**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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Wayne Besen Daily Commentary
http://www.waynebesen.com/2008/01/presidential-race.html
Anything But Straight
January 1, 2008
The Presidential Race
The presidential marathon has now become a sprint. With the coming of theNew Year Americans are now sizing up the candidates. The Democrats aregenerally excited about their choices, however, the uncertainly of having noclear frontrunner has caused a great deal of unease.
Meanwhile, the Republican crop of candidates is downright depressing. It isso bad, it could even drive someone like the ever-happy Rhonda Byrne, authorof The Secret, to the nearest high ledge with a bottle of prescriptiondrugs. The GOP race is so screwed up, that Rev. Pat Robertson endorsed theguy (Giuliani) who is pro-choice and pro-gay. Well, pro-gay for aRepublican, which is entirely different than actually being affirming andsupportive.
Watching the debates, it almost seemed as if the Republicans and Democratscome from two different worlds. The Democrats talked about healthcare,thought the war in Iraq wasn't going so well and generally were accepting ofgay and lesbian equality. Even if they were on the wrong side of marriage,which is no small deal, at least they understood the issue.
The immigration and religion obsessed Republicans were just plain pathetic -particularly on gay rights. Giuliani and Romney, formerly moderate on GLBTissues, couldn't backpedal fast enough. The former mayor of New Yorkgenerally tried to avoid the issue with the message - I'm a wee bit gaypositive, but, please realize I'm ashamed of my record, but too stubborn tosay I was actually wrong about "those people".
The protean former governor of Massachusetts simply morphed into anunrecognizable creature. This new creation was an anti-gay, varmintblasting, anti-choice moralist that sounded as if he were from northernAlabama, instead of the most liberal state in the nation.
Really, has there ever been a phonier, flip-flopping panderer in the historyof politics than "Full of Mitt" Romney? He is so plastic that I bet he has"Mattel" tattooed on his behind. If Romney became president, it would belike watching a four-year video loop of the movie I-Robot, minus the actionscenes. How anyone could actually pull the lever for someone so utterlydevoid of character, conscience and consistency is a mystery.
Of course, there is Mike "Huckster-Bible," who presents himself as a fresh,new face, while basing his policies on the Old Testament. It seems that eachweek, he regresses a century. In fact, when he shouted Happy New Year, hewas ringing in 1408. Our only hope is that his time warp is irreversible andhe becomes so backwards that he enters a B.C. mindset and thus must give upChristianity and adopt the ancient God Ba'al.
If Huckster-Bible actually gets the nomination, I suspect the entire GOPestablishment will blow up - with mass defections of Wall StreetRepublicans. While, the former Arkansas governor is a rare talent on thecampaign trail - I can't imagine the GOP business elite funding a man whomight just start calling the Iraqis "Babylonians" at any moment. Seriously,would anyone be shocked if expediting the Rapture became a foreign policygoal under a Huckster-Bible administration?
Sure, the Democrats may sometimes fail to deliver - but the nationalRepublican Party never fails to deliver anti-gay policies and fear drivenpolitics that divide America and set back GLBT equality. The only road toredemption for the GOP is to start from scratch and form a new party wherebigots and religious fanatics are not considered a core constituency.
As for the Democrats, the main question is whether the candidate chosen inthe primaries will reach his or her leadership potential?
Would Obama be a revolutionary president that heals divisions and restorescredibility to America? Or, he would be a rhetorically gifted Jimmy Carter -inexperienced in foreign policy and too weak to reach his full potential?
Would Hillary Clinton return to her idealistic youth and create real andlasting change? Or, was she so mentally scarred by her healthcare defeat andher husband's gays in the military debacle - that she is now cautious to thepoint of irrelevance?
Would John Edwards really take on fat cat CEO's and fight for the littleguy - or simply take their votes for granted on the way to the White House?
The good news is that I think a Democrat is likely to win. The bad news isthat if we get a Republican, the dollar has become so weak under Bush thatfew of us can afford to leave. If being trapped in Huckster-Bible Land isnot an incentive to get off the couch and vote - I'm not sure what is.
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TruthWinsOut.Org
Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008
Contact: Wayne Besen
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org
Web: www.TruthWinsOut.org
Truth WinsOut.org Alarmed By Mike Huckabee's Anti-Gay Appearance On Meet ThePress and Ties To Known Extremists
NEW YORK - TruthWinsOut.org today called Mike Huckabee's statements on Meetthe Press about gay people backwards and also raised serious questions abouthis close association to the Christian Reconstructionist movement - whichbelieves the Bible justifies stoning adulterers and homosexuals.
On Meet The Press, host Tim Russert asked Huckabee, "When you say aberrantor unnatural, do you believe you're born gay or you choose to be gay?" Thecandidate replied, "I don't know whether people are born that way. Peoplewho are gay say that they're born that way. But one thing I know, that thebehavior one practices is a choice. We may have certain tendencies, but howwe behave and how we carry out our behavior"
"It is alarming that a man with such backward views is a serious contenderfor the GOP nomination," said TruthWinsOut.org's Executive Director WayneBesen. "In the real world, people either act on their sexuality in healthyways or act like Ted Haggard and Sen. Larry Craig - a tragic lesson thatseems lost on Mike Huckabee."
Russert also pointed out that in Huckabee's 1998 book, "Kids Who Kill," theformer governor wrote, "It is now difficult to keep track of the vast arrayof publicly endorsed and institutionally supported aberrations--fromhomosexuality and pedophilia to sadomasochism and necrophilia."
Kids Who Kill was co-written by George Grant, a known Reconstructionist, whohas also written fanatical books such as, "The Changing of the Guard:Biblical Principles for Political Action." The Cato Institute also reportedthat Huckabee held a fundraiser at the Houston home of Dr. Steven Hotze,another leader of the radical and dangerous Reconstructionist movement.
"Huckabee should explain why he is freely associating with known extremistsand how this squares with his professed sunny and optimistic vision forAmerica," said Besen. "Furthermore, the comparison of homosexuality topedophilia and necrophilia is as ignorant as it is offensive. As theprimaries approach, Mike Huckabee is beginning to show his true colors - andthey are quite dark and intolerant."
TruthWinsOut.org is a non-profit organization that counters right wingpropaganda, exposes the "ex-gay" myth and educates America about gay life.For more information, visit www.TruthWinsOut.org.
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Dear MoveOn member,
Happy New Year, and welcome to 2008-President Bush's last year in office.
It's going to be a big year: we're planning huge campaigns for the WhiteHouse and Senate, new programs to help even more people get involved inprogressive politics, and advocacy campaigns on Iraq, civil liberties,health care, and the climate crisis.
Some folks have asked us if MoveOn will hold a presidential primaryendorsement vote this year. Over the past year, we've been asking about30,000 MoveOn members each week, picked at random, to tell us who youfavored in the Democratic presidential primary. It wasn't a binding vote,but it helped us get a sense of your thinking. Here are the results of thatsurvey:
http://pol.moveon.org/prezsurvey?id=11853-5533006-3z3S6h&t=1
more....
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Barney Frank And Mark LaFontaine
Join Congressman Barney Frank in supporting Mark LaFontaine's campaign tobecome the first OPENLY-GAY member of the FLORIDA LEGISLATURE!
US Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the powerful House Financial ServicesCommittee, is hosting a special evening for Mark LaFontaine at Lips, thepopular drag eatery which has taken New York and San Diego by storm. Jointhem at the newest Lips location in Oakland Park for an evening of fun, goodfood, and a great cause. - 1421 E Oakland Park Blvd - Oakland Park, FL33334
Dinner and a Show at the ultimate in drag dinning Sunday January 14th 6:00
PM - VIP Cocktail Reception 6:00 pm - Gourmet Dinner and Show 7:00pm
Tickets: Reception only, 75.00, Gourmet Dinner and Show, only 100.00
The Whole Package: Reception and Dinner show 150.00
For More Info: 954-394-4980
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Obama's changing views on gay marriage, other issues
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5giLhMQiTNwvypPMjIfjT0uXG5a5wD8TMI51O1
Obama's Changing Views By The Associated Press - 6 hours ago
A comparison of some of Barack Obama's views over the years, based oncandidate questionnaires in 1996 and 2004, interviews, presidential debatesand other comments:
GUN CONTROL:
_1996 (from a questionnaire for his state Senate run): Supported banning thesale and possession of handguns in Illinois.
_2004 (questionnaire for his U.S. Senate run): A ban is "not politicallypracticable."
DEATH PENALTY:
_1996: Did not support capital punishment.
_2007: Supports capital punishment for particularly heinous crimes.
PATRIOT ACT:
_2003: Would replace the "shoddy and dangerous" USA Patriot Act.
_2006: Votes for updated Patriot Act he says contains only modest
improvements.
HEALTH CARE:
_1996: In principle, supports single-payer health plan at federal level.
_2007: Says single-payer is not practical.
GAY MARRIAGE:
_January 2004: Opposes repealing Defense of Marriage Act.
_February 2004: Supports repealing Defense of Marriage Act.
CUBA:
_2004: Normalizing relations would help the Cuban people.
_2007: "I would not normalize relations."
ABORTION:
_1996: Opposes parental-notification laws.
_2004: Opposes if they lack a bypass provision.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
LGB inclusion could derail Georgia hate crimes bill
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2007/12/26/evhate_1227.html
Debate on gay rights could derail state hate crimes law
While Senate group studies restoration, House leader sees no need to addressit
By JIM GALLOWAY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/26/07
A bipartisan effort to restore Georgia's hate crimes law could becomebogged down in a behind-the-scenes debate over whether to include gays andlesbians in its reach, according to those familiar with the issue.
A state Senate study committee must decide by mid-January whether toproceed with the legislation, which is supported by a broad array ofprosecutors, religious and civil rights groups - and GBI Director VernonKeenan.
A Senate decision could be colored by House Speaker Glenn Richardson, whorecently said he's not inclined to take the issue up when the Legislaturereconvenes in Atlanta in January.
"I haven't seen a dramatic change in crime levels since the Supreme Courttossed it out," Richardson said. "I see no reason to address it. I neverhave understood treating crimes with different punishments because of theperson against whom you committed it."
But those who support the effort say objections to the legislation extendbeyond philosophy - and that the key hurdle may be defining whom the measureis intended to protect.
"We understand that there are legislators who are going to be moreskeptical about the bill if it includes sexual orientation," said BillNigut, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League. Nigut said his groupnonetheless supports the inclusion of gays and lesbians in the legislation.
Sadie Fields, leader of the Georgia Christian Alliance, said she doesn'tnecessarily agree with the concept behind a hate crimes measure. "Wedefinitely would oppose any legislation that included sexual orientation,"said Fields, who spearheaded the effort to incorporate a ban on gay marriageinto the state constitution in 2004.
more....
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
*(Manchester, NH)* - *Senator John Edwards released the following statementtoday as New Hampshire's civil union law takes effect.*
"In April of last year, Gov. Lynch and the state of New Hampshire passed abill officially recognizing civil unions for gay and lesbian couples. Thiscourageous act showed us that the idea of America - fairness, justice andequal opportunity - can become a reality when we have the courage to standup for what is right.
"Today, the work of equality advocates comes to fruition as that law takeseffect. New Hampshire's decision to recognize civil unions and grant gay andlesbian couples the same rights granted by the state to heterosexual marriedcouples is an important step forward on the march toward equality, fairnessand justice."
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Gay Muslims Pack a Dance Floor of Their Own
By NICHOLAS KULISH
Published: January 1, 2008
The New York Times
BERLIN - Six men whirled faster and faster in the center of thenightclub, arms slung over one another's shoulders, performing atraditional circle dance popular in Turkey and the Middle East.Nothing unusual given the German capital's large Muslim population.
But most of the people filling the dance floor on Saturday at the clubSO36 in the Kreuzberg neighborhood were gay, lesbian or bisexual, andof Turkish or Arab background. They were there for the monthly clubnight known as Gayhane, an all-too-rare opportunity to merge theirimmigrant cultures and their sexual identities.
European Muslims, so often portrayed one-dimensionally as rioters,honor killers or terrorists, live diverse lives, most of them tryingto get by and to have a good time. That is more difficult if one isboth Muslim and gay.
"When you're here, it's as if you're putting on a mask, leaving theeveryday outside and just having fun," said a 22-year-old Turkish manwho spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear that he would beostracized or worse if his family found out about his sexual orientation.
Safety and secrecy come up regularly when talking to guests, who laughand dance, but also frequently look over their shoulders. To be a gayman or lesbian with an immigrant background invites trouble here intwo very different ways.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
DesMoines Register
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801020343
A close look at Clinton's words reveals real intent
January 2, 2008
As a 16-year Army veteran who is currently barred from serving in themilitary because of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, I've been keenly interested inthe various candidates' positions on gays and lesbians serving openly in themilitary.
A few weeks ago, an Air Force veteran asked Clinton about Don't Ask, Don'tTell. She answered: "I feel strongly that if someone wants to serve theircountry...if they'll comply with the code of military justice and haveappropriate behavior, they should not be disqualified simply because theyare gay."
A studious reading of her purposefully worded response shows us she intendsto do just the opposite. Notice that her response focuses on two majorissues: the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the behavior of theindividual servicemember.
Section 925, article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice clearlybars physical intimacy between members of the same sex and statesunambiguously that such "behavior" is grounds for court martial.
- Gary W. Swenson,
Mason City.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://365gay.com/Newscon08/01/010208sr.htm
Gay Seniors Depend On Social Networks When Ill
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 2, 2008 - 2:00 pm ET
(New York City) Older gay, lesbian and bisexual adults have "a history ofcaregiving" that creates networks of people who support each other duringtheir senior years, according to a new study.
The study of 199 LGB seniors found that more than two-thirds of theparticipants had provided care to one or more people during the previousfive years.
"These findings contradict old myths about elderly gay people leading lonelylives of quiet desperation," said Dr. Robert-Jay Green, executive directorof the Rockway Institute, a national center for LGBT research and publicpolicy.
"LGB seniors create vibrant communities of care that overcome thedifficulties posed by discrimination or by greater levels of rejection fromtheir biological families."
The study was conducted by Arnold H. Grossman and Eliza Dragowski of NewYork University, and Anthony D'Augelli of Pennsylvania State University andwas published in the Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/01/02/kucinich.ART_ART_01-02-08_A5_R68UIN5.html?sid=101
If not me, then pick Obama, Kucinich tells Iowans
Wednesday, January 2, 2008 3:02 AM
DES MOINES, Iowa -- U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland, whosepresidential campaign is barely noticeable here, yesterday urged hissupporters to make Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois their second choice in theIowa caucuses.
The move could aid Obama, who is in a tight race in Iowa with New York Sen.Hillary Clinton and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.
Under Democratic rules, a candidate who does not get support from at least15 percent of participants at a precinct caucus is ruled "nonviable." Thatcandidate's participants then can back a "viable" candidate.
In 2004, Kucinich wasn't viable in many precincts but helped Edwards place asurprising second by urging his backers to support him as a second choice.
"This is obviously an 'Iowa-only' recommendation, as Sen. Obama and I arecompeting in the New Hampshire primary next Tuesday," Kucinich said, addingthat "Sen. Obama and I have one thing in common: Change."
-- Joe Hallett
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/01/AR2008010101734.html?hpid=topnews
Same-Sex Divorce Challenges the Legal System
Most States Lack Law, Precedent To Settle Issues
By Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 2, 2008; A03
When her three-year-old marriage broke up, the 44-year-old doctor assumedshe and her ex would split their property and jointly parent their twochildren. Her stay-at-home spouse wanted sole custody and the right to movethe children out of Massachusetts.
In pretrial motions, both parents made the same argument to a judge: Thechildren should be with me; I'm their mother.
For years, family court judges leaned toward a maternal preference when itcame to custody disputes. But what to do when both parents are women, orneither is? Judges in Massachusetts have been grappling with that questionsince gay and lesbian couples began filing for divorce in 2004, seven monthsafter the state Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage.
Nearly 10,000 gay and lesbian couples married after the ruling.
Massachusetts does not keep records on the number who have divorced, butlawyers who specialize in family cases say it is in the dozens. Those whochoose to end their marriages soon discover that the trauma of divorce iscompounded by legal and financial difficulties that heterosexual couplesgenerally are spared.
"One of the benefits of marriage is divorce," said Joyce Kauffman, a Bostondivorce lawyer who has handled a dozen same-sex divorce cases. "But for alot of couples, that benefit is very complicated and very costly in waysthat heterosexual couples would never have to experience."
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6443.html
Spain's ruling party attack Catholic bishops
2nd January 2008 17:30
Tony Grew
A leading member of the governing Socialist party in Spain has attacked theRoman Catholic Church for getting involved in politics.
On Sunday a "family" rally was held in Madrid, and senior church figureslined up to criticise laws introduced since the Socialists took power in2004, including same-sex marriage.
Pope Benedict XVI addressed the crowd, estimated at 150,000 people, by avideolink from Rome.
The main opposition party, the rightwing Popular Party, supported theprotest march.
The secretary of the Partido Socialista Obrero Español's federal executiveis demanding that the Church retract accusations by the Archbishop ofValencia that the government was promoting "radical secularism" that wouldlead to the breakdown of democracy.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6439.html
Iraq prisoner amnesty does not extend to gays
2nd January 2008 12:30
PinkNews.co.uk staff writer
A draft bill before the Iraqi parliament would grant an amnesty for as manyas 5,000 prisoners, yet excludes those convicted of homosexual "crimes."
Ali al-Dabbagh, a spokesman for the country's government, said the bill hadbeen sent to the parliament's Speaker yesterday.
Iraqis being held by the Americans are also excluded, alongside thosecharged with terrorist offences, rape and adultery.
While homosexuality is in itself not illegal in Iraq, several laws are usedto persecute gay people.
Laws against loitering, indecent exposure, spreading "dangerous diseases,"committing and indecent act in public and making "indecent" advances are allused.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6429.html
Russian activist charged over TV outing
31st December 2007 16:00
Tony Grew
Moscow Gay Pride organiser and gay rights activist Nicolas Alexeyev will bebrought before a court after he outed a Russian politician on livetelevision.
The charges arise from comments he made on live TV in June, when he outedpolitician Alexander Cheuv as a homosexual.
Last week the Moscow prosecutor's office completed their criminalinvestigation and confirmed there is a case against Mr Alexeyev underRussian Criminal Code for slander and insult.
The case is expected to be heard early next year.
To prove that he is guilty of slander, Russian investigating authoritieswill have to demonstrate that calling Mr Chuev 'gay' spoilt his reputationor dignity.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://citizenchris.typepad.com/citizenchris/2008/01/obama-is-best-o.html
Obama is best for gay rights
Posted by: The Author
January 02, 2008
After more than a year of campaigning in the most wide-open primaries indecades, it's finally time for voters to pick a president. On the Democraticside, the three hopefuls with a viable shot at the nomination have allsigned on to almost every item on the so-called "gay agenda."
That includes workplace rights and hate crime protection for gay andtransgender Americans, repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and opposition toa constitutional amendment banning gays from marrying.
The differences that do exist come on the politically dicey issue of legalrecognition for our relationships. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and JohnEdwards all support repealing the provision of the infamous "Defense ofMarriage Act" that blocks federal recognition of marriage licenses issued togay couples. But only Obama and Edwards support full repeal of DOMA,including the provision that says each state can choose to ignore gaymarriages from other states.
Hillary Clinton won't go that far and has stopped short of criticizing herhusband for signing DOMA and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" into law. She and Obamahave also declined to sponsor the Uniting American Families Act, which wouldextend to gay Americans the right to sponsor a non-American partner forcitizenship. Then again, Edwards didn't sign on to UAFA's predecessorlegislation during his Senate tenure, and all three say they support theidea of equal immigration rights in principle.
All three also support a truly dramatic change in how the federal governmenttreats gay couples, extending recognition not just to gay couples luckyenough to marry in Massachusetts, but also to those who enter into civilunions, domestic partnerships or simply establish that they are inlong-term, committed relationships.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.indegayforum.org/news/show/31423.html
The Perils of Ron Paul
by Dale Carpenter
First published in the Bay Area Reporter, Jan. 3, 2007
The 2008 presidential primaries and caucuses loom, so what's a gayRepublican to do? For many, the answer has been to support Ron Paul. He'snot going to win any primaries, but a vote for him could be thought aprotest against the theocratic tendencies of the party. It could also be avote for libertarian principle, which appeals to some. Yet while some ofPaul's views are superficially appealing, he's a very bad choice.
Let's start with what's attractive about Paul. First, he's not the other GOPcandidates. With the exception of Sen. John McCain, they're about aspolitically and ideologically unlovely a lot as one can imagine. They'renativist and anti-evolution. Several are running for National Pastor insteadof president.
On gay issues, they're as bad as we've ever had. The two candidates withgay-friendly records -- Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney -- have abandonedtheir erstwhile principles to cozy up to religious conservatives.
All of them support Don't Ask, Don't Tell. All, except McCain, support somekind of anti-gay-marriage constitutional amendment. Giuliani, who initiallyopposed any amendment, has since wobbled.
In walks Ron Paul, formerly a practicing doctor, promising to limitgovernment and sticking by his principles. He would abolish the IRS, theincome tax system, and the departments of Education, Energy, HomelandSecurity, and Health and Human Services. He would eliminate Medicare and endstudent loans for education. He would even get government out of the medicallicensing business. As he put it in an interview with Google, this meansyour neighbor could dispense medications.
more . . . . .
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/nyregion/02hiv.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
New H.I.V. Cases Drop but Rise in Young Gay Men
By SARAH KERSHAW
January 2, 2008
For years he had numbed his pain and fear with drugs, alcohol and anonymoussex. But in a flash of clarity one day, when the crystal meth was wearingoff, Javier Arriola dragged himself to a clinic to get an H.I.V. test, yearsafter he stopped using condoms.
He knew the answer before he received the results, but it was far worse thanhe thought: At age 29, he had full-blown AIDS.
He had planned to have a party for his 30th birthday. Instead he wasthinking of hanging himself in his apartment in Hell's Kitchen.
"There were feelings of terror, like when you were a little kid and there'sthat thing that terrifies you," he said. "This was it. The worst nightmare,and I brought this onto myself."
The number of new H.I.V. infections in men under 30 who have sex with menhas increased sharply in New York City in the last five years, particularlyamong blacks and Hispanics, even as AIDS deaths and overall H.I.V. infectionrates in the city have steadily declined.
more . . . . .
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The National Center for Transgender Equality
NCTE Guide to Overcoming Voting Obstacles
Tomorrow, voters begin the process of selecting the nominees for the2008 Presidential race. We hope that you, too, will plan on going to thepolls this year. Every vote matters.
At NCTE, we believe in the importance of voting and we believe that itmakes a difference in our work for transgender equality. Last year,President George W. Bush announced his intentions to veto two bills ofcritical importance to the transgender community should they reach his desk.They were a hate crimes bill and a measure to ban discrimination inemployment. As we make progress to move these bills through Congress in thefuture, it will be vital to achieving our civil rights to have a Presidentin office who will sign this legislation into law. Who is elected Presidentwill make a difference in our ability to achieve civil rights fortransgender people. We need you to be a part of this process of selectingwho that will be.
Transgender people, however, sometimes face discrimination at thepolls. In order to help you exercise your right to vote, NCTE is reissuedour Guide to Overcoming Voting Obstacles
http://nctequality.org/Resources/votingobstacles.pdf to help you overcomeany barriers to voting that you encounter. The Guide also addressesadditional challenges that some transgender votes face, such as racism,felony conviction and homelessness.
If you haven't yet registered to vote, there's still time in moststates. Check out the Rock the Vote website for a calendar of all of theprimary and caucus dates, plus information on how to register to vote inyour state.
Please feel free to pass this resource along to anyone who may needit. Encourage your friends and family to get out and vote this year.
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Gay & Lesbian Leadership
SmartBrier
http://www.smartbrief.com/index.jsp
Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
--
The Advocate's 2007 in review
The Advocate looks back at the "gayest moments" of last year, including theLarry Craig scandal, financial expert Suze Orman's coming out and the debateover the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a version of which cleared theHouse in November. Advocate.com (12/31)
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Will Indiana marriage ban make November ballot?
The Indianapolis Star (12/31)
--
Learn to run a winning campaign!
The Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute is bringing its renowned Candidate &Campaign Training to Charlotte, NC. Join us Feb. 21 to 24 to learn how tobuild a winning campaign. Whether you're running as openly LGBT or workingon a campaign, our training will provide you with the tools you need forsuccess. Click here to learn more and apply by Jan. 28.
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Price: Gay GOPers hope for best, prepared for worst
Gay Republicans face a pivotal period in the presidential campaign, as theearly primary results are likely to foretell whether a gay-friendlycandidate like Rudy Giuliani will win the nomination, or voters opt for themore conservative Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney, according to columnist DebPrice. The Detroit News (12/31)
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Episcopal Leader Defends Gay Bishops
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 6:16 p.m. ET
January 1, 2008
LONDON (AP) -- Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori says herchurch has been unfairly singled out for criticism because it is honestabout consecrating gay bishops.
Jefferts Schori told BBC Radio 4's ''PM'' program that the NewYork-based church, which is the Anglican body in the U.S., is far from theonly Anglican province that has a bishop with a same-sex partner. In 2003,Episcopalians elected the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of NewHampshire, causing an uproar that has pushed the Anglican family toward asplit.
''He is certainly not alone in being a gay bishop; he's certainly notalone in being a gay partnered bishop'' [Emphasis added. - P.M.]" JeffertsSchori said in an interview broadcast Tuesday. ''He is alone in being theonly gay partnered bishop who's open about that status.''
The 77,000,000-member Anglican Communion is a global fellowship ofchurches that trace their roots to the Church of England. Most Anglicansare traditionalists who believe Scripture bars gay relationships.
Liberal-leaning Anglicans believe the Bible's social justice teachings onacceptance should apply to same-gender couples.
The national Episcopal Church has not developed an official publicprayer to bless gay couples churchwide. However, Jefferts Schori and otherEpiscopal leaders acknowledge that such ceremonies take place in manyparishes. She said other Anglican churches do the same.
''Those services are happening in various places, including in theChurch of England, where my understanding is that there are far more of themhappening than there are in the Episcopal Church,'' Jefferts Schori said.
more....
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To Form a More Perfect Union: Marriage Equality News
Information, news, and discussion about the legal recognition of same-sexcouples and their families, including marriages, domestic partnerships,civil unions, adoptions, foster children and similar issues.
http://samesexmarriage.typepad.com/weblog/
Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
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WHEN VERMONT legislators legalized civil unions for gay couples in 2000,there was a bitter backlash against the reform. But on New Year's Day, NewHampshire joined Vermont, Connecticut, and New Jersey in extending civilunion rights to gay and lesbian couples, and the event was met with acollective yawn. There are several reasons for this change, but the mostimportant is that residents of New Hampshire have had a chance to observeVermont and Connecticut's civil unions and Massachusetts' same-sex marriage,and realized that extending rights to a minority is no threat to themajority - or to the institution of marriage. This page finds civil unionsto be an inadequate substitute for true marriage equality. Still, therelikely would have been more opposition had New Hampshire legalized gaymarriage and not just civil unions, which are seen as a compromise measure.
Also, the fact that New Hampshire's elected legislators initiated thechange, as opposed to an "unelected" court, as was the case in both Vermontand Massachusetts, may have made the reform more acceptable to voters.
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A new organisation has formed in Tasmania to educate same-sex couples aboutthe benefits of taking out a Deed of Relationship. The organisation, InDeed,has been launched on the fourth anniversary of Tasmania's landmarkRelationships Act and Registry, and was established by same-sex couples whohave already entered into a Deed of Relationship. The group is concernedthat many gay and lesbian couples are not aware of the benefits ofregistering their relationship. "We came together because we aredisappointed that the state government hasn't allocated any money toadvertise or promote the Deed," Peter Power, the convener of InDeed, toldSX. "People aren't aware of the numerous benefits that come with the Deed."Such benefits include immediate access to all legally-recognisedrelationship rights and the ability to verify those rights if challenged.
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Australia will celebrate its first civil unions June the Australian CapitalTerritory's Attorney General said Wednesday. The Act government will vote onthe Civil Partnerships bill in the next 60 days after the federal governmentsaid it would not attempt to block the move. Twice before the territorialgovernment passed civil unions legislation only to see the laws voided bythe federal government of then Prime Minister John Howard. (story) Howardsaid the legislation violated a ban on gay marriage in Australia that wasenacted by the federal Parliament in 2004. Howard's Liberals suffered acrushing defeat at the polls in November to the Labor Party led by Rudd.
(story)
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If 2007 was a good year for the legal rights of same-sex couples inWashington state, advocates say they want the next year to bring even morerights - and some responsibilities - to the state's domestic partnershipregistry.The registry has drawn 3,161 same-sex couples and unmarriedheterosexual couples to sign up since it went into effect July 22.
Considered the first step toward legal same-sex marriage, it provides about10 legal rights enjoyed by married couples, including rights of visitationin hospitals and certain rights to participate in end-of-life decisions."We are planning to continue the incremental strategy we set out on lastyear. We are working right now on the details of what will be included. Butwe are proposing a package that would expand the rights," Rep. JamiePedersen, a Seattle Democrat and lawyer, said recently.
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Democrats are in charge of New Hampshire's Legislature, but Republicans wantto take back their historical role of calling the shots. And that means the2008 legislative session starting Wednesday will be more political than everas policy takes on an even harsher partisanship edge than usual.Look forsharp divisions especially over health insurance, abortion and schoolfunding as the two parties highlight their philosophical differences inadvance of the November election. In 2006, Democrats took control of theHouse for the first time since 1922 and of the Senate since 1998. No one atthe Statehouse can agree on when the Democrats last controlled bothchambers, but it was probably during the 1870s. They also won the governor'sseat and a majority on the Executive Council. In their first year in charge,Democrats pushed through the first increase in the minimum wage in a decade,a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants and a law allowing gay couples toform civil unions.
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National Gay News
http://nationalgaynews.com/
Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
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'Sorry, We Can't Help You'
Police told the victim of a brutal homophobic assault and robbery they hadalready spent too much time on his case to check CCTV footage or tracethreatening phone calls made from his stolen mobile phone. Part of Craig Gee's skull was reduced to powder and his leg broken during the late-night attacklast month, which his boyfriend Shane Brennen initially thought had killedhim.
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Robertson Freilich Attorneys Win Asylum For Trinidadian National
Robertson, Freilich, Bruno & Cohen, LLC attorneys Elizabeth Koniers Brownand Fanny A. Flikshtein have earned asylum for a pro bono client in a casebrought by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the ImmigrationCourt. In a particularly complex case, Ms. Brown and Ms. Flikshteinsuccessfully represented Mr. Jesse Hanes (a pseudonym has been used toprotect the defendant's privacy), a gay, HIV-positive Trinidadian nationalliving in New York.
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Gay Marriage: Live and Let Live
In this column, we consider whether the state should recognize gay marriage.
This issue is distinct from whether gay sex is immoral, because one mightthink that the state should recognize some immoral contracts (for example, acontract to supply pit bull puppies to the Aryan Brotherhood). The issue isnot merely academic. Gary Gates of UCLA Law School points out that a 2000U.S. Census report noted that there were 600,000 same-sex couples and in2005, the Census Bureau estimated that the number is greater than 770,000.
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Documenting the Toll of AIDS
Twelve years after a Silver Lake man died, his pharmacy receipts and medicalbills sit in a Los Angeles archive with a hand-written message declaring:"The Cost of AIDS." In a San Francisco library, a massive photo collectioncapturing the exuberance of gay liberation in the 1970s and its tragiccollision with AIDS fills many cartons.
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Small-Town Gay Teens Find Hope in Prairie Springs
Gay men are six times more likely to attempt suicide than their straightcounterparts and the numbers increase exponentially during the holidays,according to the Department of Health.
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WINTER PARTY FESTIVAL TICKETS NOW ON SALE!
Early Bird Special on Passes Thru January 14
Warm winds. Bright sun. Blue water. That's winter in Miami Beach. Throwin a roster of hot DJs and the world's best ocean-side dance party, and that's Winter Party Festival, benefitting the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
The 2008 Winter Party Festival hits Miami and Miami Beach from February 27to March 3 and features the 15th edition of the event that started it all,the Winter Party Beach Party. It also features some of the hottest DJs onthe circuit as well as some of the most exciting up-and-comers
SAVE MONEY ON PASSES THRU JANUARY 14!
Tickets and multi-event passes are on sale now at www.winterparty.com.Purchase your pass before January 14 and save money with the early birddiscount. New this year is a pass for guests ages 21-25. The New GenerationPass and the Florida Resident Pass are both on sale only through January 14.Visit www.winterparty.com now to purchase your tickets and passes.
HOST HOTEL OFFERS DISCOUNT THROUGH JANUARY 29
The Doubletree Surfcomber is THE hotel of choice during Winter PartyFestival. The Festival Welcome Center is located in the hotel, only stepsaway from the magnificent pool, site of the ever-popular Under One Sun PoolParty. Hotel guests receive two complimentary tickets per room to thisspectacular event.
Room rates are $299/king and $319/double through January 29, after which therates increase by $20. To reserve your room, please call 305.532.7715, askfor reservations, and mention Winter Party Festival 2008 to receive thespecial rate or visit the Doubletree Surfcomber Web site.
http://doubletree.hilton.com/en/dt/groups/personalized/miaofdt_wpf/index.jhtml
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon08/01/010208maine.htm
Gay Chorus Opens Maine Legislature
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 2, 2008 - 5:00 pm ET
(Augusta, Maine) The Gay Men's Chorus sang the national anthem to start the2008 session of the Maine legislature on Wednesday. It is the first time,one lawmaker said, that a gay group has sung the anthem at the start of anylegislature in the country.
Members of the legislature braved a snowstorm that dumped about a foot ofsnow on the state. Schools and most businesses were closed on Wednesday witha weather warning another storm was on the way.
Five new representatives were sworn in to replace House members who died orresigned.
The biggest agenda for the session is dealing with a looming budgetshortfall of $95 million. School and jail consolidation, highway funding andchanges in Maine's sex offender registry also are on the agenda.
Maine has a limited domestic partner law. Last year the legislature approveda bill allowing gay and lesbian workers to take time off to care for a sickpartner or child.
more . . . . .
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Tuesday, January 01, 2008
GLBT DIGEST January 1, 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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Queer Muslim Revolution
http://queermuslimrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/12/not-my-fathers-hajj.html
'Not My Father's Hajj'
Shahed Amanullah explores the spiritual significance of the Hajj in the ageof cell phones and Cinnabon.
By Shahed Amanullah
This week, millions of Muslims will converge on Mecca, Saudi Arabia, for oneof the largest religious gatherings on the face of the earth - the annualhajj, or pilgrimage, that Muslims are to perform once in their lifetime ifpossible. It is a unique opportunity for Muslims to see each other as one inthe same, despite differences in culture, national origin, or income. Untilrecently, the hajj was a lo-tech affair that changed little over thecenturies. But as globalization, mobility, and technology dramaticallychange the face of the earth, the hajj may be changing along with it.
While most Muslims perform the hajj in their adult or even elderly years, Iwas an exception in my community. I performed the hajj 20 years ago while Iwas still a teenager, so I was thrown headlong into the spiritual andphysical heart of Islam at a time when I was still grappling with moretypical teenage concerns such as putting a new driver's license to use. Butexperiencing the hajj at such an early age had a profound impact on my life,and shaped a Muslim identity within me that was, until then, more based onmy parent's Indian culture rather than an appreciation for Islam's richspiritual legacy and religious guidance. The experience so shaped my collegeyears that I went on to spend much of my spare time working to build a placefor Muslims in the American fabric, having been connected so closely to thelegacy of my coreligionists.
My father insisted on "roughing it" when he took my brother and me on thehajj. That meant sleeping on dirt floors and eating street food. He insistedthat it was part of the heritage of hajj, where people would trek forthousands of miles on the journey of a lifetime. We braved the Arabian sunto perform the time-honored rituals of the hajj. In a ritual called tawaf, Icircumnavigated the Kaaba, which Muslims believe was the first house ofworship built to serve the One God. I ran between the hills of Safa andMarwa seven times (in bare feet on rough stone, no less) to commemorateHagar's desperate search for water for her thirsty son, fighting off my ownthirst in the process. We gathered, along with two million others, on theplains of Arafat, testifying to God that we had journeyed there as Hecommanded, seeking his mercy. The sights and sounds around me - apart fromthe throngs of buses and the sheer number of people - were much as Iimagined it had been for hundreds of years prior, when pilgrims dressed inthe same two simple cloths also walked the same paths we walked.
more . . . . .
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Queer Muslim Revolution
http://queermuslimrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/12/muslims-seek-ways-to-balance-proximity.html
Muslims seek ways to balance proximity of Eid and Christmas
From the Chicago Tribune
By Tina Shah
Tribune staff reporter
December 20, 2007
The day after Thanksgiving, Ali Khan drove his two sons to the neighborhoodHome Depot to pick out a Christmas tree.
At home on Chicago's Northwest Side, Khan eagerly placed a silver-coatedmenorah, purchased at a decor store, under the tree. On top went a sequinedemerald crescent bought on a trip to Morocco.
While few will go so far as to put up a decorated tree, many Muslim-Americanfamilies cannot help but confront Christmas at this time of year. Theirchildren are inundated with Christmas customs at school, in stores, atrestaurants and on television, inspiring questions about Santa and presents.
This year brings a special challenge because the Christmas excitement ispeaking just as Muslims prepare to celebrate the holiday of Eid al-Adha.Tied to the Islamic lunar calendar and the phases of the moon, Eid isexpected by many to begin Thursday and last three days.
The holiday commemorates the willingness of Ibrahim, called Abraham in theBible, to sacrifice his son at the request of Allah. It also marks the endof hajj, a period in which Muslims make pilgrimages to the holy city ofMecca.
more . . . . .
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Queer Muslim Revolution
http://queermuslimrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/12/man-pardoned-over-saudi-rape-case.html
Man pardoned over Saudi rape case
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
(CNN) -- Saudi King Abdullah's letter pardoning a rape victim from 200lashes and six months in prison for appearing in public with an unrelatedmale also included a pardon for the man she was with, according to the SaudiJustice Minister.
Minister of Justice Abdallah bin Mohammed al-Sheikh, in a phone call to aSaudi Television newscast Monday, also said contrary to earlier reports thewoman's lawyer did not lose his license for defending her.
Until now, it was not confirmed that the male companion, who was abductedalong with the 19-year-old woman last March, had also faced charges. Whiledetails of what happened to the man while the woman was raped have not beenmade public, the King's letter concluded that he also suffered "torture"along with her.
The seven men convicted of kidnapping them and then raping her wereultimately sentences to lashings and prison terms of two to nine years.
Although the pardon letter has not been released to the news media,Al-Sheikh read from it in his call Monday to Saudi TV:
"After going over all the document and a thorough review of the evidence, wefound that the crime committed against this woman is one of the most savagekind," it read.
more . . . . .
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Queer Muslim Revolution
http://queermuslimrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/12/gays-living-in-shadows-of-new-iraq.html
Gays Living in Shadows of New Iraq
By CARA BUCKLEY
BAGHDAD - In a city and country where outsiders are viewed with deepsuspicion and attracting attention can imperil one's life, Mohammed couldnever blend in, even if he wanted to.
Mohammed, 37, has been openly gay for much of his adult life. For him, thishas meant growing his hair long and taking estrogen. In the past, he said,that held little danger. As is true throughout the Middle East, men havealways been publicly affectionate here.
But, at least until recently, Mohammed and many of his gay friends went onestep further, slipping into lovers' houses late at night. And, until theAmerican invasion, they said, Iraqi society had quietly accepted them.
But being openly gay is not an option in the new Iraq, where the rise ofreligious extremism has left Mohammed and his gay friends feeling especiallyvilified.
In January, a United Nations report described the increased persecution,torture and extrajudicial killing of Iraqi lesbians and gay men. In 2005,Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, issued afatwa, or religious decree, calling for gay men and lesbians to be killed inthe "worst, most severe way."
more . . . . .
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Queer Muslim Revolution
http://queermuslimrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/12/africa-odds-stacked-against-hiv.html
AFRICA: Odds stacked against HIV-positive Muslim women
Thursday, December 20, 2007
JOHANNESBURG, 18 December 2007 (PlusNews) - Over a five-year period,Indonesian Heldina Irayanti, 28, was in and out of drug rehabilitationclinics more times than she can remember. But there is one particular stayshe recalls vividly: it was 2002 and her HIV test had just come backpositive.
"That was when I finally stopped using drugs," she told IRIN/PlusNews.
After her initial shock she decided to tell her family, friends and her thenboyfriend - now her husband - Yulius Adam, also a former intravenous druguser, who was diagnosed HIV positive before Heldina.
Little did she know the prejudice she would encounter as a woman, a Muslimand being HIV positive. The discrimination began in her own family. "Adam'sfamily blamed me for having transmitted the virus to him, even though at thetime he was diagnosed my test came back negative." She believes thatHIV-positive Muslim women experience more prejudice than men in similarcircumstances.
Different weights, different measures
Discrimination was the common denominator of all the stories told byHIV-positive Muslim women who participated in the International Conferenceon Islam and HIV/AIDS, held in late November in Johannesburg, South Africa.
more . . . . .
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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/AP/story/363217.html
New year, new unions for gay couples
By BEVERLEY WANG
Posted on Tue, Jan. 01, 2008
Dozens of gay and lesbian couples entered into civil unions in New Hampshirein the early moments of New Year's Day as a new state law legalized thepartnerships after midnight.
Organizers said they checked in 37 couples for an outdoor ceremony on theplaza of the New Hampshire Statehouse - the building where the law wasadopted and signed in 2007. Participants bundled up against below-freezingtemperatures.
"We've been together 20 years; we've been waiting for this moment for 20years; finally the state will recognize us as we are," said Julie Bernier,who posed for photos on the Statehouse steps with partner Joan Andresenbefore the ceremony. Bernier and Andresen, who both work at Plymouth StateUniversity, never sought a commitment ceremony or other symbolic recognitionof their relationship before Tuesday.
"I didn't believe in doing it until it meant something," Bernier said.
As ceremonies go, the outdoors event that began at 11 p.m. Monday was equalparts political rally, party and personal triumph.
more . . . . .
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From Gays Without Borders
SF gay chorus sings solidarity for Russians, Eastern Europeans
My boyfriend and I attended one of the Christmas concerts at theCastro Theatre put on by the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus last week.
It was my first time at this annual holiday musical treat and Ithoroughly enjoyed the choice of songs and beautiful men's voices,along with being with my wonderful partner and our large extended gayfamily in the historic theatre for part of the holiday season.
After the show, we read the program from the chorus and were pleasedto see this in the welcome note from Kathleen McGuire, the artisticdirector and conductor:
"Sergei Rachmaninoff's beloved 'Vespers' has become a symbolic piecefor Russians, especially since, soon after its composition in 1915,the Soviet Union banned all religious music. It has been said that nocomposition represents the end of an era so clearly as this liturgicalwork. In 2005, an Orthodox priest in Russia held a private 'marriage'service for two men. When the religious authorities learned about it,they defrocked the priest and bulldozed the chapel.
"Recent pro-gay riots in Moscow led to the intimidation andincarceration of organizers and marchers. We sing from 'Vespers'tonight as a show of solidarity with our LGBT brothers and sisters inEastern Europe."
Yes, this city is one place where we always remember gay people aroundthe globe who struggle daily for acceptance and equality and we findcreative ways to make sure foreign gays are not forgotten. I am proudof the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus for raising their voices insolidarity with our brothers and sisters in Russia and throughoutEastern Europe.
Many thanks to the chorus members, the group's executive director,Teddy Witherington, and the artistic director for their act of choraland political solidarity.
May 2008 bring increase respect for the human rights of gayseverywhere and more global solidarity and activism across all borders!
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APP.com - New Jersey
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071230/NEWS/712300366
Neptune expected to get a gay mayor
By BILL BOWMAN
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
December 30, 2007
Township Committeeman Randy Bishop knows he's going to become part of NewJersey history Tuesday afternoon, but he's quick to downplay itssignificance.
Bishop, who will be sworn in at noon Tuesday for his second three-year termon the committee, is also expected later in the afternoon to be picked asmayor for 2008. When that happens, Bishop will be one of two openly gaymayors serving this year in New Jersey, and one of only three in the state'shistory.
But Bishop, who owns the Melrose Inn in Ocean Grove, doesn't want hissexuality to be the focus of his tenure as mayor.
"It really is a small piece of what makes me who I am," he said. "It's asmuch a piece of me as owning my own business, or having spent years incorporate America.
"Is it true that probably my experience influences how I approach problemsolving? Yes, but they all play into that, and they all make me into who Iam."
more . . . . .
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Pittsburg Post-Gazett
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07364/845129-35.stm
Sunday Forum: In search of peace?
Unfortunately, the pope's annual peace-day message focuses more onhomosexuality than inhumanity, laments
MICHAEL D. KERLIN
Sunday, December 30, 2007
On World Peace Day, Jan. 1, most of the world's citizens will be too poor,too hungry, too surrounded by violence or too worried by this century'sother basic challenges to pay attention. Those who do pay attention likelywill think first of war in places like Iraq and Eastern Congo, genocide inSudan, a looming crisis in nuclear Pakistan and widespread poverty all over.
The spiritual leader of more than a billion of the world's people will bethinking about homosexuality.
Earlier this month, Pope Benedict XVI issued his message for World PeaceDay. Entitled "The Human Family, A Community of Peace," the message arguesthat peace begins with the family. That's a reasonable point. But then thepope writes, "Everything that serves to weaken the family based on themarriage of a man and woman ... constitutes an objective obstacle on theroad to peace."
Having implicitly named homosexuality as an obstacle to world peace in hisfifth paragraph, the pope then waits until the seventh paragraph to mentionthe environment, the ninth to mention poverty and the second-to-last tomention war and violence.
As a Roman Catholic, I tremble at the implications of Pope Benedict XVI'sprioritization of "family issues" like homosexuality ahead of pressing worldissues. A peek into Catholic Church history suggests scary parallels.
more . . . . .
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365Gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/12/123107church.htm
Another Church Leaves Gay Denomination MCC
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: December 31, 2007 - 2:00 pm ET
(Daytona Beach, Florida) Members of Hope Metropolitan Community Church votedSunday to sever ties with the Universal Fellowship of the MetropolitanCommunity Churches.
The Daytona Beach congregation and its pastor, Rev. Beau McDaniels have beenat odds with the national denomination for months over what the churchdescribes as a dispute over money.
The UFMCC claims there had been "financial irregularities" under McDanielsstewardship of Hope Church and earlier this year stripped McDaniels of herlicense to preach.
This month the denomination sent the church a letter threatening to severties by Jan. 7 if McDaniels were still involved with Hope.
The church has seen its numbers decline in recent years.
more . . . . .
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Miami Herald
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/
Global gay ski weeks
BY DARREN COOPER, GaydarTravel.com
December 31, 2007
Gay ski weeks have become a hugely successful part of the queer calendar andthere are now a whole host of events to choose from that are taking placeall over the globe! It doesn't matter if you're a beginner or if you cancarve your way gracefully down the most challenging of black runs, there'ssomething for all levels of skier.
So strap on thse salopettes, grab your sunglasses and sashay down the slopessafe in the knowledge that you won't be the only one checking out more thanyour sexy ski instructor's technique!
If you do fancy working up a sweat on the slopes, then why not extend yourbreak for a few more days and discover the charms of the local scene. Skiingand a city break - perfect!
Here's out pick of some of the best gay ski holidays around.
Arosa Gay Ski Week: 5-11 January 2008
Arosa, Switzerland, www.arosa-gayskiweek.com
Sitting at the top of the scenic Schanfigg Valley, at an altitude of 1,800metres, Arosa's Alpine charm makes it a favourite resort with a wealthy butunpretentious European crowd. Snow sure with mounds of Alpine charm, thereare over 70kms of pistes which largely favour beginners and intermediatesalthough there is limited more challenging skiing for more advanced skierstoo!
more . . . . .
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To Form a More Perfect Union: Marriage Equality News
Information, news, and discussion about the legal recognition of same-sexcouples and their families, including marriages, domestic partnerships,civil unions, adoptions, foster children and similar issues.
http://samesexmarriage.typepad.com/weblog/
Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
--
Finding that a family court judge had improperly allowed his disapproval ofa father's homosexual "lifestyle" to influence a decision imposing a travelrestriction when the father has visitation with his children, the SouthCarolina Court of Appeals struck down the restriction in the case of West v.West, in an unpublished opinion filed on December 14. The opinion can befound on the court's website, and was the subject of a detailed report inthe Dec. 24 issue of the South Carolina Lawyers Weekly. Lexington CountyFamily Court Judge H. E. Bonnoitt, Jr., granted a divorce to Ernest and MaryWest after they had lived separately for a year. Mary received custody oftheir two children, with Ernest being granted visitation rights. JudgeBonnoitt prohibited Ernest from travelling out of state with the childrenwhile exercising visitation rights, expressing fear that Ernest might exposethem to his "homosexual paramour" who was living in Florida. The Wests weremarried in 1992. In 2002, Ernest's employer went bankrupt and he lost hisjob at the Columbia, South Carolina, location, but the employer offeredErnest a job in Dallas, Texas. Ernest moved to Dallas, while Mary and thechildren remained in South Carolina.
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A federal judge whose role in the Supreme Court's 1986 Bowers v. Hardwickdecision, upholding the Georgia sodomy law, made him a controversial choicewhen he was appointed to the district court in Oregon by George W. Bush afew years ago, has issued an order to stop the Oregon Domestic PartnershipLaw from going into effect, pending a February hearing on a claim by theAlliance Defense Fund that Oregon officials wrongly disqualified enoughsignatures on referendum petitions to violate federal constitutional votingrights. District Judge Michael W. Mosman apparently decided that the law,scheduled to go into effect this week, must be delayed to avoid irreparableinjury to the voting rights of Oregonians who want to put the measure up fora referendum vote. Judge Mosman was a law clerk for Justice Lewis F. Powell,the swing voter in the Bowers v. Hardwick case, during the fateful SupremeCourt term of 1985-1986. According to stories that circulated widely at thetime of Mosman's court appointment a few years ago, Mosman wrote memos toPowell urging the justice to vote to uphold the Georgia sodomy law, inresponse to Powell's indication after the oral argument that he was leaningtowards striking down the law. Indeed, Powell had voted in the Court'sconference after oral argument to strike the law, and Justice Harry Blackmunset to work on drafting a majority opinion for the Court.
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Huckabee - Here's his attempt to explain why he's not a bigot: What one'ssin is, means it's missing the mark. It's missing the bull's eye, theperfect point. I miss it every day; we all do. The perfection of God is seenin a marriage in which one man, one woman live together as a couplecommitted to each other as life partners. Now, even married couples don't dothat perfectly, so sin is not some act of equating people with beingmurderers or rapists... Now if you accept that gay people are involuntarilysuch - and Huckabee does not deny that in the interview - then what are weto do with our lives? The Catholic church has a theory of natural law thatinsists that all sexual acts be open to procreation. If you buy that, thenmost heteros are similarly damned most of the time - for the same reasonthat homos are damned all the time - unless we castrate ourselves. ButHuckabee's church has no such theory, and allows contraception. So what isthe argument against gay relationships here?
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By the time the 2008 legislative session ends in March, one of those twofates awaits a proposed amendment to Indiana's Constitution that would bansame-sex marriages. To amend the constitution, two consecutively electedlegislatures must pass the measure. Voters must then approve it in a generalelection. The General Assembly passed the amendment in 2005 but has failedto do so since. If lawmakers in both the House and Senate pass the amendmentthis session, voters would get their say in November. But if the amendmentfails, the lengthy process would have to start over again. Supporters of theproposed ban don't want to see that happen. "This is an issue where thelegislators need to remember that the people of Indiana need the opportunityto vote to protect marriage," said Eric Miller, founder of the conservativeactivist group Advance America. "We have to let the people decide."
=
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=
Queer Muslim Revolution
http://queermuslimrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/12/not-my-fathers-hajj.html
'Not My Father's Hajj'
Shahed Amanullah explores the spiritual significance of the Hajj in the ageof cell phones and Cinnabon.
By Shahed Amanullah
This week, millions of Muslims will converge on Mecca, Saudi Arabia, for oneof the largest religious gatherings on the face of the earth - the annualhajj, or pilgrimage, that Muslims are to perform once in their lifetime ifpossible. It is a unique opportunity for Muslims to see each other as one inthe same, despite differences in culture, national origin, or income. Untilrecently, the hajj was a lo-tech affair that changed little over thecenturies. But as globalization, mobility, and technology dramaticallychange the face of the earth, the hajj may be changing along with it.
While most Muslims perform the hajj in their adult or even elderly years, Iwas an exception in my community. I performed the hajj 20 years ago while Iwas still a teenager, so I was thrown headlong into the spiritual andphysical heart of Islam at a time when I was still grappling with moretypical teenage concerns such as putting a new driver's license to use. Butexperiencing the hajj at such an early age had a profound impact on my life,and shaped a Muslim identity within me that was, until then, more based onmy parent's Indian culture rather than an appreciation for Islam's richspiritual legacy and religious guidance. The experience so shaped my collegeyears that I went on to spend much of my spare time working to build a placefor Muslims in the American fabric, having been connected so closely to thelegacy of my coreligionists.
My father insisted on "roughing it" when he took my brother and me on thehajj. That meant sleeping on dirt floors and eating street food. He insistedthat it was part of the heritage of hajj, where people would trek forthousands of miles on the journey of a lifetime. We braved the Arabian sunto perform the time-honored rituals of the hajj. In a ritual called tawaf, Icircumnavigated the Kaaba, which Muslims believe was the first house ofworship built to serve the One God. I ran between the hills of Safa andMarwa seven times (in bare feet on rough stone, no less) to commemorateHagar's desperate search for water for her thirsty son, fighting off my ownthirst in the process. We gathered, along with two million others, on theplains of Arafat, testifying to God that we had journeyed there as Hecommanded, seeking his mercy. The sights and sounds around me - apart fromthe throngs of buses and the sheer number of people - were much as Iimagined it had been for hundreds of years prior, when pilgrims dressed inthe same two simple cloths also walked the same paths we walked.
more . . . . .
=
Queer Muslim Revolution
http://queermuslimrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/12/muslims-seek-ways-to-balance-proximity.html
Muslims seek ways to balance proximity of Eid and Christmas
From the Chicago Tribune
By Tina Shah
Tribune staff reporter
December 20, 2007
The day after Thanksgiving, Ali Khan drove his two sons to the neighborhoodHome Depot to pick out a Christmas tree.
At home on Chicago's Northwest Side, Khan eagerly placed a silver-coatedmenorah, purchased at a decor store, under the tree. On top went a sequinedemerald crescent bought on a trip to Morocco.
While few will go so far as to put up a decorated tree, many Muslim-Americanfamilies cannot help but confront Christmas at this time of year. Theirchildren are inundated with Christmas customs at school, in stores, atrestaurants and on television, inspiring questions about Santa and presents.
This year brings a special challenge because the Christmas excitement ispeaking just as Muslims prepare to celebrate the holiday of Eid al-Adha.Tied to the Islamic lunar calendar and the phases of the moon, Eid isexpected by many to begin Thursday and last three days.
The holiday commemorates the willingness of Ibrahim, called Abraham in theBible, to sacrifice his son at the request of Allah. It also marks the endof hajj, a period in which Muslims make pilgrimages to the holy city ofMecca.
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Queer Muslim Revolution
http://queermuslimrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/12/man-pardoned-over-saudi-rape-case.html
Man pardoned over Saudi rape case
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
(CNN) -- Saudi King Abdullah's letter pardoning a rape victim from 200lashes and six months in prison for appearing in public with an unrelatedmale also included a pardon for the man she was with, according to the SaudiJustice Minister.
Minister of Justice Abdallah bin Mohammed al-Sheikh, in a phone call to aSaudi Television newscast Monday, also said contrary to earlier reports thewoman's lawyer did not lose his license for defending her.
Until now, it was not confirmed that the male companion, who was abductedalong with the 19-year-old woman last March, had also faced charges. Whiledetails of what happened to the man while the woman was raped have not beenmade public, the King's letter concluded that he also suffered "torture"along with her.
The seven men convicted of kidnapping them and then raping her wereultimately sentences to lashings and prison terms of two to nine years.
Although the pardon letter has not been released to the news media,Al-Sheikh read from it in his call Monday to Saudi TV:
"After going over all the document and a thorough review of the evidence, wefound that the crime committed against this woman is one of the most savagekind," it read.
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Queer Muslim Revolution
http://queermuslimrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/12/gays-living-in-shadows-of-new-iraq.html
Gays Living in Shadows of New Iraq
By CARA BUCKLEY
BAGHDAD - In a city and country where outsiders are viewed with deepsuspicion and attracting attention can imperil one's life, Mohammed couldnever blend in, even if he wanted to.
Mohammed, 37, has been openly gay for much of his adult life. For him, thishas meant growing his hair long and taking estrogen. In the past, he said,that held little danger. As is true throughout the Middle East, men havealways been publicly affectionate here.
But, at least until recently, Mohammed and many of his gay friends went onestep further, slipping into lovers' houses late at night. And, until theAmerican invasion, they said, Iraqi society had quietly accepted them.
But being openly gay is not an option in the new Iraq, where the rise ofreligious extremism has left Mohammed and his gay friends feeling especiallyvilified.
In January, a United Nations report described the increased persecution,torture and extrajudicial killing of Iraqi lesbians and gay men. In 2005,Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, issued afatwa, or religious decree, calling for gay men and lesbians to be killed inthe "worst, most severe way."
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Queer Muslim Revolution
http://queermuslimrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/12/africa-odds-stacked-against-hiv.html
AFRICA: Odds stacked against HIV-positive Muslim women
Thursday, December 20, 2007
JOHANNESBURG, 18 December 2007 (PlusNews) - Over a five-year period,Indonesian Heldina Irayanti, 28, was in and out of drug rehabilitationclinics more times than she can remember. But there is one particular stayshe recalls vividly: it was 2002 and her HIV test had just come backpositive.
"That was when I finally stopped using drugs," she told IRIN/PlusNews.
After her initial shock she decided to tell her family, friends and her thenboyfriend - now her husband - Yulius Adam, also a former intravenous druguser, who was diagnosed HIV positive before Heldina.
Little did she know the prejudice she would encounter as a woman, a Muslimand being HIV positive. The discrimination began in her own family. "Adam'sfamily blamed me for having transmitted the virus to him, even though at thetime he was diagnosed my test came back negative." She believes thatHIV-positive Muslim women experience more prejudice than men in similarcircumstances.
Different weights, different measures
Discrimination was the common denominator of all the stories told byHIV-positive Muslim women who participated in the International Conferenceon Islam and HIV/AIDS, held in late November in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/AP/story/363217.html
New year, new unions for gay couples
By BEVERLEY WANG
Posted on Tue, Jan. 01, 2008
Dozens of gay and lesbian couples entered into civil unions in New Hampshirein the early moments of New Year's Day as a new state law legalized thepartnerships after midnight.
Organizers said they checked in 37 couples for an outdoor ceremony on theplaza of the New Hampshire Statehouse - the building where the law wasadopted and signed in 2007. Participants bundled up against below-freezingtemperatures.
"We've been together 20 years; we've been waiting for this moment for 20years; finally the state will recognize us as we are," said Julie Bernier,who posed for photos on the Statehouse steps with partner Joan Andresenbefore the ceremony. Bernier and Andresen, who both work at Plymouth StateUniversity, never sought a commitment ceremony or other symbolic recognitionof their relationship before Tuesday.
"I didn't believe in doing it until it meant something," Bernier said.
As ceremonies go, the outdoors event that began at 11 p.m. Monday was equalparts political rally, party and personal triumph.
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From Gays Without Borders
SF gay chorus sings solidarity for Russians, Eastern Europeans
My boyfriend and I attended one of the Christmas concerts at theCastro Theatre put on by the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus last week.
It was my first time at this annual holiday musical treat and Ithoroughly enjoyed the choice of songs and beautiful men's voices,along with being with my wonderful partner and our large extended gayfamily in the historic theatre for part of the holiday season.
After the show, we read the program from the chorus and were pleasedto see this in the welcome note from Kathleen McGuire, the artisticdirector and conductor:
"Sergei Rachmaninoff's beloved 'Vespers' has become a symbolic piecefor Russians, especially since, soon after its composition in 1915,the Soviet Union banned all religious music. It has been said that nocomposition represents the end of an era so clearly as this liturgicalwork. In 2005, an Orthodox priest in Russia held a private 'marriage'service for two men. When the religious authorities learned about it,they defrocked the priest and bulldozed the chapel.
"Recent pro-gay riots in Moscow led to the intimidation andincarceration of organizers and marchers. We sing from 'Vespers'tonight as a show of solidarity with our LGBT brothers and sisters inEastern Europe."
Yes, this city is one place where we always remember gay people aroundthe globe who struggle daily for acceptance and equality and we findcreative ways to make sure foreign gays are not forgotten. I am proudof the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus for raising their voices insolidarity with our brothers and sisters in Russia and throughoutEastern Europe.
Many thanks to the chorus members, the group's executive director,Teddy Witherington, and the artistic director for their act of choraland political solidarity.
May 2008 bring increase respect for the human rights of gayseverywhere and more global solidarity and activism across all borders!
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APP.com - New Jersey
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071230/NEWS/712300366
Neptune expected to get a gay mayor
By BILL BOWMAN
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
December 30, 2007
Township Committeeman Randy Bishop knows he's going to become part of NewJersey history Tuesday afternoon, but he's quick to downplay itssignificance.
Bishop, who will be sworn in at noon Tuesday for his second three-year termon the committee, is also expected later in the afternoon to be picked asmayor for 2008. When that happens, Bishop will be one of two openly gaymayors serving this year in New Jersey, and one of only three in the state'shistory.
But Bishop, who owns the Melrose Inn in Ocean Grove, doesn't want hissexuality to be the focus of his tenure as mayor.
"It really is a small piece of what makes me who I am," he said. "It's asmuch a piece of me as owning my own business, or having spent years incorporate America.
"Is it true that probably my experience influences how I approach problemsolving? Yes, but they all play into that, and they all make me into who Iam."
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Pittsburg Post-Gazett
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07364/845129-35.stm
Sunday Forum: In search of peace?
Unfortunately, the pope's annual peace-day message focuses more onhomosexuality than inhumanity, laments
MICHAEL D. KERLIN
Sunday, December 30, 2007
On World Peace Day, Jan. 1, most of the world's citizens will be too poor,too hungry, too surrounded by violence or too worried by this century'sother basic challenges to pay attention. Those who do pay attention likelywill think first of war in places like Iraq and Eastern Congo, genocide inSudan, a looming crisis in nuclear Pakistan and widespread poverty all over.
The spiritual leader of more than a billion of the world's people will bethinking about homosexuality.
Earlier this month, Pope Benedict XVI issued his message for World PeaceDay. Entitled "The Human Family, A Community of Peace," the message arguesthat peace begins with the family. That's a reasonable point. But then thepope writes, "Everything that serves to weaken the family based on themarriage of a man and woman ... constitutes an objective obstacle on theroad to peace."
Having implicitly named homosexuality as an obstacle to world peace in hisfifth paragraph, the pope then waits until the seventh paragraph to mentionthe environment, the ninth to mention poverty and the second-to-last tomention war and violence.
As a Roman Catholic, I tremble at the implications of Pope Benedict XVI'sprioritization of "family issues" like homosexuality ahead of pressing worldissues. A peek into Catholic Church history suggests scary parallels.
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365Gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/12/123107church.htm
Another Church Leaves Gay Denomination MCC
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: December 31, 2007 - 2:00 pm ET
(Daytona Beach, Florida) Members of Hope Metropolitan Community Church votedSunday to sever ties with the Universal Fellowship of the MetropolitanCommunity Churches.
The Daytona Beach congregation and its pastor, Rev. Beau McDaniels have beenat odds with the national denomination for months over what the churchdescribes as a dispute over money.
The UFMCC claims there had been "financial irregularities" under McDanielsstewardship of Hope Church and earlier this year stripped McDaniels of herlicense to preach.
This month the denomination sent the church a letter threatening to severties by Jan. 7 if McDaniels were still involved with Hope.
The church has seen its numbers decline in recent years.
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Miami Herald
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/
Global gay ski weeks
BY DARREN COOPER, GaydarTravel.com
December 31, 2007
Gay ski weeks have become a hugely successful part of the queer calendar andthere are now a whole host of events to choose from that are taking placeall over the globe! It doesn't matter if you're a beginner or if you cancarve your way gracefully down the most challenging of black runs, there'ssomething for all levels of skier.
So strap on thse salopettes, grab your sunglasses and sashay down the slopessafe in the knowledge that you won't be the only one checking out more thanyour sexy ski instructor's technique!
If you do fancy working up a sweat on the slopes, then why not extend yourbreak for a few more days and discover the charms of the local scene. Skiingand a city break - perfect!
Here's out pick of some of the best gay ski holidays around.
Arosa Gay Ski Week: 5-11 January 2008
Arosa, Switzerland, www.arosa-gayskiweek.com
Sitting at the top of the scenic Schanfigg Valley, at an altitude of 1,800metres, Arosa's Alpine charm makes it a favourite resort with a wealthy butunpretentious European crowd. Snow sure with mounds of Alpine charm, thereare over 70kms of pistes which largely favour beginners and intermediatesalthough there is limited more challenging skiing for more advanced skierstoo!
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To Form a More Perfect Union: Marriage Equality News
Information, news, and discussion about the legal recognition of same-sexcouples and their families, including marriages, domestic partnerships,civil unions, adoptions, foster children and similar issues.
http://samesexmarriage.typepad.com/weblog/
Go to the website, above, for the following articles:
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Finding that a family court judge had improperly allowed his disapproval ofa father's homosexual "lifestyle" to influence a decision imposing a travelrestriction when the father has visitation with his children, the SouthCarolina Court of Appeals struck down the restriction in the case of West v.West, in an unpublished opinion filed on December 14. The opinion can befound on the court's website, and was the subject of a detailed report inthe Dec. 24 issue of the South Carolina Lawyers Weekly. Lexington CountyFamily Court Judge H. E. Bonnoitt, Jr., granted a divorce to Ernest and MaryWest after they had lived separately for a year. Mary received custody oftheir two children, with Ernest being granted visitation rights. JudgeBonnoitt prohibited Ernest from travelling out of state with the childrenwhile exercising visitation rights, expressing fear that Ernest might exposethem to his "homosexual paramour" who was living in Florida. The Wests weremarried in 1992. In 2002, Ernest's employer went bankrupt and he lost hisjob at the Columbia, South Carolina, location, but the employer offeredErnest a job in Dallas, Texas. Ernest moved to Dallas, while Mary and thechildren remained in South Carolina.
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A federal judge whose role in the Supreme Court's 1986 Bowers v. Hardwickdecision, upholding the Georgia sodomy law, made him a controversial choicewhen he was appointed to the district court in Oregon by George W. Bush afew years ago, has issued an order to stop the Oregon Domestic PartnershipLaw from going into effect, pending a February hearing on a claim by theAlliance Defense Fund that Oregon officials wrongly disqualified enoughsignatures on referendum petitions to violate federal constitutional votingrights. District Judge Michael W. Mosman apparently decided that the law,scheduled to go into effect this week, must be delayed to avoid irreparableinjury to the voting rights of Oregonians who want to put the measure up fora referendum vote. Judge Mosman was a law clerk for Justice Lewis F. Powell,the swing voter in the Bowers v. Hardwick case, during the fateful SupremeCourt term of 1985-1986. According to stories that circulated widely at thetime of Mosman's court appointment a few years ago, Mosman wrote memos toPowell urging the justice to vote to uphold the Georgia sodomy law, inresponse to Powell's indication after the oral argument that he was leaningtowards striking down the law. Indeed, Powell had voted in the Court'sconference after oral argument to strike the law, and Justice Harry Blackmunset to work on drafting a majority opinion for the Court.
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Huckabee - Here's his attempt to explain why he's not a bigot: What one'ssin is, means it's missing the mark. It's missing the bull's eye, theperfect point. I miss it every day; we all do. The perfection of God is seenin a marriage in which one man, one woman live together as a couplecommitted to each other as life partners. Now, even married couples don't dothat perfectly, so sin is not some act of equating people with beingmurderers or rapists... Now if you accept that gay people are involuntarilysuch - and Huckabee does not deny that in the interview - then what are weto do with our lives? The Catholic church has a theory of natural law thatinsists that all sexual acts be open to procreation. If you buy that, thenmost heteros are similarly damned most of the time - for the same reasonthat homos are damned all the time - unless we castrate ourselves. ButHuckabee's church has no such theory, and allows contraception. So what isthe argument against gay relationships here?
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By the time the 2008 legislative session ends in March, one of those twofates awaits a proposed amendment to Indiana's Constitution that would bansame-sex marriages. To amend the constitution, two consecutively electedlegislatures must pass the measure. Voters must then approve it in a generalelection. The General Assembly passed the amendment in 2005 but has failedto do so since. If lawmakers in both the House and Senate pass the amendmentthis session, voters would get their say in November. But if the amendmentfails, the lengthy process would have to start over again. Supporters of theproposed ban don't want to see that happen. "This is an issue where thelegislators need to remember that the people of Indiana need the opportunityto vote to protect marriage," said Eric Miller, founder of the conservativeactivist group Advance America. "We have to let the people decide."
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST January 1, 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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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/press_releases/story/362484.html
Democratic National Committee
DNC: What They're Saying: Smooth Talking Mitt Romney's Credibility Gap
Posted on Mon, Dec. 31, 2007
Surely, this isn't how smooth talking Mitt Romney envisioned spending hisNew Year's Eve. In February 2007, a leaked 77-page strategy documentoutlined the Romney campaign's plan to avoid spending 2007 "facingskepticism about his conservative message." [Boston Globe, 2/27/07] Now,just days before the Iowa caucus, the reviews are in. Despite running "theleast honorable campaign of any major candidate," Romney is still being"dogged" by questions about his flip-flops and a lingering "candor gap" thathas left voters wondering "if there's anything at all at his core" andconvinced that he'll say whatever he thinks voters want to hear instead ofwhat he believes.
"After flip-flopping on just about every issue in this race and playing fastand loose with the facts, smooth talking Mitt Romney has failed to close thedeal on even his own credibility," said Democratic National Committeespokesman Damien LaVera. "The voters may have no idea where he really standson any of the challenges confronting our nation, but they understand that avote for Mitt Romney is a vote for a third Bush term not only on the issues,but when it comes to honesty and integrity as well."
"Mitt Romney" is to "Credibility" What "Day" is to "Night"
Union Leader: "The More Romney Speaks, the Less Believable He Becomes.""Like a lot of people in New Hampshire, we wanted to believe Romney. We gavehim the benefit of the doubt. We listened very carefully to his expertlyrehearsed sales pitch. But in the end he didn't close the deal for us. Now,two weeks before the primary, the same is happening with voters... GraniteStaters want a candidate who will look them in the eye and tell them thetruth...Mitt Romney has not. He has spoken his lines well, but the peoplecan sense that the words are memorized, not heartfelt. Last week Romney wasreduced to debating what the meaning of "saw" is. It was only the latest ina string of demonstrably false claims -- he'd been a hunter "pretty much"all his life, he'd had the NRA's endorsement, he marched with Martin LutherKing, Jr. -- that call into question the veracity of his justifications forswitching sides on immigration, abortion, taxes and his affection for RonaldReagan. In this primary, the more Mitt Romney speaks, the less believable hebecomes." [New Hampshire Union Leader, 12/26/07]
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CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/01/ap/politics/main3662611.shtml
Analysis: Huckabee May Have Gone Too Far
DES MOINES, Iowa, Jan. 1, 2008
(AP) Mike Huckabee may have finally gone too far.
After running an unconventional, surprisingly strong and sometimes strangerace to the top tier of the Republican presidential campaign, the formerArkansas governor topped himself Monday with an eyebrow-raising campaignstunt.
He called a news conference to unveil a negative ad that he had justwithdrawn from Iowa television stations because, he told a room full ofjournalists recording the ad, he had a sudden aversion to negative politics.Quite a convenient epiphany.
"If people want to be cynical about it," Huckabee said, "they can be cynicalabout it."
If he loses Iowa's caucuses on Thursday, New Year's Eve will forever markthe day Huckabee blew it _ the day a group of reporters stopped laughingwith the witty Republican and laughed at him.
If he wins _ a possibility that even Huckabee now thinks he put at risk _ hesealed victory in a weird way Monday.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/opinion/01tue1.html?ref=opinion
Editorial: In Office
The One Environmental Issue
January 1, 2008
The overriding environmental issue of these times is the warming of theplanet. The Democratic hopefuls in the 2008 campaign are fully engaged,calling for large - if still unquantified - national sacrifices and for atransformation in the way the country produces and uses energy. TheRepublicans do not go much further than conceding that climate change couldbe a problem and, with the notable exception of John McCain, offer nocomprehensive solutions.
In 2000, when Al Gore could have made warming a signature issue in hispresidential campaign, his advisers persuaded him that it was toocomplicated and forbidding an issue to sell to ordinary voters. For similarreasons, John Kerry's ambitious ideas for addressing climate change andreducing the country's dependence on foreign oil never advanced much beyondhis Web site.
Times have certainly changed. It is not yet clear to what extent Americansare willing to grapple with the implications of any serious strategy toreduce greenhouse gas emissions: more specifically, whether they are readyto pay higher prices for energy and change their lifestyles to reduce theirconsumption of fossil fuels.
Polls suggest, however, that voters are increasingly alarmed, and for thatMr. Gore is partly responsible. His film, "An Inconvenient Truth," raisedthe issue's profile. Then came four reports from the United NationsIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the Nobel PeacePrize with Mr. Gore, predicting catastrophic changes in weather patterns,sea levels and food production unless greenhouses gases can be quicklystabilized and then reduced by as much as 80 percent by midcentury.
There is also a growing appetite for decisive action - everywhere, it seems,except the White House. Governors in more than two dozen states arefashioning regional agreements to lower greenhouse gases, the federal courtshave ordered the executive branch to begin regulating these gases, and theSenate has begun work on a bipartisan bill that would reduce emissions bynearly 65 percent by 2050.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/opinion/01brooks.html?ref=opinion
Op-Ed Columnist: Road to Nowhere
By DAVID BROOKS
January 1, 2008
The most impressive thing about Mitt Romney is his clarity of mind. When heset out to pursue his party's nomination, he studied the contours of theRepublican coalition and molded himself to its forms.
Earnestly and methodically, he has appealed to each of the majorconstituency groups. For national security conservatives, he vowed to doublethe size of the prison at Guantánamo Bay. For social conservatives, heembraced a culture war against the faithless. For immigration skeptics, heswung so far right he earned the endorsement of Tom Tancredo.
He has spent roughly $80 million, including an estimated $17 million of hisown money, hiring consultants, blanketing the airwaves and building anorganization that is unmatched on the Republican side.
And he has turned himself into the party's fusion candidate. Some of hisrivals are stronger among social conservatives. Others are stronger amongsecurity conservatives, but no candidate has a foot in all camps the wayRomney does. No candidate offends so few, or is the acceptable choice of somany.
And that is why Romney is at the fulcrum of the Republican race. He'slooking strong in Iowa and is the only candidate who can afford to lose animportant state and still win the nomination.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/us/politics/01decide.html
Political Memo: What if Iowa Settles Nothing for Democrats?
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
January 1, 2008
DES MOINES - Iowa is packed with presidential candidates and hundreds ofcampaign aides, advisers and contributors. Twenty-five hundredrepresentatives of news organizations have been granted credentials to coverthe caucuses Thursday night, twice as many as in 2004. Rarely has apolitical event been so intensely anticipated as a decisive moment, at leaston the Democratic side.
But what if it is not decisive?
What if at the end of Thursday, the three leading Democrats - former SenatorJohn Edwards and Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama - areseparated by a percentage point or two, leaving no one with the clear rightof delivering a victory speech (or the burden of conceding)? A number ofpolls going into the final days have suggested that after all of this, theDemocratic caucus on Thursday night could end up more or less a tie.
In truth, amid all the endless permutations of outcomes that are beingdiscussed - can Mrs. Clinton, the putative front-runner, survive athird-place finish, or Mr. Edwards a second-place one? - aides are beginningto grapple with the frustrating possibility that all the time, money andpolitical skill invested here might prove to be for naught when it comes toidentifying the candidate to beat in the primaries and winnowing the toptier.
"It would be like a six-month trial and a hung jury," said David Axelrod, asenior adviser to Mr. Obama. "I think it is really possible."
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2007/12/31/ST2007123102506.html?hpid=topnews
Doctors Cite Pressure to Keep Silent On Bhutto
By Emily Wax and Griff Witte
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, January 1, 2008; A01
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, Dec. 31 -- Pakistani authorities have pressured themedical personnel who tried to save Benazir Bhutto's life to remain silentabout what happened in her final hour and have removed records of hertreatment from the facility, according to doctors.
In interviews, doctors who were at Bhutto's side at Rawalpindi GeneralHospital said they were under extreme pressure not to share details aboutthe nature of the injuries that the opposition leader suffered in an attackhere Dec. 27.
"The government took all the medical records right after Ms. Bhutto's timeof death was read out," said a visibly shaken doctor who spoke on conditionof anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Sweating and puttinghis head in his hands, he said: "Look, we have been told by the governmentto stop talking. And a lot of us feel this is a disgrace."
The doctors now find themselves at the center of a political firestorm overthe circumstances of Bhutto's death. The government has said Bhutto, 54, waskilled after the force of a suicide bombing caused her head to slam againstthe lever of her vehicle's sunroof. Bhutto's supporters have pointed tovideo footage, including a new amateur video released Monday, as proof thatshe was killed by gunfire.
The truth about what happened has serious implications in Pakistan. Theability of a gunman to fire at Bhutto from close range, as alleged by hersupporters, would suggest that an assassin was able to breach governmentsecurity in a city that serves as headquarters of the Pakistani military,bolstering her supporters' claims that the government failed to provide herwith adequate protection.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/31/AR2007123101922.html?hpid=sec-tech
Electronic Passports Raise Privacy Issues
By Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 1, 2008; A06
The federal government will soon offer passport cards equipped withelectronic data chips to U.S. citizens who travel frequently between theUnited States and Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean. The cards can be readwirelessly from 20 feet, offering convenience to travelers but raisingsecurity and privacy concerns about the possibility of data beingintercepted.
The goal of the passport card, an alternative to the traditional passport,is to reduce the wait at land and sea border checkpoints by using anelectronic device that can simultaneously read multiple cards' radiofrequency identification (RFID) signals from a distance, checking travelersagainst terrorist and criminal watchlists while they wait.
"As people are approaching a port of inspection, they can show the card tothe reader, and by the time they get to the inspector, all the informationwill have been verified and they can be waved on through," said Ann Barrett,deputy assistant secretary of state for passport services, commenting on thefinal rule on passport cards published yesterday in the Federal Register.
The $45 card will be optional and cannot be used for air travel. Travelerscan opt for a more secure, if more costly, e-passport that costs $97 andcontains a radio frequency chip that can only be read at a distance of threeinches. Privacy and security experts said the new passport cards thattransmit information over longer distances are much less secure.
"The government is fundamentally weakening border security and privacy forpassport holders in order to get people through the lines faster," said AriSchwartz, deputy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, whichsubmitted comments in opposition to the proposed rule, along with 4,000others, the vast majority in opposition.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/31/AR2007123101118.html?hpid=sec-nation
Electronic Voting Is Questioned
By GEORGE MERRITT
The Associated Press
Monday, December 31, 2007; 4:18 PM
DENVER -- With the presidential race in full swing, Colorado and otherstates have found critical flaws in the accuracy and security of theirelectronic voting machines, forcing officials to scramble to return to thepaper ballots they abandoned after the Florida debacle of 2000.
In December alone, top election officials in Ohio and Colorado declared thatwidely used voting equipment is unfit for elections.
"Every system that is out there, one state or another has found that theyare no good," said John Gideon of the advocacy group Voters Unite."Everybody is starting to look at this now and starting to realize thatthere is something wrong."
The swing states of California, Ohio and Florida have found that security ontouch-screen voting machines is inadequate. Testers have been able todisable the systems and even change vote totals.
Florida's "hanging chads" in the disputed 2000 Al Gore-George W. Bushelection exposed the imperfection of paper ballot counting and helped leadto a $3 billion government initiative to bring voting into the digital age.The Help America Vote Act of 2002 effectively required that states haveelectronic equipment in place by 2010.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/31/AR2007123101616.html?hpid=sec-nation
Illinois to Enact New Public Smoking Ban
The Associated Press
Monday, December 31, 2007; 6:01 PM
CHICAGO -- New Year's resolution or not, health experts are hoping Illinois'new smoking ban provides smokers the kick-start they need to ditch thehabit. Starting Jan. 1, the Smoke-Free Illinois Act will make it illegal tolight up in virtually any public place in the state. But experts cautionsmokers still need more than just willpower _ and a new state law _ to break
nicotine's hold.
"Some people can just make the decision and quit," said Andrea King,director of the clinical addictions research lab at the University ofChicago. "Other people need more support, need to make more attempts or needmore comprehensive treatment."
Would-be quitters have more methods than ever to help quit smoking, thanksto new research.
There are already two FDA-approved prescriptions to help smokers. Andresearchers are also studying a vaccine and other medications.
Authorities said combining therapies such as counseling, medication andnicotine-replacement often gives smokers the best chance to kick the habit.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/30/AR2007123001212.html?hpid=sec-religion?hpid=sec-religion
Huckabee Stands by 'Christ' Comment
By LIZ SIDOTI
The Associated Press
Monday, December 31, 2007; 12:31 AM
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Mike Huckabee, a Republican relying on support fromreligious conservatives in Thursday's hard-fought presidential caucuses, onSunday stood by a decade-old comment in which he said, "I hope we answer thealarm clock and take this nation back for Christ."
In a television interview, the ordained Southern Baptist minister and formerArkansas governor made no apologies for the 1998 comment made at a SouthernBaptist Convention meeting in Salt Lake City.
"It was a speech made to a Christian gathering, and, and certainly thatwould be appropriate to be said to a gathering of Southern Baptists,"Huckabee said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
He gave the speech the same year he endorsed the Baptist convention'sstatement of beliefs on marriage that "a wife is to submit graciously to theservant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits tothe headship of Christ." Huckabee and his wife, Janet, signed a full-page adin USA Today in support of the statement with 129 other evangelical leaders.
The former governor, who rallied Christian evangelicals to make him asurprise force in Iowa, has put his faith front and center in his campaign.His stump speech sounds like a pastor's pitch from a pulpit. Campaign adsemphasize faith and call him a Christian leader. He frequently quotes Bibleverses.
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Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004102211_iraqahead01.html
Tuesday, January 1, 2008 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
2008: A look ahead at the Iraq war
By Jamie Gumbrecht and Nancy A. Youssef
McClatchy Newspapers
BAGHDAD - With security improved throughout much of Iraq, the constant fearof death is gone, many Iraqis say. The struggle now is how to live.
Buying food is hard. Lighting, cooling or heating a house isn't easy. Fixingthe car is a risk. Finding a doctor or a good teacher can be nearlyimpossible.
Increasing jobs and construction are a long way off for some areas in Iraq.In the north, violence by al-Qaida in Iraq is picking up. Kirkuk residentsdescribe a stagnating city in which Arabs and Kurds won't travel within eachother's neighborhoods while each tries to claim the city. Violence alsocontinues among rival Shiite factions in Diwaniyah, Nasiriyah, Karbala andBasra provinces in the south.
"We don't hear any clashes or car bombs. Nobody wakes up to find dead bodieson their stretch of pavement anymore," said Widad Hameed, a retiredschoolteacher who lives in Yarmouk, a Sunni Muslim-majority neighborhood inwestern Baghdad.
But, Hameed said, she and her family have only one or two hours ofelectricity each day. Kerosene rarely is available in her neighborhood, evenon the black market. She wore three sweaters, a house robe, two pairs ofsocks and a scarf to warm herself in the winter temperatures last week. Fourof her 13 grandchildren left Iraq to attend college.
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USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-01-01-pelosi-2007_N.htm?csp=34
Pelosi's year marked by advances, frustrations
By Erica Werner, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Nancy Pelosi crashed through a glass ceiling when she becamethe first female House speaker a year ago. That turned out to be the easypart.
The reality of leading a bitterly divided Congress at odds with a RepublicanWhite House is that victories are difficult and disappointments many. Chiefamong them for the liberal San Francisco Democrat was failure to deliver onher biggest goal: ceasing U.S. combat missions in Iraq and getting troops ontheir way home.
The House's final days before winter break were reflective of Pelosi'sup-and-down year: a major success - an energy bill including the firstincrease in vehicle fuel economy standards in 32 years - and two bitterdefeats.
Hamstrung by Republican opposition and veto threats from President Bush,Pelosi had to abandon her promise to not add to the budget deficit when theHouse agreed to a $50 billion tax-relief bill without making up the loss tothe Treasury. The House's final vote was on legislation giving Bush $70billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with no withdrawal deadlinesattached.
"The war in Iraq is the biggest disappointment for us, I mean the inabilityto stop the war in Iraq," Pelosi, 67 and in her 11th House term, said in arecent round-table interview.
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Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/01/poll_obama_huckabee_leading_rivals/
Poll: Obama, Huckabee leading rivals
By David Espo, AP Special Correspondent
January 1, 2008
DES MOINES, Iowa --Presidential contenders rang in the 2008 election yearwith near-constant campaigning on Monday as a poll showed Democrat BarackObama and Republican Mike Huckabee leading their rivals with three daysremaining before the Iowa caucuses.
Anonymous phone calls and a negative campaign commercial that vanished intothin air also spiced the race, and not even New Year's Eve was off-limits tocampaign oratory.
The poll by the Des Moines Register showed Obama, an Illinois senator, withthe support of 32 percent of those surveyed, compared to 25 percent for Sen.Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and 24 percent for former Sen. JohnEdwards of North Carolina.
Among Republicans, Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, had the backing of32 percent of those surveyed, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney had26 percent.
Other polls have shown far closer races in recent days within both parties,and the leading candidates are engaged in a virtual nonstop round ofpersonal appearances across the state that provides the first test of therace for the White House.
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Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/wireless/avantgo/la-na-secondchoice1jan01,0,2870150.story
CAMPAIGN '08: Democrats angle for second place
On Iowa caucus night, backers of candidates who don't make the cut will befreed up. The front-runners are ready.
By Peter Wallsten and Maria L. La Ganga, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
From the Los Angeles Times:
January 1, 2008
DES MOINES - The top three Democratic presidential candidates have begunfocusing intensely on becoming the second choice among supporters ofless-popular candidates such as Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. and New Mexico Gov.Bill Richardson, in a behind-the-scenes battle that could decide the outcomeof Thursday's Iowa caucuses.
The effort, in which the top campaigns are deploying an array of strategies,focuses on the brief and unpredictable moment that will occur just after thefirst votes are cast in the state's 1,781 caucus meetings.
Under the unusual rules of the Democratic caucuses, candidates who do notwin a minimum level of support in a precinct are eliminated fromconsideration there, freeing their supporters to back other candidates. Morethan 15% of caucusgoers are thought to be backing candidates likely to beeliminated in many balloting locations -- turning their supporters intopotential king-makers in the close contest among Hillary Rodham Clinton,Barack Obama and John Edwards.
The Clinton, Obama and Edwards campaigns are focusing on what their localcaptains should do once this large bloc of voters becomes available -- inthe few moments when victory may rest on the ability to swing voters, inface-to-face appeals and cajoling, toward their second choice.
Trying to leave little to chance, Clinton's campaign has given its localprecinct captains paper cards that lay out arguments targeted to supportersof each of the candidates who might be eliminated in the first round ofballoting.
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Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5414439.html
As clout fades, Bush targets unfinished business
His to-do list includes Middle East peace, education measures and tax cuts
By BEN FELLER
Associated Press
Jan. 1, 2008, 1:16AM
CRAWFORD - President Bush's final-year agenda is a stripped-down list ofwhat he can realistically hope to get done, since the clout he once toutedis fading away.
Bush will venture to four other continents, get more involved than ever intrying to forge Middle East peace, and continue to command two wars thatassure his relevancy to the end. As Iraq improves, he must now deal withrenewed violence in Afghanistan and upheaval in Pakistan.
At home, Bush will try to extend two domestic achievements that are dear tohis legacy - the No Child Left Behind education law and tax cuts thatotherwise expire in 2010.
Long gone are the big ideas of Social Security and immigration reform, which collapsed on Capitol Hill. His final State of the Union speech in lateJanuary is expected to reflect today's policy reality, eschewing newinitiatives in favor of unfinished proposals.
As at any time, Bush has forces pushing against him. But the ones in 2008are stronger.
more . . . . . .
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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/press_releases/story/362484.html
Democratic National Committee
DNC: What They're Saying: Smooth Talking Mitt Romney's Credibility Gap
Posted on Mon, Dec. 31, 2007
Surely, this isn't how smooth talking Mitt Romney envisioned spending hisNew Year's Eve. In February 2007, a leaked 77-page strategy documentoutlined the Romney campaign's plan to avoid spending 2007 "facingskepticism about his conservative message." [Boston Globe, 2/27/07] Now,just days before the Iowa caucus, the reviews are in. Despite running "theleast honorable campaign of any major candidate," Romney is still being"dogged" by questions about his flip-flops and a lingering "candor gap" thathas left voters wondering "if there's anything at all at his core" andconvinced that he'll say whatever he thinks voters want to hear instead ofwhat he believes.
"After flip-flopping on just about every issue in this race and playing fastand loose with the facts, smooth talking Mitt Romney has failed to close thedeal on even his own credibility," said Democratic National Committeespokesman Damien LaVera. "The voters may have no idea where he really standson any of the challenges confronting our nation, but they understand that avote for Mitt Romney is a vote for a third Bush term not only on the issues,but when it comes to honesty and integrity as well."
"Mitt Romney" is to "Credibility" What "Day" is to "Night"
Union Leader: "The More Romney Speaks, the Less Believable He Becomes.""Like a lot of people in New Hampshire, we wanted to believe Romney. We gavehim the benefit of the doubt. We listened very carefully to his expertlyrehearsed sales pitch. But in the end he didn't close the deal for us. Now,two weeks before the primary, the same is happening with voters... GraniteStaters want a candidate who will look them in the eye and tell them thetruth...Mitt Romney has not. He has spoken his lines well, but the peoplecan sense that the words are memorized, not heartfelt. Last week Romney wasreduced to debating what the meaning of "saw" is. It was only the latest ina string of demonstrably false claims -- he'd been a hunter "pretty much"all his life, he'd had the NRA's endorsement, he marched with Martin LutherKing, Jr. -- that call into question the veracity of his justifications forswitching sides on immigration, abortion, taxes and his affection for RonaldReagan. In this primary, the more Mitt Romney speaks, the less believable hebecomes." [New Hampshire Union Leader, 12/26/07]
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CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/01/ap/politics/main3662611.shtml
Analysis: Huckabee May Have Gone Too Far
DES MOINES, Iowa, Jan. 1, 2008
(AP) Mike Huckabee may have finally gone too far.
After running an unconventional, surprisingly strong and sometimes strangerace to the top tier of the Republican presidential campaign, the formerArkansas governor topped himself Monday with an eyebrow-raising campaignstunt.
He called a news conference to unveil a negative ad that he had justwithdrawn from Iowa television stations because, he told a room full ofjournalists recording the ad, he had a sudden aversion to negative politics.Quite a convenient epiphany.
"If people want to be cynical about it," Huckabee said, "they can be cynicalabout it."
If he loses Iowa's caucuses on Thursday, New Year's Eve will forever markthe day Huckabee blew it _ the day a group of reporters stopped laughingwith the witty Republican and laughed at him.
If he wins _ a possibility that even Huckabee now thinks he put at risk _ hesealed victory in a weird way Monday.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/opinion/01tue1.html?ref=opinion
Editorial: In Office
The One Environmental Issue
January 1, 2008
The overriding environmental issue of these times is the warming of theplanet. The Democratic hopefuls in the 2008 campaign are fully engaged,calling for large - if still unquantified - national sacrifices and for atransformation in the way the country produces and uses energy. TheRepublicans do not go much further than conceding that climate change couldbe a problem and, with the notable exception of John McCain, offer nocomprehensive solutions.
In 2000, when Al Gore could have made warming a signature issue in hispresidential campaign, his advisers persuaded him that it was toocomplicated and forbidding an issue to sell to ordinary voters. For similarreasons, John Kerry's ambitious ideas for addressing climate change andreducing the country's dependence on foreign oil never advanced much beyondhis Web site.
Times have certainly changed. It is not yet clear to what extent Americansare willing to grapple with the implications of any serious strategy toreduce greenhouse gas emissions: more specifically, whether they are readyto pay higher prices for energy and change their lifestyles to reduce theirconsumption of fossil fuels.
Polls suggest, however, that voters are increasingly alarmed, and for thatMr. Gore is partly responsible. His film, "An Inconvenient Truth," raisedthe issue's profile. Then came four reports from the United NationsIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the Nobel PeacePrize with Mr. Gore, predicting catastrophic changes in weather patterns,sea levels and food production unless greenhouses gases can be quicklystabilized and then reduced by as much as 80 percent by midcentury.
There is also a growing appetite for decisive action - everywhere, it seems,except the White House. Governors in more than two dozen states arefashioning regional agreements to lower greenhouse gases, the federal courtshave ordered the executive branch to begin regulating these gases, and theSenate has begun work on a bipartisan bill that would reduce emissions bynearly 65 percent by 2050.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/opinion/01brooks.html?ref=opinion
Op-Ed Columnist: Road to Nowhere
By DAVID BROOKS
January 1, 2008
The most impressive thing about Mitt Romney is his clarity of mind. When heset out to pursue his party's nomination, he studied the contours of theRepublican coalition and molded himself to its forms.
Earnestly and methodically, he has appealed to each of the majorconstituency groups. For national security conservatives, he vowed to doublethe size of the prison at Guantánamo Bay. For social conservatives, heembraced a culture war against the faithless. For immigration skeptics, heswung so far right he earned the endorsement of Tom Tancredo.
He has spent roughly $80 million, including an estimated $17 million of hisown money, hiring consultants, blanketing the airwaves and building anorganization that is unmatched on the Republican side.
And he has turned himself into the party's fusion candidate. Some of hisrivals are stronger among social conservatives. Others are stronger amongsecurity conservatives, but no candidate has a foot in all camps the wayRomney does. No candidate offends so few, or is the acceptable choice of somany.
And that is why Romney is at the fulcrum of the Republican race. He'slooking strong in Iowa and is the only candidate who can afford to lose animportant state and still win the nomination.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/us/politics/01decide.html
Political Memo: What if Iowa Settles Nothing for Democrats?
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
January 1, 2008
DES MOINES - Iowa is packed with presidential candidates and hundreds ofcampaign aides, advisers and contributors. Twenty-five hundredrepresentatives of news organizations have been granted credentials to coverthe caucuses Thursday night, twice as many as in 2004. Rarely has apolitical event been so intensely anticipated as a decisive moment, at leaston the Democratic side.
But what if it is not decisive?
What if at the end of Thursday, the three leading Democrats - former SenatorJohn Edwards and Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama - areseparated by a percentage point or two, leaving no one with the clear rightof delivering a victory speech (or the burden of conceding)? A number ofpolls going into the final days have suggested that after all of this, theDemocratic caucus on Thursday night could end up more or less a tie.
In truth, amid all the endless permutations of outcomes that are beingdiscussed - can Mrs. Clinton, the putative front-runner, survive athird-place finish, or Mr. Edwards a second-place one? - aides are beginningto grapple with the frustrating possibility that all the time, money andpolitical skill invested here might prove to be for naught when it comes toidentifying the candidate to beat in the primaries and winnowing the toptier.
"It would be like a six-month trial and a hung jury," said David Axelrod, asenior adviser to Mr. Obama. "I think it is really possible."
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2007/12/31/ST2007123102506.html?hpid=topnews
Doctors Cite Pressure to Keep Silent On Bhutto
By Emily Wax and Griff Witte
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, January 1, 2008; A01
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, Dec. 31 -- Pakistani authorities have pressured themedical personnel who tried to save Benazir Bhutto's life to remain silentabout what happened in her final hour and have removed records of hertreatment from the facility, according to doctors.
In interviews, doctors who were at Bhutto's side at Rawalpindi GeneralHospital said they were under extreme pressure not to share details aboutthe nature of the injuries that the opposition leader suffered in an attackhere Dec. 27.
"The government took all the medical records right after Ms. Bhutto's timeof death was read out," said a visibly shaken doctor who spoke on conditionof anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Sweating and puttinghis head in his hands, he said: "Look, we have been told by the governmentto stop talking. And a lot of us feel this is a disgrace."
The doctors now find themselves at the center of a political firestorm overthe circumstances of Bhutto's death. The government has said Bhutto, 54, waskilled after the force of a suicide bombing caused her head to slam againstthe lever of her vehicle's sunroof. Bhutto's supporters have pointed tovideo footage, including a new amateur video released Monday, as proof thatshe was killed by gunfire.
The truth about what happened has serious implications in Pakistan. Theability of a gunman to fire at Bhutto from close range, as alleged by hersupporters, would suggest that an assassin was able to breach governmentsecurity in a city that serves as headquarters of the Pakistani military,bolstering her supporters' claims that the government failed to provide herwith adequate protection.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/31/AR2007123101922.html?hpid=sec-tech
Electronic Passports Raise Privacy Issues
By Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 1, 2008; A06
The federal government will soon offer passport cards equipped withelectronic data chips to U.S. citizens who travel frequently between theUnited States and Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean. The cards can be readwirelessly from 20 feet, offering convenience to travelers but raisingsecurity and privacy concerns about the possibility of data beingintercepted.
The goal of the passport card, an alternative to the traditional passport,is to reduce the wait at land and sea border checkpoints by using anelectronic device that can simultaneously read multiple cards' radiofrequency identification (RFID) signals from a distance, checking travelersagainst terrorist and criminal watchlists while they wait.
"As people are approaching a port of inspection, they can show the card tothe reader, and by the time they get to the inspector, all the informationwill have been verified and they can be waved on through," said Ann Barrett,deputy assistant secretary of state for passport services, commenting on thefinal rule on passport cards published yesterday in the Federal Register.
The $45 card will be optional and cannot be used for air travel. Travelerscan opt for a more secure, if more costly, e-passport that costs $97 andcontains a radio frequency chip that can only be read at a distance of threeinches. Privacy and security experts said the new passport cards thattransmit information over longer distances are much less secure.
"The government is fundamentally weakening border security and privacy forpassport holders in order to get people through the lines faster," said AriSchwartz, deputy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, whichsubmitted comments in opposition to the proposed rule, along with 4,000others, the vast majority in opposition.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/31/AR2007123101118.html?hpid=sec-nation
Electronic Voting Is Questioned
By GEORGE MERRITT
The Associated Press
Monday, December 31, 2007; 4:18 PM
DENVER -- With the presidential race in full swing, Colorado and otherstates have found critical flaws in the accuracy and security of theirelectronic voting machines, forcing officials to scramble to return to thepaper ballots they abandoned after the Florida debacle of 2000.
In December alone, top election officials in Ohio and Colorado declared thatwidely used voting equipment is unfit for elections.
"Every system that is out there, one state or another has found that theyare no good," said John Gideon of the advocacy group Voters Unite."Everybody is starting to look at this now and starting to realize thatthere is something wrong."
The swing states of California, Ohio and Florida have found that security ontouch-screen voting machines is inadequate. Testers have been able todisable the systems and even change vote totals.
Florida's "hanging chads" in the disputed 2000 Al Gore-George W. Bushelection exposed the imperfection of paper ballot counting and helped leadto a $3 billion government initiative to bring voting into the digital age.The Help America Vote Act of 2002 effectively required that states haveelectronic equipment in place by 2010.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/31/AR2007123101616.html?hpid=sec-nation
Illinois to Enact New Public Smoking Ban
The Associated Press
Monday, December 31, 2007; 6:01 PM
CHICAGO -- New Year's resolution or not, health experts are hoping Illinois'new smoking ban provides smokers the kick-start they need to ditch thehabit. Starting Jan. 1, the Smoke-Free Illinois Act will make it illegal tolight up in virtually any public place in the state. But experts cautionsmokers still need more than just willpower _ and a new state law _ to break
nicotine's hold.
"Some people can just make the decision and quit," said Andrea King,director of the clinical addictions research lab at the University ofChicago. "Other people need more support, need to make more attempts or needmore comprehensive treatment."
Would-be quitters have more methods than ever to help quit smoking, thanksto new research.
There are already two FDA-approved prescriptions to help smokers. Andresearchers are also studying a vaccine and other medications.
Authorities said combining therapies such as counseling, medication andnicotine-replacement often gives smokers the best chance to kick the habit.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/30/AR2007123001212.html?hpid=sec-religion?hpid=sec-religion
Huckabee Stands by 'Christ' Comment
By LIZ SIDOTI
The Associated Press
Monday, December 31, 2007; 12:31 AM
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Mike Huckabee, a Republican relying on support fromreligious conservatives in Thursday's hard-fought presidential caucuses, onSunday stood by a decade-old comment in which he said, "I hope we answer thealarm clock and take this nation back for Christ."
In a television interview, the ordained Southern Baptist minister and formerArkansas governor made no apologies for the 1998 comment made at a SouthernBaptist Convention meeting in Salt Lake City.
"It was a speech made to a Christian gathering, and, and certainly thatwould be appropriate to be said to a gathering of Southern Baptists,"Huckabee said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
He gave the speech the same year he endorsed the Baptist convention'sstatement of beliefs on marriage that "a wife is to submit graciously to theservant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits tothe headship of Christ." Huckabee and his wife, Janet, signed a full-page adin USA Today in support of the statement with 129 other evangelical leaders.
The former governor, who rallied Christian evangelicals to make him asurprise force in Iowa, has put his faith front and center in his campaign.His stump speech sounds like a pastor's pitch from a pulpit. Campaign adsemphasize faith and call him a Christian leader. He frequently quotes Bibleverses.
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Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004102211_iraqahead01.html
Tuesday, January 1, 2008 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
2008: A look ahead at the Iraq war
By Jamie Gumbrecht and Nancy A. Youssef
McClatchy Newspapers
BAGHDAD - With security improved throughout much of Iraq, the constant fearof death is gone, many Iraqis say. The struggle now is how to live.
Buying food is hard. Lighting, cooling or heating a house isn't easy. Fixingthe car is a risk. Finding a doctor or a good teacher can be nearlyimpossible.
Increasing jobs and construction are a long way off for some areas in Iraq.In the north, violence by al-Qaida in Iraq is picking up. Kirkuk residentsdescribe a stagnating city in which Arabs and Kurds won't travel within eachother's neighborhoods while each tries to claim the city. Violence alsocontinues among rival Shiite factions in Diwaniyah, Nasiriyah, Karbala andBasra provinces in the south.
"We don't hear any clashes or car bombs. Nobody wakes up to find dead bodieson their stretch of pavement anymore," said Widad Hameed, a retiredschoolteacher who lives in Yarmouk, a Sunni Muslim-majority neighborhood inwestern Baghdad.
But, Hameed said, she and her family have only one or two hours ofelectricity each day. Kerosene rarely is available in her neighborhood, evenon the black market. She wore three sweaters, a house robe, two pairs ofsocks and a scarf to warm herself in the winter temperatures last week. Fourof her 13 grandchildren left Iraq to attend college.
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USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-01-01-pelosi-2007_N.htm?csp=34
Pelosi's year marked by advances, frustrations
By Erica Werner, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Nancy Pelosi crashed through a glass ceiling when she becamethe first female House speaker a year ago. That turned out to be the easypart.
The reality of leading a bitterly divided Congress at odds with a RepublicanWhite House is that victories are difficult and disappointments many. Chiefamong them for the liberal San Francisco Democrat was failure to deliver onher biggest goal: ceasing U.S. combat missions in Iraq and getting troops ontheir way home.
The House's final days before winter break were reflective of Pelosi'sup-and-down year: a major success - an energy bill including the firstincrease in vehicle fuel economy standards in 32 years - and two bitterdefeats.
Hamstrung by Republican opposition and veto threats from President Bush,Pelosi had to abandon her promise to not add to the budget deficit when theHouse agreed to a $50 billion tax-relief bill without making up the loss tothe Treasury. The House's final vote was on legislation giving Bush $70billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with no withdrawal deadlinesattached.
"The war in Iraq is the biggest disappointment for us, I mean the inabilityto stop the war in Iraq," Pelosi, 67 and in her 11th House term, said in arecent round-table interview.
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Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/01/poll_obama_huckabee_leading_rivals/
Poll: Obama, Huckabee leading rivals
By David Espo, AP Special Correspondent
January 1, 2008
DES MOINES, Iowa --Presidential contenders rang in the 2008 election yearwith near-constant campaigning on Monday as a poll showed Democrat BarackObama and Republican Mike Huckabee leading their rivals with three daysremaining before the Iowa caucuses.
Anonymous phone calls and a negative campaign commercial that vanished intothin air also spiced the race, and not even New Year's Eve was off-limits tocampaign oratory.
The poll by the Des Moines Register showed Obama, an Illinois senator, withthe support of 32 percent of those surveyed, compared to 25 percent for Sen.Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and 24 percent for former Sen. JohnEdwards of North Carolina.
Among Republicans, Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, had the backing of32 percent of those surveyed, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney had26 percent.
Other polls have shown far closer races in recent days within both parties,and the leading candidates are engaged in a virtual nonstop round ofpersonal appearances across the state that provides the first test of therace for the White House.
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Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/wireless/avantgo/la-na-secondchoice1jan01,0,2870150.story
CAMPAIGN '08: Democrats angle for second place
On Iowa caucus night, backers of candidates who don't make the cut will befreed up. The front-runners are ready.
By Peter Wallsten and Maria L. La Ganga, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
From the Los Angeles Times:
January 1, 2008
DES MOINES - The top three Democratic presidential candidates have begunfocusing intensely on becoming the second choice among supporters ofless-popular candidates such as Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. and New Mexico Gov.Bill Richardson, in a behind-the-scenes battle that could decide the outcomeof Thursday's Iowa caucuses.
The effort, in which the top campaigns are deploying an array of strategies,focuses on the brief and unpredictable moment that will occur just after thefirst votes are cast in the state's 1,781 caucus meetings.
Under the unusual rules of the Democratic caucuses, candidates who do notwin a minimum level of support in a precinct are eliminated fromconsideration there, freeing their supporters to back other candidates. Morethan 15% of caucusgoers are thought to be backing candidates likely to beeliminated in many balloting locations -- turning their supporters intopotential king-makers in the close contest among Hillary Rodham Clinton,Barack Obama and John Edwards.
The Clinton, Obama and Edwards campaigns are focusing on what their localcaptains should do once this large bloc of voters becomes available -- inthe few moments when victory may rest on the ability to swing voters, inface-to-face appeals and cajoling, toward their second choice.
Trying to leave little to chance, Clinton's campaign has given its localprecinct captains paper cards that lay out arguments targeted to supportersof each of the candidates who might be eliminated in the first round ofballoting.
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Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5414439.html
As clout fades, Bush targets unfinished business
His to-do list includes Middle East peace, education measures and tax cuts
By BEN FELLER
Associated Press
Jan. 1, 2008, 1:16AM
CRAWFORD - President Bush's final-year agenda is a stripped-down list ofwhat he can realistically hope to get done, since the clout he once toutedis fading away.
Bush will venture to four other continents, get more involved than ever intrying to forge Middle East peace, and continue to command two wars thatassure his relevancy to the end. As Iraq improves, he must now deal withrenewed violence in Afghanistan and upheaval in Pakistan.
At home, Bush will try to extend two domestic achievements that are dear tohis legacy - the No Child Left Behind education law and tax cuts thatotherwise expire in 2010.
Long gone are the big ideas of Social Security and immigration reform, which collapsed on Capitol Hill. His final State of the Union speech in lateJanuary is expected to reflect today's policy reality, eschewing newinitiatives in favor of unfinished proposals.
As at any time, Bush has forces pushing against him. But the ones in 2008are stronger.
more . . . . . .
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FLORIDA DIGEST January 1, 2008
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Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-flzhousingbr0101sbjan01,0,978728.story?coll=sofla_tab01_layout
South Florida home prices continue to slide
By Paul Owers
January 1, 2008
November offered no hint of a housing recovery in Broward County. Themedian price and sales of existing homes fell again, as they have for muchof 2007.
"The story is still the same one we've been dealing with," said Mike Larson,an analyst with Weiss Research in Jupiter. "Southeast Florida is one thetoughest housing markets in the country right now."
Analysts say the housing slump will worsen early in 2008 as moreadjustable-rate mortgages reset higher, sending homeowners into foreclosureand adding to the glut of properties for sale.
Some analysts see an improvement beginning later in the year, while otherssay that might not happen until 2009 or 2010.
Broward's median price for homes sold in November was $348,100, down 4percent from $362,000 a year ago, the Florida Association of Realtors saidMonday. Sales plunged 34 percent, to 401 from 605 last November.
more . . . . .
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Palm Beach Post
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2008/01/01/m1a_CRIST_0101.html
Unfinished business remains for first-term 'people's governor'
By DARA KAM
Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
TALLAHASSEE - The slight, silver-haired gentleman shops at Publix, eats atSubway, drives his yellow Mustang with the top down alone along the St.Petersburg waterfront, and parties with the frat crowd in the capital cityof Tallahassee.
And that's a year after Charlie Crist moved into the Governor's Mansion.
The second year in office
Gov. Charlie Crist has several top priorities still unresolved from lastyear and several others to achieve during his next three years as governor.
WHAT'S NEXT
Property insurance: Crist hopes to force property insurers to further reducehomeowner premiums by possibly filing a class-action lawsuit. He recentlytapped a team of three high-profile trial lawyers to look into it.
Property taxes: Crist is campaigning for a constitutional amendment on theJan. 29 ballot that would, among other things, allow homeowners to take aportion of their Save Our Homes property assessment cap with them if theybuy a bigger house.
more . . . . .
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Orlando Sentinel
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-workers0108jan01,0,5832911.story?track=rss
Florida employs more workers
State Sen. Al Lawson says Gov. Charlie Crist is responsible for theincrease.
The Associated Press
January 1, 2008
TALLAHASSEE
The number of state government employees increased for the first time sincea downward trend began in 2001 under former Gov. Jeb Bush, according to datafrom a new state report.
The increase was apparent in final numbers from 2006, the last year ofBush's term, and early numbers from 2007, under new Gov. Charlie Crist.
It includes positions in the state university system, justiceadministration, courts and other areas.
As of June 30, the state had 171,333 employees, up from 167,268 in 2006 and165,198 in 2005, according to the state's year-end Annual Workforce Report.
The report also found that Florida has one of the lowest ratios of stateemployees per capita in the nation.
more . . . . .
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Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flplakeo0101pnjan01,0,4634928.story?coll=sofla_tab01_layout
Forum to focus on fixing Lake O, preserving water supply
By Andy Reid
January 1, 2008
Lake Okeechobee sits at an all-time low, but the thirst of nearby crops anda growing population continues to pull at what decades ago became SouthFlorida's backup reservoir.
On Jan. 17, federal and state policymakers will gather with local officialsand water users to talk about ways to protect the lake while meeting theneeds of farmers, residents, fishermen and others who rely on the water.
The goal of the Decision Makers Forum is to keep Lake Okeechobee at thecenter of the state and federal Everglades restoration plan, while alsoinsuring that local communities buy into the need to clean up and protectthe lake.
Stemming the flow of phosphorus and other polluting nutrients into the730-square-mile lake must be seen as an economic boon to lakesidecommunities in order to have success cleaning up what's considered theheadwaters of the Everglades, said Martha Musgrove, a retired journalistworking with Florida Atlantic University to coordinate the forum in BelleGlade.
"Can Lake Okeechobee be a reservoir and a healthy fishery? There has to besome give and take there," Musgrove said.
more . . . . . .
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/us/01pool.html?hp
Fund Frozen, Florida Towns Feel the Pinch
By KIRK SEMPLE and MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
January 1, 2008
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - On Nov. 28, Marcia L. Dedert, finance director ofthis rapidly growing city, called the administrators of Florida's state-runinvestment pool to ask whether it was still safe to park her city's moneythere. She was hearing talk of urgent withdrawals by others worried aboutthe pool's investments in debt related to subprime mortgages.
After the pool's manager told her the money would be all right, Ms. Dedertrecalled, she deposited $135 million in bond proceeds. But less than 24hours later, the administrators froze the pool and blocked withdrawals tohalt a full-blown run.
Now the city cannot touch the money. And rest of the $371 million it has inthe pool is also off-limits unless the city pays a 2 percent penalty.
Port St. Lucie is among hundreds of local governments in Florida that weredrawn to the pool by its air of reliability and the promise of higherreturns than banks offered. They now find themselves grappling with theconsequences of having their money frozen.
Some have had to borrow money to meet day-to-day obligations. Others havehad to shift money around for the time being or consider postponinglong-planned projects.
more . . . . .
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Ft. Lauderdale
Free Fiction Writing Workshop Series for Gay and Lesbian Writers
Is starting to write short stories or a novel one of your New Year'sresolutions? Do you want to learn how to get started? Or do you have somedrafts in a desk drawer that need to see the light of day?
A new series of workshops starting in January may be just what you need.Classes meet online and the program is free.
Lavender Writes is sponsoring a series of online fiction writing workshopsto help beginner and intermediate fiction writers expand their skills,refine their craft and develop their critical-analytical skills. Studentswill learn the elements of fiction writing, use those elements andtechniques in their own work and effectively use the drafting and revisionprocess. Meets online every week, but students can participate any time. Objectives include learning about and understanding the elements offiction-characterization, setting, point of view--and how to use theseelements in their own work. Students also learn how to objectively critiqueand analyze a piece of fiction with an eye toward revision. Students withoutcomputer access can use computers for free at any Broward County PublicLibrary. Taught by Karen Dale Woman. Free, but pre-registration requiredat LWrites@mindspring.com
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[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-flzhousingbr0101sbjan01,0,978728.story?coll=sofla_tab01_layout
South Florida home prices continue to slide
By Paul Owers
January 1, 2008
November offered no hint of a housing recovery in Broward County. Themedian price and sales of existing homes fell again, as they have for muchof 2007.
"The story is still the same one we've been dealing with," said Mike Larson,an analyst with Weiss Research in Jupiter. "Southeast Florida is one thetoughest housing markets in the country right now."
Analysts say the housing slump will worsen early in 2008 as moreadjustable-rate mortgages reset higher, sending homeowners into foreclosureand adding to the glut of properties for sale.
Some analysts see an improvement beginning later in the year, while otherssay that might not happen until 2009 or 2010.
Broward's median price for homes sold in November was $348,100, down 4percent from $362,000 a year ago, the Florida Association of Realtors saidMonday. Sales plunged 34 percent, to 401 from 605 last November.
more . . . . .
=
Palm Beach Post
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2008/01/01/m1a_CRIST_0101.html
Unfinished business remains for first-term 'people's governor'
By DARA KAM
Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
TALLAHASSEE - The slight, silver-haired gentleman shops at Publix, eats atSubway, drives his yellow Mustang with the top down alone along the St.Petersburg waterfront, and parties with the frat crowd in the capital cityof Tallahassee.
And that's a year after Charlie Crist moved into the Governor's Mansion.
The second year in office
Gov. Charlie Crist has several top priorities still unresolved from lastyear and several others to achieve during his next three years as governor.
WHAT'S NEXT
Property insurance: Crist hopes to force property insurers to further reducehomeowner premiums by possibly filing a class-action lawsuit. He recentlytapped a team of three high-profile trial lawyers to look into it.
Property taxes: Crist is campaigning for a constitutional amendment on theJan. 29 ballot that would, among other things, allow homeowners to take aportion of their Save Our Homes property assessment cap with them if theybuy a bigger house.
more . . . . .
=
Orlando Sentinel
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-workers0108jan01,0,5832911.story?track=rss
Florida employs more workers
State Sen. Al Lawson says Gov. Charlie Crist is responsible for theincrease.
The Associated Press
January 1, 2008
TALLAHASSEE
The number of state government employees increased for the first time sincea downward trend began in 2001 under former Gov. Jeb Bush, according to datafrom a new state report.
The increase was apparent in final numbers from 2006, the last year ofBush's term, and early numbers from 2007, under new Gov. Charlie Crist.
It includes positions in the state university system, justiceadministration, courts and other areas.
As of June 30, the state had 171,333 employees, up from 167,268 in 2006 and165,198 in 2005, according to the state's year-end Annual Workforce Report.
The report also found that Florida has one of the lowest ratios of stateemployees per capita in the nation.
more . . . . .
=
Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flplakeo0101pnjan01,0,4634928.story?coll=sofla_tab01_layout
Forum to focus on fixing Lake O, preserving water supply
By Andy Reid
January 1, 2008
Lake Okeechobee sits at an all-time low, but the thirst of nearby crops anda growing population continues to pull at what decades ago became SouthFlorida's backup reservoir.
On Jan. 17, federal and state policymakers will gather with local officialsand water users to talk about ways to protect the lake while meeting theneeds of farmers, residents, fishermen and others who rely on the water.
The goal of the Decision Makers Forum is to keep Lake Okeechobee at thecenter of the state and federal Everglades restoration plan, while alsoinsuring that local communities buy into the need to clean up and protectthe lake.
Stemming the flow of phosphorus and other polluting nutrients into the730-square-mile lake must be seen as an economic boon to lakesidecommunities in order to have success cleaning up what's considered theheadwaters of the Everglades, said Martha Musgrove, a retired journalistworking with Florida Atlantic University to coordinate the forum in BelleGlade.
"Can Lake Okeechobee be a reservoir and a healthy fishery? There has to besome give and take there," Musgrove said.
more . . . . . .
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/us/01pool.html?hp
Fund Frozen, Florida Towns Feel the Pinch
By KIRK SEMPLE and MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
January 1, 2008
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - On Nov. 28, Marcia L. Dedert, finance director ofthis rapidly growing city, called the administrators of Florida's state-runinvestment pool to ask whether it was still safe to park her city's moneythere. She was hearing talk of urgent withdrawals by others worried aboutthe pool's investments in debt related to subprime mortgages.
After the pool's manager told her the money would be all right, Ms. Dedertrecalled, she deposited $135 million in bond proceeds. But less than 24hours later, the administrators froze the pool and blocked withdrawals tohalt a full-blown run.
Now the city cannot touch the money. And rest of the $371 million it has inthe pool is also off-limits unless the city pays a 2 percent penalty.
Port St. Lucie is among hundreds of local governments in Florida that weredrawn to the pool by its air of reliability and the promise of higherreturns than banks offered. They now find themselves grappling with theconsequences of having their money frozen.
Some have had to borrow money to meet day-to-day obligations. Others havehad to shift money around for the time being or consider postponinglong-planned projects.
more . . . . .
=
Ft. Lauderdale
Free Fiction Writing Workshop Series for Gay and Lesbian Writers
Is starting to write short stories or a novel one of your New Year'sresolutions? Do you want to learn how to get started? Or do you have somedrafts in a desk drawer that need to see the light of day?
A new series of workshops starting in January may be just what you need.Classes meet online and the program is free.
Lavender Writes is sponsoring a series of online fiction writing workshopsto help beginner and intermediate fiction writers expand their skills,refine their craft and develop their critical-analytical skills. Studentswill learn the elements of fiction writing, use those elements andtechniques in their own work and effectively use the drafting and revisionprocess. Meets online every week, but students can participate any time. Objectives include learning about and understanding the elements offiction-characterization, setting, point of view--and how to use theseelements in their own work. Students also learn how to objectively critiqueand analyze a piece of fiction with an eye toward revision. Students withoutcomputer access can use computers for free at any Broward County PublicLibrary. Taught by Karen Dale Woman. Free, but pre-registration requiredat LWrites@mindspring.com
=
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#####
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