**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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365Gay.Com
http://365gay.com/Newscon07/12/122807oregon.htm
Federal Court Halts Oregon Gay Partner Registry
by The Associated Press
Posted: December 28, 2007 - 8:00 pm ET
(Portland, Oregon) A federal judge on Friday placed on hold a state domesticpartnership law that was set to take effect Jan. 1, pending a Februaryhearing.
The law would give some spousal rights to same-sex couples.
Opponents asked U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman to intercede after theOregon secretary of state's office ruled in October that they had failed tocollect enough valid signatures on a referendum to block the law.
The Oregon measure covers benefits related to inheritance rights,child-rearing and custody, joint state tax filings, joint health, auto andhomeowners insurance policies, visitation rights at hospitals and others. Itdoes not affect federal benefits for married couples, including SocialSecurity and joint filing of federal tax returns.
After the Legislature approved the domestic partnership law this year, gayrights opponents launched an effort to collect enough signatures to suspendthe law and place it on the November 2008 ballot for a statewide vote.
more . . . . .
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/arts/entertainment-britain-honours.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Kylie Minogue Honored By Queen Elizabeth
By REUTERS
December 28, 2007
Filed at 7:04 p.m. ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Kylie Minogue, the Australian singer and actress who hasbattled breast cancer, was honored by Britain's Queen Elizabeth on Saturday,with other awards given to sportsmen, entertainers and businessmen.
Minogue, a former soap star who became one of the world's most famousrecording artists, becomes an Officer of the Order of the British Empire(OBE) in the traditional New Year's honors list.
Minogue, famous for hits from "I Should Be So Lucky" to "Can't Get You OutOf My Head," was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2005 and went throughsurgery and chemotherapy before returning to the stage late last year.
She has sold some 40 million albums around the world, and 12 million viewerstuned this week in to see her star in a special Christmas episode of Britishtelevision series "Doctor Who."
Sir Ian McKellen, a top Shakespearean actor who gained worldwide fame withfilm roles such as the wizard Gandalf in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy,was made a Companion of Honour under Britain's ancient and complex system ofhonorary titles.
more . . . . .
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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=15820
Activist urges evangelicals to fight AIDS
'It's not a sin to be sick,' author Kay Warren tells conservative Christians
(AP) | Dec 28, 2:34 PM
The matter-of-fact display on prostitution was startling enough. Then, alarge remote-controlled condom floated above the conference hall.
Kay Warren, wife of pastor Rick Warren, wondered what she had gotten herselfinto.
It was her first International AIDS Conference, in 2004 in Thailand. Justtwo years earlier, an article on how HIV was devastating African familiesled Kay Warren to take up the cause when very few conservative Christianleaders were doing so. She chronicles her journey into activism in her newbook "Dangerous Surrender," which is a plea for Bible-believers to join thefight.
"I think there are some people who won't get past the first few chapters.It's not a light read," said Warren, whose husband wrote themultimillion-selling "The Purpose Driven Life." "For some people, it willcome at the right time for them."
It was only a few years ago that evangelicals began tentatively puttingtheir energies into combating the infection. Many conservative Christiansconsidered the illness a punishment from God - for same-gender sex,prostitution and drug use. AIDS activism also inevitably meant working withgay leaders whom evangelicals had been battling on the issue of same-sexmarriage.
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Chicago Sun-Times
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/716770,CST-NWS-assault28.article
Alleged gay advance cited in rape
CICERO | Male suspect accused of sodomizing man with broomstick
BY ERIC HERMAN Criminal Courts Reporter eherman@suntimes.com
December 28, 2007
A Cicero man angry about an alleged homosexual advance raped the man heclaimed propositioned him, and then sodomized him with a broomstick,officials said.
Felipe Rivera, 43, is charged with a hate crime as well as aggravatedcriminal sexual assault and other offenses, said a spokesman for the CookCounty state's attorney's office. If convicted, he could face more than 30years in prison, a source said.
According to a spokesman for Cicero police, Rivera and the victimencountered each other at a party Friday night in the 1200 block of South50th Avenue.
"Mr. Rivera got upset apparently because he believed the victim, No. 1,didn't respond to a female and then, No. 2, somehow winked at him -- madewhat he perceived as a sexual advance," said Cicero police spokesman DanProft.
30 years possible
Rivera then punched the victim in the face, Proft said, and was asked toleave the party. He allegedly waited outside for the victim. According toRivera, the victim, 37, then propositioned Rivera for a sex act -- a claimthe victim denies, Proft said.
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The Atlantic
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/12/dissent-of-th-5.html
The Daily Dish by Andrew Sullivan
Is it really so puzzling why lower middle class people go to church but havehigher rates of abortion, illegitimacy, and divorce? Very often people wholack a quality are the ones who obsess ostentatiously about it. Thatapplies, not just to family virtue, but to many other traits -- intellect,culture, beauty, class, professional achievement. People who insecure aboutpossessing a quality compensate by displaying conspicuous signs that theyhave it.
A paralegal, for example, anxious about her class, will carry a Guccihandbag to try to show that she is rich and fashionable. An aristocrat,living on inherited money earned four generations ago, is more confident andwears a favorite five year old jacket when she walks outside in the snow.The same pattern applies to family virtue.
A liberal who lives in Boston and has been married to the same woman fortwenty years has no need to proclaim his virtue; it is evident in his ownlife. The man from Alabama who has divorced and fathered a child out ofwedlock is acutely conscious of his lack of virtue and is nervous about theimpression it will give to other people. He covers his soiled family lifewith the clean blanket of churchgoing and vocal participation in groupsdevoted to conservative causes.
But why does this lead to opposition to gay marriage, when gay marriagepromotes the virtues of fidelity and stability? I strongly support gaymarriage and believe that it promotes family virtue. But if we are tryingto explain (but not excuse) why the churchgoing divorcees oppose it, theanswer is that they see homosexuality, married or not, as non-traditional.The churchgoing divorcees are not asserting their family virtue, logicallyconceived, but their family virtue as traditionally defined. It is thetraditional definition of family virtue that prevails in the communitieswhere the churchgoing divorcees are trying to ingratiate themselves, as away to compensate for and cover their fractured family lives. And while anargument can be made that gay marriage is compatible with tradition, gaymarriage is not the same as that tradition, which has historically beenbitterly bigoted and hostile towards homosexuality.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
12/28/07 4:42 PM
Subject: Web Site - Going out of Business Jan. 1
Message to the e-mail distribution listof the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Caucusof the American Political Science Association:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Folks,
If you haven't visited the privately-run website
http://www.actwin.com/eatonohio/gay/GAY.htm you might want to. Forwhatever reason, the owner, Bill Meyer, has put a tremendous amountof effort into compiling political data on GLBT politics in the US,Canada, the UK, Australia, and other parts of the world (includingthings like the voting records of state legislators, Congressmen, andBritish parliamentarians on GLBT bills. He has announced that he istaking the site down on January 1, 2008. I e-mailed him and heindicated that he is fine with anyone who wants to copy his pages oreven possibly take them over in order to continue publishing them.
Anyway, I thought some of you might like to visit the site andpossibly make copies of the pages for your own research purposes.
Happy New Year.
Charles W. Gossett, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Political Science Department
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Ford Motor Company offers sex change benefits
From American Family Association
December 28, 2007
The December 18 edition of The Advocate, a magazinefor homosexuals, featured the transgender issue.A transgender is a person appearing or attemptingto be a member of the opposite sex, as a transsexualor habitual cross-dresser. The Advocate article showednumerous pictures of people who had sex operations tochange from male to female, and vice-versus(I'll spare you the details).
Ford Motor Company placed a full page ad for itsVolvo brand in the publication.
Ford offers medical benefits to help payexpenses of those who choose to undergo sexchange operations. Ford pays for mental healthcounseling, hormone therapy, medical visits, andshort-term disability after surgical proceduresfor employees who desire to change their sex.
Click Here http://www.afa.net/fordreportcard.htmand scroll down to see Ford's reportcard on how it spends profits to help support homosexuality.
more....
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.gaylesbiantimes.com/?id=11199
'How many more gay murders until you get involved?'
Gay American Heroes Foundation to launch
by Celene Adams, News and Features Editor
Published Thursday, 27-Dec-2007 in issue 1044
They could be snapshots of you, your brother, your son, your sister.
Let's hope they never are.
Because all the eager, young, wholesome faces smiling from the Gay AmericanHeroes Foundation's Web site are the faces of GLBT victims of "hate crimesmotivated by sexual orientation bias" - although "murder" is the term ScottHall, founder of the Gay American Heroes Foundation (GAHF), prefers.
"How many more gay murders until you get involved?" GAHF's home pagechallenges. Hall will put the question to us all at the Winter PartyFestival in South Beach this February, when he and GAHF's 12 advisory boardmembers officially launch the foundation.
Inspired to create it last March 14, after two men beat Ryan Skipper, 25, ofPolk County, Fla., "beyond recognition," stabbed him 20 times and slit histhroat before dumping him on the side of a road, Hall said the foundationhas since raised $25,000 to boost awareness of hate crimes against GLBTpeople.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/28/content_7328148.htm
Uruguayan president signs law legalizing gay couples
MONTEVIDEO, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) - Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez onThursday signed a law that legalizes civil unions for homosexual couples,which is the first nationwide law of its kind in Latin America.
Under the new law which is to take effect on Jan. 1, 2008, gay andstraight couples will be eligible for civil unions after living together forfive years and will have rights similar to those granted to married coupleson such matters as inheritance, pensions and child custody.
The bill was passed by the congress on Dec. 18, after heated debate.
The law was proposed by the ruling Broad Front Party, who described itas a "democratizing" measure that will protect people's life options.
But the opposition National Party opposed the bill, with the party'sdeputy chief Alvaro Alonso arguing that it "creates an institution that runsparallel to a marriage, competing with it even though it is second rate."
Currently gay marriage remains illegal in Uruguay. In Latin America,civil unions between homosexuals are legally recognized in several places,including the Mexican capital Mexico City, the Brazilian state of Rio Grandedo Sul, and Argentina's Buenos Aires, Villa Carlos Paz and Rio Negro.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.guardian.co.uk/spain/article/0,,2232741,00.html
Priest sued over seminar 'curing' homosexuality
Mike Elkin in Madrid
Friday December 28, 2007
The Guardian
A Spanish clergyman is to be investigated after complaints that he isholding seminars which aim to "rehabilitate homosexuals". Protestantminister Marcos Zapata, head of an organisation running youth centres fortroubled children in Galicia, prompted the row after reports surfaced of arecent seminar he led entitled "How to Raise Heterosexual Children".
According to a journalist who attended the seminar, Zapata likenedhomosexuality to alcoholism and called it an illness, but said healing waspossible through family therapy. In his family, he said, he reinforcesmasculine roles by watching professional wrestling with his two sons. Zapataalso advised the audience to "hug your sons as much as you can, because ifyou don't, perhaps another man will".
Yesterday the Galician regional government said it would investigate Zapatato make sure the youth centres his organisation runs do not employ "any typeof proselytising or homophobic attitudes" when dealing with minors.Spain's gay and lesbian groups are planning legal action.
"After so many legal victories in this country, and for the first timepeople are talking openly about homosexuality in schools, we have to dealwith fundamentalist groups which take us back to the Franco dictatorship,"said Toni Poveda, the president of the National Federation of Lesbians,Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals. "And of course we are going to try to stopthis from happening. Sexual orientation is innate and there's no way tochange it."
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1945456/posts
Dubai and rape: French youth tells his story
Thanassis Cambanis
International Herald Tribune
Posted on 12/28/2007 8:27:07 PM PST by ChesireKat
Alexandre Robert, a French 15-year-old gang raped in Dubai
They drove Alex past his house and into a dark patch of desert, between arow of new villas and a power plant, took away his cellphone, threatened himwith a knife and a club and told him they would kill his family members ifhe ever reported them.
Then, Alex says, they stripped off his pants and one by one sodomized him inthe back seat of the car. They dumped Alex on the side of the road acrossfrom one of Dubai's luxury hotel towers.
The authorities not only discouraged Alex from pressing charges, he says;they have left open the possibility of charging Alex with criminalhomosexual activity, and neglected to inform him or his parents that one ofhis attackers had tested HIV positive while in prison four years earlier.
Most infuriating to Alex and his mother, Veronique Robert, they said, thepolice inaccurately informed French diplomats on Aug. 15, a month after theassault, that the three attackers were disease-free. Only at the end ofAugust did the family learn that the 36-year-old assailant was HIV positive.The case file contains a positive HIV test for the convict dated March 26,2003.
"They lied to us," Robert said. "Now the Damocles sword of AIDS hangs overAlex."
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.sovo.com/2007/12-28/view/cartoons/7933.cfm
The Year in Cartoons
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/122907/opl_229762360.shtml
Romney: Not running for pastor
The Florida Times-Union
December 29, 2007
I have a confession. I am a Southern Baptist, and I support Mitt Romney forpresident.
You may wonder how this nice Southern Baptist girl could want a Mormon inthe White House.
Our religions do not have the same interpretation of the New Testament -something sacred to all Christians. Pundits and many Christian leaders callit "Mitt Romney's Evangelical problem."
I say we Baptists should get over that debate and throw our support stronglybehind Romney as the best candidate to promote our values.
Statistics show that Romney's religion could be a big problem for him, since30 percent of the Republican Party's base consists of EvangelicalChristians. Polls show that one-third of Christians will not support apresidential candidate who is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter-day Saints.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
Atlanta
http://www.sovo.com/2007/12-28/news/localnews/7914.cfm
Church to hold free gay financial planning seminar
Seminar highlights unique needs of gay singles, families
By MATT SCHAFER
Dec. 28, 2007
In an attempt to help the gay singles and couples address unique financialand family planning issues, the First Metropolitan Community Church willhost a financial planning seminar Sunday, Jan. 6.
Cerise Hall, director of compassionate ministries for First MCC, saidwatching friends lose life partners was hard enough, but watching personaltragedies magnify because no one thought to plan for disaster was almostworse.
"I've found through my experience that when disaster comes, often times weare not prepared," Hall said. "I do know a couple of people where one of thepartners was dying of AIDS, and it came down to continuing life support ornot, and after a couple months the parents came in and totally took thatdecision away from the partner."
When Dennis Scully, a financial consultant with 30 years experience, offeredto help plan a gay financial seminar, Hall jumped at the chance. On Jan. 6,Scully and attorney Jane Morrison will address a number of issues includingcreating and dissolving joint ownership agreements, use of estate planningtools, and investing based on personal values.
"These are topics that typically don't get brought up, especially inrelationships where one partner is blessed with wealth and the other is not," Scully said. "This is a conversation that needs to take place, andneeds to place when one partner isn't stressed by the loss of a job orsomething else."
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.echelonmagazine.com/read_gq.htm
THE G QUOTIENT: Why Gay Executives are Excelling as Leaders . . . And WhatEvery Manager Needs to Know
According to USC Business Professor Kirk Snyder, "Gay male leaders aresucceeding where many are failing in today's business world. Their employeesare happier, their companies are thriving, and they are proving to beshining examples of how to lead the 21st century workforce-acrossindustries."
The sensational claims in THE G QUOTIENT: Why Gay Executives are Excellingas Leaders . . . And What Every Manager Needs to Know (Jossey-Bass/A WileyImprint, June 2006, $24.95/Cloth) by Kirk Snyder are bound to becontroversial. While they may seem like just another foray into the culturewars, Snyder's conclusions come from five years of incontrovertibleresearch, and makes clear that leaders who don't keep up with this new styleof management will be left behind.
THE G QUOTIENT describes, through anecdotes, interviews, and research, howthe current workforce is the most unsatisfied-as well as the mostknowledgeable, diverse, and empowered-in recent history. While his researchmade clear that gay men are succeeding with this new workforce, Snyderneeded to find out why. He argues that gay male leaders have a uniqueworldview, garnered from navigating through life with an unclear ideologyabout marriage, family, children and grandchildren. As a minority, andthrough the process of coming out, they are more likely to be open,appreciative of diversity, adaptable, and intuitive in theworkplace-qualities that were shown to make employees more productive andcompanies more profitable. Combined with recent social trends made clear bythe success of Brokeback Mountain, with roots in the Stonewall riots anddecades-long grassroots activism, the time is ripe for them to make the sameinroads into the business world that women made decades ago.
The term "G Quotient" represents seven leadership principles that explainwhy the organizations and working units under the management of white-collargay males are more harmonious, more interconnected, and more successful.They include: Inclusion, Creativity, Adaptability, Connection,Communication, Intuition, and Collaboration. Snyder found that straight men,straight women and lesbians who shared these qualities that gay male leadershad in abundance were meeting with the same successes in the business world.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Evangelical_video_Cadets_pressured_to_be_1221.html
Evangelical video shows cadets pressured to be missionaries
12/21/2007 @ 4:24 pm
Filed by Katie Baker
A video made by Campus Crusade for Christ, a Christian ministry group, showsAir Force Academy cadets being pressured to participate in religiousactivities and become "government paid missionaries when they leave."
Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation(MRFF), which released the video this week, says the video is "absolutelyout of control."
"You cannot engage the U.S. government to propel your religion," saidWeinstein.
The video, filmed in the summer of 2002, opens with tranquil shots of"Colorado's most frequently visited man-made attraction." The unnamednarrator describes the chapel in detail, which "resembles a formation offighter jets shooting into the sky."
While the narrator says that students receive a "well-rounded education" atthe Academy, the video focuses mainly on how stressful the environment isand not so subtly suggests that cadets can find solace in religion.
more . . . . .
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Gay & Lesbian Leadership
SmartBrier
http://www.smartbrief.com/index.jsp
Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
--
Oregon's domestic-partnership, anti-bias protections to be law
The Rev. Don Frueh and his partner, Robert Barzler, are among the Oregoncouples expected to register their domestic partnerships when the state'snew law takes effect in January. A second law prohibiting discriminationagainst LGBT people also will become effective that day. Opponents arethreatening to try to repeal both measures by putting them on the Novemberballot, according to this article. Statesman Journal (Ore.) (freeregistration) (12/26)
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Court: Gay rights must become law in Nepal
Nepal must enact laws ensuring gay rights and strike current discriminatorymeasures, according to a ruling by its Supreme Court. The ruling was inresponse to a petition by four gay-rights groups, a court spokesman said.
The country currently prohibits homosexuality, and it wasn't clear whetherthe decision would nullify that law. Advocate.com/Associated Press (12/28)Other News
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Spanish officials investigate whether clergymen's remarks were hate speech
365Gay.com (12/28)
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Nation's capital gets go-ahead for needle-exchange programAdvocate.com/Associated Press (12/28)
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Attend Harvard this summer!
Are you an openly LGBT elected or appointed official or senior-levelcommunity leader? Consider building your leadership skills as a Gay &Lesbian Leadership Institute Harvard Fellow. Since 2001, GLLI has grantedscholarships to select LGBT leaders to attend the Senior Executives in Stateand Local Government program at Harvard University's Kennedy School ofGovernment. The 2008 program will take place June 8-27 and July 6-25. Thedeadline to apply for the GLLI Fellowship is March 28, 2008. Click here tolearn more or apply.
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Blogger's picks for year's biggest LGBT stories
The debate over whether to include transgender workers in the EmploymentNon-Discrimination Act tops blogger Bil Browning's list of the 10 biggestLGBT stories of the year. Read more at The Bilerico Project.
Southwest Airlines still chasing rainbows with gay marketing
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Blogger Emil Steiner thinks Southwest Airlines is trying a little too hardto be a friend of Dorothy with its LGBT travel section. "Far from a slick adcampaign, Southwest's hackneyed jargon instead [smacks] of a nervousheterosexual trying too hard to prove he's not homophobic," Steiner writes.
The Washington Post (12/27)
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To Form a More Perfect Union: Marriage Equality News
Information, news, and discussion about the legal recognition of same-sexcouples and their families, including marriages, domestic partnerships,civil unions, adoptions, foster children and similar issues.
http://samesexmarriage.typepad.com/weblog/
Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
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I am a gay man in NYC. My partner Rusty and I have been together for 8years. I use the term "partner" because, here in New York, we are notallowed to marry. That may change if we can ever get the Republicans out ofpower in the State Senate, but for now, it is the reality.I often see itasked, however -- and this, by persons whom I know to be well-meaning andsupportive of recognition of same-sex relationships -- why it is necessaryto push or "marriage". Why, it is said, aren't civil unions, or domesticpartnerships, or some other arrangement sufficient? Why must we antagonizepeople by pressing for full entry into the institution of marriage?I couldanswer this is many ways. We could talk about the inherent repugnance of"separate-but-equal." We could talk about the absurdity of creating newlegal institutions just for the purpose of marking same-sex relationships asdifferent. But today, I'd like to talk about the actual, real-world,practical issues. As a court decision of yesterday demonstrates, the denialof same-sex marriage rights affects our lives in real ways.
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Conservatives in Maryland and Washington state are learning that the battleabout "gay marriage" is far from over, despite court rulings in their favorin the past 18 months. In both states homosexual leaders are hoping theirrespective legislatures will do what the courts would not do -- legalize"marriage" for same-sex couples. Both courts said the issue was for thelegislative branch, and not the judicial branch, to decide. Dan Furmansky,executive director of the homosexual activist group Equality Maryland, toldThe Gazette news service in Maryland he is working to get moderate andconservative Democrats on board supporting "gay marriage." Maryland andWashington have Democratic-controlled legislatures and Democratic governors.
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Michael in Norfolk points out an article about Obama's latest statement onDOMA. In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter Monday, December 17, TobiasWolff, a gay man who's chair of the national LGBT policy committee for theObama campaign, called the Illinois senator a "fighter" who will stand byhis principles.Wolff, 37, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania,also noted that while he disagrees with Obama on the issue of same-sexmarriage, he nonetheless believes that Obama is the better candidate. Obama,as well as the other leading Democratic candidates, support civil unions.
Wolff supports marriage equality. But Wolff drew a distinction with Obama'sand Clinton's position on the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Obamasupports repeal of all DOMA, while Clinton is on record supporting repeal ofonly part of the legislation. President Bill Clinton signed DOMA into law,as well as the anti-gay "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military policy thatprohibits gays and lesbians from serving openly in the armed forces.At theLogo presidential forum in August, Clinton said that she would repealSection 3 of DOMA, which states that, for federal purposes, "marriage" canmean only marriage between a man and a woman, thus it essentially deniessame-sex couples more than 1,100 federal benefits enjoyed by marriedheterosexual couples. Section 2, however, says that states do not have torecognize same-sex relationships, and Clinton has not gone so far as tosupport repeal of that provision.
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"We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doingan about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man whoturns back soonest is the most progressive." --- C. S. Lewis
For some personally, 2007 has been a happy year. For others, it has notbeen. Illness, divorce, job loss, sub-prime mortgages -- all these and morelap away at the sandcastles we construct. But after God has given us yearsfilled with gifts, how can we be angry? --- Marvin Olasky, editor-in-chiefof World magazine.Confidence in the divine-human person of Jesus is the oneweapon against which neither the error, nor the evil, nor the force of theworld can prevail. --- From "The Letters of John" by John R. W. Stott.Theincarnation was a historical and unrepeatable event with permanentconsequences. Reigning at God's right hand today is the man Christ Jesus,still human as well as divine, though now his humanity has been glorified.Having assumed our human nature, he has never discarded it, and he neverwill. -- From "Understanding the Bible" Scripture Union
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365Gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/
Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
--
Spain Investigates Clergymen Over Homophobia Claims
(Madrid) Two Spanish clergymen - one a Protestant evangelist, the other aRoman Catholic bishop - are under attack for alleged homophobia.
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Attorneys Seek To Avoid Death Penalty In Gay Murder Case
(Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) Attorneys for one of two men charged in thekilling of a man who ran a gay porn company say they will seek to have thedeath penalty removed if their client is convicted.
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National Gay News
http://nationalgaynews.com/
Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
--
Health Group Gets Grant to Fight Crystal Meth
The Gay Men's Health Crisis in Chelsea has received a $300,000 federal grantto educate at-risk populations about the dangers of crystal meth. The druglowers inhibitions and increases the sex drive, a dangerous combination whenit comes to preventing HIV infection. In fact, recent national studies bypublic health officials found that crystal meth users were twice as likelyto be infected with HIV as non-users.
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GLBT Leader Predicts Small Gains in 2008
As the presidential election year arrives, so does a heated race for theMissouri Governor's mansion. PROMO, the statewide gay, lesbian, bisexual andtransgender (GLBT) advocacy group has taken stock of 2007 and is preparingfor the coming year filled with electoral work and lobbying to cultivate amore progressive Jefferson City.
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
Saturday, December 29, 2007
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST December 29, 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.
=
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/12/28/Business/Retiree_health_plans_.shtml
Retiree health plans can be cut
The EEOC says its ruling will help preserve benefits, but the AARP andothers say the practice is discriminatory.
By CHRISTINA REXRODE, Times Staff Writer
Published December 28, 2007
There was a time, when health care costs weren't rising at twice the rate ofthe cost of living, that employers promised their workers lifetime medicalbenefits.
Now, faced with a wave of baby boomers on the brink of retirement, thosecompanies have a formal escape clause.
On Wednesday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled thatemployers don't have to offer health benefits to retired workers once theyturn 65 and are eligible for Medicare. Many companies already requireworkers who retire before 65 to register for Medicare when they're oldenough, but the EEOC ruling gives legal merit to the practice, which hasbeen challenged in court.
The government's move earned praise from some employer and labororganizations, but swift condemnation from the AARP.
The retiree group says the practice is just legalized age discrimination andlets employers off the hook for health care commitments they've made.
more . . . . .
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Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/12/29/ohio_campus_recalls_impact_of_poll_lines/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Ohio campus recalls impact of poll lines
By Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Associated Press Writer
December 29, 2007
GAMBIER, Ohio --Kenyon College student Ann Shikany couldn't wait to vote forthe first time. When she finally got the chance, she waited. And waited.
Shikany stood, sat, ate and napped in line for more than 10 hours in 2004 inthis college town, home to the longest voting lines in the country. Shefinally cast her vote for Democrat John Kerry over President Bush about 1a.m.
"We all agreed that everyone should stay," Shikany recalled recently. "Thatwas very important and kind of inspiring."
Instead of turning her off, the experience galvanized her and others atKenyon College, a private liberal arts school of 1,600 students. Shikany,21, is now a senior who has voted in off-year elections since and is lookingforward to voting again in the 2008 presidential election.
There are no outward reminders of the voting marathon at the quiet,tree-lined campus that sits on a hill surrounded by farmland in centralOhio. Students active in politics say that day's legacy is more interest invoting rights.
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Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/12/29/romney_officials_approved_clinic_loan/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Today%27s+paper+A+to+Z
Romney officials approved clinic loan: Worcester facility to provideabortions
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff
December 29, 2007
Former governor Mitt Romney's economic development agency granted initialapproval to a tax-exempt bond last year for a Planned Parenthood clinic inWorcester that will provide abortions, just two months before he left officeand began highlighting his antiabortion position as a presidentialcandidate.
Asked about the $5 million financial deal yesterday, the Romney campaignsaid the former governor was not aware it was under consideration whenPlanned Parenthood won preliminary approval in November 2006.
Romney repeatedly used the power of his office while governor to advancesocially conservative positions, including restricting stem cell research,pushing abstinence-only sex education in schools, and vetoing a bill toincrease access to emergency contraception in hospitals.
In the case of the abortion clinic funding deal, the Republican candidate'sspokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said Romney would have attempted to block it - ifhe had known about it.
"Mitt Romney is prolife," Fehrnstrom said. "He did not know about this loan.It was made by an agency that does not report to the governor. If it did, hewould have told them not to do it."
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Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/12/29/as_huckabee_gains_steam_establishment_sees_a_threat/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Today%27s+paper+A+to+Z
As Huckabee gains steam, establishment sees a threat: Upstart candidatebreaking GOP mold
By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff
December 29, 2007
WEST DES MOINES - The Republican establishment is galvanizing againstupstart GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, worried that the formerArkansas governor is unreliably conservative and unprepared for thechallenges of a general election campaign or the Oval office.
On the campaign trail here, Huckabee is winning over voters with a folksy,self-deprecating message rooted in the conservative tenets of faith andfamily. Recent polls show him overtaking chief rival Mitt Romney despitebeing vastly underfunded in the most expensive presidential campaign inhistory.
Huckabee's surge in recent weeks appears to have stunned and maddened theparty's conservative hierarchy. While the GOP establishment hasn't lined upbehind any other single candidate, it has steadily raised the volume of itsobjections to Huckabee as his plausibility as a candidate has grown.
The Club for Growth, an influential advocacy group favoring lower taxes andreduced government spending, has attacked Huckabee for what it calls hishigh-taxing ways when he was governor, and is running a TV ad campaignagainst Huckabee in Iowa, making Huckabee the only GOP candidate to be hitin the state with a negative ad from fellow Republicans.
Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review, the standard-bearing conservativemagazine, warned in a recent anti-endorsement of Huckabee that the"unvetted" governor was "manifestly unprepared to be president of the UnitedStates and that his nomination would be "an act of suicide" for the party.
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Boston.co
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/12/29/as_huckabee_gains_steam_establishment_sees_a_threat/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Today%27s+paper+A+to+Z
As Huckabee gains steam, establishment sees a threat
Upstart candidate breaking GOP mold
By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff
December 29, 2007
WEST DES MOINES - The Republican establishment is galvanizing againstupstart GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, worried that the formerArkansas governor is unreliably conservative and unprepared for thechallenges of a general election campaign or the Oval office.
On the campaign trail here, Huckabee is winning over voters with a folksy,self-deprecating message rooted in the conservative tenets of faith andfamily. Recent polls show him overtaking chief rival Mitt Romney despitebeing vastly underfunded in the most expensive presidential campaign inhistory.
Huckabee's surge in recent weeks appears to have stunned and maddened theparty's conservative hierarchy. While the GOP establishment hasn't lined upbehind any other single candidate, it has steadily raised the volume of itsobjections to Huckabee as his plausibility as a candidate has grown.
The Club for Growth, an influential advocacy group favoring lower taxes andreduced government spending, has attacked Huckabee for what it calls hishigh-taxing ways when he was governor, and is running a TV ad campaignagainst Huckabee in Iowa, making Huckabee the only GOP candidate to be hitin the state with a negative ad from fellow Republicans.
Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review, the standard-bearing conservativemagazine, warned in a recent anti-endorsement of Huckabee that the"unvetted" governor was "manifestly unprepared to be president of the UnitedStates and that his nomination would be "an act of suicide" for the party.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/29/washington/29bush.html?hp
In Surprise Step, Bush Is Vetoing a Military Bill
By STEVEN LEE MYERS and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
December 29, 2007
CRAWFORD, Tex. - For months President Bush harangued Democrats in Congressfor not moving quickly enough to support the troops and for bogging downmilitary bills with unrelated issues.
And then on Friday, with no warning, a vacationing Mr. Bush announced thathe was vetoing a sweeping military policy bill because of an obscureprovision that could expose Iraq's new government to billions of dollars inlegal claims dating to Saddam Hussein's rule.
The decision left the Bush administration scrambling to promise that itwould work with Congress to quickly restore dozens of new military andveterans programs once Congress returns to work in January.
Those included an added pay raise for service members, which would havetaken effect on Tuesday, and improvements in veterans' health benefits,which few elected officials on either side want to be seen opposing.
Mr. Bush's veto surprised and infuriated Democratic lawmakers and even someRepublicans, who complained that the White House had failed to raise itsconcerns earlier.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/29/us/politics/29check.html
Remarks on Pakistan Are Tailing Huckabee
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
December 29, 2007
In discussing the volatile situation in Pakistan, Mike Huckabee has madeseveral erroneous or misleading statements at a time when he has been underincreasing scrutiny from fellow presidential candidates for a lack offluency in foreign policy issues.
Explaining statements he made suggesting that the instability in Pakistanshould remind Americans to tighten security on the southern border of theUnited States, Mr. Huckabee said Friday that "we have more Pakistaniillegals coming across our border than all other nationalities, except thoseimmediately south of the border."
Asked to justify the statement, he later cited a March 2006 article in TheDenver Post reporting that from 2002 to 2005, Pakistanis were the mostnumerous non-Latin Americans caught entering the United States illegally.According to The Post, 660 Pakistanis were detained in that period.
A recent report from the Department of Homeland Security, however, concludedthat, over all, illegal immigrants from the Philippines, India, Korea, Chinaand Vietnam were all far more numerous than those from Pakistan.
In a separate interview on Friday on MSNBC, Mr. Huckabee, a Republican, saidthat the Pakistani government "does not have enough control of those easternborders near Afghanistan to be able go after the terrorists." Those bordersare on the western side of Pakistan, not the eastern side.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/24/AR2007122401193_pf.html
The Most Popular Opinions of the Year
Saturday, December 29, 2007; 12:00 AM
The Opinions section of washingtonpost.com is not immune to that afflictionso common in journalism this time of year: toptenitis. What follows is alist of the 10 most popular stories of the year, ranked by number of pageviews. Click on the links to see what all the fuss was about.
10. How the GOP Could Win by Richard Cohen, published June 26.
Was this popular because so many Republicans read it with hope or because somany Democrats read it with dread? Probably both. Cohen tries to show howdismal approval ratings and an unpopular war don't necessarily spell doom onElection Day.
9. The Gonzales Clown Show by Dan Froomkin, published April 20.
The writer of washingtonpost.com's "White House Watch" earned multiple spotson the list. In this column, Froomkin writes about how the then-attorneygeneral accepted a blow to his reputation in order to deflect attention fromthe White House.
8. Why Do They Hate Us? by Mohsin Hamid, published July 22.
A Muslim novelist who split his childhood between Pakistan and Californiaseeks to answer the question.
7. Fitzgerald Again Points to Cheney by Dan Froomkin, published May 29.
This is the most popular of the several columns Froomkin wrote about thelegal tribulations of vice presidential adviser I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
6. I Lost My Son to a War I Oppose. We Were Both Doing Our Duty. by AndrewBacevich, published May 27.
A father tries to make sense of his nation's tragedy and his family's.
5. Victory Is Not an Option by William E. Odom, published Feb. 11.
A former head of Army intelligence argues that Congress should wake up tothe failure in Iraq and the futility of trying to democratize that country.
4. Bush: 'I Am Relevant' by Dan Froomkin, published Oct. 17.
The president said it, but Froomkin has his doubts.
3. Pratfall in Damascus, editorial, published April 5.
The Post's editorial board criticizes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip toSyria and her statements about negotiating peace with Israel.
2. Why Bush Will Be a Winner by William Kristol, published July 15.
A rousing (and controversial) defense of the president's legacy. Therebuttal, Why Bush is a Loser by David Corn, was also high on themost-popular list. But the top spot goes to:
1. Retreat Isn't an Option by Liz Cheney, published Jan. 23.
On the day of the State of the Union address, the vice president's daughter,a former deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs,argues in favor of continuing the Iraq war.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122802299.html
The Right Way to Engage Iran
By Michael McFaul and Abbas Milani
Saturday, December 29, 2007; A19
As the year draws to a close, it's important to note that the U.S. debate onIran is stalled, trapped between "regime changers" vs. "arms controllers,""hawks" vs. "doves," and "idealists" vs. "realists." The NationalIntelligence Estimate released this month offers an opportunity to escapethis straitjacketed debate by embracing a new strategy that would pursueboth the short-term goal of arms control and the long-term goal of democracyin Iran.
The NIE's "key judgment" that Iran suspended its nuclear weapons program hasthrust the arms controllers onto center stage. Because the nuclear threat isno longer immediate, the arms controllers insist that the time is ripe forthe United States to engage in direct diplomacy with Tehran as a way tochange the regime's behavior, but not the regime itself -- specifically, topersuade the mullahs to suspend their nuclear enrichment program.
Those who profess to back regime change claim that the NIE changes nothingand that the United States should continue to use coercive power,potentially including military strikes, to counter Tehran.
Both sides have part of the strategy right, but on its own neither offers along-term vision for dealing with Iran.
It is folly to assume that advocates of military strikes are in the samecamp as those who advocate regime change. There is no better way to prolongthe life of the autocratic regime in Tehran, to strengthen increasinglyweakened radicals such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, thanbombing Iran. Thankfully, the NIE has made military strikes less likely.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122802445.html
The Pakistan Test
Some presidential candidates show they can respond quickly to a foreignpolicy crisis. Some flunk or foul.
Saturday, December 29, 2007; A18
THE ASSASSINATION of Benazir Bhutto presented U.S. presidential candidateswith a test: Could they respond cogently and clearly to a sudden foreignpolicy crisis? Within hours some revealing results were in. One candidate,Democrat John Edwards, passed with flying colors. Another, Republican MikeHuckabee, flunked abysmally. Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican JohnMcCain were serious and substantive; Republicans Mitt Romney and RudyGiuliani were thin. And Barack Obama -- the Democratic candidate who claimsto represent a new, more elevated brand of politics -- committed an uglyfoul.
Let's start with Mr. Edwards, who managed not only to get PakistaniPresident Pervez Musharraf on the phone Thursday but also to deliver astrong message. The candidate said he had encouraged Mr. Musharraf "tocontinue on the path to democratization [and] to allow internationalinvestigators to come in and determine what happened, what the facts were."Those are words the Pakistani president needs to hear from as many Americansas possible. He has yet to confirm that the Jan. 8 parliamentary electionswill go forward and risks a destabilizing backlash against his owngovernment unless he delivers a full and credible account of the authors andcircumstances of Ms. Bhutto's killing.
Ms. Clinton and Mr. McCain also endorsed Pakistan's continueddemocratization. Each cited an acquaintance with Ms. Bhutto or Mr. Musharrafand opportunistically trumpeted their foreign policy experience -- but bothalso offered some cogent analysis. Ms. Clinton rightly cited "the failure ofthe Musharraf regime either to deal with terrorism or to build democracy,"adding that "it's time that the United States sided with civil society inPakistan."
At the other extreme was Mr. Huckabee, whose first statement seemed merelyuninformed: He appeared not to know that Mr. Musharraf had ended "martiallaw" two weeks ago. That was better than the candidate's next effort, whenhe said an appropriate U.S. response would include "very clear monitoring ofour borders . . . to make sure if there's any unusual activity of Pakistaniscoming into our country." The cynicism of this attempt to connect Pakistan'scrisis with anti-immigrant sentiment was compounded by its astonishingsenselessness.
By comparison, the Giuliani and Romney statements were anodyne -- theydeployed slogans about fighting terrorism or "jihadism" while avoidingserious comment about Pakistan. Mr. Obama similarly began by offering blandcondolences to Pakistanis and noting that "I've been saying for some timethat we've got a very big problem there."
Then Mr. Obama committed his foul -- a far-fetched attempt to connect thekilling of Ms. Bhutto with Ms. Clinton's vote on the war in Iraq. After thecandidate made the debatable assertion that the Iraq invasion strengthenedal-Qaeda in Pakistan, his spokesman, David Axelrod, said Ms. Clinton "was astrong supporter of the war in Iraq, which we would submit was one of thereasons why we were diverted from Afghanistan, Pakistan and al-Qaeda, whomay have been players in the event today."
When questioned later about his spokesman's remarks, Mr. Obama stifflydefended them -- while still failing to offer any substantive response tothe ongoing crisis. Is this Mr. Obama's way of rejecting "the sameWashington game" he lambasted earlier in the day? If so, his game doesn'tlook very new, or attractive.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122802571.html
A Tighter Ship at Justice
Michael Mukasey limits political contacts.
Saturday, December 29, 2007; A18
ATTORNEY GENERAL Michael B. Mukasey should be commended for making good onhis promise to reverse a policy that undermined the integrity of the JusticeDepartment.
During the tenure of John D. Ashcroft, President Bush's first attorneygeneral, dozens of Justice Department lawyers were authorized to speak withWhite House personnel about pending civil or criminal investigations. Duringthe tenure of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, hundreds of White Houseand Justice Department employees were given such clearance. These extensivecontacts raised concerns about too much White House intrusion in what shouldlargely be an apolitical Justice Department.
This month, Mr. Mukasey dramatically pared back the number of officialsauthorized to conduct such conversations. Under the new policy, only the topfour Justice officials are cleared -- and to speak only with the top twolawyers at the White House. For practical reasons, these four officials --the attorney general, deputy attorney general, associate attorney generaland solicitor general -- may authorize a subordinate to speak with the WhiteHouse about a particular case, but Mr. Mukasey's Dec. 19 memorandum makesclear that these delegations should be "limited to the fewest number ofpeople practicable."
The memo allows Justice Department employees below the top four slots tocommunicate directly with White House personnel on such non-law-enforcementmatters as budgeting and legislation. The memo also carves out an exceptionfor national security matters to ensure "frequent and expeditiouscommunications" about counterterrorism and counterespionage issues, althoughthese contacts must be brought to the attention of the attorney general ordeputy attorney general.
Mr. Mukasey explains that the limitations are intended to ensure that thereis "public confidence that the laws of the United States are administeredand enforced in an impartial manner." That is the right goal.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122802493.html?hpid=artslot
Muslim Women Who Become Homeless Have Limited Options
By Jackie Spinner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 29, 2007; B01
They sleep in mosques. Or on the streets. Or in Christian-oriented sheltersthat might hold prayer meetings or services at odds with their own religiousbeliefs. For Muslim women without a place to live, particularly those whohave been battered or are immigrants, being homeless can test their faith atthe time they need it most.
When Muslim women are sent to shelters that serve the general population,they are often exposed to lifestyles that challenge their faith, such asdrinking, abusing drugs, eating pork and undressing or bathing in front ofothers, says Imam Faizul Khan of the Islamic Society of Washington in SilverSpring. They return from such shelters "with sad stories," he says.
The Virginia Muslim Political Action Committee estimates that severalhundred Muslim women are homeless in the Washington region, based on U.S.Census Bureau data and local surveys. That is a small fraction of thehomeless population and of the estimated 250,000 Muslims in the region, butlocal Islamic leaders say the problem has grown in recent years. Kahn saidhomelessness in the Muslim community was almost unheard of several yearsago.
Some Islamic leaders have begun to raise money to establish more sheltersthat cater to the Islamic community. There are now just two serving theWashington-Baltimore area, according to local mosque leaders. The leaderssaid they were unaware of any in Northern Virginia.
A four-bedroom, one-bath shelter in downtown Baltimore, the al-Mumtahinahhome, holds 12 women. When the brick rowhouse is full, shelter directorNadia Auxila McIntosh squeezes women into a sitting room or dining room. TheIslamic Center of Maryland runs another shelter in Gaithersburg, with roomfor six to eight.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/27/AR2007122701468.html?hpid=sec-religion?hpid=sec-religion
`Gospel of Wealth' Facing Scrutiny
By ERIC GORSKI
The Associated Press
Thursday, December 27, 2007; 2:56 PM
-- The message flickered into Cindy Fleenor's living room each night: Befaithful in how you live and how you give, the television preachers said,and God will shower you with material riches.
And so the 53-year-old accountant from the Tampa, Fla., area pledged $500 ayear to Joyce Meyer, the evangelist whose frank talk about recovering fromchildhood sexual abuse was so inspirational. She wrote checks to flamboyantfaith healer Benny Hinn and a local preacher-made-good, Paula White.
Only the blessings didn't come. Fleenor ended up borrowing money fromfriends and payday loan companies just to buy groceries. At first shebelieved the explanation given on television: Her faith wasn't strongenough.
"I wanted to believe God wanted to do something great with me like he wasdoing with them," she said. "I'm angry and bitter about it. Right now, Idon't watch anyone on TV hardly."
All three of the groups Fleenor supported are among six major Christiantelevision ministries under scrutiny by a senator who is asking questionsabout the evangelists' lavish spending and possible abuses of theirtax-exempt status.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1207/7588.html
Edwards reaches new heights in Iowa
By: David Paul Kuhn
December 28, 2007 02:17 PM EST
DES MOINES, Iowa - John Edwards appears to have risen to a new high point inIowa, marking an upward trend over the past two weeks that places him in astatistical tie with Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary RodhamClinton of New York.
A new Strategic Vision poll released Friday finds that the former NorthCarolina senator has the support of 28 percent of likely Democraticcacucus-goers, his best standing in Iowa over the past six months. Edwardsnow trails Clinton by only one point and Obama by two points, well withinthe poll's margin of error of 4.5 percent.
Today's survey confirms a string of polls in the past two weeks - another byStrategic Vision as well as recent polls by CNN and InsiderAdvantage. Alldemonstrate a steady ascension by Edwards, while Clinton and Obama appear tohave stabilized.
The Democratic race in Iowa, more than any time this year, is now absent aclear front-runner. With less than a week until the Iowa caucuses, thetriumvirate of Democratic leaders appears equally positioned to win thefirst contest of the 2008 presidential primary race.
But Edwards also comes into the Jan. 3 caucuses with particular advantages,some of which have been overlooked by the national media focus on anirresistible and historic Obama/Clinton duel. Edwards' campaign boasts themost deeply rooted rural operation, allowing it to possibly win smallprecincts across the state that could prove crucial in the final tally.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122807T.shtml
Australian Gitmo Convict to Be Released
The Associated Press
Friday 28 December 2007
Adelaide, Australia - An Australian who became the first personconvicted at a U.S. war crimes trial since World War II leaves prison onSaturday, apologetic for "what he's supposed to have done and what peoplebelieve he's done," his father said.
David Hicks, who was captured fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistanin December 2001, pleaded guilty in March to providing material support toal-Qaida after more than five years at at Guantanamo prison and returned toAustralia to serve out his sentence.
He is due to be released in his home town of Adelaide but will facestrict controls on his movement because he was judged a security risk.
"He's looking forward to finally stepping out into the open," saidHicks' father, Terry, adding his son wants to go to find a job to funduniversity courses in environmental studies. "All he wants is to get out andtry and get some sort of normality."
The 32-year-old former kangaroo skinner's long detention at Guantanamowithout trial strained ties between Washington and one of its closest alliesin the fight against terrorism.
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Pew Research center
http://pewresearch.org/
Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
--
December 28, 2007Pakistan
View from Pakistan: Before Bhutto's Assassination, Public Opinion Was
Increasingly Opposed to Terrorism
What the former prime minister's death means for the country's stability ishighly uncertain, but it is clear that Pakistanis, while supportive ofdemocratic elections and disapproving of militant extremism, remain highlyskeptical of the U.S. Read moreSeasonal States
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New Year, New Laws
As partygoers count down the seconds toward New Year's Day, not everyonewill be celebrating. At least 31 states will start to enforce new laws, andsome of them can seem pretty tough, ranging from where you can smoke inIllinois to how much it costs to enter a strip club in Texas. Read more
--
Teen Content Creators
Some 93% of teens use the internet, and more of them than ever are treatingit as a venue for social interaction -- a place where they can sharecreations, tell stories, and interact with others. Read moreReligion inAmerica
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The Death Penalty in America
Religious communities have been deeply involved on both sides of the capitalpunishment issue. As the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments in a asechallenging use of lethal injection, a Pew Forum special report examines thehistory of the death penalty, arguments before the court and public opinion.Read more
--
Science in America: Religious Belief and Public Attitudes
The combination of widespread religious commitment and leadership in scienceand technology greatly enlarges the potential for conflict between faith andscience in the U.S. Read moreThe Daily Number
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9%: Pakistanis Say Suicide Bombings Justified
A few months before the assassination of former prime minister BenazirBhutto, only 9% of Pakistanis said that suicide attacks and other forms ofviolence against civilians are often or sometimes justified, a sharp declinefrom the 41% who expressed this view in 2004. Check back every weekday foranother number in the news. Read more
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December 28, 2007
Contact: Joanne Landy (212) 666-4001, cell (646) 207-5203
Anti-War Activists and Intellectuals Send Open Letter to Iranian Officials:
"RELEASE IRANIAN STUDENTS FROM PRISON NOW!"
NEW YORK, N.Y., December 28, 2007 The New York-based Campaign for Peace andDemocracy sent an open letter today to Iranian officials entitled "ReleaseIranian Students from Prison Now!" The text of the letter is below. It wassigned by 240 individuals, including Noam Chomsky, Ariel Dorfman, DanielEllsberg, Barbara Garson, Adam Hochschild, Doug Ireland, Kathy Kelly, JesseLemisch, Katha Pollitt, Stephen Shalom, Meredith Tax and Howard Zinn, aswell as a number of Iranians and Iranian-Americans. The letter was alsosigned by several members of the Czech group "No Bases Initiative"(Iniciativa Ne základnám), which is resisting the installation of a U.S.radar base in the Czech Republic.
The full list of signatories is available on request, or at thewebsite of the Campaign for Peace and Democracy, www.cpdweb.org
--
TEXT OF THE OPEN LETTER
December 27, 2007
OPEN LETTER TO:
· Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President
· Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie, Minister of Intelligence
· Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, Head of the Judiciary
· Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, Leader of the Islamic Republic
· Gholamali Haddad Adel, Speaker of Parliament
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
FROM: Campaign for Peace and Democracy, New York City
We are writing to strongly condemn the arrests in early December ofstudents in Tehran involved in courageous protests against repression; a keytarget of their protest was the arrest in May of three student leaders:Ehsan Mansouri, Ahmad Ghassaban and Majid Tavakkoli.
We call for the immediate release of the imprisoned students, aswell as all others in Iran who have been unjustly imprisoned. A partial listof the students we understand to be still in prison is: Nader Ahsani,Roozbehan Amiri, Said Aqam, Anousheh Azadfar, Keyvan Amiri Eliyasi, Rosa'Essa'ie, Mehdi Geraylou, Mohsen Ghamin, Ahmad Ghassaban, Mehdi Grabloo,Yaser Pir Hayati, Younes Mir Hosseini, Ilnaz Jamshidi, Ali Kalani, AliKhalili, Ehsan Mansouri, Amir Mehrzad, Hamed Mohamadi, Milad Moini, ArashPakzad, Rouzbeh Safshekan, Ali Salem, Nasim Soltan-Beigi, Majid Tavakkoli,Behuz Karimi Zadeh, and Behrang Zandi.
We wish to state that we are unalterably opposed to a military attackon Iran by the United States or any other nation. An attack would bedevastating to the people of Iran. We reject too the hypocrisy of the U.S.government when it protests repression in Iran while turning a blind eye toor actively abetting comparable or worse repression in countries with whichit is allied like Saudi Arabia, as well as undermining civil liberties athome and torturing prisoners. But that in no way deters us from protestingin the strongest terms the denial of basic democratic rights to the peopleof Iran. We protest because we believe in these rights, and also because wesee social justice activists in Iran and all countries as our natural alliesin building a peaceful, democratic world.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
THE CAMPAIGN FOR PEACE AND DEMOCRACY advocates a new, progressive andnon-militaristic U.S. foreign policy -- one that encourages democratization,justice and social change. Founded in 1982, the Campaign opposed the ColdWar by promoting "detente from below." It engaged Western peace activists inthe defense of the rights of democratic dissidents in the Soviet Union andEastern Europe, and enlisted East-bloc human rights activists againstanti-democratic U.S. policies in countries like Nicaragua and Chile.
Campaign for Peace and Democracy
Co-Directors: Joanne Landy, Thomas Harrison, Jennifer Scarlott
2790 Broadway, #12, New York, N.Y. 10025 (212)666-4001 Fax:
(212)866-5847
Email: cpd@igc.org Web: www.cpdweb.org
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
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St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/12/28/Business/Retiree_health_plans_.shtml
Retiree health plans can be cut
The EEOC says its ruling will help preserve benefits, but the AARP andothers say the practice is discriminatory.
By CHRISTINA REXRODE, Times Staff Writer
Published December 28, 2007
There was a time, when health care costs weren't rising at twice the rate ofthe cost of living, that employers promised their workers lifetime medicalbenefits.
Now, faced with a wave of baby boomers on the brink of retirement, thosecompanies have a formal escape clause.
On Wednesday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled thatemployers don't have to offer health benefits to retired workers once theyturn 65 and are eligible for Medicare. Many companies already requireworkers who retire before 65 to register for Medicare when they're oldenough, but the EEOC ruling gives legal merit to the practice, which hasbeen challenged in court.
The government's move earned praise from some employer and labororganizations, but swift condemnation from the AARP.
The retiree group says the practice is just legalized age discrimination andlets employers off the hook for health care commitments they've made.
more . . . . .
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Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/12/29/ohio_campus_recalls_impact_of_poll_lines/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news
Ohio campus recalls impact of poll lines
By Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Associated Press Writer
December 29, 2007
GAMBIER, Ohio --Kenyon College student Ann Shikany couldn't wait to vote forthe first time. When she finally got the chance, she waited. And waited.
Shikany stood, sat, ate and napped in line for more than 10 hours in 2004 inthis college town, home to the longest voting lines in the country. Shefinally cast her vote for Democrat John Kerry over President Bush about 1a.m.
"We all agreed that everyone should stay," Shikany recalled recently. "Thatwas very important and kind of inspiring."
Instead of turning her off, the experience galvanized her and others atKenyon College, a private liberal arts school of 1,600 students. Shikany,21, is now a senior who has voted in off-year elections since and is lookingforward to voting again in the 2008 presidential election.
There are no outward reminders of the voting marathon at the quiet,tree-lined campus that sits on a hill surrounded by farmland in centralOhio. Students active in politics say that day's legacy is more interest invoting rights.
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Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/12/29/romney_officials_approved_clinic_loan/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Today%27s+paper+A+to+Z
Romney officials approved clinic loan: Worcester facility to provideabortions
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff
December 29, 2007
Former governor Mitt Romney's economic development agency granted initialapproval to a tax-exempt bond last year for a Planned Parenthood clinic inWorcester that will provide abortions, just two months before he left officeand began highlighting his antiabortion position as a presidentialcandidate.
Asked about the $5 million financial deal yesterday, the Romney campaignsaid the former governor was not aware it was under consideration whenPlanned Parenthood won preliminary approval in November 2006.
Romney repeatedly used the power of his office while governor to advancesocially conservative positions, including restricting stem cell research,pushing abstinence-only sex education in schools, and vetoing a bill toincrease access to emergency contraception in hospitals.
In the case of the abortion clinic funding deal, the Republican candidate'sspokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said Romney would have attempted to block it - ifhe had known about it.
"Mitt Romney is prolife," Fehrnstrom said. "He did not know about this loan.It was made by an agency that does not report to the governor. If it did, hewould have told them not to do it."
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Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/12/29/as_huckabee_gains_steam_establishment_sees_a_threat/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Today%27s+paper+A+to+Z
As Huckabee gains steam, establishment sees a threat: Upstart candidatebreaking GOP mold
By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff
December 29, 2007
WEST DES MOINES - The Republican establishment is galvanizing againstupstart GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, worried that the formerArkansas governor is unreliably conservative and unprepared for thechallenges of a general election campaign or the Oval office.
On the campaign trail here, Huckabee is winning over voters with a folksy,self-deprecating message rooted in the conservative tenets of faith andfamily. Recent polls show him overtaking chief rival Mitt Romney despitebeing vastly underfunded in the most expensive presidential campaign inhistory.
Huckabee's surge in recent weeks appears to have stunned and maddened theparty's conservative hierarchy. While the GOP establishment hasn't lined upbehind any other single candidate, it has steadily raised the volume of itsobjections to Huckabee as his plausibility as a candidate has grown.
The Club for Growth, an influential advocacy group favoring lower taxes andreduced government spending, has attacked Huckabee for what it calls hishigh-taxing ways when he was governor, and is running a TV ad campaignagainst Huckabee in Iowa, making Huckabee the only GOP candidate to be hitin the state with a negative ad from fellow Republicans.
Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review, the standard-bearing conservativemagazine, warned in a recent anti-endorsement of Huckabee that the"unvetted" governor was "manifestly unprepared to be president of the UnitedStates and that his nomination would be "an act of suicide" for the party.
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Boston.co
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/12/29/as_huckabee_gains_steam_establishment_sees_a_threat/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Today%27s+paper+A+to+Z
As Huckabee gains steam, establishment sees a threat
Upstart candidate breaking GOP mold
By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff
December 29, 2007
WEST DES MOINES - The Republican establishment is galvanizing againstupstart GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, worried that the formerArkansas governor is unreliably conservative and unprepared for thechallenges of a general election campaign or the Oval office.
On the campaign trail here, Huckabee is winning over voters with a folksy,self-deprecating message rooted in the conservative tenets of faith andfamily. Recent polls show him overtaking chief rival Mitt Romney despitebeing vastly underfunded in the most expensive presidential campaign inhistory.
Huckabee's surge in recent weeks appears to have stunned and maddened theparty's conservative hierarchy. While the GOP establishment hasn't lined upbehind any other single candidate, it has steadily raised the volume of itsobjections to Huckabee as his plausibility as a candidate has grown.
The Club for Growth, an influential advocacy group favoring lower taxes andreduced government spending, has attacked Huckabee for what it calls hishigh-taxing ways when he was governor, and is running a TV ad campaignagainst Huckabee in Iowa, making Huckabee the only GOP candidate to be hitin the state with a negative ad from fellow Republicans.
Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review, the standard-bearing conservativemagazine, warned in a recent anti-endorsement of Huckabee that the"unvetted" governor was "manifestly unprepared to be president of the UnitedStates and that his nomination would be "an act of suicide" for the party.
more . . . . .
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/29/washington/29bush.html?hp
In Surprise Step, Bush Is Vetoing a Military Bill
By STEVEN LEE MYERS and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
December 29, 2007
CRAWFORD, Tex. - For months President Bush harangued Democrats in Congressfor not moving quickly enough to support the troops and for bogging downmilitary bills with unrelated issues.
And then on Friday, with no warning, a vacationing Mr. Bush announced thathe was vetoing a sweeping military policy bill because of an obscureprovision that could expose Iraq's new government to billions of dollars inlegal claims dating to Saddam Hussein's rule.
The decision left the Bush administration scrambling to promise that itwould work with Congress to quickly restore dozens of new military andveterans programs once Congress returns to work in January.
Those included an added pay raise for service members, which would havetaken effect on Tuesday, and improvements in veterans' health benefits,which few elected officials on either side want to be seen opposing.
Mr. Bush's veto surprised and infuriated Democratic lawmakers and even someRepublicans, who complained that the White House had failed to raise itsconcerns earlier.
more . . . . .
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/29/us/politics/29check.html
Remarks on Pakistan Are Tailing Huckabee
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
December 29, 2007
In discussing the volatile situation in Pakistan, Mike Huckabee has madeseveral erroneous or misleading statements at a time when he has been underincreasing scrutiny from fellow presidential candidates for a lack offluency in foreign policy issues.
Explaining statements he made suggesting that the instability in Pakistanshould remind Americans to tighten security on the southern border of theUnited States, Mr. Huckabee said Friday that "we have more Pakistaniillegals coming across our border than all other nationalities, except thoseimmediately south of the border."
Asked to justify the statement, he later cited a March 2006 article in TheDenver Post reporting that from 2002 to 2005, Pakistanis were the mostnumerous non-Latin Americans caught entering the United States illegally.According to The Post, 660 Pakistanis were detained in that period.
A recent report from the Department of Homeland Security, however, concludedthat, over all, illegal immigrants from the Philippines, India, Korea, Chinaand Vietnam were all far more numerous than those from Pakistan.
In a separate interview on Friday on MSNBC, Mr. Huckabee, a Republican, saidthat the Pakistani government "does not have enough control of those easternborders near Afghanistan to be able go after the terrorists." Those bordersare on the western side of Pakistan, not the eastern side.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/24/AR2007122401193_pf.html
The Most Popular Opinions of the Year
Saturday, December 29, 2007; 12:00 AM
The Opinions section of washingtonpost.com is not immune to that afflictionso common in journalism this time of year: toptenitis. What follows is alist of the 10 most popular stories of the year, ranked by number of pageviews. Click on the links to see what all the fuss was about.
10. How the GOP Could Win by Richard Cohen, published June 26.
Was this popular because so many Republicans read it with hope or because somany Democrats read it with dread? Probably both. Cohen tries to show howdismal approval ratings and an unpopular war don't necessarily spell doom onElection Day.
9. The Gonzales Clown Show by Dan Froomkin, published April 20.
The writer of washingtonpost.com's "White House Watch" earned multiple spotson the list. In this column, Froomkin writes about how the then-attorneygeneral accepted a blow to his reputation in order to deflect attention fromthe White House.
8. Why Do They Hate Us? by Mohsin Hamid, published July 22.
A Muslim novelist who split his childhood between Pakistan and Californiaseeks to answer the question.
7. Fitzgerald Again Points to Cheney by Dan Froomkin, published May 29.
This is the most popular of the several columns Froomkin wrote about thelegal tribulations of vice presidential adviser I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
6. I Lost My Son to a War I Oppose. We Were Both Doing Our Duty. by AndrewBacevich, published May 27.
A father tries to make sense of his nation's tragedy and his family's.
5. Victory Is Not an Option by William E. Odom, published Feb. 11.
A former head of Army intelligence argues that Congress should wake up tothe failure in Iraq and the futility of trying to democratize that country.
4. Bush: 'I Am Relevant' by Dan Froomkin, published Oct. 17.
The president said it, but Froomkin has his doubts.
3. Pratfall in Damascus, editorial, published April 5.
The Post's editorial board criticizes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip toSyria and her statements about negotiating peace with Israel.
2. Why Bush Will Be a Winner by William Kristol, published July 15.
A rousing (and controversial) defense of the president's legacy. Therebuttal, Why Bush is a Loser by David Corn, was also high on themost-popular list. But the top spot goes to:
1. Retreat Isn't an Option by Liz Cheney, published Jan. 23.
On the day of the State of the Union address, the vice president's daughter,a former deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs,argues in favor of continuing the Iraq war.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122802299.html
The Right Way to Engage Iran
By Michael McFaul and Abbas Milani
Saturday, December 29, 2007; A19
As the year draws to a close, it's important to note that the U.S. debate onIran is stalled, trapped between "regime changers" vs. "arms controllers,""hawks" vs. "doves," and "idealists" vs. "realists." The NationalIntelligence Estimate released this month offers an opportunity to escapethis straitjacketed debate by embracing a new strategy that would pursueboth the short-term goal of arms control and the long-term goal of democracyin Iran.
The NIE's "key judgment" that Iran suspended its nuclear weapons program hasthrust the arms controllers onto center stage. Because the nuclear threat isno longer immediate, the arms controllers insist that the time is ripe forthe United States to engage in direct diplomacy with Tehran as a way tochange the regime's behavior, but not the regime itself -- specifically, topersuade the mullahs to suspend their nuclear enrichment program.
Those who profess to back regime change claim that the NIE changes nothingand that the United States should continue to use coercive power,potentially including military strikes, to counter Tehran.
Both sides have part of the strategy right, but on its own neither offers along-term vision for dealing with Iran.
It is folly to assume that advocates of military strikes are in the samecamp as those who advocate regime change. There is no better way to prolongthe life of the autocratic regime in Tehran, to strengthen increasinglyweakened radicals such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, thanbombing Iran. Thankfully, the NIE has made military strikes less likely.
more . . . . .
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122802445.html
The Pakistan Test
Some presidential candidates show they can respond quickly to a foreignpolicy crisis. Some flunk or foul.
Saturday, December 29, 2007; A18
THE ASSASSINATION of Benazir Bhutto presented U.S. presidential candidateswith a test: Could they respond cogently and clearly to a sudden foreignpolicy crisis? Within hours some revealing results were in. One candidate,Democrat John Edwards, passed with flying colors. Another, Republican MikeHuckabee, flunked abysmally. Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican JohnMcCain were serious and substantive; Republicans Mitt Romney and RudyGiuliani were thin. And Barack Obama -- the Democratic candidate who claimsto represent a new, more elevated brand of politics -- committed an uglyfoul.
Let's start with Mr. Edwards, who managed not only to get PakistaniPresident Pervez Musharraf on the phone Thursday but also to deliver astrong message. The candidate said he had encouraged Mr. Musharraf "tocontinue on the path to democratization [and] to allow internationalinvestigators to come in and determine what happened, what the facts were."Those are words the Pakistani president needs to hear from as many Americansas possible. He has yet to confirm that the Jan. 8 parliamentary electionswill go forward and risks a destabilizing backlash against his owngovernment unless he delivers a full and credible account of the authors andcircumstances of Ms. Bhutto's killing.
Ms. Clinton and Mr. McCain also endorsed Pakistan's continueddemocratization. Each cited an acquaintance with Ms. Bhutto or Mr. Musharrafand opportunistically trumpeted their foreign policy experience -- but bothalso offered some cogent analysis. Ms. Clinton rightly cited "the failure ofthe Musharraf regime either to deal with terrorism or to build democracy,"adding that "it's time that the United States sided with civil society inPakistan."
At the other extreme was Mr. Huckabee, whose first statement seemed merelyuninformed: He appeared not to know that Mr. Musharraf had ended "martiallaw" two weeks ago. That was better than the candidate's next effort, whenhe said an appropriate U.S. response would include "very clear monitoring ofour borders . . . to make sure if there's any unusual activity of Pakistaniscoming into our country." The cynicism of this attempt to connect Pakistan'scrisis with anti-immigrant sentiment was compounded by its astonishingsenselessness.
By comparison, the Giuliani and Romney statements were anodyne -- theydeployed slogans about fighting terrorism or "jihadism" while avoidingserious comment about Pakistan. Mr. Obama similarly began by offering blandcondolences to Pakistanis and noting that "I've been saying for some timethat we've got a very big problem there."
Then Mr. Obama committed his foul -- a far-fetched attempt to connect thekilling of Ms. Bhutto with Ms. Clinton's vote on the war in Iraq. After thecandidate made the debatable assertion that the Iraq invasion strengthenedal-Qaeda in Pakistan, his spokesman, David Axelrod, said Ms. Clinton "was astrong supporter of the war in Iraq, which we would submit was one of thereasons why we were diverted from Afghanistan, Pakistan and al-Qaeda, whomay have been players in the event today."
When questioned later about his spokesman's remarks, Mr. Obama stifflydefended them -- while still failing to offer any substantive response tothe ongoing crisis. Is this Mr. Obama's way of rejecting "the sameWashington game" he lambasted earlier in the day? If so, his game doesn'tlook very new, or attractive.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122802571.html
A Tighter Ship at Justice
Michael Mukasey limits political contacts.
Saturday, December 29, 2007; A18
ATTORNEY GENERAL Michael B. Mukasey should be commended for making good onhis promise to reverse a policy that undermined the integrity of the JusticeDepartment.
During the tenure of John D. Ashcroft, President Bush's first attorneygeneral, dozens of Justice Department lawyers were authorized to speak withWhite House personnel about pending civil or criminal investigations. Duringthe tenure of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, hundreds of White Houseand Justice Department employees were given such clearance. These extensivecontacts raised concerns about too much White House intrusion in what shouldlargely be an apolitical Justice Department.
This month, Mr. Mukasey dramatically pared back the number of officialsauthorized to conduct such conversations. Under the new policy, only the topfour Justice officials are cleared -- and to speak only with the top twolawyers at the White House. For practical reasons, these four officials --the attorney general, deputy attorney general, associate attorney generaland solicitor general -- may authorize a subordinate to speak with the WhiteHouse about a particular case, but Mr. Mukasey's Dec. 19 memorandum makesclear that these delegations should be "limited to the fewest number ofpeople practicable."
The memo allows Justice Department employees below the top four slots tocommunicate directly with White House personnel on such non-law-enforcementmatters as budgeting and legislation. The memo also carves out an exceptionfor national security matters to ensure "frequent and expeditiouscommunications" about counterterrorism and counterespionage issues, althoughthese contacts must be brought to the attention of the attorney general ordeputy attorney general.
Mr. Mukasey explains that the limitations are intended to ensure that thereis "public confidence that the laws of the United States are administeredand enforced in an impartial manner." That is the right goal.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122802493.html?hpid=artslot
Muslim Women Who Become Homeless Have Limited Options
By Jackie Spinner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 29, 2007; B01
They sleep in mosques. Or on the streets. Or in Christian-oriented sheltersthat might hold prayer meetings or services at odds with their own religiousbeliefs. For Muslim women without a place to live, particularly those whohave been battered or are immigrants, being homeless can test their faith atthe time they need it most.
When Muslim women are sent to shelters that serve the general population,they are often exposed to lifestyles that challenge their faith, such asdrinking, abusing drugs, eating pork and undressing or bathing in front ofothers, says Imam Faizul Khan of the Islamic Society of Washington in SilverSpring. They return from such shelters "with sad stories," he says.
The Virginia Muslim Political Action Committee estimates that severalhundred Muslim women are homeless in the Washington region, based on U.S.Census Bureau data and local surveys. That is a small fraction of thehomeless population and of the estimated 250,000 Muslims in the region, butlocal Islamic leaders say the problem has grown in recent years. Kahn saidhomelessness in the Muslim community was almost unheard of several yearsago.
Some Islamic leaders have begun to raise money to establish more sheltersthat cater to the Islamic community. There are now just two serving theWashington-Baltimore area, according to local mosque leaders. The leaderssaid they were unaware of any in Northern Virginia.
A four-bedroom, one-bath shelter in downtown Baltimore, the al-Mumtahinahhome, holds 12 women. When the brick rowhouse is full, shelter directorNadia Auxila McIntosh squeezes women into a sitting room or dining room. TheIslamic Center of Maryland runs another shelter in Gaithersburg, with roomfor six to eight.
more . . . . .
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/27/AR2007122701468.html?hpid=sec-religion?hpid=sec-religion
`Gospel of Wealth' Facing Scrutiny
By ERIC GORSKI
The Associated Press
Thursday, December 27, 2007; 2:56 PM
-- The message flickered into Cindy Fleenor's living room each night: Befaithful in how you live and how you give, the television preachers said,and God will shower you with material riches.
And so the 53-year-old accountant from the Tampa, Fla., area pledged $500 ayear to Joyce Meyer, the evangelist whose frank talk about recovering fromchildhood sexual abuse was so inspirational. She wrote checks to flamboyantfaith healer Benny Hinn and a local preacher-made-good, Paula White.
Only the blessings didn't come. Fleenor ended up borrowing money fromfriends and payday loan companies just to buy groceries. At first shebelieved the explanation given on television: Her faith wasn't strongenough.
"I wanted to believe God wanted to do something great with me like he wasdoing with them," she said. "I'm angry and bitter about it. Right now, Idon't watch anyone on TV hardly."
All three of the groups Fleenor supported are among six major Christiantelevision ministries under scrutiny by a senator who is asking questionsabout the evangelists' lavish spending and possible abuses of theirtax-exempt status.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1207/7588.html
Edwards reaches new heights in Iowa
By: David Paul Kuhn
December 28, 2007 02:17 PM EST
DES MOINES, Iowa - John Edwards appears to have risen to a new high point inIowa, marking an upward trend over the past two weeks that places him in astatistical tie with Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary RodhamClinton of New York.
A new Strategic Vision poll released Friday finds that the former NorthCarolina senator has the support of 28 percent of likely Democraticcacucus-goers, his best standing in Iowa over the past six months. Edwardsnow trails Clinton by only one point and Obama by two points, well withinthe poll's margin of error of 4.5 percent.
Today's survey confirms a string of polls in the past two weeks - another byStrategic Vision as well as recent polls by CNN and InsiderAdvantage. Alldemonstrate a steady ascension by Edwards, while Clinton and Obama appear tohave stabilized.
The Democratic race in Iowa, more than any time this year, is now absent aclear front-runner. With less than a week until the Iowa caucuses, thetriumvirate of Democratic leaders appears equally positioned to win thefirst contest of the 2008 presidential primary race.
But Edwards also comes into the Jan. 3 caucuses with particular advantages,some of which have been overlooked by the national media focus on anirresistible and historic Obama/Clinton duel. Edwards' campaign boasts themost deeply rooted rural operation, allowing it to possibly win smallprecincts across the state that could prove crucial in the final tally.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122807T.shtml
Australian Gitmo Convict to Be Released
The Associated Press
Friday 28 December 2007
Adelaide, Australia - An Australian who became the first personconvicted at a U.S. war crimes trial since World War II leaves prison onSaturday, apologetic for "what he's supposed to have done and what peoplebelieve he's done," his father said.
David Hicks, who was captured fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistanin December 2001, pleaded guilty in March to providing material support toal-Qaida after more than five years at at Guantanamo prison and returned toAustralia to serve out his sentence.
He is due to be released in his home town of Adelaide but will facestrict controls on his movement because he was judged a security risk.
"He's looking forward to finally stepping out into the open," saidHicks' father, Terry, adding his son wants to go to find a job to funduniversity courses in environmental studies. "All he wants is to get out andtry and get some sort of normality."
The 32-year-old former kangaroo skinner's long detention at Guantanamowithout trial strained ties between Washington and one of its closest alliesin the fight against terrorism.
more . . . . .
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Pew Research center
http://pewresearch.org/
Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
--
December 28, 2007Pakistan
View from Pakistan: Before Bhutto's Assassination, Public Opinion Was
Increasingly Opposed to Terrorism
What the former prime minister's death means for the country's stability ishighly uncertain, but it is clear that Pakistanis, while supportive ofdemocratic elections and disapproving of militant extremism, remain highlyskeptical of the U.S. Read moreSeasonal States
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New Year, New Laws
As partygoers count down the seconds toward New Year's Day, not everyonewill be celebrating. At least 31 states will start to enforce new laws, andsome of them can seem pretty tough, ranging from where you can smoke inIllinois to how much it costs to enter a strip club in Texas. Read more
--
Teen Content Creators
Some 93% of teens use the internet, and more of them than ever are treatingit as a venue for social interaction -- a place where they can sharecreations, tell stories, and interact with others. Read moreReligion inAmerica
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The Death Penalty in America
Religious communities have been deeply involved on both sides of the capitalpunishment issue. As the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments in a asechallenging use of lethal injection, a Pew Forum special report examines thehistory of the death penalty, arguments before the court and public opinion.Read more
--
Science in America: Religious Belief and Public Attitudes
The combination of widespread religious commitment and leadership in scienceand technology greatly enlarges the potential for conflict between faith andscience in the U.S. Read moreThe Daily Number
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9%: Pakistanis Say Suicide Bombings Justified
A few months before the assassination of former prime minister BenazirBhutto, only 9% of Pakistanis said that suicide attacks and other forms ofviolence against civilians are often or sometimes justified, a sharp declinefrom the 41% who expressed this view in 2004. Check back every weekday foranother number in the news. Read more
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December 28, 2007
Contact: Joanne Landy (212) 666-4001, cell (646) 207-5203
Anti-War Activists and Intellectuals Send Open Letter to Iranian Officials:
"RELEASE IRANIAN STUDENTS FROM PRISON NOW!"
NEW YORK, N.Y., December 28, 2007 The New York-based Campaign for Peace andDemocracy sent an open letter today to Iranian officials entitled "ReleaseIranian Students from Prison Now!" The text of the letter is below. It wassigned by 240 individuals, including Noam Chomsky, Ariel Dorfman, DanielEllsberg, Barbara Garson, Adam Hochschild, Doug Ireland, Kathy Kelly, JesseLemisch, Katha Pollitt, Stephen Shalom, Meredith Tax and Howard Zinn, aswell as a number of Iranians and Iranian-Americans. The letter was alsosigned by several members of the Czech group "No Bases Initiative"(Iniciativa Ne základnám), which is resisting the installation of a U.S.radar base in the Czech Republic.
The full list of signatories is available on request, or at thewebsite of the Campaign for Peace and Democracy, www.cpdweb.org
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TEXT OF THE OPEN LETTER
December 27, 2007
OPEN LETTER TO:
· Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President
· Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie, Minister of Intelligence
· Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, Head of the Judiciary
· Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, Leader of the Islamic Republic
· Gholamali Haddad Adel, Speaker of Parliament
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
FROM: Campaign for Peace and Democracy, New York City
We are writing to strongly condemn the arrests in early December ofstudents in Tehran involved in courageous protests against repression; a keytarget of their protest was the arrest in May of three student leaders:Ehsan Mansouri, Ahmad Ghassaban and Majid Tavakkoli.
We call for the immediate release of the imprisoned students, aswell as all others in Iran who have been unjustly imprisoned. A partial listof the students we understand to be still in prison is: Nader Ahsani,Roozbehan Amiri, Said Aqam, Anousheh Azadfar, Keyvan Amiri Eliyasi, Rosa'Essa'ie, Mehdi Geraylou, Mohsen Ghamin, Ahmad Ghassaban, Mehdi Grabloo,Yaser Pir Hayati, Younes Mir Hosseini, Ilnaz Jamshidi, Ali Kalani, AliKhalili, Ehsan Mansouri, Amir Mehrzad, Hamed Mohamadi, Milad Moini, ArashPakzad, Rouzbeh Safshekan, Ali Salem, Nasim Soltan-Beigi, Majid Tavakkoli,Behuz Karimi Zadeh, and Behrang Zandi.
We wish to state that we are unalterably opposed to a military attackon Iran by the United States or any other nation. An attack would bedevastating to the people of Iran. We reject too the hypocrisy of the U.S.government when it protests repression in Iran while turning a blind eye toor actively abetting comparable or worse repression in countries with whichit is allied like Saudi Arabia, as well as undermining civil liberties athome and torturing prisoners. But that in no way deters us from protestingin the strongest terms the denial of basic democratic rights to the peopleof Iran. We protest because we believe in these rights, and also because wesee social justice activists in Iran and all countries as our natural alliesin building a peaceful, democratic world.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
THE CAMPAIGN FOR PEACE AND DEMOCRACY advocates a new, progressive andnon-militaristic U.S. foreign policy -- one that encourages democratization,justice and social change. Founded in 1982, the Campaign opposed the ColdWar by promoting "detente from below." It engaged Western peace activists inthe defense of the rights of democratic dissidents in the Soviet Union andEastern Europe, and enlisted East-bloc human rights activists againstanti-democratic U.S. policies in countries like Nicaragua and Chile.
Campaign for Peace and Democracy
Co-Directors: Joanne Landy, Thomas Harrison, Jennifer Scarlott
2790 Broadway, #12, New York, N.Y. 10025 (212)666-4001 Fax:
(212)866-5847
Email: cpd@igc.org Web: www.cpdweb.org
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
FLORIDA DIGEST December 29, 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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1000 Men and Boys March Silently
Against Crime and Violence
Saturday, December 29, 2007
We must stop the Violence
(Miami) On December 29, 2007, the Miami-Dade Branch of the NationalAssociation for the Advancement of Colored People, (NAACP) under theleadership of Bishop Victor T. Curry, President, People United to Lead theStruggle for Equality, (P.U.L.S.E) along with community leaders,organizations and citizens will lead 1000 Men and Boys in a silent marchagainst the increasing violence and crime that continues to plague SouthFlorida.
On that date, at 9:00am men and boys will gather at Miami Carol City Park,3201 NW 185th street and march silently through Miami Gardens in reverenceand solidarity. They will return to the Park and will be joined by concernedwomen for a rally and demonstration.
This Event seeks to put public spotlight on the violence that is stilltaking place in Miami-Dade County. "We must stop the shootings thatcontinue to occur, says Bishop Curry, the visionary for the Event. "We muststop the crimes, particularly those against each other. As men we must takethe lead and teach our brothers that there are alternatives to solvingdifferences."
"We are asking fraternities, men's groups and boy's organizations to march,"says Bishop Victor T. Curry. "Men, lets take the action that is needed forour families."
Voter Registration, as well as Health, Employment and Restoration ofRights information will be available. This event is free and open to thecommunity. For group participation, call Kevin "Dr. K" Moyd at305.769.1100. For more information call 305.685.3700.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is aninterracial membership organization, founded in 1909, that is devoted tocivil rights and racial justice. The NAACP has been instrumental inimproving the legal, educational, and economic lives of people of color.Throughout its existence, it has worked to fulfill its goals to secure fullsuffrage and other civil rights, with the ultimate goal to end segregationand racial violence.
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Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-brmail767sbdec29,0,4049831,print.story
Same-sex marriage no threat to rest of world
December 29, 2007
Re the Dec. 3 commentary, "Marriage a foundation that should not bediluted": Steven Vest makes several points as to why gay marriage shouldn'tbe legal. First, he writes that "marriage as a cultural and legalinstitution . has remained unchanged for thousands of years." But ratherthan maintaining status quo based on tradition and religious bias againsthomosexuality, the legal and secular definition of marriage should bereformed to consider modern cultural trends, the biology of sexuality andscientific research on marital and family relationships.
The writer also implies that legalizing same-sex marriage would lead to"social chaos." Where's the evidence for such chaos in Massachusetts or anyforeign country where gay marriage is legal? The only chaos created is theirrational fear perpetuated by religious fundamentalists, socialconservatives and right-wing pundits, along with the politicians who panderto them.
Mr. Vest correctly states that we are faced with bigger problems such as"nuclear proliferation, global warming, poverty, terrorism." So why shouldanyone worry when a monogamous gay couple living in their community arelegally married?
When making the ludicrous and insulting assumption that gays marrying leadsto incestuous or human-animal marriages, it becomes clear that the writer is"personally not interested" in supporting gay rights.
Robert M. Perovich
Parkland
=
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/12/29/State/Kid_deaths_from_abuse.shtml
Kid deaths from abuse, neglect soar in Florida
A reporting change is meant to help save lives.
By MELANIE AVE, Times Staff Writer
Published December 29, 2007
Ann Unger set her 9-month-old daughter on the floor of the family's PlantCity home and headed to the bathroom. Angelica, a fast crawler, usuallyfollowed close behind. Not this day.
Five minutes passed. Or was it six?
When Unger, 22, returned to the room, Angelica wasn't there. A franticsearch ended in the backyard pool, where Unger found the child floating facedown.
The mother's screams pierced the neighborhood as efforts to save the babyfailed. Angelica Unger died on Jan. 24, 2006, three months before her firstbirthday.
In the past, her death likely would have been considered accidental, afamily tragedy. But investigators labeled her death a result of parentalneglect. Unger had left open the door that led to the pool.
more . . . . .
=
Sarasota Herald Tribune
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20071228/APN/712280661
Top 10 Florida news stories for 2007
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Article published Dec 28, 2007
Here are the top 10 Florida news stories of 2007, according to a vote ofnewspaper and broadcast editors:
1. Housing prices tumbles in most of the state after years of rapidincreases.
2. A severe drought in much of the state lowers Lake Okeechobee to recordlevels and results in severe restrictions in some areas.
3. Property insurance rates remain high in much of the state even after theFlorida Legislature and Gov. Charlie Crist enacted a measure aimed atlowering them.
4. Astronaut Lisa Nowak is arrested after she allegedly attacks her rivalfor the affections of a space shuttle pilot.
more . . . . .
=
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/359092.html
Florida's new voter ID law on hold
BY GARY FINEOUT
Posted on Fri, Dec. 28, 2007
People who show up for early voting next month will be able to use anemployee badge or buyers' club card as identification, despite new electionlaws taking effect Jan. 1 that eliminate their use.
In the spring, the GOP-controlled Legislature tightened up the types ofphoto IDs that could be used by voters, but the new law has been put on holdbecause the U.S. Department of Justice has yet to sign off on the change.
Florida's top election officials this week told election supervisors toignore a handful of voting law changes because federal authorities are tillreviewing them to see if they would adversely affect minority voters.
Because of past discrimination in five Florida counties -- Monroe, Collier,Hillsborough, Hendry and Hardee -- the federal government must sign off onany changes before they take effect.
While the federal government can block the law from taking effect only inthose five counties, Florida law requires voting standards to be uniformthroughout the state.
more . . . . .
=
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/12/28/State/Fewer_people_are_movi.shtml
Fewer people are moving to Florida
The state's housing costs, insurance and taxes are working to keep retireesaway.
By NICOLE HUTCHESON, Times Staff Writer
Published December 28, 2007
It appears that the Sunshine State is losing some of its sparkle.
Florida's population grew slower this year than any year this decade,according to Census Bureau data released this week. More retirees, long thestaple of Florida's growth, are looking elsewhere, scared away by surginghousing costs, including insurance and property taxes.
Couple that with road congestion, low wages and the lingering memories fromtwo devastating hurricane seasons, and the state apparently has started tolook less like paradise.
Florida gained just 35,000 people from elsewhere in the country this year,the lowest number since the Census Bureau began breaking down the migrationnumbers in 1990. It also marks the first time in at least 17 years thatFlorida added more people from other countries (88,111) than from otherstates.
Overall, Florida slipped from the ninth-fastest growing state to the 19th.
more . . . . .
=
Florida Today
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071228/OPINION/712280318/1004/opinion
Our view: Wide open race
Whirlwind presidential primaries mean it's time for Space Coast voters tostart deciding
December 28, 2007
Huckabee's up, Mitt's down and McCain is making a move.
Hillary's lead is toast, Obama is surging and Edwards is hanging tough.
That's a snapshot of some of the candidates for the Republican andDemocratic presidential nominations in an increasingly unpredictable racefor the White House that formally begins in just a few days.
It happens Thursday when Iowa caucus-goers start cutting through therhetoric and cast the first ballots.
That's followed by an avalanche of voting Jan. 8 in New Hampshire, Jan. 19in South Carolina, Jan. 29 in Florida and 22 other states on Feb. 5's SuperTuesday.
more . . . . .
=
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/359143.html
People with AIDS deserve better
Posted on Fri, Dec. 28, 2007
Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami have failed miserably to overseeMOVERS Inc., a nonprofit agency serving people with HIV and AIDS. MOVERS wassupposed to put needy clients in lowincome housing. The first outrage camelast year when eight families were cruelly evicted. Charles Hollis ended upsleeping on a bus bench, his belongings put on the street, where they werelooted.
The second outrage is all too familiar: the squandering of public moneyearmarked to house poor people. Miami and Miami-Dade County fell down on thejob. They gave money to MOVERS without adequate oversight, and the resultsstink. The failure is especially disturbing given this area's large andgrowing HIV/AIDS population.
More than $3 million have been invested in two apartment buildings forHIV/AIDS tenants with little positive results:
. Sugar Hill apartments in Liberty City were built with $2.8 million infederal AIDS housing funds. MOVERS mismanaged the building, then sold it toa private landlord who evicted needy tenants. Selling the property, whichwas bought with taxes, generated a $1.3 million profit for MOVERS. How isthis possible?
. Sugar Hill's new owner says he is not bound by a deed restriction orcontract to house HIV/AIDS tenants or to offer affordable rents, even thoughsuch conditions are required by federal law for at least four more years.Miami-Dade says he is and seeks a remedy. The city should, too.
more . . . . .
=
Daytona Beach News Journal
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/Editorials/opnOPN85122807.htm
Gov. Crist's lead
Drug discount plan could help millions
December 28, 2007
When Congress passed its much-debated Medicare prescription-drug benefit in2003, analysts all over the country shook their heads at lawmakers' failureto include a simple, common-sense provision that could cut drug prices whilecosting taxpayers almost nothing. It was a strategy every health-insurancecompany in the nation already employed, one that passed muster with all butthe most dogged free-market proponents.
Yet negotiating for lower drug prices overall wasn't in the massive bill(apparently, at the behest of the White House). In fact, the new lawprohibited the federal Medicare program -- the nation's largest funder ofprescription drugs -- from negotiating with drug companies for lower prices.
You won't catch Gov. Charlie Crist criticizing fellow Republicans -- butCrist's actions last week amounted to a stern, if unintentional, rebuke offederal leaders. Following the example of other states such as Ohio, Cristannounced that Florida would be offering residents a discountprescription-drug card that should shave up to 42 percent from the cost ofmost medications.
The program will cost the state very little, but could save millions for 3.8million Floridians currently lacking prescription-drug coverage. The cardwould be available to anyone older than 60 without drug coverage, andMedicare recipients who have fallen into the "doughnut hole" -- the gap inPart D coverage that occurs after Medicare has covered $2,250 worth ofmedication. Low-income families and individuals younger than 60 would alsobe eligible if their income falls below 300 percent of the federal povertylevel (a little more than $30,000 for an individual or roughly $62,000 for afamily of four). Many Floridians working low-wage service jobs would likelyqualify.
The cards aren't free, but the cost is minimal: $1.50 to activate andanother $1.50 each time the card is used, to cover administrative costs.
more . . . . .
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
1000 Men and Boys March Silently
Against Crime and Violence
Saturday, December 29, 2007
We must stop the Violence
(Miami) On December 29, 2007, the Miami-Dade Branch of the NationalAssociation for the Advancement of Colored People, (NAACP) under theleadership of Bishop Victor T. Curry, President, People United to Lead theStruggle for Equality, (P.U.L.S.E) along with community leaders,organizations and citizens will lead 1000 Men and Boys in a silent marchagainst the increasing violence and crime that continues to plague SouthFlorida.
On that date, at 9:00am men and boys will gather at Miami Carol City Park,3201 NW 185th street and march silently through Miami Gardens in reverenceand solidarity. They will return to the Park and will be joined by concernedwomen for a rally and demonstration.
This Event seeks to put public spotlight on the violence that is stilltaking place in Miami-Dade County. "We must stop the shootings thatcontinue to occur, says Bishop Curry, the visionary for the Event. "We muststop the crimes, particularly those against each other. As men we must takethe lead and teach our brothers that there are alternatives to solvingdifferences."
"We are asking fraternities, men's groups and boy's organizations to march,"says Bishop Victor T. Curry. "Men, lets take the action that is needed forour families."
Voter Registration, as well as Health, Employment and Restoration ofRights information will be available. This event is free and open to thecommunity. For group participation, call Kevin "Dr. K" Moyd at305.769.1100. For more information call 305.685.3700.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is aninterracial membership organization, founded in 1909, that is devoted tocivil rights and racial justice. The NAACP has been instrumental inimproving the legal, educational, and economic lives of people of color.Throughout its existence, it has worked to fulfill its goals to secure fullsuffrage and other civil rights, with the ultimate goal to end segregationand racial violence.
=
Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-brmail767sbdec29,0,4049831,print.story
Same-sex marriage no threat to rest of world
December 29, 2007
Re the Dec. 3 commentary, "Marriage a foundation that should not bediluted": Steven Vest makes several points as to why gay marriage shouldn'tbe legal. First, he writes that "marriage as a cultural and legalinstitution . has remained unchanged for thousands of years." But ratherthan maintaining status quo based on tradition and religious bias againsthomosexuality, the legal and secular definition of marriage should bereformed to consider modern cultural trends, the biology of sexuality andscientific research on marital and family relationships.
The writer also implies that legalizing same-sex marriage would lead to"social chaos." Where's the evidence for such chaos in Massachusetts or anyforeign country where gay marriage is legal? The only chaos created is theirrational fear perpetuated by religious fundamentalists, socialconservatives and right-wing pundits, along with the politicians who panderto them.
Mr. Vest correctly states that we are faced with bigger problems such as"nuclear proliferation, global warming, poverty, terrorism." So why shouldanyone worry when a monogamous gay couple living in their community arelegally married?
When making the ludicrous and insulting assumption that gays marrying leadsto incestuous or human-animal marriages, it becomes clear that the writer is"personally not interested" in supporting gay rights.
Robert M. Perovich
Parkland
=
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/12/29/State/Kid_deaths_from_abuse.shtml
Kid deaths from abuse, neglect soar in Florida
A reporting change is meant to help save lives.
By MELANIE AVE, Times Staff Writer
Published December 29, 2007
Ann Unger set her 9-month-old daughter on the floor of the family's PlantCity home and headed to the bathroom. Angelica, a fast crawler, usuallyfollowed close behind. Not this day.
Five minutes passed. Or was it six?
When Unger, 22, returned to the room, Angelica wasn't there. A franticsearch ended in the backyard pool, where Unger found the child floating facedown.
The mother's screams pierced the neighborhood as efforts to save the babyfailed. Angelica Unger died on Jan. 24, 2006, three months before her firstbirthday.
In the past, her death likely would have been considered accidental, afamily tragedy. But investigators labeled her death a result of parentalneglect. Unger had left open the door that led to the pool.
more . . . . .
=
Sarasota Herald Tribune
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20071228/APN/712280661
Top 10 Florida news stories for 2007
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Article published Dec 28, 2007
Here are the top 10 Florida news stories of 2007, according to a vote ofnewspaper and broadcast editors:
1. Housing prices tumbles in most of the state after years of rapidincreases.
2. A severe drought in much of the state lowers Lake Okeechobee to recordlevels and results in severe restrictions in some areas.
3. Property insurance rates remain high in much of the state even after theFlorida Legislature and Gov. Charlie Crist enacted a measure aimed atlowering them.
4. Astronaut Lisa Nowak is arrested after she allegedly attacks her rivalfor the affections of a space shuttle pilot.
more . . . . .
=
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/359092.html
Florida's new voter ID law on hold
BY GARY FINEOUT
Posted on Fri, Dec. 28, 2007
People who show up for early voting next month will be able to use anemployee badge or buyers' club card as identification, despite new electionlaws taking effect Jan. 1 that eliminate their use.
In the spring, the GOP-controlled Legislature tightened up the types ofphoto IDs that could be used by voters, but the new law has been put on holdbecause the U.S. Department of Justice has yet to sign off on the change.
Florida's top election officials this week told election supervisors toignore a handful of voting law changes because federal authorities are tillreviewing them to see if they would adversely affect minority voters.
Because of past discrimination in five Florida counties -- Monroe, Collier,Hillsborough, Hendry and Hardee -- the federal government must sign off onany changes before they take effect.
While the federal government can block the law from taking effect only inthose five counties, Florida law requires voting standards to be uniformthroughout the state.
more . . . . .
=
St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/12/28/State/Fewer_people_are_movi.shtml
Fewer people are moving to Florida
The state's housing costs, insurance and taxes are working to keep retireesaway.
By NICOLE HUTCHESON, Times Staff Writer
Published December 28, 2007
It appears that the Sunshine State is losing some of its sparkle.
Florida's population grew slower this year than any year this decade,according to Census Bureau data released this week. More retirees, long thestaple of Florida's growth, are looking elsewhere, scared away by surginghousing costs, including insurance and property taxes.
Couple that with road congestion, low wages and the lingering memories fromtwo devastating hurricane seasons, and the state apparently has started tolook less like paradise.
Florida gained just 35,000 people from elsewhere in the country this year,the lowest number since the Census Bureau began breaking down the migrationnumbers in 1990. It also marks the first time in at least 17 years thatFlorida added more people from other countries (88,111) than from otherstates.
Overall, Florida slipped from the ninth-fastest growing state to the 19th.
more . . . . .
=
Florida Today
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071228/OPINION/712280318/1004/opinion
Our view: Wide open race
Whirlwind presidential primaries mean it's time for Space Coast voters tostart deciding
December 28, 2007
Huckabee's up, Mitt's down and McCain is making a move.
Hillary's lead is toast, Obama is surging and Edwards is hanging tough.
That's a snapshot of some of the candidates for the Republican andDemocratic presidential nominations in an increasingly unpredictable racefor the White House that formally begins in just a few days.
It happens Thursday when Iowa caucus-goers start cutting through therhetoric and cast the first ballots.
That's followed by an avalanche of voting Jan. 8 in New Hampshire, Jan. 19in South Carolina, Jan. 29 in Florida and 22 other states on Feb. 5's SuperTuesday.
more . . . . .
=
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/359143.html
People with AIDS deserve better
Posted on Fri, Dec. 28, 2007
Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami have failed miserably to overseeMOVERS Inc., a nonprofit agency serving people with HIV and AIDS. MOVERS wassupposed to put needy clients in lowincome housing. The first outrage camelast year when eight families were cruelly evicted. Charles Hollis ended upsleeping on a bus bench, his belongings put on the street, where they werelooted.
The second outrage is all too familiar: the squandering of public moneyearmarked to house poor people. Miami and Miami-Dade County fell down on thejob. They gave money to MOVERS without adequate oversight, and the resultsstink. The failure is especially disturbing given this area's large andgrowing HIV/AIDS population.
More than $3 million have been invested in two apartment buildings forHIV/AIDS tenants with little positive results:
. Sugar Hill apartments in Liberty City were built with $2.8 million infederal AIDS housing funds. MOVERS mismanaged the building, then sold it toa private landlord who evicted needy tenants. Selling the property, whichwas bought with taxes, generated a $1.3 million profit for MOVERS. How isthis possible?
. Sugar Hill's new owner says he is not bound by a deed restriction orcontract to house HIV/AIDS tenants or to offer affordable rents, even thoughsuch conditions are required by federal law for at least four more years.Miami-Dade says he is and seeks a remedy. The city should, too.
more . . . . .
=
Daytona Beach News Journal
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/Editorials/opnOPN85122807.htm
Gov. Crist's lead
Drug discount plan could help millions
December 28, 2007
When Congress passed its much-debated Medicare prescription-drug benefit in2003, analysts all over the country shook their heads at lawmakers' failureto include a simple, common-sense provision that could cut drug prices whilecosting taxpayers almost nothing. It was a strategy every health-insurancecompany in the nation already employed, one that passed muster with all butthe most dogged free-market proponents.
Yet negotiating for lower drug prices overall wasn't in the massive bill(apparently, at the behest of the White House). In fact, the new lawprohibited the federal Medicare program -- the nation's largest funder ofprescription drugs -- from negotiating with drug companies for lower prices.
You won't catch Gov. Charlie Crist criticizing fellow Republicans -- butCrist's actions last week amounted to a stern, if unintentional, rebuke offederal leaders. Following the example of other states such as Ohio, Cristannounced that Florida would be offering residents a discountprescription-drug card that should shave up to 42 percent from the cost ofmost medications.
The program will cost the state very little, but could save millions for 3.8million Floridians currently lacking prescription-drug coverage. The cardwould be available to anyone older than 60 without drug coverage, andMedicare recipients who have fallen into the "doughnut hole" -- the gap inPart D coverage that occurs after Medicare has covered $2,250 worth ofmedication. Low-income families and individuals younger than 60 would alsobe eligible if their income falls below 300 percent of the federal povertylevel (a little more than $30,000 for an individual or roughly $62,000 for afamily of four). Many Floridians working low-wage service jobs would likelyqualify.
The cards aren't free, but the cost is minimal: $1.50 to activate andanother $1.50 each time the card is used, to cover administrative costs.
more . . . . .
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
Friday, December 28, 2007
GLBT DIGEST December 28, 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=15801
N.H. civil unions could be boon for businesses, tourism
New law defines civil unions as equivalent of marriage in all but name
BETHLEHEM, N.H. (AP) | Dec 27, 11:44 AM
If the rainbow-painted deck chairs, fluttering rainbow flag and purpleshutters don't make it clear, the Highlands Inn's toll-free number,877-LES-B-INN, leaves no doubt as to whom this White Mountains resort catersto.
Innkeeper Grace Newman began hosting commitment ceremonies at thisself-proclaimed "lesbian paradise" in the 1980s. Newman says she has losttrack of the number of commitment ceremonies that have happened there; sheestimates about 300 couples have honeymooned at the inn after getting civilunions in Vermont or marriages in Quebec, Canada, both short drives away.
In 2008, the inn's 25th anniversary coincides with another milestone: legalrecognition of civil unions by New Hampshire beginning Jan. 1. Newman,veteran host and overseer of many a union, isn't wasting any time. Two NewHampshire couples have agreed to get civil unions during the inn's annualNew Year's Eve dance after the clock strikes 12.
From the North Country to the Statehouse steps, other gay couples are makingsimilar plans.
"It would be pretty easy to take a little break from the party and celebratesome civil unions," said Newman, who plans to get her own civil union withlongtime partner Maria Doyle this September at the inn.
more . . . . .
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2007/12-27/news/national/4298.cfm
Fight over job bias bill was top national story of 2007
Debate over transinclusive ENDA prompted protests
By JOEY DIGUGLIELMO
Dec. 27, 2007
PASSAGE OF THE EMPLOYMENT Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) has long been at thetop of gay activists' wish lists. The bill has been around in one form oranother since the 1970s and after the Democrats took control of Congress in2006, many were optimistic it would finally pass.
But the excitement gave way to a divisive fight over transgender rights thisyear, pitting some activists against gay Rep. Barney Frank and others whosupported the gay-only version when it became clear there were not enoughvotes to pass the trans-inclusive version.
Many trans activists felt abandoned and some even picketed the annual HumanRights Campaign National Dinner. Others argued that a successful Housevote - even with a White House veto threatened and looming - would behistoric and bode well for more expansive legislation in the future.
The ENDA timeline below shows how the bill has progressed since 1974.
March 14, 1974 - Reps. Bella Abzug (D-N.Y.) and Ed Koch (D-N.Y.) introduceH.R. 14752, dubbed the "gay rights bill" or "Equality Act of 1974," but itfails to make it out of committee. It proposes that new categories of sex,sexual orientation and marital status be added to the 1964 civil rights act.
more . . . . .
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2007/12-27/arts/television/4303.cfm
Rosie flames out and Logo breaks out in 2007
Cable networks dominate gay programming
By BRIAN MOYLAN
Dec. 27, 2007
THERE WASN'T MUCH NEW ON THE tube in 2007, but many of the events continuedto solidify and reinforce the trends we've been seeing in the industry overthe last several years, like the proliferation of gays on cable shows andreality programs and the lack of inclusion on scripted network dramas.
But if the criteria for the big gay television story of the year entailsscreaming matches, media grudges, cat fights and spectacular flame outs,then 2007 belonged to Rosie O'Donnell, who got serious ink due to herself-imposed ouster from ABC's "The View" in May.
O'Donnell joined the show in 2006, and the media scrutiny started soonafter, thanks to her very public war of words with Donald Trump and hercalling Kelly Ripa homophobic based on some comments Ripa made about ClayAiken. And when O'Donnell wasn't making headlines with her political views,she was front-and-center as a lesbian on television, talkingmatter-of-factly about her wife and their children to an audience ofmillions.
But nothing compares to her on-air battle with conservative cohost ElisabethHasselbeck about the war in Iraq. Though O'Donnell had previously decidednot to renew her contract with the show, after the fight, she left the showfor good, several weeks before her deal with producers expired.
So far, the only return O'Donnell has made is as a guest star on FX's supergay "nip/tuck." In November, she reprised her role as talkative, brash andstraight Dawn Budge.
more . . . . .
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2007/12-27/news/national/4299.cfm
The runners-up: top national stories of 2007
Falwell's death, Craig sex charges were among the year's top headlines
By FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Dec. 27, 2007
THE GAY NEWS STORY OF THE YEAR was the fight over the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the removal of protections based on gender identity(see Page 10). But that wasn't the only story making headlines. Below is aroundup of the rest of the year's top stories.
House kills hate crimes measure
A federal hate crimes measure passed Congress, but never reached thepresident's desk this year because efforts to tie it to the National DefenseAuthorization Act failed.
The measure, which granted federal resources to prosecute crimes motivatedby a victim's sexual orientation or gender identity, died in conferencecommittee after passing the House 237-180 and surviving a Senate challenge,60-39.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) acquiesced this month to demandsby House Democratic leaders to drop the measure from the National DefenseAuthorization Act.
Top general calls gay sex 'immoral'
The nation's top general drew criticism earlier this year after referring togay sex as "immoral."
more . . . . .
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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2007/12-27/view/editorial/4300.cfm
Rosenstein: A wish for the New Year
We must find a way to grow the number of activists in 2008
By PETER ROSENSTEIN
Dec. 27, 2007
THE GLBT COMMUNITY SHOULD BE proud of what we accomplished in 2007. Butthere is definitely a feeling of frustration that we couldn't do more. Wepassed hate crimes in both houses of Congress and a version of ENDA in one,but didn't get all that we wanted.
We have commitments from all the Democratic candidates to work for equalfederal benefits for state-approved civil unions, to end "Don't Ask, Don'tTell" and to finally sign inclusive hate crimes and ENDA legislation if wecan get them through Congress.
I choose to see this as the glass half full; others see it as half empty.Wehave seen the frustration produce a rift in our community that needs toheal. We must work together if we are to move forward and accomplish what weall agree is the goal, full human and civil rights.
To do this, the community must demand that our national organizations stoptrying to compete with each other and work together. I think we may actuallyneed a new organization, a real grass-roots one that can lobby effectivelyon all issues and support our national organizations with the ability toreach the GLBT community, without regard to any one issue. We need to targetour outreach and lobbying efforts to communities and legislators who don'tyet support us rather than fighting with those who do.
There is no one organization that speaks for our entire community andprobably no one organization ever will. It is time to clarify what it isthat each of the organizations does best.
more . . . . .
=
Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2007/12/southwest_airlines_stumbles_of_1.html
Southwest Airlines Stumbles Out of the Closet
Conflicting Messages in GLBT-Themed Travel Section
By Emil Steiner
December 27, 2007; 12:00 PM ET
You are now safe to move out of the closet? (Southwest Airlines) During arecent visit to Southwest Airline's web site, I stumbled upon something thatgrabbed my eye. The company's Gay Travel Section -- "We Take Pride inPartnering With You!." Launched in late spring, this double-entendre ladenarea describes itself as "the first Southwest Airlines dedicated web page tothe gay and lesbian community." They apparently "have so much fun stuff tohelp you get out and about, that we thought we'd put it all in oneeasy-to-find place. From gay-friendly destinations to gay events around thecountry, you'll find information to suit your needs." (Finally!)
The "gay-friendly destinations" are places that Southwest has determined tohave "welcoming cultural diversity" and include such hidden gems as SanFrancisco, Provincetown, and, if you can believe it, the Miami area (sorryTennessee!). Among the upcoming events that Southwest surmises mightinterest members of the gay and lesbian community: the International Mr. GayCompetition, Blue Gay-la: Lake Tahoe's Gay & Lesbian Ski Week, 2008 OUTFestall made the list. Interestingly enough, so did the Jan. 1 Mummers DayParade in Philadelphia, which, although not affiliated with any gay orlesbian community, does involve men dressing in flamboyant costumes.
"Southwest likes to remain a maverick in the field," according to a companyspokesperson I talked to yesterday. Using "a research and segmentationteam," the airline analyzed where gays and lesbians were traveling and thenused that information to compile their lists. "Everyone wants somethingdifferent," she explained "and we try to cater to them."
And boy do they know how to cater! They even came up with a helpful list ofgay travel tips that reads like a mother's parting words before her child'sfirst camping trip: Ask the right questions, leave a trail, always beprepared, "smelling good... c'mon, you know you want to." (And straight guyswant to stink?)
Southwest is certainly not alone in trying to appeal to travelers of allsexual orientations. American Airlines launched its "Rainbow" section in2005, and Delta has its Rainbow Getaways. New Zealand Air even has a specialthemed "Pink Flight" featuring drag queens, pink cocktails and a cabaretperformed by the flight crew, en route to the 2008 Gay and Lesbian MardiGras in Sydney, Australia. It's all part of an effort to woo the estimated$65 billion that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people spend ontravel each year. As the Cranky Flier puts it, "if you are gay, they'reseeing dollar signs in their eyes."
But, far from a slick ad campaign, Southwest's hackneyed jargon insteadpangs of a nervous heterosexual trying too hard to prove he's nothomophobic. The result is unintentional parody that may make readers wonderwhether Southwest is being innocently open-minded, pandering ham-handedly orbeing downright offensive? Let me know your interpretation.
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Statesman Journal - Oregon
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071226/STATE/712260395
Same-sex couples await legal benefits
Marriage-style perks come with state's domestic partnerships
STEVE LAW
Statesman Journal
December 26, 2007
Salem pastor Don Frueh and his partner, Robert Barzler, already have sealedtheir union as a couple on their own terms. They conducted a ceremonialblessing of their home when they bought a house together 3 1/2 years ago,and jokingly refer to themselves as "Robald Fruzler," a joint moniker thatblends their names and hairstyles.
Next month, Frueh and Barzler intend to legally formalize their eight-yearrelationship by entering into a domestic partnership.
The Oregon Legislature enacted a domestic partnership law in 2007, alongwith a companion measure barring discrimination against gays, lesbians,bisexuals and transgendered people. The two laws take effect in January,marking a historic breakthrough for Oregon's gay-rights movement.
Frueh, associate pastor at First Congregational United Church of Christ inSalem, has conducted past ceremonies to sanctify unions of same-sex couplesin the congregation. But those didn't bring any legal recognition.
When Frueh, Barzler and other same-sex couples enter into a contractualdomestic partnership, they'll gain most of the benefits accorded to marriedcouples under state law.
more . . . . .
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Pam's House Blend
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=5B01B032D5AC606386A27453015877F3?diaryId=3990
10 Books Every Bisexual Should Read
by: SarahS
Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 11:52:13 AM EST
(Thanks for this handy list of reading complimenting the work done over atthe Bilerico Project - promoted by Daimeon)
The folks over at the Bilrico Project have been putting out book lists, of10 Books Every Gay Boy Should Read, 10 Books Every Lesbian Should Read, and10 Books Every Transperson Should Read. I don't know if they mean to excludebisexuality, or if they just haven't gotten around to it, but I decided tomake my own list.
I'm a librarian (just finished my MLS, looking for a job) so to say thatbooks are important to me would be a gross understatement. Books saved meas 15 year old bi girl growing up in conservative Catholic Wisconsin, whereI didn't know any GLBT people and thought there was something wrong with mefor thinking my boyfriend was hot and female friends were too. They helpedme understand that I was not alone. They were my friends when no oneunderstood, my rock when I needed support, and my joy when I read somethingparticularly smart, funny, or just wonderful. I wouldn't be as welladjusted and intelligent if not for queer books in general, but as abisexual, the books on this list represent some of the finest nonfiction Ihave ever encountered on a subject near and dear to myself.
SarahS :: 10 Books Every Bisexual Should Read
1. The Bisexual's Guide to the Universe: Quips, Tips, And Lists for ThoseWho Go Both Ways by Nicole Kristal and Mike Szymanski
This books is not only the first winner of the first Bisexual LambdaLiterary Award in 2006, it is friggin' hilarious. It is divided intosections, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced, so it really has somethingfor everyone. It includes the authors own personal experiences along theway, so it never becomes dry or academic. There is also all sorts of usefulcontent, like a guide to Bi film, that you won't find elsewhere. Andbecause it is written for bisexuals by bisexuals, bisexuality is not just atoken mention, it is the real focus. And it is very very funny, sarcastic,snarky, and generally just fun to read.
more . . . . .
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The Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-clemons/when-the-intolerant-kill-_b_78201.html
When the Intolerant Kill Christmas: My Gay Friend's Holiday Story
Posted December 24, 2007
10:26 PM (EST)
A very close friend of mine "just came out" to his brother as a gay man. Hedid the same with his mother about ten months ago -- and it didn't go well.. .with either of them.
He's a former soldier who worked on some of the most classified missions themilitary had going -- and despite my criticism of the Bush administration onits invasion of Iraq, I know that my friend had a hand in successfullydelivering some of the world's real bad guys to the next world -- both inAfghanistan and Iraq. He reads my blog -- and he has kept an open mind aboutsome of my criticisms of this administration and the national securitycourse it has been on.
But his mother and brother have tried to tell him that if he's gay -- hemust not believe in God, he must be a reprobate and must be such a deviantthat his brother told him that he will never give him a moment's rest andpeace about this issue.
My friend is earnest, a patriot, sober, sane -- and he's being betrayed inAmerica by a lack of the kind of tolerance and modernity that our society issupposed to be about. Iran and any place under the control of the Talibanhang, stone, or castrate gay youth. Egypt imprisons them. In middle America,the intolerant who somehow have decided to channel a vindictive, judgmental,and sin-obsessed Christ harass, disown -- and in the case of young MatthewShepard in Laramie, Wyoming or active duty sailor Allen Schindler -- killthem.
I hate to hold Dick Cheney and his wife out as models, but I'm absolutelygoing to in this case. Cheney is convinced of how right he is in matters ofwar and state -- but when it came to family, Cheney and his wife evolved. Iknow that he does not harass his daughter Mary. He accepts her, her partner,and his grandchild.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/washington/27needle.html?_r=1&ex=1356498000&en=9a4baced766ad444&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin
New Law Allows Needle Exchanges in Washington
By IAN URBINA
December 27, 2007
WASHINGTON - President Bush signed legislation on Wednesday lifting a banthat for nearly a decade has prevented city officials here from using localtax money for needle exchange programs.
Officials of the District of Columbia Health Department said that with theban lifted, they would allocate $1 million for such programs in 2008.
Since 1999, the nation's capital, which reports having the highest rate ofAIDS infection of any major city in the country, has been the only citybarred by federal law from using municipal money for needle exchanges. Arecent report by the city showed that intravenous drug users' sharing ofneedles was second only to unprotected sex as a leading cause of H.I.V.transmission.
Congress controls local government here, and for nine years members of theHouse, expressing concerns about worsening drug abuse, had inserted into thebill approving the city's budget a provision to prohibit financing needleexchange programs. But with Republicans' loss of Congressional control toDemocrats, this year's bill, signed by Mr. Bush on Wednesday, reversed theban.
"For too long, Congress has unfairly imposed on the citizens of D.C. bytrying out their social experiments there," said Representative José E.Serrano, the New York Democrat who heads the House Appropriationssubcommittee that handles the city's budget. "The ban on needle exchangeswas one of the most egregious of these impositions, especially because theconsensus is clear that these programs save lives."
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=17030
Sex and Violence, new research
by Bob Roehr
2007-12-26
"Violence is as American as cherry pie," proclaimed Black power advocate H.Rap Brown in the 1960s. The latest research from the annual meeting of theAmerican Public Health Association appears to bear that out.Sexual assault where males are the victims rather than the perpetrators isone of the least reported crimes and least studied subjects of research. Theliterature suggests that 1 in 33 adult males have been the victim ofattempted or completed rape at some point in their lifetimes. However, suchassaults are underreported and most studies are based on the most severecases that require medical attention.
A new study suggests the real rate is three times higher. VirginiaCommonwealth University researcher Saba Masho led a team that conducted anin-depth telephone survey of 705 adult men in Virginia.
It found a lifetime prevalence of sexual assault of 12.9 percent and a 0.1percent rate of victimization within the previous 12 months. She said themean age when the assault occurred was 12, with the majority occurringbetween 12 and 17.
"The majority were single events by one person, followed by multiple eventsby the same person." Surprisingly, "nearly 40 percent were victimized byfemales." Less surprising was that nearly 75 percent of the perpetratorswere older than 18 and nearly 80 percent were known to the victim. Sexualassault and victimization is most likely to occur in the home, regardless ofthe gender of the victim.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.gaypeopleschronicle.com/stories07/december/1228072.htm
2007: The year that should have been better
by Eric Resnick
December 28, 2007
Perhaps the most apropos metaphor for how lesbians, gays, bisexuals andtransgenders fared in 2007 happened in October when Harry Potter creatorJ.K. Rowling announced that the mightiest wizard in her children'sbest-sellers, Albus Dumbledore, was gay.
Quickly, LGBT message doctors rushed in to pronounce the development somesort of revolutionary act with the power to open the hearts and minds ofchildren to LGBT acceptance for generations to come.
The real story, however, was much less dramatic.
The character was 115 years old, asexual his entire life, and is now dead,to the extent that fictional characters could have ever lived. Moreover, hishomosexuality was irrelevant to the story's plot.
Had Rowling declared Potter or one of his teenaged friends gay, it wouldhave been revolutionary, but that's probably why she didn't.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid51325.asp
Huckabee Explains Antigay Stances
December 28, 2007
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee appealed to Iowaconservatives on two fronts last weekend in Iowa, calling for a strongermilitary and stronger families.
Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who jumped to a lead in Iowa pollsearlier this month, wants a drastic increase in regular forces to ease thestrain on National Guard and reserve units being called up for duty in Iraqand Afghanistan.
''We need to have a larger regular force to make sure we are capable if wedo have to go into battle, and let's pray to God that we don't,'' Huckabeetold about 120 people in Council Bluffs.
Huckabee acknowledged the criticism leveled at him last week for hisnegative comments about President Bush's foreign policy, although hemischaracterized the criticism.
Huckabee said detractors don't like his opinion that a larger force shouldhave invaded Iraq. In fact, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice disagreedwith a separate Huckabee complaint, that Bush has an ''arrogant bunkermentality'' toward foreign policy that is offensive to other countries.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.mideastyouth.com/2007/12/26/arab-and-muslim-homosexuals-who-dares-defend-them/
Arab and Muslim homosexuals: Who dares defend them?
Posted By Esra'a (Bahrain) On December 26, 2007 @ 10:09 am In Homosexuality,Activism, Taboos, Civil Rights, General | 43 Comments
A few months ago, a young homosexual couple from Morocco contacted us notingthat Mideast Youth does a good job of defending all kinds of rights, whetherthose of religious minorities, migrant workers, or sex slaves, and theyasked a vital question:
"What about us?"
So I immediately wanted to consult our team on having a gay rights campaigndirected at Arab and Muslim youth. [1] Liz wrote an e-mail and sent it toour active authors, and we had mixed reactions, most of which included "don't do it." Not that they don't support such efforts, but they felt that wesimply weren't ready.
I was kind of hoping for an enthusiastic "YEAH, LET'S DO IT!"
We've always been like that for anything that deserves support.
I believe everything deserves a shot no matter how ugly the situation canturn out. But this time it was different. Since the majority of our teamwere not willing to do this I had no choice but to respect that and distanceourself from this, at least for now.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
Uganda
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/17/603699
We must resist gays - bishop
By Daniel Edyegu
Publication date: Wednesday, 26th December, 2007
THE Government should not yield to pressure and legalise homosexuality andlesbianism, the Bishop of Bukedi Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Nicodemus Okille, hasappealed.
The bishop, who was delivering his Christmas sermon at St. Peter's Church ofUganda Tororo on Tuesday, said the acts violate both the biblical teachingson marriage and African culture.
Okille criticised the advocates of gay rights, saying they had no place inthe Kingdom of God.
"These are acts to question the ordinances of God. There's nothing like'intellectualising' sin; sin is sin. How do you imagine a woman sharing thesame bed with a woman or a man with a fellow man?" he asked. According tothe Penal Code Act, homosexuality is illegal and carries a maximum sentenceof life imprisonment.
Under their umbrella body, Sexual Minorities Uganda, gay activists recentlyaddressed an unprecedented news conference to speak out against allegeddiscrimination and harassment from the Police. They want a law allowing themto practice their sexual orientation more freely.
"It's terrible. As the church, we need to resist practices that are not inline with the Christian doctrines," Okille said.
The bishop cautioned married couples against indulging in adultery. sayingit is the main cause of divorce.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.proudparenting.com/node/1095
Warning about Hillary from a PFLAG leader: Her position on same-sexparenting is "dangerous".
Thu, 12/27/2007 - 3:49pm by Community Editor
'08 Presidential candidates Know Thy Neighbor Massachusetts News & PoliticsPFLAG
In an email sent exclusively to KnowThyNeighbor.org - Greater Boston PFLAGPresident Stan Griffith shared his personal views about Hillary Clinton'sposition on same-sex parenting. KnowThyNeighbor.org posted the email on it'swebsite. PFLAG is the acronym for Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbiansand Gays.
In the email, Griffith says he believes Hillary's views on lesbian and gayfamilies is indistinguishable from Massachusetts parent David Parker's - andit's a position used by the Family Research Institute to wage war ondiversity education and safe schools programs.
In April 2005, David Parker, then a father of a kindergarten student,created an uproar at his child's elementary school - after the boy haddescribed to his father a classroom lesson in which the teacher read from abook about different types of families. A federal judge later dismissed asuit by Parker who contended that the public school system violated hisconstitutional rights.
Democratic candidates were recently asked if they approved of learningmaterial in public schools which depict same-sex parents. Obama and Edwardsstated they support it. Hillary, on the other hand, said she believes it'sup to parents to decide how to handle such topics. And this is the sameposition as Parker and the Family Research Institute.
Griffith calls on LGBT supporters of Clinton to understand how "dangerous"Clinton's position actually is.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.plastic.com/article.html;sid=07/12/27/22250701
Does Gay Pride = Bawdy, Salacious, And Sexually Suggestive?
found on Daily Press
written by Travis Bickle, edited by Humberto (Plastic) [ read unedited ]
posted Thu 27 Dec 3:24pm
Bethany Laccone is a 17-year-old high school senior from Portsmouth,Virginia. Bethany is also a lesbian. She experiences no real grief atWoodrow Wilson High, her regular high school. But she attends a specialcourse one class a day at another Portsmouth high school. Not only did sheexperience grief, she believes she experienced sexual discrimination andhumiliation - all over a tee shirt.
The crux of the controversy is a tee shirt (shown here). She had worn thetee to Wilson any number of times without incident. However, when she showedup for hotel management class at IC Norcom High she was told she hadchoices. She could either get rid of the tee shirt, cover it up, turn itinside out, or get suspended. She was told by an assistant principal theshirt violated the school dress code which bans "bawdy, salacious orsexually suggestive messages." When Laccone's father went to IC Norcom for ameeting with the assistant principal he was told Bethany's tee shirt wasextremely upsetting to the teacher who reported her. In fact it was soupsetting that it "interfered with her ability to teach."
Bethany and her father turned next to the ACLU, which wrote a demand letter(pdf doc) to IC Norcom. The letter observed that wearing the tee shirt waspart of Bethany's free speech rights and cited numerous court casesupholding her rights. It made a series of demands of the school including anapology to Bethany and removal of any disciplinary notes from her file. Itgave the school until 11 January to respond. According to Virginia ACLUexecutive director Kent Willis:
"What's happening to Bethany Laccone is a clear-cut case of unconstitutionalcensorship. (She) has the same rights to express her opinions and be openabout who she is as any other student. We intend to make sure I.C. NorcomHigh School stops breaking the law and treats all of its students equallyregardless of their views."
There has been no comment from IC Norcom. A representative from the schooldistrict's office wasn't clear about what happened with Bethany andsuggested "the concern could be that we are training students to go out intothe business world." A lawyer with the national ACLU said teachers aresupposed to teach all students without regard to things like sexualidentity: "If a teacher can't deal with the fact that there are gay studentsin her classroom, that doesn't mean she gets to violate that student's FirstAmendment rights." As for Bethany, she just wants to be able to wear the teeshirt, "I don't feel like I should have to hide my sexuality."
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2007/12/mitt-romneys-ch.html
Mitt Romney's Christmas Present to the 'Gay' Lobby Should End Support
by David Smith
Peter LaBarbera, longtime pro- family advocate and founder of theRepublicans For Family Values website, is calling on pro-family leaders whohave endorsed Mitt Romney to withdraw their support for his candidacy inlight of his recent comments on NBC's "Meet the Press" supportingpro-homosexual "sexual orientation" state laws.
"Mitt Romney's Christmas present to the homosexual lobby disqualifies him asa pro-family leader," LaBarbera said. "Laws that treat homosexuality as acivil right are being used to promote homosexual 'marriage,' same-sexadoption and pro- homosexuality indoctrination of schoolchildren. These samelaws pose a direct threat to the freedom of faith- minded citizens andorganizations to act on their religious belief that homosexual behavior iswrong.
"Romney may have had a late conversion on abortion, but it appears hisninth-inning flip-flop on homosexuality is falling short due to his strongcommitment to 'gay rights,'" LaBarbera said. (See the 'Mitt RomneyDeception' report) "Now some pro- family leaders -- who have raised millionsof dollars over the years opposing 'gay' activism -- will need to explainhow they can go on supporting an openly pro- homosexual-agenda candidate."
LaBarbera said it is "inconceivable after Massachusetts' twin disastersinvolving homosexual 'marriage' and homosexual adoption that Romney now isrecommending pro- homosexual 'orientation' laws -- long derided as "specialrights" among social conservatives - to the rest of the nation.
"In Romney's own state of Massachusetts, the state 'sexual orientation'nondiscrimination law laid the groundwork for homosexual activists' campaignto legalize 'same-sex marriage' -- which then-Gov. Romney brought tofruition with his unnecessary and illegal directive granting marriagelicenses to homosexual partners," LaBarbera said. "The same pro-gay statelaw also forced Boston's Catholic Charities to shut down its century-oldadoption agency because it would not pledge to place children inhomosexual-led households against Catholic teaching.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2007/12/bias_lawsuit_ta.html
Bias lawsuit targets Tufts, professor
By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff
December 27, 2007 03:37 PM
A former faculty member at Tufts University is suing the college and aprominent professor for allegedly firing her in retaliation after sheaccused the professor of discriminating against female and minorityemployees and of singling her out for her sexual orientation.
Susan Lautze, a humanitarian researcher who cofounded the FeinsteinInternational Center at Tufts in 1996, says she was fired in 2005 after sheaccused her supervisor, Peter Walker, of harboring bias toward women andnonwhites. Before she was fired, she complained to Tufts officials thatWalker was trumping up reasons to fire her because of a bias against her as"an openly gay woman and someone who has campaigned for the protection ofmarginalized populations," according to the suit.
The civil suit, filed last week in Middlesex Superior Court, names Tufts andWalker, who has directed the Feinstein International Center since 2002, asdefendants. Lautze, who now lives in France, is seeking $360,000 in lostwages and damages.
A Tufts spokeswoman said today that university officials had not yetreceived the lawsuit, but denied the allegations in a statement.
"The university did not discriminate and will defend itself against thislawsuit. We regret that Ms. Lautze has taken this approach to solving adisagreement," the statement read.
more . . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.edgeptown.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=news&sc3=&id=54061
Penn. School Takes Gay Harassment Seriously
by Kilian Melloy
EDGE Provincetown Contributor
Thursday Dec 27, 2007
When a gay Pennsylvania high school student was tormented into dropping outof school, 300 classmates stood up on his behalf to demand changes at theschool.
The boy was a student at Pennsylvania's Susquehanna Twp. High School; now,in light of the petition submitted by about 300 students, thesuperintendant, David Volkman, has initiated a top-to-bottom review to seehow the school can alleviate the daily abuses that students suffer in thedistrict's schools.
The story was reported on yesterday by the Pennsylvania newspaper thePatriot-News
(www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2007/12/few_days_went_by_without.html),
which said that the student in question was harassed and bullied somercilessly that, though he never reported the abuse, he did finally dropout of school in the midst of his senior year.
A committee formed by Volkman comprises 15 members: Volkman himself, schoolprincipal Judy Baumgardber, and students, teachers, parents, and othermembers of the community at large.
The newspaper story quoted Volkman as saying that the petition presented tohim "speaks volumes about this student and about the majority of students inthis school."
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.edgeptown.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=culture&sc2=features&sc3=&id=53855
Would Life Be Better if You Were Straight?
by Dylan Vox
Gaywired.com
Thursday Dec 20, 2007
If you found out that you could flip a switch and change your whole life,would you? Most people spend a majority of their childhood and sometimesinto their teens coming to terms with their sexuality. But for some gay menand women, that struggle can be a life long battle that never gets resolved.
Even after making peace with being gay, there can still be some lingeringquestions of whether or not you would change your sexual orientation if theopportunity came about, and a new study from the University of Illinois atChicago has hinted this alteration could perhaps be a reality. The study ofpheromones and smells has suggested that gene mutation in fruit fly subjectscould alter the insect's sexual proclivity.
Researcher David Featherstone and his assistants discovered a gene in fruitflies they call "genderblind," or GB, which if mutated, could make theinsects attracted to the same sex.
"It was very dramatic," Featherstone explained in an interview with ABCNews. "The GB mutant males treated other males exactly the same way normalmale flies would treat a female. They even attempted copulation."
The experiment altered the GB to suppress synapse strength and it changedthe way the insects interpreted the smell of pheromones that are thought tocause the attraction to other individuals.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--obit-morgan1226dec26,0,250861.story
First openly gay president of Black Journalists group dies
7:53 PM EST, December 26, 2007
NEW YORK (AP) _ Thomas Morgan III, the first openly gay president of theNational Association of Black Journalists and a longtime newsman at The NewYork Times, has died. He was 56.
The Brooklyn resident died early Monday morning, possibly of a heart attack,while visiting the family of his partner, Thomas Ciano, in Southampton,Mass., Ciano said Wednesday.
"He was a man of many different qualities and talents," Ciano said. "Hecared a lot about educating young journalists and the prevention of AIDS.Working to house and care for homeless people. Pottery. Gardening. Politics.Those were his passions."
Morgan was NABJ's president from 1989 to 1991. Even though he won theelection handily, it was somewhat heated, according to a 2004 profile ofMorgan on the NABJ's Web site.
"It was painful," Morgan recalled. "I struggled with how to represent NABJwithout embarrassing the organization but while also being true to myself. Iwas elected as a black journalist, not a gay one."
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/28/opinion/28fri2.html?ref=opinion
Editorial: Preventing AIDS Prevention
December 28, 2007
Congress and President Bush have done the right thing, lifting a disastrousnine-year ban that prevented Washington from using locally raised taxdollars on needle-exchange programs that help fight the spread of AIDS.Unfortunately, that still leaves in force an even broader and more damaginglaw that prohibits the use of federal funds for needle-exchange programs inthe United States or abroad.
That ban must also be rescinded.
The country's most important medical and public health organizationsendorsed needle-exchange programs more than a decade ago, and such programshave proved highly successful all over the world. Opponents' charges thatneedle exchanges would encourage addiction have turned out to be nonsense.
Meanwhile, the AIDS epidemic continues to spread, driven in part byintravenous drug addicts who become infected when they share dirty needles.They then pass H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, on to wives and loversand unborn children.
A recent report by the District of Columbia's health department found thatmore than 20 percent of the city's AIDS cases could be traced to intravenousdrug users. The city, meanwhile, has the highest AIDS rate in the nation,with 128.4 cases per 100,000 people, compared with 14 cases per 100,000 inthe country as a whole.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded by Joe Van Eron
info@GayDaniaBeach.com
Planet Out
http://www.planetout.com/money/
What you said: New gayborhoods!
by Marc Breindel
No doubt about it, we are everywhere -- restoring neighborhoods in bigcities, pioneering small towns in the Midwest and South, even creating new"gayborhoods" in Peru, Puerto Rico and Puerto Vallarta! Welcome to the 21stcentury, when gay life goes liberatingly global.
We asked you to send in reports of cool new gay neighborhoods you've seen,and we thank you for your many enthusiastic responses. A lot of people wrotein about small- to mid-sized cities in the American Midwest and South, likecharming Charleston, South Carolina; hip college town Lawrence, Kansas; andgenteel old Southern queen Natchez, Mississippi, home of the actual GreekRevival manor house Disneyland's Haunted Mansion is based on (Stanton Hall).
So many new gayborhoods are springing up, we decided to present your lettersover two features. Today we present new gayborhoods in the South andMidwest. Tomorrow we'll showcase the rest of the U.S. and some internationalgayborhoods.
Read on to discover a welcoming new gayborhood near you!
U.S. South
WHITE4...
I currently live in East Atlanta, Ga. Moved here four years ago fromOrlando, Fla. Midtown Atlanta has become more expensive and straights aremoving in more now. East Atlanta is an affordable alternative to Midtown.Many gay-owned shops, bars and eating establishments are within walkingdistance. Downtown is only two minutes away. Very up-and-coming gayborhood.
german...
The Germantown neighborhood of Louisville, Ky., is a historic blue collarneighborhood nestled between a thriving downtown and two older Victorianneighborhoods that have already been pioneered and gentrified by the gays inthe 1960s through the '80s. LGBT people are already spread all over themetro area here, but my partner and I just bought a shotgun house here inGermantown a year ago. Shotguns and bungalows dating from 1900 through the'20s abound here.
more....
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Jesse's Journal
by Jesse Monteagudo
JesseMonteagudo@aol.com
Folsom Street Blues
Thank God for the religious right. Often when I suffer from writer's block,a crackpot comes along with some harebrained scheme and I have something towrite about. The latest loony toon who's come to save the day (and thiscolumn) is Peter LaBarbera of Americans For Truth, "a newly reorganizednational organization devoted exclusively to exposing and countering thehomosexual activist agenda."
[www.americansfortruth.com]
According to Wayne Besen, "LaBarbera is notorious for donning leather garband sneaking into sundry gay S&M bars to take supposedly incriminatingpictures of naughty gays. LaBarbera is obsessive with following the seamierside of gay life, even frequenting establishments where gay sex occurs. Forhim, no bahthouses are too remote to discover, and no dark, grimy dungeonsnot worthy of explorations. It is no exaggeration to say that the man hasprobably frequented more gay venues than RuPaul and Mr. Leather USAcombined."
Peter LaBarbera's latest exposé is of the Folsom Street Fair, a annualgathering of kinky folk in San Francisco that proudly calls itself "theworld's largest leather event." Not letting a good thing pass him by,LaBarbera crashed this leather party on September 30 in order to expose thedepravity within. Since the Folsom Street Fair takes place in Nancy Pelosi's congressional district, LaBarbera gave a detailed description of the Fair'snaughty bits in a letter that he wrote to the Speaker, hoping no doubt thatshe would be as outraged as he claimed to be: "I was in San Francisco with avideographer on Sunday, September 30 and verified but a small segment of themost immoral and outrageous sexual behavior that ever disgraced the streetsof any American city."
LaBarbera followed his introduction with a laundry list of debauchery;depraved acts that he assured the Speaker were going on in full view ofinnocent children. These included "large numbers of men walking on publicstreets either fully or partially naked; . . . groups of men engaged inorgies on the public street, including acts of oral sex and mutualmasturbation; . . . theatrically dramatic sadomasochistic whippings andfloggings; . . . 'Master-slave relationships' in which one man or womanwould 'walk' their subservient 'slave' with a dog collar and chain" and soon. LaBarbera saved much of his outrage for the Sisters of PerpetualIndulgence, a charitable group of gay men in nun drag that LaBarberadenounced as exhibiting "blatant anti-Christian bigotry." LaBarbera closedhis letter by demanding that Pelosi "condemn these public perversions anduse your great influence to stop them from happening in the future in SanFrancisco."
As if that wasn't enough, LaBarbera held a press conference on December 5for the sole purpose of denouncing the Folsom Street Fair. "Americans ForTruth will be airing uncensored videotaped footage, documenting publicperversions and nudity at the Folsom Street Fair, an open-air, sadistic sexfestival held September 30th on the streets of San Francisco," LaBarberapromised. Held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., LaBarberawas joined by fellow fundies Matt Barber of Concerned Women For America andGrace Hurley of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX). ThoughLaBarbera's promise of hard-core, gay leather porn seemed sure to attract acrowd, less than ten people attended his press conference, according toRebecca Armendariz of the Washington Blade, who was there.
The Folsom Street Fair [www.folsomstretfair.com] is one of four annualevents produced by Folsom Street Events, a not-for-profit organization whosemission "is to create volunteer-driven leather events that provide the adultalternative lifestyle community with safe venues for self-expression whileemphasizing freedom, fun, frolic and fetish and raising critical funds tobenefit local charities."
New York Times
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Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bishop24dec24,1,6120135.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
California
Bishop at forefront of Episcopal divide
Supporters and critics agree the San Joaquin Diocese's leader was a powerfulforce in his conservative flock's vote to secede.
By Rebecca Trounson
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 24, 2007
FRESNO - Bishop John-David Schofield's tone was urgent this month as heexhorted delegates from his Central California diocese to leave theEpiscopal Church.
For more than 20 years, Schofield said, he had watched in dismay as thenational church strayed from Scripture and made controversial decisionsabout theology and sexuality, including the role of gays in the church. Now,he told delegates to his diocese's annual convention, it was time to act.
"God's timing is essential!" the bishop declared, his voice rising. "Delayedobedience to Scripture is seen as disobedience when opportunities andblessings are lost."
Schofield has emerged as a pivotal player in the drama surrounding thefuture of one of the nation's most influential denominations. At the meetingof delegates from across the Diocese of San Joaquin, he displayed thestrong-willed personality that has won him both admirers and detractors.
There was no time to lose, he told the delegates. The national church couldput new rules in place to prevent such secession attempts. The moment mightnever come again, he said.
The measures passed, by huge margins.
San Joaquin, a Fresno-based diocese of 47 parishes, had elected to becomethe first diocese in the nation to break with the Episcopal Church overtheological issues and align with a conservative Anglican province in SouthAmerica. And Schofield, according to supporters and critics alike, hadplayed the central role in those historic Dec. 8 decisions, propelling hislargely conservative flock along a path that could prove risky for allconcerned.
more....
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.queerty.com/gay/romes-mayor-rips-political-peer-over-anti-gay-politics-20071227/
Rome's Mayor Rips Political Peer Over Anti-Gay PoliticsVeltroni Shows His Teeth
Roman mayor Walter Veltroni won't be celebrating the new year with partypeer Dr. Paola Binetti.
Though the politicians are both members of the new Democratic party, Binetti's part of the teodem wing, which follows a far more rigid moral path. The agedlawmaker made headlines this week when she endorsed reparative therapy: justone of her anti-gay stands.
Now Binetti's being ripped by Veltroni for her opposition tonon-discrimination legislation:
In an open letter to the newspaper La Stampa Mayor Walter Veltroni chidedDr. Paola Binetti for her resistance against legislation that would bardiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
.
"Homosexuality is a human condition," Veltroni argued in his letter. "andthe [DP] is working to recognize the rights of homosexual couples."
Apparently not everyone.
more . . . . .
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365Gay.Com
http://www.365gay.com/
Go to the website, above, for the following articles
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Arizona Gays Face Growing Number Of Syphilis Cases
(Phoenix, Arizona) Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano has approved a $100,000campaign to urge gay men to get tested for syphilis after state healthofficials warned the disease is reaching crisis proportions.
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DC To Fund Needle Exchange To Fight HIV
(Washington) A nine-year ban on city funding for needle-exchange programs inthe District of Columbia has been lifted, a move city officials say is keyto reducing the soaring rate of AIDS and HIV infections in the country'scapital.
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Artist Ashes Scattered Around The World
(Cincinnati, Ohio) Friends of an artist were handed envelopes containing herashes at her memorial service and given a task: Spread the ashes whereverthey felt appropriate.
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Gay Journalist Thomas Morgan Dies
(New York City) Thomas Morgan, the first openly gay president of theNational Association of Black Journalists and an inductee into the NationalLesbian & Gay Journalists Association Hall of Fame, has died.
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Poll Shows Voters Still Examining Candidates
(Washington) Dig beneath the surface of the raucous Republican presidentialrace and you will find even deeper turmoil: Four in 10 GOP voters haveswitched candidates in the past month alone, and nearly two-thirds say theymay change their minds again.
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Planet Out
http://www.planetout.com/families/article.html?sernum=29
From the Nolo.com Marriage & Living Together Center.
Only legally married couples can file joint-income tax returns. Untilsame-sex couples win the right to legally marry in the U.S., gay and lesbiancouples can't file joint tax returns. (See Same-Sex Marriage: A History ofthe Law for more information on lesbian and gay marriage.)
If one partner supports the other, however, the supporter can file a taxreturn as a single person and claim the other as a dependent. This ispossible if you meet the five following tests:
Unmarried person. If the supported person is married and files a joint taxreturn with his spouse -- this will be unusual in your situation -- thesupporting partner in this relationship cannot claim him as a dependent.There's one exception -- if the married couple did not earn enough to haveto file a tax return, and did so only to get a refund, the supportingpartner can claim the dependent.
Citizen or resident. The supported person must be a U.S. citizen, residentalien, or citizen of Canada or Mexico.
Income. The supported person's taxable income cannot exceed $2,750.
Nontaxable money, such as gifts, welfare benefits, and nontaxable SocialSecurity benefits, don't count toward gross income.
Support. The supporting partner must provide at least 50% of the otherpartner's total support for the year. Support includes food, shelter,clothing, medical and dental care, education, entertainment, and just aboutanything you can think of.
Relationship. Under IRS regulations, a person who lived in your home for theentire year can be considered a dependent as long as the relationship doesnot violate local law. Three calls to the IRS asking what that sentencemeant lead to "it says what it says." And that was the most intelligentresponse. Our advice: If you meet the other four tests and live in a statewhere sodomy is against the law, go ahead and claim your lover as adependent. The worst that can happen is that the IRS won't allow yourdeduction and your tax bill will be recomputed without the deduction.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.baywindows.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=glbt&sc3=&id=54041&pf=1
MassEquality Campaign Director Marc Solomon: Regrouping after a devastatingloss
by Ethan Jacobs
staff reporter
Thursday Dec 27, 2007
After all of the victory rallies and gala celebrations that followed theJune 14 defeat of the marriage amendment, it's hard to remember how bleakthings looked at the beginning of 2007. The prior November, marriageequality advocates all but declared victory after they succeeded in pushingthe vote on the amendment back to Jan. 2, the last day of the session.
Activists on both sides expected lawmakers to stay home, letting theamendment die without a vote. But then the Supreme Judicial Court lobbed amonkey wrench into that plan, releasing an opinion that December saying thatthey felt lawmakers were obligated to take a vote on the amendment. Thatopinion, combined with a series of rallies held across the state byVoteOnMarriage.org to demand an up-or-down vote on the amendment, spurredlawmakers to come back the State House on Jan. 2 and take the first of twovotes needed to place the amendment on the ballot. The defeat at the Jan. 2ConCon was arguably the greatest blow to the marriage equality movement.
For Marc Solomon, campaign director of MassEquality and the man tasked withleading the massive coalition of LGBT organizations, lawmakers, canvassers,lobbyists and volunteers working to defeat the amendment, it was devastatingto watch the November victory unravel, culminating in the Jan. 2 vote. Andwhile many of MassEquality's allies were breaking out the champagne to toastDeval Patrick's election as governor, Solomon had to grapple with how tobring the marriage movement back from its greatest defeat.
more.....
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=17019
College to offer queer lit course
2007-12-26
Wilbur Wright College announced that it will offer a new literature coursefor Spring 2008, Literature 153: Gay & Lesbian Literature.
The course will be taught by Dr. Aldo Alvarez, and students will read worksby Alison Bechdel, Dorothy Allison and others.
Wilber Wright College is part of the City Colleges of Chicago.
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To Form a More Perfect Union: Marriage Equality News
Information, news, and discussion about the legal recognition of same-sex
couples and their families, including marriages, domestic partnerships,
civil unions, adoptions, foster children and similar issues.
http://samesexmarriage.typepad.com/weblog/
Go to the website, above, for the following article:
--
While many civil rights advocates and members of the gay and lesbian
community are celebrating the New Hampshire same-sex civil union law set togo into effect on Jan. 1, there are those who still oppose it. Theresidents of New Hampshire, the "Live Free or Die" state, have long beencharacterized as having a laissez-faire attitude when it comes to sociallyprogressive issues. The current presidential campaign has highlighted thedifference, with residents of states like Iowa and South Carolina tending tobe more interested than Granite Staters in hearing politicians' positions onabortion, gay marriage and religious issues.
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National Gay News
http://nationalgaynews.com/
Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
--
Obama Camp Woos Gays
Gay supporters of Barack Obama's bid for the Democratic presidential
nomination began voter outreach in the Castro last weekend in an effort todrum up support in advance of the state's February 5 primary. Obama, whotrails Senator Hillary Clinton in several recent statewide polls,nonetheless has been closing the gap, and is in a tight race with Clinton inIowa and New Hampshire, where voters soon will cast ballots in the caucusesand primary, respectively.
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DA Taps Gay Man to Admin Post
San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris appointed veteran deputydistrict attorney Paul Henderson as head of administration at the beginningof December. His appointment to the new position creates a power team ofopenly queer managers running the district attorney's office: MarthaKnutzen, a lesbian, is manager of legal operations; and Tim Silard, anopenly gay man, is chief of policy.
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The Gay Clique of Newark is Finding its Voice
When the House of Jourdan's gala fundraiser showed up on the 6 o'clock newsseven years ago, anchormen smirked at footage of strutting drag queens andgay men "voguing," a dance popularized by Madonna. There were voterregistration tables and an array of HIV-prevention information at the ball.
But the cameras ignored those things.
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From EuroQueer
In Europe, Where's the Hate?
Gary Younge
Over the past year or so the rural Italian idyll of Colle di Val d'Elsa hasplayed host to a bitter battle for Enlightenment values. On one side, thehamlet's small Muslim community has raised a considerable amount of money tobuild a large mosque. Having gained the mayor's approval, the Muslims signeda declaration of cooperation with the town hall and even planted a Christmastree at the site as a good-will gesture.
In response, other locals pelted them with sausages and dumped a severedpig's head at the site. On a wall near the site vandals daubed: "No Mosque,""Christian Hill" and "Thanks to the communists the Arabs are in ourhouse!!!"
Such is the central dynamic in European race relations at present. It isprobably not the dynamic you have heard most about. The most popular onemaking the rounds this side of the Atlantic involves hordes of Muslims,rabid with anti-Semitic and misogynistic views, running amok as they bomb,bully and outbreed their clueless liberal hosts in a bid to build acaliphate.
"Do you have a child back in England?" an elderly Los Angelena asked aBritish reporter on a recent National Review cruise.
"No," he said.
"You'd better start," she replied. "The Muslims are breeding. Soon, they'llhave the whole of Europe."
Nor is it by any means the only dynamic. There are a handful of nihilisticyoung Muslims keen to bomb and destroy and a far larger number sufficientlydisaffected that they are prepared to riot. There are also many Europeanskeen to see equality and meaningful integration, defending civil libertiesand opposing wars against predominantly Muslim lands.
But the primary threat to democracy in Europe is not "Islamofascism"--thatclunking, thuggish phrase that keeps lashing out in the hope that it willone day strike a meaning--but plain old fascism. The kind whereby mostlywhite Europeans take to the streets to terrorize minorities in the name ofracial, cultural or religious superiority.
more....
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=15801
N.H. civil unions could be boon for businesses, tourism
New law defines civil unions as equivalent of marriage in all but name
BETHLEHEM, N.H. (AP) | Dec 27, 11:44 AM
If the rainbow-painted deck chairs, fluttering rainbow flag and purpleshutters don't make it clear, the Highlands Inn's toll-free number,877-LES-B-INN, leaves no doubt as to whom this White Mountains resort catersto.
Innkeeper Grace Newman began hosting commitment ceremonies at thisself-proclaimed "lesbian paradise" in the 1980s. Newman says she has losttrack of the number of commitment ceremonies that have happened there; sheestimates about 300 couples have honeymooned at the inn after getting civilunions in Vermont or marriages in Quebec, Canada, both short drives away.
In 2008, the inn's 25th anniversary coincides with another milestone: legalrecognition of civil unions by New Hampshire beginning Jan. 1. Newman,veteran host and overseer of many a union, isn't wasting any time. Two NewHampshire couples have agreed to get civil unions during the inn's annualNew Year's Eve dance after the clock strikes 12.
From the North Country to the Statehouse steps, other gay couples are makingsimilar plans.
"It would be pretty easy to take a little break from the party and celebratesome civil unions," said Newman, who plans to get her own civil union withlongtime partner Maria Doyle this September at the inn.
more . . . . .
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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2007/12-27/news/national/4298.cfm
Fight over job bias bill was top national story of 2007
Debate over transinclusive ENDA prompted protests
By JOEY DIGUGLIELMO
Dec. 27, 2007
PASSAGE OF THE EMPLOYMENT Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) has long been at thetop of gay activists' wish lists. The bill has been around in one form oranother since the 1970s and after the Democrats took control of Congress in2006, many were optimistic it would finally pass.
But the excitement gave way to a divisive fight over transgender rights thisyear, pitting some activists against gay Rep. Barney Frank and others whosupported the gay-only version when it became clear there were not enoughvotes to pass the trans-inclusive version.
Many trans activists felt abandoned and some even picketed the annual HumanRights Campaign National Dinner. Others argued that a successful Housevote - even with a White House veto threatened and looming - would behistoric and bode well for more expansive legislation in the future.
The ENDA timeline below shows how the bill has progressed since 1974.
March 14, 1974 - Reps. Bella Abzug (D-N.Y.) and Ed Koch (D-N.Y.) introduceH.R. 14752, dubbed the "gay rights bill" or "Equality Act of 1974," but itfails to make it out of committee. It proposes that new categories of sex,sexual orientation and marital status be added to the 1964 civil rights act.
more . . . . .
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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2007/12-27/arts/television/4303.cfm
Rosie flames out and Logo breaks out in 2007
Cable networks dominate gay programming
By BRIAN MOYLAN
Dec. 27, 2007
THERE WASN'T MUCH NEW ON THE tube in 2007, but many of the events continuedto solidify and reinforce the trends we've been seeing in the industry overthe last several years, like the proliferation of gays on cable shows andreality programs and the lack of inclusion on scripted network dramas.
But if the criteria for the big gay television story of the year entailsscreaming matches, media grudges, cat fights and spectacular flame outs,then 2007 belonged to Rosie O'Donnell, who got serious ink due to herself-imposed ouster from ABC's "The View" in May.
O'Donnell joined the show in 2006, and the media scrutiny started soonafter, thanks to her very public war of words with Donald Trump and hercalling Kelly Ripa homophobic based on some comments Ripa made about ClayAiken. And when O'Donnell wasn't making headlines with her political views,she was front-and-center as a lesbian on television, talkingmatter-of-factly about her wife and their children to an audience ofmillions.
But nothing compares to her on-air battle with conservative cohost ElisabethHasselbeck about the war in Iraq. Though O'Donnell had previously decidednot to renew her contract with the show, after the fight, she left the showfor good, several weeks before her deal with producers expired.
So far, the only return O'Donnell has made is as a guest star on FX's supergay "nip/tuck." In November, she reprised her role as talkative, brash andstraight Dawn Budge.
more . . . . .
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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2007/12-27/news/national/4299.cfm
The runners-up: top national stories of 2007
Falwell's death, Craig sex charges were among the year's top headlines
By FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Dec. 27, 2007
THE GAY NEWS STORY OF THE YEAR was the fight over the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the removal of protections based on gender identity(see Page 10). But that wasn't the only story making headlines. Below is aroundup of the rest of the year's top stories.
House kills hate crimes measure
A federal hate crimes measure passed Congress, but never reached thepresident's desk this year because efforts to tie it to the National DefenseAuthorization Act failed.
The measure, which granted federal resources to prosecute crimes motivatedby a victim's sexual orientation or gender identity, died in conferencecommittee after passing the House 237-180 and surviving a Senate challenge,60-39.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) acquiesced this month to demandsby House Democratic leaders to drop the measure from the National DefenseAuthorization Act.
Top general calls gay sex 'immoral'
The nation's top general drew criticism earlier this year after referring togay sex as "immoral."
more . . . . .
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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2007/12-27/view/editorial/4300.cfm
Rosenstein: A wish for the New Year
We must find a way to grow the number of activists in 2008
By PETER ROSENSTEIN
Dec. 27, 2007
THE GLBT COMMUNITY SHOULD BE proud of what we accomplished in 2007. Butthere is definitely a feeling of frustration that we couldn't do more. Wepassed hate crimes in both houses of Congress and a version of ENDA in one,but didn't get all that we wanted.
We have commitments from all the Democratic candidates to work for equalfederal benefits for state-approved civil unions, to end "Don't Ask, Don'tTell" and to finally sign inclusive hate crimes and ENDA legislation if wecan get them through Congress.
I choose to see this as the glass half full; others see it as half empty.Wehave seen the frustration produce a rift in our community that needs toheal. We must work together if we are to move forward and accomplish what weall agree is the goal, full human and civil rights.
To do this, the community must demand that our national organizations stoptrying to compete with each other and work together. I think we may actuallyneed a new organization, a real grass-roots one that can lobby effectivelyon all issues and support our national organizations with the ability toreach the GLBT community, without regard to any one issue. We need to targetour outreach and lobbying efforts to communities and legislators who don'tyet support us rather than fighting with those who do.
There is no one organization that speaks for our entire community andprobably no one organization ever will. It is time to clarify what it isthat each of the organizations does best.
more . . . . .
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Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2007/12/southwest_airlines_stumbles_of_1.html
Southwest Airlines Stumbles Out of the Closet
Conflicting Messages in GLBT-Themed Travel Section
By Emil Steiner
December 27, 2007; 12:00 PM ET
You are now safe to move out of the closet? (Southwest Airlines) During arecent visit to Southwest Airline's web site, I stumbled upon something thatgrabbed my eye. The company's Gay Travel Section -- "We Take Pride inPartnering With You!." Launched in late spring, this double-entendre ladenarea describes itself as "the first Southwest Airlines dedicated web page tothe gay and lesbian community." They apparently "have so much fun stuff tohelp you get out and about, that we thought we'd put it all in oneeasy-to-find place. From gay-friendly destinations to gay events around thecountry, you'll find information to suit your needs." (Finally!)
The "gay-friendly destinations" are places that Southwest has determined tohave "welcoming cultural diversity" and include such hidden gems as SanFrancisco, Provincetown, and, if you can believe it, the Miami area (sorryTennessee!). Among the upcoming events that Southwest surmises mightinterest members of the gay and lesbian community: the International Mr. GayCompetition, Blue Gay-la: Lake Tahoe's Gay & Lesbian Ski Week, 2008 OUTFestall made the list. Interestingly enough, so did the Jan. 1 Mummers DayParade in Philadelphia, which, although not affiliated with any gay orlesbian community, does involve men dressing in flamboyant costumes.
"Southwest likes to remain a maverick in the field," according to a companyspokesperson I talked to yesterday. Using "a research and segmentationteam," the airline analyzed where gays and lesbians were traveling and thenused that information to compile their lists. "Everyone wants somethingdifferent," she explained "and we try to cater to them."
And boy do they know how to cater! They even came up with a helpful list ofgay travel tips that reads like a mother's parting words before her child'sfirst camping trip: Ask the right questions, leave a trail, always beprepared, "smelling good... c'mon, you know you want to." (And straight guyswant to stink?)
Southwest is certainly not alone in trying to appeal to travelers of allsexual orientations. American Airlines launched its "Rainbow" section in2005, and Delta has its Rainbow Getaways. New Zealand Air even has a specialthemed "Pink Flight" featuring drag queens, pink cocktails and a cabaretperformed by the flight crew, en route to the 2008 Gay and Lesbian MardiGras in Sydney, Australia. It's all part of an effort to woo the estimated$65 billion that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people spend ontravel each year. As the Cranky Flier puts it, "if you are gay, they'reseeing dollar signs in their eyes."
But, far from a slick ad campaign, Southwest's hackneyed jargon insteadpangs of a nervous heterosexual trying too hard to prove he's nothomophobic. The result is unintentional parody that may make readers wonderwhether Southwest is being innocently open-minded, pandering ham-handedly orbeing downright offensive? Let me know your interpretation.
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Statesman Journal - Oregon
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071226/STATE/712260395
Same-sex couples await legal benefits
Marriage-style perks come with state's domestic partnerships
STEVE LAW
Statesman Journal
December 26, 2007
Salem pastor Don Frueh and his partner, Robert Barzler, already have sealedtheir union as a couple on their own terms. They conducted a ceremonialblessing of their home when they bought a house together 3 1/2 years ago,and jokingly refer to themselves as "Robald Fruzler," a joint moniker thatblends their names and hairstyles.
Next month, Frueh and Barzler intend to legally formalize their eight-yearrelationship by entering into a domestic partnership.
The Oregon Legislature enacted a domestic partnership law in 2007, alongwith a companion measure barring discrimination against gays, lesbians,bisexuals and transgendered people. The two laws take effect in January,marking a historic breakthrough for Oregon's gay-rights movement.
Frueh, associate pastor at First Congregational United Church of Christ inSalem, has conducted past ceremonies to sanctify unions of same-sex couplesin the congregation. But those didn't bring any legal recognition.
When Frueh, Barzler and other same-sex couples enter into a contractualdomestic partnership, they'll gain most of the benefits accorded to marriedcouples under state law.
more . . . . .
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Pam's House Blend
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=5B01B032D5AC606386A27453015877F3?diaryId=3990
10 Books Every Bisexual Should Read
by: SarahS
Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 11:52:13 AM EST
(Thanks for this handy list of reading complimenting the work done over atthe Bilerico Project - promoted by Daimeon)
The folks over at the Bilrico Project have been putting out book lists, of10 Books Every Gay Boy Should Read, 10 Books Every Lesbian Should Read, and10 Books Every Transperson Should Read. I don't know if they mean to excludebisexuality, or if they just haven't gotten around to it, but I decided tomake my own list.
I'm a librarian (just finished my MLS, looking for a job) so to say thatbooks are important to me would be a gross understatement. Books saved meas 15 year old bi girl growing up in conservative Catholic Wisconsin, whereI didn't know any GLBT people and thought there was something wrong with mefor thinking my boyfriend was hot and female friends were too. They helpedme understand that I was not alone. They were my friends when no oneunderstood, my rock when I needed support, and my joy when I read somethingparticularly smart, funny, or just wonderful. I wouldn't be as welladjusted and intelligent if not for queer books in general, but as abisexual, the books on this list represent some of the finest nonfiction Ihave ever encountered on a subject near and dear to myself.
SarahS :: 10 Books Every Bisexual Should Read
1. The Bisexual's Guide to the Universe: Quips, Tips, And Lists for ThoseWho Go Both Ways by Nicole Kristal and Mike Szymanski
This books is not only the first winner of the first Bisexual LambdaLiterary Award in 2006, it is friggin' hilarious. It is divided intosections, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced, so it really has somethingfor everyone. It includes the authors own personal experiences along theway, so it never becomes dry or academic. There is also all sorts of usefulcontent, like a guide to Bi film, that you won't find elsewhere. Andbecause it is written for bisexuals by bisexuals, bisexuality is not just atoken mention, it is the real focus. And it is very very funny, sarcastic,snarky, and generally just fun to read.
more . . . . .
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The Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-clemons/when-the-intolerant-kill-_b_78201.html
When the Intolerant Kill Christmas: My Gay Friend's Holiday Story
Posted December 24, 2007
10:26 PM (EST)
A very close friend of mine "just came out" to his brother as a gay man. Hedid the same with his mother about ten months ago -- and it didn't go well.. .with either of them.
He's a former soldier who worked on some of the most classified missions themilitary had going -- and despite my criticism of the Bush administration onits invasion of Iraq, I know that my friend had a hand in successfullydelivering some of the world's real bad guys to the next world -- both inAfghanistan and Iraq. He reads my blog -- and he has kept an open mind aboutsome of my criticisms of this administration and the national securitycourse it has been on.
But his mother and brother have tried to tell him that if he's gay -- hemust not believe in God, he must be a reprobate and must be such a deviantthat his brother told him that he will never give him a moment's rest andpeace about this issue.
My friend is earnest, a patriot, sober, sane -- and he's being betrayed inAmerica by a lack of the kind of tolerance and modernity that our society issupposed to be about. Iran and any place under the control of the Talibanhang, stone, or castrate gay youth. Egypt imprisons them. In middle America,the intolerant who somehow have decided to channel a vindictive, judgmental,and sin-obsessed Christ harass, disown -- and in the case of young MatthewShepard in Laramie, Wyoming or active duty sailor Allen Schindler -- killthem.
I hate to hold Dick Cheney and his wife out as models, but I'm absolutelygoing to in this case. Cheney is convinced of how right he is in matters ofwar and state -- but when it came to family, Cheney and his wife evolved. Iknow that he does not harass his daughter Mary. He accepts her, her partner,and his grandchild.
more . . . . .
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/washington/27needle.html?_r=1&ex=1356498000&en=9a4baced766ad444&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin
New Law Allows Needle Exchanges in Washington
By IAN URBINA
December 27, 2007
WASHINGTON - President Bush signed legislation on Wednesday lifting a banthat for nearly a decade has prevented city officials here from using localtax money for needle exchange programs.
Officials of the District of Columbia Health Department said that with theban lifted, they would allocate $1 million for such programs in 2008.
Since 1999, the nation's capital, which reports having the highest rate ofAIDS infection of any major city in the country, has been the only citybarred by federal law from using municipal money for needle exchanges. Arecent report by the city showed that intravenous drug users' sharing ofneedles was second only to unprotected sex as a leading cause of H.I.V.transmission.
Congress controls local government here, and for nine years members of theHouse, expressing concerns about worsening drug abuse, had inserted into thebill approving the city's budget a provision to prohibit financing needleexchange programs. But with Republicans' loss of Congressional control toDemocrats, this year's bill, signed by Mr. Bush on Wednesday, reversed theban.
"For too long, Congress has unfairly imposed on the citizens of D.C. bytrying out their social experiments there," said Representative José E.Serrano, the New York Democrat who heads the House Appropriationssubcommittee that handles the city's budget. "The ban on needle exchangeswas one of the most egregious of these impositions, especially because theconsensus is clear that these programs save lives."
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=17030
Sex and Violence, new research
by Bob Roehr
2007-12-26
"Violence is as American as cherry pie," proclaimed Black power advocate H.Rap Brown in the 1960s. The latest research from the annual meeting of theAmerican Public Health Association appears to bear that out.Sexual assault where males are the victims rather than the perpetrators isone of the least reported crimes and least studied subjects of research. Theliterature suggests that 1 in 33 adult males have been the victim ofattempted or completed rape at some point in their lifetimes. However, suchassaults are underreported and most studies are based on the most severecases that require medical attention.
A new study suggests the real rate is three times higher. VirginiaCommonwealth University researcher Saba Masho led a team that conducted anin-depth telephone survey of 705 adult men in Virginia.
It found a lifetime prevalence of sexual assault of 12.9 percent and a 0.1percent rate of victimization within the previous 12 months. She said themean age when the assault occurred was 12, with the majority occurringbetween 12 and 17.
"The majority were single events by one person, followed by multiple eventsby the same person." Surprisingly, "nearly 40 percent were victimized byfemales." Less surprising was that nearly 75 percent of the perpetratorswere older than 18 and nearly 80 percent were known to the victim. Sexualassault and victimization is most likely to occur in the home, regardless ofthe gender of the victim.
more . . . . .
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dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.gaypeopleschronicle.com/stories07/december/1228072.htm
2007: The year that should have been better
by Eric Resnick
December 28, 2007
Perhaps the most apropos metaphor for how lesbians, gays, bisexuals andtransgenders fared in 2007 happened in October when Harry Potter creatorJ.K. Rowling announced that the mightiest wizard in her children'sbest-sellers, Albus Dumbledore, was gay.
Quickly, LGBT message doctors rushed in to pronounce the development somesort of revolutionary act with the power to open the hearts and minds ofchildren to LGBT acceptance for generations to come.
The real story, however, was much less dramatic.
The character was 115 years old, asexual his entire life, and is now dead,to the extent that fictional characters could have ever lived. Moreover, hishomosexuality was irrelevant to the story's plot.
Had Rowling declared Potter or one of his teenaged friends gay, it wouldhave been revolutionary, but that's probably why she didn't.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid51325.asp
Huckabee Explains Antigay Stances
December 28, 2007
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee appealed to Iowaconservatives on two fronts last weekend in Iowa, calling for a strongermilitary and stronger families.
Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who jumped to a lead in Iowa pollsearlier this month, wants a drastic increase in regular forces to ease thestrain on National Guard and reserve units being called up for duty in Iraqand Afghanistan.
''We need to have a larger regular force to make sure we are capable if wedo have to go into battle, and let's pray to God that we don't,'' Huckabeetold about 120 people in Council Bluffs.
Huckabee acknowledged the criticism leveled at him last week for hisnegative comments about President Bush's foreign policy, although hemischaracterized the criticism.
Huckabee said detractors don't like his opinion that a larger force shouldhave invaded Iraq. In fact, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice disagreedwith a separate Huckabee complaint, that Bush has an ''arrogant bunkermentality'' toward foreign policy that is offensive to other countries.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.mideastyouth.com/2007/12/26/arab-and-muslim-homosexuals-who-dares-defend-them/
Arab and Muslim homosexuals: Who dares defend them?
Posted By Esra'a (Bahrain) On December 26, 2007 @ 10:09 am In Homosexuality,Activism, Taboos, Civil Rights, General | 43 Comments
A few months ago, a young homosexual couple from Morocco contacted us notingthat Mideast Youth does a good job of defending all kinds of rights, whetherthose of religious minorities, migrant workers, or sex slaves, and theyasked a vital question:
"What about us?"
So I immediately wanted to consult our team on having a gay rights campaigndirected at Arab and Muslim youth. [1] Liz wrote an e-mail and sent it toour active authors, and we had mixed reactions, most of which included "don't do it." Not that they don't support such efforts, but they felt that wesimply weren't ready.
I was kind of hoping for an enthusiastic "YEAH, LET'S DO IT!"
We've always been like that for anything that deserves support.
I believe everything deserves a shot no matter how ugly the situation canturn out. But this time it was different. Since the majority of our teamwere not willing to do this I had no choice but to respect that and distanceourself from this, at least for now.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
Uganda
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/17/603699
We must resist gays - bishop
By Daniel Edyegu
Publication date: Wednesday, 26th December, 2007
THE Government should not yield to pressure and legalise homosexuality andlesbianism, the Bishop of Bukedi Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Nicodemus Okille, hasappealed.
The bishop, who was delivering his Christmas sermon at St. Peter's Church ofUganda Tororo on Tuesday, said the acts violate both the biblical teachingson marriage and African culture.
Okille criticised the advocates of gay rights, saying they had no place inthe Kingdom of God.
"These are acts to question the ordinances of God. There's nothing like'intellectualising' sin; sin is sin. How do you imagine a woman sharing thesame bed with a woman or a man with a fellow man?" he asked. According tothe Penal Code Act, homosexuality is illegal and carries a maximum sentenceof life imprisonment.
Under their umbrella body, Sexual Minorities Uganda, gay activists recentlyaddressed an unprecedented news conference to speak out against allegeddiscrimination and harassment from the Police. They want a law allowing themto practice their sexual orientation more freely.
"It's terrible. As the church, we need to resist practices that are not inline with the Christian doctrines," Okille said.
The bishop cautioned married couples against indulging in adultery. sayingit is the main cause of divorce.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.proudparenting.com/node/1095
Warning about Hillary from a PFLAG leader: Her position on same-sexparenting is "dangerous".
Thu, 12/27/2007 - 3:49pm by Community Editor
'08 Presidential candidates Know Thy Neighbor Massachusetts News & PoliticsPFLAG
In an email sent exclusively to KnowThyNeighbor.org - Greater Boston PFLAGPresident Stan Griffith shared his personal views about Hillary Clinton'sposition on same-sex parenting. KnowThyNeighbor.org posted the email on it'swebsite. PFLAG is the acronym for Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbiansand Gays.
In the email, Griffith says he believes Hillary's views on lesbian and gayfamilies is indistinguishable from Massachusetts parent David Parker's - andit's a position used by the Family Research Institute to wage war ondiversity education and safe schools programs.
In April 2005, David Parker, then a father of a kindergarten student,created an uproar at his child's elementary school - after the boy haddescribed to his father a classroom lesson in which the teacher read from abook about different types of families. A federal judge later dismissed asuit by Parker who contended that the public school system violated hisconstitutional rights.
Democratic candidates were recently asked if they approved of learningmaterial in public schools which depict same-sex parents. Obama and Edwardsstated they support it. Hillary, on the other hand, said she believes it'sup to parents to decide how to handle such topics. And this is the sameposition as Parker and the Family Research Institute.
Griffith calls on LGBT supporters of Clinton to understand how "dangerous"Clinton's position actually is.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.plastic.com/article.html;sid=07/12/27/22250701
Does Gay Pride = Bawdy, Salacious, And Sexually Suggestive?
found on Daily Press
written by Travis Bickle, edited by Humberto (Plastic) [ read unedited ]
posted Thu 27 Dec 3:24pm
Bethany Laccone is a 17-year-old high school senior from Portsmouth,Virginia. Bethany is also a lesbian. She experiences no real grief atWoodrow Wilson High, her regular high school. But she attends a specialcourse one class a day at another Portsmouth high school. Not only did sheexperience grief, she believes she experienced sexual discrimination andhumiliation - all over a tee shirt.
The crux of the controversy is a tee shirt (shown here). She had worn thetee to Wilson any number of times without incident. However, when she showedup for hotel management class at IC Norcom High she was told she hadchoices. She could either get rid of the tee shirt, cover it up, turn itinside out, or get suspended. She was told by an assistant principal theshirt violated the school dress code which bans "bawdy, salacious orsexually suggestive messages." When Laccone's father went to IC Norcom for ameeting with the assistant principal he was told Bethany's tee shirt wasextremely upsetting to the teacher who reported her. In fact it was soupsetting that it "interfered with her ability to teach."
Bethany and her father turned next to the ACLU, which wrote a demand letter(pdf doc) to IC Norcom. The letter observed that wearing the tee shirt waspart of Bethany's free speech rights and cited numerous court casesupholding her rights. It made a series of demands of the school including anapology to Bethany and removal of any disciplinary notes from her file. Itgave the school until 11 January to respond. According to Virginia ACLUexecutive director Kent Willis:
"What's happening to Bethany Laccone is a clear-cut case of unconstitutionalcensorship. (She) has the same rights to express her opinions and be openabout who she is as any other student. We intend to make sure I.C. NorcomHigh School stops breaking the law and treats all of its students equallyregardless of their views."
There has been no comment from IC Norcom. A representative from the schooldistrict's office wasn't clear about what happened with Bethany andsuggested "the concern could be that we are training students to go out intothe business world." A lawyer with the national ACLU said teachers aresupposed to teach all students without regard to things like sexualidentity: "If a teacher can't deal with the fact that there are gay studentsin her classroom, that doesn't mean she gets to violate that student's FirstAmendment rights." As for Bethany, she just wants to be able to wear the teeshirt, "I don't feel like I should have to hide my sexuality."
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2007/12/mitt-romneys-ch.html
Mitt Romney's Christmas Present to the 'Gay' Lobby Should End Support
by David Smith
Peter LaBarbera, longtime pro- family advocate and founder of theRepublicans For Family Values website, is calling on pro-family leaders whohave endorsed Mitt Romney to withdraw their support for his candidacy inlight of his recent comments on NBC's "Meet the Press" supportingpro-homosexual "sexual orientation" state laws.
"Mitt Romney's Christmas present to the homosexual lobby disqualifies him asa pro-family leader," LaBarbera said. "Laws that treat homosexuality as acivil right are being used to promote homosexual 'marriage,' same-sexadoption and pro- homosexuality indoctrination of schoolchildren. These samelaws pose a direct threat to the freedom of faith- minded citizens andorganizations to act on their religious belief that homosexual behavior iswrong.
"Romney may have had a late conversion on abortion, but it appears hisninth-inning flip-flop on homosexuality is falling short due to his strongcommitment to 'gay rights,'" LaBarbera said. (See the 'Mitt RomneyDeception' report) "Now some pro- family leaders -- who have raised millionsof dollars over the years opposing 'gay' activism -- will need to explainhow they can go on supporting an openly pro- homosexual-agenda candidate."
LaBarbera said it is "inconceivable after Massachusetts' twin disastersinvolving homosexual 'marriage' and homosexual adoption that Romney now isrecommending pro- homosexual 'orientation' laws -- long derided as "specialrights" among social conservatives - to the rest of the nation.
"In Romney's own state of Massachusetts, the state 'sexual orientation'nondiscrimination law laid the groundwork for homosexual activists' campaignto legalize 'same-sex marriage' -- which then-Gov. Romney brought tofruition with his unnecessary and illegal directive granting marriagelicenses to homosexual partners," LaBarbera said. "The same pro-gay statelaw also forced Boston's Catholic Charities to shut down its century-oldadoption agency because it would not pledge to place children inhomosexual-led households against Catholic teaching.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2007/12/bias_lawsuit_ta.html
Bias lawsuit targets Tufts, professor
By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff
December 27, 2007 03:37 PM
A former faculty member at Tufts University is suing the college and aprominent professor for allegedly firing her in retaliation after sheaccused the professor of discriminating against female and minorityemployees and of singling her out for her sexual orientation.
Susan Lautze, a humanitarian researcher who cofounded the FeinsteinInternational Center at Tufts in 1996, says she was fired in 2005 after sheaccused her supervisor, Peter Walker, of harboring bias toward women andnonwhites. Before she was fired, she complained to Tufts officials thatWalker was trumping up reasons to fire her because of a bias against her as"an openly gay woman and someone who has campaigned for the protection ofmarginalized populations," according to the suit.
The civil suit, filed last week in Middlesex Superior Court, names Tufts andWalker, who has directed the Feinstein International Center since 2002, asdefendants. Lautze, who now lives in France, is seeking $360,000 in lostwages and damages.
A Tufts spokeswoman said today that university officials had not yetreceived the lawsuit, but denied the allegations in a statement.
"The university did not discriminate and will defend itself against thislawsuit. We regret that Ms. Lautze has taken this approach to solving adisagreement," the statement read.
more . . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.edgeptown.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=news&sc3=&id=54061
Penn. School Takes Gay Harassment Seriously
by Kilian Melloy
EDGE Provincetown Contributor
Thursday Dec 27, 2007
When a gay Pennsylvania high school student was tormented into dropping outof school, 300 classmates stood up on his behalf to demand changes at theschool.
The boy was a student at Pennsylvania's Susquehanna Twp. High School; now,in light of the petition submitted by about 300 students, thesuperintendant, David Volkman, has initiated a top-to-bottom review to seehow the school can alleviate the daily abuses that students suffer in thedistrict's schools.
The story was reported on yesterday by the Pennsylvania newspaper thePatriot-News
(www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2007/12/few_days_went_by_without.html),
which said that the student in question was harassed and bullied somercilessly that, though he never reported the abuse, he did finally dropout of school in the midst of his senior year.
A committee formed by Volkman comprises 15 members: Volkman himself, schoolprincipal Judy Baumgardber, and students, teachers, parents, and othermembers of the community at large.
The newspaper story quoted Volkman as saying that the petition presented tohim "speaks volumes about this student and about the majority of students inthis school."
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.edgeptown.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=culture&sc2=features&sc3=&id=53855
Would Life Be Better if You Were Straight?
by Dylan Vox
Gaywired.com
Thursday Dec 20, 2007
If you found out that you could flip a switch and change your whole life,would you? Most people spend a majority of their childhood and sometimesinto their teens coming to terms with their sexuality. But for some gay menand women, that struggle can be a life long battle that never gets resolved.
Even after making peace with being gay, there can still be some lingeringquestions of whether or not you would change your sexual orientation if theopportunity came about, and a new study from the University of Illinois atChicago has hinted this alteration could perhaps be a reality. The study ofpheromones and smells has suggested that gene mutation in fruit fly subjectscould alter the insect's sexual proclivity.
Researcher David Featherstone and his assistants discovered a gene in fruitflies they call "genderblind," or GB, which if mutated, could make theinsects attracted to the same sex.
"It was very dramatic," Featherstone explained in an interview with ABCNews. "The GB mutant males treated other males exactly the same way normalmale flies would treat a female. They even attempted copulation."
The experiment altered the GB to suppress synapse strength and it changedthe way the insects interpreted the smell of pheromones that are thought tocause the attraction to other individuals.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--obit-morgan1226dec26,0,250861.story
First openly gay president of Black Journalists group dies
7:53 PM EST, December 26, 2007
NEW YORK (AP) _ Thomas Morgan III, the first openly gay president of theNational Association of Black Journalists and a longtime newsman at The NewYork Times, has died. He was 56.
The Brooklyn resident died early Monday morning, possibly of a heart attack,while visiting the family of his partner, Thomas Ciano, in Southampton,Mass., Ciano said Wednesday.
"He was a man of many different qualities and talents," Ciano said. "Hecared a lot about educating young journalists and the prevention of AIDS.Working to house and care for homeless people. Pottery. Gardening. Politics.Those were his passions."
Morgan was NABJ's president from 1989 to 1991. Even though he won theelection handily, it was somewhat heated, according to a 2004 profile ofMorgan on the NABJ's Web site.
"It was painful," Morgan recalled. "I struggled with how to represent NABJwithout embarrassing the organization but while also being true to myself. Iwas elected as a black journalist, not a gay one."
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/28/opinion/28fri2.html?ref=opinion
Editorial: Preventing AIDS Prevention
December 28, 2007
Congress and President Bush have done the right thing, lifting a disastrousnine-year ban that prevented Washington from using locally raised taxdollars on needle-exchange programs that help fight the spread of AIDS.Unfortunately, that still leaves in force an even broader and more damaginglaw that prohibits the use of federal funds for needle-exchange programs inthe United States or abroad.
That ban must also be rescinded.
The country's most important medical and public health organizationsendorsed needle-exchange programs more than a decade ago, and such programshave proved highly successful all over the world. Opponents' charges thatneedle exchanges would encourage addiction have turned out to be nonsense.
Meanwhile, the AIDS epidemic continues to spread, driven in part byintravenous drug addicts who become infected when they share dirty needles.They then pass H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, on to wives and loversand unborn children.
A recent report by the District of Columbia's health department found thatmore than 20 percent of the city's AIDS cases could be traced to intravenousdrug users. The city, meanwhile, has the highest AIDS rate in the nation,with 128.4 cases per 100,000 people, compared with 14 cases per 100,000 inthe country as a whole.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded by Joe Van Eron
info@GayDaniaBeach.com
Planet Out
http://www.planetout.com/money/
What you said: New gayborhoods!
by Marc Breindel
No doubt about it, we are everywhere -- restoring neighborhoods in bigcities, pioneering small towns in the Midwest and South, even creating new"gayborhoods" in Peru, Puerto Rico and Puerto Vallarta! Welcome to the 21stcentury, when gay life goes liberatingly global.
We asked you to send in reports of cool new gay neighborhoods you've seen,and we thank you for your many enthusiastic responses. A lot of people wrotein about small- to mid-sized cities in the American Midwest and South, likecharming Charleston, South Carolina; hip college town Lawrence, Kansas; andgenteel old Southern queen Natchez, Mississippi, home of the actual GreekRevival manor house Disneyland's Haunted Mansion is based on (Stanton Hall).
So many new gayborhoods are springing up, we decided to present your lettersover two features. Today we present new gayborhoods in the South andMidwest. Tomorrow we'll showcase the rest of the U.S. and some internationalgayborhoods.
Read on to discover a welcoming new gayborhood near you!
U.S. South
WHITE4...
I currently live in East Atlanta, Ga. Moved here four years ago fromOrlando, Fla. Midtown Atlanta has become more expensive and straights aremoving in more now. East Atlanta is an affordable alternative to Midtown.Many gay-owned shops, bars and eating establishments are within walkingdistance. Downtown is only two minutes away. Very up-and-coming gayborhood.
german...
The Germantown neighborhood of Louisville, Ky., is a historic blue collarneighborhood nestled between a thriving downtown and two older Victorianneighborhoods that have already been pioneered and gentrified by the gays inthe 1960s through the '80s. LGBT people are already spread all over themetro area here, but my partner and I just bought a shotgun house here inGermantown a year ago. Shotguns and bungalows dating from 1900 through the'20s abound here.
more....
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Jesse's Journal
by Jesse Monteagudo
JesseMonteagudo@aol.com
Folsom Street Blues
Thank God for the religious right. Often when I suffer from writer's block,a crackpot comes along with some harebrained scheme and I have something towrite about. The latest loony toon who's come to save the day (and thiscolumn) is Peter LaBarbera of Americans For Truth, "a newly reorganizednational organization devoted exclusively to exposing and countering thehomosexual activist agenda."
[www.americansfortruth.com]
According to Wayne Besen, "LaBarbera is notorious for donning leather garband sneaking into sundry gay S&M bars to take supposedly incriminatingpictures of naughty gays. LaBarbera is obsessive with following the seamierside of gay life, even frequenting establishments where gay sex occurs. Forhim, no bahthouses are too remote to discover, and no dark, grimy dungeonsnot worthy of explorations. It is no exaggeration to say that the man hasprobably frequented more gay venues than RuPaul and Mr. Leather USAcombined."
Peter LaBarbera's latest exposé is of the Folsom Street Fair, a annualgathering of kinky folk in San Francisco that proudly calls itself "theworld's largest leather event." Not letting a good thing pass him by,LaBarbera crashed this leather party on September 30 in order to expose thedepravity within. Since the Folsom Street Fair takes place in Nancy Pelosi's congressional district, LaBarbera gave a detailed description of the Fair'snaughty bits in a letter that he wrote to the Speaker, hoping no doubt thatshe would be as outraged as he claimed to be: "I was in San Francisco with avideographer on Sunday, September 30 and verified but a small segment of themost immoral and outrageous sexual behavior that ever disgraced the streetsof any American city."
LaBarbera followed his introduction with a laundry list of debauchery;depraved acts that he assured the Speaker were going on in full view ofinnocent children. These included "large numbers of men walking on publicstreets either fully or partially naked; . . . groups of men engaged inorgies on the public street, including acts of oral sex and mutualmasturbation; . . . theatrically dramatic sadomasochistic whippings andfloggings; . . . 'Master-slave relationships' in which one man or womanwould 'walk' their subservient 'slave' with a dog collar and chain" and soon. LaBarbera saved much of his outrage for the Sisters of PerpetualIndulgence, a charitable group of gay men in nun drag that LaBarberadenounced as exhibiting "blatant anti-Christian bigotry." LaBarbera closedhis letter by demanding that Pelosi "condemn these public perversions anduse your great influence to stop them from happening in the future in SanFrancisco."
As if that wasn't enough, LaBarbera held a press conference on December 5for the sole purpose of denouncing the Folsom Street Fair. "Americans ForTruth will be airing uncensored videotaped footage, documenting publicperversions and nudity at the Folsom Street Fair, an open-air, sadistic sexfestival held September 30th on the streets of San Francisco," LaBarberapromised. Held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., LaBarberawas joined by fellow fundies Matt Barber of Concerned Women For America andGrace Hurley of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX). ThoughLaBarbera's promise of hard-core, gay leather porn seemed sure to attract acrowd, less than ten people attended his press conference, according toRebecca Armendariz of the Washington Blade, who was there.
The Folsom Street Fair [www.folsomstretfair.com] is one of four annualevents produced by Folsom Street Events, a not-for-profit organization whosemission "is to create volunteer-driven leather events that provide the adultalternative lifestyle community with safe venues for self-expression whileemphasizing freedom, fun, frolic and fetish and raising critical funds tobenefit local charities."
New York Times
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Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bishop24dec24,1,6120135.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
California
Bishop at forefront of Episcopal divide
Supporters and critics agree the San Joaquin Diocese's leader was a powerfulforce in his conservative flock's vote to secede.
By Rebecca Trounson
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 24, 2007
FRESNO - Bishop John-David Schofield's tone was urgent this month as heexhorted delegates from his Central California diocese to leave theEpiscopal Church.
For more than 20 years, Schofield said, he had watched in dismay as thenational church strayed from Scripture and made controversial decisionsabout theology and sexuality, including the role of gays in the church. Now,he told delegates to his diocese's annual convention, it was time to act.
"God's timing is essential!" the bishop declared, his voice rising. "Delayedobedience to Scripture is seen as disobedience when opportunities andblessings are lost."
Schofield has emerged as a pivotal player in the drama surrounding thefuture of one of the nation's most influential denominations. At the meetingof delegates from across the Diocese of San Joaquin, he displayed thestrong-willed personality that has won him both admirers and detractors.
There was no time to lose, he told the delegates. The national church couldput new rules in place to prevent such secession attempts. The moment mightnever come again, he said.
The measures passed, by huge margins.
San Joaquin, a Fresno-based diocese of 47 parishes, had elected to becomethe first diocese in the nation to break with the Episcopal Church overtheological issues and align with a conservative Anglican province in SouthAmerica. And Schofield, according to supporters and critics alike, hadplayed the central role in those historic Dec. 8 decisions, propelling hislargely conservative flock along a path that could prove risky for allconcerned.
more....
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.queerty.com/gay/romes-mayor-rips-political-peer-over-anti-gay-politics-20071227/
Rome's Mayor Rips Political Peer Over Anti-Gay PoliticsVeltroni Shows His Teeth
Roman mayor Walter Veltroni won't be celebrating the new year with partypeer Dr. Paola Binetti.
Though the politicians are both members of the new Democratic party, Binetti's part of the teodem wing, which follows a far more rigid moral path. The agedlawmaker made headlines this week when she endorsed reparative therapy: justone of her anti-gay stands.
Now Binetti's being ripped by Veltroni for her opposition tonon-discrimination legislation:
In an open letter to the newspaper La Stampa Mayor Walter Veltroni chidedDr. Paola Binetti for her resistance against legislation that would bardiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
.
"Homosexuality is a human condition," Veltroni argued in his letter. "andthe [DP] is working to recognize the rights of homosexual couples."
Apparently not everyone.
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365Gay.Com
http://www.365gay.com/
Go to the website, above, for the following articles
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Arizona Gays Face Growing Number Of Syphilis Cases
(Phoenix, Arizona) Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano has approved a $100,000campaign to urge gay men to get tested for syphilis after state healthofficials warned the disease is reaching crisis proportions.
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DC To Fund Needle Exchange To Fight HIV
(Washington) A nine-year ban on city funding for needle-exchange programs inthe District of Columbia has been lifted, a move city officials say is keyto reducing the soaring rate of AIDS and HIV infections in the country'scapital.
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Artist Ashes Scattered Around The World
(Cincinnati, Ohio) Friends of an artist were handed envelopes containing herashes at her memorial service and given a task: Spread the ashes whereverthey felt appropriate.
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Gay Journalist Thomas Morgan Dies
(New York City) Thomas Morgan, the first openly gay president of theNational Association of Black Journalists and an inductee into the NationalLesbian & Gay Journalists Association Hall of Fame, has died.
--
Poll Shows Voters Still Examining Candidates
(Washington) Dig beneath the surface of the raucous Republican presidentialrace and you will find even deeper turmoil: Four in 10 GOP voters haveswitched candidates in the past month alone, and nearly two-thirds say theymay change their minds again.
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Planet Out
http://www.planetout.com/families/article.html?sernum=29
From the Nolo.com Marriage & Living Together Center.
Only legally married couples can file joint-income tax returns. Untilsame-sex couples win the right to legally marry in the U.S., gay and lesbiancouples can't file joint tax returns. (See Same-Sex Marriage: A History ofthe Law for more information on lesbian and gay marriage.)
If one partner supports the other, however, the supporter can file a taxreturn as a single person and claim the other as a dependent. This ispossible if you meet the five following tests:
Unmarried person. If the supported person is married and files a joint taxreturn with his spouse -- this will be unusual in your situation -- thesupporting partner in this relationship cannot claim him as a dependent.There's one exception -- if the married couple did not earn enough to haveto file a tax return, and did so only to get a refund, the supportingpartner can claim the dependent.
Citizen or resident. The supported person must be a U.S. citizen, residentalien, or citizen of Canada or Mexico.
Income. The supported person's taxable income cannot exceed $2,750.
Nontaxable money, such as gifts, welfare benefits, and nontaxable SocialSecurity benefits, don't count toward gross income.
Support. The supporting partner must provide at least 50% of the otherpartner's total support for the year. Support includes food, shelter,clothing, medical and dental care, education, entertainment, and just aboutanything you can think of.
Relationship. Under IRS regulations, a person who lived in your home for theentire year can be considered a dependent as long as the relationship doesnot violate local law. Three calls to the IRS asking what that sentencemeant lead to "it says what it says." And that was the most intelligentresponse. Our advice: If you meet the other four tests and live in a statewhere sodomy is against the law, go ahead and claim your lover as adependent. The worst that can happen is that the IRS won't allow yourdeduction and your tax bill will be recomputed without the deduction.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.baywindows.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=glbt&sc3=&id=54041&pf=1
MassEquality Campaign Director Marc Solomon: Regrouping after a devastatingloss
by Ethan Jacobs
staff reporter
Thursday Dec 27, 2007
After all of the victory rallies and gala celebrations that followed theJune 14 defeat of the marriage amendment, it's hard to remember how bleakthings looked at the beginning of 2007. The prior November, marriageequality advocates all but declared victory after they succeeded in pushingthe vote on the amendment back to Jan. 2, the last day of the session.
Activists on both sides expected lawmakers to stay home, letting theamendment die without a vote. But then the Supreme Judicial Court lobbed amonkey wrench into that plan, releasing an opinion that December saying thatthey felt lawmakers were obligated to take a vote on the amendment. Thatopinion, combined with a series of rallies held across the state byVoteOnMarriage.org to demand an up-or-down vote on the amendment, spurredlawmakers to come back the State House on Jan. 2 and take the first of twovotes needed to place the amendment on the ballot. The defeat at the Jan. 2ConCon was arguably the greatest blow to the marriage equality movement.
For Marc Solomon, campaign director of MassEquality and the man tasked withleading the massive coalition of LGBT organizations, lawmakers, canvassers,lobbyists and volunteers working to defeat the amendment, it was devastatingto watch the November victory unravel, culminating in the Jan. 2 vote. Andwhile many of MassEquality's allies were breaking out the champagne to toastDeval Patrick's election as governor, Solomon had to grapple with how tobring the marriage movement back from its greatest defeat.
more.....
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=17019
College to offer queer lit course
2007-12-26
Wilbur Wright College announced that it will offer a new literature coursefor Spring 2008, Literature 153: Gay & Lesbian Literature.
The course will be taught by Dr. Aldo Alvarez, and students will read worksby Alison Bechdel, Dorothy Allison and others.
Wilber Wright College is part of the City Colleges of Chicago.
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To Form a More Perfect Union: Marriage Equality News
Information, news, and discussion about the legal recognition of same-sex
couples and their families, including marriages, domestic partnerships,
civil unions, adoptions, foster children and similar issues.
http://samesexmarriage.typepad.com/weblog/
Go to the website, above, for the following article:
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While many civil rights advocates and members of the gay and lesbian
community are celebrating the New Hampshire same-sex civil union law set togo into effect on Jan. 1, there are those who still oppose it. Theresidents of New Hampshire, the "Live Free or Die" state, have long beencharacterized as having a laissez-faire attitude when it comes to sociallyprogressive issues. The current presidential campaign has highlighted thedifference, with residents of states like Iowa and South Carolina tending tobe more interested than Granite Staters in hearing politicians' positions onabortion, gay marriage and religious issues.
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National Gay News
http://nationalgaynews.com/
Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
--
Obama Camp Woos Gays
Gay supporters of Barack Obama's bid for the Democratic presidential
nomination began voter outreach in the Castro last weekend in an effort todrum up support in advance of the state's February 5 primary. Obama, whotrails Senator Hillary Clinton in several recent statewide polls,nonetheless has been closing the gap, and is in a tight race with Clinton inIowa and New Hampshire, where voters soon will cast ballots in the caucusesand primary, respectively.
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DA Taps Gay Man to Admin Post
San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris appointed veteran deputydistrict attorney Paul Henderson as head of administration at the beginningof December. His appointment to the new position creates a power team ofopenly queer managers running the district attorney's office: MarthaKnutzen, a lesbian, is manager of legal operations; and Tim Silard, anopenly gay man, is chief of policy.
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The Gay Clique of Newark is Finding its Voice
When the House of Jourdan's gala fundraiser showed up on the 6 o'clock newsseven years ago, anchormen smirked at footage of strutting drag queens andgay men "voguing," a dance popularized by Madonna. There were voterregistration tables and an array of HIV-prevention information at the ball.
But the cameras ignored those things.
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From EuroQueer
In Europe, Where's the Hate?
Gary Younge
Over the past year or so the rural Italian idyll of Colle di Val d'Elsa hasplayed host to a bitter battle for Enlightenment values. On one side, thehamlet's small Muslim community has raised a considerable amount of money tobuild a large mosque. Having gained the mayor's approval, the Muslims signeda declaration of cooperation with the town hall and even planted a Christmastree at the site as a good-will gesture.
In response, other locals pelted them with sausages and dumped a severedpig's head at the site. On a wall near the site vandals daubed: "No Mosque,""Christian Hill" and "Thanks to the communists the Arabs are in ourhouse!!!"
Such is the central dynamic in European race relations at present. It isprobably not the dynamic you have heard most about. The most popular onemaking the rounds this side of the Atlantic involves hordes of Muslims,rabid with anti-Semitic and misogynistic views, running amok as they bomb,bully and outbreed their clueless liberal hosts in a bid to build acaliphate.
"Do you have a child back in England?" an elderly Los Angelena asked aBritish reporter on a recent National Review cruise.
"No," he said.
"You'd better start," she replied. "The Muslims are breeding. Soon, they'llhave the whole of Europe."
Nor is it by any means the only dynamic. There are a handful of nihilisticyoung Muslims keen to bomb and destroy and a far larger number sufficientlydisaffected that they are prepared to riot. There are also many Europeanskeen to see equality and meaningful integration, defending civil libertiesand opposing wars against predominantly Muslim lands.
But the primary threat to democracy in Europe is not "Islamofascism"--thatclunking, thuggish phrase that keeps lashing out in the hope that it willone day strike a meaning--but plain old fascism. The kind whereby mostlywhite Europeans take to the streets to terrorize minorities in the name ofracial, cultural or religious superiority.
more....
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