested Monday oncharges of third-degree assault and bias-motivated crime in connection withthe attack, while Adam Perez, also 21, was arrested on charges ofsecond-degree assault and bias-motivated crime.
Police say the two men, reportedly drunk and shouting antigay slurs,confronted Justin King, 23, who was walking arm in arm after midnight withhis friend Anthony Loose. King ignored the first comment but turned toconfront the men when a second comment was made, the Boulder Daily Camerareported.
The suspects are accused of shoving King, then getting him in a headlock andtrying to kick him in the face. King's eyeglasses were broken as a crowd,more or less evenly divided between gay and antigay sympathies, gathered towatch.
"I felt like I couldn't swallow, couldn't talk," King told Fox 31 News.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid42930.asp
Minister stops performing weddings to protest marriage ban
A Massachusetts Episcopal minister will refuse to perform weddings inprotest of the ban on same-sex unions. The Reverend Robert Hirschfeld,rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Amherst, Mass., will be joined by twoother priests who will not perform any weddings.
"We are called to join the fast that our homosexual brothers and sisters inChrist have had to observe all their lives," he said, according to theAssociated Press.
"I am convinced that when gays and lesbians are baptized, they become fullmembers of the body of Christ," said the Reverend Margaret Bullitt-Jonas,who is also protesting. "They are not partial members or conditional membersor second-class members." (The Advocate)
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid42928.asp
March 14, 2007
Bill banning gay adoption advances in Arkansas senate
A bill barring gay and straight unmarried couples from adopting or fosteringchildren was advanced by an Arkansas state senate panel Monday. Last year,according to the Associated Press, the state supreme court overturned a banon gay foster parents that had been established by state policy rather thanby law.
Four people have sued the state government after the policy was put intoeffect in 1999 and then dropped in 2004.
The ban was put in place by the Arkansas Child Welfare Board in March 1999when it said children should be in a conventional two-parent home becausethey are more likely to thrive in that environment, the article said.
Gary Wheeler, a Little Rock pediatrician, told lawmakers that there is noevidence in proving the board's statement. "There's been a lot of confusionabout who's a homosexual and who's a pedophile. These are two large groupsthat hardly intersect," Wheeler said in the article.
Gov. Mike Beebe said that he would support the policy if it were proven tobe constitutionally sound. The ban would not be enforced against bloodrelatives who are cohabitation.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid42890.asp
Transsexual regret
When you know someone who's undergone sex-reassignment surgery, thepossibility of regret may feel like the proverbial elephant in the room. Butwhat is the prevalence of regret, and why does regret occur?
By Joanne Herman
With the release of Renée Richards' latest book, No Way Renée: The SecondHalf of My Notorious Life, the topic of transsexual regret has once againcome out of the closet. Her book is primarily the story of her family,career, tennis, and social life. Yet in a pre-release interview with The NewYork Times, the reporter asked Richards if she regrets having hadsex-reassignment surgery. And even though Richards said no, the headline was"The Lady Regrets." Why is there such curiosity about whether post-optranssexuals regret their surgery?
As background, transsexual people are but one part of the very diverse groupunder the transgender umbrella. Many transgender people actually do notundergo a gender transition. But a transsexual person, on the other hand,feels so strongly about having a gender identity at odds with his or heranatomy that he or she seeks medical intervention or physical change. Sometranssexual people do not need sex-reassignment surgery (SRS) to resolve theincongruity, while others desire it but cannot afford it.
Renowned trans woman Lynn Conway, professor emerita at the University ofMichigan, estimates that one in 2,500 U.S. citizens has undergonemale-to-female SRS (there is no contemporary statistic available forfemale-to-male SRS). As one who is included in Conway's statistic, I am usedto fielding the question about "regret." Societal taboos about crossing thegender binary make any transition seem remarkable, and so the fact thatsomeone made a seemingly permanent change (i.e., surgery), then might haveregretted it, is positively tabloid news. (By the way, I don't regret mine.)
But how often does it happen that someone regrets having had SRS? Researchhas been scarce because of the stigma of studying transgenderism and becausemost of the necessary subjects (transsexual individuals) have been highlycloseted until only recently. The only contemporary research I could find, a2002 paper in the International Journal of Transgenderism citing a 1992study, observed that "the incidence of postoperative regret is generallyextremely low...less than 1% in female-to-males and 1-1.5% inmale-to-females." That's pretty low. Why the concern?
Some may view as an unmitigated disaster the possibility that anyone-evenone single person-had his penis "cut off" or her breasts removed and thenregretted it. Because of this, trans people must undergo one of the mostrigorous evaluations of any medical procedure in order to qualify for SRS.This evaluation, unfortunately, favors those who can best convince "thesystem" of their need; thereby it occasionally disqualifies some who needthe surgery while qualifying some who don't.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid42914.asp
Lifetime to air teen HIV movie
The cable network Lifetime has green-lighted the television movieConsequences, which chronicles the life of a teen honor student whocontracts HIV. Variety reports that the film will star Desperate Housewivesactress Andrea Bowden as Rachel, a popular high school student who discoversthat a boy with whom she had sex has HIV. Panic and gossip envelop her aftershe finds out that she too has the disease.
Also cast in the film are Jennie Garth as a teacher who befriends the leadcharacter, as well as Eric Von Detten, who will play the boy with HIV. It isexpected to air in June. (The Advocate)
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid42910.asp
China AIDS activist feels failure despite award
Poised to receive an award for fighting HIV/AIDS in rural China, Chineseactivist Gao Yaojie said she feels like a failure.
Eighty years old, her face creased with wrinkles, Gao has spent the lastdecade of her life working to treat the sick, to slow the disease's spread,and to expose official complicity in its dispersal in her home province ofHenan in east-central China.
Thousands of poor farmers have become infected with the disease afterselling their blood in the 1990s at unsanitary, often state-run, clinics,making the province the center of China's AIDS epidemic.
Having handed out thousands of AIDS prevention pamphlets to passengers atbus depots, prostitutes in nightclubs and peasants in the countryside, theretired gynecologist said she felt she had not done enough.
"I constantly think that I am a failure because I have been at this work formore than 10 years, and yet AIDS is still rampant," the doctor said in aninterview on Monday in Washington, where she is to receive a "globalleadership" award on Wednesday from Vital Voices, a nonprofit thatrecognizes women leaders.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid42555.asp
Finding the answers to hate crimes
Andy Marra had many questions when she was punched in the face for being transgender woman back in November 2006. But instead of giving her answers,her attackers fled. Now she has decided to tell her story, and she is makingan appeal for answers about hate crimes.
By Andy Marra
I had just exited my stop on the subway after a particularly long day at theoffice, and I was grateful to stretch my legs and enjoy the crisp Novemberair. I popped in my headphones, turned on some music, and began myfive-minute walk towards my apartment in the Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhoodwhere I live.
On my walk home I always pass a bodega. As I walked by, I noticed a group ofyoung men glaring menacingly at me. I didn't know who they were, and myheadphones muffled their voices. I decided to mind my business. I wanted toget home and put together a grocery list for the next day at the UnionSquare farmers market.
Then, out of nowhere, a fist flew towards my face, hitting me square in thejaw. I stopped dead in my tracks. Stunned for a moment, I finally turned tosee who it was and watched the three young men from the bodega laughing andrunning off. One of them looked back at me and shouted something I couldn'tfully make out, but it sounded like "she-male."
The cool air felt good on my swollen cheek. I slowly dialed 911. Theoperator reassured me that a police car was nearby and that officers wouldcome to my house and take a hate crime report. The operator promised theywere only five minutes away. When I made it home, my two roommates listenedwith horror as I quietly recounted my assault. I decided to call my parentsand a few close friends, and similarly they had the same reaction ofdisbelief. I placed some ice in a bag and headed to my bathroom. As I lookedat myself in the mirror, I finally broke down in sobs. The police never cameby my house to take a report.
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The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11925
Gay group wants apology from Gen. Pace for calling gays 'immoral'
Joint Chiefs chairman stands by 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
WASHINGTON (AP) | Mar 13, 9:35 AM
A gay advocacy group demanded an apology Tuesday from the Pentagon's topgeneral for calling homosexuality immoral.
In a newspaper interview Monday, Marine Gen. Peter Pace likened homosexuality to adultery and said the military should not condone it byallowing gays to serve openly in the military.
"General Pace's comments are outrageous, insensitive and disrespectful tothe 65,000 lesbian and gay troops now serving in our armed forces," theadvocacy group Servicemembers Legal Defense Network said in a statement onits website.
The group has represented some service members dismissed from the militaryfor their sexual orientation.
Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made his remarks in aninterview Monday with the Chicago Tribune. He was responding to a questionabout the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that allows gays and lesbians toserve if they keep their sexual orientation private and don't engage inhomosexual acts.
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ClickAbility.com
http://www.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Gay+Rights+Group+Clashes+with+College&expire=&urlID=21512575&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.todaystmj4.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2F6453342.html&partnerID=148802&cid=6453342
Story Created: Mar 12, 2007
Story Updated: Mar 13, 2007
Gay Rights Group Clashes with College
Tom Murray
MILWAUKEE - There is a clash between Wisconsin Lutheran College and a gayrights group. The group, called Soulforce, wanted to talk to students oncampus, and the college said no.
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee senior Alisa Streets is gay. "I would loveto see the equality riders welcomed onto the campus," she said.
She stands with Soulforce, the gay rights group trying to bring its messageto Christian campuses. Wisconsin Lutheran is this week's stop. About 700students are enrolled at the campus on Milwaukee's west side.
Soulforce volunteer Brandon Kneeful, who is also openly gay, believesstudents may be afraid to come out.
"They're not speaking out because of fear," said Kneeful. "There are gaystudents, lesbian students, transgender and bisexual students who are livingcloseted."
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The Dallas Voice
http://www.dallasvoice.com/artman/publish/printer_4891.php
She Swoopes to conquer
By Arnold Wayne Jones Staff Writer
Mar 8, 2007, 19:12
WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes, who rocked pro athletics by coming out at theheight of her career, has some choice words for Tim Hardaway
More people have probably used the words "gay" and "basketball" in the samebreath in the last two months than at any other time in history. And it'snot because of March Madness. The discussion was stirred by retired NBAplayer Jon Amaechi's decision to come out, followed soon thereafter byex-star Tim Hardaway's proudly homophobic remarks that gay people shouldn'tbe allowed to exist.
But the dialogue over gay athletes in basketball really started more than ayear ago when WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes came out.
At the time of her admission to being lesbian in October 2005, Swoopesbecame (and still remains) the only player on a professional team sport tocome out as gay or lesbian while still active.
What made her announcement all the more remarkable was that it came not froma minor player or someone hawking a new memoir, but an acknowledgedsuperstar in her field with nothing to sell at all. No, the Texan-bredSwoopes - a three-time MVP with the Houston Comets, three-time Olympic goldmedalist and the first woman to have a Nike shoe named for her - had farmore to lose financially than to gain. Yet she came out anyway.
Prior to her appearance at several events in Dallas this weekend, Swoopesshared her thoughts about the Amaechi-Hardaway debacle, the state of prosports for gay athletes and why she chose to come out when she did.
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The New York Observer
http://www.observer.com/printpage.asp?iid=14368&ic=News+Story+1
What's Pink, Green? Senator Clinton Hauling Gay Cash
Friends of Hillary lead; Team Barack profits from Bill's marriage act. Rudy:I won't ask, tell!
By: Jason Horowitz
Date: 3/19/2007
Page: 1
Speaking for the second time this month in front of a predominantly gayaudience, Hillary Clinton assured the crowd at a Gay Men's Health Crisisdinner at Chelsea Piers that help was on the way.
She guaranteed her support of their issues "when I'm President," andpointedly referred to a special AIDS grant she pushed through Congress forthe first time "since the end of the last Clinton administration."
The crowd laughed appreciatively at what was at once a well-worn bit aboutthe Clinton restoration, and an acknowledgement of the influence of the gayfund-raisers and activists who may put her in the White House.
But Mrs. Clinton has stiff competition in her pursuit of influential gayDemocrats. Unlike the election of 2004, when Howard Dean had the distinctionof having fought for a civil-unions bill when he was governor of Vermont,the three leading Democratic candidates have virtually identical stances onthe most visible gay issues. (Barack Obama, John Edwards and Mrs. Clintonare uniformly in favor of lifting a ban on gays openly serving in themilitary, but are all opposed to gay marriage.)
In a political climate in which Ann Coulter received applause for a "faggot"joke at a major conservative conference, and Rudy Giuliani's strong recordon gay rights is widely presumed to be one of his greatest liabilities,there seems to be a pragmatic contentment in gay circles with the topDemocratic tier.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/entertainment/news-gossip/bestG.htm
Best Gay Week Ever
by Michael Jensen, AfterElton.com
BOB HATTOY, JOHN INMAN, AND ANN COULTER
No, that's not the answer to the question, "Name an activist, an actor, andan abomination against nature." But all three have been in the news thisweek: Hattoy and Inman because they are dead, and Ann because shepersonifies the soulless, living dead. Actually, my favorite description ofAnn comes from my very own partner Brent who describes her as "a vinyl skinencasing a mass of writhing snakes and spiders" (he's not a novelist fornothing!).
Hattoy was the gay rights and AIDS activist who gave a stirring prime timespeech at the 1992 Democratic National Convention; Bill Clinton had askedhim to address being a gay man living with AIDS. This year Hattoy had beenhospitalized with pneumonia, but had returned home where he died suddenly.No cause of death has been determined, but cardiac arrest is suspected. Bobwill be greatly missed.
Many folks in the US are likely unfamiliar with openly gay British actorJohn Inman, but in the UK he starred in the sitcom Are You Being Served andwas one of those television fixtures that everyone knew. Think Don Knotts(The Andy Griffith Show) or Bob Denver (Gilligan's Island). Inman died thisweek from complications of Hepatitis A leaving behind his partner of thirtyfive years.
Inman played Mr. Humphries, a fussy, mincing character who worked in adepartment store. While Humphries was clearly written as gay, he was neverallowed to actually be gay (they even paired him up with a woman once), sohe was constantly played for stereotypically gay laughs. We wrote aboutInman's character in an article about campy British characters last yearwhich documented how Inman and others involved with the show tried to claimHumphries wasn't gay. Here is a clip for you to judge yourself:
Not too many folks bought that Humphries was straight, but I do think thereis some merit in the idea that back in the 70's and early 80's, any gayvisibility was an improvement. And it's not like any television shows today-
ough The Class cough -are trying to foist these same sort of gaycharacters- cough Perry Pearl cough -onto viewers. Here is one gay Brit'stake on what Inman's character was all about and whether it should becelebrated or not.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/03/031107israel.htm
Gay Arabs Begin To Organize
by The Associated Press
Posted: March 11, 2007 - 8:00 pm ET
(Jerusalem) A rare gathering of openly gay Arab activists is slated to beheld in Israel this month, drawing the ire of religious conservatives.
Headlined "Home and Exile," the March 28 meeting is meant to sparkdiscussion of homosexuality among Israel's 1 million Arab citizens, saidRoula Deeb, a prominent Arab feminist and one of the scheduled speakers.
The conference is being organized by Aswat, an Arab lesbian group based inHaifa, a coastal city home to both Jews and Arabs.
Around 100 to 150 people are expected to show up, Deeb said. Withhomosexuality a taboo topic in much of the Arab world, the meeting isimportant simply because it is taking place.
Israel is generally tolerant of homosexuality, and the country's secularmetropolis, Tel Aviv, is home to a thriving gay community. But Israel'sArabs, who make up 20 percent of the population, live mostly in separatecommunities and homosexuality is still considered out of bounds.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/opinion/Libby/Libby.htm
Their Truth, Our Consequences
by Libby Post
Isaiah Washington, Tim Hardaway and Ann Coulter-together they have done whatlesbian and gay organizations have tried to do for decades-shine a brightlight on the verbal abuse LGBT people have to deal with every day.
The old school house adage-sticks and stones may break my bones but nameswill never hurt me-just doesn't cut it anymore. Washington and Coultercalling their targets faggots and Hardaway's invective that he "hates allgay people" is fuel for the homophobic fire of those who consider gaybashing-verbal and physical-an acceptable, even enjoyable, past time.
But shining such a bright light on homophobic hate speak has hadconsequences for each of them.
Washington came close to losing his job on the ABC hit "Grey's Anatomy" andhad to enter rehab to deal with his anger management and hate issues. He metwith gay leaders to discuss his outburst and find some redemption. Itremains to be seen how well he'll do. It is interesting to note that he'shired nationally known gay publicist, Howard Bragman, to help rehabilitatehis image. Expertly spinning the whole affair, Bragman's office saysWashington is "uniquely positioned to be the catalyst" for a nationaldialogue on diversity.
That remains to be seen.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid42912.asp
Lesbian couple denied communion for denouncing marriage ban
A Wyoming lesbian couple has been denied communion at the church they haveattended for almost a decade, partially because they have publicly opposed abill that would bar the state from recognizing same-sex marriages.
When the Wyoming legislature considered a bill that would deny marriage tosame-sex couples, Leah Vader and Lynne Huskinson denounced the bill, sayingthat it amounted to discrimination.
The Associated Press reports that the pair, who were married in Canada two years ago, received a letter from the Reverend Cliff Jacobson of St. Matthew's Church in Gillette, Wyo. The letter said that they would be denied communionin part because of their public position on the bill.
Vader told the Associated Press that the pastor's rejection is an act ofdiscrimination and that the news is more difficult to cope with particularlybefore Easter. (The Advocate)
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GAY AND LESBIAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION
NATIONAL OFFICE
34 SPRING LANE, KENILWORTH
WARWICKSHIRE CV8 2HB
UNITED KINGDOM
TEL AND FAX 01926 858450
EMAIL secretary@galha.org
WEBSITE www.galha.org
Affiliated to Amnesty International & the International Humanist & Ethical Union
NEWS RELEASE
13 March 2007
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH'S OBSESSIVE HOMOPHOBIA IS BECOMING A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY
The Catholic Church's obsessive homophobia is becoming a threat todemocracy, says the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA).
Commenting on the appeal from the pulpit by the Archbishop of BirminghamVincent Nichols to persuade his flock to oppose the Sexual OrientationRegulations and the announcement by the Bishop of Motherwell Joseph Devinethat he would not be voting for Labour in the May elections, GALHA'ssecretary George Broadhead said: "The Catholic Church is becoming much morepolitically active throughout Europe, not only in Britain, where it is stillfuming over the refusal of the government to exempt it from the SexualOrientation Regulations, but also in Italy, where the Vatican is agitatingvery hard to scupper civil partnership legislation, and in Spain where it isstill opposing the gay marriage laws as well as proposed changes to theeducation system that downgrade the importance of Catholic education inschools."
Mr Broadhead said that political parties and individual politicians shouldresist pressure from the Catholic Church. "When the Catholic Church speaks,the Scottish Executive usually jumps, but on this occasion it is importantthat the Labour Party calls the bluff of these theocrats. The world hasmoved on and the population at large, including many Catholics, ismuch more liberal than the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. They don't takeany notice of church teaching on contraception, abortion and women'srights so why should they take notice of it on homosexuality? Labour shouldstand firm and it will find that the Church cannot command the vote as itused to. Once they have discovered this, they will be free of the need tokow-tow to the many demands of the Vatican."
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Sliska urges the West not to impose gay pride on Russia
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=2721
Moscow, March 12, Interfax - Russian State Duma First Deputy Speaker LubovSliska wholly supported Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov in his recent dispute withsome European mayors concerning the gay parade banned in Moscow.
'We do not meddle with what they (Western politicians - IF) do in theirbeds, we do not gossip about their lovemaking rumors they spread to attractmore attention to their persons, so please you don't put your finger intoour life too, don't impose your standards upon us,' Sliska told the Channel3 as she commented the Western community's harsh criticism of Moscowgovernment's ban on gay pride.
She declared her 'absolute support' for Mayor Luzhkov in this issue. 'I wassomewhat uncomfortable to hear mayors of some large European cities tryingto blame Luzhkov with violating human rights,' she said.
'We violate nobody's rights but we also want nobody to violate ours,' thedeputy speaker noted.
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Poland's Giertych to ban gay groups from schools
Mar 13, 2007
Poland's Giertych wants to ban gay groups from schools
Mar 13, 2007, 13:27 GMT
Warsaw - Roman Giertych, Poland's controversial Deputy Prime Minister andMinister of Education, is preparing legislation to sanction schoolprincipals who allow members of gay rights organisations to speak withpupils, a Polish education ministry spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.
Giertych recently stirred controversy in Heidelberg, Germany, during ameeting of EU education ministers when he openly criticized abortion rightsand what he termed 'homosexual propaganda'.
The government of conservative Law and Justice (PIS) Prime Minister JaroslawKaczynski has distanced itself from the Giertych's comments, insisting theywere his personal opinions and did not reflect government policy.
'The propaganda of homosexuality is reaching ever younger children.'Giertych said in the Heidelberg speech.
Poland's mass-circulation Dziennik daily reported Tuesday, Minister Giertychwas overseeing the preparation of the draft legislation banning gay rightsgroups from schools, a move which appears to be unconstitutional.
Giertych, 36, is the leader of Poland's Catholic-nationalist League ofPolish Families (LPR), a junior partner in the three-partypopulist-conservative coalition government of Prime Minister Kaczynski.
Allegations which arose in the Polish media that some LPR party members mayhave had links to the far right and neo-Nazis are being probed by stateprosecutors.
Scott Long
Director
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program
Human Rights Watch
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EU parliament sanctions Polish MEP Giertych for xenophobic pamphlet
By DPA
Mar 14, 2007, 10:43 GMT
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/news/article_1277087.php/EU_parlia
ment_sanctions_Polish_MEP_Giertych_for_xenophobic_pamphlet
Strasbourg - The president of the European Parliament on Wednesday said hehad sanctioned extreme right-wing Polish deputy Maciej Giertych forpublishing an anti-semitic pamphlet.
Giertych, an influential member of the nationalistic Catholic-based Leagueof Polish Families, received the reprimand for violating parliament'sprinciples on respect and tolerance.
It is the first time that a parliament president has invoked a rule of theEU assembly's procedures which provides for penalties against MEPs for'exceptionally serious' violations of the EU body's principles of mutualrespect and of the bloc's basic principles.
Parliament president Hans-Gert Poettering told the EU assembly in Strasbourgthat he 'deeply regretted what is objectively a serious breach of thefundamental rights and in particular the dignity of human beings to whichour institution so strongly adheres.'
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Inside Higher Education
http://insidehighered.com/layout/set/print/news/2007/03/14/springarbor
Spring Arbor and Transgender Dean Settle
A discrimination complaint filed by a transgender faculty member and formerdean against a Christian university in Michigan has been settled "to themutual satisfaction of both parties." Neither side provided details. ButJulie (formerly John) Nemecek said that though she is looking for work,"there's not an immediate urgency for it."
Nemecek filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment OpportunityCommission against Spring Arbor University, an institution affiliated withthe Free Methodist Church, after receiving a termination notice this winter.The notice came more than a year after she first alerted her supervisor toher diagnosis of gender identity disorder. Nemecek, an ordained Baptistminister, was subsequently demoted from her position as associate dean ofthe School of Adult Studies, restricted to online instruction, and presentedwith strict contract stipulations (including that she "refrain fromdiscussing his transgender situation with Spring Arbor University personnelor students").
Spring Arbor officials declined to elaborate on the terms of the settlementTuesday, but in a statement indicated that "[w]e are pleased to announcethat the charge of discrimination against Spring Arbor University has beenwithdrawn, and we have resolved this issue to the mutual satisfaction ofboth parties." The statement continued to express appreciation for theprayers and support directed the university's way, and said collegeofficials "are eager to get back to our focus on providing a world-classChristian liberal arts education."
Nemecek, who will remain on Spring Arbor's payroll through the end of May,expressed satisfaction with the outcome: "Our hope was probably two-fold.One was to get the word out and help people begin to understand transgenderissues. A lot of people are thinking about it and talking about it thatweren't before.... Our other goal was to be treated with justice andfairness and I think that has ultimately happened, too."
Nemecek has applied for jobs with some colleges and is looking into thepossibility of consulting work and advocacy for transgender rights. OnMonday night, she initiated a possible side career as a speaker, standingside by side with her wife, Joanne, as they told their story to about 100students at Eastern Michigan University.
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mexico-abortion.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
March 14, 2007
Mexico's Capital Plans to Legalize Abortion
By REUTERS
Filed at 1:17 a.m. ET
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico City is preparing to legalize abortion -- thefirst region to do so in heavily Roman Catholic Mexico -- a move theinfluential church has vowed to challenge.
A bill that would allow abortions in the first three months of pregnancy ismaking its way through the capital city's assembly and supporters say theyhave well over the majority needed to pass it despite threats of protests bythe Catholic Church. The measure is expected to pass within months and thefirst legal abortions could happen later this year.
``No church, no religion can impose its vision of the world in this city,''said assembly leader Victor Hugo Cirigo, whose leftist Party of theDemocratic Revolution runs City Hall and holds 34 of 66 city legislativeseats.
The assembly battled with the Catholic Church in December, allowing gaycivil unions to begin in Mexico City on Friday. The northern state ofCoahuila followed suit and has already begun allowing such ceremonies,holding its first in January.
Special laws in Mexico City already permit abortion when a mother's life isthreatened, but the rest of the country allows it only in case of rape, saidMaria Luisa Sanchez, president of leading Mexican abortion rights groupGIRE.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/arts/entertainment-lauper.html?pagewanted=print
March 14, 2007
Lauper, Erasure Headline Gay - Themed Tour
By REUTERS
Filed at 4:56 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Cyndi Lauper, Erasure and Debbie Harry will anchor asummer tour of 15 North American cities designed to raise awareness ofgay-rights issues.
The True Colors trek, which begins June 8 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas,will also include the Dresden Dolls, the Gossip and the Misshapes, alongwith host Margaret Cho.
``This tour was created to celebrate our differences by raising awarenessfor liberty, fairness and dignity for everyone -- not just some of us,''Lauper said in a statement. ''Our fans can come out to celebrate a greatcause while also hearing some great music.''
Rufus Wainwright, the Indigo Girls and Rosie O'Donnell will make specialappearances throughout the tour, which is sponsored by gay/lesbian TVnetwork Logo.
Stops include Chicago's Auditorium Theater (June 12), Boston's Bank ofAmerica Pavilion (June 16), New York's Radio City Music Hall (June 18),Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre (June 19) and Berkeley's Greek Theater (June29). It ends the next day at the Greek in Los Angeles.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Military-Gays.html?pagewanted=print
March 14, 2007
No Apology From Gen. Pace for Gay Stance
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 4:55 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon's top general said Tuesday he should nothave voiced his personal view that homosexuality is immoral and should havejust stated his support for the military's ''don't ask, don't tell'' policyin an interview that has drawn criticism from lawmakers and gay-rightsgroups.
The written statement by Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff, did not apologize for his stance on homosexuality. In anewspaper interview Monday, Pace likened homosexual acts to adultery andsaid the military should not condone it by allowing gays to serve openly inthe armed forces.
After a flurry of condemnation Tuesday, Pace issued a statementacknowledging that the Defense Department's ''don't ask, don't tell'' policyon gays is a sensitive subject and said: ''I should have focused more on mysupport of the policy and less on my personal moral views.''
The military lets gay men and lesbians serve if they keep their sexualorientation private. Commanders may not ask, and service members may nottell. More than 10,000 troops, including more than 50 specialists in Arabic,have been discharged since President Clinton signed it into law in 1994.
In an interview with the Pentagon Channel, the military's in-housetelevision station, Defense Secretary Robert Gates declined to answer aquestion on his opinion of the policy but made what seemed to be a mildrebuke of Pace.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Adopting-Adults.html?pagewanted=print
March 14, 2007
Adoption: Not Just for Children
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 4:03 a.m. ET
CHICAGO (AP) -- Linc Morris admits it took him a while to get used to theidea of eing adopted -- which probably explains why he was 42 years old bythe time it appened.
Morris' mother and father divorced when he was young, and he grew up withoth parents and their new spouses, spending the bulk of his formative yearswith his mother and stepfather.
He and his stepfather talked about adoption on and off for years, but''never pulled the trigger,'' he said. It was his biological father's deaththree years ago that led Morris to the realization that he finally wasready. The adoption was finalized in 2005.
''It made me evaluate a lot of things that were happening in my life, thingsthat had happened in my life,'' Morris said. ''It occurred to me that thiswas the right thing to do.''
Morris' story might not be the adoption scenario most people imagine, but itisn't unique. Adoption lawyers say adults adopt other adults more often thanone might think.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/world/europe/14vatican.html?pagewanted=print
March 14, 2007
Pope Reaffirms View Opposing Gay Marriage and Abortion
By IAN FISHER
BOLOGNA, Italy, March 13 - Pope Benedict XVI strongly reasserted on Tuesdaythe church's opposition to abortion, euthanasia and gay marriage, sayingthat Roman Catholic politicians were "especially" obligated to defend thechurch's beliefs in their public duties.
"These values are non-negotiable," the pope wrote in a 130-page "apostolic exhortation," a distillation of opinion from a worldwide meeting of bishopsat the Vatican in 2005.
"Consequently, Catholic politicians and legislators, conscious of theirgrave responsibility before society, must feel particularly bound, on thebasis of a properly formed conscience, to introduce laws inspired by valuesgrounded in human nature."
In the meantime on Tuesday, the pope met at the Vatican with PresidentVladimir V. Putin of Russia, in their first encounter since Benedict becamepope in April 2005.
A Vatican statement said the men discussed improving relations betweenCatholics and Orthodox - an issue that Benedict has put near the center ofhis papacy. They spoke in the papal residence, mostly in German, the pope'snative language.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/world/europe/14briefs-gaymarriage.html?pagewanted=print
March 14, 2007
World Briefing | Europe
France: High Court Voids First Gay Marriage
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Court of Cassation, France's highest appeals court, rejected as unlawfulthe first marriage by a gay couple in France and annulled the men's union.Stéphane Chapin, at left in photo, 36, and Bertrand Charpentier, 33, weremarried by the mayor of Bègles in the southwest in June 2004. The governmentimmediately said the union was outside the law, and a series of courtdecisions unfavorable to the couple has followed. In the latest decision,the court ruled that "under French law, marriage is a union between a manand a woman." No other gay couple has married in France.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/opinion/l14nigeria.html
Gays in Nigeria (1 Letter)
Published: March 14, 2007
To the Editor:
Re "Denying Rights in Nigeria" (editorial, March 8):
I am embarrassed to learn that an archbishop of the Anglican Communion, theMost Rev. Peter J. Akinola, is a major supporter of the odious Nigerianlegislation designed to deny basic human rights to gay and lesbian people.
What deeply saddens me is that he is a well-regarded leader to many of themost conservative Episcopalians in this country. But what puzzles me is theapparent willingness of the archbishop of Canterbury and other primates ofthe Anglican Communion to appease him in his insistence that the EpiscopalChurch's welcome of gay and lesbian people is somehow un-Christian.
As your editorial rightly concludes, this proposed legislation, and hissupport of it, are a chilling reminder of the profound dangers to whichbigotry can open us.
Supine complicity with such a view, as you rightly stated, "sets atreacherous example for the region and the world."
(Rt. Rev.) Mark S. Sisk
New York, March 9, 2007
The writer is bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Moderate-Giuliani.html?pagewanted=print
March 13, 2007
Moderate Stances Not Hindering Giuliani
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 2:04 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Presidential contender Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor ofultraliberal New York City, supports a woman's right to choose an abortion,domestic partnership benefits for gay couples and gun-control measures -- and he's a Republican.
Strikingly, such moderate positions haven't thus far impeded his efforts towin the GOP nomination.
But his rivals still have hope they will.
''We don't all agree on everything. I don't agree with myself oneverything,'' Giuliani says at nearly every campaign appearance, astump-speech line that allows him to allude to -- and then dismiss -- hisdifferences with cultural and religious conservatives on social issues.
''We do believe in many of the same things,'' he assures his audiences.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Gay-Governor-Divorce.html?pagewanted=print
March 13, 2007
McGreevey Seeks Custody of Daughter
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:40 p.m. ET
ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) -- Former Gov. James McGreevey, who resigned fromoffice after revealing that he was gay and had an affair with a malestaffer, is seeking custody of his 5-year-old daughter and child supportfrom his estranged wife.
The revised divorce lawsuit by McGreevey, who resigned in November 2004,does not mention the ''matrimonial settlement agreement'' that McGreeveyoriginally said had resolved all custody and support issues concerning hisdaughter, Jacqueline.
McGreevey's wife, Dina Matos, has 35 days to respond to the revised filing.
The papers filed last month in Union County Superior Court ask the judge toassign McGreevey custody, to award visitation to the noncustodial parent andto award him ''suitable support and maintenance.''
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301507_pf.html
Bigotry That Hurts Our Military
By Alan K. Simpson
Wednesday, March 14, 2007; A15
As a lifelong Republican who served in the Army in Germany, I believe it iscritical that we review -- and overturn -- the ban on gay service in themilitary. I voted for "don't ask, don't tell." But much has changed since1993.
My thinking shifted when I read that the military was firing translatorsbecause they are gay. According to the Government Accountability Office,more than 300 language experts have been fired under "don't ask, don'ttell," including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. This when evenSecretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently acknowledged the nation's"foreign language deficit" and how much our government needs Farsi andArabic speakers. Is there a "straight" way to translate Arabic? Is there a"gay" Farsi? My God, we'd better start talking sense before it is too late.We need every able-bodied, smart patriot to help us win this war.
In today's perilous global security situation, the real question is whetherallowing homosexuals to serve openly would enhance or degrade our readiness.The best way to answer this is to reconsider the original points ofopposition to open service.
First, America's views on homosexuals serving openly in the military havechanged dramatically. The percentage of Americans in favor has grown from 57percent in 1993 to a whopping 91 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds surveyed ina Gallup poll in 2003.
Military attitudes have also shifted. Fully three-quarters of 500 vetsreturning from Iraq and Afghanistan said in a December Zogby poll that theywere comfortable interacting with gay people. Also last year, a Zogby pollshowed that a majority of service members who knew a gay member in theirunit said the person's presence had no negative impact on the unit orpersonal morale. Senior leaders such as retired Gen. John Shalikashvili andLt. Gen. Daniel Christman, a former West Point superintendent, are callingfor a second look.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301174_pf.html
Sharp Drop in Gays Discharged From Military Tied to War Need
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 14, 2007; A03
The number of homosexuals discharged from the U.S. military under the "don'task, don't tell" policy dropped significantly in 2006, according to Pentagonfigures released yesterday -- continuing a sharp decline since theAfghanistan and Iraq conflicts began and leading critics to charge that themilitary is retaining gay men and lesbians because it needs them in a timeof war.
According to preliminary Pentagon data, 612 homosexuals were discharged infiscal 2006, fewer than half the 1,227 discharged in 2001. On average, morethan 1,000 service members were discharged each year from 1997 to 2001 -- cut in the past five years the average has fallen below 730. The data wereprovided to The Washington Post in response to a request.
"It is hypocritical that the Pentagon seems to retain gay and lesbianservice members when they need them most, and fires them when it believesthey are expendable," said Steve E. Ralls, a spokesman for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a nonprofit that opposes the policy.
Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sparked anoutcry among gay-advocacy groups on Monday when he said he considershomosexual acts "immoral" and therefore opposes lifting the "don't ask,don't tell" rule and allowing homosexuals to serve openly. "We should notcondone immoral acts," Pace told the Chicago Tribune in an interview.
Yesterday, Pace said it would have been better to refrain from offeringopinions. "I should have focused more on my support of the policy and lesson my personal moral views," he said in a statement, noting that the policyitself "does not make a judgment about the morality of individual acts."
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/health/sfl-rxhiv14mar14,0,2563216,print.story?coll=sfla-news-health
New HIV cases decline again in South Florida
By Bob LaMendola
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 14, 2007
Partly because of one-on-one talks in barbershops and coin laundries, newcases of HIV infections fell by 8 to 13 percent last year in South Florida,health officials said.
Grassroots education campaigns by community groups and institutions appearto be making an impact on the spread of the virus in one of the nation'sepicenters for it, according to state figures released Tuesday.
"You can't know for sure but hopefully that's a result of preventionefforts," said David Begley, chairman of the Palm Beach County HIV CareCouncil. "Hopefully some of it is sinking in."
Broward reported 880 people newly infected with HIV, down 12 percent. PalmBeach County had 361, down eight percent. Miami-Dade had 1,203, down 13percent. Statewide, cases fell 5 percent.
The drop continues a downward trend since 2002, the peak for HIV cases inthe state and South Florida. The three counties for years have ranked in thenation's top 10 in HIV/AIDS cases per capita.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorial/sfl-editgsjointcapmar14,0,7839631,print.story?coll=sfla-news-editorial
Gays in Military
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board
March 14, 2007
A general display of intolerance
The good news is Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs ofStaff, isn't afraid to speak his mind. The bad news is that what came out ofhis mouth was insulting and intolerant.
In an interview with The Chicago Tribune, Pace said homosexuality isimmoral, and said gays should not be allowed to serve openly in themilitary. The fact is, about 10,000 troops, including more than 50 Arabiclanguage specialists, have been discharged under the military'sdiscriminatory "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Also, an unknown number ofgays and lesbians are undoubtedly serving bravely in the military, riskingtheir lives daily.
After criticism poured in, Pace expressed regret about his remarks, butisn't apologizing. While he is reconsidering his remarks, he and the rest ofthe military should reconsider the need for the "don't ask, don't tell"policy.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/939/v-print/story/29782.html
Posted on Wed, Mar. 14, 2007
Whitaker, Hudson win NAACP awards
By PETER PRENGAMAN
Oscar winners Forest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudson kept their winning streaksalive Friday, while "Grey's Anatomy" star Isaiah Washington claimed a bestactor prize at the 38th annual NAACP Image Awards. "Ugly Betty" took toptelevision honors.
Hudson, a former "American Idol" finalist, garnered a best supportingactress award for her role in the musical "Dreamgirls," the same categoryshe won at the Academy Awards on Sunday.
"There is nothing like being recognized and honored by your own," saidHudson.
Whitaker, who won a best actor Oscar for "The Last King of Scotland," earnedthe same prize at Friday's ceremony, which honor projects and individualswho promote diversity in the arts.
"Doing this role gave me so many blessings," said Whitaker, who plays aUgandan dictator in the film. "One was being able to go back to Africa andtouch my roots."
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/588/v-print/story/41076.html
Posted on Wed, Mar. 14, 2007
Hardaway looking for second chance
A month ago today, Tim Hardaway uttered the toxic comments that created afirestorm and won't soon be forgotten.
Twice a day, the former Heat All-Star still asks himself: Why did I answerDan Le Batard's question on 790 The Ticket about how I would deal with a gayteammate? And why did I say, ``I hate gay people''?
''People have been trying to kick me when I'm down,'' he said this week,reflecting on everything that has happened. The reaction was ``very, veryshocking. People saying my wife left me -- that's not true. My family is OKand my finances are OK.
``. . . I'm looking for a second chance and trying to clean up my image. Ihaven't been in trouble with drugs or guns. I'm an upstanding citizen. LikeI told my children, life is not easy. This is a big bump I have to overcome.I'm going to deal with it like a champ. I've got to make sure people know Idon't hate gay people.''
Hardaway, who attended a Heat game last week, said he soon will speak with agay organization (he's considering three) to ''make them understand'' why hemade his comments -- which he apologized for -- and to gain a betterunderstanding of their perspective. He rejected an offer to spend a day withNorth Miami Mayor Kevin Burns, who is gay, ``because that was more forpublicity for him.''
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid42922.asp
Former Idol finalist Mario Vazquez accused of sexual harassment
Former American Idol finalist Mario Vazquez is being accused of sexualharassment by an assistant accountant for the company that produces theshow. Vazquez had made it to the final round of 12 contestants during Idol's2005 season before mysteriously dropping out.
Former American Idol finalist Mario Vazquez is being accused of sexualharassment by Magdaleno Olmos, the assistant accountant for Fremantle Media,which produces American Idol, reports TMZ.com.
Vazquez is accused of masturbating in front of Olmos in a bathroom on theset of American Idol back in February 2005. Soon after the alleged incident,Vazquez suddenly dropped out of the final round of 12 contestants, citing"family reasons."
Olmos claims in the lawsuit that "Vazquez stared lasciviously, smiledlasciviously...and on one occasion followed him into a bathroom...knocked onthe door of the plaintiff's stall and made eye contact through the space inthe stall door." Vazquez then allegedly "started to rub his genitals overhis pants. Attempting to leave the bathroom, Olmos opened the door of thestall and saw Vasquez standing in front of him with his pants down."
Olmos claims Vazquez pushed him "further into the stall and continuedmasturbating with one hand and trying to pull down Olmos' pants with anotherhand," and that Vazquez touched his "chest and stomach underneath his shirt"and his genitals. Vazquez then allegedly "attempted to unzip" Olmos's pantsand asked "if he wanted oral sex."
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid42942.asp
Two arrested in Colorado hate slugfest
Two men have been arrested in connection with an attack early Sunday on agay pedestrian in Boulder, Colo., while assailants of a lesbian last monthremained at large and Boulder's top officials condemned hate violence theycalled "extremely troublesome" to their college town.
University of Colorado student Eric Schorling, 21, was arrested Monday oncharges of third-degree assault and bias-motivated crime in connection withthe attack, while Adam Perez, also 21, was arrested on charges ofsecond-degree assault and bias-motivated crime.
Police say the two men, reportedly drunk and shouting antigay slurs,confronted Justin King, 23, who was walking arm in arm after midnight withhis friend Anthony Loose. King ignored the first comment but turned toconfront the men when a second comment was made, the Boulder Daily Camerareported.
The suspects are accused of shoving King, then getting him in a headlock andtrying to kick him in the face. King's eyeglasses were broken as a crowd,more or less evenly divided between gay and antigay sympathies, gathered towatch.
"I felt like I couldn't swallow, couldn't talk," King told Fox 31 News.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid42930.asp
Minister stops performing weddings to protest marriage ban
A Massachusetts Episcopal minister will refuse to perform weddings inprotest of the ban on same-sex unions. The Reverend Robert Hirschfeld,rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Amherst, Mass., will be joined by twoother priests who will not perform any weddings.
"We are called to join the fast that our homosexual brothers and sisters inChrist have had to observe all their lives," he said, according to theAssociated Press.
"I am convinced that when gays and lesbians are baptized, they become fullmembers of the body of Christ," said the Reverend Margaret Bullitt-Jonas,who is also protesting. "They are not partial members or conditional membersor second-class members." (The Advocate)
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid42928.asp
March 14, 2007
Bill banning gay adoption advances in Arkansas senate
A bill barring gay and straight unmarried couples from adopting or fosteringchildren was advanced by an Arkansas state senate panel Monday. Last year,according to the Associated Press, the state supreme court overturned a banon gay foster parents that had been established by state policy rather thanby law.
Four people have sued the state government after the policy was put intoeffect in 1999 and then dropped in 2004.
The ban was put in place by the Arkansas Child Welfare Board in March 1999when it said children should be in a conventional two-parent home becausethey are more likely to thrive in that environment, the article said.
Gary Wheeler, a Little Rock pediatrician, told lawmakers that there is noevidence in proving the board's statement. "There's been a lot of confusionabout who's a homosexual and who's a pedophile. These are two large groupsthat hardly intersect," Wheeler said in the article.
Gov. Mike Beebe said that he would support the policy if it were proven tobe constitutionally sound. The ban would not be enforced against bloodrelatives who are cohabitation.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid42890.asp
Transsexual regret
When you know someone who's undergone sex-reassignment surgery, thepossibility of regret may feel like the proverbial elephant in the room. Butwhat is the prevalence of regret, and why does regret occur?
By Joanne Herman
With the release of Renée Richards' latest book, No Way Renée: The SecondHalf of My Notorious Life, the topic of transsexual regret has once againcome out of the closet. Her book is primarily the story of her family,career, tennis, and social life. Yet in a pre-release interview with The NewYork Times, the reporter asked Richards if she regrets having hadsex-reassignment surgery. And even though Richards said no, the headline was"The Lady Regrets." Why is there such curiosity about whether post-optranssexuals regret their surgery?
As background, transsexual people are but one part of the very diverse groupunder the transgender umbrella. Many transgender people actually do notundergo a gender transition. But a transsexual person, on the other hand,feels so strongly about having a gender identity at odds with his or heranatomy that he or she seeks medical intervention or physical change. Sometranssexual people do not need sex-reassignment surgery (SRS) to resolve theincongruity, while others desire it but cannot afford it.
Renowned trans woman Lynn Conway, professor emerita at the University ofMichigan, estimates that one in 2,500 U.S. citizens has undergonemale-to-female SRS (there is no contemporary statistic available forfemale-to-male SRS). As one who is included in Conway's statistic, I am usedto fielding the question about "regret." Societal taboos about crossing thegender binary make any transition seem remarkable, and so the fact thatsomeone made a seemingly permanent change (i.e., surgery), then might haveregretted it, is positively tabloid news. (By the way, I don't regret mine.)
But how often does it happen that someone regrets having had SRS? Researchhas been scarce because of the stigma of studying transgenderism and becausemost of the necessary subjects (transsexual individuals) have been highlycloseted until only recently. The only contemporary research I could find, a2002 paper in the International Journal of Transgenderism citing a 1992study, observed that "the incidence of postoperative regret is generallyextremely low...less than 1% in female-to-males and 1-1.5% inmale-to-females." That's pretty low. Why the concern?
Some may view as an unmitigated disaster the possibility that anyone-evenone single person-had his penis "cut off" or her breasts removed and thenregretted it. Because of this, trans people must undergo one of the mostrigorous evaluations of any medical procedure in order to qualify for SRS.This evaluation, unfortunately, favors those who can best convince "thesystem" of their need; thereby it occasionally disqualifies some who needthe surgery while qualifying some who don't.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid42914.asp
Lifetime to air teen HIV movie
The cable network Lifetime has green-lighted the television movieConsequences, which chronicles the life of a teen honor student whocontracts HIV. Variety reports that the film will star Desperate Housewivesactress Andrea Bowden as Rachel, a popular high school student who discoversthat a boy with whom she had sex has HIV. Panic and gossip envelop her aftershe finds out that she too has the disease.
Also cast in the film are Jennie Garth as a teacher who befriends the leadcharacter, as well as Eric Von Detten, who will play the boy with HIV. It isexpected to air in June. (The Advocate)
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid42910.asp
China AIDS activist feels failure despite award
Poised to receive an award for fighting HIV/AIDS in rural China, Chineseactivist Gao Yaojie said she feels like a failure.
Eighty years old, her face creased with wrinkles, Gao has spent the lastdecade of her life working to treat the sick, to slow the disease's spread,and to expose official complicity in its dispersal in her home province ofHenan in east-central China.
Thousands of poor farmers have become infected with the disease afterselling their blood in the 1990s at unsanitary, often state-run, clinics,making the province the center of China's AIDS epidemic.
Having handed out thousands of AIDS prevention pamphlets to passengers atbus depots, prostitutes in nightclubs and peasants in the countryside, theretired gynecologist said she felt she had not done enough.
"I constantly think that I am a failure because I have been at this work formore than 10 years, and yet AIDS is still rampant," the doctor said in aninterview on Monday in Washington, where she is to receive a "globalleadership" award on Wednesday from Vital Voices, a nonprofit thatrecognizes women leaders.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid42555.asp
Finding the answers to hate crimes
Andy Marra had many questions when she was punched in the face for being transgender woman back in November 2006. But instead of giving her answers,her attackers fled. Now she has decided to tell her story, and she is makingan appeal for answers about hate crimes.
By Andy Marra
I had just exited my stop on the subway after a particularly long day at theoffice, and I was grateful to stretch my legs and enjoy the crisp Novemberair. I popped in my headphones, turned on some music, and began myfive-minute walk towards my apartment in the Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhoodwhere I live.
On my walk home I always pass a bodega. As I walked by, I noticed a group ofyoung men glaring menacingly at me. I didn't know who they were, and myheadphones muffled their voices. I decided to mind my business. I wanted toget home and put together a grocery list for the next day at the UnionSquare farmers market.
Then, out of nowhere, a fist flew towards my face, hitting me square in thejaw. I stopped dead in my tracks. Stunned for a moment, I finally turned tosee who it was and watched the three young men from the bodega laughing andrunning off. One of them looked back at me and shouted something I couldn'tfully make out, but it sounded like "she-male."
The cool air felt good on my swollen cheek. I slowly dialed 911. Theoperator reassured me that a police car was nearby and that officers wouldcome to my house and take a hate crime report. The operator promised theywere only five minutes away. When I made it home, my two roommates listenedwith horror as I quietly recounted my assault. I decided to call my parentsand a few close friends, and similarly they had the same reaction ofdisbelief. I placed some ice in a bag and headed to my bathroom. As I lookedat myself in the mirror, I finally broke down in sobs. The police never cameby my house to take a report.
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The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11925
Gay group wants apology from Gen. Pace for calling gays 'immoral'
Joint Chiefs chairman stands by 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
WASHINGTON (AP) | Mar 13, 9:35 AM
A gay advocacy group demanded an apology Tuesday from the Pentagon's topgeneral for calling homosexuality immoral.
In a newspaper interview Monday, Marine Gen. Peter Pace likened homosexuality to adultery and said the military should not condone it byallowing gays to serve openly in the military.
"General Pace's comments are outrageous, insensitive and disrespectful tothe 65,000 lesbian and gay troops now serving in our armed forces," theadvocacy group Servicemembers Legal Defense Network said in a statement onits website.
The group has represented some service members dismissed from the militaryfor their sexual orientation.
Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made his remarks in aninterview Monday with the Chicago Tribune. He was responding to a questionabout the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that allows gays and lesbians toserve if they keep their sexual orientation private and don't engage inhomosexual acts.
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ClickAbility.com
http://www.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Gay+Rights+Group+Clashes+with+College&expire=&urlID=21512575&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.todaystmj4.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2F6453342.html&partnerID=148802&cid=6453342
Story Created: Mar 12, 2007
Story Updated: Mar 13, 2007
Gay Rights Group Clashes with College
Tom Murray
MILWAUKEE - There is a clash between Wisconsin Lutheran College and a gayrights group. The group, called Soulforce, wanted to talk to students oncampus, and the college said no.
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee senior Alisa Streets is gay. "I would loveto see the equality riders welcomed onto the campus," she said.
She stands with Soulforce, the gay rights group trying to bring its messageto Christian campuses. Wisconsin Lutheran is this week's stop. About 700students are enrolled at the campus on Milwaukee's west side.
Soulforce volunteer Brandon Kneeful, who is also openly gay, believesstudents may be afraid to come out.
"They're not speaking out because of fear," said Kneeful. "There are gaystudents, lesbian students, transgender and bisexual students who are livingcloseted."
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The Dallas Voice
http://www.dallasvoice.com/artman/publish/printer_4891.php
She Swoopes to conquer
By Arnold Wayne Jones Staff Writer
Mar 8, 2007, 19:12
WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes, who rocked pro athletics by coming out at theheight of her career, has some choice words for Tim Hardaway
More people have probably used the words "gay" and "basketball" in the samebreath in the last two months than at any other time in history. And it'snot because of March Madness. The discussion was stirred by retired NBAplayer Jon Amaechi's decision to come out, followed soon thereafter byex-star Tim Hardaway's proudly homophobic remarks that gay people shouldn'tbe allowed to exist.
But the dialogue over gay athletes in basketball really started more than ayear ago when WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes came out.
At the time of her admission to being lesbian in October 2005, Swoopesbecame (and still remains) the only player on a professional team sport tocome out as gay or lesbian while still active.
What made her announcement all the more remarkable was that it came not froma minor player or someone hawking a new memoir, but an acknowledgedsuperstar in her field with nothing to sell at all. No, the Texan-bredSwoopes - a three-time MVP with the Houston Comets, three-time Olympic goldmedalist and the first woman to have a Nike shoe named for her - had farmore to lose financially than to gain. Yet she came out anyway.
Prior to her appearance at several events in Dallas this weekend, Swoopesshared her thoughts about the Amaechi-Hardaway debacle, the state of prosports for gay athletes and why she chose to come out when she did.
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The New York Observer
http://www.observer.com/printpage.asp?iid=14368&ic=News+Story+1
What's Pink, Green? Senator Clinton Hauling Gay Cash
Friends of Hillary lead; Team Barack profits from Bill's marriage act. Rudy:I won't ask, tell!
By: Jason Horowitz
Date: 3/19/2007
Page: 1
Speaking for the second time this month in front of a predominantly gayaudience, Hillary Clinton assured the crowd at a Gay Men's Health Crisisdinner at Chelsea Piers that help was on the way.
She guaranteed her support of their issues "when I'm President," andpointedly referred to a special AIDS grant she pushed through Congress forthe first time "since the end of the last Clinton administration."
The crowd laughed appreciatively at what was at once a well-worn bit aboutthe Clinton restoration, and an acknowledgement of the influence of the gayfund-raisers and activists who may put her in the White House.
But Mrs. Clinton has stiff competition in her pursuit of influential gayDemocrats. Unlike the election of 2004, when Howard Dean had the distinctionof having fought for a civil-unions bill when he was governor of Vermont,the three leading Democratic candidates have virtually identical stances onthe most visible gay issues. (Barack Obama, John Edwards and Mrs. Clintonare uniformly in favor of lifting a ban on gays openly serving in themilitary, but are all opposed to gay marriage.)
In a political climate in which Ann Coulter received applause for a "faggot"joke at a major conservative conference, and Rudy Giuliani's strong recordon gay rights is widely presumed to be one of his greatest liabilities,there seems to be a pragmatic contentment in gay circles with the topDemocratic tier.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/entertainment/news-gossip/bestG.htm
Best Gay Week Ever
by Michael Jensen, AfterElton.com
BOB HATTOY, JOHN INMAN, AND ANN COULTER
No, that's not the answer to the question, "Name an activist, an actor, andan abomination against nature." But all three have been in the news thisweek: Hattoy and Inman because they are dead, and Ann because shepersonifies the soulless, living dead. Actually, my favorite description ofAnn comes from my very own partner Brent who describes her as "a vinyl skinencasing a mass of writhing snakes and spiders" (he's not a novelist fornothing!).
Hattoy was the gay rights and AIDS activist who gave a stirring prime timespeech at the 1992 Democratic National Convention; Bill Clinton had askedhim to address being a gay man living with AIDS. This year Hattoy had beenhospitalized with pneumonia, but had returned home where he died suddenly.No cause of death has been determined, but cardiac arrest is suspected. Bobwill be greatly missed.
Many folks in the US are likely unfamiliar with openly gay British actorJohn Inman, but in the UK he starred in the sitcom Are You Being Served andwas one of those television fixtures that everyone knew. Think Don Knotts(The Andy Griffith Show) or Bob Denver (Gilligan's Island). Inman died thisweek from complications of Hepatitis A leaving behind his partner of thirtyfive years.
Inman played Mr. Humphries, a fussy, mincing character who worked in adepartment store. While Humphries was clearly written as gay, he was neverallowed to actually be gay (they even paired him up with a woman once), sohe was constantly played for stereotypically gay laughs. We wrote aboutInman's character in an article about campy British characters last yearwhich documented how Inman and others involved with the show tried to claimHumphries wasn't gay. Here is a clip for you to judge yourself:
Not too many folks bought that Humphries was straight, but I do think thereis some merit in the idea that back in the 70's and early 80's, any gayvisibility was an improvement. And it's not like any television shows today-
ough The Class cough -are trying to foist these same sort of gaycharacters- cough Perry Pearl cough -onto viewers. Here is one gay Brit'stake on what Inman's character was all about and whether it should becelebrated or not.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/03/031107israel.htm
Gay Arabs Begin To Organize
by The Associated Press
Posted: March 11, 2007 - 8:00 pm ET
(Jerusalem) A rare gathering of openly gay Arab activists is slated to beheld in Israel this month, drawing the ire of religious conservatives.
Headlined "Home and Exile," the March 28 meeting is meant to sparkdiscussion of homosexuality among Israel's 1 million Arab citizens, saidRoula Deeb, a prominent Arab feminist and one of the scheduled speakers.
The conference is being organized by Aswat, an Arab lesbian group based inHaifa, a coastal city home to both Jews and Arabs.
Around 100 to 150 people are expected to show up, Deeb said. Withhomosexuality a taboo topic in much of the Arab world, the meeting isimportant simply because it is taking place.
Israel is generally tolerant of homosexuality, and the country's secularmetropolis, Tel Aviv, is home to a thriving gay community. But Israel'sArabs, who make up 20 percent of the population, live mostly in separatecommunities and homosexuality is still considered out of bounds.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/opinion/Libby/Libby.htm
Their Truth, Our Consequences
by Libby Post
Isaiah Washington, Tim Hardaway and Ann Coulter-together they have done whatlesbian and gay organizations have tried to do for decades-shine a brightlight on the verbal abuse LGBT people have to deal with every day.
The old school house adage-sticks and stones may break my bones but nameswill never hurt me-just doesn't cut it anymore. Washington and Coultercalling their targets faggots and Hardaway's invective that he "hates allgay people" is fuel for the homophobic fire of those who consider gaybashing-verbal and physical-an acceptable, even enjoyable, past time.
But shining such a bright light on homophobic hate speak has hadconsequences for each of them.
Washington came close to losing his job on the ABC hit "Grey's Anatomy" andhad to enter rehab to deal with his anger management and hate issues. He metwith gay leaders to discuss his outburst and find some redemption. Itremains to be seen how well he'll do. It is interesting to note that he'shired nationally known gay publicist, Howard Bragman, to help rehabilitatehis image. Expertly spinning the whole affair, Bragman's office saysWashington is "uniquely positioned to be the catalyst" for a nationaldialogue on diversity.
That remains to be seen.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/print_article_ektid42912.asp
Lesbian couple denied communion for denouncing marriage ban
A Wyoming lesbian couple has been denied communion at the church they haveattended for almost a decade, partially because they have publicly opposed abill that would bar the state from recognizing same-sex marriages.
When the Wyoming legislature considered a bill that would deny marriage tosame-sex couples, Leah Vader and Lynne Huskinson denounced the bill, sayingthat it amounted to discrimination.
The Associated Press reports that the pair, who were married in Canada two years ago, received a letter from the Reverend Cliff Jacobson of St. Matthew's Church in Gillette, Wyo. The letter said that they would be denied communionin part because of their public position on the bill.
Vader told the Associated Press that the pastor's rejection is an act ofdiscrimination and that the news is more difficult to cope with particularlybefore Easter. (The Advocate)
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GAY AND LESBIAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION
NATIONAL OFFICE
34 SPRING LANE, KENILWORTH
WARWICKSHIRE CV8 2HB
UNITED KINGDOM
TEL AND FAX 01926 858450
EMAIL secretary@galha.org
WEBSITE www.galha.org
Affiliated to Amnesty International & the International Humanist & Ethical Union
NEWS RELEASE
13 March 2007
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH'S OBSESSIVE HOMOPHOBIA IS BECOMING A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY
The Catholic Church's obsessive homophobia is becoming a threat todemocracy, says the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA).
Commenting on the appeal from the pulpit by the Archbishop of BirminghamVincent Nichols to persuade his flock to oppose the Sexual OrientationRegulations and the announcement by the Bishop of Motherwell Joseph Devinethat he would not be voting for Labour in the May elections, GALHA'ssecretary George Broadhead said: "The Catholic Church is becoming much morepolitically active throughout Europe, not only in Britain, where it is stillfuming over the refusal of the government to exempt it from the SexualOrientation Regulations, but also in Italy, where the Vatican is agitatingvery hard to scupper civil partnership legislation, and in Spain where it isstill opposing the gay marriage laws as well as proposed changes to theeducation system that downgrade the importance of Catholic education inschools."
Mr Broadhead said that political parties and individual politicians shouldresist pressure from the Catholic Church. "When the Catholic Church speaks,the Scottish Executive usually jumps, but on this occasion it is importantthat the Labour Party calls the bluff of these theocrats. The world hasmoved on and the population at large, including many Catholics, ismuch more liberal than the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. They don't takeany notice of church teaching on contraception, abortion and women'srights so why should they take notice of it on homosexuality? Labour shouldstand firm and it will find that the Church cannot command the vote as itused to. Once they have discovered this, they will be free of the need tokow-tow to the many demands of the Vatican."
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Sliska urges the West not to impose gay pride on Russia
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=2721
Moscow, March 12, Interfax - Russian State Duma First Deputy Speaker LubovSliska wholly supported Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov in his recent dispute withsome European mayors concerning the gay parade banned in Moscow.
'We do not meddle with what they (Western politicians - IF) do in theirbeds, we do not gossip about their lovemaking rumors they spread to attractmore attention to their persons, so please you don't put your finger intoour life too, don't impose your standards upon us,' Sliska told the Channel3 as she commented the Western community's harsh criticism of Moscowgovernment's ban on gay pride.
She declared her 'absolute support' for Mayor Luzhkov in this issue. 'I wassomewhat uncomfortable to hear mayors of some large European cities tryingto blame Luzhkov with violating human rights,' she said.
'We violate nobody's rights but we also want nobody to violate ours,' thedeputy speaker noted.
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Poland's Giertych to ban gay groups from schools
Mar 13, 2007
Poland's Giertych wants to ban gay groups from schools
Mar 13, 2007, 13:27 GMT
Warsaw - Roman Giertych, Poland's controversial Deputy Prime Minister andMinister of Education, is preparing legislation to sanction schoolprincipals who allow members of gay rights organisations to speak withpupils, a Polish education ministry spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.
Giertych recently stirred controversy in Heidelberg, Germany, during ameeting of EU education ministers when he openly criticized abortion rightsand what he termed 'homosexual propaganda'.
The government of conservative Law and Justice (PIS) Prime Minister JaroslawKaczynski has distanced itself from the Giertych's comments, insisting theywere his personal opinions and did not reflect government policy.
'The propaganda of homosexuality is reaching ever younger children.'Giertych said in the Heidelberg speech.
Poland's mass-circulation Dziennik daily reported Tuesday, Minister Giertychwas overseeing the preparation of the draft legislation banning gay rightsgroups from schools, a move which appears to be unconstitutional.
Giertych, 36, is the leader of Poland's Catholic-nationalist League ofPolish Families (LPR), a junior partner in the three-partypopulist-conservative coalition government of Prime Minister Kaczynski.
Allegations which arose in the Polish media that some LPR party members mayhave had links to the far right and neo-Nazis are being probed by stateprosecutors.
Scott Long
Director
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program
Human Rights Watch
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EU parliament sanctions Polish MEP Giertych for xenophobic pamphlet
By DPA
Mar 14, 2007, 10:43 GMT
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/news/article_1277087.php/EU_parlia
ment_sanctions_Polish_MEP_Giertych_for_xenophobic_pamphlet
Strasbourg - The president of the European Parliament on Wednesday said hehad sanctioned extreme right-wing Polish deputy Maciej Giertych forpublishing an anti-semitic pamphlet.
Giertych, an influential member of the nationalistic Catholic-based Leagueof Polish Families, received the reprimand for violating parliament'sprinciples on respect and tolerance.
It is the first time that a parliament president has invoked a rule of theEU assembly's procedures which provides for penalties against MEPs for'exceptionally serious' violations of the EU body's principles of mutualrespect and of the bloc's basic principles.
Parliament president Hans-Gert Poettering told the EU assembly in Strasbourgthat he 'deeply regretted what is objectively a serious breach of thefundamental rights and in particular the dignity of human beings to whichour institution so strongly adheres.'
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Inside Higher Education
http://insidehighered.com/layout/set/print/news/2007/03/14/springarbor
Spring Arbor and Transgender Dean Settle
A discrimination complaint filed by a transgender faculty member and formerdean against a Christian university in Michigan has been settled "to themutual satisfaction of both parties." Neither side provided details. ButJulie (formerly John) Nemecek said that though she is looking for work,"there's not an immediate urgency for it."
Nemecek filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment OpportunityCommission against Spring Arbor University, an institution affiliated withthe Free Methodist Church, after receiving a termination notice this winter.The notice came more than a year after she first alerted her supervisor toher diagnosis of gender identity disorder. Nemecek, an ordained Baptistminister, was subsequently demoted from her position as associate dean ofthe School of Adult Studies, restricted to online instruction, and presentedwith strict contract stipulations (including that she "refrain fromdiscussing his transgender situation with Spring Arbor University personnelor students").
Spring Arbor officials declined to elaborate on the terms of the settlementTuesday, but in a statement indicated that "[w]e are pleased to announcethat the charge of discrimination against Spring Arbor University has beenwithdrawn, and we have resolved this issue to the mutual satisfaction ofboth parties." The statement continued to express appreciation for theprayers and support directed the university's way, and said collegeofficials "are eager to get back to our focus on providing a world-classChristian liberal arts education."
Nemecek, who will remain on Spring Arbor's payroll through the end of May,expressed satisfaction with the outcome: "Our hope was probably two-fold.One was to get the word out and help people begin to understand transgenderissues. A lot of people are thinking about it and talking about it thatweren't before.... Our other goal was to be treated with justice andfairness and I think that has ultimately happened, too."
Nemecek has applied for jobs with some colleges and is looking into thepossibility of consulting work and advocacy for transgender rights. OnMonday night, she initiated a possible side career as a speaker, standingside by side with her wife, Joanne, as they told their story to about 100students at Eastern Michigan University.
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST March 14, 2007
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/opinion/14wed1.html?pagewanted=print
March 14, 2007
Editorial
Politics, Pure and Cynical
We wish we'd been surprised to learn that the White House was deeplyinvolved in the politically motivated firing of eight United Statesattorneys, but the news had the unmistakable whiff of inevitability. Thisdisaster is just part of the Bush administration's sordid history of wavingthe bloody bullhorn of 9/11 for the basest of motives: the perpetuation ofpower for power's sake.
Time and again, President Bush and his team have assured Americans that theyneeded new powers to prevent another attack by an implacable enemy. Time andagain, Americans have discovered that these powers were not being used tomake them safer, but in the service of Vice President Dick Cheney's visionof a presidency so powerful that Congress and the courts are irrelevant, orKarl Rove's fantasy of a permanent Republican majority.
In firing the prosecutors and replacing them without Senate approval,Attorney General Alberto Gonzales took advantage of a little-noticedprovision that the administration and its Republican enablers in Congresshad slipped into the 2006 expansion of the Patriot Act. The ostensiblepurpose was to allow the swift interim replacement of a United Statesattorney who was, for instance, killed by terrorism.
But these firings had nothing to do with national security - or officials'claims that the attorneys were fired for poor performance. This looks like apolitical purge, pure and simple, and President Bush and his White House arein the thick of it.
Earlier, the White House insisted that it had approved the list of firedUnited States attorneys after it was compiled. Now it admits that WhiteHouse officials helped prepare it. Harriet Miers, the White House counselwhom Mr. Bush tried to elevate to the Supreme Court, originally wanted toreplace all 93 attorneys with Republican appointees.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/opinion/14wed2.html?pagewanted=print
March 14, 2007
Editorial
The Right to Ban Arms
A federal appeals court panel in Washington has marched blithely past alongstanding upreme Court precedent, the language of the Constitution andthe pressing needs of public safety to strike down Washington's law barringresidents from keeping handguns in their homes.
The ruling, approved 2 to 1 last week by the Federal Court of Appeals forthe istrict of Columbia Circuit, was the first
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/opinion/14wed1.html?pagewanted=print
March 14, 2007
Editorial
Politics, Pure and Cynical
We wish we'd been surprised to learn that the White House was deeplyinvolved in the politically motivated firing of eight United Statesattorneys, but the news had the unmistakable whiff of inevitability. Thisdisaster is just part of the Bush administration's sordid history of wavingthe bloody bullhorn of 9/11 for the basest of motives: the perpetuation ofpower for power's sake.
Time and again, President Bush and his team have assured Americans that theyneeded new powers to prevent another attack by an implacable enemy. Time andagain, Americans have discovered that these powers were not being used tomake them safer, but in the service of Vice President Dick Cheney's visionof a presidency so powerful that Congress and the courts are irrelevant, orKarl Rove's fantasy of a permanent Republican majority.
In firing the prosecutors and replacing them without Senate approval,Attorney General Alberto Gonzales took advantage of a little-noticedprovision that the administration and its Republican enablers in Congresshad slipped into the 2006 expansion of the Patriot Act. The ostensiblepurpose was to allow the swift interim replacement of a United Statesattorney who was, for instance, killed by terrorism.
But these firings had nothing to do with national security - or officials'claims that the attorneys were fired for poor performance. This looks like apolitical purge, pure and simple, and President Bush and his White House arein the thick of it.
Earlier, the White House insisted that it had approved the list of firedUnited States attorneys after it was compiled. Now it admits that WhiteHouse officials helped prepare it. Harriet Miers, the White House counselwhom Mr. Bush tried to elevate to the Supreme Court, originally wanted toreplace all 93 attorneys with Republican appointees.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/opinion/14wed2.html?pagewanted=print
March 14, 2007
Editorial
The Right to Ban Arms
A federal appeals court panel in Washington has marched blithely past alongstanding upreme Court precedent, the language of the Constitution andthe pressing needs of public safety to strike down Washington's law barringresidents from keeping handguns in their homes.
The ruling, approved 2 to 1 last week by the Federal Court of Appeals forthe istrict of Columbia Circuit, was the first