Saturday, May 31, 2008
NATIONAL & WORLD NEWS May 31, 2008
**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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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Troubled Oceans
Five years have elapsed since the Pew Oceans Commission’s seminal report urging prompt action to arrest the alarming decline of this country’s ocean resources. Four years have elapsed since a blue-ribbon presidential commission said much the same thing, urging special attention to problems like overfishing and the deterioration of coastal wetlands and estuaries.
Despite an occasional burst of energy, however, the Bush administration and
Congress have left much to be done. And time is running out. As is true with
many environmental issues — climate change comes immediately to mind — the
states have done a better job. New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts have
either passed legislation or established a regulatory structure to better
manage their coastal waters (states control the first three miles, the
federal government controls the rest until international waters begin 200
miles offshore). California, always at the leading edge, has begun setting
up a network of fully protected zones where fish can flourish with minimal
commercial intrusion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/opinion/31sat1.html?ref=opinion
-The Worst Way of Farming
In the past month, two new reports have examined how farm animals are raised
in this country. The report funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts calls the
prevailing system “industrial farm animal production.” The report from the
Union of Concerned Scientists prefers the term “confined animal feeding
operations.” No matter what you call it, it adds up to the same thing.
Millions of animals are crowded together in inhumane conditions, causing
significant environmental threats and unacceptable health risks for workers,
their neighbors and all the rest of us. The astonishing increase in the
number and size of confined animal operations has been spawned largely by
the very structure of American farm supports, which always has been skewed
in a way that concentrates farming in fewer and fewer hands. As both of
these reports make clear, the so-called efficiency of industrial animal
production is an illusion, made possible by cheap grain, cheap water and
prisonlike confinement systems.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/opinion/31sat4.html?ref=opinion
-Pakistani Nuclear Scientist Denies Selling Secrets
Abdul Qadeer Khan, the founder of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, was
reported on Friday to have withdrawn an admission that he sold nuclear
technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya, saying that he had made it under
pressure from President Pervez Musharraf. He made the comment in a telephone
interview with a correspondent in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, from The
Guardian, a British newspaper, which called the conversation his first with
the Western media since an emotional television appearance in 2004 in which
Dr. Khan admitted selling nuclear technology to other countries. “It was not
of my own free will,” he told The Guardian, saying he had been forced to
make the admission by Mr. Musharraf. “It was handed into my hand,” he was
quoted as saying. Western intelligence agencies fear that any technology
passed on by Dr. Khan could be used by terrorists. But in the interview he
maintained his longstanding resistance to being questioned by investigators
from the International Atomic Energy Agency or the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/world/asia/31khan.html
-Mocking of Clinton at Obama’s Church Reverberates
Reverberations from the Sunday sermon of a Roman Catholic priest who mocked
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton at Senator Barack Obama’s home church here
continued to spread Friday, after the priest offered an apology and the
archbishop of Chicago gave him a public reprimand for “partisan
campaigning.” In a guest appearance at Trinity United Church of Christ, the
priest, the Rev. Michael Pfleger, who resigned about two weeks ago from an
unpaid position on the Obama campaign’s Catholic advisory council, delivered
a tirade against Mrs. Clinton that included fake tears, a high-pitched voice
and top-of-the-lungs screaming. He also gave a racially tinged critique of
so-called “white entitlement,” of which he says Mrs. Clinton is guilty.
“When Hillary was crying, and people said that was put on — I really don’t
believe it was put on,” said Father Pfleger, 59, the white pastor of a
predominantly black South Side church. “I really believe that she just
always thought: ‘This is mine. I’m Bill’s wife, I’m white and this is mine.
I just got to get up and step into the plate.’ And then, out of nowhere,
came, ‘Hey, I’m Barack Obama.’ And she said, ‘Oh, damn. Where did you come
from? I’m white. I’m entitled. There’s a black man stealing my show.” Father
Pfleger, a well-known longtime activist and friend of Mr. Obama, issued an
apology late Thursday. “I regret the words I chose on Sunday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/us/politics/31pastor.html
-Job Climate for the Class of 2008 Is a Bit Warmer Than Expected
Given that the economy is flagging, this would seem an inauspicious time to
be graduating from college and looking for full-time employment. Job
prospects this year, however, have been better than career counselors and
recent graduates had expected. Employers are still extending offers, just
not as many as last year.
Economists said the class of 2008 has been helped by employers concerned by
the impending exodus of baby boomers from the work force. But they warn that
the job market is going to get tougher as the full extent of the nation’s
financial problems emerges, and they predict a growing inequality in access
to employment between elite and lower-achieving students.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/business/31graduate.html
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Democrats Meet Today To Hash Out Fla., Mich.
When Democratic Party leaders voted on Aug. 25, 2007, to sanction Florida
Democrats for moving up the date of their presidential primary, no one
anticipated that the decision would lead to a tense showdown that will help
decide the outcome of the nomination battle between Sens. Barack Obama and
Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Today, the 30 members of the Democratic National Committee's Rules and
Bylaws Committee will hear challenges to that decision and a later ruling,
which together barred delegations from Florida and Michigan from the
national convention in Denver because those states violated the party's
rules governing the nomination process. Democrats on and off the committee
said yesterday that a compromise appears likely that would restore half of
the delegations from each state, although the precise terms remained under
discussion. "It's clear something's going to be worked out," said Carol
Fowler, the party chair in South Carolina and a member of the rules
committee. Fowler is also an Obama supporter but was not speaking for the
campaign. Among the unresolved issues is how to allocate the delegates
between the two candidates, particularly delegates from Michigan, where
Clinton's name was on the ballot in the Jan. 15 primary but Obama's was not.
There was growing talk yesterday that the committee could agree to split the
state's delegates evenly between Clinton and Obama, a blow to Clinton.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053002974.
html?hpid=topnews
-Hard-Line Lunacy
Raul Castro is making changes, but U.S. policy toward Cuba remains stupid,
childish, counterproductive -- and insane.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053002119.
html
-The Price Of Forgetting A Presidency
John Edwards made reducing poverty a centerpiece of his presidential
campaign. Yet he never mentioned Lyndon Johnson, the first -- and only --
president to declare war on poverty and sharply reduce it. Recounting the
achievements of Democratic presidents, Barack Obama cites Franklin
Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John Kennedy -- but not LBJ, the president
responsible for the laws that gave him (and millions of others) the
opportunity to develop and display their talents and gave this nation the
opportunity to benefit from them.
When Hillary Clinton noted that "it took a president" to translate Martin
Luther King's moral protests into laws, she broke the taboo and mentioned
Johnson, only to be rebuked. Lyndon Johnson is the invisible president of
the 20th century. The tragedy of Vietnam created a cloud that still obscures Johnson's achievements.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053002445.
html
-A New Direction in Latin America
Latin America has never mattered more to the United States. The region is the largest foreign supplier of oil to the United States and a strong partner in the development of alternative fuels. It is one of the United States's fastest growing trading partners, and its biggest supplier of illegal drugs. Latin America is also the largest source of U.S. immigrants, both documented and undocumented. No less important, nearly all Latin American nations are now vibrant, if imperfect, democracies. Not only does the United States affect Latin America, but Latin America increasingly shapes the United States as well. Yet despite these deepening strategic, economic, cultural and political ties, U.S. policies toward the region have remained relatively unexamined. A new Council on Foreign Relations report, U.S.-Latin America Relations: A New Direction for a New Reality, takes stock of these changes in the Western hemisphere and assesses their consequences for U.S. policy toward the region. It finds that the decades-old U.S. foreign policy trifecta of trade support, drug eradication and democracy promotion is not effectively advancing U.S. interests.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053002352.
html
-How Abu Dhabi Differs From Exxon
Abu Dhabi, the largest of seven sheikhdoms in the United Arab Emirates, is swimming in oil revenue - and it's investing some of that money in solar power. That's more than can be said for Exxon Mobil Corp., which rebuffed a Rockefeller initiative at yesterday's annual meeting to nudge the company toward renewable energy. A shareholder resolution sponsored by the company's founding family was easily defeated. Exxon's stance is an assertion that today's primacy of oil will continue for years to come, and that what the oil giant does best is look for oil and gas, not manufacture solar panels.
But Abu Dhabi is doing the sort of forward planning that the Rockefellers wish Exxon would consider for tomorrow. Today Masdar, part of the industrial development arm of the Abu Dhabi government, unveiled plans to invest $2 billion in thin-film photovoltaic solar technology. True, this amounts to about a month of Exxon Mobil's projected capital spending this year. But in the solar world, it's substantial and noteworthy and probably just the sort of thing the Rockefellers would like Exxon to do.
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/energywire/2008/05/how_abu_dhabi_d
iffers_from_exx.html
-Hastert to Join Lobbying Firm Dickstein Shapiro
Former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) has agreed to join the lobbying law firm Dickstein Shapiro as a senior adviser, the District-based firm said yesterday. Hastert served as speaker from 1999 to 2006. He resigned his House seat, which he had held since 1987, last November. The former high school wrestling coach stepped down from the Republican leadership after the 2006 midterm elections, when his party suffered heavy losses, including control of the House. At Dickstein, Hastert "will not be lobbying; he will be providing strategic counseling to our clients," a spokeswoman for the firm said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053002852.
html?hpid=sec-politics
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Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Dunkin' Donuts pulls Rachael Ray ad after complaints
Dunkin' Donuts has pulled an online advertisement featuring Rachael Ray after complaints that a fringed black-and-white scarf that the celebrity chef wore in the ad offers symbolic support for Muslim extremism and terrorism. The coffee and baked goods chain said the ad that began appearing online May 7 was pulled over the past weekend because "the possibility of misperception detracted from its original intention to promote our iced coffee." In the spot, Ray holds an iced coffee while standing in front of trees with pink blossoms. Critics, including conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, complained that the scarf wrapped around her looked like a kaffiyeh, the traditional Arab headdress. Critics who fueled online complaints about the ad in blogs say such scarves have come to symbolize Muslim extremism and terrorism.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/sfl-0529rachaelray,0,4986751.story
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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Not doing enough to address racism By ACLU
For two days, beginning Sunday, a United Nations expert on racism will be in Miami on a fact-finding mission. Below are excerpts from the American Civil iberties Union's report on the issue, ''Race and Ethnicity in America: Turning a Blind Eye to Injustice.'' The full report is at
www.aclu.org/pdfs/humanrights/cerd_full_report.pdf
-Racial and ethnic discrimination and inequality remain ongoing and pervasive in the United States, and the U.S. government has not done enough to address these important problems.
Hurricane Katrina exposed to the world many of America's grave, persistent economic and social disparities, and their impact on African-American and other minority communities. U.S. policies and practices at the federal, state and local level continue to disproportionately burden the most vulnerable groups in society: racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, non-U.S. citizens, low-wage workers, women, children and the accused.
Profiling of drivers
Minorities are unfairly victimized by racial profiling, a practice law enforcement uses that is based on race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or perceived immigration status. Authorities investigate, stop, frisk, search, or use force against individuals based on subjective, personal characteristics, rather than on concrete evidence of unlawful behavior. People of color are profiled while they drive, shop, pray, stand on the sidewalk waiting for work, or travel on airplanes, trains and buses.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other_views/story/552984.html
-Who's being sexist now?
So here's the latest mystery media meme: If Hillary Clinton doesn't become the Democratic presidential nominee, ''women'' will be upset. Women? Yeah, you know, ``women.'' The idea has been building. In January, Gloria Steinem wrote a New York Times Op-Ed article complaining that ''gender is probably the most restricting force in American life. . . . Black men were given the vote a half-century before women . . . and generally have ascended to positions of power . . . before any women.'' In other words: Support Clinton, or ally yourself with the forces of sexist oppression. Later that month, ABC News reported: 'Women Angry . . . Some Say Oprah Is a `Traitor' for Endorsing Obama and not Clinton.'' It was ''Obama versus the sisterhood'' in a March article in The Los Angeles Times. By mid-May, as Clinton's odds of gaining the nomination dwindled, the assertion that ''women'' were getting upset became ever more common. [...] It's a compelling story line -- and it's also wrong. It's wrong for assuming that women, as a group, share a unified set of political views, and doubly wrong for the underlying assumption that women should automatically favor female political candidates.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other_views/story/552991.html
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The Top of the Class
The complete list of the 1,300 top U.S. high schools
http://www.newsweek.com/id/39380
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Rupert Murdoch Predicts Landslide for Democrats
News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch on Wednesday predicted a Democratic landslide in the U.S. presidential election against a gloomy economic backdrop over the next 18 months. Murdoch has yet to endorse a U.S. presidential candidate but considers Barack Obama very promising, the media magnate said in an interview by two Wall Street Journal reporters at an annual conference for high-tech industry insiders.
http://www.newsmax.com/politics/Rupert_Murdoch_Predicts_/2008/05/29/99884.html?s
=al&promo_code=6352-1
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Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-House Broker
Nancy Pelosi believes in being direct. With the Democratic presidential contest running hot, in March a reporter with Boston TV station NECN asked the House speaker about the possibility of a dream ticket uniting Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Doe eyes wide, the nation's highest-ranking Democrat flashed her trademark smile ominously. "I think that the Clinton administration [sic] has fairly ruled that out by proclaiming that Senator McCain would be a better [long pause, dismayed half- laugh] commander-in-chief than Obama. I think that ticket--either way--is impossible."
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=869a5b6e-b4db-4205-8e88-63e0e02e2543&p
=1
-The Bush Chronicles: A Tell-All TallyFormer press secretary Scott McClellan is only the latest former Bush administration insider to point a finger at White House failures in a tell-all book. But you can't settle scores without a score card, so here's how the president's onetime mouthpiece stacks up alongside other recent they-a culpas:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053002860.
html
-Priest's apology to Clinton does little to quiet storm
Obama camp calls his remarks 'outrageous,' but her aides want an outright rejection
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5810702.html
-Obama tackles flap over priest
He's a white priest at a largely black church. He's held hands with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. He's been arrested dozens of times and battled anyone he thinks has wronged his parish – from gun dealers to a local Catholic sports league. Now the Rev. Michael Pfleger is something else: the latest thorn in the side of presidential candidate Barack Obama.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/national/stories/DN-ob
amapastor_31pol.ART.State.Edition1.46518a0.html
-Obama angles for showcase win in Montana
HELENA, Mont. -- The Rocky Mountain region represents friendly terrain for Barack Obama, who is angling to add Montana to his string of victories on Tuesday. Demographically, the state would seem to suit rival Hillary Rodham Clinton almost perfectly _ overwhelmingly white and rural. But political observers and a statewide poll suggest Obama has the advantage here. The Illinois senator has outperformed Clinton in Rocky Mountain states, winning contests in Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming. Clinton won Arizona and a cliffhanger in New Mexico. Only 16 delegates are at stake in Montana's primary, but depending on several other factors _ what the Democratic National Committee rules panel decides this weekend about seating Florida and Michigan delegations and Puerto Rico's primary Sunday _ the state could put Obama over the top for the nomination. He was about 40 delegates shy of victory on Friday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/31/AR2008053100663.
html
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Troubled Oceans
Five years have elapsed since the Pew Oceans Commission’s seminal report urging prompt action to arrest the alarming decline of this country’s ocean resources. Four years have elapsed since a blue-ribbon presidential commission said much the same thing, urging special attention to problems like overfishing and the deterioration of coastal wetlands and estuaries.
Despite an occasional burst of energy, however, the Bush administration and
Congress have left much to be done. And time is running out. As is true with
many environmental issues — climate change comes immediately to mind — the
states have done a better job. New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts have
either passed legislation or established a regulatory structure to better
manage their coastal waters (states control the first three miles, the
federal government controls the rest until international waters begin 200
miles offshore). California, always at the leading edge, has begun setting
up a network of fully protected zones where fish can flourish with minimal
commercial intrusion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/opinion/31sat1.html?ref=opinion
-The Worst Way of Farming
In the past month, two new reports have examined how farm animals are raised
in this country. The report funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts calls the
prevailing system “industrial farm animal production.” The report from the
Union of Concerned Scientists prefers the term “confined animal feeding
operations.” No matter what you call it, it adds up to the same thing.
Millions of animals are crowded together in inhumane conditions, causing
significant environmental threats and unacceptable health risks for workers,
their neighbors and all the rest of us. The astonishing increase in the
number and size of confined animal operations has been spawned largely by
the very structure of American farm supports, which always has been skewed
in a way that concentrates farming in fewer and fewer hands. As both of
these reports make clear, the so-called efficiency of industrial animal
production is an illusion, made possible by cheap grain, cheap water and
prisonlike confinement systems.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/opinion/31sat4.html?ref=opinion
-Pakistani Nuclear Scientist Denies Selling Secrets
Abdul Qadeer Khan, the founder of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, was
reported on Friday to have withdrawn an admission that he sold nuclear
technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya, saying that he had made it under
pressure from President Pervez Musharraf. He made the comment in a telephone
interview with a correspondent in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, from The
Guardian, a British newspaper, which called the conversation his first with
the Western media since an emotional television appearance in 2004 in which
Dr. Khan admitted selling nuclear technology to other countries. “It was not
of my own free will,” he told The Guardian, saying he had been forced to
make the admission by Mr. Musharraf. “It was handed into my hand,” he was
quoted as saying. Western intelligence agencies fear that any technology
passed on by Dr. Khan could be used by terrorists. But in the interview he
maintained his longstanding resistance to being questioned by investigators
from the International Atomic Energy Agency or the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/world/asia/31khan.html
-Mocking of Clinton at Obama’s Church Reverberates
Reverberations from the Sunday sermon of a Roman Catholic priest who mocked
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton at Senator Barack Obama’s home church here
continued to spread Friday, after the priest offered an apology and the
archbishop of Chicago gave him a public reprimand for “partisan
campaigning.” In a guest appearance at Trinity United Church of Christ, the
priest, the Rev. Michael Pfleger, who resigned about two weeks ago from an
unpaid position on the Obama campaign’s Catholic advisory council, delivered
a tirade against Mrs. Clinton that included fake tears, a high-pitched voice
and top-of-the-lungs screaming. He also gave a racially tinged critique of
so-called “white entitlement,” of which he says Mrs. Clinton is guilty.
“When Hillary was crying, and people said that was put on — I really don’t
believe it was put on,” said Father Pfleger, 59, the white pastor of a
predominantly black South Side church. “I really believe that she just
always thought: ‘This is mine. I’m Bill’s wife, I’m white and this is mine.
I just got to get up and step into the plate.’ And then, out of nowhere,
came, ‘Hey, I’m Barack Obama.’ And she said, ‘Oh, damn. Where did you come
from? I’m white. I’m entitled. There’s a black man stealing my show.” Father
Pfleger, a well-known longtime activist and friend of Mr. Obama, issued an
apology late Thursday. “I regret the words I chose on Sunday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/us/politics/31pastor.html
-Job Climate for the Class of 2008 Is a Bit Warmer Than Expected
Given that the economy is flagging, this would seem an inauspicious time to
be graduating from college and looking for full-time employment. Job
prospects this year, however, have been better than career counselors and
recent graduates had expected. Employers are still extending offers, just
not as many as last year.
Economists said the class of 2008 has been helped by employers concerned by
the impending exodus of baby boomers from the work force. But they warn that
the job market is going to get tougher as the full extent of the nation’s
financial problems emerges, and they predict a growing inequality in access
to employment between elite and lower-achieving students.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/business/31graduate.html
=
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Democrats Meet Today To Hash Out Fla., Mich.
When Democratic Party leaders voted on Aug. 25, 2007, to sanction Florida
Democrats for moving up the date of their presidential primary, no one
anticipated that the decision would lead to a tense showdown that will help
decide the outcome of the nomination battle between Sens. Barack Obama and
Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Today, the 30 members of the Democratic National Committee's Rules and
Bylaws Committee will hear challenges to that decision and a later ruling,
which together barred delegations from Florida and Michigan from the
national convention in Denver because those states violated the party's
rules governing the nomination process. Democrats on and off the committee
said yesterday that a compromise appears likely that would restore half of
the delegations from each state, although the precise terms remained under
discussion. "It's clear something's going to be worked out," said Carol
Fowler, the party chair in South Carolina and a member of the rules
committee. Fowler is also an Obama supporter but was not speaking for the
campaign. Among the unresolved issues is how to allocate the delegates
between the two candidates, particularly delegates from Michigan, where
Clinton's name was on the ballot in the Jan. 15 primary but Obama's was not.
There was growing talk yesterday that the committee could agree to split the
state's delegates evenly between Clinton and Obama, a blow to Clinton.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053002974.
html?hpid=topnews
-Hard-Line Lunacy
Raul Castro is making changes, but U.S. policy toward Cuba remains stupid,
childish, counterproductive -- and insane.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053002119.
html
-The Price Of Forgetting A Presidency
John Edwards made reducing poverty a centerpiece of his presidential
campaign. Yet he never mentioned Lyndon Johnson, the first -- and only --
president to declare war on poverty and sharply reduce it. Recounting the
achievements of Democratic presidents, Barack Obama cites Franklin
Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John Kennedy -- but not LBJ, the president
responsible for the laws that gave him (and millions of others) the
opportunity to develop and display their talents and gave this nation the
opportunity to benefit from them.
When Hillary Clinton noted that "it took a president" to translate Martin
Luther King's moral protests into laws, she broke the taboo and mentioned
Johnson, only to be rebuked. Lyndon Johnson is the invisible president of
the 20th century. The tragedy of Vietnam created a cloud that still obscures Johnson's achievements.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053002445.
html
-A New Direction in Latin America
Latin America has never mattered more to the United States. The region is the largest foreign supplier of oil to the United States and a strong partner in the development of alternative fuels. It is one of the United States's fastest growing trading partners, and its biggest supplier of illegal drugs. Latin America is also the largest source of U.S. immigrants, both documented and undocumented. No less important, nearly all Latin American nations are now vibrant, if imperfect, democracies. Not only does the United States affect Latin America, but Latin America increasingly shapes the United States as well. Yet despite these deepening strategic, economic, cultural and political ties, U.S. policies toward the region have remained relatively unexamined. A new Council on Foreign Relations report, U.S.-Latin America Relations: A New Direction for a New Reality, takes stock of these changes in the Western hemisphere and assesses their consequences for U.S. policy toward the region. It finds that the decades-old U.S. foreign policy trifecta of trade support, drug eradication and democracy promotion is not effectively advancing U.S. interests.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053002352.
html
-How Abu Dhabi Differs From Exxon
Abu Dhabi, the largest of seven sheikhdoms in the United Arab Emirates, is swimming in oil revenue - and it's investing some of that money in solar power. That's more than can be said for Exxon Mobil Corp., which rebuffed a Rockefeller initiative at yesterday's annual meeting to nudge the company toward renewable energy. A shareholder resolution sponsored by the company's founding family was easily defeated. Exxon's stance is an assertion that today's primacy of oil will continue for years to come, and that what the oil giant does best is look for oil and gas, not manufacture solar panels.
But Abu Dhabi is doing the sort of forward planning that the Rockefellers wish Exxon would consider for tomorrow. Today Masdar, part of the industrial development arm of the Abu Dhabi government, unveiled plans to invest $2 billion in thin-film photovoltaic solar technology. True, this amounts to about a month of Exxon Mobil's projected capital spending this year. But in the solar world, it's substantial and noteworthy and probably just the sort of thing the Rockefellers would like Exxon to do.
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/energywire/2008/05/how_abu_dhabi_d
iffers_from_exx.html
-Hastert to Join Lobbying Firm Dickstein Shapiro
Former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) has agreed to join the lobbying law firm Dickstein Shapiro as a senior adviser, the District-based firm said yesterday. Hastert served as speaker from 1999 to 2006. He resigned his House seat, which he had held since 1987, last November. The former high school wrestling coach stepped down from the Republican leadership after the 2006 midterm elections, when his party suffered heavy losses, including control of the House. At Dickstein, Hastert "will not be lobbying; he will be providing strategic counseling to our clients," a spokeswoman for the firm said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053002852.
html?hpid=sec-politics
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Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Dunkin' Donuts pulls Rachael Ray ad after complaints
Dunkin' Donuts has pulled an online advertisement featuring Rachael Ray after complaints that a fringed black-and-white scarf that the celebrity chef wore in the ad offers symbolic support for Muslim extremism and terrorism. The coffee and baked goods chain said the ad that began appearing online May 7 was pulled over the past weekend because "the possibility of misperception detracted from its original intention to promote our iced coffee." In the spot, Ray holds an iced coffee while standing in front of trees with pink blossoms. Critics, including conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, complained that the scarf wrapped around her looked like a kaffiyeh, the traditional Arab headdress. Critics who fueled online complaints about the ad in blogs say such scarves have come to symbolize Muslim extremism and terrorism.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/sfl-0529rachaelray,0,4986751.story
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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Not doing enough to address racism By ACLU
For two days, beginning Sunday, a United Nations expert on racism will be in Miami on a fact-finding mission. Below are excerpts from the American Civil iberties Union's report on the issue, ''Race and Ethnicity in America: Turning a Blind Eye to Injustice.'' The full report is at
www.aclu.org/pdfs/humanrights/cerd_full_report.pdf
-Racial and ethnic discrimination and inequality remain ongoing and pervasive in the United States, and the U.S. government has not done enough to address these important problems.
Hurricane Katrina exposed to the world many of America's grave, persistent economic and social disparities, and their impact on African-American and other minority communities. U.S. policies and practices at the federal, state and local level continue to disproportionately burden the most vulnerable groups in society: racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, non-U.S. citizens, low-wage workers, women, children and the accused.
Profiling of drivers
Minorities are unfairly victimized by racial profiling, a practice law enforcement uses that is based on race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or perceived immigration status. Authorities investigate, stop, frisk, search, or use force against individuals based on subjective, personal characteristics, rather than on concrete evidence of unlawful behavior. People of color are profiled while they drive, shop, pray, stand on the sidewalk waiting for work, or travel on airplanes, trains and buses.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other_views/story/552984.html
-Who's being sexist now?
So here's the latest mystery media meme: If Hillary Clinton doesn't become the Democratic presidential nominee, ''women'' will be upset. Women? Yeah, you know, ``women.'' The idea has been building. In January, Gloria Steinem wrote a New York Times Op-Ed article complaining that ''gender is probably the most restricting force in American life. . . . Black men were given the vote a half-century before women . . . and generally have ascended to positions of power . . . before any women.'' In other words: Support Clinton, or ally yourself with the forces of sexist oppression. Later that month, ABC News reported: 'Women Angry . . . Some Say Oprah Is a `Traitor' for Endorsing Obama and not Clinton.'' It was ''Obama versus the sisterhood'' in a March article in The Los Angeles Times. By mid-May, as Clinton's odds of gaining the nomination dwindled, the assertion that ''women'' were getting upset became ever more common. [...] It's a compelling story line -- and it's also wrong. It's wrong for assuming that women, as a group, share a unified set of political views, and doubly wrong for the underlying assumption that women should automatically favor female political candidates.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other_views/story/552991.html
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The Top of the Class
The complete list of the 1,300 top U.S. high schools
http://www.newsweek.com/id/39380
=
Rupert Murdoch Predicts Landslide for Democrats
News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch on Wednesday predicted a Democratic landslide in the U.S. presidential election against a gloomy economic backdrop over the next 18 months. Murdoch has yet to endorse a U.S. presidential candidate but considers Barack Obama very promising, the media magnate said in an interview by two Wall Street Journal reporters at an annual conference for high-tech industry insiders.
http://www.newsmax.com/politics/Rupert_Murdoch_Predicts_/2008/05/29/99884.html?s
=al&promo_code=6352-1
=
Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-House Broker
Nancy Pelosi believes in being direct. With the Democratic presidential contest running hot, in March a reporter with Boston TV station NECN asked the House speaker about the possibility of a dream ticket uniting Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Doe eyes wide, the nation's highest-ranking Democrat flashed her trademark smile ominously. "I think that the Clinton administration [sic] has fairly ruled that out by proclaiming that Senator McCain would be a better [long pause, dismayed half- laugh] commander-in-chief than Obama. I think that ticket--either way--is impossible."
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=869a5b6e-b4db-4205-8e88-63e0e02e2543&p
=1
-The Bush Chronicles: A Tell-All TallyFormer press secretary Scott McClellan is only the latest former Bush administration insider to point a finger at White House failures in a tell-all book. But you can't settle scores without a score card, so here's how the president's onetime mouthpiece stacks up alongside other recent they-a culpas:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053002860.
html
-Priest's apology to Clinton does little to quiet storm
Obama camp calls his remarks 'outrageous,' but her aides want an outright rejection
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5810702.html
-Obama tackles flap over priest
He's a white priest at a largely black church. He's held hands with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. He's been arrested dozens of times and battled anyone he thinks has wronged his parish – from gun dealers to a local Catholic sports league. Now the Rev. Michael Pfleger is something else: the latest thorn in the side of presidential candidate Barack Obama.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/national/stories/DN-ob
amapastor_31pol.ART.State.Edition1.46518a0.html
-Obama angles for showcase win in Montana
HELENA, Mont. -- The Rocky Mountain region represents friendly terrain for Barack Obama, who is angling to add Montana to his string of victories on Tuesday. Demographically, the state would seem to suit rival Hillary Rodham Clinton almost perfectly _ overwhelmingly white and rural. But political observers and a statewide poll suggest Obama has the advantage here. The Illinois senator has outperformed Clinton in Rocky Mountain states, winning contests in Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming. Clinton won Arizona and a cliffhanger in New Mexico. Only 16 delegates are at stake in Montana's primary, but depending on several other factors _ what the Democratic National Committee rules panel decides this weekend about seating Florida and Michigan delegations and Puerto Rico's primary Sunday _ the state could put Obama over the top for the nomination. He was about 40 delegates shy of victory on Friday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/31/AR2008053100663.
html
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
FLORIDA NEWS May 31, 2008
**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.
=
Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Gov. Crist's girlfriend more than arm candy
Could a 38-year-old businesswoman who has been quietly dating Gov. Charlie Crist since September be adding Florida first lady to her resume?
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-flbguvsgirlfriend0531sbmay31,
0,4087761.story
-Fort Lauderdale's ex-police chief got $90,000 package to leave immediately
New deal allows severance benefits for Bruce Roberts
Former Police Chief Bruce Roberts had a job contract that gave him no severance pay if he were to voluntarily resign, which he did on Wednesday, giving 90 days' notice. But City Manager George Gretsas agreed to pay Roberts a package of about $90,000 to get him out the door immediately, city records show. "The city would prefer to not pay this money out," city spokesman Ted Lawson said. "Unfortunately, preserving the performance of the Police Department is just too vital." Within 24 hours of Roberts' sudden resignation, Gretsas appointed a permanent replacement, promoting 28-year employee Assistant Chief Franklin Adderley to the top job on Thursday. With the appointment, Adderley becomes the city's first black police chief.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbseverance0531sbmay31,0,303
864.story
=
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Hispanics a challenge for the GOP
One sign the Republican party has work to do in the Hispanic community:
Country music singer Lee Greenwood got more applause than President Bush at the citizenship ceremony. The roughly 3,000 immigrants at the Miami Beach Convention Center clapped politely when Bush, via videotape, greeted ''my fellow Americans.'' But they leaped to their feet and waved miniature American flags during a music video of Greenwood's hit God Bless the USA.
''You have to respect him because he's the commander-in-chief, but I don't agree with the policies he has put in place,'' said 26-year-old Juan Salas, a Florida International University graduate from Nicaragua. This is the most ominous political climate facing the GOP in 2008, and it partly explains why the number of Hispanic Democrats recently surpassed the number of Hispanic Republicans in Florida. Since January 2006, when the state began identifying voters as Hispanic, Democratic registration has increased 18 percent.
Hispanic Republicans grew by only 2 percent. Hispanic voters choosing neither party are up 14 percent.
http://www.miamiherald.com/467/story/552888.html
-Orioles may leave Fort Lauderdale over rent hike
The city of Fort Lauderdale likely will lose its spring training tenant, the Baltimore Orioles, unless the Federal Aviation Administration were to reverse a decision that significantly increases the fee to use the Fort Lauderdale Stadium land, Mayor Jim Naugle said Friday. Barring a reversal, the city would be left without spring training baseball for the first time since 1962, when the Yankees began a 34-year stay at Fort Lauderdale Stadium. Although the Orioles have an agreement to return to the 8,340-seat ballpark next season, Naugle said he would not stand in their way if they decide to move to a new site next spring. According to several media reports in recent months, the Orioles have an option agreement to move to the spring-training facility in Vero Beach, which is losing the Los Angeles Dodgers to a new ballpark in Arizona. The Orioles, in a statement, said they ``are obviously very disappointed, especially considering how diligently the city has worked to resolve this matter with the FAA and how patient the Orioles have been during this process.''
http://www.miamiherald.com/467/story/552888.html
=
Ft. Lauderdale: STONEWALL'S NEW EXHIBITION OPENS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4
A new exhibition "Out of the Shadows: Gay America from Kinsey to Stonewall" opens at the Broward Main Library on Wednesday, June 4. The exhibition is Stonewall Library & Archives' latest examination of gay and lesbian history and it will be on view until June 28. Admission to the exhibition is free and open to the public. The exhibition opening reception, free and open to the public, will take place Wednesday, June 4, from 6:30 - 8:30 pm at the Broward Main Library, in conjunction with the ArtsUnited exhibition "United and Proud." AND. JOIN us on June 4 for a pre-opening 1950s-style cocktail party at America's Backyard, 200 West Broward Blvd., Fort Lauderdale (behind Revolution Live!) 5:30 -7:00. $20 donation to Stonewall at the door.
On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots--an event commonly cited as the beginning of the gay rights movement-- the 22-panel exhibition will use period photographs, archival documents, artifacts and video to look at what might be described as the pre-history of the gay and lesbian rights movement. This exhibition will present the story of how the country sought to define what it meant to be gay and lesbian in post-World War II and pre-Stonewall America.For further information contact Jack Rutland,
Executive Director
Stonewall Library & Archives 954-763-8565
jack-rutland@stonewall-library.org
=
Domestic Violence Panel Discussion
The Broward Health Foundation cordially invites to you attend a panel discussion on domestic violence within the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Learn how to help yourself, a friend or family member when faced with domestic violence. Topics will include the medical, legal and psychological aspects and resources available for help. Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 6:00 P.M at Broward General Medical Center. Limited seating.
RSVP required by June 23, 2008 to Traci Allyn Shur at 954-355-5148 or Tshur@browardhealth.org
=
Wilton Manors Mayor Scott Newton received the endorsement today fromthe Broward Teachers Union. The BTU represents educational, technicalsupport and charter school professionals that are 13,000 membersstrong. "I share their commitment to a quality public school education,where our teachers are valued and our students learn to the very bestof their abilities" said Newton upon receipt of his endorsement. "As aproduct and supporter of our public schools, my wife Cindy and I alongwith our 3 children graduated from Fort Lauderdale High School. Itmakes me proud to have the teachers support my campaign for StateRepresentative in District 92. I look forward to working with them onissues of great importance to our community."
votenewton.com
=
From Jim Dean, Democracy for America
Every four years, Florida pays a major role in electing our President. Why because the people of Florida are swing voters who sometimes vote for the Republican and other times vote for the Democrat. But you wouldn't know it if you looked at the Florida legislature. Democrats are hard to find in Tallahassee because Republican incumbents control re-districting. In other words, every ten years Republicans redraw political districts through out Florida to make sure they stay in power year after year. This results in bizarrely shaped districts that divide communities and reduce the voting strength of like minded groups. Think about it. Incumbents are almost never challenged - they draw the maps so they will not have any real competition.
We can stop this power grab from happening again! We can amend our Constitution to make the Legislature draw districts based on communities, not partisan politics. Click here to sign the petitions right now
http://www.fairdistrictsflorida.org/petition.asp
=
GLCC - Ft. Lauderdale
-GLCC Special Offer: Purchase a limited raffle ticket (only 50 tickets will be sold) to see the True Colors Tour on June 19. $50 for a chance for TWO Tickets near the stage. Winner will be announced on Friday, June 6.
Contact Robert Boo at 954.463.9005 or rboo@glccsf.org.
- HIV+? Stressed by dating, sex, relationships or disclosure?Join CHOICES!
The PALS Project at the GLCC will start the next five-week CHOICES program on Thursday, June 12 at 7 p.m. Dating, sex and intimacy prove stressful for many gay and bisexual men. Those living with HIV may face extra stressors. The CHOICES (Choosing Healthy Options & Improving Communication EffectivenesS) program at the GLCC helps men living with HIV build coping skills to handle some of these challenges. In small groups, men meet to discuss how to build healthy relationships, negotiate safer sex, lower stress and disclose HIV-status to family, friends and sex partners. The creative, interactive sessions use modern movie clips to launch fun small group discussions each week. [...] Interested participants should contact the PALS Project at PALS@glccsf.org or 954.463.9011. The PALS Project provides a safe, non-judgmental environment for HIV+ men to look at their own behavior and to make wise choices that benefit their health and the health of others.
-Volunteers are needed for Stonewall Street Festival. Ask Bobby Kyser how you can help the GLCC by volunteering your time. Call 954.564.8707 or email at bobby@stonewallstreetfestival.com
=
Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Nothing is fair about Florida and Michigan
What the DNC rules committee should do, what they'll probably do
There are two nagging questions in the delegate dispute between the Democratic National Committee and the so-called aggrieved parties in Florida and Michigan: 1) What should the DNC do? and 2) What will the DNC do? Let's start with the first question. The fact is, the DNC will not be doing what it should do — or at least what members of the Rules and Bylaws committee would like it to do — which is sympathize with Florida and drop the hammer on Michigan.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24890836/
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Gov. Crist's girlfriend more than arm candy
Could a 38-year-old businesswoman who has been quietly dating Gov. Charlie Crist since September be adding Florida first lady to her resume?
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-flbguvsgirlfriend0531sbmay31,
0,4087761.story
-Fort Lauderdale's ex-police chief got $90,000 package to leave immediately
New deal allows severance benefits for Bruce Roberts
Former Police Chief Bruce Roberts had a job contract that gave him no severance pay if he were to voluntarily resign, which he did on Wednesday, giving 90 days' notice. But City Manager George Gretsas agreed to pay Roberts a package of about $90,000 to get him out the door immediately, city records show. "The city would prefer to not pay this money out," city spokesman Ted Lawson said. "Unfortunately, preserving the performance of the Police Department is just too vital." Within 24 hours of Roberts' sudden resignation, Gretsas appointed a permanent replacement, promoting 28-year employee Assistant Chief Franklin Adderley to the top job on Thursday. With the appointment, Adderley becomes the city's first black police chief.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbseverance0531sbmay31,0,303
864.story
=
Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Hispanics a challenge for the GOP
One sign the Republican party has work to do in the Hispanic community:
Country music singer Lee Greenwood got more applause than President Bush at the citizenship ceremony. The roughly 3,000 immigrants at the Miami Beach Convention Center clapped politely when Bush, via videotape, greeted ''my fellow Americans.'' But they leaped to their feet and waved miniature American flags during a music video of Greenwood's hit God Bless the USA.
''You have to respect him because he's the commander-in-chief, but I don't agree with the policies he has put in place,'' said 26-year-old Juan Salas, a Florida International University graduate from Nicaragua. This is the most ominous political climate facing the GOP in 2008, and it partly explains why the number of Hispanic Democrats recently surpassed the number of Hispanic Republicans in Florida. Since January 2006, when the state began identifying voters as Hispanic, Democratic registration has increased 18 percent.
Hispanic Republicans grew by only 2 percent. Hispanic voters choosing neither party are up 14 percent.
http://www.miamiherald.com/467/story/552888.html
-Orioles may leave Fort Lauderdale over rent hike
The city of Fort Lauderdale likely will lose its spring training tenant, the Baltimore Orioles, unless the Federal Aviation Administration were to reverse a decision that significantly increases the fee to use the Fort Lauderdale Stadium land, Mayor Jim Naugle said Friday. Barring a reversal, the city would be left without spring training baseball for the first time since 1962, when the Yankees began a 34-year stay at Fort Lauderdale Stadium. Although the Orioles have an agreement to return to the 8,340-seat ballpark next season, Naugle said he would not stand in their way if they decide to move to a new site next spring. According to several media reports in recent months, the Orioles have an option agreement to move to the spring-training facility in Vero Beach, which is losing the Los Angeles Dodgers to a new ballpark in Arizona. The Orioles, in a statement, said they ``are obviously very disappointed, especially considering how diligently the city has worked to resolve this matter with the FAA and how patient the Orioles have been during this process.''
http://www.miamiherald.com/467/story/552888.html
=
Ft. Lauderdale: STONEWALL'S NEW EXHIBITION OPENS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4
A new exhibition "Out of the Shadows: Gay America from Kinsey to Stonewall" opens at the Broward Main Library on Wednesday, June 4. The exhibition is Stonewall Library & Archives' latest examination of gay and lesbian history and it will be on view until June 28. Admission to the exhibition is free and open to the public. The exhibition opening reception, free and open to the public, will take place Wednesday, June 4, from 6:30 - 8:30 pm at the Broward Main Library, in conjunction with the ArtsUnited exhibition "United and Proud." AND. JOIN us on June 4 for a pre-opening 1950s-style cocktail party at America's Backyard, 200 West Broward Blvd., Fort Lauderdale (behind Revolution Live!) 5:30 -7:00. $20 donation to Stonewall at the door.
On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots--an event commonly cited as the beginning of the gay rights movement-- the 22-panel exhibition will use period photographs, archival documents, artifacts and video to look at what might be described as the pre-history of the gay and lesbian rights movement. This exhibition will present the story of how the country sought to define what it meant to be gay and lesbian in post-World War II and pre-Stonewall America.For further information contact Jack Rutland,
Executive Director
Stonewall Library & Archives 954-763-8565
jack-rutland@stonewall-library.org
=
Domestic Violence Panel Discussion
The Broward Health Foundation cordially invites to you attend a panel discussion on domestic violence within the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Learn how to help yourself, a friend or family member when faced with domestic violence. Topics will include the medical, legal and psychological aspects and resources available for help. Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 6:00 P.M at Broward General Medical Center. Limited seating.
RSVP required by June 23, 2008 to Traci Allyn Shur at 954-355-5148 or Tshur@browardhealth.org
=
Wilton Manors Mayor Scott Newton received the endorsement today fromthe Broward Teachers Union. The BTU represents educational, technicalsupport and charter school professionals that are 13,000 membersstrong. "I share their commitment to a quality public school education,where our teachers are valued and our students learn to the very bestof their abilities" said Newton upon receipt of his endorsement. "As aproduct and supporter of our public schools, my wife Cindy and I alongwith our 3 children graduated from Fort Lauderdale High School. Itmakes me proud to have the teachers support my campaign for StateRepresentative in District 92. I look forward to working with them onissues of great importance to our community."
votenewton.com
=
From Jim Dean, Democracy for America
Every four years, Florida pays a major role in electing our President. Why because the people of Florida are swing voters who sometimes vote for the Republican and other times vote for the Democrat. But you wouldn't know it if you looked at the Florida legislature. Democrats are hard to find in Tallahassee because Republican incumbents control re-districting. In other words, every ten years Republicans redraw political districts through out Florida to make sure they stay in power year after year. This results in bizarrely shaped districts that divide communities and reduce the voting strength of like minded groups. Think about it. Incumbents are almost never challenged - they draw the maps so they will not have any real competition.
We can stop this power grab from happening again! We can amend our Constitution to make the Legislature draw districts based on communities, not partisan politics. Click here to sign the petitions right now
http://www.fairdistrictsflorida.org/petition.asp
=
GLCC - Ft. Lauderdale
-GLCC Special Offer: Purchase a limited raffle ticket (only 50 tickets will be sold) to see the True Colors Tour on June 19. $50 for a chance for TWO Tickets near the stage. Winner will be announced on Friday, June 6.
Contact Robert Boo at 954.463.9005 or rboo@glccsf.org.
- HIV+? Stressed by dating, sex, relationships or disclosure?Join CHOICES!
The PALS Project at the GLCC will start the next five-week CHOICES program on Thursday, June 12 at 7 p.m. Dating, sex and intimacy prove stressful for many gay and bisexual men. Those living with HIV may face extra stressors. The CHOICES (Choosing Healthy Options & Improving Communication EffectivenesS) program at the GLCC helps men living with HIV build coping skills to handle some of these challenges. In small groups, men meet to discuss how to build healthy relationships, negotiate safer sex, lower stress and disclose HIV-status to family, friends and sex partners. The creative, interactive sessions use modern movie clips to launch fun small group discussions each week. [...] Interested participants should contact the PALS Project at PALS@glccsf.org or 954.463.9011. The PALS Project provides a safe, non-judgmental environment for HIV+ men to look at their own behavior and to make wise choices that benefit their health and the health of others.
-Volunteers are needed for Stonewall Street Festival. Ask Bobby Kyser how you can help the GLCC by volunteering your time. Call 954.564.8707 or email at bobby@stonewallstreetfestival.com
=
Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Nothing is fair about Florida and Michigan
What the DNC rules committee should do, what they'll probably do
There are two nagging questions in the delegate dispute between the Democratic National Committee and the so-called aggrieved parties in Florida and Michigan: 1) What should the DNC do? and 2) What will the DNC do? Let's start with the first question. The fact is, the DNC will not be doing what it should do — or at least what members of the Rules and Bylaws committee would like it to do — which is sympathize with Florida and drop the hammer on Michigan.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24890836/
=
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
Friday, May 30, 2008
GLBT NEWS May 30, 2008
**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.
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-UW - Madison poised to name openly gay chancellor
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is set to become the biggest university with an openly gay leader, according to gay rights advocates who hail the appointment as a milestone for the movement. Cornell University Provost Biddy Martin was recommended Wednesday to be the next chancellor at UW-Madison, a top national research university with 40,000 students. Martin, the No. 2 official at Cornell since 2000, is a professor of women's studies and German studies and author of the 1995 book ''Femininity Played Straight:
The Significance of Being Lesbian.'' About eight to 10 openly gay people have become college presidents and chancellors but mostly at small colleges, said Candace Gingrich of the Human Rights Campaign. ''None the size of UW-Madison,'' she said in a phone interview. ''It is a big milestone, and it's part of the progress that we're seeing at the college and university levels.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Openly-Gay-Chancellor.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=g
ay&st=nyt&oref=slogin
-Recognition of gay marriages in NY faces battle
Religious and social conservatives vowed Thursday to fight Gov. David Paterson's directive requiring state agencies to recognize gay marriages performed legally elsewhere, saying it flouts traditional values and is a big step toward legalizing same-sex unions in New York.''The definition of marriage predates recorded history,'' said New York State Catholic Conference Executive Director Richard E. Barnes. ''No single politician or court or legislature should attempt to redefine the very building block of our society in a way that alters its entire meaning and purpose.'' Paterson issued a memo earlier this month saying that gay New Yorkers who marry where it is legal will have the right to share family health care plans, receive tax breaks by filing jointly, enjoy stronger adoption rights and inherit property. He cited a February ruling in a New York Appellate Division court in which the judges determined that there is no legal impediment in New York to the recognition of a same-sex marriage.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Gay-Marriage.html?scp=3&sq=gay&st=nyt
-How Governor Set His Stance on Gay Rights
When David A. Paterson was growing up and his parents would go out of town, he and his little brother would stay in Harlem with family friends they called Uncle Stanley and Uncle Ronald. Uncle Stanley and Uncle Ronald, he said, were a gay couple, though in the 1960s few people described them that way. They helped young David with his spelling, and read to him and played cards with him. “Apparently, my parents never thought we were in any danger,†the governor recalled on Thursday in an interview. “I was raised in a culture that understood the different ways that people conduct their lives. And I feel very proud of it.†Mr. Paterson, who two months ago was unexpectedly elevated to be governor of New York, has accepted gay men and lesbians since early in life. From his first run for office, in 1985, he reached out to gays and lesbians, and in 1994, long before gay rights groups were broadly pushing for it, he said he supported same-sex marriage.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/nyregion/30paterson.html?scp=4&sq=gay&st=nyt
-A Step Closer to Justice
New Yorkers should be proud of Gov. David Paterson’s efforts to assure basic civil rights for same-sex couples married outside the state. Now, the State Legislature should prove its own commitment to equality and justice by granting gay couples the right to marry in New York State. Mr. Paterson has directed state agencies to respond to a recent court ruling by reviewing more than 1,300 state policies that affect married people. He wants to ensure that New York fully recognizes all legal marriage licenses, including those granted to gay couples in places like Massachusetts, Canada, South Africa and soon, California. If that sounds like mere paper shuffling in Albany, it is not. It means that New Yorkers who marry in San Francisco or Montreal can return home knowing that their rights will be protected. That is progress, especially since many states have specifically outlawed even the recognition of same-sex marriages granted legally elsewhere. Despite the growing political outcry, Mr. Paterson is on firm legal, as well as moral, ground. For more than a century, New York has recognized marriage contracts from other states — even
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/opinion/30fri1.html?scp=7&sq=gay&st=nyt
-Bruno Weighs Gay Marriage Directive
As New York lawmakers pondered a new directive from Gov. David A. Paterson that state agencies begin revising their policies to honor same-sex marriages conducted outside New York, the Legislature’s top Republican said he had yet to decide whether to challenge the governor. Joseph L. Bruno, the majority leader of the State Senate, said Thursday morning that he was surprised by the governor’s order but had not yet read it. “I’m not going to second-guess it because I haven’t seen it,†Mr. Bruno said. “I don’t know
the ramifications of this.â€
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/nyregion/30marriagecnd.html?scp=6&sq=gay&st=ny
t
-Gay Marriage Opponents Consider Ways to Fight New Policy
Opponents of same-sex unions were pondering a range of legal and legislative hallenges to Gov. David A. Paterson’s new policy of having state agencies honor same-sex marriages that have been performed outside New York. Though the directive was issued by Mr. Paterson’s counsel two weeks ago and was soon made known to gay-rights advocates and some lawmakers, the decision became broadly publicized only on Wednesday evening and apparently caught almost everyone else in Albany — Republicans and Democrats alike — by surprise. At a news conference on Thursday, the Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, a Republican who is opposed to same-sex marriage, said he had received no advance word of Mr. Paterson’s proposal. Senate Republicans are not scheduled to meet as a group until next week, but Mr. Bruno said he would be consulting with lawyers to study constitutional questions raised by Mr. Paterson’s directive, suggesting that legal action was a possibility.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/nyregion/30opponents.html?scp=5&sq=gay&st=nyt
=
Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-LA Times Macy's ad celebrates marriage equality
The Los Angeles Times ran a Macy's ad today showing two mingling wedding rings with the following message: "First comes love. Then comes marriage.
And now it's a milestone every couple in California can celebrate." Evan Wolfson from the organization Freedom to Marry says, "That Macy's feels comfortable doing this on such a big scale says a lot. (Of course they want to sell wedding presents, but such a prominent full-page ad from a mainstream company shows just how far we've come.)"
http://www.expressgaynews.com/blog/index.cfm?type=blog&start=5/24/08&end=5/31/08
#18603
-Phone calls for equality
John Aravosis at AMERICABlog writes that the religious right is flooding California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office with phone calls voicing their opposition to the same-sex marriage ruling. Once you get past the busy signals, you can voice your support in a few easy steps. Please do! The office apparently has an automated system in place to count the calls. Call (916) 445-2841. If you get a ring, press 1 for English, 2 for Spanish. Then press 5 to voice your opinion on a hot-button issue. Press 1 again to choose the same-sex marriage ruling, and press 1 one last time to pledge your support for it.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/blog/index.cfm?type=blog&start=5/27/08&end=5/31/08
#18552
-Birmingham, AL mayor rejects Gay Pride parade permit
Langford cites personal beliefs as reason to deny permit‘I don't think I'm intolerant, I just don't condone the lifestyle,’ said Mayor Larry Langford of Birmingham, Ala.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2008/5-29/news/national/4709.cfm
-Florida: LaFontaine wins key gay support for House Rep. seat
The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund backs local gay activist and former Boy Scout
The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, the nation’s largest GLBT political action ommittee, formally endorsed Mark LaFontaine for State Representative in District 92, LaFontain announce last week. LaFontaine is facing Gwyndolen Clarke-Reed and Scott Newton, mayor of Wilton Manors, for the district seat.
He gathered 694 petition signatures from throughout the distirict, almost 80 more than required to qualify for the Aug. 26 primary election. Because there is no Republican running, the seat will be determined on the primary election day, although the winner won’t begin serving until 2009. If elected, LaFontaine will be the first openly gay official elected to the Florida Legislature. He is a veteran of the US Coast Guard and spent most of his youth involved in Boy Scouts, eventually rising to the rank of Eagle Scout. He was later instrumental in opposing Boy Scout policies that discriminated against gay boy scouts or scout masters.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2008/5-29/news/localnews/4707.cfm
-Florida Man Claims Entrapment
Attorney Norm Kent threatens to bring class action suit against city
Like most gay men who are arrested for solicitation, public indecency or lewd and lascivious behavior, Fort Lauderdale resident Mike M. does not want anyone to know about his encounter with undercover police in Holiday Park last August. But unlike most of the people who are charged with misdemeanor counts of exposure of sex organs and battery (the court dropped prostitution harges), Mike refuses to quietly plead guilty. He does not want to make a plea deal with city attorneys who are prosecuting the case vigorously. He’s indignant about not paying a fine, attending a counseling program, or having this arrest mar his otherwise spotless record. He wants Broward County Judge Gary Cowart to dismiss all charges because, he alleges, the city illegally entrapped him by having an officer aggressively pursue him for sex and prostitution.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2008/5-29/news/localnews/4704.cfm
-Friend or Foe?
FRIEND OF THE WEEK - VLADA von Shute
When Vlada von Shute, owner of Vlada Lounge in New York, decided to open a location in the Midtown Miami, she didn’t realize what a fight she’d be up against. But in the final stages of her permit approval, residents of the area complained about a gay bar moving in--and she was denied. Luckily she appealed, won her case, and her bar will be the first gay-themed establishment in the area. Gay establishments have a long history of being “urban pioneers,†gentrifying once-rundown areas, and Midtown Miami certainly used to fit that bill. Now we look forward to sipping one of her drinks!
FOE OF THE WEEK - South Beach Hip Hop Weekend
This “festival†was once the Freaknik party in Atlanta, but that city kicked hem out due to bad behavior. Now they take over the Art Deco district, for several days filled with street brawls, assaults, and general harassment.
The Palace staff had to take down all their rainbow flags, and de-gay the whole place; Dek23, on Washington Ave, literally boarded up like they were ready for a hurricane. When an Express staff member took a trip down to 12th Street beach, he was greeted with comments of “Those are faggots!†from passers-by. Then on Friday night, patrons at Twist were asked to leave through the back alley, after someone was shot up the street. This year wasn’t as violent as years past; but that’s just because the weather was rainy, and not as many people came outside. When will Miami Beach follow Atlanta’s lead, and kick the party out?
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2008/5-29/view/friendfoe/4713.cfm
-Finding asylum in the US
LGBT people seeking protection from persecution face legal challenges
Vladmir came to the United States several years ago to escape persecution in Russia. The 23-year old male is intelligent, kind, and quite attractive--deep bluish-green eyes, dirty-blonde hair, trim frame. He is also gay, a characteristic which continues to incite violence and mistreatment in his home country. He has been beaten by military officials, dismissed by the police, and denigrated by professors, all on account of his sexual orientation. Hearing his stories made me appreciate my own country—despite all its disparities—even if just for a moment.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2008/5-29/view/columns/4716.cfm
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365Gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Obama Distances Himself from Another Clergyman
(Chicago)Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Thursday that he was "deeply disappointed" by a supporter's sermon at his church that mocked Hillary Rodham Clinton.
-UW-Madison Names Its First Lesbian Chancellor
Carolyn Martin has been named the University of Wisconsin-Madison's first lesbian chancellor, Wisconsin system president Kevin Reilly announced Wednesday afternoon in a news release.
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National Gay News
http://nationalgaynews.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
Go to this link for the following articles:
- "Y.M.C.A." (An Oral History)
America's favorite ballpark sing-along is actually (gasp!) a disco anthem about gay sex. Or is it? On the 30th anniversary of the Village People smash, we get the full story from the folks who know best: the cowboy, the construction worker...
-SSA Ignores Florida Gay Father. His
Child Suffers Because of Anti-Gay Discrimination
Gary Day has filed suit against the Social Security Administration. Day is a isabled father, whose repeated requests for assistance for his children has been ignored for over two years. Indications in the government's responses point to anti-gay discrimination. "Asking a father to wait more than 2 years for the SSA to decide whether his children are entitled to disability insurance suggests either a failure on the part of the agency to do its job or blatant discrimination based on the fact that these children have two dads," said Beth Littrell, Staff Attorney at Lambda Legal Southern Regional Office based in Atlanta, Georgia. "Either way the SSA's actions are unfair and unacceptable."
- Senate Bill Ensures that Californians Have the Nation's Most Comprehensive Civil Rights Protections
The Assembly on Tuesday approved legislation that continues an historic multi-year effort by assembly member John Laird and Equality California to odernize California's anti-discrimination laws. The Civil Rights Act of 2008, the fifth nondiscrimination bill authored by the Santa Cruz Assemblymember, would help ensure that Californians have the most comprehensive civil rights protections in the nation. Assembly Bill 2654 passed the Assembly with a 43-21 vote. The measure will be heard next in Senate policy committees.
-Sex Adviser: The 100 Most Asked Questions About Sex Between Men
Frequently asked questions about gay sex are addressed by the nationally known columnist. "Can a condom be put on underwater?" "I'm married to a woman, but I like men. Is this wrong?" "Is penile enlargement real or a hoax?" If you can think of it, nationally known sex columnist Tony Palermo can answer it, and he does in this collection of over 100 of the most frequently asked questions about gay sex. Often humorous, always respectful, and never condescending, Sex Adviser tackles serious questions about STD prevention, troubling questions about fidelity, and technical questions about what goes where with care, thorough research, and plain common sense.
A perfect book for young men with a lot of questions or anyone with a healthy dose of curiosity, Sex Adviser is an important and valuable additionto sex education. Tony Palermo dispenses sex advice to gay men in a national monthly column.
-Lindsay Lohan's Dad Confirms Lesbian Relationship
Michael Lohan says it's obvious to anyone with "half a brain" his daughter Lindsay is in a lesbian relationship with Samantha Ronson. The Mean Girls actress was recently seen canoodling with the DJ and Michael admits the pair are enjoying a romance. He is quoted in Us Weekly magazine as saying: "The romance is evident to anyone with half a brain."
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Marriage Equality News
http://samesexmarriage.typepad.com/weblog/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Tonight on the O’Reilly factor… Bill tries to segue from a discussion about Warren Jeffs making out with 12-year-old girls to the gays getting married in California and what these things, taken together, mean for the country.
And Dennis Miller isn’t having it.
MILLER: Listen, I have to bring a big curtain down here visually between discussing, to me, a monster like Warren Jeffs and going over to talk about the issue of gay marriage. I just have to bring down a massive curtain first.
O’REILLY: No, there’s absolutely no link there.
MILLER: These couldn’t be more different to me. Now listen, I have to be very delicate here to protect people’s privacy, but I know of a young child who over the course of her life, as I’ve seen her, has been raised by homosexual parents. And as I’ve watched her blossom, I am enamored, and I can see in her face that she’s loved.
-When I left India for America, my aunts worried about who I might end up marrying. "I hope you'll marry another Bengali," an aunt told me. Over the years that relaxed to, "I hope she's a Hindu, even if she's not Bengali."
Then it became, "At least another Indian," until finally we reached, "I hope you'll get married to someone before we all die." She probably didn't mean another man.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/05/30/arranged_gay_marriage/
-The state of California is ready to give up the fight against same-sex marriage.
In a brief filed with the California Supreme Court on Thursday, Attorney
General Jerry Brown’s office advises the court to ignore conservative legal groups who asked last week that the landmark May 15 ruling upholding gay and lesbian marriages be reheard or stayed until after the Nov. 4 election.
“This historic litigation is now concluded,†Sacramento-based Senior Assistant Attorney General Christopher Krueger wrote.
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Pink News - UK
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Council praised for prompt action against discriminatory Earl
An aristocrat who refused to allow a gay couple to hold their civil partnership ceremony at his castle has had his licence revoked by Devon County Council. Russian President intervenes over Moscow Pride
-The President of Russia, Dmitriy Medvedev, has phoned the Prefecture of the Central Administrative area of Moscow and told him to authorise the gay demonstration.
-New STI campaign tells gays to get tested and get back out there
Sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust has re-launched a provocative campaign to try to increase awareness among gay men of sexually transmitted infections.
-Police worker commended for work on homophobic crime
A community liaison officer who set up a Homophobic Incident Reporting Line has been presented with a certificate of merit. Mick Cronin, who works in Kent, set the scheme up in Dover and Folkestone.
-Jewish academic attacks gay Holocaust memorial
Germany has made a mistake by dedicating a memorial to the gay men who were victims of Nazi oppression, a leading Holocaust scholar has claimed.
-Egypt accused of "indifference to justice and public health" as HIV convictions upheld
A Cairo appeals court has upheld the sentences handed down to five men jailed as part of a 'crackdown' on men who are HIV positive or living with AIDS.
-Pelosi says she will end Democratic race by June
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has made it clear that she will "step in" to put an end to the Presidential race if the party does not have a nominee by the end of June.
-Doctor Who, omnisexuals and penis envy
Right from its origins in 1963, the classic Doctor Who series was highly political and embodied a distinct minority sensibility.
-US Senator at centre of cruising scandal to write book
United States Senator Larry Craig, who came to international prominence over in incident in an airport bathroom which led to him being arrested for cruising, is to write a book.
-Cyndi Lauper headlines Pride in US soap first
American audiences of popular soap As The World Turns have been treated to a very sweet gay storyline of late, and producers of the show have recruited a gay icon to serenade the star-crossed homos.
-Threat of violence hangs over Riga Pride
Latvian nationalist groups have issued a chilling joint statement saying that if a Pride event goes ahead this weekend it may create violent protests.
-Gay firefighters support group wins award
The only national group campaigning for LGBT rights in the fire service has been honoured at a national awards ceremony. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Support Group won a leadership award.
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GLAAD’s "The Best & Worst of National News"
May 2008
THE BEST
-USA Today Highlights Couples’ Positive Reactions to California Marriage Ruling
USA Today captured the joy of the moment following the California Supreme Court marriage decision in its May 16 article, “Gay Couples 'Ecstatic' Over Ruling.†[...]
-Los Angeles Times Spotlights the Achievements of Nepal’s First Openly Gay olitician
While journalists discuss the increasing numbers of openly LGBT Americans running for office, they can sometimes overlook the fascinating stories of pioneering LGBT politicians in other countries. Refreshingly, the -Los Angeles Times recently focused its attention on the amazing strides toward equality made by LGBT people in the socially conservative, poverty-stricken nation of Nepal. [...]
-The Detroit News Shares the Inspiring Work of Openly Gay Bishop Gene Robinson
With the first openly gay Episcopal Bishop, Gene Robinson, releasing a new book about his journey coming out as a gay Christian, The Detroit News published a moving column by Deb Price about Robinson’s commitment to a more broadly inclusive Episcopal church, the world’s third largest Christian enomination. [...]
THE WORST
-Fox News Radio’s John Gibson Mocks MSNBC Analyst and Air America Radio Host
Rachel Maddow For Being a Lesbian Earlier in the year, Fox News Radio host John Gibson was widely condemned for using the death of Heath Ledger as an occasion to mock his passing and make tasteless anti-gay jokes about the Brokeback Mountain star. After GLAAD issued an action alert against him, Gibson apologized for his comments. However, Gibson continues to make anti-gay jokes, recently mocking MSNBC analyst and Air America Radio host Rachel Maddow.
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Forwarded from Euro-Queer
Contact rays.list@comcast.net for the full article:
-Lambdaistanbul Court Case Decision: What’s Next?
On May 29th, 2008, the local court in Istanbul has announced its judgment for Lambdaistanbul LGBT Solidarity Association to be shut down. The legal process will go on with the Supreme Court of Appeals looking over the case file. The association is not yet closed down until there is a final decision by the Supreme Court of Appeals.
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Forwarded from Gays Without Borders
Contact rays.list@comcast.net for the full article
-Organizers urge authorities to provide security for the participants
On Thursday 29 May organizers of Moscow Gay Pride announced that their public event will take place on Sunday June,1 at 1 p.m. in front of Moscow City Hall at Tverskaya Str., 13. Earlier organizers applied for five marches in different locations per every day in May, but Moscow Mayor banned all the events saying that they will endanger public order and cause negative reaction of the majority of the population. On Wednesday it was announced that Administration of Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev called refecture of the Central Administrative area of Moscow to allow Gay Pride event in one of the locations in downtown Moscow. Though the organizers still have not received any proposals from Moscow authorities.
-The human rights organization Amnesty International, which adopted gay political prisoners and LGBT issues only after gay activists mobilized a global campaign forcing the group to expand its vision to include sexual minorities, today issued its 2007 annual report of human rights practices around the world. While not nearly as wide-ranging or comprehensive as the 2007 annual human rights survey from the US State Department, which contained hundreds of gay and HIV references, it is still necessary for gay advocates to applaud Amnesty for such inclusions in their yearly summaries.
http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/Homepage
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Go to the links for the following articles:
Contact rays.list@comcast.net if can't access the article
-THOMPSON VOWS TO RESUMBIT SHAREHOLDER RESOLUTION TO PROTECT LGBT WORKERSFROM BIAS AT EXXONMOBIL
New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., on behalf of the New York City Pension Funds, vowed to resubmit the Funds' shareholder resolution calling on the company to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation. At ExxonMobil's annual meeting in Dallas, Texas yesterday the resolution received approximately 39.6 percent support, up from 37.7 percent last year.
Yesterday's vote marks the ninth time the resolution was voted upon by shareholders. "Once again, ExxonMobil has refused to be an industry leader in adopting basic protections for its employees.
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Mark's List
http://frontpage.jumponmarkslist.com/MSFL/2008/052908.htm
Pictures from events:
â–º Girls in Wonderland
http://frontpage.jumponmarkslist.com/events/girls_in_wonderland/2008/index1.htm
â–º Memorial Day Weekend Pensacola
http://frontpage.jumponmarkslist.com/events/memorial_day_pensacola/2008/index1.htm
â–º Pridefest of the Palm Beaches 2009
http://frontpage.jumponmarkslist.com/events/pridefest_palm_beaches/2009/index.htm
â–º Stonewall Street Festival 2008
http://frontpage.jumponmarkslist.com/events/stonewall/2008/index1.htm
â–º St Petersburg Pride 2008
http://frontpage.jumponmarkslist.com/events/st_petersburg_pride/2008/index1.htm
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Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Gay marriage gaining ground
California, New York and even Macy's are accepting it.
As the California Supreme Court decision outlawing this state's ban on same-sex marriage settles in, we are being treated to the unmistakable cracking sounds of long-held, icy bigotries giving way to a wellspring of justice. In New York, the governor has ordered state agencies to recognize marriages of same-sex couples performed elsewhere. In California, polls show growing acceptance of same-sex marriage, most notably among young people.
And, perhaps most telling of all, Macy's this week took out a full-page ad that solicited the business of same-sex couples planning their nuptials.
"First comes love. Then comes marriage," the ad proclaims beneath an image of two wedding rings. "And now it's a milestone every couple in California can celebrate."
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-gaymarriage30-2008may30,0,1190133.stor
y?track=rss
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-UW - Madison poised to name openly gay chancellor
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is set to become the biggest university with an openly gay leader, according to gay rights advocates who hail the appointment as a milestone for the movement. Cornell University Provost Biddy Martin was recommended Wednesday to be the next chancellor at UW-Madison, a top national research university with 40,000 students. Martin, the No. 2 official at Cornell since 2000, is a professor of women's studies and German studies and author of the 1995 book ''Femininity Played Straight:
The Significance of Being Lesbian.'' About eight to 10 openly gay people have become college presidents and chancellors but mostly at small colleges, said Candace Gingrich of the Human Rights Campaign. ''None the size of UW-Madison,'' she said in a phone interview. ''It is a big milestone, and it's part of the progress that we're seeing at the college and university levels.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Openly-Gay-Chancellor.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=g
ay&st=nyt&oref=slogin
-Recognition of gay marriages in NY faces battle
Religious and social conservatives vowed Thursday to fight Gov. David Paterson's directive requiring state agencies to recognize gay marriages performed legally elsewhere, saying it flouts traditional values and is a big step toward legalizing same-sex unions in New York.''The definition of marriage predates recorded history,'' said New York State Catholic Conference Executive Director Richard E. Barnes. ''No single politician or court or legislature should attempt to redefine the very building block of our society in a way that alters its entire meaning and purpose.'' Paterson issued a memo earlier this month saying that gay New Yorkers who marry where it is legal will have the right to share family health care plans, receive tax breaks by filing jointly, enjoy stronger adoption rights and inherit property. He cited a February ruling in a New York Appellate Division court in which the judges determined that there is no legal impediment in New York to the recognition of a same-sex marriage.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Gay-Marriage.html?scp=3&sq=gay&st=nyt
-How Governor Set His Stance on Gay Rights
When David A. Paterson was growing up and his parents would go out of town, he and his little brother would stay in Harlem with family friends they called Uncle Stanley and Uncle Ronald. Uncle Stanley and Uncle Ronald, he said, were a gay couple, though in the 1960s few people described them that way. They helped young David with his spelling, and read to him and played cards with him. “Apparently, my parents never thought we were in any danger,†the governor recalled on Thursday in an interview. “I was raised in a culture that understood the different ways that people conduct their lives. And I feel very proud of it.†Mr. Paterson, who two months ago was unexpectedly elevated to be governor of New York, has accepted gay men and lesbians since early in life. From his first run for office, in 1985, he reached out to gays and lesbians, and in 1994, long before gay rights groups were broadly pushing for it, he said he supported same-sex marriage.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/nyregion/30paterson.html?scp=4&sq=gay&st=nyt
-A Step Closer to Justice
New Yorkers should be proud of Gov. David Paterson’s efforts to assure basic civil rights for same-sex couples married outside the state. Now, the State Legislature should prove its own commitment to equality and justice by granting gay couples the right to marry in New York State. Mr. Paterson has directed state agencies to respond to a recent court ruling by reviewing more than 1,300 state policies that affect married people. He wants to ensure that New York fully recognizes all legal marriage licenses, including those granted to gay couples in places like Massachusetts, Canada, South Africa and soon, California. If that sounds like mere paper shuffling in Albany, it is not. It means that New Yorkers who marry in San Francisco or Montreal can return home knowing that their rights will be protected. That is progress, especially since many states have specifically outlawed even the recognition of same-sex marriages granted legally elsewhere. Despite the growing political outcry, Mr. Paterson is on firm legal, as well as moral, ground. For more than a century, New York has recognized marriage contracts from other states — even
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/opinion/30fri1.html?scp=7&sq=gay&st=nyt
-Bruno Weighs Gay Marriage Directive
As New York lawmakers pondered a new directive from Gov. David A. Paterson that state agencies begin revising their policies to honor same-sex marriages conducted outside New York, the Legislature’s top Republican said he had yet to decide whether to challenge the governor. Joseph L. Bruno, the majority leader of the State Senate, said Thursday morning that he was surprised by the governor’s order but had not yet read it. “I’m not going to second-guess it because I haven’t seen it,†Mr. Bruno said. “I don’t know
the ramifications of this.â€
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/nyregion/30marriagecnd.html?scp=6&sq=gay&st=ny
t
-Gay Marriage Opponents Consider Ways to Fight New Policy
Opponents of same-sex unions were pondering a range of legal and legislative hallenges to Gov. David A. Paterson’s new policy of having state agencies honor same-sex marriages that have been performed outside New York. Though the directive was issued by Mr. Paterson’s counsel two weeks ago and was soon made known to gay-rights advocates and some lawmakers, the decision became broadly publicized only on Wednesday evening and apparently caught almost everyone else in Albany — Republicans and Democrats alike — by surprise. At a news conference on Thursday, the Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, a Republican who is opposed to same-sex marriage, said he had received no advance word of Mr. Paterson’s proposal. Senate Republicans are not scheduled to meet as a group until next week, but Mr. Bruno said he would be consulting with lawyers to study constitutional questions raised by Mr. Paterson’s directive, suggesting that legal action was a possibility.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/nyregion/30opponents.html?scp=5&sq=gay&st=nyt
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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-LA Times Macy's ad celebrates marriage equality
The Los Angeles Times ran a Macy's ad today showing two mingling wedding rings with the following message: "First comes love. Then comes marriage.
And now it's a milestone every couple in California can celebrate." Evan Wolfson from the organization Freedom to Marry says, "That Macy's feels comfortable doing this on such a big scale says a lot. (Of course they want to sell wedding presents, but such a prominent full-page ad from a mainstream company shows just how far we've come.)"
http://www.expressgaynews.com/blog/index.cfm?type=blog&start=5/24/08&end=5/31/08
#18603
-Phone calls for equality
John Aravosis at AMERICABlog writes that the religious right is flooding California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office with phone calls voicing their opposition to the same-sex marriage ruling. Once you get past the busy signals, you can voice your support in a few easy steps. Please do! The office apparently has an automated system in place to count the calls. Call (916) 445-2841. If you get a ring, press 1 for English, 2 for Spanish. Then press 5 to voice your opinion on a hot-button issue. Press 1 again to choose the same-sex marriage ruling, and press 1 one last time to pledge your support for it.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/blog/index.cfm?type=blog&start=5/27/08&end=5/31/08
#18552
-Birmingham, AL mayor rejects Gay Pride parade permit
Langford cites personal beliefs as reason to deny permit‘I don't think I'm intolerant, I just don't condone the lifestyle,’ said Mayor Larry Langford of Birmingham, Ala.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2008/5-29/news/national/4709.cfm
-Florida: LaFontaine wins key gay support for House Rep. seat
The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund backs local gay activist and former Boy Scout
The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, the nation’s largest GLBT political action ommittee, formally endorsed Mark LaFontaine for State Representative in District 92, LaFontain announce last week. LaFontaine is facing Gwyndolen Clarke-Reed and Scott Newton, mayor of Wilton Manors, for the district seat.
He gathered 694 petition signatures from throughout the distirict, almost 80 more than required to qualify for the Aug. 26 primary election. Because there is no Republican running, the seat will be determined on the primary election day, although the winner won’t begin serving until 2009. If elected, LaFontaine will be the first openly gay official elected to the Florida Legislature. He is a veteran of the US Coast Guard and spent most of his youth involved in Boy Scouts, eventually rising to the rank of Eagle Scout. He was later instrumental in opposing Boy Scout policies that discriminated against gay boy scouts or scout masters.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2008/5-29/news/localnews/4707.cfm
-Florida Man Claims Entrapment
Attorney Norm Kent threatens to bring class action suit against city
Like most gay men who are arrested for solicitation, public indecency or lewd and lascivious behavior, Fort Lauderdale resident Mike M. does not want anyone to know about his encounter with undercover police in Holiday Park last August. But unlike most of the people who are charged with misdemeanor counts of exposure of sex organs and battery (the court dropped prostitution harges), Mike refuses to quietly plead guilty. He does not want to make a plea deal with city attorneys who are prosecuting the case vigorously. He’s indignant about not paying a fine, attending a counseling program, or having this arrest mar his otherwise spotless record. He wants Broward County Judge Gary Cowart to dismiss all charges because, he alleges, the city illegally entrapped him by having an officer aggressively pursue him for sex and prostitution.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2008/5-29/news/localnews/4704.cfm
-Friend or Foe?
FRIEND OF THE WEEK - VLADA von Shute
When Vlada von Shute, owner of Vlada Lounge in New York, decided to open a location in the Midtown Miami, she didn’t realize what a fight she’d be up against. But in the final stages of her permit approval, residents of the area complained about a gay bar moving in--and she was denied. Luckily she appealed, won her case, and her bar will be the first gay-themed establishment in the area. Gay establishments have a long history of being “urban pioneers,†gentrifying once-rundown areas, and Midtown Miami certainly used to fit that bill. Now we look forward to sipping one of her drinks!
FOE OF THE WEEK - South Beach Hip Hop Weekend
This “festival†was once the Freaknik party in Atlanta, but that city kicked hem out due to bad behavior. Now they take over the Art Deco district, for several days filled with street brawls, assaults, and general harassment.
The Palace staff had to take down all their rainbow flags, and de-gay the whole place; Dek23, on Washington Ave, literally boarded up like they were ready for a hurricane. When an Express staff member took a trip down to 12th Street beach, he was greeted with comments of “Those are faggots!†from passers-by. Then on Friday night, patrons at Twist were asked to leave through the back alley, after someone was shot up the street. This year wasn’t as violent as years past; but that’s just because the weather was rainy, and not as many people came outside. When will Miami Beach follow Atlanta’s lead, and kick the party out?
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2008/5-29/view/friendfoe/4713.cfm
-Finding asylum in the US
LGBT people seeking protection from persecution face legal challenges
Vladmir came to the United States several years ago to escape persecution in Russia. The 23-year old male is intelligent, kind, and quite attractive--deep bluish-green eyes, dirty-blonde hair, trim frame. He is also gay, a characteristic which continues to incite violence and mistreatment in his home country. He has been beaten by military officials, dismissed by the police, and denigrated by professors, all on account of his sexual orientation. Hearing his stories made me appreciate my own country—despite all its disparities—even if just for a moment.
http://www.expressgaynews.com/2008/5-29/view/columns/4716.cfm
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365Gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Obama Distances Himself from Another Clergyman
(Chicago)Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Thursday that he was "deeply disappointed" by a supporter's sermon at his church that mocked Hillary Rodham Clinton.
-UW-Madison Names Its First Lesbian Chancellor
Carolyn Martin has been named the University of Wisconsin-Madison's first lesbian chancellor, Wisconsin system president Kevin Reilly announced Wednesday afternoon in a news release.
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National Gay News
http://nationalgaynews.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
Go to this link for the following articles:
- "Y.M.C.A." (An Oral History)
America's favorite ballpark sing-along is actually (gasp!) a disco anthem about gay sex. Or is it? On the 30th anniversary of the Village People smash, we get the full story from the folks who know best: the cowboy, the construction worker...
-SSA Ignores Florida Gay Father. His
Child Suffers Because of Anti-Gay Discrimination
Gary Day has filed suit against the Social Security Administration. Day is a isabled father, whose repeated requests for assistance for his children has been ignored for over two years. Indications in the government's responses point to anti-gay discrimination. "Asking a father to wait more than 2 years for the SSA to decide whether his children are entitled to disability insurance suggests either a failure on the part of the agency to do its job or blatant discrimination based on the fact that these children have two dads," said Beth Littrell, Staff Attorney at Lambda Legal Southern Regional Office based in Atlanta, Georgia. "Either way the SSA's actions are unfair and unacceptable."
- Senate Bill Ensures that Californians Have the Nation's Most Comprehensive Civil Rights Protections
The Assembly on Tuesday approved legislation that continues an historic multi-year effort by assembly member John Laird and Equality California to odernize California's anti-discrimination laws. The Civil Rights Act of 2008, the fifth nondiscrimination bill authored by the Santa Cruz Assemblymember, would help ensure that Californians have the most comprehensive civil rights protections in the nation. Assembly Bill 2654 passed the Assembly with a 43-21 vote. The measure will be heard next in Senate policy committees.
-Sex Adviser: The 100 Most Asked Questions About Sex Between Men
Frequently asked questions about gay sex are addressed by the nationally known columnist. "Can a condom be put on underwater?" "I'm married to a woman, but I like men. Is this wrong?" "Is penile enlargement real or a hoax?" If you can think of it, nationally known sex columnist Tony Palermo can answer it, and he does in this collection of over 100 of the most frequently asked questions about gay sex. Often humorous, always respectful, and never condescending, Sex Adviser tackles serious questions about STD prevention, troubling questions about fidelity, and technical questions about what goes where with care, thorough research, and plain common sense.
A perfect book for young men with a lot of questions or anyone with a healthy dose of curiosity, Sex Adviser is an important and valuable additionto sex education. Tony Palermo dispenses sex advice to gay men in a national monthly column.
-Lindsay Lohan's Dad Confirms Lesbian Relationship
Michael Lohan says it's obvious to anyone with "half a brain" his daughter Lindsay is in a lesbian relationship with Samantha Ronson. The Mean Girls actress was recently seen canoodling with the DJ and Michael admits the pair are enjoying a romance. He is quoted in Us Weekly magazine as saying: "The romance is evident to anyone with half a brain."
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Marriage Equality News
http://samesexmarriage.typepad.com/weblog/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Tonight on the O’Reilly factor… Bill tries to segue from a discussion about Warren Jeffs making out with 12-year-old girls to the gays getting married in California and what these things, taken together, mean for the country.
And Dennis Miller isn’t having it.
MILLER: Listen, I have to bring a big curtain down here visually between discussing, to me, a monster like Warren Jeffs and going over to talk about the issue of gay marriage. I just have to bring down a massive curtain first.
O’REILLY: No, there’s absolutely no link there.
MILLER: These couldn’t be more different to me. Now listen, I have to be very delicate here to protect people’s privacy, but I know of a young child who over the course of her life, as I’ve seen her, has been raised by homosexual parents. And as I’ve watched her blossom, I am enamored, and I can see in her face that she’s loved.
-When I left India for America, my aunts worried about who I might end up marrying. "I hope you'll marry another Bengali," an aunt told me. Over the years that relaxed to, "I hope she's a Hindu, even if she's not Bengali."
Then it became, "At least another Indian," until finally we reached, "I hope you'll get married to someone before we all die." She probably didn't mean another man.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/05/30/arranged_gay_marriage/
-The state of California is ready to give up the fight against same-sex marriage.
In a brief filed with the California Supreme Court on Thursday, Attorney
General Jerry Brown’s office advises the court to ignore conservative legal groups who asked last week that the landmark May 15 ruling upholding gay and lesbian marriages be reheard or stayed until after the Nov. 4 election.
“This historic litigation is now concluded,†Sacramento-based Senior Assistant Attorney General Christopher Krueger wrote.
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Pink News - UK
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-Council praised for prompt action against discriminatory Earl
An aristocrat who refused to allow a gay couple to hold their civil partnership ceremony at his castle has had his licence revoked by Devon County Council. Russian President intervenes over Moscow Pride
-The President of Russia, Dmitriy Medvedev, has phoned the Prefecture of the Central Administrative area of Moscow and told him to authorise the gay demonstration.
-New STI campaign tells gays to get tested and get back out there
Sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust has re-launched a provocative campaign to try to increase awareness among gay men of sexually transmitted infections.
-Police worker commended for work on homophobic crime
A community liaison officer who set up a Homophobic Incident Reporting Line has been presented with a certificate of merit. Mick Cronin, who works in Kent, set the scheme up in Dover and Folkestone.
-Jewish academic attacks gay Holocaust memorial
Germany has made a mistake by dedicating a memorial to the gay men who were victims of Nazi oppression, a leading Holocaust scholar has claimed.
-Egypt accused of "indifference to justice and public health" as HIV convictions upheld
A Cairo appeals court has upheld the sentences handed down to five men jailed as part of a 'crackdown' on men who are HIV positive or living with AIDS.
-Pelosi says she will end Democratic race by June
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has made it clear that she will "step in" to put an end to the Presidential race if the party does not have a nominee by the end of June.
-Doctor Who, omnisexuals and penis envy
Right from its origins in 1963, the classic Doctor Who series was highly political and embodied a distinct minority sensibility.
-US Senator at centre of cruising scandal to write book
United States Senator Larry Craig, who came to international prominence over in incident in an airport bathroom which led to him being arrested for cruising, is to write a book.
-Cyndi Lauper headlines Pride in US soap first
American audiences of popular soap As The World Turns have been treated to a very sweet gay storyline of late, and producers of the show have recruited a gay icon to serenade the star-crossed homos.
-Threat of violence hangs over Riga Pride
Latvian nationalist groups have issued a chilling joint statement saying that if a Pride event goes ahead this weekend it may create violent protests.
-Gay firefighters support group wins award
The only national group campaigning for LGBT rights in the fire service has been honoured at a national awards ceremony. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Support Group won a leadership award.
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GLAAD’s "The Best & Worst of National News"
May 2008
THE BEST
-USA Today Highlights Couples’ Positive Reactions to California Marriage Ruling
USA Today captured the joy of the moment following the California Supreme Court marriage decision in its May 16 article, “Gay Couples 'Ecstatic' Over Ruling.†[...]
-Los Angeles Times Spotlights the Achievements of Nepal’s First Openly Gay olitician
While journalists discuss the increasing numbers of openly LGBT Americans running for office, they can sometimes overlook the fascinating stories of pioneering LGBT politicians in other countries. Refreshingly, the -Los Angeles Times recently focused its attention on the amazing strides toward equality made by LGBT people in the socially conservative, poverty-stricken nation of Nepal. [...]
-The Detroit News Shares the Inspiring Work of Openly Gay Bishop Gene Robinson
With the first openly gay Episcopal Bishop, Gene Robinson, releasing a new book about his journey coming out as a gay Christian, The Detroit News published a moving column by Deb Price about Robinson’s commitment to a more broadly inclusive Episcopal church, the world’s third largest Christian enomination. [...]
THE WORST
-Fox News Radio’s John Gibson Mocks MSNBC Analyst and Air America Radio Host
Rachel Maddow For Being a Lesbian Earlier in the year, Fox News Radio host John Gibson was widely condemned for using the death of Heath Ledger as an occasion to mock his passing and make tasteless anti-gay jokes about the Brokeback Mountain star. After GLAAD issued an action alert against him, Gibson apologized for his comments. However, Gibson continues to make anti-gay jokes, recently mocking MSNBC analyst and Air America Radio host Rachel Maddow.
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Forwarded from Euro-Queer
Contact rays.list@comcast.net for the full article:
-Lambdaistanbul Court Case Decision: What’s Next?
On May 29th, 2008, the local court in Istanbul has announced its judgment for Lambdaistanbul LGBT Solidarity Association to be shut down. The legal process will go on with the Supreme Court of Appeals looking over the case file. The association is not yet closed down until there is a final decision by the Supreme Court of Appeals.
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Forwarded from Gays Without Borders
Contact rays.list@comcast.net for the full article
-Organizers urge authorities to provide security for the participants
On Thursday 29 May organizers of Moscow Gay Pride announced that their public event will take place on Sunday June,1 at 1 p.m. in front of Moscow City Hall at Tverskaya Str., 13. Earlier organizers applied for five marches in different locations per every day in May, but Moscow Mayor banned all the events saying that they will endanger public order and cause negative reaction of the majority of the population. On Wednesday it was announced that Administration of Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev called refecture of the Central Administrative area of Moscow to allow Gay Pride event in one of the locations in downtown Moscow. Though the organizers still have not received any proposals from Moscow authorities.
-The human rights organization Amnesty International, which adopted gay political prisoners and LGBT issues only after gay activists mobilized a global campaign forcing the group to expand its vision to include sexual minorities, today issued its 2007 annual report of human rights practices around the world. While not nearly as wide-ranging or comprehensive as the 2007 annual human rights survey from the US State Department, which contained hundreds of gay and HIV references, it is still necessary for gay advocates to applaud Amnesty for such inclusions in their yearly summaries.
http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/Homepage
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Go to the links for the following articles:
Contact rays.list@comcast.net if can't access the article
-THOMPSON VOWS TO RESUMBIT SHAREHOLDER RESOLUTION TO PROTECT LGBT WORKERSFROM BIAS AT EXXONMOBIL
New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., on behalf of the New York City Pension Funds, vowed to resubmit the Funds' shareholder resolution calling on the company to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation. At ExxonMobil's annual meeting in Dallas, Texas yesterday the resolution received approximately 39.6 percent support, up from 37.7 percent last year.
Yesterday's vote marks the ninth time the resolution was voted upon by shareholders. "Once again, ExxonMobil has refused to be an industry leader in adopting basic protections for its employees.
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Mark's List
http://frontpage.jumponmarkslist.com/MSFL/2008/052908.htm
Pictures from events:
â–º Girls in Wonderland
http://frontpage.jumponmarkslist.com/events/girls_in_wonderland/2008/index1.htm
â–º Memorial Day Weekend Pensacola
http://frontpage.jumponmarkslist.com/events/memorial_day_pensacola/2008/index1.htm
â–º Pridefest of the Palm Beaches 2009
http://frontpage.jumponmarkslist.com/events/pridefest_palm_beaches/2009/index.htm
â–º Stonewall Street Festival 2008
http://frontpage.jumponmarkslist.com/events/stonewall/2008/index1.htm
â–º St Petersburg Pride 2008
http://frontpage.jumponmarkslist.com/events/st_petersburg_pride/2008/index1.htm
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Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Gay marriage gaining ground
California, New York and even Macy's are accepting it.
As the California Supreme Court decision outlawing this state's ban on same-sex marriage settles in, we are being treated to the unmistakable cracking sounds of long-held, icy bigotries giving way to a wellspring of justice. In New York, the governor has ordered state agencies to recognize marriages of same-sex couples performed elsewhere. In California, polls show growing acceptance of same-sex marriage, most notably among young people.
And, perhaps most telling of all, Macy's this week took out a full-page ad that solicited the business of same-sex couples planning their nuptials.
"First comes love. Then comes marriage," the ad proclaims beneath an image of two wedding rings. "And now it's a milestone every couple in California can celebrate."
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-gaymarriage30-2008may30,0,1190133.stor
y?track=rss
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
NATIONAL & WORLD NEWS Friday May 30, 2008
**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.
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Mounting Costs Slow the Push for Clean Coal
Despite support, plans to take the carbon dioxide that spews from coal-burning power plants and pump it back into the ground have hit roadblocks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/business/30coal.html?hp
-The Reality Situation
We don’t understand the Iranians because the Iranians don’t understand themselves. Until they resolve their internal ambiguity, they won’t be able to make a strategic shift.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/opinion/30brooks.html?ref=opinion
-Louisiana Tries Again
Gov. Bobby Jindal needs to make sure that the state’s new plan truly follows the Missouri model of a juvenile justice system.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/opinion/30fri3.html?ref=opinion
-U.S. Withdraws Fulbright Grants to Gaza
The American State Department has withdrawn all Fulbright grants to Palestinian students in Gaza, because Israel has not granted them permission to leave.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/world/middleeast/30gaza.html?hp=&pagewanted=pr
int
-In New York City, Two Versions of End-of-Life Care
There are two starkly different paths toward death in New York City’s hospitals, one for patients at elite private institutions, another for those at public hospitals, according to new data compiled as part of a consumer rating system. Most elderly patients in their last two years of life have more intensive treatment, more tests, more days of hospitalization — and more out-of-pocket costs — at private teaching hospitals like N.Y.U. and Lenox Hill than their counterparts at Bellevue and the city’s other municipal hospitals, which have historically served the neediest New Yorkers. The city’s private hospitals were among the most aggressive of about 3,000 hospitals studied across the nation, ranking in the 94th percentile as a group, while the public hospitals landed in the 69th percentile, still significantly above the national average.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/nyregion/30hospitals.html?hp
-NATO Chief in Afghanistan Says Pakistan’s Tack on Militants Is Not as Expected
KABUL, Afghanistan — The departing American commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Dan K. McNeill, raised concerns on Thursday that Pakistan had not followed through on promises to tackle militancy on its side of the border, and in recent months had even stopped its cooperation with NATO and Afghan counterparts on border issues. General McNeill said Pakistan’s failure to act against militants in its tribal areas and its decision to hold talks with the militants without putting pressure on them had led to an increase in insurgent attacks against United States and NATO forces in eastern Afghanistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/world/asia/30nato.html
-End Of Democratic White House Race Could Be Near
The end is near. Probably. After five months of voting, 16 months of campaigning and more surprises, reversals and comebacks than any U.S. political race deserves, the grueling duel for the Democratic presidential omination could be entering its final days. With three small nominating contests left, Barack Obama has moved within a few dozen delegates of beating rival Hillary Clinton and securing the right to face Republican John McCain in November's presidential election. When the last votes are counted in Montana and South Dakota on Tuesday night, Obama will have either just enough delegates to the August convention to clinch the nomination or be just a few short. If he is shy of the magic number, a flurry of endorsements from some of the nearly 200 uncommitted superdelegates -- party leaders who can back any candidate -- would easily put him over the top and likely send Clinton to the sidelines.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-usa-politics-end.html
-Rule Change Would Permit Weapons in National Parks
The federal government is considering a proposal to allow visitors to carry loaded, concealed weapons in some national parks, wildlife refuges and monuments. The National Rifle Association favors the proposed rule, arguing that it would help keep crime down and protect visitors from potentially dangerous wildlife. “You read stories about people attacked by animals or who stumble upon meth labs or women who are raped in a national park,” the N.R.A.’s chief lobbyist, Chris W. Cox, said. “We don’t believe law-abiding citizens should be kept from protecting themselves and their families in national wildlife refuges or in national parks.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/us/30guns.html
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Obama's Latest Pastor Disaster
By the time you finish watching this YouTube video (which had about 95,000 showings as of this morning) it will be well on its way to reaching: 1) its one hundred thousandth viewing, and, 2) its one millionth close reading by Clinton and McCain staffers. The action takes place at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Yes. That Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago! This time, however, the valedictory is made not by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, but by a white Chicago Catholic priest by the name of Rev. Michael Pfleger. During his sermon, Father Pfleger mocked Hillary Clinton's tears before the New Hampshire primary, saying she cried because she felt "entitled" because she is white "and there's a black man stealing my show.''
Father Pfleger apologized late Thursday for the remarks, saying his sermon as "inconsistent with Senator Obama's life and message." But by delivering his remarks, Father Pfleger seems to have officially submitted his entry to the What Else Can We At Trinity Do to Further Assure that the United States Does Not Have Its First African-American President Any Time Soon? video competition. And this application has “Finalist” marked all over it.
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/georgetown/2008/05/pursuing_the_jewis
h_vote.html
-'Look What They've Done to Her'
How much anger is there among women about how Hillary Clinton has been treated during this campaign? Some of the nation's leading female politicians will tell you: quite a lot. "From the beginning, she's been treated very badly," says Therese Murray, president of the Massachusetts Senate. "No woman would have run with Obama's résumé. She wouldn't have been considered." But Clinton has been "demonized by the press and the talking heads. How do you get away with that?" Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) says she is regularly approached "by women of all races, of all ages, of all faiths. They stop me, grab my hand and say, 'Look what they've done to her, we were so close.' They wanted this for their daughters and randdaughters. . . . It's so heartbreaking."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/29/AR2008052903261.
html?hpid=opinionsbox1
-Vatican Says It Will Excommunicate Women Priests
The Vatican issued its most explicit decree so far against the ordination of women priests on Thursday, punishing them and the bishops who try to ordain them with automatic excommunication. The decree was written by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and published in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, giving it immediate effect.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/29/AR2008052902576.
html?hpid=sec-religion
-Israel's Olmert Loses Key Support
Minister Urges Party To Prepare for Change
Israel's foreign minister on Thursday joined the growing ranks of senior politicians who have turned away from embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, as expectations built that there will soon be fresh elections.
Tzipi Livni, a possible successor to Olmert and a fellow member of his centrist Kadima party, stopped short of calling for his resignation. But she did say the party needs to prepare for a new vote and indicated it should first pick a new leader.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/29/AR2008052902916.
html?hpid=sec-world
-Marine in Iraq Suspended Over Coins Quoting Gospel
U.S. military suspended a Marine on Thursday for distributing coins quoting the Gospel to Sunni Muslims, an incident that has enraged Iraqis who view it as the latest example of American disrespect for Islam.
The Marine, stationed in the western city of Fallujah, handed out silver-colored coins this week that said in Arabic: "Where will you spend eternity? (John 3:36)." The other side read: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16)."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/29/AR2008052903683.
html?hpid=sec-religion
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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Burma's rulers sink to new low
In an appalling display of contempt for international public opinion and their own people, the generals who rule Burma have extended for one year the house arrest of democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi. This completes a trifecta of tyranny for the junta. Over the past few weeks, it has denied access to international-aid workers following a devastating cyclone, held a sham referendum designed to tighten its grip on power and prolonged the punishment of the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize...
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/551725.html
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Pew Research center
http://pewresearch.org/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-General Election Matchup: Political Problems vs. Personal Negatives
While Barack Obama has opened up a wide lead in the Democratic primary, he now runs about even against John McCain. The tightening general election matchup between Obama and McCain shows some sullying of Obama's personal image over the past three months, despite his primary victories. Over this period, unfavorable views of McCain have risen as well. Read more
-Covering the Campaign: Character and the 2008 Primaries
A new analysis of media coverage during the first 10 weeks of the 2008 primary season finds the dominant personal narratives about Obama and Clinton were almost identical in tone, and were both twice as positive as negative. The coverage of McCain’s character was less positive than that of either Democratic candidate. Read more
-Puerto Rico Primary Primer
On Sunday, Puerto Rico holds one of the final Democratic primary contests. A new Pew Hispanic Center fact sheet provides key demographic information on eligible voters in Puerto Rico and compares them with eligible Latino voters and all eligible voters in the U.S. Read more
-Mac's Back in Media Spotlight...
After largely being treated as a bystander to the Democrats' contest, the GOP nominee emerged as a featured player in campaign coverage this week. But that exposure is not always wanted or positive attention, according to the weekly Campaign Coverage Index. Read more
-Public Focused On Obama
Fully half of the public said Obama was the candidate they had heard the most about in the news, while only 8% said the same of McCain despite a significant increase in news coverage of his candidacy, in this week’s News Interest Index. Read more
-Location, Location, Location
Middle Class Blues: Pricey Neighborhoods, High Stress
When it comes to anxiety about family finances, an old truism applies: Where you stand depends on where you sit. Or, more precisely, on where your house or apartment sits. Read more
-Daily Number
56% - Iraq War: Bring Troops Home?
Significantly fewer Americans now say things are going well in Iraq than did so in February, and support for a quick withdrawal of U.S. forces has climbed by seven points (to 56%). Check back every weekday for another number in the news. Read more
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Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-The fight over Florida and Michigan
Here's what to expect when Democratic leaders meet to decide the fate of delegates from the two states' outlaw primaries. Nearly five months after the opening-gun Iowa caucuses, the last major clump of Democratic convention elegates will be awarded Saturday to two states that so badly wanted to be among the first. While there are technically still three primaries (PuertoRico, South Dakota and Montana) on the Democratic docket, the remaining drama will be played out in a hotel ballroom, when the party's 30-member Rules and Bylaws Committee meets to modify its punishment of Michigan and Florida for holding January primaries in flagrant defiance of the officially anctioned schedule. Despite desperate cries from the Hillary Clinton camp to count every delegate from these two outlaw primaries, which she won, the contours of a half-a-loaf deal are already in place, according to Democratic nsiders. Key figures on the Rules Committee informally agreed by telephone Wednesday night to seat the entire Florida delegation based on the Jan. 29 primary, but to give them each only half a vote. The same principle would be applied to Michigan, but there are still unresolved complications over how to handle the "Uncommitted" delegates chosen in the Jan. 15 primary in which Barack Obama's name was not even on the ballot.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/05/30/democrats_plan_to_resolve_
nomination_before_convention/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Today%27s+paper+A+to+Z
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Mounting Costs Slow the Push for Clean Coal
Despite support, plans to take the carbon dioxide that spews from coal-burning power plants and pump it back into the ground have hit roadblocks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/business/30coal.html?hp
-The Reality Situation
We don’t understand the Iranians because the Iranians don’t understand themselves. Until they resolve their internal ambiguity, they won’t be able to make a strategic shift.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/opinion/30brooks.html?ref=opinion
-Louisiana Tries Again
Gov. Bobby Jindal needs to make sure that the state’s new plan truly follows the Missouri model of a juvenile justice system.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/opinion/30fri3.html?ref=opinion
-U.S. Withdraws Fulbright Grants to Gaza
The American State Department has withdrawn all Fulbright grants to Palestinian students in Gaza, because Israel has not granted them permission to leave.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/world/middleeast/30gaza.html?hp=&pagewanted=pr
int
-In New York City, Two Versions of End-of-Life Care
There are two starkly different paths toward death in New York City’s hospitals, one for patients at elite private institutions, another for those at public hospitals, according to new data compiled as part of a consumer rating system. Most elderly patients in their last two years of life have more intensive treatment, more tests, more days of hospitalization — and more out-of-pocket costs — at private teaching hospitals like N.Y.U. and Lenox Hill than their counterparts at Bellevue and the city’s other municipal hospitals, which have historically served the neediest New Yorkers. The city’s private hospitals were among the most aggressive of about 3,000 hospitals studied across the nation, ranking in the 94th percentile as a group, while the public hospitals landed in the 69th percentile, still significantly above the national average.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/nyregion/30hospitals.html?hp
-NATO Chief in Afghanistan Says Pakistan’s Tack on Militants Is Not as Expected
KABUL, Afghanistan — The departing American commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Dan K. McNeill, raised concerns on Thursday that Pakistan had not followed through on promises to tackle militancy on its side of the border, and in recent months had even stopped its cooperation with NATO and Afghan counterparts on border issues. General McNeill said Pakistan’s failure to act against militants in its tribal areas and its decision to hold talks with the militants without putting pressure on them had led to an increase in insurgent attacks against United States and NATO forces in eastern Afghanistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/world/asia/30nato.html
-End Of Democratic White House Race Could Be Near
The end is near. Probably. After five months of voting, 16 months of campaigning and more surprises, reversals and comebacks than any U.S. political race deserves, the grueling duel for the Democratic presidential omination could be entering its final days. With three small nominating contests left, Barack Obama has moved within a few dozen delegates of beating rival Hillary Clinton and securing the right to face Republican John McCain in November's presidential election. When the last votes are counted in Montana and South Dakota on Tuesday night, Obama will have either just enough delegates to the August convention to clinch the nomination or be just a few short. If he is shy of the magic number, a flurry of endorsements from some of the nearly 200 uncommitted superdelegates -- party leaders who can back any candidate -- would easily put him over the top and likely send Clinton to the sidelines.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-usa-politics-end.html
-Rule Change Would Permit Weapons in National Parks
The federal government is considering a proposal to allow visitors to carry loaded, concealed weapons in some national parks, wildlife refuges and monuments. The National Rifle Association favors the proposed rule, arguing that it would help keep crime down and protect visitors from potentially dangerous wildlife. “You read stories about people attacked by animals or who stumble upon meth labs or women who are raped in a national park,” the N.R.A.’s chief lobbyist, Chris W. Cox, said. “We don’t believe law-abiding citizens should be kept from protecting themselves and their families in national wildlife refuges or in national parks.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/us/30guns.html
=
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Obama's Latest Pastor Disaster
By the time you finish watching this YouTube video (which had about 95,000 showings as of this morning) it will be well on its way to reaching: 1) its one hundred thousandth viewing, and, 2) its one millionth close reading by Clinton and McCain staffers. The action takes place at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Yes. That Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago! This time, however, the valedictory is made not by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, but by a white Chicago Catholic priest by the name of Rev. Michael Pfleger. During his sermon, Father Pfleger mocked Hillary Clinton's tears before the New Hampshire primary, saying she cried because she felt "entitled" because she is white "and there's a black man stealing my show.''
Father Pfleger apologized late Thursday for the remarks, saying his sermon as "inconsistent with Senator Obama's life and message." But by delivering his remarks, Father Pfleger seems to have officially submitted his entry to the What Else Can We At Trinity Do to Further Assure that the United States Does Not Have Its First African-American President Any Time Soon? video competition. And this application has “Finalist” marked all over it.
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/georgetown/2008/05/pursuing_the_jewis
h_vote.html
-'Look What They've Done to Her'
How much anger is there among women about how Hillary Clinton has been treated during this campaign? Some of the nation's leading female politicians will tell you: quite a lot. "From the beginning, she's been treated very badly," says Therese Murray, president of the Massachusetts Senate. "No woman would have run with Obama's résumé. She wouldn't have been considered." But Clinton has been "demonized by the press and the talking heads. How do you get away with that?" Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) says she is regularly approached "by women of all races, of all ages, of all faiths. They stop me, grab my hand and say, 'Look what they've done to her, we were so close.' They wanted this for their daughters and randdaughters. . . . It's so heartbreaking."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/29/AR2008052903261.
html?hpid=opinionsbox1
-Vatican Says It Will Excommunicate Women Priests
The Vatican issued its most explicit decree so far against the ordination of women priests on Thursday, punishing them and the bishops who try to ordain them with automatic excommunication. The decree was written by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and published in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, giving it immediate effect.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/29/AR2008052902576.
html?hpid=sec-religion
-Israel's Olmert Loses Key Support
Minister Urges Party To Prepare for Change
Israel's foreign minister on Thursday joined the growing ranks of senior politicians who have turned away from embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, as expectations built that there will soon be fresh elections.
Tzipi Livni, a possible successor to Olmert and a fellow member of his centrist Kadima party, stopped short of calling for his resignation. But she did say the party needs to prepare for a new vote and indicated it should first pick a new leader.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/29/AR2008052902916.
html?hpid=sec-world
-Marine in Iraq Suspended Over Coins Quoting Gospel
U.S. military suspended a Marine on Thursday for distributing coins quoting the Gospel to Sunni Muslims, an incident that has enraged Iraqis who view it as the latest example of American disrespect for Islam.
The Marine, stationed in the western city of Fallujah, handed out silver-colored coins this week that said in Arabic: "Where will you spend eternity? (John 3:36)." The other side read: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16)."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/29/AR2008052903683.
html?hpid=sec-religion
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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-Burma's rulers sink to new low
In an appalling display of contempt for international public opinion and their own people, the generals who rule Burma have extended for one year the house arrest of democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi. This completes a trifecta of tyranny for the junta. Over the past few weeks, it has denied access to international-aid workers following a devastating cyclone, held a sham referendum designed to tighten its grip on power and prolonged the punishment of the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize...
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/551725.html
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Pew Research center
http://pewresearch.org/
Go to this link for the following articles:
-General Election Matchup: Political Problems vs. Personal Negatives
While Barack Obama has opened up a wide lead in the Democratic primary, he now runs about even against John McCain. The tightening general election matchup between Obama and McCain shows some sullying of Obama's personal image over the past three months, despite his primary victories. Over this period, unfavorable views of McCain have risen as well. Read more
-Covering the Campaign: Character and the 2008 Primaries
A new analysis of media coverage during the first 10 weeks of the 2008 primary season finds the dominant personal narratives about Obama and Clinton were almost identical in tone, and were both twice as positive as negative. The coverage of McCain’s character was less positive than that of either Democratic candidate. Read more
-Puerto Rico Primary Primer
On Sunday, Puerto Rico holds one of the final Democratic primary contests. A new Pew Hispanic Center fact sheet provides key demographic information on eligible voters in Puerto Rico and compares them with eligible Latino voters and all eligible voters in the U.S. Read more
-Mac's Back in Media Spotlight...
After largely being treated as a bystander to the Democrats' contest, the GOP nominee emerged as a featured player in campaign coverage this week. But that exposure is not always wanted or positive attention, according to the weekly Campaign Coverage Index. Read more
-Public Focused On Obama
Fully half of the public said Obama was the candidate they had heard the most about in the news, while only 8% said the same of McCain despite a significant increase in news coverage of his candidacy, in this week’s News Interest Index. Read more
-Location, Location, Location
Middle Class Blues: Pricey Neighborhoods, High Stress
When it comes to anxiety about family finances, an old truism applies: Where you stand depends on where you sit. Or, more precisely, on where your house or apartment sits. Read more
-Daily Number
56% - Iraq War: Bring Troops Home?
Significantly fewer Americans now say things are going well in Iraq than did so in February, and support for a quick withdrawal of U.S. forces has climbed by seven points (to 56%). Check back every weekday for another number in the news. Read more
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Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:
-The fight over Florida and Michigan
Here's what to expect when Democratic leaders meet to decide the fate of delegates from the two states' outlaw primaries. Nearly five months after the opening-gun Iowa caucuses, the last major clump of Democratic convention elegates will be awarded Saturday to two states that so badly wanted to be among the first. While there are technically still three primaries (PuertoRico, South Dakota and Montana) on the Democratic docket, the remaining drama will be played out in a hotel ballroom, when the party's 30-member Rules and Bylaws Committee meets to modify its punishment of Michigan and Florida for holding January primaries in flagrant defiance of the officially anctioned schedule. Despite desperate cries from the Hillary Clinton camp to count every delegate from these two outlaw primaries, which she won, the contours of a half-a-loaf deal are already in place, according to Democratic nsiders. Key figures on the Rules Committee informally agreed by telephone Wednesday night to seat the entire Florida delegation based on the Jan. 29 primary, but to give them each only half a vote. The same principle would be applied to Michigan, but there are still unresolved complications over how to handle the "Uncommitted" delegates chosen in the Jan. 15 primary in which Barack Obama's name was not even on the ballot.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/05/30/democrats_plan_to_resolve_
nomination_before_convention/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Today%27s+paper+A+to+Z
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