**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US ATrays.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
Cambridge Chronicle, MA, January 9, 2007
http://www.townonline.com/cambridge/homepage/8999014506877157375
Cambridge pols work to prohibit gay marriage ban By Priscilla Yeon/StateHouse News Service
Two lawmakers who are strong backers of same-sex marriage plan to filelegislation that would amend the constitution by prohibiting initiativepetitions that limit civil rights.
According to Rep. Alice Wolf (D-Cambridge), she plans to file the proposalwith Rep. Byron Rushing (D-Boston). Wolf said the citizen petition banninggay marriage, which was signed by 170,000 people, was the initial reason forfiling the measure.
"We never want to put something in our Constitution that limits people'scivil rights," Wolf told the News Service during a bill-signing event hostedby the Caucus of Women Legislators.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
NYC Independent Media Center, NY, January 9, 2007
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2007/01/81743.shtml
Till Deportation Do Us Part
A bill in Congress could give Americans the right to extend citizenship tosame-sex partners.
By Rebecca DeRosa
Now that the Republicans have lost control of Congress, perhaps legislationsuch as the Uniting American Families Act will finally get passed. This billwould give U.S. citizens the right to give their loved ones citizenship.
Yes, this is a right that already exists, but only if you marry someone ofthe opposite sex.
Currently, U.S. citizens cannot extend citizenship rights to their same-sex,foreign-born partners. While some people want to "defend marriage," theydon't seem concerned with defending the rights of real people who considertheir relationships as valid as the latest 24-hour tabloid marriage or mailorder bride.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?2007/01/09/5
Duke develops test for drug-resistant HIV
Associated Press, Tuesday, January 9, 2007
SUMMARY: It's hoped the new test, which detects even small amounts ofdrug-resistant HIV, will more accurately predict which drugs will work forpatients.
Detecting whether patients with HIV/AIDS are infected with even smallamounts of drug-resistant forms of the virus can be done with a testdeveloped by researchers at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.
While other tests only pick up drug-resistant strains when they represent asignificant portion of the virus in a person's bloodstream, the testdeveloped at Duke may enable doctors to more accurately predict whichmedicines will work for patients and which drugs will ultimately fail.
"This can be huge," said Dr. Feng Gao, a Duke HIV/AIDS researcher andco-author of the article published online Sunday in the journal NatureMethods.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?2007/01/09/6
18-25s more pink, more blue, more happy
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
SUMMARY: Americans 18-25 poll far gay-friendlier, more optimistic and morelikely to vote Democratic than their predecessors -- if, that is, they voteat all.
The young adults of Generation Next are more optimistic, more tolerant andmore likely Democratic voters than their predecessors, according to a newstudy.
The group's tilt toward the Democratic Party is far different from theprevious younger generation, known as Generation X, which grew up during theReagan administration of the 1980s and was more inclined to supportRepublicans.
"This portends a significant political impact as they get more engaged,"said Scott Keeter, a researcher from the Pew Research Center. "If they carrytheir party leanings with them, that will make a big difference."
Forty-eight percent of young adults age 18 to 25 said they were Democrats orleaned that direction while 35 percent said they were Republican or leanedthat way in 2006, according to Pew polling.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Seattle Times, WA, January 10, 2007
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003517493_equality10m0.html
Bills' goal: "marriage equality"
By Andrew Garber, Seattle Times Olympia bureau
OLYMPIA - A coalition of gay lawmakers in the state House and Senate plansto introduce legislation that would extend the right to marry to gay andlesbian couples.
Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, and four lawmakers in the House said they'llrelease details Thursday. They've announced plans to introduce what theycall the "marriage-equality" bill and a measure that would grantdomestic-partnership benefits to same-sex couples.
"The goal is marriage equality," Murray said Tuesday, a day after theLegislature went into session. "It's an important statement that our eyesare on the prize, and the prize is marriage."
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Wisconsin State Journal, WI , January 10, 2007
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=114280&ntpid=2
City may let officials, appointees protest marriage ban in oath PATRICIA
SIMMS psimms@madison.com
The city of Madison may provide people elected to public office or who serveon city boards and commissions with a way to officially protest Wisconsin'snew constitutional ban against gay marriage through their oath of office.
State law requires such people to take an oath to support the state andfederal constitutions, said Cindy Wick, executive assistant at Madison'sEqual Opportunities Commission. On Tuesday, the City Council is expected totake up a proposal that would allow them to add to that oath that it wastaken under protest and promise to "work to eliminate this section from theConstitution and work to prevent any discriminatory impacts from itsapplication."
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The Express Gay News
http://expressgaynews.com/
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=10832
Ga. school district settles lawsuit over gay club
White County to train staff on preventing anti-gay harassment
By DYANA BAGBY | Jan 10, 7:07 PM
The ACLU announced Jan. 10 it reached a settlement agreement with WhiteCounty school administrators who were sued in federal court last year afterbanning all so-called non-curricular clubs as a way to keep out agay-straight alliance.
According to court documents, the settlement agreement includes a $10,000payment by the White County school district to be disseminated amongst theplaintiffs in the suit, including the GSA, named Peers Rising in DiverseEducation. The agreement also orders the school district to pay $168,000 tothe ACLU in attorneys' fees.
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The Advocate
http://advocate.com/news_detail_ektid41041.asp
Georgia school officials settle with ACLU to allow GSA
A settlement has been reached between the American Civil Liberties Union andofficials in White County, Ga., who had refused to permit a gay-straightalliance club to meet at White County High School.
A settlement has been reached between the American Civil LibertiesUnion--representing students in a gay-straight alliance--and officials inWhite County, Ga., who had refused to permit the club to meet at WhiteCounty High School, the ACLU announced Wednesday.
Local media reported December 26 that a settlement had been tentativelyreached, but Wednesday's announcement makes it official.
"I'm just so happy this is all over and that our school is doing the rightthing," Charlene Hammersen, one of the founders of the alliance, calledPeers Rising in Diverse Education (PRIDE), told the ACLU. "It's taken almosttwo years to get here, but we're as determined as we've always been topromote diversity and fight harassment against gay students at our school.This is really great for every student that goes to White County High."
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/011007murder.htm
Shoplifting Leads To Trans-Woman's Murder
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 10, 2007 - 9:00 pm ET
(Washington) A man detained for shoplifting has been charged with theslaying of a Washington transsexual woman.
Police say the man was detained after being caught shoplifting at a 7-Elevenstore. While officers were questioning the man information they obtainedled them to go to a Kansas Avenue NW apartment.
There they found the body of Diamond Person, 42. The body was taken to themedical examiner's office, where she was pronounced dead.
The DC Police Department's Gay and Lesbian Unit said that an autopsy showedPerson had been beaten in the head with a hammer, choked and then had aplastic bag over her head.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/011007penguin.htm
Review Of Gay Penguin Book Nixed
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 10, 2007 - 9:00 pm ET
(Charlotte, North Carolina) A planned formal review by theCharlotte-Mecklenburg school board of a children's book about a gay penguincouple has been overturned by the board's own lawyer.
The book, "And Tango Makes Three" has been at the center of an internalboard squabble for the better part of a month.
Schools superintendent Peter Gorman first order the book to be removed,because it focuses on homosexuality, was too controversial, and was notvital to primary school students. Gorman cited complaints about the subjectmatter.
But when the The Charlotte Observer asked for copies of the complaintsGorman told the paper he realized he had not followed the district's ownpolicy - an error he blames on miscommunication with staff. (story)
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/011007sf.htm
Yale Singers Attacked In San Francisco
by The Associated Press
Posted: January 10, 2007 - 5:00 pm ET
(San Francisco, California) Members of an all-male singing group from YaleUniversity say they were taunted with anti-gay slurs, attacked and beatenafter singing "The Star Stangled Banner" at a New Year's Eve party in SanFrancisco.
At least three members of the Baker's Dozen a cappella group were hurt. Onesuffered a broken jaw.
No arrests have been made. Police said they are investigating.
The trouble started when a couple of partygoers began mocking the 16 studentsingers _ who wore sports jackets and ties _ as preppies, witnesses said.
"You're not welcome here," Sharyar Aziz Jr., an 18-year-old Baker's Dozenmember whose jaw was broken, quoted one partygoer as saying. "He called afew members of the group, whether it was fag or homo, very, I would say,juvenile taunting."
Reno Rapagnani, a retired San Francisco police officer whose daughter hostedthe event, shut down the party. As the singers headed back to a nearby homewhere they were staying, another group of young men got out of a van andjumped them, according to Rapagnani.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/011007md.htm
Ex-Gays Threaten New Curriculum At Embattled Md. School System
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 10, 2007 - 1:00 pm ET
(Rockville, Maryland) The Montgomery County school board has approved a newsex education curriculum to replace one thrown out by the courts when anex-gay group complained.
Now the same group says may return to court over the new course approvedthis week for grades eight through ten.
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays filed suit last year accused theschool district of "denigrating" so-called former gays in the materials tobe used in the original course.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Romney-2008.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
January 11, 2007
Romney Says He Was Wrong on 1994 Issues
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:09 a.m. ET
BOSTON (AP) -- A 1994 videotape mysteriously posted on YouTube.com promptedRepublican Mitt Romney to declare Wednesday, ''I was wrong on some issuesback then,'' while also insisting to social conservatives key to hispresidential campaign that he is one of them.
The tape of a Senate debate between Romney and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy showedRomney defending a woman's right to abortion, saying he supported allowinggays in the Boy Scouts and distancing himself from former President Reaganby noting he was a registered independent during the period the conservativeicon was leading the nation.
All of the material has been previously published, but its presentation invideo form -- and on the easily shared YouTube medium -- prompted animmediate response from Romney, who formed a presidential exploratorycommittee last week.
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The Nw York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/health/11drug.html?pagewanted=print
January 11, 2007
AIDS Drug to Protect Fetus Is Safe for Infected Mothers, Study Finds
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
Women can take the anti-AIDS drug nevirapine to protect their unbornchildren without endangering their ability to undergo life-savingantiretroviral treatment later on, a new study has found.
The results are good news for poor women in Africa, Asia and Latin Americawho must take nevirapine, an inexpensive first-line drug that often preventsthe transmission of H.I.V. from mother to child.
The drug lingers in the blood up to three weeks, and if the mother has thevirus that causes AIDS, its presence encourages the growth ofnevirapine-resistant strains. That has led to fears that any antiretroviraldrug cocktail containing nevirapine would be useless.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/011107romney.htm
Romney Can't Shake Old Gay Remarks
by The Associated Press
Posted: January 11, 2007 - 8:00 am ET
(Boston, Massachusetts) A 1994 videotape mysteriously posted on YouTube.comprompted Republican Mitt Romney to declare Wednesday, "I was wrong on someissues back then," while also insisting to social conservatives key to hispresidential campaign that he is one of them.
The tape of a Senate debate between Romney and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy showedRomney defending a woman's right to abortion, saying he supported allowinggays in the Boy Scouts and distancing himself from former President Reaganby noting he was a registered independent during the period the conservativeicon was leading the nation.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007701090337
Tuesday, 01/09/07
Midstate briefs: Death outside Nashville club under investigation
NASHVILLE
Metro police were investigating the death of a man whose body was found at5:25 a.m. Sunday in a parking lot at a south Nashville club.
The victim, Nakia Ladelle Baker, 31, of Richardson Road in Murfreesboro hadtrauma to his head and was found next to his car at 3312-B Nolensville Road,behind Club Adventura & Billiards, Metro police said.
An autopsy was scheduled for Monday, police said.
Baker was found dressed in women's clothing, police said. Witnesses reportedseeing Baker in the club socializing with other men who were dressed aswomen, police said.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/01082007/news/regionalnews/quinn_taking_1st_tep_regionalnews_david_seifman_____city_hall_bureau_chief.htm
QUINN TAKING 1ST $TEP
By DAVID SEIFMAN City Hall Bureau Chief
January 8, 2007 -- City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has taken the firstconcrete step to enter the 2009 mayoral race by hiring a hot shotfund-raiser who previously worked for Gov. Spitzer, The Post has learned.
Sources said Quinn's campaign is bringing aboard Hilary Keller, a deputyfund-raiser in Spitzer's mighty operation, in a couple of weeks.
"I think it's pretty significant," said one source in the Quinn camp.
Unlike potential mayoral rivals, Quinn hasn't done much fund-raising sincebeing elected the first female - and openly gay - council speaker last year.
"She made the decision that she had enough to learn at City Hall that shedidn't want to be spending a large amount of time on political activities,"explained the source.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-3449.html
Gay Christians speak out against fundamentalists
Tony Grew
The head of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement has spoken out againstreligious fundamentalists ahead of today's House of Lords debate on theSexual Orientation Regulations.
Rev Richard Kirker, in a statement to PinkNews.co.uk, expressed his shame atsome Christian groups who have taken the position that they should beexempted from the regulations, which outlaw discrimination against LGBTpeople when accessing services.
"A small group of fundamentalist Christians have led a wicked campaign ofdisinformation about these regulations, making claims that anyone whobothered to read them could see were false," said Rev Kirker, the chiefexecutive of the LGCM.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-3444.html
Orkney hits back at unfair press coverage
8th January 2007 15:51
Tony Grew
PinkNews.co.uk exclusive
Council staff on the islands of Orkney have spoken exclusively toPinkNews.co.uk about the media storm that has engulfed the remote Scottishoutpost.
A communications officer for the island group's local authority spoke toPinkNews.co.uk in an attempt to put right inaccurate reports in Londonnewspapers.
The row concerns the proposed civil partnership ceremony of the composer SirPeter Maxwell-Davies and his partner, Colin Parkinson.
The couple had wanted to have the ceremony on their home island of Sanday,conducted by their friend who is the 'home-based' registrar for that island.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/opinion/2005-3423.html
COMMENT: Congress should scrap "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
4th January 2007 16:10
Comment
A new United States Congress will be sworn in later today. In the Novemberelection, the Democratic party seized control of both the House and Senate.PinkNews.co.uk's Tony Grew considers whether the 110th Congress will be theone to finally allow gays and lesbians to serve in the US military.
It seems America is finally coming to terms with the fact that there are gaypeople in their Armed Forces, whether they ask or not.
The much-maligned compromise policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," wherebymilitary authorities promise not to ask servicemen and women if they aregay, as long as those same soldiers, sailors, marines, air force and coastguard personnel promise not to tell if they are, is rightly judged a failureby all but the most pig-headed commentators.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003517633&slug=prince10&date=20070110
A stir in India after prince comes out
By Henry Chu
Los Angeles Times
VADODARA, India - As a maharajah's son, Manvendra Singh Gohil grew up in abubble of prestige and privilege, surrounded by hangers-on who treated himso reverentially that he was 15 before he crossed the street by himself.
So the public snubs and rejection of the last nine months have been a newexperience. Yet the mild-mannered Gohil couldn't be more content.
At last, he says, he is living an honest life - in March, he revealed alifelong secret to a local newspaper, which promptly splashed it on thefront page.
"The headline was: 'The Prince of Rajpipla Declares That He's a Homosexual,'" Gohil said with a rueful chuckle. "The newspaper sold like hotcakes."
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.langleyadvance.com/issues07/012107/opinion/012107op1.html
Our View: Racist history comes to fore
When it comes to racism, we Canadians like to point our self-righteousfingers south of the border, at overt examples of American indiscretions.
But we've got plenty of our own history to be embarrassed and ashamed about.
Our federal government has formally apologized to Canadians of Japanesedescent who were summarily evicted from their coastal B.C. homes andinterned in the interior and in Alberta. When the Second World War ended andthe "threat" had passed, many were left with little or nothing, and manyothers were offered one-way tickets out of the country.
More recently, after a long process that was embarrassing in itself, thefeds, led by successive prime ministers Paul Martin and Stephen Harper,finally got around to this country's atrociously racist policies againstChinese immigration.
Now, if NDP leader Jack Layton has his way in South Surrey today, it will beour Indo-Canadian brethren's turn. He plans to specifically centre on theKomagata Maru incident, in 1914, in which Indian emigrants were forced toendure hardships, and eventually return to India, where many were jailed orshot by the British.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.kvoa.com/global/story.asp?s=5917999&ClientType=Printable
John Overall asks the Tough QuestionWhy are gay men banned from donating blood?
Jan 10, 2007 10:14 AM
The American Red Cross in Southern Arizona is still dangerously low on "O"positive and "B" negative blood types.
Despite the desperate situation the Red Cross cannot allow certain membersof society to donate.
Gay men are banned for life from donating according to the Food and DrugAdministration.
Matt Haynes of Tucson can't believe it. He's tried to donate over the yearsbut he's gay and he's on the do not donate list, "that really infuriates me,talk about blatant discrimination."
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Anything But Straight
by Wayne Besen
January 10, 2007
http://www.waynebesen.com/2007/01/mitt-is-full-of-it.html
Mitt Is Full of It
In my mind, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is the mostunacceptable presidential candidate in the 2008 race. He is a fair-weatherphony that will say or do anything to get elected. In short, he is aposter-boy for everything wrong with politics and represents the reason manypeople stay home instead of heading to the polls on Election Day.
On the surface, Romney appears to be a strong candidate. He is articulate,looks presidential and was elected governor of a liberal state. He turnedstate deficits into surpluses and helped pass an innovative healthcare planin Massachusetts.
Even with his impressive resume and stature, Romney has an uphill battle forthe Oval Office because he is a Mormon. Polls show that nearly 4 out of 10Americans would not vote for a person of this religious persuasion. In orderto offset this baggage, Romney’s strategy is to sandbag gay people.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
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Thursday, January 11, 2007
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST January 11, 2007
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/10/opinion/printable2345834.shtml
Who Are The Real Neocons?
Jan. 10, 2007
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(The New Republic) This column was written by Peter Beinart
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Virtually no one still believes that the United States can quickly imposedemocracy in foreign lands. Almost everyone wants a pragmatic foreignpolicy, not a crusading one. Fewer and fewer Americans think our governmentcan fix Arab culture. In other words, neoconservatism is back.
First-generation neoconservatism, that is. In a historical irony, many ofthe people who most thunderously denounce neoconservatism actually sound alot like the original neocons themselves.
Liberal bloggers sometimes call themselves members of the "reality-basedcommunity." And that would have been a fitting motto for the first neoconjournal, The Public Interest, founded in 1965 by Irving Kristol and DanielBell. If The Public Interest had a bête noire, it was faith-based politics.The great danger to good government, argued its founding editorial, is "aprior commitment to ideology. ... For it is the nature of ideology topreconceive reality."
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4462255.html
Text of President Bush's speech
Associated Press
Text of President Bush's address today, as prepared by the White House.
Good evening. Tonight in Iraq, the Armed Forces of the United States areengaged in a struggle that will determine the direction of the global war onterror - and our safety here at home. The new strategy I outline tonightwill change America's course in Iraq, and help us succeed in the fightagainst terror.
When I addressed you just over a year ago, nearly 12 million Iraqis had casttheir ballots for a unified and democratic nation. The elections of 2005were a stunning achievement. We thought that these elections would bring theIraqis together - and that as we trained Iraqi security forces, we couldaccomplish our mission with fewer American troops.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002713.html
Text of Joint Statement From Democrats
By The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; 10:29 PM
-- Text of a joint statement from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate MajorityLeader Harry Reid, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Senate DemocraticWhip Richard Durbin following President Bush's address to the nationWednesday:
Last November, the American people delivered a strong message of noconfidence in the president's Iraq policy and clearly expressed their desirefor a new direction. The president had an opportunity tonight to demonstratethat he understood the depth of the concern in the country, make a longoverdue course correction, and articulate a clear mission for our engagementin Iraq. Instead, he chose to escalate our involvement in Iraq's civil warby proposing a substantial increase in the number of our forces there. Thisproposal endangers our national security by placing additional burdens onour already over-extended military thereby making it even more difficult torespond to other crises.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/10/opinion/meyer/printable2350063.shtml
A President Alone
Jan. 10, 2007
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(CBS) This commentary was written by CBSNews.com's Dick Meyer.
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When President Bush delivered his speech from the White House Library onWednesday night, he was alone.
There was no audience - just a television crew, some staffers and thecameras. That was appropriate. Rarely in our history has a president made aspeech like this - an announcement that a large number of American soldierswill be sent to a foreign war - with less public, political andinternational support. The president really is alone.
In war and politics, an essential measure of power is allies. Bush has few,and they are not powerful.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/4462536.html
Houston Chronicle
2008 presidential hopefuls take stands on troop increase
By JANET HOOK
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON - President Bush's speech outlining his troop-increase plan inIraq provoked several potential presidential candidates to stake out aposition, including some Republicans who had avoided addressing acontroversial proposal that is likely to be a touchstone issue in 2008.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, ending weeks of dodging questions onthe issue, said Wednesday he would support a troop increase. But Sen. SamBrownback, R-Kan., announced he opposed it, a sign that Republicans may notbe as reluctant to distance themselves from Bush as they once were.
Divisions also opened among Democrats, as two - Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.,and former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C. - announced their support for Congressto cut off funds for a troop increase. That step goes farther than manyDemocrats want because they fear it will be seen as undermining U.S. troopsalready in Iraq.
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Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003517094&zsection_id=268883724&slug=dionne10&date=20070110
E.J. Dionne / Syndicated columnist
Shared goals, not lip service, lead to real bipartisanship
WASHINGTON - We are not even two weeks into the new year, and the nation'spoliticians are already caught up in a deep contradiction between words anddeeds. The incongruity involves "bipartisanship."
Few words have been repeated more often by leaders of both parties andPresident Bush since the new Congress took power. All of God's children arefor bipartisan solutions, bipartisan consultations, bipartisan civility.Commenting on Iraq in his Wall Street Journal op-ed piece last week, Bushwrote of building "a bipartisan consensus to fight and win the war."
That very phrase suggests how meaningless bipartisan talk can be. Thefundamental divide on Iraq is precisely over whether the United States hasan interest in fighting much longer, and whether there is any strategy thatcould, by a reasonable definition, "win" the war. That's especially truesince the president has been steadily defining victory down, to the pointwhere we don't really know what he means by win anymore.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/world/10cnd-prexy.html?ei=5094&en=27c0101b6f21fdb4&hp=&ex=1168491600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
January 10, 2007
Bush Adds Troops in Bid to Secure Iraq
By DAVID E. SANGER
WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 - President Bush announced tonight that he was sendingmore than 21,000 American troops to Iraq to quell the sectarian violencethere, as he conceded for the first time that he had provided neither enoughtroops nor enough resources to halt the country's descent into chaos overthe past year.
Mr. Bush's speech to the nation differed sharply in tone and substance fromhis previous insistence that the United States was making progress towardbuilding a workable Iraqi democracy, and he acknowledged that his previousstrategy was based on fundamentally flawed assumptions about the power ofthe shaky Iraqi government.
The president described his new strategy as an effort to "change America'scourse in Iraq," and he gave no indication that the troop increase would beshort-lived. Mr. Bush also acknowledged that a renewed effort aimed atbringing security to Baghdad would also bring about more American and Iraqicasualties.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002074.html
Christian Groups Trade Barbs On Their Sources of Funding
Accusations Fly of Partisan Influence on Left, Right
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 11, 2007; A03
Two influential Christian nonprofit organizations questioned each other'sfinances yesterday, each suggesting that the other is beholden to big donorswith partisan political motives.
The clash between the National Council of Churches and the Institute onReligion and Democracy was a rarity in Washington, where liberal andconservative advocacy groups fight fiercely over issues but seldom digdeeply into each other's funding.
Both groups call themselves nonpartisan and are incorporated as tax-exemptcharitable organizations. But the council, a New York-based alliance of 35Christian denominations, is deeply involved in liberal social causes, suchas reducing poverty and making peace; it achieved a long-standinglegislative goal yesterday when the House voted to increase the minimumwage.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002605_pf.html
Apple Chief Benefited From Options Dating, Records Indicate
By Alan Sipress
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 11, 2007; A01
Apple Inc. chief executive Steve Jobs confirmed his place this week as thepremier impresario of the Internet age, taking the stage in San Francisco tounveil a smart phone that won a raucous endorsement from thousands of fansin the audience and sent Apple stock rocketing to a record high.
But his signature performance at the annual Macworld Conference and Expo didnot dispel the scandal swirling around Apple over its backdating of stockoptions. Despite the company's defense that Jobs never personally benefitedfrom a pair of stock option grants he received -- he gave them up in 2003,long before allegations of wrongdoing surfaced -- filings with theSecurities and Exchange Commission show that his options were exchanged for5 million shares of restricted Apple stock.
That stock was worth $75 million at the time, nearly the same as the valueof the options he relinquished, using a technique for calculating the valueof investments popular with financial analysts and used by Apple.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011001650_pf.html
Dodd to Enter 2008 Presidential Race
By BETH FOUHY and HOLLY RAMER
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; 9:56 PM
NEW YORK -- Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd, a veteran lawmaker who enteredCongress in the post-Watergate class of 1974, will announce his bid for thepresidency, Democratic officials said Wednesday.
Dodd, 62, will make the formal announcement in an interview Thursday morningon the "Imus in the Morning" radio show _ a curious bit of timing sincehe'll be forced to compete with heavy coverage of President Bush's speech onthe Iraq war.
Dodd will travel late Thursday to Iowa, which will host the firstpresidential nominating caucus next January. He heads to South Carolina, anearly primary state, on Sunday.
Kathy Sullivan, the chairwoman of the Democratic Party in New Hampshire,said in an interview that she had spoken to Dodd and he said, "'I'm notgoing to do the exploratory thing, I'm going to plunge right in.'"
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The Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/shim_jae_hoon/2007/01/claim_your_own_agenda.html
Claim Your Own Agenda
Seoul, South Korea
Dear Mr. Ban Ki-moon,
Like so many South Koreans of my generation who grew up thanking the UnitedNations first for saving our country from North Korean invasion in 1950 andthen for giving us economically assistance so we could stand on our ownfeet, I am thrilled by the chance for you to serve the world organization.We Koreans were so grateful for the UN's peacekeeping role that we probablywere the only non-UN member nation to celebrate its birth by taking a dayoff on October 24 as our national holiday. Now with your election to the toplet me offer a few thoughts as you start on your new mission at a time ofmultiple crises:
1) Don't lose time establishing your own agenda and priorities, whatever thepressure from the Permanent Five. On the question of leadership, thedeparting Kofi Annan said, "I did it my way so he must find his own way." Iknow this is easier said than done, especially as you come from a culturethat places "consensus-building" and "harmony" above strong individualleadership.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010900765_pf.html
S.D. Sen. Johnson's Condition Improves
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; A11
Sen. Tim Johnson's condition has been upgraded from critical to fair, fourweeks after he was hospitalized for a brain hemorrhage, his office saidyesterday.
The South Dakota Democrat, who was taken to the hospital Dec. 13 andunderwent emergency surgery, remains in intensive care.
"The senator continues to make progress," spokeswoman Julianne Fisher said."The next step would be rehabilitation, and we hope that would happen withinthe week."
Johnson's office has said that his recovery is expected to take severalmonths. The surgery was done to correct a condition called arteriovenousmalformation, which involves tangled arteries.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/opinion/11thu1.html?pagewanted=print
January 11, 2007
Editorial
The Real Disaster
President Bush told Americans last night that failure in Iraq would be adisaster. The disaster is Mr. Bush's war, and he has already failed. Lastnight was his chance to stop offering more fog and be honest with thenation, and he did not take it.
Americans needed to hear a clear plan to extricate United States troops fromthe disaster that Mr. Bush created. What they got was more gauzy talk ofvictory in the war on terrorism and of creating a "young democracy" in Iraq.In other words, a way for this president to run out the clock and leave hismess for the next one.
Mr. Bush did acknowledge that some of his previous tactics had failed. Buteven then, the president sounded as if he were an accidental tourist inIraq. He described the failure of last year's effort to pacify Baghdad as ifthe White House and the Pentagon bore no responsibility.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/opinion/11thu2.html?pagewanted=print
January 11, 2007
Editorial
Tax Cuts and Consequences
The tax system in the United States is supposed to mitigate inequality. Buta recent report by Congress's budget agency provides fresh evidence thatBush-era tax cuts have done more to reinforce inequality than to redress it.
The agency found that in 2004, the latest year for which comprehensive datawere available, the top 1 percent of households pocketed 14 percent of totalafter-tax income in the United States, up from 12.2 percent in 2003. Thatincrease, the third largest in one year since the agency started keepingtrack in 1979, works out to an extra $128 billion. And yet despite thathefty gain, the effective federal tax rate of the top 1 percent decreasedslightly.
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The Nw York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/world/middleeast/11diplo.html?pagewanted=print
January 11, 2007
To Counter Iran's Role in Iraq, Bush Moves Beyond Diplomacy
By HELENE COOPER and MARK MAZZETTI
WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 - In promising to stop Iran from meddling in Iraq,President Bush returned Wednesday night to a strategy of confrontation indealing with Tehran, casting aside what had been a limited flirtation with amore diplomatic approach toward it.
Mr. Bush accused Iran of providing material support for attacks on Americantroops and vowed to respond. "We will disrupt the attacks on our forces," hesaid in his speech. "We will seek out and destroy the networks providingadvanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq."
Mr. Bush said the United States would send another aircraft carrier and itssupporting ships to the Persian Gulf. Administration officials said thebattle group would be stationed within quick sailing distance of Iran, aresponse to the growing concern that Iran is building up its own missilecapacity and naval power, with the goal of military dominance in the gulf.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/us/11brfs-AFFIRMATIVE.html?pagewanted=print
January 11, 2007
Michigan: University to Comply With Ruling
By TAMAR LEWIN
The University of Michigan acceded to a federal appeals court decision andsaid it would immediately comply with the state's new ban on affirmativeaction in public education, employment or contracting. The Michigan ballotinitiative banning preferences based on race or gender passed overwhelminglyin November and was to go into effect on Dec. 23. But the University ofMichigan, together with Michigan State University and Wayne StateUniversity, went to court seeking a six-month delay, on the ground that theywere midway through an admissions cycle. A federal district judge grantedthe delay on Dec. 19, but on Dec. 29, a federal appeals court orderedimmediate compliance.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/11/AR2007011100282_pf.html
Poll: Most Americans Opposed to Bush's Iraq Plan
Majority of Those Surveyed Are Skeptical That Surge Would Make Victory MoreLikely
By Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 11, 2007; 7:00 AM
Most Americans oppose President Bush's call to send additional U.S. militaryforces to Iraq and just over a third say the new plan makes victory theremore likely, an initial public rebuke of the strategy he unveiled last nightin a nationally televised address.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted following the President'sspeech finds broad and strong opposition to his call to send about 21,500more troops to Iraq: 61 percent oppose the force increase, with 52 percent"strongly" opposing the build-up. Thirty-six percent support the additionaltroops; only one-quarter of the public is strongly supportive.
Support for adding troops is somewhat higher among the 42 percent ofAmericans who tuned into Bush's speech. Forty-seven percent of viewers thinkthe increase is a good idea, but the President's supporters were more likelythan others to watch or listen to his remarks. (Seventy-two percent of thepublic said they saw or heard Bush's speech when the war began in March2003.)
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Boston.com
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/01/10/few_voices_pressing_bush_to_leave_iraq_immediately?mode=PF
Few voices pressing Bush to leave Iraq immediately
By David Alexander | January 10, 2007
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As President George W. Bush charted a new course forthe Iraq war, there were calls to add troops and withdraw troops, but fewvoices counseled the U.S. leader to pull American forces out now.
After weeks of study, Bush is due to announce on Wednesday a new Iraqstrategy that a defense official said would increase U.S. troops in Iraq byabout 20,000 with most going to violence-plagued Baghdad. The plan alsocalls for Iraqi forces to take responsibility for security in all of Iraq's18 provinces by November, he said.
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LATimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-antiwar10jan10,1,4759270,print.story?coll=la-news-politics-national
THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ: THE POLITICS OF WAR
Democrats feel liberals' antiwar heat
Freshman and veteran lawmakers alike risk the ire of bloggers and otheractivists if they waver on an Iraq exit.
By Janet Hook
Times Staff Writer
January 10, 2007
WASHINGTON - It did not take long for Rep. Nancy Boyda, a freshman Democratfrom Kansas, to learn the price of defying her party's liberal base. Aftershe said she would support President Bush if he proposed an increase in U.S.troop levels in Iraq, antiwar bloggers fumed and MoveOn.org, the liberaladvocacy group, considered running a television ad attacking her.
"If a member of Congress is wrong on Iraq, that is not what we voted for,"said Tom Matzzie, MoveOn's Washington director. "There will be peoplewatching to make sure they do the right thing."
That kind of political pressure is already being applied, not just to juniorlawmakers, but also to Democratic leaders. It prodded them into making Iraqmore central to their first 100 hours in control of Capitol Hill than theyhad planned. And it is creating tension between many Democrats and theliberal activists who will be increasingly important as the 2008presidential campaign gets into gear.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002020_pf.html
Medicare And the Market
Government Shouldn't Be Negotiating Prescription Prices
By Mike Leavitt
Thursday, January 11, 2007; A25
We all want people with Medicare to get the prescription drugs they need atthe lowest possible prices. The issue before Congress this week is how bestto do that. Should consumer choice and private-sector competition determineprices -- or should government?
The success of the Medicare prescription drug benefit provides strongevidence that competition among private drug plans has contributedsignificantly to lowering costs. The average monthly premium has dropped by42 percent, from an estimated $38 to $22 -- and there is a plan availablefor less than $20 a month in every state. The net Medicare cost of the drugprogram has fallen by close to $200 billion since its passage in 2003.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002019_pf.html
Where '100 Hours' Will Hit the Brakes
By David S. Broder
Thursday, January 11, 2007; A25
The three rooms on the third floor of the Capitol, steps away from theSenate floor, have a storied past. They are called the LBJ Suite, becausethey were the domain of Lyndon B. Johnson, who as majority leader famouslyinstalled two wet bars and added a bathroom, from which he conductedmeetings and issued directives while taking care of his personal business.
The suite's new occupant is a man as anonymous as Johnson was flamboyant,Richard Durbin, the 62-year-old senior senator from downstate Illinois. Inthe next two years, however, a great deal of the Democrats' fate depends onDurbin. As assistant majority leader, or whip, it is up to him to figure outhow to corral enough votes in the narrowly divided Senate to pass at leastsome of the flood of bills that the energized House Democratic majority willsend over.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002022_pf.html
Unwitting Party to Genocide
The International Criminal Court Is Complicating Efforts to Save Darfur
By Stephen Rademaker
Thursday, January 11, 2007; A25
Over the past three years, more than 400,000 people have perished in theDarfur genocide. Fighting has intensified in recent months as diplomaticefforts to end the conflict have faltered. The government in Khartoum bearsprincipal responsibility for the continued killing, but recently anunexpected obstacle to ending the bloodshed has emerged: the InternationalCriminal Court (ICC).
Critics of the ICC predicted early on that it would be more a hindrance thana help to ending most conflicts. The threat of prosecution would rarelymotivate both parties to stop fighting, they argued, but in many cases itwould be powerful enough to convince at least one side that it was betteroff continuing to fight. Yet even the ICC's critics have been surprised bythe degree to which this is being borne out in Darfur.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002542_pf.html
Fairfax vs. 'No Child' Standoff Heats Up
County to Protest Mandate on English Tests for Immigrants
By Maria Glod
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 11, 2007; A01
Teenagers from Uzbekistan, Korea and Egypt huddled one recent morning in aFairfax County classroom, studying English words on slips of paper. Dozenswere familiar, but not "bitter," "nibble" or "wicked." Felobateer Hana, 13,held up another. An animated movie character came to mind: "Shrek?"
"That's a good guess, but Shrek doesn't have an 'i' in it," said teacherKaryn Niles at Liberty Middle School in Clifton. "This is 'shriek.' Shriekis kind of like yelling."
Students such as Felobateer and his eighth-grade classmates, all recentimmigrants who are learning English as a second language, are at the centerof an intensifying dispute between Virginia schools and the U.S. Departmentof Education over testing requirements under the federal No Child LeftBehind law.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002417_pf.html
Many Workers At Wal-Mart Don't Use Its Health Plans43% Covered Elsewhere
By Ylan Q. Mui and Amy Joyce
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, January 11, 2007; D01
About 90 percent of Wal-Mart employees have health-care coverage, but 43percent do not get it from the mammoth retailer, relying instead on benefitsfrom a spouse, federal programs or even their parents, according to aninternal survey the company made public yesterday.
Wal-Mart employs more than 1.3 million people in the United States, makingit one of the country's largest employers. The company surveyed more than200,000 workers during the fall open-enrollment period for health benefits,the retailer's first effort to capture such data as it faces criticism fromlabor unions that accuse it of paying low wages and skimping on healthbenefits.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002075_pf.html
A Smoking Tradition Snuffed Out By Pelosi
By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 11, 2007; A07
Some fresh air blew into the Capitol yesterday, after House Speaker NancyPelosi banned smoking from the most venerable nicotine haven on the hill --the Speaker's Lobby outside the entrance to the House floor.
Pelosi, of smoke-free California, is known to detest the tobacco habit. Eversince her ascension as top Democrat with authority over the lobby and mostother space in the House, smokers have been bracing for the moment whenthey'd be ordered to extinguish their butts.
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Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-08forum25jan08,0,5620326,print.story?coll=sfla-news-opinion
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Case for death doesn't hold up
By Taylor Mattis
January 8, 2007
The arguments in favor of capital punishment fail on factual and moralbases. The most common arguments are:
Deterrence: Capital punishment does not deter the commission of crimes forwhich it is imposed. (It might deter littering, overtime parking, andprobably shoplifting, if it were imposed with certainty and quickly afterthe crime. Even for petty, deliberate crimes, however, it is doubtful thatdeterrence is served. In old England where hanging was the penalty forpickpockets, the incidence of pickpocketing was high at the hangings.) Themurder rates in states with no capital punishment have not risen since itwas abolished. Murder is usually not a planned event as to which one wouldthink: "I'd kill her but for my fear of lethal injection."
The deterrence argument often adds: "Well, at least the criminal whom thestate kills would not do it again." True, but surely society could establishand enforce life imprisonment without possibility of parole if we had thewill. But why should taxpayers pay to house and feed these bad people forlife?
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16431743.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Jan. 11, 2007
RELIGION
Are Americans prepared to elect a Mormon as president?
BY SUSAN ESTRICH
www.creators.com
Is America ready for a Mormon president?
Earlier this week, on his last day as governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romneytook the ceremonial walk out of the Statehouse and into the biggest race ofhis life. As he was passing the baton to Massachusetts' first blackgovernor, his aides were filing papers in Washington to establish apresidential exploratory committee for the charismatic former head of theSalt Lake City Olympics.
Like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side, the Romneycandidacy is a challenge to our conventional definition of who gets to growup and become president. In his case, the issue is not race or sex, butreligion. Romney looks like every former president, but his faith is adifferent matter. He is a Mormon, and more people than you might think aremore open than you might expect about their problems with that fact.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/16431723.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Jan. 11, 2007
CHAVEZ INAUGURATION | S. FLORIDA REACTION
Some Venezuelan expatriates fear the worst
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's inauguration speech sent waves of concernthrough expatriate circles.
BY CASEY WOODS
cwoods@MiamiHerald.com
South Florida's Venezuelans are warily watching President Hugo Chávez, whoat his inauguration Wednesday extolled the virtues of his plan for an''accelerated'' push into socialism during his coming six-year term.
At Doral's El Arepazo restaurant, the patrons' predictions for those yearswere often far less glorious than Chávez's characterization of his plan asnew, improved socialism for the 21st century. To many, it will be athrowback to Fidel Castro's now 48-year-old government-controlled economy inimpoverished Cuba.
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PalmBeachPost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2007/01/11/a22a_versteegcol_0111.html
No Misconception Left Behind
By Jac Wilder VerSteeg
Palm Beach Post Deputy Editorial Page Editor
Thursday, January 11, 2007
If it's impolite to say that No Child Left Behind doesn't work because it'sbased on lies, let's just say that the federal law suffers from fantasy andwishful thinking.
The bedrock fantasy is that every child in America will be able to read anddo math on grade level by 2014. Everybody knows that can't happen. Yet thefederal law, which has its five-year anniversary this month, is set up topunish schools, districts and states that don't make "adequate yearlyprogress" toward that impossible goal.
In her speech this week marking the anniversary and advocatingreauthorization of the law, U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings toldthe typical whoppers about No Child Left Behind. The most egregious wasthis: "Before this act became law, kids often moved from grade to grade, andnobody knew whether or not they had learned to read, write, add, orsubtract. We invested billions of dollars and basically just hoped for thebest."
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PalmBeachPost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2007/01/11/a22a_partd_edit_0111.html
Let Medicare bargain for better drug prices
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Thursday, January 11, 2007
One major fallacy of the Medicare drug plan repeatedly has shown itselfsince the benefit for seniors and disabled Americans took effect a year ago.Congress could make Part D the affordable drug benefit that was promised byallowing the federal government to negotiate prices with manufacturers.
To start lowering drug prices and moving toward closing the "doughnut hole"gap in coverage, the secretary of Health and Human Services - or federaldesignees - need the ability to negotiate discounts, rebates and other pricereductions on behalf of the 23 million Part D beneficiaries. That, andreports to Congress on such progress, would be enacted if lawmakers approvethe Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2007, set for debatein the House on Friday.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002021_pf.html
The Mess at State
By Robert D. Novak
Thursday, January 11, 2007; A25
Members of the Senate intelligence committee, Republicans and Democratsalike, were alarmed last week that John Negroponte was leaving as directorof national intelligence after less than two years to become deputysecretary of state. By way of explanation, he informed one Republicansenator that he did not want to make the switch but that the White House hadprevailed on him to do so.
Just how career diplomat Negroponte came to be the new intelligence czar inthe first place is puzzling. But to pull him out just as his on-the-jobtraining was completed reflects a panicky desire to fill the deputysecretary post, which had been unfilled for an unprecedented six months.Five other key State Department positions are either vacant or are soon tobe vacant.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002076_pf.html
On Stem Cell Legislation, a Reprise With TwistsPassage, Veto Likely as Supporters Wield New Power and Foes Cite NewAlternatives
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 11, 2007; A04
The House is expected to pass today, by a substantial margin, legislationthat would loosen President Bush's restrictions on human embryonic stem cellresearch -- a bill identical to the one it passed in 2005.
Next month, the Senate is expected to do the same, as it did last year.
And all indications are that soon after that, Bush will, for the secondtime, veto the bill.
But the final outcome of this year's emotional fight over the science andethics of stem cell research is not as predictable as it may seem, saidscientists and congressional strategists on both sides of the issue.
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http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/opinion/11brooks.html
The New York Times
January 11, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
The Fog Over Iraq
By DAVID BROOKS
If the Democrats don’t like the U.S. policy on Iraq over the next sixmonths, they have themselves partly to blame. There were millions ofdisaffected Republicans and independents ready to coalesce around somealternative way forward, but the Democrats never came up with anythingremotely serious.
The liberals who favor quick exit never grappled with the consequences ofthat policy, which the Baker-Hamilton commission terrifyingly described. Thecentrists who believe in gradual withdrawal never explained why that wouldn’tbe like pulling a tooth slowly. Joe Biden, who has the most intellectuallyserious framework for dealing with Iraq, was busy yesterday, at the crucialdecision-making moment, conducting preliminary fact-finding hearings,complete with forays into Iraqi history.
The Democrats have been fecund with criticisms of the war, but when it comesto alternative proposals, a common approach is social Darwinism on stilts:We failed them, now they’re on their own.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.sltrib.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=4969612&siteId=297
Pitts: I swear, what kind of country is this?
Leonard Pitts
Miami Herald
Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:01/07/2007 11:44:29 PM MST
Keith Ellison took his ceremonial oath of office last week as a Democraticrepresentative from Minnesota using Thomas Jefferson's Quran. From this, welearn the following surprising fact: Thomas Jefferson owned a Quran.
Which probably shouldn't surprise us at all. Jefferson was renowned forhis restless intellect and wide-ranging interests. Still, one hopes thetacit reminder that this Founding Father and author of American values didnot fear the Quran will silence those who have condemned Ellison's decisionto use that book for his swearing-in. One hopes, but one does not expect.
After all, the objections raised by the congressman's critics are notexactly steeped in logic.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/01/10/ddn011007priest.html?cxntnid=dlh-011007
Police & court headlines
Priest with Dayton ties busted on drug charges in Kentucky
By the Dayton Daily News
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
COVINGTON, Ky. - A Catholic priest with ties to Dayton was arrested Mondayin Covington by members of the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force.
Father Thomas Gaeke, 58, was charged with possession of crack cocaine and acrack pipe, according to officials of the anti-drug unit.
Archdiocese of Cincinnati officials said Gaeke has been on medical leave thepast six years and had been living in Tampa, Fla., although he also ownedproperty in Covington.
Before going on leave, Gaeke was pastor of parishes in Dayton, includingHoly Family, where he is still listed on a church Web site.
A Kenton County Jail official said Tuesday evening that Gaeke was releasedon bond at 8 p.m.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/01/10/10bushlibrary.html
SMU gets criticism for Bush library
University tries to calm fears
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
DALLAS - Mindful of reports that President Bush wants a conservative thinktank with his presidential library, Southern Methodist University's topofficial is trying to allay concerns that pro-Bush politics might spreadthrough campus.
Last month, SMU was named the sole finalist by the selection committeeexploring sites for the library throughout the state.
But since then, students and professors critical of Bush's administrationhave questioned the university's prospective relationship with the library.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.daytondailynews.com/search/content/gen/ap/OH_Challenging_Celibacy.html
Gadfly priest challenges mandatory celibacy in new book
By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
Associated Press Writer
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio - A former seminary president who drew nationalattention to the number of gay Roman Catholic priests tackles mandatorycelibacy in a new book, calling it burdensome and unnecessary.
The Rev. Donald Cozzens says the requirement is hurting the church at a timeof priest shortages.
"Many, if not most, of the inactive priests would be serving in our parishesif it were not for the law of celibacy," Cozzens writes in "FreeingCelibacy."
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011001666_pf.html
House Approves Boost to Minimum Wage
By Bill Brubaker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; 6:08 PM
The House today approved Democratic-written legislation that would graduallyraise the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, the first such hike in 10years.
In one of the Democrats' first victories since taking control of Congresslast week, House members voted 315 to 116 to raise the federal wage floor by$2.10 over two years.
The bill calls for the current $5.15 minimum wage to move to $5.85 an hour60 days after President Bush signs it into law, to $6.55 an hour a yearlater and to $7.25 an hour a year later.
The hike "is simply a matter of doing what's right, what's just and what'sfair," House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said before the vote wastaken, adding he regretted the full increase could not be implementedimmediately.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]#####
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/10/opinion/printable2345834.shtml
Who Are The Real Neocons?
Jan. 10, 2007
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(The New Republic) This column was written by Peter Beinart
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Virtually no one still believes that the United States can quickly imposedemocracy in foreign lands. Almost everyone wants a pragmatic foreignpolicy, not a crusading one. Fewer and fewer Americans think our governmentcan fix Arab culture. In other words, neoconservatism is back.
First-generation neoconservatism, that is. In a historical irony, many ofthe people who most thunderously denounce neoconservatism actually sound alot like the original neocons themselves.
Liberal bloggers sometimes call themselves members of the "reality-basedcommunity." And that would have been a fitting motto for the first neoconjournal, The Public Interest, founded in 1965 by Irving Kristol and DanielBell. If The Public Interest had a bête noire, it was faith-based politics.The great danger to good government, argued its founding editorial, is "aprior commitment to ideology. ... For it is the nature of ideology topreconceive reality."
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4462255.html
Text of President Bush's speech
Associated Press
Text of President Bush's address today, as prepared by the White House.
Good evening. Tonight in Iraq, the Armed Forces of the United States areengaged in a struggle that will determine the direction of the global war onterror - and our safety here at home. The new strategy I outline tonightwill change America's course in Iraq, and help us succeed in the fightagainst terror.
When I addressed you just over a year ago, nearly 12 million Iraqis had casttheir ballots for a unified and democratic nation. The elections of 2005were a stunning achievement. We thought that these elections would bring theIraqis together - and that as we trained Iraqi security forces, we couldaccomplish our mission with fewer American troops.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002713.html
Text of Joint Statement From Democrats
By The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; 10:29 PM
-- Text of a joint statement from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate MajorityLeader Harry Reid, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Senate DemocraticWhip Richard Durbin following President Bush's address to the nationWednesday:
Last November, the American people delivered a strong message of noconfidence in the president's Iraq policy and clearly expressed their desirefor a new direction. The president had an opportunity tonight to demonstratethat he understood the depth of the concern in the country, make a longoverdue course correction, and articulate a clear mission for our engagementin Iraq. Instead, he chose to escalate our involvement in Iraq's civil warby proposing a substantial increase in the number of our forces there. Thisproposal endangers our national security by placing additional burdens onour already over-extended military thereby making it even more difficult torespond to other crises.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/10/opinion/meyer/printable2350063.shtml
A President Alone
Jan. 10, 2007
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(CBS) This commentary was written by CBSNews.com's Dick Meyer.
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When President Bush delivered his speech from the White House Library onWednesday night, he was alone.
There was no audience - just a television crew, some staffers and thecameras. That was appropriate. Rarely in our history has a president made aspeech like this - an announcement that a large number of American soldierswill be sent to a foreign war - with less public, political andinternational support. The president really is alone.
In war and politics, an essential measure of power is allies. Bush has few,and they are not powerful.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/4462536.html
Houston Chronicle
2008 presidential hopefuls take stands on troop increase
By JANET HOOK
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON - President Bush's speech outlining his troop-increase plan inIraq provoked several potential presidential candidates to stake out aposition, including some Republicans who had avoided addressing acontroversial proposal that is likely to be a touchstone issue in 2008.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, ending weeks of dodging questions onthe issue, said Wednesday he would support a troop increase. But Sen. SamBrownback, R-Kan., announced he opposed it, a sign that Republicans may notbe as reluctant to distance themselves from Bush as they once were.
Divisions also opened among Democrats, as two - Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.,and former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C. - announced their support for Congressto cut off funds for a troop increase. That step goes farther than manyDemocrats want because they fear it will be seen as undermining U.S. troopsalready in Iraq.
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Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003517094&zsection_id=268883724&slug=dionne10&date=20070110
E.J. Dionne / Syndicated columnist
Shared goals, not lip service, lead to real bipartisanship
WASHINGTON - We are not even two weeks into the new year, and the nation'spoliticians are already caught up in a deep contradiction between words anddeeds. The incongruity involves "bipartisanship."
Few words have been repeated more often by leaders of both parties andPresident Bush since the new Congress took power. All of God's children arefor bipartisan solutions, bipartisan consultations, bipartisan civility.Commenting on Iraq in his Wall Street Journal op-ed piece last week, Bushwrote of building "a bipartisan consensus to fight and win the war."
That very phrase suggests how meaningless bipartisan talk can be. Thefundamental divide on Iraq is precisely over whether the United States hasan interest in fighting much longer, and whether there is any strategy thatcould, by a reasonable definition, "win" the war. That's especially truesince the president has been steadily defining victory down, to the pointwhere we don't really know what he means by win anymore.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/world/10cnd-prexy.html?ei=5094&en=27c0101b6f21fdb4&hp=&ex=1168491600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
January 10, 2007
Bush Adds Troops in Bid to Secure Iraq
By DAVID E. SANGER
WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 - President Bush announced tonight that he was sendingmore than 21,000 American troops to Iraq to quell the sectarian violencethere, as he conceded for the first time that he had provided neither enoughtroops nor enough resources to halt the country's descent into chaos overthe past year.
Mr. Bush's speech to the nation differed sharply in tone and substance fromhis previous insistence that the United States was making progress towardbuilding a workable Iraqi democracy, and he acknowledged that his previousstrategy was based on fundamentally flawed assumptions about the power ofthe shaky Iraqi government.
The president described his new strategy as an effort to "change America'scourse in Iraq," and he gave no indication that the troop increase would beshort-lived. Mr. Bush also acknowledged that a renewed effort aimed atbringing security to Baghdad would also bring about more American and Iraqicasualties.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002074.html
Christian Groups Trade Barbs On Their Sources of Funding
Accusations Fly of Partisan Influence on Left, Right
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 11, 2007; A03
Two influential Christian nonprofit organizations questioned each other'sfinances yesterday, each suggesting that the other is beholden to big donorswith partisan political motives.
The clash between the National Council of Churches and the Institute onReligion and Democracy was a rarity in Washington, where liberal andconservative advocacy groups fight fiercely over issues but seldom digdeeply into each other's funding.
Both groups call themselves nonpartisan and are incorporated as tax-exemptcharitable organizations. But the council, a New York-based alliance of 35Christian denominations, is deeply involved in liberal social causes, suchas reducing poverty and making peace; it achieved a long-standinglegislative goal yesterday when the House voted to increase the minimumwage.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002605_pf.html
Apple Chief Benefited From Options Dating, Records Indicate
By Alan Sipress
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 11, 2007; A01
Apple Inc. chief executive Steve Jobs confirmed his place this week as thepremier impresario of the Internet age, taking the stage in San Francisco tounveil a smart phone that won a raucous endorsement from thousands of fansin the audience and sent Apple stock rocketing to a record high.
But his signature performance at the annual Macworld Conference and Expo didnot dispel the scandal swirling around Apple over its backdating of stockoptions. Despite the company's defense that Jobs never personally benefitedfrom a pair of stock option grants he received -- he gave them up in 2003,long before allegations of wrongdoing surfaced -- filings with theSecurities and Exchange Commission show that his options were exchanged for5 million shares of restricted Apple stock.
That stock was worth $75 million at the time, nearly the same as the valueof the options he relinquished, using a technique for calculating the valueof investments popular with financial analysts and used by Apple.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011001650_pf.html
Dodd to Enter 2008 Presidential Race
By BETH FOUHY and HOLLY RAMER
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; 9:56 PM
NEW YORK -- Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd, a veteran lawmaker who enteredCongress in the post-Watergate class of 1974, will announce his bid for thepresidency, Democratic officials said Wednesday.
Dodd, 62, will make the formal announcement in an interview Thursday morningon the "Imus in the Morning" radio show _ a curious bit of timing sincehe'll be forced to compete with heavy coverage of President Bush's speech onthe Iraq war.
Dodd will travel late Thursday to Iowa, which will host the firstpresidential nominating caucus next January. He heads to South Carolina, anearly primary state, on Sunday.
Kathy Sullivan, the chairwoman of the Democratic Party in New Hampshire,said in an interview that she had spoken to Dodd and he said, "'I'm notgoing to do the exploratory thing, I'm going to plunge right in.'"
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The Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/shim_jae_hoon/2007/01/claim_your_own_agenda.html
Claim Your Own Agenda
Seoul, South Korea
Dear Mr. Ban Ki-moon,
Like so many South Koreans of my generation who grew up thanking the UnitedNations first for saving our country from North Korean invasion in 1950 andthen for giving us economically assistance so we could stand on our ownfeet, I am thrilled by the chance for you to serve the world organization.We Koreans were so grateful for the UN's peacekeeping role that we probablywere the only non-UN member nation to celebrate its birth by taking a dayoff on October 24 as our national holiday. Now with your election to the toplet me offer a few thoughts as you start on your new mission at a time ofmultiple crises:
1) Don't lose time establishing your own agenda and priorities, whatever thepressure from the Permanent Five. On the question of leadership, thedeparting Kofi Annan said, "I did it my way so he must find his own way." Iknow this is easier said than done, especially as you come from a culturethat places "consensus-building" and "harmony" above strong individualleadership.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010900765_pf.html
S.D. Sen. Johnson's Condition Improves
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; A11
Sen. Tim Johnson's condition has been upgraded from critical to fair, fourweeks after he was hospitalized for a brain hemorrhage, his office saidyesterday.
The South Dakota Democrat, who was taken to the hospital Dec. 13 andunderwent emergency surgery, remains in intensive care.
"The senator continues to make progress," spokeswoman Julianne Fisher said."The next step would be rehabilitation, and we hope that would happen withinthe week."
Johnson's office has said that his recovery is expected to take severalmonths. The surgery was done to correct a condition called arteriovenousmalformation, which involves tangled arteries.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/opinion/11thu1.html?pagewanted=print
January 11, 2007
Editorial
The Real Disaster
President Bush told Americans last night that failure in Iraq would be adisaster. The disaster is Mr. Bush's war, and he has already failed. Lastnight was his chance to stop offering more fog and be honest with thenation, and he did not take it.
Americans needed to hear a clear plan to extricate United States troops fromthe disaster that Mr. Bush created. What they got was more gauzy talk ofvictory in the war on terrorism and of creating a "young democracy" in Iraq.In other words, a way for this president to run out the clock and leave hismess for the next one.
Mr. Bush did acknowledge that some of his previous tactics had failed. Buteven then, the president sounded as if he were an accidental tourist inIraq. He described the failure of last year's effort to pacify Baghdad as ifthe White House and the Pentagon bore no responsibility.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/opinion/11thu2.html?pagewanted=print
January 11, 2007
Editorial
Tax Cuts and Consequences
The tax system in the United States is supposed to mitigate inequality. Buta recent report by Congress's budget agency provides fresh evidence thatBush-era tax cuts have done more to reinforce inequality than to redress it.
The agency found that in 2004, the latest year for which comprehensive datawere available, the top 1 percent of households pocketed 14 percent of totalafter-tax income in the United States, up from 12.2 percent in 2003. Thatincrease, the third largest in one year since the agency started keepingtrack in 1979, works out to an extra $128 billion. And yet despite thathefty gain, the effective federal tax rate of the top 1 percent decreasedslightly.
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The Nw York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/world/middleeast/11diplo.html?pagewanted=print
January 11, 2007
To Counter Iran's Role in Iraq, Bush Moves Beyond Diplomacy
By HELENE COOPER and MARK MAZZETTI
WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 - In promising to stop Iran from meddling in Iraq,President Bush returned Wednesday night to a strategy of confrontation indealing with Tehran, casting aside what had been a limited flirtation with amore diplomatic approach toward it.
Mr. Bush accused Iran of providing material support for attacks on Americantroops and vowed to respond. "We will disrupt the attacks on our forces," hesaid in his speech. "We will seek out and destroy the networks providingadvanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq."
Mr. Bush said the United States would send another aircraft carrier and itssupporting ships to the Persian Gulf. Administration officials said thebattle group would be stationed within quick sailing distance of Iran, aresponse to the growing concern that Iran is building up its own missilecapacity and naval power, with the goal of military dominance in the gulf.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/us/11brfs-AFFIRMATIVE.html?pagewanted=print
January 11, 2007
Michigan: University to Comply With Ruling
By TAMAR LEWIN
The University of Michigan acceded to a federal appeals court decision andsaid it would immediately comply with the state's new ban on affirmativeaction in public education, employment or contracting. The Michigan ballotinitiative banning preferences based on race or gender passed overwhelminglyin November and was to go into effect on Dec. 23. But the University ofMichigan, together with Michigan State University and Wayne StateUniversity, went to court seeking a six-month delay, on the ground that theywere midway through an admissions cycle. A federal district judge grantedthe delay on Dec. 19, but on Dec. 29, a federal appeals court orderedimmediate compliance.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/11/AR2007011100282_pf.html
Poll: Most Americans Opposed to Bush's Iraq Plan
Majority of Those Surveyed Are Skeptical That Surge Would Make Victory MoreLikely
By Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 11, 2007; 7:00 AM
Most Americans oppose President Bush's call to send additional U.S. militaryforces to Iraq and just over a third say the new plan makes victory theremore likely, an initial public rebuke of the strategy he unveiled last nightin a nationally televised address.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted following the President'sspeech finds broad and strong opposition to his call to send about 21,500more troops to Iraq: 61 percent oppose the force increase, with 52 percent"strongly" opposing the build-up. Thirty-six percent support the additionaltroops; only one-quarter of the public is strongly supportive.
Support for adding troops is somewhat higher among the 42 percent ofAmericans who tuned into Bush's speech. Forty-seven percent of viewers thinkthe increase is a good idea, but the President's supporters were more likelythan others to watch or listen to his remarks. (Seventy-two percent of thepublic said they saw or heard Bush's speech when the war began in March2003.)
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Boston.com
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/01/10/few_voices_pressing_bush_to_leave_iraq_immediately?mode=PF
Few voices pressing Bush to leave Iraq immediately
By David Alexander | January 10, 2007
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As President George W. Bush charted a new course forthe Iraq war, there were calls to add troops and withdraw troops, but fewvoices counseled the U.S. leader to pull American forces out now.
After weeks of study, Bush is due to announce on Wednesday a new Iraqstrategy that a defense official said would increase U.S. troops in Iraq byabout 20,000 with most going to violence-plagued Baghdad. The plan alsocalls for Iraqi forces to take responsibility for security in all of Iraq's18 provinces by November, he said.
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LATimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-antiwar10jan10,1,4759270,print.story?coll=la-news-politics-national
THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ: THE POLITICS OF WAR
Democrats feel liberals' antiwar heat
Freshman and veteran lawmakers alike risk the ire of bloggers and otheractivists if they waver on an Iraq exit.
By Janet Hook
Times Staff Writer
January 10, 2007
WASHINGTON - It did not take long for Rep. Nancy Boyda, a freshman Democratfrom Kansas, to learn the price of defying her party's liberal base. Aftershe said she would support President Bush if he proposed an increase in U.S.troop levels in Iraq, antiwar bloggers fumed and MoveOn.org, the liberaladvocacy group, considered running a television ad attacking her.
"If a member of Congress is wrong on Iraq, that is not what we voted for,"said Tom Matzzie, MoveOn's Washington director. "There will be peoplewatching to make sure they do the right thing."
That kind of political pressure is already being applied, not just to juniorlawmakers, but also to Democratic leaders. It prodded them into making Iraqmore central to their first 100 hours in control of Capitol Hill than theyhad planned. And it is creating tension between many Democrats and theliberal activists who will be increasingly important as the 2008presidential campaign gets into gear.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002020_pf.html
Medicare And the Market
Government Shouldn't Be Negotiating Prescription Prices
By Mike Leavitt
Thursday, January 11, 2007; A25
We all want people with Medicare to get the prescription drugs they need atthe lowest possible prices. The issue before Congress this week is how bestto do that. Should consumer choice and private-sector competition determineprices -- or should government?
The success of the Medicare prescription drug benefit provides strongevidence that competition among private drug plans has contributedsignificantly to lowering costs. The average monthly premium has dropped by42 percent, from an estimated $38 to $22 -- and there is a plan availablefor less than $20 a month in every state. The net Medicare cost of the drugprogram has fallen by close to $200 billion since its passage in 2003.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002019_pf.html
Where '100 Hours' Will Hit the Brakes
By David S. Broder
Thursday, January 11, 2007; A25
The three rooms on the third floor of the Capitol, steps away from theSenate floor, have a storied past. They are called the LBJ Suite, becausethey were the domain of Lyndon B. Johnson, who as majority leader famouslyinstalled two wet bars and added a bathroom, from which he conductedmeetings and issued directives while taking care of his personal business.
The suite's new occupant is a man as anonymous as Johnson was flamboyant,Richard Durbin, the 62-year-old senior senator from downstate Illinois. Inthe next two years, however, a great deal of the Democrats' fate depends onDurbin. As assistant majority leader, or whip, it is up to him to figure outhow to corral enough votes in the narrowly divided Senate to pass at leastsome of the flood of bills that the energized House Democratic majority willsend over.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002022_pf.html
Unwitting Party to Genocide
The International Criminal Court Is Complicating Efforts to Save Darfur
By Stephen Rademaker
Thursday, January 11, 2007; A25
Over the past three years, more than 400,000 people have perished in theDarfur genocide. Fighting has intensified in recent months as diplomaticefforts to end the conflict have faltered. The government in Khartoum bearsprincipal responsibility for the continued killing, but recently anunexpected obstacle to ending the bloodshed has emerged: the InternationalCriminal Court (ICC).
Critics of the ICC predicted early on that it would be more a hindrance thana help to ending most conflicts. The threat of prosecution would rarelymotivate both parties to stop fighting, they argued, but in many cases itwould be powerful enough to convince at least one side that it was betteroff continuing to fight. Yet even the ICC's critics have been surprised bythe degree to which this is being borne out in Darfur.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002542_pf.html
Fairfax vs. 'No Child' Standoff Heats Up
County to Protest Mandate on English Tests for Immigrants
By Maria Glod
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 11, 2007; A01
Teenagers from Uzbekistan, Korea and Egypt huddled one recent morning in aFairfax County classroom, studying English words on slips of paper. Dozenswere familiar, but not "bitter," "nibble" or "wicked." Felobateer Hana, 13,held up another. An animated movie character came to mind: "Shrek?"
"That's a good guess, but Shrek doesn't have an 'i' in it," said teacherKaryn Niles at Liberty Middle School in Clifton. "This is 'shriek.' Shriekis kind of like yelling."
Students such as Felobateer and his eighth-grade classmates, all recentimmigrants who are learning English as a second language, are at the centerof an intensifying dispute between Virginia schools and the U.S. Departmentof Education over testing requirements under the federal No Child LeftBehind law.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002417_pf.html
Many Workers At Wal-Mart Don't Use Its Health Plans43% Covered Elsewhere
By Ylan Q. Mui and Amy Joyce
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, January 11, 2007; D01
About 90 percent of Wal-Mart employees have health-care coverage, but 43percent do not get it from the mammoth retailer, relying instead on benefitsfrom a spouse, federal programs or even their parents, according to aninternal survey the company made public yesterday.
Wal-Mart employs more than 1.3 million people in the United States, makingit one of the country's largest employers. The company surveyed more than200,000 workers during the fall open-enrollment period for health benefits,the retailer's first effort to capture such data as it faces criticism fromlabor unions that accuse it of paying low wages and skimping on healthbenefits.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002075_pf.html
A Smoking Tradition Snuffed Out By Pelosi
By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 11, 2007; A07
Some fresh air blew into the Capitol yesterday, after House Speaker NancyPelosi banned smoking from the most venerable nicotine haven on the hill --the Speaker's Lobby outside the entrance to the House floor.
Pelosi, of smoke-free California, is known to detest the tobacco habit. Eversince her ascension as top Democrat with authority over the lobby and mostother space in the House, smokers have been bracing for the moment whenthey'd be ordered to extinguish their butts.
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Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-08forum25jan08,0,5620326,print.story?coll=sfla-news-opinion
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Case for death doesn't hold up
By Taylor Mattis
January 8, 2007
The arguments in favor of capital punishment fail on factual and moralbases. The most common arguments are:
Deterrence: Capital punishment does not deter the commission of crimes forwhich it is imposed. (It might deter littering, overtime parking, andprobably shoplifting, if it were imposed with certainty and quickly afterthe crime. Even for petty, deliberate crimes, however, it is doubtful thatdeterrence is served. In old England where hanging was the penalty forpickpockets, the incidence of pickpocketing was high at the hangings.) Themurder rates in states with no capital punishment have not risen since itwas abolished. Murder is usually not a planned event as to which one wouldthink: "I'd kill her but for my fear of lethal injection."
The deterrence argument often adds: "Well, at least the criminal whom thestate kills would not do it again." True, but surely society could establishand enforce life imprisonment without possibility of parole if we had thewill. But why should taxpayers pay to house and feed these bad people forlife?
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16431743.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Jan. 11, 2007
RELIGION
Are Americans prepared to elect a Mormon as president?
BY SUSAN ESTRICH
www.creators.com
Is America ready for a Mormon president?
Earlier this week, on his last day as governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romneytook the ceremonial walk out of the Statehouse and into the biggest race ofhis life. As he was passing the baton to Massachusetts' first blackgovernor, his aides were filing papers in Washington to establish apresidential exploratory committee for the charismatic former head of theSalt Lake City Olympics.
Like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side, the Romneycandidacy is a challenge to our conventional definition of who gets to growup and become president. In his case, the issue is not race or sex, butreligion. Romney looks like every former president, but his faith is adifferent matter. He is a Mormon, and more people than you might think aremore open than you might expect about their problems with that fact.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/16431723.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Jan. 11, 2007
CHAVEZ INAUGURATION | S. FLORIDA REACTION
Some Venezuelan expatriates fear the worst
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's inauguration speech sent waves of concernthrough expatriate circles.
BY CASEY WOODS
cwoods@MiamiHerald.com
South Florida's Venezuelans are warily watching President Hugo Chávez, whoat his inauguration Wednesday extolled the virtues of his plan for an''accelerated'' push into socialism during his coming six-year term.
At Doral's El Arepazo restaurant, the patrons' predictions for those yearswere often far less glorious than Chávez's characterization of his plan asnew, improved socialism for the 21st century. To many, it will be athrowback to Fidel Castro's now 48-year-old government-controlled economy inimpoverished Cuba.
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PalmBeachPost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2007/01/11/a22a_versteegcol_0111.html
No Misconception Left Behind
By Jac Wilder VerSteeg
Palm Beach Post Deputy Editorial Page Editor
Thursday, January 11, 2007
If it's impolite to say that No Child Left Behind doesn't work because it'sbased on lies, let's just say that the federal law suffers from fantasy andwishful thinking.
The bedrock fantasy is that every child in America will be able to read anddo math on grade level by 2014. Everybody knows that can't happen. Yet thefederal law, which has its five-year anniversary this month, is set up topunish schools, districts and states that don't make "adequate yearlyprogress" toward that impossible goal.
In her speech this week marking the anniversary and advocatingreauthorization of the law, U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings toldthe typical whoppers about No Child Left Behind. The most egregious wasthis: "Before this act became law, kids often moved from grade to grade, andnobody knew whether or not they had learned to read, write, add, orsubtract. We invested billions of dollars and basically just hoped for thebest."
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PalmBeachPost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2007/01/11/a22a_partd_edit_0111.html
Let Medicare bargain for better drug prices
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Thursday, January 11, 2007
One major fallacy of the Medicare drug plan repeatedly has shown itselfsince the benefit for seniors and disabled Americans took effect a year ago.Congress could make Part D the affordable drug benefit that was promised byallowing the federal government to negotiate prices with manufacturers.
To start lowering drug prices and moving toward closing the "doughnut hole"gap in coverage, the secretary of Health and Human Services - or federaldesignees - need the ability to negotiate discounts, rebates and other pricereductions on behalf of the 23 million Part D beneficiaries. That, andreports to Congress on such progress, would be enacted if lawmakers approvethe Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2007, set for debatein the House on Friday.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002021_pf.html
The Mess at State
By Robert D. Novak
Thursday, January 11, 2007; A25
Members of the Senate intelligence committee, Republicans and Democratsalike, were alarmed last week that John Negroponte was leaving as directorof national intelligence after less than two years to become deputysecretary of state. By way of explanation, he informed one Republicansenator that he did not want to make the switch but that the White House hadprevailed on him to do so.
Just how career diplomat Negroponte came to be the new intelligence czar inthe first place is puzzling. But to pull him out just as his on-the-jobtraining was completed reflects a panicky desire to fill the deputysecretary post, which had been unfilled for an unprecedented six months.Five other key State Department positions are either vacant or are soon tobe vacant.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002076_pf.html
On Stem Cell Legislation, a Reprise With TwistsPassage, Veto Likely as Supporters Wield New Power and Foes Cite NewAlternatives
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 11, 2007; A04
The House is expected to pass today, by a substantial margin, legislationthat would loosen President Bush's restrictions on human embryonic stem cellresearch -- a bill identical to the one it passed in 2005.
Next month, the Senate is expected to do the same, as it did last year.
And all indications are that soon after that, Bush will, for the secondtime, veto the bill.
But the final outcome of this year's emotional fight over the science andethics of stem cell research is not as predictable as it may seem, saidscientists and congressional strategists on both sides of the issue.
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http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/opinion/11brooks.html
The New York Times
January 11, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
The Fog Over Iraq
By DAVID BROOKS
If the Democrats don’t like the U.S. policy on Iraq over the next sixmonths, they have themselves partly to blame. There were millions ofdisaffected Republicans and independents ready to coalesce around somealternative way forward, but the Democrats never came up with anythingremotely serious.
The liberals who favor quick exit never grappled with the consequences ofthat policy, which the Baker-Hamilton commission terrifyingly described. Thecentrists who believe in gradual withdrawal never explained why that wouldn’tbe like pulling a tooth slowly. Joe Biden, who has the most intellectuallyserious framework for dealing with Iraq, was busy yesterday, at the crucialdecision-making moment, conducting preliminary fact-finding hearings,complete with forays into Iraqi history.
The Democrats have been fecund with criticisms of the war, but when it comesto alternative proposals, a common approach is social Darwinism on stilts:We failed them, now they’re on their own.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.sltrib.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=4969612&siteId=297
Pitts: I swear, what kind of country is this?
Leonard Pitts
Miami Herald
Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:01/07/2007 11:44:29 PM MST
Keith Ellison took his ceremonial oath of office last week as a Democraticrepresentative from Minnesota using Thomas Jefferson's Quran. From this, welearn the following surprising fact: Thomas Jefferson owned a Quran.
Which probably shouldn't surprise us at all. Jefferson was renowned forhis restless intellect and wide-ranging interests. Still, one hopes thetacit reminder that this Founding Father and author of American values didnot fear the Quran will silence those who have condemned Ellison's decisionto use that book for his swearing-in. One hopes, but one does not expect.
After all, the objections raised by the congressman's critics are notexactly steeped in logic.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/01/10/ddn011007priest.html?cxntnid=dlh-011007
Police & court headlines
Priest with Dayton ties busted on drug charges in Kentucky
By the Dayton Daily News
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
COVINGTON, Ky. - A Catholic priest with ties to Dayton was arrested Mondayin Covington by members of the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force.
Father Thomas Gaeke, 58, was charged with possession of crack cocaine and acrack pipe, according to officials of the anti-drug unit.
Archdiocese of Cincinnati officials said Gaeke has been on medical leave thepast six years and had been living in Tampa, Fla., although he also ownedproperty in Covington.
Before going on leave, Gaeke was pastor of parishes in Dayton, includingHoly Family, where he is still listed on a church Web site.
A Kenton County Jail official said Tuesday evening that Gaeke was releasedon bond at 8 p.m.
=
Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/01/10/10bushlibrary.html
SMU gets criticism for Bush library
University tries to calm fears
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
DALLAS - Mindful of reports that President Bush wants a conservative thinktank with his presidential library, Southern Methodist University's topofficial is trying to allay concerns that pro-Bush politics might spreadthrough campus.
Last month, SMU was named the sole finalist by the selection committeeexploring sites for the library throughout the state.
But since then, students and professors critical of Bush's administrationhave questioned the university's prospective relationship with the library.
=
Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.daytondailynews.com/search/content/gen/ap/OH_Challenging_Celibacy.html
Gadfly priest challenges mandatory celibacy in new book
By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
Associated Press Writer
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio - A former seminary president who drew nationalattention to the number of gay Roman Catholic priests tackles mandatorycelibacy in a new book, calling it burdensome and unnecessary.
The Rev. Donald Cozzens says the requirement is hurting the church at a timeof priest shortages.
"Many, if not most, of the inactive priests would be serving in our parishesif it were not for the law of celibacy," Cozzens writes in "FreeingCelibacy."
=
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011001666_pf.html
House Approves Boost to Minimum Wage
By Bill Brubaker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; 6:08 PM
The House today approved Democratic-written legislation that would graduallyraise the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, the first such hike in 10years.
In one of the Democrats' first victories since taking control of Congresslast week, House members voted 315 to 116 to raise the federal wage floor by$2.10 over two years.
The bill calls for the current $5.15 minimum wage to move to $5.85 an hour60 days after President Bush signs it into law, to $6.55 an hour a yearlater and to $7.25 an hour a year later.
The hike "is simply a matter of doing what's right, what's just and what'sfair," House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said before the vote wastaken, adding he regretted the full increase could not be implementedimmediately.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]#####
FLORIDA DIGEST January 11, 2007
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US ATrays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/16431642.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Jan. 11, 2007
TALLAHASSEE
Crist rejects all of Bush's picks
Saying the state needs 'new blood,' Gov. Charlie Crist pulled all of JebBush's nominees for state boards.
By MARC CAPUTO
mcaputo@MiamiHerald.com
TALLAHASSEE - In an act of far-reaching political independence, Gov. CharlieCrist on Wednesday canceled the nominations of 283 people former Gov. JebBush tapped to sit on numerous state boards and commissions that regulateeverything from the environment to telephone bills.
''It's time for a fresh new start,'' said Crist, who campaigned last fall asboth a steward of Bush's legacy and as the consumer-oriented ``people'sgovernor.''
First up for Crist: The powerful Public Service Commission, which regulatestelephone and electric companies. Crist said he would name his PSC pickstoday.
=
Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/education/highered/sfl-cdonation11jan11,0,5001901,print.story?coll=sfla-education-highered
Donation to FAU a record $16 million
By Scott Travis
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
January 11, 2007
BOCA RATON ? Florida Atlantic University received its largest donation ever,and one of the biggest for a state public university, after insurancemagnate Barry Kaye pledged $16 million to enhance the College of Business.
The college will be renamed the Barry Kaye College of Business in honor ofthe Boca Raton businessman.
Kaye and his wife, Carole, agreed in 2005 to donate $5 million but increasedit $11 million. The donation will be paid in installments over the next fiveyears, FAU officials said. "I just saw all the great things they've beendoing in the past year," Barry Kaye said. "And when they said they wanted toname the college after me, they won me over."
=
From Paul Harris, Publisher
The Independent Gay News
http://www.indynews.4t.com/
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 2:34 PM
Subject: List of People of the Year Award Winners
Person of the Year
Father Bill Collins (Founder of Poverello which this year celebrates its
20th anniversary)
Unsung Heroes
Jack Cole (Ft. Lauderdale Gay Men's Chorus)
Ray Rideout and Michael Cooper (Ray's List)
Contribution to the Sporting Community
John Grzeszczak (Hammerheads)
Special Award
The Gateway Cinema on Sunrise Blvd.
Straight Ally of the Year Award
Ms Vicky Keller
Lifetime Achievement Award
Gary Keating (contribution to the Gay Choral Movement)
Community Awards
Toni Barone (lately of "Elements")
Church of the Holy SpiritSong
=
Florida Safe Schools Summit
January 20, 2007
9:00 am to 4:00 pm
Mast Academy
3979 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, Florida
mast.dade.k12.fl.us
FROM EQUALITY FLORIDA -- PLEASE JOIN US!
Dear Florida Safe Schools Coalition Allies,
This is our year. This is the year when Florida will finally pass a safeschools law to address the harassment and bullying students face in ourschools.
How strong and effective that law is depends on us.
We need YOU:
Agency leaders
Concerned citizens
Leading safe schools advocates from across Florida
Parents
Political champions
School board members
Student organizers
EVERYONE CONCERNED WITH CREATING SAFE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS FOR OURCHILDREN
This is a strategy summit, and we'll need all of our best minds acrossFlorida to build a winning plan.
YOUR PARTICIPATION IS VITAL.
After seven years of work, we are so close to victory for our students.Please RSVP to let us know you are attending.
For more information contact Mallory Wells - 407-617-6682 / Mallory@eqfl.org
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Million-Dollar-Trailers.html?pagewanted=print
January 10, 2007
Fla. Trailer Park OKs Megabucks Sellout
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:56 p.m. ET
BRINY BREEZES, Fla. (AP) -- Residents of this trailer-park town sitting onbeachfront property have voted overwhelmingly to sell their community to adeveloper for more than $510 million, which could make most of themmillionaires.
Some residents bought their homes for as little as $35,000.
The contract isn't official -- and residents don't get any money -- until2009. If the sale goes through, nearly every owner will get more than $1million.
About 80 percent of the town's shareholders who cast ballots approved thesale, while 17 percent opposed it, according to a statement Wednesday fromthe town's corporate office. More than 97 percent of shareholders voted.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011001340_pf.html
Ex-lawmaker Foley had $1.75 mln in coffer
By Jeremy Pelofsky
Reuters
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; 2:44 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mark Foley, who resigned his seat in the U.S.Congress after a scandal involving inappropriate e-mails to interns, hadalmost $1.75 million left in his campaign coffers, according to his latestdisclosure report made public on Wednesday.
The Florida Republican, who was in his sixth term, stepped down September 29after ABC News reported that he had sent some sexually explicit messages toformer teenage male interns, known as congressional pages.
Foley could use the money to set up a legal defense fund, give it to otherpolitical campaigns, donate it to charity or return the contributions,according to Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, a campaignwatchdog group.
=
Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/sfl-zmoving11jan11,0,2754098,print.story?coll=sfla-business-front
Florida exodus? Statistics show residents starting to leave for less costlylocales
By Paul Owers
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
January 11, 2007
For the first time in 30 years, United Van Lines Inc. says it moved morepeople out of Florida than in, and analysts see that as a sign thatconsumers are looking elsewhere for a cheaper slice of life.
The nation's largest moving company reported 16,212 inbound shipments toFlorida last year and 17,019 outbound shipments. United moved more people toFlorida in each year from 1999 to 2004, but the number of inbound moves fellin 2005, spokeswoman Jennifer Bonham said.
The study isn't scientific, but it does underscore a recent trend in whichfed-up Floridians are moving to other parts of the country, in part toescape rising property taxes and insurance rates.
=
Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorial/sfl-edittdmanateesjan11,0,4444313.story?coll=sfla-news-editorial
Wildlife
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board
January 11, 2007
ISSUE: Manatees death toll highest in a decade.
"Threatened" or "endangered"? You be the judge. And should there even bemuch of a difference?
The number of manatees killed in Florida waters last year was the highestsince 1996, when state records listed 415 manatee deaths. Floridians shouldtake note, however, that the carnage in 2006 occurred in the same year thestate downgraded the marine mammal's protected status to "threatened" from"endangered."
In all, some 416 manatees died last year, up from 396 in 2005. The Fish andWildlife Conservation Commission report on the manatee deaths saidscientists could not pinpoint an exact reason why so many of the marinemammals were found dead last year.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/16431653.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Jan. 11, 2007
MIAMI-DADE COMMISSION
County commissioners defend private meeting
Some county commissioners met privately Tuesday, but said it was OK becausethey discussed politics, not county business.
BY CHARLES RABIN
crabin@MiamiHerald.com
Despite a warning from the Miami-Dade county attorney, six countycommissioners met in the office of Chairman Bruno Barreiro just before noonTuesday to organize a plan to fight the strong mayor initiative, they said.
The issue of meeting in private originally came up during an early Decembercommission meeting in which board members discussed ways to fight the Jan.23 vote that, if passed, would increase the powers of Mayor Carlos Alvarez.
County Attorney Murray Greenberg warned: ``My job is to try to protect you,and sometimes it's protecting you from yourselves. The issues that will comeup -- as sure as I am short, bald and wear bifocals -- are issues that willcome back before this board.''
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/16431644.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Jan. 11, 2007
TALLAHASSEE
Mentally ill inmates to get help
Florida will spend millions to move mentally ill inmates from county jailsto psychiatric hospitals for treatment.
BY GARY FINEOUT AND SUSANNAH A. NESMITH
gfineout@MiamiHerald.com
TALLAHASSEE - Florida lawmakers agreed Wednesday to spend nearly $17 millionto move hundreds of mentally ill inmates now languishing in county jailsinto psychiatric hospital beds.
Legislators approved the emergency spending request after a Pinellas Countyjudge had threatened to jail the former head of the Department of Children &Families for ignoring a law that requires that jail inmates ruledincompetent to stand trial be removed from jail and given treatment.
''The judges in the state are frustrated, as you are, and they've taken someactions to get our attention and they obviously have,'' said BobButterworth, the new DCF secretary. Gov. Charlie Crist appointed him toreplace Lucy Hadi, whom a judge threatened to jail last November.
[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]
#####
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/16431642.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Jan. 11, 2007
TALLAHASSEE
Crist rejects all of Bush's picks
Saying the state needs 'new blood,' Gov. Charlie Crist pulled all of JebBush's nominees for state boards.
By MARC CAPUTO
mcaputo@MiamiHerald.com
TALLAHASSEE - In an act of far-reaching political independence, Gov. CharlieCrist on Wednesday canceled the nominations of 283 people former Gov. JebBush tapped to sit on numerous state boards and commissions that regulateeverything from the environment to telephone bills.
''It's time for a fresh new start,'' said Crist, who campaigned last fall asboth a steward of Bush's legacy and as the consumer-oriented ``people'sgovernor.''
First up for Crist: The powerful Public Service Commission, which regulatestelephone and electric companies. Crist said he would name his PSC pickstoday.
=
Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/education/highered/sfl-cdonation11jan11,0,5001901,print.story?coll=sfla-education-highered
Donation to FAU a record $16 million
By Scott Travis
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
January 11, 2007
BOCA RATON ? Florida Atlantic University received its largest donation ever,and one of the biggest for a state public university, after insurancemagnate Barry Kaye pledged $16 million to enhance the College of Business.
The college will be renamed the Barry Kaye College of Business in honor ofthe Boca Raton businessman.
Kaye and his wife, Carole, agreed in 2005 to donate $5 million but increasedit $11 million. The donation will be paid in installments over the next fiveyears, FAU officials said. "I just saw all the great things they've beendoing in the past year," Barry Kaye said. "And when they said they wanted toname the college after me, they won me over."
=
From Paul Harris, Publisher
The Independent Gay News
http://www.indynews.4t.com/
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 2:34 PM
Subject: List of People of the Year Award Winners
Person of the Year
Father Bill Collins (Founder of Poverello which this year celebrates its
20th anniversary)
Unsung Heroes
Jack Cole (Ft. Lauderdale Gay Men's Chorus)
Ray Rideout and Michael Cooper (Ray's List)
Contribution to the Sporting Community
John Grzeszczak (Hammerheads)
Special Award
The Gateway Cinema on Sunrise Blvd.
Straight Ally of the Year Award
Ms Vicky Keller
Lifetime Achievement Award
Gary Keating (contribution to the Gay Choral Movement)
Community Awards
Toni Barone (lately of "Elements")
Church of the Holy SpiritSong
=
Florida Safe Schools Summit
January 20, 2007
9:00 am to 4:00 pm
Mast Academy
3979 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, Florida
mast.dade.k12.fl.us
FROM EQUALITY FLORIDA -- PLEASE JOIN US!
Dear Florida Safe Schools Coalition Allies,
This is our year. This is the year when Florida will finally pass a safeschools law to address the harassment and bullying students face in ourschools.
How strong and effective that law is depends on us.
We need YOU:
Agency leaders
Concerned citizens
Leading safe schools advocates from across Florida
Parents
Political champions
School board members
Student organizers
EVERYONE CONCERNED WITH CREATING SAFE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS FOR OURCHILDREN
This is a strategy summit, and we'll need all of our best minds acrossFlorida to build a winning plan.
YOUR PARTICIPATION IS VITAL.
After seven years of work, we are so close to victory for our students.Please RSVP to let us know you are attending.
For more information contact Mallory Wells - 407-617-6682 / Mallory@eqfl.org
=
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Million-Dollar-Trailers.html?pagewanted=print
January 10, 2007
Fla. Trailer Park OKs Megabucks Sellout
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:56 p.m. ET
BRINY BREEZES, Fla. (AP) -- Residents of this trailer-park town sitting onbeachfront property have voted overwhelmingly to sell their community to adeveloper for more than $510 million, which could make most of themmillionaires.
Some residents bought their homes for as little as $35,000.
The contract isn't official -- and residents don't get any money -- until2009. If the sale goes through, nearly every owner will get more than $1million.
About 80 percent of the town's shareholders who cast ballots approved thesale, while 17 percent opposed it, according to a statement Wednesday fromthe town's corporate office. More than 97 percent of shareholders voted.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011001340_pf.html
Ex-lawmaker Foley had $1.75 mln in coffer
By Jeremy Pelofsky
Reuters
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; 2:44 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mark Foley, who resigned his seat in the U.S.Congress after a scandal involving inappropriate e-mails to interns, hadalmost $1.75 million left in his campaign coffers, according to his latestdisclosure report made public on Wednesday.
The Florida Republican, who was in his sixth term, stepped down September 29after ABC News reported that he had sent some sexually explicit messages toformer teenage male interns, known as congressional pages.
Foley could use the money to set up a legal defense fund, give it to otherpolitical campaigns, donate it to charity or return the contributions,according to Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, a campaignwatchdog group.
=
Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/sfl-zmoving11jan11,0,2754098,print.story?coll=sfla-business-front
Florida exodus? Statistics show residents starting to leave for less costlylocales
By Paul Owers
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
January 11, 2007
For the first time in 30 years, United Van Lines Inc. says it moved morepeople out of Florida than in, and analysts see that as a sign thatconsumers are looking elsewhere for a cheaper slice of life.
The nation's largest moving company reported 16,212 inbound shipments toFlorida last year and 17,019 outbound shipments. United moved more people toFlorida in each year from 1999 to 2004, but the number of inbound moves fellin 2005, spokeswoman Jennifer Bonham said.
The study isn't scientific, but it does underscore a recent trend in whichfed-up Floridians are moving to other parts of the country, in part toescape rising property taxes and insurance rates.
=
Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorial/sfl-edittdmanateesjan11,0,4444313.story?coll=sfla-news-editorial
Wildlife
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board
January 11, 2007
ISSUE: Manatees death toll highest in a decade.
"Threatened" or "endangered"? You be the judge. And should there even bemuch of a difference?
The number of manatees killed in Florida waters last year was the highestsince 1996, when state records listed 415 manatee deaths. Floridians shouldtake note, however, that the carnage in 2006 occurred in the same year thestate downgraded the marine mammal's protected status to "threatened" from"endangered."
In all, some 416 manatees died last year, up from 396 in 2005. The Fish andWildlife Conservation Commission report on the manatee deaths saidscientists could not pinpoint an exact reason why so many of the marinemammals were found dead last year.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/16431653.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Jan. 11, 2007
MIAMI-DADE COMMISSION
County commissioners defend private meeting
Some county commissioners met privately Tuesday, but said it was OK becausethey discussed politics, not county business.
BY CHARLES RABIN
crabin@MiamiHerald.com
Despite a warning from the Miami-Dade county attorney, six countycommissioners met in the office of Chairman Bruno Barreiro just before noonTuesday to organize a plan to fight the strong mayor initiative, they said.
The issue of meeting in private originally came up during an early Decembercommission meeting in which board members discussed ways to fight the Jan.23 vote that, if passed, would increase the powers of Mayor Carlos Alvarez.
County Attorney Murray Greenberg warned: ``My job is to try to protect you,and sometimes it's protecting you from yourselves. The issues that will comeup -- as sure as I am short, bald and wear bifocals -- are issues that willcome back before this board.''
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/16431644.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Jan. 11, 2007
TALLAHASSEE
Mentally ill inmates to get help
Florida will spend millions to move mentally ill inmates from county jailsto psychiatric hospitals for treatment.
BY GARY FINEOUT AND SUSANNAH A. NESMITH
gfineout@MiamiHerald.com
TALLAHASSEE - Florida lawmakers agreed Wednesday to spend nearly $17 millionto move hundreds of mentally ill inmates now languishing in county jailsinto psychiatric hospital beds.
Legislators approved the emergency spending request after a Pinellas Countyjudge had threatened to jail the former head of the Department of Children &Families for ignoring a law that requires that jail inmates ruledincompetent to stand trial be removed from jail and given treatment.
''The judges in the state are frustrated, as you are, and they've taken someactions to get our attention and they obviously have,'' said BobButterworth, the new DCF secretary. Gov. Charlie Crist appointed him toreplace Lucy Hadi, whom a judge threatened to jail last November.
[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]
#####
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
GLBT DIGEST - January 10, 2007
**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US ATrays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
http://www.radio.cz/en/issue/87058
As rights group shuts down, chairman says Czech gays and lesbians must catchup with the tolerant society around them
[09-01-2007] By Ilya Marritz
After seventeen years in the movement, Jiri Hromada is moving on. Last weekhe announced that Gay Iniciativa, the lesbian and gay rights group he hasled for the past seven years, is closing down. Already, the little alcoveoff of his bedroom, which once served as Gay Iniciativa's main office, hasbeen tidied up and is beginning to look more like an ordinary study.
But my main colleague, my deputy who knows everything about computers satdown there at the desk with the computer, and I sat at this other desk tothe right. Here are some interesting mementoes: I got these medals at thegay games. This one I got in Amsterdam, and then this was from Sydney in2002. In my years working in gay rights, I became an honorary member of manyorganizations, and these plaques and certificates are from that time."
=
http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3349664,00.html
Tel Aviv, the final gay frontier
These are the voyages of the British gay journalist in his continuingmission to explore strange new worlds
Chas Newkey Burden
Tel Aviv resident Justin Rudzki was strolling across the city's busyDizengoff Square one day when he spotted an Arab man. Their eyes met and thetwo men approached one another.
But this wasn't to be yet another moment of conflict between Jew and Arab inthe Middle East. The pair instead swapped phone numbers and arranged a date.You might not expect such an encounter to be able to occur in Israel. Butthen the more you look into gay life in this country, the more surprises youuncover.
When I told friends I was visiting Israel, the common response was "Becareful, make sure you don't get killed." In fact, such is the level ofsecurity there, I felt far, far safer in Israel than I do in London.Similarly, when I told friends I was visiting Israel to write a feature fora gay magazine, the common response was: "Be careful, I bet it's a reallyhomophobic country."
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Townhall.com, January 8, 2007
http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/JanetMLaRue/2007/01/08/another_homosexual_activist_cuts_bisexuals_out_of_wedding_march
Another homosexual activist cuts bisexuals out of wedding march
By Janet M. LaRue
It turns out that some are more equal than others.
Another nationally-known homosexual activist, Michaelangelo Signorile,dismissed the prospect of legalized polygamy as a scare tactic and went onrecord against a "married" ménage-a-trois, which is the topic of my recentcolumn. Even so, I'm guessing that Signorile and friends are applaudingWednesday's ruling by a Canadian appeals court that a five-year-old boy hasa legal right to two mommies and a daddy. If the ruling isn't the Tour deLuge to polygamy, what is?
Wednesday night, Bill O'Reilly interviewed Signorile on the subject of "gaymarriage." O'Reilly says if homosexuals can marry, you can't stop polygamy.Signorile essentially dismissed polygamy as a "ploy," saying it "isn'twithin the scheme of marriage."
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_News&set_id=1&click_id=&art_id=vn20070107104004157C866087
'Sheep have a right to be gay'
By Johann Hari
London - Whatever happens in 2007, we already have the most surreal headlineof the year: "Sheep have right to be gay, says Martina Navratilova". Butbehind this headline and buried beneath the battery of baa-aad jokes itseems to beckon, there is a strange and serious story that will ripple outthrough the 21st century in ways we cannot predict.
For the past five years, a team of researchers at Orgeon State Universityhas been investigating the sexuality of sheep. Early on, they proved whatevery sheep farmer knows: about 8 percent of rams are gay. When it comes tosex, these woolly homosexuals shun ewes and engage exclusively in ram-on-ramaction.
=
Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.pe.com/localnews/riverside/stories/PE_News_Local_R_milgay07.6a2739.html
Policy on gays divides veterans
'don't ask, don't tell': With troop deployments straining resources, somepush for changes.
09:21 AM PST on Tuesday, January 9, 2007
By JOE VARGO
The Press-Enterprise
Retired Army Gen. John Shalikashvili, in comments published last week by TheNew York Times, said America is now more accepting of gays and lesbiansserving in uniform.
Shalikashvili presided over the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1993 when thecurrent "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, which allows gays to serve only ifthey keep private their sexual orientation, went into effect.
At that time, Shalikashvili said allowing gays to serve openly would crippletroop morale. But he now says most servicemen and women can accept gay andlesbian peers. He said he changed his mind after talking with gays andlesbians in uniform.
=
A note from Ray:
Congrats to UF. However, it is ironic that UF felt the need to excel firstin football, before moving toward a first place in academic excellence. Isthere any evidence of a positive relationship between athletic focus on auniversity campus and academic excellence?
=
365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/010907work.htm
Rights Group Names Best LGBT Workplaces
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 9, 2007 - 5:00 pm ET
(Washington) A record 142 major companies made this year's Best Places ToWork List put out by the Human Rights Campaign. The number is an increase of41 over 2005.
HRC publishes the list annually. All 142 companies this year attained aperfect score on the organization's Corporate Equality Index, which measurespolicies and practices implemented to promote fairness and equality in theworkplace for LGBT employees.
"This is our version of the 'Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval' showingthat these 142 companies have a philosophy of inclusion and are committed tofairness and equality for all Americans," said Joe Solmonese, president ofthe Human Rights Campaign.
"Whether the seal is placed on recruiting materials used to attract newemployees or prominently displayed at the entrance of a company's store,this seal will act as a welcome mat for equality."
=
365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/010907ukUp.htm
Bid Fails To Overturn UK Rights Law
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 9, 2007 - 6:00 pm ET
(London) A bid by gay foes to overturn a law banning discrimination againstgays and lesbians in goods and services failed Tuesday in the House of Lordsby a margin of three to one.
The new law came into force in Northern Ireland on Jan. 1, and is scheduledto be introduced in England, Wales and Scotland in April.
As the Lords began debate on a repeal measure hundreds of conservativereligious groups demonstrated across the street.
Leaders of the group also submitted a petition to the Queen.
Andrea Minichello Williams, a protest organizer, told the Associated Pressearlier on Tuesday that the petition had been signed by 10,000 BritishChristians and urges the monarch to use her "power and position" to demandthat the British government protect the freedom of Christians to liveaccording to the Bible's teaching.
=
365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/010907houston.htm
Cars Vandalized At Houston Gay Night Spot
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 9, 2007 - 8:30 pm ET
(Houston, Texas) Houston police are searching for the person or personsresponsible for vandalizing dozens of cars early Tuesday morning outside apopular gay bar.
Patrons emerged from EJ's near closing time to find their tires slashed,windows smashed and paint scored with a key or knife.
All of the cars were in a parking lot at the rear of the bar on Ralph Streetnear Westheimer Road.
"I have two flat tires and a damaged windshield," one victim, Andre Wagner,told KPRC-television.
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Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=502
Antigay psychiatrist Charles Socarides dies
by Bob Roehr
A pillar of antigay psychiatry, Charles W. Socarides, died at his home inManhattan, Sunday, December 25. He was 83. Dr. Socarides provided much ofthe intellectual rationale for the discredited concept of "reparativetherapy" – that gays and lesbians could be cured of their sexual orientationand made straight.
Socarides's obsession with homosexuality resulted in a handful of books onthe topic, including The Overt Homosexual (1968), and Homosexuality: AFreedom Too Far (1995).
His central premise was that for gay men, homosexuality was a "neuroticadaptation" to a distant father and a smothering mother. He claimed to havecured about a third of those he treated and made them straight. He was avocal advocate for his positions and was frequently quoted in the media.
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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=10803
Gay Montana cop asked to help train Afghans
Gay liason officer hopes to enlighten police about cultural diversity
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) | Jan 9, 7:58 AM
Scott Oak, the Missoula Police Department's gay liaison officer, is taking aone-year leave to help train the Afghan National Police force.
Oak said he was contacted by officials with the State Department, whoapparently became aware of him through news coverage he received as anopenly gay officer and Missoula's first police liaison to the gay community.
Oak said he was asked to carry that expertise abroad and conduct training inhuman and civil rights, ethics, diversity and basic police operations.
"I could be training police on everything from human rights to buildingsearches," he said.
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Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://pageoneq.com/news/2006/dadt010507.html
Conservatives blame Shalikashvili's stroke for his support of Don't Ask,Don't Tell Repeal
by Michael Rogers
Agape Press, the news service of the American Family Association, hasreported on the response of the conservative military watchdog group, theCenter for Military Readiness, to a New York Times op-ed in which retiredChairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General John Shalikashvili called forthe repeal of the law which led to the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tellpolicy. The policy forces lesbians and gays to remain in the closet shouldthey wish to join or remain in the armed forces.
Conceding that the General's stance would assist efforts to repeal Don'tAsk, Don't Tell, Agape reported that Donnelly said Shalikashvili is"struggling" to keep his health. "She says it is 'really sad' to see someonelike the General being used by the homosexual propaganda machine as 'thelatest tool of a public relations campaign,'" reported Agape.
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Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=41541&archive=true
Survey: 1 in 4 troops knows gay colleague
By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, January 6, 2007
TOKYO — Nearly one in four servicemembers knows definitively that a memberof his or her unit is gay or lesbian, according to a survey released lastmonth.
Twenty-three percent of the 545 servicemembers surveyed online over threedays in October said they knew “for certain” they were serving with someonewho is gay, according to a Zogby International poll. The poll wascommissioned by and designed in conjunction with the Michael D. Palm Center,a research institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara, thatwas formerly the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military.
The institute’s main goal includes studying the U.S. military’s “don’t ask,don’t tell” policy. According to its Web site, the institute “promotes theinterdisciplinary analysis of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and othermarginalized sexual identities in the armed forces.”
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Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/01/08/BAG6RNEKBM1.DTL&type=printable
SAN FRANCISCO
A deepening challenge for America's gay men
New movement looks for more in identity, relationships
- Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, January 8, 2007
Meet the new players in the great American debate about values: Ryan, a25-year-old newlywed, who is helping other men find husbands; Doug, 50, whois helping gay men in San Francisco create their ideal community; and Chris,36, whose pursuit of happiness has switched from chasing New York hotties toseeking down-home enlightenment.
They and others across the country are engaging gay men in conversationsabout their goals and values -- both personal and collective -- andchallenging the sense of who gay men are and what makes their community.This introspection is happening as gay men are able to move away from theAIDS crisis, which had demanded their full attention for two decades, andnow have the time and energy to look inward, these leaders say.
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Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Hungary's Largest Lesbigay Club Not in Budapest!
January 9, 2007 Filed Under: Culture
http://www.pestiside.hu/archives/hungarys_largest_lesbigay_club_not_in_budapest002994.php
Although it may not always feel like it, according to the UK's leadinglesbian and gay newspaper, the Gay Times, "Hungary has always been one ofEastern Europe's more liberal countries." The article continues, "The gayscene in Budapest is vibrant and the city makes an excellent destination forgay and lesbian visitors. Since 1997 there has been a gay pride day heldeach year in the summer." Unfortunately, for those Hungarians living outsidethe capital, life can be tough, and nightlife options limited. UntilDecember 9, that is, when the Kék Osztriga ("Blue Oyster") opened its doorsin Székesfehérvár, half way between Budapest and Lake Balaton.
"People who are gay and unfortunate enough to be born outside Budapest allend up in the capital after a while because leading a gay life isintolerable everywhere else. I hear this from everyone," says Pestisidecontributing editor Noémi Szádeczky-Kardoss. "I am not a big fan ofclubbing, but the Blue Oyster sends out an important message and is a stepin the right direction."
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Gaywired.com via EDGE Boston, January 8, 2007
http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ci=108&ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=features&sc3=&id=3559
Getting Married? Take your time
The moment you've been waiting for is here. Your special guy (or girl) looksdeep into your eyes and says, "Let's do it. Let's get married." After youget over the shock and agree, you ask your partner when he or she thinksmight be a good day to have the wedding or commitment ceremony.
"Oh, I don't know," he or she says. "Why don't we say a year, maybe two?"
A year? Maybe two? But this is the biggest day of your life, the one you'vebeen waiting for since you were a child. Granted, you want to take some timeto prepare, but shouldn't the wedding follow the engagement in a relativelytimely manner?
Not necessarily.
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http://www.nypost.com/seven/01082007/news/regionalnews/coverup__citys_own_condoms_regionalnews_carl_campanile.htm
'COVERUP': CITY'S OWN CONDOMS
By CARL CAMPANILE, January 8, 2007
"Fun City" is getting sexier - and safer.
Mayor Bloomberg is about to unveil the city's own "NYC" brand of freecondoms - in packets with a variety of colors representing the differentsubway lines, The Post has learned.
Gotham will be the first city to have its own signature municipal condoms,officials believe.
The distribution of millions of NYC condoms - made of standard, lubricatedlatex - will help promote safe sex to prevent AIDS and other sexuallytransmitted diseases.
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San Jose Mercury News, CA, January 8, 2007
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/16408847.htm
California court can bring reason to marriage debate Mercury News Editorial
This could be the year California turns a corner on gay marriage: The stateSupreme Court has voted unanimously to consider whether the voter-imposedban that's been in effect for the past six years is constitutional.
If the justices strike down Proposition 22, as we hope, it will mean gay andlesbian couples have the same legal rights as others to inheritance, childcustody and countless other protections that married heterosexual couplesvalue.
No matter how the court rules, the institution of marriage will endure. It'sonly a matter of time before its legal protections will extend to all.
Equal treatment of gay couples will be a hallmark of the 21st century, justas racial equality before the law was a sea change in 20th-century America.Someday we'll look back and wonder what all the fuss was about, the same waywe now shake our heads at laws that once banned inter-racial marriage.
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http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/01/08/news/010607lrlegsocialissues.txt
Gay parents issues top social agenda for 2007 session
By Doug Thompson
The Morning News
FAYETTEVILLE -- Lawmakers can expect several contentious social issues to beraised in the coming session including gay foster parents, abortion, homeschooling and Internet predators.
The Arkansas Supreme Court struck down a state rule last year excludedingcouples from consideration as foster parents on the basis of sexualorientation. The ruling prompted some lawmakers to make campaign pledges towrite such a ban into state law.
The Family Council, a social conservative organization, and other groupssupporting such a ban will have little trouble finding a sponsor and mayhave several bills to choose from, Family Council Director Jerry Cox said.
Similar laws in other states have withstood constitutional challenges, Coxsaid. For instance, a law could forbid placing children in homes that thecouple "cohabits" without marriage.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cssawgrass10jan10,0,7324344.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
Broward schools chief wants cheaper, two-building administration complex inSunrise
By Buddy Nevins
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
January 10, 2007
In his first major, multimillion dollar business decision since takingoffice two months ago, interim Broward County School Superintendent JimNotter recommended Tuesday sharply cutting the size of a new west Browardadministration complex.
Notter proposes spending $26 million to buy two existing office buildings inSunrise rather than paying $44 million for three buildings, as was proposedlast year.
While that's a savings of $18 million, School Board members Robin Bartlemanand Phyllis Hope expressed reservations about spending about the cost of twoelementary schools on offices.
"You are talking about a lot of money ... money that could be spent forclassrooms," Bartleman told Notter.
Notter said the new center was needed because one administration building inFort Lauderdale was deteriorating rapidly and another on a high schoolcampus had to be closed to make room for long-delayed construction.
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Media Contact:
Cathy Renna, 917.757.6123, cathy@rennacommunications.com
Syd Peterson, 917.621.6411, syd@rennacommunications.com
POINT FOUNDATION OPENS 2007 APPLICATION SEASON
NEW APPLICATION CYCLE BEGINS AS FOUNDATIONS GROWS
STAFF, OPENS LOS ANGELES OFFICE
January 8, 2007, Los Angeles CA-- Point Foundation, the national non-profitfoundation supporting academic achievement in higher education amonglesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth, announced the openingof its 2007 application season. Students who will be enrolled inundergraduate or graduate programs for the 2007-08 school year are eligibleto apply for the prestigious, multi-year scholarships. The applicationdeadline for this year's scholarships is March 1, 2007.
Point Foundation Board Chair Bruce Lindstrom (who founded the organizationwith his partner, Carl Strickland in 2001) is looking forward to theselection process, which begins with written on-line applications andconcludes with face-to-face interviews with selected finalists in April."The application and selection process is rigorous but rewarding," he said."It's quite inspiring to meet so many outstanding LGBT students whorepresent this community's future leaders. Our staff, trustees and directorslook forward to the process with great anticipation. To be a part of thisprocess is both a great honor and a great responsibility," he concluded.
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Washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010901460_pf.html
Diocese Won't Extend Pledge Not to Sue
Announcement Dims Hopes for Amicable Deal Over Property in BreakawayParishes
By Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; B02
Hopes for a peaceful settlement between the Episcopal Diocese of Virginiaand nine breakaway congregations suffered a blow yesterday when the dioceseannounced it would not renew a mutual promise to avoid litigation overproperty.
Attorneys for the two sides have met once since the majority of members atthe nine congregations voted last month to leave the Episcopal Church, whichthey think has strayed seriously from Scripture on such issues ashomosexuality and the role of Jesus in salvation. Both sides had also agreedafter the votes to honor a 30-day "standstill" period for discussions,during which no one would initiate a lawsuit.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/09/nyregion/09divorce.html?pagewanted=print
January 9, 2007
Married or Not, Gay Couple Are Ruled Legally Separated
By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS
A gay couple may have been mistaken in thinking they were legally married,but they still have to honor the terms of their separation agreement, whichis the equivalent of any other type of contract, a judge in New York Cityhas ruled.
The couple, Steven Green, 41, a real estate developer, and David Gonzalez,29, now a lawyer but a student at the time they met, began living togetherin 2001, a decision last week in State Supreme Court in Manhattan indicated.
They shared Mr. Green's house in Westchester County and a pied-à-terre onCentral Park South, according to the court papers and to Mr. Green, whoresponded to questions about the case by e-mail. Mr. Green, who said he alsoowns a home on Nantucket, produces independent films and runs "a smallcharter airline," was the wealthier of the two men, and showered his partnerwith gifts, including a ski house and two cars, according to court papers.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Britain-Gays-Christians.html?pagewanted=print
January 9, 2007
British Christians Protest Gay Rights
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:16 p.m. ET
LONDON (AP) -- Christian activists submitted a petition to Queen ElizabethII on Tuesday protesting a gay rights law that they contend will force themto promote and condone gay sex.
The activists, who said such laws violate Biblical teaching, held acandlelit vigil outside Parliament as the House of Lords debated the new lawTuesday night. The body voted 199-68 against a motion calling for theregulation to be scrapped.
The section of the Equality Act 2006 banning businesses from discriminatingagainst gay people in the provision of goods and services took effect inNorthern Ireland on Jan. 1 and is scheduled to be introduced in England,Wales and Scotland in April.
In March, Britain's High Court will hear an attempt by a Christian group,the Christian Institute, to overturn the legislation.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-People-Alan-Cumming.html?pagewanted=print
January 9, 2007
Alan Cumming, Boyfriend Make It Official
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 2:46 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- Alan Cumming married illustrator Grant Shaffer in a civilceremony outside London over the weekend, the actor's spokeswoman, BiancaBianconi, said Tuesday.
''Not only are we so happy to be able to celebrate our love for each other,but also to be able to do it in a country that properly recognizes therights of same sex couples,'' Cumming, 41, said in a statement released byBianconi.
''As residents of America we would have loved to marry there, but we hopethat soon the civil rights that we have been afforded in the U.K. will beavailable to all gay Americans, and we look forward to celebrating not onlyour marriage, but the end of prejudice.''
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Washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010901707_pf.html
Board of Education Approves New Sex-Ed Curriculum
By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; B02
The Montgomery County Board of Education approved new sex-education lessonsyesterday for the eighth and 10th grades that teach what it means to behomosexual but say little about how people become gay, resisting pressurefrom a divided community to define homosexuality as nature or nurture, rightor wrong.
Approved by a unanimous vote, the lessons mark the first time Montgomeryschools will introduce the topics of sexual orientation and homosexuality.The materials, including a new 10th-grade condom-demonstration DVD, will befield-tested in a handful of middle and high schools in spring, barringintervention by the courts.
Some school board members said they expect a lawsuit from the same communitygroups that persuaded a federal judge to halt a version of the curriculum inspring 2005. U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. found that thecurriculum presented one view of homosexuality, "that homosexuality is anatural and morally correct lifestyle," to the exclusion of all others.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Fraternity-Death.html?pagewanted=print
January 10, 2007
Dead UTexas Pledge's Body Defaced
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:42 a.m. ET
HOUSTON (AP) -- The body of an 18-year-old fraternity pledge who died ofalcohol poisoning was defaced with numerous anti-gay epithets and obscenedrawings, according to a medical examiner's report.
Phanta ''Jack'' Phoummarath, a freshman at the University of Texas atAustin, died after ingesting large amounts of alcohol at a pledge party atLambda Phi Epsilon house in December 2005, authorities said. Phoumarrath'sbody was found the day after.
A grand jury indicted three members of the fraternity last month on hazingcharges following a yearlong investigation into Phoummarath's death.
The Travis County medical examiner's office reported that partygoers usedgreen and black markers to write ''FAG,'' ''I'm gay'' and ''I AM FAT'' onPhoummarath's head, face, torso, legs and feet. Someone also added drawingsdepicting naked men and women and blackened his toenails.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/frontpage/37232.php
Formative years as gay teen spurs 'Talk'
CHUCK GRAHAM
Tucson Citizen
Coming of age can be traumatic for lots of reasons. But when a boy discovershis new body belongs to a homosexual, the trauma can become overwhelming.Childhood friends stop being friends. Even parents act disappointed.
Life takes on a completely new set of dimensions the boy can either embraceor deny. Playwright and college professor Paul Bonin-Rodriguez has capturedthe poignancy and delicacy of these formative years in "Talk of the Town," amemory play performed as a fully-staged monologue.
"To refer to this play as just a monologue is demeaning," said Tucson actorBrandon Kosters, talking about the special staging and all the characters heplays as a gay teen desperate to find reasons to be proud of himself.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm?aid=3023
Anti-HIV Condom Planned
Run Date: 01/06/07 By WeNews Staff
(WOMENSENEWS)--
CheersUniversity of Utah scientists have developed a "molecular condom" that mayhelp women protect themselves from HIV infection. Made up of three differentchemicals, the condom works like a gel coating when put on the skin, thenturns into a liquid microbicide when exposed to semen and prevents the virusfrom spreading.
The development was announced in the Dec. 11 issue of the Journal ofPharmaceutical Science. The molecular condom is not ready for testing inwomen and researchers predicted it will take five to 10 years to bring it tomarket.
"Millions of women currently have little control over their sexual health,and microbicides could put the power of preventing HIV into women's hands,"Yusef Azad of the London-based National Aids Trust told the BBC Dec. 31. "Itis vitally important that women have a range of options of products such asgels, liquids and creams that could provide a barrier to contracting HIVduring sex."
More than 17 million women worldwide are infected with HIV, according to theUnited Nations.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
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http://www.radio.cz/en/issue/87058
As rights group shuts down, chairman says Czech gays and lesbians must catchup with the tolerant society around them
[09-01-2007] By Ilya Marritz
After seventeen years in the movement, Jiri Hromada is moving on. Last weekhe announced that Gay Iniciativa, the lesbian and gay rights group he hasled for the past seven years, is closing down. Already, the little alcoveoff of his bedroom, which once served as Gay Iniciativa's main office, hasbeen tidied up and is beginning to look more like an ordinary study.
But my main colleague, my deputy who knows everything about computers satdown there at the desk with the computer, and I sat at this other desk tothe right. Here are some interesting mementoes: I got these medals at thegay games. This one I got in Amsterdam, and then this was from Sydney in2002. In my years working in gay rights, I became an honorary member of manyorganizations, and these plaques and certificates are from that time."
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http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3349664,00.html
Tel Aviv, the final gay frontier
These are the voyages of the British gay journalist in his continuingmission to explore strange new worlds
Chas Newkey Burden
Tel Aviv resident Justin Rudzki was strolling across the city's busyDizengoff Square one day when he spotted an Arab man. Their eyes met and thetwo men approached one another.
But this wasn't to be yet another moment of conflict between Jew and Arab inthe Middle East. The pair instead swapped phone numbers and arranged a date.You might not expect such an encounter to be able to occur in Israel. Butthen the more you look into gay life in this country, the more surprises youuncover.
When I told friends I was visiting Israel, the common response was "Becareful, make sure you don't get killed." In fact, such is the level ofsecurity there, I felt far, far safer in Israel than I do in London.Similarly, when I told friends I was visiting Israel to write a feature fora gay magazine, the common response was: "Be careful, I bet it's a reallyhomophobic country."
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Townhall.com, January 8, 2007
http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/JanetMLaRue/2007/01/08/another_homosexual_activist_cuts_bisexuals_out_of_wedding_march
Another homosexual activist cuts bisexuals out of wedding march
By Janet M. LaRue
It turns out that some are more equal than others.
Another nationally-known homosexual activist, Michaelangelo Signorile,dismissed the prospect of legalized polygamy as a scare tactic and went onrecord against a "married" ménage-a-trois, which is the topic of my recentcolumn. Even so, I'm guessing that Signorile and friends are applaudingWednesday's ruling by a Canadian appeals court that a five-year-old boy hasa legal right to two mommies and a daddy. If the ruling isn't the Tour deLuge to polygamy, what is?
Wednesday night, Bill O'Reilly interviewed Signorile on the subject of "gaymarriage." O'Reilly says if homosexuals can marry, you can't stop polygamy.Signorile essentially dismissed polygamy as a "ploy," saying it "isn'twithin the scheme of marriage."
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http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_News&set_id=1&click_id=&art_id=vn20070107104004157C866087
'Sheep have a right to be gay'
By Johann Hari
London - Whatever happens in 2007, we already have the most surreal headlineof the year: "Sheep have right to be gay, says Martina Navratilova". Butbehind this headline and buried beneath the battery of baa-aad jokes itseems to beckon, there is a strange and serious story that will ripple outthrough the 21st century in ways we cannot predict.
For the past five years, a team of researchers at Orgeon State Universityhas been investigating the sexuality of sheep. Early on, they proved whatevery sheep farmer knows: about 8 percent of rams are gay. When it comes tosex, these woolly homosexuals shun ewes and engage exclusively in ram-on-ramaction.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.pe.com/localnews/riverside/stories/PE_News_Local_R_milgay07.6a2739.html
Policy on gays divides veterans
'don't ask, don't tell': With troop deployments straining resources, somepush for changes.
09:21 AM PST on Tuesday, January 9, 2007
By JOE VARGO
The Press-Enterprise
Retired Army Gen. John Shalikashvili, in comments published last week by TheNew York Times, said America is now more accepting of gays and lesbiansserving in uniform.
Shalikashvili presided over the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1993 when thecurrent "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, which allows gays to serve only ifthey keep private their sexual orientation, went into effect.
At that time, Shalikashvili said allowing gays to serve openly would crippletroop morale. But he now says most servicemen and women can accept gay andlesbian peers. He said he changed his mind after talking with gays andlesbians in uniform.
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A note from Ray:
Congrats to UF. However, it is ironic that UF felt the need to excel firstin football, before moving toward a first place in academic excellence. Isthere any evidence of a positive relationship between athletic focus on auniversity campus and academic excellence?
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/010907work.htm
Rights Group Names Best LGBT Workplaces
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 9, 2007 - 5:00 pm ET
(Washington) A record 142 major companies made this year's Best Places ToWork List put out by the Human Rights Campaign. The number is an increase of41 over 2005.
HRC publishes the list annually. All 142 companies this year attained aperfect score on the organization's Corporate Equality Index, which measurespolicies and practices implemented to promote fairness and equality in theworkplace for LGBT employees.
"This is our version of the 'Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval' showingthat these 142 companies have a philosophy of inclusion and are committed tofairness and equality for all Americans," said Joe Solmonese, president ofthe Human Rights Campaign.
"Whether the seal is placed on recruiting materials used to attract newemployees or prominently displayed at the entrance of a company's store,this seal will act as a welcome mat for equality."
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/010907ukUp.htm
Bid Fails To Overturn UK Rights Law
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 9, 2007 - 6:00 pm ET
(London) A bid by gay foes to overturn a law banning discrimination againstgays and lesbians in goods and services failed Tuesday in the House of Lordsby a margin of three to one.
The new law came into force in Northern Ireland on Jan. 1, and is scheduledto be introduced in England, Wales and Scotland in April.
As the Lords began debate on a repeal measure hundreds of conservativereligious groups demonstrated across the street.
Leaders of the group also submitted a petition to the Queen.
Andrea Minichello Williams, a protest organizer, told the Associated Pressearlier on Tuesday that the petition had been signed by 10,000 BritishChristians and urges the monarch to use her "power and position" to demandthat the British government protect the freedom of Christians to liveaccording to the Bible's teaching.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/010907houston.htm
Cars Vandalized At Houston Gay Night Spot
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 9, 2007 - 8:30 pm ET
(Houston, Texas) Houston police are searching for the person or personsresponsible for vandalizing dozens of cars early Tuesday morning outside apopular gay bar.
Patrons emerged from EJ's near closing time to find their tires slashed,windows smashed and paint scored with a key or knife.
All of the cars were in a parking lot at the rear of the bar on Ralph Streetnear Westheimer Road.
"I have two flat tires and a damaged windshield," one victim, Andre Wagner,told KPRC-television.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=502
Antigay psychiatrist Charles Socarides dies
by Bob Roehr
A pillar of antigay psychiatry, Charles W. Socarides, died at his home inManhattan, Sunday, December 25. He was 83. Dr. Socarides provided much ofthe intellectual rationale for the discredited concept of "reparativetherapy" – that gays and lesbians could be cured of their sexual orientationand made straight.
Socarides's obsession with homosexuality resulted in a handful of books onthe topic, including The Overt Homosexual (1968), and Homosexuality: AFreedom Too Far (1995).
His central premise was that for gay men, homosexuality was a "neuroticadaptation" to a distant father and a smothering mother. He claimed to havecured about a third of those he treated and made them straight. He was avocal advocate for his positions and was frequently quoted in the media.
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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=10803
Gay Montana cop asked to help train Afghans
Gay liason officer hopes to enlighten police about cultural diversity
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) | Jan 9, 7:58 AM
Scott Oak, the Missoula Police Department's gay liaison officer, is taking aone-year leave to help train the Afghan National Police force.
Oak said he was contacted by officials with the State Department, whoapparently became aware of him through news coverage he received as anopenly gay officer and Missoula's first police liaison to the gay community.
Oak said he was asked to carry that expertise abroad and conduct training inhuman and civil rights, ethics, diversity and basic police operations.
"I could be training police on everything from human rights to buildingsearches," he said.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://pageoneq.com/news/2006/dadt010507.html
Conservatives blame Shalikashvili's stroke for his support of Don't Ask,Don't Tell Repeal
by Michael Rogers
Agape Press, the news service of the American Family Association, hasreported on the response of the conservative military watchdog group, theCenter for Military Readiness, to a New York Times op-ed in which retiredChairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General John Shalikashvili called forthe repeal of the law which led to the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tellpolicy. The policy forces lesbians and gays to remain in the closet shouldthey wish to join or remain in the armed forces.
Conceding that the General's stance would assist efforts to repeal Don'tAsk, Don't Tell, Agape reported that Donnelly said Shalikashvili is"struggling" to keep his health. "She says it is 'really sad' to see someonelike the General being used by the homosexual propaganda machine as 'thelatest tool of a public relations campaign,'" reported Agape.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=41541&archive=true
Survey: 1 in 4 troops knows gay colleague
By Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, January 6, 2007
TOKYO — Nearly one in four servicemembers knows definitively that a memberof his or her unit is gay or lesbian, according to a survey released lastmonth.
Twenty-three percent of the 545 servicemembers surveyed online over threedays in October said they knew “for certain” they were serving with someonewho is gay, according to a Zogby International poll. The poll wascommissioned by and designed in conjunction with the Michael D. Palm Center,a research institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara, thatwas formerly the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military.
The institute’s main goal includes studying the U.S. military’s “don’t ask,don’t tell” policy. According to its Web site, the institute “promotes theinterdisciplinary analysis of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and othermarginalized sexual identities in the armed forces.”
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/01/08/BAG6RNEKBM1.DTL&type=printable
SAN FRANCISCO
A deepening challenge for America's gay men
New movement looks for more in identity, relationships
- Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, January 8, 2007
Meet the new players in the great American debate about values: Ryan, a25-year-old newlywed, who is helping other men find husbands; Doug, 50, whois helping gay men in San Francisco create their ideal community; and Chris,36, whose pursuit of happiness has switched from chasing New York hotties toseeking down-home enlightenment.
They and others across the country are engaging gay men in conversationsabout their goals and values -- both personal and collective -- andchallenging the sense of who gay men are and what makes their community.This introspection is happening as gay men are able to move away from theAIDS crisis, which had demanded their full attention for two decades, andnow have the time and energy to look inward, these leaders say.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Hungary's Largest Lesbigay Club Not in Budapest!
January 9, 2007 Filed Under: Culture
http://www.pestiside.hu/archives/hungarys_largest_lesbigay_club_not_in_budapest002994.php
Although it may not always feel like it, according to the UK's leadinglesbian and gay newspaper, the Gay Times, "Hungary has always been one ofEastern Europe's more liberal countries." The article continues, "The gayscene in Budapest is vibrant and the city makes an excellent destination forgay and lesbian visitors. Since 1997 there has been a gay pride day heldeach year in the summer." Unfortunately, for those Hungarians living outsidethe capital, life can be tough, and nightlife options limited. UntilDecember 9, that is, when the Kék Osztriga ("Blue Oyster") opened its doorsin Székesfehérvár, half way between Budapest and Lake Balaton.
"People who are gay and unfortunate enough to be born outside Budapest allend up in the capital after a while because leading a gay life isintolerable everywhere else. I hear this from everyone," says Pestisidecontributing editor Noémi Szádeczky-Kardoss. "I am not a big fan ofclubbing, but the Blue Oyster sends out an important message and is a stepin the right direction."
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Gaywired.com via EDGE Boston, January 8, 2007
http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ci=108&ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=features&sc3=&id=3559
Getting Married? Take your time
The moment you've been waiting for is here. Your special guy (or girl) looksdeep into your eyes and says, "Let's do it. Let's get married." After youget over the shock and agree, you ask your partner when he or she thinksmight be a good day to have the wedding or commitment ceremony.
"Oh, I don't know," he or she says. "Why don't we say a year, maybe two?"
A year? Maybe two? But this is the biggest day of your life, the one you'vebeen waiting for since you were a child. Granted, you want to take some timeto prepare, but shouldn't the wedding follow the engagement in a relativelytimely manner?
Not necessarily.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01082007/news/regionalnews/coverup__citys_own_condoms_regionalnews_carl_campanile.htm
'COVERUP': CITY'S OWN CONDOMS
By CARL CAMPANILE, January 8, 2007
"Fun City" is getting sexier - and safer.
Mayor Bloomberg is about to unveil the city's own "NYC" brand of freecondoms - in packets with a variety of colors representing the differentsubway lines, The Post has learned.
Gotham will be the first city to have its own signature municipal condoms,officials believe.
The distribution of millions of NYC condoms - made of standard, lubricatedlatex - will help promote safe sex to prevent AIDS and other sexuallytransmitted diseases.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
San Jose Mercury News, CA, January 8, 2007
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/16408847.htm
California court can bring reason to marriage debate Mercury News Editorial
This could be the year California turns a corner on gay marriage: The stateSupreme Court has voted unanimously to consider whether the voter-imposedban that's been in effect for the past six years is constitutional.
If the justices strike down Proposition 22, as we hope, it will mean gay andlesbian couples have the same legal rights as others to inheritance, childcustody and countless other protections that married heterosexual couplesvalue.
No matter how the court rules, the institution of marriage will endure. It'sonly a matter of time before its legal protections will extend to all.
Equal treatment of gay couples will be a hallmark of the 21st century, justas racial equality before the law was a sea change in 20th-century America.Someday we'll look back and wonder what all the fuss was about, the same waywe now shake our heads at laws that once banned inter-racial marriage.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/01/08/news/010607lrlegsocialissues.txt
Gay parents issues top social agenda for 2007 session
By Doug Thompson
The Morning News
FAYETTEVILLE -- Lawmakers can expect several contentious social issues to beraised in the coming session including gay foster parents, abortion, homeschooling and Internet predators.
The Arkansas Supreme Court struck down a state rule last year excludedingcouples from consideration as foster parents on the basis of sexualorientation. The ruling prompted some lawmakers to make campaign pledges towrite such a ban into state law.
The Family Council, a social conservative organization, and other groupssupporting such a ban will have little trouble finding a sponsor and mayhave several bills to choose from, Family Council Director Jerry Cox said.
Similar laws in other states have withstood constitutional challenges, Coxsaid. For instance, a law could forbid placing children in homes that thecouple "cohabits" without marriage.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cssawgrass10jan10,0,7324344.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
Broward schools chief wants cheaper, two-building administration complex inSunrise
By Buddy Nevins
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
January 10, 2007
In his first major, multimillion dollar business decision since takingoffice two months ago, interim Broward County School Superintendent JimNotter recommended Tuesday sharply cutting the size of a new west Browardadministration complex.
Notter proposes spending $26 million to buy two existing office buildings inSunrise rather than paying $44 million for three buildings, as was proposedlast year.
While that's a savings of $18 million, School Board members Robin Bartlemanand Phyllis Hope expressed reservations about spending about the cost of twoelementary schools on offices.
"You are talking about a lot of money ... money that could be spent forclassrooms," Bartleman told Notter.
Notter said the new center was needed because one administration building inFort Lauderdale was deteriorating rapidly and another on a high schoolcampus had to be closed to make room for long-delayed construction.
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Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Media Contact:
Cathy Renna, 917.757.6123, cathy@rennacommunications.com
Syd Peterson, 917.621.6411, syd@rennacommunications.com
POINT FOUNDATION OPENS 2007 APPLICATION SEASON
NEW APPLICATION CYCLE BEGINS AS FOUNDATIONS GROWS
STAFF, OPENS LOS ANGELES OFFICE
January 8, 2007, Los Angeles CA-- Point Foundation, the national non-profitfoundation supporting academic achievement in higher education amonglesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth, announced the openingof its 2007 application season. Students who will be enrolled inundergraduate or graduate programs for the 2007-08 school year are eligibleto apply for the prestigious, multi-year scholarships. The applicationdeadline for this year's scholarships is March 1, 2007.
Point Foundation Board Chair Bruce Lindstrom (who founded the organizationwith his partner, Carl Strickland in 2001) is looking forward to theselection process, which begins with written on-line applications andconcludes with face-to-face interviews with selected finalists in April."The application and selection process is rigorous but rewarding," he said."It's quite inspiring to meet so many outstanding LGBT students whorepresent this community's future leaders. Our staff, trustees and directorslook forward to the process with great anticipation. To be a part of thisprocess is both a great honor and a great responsibility," he concluded.
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Washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010901460_pf.html
Diocese Won't Extend Pledge Not to Sue
Announcement Dims Hopes for Amicable Deal Over Property in BreakawayParishes
By Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; B02
Hopes for a peaceful settlement between the Episcopal Diocese of Virginiaand nine breakaway congregations suffered a blow yesterday when the dioceseannounced it would not renew a mutual promise to avoid litigation overproperty.
Attorneys for the two sides have met once since the majority of members atthe nine congregations voted last month to leave the Episcopal Church, whichthey think has strayed seriously from Scripture on such issues ashomosexuality and the role of Jesus in salvation. Both sides had also agreedafter the votes to honor a 30-day "standstill" period for discussions,during which no one would initiate a lawsuit.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/09/nyregion/09divorce.html?pagewanted=print
January 9, 2007
Married or Not, Gay Couple Are Ruled Legally Separated
By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS
A gay couple may have been mistaken in thinking they were legally married,but they still have to honor the terms of their separation agreement, whichis the equivalent of any other type of contract, a judge in New York Cityhas ruled.
The couple, Steven Green, 41, a real estate developer, and David Gonzalez,29, now a lawyer but a student at the time they met, began living togetherin 2001, a decision last week in State Supreme Court in Manhattan indicated.
They shared Mr. Green's house in Westchester County and a pied-à-terre onCentral Park South, according to the court papers and to Mr. Green, whoresponded to questions about the case by e-mail. Mr. Green, who said he alsoowns a home on Nantucket, produces independent films and runs "a smallcharter airline," was the wealthier of the two men, and showered his partnerwith gifts, including a ski house and two cars, according to court papers.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Britain-Gays-Christians.html?pagewanted=print
January 9, 2007
British Christians Protest Gay Rights
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:16 p.m. ET
LONDON (AP) -- Christian activists submitted a petition to Queen ElizabethII on Tuesday protesting a gay rights law that they contend will force themto promote and condone gay sex.
The activists, who said such laws violate Biblical teaching, held acandlelit vigil outside Parliament as the House of Lords debated the new lawTuesday night. The body voted 199-68 against a motion calling for theregulation to be scrapped.
The section of the Equality Act 2006 banning businesses from discriminatingagainst gay people in the provision of goods and services took effect inNorthern Ireland on Jan. 1 and is scheduled to be introduced in England,Wales and Scotland in April.
In March, Britain's High Court will hear an attempt by a Christian group,the Christian Institute, to overturn the legislation.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-People-Alan-Cumming.html?pagewanted=print
January 9, 2007
Alan Cumming, Boyfriend Make It Official
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 2:46 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- Alan Cumming married illustrator Grant Shaffer in a civilceremony outside London over the weekend, the actor's spokeswoman, BiancaBianconi, said Tuesday.
''Not only are we so happy to be able to celebrate our love for each other,but also to be able to do it in a country that properly recognizes therights of same sex couples,'' Cumming, 41, said in a statement released byBianconi.
''As residents of America we would have loved to marry there, but we hopethat soon the civil rights that we have been afforded in the U.K. will beavailable to all gay Americans, and we look forward to celebrating not onlyour marriage, but the end of prejudice.''
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Washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010901707_pf.html
Board of Education Approves New Sex-Ed Curriculum
By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; B02
The Montgomery County Board of Education approved new sex-education lessonsyesterday for the eighth and 10th grades that teach what it means to behomosexual but say little about how people become gay, resisting pressurefrom a divided community to define homosexuality as nature or nurture, rightor wrong.
Approved by a unanimous vote, the lessons mark the first time Montgomeryschools will introduce the topics of sexual orientation and homosexuality.The materials, including a new 10th-grade condom-demonstration DVD, will befield-tested in a handful of middle and high schools in spring, barringintervention by the courts.
Some school board members said they expect a lawsuit from the same communitygroups that persuaded a federal judge to halt a version of the curriculum inspring 2005. U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. found that thecurriculum presented one view of homosexuality, "that homosexuality is anatural and morally correct lifestyle," to the exclusion of all others.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Fraternity-Death.html?pagewanted=print
January 10, 2007
Dead UTexas Pledge's Body Defaced
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:42 a.m. ET
HOUSTON (AP) -- The body of an 18-year-old fraternity pledge who died ofalcohol poisoning was defaced with numerous anti-gay epithets and obscenedrawings, according to a medical examiner's report.
Phanta ''Jack'' Phoummarath, a freshman at the University of Texas atAustin, died after ingesting large amounts of alcohol at a pledge party atLambda Phi Epsilon house in December 2005, authorities said. Phoumarrath'sbody was found the day after.
A grand jury indicted three members of the fraternity last month on hazingcharges following a yearlong investigation into Phoummarath's death.
The Travis County medical examiner's office reported that partygoers usedgreen and black markers to write ''FAG,'' ''I'm gay'' and ''I AM FAT'' onPhoummarath's head, face, torso, legs and feet. Someone also added drawingsdepicting naked men and women and blackened his toenails.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/frontpage/37232.php
Formative years as gay teen spurs 'Talk'
CHUCK GRAHAM
Tucson Citizen
Coming of age can be traumatic for lots of reasons. But when a boy discovershis new body belongs to a homosexual, the trauma can become overwhelming.Childhood friends stop being friends. Even parents act disappointed.
Life takes on a completely new set of dimensions the boy can either embraceor deny. Playwright and college professor Paul Bonin-Rodriguez has capturedthe poignancy and delicacy of these formative years in "Talk of the Town," amemory play performed as a fully-staged monologue.
"To refer to this play as just a monologue is demeaning," said Tucson actorBrandon Kosters, talking about the special staging and all the characters heplays as a gay teen desperate to find reasons to be proud of himself.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm?aid=3023
Anti-HIV Condom Planned
Run Date: 01/06/07 By WeNews Staff
(WOMENSENEWS)--
CheersUniversity of Utah scientists have developed a "molecular condom" that mayhelp women protect themselves from HIV infection. Made up of three differentchemicals, the condom works like a gel coating when put on the skin, thenturns into a liquid microbicide when exposed to semen and prevents the virusfrom spreading.
The development was announced in the Dec. 11 issue of the Journal ofPharmaceutical Science. The molecular condom is not ready for testing inwomen and researchers predicted it will take five to 10 years to bring it tomarket.
"Millions of women currently have little control over their sexual health,and microbicides could put the power of preventing HIV into women's hands,"Yusef Azad of the London-based National Aids Trust told the BBC Dec. 31. "Itis vitally important that women have a range of options of products such asgels, liquids and creams that could provide a barrier to contracting HIVduring sex."
More than 17 million women worldwide are infected with HIV, according to theUnited Nations.
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