**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.
=
Local10.com
http://www.local10.com/news/10547959/detail.html?treets=mia&tml=mia_natlbreak&ts=T&tmi=mia_natlbreak_1_04010212152006
Governor Suspends All Florida Executions
POSTED: 4:42 pm EST December 15, 2006
UPDATED: 5:25 pm EST December 15, 2006
OCALA, Fla. -- Gov. Jeb Bush suspended all executions in Florida after amedical examiner said Friday that officials botched the insertion of theneedles during the execution of a convicted killer earlier this week.
The execution of a convicted killer took 34 minutes -- more than twice aslong as normal.
Angel Nieves Diaz, 55, was put to death Wednesday for murdering of themanager of a Miami topless bar during a holdup in 1979. The condemned mannot only took 34 minutes to die, but also needed a rare second dose of thelethal chemicals.
Dr. William Hamilton, who performed the autopsy, said the needles piercedDiaz's veins and then went into soft tissue in his arms. The lethalchemicals are supposed to go directly into the veins.
Hamilton refused to say whether he thought Diaz died a painful death.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fcrist15dec15,0,7296620.story?coll=sfla-news-florida
CRIST APPOINTMENTS
Secretary of state named
Elections supervisor to take post; health care chief selected.
The Associated Press
December 15, 2006
TALLAHASSEE · Gov.-elect Charlie Crist said Thursday that Pasco Countyelections supervisor Kurt Browning will serve as his secretary of state anda hospital executive will lead the Agency for Health Care Administration.
By picking Browning, who has overseen Pasco's voting since 1980, Crist issignaling that elections will be the top responsibility for the Departmentof State, which has numerous functions.
"In Florida, elections have had their day in the sunshine and I think it'svery important that we are focused on ensuring the integrity of the electiveprocess," Crist said.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pgaysites15dec15,0,4845382.story
Unblocked gay Web sites help fight bias in the classroom, rights advocatescontend
By Marc Freeman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Education Writer
December 15, 2006
Gay resource sites on the Internet now are just a click away for computerusers at public schools.
The Palm Beach County School District recently unblocked student and teacheraccess to several so-called "gay-supportive" Web sites after months ofappeals and legal pressure by the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council.Some sites remain blocked.
A message labeling the sites "Sexuality/Alternative Lifestyles" no longerpops up on School District computer screens when users visit Web sites runby the gay rights council, and the national Gay, Lesbian and StraightEducation Network.
=
The St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/12/15/news_pf/State/New_sec_of_state.shtml
New sec of state
STEVE BOUSQUET and DAVID DECAMP
Published December 15, 2006
TALLAHASSEE - Gov.-elect Charlie Crist on Thursday chose Pasco CountySupervisor of Elections Kurt Browning to be secretary of state, takingcharge of Florida's voting systems at a time when they are again under closenational scrutiny.
Browning, 48, becomes the first elections expert to head the agency sinceFlorida voters made it an executive branch department in 2003.
Browning has opposed the need for a paper audit trail on electronic votingmachines, which Crist supports, but the appointee quickly put himself inline with his new boss.
"As the incoming secretary, I need to be open about all the technologythat's out there," Browning said. "I believe that voters need to have a highlevel of confidence in their voting systems."
=
The St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/12/15/news_pf/State/Bush_orders_in_depth_.shtml
Bush orders in-depth look at Diaz execution
By CHRIS TISCH, Times Staff Writer
Published December 15, 2006
TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush on Thursday ordered corrections officials toinvestigate the execution of an inmate who appeared to wince in pain beforetaking 34 minutes to die from lethal injection.
Corrections Secretary James McDonough appointed a four-person panel toreview Angel Diaz's Wednesday execution, which has drawn harsh criticismfrom defense lawyers and triggered nearly one-fifth of the state's death rowinmates to petition the Florida Supreme Court to outlaw lethal injection.
Bush said he asked for the investigation "given the unusual length of timeit took for the process to be complete."
Corrections officials said they had to take the rare step of administering asecond dose of a three-drug cocktail to Diaz, who was condemned for a 1979murder in Miami.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/orl-bk-expose121506,0,2246822.story?coll=sfla-news-florida
Judge: Ormond Beach woman didn't break law by exposing breasts
The Associated Press
December 15, 2006, 9:35 AM EST
DAYTONA BEACH -- A woman did not break the law when she exposed her breaststo protest laws that bar women from publicly going bare breasted, a judgehas ruled.
County Judge David B. Beck said Thursday that Elizabeth Book, 44, of OrmondBeach, did not violate disorderly conduct.
Book was arrested by Daytona Beach police July 2, 2005, for disrobing inpublic.
Her attorney, Lawrence G. Walters, said the city is trying to censor hisclient.
"I've never seen another city or case where the city has shown so much timeand effort to shut down one person's First Amendment right of protectedspeech," Walters said. "They just can't seem to let it go. They need to stopwasting taxpayers' money."
=
The Board and Members of A.V.E.R. American Veterans for Equal Rights inviteeveryone to join us on Sunday December 10,2006 for the 5:00. P.M.Showing ofthe Award Winning Play "Burning Blue".
Ticket Price: $30.00
to reserve tickets: Please contact
Mark La Fontaine (954) 495-4565
Part of the ticket sales will be donated to A.V.E.R.and a Fundraising eventwill follow.
Come join Cast and Crew. All proceeds from this event will help in the fightto repeal "Don't ask Don't Tell. The play and fundraiser will be held at theCinema Paradiso 503 S.E. 6th Street
=
Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2006/12/13/m1b_ogay_1213.html
District asks judge to toss lawsuit by gay-straight group
By Rachel Simmonsen
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Okeechobee County school officials have asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuitfiled by an Okeechobee High School senior and the club she created topromote tolerance of homosexuals, whose members say they wrongfully weredenied the right to meet on school grounds.
Attorneys for the Okeechobee County School Board and Toni Wiersma, principalof the high school, say that the Gay-Straight Alliance of Okeechobee HighSchool isn't entitled to a claim under the federal Equal Access Act.Furthermore, the alliance and Yasmin Gonzalez, a founder of the club and theco-plaintiff in the case, have no grounds to sue Wiersma under the federalact, since she is not a public secondary school, according to a motion filedMonday in U.S. District Court.
The defense attorneys also claim that Wiersma was mandated by state law toprohibit the club from meeting at the school and that the plaintiffs havefailed to show that the school board had an official policy that deprivedthem of their civil rights.
=
COMMUNITY HOLIDAY PARTY AT THE GLCC
Contact Ray's List for the full mailing.
=
Palm Beach County School District Unblocks Access to Gay Supportive WebSites
(Press Release from West Palm Beach Human Rights Council:West Palm Beach, Florida) Nine months after a student publication firstdisclosed that the School District of Palm Beach County had filtered outaccess to gay supportive web sites from the School District's computers,those filters have been removed.
Palm Beach County has the nation's eleventh largest school district.
"This is great news for teachers and students in our public schools," saidRand Hoch, President and Founder of the Palm Beach County Human RightsCouncil, a non-profit organization whose site was one of those which hasbeen blocked by the School District. The Council has been working to advanceequality for Palm Beach County's gay and lesbian community since 1988.
"Allowing access to up-to-date information provided by the Gay, LesbianStraight Education Network (GLSEN) and other supportive organizations willassist administrators, faculty and students in making our public schools amore accepting environment for all students," said Hoch. "The County's fiveGSAs will benefit as well."
=
Gay and Lesbian Community Center
954-463-9005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - MEDIA ALERT
Princess Diana Quilt on Tour from NJ! Her legacy goes on.
GLCC of South Florida and Rock of Love and Hope Are displaying a Quilt inmemory of Princess Diana Along with two other quilts for Unity andDiversity, & Animals Remembered. Quilts are on tour from NJ.
They will be on display:
December 17, 2006
5:30 - 7:00pm
GLCC of South Florida
Annual GLCC Community Holiday Party
followed by the GLOW Toy Drive, Benefit Concert at 7:30pm
1717 N. Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Fl 33311
Rock of Love and Hope is a charity in memory of Princess Diana, thatpresents magnificent quilt donations for display from individually donatedpatches that were formed together to create an awareness of Love and Hope.
These wonderful quilts of inspiration have been created to bring anawareness of the true meaning of giving from the heart. The energy thatthese quilts will bring is the antidote that will raise anyone's spirits.
[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]
#####
Friday, December 15, 2006
Thursday, December 14, 2006
GLBT DIGEST - December 14, 2006
**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.
=
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/121206dnbusGayRetirement.30cecc0.html
Gay retirement community is a first
11:05 PM CST on Monday, December 11, 2006
By BOB MOOS / The Dallas Morning News
SANTA FE, N.M. - Jan Gaynor and Barbara Cohn have decided to spend theirretirement years in this city of art and culture, not just because it'ssteeped in 400 years of history, but also because it offers something new.
The sixtysomething couple wanted to live in the nation's first full-fledgedretirement community for gays and lesbians. They sold their house inCalifornia and moved into a condominium at Rainbow Vision Santa Fe thissummer.
"We've been together for 16 years, and we were looking to retire someplacewhere we could be ourselves," Ms. Cohn said. "Here, we can hold hands andgive each other a kiss without someone raising an eyebrow."
=
The Detroit News
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006612110325&template=printart
Allies make slow advance for gays in military
F or those of us who're gay, it initially held out the promise of"equality." But most military leaders and their chief congressional alliestook it as meaning "a threat to military readiness."
As often happens with big family fights, a tensecompromise resulted: the"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law, allowing gays to serve but only if closeted andcelibate. While leaving each side feeling sore and misunderstood, the lawproduced some semblance of peace, unity and begrudging recognition thatfurther wrangling would be deferred until some undefined "later."
Finally, "later" is fast approaching as Democrats prepare to take control ofCongress.
The passage of time has rubbed away the shock that many heterosexuals feltat the notion of gays serving openly and has taught gay Americans that towin this battle we need battalions of friends in high places.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/opinion/14thu2.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 14, 2006
Editorial
Rare Good News About AIDS
The announcement yesterday about the results in two African studies of malecircumcision may be the most important development in AIDS research sincethe debut of antiretroviral drugs more than a decade ago. The NationalInstitutes of Health halted studies in Uganda and Kenya when it becameoverwhelmingly clear that circumcision significantly reduces men's chancesof catching H.I.V.
The studies recruited men willing to be circumcised and randomly assignedthem to immediate surgery or to a control group. In both studies, thecircumcised men acquired half the number of H.I.V. infections as theiruncircumcised counterparts did. The studies confirm the results of a trialthat ended last year in South Africa, in which circumcision prevented 60 to70 percent of new AIDS infections.
=
The New York Times
http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/nyregion/14union.html?pagewanted=print
December 14, 2006
Doubts Persist as N.J. Lawmakers Move Forward on Civil Union
By LAURA MANSNERUS
TRENTON, Dec. 13 - With New Jersey's Legislature set to vote Thursday toestablish civil unions rather than same-sex marriages, it remains unclearwhether this approach can actually fulfill the mandate from the state'sSupreme Court to guarantee the same rights and benefits for gay and straightcouples.
The New Jersey State Bar Association is one of several organizations thathave criticized the proposed civil union law, saying in a statement that it"will create a separate, unequal and unnecessarily complex legal scheme"that does not satisfy the Supreme Court's directive.
Advocates on both sides of the gay marriage debate are uneasy about thelegislation, which was introduced just nine days ago and has seen littlescrutiny, with only two committee hearings before the scheduled floordebate. And among gay couples who plan to obtain civil unions, as well aslawyers who work on civil rights issues, questions about a new, parallelinstitution are piling up.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/health/14hiv.html?ei=5094&en=299e031e4a678f86&hp=&ex=1166158800&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
December 14, 2006
Circumcision Halves H.I.V. Risk, U.S. Agency Finds
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
Circumcision appears to reduce a man's risk of contracting AIDS fromheterosexual sex by half, United States government health officials saidyesterday, and the directors of the two largest funds for fighting thedisease said they would consider paying for circumcisions in high-riskcountries.
The announcement was made by officials of the National Institutes of Healthas they halted two clinical trials, in Kenya and Uganda, on the ground thatnot offering circumcision to all the men taking part would be unethical. Thesuccess of the trials confirmed a study done last year in South Africa.
AIDS experts immediately hailed the finding. "This is very exciting news,"said Daniel Halperin, an H.I.V. specialist at the Harvard Center forPopulation and Development, who has argued that circumcision slows thespread of AIDS in the parts of Africa where it is common.
=
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, Dec. 14, 2006
Contact: Wayne Besen
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@TruthWinsOut.org
JAMES DOBSON SLAMMED BY PROFESSOR FOR DISTORTING HER RESEARCH IN TIME
MAGAZINE ARTICLE ON MARY CHENEY'S PREGNANCY
'I was mortified to learn that you had distorted my work,' NYU ProfessorCarol Gilligan Tells Focus on the Family Leader in Blistering Letter
Miami Beach, FLA. - New York University educational psychologist CarolGilligan, PhD, today slammed Focus on the Family leader, James C. Dobson,for "twisting" and "distorting" her research in a guest column he wrote inthis week's issue of Time Magazine. Dobson misrepresented her work in aneffort to smear gay families while discussing Mary Cheney's pregnancy. In apointed letter to Dobson, Gilligan demanded that he apologize and "cease anddesist" from quoting her work in the future.
=
Article: Gay Nigerians Speak Out; Community Threatened By PendingLegislation Outlawing Any Form of Association
From the Associated Press
Tuesday 12 December, 2006
Gay Nigerians speak out
By Katharine Houreld, AP
In the Muslim north of Nigeria, Bisi Alimi could be stoned to death forbeing having gay sex.
In the south, he could face three years in prison. Now, a proposed law wouldmake it illegal just to share a meal at a cafe with gay friends.
The proposal under debate in Nigeria's House of Representatives would outlawnot just gay marriages, but any form of association between gay people,social or otherwise, and publication of any materials deemed to promote a"same-sex amorous relationship".
Anyone attending a meeting between gay people, even two friends in a privatehouse, could receive a sentence of five years under the act.
=
From: Al-Fatiha - LGBTIQ Muslims
Turkish Gay Activist Faces Prison
December 9, 2006
A criminal court case has been filed in Ankara, Turkey against the chiefeditor and owner of Kaos GL Magazine which is the only LGBT Turkishmagazine that has been published since 1994.
Umut Guner, who is the owner of the magazine on behalf of Kaos GL and vicepresident of Kaos GL Association, is being accused of publishingpornographic issues based on Turkish Penal Code, Article 226. If he isconvicted, he may face up to three years of jail sentence.
Turkish Penal Code, Article 226, Part 2 says: A person who broadcasts orpublishes obscene images, printed or audio material or who acts as anintermediary for this purpose shall be sentenced to imprisonment for aterm of six months to three years.
=
http://www.chicagofreepress.com/news/letters/index.html
Issues with Daley CHICAGO FREE PRESS, 13 Dec 06,
p 9
Last week's Chicago Free Press was strikingly contradictory. On theone hand, an excellent editorial calling for LGBT people to stop providingcover for gutless politicians who gladly take our support while opposing ourlegal equality, including our right to marry. As the editorial stated, it'snot enough for pols to oppose the other party's constitutional amendmentsand then stab us in the back by also opposing marriage equality (hear that,Blago, Obama, Durbin, et al?).
In trying to understand gay backing to anti-gay politicians, is itself-hatred that induces some LGBT people to support people who think we don't deserve the same rights that other citizens enjoy? Are we pathetic doormatswho fawn over politicians who simply deign to acknowledge our existence? Whyis it that politicians who oppose legal equality for gay people are invitedto march at the front of the gay "pride" parade?
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Newark Star Ledger, NJ, December 13, 2006
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-5/116599183684740.xml&coll=1
Senate bans pastor after he condemns same-sex marriage
BY JEFF DIAMANT,
Star-Ledger Staff
The Rev. Vincent Fields says he didn't plan to speak out against same-sexmarriage when he offered the invocation at the opening of the Senate sessionon Monday.
At first, he prayed for wisdom and understanding for the senators. But then,the Absecon pastor recalled yesterday, "the Holy Spirit took over, and I hadto pray what he said."
What Fields said next -- on a day a Senate committee advanced a billallowing civil unions for same- sex couples -- has gotten the pastor bannedfrom giving future Senate invocations.
"We curse the spirit that would come to bring about same-sex marriage,"Fields said in the Senate chamber. "We ask you to just look over this placetoday, cause them to be shaken in their very heart in uprightness, Lord, todo that is right before you."
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Michigan high court again will hear Ann Arbor same-sex benefits case
The Detroit News | December 13, 2006
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061213/UPDATE/612130464
Associated Press
LANSING -- The Michigan Supreme Court again will hear arguments in alawsuit challenging the Ann Arbor school district's same-sex benefitspolicy.
But the justices won't focus on the constitutionality of providing healthinsurance and other benefits to workers' gay partners.
The case involves whether 17 taxpayers followed the proper procedure tostop Ann Arbor Public Schools from offering benefits to gay couples.
The high court first heard the case in October and last month orderedadditional briefing on whether the taxpayers had standing to sue. Oralarguments are scheduled for January.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16232106.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Wed, Dec. 13, 2006
Discrimination complaint filed on behalf of former superintendent
Associated Press
CHICAGO - Lambda Legal filed a discrimination complaint Wednesday against asuburban school district and its board, saying they fired the formersuperintendent because he is openly gay.
Bremen High School District 228 has insisted Rich Mitchell was fired lastmonth for other reasons, including a joke video that portrayed teachers askillers, strippers and drug users.
Members of the school board "tried to keep Rich Mitchell from being hiredbecause he is gay, and when they failed to do that, they stopped him fromdoing his job - all at the expense of the students of Bremen," Lambda staffattorney James P. Madigan said Wednesday in a statement.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-14forum144dec14,0,2275446.story
MARY CHENEY
Something about Mary gets to right-wingers
By William ButteDecember 14, 2006
When Lea Anne McBride, the vice president's spokeswoman, made thesurprisingannouncementlast week that the vice president and Mrs. Cheneywere "lookingforward with eager anticipation"to the birth of their lesbiandaughter Mary's first child in late spring, you could almost hearthecollective gasp of revulsion from right-wing Republicans.
The condemnation came quickly.Within hours, the "family values" crowd claimed Cheney'spregnancy was an"in-your-face action," and "an appallingexample." There was even a claimthatCheney "conceived with the expresspurpose of denying it (the baby) afather," as if Cheney andHeather Poe,who've been together for 15 years,looked lovingly into each others 'eyesafterthoroughly discussing the matterand said in unison, "
Let's have ababy so it will be fatherless."Concerned Women for America's Janice Crousesummed up the criticism whenshesaid that with Cheney's pregnancy, "she continues torepudiate the worktowhich her father has devoted his life."
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16231306.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Wed, Dec. 13, 2006
Study: NJ firms would make big money if gay marriage is allowed
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - New Jersey florists, caterers, hotels and otherbusinesses would bring in morethan $100 million in additional revenue peryear if the state allowed gay couples to marry there,according to a studyby researchers at UCLA. The study was released Wednesday andappears to be on the verge ofmaking a moot point.
Both houses of the New Jersey state Legislature wereexpected to pass a bill Thursday allowingcivil unions, giving gay couplesin the state all the legal protections of marriage without callingitmarriage.
The study's author, M.V. Lee Badgett, of the Williams Institute forSexual Orientation Law andPublic Policy, figured that half of New Jersey's16,600 gay couples, plus more than 16,000 fromneighboring New York and Pennsylvania and nearly 43,000 from around the country would tiethe knot inthe Garden State over three years.
=
Irish Times, 13 December 2006
Concept of same-sex marriage has a long history
Current insistence that marriage can only mean union between a man and awoman does nothave an echo throughout history, writes Jim Duffy.Medieval documents and artefacts suggestthat marriage has not always beenstrictly heterosexual. Since 1989 23 countries (includingSouth Africa as ofDecember 2006) have introduced some form of legal recognition ofsame-sexrelationships, with some allowing full same-sex marriage.
Regions in Brazil, Italy and Australia and 10 states in the United States also recognise gayrelationships, while Taiwan has announced that it will do so. With opinion polls showing climbingsupport for recognition; a Swissreferendum endorsing the move; the election of an openly gayman as head ofa leading Canadian political party; and a gay man heading Germany'sFreeDemocrats, the evidence suggests that public acceptance of gayrelationships, and the rightto legal recognition of them, is growing inmuch of the world.
Though homosexuality has existed for millenniums, the word itself, from theGreek homomeaning "same" and the Latin root sex, was coined by Karl-MariaKertbeny only in 1869. Formost of the last millennium, Christianity, notstate law, controlled marriages, making Christianattitudes to homosexualrelationships important historically.
That attitude has been curiouslyambiguous. A grave slab titled "Tomb Slab of an EnglishCouple" in a museumcontains all the standard iconic symbols representing a maritalcouple.Theslab names them as Sir William Neville and Sir John Clanvoe (died October1391).
It was found during renovations in a Dominican church in Istanbul,its existence, location andsymbolism contradicting official teaching onsame-sex relationships.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/121206dnbusGayRetirement.30cecc0.html
Gay retirement community is a first
11:05 PM CST on Monday, December 11, 2006
By BOB MOOS / The Dallas Morning News
SANTA FE, N.M. - Jan Gaynor and Barbara Cohn have decided to spend theirretirement years in this city of art and culture, not just because it'ssteeped in 400 years of history, but also because it offers something new.
The sixtysomething couple wanted to live in the nation's first full-fledgedretirement community for gays and lesbians. They sold their house inCalifornia and moved into a condominium at Rainbow Vision Santa Fe thissummer.
"We've been together for 16 years, and we were looking to retire someplacewhere we could be ourselves," Ms. Cohn said. "Here, we can hold hands andgive each other a kiss without someone raising an eyebrow."
=
The Detroit News
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006612110325&template=printart
Allies make slow advance for gays in military
F or those of us who're gay, it initially held out the promise of"equality." But most military leaders and their chief congressional alliestook it as meaning "a threat to military readiness."
As often happens with big family fights, a tensecompromise resulted: the"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law, allowing gays to serve but only if closeted andcelibate. While leaving each side feeling sore and misunderstood, the lawproduced some semblance of peace, unity and begrudging recognition thatfurther wrangling would be deferred until some undefined "later."
Finally, "later" is fast approaching as Democrats prepare to take control ofCongress.
The passage of time has rubbed away the shock that many heterosexuals feltat the notion of gays serving openly and has taught gay Americans that towin this battle we need battalions of friends in high places.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/opinion/14thu2.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 14, 2006
Editorial
Rare Good News About AIDS
The announcement yesterday about the results in two African studies of malecircumcision may be the most important development in AIDS research sincethe debut of antiretroviral drugs more than a decade ago. The NationalInstitutes of Health halted studies in Uganda and Kenya when it becameoverwhelmingly clear that circumcision significantly reduces men's chancesof catching H.I.V.
The studies recruited men willing to be circumcised and randomly assignedthem to immediate surgery or to a control group. In both studies, thecircumcised men acquired half the number of H.I.V. infections as theiruncircumcised counterparts did. The studies confirm the results of a trialthat ended last year in South Africa, in which circumcision prevented 60 to70 percent of new AIDS infections.
=
The New York Times
http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/nyregion/14union.html?pagewanted=print
December 14, 2006
Doubts Persist as N.J. Lawmakers Move Forward on Civil Union
By LAURA MANSNERUS
TRENTON, Dec. 13 - With New Jersey's Legislature set to vote Thursday toestablish civil unions rather than same-sex marriages, it remains unclearwhether this approach can actually fulfill the mandate from the state'sSupreme Court to guarantee the same rights and benefits for gay and straightcouples.
The New Jersey State Bar Association is one of several organizations thathave criticized the proposed civil union law, saying in a statement that it"will create a separate, unequal and unnecessarily complex legal scheme"that does not satisfy the Supreme Court's directive.
Advocates on both sides of the gay marriage debate are uneasy about thelegislation, which was introduced just nine days ago and has seen littlescrutiny, with only two committee hearings before the scheduled floordebate. And among gay couples who plan to obtain civil unions, as well aslawyers who work on civil rights issues, questions about a new, parallelinstitution are piling up.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/health/14hiv.html?ei=5094&en=299e031e4a678f86&hp=&ex=1166158800&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
December 14, 2006
Circumcision Halves H.I.V. Risk, U.S. Agency Finds
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
Circumcision appears to reduce a man's risk of contracting AIDS fromheterosexual sex by half, United States government health officials saidyesterday, and the directors of the two largest funds for fighting thedisease said they would consider paying for circumcisions in high-riskcountries.
The announcement was made by officials of the National Institutes of Healthas they halted two clinical trials, in Kenya and Uganda, on the ground thatnot offering circumcision to all the men taking part would be unethical. Thesuccess of the trials confirmed a study done last year in South Africa.
AIDS experts immediately hailed the finding. "This is very exciting news,"said Daniel Halperin, an H.I.V. specialist at the Harvard Center forPopulation and Development, who has argued that circumcision slows thespread of AIDS in the parts of Africa where it is common.
=
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, Dec. 14, 2006
Contact: Wayne Besen
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@TruthWinsOut.org
JAMES DOBSON SLAMMED BY PROFESSOR FOR DISTORTING HER RESEARCH IN TIME
MAGAZINE ARTICLE ON MARY CHENEY'S PREGNANCY
'I was mortified to learn that you had distorted my work,' NYU ProfessorCarol Gilligan Tells Focus on the Family Leader in Blistering Letter
Miami Beach, FLA. - New York University educational psychologist CarolGilligan, PhD, today slammed Focus on the Family leader, James C. Dobson,for "twisting" and "distorting" her research in a guest column he wrote inthis week's issue of Time Magazine. Dobson misrepresented her work in aneffort to smear gay families while discussing Mary Cheney's pregnancy. In apointed letter to Dobson, Gilligan demanded that he apologize and "cease anddesist" from quoting her work in the future.
=
Article: Gay Nigerians Speak Out; Community Threatened By PendingLegislation Outlawing Any Form of Association
From the Associated Press
Tuesday 12 December, 2006
Gay Nigerians speak out
By Katharine Houreld, AP
In the Muslim north of Nigeria, Bisi Alimi could be stoned to death forbeing having gay sex.
In the south, he could face three years in prison. Now, a proposed law wouldmake it illegal just to share a meal at a cafe with gay friends.
The proposal under debate in Nigeria's House of Representatives would outlawnot just gay marriages, but any form of association between gay people,social or otherwise, and publication of any materials deemed to promote a"same-sex amorous relationship".
Anyone attending a meeting between gay people, even two friends in a privatehouse, could receive a sentence of five years under the act.
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From: Al-Fatiha - LGBTIQ Muslims
Turkish Gay Activist Faces Prison
December 9, 2006
A criminal court case has been filed in Ankara, Turkey against the chiefeditor and owner of Kaos GL Magazine which is the only LGBT Turkishmagazine that has been published since 1994.
Umut Guner, who is the owner of the magazine on behalf of Kaos GL and vicepresident of Kaos GL Association, is being accused of publishingpornographic issues based on Turkish Penal Code, Article 226. If he isconvicted, he may face up to three years of jail sentence.
Turkish Penal Code, Article 226, Part 2 says: A person who broadcasts orpublishes obscene images, printed or audio material or who acts as anintermediary for this purpose shall be sentenced to imprisonment for aterm of six months to three years.
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http://www.chicagofreepress.com/news/letters/index.html
Issues with Daley CHICAGO FREE PRESS, 13 Dec 06,
p 9
Last week's Chicago Free Press was strikingly contradictory. On theone hand, an excellent editorial calling for LGBT people to stop providingcover for gutless politicians who gladly take our support while opposing ourlegal equality, including our right to marry. As the editorial stated, it'snot enough for pols to oppose the other party's constitutional amendmentsand then stab us in the back by also opposing marriage equality (hear that,Blago, Obama, Durbin, et al?).
In trying to understand gay backing to anti-gay politicians, is itself-hatred that induces some LGBT people to support people who think we don't deserve the same rights that other citizens enjoy? Are we pathetic doormatswho fawn over politicians who simply deign to acknowledge our existence? Whyis it that politicians who oppose legal equality for gay people are invitedto march at the front of the gay "pride" parade?
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Newark Star Ledger, NJ, December 13, 2006
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-5/116599183684740.xml&coll=1
Senate bans pastor after he condemns same-sex marriage
BY JEFF DIAMANT,
Star-Ledger Staff
The Rev. Vincent Fields says he didn't plan to speak out against same-sexmarriage when he offered the invocation at the opening of the Senate sessionon Monday.
At first, he prayed for wisdom and understanding for the senators. But then,the Absecon pastor recalled yesterday, "the Holy Spirit took over, and I hadto pray what he said."
What Fields said next -- on a day a Senate committee advanced a billallowing civil unions for same- sex couples -- has gotten the pastor bannedfrom giving future Senate invocations.
"We curse the spirit that would come to bring about same-sex marriage,"Fields said in the Senate chamber. "We ask you to just look over this placetoday, cause them to be shaken in their very heart in uprightness, Lord, todo that is right before you."
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Michigan high court again will hear Ann Arbor same-sex benefits case
The Detroit News | December 13, 2006
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061213/UPDATE/612130464
Associated Press
LANSING -- The Michigan Supreme Court again will hear arguments in alawsuit challenging the Ann Arbor school district's same-sex benefitspolicy.
But the justices won't focus on the constitutionality of providing healthinsurance and other benefits to workers' gay partners.
The case involves whether 17 taxpayers followed the proper procedure tostop Ann Arbor Public Schools from offering benefits to gay couples.
The high court first heard the case in October and last month orderedadditional briefing on whether the taxpayers had standing to sue. Oralarguments are scheduled for January.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16232106.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Wed, Dec. 13, 2006
Discrimination complaint filed on behalf of former superintendent
Associated Press
CHICAGO - Lambda Legal filed a discrimination complaint Wednesday against asuburban school district and its board, saying they fired the formersuperintendent because he is openly gay.
Bremen High School District 228 has insisted Rich Mitchell was fired lastmonth for other reasons, including a joke video that portrayed teachers askillers, strippers and drug users.
Members of the school board "tried to keep Rich Mitchell from being hiredbecause he is gay, and when they failed to do that, they stopped him fromdoing his job - all at the expense of the students of Bremen," Lambda staffattorney James P. Madigan said Wednesday in a statement.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-14forum144dec14,0,2275446.story
MARY CHENEY
Something about Mary gets to right-wingers
By William ButteDecember 14, 2006
When Lea Anne McBride, the vice president's spokeswoman, made thesurprisingannouncementlast week that the vice president and Mrs. Cheneywere "lookingforward with eager anticipation"to the birth of their lesbiandaughter Mary's first child in late spring, you could almost hearthecollective gasp of revulsion from right-wing Republicans.
The condemnation came quickly.Within hours, the "family values" crowd claimed Cheney'spregnancy was an"in-your-face action," and "an appallingexample." There was even a claimthatCheney "conceived with the expresspurpose of denying it (the baby) afather," as if Cheney andHeather Poe,who've been together for 15 years,looked lovingly into each others 'eyesafterthoroughly discussing the matterand said in unison, "
Let's have ababy so it will be fatherless."Concerned Women for America's Janice Crousesummed up the criticism whenshesaid that with Cheney's pregnancy, "she continues torepudiate the worktowhich her father has devoted his life."
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16231306.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Wed, Dec. 13, 2006
Study: NJ firms would make big money if gay marriage is allowed
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - New Jersey florists, caterers, hotels and otherbusinesses would bring in morethan $100 million in additional revenue peryear if the state allowed gay couples to marry there,according to a studyby researchers at UCLA. The study was released Wednesday andappears to be on the verge ofmaking a moot point.
Both houses of the New Jersey state Legislature wereexpected to pass a bill Thursday allowingcivil unions, giving gay couplesin the state all the legal protections of marriage without callingitmarriage.
The study's author, M.V. Lee Badgett, of the Williams Institute forSexual Orientation Law andPublic Policy, figured that half of New Jersey's16,600 gay couples, plus more than 16,000 fromneighboring New York and Pennsylvania and nearly 43,000 from around the country would tiethe knot inthe Garden State over three years.
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Irish Times, 13 December 2006
Concept of same-sex marriage has a long history
Current insistence that marriage can only mean union between a man and awoman does nothave an echo throughout history, writes Jim Duffy.Medieval documents and artefacts suggestthat marriage has not always beenstrictly heterosexual. Since 1989 23 countries (includingSouth Africa as ofDecember 2006) have introduced some form of legal recognition ofsame-sexrelationships, with some allowing full same-sex marriage.
Regions in Brazil, Italy and Australia and 10 states in the United States also recognise gayrelationships, while Taiwan has announced that it will do so. With opinion polls showing climbingsupport for recognition; a Swissreferendum endorsing the move; the election of an openly gayman as head ofa leading Canadian political party; and a gay man heading Germany'sFreeDemocrats, the evidence suggests that public acceptance of gayrelationships, and the rightto legal recognition of them, is growing inmuch of the world.
Though homosexuality has existed for millenniums, the word itself, from theGreek homomeaning "same" and the Latin root sex, was coined by Karl-MariaKertbeny only in 1869. Formost of the last millennium, Christianity, notstate law, controlled marriages, making Christianattitudes to homosexualrelationships important historically.
That attitude has been curiouslyambiguous. A grave slab titled "Tomb Slab of an EnglishCouple" in a museumcontains all the standard iconic symbols representing a maritalcouple.Theslab names them as Sir William Neville and Sir John Clanvoe (died October1391).
It was found during renovations in a Dominican church in Istanbul,its existence, location andsymbolism contradicting official teaching onsame-sex relationships.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST December 14, 2006
**
Check out Ray's List GLBT News Summary for Progressives on the web
<http://www.rayslistglbtnews.blogspot.com/>
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=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/14/AR2006121400109_pf.html
Rumsfeld Career Ending in Ignominy of Iraq
By CALVIN WOODWARD
The Associated Press
Thursday, December 14, 2006; 2:53 AM
WASHINGTON -- History seems to be in a hurry to judge Donald H. Rumsfeld.
And despite his half century in public service, a defense secretary whoserved three presidents and oversaw two wars is being sized up not by thelong reach of his career but by its ending _ the body slam of Iraq.
With an eye on his legacy, Rumsfeld asked to be judged by the extraordinarynature of today's threat, like none that has come before.
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The Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0612140189dec14,0,6226772.story?coll=chi-business-hed
Rich-poor disparity worries Americans
Issue a major concern for most, poll reports Bloomberg News
December 14, 2006
Americans overwhelmingly say the growing gap between rich and poor hasbecome a serious national concern, a sentiment that may bolster Democrats'plans to narrow the income divide when they take control of Congress.
Almost three-quarters of Americans believe inequality is a major issue,versus 24 percent who don't think so, according to a new Bloomberg/LosAngeles Times poll. Most of the concern is among Democrats and independentvoters, though a majority of Republicans--55 percent--also called thesituation serious.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/books/14cart.html?ei=5040&en=869bfeb898290d4b&ex=1166763600&partner=MOREOVERNEWS&pagewanted=print
December 14, 2006
Carter Book Stirs Furor With Its View of Israelis' 'Apartheid'
By JULIE BOSMAN
On Tuesday night in Phoenix, after signings and interviews to promote hisnew book, "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid," President Jimmy Carter made ahastily arranged visit: an hourlong gathering with a group of rabbis.
"We ended up holding hands and circled in prayer," Mr. Carter said in atelephone interview from Phoenix, adding that the rabbis requested themeeting to discuss his book.
It was an unusual interruption during an unusually controversial book tour,which began with a few faint complaints last month and has escalated to afull-scale furor, with Mr. Carter being trailed by protesters at booksignings, criticized on newspaper op-ed pages and, on the normally sedate"Book TV" program on C-Span2, being called a racist and an anti-Semite by anindignant caller.
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http://www.capitolhillblue.com/news2/2006/12/george_w_bush_a.html
George W. Bush: A dangerous, cornered, rabid animal
December 13, 2006 7:18 AM | Rant | Comments (66)
By DOUG THOMPSON
My gut tells me the President of the United States has become a corneredanimal - wary of a party that has all but shunned him, distrustful of evenhis closest advisors, angry at an American public that has rejected him andfearful of his own inability to cope with his growing madness.
White House insiders tell me George W. Bush grows more sullen and moody witheach passing day. His paranoia, they say, is increasing to manic levels ashe launches into tirades about traitors in his own party, in the press andamong his allies.
They describe a man living on the edge and stepping too often over it.
Bush, they say, feels betrayed by former Secretary of State James Baker whohe now feels held his administration up for public humiliation in the IraqStudy Group report. Although he told the press after meeting with ISGco-chairs Baker and Lee Hamilton that the White House will take the group'srecommendations "very seriously," Bush says privately that he has nointention of going along with their plan.
=
Today in Congress
http://www.house.gov/frank/americanprospect1106.html
Lessons for Democrats
The public understands the unfairnessof the current trends in the distribution of income.
By Congressman Barney Frank
The American Prospect
Issue Date: 12.08.06
The most important lesson to be learned by Democrats from recentevents in both the real and political worlds is that economic growth aloneis not enough. Expansion of gross domestic product is a good thing, but 4percent annual growth does not guarantee that Americans will see significantimprovement in their own economic positions; and eroding real wages in themidst of a growing economy translates into an important political fact aswell. Economically, politically, and most importantly morally, Democratsshould insist on public policies that not only promote economic growth butalso work against the current trends in which nearly all of that increase isconcentrated in the hands of a few.
=
http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/91630.html
Editorial: Intelligence follies
Ignorance of Middle East prevails
-
Published 12:00 am PST Wednesday, December 13, 2006
The 9/11 Commission Report two years ago stated the issue bluntly:"Congressional oversight for intelligence -- and counter-terrorism -- is nowdysfunctional."
Congress has focused on personal scandals and day-to-day events instead ofdoing a traditional review of programs to identify, address and attempt toresolve national security problems. "Of all our recommendations,strengthening congressional oversight may be among the most difficult andimportant," the commission concluded.
A major issue is that few committee members have developed the necessaryexpertise to conduct effective oversight. With a new Democratic majority,House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has an opportunity to institute a turnaround.
=
http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/91631.html
Editorial: A nuclear gamble
U.S.-India deal sets a dubious precedent
-
Published 12:00 am PST Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Preventing the spread of nuclear weapons has never been easy. At least ninecountries have nukes. But the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty of 1970, whichbars the transfer of nuclear technology to countries that have not signedit, has at least helped to slow the spread.
India is one of the nine, but has not signed the NPT and is not likely to.Yet Congress has just changed U.S. law to allow the transfer of nucleartechnology to India. In return, India has agreed to open its 14 civiliannuclear facilities to international inspection and not to transferforeign-source fuels and technology to its eight bomb-making plants. Butthose military facilities will remain off-limits, and the nuclear materialsIndia imports will free domestically mined materials for expanding itsarsenal.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/washington/14leak.html?ref=washington&pagewanted=print
December 14, 2006
U.S. Subpoena Is Seen as Bid to Stop Leaks
By ADAM LIPTAK
Federal prosecutors are trying to force the American Civil Liberties Unionto turn over copies of a classified document it received from a source,using what legal experts called a new extension of the Bush administration'sefforts to protect national-security secrets.
The novelty in the government's approach is in its broad use of a grand jurysubpoena, which is typically a way to gather evidence, rather than toconfiscate all traces of it. But the subpoena issued to the A.C.L.U. seeks"any and all copies" of a document e-mailed to it unsolicited in October,indicating that the government also wants to prevent further disseminationof the information in the document.
The subpoena was revealed in court papers unsealed in federal court inManhattan yesterday. The subject of the grand jury's investigation is notknown, but the A.C.L.U. said that it had been told it was not a target ofthe investigation.
The subpoena, however, raised the possibility that the government had founda new tool to stop the dissemination of secrets, one that could avoid theall but absolute constitutional prohibition on prior restraints onpublication.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/washington/14gitmo.html?ref=washington&pagewanted=print
December 14, 2006
Judge Sets Back Guantánamo Detainees
By NEIL A. LEWIS
WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 - For the first time, a court has affirmed that a lawenacted this fall accomplishes what the White House and its Congressionalsupporters sought: stripping the federal judiciary of the authority to hearchallenges from detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
In a ruling Wednesday, Judge James Robertson of the Federal District Courthere said Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a prisoner at Guantánamo, could no longercontest his detention before a federal court because, Judge Robertson said,Congress this fall explicitly eliminated his right to file a habeas corpuschallenge.
The judge said the Military Commissions Act, passed by Congress in Septemberand signed into law by President Bush the following month, was unambiguousin denying Guantánamo detainees the use of a habeas corpus statute. Like Mr.Hamdan, hundreds of other prisoners at the base have challenged theirdetention, in similar cases.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/opinion/14thu3.html?pagewanted=print
December 14, 2006
Editorial
Congress and the Benefits of Sunshine
At first, the innovation sounds simple enough: Representative-elect KirstenGillibrand has decided to post details of her work calendar on the Internetat the end of each day so constituents can tell what she is actually doingfor their money.
In fact, it is a quiet touch of revolution. The level of transparencypledged by Ms. Gillibrand, Democrat of New York - down to naming lobbyistsand fund-raisers among those she might meet with - is simply unheard of inCongress. The secrecy that cloaks the dealings of lawmakers and deep-pocketspecial interests underpinned the corruption issue that Ms. Gillibrandinvoked as voters turned Republicans from majority rule last month.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/14/AR2006121400402_pf.html
Democrats to raise wages for poor workers
By Thomas Ferraro
Reuters
Thursday, December 14, 2006; 8:40 AM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The incoming Democratic-led U.S. Congress intends togive a hand to dishwashers, fast-food cooks and America's other poorest-paidworkers by raising the federal minimum wage for the first time in a decade.
With the gap between rich and poor widening, Democrats promised such a payhike as a part of their campaign that saw them win control of both chambersof Congress in the November 7 elections from President George W. Bush'sRepublicans.
With the new 110th Congress set to convene on January 4, Democrats vow avote soon on a bill to raise the minimum wage over two years to $7.25 perhour from $5.15 per hour. And they seem positioned to make the popularmeasure law.
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AlterNet
http://www.alternet.org/rights/44978/
The Government's Assault on Press Freedom
By William Bennett Turner, San Francisco Chronicle
Posted on December 12, 2006, Printed on December 14, 2006
Vladimir Posner, the former Soviet journalist, used to claim the press wasfreer in the Soviet Union than it was in the United States. This was duringGlasnost, as the Soviet empire was disintegrating. Posner explained that thegovernment was dysfunctional, so journalists did not have to worry about theofficial censors, and the media had not been privatized, so journalists werenot accountable to commercial sponsors and advertisers. The result was akind of anarchic freedom. The press was free, but only for a brief window intime.
The window in America once was open wide and, I thought, permanently so. Iused to tell my students on the first day of class that we had the freestspeech and press in the world. I can't do that anymore.
=
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/13/AR2006121301906_pf.html
McCain Inc.?
By Robert D. Novak
Thursday, December 14, 2006; A31
Some 30 invited corporate representatives and other lobbyists gathered atthe Phoenix Park Hotel on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning to hear two seniormainstream Republican senators pitch the 2008 presidential campaign of Sen.John McCain. They were selling him to establishment Republicans as theestablishment's candidate. Nothing could be further from McCain'sguerrilla-style presidential run in 2000, which nearly stopped George W.Bush.
Invitations to Tuesday's event were sent by Trent Lott, the newly electedSenate minority whip. Over coffee, Lott and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) pushedMcCain, though neither previously was seen as a McCainiac. They were not forMcCain in 2000, and neither were the assembled party activists.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/business/14scene.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1166108983-BlpQu9Ph3clL2nmyAqsEvg
December 14, 2006
Recalculating the Costs of Global Climate Change
By HAL R. VARIAN
The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change was released Oct. 30 andbecame front-page news because of its striking conclusion that we shouldimmediately invest 1 percent of world economic activity (referred to asglobal gross domestic product in the report) to reduce the impact of globalwarming. The British report warned that failing to do so could risk futureeconomic damages equivalent to a reduction of up to 20 percent in globalG.D.P.
These figures are substantially higher than earlier estimates of the costsof global warming, and environmental economists have studied the 700-pagereport to try to figure out why the numbers are so large.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/13/AR2006121301593_pf.html
Clinton and Giuliani Have the Early Edge For '08, Poll Shows
By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 14, 2006; A03
New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) and former New York mayor RudolphW. Giuliani (R), who briefly competed against each other in a Senate race in2000, hold early leads over potential rivals for their parties' 2008presidential nominations, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Clinton has a clear head start over other prospective Democratic candidates,with Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), who only a month ago expressed interest inthe 2008 race, running second and former senator John Edwards (N.C.), theparty's 2004 vice presidential nominee, in third.
Giuliani's advantage in the Republican race appears more tenuous: He holds anarrow lead over Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), who is far ahead of Giuliani inorganizing a presidential campaign. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, whohas not disclosed his plans for 2008, is well back in third.
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Newsweek
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/daniel_c_dennett/2006/12/a_pledge_of_allegiance.html
Protecting Democracy Comes Before Promoting Faith
This week's question could not be more important. Events around the world inrecent years amply demonstrate that the religious freedom we enjoy in theUnited States is one of the essential building blocks of our democracy.
What we tend to lose sight of, however, is the price we must pay for thisreligious freedom: we must commit ourselves to the First Amendment principleof separation of church and state even when the principle works against theinterests of our particular religion.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." This wise maxim, applied to the FirstAmendment principle of the separation of church and state, has permitted theprinciple to drift into disrepair. People are encouraged to think that whilethere may be all sorts of borderline cases and vexing conundrums about justwhere to draw the line, examining them will only arouse anxiety anddiscord--so let's just cover everything with a fine fog of pious, presumedconsensus. We all honor the First Amendment and that's that, and that'sfine. So it would be, if it weren't for the steady pressure of those whowould exploit our benign neglect, encroaching gradually on what makes theprinciple work-to the extent that it does.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/13/AR2006121302200_pf.html
Ways & Means
After 35 Years in the House, Charlie Rangel Has the Power. But There AreStill Taxing Times Ahead for the Man From Harlem.
By Wil Haygood
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 14, 2006; C01
Back then, on the streets of Harlem, he'd take a full swing at his foes. Hewas a high school dropout, a dead-end kid until he picked himself up and puton that military uniform. In the Korean War he fought like hell, broughtback a couple of medals, too.
After he came home, he set himself on a course straight as a ruler: college,law school, assistant U.S. attorney, politics.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?emc=tnt&tntget=2006/12/10/opinion/WE_
Offender.1.html&tntemail0=y
December 10, 2006
Long Island | Westchester
Rush to Judgment on Sex Offenders
New York may soon join the 17 states that lock people up for crimes theymight commit. Among the bad ideas on Gov. George Pataki's to-do list forthis week's special legislative session is a civil confinement bill underwhich imprisoned sex offenders who are deemed too dangerous to be releasedwould be held involuntarily in hospitals after their sentences end.
Civil confinement has support across the political spectrum - who couldpossibly object to keeping sexual predators away from children, after all? -and so the negotiations in Albany are over details, like how much to protectinmates' due-process rights, who forms the committees that make confinementdecisions and what specific crimes and habits qualify someone as a sexualpredator.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16234582.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Dec. 14, 2006
'08 CAMPAIGN
Why Obama should run
BY GEORGE F. WILL
georgewill@washpost.com
New Hampshire was recently brightened by the presence of Barack Obama, 45,who, calling the fuss about him ''baffling,'' made his first trip in 45years to that state, and not under duress. Because he is young, is just twoyears distant from a brief career as a state legislator and has negligiblenational-security experience, an Obama presidential candidacy could have aporcelain brittleness. But if he wants to be president -- it will not be amoral failing if he decides that he does not, at least not now -- this isthe time for him to reach for the brass ring. There are four reasons why.
. One can be an intriguing novelty only once. If he waits to run, the lasthalf-century suggests that the wait could be for eight years (see reasonfour, below). In 2016, he will be only 55, but there will be many fresherfaces.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16238524.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Dec. 14, 2006
GOP governor could name new senator
JOE KAFKA
Associated Press
PIERRE, S.D. - Control of the U.S. Senate could be determined byRepublican Gov. Mike Rounds if a replacement must be named for DemocraticSen. Tim Johnson.
State law would allow the governor to appoint a temporary replacementfor a vacant Senate seat until the next general election in 2008, whenJohnson's term expires.
Johnson, 59, underwent late-night brain surgery in Washington afterbeing hospitalizes for stroke-like symptoms.
Rounds said in a statement Wednesday: "Our prayers are with Tim,Barbara and their family. We are hopeful of good news for our friend andcolleague."
Rounds' press secretary, Mark Johnston, said early Thursday thatRounds had nothing else to say.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/13/AR2006121301779_pf.html
New Congress Is More Trusted Than President
By Charles Babington and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 14, 2006; A03
Americans trust Democratic lawmakers more than President Bush to handle thenation's toughest problems, including the Iraq war, and a quarter ofRepublicans are glad that Democrats have won control of Congress, aWashington Post-ABC News poll finds.
At the same time, however, most Americans want lawmakers and the presidentto work together rather than pursue separate agendas. They also have modesthopes about how much the new Congress will be able to accomplish.
The degree to which congressional leaders can sustain and capitalize oninitial goodwill is questionable, because the No. 1 issue for most Americansis perhaps the most difficult for Congress and the White House: Iraq.Forty-four percent of respondents said the Iraq war is the most importantproblem facing the government, easily eclipsing the economy -- the topconcern for 10 percent -- and health care, No. 1 for 6 percent.
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The Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/saul_singer/2006/12/if_israel_falls_the_west_follo.html
If Israel Falls, the West Follows
Jerusalem, Israel - A radical Islamic front, led by Iran and includingHezbollah, Hamas, and Al-Qaeda, is making a bid to expand its brand oftheocratic rule throughout the Muslim world, with the aim of dominating theWest as well. If the U.S. retreats in the face of this challenge, militantIslamism will advance.
Israel may or may not be the first victim of this advance, but we will notbe the last. As the 9/11 attacks illustrated, the Islamists have tired ofpretending that Israel is their only, or even primary enemy. As the Iraniansput it, Israel is the "Little Satan," while the U.S. is the "Great Satan."
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/13/AR2006121301918_pf.html
House Win Adds Insult to Injury for DeLay
By Sylvia Moreno and Chris Cillizza
Washington Post Staff Writer and washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Thursday, December 14, 2006; A04
AUSTIN, Dec. 13 -- Former congressman Ciro Rodriguez's victory in a Houserunoff election Tuesday in Texas not only allowed Democrats to pick up their30th seat of the 2006 elections but served as a final rebuke to one of thearchitects of the Republican House majority: Tom DeLay.
The former congressman from Texas was the mastermind of a 2003 redrawing ofcongressional lines in the state that led to the removal of six HouseDemocrats in the 2004 elections.
Two years later, DeLay's fortunes have suffered a near-total reversal, asthe redistricting map that once seemed certain to cement his legacy and GOPmajorities for years has instead led to the end of that career and may wellbe a building block for a reenergized Democratic Party in the state.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/13/AR2006121302293_pf.html
Holocaust Conference Brings Disbelief on All Sides
By Michael Powell and Robin Shulman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 14, 2006; A02
NEW YORK -- They sent congratulatory telegrams to Hamas, their rabbisadvised Yasser Arafat (and took a fee for their trouble), and they stoodoutside the White House wagging signs -- "Judaism Has No Right to Rule overANY PART of the Holy Land" -- to protest a November visit by Israeli PrimeMinister Ehud Olmert.
But even by the standards of Neturei Karta, these most ultra ofultra-orthodox Jewish Hasids took a step into the world of the very strange,if not the meshuga, or crazy, when they showed up as honored guests at aconference of Holocaust skeptics and deniers in Tehran. With a hug and asmile for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Rabbi Aharon Cohen walkedinto a conference room with former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke,discredited academics, and more than a few white supremacists and served upa rousing welcome speech.
=
The New York Times
http://happydays.blogs.nytimes.com/
December 13, 2006, 9:02 pm
Love on the Brain
By Daniel Goleman
A radio interviewer in Dublin recently asked me why, in my view, people inIreland were no happier now that their booming economy had brought them asudden tide of prosperity. In answering, I cited well-known data showingthat once people leave poverty and are able to satisfy their basic needs,there is little to no correlation between earnings and happiness. Or as theBeatles put it, "Money can't buy me love."
Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel-winning psychologist at Princeton, has explainedthe paradox of the unhappy rich in terms of "the hedonic treadmill": as weearn more income, our material expectations ratchet inexorably upward, sothere's never enough money. The chase for ever more expensive pleasuresnever ends. As a result, the rich end up needing more to be as satisfied asthe poor are with less money and lower expectations.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/14/AR2006121400109_pf.html
Rumsfeld Career Ending in Ignominy of Iraq
By CALVIN WOODWARD
The Associated Press
Thursday, December 14, 2006; 2:53 AM
WASHINGTON -- History seems to be in a hurry to judge Donald H. Rumsfeld.
And despite his half century in public service, a defense secretary whoserved three presidents and oversaw two wars is being sized up not by thelong reach of his career but by its ending _ the body slam of Iraq.
With an eye on his legacy, Rumsfeld asked to be judged by the extraordinarynature of today's threat, like none that has come before.
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The Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0612140189dec14,0,6226772.story?coll=chi-business-hed
Rich-poor disparity worries Americans
Issue a major concern for most, poll reports Bloomberg News
December 14, 2006
Americans overwhelmingly say the growing gap between rich and poor hasbecome a serious national concern, a sentiment that may bolster Democrats'plans to narrow the income divide when they take control of Congress.
Almost three-quarters of Americans believe inequality is a major issue,versus 24 percent who don't think so, according to a new Bloomberg/LosAngeles Times poll. Most of the concern is among Democrats and independentvoters, though a majority of Republicans--55 percent--also called thesituation serious.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/books/14cart.html?ei=5040&en=869bfeb898290d4b&ex=1166763600&partner=MOREOVERNEWS&pagewanted=print
December 14, 2006
Carter Book Stirs Furor With Its View of Israelis' 'Apartheid'
By JULIE BOSMAN
On Tuesday night in Phoenix, after signings and interviews to promote hisnew book, "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid," President Jimmy Carter made ahastily arranged visit: an hourlong gathering with a group of rabbis.
"We ended up holding hands and circled in prayer," Mr. Carter said in atelephone interview from Phoenix, adding that the rabbis requested themeeting to discuss his book.
It was an unusual interruption during an unusually controversial book tour,which began with a few faint complaints last month and has escalated to afull-scale furor, with Mr. Carter being trailed by protesters at booksignings, criticized on newspaper op-ed pages and, on the normally sedate"Book TV" program on C-Span2, being called a racist and an anti-Semite by anindignant caller.
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http://www.capitolhillblue.com/news2/2006/12/george_w_bush_a.html
George W. Bush: A dangerous, cornered, rabid animal
December 13, 2006 7:18 AM | Rant | Comments (66)
By DOUG THOMPSON
My gut tells me the President of the United States has become a corneredanimal - wary of a party that has all but shunned him, distrustful of evenhis closest advisors, angry at an American public that has rejected him andfearful of his own inability to cope with his growing madness.
White House insiders tell me George W. Bush grows more sullen and moody witheach passing day. His paranoia, they say, is increasing to manic levels ashe launches into tirades about traitors in his own party, in the press andamong his allies.
They describe a man living on the edge and stepping too often over it.
Bush, they say, feels betrayed by former Secretary of State James Baker whohe now feels held his administration up for public humiliation in the IraqStudy Group report. Although he told the press after meeting with ISGco-chairs Baker and Lee Hamilton that the White House will take the group'srecommendations "very seriously," Bush says privately that he has nointention of going along with their plan.
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Today in Congress
http://www.house.gov/frank/americanprospect1106.html
Lessons for Democrats
The public understands the unfairnessof the current trends in the distribution of income.
By Congressman Barney Frank
The American Prospect
Issue Date: 12.08.06
The most important lesson to be learned by Democrats from recentevents in both the real and political worlds is that economic growth aloneis not enough. Expansion of gross domestic product is a good thing, but 4percent annual growth does not guarantee that Americans will see significantimprovement in their own economic positions; and eroding real wages in themidst of a growing economy translates into an important political fact aswell. Economically, politically, and most importantly morally, Democratsshould insist on public policies that not only promote economic growth butalso work against the current trends in which nearly all of that increase isconcentrated in the hands of a few.
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http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/91630.html
Editorial: Intelligence follies
Ignorance of Middle East prevails
-
Published 12:00 am PST Wednesday, December 13, 2006
The 9/11 Commission Report two years ago stated the issue bluntly:"Congressional oversight for intelligence -- and counter-terrorism -- is nowdysfunctional."
Congress has focused on personal scandals and day-to-day events instead ofdoing a traditional review of programs to identify, address and attempt toresolve national security problems. "Of all our recommendations,strengthening congressional oversight may be among the most difficult andimportant," the commission concluded.
A major issue is that few committee members have developed the necessaryexpertise to conduct effective oversight. With a new Democratic majority,House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has an opportunity to institute a turnaround.
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http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/91631.html
Editorial: A nuclear gamble
U.S.-India deal sets a dubious precedent
-
Published 12:00 am PST Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Preventing the spread of nuclear weapons has never been easy. At least ninecountries have nukes. But the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty of 1970, whichbars the transfer of nuclear technology to countries that have not signedit, has at least helped to slow the spread.
India is one of the nine, but has not signed the NPT and is not likely to.Yet Congress has just changed U.S. law to allow the transfer of nucleartechnology to India. In return, India has agreed to open its 14 civiliannuclear facilities to international inspection and not to transferforeign-source fuels and technology to its eight bomb-making plants. Butthose military facilities will remain off-limits, and the nuclear materialsIndia imports will free domestically mined materials for expanding itsarsenal.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/washington/14leak.html?ref=washington&pagewanted=print
December 14, 2006
U.S. Subpoena Is Seen as Bid to Stop Leaks
By ADAM LIPTAK
Federal prosecutors are trying to force the American Civil Liberties Unionto turn over copies of a classified document it received from a source,using what legal experts called a new extension of the Bush administration'sefforts to protect national-security secrets.
The novelty in the government's approach is in its broad use of a grand jurysubpoena, which is typically a way to gather evidence, rather than toconfiscate all traces of it. But the subpoena issued to the A.C.L.U. seeks"any and all copies" of a document e-mailed to it unsolicited in October,indicating that the government also wants to prevent further disseminationof the information in the document.
The subpoena was revealed in court papers unsealed in federal court inManhattan yesterday. The subject of the grand jury's investigation is notknown, but the A.C.L.U. said that it had been told it was not a target ofthe investigation.
The subpoena, however, raised the possibility that the government had founda new tool to stop the dissemination of secrets, one that could avoid theall but absolute constitutional prohibition on prior restraints onpublication.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/washington/14gitmo.html?ref=washington&pagewanted=print
December 14, 2006
Judge Sets Back Guantánamo Detainees
By NEIL A. LEWIS
WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 - For the first time, a court has affirmed that a lawenacted this fall accomplishes what the White House and its Congressionalsupporters sought: stripping the federal judiciary of the authority to hearchallenges from detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
In a ruling Wednesday, Judge James Robertson of the Federal District Courthere said Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a prisoner at Guantánamo, could no longercontest his detention before a federal court because, Judge Robertson said,Congress this fall explicitly eliminated his right to file a habeas corpuschallenge.
The judge said the Military Commissions Act, passed by Congress in Septemberand signed into law by President Bush the following month, was unambiguousin denying Guantánamo detainees the use of a habeas corpus statute. Like Mr.Hamdan, hundreds of other prisoners at the base have challenged theirdetention, in similar cases.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/opinion/14thu3.html?pagewanted=print
December 14, 2006
Editorial
Congress and the Benefits of Sunshine
At first, the innovation sounds simple enough: Representative-elect KirstenGillibrand has decided to post details of her work calendar on the Internetat the end of each day so constituents can tell what she is actually doingfor their money.
In fact, it is a quiet touch of revolution. The level of transparencypledged by Ms. Gillibrand, Democrat of New York - down to naming lobbyistsand fund-raisers among those she might meet with - is simply unheard of inCongress. The secrecy that cloaks the dealings of lawmakers and deep-pocketspecial interests underpinned the corruption issue that Ms. Gillibrandinvoked as voters turned Republicans from majority rule last month.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/14/AR2006121400402_pf.html
Democrats to raise wages for poor workers
By Thomas Ferraro
Reuters
Thursday, December 14, 2006; 8:40 AM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The incoming Democratic-led U.S. Congress intends togive a hand to dishwashers, fast-food cooks and America's other poorest-paidworkers by raising the federal minimum wage for the first time in a decade.
With the gap between rich and poor widening, Democrats promised such a payhike as a part of their campaign that saw them win control of both chambersof Congress in the November 7 elections from President George W. Bush'sRepublicans.
With the new 110th Congress set to convene on January 4, Democrats vow avote soon on a bill to raise the minimum wage over two years to $7.25 perhour from $5.15 per hour. And they seem positioned to make the popularmeasure law.
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AlterNet
http://www.alternet.org/rights/44978/
The Government's Assault on Press Freedom
By William Bennett Turner, San Francisco Chronicle
Posted on December 12, 2006, Printed on December 14, 2006
Vladimir Posner, the former Soviet journalist, used to claim the press wasfreer in the Soviet Union than it was in the United States. This was duringGlasnost, as the Soviet empire was disintegrating. Posner explained that thegovernment was dysfunctional, so journalists did not have to worry about theofficial censors, and the media had not been privatized, so journalists werenot accountable to commercial sponsors and advertisers. The result was akind of anarchic freedom. The press was free, but only for a brief window intime.
The window in America once was open wide and, I thought, permanently so. Iused to tell my students on the first day of class that we had the freestspeech and press in the world. I can't do that anymore.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/13/AR2006121301906_pf.html
McCain Inc.?
By Robert D. Novak
Thursday, December 14, 2006; A31
Some 30 invited corporate representatives and other lobbyists gathered atthe Phoenix Park Hotel on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning to hear two seniormainstream Republican senators pitch the 2008 presidential campaign of Sen.John McCain. They were selling him to establishment Republicans as theestablishment's candidate. Nothing could be further from McCain'sguerrilla-style presidential run in 2000, which nearly stopped George W.Bush.
Invitations to Tuesday's event were sent by Trent Lott, the newly electedSenate minority whip. Over coffee, Lott and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) pushedMcCain, though neither previously was seen as a McCainiac. They were not forMcCain in 2000, and neither were the assembled party activists.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/business/14scene.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1166108983-BlpQu9Ph3clL2nmyAqsEvg
December 14, 2006
Recalculating the Costs of Global Climate Change
By HAL R. VARIAN
The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change was released Oct. 30 andbecame front-page news because of its striking conclusion that we shouldimmediately invest 1 percent of world economic activity (referred to asglobal gross domestic product in the report) to reduce the impact of globalwarming. The British report warned that failing to do so could risk futureeconomic damages equivalent to a reduction of up to 20 percent in globalG.D.P.
These figures are substantially higher than earlier estimates of the costsof global warming, and environmental economists have studied the 700-pagereport to try to figure out why the numbers are so large.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/13/AR2006121301593_pf.html
Clinton and Giuliani Have the Early Edge For '08, Poll Shows
By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 14, 2006; A03
New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) and former New York mayor RudolphW. Giuliani (R), who briefly competed against each other in a Senate race in2000, hold early leads over potential rivals for their parties' 2008presidential nominations, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Clinton has a clear head start over other prospective Democratic candidates,with Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), who only a month ago expressed interest inthe 2008 race, running second and former senator John Edwards (N.C.), theparty's 2004 vice presidential nominee, in third.
Giuliani's advantage in the Republican race appears more tenuous: He holds anarrow lead over Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), who is far ahead of Giuliani inorganizing a presidential campaign. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, whohas not disclosed his plans for 2008, is well back in third.
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Newsweek
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/daniel_c_dennett/2006/12/a_pledge_of_allegiance.html
Protecting Democracy Comes Before Promoting Faith
This week's question could not be more important. Events around the world inrecent years amply demonstrate that the religious freedom we enjoy in theUnited States is one of the essential building blocks of our democracy.
What we tend to lose sight of, however, is the price we must pay for thisreligious freedom: we must commit ourselves to the First Amendment principleof separation of church and state even when the principle works against theinterests of our particular religion.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." This wise maxim, applied to the FirstAmendment principle of the separation of church and state, has permitted theprinciple to drift into disrepair. People are encouraged to think that whilethere may be all sorts of borderline cases and vexing conundrums about justwhere to draw the line, examining them will only arouse anxiety anddiscord--so let's just cover everything with a fine fog of pious, presumedconsensus. We all honor the First Amendment and that's that, and that'sfine. So it would be, if it weren't for the steady pressure of those whowould exploit our benign neglect, encroaching gradually on what makes theprinciple work-to the extent that it does.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/13/AR2006121302200_pf.html
Ways & Means
After 35 Years in the House, Charlie Rangel Has the Power. But There AreStill Taxing Times Ahead for the Man From Harlem.
By Wil Haygood
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 14, 2006; C01
Back then, on the streets of Harlem, he'd take a full swing at his foes. Hewas a high school dropout, a dead-end kid until he picked himself up and puton that military uniform. In the Korean War he fought like hell, broughtback a couple of medals, too.
After he came home, he set himself on a course straight as a ruler: college,law school, assistant U.S. attorney, politics.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?emc=tnt&tntget=2006/12/10/opinion/WE_
Offender.1.html&tntemail0=y
December 10, 2006
Long Island | Westchester
Rush to Judgment on Sex Offenders
New York may soon join the 17 states that lock people up for crimes theymight commit. Among the bad ideas on Gov. George Pataki's to-do list forthis week's special legislative session is a civil confinement bill underwhich imprisoned sex offenders who are deemed too dangerous to be releasedwould be held involuntarily in hospitals after their sentences end.
Civil confinement has support across the political spectrum - who couldpossibly object to keeping sexual predators away from children, after all? -and so the negotiations in Albany are over details, like how much to protectinmates' due-process rights, who forms the committees that make confinementdecisions and what specific crimes and habits qualify someone as a sexualpredator.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16234582.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Dec. 14, 2006
'08 CAMPAIGN
Why Obama should run
BY GEORGE F. WILL
georgewill@washpost.com
New Hampshire was recently brightened by the presence of Barack Obama, 45,who, calling the fuss about him ''baffling,'' made his first trip in 45years to that state, and not under duress. Because he is young, is just twoyears distant from a brief career as a state legislator and has negligiblenational-security experience, an Obama presidential candidacy could have aporcelain brittleness. But if he wants to be president -- it will not be amoral failing if he decides that he does not, at least not now -- this isthe time for him to reach for the brass ring. There are four reasons why.
. One can be an intriguing novelty only once. If he waits to run, the lasthalf-century suggests that the wait could be for eight years (see reasonfour, below). In 2016, he will be only 55, but there will be many fresherfaces.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16238524.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Dec. 14, 2006
GOP governor could name new senator
JOE KAFKA
Associated Press
PIERRE, S.D. - Control of the U.S. Senate could be determined byRepublican Gov. Mike Rounds if a replacement must be named for DemocraticSen. Tim Johnson.
State law would allow the governor to appoint a temporary replacementfor a vacant Senate seat until the next general election in 2008, whenJohnson's term expires.
Johnson, 59, underwent late-night brain surgery in Washington afterbeing hospitalizes for stroke-like symptoms.
Rounds said in a statement Wednesday: "Our prayers are with Tim,Barbara and their family. We are hopeful of good news for our friend andcolleague."
Rounds' press secretary, Mark Johnston, said early Thursday thatRounds had nothing else to say.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/13/AR2006121301779_pf.html
New Congress Is More Trusted Than President
By Charles Babington and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 14, 2006; A03
Americans trust Democratic lawmakers more than President Bush to handle thenation's toughest problems, including the Iraq war, and a quarter ofRepublicans are glad that Democrats have won control of Congress, aWashington Post-ABC News poll finds.
At the same time, however, most Americans want lawmakers and the presidentto work together rather than pursue separate agendas. They also have modesthopes about how much the new Congress will be able to accomplish.
The degree to which congressional leaders can sustain and capitalize oninitial goodwill is questionable, because the No. 1 issue for most Americansis perhaps the most difficult for Congress and the White House: Iraq.Forty-four percent of respondents said the Iraq war is the most importantproblem facing the government, easily eclipsing the economy -- the topconcern for 10 percent -- and health care, No. 1 for 6 percent.
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The Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/saul_singer/2006/12/if_israel_falls_the_west_follo.html
If Israel Falls, the West Follows
Jerusalem, Israel - A radical Islamic front, led by Iran and includingHezbollah, Hamas, and Al-Qaeda, is making a bid to expand its brand oftheocratic rule throughout the Muslim world, with the aim of dominating theWest as well. If the U.S. retreats in the face of this challenge, militantIslamism will advance.
Israel may or may not be the first victim of this advance, but we will notbe the last. As the 9/11 attacks illustrated, the Islamists have tired ofpretending that Israel is their only, or even primary enemy. As the Iraniansput it, Israel is the "Little Satan," while the U.S. is the "Great Satan."
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/13/AR2006121301918_pf.html
House Win Adds Insult to Injury for DeLay
By Sylvia Moreno and Chris Cillizza
Washington Post Staff Writer and washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Thursday, December 14, 2006; A04
AUSTIN, Dec. 13 -- Former congressman Ciro Rodriguez's victory in a Houserunoff election Tuesday in Texas not only allowed Democrats to pick up their30th seat of the 2006 elections but served as a final rebuke to one of thearchitects of the Republican House majority: Tom DeLay.
The former congressman from Texas was the mastermind of a 2003 redrawing ofcongressional lines in the state that led to the removal of six HouseDemocrats in the 2004 elections.
Two years later, DeLay's fortunes have suffered a near-total reversal, asthe redistricting map that once seemed certain to cement his legacy and GOPmajorities for years has instead led to the end of that career and may wellbe a building block for a reenergized Democratic Party in the state.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/13/AR2006121302293_pf.html
Holocaust Conference Brings Disbelief on All Sides
By Michael Powell and Robin Shulman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 14, 2006; A02
NEW YORK -- They sent congratulatory telegrams to Hamas, their rabbisadvised Yasser Arafat (and took a fee for their trouble), and they stoodoutside the White House wagging signs -- "Judaism Has No Right to Rule overANY PART of the Holy Land" -- to protest a November visit by Israeli PrimeMinister Ehud Olmert.
But even by the standards of Neturei Karta, these most ultra ofultra-orthodox Jewish Hasids took a step into the world of the very strange,if not the meshuga, or crazy, when they showed up as honored guests at aconference of Holocaust skeptics and deniers in Tehran. With a hug and asmile for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Rabbi Aharon Cohen walkedinto a conference room with former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke,discredited academics, and more than a few white supremacists and served upa rousing welcome speech.
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The New York Times
http://happydays.blogs.nytimes.com/
December 13, 2006, 9:02 pm
Love on the Brain
By Daniel Goleman
A radio interviewer in Dublin recently asked me why, in my view, people inIreland were no happier now that their booming economy had brought them asudden tide of prosperity. In answering, I cited well-known data showingthat once people leave poverty and are able to satisfy their basic needs,there is little to no correlation between earnings and happiness. Or as theBeatles put it, "Money can't buy me love."
Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel-winning psychologist at Princeton, has explainedthe paradox of the unhappy rich in terms of "the hedonic treadmill": as weearn more income, our material expectations ratchet inexorably upward, sothere's never enough money. The chase for ever more expensive pleasuresnever ends. As a result, the rich end up needing more to be as satisfied asthe poor are with less money and lower expectations.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
FLORIDA DIGEST December 14, 2006
**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.
=
From: Paul Harris, Publisher
The Independent
www.OurIndy.com
Do you have plans for either Thursday or Friday evening this week? If notcan we suggest two things that might be of interest?
On Thursday evening (December 14) our good friends at the South FloridaLambda Chorale are performing their holiday concert at 8:00 pm at theBroward Main Library Auditorium (100 S. Andrews Ave. Fort Lauderdale). Thereis lots of affordable parking nearby. Fun is the hallmark of the LambdaChorale. Amongst the songs they will be performing are "Baby, It's ColdOutside," "In The Mood," "There's No Place Like Home," "Do You Hear What IHear," and, of course, "I'll Be Home For Christmas." Tickets are $25.00.You can order them at their web site
(http://www.freewebs.com/lambdachorale/ordertix.htm)
or by phone(866-937-4644), or at the door on the night. The last show I saw at thisvenue was a lot of fun. See you there!!
The following night, Friday (December 15), the folks on Wilton Drive arehaving their first "Art Walk." It starts at 7 and goes on until 10pm. Theidea is the brainchild of Mary Charapko of the Ellen Charapko Gallery. FromFive Points the first business to be a part of the event is Carol Moran'swonderful "New Moon" bar which appeals to a lesbian clientele (although ALL,and I mean all, are welcome). The last business heading south that is a partof the event is Art Expressions at 1212 NE 4th Avenue, which currently has ashow of affordable art from which people are encouraged to find presents fortheir friends. Along the way store owners who are part of the event areserving wine and cheese or other refreshments to those wandering down WiltonDrive and into the various businesses taking part.
more ....
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/12/13/Hillsborough/Parental_okays_not_ne.shtml
Parental okays not needed, board says
Divided school officials vote that joining clubs shouldn't require a note.
By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK, Times Staff Writer
Published December 13, 2006
TAMPA - In a vote prompted by controversy over creating a gay-straightalliance in a local high school, the Hillsborough School Board opted not torequire students to get parental permission to join a club.
School Board members agreed parents need better information and moreawareness about the clubs their children join.
But they said having parents sign permission slips for their kids to join aclub is not the answer. The board rejected that concept, as recommended bysuperintendent MaryEllen Elia, with a 4-2 vote Tuesday before a small butdivided audience, primarily from east Hillsborough.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/16234147.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Dec. 14, 2006
COUNTY COMMISSION
County hires ex-commissioner Jim Scott as lobbyistThe hiring of former Commissioner Jim Scott as a lobbyist and the approvalof extra money for a park were among the decisions at a 14-hour CountyCommission meeting.
BY AMY SHERMAN
asherman@MiamiHerald.com
Former Broward County Commissioner Jim Scott, who lost his bid forreelection last month, will now become a paid county lobbyist.
Scott's law firm, Tripp Scott, will be paid $60,000 to lobby on thecommission's behalf in Tallahassee during the upcoming legislative session.
The commission agreed to hire Scott at the end of a 14-hour marathon meetingthat finished shortly after midnight Tuesday.
Commissioners pLowed their way through an agenda of 130 or so items --interrupted for a lunch with legislators. They wrestled with severalcomplicated issues, including negotiations with the Baltimore Orioles andthe rising costs for a park being built in Lauderhill.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fteacher14dec14,0,7405877.story?coll=sfla-news-florida
Teacher union sues to challenge Florida's merit-pay program
The Associated Press
December 14, 2006
TALLAHASSEE · The Florida Education Association on Wednesday sued tochallenge the constitutionality of a provision in the current state budgetthat creates the nation's first statewide merit pay program for teachers.
The FEA, Florida's statewide teachers union, contends the language used inthe budget violates the state constitution by failing to provide specificconditions for using money appropriated for the program. The lawsuit wasfiled in Circuit Court here.
"We had hoped it wouldn't come to this," FEA president Andy Ford said. "Thedeadlines imposed on us have made it necessary to file this complaint atthis time. We had to preserve the rights of our members and call attentionto some critical unanswered questions."
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The St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/12/13/State/Executed_man_takes_34.shtml
Executed man takes 34 minutes to die
By CHRIS TISCH and CURTIS KRUEGER
Published December 13, 2006
STARKE - A death row inmate who had argued that Florida's executionprocedures were cruel hung on for much longer than usual after his lethalinjection Wednesday evening, once again calling into question the way thestate kills condemned prisoners.
Angel Diaz winced, his body shuddered and he remained alive for 34 minutes,nearly three times as long as the last two executions.
Department of Corrections officials said they had to take the rare step ofgiving Diaz a second dose of drugs to kill him.A second dose is part of their protocol and was anticipated in this casebecause Diaz had liver disease, which they said can slow the time it takesthe drugs to metabolize, they said.
[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]
#####
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
From: Paul Harris, Publisher
The Independent
www.OurIndy.com
Do you have plans for either Thursday or Friday evening this week? If notcan we suggest two things that might be of interest?
On Thursday evening (December 14) our good friends at the South FloridaLambda Chorale are performing their holiday concert at 8:00 pm at theBroward Main Library Auditorium (100 S. Andrews Ave. Fort Lauderdale). Thereis lots of affordable parking nearby. Fun is the hallmark of the LambdaChorale. Amongst the songs they will be performing are "Baby, It's ColdOutside," "In The Mood," "There's No Place Like Home," "Do You Hear What IHear," and, of course, "I'll Be Home For Christmas." Tickets are $25.00.You can order them at their web site
(http://www.freewebs.com/lambdachorale/ordertix.htm)
or by phone(866-937-4644), or at the door on the night. The last show I saw at thisvenue was a lot of fun. See you there!!
The following night, Friday (December 15), the folks on Wilton Drive arehaving their first "Art Walk." It starts at 7 and goes on until 10pm. Theidea is the brainchild of Mary Charapko of the Ellen Charapko Gallery. FromFive Points the first business to be a part of the event is Carol Moran'swonderful "New Moon" bar which appeals to a lesbian clientele (although ALL,and I mean all, are welcome). The last business heading south that is a partof the event is Art Expressions at 1212 NE 4th Avenue, which currently has ashow of affordable art from which people are encouraged to find presents fortheir friends. Along the way store owners who are part of the event areserving wine and cheese or other refreshments to those wandering down WiltonDrive and into the various businesses taking part.
more ....
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/12/13/Hillsborough/Parental_okays_not_ne.shtml
Parental okays not needed, board says
Divided school officials vote that joining clubs shouldn't require a note.
By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK, Times Staff Writer
Published December 13, 2006
TAMPA - In a vote prompted by controversy over creating a gay-straightalliance in a local high school, the Hillsborough School Board opted not torequire students to get parental permission to join a club.
School Board members agreed parents need better information and moreawareness about the clubs their children join.
But they said having parents sign permission slips for their kids to join aclub is not the answer. The board rejected that concept, as recommended bysuperintendent MaryEllen Elia, with a 4-2 vote Tuesday before a small butdivided audience, primarily from east Hillsborough.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/16234147.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Dec. 14, 2006
COUNTY COMMISSION
County hires ex-commissioner Jim Scott as lobbyistThe hiring of former Commissioner Jim Scott as a lobbyist and the approvalof extra money for a park were among the decisions at a 14-hour CountyCommission meeting.
BY AMY SHERMAN
asherman@MiamiHerald.com
Former Broward County Commissioner Jim Scott, who lost his bid forreelection last month, will now become a paid county lobbyist.
Scott's law firm, Tripp Scott, will be paid $60,000 to lobby on thecommission's behalf in Tallahassee during the upcoming legislative session.
The commission agreed to hire Scott at the end of a 14-hour marathon meetingthat finished shortly after midnight Tuesday.
Commissioners pLowed their way through an agenda of 130 or so items --interrupted for a lunch with legislators. They wrestled with severalcomplicated issues, including negotiations with the Baltimore Orioles andthe rising costs for a park being built in Lauderhill.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fteacher14dec14,0,7405877.story?coll=sfla-news-florida
Teacher union sues to challenge Florida's merit-pay program
The Associated Press
December 14, 2006
TALLAHASSEE · The Florida Education Association on Wednesday sued tochallenge the constitutionality of a provision in the current state budgetthat creates the nation's first statewide merit pay program for teachers.
The FEA, Florida's statewide teachers union, contends the language used inthe budget violates the state constitution by failing to provide specificconditions for using money appropriated for the program. The lawsuit wasfiled in Circuit Court here.
"We had hoped it wouldn't come to this," FEA president Andy Ford said. "Thedeadlines imposed on us have made it necessary to file this complaint atthis time. We had to preserve the rights of our members and call attentionto some critical unanswered questions."
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The St. Petersburg Times
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/12/13/State/Executed_man_takes_34.shtml
Executed man takes 34 minutes to die
By CHRIS TISCH and CURTIS KRUEGER
Published December 13, 2006
STARKE - A death row inmate who had argued that Florida's executionprocedures were cruel hung on for much longer than usual after his lethalinjection Wednesday evening, once again calling into question the way thestate kills condemned prisoners.
Angel Diaz winced, his body shuddered and he remained alive for 34 minutes,nearly three times as long as the last two executions.
Department of Corrections officials said they had to take the rare step ofgiving Diaz a second dose of drugs to kill him.A second dose is part of their protocol and was anticipated in this casebecause Diaz had liver disease, which they said can slow the time it takesthe drugs to metabolize, they said.
[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]
#####
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
GLBT DIGEST - December 13, 2006
**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.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6398794.html?title=Article&spacedesc=news
w w w . b r o a d c a s t i n g c a b l e . c o m
Profanity Response Expected By Midweek
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/11/2006 10:01:00 AM
Look for broadcasters, led by Fox, to file their responses to the FCC'sdefense of its indecency enforcement regime by midweek.
The legal back-and-fourth in the U.S. Appeals Court for the Second Circuitin New York is over profanity rulings the FCC issued, then re-issued afterbroadcasters took them to court, reversing rulings against ABC and CBS andsaying the court should drop the case.
the two profanity rulings remaining are against Fox for cussing it allowedby Nicole Ritchie and Cher on Billboard Awards shows in 2002 and 2003 thatthe FCC defended last week in its brief to the court. The commission alsodefended its indecency enforcement powers, saying it was correct in rulingthe broadcasts were indecent and profane and that it was reasonable to holdthat contemporary community standards for broadasting don't allow thegratuitous uttering of "the 'F-Word. and the 'S-Word.'"
=
The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/opinion/13dowd.html
December 13, 2006
Will Hillzilla Crush Obambi?
By MAUREEN DOWD
MANCHESTER, N.H.
So the question of the moment is: Which would be a greater handicap in apresidential bid, gender or race?
The answer will depend, of course, on how manly the woman, and how white theblack.
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama both straddle two worlds,trying to profit from both.
Despite her desire to seem far more experienced than her rival, Hillary'srole in high-level politics has been mostly that of a spouse - a first ladywho felt that she got elected too. The Yale-trained lawyer had one pump inthe "The West Wing" and one in "Desperate Housewives," one foot in the worldof hotshot alphas ruling the globe and one in the world of middle-age womenhumiliated by their husbands' dallying with office cupcakes.
She won her Senate seat only after becoming sympathetic as a victim. And shestill struggles with the balance between her Mars and Venus sides, sometimesshowing her political steel and other times fetching coffee for malecolleagues.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16226357.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Wed, Dec. 13, 2006
Holocaust conference was all about deceit
OUR OPINION: A HANDFUL OF EXTREMISTS CANNOT CHANGE OR DIMINISH REALITY
No one should be deceived by the farce that took place in Tehran this weekwith a gathering of nobodies who attempted to deny that the Holocaust evertook place. The conference was a cynical and callous attempt by IranianPresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to project himself as chief scold and criticof Israel and the biggest bully in the Middle East. If the conferencesucceeded at anything, though, it was in identifying Ahmadinejad as thebiggest scoundrel in the Middle East since Saddam Hussein.
A despot's tactic
Most of the international community, including the United States and GreatBritain, roundly condemned the conference and Ahmadinejad for attempting toperpetuate such a ridiculously contemptuous idea. The White House called it''an affront to the entire civilized world, as well as to the traditionalIranian values of tolerance and mutual respect.'' Britain's Tony Blair saidthe conference was ``a symbol of sectarianism and hatred.''
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201392_pf.html
Beyond Baker-Hamilton
One Approach to a Last Try at Stability in Iraq
By Barry R. McCaffrey
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; A21
A collapse of the Iraqi state would be catastrophic -- for the people ofIraq, for the Middle East and for America's strategic interests. We need anew political and military approach to head off this impending disaster --one crafted with bipartisan congressional support. But Baker-Hamilton isn'tit.
Our objective should be a large-scale U.S. military withdrawal within thenext 36 months, leaving in place an Iraqi government in a stable and mostlypeaceful country that does not threaten its six neighboring states and doesnot intend to possess weapons of mass destruction.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201112_pf.html
A Pragmatic Left in Latin America
By Jaime Daremblum
Special to washingtonpost.com's Think Tank Town
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; 12:00 AM
Not so long ago, Brazilian president Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva was widelyconsidered a Castroite intent on a Communist-style centralization ofBrazil's economy and the subversion of neighboring democracies. Yet afterfour years of surprisingly responsible governance, Lula no longer sets offalarm bells in Washington. American policymakers should keep him in mindbefore dismissing the new leaders of Nicaragua and Ecuador as authoritarianextremists in the same vein as Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
Those leaders, Daniel Ortega and Rafael Correa, are both well known men ofthe left. As the boss of Nicaragua's Sandinista party, Ortega spent much ofthe 1980s turning his country into a Soviet client state, while fighting offthe U.S.-backed Contra rebels. Correa, meanwhile, is a self-described"personal friend" of Chavez who wants to fundamentally overhaul theEcuadorian constitution.
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The Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003474414&zsection_id=268883724&slug=floyd13&date=20061213
Floyd J. McKay / Guest columnist
Yet another tough task for the Bush family's fixer
Historians attempting to decipher the rise and fall of President George W.Bush will need to dabble in psychology as well, and what is sometimes knownas the "famous father syndrome," the impact of people such as George H.W.Bush on their children who attempt to follow in their steps.
We are reminded again of the role of the elder Bush in the actions of hisson, as we examine the work of James Baker, co-chair and dominant member ofthe Iraq Study Group, for it is Baker who for half a century has been theBush family's fixer.
When the going gets tough, Baker gets going. The closest friend of GeorgeH.W. Bush since the 1940s, Baker helped the elder Bush out of politicalbinds and ran his campaigns. Baker also masterminded George W. Bush'sFlorida recount in 2000.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/opinion/13cordesman.1.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
One War We Can Still Win
By ANTHONY H. CORDESMAN
Washington
NO one can return from visiting the front in Afghanistan without realizingthere is a very real risk that the United States and NATO will lose theirwar with Al Qaeda, the Taliban and the other Islamist movements fighting theAfghan government.
Declassified intelligence made available during my recent trip there showedthat major Al Qaeda, Taliban, Haqqani Network and Hezb-i-Islami sanctuariesexist in Pakistan, and that the areas they operate in within Afghanistanhave increased fourfold over the last year.
Indeed, a great many unhappy trends have picked up speed lately: UnitedStates intelligence experts in Afghanistan report that suicide attacks rosefrom 18 in the first 11 months of 2005 to 116 in the first 11 months of2006. Direct fire attacks went up from 1,347 to 3,824 during the sameperiod, improvised explosive devices from 530 to 1,297 and other attacksfrom 269 to 479. The number of attacks on Afghan forces increased from 713to 2,892, attacks on coalition forces from 919 to 2,496 and attacks onAfghan government officials are 2.5 times what they were.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/opinion/13wed2.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Editorial
Lobbying the Jury
We are disappointed that the Supreme Court has upheld a defendant'sconviction even though spectators at his trial put prejudicial material insight of the jury. Fortunately, the court made clear that its ruling thisweek was based only on the unusual way the issue was raised, and that it wasnot deciding when this kind of politicking from the audience violated theConstitution. The decision should prompt courts to think about how to ensurethat courtroom atmosphere does not deprive defendants of a fair trial.
At Mathew Musladin's murder trial in California, the dead man's family satin the front of the spectators' gallery wearing buttons with their relative'spicture. The key issue at trial was which of the two men was the aggressorin a fight, and the photographs were essentially an argument that thedeceased was the innocent victim.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/world/middleeast/13saudi.html?ei=5094&en=9b8923e7095544b1&hp=&ex=1166072400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Saudis Say They Might Back Sunnis if U.S. Leaves Iraq
By HELENE COOPER
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 - Saudi Arabia has told the Bush administration that itmight provide financial backing to Iraqi Sunnis in any war against Iraq'sShiites if the United States pulls its troops out of Iraq, according toAmerican and Arab diplomats.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia conveyed that message to Vice President DickCheney two weeks ago during Mr. Cheney's whirlwind visit to Riyadh, theofficials said. During the visit, King Abdullah also expressed strongopposition to diplomatic talks between the United States and Iran, andpushed for Washington to encourage the resumption of peace talks betweenIsrael and the Palestinians, senior Bush administration officials said.
The Saudi warning reflects fears among America's Sunni Arab allies aboutIran's rising influence in Iraq, coupled with Tehran's nuclear ambitions.King Abdullah II of Jordan has also expressed concern about rising Shiiteinfluence, and about the prospect that the Shiite-dominated government woulduse Iraqi troops against the Sunni population.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201310_pf.html
66% Think U.S. Spies on Its Citizens
52% in Poll Back Hearings on Handling of Domestic Surveillance
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; A19
Two-thirds of Americans believe that the FBI and other federal agencies areintruding on privacy rights as part of terrorism investigations, but theyremain divided over whether such tactics are justified, according to aWashington Post-ABC News poll released yesterday.
The poll also showed that 52 percent of respondents favor congressionalhearings on how the Bush administration has handled surveillance, detaineesand other terrorism-related issues, compared with 45 percent who areopposed. That question was posed to half of the poll's 1,005-person randomsample.
Overall, the poll -- which includes questions that have been asked since2002 and 2003 -- showed a continued skepticism about whether the governmentis adequately protecting privacy rights as it conducts terrorism-relatedinvestigations.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201169_pf.html
Appellate Ruling Pushes Skilling Closer to Prison
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; D03
Former Enron chief executive Jeffrey K. Skilling must report to a Waseca,Minn., prison soon, an appeals court judge ruled yesterday, becauseSkilling's appeal will not result in the reversal of all 19 of his criminalconvictions.
Skilling, 53, had prepared to begin serving his 24 1/2 -year sentenceyesterday. But an eleventh-hour reprieve from the U.S. Court of Appeals forthe 5th Circuit late Monday kept him from flying to Minnesota. The courtsaid it needed more time to consider Skilling's plea to remain free pendingappeal.
Yesterday, in a two-page order, Circuit Judge Patrick E. Higginbothamreversed course. The judge cited "serious frailties" with Skilling'sconviction on conspiracy, securities fraud and insider-trading charges by aHouston jury in May. In another Enron case last summer, the appeals courtinvalidated a legal theory the government had used, casting doubt on thesurvivability of many of Skilling's convictions.
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Palm Beach Post
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/12/13/m18a_moredems_edit_1213.html
More tests for Pelosi
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Voters in Louisiana may believe that William Jefferson is fit to serve inCongress, but his party doesn't have to believe that he deserves a keycommittee assignment.
Last weekend, despite predictions that he will be indicted soon on briberycharges, William Jefferson won another term in the House from his NewOrleans district. Former aides have testified about payments to Rep.Jefferson, and the FBI claims that agents found $90,000 in bribe money inhis freezer.
Last June, the Democratic leadership removed Rep. Jefferson from his seat onthe Ways and Means Committee, which writes tax legislation. Next month, theDemocrats will be in the majority, and incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi haspledged to stress ethics more than the corruption-tolerant Republicans. So,she correctly has kept Rep. Jefferson off Ways and Means for the newCongress. She could send an even stronger signal by also denying Rep.Jefferson a seat on the Budget Committee. If no charges are filed, the partycan reassess.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/washington/13ethics.html?ei=5094&en=dfde954d8fec2276&hp=&ex=1166072400&adxnnl=0&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1166018567-ZP8KxWJg/SxWmpjwIQbhRg&pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Democrats Consider Outside Ethics Panel
By CARL HULSE
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 - House Democrats are seriously exploring the creationof an independent ethics arm to enforce new rules on travel, lobbying, giftsand other issues that Democrats intend to put in place on taking power nextmonth.
Senior party officials said Tuesday that Representative Nancy Pelosi ofCalifornia, the incoming speaker, had consulted with Representative John A.Boehner of Ohio, the minority leader, on forming a bipartisan group toexamine outside enforcement. The goal would be to have the group report backin the spring.
An independent Congressional watchdog, if approved, would be a major breakwith tradition. Some lawmakers say House and Senate members have soleresponsibility for policing themselves when it comes to internal rules.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/us/13hacker.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
800,000 Affected by Data Breach, U.C.L.A. Says
By BRAD STONE
The University of California, Los Angeles, said yesterday that hackers hadgained access to a restricted university database, exposing the privateinformation of 800,000 current and former faculty, staff and students.
U.C.L.A. said there was no evidence that any of the data had been misused,but it has contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which isconducting an inquiry.
The university is the latest among a growing list of companies, colleges andgovernment agencies to reveal that its computer security had been breached.The U.C.L.A. breach appears to be the largest such case among universities.The City University of New York, Ohio University, the University of SouthernCalifornia and Tufts University have all suffered computer break-ins thatexposed personal information.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/world/asia/13cnd-gao.html?ei=5094&en=6f1de4172eb8a57f&hp=&ex=1166072400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Chinese Rights Lawyer Is Put on Trial
By JIM YARDLEY
BEIJING, Dec. 13 - An outspoken Chinese human rights lawyer was put on trial
this week on charges of inciting subversion, but the authorities kept such
tight control over the proceedings that his lawyer and his family were not
given a chance to attend, his lawyer said today.
Gao Zhisheng, the human rights lawyer, was tried Tuesday at Beijing's No. 1
People's Intermediate Court. The proceeding lasted less than a day and was
conducted in open court, but Mr. Gao's family and their chosen lawyer, Mo
Shaoping, were never notified. No verdict has been announced.
"This hearing did not follow the proper legal procedures," Mr. Mo said.
"They didn't even inform the family."
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/opinion/13wed1.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Editorial
Without Deliberate Speed
The claims of calm deliberation emerging from the White House this week aremaddening. The search for a new plan for Iraq seems to be taking place withas much urgency as the deliberations over a new color for the dollar bill.
In Baghdad yesterday, a suicide bomber killed at least 70 people, most ofthem Shiite laborers whose only sin was looking for work. In Washington,meanwhile, President Bush held a series of carefully stage-managed meetingswith officials and outside experts whose common credential appeared to betheir opposition to the recommendations of James Baker's Iraq Study Group.
To top it off, White House aides told reporters that - despite earlierpromises of a pre-Christmas speech by Mr. Bush - the country now should notexpect any announcement of a new strategy until early next year. Thepresident's spokesman, Tony Snow, said that "it's a complex business, andthere are a lot of things to take into account," adding that Mr. Bush "wantsto make sure it's done right."
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/12/science/earth/12arcti.html?pagewanted=print
December 12, 2006
By 2040, Greenhouse Gases Could Lead to an Open Arctic Sea in Summers
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
New studies project that the Arctic Ocean could be mostly open water insummer by 2040 - several decades earlier than previously expected - partlyas a result of global warming caused by emissions of greenhouse gases.
The projections come from computer simulations of climate and ice and fromdirect measurements showing that the amount of ice coverage has beendeclining for 30 years.
The latest modeling study, being published on Tuesday in the journalGeophysical Research Letters, was led by Marika Holland of the NationalCenter for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201351_pf.html
The GOP's Iraq Two-Step
By Harold Meyerson
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; A21
Where do the Republicans' likely 2008 presidential candidates come down onIraq?
You might think that a decent regard for the opinions of their fellowcitizens, as registered in last month's elections, would rouse them fromtheir Bushian dreams of victory in what has become a savage intra-Islamicwar where the very notion of an American triumph makes no sense whatever.
You might think that, with the president's approval rating now sunk tonear-Nixonian depths, Republican leaders, for their own good as well astheir country's, might want to withdraw our men and women from Iraq beforethe next election.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/business/13legal.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
U.S. Moves to Restrain Prosecutors
By LYNNLEY BROWNING
The Justice Department placed new restraints on federal prosecutorsconducting corporate investigations yesterday, easing tactics adopted in thewake of the Enron collapse.
The changes were outlined in a memorandum written by Paul J. McNulty, thedeputy attorney general. Under the revisions, federal prosecutors will nolonger have blanket authority to ask routinely that a company underinvestigation waive the confidentiality of its legal communications or riskbeing indicted. Instead, they will need written approval for waivers fromthe deputy attorney general, and can make such requests only rarely.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6398794.html?title=Article&spacedesc=news
w w w . b r o a d c a s t i n g c a b l e . c o m
Profanity Response Expected By Midweek
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/11/2006 10:01:00 AM
Look for broadcasters, led by Fox, to file their responses to the FCC'sdefense of its indecency enforcement regime by midweek.
The legal back-and-fourth in the U.S. Appeals Court for the Second Circuitin New York is over profanity rulings the FCC issued, then re-issued afterbroadcasters took them to court, reversing rulings against ABC and CBS andsaying the court should drop the case.
the two profanity rulings remaining are against Fox for cussing it allowedby Nicole Ritchie and Cher on Billboard Awards shows in 2002 and 2003 thatthe FCC defended last week in its brief to the court. The commission alsodefended its indecency enforcement powers, saying it was correct in rulingthe broadcasts were indecent and profane and that it was reasonable to holdthat contemporary community standards for broadasting don't allow thegratuitous uttering of "the 'F-Word. and the 'S-Word.'"
=
The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/opinion/13dowd.html
December 13, 2006
Will Hillzilla Crush Obambi?
By MAUREEN DOWD
MANCHESTER, N.H.
So the question of the moment is: Which would be a greater handicap in apresidential bid, gender or race?
The answer will depend, of course, on how manly the woman, and how white theblack.
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama both straddle two worlds,trying to profit from both.
Despite her desire to seem far more experienced than her rival, Hillary'srole in high-level politics has been mostly that of a spouse - a first ladywho felt that she got elected too. The Yale-trained lawyer had one pump inthe "The West Wing" and one in "Desperate Housewives," one foot in the worldof hotshot alphas ruling the globe and one in the world of middle-age womenhumiliated by their husbands' dallying with office cupcakes.
She won her Senate seat only after becoming sympathetic as a victim. And shestill struggles with the balance between her Mars and Venus sides, sometimesshowing her political steel and other times fetching coffee for malecolleagues.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16226357.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Wed, Dec. 13, 2006
Holocaust conference was all about deceit
OUR OPINION: A HANDFUL OF EXTREMISTS CANNOT CHANGE OR DIMINISH REALITY
No one should be deceived by the farce that took place in Tehran this weekwith a gathering of nobodies who attempted to deny that the Holocaust evertook place. The conference was a cynical and callous attempt by IranianPresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to project himself as chief scold and criticof Israel and the biggest bully in the Middle East. If the conferencesucceeded at anything, though, it was in identifying Ahmadinejad as thebiggest scoundrel in the Middle East since Saddam Hussein.
A despot's tactic
Most of the international community, including the United States and GreatBritain, roundly condemned the conference and Ahmadinejad for attempting toperpetuate such a ridiculously contemptuous idea. The White House called it''an affront to the entire civilized world, as well as to the traditionalIranian values of tolerance and mutual respect.'' Britain's Tony Blair saidthe conference was ``a symbol of sectarianism and hatred.''
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201392_pf.html
Beyond Baker-Hamilton
One Approach to a Last Try at Stability in Iraq
By Barry R. McCaffrey
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; A21
A collapse of the Iraqi state would be catastrophic -- for the people ofIraq, for the Middle East and for America's strategic interests. We need anew political and military approach to head off this impending disaster --one crafted with bipartisan congressional support. But Baker-Hamilton isn'tit.
Our objective should be a large-scale U.S. military withdrawal within thenext 36 months, leaving in place an Iraqi government in a stable and mostlypeaceful country that does not threaten its six neighboring states and doesnot intend to possess weapons of mass destruction.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201112_pf.html
A Pragmatic Left in Latin America
By Jaime Daremblum
Special to washingtonpost.com's Think Tank Town
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; 12:00 AM
Not so long ago, Brazilian president Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva was widelyconsidered a Castroite intent on a Communist-style centralization ofBrazil's economy and the subversion of neighboring democracies. Yet afterfour years of surprisingly responsible governance, Lula no longer sets offalarm bells in Washington. American policymakers should keep him in mindbefore dismissing the new leaders of Nicaragua and Ecuador as authoritarianextremists in the same vein as Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
Those leaders, Daniel Ortega and Rafael Correa, are both well known men ofthe left. As the boss of Nicaragua's Sandinista party, Ortega spent much ofthe 1980s turning his country into a Soviet client state, while fighting offthe U.S.-backed Contra rebels. Correa, meanwhile, is a self-described"personal friend" of Chavez who wants to fundamentally overhaul theEcuadorian constitution.
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The Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003474414&zsection_id=268883724&slug=floyd13&date=20061213
Floyd J. McKay / Guest columnist
Yet another tough task for the Bush family's fixer
Historians attempting to decipher the rise and fall of President George W.Bush will need to dabble in psychology as well, and what is sometimes knownas the "famous father syndrome," the impact of people such as George H.W.Bush on their children who attempt to follow in their steps.
We are reminded again of the role of the elder Bush in the actions of hisson, as we examine the work of James Baker, co-chair and dominant member ofthe Iraq Study Group, for it is Baker who for half a century has been theBush family's fixer.
When the going gets tough, Baker gets going. The closest friend of GeorgeH.W. Bush since the 1940s, Baker helped the elder Bush out of politicalbinds and ran his campaigns. Baker also masterminded George W. Bush'sFlorida recount in 2000.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/opinion/13cordesman.1.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
One War We Can Still Win
By ANTHONY H. CORDESMAN
Washington
NO one can return from visiting the front in Afghanistan without realizingthere is a very real risk that the United States and NATO will lose theirwar with Al Qaeda, the Taliban and the other Islamist movements fighting theAfghan government.
Declassified intelligence made available during my recent trip there showedthat major Al Qaeda, Taliban, Haqqani Network and Hezb-i-Islami sanctuariesexist in Pakistan, and that the areas they operate in within Afghanistanhave increased fourfold over the last year.
Indeed, a great many unhappy trends have picked up speed lately: UnitedStates intelligence experts in Afghanistan report that suicide attacks rosefrom 18 in the first 11 months of 2005 to 116 in the first 11 months of2006. Direct fire attacks went up from 1,347 to 3,824 during the sameperiod, improvised explosive devices from 530 to 1,297 and other attacksfrom 269 to 479. The number of attacks on Afghan forces increased from 713to 2,892, attacks on coalition forces from 919 to 2,496 and attacks onAfghan government officials are 2.5 times what they were.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/opinion/13wed2.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Editorial
Lobbying the Jury
We are disappointed that the Supreme Court has upheld a defendant'sconviction even though spectators at his trial put prejudicial material insight of the jury. Fortunately, the court made clear that its ruling thisweek was based only on the unusual way the issue was raised, and that it wasnot deciding when this kind of politicking from the audience violated theConstitution. The decision should prompt courts to think about how to ensurethat courtroom atmosphere does not deprive defendants of a fair trial.
At Mathew Musladin's murder trial in California, the dead man's family satin the front of the spectators' gallery wearing buttons with their relative'spicture. The key issue at trial was which of the two men was the aggressorin a fight, and the photographs were essentially an argument that thedeceased was the innocent victim.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/world/middleeast/13saudi.html?ei=5094&en=9b8923e7095544b1&hp=&ex=1166072400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Saudis Say They Might Back Sunnis if U.S. Leaves Iraq
By HELENE COOPER
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 - Saudi Arabia has told the Bush administration that itmight provide financial backing to Iraqi Sunnis in any war against Iraq'sShiites if the United States pulls its troops out of Iraq, according toAmerican and Arab diplomats.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia conveyed that message to Vice President DickCheney two weeks ago during Mr. Cheney's whirlwind visit to Riyadh, theofficials said. During the visit, King Abdullah also expressed strongopposition to diplomatic talks between the United States and Iran, andpushed for Washington to encourage the resumption of peace talks betweenIsrael and the Palestinians, senior Bush administration officials said.
The Saudi warning reflects fears among America's Sunni Arab allies aboutIran's rising influence in Iraq, coupled with Tehran's nuclear ambitions.King Abdullah II of Jordan has also expressed concern about rising Shiiteinfluence, and about the prospect that the Shiite-dominated government woulduse Iraqi troops against the Sunni population.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201310_pf.html
66% Think U.S. Spies on Its Citizens
52% in Poll Back Hearings on Handling of Domestic Surveillance
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; A19
Two-thirds of Americans believe that the FBI and other federal agencies areintruding on privacy rights as part of terrorism investigations, but theyremain divided over whether such tactics are justified, according to aWashington Post-ABC News poll released yesterday.
The poll also showed that 52 percent of respondents favor congressionalhearings on how the Bush administration has handled surveillance, detaineesand other terrorism-related issues, compared with 45 percent who areopposed. That question was posed to half of the poll's 1,005-person randomsample.
Overall, the poll -- which includes questions that have been asked since2002 and 2003 -- showed a continued skepticism about whether the governmentis adequately protecting privacy rights as it conducts terrorism-relatedinvestigations.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201169_pf.html
Appellate Ruling Pushes Skilling Closer to Prison
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; D03
Former Enron chief executive Jeffrey K. Skilling must report to a Waseca,Minn., prison soon, an appeals court judge ruled yesterday, becauseSkilling's appeal will not result in the reversal of all 19 of his criminalconvictions.
Skilling, 53, had prepared to begin serving his 24 1/2 -year sentenceyesterday. But an eleventh-hour reprieve from the U.S. Court of Appeals forthe 5th Circuit late Monday kept him from flying to Minnesota. The courtsaid it needed more time to consider Skilling's plea to remain free pendingappeal.
Yesterday, in a two-page order, Circuit Judge Patrick E. Higginbothamreversed course. The judge cited "serious frailties" with Skilling'sconviction on conspiracy, securities fraud and insider-trading charges by aHouston jury in May. In another Enron case last summer, the appeals courtinvalidated a legal theory the government had used, casting doubt on thesurvivability of many of Skilling's convictions.
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Palm Beach Post
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/12/13/m18a_moredems_edit_1213.html
More tests for Pelosi
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Voters in Louisiana may believe that William Jefferson is fit to serve inCongress, but his party doesn't have to believe that he deserves a keycommittee assignment.
Last weekend, despite predictions that he will be indicted soon on briberycharges, William Jefferson won another term in the House from his NewOrleans district. Former aides have testified about payments to Rep.Jefferson, and the FBI claims that agents found $90,000 in bribe money inhis freezer.
Last June, the Democratic leadership removed Rep. Jefferson from his seat onthe Ways and Means Committee, which writes tax legislation. Next month, theDemocrats will be in the majority, and incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi haspledged to stress ethics more than the corruption-tolerant Republicans. So,she correctly has kept Rep. Jefferson off Ways and Means for the newCongress. She could send an even stronger signal by also denying Rep.Jefferson a seat on the Budget Committee. If no charges are filed, the partycan reassess.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/washington/13ethics.html?ei=5094&en=dfde954d8fec2276&hp=&ex=1166072400&adxnnl=0&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1166018567-ZP8KxWJg/SxWmpjwIQbhRg&pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Democrats Consider Outside Ethics Panel
By CARL HULSE
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 - House Democrats are seriously exploring the creationof an independent ethics arm to enforce new rules on travel, lobbying, giftsand other issues that Democrats intend to put in place on taking power nextmonth.
Senior party officials said Tuesday that Representative Nancy Pelosi ofCalifornia, the incoming speaker, had consulted with Representative John A.Boehner of Ohio, the minority leader, on forming a bipartisan group toexamine outside enforcement. The goal would be to have the group report backin the spring.
An independent Congressional watchdog, if approved, would be a major breakwith tradition. Some lawmakers say House and Senate members have soleresponsibility for policing themselves when it comes to internal rules.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/us/13hacker.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
800,000 Affected by Data Breach, U.C.L.A. Says
By BRAD STONE
The University of California, Los Angeles, said yesterday that hackers hadgained access to a restricted university database, exposing the privateinformation of 800,000 current and former faculty, staff and students.
U.C.L.A. said there was no evidence that any of the data had been misused,but it has contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which isconducting an inquiry.
The university is the latest among a growing list of companies, colleges andgovernment agencies to reveal that its computer security had been breached.The U.C.L.A. breach appears to be the largest such case among universities.The City University of New York, Ohio University, the University of SouthernCalifornia and Tufts University have all suffered computer break-ins thatexposed personal information.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/world/asia/13cnd-gao.html?ei=5094&en=6f1de4172eb8a57f&hp=&ex=1166072400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Chinese Rights Lawyer Is Put on Trial
By JIM YARDLEY
BEIJING, Dec. 13 - An outspoken Chinese human rights lawyer was put on trial
this week on charges of inciting subversion, but the authorities kept such
tight control over the proceedings that his lawyer and his family were not
given a chance to attend, his lawyer said today.
Gao Zhisheng, the human rights lawyer, was tried Tuesday at Beijing's No. 1
People's Intermediate Court. The proceeding lasted less than a day and was
conducted in open court, but Mr. Gao's family and their chosen lawyer, Mo
Shaoping, were never notified. No verdict has been announced.
"This hearing did not follow the proper legal procedures," Mr. Mo said.
"They didn't even inform the family."
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/opinion/13wed1.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Editorial
Without Deliberate Speed
The claims of calm deliberation emerging from the White House this week aremaddening. The search for a new plan for Iraq seems to be taking place withas much urgency as the deliberations over a new color for the dollar bill.
In Baghdad yesterday, a suicide bomber killed at least 70 people, most ofthem Shiite laborers whose only sin was looking for work. In Washington,meanwhile, President Bush held a series of carefully stage-managed meetingswith officials and outside experts whose common credential appeared to betheir opposition to the recommendations of James Baker's Iraq Study Group.
To top it off, White House aides told reporters that - despite earlierpromises of a pre-Christmas speech by Mr. Bush - the country now should notexpect any announcement of a new strategy until early next year. Thepresident's spokesman, Tony Snow, said that "it's a complex business, andthere are a lot of things to take into account," adding that Mr. Bush "wantsto make sure it's done right."
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/12/science/earth/12arcti.html?pagewanted=print
December 12, 2006
By 2040, Greenhouse Gases Could Lead to an Open Arctic Sea in Summers
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
New studies project that the Arctic Ocean could be mostly open water insummer by 2040 - several decades earlier than previously expected - partlyas a result of global warming caused by emissions of greenhouse gases.
The projections come from computer simulations of climate and ice and fromdirect measurements showing that the amount of ice coverage has beendeclining for 30 years.
The latest modeling study, being published on Tuesday in the journalGeophysical Research Letters, was led by Marika Holland of the NationalCenter for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201351_pf.html
The GOP's Iraq Two-Step
By Harold Meyerson
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; A21
Where do the Republicans' likely 2008 presidential candidates come down onIraq?
You might think that a decent regard for the opinions of their fellowcitizens, as registered in last month's elections, would rouse them fromtheir Bushian dreams of victory in what has become a savage intra-Islamicwar where the very notion of an American triumph makes no sense whatever.
You might think that, with the president's approval rating now sunk tonear-Nixonian depths, Republican leaders, for their own good as well astheir country's, might want to withdraw our men and women from Iraq beforethe next election.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/business/13legal.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
U.S. Moves to Restrain Prosecutors
By LYNNLEY BROWNING
The Justice Department placed new restraints on federal prosecutorsconducting corporate investigations yesterday, easing tactics adopted in thewake of the Enron collapse.
The changes were outlined in a memorandum written by Paul J. McNulty, thedeputy attorney general. Under the revisions, federal prosecutors will nolonger have blanket authority to ask routinely that a company underinvestigation waive the confidentiality of its legal communications or riskbeing indicted. Instead, they will need written approval for waivers fromthe deputy attorney general, and can make such requests only rarely.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST December 13, 2006
**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.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6398794.html?title=Article&spacedesc=news
w w w . b r o a d c a s t i n g c a b l e . c o m
Profanity Response Expected By Midweek
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/11/2006 10:01:00 AM
Look for broadcasters, led by Fox, to file their responses to the FCC'sdefense of its indecency enforcement regime by midweek.
The legal back-and-fourth in the U.S. Appeals Court for the Second Circuitin New York is over profanity rulings the FCC issued, then re-issued afterbroadcasters took them to court, reversing rulings against ABC and CBS andsaying the court should drop the case.
the two profanity rulings remaining are against Fox for cussing it allowedby Nicole Ritchie and Cher on Billboard Awards shows in 2002 and 2003 thatthe FCC defended last week in its brief to the court. The commission alsodefended its indecency enforcement powers, saying it was correct in rulingthe broadcasts were indecent and profane and that it was reasonable to holdthat contemporary community standards for broadasting don't allow thegratuitous uttering of "the 'F-Word. and the 'S-Word.'"
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/opinion/13dowd.html
December 13, 2006
Will Hillzilla Crush Obambi?
By MAUREEN DOWD
MANCHESTER, N.H.
So the question of the moment is: Which would be a greater handicap in apresidential bid, gender or race?
The answer will depend, of course, on how manly the woman, and how white thelack.
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama both straddle two worlds,trying to profit from both.
Despite her desire to seem far more experienced than her rival, Hillary'srole in high-level politics has been mostly that of a spouse - a first ladywho felt that she got elected too. The Yale-trained lawyer had one pump inthe "The West Wing" and one in "Desperate Housewives," one foot in the worldof hotshot alphas ruling the globe and one in the world of middle-age womenhumiliated by their husbands' dallying with office cupcakes.
She won her Senate seat only after becoming sympathetic as a victim. And shestill struggles with the balance between her Mars and Venus sides, sometimesshowing her political steel and other times fetching coffee for malecolleagues.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16226357.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Wed, Dec. 13, 2006
Holocaust conference was all about deceit
OUR OPINION: A HANDFUL OF EXTREMISTS CANNOT CHANGE OR DIMINISH REALITY
No one should be deceived by the farce that took place in Tehran this weekwith a gathering of nobodies who attempted to deny that the Holocaust evertook place. The conference was a cynical and callous attempt by IranianPresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to project himself as chief scold and criticof Israel and the biggest bully in the Middle East. If the conferencesucceeded at anything, though, it was in identifying Ahmadinejad as thebiggest scoundrel in the Middle East since Saddam Hussein.
A despot's tactic
Most of the international community, including the United States and GreatBritain, roundly condemned the conference and Ahmadinejad for attempting toperpetuate such a ridiculously contemptuous idea. The White House called it''an affront to the entire civilized world, as well as to the traditionalIranian values of tolerance and mutual respect.'' Britain's Tony Blair saidthe conference was ``a symbol of sectarianism and hatred.''
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201392_pf.html
Beyond Baker-Hamilton
One Approach to a Last Try at Stability in Iraq
By Barry R. McCaffrey
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; A21
A collapse of the Iraqi state would be catastrophic -- for the people ofIraq, for the Middle East and for America's strategic interests. We need anew political and military approach to head off this impending disaster --one crafted with bipartisan congressional support. But Baker-Hamilton isn'tit.
Our objective should be a large-scale U.S. military withdrawal within thenext 36 months, leaving in place an Iraqi government in a stable and mostlypeaceful country that does not threaten its six neighboring states and doesnot intend to possess weapons of mass destruction.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201112_pf.html
A Pragmatic Left in Latin America
By Jaime Daremblum
Special to washingtonpost.com's Think Tank Town
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; 12:00 AM
Not so long ago, Brazilian president Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva was widelyconsidered a Castroite intent on a Communist-style centralization ofBrazil's economy and the subversion of neighboring democracies. Yet afterfour years of surprisingly responsible governance, Lula no longer sets offalarm bells in Washington. American policymakers should keep him in mindbefore dismissing the new leaders of Nicaragua and Ecuador as authoritarianextremists in the same vein as Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
Those leaders, Daniel Ortega and Rafael Correa, are both well known men ofthe left. As the boss of Nicaragua's Sandinista party, Ortega spent much ofthe 1980s turning his country into a Soviet client state, while fighting offthe U.S.-backed Contra rebels. Correa, meanwhile, is a self-described"personal friend" of Chavez who wants to fundamentally overhaul theEcuadorian constitution.
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The Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003474414&zsection_id=268883724&slug=floyd13&date=20061213
Floyd J. McKay / Guest columnist
Yet another tough task for the Bush family's fixer
Historians attempting to decipher the rise and fall of President George W.Bush will need to dabble in psychology as well, and what is sometimes knownas the "famous father syndrome," the impact of people such as George H.W.Bush on their children who attempt to follow in their steps.
We are reminded again of the role of the elder Bush in the actions of hisson, as we examine the work of James Baker, co-chair and dominant member ofthe Iraq Study Group, for it is Baker who for half a century has been theBush family's fixer.
When the going gets tough, Baker gets going. The closest friend of GeorgeH.W. Bush since the 1940s, Baker helped the elder Bush out of politicalbinds and ran his campaigns. Baker also masterminded George W. Bush'sFlorida recount in 2000.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/opinion/13cordesman.1.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
One War We Can Still Win
By ANTHONY H. CORDESMAN
Washington
NO one can return from visiting the front in Afghanistan without realizingthere is a very real risk that the United States and NATO will lose theirwar with Al Qaeda, the Taliban and the other Islamist movements fighting theAfghan government.
Declassified intelligence made available during my recent trip there showedthat major Al Qaeda, Taliban, Haqqani Network and Hezb-i-Islami sanctuariesexist in Pakistan, and that the areas they operate in within Afghanistanhave increased fourfold over the last year.
Indeed, a great many unhappy trends have picked up speed lately: UnitedStates intelligence experts in Afghanistan report that suicide attacks rosefrom 18 in the first 11 months of 2005 to 116 in the first 11 months of2006. Direct fire attacks went up from 1,347 to 3,824 during the sameperiod, improvised explosive devices from 530 to 1,297 and other attacksfrom 269 to 479. The number of attacks on Afghan forces increased from 713to 2,892, attacks on coalition forces from 919 to 2,496 and attacks onAfghan government officials are 2.5 times what they were.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/opinion/13wed2.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Editorial
Lobbying the Jury
We are disappointed that the Supreme Court has upheld a defendant'sconviction even though spectators at his trial put prejudicial material insight of the jury. Fortunately, the court made clear that its ruling thisweek was based only on the unusual way the issue was raised, and that it wasnot deciding when this kind of politicking from the audience violated theConstitution. The decision should prompt courts to think about how to ensurethat courtroom atmosphere does not deprive defendants of a fair trial.
At Mathew Musladin's murder trial in California, the dead man's family satin the front of the spectators' gallery wearing buttons with their relative's picture. The key issue at trial was which of the two men was the aggressorin a fight, and the photographs were essentially an argument that thedeceased was the innocent victim.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/world/middleeast/13saudi.html?ei=5094&en=9b8923e7095544b1&hp=&ex=1166072400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Saudis Say They Might Back Sunnis if U.S. Leaves Iraq
By HELENE COOPER
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 - Saudi Arabia has told the Bush administration that itmight provide financial backing to Iraqi Sunnis in any war against Iraq'sShiites if the United States pulls its troops out of Iraq, according toAmerican and Arab diplomats.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia conveyed that message to Vice President DickCheney two weeks ago during Mr. Cheney's whirlwind visit to Riyadh, theofficials said. During the visit, King Abdullah also expressed strongopposition to diplomatic talks between the United States and Iran, andpushed for Washington to encourage the resumption of peace talks betweenIsrael and the Palestinians, senior Bush administration officials said.
The Saudi warning reflects fears among America's Sunni Arab allies aboutIran's rising influence in Iraq, coupled with Tehran's nuclear ambitions.King Abdullah II of Jordan has also expressed concern about rising Shiiteinfluence, and about the prospect that the Shiite-dominated government woulduse Iraqi troops against the Sunni population.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201310_pf.html
66% Think U.S. Spies on Its Citizens
52% in Poll Back Hearings on Handling of Domestic Surveillance
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; A19
Two-thirds of Americans believe that the FBI and other federal agencies areintruding on privacy rights as part of terrorism investigations, but theyremain divided over whether such tactics are justified, according to aWashington Post-ABC News poll released yesterday.
The poll also showed that 52 percent of respondents favor congressionalhearings on how the Bush administration has handled surveillance, detaineesand other terrorism-related issues, compared with 45 percent who areopposed. That question was posed to half of the poll's 1,005-person randomsample.
Overall, the poll -- which includes questions that have been asked since2002 and 2003 -- showed a continued skepticism about whether the governmentis adequately protecting privacy rights as it conducts terrorism-relatedinvestigations.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201169_pf.html
Appellate Ruling Pushes Skilling Closer to Prison
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; D03
Former Enron chief executive Jeffrey K. Skilling must report to a Waseca,Minn., prison soon, an appeals court judge ruled yesterday, becauseSkilling's appeal will not result in the reversal of all 19 of his criminalconvictions.
Skilling, 53, had prepared to begin serving his 24 1/2 -year sentenceyesterday. But an eleventh-hour reprieve from the U.S. Court of Appeals forthe 5th Circuit late Monday kept him from flying to Minnesota. The courtsaid it needed more time to consider Skilling's plea to remain free pendingappeal.
Yesterday, in a two-page order, Circuit Judge Patrick E. Higginbothamreversed course. The judge cited "serious frailties" with Skilling'sconviction on conspiracy, securities fraud and insider-trading charges by aHouston jury in May. In another Enron case last summer, the appeals courtinvalidated a legal theory the government had used, casting doubt on thesurvivability of many of Skilling's convictions.
=
Palm Beach Post
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/12/13/m18a_moredems_edit_1213.html
More tests for Pelosi
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Voters in Louisiana may believe that William Jefferson is fit to serve inCongress, but his party doesn't have to believe that he deserves a keycommittee assignment.
Last weekend, despite predictions that he will be indicted soon on briberycharges, William Jefferson won another term in the House from his NewOrleans district. Former aides have testified about payments to Rep.Jefferson, and the FBI claims that agents found $90,000 in bribe money inhis freezer.
Last June, the Democratic leadership removed Rep. Jefferson from his seat onthe Ways and Means Committee, which writes tax legislation. Next month, theDemocrats will be in the majority, and incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi haspledged to stress ethics more than the corruption-tolerant Republicans. So,she correctly has kept Rep. Jefferson off Ways and Means for the newCongress. She could send an even stronger signal by also denying Rep.Jefferson a seat on the Budget Committee. If no charges are filed, the partycan reassess.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/washington/13ethics.html?ei=5094&en=dfde954d8fec2276&hp=&ex=1166072400&adxnnl=0&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1166018567-ZP8KxWJg/SxWmpjwIQbhRg&pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Democrats Consider Outside Ethics Panel
By CARL HULSE
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 - House Democrats are seriously exploring the creationof an independent ethics arm to enforce new rules on travel, lobbying, giftsand other issues that Democrats intend to put in place on taking power nextmonth.
Senior party officials said Tuesday that Representative Nancy Pelosi ofCalifornia, the incoming speaker, had consulted with Representative John A.Boehner of Ohio, the minority leader, on forming a bipartisan group toexamine outside enforcement. The goal would be to have the group report backin the spring.
An independent Congressional watchdog, if approved, would be a major breakwith tradition. Some lawmakers say House and Senate members have soleresponsibility for policing themselves when it comes to internal rules.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/us/13hacker.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
800,000 Affected by Data Breach, U.C.L.A. Says
By BRAD STONE
The University of California, Los Angeles, said yesterday that hackers hadgained access to a restricted university database, exposing the privateinformation of 800,000 current and former faculty, staff and students.
U.C.L.A. said there was no evidence that any of the data had been misused,but it has contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which isconducting an inquiry.
The university is the latest among a growing list of companies, colleges andgovernment agencies to reveal that its computer security had been breached.The U.C.L.A. breach appears to be the largest such case among universities.The City University of New York, Ohio University, the University of SouthernCalifornia and Tufts University have all suffered computer break-ins thatexposed personal information.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/world/asia/13cnd-gao.html?ei=5094&en=6f1de4172eb8a57f&hp=&ex=1166072400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Chinese Rights Lawyer Is Put on Trial
By JIM YARDLEY
BEIJING, Dec. 13 - An outspoken Chinese human rights lawyer was put on trialthis week on charges of inciting subversion, but the authorities kept suchtight control over the proceedings that his lawyer and his family were notgiven a chance to attend, his lawyer said today.
Gao Zhisheng, the human rights lawyer, was tried Tuesday at Beijing's No. 1People's Intermediate Court. The proceeding lasted less than a day and wasconducted in open court, but Mr. Gao's family and their chosen lawyer, MoShaoping, were never notified. No verdict has been announced.
"This hearing did not follow the proper legal procedures," Mr. Mo said."They didn't even inform the family."
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/opinion/13wed1.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Editorial
Without Deliberate Speed
The claims of calm deliberation emerging from the White House this week aremaddening. The search for a new plan for Iraq seems to be taking place withas much urgency as the deliberations over a new color for the dollar bill.
In Baghdad yesterday, a suicide bomber killed at least 70 people, most ofthem Shiite laborers whose only sin was looking for work. In Washington,meanwhile, President Bush held a series of carefully stage-managed meetingswith officials and outside experts whose common credential appeared to betheir opposition to the recommendations of James Baker's Iraq Study Group.
To top it off, White House aides told reporters that - despite earlierpromises of a pre-Christmas speech by Mr. Bush - the country now should notexpect any announcement of a new strategy until early next year. Thepresident's spokesman, Tony Snow, said that "it's a complex business, andthere are a lot of things to take into account," adding that Mr. Bush "wantsto make sure it's done right."
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/12/science/earth/12arcti.html?pagewanted=print
December 12, 2006
By 2040, Greenhouse Gases Could Lead to an Open Arctic Sea in Summers
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
New studies project that the Arctic Ocean could be mostly open water insummer by 2040 - several decades earlier than previously expected - partlyas a result of global warming caused by emissions of greenhouse gases.
The projections come from computer simulations of climate and ice and fromdirect measurements showing that the amount of ice coverage has beendeclining for 30 years.
The latest modeling study, being published on Tuesday in the journalGeophysical Research Letters, was led by Marika Holland of the NationalCenter for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201351_pf.html
The GOP's Iraq Two-Step
By Harold Meyerson
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; A21
Where do the Republicans' likely 2008 presidential candidates come down onIraq?
You might think that a decent regard for the opinions of their fellowcitizens, as registered in last month's elections, would rouse them fromtheir Bushian dreams of victory in what has become a savage intra-Islamicwar where the very notion of an American triumph makes no sense whatever.
You might think that, with the president's approval rating now sunk tonear-Nixonian depths, Republican leaders, for their own good as well astheir country's, might want to withdraw our men and women from Iraq beforethe next election.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/business/13legal.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
U.S. Moves to Restrain Prosecutors
By LYNNLEY BROWNING
The Justice Department placed new restraints on federal prosecutorsconducting corporate investigations yesterday, easing tactics adopted in thewake of the Enron collapse.
The changes were outlined in a memorandum written by Paul J. McNulty, thedeputy attorney general. Under the revisions, federal prosecutors will nolonger have blanket authority to ask routinely that a company underinvestigation waive the confidentiality of its legal communications or riskbeing indicted. Instead, they will need written approval for waivers fromthe deputy attorney general, and can make such requests only rarely.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6398794.html?title=Article&spacedesc=news
w w w . b r o a d c a s t i n g c a b l e . c o m
Profanity Response Expected By Midweek
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/11/2006 10:01:00 AM
Look for broadcasters, led by Fox, to file their responses to the FCC'sdefense of its indecency enforcement regime by midweek.
The legal back-and-fourth in the U.S. Appeals Court for the Second Circuitin New York is over profanity rulings the FCC issued, then re-issued afterbroadcasters took them to court, reversing rulings against ABC and CBS andsaying the court should drop the case.
the two profanity rulings remaining are against Fox for cussing it allowedby Nicole Ritchie and Cher on Billboard Awards shows in 2002 and 2003 thatthe FCC defended last week in its brief to the court. The commission alsodefended its indecency enforcement powers, saying it was correct in rulingthe broadcasts were indecent and profane and that it was reasonable to holdthat contemporary community standards for broadasting don't allow thegratuitous uttering of "the 'F-Word. and the 'S-Word.'"
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/opinion/13dowd.html
December 13, 2006
Will Hillzilla Crush Obambi?
By MAUREEN DOWD
MANCHESTER, N.H.
So the question of the moment is: Which would be a greater handicap in apresidential bid, gender or race?
The answer will depend, of course, on how manly the woman, and how white thelack.
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama both straddle two worlds,trying to profit from both.
Despite her desire to seem far more experienced than her rival, Hillary'srole in high-level politics has been mostly that of a spouse - a first ladywho felt that she got elected too. The Yale-trained lawyer had one pump inthe "The West Wing" and one in "Desperate Housewives," one foot in the worldof hotshot alphas ruling the globe and one in the world of middle-age womenhumiliated by their husbands' dallying with office cupcakes.
She won her Senate seat only after becoming sympathetic as a victim. And shestill struggles with the balance between her Mars and Venus sides, sometimesshowing her political steel and other times fetching coffee for malecolleagues.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16226357.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Wed, Dec. 13, 2006
Holocaust conference was all about deceit
OUR OPINION: A HANDFUL OF EXTREMISTS CANNOT CHANGE OR DIMINISH REALITY
No one should be deceived by the farce that took place in Tehran this weekwith a gathering of nobodies who attempted to deny that the Holocaust evertook place. The conference was a cynical and callous attempt by IranianPresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to project himself as chief scold and criticof Israel and the biggest bully in the Middle East. If the conferencesucceeded at anything, though, it was in identifying Ahmadinejad as thebiggest scoundrel in the Middle East since Saddam Hussein.
A despot's tactic
Most of the international community, including the United States and GreatBritain, roundly condemned the conference and Ahmadinejad for attempting toperpetuate such a ridiculously contemptuous idea. The White House called it''an affront to the entire civilized world, as well as to the traditionalIranian values of tolerance and mutual respect.'' Britain's Tony Blair saidthe conference was ``a symbol of sectarianism and hatred.''
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201392_pf.html
Beyond Baker-Hamilton
One Approach to a Last Try at Stability in Iraq
By Barry R. McCaffrey
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; A21
A collapse of the Iraqi state would be catastrophic -- for the people ofIraq, for the Middle East and for America's strategic interests. We need anew political and military approach to head off this impending disaster --one crafted with bipartisan congressional support. But Baker-Hamilton isn'tit.
Our objective should be a large-scale U.S. military withdrawal within thenext 36 months, leaving in place an Iraqi government in a stable and mostlypeaceful country that does not threaten its six neighboring states and doesnot intend to possess weapons of mass destruction.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201112_pf.html
A Pragmatic Left in Latin America
By Jaime Daremblum
Special to washingtonpost.com's Think Tank Town
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; 12:00 AM
Not so long ago, Brazilian president Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva was widelyconsidered a Castroite intent on a Communist-style centralization ofBrazil's economy and the subversion of neighboring democracies. Yet afterfour years of surprisingly responsible governance, Lula no longer sets offalarm bells in Washington. American policymakers should keep him in mindbefore dismissing the new leaders of Nicaragua and Ecuador as authoritarianextremists in the same vein as Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
Those leaders, Daniel Ortega and Rafael Correa, are both well known men ofthe left. As the boss of Nicaragua's Sandinista party, Ortega spent much ofthe 1980s turning his country into a Soviet client state, while fighting offthe U.S.-backed Contra rebels. Correa, meanwhile, is a self-described"personal friend" of Chavez who wants to fundamentally overhaul theEcuadorian constitution.
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The Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003474414&zsection_id=268883724&slug=floyd13&date=20061213
Floyd J. McKay / Guest columnist
Yet another tough task for the Bush family's fixer
Historians attempting to decipher the rise and fall of President George W.Bush will need to dabble in psychology as well, and what is sometimes knownas the "famous father syndrome," the impact of people such as George H.W.Bush on their children who attempt to follow in their steps.
We are reminded again of the role of the elder Bush in the actions of hisson, as we examine the work of James Baker, co-chair and dominant member ofthe Iraq Study Group, for it is Baker who for half a century has been theBush family's fixer.
When the going gets tough, Baker gets going. The closest friend of GeorgeH.W. Bush since the 1940s, Baker helped the elder Bush out of politicalbinds and ran his campaigns. Baker also masterminded George W. Bush'sFlorida recount in 2000.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/opinion/13cordesman.1.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
One War We Can Still Win
By ANTHONY H. CORDESMAN
Washington
NO one can return from visiting the front in Afghanistan without realizingthere is a very real risk that the United States and NATO will lose theirwar with Al Qaeda, the Taliban and the other Islamist movements fighting theAfghan government.
Declassified intelligence made available during my recent trip there showedthat major Al Qaeda, Taliban, Haqqani Network and Hezb-i-Islami sanctuariesexist in Pakistan, and that the areas they operate in within Afghanistanhave increased fourfold over the last year.
Indeed, a great many unhappy trends have picked up speed lately: UnitedStates intelligence experts in Afghanistan report that suicide attacks rosefrom 18 in the first 11 months of 2005 to 116 in the first 11 months of2006. Direct fire attacks went up from 1,347 to 3,824 during the sameperiod, improvised explosive devices from 530 to 1,297 and other attacksfrom 269 to 479. The number of attacks on Afghan forces increased from 713to 2,892, attacks on coalition forces from 919 to 2,496 and attacks onAfghan government officials are 2.5 times what they were.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/opinion/13wed2.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Editorial
Lobbying the Jury
We are disappointed that the Supreme Court has upheld a defendant'sconviction even though spectators at his trial put prejudicial material insight of the jury. Fortunately, the court made clear that its ruling thisweek was based only on the unusual way the issue was raised, and that it wasnot deciding when this kind of politicking from the audience violated theConstitution. The decision should prompt courts to think about how to ensurethat courtroom atmosphere does not deprive defendants of a fair trial.
At Mathew Musladin's murder trial in California, the dead man's family satin the front of the spectators' gallery wearing buttons with their relative's picture. The key issue at trial was which of the two men was the aggressorin a fight, and the photographs were essentially an argument that thedeceased was the innocent victim.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/world/middleeast/13saudi.html?ei=5094&en=9b8923e7095544b1&hp=&ex=1166072400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Saudis Say They Might Back Sunnis if U.S. Leaves Iraq
By HELENE COOPER
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 - Saudi Arabia has told the Bush administration that itmight provide financial backing to Iraqi Sunnis in any war against Iraq'sShiites if the United States pulls its troops out of Iraq, according toAmerican and Arab diplomats.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia conveyed that message to Vice President DickCheney two weeks ago during Mr. Cheney's whirlwind visit to Riyadh, theofficials said. During the visit, King Abdullah also expressed strongopposition to diplomatic talks between the United States and Iran, andpushed for Washington to encourage the resumption of peace talks betweenIsrael and the Palestinians, senior Bush administration officials said.
The Saudi warning reflects fears among America's Sunni Arab allies aboutIran's rising influence in Iraq, coupled with Tehran's nuclear ambitions.King Abdullah II of Jordan has also expressed concern about rising Shiiteinfluence, and about the prospect that the Shiite-dominated government woulduse Iraqi troops against the Sunni population.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201310_pf.html
66% Think U.S. Spies on Its Citizens
52% in Poll Back Hearings on Handling of Domestic Surveillance
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; A19
Two-thirds of Americans believe that the FBI and other federal agencies areintruding on privacy rights as part of terrorism investigations, but theyremain divided over whether such tactics are justified, according to aWashington Post-ABC News poll released yesterday.
The poll also showed that 52 percent of respondents favor congressionalhearings on how the Bush administration has handled surveillance, detaineesand other terrorism-related issues, compared with 45 percent who areopposed. That question was posed to half of the poll's 1,005-person randomsample.
Overall, the poll -- which includes questions that have been asked since2002 and 2003 -- showed a continued skepticism about whether the governmentis adequately protecting privacy rights as it conducts terrorism-relatedinvestigations.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201169_pf.html
Appellate Ruling Pushes Skilling Closer to Prison
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; D03
Former Enron chief executive Jeffrey K. Skilling must report to a Waseca,Minn., prison soon, an appeals court judge ruled yesterday, becauseSkilling's appeal will not result in the reversal of all 19 of his criminalconvictions.
Skilling, 53, had prepared to begin serving his 24 1/2 -year sentenceyesterday. But an eleventh-hour reprieve from the U.S. Court of Appeals forthe 5th Circuit late Monday kept him from flying to Minnesota. The courtsaid it needed more time to consider Skilling's plea to remain free pendingappeal.
Yesterday, in a two-page order, Circuit Judge Patrick E. Higginbothamreversed course. The judge cited "serious frailties" with Skilling'sconviction on conspiracy, securities fraud and insider-trading charges by aHouston jury in May. In another Enron case last summer, the appeals courtinvalidated a legal theory the government had used, casting doubt on thesurvivability of many of Skilling's convictions.
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Palm Beach Post
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/12/13/m18a_moredems_edit_1213.html
More tests for Pelosi
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Voters in Louisiana may believe that William Jefferson is fit to serve inCongress, but his party doesn't have to believe that he deserves a keycommittee assignment.
Last weekend, despite predictions that he will be indicted soon on briberycharges, William Jefferson won another term in the House from his NewOrleans district. Former aides have testified about payments to Rep.Jefferson, and the FBI claims that agents found $90,000 in bribe money inhis freezer.
Last June, the Democratic leadership removed Rep. Jefferson from his seat onthe Ways and Means Committee, which writes tax legislation. Next month, theDemocrats will be in the majority, and incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi haspledged to stress ethics more than the corruption-tolerant Republicans. So,she correctly has kept Rep. Jefferson off Ways and Means for the newCongress. She could send an even stronger signal by also denying Rep.Jefferson a seat on the Budget Committee. If no charges are filed, the partycan reassess.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/washington/13ethics.html?ei=5094&en=dfde954d8fec2276&hp=&ex=1166072400&adxnnl=0&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1166018567-ZP8KxWJg/SxWmpjwIQbhRg&pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Democrats Consider Outside Ethics Panel
By CARL HULSE
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 - House Democrats are seriously exploring the creationof an independent ethics arm to enforce new rules on travel, lobbying, giftsand other issues that Democrats intend to put in place on taking power nextmonth.
Senior party officials said Tuesday that Representative Nancy Pelosi ofCalifornia, the incoming speaker, had consulted with Representative John A.Boehner of Ohio, the minority leader, on forming a bipartisan group toexamine outside enforcement. The goal would be to have the group report backin the spring.
An independent Congressional watchdog, if approved, would be a major breakwith tradition. Some lawmakers say House and Senate members have soleresponsibility for policing themselves when it comes to internal rules.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/us/13hacker.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
800,000 Affected by Data Breach, U.C.L.A. Says
By BRAD STONE
The University of California, Los Angeles, said yesterday that hackers hadgained access to a restricted university database, exposing the privateinformation of 800,000 current and former faculty, staff and students.
U.C.L.A. said there was no evidence that any of the data had been misused,but it has contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which isconducting an inquiry.
The university is the latest among a growing list of companies, colleges andgovernment agencies to reveal that its computer security had been breached.The U.C.L.A. breach appears to be the largest such case among universities.The City University of New York, Ohio University, the University of SouthernCalifornia and Tufts University have all suffered computer break-ins thatexposed personal information.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/world/asia/13cnd-gao.html?ei=5094&en=6f1de4172eb8a57f&hp=&ex=1166072400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Chinese Rights Lawyer Is Put on Trial
By JIM YARDLEY
BEIJING, Dec. 13 - An outspoken Chinese human rights lawyer was put on trialthis week on charges of inciting subversion, but the authorities kept suchtight control over the proceedings that his lawyer and his family were notgiven a chance to attend, his lawyer said today.
Gao Zhisheng, the human rights lawyer, was tried Tuesday at Beijing's No. 1People's Intermediate Court. The proceeding lasted less than a day and wasconducted in open court, but Mr. Gao's family and their chosen lawyer, MoShaoping, were never notified. No verdict has been announced.
"This hearing did not follow the proper legal procedures," Mr. Mo said."They didn't even inform the family."
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/opinion/13wed1.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
Editorial
Without Deliberate Speed
The claims of calm deliberation emerging from the White House this week aremaddening. The search for a new plan for Iraq seems to be taking place withas much urgency as the deliberations over a new color for the dollar bill.
In Baghdad yesterday, a suicide bomber killed at least 70 people, most ofthem Shiite laborers whose only sin was looking for work. In Washington,meanwhile, President Bush held a series of carefully stage-managed meetingswith officials and outside experts whose common credential appeared to betheir opposition to the recommendations of James Baker's Iraq Study Group.
To top it off, White House aides told reporters that - despite earlierpromises of a pre-Christmas speech by Mr. Bush - the country now should notexpect any announcement of a new strategy until early next year. Thepresident's spokesman, Tony Snow, said that "it's a complex business, andthere are a lot of things to take into account," adding that Mr. Bush "wantsto make sure it's done right."
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/12/science/earth/12arcti.html?pagewanted=print
December 12, 2006
By 2040, Greenhouse Gases Could Lead to an Open Arctic Sea in Summers
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
New studies project that the Arctic Ocean could be mostly open water insummer by 2040 - several decades earlier than previously expected - partlyas a result of global warming caused by emissions of greenhouse gases.
The projections come from computer simulations of climate and ice and fromdirect measurements showing that the amount of ice coverage has beendeclining for 30 years.
The latest modeling study, being published on Tuesday in the journalGeophysical Research Letters, was led by Marika Holland of the NationalCenter for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/12/AR2006121201351_pf.html
The GOP's Iraq Two-Step
By Harold Meyerson
Wednesday, December 13, 2006; A21
Where do the Republicans' likely 2008 presidential candidates come down onIraq?
You might think that a decent regard for the opinions of their fellowcitizens, as registered in last month's elections, would rouse them fromtheir Bushian dreams of victory in what has become a savage intra-Islamicwar where the very notion of an American triumph makes no sense whatever.
You might think that, with the president's approval rating now sunk tonear-Nixonian depths, Republican leaders, for their own good as well astheir country's, might want to withdraw our men and women from Iraq beforethe next election.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/13/business/13legal.html?pagewanted=print
December 13, 2006
U.S. Moves to Restrain Prosecutors
By LYNNLEY BROWNING
The Justice Department placed new restraints on federal prosecutorsconducting corporate investigations yesterday, easing tactics adopted in thewake of the Enron collapse.
The changes were outlined in a memorandum written by Paul J. McNulty, thedeputy attorney general. Under the revisions, federal prosecutors will nolonger have blanket authority to ask routinely that a company underinvestigation waive the confidentiality of its legal communications or riskbeing indicted. Instead, they will need written approval for waivers fromthe deputy attorney general, and can make such requests only rarely.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
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