Breaking News Events

[LeftWriteFemme]

Led by the child who simply knew

The twin boys were identical in every way but one. Wyatt was a girl to the core, and now lives as one, with the help of a brave, loving family and a path-breaking doctor’s care.




http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2011/12/11/led-child-who-simply-knew/SsH1U9Pn9JKArTiumZdxaL/story.html

[Kätzchen]

The moon was a gorgeous shade of Amber tonight: softly gracing the eastern horizon, slightly bent, sad looking (if you ask me); yet Mr. Man in the Moon spoke to my heart tonight and, well, I didn't understand him very well at all but promised, as if any promise from me might help at all, that, I still adore him and worship him in the nighttime skies when he's got the time to hang out with me.

In other urgent news:

New Years eve looks promising because guess what?
Summer will be here soon.

:kissy:

Q5hVkBYq0Lk

[LeftWriteFemme]

Twice-discharged gay sailor reinstated

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2011/12/navy-twice-discharged-sailor-daniels-reinstated-121211/

[LeftWriteFemme]

Gay Veteran Steals the Show at Romney Endorsement Event


http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/12/gay-veteran-steals-the-show-at-romney-endorsement-event/

[Sassy]

Led by the child who simply knew

The twin boys were identical in every way but one. Wyatt was a girl to the core, and now lives as one, with the help of a brave, loving family and a path-breaking doctor’s care.




http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2011/12/11/led-child-who-simply-knew/SsH1U9Pn9JKArTiumZdxaL/story.html

What a great story. Thank you for sharing :)

[Sassy]

Gay Veteran Steals the Show at Romney Endorsement Event


http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/12/gay-veteran-steals-the-show-at-romney-endorsement-event/

Reading this made me smile. Romney thought he was sittin' down for some war stories... little did he know :)

[SoNotHer]

Sassy's right. This is fantastic. Thank you, LeftWriteFemme.

Gay Veteran Steals the Show at Romney Endorsement Event


http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/12/gay-veteran-steals-the-show-at-romney-endorsement-event/

[LeftWriteFemme]

The Amazing, Heartbreaking Story Of Tony Briffa, The World’s First Openly Intersex Mayor

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2005/01/31/1107020318710.html

[*Anya*]

Neural Payoffs from Giving Support to a Loved One

In women, helping a distressed partner activated brain regions involved in reward and maternal behavior.

Social support benefits its recipients — but may also benefit support givers with improved physical and psychological well-being, including decreased mortality. Maternal caregiving behavior in animals has been associated with activation of the reward-related ventral striatum and the septal area, a reward-related pleasure center also associated with fear reduction.

To see whether caregiving similarly affects humans, researchers conducted magnetic resonance imaging scans of 20 romantically connected women, all very happy with their partners and comfortable with touching them, while they held the arm of their partners who were receiving painful electric shocks (i.e., the "support-giving" condition).

Each woman was also scanned during three control conditions (holding her partner's arm during a non-shock trial and holding a rubber "squeeze" ball during her partner's shock and non-shock trials). Greater activity in both the ventral striatum and septal area was observed during the support-giving condition compared with control conditions.

In self-ratings performed after each trial, women's greater feelings of support effectiveness and social connection were associated with greater septal area and ventral striatum activity. Moreover, greater septal activity during support giving was associated with lower activity in both the right and left amygdalae, consistent with fear reduction.

Comment: These findings are concordant with the presence of mammalian pathways that reward caregivers while inhibiting fear and perhaps reducing their pain distress. The authors note that the septal area, ventral striatum, and amygdala have many oxytocin receptors.

Studies examining concurrent neuro-humoral events involving the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (including oxytocin) during caregiving would be of interest. These acute processes may shift over time and become less beneficial during chronic caregiving.

For clinicians educating caregivers, these findings support the view that "giving has its own rewards."

Joel Yager, MD
Published in Journal Watch Psychiatry December 12, 2011

Citation(s):
Inagaki TK and Eisenberger NI. Neural correlates of giving support to a loved one. Psychosom Med 2011 Nov 9; [e-pub ahead of print]. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0b013e3182359335)

[AtLast]

Reading this made me smile. Romney thought he was sittin' down for some war stories... little did he know :)

So love this!!

[AtLast]

Anti-Gay Alabama GOP dude secretly donates sperm to Lesbian couples in New Zealand (http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/12/anti-gay_alabama_goper_secretly_donated_sperm_to_l.php? ref=fpnewsfeed)

(or: I hate the gays but that won't stop me from jerking off into a cup for them)

One of the best "Gotcha" stories ever!!!

:fastdraq:

[LeftWriteFemme]

National Organization for Marriage’s 2010 financial records raise questions

Interesting to read that the NOM has far fewer people financially supporting it than you might have thought. It's a little group of rich people making a lot of noise. No wonder they want to keep their donation lists secret!


http://washingtonindependent.com/116452/nom%E2%80%99s-2010-financial-records-raise-questions

[MsTinkerbelly]

California court recognizes same-sex parent of adopted child as a legal parent
By Adam Bink

From our friends at National Center for Lesbian Rights (via e-mail):

The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) applauds the California Court of Appeal decision confirming that when a same-sex couple raises a child together who was legally adopted by only one of the partners, both parents should be recognized under California law. NCLR submitted an amicus brief to the Court of Appeal in the case supporting recognition of both parents.

The case was brought by a woman, known as S.Y., who raised two children with her former same-sex partner. The children were legally adopted only by S.Y.’s partner, S.B. S.Y. did not adopt the children, primarily because she was in the military and could have been discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” if the military learned about her family.

The Court of Appeal, applying longstanding California law, ruled last week that S.Y. should be recognized as a legal parent to both children, even though she had not legally adopted them, because she had acted as a parent and “held the children out as her own.”

“This was an important decision for families with adopted children,” noted attorney Deborah Wald, who represented S.Y. on appeal. “The Court of Appeal clarified that when children are raised by same-sex parents but only one parent adopted the children, both parents should be legally recognized.

Prior California case law had already established that when one member of a same-sex couple gives birth to a child, who is then raised by both partners, both partners should be legally recognized as parents. This decision makes clear that this rule applies to children who are initially adopted into families headed by same-sex parents.

“We are very pleased that the court enforced California law, which clearly provides that children’s relationships with the people who assume parental responsibility for them should be protected,” said Catherine Sakimura, the Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights’ Family Protection Project. “California is a leader in recognizing that there are many different types of families and that it is good both for children and for society when the law supports existing family bonds.”

S.Y. said: “I had my children with me this weekend, and for the first time in years I didn’t have to be afraid that it would be the last time they spent a weekend with me. I am so grateful to the attorneys who helped me win my right to continue raising and supporting my kids—and to the court for seeing our family for what it is.”

The case, S.Y. v. S.B., was decided by the Third Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal, which is based in Sacramento. S.Y. was represented in her appeal by Deborah Wald of Wald & Thorndal PC, and was represented at trial by Eileen S. Gillis.

[Kobi]

Marriage Rate Falls to Record Low in U.S., Pew Says


Facebook may seem some days like a laundry list of "just married" profile updates complete with images of smiling brides and grooms, but according to the Pew Research Center, barely half of U.S. adults are married, the lowest percentage ever.

W. Bradford Wilcox, the director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, said that marriage had been "in retreat" in the last 40 years and that the decline had accelerated since the recession started in 2008.

"Marriage is less likely to anchor the adult life course," he told ABC News today. "It's less likely to ground children's experience with family life. It plays a less central role as an institution in American life."

In 1960, 72 percent of U.S. adults age 18 and older were married compared with 51 percent today. The median age when adults decide to finally take that big step is also the highest its ever been for both men and women - 26.5 and 28.7 respectively.

The most dramatic decline in marriage occurred among those 18-29. Just 20 percent of them are now married; 59 percent were married in 1960.

Wilcox said that people felt more comfortable postponing marriage until their late 20s and early 30s these days. He said the 20s were viewed as the "odyssey years," and a time to "find yourself."

For many, Wilcox added, marriage is still viewed as an economic institution, not just about love and living happily ever after.

"People are looking for a soul mate but also a person with a decent job," he said today. "The bar has been raised. Expectations are higher."

Pew, which examined U.S. Census data, said that other living arrangements - including cohabitation, single-person households and single-parents households - were becoming more prevalent. The number of new marriages fell by 5 percent between 2009 and 2010.

Wilcox said that while U.S. adults without college degrees were marrying less, they increasingly were having children in nonmarital situations.

"In the minds of Americans, getting married and becoming parents are two different things," he said. "Their top priority is being a parent, second to having a successful marriage. People have separated the two things. Years ago, they were closely linked to one another."

"The bottom line is that kids are experiencing more instability and more hardship because the adults are less likely to get and stay married," Wilcox said.

Seventy-two percent of U.S. adults had been married at least once, though this was a decrease from 85 percent in 1960.

A survey done by Pew and Time magazine in 2010 of 2,691 Americans found that nearly four in 10 Americans said that marriage was becoming obsolete. Forty-four percent of those 18-20 said it was obsolete.

http://news.yahoo.com/marriage-rate-falls-record-low-u-pew-says-190248672.html

[MissItalianDiva]

I personally can not stand this sheriff he is a nut job

http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-feds-arpaio-violated-civil-rights-164947314.html

PHOENIX (AP) — The federal government issued a scathing report Thursday that outlines how Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office has committed a wide range of civil rights violations against Latinos, including a pattern of racial profiling and discrimination and carrying out heavy-handed immigration patrols based on racially charged citizen complaints.
The report, obtained by The Associated Press ahead of its release, is a result of the U.S. Justice Department's three-year investigation of Arpaio's office amid complaints of racial profiling and a culture of bias at the agency's top level.
The Justice Department's conclusions in the civil probe mark the federal government's harshest rebuke of a national political fixture who has risen to prominence for his immigration crackdowns and became coveted endorsement among candidates in the GOP presidential field.
Apart from the civil rights probe, a federal grand jury also has been investigating Arpaio's office on criminal abuse-of-power allegations since at least December 2009 and is specifically examining the investigative work of the sheriff's anti-public corruption squad.
The civil rights report said federal authorities will continue to investigate complaints of deputies using excessive force against Latinos, whether the sheriff's office failed to provide adequately police services in Hispanic communities and a large number of sex-crimes cases that were assigned to the agency but weren't followed up on or investigated at all.
The report took the sheriff's office to task for launching immigration patrols, known as "sweeps," based on complaints that Latinos were merely gathering near a business without committing crimes. Federal authorities single out Arpaio himself and said his office, known as MCSO, has no clear policies to guard against the violations, even after he changed some of his top aides earlier this year.
"Arpaio's own actions have helped nurture MCSO's culture of bias," wrote Thomas Perez, who heads the Justice Department's civil rights division, adding that the sheriff frequently gave such racially charged letters to some of his top aides and saved them in his own files.
"MCSO is broken in a number of critical respects. The problems are deeply rooted in MCSO's culture," he said Thursday.
The Justice Department's expert on measuring racial profiling said it's the most egregious case of racial profiling in the nation that he has seen or reviewed in professional literature, Perez said.
Investigators interviewed more than 400 people, including Arpaio, reviewed thousands of documents and toured county jails as part of its probe, he said.
If the sheriff's office doesn't turn around its policies and practices, the federal government could pull millions of dollars of federal funding.
Arpaio's office did not immediately respond to AP requests for comment.
The report will require Arpaio to set up effective policies against discrimination, improve training and make other changes that would be monitored for compliance by a judge. Arpaio faces a Jan. 4 deadline for saying whether he wants to work out an agreement. If not, the federal government will sue him and let a judge decide the complaint.
Arpaio, the self-proclaimed toughest sheriff in America, has long denied the racial profiling allegation, saying people are stopped if deputies have probable cause to believe they have committed crimes and that deputies later find many of them are illegal immigrants.
Arpaio has built his reputation on jailing inmates in tents and dressing them in pink underwear, selling himself to voters as unceasingly tough on crime and pushing the bounds of how far local police can go to confront illegal immigration.
The report also said he and some top staffers tried to silence people who have spoken out against the sheriff's office by arresting people without cause, filing meritless lawsuits against opponents and starting investigations of critics.
One example cited by the Justice Department is former top Arpaio aide David Hendershott, who filed bar complaints against attorneys critical of the agency along with bringing judicial complaints against judges who were at odds with the sheriff. All complaints were dismissed.
The anti-corruption squad's cases against two county officials and a judge collapsed in court before going to trial and have been criticized by politicians at odds with the sheriff as trumped up. Arpaio has defended the investigations as a valid attempt at rooting out corruption in county government.
The civil rights report said Latinos are four to nine times more likely to be stopped in traffic stops in Maricopa County than non-Latinos and that the agency's immigration policies treat Latinos as if they are all in the country illegally. Deputies on the immigrant-smuggling squad stop and arrest Latino drivers without good cause, the investigation found.
A review done as part of the investigation found that 20 percent of traffic reports handled by Arpaio's immigrant-smuggling squad from March 2006 to March 2009 were stops — almost all involving Latino drivers — that were done without reasonable suspicion. The squad's stops rarely led to smuggling arrests.
Deputies are encouraged to make high-volume traffic stops in targeted locations. There were Latinos who were in the U.S. legally who were arrested or detained without cause during the sweeps, according to the report.
During the sweeps, deputies flood an area of a city — in some cases, heavily Latino areas — over several days to seek out traffic violators and arrest other offenders. Illegal immigrants accounted for 57 percent of the 1,500 people arrested in the 20 sweeps conducted by his office since January 2008, according to figures provided by Arpaio's office.
Police supervisors, including at least one smuggling-squad supervisor, often used county accounts to send emails that demeaned Latinos to fellow sheriff's managers, deputies and volunteers in the sheriff's posse. One such email had a photo of a mock driver's license for a fictional state called "Mexifornia."
The report said that the sheriff's office launched an immigration operation two weeks after the sheriff received a letter in August 2009 letter about a person's dismay over employees of a McDonald's in the Phoenix suburb of Sun City who didn't speak English. The tip laid out no criminal allegations. The sheriff wrote back to thank the writer "for the info," said he would look into it and forwarded it to a top aide with a note of "for our operation."
Federal investigators focused heavily on the language barriers in Arpaio's jails.
Latino inmates with limited English skills were punished for failing to understand commands in English by being put in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day or keeping prisoners locked down in their jail pods for as long as 72 hours without a trip to the canteen area or making nonlegal phone calls.
The report said some jail officers used racial slurs for Latinos when talking among themselves and speaking to inmates.
Detention officers refused to accept forms requesting basic daily services and reporting mistreatment when the documents were completed in Spanish and pressured Latinos with limited English skills to sign forms that implicate their legal rights without language assistance.
The agency pressures Latinos with limited English skills to sign forms by yelling at them and keeping them in uncomfortably cold cells for long periods of time.
The Justice Department said it hadn't yet established a pattern of alleged wrongdoing by the sheriff's office in the three areas where they will continue to investigation: complaints of excessive force against Latinos, botched sex-crimes cases and immigration efforts that have hurt the agency's trust with the Hispanic community.
Federal authorities will continue to investigate whether the sheriff's office has limited the willingness of witnesses and victims to report crimes or talk to Arpaio's office.
"MCSO has done almost nothing to build such a relationship with Mariciopa County's Latino residents," Perez wrote.

[SoNotHer]

China’s Deserted Fake Disneyland
ReutersBy David Gray | Reuters – 19 hours ago

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/china%E2%80%99s-deserted-fake-disneyland.html

Along the road to one of China’s most famous tourist landmarks – the Great Wall of China – sits what could potentially have been another such tourist destination, but now stands as an example of modern-day China and the problems facing it.

http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/Lsn2At3pfRSp.G1hKsasBw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYwMA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/284/2011/12/14/mdf673881_192206.jpg

Situated on an area of around 100 acres, and 45 minutes drive from the center of Beijing, are the ruins of ‘Wonderland’. Construction stopped more than a decade ago, with developers promoting it as ‘the largest amusement park in Asia’. Funds were withdrawn due to disagreements over property prices with the local government and farmers. So what is left are the skeletal remains of a palace, a castle, and the steel beams of what could have been an indoor playground in the middle of a corn field.

http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/527oEkhHbq.vhtiAmEjLUA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYwMA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/284/2011/12/14/mdf673893_192211.jpg

Pulling off the expressway and into the car park, I expected to be stopped by the usual confrontational security guards. But there was absolutely no one to be seen. I walked through one of the few entrances not boarded up, and instantly started coughing. In front of me were large empty rooms and discarded furniture, all covered in a thick layer of dust, along with an eerie silence that gave the place a haunted feeling – an emotion not normally associated with a children’s playground.

http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/527oEkhHbq.vhtiAmEjLUA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYwMA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/284/2011/12/14/mdf673893_192211.jpg

Once outside again, I came across some farmers who originally owned the land and are now using it to once again to grow their crops. Their tracks and plantations can be seen running through and surrounding the uncompleted buildings. Walking further, I came across a rather farcical sight of some farmers digging a well next to a castle; a moment I will always savor as a photographer in a place like China where castles are not in huge supply. I explained this to the farmers and they just shrugged their shoulders, oblivious to a photographer’s happiness. I asked them what happened, and they simply answered the developers ran out of money, and they are getting back to doing what they do best. They are even slowly starting to plant trees and build shelters near the buildings, adding they think it is now safe to think the developers are never coming back. This I can believe, as the absence of any security (something very rare in China) leads one to think that even the developers have given up on what is already there.

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/iFclAKU902eJKRx5FPANqA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYwMA--/http://l.yimg.com/os/284/2011/12/14/mdf673887_192208.jpg

All these structures of rusting steel and decaying cement, are another sad example of property development in China involving wasted money, wasted resources and the uprooting of farmers and their families. It is a reflection of the country’s property market which many analysts say the government must keep tightening steps in place. The worry is a massive increase in inflation and a speculative bubble that might burst, considering that property sales contribute to around 10 percent of China’s growth.

[LeftWriteFemme]

I.R.S. Denied Lesbians Legitimate Adoption Credit



http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/i-r-s-denying-lesbians-legitimate-adoption-credit/?src=rechp

[AtLast]

http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/05/9229405-sanduskys-dinner-with-alleged-victims-raises-new-legal-questions

Sandusky's dinner with alleged victims raises new legal questions

By Lisa Riordan Seville and Hannah Rappleye
NBC News

While under investigation by a criminal grand jury for allegedly sexually abusing young boys, Jerry Sandusky said he spoke to and even dined with men now identified as his victims. The 67-year-old former Penn State assistant coach accused of sexually abusing young boys for more than a decade holds up these encounters as proof of his innocence, but a lawyer for at least one of the victims believes they could be criminal.

“One of the questions that raised in my mind, ‘Was this an effort on his part to tamper with witnesses?’” said Howard Janet, a Baltimore attorney representing the man known in the grand jury report of Sandusky as Victim 6. “Was it intended as a way to influence the public or the prospective jury pool?”

In early November, Sandusky was charged with 40 counts of sexually abusing boys over a period of about 14 years. But the community knew of the investigation months earlier.



The story went public on March 31, when the Patriot News newspaper broke the story that a grand jury had been convened to look into allegations that Sandusky abused a 15-year-old Clinton County, Pa., boy, now known as Victim 1.

The following day, Sandusky’s lawyer, Joe Amendola, issued a statement saying that his client was prepared to fight.

“Should the allegations, as set forth in today’s newspaper article eventually lead to the institution of criminal charges against Jerry, Jerry fully intends to establish his innocence and put these false allegations to rest forever,” he said.

Interviews with lawyers and the grand jury report show that in the months that followed, Sandusky made several attempts to contact boys who had participated in the charity he founded -- the Second Mile – and who later testified before the grand jury, prompting Janet to question whether Sandusky tried to sway the outcome of the investigation.


Witness tampering in the state of Pennsylvania is defined as any act with the intent to intimidate a witness or victim to “refrain from reporting a crime, withhold or give false or misleading information, or to ignore or evade requests for information or a summons.”

Under state penal codes, witness tampering is considered equal to the most serious offense a defendant is charged with. Among the charges against Sandusky are multiple first-degree felonies, which carry maximum sentences of up to 20 years in prison.

Sandusky has not been charged with tampering or intimidation of witnesses.

A 'reunion' dinner

In July, Sandusky called Victim 6 and asked him to dinner. Sandusky framed it as a “reunion” of former Second Mile children, Janet said. Police asked the alleged victim to wear a wire, Janet said, but he eventually decided not to because he was nervous.

Victim 6 testified before the grand jury that Sandusky showered with him on the Penn State campus. Sandusky was investigated in 1998 after the boy’s mother reported the incident to the police. Sandusky at the time admitted that he had showered with the boy – as well as another youth whose name surfaced in the subsequent investigation -- and was advised by a Penn State University detective not to do it again. The district attorney closed the case.

On the night of the July dinner, Victim 6 said he met Sandusky at his home then continued on, along with Sandusky’s wife, to a local restaurant. Janet said his client was “surprised” to find no other former Second Mile children he knew among those at the restaurant, but he finished the dinner and reported back to the police.

In an interview with NBC, Janet said it was “inconceivable” that Sandusky did not know he was under investigation at the time. “It was public knowledge and it was widely reported,” he said.


According to Amendola, Sandusky’s lawyer, Victim 2 was also at the dinner. Victim 2 is the boy who Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary testified to seeing being raped by Sandusky in the showers in Penn State’s Lasch Football Building in 2002. Victim 2, however, has not been identified by prosecutors and did not testify at the grand jury.

Amendola told reporters in November that a man he believes is Victim 2 had appeared in his office weeks before to say he had no sexual contact with Sandusky.

Amendola said that both Victims 2 and 6 maintained a relationship with the Sanduskys in recent years, including visiting their home and attending other dinners. The July dinner, he said, was friendly. “Neither of them had any knowledge 2 or 6 had been or were going to be questioned” by the grand jury, and there was no mention of the investigation, Amendola wrote in a statement to NBC.

“Jerry and Dottie have maintained positive contact with 2 and 6 as well as many other kids they helped who have grown into adulthood over the years,” he said. ”They are both deeply saddened and perplexed by the allegations.”

Sandusky and his wife also reached out to at least one other alleged victim prior to his testifying, according to the grand jury report. Victim 7, a former Second Mile participant who Sandusky allegedly met around 1994, told the grand jury that weeks before his testimony, Sandusky, his wife, and an unidentified friend left several messages on his voicemail. It had been nearly two years since he last spoke or had contact with Sandusky. Victim 7 said he did not return their calls.


Sandusky confirmed to the The New York Times that he had contacted at least one of his accusers but did so believing he would serve as a character witness. He said he did not know the prosecution had listed the individual as a victim.

An unorthodox defense strategy
Sandusky’s defense has so far been unorthodox. He spoke live to NBC’s Bob Costas following his arrest and last week gave an extended interview to the New York Times.

Asked by Costas if he was sexually attracted to young boys, Sandusky said, "Sexually attracted, no -- I enjoy young people, I love to be around them."

The New York Times revisited the comment last week in an extended, four-hour interview in which reporter Jo Becker asked Sandusky about his answer to Costa's question.

"If I say, no, I'm not attracted to boys, that's not the truth because I'm attracted to young people, boys, girls," Sandusky said.

Amendola, sitting nearby, jumped in. "Yeah, but not sexually, you're attracted because you enjoy spending time..." he said.

"Right, I enjoy, that's what I was tryin' to say, answer that," Sandusky clarified. "I enjoy spending time with young people. I enjoy spending time with people."


-----------------------------------------------------

It isn't unusual at all for victims to continue in some kind of association with their abuser- it is often a way for them to re-script the abuse as they try to live a "normal" life and they have undergone years of grooming by the abuser- there is pre-during and post grooming going on- part of the power dynamic.

[Kobi]

The Sandusky thing just gets more and more odd. The strategies (?) being employed are not only unorthodox, they are just plain bizarre and ill advised by conventional wisdom standards.

It's fascinating to watch it unfold tho. I eagerly await seeing if this is some new, well thought out maze of deception as a way to establish reasonable doubt or if it is a budding example of the worst legal malpractice known to mankind.

[AtLast]

http://www.npr.org/2011/12/15/143765355/probe-finds-arizona-sheriff-violated-civil-rights

About time this sherriff is investigated! Hope he is charged with civil rights violations and does time, himself!

[Gemme]

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2011/12/15/hoa-forces-family-to-remove-disabled-childs-therapy-home/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmaing8%7Cdl14%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D120710

HOA demands tool to help a disabled child gain independence and strength be torn down.

[Kobi]

MONTPELIER, Vt.—A University of Vermont fraternity whose members are accused of circulating a survey that asked who they would like to rape has been closed indefinitely.

The national Sigma Phi Epsilon made the announcement Friday after an internal investigation and lengthy discussions with the university in Burlington.

"Without suggesting that every member had knowledge of this questionnaire, the questions asked in the document are deplorable and absolutely inconsistent with our values," said Brian Warren, executive director of the national fraternity organization based in Richmond, Va.

The national organization has said there's no indication the questionnaire was sanctioned by the fraternity or distributed to the more than 50 members of the Vermont chapter.

A student reported the questionnaire to university officials over the weekend, which led the school and the national organization to suspend the chapter temporarily, pending the investigation.

The school is investigating how widely the survey was circulated, and campus police are trying to determine if any crimes were committed.

The survey prompted a women's rights and equality group to organize a rally Thursday in Burlington, attended by more than 200 people, some calling for the fraternity to be shut down.

Members of the Vermont chapter would not comment Friday on its closing, and deferred questions to a national representative.

UVM Interim President John Bramley said Friday that national representatives of Sigma Phi Epsilon have been thorough, respectful and serious in their investigation. UVM's investigation will continue.

"We respect and support their decision, and appreciate their interest in maintaining a dialogue going forward to identify lessons learned from all of this, as well as exploring educational strategies and opportunities to address pervasive cultural issues that contributed to this egregious situation," Bramley said.

The national organization said it will work with the university in considering when a fraternity chapter might be revived.

http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2011/12/16/apnewsbreak_fraternity_closed_over_rape_survey/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news

[betenoire]

Two People In Louisiana Die From Brain-Eating Amoebas Because They Used Tap Water in Their Neti Pots (http://www.sciencenewsblog.com/blog/121620111)

(The actual title of the article is "Two People Die From Brain Eating Amoebas After Using Neti Pots" but I figured for the sake of not creating mass panic I should add "In Louisiana" and "Because They Used Tap Water".)

[DapperButch]

Two People In Louisiana Die From Brain-Eating Amoebas Because They Used Tap Water in Their Neti Pots (http://www.sciencenewsblog.com/blog/121620111)

(The actual title of the article is "Two People Die From Brain Eating Amoebas After Using Neti Pots" but I figured for the sake of not creating mass panic I should add "In Louisiana" and "Because They Used Tap Water".)

"Tap water is safe for drinking, but not for irrigating your nose".

Sounds about right. :|

[betenoire]

"Tap water is safe for drinking, but not for irrigating your nose".

Sounds about right. :|

Well obviously the only pathogen in tap water is the brain eating kind the gets in through your nasal canal.

Duh.

[DapperButch]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/16/newt-gingrich-national-organization-for-marriage_n_1154081.html?ir=Gay+Voices

[Kobi]

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai transsexual ladyboys are taking to the air as flight attendants for a new airline, a move that some said could be a key step towards still broader acceptance in a nation where they are already unusually visible.

Known as "katoeys" or "ladyboys," transgenders and transsexuals hold mainstream jobs in a variety of fields in Thailand. They are especially common in cosmetics shops or health stores, which almost always have a ladyboy shop assistant.

Working for new charter airline PC Air, transsexual flight attendants including 22-year-old Tanyarat Jirapatpakorn made their debut on a flight from Bangkok to the southern city of Surat Thani on Thursday, serving drinks and snacks and carrying out safety demonstrations.

This is the beginning of the acceptance of transsexuals in Thailand, giving the opportunity for us to work in various fields," said Tanyarat.

"Maybe in the future we can get any job that transsexuals never did before, such as police, soldiers or even pilots."

PC Air, whose name comes from the initials of president Peter Chan, originally planned only to hire male and female flight attendants, but changed its mind after more than 100 transsexuals and transvestites applied as well.

Four were chosen, along with 19 female and 7 male flight attendants. The airline said qualifications for the ladyboy flight attendants were the same as for female flight attendants, with the additional provisos that they be like women in how they walked and talked, and have a feminine voice.

Chan, the airline president, said the ladyboy flight attendants actually might have a special advantage.

"They might provide better services because they understand both males and females. And they're well trained according to the aviation standard," he added.

The new recruits were chosen in February and have been training since in security measures, in-flight services, and make-up application.

PC Air flies domestically as well as to several Asian destinations, including Japan and South Korea.

(Reporting by Jutarat Skulpichetrat; editing by Elaine Lies and Jonathan Thatcher)

http://news.yahoo.com/thai-ladyboy-flight-attendants-skies-060211225.html;_ylt=AvVWnSWlbmD_8PEYpgpqb7yw73QA;_ ylu=X3oDMTRvdWR1ZnE1BGNjb2RlA2dtcHRvcDEwMDBwb29sd2 lraXVwcmVzdARtaXQDTmV3cyBmb3IgeW91BHBrZwM2NzZmZjg0 Ny02YjMxLTNjN2ItYjhjMC03NWIyNjRkNjhlNDAEcG9zAzYEc2 VjA25ld3NfZm9yX3lvdQR2ZXIDZTg3MWQyOTAtMjdhYi0xMWUx LWJmOWQtN2MyMzEyZTZkNzZk;_ylg=X3oDMTMxa3ZoZjZ0BGlu dGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDYThhZTRmODktMWI4NS 0zZjMyLTk5ZjctMTFjYjQ2OWU1ZGUwBHBzdGNhdANidXNpbmVz cwRwdANzdG9yeXBhZ2UEdGVzdAM-;_ylv=3

[Sassy]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/16/newt-gingrich-national-organization-for-marriage_n_1154081.html?ir=Gay+Voices

Love that Newt's half sister is endorsing Obama :)

[Midnight]

http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/12389615/hundreds-feared-dead-in-philippines-storm/

Thoughts and prayers to those caught up in the disaster

[SoNotHer]

Persistent drought in Romania threatens Danube's power

Drop in the level of the river's waters means that nuclear reactor may have to close down

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/12/12/1323718548478/danube-drought-danube-005.jpg
Season of drought ... Romanians with carts loaded with firewood drive across the Danube's river bed. Photograph: Vadim Ghirda/AP

In Cernavoda, a small town in southeast Romania, social housing projects stretch all along the left bank of the Danube. The now dilapidated buildings sprang up in the 1970s and 1980s, after the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu decided to build the country's first nuclear power plant there. In his ambition for power and prosperity, he also ordered a canal to be built from Cernavoda to Constantza, a port on the Black Sea, to shorten the trade route by 400km. The excavations were done by thousands of political prisoners, many of whom died.

Today, 21 years after the fall of communism, the threat to Cernavoda is not from dictatorship but the drought that has hit Romania since August. "Look at the water level," said Vasile Mogos, who lives in a council flat by the river. "I would never have imagined that the Danube could fall so low." The Danube crosses Europe from west to east over 2,850km, from its source in Germany's Black Forest to the Black Sea in Romania. In its path Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania all exploit the waters of Europe's second-longest river after the Volga.

The first reactor in the Romanian nuclear power plant, which uses Canadian CANDU reactor technology based on natural uranium and pressurised heavy water, came on stream in 1996. A second reactor was built in 2007, and three others are planned, since the Romanian government counts on nuclear power for energy self-sufficiency. The two reactors in the Cernavoda plant generate 20% of those needs and were built on the banks of the Danube to use its waters for cooling.

Early this month, the Danube's flow rate in Turnu-Severin, a town in southwest Romania, home to the country's largest hydroelectric power plant, was 2,400 cubic metres per second, 63% of the usual average of 3,800 cubic metres per second. Hidroelectrica, the public corporation in charge of delivering the energy produced by the plant, is generating only 1,800MW instead of the usual 2,100 MW. In 2003 the drought in Romania was so severe that it led to the shutdown of one of the Cernavoda reactors. Cantemir Ciurea, director of the National Committee for Controlling Nuclear Activities, said: "We immediately put in place a new system that allowed the pumps to extract the cooling water from much lower levels."

The Romanian authorities have not, however, discounted the possible closure of a reactor if the drought persists. The lack of rain is also worrying for hotel owners in the Danube delta, who have lost some 10,000 tourists this year, with 250 boats and craft stranded, waiting for the rains before they can sail again. Losses are now counted in millions of euros. Second world war battleships have even resurfaced on the Sava river, a tributary that joins the Danube in Belgrade, Serbia.

The drought is also threatening the fragile ecosystem. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the race to expand agricultural land in the 20th century has already eliminated 80% of the Danube's wetlands.

"The wetlands along the riverbanks were able to absorb water in the event of flooding and free it in periods of drought," explained Andreas Beckmann, director of WWF's Danube-Carpathian programme. "We are going to see more and more of these extreme situations. Our best response is to protect and strengthen our green infrastructure."

This article originally appeared in Le Monde

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/13/drought-in-romania-threatens-danube-power/print

[UofMfan]

Kim Jong Il Dead: North Korea Leader Dies At 69 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/18/kim-jong-il-dead-north-korea_n_1156945.html)

[Sassy]

Kim Jong Il Dead: North Korea Leader Dies At 69 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/18/kim-jong-il-dead-north-korea_n_1156945.html)

Y'all feel free to join me in this song: ... "Ding dong the Il is dead, the Il is dead, the Il is dead... ding dong the wicked ol' Il is dead".....

LOL

Yes yes, dead, dead, bad me for making fun. Sorry. I'm a newsie. Translate that into one jaded betch;)

[UofMfan]

Politician speaks of Obama assassination, bias author lumps racism and Ron Paul (http://www.examiner.com/social-issues-in-tampa-bay/obama-assassination-negros-and-libertarians)


I am appalled by this and so should you.

Here is where to report THIS guy: 1.usa.gov/v7ku85

[UofMfan]

Politician speaks of Obama assassination, bias author lumps racism and Ron Paul (http://www.examiner.com/social-issues-in-tampa-bay/obama-assassination-negros-and-libertarians)


I am appalled by this and so should you.

Here is where to report THIS guy: 1.usa.gov/v7ku85


I am sorry, it looks like the link I posted is no longer working.

Different article, not as well written, same effect here (http://bluecollarphilosophy.com/2011/12/jules-manson-calls-for-obama-and-family-to-be-killed-along-with-racist-references-evil/).

[betenoire]

Of equal concern is the part where he said:

"...if ever serving on a jury for anyone charged with a crime against any elected or appointed government employee or any board member of any finance corporation, we must always protect such patriots despite the evidence. Always vote "not guilty" for these heroes."

[Soft*Silver]

Holy Moses! Chaz Bono and his fiance has split!!!!

[betenoire]

Holy Moses! Chaz Bono and his fiance has split!!!!

Probably because he's a misogynistic douchebag.

(Sorry. I really do not like the guy.)

[SoNotHer]

Cold Shutdown Declared at Japan's Crippled Nuclear Plant

TOKYO, Japan, December 16, 2011 (ENS) - Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda of Japan today declared that the damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been brought to a state of cold shutdown, turning a corner in the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. "The nuclear reactors have reached a state of cold shutdown and therefore we can now confirm that we have come to the end of the accident phase of the actual reactors," Prime Minister Noda told a news conference.

The cold shutdown state - when water used to cool nuclear fuel rods remains below boiling point so the fuel cannot reheat - is a target in the second phase of a timetable established by the government and the plant's owner-operator Tokyo Electric Power Company to bring the crippled facility under control. TEPCO's damaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant after explosions damaged three of the plant's six reactors, March 17, 2011

On March 11, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami knocked out power to the Fukushima Daichi systems used to cool its reactors, triggering a series of explosions, nuclear fuel meltdowns in three of the reactors, and the release of massive amounts of radiation into the environment. The accident is rated at Level 7, the highest on the UN's International Nuclear Event Scale, and is considered the world's second most serious nuclear disaster, after Chernobyl.

TEPCO said today that cold shutdown means the plant is "stabilized in case an accident occurs, we will be able to keep the radiation dose at the site boundary at a sufficiently low level," not exceeding one milliseivert per year. Prime Minister Noda said, "We can now maintain radiation exposure at the periphery of the plant at sufficiently low levels even in the event of another accident."

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2011/20111216_daiichidamage.jpg


More than 80,000 people were evacuated after the accident; many are still living in shelters. A 20 kilometer (12 mile) exclusion zone remains in place around the nuclear plant. Many challenges remain, Noda said, including decontamination work in no-entry zones and government-designated evacuation zones around the plant and the return of thousands of evacuees to their homes.

The Prime Minister emphasized the need to facilitate disposal of contaminated debris, including the establishment of temporary and permanent storage facilities. It is expected to take decades to deconstruct the damaged power plant and decontaminate the surrounding area.

The United Nations nuclear watchdog today welcomed Japan's announcement. Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a statement that "overall the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which owns the plant, and the Japanese Government have made 'significant' progress."

The IAEA defines cold shutdown as being established when three conditions are reached: the reactor pressure vessel's temperature is less than 100 degrees Celsius, the release of radioactive materials from the primary containment vessel is under control and public radiation exposure by additional release is being significantly held down.

The agency is continuing to monitor the status of the plant and the radiological situation in Japan and "continues to stand ready to provide necessary assistance to Japan as requested," said Amano. Last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency completed its assessment of Japan's response to nuclear contamination in areas around the Fukushima power plant, highlighting areas of progress and offering advice on issues where the mission felt that current practices could be improved.

The mission concluded that "a lot of good work, done at all levels, is ongoing in Japan in the area of environmental remediation," and that the authorities adopted a very cautious approach in the early phases of the accident. At the same time, the IAEA mission report stated that there is room to take "a more balanced approach, focusing on the real priority areas, classifying residue materials and adopting appropriate remediation measures on the basis of the results of safety assessments for each specific situation."

Meanwhile, new problems continue to surface at the damaged power plant. Earlier this month, TEPCO officials said that 45 cubic meters (1,590 cu ft) of radioactive water had leaked into the Pacific Ocean from a crack in the foundation of a water treatment facility. Crews stopped the leak with sandbags.

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2011/20111216_nuclearwastedrums.jpg
Drums of nuclear waste at Fukushima Daiichi, November 15, 2011 (Photo courtesy TEPCO)

TEPCO said the water contained radioactive cesium at levels "roughly the same as or slightly higher" than the adjacent seawater, and may have contained strontium, a radioactive element which can cause bone cancer. TEPCO pledged in a statement today, "We will make concerted efforts in our company with refreshed determination to go ahead" to pay compensation for damages due to the accident, provide a secure and steady supply of electricity and "Make a through radical efficiency and rationalization of management."

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2011/2011-12-16-02.html

[Kobi]

CAIRO (AP) — Thousands of Egyptian women marched in the streets of Cairo on Tuesday, protesting abuse by soldiers who dragged women by the hair, stomped on them and stripped one half naked on the street while cracking down on anti-military protesters in scenes that shocked many in the conservative society.

The march was a rare protest by women and its numbers — about 10,000 by some estimates — underlined the depth of anger over the images from the fierce crackdown over the past five days on protesters demanding the ruling military step down immediately.

Even before the protest was over, the ruling military council issued an unusual apology for what it called "violations" — a quick turnaround after days of dismissing the significance of the abuse.

The council expressed "deep regret to the great women of Egypt" and reaffirmed "its respect and total appreciation for the women of Egypt and their right to protest, effectively and positively participate in the political life on the road to the democratic transition." It promised it was taking measures to punish those responsible for violations.

Ringed by a protective chain of male protesters, women from different social classes and religious background gathered in Tahrir Square and marched through the streets of Cairo. Many carried the pictures of soldiers attacking women — particularly one of a veiled woman whose clothes were half pulled off, baring her down to her blue bra, by soldiers who beat her and stomped on her chest.

"They say they are here to protect us, but they are stripping us naked," the marchers chanted.

"The girl dragged around is just like my daughter. They do that and then call us thugs," said Um Hossam, a 54-year old woman in traditional black dress and a veil. "I am a free woman and attacking this woman or killing protesters is just like going after one of my own children."

The attacks on the women came in fierce clashes since Friday as troops broke up protests by activists demanding the immediate end to the rule of the military, which took power after the Feb. 11 fall of Hosni Mubarak. The clashes saw military police chasing young men and women through Tahrir Square and nearby streets, beating them with clubs and sticks. The crackdown has killed 14 protesters, mostly from gunshots.

The images of abuse drew the ire of the U.N. rights chief and unusually harsh words from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Addressing students at Georgetown University on Monday, Clinton said the events in Egypt in recent days were shocking and accused the Egyptian security forces and extremists of specifically targeting women.

"And now, women are being attacked, stripped, and beaten in the streets," she said. "This systematic degradation of Egyptian women dishonors the revolution, disgraces the state and its uniform, and is not worthy of a great people."

http://news.yahoo.com/egyptian-women-protest-abuse-military-183310648.html

[AtLast]

Holy Moses! Chaz Bono and his fiance has split!!!!

Perhaps she is tired of being raped? She never struck me as very enlightened, but, I am glad she is getting out of that relationship- he is a misogynist and very abusive. Same old white, opportunistic, entitled Hollywood celebrity brat.I am sorry I ever supported his being on DWTS. There are so many honorable Transmen that wouold be far better spokespersons for the transgendered. I am glad that many other transmen have spoken out against Chaz Bono as any kind of positive representative for LGBTI activism and rights.

Frankly, many of the transmen right here on our site would be fantastic trans spokespeople with respect for women.

[Corkey]

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1104653--canadian-developed-hiv-vaccine-approved-for-human-studies?bn=1


Clinical human trials oh HIV vaccine approved by FDA

[atomiczombie]

Perhaps she is tired of being raped? She never struck me as very enlightened, but, I am glad she is getting out of that relationship- he is a misogynist and very abusive. Same old white, opportunistic, entitled Hollywood celebrity brat.I am sorry I ever supported his being on DWTS. There are so many honorable Transmen that wouold be far better spokespersons for the transgendered. I am glad that many other transmen have spoken out against Chaz Bono as any kind of positive representative for LGBTI activism and rights.

Frankly, many of the transmen right here on our site would be fantastic trans spokespeople with respect for women.

What do you mean by raped AtLast? Do you mean literally? Because I have never seen her say anything about being raped by Chaz.

[betenoire]

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1104653--canadian-developed-hiv-vaccine-approved-for-human-studies?bn=1


Clinical human trials oh HIV vaccine approved by FDA

It's about time! They've been talking about this vaccine from Western University for YEARS.

[Nadeest]

They are conducting trials of it,here in Houston, already, or at least one possible vaccine to prevent it.

[betenoire]

They are conducting trials of it,here in Houston, already, or at least one possible vaccine to prevent it.

the difference is that this here vaccine uses dead HIV virus (which is what most vaccines use - dead virus or very small quantities of live virus). The vaccine being tested in Houston is actually a combination of immune boosters and antiviral medication.

[Ashton]

Seasonal well being fellow planetiers!
http://www.africawithin.com/kwanzaa/habarigani.gifhttp://a1.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/14/2f6003ffcff34433beabe0e02282927c/m.jpghttp://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/372410_100001013928944_1244943302_n.jpghttp://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/41370_100001445722603_7335_n.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7161/6547289185_9e4de8628b_m.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bastoneking/6547289185/)

[AtLast]

Manning defense's focus on gender identity disorder alarms some
Joshua Roberts / Reuters

By Mike Brunker
msnbc.com

Raising the hackles of some attorneys who work on transgender legal issues, defense attorneys for Bradley Manning apparently intend to make an almost novel legal argument -- that the Army private was suffering from gender identity disorder when his alleged crimes were committed -- if his case proceeds to court martial as expected.

In the first five days of Manning’s preliminary hearing at Fort Meade, Md., prosecutors and defense attorneys have both presented evidence that Manning, accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of secret government documents to the WikiLeaks website, was wrestling with gender issues in the period leading up to the publication of the documents.

The defense stated Saturday that Manning, 24, had written to one of his supervisors when he was stationed in Iraq before his arrest and said he had concluded he was suffering from gender identity disorder, which is classified as a medical disorder in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. He included a photo of himself dressed as a woman in the letter and said the issue was affecting his ability to do his job or think clearly.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A defense attorney and a witness also stated that Manning had created a Facebook profile and opened at least one email account using the name “Breanna Manning,” which the attorney described as an “alter-ego.”

As the hearing continued Tuesday, prosecutors presented testimony indicating that Manning had used another soldier’s laptop to order a book on female facial reconstructive surgery from Amazon.com that he had shipped to his Potomac address.

A search of Amazon.com for the term “female facial reconstructive surgery” returns just one title, “Facial Feminization Surgery: A Guide for the Transgendered Woman.”

advertisementadvertisement
Also Tuesday, Manning’s attorneys did little to challenge testimony by prosecution witnesses tying Manning to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and other electronic evidence collected in the case.

Manning is charged with aiding the enemy and violating the Espionage Act. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to life in prison.

If Manning’s case does go to court martial, his attorneys will apparently be just the second defense team to attempt to use a gender identity disorder as at least a partial defense in a military case, according to Jack King, a staff attorney with the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys specializing in mental health issues.

The only other case on record, he said, involved Karen Davis, a Navy electrician's mate, second class, formerly known as Charles Marx, who was prosecuted in the mid-1980s “for wearing women's clothing (a skirt, nylons, a women's blouse, a bra, women's fashion jeans, nail polish, a purse, and a wig) on numerous occasions while at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.”

In appealing her court martial in 1988, Davis' attorneys argued that such conduct was not illegal. They also stated that, while living as Marx, she had been diagnosed by several Navy psychiatrists as having gender identity disorder and that cross-dressing was therapeutic.

The military appeals court allowed her dishonorable discharge to stand for the reason that cross-dressing was “prejudicial to good order and discipline and discrediting of the Armed Forces."

King said such a case would be unlikely today, given the greater understanding of gender identity disorder.

“Now, if a person could show that because he or she believed themselves to be a member of the opposite sex they had an irresistible impulse to cross-dress, they would in all likelihood qualify for a medical discharge,” he said.

advertisementadvertisement
Several attorneys who work with transgender legal issues said they were not aware of a gender identity disorder defense being raised in a civilian court, and King said it’s easy to see why not, noting that such a diagnosis “doesn’t prevent you from knowing right from wrong.” The disorder is most often raised in criminal proceedings as part of an overall insanity defense, or by expert witnesses arguing that a defendant is so mentally damaged that he or she should be committed, he said.

And several lawyers who work with transgender clients indicated they were not happy with the direction that the Manning proceedings have taken.

“We don’t think that being transgender, if he in fact is, has anything to do with him breaking the law,” said Kylar Broadus, an attorney with the Transgender Law and Policy Institute. “Obviously the charges are serious and we don’t want the trial to be sensationalized or detracted from by him being transgender.”

“Our opinion is there is no correlation between anything he has done and gender identity disorder,” agreed Dru Levasseur, a transgender rights attorney with Lambda Legal.

“This plays into stereotypes that are not true,” he continued. “There are a lot of gender identity disorder people fighting for their lives to be respected and understood as human beings who need equal access to the law. This type of scenario just confuses the situation.”

http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/21/9590399-manning-defenses-focus-on-gender-identity-disorder-alarms-some

[Kobi]

http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/21/9590399-manning-defenses-focus-on-gender-identity-disorder-alarms-some
---------------------


I keep mulling this over but I dont understand the strategy or the reason for it.

Are they saying the court martial strategy is different from the criminal strategy?

Are they trying to say his possible "gender identity order" is a mitigating factor? Or extenuating circumstances? When they say his "alter ego", it makes me think multiple personality defense. Are they using an insanity defense and trying to develop a rationale for it? Would "gender disorder" be a favorable thing in a court martial i.e. medical grounds for dismissal rather than criminal?

It sounds like Manning himself brought this to peoples attention - "The defense stated Saturday that Manning, 24, had written to one of his supervisors when he was stationed in Iraq before his arrest and said he had concluded he was suffering from gender identity disorder, which is classified as a medical disorder in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. He included a photo of himself dressed as a woman in the letter and said the issue was affecting his ability to do his job or think clearly."

Is the defense between a rock and a hard place as a result of this disclosure i.e. do they have no option but the address it as best they can in a framework that might benefit their client?

This is about as odd as the Sandusky legal approach.

Have law schools developed new defense strategies based on the Kobayashi Maru principles?

Seriously, am I missing something here or is there something missing in the story?

[Kobi]

Matt Katz and Aaron Lafrenz of Brooklyn, N.Y., were surprised to receive a letter from President Barack Obama congratulating them on their marriage. (Courtesy Matt Katz)

A gay couple in Brooklyn, N.Y., were surprised to find a letter in their mailbox six months after their wedding congratulating them, but they were more surprised to find it was from the commander in chief.

Matt Katz, 32, and Aaron Lafrenz, 36, were married at the Katz family's Brooklyn home on July 23, 2011, the day before gay marriage became legal in New York state. The following day, the two went to Brooklyn borough hall and were among the first gay couples to legally be married in the state.

This December, Katz and Lafrenz received a letter in their mailbox with the White House seal indented in the paper and the signature of one Barack Obama on the bottom. Obama has been opposed to gay marriage in the past, though he has recently said his views on the topic are "evolving."

Katz told ABC News today that a family friend, Arlene Weinstock, had requested the letter on their behalf after hearing that the White House would take requests upon the passage of the New York gay marriage bill. Weinstock, of Long Beach, Calif., assumed that the request had not been fulfilled when the couple hadn't heard from the White House during the summer, but realized today that she was the cause of the mysterious presidential salutation.

"I was so super confused," Katz said, noting that he was not a major political activist and had no strong ties to gay rights groups. "But Aunt Arlene called me up and said, 'This is my fault!'"

The White House confirmed to ABC News that they sent the letter.

The letter reads, in part, "Your union marks the beginning of a lifelong partnership as you share in the joys of your life together. I wish you the very best as you embark on your journey together and hope your bond grows stronger with each passing year."

Katz said he was happy to receive the letter, but acknowledged the president is probably looking to shore up the gay vote ahead of the 2012 election.

"I do think he's trying to (pander), but I don't blame him," Katz said. "At this point, this is not necessarily a ploy but he can't for public office reasons be on one side, so maybe this is his way of winking at the gay public in New York and saying I really need your vote now."

Katz said his father is a longtime supporter of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, and when he first received the Obama letter, he asked his father whether that had anything to do with it. His father said no.

The White House, when asked about the letter today, responded that it "regularly sends congratulatory messages from the president to members of the public."

Richard Socarides, a former adviser to Bill Clinton and current president of Equality Matters, a gay rights group, agreed that it a fairly normal move and did not signal a change in the president's position on gay marriage rights.

"Those letters usually come out of the staff secretary's office. They're very careful, but I'm sure that - I don't think this is reflective of a policy decision. I think it's sort of curious, but likely serendipitous," Socarides said.

Despite telling ABC News in October that the issue of gay marriage was something he "struggled with," Obama has never come out in support of gay marriage. He has said he supports "strong civil unions." Obama also led the repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which banned gays from serving openly in the military.

Katz said that despite the letter's mysterious arrival, the couple was happy to receive it and will likely frame and display the letter in their home.

"For a minute there I really really thought it was a gag gift, but it has the seal, and it's him and Michelle. We'll definitely frame it," he said.

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/gay-couple-receives-obama-congratulations-wedding-213939116.html;_ylt=AooR23ho5DUn61vj_xtYNEOpn.R_;_ ylu=X3oDMTRmZ25pbzVvBGNjb2RlA3ZzaGFyZWFnMnVwcmVzdA RtaXQDTmV3cyBmb3IgeW91BHBrZwM5M2NhMDBhOC01Zjk5LTNk YmUtYTkyYy00YjE2ZjE5ZTA4YWYEcG9zAzMEc2VjA25ld3NfZm 9yX3lvdQR2ZXIDMzA3ZDAwOGEtMmI3ZC0xMWUxLTk1M2MtNzhl N2QxNWQyZTMw;_ylg=X3oDMTJ2cXE5M2Q5BGludGwDdXMEbGFu ZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDNWRlMDllNDItMTAxNi0zNzE0LWE5ZG ItMmVjOTZkNGUxZTBiBHBzdGNhdANoZWFsdGgEcHQDc3Rvcnlw YWdlBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3

[AtLast]

http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/21/9590399-manning-defenses-focus-on-gender-identity-disorder-alarms-some
---------------------


I keep mulling this over but I dont understand the strategy or the reason for it.

Are they saying the court martial strategy is different from the criminal strategy?

Are they trying to say his possible "gender identity order" is a mitigating factor? Or extenuating circumstances? When they say his "alter ego", it makes me think multiple personality defense. Are they using an insanity defense and trying to develop a rationale for it? Would "gender disorder" be a favorable thing in a court martial i.e. medical grounds for dismissal rather than criminal?

It sounds like Manning himself brought this to peoples attention - "The defense stated Saturday that Manning, 24, had written to one of his supervisors when he was stationed in Iraq before his arrest and said he had concluded he was suffering from gender identity disorder, which is classified as a medical disorder in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. He included a photo of himself dressed as a woman in the letter and said the issue was affecting his ability to do his job or think clearly."

Is the defense between a rock and a hard place as a result of this disclosure i.e. do they have no option but the address it as best they can in a framework that might benefit their client?

This is about as odd as the Sandusky legal approach.

Have law schools developed new defense strategies based on the Kobayashi Maru principles?

Seriously, am I missing something here or is there something missing in the story?



I find this quite confusing as well. I can see why LGBTIQ lawyers have concerns, however, based upon assignment of criminal action stemming from GID. That is worrisome.

[AtLast]

What do you mean by raped AtLast? Do you mean literally? Because I have never seen her say anything about being raped by Chaz.


This comment was based upon the comments he made in the documentary about T and increased libido and the look on her face as well as how he said it. To be honest, I had a this feels creepy moment during that part of the dialogue. And relationship/marital rape research pertaining to these kinds of remarks. Also- Criminalizing marital rape: a comparison of judicial and legislative approaches.: An article from: Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law by Theresa Fus. (I'm doing current research in this area for teaching presently- this is just one article of several in forensic psychology and this kind of rape/sexual abuse/assault). Frankly, our society has continually refused to call this what it is and deal with the many facets of this kind of rape. And we need to call it what it is- rape. In the context of my prior post, I was using the term figuratively to make this point, but probably should have explained this.


My main point actually is that Chaz is not (to me) a positive role-model for transgendered persons and that there are so many others that are. I find Ira Beattie's to have some sound criticism of bono in terms of being a credible spokesperson- and he just 19 years old! Although, I admit, I have never (pre and post transition) thought Chaz Bono to be all that bright. I did appreciate having a Transperson go on DWTS and wanted to support that- but as I have read more and more about him and other transmen's issues with his being portrayed as some kind of expert on gender issues, I have lost respect for him. And there is the misogyny. Maybe as he continues his journey, he will grow in other ways and see how and why some of his actions and thought processes are quite sexist.

[theoddz]

Well, speaking from the point of my trans experience, I want to urge everyone here to be very cautious and thoughtful about doling out judgment on Chaz and any other person with whom you may have strong feelings, yet cannot completely personally relate to that person's circumstance. I've had to check myself on this very thing, because I've also seen articles about how Jen has fought a problem with alcohol and Chaz has fought much the same with an addiction to opiate pain relievers. One article I read stated that it was Jen who was actively drinking and Chaz who gave her the ultimatum of sobering up or losing the relationship. All of these tabloid stories are suspect, as far as I'm concerned, but it's easy to take our own prejudices and biases and hang the "Piece of Shit" label on on or the other of them, when that probably isn't even the case. The relationship probably ended because of a plethora and combination of real reasons and issues.

Statistics have proven that most relationships that involve a partner who transitions does not survive. For whatever reason that may be, any of us is in hardly a position to judge what those reasons are.....and in this case, especially about Chaz. Whatever he may or may not be, personally (I don't follow everything he does or his personal situation/relationship with Jen), their split is probably the result of many issues or problems. He is and has always been....a celebrity, and that very fact alone has probably had a very difficult impact on the way he has had to live his life and conduct his personal relationships. I'm not a bit surprised that his relationship with Jen didn't survive, although I was, personally, wishing the best for the both of them.

One little seed for thought that I'd like to throw in here, however, is the one that concerns transmen and our relationships. Transition is a very difficult time, internally, for us. During my own transition, I had to make the conscious decision about what kind of man I needed to be. I've been so lucky that my own personal male role models have been good ones. I don't think I've (consciously, anyway) carried over any real sexist, misogynistic (read, "knuckle-dragging neanderthal) viewpoints, as I've had many very strong, positive female figures (thanks, Mother, Grandma and ML, my big sister)!! The more people I've met in this life, and the more I get to know myself....as a person first, then as the man I am....the luckier I see myself. I also have realized that others may or may not have been so lucky. Point is, all this takes time. I started T, and my own transition, nearly 5 years ago, and I'm still not done being totally comfortable in all ways with myself. Chaz has had to do the same thing, plus, he's been in the public eye, had tabloid rumors/gossip and stories constantly swirling around him, and has had this intensely personal journey to navigate.....in addition to trying to keep what most of us try to keep behind closed doors from public consumption. This can be some seriously painful shit, people, and it requires being worked through. My guess is that Chaz is still trying to figure out what kind of man he is and who he needs to be. He may or may not be, in all truth, a raging sexist, misogynistic pig. He may or may not be a lot of things, in reality. All of it takes time and most of us transfolk take years to figure it all out.

Something else to wrap your minds around is one other thing.....Sometimes, as a transman, you have to decide whether you're going to act out in anger against women, in general, or realize that it might really be that your anger is actually everything to do with having to have lived and been treated as a woman.

I found that a very large part of the work associated with the transition journey is deciding how much of what you were to pack in the baggage you carry in the journey to become who you are.

That's all I have.

~Theo~ :bouquet:

[Cin]

8 Stories Buried By the Corporate Media That You Need to Know About
Not all news stories are treated equally.

As 2011 comes to a close, we will see lists of the year’s most memorable events and most important people, as is the pattern every year. But not all stories are created equal. When the corporate media bury significant developments in the back pages of the paper or the second to last paragraph of an article, it’s easy for stories to go unnoticed.

As usual, this year was packed with critical, newsworthy and insufficiently covered stories that should have, but didn't, make the front page. Below are eight explosive must-read stories of 2011 that you may have missed.

1) Our Planet Saw the Largest Increase in Carbon Emissions Since the Industrial Revolution

2) Widespread Trafficking Of Iraqi Women And Girls Thanks To The Iraq War

3) More Iraq Veterans Committed Suicide Last Year Than Active-Duty Troops Died In Combat

4) Drone Strikes Kill Innocent Civilians, Not Just 'Militants'

5) Record Number Of US Kids Face Hunger and Homelessness
1 in 45 US kids are homeless - 1.6 million
16.2 million American children – one in five-- face the threat of hunger

6) Prisoners Are People Too

7) US Deports 46,000 Parents, Kids Left Behind In Foster Care

8) FBI Teaches Agents That Muslims Are Violent Radicals

Article here: http://www.alternet.org/news/153455/8_Stories_Buried_By_the_Corporate_Media_That_You_N eed_to_Know_About/?page=1

[Gemme]

Some good news.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/21/marissa-gaeta-citlalic-snell-lesbian-navy-kiss-_n_1163444.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmaing8%7Cdl5%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D122197

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- A Navy tradition caught up with the repeal of the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" rule on Wednesday when two women sailors became the first to share the coveted "first kiss" on the pier after one of them returned from 80 days at sea.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta of Placerville, Calif., descended from the USS Oak Hill amphibious landing ship and shared a quick kiss in the rain with her partner, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell of Los Angeles. Gaeta, 23, wore her Navy dress uniform while Snell, 22, wore a black leather jacket, scarf and blue jeans. The crowd screamed and waved flags around them.

"It's something new, that's for sure," Gaeta told reporters after the kiss.

"It's nice to be able to be myself. It's been a long time coming."

For the historical significance of the kiss, there was little to differentiate it from countless others when a Navy ship pulls into its home port following a deployment. Neither the Navy nor the couple tried to draw attention to what was happening and many onlookers waiting for their loved ones to come off the ship were busy talking among themselves.

David Bauer, the commanding officer of the USS Oak Hill, said that Gaeta and Snell's kiss would largely be a non-event and the crew's reaction upon learning who was selected to have the first kiss was positive.

"It's going to happen and the crew's going to enjoy it. We're going to move on and it won't overshadow the great things that this crew has accomplished over the past three months," Bauer said.

The ship returned to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story following an 80-day deployment to Central America. The crew of more than 300 participated in exercises involving the militaries of Honduras, Guatemala Colombia and Panama as part of Amphibious-Southern Partnership Station 2012.

Both women are Navy fire controlmen, who maintain and operate weapons systems on ships. They met at training school where they were roommates and have been dating for two years, which they said was difficult under "don't ask, don't tell."

"We did have to hide it a lot in the beginning," Snell said. "A lot of people were not always supportive of it in the beginning, but we can finally be honest about who we are in our relationship, so I'm happy."

Navy officials said it was the first time on record that a same-sex couple was chosen to kiss first upon a ship's return. Sailors and their loved ones bought $1 raffle tickets for the opportunity. Gaeta said she bought $50 of tickets, a figure that she said pales in comparison to amounts that some other sailors and their loved ones had bought. The money was used to host a Christmas party for the children of sailors.

Snell said she believes their experience won't be the last one for gays and lesbians in the military.

"I think that it's something that is going to open a lot of doors, for not just our relationship, but all the other gay and lesbian relationships that are in the military now," she said.

Snell is based on the USS Bainbridge, the guided missile destroyer that helped rescue cargo captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates in 2009.

[AtLast]

Well, speaking from the point of my trans experience, I want to urge everyone here to be very cautious and thoughtful about doling out judgment on Chaz and any other person with whom you may have strong feelings, yet cannot completely personally relate to that person's circumstance. I've had to check myself on this very thing, because I've also seen articles about how Jen has fought a problem with alcohol and Chaz has fought much the same with an addiction to opiate pain relievers. One article I read stated that it was Jen who was actively drinking and Chaz who gave her the ultimatum of sobering up or losing the relationship. All of these tabloid stories are suspect, as far as I'm concerned, but it's easy to take our own prejudices and biases and hang the "Piece of Shit" label on on or the other of them, when that probably isn't even the case. The relationship probably ended because of a plethora and combination of real reasons and issues.

Statistics have proven that most relationships that involve a partner who transitions does not survive. For whatever reason that may be, any of us is in hardly a position to judge what those reasons are.....and in this case, especially about Chaz. Whatever he may or may not be, personally (I don't follow everything he does or his personal situation/relationship with Jen), their split is probably the result of many issues or problems. He is and has always been....a celebrity, and that very fact alone has probably had a very difficult impact on the way he has had to live his life and conduct his personal relationships. I'm not a bit surprised that his relationship with Jen didn't survive, although I was, personally, wishing the best for the both of them.

One little seed for thought that I'd like to throw in here, however, is the one that concerns transmen and our relationships. Transition is a very difficult time, internally, for us. During my own transition, I had to make the conscious decision about what kind of man I needed to be. I've been so lucky that my own personal male role models have been good ones. I don't think I've (consciously, anyway) carried over any real sexist, misogynistic (read, "knuckle-dragging neanderthal) viewpoints, as I've had many very strong, positive female figures (thanks, Mother, Grandma and ML, my big sister)!! The more people I've met in this life, and the more I get to know myself....as a person first, then as the man I am....the luckier I see myself. I also have realized that others may or may not have been so lucky. Point is, all this takes time. I started T, and my own transition, nearly 5 years ago, and I'm still not done being totally comfortable in all ways with myself. Chaz has had to do the same thing, plus, he's been in the public eye, had tabloid rumors/gossip and stories constantly swirling around him, and has had this intensely personal journey to navigate.....in addition to trying to keep what most of us try to keep behind closed doors from public consumption. This can be some seriously painful shit, people, and it requires being worked through. My guess is that Chaz is still trying to figure out what kind of man he is and who he needs to be. He may or may not be, in all truth, a raging sexist, misogynistic pig. He may or may not be a lot of things, in reality. All of it takes time and most of us transfolk take years to figure it all out.

Something else to wrap your minds around is one other thing.....Sometimes, as a transman, you have to decide whether you're going to act out in anger against women, in general, or realize that it might really be that your anger is actually everything to do with having to have lived and been treated as a woman.

I found that a very large part of the work associated with the transition journey is deciding how much of what you were to pack in the baggage you carry in the journey to become who you are.

That's all I have.

~Theo~ :bouquet:

As is always true, I find your thoughts and keen communication skills around this to be helpful. My late partner was with a butch turned transman (15 year relationship) that did fall apart due to transition mainly. It was difficult, but they remained co-parents and friends.

[LeftWriteFemme]

2011 has been a tough year for the National Organization for Marriage (NOM).


http://equalitymatters.org/blog/201112210002

[AtLast]

Pic of the kiss!

http://dodsonandross.com/files/blog_images/2-women-kiss-620x348.jpg?1324561485

Some good news.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/21/marissa-gaeta-citlalic-snell-lesbian-navy-kiss-_n_1163444.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmaing8%7Cdl5%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D122197

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- A Navy tradition caught up with the repeal of the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" rule on Wednesday when two women sailors became the first to share the coveted "first kiss" on the pier after one of them returned from 80 days at sea.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta of Placerville, Calif., descended from the USS Oak Hill amphibious landing ship and shared a quick kiss in the rain with her partner, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell of Los Angeles. Gaeta, 23, wore her Navy dress uniform while Snell, 22, wore a black leather jacket, scarf and blue jeans. The crowd screamed and waved flags around them.

"It's something new, that's for sure," Gaeta told reporters after the kiss.

"It's nice to be able to be myself. It's been a long time coming."

For the historical significance of the kiss, there was little to differentiate it from countless others when a Navy ship pulls into its home port following a deployment. Neither the Navy nor the couple tried to draw attention to what was happening and many onlookers waiting for their loved ones to come off the ship were busy talking among themselves.

David Bauer, the commanding officer of the USS Oak Hill, said that Gaeta and Snell's kiss would largely be a non-event and the crew's reaction upon learning who was selected to have the first kiss was positive.

"It's going to happen and the crew's going to enjoy it. We're going to move on and it won't overshadow the great things that this crew has accomplished over the past three months," Bauer said.

The ship returned to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story following an 80-day deployment to Central America. The crew of more than 300 participated in exercises involving the militaries of Honduras, Guatemala Colombia and Panama as part of Amphibious-Southern Partnership Station 2012.

Both women are Navy fire controlmen, who maintain and operate weapons systems on ships. They met at training school where they were roommates and have been dating for two years, which they said was difficult under "don't ask, don't tell."

"We did have to hide it a lot in the beginning," Snell said. "A lot of people were not always supportive of it in the beginning, but we can finally be honest about who we are in our relationship, so I'm happy."

Navy officials said it was the first time on record that a same-sex couple was chosen to kiss first upon a ship's return. Sailors and their loved ones bought $1 raffle tickets for the opportunity. Gaeta said she bought $50 of tickets, a figure that she said pales in comparison to amounts that some other sailors and their loved ones had bought. The money was used to host a Christmas party for the children of sailors.

Snell said she believes their experience won't be the last one for gays and lesbians in the military.

"I think that it's something that is going to open a lot of doors, for not just our relationship, but all the other gay and lesbian relationships that are in the military now," she said.

Snell is based on the USS Bainbridge, the guided missile destroyer that helped rescue cargo captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates in 2009.

[SoNotHer]

Texas loses half a billion trees to epic drought
Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com
December 21, 2011

A punishing drought in Texas has not only damaged crops, killed cattle, and led to widespread fires, but has also killed off a significant portion of the state's trees: between 100 and 500 million trees have perished to drought stress according to preliminary analysis. The estimate does not include tree mortality caused by fires. The drought has been linked to La Niña conditions, which causes drying in the Southern U.S., and has likely been exacerbated by global climate change.

In all around 10 percent of Texas' forests may have been lost to the drought—so far. Trees are expected to continue suffering and dying in Texas even if rain comes; however, forecasters predict dry conditions will remain in Texas for another six months at least. "This is a generational event," Barry Ward, executive director of Trees for Houston told Reuters. "Mature trees take 20 or 30 years to re-grow. This will make an aesthetic difference for decades to come." A recent study looking at tree ring data found that Texas had not seen a drought of this magnitude since 1789 when the territory was contested between the Spanish and Native Americans.

"[The drought] is basically off the charts. Based on past history, you wouldn’t expect to see this happening in maybe 500 or 1,000 years. One more year and we’re already talking about a drought more severe than anything we’ve ever had," Texas state climatologist, John Nielsen-Gammon, told CBS at the time.

A report in 2009 on expected climate change impacts in the Southwest region of the U.S. predicted increased drought and wildfires with negative impacts on agriculture and forests. Scientists say droughts like Texas' are increasingly becoming a combination of both natural variance and human impact, i.e. climate change. "When a drought comes, often temperatures are already higher than they would have been 50 years ago and so the effects of the drought are magnified by higher evaporation rates," Texas climatologist Katherine Hayhoe explained to Climate Progress.


http://photos.mongabay.com/j/drought.map.us.568.jpg

Map shows the level of drought and dryness across the US in July 2011. Map courtesy US Department of Agriculture. Click to enlarge.

from - http://print.news.mongabay.com/2011/1221-hance_texas_trees.html?utm_campaign=General+news&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_source=SNS.analytics

[LeftWriteFemme]

Yale and Columbia Reimburse Gay Employees for Extra Taxes



http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/yale-and-columbia-reimburse-gay-employees-for-extra-taxes/?src=rechp

[LeftWriteFemme]

(Beyond the beyond.....)



Linda Harvey: ‘There’s No Proof’ that LGBT people exist



http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2011/08/linda-harvey-theres-no-proof-that-lgbt-people-exist/

[Corkey]

(Beyond the beyond.....)



Linda Harvey: ‘There’s No Proof’ that LGBT people exist



http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2011/08/linda-harvey-theres-no-proof-that-lgbt-people-exist/


Can't we just pull her tongue so she lisps or some such nonsense like she is spewing?

[Kobi]

Williamsburg roaster debuts 'gay coffee'
By Fran Ryan
Daily Hampshire Gazette / December 24, 2011

WILLIAMSBURG, Mass.—The coffee might not be gay, and the consumers are likely coffee lovers of every persuasion, but the message of this campy new brand is clear: Gay culture and gay history are splashing onto the coffee scene.

Five fledgling blends make up the new brand. There are dark roasts such as "Red Hanky Roast" and "Second Date," dark and medium blends like "Weekend Pass" and "Good Morning Mary" and a medium roast called "Stone Butch Breakfast Blend."

From the young blonde sailor on "Weekend Pass" to the woman carrying moving boxes on "Second Date," each blend sports humorously crafted artwork on the front to reflect its catchy moniker.

This kitschy concept comes from Elbow Room Coffee owner Melissa Krueger. Together with a handful of friends, Krueger says Gay Coffee started as a casual conversation over a cup of you-know-what. The discussion centered around how gay and lesbian culture has seemingly entered the mainstream in many areas.

"The `aha' moment came when we were talking about same-sex marriage and a friend commented on how gay culture is now seen everywhere. She said, `Why I bet this coffee is even gay.' It was a joke of course, but it got me thinking," she said.

Krueger thought it would be interesting to market a line of coffee with a gay theme, poking fun at stereotypes and cliches within the gay and lesbian community. She worried, however, that some people "wouldn't get it" and that is where friend Daniel Rivers came in.

Rivers, a visiting lecturer in the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College, encouraged Krueger to keep the camp on the front while putting cultural and historical facts on the back.

"And that was it. That took it from being just funny, to putting information into places where it normally wouldn't be," Krueger said.

Rivers did a little research and penned the educational bits on each blend. A longtime advocate of social justice and civil rights, Krueger said she had always wanted to market a product that had the potential to "make a difference."

"It's fun, it's educational and 1 percent of our profits are donated to the National Lesbian Gay Bisexual Task Force," she said. The task force helps to organize broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT legislation.

But it's not only about history, humor and social justice. Once consumers are drawn in by the marketing, Krueger hopes they will stay for the most important part, the taste.

"I roast everything here," she said of her Williamsburg shop, located a few feet off Route 9. "I have a 25-pound barrel roaster but I only roast eight to 12 pounds at a time. I could do more, but think that ratio of heat and air makes the coffee taste better," she said.

After debuting Gay Coffee at the Castro Street Fair in San Francisco on Oct. 2, she returned home and scrambled to put together an online store before the holidays. Gay Coffee took off.

"Initially I saw it as a small niche product, but the turnover has been quicker than I expected," Krueger said. So quick in fact, that Gay Coffee has already gone international. Krueger is not only sending orders throughout the U.S., but is shipping to Canada, Iceland and countries in Europe.

"I have to say I was pretty surprised when an order came in from Reykjavik!"

Locally, the brand can be purchased at Broadside Books in Northampton and Cup and Top in Florence, as well as directly from Elbow Room Coffee in Williamsburg. According to Krueger, she may add a few more blends to her repertoire.

"I would like to include some more multicultural labels and some that include the trans community. There are two or three more planned and we are always open to ideas from people," she said.

"This industry takes itself so seriously, that it is fun do a little play on branding. Obviously, coffee can't be gay, and you don't have to be gay to drink it. But I think there is a lot of room to put Gay Coffee on the shelves with other fair trade, organic artisan coffees," Krueger said.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/12/24/williamsburg_roaster_debuts_gay_coffee/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news


-----------------------------------------

And visit Gay Coffee at http://www.gaycoffee.com/

[*Anya*]

Thanks for this Kobi! Even though I am a die-hard Peets coffee-drinker, I will buy a bag. I think it is critical to support LGBT businesses if they offer a quality product.

I will let you know how it is after I try it!

Williamsburg roaster debuts 'gay coffee'
By Fran Ryan
Daily Hampshire Gazette / December 24, 2011

WILLIAMSBURG, Mass.—The coffee might not be gay, and the consumers are likely coffee lovers of every persuasion, but the message of this campy new brand is clear: Gay culture and gay history are splashing onto the coffee scene.

Five fledgling blends make up the new brand. There are dark roasts such as "Red Hanky Roast" and "Second Date," dark and medium blends like "Weekend Pass" and "Good Morning Mary" and a medium roast called "Stone Butch Breakfast Blend."

From the young blonde sailor on "Weekend Pass" to the woman carrying moving boxes on "Second Date," each blend sports humorously crafted artwork on the front to reflect its catchy moniker.

This kitschy concept comes from Elbow Room Coffee owner Melissa Krueger. Together with a handful of friends, Krueger says Gay Coffee started as a casual conversation over a cup of you-know-what. The discussion centered around how gay and lesbian culture has seemingly entered the mainstream in many areas.

"The `aha' moment came when we were talking about same-sex marriage and a friend commented on how gay culture is now seen everywhere. She said, `Why I bet this coffee is even gay.' It was a joke of course, but it got me thinking," she said.

Krueger thought it would be interesting to market a line of coffee with a gay theme, poking fun at stereotypes and cliches within the gay and lesbian community. She worried, however, that some people "wouldn't get it" and that is where friend Daniel Rivers came in.

Rivers, a visiting lecturer in the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College, encouraged Krueger to keep the camp on the front while putting cultural and historical facts on the back.

"And that was it. That took it from being just funny, to putting information into places where it normally wouldn't be," Krueger said.

Rivers did a little research and penned the educational bits on each blend. A longtime advocate of social justice and civil rights, Krueger said she had always wanted to market a product that had the potential to "make a difference."

"It's fun, it's educational and 1 percent of our profits are donated to the National Lesbian Gay Bisexual Task Force," she said. The task force helps to organize broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT legislation.

But it's not only about history, humor and social justice. Once consumers are drawn in by the marketing, Krueger hopes they will stay for the most important part, the taste.

"I roast everything here," she said of her Williamsburg shop, located a few feet off Route 9. "I have a 25-pound barrel roaster but I only roast eight to 12 pounds at a time. I could do more, but think that ratio of heat and air makes the coffee taste better," she said.

After debuting Gay Coffee at the Castro Street Fair in San Francisco on Oct. 2, she returned home and scrambled to put together an online store before the holidays. Gay Coffee took off.

"Initially I saw it as a small niche product, but the turnover has been quicker than I expected," Krueger said. So quick in fact, that Gay Coffee has already gone international. Krueger is not only sending orders throughout the U.S., but is shipping to Canada, Iceland and countries in Europe.

"I have to say I was pretty surprised when an order came in from Reykjavik!"

Locally, the brand can be purchased at Broadside Books in Northampton and Cup and Top in Florence, as well as directly from Elbow Room Coffee in Williamsburg. According to Krueger, she may add a few more blends to her repertoire.

"I would like to include some more multicultural labels and some that include the trans community. There are two or three more planned and we are always open to ideas from people," she said.

"This industry takes itself so seriously, that it is fun do a little play on branding. Obviously, coffee can't be gay, and you don't have to be gay to drink it. But I think there is a lot of room to put Gay Coffee on the shelves with other fair trade, organic artisan coffees," Krueger said.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/12/24/williamsburg_roaster_debuts_gay_coffee/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news


-----------------------------------------

And visit Gay Coffee at http://www.gaycoffee.com/

[LeftWriteFemme]

Minnesota gay community ‘apologizes’ to GOP adulteress for ruining her marriage


http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2011/12/minnesota-gay-community-apologizes-to-gop-adulteress-for-ruining-her-marriage/

[DapperButch]

Minnesota gay community ‘apologizes’ to GOP adulteress for ruining her marriage


http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2011/12/minnesota-gay-community-apologizes-to-gop-adulteress-for-ruining-her-marriage/

I LOVE this. Ha ha

[Gemme]

Thinking of those of our community who have no one....

NYC's Homeless Youth (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-siciliano/homeless-gay-youth_b_1158040.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmaing8%7Cdl15%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D122868# s555253&title=Envy)

[LeftWriteFemme]

Sounding Quiet Dissent About a Holiday Perennial [LGBT and the Salvation Army]



http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/24/us/beliefs-salvation-army-hears-dissent-over-gay-views.html?_r=1

[SoNotHer]

No More Plastic Bags in Seattle, Mexico City Closes Huge Landfill As Recycling Rises

12/23/2011
SustainableBusiness.com News

The City of Seattle City unanimously passed a bill that bans plastic bags and charges 5 cents for paper bags to encourage people to bring their own bags when they shop. Council Bill 117345, which goes into effect July 1, is intended to help clean up Puget Sound and protect marine wildlife from 292 million single-use plastic bags thrown away each year. Only 13% of those bags get recycled. Washington State consumes a total of 2 billion plastic bags a year.

In addition to environmental organizations supporting the plastic bag ban, businesses and unions advocated for the bill, including the Northwest Grocery Association, which represents the state's largest supermarkets (Safeway, Fred Meyer, QFC and Albertsons), the Washington Restaurant Association, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21, and local independent grocers.

http://media.salon.com/2007/08/plastic_bags_are_killing_us.jpg

"Of course people are not intentionally littering their bags into Puget Sound, but with so many in circulation, bags are ending up there, causing real damage to habitats and wildlife, says City Councilmember Mike O'Brien, who sponsored the bill. Bringing our own reusable bags when we go shopping is a simple step we can all take that will protect our environment and reduce unnecessary waste." Last year, for example, a gray whale washed up on shore with more than 20 plastic bags in its stomach.

Other Washington State cities, Bellingham, Edmonds and Mukilteo passed similar legislation earlier this year. More than a dozen municipalities in California, the Hawaiian islands of Maui and Kauai, and over 30 coastal towns in Alaska have banned plastic bags. Seattle's law also requires retailers charge 5 cents per paper bag they hand out to encourage people to bring their own bags, rather than just switching to paper. Retailers will keep the money as part of the incentive. Producing paper bags is actually more resource-intensive than that of plastic.

In 2008, Seattle attempted to charge 20 cents for paper and plastic bags, but strong pushback from the plastics industry killed that. The industry successfully persuaded voters to reject the measure, which they spend $1.6 million on to get on the ballot.



Mexico City Closes Landfill, As Recycling Rises

Mexico City announced it would close its landfill by the end of this year, which is one of the world's largest. The site will be turned into a recycling separation plant and composting center, and the old landfill will generate energy through landfill gas capture, but the 12,600 tons of garbage the city used to dump there will stop.The city has successfully reduced its garbage 50% by recycling and composting.

Going forward, concrete giant Cemex will buy 3,000 tons of garbage a day to convert to energy, and the remaining garbage will be dumped in smaller landfills. And a new plant will recycle construction waste into building materials. Closing the dump will cut greenhouse gas emissions by a minimum 2 million tons of carbon dioxide a year.

Mexico City has been aggressively ramping its recycling program. Whereas only 6% of waste was recycled three years ago, that percentage is now at almost 60%.

http://media.heraldonline.com/smedia/2011/12/19/18/30/971-1jn0gU.St.55.jpg

[AtLast]

No More Plastic Bags in Seattle, Mexico City Closes Huge Landfill As Recycling Rises

12/23/2011
SustainableBusiness.com News

The City of Seattle City unanimously passed a bill that bans plastic bags and charges 5 cents for paper bags to encourage people to bring their own bags when they shop. Council Bill 117345, which goes into effect July 1, is intended to help clean up Puget Sound and protect marine wildlife from 292 million single-use plastic bags thrown away each year. Only 13% of those bags get recycled. Washington State consumes a total of 2 billion plastic bags a year.

In addition to environmental organizations supporting the plastic bag ban, businesses and unions advocated for the bill, including the Northwest Grocery Association, which represents the state's largest supermarkets (Safeway, Fred Meyer, QFC and Albertsons), the Washington Restaurant Association, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21, and local independent grocers.

http://media.salon.com/2007/08/plastic_bags_are_killing_us.jpg

"Of course people are not intentionally littering their bags into Puget Sound, but with so many in circulation, bags are ending up there, causing real damage to habitats and wildlife, says City Councilmember Mike O'Brien, who sponsored the bill. Bringing our own reusable bags when we go shopping is a simple step we can all take that will protect our environment and reduce unnecessary waste." Last year, for example, a gray whale washed up on shore with more than 20 plastic bags in its stomach.

Other Washington State cities, Bellingham, Edmonds and Mukilteo passed similar legislation earlier this year. More than a dozen municipalities in California, the Hawaiian islands of Maui and Kauai, and over 30 coastal towns in Alaska have banned plastic bags. Seattle's law also requires retailers charge 5 cents per paper bag they hand out to encourage people to bring their own bags, rather than just switching to paper. Retailers will keep the money as part of the incentive. Producing paper bags is actually more resource-intensive than that of plastic.

In 2008, Seattle attempted to charge 20 cents for paper and plastic bags, but strong pushback from the plastics industry killed that. The industry successfully persuaded voters to reject the measure, which they spend $1.6 million on to get on the ballot.



Mexico City Closes Landfill, As Recycling Rises

Mexico City announced it would close its landfill by the end of this year, which is one of the world's largest. The site will be turned into a recycling separation plant and composting center, and the old landfill will generate energy through landfill gas capture, but the 12,600 tons of garbage the city used to dump there will stop.The city has successfully reduced its garbage 50% by recycling and composting.

Going forward, concrete giant Cemex will buy 3,000 tons of garbage a day to convert to energy, and the remaining garbage will be dumped in smaller landfills. And a new plant will recycle construction waste into building materials. Closing the dump will cut greenhouse gas emissions by a minimum 2 million tons of carbon dioxide a year.

Mexico City has been aggressively ramping its recycling program. Whereas only 6% of waste was recycled three years ago, that percentage is now at almost 60%.

http://media.heraldonline.com/smedia/2011/12/19/18/30/971-1jn0gU.St.55.jpg

We need to stop the use of paper bags too- the pollution from their manufacturing is actually worse than the production processes of plastic bags (yes, i didn't believe this at first.. Mega chemicals sent out to our air from paper manufacturing processing. The best thing is using canvas bags that we bring to the store when we shop. Plastic bags, however, are terrible for wildlife as the habdles on them get caught on animals. But, their actual production processes pollute less than the paper bags. Something that bothers me with cardboard recycling- again, chemicals spewn into the air. We need to cut down on as much paper production as possible- and develop less toxic ways to produce it.

We need to re-use and buy grocery bags that are reusable. Plus, stop all the damn littering!

[SoNotHer]

Right on. I carry a couple different canvas and mesh bags in the trunk of my car.

We need to stop the use of paper bags too- the pollution from their manufacturing is actually worse than the production processes of plastic bags (yes, i didn't believe this at first.. Mega chemicals sent out to our air from paper manufacturing processing. The best thing is using canvas bags that we bring to the store when we shop. Plastic bags, however, are terrible for wildlife as the habdles on them get caught on animals. But, their actual production processes pollute less than the paper bags. Something that bothers me with cardboard recycling- again, chemicals spewn into the air. We need to cut down on as much paper production as possible- and develop less toxic ways to produce it.

We need to re-use and buy grocery bags that are reusable. Plus, stop all the damn littering!

[*Anya*]

Right on. I carry a couple different canvas and mesh bags in the trunk of my car.

Great post. The city of Long Beach, of all places, banned the use of plastic bags!

No department store, grocery store, any store- gives them out anymore! I believe it started January 1, 2011.

We either remember to bring in our own canvas or recycled plastic bags, or pay 10 cents extra for any paper bag that they use for purchases.

If you don't want to pay extra for a bag and you forget your own, your cart on the way out of the store looks just like it did when you got to the register.

I must have 10 different bags in my trunk now. Sometimes I still forget to grab one on my way into a store and must pack all my purchases @ my car.

I am very happy the city did this even if inconvenient at times.

[AtLast]

Great post. The city of Long Beach, of all places, banned the use of plastic bags!

No department store, grocery store, any store- gives them out anymore! I believe it started January 1, 2011.

We either remember to bring in our own canvas or recycled plastic bags, or pay 10 cents extra for any paper bag that they use for purchases.

If you don't want to pay extra for a bag and you forget your own, your cart on the way out of the store looks just like it did when you got to the register.

I must have 10 different bags in my trunk now. Sometimes I still forget to grab one on my way into a store and must pack all my purchases @ my car.

I am very happy the city did this even if inconvenient at times.

LOL, finally, I remember to put a few in the dog mobile as well as the car trunk! SF is following in Long Beach's steps soon and all resturants here around me don't use any styrofoam any longer (thankfully!). Making sure to pout them back in vehicles after putting groceries away was my downfall. But, I have just made that part of the grocery buying experience.

Ugh... packaging in general in the US is so damn wasteful and "un-green," costing us in ways most people don't consider as personal. The cost (passed on to consumers) of landfill procurement, required environmental requirements to set them up and closure (which is monitored for years at high cost) is expensive and reflected in our waste pick-up costs.

But, our making changes individually adds up- we do make an impact by recycling and reducing consumption of things like plastic (or paper) bags. LOL, can you tell my family is in the waste and recycling industry?

[LeftWriteFemme]

Kalamazoo looks to push back against House Bill that would void anti-discrimination ordinance


http://www.wwmt.com/articles/void-1399659-house-kalamazoo.html

[LeftWriteFemme]

Lesbian couple sue Hawaii hotel for discrimination after they are 'barred from getting a room'

Diane Cervelli and Taeko Bufford claim the owner of the Aloha Bed & Breakfast in Honolulu said she cannot accommodate lesbians because of her religious beliefs

B&B 'violated' Hawaii's public accommodation law


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2076495/Lesbian-couple-sue-hotel-Hawaii-discrimination.html#ixzz1hegTGUhf


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2076495/Lesbian-couple-sue-hotel-Hawaii-discrimination.html

[Queerasfck]

Man accused of trying to kill wife over excessive Facebook use (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11360/1199422-100.stm)

[DapperButch]

Not "breaking news", but, since we have a lot of animal lovers here...what a sick creep. Click on the link for the Sacramento Bee for a more thorough story (be aware more thorough means more information on the specific abuse).

I am so glad the asshole got 10 years! If I can get the judge's contact information I am going to write him to thank him!

http://www.newser.com/story/136162/sex-assault-of-chihuahua-gets-con-10-years.html

(Newser) – A wheelchair-bound California parolee has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting an eight-month-old Chihuahua. He must also register as a sex offender in what could be the first such requirement in an animal abuse case. Robert Edward De Shields was renting space in a Sacramento house when the homeowners returned to find him with their Chihuahua, Shadow, "in pain and shock," reports the Los Angeles Times. A veterinarian examined the Chihuahua, and discovered the dog had suffered severe damage to its internal organs.

Shadow survived following surgery, according to the Sacramento Bee. The dog is currently being cared for in a foster home. "Shadow is a victim in every sense of the word," the new owner told the judge. The dog is extraordinarily fearful of men, "like many victims of sexual assault," she said, and may never fully recover from its physical wounds.

[LeftWriteFemme]

not breaking news either....



Ron Paul Refused To Use Gay Mans Bathroom


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/26/eric-dondero-ron-paul-racist-homophobic_n_1170054.html?ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay%20Voices

[LeftWriteFemme]

Teacher preventing gender bullying


This article is about a teacher who came to the realization that she had to address gender stereotyping and bullying in her Grade 1 class.


http://togetherforjacksoncountykids.tumblr.com/post/14314184651/one-teachers-approach-to-preventing-gender-bullying-in

[*Anya*]

Nearly One in Five U.S. Women Raped in Lifetime
By David Beasley

ATLANTA (Reuters) Dec 15 - Nearly 20% of women in the United States have been raped at least once and one in four has been severely attacked by an intimate partner, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Wednesday.

Almost 80% of female victims were first raped before age 25 and more than half were raped by a current or former partner, according to the CDC's analysis of data from the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey of 18,049 men and women in the United States in 2010.

The survey, which the CDC said was the first of its kind, found that one in eight female rape victims said the perpetrator was a family member.

Alaska, Oregon, and Nevada had the highest percentage of women who had been raped, the study found.

One in seven men reported having experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner and one in 71 men said they had been raped at least once.

The report highlights numerous long-term health problems associated with sexual violence, including headaches, chronic pain, and difficulty sleeping.

"This landmark report paints a clear picture of the devastating impact these violent acts have on the lives of millions of Americans," U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement.

The CDC numbers show rape "is still a crime that impacts almost every family in America," said Scott Berkowitz, president of the nonprofit group Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.

More victims need to report rape and more rapists need to go to prison, Berkowitz told Reuters.

"The more we can get off the street, the more crime we can prevent," he said.

The new report defines rape as "completed forced penetration, attempted penetration, and alcohol or drug-facilitated completed penetration."

SOURCE: http://1.usa.gov/t10uOI

CDC, 2011.

Reuters Health Information © 2011

==========================================

[Truly Scrumptious]

It feels really strange to say "thanks" for this . . . but thanks for bringing it to our attention.



Nearly One in Five U.S. Women Raped in Lifetime
By David Beasley

ATLANTA (Reuters) Dec 15 - Nearly 20% of women in the United States have been raped at least once and one in four has been severely attacked by an intimate partner, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Wednesday.

Almost 80% of female victims were first raped before age 25 and more than half were raped by a current or former partner, according to the CDC's analysis of data from the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey of 18,049 men and women in the United States in 2010.

The survey, which the CDC said was the first of its kind, found that one in eight female rape victims said the perpetrator was a family member.

Alaska, Oregon, and Nevada had the highest percentage of women who had been raped, the study found.

One in seven men reported having experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner and one in 71 men said they had been raped at least once.

The report highlights numerous long-term health problems associated with sexual violence, including headaches, chronic pain, and difficulty sleeping.

"This landmark report paints a clear picture of the devastating impact these violent acts have on the lives of millions of Americans," U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement.

The CDC numbers show rape "is still a crime that impacts almost every family in America," said Scott Berkowitz, president of the nonprofit group Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.

More victims need to report rape and more rapists need to go to prison, Berkowitz told Reuters.

"The more we can get off the street, the more crime we can prevent," he said.

The new report defines rape as "completed forced penetration, attempted penetration, and alcohol or drug-facilitated completed penetration."

SOURCE: http://1.usa.gov/t10uOI

CDC, 2011.

Reuters Health Information © 2011

==========================================

[*Anya*]

Study Endorses HPV Testing for All Women Over 30

LONDON (Reuters) Dec 15 - New DNA tests looking for the virus responsible for most cases of cervical cancer make sense for all women aged 30 or over, since they can prevent more cases of cancer than Pap smears alone, Dutch researchers say.

Results of a five-year study involving 45,000 women provided the strongest evidence yet in favor of using human papillomavirus (HPV) testing, Dr. Chris Meijer and colleagues from the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam reported in The Lancet Oncology on December 15.

In recent years, tests for high-risk HPV strains have been developed by companies including Roche and Qiagen.

The new tests are known to work well in detecting HPV, but the Dutch study is the first to show they are better than Pap smears alone over two screening rounds set five years apart.

The researchers, who looked at women aged 29 to 56, said use of HPV tests led to earlier detection of pre-cancerous lesions, allowing for treatment that improved protection against cancer.

Dr. Hormuzd Katki and Dr. Nicolas Wentzensen from the U.S. National Cancer Institute said the results reinforced earlier findings, and provided "overwhelming evidence" of the benefits of including HPV testing in cervical screening programs.

The government-backed U.S. Preventive Services Task Force currently urges women who have been sexually active and have a cervix to get Pap smears at least every three years. However, the group recommends against routinely screening women over 65 if they had normal results on a recent Pap smear.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/sXFXKa

Lancet Oncol, 2011.

Reuters Health Information © 2011
==========================================

[AtLast]

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/28/2564649/iranian-oil-threat-is-mostly-bluster.html

Iranian oil threat is mostly bluster, say observers

I sure hope it is bluster- I don't trust that the US could get into another military intervention in the region.

[Kobi]

This doesnt erase the concerns raised in the previous article regarding his defense team using GID as part of their strategy but it does explain the potential rationale behind using it.



NEW YORK (Reuters) - While it may appear that the government's document-leaking case against U.S. Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning is strong, the defense could have some surprising leverage with prosecutors and force plea negotiations.

Prosecutors may in particular find it difficult to prove the 24-year-old Manning intended to provide the information to enemies of the United States such as al Qaeda, and that the information was helpful to them, legal experts said.

Manning faces 22 charges of participating in the largest leak of classified government documents in history, including the accusation that he had unauthorized possession of information related to national defense and that he stole records belonging to the United States.

At a hearing that concluded last week, military prosecutors presented evidence that Manning downloaded thousands of classified or confidential files that later made their way to the WikiLeaks website. In his closing summation at the hearing, Captain Ashden Fein, the lead prosecutor, said Manning was a well-trained soldier who "used that training to defy our trust."

"He gave the enemies of the United States unfettered access to these documents," Fein said.

Manning's case is being reviewed by investigating officer Lieutenant Colonel Paul Almanza, who will make a recommendation by January 16 on whether or not the military should court-martial Manning.

A court-martial, which could be a few months away, is not much different from a civilian criminal trial. The charges against the accused in a court-martial must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, just like in civilian court.

The biggest difference is that jurors in a court-martial consist exclusively of members of the military. There were about

1,900 Army courts-martial in fiscal year 2010 and about 60 acquittals, according to U.S. military justice statistics.

If convicted of all counts, Manning would face a maximum punishment of life imprisonment, reduction in rank to the lowest enlisted pay grade, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and a dishonorable discharge, the Army says. The charge of aiding the enemy is a capital offense, but the Army has indicated it will not seek the death penalty.

'SKY IS NOT FALLING'

Although legal observers agree the government's case is a good one, some speculate that prosecutors could have a tough time proving the most serious charge that Manning gave information to the enemy.

During the preliminary hearing, Manning's lawyer, David Coombs, sought to demonstrate that the audience for the leaked information was not foes of the United States, but the American people, and that the country was not put in any danger due to the leaks.

"The sky is not falling, the sky has not fallen and the sky will not fall," said Coombs.

Some military law experts also question whether the government will be able to prove that Manning intended the information to reach militant groups such as al Qaeda. Merely proving that he intended the information to be displayed on the WikiLeaks website may not be enough to convict him of that charge, said some experts.

It could also be difficult for the government to prove that the information was particularly valuable to al Qaeda, said Eugene Fidell, who teaches military law at Yale Law School.

"What is it that he has told al Qaeda indirectly that is of value to al Qaeda? Is everything that is hurtful to the United States in the eyes of the world of value to al Qaeda? I don't think so," Fidell said.

By underscoring those uncertainties, Coombs may have paved the way for a more favorable plea deal, said David Velloney, a military law expert who is a professor at the Regent University School of Law. In the best-case scenario for the defense, Almanza would recommend that Manning not face the charge at a court-martial of giving information to the enemy. Such a recommendation, made to a higher-ranking officer, is not binding. But it could convince the military prosecutors to drop the charge.

"If you can win one battle there and have the government say, 'Nah, that's not such a good idea we go forward on that charge,' then that's a windfall for the defense before the trial begins," Velloney said.

Coombs has signaled he also has some cards to play at any potential sentencing. At a court-martial, there are two stages -- one to determine culpability and the other to determine a sentence. During the sentencing stage, the defense can offer extenuating and mitigating circumstances that would justify a lighter sentence than sought by the government

Throughout the hearing to determine whether a court-martial is appropriate, Coombs attempted to portray Manning as emotionally unstable with gender-identity issues who should not have had access to sensitive government files.

Combs cited emails and memos showing that Manning's superiors were aware of his gender issues and his need for therapy. But no effective action was taken, Coombs argued. The same arguments about Manning's unit could be presented at any potential sentencing.

"They're going to air all the government's dirty laundry," said Velloney. "It potentially softens the government in any plea deal."

(Reporting by Andrew Longstreth; Editing by Peter Cooney)

http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-mannings-legal-strategy-could-lead-plea-deal-002309634.html

[LeftWriteFemme]

Woman Killed In X-Mas Day Hit-And-Run Dreamt Of Building Housing For Gay Teens



http://www.queerty.com/woman-killed-in-x-mas-day-hit-and-run-dreamt-of-building-housing-for-gay-teens-20111228/

[LeftWriteFemme]

Archbishop of Chicago under fire for comparing Gay Pride parade to Ku Klux Klan




http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2079641/Archbishop-Chicago-defends-comparison-Gay-Pride-parade-Ku-Klux-Klan.html

[LeftWriteFemme]

NC Baptist Leader Hopes That Marriage Will Be Kept Away from Gay 'Sinners' in a 'Civil' Manner


http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/12/27/2878351/pastor-hopes-for-civil-marriage.html

[Cin]

Why Are American Citizens Getting Locked Up and Even Deported By Immigration Authorities?

Over 4,000 citizens were detained or deported in 2010 alone.

...“Secure Communities” is the latest of these controversial programs, introduced and piloted by the Bush administration in 14 jurisdictions beginning in 2008. According to an October 2011 report by researchers at UC-Berkeley School of Law, “Secure communities by the numbers,” the program has "expanded dramatically" under President Obama and is currently "active in 1,595 jurisdictions in 44 states and territories, a 65% increase since the beginning of this year." Since the beginning of Obama's term, his administration has overseen the deportation of 1.1 million people, “the highest number in six decades" according to the New York Times. ICE is so pleased with Secure Communities, it plans to expand its reach to all US jurisdictions by 2013.

The program requires local jails to crosscheck fingerprints of jailed individuals with Homeland Security's immigration database. If a positive match is found, federal immigration officials can issue detainers that authorize local law enforcement to hold the suspect in custody for up to 48 hours.

However, the DHS database is riddled with flaws, as demonstrated by the growing number of US citizen being wrongfully tagged. The New York Times notes, “Unlike the federal criminal databases administered by the FBI, Homeland Security records include all immigration transactions, not just violations. An immigrant who has always maintained legal status, including those who naturalized to become American citizens, can still trigger a fingerprint match.”

Although it's difficult to obtain an exact number of Americans illegally detained by ICE, Jacqueline Stevens, a political science professor at Northwestern University estimates that over 4,000 US citizens were detained or deported in 2010 alone. According to a study published by Stevens last spring, this raises the total number of American citizens detained or deported since 2003 to well over 20,000.

The Times points out that “Any case where an American is held, even briefly, for immigration investigation is a potential wrongful arrest because immigration agents lack legal authority to detain citizens.” Stevens has even referred to the “potential wrongful arrest” of US citizens as “kidnapping” because “ICE has no jurisdiction over U.S. citizens.”

Furthermore, wrongful detention and deportation is not limited to US citizens with easily accessible state-issued identification in their wallets. As Joshua Holland notes, "permanent residents, students, tourists, and people seeking asylum from torture and persecution are also swept up in the maw of Homeland Security in not-insignificant numbers." If American citizens, like Montejano, who are guaranteed the right to due process, have trouble proving their citizenship to the authorities, it's likely even more difficult for legal residents as well as other vulnerable populations, such as the mentally disabled, who may lack a clear understanding of the circumstances.

Mark Lyttle, a North Carolina native with a mental disability, spent four months wandering around Central America after being deported in 2008 because he told jail officials that he was born in Mexico City, Mexico. According to the Associated Press, Lyttle was "coerced and manipulated" by immigration agents into signing false statements that allowed his deportation.

According to his lawyers, Lyttle, who spoke no Spanish, was flown to Texas and "forced to disembark and sent off on foot into Mexico, still wearing the prison-issued jumpsuit.” Over the next 115 days, Lyttle drifted around Central America with no identification or proof of citizenship, which got him arrested and jailed in Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua. Meanwhile, his family was frantically searching for him with no help from the authorities whatsoever. The ACLU has since filed a federal lawsuit on his behalf.

Sadly, this shameful episode isn’t the first of its kind. Lyttle’s abuse at the hands of immigration enforcement sounds eerily similar to the deportation of another mentally disabled American citizen, Pedro Guzman. Holland explains how the "mentally disabled U.S. citizen who was born and raised in Los Angeles, was deported to Mexico last year, sparking a frantic search by relatives until he was finally found, three months later, alone and desperately trying to get back to the United States."

More recently, an immigration detainer mistakenly snared Romy Campos, a 19-year-old American college student. Following a November 12 arrest for a minor misdemeanor, Campos was held in a California jail for four days and denied bail.

She was assigned a public defender in state court, but the attorney told her that nothing could be done to lift the federal detainer. Campos wasn't released until four days later when ACLU attorney Jennie Pasquarella provided ICE with Campos' Florida birth certificate. Campos is a dual citizen of the US and Spain and has both a US and Spanish passport, which she has used interchangeably. Because she once entered the US with her Spanish passport, she is recorded in the DHS database.

“I felt misused completely, I felt nonimportant, I just felt violated by my own country,” Campos told the Times. While her detention was inexcusable, Campos is one of the luckier ones who got out quickly. Others have been detained for weeks and even months before proving their citizenship...

The rest of the article is here: http://www.alternet.org/immigration/153499/why_are_american_citizens_getting_locked_up_and_ev en_deported_by_immigration_authorities/?page=entire

[Cin]

40 Years of a Pointless, Tragic Drug War -- But As Feds Crack Down, Reformers Fight Back

Tension between popular will and the political establishment makes this a time of hope and frustration for the drug reform movement.


http://images.alternet.org/images/managed/storyimages_1321052633_krippygsuxcoxndix.jpg_640x3 19_310x220

ARTICLE:http://www.alternet.org/drugs/153585/40_years_of_a_pointless%2C_tragic_drug_war_--_but_as_feds_crack_down%2C_reformers_fight_back/

[LeftWriteFemme]

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
NY AP TOP NEWS
Advocates: More gay-friendly senior housing needed

Experts say many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender seniors fear discrimination, disrespect or worse by health care workers and residents of elder housing facilities — ultimately leading many to go back into the closet after years of being open about their sexual orientation.


http://online.wsj.com/article/AP47f232ad97bc456a84aee1e09bae4136.html

[*Anya*]

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
NY AP TOP NEWS
Advocates: More gay-friendly senior housing needed

Experts say many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender seniors fear discrimination, disrespect or worse by health care workers and residents of elder housing facilities — ultimately leading many to go back into the closet after years of being open about their sexual orientation.


http://online.wsj.com/article/AP47f232ad97bc456a84aee1e09bae4136.html

Lord, maybe I better get on that waiting list of hundreds now for that gay housing facility
in LA...maybe they will have an opening by the time I retire. I figure I will be able to afford to retire by the time I am 70.

All of the other RN's and social workers that I work with joke (not-so-funny) that we will be pushing our walkers in here until they boot us out.

[SoNotHer]

Rescue group in crisis mode after cat euthanized
AP – 19 hrs ago

http://cmsimg.freep.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C4&Date=20111228&Category=NEWS07&ArtNo=111228041&Ref=V1&MaxW=300&Border=0&Arizona-cat-humane-society-euthanized

PHOENIX (AP) — Animal lovers threatened to pull donations to an animal rescue group and the public flooded the agency with scathing comments and calls after a man's cat was euthanized when he couldn't afford its medical care, prompting the Arizona Humane Society to go into damage-control mode Wednesday.

The group has hired a publicist, removed dozens of comments on its Facebook page and directed a team of five volunteers to respond to the overwhelming calls and emails it has received since The Arizona Republic published a weekend story about Daniel Dockery and his 9-month-old cat, Scruffy.

Dockery, a 49-year-old recovering heroin addict, told the Phoenix newspaper that he took Scruffy to a Humane Society center on Dec. 8 because she had a cut from a barbed-wire fence, an injury that he described as non-life-threatening. The agency said it would cost $400 to treat Scruffy, money he didn't have.

The Humane Society cited policy when it declined to accept a credit card over the phone from Dockery's mother in Michigan or to wait for her to wire the money. The staff said if he signed papers surrendering the cat, Scruffy would be treated and put in foster care, he said.

Instead, Scruffy was euthanized several hours later.

Dockery told the Republic that he was devastated.

"Now I've got to think about how I failed that beautiful animal," Dockery said. "I failed her. ... That's so wrong. There was no reason for her not to be treated."

He described the cat as helping him stay off drugs for more than a year, the longest he had ever been clean. He hand-fed the feline before she opened her eyes at 4 days old, giving her fresh tuna and letting her sleep on his pillow.

Stacy Pearson, who was hired by the agency specifically to deal with media questions about the cat, said Dockery's case has led to two changes. The Arizona Humane Society has set up an account, funded through donations, that would cover the costs of emergency treatment of animals whose owners need a day or two to come up with money for payments. And the group is now accepting credit card payments by phone, Pearson said.

Dozens of scathing comments have since inundated the group's Facebook page, with animal lovers demanding to know why the cat was put down. Pearson said angry comments were removed because of their content: One called for the staff to be euthanized, while another said what happened to Scruffy was murder.

Pearson said Scruffy was put down over a number of reasons, including Dockery's lack of immediate funds, a lack of veterinarians to treat her and what Pearson described as a very serious cut on Scruffy from her abdomen to her knee that went to the muscle.

She said the Arizona Humane Society at the time didn't accept credit card payments over the phone because of possible fraud and can't treat pets with only a promise from owners that they can pay the next day. She said staff had every intention of getting Scruffy the help she needed but the number of animals requiring help at the group's second-chance clinic was too much for the resources available.

If Dockery had been able to pay, Scruffy would have been treated at the facility where he brought her, Pearson said.

"There was no malicious intent to take Scruffy away from her father," Pearson said. "Pulling funding is only going to make a problem like this worse."

On Facebook, where only the agency's executive director is allowed to post comments now, Guy Collison wrote that "Scruffy's story is heartbreaking, and underscores the worst-case-scenario of need eclipsing resources available." He said that his agency has always done what's best for animals.

In less than an hour after his statement was posted, more than 100 people responded, with most slamming the agency and some defending it as doing the best it can with available resources.

Pearson said the group told Dockery on Tuesday that when he's ready for another pet, he could come in and pick one out, but he declined, telling them: "No thanks."

[UofMfan]

Kelly Clarkson Endorses Ron Paul, Gets Twitter Hate Over Racism, Homophobia (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/29/kelly-clarkson-endorses-ron-paul-twitter-hate_n_1174612.html) ~ HuffPo

[SoNotHer]

Great list, and I'm delighted to see Frank Kameny made it -

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/galleries/2011/12/18/2011-obituaries-the-minds-we-ll-miss.html

http://www.thedailybeast.com/content/newsweek/galleries/2011/12/18/2011-obituaries-the-minds-we-ll-miss/jcr:content/gallery/slide_13/image.img.1324173637930.jpg

[DapperButch]

http://sanmateo.patch.com/articles/layaway-angels-phenom-spreading?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D123761

I'm in! :)

[*Anya*]

updated 12/29/2011 11:23:17
Romney wants ads during 'Sesame Street'

By Paul Bond
Hollywood Reporter

It's safe to say that none of the Republican candidates for president are quite as enamored with public funding for the arts as the Democrats are, but Mitt Romney was making it an issue Wednesday, claiming he'll even cut off PBS.

To be sure, Big Bird and the rest of the "Sesame Street" Muppets probably aren't endangered. They'll just have to go commercial, if Romney gets his way.

In order to balance the budget, Romney told supporters in Iowa Wednesday, he'll "stop certain programs."

"Close them. Turn 'em off. Even some you like," he said. "You might say, 'I like the National Endowment for the Arts.' I do," Romney said. "I like PBS. We subsidize PBS. Look, I'm going to stop that. I'm going to say that PBS is going to have to have advertisments."

"We're not going to kill Big Bird," Romney said. "But Big Bird is going to have advertisments. All right?"
"I happen to think it's immoral for us to keep spending money we don't have, and passing on to our kids our obligations," Romney told supporters at Homer's Deli in Clinton, Iowa. "My test is, is a program so critical that it's worth borrowing money from China to pay for it."
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which delivers a portion of the funding for PBS and other public-broadcasting entities, spent $422 million in 2010 while the NEA has given more than $4 billion in grants since it was created in 1965.

[*Anya*]

12/29/11 BBC NEWS:

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has vowed to press ahead with her campaign, a day after a high-profile defection.
Her Iowa chairman, Kent Sorenson, endorsed Texas Congressman Ron Paul on Wednesday night, hours after appearing alongside Mrs Bachmann.

She says Mr Sorenson was offered "a lot of money" by the Paul campaign, an allegation denied by both.

The candidates are making their final pitch to voters ahead of Iowa's caucus.

The Hawkeye state's 3 January gathering marks the start of the six-month period during which each US state will hold primary elections or caucuses to pick a Republican candidate, who will be officially nominated at the party convention in August.

In the wake of Mr Sorenson's departure, Mrs Bachmann's Iowa political director, Wes Enos, said on Thursday he would also be leaving the Bachmann campaign.

This development follows comments Mr Enos made asserting that Mr Sorenson's defection had nothing to do with money. "I am no longer serving in an official capacity with the campaign," Mr Enos told the Associated Press news agency, adding he does not plan on working with another candidate.

In other developments in Iowa on Thursday:

The second poll in as many days showed former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum vaulting into third place in Iowa on 16% behind Mitt Romney on 23% and Mr Paul on 22%

A super-political action committee backing Mr Romney kept up its pressure on Newt Gingrich, releasing a new attack ad lambasting the former House Speaker's "mistakes"

Five Occupy the Caucus protesters were arrested in front of Ron Paul's campaign headquarters while demonstrating over his proposal to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency

Separately, 12 Occupy protesters were arrested outside the Democratic Party headquarters in Des Moines, including a 14-year-old girl, who was released at the scene and handed over to her father.

Mrs Bachmann, meanwhile, insisted her campaign was "strong", and that it had received many calls of support following Mr Sorenson's exit.

The Minnesota congresswoman alleges he told her during a telephone call this week about a financial inducement from her rival's organisation.

The Ron Paul campaign and Mr Sorenson, an Iowa state senator, again denied that claim.

Mr Sorenson told CNN he wanted to back a candidate who could stop former Massachusetts Governor Romney from winning Iowa.

"It's unfortunate they're resorting to these type of tactics," he said of the Bachmann campaign. "But the fact of the matter is she wasn't going to win Iowa."

The eventual Republican candidate will challenge Barack Obama for the White House in November 2012.
Many voters are concerned by the pace of economic recovery from the recession that started during the end of the presidency of George W Bush and ended in 2009.

[Kobi]

"My test is, is a program so critical that it's worth borrowing money from China to pay for it."


I dont know about commercials on PBS, but it would be nice if Romney and every politician used the "is it worth borrowing money for this" as something to guide them in decision making.

[LeftWriteFemme]

Both lesbian moms have parental rights, Daytona court rules in custody dispute


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/volusia/os-lesbian-custody-battle-florida-20111229,0,5618859.story

[LeftWriteFemme]

Can you fucking believe this????


Bishops Say Rules on Gay Parents Limit Freedom of Religion

Roman Catholic bishops in Illinois have shuttered most of the Catholic Charities affiliates in the state rather than comply with a new requirement that says they must consider same-sex couples as potential foster-care and adoptive parents if they want to receive state money

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/29/us/for-bishops-a-battle-over-whose-rights-prevail.html?_r=2

[LeftWriteFemme]

Ron Paul’s Links to Anti-Gay Religious Extremists




http://www.frontiersla.com/News/Context/Story.aspx?ID=1632755

[LeftWriteFemme]

Judge denies bid to block start of civil unions Sunday


U.S. District Judge Michael Seabright denied this afternoon a request by two churches for a restraining order to block a law that goes into effect Sunday permitting same-sex couples to enter civil unions.

Joshua Wisch, spokesman for the attorney general's office, said as a result of the ruling, the civil unions law will "go into effect as planned on Jan. 1, 2012."

The Emmanuel Temple and the Lighthouse Outreach Center Assembly of God asked for the order.

They argued that although they will be exempt from performing same-sex civil unions, they would face civil penalties and fines if they refused to rent their property for same-sex civil unions.

In a 17-page opinion, Seabright ruled that the churches have not shown they are entitled to the restraining order.

He said "it is clear that the present dispute is not ripe for the granting of a TRO."

[DapperButch]

Judge denies bid to block start of civil unions Sunday


U.S. District Judge Michael Seabright denied this afternoon a request by two churches for a restraining order to block a law that goes into effect Sunday permitting same-sex couples to enter civil unions.

Joshua Wisch, spokesman for the attorney general's office, said as a result of the ruling, the civil unions law will "go into effect as planned on Jan. 1, 2012."

The Emmanuel Temple and the Lighthouse Outreach Center Assembly of God asked for the order.

They argued that although they will be exempt from performing same-sex civil unions, they would face civil penalties and fines if they refused to rent their property for same-sex civil unions.

In a 17-page opinion, Seabright ruled that the churches have not shown they are entitled to the restraining order.

He said "it is clear that the present dispute is not ripe for the granting of a TRO."

Not sure what article you are quoting, but wanted to throw one up for this topic. http://lezgetreal.com/2011/12/judge-refuses-to-block-hawaiis-civil-union-law/

Civil Unions begin in Delaware as of January 1, 2012, as well.

[Kobi]

Is anyone but me concerned about the implications of this?

-----------------------

PARIS (Reuters) - The euro could become the world's leading currency in the next decade if leaders of the single-currency bloc succeed in tightening fiscal integration, European Central Bank policymaker Christian Noyer said in an article to be published in the Journal du Dimanche.

European leaders struck a historic deal at an emergency summit in Brussels on December 9 to draft a new treaty for deeper economic union, in an attempt to stem the debt crisis that is threatening to cause the collapse of the single currency.

The news temporarily calmed markets. But concerns quickly resurfaced as the final details of the agreement have yet to be determined and a new treaty could take up to three months to negotiate.

Ratings agency Fitch has said it doubts a comprehensive solution to the crisis can be found and urged more decisive action from the ECB.

"If we implement all the decisions taken at the Brussels summit we will emerge stronger," Noyer said in the article, due to be published to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of the euro on January 1.

"In 10 years, maybe the euro will be the world's number one currency."

Noyer, who is also governor of the Bank of France, waxed lyrical about the merits of the euro, saying it had protected purchasing power, improved trade and competitiveness and made workers increasingly mobile.

In the past decade, the euro had become the world's second reserve currency after the dollar, and the only eurosceptics were outside the monetary union, he said.

Contrasting with Noyer's nostalgia, an opinion poll also due to be published in Sunday's Journal du Dimanche showed 50 percent of French people thought the single currency had been a bad idea, compared with 35 percent who approved.

A separate article in Saturday's Le Parisien showed the price of an average shopping basket had risen 22 percent since the euro first came into circulation, with certain basic goods such as the baguette rising up to 30 percent.

http://news.yahoo.com/euro-could-become-worlds-leading-currency-noyer-191853289.html

[AtLast]

Ron Paul’s Links to Anti-Gay Religious Extremists




http://www.frontiersla.com/News/Context/Story.aspx?ID=1632755

I am having a big problem with how many young "Occupy" people back Ron Paul. WTF!!???Then, again, I do believe government has a role in a free society. But there has been so damn much corruption in our system, they are just fed up.

[Tommi]

http://i37.tinypic.com/2isz11z.gif

[Slowpurr]

Yes. I am as concerned as I am about the possible collapse of US currency from any means including the adaptation of the euro as the global reserve currency. I am fresh out of gold. However, I hope that it remains in no one's best interest to have this happen quickly and in an unstable manner. It isn't like Europe isn't in a world of shit of their own.



[QUOTE=Kobi;496097]

Is anyone but me concerned about the implications of this?

[Glenn]

Since the meeting was in Brussels, which houses the "Beast" - a computer designed with the capacity to hold id's for everyone born on Earth, I now can conclude that everyone will soon be tagged (chipped) in some way. This has been in the works for years as a back up emergency system in the event of a catastrophy.Of course,you will still be charged interest for 'The Beast's' services, which means, if you can't pay what the Beast asks, you grow your own food or die.

[Slowpurr]

Of course,you will still be charged interest for 'The Beast's' services, which means, if you can't pay what the Beast asks, you grow your own food or die.

Why of course I will pay it. Afterall it is for the good of the people...right? :readfineprint:

[betenoire]

Glenn are you doing a comedy bit right now? A wee bit of satire?

[sanee66]

One of the best women I know sent this to me in Facebook. Wouldn't a lot of lives be different if we had parents like this.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2011/12/11/led-child-who-simply-knew/SsH1U9Pn9JKArTiumZdxaL/story.html

[AtLast]

Yes, this concerns me. What concerns me more is the lack of knowledge of most in the US that we are just not a financial island and that we absolutely could be affected negatively by what happens inside the Euro Zone. Then again, look at the lack of knowledge overall of basic US history among our citizens as well as even more ignorance about global interconnectedness and its effect upon us. Ignorance is bliss.

[SoNotHer]

Obama Makes It Official: Suspected Terrorists Can Be Indefinitely Detained Without a Trial

Despite having once threatened to veto the bill due to controversial language about the treatment of suspected terrorists, the president signed the controversial National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law on Saturday. Barack Obama did not keep his lingering concerns about aspects of the bill law a secret, however. In justifying his decision to sign NDAA into law, Obama said in a statement, "I have signed the Act chiefly because it authorizes funding for the defense of the United States and its interests abroad, crucial services for service members and their families, and vital national security programs that must be renewed." He continued, "The fact that I support this bill as a whole does not mean I agree with everything in it. In particular, I have signed this bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected terrorists." (We've pasted the full statement at the bottom of this post.) While the president recently used his signing of the payroll tax cut extension as a photo op -- see above -- he seemed almost ashamed of this signature. Of the controversial detention provisions, Obama concludes, "My Administration will aggressively seek to mitigate those concerns through the design of implementation procedures and other authorities available to me as Chief Executive and Commander in Chief, will oppose any attempt to extend or expand them in the future, and will seek the repeal of any provisions that undermine the policies and values that have guided my Administration throughout my time in office."

The decision will inevitably become fodder for criticism as Obama ramps up his 2012 reelection campaign. This is the same bill that Ron Paul recently compared to the Patriot Act but with more dire implications. "When the bar is low enough to include political enemies, our descent into totalitarianism is virtually assured," Paul said earlier this week. "The recently passed National Defense Authorization Act continues that slip into tyranny, and in fact, accelerates it significantly." Happy New Year?



Statement by the President on H.R. 1540:

Today I have signed into law H.R. 1540, the "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012." I have signed the Act chiefly because it authorizes funding for the defense of the United States and its interests abroad, crucial services for service members and their families, and vital national security programs that must be renewed. In hundreds of separate sections totaling over 500 pages, the Act also contains critical Administration initiatives to control the spiraling health care costs of the Department of Defense (DoD), to develop counterterrorism initiatives abroad, to build the security capacity of key partners, to modernize the force, and to boost the efficiency and effectiveness of military operations worldwide.

The fact that I support this bill as a whole does not mean I agree with everything in it. In particular, I have signed this bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected terrorists. Over the last several years, my Administration has developed an effective, sustainable framework for the detention, interrogation and trial of suspected terrorists that allows us to maximize both our ability to collect intelligence and to incapacitate dangerous individuals in rapidly developing situations, and the results we have achieved are undeniable. Our success against al-Qa'ida and its affiliates and adherents has derived in significant measure from providing our counterterrorism professionals with the clarity and flexibility they need to adapt to changing circumstances and to utilize whichever authorities best protect the American people, and our accomplishments have respected the values that make our country an example for the world.

Against that record of success, some in Congress continue to insist upon restricting the options available to our counterterrorism professionals and interfering with the very operations that have kept us safe. My Administration has consistently opposed such measures. Ultimately, I decided to sign this bill not only because of the critically important services it provides for our forces and their families and the national security programs it authorizes, but also because the Congress revised provisions that otherwise would have jeopardized the safety, security, and liberty of the American people. Moving forward, my Administration will interpret and implement the provisions described below in a manner that best preserves the flexibility on which our safety depends and upholds the values on which this country was founded.

Section 1021 affirms the executive branch's authority to detain persons covered by the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) (Public Law 107-40; 50 U.S.C. 1541 note). This section breaks no new ground and is unnecessary. The authority it describes was included in the 2001 AUMF, as recognized by the Supreme Court and confirmed through lower court decisions since then. Two critical limitations in section 1021 confirm that it solely codifies established authorities. First, under section 1021(d), the bill does not "limit or expand the authority of the President or the scope of the Authorization for Use of Military Force." Second, under section 1021(e), the bill may not be construed to affect any "existing law or authorities relating to the detention of United States citizens, lawful resident aliens of the United States, or any other persons who are captured or arrested in the United States." My Administration strongly supported the inclusion of these limitations in order to make clear beyond doubt that the legislation does nothing more than confirm authorities that the Federal courts have recognized as lawful under the 2001 AUMF. Moreover, I want to clarify that my Administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens. Indeed, I believe that doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a Nation. My Administration will interpret section 1021 in a manner that ensures that any detention it authorizes complies with the Constitution, the laws of war, and all other applicable law.

Section 1022 seeks to require military custody for a narrow category of non-citizen detainees who are "captured in the course of hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force." This section is ill-conceived and will do nothing to improve the security of the United States. The executive branch already has the authority to detain in military custody those members of al-Qa'ida who are captured in the course of hostilities authorized by the AUMF, and as Commander in Chief I have directed the military to do so where appropriate. I reject any approach that would mandate military custody where law enforcement provides the best method of incapacitating a terrorist threat. While section 1022 is unnecessary and has the potential to create uncertainty, I have signed the bill because I believe that this section can be interpreted and applied in a manner that avoids undue harm to our current operations.

I have concluded that section 1022 provides the minimally acceptable amount of flexibility to protect national security. Specifically, I have signed this bill on the understanding that section 1022 provides the executive branch with broad authority to determine how best to implement it, and with the full and unencumbered ability to waive any military custody requirement, including the option of waiving appropriate categories of cases when doing so is in the national security interests of the United States. As my Administration has made clear, the only responsible way to combat the threat al-Qa'ida poses is to remain relentlessly practical, guided by the factual and legal complexities of each case and the relative strengths and weaknesses of each system. Otherwise, investigations could be compromised, our authorities to hold dangerous individuals could be jeopardized, and intelligence could be lost. I will not tolerate that result, and under no circumstances will my Administration accept or adhere to a rigid across-the-board requirement for military detention. I will therefore interpret and implement section 1022 in the manner that best preserves the same flexible approach that has served us so well for the past 3 years and that protects the ability of law enforcement professionals to obtain the evidence and cooperation they need to protect the Nation.

My Administration will design the implementation procedures authorized by section 1022(c) to provide the maximum measure of flexibility and clarity to our counterterrorism professionals permissible under law. And I will exercise all of my constitutional authorities as Chief Executive and Commander in Chief if those procedures fall short, including but not limited to seeking the revision or repeal of provisions should they prove to be unworkable.

Sections 1023-1025 needlessly interfere with the executive branch's processes for reviewing the status of detainees. Going forward, consistent with congressional intent as detailed in the Conference Report, my Administration will interpret section 1024 as granting the Secretary of Defense broad discretion to determine what detainee status determinations in Afghanistan are subject to the requirements of this section.

Sections 1026-1028 continue unwise funding restrictions that curtail options available to the executive branch. Section 1027 renews the bar against using appropriated funds for fiscal year 2012 to transfer Guantanamo detainees into the United States for any purpose. I continue to oppose this provision, which intrudes upon critical executive branch authority to determine when and where to prosecute Guantanamo detainees, based on the facts and the circumstances of each case and our national security interests. For decades, Republican and Democratic administrations have successfully prosecuted hundreds of terrorists in Federal court. Those prosecutions are a legitimate, effective, and powerful tool in our efforts to protect the Nation. Removing that tool from the executive branch does not serve our national security. Moreover, this intrusion would, under certain circumstances, violate constitutional separation of powers principles.

Section 1028 modifies but fundamentally maintains unwarranted restrictions on the executive branch's authority to transfer detainees to a foreign country. This hinders the executive's ability to carry out its military, national security, and foreign relations activities and like section 1027, would, under certain circumstances, violate constitutional separation of powers principles. The executive branch must have the flexibility to act swiftly in conducting negotiations with foreign countries regarding the circumstances of detainee transfers. In the event that the statutory restrictions in sections 1027 and 1028 operate in a manner that violates constitutional separation of powers principles, my Administration will interpret them to avoid the constitutional conflict.

Section 1029 requires that the Attorney General consult with the Director of National Intelligence and Secretary of Defense prior to filing criminal charges against or seeking an indictment of certain individuals. I sign this based on the understanding that apart from detainees held by the military outside of the United States under the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, the provision applies only to those individuals who have been determined to be covered persons under section 1022 before the Justice Department files charges or seeks an indictment. Notwithstanding that limitation, this provision represents an intrusion into the functions and prerogatives of the Department of Justice and offends the longstanding legal tradition that decisions regarding criminal prosecutions should be vested with the Attorney General free from outside interference. Moreover, section 1029 could impede flexibility and hinder exigent operational judgments in a manner that damages our security. My Administration will interpret and implement section 1029 in a manner that preserves the operational flexibility of our counterterrorism and law enforcement professionals, limits delays in the investigative process, ensures that critical executive branch functions are not inhibited, and preserves the integrity and independence of the Department of Justice.

Other provisions in this bill above could interfere with my constitutional foreign affairs powers. Section 1244 requires the President to submit a report to the Congress 60 days prior to sharing any U.S. classified ballistic missile defense information with Russia. Section 1244 further specifies that this report include a detailed description of the classified information to be provided. While my Administration intends to keep the Congress fully informed of the status of U.S. efforts to cooperate with the Russian Federation on ballistic missile defense, my Administration will also interpret and implement section 1244 in a manner that does not interfere with the President's constitutional authority to conduct foreign affairs and avoids the undue disclosure of sensitive diplomatic communications. Other sections pose similar problems. Sections 1231, 1240, 1241, and 1242 could be read to require the disclosure of sensitive diplomatic communications and national security secrets; and sections 1235, 1242, and 1245 would interfere with my constitutional authority to conduct foreign relations by directing the Executive to take certain positions in negotiations or discussions with foreign governments. Like section 1244, should any application of these provisions conflict with my constitutional authorities, I will treat the provisions as non-binding.

My Administration has worked tirelessly to reform or remove the provisions described above in order to facilitate the enactment of this vital legislation, but certain provisions remain concerning. My Administration will aggressively seek to mitigate those concerns through the design of implementation procedures and other authorities available to me as Chief Executive and Commander in Chief, will oppose any attempt to extend or expand them in the future, and will seek the repeal of any provisions that undermine the policies and values that have guided my Administration throughout my time in office.

BARACK OBAMA

THE WHITE HOUSE, December 31, 2011.

From -

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/12/obama-makes-it-official-suspected-terrorists-can-be-indefinitely-detained-without-trial/46818/

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at aestes@theatlantic.com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.

[Cin]

Vampire Squid Watch: 4 Scary Economic Trends for 2012
Top economic thinkers explain why 2012 will be a year of continued – and escalating – predation by financiers.

Having been seen to twitch – ever so slightly – in the 2011 tidal wave of global protests, the vampire squid is stirring in its evil lair. Reports of sucking noises and new tentacles sprouting in every direction tell us that the global financial monster is poised to steal yet more wealth and resources from the public in the coming year. Top economic thinkers have shared their forecasts with AlterNet, and the focus is clear: 2012 will be a year of continued – and escalating – predation by financiers. Their influence over political, financial, and economic activity is likely to grow – along with potential for harm.

1. Back-door Bailout of the Eurozone

Would you like more of your hard-earned money to flow to fatcats? Wish granted! Attorney Walker Todd, who spent two decades in the legal departments of the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Cleveland, names the back-door bailout of the eurozone banking system by our very own Federal Reserve as the top economic story of the upcoming year – or, at least one of the most outrageous. In a nutshell, the Fed is helping European banks by opening up the short-term ‘emergency’ lending pipeline, which means that U.S. taxpayers are indirectly bailing out private European capitalists. This is being done through a bit of financial hocus pocus called “swaps” – essentially the trading of dollars for euros. Such a maneuver allows the Fed to prop up European banks while claiming that it is not 'technically' directly lending. In other words, swaps are an attempt to hide the truth from the public.

As Gerald O’Driscoll put it in the Wall Street Journal: “This Byzantine financial arrangement could hardly be better designed to confuse observers, and it has largely succeeded on this side of the Atlantic, where press coverage has been light.” O'Driscoll observes that the Fed has no authority to bail out European banks and warns of what economists call “moral hazard” – the nasty habit of banks to engage in even riskier behavior when they get bailed out.

Why is this happening? Well, because the squid is strangling morality, democracy, and the rule of law. We pay, they play. “This is an attempt by our own governing elites to maintain a false vision of how the world works, or how ‘we’ think it should work,” Todd told AlterNet. “This comes at the expense of many people who never will go to Europe, who know no European bankers, and who have no European bank accounts.”

You may not know a European banker, but you can be sure that one is just now raising a glass of bubbly in your honor. After all, you paid for it.

2. Record-breaking Political Finance

What does corporate dough buy? Newspapers and elections and presidents, oh my!

Thomas Ferguson of the University of Massachusetts, Boston and the Institute for New Economic Thinking suggested that next year’s very biggest stories could well be about corporate money influencing politics. He told AlterNet he saw a real possibility that a serious third party candidate for president might emerge; if one does, it will be bankrolled from the right while promoted in public as representing the political “center.” And it will also be designed to give corporate America many of the policies it has long sought, such a trimming Social Security and eviscerating the social safety net. "People are going to be astonished at how lethal the combination of secret money and corporate mass media will be to the public’s interest," said Ferguson.

Ferguson was confident that the 2012 elections would break all records for political finance, but he did add a sobering qualification. He thought there was an outside chance that the world economic slowdown would provoke really serious unrest in China or Europe on a scale that would put American developments in the shade.

3. Executive Pay Explosion

Since the Great Recession of 2008-2009, the prime beneficiaries of the sluggish recovery have been…you guessed it!....top corporate executives. And it looks like the good times will keep rolling – for them. William Lazonick, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, predicts an escalation of the harmful practice of corporate stock buybacks, which produces the explosion in executive pay.

As Lazonick explained to AlterNet, corporate honchos have enjoyed a windfall as they have cashed in their stock options in a generally rising stock market. This kind of thing does absolutely zilch for the economy. But here’s what it does do: spending on buybacks makes executives rich and results in manipulative boosts to stock prices in the short-term at the cost of investments in innovation and job creation. “Look for buybacks to continue to increase in 2012, perhaps surpassing the record $600 billion done by S&P 500 companies in 2007,” predicted Lazonick.

What to do? Maybe it’s time for Congress to confront the reality of that predatory monster, the financialized business corporation. Lazonick suggests that a ban on buybacks (which is already in the purview of the Securities Exchange Act) would be a good start. Unfortunately this idea is at odds with prediction #2.

4. Pathological Corporate Leadership

Jamie Dimon never seems to seize an opportunity to keep his mouth shut. JP Morgan's CEO, who happens to be the highest-paid chief executive officer among the six biggest U.S. banks, has consequently regaled us with his worldview, in which bank regulations are “anti-American” and ordinary folks have no right to be mad at rich people. He has become the poster-boy for Wall Street greed and has earned the especial ire of the Occupy movement, which recently marched to his digs on Park Avenue to offer to help him pack his bags and go wreak havoc somewhere else. In his universe, defrauding investors, spreading lies to manipulate markets, and foreclosing on military families are all part of a good day’s work.

Dimon is a particularly nasty customer, but he is part of a new breed of sociopathic financiers. And his kind of distorted ‘vision’ has harmed the country’s prospects and created a gap in America between the richest and the poorest that puts us in close range of Rwanda and Serbia.

When those at the top of the corporate pyramid are this tone-deaf and lacking in any sense of public responsibility, we are in treacherous waters.

“The biggest danger to America is that the people in the financial sector and corporate leadership convey no awareness of what is needed to create a coherent and prosperous society,” economist Rob Johnson, head of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, told AlterNet. “Leadership is not simply about how much money one makes.”

Many dollars. Very little sense. Ultimately, hoarding everything at the top is not sustainable, and bankers like Dimon will end up destroying the very society that makes their enormous wealth possible. If we let them.

And that, Reader, is what's on the horizon. As a friend of mine is fond of saying, if you want a happy ending, see a Disney movie.

[Cin]

Well apparently it wasn't the fear mongering of those in power that led to the Patriot Act and beyond. It wasn't the ever vigilant power elite recognizing an amazing opportunity to not just take away our freedoms and rights, but to have us willingly and most cheerfully surrender them in exchange for a lie of safety and security. Nope. Apparently the Patriot Act and all the undermining of the principles of liberty that followed was a direct result of The Civil Rights Act of 1964. Who knew?

Ron Paul Believes Segregation-Ending Civil Rights Act "Destroyed Privacy"
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/757517/ron_paul_believes_segregation-ending_civil_rights_act_%22destroyed_privacy%22/

This guy is like some kind of disease. But what is even scarier is that the right, the moneyed right, is made up of people who, at least privately, share these kinds of ideas. And they have too much money to go away.

[LeftWriteFemme]

Spain’s Just-Former PM Calls Gay Marriage His Proudest Achievement



http://www.queerty.com/spains-just-former-pm-calls-gay-marriage-his-proudest-achievement-20111228/

[UofMfan]

I guess it is true what they say about Alabama. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/04/alabama-crimson-tide-hey-homeauxs_n_1183435.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003&ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false) ~ HuffPo

[Hollylane]

A FB share from Ivan Ivonavich:

As long term freelance writer for Xtra, in the form of my column, I have been troubled by the paper's handling of the pronoun use of Elisha Lim (they prefer the they pronoun, and Xtra resisted) and the Lexi Sanfino name discussion that has been happening just recently. Just last month, I received a letter myself from a student at a college in New York State whose PROFESSOR had assigned their entire class extra grades for hunting down my legal name. I know how fucked this stuff feels for my own life and heart. Here is my buddy Rae's statement. Please read it, think about it and share it if it moves you.

Rae Spoon Tumblr - Instead Of An Interview With Xtra (http://raespoon.tumblr.com/post/15242754277/instead-of-an-interview-with-xtra)

[Kobi]

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Just 15 years old, Sahar Gul has become the bruised and bloodied face of women's rights in Afghanistan. The teenage bride's eyes were swollen nearly shut as she was wheeled into the hospital seven months after her arranged marriage. Black scabs crusted her fingertips where her nails used to be.

According to officials in northeastern Baghlan province, Gul's in-laws kept her in a basement for six months, ripped her fingernails out, tortured her with hot irons and broke her fingers — all in an attempt to force her into prostitution. Police freed her after her uncle called authorities.

The horrific images, captured by television news cameras last week, transfixed Afghanistan and set off a storm of condemnation. President Hamid Karzai set up a commission to investigate, and his health minister visited her bedside. Police arrested her in-laws, who denied abusing her. A warrant was issued for her husband, who serves in the Afghan army.

The case highlights both the problems and the progress of women 10 years after the Taliban's fall. Gul's egregious wounds and underage wedlock are a reminder that girls and women still suffer shocking abuse. But the public outrage and the government's response to it also show that the country is slowly changing.

"Let's break the dead silence on women's plight," read the title of an editorial Wednesday in the Afghanistan Times.

Despite guaranteed rights and progressive new laws, Afghanistan still ranks as the world's sixth-worst country for women's equality in the U.N. Development Program's annual Gender Inequality Index. Nevertheless, Afghan advocates say attitudes have subtly shifted over the years, in part thanks to the dozens of women's groups that have sprung up.

Fawzia Kofi, a lawmaker and head of the women's affairs commission in the Afghan parliament, says the outcry over a case like Gul's probably would not have happened just a few years ago because of deep cultural taboos against airing private family conflicts and acknowledging sexual abuse — such as forcing a woman into prostitution.

"I think there is now a sense of awareness about women's rights. People seem to be changing and seem to be talking about it," Kofi said.

Ending abuse of women is a huge challenge in a patriarchal society where traditional practices include child marriage, giving girls away to settle debts or pay for their relatives' crimes and so-called honor killings in which girls seen as disgracing their families are murdered by their relatives.

And some women activists worry that their hard-won political rights may erode as foreign troops withdraw and Karzai's government seeks to negotiate with the Taliban to end their insurgency. Women's rights, they fear, may be the first to go in any deal with the hardline Islamic militants.

"I'm afraid we won't have all this anymore if the Taliban are allowed back into society," said Sima Natiq, a longtime activist.

Freedoms for women are one of the most visible — and symbolic — changes in Afghanistan since 2001 U.S.-led campaign that toppled the Taliban regime. Aside from their support for al-Qaida leaders, the Taliban are probably most notorious for their harsh treatment of women under their severe interpretation of Islamic law.

For five years, the regime banned women from working and going to school, or even leaving home without a male relative. In public, all women were forced wear a head-to-toe burqa veil, which covers even the face with a mesh panel. Violators were publicly flogged or executed. Freeing women from such draconian laws lent a moral air to the Afghan war.

As U.S. troops begin to draw down, activists say Afghanistan is unmistakably a better place to be born female than a decade ago.

In parliament, 27 percent of lawmakers are female, mostly because the constitution reserves 68 seats for women. More than 3 million girls are in schools, making up 40 percent of the elementary school population, according to the education ministry. A survey last year indicated that women dying in childbirth had dropped by nearly two-thirds to below 500 per 100,000 live births since 2005, although that is still one of the world's highest rates.

Still, for every improvement, there are other signs of women's continued misery. The U.N. says more than half of Afghanistan's female prison population is made up of women sentenced by local courts for fleeing their marriages — the charge is often phrased as "intent to commit adultery," even though that's not a crime under Afghan law. And the U.N. women's agency UNIFEM estimates that half of all girls are forced to marry under age 15, even though the legal marriage age is 16.

"There's very good standards on paper. There's very active women's networks," said Georgette Gagnon, the U.N.'s human rights director in Afghanistan. "A lot has been done, but there is still a long way to go."

A U.N. report in November also found that a 2009 law passed to protect Afghan women from violence was rarely enforced. For the 12-month period ending in March 2011, prosecutors filed indictments in 155 cases, only 7 percent of all 2,299 crimes reported. And activists say those complaints are a small fraction of the true level of abuse.

Part of the problem is the ingrained attitudes of police and courts that cause them to turn a blind eye or even send women back to their abusers, said Latifa Sultani, coordinator for women's protection with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.

"Some local officials still believe women shouldn't have rights," Sultani said.

Last month, Karzai pardoned a 19-year-old woman who was imprisoned after she was raped and impregnated by a cousin. A local court sentenced her to 12 years in prison for having sex out of wedlock, a crime in Afghanistan. The judge told her she could get out of prison if she agreed to marry her alleged rapist, but she refused and gave birth to her daughter in prison.

Passing laws that protect women is one thing, enforcing them is another. Women's groups are pressing Karzai to do more, but most acknowledge that with the central government so weak, the real battle will be fought in individual police stations, courtrooms and prosecutors' offices. Not least will be persuading Afghans to change their views.

That's why the gruesome story of Sahar Gul's imprisonment and torture is seen by some activists as an opportunity for the government to recommit publicly to women's rights. They say are encouraged that Karzai felt compelled by the outcry to become involved.

"This is a sign of progress in a way," Kofi said. "This is just a small example. We have hundreds of thousands of women like Sahar Gul who are victims of violence, but their voices are not heard."

For now, Gul remains in a Kabul hospital, where she transferred from a local hospital in Baghlan province. An Afghan official said this week that she will be sent to India for further medical treatment. It's unclear where she will go when she returns to Afghanistan.

http://news.yahoo.com/hope-afghan-outcry-over-brides-abuse-195905756.html

[Kobi]

KABUL (Reuters) - Being a feminist in Afghanistan isn't always easy, even for a man. Kabul university student Ferdous Samim has had trouble persuading even his own mother that the work he does pushing for women's rights is worthwhile.

"Part of the problem in Afghanistan is that most women think like men," said Samim over tea in the garden of a Kabul cafe.

"I don't have a sister, but I'm sure if I did, and she tried to go outside the house, my mother would be asking where she was going, what she was doing, why she was going out."

A member of the male advocacy wing of activist group YoungWomen4Change, he is part of a small but critical group of male activists helping Afghan women fight for a better life.

His modest goal for the next two decades -- that women should be able to walk in Afghanistan's streets and markets without harassment -- is a reminder of the scale of the challenge women still face.

Forced marriage is still rife, rape victims have been jailed for "forced adultery," and a woman is more likely to die in childbirth in Afghanistan than anywhere else on earth.

And many of the men with power to change how women are treated -- from mullahs to tribal elders -- are not willing to listen to female activists.

Men have played an important role in feminist movements around the world, but the segregation of much of Afghan society makes their role particularly important.

Ahmad Nader Nadery, Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) commissioner, said opening doors for female campaigners is one of the most important things he does.

"Once we open the door to the mullahs, we engage them in discussion, we break the ice," he says. "Then our female trainers come and they also speak. But we start first."

CLOSED FAMILIES, HIDDEN PAIN

Afghanistan is still recovering from the strict social conservatism of the Taliban, whose hardline laws during their 1996-2001 rule marginalized women, stripping them of the right to work, study or move freely.

Many independent agencies say women are still subject to widespread discrimination and oppression.

Nadery says powerful men often fail to take into account the impact of their decisions on women's lives.

This is particularly a problem in cases related to forced or abusive marriages, or when women are given in marriage to settle disputes -- a practice known as "baad."

"Families are very closed," Nadery said. "Once a woman enters another family, her story will never get out. Most of those elders, those decision makers, don't know the suffering she goes through."

The AIHRC works with elders, runs workshops, and produces documentaries and dramas to illustrate how damaging baad and other abusive traditions can be. The men they target are often shocked by what they learn, Nadery says.

Nonetheless, changing minds remains an uphill battle. "It is a long process of work with them," says Nadery, who credits his feminism to coming from a family of strong women.

Legislation does exist to protect women but activists say it is often disregarded by courts, and in some areas officials are intimidated or bribed into ignoring women's pleas for help.

Across town from the AIHRC, in a small, busy office filled with teetering piles of paper, veteran civil rights campaigner Lal Gul is another male feminist, working for change through his Afghanistan Human Rights Organization.

He helped build up the number of female lawyers available to defend gender-specific cases; about a quarter of the 1,200 defense lawyers on the independent bar register are now women.

"Through our defense lawyers, we are registering the cases of women, providing legal aid to them, and protecting their rights, especially in human rights abuse cases like rape cases, forced marriage, divorce, domestic violence," Gul says.

The bearded, avuncular Gul became involved in civil rights after an experience more common for women than men -- forced marriage. He was engaged at the age of seven and married, while he was away, a decade later.

FAMILY PRESSURE

Activists admit that despite their work, change will be hard. Conservative values can be so strict that women who fail to conform are persecuted by their own families.

And campaigners struggle against a widely held assumption that those agitating for women's rights are pushing an anti-Islamic, or anti-Afghan, agenda.

Samim says fighting for women's rights is not only compatible with his religion and nationality, but part of it.

"I believe in order for me to be a good Afghan or a good Muslim, I must be a good human and respect everyone's rights," he says.

Working in activists' favor is a widespread hunger for a better life. In rural Herat, a bearded, turbaned elder says he is mobilizing nearby villages to encourage women's education in a bid to cut the western region's abysmal maternal death rate.

In Kabul, the capital's young professionals say they need women's input to rebuild the Afghan economy after three decades of war.

"We can't develop Afghanistan without the participation of women," says Farhad Ahmad of law firm Alexander, Safi & Associates International.

"We should be encouraging women in politics, in social life, in economic life, in every aspect of life."


http://news.yahoo.com/afghan-men-crucial-advocates-womens-rights-095628971.html

[MsTinkerbelly]

Binational San Francisco couple will not be split up by deportation
By Jacob Combs

Good news from the San Francisco Chronicle today:

Bradford Wells and Anthony John Makk, a bi-national, married gay couple who have lived most of the 19 years of their relationship in San Francisco’s Castro district, today won a two year stay against the threat of deportation, thanks to the personal intervention of their representative, House leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and state Sen. Mark Leno, a Democrat who represents parts of San Francisco, also provided assistance.

[...]

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a letter to Makk today saying he has been granted “deferred action” on his case for two years. The letter said the action is “an exercise of prosecutorial discretion” that allows the agency not to pursue deportation for a specific period. Makk met multiple conditions of the agency’s new guidelines for immigration agents to prioritize deportation cases, including family ties, status as a primary caregiver, lack of criminal record and his long period of legal residence under a series of visas that eventually expired.

Although it’s great to hear that couples like Bradford and Anthony are being spared from separation, cases like theirs show just how important it is to repeal DOMA, either legislatively or in the courts. Couples who are legally married in their home state and have resided there for almost 20 years should never have to worry about being split up because of their immigration status

[LeftWriteFemme]

Tennessee Anti-Bullying Law Change Could Allow Students To Speak Out Against Gays For Religious Reasons: Report



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/04/tennessee-anti-bullying-law-change-gays-religion-_n_1183915.html

[LeftWriteFemme]

Chris Gregoire, Washington Governor, Announces Support For Gay Marriage Bill

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/455448/thumbs/r-CHRISTINE-GREGOIRE-GAY-MARRIAGE-large570.jpg


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/04/chris-gregoire-washington-gay-marriage_n_1184167.html?icid=maing-grid7

[LeftWriteFemme]

George Michael Has Some Choice Words For The People Who Prayed For His Death

Did you know that while I was fighting for my life in Austria, there were a bunch of those lovely American ‘Christian’ organizations, who call themselves ‘Christians for a Moral America,’ who were actually taking the time to pray for me to die. How very sweet of them, considering how busy they must be on the whole. Now don’t get me wrong, I know for a fact that many devout Christians, such as the ones I work, rest, and play with on a daily basis, are truly wonderful, kindhearted men and women who take the best parts of that religion and live admirable, generous and loving lives. But in my opinion, and I think made evident by those who prayed for my death, there are others who use their twisted interpretations of ancient scriptures as a pathetic excuse to be totally fucked-up cock-sucking bastards.
And not in a good way!”

[UofMfan]

New Girl Scout Cookie: Savannah Smiles Celebrates Girl Scouts' 100th Year ~ HuffPost (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/04/new-girl-scout-cookie_n_1184573.html)


I'll need to get my hands on a box of these.

[Sassy]

New Girl Scout Cookie: Savannah Smiles Celebrates Girl Scouts' 100th Year ~ HuffPost (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/04/new-girl-scout-cookie_n_1184573.html)


I'll need to get my hands on a box of these.

Yum! Thanks for sharing :) Can't wait for cookie season. *big grin*

[Julien]

I find this completely over the top. The Catholic church once again telling LGBT people that their privacy is the church's business.



http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_t3#/video/us/2012/01/05/dnt-ct-church-program-gay.wfsb

[Cin]

The U.S. loves SOPA so much they want every country to have one just like it. The U.S. has for years been bullying countries into passing stringent internet copyright and patent laws. If countries don't comply they are added to the Special 301 Report that is used to intimidate them with political pressure and potential trade sanctions.

It amazes me that of all the things to get your panties in a twist about, internet copyright law is the big issue to the U.S. Not coercing countries surrounding human rights violations or violence against women or disturbing environmental practices. Not bullying countries into protecting the world's oceans or a million other issues, nope the U.S. will use it's might, it's right to straighten out copyright and patent law on the internet. Gee I wonder who benefits from moves like that.

The latest country to be taken to task is Spain. Considering that newly departed Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero feels that the ruling he’s most proud of from his nearly eight years in office is the passage of full marriage rights for his gay and lesbian countrymen, Spain might be able to show the U.S. a thing or two about doing the right thing.

Here are articles about the U.S.'s crusade to take internet censorship global:
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/759574/us_government_bullies_spain_into_passing_sopa-like_website_blocking_law/
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/12/not-so-gentle-persuasion-us-bullies-spain-proposed
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/shaping-ip-laws-not-so-gentle-persuasion-special

[UofMfan]

Kristy McNichol Officially Comes Out to Help Bullied Kids. (http://www.shewired.com/box-office/2012/01/06/kristy-mcnichol-officially-comes-out-help-bullied-kids#.TweZwVvULJU.facebook)


About time!

[Cin]

Corporate Profits Up. Taxes Not.
Laura Flanders on January 6, 2012 - 5:51pm ET

Is there a prize for denial in economics reporting? If so, the competition this week was tighter than an Iowa caucus…

Runner-up prize has got to go to the cheer-peddlers covering the December jobs report. The private sector added 212,000 jobs in December; the official unemployment rate is down to 8.5 percent. Take that, you preachers of double-dip recession doom, say the cheer-peddlers, the horizon’s looking bright.

Reliably, Dean Baker has a grasp on reality: “At this pace, we would not get back to pre-recession levels of unemployment until 2027.” Baker points out that a quarter of the (very similar) gains made this time last year came from one industry—couriers—and by this time last year, all of those couriers newly hired in December were once again out of work. Even on their face, the numbers aren’t that good. Government jobs took a beating—falling by 12,000 (280,000 over the year); 5.6 million workers continue to be unemployed for twenty-seven weeks or longer, with devastating impact on their job prospects.

The prize for denial this week, though, has to go to coverage of a Bureau of Economic Analysis report on corporate taxes. The Wall Street Journal headline was classically upbeat: “U.S. Tax Haul Trails Profit Surge.” That’s one way of putting it. In a nutshell: corporate profits rose to a record high ($1.97 trillion) in the third quarter of 2011, while corporate income tax payments did not. Corporate taxes were under $200 billion in November, well below the pre-crisis $380 billion and still far below what the government’s counting on—$332 billion for 2012.

Why corporate receipts have grown so slowly is “really puzzling,” one economist tells reporter David Reilly. Dutifully puzzled, Reilly trudges through all the possible explanations—globalization, tax breaks, bookkeeping technicalities—until he concludes, you’ve just gotta have hope: “Eventually, as the economy regains ground, breaks like accelerated depreciation expire and companies burn through things like deferred tax assets, actual taxes paid should increase. But it may be a painful wait until they do.” (Painful, because of course, government will shrink spending and squeeze more out of the rest of us to make up for the corporate freeloaders.)

There’s no reason to agree with Reilly that change is in the works. Corporate tax payments haven’t shrunk by accident over the last year or two. It’s not a matter of “Honey, I shrunk corporate tax!” Corporate income taxes have been on a planned slide for half a century: 26.4 percent of federal revenues in 1950; by 2007 they had fallen to 14.4 percent. In 2011, individual income taxes were $1.09 trillion, compared with $181 billion in corporate taxes.

Why? Oh why could that possibly be? Maybe it has something to do with who owns Capitol Hill.Ask Senator Dick Durbin if you forget.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/165502/corporate-profits-taxes-not

[Cin]

24 States Enacted 92 Abortion Restrictions In 2011

Lawmakers across the nation pursued a record number of reproductive health and rights-related provisions in 2011. Here's a rundown of the worst.

January 8, 2012 |

Lawmakers across the nation pursued a record number of reproductive health and rights-related provisions in 2011, a new report from the Guttmacher Institute finds, enacting 135 measures in 36 states — “an increase from the 89 enacted in 2010 and the 77 enacted in 2009.” Sixty-eight percent of the provisions — 92 in 24 states — restricted access to abortion services:

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/restrictions2012.gif

Here is a sampling of 2011 in abortion law:

– Bans: The most high-profile state-level abortion debate of 2011 took place in Mississippi, where voters rejected the ballot initiative that would have legally defined a human embryo as a person “from the moment of fertilization,” setting the stage to ban all abortions and, potentially, most hormonal contraceptive methods in the state. Meanwhile, five states (AL, ID, IN, KS and OK) enacted provisions to ban abortion at or beyond 20 weeks’ gestation.

– Waiting Periods: Three states adopted waiting period requirements for a woman seeking an abortion. In the most egregious of the waiting-period provisions, a new South Dakota law would have required a woman to obtain pre-abortion counseling in person at the abortion facility at least 72 hours prior to the procedure; it would also have required her to visit a state-approved crisis pregnancy center during that 72-hour interval.

– Ultrasound: Five states adopted provisions mandating that a woman obtain an ultrasound prior to having an abortion. The two most stringent provisions were adopted in North Carolina and Texas and were immediately enjoined by federal district courts. Both of these restrictions would have required the provider to show and describe the image to the woman.

– Insurance Coverage: Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Utah adopted provisions prohibiting all insurance policies in the state from covering abortion except in cases of life endangerment; they all permit individuals to purchase additional coverage at their own expense. These new restrictions bring to eight the number of states limiting abortion coverage in all private insurance plans.

– Clinic Regulations: Four states enacted provisions directing the state department of health to issue regulations governing facilities and physicians’ offices that provide abortion services. A new provision in Virginia requires a facility providing at least five abortions per month to meet the requirements for a hospital in the state. New requirements in Kansas, Pennsylvania and Utah direct the health agency to develop standards for abortion providers.

Nine states also passed laws making it harder to avoid pregnancy in the first place. Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Washington, Wisconsin, Montana, New Hampshire, and Texas reduced funding for family planning programs, with the Lone Star State reducing its reproductive health budget by as much as 66 percent. Indiana, Colorado, Ohio, North Carolina Texas and Wisconsin, meanwhile, “moved to disqualify or otherwise bar certain types of providers from the receipt of family planning funds” and “New Hampshire decided not to renew its contract through which the Planned Parenthood affiliate in the state received Title X funds.”

http://www.alternet.org/story/153689/24_states_enacted_92_abortion_restrictions_in_2011/

[SoNotHer]

U.S. Bans Mining Claims Near Grand Canyon

by The Associated Press
January 9, 2012

http://www.mining.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/grand_canyon_wikipedia1.jpg

The Obama administration announced Monday a 20-year ban on new mining claims on more than 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon, among the most well-known and visited natural wonders in the United States. The area is known to have large reserves of high-grade uranium ore, and critics contend the ban. The decision ignored pressure from congressional Republicans and mining industry figures who wanted a policy change to open the area for additional mining claims. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the 20-year ban at an event Monday in Washington.

Temporary bans had been imposed twice by the Obama administration. Salazar said uranium remains an important part of a comprehensive energy strategy but said the Grand Canyon is a national treasure that must be protected. The vast canyon in northeastern Arizona attracts more than 4 million visitors a year and generates an estimated $3.5 billion in economic activity, Salazar said. Millions of Americans living in cities including Phoenix, the Arizona capital, and Los Angeles, California, rely on the Colorado River for clean drinking water.

"A withdrawal is the right approach for this priceless American landscape," Salazar said in a speech at the National Geographic Museum. "People from all over the country and around the world come to visit the Grand Canyon. Numerous American Indian tribes regard this magnificent icon as a sacred place, and millions of people in the Colorado River Basin depend on the river for drinking water [and] irrigation."

As Interior Secretary, he has been "entrusted to care for and protect our precious environmental and cultural resources," Salazar said, adding that he has chosen "a responsible path that makes sense for this and future generations." Conservation groups call the 20-year ban a crucial protection for an American icon. The mining industry and some Republican members of Congress say it is detrimental to Arizona's economy and the nation's energy independence.

Republican members of Arizona's congressional delegation have lambasted the temporary bans imposed by Salazar in 2009 and again last year. They say a permanent ban on the filing of new mining claims would eliminate hundreds of jobs and unravel decades of responsible resource development. Rep. Jeff Flake, an Arizonan, and other Republican lawmakers had backed legislation that would prevent Salazar from moving forward with the 20-year ban.

"The secretary's decision to rule out mining on more than one million acres of federal land deprives the United States of energy and minerals critically important to its economy and does so without compelling scientific evidence that is necessary for such a far-reaching measure," said Hal Quinn, president and CEO of the National Mining Association.

Environmental groups call the ban a long-awaited but decisive victory, noting that the Colorado River, which runs through the Grand Canyon, is the source of drinking water for 26 million Americans. "Secretary Salazar has defended the Southwest's right to plentiful, clean water and America's dedication to one of our most precious landscapes," said Dusty Horwitt, senior counsel for the Environmental Working Group, a Washington-based advocacy group.

"Despite significant pressure from the mining industry, the president and Secretary Salazar did not back down," said Jane Danowitz, U.S. public lands director for the Pew Environment Group. Salazar said the ban would not affect more than 3,000 mining claims already staked in the area near the Grand Canyon. The administration of former President George W. Bush had opened the land to new mining claims. Salazar reversed the Bush policy in 2009 and put in set up a two-year moratorium on new mining claims around the canyon. He followed up with a six-month extension last year.

Supporters of the ban say any increase in mining jobs is not worth risks to the Colorado River, lands considered sacred by American Indian tribes or wildlife habitat. A mining mishap also could be disastrous for tourism in a park that ranks among the nation's most-visited by Americans and foreign tourists alike.

[MsDemeanor]

Kristy McNichol Officially Comes Out to Help Bullied Kids. (http://www.shewired.com/box-office/2012/01/06/kristy-mcnichol-officially-comes-out-help-bullied-kids#.TweZwVvULJU.facebook)


About time!

Really. Like everyone didn't already know.

[ButchEire]

Seriously. Shocker. Not. Move along people, nothing to see here.


Really. Like everyone didn't already know.

[LeftWriteFemme]

Gay marriage a threat to humanity's future: Pope



http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/09/us-pope-gay-idUSTRE8081RM20120109

[Toughy]

Gay marriage a threat to humanity's future: Pope



http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/09/us-pope-gay-idUSTRE8081RM20120109

Pope Benedict said Monday that gay marriage was one of several threats to the traditional family that undermined "the future of humanity itself."

If only gay marriage and us gay folks WERE actually that powerful.........maybe we should start really acting like we have that kind of power........

[Toughy]

Really. Like everyone didn't already know.

I'm shocked..............I did not know.......I am crushed.............

(did you believe the above?????)

[Cin]

Why Is Public Education Being Outsourced to Online Charter Schools?
Virtual charter schools are educating kids on computer screens, instead of in classrooms.
January 8, 2012 |

Virtual charter schools, which offer classes online instead of in a classroom, have become the fastest-growing segment of the charter school industry. And while data on their effectiveness is scarce, state legislators across the country are passing laws to expand cyber schools at the behest of privatization advocates and online education companies at an alarming rate, with little regulation.

The Associated Press reports that more than 200,000 kindergarten to 12th grade students are enrolled in full-time “virtual charter schools” in at least 40 states. That number soars to two million schoolchildren nationwide when one takes into account students who are enrolled in at least one course...

...Just like brick-and-mortar charter schools, online charter schools receive public education funding per each student they enroll. A recent New York Times investigation that focused specifically on K12 Inc.’s online schools revealed that the company “tries to squeeze profits from public school dollars by raising enrollment, increasing teacher workload and lowering standards” among other things:

"Despite lower operating costs, the online companies collect nearly as much taxpayer money in some states as brick-and-mortar charter schools. In Pennsylvania, about 30,000 students are enrolled in online schools at an average cost of about $10,000 per student. The state auditor general, Jack Wagner, said that is double or more what it costs the companies to educate those children online."

One of the more creative schemes the company employs to boost revenue is to set up shop in poverty-stricken school districts that could potentially, depending on the state, collect higher public education subsidies. The Times references a school K12 recently established in Union County, Tennessee, where 25 percent of the population is plagued by poverty.

Complete article here:http://www.alternet.org/education/153680/why_is_public_education_being_outsourced_to_online _charter_schools/?page=entire

[Cin]

New Study Shows Child Abuse Rate in Homes With Lesbian Parents Is Zero

On the one hand, it's an extreme shame that we have to post stories that tell people, "don't worry, queer people can raise kids -- here's the proof," but the sad truth is that queer parents are still discriminated against legally (not to mention socially) and studies like a recent one from the Williams Institute at UCLA from their U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS) shows some interesting stuff.

The study is "the longest-running study ever conducted on American lesbian families (now in its 24th year)." Huff Po reports, "In an article published today in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, the 17-year-old daughters and sons of lesbian mothers were asked about sexual abuse, sexual orientation, and sexual behavior."

Here's what they found:

The paper found that none of the 78 NLLFS adolescents reports having ever been physically or sexually abused by a parent or other caregiver. This contrasts with 26 percent of American adolescents who report parent or caregiver physical abuse and 8.3 percent who report sexual abuse.

According to the authors, "the absence of child abuse in lesbian mother families is particularly noteworthy, because victimization of children is pervasive and its consequences can be devastating. To the extent that our findings are replicated by other researchers, these reports from adolescents with lesbian mothers have implications for healthcare professionals, policymakers, social service agencies, and child protection experts who seek family models in which violence does not occur."

Moral of the story: lesbian parents rock (but you probably already knew that).

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/760986/new_study_shows_child_abuse_rate_in_homes_with_les bian_parents_is_zero/

[Cin]

Eric Boehlert calls out media for failing to cover SOPA

Media Matters’ Eric Boehlert appeared Monday on The Young Turks to discuss the fact that the highly controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was absent from mainstream television news coverage.

Major media outlets, including ABC, CBS, Comcast/NBC, Viacom, News Corporation and Time Warner, support the legislation. It would allow authorities to block websites accused of copyright infringement.

“There’s a clear conflict of interest,” Boehlert pointed out. “And that’s fine, news companies often have to deal with these conflicts of interest.”

“They’re part of a larger corporate entity and their is going to be these conflicts. So if you have a conflict you think you’d go out of your way to tell everyone about the conflict and to report on it.”

“In this case, unfortunately what we’ve seen is basically that there has been no coverage,” he said, adding that the only coverage has appeared online.

1coanHoiZz0

[Kätzchen]

Eric Boehlert calls out media for failing to cover SOPA

Media Matters’ Eric Boehlert appeared Monday on The Young Turks to discuss the fact that the highly controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was absent from mainstream television news coverage.

Major media outlets, including ABC, CBS, Comcast/NBC, Viacom, News Corporation and Time Warner, support the legislation. It would allow authorities to block websites accused of copyright infringement.

“There’s a clear conflict of interest,” Boehlert pointed out. “And that’s fine, news companies often have to deal with these conflicts of interest.”

“They’re part of a larger corporate entity and their is going to be these conflicts. So if you have a conflict you think you’d go out of your way to tell everyone about the conflict and to report on it.”

“In this case, unfortunately what we’ve seen is basically that there has been no coverage,” he said, adding that the only coverage has appeared online.

1coanHoiZz0

I'm glad you posted this article about SOPA.

I bet a fav professor of mine is hot on the trail of this issue: I have a good idea why they're being so tight lipped about it but when I do a bit more research on this subject, I think I will find out some things that will piss me the f^ck off.

You know what really upsets me most about things like this?
People are in this industry for a reason; and they collect a salary that keeps them from falling off the grid in society and when your ability to earn a living is threatened, more than likely, in my estimation, the ordinary person will not call them out on what they're doing.

I'll be quiet for now, but I promise to come back when I learn a few more things. ~D

[UofMfan]

Really. Like everyone didn't already know.


Well of course that was not the breaking news. It was how long it took her.
And in my opinion, how useless it is at this time since those she is trying to "help out" do not even know who she is/was.

Too little, too late.

I am thinking she is looking for publicity.

[Kobi]

Reuters) - A Texas law requiring that an ultrasound image be shown to a pregnant woman and the sound of the fetal heartbeat be played before an abortion is performed does not violate the Constitution, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday.

The appeals court overturned a federal judge's decision to block the law. The ultrasound requirements do not infringe on abortion providers' free speech rights, it said.

"The required disclosures of a sonogram, the fetal heartbeat, and their medical descriptions are the epitome of truthful, non-misleading information," Chief Judge Edith Jones wrote for the three-judge panel.

The Texas law, enacted in 2011, requires abortion providers to display the ultrasound images and describe them in detail. Women cannot decline to hear the physician's description of the image unless they qualify for an exception including rape, incest or an abnormal fetus.

A coalition of abortion providers sued to block the law in June 2011, arguing that the law made doctors a "mouthpiece" for the state's ideological message. The First Amendment includes protections against compelled speech.

The challengers, represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights, also argued that disclosure of the sonogram and fetal heartbeat was not "medically necessary" and therefore beyond the state's power to regulate the practice of medicine.

A federal judge in Austin granted the providers' request for a preliminary injunction, ruling that the law violated physicians' free-speech rights. But the appeals court disagreed.

The appeals court cited a 1992 Supreme Court decision allowing a law requiring abortion providers to inform pregnant women of relevant health risks and the gestational age of the fetus. The high court ruled that doctors could be required to provide information that is truthful, not misleading and relevant to the decision to have an abortion.

The president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, Nancy Northup, said in a statement that the appellate decision, "clears the way for the enforcement of an insulting and intrusive law whose sole purpose is to harass women and dissuade them from exercising their constitutionally-protected reproductive rights."

The Texas law is among the most detailed of the ultrasound requirements in the country. Similar laws requiring the presentation of an ultrasound image to pregnant women have been blocked in Oklahoma and North Carolina. Six other states also require abortion providers to perform an ultrasound and provide women with an opportunity to view the image, according to the Guttmacher Institute. But unlike Texas, those states don't require women to hear a description of the image.

Texas Governor Rick Perry, who championed the law and is running for the Republican nomination for U.S. president, praised the ruling.

"This important sonogram legislation ensures that every Texas woman seeking an abortion has all the facts about the life she is carrying," he said.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/court-allows-texas-law-requiring-ultrasound-abortion-191145225.html

[CherylNYC]

Well of course that was not the breaking news. It was how long it took her.
And in my opinion, how useless it is at this time since those she is trying to "help out" do not even know who she is/was.

Too little, too late.

I am thinking she is looking for publicity.

Perhaps, but I'm inclined to be less judgemental in her case. She dropped out of the entertainment industry nearly twenty years ago in order to manage her bipolar disorder.

While it would be really nice if all the good role models, (and none of the bad ones), came out when it's ideal for the rest of us, we're each on our own journey.

[UofMfan]

Perhaps, but I'm inclined to be less judgemental in her case. She dropped out of the entertainment industry nearly twenty years ago in order to manage her bipolar disorder.

While it would be really nice if all the good role models, (and none of the bad ones), came out when it's ideal for the rest of us, we're each on our own journey.


I agree that we are each on our journey and I respect that. However, I do not respect coming out for the sake of being put back into the limelight, which is in my opinion, what I think she is doing.

It may be judgmental, but it is based on the many "celebrities" who have come before her and done something similar.

[Semantics]

I find this completely over the top. The Catholic church once again telling LGBT people that their privacy is the church's business.



http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_t3#/video/us/2012/01/05/dnt-ct-church-program-gay.wfsb

There were protesters there last Thursday when I drove by.
The Archdiocese is known for being relatively liberal and people are upset by their new "therapy" program.

[Semantics]

Exclusive: U.S. Redefines Rape, Updating an 80-Year-Old Characterization of the Crime


In a sweeping victory for survivors of rape and their advocates, the Justice Department has officially changed the definition of rape used by the FBI to track the crime. The new definition includes male victims for the first time and more closely follows existing criminal codes and state statutes.

The FBI has used the old definition of rape—“the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will”—to track the crime since 1927. Now, more than 80 years later, Attorney General Eric Holder has announced (http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/attorney-general-eric-holder-announces-revisions-to-the-uniform-crime-reports-definition-of-rape)the Uniform Crime Report will define rape as “the penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”

The old definition was “narrow, outmoded, steeped in gender-based stereotypes, and seriously understated the true incidence of serious sex crimes,” a Women’s Law Project Press Release stated.

Link (http://womensmediacenter.com/blog/2012/01/exclusive-u-s-redefines-rape-updating-an-80-year-old-characterization-of-the-crime/)

[1QuirkyKiwi]

KD Lang and Jamie Price split after 8 years.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2084842/K-D-Lang-girlfriend-Jamie-Price-split-years-together.html

[Cin]

Not enough jobs to go around? Here's an idea, let's increase the labor pool. How will that help you ask? Well, since they are just kids it's legal to pay them less than minimum wage, not to mention no benefits. Also by increasing the hours kids are allowed to work they can go to their after school jobs after we have them clean their own schools. At least until we outsource it all to online charter schools.

That's how it helps. Oh did you mean how will it help the unemployed and underemployed? I thought you meant how will it help the important segment of the population, the 1%, you know the job creators.

States Attempt to Instill 'Work Ethic' by Rolling Back Child Labor Protections

http://www.thenation.com/article/165561/states-attempt-instill-work-ethic-rolling-back-child-labor-protections

[SoNotHer]

Doomsday Clock Updates 'Minutes To Midnight'

First Posted: 1/10/12 12:09 PM ET Updated: 1/10/12 01:38 PM ET

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/461057/thumbs/r-DOOMSDAY-CLOCK-large570.jpg

UPDATE: The 'Doomsday Clock' has been moved forward. We're now 5 'minutes from midnight.' View a live stream of the announcement and rationale here.

Humanity will soon be getting an update on how close we are to catastrophic destruction, as scientists and security experts decide whether to nudge the hands of the famous "Doomsday Clock" forward toward midnight — and doom — or back toward security and safety. The clock, in use as a symbol of imminent apocalypse since 1947, now stands at six minutes to midnight. On Tuesday (Jan. 10), the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) will announce whether they will nudge the minute hand forward or backward to reflect current trends in world security. The last time the clock hand moved was in 2010, when the group moved the hand from five minutes to midnight back to six.

In making the decision, the Bulletin considers the current state of nuclear weapons, climate change and biosecurity, along with other issues that could influence humanity's survival. The closest the clock has been to midnight has been 11:57 p.m., set in 1984 when the U.S. and the Soviet Union were in a diplomatic stand-off and tensions were high. The farthest humanity has ever been from destruction, according to the clock, was in 1991, when the Doomsday Clock stood at 17 minutes to midnight. That year, the Cold War over, the U.S. and Russia began cutting their arsenals.

The clock ticked back toward midnight at the next update in 1995, however, when hopes of total nuclear disarmament began to fade. That update set the hands at 14 minutes until midnight. In recent years, the clock has ticked closer to destruction as the Bulletin has focused on concerns about nuclear terrorism and climate change. The 2010 shift away from doomsday was due to nuclear agreements between the U.S. and Russia and productive climate talks at Copenhagen. The announcement of the new "doomsday time" will come at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday. The Bulletin is expected to consider factors ranging from Iran's nuclear program to the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster to the state of policy on climate change.

You can follow LiveScience senior writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/10/doomsday-clock-update-_n_1196789.html

[Library_girl]

KD Lang and Jamie Price split after 8 years.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2084842/K-D-Lang-girlfriend-Jamie-Price-split-years-together.html

They broke up because kd lang wants me so badly, she couldn't deny it anymore.......LOL Ok, a girl can dream, here!!! :moonstars:

[Tommi]

KD Lang and Jamie Price split after 8 years.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2084842/K-D-Lang-girlfriend-Jamie-Price-split-years-together.html

They broke up because kd lang wants me so badly, she couldn't deny it anymore.......LOL Ok, a girl can dream, here!!! :moonstars: :goodluck:

and Jamie's Teddy is hanging on my best post :rrose:

All in all brakups are sad, and 8 years beat 73 hours.. :tarot:

[1QuirkyKiwi]

They broke up because kd lang wants me so badly, she couldn't deny it anymore.......LOL Ok, a girl can dream, here!!! :moonstars:

Ooooh! So, yooouu're the 'other' woman?! I wondered why she had so many Library books laying around! LOL! ;)

She's a great dream, even after 20 years! *Sigh*

:goodluck:

and Jamie's Teddy is hanging on my best post :rrose:

All in all brakups are sad, and 8 years beat 73 hours.. :tarot:

Geeze! Her housekeeping must be pants, if her Teddy is still hanging on your bedpost, or are you keeping it there for sentimental reasons? LOL! ;)

[Cin]

"The difference between the Communist system and the Capitalist system, is that although both give you a kick in the ass, in the Communist, they kick you and you have to applaud, and in the Capitalist they kick you and you can scream, and I came here to scream". -- Reinaldo Arenas

This quote used to be true. Not so much anymore. Over the past eleven years there has been a concerted effort by those who hold and control the power and money to get us to applaud. There are so many ways to be labeled a terrorist nowadays the message is clear, if you can't applaud then you need to just shut-up.

Why You Can Be Branded a Terrorist for Fighting Animal Abuse

http://www.alternet.org/rights/153650/why_you_can_be_branded_a_terrorist_for_fighting_an imal_abuse

[Kobi]

"The difference between the Communist system and the Capitalist system, is that although both give you a kick in the ass, in the Communist, they kick you and you have to applaud, and in the Capitalist they kick you and you can scream, and I came here to scream". -- Reinaldo Arenas

This quote used to be true. Not so much anymore. Over the past eleven years there has been a concerted effort by those who hold and control the power and money to get us to applaud. There are so many ways to be labeled a terrorist nowadays the message is clear, if you can't applaud then you need to just shut-up.

Why You Can Be Branded a Terrorist for Fighting Animal Abuse

http://www.alternet.org/rights/153650/why_you_can_be_branded_a_terrorist_for_fighting_an imal_abuse



This is a good example of Friedman's disaster capitalism in action. Those in power create the social/economic order they want. Then intimidate people into silence and apathy by enacting stuff designed to control behavior and curb dissention.

Using this paradigm, it gives a different perspective on all the stuff happening in this country. From the Patriot Act, NDAA, SOPA, child labor law changes, selling off the infrastructure in education etc. Look back at the news stories posted here in the past week (minus the KD Lang one) and see the constant and consistent message they contain.

When we continue to focus on the pieces of the puzzle and lose sight of the bigger picture, we not only feed into our own victimization, we give those in power even more ammunition to use against us. Power and control dynamics gone wonky.

Fascinating but very scary shit.

[Cin]

This is a good example of Friedman's disaster capitalism in action. Those in power create the social/economic order they want. Then intimidate people into silence and apathy by enacting stuff designed to control behavior and curb dissention.

Using this paradigm, it gives a different perspective on all the stuff happening in this country. From the Patriot Act, NDAA, SOPA, child labor law changes, selling off the infrastructure in education etc. Look back at the news stories posted here in the past week (minus the KD Lang one) and see the constant and consistent message they contain.

When we continue to focus on the pieces of the puzzle and lose sight of the bigger picture, we not only feed into our own victimization, we give those in power even more ammunition to use against us. Power and control dynamics gone wonky.

Fascinating but very scary shit.


Yes, very scary shit indeed. Noami Klein's book "The Shock Doctrine" is as scary as any Stephen King novel.

I look back at 9/11 as the opening up of the US to this, although, economic shock doctrine has been put into practice around the world for decades. And I firmly believe, conspiracy theorist that I am, that the situations that have enabled disaster capitalism to flourish have been orchestrated by those with the power and the money to control the government. Now it's all over but the crying and the focus at this time is about taking away rights and increasing punishment. Things are changing and not for the better. I remember when torture was just something people in the US didn't believe in at all (not that the US government wasn't involved in mucho torture over in South and Central America, think Brazil and the dragon chair.) Now torture has become more acceptable. It's a sign of the times and I don't think we are going to like these times very much at all.

[UofMfan]

Girl Scout Launches Cookie Boycott Campaign After Organization's Inclusion Of Transgender Child ~ HuffPo (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/11/girl-scout-cookie-boycott-transgender_n_1199260.html)

[Corkey]

http://news.yahoo.com/reddit-admins-announce-january-18-blackout-protest-sopa-062713699.html

One internet company's response to SOPA

[Kobi]

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a groundbreaking case, the Supreme Court on Wednesday held for the first time that religious employees of a church cannot sue for employment discrimination.

But the court's unanimous decision in a case from Michigan did not specify the distinction between a secular employee, who can take advantage of the government's protection from discrimination and retaliation, and a religious employee, who can't.

It was, nevertheless, the first time the high court has acknowledged the existence of a "ministerial exception" to anti-discrimination laws — a doctrine developed in lower court rulings. This doctrine says the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of religion shields churches and their operations from the reach of such protective laws when the issue involves employees of these institutions.

The case came before the court because the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School of Redford, Mich., on behalf of employee Cheryl Perich, over her firing, which happened after she complained of discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Writing the court's opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts said allowing anti-discrimination lawsuits against religious organizations could end up forcing churches to take religious leaders they no longer want.

"Such action interferes with the internal governance of the church, depriving the church of control over the selection of those who will personify its beliefs," Roberts said. "By imposing an unwanted minister, the state infringes the Free Exercise Clause, which protects a religious group's right to shape its own faith and mission through its appointments."

The court's decision will make it virtually impossible for ministers to take on their employers for being fired for complaining about issues like sexual harassment, said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United.

"Clergy who are fired for reasons unrelated to matters of theology — no matter how capricious or venal those reasons may be — have just had the courthouse door slammed in their faces," Lynn said.

But Douglass Laycock, who argued the case for Hosanna-Tabor, called it a "huge win for religious liberty."

"The court has unanimously confirmed the right of churches to select their own ministers and religious leaders," he said.

But since this was the first time the high court has ever considered the "ministerial exception," it would not set hard and fast rules on who can be considered a religious employee of a religious organization, Roberts said.

"We are reluctant ... to adopt a rigid formula for deciding when an employee qualifies as a minister," he said. "It is enough for us to conclude, in this, our first case involving the ministerial exception, that the exception covers Perich, given all the circumstances of her employment."

Perich was promoted from a temporary lay teacher to a "called" teacher in 2000 by a vote of the church's congregation and was hired as a commissioned minister. She taught secular classes as well as a religious class four days a week. She also occasionally led chapel service.

She got sick in 2004 but tried to return to work from disability leave despite being diagnosed with narcolepsy. The school said she couldn't return because they had hired a substitute for that year. They fired her and removed her from the church ministry after she showed up at the school and threatened to sue to get her job back.

Perich complained to the EEOC, which sued the church for violations of the disabilities act.

A federal judge threw out the lawsuit on grounds that Perich fell under the ADA's ministerial exception, which keeps the government from interfering with church affairs. But the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated her lawsuit, saying Perich's "primary function was teaching secular subjects" so the ministerial exception didn't apply.

The federal appeals court's reasoning was wrong, Roberts said. He said that Perich had been ordained as a minister and the lower court put too much weight on the fact that regular teachers also performed the same religious duties as she did.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also placed too much emphasis on the fact that Perich's religious duties only took up 45 minutes of her workday, while secular duties consumed the rest, Roberts said.

"The issue before us ... is not one that can be resolved by a stopwatch," he said.

The court's decision was a narrow one, with Roberts refusing to extend the ministerial exception to other types of lawsuits that religious employees might bring against their employers. "We express no view on whether the exception bars other types of suits, including actions by employees alleging breach of contract or tortious conduct by their religious employers," Roberts said.

Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote a separate opinion, argued that the exception should be tailored for only an employee "who leads a religious organization, conducts worship services or important religious ceremonies or rituals or serves as a messenger or teacher of its faith."

But "while a purely secular teacher would not qualify for the 'ministerial exception,' the constitutional protection of religious teachers is not somehow diminished when they take on secular functions in addition to their religious ones," Alito said.

http://news.yahoo.com/court-judges-cannot-involved-church-dispute-152559467.html

[Kobi]

Wed Jan 11, 2012 2:15pm EST

(Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's command center routinely monitors dozens of popular websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, WikiLeaks and news and gossip sites including the Huffington Post and Drudge Report, according to a government document.

A "privacy compliance review" issued by DHS last November says that since at least June 2010, its national operations center has been operating a "Social Networking/Media Capability" which involves regular monitoring of "publicly available online forums, blogs, public websites and message boards."

The purpose of the monitoring, says the government document, is to "collect information used in providing situational awareness and establishing a common operating picture."

The document adds, using more plain language, that such monitoring is designed to help DHS and its numerous agencies, which include the U.S. Secret Service and Federal Emergency Management Agency, to manage government responses to such events as the 2010 earthquake and aftermath in Haiti and security and border control related to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia.

A DHS official familiar with the monitoring program said that it was intended purely to enable command center officials to keep in touch with various Internet-era media so that they were aware of major, developing events to which the Department or its agencies might have to respond.

The document outlining the monitoring program says that all the websites which the command center will be monitoring were "publicly available and... all use of data published via social media sites was solely to provide more accurate situational awareness, a more complete common operating pictures, and more timely information for decision makers..."

The DHS official said that under the program's rules, the department would not keep permanent copies of the internet traffic it monitors. However, the document outlining the program does say that the operations center "will retain information for no more than five years."

The monitoring scheme also features a five-page list, attached to the privacy review document, of websites the Department's command center expected to be monitoring.

CONTROVERSIAL SITES

These include social networking sites Facebook and My Space - though there is a parenthetical notice that My Space only affords a "limited search" capability - and more than a dozen sites that monitor, aggregate and enable searches of Twitter messages and exchanges.

Among blogs and aggregators on the list are ABC News' investigative blog "The Blotter;" blogs that cover bird flu; several blogs related to news and activity along U.S. borders (DHS runs border and immigration agencies); blogs that cover drug trafficking and cybercrime; and websites that follow wildfires in Los Angeles and hurricanes.

News and gossip sites on the monitoring list include popular destinations such as the Drudge Report, Huffington Post and "NY Times Lede Blog", as well as more focused techie fare such as the Wired blogs "Threat Level" and "Danger Room." Numerous blogs related to terrorism and security are also on the list.

Some of the sites on the list are potentially controversial. WikiLeaks is listed for monitoring, even though officials in some other government agencies were warned against using their official computers to access WikiLeaks material because much of it is still legally classified under U.S. government rules.

Another blog on the list, Cryptome, also periodically posts leaked documents and was one of the first websites to post information related to the Homeland Security monitoring program.

Also on the list are JihadWatch and Informed Comment, blogs that cover issues related to Islam through sharp political prisms, which have sometimes led critics to accuse the sites of political bias.

Also on the list are various video and photo-sharing sites, including Hulu, Youtube and Flickr.

While a DHS official involved in the monitoring program confirmed the authenticity of the list, officials authorized to speak for the Department did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/11/us-usa-homelandsecurity-websites-idUSTRE80A1RC20120111

[betenoire]

A series of studies in Canada and elsewhere over the past decade has found that the children of lesbians aren't just well-adjusted – they excel. (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/parenting/advice/more-advice/with-two-moms-the-kids-are-all-right/article1666493/) On average, kids with two moms seem to be more confident and less aggressive than those raised by a mom and a dad. They are open-minded, affectionate and less susceptible to anxiety and depression.

[AtLast]

Wed Jan 11, 2012 2:15pm EST

(Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's command center routinely monitors dozens of popular websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, WikiLeaks and news and gossip sites including the Huffington Post and Drudge Report, according to a government document.

A "privacy compliance review" issued by DHS last November says that since at least June 2010, its national operations center has been operating a "Social Networking/Media Capability" which involves regular monitoring of "publicly available online forums, blogs, public websites and message boards."

The purpose of the monitoring, says the government document, is to "collect information used in providing situational awareness and establishing a common operating picture."

The document adds, using more plain language, that such monitoring is designed to help DHS and its numerous agencies, which include the U.S. Secret Service and Federal Emergency Management Agency, to manage government responses to such events as the 2010 earthquake and aftermath in Haiti and security and border control related to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia.

A DHS official familiar with the monitoring program said that it was intended purely to enable command center officials to keep in touch with various Internet-era media so that they were aware of major, developing events to which the Department or its agencies might have to respond.

The document outlining the monitoring program says that all the websites which the command center will be monitoring were "publicly available and... all use of data published via social media sites was solely to provide more accurate situational awareness, a more complete common operating pictures, and more timely information for decision makers..."

The DHS official said that under the program's rules, the department would not keep permanent copies of the internet traffic it monitors. However, the document outlining the program does say that the operations center "will retain information for no more than five years."

The monitoring scheme also features a five-page list, attached to the privacy review document, of websites the Department's command center expected to be monitoring.

CONTROVERSIAL SITES

These include social networking sites Facebook and My Space - though there is a parenthetical notice that My Space only affords a "limited search" capability - and more than a dozen sites that monitor, aggregate and enable searches of Twitter messages and exchanges.

Among blogs and aggregators on the list are ABC News' investigative blog "The Blotter;" blogs that cover bird flu; several blogs related to news and activity along U.S. borders (DHS runs border and immigration agencies); blogs that cover drug trafficking and cybercrime; and websites that follow wildfires in Los Angeles and hurricanes.

News and gossip sites on the monitoring list include popular destinations such as the Drudge Report, Huffington Post and "NY Times Lede Blog", as well as more focused techie fare such as the Wired blogs "Threat Level" and "Danger Room." Numerous blogs related to terrorism and security are also on the list.

Some of the sites on the list are potentially controversial. WikiLeaks is listed for monitoring, even though officials in some other government agencies were warned against using their official computers to access WikiLeaks material because much of it is still legally classified under U.S. government rules.

Another blog on the list, Cryptome, also periodically posts leaked documents and was one of the first websites to post information related to the Homeland Security monitoring program.

Also on the list are JihadWatch and Informed Comment, blogs that cover issues related to Islam through sharp political prisms, which have sometimes led critics to accuse the sites of political bias.

Also on the list are various video and photo-sharing sites, including Hulu, Youtube and Flickr.

While a DHS official involved in the monitoring program confirmed the authenticity of the list, officials authorized to speak for the Department did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/11/us-usa-homelandsecurity-websites-idUSTRE80A1RC20120111

Hummm... wonder what "list" the Planet is on? Sometimes, I want to just cease being online at all. What was that concept of privavcy about?

[Cin]

Have the Super Wealthy Already Seceded from the United States?
Our plutocracy now lives like the British in colonial India: in the place and ruling it, but not of it.
January 11, 2012 |

It was in 1993 during Congressional deliberation over the North American Free Trade Agreement. I was having lunch with a staffer for one of the rare Republican members of Congress who opposed the policy of so-called free trade. I distinctly remember something my colleague said: "The rich elites of this country have far more in common with their counterparts in London, Paris and Tokyo than with their own fellow American citizens."

That was just the beginning of the period when the realities of outsourced manufacturing, financialization of the economy and growing income disparity started to seep into the public consciousness, so at the time it seemed like a striking and novel statement.

At the end of the cold war, many writers predicted the decline of the traditional nation state. Some looked at the demise of the Soviet Union and foresaw the territorial state breaking up into statelets of different ethnic, religious or economic compositions. This happened in the Balkans, former Czechoslovakia and Sudan. Others, like Chuck Spinney, predicted a weakening of the state due to the rise of fourth-generation warfare and the inability of national armies to adapt to it. The quagmires of Iraq and Afghanistan lend credence to that theory. There have been hundreds of books about globalization and how it would break down borders. But I am unaware of a well-developed theory from that time about how the super-rich and the corporations they run would secede from the nation state.

I do not mean secession in terms of physical withdrawal from the territory of the state, although that happens occasionally. It means a withdrawal into enclaves, a sort of internal immigration, whereby the rich disconnect themselves from the civic life of the nation and from any concern about its well-being except as a place to extract loot. Our plutocracy now lives like the British in colonial India: in the place and ruling it, but not of it. If one can afford private security, public safety is of no concern; if one owns a Gulfstream jet, crumbling bridges cause less apprehension - and viable public transportation doesn't even show up on the radar screen. With private doctors on call, who cares about Medicare?

To some degree, the rich have always secluded themselves from the gaze of the common herd; for example, their habit for centuries has been to send their offspring to private schools. But now this habit is exacerbated by the plutocracy's palpable animosity toward public education and public educators, asMichael Bloomberg has demonstrated. To the extent public education "reform" is popular among billionaires and their tax-exempt foundations, one suspects it is as a lever to divert the more than one-half trillion dollars in federal, state and local education dollars into private hands, meaning themselves and their friends. A century ago, at least we got some attractive public libraries out of Andrew Carnegie. Noblesse oblige like Carnegie's is presently lacking among our seceding plutocracy.

In both world wars, even a Harvard man or a New York socialite might know the weight of an Army pack. Now, the military is for suckers from the laboring classes, whose subprime mortgages you just sliced into CDOs and sold to gullible investors in order to buy your second Bentley or rustle up the cash to employ Rod Stewart to perform at your birthday party. Courtesy of Matt Taibbi, we learn that the sentiment among the super-rich toward the rest of America is often one of contempt rather than noblesse; Bernard Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot, says about the views of the 99 percent: "Who gives a crap about some imbecile?"

Steven Schwarzman, the hedge fund billionaire CEO of the Blackstone Group who hired Rod Stewart for his $5 million birthday party, believes it is the rabble who are socially irresponsible. Speaking about low-income citizens who pay no income tax, he says: "You have to have skin in the game. I'm not saying how much people should do. But we should all be part of the system." But millions of Americans who do not pay federal income taxes pay federal payroll taxes. These taxes are regressive and the dirty little secret is that over the last several decades they have made up a greater and greater share of federal revenues. In 1950, payroll and other federal retirement contributions constituted 10.9 percent of all federal revenues; by 2007, the last "normal" economic year before federal revenues began falling, they made up 33.9 percent. By contrast, corporate income taxes were 26.4 percent of federal revenues in 1950; by 2007, they had fallen to 14.4 percent. Who has skin in the game now?

As is well known by now, Schwarzman benefits from the "Buffett Rule": financial sharks typically take their compensation in the form of capital gains rather than salaries, thus knocking down their income tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent. But that's not the only way Mr. Skin-in-the-Game benefits: the 6.2-percent Social Security tax and the 1.45-percent Medicare tax apply only to wages and salaries, not capital gains distributions. Accordingly, Schwarzman is stiffing the system in two ways: not only is his income tax rate less than half the top marginal rate, he is shorting the Social Security system that others of his billionaire colleagues like Pete Peterson say is unsustainable and needs to be cut.

This lack of skin in the game may explain why Willard Mitt Romney is so coy about releasing his income tax returns. It would also make sense for someone with $264 million in net worth to joke that he is "unemployed," as if he were some jobless sheet metal worker in Youngstown, when he is really saying in code that his income stream is not a salary subject to payroll deduction. The chances are good that his effective rate for both federal income and payroll taxes is lower than that of many a wage slave.

The real joke is on the rest of us. After the biggest financial meltdown in 80 years - a meltdown caused by the type of rogue financial manipulation that Romney embodies - and a consequent long, steep drop in the American standard of living, who is the putative front-runner for one of the only two parties allowed to be competitive in American politics? None other than Romney, the man who says corporations are people. Opposing him, or someone like him, will be the incumbent President Barack Obama, who will raise up to a billion dollars to compete in the campaign. Much of that loot will come from the same corporations, hedge fund managers, merger and acquisition specialists and leveraged buyout artists the president will denounce in pro forma fashion during the campaign.

The super-rich have seceded from America even as their grip on its control mechanisms has tightened.

http://www.alternet.org/world/153738/have_the_super_wealthy_already_seceded_from_the_un ited_states/?page=entire

[SoNotHer]

This is the kind of thing an off-duty teacher pulls out the death stare for -

"Marimba" ringtone halts NY Philharmonic

(CBS/AP)

NEW YORK - It's the dreaded sound at any live performance: a ringing cellphone.

That's what happened Tuesday night at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall during the final movement of Gustav Mahler's Ninth Symphony by the New York Philharmonic. Maestro Alan Gilbert stopped the orchestra until the phone was silenced. The Wall Street Journal reports that when an iPhone's distinctive "Marimba" ringtone initially went off, Gilbert turned his head to signal his displeasure. But the ringing from the first row persisted and minutes went by.

Gilbert asked that the offending noise be turned off and finally stopped the orchestra until it was. The audience gasped. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal Wednesday, Gilbert claimed the ringtone ruined his concentration during the symphony's "most intense, most sublime, most emotional place." The man who owned the cell phone tried to ignore the noise, but eventually silenced what many think was an alarm he forgot to turn off.

"I had to ask him many times," Gilbert told the Wall Street Journal. "It was bizarre. Maybe he was just so mortified that he just shut down and was paralyzed." Though the Philharmonic refused to identify the man, many said he was a regular subscriber. Gilbert apologized to the audience for the disruption, and was greeted with applause. The Philharmonic said it was the first time the music director had ever interrupted a performance due to a cellphone or other disruption.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57357935/marimba-ringtone-halts-ny-philharmonic/

[Cin]

Why Is Congress Redlining Our Schools?

Redlining was the once-common practice in which banks would draw a red line on a map—often along a natural barrier like a highway or river—to designate neighborhoods where they would not invest. Stigmatized and denied access to loans and other resources, redlined communities, populated by African-Americans and other people of color, often became places that lacked businesses, jobs, grocery stores and other services, and thus could not retain a thriving middle class. Redlining produced and reinforced a vicious cycle of decline for which residents themselves were typically blamed.

Today a new form of redlining is emerging. If passed, the long-awaited Senate bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) would build a bigger highway between low-performing schools serving high-need students—the so-called “bottom 5 percent”—and all other schools. Tragically, the proposed plan would weaken schools in the most vulnerable communities and further entrench the problems—concentrated poverty, segregation and lack of human and fiscal resources—that underlie their failure.

Although the current draft of the law scales back some of the worst overreaches of No Child Left Behind, the sanctions for failing to make “adequate yearly progress” that have threatened all schools under NCLB are now focused solely on the 5 percent of schools designated as lowest-performing by the states. As we have learned in warm-up exercises offered by the Obama administration’s Race to the Top initiative, these schools will nearly always be the ones serving the poorest students and the greatest numbers of new immigrants. In many states they will represent a growing number of apartheid schools populated almost entirely by low-income African-American and Latino students in our increasingly race- and class-segregated system.

In the new vision for ESEA, these schools, once identified, will be subjected to school “turnaround” models that require the schools to be closed, turned into charters, reconstituted (by firing nearly half the staff) or “transformed,” according to a complicated set of requirements that include everything from instructional reforms to test-based teacher evaluation. The proposed array of punitive sanctions, coupled with unproven reforms, will increasingly destabilize schools and neighborhoods, making them even less desirable places to work and live and stimulating the flight of teachers and families who have options.

Meanwhile, the most important solutions for these students and their schools are ignored by NCLB and the proposed new bill, as well as by current federal policy in general, leaving their most serious problems unaddressed.

There is no plan in the current or proposed ESEA or in other federal legislation to stem the rapid slide of families into poverty, homelessness and food insecurity; to address the inequitable distribution of state and local funds to schools; to improve teaching and learning conditions in underfunded, high-poverty schools; or to recruit and train expert teachers who will stay in these schools and stop the revolving door of untrained novices who leave children further behind. There are no significant investments in training to better prepare teachers to teach new English learners, students with disabilities and others with a range of needs.

There is no major investment in preschool or in wraparound services that will address the many needs of children for extended learning time, healthcare and social services so they can learn. While a recent Race to the Top initiative offers some preschool funding, it is minuscule in relation to the need and will not make up for the huge cuts in these services occurring in communities across the country. (After widespread cuts, preschool spending at the end of 2010 stood at almost $700 per pupil less than in 2001. Meanwhile, state cuts to education spending reached more than $7.5 billion this year on top of $3 billion in cuts last year.)

It’s not as though we don’t know what works. We could implement the policies that have reduced the achievement gap and transformed learning outcomes for students in high-achieving nations where government policies largely prevent childhood poverty by guaranteeing housing, healthcare and basic income security. These same strategies were substantially successful in our own nation through the programs and policies of the war on poverty and the Great Society, which dramatically reduced poverty, increased employment, rebuilt depressed communities, invested in preschool and K-12 education in cities and poor rural areas, desegregated schools, funded financial aid for college and invested in teacher training programs that ended teacher shortages. In the 1970s teaching in urban communities was made desirable by the higher-than-average salaries, large scholarships and forgivable loans that subsidized teacher preparation, and by the exciting curriculum and program innovations that federal funding supported in many city school districts.

These efforts led to big improvements in achievement and attainment from the ’60s through the ’80s. The black-white reading gap shrank by two-thirds for 17-year-olds, black high school and college graduation rates more than doubled, and, in 1975, rates of college attendance among whites, blacks and Latinos reached parity for the first and only time before or since.

Almost all the programs described above were ended or shrunk in the ’80s, targets of the Reagan revolution, which systematically sought to dismantle federal supports for urban and rural development, housing, social services and education. Poverty and homelessness increased sharply. As the federal education budget was cut in half, funding for urban and poor rural schools declined precipitously, desegregation aid was discontinued and teaching supports were reduced, leading to growing shortages when teacher demand increased in the late 1980s. Despite some modest pushback during the Clinton years, the momentum toward increasing inequality was not reversed.

The full article is here:
http://www.thenation.com/article/165575/why-congress-redlining-our-schools?page=full

[SoNotHer]

If anyone wants to know what the defunding, privatization and deprioritization of American education looks like from the perspective of a community college teacher who has taught since the 1980s, let's put on a pot of coffee and talk. This is just the latest misguided piece of nonsense to send us farther down the spiral and ensure that 'separate but not equal' continues.


Why Is Congress Redlining Our Schools?

Redlining was the once-common practice in which banks would draw a red line on a map—often along a natural barrier like a highway or river—to designate neighborhoods where they would not invest. Stigmatized and denied access to loans and other resources, redlined communities, populated by African-Americans and other people of color, often became places that lacked businesses, jobs, grocery stores and other services, and thus could not retain a thriving middle class. Redlining produced and reinforced a vicious cycle of decline for which residents themselves were typically blamed.

Today a new form of redlining is emerging. If passed, the long-awaited Senate bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) would build a bigger highway between low-performing schools serving high-need students—the so-called “bottom 5 percent”—and all other schools. Tragically, the proposed plan would weaken schools in the most vulnerable communities and further entrench the problems—concentrated poverty, segregation and lack of human and fiscal resources—that underlie their failure.

Although the current draft of the law scales back some of the worst overreaches of No Child Left Behind, the sanctions for failing to make “adequate yearly progress” that have threatened all schools under NCLB are now focused solely on the 5 percent of schools designated as lowest-performing by the states. As we have learned in warm-up exercises offered by the Obama administration’s Race to the Top initiative, these schools will nearly always be the ones serving the poorest students and the greatest numbers of new immigrants. In many states they will represent a growing number of apartheid schools populated almost entirely by low-income African-American and Latino students in our increasingly race- and class-segregated system.

In the new vision for ESEA, these schools, once identified, will be subjected to school “turnaround” models that require the schools to be closed, turned into charters, reconstituted (by firing nearly half the staff) or “transformed,” according to a complicated set of requirements that include everything from instructional reforms to test-based teacher evaluation. The proposed array of punitive sanctions, coupled with unproven reforms, will increasingly destabilize schools and neighborhoods, making them even less desirable places to work and live and stimulating the flight of teachers and families who have options.

Meanwhile, the most important solutions for these students and their schools are ignored by NCLB and the proposed new bill, as well as by current federal policy in general, leaving their most serious problems unaddressed.

There is no plan in the current or proposed ESEA or in other federal legislation to stem the rapid slide of families into poverty, homelessness and food insecurity; to address the inequitable distribution of state and local funds to schools; to improve teaching and learning conditions in underfunded, high-poverty schools; or to recruit and train expert teachers who will stay in these schools and stop the revolving door of untrained novices who leave children further behind. There are no significant investments in training to better prepare teachers to teach new English learners, students with disabilities and others with a range of needs.

There is no major investment in preschool or in wraparound services that will address the many needs of children for extended learning time, healthcare and social services so they can learn. While a recent Race to the Top initiative offers some preschool funding, it is minuscule in relation to the need and will not make up for the huge cuts in these services occurring in communities across the country. (After widespread cuts, preschool spending at the end of 2010 stood at almost $700 per pupil less than in 2001. Meanwhile, state cuts to education spending reached more than $7.5 billion this year on top of $3 billion in cuts last year.)

It’s not as though we don’t know what works. We could implement the policies that have reduced the achievement gap and transformed learning outcomes for students in high-achieving nations where government policies largely prevent childhood poverty by guaranteeing housing, healthcare and basic income security. These same strategies were substantially successful in our own nation through the programs and policies of the war on poverty and the Great Society, which dramatically reduced poverty, increased employment, rebuilt depressed communities, invested in preschool and K-12 education in cities and poor rural areas, desegregated schools, funded financial aid for college and invested in teacher training programs that ended teacher shortages. In the 1970s teaching in urban communities was made desirable by the higher-than-average salaries, large scholarships and forgivable loans that subsidized teacher preparation, and by the exciting curriculum and program innovations that federal funding supported in many city school districts.

These efforts led to big improvements in achievement and attainment from the ’60s through the ’80s. The black-white reading gap shrank by two-thirds for 17-year-olds, black high school and college graduation rates more than doubled, and, in 1975, rates of college attendance among whites, blacks and Latinos reached parity for the first and only time before or since.

Almost all the programs described above were ended or shrunk in the ’80s, targets of the Reagan revolution, which systematically sought to dismantle federal supports for urban and rural development, housing, social services and education. Poverty and homelessness increased sharply. As the federal education budget was cut in half, funding for urban and poor rural schools declined precipitously, desegregation aid was discontinued and teaching supports were reduced, leading to growing shortages when teacher demand increased in the late 1980s. Despite some modest pushback during the Clinton years, the momentum toward increasing inequality was not reversed.

The full article is here:
http://www.thenation.com/article/165575/why-congress-redlining-our-schools?page=full

[Cin]

Since we are poised for Iraq redux, it stands to reason military cuts are of major concern, social cuts not so much.

Super Cuts! Military Budget, Not Social Spending, Prompts Media Concern

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/13

[Cin]

War on Iran: It’s Not A Matter of “If”

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/01/13/war-on-iran-it%E2%80%99s-not-a-matter-of-%E2%80%9Cif%E2%80%9D/

[Cin]

On Iran IAEA Reporting Complaints, New York Times Public Editor Rules for the Plaintiffs
Friday 13 January 2012
by: Robert Naiman, Truthout | News Analysis

Responding to complaints over a New York Times report that purported to cite "a recent assessment by the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran's nuclear program has a military objective," The New York Times Public Editor Arthur Brisbane has written that the complaints were just, and that The New York Times should correct the story.

Brisbane wrote:

I think the readers are correct on this. The Times hasn't corrected the story but it should because this is a case of when a shorthand phrase doesn't do justice to a nuanced set of facts. In this case, the distinction between the two is important because the Iranian program has emerged as a possible casus belli.

In other words: it's important to get this right, because getting it wrong unjustly promotes the cause of war.

As of this writing - eight hours after the public editor's post, six days after the original article appeared and people first complained about it - there is still no correction.

You can't find the article, as it originally appeared, on The New York Times web site, because the Times deleted the paragraph with the offending claim from the version now on the web, without running a correction or publishing a note explaining the change. But you can see the article as it originally ran here.

Note that in other contexts - not linked to the fervent desire of some people for military confrontation with Iran - the Times purports to be quite punctilious about corrections, as when it corrected a misidentified character from an animated children's TV show.

Although it is unacceptable that the Times is still refusing to run a correction of its erroneous and dangerously misleading story, it is unquestionably a very good thing that at least there is a place associated with the Times where you can complain about its reporting and get a public response that acknowledges the justice of your complaint.

We complained to NBC's "Meet the Press" about the fact that David Gregory did not challenge Rick Santorum on his claim that there aren't UN nuclear inspectors in Iran, and did not even receive any acknowledgement of the complaint, let alone a response.

We complained to The Washington Post when it used the headline "Iran's quest to possess nuclear weapons." The Washington Post did the right thing. They corrected the headline and they added an editor's note explaining the change. In addition, The Washington Post ombudsman wrote in his column that the complaints about the headline were just and important.

So, to The Washington Post, full marks. To The New York Times, partial credit. To NBC's "Meet the Press," zero.

Now, let's engage in a little experiment. Some people see PBS and NPR as publicly funded alternatives to commercial media. Others see them as the "Pentagon Broadcasting System" and "National Pentagon Radio."

If we complain to PBS and NPR when they report allegations that Iran has a nuclear weapons program as if they are known facts, how will they respond? Will they be more like The Washington Post, The New York Times or NBC?

On Sunday, Defense Secretary Panetta told "Face the Nation" that Iran is not now trying to develop nuclear weapons. "Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No."

The Associated Press reported this straight: "US: Iran has not yet decided to build nuclear bomb."

But as Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting noted, on Monday, PBS "NewsHour" deceptively edited Panetta's comments to exclude his statement that Iran is not trying to develop a nuclear weapon, and then used his comments to try to suggest the opposite, that Iran is now pursuing a nuclear weapon.

On NPR's "Weekend Edition Sunday," reporter Tom Gjelten said, "The goal for the U.S. and its allies ... [is] to convince Iran to give up a nuclear weapons program," thereby implying that Iran already has a nuclear weapons program, which is certainly not a known fact.

[*Anya*]

Trevor Project Intern Takes His Own Life
Filed By Bil Browning | January 13, 2012 11:00 AM

Teenage Trevor Project intern, EricJames Borges, took his own life this week after years of bullying from schoolmates and his family. The young man was a budding filmmaker and had created an It Gets Better video just last month.

Borges said in the video, "I was raised in an extremist Christian household. My earliest recollections of my experience with the relentless and ongoing bullying was in kindergarten, but of course to a lesser degree....Throughout elementary, junior high and high school it got progressively worse. I was physically, mentally, emotionally and verbally assaulted on a day-to-day basis for my perceived sexual orientation...'My name was not Eric but 'Faggot'...I reached my limit when I was assaulted in a full classroom with a teacher present. I dropped out, went on independent studies, graduated early and started college...My mother knew I was gay and performed an exorcism on me in an attempt to cure me....My anxiety, depression, self-loathing and suicidal thoughts spiked...I had nowhere safe to go, either at home or school... My parents told me that, among other things, I was disgusting, perverted, unnatural and damned to Hell. About two months ago they officially kicked me out of my house."

Trevor Project spokesperson Laura McGinnis expressed sorrow at the young man's decision to end his own life. "We are deeply saddened to hear about the tragic death of EricJames Borges, and our hearts go out to his family and friends, and his community. EricJames was a dedicated, trained volunteer. Our main concern right now is that those affected by his death feel supported and can get the care they need. If you or someone you know needs support, please don't hesitate to call the Trevor Lifeline at 866-488-7386."

[Kobi]

Obama seeks to revamp government, focus on exports

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama asked Congress on Friday for broad powers to overhaul the U.S. government and untangle what he called an "outdated bureaucratic maze" that makes it hard for U.S. businesses to sell their goods abroad.

Obama said he wanted to consolidate six trade and business agencies into a single export body to help the United States better compete in a 21st century economy and modernize a government he said had grown too complex.

The move could help inoculate him against charges from Republicans hoping to unseat him in November that he is a feckless liberal
who has presided over one of the largest expansions of the U.S. government in history.

Ronald Reagan, an idol of conservative Republicans, was the last U.S. president who had the authority to reorganize the government in a similar fashion. But Obama must contend with some Democrats who worry that merging the agencies will backfire and some Republicans who are unwilling to give the president wider powers. Analysts were skeptical that Congress would approve Obama's request in an election year.

The consolidation of power Obama is seeking would allow him to design structural changes to the government that lawmakers would have to approve or reject, without revisions.

Obama said he wanted to move the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and five other export bodies spread across Washington into a new trade department, giving businesses a single point of contact and trying to ensure that Washington's export promotion packs a punch.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - now part of the Commerce Department - would be absorbed by the Department of the Interior under the plan, and the Census Bureau as well as other statistical agencies would find a home in the new, yet-to-be-named department. The Commerce Department would then be closed.

A spokeswoman for Mitt Romney, the front-runner in the Republican presidential nomination race who has said he would make it a top priority to reduce the scale of government, cast Obama's proposals as campaign spin.

"It's ironic that President Obama, who has grown government beyond belief for the past three years, is calling for consolidation of government. It is unfortunate that he is only doing so now to curry political favor in an election year," spokeswoman Andrea Saul said.

EXPORT PROMOTION

In a speech delivered at the White House, Obama said the overhaul would make it easier for U.S. businesses to work with the government and boost their overseas sales, essential to his economic goal of doubling U.S. exports by 2015.

He also announced he would elevate the Small Business Administration to a Cabinet-level post - his inner circle of senior officials - with immediate effect to underscore his focus on smaller companies as an engine of job growth and recovery.

Nick Consonery, a China analyst at the Eurasia Group in Washington, said there was a genuine need for the United States to strengthen its trade policy as it seeks to increase exports and also ensure other economies play by the rules.

"We are definitely entering an environment where they will take trade disputes more aggressively and this would help provide a streamlined structure for that," he said.

LAWMAKERS NOT CONVINCED

On Capitol Hill, several key lawmakers expressed concern about the plan to anchor the specialized USTR - which negotiates free trade deals and monitors for rule-breaking - in a broader bureaucracy where its work may get bogged down.

"Taking USTR, one of the most efficient agencies that is a model of how government can and should work, and making it just another corner of a new bureaucratic behemoth would hurt American exports and hinder American job creation," Democrat Max Baucus and Republican Dave Camp, who chair committees overseeing trade policy, said in a joint statement.

Representative Sander Levin, the senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees USTR, noted Congress established that agency "because our trade objectives were not adequately negotiated, implemented or emphasized when trade negotiators and enforcers were part of a broader agency."

The lawmakers' comments raised questions about the White House's strategy for selling Obama's plan on Capitol Hill. But even if Congress rejects it, it would still be a win for the president, who has made running against an obstructionist Congress a central theme of his election campaign.

John Murphy from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce also stressed it was important to avoid hurting the USTR with a merger. "The business community would oppose its merger with the Commerce Department, whose functions are quite different," he said.

Seeking to illustrate how complex government bureaucracy had become, Obama unveiled a slide at the White House with a bubble diagram that showed a dizzying array of websites, toll-free numbers and customer service centers that were available to small business owners seeking advice on loans and how to export.

"It's a mess," Obama said, after noting his favorite example of the bureaucratic maze.

"As it turns out, the Interior Department is in charge of salmon in fresh water, but the Commerce Department handles them in saltwater," he said.

A White House official said the goal was to save $3 billion over 10 years from streamlining the trade agencies, which may lead to the loss of 1,000 to 2,000 jobs through attrition.


http://news.yahoo.com/obama-seeks-revamp-government-focus-exports-000237403.html

[*Anya*]

What's Wrong with Gay Republicans?
Filed By Michael Hamar | January 12, 2012 1:00 PM

I once was a Republican. But the party I belonged to back then was a very different political party from what exists nowadays.

Yes, back then, the Christianists had begun to slowly infiltrate the party, yet they were still viewed as delusional by the majority and moderates held sway and religion had not been fully conflated into the party platform. Back then, facts, figures and rational analysis were actually respected and I was known for always backing up my opinions and positions with hard facts and objective data.

Indeed, I was awarded honors by both the local city committee by even received a plaque from then-Governor Jim Gilmore shortly before I resigned from the GOP. Admittedly, I wasn't out of the closet back in those days, but homophobia had not become one of the most important planks in the party platform either.

That's all changed nowadays and yet some gays - in what I can only view as a form of masochism and internalized self-loathing - continue to cling to saying they are Republicans. To me it's akin to someone of Jewish descent belonging to a neo-Nazi organization. I do not understand the mindset.

A very much on point column in the Huffington Post calls out to gay Republicans and basically asks them WTF is wrong with them. Here are some highlights:

Dear gay Republicans, ...Let's put economic and other issues aside for a moment; we can have a spirited debate about the backward GOP approach to taxes, the environment, and foreign policy another time. I don't understand how you can look beyond the fact that a major portion of your party's fundamental beliefs are that you are not equal.

This isn't a minor issue within your party. The Republican Party platform calls for amending the United States Constitution to discriminate against you. Party officials actually want to use our country's foundational document, which grants and extends rights and freedoms to people, to limit yours. But that's only the tip of the iceberg.

...Your party has thrown you in the deviant pile. Your party has labeled you a sexual predator. Your party is afraid of you and does not incorporate your voice or believe in your dignity.

This fact isn't a small debate within your party. It is not some misguided homophobes who are simply unaware of the LGBT community and all its accomplishments, struggles, and contributions, speaking out of turn and out of step with the platform. This is your party's platform...

...So when you vote for these guys and actively try to put them in power, you are hurting yourself, you are hurting me, you're hurting every loving LGBT family, and, most importantly, you're hurting America.

I'd love to hear how gay Republicans honestly justify supporting a political party that hates them and seeks to keep them less than full citizens.

From The Bilerico Project

[Kobi]

What's Wrong with Gay Republicans?
Filed By Michael Hamar | January 12, 2012 1:00 PM

I once was a Republican. But the party I belonged to back then was a very different political party from what exists nowadays.

Yes, back then, the Christianists had begun to slowly infiltrate the party, yet they were still viewed as delusional by the majority and moderates held sway and religion had not been fully conflated into the party platform. Back then, facts, figures and rational analysis were actually respected and I was known for always backing up my opinions and positions with hard facts and objective data.

Indeed, I was awarded honors by both the local city committee by even received a plaque from then-Governor Jim Gilmore shortly before I resigned from the GOP. Admittedly, I wasn't out of the closet back in those days, but homophobia had not become one of the most important planks in the party platform either.

That's all changed nowadays and yet some gays - in what I can only view as a form of masochism and internalized self-loathing - continue to cling to saying they are Republicans. To me it's akin to someone of Jewish descent belonging to a neo-Nazi organization. I do not understand the mindset.

A very much on point column in the Huffington Post calls out to gay Republicans and basically asks them WTF is wrong with them. Here are some highlights:

Dear gay Republicans, ...Let's put economic and other issues aside for a moment; we can have a spirited debate about the backward GOP approach to taxes, the environment, and foreign policy another time. I don't understand how you can look beyond the fact that a major portion of your party's fundamental beliefs are that you are not equal.

This isn't a minor issue within your party. The Republican Party platform calls for amending the United States Constitution to discriminate against you. Party officials actually want to use our country's foundational document, which grants and extends rights and freedoms to people, to limit yours. But that's only the tip of the iceberg.

...Your party has thrown you in the deviant pile. Your party has labeled you a sexual predator. Your party is afraid of you and does not incorporate your voice or believe in your dignity.

This fact isn't a small debate within your party. It is not some misguided homophobes who are simply unaware of the LGBT community and all its accomplishments, struggles, and contributions, speaking out of turn and out of step with the platform. This is your party's platform...

...So when you vote for these guys and actively try to put them in power, you are hurting yourself, you are hurting me, you're hurting every loving LGBT family, and, most importantly, you're hurting America.

I'd love to hear how gay Republicans honestly justify supporting a political party that hates them and seeks to keep them less than full citizens.

From The Bilerico Project



To this we can add:

Dear female republicans....wtf are you thinking? A bunch of sanctimonious white males wielding their superiority and caveman ideals are unraveling all the progress that has been made in women being equal, being independent entities, being able to make their own decisions, having domain over their own bodies etc.

I used to be a fiscal republican. But, even their illogical fiscal policies can not be separated from their punitive and archaic morality anymore.

Time to wake up and smell the coffee, not make it.

[Cin]

While the vast majority of abortions take place in the first trimester that wouldn't be as sensational as pictures of late term abortions which by the way make up .08% of all abortions in the US. At least 36 states make late term abortions illegal and many do not adhere to the Supreme Court's ruling that bans must include exceptions for threats to the woman's life, physical health, and mental health. The war against a woman's right to own her body wages on.


Aborted Fetuses: The Awkward Guest at Your Super Bowl Party

—By Kate Sheppard

Anti-abortion activist Randall Terry has been running graphic ads of aborted fetuses in key primary states, as my colleague Tim Murphy has reported. Now the gruesome ads are coming to the Super Bowl.

Nothing says "pass the dip" like a bloody fetus. Normally, Terry wouldn't be able to get these kinds of ads on television. So he's launching a non-serious campaign for president (running as a Democratic challenger to President Obama) in order to exploit a loophole in Federal Communications Commission rules that requires station to run campaign ads in the weeks ahead of a primary election—no matter how grisly they might be. In the 45 days ahead of a primary and 60 days ahead of a general election, candidates for federal office can run whatever they want on local stations, as long as they pay for the airtime.

Yes, the FCC can try to fine you a half-million dollars for a "wardrobe malfunction," but bundles of bloody body parts is A-okay.

Terry can't, however, force the networks to run his ads nationally, as Jezebel points out. So if you live in a state that doesn't have a primary within 45 days of the Superbowl, you can enjoy your nachos without looking at fetal body parts. (Which, it's probably worth pointing out, are from late-term abortions; the vast majority of abortions take place in the first trimester.) But if you live in a Super Tuesday state or any of the others voting in February or early March, be prepared. The Greeley Gazette writes that Terry and his group have ads "ready to go" in 40 markets.

At least this means Miller's "Man Up" ads won't be the most offensive thing on your TV this Super Bowl.
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/01/aborted-fetuses-unexpected-guest-your-super-bowl-party

[AtLast]

Trevor Project Intern Takes His Own Life
Filed By Bil Browning | January 13, 2012 11:00 AM

Teenage Trevor Project intern, EricJames Borges, took his own life this week after years of bullying from schoolmates and his family. The young man was a budding filmmaker and had created an It Gets Better video just last month.

Borges said in the video, "I was raised in an extremist Christian household. My earliest recollections of my experience with the relentless and ongoing bullying was in kindergarten, but of course to a lesser degree....Throughout elementary, junior high and high school it got progressively worse. I was physically, mentally, emotionally and verbally assaulted on a day-to-day basis for my perceived sexual orientation...'My name was not Eric but 'Faggot'...I reached my limit when I was assaulted in a full classroom with a teacher present. I dropped out, went on independent studies, graduated early and started college...My mother knew I was gay and performed an exorcism on me in an attempt to cure me....My anxiety, depression, self-loathing and suicidal thoughts spiked...I had nowhere safe to go, either at home or school... My parents told me that, among other things, I was disgusting, perverted, unnatural and damned to Hell. About two months ago they officially kicked me out of my house."

Trevor Project spokesperson Laura McGinnis expressed sorrow at the young man's decision to end his own life. "We are deeply saddened to hear about the tragic death of EricJames Borges, and our hearts go out to his family and friends, and his community. EricJames was a dedicated, trained volunteer. Our main concern right now is that those affected by his death feel supported and can get the care they need. If you or someone you know needs support, please don't hesitate to call the Trevor Lifeline at 866-488-7386."

When will it stop?

[Ebon]

*posting for Arwen*

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/story/_/id/7459738/famu-drum-major-robert-champion-deserves-justice

Robert Champion deserves justice

Each year, the country takes time to reflect upon the life and work of one of my heroes, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and in that reflection it is common place to ask: How close are we to achieving the dream?

In the world of sports, the black community likes to take inventory of things such as opportunities for blacks to be head coaches, the image of the black athlete and team ownership. These are valid achievements to measure, but I find that accounting somewhat limited in scope and lacking in introspection.

After all, King's own words suggest the world he dreamed of was not just about blacks and whites.
[+] EnlargeRobert Champion
AP Photo/The Tampa Tribune, Joseph Brown IIIRobert Champion was a drum major at Florida A&M.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Race was the backdrop -- not the sole impetus -- behind King's dream that one day everyone will be judged solely by the "content of their character."

Obviously we're not there yet.

Just this week, a Cincinnati landlord lost her appeal of a ruling that hanging a "Public Swimming Pool, White Only" sign at her duplex was racist and against the law. But no matter how often we read such headlines, or athletes or their agents try to compare contract negotiations to slavery, it's safe to say we are getting closer.

At least in terms of blacks and whites living together as brothers and sisters.

As for the deeper meaning behind his dream … well, that's another matter.

Take, for example, the Robert Champion murder at Florida A&M, the country's oldest historically black college.

To refresh your memory, Champion was the young man who died of internal bleeding in November after allegedly being hazed by his bandmates. Champion was a drum major for FAMU's highly regarded marching band and reportedly opposed hazing. The attack happened in a hotel parking lot, on a chartered bus, after one of the biggest games of the year. Champion is said to have dropped the baton, and band members were upset. There were 30 students on the bus at the time of Champion's death.

I repeat: 30 witnesses on a bus.

But, so far, no one has been fired. No one is in jail. Only band director Julian White was been put on administrative leave with pay.

Why?

[+] EnlargeFAMU Band
AP Photo/Rob CarrOther members of the band were present when Robert Champion died, but to this point no one has been charged.

This week, Champion's parents held a news conference announcing that they are suing the charter bus company and revealing that their son was gay. Although they said they didn't think this was a hate crime, their lawyer, Chris Chestnut, said Champion's sexual orientation could have played a role in the vicious beating. Chestnut said he interviewed several students who said that they were also hazed that night but that Champion's treatment was far worse. They told Chestnut they believed Champion was targeted in large part because he was gay. Meanwhile, Chuck Hobbs, the attorney for White, said his client believes the incident was a hate crime.

Again, nearly two months have gone by. The autopsy concluded that his death was a homicide, but no one is in jail.

No one has been fired. Four students who were initially suspended from FAMU have been reinstated. How is this even possible with so many witnesses? How can school officials and parents have peace knowing there might be killers roaming free on the FAMU campus? Is it OK because it was hazing? Is it OK because the victim was gay? Or is it OK because hypocrisy says it's OK?

I don't think I need to tell you what Tallahassee, Fla., would look like right now if Champion had been beaten to death on a bus full of white students at a predominantly white university. And yet the rallying cry for justice from some of the nation's most prominent black leaders such as Jesse Jackson, politicians such as U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., and organizations such as the NAACP has been pretty much mute since Champion's sexual orientation became part of the story.

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., spoke at the school Friday in honor of King's birthday. Waters' office said the congresswoman, who signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act, was to talk about the murder but didn't provide further details. As far as I can tell, only the National Black Justice Coalition, a Washington, D.C., based nonprofit serving the black LGBT community, has been a consistent national voice since the hate crime element was introduced.

"I wonder what would Dr. King be thinking about right now in light of the purgatory we find FAMU to be in," said Sharon Lettman-Hicks, the executive director of the NBJC, in a phone interview. "There is such a thing as right from wrong, and the injustice done to Robert Champion must be made right.

"I think right now everyone is in the state of how do we avoid the maximum liability, just like what we saw at Penn State. I think it's an attempt to protect everyone who is alive with a complete disregard for the lost life. We are watching survival of the fittest play out, and it's pretty barbaric. I want humanity to prevail."

CLICK LINK FOR FULL ARTICLE!!!

[DapperButch]

"Work it" canceled.

--------------


After only two episodes, ABC has pulled the plug on its controversial new comedy, "Work It," reports Zap2it.

Tuesday night's episode drew only 4.9 million viewers, and a dismal 1.5 rating in the coveted 18-49 demo. "Work It" was consistently panned by critics, including HuffPost TV's resident critic Maureen Ryan, who called the cross-dressing comedy, "One of the worst sitcoms of all time."

"Work It" has been widely criticized for its gender politics, but that's not all. In its pilot episode, Amaury Nolasco's character uttered the cringe-worthy line, "I'm Puerto Rican... I'd be great at selling drugs."

Not surprisingly, the joke backfired, setting off a firestorm of criticism on Facebook and Twitter, and even a primetime demonstration by about two-dozen people on Wed., Jan. 11 outside ABC studios in New York.

It looks like even the sitcom's provocative artwork and timely references couldn't save this sinking ship.



Rest of the story:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/14/work-it-canceled_n_1206016.html

[SoNotHer]

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/X8nBxGZigIUTvaYXr5zfgQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD0zNTU7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/gma/us.abcnews.gma.com/ht_eric_james_borges_jt_120113_wmain.jpg

Gay Teen Filmmaker Eric James Borges Commits Suicide
By CHRISTINA NG | Good Morning America – Fri, Jan 13, 2012

A gay California teenager who made an anti-suicide video last month urging other gay kids to "never give up" has killed himself. The death on Wednesday of young filmmaker EricJames Borges, 19, has shocked his friends. "He advocated pro-life for gays. He wouldn't want anyone to [commit suicide]," said close friend James Criss. "It's so shocking to see that he did it himself." Borges made a video just last month for the "It Gets Better" project, a campaign that features personal hope-filled videos to LGBT teens to get them through difficult times.

"I know it is hard and I know what it feels like to be rejected and abused for your biological sexual orientation," Borges said in the video. Borges talks about being bullied from kindergarten through high school. "I was physically, mentally, emotionally and verbally assaulted on a day-to-day basis for my perceived sexual orientation," Borges said. "I was stalked, spit on, ostracized and physically assaulted." In high school, he said he reached his breaking point when he said he was assaulted in a full classroom with a teacher present. He dropped out, graduated through independent studies and went to college.

He also described a traumatic coming out experience in an "extremist Christian household." His parents did not accept his sexuality and he said he was kicked out of his home around the end of September. "My mother knew I was gay and performed an exorcism on me in an attempt to cure me," Borges said. "My anxiety, depression, self-loathing and suicidal thoughts spiked. I had nowhere safe to go, either at home or school." Criss, 19, said that Borges struggled for a few weeks as he bounced around the homes of different friends, but was eventually happy and settled with a new roommate. Borges said in the video that he came out in an attempt to educate others about the consequences of homophobia.

"I'm giving you this condensed history of my background to tell you this: it gets better," Borges said. "Now, I am a supplemental instructor of sexuality, a freelance guest speaker, a published writer and I work for the Trevor Project, the world's largest organization focused on suicide and crisis prevention among LGBTQ youth. I have met and befriended the most incredible and authentic people since I've come out." A confident Borges reassured viewers that once they got through the difficult time, they would find love and happiness. "You will love and be loved and I love you. You have an entire life, fit to burst with opportunities ahead of you. Don't ever give up and don't ever for one second think that you're not a valuable and beautiful contribution to this world. It gets better."

In the days before his suicide, Criss saw nothing to warn of the coming suicide. "He seemed like the normal old Eric the last time I saw him. He was fine. I couldn't tell anything was wrong with him," Criss said. In November, the young filmmaker made a video titled, "Invisible Creatures: A Short Film by EricJames Borges." The video features couples of different ages, some heterosexual and some homosexual, lovingly hugging, kissing, walking and talking in a field.

Anti-Suicide Activist Kills Himself

"Eric was a very driven and passionate individual," Criss said. "As long as I've known him, he was always seeking to do good for others. He wanted to make the world a better place, especially for the gay community." Criss said Borges had intended to use the video for applications to film school, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. "He had so much talent in him," Criss said. "He was a visionary."

Criss said Borges was a big fan of Lady Gaga and that his favorite song off of her new album was the inspiring "Edge of Glory."

"He loved her so much. That was probably his role model," Criss said. "He often quoted her. He was very passionate about her."

[mustangjeano]

What's Wrong with Gay Republicans?
Filed By Michael Hamar | January 12, 2012 1:00 PM

I once was a Republican. But the party I belonged to back then was a very different political party from what exists nowadays.

Yes, back then, the Christianists had begun to slowly infiltrate the party, yet they were still viewed as delusional by the majority and moderates held sway and religion had not been fully conflated into the party platform. Back then, facts, figures and rational analysis were actually respected and I was known for always backing up my opinions and positions with hard facts and objective data.

Indeed, I was awarded honors by both the local city committee by even received a plaque from then-Governor Jim Gilmore shortly before I resigned from the GOP. Admittedly, I wasn't out of the closet back in those days, but homophobia had not become one of the most important planks in the party platform either.

That's all changed nowadays and yet some gays - in what I can only view as a form of masochism and internalized self-loathing - continue to cling to saying they are Republicans. To me it's akin to someone of Jewish descent belonging to a neo-Nazi organization. I do not understand the mindset.

A very much on point column in the Huffington Post calls out to gay Republicans and basically asks them WTF is wrong with them. Here are some highlights:

Dear gay Republicans, ...Let's put economic and other issues aside for a moment; we can have a spirited debate about the backward GOP approach to taxes, the environment, and foreign policy another time. I don't understand how you can look beyond the fact that a major portion of your party's fundamental beliefs are that you are not equal.

This isn't a minor issue within your party. The Republican Party platform calls for amending the United States Constitution to discriminate against you. Party officials actually want to use our country's foundational document, which grants and extends rights and freedoms to people, to limit yours. But that's only the tip of the iceberg.

...Your party has thrown you in the deviant pile. Your party has labeled you a sexual predator. Your party is afraid of you and does not incorporate your voice or believe in your dignity.

This fact isn't a small debate within your party. It is not some misguided homophobes who are simply unaware of the LGBT community and all its accomplishments, struggles, and contributions, speaking out of turn and out of step with the platform. This is your party's platform...

...So when you vote for these guys and actively try to put them in power, you are hurting yourself, you are hurting me, you're hurting every loving LGBT family, and, most importantly, you're hurting America.

I'd love to hear how gay Republicans honestly justify supporting a political party that hates them and seeks to keep them less than full citizens.

From The Bilerico Project
Dang that is good. Thank you Anya for posting this

[Kobi]

Americans Occupiers in Zuccotti Park made famous phrases like "the 1 percent" to protest wealth disparity within the U.S. -- but the rest of the world can throw that term right back at us. As CNN points out today, World Bank economist Branko Milanovic writes in his book The Haves and the Have-Nots that 29 million of the 60 million people who constitute the top 1 percent of income earners globally (or 48 percent of them) are American, based on 2005 data. It's a finding that grabbed our attention, since Occupy Wall Street has tried to make "the 1 percent" Enemy No. 1 in the U.S. Here's how he rounds out the rest of the top percentile in his book:

Next follow about 4 million Germans; about 3 million French, Italians, and Britons each; 2 million Canadians, Koreans, Japanese, and Brazilians each; around 1 million of Swiss, Spaniards, Australians, Dutch, Taiwanese, Chileans, and Singaporeans. There is nobody from Africa, China, India, or from East Europe or Russia (in statistically significant numbers, of course).

That's more or less the rest of the developed world. The sad truth of how destitute billions of people are is reflected in the fact that an individual only needs to earn $34,000 annually to make it in that top percentile. For comparison, the 1 percenters within the U.S. population make $506,000 or more every year, as The Wall Street Journal reported in October. Though the Occupiers certainly care about poverty across the world, statistics like this don't do a whole lot to deflate that whole "they're just dumb kids with MacBooks" argument against them.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/business/2012/01/48-worlds-1-are-americans/46978/

[Oiler41]

Americans Occupiers in Zuccotti Park made famous phrases like "the 1 percent" to protest wealth disparity within the U.S. -- but the rest of the world can throw that term right back at us. As CNN points out today, World Bank economist Branko Milanovic writes in his book The Haves and the Have-Nots that 29 million of the 60 million people who constitute the top 1 percent of income earners globally (or 48 percent of them) are American, based on 2005 data. It's a finding that grabbed our attention, since Occupy Wall Street has tried to make "the 1 percent" Enemy No. 1 in the U.S. Here's how he rounds out the rest of the top percentile in his book:

Next follow about 4 million Germans; about 3 million French, Italians, and Britons each; 2 million Canadians, Koreans, Japanese, and Brazilians each; around 1 million of Swiss, Spaniards, Australians, Dutch, Taiwanese, Chileans, and Singaporeans. There is nobody from Africa, China, India, or from East Europe or Russia (in statistically significant numbers, of course).

That's more or less the rest of the developed world. The sad truth of how destitute billions of people are is reflected in the fact that an individual only needs to earn $34,000 annually to make it in that top percentile. For comparison, the 1 percenters within the U.S. population make $506,000 or more every year, as The Wall Street Journal reported in October. Though the Occupiers certainly care about poverty across the world, statistics like this don't do a whole lot to deflate that whole "they're just dumb kids with MacBooks" argument against them.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/business/2012/01/48-worlds-1-are-americans/46978/

While I agree (the facts say that I must) that we (as a nation) have a higher percentage of those in the 1%, I also have to applaud the efforts of the occupiers. I think it is important, before making them appear to be a bunch of whiners when the rest of the world isn't where our country is financially (nor have they ever been), the occupiers are operating on a national level, not global. Their focus is, and has been, strictly on the U.S. and I don't really think it is fair to compare what was set up, and continues as a movement within the U.S. borders, dealing with a U.S. problem, to a larger global scale of wealth and income; to me, that is comparing an apple and an orange when the original issue focused solely on the apple and was designed as such.

The shape of our economy in the U.S. has been pretty ugly to a lot of folks, including many who never saw the collapse of all they had worked for coming. Also true, some folks made some pretty bad decisions within the housing market; it isn't reasonable to assume that if I'm making 50 or 60 grand a year that I can afford to buy a house that costs a million dollars. I'm not saying people weren't duped, but this is some pretty basic math, so some of the problem was due directly to some of our own personal decisions; just one brick in the pile of many that got us where we are today.

The gap between the haves and have nots in this country has been growing by leaps and bounds; the middle class, which is the backbone of this country, is being squeezed to death. I'm not proposing a Robin Hood mentality, but the survival of the middle class is a significant piece of the puzzle in our economy and something has to be done to breathe life back into that segment. This is my opinion. I say kudos to the occupiers.

Glynn

[SoNotHer]

Carbon dioxide in oceans gives fish a deathwish
Posted on January 16, 2012 - 06:00 by Kate Taylor

http://img.tgdaily.com/sites/default/files/stock/450teaser/animals/clownfish.jpg

The increasing amount of dissolved carbon dioxide oceans is driving fish crazy, Australian researchers say.

At the levels predicted for the oceans by the end of this centory, it will interfere with their ability to hear, smell, turn and evade predators, says Professor Phillip Munday of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University.

"For several years our team have been testing the performance of baby coral fishes in sea water containing higher levels of dissolved CO2 – and it is now pretty clear that they sustain significant disruption to their central nervous system, which is likely to impair their chances of survival," he says. Munday's team says that high CO2 levels in sea water disrupt a key brain receptor in fish, causing marked changes in their behaviour and sensory ability.

"We’ve found that elevated CO2 in the oceans can directly interfere with fish neurotransmitter functions, which poses a direct and previously unknown threat to sea life," he says. After studying how baby clown and damsel fishes performed alongside their predators in CO2-enriched water, the team found that, while the predators were somewhat affected, the baby fish suffered much higher rates of attrition.

"Our early work showed that the sense of smell of baby fish was harmed by higher CO2 in the water – meaning they found it harder to locate a reef to settle on or detect the warning smell of a predator fish. But we suspected there was much more to it than the loss of ability to smell," says Munday.

The fishes' sense of hearing was also impaired, meaning that they no longer avoided reef sounds during the day - making them much more vulnerable to predators. The fish also tended to lose their natural instinct to turn left or right – an important factor in schooling behaviour which also makes them more vulnerable, as lone fish are easily eaten by predators.

"All this led us to suspect it wasn’t simply damage to their individual enses that was going on – but rather, that higher levels of carbon dioxide were affecting their whole central nervous system," says Munday. The reason appears to be that high CO2 directly stimulates a receptor in the fish brain called GABA-A, leading to a reversal in its normal function and over-excitement of certain nerve signals.

While most animals with brains have GABA-A receptors, the team considers the effects of elevated CO2 are likely to be most felt by those living in water, as they have lower blood CO2 levels normally. The main impact is likely to be felt by some crustaceans and by fishes, especially those which use a lot of oxygen. Prof. Munday said that around 2.3 billion tonnes of human CO2 emissions dissolve into the world’s oceans every year, causing changes in the chemical environment of the water in which fish and other species live.

"We’ve now established it isn’t simply the acidification of the oceans that is causing disruption – as is the case with shellfish and plankton with chalky skeletons – but the actual dissolved CO2 itself is damaging the fishes’ nervous systems."

[Kobi]

It's been speculated, and now it's confirmed: Wikipedia plans to give its users a (severe) taste of the Internet under SOPA by going offline in protest of the bill on Wednesday. Last week Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wiles wondered aloud in a statement if the site should coordinate a shutdown with Reddit planned for this Wednesday, January 18, to register its disgust with the much-maligned Internet censorship bill. And today we see Wales tweeting sly confirmation the massive online encyclopedia will indeed go dark.

We're glad to see a hat tip to Wikipedia's most loyal users! That suggests something else too: unlike Reddit users, who you'd expect to be anti-SOPA partisans anyways, a Wikipedia blackout will make site's more passive users very aware of the bill's existence when they lose access to that repertoire of knowledge that is Wikipedia. Wales writes that Wikipedian consensus is currently for a 24-hour shutdown of the site's English-language versions globally. So beside our inner Internet deviant enjoying seeing Wikipedia officially go anti-SOPA, we appreciate the decidedly Wikipedian way the site made the decision to go dark: with a "Wikipedia talk" forum you can read for yourself here. As Wales writes, it was a community decision.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2012/01/wikipedia-go-dark-wednesday/47467/

[Kobi]

Twenty-four million Zappos customers are getting an unpleasant Sunday-evening surprise.

The Amazon-owned e-commerce firm has revealed that it was the target of a cyber attack that gained access to its internal network, including the accounts of 24 million of its users. Though the company says that no complete credit card numbers were revealed in the breach, the intruders may have accessed customers’ names, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, addresses, the last four digits of their credit card numbers, and encrypted passwords. Zappos says it’s taken the precaution of resetting the passwords of all its customers and directing them to set a new password upon visiting the site.

“We were recently the victim of a cyber attack by a criminal who gained access to parts of our internal network and systems through one of our servers in Kentucky,” chief executive Tony Hsieh wrote to Zappos employees in an email posted to the site, declining to offer more information about the breach. ”We are cooperating with law enforcement to undergo an exhaustive investigation.”

Even after choosing a new Zappos password, users should be careful to also change their passwords on any site where they’ve used a similar or identical password, in case Zappos’ intruders are able to decrypt the scrambled passwords they’ve stolen. Zappos is also warning affected customers to watch out for phishing emails that will use their stolen email addresses to spoof official Zappos emails and ask for account credentials or financial details.
Hsieh wrote in his all-hands email that every employee at Zappos’ Henderson, Nevada headquarters will be assisting in the customer response to the breach, and that the company will only be responding to emails rather than phone calls in its effort to answer the massive number of queries that it expects to receive. ”We’ve spent over 12 years building our reputation, brand, and trust with our customers. It’s painful to see us take so many steps back due to a single incident,” he wrote in the email. “I suppose the one saving grace is that the database that stores our customers’ critical credit card and other payment data was not affected or accessed.”


http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/01/15/zappos-says-hackers-accessed-24-million-customers-account-details/?partner=yahootix

[UofMfan]

U.S. to Force Drug Firms to Report Money Paid to Doctors
By ROBERT PEAR ~ NYT (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/health/policy/us-to-tell-drug-makers-to-disclose-payments-to-doctors.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general)

[AtLast]

http://www.thespec.com/news/world/article/654538--iran-says-cia-behind-assassination-of-nuclear-scientist

Iran says CIA behind assassination of nuclear scientist

I have no idea if this is true. I do, however, think we are on the doorstep of another war in this region. I am sickened by this possibility. We are certainly involved in assinations.

I want all nations worldwide to dismantle and stop producing nuclear weapons- including the United States. Pipe dream, I know.

[Cin]

http://www.thespec.com/news/world/article/654538--iran-says-cia-behind-assassination-of-nuclear-scientist

Iran says CIA behind assassination of nuclear scientist

I have no idea if this is true. I do, however, think we are on the doorstep of another war in this region. I am sickened by this possibility. We are certainly involved in assinations.

I want all nations worldwide to dismantle and stop producing nuclear weapons- including the United States. Pipe dream, I know.

Well I will say this about that, since 2010 this makes 4 nuclear scientists killed in similar circumstances in Iran. Either Iranian nuclear scientists are the kind of people who make a lot of very nasty enemies in their personal lives or it's political assassination. Either way, I imagine nuclear science as a career path has taken a major hit in Iran.

Article in the Guardian:
Iran's nuclear scientists are not being assassinated. They are being murdered

Killing our enemies abroad is just state-sponsored terror – whatever euphemism western leaders like to use


http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/1/16/1326736730419/Mostafa-Ahmadi-Roshan-Ira-007.jpg
Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, the Iranian nuclear scientist killed in Tehran on January 11, with his son, Alireza. Photograph: -/AFP/Getty Images

On the morning of 11 January Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, the deputy head of Iran's uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, was in his car on his way to work when he was blown up by a magnetic bomb attached to his car door. He was 32 and married with a young son. He wasn't armed, or anywhere near a battlefield.

Since 2010, three other Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed in similar circumstances, including Darioush Rezaeinejad, a 35-year-old electronics expert shot dead outside his daughter's nursery in Tehran last July. But instead of outrage or condemnation, we have been treated to expressions of undisguised glee.

"On occasion, scientists working on the nuclear programme in Iran turn up dead," bragged the Republican nomination candidate Rick Santorum in October. "I think that's a wonderful thing, candidly." On the day of Roshan's death, Israel's military spokesman, Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai, announced on Facebook: "I don't know who settled the score with the Iranian scientist, but I certainly am not shedding a tear" – a sentiment echoed by the historian Michael Burleigh in the Daily Telegraph: "I shall not shed any tears whenever one of these scientists encounters the unforgiving men on motorbikes."
Complete Article:http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/16/iran-scientists-state-sponsored-murder

[*Anya*]

Check-Ups Urged for Mexicans with Flawed Implants

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) Jan 12, 2012 - Mexican women with breast implants made by a French company behind a global health scare should be examined by a doctor, Mexico's plastic surgeons said on Wednesday.

About 4,500 Mexican women received implants made by the now-defunct company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP), according to a survey of the 1,200 members of the Mexican Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery Association.

Mexican health officials have received no reports of serious problems with the suspect implants but it would be prudent for women who have the implants to get them checked for faults, said association president Alejandro Duarte.

"This is not cause for panic," he told reporters at a news conference.

PIP, once the third-largest maker of breast implants in the world, is accused of using industrial-grade instead of medical-grade silicone in some of its implants. They were sold in a number of European and Latin America countries.


The French government in December advised 30,000 women who had PIP implants to have them removed following the death from cancer in 2010 of a French woman who had the implants.

PIP products were sold in Mexico by two distributors from 1994 to 2010, when Mexican regulators suspended their sale.

"These people had no scruples and sold two-for-one," said association treasurer Alfonso Vallarta, who heads a campaign for safe plastic surgery, adding that the wholesale price of PIP implants at $450 a pair was about half that of rival products.

Most of the reported PIP implant surgeries took place in central Mexico, including the states of Guanajuato and Queretaro.

Health authorities have said there is no evidence of an increased cancer risk due to the PIP implants, but that they have higher rates of rupture that could cause inflammation and irritation.

[Apocalipstic]

God I hope the CIA is not murdering people still.

Please?

[Cin]

It isn't the 14th amendment that is the problem. It is the bizarre interpretation of the 1st amendment by the Supreme Court.

Complete article:http://www.truth-out.org/problem-citizens-united-not-corporate-personhood/1326497162

"The incorrect - but widely held - reading of Citizens United is that the corruption of elections arose fundamentally because the Supreme Court adopted a legal doctrine of corporate "personhood" which endowed corporations with First Amendment free speech rights, which, combined with the notion that spending money to promote a candidate is a form of speech, gives corporations the right to spend unlimited amounts of their money in elections. This incorrect reading of Citizens United is compounded by the further error that a constitutional amendment is necessary and sufficient to remove those corporate constitutional rights and to remove corporate money from elections, or could prevent the pro-corporate majority on the Supreme Court from making further decisions corrupting elections.

Fortunately, the inordinate influence of private money in elections can be fixed, and the fix is far easier to accomplish - and more certain of success if accomplished - than any kind of constitutional amendment, as described in "Constitutional Amendment Not Needed: Congress Already Has a Remedy."

The Supreme Court did not base its pro-corporate First Amendment decisions on supposed "constitutional rights" of corporations. Instead, it applied novel interpretations of the First Amendment that were independent of the identity of the speaker to open the floodgates of corporate money in elections, thereby turning elections into the high-return investment vehicles they are today.

The novel interpretations of the First Amendment were initiated in two Supreme Court cases decided decades before Citizens United. In its 1976 Buckley v Valeo decision, the Supreme Court equated spending money in politics with First Amendment protected speech and overturned federal limits on expenditures in elections as violating the First Amendment.

Thus, in Citizens United, the Supreme Court continued to articulate a theory of speech that underlies all the court's decisions allowing money into politics. What was novel in Citizens United was not anything remotely related to corporate personhood, but the court's expansion of the theory it provided in Bellotti from referendum questions to electioneering for candidates. In both cases, the court defined freedom of speech as protected by the First Amendment from the perspective of the listener, rather than of the speaker. The court held that the listener had the right to listen to all sources, whether the sources be corporations, partnerships, other business entities, individuals, associations or nonprofits. The court relied on the phrasing of the First Amendment to rule that Congress could not abridge "freedom of speech" in the abstract, irrespective of the source of the speech or the rights - or absence of rights - of the speaker.

The court could not have made any clearer that the right it defined has nothing to do with the "personhood" of the speaker, the source of the money for the speech or the rights of the source of the money.

Many may be surprised to learn that no federal campaign finance law has ever been struck down by the Supreme Court on grounds of "corporate personhood" or any kind of corporate rights. The court has consistently hinged its decisions on the First Amendment rights of the listener to hear all sources of the free and open debate and of society to enjoy an abstract "freedom of speech" disconnected from the identity of the speaker.

Citizens United was not the only case in which the Roberts 5 placed their pro-1-percent thumbs on this scale of justice. Of the four other decisions since 2006 in which the Roberts 5 extended the role of private interest money in politics, three had nothing to do with corporations. While the fourth did as much as Citizens United to open wide the gates to corporate money, like Citizens United, it did so without resorting to corporate personhood or corporate "rights." Those four cases seem to have been largely ignored by those inflating the importance of "corporate personhood" as the key problem. Together these cases show that corporate personhood actually has nothing to do with the key problem of money in politics.

The relatively ignored 2011 Arizona Free Enterprise v. Bennett decision, which overturned an Arizona public campaign funding law adopted by referendum, is probably more important than Citizens United. This is because it struck down a way of using public funding to effectively compete with private interest money in elections. The Roberts 5 thus showed they would brook no workarounds of their decisions that have the effect of mandating corrupt elections.

Abolishing corporate constitutional rights or the legal concept of "corporate personhood," as it applies to elections, would have no effect on the court's analysis in Citizens United or any of these other four cases, because none of its decisions mentioned, relied upon or in any way depended on that concept or any rights of corporations. The same is true of all the court's decisions dating back to the 1976 origin of the "money is speech" doctrine. The decision in Citizens United struck down a 1907 federal law which prohibited corporate-sponsored political messages. That law had been adopted after two presidential elections in which massive, corporate-funded electioneering determined the outcomes led to popular outrage against corporate contributions and forced Congressional action.

No breathing human person with standing in the Citizens United case actually asserted the "right" to have his or her TV programming interrupted to hear a corporate-sponsored political message. This "right" of real living persons to hear corporate electioneering was created by the Roberts Court for an imaginary voter. The court allowed the not-for-profit corporate party in the case to rely on court-imagined rights of real, living human beings who were not parties to the case. So, the court in effect struck down laws embodying the long-standing will of the people without any plaintiff in court asserting an individual right violated by that law. Further, as Justices Stevens, Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor asserted in their dissent, the court used the case to "rewrite the law relating to campaign expenditures by for-profit corporations and unions" which also were not parties to the case. In all these ways, the court decision thus violated the Constitution's "case and controversy" requirement. The decision was actually no more than an "advisory opinion," a type of decision the US Supreme Court has no constitutional authority to make. The Roberts 5 thus played fast and loose with constitutional limitations on its powers.

Where the Roberts 5 did "shockingly" break new ground in Citizens United and did reverse clear precedent was in its failure to strike a rational and principled balance between the negligible speech value of private money in elections and the harm such private money causes to the democratic form of government. As stated by Justice James C. Nelson, dissenting from what he considered a futile effort by the Montana Supreme Court to insulate Montana from the pernicious and unconstitutional effects of the Citizens United decree:

Citizens United distorts the right to speech beyond recognition. Indeed, I am shocked that the Supreme Court did not balance the right to speech with the government's compelling interest in preserving the fundamental right to vote in elections. Western Tradition Partnership v. Attorney General Bullock (Montana, December 30, 2011)

The sterile, highly technical issue of corporate personhood is an antiquated doctrine that played no role in Citizens United or any of the other election cases. From a practical point of view, as the Supreme Court itself pointed out, whether corporations should have First Amendment rights is the wrong question to ask, and, also, the wrong argument to wage. Limiting the scope of who can enjoy speech rights alienates such potential allies as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and diverts energy away from the actual constitutional problems.

A public aroused by and sympathetic to Occupy Wall Street may pressure Congress for an immediately available solution already provided in the Constitution and based on ordinary majority votes, as described in the "Constitutional Amendment Not Needed: Congress Already Has a Remedy" article. Diverting this public into seeking an unnecessary constitutional amendment on an irrelevant issue allows the serious threat to democracy created by the present Supreme Court majority to continue for the 2012 election, and on into the indefinite future.

Consider, also, that attacking the actual First Amendment grounds used by the court demonstrates the gross unfairness of the court's decision. To see this, let's compare a recent, genuine First Amendment issue involving Occupy Wall Street protesters. In addition to their general assemblies, working groups, marches and demonstrations, in which they exercised their pure First Amendment rights of "freedom of speech" and "right of the people peaceably to assemble" the protesters used the extremely effective symbolic communication activity of encampments for discussion and learning by the dispossessed and the committed. The police violently attacked and destroyed encampments and arrested or assaulted many protesters who were clearly exercising rights embodied in the First Amendment.

While this pure political speech and assembly on behalf of the 99 percent has been violently suppressed, the use of money by the 1 percent to influence elections, politicians, policies and contracts for private gain continues under the protection of the Roberts 5. This amounts to one rule for the 1 percent and an entirely different rule for the protesters representing the 99 percent.

The comparison of the treatment of private money in elections with the treatment of Occupy encampments is instructive on both sides of the First Amendment scales. A fair balancing of the respective weights strongly favors protecting the Occupy protesters' First Amendment right to peaceably assemble in their highly communicative encampments that do no harm, while denying the 1 percent a right to corrupt politics with their high-return-on-investment transactional spending on behalf of candidates that are highly destructive to the democratic form of government. Unfortunately, so far, neither municipal authorities nor the Supreme Court has done that fair balancing.

The contrast in application of the rule of law is at the very heart of what Occupy Wall Street is protesting - one law for those in the 1 percent who paid for advertising to have representatives elected into government, and another law for the majority of the governed.

While corporate advertising often works to elect candidates favorable to the corporations, it does not appear to satisfy the democratic aspirations of the public: "the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 20 percent of likely US voters say the federal government has the consent of the governed."

The urgency of removing private money from elections demands first properly understanding the basis for the court's decisions. It also requires determination not to be diverted by politicians, fundraising public interest organizations or professional activists from using that understanding to create an effective strategy.

Fortunately, an effective strategy does not require a constitutional amendment, whether for the irrelevant task of repealing corporate personhood or for the imperative task of excluding private money - not just for-profit corporate money - from elections.

Without the corporate personhood and constitutional amendment diversions, Sen. Sanders, Rep. Deutch and an aroused public can demand that Congress use its existing constitutional powers under Article III, Section 2 to restore the traditional limits on court jurisdiction over the political question of private money in elections. Then Congress will be free to pass legislation abolishing corrupting private finance of elections. While substantial public pressure is still needed for Congress to pass this legislation with ordinary majority votes, the barrier to success is far lower than the third-thirds vote in each house and ratification by three-fourths of the states required for a constitutional amendment. This direct route to restoring government of, by and for the people addresses the actual constitutional problems raised by the court, removes court power to find other creative vehicles to corrupt election and is available now without a constitutional amendment."

[LeftWriteFemme]

Why Gay Parents May Be the Best Parents


http://news.yahoo.com/why-gay-parents-may-best-parents-131902676.html

[Andrea]

Just another step towards taking our freedoms away. Government agencies have ways to view your naked body walking down the street (see article) or at the airport. They scan cars too. Next it will be your house. We were upset when they just wanted in our bedrooms.....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087996/NYPD-developing-body-scanner-detect-guns-suspects-street.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087996/NYPD-developing-body-scanner-detect-guns-suspects-street.html)

[Vlasta]

Just another step towards taking our freedoms away. Government agencies have ways to view your naked body walking down the street (see article) or at the airport. They scan cars too. Next it will be your house. We were upset when they just wanted in our bedrooms.....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087996/NYPD-developing-body-scanner-detect-guns-suspects-street.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087996/NYPD-developing-body-scanner-detect-guns-suspects-street.html)

Than you for posting this article . I just can say since, I grew up in the communist country it was bad and many times dangerous , but I was under impression , I arrived to a land of freedom . Hence , I feel like I am regressing back to worse conditions . Not even there these things were non existing .

I am aware nobody here it's interested in this type of upbringing , but I wish people would know in this country what we had been through and being proactive in many ways .

[Cin]

Tucson schools bans books by Chicano and Native American authors

Native authors include Leslie Marmon Silko, Buffy Sainte Marie and Winona LaDuke

By Brenda Norrell

TUCSON -- Outrage was the response to the news that Tucson schools has banned books, including "Rethinking Columbus," with an essay by award-winning Pueblo author Leslie Marmon Silko, who lives in Tucson, and works by Buffy Sainte Marie, Winona LaDuke, Leonard Peltier and Rigoberta Menchu.

The decision to ban Chicano and Native American books follows the 4 to 1 vote on Tuesday by the Tucson Unified School District board to succumb to the State of Arizona, and forbid Mexican American Studies, rather than fight the state decision.

Students said the banned books were seized from their classrooms and out of their hands, after Tucson schools banned Mexican American Studies, including a book of photos of Mexico. Crying, students said it was like Nazi Germany, and they were unable to sleep since it happened.

The banned book, "Rethinking Columbus," includes work by many Native Americans, as Debbie Reese reports, the book includes:

Suzan Shown Harjo's "We Have No Reason to Celebrate"
Buffy Sainte-Marie's "My Country, 'Tis of Thy People You're Dying"
Joseph Bruchac's "A Friend of the Indians"
Cornel Pewewardy's "A Barbie-Doll Pocahontas"
N. Scott Momaday's "The Delight Song of Tsoai-Talee"
Michael Dorris's "Why I'm Not Thankful for Thanksgiving"
Leslie Marmon's "Ceremony"
Wendy Rose's "Three Thousand Dollar Death Song"
Winona LaDuke's "To the Women of the World: Our Future, Our Responsibility"
The now banned reading list of the Tucson schools' Mexican American Studies includes two books by Native American author Sherman Alexie and a book of poetry by O'odham poet Ofelia Zepeda.

Jeff Biggers writes in Salon:

The list of removed books includes the 20-year-old textbook “Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years,” which features an essay by Tucson author Leslie Silko. Recipient of a Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas Lifetime Achievement Award and a MacArthur Foundation genius grant, Silko has been an outspoken supporter of the ethnic studies program.

Biggers said Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest," was also banned during the meeting this week. Administrators told Mexican-American studies teachers to stay away from any class units where “race, ethnicity and oppression are central themes."

Other banned books include “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” by famed Brazilian educator Paulo Freire and “Occupied America: A History of Chicanos” by Rodolfo Acuña, two books often singled out by Arizona state superintendent of public instruction John Huppenthal, who campaigned in 2010 on the promise to “stop la raza.” Huppenthal, who once lectured state educators that he based his own school principles for children on corporate management schemes of the Fortune 500, compared Mexican-American studies to Hitler Jugend indoctrination last fall.
http://www.salon.com/2012/01/13/whos_afraid_of_the_tempest/singleton/

Bill Bigelow, co-author of Rethinking Columbus, writes:

Imagine our surprise.
Rethinking Schools learned today that for the first time in its more-than-20-year history, our book Rethinking Columbus was banned by a school district: Tucson, Arizona ...

As I mentioned to Biggers when we spoke, the last time a book of mine was outlawed was during the state of emergency in apartheid South Africa in 1986, when the regime there banned the curriculum I’d written, Strangers in Their Own Country, likely because it included excerpts from a speech by then-imprisoned Nelson Mandela. Confronting massive opposition at home and abroad, the white minority government feared for its life in 1986. It’s worth asking what the school authorities in Arizona fear today.
http://rethinkingschoolsblog.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/rethinking-columbus-banned-in-tucson

Roberto Rodriguez, professor at University of Arizona, is also among the nation's top Chicano and Latino authors on the Mexican American Studies reading list. Rodriguez' column about this week's school board decision, posted at Censored News, is titled: "Tucson school officials caught on tape 'urinating' on Mexican students."http://drcintli.blogspot.com/

Rodriguez responded to Narco New about the ban on Sunday.

"The attacks in Arizona are mind-boggling. To ban the teaching of a discipline is draconian in and of itself. However, there is also now a banned books list that accompanies the ban. I believe 2 of my books are on the list, which includes: Justice: A Question of Race and The X in La Raza. Two others may also be on the list," Rodriguez said.

"That in itself is jarring, but we need to remember the proper context. This is not simply a book-banning; according to Tom Horne, the former state schools' superintendent who designed HB 2281, this is part of a civilizational war. He determined that Mexican American Studies is not based on Greco-Roman knowledge and thus, lies outside of Western Civilization.

"In a sense, he is correct. The philosophical foundation for MAS is a maiz-based philosophy that is both, thousands of years old and Indigenous to this continent. What has just happened is akin to an Auto de Fe -- akin to the 1562 book-burning of Maya books in 1562 at Mani, Yucatan. At TUSD, the list of banned books will total perhaps 50 books, including artwork and posters.

"For us here in Tucson, this is not over. If anything, the banning of books will let the world know precisely what kind of mindset is operating here; in that previous era, this would be referred to as a reduccion (cultural genocide) of all things Indigenous. In this era, it can too also be see as a reduccion."

The reading list includes world acclaimed Chicano and Latino authors, along with Native American authors. The list includes books by Corky Gonzales, along with Sandra Cisneros’ “The House on Mango Street;” Jimmy Santiago Baca’s “Black Mesa Poems,“ and L.A. Urreas’ “The Devil’s Highway.“ The authors include Henry David Thoreau and the popular book “Like Water for Chocolate.”

On the reading list are Native American author Sherman Alexie's books, “Ten Little Indians,“ and “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven.“ O’odham poet and professor Ofelia Zepeda’s “Ocean Power, Poems from the Desert” is also on the list.
DA Morales writes in Three Sonorans, at Tucson Citizen, about the role of state schools chief John Huppenthal. "Big Brother Huppenthal has taken his TEA Party vows to take back Arizona… take it back a few centuries with official book bans that include Shakespeare!"

http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/2012/01/13/did-you-know-even-shakespeare-got-banned-from-tusd-with-mas-ruling/

[UofMfan]

Costa Concordia Captain's Excuse: 'I Tripped' ~ HuffPo (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/18/costa-concordia-captain-tripped_n_1212640.html)

[Cin]

Costa Concordia Captain's Excuse: 'I Tripped' ~ HuffPo (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/18/costa-concordia-captain-tripped_n_1212640.html)
Luckily in the words of tina turner "we don't need another hero", cause we sure didn't get one.

Here is a translation of the transcript of the conversation between Capt. Francesco Schettino, commander of the grounded Costa Concordia, and Capt. Gregorio De Falco of the Italian coast guard in Livorno.

In the conversation, De Falco repeatedly orders Schettino to return to the ship to oversee the evacuation, while Schettino resists, making excuses that it's dark and that the ship is listing.

The audio was first made available on the website of Corriere della Sera, and the Italian coast guard confirmed its authenticity Tuesday to The Associated Press.

_De Falco: "This is De Falco speaking from Livorno. Am I speaking with the commander?"

_Schettino: "Yes. Good evening, Cmdr. De Falco."

_De Falco: "Please tell me your name."

_Schettino: "I'm Cmdr. Schettino, commander."

_De Falco: "Schettino? Listen Schettino. There are people trapped on board. Now you go with your boat under the prow on the starboard side. There is a pilot ladder. You will climb that ladder and go on board. You go on board and then you will tell me how many people there are. Is that clear? I'm recording this conversation, Cmdr. Schettino..."

_Schettino: "Commander, let me tell you one thing..."

_De Falco: "Speak up! Put your hand in front of the microphone and speak more loudly, is that clear?"

_Schettino: "In this moment, the boat is tipping..."

_De Falco: "I understand that, listen, there are people that are coming down the pilot ladder of the prow. You go up that pilot ladder, get on that ship and tell me how many people are still on board. And what they need. Is that clear? You need to tell me if there are children, women or people in need of assistance. And tell me the exact number of each of these categories. Is that clear? Listen Schettino, that you saved yourself from the sea, but I am going to... I'm going to make sure you get in trouble. ...I am going to make you pay for this. Go on board, (expletive)!"

_Schettino: "Commander, please..."

_De Falco: "No, please. You now get up and go on board. They are telling me that on board there are still..."

_Schettino: "I am here with the rescue boats, I am here, I am not going anywhere, I am here..."

_De Falco: "What are you doing, commander?"

_Schettino: "I am here to coordinate the rescue..."

_De Falco: "What are you coordinating there? Go on board! Coordinate the rescue from aboard the ship. Are you refusing?"

_Schettino: "No, I am not refusing."

_De Falco: "Are you refusing to go aboard commander? Can you tell me the reason why you are not going?"

_Schettino: "I am not going because the other lifeboat is stopped."

_De Falco: "You go aboard. It is an order. Don't make any more excuses. You have declared 'abandon ship.' Now I am in charge. You go on board! Is that clear? Do you hear me? Go, and call me when you are aboard. My air rescue crew is there."

_Schettino: "Where are your rescuers?"

_De Falco: "My air rescue is on the prow. Go. There are already bodies, Schettino."

_Schettino: "How many bodies are there?"

_De Falco: "I don't know. I have heard of one. You are the one who has to tell me how many there are. Christ."

_Schettino: "But do you realize it is dark and here we can't see anything..."

_De Falco: "And so what? You want go home, Schettino? It is dark and you want to go home? Get on that prow of the boat using the pilot ladder and tell me what can be done, how many people there are and what their needs are. Now!"

_Schettino: "...I am with my second in command."

_De Falco: "So both of you go up then ... You and your second go on board now. Is that clear?"

_Schettino: "Commander, I want to go on board, but it is simply that the other boat here ... there are other rescuers. It has stopped and is waiting..."

_De Falco: "It has been an hour that you have been telling me the same thing. Now, go on board. Go on board! And then tell me immediately how many people there are there."

_Schettino: "OK, commander"

_De Falco: "Go, immediately!"

But he never did. This guy is a piece of work.

[Kobi]

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. January 18, 2012 (AP)

A spokeswoman says a suburban Atlanta teacher has resigned after an investigation over third-grade students being assigned math homework with word problems about slavery.

One of the problems read: "Each tree has 56 oranges. If eight slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?"

Another was: "If Frederick got two beatings each day, how many beatings did he get in one week?"

Gwinnett County schools spokeswoman Sloan Roach said Wednesday an investigation has concluded into four teachers who gave out the assignments at Beaver Ridge Elementary. She says the school system accepted the resignation of one teacher but declined to elaborate on the rest.

Parents were angered by the math problems, and the NAACP had called for teachers to be fired.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ga-teacher-resigns-slavery-math-lesson-15387799

[Kobi]

After years of complaints in African-American circles about the lack of attention paid to missing black women in this country, a U.S. cable network dedicated to black programming begins a revolutionary series this week.

The program, called “Find Our Missing,” is scheduled to begin airing tonight on TV One, a black cable network available in 56 million homes.

The network is working with the Black and Missing Foundation, a group of black professionals who keep track of missing black Americans — cases that are often ignored or unreported. The sheer number of faces that peer back from its website is startling. Most of the missing are from New York, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland and Florida.

According to FBI figures, nearly 40 percent of all missing persons are people of color, but critics say that the most media attention is reserved for white women.

Craig Henry, executive in charge of production at TV One, says the presumption in this country is that “black people live in impoverished conditions, so there’s not the same sense of outrage” when black Americans disappear.

“We are also accustomed to seeing stories and news reports of black people involved in criminal activity, and not very often the victims of crimes,” he said.

Derrica Wilson, the CEO and co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation, says it is the public’s attention and media coverage that help find the missing, and this new effort could save lives or give families closure. She said many of the missing black women are victims of human trafficking. Since 2008, her organization has helped to either locate or bring closure to 71 missing persons cases. This January alone, the organization helped find six people, and all six were found alive.

“We all know that black and Latinos, or any person of color, who go missing oftentimes do not receive the much needed media coverage, which could drastically increase the odds of their safe recovery,” she said.

“It is time for all people — regardless of race — to be treated equally in their times of greatest need,” said Natalie Wilson, another co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation.

“When we hear the term ‘missing persons,’ most people conjure up images of Chandra Levy, Caylee Anthony or Natalee Holloway,” Wilson said. “As a result, the public is misled in believing that victims of abductions and kidnappings are [all]blond, blue-eyed and female.”

Both the Black and Missing Foundation and TV One point to the cases of 36-year-old Stacey English of Atlanta, and 23-year-old Phoenix Coldon of St. Louis. Both women went missing at the end of December, and authorities say the cases are strikingly similar.

For example, the vehicles of both women were found abandoned and still running just miles from their homes. And the man authorities say English had last seen was from St. Louis, where Coldon disappeared. Their families say neither case has generated the kind of national attention or questions they believe would have occurred if the young women had been white.

“It’s sad that this may be the case,” said Cindy Jamison, the mother of Stacy English. She, her husband, Kevin Jamison, and a small army of relatives and friends have been searching Atlanta for weeks. On the phone today she told me, “Here we are crying for everyone to show Stacey’s face, trying to get whoever would listen to listen, and whoever would have us to tell her story…. and [the lack of national attention] does make us think.”

Craig Henry of TV One says the new series is a set of “mystery tales,” and this is the best way to grab viewer interest in these cases, many of them quite cold.

“These are stories, and we immerse you in the lives of these missing people,” he said. “These are people you get to know, you see their families, see their normal lives, and then one day you learn that they are gone. We want to get people to empathize and get people to care about these stories.”

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/01/getting-more-to-care-about-missing-black-women/

[Hollylane]

Tucson schools bans books by Chicano and Native American authors


http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/2012/01/13/did-you-know-even-shakespeare-got-banned-from-tusd-with-mas-ruling/

#@#)(*)(%*@_)$*@#$

As a person of Native American descent, and a native Tusconan, I am yet again disgusted by the behavior of more than a few Arizonans. What fucking country do you think you're living in??? Have you read the constitution???

[SoNotHer]

Poe fans call an end to 'Toaster' tradition
By SARAH BRUMFIELD | Associated Press – 23 mins ago

http://media.trb.com/media/photo/2012-01/258117400-19043741.jpg

FILE - A flashlight shines on items left on the gravestone of Edgar Allen Poe by people who pretended to be the mysterious "Poe Toaster" in Baltimore, early Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. Fans waited long past a midnight dreary to see if the true "Poe Toaster" would return after a two-year hiatus to leave cognac and roses upon the writer's grave on the anniversary of his birth, or whether the tradition had reached an end. The "Poe Toaster" was a no-show for a third year.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Edgar Allan Poe fans waited long past a midnight dreary, but it appears annual visits to the writer's grave in Baltimore by a mysterious figure called the "Poe Toaster" shall occur nevermore.

Poe House and Museum Curator Jeff Jerome said early Thursday that die-hard fans waited hours past when the tribute bearer normally arrives. But the "Poe Toaster" was a no-show for a third year in a row, leaving another unanswered question in a mystery worthy of the writer's legacy. Poe fans had said they would hold one last vigil this year before calling an end to the tradition.

"It's over with," Jerome said wearily. "It will probably hit me later, but I'm too tired now to feel anything else."

It is thought that the tributes of an anonymous man wearing black clothes with a white scarf and a wide-brimmed hat, who leaves three roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac at Poe's original grave on the writer's birthday, date to at least the 1940s. Late Wednesday, a crowd gathered outside the gates of the burial ground surrounding Westminster Hall to watch for the mysterious visitor, yet only three impersonators appeared, Jerome said.

The gothic master's tales of the macabre still connect with readers more than 200 years after his birth, including his most famous poem, "The Raven," and short stories such as "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Pit and the Pendulum." Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is considered the first modern detective story. Jerome, who was first exposed to Poe through Vincent Price's movies, believes people still identify with Poe's suffering and his lifelong dream to be a poet. He has kept a vigil for the "Poe Toaster" each year since 1978 and built up a team of other dedicated Poe fans who stay awake all night to scan the shadows of the burial ground for the visitor.

"I've been part of a ritual that people around the world read about," he said. "I'll miss it." One Poe tradition may have ended, but Jerome said a reading of tributes by Poe fans at the gravesite planned for Thursday night may develop into a new ritual to mark the writer's birthday.

Jerome says that wherever he travels, he's asked whether the "Poe Toaster" is real. He believes the mystery of the "Poe Toaster" tradition will remain in the public consciousness despite the end of the visits. That mystery is what has kept Jessica Marxen, 33, a programmer from Randallstown, Md., coming back to watch for the "Poe Toaster" for years. She and her sister Jeannette, 31, an administrative assistant, got involved after Jerome visited their high school and recruited them as volunteers at the Poe House. Though she has watched for the "Poe Toaster" for years, Jessica Marxen said she wouldn't want to know who he is. "There are so few mysteries," she said. "It's a throwback to a more romantic time when people could have secrets."

Poe, who was born in Boston, lived in Baltimore, London, New York, Philadelphia and Richmond, Va. During a visit to Baltimore in 1849, he died under mysterious circumstances at age 40. The cause of his death has been the subject of much speculation over the years, with theories ranging from murder to rabies. Poe was buried in his grandfather's lot in Westminster Burial Ground, in what is now downtown Baltimore. In 1875, his body and that of his aunt and mother-in-law Maria Clemm were moved to a prominent spot by the entrance with a memorial marker. The body of his young wife and cousin, Virginia, was exhumed and reburied with him 10 years later.

Baltimore recently cut funding for the museum at the rowhouse where Poe lived with relatives from 1832 to 1835, before he found fame as a writer. It must close if it does not become self-sustaining by June. The annual graveside tribute was first mentioned in print in 1950 as an aside in an article that appeared in The Evening Sun of Baltimore about an effort to restore the cemetery, Jerome said. When Jerome spoke to older members of the congregation that once worshiped at the church, they recalled hearing about a visitor in the 1930s.

The visitor has occasionally left notes with his tributes, but they haven't offered much insight into the identity of the "Poe Toaster." A few indicated the tradition passed to a new generation before the original visitor's death in the 1990s, and some even mentioned the Iraq War and Baltimore Ravens football team, which was named for Poe's poem. The vigil inside the former church is closed to the public, but over the years, a crowd has gathered outside the gates to watch. After the "Poe Toaster" failed to show in 2010, last year's vigil attracted impersonators, including a man who arrived in a limo and a few women.

The crowd outside the gates of the burial ground into Thursday morning was more respectful than last year. Even the impersonators were more solemn, perhaps because of the sense that this could be the last vigil, according to Sherri Weaver, 40, of Randallstown, who works in finance. Weaver and a few dozen others — some from as far away as California and Chicago — braved a windy night with temperatures around 30 degrees, hoping to catch a glimpse of the mystery visitor.

"Some people held out some optimism, but this may be the end," she said as dawn approached and it was becoming clear that the "Poe Toaster" was not showing up for a third time. "People know this is not a fluke, it's a quiet end."

[Cin]

Kucinich proposes public financing to overturn Citizens United ruling

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) introduced a constitutional amendment to the U.S. House on Thursday that would overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. the Federal Elections Commission.

The court held that corporations have the same First Amendment rights as people and that money was a form of speech.

“Because of the decision by the Supreme Court majority in the Citizens United case, more money was spent on campaigns in the 2010 election than has ever been spent in a mid-term election,” Kucinich said. “Because of the Citizens United case, more money will be spent in the 2012 elections than has ever been spent in an election in the history of our country. Because of the Citizens United case, American democracy has been put up on the auction block.”

A number of other Members of Congress, including Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY), Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have proposed constitutional amendments to overturn the Citizens United ruling. Sens. Tom Udall (D-NM) and Michael Bennet of (D-CO) have also introduced less ambitious constitutional amendment that would give Congress and the states the authority to regulate the campaign finance system.

Kucinich’s proposed amendment would completely bar interest groups from influencing elections by requiring that all federal campaigns be financed exclusively with public funds and prohibit any expenditures from any other source.

“We must rescue American democracy from unlimited corporate money,” Kucinich added. “This is the most fundamental issue facing the future of our nation. With corporate, private financing we have officials working for the interest of corporations. With public financing we have officials working for the public. And public financing will actually save taxpayers’ money, by eliminating any incentive of public officials to reward campaign contributors with taxpayer subsidies.”

[Kobi]

This has nostalgic and historical significance for those of us in the social work profession.



CHICAGO—Hull House, the Chicago social services organization that Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams founded in 1889 to help thousands of immigrants adjust to life in America, will close this spring because of financial reasons, the charity's board chairman said Thursday.

Jane Addams Hull House Association has provided child care, domestic violence counseling, job and literacy training, services for senior citizens and housing assistance for 60,000 people annually in the Chicago area at nearly four dozen sites. The organization cited the current economic climate for increasing demand for services while compromising fundraising.

"During these challenging times, we have remained committed to the mission established by Jane Addams more than 120 years ago," said Board chairman Stephen Saunders. "Now, our goal is to ensure the families and individuals we serve continue to have access to the services they need. This was a very difficult decision, but it was the responsible thing to do."

Hull House was the most well-known of the 400 settlement houses in the United States in the early 1900s. The settlements were designed to provide services to immigrants and to the poor while uplifting them through culture, education and recreation. At its peak, Hull House served more than 9,000 people a week, offering medical help, an art gallery, citizenship classes, a gardening club and a gym with sports programs.

The organization will file bankruptcy protection in the first quarter of this year. The decision to close came after the agency's management and board of trustees worked for two years to reduce operating costs and improve services, officials said.

A spokeswoman for Metropolitan Family Services said the organization is in talks with Hull House on taking over that organization's programs. The last events listed on the calendar posted on the Hull House website take place in March.

The Hull House agency isn't affiliated with the University of Illinois at Chicago's Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, which will remain open. The Hull House site on Chicago's West Side is a National Historic Landmark.

[JustBeingMe]

It's so messed up and sad that organizations like that one are closing there doors because of the lack of funding and ecomony situation. It only hurts those that truly need assistance. I work with my local church to help serve food to the elderly and disabled that can't get out and about, to have a lunch taken to them on the second sat. each month, and we also open our food pantry that day for those in need. The need for food has increased sooo much this past year. It's really bad out there in the world today. I can't say at my age of 48, that I have ever seen so many people in need of some sort of help with food, paying rent, utility assistance, etc. I can't even watch the news anymore, it just depresses me even more. I wish there some way to fix our economy and get people back to work. OH yeah, and the food stamp programs are cutting benefits really bad too. Anyway, thanks for the post. Kobi, I always enjoy them.

[Kobi]

Someone asked me to post the links to the Hull House story so here they are.

The story: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/chicagos-jane-addams-hull-house-close-15398893

Hull House itself : www.hullhouse.org

The History : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull_House

[SoNotHer]

Globally, 9 of the 10 warmest years on record occurred since 2000

http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20120119&t=2&i=560419005&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=BTRE80I1OM700

Smoke rises from burning grass at a village near Bangkok March 31, 2008. REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang

WASHINGTON | Thu Jan 19, 2012 4:57pm EST

(Reuters) - The global average temperature last year was the ninth-warmest in the modern meteorological record, continuing a trend linked to greenhouse gases that saw nine of the 10 hottest years occurring since the year 2000, NASA scientists said on Thursday.

A separate report from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said the average temperature for the United States in 2011 as the 23rd warmest year on record.

The global average surface temperature for 2011 was 0.92 degrees F (0.51 degrees C) warmer than the mid-20th century baseline temperature, researchers at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies said in a statement. The institute's temperature record began in 1880.

The first 11 years of the new century were notably hotter than the middle and late 20th century, according to institute director James Hansen. The only year from the 20th century that was among the top 10 warmest years was 1998.

These high global temperatures come even with the cooling effects of a strong La Nina ocean temperature pattern and low solar activity for the past several years, said Hansen, who has long campaigned against human-spurred climate change.

The NASA statement said the current higher temperatures are largely sustained by increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, especially carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is emitted by various human activities, from coal-fired power plants to fossil-fueled vehicles to human breath.

Current levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere exceed 390 parts per million, compared with 285 ppm in 1880 and 315 by 1960, NASA said.

Last year was also a year of record-breaking climate extremes in the United States, which contributed to 14 weather and climate disasters with economic impact of $1 billion or more each, according to NOAA . This number does not count a pre-Halloween snowstorm in the Northeast, which is still being analyzed.

NOAA's National Climatic Data Center said the average 2011 temperature for 2011 for the contiguous United States was 53.8 degrees F, which is 1 degree above the 20th-century average. Average precipitation across the country was near normal, but this masks record-breaking extremes of drought and precipitation, the agency said.

Article continues: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/19/us-climate-warmest-idUSTRE80I29320120119

[theoddz]

Etta James, the "Matriarch of R&B", has passed away at age 73 of leukemia. :( (f)

She will be sadly, sadly missed.

Thank you, Etta, for all of the many wonderful things you did, throughout your career, for the worlds of R&B, and music and society, in general. Your heart, soul and talent contributed greatly towards changing the heart of a nation in a time when change was so desperately needed.

I want to post this as a loving tribute to this lovely woman, along with my most heartfelt sympathies for her family and friends in this sad time. (w)

Rest in peace, lovely Ms. Etta......

_1uunRdQ61M

:bouquet::heartbeat::bouquet:

~Theo~ :bouquet:

[Gentle Tiger]

Etta James, the "Matriarch of R&B", has passed away at age 73 of leukemia. :( (f)

She will be sadly, sadly missed.

Thank you, Etta, for all of the many wonderful things you did, throughout your career, for the worlds of R&B, and music and society, in general. Your heart, soul and talent contributed greatly towards changing the heart of a nation in a time when change was so desperately needed.

I want to post this as a loving tribute to this lovely woman, along with my most heartfelt sympathies for her family and friends in this sad time. (w)

Rest in peace, lovely Ms. Etta......

_1uunRdQ61M

:bouquet::heartbeat::bouquet:

~Theo~ :bouquet:

She is one of the few that provoked a reaction when I heard the news. Very sad indeed. I really appreciate her love her music and had a big time crush on her.

[*Anya*]

1/19/2012

Vagifresh Ball, Vagifresh Gel, Female One: Recall - Undeclared Drug Ingredient, Bacterial Contamination

AUDIENCE: Consumer, OB/GYN

ISSUE: USA Far Ocean Group Inc. notified the public of a recall of Vagifresh Ball and Vagifresh Gel, sold as cosmetics. Vagifresh Gel was found by FDA analysis to contain benzocaine, an active ingredient for many anesthetic drug products. FDA analysis of Vagifresh Ball found the product contains bacteria. The FDA has also determined that marketing material for these products contained unsubstantiated therapeutic claims related to various gynecologic conditions that could have caused women taking these products from seeking appropriate medical care for potentially serious medical conditions.

BACKGROUND: Vagifresh Ball and Vagifresh Gel products are marketed as cosmetics, and applied by inserting deeply into the vagina for a prolonged period of time. These products were sold via herbal stores, beauty shops, drug stores, internet and mail order.

These two products were also sold under the mixed package named Female One, which contained Vagifresh Ball, Vagifresh Gel and Vagifresh Liquid (this recall does not involve Vagifresh Liquid). FDA analysis of Vagifresh Ball found the product contains bacteria:

Staphylococcus lentus, S. sciuri, Bacillus Lantus, Alloiococcus otitis, Aerococcus viridans, Aeromonas salmonicid, Gemella spp, and Leuconostoc spp.

RECOMMENDATION: Consumers in possession of these products should stop using it immediately and contact their physician if they experienced any problem that may be related to using any of these products.

Healthcare professionals and patients are encouraged to report adverse events or side effects related to the use of these products to the FDA's MedWatch Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program:

Complete and submit the report Online: www.fda.gov/MedWatch/report.htm
Download form or call 1-800-332-1088 to request a reporting form.

[Hollylane]

1/19/2012

Vagifresh Ball, Vagifresh Gel, Female One: Recall - Undeclared Drug Ingredient, Bacterial Contamination




This one really deserves a :|

[Sassy]

"Today, in a huge victory for women’s health, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that most employers will be required to cover contraception in their health plans, along with other preventive services, with no cost-sharing such as co-pays or deductibles. This means that after years of trying to get birth control covered to the same extent that health plans cover Viagra, our country will finally have nearly universal coverage of contraception."
...
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/01/20/407994/obama-administration-approves-rule-that-guarantees-near-universal-contraceptive-coverage/?mobile=nc

[SoNotHer]

Tender Photos Unearthed from a Turbulent Time
By Sarah B. Weir

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/BHtM408xxufrYfeNMC2dqg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00MDA7cT04NTt3PTU5OQ--/http://media.zenfs.com/en-US/blogs/partner/2218751.0


When Mildred and Richard Loving married in Washington, D.C. in 1958, they didn't think they were breaking the law. Both were from the small town of Central Point, Virginia. Mildred was of African-American and Native American decent and Richard was white. They did know it was illegal for them to marry in their state-as well as 15 others--which is why they left to tie the knot. Within a month of returning home, police burst into their bedroom in the middle of the night and arrested them under the state's anti-miscegenation law. They were sentenced to a one-year in prison term that could be suspended if they left Virginia.

Related Link: Kentucky Church Bans Interracial Couples from Becoming Members

Banished to Washington, D.C., Mildred Loving, who did not consider herself a political person, wrote about her plight to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. The American Civil Liberties Union took up the case and brought it all the way to the United States Supreme Court. In 1967, in a landmark Civil Rights ruling, the court struck down America's laws against interracial marriage.

On the 40th anniversary of the ruling, Loving issued a statement that read, "I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight, seek in life."

In 1965, Life Magazine sent photographer Grey Villet to photograph the Lovings and their three children. Writing for the New York Times, Villet's widow Barbara recalled that he approached the assignment with the aim of creating a tender family portrait, not an overtly political statement. "He chose as he did in every essay…to seek out the literal heart of the matter: a love story." However, the images were utterly groundbreaking exactly because of the intimate and emotionally transparent way they portrayed a taboo subject.

Filmmaker Nancy Buirski rediscovered Villet's photographs while making a documentary for HBO called The Loving Story. Twenty of the images are on display at the International Center of Photography in New York City from January 20 through May 6, 2012. The Loving Story will debut on February 14.

[Hollylane]

Couple Finally Reveals Child's Gender, Five Years After Birth (http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/couple-finally-reveals-childs-gender-five-years-birth-180300388.html)

It's a boy! And he's five. Beck Laxton, 46, and partner Kieran Cooper, 44, have spent half the decade concealing the gender of their son, Sasha.

"I wanted to avoid all that stereotyping," Laxton said in an interview with the Cambridge News. "Stereotypes seem fundamentally stupid. Why would you want to slot people into boxes?"

Take a look at the most controversial parenting stories of the year.

Laxton, a UK-based web editor, and her partner, Cooper, decided to keep Sasha's sex a secret when he was still in the womb. The birth announcement stated the gender-neutral name of their child, but skipped the big reveal. Up until recently, the couple only told a few close friends and family members that Sasha was a boy and managed to keep the rest of the world in the dark. But now that he's starting school the secret's out.

For years, Becks has been referring to her child, the youngest of three, as "the infant" on her personal blog. But guarding the public from her son's gender was only part of her quest to let her kid just be a kid.

Sasha dresses in clothes he likes -- be it a hand-me-downs from his sister or his brother. The big no-no's are hyper-masculine outfits like skull-print shirts and cargo pants. In one photo, sent to friends and family, Sasha's dressed in a shiny pink girl's swimsuit. "Children like sparkly things," says Beck. "And if someone thought Sasha was a girl because he was wearing a pink swimming costume, then what effect would that have? "

Sasha's also not short on dolls, though Barbie is also off limits. "She's banned because she's horrible," Laxton says in the Cambridge interview.

On a macro level she hopes her son sets an example for other parents and makes them reconsider buying their own sons trucks or forcing their daughters into tights. She's seen how those consumer trappings affect how and who kids play with in the sandbox.

See how one preschool is fighting gender bias in the classroom

But the sandbox is just a precursor to the classroom. When Sasha turned five and headed to school, Laxton was forced to make her son's sex public. That meant Sasha would have to get used to being a boy in the eyes of his peers. Still, his mom is intervening. While the school requires different uniforms for boys and girls, Sasha wears a girl's blouse with his pants.

"I don't think I'd do it if I thought it was going to make him unhappy, but at the moment he's not really bothered either way. We haven't had any difficult scenarios yet."

Last year another couple, Kathy Witterick, 38, and David Stocker, 39, of Toronto made a similar decision when they had their baby, Storm. At the time, certain psychiatric experts voiced concern over their decision. "To have a sense of self and personal identity is a critical part of normal healthy development," Dr. Eugene Beresin, director of training in child and adolescent psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, told ABC News. "This blocks that and sets the child up for bullying, scapegoating and marginalization."

But as parents well know, bullying is hard for any child to avoid. It's more important to raise someone who's confident enough in himself to overcome peer pressure. It's also important to have his parents have his back (remember the mom who defended her son's choice in a Halloween costume?) Maybe Sasha's early years will be character building, maybe he'll have a higher emotional quotient being raised with dual perspectives on gender. Or the reverse could be true: Sasha may have less of a formed identity because of his upbringing, and feel angry at his mom for dressing him in flowery shirts and telling the world about it. Then again, maybe he'll get over it.

As for Laxton, she says she's open to her son pursing any career or sexual preference he chooses as he matures. "As long as he has good relationships and good friends," she says, "then nothing else matters, does it?"

[Cin]

If information is power, then the average citizen is indeed powerless. We are spoon fed by the corporate media some version of the news giving it the slant the power elite desires for us. We are served a limited kind of reality rolled in lies and deep fried in innuendo.

Even those labeled progressive who profess to want change seem to be only capable of speaking in sound bites and catchy slogans. There is no depth, no real understanding of the issues offered for public consumption.

For example, the version of the SOPA controversy we are offered is that the bill is meant to address internet piracy but simply goes too far and may restrict the free flow of information on the web. That it borders on censorship. And while this is true, it is by no stretch of the imagination the full story. The amount of money claimed to be lost because of internet piracy is considered to be greatly exaggerated. The numbers at best are based on faulty logic and at worst are a purposeful attempt to deceive the public in an effort to convince everyone that these restrictive types of legislation are necessary. In reality the anti-piracy campaign is to a great extent about stunting the growth of legitimate online distribution because smaller companies are coming up with new and cheaper streaming alternatives. We are told the bill has been tabled and for now the internet is currently safe from this threat of censorship. But I know this is not true simply because sites I use, such as Mega Video (Megaupload) were shut down yesterday. No one talks about the bullying being done by international corporations to coerce countries around the world to adopt these so called security measures in order to censor the web globally as well as end the opportunity for cheaper but legitimate streaming alternatives.

Another example is the housing crisis. It doesn’t matter how illogical it is to believe that people who accepted mortgages over their budgets are the cause of a global economic crisis. The reality is that people do believe it. Apparently, if you have control of the media and get it to repeat something often enough no matter how ludicrous, it will become truth. The truth of what happened and continues to happen is available but the information is not easily understood so it is power we aren’t able to harness. Hedge funds, derivatives, especially credit derivatives and a particularly toxic one called credit default swaps are the means to financial armageddon. Yet the how and why of this, this extremely powerful yet available information, still eludes most of us. And without it we are powerless to ask the right questions and to make the right demands. The information and understanding that would allow us to stop this economic destruction and financial terrorism remains just out of reach. We continue to blame people for buying houses they couldn’t afford and countries like Greece for living beyond their means. And the masters of the financial universe twirl their handlebar moustaches and cackle wildly at our stupidity.

My final example of misunderstanding an issue because of a lack of enough information will lead to the reason for this post (yes, there actually is a reason.) ‘Corporations are not people' and ‘money is not speech’ sounds good and fits nicely on cardboard signs but are much too simplistic and as slogans make an issue of infinite depth seem easy to comprehend. We need to understand this issue much better than we do before we can come up with a plan to fix it that will actually do what we need it to do. Here is a rather long but in informative and marginally in depth article about what we need to understand to fix corporate control of our elections and our country.
http://www.alternet.org/news/153814/the_uphill_battle_against_citizens_united%3A_trick y_legal_terrain_and_no_easy_fixes/?page=entire

[AtLast]

If information is power, then the average citizen is indeed powerless. We are spoon fed by the corporate media some version of the news giving it the slant the power elite desires for us. We are served a limited kind of reality rolled in lies and deep fried in innuendo.

Even those labeled progressive who profess to want change seem to be only capable of speaking in sound bites and catchy slogans. There is no depth, no real understanding of the issues offered for public consumption.

For example, the version of the SOPA controversy we are offered is that the bill is meant to address internet piracy but simply goes too far and may restrict the free flow of information on the web. That it borders on censorship. And while this is true, it is by no stretch of the imagination the full story. The amount of money claimed to be lost because of internet piracy is considered to be greatly exaggerated. The numbers at best are based on faulty logic and at worst are a purposeful attempt to deceive the public in an effort to convince everyone that these restrictive types of legislation are necessary. In reality the anti-piracy campaign is to a great extent about stunting the growth of legitimate online distribution because smaller companies are coming up with new and cheaper streaming alternatives. We are told the bill has been tabled and for now the internet is currently safe from this threat of censorship. But I know this is not true simply because sites I use, such as Mega Video (Megaupload) were shut down yesterday. No one talks about the bullying being done by international corporations to coerce countries around the world to adopt these so called security measures in order to censor the web globally as well as end the opportunity for cheaper but legitimate streaming alternatives.

Another example is the housing crisis. It doesn’t matter how illogical it is to believe that people who accepted mortgages over their budgets are the cause of a global economic crisis. The reality is that people do believe it. Apparently, if you have control of the media and get it to repeat something often enough no matter how ludicrous, it will become truth. The truth of what happened and continues to happen is available but the information is not easily understood so it is power we aren’t able to harness. Hedge funds, derivatives, especially credit derivatives and a particularly toxic one called credit default swaps are the means to financial armageddon. Yet the how and why of this, this extremely powerful yet available information, still eludes most of us. And without it we are powerless to ask the right questions and to make the right demands. The information and understanding that would allow us to stop this economic destruction and financial terrorism remains just out of reach. We continue to blame people for buying houses they couldn’t afford and countries like Greece for living beyond their means. And the masters of the financial universe twirl their handlebar moustaches and cackle wildly at our stupidity.

My final example of misunderstanding an issue because of a lack of enough information will lead to the reason for this post (yes, there actually is a reason.) ‘Corporations are not people' and ‘money is not speech’ sounds good and fits nicely on cardboard signs but are much too simplistic and as slogans make an issue of infinite depth seem easy to comprehend. We need to understand this issue much better than we do before we can come up with a plan to fix it that will actually do what we need it to do. Here is a rather long but in informative and marginally in depth article about what we need to understand to fix corporate control of our elections and our country.
http://www.alternet.org/news/153814/the_uphill_battle_against_citizens_united%3A_trick y_legal_terrain_and_no_easy_fixes/?page=entire

This speaks directly to one of the reasons I watch things like Charlie Rose & Bill Moyers. At least I feel like I am getting somewhat behind these "bites" and then can study issues further by looking up people and things talked about afterwards- on my own. Some progressive pundits are as lax as right wingers with their research and bias. I know that I have to take personal action (and the time) to weed out what is at the core of issues and is accurate.

In 2010, for example, here in CA there was a ballot initiative for medical marijuana that was just not as it was portrayed. Many left leaning voters supported it and did not take the time to research it- depended on sound bites that "sounded" more progressive in nature, but did not tell the whole story.

Being informed for me, means getting past these "bites" even if promoted by someone I usually agree with and weeding out what what is really the substance.

[LeftWriteFemme]

Catholic Bishop: Children Want to Be Sexually Abused



http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2010/04/07/catholic-bishop-children-want-to-be-sexually-abused/

[Hollylane]

Catholic Bishop: Children Want to Be Sexually Abused



http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2010/04/07/catholic-bishop-children-want-to-be-sexually-abused/

More often than not, when I read shit like this, I don't have anything intelligent to say.

So, I'll just keep to my norm and say !(@$#$#($*@#_$!~!!!!

[Cin]

Catholic Bishop: Children Want to Be Sexually Abused



http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2010/04/07/catholic-bishop-children-want-to-be-sexually-abused/

Yes, of course they do. And women want to be beaten by their husbands. That's why they piss them off.

"There are 13 year old adolescents who are under age and who are perfectly in agreement with, and what’s more wanting it, and if you are careless they will even provoke you."

If you are careless? That's what they are calling it nowadays? I wonder how careless Bishop Álvarez has been?

[Kobi]

Catholic Bishop: Children Want to Be Sexually Abused



http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2010/04/07/catholic-bishop-children-want-to-be-sexually-abused/



This kind of thinking explains why pedophilia was/is so protected by the church hierarchy.

I remember an article where Pope Benedict stated that to deal with the pedophilia problem, they were screening the semanarians more closely so they could weed out the homosexuals. :|

Hard to fix something when you are using an inaccurate knowledge base.

[Dominique]

Paterno's medical condition worsens
Former PSU coach reported gravely ill
Sunday, January 22, 2012
By Ron Musselman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/images/201201/pennstatepaterno.jpg_09e_500.jpg
Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press
People gather Saturday night around a statue of Joe Paterno outside Beaver Stadium on the Penn State University campus.


UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Family and friends gathered around a gravely ill Joe Paterno on Saturday, keeping watch over the former Penn State University coach, the winningest in major college football history.
Mr. Paterno, 85, has "deteriorated" since being readmitted to Mount Nittany Medical Center Jan. 13 for treatment of lung cancer, a source told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Police put barricades up on McKee Street to block off the road where Mr. Paterno lives. His son Jay canceled a speaking engagement in Reading on short notice, and close friends were called to the hospital.
"Over the last few days Joe Paterno has experienced further health complications," family spokesman Dan McGinn said in a brief statement Saturday night. "His doctors have now characterized his status as serious.
"His family will have no comment on the situation and asks that their privacy be respected during this difficult time."
Mr. Paterno was diagnosed with cancer Nov. 18, just days after he was fired as head coach in the aftermath of the child sex abuse charges against former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.
Mr. Paterno also broke his pelvis in a fall at home. He initially suffered the injury in August after being blindsided in practice by wide receiver Devon Smith.
Mr. Sandusky is out on bail and awaiting trial after denying the allegations that he sexually assaulted young boys over a 15-year period. Mr. Paterno testified before a state grand jury investigating Mr. Sandusky, and authorities have said he is not a target of the probe.
But school trustees voted unanimously Nov. 9 to oust him anyway -- even though Mr. Paterno had announced that morning he would retire by the end of the season -- in part because they said Mr. Paterno failed a moral responsibility to report an allegation made in 2002 against Mr. Sandusky to authorities outside the university.

Continued on next page
1 2 (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12022/1205262-454-2.stm) Next (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12022/1205262-454-2.stm) Last (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12022/1205262-454-2.stm)


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12022/1205262-454.stm#ixzz1kBX1WA00

[Slowpurr]

If information is power, then the average citizen is indeed powerless. We are spoon fed by the corporate media some version of the news giving it the slant the power elite desires for us. We are served a limited kind of reality rolled in lies and deep fried in innuendo.

Even those labeled progressive who profess to want change seem to be only capable of speaking in sound bites and catchy slogans. There is no depth, no real understanding of the issues offered for public consumption.

My final example of misunderstanding an issue because of a lack of enough information will lead to the reason for this post (yes, there actually is a reason.) ‘Corporations are not people' and ‘money is not speech’ sounds good and fits nicely on cardboard signs but are much too simplistic and as slogans make an issue of infinite depth seem easy to comprehend. We need to understand this issue much better than we do before we can come up with a plan to fix it that will actually do what we need it to do. Here is a rather long but in informative and marginally in depth article about what we need to understand to fix corporate control of our elections and our country.
http://www.alternet.org/news/153814/the_uphill_battle_against_citizens_united%3A_trick y_legal_terrain_and_no_easy_fixes/?page=entire

Thank you for that rousing commentary. It spurred me to get into some reading, which led to watching, which led to...never mind, suffice to say it is time well spent. This video reviewed some of the points in your post and gives a quick background on what is fueling the movement for real government by the people. I particularly appreciated, near the end of the video, the plea to support across parties for a common cause. Any opinions on his idea of the "first 50 dollar project"? He does say in the Q&A video that a constitutional amendment is necessary but may prove difficult. Focus is on real change though. Obviously heavy monetary control over congress was alive and well before Citizens United and an amendment would not be a panacea.

I am in the process of reading about the currently ongoing development of the vision and strategy of the movement. Framing our rights as rights rather then entitlements how radical. lol I would appreciate any links to particularly enlightening articles.

Wading through the BS to find viable, unskewed information is difficult; calling for cooperative energy. I appreciate your tireless effort toward this end.
You are not just another pretty face. <w>

JdZiWphZoTU

[Cin]

Thank you for that rousing commentary. It spurred me to get into some reading, which led to watching, which led to...never mind, suffice to say it is time well spent. This video reviewed some of the points in your post and gives a quick background on what is fueling the movement for real government by the people. I particularly appreciated, near the end of the video, the plea to support across parties for a common cause. Any opinions on his idea of the "first 50 dollar project"? He does say in the Q&A video that a constitutional amendment is necessary but may prove difficult. Focus is on real change though. Obviously heavy monetary control over congress was alive and well before Citizens United and an amendment would not be a panacea.

I am in the process of reading about the currently ongoing development of the vision and strategy of the movement. Framing our rights as rights rather then entitlements how radical. lol I would appreciate any links to particularly enlightening articles.

Wading through the BS to find viable, unskewed information is difficult; calling for cooperative energy. I appreciate your tireless effort toward this end.
You are not just another pretty face. <w>

JdZiWphZoTU

I like Lawrence Lessig. Of course if you scratch his liberalism too hard you will find a conservative underneath, but that can be said about many a liberal I imagine. And at this point it isn't about whether you stand to the left or to the right, it's more about whether you want to regain control of your country. He has some good ideas and he has spoken out and worked against insane copyright infringement and anti-piracy laws, so that wins him points in my world. As for the first 50 dollar project(the Grant and Franklin Project), I find it pretty interesting. I like it. It definitely wouldn't fix everything, but it doesn't propose that it could. And I'm not sure about a constitutional amendment. I don't know what the amendment would have to say that would allow it to actually work. The supreme court's quirky interpretation of the first amendment to cover the rights of individual citizens to be able to listen (listening to what? to the corporate dollar go ca ching) makes it a pretty sticky wicket and hella confusing.

I put a couple of links to some articles explaining the project, but I'm pretty sure they won't tell you much more than you already know.

I'm not sure there is one answer or one strategy to such a complicated issue. It took a long time to completely loose any control or influence over the government so it will probably take awhile to get any back. I think it is important though to take the time to thoroughly understand the problems from all angles so as not to jump at ineffective strategies and quick fixes. Although in my opinion the fifty dollar project would be a great first step.

And you would think i have a pretty face, it looks a lot like yours.:tease:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/11/has-a-harvard-professor-mapped-out-the-next-step-for-occupy-wall-street/247561/

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-04/to-save-politics-adopt-small-donor-reforms-commentary-by-lawrence-lessig.html

http://lessig.tumblr.com/post/14357153028/the-grant-and-franklin-project

http://coffeepartyaustin.org/?page_id=1402

[SoNotHer]

I'd like to believe Republic Lost... is a "roadmap" or a next step. I'd like to believe that Lessig is not just one more person selling an idea, a book, a platform. I'd like to believe that one more person is not going to ultimately use to personal advantage the very dynamic, un-level playing field and hierarchy that s/he protests perhaps too much against.

And maybe the anomalous heroes are still out there. Maybe there are some who still believe that the only things worth fighting for are something other than yourself or bigger than yourself and that that sometimes doesn't ride you to some safe shore on the crest of a book deal and a lecture circuit and endless engagements. So I hope.

Let the ideas lead but not the personalities. And let us not replace one inequitable hierarchy with another. And in fact, let's look askance at all hierarchies and not just question a corrupted democracy and proffer "fixes," but lets cast a cold, discerning eye on the flawed seed in human nature that grew it.


I like Lawrence Lessig. Of course if you scratch his liberalism too hard you will find a conservative underneath, but that can be said about many a liberal I imagine. And at this point it isn't about whether you stand to the left or to the right, it's more about whether you want to regain control of your country. He has some good ideas and he has spoken out and worked against insane copyright infringement and anti-piracy laws, so that wins him points in my world. As for the first 50 dollar project(the Grant and Franklin Project), I find it pretty interesting. I like it. It definitely wouldn't fix everything, but it doesn't propose that it could. And I'm not sure about a constitutional amendment. I don't know what the amendment would have to say that would allow it to actually work. The supreme court's quirky interpretation of the first amendment to cover the rights of individual citizens to be able to listen (listening to what? to the corporate dollar go ca ching) makes it a pretty sticky wicket and hella confusing.

I put a couple of links to some articles explaining the project, but I'm pretty sure they won't tell you much more than you already know.

I'm not sure there is one answer or one strategy to such a complicated issue. It took a long time to completely loose any control or influence over the government so it will probably take awhile to get any back. I think it is important though to take the time to thoroughly understand the problems from all angles so as not to jump at ineffective strategies and quick fixes. Although in my opinion the fifty dollar project would be a great first step.

And you would think i have a pretty face, it looks a lot like yours.:tease:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/11/has-a-harvard-professor-mapped-out-the-next-step-for-occupy-wall-street/247561/

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-04/to-save-politics-adopt-small-donor-reforms-commentary-by-lawrence-lessig.html

http://lessig.tumblr.com/post/14357153028/the-grant-and-franklin-project

http://coffeepartyaustin.org/?page_id=1402

[AtLast]

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/Joe-Paterno-dies-Penn-State-legendary-football-coach-012112?gt1=39002

[Cin]

I'd like to believe Republic Lost... is a "roadmap" or a next step. I'd like to believe that Lessig is not just one more person selling an idea, a book, a platform. I'd like to believe that one more person is not going to ultimately use to personal advantage the very dynamic, un-level playing field and hierarchy that s/he protests perhaps too much against.

And maybe the anomalous heroes are still out there. Maybe there are some who still believe that the only things worth fighting for are something other than yourself or bigger than yourself and that that sometimes doesn't ride you to some safe shore on the crest of a book deal and a lecture circuit and endless engagements. So I hope.

Let the ideas lead but not the personalities. And let us not replace one inequitable hierarchy with another. And in fact, let's look askance at all hierarchies and not just question a corrupted democracy and proffer "fixes," but lets cast a cold, discerning eye on the flawed seed in human nature that grew it.

I don't imagine Lessig is some kind of hero. I don't actually believe in heroes. Sometimes I believe in human beings or better said is that there are some human beings I believe in. But ultimately people are only human. Still I don't think that his interest only lies with selling books. He has been a political activist for many years and I like some of the things he says and I liked some stuff he wrote about the anti piracy and copyright laws. He was an advocate. But if anything taught me not to believe in personalities it was Obama.

I do like the fifty dollar project and I would no matter whose idea it was.

[SoNotHer]

I do believe in heroes because I've seen them, and I've met them, quiet as they are and quiet as they go.

And I hope the ideas lead. Ideas like the $50 project, ideas like local dollars, ideas like permacultual restoration, ideas like the talking stick. I believe in the ideas and the people who carry them forward without bravado and some times at great personal risk. Here's to that and this future we live in brought to us by ideas and the people who risked belief in them.


I don't imagine Lessig is some kind of hero. I don't actually believe in heroes. Sometimes I believe in human beings or better said is that there are some human beings I believe in. But ultimately people are only human. Still I don't think that his interest only lies with selling books. He has been a political activist for many years and I like some of the things he says and I liked some stuff he wrote about the anti piracy and copyright laws. He was an advocate. But if anything taught me not to believe in personalities it was Obama.

I do like the fifty dollar project and I would no matter whose idea it was.

[betenoire]

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Steps Down from Congress

Nguu0TkCTd4#!

[Hollylane]

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Steps Down from Congress

Nguu0TkCTd4#!

I heard about this earlier. Thank you for posting it. It is so sad that we are losing her voice in congress because of a horrible decision made by someone else.

[LeftWriteFemme]

Parents: Gay teen took his life because of bullying


A Gordonsville boy's parents say bullying caused their son to take his own life. Phillip Parker, 14, died this week. His parents said he was constantly bullied for being gay.

More than 100 people gathered in Gordonsville on Saturday night, grieving the loss of Phillip.

"He was fun, he was energetic, he was happy," said Gena Parker, Phillip's mother.

To his many friends, Phillip was known as the boy who told everyone they're beautiful.

"He kept telling me he had a rock on his chest," said Ruby Harris, Phillip's grandmother. "He just wanted to take the rock off where he could breathe."

Phillip's family said they reported their concerns over their son's bullying to Gordonsville High School on multiple occasions, but the bullying by a group of students just got worse.

"I believe my whole family up in heaven's taking good care of him," said friend Megan Redinger.

"I want to say I love him dearly," added friend Heather Hunt. "He'll never be forgotten. He's always in my heart."

"That's my son," said Phillip Parker, Phillip's father. "I love him. I miss him. He shouldn't have had to kill himself to be brought to life."

An official with Smith County Schools told Channel 4 they are now planning how to handle a crisis situation with students Monday. Friends added they are planning to set up a memorial fund in Phillip's name but haven't made the arrangements just yet.


http://www.wsmv.com/story/16572441/parents-gay-teen-took-his-life-due-to-bullying

[MsTinkerbelly]

Gov. Christie nominates openly gay New Jersey Supreme Court justice
By Adam Bink

Well, like Steven Goldstein of Garden State Equality, you could pick me up off the floor too. His statement:

A few minutes ago, just before announcing his two new Supreme Court nominees, Governor Christie called me on my cell phone to tell me he is nominating Bruce Harris to the New Jersey Supreme Court. Bruce will become the first openly LGBT person in history, and the third African-American person in history, to serve on the New Jersey Supreme Court. Most importantly, Bruce is eminently qualified to be a Supreme Court justice.

As I told the Governor right then and there, you could have picked me up off the floor.

When I met with Governor Christie in 2010 at his request, he told me that though we would differ on some issues like marriage equality, he viewed the LGBT community as an important part of New Jersey, and that he wanted his Administration to have a good working relationship with Garden State Equality. That has been the case every step of the way. Since Governor Christie took office, his Administration has treated us with warmth and responsiveness. Yes is yes, no is no, and we’ll get back to you means they get back to you faster than you thought, usually with invaluable help. To be clear, the Governor and his staff were invaluable in helping us pass the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, the nation’s strongest anti-bullying law that the governor signed in January 2011.

No one’s asked me to say any of this – I am simply giving credit where credit is due, too rare in political life.

Now, as for the marriage equality bill: The Governor and I didn’t discuss that in our phone conversation. I recognize, and caution everyone, that it would be unwise to read any change here in the Governor’s position on marriage equality; he has said in past months and years that he would veto the bill, and we take him at his word. We will fight hard every minute of every day to win marriage equality in New Jersey. Nothing will deter us.

But again, right now, that doesn’t mean we should not give credit where credit is due. Today, the Governor has made civil rights history, and on behalf of all of us at Garden State Equality, I extend to him our most profound appreciation.

Worth noting that this week will begin hearings on the marriage equality legislation in New Jersey (as well as in Washington — more on that from Jacob later).

[Kobi]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that police must get a search warrant before using GPS technology to track criminal suspects.

The decision was a defeat for the government and police agencies, and it raises the possibility of serious complications for law enforcement nationwide, which increasingly relies on high tech surveillance of suspects, including the use of various types of GPS technology.

A GPS device installed by police on Washington, D.C., nightclub owner Antoine Jones' Jeep helped them link him to a suburban house used to stash money and drugs. He was sentenced to life in prison before the appeals court overturned the conviction.

Associate Justice Antonin Scalia said that the government's installation of a GPS device, and its use to monitor the vehicle's movements, constitutes a search, meaning that a warrant is required.

"By attaching the device to the Jeep" that Jones was using, "officers encroached on a protected area," Scalia wrote. He concluded that the installation of the device on the vehicle without a warrant was a trespass and therefore an illegal search.

All nine justices agreed that the GPS monitoring on the Jeep violated the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable search and seizure, a decision the American Civil Liberties Union said was an "important victory for privacy."

Washington lawyer Andy Pincus called the decision "a landmark ruling in applying the Fourth Amendment's protections to advances in surveillance technology." Pincus has argued 22 cases before the Supreme Court and filed a brief in the current case on behalf of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a civil liberties group with expertise in law, technology, and policy.

The Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, said the court's decision is "a victory for privacy rights and for civil liberties in the digital age." He said the ruling highlights many new privacy threats posed by new technologies. Leahy has introduced legislation to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, a 1986 law that specifies standards for government monitoring of cell phone conversations and Internet communications.

Scalia wrote the main opinion of three in the case. He was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor.

Sotomayor also wrote one of the two concurring opinions that agreed with the outcome in the Jones case for different reasons.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote, in the other concurring opinion, that the trespass was not as important as the suspect's expectation of privacy. Police monitored the Jeep's movements over the course of four weeks after attaching the GPS device.

"The use of longer term GPS monitoring in investigations of most offenses impinges on expectations of privacy," Alito wrote in an opinion joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan. Sotomayor in her concurring opinion specifically said she agreed with Alito on this conclusion.

Alito added, "We need not identify with precision the point at which the tracking of this vehicle became a search, for the line was surely crossed before the four-week mark."

Regarding the issue of duration, Scalia wrote that "we may have to grapple" with those issues in the future, "but there is no reason for rushing forward to resolve them here."

Alito also said the court should address how expectations of privacy affect whether warrants are required for remote surveillance using electronic methods that do not require the police to install equipment, such as GPS tracking of mobile telephones. Alito noted, for example, that more than 322 million cellphones have installed equipment that allows wireless carriers to track the phone's location.

"If long-term monitoring can be accomplished without committing a technical trespass — suppose for example, that the federal government required or persuaded auto manufacturers to include a GPS tracking device in every car — the court's theory would provide no protection," Alito said.

Sotomayor agreed. "It may be necessary to reconsider the premise that an individual has no reasonable expectation of privacy in information voluntarily disclosed to their parties," she said.

A federal appeals court in Washington had overturned Jones's drug conspiracy conviction because police did not have a warrant when they installed a GPS device on his vehicle and then tracked his movements for a month. The Supreme Court agreed with the appeals court.

The case is U.S. v. Jones, 10-1259.

http://news.yahoo.com/high-court-warrant-needed-gps-tracking-153034235.html

[UofMfan]

Washington Gay Marriage: Legislature Has Enough Votes To Legalize Same-Sex Marriage ~ HuffPo (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/23/washington-gay-marriage_n_1224397.html?1327350011)

[SoNotHer]

World's Government Spent $500 Billion Subsidizing Fossil Fuels, $66 Billion on Renewables

SustainableBusiness.com News

by Lester Brown

The world's governments are shelling out a combined $1.4 billion per day to further destabilize the earth's climate. Worldwide, direct fossil fuel subsidies added up to roughly $500 billion in 2010, in contrast to just $66 billion for renewable energy. Not only do fossil fuel subsidies dwarf those for renewables today, but a long legacy of governments propping up oil, coal, and natural gas has resulted in a very uneven energy playing field.

Out of the $500 billion in fossil fuel subsidies, $100 billion supports production and $400 billion supports consumption (ie., keeping gas prices low). The oil industry receives $193 billion of that, while natural gas gets $91 billion and coal gets $3 billion. $122 billion is spent subsidizing the use of fossil fuel-generated electricity. We distort reality when we omit the health and environmental costs associated with burning fossil fuels from their prices. When governments actually subsidize their use, they take the distortion even further. Iran's government spent the most of any country to promote fossil fuel consumption in 2010, doling out $81 billion in subsidies, and amounting to over 20% of its gross domestic product. Saudi Arabia was a distant second at $44 billion, followed by Russia ($39 billion), India ($22 billion), and China ($21 billion).

http://www.earth-policy.org/images/uploads/graphs_tables/highlights24_top25total.PNG
Graph on Fossil Fuel Consumption Subsidies in Top 25 Countries, 2010

Kuwait's fossil fuel subsidies were highest on a per capita basis, with $2,800 spent per person. The United Arab Emirates and Qatar followed, each spending close to $2,500 per person. Carbon emissions could be cut in scores of countries by simply eliminating fossil fuel subsidies. Some countries are
already doing this. Belgium, France, and Japan phased out all subsidies for coal, for example. As oil prices have climbed, a number of countries that
held fuel prices well below world market prices have greatly reduced or eliminated their motor fuel subsidies because of the heavy fiscal cost, including China and Indonesia.

Even Iran, which priced gasoline at one fifth its market price, dramatically reduced gasoline subsidies in December 2010 as part of broader energy subsidy reforms. A world facing economically disruptive climate change can no longer justify subsidies to expand the burning of coal and oil. Over this past year, the typically conservative International Energy Agency has urged governments around the world to stop subsidizing fossil fuels, to set a price on carbon, and to instead subsidize renewable energy to stabilize the earth's climate. Eliminating all fossil fuel consumption subsidies by 2020 would reduce global energy demand nearly 5% while reducing government debt.

In 2009, the G20 pledged to stop subsidizing fossil fuels, but that has yet to happen.

++++

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/23338

[AtLast]

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/01/mitt-romney-paid-a-139-effective-tax-rate-in-2010.php

TPM2012
Mitt Romney Paid A 13.9% Effective Tax Rate In 2010

January 24, 2012, 12:30 AM 143124After being hounded by Democrats and Republicans for refusing to and then hedging about releasing his federal tax returns, Mitt Romney released his 2010 tax return Tuesday morning. They show that Romney paid an effective tax rate of 13.9% on $21.6 million in income.

Romney’s total wealth is estimated at $190 million to $250 million.
The returns also show that over 2010 and 2011 Romney donated more money to charity, $7 million, than he will pay in taxes, much of that going to the Mormon church. The campaign stressed that Romney’s low tax rate was based on the fact that much of his income comes from 15% tax rate on capital gains, rather than the 35% rate on earned income as well as charitable deductions. They also note that much of the money comes from interest from Romney’s blind trust.

Key Takeaways From Romney’s Tax Returns
—Mitt Romney paid a 13.9 percent tax rate on $21.6 million in income last year.

—Most of the income came from dividends and interest on investments, which are taxed at a much lower rate.
—Romney raked in America’s median adjusted gross income of $33,048 in “less than a day,” Bloomberg notes. His income over a one-week span puts him in the top 1 percent of annual earners.—Romney, who files jointly with his wife Ann, expects to pay a 15.4 percent rate on $20.9 million in income this year.

—His campaign said he had $7.4 million in carried interest last year; this year the figure is $5.5 million.

—Romney contributed $7 million in charitable donations in the last two years, at least $4.1 million of which was to the Mormon Church.Sahil Kapur contributed to this post.

******

Yanno- "carried interest means he defers paying any tax on millions for years- one of those "loopholes" for the 1%!

Tweet from ThinkProgress-

Romney's return that reveals his Swiss bank account is the "good' return. He won't release previous years.

[Cin]

Obama is being called the food stamp president. And they don't mean isn't it problematic so many people are hungry on his watch. No. It is the fact that so many are getting help by receiving food stamps that is the issue. How can the impression you are trying to feed the hungry, whether it is true or not, be purposely cultivated by political opponents in an effort to discredit you? How can an illusion of compassion for the hungry be used against you? And even more disgusting, how can it actually be working? There is something so morally, ethically, spiritually and just plain humanly wrong with this that it makes me feel a little heart sick and a lot afraid for humanity.

Is this what we have become? Frankly it leaves me stunned that a presidential candidate can win a state primary by sending out messages like “hey let’s get this guy who feeds hungry people out of office.” I guess it shouldn’t when I think about how people actually clapped and cheered at the death of man who had no health insurance. That people want to vote for someone who thinks it’s ridiculous for the government to give food to hungry citizens shouldn’t surprise me. But I guess it still does.

To me there is something so deeply disturbing in the reality that a politician is able to actually find a constituency that is welcoming to this mean spirited, inhumane and immoral political philosophy. I mean what do people say to themselves that this kind of bullshit makes sense to them. Are they thinking hell ya, too many people are getting food stamps for no reason? They have money to buy food but they would rather embarrass themselves using food stamps. Or do they think, hell, it’s just those blacks, Latinos and immigrants who get food stamps anyway. They don’t deserve to eat. You know being black or Mexican or whatever. I mean even if this were true, which it is not, there are more poor white people getting food stamps, but if it were true, does that really make sense to them? Are these the same Christians who spew all that bullshit about family values? Is allowing people to go hungry now a family value?

If someone says more people are on food stamps now than ever before wouldn’t that beg the question why? What is going on that so many people are hungry in the richest nation in the world? Wouldn’t that be the logical question? To me it is abhorrent to think it is okay for people to go hungry. To hear from a politician’s own lips that there are more people hungry in the United States than ever before, then to hear this same guy say he would cut off people from food stamps if he was president and then to vote for him as your candidate is just beyond unacceptable, it is loathsome, abhorrent. What is wrong with people?

Corporate America is spending more money trying to elect their president than ever before. This president, whoever he is, is going to cost them more money than any other president they have purchased in the past. Since it really doesn’t matter who wins, they control them all, why can’t they just spend some of that money on creating jobs for people? That way there will be less of them on food stamps. Since that’s such an annoyance and all.

Okay, since this is the breaking news thread, here is the link to the breaking news article about the growing problem of hunger in the U.S.

http://www.alternet.org/story/153859/while_republicans_play_politics_over_food_stamps%2 C_new_film_focuses_on_hunger_in_america_/

[Kobi]

It amuses me, an not in a funny way, how politicians and others miscontrue the facts and ignore the context in which something may occur. After all, all they need to do is plant the seed of mistruth. The media then picks it up, puts their own spin on it for their own reasons, and distributes it wholesale to an unsuspecting public.

The average voter does not dissect the manure that is fed to them on a continuous basis. This is the reason our forefathers created a republic rather than a democracy. In a republic, we are suppose to have people whose job it is to wade thru the poop to get to the truth.

To me, Gingrich is and has always been just a human poop making machine.


-------------------------------

Newt Gingrich claims that “more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history.”

He’s wrong. More were added under Bush than under Obama, according to the most recent figures.

The former speaker made that claim Jan. 16 in a Republican debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and his campaign organization quickly inserted the snippet in a new 30-second TV ad that began running Jan. 18 in South Carolina.

Gingrich would have been correct to say the number now on food aid is historically high. The number stood at 46,224,722 people as of October, the most recent month on record. And it’s also true that the number has risen sharply since Obama took office.

But Gingrich goes too far to say Obama has put more on the rolls than other presidents. We asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition service for month-by-month figures going back to January 2001. And they show that under President George W. Bush the number of recipients rose by nearly 14.7 million. Nothing before comes close to that.

And under Obama, the increase so far has been 14.2 million. To be exact, the program has so far grown by 444,574 fewer recipients during Obama’s time in office than during Bush’s.

It’s possible that when the figures for January 2012 are available they will show that the gain under Obama has matched or exceeded the gain under Bush. But not if the short-term trend continues. The number getting food stamps declined by 43,528 in October. And the economy has improved since then.

Gingrich often cites the number of persons on food stamps to support his view that the U.S. is becoming an “entitlement society,” increasingly dependent on government aid. And he has a point. One out of seven Americans is currently getting food stamps.

But Gingrich strains the facts when he accuses Obama of being responsible. The rise started long before Obama took office, and accelerated as the nation was plunging into the worst economic recession since the Great Depression.

The economic downturn began in December 2007. In the 12 months before Obama was sworn in, 4.4 million were added to the rolls, triple the 1.4 million added in 2007.

To be sure, Obama is responsible for some portion of the increase since then. The stimulus bill he signed in 2009 increased benefit levels, making the program more attractive. A family of four saw an increase of $80 per month, for example. That increase remains in effect and is not set to expire until late next year, according to USDA spokeswoman Jean Daniel.

The stimulus also made more people eligible. Able-bodied jobless adults without dependents could get benefits for longer than three months. That special easing of eligibility also expired on Sept. 30, 2010. Spokeswoman Daniel told us that 46 states have been able to continue the longer benefit period under special waivers granted because of high unemployment. Previously, able-bodied adults without dependents could collect food stamps for only three months out of any three-year period.

Otherwise, current eligibility standards are unchanged from what they were before Obama took office, USDA officials say. Generally, those with incomes at or below 130 percent of the official poverty level, and savings of $2,000 or less, may receive aid. The income level is currently just over $29,000 a year for a family of four.

That leaves the economic downturn that began in 2007 — and the agonizingly slow recovery that followed — as the principal factors making more Americans eligible for food stamps. Officials say that another factor is that Americans today are less reluctant to accept aid than before.

Of those whose income was low enough to qualify, only 54 percent actually signed up in 2002, but that rose steadily to 72 percent by fiscal 2009, the latest USDA figures show (See Table 2).

USDA researchers said the jump in the participation rate happened because of actions by state governments. In a report released in August 2011, the Office of Research and Analysis said: “States have increased outreach to low-income households, implemented program simplifications, and streamlined application processes to make it easier for eligible individuals to apply for and receive SNAP [food stamp] benefits. Most States also have reduced the amount of information that recipients must report during their certification period to maintain their eligibility and benefit levels, making it easier for low-income households to participate.”

Another reason might be that “food stamps” no longer exist as paper coupons. Instead, beneficiaries now receive plastic debit cards, known as “Electronic Benefit Transfer” or EBT cards, which look pretty much like an ordinary credit card when used in a supermarket checkout line.

EBT cards have been used in all states since 2004, according to the USDA website. The change to plastic cards was done both to reduce the possibility of fraud, and also to reduce the stigma felt by beneficiaries, and they might account for some of the increase in participation.

In fact, the program is no longer officially called the “food stamp” program. Since 2008, it has been the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP for short.

Who Gets Food Stamps?
The most recent Department of Agriculture report on the general characteristics of the SNAP program’s beneficiaries says that in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2010:

• 47 percent of beneficiaries were children under age 18.

• 8 percent were age 60 or older.

• 41 percent lived in a household with earnings from a job — the so-called “working poor.”

• The average household received a monthly benefit of $287.

• 36 percent were white (non-Hispanic), 22 percent were African American (non-Hispanic) and 10 percent were Hispanic (Table A.21).

We don’t argue that the program is either too large (as Gingrich does) or too small. It has certainly reached a historically high level, and may or may not grow even larger in the months to come. But the plain fact is that the growth started long before Obama took office, and participation grew more under Bush.

Kevin Concannon, the USDA’s undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services, told the Wall Street Journal: “I realize Mr. Gingrich is a historian, but I’m not sure he’d get very high marks on that paper.”

Footnote
There was an earlier easing of eligibility standards buried in a 2008 farm bill that Congress enacted over Bush’s veto. Obama voiced support for the measure while campaigning, but was not present for either the Senate vote to pass the bill or the vote to override.

Both votes enjoyed strong bipartisan majorities. Only 12 Republicans and two Democrats voted to sustain Bush’s veto, for example. Bush didn’t mention the food stamp provisions when he vetoed the bill, but instead cited what he called excessive subsidies to farmers.

http://www.rgj.com/article/20120124/NEWS20/301240002/Fact-Checker-Gingrich-right-about-food-stamps-

[Cin]

http://www.rgj.com/article/20120124/NEWS20/301240002/Fact-Checker-Gingrich-right-about-food-stamps-



I have to disagree with this article's stance that Gingrich has a point that the U.S. is becoming an entitlement society. Here is the quote "Gingrich often cites the number of persons on food stamps to support his view that the U.S. is becoming an “entitlement society,” increasingly dependent on government aid. And he has a point. One out of seven Americans is currently getting food stamps."

It just boggles my mind. If one out of seven Americans is currently getting food stamps, then one out of seven Americans qualifies for them. That's a freaking no brainer. It's not like they are stealing them. Or abusing the system. And the reason they qualify is because they don't have enough money to feed their family. That is the issue. And the next issue is what can be done to help people find jobs that give them enough money to feed their families. Being hungry and wanting to eat and wanting to feed your children, that's not being an entitlement society. WTF!

Maybe it's me but I can't see how anyone can confuse this issue and make it about too many people getting food stamps. It should be about too many people not having enough money to feed themselves and their families and what can we do about that. Not what can we do about convincing people that when they want enough to eat they are acting like they live in an entitlement society.

[Kobi]

I have to disagree with this article's stance that Gingrich has a point that the U.S. is becoming an entitlement society. Here is the quote "Gingrich often cites the number of persons on food stamps to support his view that the U.S. is becoming an “entitlement society,” increasingly dependent on government aid. And he has a point. One out of seven Americans is currently getting food stamps."

It just boggles my mind. If one out of seven Americans is currently getting food stamps, then one out of seven Americans qualifies for them. That's a freaking no brainer. It's not like they are stealing them. Or abusing the system. And the reason they qualify is because they don't have enough money to feed their family. That is the issue. And the next issue is what can be done to help people find jobs that give them enough money to feed their families. Being hungry and wanting to eat and wanting to feed your children, that's not being an entitlement society. WTF!

Maybe it's me but I can't see how anyone can confuse this issue and make it about too many people getting food stamps. It should be about too many people not having enough money to feed themselves and their families and what can we do about that. Not what can we do about convincing people that when they want enough to eat they are acting like they live in an entitlement society.



I dont see the article saying or even making the innuendo that Gringich is right or that the USA is becoming an entitlement society or that 7 in 10 people receive food stamps. Am I missing something?

To me, it is putting together the numbers in a constructive way while taking into account what has happened with the economy since the meltdown, leading to certain programs to relax/alter the requirements as a way to deal with excessive economic loses and prolonged unemployment. That to me is a responsible way to explain and look at increases in anything.

The Gingrich view fails to take the history and current situation into account. He is looking only at numbers and making giant leaps in promoting his warped view to suit his own needs. To me, that is Newt just being the butthead he has always been.

Kobi predicts the current Newt craze is just a flash in the pan thing and will extinguish itself soon enough.

[Kobi]

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Florists, caterers and other wedding-related businesses could turn away engaged gay couples under legislation before the House that opponents likened to segregation and Nazi Germany’s race laws.

The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing Tuesday on the bill, which would allow providers of wedding-related goods or services to withhold those services if they believe doing business with gay couples would violate their conscience or religious faith. The bill also would bar lawsuits against business owners in such situations.

Bill sponsor Rep. Jerry Bergevin, R-Manchester, called it a “business protection bill” and said a person’s personal religious beliefs should receive protection in his or her capacity as a service provider.

Noting that New Hampshire protects against discrimination based on both religion and sexual orientation, Bergevin asked, “How do you strike a balance between them?”

State Rep. Cynthia Chase, D-Keene, called the bill “codified discrimination” and the beginning of a “slippery slope.”

“When you begin to codify things for one group, pretty soon it’s OK for that group, and then that group,” Chase said.

Although the bill was presented in reference to gay marriage, opponents said allowing a “person’s conscience or religious faith,” as the bill reads, to determine whom they serve would open the door to discrimination against inter-faith and inter-racial couples, too.

“There are some religions that still believe that African-Americans and Caucasians shouldn’t be able to marry. They would be allowed to discriminate against them under this bill,” said New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Claire Ebel.

New Hampshire’s gay marriage law already exempts churches and religious groups from being forced to officiate gay marriages or provide services, facilities and goods of any kind to participants. The bill would provide the same protections to individuals, which gay marriage opponents sought in 2009.

At the time, then-state Senate Democratic Leader Maggie Hassan of Exeter said she had heard of no legal challenges filed by gays over businesses refusing to provide services for their civil unions in the 17 months civil unions had been legal in New Hampshire. No cases were mentioned in Tuesday’s hearing either.

The committee has not issued a recommendation on the bill. Once they make a recommendation, the bill will move to the full House for a vote.

Another bill facing a vote in the coming weeks would repeal gay marriage and replace it with civil unions of any two adults, including relatives. It would also allow individuals to refuse their services for a civil union’s’ ceremony and to refuse to treat the civil union as valid if it conflicted with their religious or moral beliefs.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/01/24/nh-bill-would-allow-service-refusal-to-gay-couples/

[Hollylane]

In today's economy what moronic business owner would do that? I'm sure the karma train will be right along to smack their business into posting a "going out of business" sign.

What country am I in? I am in awe every time I see something like this even attempted. Devolution is really happening more quickly than I could have imagined. Why aren't people like this laughed out of existence?

[Cin]

[COLOR="Navy"]

I dont see the article saying or even making the innuendo that Gringich is right or that the USA is becoming an entitlement society or that 7 in 10 people receive food stamps. Am I missing something?


Well i this is the eighth paragraph of that article.

"Gingrich often cites the number of persons on food stamps to support his view that the U.S. is becoming an “entitlement society,” increasingly dependent on government aid. And he has a point. One out of seven Americans is currently getting food stamps."

Maybe there is another way to take it. But I don't know what way that might be? Am I missing something?

[Kobi]

Well i this is the eighth paragraph of that article.

"Gingrich often cites the number of persons on food stamps to support his view that the U.S. is becoming an “entitlement society,” increasingly dependent on government aid. And he has a point. One out of seven Americans is currently getting food stamps."

Maybe there is another way to take it. But I don't know what way that might be? Am I missing something?


Ok I am following you now. Put on the freakin glasses Kobi.

I can see now why you came to the conclusion you did. I read it differently.

I read it as..... using the Gingrich logic in the Gingrich way, he has a point in his linear cause and effect thinking.

To me, the article was demonstrating how this linear cause and effect thinking is misleading and flawed.

[Cin]

Ok I am following you now. Put on the freakin glasses Kobi.

I can see now why you came to the conclusion you did. I read it differently.

I read it as..... using the Gingrich logic in the Gingrich way, he has a point in his linear cause and effect thinking.

To me, the article was demonstrating how this linear cause and effect thinking is misleading and flawed.



Ah okay. I didn't get that but my reading comprehension skills could have been overshadowed by my extreme pissed offness.

[Toughy]

Text of Obama's State of the Union found here:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-01-24/state-of-the-union-transcript/52780694/1

my favorite:

Those of us who've been sent here to serve can learn from the service of our troops. When you put on that uniform, it doesn't matter if you're black or white; Asian or Latino; conservative or liberal; rich or poor; gay or straight. When you're marching into battle, you look out for the person next to you, or the mission fails. When you're in the thick of the fight, you rise or fall as one unit, serving one Nation, leaving no one behind.

[Martina]

i really loved it that he mentioned undocumented students:

Let's also remember that hundreds of thousands of talented, hardworking students in this country face another challenge: The fact that they aren't yet American citizens. Many were brought here as small children, are American through and through, yet they live every day with the threat of deportation.

[Scuba]

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pz24Zr1JJQY/Tx-RdpFouUI/AAAAAAAAAoA/Hu9pHxdsrTo/s800/405587_10150505007411275_177486166274_9264548_6678 27493_n.jpg

[AtLast]

After the SOTU speech, there are large numbers of tweets (public education unions mainly) about Obama and his commitment to the education platforms he has favored. These include rewarding teachers that demonstrate effectiveness and is you caught it, getting rid of those that do not. He did mention "creativity" in teaching and not "teaching to a test."

What are the thoughts about this? Our public educational system and funding always is under scrutiny and debate.

I'm struggling with how his comments actually fit with what is going on throughout the country in education and all of the education legislation over the past decade.

[AtLast]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032525/ns/us_news/

US: American's weak health led to Somali rescue

[Kobi]

Will this never end?


A judge in Georgia has ordered President Barack Obama to appear in court this week in a lawsuit challenging whether he is a natural-born US citizen qualified to be president.

The latest case was spawned by the so-called "birther" movement that has made claims -- which have not been substantiated -- that Obama was born overseas.

Although it is unclear whether a court could force a sitting president to appear in a court case, Georgia Deputy Chief Judge Michael Malihi has denied a motion by the president's lawyer to quash a subpoena that requires Obama to show up.

A Georgia resident made the complaint, which is intended to keep Obama's name off the state's ballot in the March presidential primary.

Orly Taitz, a California attorney who brought the legal challenge, said she expects the president's legal team to fight his appearance in the Georgia court but by doing so would expose his vulnerability.

An Obama campaign official said the case would not likely proceed.

"As courts around the country have ruled time and again, these claims have no merit and any attempts to compel the president's personal involvement will fail," a statement said.

http://news.yahoo.com/judge-says-obama-must-appear-birther-suit-020453359.html

[Vlasta]

Will this never end?


A judge in Georgia has ordered President Barack Obama to appear in court this week in a lawsuit challenging whether he is a natural-born US citizen qualified to be president.

The latest case was spawned by the so-called "birther" movement that has made claims -- which have not been substantiated -- that Obama was born overseas.

Although it is unclear whether a court could force a sitting president to appear in a court case, Georgia Deputy Chief Judge Michael Malihi has denied a motion by the president's lawyer to quash a subpoena that requires Obama to show up.

A Georgia resident made the complaint, which is intended to keep Obama's name off the state's ballot in the March presidential primary.

Orly Taitz, a California attorney who brought the legal challenge, said she expects the president's legal team to fight his appearance in the Georgia court but by doing so would expose his vulnerability.

An Obama campaign official said the case would not likely proceed.

"As courts around the country have ruled time and again, these claims have no merit and any attempts to compel the president's personal involvement will fail," a statement said.

http://news.yahoo.com/judge-says-obama-must-appear-birther-suit-020453359.html


I am aware that many people like Obama and I don't get involved into the US politics since I am just visitor here . Hence , growing up in the communist country it feels like I am going back in the time instead living the American dream .

GA law it's ridiculous , still absurd laws in the justice system . I am tired of that Obama has been hammered by his birth certificate for years now .

Only thing I am concerned now it's that a middle class it's not eradicated and we don't have rich and poor only .

[AtLast]

Will this never end?


A judge in Georgia has ordered President Barack Obama to appear in court this week in a lawsuit challenging whether he is a natural-born US citizen qualified to be president.

The latest case was spawned by the so-called "birther" movement that has made claims -- which have not been substantiated -- that Obama was born overseas.

Although it is unclear whether a court could force a sitting president to appear in a court case, Georgia Deputy Chief Judge Michael Malihi has denied a motion by the president's lawyer to quash a subpoena that requires Obama to show up.

A Georgia resident made the complaint, which is intended to keep Obama's name off the state's ballot in the March presidential primary.

Orly Taitz, a California attorney who brought the legal challenge, said she expects the president's legal team to fight his appearance in the Georgia court but by doing so would expose his vulnerability.

An Obama campaign official said the case would not likely proceed.

"As courts around the country have ruled time and again, these claims have no merit and any attempts to compel the president's personal involvement will fail," a statement said.

http://news.yahoo.com/judge-says-obama-must-appear-birther-suit-020453359.html



As if he needs to waste time on this bullshit! The level of direspect of this president just makes me sick. john McCain was freaking born in the Panama Canal Zone! Gee, ya' think this is about race?

Sometimes I really don't know how he and Michelle Obama don't get unglued over this garbage. Oh, they can't- would be viewed as angry black people...

[Vlasta]

As I said , I don't get into politics in this country , not that I do not follow it , but I am just a visitor here . It's absolutely absurd that Obama it's still under scrutiny of his birth certificate .

Obama and Gov. Jan Brewer putting her finger in his face it's very much to me disrespectful . He it's president of the US , period .

I was raised with the intelligent parents they though me of not being racist and I am grateful and yes it's about a race in Obama case . My God people we are in 2012 , get over it !