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The Japan Times
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/fl20070123zg.html
THE ZEIT GIST
Gender identity transformed from 'freak' into rights issue
Japan looks to respect rights of those with gender disorders, but evenazxzdyzprogress carries its own set of risks
By THOMASINA LARKIN
Staff writer
'When I was a child, I had a feeling I wasn't satisfied with being a humanbeing. To be a human being didn't seem like a beautiful existence to me,"says Otojiro Toriyama.
"When I realized I was a human being, it was a strange feeling. I wished Iwere an animal, a bird, or dog, horse, serpentine. But no matter how much Ithought about it, I knew I couldn't leave my body and be an animal in thisworld. I was so disappointed.
"My body was a woman's. But I thought men's bodies were better becausethey're more like animals, with muscles, hairier. Then I wished I could be aman. I was very small then, probably three or four," he says.
Toriyama, whose name has been changed to protect his privacy, sharessomething common to all transgender people; a feeling that he doesn't belongin the body with which he was born.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/cq/2007/01/22/cq_2161.html?pagewanted=print
January 22, 2007
Harold Ford's New Gay Marriage Problem
By Shawn Zeller
Tennessee Democrat Harold E. Ford Jr. can never quite get on the mostopportune side of the culture wars.
Last year, he gave up his Memphis congressional seat to try for the Senate,and lost after the release of perhaps the most notorious attack ad of the2006 campaign, which suggested that Ford fraternized with Playboy models andpornography producers. Now that he's on course to become chairman of theDemocratic Leadership Council, Ford is getting flak from the NationalStonewall Democrats, an advocacy group named for the Greenwich Village barwhere the modern gay rights movement was launched in 1969, for hisopposition to same-sex marriage.
Ford cast one of only 36 Democratic votes in the House in 2004, and one ofonly 34 last year, for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.The Stonewall group finds those votes all the more upsetting, spokesman JohnMarble maintains, because before the 2004 vote Ford had privately assuredgay and lesbian Democrats in Tennessee that he did not support the same-sexamendment.
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The Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=10996
Church trial of Atlanta gay pastor continues
Schmeling faces expulsion from Lutheran clergy
ZACK HUDSON | Jan 22, 7:28 PM
The church trial of an Atlanta pastor who faces expulsion from theEvangelical Lutheran Church in America for being in a gay relationshipcontinued today, and is expected to wrap up Tuesday.
Bradley Schmeling, pastor of the 350-member St. John's Lutheran Church, wasbrought up on charges that his relationship with partner Darrin Easlerviolates established ELCA pastoral guidelines, which allow openly gay clergymembers to serve congregations, but still considers gay sex sinful.
The trial, which started Friday, Jan. 19, is being held behind closed doorsinside a conference room in the Colony Square Sheraton in Midtown.
Though Schmeling faces expulsion from the ELCA if a 12-member disciplinarycommittee rules against him, the St. John's congregation is standing behindits pastor.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012207arson.htm
Prison For Man Claiming Home Torched In Homophobic Attack
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 22, 2007 - 9:00 pm ET
(Lakeland, Florida) A Florida man who whose mobile home was destroyed byfire last year in what he claimed was a homophobic hate crime has beensentenced to 18 months in state prison.
Christopher Robertson, 24, later confessed to police that he had torched thehome and written hate messages himself.
As part of a plea agreement with the district attorney's office Robertsonwill be on six years' probation after he leaves prison.
Robertson (pictured) and his partner Paul Day returned home from shopping inJuly 2005 to find the trailer fully engulfed in flames.
When Lakeland firefighters arrived at the trailer they found the words "diefag" spray painted on front of the home and the structure nearly destroyed.(story) There was nothing they could do to save it.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012207saf.htm
Death Threats Against First Gay Couple To Marry In S. Africa
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 22, 2007 - 9:00 pm ET
(Cape Town,. South Africa) The first same-sex couple to legally marry inSouth Africa have become the targets of death threats and hate mail.
Vernon Gibbs and Tony Halls exchanged vows before a marriage officer inGeorge, in the Southern Cape, shortly after the marriage law went intoeffect last month.
But since then they have received what the couple describes as "countless"threatening phone calls and mail.
"One caller told us 'you might have been the first to get married, butyou'll be the first to die," said Vernon Gibbs-Halls.
He said that they also had received two anonymous cellphone calls. How thecallers got the cellphone numbers is not known.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012207rotc.htm
Senate To Get Bill Denouncing SF Opposition to Don't Tell' Don't Tell
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 22, 2007 - 7:00 pm ET
(Washington) A Republican senator who's angry San Francisco is eliminatingJunior R-O-T-C programs from city high schools in opposition to the ban ongays in the military said Monday he is writing legislation to try to blockthe move.
Senator James Inhofe (R-Ok.) launched a scathing attack on the decision bythe San Francisco Board of Education.
From the floor of the Senate Inhofe (pictured) called the school board"arrogant, mean-spirited and absolutely foolish", as well as an example of"gangrenous antimilitary bigotry."
Inhofe said he will introduce a bill that protects Jr. R-O-T-C TrainingCorps programs by giving them the same protections as those held by militaryrecruiters, who are allowed onto public campuses under federal law.
The Board of Education in November voted to phase out the JROTC from schoolsover the next two years.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16522870.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Tue, Jan. 23, 2007
Authorities investigate ex-principal's computer for child porn
Associated Press
HACKENSACK, N.J. - The ex-principal of Teaneck High School, already facingcharges that he engaged in sexual conduct and conversation with a student,may face more charges if questionable photos on his computer are childpornography, authorities said.
Joseph White, 61, has been charged with official misconduct and endangeringthe welfare. The charges stem from accusations that he had sexually explicitconversations in May and June of 2006 with a 17-year-old boy in his office,including one incident where White is alleged to have asked the boy toexpose himself and to take his pants off in return for a recommendation.
In the course of that investigation, White's home computer, several discsand other hardware were seized, The Record of Bergen County reported inTuesday newspapers.
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Eugene Register-Guard, OR, January 21, 2007
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2007/01/21/ed.col.simmons.0121.p1.php?section=opinion
Opinion--Left Out Of The Dream
By Todd Simmons
It was about 3 a.m. when my partner and I decided to go to the hospital, hisfever hovering around 104. He had been dealing with AIDS for several yearsat that point, and we feared the possible downside of waiting until morning.
As both his spouse and his caregiver, I routinely accompanied him on medicalappointments. I was familiar with his complex situation and his extensivemedications. We had legal paperwork on file granting me decision-makingauthority for his care.
But at the hospital, staff members refused to allow me into his exam room.After 30 minutes of angry, frustrating argument, my partner gave up andasked me to take him home, where he suffered through several more difficulthours before his doctor's office opened.
He passed away a few months later. The following day, I got a phone callregarding his cremation. "We can't allow you to authorize it," the person atthe funeral home informed me. "You're not officially family." So on one ofthe worst days of my life, I drove across town to his mother, who signed thepaper that nine years of love and devotion didn't entitle me to sign.
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Express Gay News
http://www.expressgaynews.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=11002
Gay bishop says divisiveness in Episcopal church is exaggerated
Robinson: 'It breaks God's heart'
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) | Jan 23, 8:33 AM
The openly gay bishop, whose election spurred a schism in the Episcopalchurch that has played out in Connecticut and elsewhere, said the scope ofthe rift has been exaggerated in the media.
Gene Robinson, bishop of New Hampshire, said there are a small minority ofparishes at odds with the national church's liberal stance on homosexuality.
The parishes are "seeking to get themselves recognized as the trueexpression of Anglicanism in this country and not inconsequentially get theEpiscopal Church - I don't know what the word is - unrecognized as thatlegitimate expression. And I think they are using more conservative churchesaround the globe to support that claim," he said.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070121/LIFE02/701210593
Transgender people are born one gender but identify with other
Finding Their Way
By Angie Fenton
Gannett News Service
Monica Roberts gently circled a fingertip around the lip of her coffee cup,the perfect manicure a stark contrast to such large, strong hands.
"Gender is who you are," says Roberts, 42. "Sex is what you do and who youdo it with."
For the past 16 years, Roberts, who was born male, has been living as afemale, since finding the ability to accept herself.
Transgender people are not only caught in a gender-identity gap but alsowith psychology that has yet to fully grapple with the issue.
"I've always looked at life through a feminine prism. It's nothing I didconsciously," Roberts says. "The only thing that's wrong with us is thediscrimination that's happening to us."
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Associated Press via Billings Gazette, January 20, 2007
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/01/20/news/wyoming/42-marriage.txt
Bill would void same-sex marriages
CHEYENNE - Gay couples who marry in Massachusetts and move to Wyoming wouldsuddenly find themselves single if some Wyoming legislators have their way:A bill has been introduced that would allow Wyoming to void same-sexmarriages granted by other states.
Massachusetts is the only state that currently grants marriage licenses tosame-sex couples; others permit civil unions but the proposed law onlypertains to gay marriages. Wyoming already has a law in place that mandatesmarriages conducted in the state must be between a man and woman.
"All the bill does is say that we don't have to honor the same-sex marriagesthat are performed in other states," the bill's sponsor, Sen. Gerald E.Geis, R-Worland, said. "If a couple came from Massachusetts, or whereverthey allow same-sex marriage, we would not have to recognize it here."
Gay rights groups say the measure is unnecessary."I don't know where the fear of a mass influx of married gay people enteringWyoming and demanding recognition comes from," said the Rev. Bob Spencer,social change coordinator for Wyoming Equality.
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GayNZ, New Zealand, January 20, 2007
http://www.gaynz.com/news/default.asp?dismode=article&artid=4215
Liberals 'incited same-sex hatred'
In a case that is set to test the boundaries of free speech in Australia,the Liberal Party will be investigated for allegedly inciting hatred againstsame-sex couples.
Tasmania's Anti-Discrimination Tribunal has ruled that the Liberal Partyshould be investigated over a pamphlet it authorised during last year'sstate election.
The document attacked the Greens' policy allowing same-sex marriage as"socially destructive", prompting Hobart transsexual Martine Delaney tolodge a complaint with state Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Sarah Bolt.
Ms Bolt rejected the complaint on the basis that it lacked substance, butthe tribunal has overturned her decision after an appeal by Ms Delaney.
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kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.sltrib.com/entertainment/ci_5056305
Does festival entry break child porn laws?
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:01/21/2007 01:38:11 AM MST
The Catholic League is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigatewhether the makers of the controversial 2007 Sundance Film Festival entry"Hounddog" - in which a character played by 12-year-old actress DakotaFanning is raped - violated federal child-pornography laws.
"It matters not a whit whether Fanning's mother, along with Fanning'steacher/child welfare worker, gave their consent," said Catholic LeaguePresident William Donohue in a statement. "What matters is whether they arean accessory to a crime."
Donohue has asked Andrew Oosterbaan, who runs the Justice Department'sChild Exploitation and Obscenity Section, to investigate.
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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=5047696&siteId=297
For the Bible told them so
Documentary shows how the Bible's verses have been used to justifydiscrimination - and how modern conservatives use the Good Book to lambastegaysBy Jessica Ravitz
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake TribuneArticle Launched:01/20/2007 12:00:57 AM MST
"Last week I bought a gun. Yesterday I wrote the note. But last night Ihappened to turn on your show and just knowing that someday I might be ableto go back into my church, I threw the gun in the river. My mom never has toknow."
-- A boy in Iowa
The e-mail was only four sentences long, but it shaped Daniel Karslake'sfuture.
Karslake, 41, was a young television producer in 1998 when he receivedthe above note from a boy in Iowa. His segment on a lesbian theologian hadjust aired on the PBS program "In the Life." This boy's short message, onethat still brings Karslake to tears, was the first of hundreds he wouldreceive from gays and lesbians across the country - from people who feltrejected by their church families. The aspiring filmmaker had found hismission.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.southernvoice.com/print.cfm?content_id=6413
Reecruiting newbies
Gay sports team alliance throws a party to attract athletes and fans alike
By SHANNON JENKINS
Jan. 19, 2007
Gay men and lesbians have been accused of recruiting others into our ranks.Well, in at least one case, it's true.
The Atlanta Gay Sports Alliance throws a recruitment party Jan. 28 atAmsterdam Atlanta in hopes of attracting new members to the six teams thatcomprise the group.
Steve Doney, who recently completed his term as chairman of AGSA, estimatesthe group has about 700 members across the teams, and the objective of theupcoming event is to expand that number.
Doney hopes the party attracts as many people as one of the group's firstrecruitment events in 2005.
"I'd say there were about 350 people," he recalls.
AGSA did not track how many athletes were recruited as a result of the 2005event, but Doney says, "We were pretty successful in getting people to joinour teams."
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Sun Media, Canada, January 18, 2007
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/01/18/3401264-sun.html
Same-sex marriage drawing foreigners
By KATHLEEN HARRIS -- Sun Media
Foreigners are flocking to Canada to have legal same-sex marriages,according to a new report that shows more than half of recorded gay weddingsinvolved couples from abroad.
Statistics Canada data on 2003 nuptials, which included gay couples for thefirst time in Canadian history, found 3.5% of the 22,000 marriages inBritish Columbia were between people of the same sex. And nearly 56% ofthose were non-residents of Canada.
"Gay and lesbian couples have been coming to Canada since the laws changedin 2003, especially to the big cities," said Kaj Hasselriis, executivedirector of Egale Canada. "It's a positive thing for couples who want to belegally married, and it's a positive thing for Canada because it enhancesour reputation as a country that is very open and progressive."
Tourist boon
Hasselriis said the positive trend is also a boon for Canada's economy,creating a niche tourism industry for gay marriages and honeymoons.
At the time the data was collected, Canada was the only country in the worldthat allowed same-sex marriages between people who weren't residents. Whilethe marriage is often not legally recognized in the couple's home country,Hasselriis said it is symbolically important for them.
Many have used their marriage in Canada to try to advance their legal fightin their own countries, including Israel and Ireland.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/print.php?storyid=5318
NIGERIAN Primate Expains Scriptural Basis For Opposition To Homosexual Acts
Date 2007/1/11 14:30:00 | Topic: Exclusives
Does he really hate homosexuals?
News Analysis
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
1/11/2007
If you read the secular Western Press on Nigerian Anglican Primate PeterAkinola you would definitely come away with the notion that he is, at best,homophobic and at worst a down right hater of homosexuals.
It is not hard to find a single major newspaper that has not denounced himas such. Both secular progressive newspapers the Washington POST and morerecently the New York Times have trashed the brash often outspoken NigerianArchbishop.
He is an easy target for post Christian Episcopal leaders, becoming the newwhipping boy of pansexualists anxious to ride the wave of guilt free sexualexperimentation handed down by resolutions from several Episcopal GeneralConventions. Never mind that, according to the Center for Disease Control(CDC) 19 million new sexually transmitted infections occur each year, almosthalf of them among young people aged 15 to 24. In addition there are themajor physical and psychological consequences of STDs, which exact atremendous economic toll estimated at up to $14.1 billion annually! AIDSremains the single biggest transmitter of sexually fatal diseases, and inthe vast majority of cases it is transmitted through anal sex. Put that inworldwide economic terms it's the equivalent of the combined revenues of 21of the poorest African nations.
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Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.oceandrive.com/hybrid/features/magic/
The New Face of Miami Beach Politics: MichaelGongora
Michael Gongora certainly doesn't look like a revolutionary. In fact, withhis closely cropped dark hair, neat suit and tie, boyishly disarming smileand a propensity to dispense cheery soundbites, the 36-year-old Gongoraresembles nothing so much as a corporate attorney on the rise-which isexactly what he is.
Yet as the victor in last November's sharply contested race for Miami Beachcity commissioner, he's also this burg's first-ever openly gay electedofficial. It's a historic step that's bound to inspire disbelief. After all,with the Beach's worldwide image as a "gay mecca" burnished by popular filmssuch as The Birdcage, late-night bacchanals such as the annual White Party,and a body-conscious social scene that has even the local straight boysobsessing over moisturizers, one would expect gays here to be running CityHall in 2007, not just taking their first seat at its seven-member dais.
Moreover, this visibility extends far beyond the cultural sphere: While therest of the nation worked itself up into a tizzy over gays in the military,and then the specter of gay marriage, gays on Miami Beach simply got on withliving their lives-as reflected by their prominent presence within thecity's biggest law firms, media outlets, banks and real-estate offices.Gongora's own ascendance reflects this mundane reality. His campaign flierssaid it all: Printed right next to his endorsements from the Miami-Dadegay-rights group SAVE Dade and the Washington, D.C.-based gay-candidates PACThe Victory Fund were endorsements from the Beach's police and firefighters'unions. His résumé adopts a similar tone, ticking off his accomplishments asjust another ambitious Cuban-American attorney who specializes in condo law.It's the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce he belongs to, not ACT UP.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012201129_pf.html
'Grey' Star Meets With Gay Activists
By LYNN ELBER
The Associated Press
Monday, January 22, 2007; 11:08 PM
LOS ANGELES -- "Grey's Anatomy" star Isaiah Washington, under fire for usinga gay slur about a co-star, met Monday with gay rights activists who said heagreed to help educate the public about the cruelty of such language.
"He seemed very sincere in his interest in working with us in an ongoingbasis," Kevin Jennings, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian and StraightEducation Network. "We emphasized that this is not a one-shot deal, but anongoing thing. He was very open to doing this."
The star of the hit ABC medical drama met with Jennings, who spoke after theprivate meeting, and Neil G. Giuliano, president of the Gay and LesbianAlliance Against Defamation. A call to Washington's publicist for commentwas not immediately returned Monday.
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365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012207warts.htm
New Bid To Repeal Washington State LGBT Civil Rights Law
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 23, 2007 - 12:01 am ET
(Olympia, Washington) A conservative Christian minister has begun work on areferendum to overturn Washington state's inclusion of gays and lesbians inits human rights law.
Rev. Ken Hutcherson filed the paperwork with the state to have the measureplaced on the November ballot.
The language of the proposed referendum must be reviewed by the state codereviser's office. If it gains approval Hutcherson would be able to begincollecting the signatures of 224,800 registered voters needed to place thequestion on the ballot.
Hutcherson has until July 6 to collect the names.
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Hartford Courant, CT, January 21, 2007
http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-marriage.artjan21,0,5237550.story?coll=hc-headlines-editorials
Editorial--Revisit Same-Sex Marriage
Mark Twain famously illustrated the difference between the right word andthe almost right word by using as an example the difference between"lightning" and "lightning bug." Although the writer chose humor to get hispoint across, his message should be taken seriously.
To same-sex couples, one word - marriage - can be life-changing. No matterhow long they have been together as a family, no matter how many childrenthey have raised, no matter how much they love each other, only in onestate, Massachusetts, do they have the choice to marry. Even then, they aredenied many of the legal rights and privileges that heterosexual couplesenjoy.
The extent of their commitment is not recognized in other states, and mostglaringly, by the federal government. Same-sex couples can't file jointfederal tax returns or qualify for Social Security benefits at the death ofa partner.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012201270_pf.html
Italy Bishop's Head Raps Same-Sex Rights
By MARIA SANMINIATELLI
The Associated Press
Monday, January 22, 2007; 9:16 PM
ROME -- The head of Italy's bishops lashed out Monday at a governmentproposal to give same-sex couples rights similar to those of married peopleand criticized euthanasia in a speech that provoked an immediate politicalbacklash.
Premier Romano Prodi's center-left government has pledged to come up withlegislation to safeguard rights for all unmarried couples, includingsame-sex ones, by the end of January. The issue has been divisive in apredominantly Catholic country closely watched by the Vatican.
"It must be said that (gay unions) are at odds with basic anthropologicalfacts, in particular with the nonexistence of the blessing of generatingchildren, which is the specific reason for the social recognition ofmarriage," Cardinal Camillo Ruini said in an address to the Italian bishops'conference.
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kenslist@groups.queernet.org
http://www.gayrussia.ru/en/news/detail.php?ID=8376
http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/07/Jan/2201.htm
Moscow Gay Pride Documentary Gets World Premiere at Berlinale
"MOCKBA. PRIDE '06" covers turbulent events of first ever gay pride festivalin Russian capital
<http://www.gayrussia.ru/images/BerlinaleBig.jpg> The documentary filmabout the turbulent events of May 2006 at Moscow Price is included in theofficial programme of the prestigious Berlin Film Festival next month.
The world premiere of "MOCKBA. PRIDE '06" will be on February 11 (3.30pm) atthe Coliseum in Berlin as part of the 57th Berlin International FilmFestival.
The film, directed by Vladimir Ivanov, shot and produced for ProjectGayRussia.Ru during Moscow Gay Pride Festival on May 25-27 last year, isincluded in the official programme of section "Panorama Documente" ofBerlinale.
The Berlinale organizers confirmed at the weekend the programme of filmscreenings for "Panorama" section.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012200633_pf.html
FBI Faulted for Inaction in Foley Scandal
Justice IG Also Says Officials Misled Media About Group That ProvidedMessages
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; A04
The FBI should have acted last summer to protect underage congressionalpages after it was given "troubling" electronic messages sent by then-Rep.Mark Foley (R-Fla.), according to a report released yesterday.
The review by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine also foundthat FBI and Justice officials misled the news media last fall when theyasserted that an activist group that first provided the FBI with Foley'smessages had not been cooperative and had withheld vital information frominvestigators.
In fact, Fine's report found that the group -- Citizens for Ethics andResponsibility in Washington, or CREW -- had notified the FBI within days ofobtaining the electronic communications in July. But the FBI never asked foradditional information from the group and never sought to interview theformer page in Louisiana who received the messages from Foley, the reportsaid.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
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http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=1500
First ever trans religion summit this weekend
by Heather Cassell
h.cassell@ebar.com
Transgender religious leaders are convening the first-ever TransgenderReligious Summit at the Pacific School of Religion this weekend in Berkeley.
Religious leaders, academics, and policymakers are meeting January 19-21 tofocus on how people of faith can respond to discrimination and hatredagainst transgender people within their congregations and communities.
"It's important to mobilize progressive people of faith who want to see morejustice for transgender people in their own communities," said Justin Tanis,a graduate of Harvard Divinity School and program director of the NationalCenter for Transgender Equality, who helped organize the summit.
The conference, while not open to the general public, is open to people ofall faith traditions. The conference is being held in part to examine thoseof the religious right who are sometimes the only people speaking inopposition to legislation that would protect transgender people.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
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http://www.newyorkblade.com/print.cfm?content_id=4786
Anti-gay Groups Target Clubs in High Schools
Despite Opposition, More Gay-Straight Alliances Start Up
By ELIZABETH A. PERRY
Jan. 19, 2007
White County High School students fighting to start a gay-straight alliance(GSA) reached a settlement agreement with White County, Ga., schoolofficials last week, the latest chapter in what has been an ongoing nationalbattle over the legal right for such clubs to exist in public schools.
The American Civil Liberties Union represented the students in a yearlongcourt battle for the club's right to exist and for the students' right to goto school free of harassment. Terms of the settlement include policies forstudents in grades nine through 12 that specifically state anti-gayharassment is prohibited on school grounds and annual training sessions forfaculty on dealing with and preventing anti-gay harassment.
Student Charlene Hammersen, one of the founders of the school's GSA club,Peers Rising In Diverse Education (PRIDE), said she is just glad it's allover and that her school is doing the right thing.
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http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070122/OPINION03/701220315
The Detroit News
January 22, 2007
U.S. must do better for homeless, runaway gay teens
B y the time Danny was 7 years old, he was already trapped in the tragicdownward spiral that homeless gay teenagers so often describe when talkingabout how they found themselves living on the streets.Danny was shoved from one foster home to another and repeatedly molested. Hespent two years in a juvenile correctional facility. At 17, he tried livingwith his aunt, but she soon ordered him to get his "gay ass" out of herhouse.
Homeless, Danny got cash by reading people's tarot cards and a place tosleep by having "survival sex."
"I'd go to the library. I'd get on (Internet sites where men were seekingsex partners), just to find somewhere to sleep for the night, not for money.I slept with them so I could have a place to stay," he explained.
Danny's story is told in "An Epidemic of Homelessness," an alarming reportby the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Coalition forthe Homeless that collects the best research on homeless gay youth andcombines it with accounts of the few projects that are successfullyaddressing the problem. (Read it at thetaskforce.org.)
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST January 23, 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.
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USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-01-21-clinton-cover_x.htm
Why some Democrats worry that Clinton can't win
Updated 1/22/2007 1:20 PM ET
By Jill Lawrence, USA TODAY
She's a celebrity with an impressive résumé, major-league supporters andfive consecutive years of being the Gallup Poll's "most admired woman."Yet as New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton plunges into the race for theDemocratic presidential nomination, she faces resistance from fellowDemocrats who don't like her, don't like her positions on issues or don'tthink she can win.
"We've got to find somebody else," says David Newman, a retired teacher fromYork, Maine. "I think she's great. If she had a chance of winning, I'd votefor her. She's dragging a ball and chain behind her. There are too manypeople who have an aversion to her."
Clinton is a complicated package. Her constituents and Senate colleaguesgenerally view her as smart and hard-working. On the challenge side of theledger, there's her personality (perceived in some quarters as chilly), hervote on Iraq (she supported the war) and her gender (are Americans ready fora female president?).
=
The LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-burkee22jan22,0,4232520,print.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
Anyone but a Bush or a Clinton
The U.S. needs a leader in 2008 who doesn't inherit the office because of alast name.
By James Burkee
JAMES BURKEE, an assistant professor of history at Concordia UniversityWisconsin, is co-founder of the bipartisan political action committeeAmericans for Responsibility in Washington.
January 22, 2007
HAVING REFUSED a third term as president, George Washington offered thenation a farewell address in 1796, urging Americans to cherish the Union andto avoid the "baneful effects" of political partisanship. Successors such asThomas Jefferson warned against the formation of an "unnatural" aristocracyof men who inherited great fortunes and political office.
Both of these warnings have been overlooked in the debate over HillaryRodham Clinton's 2008 presidential run. But if she secures the Democraticnomination, wins and serves two terms, by 2017 the United States will havebeen governed by either a Bush or a Clinton for 28 years. That's threedecades governed not just by the same two families but much of the samesupporting staff. As Dick Cheney is a name familiar to both Bushpresidencies (as George H.W. Bush's secretary of Defense and his son's vicepresident), so too may a Hillary Clinton presidency resuscitate familiarnames such as Harold Ickes, Paul Begala and James Carville.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16516770.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Mon, Jan. 22, 2007
Bush's political capital is dangerously depleted
By Thomas M. DeFrank
New York Daily News
(MCT)
WASHINGTON - White House political aides always try to lower expectationsfor a State of the Union address. That won't be hard this year.
As President Bush prepares to deliver his seventh State of the Union onTuesday night, he finds himself at the low ebb of his steadily waning clout.
His political capital is dangerously depleted. Congress is controlled by theDemocrats, emboldened to reverse his domestic initiatives and challenge himat every turn. Republicans already jittery about the 2008 elections aredistancing themselves from him and his policies. His personal popularity andjob approval ratings have been shredded. "It's not a pretty politicalpicture," one of Bush's closest confidants acknowledged last week, "and weall know it, including him."
The task facing Bush is even more daunting because aides know a significantportion of his speech must reinforce the single issue that has hastened hispolitical demise: the war in Iraq.
=
boston.com
http://www.boston.com/ae/media/articles/2007/01/22/how_fauxthentic_is_it?mode=PF
ALEX BEAM
How fauxthentic is it?
By Alex Beam, Globe Columnist
January 22, 2007
The beaverish and not unalluring John Edwards recently kicked off hispresidential campaign with a series of "webisodes," long-form campaigncommercials posted on the Internets . In webisode one, we read, "SenatorEdwards talks about remaining authentic in the political world."
During the artfully scripted "behind the scenes" video, Edwards appears inan open-neck gingham shirt and blue jeans, complaining about the falsenessof political life. "I've come to the personal conclusion that I want thecountry to see who I really am," he says. "I'd rather be successful orunsuccessful based on who I really am, not based on some plastic Ken dollthat you put up in front of audiences. That's not me."
And so begins Campaign 2008: The quest for fauxthenticity.
Fauxthenticity is fake authenticity that feels, like, really genuine. LikeJohn Edwards just kicking back on his private jet, complaining about hishigh-priced campaign consultants. Fauxthenticity works better thanauthenticity. Just ask Arizona Senator John McCain, who used to be famousfor unvarnished speech. He has called journalists "liars" and "idiots" -- nofoul there -- and once used a racial slur to describe his former NorthVietnamese captors, which likewise seems like an in-bounds play to me,coming from a former POW.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Human Events, January 22, 2007
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=19055
Could Marriage Issue Hurt GOP in '08?
by D.R. Tucker
Will the controversial issue of same-sex marriage-which played a role inPresident Bush's re-election in 2004-actually cause a Democrat to win theWhite House in 2008?
Bush's victory over Sen. John Kerry (D.-Mass.) occurred just two weeksbefore the first anniversary of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court'sruling in Goodridge vs. Department of Public Health, a ruling mandating thatthe state grant all rights, benefits, privileges and responsibilities ofmarriage to same-sex couples. The Goodridge ruling was arguably the thirdmost prominent issue in the 2004 presidential contest (the others being theWar on Terror and the economy). Millions of "values voters," horrified bythe judicial activism of the SJC, embraced Bush, who denounced the rulingand reaffirmed marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and rejectedKerry, whose criticisms of the ruling seemed half-hearted at best.
However, gay marriage could cause problems for the Republicans this timearound-particularly if former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney receives theGOP nomination. While Romney strongly criticized the Goodridge ruling andendorsed efforts to have the ruling democratically nullified through apro-traditional marriage ballot initiative, he has come under fire fromconservative activists who believe that he in fact facilitated the beginningof same-sex marriage in the Bay State.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012201508_pf.html
Internal Rifts Cloud Democrats' Opportunity on Warming
By Juliet Eilperin and Michael Grunwald
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; A01
The House Democrats had not quite finished their "100 hours" agenda whenthey met in the Capitol basement Thursday morning, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi(Calif.) was already looking ahead. As her colleagues ate bagels and turkeysausage, she warned that their next challenge would be a lot tougher thanpopular issues such as student loans and ethics reforms. For her next act,she planned to take on global warming.
Democrats, she explained, had to show a sense of urgency about the carbonemissions that threaten the planet, and so she was creating a selectcommittee on energy independence and climate change to communicate thaturgency. The new committee, she said, would help the caucus speak with onevoice -- even if it trampled the turf of existing committees.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012201143_pf.html
Long Beach Awaits Hate-Crime Verdict
3 White Women Beaten by Crowd
By Sonya Geis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; A03
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- A crowd of black teenagers and three young white womenstood on a street corner on Halloween night. A male voice cried, "I hate[expletive] white people!" The crowd surged, and someone cracked one of thewhites in the head with a skateboard, dropping her to the ground. That muchis not in dispute.
Who is responsible and how this could happen in the port city of Long Beach,which prides itself on its diversity and tolerance, has been the subject ofarguments in court, civic forums and private living rooms here ever since.
Ten defendants -- nine female and one male, ages 12 to 18 -- were chargedwith assault for allegedly beating and kicking the women, giving one 12facial fractures and another a concussion. Eight of the teenagers are alsocharged with a hate crime. Their trial has dragged on since early November.
This week attorneys are expected to finish closing arguments and a judgewill render verdicts. The city is waiting uneasily to find out whether itwill live up to its self-image as a unified, tolerant community or dissolveinto racial hostility.
=
Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901119_pf.html
High Court To Revisit Campaign Finance Law
New Lineup on Bench Will Consider Ad Limits
By Robert Barnes and Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, January 20, 2007; A01
The Supreme Court agreed yesterday to revisit the landmark 2002 legislationoverhauling the nation's campaign finance laws, moving to settle the role ofcampaign spending by corporations, unions and special interest groups intime for the 2008 presidential primaries.
It would be the first time the court has reviewed the McCain-Feingold law of2002 since justices ruled 5 to 4 three years ago that the act wasconstitutional. Since then, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who was in themajority, has been replaced by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
At issue in the case is the question of whether so-called issue advocacy adspaid for by the general funds of special interest groups and broadcast inthe period before a federal election may mention specific candidates. Athree-judge panel in Washington last month overturned that prohibition,which is one of the key provisions of the law known formally as theBipartisan Campaign Reform Act.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/21/AR2007012100519_pf.html
Student Loan Scam
By Robert D. Novak
Monday, January 22, 2007; A19
House Democrats were extolling their student loan bill for opening collegeto Americans with moderate incomes on Wednesday when Rep. Tom Price, asecond-term Republican from Georgia, took the floor. "If only this bill didwhat they say," Price declared. His admonition constituted more than theusual hyperbole of congressional debate.
The bill, passed by an overwhelming, bipartisan vote, was touted as reducingthe interest on federally subsidized student loans, from the present 6.8percent to 3.4 percent. Actually, it gradually reaches the 3.4 percent levelon July 1, 2011. A student taking out a loan on July 1 of this year wouldpay 6.12 percent after graduation. Only 29 percent of all students gettingloans would be eligible for this gradual reduction. Other student loanprograms will be cut to help cover the $7 billion cost over five years. Andcontrary to what the Democrats suggest, the bill does nothing to slowskyrocketing college tuition.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012200236_pf.html
Bush To Face Skeptical Congress
Iraq Overshadows Domestic Outreach
By Peter Baker and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; A01
President Bush plans to reach out to the opposition in his State of theUnion address tonight with new and recycled proposals on health care,energy, immigration and education, but the uproar over his decision to sendmore U.S. troops to Iraq has eclipsed potential consensus on domesticpolicy.
As he addresses a Congress controlled entirely by Democrats for the firsttime since he took office, Bush faces deep skepticism inside the chamber,even within the House Republican leadership, which yesterday made proposalsintended "to hold the Bush administration . . . accountable" for theprogress of his latest Iraq plan.
The doubt on Capitol Hill reflects the continuing erosion of Bush's publicsupport across the country. His approval rating is at the lowest level ofhis presidency, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, and onlytwice in the past six decades has a president delivered his annual speech tothe nation in a weaker condition in the polls -- Harry S. Truman in themidst of the Korean War in 1952 and Richard M. Nixon in the throes ofWatergate in 1974.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012201304_pf.html
Clinton Bid Heralds Demise of Public Financing
By Dan Balz and Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; A01
The public financing system designed to clean up presidential campaigns inthe wake of the Watergate scandal may have died on Saturday when Sen.Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) announced her bid for the White House.
Little noticed amid the announcement rollout was a page on her Web site inwhich she asked potential contributors to give her campaign checks of up to$4,200. That figure signaled not only that she plans to forgo public fundsfor primary season but also that, if she becomes the nominee, she will nottake public money for the general election.
By opting out of the system, Clinton will be able to spend as much money asshe can raise, both for the primaries and for the general election, ratherthan being forced to abide by strict spending limits imposed by the FederalElection Commission on candidates who accept public financing.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
######
=
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-01-21-clinton-cover_x.htm
Why some Democrats worry that Clinton can't win
Updated 1/22/2007 1:20 PM ET
By Jill Lawrence, USA TODAY
She's a celebrity with an impressive résumé, major-league supporters andfive consecutive years of being the Gallup Poll's "most admired woman."Yet as New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton plunges into the race for theDemocratic presidential nomination, she faces resistance from fellowDemocrats who don't like her, don't like her positions on issues or don'tthink she can win.
"We've got to find somebody else," says David Newman, a retired teacher fromYork, Maine. "I think she's great. If she had a chance of winning, I'd votefor her. She's dragging a ball and chain behind her. There are too manypeople who have an aversion to her."
Clinton is a complicated package. Her constituents and Senate colleaguesgenerally view her as smart and hard-working. On the challenge side of theledger, there's her personality (perceived in some quarters as chilly), hervote on Iraq (she supported the war) and her gender (are Americans ready fora female president?).
=
The LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-burkee22jan22,0,4232520,print.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
Anyone but a Bush or a Clinton
The U.S. needs a leader in 2008 who doesn't inherit the office because of alast name.
By James Burkee
JAMES BURKEE, an assistant professor of history at Concordia UniversityWisconsin, is co-founder of the bipartisan political action committeeAmericans for Responsibility in Washington.
January 22, 2007
HAVING REFUSED a third term as president, George Washington offered thenation a farewell address in 1796, urging Americans to cherish the Union andto avoid the "baneful effects" of political partisanship. Successors such asThomas Jefferson warned against the formation of an "unnatural" aristocracyof men who inherited great fortunes and political office.
Both of these warnings have been overlooked in the debate over HillaryRodham Clinton's 2008 presidential run. But if she secures the Democraticnomination, wins and serves two terms, by 2017 the United States will havebeen governed by either a Bush or a Clinton for 28 years. That's threedecades governed not just by the same two families but much of the samesupporting staff. As Dick Cheney is a name familiar to both Bushpresidencies (as George H.W. Bush's secretary of Defense and his son's vicepresident), so too may a Hillary Clinton presidency resuscitate familiarnames such as Harold Ickes, Paul Begala and James Carville.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16516770.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Mon, Jan. 22, 2007
Bush's political capital is dangerously depleted
By Thomas M. DeFrank
New York Daily News
(MCT)
WASHINGTON - White House political aides always try to lower expectationsfor a State of the Union address. That won't be hard this year.
As President Bush prepares to deliver his seventh State of the Union onTuesday night, he finds himself at the low ebb of his steadily waning clout.
His political capital is dangerously depleted. Congress is controlled by theDemocrats, emboldened to reverse his domestic initiatives and challenge himat every turn. Republicans already jittery about the 2008 elections aredistancing themselves from him and his policies. His personal popularity andjob approval ratings have been shredded. "It's not a pretty politicalpicture," one of Bush's closest confidants acknowledged last week, "and weall know it, including him."
The task facing Bush is even more daunting because aides know a significantportion of his speech must reinforce the single issue that has hastened hispolitical demise: the war in Iraq.
=
boston.com
http://www.boston.com/ae/media/articles/2007/01/22/how_fauxthentic_is_it?mode=PF
ALEX BEAM
How fauxthentic is it?
By Alex Beam, Globe Columnist
January 22, 2007
The beaverish and not unalluring John Edwards recently kicked off hispresidential campaign with a series of "webisodes," long-form campaigncommercials posted on the Internets . In webisode one, we read, "SenatorEdwards talks about remaining authentic in the political world."
During the artfully scripted "behind the scenes" video, Edwards appears inan open-neck gingham shirt and blue jeans, complaining about the falsenessof political life. "I've come to the personal conclusion that I want thecountry to see who I really am," he says. "I'd rather be successful orunsuccessful based on who I really am, not based on some plastic Ken dollthat you put up in front of audiences. That's not me."
And so begins Campaign 2008: The quest for fauxthenticity.
Fauxthenticity is fake authenticity that feels, like, really genuine. LikeJohn Edwards just kicking back on his private jet, complaining about hishigh-priced campaign consultants. Fauxthenticity works better thanauthenticity. Just ask Arizona Senator John McCain, who used to be famousfor unvarnished speech. He has called journalists "liars" and "idiots" -- nofoul there -- and once used a racial slur to describe his former NorthVietnamese captors, which likewise seems like an in-bounds play to me,coming from a former POW.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Human Events, January 22, 2007
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=19055
Could Marriage Issue Hurt GOP in '08?
by D.R. Tucker
Will the controversial issue of same-sex marriage-which played a role inPresident Bush's re-election in 2004-actually cause a Democrat to win theWhite House in 2008?
Bush's victory over Sen. John Kerry (D.-Mass.) occurred just two weeksbefore the first anniversary of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court'sruling in Goodridge vs. Department of Public Health, a ruling mandating thatthe state grant all rights, benefits, privileges and responsibilities ofmarriage to same-sex couples. The Goodridge ruling was arguably the thirdmost prominent issue in the 2004 presidential contest (the others being theWar on Terror and the economy). Millions of "values voters," horrified bythe judicial activism of the SJC, embraced Bush, who denounced the rulingand reaffirmed marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and rejectedKerry, whose criticisms of the ruling seemed half-hearted at best.
However, gay marriage could cause problems for the Republicans this timearound-particularly if former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney receives theGOP nomination. While Romney strongly criticized the Goodridge ruling andendorsed efforts to have the ruling democratically nullified through apro-traditional marriage ballot initiative, he has come under fire fromconservative activists who believe that he in fact facilitated the beginningof same-sex marriage in the Bay State.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012201508_pf.html
Internal Rifts Cloud Democrats' Opportunity on Warming
By Juliet Eilperin and Michael Grunwald
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; A01
The House Democrats had not quite finished their "100 hours" agenda whenthey met in the Capitol basement Thursday morning, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi(Calif.) was already looking ahead. As her colleagues ate bagels and turkeysausage, she warned that their next challenge would be a lot tougher thanpopular issues such as student loans and ethics reforms. For her next act,she planned to take on global warming.
Democrats, she explained, had to show a sense of urgency about the carbonemissions that threaten the planet, and so she was creating a selectcommittee on energy independence and climate change to communicate thaturgency. The new committee, she said, would help the caucus speak with onevoice -- even if it trampled the turf of existing committees.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012201143_pf.html
Long Beach Awaits Hate-Crime Verdict
3 White Women Beaten by Crowd
By Sonya Geis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; A03
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- A crowd of black teenagers and three young white womenstood on a street corner on Halloween night. A male voice cried, "I hate[expletive] white people!" The crowd surged, and someone cracked one of thewhites in the head with a skateboard, dropping her to the ground. That muchis not in dispute.
Who is responsible and how this could happen in the port city of Long Beach,which prides itself on its diversity and tolerance, has been the subject ofarguments in court, civic forums and private living rooms here ever since.
Ten defendants -- nine female and one male, ages 12 to 18 -- were chargedwith assault for allegedly beating and kicking the women, giving one 12facial fractures and another a concussion. Eight of the teenagers are alsocharged with a hate crime. Their trial has dragged on since early November.
This week attorneys are expected to finish closing arguments and a judgewill render verdicts. The city is waiting uneasily to find out whether itwill live up to its self-image as a unified, tolerant community or dissolveinto racial hostility.
=
Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901119_pf.html
High Court To Revisit Campaign Finance Law
New Lineup on Bench Will Consider Ad Limits
By Robert Barnes and Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, January 20, 2007; A01
The Supreme Court agreed yesterday to revisit the landmark 2002 legislationoverhauling the nation's campaign finance laws, moving to settle the role ofcampaign spending by corporations, unions and special interest groups intime for the 2008 presidential primaries.
It would be the first time the court has reviewed the McCain-Feingold law of2002 since justices ruled 5 to 4 three years ago that the act wasconstitutional. Since then, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who was in themajority, has been replaced by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
At issue in the case is the question of whether so-called issue advocacy adspaid for by the general funds of special interest groups and broadcast inthe period before a federal election may mention specific candidates. Athree-judge panel in Washington last month overturned that prohibition,which is one of the key provisions of the law known formally as theBipartisan Campaign Reform Act.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/21/AR2007012100519_pf.html
Student Loan Scam
By Robert D. Novak
Monday, January 22, 2007; A19
House Democrats were extolling their student loan bill for opening collegeto Americans with moderate incomes on Wednesday when Rep. Tom Price, asecond-term Republican from Georgia, took the floor. "If only this bill didwhat they say," Price declared. His admonition constituted more than theusual hyperbole of congressional debate.
The bill, passed by an overwhelming, bipartisan vote, was touted as reducingthe interest on federally subsidized student loans, from the present 6.8percent to 3.4 percent. Actually, it gradually reaches the 3.4 percent levelon July 1, 2011. A student taking out a loan on July 1 of this year wouldpay 6.12 percent after graduation. Only 29 percent of all students gettingloans would be eligible for this gradual reduction. Other student loanprograms will be cut to help cover the $7 billion cost over five years. Andcontrary to what the Democrats suggest, the bill does nothing to slowskyrocketing college tuition.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012200236_pf.html
Bush To Face Skeptical Congress
Iraq Overshadows Domestic Outreach
By Peter Baker and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; A01
President Bush plans to reach out to the opposition in his State of theUnion address tonight with new and recycled proposals on health care,energy, immigration and education, but the uproar over his decision to sendmore U.S. troops to Iraq has eclipsed potential consensus on domesticpolicy.
As he addresses a Congress controlled entirely by Democrats for the firsttime since he took office, Bush faces deep skepticism inside the chamber,even within the House Republican leadership, which yesterday made proposalsintended "to hold the Bush administration . . . accountable" for theprogress of his latest Iraq plan.
The doubt on Capitol Hill reflects the continuing erosion of Bush's publicsupport across the country. His approval rating is at the lowest level ofhis presidency, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, and onlytwice in the past six decades has a president delivered his annual speech tothe nation in a weaker condition in the polls -- Harry S. Truman in themidst of the Korean War in 1952 and Richard M. Nixon in the throes ofWatergate in 1974.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012201304_pf.html
Clinton Bid Heralds Demise of Public Financing
By Dan Balz and Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, January 23, 2007; A01
The public financing system designed to clean up presidential campaigns inthe wake of the Watergate scandal may have died on Saturday when Sen.Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) announced her bid for the White House.
Little noticed amid the announcement rollout was a page on her Web site inwhich she asked potential contributors to give her campaign checks of up to$4,200. That figure signaled not only that she plans to forgo public fundsfor primary season but also that, if she becomes the nominee, she will nottake public money for the general election.
By opting out of the system, Clinton will be able to spend as much money asshe can raise, both for the primaries and for the general election, ratherthan being forced to abide by strict spending limits imposed by the FederalElection Commission on candidates who accept public financing.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
######
FLORIDA DIGEST January 23, 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/16521349.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Mon, Jan. 22, 2007
Turnout for strong-mayor plan likely to be sluggish
BY MATTHEW I. PINZUR
mpinzur@MiamiHerald.com
More than 26,000 voters cast early ballots in Miami-Dade's strong-mayorreferendum, suggesting the overall turnout for Tuesday's election could beon pace with the sluggish 2006 primary and 2005's special election onslot-machine gambling.
Another 36,000 absentee ballots have been cast, according to ElectionsSupervisor Lester Sola. Absentee ballots that reach the elections office by7 p.m. -- via hand or mail -- will be counted.
Polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, and full resultsare expected before 10 p.m.
During the last three countywide elections, early and absentee votes haveaccounted for about one third of total ballots.
Just under 16 percent of the county's one million-plus voters turned out forlast year's primaries, and 14.4 percent voted in the slots election. Almost38 percent came out for November's general election, enlivened by debateover the Iraq War and the congressional page scandal surrounding PalmBeach's Mark Foley.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/23/us/23florida.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
January 23, 2007
Florida Acts to Lower Home Insurance Cost
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
MIAMI, Jan. 22 - Struggling to fulfill a campaign promise made last fall byvirtually every Florida lawmaker, the Legislature approved a series ofmeasures Monday that would reduce home insurance rates - modestly, for themost part - by having the state take on billions of dollars in additionalinsurance risk.
Insurance costs soared here after eight hurricanes hit the state in 2004 and2005 and forecasters predicted that ferocious storms could keep hitting forat least the next decade. Easing the crisis is Gov. Charlie Crist's topgoal, and he convened a special legislative session to address it withindays of taking office on Jan. 1.
But while Mr. Crist, a Republican, and the Republican-dominated Legislaturesaid last week that they were committed to significant across-the-board ratereductions, reality proved more complicated.
South Floridians covered by the state-run insurer of last resort becauseprivate companies refuse to insure their homes will see the smallestsavings - as little as 8 percent. Their insurance costs have as much astripled since 2004, forcing many people to consider leaving Florida.
Homeowners with private insurance would save more - up to 21.8 percent, onaverage - according to legislative analysts.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/16522334.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Tue, Jan. 23, 2007
POLITICS
Democrats warned: GOP wants seats back
Democrats who captured GOP seats in Tallahassee and Washington have no timeto rest on their laurels.
By LESLEY CLARK AND BETH REINHARD
breinhard@MiamiHerald.com
State Rep. Ron Saunders of Key West gives savvy advice to the six otherDemocrats who scored Florida House seats previously held by Republicans:Open a campaign account.
And fast.
''The election will be here before you know it,'' Saunders said. ``When youonly have a two-year term, the day you get elected is the day you have tostart looking ahead.''
State and congressional representatives have always had to watch their backsduring their short terms in office, but Saunders' advice holds even moretrue for Democrats who recently persevered in competitive districts with thehelp of a nationwide anti-GOP tide. Political strategists say if the newlyelected Democrats don't kick-start reelection campaigns and stick to thepolitical center, they may find themselves short-timers in 2008.
Of the Republican-turned-Democrat seats in the Florida House and U.S.Congress, five are based in South Florida: state Reps. Saunders, Luis Garciaof Miami Beach and Martin Kiar of Davie; and U.S. Reps. Ron Klein of BocaRaton and Tim Mahoney of Palm Beach Gardens.
=
PalmBeachPost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2007/01/23/a7a_insure_reax_0123.html
Insurance measure elicits grumbles from industry
By Randy Diamond
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
TALLAHASSEE- - As state lawmakers and Gov. Charlie Crist hugged each otherin the statehouse Monday night, insurance company representatives stood tothe side and grumbled.
Their concern is that the congratulations being handed around so readily bylegislators over the passage of the state's new property insurance bill willeventually turn into condolences.
The insurance industry in Florida has reason for concern. Lawmakersoverwhelmingly passed a bill that will allow state-sponsored CitizensProperty Insurance Corp. to compete with private-market insurers forbusiness for the first time, ending its primary role as the insurer of lastresort.
Further, the new law lifts restrictions on Citizens put in placespecifically so that it could not compete. Those limitations helped ensureprofits in years when there were no storms and limited liability in yearswhen there were.
=
TBO.com
http://www.tbo.com/news/nationworld/MGBEW9ZU9XE.html
Democrats' White House Plans Not Evident In Florida
By WILLIAM MARCH The Tampa Tribune
Published: Jan 23, 2007
TAMPA - As the 2008 presidential primary races get under way, Republicancandidates - particularly John McCain and Mitt Romney - are workingfrantically to build Florida organizations.
Floridians are hearing less from and about the Democratic candidates, andsome Democratic donors and dedicated campaign volunteers are starting towonder why.
"I've had no contacts, and I'm pretty surprised," said Tampa lawyer ChrisGriffin, a veteran of Democratic campaigns including those of former U.S.Rep. Jim Davis. "I would think there would be some more visible activity inthis area by now."
The reason may be because the Democratic field has been so unsettled, withtwo major candidates dropping out, Barack Obama dropping in, and thefront-runner, Hillary Rodham Clinton, preoccupied until November with herU.S. Senate re-election.
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Floridatoday.com
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/NEWS01/701230338/1006/news01&template=printart
January 23, 2007
Florida legislators split on Bush's effectiveness
BY LARRY WHEELER
FLORIDA TODAY
Florida lawmakers differ on whether President Bush heads into hissixth State of the Union address in a position to dictate the terms of hisfinal two years in office or so weakened by events that it doesn't muchmatter what he says.
"This is the president of the United States, the most powerful man inthe world," said Rep. Allen Boyd, Jr., a Tallahassee Democrat. "But hispolitical capital is certainly not what it was two years ago. That createssome different dynamics for him."
The once-swaggering Bush has admitted he made mistakes in Iraq.
His policies and low approval ratings contributed to the Republicans'loss of Congress in last year's elections.
Bush's plan to send more U.S. troops to Iraq was met with broad publicskepticism and outright opposition from some in his own party.
A lot has not gone right for Bush, which puts him on the defensive ashe delivers his annual address Tuesday night to a joint session of Congress.
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tampabay.com
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/23/news_pf/State/Legislators_play_odds.shtml
Legislators play odds to reduce premiums
By JENNIFER LIBERTO, Times Staff Writer
Published January 23, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - Taking a bipartisan gamble, the Florida Legislature promisedon Monday to lower homeowners insurance premiums as long as no majorhurricanes hit the state.
With a unanimous Senate vote and a 116-2 House vote, the Republican-ledLegislature passed a complex insurance package that marks a philosophicalshift for the party, because it calls for more government intervention.Lawmakers did it for a prize: an overall reduction in homeowners' premiumsto the tune of 5 to 22 percent.
Gov. Charlie Crist said that he planned to sign the bill this week, based onwhat he knows about it so far.
"We are going to lower rates in a meaningful way, and it's going to actuallyhappen," Crist said.
=
floridatoday.com
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/OPINION/701230320/1004/opinion&template=printart
January 23, 2007
Our view: Saving the Glades
State should restore partnership to pay for River of Grass cleanup
While we're on the subject of the environment, kudos to Gov. Charlie Cristfor putting Everglades restoration back on the front burner for Florida.
Crist promised Saturday to revive a state and federal partnershipestablished in 2000 to split costs for the $10.5 billion, 30-year project torescue the River of Grass.
As the largest wetlands restoration project in the world, the cleanupaffects not only South Florida, but also our own Indian River Lagoon, whichwill benefit from projects to stop using the St. Lucie River as a drain pipefor toxins from points south.
Former Gov. Jeb Bush brokered the Everglades deal to acquire lands andrestore and build wetlands that will act as natural filters for agriculturalrunoff and pollutants from development.
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PalmBeachPost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2007/01/23/m1a_insure_0123.html
LEGISLATURE 2007
Special insurance session produces bill, relief
By S.V. Date, Michael C. Bender , Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Charlie Crist declared a quick first victory Monday whenthe legislature finished a special session by preparing a bill designed tocut property insurance rates and let state-run Citizens start competing withprivate companies.
"They said it couldn't be done. Remember?" he said in the Capitol Rotunda,which was filled with applauding lawmakers and staff. "Yet here we are."
The last piece in the puzzle came overnight, after the Sunday deal betweenHouse and Senate leaders had been announced, when Crist was able to cajoleHouse leaders into accepting his demand that Citizens customers no longer beforced to accept private policies that cost more than their Citizenspremiums.
Under Crist's insistence, lawmakers on Monday included a stipulation to lethomeowners remain with Citizens unless they choose to buy a private policy.Included in a related section was a provision that allows a homeowneranywhere in the state to buy a Citizens policy if the only private insuranceis priced at least 25 percent higher.
[Send your comments to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16521349.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Mon, Jan. 22, 2007
Turnout for strong-mayor plan likely to be sluggish
BY MATTHEW I. PINZUR
mpinzur@MiamiHerald.com
More than 26,000 voters cast early ballots in Miami-Dade's strong-mayorreferendum, suggesting the overall turnout for Tuesday's election could beon pace with the sluggish 2006 primary and 2005's special election onslot-machine gambling.
Another 36,000 absentee ballots have been cast, according to ElectionsSupervisor Lester Sola. Absentee ballots that reach the elections office by7 p.m. -- via hand or mail -- will be counted.
Polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, and full resultsare expected before 10 p.m.
During the last three countywide elections, early and absentee votes haveaccounted for about one third of total ballots.
Just under 16 percent of the county's one million-plus voters turned out forlast year's primaries, and 14.4 percent voted in the slots election. Almost38 percent came out for November's general election, enlivened by debateover the Iraq War and the congressional page scandal surrounding PalmBeach's Mark Foley.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/23/us/23florida.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
January 23, 2007
Florida Acts to Lower Home Insurance Cost
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
MIAMI, Jan. 22 - Struggling to fulfill a campaign promise made last fall byvirtually every Florida lawmaker, the Legislature approved a series ofmeasures Monday that would reduce home insurance rates - modestly, for themost part - by having the state take on billions of dollars in additionalinsurance risk.
Insurance costs soared here after eight hurricanes hit the state in 2004 and2005 and forecasters predicted that ferocious storms could keep hitting forat least the next decade. Easing the crisis is Gov. Charlie Crist's topgoal, and he convened a special legislative session to address it withindays of taking office on Jan. 1.
But while Mr. Crist, a Republican, and the Republican-dominated Legislaturesaid last week that they were committed to significant across-the-board ratereductions, reality proved more complicated.
South Floridians covered by the state-run insurer of last resort becauseprivate companies refuse to insure their homes will see the smallestsavings - as little as 8 percent. Their insurance costs have as much astripled since 2004, forcing many people to consider leaving Florida.
Homeowners with private insurance would save more - up to 21.8 percent, onaverage - according to legislative analysts.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/16522334.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Tue, Jan. 23, 2007
POLITICS
Democrats warned: GOP wants seats back
Democrats who captured GOP seats in Tallahassee and Washington have no timeto rest on their laurels.
By LESLEY CLARK AND BETH REINHARD
breinhard@MiamiHerald.com
State Rep. Ron Saunders of Key West gives savvy advice to the six otherDemocrats who scored Florida House seats previously held by Republicans:Open a campaign account.
And fast.
''The election will be here before you know it,'' Saunders said. ``When youonly have a two-year term, the day you get elected is the day you have tostart looking ahead.''
State and congressional representatives have always had to watch their backsduring their short terms in office, but Saunders' advice holds even moretrue for Democrats who recently persevered in competitive districts with thehelp of a nationwide anti-GOP tide. Political strategists say if the newlyelected Democrats don't kick-start reelection campaigns and stick to thepolitical center, they may find themselves short-timers in 2008.
Of the Republican-turned-Democrat seats in the Florida House and U.S.Congress, five are based in South Florida: state Reps. Saunders, Luis Garciaof Miami Beach and Martin Kiar of Davie; and U.S. Reps. Ron Klein of BocaRaton and Tim Mahoney of Palm Beach Gardens.
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PalmBeachPost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2007/01/23/a7a_insure_reax_0123.html
Insurance measure elicits grumbles from industry
By Randy Diamond
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
TALLAHASSEE- - As state lawmakers and Gov. Charlie Crist hugged each otherin the statehouse Monday night, insurance company representatives stood tothe side and grumbled.
Their concern is that the congratulations being handed around so readily bylegislators over the passage of the state's new property insurance bill willeventually turn into condolences.
The insurance industry in Florida has reason for concern. Lawmakersoverwhelmingly passed a bill that will allow state-sponsored CitizensProperty Insurance Corp. to compete with private-market insurers forbusiness for the first time, ending its primary role as the insurer of lastresort.
Further, the new law lifts restrictions on Citizens put in placespecifically so that it could not compete. Those limitations helped ensureprofits in years when there were no storms and limited liability in yearswhen there were.
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TBO.com
http://www.tbo.com/news/nationworld/MGBEW9ZU9XE.html
Democrats' White House Plans Not Evident In Florida
By WILLIAM MARCH The Tampa Tribune
Published: Jan 23, 2007
TAMPA - As the 2008 presidential primary races get under way, Republicancandidates - particularly John McCain and Mitt Romney - are workingfrantically to build Florida organizations.
Floridians are hearing less from and about the Democratic candidates, andsome Democratic donors and dedicated campaign volunteers are starting towonder why.
"I've had no contacts, and I'm pretty surprised," said Tampa lawyer ChrisGriffin, a veteran of Democratic campaigns including those of former U.S.Rep. Jim Davis. "I would think there would be some more visible activity inthis area by now."
The reason may be because the Democratic field has been so unsettled, withtwo major candidates dropping out, Barack Obama dropping in, and thefront-runner, Hillary Rodham Clinton, preoccupied until November with herU.S. Senate re-election.
=
Floridatoday.com
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/NEWS01/701230338/1006/news01&template=printart
January 23, 2007
Florida legislators split on Bush's effectiveness
BY LARRY WHEELER
FLORIDA TODAY
Florida lawmakers differ on whether President Bush heads into hissixth State of the Union address in a position to dictate the terms of hisfinal two years in office or so weakened by events that it doesn't muchmatter what he says.
"This is the president of the United States, the most powerful man inthe world," said Rep. Allen Boyd, Jr., a Tallahassee Democrat. "But hispolitical capital is certainly not what it was two years ago. That createssome different dynamics for him."
The once-swaggering Bush has admitted he made mistakes in Iraq.
His policies and low approval ratings contributed to the Republicans'loss of Congress in last year's elections.
Bush's plan to send more U.S. troops to Iraq was met with broad publicskepticism and outright opposition from some in his own party.
A lot has not gone right for Bush, which puts him on the defensive ashe delivers his annual address Tuesday night to a joint session of Congress.
=
tampabay.com
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/23/news_pf/State/Legislators_play_odds.shtml
Legislators play odds to reduce premiums
By JENNIFER LIBERTO, Times Staff Writer
Published January 23, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - Taking a bipartisan gamble, the Florida Legislature promisedon Monday to lower homeowners insurance premiums as long as no majorhurricanes hit the state.
With a unanimous Senate vote and a 116-2 House vote, the Republican-ledLegislature passed a complex insurance package that marks a philosophicalshift for the party, because it calls for more government intervention.Lawmakers did it for a prize: an overall reduction in homeowners' premiumsto the tune of 5 to 22 percent.
Gov. Charlie Crist said that he planned to sign the bill this week, based onwhat he knows about it so far.
"We are going to lower rates in a meaningful way, and it's going to actuallyhappen," Crist said.
=
floridatoday.com
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/OPINION/701230320/1004/opinion&template=printart
January 23, 2007
Our view: Saving the Glades
State should restore partnership to pay for River of Grass cleanup
While we're on the subject of the environment, kudos to Gov. Charlie Cristfor putting Everglades restoration back on the front burner for Florida.
Crist promised Saturday to revive a state and federal partnershipestablished in 2000 to split costs for the $10.5 billion, 30-year project torescue the River of Grass.
As the largest wetlands restoration project in the world, the cleanupaffects not only South Florida, but also our own Indian River Lagoon, whichwill benefit from projects to stop using the St. Lucie River as a drain pipefor toxins from points south.
Former Gov. Jeb Bush brokered the Everglades deal to acquire lands andrestore and build wetlands that will act as natural filters for agriculturalrunoff and pollutants from development.
=
PalmBeachPost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2007/01/23/m1a_insure_0123.html
LEGISLATURE 2007
Special insurance session produces bill, relief
By S.V. Date, Michael C. Bender , Dara Kam
Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Charlie Crist declared a quick first victory Monday whenthe legislature finished a special session by preparing a bill designed tocut property insurance rates and let state-run Citizens start competing withprivate companies.
"They said it couldn't be done. Remember?" he said in the Capitol Rotunda,which was filled with applauding lawmakers and staff. "Yet here we are."
The last piece in the puzzle came overnight, after the Sunday deal betweenHouse and Senate leaders had been announced, when Crist was able to cajoleHouse leaders into accepting his demand that Citizens customers no longer beforced to accept private policies that cost more than their Citizenspremiums.
Under Crist's insistence, lawmakers on Monday included a stipulation to lethomeowners remain with Citizens unless they choose to buy a private policy.Included in a related section was a provision that allows a homeowneranywhere in the state to buy a Citizens policy if the only private insuranceis priced at least 25 percent higher.
[Send your comments to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
Monday, January 22, 2007
GLBT DIGEST - January 22, 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.
=
365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012107wyoming.htm
Wyoming GOP Seeks To Make Out-of-State Gay Marriage Illegal
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 22, 2007 - 12:01 am ET
(Cheyenne, Wyoming) Wyoming Republicans have introduced legislation thatwould void same-sex marriages performed in areas where gays and lesbians canlegally wed. If passed it would mean Wyoming gays could not travel toCanada or any of the European countries where same-sex couples can marry.
Massachusetts, the only state where gay marriage is legal, has limited it tocouples from that state and from Rhode Island.
But the Wyoming measure would also mean that couples from areas were theywere allowed to marry could not come to the state, which calls itself 'TheEquality State' and have their marriages recognized either by the state orby private businesses.
=
365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012107london.htm
UK Cabinet In Gay Rights Dispute
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 21, 2007 - 4:00 pm ET
(London) The cabinet of Prime Minster Tony Blair is reportedly divided overwhether to exempt churches and services they offer from equality lawsprotecting gays and lesbians.
The legislation is already in effect in Northern Ireland, and its provisionscovering England and Wales are currently being debated in the House ofLords.
The measure covers employment and the rendering of services. It would meancompanies cannot refuse jobs on the basis of sexuality, nor could theyrefuse services to gay and lesbian customers.
=
Boston.com
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/01/22/activist_rains_on_romneys_parade?mode=PF
Activist rains on Romney's parade
Says the candidate is not conservative
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | January 22, 2007
It was 4 a.m. Brian Camenker , 53, a computer programmer, sat at his kitchentable in Newton, hunched over his Toshiba laptop. Strewn around him werepapers detailing former governor Mitt Romney's alleged ties to gay youthconferences, gay judges, and abortion rights activists.
The documents, mostly printouts of news stories, represented weeks of workby Camenker and a few volunteers who had searched the Internet for materialto disprove Romney's assertions that he is a conservative. Now, the resultsglowed on the screen in front of him, compiled into a 10,000-word dossier,"The Mitt Romney Deception."
Camenker e-mailed the report to six conservative activists and hopped aplane for Florida to see his mother for Thanksgiving. The activistsforwarded the report to more activists. Within weeks, the report had reachedthousands of conservative activists nationwide, sparked arguments on blogs,and been picked up by The Washington Times, National Review Online, and FoxNews.
=
Forwarded from Michael Emanuel Rajner
National Secretary - Campaign To End AIDS
merajner@gmail.com
Please join other AIDS activists as we organize and meet by teleconferenceon:
Sunday, January, 28, 2007 at 5:00 PM (EasternTime)
Call-In Number: 1 866 394-9509
Alternate Number: 1 847 619-2419
Participant Code: 7761180#
This conference call is open to all persons wanting to become involved.
This is an exciting time for people infected and affect with HIV/AIDS as weunited together to advocate for public policy that effectively responds tothe needs of marginalized and underserved populations. This past Decemberon the last day that Congress met, they reduce the potential of the RyanWhite Treatment Modernization Act. They modified its focus from care,treatment and support to care and treatment. Many parts of the nation thatlack adequate infrastructure of support systems that enables individuals tofunction more independently. The impact from restrictions in funding andservice categories will result in people not being able to receive socialcase management, transportation to food banks and more. This is noteffective care, treatment and support in the world in what our Presidentcalls a thriving economy.
The 109th Congress proved itself to be a Congress that lacked compassion formarginalized and underserved populations. This March, the State of Floridawill lower the income limit on eligibility for the AIDS Drug AssistanceProgram (ADAP), AIDS Insurance Continuation Program (AICP) and otherprograms from 350% of the Federal Poverty Limit to 300% ($29,400 for afamily of one). We must act now and let Florida's policy makers know thatthese cuts are unacceptable and will create great harm to people in need.HIV/AIDS programs need to be developed to empower individual that utilizethem, not hold them hostage.
Proposed Agenda:
Contact us for complete article.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012107wyoming.htm
Wyoming GOP Seeks To Make Out-of-State Gay Marriage Illegal
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 22, 2007 - 12:01 am ET
(Cheyenne, Wyoming) Wyoming Republicans have introduced legislation thatwould void same-sex marriages performed in areas where gays and lesbians canlegally wed. If passed it would mean Wyoming gays could not travel toCanada or any of the European countries where same-sex couples can marry.
Massachusetts, the only state where gay marriage is legal, has limited it tocouples from that state and from Rhode Island.
But the Wyoming measure would also mean that couples from areas were theywere allowed to marry could not come to the state, which calls itself 'TheEquality State' and have their marriages recognized either by the state orby private businesses.
=
365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012107london.htm
UK Cabinet In Gay Rights Dispute
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 21, 2007 - 4:00 pm ET
(London) The cabinet of Prime Minster Tony Blair is reportedly divided overwhether to exempt churches and services they offer from equality lawsprotecting gays and lesbians.
The legislation is already in effect in Northern Ireland, and its provisionscovering England and Wales are currently being debated in the House ofLords.
The measure covers employment and the rendering of services. It would meancompanies cannot refuse jobs on the basis of sexuality, nor could theyrefuse services to gay and lesbian customers.
=
Boston.com
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/01/22/activist_rains_on_romneys_parade?mode=PF
Activist rains on Romney's parade
Says the candidate is not conservative
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | January 22, 2007
It was 4 a.m. Brian Camenker , 53, a computer programmer, sat at his kitchentable in Newton, hunched over his Toshiba laptop. Strewn around him werepapers detailing former governor Mitt Romney's alleged ties to gay youthconferences, gay judges, and abortion rights activists.
The documents, mostly printouts of news stories, represented weeks of workby Camenker and a few volunteers who had searched the Internet for materialto disprove Romney's assertions that he is a conservative. Now, the resultsglowed on the screen in front of him, compiled into a 10,000-word dossier,"The Mitt Romney Deception."
Camenker e-mailed the report to six conservative activists and hopped aplane for Florida to see his mother for Thanksgiving. The activistsforwarded the report to more activists. Within weeks, the report had reachedthousands of conservative activists nationwide, sparked arguments on blogs,and been picked up by The Washington Times, National Review Online, and FoxNews.
=
Forwarded from Michael Emanuel Rajner
National Secretary - Campaign To End AIDS
merajner@gmail.com
Please join other AIDS activists as we organize and meet by teleconferenceon:
Sunday, January, 28, 2007 at 5:00 PM (EasternTime)
Call-In Number: 1 866 394-9509
Alternate Number: 1 847 619-2419
Participant Code: 7761180#
This conference call is open to all persons wanting to become involved.
This is an exciting time for people infected and affect with HIV/AIDS as weunited together to advocate for public policy that effectively responds tothe needs of marginalized and underserved populations. This past Decemberon the last day that Congress met, they reduce the potential of the RyanWhite Treatment Modernization Act. They modified its focus from care,treatment and support to care and treatment. Many parts of the nation thatlack adequate infrastructure of support systems that enables individuals tofunction more independently. The impact from restrictions in funding andservice categories will result in people not being able to receive socialcase management, transportation to food banks and more. This is noteffective care, treatment and support in the world in what our Presidentcalls a thriving economy.
The 109th Congress proved itself to be a Congress that lacked compassion formarginalized and underserved populations. This March, the State of Floridawill lower the income limit on eligibility for the AIDS Drug AssistanceProgram (ADAP), AIDS Insurance Continuation Program (AICP) and otherprograms from 350% of the Federal Poverty Limit to 300% ($29,400 for afamily of one). We must act now and let Florida's policy makers know thatthese cuts are unacceptable and will create great harm to people in need.HIV/AIDS programs need to be developed to empower individual that utilizethem, not hold them hostage.
Proposed Agenda:
Contact us for complete article.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST January 22, 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.
=
365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012107richardson.htm
Richardson Throws Hat In Dem. Presidential Race
by The Associated Press
Posted: January 21, 2007 - 11:00 am ET
(Washington) New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) said Sunday he is takingthe first step toward an expected White House run in 2008, offeringextensive experience in Washington and the world stage as he seeks to becomethe first Hispanic president.
"I am taking this step because we have to repair the damage that's been doneto our country over the last six years," said Richardson, a formercongressman, U.N. ambassador and Energy Department secretary.
"Our reputation in the world is diminished, our economy has languished, andcivility and common decency in government has perished," he said in astatement.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Christian Right Feels Adrift
By Dan Gilgoff
U.S. News & World Report | January 19, 2007
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070119/19christians.htm
Some top Christian-right activists in Washington are growing concernedthat their movement is ill prepared for operating with their Republicanallies out of control in Congress and that it could be headed for somestrategic blunders.
Of roughly 40 conservative Christian organizers from across the countrywho gathered at a recent Virginia summit, only five had been politicallyactive before 1994's Republican revolution, according to a topChristian-right strategist at the meeting. He is concerned that grass-rootsactivists will continue to see a congressional push for a constitutional banon gay marriage as a centerpiece of the conservative Christian agenda, eventhough many supporters of a constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriagewere voted out of Congress last November.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012200236_pf.html
Confidence in Bush Leadership Continues to Drop, Poll Finds
By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, January 22, 2007; 7:00 AM
President Bush will deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday at theweakest point of his presidency, with dissatisfaction over his Iraq warpolicies continuing to rise and confidence in his leadership continuing todecline, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
With a major confrontation between Congress and the president brewing overIraq, Americans overwhelmingly oppose Bush's plan to send an additional21,500 troops to the conflict. By wide margins, they prefer thatcongressional Democrats, who now hold majorities in both chambers, take thelead in setting the direction for the country rather than the president.
Iraq dominates the national agenda, with 48 percent of Americans calling thewar the single most important issue they want Bush and the Congress to dealwith this year. No other issue rises out of single digits.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/21/AR2007012101022_pf.html
McCain May Oppose Pick For Army Staff Chief
Senator Says Casey Led A 'Failed Policy' in Iraq
By R. Jeffrey Smith and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, January 22, 2007; A14
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said yesterday that he is inclined to opposePresident Bush's appointment of Gen. George W. Casey Jr. as the new Armychief of staff, on the grounds that Casey's 2 1/2 -year tenure as U.S.military leader in Iraq was marked by "failed leadership."
McCain, the senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee, which mustconfirm Casey's appointment, and a likely presidential candidate in 2008,accused Casey of presiding over "a failed policy" in Iraq, in which McCainsaid Iraqi forces were expected too quickly to assume growing responsibilityfor security matters there.
Reiterating his support for the troop "surge" to Iraq announced recently byPresident Bush, McCain said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that U.S. policy hadproduced Iraqi turmoil so bad that, if no change were made, "within monthswe would see a total breakdown in Iraq." The result, he said, would beethnic cleansing between rival religious groups in the capital on the scaleof that in Srebrenica, where Serbian military forces slaughtered 8,000Bosnian Muslims in 1995.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/21/AR2007012100526_pf.html
Rice's Rhetoric, in Full Retreat
By Jackson Diehl
Monday, January 22, 2007; A19
Eleven months ago Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held a joint newsconference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit to report ontheir talks in Cairo. After Aboul Gheit summed up the topics, Rice pointedout that he had forgotten one: "Iran. You missed Iran." She then spent mostof her time on Egypt's progress -- or lack of it -- "as it faces questionsof democracy and reform."
Last week Aboul Gheit and Rice again appeared side by side, this time in theEgyptian tourist capital, Luxor. Once again each offered a summary of thetalks -- which this year, unlike last, included President Hosni Mubarak.This time Iran loomed large in their discussions, as did Iraq. But it wasRice who neglected to mention something: "democracy and reform." During thecourse of her visit to Egypt, and her latest tour through the Middle East,the words never publicly crossed her lips.
The reversal this represents is staggering -- especially to Egyptians whohave closely tracked Rice's visits to their country.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/21/AR2007012101108_pf.html
How Obama Vs. Clinton Shapes Up
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Monday, January 22, 2007; A19
Three differences and three similarities will define the contest betweenHillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.
The most important difference lies in where their respective politicaljourneys began. After her early work as an advocate for children, Clintoncame to political maturity in the South as part of her husband's efforts torescue the Democratic Party from its low point in the 1980s. She was shapedby her party's need to win back moderate and conservative voters who hadstrayed to Ronald Reagan's banner.
The resulting Clinton project was a brilliant top-down effort to shape newDemocratic ideas that would appeal to Southern whites and the Northernworking class. This explains why both Clintons were drawn to the centristDemocratic Leadership Council, far more an elite policy shop than agrass-roots organization.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16515421.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Mon, Jan. 22, 2007
IN MY OPINION
Asking Muslims to do their job isn't `intolerance'
BY LEONARD PITTS JR.
lpitts@MiamiHerald.com
OK, let's say you fly into Minneapolis-St. Paul. Let's say you're carryingalcohol -- rum from the Caribbean, a Merlot you found in Napa Valley. Let'ssay you try to hail a cab while carrying said alcohol.
Good luck. You're going to need it.
Three-quarters of the drivers serving the airport are Muslims, most fromSomalia and, in recent years, many have refused to carry passengers carryingalcohol because Islam frowns on liquor. Dozens of passengers have reportedlybeen left stranded. Occasionally, even blind people using seeing-eye dogshave been refused passage by drivers citing Islamic teachings that thesaliva of dogs is unclean.
POSSIBLE PUNISHMENT
After simmering for years, the issue has come to a boil. Last week, thelocal airport commission scheduled a public hearing to discuss stiffeningpenalties for the wayward cabbies. As things now stand, a driver who refusesto carry you and your booze has to go back to the end of the cab line andwait hours for another fare. According to a report in The St. Paul PioneerPress, new rules have been proposed that would require a 30-day suspensionfor a first offense and revocation of a cabby's airport license for twoyears after the second.
Sounds good to me, but Khalid Elmasry disagrees. He's the spokesman for theMuslim American Society of Minnesota. Here's the society's idea: Color-codethe taxis according to whether the drivers accept alcohol.
Yeah, because flying is not enough of a hassle already.
''We will not see this perfect solution,'' Elmasry wrote last week in USAToday, ``even though it meets everyone's needs. In an environment of fearand misunderstanding of everything Muslim, tolerance has become too much toask.''
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012107richardson.htm
Richardson Throws Hat In Dem. Presidential Race
by The Associated Press
Posted: January 21, 2007 - 11:00 am ET
(Washington) New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) said Sunday he is takingthe first step toward an expected White House run in 2008, offeringextensive experience in Washington and the world stage as he seeks to becomethe first Hispanic president.
"I am taking this step because we have to repair the damage that's been doneto our country over the last six years," said Richardson, a formercongressman, U.N. ambassador and Energy Department secretary.
"Our reputation in the world is diminished, our economy has languished, andcivility and common decency in government has perished," he said in astatement.
=
Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
Christian Right Feels Adrift
By Dan Gilgoff
U.S. News & World Report | January 19, 2007
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070119/19christians.htm
Some top Christian-right activists in Washington are growing concernedthat their movement is ill prepared for operating with their Republicanallies out of control in Congress and that it could be headed for somestrategic blunders.
Of roughly 40 conservative Christian organizers from across the countrywho gathered at a recent Virginia summit, only five had been politicallyactive before 1994's Republican revolution, according to a topChristian-right strategist at the meeting. He is concerned that grass-rootsactivists will continue to see a congressional push for a constitutional banon gay marriage as a centerpiece of the conservative Christian agenda, eventhough many supporters of a constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriagewere voted out of Congress last November.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012200236_pf.html
Confidence in Bush Leadership Continues to Drop, Poll Finds
By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, January 22, 2007; 7:00 AM
President Bush will deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday at theweakest point of his presidency, with dissatisfaction over his Iraq warpolicies continuing to rise and confidence in his leadership continuing todecline, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
With a major confrontation between Congress and the president brewing overIraq, Americans overwhelmingly oppose Bush's plan to send an additional21,500 troops to the conflict. By wide margins, they prefer thatcongressional Democrats, who now hold majorities in both chambers, take thelead in setting the direction for the country rather than the president.
Iraq dominates the national agenda, with 48 percent of Americans calling thewar the single most important issue they want Bush and the Congress to dealwith this year. No other issue rises out of single digits.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/21/AR2007012101022_pf.html
McCain May Oppose Pick For Army Staff Chief
Senator Says Casey Led A 'Failed Policy' in Iraq
By R. Jeffrey Smith and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, January 22, 2007; A14
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said yesterday that he is inclined to opposePresident Bush's appointment of Gen. George W. Casey Jr. as the new Armychief of staff, on the grounds that Casey's 2 1/2 -year tenure as U.S.military leader in Iraq was marked by "failed leadership."
McCain, the senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee, which mustconfirm Casey's appointment, and a likely presidential candidate in 2008,accused Casey of presiding over "a failed policy" in Iraq, in which McCainsaid Iraqi forces were expected too quickly to assume growing responsibilityfor security matters there.
Reiterating his support for the troop "surge" to Iraq announced recently byPresident Bush, McCain said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that U.S. policy hadproduced Iraqi turmoil so bad that, if no change were made, "within monthswe would see a total breakdown in Iraq." The result, he said, would beethnic cleansing between rival religious groups in the capital on the scaleof that in Srebrenica, where Serbian military forces slaughtered 8,000Bosnian Muslims in 1995.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/21/AR2007012100526_pf.html
Rice's Rhetoric, in Full Retreat
By Jackson Diehl
Monday, January 22, 2007; A19
Eleven months ago Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held a joint newsconference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit to report ontheir talks in Cairo. After Aboul Gheit summed up the topics, Rice pointedout that he had forgotten one: "Iran. You missed Iran." She then spent mostof her time on Egypt's progress -- or lack of it -- "as it faces questionsof democracy and reform."
Last week Aboul Gheit and Rice again appeared side by side, this time in theEgyptian tourist capital, Luxor. Once again each offered a summary of thetalks -- which this year, unlike last, included President Hosni Mubarak.This time Iran loomed large in their discussions, as did Iraq. But it wasRice who neglected to mention something: "democracy and reform." During thecourse of her visit to Egypt, and her latest tour through the Middle East,the words never publicly crossed her lips.
The reversal this represents is staggering -- especially to Egyptians whohave closely tracked Rice's visits to their country.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/21/AR2007012101108_pf.html
How Obama Vs. Clinton Shapes Up
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Monday, January 22, 2007; A19
Three differences and three similarities will define the contest betweenHillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.
The most important difference lies in where their respective politicaljourneys began. After her early work as an advocate for children, Clintoncame to political maturity in the South as part of her husband's efforts torescue the Democratic Party from its low point in the 1980s. She was shapedby her party's need to win back moderate and conservative voters who hadstrayed to Ronald Reagan's banner.
The resulting Clinton project was a brilliant top-down effort to shape newDemocratic ideas that would appeal to Southern whites and the Northernworking class. This explains why both Clintons were drawn to the centristDemocratic Leadership Council, far more an elite policy shop than agrass-roots organization.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16515421.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Mon, Jan. 22, 2007
IN MY OPINION
Asking Muslims to do their job isn't `intolerance'
BY LEONARD PITTS JR.
lpitts@MiamiHerald.com
OK, let's say you fly into Minneapolis-St. Paul. Let's say you're carryingalcohol -- rum from the Caribbean, a Merlot you found in Napa Valley. Let'ssay you try to hail a cab while carrying said alcohol.
Good luck. You're going to need it.
Three-quarters of the drivers serving the airport are Muslims, most fromSomalia and, in recent years, many have refused to carry passengers carryingalcohol because Islam frowns on liquor. Dozens of passengers have reportedlybeen left stranded. Occasionally, even blind people using seeing-eye dogshave been refused passage by drivers citing Islamic teachings that thesaliva of dogs is unclean.
POSSIBLE PUNISHMENT
After simmering for years, the issue has come to a boil. Last week, thelocal airport commission scheduled a public hearing to discuss stiffeningpenalties for the wayward cabbies. As things now stand, a driver who refusesto carry you and your booze has to go back to the end of the cab line andwait hours for another fare. According to a report in The St. Paul PioneerPress, new rules have been proposed that would require a 30-day suspensionfor a first offense and revocation of a cabby's airport license for twoyears after the second.
Sounds good to me, but Khalid Elmasry disagrees. He's the spokesman for theMuslim American Society of Minnesota. Here's the society's idea: Color-codethe taxis according to whether the drivers accept alcohol.
Yeah, because flying is not enough of a hassle already.
''We will not see this perfect solution,'' Elmasry wrote last week in USAToday, ``even though it meets everyone's needs. In an environment of fearand misunderstanding of everything Muslim, tolerance has become too much toask.''
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
FLORIDA DIGEST January 22, 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.
=
PalmBeachPost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/state/epaper/2007/01/22/m1a_insure_0122.html
Deal for rate relief in place
By S.V. Date
Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
Monday, January 22, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - Pushed by a new governor who promised lower insurance rates,lawmakers Sunday reached a deal they said does exactly that: at least 25percent for customers of private insurers in their windstorm premiums, and 5percent to 20 percent for those of state-run Citizens Property InsuranceCorp.
"This had the ability to bring Florida's economy to its knees," said SenatePresident Ken Pruitt, praising the group of two dozen senators and Housemembers who worked through the weekend.
The compromise bill, which was still being drafted late Sunday fordistribution today, includes dozens of provisions. Key among them areclauses that would:
. Provide as much as $19 billion more in state-sponsored reinsurance, withprivate insurers who take advantage of the programs having to pass allsavings to their policyholders.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-finsure22jan22,0,6057392,print.story?coll=sfla-news-sfla
Legislative deal would cut windstorm rates by 7-35% for Florida propertyowners
By Linda Kleindienst and Kathy Bushouse
Tallahassee Bureau
January 22, 2007
TALLAHASSEE · Key legislators reached a final compromise Sunday night on howto solve Florida's property insurance woes, and the full House and Senatewill vote on the plan today, the last day of a weeklong emergency session.
Republican Gov. Charlie Crist gave a tentative stamp of approval to thebipartisan deal, reached after four days of intense talks between House andSenate negotiators.
Legislative leaders promised the plan will deliver rate relief to homeownersstatewide who have been socked with soaring insurance premiums after twodevastating hurricane seasons in 2004 and 2005.
Rate cut estimates for customers of private insurance companies range from 7percent to 35 percent on the windstorm coverage in their policies. Customersof Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-backed insurer forhomeowners who can't get private insurance, could see up to a 20 percentreduction in their premiums.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cparking17jan22,0,5315727,print.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
Free parking comes to an end north of Sunrise on Fort Lauderdale beach
By Brittany Wallman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
January 22, 2007
FORT LAUDERDALE -- Powder blue skies. Rolling sea. Warm sand. Free parking.
Which one doesn't belong?
Parking meters are expected to rise this year on a section of FortLauderdale beachfront with 250 free parking spots, the last free seasidepublic parking in Broward County.
The 170,000 residents of Fort Lauderdale would get a break, still parkingfor free on the strip of State Road A1A north of Sunrise Boulevard. Butvisitors from Tamarac to Quebec would pay $1.75 an hour.
City elected officials said they support the plan, which still requires apublic hearing and vote in order to add lifeguards to that stretch of thebeach, which is unprotected.
"That would suck," Mike McMullen, a visitor from Saratoga, N.Y., saidrecently as he pulled a beach chair out of his car trunk in a free spot."That's a little steep. The money generated by tourists alone should morethan compensate for that."
=
Forwarded from Susan Frishkorn
Tri-County - chances@attglobal.net
Absolute Power
The real reason the Bush administration won't back down on Guantanamo.
By Dahlia Lithwick
Posted Saturday, Jan. 13, 2007, at 6:52 AM ET
Why is the United States poised to try Jose Padilla as a dangerous terrorist, long after it has become perfectly clear that he was just the wrong Muslim in the wrong airport on the wrong day?
Why is the United States still holding hundreds of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, long after years of interrogation and abuse have established that few, if any, of them are the deadly terrorists they have been held out to be?
And why is President Bush still issuing grandiose and provocative signing statements, the latest of which claims that the executive branch holds the power to open mail as it sees fit?
Willing to give the benefit of the doubt, I once believed the common thread here was presidential blindness—an extreme executive-branch myopia that leads the president to believe that these futile little measures are somehow integral to combating terrorism. That this is some piece of self-delusion that precludes Bush and his advisers from recognizing that Padilla is just a chump and Guantanamo merely a holding pen for a jumble of innocent and half-guilty wretches.
But it has finally become clear that the goal of these foolish efforts isn't really to win the war against terrorism; indeed, nothing about Padilla, Guantanamo, or signing statements moves the country an inch closer to eradicating terror. The object is a larger one, and the original overarching goal of this administration:expanding executive power, for its own sake.
Contact us for complete article.
[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]
#####
=
PalmBeachPost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/state/epaper/2007/01/22/m1a_insure_0122.html
Deal for rate relief in place
By S.V. Date
Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
Monday, January 22, 2007
TALLAHASSEE - Pushed by a new governor who promised lower insurance rates,lawmakers Sunday reached a deal they said does exactly that: at least 25percent for customers of private insurers in their windstorm premiums, and 5percent to 20 percent for those of state-run Citizens Property InsuranceCorp.
"This had the ability to bring Florida's economy to its knees," said SenatePresident Ken Pruitt, praising the group of two dozen senators and Housemembers who worked through the weekend.
The compromise bill, which was still being drafted late Sunday fordistribution today, includes dozens of provisions. Key among them areclauses that would:
. Provide as much as $19 billion more in state-sponsored reinsurance, withprivate insurers who take advantage of the programs having to pass allsavings to their policyholders.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-finsure22jan22,0,6057392,print.story?coll=sfla-news-sfla
Legislative deal would cut windstorm rates by 7-35% for Florida propertyowners
By Linda Kleindienst and Kathy Bushouse
Tallahassee Bureau
January 22, 2007
TALLAHASSEE · Key legislators reached a final compromise Sunday night on howto solve Florida's property insurance woes, and the full House and Senatewill vote on the plan today, the last day of a weeklong emergency session.
Republican Gov. Charlie Crist gave a tentative stamp of approval to thebipartisan deal, reached after four days of intense talks between House andSenate negotiators.
Legislative leaders promised the plan will deliver rate relief to homeownersstatewide who have been socked with soaring insurance premiums after twodevastating hurricane seasons in 2004 and 2005.
Rate cut estimates for customers of private insurance companies range from 7percent to 35 percent on the windstorm coverage in their policies. Customersof Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-backed insurer forhomeowners who can't get private insurance, could see up to a 20 percentreduction in their premiums.
=
The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cparking17jan22,0,5315727,print.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
Free parking comes to an end north of Sunrise on Fort Lauderdale beach
By Brittany Wallman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
January 22, 2007
FORT LAUDERDALE -- Powder blue skies. Rolling sea. Warm sand. Free parking.
Which one doesn't belong?
Parking meters are expected to rise this year on a section of FortLauderdale beachfront with 250 free parking spots, the last free seasidepublic parking in Broward County.
The 170,000 residents of Fort Lauderdale would get a break, still parkingfor free on the strip of State Road A1A north of Sunrise Boulevard. Butvisitors from Tamarac to Quebec would pay $1.75 an hour.
City elected officials said they support the plan, which still requires apublic hearing and vote in order to add lifeguards to that stretch of thebeach, which is unprotected.
"That would suck," Mike McMullen, a visitor from Saratoga, N.Y., saidrecently as he pulled a beach chair out of his car trunk in a free spot."That's a little steep. The money generated by tourists alone should morethan compensate for that."
=
Forwarded from Susan Frishkorn
Tri-County - chances@attglobal.net
Absolute Power
The real reason the Bush administration won't back down on Guantanamo.
By Dahlia Lithwick
Posted Saturday, Jan. 13, 2007, at 6:52 AM ET
Why is the United States poised to try Jose Padilla as a dangerous terrorist, long after it has become perfectly clear that he was just the wrong Muslim in the wrong airport on the wrong day?
Why is the United States still holding hundreds of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, long after years of interrogation and abuse have established that few, if any, of them are the deadly terrorists they have been held out to be?
And why is President Bush still issuing grandiose and provocative signing statements, the latest of which claims that the executive branch holds the power to open mail as it sees fit?
Willing to give the benefit of the doubt, I once believed the common thread here was presidential blindness—an extreme executive-branch myopia that leads the president to believe that these futile little measures are somehow integral to combating terrorism. That this is some piece of self-delusion that precludes Bush and his advisers from recognizing that Padilla is just a chump and Guantanamo merely a holding pen for a jumble of innocent and half-guilty wretches.
But it has finally become clear that the goal of these foolish efforts isn't really to win the war against terrorism; indeed, nothing about Padilla, Guantanamo, or signing statements moves the country an inch closer to eradicating terror. The object is a larger one, and the original overarching goal of this administration:expanding executive power, for its own sake.
Contact us for complete article.
[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]
#####
Sunday, January 21, 2007
GLBT DIGEST - January 21, 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.
=
365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012007txCop.htm
Ex-Cop Sentenced To 24 Years For Rape Of Texas Transsexual
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 20, 2007 - 4:00 pm ET
(San Antonio, Texas) A former San Antonio police officer has been sentencedto 24 years and four months in prison for the rape and beating of atranssexual woman.
Dean Gutierrez was sentenced in federal court for violating the civil rightsof Starlight Bernal by committing aggravated sexual abuse while on duty.
Gutierrez, who served on the force for 16 years before being fired when thefederal charges were laid, showed no emotion as the sentence was delivered.
Gutierrez was arrested by San Antonio Police following a lengthyinvestigation after Bernal filed a complaint.
She told investigators that on June 10, 2005 she was stopped by a SanAntonio officer who said he needed to check for warrants. Bernal said thatshe was then attacked by the officer in his patrol car. (story)
=
365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012007philly.htm
Philadelphia Had Right To Arrest Anti-Gay Protestors Court Rules
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 21, 2007 - 12:01 am ET
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) A federal judge has ruled that the city ofPhiladelphia did not violate the rights of an anti-gay group when itarrested them during a protest at the city's gay pride celebration in 2004.
The 11 demonstrators from Repent America had sued the city and Philly PridePresents, the organizer of OutFest, alleging their civil rights had beenviolated.
U.S. District Judge Lawrence Stengel disagreed, granting summary judgmentfor the city and Philly Pride.
When members of Repent America showed up at the 2004 event police allowedthem to demonstrate at the edge of a cordoned off area where OutFest wasbeing held.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901708_pf.html
Gay Minister's Church Trial Begins
Lutheran Congregation in Atlanta Strongly Supports Its Embattled Pastor
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 20, 2007; A02
Members of the oldest Lutheran congregation in Atlanta washed their pastor'sfeet -- and he washed theirs -- in a gesture of mutual support as heprepared to go before a tribunal that may defrock him for living withanother man.
The church trial of the Rev. Bradley E. Schmeling, 44, began yesterdaybehind closed doors at a downtown Atlanta hotel and was scheduled tocontinue through the weekend.
It is the latest in a series of similar trials in several mainlineProtestant denominations, where growing numbers of congregations areinstalling gay men and lesbians as pastors despite rules againstnon-celibate homosexuals in the pulpit.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/us/politics/21brownback.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
January 21, 2007
Kansas Senator Announces Bid for Presidency
By RACHEL L. SWARNS
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 - Declaring himself a proud conservative before a crowdof cheering supporters waving American flags, Senator Sam Brownback,Republican of Kansas, on Saturday announced his candidacy for president.
Mr. Brownback, an evangelical Protestant turned Roman Catholic and a formerKansas agriculture secretary, said he would focus on reviving faith andfamilies in America; combating abortion, poverty and wasteful governmentspending; opposing same-sex marriage; and revamping Social Security and thefederal tax system.
"The last thing we need in America is to take God out of our public livesand institutions," Mr. Brownback said during his speech in Topeka, Kan. "Weneed to embrace our nation's motto, 'In God we trust,' and not be ashamed ofit.
"To walk away from the Almighty is to embrace decline for a nation," hesaid. "To embrace him leads to renewal, for individuals and for nations."
=
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Jake Spencer
202-797-7000 ext 230
jspencer@washblade.com
January 18, 2007 -- Houston, Texas
Window-Media today announced it would cease all operations on the HoustonVoice, effective immediately. Houston Voice, which began on November 29,1980 as The Montrose Star, provided news and information to the HoustonGLBT community for over 32 years. Window-Media acquired the publicationin 1998.
The decision to close the Houston Voice was based on declining ad sales,along with other challenges facing today's publishing business. Anyinquiries should be directed to Jake Spencer, publisher, Washington Blade,Washington, DC.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012007txCop.htm
Ex-Cop Sentenced To 24 Years For Rape Of Texas Transsexual
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 20, 2007 - 4:00 pm ET
(San Antonio, Texas) A former San Antonio police officer has been sentencedto 24 years and four months in prison for the rape and beating of atranssexual woman.
Dean Gutierrez was sentenced in federal court for violating the civil rightsof Starlight Bernal by committing aggravated sexual abuse while on duty.
Gutierrez, who served on the force for 16 years before being fired when thefederal charges were laid, showed no emotion as the sentence was delivered.
Gutierrez was arrested by San Antonio Police following a lengthyinvestigation after Bernal filed a complaint.
She told investigators that on June 10, 2005 she was stopped by a SanAntonio officer who said he needed to check for warrants. Bernal said thatshe was then attacked by the officer in his patrol car. (story)
=
365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012007philly.htm
Philadelphia Had Right To Arrest Anti-Gay Protestors Court Rules
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 21, 2007 - 12:01 am ET
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) A federal judge has ruled that the city ofPhiladelphia did not violate the rights of an anti-gay group when itarrested them during a protest at the city's gay pride celebration in 2004.
The 11 demonstrators from Repent America had sued the city and Philly PridePresents, the organizer of OutFest, alleging their civil rights had beenviolated.
U.S. District Judge Lawrence Stengel disagreed, granting summary judgmentfor the city and Philly Pride.
When members of Repent America showed up at the 2004 event police allowedthem to demonstrate at the edge of a cordoned off area where OutFest wasbeing held.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901708_pf.html
Gay Minister's Church Trial Begins
Lutheran Congregation in Atlanta Strongly Supports Its Embattled Pastor
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 20, 2007; A02
Members of the oldest Lutheran congregation in Atlanta washed their pastor'sfeet -- and he washed theirs -- in a gesture of mutual support as heprepared to go before a tribunal that may defrock him for living withanother man.
The church trial of the Rev. Bradley E. Schmeling, 44, began yesterdaybehind closed doors at a downtown Atlanta hotel and was scheduled tocontinue through the weekend.
It is the latest in a series of similar trials in several mainlineProtestant denominations, where growing numbers of congregations areinstalling gay men and lesbians as pastors despite rules againstnon-celibate homosexuals in the pulpit.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/us/politics/21brownback.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
January 21, 2007
Kansas Senator Announces Bid for Presidency
By RACHEL L. SWARNS
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 - Declaring himself a proud conservative before a crowdof cheering supporters waving American flags, Senator Sam Brownback,Republican of Kansas, on Saturday announced his candidacy for president.
Mr. Brownback, an evangelical Protestant turned Roman Catholic and a formerKansas agriculture secretary, said he would focus on reviving faith andfamilies in America; combating abortion, poverty and wasteful governmentspending; opposing same-sex marriage; and revamping Social Security and thefederal tax system.
"The last thing we need in America is to take God out of our public livesand institutions," Mr. Brownback said during his speech in Topeka, Kan. "Weneed to embrace our nation's motto, 'In God we trust,' and not be ashamed ofit.
"To walk away from the Almighty is to embrace decline for a nation," hesaid. "To embrace him leads to renewal, for individuals and for nations."
=
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Jake Spencer
202-797-7000 ext 230
jspencer@washblade.com
January 18, 2007 -- Houston, Texas
Window-Media today announced it would cease all operations on the HoustonVoice, effective immediately. Houston Voice, which began on November 29,1980 as The Montrose Star, provided news and information to the HoustonGLBT community for over 32 years. Window-Media acquired the publicationin 1998.
The decision to close the Houston Voice was based on declining ad sales,along with other challenges facing today's publishing business. Anyinquiries should be directed to Jake Spencer, publisher, Washington Blade,Washington, DC.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST January 21, 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.
=
LATimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-bush21jan21,0,2351621,print.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials
EDITORIAL
Bush's fourth quarter
As the president prepares for the State of the Union, the biggest issuefacing the U.S. is his own credibility.
January 21, 2007
ON THE EVE of his seventh State of the Union address, President Bush's Texasswagger is muted. Not long ago, Bush famously called himself "the decider,"but the drubbing he took in November's elections has reduced him to being"educator in chief," as he referred to himself on "60 Minutes" a week ago.
He wasn't referring to education, of course; he's realized that he's lostthe support of most of the country (and Congress) on the war in Iraq andthat he needs to "educate" them back into the fold. The problem for theadministration, as it enters the fourth quarter, is that persuasion hasnever been its strength.
Quite the contrary - it's been anathema to its political approach. In theaftermath of the Clinton years, the Bush administration proudly stoodagainst nuance and muddled compromise. The 9/11 attacks reinforced the WhiteHouse's penchant for viewing the world in binary terms, and Bush's "with usor against us" mantra fit the moment.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/16510021.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sun, Jan. 21, 2007
No defense: Shortcut to death row
BY STEPHEN HENDERSON
shenderson@mcclatchydc.com
The jurors heard all about the convenience-store holdup, the gunshots andthe dead clerk. Their unanimous verdict came swiftly: Warren King was guiltyof a senseless murder that shocked rural Appling County, Ga.
A death sentence almost certainly would be next, unless King's lawyer couldpersuade the jury to spare his life.
But G. Terry Jackson, King's state-appointed lawyer, didn't do much.
With little money to unearth details about his client's past, Jackson didnot chronicle the mitigating circumstances that could have helped hisclient's cause. The jury learned almost nothing about the import of King'slow IQ, his childhood in a log cabin with no plumbing or electricity, thesavage beatings he took from his alcoholic parents or the succession offoster homes he shuttled through.
In desperation, Jackson turned to Jesus.
=
CBSNews.com
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/20/ap/business/mainD8MP6SUO0.shtml
Many Businesses Fear Health Care Costs
Many businesses fear cost of state attempts to expand health care coverageto uninsured
NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2007
By THERESA AGOVINO AP Business Writer
(AP) Businesses are wary of a crop of new state health care proposals toreduce the number of uninsured, fearing the programs will drive up theirexpenses without solving the problem.
Dissension already has surfaced: Maine's health insurers and businesses havebalked at how the state's program to expand coverage has been funded andhave filed several lawsuits over the policy.
Smaller companies are especially worried, because they are less likely toprovide health insurance than bigger concerns, and some of the proposalscall for companies that don't provide coverage to pay into state funds. Butexperts note that if the taxes paid by small businesses aren't sufficient toprovide coverage for the uninsured, larger companies that do provideinsurance could be tapped to contribute to state funds as well.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901363_pf.html
Worth Every Last Million
By Roy C. Smith
Sunday, January 21, 2007; B01
Tell me if I'm wrong: You think America's top corporate executives areobscenely overpaid. You think recently ousted Home Depot chairman RobertNardelli was just the latest in a long line of high-flying CEOs to negotiatehimself an overinflated severance package and to waft out the door thumbinghis nose at us all. You think it's about time that the Senate startedconsidering, as it did last week, closing some of the tax loopholes thathave made it possible for these corporate scalpers to get away with highwayrobbery for so long.
I say, think again.
Executive compensation today isn't the sinful overindulgence of greedyexecutives that it's made out to be. There may be some abuse among the 7,500publicly traded corporations in the country, but most of the CEOs whoreceive those huge pay packages not only earn them but also, yes, deservethem.
=
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/opinion/21brooks.html
The New York Times
January 21, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
Mr. Chips Goes to Congress
By DAVID BROOKS
We’re in bipartisan nirvana. Bills are passing through the House 356 to 71 and through the Senate 96 to 2. Nancy Pelosi is aglow, and this week President Bush will trot out a State of the Union speech so conciliatory in tone it’ll sound like Gandhi on Quaaludes.
The question is, What is all this good cheer accomplishing? It’s time to render judgments on the substance of all this legislation coursing through the Democratic Congress:
Ethics reform: A–. This is the best thing the Democrats have done. The bans on lobbyist-financed gifts, meals and travel are unimportant. Few legislators are corrupted by a steak or even a ride in a Gulfstream.
But there are measures in the tough Senate bill that will change behavior. Legislators will have to wait two years before becoming lobbyists. Lobbyists will have to disclose donations they collect and bundle. There will be more transparency on earmarks. If this bill becomes law, the Democrats will have done something significant to clean up Washington.
=
LATimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-op-chait21jan21,1,5838822,print.column?coll=la-news-columns
NATHAN CHAIT
Don't be too nice, Democrats
The new lawmakers in Washington could attack the GOP on several issues, butso far they've been soft on Big Pharma.
Jonathan Chait
January 21, 2007
MOST OF us have probably always suspected that when fresh-faced youngmembers of Congress get to Washington, there is a quiet, whispering voiceurging them to abandon their youthful idealism and acclimate themselves tothe ways of the capital. Now I know it's true, because one of those voicesdecided to conduct his seduction in broad daylight.
Last week, the Washington Post, the bulletin board of the politicalestablishment, published an Op-Ed article imparting advice to incomingDemocratic members of Congress. Its author was Toby Moffett, a formerDemocratic member of Congress from Connecticut.
Moffett's advice, which was written in bullet-point form, began with just aslightly unsettling undertone. He urged new members not to go home toooften, to make friends in the building and to cross the aisle. This istypical good-old-boy establishment stuff. The mask was pulled off completelyby point No. 4: "Befriend some lobbyists."
Befriend some lobbyists? Here it was, the voice of the devil, inexplicablydoing his business out in the open.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/20/AR2007012001533_pf.html
Pakistan Denies It Harbors Taliban
Officials Answer New Allegations, Defend Efforts to Curb Attacks
By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, January 21, 2007; A20
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 20 -- Faced with new charges that Pakistan isharboring Islamic insurgents, including fugitive Taliban leader MohammadOmar, Pakistani officials this weekend denied such allegations and defendedtheir efforts to curb cross-border insurgent attacks in Afghanistan assincere if not totally successful.
"We don't deny the Taliban come and go, but that is not the entire truth,"Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, Pakistan's military spokesman, said in aninterview Saturday. "If 25 percent of the problem lies on our side of theborder, 75 percent of it lies on the Afghan side." Of four known top Talibancommanders, he said, three are Afghan and one is Pakistani.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/20/AR2007012001295_pf.html
Carter, Clinton Seek To Bring Together Moderate Baptists
Exiles From Conservative Group Targeted
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 21, 2007; A03
Former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are leading an effort toforge dozens of small and medium-size, black and white Baptist organizationsinto a robust coalition that would serve as a counterweight to theconservative Southern Baptist Convention.
The giant SBC, with more than 16 million members, has long dominated thepolitical, theological and social landscape among Baptists, often spawningresentment among smaller Baptist groups. It has also been closely alignedwith the Republican Party.
The new coalition, which is Carter's brainchild, would give moderateBaptists a stronger collective voice and could provide Democrats withgreater entree into the Baptist community. But Carter and other organizersare trying to walk a fine line, insisting that the alliance is not directlypolitical while touting its potential to recast the role of religion in thepublic square.
=
The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/opinion/21kristof.html
January 21, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
Hang Up! Tehran Is Calling
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
One of the most worrying parts of President Bush's Iraq strategy doesn'thave anything to do with Iraq. It's the way he's ramping up a confrontationwith Iran.
Across a broad spectrum of policy levers, Mr. Bush is raising the pressureon Iran, increasing the risk that he will drag the U.S. into a third war inan Islamic country in six years. Instead of disengaging from war, he couldend up starting another.
We could have taken another route. In 2003, Iran sent the U.S. a detailedmessage offering to work together to capture terrorists, to stabilize Iraq,to resolve nuclear disputes, to withdraw military support for Hezbollah andHamas, and to moderate its position on Israel, in exchange for the U.S.lifting sanctions and warming up to Iran.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16500751.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sun, Jan. 21, 2007
There's a new economy sheriff in the House
BY GEORGE F. WILL
georgewill@washpost.com
Barney Frank, the 14-term Massachusetts congressman who chairs the FinancialServices Committee, says it might be useful to ''make it a misdemeanor touse metaphors in the discussion of public policy,'' such as ''a rising tidelifts all boats.'' Against what he considers that too-complacent view ofeconomic growth (the metaphor was John Kennedy's), Frank says: A rising tideis wonderful ``if you have a boat.''
Frank questions whether market-driven wealth creation is producing moreinequality ''than is either socially healthy or economically necessary.'' Hefavors much more government intervention in the economy to diminishinequality. Sometimes he means equal dependence on government. For example,he wants everyone enrolled in Medicare -- with larger co-payments forhigher-income people -- in order to take healthcare ``out of the wagesystem.''
=
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/opinion/21rich.html
The New York Times
January 21, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
Lying Like It’s 2003
By FRANK RICH
THOSE who forget history may be doomed to repeat it, but who could imagine we’d already be in danger of replaying that rotten year 2003?
Scooter Libby, the mastermind behind the White House’s bogus scenarios for ginning up the war in Iraq, is back at Washington’s center stage, proudly defending the indefensible in a perjury trial. Ahmad Chalabi, the peddler of flawed prewar intelligence hyped by Mr. Libby, is back in clover in Baghdad, where he purports to lead the government’s Shiite-Baathist reconciliation efforts in between visits to his pal Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran.
Last but never least is Mr. Libby’s former boss and Mr. Chalabi’s former patron, Dick Cheney, who is back on Sunday-morning television floating fictions about Iraq and accusing administration critics of aiding Al Qaeda.
When the vice president went on a tear like this in 2003, hawking Iraq’s nonexistent W.M.D. and nonexistent connections to Mohamed Atta, he set the stage for a war that now kills Iraqi civilians in rising numbers (34,000-plus last year) that are heading into the genocidal realms of Saddam. Mr. Cheney’s latest sales pitch is for a new plan for “victory” promising an even bigger bloodbath.
Mr. Cheney was honest, at least, when he said that the White House’s Iraq policy would remain “full speed ahead!” no matter what happened on Nov. 7. Now it is our patriotic duty — politicians, the press and the public alike — to apply the brakes.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901368_pf.html
The Cause Bush Did Justice To
By Jan Crawford Greenburg
Sunday, January 21, 2007; B01
The courtroom crackled with tension on the final day of the Supreme Court's2004-05 session. It was shaping up to be a historic day, many believed, andthe seats were packed with top government officials and people who hadcamped out overnight in the sticky heat of a Washington summer. They hadcome for one reason: to see Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist announce hisretirement after 33 years on the court.
Rehnquist was dying of thyroid cancer, and he appeared almost ghostly thatmorning as he pulled back his tall leather chair in the center of the bench.He was thin and stooped, his once-robust complexion now gray. His boomingbaritone, which had silenced many a lawyer, was weak, and he struggled evento briefly summarize the court's decision in a key religion case.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16500766.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sun, Jan. 21, 2007
UNITED NATIONS
Ban gets the `job from hell'
BY LEE FEINSTEIN
www.cfr.org
Ban Ki-moon has assumed the impossible job of U.N. secretary-general with a''problem from hell'' at the top of his agenda. In office just since Jan. 1,Ban is already being tested by how to respond to the slow-motion ethniccleansing in Darfur, the three-year-old conflict that has landed squarely inhis lap.
The reputation of a secretary-general rises and falls on his response tomass atrocities. That's unfair, but it is an understandable expectation foran institution created out of the ashes of the Holocaust. Just ask KofiAnnan. His term was a 10-year effort to exorcise the ghosts of the Rwandangenocide, which unfolded while he headed the United Nation's peacekeepingoffice. As secretary-general, Annan eloquently asserted the internationalresponsibility to stop genocide, and he pushed the General Assembly toendorse a ''responsibility to protect'' that removes respect for nationalsovereignty as an excuse to look the other way when populations are beingwiped out. But Annan was unable to convert these lofty phrases into a planof action in Darfur, and the United Nations still lacks the capacity tomobilize peacekeepers when it counts.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901499_pf.html
The Equality Engineer
By George F. Will
Sunday, January 21, 2007; B07
Barney Frank, the 14-term Massachusetts congressman who chairs the HouseFinancial Services Committee, says it might be useful to "make it amisdemeanor to use metaphors in the discussion of public policy," such as "arising tide lifts all boats." Against what he considers that too-complacentview of economic growth (the metaphor was John Kennedy's), Frank says: Arising tide is wonderful "if you have a boat."
Frank questions whether market-driven wealth creation is producing moreinequality "than is either socially healthy or economically necessary." Hefavors much more government intervention in the economy to diminishinequality. Sometimes he means equal dependence on government. For example,he wants everyone enrolled in Medicare -- with larger co-payments forhigher-income people -- in order to take health care "out of the wagesystem."
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/opinion/21sun1.html?pagewanted=print
January 21, 2007
Editorial
Retreat and Cheat
President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program was once deemed so vital tonational security that it could not be subjected to judicial review. Lastweek, the White House said it was doing just that.
In 2005, the White House would not even comment on news reports about theC.I.A.'s prisons because Americans' safety depended on their being keptsecret. In 2006, Mr. Bush held a photo-op to announce that he was keepingthem open.
The administration has repeatedly insisted that it was essential to theAmerican way of life for Mr. Bush to be able to imprison foreigners withouttrial or legal counsel. Now the administration claims it was trying to bringthose detainees to trial all along but was stymied by white-shoe lawyers.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16510032.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sun, Jan. 21, 2007
The Oppenheimer Report
WORLD ECONOMY
India is an aspiring superpower on the rise, rivaling China
BY ANDRES OPPENHEIMER
aoppenheimer@MiamiHerald.com
NEW DELHI -- I came to India to see if this country of 1.1 billion peoplewill soon become the next China -- a world superpower, rivaling the UnitedStates diplomatically and clobbering Latin America in global markets.
My first impression after a few hours here: It won't.
It's hard to envision India as a superpower after landing at this capital'sIndira Gandhi International Airport. Compared to the Beijing airport -- agiant building that resembles a futuristic football stadium -- the New Delhiairport looks like a Fourth World provincial bus terminal.
The terminals look like they haven't been modernized, or painted, since thebuildings' May 1986 inauguration. There are no duty-free shops or otheramenities in sight in the international arrivals area. An airport managerrecently was hospitalized after being bitten by a stray dog at Terminal 1Ain the latest of several airport dog-biting incidents, The Times of Indiareported.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901364_pf.html
What Would Jeb Do?
By S.V. Date
Sunday, January 21, 2007; B01
Tuesday would have marked his sixth State of the Union address -- and itmight have been his best yet.
The nation is in great shape, President Jeb Bush would have reported: recordtax cuts propelling the economy to greater heights; a revolutionaryschool-vouchers program for the first time granting low-income parents realeducation choices; and, five years after the capture of Osama bin Laden, thefinal 20,000 U.S. troops returning home from Iraq.
The president would break into his fluent Spanish and wave at hisMexican-born wife, Columba, gazing at him from the balcony. The cameraswould settle on their eldest, George P. Bush, 30, and commentators wouldspeculate on whether the dashing lawyer would soon run for Congress andcarry on the Bush dynasty.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/opinion/21sun3.html?pagewanted=print
January 21, 2007
Editorial Observer
Senate Newcomer Is Designated to Encounter President Bush Yet Again
By FRANCIS X. CLINES
Washington
Senator Jim Webb, a spirited Democratic freshman from Virginia, lookeduneasy as he hand wrote his very first letter of condolence to a grievingconstituent who had just lost her soldier son in the Iraq war. The senator,a lantern-jawed Marine veteran with his own son at war, brightenednoticeably as he discussed the surprising invitation from his party'sleaders to deliver the main response for the Democrats to President Bush'sState of the Union address on Tuesday.
Normally, no one pays much attention to the opposition's rebuttal to a Stateof the Union address. But the capital's mood as the war spirals downward ispalpably, if not desperately, expectant of some change, somehow. And inWashington, fresh rhetoric must be invested to feed any chance of change.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/us/politics/21dems.html?ei=5094&en=3a58675662e8aec3&hp=&ex=1169442000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
January 21, 2007
News Analysis
Clinton's Success in Presidential Race Is No Sure Thing
By PATRICK HEALY
Compared with the other Democrats who plan to run for president in 2008,Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is the most battle-tested, has the biggestfund-raising network and can walk into the job with a unique set of skillsand perspectives gleaned from eight years in the White House as first lady.
Yet none of that guarantees Mrs. Clinton will steamroll her opponents, ormanage and master the issues that have long vexed her, like the war in Iraqand universal health insurance. Far from it: she has told friends that sheis more worried about winning the Democratic nomination than winning ageneral election against a Republican.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
=
LATimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-bush21jan21,0,2351621,print.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials
EDITORIAL
Bush's fourth quarter
As the president prepares for the State of the Union, the biggest issuefacing the U.S. is his own credibility.
January 21, 2007
ON THE EVE of his seventh State of the Union address, President Bush's Texasswagger is muted. Not long ago, Bush famously called himself "the decider,"but the drubbing he took in November's elections has reduced him to being"educator in chief," as he referred to himself on "60 Minutes" a week ago.
He wasn't referring to education, of course; he's realized that he's lostthe support of most of the country (and Congress) on the war in Iraq andthat he needs to "educate" them back into the fold. The problem for theadministration, as it enters the fourth quarter, is that persuasion hasnever been its strength.
Quite the contrary - it's been anathema to its political approach. In theaftermath of the Clinton years, the Bush administration proudly stoodagainst nuance and muddled compromise. The 9/11 attacks reinforced the WhiteHouse's penchant for viewing the world in binary terms, and Bush's "with usor against us" mantra fit the moment.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/16510021.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sun, Jan. 21, 2007
No defense: Shortcut to death row
BY STEPHEN HENDERSON
shenderson@mcclatchydc.com
The jurors heard all about the convenience-store holdup, the gunshots andthe dead clerk. Their unanimous verdict came swiftly: Warren King was guiltyof a senseless murder that shocked rural Appling County, Ga.
A death sentence almost certainly would be next, unless King's lawyer couldpersuade the jury to spare his life.
But G. Terry Jackson, King's state-appointed lawyer, didn't do much.
With little money to unearth details about his client's past, Jackson didnot chronicle the mitigating circumstances that could have helped hisclient's cause. The jury learned almost nothing about the import of King'slow IQ, his childhood in a log cabin with no plumbing or electricity, thesavage beatings he took from his alcoholic parents or the succession offoster homes he shuttled through.
In desperation, Jackson turned to Jesus.
=
CBSNews.com
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/20/ap/business/mainD8MP6SUO0.shtml
Many Businesses Fear Health Care Costs
Many businesses fear cost of state attempts to expand health care coverageto uninsured
NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2007
By THERESA AGOVINO AP Business Writer
(AP) Businesses are wary of a crop of new state health care proposals toreduce the number of uninsured, fearing the programs will drive up theirexpenses without solving the problem.
Dissension already has surfaced: Maine's health insurers and businesses havebalked at how the state's program to expand coverage has been funded andhave filed several lawsuits over the policy.
Smaller companies are especially worried, because they are less likely toprovide health insurance than bigger concerns, and some of the proposalscall for companies that don't provide coverage to pay into state funds. Butexperts note that if the taxes paid by small businesses aren't sufficient toprovide coverage for the uninsured, larger companies that do provideinsurance could be tapped to contribute to state funds as well.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901363_pf.html
Worth Every Last Million
By Roy C. Smith
Sunday, January 21, 2007; B01
Tell me if I'm wrong: You think America's top corporate executives areobscenely overpaid. You think recently ousted Home Depot chairman RobertNardelli was just the latest in a long line of high-flying CEOs to negotiatehimself an overinflated severance package and to waft out the door thumbinghis nose at us all. You think it's about time that the Senate startedconsidering, as it did last week, closing some of the tax loopholes thathave made it possible for these corporate scalpers to get away with highwayrobbery for so long.
I say, think again.
Executive compensation today isn't the sinful overindulgence of greedyexecutives that it's made out to be. There may be some abuse among the 7,500publicly traded corporations in the country, but most of the CEOs whoreceive those huge pay packages not only earn them but also, yes, deservethem.
=
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/opinion/21brooks.html
The New York Times
January 21, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
Mr. Chips Goes to Congress
By DAVID BROOKS
We’re in bipartisan nirvana. Bills are passing through the House 356 to 71 and through the Senate 96 to 2. Nancy Pelosi is aglow, and this week President Bush will trot out a State of the Union speech so conciliatory in tone it’ll sound like Gandhi on Quaaludes.
The question is, What is all this good cheer accomplishing? It’s time to render judgments on the substance of all this legislation coursing through the Democratic Congress:
Ethics reform: A–. This is the best thing the Democrats have done. The bans on lobbyist-financed gifts, meals and travel are unimportant. Few legislators are corrupted by a steak or even a ride in a Gulfstream.
But there are measures in the tough Senate bill that will change behavior. Legislators will have to wait two years before becoming lobbyists. Lobbyists will have to disclose donations they collect and bundle. There will be more transparency on earmarks. If this bill becomes law, the Democrats will have done something significant to clean up Washington.
=
LATimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-op-chait21jan21,1,5838822,print.column?coll=la-news-columns
NATHAN CHAIT
Don't be too nice, Democrats
The new lawmakers in Washington could attack the GOP on several issues, butso far they've been soft on Big Pharma.
Jonathan Chait
January 21, 2007
MOST OF us have probably always suspected that when fresh-faced youngmembers of Congress get to Washington, there is a quiet, whispering voiceurging them to abandon their youthful idealism and acclimate themselves tothe ways of the capital. Now I know it's true, because one of those voicesdecided to conduct his seduction in broad daylight.
Last week, the Washington Post, the bulletin board of the politicalestablishment, published an Op-Ed article imparting advice to incomingDemocratic members of Congress. Its author was Toby Moffett, a formerDemocratic member of Congress from Connecticut.
Moffett's advice, which was written in bullet-point form, began with just aslightly unsettling undertone. He urged new members not to go home toooften, to make friends in the building and to cross the aisle. This istypical good-old-boy establishment stuff. The mask was pulled off completelyby point No. 4: "Befriend some lobbyists."
Befriend some lobbyists? Here it was, the voice of the devil, inexplicablydoing his business out in the open.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/20/AR2007012001533_pf.html
Pakistan Denies It Harbors Taliban
Officials Answer New Allegations, Defend Efforts to Curb Attacks
By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, January 21, 2007; A20
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 20 -- Faced with new charges that Pakistan isharboring Islamic insurgents, including fugitive Taliban leader MohammadOmar, Pakistani officials this weekend denied such allegations and defendedtheir efforts to curb cross-border insurgent attacks in Afghanistan assincere if not totally successful.
"We don't deny the Taliban come and go, but that is not the entire truth,"Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, Pakistan's military spokesman, said in aninterview Saturday. "If 25 percent of the problem lies on our side of theborder, 75 percent of it lies on the Afghan side." Of four known top Talibancommanders, he said, three are Afghan and one is Pakistani.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/20/AR2007012001295_pf.html
Carter, Clinton Seek To Bring Together Moderate Baptists
Exiles From Conservative Group Targeted
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 21, 2007; A03
Former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are leading an effort toforge dozens of small and medium-size, black and white Baptist organizationsinto a robust coalition that would serve as a counterweight to theconservative Southern Baptist Convention.
The giant SBC, with more than 16 million members, has long dominated thepolitical, theological and social landscape among Baptists, often spawningresentment among smaller Baptist groups. It has also been closely alignedwith the Republican Party.
The new coalition, which is Carter's brainchild, would give moderateBaptists a stronger collective voice and could provide Democrats withgreater entree into the Baptist community. But Carter and other organizersare trying to walk a fine line, insisting that the alliance is not directlypolitical while touting its potential to recast the role of religion in thepublic square.
=
The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/opinion/21kristof.html
January 21, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
Hang Up! Tehran Is Calling
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
One of the most worrying parts of President Bush's Iraq strategy doesn'thave anything to do with Iraq. It's the way he's ramping up a confrontationwith Iran.
Across a broad spectrum of policy levers, Mr. Bush is raising the pressureon Iran, increasing the risk that he will drag the U.S. into a third war inan Islamic country in six years. Instead of disengaging from war, he couldend up starting another.
We could have taken another route. In 2003, Iran sent the U.S. a detailedmessage offering to work together to capture terrorists, to stabilize Iraq,to resolve nuclear disputes, to withdraw military support for Hezbollah andHamas, and to moderate its position on Israel, in exchange for the U.S.lifting sanctions and warming up to Iran.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16500751.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sun, Jan. 21, 2007
There's a new economy sheriff in the House
BY GEORGE F. WILL
georgewill@washpost.com
Barney Frank, the 14-term Massachusetts congressman who chairs the FinancialServices Committee, says it might be useful to ''make it a misdemeanor touse metaphors in the discussion of public policy,'' such as ''a rising tidelifts all boats.'' Against what he considers that too-complacent view ofeconomic growth (the metaphor was John Kennedy's), Frank says: A rising tideis wonderful ``if you have a boat.''
Frank questions whether market-driven wealth creation is producing moreinequality ''than is either socially healthy or economically necessary.'' Hefavors much more government intervention in the economy to diminishinequality. Sometimes he means equal dependence on government. For example,he wants everyone enrolled in Medicare -- with larger co-payments forhigher-income people -- in order to take healthcare ``out of the wagesystem.''
=
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/opinion/21rich.html
The New York Times
January 21, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
Lying Like It’s 2003
By FRANK RICH
THOSE who forget history may be doomed to repeat it, but who could imagine we’d already be in danger of replaying that rotten year 2003?
Scooter Libby, the mastermind behind the White House’s bogus scenarios for ginning up the war in Iraq, is back at Washington’s center stage, proudly defending the indefensible in a perjury trial. Ahmad Chalabi, the peddler of flawed prewar intelligence hyped by Mr. Libby, is back in clover in Baghdad, where he purports to lead the government’s Shiite-Baathist reconciliation efforts in between visits to his pal Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran.
Last but never least is Mr. Libby’s former boss and Mr. Chalabi’s former patron, Dick Cheney, who is back on Sunday-morning television floating fictions about Iraq and accusing administration critics of aiding Al Qaeda.
When the vice president went on a tear like this in 2003, hawking Iraq’s nonexistent W.M.D. and nonexistent connections to Mohamed Atta, he set the stage for a war that now kills Iraqi civilians in rising numbers (34,000-plus last year) that are heading into the genocidal realms of Saddam. Mr. Cheney’s latest sales pitch is for a new plan for “victory” promising an even bigger bloodbath.
Mr. Cheney was honest, at least, when he said that the White House’s Iraq policy would remain “full speed ahead!” no matter what happened on Nov. 7. Now it is our patriotic duty — politicians, the press and the public alike — to apply the brakes.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901368_pf.html
The Cause Bush Did Justice To
By Jan Crawford Greenburg
Sunday, January 21, 2007; B01
The courtroom crackled with tension on the final day of the Supreme Court's2004-05 session. It was shaping up to be a historic day, many believed, andthe seats were packed with top government officials and people who hadcamped out overnight in the sticky heat of a Washington summer. They hadcome for one reason: to see Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist announce hisretirement after 33 years on the court.
Rehnquist was dying of thyroid cancer, and he appeared almost ghostly thatmorning as he pulled back his tall leather chair in the center of the bench.He was thin and stooped, his once-robust complexion now gray. His boomingbaritone, which had silenced many a lawyer, was weak, and he struggled evento briefly summarize the court's decision in a key religion case.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16500766.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sun, Jan. 21, 2007
UNITED NATIONS
Ban gets the `job from hell'
BY LEE FEINSTEIN
www.cfr.org
Ban Ki-moon has assumed the impossible job of U.N. secretary-general with a''problem from hell'' at the top of his agenda. In office just since Jan. 1,Ban is already being tested by how to respond to the slow-motion ethniccleansing in Darfur, the three-year-old conflict that has landed squarely inhis lap.
The reputation of a secretary-general rises and falls on his response tomass atrocities. That's unfair, but it is an understandable expectation foran institution created out of the ashes of the Holocaust. Just ask KofiAnnan. His term was a 10-year effort to exorcise the ghosts of the Rwandangenocide, which unfolded while he headed the United Nation's peacekeepingoffice. As secretary-general, Annan eloquently asserted the internationalresponsibility to stop genocide, and he pushed the General Assembly toendorse a ''responsibility to protect'' that removes respect for nationalsovereignty as an excuse to look the other way when populations are beingwiped out. But Annan was unable to convert these lofty phrases into a planof action in Darfur, and the United Nations still lacks the capacity tomobilize peacekeepers when it counts.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901499_pf.html
The Equality Engineer
By George F. Will
Sunday, January 21, 2007; B07
Barney Frank, the 14-term Massachusetts congressman who chairs the HouseFinancial Services Committee, says it might be useful to "make it amisdemeanor to use metaphors in the discussion of public policy," such as "arising tide lifts all boats." Against what he considers that too-complacentview of economic growth (the metaphor was John Kennedy's), Frank says: Arising tide is wonderful "if you have a boat."
Frank questions whether market-driven wealth creation is producing moreinequality "than is either socially healthy or economically necessary." Hefavors much more government intervention in the economy to diminishinequality. Sometimes he means equal dependence on government. For example,he wants everyone enrolled in Medicare -- with larger co-payments forhigher-income people -- in order to take health care "out of the wagesystem."
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/opinion/21sun1.html?pagewanted=print
January 21, 2007
Editorial
Retreat and Cheat
President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program was once deemed so vital tonational security that it could not be subjected to judicial review. Lastweek, the White House said it was doing just that.
In 2005, the White House would not even comment on news reports about theC.I.A.'s prisons because Americans' safety depended on their being keptsecret. In 2006, Mr. Bush held a photo-op to announce that he was keepingthem open.
The administration has repeatedly insisted that it was essential to theAmerican way of life for Mr. Bush to be able to imprison foreigners withouttrial or legal counsel. Now the administration claims it was trying to bringthose detainees to trial all along but was stymied by white-shoe lawyers.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16510032.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sun, Jan. 21, 2007
The Oppenheimer Report
WORLD ECONOMY
India is an aspiring superpower on the rise, rivaling China
BY ANDRES OPPENHEIMER
aoppenheimer@MiamiHerald.com
NEW DELHI -- I came to India to see if this country of 1.1 billion peoplewill soon become the next China -- a world superpower, rivaling the UnitedStates diplomatically and clobbering Latin America in global markets.
My first impression after a few hours here: It won't.
It's hard to envision India as a superpower after landing at this capital'sIndira Gandhi International Airport. Compared to the Beijing airport -- agiant building that resembles a futuristic football stadium -- the New Delhiairport looks like a Fourth World provincial bus terminal.
The terminals look like they haven't been modernized, or painted, since thebuildings' May 1986 inauguration. There are no duty-free shops or otheramenities in sight in the international arrivals area. An airport managerrecently was hospitalized after being bitten by a stray dog at Terminal 1Ain the latest of several airport dog-biting incidents, The Times of Indiareported.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901364_pf.html
What Would Jeb Do?
By S.V. Date
Sunday, January 21, 2007; B01
Tuesday would have marked his sixth State of the Union address -- and itmight have been his best yet.
The nation is in great shape, President Jeb Bush would have reported: recordtax cuts propelling the economy to greater heights; a revolutionaryschool-vouchers program for the first time granting low-income parents realeducation choices; and, five years after the capture of Osama bin Laden, thefinal 20,000 U.S. troops returning home from Iraq.
The president would break into his fluent Spanish and wave at hisMexican-born wife, Columba, gazing at him from the balcony. The cameraswould settle on their eldest, George P. Bush, 30, and commentators wouldspeculate on whether the dashing lawyer would soon run for Congress andcarry on the Bush dynasty.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/opinion/21sun3.html?pagewanted=print
January 21, 2007
Editorial Observer
Senate Newcomer Is Designated to Encounter President Bush Yet Again
By FRANCIS X. CLINES
Washington
Senator Jim Webb, a spirited Democratic freshman from Virginia, lookeduneasy as he hand wrote his very first letter of condolence to a grievingconstituent who had just lost her soldier son in the Iraq war. The senator,a lantern-jawed Marine veteran with his own son at war, brightenednoticeably as he discussed the surprising invitation from his party'sleaders to deliver the main response for the Democrats to President Bush'sState of the Union address on Tuesday.
Normally, no one pays much attention to the opposition's rebuttal to a Stateof the Union address. But the capital's mood as the war spirals downward ispalpably, if not desperately, expectant of some change, somehow. And inWashington, fresh rhetoric must be invested to feed any chance of change.
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/us/politics/21dems.html?ei=5094&en=3a58675662e8aec3&hp=&ex=1169442000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
January 21, 2007
News Analysis
Clinton's Success in Presidential Race Is No Sure Thing
By PATRICK HEALY
Compared with the other Democrats who plan to run for president in 2008,Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is the most battle-tested, has the biggestfund-raising network and can walk into the job with a unique set of skillsand perspectives gleaned from eight years in the White House as first lady.
Yet none of that guarantees Mrs. Clinton will steamroll her opponents, ormanage and master the issues that have long vexed her, like the war in Iraqand universal health insurance. Far from it: she has told friends that sheis more worried about winning the Democratic nomination than winning ageneral election against a Republican.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
FLORIDA DIGEST January 21, 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.
=
Keysnews.com
http://www.keysnews.com/288016831770338.bsp.htm
Florida's new governor has opportunity to adopt strong civil rights agenda
Charlie Crist has an opportunity to be Florida's "Civil Rights Governor." Itwon't come easy - it will require difficult and prolonged work with theLegislature, county school boards and other institutions to create new legalprotections and strengthen programs that address racial and ethnicdisparities, such as in graduation rates.
There are three elements of a civil rights program that our new governor canbegin to implement immediately.
On his Web site, Gov. Crist proclaims, as his singular civil rightspriority, "that once a prisoner serves his or her debt to society, the stateshould automatically restore his or her civil rights so that the ex-offendermay vote and become gainfully employed." We couldn't agree more, and it isan issue that Gov. Crist can swiftly address through an Executive Order.
Florida is one of only three states that permanently takes away the civilrights (including the right to vote and the right to hold certainoccupational licenses) of people who have been convicted of crimes, but havecompleted their sentence and all terms of probation. Intended to deny rightsto African-Americans during the post-civil war Reconstruction era, the lawwas never redacted from Florida's Constitution and continues to deny basicrights to Floridians - to the tune of approximately 1 million citizens.
=
PalmBeachPost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2007/01/21/a1e_date_commentary_0121.html
Jeb's next move: Once again, a Republican governor upsets the plan for thesmarter Bush
Palm Beach Post Commentary
Sunday, January 21, 2007
By S.V. D¡TE
Poor Jeb Bush - love him or hate him, you have to feel sorry for his timing.
No matter how hard he works, Republicans beyond his control seeminglyconspire to keep his decades-old Oval Office dream just beyond his grasp.
In 1994, the Republican was his older brother. A year earlier, Jeb had beenopenly annoyed that George W. even had entered the Texas governor's race,turning Jeb's own bid to unseat Democrat Lawton Chiles into one half of acutesy People magazine feature. The fact that George W. somehow won, whileJeb lost, added injury to insult. The ne'er-do-well who had failed to takehis own life seriously until age 40 was now on the road to follow in thefootsteps of their father, the former president, while hard-working,always-serious Jeb was relegated to starting a minor-league think tank. Nomatter. Jeb was still young, and could wait.
=
LATimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-bush21jan21,0,2351621,print.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials
EDITORIAL
Bush's fourth quarter
As the president prepares for the State of the Union, the biggest issuefacing the U.S. is his own credibility.
January 21, 2007
ON THE EVE of his seventh State of the Union address, President Bush's Texasswagger is muted. Not long ago, Bush famously called himself "the decider,"but the drubbing he took in November's elections has reduced him to being"educator in chief," as he referred to himself on "60 Minutes" a week ago.
He wasn't referring to education, of course; he's realized that he's lostthe support of most of the country (and Congress) on the war in Iraq andthat he needs to "educate" them back into the fold. The problem for theadministration, as it enters the fourth quarter, is that persuasion hasnever been its strength.
Quite the contrary - it's been anathema to its political approach. In theaftermath of the Clinton years, the Bush administration proudly stoodagainst nuance and muddled compromise. The 9/11 attacks reinforced the WhiteHouse's penchant for viewing the world in binary terms, and Bush's "with usor against us" mantra fit the moment.
=
365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012007flaMurd.htm
Guilty In Drugging 1 Of 2 Gay Murder Victims
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 20, 2007 - 11:00 am ET
(Tampa, Florida) A man on trial for assisting in the drug rape and murdersof two gay men has been found guilty of drugging one of the men.
Scott Schweickert, 41, was on trial in federal court charged with conspiracyand assisting in a drug-facilitated crime of violence in relation to thedeaths of Michael Wachholtz and Jason Galehouse.
His alleged coconspirator and the man police was responsible for the actualmurders, Steven Lorenzo, was convicted in 2005 of plying nine gay men withthe drug GHB and then brutally sexually assaulting them. He currently isserving a 200 year sentence but has yet to stand trial for the murders ofWachholtz and Galehouse in 2003.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16504283.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sun, Jan. 21, 2007
EDUCATION
Many fail to take advantage of free pre-kindergarten
Many parents didn't take advantage of free pre-kindergarten because they
didn't know about it, a Broward school district survey showsBY HANNAH SAMPSON
hsampson@MiamiHerald.com
Leslie Soto heard about the state's free pre-kindergarten program throughthe news, waited anxiously for it to start and enrolled her son the firstyear it was available.
It paid off, Soto said. Now 5 and a kindergartner at Challenger Elementaryin Tamarac, her son David Cirilo is a top reader.
=
Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cmayo21jan21,0,1406587,print.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
High school majors could morph into major headache
January 21, 2007
If you want a good laugh, go to Florida's education Web site, FACTS.org, andcheck out the list of 442 approved majors that the state's incoming highschool students will choose from later this year.
Then go to a high school and ask kids to pick one.
"Wow," gasped Jasmine Taylor, 16, a Plantation High junior, when I showedher the list. "I'd have trouble picking from 20 subjects. But 400? Don'tthey realize they're dealing with high school students? We're confused allthe time, about everything."
Said Wingel Buendia, 17, also a junior: "Right now I don't even know whatcollege I'm going to. I don't know what I want to be. How do they expectsomeone who's coming from middle school to know what they want?"
Said Leticia Lampkins, 16, a sophomore: "When you first get to high school,you're adjusting to so many new things. ... This sounds like more stress. Westress about grades, we stress about the FCATs, now we're going to have tostress about a major?"
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/16509930.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sun, Jan. 21, 2007
MIAMI-DADE GOVERNMENT
Strong-mayor vote draws big cash
Some of South Florida's most powerful forces -- the healthcare, real estateand construction industries -- are among the top donors in the politicalfight over Miami-Dade's strong-mayor proposal.
BY MATTHEW I. PINZUR
mpinzur@MiamiHerald.com
In the days after Hurricane Wilma made gasoline the most precious commodityin South Florida, a Miami-Dade County commissioner showed up at one of thefew open Citgo stations and asked for the manager.
He ''wanted to bypass everyone in line,'' said Sandra Reus, vice presidentof Sunshine Gasoline Distributors, which owns the station. ``When wewouldn't do that, he had a vendetta against us.''
She refused to name the official, but said her frustration only grew whenthe commission subsequently proposed requiring all gas stations to purchasecostly generators -- even though she said the lack of gas, not electricity,kept most stations shut.
=
Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-finsure21jan21,0,4943278,print.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Insurance deal nears
Two key issues remain after accord reached on Citizens' coverage
By Linda Kleindienst, Kathy Bushouse and Mark Hollis
Tallahassee Bureau
January 21, 2007
TALLAHASSEE · House and Senate negotiators went down to the wire Saturdaynight, agreeing on one of three key issues standing in the way of anagreement on compromise legislation to fix Florida's property insurancecrisis.
And with an hour before midnight, they were extremely close to agreement onthe two unresolved issues.
Legislators agreed on a plan to expand homeowner coverage offerings forstate-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp.'s customers. This opens thedoor for Citizens to provide fire and casualty and hurricane coverage ratherthan hurricane-only policies, along the state's high-risk coastline.
Citizens, the state's largest property insurer, has estimated the ability tosell full homeowner coverage could cut premiums by up to 10 percent for allcustomers.
[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]
#####
=
Keysnews.com
http://www.keysnews.com/288016831770338.bsp.htm
Florida's new governor has opportunity to adopt strong civil rights agenda
Charlie Crist has an opportunity to be Florida's "Civil Rights Governor." Itwon't come easy - it will require difficult and prolonged work with theLegislature, county school boards and other institutions to create new legalprotections and strengthen programs that address racial and ethnicdisparities, such as in graduation rates.
There are three elements of a civil rights program that our new governor canbegin to implement immediately.
On his Web site, Gov. Crist proclaims, as his singular civil rightspriority, "that once a prisoner serves his or her debt to society, the stateshould automatically restore his or her civil rights so that the ex-offendermay vote and become gainfully employed." We couldn't agree more, and it isan issue that Gov. Crist can swiftly address through an Executive Order.
Florida is one of only three states that permanently takes away the civilrights (including the right to vote and the right to hold certainoccupational licenses) of people who have been convicted of crimes, but havecompleted their sentence and all terms of probation. Intended to deny rightsto African-Americans during the post-civil war Reconstruction era, the lawwas never redacted from Florida's Constitution and continues to deny basicrights to Floridians - to the tune of approximately 1 million citizens.
=
PalmBeachPost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2007/01/21/a1e_date_commentary_0121.html
Jeb's next move: Once again, a Republican governor upsets the plan for thesmarter Bush
Palm Beach Post Commentary
Sunday, January 21, 2007
By S.V. D¡TE
Poor Jeb Bush - love him or hate him, you have to feel sorry for his timing.
No matter how hard he works, Republicans beyond his control seeminglyconspire to keep his decades-old Oval Office dream just beyond his grasp.
In 1994, the Republican was his older brother. A year earlier, Jeb had beenopenly annoyed that George W. even had entered the Texas governor's race,turning Jeb's own bid to unseat Democrat Lawton Chiles into one half of acutesy People magazine feature. The fact that George W. somehow won, whileJeb lost, added injury to insult. The ne'er-do-well who had failed to takehis own life seriously until age 40 was now on the road to follow in thefootsteps of their father, the former president, while hard-working,always-serious Jeb was relegated to starting a minor-league think tank. Nomatter. Jeb was still young, and could wait.
=
LATimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-bush21jan21,0,2351621,print.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials
EDITORIAL
Bush's fourth quarter
As the president prepares for the State of the Union, the biggest issuefacing the U.S. is his own credibility.
January 21, 2007
ON THE EVE of his seventh State of the Union address, President Bush's Texasswagger is muted. Not long ago, Bush famously called himself "the decider,"but the drubbing he took in November's elections has reduced him to being"educator in chief," as he referred to himself on "60 Minutes" a week ago.
He wasn't referring to education, of course; he's realized that he's lostthe support of most of the country (and Congress) on the war in Iraq andthat he needs to "educate" them back into the fold. The problem for theadministration, as it enters the fourth quarter, is that persuasion hasnever been its strength.
Quite the contrary - it's been anathema to its political approach. In theaftermath of the Clinton years, the Bush administration proudly stoodagainst nuance and muddled compromise. The 9/11 attacks reinforced the WhiteHouse's penchant for viewing the world in binary terms, and Bush's "with usor against us" mantra fit the moment.
=
365gay.com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/01/012007flaMurd.htm
Guilty In Drugging 1 Of 2 Gay Murder Victims
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 20, 2007 - 11:00 am ET
(Tampa, Florida) A man on trial for assisting in the drug rape and murdersof two gay men has been found guilty of drugging one of the men.
Scott Schweickert, 41, was on trial in federal court charged with conspiracyand assisting in a drug-facilitated crime of violence in relation to thedeaths of Michael Wachholtz and Jason Galehouse.
His alleged coconspirator and the man police was responsible for the actualmurders, Steven Lorenzo, was convicted in 2005 of plying nine gay men withthe drug GHB and then brutally sexually assaulting them. He currently isserving a 200 year sentence but has yet to stand trial for the murders ofWachholtz and Galehouse in 2003.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16504283.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sun, Jan. 21, 2007
EDUCATION
Many fail to take advantage of free pre-kindergarten
Many parents didn't take advantage of free pre-kindergarten because they
didn't know about it, a Broward school district survey showsBY HANNAH SAMPSON
hsampson@MiamiHerald.com
Leslie Soto heard about the state's free pre-kindergarten program throughthe news, waited anxiously for it to start and enrolled her son the firstyear it was available.
It paid off, Soto said. Now 5 and a kindergartner at Challenger Elementaryin Tamarac, her son David Cirilo is a top reader.
=
Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cmayo21jan21,0,1406587,print.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
High school majors could morph into major headache
January 21, 2007
If you want a good laugh, go to Florida's education Web site, FACTS.org, andcheck out the list of 442 approved majors that the state's incoming highschool students will choose from later this year.
Then go to a high school and ask kids to pick one.
"Wow," gasped Jasmine Taylor, 16, a Plantation High junior, when I showedher the list. "I'd have trouble picking from 20 subjects. But 400? Don'tthey realize they're dealing with high school students? We're confused allthe time, about everything."
Said Wingel Buendia, 17, also a junior: "Right now I don't even know whatcollege I'm going to. I don't know what I want to be. How do they expectsomeone who's coming from middle school to know what they want?"
Said Leticia Lampkins, 16, a sophomore: "When you first get to high school,you're adjusting to so many new things. ... This sounds like more stress. Westress about grades, we stress about the FCATs, now we're going to have tostress about a major?"
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/16509930.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sun, Jan. 21, 2007
MIAMI-DADE GOVERNMENT
Strong-mayor vote draws big cash
Some of South Florida's most powerful forces -- the healthcare, real estateand construction industries -- are among the top donors in the politicalfight over Miami-Dade's strong-mayor proposal.
BY MATTHEW I. PINZUR
mpinzur@MiamiHerald.com
In the days after Hurricane Wilma made gasoline the most precious commodityin South Florida, a Miami-Dade County commissioner showed up at one of thefew open Citgo stations and asked for the manager.
He ''wanted to bypass everyone in line,'' said Sandra Reus, vice presidentof Sunshine Gasoline Distributors, which owns the station. ``When wewouldn't do that, he had a vendetta against us.''
She refused to name the official, but said her frustration only grew whenthe commission subsequently proposed requiring all gas stations to purchasecostly generators -- even though she said the lack of gas, not electricity,kept most stations shut.
=
Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-finsure21jan21,0,4943278,print.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Insurance deal nears
Two key issues remain after accord reached on Citizens' coverage
By Linda Kleindienst, Kathy Bushouse and Mark Hollis
Tallahassee Bureau
January 21, 2007
TALLAHASSEE · House and Senate negotiators went down to the wire Saturdaynight, agreeing on one of three key issues standing in the way of anagreement on compromise legislation to fix Florida's property insurancecrisis.
And with an hour before midnight, they were extremely close to agreement onthe two unresolved issues.
Legislators agreed on a plan to expand homeowner coverage offerings forstate-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp.'s customers. This opens thedoor for Citizens to provide fire and casualty and hurricane coverage ratherthan hurricane-only policies, along the state's high-risk coastline.
Citizens, the state's largest property insurer, has estimated the ability tosell full homeowner coverage could cut premiums by up to 10 percent for allcustomers.
[ Send your comments about any of the articles in Ray's List Digest toRays.List@Comcast.net ]
#####
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