Saturday, February 23, 2013 7:05:05 AM
Yee Says Death Threats Won't Deter His Gun Control Efforts
Sen. Leland Yee
Credit Sen.LelandYee
The local state senator's life was threatened recently, and homemade explosives and a loaded firearm were found in the suspect's home this week.
February 15, 2013
REDWOOD CITY, CA -- State Sen. Leland Yee said Thursday that a death threat against him that led to the arrest of a Santa Clara County man [ http://redwoodcity-woodside.patch.com/articles/man-threatens-local-state-senator-s-life-with-homemade-explosives-gun ] will not deter him from moving forward with gun control proposals in the Legislature.
At a news conference at the State Building in San Francisco Thursday morning, Yee said the incident "only further demonstrates the need to address this particular problem."
Yee joined other state senators last week to propose a package of bills aimed at reducing gun violence [ http://sanmateo.patch.com/articles/sen-yee-introduces-assault-weapons-bill ] in California. One bill introduced by Yee would require assault weapons to have a 10-round limit and to only have fixed magazines that must be reloaded one-by-one from the top of the weapon.
The California Highway Patrol Thursday gave more information about Everett Basham, 45, the man arrested Tuesday on suspicion of making the threat against Yee.
Yee received the threat by e-mail about four weeks ago, and said the "very explicit threat on his life" had "deeply concerned him."
"The author of the e-mail specifically stated that if I did not cease our legislative efforts to stop gun violence, that he would assassinate me in or around the Capitol," Yee said. "He stated that he was a trained sniper, and his e-mail detailed certain weapons he possessed."
"This threat was unlike any other I had ever received," he continued. "It was not a racist rant on my ethnicity or culture, but instead it was very deliberate and specific. As a psychologist, I was deeply concerned by the calculating nature of the e-mail."
Investigators eventually tracked it to Basham and served a search warrant at his home in Santa Clara on Tuesday, according to Scott MacGregor, chief of the CHP's Protective Services Division.
Inside the home, located at 3131 Humboldt Ave., authorities found explosive materials and multiple firearms, MacGregor said.
Basham was arrested in Sunnyvale and remains in custody on suspicion of threatening a public official and various crimes related to the explosives and firearms, MacGregor said. No charges have been filed against him yet, a district attorney's office spokesman said this morning.
CHP officials have had to detonate some of the materials found at the home on Humboldt Avenue, and MacGregor said authorities remain at the scene today. He said the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force are among the federal agencies assisting in the investigation.
Yee issued a statement Thursday indicating he has no plans to curtail his legislative efforts toward attempting to curb gun violence.
"I want to make it crystal clear – these threats and any others will not deter me and my colleagues from addressing the critical issues surrounding gun violence," he said. "This case is very troubling, and only further demonstrates the need to address this epidemic."
Yee's latest push for additional gun control measures comes in the wake of the deadly Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn. in December.
President Barack Obama is also pushing for new gun control laws on the federal level, including implementing universal background checks and banning military-style assault weapons.
Yee represents California's 8th state senate district, which includes San Francisco and most of San Mateo County, including Woodside.
Bay City News Service contributed to this report
Copyright © 2013 Patch
http://redwoodcity-woodside.patch.com/articles/yee-says-death-threats-will-not-deter-his-gun-control-efforts [with comments]
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Joe Heck Walks Back Suggestion That Gabrielle Giffords Was Used As A 'Prop' For Gun Control Advocates
By Nick Wing
Posted: 02/19/2013 6:40 pm EST
Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) on Tuesday was forced to clarify earlier comments [ http://www.ralstonreports.com/blog/radio-talker-says-giffords-being-used-prop-and-rep-joe-heck-agrees ] in which he appeared to agree that former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) had been used during President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech as a "prop" for gun control advocates.
During an interview between the congressman and Alan Stock of KDWN, the conservative radio host called it "nauseating" that Obama had specifically invoked [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/obama-state-of-the-union_n_2647639.html ] Giffords -- who is still recovering from a devastating gunshot wound to the head suffered during a mass shooting in 2011 -- as a reason to bring gun control legislation to a vote in Congress.
She "can't even clap her hands," Stock said. "I think that is just a shameful act by putting her up there as a prop. I'm sorry, I really did."
Heck seconded Stock's claim.
"I agree," he responded. "In the cloud of emotion that's surrounding the unfortunate incident in Connecticut that those that are anti-gun want to use that as their opportunity to try to limit our Second Amendment rights."
Heck later attempted to walk back the claim in a statement to Nevada reporter Jon Ralston [ http://www.ralstonreports.com/blog/radio-talker-says-giffords-being-used-prop-and-rep-joe-heck-agrees ].
"My statement was in reference to the idea of gun control grab coming out of Washington DC," he said. "Of course there is no way that I think that Gabby Giffords is a prop. ... Should I have come to her defense? You know, in a fast-moving interview, in retrospect, I should have said something but I didn't. I was just looking to get past that and talk about gun control in general."
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/joe-heck-gabrielle-giffords_n_2720291.html [with embedded videos, and comments]
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New data: Whites twice as likely to own guns
(Credit: AP/Philip Kamrass)
A previously unreleased survey shows whites far more likely to own guns, and oppose reform, than blacks or Latinos
By Alex Seitz-Wald
Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013 02:16 PM CST
White Americans are more than twice as likely to own guns as blacks or Latinos, and more likely to oppose gun safety reforms, according to previously unreleased data from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers.
The survey, conducted by the Center for Gun Policy and Research and initially released without racial breakdowns in late January, showed strong support overall [ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/28/poll_finds_strong_support_for_gun_regulations/ ] for many of the proposals being discussed in Congress to limit gun violence. But the researchers broke down the numbers by race this week and shared the results [ http://www.scribd.com/doc/126443352/JHU-gun-survey-results-by-race ] with Salon.
Overall, 22 percent of Americans were found to own guns, while another 11 percent live in homes with someone else who owns guns. Among whites, the number of gun owners is slightly higher, at 26 percent, with an additional 13 percent who live in gun-owning households.
But only 12 percent of African-Americans and 13 percent of Latinos own guns. Just 5 and 7 percent of each ethnic group, respectively, lives in a household with someone else who owns a gun.
Not surprisingly, this translates to a disparity in support for gun control measures, with whites being consistently more opposed to gun control than the other groups. For instance, support for reinstating the assault weapon ban is about 10 percentage points higher among blacks than whites. And 72 percent of blacks support banning possession of assault weapons entirely through a mandatory buyback program, compared to just 54 percent of whites.
African-Americans are also more supportive of laws promoting safe use, such as requiring people to keep their guns locked in a safe while at home, and of proposals to restrict access, such as making people acquire a license from the local police before being able to buy a gun.
Interestingly, this trend reverses when it comes to some proposed criminal justice measures, such as prohibiting someone convicted of a serious crime as a juvenile from owning a gun for 10 years. And asked if people who “display of a gun in a threatening manner excluding self-defense” should be prohibited from owning a firearm for 10 years, just 56 percent of blacks support it, compared to 77 percent of whites.
This is consistent with polling data showing a significant lack of trust in police [ http://www.gallup.com/poll/18958/community-groups-fail-earn-trust.aspx ] among African-Americans when compared to whites, the researchers speculate.
Hispanics, meanwhile, fall somewhere in between, despite their lower gun ownership levels.
“Even though whites are far more likely to report owning guns in their homes than Blacks or Hispanics, we see wide support among whites for policies to reduce gun violence, including banning the sale of military-style, semi-automatic assault weapons and universal background checks,” said Alicia Samuels of Johns Hopkins.
“We’ve looked at these data by gun ownership, political party affiliation, and now race, and we see broad public support for many policies regardless of these factors. Changing our laws to reduce gun violence is not a priority for just one group in society; it’s something it appears that most Americans want to see happen, and soon,” she added.
Many observers have pointed out that the politics of gun reform have shifted dramatically from the late 1990s and early 2000s, when gun politics were seen by some as integral to Al Gore’s presidential defeat. As Nate Cohn noted in the New Republic [ http://www.newrepublic.com/blog/electionate/111151/could-newtown-change-gun-control-politics ], the issue is no longer toxic for Obama because he’s already lost so many of the voters who really care about guns, and is doing just fine without them. Part of that story, of course, is the country’s changing demographics, and Republicans’ increasing isolation as a party of white men.
Copyright © 2013 Salon Media Group, Inc.
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/20/new_data_whites_twice_as_likely_to_own_guns/ [with comments]
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Ted Cruz: 'Obama Is The Most Radical President We've Ever Seen'
By Gabrielle Dunkley
Posted: 02/20/2013 12:56 pm EST | Updated: 02/20/2013 7:14 pm EST
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called President Barack Obama "the most radical president we've ever seen" in a CBN interview published on Wednesday [ http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2013/February/Ted-Cruz-a-Lifeline-for-the-Conservative-Party/ ].
Cruz also targeted [id.] his own party, claiming some Republicans "fail to stand for principle and contributed to getting us in this mess."
Cruz has a history of being critical of the president's position on gun control. In January, he called Obama's gun control proposals "unconstitutional [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/06/ted-cruz-gun-control-unconstitutional_n_2420727.html ]."
Not long after those comments, Cruz stated [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/20/ted-cruz-nra-ad-obama_n_2516156.html ] his support for an NRA ad that called Obama a "hypocrite" and was highly criticized for citing security for the president's daughters.
Cruz's criticism of Obama extended to the president's defense secretary nominee, Republican and former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel. At Hagel's confirmation hearing [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/31/chuck-hagel-hearing_n_2589187.html ] in January, Cruz aggressively probed Hagel for referring to the conflict in Israel as a "sickening slaughter [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/31/ted-cruz-chuck-hagel-_n_2592699.html ]."
The CBN interview was not the first time Cruz has called Obama the most radical president. During a speech videotaped [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oImU3rdC2k (next below)]
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/ted-cruz-obama_n_2724780.html [with embedded video of Cruz's CBN interview, and comments]
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Obama and US Soldiers on Fire! North Korean Propaganda video
A new propaganda Video from North Korea. It shows Obama and US Soldiers burning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaNG-DKz5hk [also at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1GU4Sc4OrA , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijy_Am1n4EA and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4m75TT-ymE ]
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Ted Cruz: I’m being silenced!
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX
(Credit: AP/David J. Phillip)
The Tea Party bully plays the victim after critics compare his unsourced attacks on Chuck Hagel to McCarthyism
By Joan Walsh
Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013 12:16 PM CST
Tough-talking freshman Sen. Ted Cruz is attacking critics with a bold tactic: whining. The man who told the world, without evidence, that defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel might have taken money from Hamas or North Korea now complains his critics are trying to “silence” him [ http://www.myfoxaustin.com/story/21253953/senator-cruz-tours-leander-weapons-manufacture ] – but it won’t work.
“Washington has a long tradition of trying to hurl insults to silence those who they don’t like what they’re saying,” said Cruz.
Cruz made his comments at a visit to a Texas gun maker that manufactures assault weapons for the civilian market. “He’s our type of guy,” kvelled the firm’s marketing manager. Indeed.
It’s true that critics from Chris Matthews to Sen. Barbara Boxer have heard more than an echo of Joe McCarthy in Cruz’s evidence-free attacks on Hagel. In the New York Times Saturday, Boxer compared Cruz’s dark insinuations against Hagel to the Wisconsin senator’s unsourced tirades against alleged Communists in the 1950s.
“It was really reminiscent of a different time and place, when you said, ‘I have here in my pocket a speech you made on such and such a date,’ and of course, nothing was in the pocket,” Boxer said. “It was reminiscent of some bad times.”
Of course, Tea Party darling Allen West copied McCarthy far more directly in 2011, when he charged that “78 to 81? Democrats in Congress were members of the Communist Party. (McCarthy used to make up numbers, too, most famously having a list of 205 Communists in the State Department.) But West was roundly denounced, and he lost his Florida seat in 2012. Cruz is somewhat more dangerous.
Salon’s Alex Seitz-Wald makes a great comparison [ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/20/the_coming_rand_paul_ted_cruz_brawl/ (at {linked in} http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84818801 {and following})] between Cruz and the Senate’s other Tea Party extremist with big national ambitions, Kentucky’s Rand Paul. (There are questions about Cruz’s eligibility to run for president, because he was born in Canada to American citizens, but his office insists he’s “a U.S. citizen by birth [ http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/cruz-draws-presidential-buzz-but-is-he-eligible-85873.html ]” while disavowing presidential ambitions. Have at it, birthers!) Where the unpolished Paul, a sketchily credentialed ophthalmologist, always seems a little unready for the national spotlight, the Ivy League Cruz is impeccably credentialed and varnished. A Harvard Law graduate, he clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist and specialized in Supreme Court litigation before becoming Texas solicitor general in 2003. His wife works for Goldman Sachs. That’s not the biography of a working-class hero. It shouldn’t even be the biography of a Tea Party hero, except the supposedly populist revolt was always a front for the corporate elite.
Cruz’s grandstanding may be hurting him even with conservative GOP colleagues. Sen. John McCain famously upbraided him for impugning Hagel’s character and patriotism last week. An anonymous Republican called him “Jim DeMint without the charm” in a conversation with columnist Ruth Marcus [ http://www.statesman.com/news/news/opinion/cruz-raising-eyebrows-in-senate/nWRxt/ ]. He may also be Joe McCarthy without the charm. McCarthy won a national following because he seemed to speak for regular working-class Joes in his campaign against the State Department, which was also, to an extent, a campaign against the Ivy League elites Cruz himself represents.
McCarthy followed the path of Al Smith, who moved from New Deal innovator to anti-FDR red-baiter after Roosevelt beat the first Irish Catholic presidential candidate for the 1932 Democratic nomination. There was a common-folks appeal to McCarthy’s crusade – sadly, my Irish Catholic immigrant grandparents loved him — with groups like the Catholic War Veterans backing both his anti-Communist vendetta as well as New Deal programs like Social Security.
Cruz doesn’t seem to carry such weight with Latinos. He won only 35 percent of the Latino vote in 2012 [ http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/11/13/1178721/poll-latino-republican-sen-elect-ted-cruz-received-no-boost-from-latinos/ ], less than his colleague Sen. John Cornyn, who won 36 percent in 2010 (but he did outperform Mitt Romney, who only won 29 percent of Texas Latinos). Republicans are going to have to understand that Latinos have become a solidly Democratic constituency not because there are so many Latino Democratic politicians (there are more than in the GOP, but still not enough) but because they support Democratic policies on economic and social issues.
Cruz likely has far more appeal with the type of older white working-class voter that backed McCarthy than with the emerging Latino electorate. His efforts to tank even Marco Rubio’s cautious immigration reform proposals will likely make white Nativists more Cruz-friendly than Latinos in the months to come.
Of course, bullies like Cruz have a long tradition of playing the victim. When Michele Bachmann, the Tea Party’s last incarnation of Joe McCarthy, accused Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, she and her allies likewise claimed persecution at the hands of her detractors (which also included McCain). “It’s really an effort to demonize and take down, if they can, a formidable political adversary in Michele Bachmann,” anti-Muslim hysteric Frank Gaffney claimed at the time.
Cruz now wears Bachmann’s mantle, and he wears it nicely. Playing the persecuted, he challenged reporters to at least investigate Hagel a little bit while they’re attacking him.
“A lot of media attention has been focused on the attacks leveled on me and I would encourage all of you if you want to write stories on that great, knock yourself out, but I would ask for every 10 stories you write, attacking me, perhaps write one story on the substance of Chuck Hagel’s record,” suggested Cruz.
That’s good advice. Because if they do, they’ll find no substance to Cruz’s charges in Hagel’s “record,” but a lot of substance to charges that he’s a 21st century Joe McCarthy in Cruz’s.
Copyright © 2013 Salon Media Group, Inc.
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/20/ted_cruz_i%e2%80%99m_being_silenced/ [with comments]
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North Korea video of nuclear attack on US city - dream of nuclear war
North Korean dreams of destruction of USA while "We are the World" is playing.
+++ ENGLISH TRANSLATION +++
Last night, I had such a wonderful dream. I found myself rising high into space riding the "Unha 9" rocket. In happiness and excitement, the spaceship "Kwangmyongsong" separated, and was flying into the grand and endless space. From onboard, I could see beautiful colors and stark contrast [of the outside]. I was about to press the button to take a picture as I was heading toward our perfectly green earth, a shining star in the midst of the darkness. Suddenly, through the camera lens, the image of the unification flag blowing over our one unified country crops up. Even I weep as I hold tightly to that camera, concerns rushing over me. In America, I can see black smoke. It seems like the devil's nest that habitually caused wars of invasion and persistence are finally burning under the fire that I have caused. The free and peaceful world and the magnificent and awe-striking space seem to be blessing our spaceship "Kwangmyongsong". Dear viewers, think about this. Korea's spaceship flying through space, to the backdrop of the brightly-lit sun and space. I am certain that my dream will come true. Even the complete ending of the imperialists schemes. Seeing our Bakedu Mountain country prospering strongly under reunification, they will not be able to prevent our people from going forward towards a final victory.
+++
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiFmlEbSdZg [also at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK8zQIsMmnk and, without sound, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdrViseR8RQ ]
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Is Senator Ted Cruz our new McCarthy?
Photograph by Lauren Lancaster
Posted by Jane Mayer
February 22, 2013
Last week, Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s prosecutorial style of questioning Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee for Defense Secretary, came so close to innuendo that it raised eyebrows in Congress, even among his Republican colleagues. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, called Cruz’s inquiry into Hagel’s past associations “out of bounds, quite frankly.” The Times reported [ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/16/us/politics/ted-cruz-runs-counter-to-courtly-ways-of-the-senate.html?pagewanted=all (at {linked in} http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84677529 {and following})] that Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, rebuked Cruz for insinuating, without evidence, that Hagel may have collected speaking fees from North Korea. Some Democrats went so far as to liken Cruz, who is a newcomer to the Senate, to a darkly divisive predecessor, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, whose anti-Communist crusades devolved into infamous witch hunts. Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, stopped short of invoking McCarthy’s name, but there was no mistaking her allusion when she talked about being reminded of “a different time and place, when you said, ‘I have here in my pocket a speech you made on such-and-such a date,’ and of course there was nothing in the pocket.”
Boxer’s analogy may have been more apt than she realized. Two and a half years ago, Cruz gave a stem-winder of a speech at a Fourth of July weekend political rally in Austin, Texas, in which he accused the Harvard Law School of harboring a dozen Communists on its faculty when he studied there. Cruz attended Harvard Law School from 1992 until 1995. His spokeswoman didn’t respond to a request to discuss the speech.
Cruz made the accusation while speaking to a rapt ballroom audience during a luncheon at a conference called “Defending the American Dream,” sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, a non-profit political organization founded and funded in part by the billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch. Cruz greeted the audience jovially, but soon launched an impassioned attack on President Obama, whom he described as “the most radical” President “ever to occupy the Oval Office.” (I was covering the conference and kept the notes.)
He then went on to assert that Obama, who attended Harvard Law School four years ahead of him, “would have made a perfect president of Harvard Law School.” The reason, said Cruz, was that, “There were fewer declared Republicans in the faculty when we were there than Communists! There was one Republican. But there were twelve who would say they were Marxists who believed in the Communists overthrowing the United States government.”
“We are puzzled by the Senator’s assertions, as we are unaware of any basis for them,” Robb London, a spokesman for Harvard Law School, told me. London noted that Cruz had contributed “warm reminiscences“ of the school by video for a reunion of Latino alumni. “We applaud the fact that he has pursued public service, as so many of our graduates have done. We are also proud of our longstanding tradition of freedom of speech and the robust range of views and debates on our campus.”
Harvard Law School Professor Charles Fried, a Republican who served as Ronald Reagan’s Solicitor General from 1985 to 1989, and who subsequently taught Cruz at the law school, suggests that his former student has his facts wrong.“I can right offhand count four “out” Republicans (including myself) and I don’t know how many closeted Republicans when Ted, who was my student and the editor on the Harvard Law Review who helped me with my Supreme Court foreword, was a student here.”
Fried went on to say that unlike Cruz, or McCarthy, who infamously kept tallies of alleged subversives, he had never tried to count Communists. “I have not taken a poll, but I would be surprised if there were any members of the faculty who ‘believed in the Communists overthrowing the U.S. government,’” he said. Under the Smith Act, it is a crime to actively engage in any organization pursuing the overthrow of the U.S. government.
Fried acknowledged that “there were a certain number (twelve seems to me too high) who were quite radical, but I doubt if any had allegiance or sympathy with anything called ‘the Communists,’ who at that time (unlike the thirties and forties) were in quite bad odor among radical intellectuals.” He pointed out that by the nineteen-nineties, Communist states were widely regarded as tyrannical. From Fried’s perspective, the radicals on the faculty were “a pain in the neck.” But he says that Cruz’s assertion that they were Communists “misunderstands what they were about.”
It may be that Cruz was referring to a group of left-leaning law professors who supported what they called Critical Legal Studies, a method of critiquing the political impact of the American legal system. Professor Duncan Kennedy, for instance, a leader of the faction, who declined to comment on Cruz’s accusation, counts himself as influenced by the writings of Karl Marx. But he regards himself as a social democrat, not a Communist, and has never advocated the overthrow of the U.S. government by Communists. Rather, he advocated widening admissions at the law school to under-served populations, hiring more minorities and women on the faculty, and paying all law professors equally.
Sounding like a disappointed professor, Fried said that Cruz’s willingness to label the faculty Communist “lacks nuance.” He said he remembered Cruz well, as “very bright, very hard-working and very conservative, in a well-mannered, agreeable way.” So he said, “This surprises me. It suggests he’s changed.”
So too, perhaps, has the U.S. Senate.
*
Related
The Party Next Time
November 19, 2012
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/11/19/121119fa_fact_lizza [about 60% of the way down at (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=81469114 (and preceding and following)]
*
© 2013 Condé Nast
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/02/ted-cruz-sees-red-not-crimson-at-harvard.html [with comments]
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No stigma for Cruz among right for McCarthy similarities
The Rachel Maddow Show
February 22, 2013
Rachel Maddow looks back at some of the distinguishing features of former Senator Joseph McCarthy's speaking style and identifies parallels in speeches by Senator Ted Cruz, something that is actually an asset in the eyes of many on the right.
© 2013 NBCNews.com
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-rachel-maddow-show/50914855 [show links at http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/22/17062593-links-for-the-222-trms (with comment)]
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McCarthyist style earns Cruz favor with base
The Rachel Maddow Show
February 22, 2013
Jane Mayer, staff writer for the New Yorker, talks with Rachel Maddow about the red meat appeal of Senator Ted Cruz, whose public conduct, reminiscent of Joseph McCarthy, plays well with his Texas base but raises eyebrows in Washington, D.C.
© 2013 NBCNews.com
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-rachel-maddow-show/50914883 [show links at http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/22/17062593-links-for-the-222-trms (with comment)]
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Louie Gohmert: Second Amendment Is Necessary Because...Sharia Law?
By Nick Wing
Posted: 02/21/2013 6:02 pm EST | Updated: 02/21/2013 6:04 pm EST
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) is an uncompromising supporter of the right to bear arms and a longtime opponent of Sharia law. On Thursday, he managed to awkwardly wrap the two together in a defense of the Second Amendment.
Speaking with radio host Jeff Akin in an interview on Freedom 107 radio [ http://www.spreaker.com/page#!/user/4643650/022113_rep_louie_gohmert_mp3 ], Gohmert suggested that gun control advocates ultimately wanted to eliminate gun ownership because they didn't understand the true purpose of the Second Amendment. He proceeded to explain why he believed it was in the Constitution.
"It is for our protection -- and the founders' quotes make that very very clear -- including against a government that would run amuck," Gohmert said, before shifting gears. "We've got some people who think Sharia law oughta be the law of the land, forget the Constitution. But the guns are there, the Second Amendment is there, to make sure all of the rest of the amendments are followed."
While Gohmert has in the past claimed to be friendly with Muslims -- including by "hugging [them] around the world [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/louie-gohmert-muslim-brotherhood_n_1687533.html ]" -- his prior comments about Islam and Sharia law suggest a tenuous relationship at best.
In 2011, Gohmert promised to take on the supposed threat [ http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/01/19/139692/gohmert-sharia-hearings/ ] of "creeping Sharia." Gohmert continued to express his skepticism about the motives of Muslims in 2012 when he lent his name [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/26/louie-gohmert-media-muslim-brotherhood_n_1707025.html ] to a misguided and heavily criticized crusade against members of President Barack Obama's administration. When Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) blasted the campaign [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/18/john-mccain-michele-bachmann-muslim_n_1683277.html ] -- which hinged on allegations that top officials were linked to the Muslim Brotherhood -- Gohmert shot back, calling the senator [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/25/louie-gohmert-john-mccain_n_1700448.html ] "numbnuts."
While seemingly out of place, Gohmert's casual invocation of Sharia law wasn't the only peculiar defense of gun laws given during his interview. He also managed to tie the recent controversy over the domestic drone use to his opposition of efforts to limit high-capacity magazines.
“But I had somebody last week in Washington from either Georgia or Alabama was saying, ‘Look, this goes back to we have got to have at least 50 rounds in our magazines because on average that’s about how many it takes to bring down a drone,’" Gohmert recalled. "I hope he was kidding, I don't know for sure.”
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/louie-gohmert-second-amendment_n_2735971.html [with comments]
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Montana Bill Defies Supremacy Of All Federal Laws
By Nicole Flatow on Feb 21, 2013 at 12:00 pm
Among a slate of far-reaching gun bills [ http://missoulian.com/news/local/sheriffs-first-gun-bills-clear-montana-house-committee/article_aa343d18-77a7-11e2-ae60-001a4bcf887a.html ] that cleared the Montana House Judiciary Committee this week was one that takes defiance of federal authority far beyond the Second Amendment context. The “Sheriffs First” bill would require federal agents to seek county sheriffs’ permission [ http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/montana-sheriffs-gary-marbut-fbi-gun-legislation ] before enforcing any federal law, and empowers those sheriffs to arrest federal agents who don’t comply for kidnapping. The bill also mandates county attorneys to prosecute [ http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2013/billhtml/HB0303.htm ] any claim by a sheriff against a federal official. Mother Jones’ Tim Murphy reports:
The proposal already passed both houses of the legislature once, in 2011, but was vetoed by then-Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat. This time [Gary] Marbut, the Montana gun lobbyist and aspiring firearms manufacturer who wrote the bill, is hoping Montana voters will determine the fate of his legislation. If passed, the latest version of the Sheriffs First measure would become a ballot question in November of 2014. […]
For Marbut, a prolific lobbyist who has written 58 pro-gun bills that made it into law, the referendum would have an added benefit. An earlier law he wrote, which blocks the federal government from regulating in-state gun manufacturing, is tied up in the courts. But if his “Sheriffs first” measure became a reality, that would become an afterthought.
The ATF might say “We have probable cause to believe that we have this person in your county who’s making firearms without a license,” Marbut explains. “And the sheriff might say, ‘Well, gosh, under the Montana Firearms Freedom Act, that’s protected activity in Montana, so you don’t have my permission for this bust.”
In case it wasn’t clear to state legislators that the bill is blatantly unconstitutional and amounts to all-out revolt against our federal-state system, an official legal review [ http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2013/LRC/LC1040.pdf ] explicitly warns that this violates of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which asserts that federal law trumps state law to the extent that they conflict. The analysis even cites a 1913 case in which the Supreme Court said that state law is preempted where, as here, “compliance with both federal and state regulation is a physical impossibility.” The document also links to a more in-depth analysis by the South Carolina Attorney General of a similar 2011 bill in that state, which adds that the mandatory prosecution of any claim by the county sheriff is a violation of separation of powers principles [ http://www.scag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/moore-j-b-os-9359-12-9-11-constitutional-validity-of-proposed-sheriffs-first-legislation.pdf ].
In a response, Marbut cautions the attorney who authored the memo to “be careful about any claim that LC 1040 is unconstitutional [ http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2013/LRC/LC1040.pdf ],” making the remarkable argument that the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause is entirely void because it conflicts with the subsequently passed Tenth Amendment.
The “Sheriffs First” bill is one of a number of unconstitutional state bills that have threatened to flout federal authority, through nullification of federal gun laws [ http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/01/22/1473161/state-lawmakers-push-unconstitutional-bills-thumbing-their-noses-at-gun-safety/ ], discretion to nullify any laws they don’t like [ http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/01/29/1511051/mississippi-tea-partiers-seek-to-nullify-any-federal-laws-they-dont-like/ ], and criminalizing federal enforcement of gun laws [ http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/01/24/1489061/pennsylvania-gun-nullifcation/ ]. The bill also tracks a movement [ http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/01/15/1445651/kentucky-sheriff-says-he-wont-enforce-any-gun-violence-prevention-law/ ] by county sheriffs who have refused to enforce federal gun laws on the belief they are the highest law enforcement authorities – above federal authorities.
Similar “Sheriffs First [ http://tracking.tenthamendmentcenter.com/sheriff/ ]” bills were introduced but not passed in several states in 2011 and 2012, and another bill was also introduced in Indiana in January. While the Montana bill was vetoed by the Democratic governor in 2011, Marbut has aimed to ease passage of the bill this year not only by turning it into a ballot initiative, but also by lumping it in with several other gun rights bills at a time when some conservatives are balking at federal attempts to prevent gun violence. Nonetheless, both the full Montana House and Senate must pass the bill before it can go before the voters. Other bills [ http://missoulian.com/news/local/sheriffs-first-gun-bills-clear-montana-house-committee/article_aa343d18-77a7-11e2-ae60-001a4bcf887a.html ] also cleared by the state’s House Judiciary Committee would ”let college students bring guns to campus, allow high school students to leave guns locked in their cars, and clear the way for nearly anyone to carry concealed weapons without a permit,” according to the Missoulian.
© 2013 Center for American Progress Action Fund (emphasis in original)
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/02/21/1621741/unconstitutional-montana-bill-defies-supremacy-of-all-federal-laws/ [with comments]
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Montana Roadkill Law Allows Motorists To Eat The Animals They Hit With Cars
02/22/2013
Kill it and grill it.
Montana may now be the ultimate drive-through destination for adventurous foodies thanks to a new law that allows people to consume any animals they hit and kill.
[...]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/montana-roadkill-bill-_n_2742711.html [with comments]
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Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt Flaunt Gun Arsenal In New Documentary
Posted: 02/19/2013 1:57 pm EST | Updated: 02/19/2013 4:30 pm EST
Some might argue that Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt are the two best reasons for harsher gun control legislation.
Montag and Spencer showed off their arsenal of guns [ http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/105708/Spencer-Pratt-And-Heidi-Montag-Slammed-By-Viewers-After-Promoting-Gun-Crime-In-New-Documentary ] during a portion [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpg-vy8vOiM (above, as embedded)] of their new documentary for the U.K.'s Channel 5, titled "Speidi: Scandal, Secrets & Surgery! [ http://www.channel5.com/shows/speidi-scandal-secrets-surgery ]"
The couple known as Speidi flaunted a collection of more than six firearms [ http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/4802530/Speidi-shock-boast-You-can-never-have-enough-guns-in-your-house.html ] -- including an FBI sniper rifle, a Benelli semi-automatic shotgun and a rapid engagement precision rifle -- while filming the special inside their Santa Barbara, Calif., beach house, according to The Sun.
"I want to share something with you that I know, unfortunately, you cannot possess in your amazing country," Pratt tells Channel 5. "So, I will let you have a glimpse at the amazing laws of America."
The reality star's wife then goes on to take out her favorite rifle and discuss how much she loves guns and shooting.
"This is one of my favorite activities," Montag says. "It gives me a new sense of self every time I do. It makes me feel proud to be an American." She adds, "I'd like to say something about guns as well. I think it is one of the greatest rights to be an American. I personally didn't feel safe especially with crazed fans out there and stalkers. If somebody broke into our home, I think this is the only thing that would actually save my life."
The two "Celebrity Big Brother" contestants, who have been described as "the most reviled" in the show's history, reportedly received death threats because of their behavior [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/23/heidi-montag-spencer-pratt-death-threats_n_2534228.html ] on the series.
Montag and Pratt's comments about guns [ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2280927/Heidi-Montag-Spencer-Pratt-guns-home-admitting-feel-unsafe-crazed-fans.html ] were met with backlash. Peter Squires, professor of criminology and public policy at Brighton University, expressed his outrage to the Daily Star.
“With the recent shooting deaths of model Reeva Steenkamp and country singer Mindy McCready, the dangers of keeping guns at home are all too obvious," he said via the Daily Star. "The suggestion by Speidi is crass attention-seeking behavior [ http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/299498/SPEIDI-GUN-SHOCK/ ]. Let’s face it, neither of them were near the front of the queue when brains, decorum or thinking skills were being handed out.”
Guns have actually landed the former MTV stars, who claimed to have blown through $10 million anticipating the Mayan apocalypse [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/31/heidi-montag-spencer-pratt-10-million-mayan-apocalypse_n_2589712.html ], in trouble before.
Back in 2010, Pratt and Montag were detained for illegal arms possession [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/14/heidi-montag-spencer-prat_2_n_716498.html ] at a Costa Rica airport after security guards found two unloaded handguns in their luggage, the Associated Press previously reported. Pratt was on a jungle retreat at the time and brought the 9MM and 45MM handguns with him for protection. He neither declared them nor had a permit to carry them in the country.
Heidi Montag poses with a firearm at a shooting range in 2008.
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/heidi-montag-spencer-pratt-guns-gun-arsenal-documentary-_n_2717695.html [with comments]
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Adam Lanza likely wanted to top Anders Breivik’s mass shooting
Newtown gunman Adam Lanza, left, believed he was in direct competition with Norwegian mass-shooter Anders Breivik, right, it has been reported.
(AP Photo/NBC News, File)/(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
By Global Post
Posted on February 19, 2013
Newtown gunman Adam Lanza believed he was in direct competition with Norwegian mass-shooter Anders Breivik, it has been reported.
CBS News cited [ http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57569958/newtown-shooter-motivated-by-norway-massacre-sources-say/ ] two law enforcement officials briefed on the investigations into Lanza’s rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting [ http://www.voxxi.com/connecticut-school-shooting-mourns-young-lives/ ] said he was motivated by a goal of killing more “easiest targets” than the 77 people killed by Breivik near Oslo in July 2011.
Lanza, 20, who shot and killed 20 children and six adult staff members at the school on Dec. 14 was also reportedly acting out video game fantasies, attempting to achieve a higher “score” of victims’ deaths, CBS wrote.
The New York Daily News wrote [ http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/lanza-rival-norwegian-bomber-anders-breivik-article-1.1267411 ] that Lanza had been described as a loner who spent hours, sometimes days, in his bedroom playing graphically violent video games.
The Hartford Courant wrote [ http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/newtown-sandy-hook-school-shooting/hc-lanza-breivik-20130218,0,2271299.story ] that Lanza had several news articles about Breivik in a bedrooms at the Newtown home where he lived with his mother, Nancy Lanza.
The Courant said sources emphasized that an interest in Breivik was just one theory to explain Lanza’s rampage.
However, the officials told CBS that investigators had found credible evidence that Lanza was probably even obsessed with Breivik.
They found evidence that Lanza zeroed in on Sandy Hook because it had the “largest cluster of people.”
© 2013, VOXXI
http://www.voxxi.com/adam-lanza-wanted-to-top-anders-breivik/ [no comments yet] [and see (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=65553571 and preceding and following]
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Reliving Horror and Faint Hope at Massacre Site
Early responders at Sandy Hook Elementary included, from left: Lt. Christopher Vanghele, Officer Jason Flynn, Officer Leonard Penna, Detective Jason Frank and Officer William Chapman.
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Connecticut State Police leading a line of children from the school after the shooting on Dec. 14.
Shannon Hicks/Newtown Bee, via Associated Press
By RAY RIVERA
Published: January 28, 2013
NEWTOWN, Conn. — The gunfire ended; it was so quiet they could hear the broken glass and bullet casings scraping under their boots. The smell of gunpowder filled the air. The officers turned down their radios; they did not want to give away their positions if there was still a gunman present.
They found the two women first, their bodies lying on the lobby floor. Now they knew it was real. But nothing, no amount of training, could prepare them for what they found next, inside those two classrooms.
“One look, and your life was absolutely changed,” said Michael McGowan, one of the first police officers to arrive at Sandy Hook Elementary School [ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/school_shootings/index.html ] on Dec. 14, as a gunman, in the space of minutes, killed 20 first graders and 6 adults.
Officer McGowan was among seven Newtown officers who recently sat down to share their accounts of that day. Some spoke for the first time, providing the fullest account yet of the scene as officers responded to one of the worst school massacres in United States history, one that has inflamed the national debate over gun control.
It is an account filled with ghastly moments and details, and a few faint instances of hope. One child had a slight pulse, but did not survive. Another was found bloody but unhurt, amid her dead classmates. Teachers were so protective of their students that they had to be coaxed by officers before opening doors. And the officers themselves, many of them fathers, instinctively used their most soothing Daddy voices to guide terrified children to safety.
The stories also reveal the deep stress that lingers for officers who, until Dec. 14, had focused their energies on maintaining order in a low-crime corner of suburbia. Some can barely sleep. Little things can set off tears: a television show, a child’s laughter, even the piles of gifts the Police Department received from across the country.
One detective, who was driving with his wife and two sons, passed a roadside memorial on Route 25 two weeks after the shooting, and began sobbing uncontrollably. “I just lost it right there, I couldn’t even drive,” the detective, Jason Frank, said.
Officer William Chapman was in the Newtown police station along with Officer McGowan and others when the first reports of shots and breaking glass came in early on the day of the massacre. The school was more than two miles away. They traveled up Route 25, then right onto Church Hill Road. “We drove as fast as we’ve ever driven,” Officer McGowan said.
They made it in under three minutes, arriving in the parking lot while gunfire could still be heard.
“I got out of the car and grabbed my rifle and it stopped for second,” Officer Chapman said. “But then we heard more popping. You could tell it was rifle fire. And it was up so close, it sounded like it was coming from outside. So we were all looking around for someone to shoot back at.”
As the officers converged on the building, the gunfire stopped again. Officers Chapman and Scott Smith made their way to the front entrance. It was here, only minutes earlier, that a rail-thin 20-year-old named Adam Lanza [ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/school_shootings/index.html ], armed with a .223 Bushmaster semiautomatic carbine, two semiautomatic pistols and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, had blasted his way through the glass.
Leonard Penna, a school resource officer who had raced to the scene from his office at the Newtown Middle School, entered the school with Sgt. Aaron Bahamonde and Lt. Christopher Vanghele, through a side door that leads to the boiler room, he said. Officer McGowan and two other officers entered through a locked rear door. One of them knocked out the glass with his rifle butt so the rest of the officers could get in.
The halls were familiar to Officer McGowan. He attended the school as a child. But now, they were eerily silent.
“The teachers were doing a phenomenal job keeping their kids quiet,” Officer Chapman said.
The officers turned their radios down. They entered the front lobby and saw the first bodies, those of Dawn Hochsprung, the principal, they would later learn, and Mary Sherlach, the school psychologist.
“You saw them lifeless, laying down,” Officer Penna recalled. “For a split second, your mind says could this be a mock crime scene, could this be fake, but in the next split second, you’re saying, there is no way. This is real.”
The officers went from room to room, urgently hunting for the killer before he could do more harm.
They found a wounded staff member in one room, made sure her co-workers were applying proper first aid and moved on.
As Officers Chapman and Smith approached the second classroom in the hallway on their left, they spotted a rifle on the floor. Inside, they found the gunman, Adam Lanza, dead by his own hand, along with the bodies of several children and other adults.
The officers searched the room for any other gunmen, then began searching for signs of life among the children. One little girl had a pulse and was breathing. Officer Chapman cradled her in his arms and ran with her outside, to an ambulance. Officer Chapman, a parent himself, tried to comfort her. “You’re safe now; your parents love you,” he recalled saying. She did not survive.
Most of the bodies were found in the classroom next door, where, Detective Frank recalled, “the teacher had them huddled up like a mother hen — simple as that, in a corner.”
Officer Penna, who was the first officer to enter the second room, found a girl standing alone amid the bodies. She appeared to be in shock, and was covered in blood, but had not been injured. He, not knowing the gunman had been found, told her to stay put.
He ran into the next classroom and saw the dead gunman, with Officers Chapman and Smith standing nearby. State troopers and other officers were now flooding in. Officer Penna returned to the second classroom, his rifle slung around his chest, grabbed the uninjured girl by the arm and ran with her out to a triage area set up in the parking lot.
With state troopers coming in, the officers began to evacuate the children who were still behind locked doors. But many of the teachers, seeking to protect their students and following their own training, refused to open up.
“We’re kicking the doors, yelling ‘Police! Police!’ ” Officer McGowan said. “We were ripping our badges off and putting them up to the window.”
Detective Frank, who had been off duty and rushed to the scene so quickly that he had to borrow a gun from a colleague once he arrived, remembers ripping the handle off one of the doors, “just trying to get through.”
As the children emerged, the officers tried to reassure them. “Everything is fine now,” they said, even as they stayed alert for a possible second gunman. “Everybody hold hands, close your eyes,” they told the children.
Some officers formed a human curtain around the bodies of Ms. Hochsprung and Ms. Sherlach, to shield the children from the sight as they filed past. Others blocked the doorways of the two classrooms.
As the scene settled that day, officers standing guard outside warned newly arriving colleagues not to go in if they had children. Detective Joe Joudy, one of the senior members of the force, spotted Officer Chapman walking back to the building, covered in blood. “I was a mess, and he looks at me and says, ‘They’ve got to get you guys out of here,’ ” Officer Chapman said.
Newtown’s three-man detective squad, which also included Dan McAnaspie, would spend much of the next week working with the State Police to collect and inventory every bit of evidence from the crime scene.
“Words can’t describe how horrible it was,” said Detective Joudy, who has been with the department for 27 years.
As he left the building that day, Officer Tom Bean, who had also been off duty when he rushed to the scene, realized he had not told his wife where he was. He fumbled for his phone in the parking lot, and called her. “That’s when I broke down in tears, crying,” he said.
More than a month later, the officers continue to feel the pain of that day. Some spoke reluctantly, not wanting to compare their torment with the agony of the families of the children and adult victims. But they also worried about their ability to do their jobs, as they continue to suffer. They said they omitted some details out of sensitivity to the victims, and to protect the investigation as it continued.
At least one person, Officer Bean, said he has already received a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. He said he had been unable to return to work since the shootings, and had needed medication to sleep.
The officers and their union are reaching out to state lawmakers, hoping to expand workers’ compensation benefits to include those who witness horrific violence.
“Our concern from the beginning has been the effects of PTSD,” said Eric Brown, a lawyer for the union that represents the Newtown police. “We estimate it is probably going to be 12 to 15 Newtown officers who are going to be dealing with that, for the remainder of their careers, we imagine, from what we’ve been told by professionals who deal with PTSD.”
For Detective Frank, who spent days sequestered in the school, meticulously collecting evidence, the images keep recurring — and not just of the children. The monster-truck backpack he found that was identical to his 6-year-old’s. The Christmas ornaments that sat unfinished, drying on the windowsill.
“It’s heartbreaking,” he said. “These kids will never take those ornaments home to their parents.”
*
Related
Sandy Hook Parents’ Testimony to Legislature Reflects Divide on Guns (January 29, 2013)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/nyregion/connecticut-legislature-hearing-on-gun-violence.html
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© 2013 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/nyregion/horrors-of-newtown-shooting-scene-are-slow-to-fade.html [ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/nyregion/horrors-of-newtown-shooting-scene-are-slow-to-fade.html?pagewanted=all ] [with comments]
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UPDATE 4-Three die in shooting, fiery crash on Las Vegas Strip
By Tim Pratt
Thu Feb 21, 2013 9:41pm EST
Feb 21 (Reuters) - Three people died in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip early on Thursday when one or more gunmen in a Range Rover sport utility vehicle opened fire on a Maserati, killing the driver and touching off a fiery multi-car crash.
The driver of the Maserati died in the pre-dawn shooting, and his car veered out of control and smashed into a taxi carrying two people, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police spokesman Officer Jose Hernandez said.
The cab exploded into flames in the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road, a popular tourist area in front of several casino resorts, killing the driver and a passenger.
"There was a loud bang and I hear two other booms. I looked out my window at Caesars Palace ... and could see the fireball," witness John Lamb was quoted as saying on the website of Las Vegas KLAS-TV's 8News Now.
The gunfire and collision in the busy intersection near the Bellagio and Caesars Palace hotels triggered another crash involving four other vehicles. At least four people were hurt including a passenger in the Maserati, and the Range Rover sped from the scene, Hernandez said.
Authorities declined to identify any of the victims but the Las Vegas Review Journal newspaper and KLAS-TV identified the driver of the Maserati as aspiring rapper Kenneth Cherry Jr. YouTube videos of his music show him rapping from a silver Maserati while cruising the Las Vegas Strip.
Attorney Vicki Greco, who has represented Cherry for what she described as minor traffic issues and in a civil case, told Reuters she had been in touch with his family and friends and that they were "devastated" by the news that he had been killed.
"I have not been to the coroner ... From what I have heard, Yes, I can confirm. But I haven't been officially notified," Greco said, adding she believed it was him from news photos that showed the car.
'ARMED AND DANGEROUS'
Police said the shooting was believed to have stemmed from a fight in the valet area of the Aria Resort and Casino on the Strip, but investigators had not established a motive.
Representatives for MGM Resorts International, which owns the Aria, declined to comment on specifics of the incident but said it was working closely with police on the investigation.
A hospital spokeswoman said three people had been treated and released at University Medical Center after the incident but declined to provide information about a fourth person.
Clark County Sheriff Douglas Gillespie told a news conference that police had few leads on the Range Rover or its occupants, who were considered "armed and dangerous," but had launched a multi-state search and were seeking help from the public.
The sheriff bristled at suggestions that the outburst of gun violence could call into question the safety of the Strip, which attracts millions of visitors every year.
"I have been asked by many of you this morning, 'Is the Las Vegas Strip safe?'" Gillespie said. "Yes it is."
"Las Vegas is a valley of 2 million people. Forty million tourists visit here a year. We have 153,000 hotel rooms. In order for my police organization and other law enforcement organizations in the valley to keep this community safe, we have to work very closely not only with the community but the resort corridor as well," he said.
The incident occurred near to where rapper Tupac Shakur was shot on Sept. 7, 1996, while riding in a BMW with Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight after the two men had attended a Mike Tyson boxing match.
Shakur, 25, was hit by gunfire from at least one assailant in a Cadillac while sitting in Knight's car at the intersection of Flamingo Road and Koval Lane and died six days later at University Medical Center. The crime remains unsolved.
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/22/usa-shooting-lasvegas-idUSL1N0BL4YJ20130222 [no comments yet]
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Orange County Shooting Spree: Several People Dead After 25-Minute Ordeal, Police In California Say
Screen shot via KTLA.
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
02/19/13 07:25 PM ET EST
TUSTIN, Calif. — A violent rampage that left four dead in suburban Orange County began in the pre-dawn hours Tuesday when a 20-year-old killed a woman in his home and sped away in his parents' car, authorities said.
An hour later, it was over – but not before Ali Syed had killed two more people during carjackings, shot up vehicles on a busy freeway interchange and left three others injured in a trail of carnage that stretched across 25 miles.
One driver was forced from his BMW at a stop sign, marched to a curb and shot in the back of the head as other commuters watched in horror.
"He was basically executed," Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said. "There were at least six witnesses."
Syed later killed himself. He lived with his parents at the Ladera Ranch residence where the first victim, an unidentified woman in her 20s, was slain, Tustin police Chief Scott Jordan said. He was unemployed, taking one class at a local community college, Jordan said.
The woman was not related to the shooter and it wasn't known what she was doing at the home, said Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.
Syed's parents were in the house at the time, fled the residence when shots were fired, and reported it, he said.
Jordan said Syed stated to one carjacking victim: "I don't want to hurt you. I killed somebody. Today is my last day."
Jordan said there was no indication of a motive, but he sought to assure residents that the violence was over.
"There is no conspiracy here, there are no outstanding suspects, it was a very, very unfortunate situation, but I don't think the people here in Orange County have to be worried about their safety," he said.
The violence began at 4:45 a.m., when deputies responded to a call from Ladera Ranch, a sleepy inland town about 55 miles southeast of Los Angeles. They found the woman shot multiple times.
Jason Glass, who lives across the street, said he couldn't sleep and was watching TV in his garage with the door partly open when he heard what sounded like gun shots.
Then he heard a commotion and the sound of a car speeding away.
Hours later, his neighborhood was flooded with police, and crime scene tape sectioned off the street.
"I just happened to be in here when this happened," Glass said about his garage. "To think he could have rolled under my door or needed a car or needed to hide is crazy. It's freaking me out."
From Ladera Ranch, police said the gunman headed north and pulled off Interstate 5 in Tustin, about 20 miles away, with a flat tire and other damage to his parents' car.
A man who was waiting in a shopping center parking lot to carpool with his son saw Syed had a gun and tried to escape in his Cadillac, Jordan said. Syed ran after the car as it drove away and fired his shotgun through the back window, striking the driver in head but not killing him.
The driver "noticed that he was loading his shotgun, so he simply gets back in his car and tries to escape," Jordan said. "He's driving through the parking lot trying to get away and the suspect is actually chasing him on foot, taking shots at him."
Syed then crossed the street to a Mobil gas station, where he approached the driver of a pick-up and asked for his keys, Jordan said.
"He says something to the effect of, `I've killed somebody. Today's my last day. I don't want to hurt you. Give me your keys,'" he said. "He hands over the keys and he gets in the truck and leaves."
Syed got back on the freeway, where he pulled to the side of the road at the busy I-5 and State Route 55 interchange and began firing at commuters, Jordan said.
One driver was struck in the mouth and hands. He didn't have a cellphone, but was able to drive home and call police. Two other cars were hit but their drivers weren't injured, Jordan said.
"All of this is happening so quickly," he said, estimating that Syed shot at drivers from the side of the freeway transition for about a minute.
The shooter then exited the freeway in nearby Santa Ana but ran the curb and got his car stuck, authorities said.
He approached Melvin Edwards, a 69-year-old from Laguna Hills who was on his way to his Santa Ana business, as Edwards sat in his BMW at a stop sign. Syed forced Edwards to get out of his car, marched him across the street and shot him three times, including in the back of the head and the back, as horrified drivers looked on, Jordan said.
"They tried to get away. They saw what was going on, they tried to get away and they called police," he said.
Syed took Edwards' BMW and next popped up at the Micro Center, a Tustin business, where he shot and killed construction worker Jeremy Lewis, 26, of Fullerton. Lewis' co-worker rushed to intervene and was shot in the arm, Jordan said.
Syed took the second construction worker's utility truck and fled to Orange, this time with California Highway Patrol officers in pursuit. He jumped from the moving utility truck at an intersection in Orange, about five miles away, and shot himself immediately, Jordan said.
A shotgun was recovered at the scene.
A message left at Syed's parents' home wasn't immediately returned on Tuesday.
Associated Press writers Sue Manning and Shaya Tayefe Mohajer in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/orange-county-shooting-spree_n_2717219.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
===
John Duncan On VAWA: Most Men Can Handle Violence Better Than Most Women
Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.) said he didn't know whether or not he'd vote to reauthorize VAWA.
(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
By Sabrina Siddiqui
Posted: 02/19/2013 1:48 pm EST | Updated: 02/19/2013 11:59 pm EST
Rep. John "Jimmy" Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.) said he doesn't know if he will vote for a renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, a bill the congressman said has a nice name, and argued that men can handle violence better than women.
"Every bill is given a motherhood-and-apple-pie title," Duncan said, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press [ http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/feb/17/money-gay-provision-snag-anti-violence/ ]. "But if you voted [based] on the title, you'd vote for every bill up here. If we'd all done that, the country would have crashed a long time ago."
"So this is another bill with a motherhood-and-apple-pie title," added Duncan, who voted for the reauthorization of VAWA in 2005.
But constituents would be mistaken to think that Duncan's uncertainty over whether he will support the reauthorization this year means he isn't concerned with the issue of violence against women. He said it's an especially big problem because women are not as well equipped as men to handle violence.
"Like most men, I'm more opposed to violence against women than even violence against men," Duncan said. "Because most men can handle it a little better than a lot of women can."
Last week, the Senate passed [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/vawa-vote_n_2669720.html ] its VAWA reauthorization bill 78-22. The legislation includes protections for LGBT, Native American and undocumented immigrant victims of domestic violence, provisions that face opposition from many House Republicans. Last year, the disagreement led to Congress failing to reauthorize the bill for the first time since it was introduced in 1994.
But Duncan said his decision to support the Senate bill will depend on its cost.
"Last time my main concern was the money," he said.
The issue does not appear to be as contentious this year. Seventeen House Republicans even signed a letter [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/11/vawa-reauthorization_n_2665599.html ] to their party leaders, urging them to "immediately" reauthorize VAWA with a bipartisan bill.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he expects the lower chamber to act soon, though no decision has been made over whether to take up the Senate bill or if the House will introduce its own version of the legislation.
"Our leadership [is] continuing to work with the committee of jurisdiction, looking at finding ways to deal with this legislation," Boehner said at a press conference [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/14/violence-against-women-act-john-boehner_n_2687812.html ] last week. "We're fully committed to doing everything we can to protect women in our society, and I expect that the House will act in a timely fashion in some way."
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/john-duncan-vawa_n_2718234.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
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Chuck Grassley On VAWA: Tribal Provision Means 'The Non-Indian Doesn't Get A Fair Trial'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/chuck-grassley-vawa_n_2735080.html [the YouTube, embedded, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRpjxtLrTcE ; with comments]
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Violence Against Women Act: Why All Women Need Protection
By Katy Hall and Chris Spurlock
Posted: 02/22/2013 4:46 pm EST | Updated: 02/22/2013 5:49 pm EST
The version of the Violence Against Women Act that House Republicans unveiled Friday [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/vawa-2013_n_2742096.html ] is not the same bill the Senate passed [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/vawa-vote_n_2669720.html ] 78 to 22 last week. Gone are protections for LGBT victims, and a provision to help Native American women seek justice is watered down.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) is "committed to ending violence against all women," his spokeswoman Megan Whittemore said Friday [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/vawa-2013_n_2742096.html ]. Why, then, does the House bill eliminate protections for some women who need them most?
As with any data on sexual violence, these numbers are not exact and may be underestimates, but they show that all women in the U.S. need federal protection from rape and domestic abuse. Nearly 1 in 3 lesbians and half of bisexual women have experienced severe physical violence from an intimate partner, according to the CDC's National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey [ http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/NISVS_Report2010-a.pdf ]. Almost half of bisexual women have been raped in their lifetimes. The House bill excludes LGBT victims [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/vawa-2013_n_2742096.html ] from the largest VAWA grant program, and unlike the Senate bill it does not require that VAWA funds go only to programs that help victims of any sexual orientation or gender identity.
Native American women are also underserved by the House Bill, which gives tribal courts authority to prosecute non-Native American men who abuse them on reservations, as the Senate Bill does — but adds a loophole that allows the accused to take their case to federal court if they feel their constitutional rights are being violated. More than a third of Native women have been raped, according to the Department of Justice [ https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/183781.pdf ], and 86 percent of Native American women who report sexual violence say they were attacked by non-Native men.
“We have serial rapists on the reservation — that are non-Indian — because they know they can get away with it,” Charon Asetoyer, executive director of the Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center, told Salon [ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/13/how_abusers_get_away_with_targeting_indian_women/ ] last year.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) did not vote for VAWA last week and summed up his opposition by saying "the non-Indian doesn't get a fair trial [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/chuck-grassley-vawa_n_2735080.html ]."
VAWA has been reauthorized since with overwhelming bipartisan support every year since its inception in 1994 until House Republicans let it expire [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/02/violence-against-women-act-_n_2398553.html ] at the end of last year.
The House is expected to vote on the new measure next week [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/vawa-2013_n_2742096.html ].
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/violence-against-women-act-_n_2742976.html [with comments]
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WCBS-TV Anchor Resigns After Arrest
Rob Morrison, left, with his lawyer, Robert A. Skovgaard, on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Mr. Morrison left his job at WCBS.
Pool photo by David Handschuh
By MARC SANTORA
Published: February 20, 2013
Rob Morrison, a news anchor for WCBS-TV in New York, said on Wednesday that he had resigned from his job after his weekend arrest on charges of choking his wife during a domestic dispute at their home in Darien, Conn.
After meeting with WCBS executives on Wednesday, Mr. Morrison announced his decision to leave his position, anchoring the morning and noon news programs. His wife, Ashley Morrison, works as a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch.
Mr. Morrison’s decision came one day after he was arraigned and charged with strangulation, threatening and disorderly conduct. He was released on bail, but a judge in Connecticut ordered that Mr. Morrison, 44, stay at least 100 yards away from his wife, except at work.
“My family is my first and only priority right now, and I have informed CBS2 management that I need to put all of my time and energy into making sure that I do what’s best for my wife and my son,” Mr. Morrison said in a statement. “I very much appreciate the opportunity that CBS2 has given me, and I thank them for accepting my decision.”
His arrest came after his mother-in-law called the police to report a disturbance at the couple’s home around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, according to the authorities.
“Upon arrival,” the Darien Police Department said in a statement, “it was ascertained that Morrison had been becoming increasingly belligerent toward his wife during the course of the evening, culminating in his choking her by the neck with both hands.”
The police said officers saw red marks on Ms. Morrison’s neck consistent with being choked.
Mr. Morrison threatened within earshot of the responding officers “that if he was released from police custody he would kill his wife,” according to court documents.
Outside the courtroom in Stamford, Conn., where he was arraigned on Tuesday, Mr. Morrison told reporters that he never physically assaulted Ms. Morrison, 40.
“I did not choke my wife; I’ve never laid my hands on my wife,” he said. “I was just as surprised by that particular charge as probably everyone else.”
Robert A. Skovgaard, Mr. Morrison’s lawyer, did not enter a plea for his client at the arraignment, but in a statement he called the charges “greatly exaggerated.”
*
Related
TV Anchor Accused of Choking His Wife (February 19, 2013)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/nyregion/rob-morrison-of-wcbs-is-accused-of-choking-his-wife.html
*
© 2013 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/21/nyregion/rob-morrison-leaves-wcbs-tv-after-domestic-dispute-arrest.html
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Washington 5th graders accused of plotting to kill female classmate, others students
Fort Colville Elementary School
http://www.colsd.org
By Crimesider Staff
February 15, 2013 1:51 PM
(CBS/KREM/AP) COLVILLE, Wash. - Court documents released Wednesday give disturbing details about how and why two northeast Washington fifth-grade boys planned to kill a female classmate along with other students, reports CBS affiliate KREM [ http://www.krem.com/news/DANIELLE-GRANT--KREMcom-191328671.html ].
The young suspects, 10 and 11, were arrested at Fort Colville Elementary School on Feb. 7 after a fourth grader apparently saw one of them playing with a knife on the bus and told a school employee.
The employee, Richard Payette, searched the fifth-graders' bags found a 3.25 inch knife, an ammunition clip and a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol in the 10-year-old's bag. School employees notified the Colville Police Department.
KREM reports that when asked about the weapons, the 10-year-old told a staff member that he and the 11-year-old were going to "get [the girl] away from the school and do her in." He said the 11-year-old was going to stab the girl with a knife and the 10-year-old was supposed to keep everyone away, according to court documents.
The 10-year-old reportedly indicated he and the 11-year-old had been planning the attack for some time, and that another student was aware of their plans. Police say the younger suspect admitted he took the weapons from his older brother's room.
Court documents state the 11-year-old said he and the 10-year-old were planning to kill the girl "because she was really annoying," KREM reports. The 10-year-old said he had been in a "short dating relationship" with the girl.
According to KREM, the 11-year-old also told a teacher the names of more students they were going to target.
When a police officer asked the 10-year-old if he knew what he was going to do was dangerous, wrong, and unlawful, and the boy reportedly replied "Yes, I just wanted her dead," the records show.
Copyright © 2013 CBS Interactive Inc.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57569646-504083/washington-5th-graders-accused-of-plotting-to-kill-female-classmate-others-students/ [with comments]
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3 Adolescent Sisters Raped, Murdered In India; Bodies Recovered From Well
Indian women participate in a protest accusing the government of ignoring key suggestions of the government panel set up to examine India's criminal justice system's treatment of violence against women in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013.
(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
By Sara Gates
Posted: 02/20/2013 12:31 pm EST | Updated: 02/20/2013 12:31 pm EST
In a horrific act of violence, three young sisters were raped and murdered in India [ http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/three-minor-sisters-allegedly-raped-and-killed-in-maharashtra-333071 ], police told reporters Tuesday.
The bodies of the girls, who went missing on Feb. 14, were discovered two days later in a well [ http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/three-minor-sisters-allegedly-raped-and-killed-in-maharashtra-333071 ] near their native village in Maharashtra's Bhandara district.
According to the Press Trust of India, the deaths of the three girls -- ages 11, 9 and 6 -- sparked an outcry from locals [ http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/3-minor-sisters-raped-murdered-in-maharashtra-bodies-found-in-well-333228 ], who staged a protest in the streets Tuesday.
Though their deaths were initially thought to be accidental, post-mortem reports revealed that the girls suffered sexual abuse [ http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/3-minor-sisters-raped-murdered-in-maharashtra-bodies-found-in-well-333228 ] and were, in fact, killed.
Indian Broadcaster NDTV reports that villagers say police "got serious about the investigation" only after locals took to the streets in protest [ http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/3-minor-sisters-raped-murdered-in-maharashtra-bodies-found-in-well-333228 ].
Four people have been detained for questioning [ http://uk.news.yahoo.com/three-young-indian-sisters-raped-murdered-police-091843958.html ( http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hhE7dUniIJzBGgOKYwGpo6z3yW1Q?docId=CNG.5797133add524ce882fe88268ec59001.381 )] in the matter, but no arrests have been made, according to the Agence France-Presse. Police are still seeking a motive in the case.
"The girls' mother believes the involvement of an acquaintance in the crime, but we are not sure," Bhandara police chief Aarti Singh told the BBC [ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-21515528 ].
Lakhni Police Chief Prakash Munde, who has been suspended for dereliction of duty [ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/The-three-sisters-were-raped-and-murdered/articleshow/18585061.cms ], is also being investigated for his association in the matter, the Tamil News Network reports.
The three young sisters, who lived with their mother, went missing after school on Feb. 14. Their bodies, along with their school bags, were found in a well about 3 kilometers [ http://in.news.yahoo.com/india-shamed--3-minor-sisters-raped--killed-094651840.html ] from their home.
"The incident is extremely deplorable and painful," Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said in a statement [id.]. "I appeal to the people to maintain calm and cooperate with the law-enforcers."
The grisly deaths of the three adolescent girls comes just two months after the Dec. 16 gang rape of a 23-year-old [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/19/india-bus-gang-rape_n_2329002.html ] on a moving bus in New Delhi.
The highly publicized Delhi rape case has incited protests around the world. Earlier this month, India's President Pranab Mukherjee approved stricter punishments [ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-21318648 ] in rape cases. Though the laws must be approved by the country's parliament [ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/04/world/asia/india-approves-tougher-rape-laws.html ], some women's groups have already spoken out against the legislation, claiming that the measures do not go far enough [ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/05/india-gang-rape-stricter-laws ].
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/adolescent-sisters-raped-murdered-india-well_n_2724967.html [with comments]
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Arkansas 12-Week Abortion Ban Advances In House
Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe speaks to reporters in Little Rock, Ark., Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. He has not indicated whether or not he will sign a 12-week abortion ban into law.
02/21/2013
A Republican-controlled committee in the Arkansas House of Representatives approved a bill on Thursday that bans abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy if a fetal heartbeat is detected, with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. The law, if passed, would be the most extreme abortion restriction in the country.
The House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee also approved a Senate-passed bill that bans abortions at 20 weeks after conception. Both bills defy the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, which prevents states from banning abortions before the fetus is viable -- usually between 22 and 24 weeks of gestation.
Opponents of the so-called "heartbeat bill" argue that it would prevent women from having abortions before many of them even realize they're pregnant.
[...]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/arkansas-abortion-ban_n_2735498.html [with comments]
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Double Ultrasound Bill In Indiana Passes Out Of Senate Committee
By Laura Bassett
Posted: 02/21/2013 3:29 pm EST | Updated: 02/21/2013 11:33 pm EST
The Indiana state Senate on Wednesday advanced a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound procedure both before and after having a medication-induced abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy.
The Senate Health and Provider Services Committee approved Senate Bill 371 on Wednesday by a vote of 7 to 5, sending it to a full vote in the state Senate. The bill, introduced by state Sen. Travis Holdman (R), imposes heavy regulations on clinics and physicians that offer medication abortions, which are generally used to end a pregnancy up to 10 weeks from a woman's last period. It would require women to be presented with the sound and image of the fetal heartbeat before the abortion and to return for a follow-up ultrasound to ensure that she is no longer pregnant and has stopped bleeding.
Dr. Anne Davis, the consulting medical director for Physicians for Reproductive Health, said the requirement would place an undue burden on women seeking to end their pregnancies. "She can do a blood test at any local facility after an abortion to show that the hormone levels are going down as they should, there's no medical reason to make her drive back to the abortion clinic and go through another ultrasound," she said. "This is yet another onerous, medically unnecessary barrier."
Both ultrasounds, abortion physicians explain, would likely have to be performed with a transvaginal probe, since medication abortions usually occur too early in the pregnancy for the external "jelly-on-the-belly" procedure to provide a clear image. Davis said that transvaginal ultrasounds are the "standard procedure" used [when medically-unnecessary ultrasounds ( http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_RFU.pdf ; http://www.indystar.com/usatoday/article/1935879 ) are performed] for first-trimester abortions and that they can be "physically or emotionally uncomfortable." Requiring two of these ultrasounds, she said, would be medically unnecessary, and would make abortion access more difficult for poor and rural women who cannot get time off work, need to make childcare arrangements and have long distances to drive.
Holdman, the bill's sponsor, did not return The Huffington Post's calls for comment. Sue Swayze, the legislative director of Indiana Right to Life, told local radio station WBAA [ http://wbaa.org/post/senate-committee-approves-abortion-measures ] that that goal of the bill is to protect women's safety and hold abortion clinics to higher health standards. She said she does not understand why it would be a problem to mandate transvaginal ultrasounds.
“I got pregnant vaginally," she said. "Something else could come in my vagina for a medical test that wouldn’t be that intrusive to me. So I find that argument a little ridiculous.”
In addition to mandating two ultrasounds, the bill requires all clinics that provide medication abortions to meet the same building standards as surgical facilities, even if the clinic does not perform surgical abortions. If the bill passes, it will likely be so cost-prohibitive that the Planned Parenthood facility in Lafayette, Ind., the only abortion provider in the county, will be forced to stop offering abortions.
"It's absurd on its face that because a doctor is handing a patient pills, we need to deal with door sizes and hallway widths," said Betty Cockrum, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Indiana. "The first pill is taken on site, and the remainder of the medication leaves with the patient, and with her own time and space she completes the procedure. What's the relevance of a doorway width at that point?"
Davis, who regularly performs abortions at her practice in New York, said she is frustrated that legislators with no medical background are passing laws that regulate how she deals with patients.
"It makes me feel crazy," she said. "If they called me and said, 'Dr. Davis, do you think what the federal reserve is doing is appropriate for the economy?' I would say, 'I dunno, ask an economist.' You see the kind of stuff they come up with, and it has nothing to do with reality. None of this stuff is really trying to make abortion safer for women. It's just making it harder and scarier."
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/double-ultrasound-bill-indiana_n_2734658.html [with comments]
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Mike 'two times' Pence to steal 'Gov. Ultrasound' title
The Rachel Maddow Show
February 21, 2013
Rachel Maddow reports on the likelihood of Indiana Governor Mike Pence taking the title of "Governor Ultrasound" from Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell because of a bill progressing through the Indiana legislature that would require TWO medically unnecessary vaginal ultrasounds from women seeking legal abortions in that state.
© 2013 NBCNews.com
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-rachel-maddow-show/50899424 [show links at http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/21/17050292-links-for-the-221-trms (with comment)]
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Pregnancy is patriotic!
(Credit: Hitdelight [ http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-260389p1.html ] via Shutterstock/Salon)
Conservative men are in a frenzy over birth rates. Is your birth control really contributing to American decline?
By Irin Carmon
Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 06:45 AM CST
In the fast-growing canon of literature panicking over the supposed fertility crisis, one alarmist feature [ http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2013/02/18/why-the-choice-to-be-childless-is-bad-for-america.html ] on the declining birthrate provides an innovation: an anthropological excursion to a hookah bar in the East Village to hear from the young miscreants themselves. (“Decadence [ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/03/ladies_uncle_sam_needs_your_uterus/ ],” thy name is hookah.)
There, amid jokes about “popping one out,” and “horrible little grubs,” was a “more serious conversation about their fears of relinquishing sole ownership of one’s own body.” At least the authors of this Daily Beast piece asked actual women how they feel about childbearing, and the tensions between making a living, getting by in a city, and being treated like a “womb on legs,” in the memorable words of one of the interviewees. Most of the other accounts have left women out of the story entirely, with the convenient but noxious result of waging backlash while appearing to change the subject.
It’s getting crowded out there among the hand-wringers over what the birthrate says about America’s imperial future or the sustainability of our social insurance programs. Ross Douthat practically lives here [ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/opinion/sunday/douthat-the-birthrate-and-americas-future.html ], though in his most-talked-about column about insufficient fertility in December, he was careful to blame “late modern exhaustion” without having to talk too much about the women who evidently were suffering from it. And earlier this month, an excerpt [ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323375204578270053387770718.html ] from Jonathan Last’s “What to Expect When No One’s Expecting: American’s Coming Demographic Disaster,” under the headline “America’s Baby Bust,” was widely debated.
“The root cause of most of our problems is our declining fertility rate,” Last declared, with all of the understatement of a man with a book to sell, citing retirement programs and healthcare costs. When it came to the inconvenient question of “ownership over one’s own body” and the root causes of fertility numbers, Last hinted at it, mentioning women attending college and “branching out into careers beyond teaching and nursing,” as well as the pill and couples cohabitating. He did admit that “many of these developments are clearly positive. But even a social development that represents a net good can carry a serious cost.” When it comes to what other countries have done to make it easier for women who want to have children but face grim tradeoffs — an order in which the U.S. consistently places last — Last dismisses these policies as only producing “marginal gains.”
Not long ago, I received an 11th-hour request to discuss this topic on a public radio show [ http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=tp130206will_more_babies_sav ] with Last, a writer at the Weekly Standard. The urgency was probably due to the fact that the lineup included, along with Last, two other gentlemen and a male host. I agreed to represent we wombs with legs. On the show, I was introduced as “someone who comes from a very different point of view from our other guests, inasmuch as she is a woman.” I said that I questioned any conversations about fertility decline without centering around the people who are exclusively bearing and primarily raising children — the ones I’d been asked to solely represent. “These abstractions, I don’t think that they really speak to the lived realities of people’s lives,” I said. “I think lots of women are making rational decisions about how many children to have.” I mentioned the lack of paid family leave and daycare, the stigmatization of single mothers, families separated in deportation proceedings.
Last responded as if I’d just poured my own heart out, though I’d only spoken about the impact of policy on decision-making.”When it comes to big social questions like this, big economic questions like this, I really think there is a lot of value in abstracting and looking at data, looking at numbers,” he said, “and not getting caught up in anecdotal, like, there was a story in the Washington Post that said that working mothers have it this hard because these three people were interviewed.” In other words, take your messy female-friendly policies elsewhere and let the adults in the room — all men, at least at that moment — do the math.
On the substance of things, lots of baby is being thrown out with the bathwater here. For one thing, as the demographer Philip Cohen points out [ http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/02/lets-not-panic-over-women-with-more-education-having-fewer-kids/273070/ ], those middle-class, educated women, the ones whose selfishness everyone is either implicitly or explicitly blaming for all this, are still having most of the babies. “Women with the least education did have more kids than their share of the population,” Cohen recently wrote at The Atlantic. “But there were twice as many children born to women who were college graduates.” And overall, the gap is closing: More educated women are having more babies, while less educated women — who may be gaining better access to family planning — are having fewer.
Meanwhile, the economist Nancy Folbre writes [ http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/the-underpopulation-bomb/ ] at the Times, “I know of no historical evidence that either the productivity or the creativity of a society is determined by the age structure of its population. The interaction between demographic and economic change is so much more complex than the simplistic doomsday scenario implies.” She does say that an aging population with lower (but stabilized) fertility raises concerns about the long-term viability of how our retirement programs work, but that’s an issue of program design and priority, not certain civilizational destruction.
So why the hysteria? I’d argue that it serves several retrograde political functions, besides its marketability as a counterintuitive rebuttal to the “Population Bomb” fears of old. We are in a moment of partial Republican self-examination, in which certain party reformers are facing the fact that there just aren’t enough white voters to keep them in power — a demographic problem! (While there have been some serious conversations about family-friendly policies started by feminists, including Stephanie Coontz in the Times last weekend [ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/opinion/sunday/why-gender-equality-stalled.html?pagewanted=all ], it’s currently edgy among Republicans to support tax breaks for working families they once proposed.) And every conversation about how allegedly unsustainable Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are, for one reason or another, mainstreams the pressure to radically cut its benefits or reshape it to the whims of the market.
Finally, we are fresh off an election season in which many politicians who celebrated women’s reproductive freedom and vowed to protect or enhance it were declared winners, and others who tried to attack it or equivocate about its importance lost. (Sandra Fluke didn’t even try to testify about birth control for the purpose of voluntary, non-procreative sex, but she became a vessel for all of the crude fantasies of the salivating right about liberal women having reckless, consequence-free sex.) What better way to reclaim the narrative, to change the subject from the inconvenient autonomy of women, than to claim that all of this contracepting is bringing on the decline of America for all?
Copyright © 2013 Salon Media Group, Inc.
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/21/decoding_the_fertility_panic/ [with comments]
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Protesting Yoga in Schools, But Welcoming Bible Study
In Encinitas, parents warn of encroaching “neopaganism”
Oh mighty sun god, we worship you.
By Katherine Stewart
February 18, 2013
When is touching your toes just touching your toes, and when is it an effort to indoctrinate small children in Hinduism?
That is the question that emerged from reporting in the New York Times [ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/us/school-yoga-class-draws-religious-protest-from-christians.html ], Fox News [ http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/17/yoga-programs-in-public-schools-face-backlash/ ], and the Guardian [ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/10574976 ] on the threat of a lawsuit by a group of public school parents in Encinitas, California over a yoga class in a public elementary school.
But the most compelling aspect of the controversy has nothing to do with the religious nature of yoga, or with the fears of parents. Rather, the case raises serious questions about the separation of church and school, and about the many religiously-driven programs that are already active in public education, even in Encinitas. As it turns out, there is so much religion in public education today that the fuss over yoga is like worrying about a stain on your blouse when your trousers are covered in mud.
There are two important ways to think about the issue of yoga—or other potentially religiously-inspired content in public schools. The first test has to do with the content of the program; the second has to do with the connection of the sponsoring organization to the curriculum being presented.
Mary Eady, one of the parents organizing against Encinitas’ yoga program, described to a Times reporter [ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/us/school-yoga-class-draws-religious-protest-from-christians.html ] what she sees as religious content: “They’re teaching children how to meditate, how to look for peace and for comfort… It’s meant to shape the way they regulate their emotions.” She characterized the “Sun Salutation,” a basic series of yoga poses in which the student stretches his or her hands to the ceiling, as “a movement sequence that worships the sun god Surya,” and claimed that “yoga, including its physical practice, is very religious indeed.” Her legal representative, Dean Broyles, chief counsel for the Escondido-based National Center for Policy and Law (NCPL), is even more adamant, asserting that the Sun Salutation constitutes sun-worship.
Eady works at a Christian organization called Truthxchange, whose chief mission is to “respond to the rising tide of neopaganism.” Her lawyer’s organization, NCPL, is an affiliate of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF, formerly the Alliance Defense Fund), a conservative Christian legal advocacy group that has litigated on behalf of evangelical activity in schools and the broader public square. As might be imagined, the ADF takes a dim view of “neopaganism,” whatever that means to them.
However, if Eady’s and the ADF’s are correct—that the Sun Salutation and other yoga moves are indeed intrinsically religious—perhaps they have a point.
I put these challenges to the school administrator who runs the program, Assistant Superintendent of the Encinitas Union School District David Miyashiro, who dismissed the idea. “The exercises are not in any way religious,” he told me flatly. “I oversee the development of the curriculum, and I make sure that it is designed to conform with the Presidential Physical Fitness Standards. There is nothing religious about that.”
A problem with the NCPL position might be that they are challenging a practice (a hands-over-head stretch) that isn’t religious in and of itself. The hands-over-head stretch only becomes religious in the context of a larger tradition. In this sense, stopping kids from yoga stretching because it is religious in some contexts makes about as much sense as banning kids from shaving their heads simply because it reminds you of Buddhism.
However, the organizational test raises more serious concerns in this case. Encinitas’ yoga program is partially funded by a grant from the Jois Foundation [ http://joisyoga.com/about/story/ ], which is contributing to teachers’ salaries, curriculum development, and even yoga mats. The Foundation is associated with the family of the late Shri K. Pattabhi Jois, a yoga teacher who popularized a form of yoga called Ashtanga. Mary Eady and the ADF claim that the Jois Foundation is a religious organization. The director of the Jois Foundation, Eugene Ruffin, says it is not.
“Our organization is made up primarily of people who are members of the Abrahamic faiths,” Ruffin told me. But consider the Jois Foundation’s relationship to the K. P. Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute [ http://www.ashtanga.com/html/background.html ], an organization whose web page asserts that yoga practice helps to burn away the “six poisons” that surround the “spiritual heart.” Talk of “spiritual elevation” and “sacred beads” does not help the case that this is a non-religious group.
Ruffin insists the two organizations are legally separate, with distinct board memberships. But the Jois family is affiliated with both, and practitioners who have been affiliated with the Institute have also had a voice in the Foundation and its curriculum development. At least one major funding source for the Foundation (donors Sonia and Paul Tudor Jones) has also been involved with the Institute.
So let’s suppose that we are dealing with a group that is in some way tinged with religion. That in itself is not necessarily a deal-breaker: we wouldn’t turn away soup made for the school cafeteria, for example, just because it was made by Lutherans. In my view, the Organization Test really turns on two questions. First, is the program organized in such a way that it is accountable in a real and meaningful way to the school, and not the religious group? Second, does the partnership involve an entanglement between the school system and the religious group that could foreseeably involve state involvement in or endorsement of religion?
In the yoga case, both of these concerns have merit. In this particular instance, though, the Encinitas school district has an effective response to the first concern. The management and administration of the yoga program, the school insists, is internal. Assistant Superintendent Miyashiro, who has no connection with the Jois Foundation, sets the curriculum, helps choose the teachers, and monitors the results. He has the authority and the resources in place to manage the program and ensure that its content and execution it is answerable to the school. The school district has set up a line of accountability that is largely separate from the organization. Once the curriculum is developed, it will be public, rather than belonging to the Jois Foundation, and will be free for any public school to adopt.
The second line of concern is perhaps more difficult. The Jois Foundation has made it quite clear that it sees the program in Encinitas as a beachhead for the eventual development of a much larger program that would put yoga in schools across the country, potentially giving the Jois Foundation a broader influence on public education as a whole.
The Encinitas case is complicated, and a lot depends on specific facts. We can learn more by scouring the landscape for comparable situations. Where do we find public school programs with “possibly religious” content sponsored by religious groups that have a clear religious agenda for the schools?
Oh, that’s easy. You just need to look at the ADF’s client list. Not the ones they’re trying to kick out of the schools, but the ones they are trying to force in.
Consider abstinence-only Sex Ed: the many “health” programs for public middle and high school students teaching that the only way to have a safe and moral sex life is not to have one (outside of heterosexual marriage). Abstinence programs in many cases quite clearly fail the Content Test, presenting themselves as sex education, but delivering messages, though stripped of explicit references to God or Jesus, that are clearly driven by religion and intended to convey religiously-driven values and judgments.
Abstinence programs also, in many cases, more egregiously fail Test Two. Supplied by overtly religious organizations, they are run from beginning to end by outfits like Choosing the Best [ http://www.choosingthebest.org/ ], the curriculum of which was written by a former Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru) national director, or the No Apologies [ http://www.family.org.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=223&Itemid=259 ] program, produced by Focus on the Family. These groups have received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal and state funding to introduce their curriculum to public schools, and their faith-based programs are supported and defended by the ADF and their affiliates. Apparently the separation of church and school is a big deal for the ADF only when it involves the wrong kind of church.
Another example is “Character Education.” Public schools have taken it upon themselves to address issues of ethics and character, but in a world of budget cuts, they often turn to outside providers for the programs. Many of those providers are religious groups whose idea of “character development” is not easily distinguishable from proselytizing. “The Power Team,” “The Strength Team,” “Team Impact,” and thousands of similar faith-based groups send speakers, theater troupes, and even rock bands into public schools ostensibly to teach lessons about drunk driving, bullying, and other valuable topics. But their presentations—which often culminate with invitations to proselytizing events at evangelical churches—soon make clear that their main aim is to leave with a collection of young religious converts.
And when parents complain? The ADF accuses ACLU-backed school districts that seek to limit religious “character education” of waging a “war on Christianity.”
The ADF and its allies also invest considerable efforts in seeking to overturn some anti-bullying school guidelines on the grounds that such policies persecute the “Christian perspective” on LGBT rights and that demanding tolerance is a front for promoting “homosexual values.” Finally, let’s consider fundamentalist Good News Clubs [ http://www.amazon.com/The-Good-News-Club-Christian/dp/B008SLSAY6 ], which are presently in well over 3,000 public elementary schools around the country. Good News Clubs, which are sponsored by an organization called the Child Evangelism Fellowship [ http://www.cefonline.com/ ], are ostensibly after-school “Bible study” programs that require parental permission to join. But that description is misleading. Good News Clubs are not about “study,” they are about religious indoctrination. Further, the clubs produce the false but unavoidable impression in very young children that they are part of the school; they set up shop in public school classrooms immediately after the bell rings, so as to appear a seamless part of the school day. And finally, Good News Clubs instructors tell kids attending the clubs to recruit their peers at school.
It turns out that Encinitas public elementary schools that sparked the national outcry over yoga stretching are rife with Good News Clubs: all nine public elementary schools in the district have a club, reported Assistant Superintendent Miyashiro. And their presence has been made possible by the legal firepower of the ADF and lawyers like Dean Broyles. When it comes to unhealthy entanglement between church and school, a classroom of first-graders stretching their hands to the sky seems to be, for now, a matter of far less concern than the well-organized conservative Christian proselytism that is already making deep inroads into public education.
Katherine Stewart is the author of The Good News Club: The Christian Right's Stealth Assault on America's Children [ http://www.amazon.com/The-Good-News-Club-Christian/dp/B008SLSAY6 ] (PublicAffairs). She has written for the Guardian, Reuters, and The New York Times. Her website is www.thegoodnewsclub.com [ http://www.thegoodnewsclub.com/ ].
© Religion Dispatches 2013
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/culture/6843/protesting_yoga_in_schools__but_welcoming_bible_study/ [with comments]
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George Washington's Christian (?) Faith
By Darrin Grinder
Co-Author, 'Presidents And Their Faith' [ http://www.amazon.com/Presidents-And-Their-Faith-Washington/dp/1937498948 ]
Posted: 02/18/2013 7:37 am
George Washington's birthday seems like an appropriate time to think about his religious beliefs and life, especially since the National Prayer Breakfast was held earlier this month, giving President Obama his fifth opportunity in that venue to assert his Christian identity. Gary S. Smith, of the Center for Vision and Values, has already written about the double-standard by which the faiths of both Washington and Obama are interpreted, and Smith, like other scholars, states that the exact nature of Washington's faith is unknowable and much less clear than Obama's.
Washington did believe in "Providence," that there was a divinity intervening in worldly affairs, and this divinity seemed to be on the side of the new republic. We know that Washington wrote many times of the value of Christianity as a guiding influence on the new republic's citizens; however, he was equally clear that the character-building nature of religious institutions was not exclusive to Christianity, extending at least to Judaism, if not to other religions. Washington was at least a cultural Christian, but we have no evidence that he was what we would call today a "born again" Christian.
If being a Christian means that one goes to a Christian Church fairly regularly, supports that church monetarily, believes in an Old Testament deity that acts in the world but whose relationship is far from personal, then Washington was a Christian. He was reared in the Church of England (later the Episcopal Church), attended services regularly, and there is no shortage of Washington's statements regarding the role of religion in civil life, in the destiny of America, and in the affairs of the world. But many of today's Christians would argue that a Christian is one who "accepts Jesus as a personal savior," and for that there is absolutely no evidence in Washington's life. In fact, there are few instances of Washington's having said the name "Jesus" in any of his public or private writings or speeches.
For almost two thousand years most Christian sects have held that participating in certain sacraments is central to the Christian life, and among those sacraments taking Holy Communion (or being a "communicant") is the most sacred. But we know that Washington made a point of not taking communion in his adult life. His bishop states that Washington was not a communicant, and his granddaughter also writes that the general always left the service on communion Sundays immediately following the sermon, before communion was taken.
There are many apocryphal stories regarding Washington's faith and religion, but the truth of one story confirmed by those closest to him and by participants in the events is difficult to deny. One of Washington's priests, James Abercrombie, writes that he once delivered a sermon directed to Washington urging respected congregants to take part in communion, to be good examples. As usual, Washington left without taking communion. Abercrombie then states he heard from a US Senator that Washington had told him about the incident (Washington agreeing that his example was influential) and of Washington's choice not to attend church any longer on communion Sundays.
What we do not know is why Washington found it so important not to take communion, this essential of the Christian Faith. As Paul F. Boller, respected Presidential historian, wrote in 1963, "It cannot be said that Washington ever experienced any feeling of personal intimacy or communion with his God"; it makes sense, then, that honest Washington, unsure of the personal nature of the divine, chose to step away from a public display of devotion. While this may demonstrate that Washington was not likely to be a "born again" Christian, it also suggests that he had a great deal of integrity, perhaps even more valuable in a president.
One current web site that attempts to Christianize founding fathers states that Washington's "contemporaries were convinced of his devout faith," but that clearly depends on which part of the record one chooses. For instance, a noted contemporary of Washington's, James Madison, states that he did "not suppose that Washington had ever attended to the arguments for Christianity, and for the different systems of religion, or in fact that he had formed definite opinions on the subject." While Madison's statement alone does not mean Washington was not a Christian, Madison's assertion (along with much more evidence) cannot mean that Washington was anything akin to today's American Evangelical Christians.
What does this ultimately say about Washington and his faith? From the distance of two-hundred years, clouded by evangelical revivals, Watergate, the religiosity of contemporary candidates, and so much more, all we know is that Washington said that he believed in Providence, and that we have little knowledge of what he thought regarding Jesus, the Holy Spirit, or even the New Testament, for that matter. A Christian in culture and some practice, yes, but hardly an American religious icon.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/darrin-grinder/george-washingtons-christian_b_2707753.html [with comments] [and see (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=54833454 and preceding and following]
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George Washington Was a Friend of Muslims
By Craig Considine
Posted: 02/18/2013 4:42 pm
George Washington's birthday, celebrated annually on Febr. 22nd, is an opportunity to reflect upon his exemplary character and the example he set for future generations of Americans. While much is known about Washington's military service and political career, less is known about his attitude towards religious freedom and his relationships with Muslims. Looking closely at his personal documents, letters, and activities, we can see that Washington was indeed a proponent of religious tolerance and a friend to the Muslims in his midst.
When Washington completed his second term as the first President of the United States of America, he retired to his estate at Mount Vernon, Virginia, where he spent the remainder of his life in the company of his slaves. We know from a 1784 letter to Tench Tighman, who inquired as to what type of workmen Washington wanted at Mount Vernon, that Washington cared for "good workmen." He confirmed, "they may be of Asia, Africa or Europe. They may be Mahometans [Muslims], Jews, or Christians of any sect, or atheists."
The archaeological records at Mount Vernon show that some of Washington's slaves were, in fact, Muslims or at least descendants of Muslims from west and northwest Africa. A tithe table from 1774 documents the 7th century Muslim-sounding names of "Fatimer" and "Little Fatimer," which appear to be a reference to the name "Fatima," the name of the daughter of Prophet Muhammad. In another instance, a young woman named Letty, one of Washington's slaves who was released upon his death, gave birth to a girl she named "Nila." A scholar of Mount Vernon, Mary V. Thompson, argues that "Nila" is the phonetic spelling or an adaptation of a Muslim woman's name, "Naailah," which means "someone who acquires something." Thompson speculates that "Nila" was a name remembered from Africa, and that Letty wanted her daughter to carry the name into newfound freedom. The fact that these slaves were able to retain their Muslim-sounding names is evidence of Washington's tolerance for non-Christian influences at Mount Vernon.
The most interesting story regarding Washington's slaves is that of Sambo Anderson. Mary Thompson suggests that Sambo, whose name was common in modern northwestern Nigeria and southern Niger during the 18th century, was likely a descendent of the West African Hausa people, who, she writes, "bore a strong Islamic influence" that had come to them from Mali, perhaps as early as the 14th century. The Art and Life in Africa Project at the University of Iowa also provides a link to Sambo's Islamic background. On its website, the project states that early Islam in Hausaland "proceed peacefully ... In many cases, the ruling elite were the first to convert to Islam." Thompson also found that Sambo spoke about being of royal lineage. He had facial cuts, which denoted tribal affiliations and had tattoos and gold rings around his ears, which marked him as royalty.
Another piece of evidence concerning Sambo's Muslim background is Washington's will, which stated that Sambo fathered six children with two different women, both of whom lived at the River Farm area of Mount Vernon. Thompson writes: "[g]iven the likelihood that Sambo was a Hausa, most of whom were Muslim, his polygamy, if any, was probably a reflection of an Islamic background." Sambo, as Thompson concludes, may have been practicing the marriage pattern he was familiar with in Hausaland.
In an article entitled "Mount Vernon Reminiscence" that was published in the Alexandria Gazette on Jan. 18, 1876, "an old citizen of Fairfax County" contends that Washington and Sambo had a close friendship. The "Reminiscence" stated that Sambo was a "great favorite of the master [Washington]; by whom he was given a piece of land to build a house on." The old citizen of Fairfax also revealed how Washington allowed Sambo to keep a small boat or skiff to "cross over the creek in, and for other purposes," a rare privilege for a slave in colonial America. Washington would sometimes use Sambo's boat, "but he never was the man to take it without asking [Sambo] if he could use it." Washington's behavior shows respect for Sambo's property, and thus, for Sambo.
One Washington biographer, Professor Peter Henriques, suggests that Sambo was also an excellent hunter and was given permission by Washington to own a gun and ammunition, which were also rare privileges for a slaveowner to bestow up a slave. Washington seemed to have been close to Sambo to the extent that, according to notes recovered from Washington's ledger, he used to visit Sambo to buy duck meat and honey. Washington and Sambo's interactions highlight a rare connection between a slaveowner and slave. Washington did not seem overly concerned with Sambo's religious preferences, rather he appeared to be more concerned with the man's trustworthy and upright demeanor.
Another article from the Alexandria Gazette, dated Nov. 14, 1835, tells a meaningful story about the experience of a journalist, who had gone to pay respect to Washington's burial place. While at Washington's tomb, the correspondent wrote that he saw '[e]leven colored men ... industriously employed in leveling the earth and turfing around the sepulcher." He continues: "There was an earnest expression of feeling about them that encouraged me to inquire if they belong[ed] to the respected lady of the mansion. They stated that they were a few of the many salves freed by George Washington, and they had offered their services upon this last melancholy occasion." The conduct of the "colored men" was so impressive that the correspondent inquired about their names, one of which was "Sambo Anderson." Sambo's behavior at Washington's tomb was that of a man paying respect to his or her deceased friend. Washington must have left a positive impression on Sambo if he returned to his friend's tomb in this manner.
While we should by no means dismiss the severity of Washington's legacy as a slave owner, it is worth noting that, in a 1786 letter to his friend Robert Morris he wrote: "[t]here is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of [slavery]." In another one of his letters, Washington criticized other Virginian slave owners "who are not always as kind and as attentive to their [slaves'] wants and usage as they ought to be." Later in his life, Washington expressed remorse for his identity as a slave owner, stating that the "unfortunate condition of the persons whose labor in part I employed has been the only unavoidable subject of regret." From these words, it is clear that Washington was remorseful for his shortcomings as a slave owner.
Aside from his affairs at Mount Vernon, Washington tolerated the presence of Muslims in his army during the Revolutionary War. Alongside Bampett Muhammad, who fought for the "Virginia Line" between 1775 and 1783, there is a man named Yusuf Ben Ali, also referred to by his slave name as Joseph Benhaley. Ben Ali was descended from North African Arabs and served as an aide to General Thomas Sumter in South Carolina. Sevgi Zübeyde Gürbüz (formerly Ertan) states in her article, "A History of Turks in America" (2002), that the modern day "Turks" of Sumter County, South Carolina, actually claim descent from Ben Ali.
Another man believed to be a Muslim in Washington's army was Peter Buckminster, who etched his name into American history at the Battle of Bunker Hill by firing the shot which killed Great Britain's Major General John Pitcairn. After being granted his freedom for freely enlisting in the army, Buckminster changed his last name to "Salem." Historian Amir Muhammad points out that "Salem" is nearly identical to the word "Salam," which is the word for "peace" in the Arabic language. Salem later reenlisted in Washington's army and fought victoriously at the Battle of Saratoga and the Battle of Stony Point, where Washington served as commander. The presence of these men in several of Washington's most defining moments suggests that Washington cared little for the religious makeup of his army and cared more for their devotion to freedom and independence.
In late 1777, Washington's army suffered defeat after defeat against the British and were forced to surrender the major city of Philadelphia to the enemy. Washington's worst day during the Revolutionary War came as his men were encamped at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, on December 19 of that year. Washington stressed in a letter to his friend George Clinton of "the dreadful situation ... for want of provisions, and the miserable prospects before us, with respect to futurity." Just as his army reached its most desperate state, Washington learned of the news of a Muslim man named Sultain Sidi Muhammad ben Abdallah of Morocco, who showed interest in helping the Americans in their fight against the British Empire.
Upon learning of Washington's conflict, Abdallah assisted Washington by listing the newly independent United States of America as a country whose trading ships would be welcomed in the ports of Morocco, a move which offered the potential for supplies to be shipped to Washington's army. In 1778, shortly after his initial effort to help Washington, Abdallah appointed Etienne d'Audibert Caille, a French merchant, to serve as an ambassador to unrepresented countries such as the United States of America. These early diplomatic relations between the United States of America and Morocco culminated in the ratification of the Treaty of Marrakech in 1786, which remains to this day the longest standing foreign relations treaty in American history.
Congress found the Treaty of Marrakech so satisfactory that it passed a note of thanks to Thomas Barclay, a diplomat at the American consulate in Paris, France, for his effort in finalizing the agreements. In reflecting on his experience while negotiating with Moroccans, Barclay wrote that Abdallah "acted in a manner most gracious ... and I really believe the Americans possess as much of his respect and regards as does any Christian nation whatsoever." Barclay said that Abdallah was a "just man, according to this idea of justice, of great personal courage, liberal to a degree, a lover of his people, [and] stern."
In effect, the Treaty of Marrakech demonstrates that Washington and other members of Congress had no reservations with trusting or entering into a friendship with Muslims. The treaty is also evidence of how Washington and other early Americans judged foreign leaders not on the basis of their religious beliefs, but on the sincerity and strength of their character and conduct.
Washington's appreciation for Abdallah was reaffirmed in a personal letter, dated December 1, 1789, which he sent directly to Abdallah's court. In addition to ensuring America's commitment to maintaining "peace and friendship" with Morocco, Washington stated that Americans would "gradually become useful to [their] friends." Washington told Abdallah that so long as he was President of the Untied States of America, he would "not cease to promote every Measure that may conduct to the Friendship and Harmony, which so happily subsist between your Empire and [Americans]."
After the death of Abdallah in 1790, the Treaty of Marrakech was validated by Morocco's new sultan, Moulay Suliman, who made it clear in a letter to the American consulate at Gibraltor that "we are at peace, tranquility and friendship with you in the same manner as you were with our father who is in glory." Suliman added: "the Americans, I find, are the Christian nation my father most esteemed ... I am the same with them, as my father and I trust they will be so with me ... With good relations thus reaffirmed." This official correspondence between American and Moroccan officials shows how both parties regarded each others' faith with the utmost respect.
Washington's tolerance of and friendships with Muslims may be a product of his adherence to the principles of Enlightenment, which emphasized a concern for human rights and freedom of choice. Washington believed that every person was "accountable to God alone for his religious opinions" and should "be protected in worshiping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience." Washington's tolerance of Muslims, and indeed of all religions, also manifests in a personal letter from 1783, in which he made it clear that the United States of America would be "open to receive ... the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions, whom we shall welcome to participation of all our rights and privileges ... They may be Mahometans [Muslims], Jews, or Christians of any sect."
One of Washington's most inspiring letters was addressed to the Hebrew Congregation of Rhode Island in 1783. Washington told these early Jewish Americans that he hoped that "the children of the stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, [would] continue to merit and enjoy the goodwill of their inhabitants," which insinuates that Washington would sympathize with Islam as well because Islam also holds Abraham in high esteem for founding the monotheistic tradition. In reaching out to the early Jewish American community, Washington makes the point that the more vulnerable religious groups in American society would be protected and safeguarded under the freedoms granted by the Constitution of the United States of America.
The most important lesson learned in studying Washington's life lies in the realization that he and the other founding fathers never intended for America to become a nation that would struggle with religious bigotry. Washington made it clear in a letter to Edward Newnham in 1792 that quarrels over religious differences were "the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated." He was explicit in his recommendation to avoid religious disputes because he felt that such problems "endanger the peace of society."
It is possible that Washington's friendship with Muslims is a result of his adherence to the rational principles of Deism, which emphasize a belief in God and not necessarily a belief in religion. Others might argue that it is his Christian faith that encouraged Washington to refrain from religious disputes. While we cannot be certain as to the reasons why Washington entered so graciously into friendships with Muslims, one could argue with credence that Washington saw no room for bigotry and religious persecution in the United States of America. Though Americans have not always followed the example put forth by Washington, a close reflection upon his life and his friendships with Muslims may help to reinvigorate Washington's legacy, renew the pluralist vision put forth by the founding fathers, and establish the United States of America as the exceptional country it was destined to be.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-considine/george-washington-was-a-f_b_2712606.html [with comments] [and again, see (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=54833454 and preceding and following]
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Faith, Doubt and Other Lines I've Crossed
By Jay Bakker
Pastor, Author, 'Fall to Grace' [ http://www.amazon.com/Fall-Grace-Revolution-Self-Society/dp/B0071UHVAO ]
Posted: 02/19/2013 6:03 pm
One of the worst things you can be when you're a dogmatic person is wrong. If you insist that you're right about something and it turns out you're wrong, you're not just wrong about that something. You're wrong about having been right. You're wrong simply for your attitude toward your own knowledge. This is something Paul gets at when he writes "Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen?"
Years ago, I believed in a lot of things like heaven and God. And I was told that to really believe in them, I had to eliminate any kind of doubt. The problem was I'd study the Bible and doubts would creep in. I'd find difficult passages that we'd based clear-cut theologies on. I'd learn more about the writers of the books and why they wrote and to whom and suddenly everything was looking a lot muddier.
This kills belief. Belief can't handle being wrong. Belief is concerned not with what is believed but the the rightness of the one believing. And so belief takes things like "God" and "heaven" that should be fluid and evolving and growing and maturing as ideas and separates them from the people. Belief puts God behind a curtain, preserving God like a museum piece.
Since then, I've gone from believing in these things to hoping in them. Because when you believe in something "unseen" to use Paul's word, you become dogmatic. You can't prove it to anyone, and so you end up insisting that you are right instead of insisting on what is right. But hope -- hope leaves room for doubt. Hope embraces your doubt. I hope in God, but I could be wrong. I hope in heaven, but I could be wrong.
This does two things -- one, it opens you up to people. It opens you up to loving people. To seeing who they really are, and seeing how they see you. To discovering new things every day in them. To finding reality in other people instead of in creeds and beliefs and dogmas. To finding God in all of life, not just the smells and bells of the church.
Second, this kind of hope turns away from belief and discovers faith. When I have faith in something, I don't have a handle on it. I don't have it in my grasp. I have to hold it with open hands, but when I do, I discover true freedom. Sure, hold on to your truth, faith says, but your truth doesn't have to hold on to you. The freedom to have faith instead of belief -- the freedom to doubt -- is one of the most beautiful things about following Christ.
With faith, I can work for good in the world. I can see the world in all of its messy, random, meaningless tragedy and say: So what? I'm going to create meaning. I'm going to love my neighbor. I'm going to work to free the oppressed. I'm going to live out grace. I'm going to feed the hungry. I'm going to live as if life has meaning, despite the evidence, and hope that I'm right.
This allows me to live with the mystery, to love my neighbor without having an agenda for their conversion. My agenda is for their peace, their equality, their worth as a human being. Doubt allows me to follow Jesus in my own life, and help people find grace and peace and acceptance in their lives.
Doubt also keeps me sane. Rather than making me like a wave tossed by the sea, as the book of James puts it, it allows me to go on. It allows me to participate in the grace and love of God even though I feel separated from it so often. It allows me to read the Bible seriously -- which is very different than how I grew up. It allows me to rethink things like hell and sin and this thing called penal substitution that imagines God demanding blood for sins (and offering Jesus to die to satisfy that bloodlust). And it allows me to love, to really love.
Because love, too, doubts. Love is uncertain. Love is a risk. It's something you have to have faith in, not something you can believe in. Love "hopes all things" Paul tells us, and that means it doubts.
I'll be honest, it's hard to doubt. There are days I want to just give up on this whole thing. It's hard. But that's what community is all about. We're there to help each other doubt more, and have more faith. I wouldn't be who I am today without the people who have encouraged me to doubt, and to have faith, and to let go of my belief.
One thing I know: We can't conquer hopelessness with certainty. We can't fix tragedy with dogma. We can only embrace the doubt that comes when we hope, when we have faith, when we love.
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Cardinal Peter Turkson, Pope Contender, Suggests Gay Priests To Blame For Church Child Sex Abuse
Cardinal Peter Turkson has implied that gay priests are partially to blame for the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal.
By Cavan Sieczkowski
Posted: 02/20/2013 11:05 am EST | Updated: 02/20/2013 5:33 pm EST
Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, a frontrunner to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, has suggested that gay priests are, in part, to blame for the sex abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church.
Turkson spoke with CNN's Christiane Amanpour last week about possibly taking the papal office. First, the conversation broached possible progression within the Church, specifically an evolution of views on same-sex marriage [ http://amanpour.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/12/meet-the-man-who-could-be-the-first-black-pope/ ].
"We need to be true and faithful to the faith which makes a church a church," he said, "and we need to be true to being relevant in society in fulfillment of the mission of the Church." Adding, "We may not sacrifice one for the other. So while the Church seeks to be relevant to society ... we also need to have a mind on what it is that the Church believes."
Then, the conversation turned to the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/17/pope-immunity_n_2708518.html (at {linked in} http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84728982 {and preceding and any future following})]. Amanpour asked Turkson if it's possible the scandal, which swept across the U.S. and Europe over the past decade, could reach Africa.
"Not in the same proportion as we have seen in Europe," Turkson said. "Probably because African traditional systems kind of protect or have protected its population against this tendency. Because in several communities, in several cultures in Africa, homosexuality, or for that matter, any affair between two sexes of the same kind are not countenanced in our society. So, that cultural 'taboo,' that tradition has been there. It's helped to keep this out."
Turkson's perceived anti-gay remarks [ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2281411/Cardinal-Peter-Turkson-blames-gay-priests-abuse-scandals-facing-Catholic-church.html ] were quickly condemned by activist groups.
"We hear less about clergy sex crimes and cover ups in Africa for the same reasons we do throughout the developing world -- there tends to be lesser funding for law enforcement, less vigorous civil justice systems, less independent journalism, and an even greater power and wealth difference between church officials and their congregants," a spokesperson for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [ http://www.snapnetwork.org/ ] said in a statement, via the Daily Mail.
In 2011, a five-year study commissioned by the Catholic bishops of the U.S. revealed that neither an all-male clergy nor homosexuality were to blame for the sex abuse scandal [ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/us/18bishops.html?pagewanted=all (and see {linked in} http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=63362719 and preceding and following)], according to a New York Times report on the findings.
Via NYT:
The report notes that homosexual men began entering the seminaries “in noticeable numbers” from the late 1970s through the 1980s. By the time this cohort entered the priesthood, in the mid-1980s, the reports of sexual abuse of minors by priests began to drop and then to level off. If anything, the report says, the abuse decreased as more gay priests began serving the church.
More boys than girls were abused because priests had more access to boys in parishes, schools and after-school activities, the report also notes.
Still, the 64-year-old Ghanaian cardinal has displayed anti-gay sentiments before, defending anti-gay legislation similar to Uganda's so-called "Kill the Gays" bill [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/13/peter-turkson-cardinal-pope-successor-kill-the-gays-bill_n_2677261.html ]. Turkson has also long advocated on behalf of conservatism [ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/cardinal-peter-turkson-conservatisms-cape-crusader-8497539.html ]. His goal, he recently told The Independent, is to "apply the values of the kingdom of God and the gospel to the social order."
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/peter-turkson-gay-priests-to-blame-for-child-sex-abuse_n_2724241.html [with comments]
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Scott Lively, 'Kill The Gays' Bill Supporter, Pushes Claim Obama Is Gay, Dating Reggie Love
Scott Lively is pushing a claim that Obama is secretly gay, using the President's solo vacation as "evidence."
By Meredith Bennett-Smith
Posted: 02/22/2013 1:25 pm EST | Updated: 02/22/2013 1:41 pm EST
An evangelical pastor, famous for his support of Uganda's so-called "Kill the Gays" bill [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/07/scott-lively-kill-the-gays-bill-supporter-on-trial-crimes-against-humanity_n_2425003.html ], claims to have found further proof that President Obama is secretly gay.
Scott Lively made the claim in an entry on the website for his Defend The Family organization [ http://www.defendthefamily.com/ ].
The short post, which consists of the headline "Obama Vacations with Reggie Love, Not Michelle" and subhead "More 'gay' grist for the rumor mill," links to a short article in The Weekly Standard, which reports on President Obama's return from his "solo vacation [ http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-talks-record-press-flight-home_701429.html ]."
AF1 wheels down Andrews at 7:45pm. POTUS came back to have a 10-minute off the record talk with pool at the end of the flight.
Reggie Love departed AF1 soon after POTUS, apparently a guest for the weekend.
Marine One wheels up 7:55 pm
The clear implication here is that Obama and Reggie Love, the president's former personal assistant (also called a "body man") are dating. This is a claim that has been made before on various right-wing blogs, including the ultra-conservative WorldNetDaily (WND), which also claimed Love had been photographed "engaging in a homosexual act [ http://www.wnd.com/2012/08/the-return-of-obamas-body-man/ ]" at a party at the University of North Carolina.
Lively last year claimed Obama had once been married to a man [ http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/scott-lively-pushes-claim-obama-was-once-married-man ] and used a video and op-ed by tea party conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi to back up his claim.
The op-ed, published on WND, was a collaboration by Corsi and gossip columnist Kevin DuJan. The post claimed Obama was a prominent participant in Chicago's “gay” bar and bathhouse scene [ ]. "It was preposterous to the people I knew then to think Obama was going to keep his gay life secret,” DuJan told Corsi.
“If you just hang out at these bars, the older guys who have been frequenting these gay bars for 25 years will tell you these stories,” DuJan also said in the op-ed [ http://www.wnd.com/2012/09/claim-obama-hid-gay-life-to-become-president/ ]. “Obama used to go to the gay bars during the week, most often on Wednesday, and they said he was very much into older white guys.”
Corsi's video, meanwhile, alleges that Obama is not only gay, but that he may also have been married to a former roommate at one time [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/12/obama-gay-rumors-chicago-jerome-corsi-_n_1877990.html ].
Another of Lively's outrageous claims include the accusation that biblical gay weddings of prompting Noah's flood [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/10/noahs-flood-caused-by-wedding-songs-homosexuals-scott-lively_n_2450404.html ]. He also co-authored a book in 1995 arguing that some of Hitler's closest advisers were gay, and that they had helped mastermind the Holocaust [ http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2005/spring/holy-war/making-myths ].
(Hat tip, Right Wing Watch [ http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/scott-lively-finds-more-proof-obama-gay-having-affair-reggie-love ])
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/scott-lively-obama-gay_n_2742242.html [with comments] [and see (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=83304972 (and preceding and following)]
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U.N. faults U.S. for failure to prosecute abusive clerics
Survivor Esther Miller, holds newly released files of her perpetrator Rev. Deacon Michael Nocita, seen in middle picture, as she joins Members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests during a news conference outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. Cardinal Roger Mahony of the largest Roman Catholic archdiocese in the United States was stripped of his duties in an unprecedented move by his successor Archbishop Jose Gomez.
[ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/un-faults-us-for-failure-to-prosecute-abusive-clerics_n_2729239.html ]
Caleb K. Bell
Feb 20, 2013
WASHINGTON (RNS) The U.S. is failing to pursue and prosecute clergy guilty of child sexual abuse, according to a recent United Nations committee report.
The U.N.’s Committee on the Rights of the Child, in a little-noticed Jan. 25 report [ http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/CRC_C_OPSC_USA_2_ENG.DOC ], urged the U.S. to “take all necessary measures to investigate all cases of sexual abuse of children whether single or on a massive and long-term scale, committed by clerics.”
David Clohessy, the director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, described national efforts to deal with child-molesting clergy as “woefully inadequate.”
“There has been and continues to be too cozy a relationship between religious and governmental figures,” Clohessy said. “Other than a handful of local prosecutors, there’s been almost no action at the state or federal level.”
The U.S. Department of Justice did not return requests for comment, and the National Association of Attorneys General declined to comment. Abuse cases are typically handled by local and state prosecutors, not the federal government.
Child abuse scandals have rocked various Christian and Jewish institutions throughout the U.S. in recent years, with the Catholic Church’s clergy abuse scandal that erupted in 2002 the most visible.
Earlier this month, Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles stripped retired Cardinal Robert Mahony of his public duties after a court-ordered release of church documents showed that Mahony and others tried to shelter abusive priests from prosecution.
Clohessy said his group believes that if prosecutors were to target church leaders rather than individual priests, the problem would be solved much faster.
“If even a handful of bishops went to jail for enabling child sex crimes, we believe that that would introduce massive reform,” Clohessy said. “Predator priests would be caught after their third victim, not 33rd victim.”
Last year, Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, Mo., was convicted of failing to report an abusive priest, and a leading churchman in Philadelphia received three to six years in prison for shuffling known abusers across the archdiocese.
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that the hierarchy does a “huge amount” in order to prevent sex abuse within the church — much of it learned after the abuse scandal came to light.
“Every diocese is audited every year to see that every year that parishes have safe environment programs,” Walsh said, “which include educating children so that they are aware of inappropriate contact by an adult, and are encouraged to report anything that makes them uncomfortable to a trusted adult.”
Some victims’ advocates have criticized Pope Benedict XVI’s handling of sex abuse scandals during his reign, as well as before his election when he headed the Vatican department responsible for processing abuse cases.
The pope, for health reasons, will resign on Feb. 28, and some are now urging Mahony—who is eligible to vote for the next pope—to stay in the U.S. and not vote [ http://www.religionnews.com/2013/02/19/controversy-over-cardinal-mahonys-conclave-vote-reaches-vatican/ ] for his role in trying to shield known abusers from criminal prosecution.
© 2013 Religion News LLC
http://www.religionnews.com/2013/02/20/u-n-faults-u-s-on-prosecuting-abusive-clerics/ [with comments]
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Cardinal Timothy Dolan Deposed About Abuse Cases Against Catholic Church When Archbishop Of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
By RACHEL ZOLL
02/20/13 08:35 PM ET EST
NEW YORK — Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, was deposed Wednesday about abuse cases against Roman Catholic clergy in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, which he led from 2002 until 2009.
Frank LoCoco, an attorney for the Milwaukee Archdiocese, and Jeff Anderson, a plaintiffs' attorney, confirmed the cardinal was deposed.
The Milwaukee Archdiocese faces allegations from nearly 500 people. Archbishop Jerome Listecki, the current Milwaukee church leader, sought bankruptcy protection in 2011, saying the process was needed to compensate victims fairly while ensuring the archdiocese could still function. Milwaukee is the eighth diocese in the U.S. to seek bankruptcy protection since the abuse scandal erupted in 2002 in Boston.
Dolan is one of two U.S. cardinals to be deposed this week. Cardinal Roger Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles, is scheduled to be questioned Saturday in a lawsuit over a visiting Mexican priest who police believe molested 26 children in 1987. The Rev. Nicolas Aguilar Rivera fled to Mexico in 1988 after parents complained. He has been ousted from the priesthood but remains a fugitive.
Both Dolan and Mahony will soon be in Rome to participate in the conclave that will elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who is resigning.
Pressure has been building in Italy for Mahony to bow out of the conclave; however, Mahony has indicated in postings on his blog and Twitter accounts that he will participate in the papal election.
The Los Angeles Archdiocese this month released thousands of pages under court order from the confidential personnel files of more than 120 accused clergy. The files show that Mahony and other top archdiocese officials maneuvered behind the scenes to shield accused priests and protect the church from a growing scandal while keeping parishioners in the dark.
LoCoco said in a phone interview with The Associated Press that Dolan was asked about his decision to publicize the names of priests who molested children.
"The names were published so that people would come forward, share their story and begin what Cardinal Dolan and all those involved would be a healing process," LoCoco said.
Dolan's deposition was first reported by The New York Times.
Additional church officials deposed in connection with the bankruptcy and lawsuits include another former Milwaukee archbishop, Rembert Weakland; a retired auxiliary bishop; an archdiocese official who helps victims; the archdiocesan chancellor; and others, according to LoCoco and a spokesman for the Milwaukee archdiocese.
The Milwaukee Archdiocese recently said it was going broke. Its legal and other fees have reached nearly $9 million, according to court filings. Advocates for victims have accused the archdiocese of trying to shield assets by transferring millions of dollars separately into a cemetery trust fund and a parish fund several years ago.
Dolan is the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. His name has come up on some Vatican analysts' lists of cardinals who could be elected in the upcoming conclave, though he is considered a longshot.
Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the New York Archdiocese, said Dolan had long awaited the chance to discuss his decision to publicize the names as part of his efforts to help victims.
"He has indicated over the past two years that he was eager to cooperate in whatever way he could," Zwilling said in a statement.
Cp[yright 2013 The Associated Press
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/nyc-cardinal-dolan-deposed_n_2733340.html [with comments]
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Sovereign Grace Ministries Uses First Amendment As Defense In Sex Abuse Case
By ERIC TUCKER
02/20/13 06:28 PM ET EST
WASHINGTON — A small evangelical Christian denomination called Sovereign Grace Ministries was already grappling with fractured leadership, outside scrutiny of its policies and public criticism from former members when a new round of problems emerged.
A lawsuit last fall brought by former members accused church officials of covering up allegations of child sexual abuse committed by its members. Then a onetime member of the church's former flagship congregation was indicted in December on charges that he molested multiple boys in the 1980s while involved in youth ministries.
The church hasn't yet answered the specific accusations, but has signaled that it may lean on the First Amendment – a defense that religious institutions have used repeatedly and with some limited success in the last decade to inoculate themselves from sex abuse claims.
A statement issued in response to the lawsuit, filed in Maryland, says permitting courts to second-guess confidential advice given by church leaders to congregation members would "represent a blow to the First Amendment."
"We are saddened that lawyers are now, in essence, seeking to violate those rights by asking judges and juries, years after such pastoral assistance was sought, to dictate what sort of biblical counsel they think should have been provided," the statement said. The church's formal response to the lawsuit, due Monday, is expected to provide a window into its legal strategy.
The First Amendment argument, advanced by some legal scholars, derives from a belief that churches ought to be considered autonomous, self-governing institutions whose internal decision-making is off-limits to secular courts. Religious institutions, including the Roman Catholic Church, have invoked the Constitution in arguing that they shouldn't be liable for the hiring or supervision of a priest facing abuse allegations.
"To the extent there's a First Amendment issue they're talking about, it is not about sexual abuse as a First Amendment right. It is about the church deciding for itself how to respond to claims of misconduct among its members," said Douglas Laycock, a University of Virginia law professor who specializes in the law of religious liberty.
Marci Hamilton, a church-state expert at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, said she was aware of only three states – Utah, Missouri and Wisconsin – whose highest courts have recognized the First Amendment as a barrier for pursuing church sex abuse claims. But that hasn't stopped religious institutions in other states from raising the same arguments, at least as an initial line of defense.
"One of the goals here in the litigation is for the defendant to intimidate the judges into being fearful of violating the Constitution if they apply the law to them. There was an era when these kinds of arguments would have been intimidating," Hamilton said.
The principle isn't new but it has been tested time and again in the decade since the Catholic church sex abuse scandal broke.
"From our point of view, they are often more successful than they should be," said David Clohessy of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "Very simply in our view, the First Amendment says you can believe whatever you'd like but not behave however you'd like. And tragically, especially in child sex abuse cases, many religious figures try to blur that difference and exploit the First Amendment for selfish purposes."
With some limited exceptions, most courts haven't been receptive to the argument.
The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled last year that a man who said he was abused by a priest in the 1970s could proceed with his lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Memphis, which had argued that secular courts lacked jurisdiction over its hiring decisions.
The Catholic diocese in Burlington, Vt., fending off a recent sex abuse lawsuit, cited the First Amendment in 2011 in warning that a stream of cases carrying multi-million dollar judgments threatened to shut down the church and impede "the Catholic faithful in the free and unhindered exercise of religion." A judge called the argument in that particular case premature and allowed it to move forward. It has since settled
"The liability cannot be so extensive that the church can be put out of business," Thomas McCormick, a lawyer for the diocese, said in describing the defense.
There was some movement in Wisconsin in 2007, when the state Supreme Court – which had earlier held that the First Amendment shields churches from lawsuits for negligent supervision of priests – ruled that the Archdiocese of Milwaukee could be sued for fraud in sex abuse cases.
The U.S. Supreme Court, asked recently to weigh in on the issue, declined last year to take up an appeal of a Missouri state court ruling in favor of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, which had similarly relied on a First Amendment defense against sex abuse claims.
In Maryland, lawyers for Sovereign Grace Ministries, which was established in 1982 and says it has more than 80 congregations in its fold, either declined to comment about their legal strategy or didn't return phone messages. Besides suggesting a possible First Amendment defense, the church group has attacked the lawsuit as containing misleading allegations and "mischaracterizations of intent." The church invoked the First Amendment in a November statement posted on its website, but didn't reference it in a subsequent statement issued in response to new allegations last month.
The suit filed in October accuses church officials of concealing sex abuse committed by its members and of discouraging victims from reporting allegations to the police. The case was initially brought on behalf of three women associated with the church, including one who says she was molested as a child and then directed by church officials to meet with the man she accused of assaulting her. More plaintiffs have been added, and a former member of the church's flagship congregation, Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Md., was indicted on sex abuse charges in December.
The civil and criminal allegations are the latest problem for a church riven by disputes among leaders and external criticism over its handling of sex abuse claims and its emphasis on sin and redemption. Covenant Life Church in December ended its association with Sovereign Grace Ministries, which moved its headquarters last year to Louisville, Ky.
Laycock, the law professor, said the First Amendment defense may not prevail, but that courts in a case like this nonetheless should be wary of assigning liability in knee-jerk fashion.
"Are they responsible for what their members did, if they failed to act vigorously enough? They may be, but that's an issue that a court actually needs to think through with some care."
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/first-amendment-defense-sovereign-grace-ministries_n_2726023.html [with comments]
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Rick Scarborough, Vision America Pastor: Calling 'Sodomites' Gay Is 'An Abuse Of The Language'
Vision America's Rick Scarborough delivered a scathing guest sermon in New Jersey declaring the use of the word "gay" inappropriate, insisting it was an "abuse of the language."
"They're not gay...that's a twist into the words," Scarborough proclaimed [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLMfN_Y-_Is (above, as embedded)] in the sermon, which Right Wing Watch reports [ http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/scarborough-calling-sodomites-gay-abuse-language ] took place at the Fairton Christian Center. "It won't be long until we'll be calling pedophiles 'happy people.'"
He goes on to note, "Twenty years ago, who called a sodomite 'gay'? We had laws in Texas 'til 2002 that we sent them to prison! That was based on the Bible, by the way."
As the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation [ http://www.glaad.org/cap/rick-scarborough ] (GLAAD) points out, it's hardly Scarborough's first anti-gay declaration. In 2011, he penned a blog [ http://www.visionamerica.us/article/who-says-sanduskys-behavior-was-wrong/ ] on the heels of the Penn State University scandal involving Jerry Sandusky [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/jerry-sandusky/ ], in which he noted:
"It wasn’t all that long ago that male on male sex, using the part of the male anatomy designed to excrete waste as a sex object, was found to be repulsive and was considered 'unnatural,'… and 'an act against nature.' In fact, in a throwback to yesteryear, the very charges that the Grand Jury leveled against the indicted former Penn State Coach included seven criminal acts formally described as involuntary 'deviate' intercourse."
In 2009, he also noted [ http://www.visionamerica.us/article/what-exactly-do-gays-have-to-be-proud-about/ ] "Barack Obama is the first president to ask us to celebrate that which the Bible specifically and unequivocally condemns ... Those who engage in unnatural acts should hang their heads in shame – so should the president who asks us to celebrate their sinful lifestyle."
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/rick-scarborough-gay-use-sodomites-_n_2733482.html [with comments]
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Tim Tebow to Speak at Anti-Gay, Anti-Semitic Church
Tim Tebow
by Liz Raftery
Feb 16, 2013 06:25 PM ET
New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow is scheduled to speak at a megachurch in Dallas whose pastor has spoken out against Muslims, Jews, Mormons and members of the LGBT community.
Tebow is listed as a special guest at one of the First Baptist Church's morning services on April 28, according to its website [ http://www.firstdallas.org/event/406645-2013-04-28-915am-worship-service-w-special-guest-tim-tebow/ ].
The church is led by Evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress, who has previously denounced non-Christian religions such as Islam, Judaism and Mormonism. Leading up to the most recent presidential election, Jeffress warned parishioners that re-electing President Barack Obama would "lead to the rise of the Antichrist," according to The Christian Post [ http://www.christianpost.com/news/texas-megachurch-pastor-says-obama-will-pave-way-for-antichrist-84639/ ]. While denouncing the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Jeffress also declared that 70 percent of the gay population has AIDS, and referred to it as "a gay disease," according to ThinkProgress.org [ http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/10/07/339299/video-prominent-perry-endorser-robert-jeffress-says-voting-for-romney-would-give-credibility-to-a-cult/ ].
Tebow has made no secret of the fact that he's a devout Christian, but has shied away from taking a stance on controversial social issues.
Copyright 2013 TV Guide
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Tim-Tebow-Anti-Gay-Church-1061071.aspx [no comments yet] [more at "Tim Tebow, Jets Quarterback, To Speak At Virulently Anti-Gay, Anti-Semitic Church First Baptist Dallas", http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/14/tim-tebow-church-anti-gay-first-baptist-dallas_n_2687167.html (with comments)]
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First Baptist Church: Tim Tebow Was 'Pressured' to Cancel Speech
BY TMZ STAFF
2/21/2013 8:50 AM PST
Tim Tebow was unjustly pressured by the media to back out of his speaking appearance at the controversial First Baptist Church in Dallas ... at least according to the church.
A rep for the church tells TMZ, "We are saddened that Mr. Tebow felt pressure to back out of his long-planned commitment from numerous New York and national sports and news media who grossly misrepresented past comments made by our pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, specifically related to issues of homosexuality and AIDS, as well as Judaism."
Rev. Jeffress has been quoted as saying, "70 percent of the gay population" has AIDS -- and has described Judaism, Islam and Mormonism as religions from the "pit of hell."
According to the church, Tebow called Dr. Jeffress Wednesday evening to say that for "personal and professional reasons he needed to avoid controversy" ... and would be canceling the appearance which was scheduled for April 28.
The church says Tebow told Rev. Jeffress he'd still like to come speak at First Baptist Dallas sometime in the future -- and adds, "Dr. Jeffress shares a message of hope, not hate."
http://www.tmz.com/2013/02/21/tim-tebow-first-baptist-church-dallas-statement-speaking-engagement-canceled/ [the YouTube, as embedded, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl8D7zEm_jI ; with comments]
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GOProud, Log Cabin Republicans Won't Participate In CPAC This Year
02/20/2013
WASHINGTON -- Though the Republican Party's stance on same-sex marriage faced criticism from within its own ranks following the 2012 election, this year's session of the top conservative gabfest will not include the two leading conservative gay rights groups.
GOProud and the Log Cabin Republicans will not be participating in the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, top executives from both groups confirmed on Wednesday.
"We were kicked out last year and nothing has changed and we wont be at CPAC," GOProud's Jimmy LaSalvia said in an interview. "The last communication I've had from them is that we were kicked out. Nothing has changed."
"At the present time, we have no plans to participate in CPAC this year," Log Cabin Republicans spokesman West Honeycutt told The Huffington Post.
[...]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/goproud-cpac-2013-log-cabin-republicans_n_2728104.html [with comments]
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Booed soldier joins Ohio same-sex marriage effort
Published: Friday, Feb. 22, 2013 - 3:07 pm
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A gay U.S. soldier who was booed during a Republican presidential debate in 2011 has joined the effort to overturn Ohio's ban on same-sex marriage.
Leaders of pro-gay-marriage group FreedomOhio said Friday that Columbus resident Stephen Snyder-Hill will help lead outreach efforts.
Snyder-Hill asked the GOP candidates in 2011 if they would reinstate the ban on openly gay troops. He was booed for the question, which he recorded while deployed in Iraq.
FreedomOhio wants to overturn the 2004 state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Supporters started collecting signatures last year to place their own constitutional amendment on the ballot by 2014.
The measure wouldn't require churches and other religious institutions to perform or recognize gay marriages.
The amendment banning gay marriage was supported by 62 percent of Ohio voters at the time.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/22/5210071/booed-soldier-joins-ohio-same.html [no comments yet]
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The Chelsea Clinton Marriage Equality Video NBC Didn't Want You To See
In never before seen video, the former First Daughter urges for “basic fairness and civil rights” in pushing for marriage equality ballot measures.
February 21, 2013
http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/the-chelsea-clinton-marriage-equality-video-nbc-didnt-want-y [with comments]
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Superintendent: Anti-gay teacher was "expressing her First Amendment rights"
Diana Medley
Photo credit: WTWO-TV
LGBTQ Nation Staff Reports
February 13th, 2013
HYMERA, Ind. — An Indiana [ http://www.lgbtqnation.com/tag/indiana/ ] school district said Tuesday that a special education teacher who said that gays have no purpose and that LGBT teens were “offensive,” was simply “expressing her First Amendment rights.”
Diana Medley, a teacher at North Central Junior/Senior High School, told WTWO-TV on Sunday that the idea of LGBT teens attending a prom was “offensive,” adding that she believes homosexuality is a choice, and that no one is born gay.
As LGBTQ Nation reported Sunday [ http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2013/02/ind-students-parents-want-to-hold-traditional-prom-ban-gay-students/ ], Medley was among a group of parents and students who met to plan a “traditional” prom for local high school students that would exclude gays.
In the interview with WTWO-TV, Medley said that gays served no purpose in life, and equated LGBT teens to students with developmental disabilities.
“It’s the same thing with my special-needs kids,” she said. “I think God puts everyone in our lives for a reason.”
On Tuesday, Dr. Mark A. Baker, Superintendent of the Northeast School Corporation [ http://www.nesc.k12.in.us/ ], where Medley works, issued this statement [ http://www.nesc.k12.in.us/news/letter.pdf ]:
In regards to the story that WTWO aired on February 10, 2013, the Northeast School Corporation employee that was interviewed was expressing her First Amendment rights. The views expressed are not the views of the Northeast School Corporation and/or the Board of Education.
These comments were expressed during a Sunday community meeting at a local church and at no time was she representing the Northeast School Corporation. The teacher was participating in a meeting with her local church congregation.
Plans by the group to hold a “traditional” prom exclusive of gay students have been met by outrage by LGBT advocates around the country [ http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2013/02/plan-for-traditional-prom-backfires-as-group-faces-firestorm-of-criticism/ ], including the Human Rights Campaign [ http://www.lgbtqnation.com/tag/hrc/ ] (HRC) and activist Dan Savage [ http://www.lgbtqnation.com/tag/dan-savage/ ], founder of the “It Gets Better” [ http://www.lgbtqnation.com/tag/it-gets-better/ ] project.
Savage called Medley a “mentally challenged special ed teacher” and has called for her termination.
“Take a good look at the condescending, hateful smirk that spreads across Medley’s face when she was asked if gay people have a purpose in life … and then imagine you’re a gay kid in special ed in Sullivan and this hateful bigot is your teacher,” Savage wrote on his blog [ http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/02/10/anti-gay-bigots-at-high-school-in-indiana-cant-ban-gay-kids-from-prom ] earlier this week.
Baker’s statement gives no indication that the school district plans to take any action against Medley.
A petition [ https://www.change.org/petitions/diana-medley-the-northeast-school-corporation-of-sullivan-county-appropriate-disciplinary-action-to-mrs-medley-including-termination ] calling for Medley to be fired has been signed by more than 10,000 people as of Tuesday afernoon.
© Copyright 2013 Hale Media, Inc. (emphasis in original)
http://sdgln.com/news/2013/02/13/superintendent-antigay-teacher-first-amendment-rights [with comments]
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Judy Viger, New York Mother, Arrested For Buying Strippers For Underage Son's Birthday Party
02/19/2013
[...]
... pictures from the party appeared to show a "scantily clad, tattooed woman clinging upside down to a seated teen."
[...]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/judy-viger-new-york-mother-arrested-buying-strippers-sons-16th-birthday_n_2718279.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
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Teens describe lap dances at birthday party in stripper case
Judy H. Viger, 33, of Gansevoort, has been charged with five counts of endangering the welfare of a child. South Glens Falls police arrested Viger on Monday for allegedly arranging to have two strippers perform at her son’s 16th birthday party in November, police said.
[ http://poststar.com/news/local/mother-charged-after-stripper-party-probe/article_6a747676-7a0d-11e2-baa3-0019bb2963f4.html ]
DON LEHMAN
February 19, 2013 5:12 pm
MOREAU -- Statements given to police by teens who attended the birthday party for a 16-year-old Moreau boy where scantily clad dancers were among the entertainment say one dancer bit a teen’s nipple while another questioned how old some of the partygoers were.
“The brunette said she was a little surprised at how young everyone was at the party,” 15-year-old William Shill told State Police, according to court records. “The blond didn’t seem to mind.”
Another teen, Stephen Hubinsky, 16, told police that the blond stripper pulled his shirt up as she gave him a lap dance, bit one of his nipples and scratched his chest.
Written statements signed by four teens were filed Tuesday in Moreau Town Court as part of the case against the mother of the teen for whom the party was organized.
The mother, Judy H. Viger, 33, of Gansevoort was charged with five misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child, pertaining to specific teens under the age of 17 who last Nov. 3 received “lap dances” or other similar physical contact with two women in bras and panties.
The party was thrown at Spare Time Bowling Center for the 16th birthday of Viger’s son, Reggie. Judy Viger organized the gathering and arranged for the dancers through Tops in Bottoms, a Saratoga County provider of entertainers, court records show.
“The defendant did enable and encourage the entertainers to perform a personal and intimate style dance to each of the juveniles, which was presented in a sexual manner,” wrote South Glens Falls Police Patrolman Phil Lindsey.
The dancers were interviewed by police and were not charged.
The five teens identified as victims in the case were 15 and 16 years old, but one partygoer told police teens as young as high school freshmen were present at the party.
Shill told police that Judy Viger called the women’s performance a “bikini gram,” and said the dancers would not take tips “because they weren’t stripping.”
One girl who received a lap dance, Carly L. Brown, 16, said the women performed for 10 to 15 minutes.
“Judy told me it was unexpected that the girls put their crotches in Reggie’s face,” Brown told police.
Saratoga County District Attorney James Murphy said parents of the partygoers did not know beforehand about the adult entertainment and were “shocked and stunned” when they learned of it.
“As difficult as it may be for us to have to weigh in on these kinds of cases, certainly exposing the unsuspecting children to this sort of ‘entertainment’ goes beyond the pale when it comes to what is appropriate for a 14-, 15- and 16-year-old child,” Murphy said in a news release. “It is important to remember that it is the other kids and their parents who came forward and who initiated the investigation. The police correctly followed up on legitimate, good faith complaints and the police owed it to them to conduct an earnest investigation into the matter.”
Murphy said police are working with the State Liquor Authority as the agency investigates a possible liquor license violation for allowing adult entertainment.
Jane Bryan, human resources director for Spare Time's parent company, Bowl New England Inc., said the company did not arrange for or pay for the party, and has cooperated with police.
Someone covered with paper the glass doors to the private room in the bowling alley where the party was held.
Judy Viger was released, pending prosecution in Moreau Town Court on March 7. She told The Post-Star in November that the entertainers were not strippers but women hired to deliver a “bikini gram” and sing happy birthday to her son.
Copyright 2013 Glens Falls Post-Star
http://poststar.com/news/local/teens-describe-lap-dances-at-birthday-party-in-stripper-case/article_2c7dbdd0-7ae1-11e2-90fe-0019bb2963f4.html [with comments] [and see e.g. (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84925506 and preceding and following]
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Principal Speaks on Recent Prom Controversy
By Alex Brown
2/16/2013
The principal of Sullivan High School is speaking out about the recent controversy surrounding the school's prom.
Listen:
[audio embedded]
The controversy started earlier this month when a teacher at another school said people choose to be gay and homosexuals have no purpose in life. She and others in Sullivan are supporting a traditional prom which wouldn't allow gays and lesbians. Sullivan High School Principal David Springer says that will not be the case with the school's official prom. He says their prom and other prom-related activities have always been, and will continue to be, open to every student.
Springer says before every prom, the school has a Grand March where couples are introduced and walk out to a crowd of a couple hundred people. He says traditionally, the couples have been a boy and girl but this year one girl asked if she could walk with another girl. He said that was fine and they've always had girls walk together who either didn't have a date or simply wanted to go to the prom with their friends.
Springer says he's received over 300 emails, mainly from people upset thinking the teacher worked for Sullivan High School. He says he's trying to let them all know that all students are welcome at any school-sponsored extracurricular activity.
Copyright by WIBC.com © 2012
http://www.wibc.com/news/story.aspx?ID=1889749 [no comments yet]
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Boy Scouts' Gay Ban Inspires Ex-Scout To Push California To End Youth Organization's Tax Exempt Status
02/21/2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/boy-scouts-gay-ban-california-tax-petition-_n_2735801.html [with comments]
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Gay man Stands up for himself in NYC subway in response to anti gay comments
Fascinating how one man stood up for gays and all good people today (feb 16th/13) on subway in NYC: "I am gay, Jesus is LOVE." He receives an APPLAUD.
Help us find this man!! Video taken by Elena Beloff ( http://www.elenabeloff.com )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2epltMSLjZc
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Gay Man Attacked On New York City Subway, Onlookers Do Nothing
By Cavan Sieczkowski
Posted: 02/21/2013 12:08 pm EST
A gay man was attacked on a New York City subway [ http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/gay_bash_on_subway_Fc1hL4tOpyS1BPszvtvq6M ] on Monday, and onlookers did nothing to try and stop it, according to local reports.
Urena Morel Frankelly, 23, and his partner were riding the 2 train when a woman snapped a photo of them, the New York Daily News reports. Her friend then began to hurl insults at them and use the slur "faggot," the outlet notes. An argument erupted and then the two women, along with four others, reportedly attacked Frankelly [ http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/gay-man-attacked-train-riders-watch-article-1.1268442 ].
"They started beating him up," Lucas Cruz, Frankelly's partner, told New York's WABC of the incident, which happened after they boarded the southbound subway at 125th Street. "They started beating him up like crazy, hitting the floor, kicking his face."
Cruz said he believes Frankelly, who was slashed across his right eye and bruised, was only attacked because he is gay [ http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/new_york&id=9000179 ].
Frankelly and Cruz ran from the train at the 96th Street stop and told police, but the attackers had already escaped, according to WABC. Police are currently reviewing surveillance video and investigating whether it was a hate crime.
Gay rights group GLAAD issued a statement on the incident (via the San Diego Gay & Lesbian News):
GLAAD encourages the media to fairly and accurately shine light on anti-gay violence [ http://sdgln.com/news/2013/02/20/gay-man-attacked-manhattan-subway-and-nobody-came-his-aid ]. According to the Anti-Violence Project, LGBT youth and young people, remain twice as likely to experience targeted violence than their counterparts.
The attack comes just days after a gay man confronted a street preacher [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/gay-man-homophobic-preacher-subway-video_n_2715813.html ] delivering anti-gay messages on another New York City subway line. The gay man's response -- "I'm a gay man and Jesus loves me!" -- was met with a round of applause from fellow riders.
New York Magazine's The Intelligencer made this point about the recent anti-gay incidents [ http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/gays-couple-subway-five-women-attacked.html ]: "The incident is a reminder that while we live in a city where an entire subway car cheers a gay man's appeal for tolerance and love, we also still live in a city where, on any given day, two gay people can get their asses kicked just for being different."
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/gay-man-attacked-new-york-city-subway-hate-crime_n_2733441.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
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New Study Links Childhood Bullying to Adult Psychological Disorders, Surprising Even the Study's Authors
Both victims and bullies are at risk.
Shutterstock/O Driscoll Imaging
By Emily Bazelon
Posted Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, at 6:23 PM
A significant study from Duke [ http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1654916 ], out today, provides the best evidence we’ve had thus far that bullying in childhood is linked to a higher risk of psychological disorders in adulthood. The results came as a surprise to the research team. “I was a skeptic going into this,” lead author and Duke psychiatry professor William E. Copeland told me over the phone, about the claim that bullying does measurable long-term psychological harm. “To be honest, I was completely surprised by the strength of the findings. It has certainly given me pause. This is something that stays with people.”
I’m less surprised, because as I explain in my new book about bullying, Sticks and Stones [ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008WOULGE ], earlier research has shown that bullying increases the risk for many problems, including low academic performance in school and depression (for both bullies and victims) and criminal activity later in life (bullies). But the Duke study is important because it lasted for 20 years and followed 1,270 North Carolina children into adulthood. Beginning at the ages of 9, 11, and 13, the kids were interviewed annually until the age of 16, along with their parents, and then multiple times over the years following.
Based on the findings, Copeland and his team divided their subjects into three groups: People who were victims as children, people who were bullies, and people who were both. The third group is known as bully-victims. These are the people who tend to have the most serious psychological problems as kids, and in the Duke study, they also showed up with higher levels of anxiety, depressive disorders, and suicidal thinking as adults. The people who had only experienced being victims were also at heightened risk for depression and anxiety. And the bullies were more likely to have an antisocial personality disorder.
The researchers also checked to see if the variation among the groups could be attributed to differences in socio-economic status, or family dysfunction/instability, or maltreatment (which they defined as physical or sexual abuse). All three groups—the victims, the bullies, and the bully-victims—had higher rates of some type of family hardship than the kids who didn’t experience bullying at all. For the victims, the risk of anxiety disorders remained strong even when taking into account family problems, though the risk of depression did not (it dropped just below statistical significance if the victims came from a stable home, Copeland said). For bully-victims, the risk of both anxiety and depression held, and for bullies, the risk of antisocial personality disorder did as well. In other words, these results suggest that bullying scars people whether they grow up in a home with two functional parents or with frequent arguing, not much parental supervision, divorce, separation, or downright abuse or neglect. It’s a finding that’s in line with other work, for example by Judith Rich Harris [ http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2006/05/hey_little_brother.html ], who in her book The Nurture Assumption [ http://www.amazon.com/The-Nurture-Assumption-Children-Revised/dp/1439101655 ], shows that kids are very much influenced and affected by their peers.
Why does bullying have such far-reaching impact? Copeland and his team suggest the experience may change kids’ physiological response to stress, and their ability to cope. This looked especially stark for the bully-victims. “It was definitely the case that chronic bullying led to worse outcomes, but much more the case that being a bully-victim was associated with really significant problems,” Copeland said. The biggest cry for help is coming from that group. Fortunately, it’s a smaller number than victims overall.” Bully-victims, Copeland and others have found, have more problems at home and the most trouble with impulse control and aggression. Sometimes they do the dirty work for popular kids who bully to curry favor with them. “I don’t think things are working out socially for them in a lot of ways,” Copeland said.
It’s important to point out that Copeland and other researchers don’t define bullying broadly, in a way that encompasses a lot of mutual conflict among kids, or one-time fighting. Bullying is physical or verbal harassment that takes place repeatedly and involves a power imbalance—one kid, or group of kids, making another kid miserable by lording power over him. As Dan Olweus, the Scandinavian psychologist who launched the field of bullying studies in the 1960s, has been arguing for many years, this is a particular form of harmful aggression. And so the effort to prevent bullying isn’t about pretending that kids will always be nice to each other, or that they don’t have to learn to weather some adversity.
If the results of this study are dismaying because they indicate that bullying is permanently scarring, the findings also strengthen the argument for prevention. Copeland underscores this idea. “Consider me a reluctant convert, but I’m starting to view bullying the same way I do abuse in the home,” he said. “I honestly think the effects we’re observing here are just as potent. And that’s definitely not the way American researchers look at things. They want to know all about what parents are doing at home. Peers aren’t considered a priority. But these days, with all the time they spend on the Internet, kids are spending even more time with their peers, and that’s a factor we need to pay more attention to.”
© 2013 The Slate Group, LLC (emphasis in original)
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/02/20/new_duke_study_on_bullying_childhood_victims_bullies_and_bully_victims_all.html [with comments]
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Southern poverty pimps
Texas Governor Rick Perry
(Credit: Reuters/Jim Young/Rick Scuteri)
The “original sin” of the Southern political class is cheap, powerless labor
By Michael Lind
Tuesday, Feb 19, 2013 01:59 PM CST
Contemporary American politics cannot be understood apart from the North-South divide in the U.S., as I and others have argued. Neither can contemporary American economic debates. The real choice facing America in the 21st century is the same one that faced it in the 19th and 20th centuries — Northernomics or Southernomics?
Northernomics is the high-road strategy of building a flourishing national economy by means of government-business cooperation and government investment in R&D, infrastructure and education. Although this program of Hamiltonianism (named after Washington’s first Treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton) has been championed by maverick Southerners as prominent as George Washington, Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln (born in Kentucky to a Southern family), the building of a modern, high-tech, high-wage economy has been supported chiefly by political parties based in New England and the Midwest, from the Federalists and the Whigs through the Lincoln Republicans and today’s Northern Democrats.
Southernomics is radically different. The purpose of the age-old economic development strategy of the Southern states has never been to allow them to compete with other states or countries on the basis of superior innovation or living standards. Instead, for generations Southern economic policymakers have sought to secure a lucrative second-tier role for the South in the national and world economies, as a supplier of commodities like cotton and oil and gas and a source of cheap labor for footloose corporations. This strategy of specializing in commodities and cheap labor is intended to enrich the Southern oligarchy. It doesn’t enrich the majority of Southerners, white, black or brown, but it is not intended to.
Contrary to what is often said, the “original sin” of the South is not slavery, or even racism. It is cheap, powerless labor.
Before 1900, the cheap labor was used to harvest export crops like cotton and lumber. Beginning around 1900, Southern states sought to reap benefits from the new industrial economy by supplying national manufacturing companies with pools of cheap, powerless labor as well. For a century now, Southern state economic development policies have sought to lure companies from high-wage, high-service states, by promising low wages and docile workers. Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s recent appeals to California businesses to relocate to the Lone Star State are the most recent example.
The essence of the Southern economic model is not low taxation, but a lack of bargaining power by Southern workers of all races. Bargaining power at the bottom of the income scale is created by tight labor markets; unions; minimum wage laws combined with unemployment insurance; and social insurance, such as Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid.
Naturally, the 21st-century descendants of Jefferson Davis and John C. Calhoun want to weaken everything that strengthens the ability of a Southern worker to say to a Southern employer: “Take this job and shove it!”
Tight labor markets are anathema to Southern employers. They want loose labor markets that create a buyer’s market in wage labor. That is why, at a time of mass unemployment among low-skilled workers in the U.S., most of the calls for expanding unskilled immigration in the form of “guest worker” programs are coming from Southern and Southwestern politicians. Guest workers — that is, indentured servants bound to a single employer and unable to quit — are the ideal workers, from a neo-Confederate perspective. They are cheap and unfree.
Needless to say, private sector unions that pool worker bargaining power are anathema to today’s suave metropolitan successors to the slave-owning plantocracy. The whole point of the Southern model of economic development is to create a non-union region from Virginia to Texas, to which companies can be induced to move from states with unionized workforces. Besides, unions engage in collective bargaining, in violation of the Southern ideal of employer-worker relations, in which the master gives orders and the fearful worker obeys without question.
A high national minimum wage also threatens the Southern conservative program for stealing jobs and industries from other states and other countries. Particularly if it is combined with generous unemployment insurance, a high minimum wage gives Southern workers the ability to turn down jobs that pay poorly — that is to say, the majority of jobs in the South, if the Southern elite has its way. While the Southern right opposes a higher federal minimum wage, it has no objection to increases in the minimum wage by Northern states, which thereby help the South lure more businesses.
Ruthless and callous as they are, the old families and nouveaux riches who make up the Southern elite don’t want their workers to starve. On the other hand, they prefer not to pay a wage adequate for the necessities of life. The solution favored by the Southern oligarchy is the earned income tax credit, a wage subsidy to workers that tops up a too-low wage paid by the employer.
The major champions of the EITC in national politics have tended to be conservative Democrats from the South, like the late Lloyd Bentsen, a reactionary born into the South Texas aristocracy, and Louisiana’s Sen. Russell Long. What makes the EITC so appealing to Southern Democrats and Southern Republicans alike is that it forces the Northern and Western states, by means of the Internal Revenue Service, to subsidize low-wage businesses in the South, even as the South is using the poverty of its workforce to lure high-wage businesses from the North and West. Every penny spent on the federal EITC is a penny that Southern state governments and Southern employers do not have to spend on Southern workers to keep them from starving. By paying taxes to the federal government to fund the EITC, Americans in high-wage states are literally subsidizing the South’s job-stealing program. The progressive policy wonks who prefer a higher EITC to a higher minimum wage are useful idiots, from the perspective of the crafty Southern political-business elite.
Finally, there is the welfare state. Universal, portable social insurance programs like Social Security and Medicare increase the bargaining power of workers, by reducing the penalty for quitting a job because of poor wages or poor treatment. If they quit, they don’t endanger their healthcare access or their retirement security. Workers with adequate social insurance are more likely — to use a time-honored Southern phrase — to be “uppity.”
Apart from a high federal minimum wage, nothing could be a greater threat to the Southern cheap-labor economic strategy than universal, standardized federal social insurance. In order to maximize the dependence of Southern workers on Southern employers in the great low-wage labor pool of the former Confederacy, it would be best to have no welfare at all, only local charity (funded and controlled, naturally, by the local wealthy families).
But if there must be a modern welfare system, then the Southern oligarchy prefers a system that allows state governments, rather than Washington, D.C., to control eligibility and benefit levels. By controlling eligibility, Southern state governments can minimize the amount of the local workforce that has access to good social insurance, reducing the power of Southern workers to be “uppity.” At the same time, giving Southern states the option to have lower benefit levels provides the neo-Confederates with yet another bargaining chip, along with low wages and low taxes, that can be used by Southern state governments to lure business from more generous states or nations.
It is all a system, you see. Southern conservative policies toward immigration, labor unions, the minimum wage and social insurance don’t reflect supposed conservative or libertarian ideologies or values, even if conservative or libertarian intellectuals are paid to dream up after-the-fact rationalizations. These policies are reinforcing components of a well-thought-out economic grand strategy to permit the South, as a nation-within-a-nation in the U.S., to pimp its cheap, dependent labor for the benefit of local and foreign (non-Southern) corporations and investors.
“Pimp” is the mot juste. In the 1960s, conservatives referred derisively to community activists who were accused of lining their own pockets while representing the urban poor as “poverty pimps.” But the real “poverty pimps” in America are members of the Southern political class — many Southern Democrats and practically all Southern Republicans. By means of permanent economic repression of most Southerners of all races, Southern strategists hope to strip the non-Southern states of the Union of their best companies and industries, thereby crippling Northern revenue bases and sending Northern economies into death spirals.
The defeat of Southernomics is therefore in the interest of most Southerners and most non-Southerners alike. And the defeat of Southernomics requires the radical empowerment of Southern workers — white, black and brown alike. No American workers anywhere in the nation can ever be secure until the wage earners of the South are powerful and prosperous. And uppity.
Michael Lind [ http://www.salon.com/writer/michael_lind/ ] is the author of Land of Promise: An Economic History of the United States [ http://www.amazon.com/Land-Promise-Economic-History-United/dp/0061834807 ] and co-founder of the New America Foundation.
Copyright © 2013 Salon Media Group, Inc.
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/19/southern_poverty_pimps/ [with comments]
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'Abusive' Guest Worker Programs Offer A Poor Model For Immigration Reform, Advocates Say
Foreign guest workers often work in seafood packing plants in the U.S.
(ROD LAMKEY JR/AFP/Getty Images)
By Dave Jamieson
Posted: 02/19/2013 3:00 pm EST | Updated: 02/19/2013 4:34 pm EST
WASHINGTON -- With Congress looking to make foreign guest worker programs part of its immigration reform package [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/17/immigration-reform-guest-workers_n_2497815.html ], advocates for low-wage workers said Tuesday that the programs already in place are rife with abuse and serve as poor models for an expansion or overhaul.
The H-2 visa programs administered by the federal government bring tens of thousands of overseas workers to the U.S. each year to work in mostly low-wage, temporary roles, such as landscaping or hotel housekeeping. Those programs are likely to be altered or expanded in a comprehensive immigration package, with labor unions and the Chamber of Commerce now hashing out what they'd like the new iteration to look like.
On Tuesday, the Southern Poverty Law Center released an update of an earlier report [ http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/splc-report-federal-guestworker-program-encourages-employers-to-exploit-workers-an ] on those H-2 programs, aggressively titled "Close to Slavery." The civil rights organization has done some of the most in-depth research on guest workers in the U.S., and the report paints a damning picture of worker exploitation and failed enforcement and oversight.
Mary Bauer, the law center's legal director, told reporters in a call Tuesday that the current H-2 programs are far too flawed to serve as a basis for the new program now being considered.
"We do not believe these programs should be the model for immigration reform," Bauer said. "We believe they are inherently abusive."
The programs are meant to help U.S. employers fill jobs that they purportedly can't find local workers for, such as landscaping or seafood processing. Although the employment works out well for many workers, investigations have shown the arrangement can lead to exploitation or abuse. That includes in the foreign country, where workers often pay recruiters exorbitant fees, and here in the U.S., where the visa tethers the worker to a sole employer.
If workers complain about issues or abuses, "they face deportation, blacklisting or other retaliation [ http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/close-to-slavery-guestworker-programs-in-the-united-states ]," the report says.
Bauer said that a new guest worker program should rectify two problems with the current ones: The debt that foreign workers take on to get to the U.S., and those workers' inability to switch employers if they've been taken advantage of.
"Recruitment should be regulated ... and [workers] should be free to shop their labor where they choose," Bauer said. "That's the heart of our economy, and it's the one thing these workers are denied."
Two former H-2 workers joined the call with the Southern Poverty Law Center. One of them, who identified himself merely as "Franco" to protect his identity, said he came from Guatemala because of the lack of work in his home country. He said he often worked 12- to 14-hour days, sometimes making as little as $80 a week after deductions for housing and transportation. He said many of his fellow workers didn't have enough money to return home once their work period was over.
The other worker, Aby Poulose, said he was from India and had been employed on an H-2 visa by Signal International, a Mississippi oil rig company that was at the center of a guest worker scandal in 2007 [ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/us/02immig.html ]. In the 2007 scandal, guest workers said they paid huge fees to recruiters -- in some cases, $20,000 -- after being told their work visas would eventually be turned into green cards. After the allegations of human trafficking and abusive labor practices surfaced, the company claimed it had been duped by unscrupulous recruiters.
Poulose said he'd sold his property in order to cover the recruitment fees. "What motivated me was the promise of a green card," he said -- a promise that ultimately went unfilled.
In his State of the Union speech last week, President Obama asked Congress [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/state-of-the-union-speech-2013_n_2641382.html ] to send him a comprehensive immigration package in the coming months, putting pressure on the House and Senate to find compromise on a bill. Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said he believes guest worker programs should receive the same kind of attention as border security and a pathway to citizenship.
"This is [an issue] that far too often receives too little attention," Henderson said of guest workers. "Unlike their employers, they have few places to turn. They exist in a netherworld."
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/immigration-reform_n_2718441.html [with comments]
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Amazon Fires Security Company Accused Of Wearing Neo-Nazi Clothing, Intimidating Workers
02/18/13 06:33 AM ET EST
BERLIN -- Amazon says it has fired a German security company amid mounting criticism after reports that temporary workers had been mistreated.
An Amazon spokeswoman in Germany, Ulrike Stoecker, said Monday the online retailer has ended its relationship with Hensel European Security Services "with immediate effect."
A documentary shown on ARD public television last week showed staff of the security company – whose initials spell out the name of Adolf Hitler's deputy Hess – wearing clothes linked to Germany's neo-Nazi scene. It interviewed people claiming they were mistreated by the staff.
Stoecker told The Associated Press that Amazon has a "zero tolerance limit for discrimination and intimidation and expects the same of other companies it works with."
The company, hired by one of Amazon's subcontractors, last week denied it supported far-right opinions.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/amazon-fires-german-secur_n_2716637.html [with comments]
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The Ph.D Bust: America's Awful Market for Young Scientists—in 7 Charts
Feb 20 2013
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/02/the-phd-bust-americas-awful-market-for-young-scientists-in-7-charts/273339/ [with comments]
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Bob Goodlatte: Immigration Reform Doesn't Need Path To Citizenship
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) chairs the House Judiciary Committee and will have power to shape immigration bills.
02/21/2013
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee came out explicitly this week [ http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/key-house-republican-dont-even-think-about-a-path-to-citizenship.php ] against a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants currently in the United States, another sign of the tension between Democrats and Republicans on the issue.
"People have a pathway to citizenship right now: It's to abide by the immigration laws, and if they have a family relationship, if they have a job skill that allows them to do that, they can obtain citizenship," Goodlatte told NPR [ http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/02/21/172535159/meet-the-virginian-shaping-the-house-gops-immigration-plan ]. "But simply someone who broke the law, came here, [to] say, 'I'll give you citizenship now,' that I don't think is going to happen."
The problem is that many immigrants in the U.S. don't have a pathway to citizenship now, or if they do the wait time makes becoming even a legal permanent resident a long haul. As Mother Jones pointed out in a quiz [ http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/back-line-green-card-immigration-reform-quiz ] this week, there are avenues for legal immigration, but many don't apply to would-be immigrants or undocumented people already in the country. A USA Today-Pew poll released on Thursday [ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/02/21/poll-pew-obama-gop-guns-energy-immigration-sequester/1934233/ ] found that most prefer President Barack Obama's immigration plan, which includes a pathway, to the Republican approach.
Goodlatte has previously said that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) may be disingenuous about his support for comprehensive immigration reform if he insists on a pathway to citizenship.
"When [Reid] says there has to be a path to citizenship, I wonder whether he's serious about doing immigration reform," he told USA Today [ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/02/04/house-immigration-hearing/1890171/ ] in early February. "You have to come at this with a willingness to look at all the options and find the common ground."
[...]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/bob-goodlatte-immigration_n_2734024.html [with comments]
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Ann Coulter Lashes Out At Republicans And Latinos Over Immigration Reform
By Roque Planas
Posted: 02/21/2013 10:27 am EST | Updated: 02/21/2013 11:57 pm EST
Ann Coulter has given up on the Latino vote.
In an opinion piece riddled with errors and unattributed statistics, the conservative columnist lashed out at Republicans working to pass comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship [ http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2013-02-20.html ], saying that Latinos will never vote for the GOP because they are too poor and government-dependent.
Coulter begins her article by grossly overestimating the undocumented population, asking “why do Republicans want to create up to 20 million more Democratic voters, especially if it involves flouting the law?”
In fact, the total undocumented population stands at about 11.1 million, according to the Pew Hispanic Center [ http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/12/06/unauthorized-immigrants-11-1-million-in-2011/ ].
There's also no reason to assume that undocumented Latinos would automatically vote Democrat if they gained citizenship. Not all U.S. Hispanic citizens vote and some 27 percent of them voted for Mitt Romney in last year’s presidential election.
Repeating a line routinely offered by the Mitt Romney presidential campaign last year, Coulter notes that polls indicate that immigration is not the number one concern for most Hispanics.
But that doesn’t mean it’s a non-issue for Latino voters, as Coulter claims when she says “Trying to appeal to Hispanics with amnesty would be like trying to win over baseball fans by shouting ‘Go Yankees!’ at a Mets game.”
In fact, the overwhelming majority of Latino voters favor both a pathway to citizenship (85 percent) and the DREAM Act (90 percent) [ http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/03/06/latino-voters-overwhelmingly-support-dream-act-path-to-citizenship-poll-shows/ ], according to a Fox News Latino poll released last year.
While the issue doesn’t trump the economy and jobs, the biggest concerns for most Hispanic voters, immigration remains an important and often personal issue for most Latinos [ http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/03/06/for-latinos-immigration-more-personal-than-political-poll-says/ ]. Nearly eight in 10 undocumented immigrants are Hispanic [ http://www.pewhispanic.org/2009/04/14/a-portrait-of-unauthorized-immigrants-in-the-united-states/ ], according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Supporting a path to citizenship may not guarantee that Latinos will flock to the GOP, but taking hardline on immigration tends to alienate Hispanic voters.
Perhaps an even greater turn off for Latinos is being portrayed by conservative commentators like Coulter [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/07/ann-coulter-attacks-latinos-conservatives-hispanic-voters_n_2253721.html?1361456076 ], Rush Limbaugh [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/31/rush-limbaugh-attacks-mexicans-immigrants_n_2593915.html ] and Bill O’Reilly [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/5-reasons-hispanics-fox-news_n_2665588.html ] as lazy and government-dependent -- a characterization based on stereotype rather than evidence.
Coulter takes this approach in Wednesday’s column:
So why do Hispanics vote Democratic? Like most legal immigrants since Teddy Kennedy's 1965 Immigration Act, Hispanic immigrants are poor. The poverty rate of second-generation Hispanics is lower than the first -- but the third generation's poverty rate is higher than the second.
Coulter offers no evidence to support the claim. In fact, each generation of Latinos tends to become better off socioeconomically than the one before it [ http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/integration-jimenez.pdf ], according to a 2011 study by the Migration Policy Institute.
“If Republicans think we can have mass amnesty for millions of government-dependent immigrants and become a more libertarian country, they're crazy,” Coulter continues.
In fact, Latinos use less than their fair share of government benefits [ http://www.cbpp.org/files/2-10-12pov.pdf ]. According to a study released this year by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
Non-Hispanic whites accounted for 64 percent of the population in 2010 and received 69 percent of the entitlement benefits. In contrast, Hispanics made up 16 percent of the population but received 12 percent of the benefits, less than their proportionate share -- likely because they are a younger population and also because immigrants, including many legal immigrants, are ineligible for various benefits.
Coulter correctly notes that Latino voters tend to lean liberal [ http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/04/04/v-politics-values-and-religion/ ], both on the size of government and on many social issues. But that doesn’t mean Republicans can’t fare better among Latinos.
George W. Bush, himself a champion of comprehensive immigration reform [ http://www.pewhispanic.org/files/2012/11/2012_Latino_vote_exit_poll_analysis_final_11-07-12.pdf ], won 40 percent of the Latino vote in 2004. Ronald Reagan won 37 percent two decades earlier.
Observers generally agree that Mitt Romney’s dismal 27 percent of the Hispanic vote was owed to the hardline immigration positions he staked out during the hard-fought GOP primary [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/latino-voters-election-2012_n_2085922.html ]. Doubling down on those positions, as Coulter advocates, isn’t likely to boost Latino support for the Republican Party.
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/ann-coulter-lashes-out-republicans-latinos-immigration-reform_n_2733266.html [with comments]
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Lone Star Blues
Kelsey Dake
By RICHARD PARKER
Published: February 19, 2013
AUSTIN, Tex.
THE 2012 presidential race in Texas might as well have been in Mexico, so little did the Democrats campaign for the state’s 38 electoral votes [ http://www.sos.state.tx.us/about/newsreleases/2012/121712.shtml ].
Yet during a fund-raising swing on a sweltering July day, President Obama let a political secret out of the bag for his rich donors. “You’re not considered one of the battleground states,” he said [ http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/07/obama-texas-will-be-battleground-state-soon/1 ], “although that’s going to be changing soon.”
Democrats are champing at the bit to turn Texas blue. “People are now looking at Texas and saying: ‘That’s where we need to make our next investment. That’s where the next opportunity lies,’ ” one Democratic state senator told Politico. There’s even optimistic chatter of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s capturing [ http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2013/01/clinton-could-win-texas.html ] the state in 2016 if she runs for president.
But it’s going to take more than money or a Clinton. The only constant in politics may be change, but turning Texas blue — or even purple — is going to be a lot harder than most folks imagine. It will require hard work, political infrastructure and a vision of Hispanic voters that goes beyond immigration reform.
Texas was reliably Democratic for more than a century, from Reconstruction through the Lyndon B. Johnson years. Johnson ably — albeit cynically and sometimes illegally — harnessed the Hispanic vote to keep his more reactionary opponents off balance in primaries.
But the liberal 1960s drove white conservatives into what was once a minuscule Republican Party. With the help of Rust Belt migrants in the 1970s, Republican strength grew under John G. Tower, Bill Clements and the elder George Bush.
In 1994, Mr. Bush’s son George pushed that indomitable Texas Democrat, Ann W. Richards, from the governor’s office, after which his consigliere, Karl Rove, engineered a generation of Republican domination. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party, though strong in southern Texas and in some cities, withered as a statewide organization.
Now, though, Democrats are hopeful that the immovable object — the overwhelmingly male, conservative Republican power structure — is about to meet the unstoppable force: demography. Texas is home to 9.5 million Hispanics [ http://www.infoplease.com/spot/hhmcensus1.html ], about 38 percent [ http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/10/01/latinos-in-the-2012-election-texas/ ] of the population, just seven points behind the non-Hispanic white population. In 2020, Hispanics will begin to surpass the white population and will outright dwarf it in 2030.
But the Hispanic vote is not monolithically Democratic, nationally or in Texas. In 2004, 40 percent of Texas Hispanics backed George W. Bush for re-election. In 2010, Rick Perry got almost 40 percent of the Hispanic vote statewide, and nearly half in South Texas, the purported base for Democratic growth.
Then there is the problem of Democratic infrastructure: there hasn’t been one for years. In 1995, Ron Kirk [ http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Ex-Dallas-Mayor-Kirk-quietly-drives-U-S-trade-1704969.php ] forged a coalition of Hispanics and African-Americans to become the first black mayor of Dallas, but he could not do the same statewide; he lost a Senate race to John Cornyn in 2002.
That same year, the millionaire oilman Tony Sanchez, a Democrat running for governor, had money, a Mexican heritage and an ability to appeal to Mexican-American voters. For it, he still lost 35 percent of the Hispanic vote to Mr. Perry, who claimed the governor’s mansion.
But the biggest problem is voter participation. Only about half of eligible Hispanic voters show up nationwide; this edged up slightly in 2012 to 53 percent. In Texas, just 4.1 million Hispanics are registered to vote, and only about half of them make it to the voting booth.
Why? There are a variety of explanations, including cultural ones. It’s pretty easy to feel disenfranchised by a political system that talks about you as an “immigrant” or, worse, an “alien.”
The Democrats have a few things working for them. The national Republican Party and its immigrant-bashing tendencies is one, of course. And it has hitched its outreach wagon to two senators — Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas — who are Cuban-American, a difference that may seem minor to non-Hispanics but that significantly diminishes their appeal to Texas’ Latinos, who are primarily of Mexican heritage. (Indeed, the Canadian-born Mr. Cruz actually got fewer Hispanic votes [ http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/11/13/1178721/poll-latino-republican-sen-elect-ted-cruz-received-no-boost-from-latinos/ ] last year than Mr. Cornyn did in 2008.)
It may be that the demographic wave makes all this beside the point, and that increasing turnout among Hispanics just a little might make a big difference.
But that requires ground troops, voter education and turnout efforts over a multicycle campaign. It also requires that Democrats stop assuming they’re going to lose. “If we start treating this as a purple state,” said Matt Glazer of the activist group Progress Texas, “we would be one that much sooner.”
That also assumes that Republicans continue on their present, self-destructive course. If they moderate their anti-immigrant message, they might cut into the gains that optimistic Democrats are taking for granted.
Aside from get-out-the-vote efforts and pro-immigrant posturing, the Democrats need to develop a better understanding of Texas Hispanics as more than just immigrants. Their No. 1 issue: jobs. Polling and focus groups by the University of Texas political scientist Daron Shaw suggest that economic themes — including education and entrepreneurship — may draw Hispanics to vote in greater numbers. But as long as both parties see voters as mere immigrants, he said, “Hispanics are going to look at the candidate as just another politician.”
It has been 36 years since the Democrats last captured Texas in a presidential election. It could well happen again. But to make it happen, they have to look beyond demographics and start focusing on the hard, long road of party building first.
Richard Parker [ http://www.parker-media.com/richard-parker/ ] writes for McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
© 2013 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/opinion/getting-texas-to-go-democratic.html
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Georgia Legislators Want To Change 17th Amendment, End U.S. Senate Elections
Georgia state Rep. Kevin Cooke
By John Celock
Posted: 02/20/2013 1:00 pm EST | Updated: 02/20/2013 2:35 pm EST
A group of Republican state lawmakers in Georgia wants to end direct election of United States senators and return the power to state legislatures.
The resolution [ http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en-US/display/20132014/HR/273 ] calls on Congress to begin the process of repealing the 17th Amendment, passed in 1913, which provided for the direct election of senators. State Rep. Kevin Cooke (R-Carrollton), the main sponsor of the resolution, told the Douglas County Sentinel [ http://www.douglascountysentinel.com/view/full_story/21749704/article-State-reps-propose-repealing-17th-Amendment ] that moving the power back to state legislatures would allow for the original intent of the Constitution.
“It’s a way we would again have our voice heard in the federal government, a way that doesn’t exist now,” Cooke told the paper. “This isn’t an idea of mine. This was what James Madison was writing. This would be a restoration of the Constitution, about how government is supposed to work.”
In the text of the resolution, Cooke cites Madison's writing in the Federalist Papers, specifying that members of the Senate would be "elected absolutely and exclusively by state legislatures."
The resolution says the 17th Amendment has prevented state governments from having a say in federal government and that repealing the amendment would hold U.S. senators accountable to the states. The federal government has grown in "size and scope," it says, in the century since the amendment was adopted.
The 17th Amendment was adopted out of concern for state-level corruption influencing Senate elections, which Cooke said would not be the case now.
“It’s the responsibility of each and every citizen to make sure of who gets elected to office, that they’re principled people,” Cooke told the Douglas County Sentinel. “You can look at the current state of ethics and transparency. Anybody has the ability to look at money being donated to campaigns. It would keep anything from being done out of the public eye.”
Changing the 17th Amendment has been a favorite cause of libertarians in recent years. During his race last year, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) called for the repeal [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/12/jeff-flake-arizona-senate_n_1771064.html ] of the 17th Amendment. New Hampshire lawmakers voted last year against a bill that would allow [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/14/new-hampshire-senate-elections_n_1149279.html ] for the state legislature to choose who would be allowed to run for Senate seats. A similar bill is currently pending [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/04/frank-niceley-tennessee_n_2616266.html ] in the Tennessee Legislature.
Former New Hampshire state Rep. Bob Kingsbury (R-Laconia) told The Huffington Post in 2012 that his bill would allow a return to the Constitution's "original intent [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/14/new-hampshire-senate-elections_n_1149279.html ]" while Tennessee state Sen. Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains) told knoxnews.com [ http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/jan/31/bill-would-put-us-senate-party-nominations-in-of/ ] that it was "time to try something different."
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/georgia-17th-amendment-senate-elections_n_2725595.html [with comments]
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North Carolina Lawmakers Kill Medical Marijuana Bill After It Receives Annoying Level Of Support
02/22/2013
The GOP-controlled North Carolina House Rules Committee killed a medical marijuana legalization bill [ http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2013/Bills/House/HTML/H84v0.html ] earlier this week, after lawmakers complained that backers of the measure were bothering them with requests for their support.
[...]
"We did it to be done with it, so people could move on for the session," said [ http://www.wral.com/house-committee-kills-medical-marijuana-bill/12131140/ ] Rep. Paul "Skip" Stam, R-Wake. He said lawmakers we're being "harassed" with phone calls and emails about medical marijuana.
[...]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/north-carolina-medical-marijuana_n_2741662.html [with comments]
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Donald Trump Threatens Macy's Protest Founder With $25 Million Lawsuit
Donald Trump has threatened the founder of the protest against his Macy's deal with a $25 million lawsuit. Here, Trump attends the crowning ceremony of the new Miss USA at Trump Tower on Jan. 9, 2013, in New York City.
(Andy Kropa/Getty Images)
By Cavan Sieczkowski
Posted: 02/19/2013 6:43 pm EST | Updated: 02/20/2013 7:53 am EST
Alleging "mob-like bullying and coercion," Donald Trump has threatened to file a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the man who spearheaded a campaign against Trump's partnership with department store giant Macy's.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Trump has gone after Angelo Carusone, organizer of the online campaign known as "Dump Trump [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/12/macys-dump-trump-petition_n_2116619.html ]," with a lawsuit for "not less than" $25 million to stop the protest of Trump's Macy's deal [ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/donald-trump-threatens-sue-macy-422135 ]. Trump's lawyer called Carusone's efforts "malicious."
“Rather than simply engage in lawful protest, you have apparently made it your mission to interfere with and intentionally disrupt Mr. Trump’s long-standing and well-established business relationship with Macy’s as well as his contractual dealings with other third parties through mob-like bullying and coercion,” reads a cease-and-desist letter from attorney Alan Garten that was obtained by THR.
Carusone started the SignOn.org petition [ http://signon.org/sign/urge-macys-to-dump-donald ] against Trump in November, after Macy's took on Trump as a spokesperson. He claims Trump does not represent the "magic of Macy's" with his sexist behavior, exportation of American jobs overseas, denial of climate change and support for Obama birther conspiracies.
Despite the threat of legal action [ http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/19/donald-trump-threatens-creator-of-dump-trump-campaign-with-25-million-lawsuit/ ], Carusone insists that Trump will not stop him.
“Donald Trump’s attempt to silence me will not work. I've dealt with enough bullies and know better than to succumb to intimidation,” he said, via a press release. “By threatening me, Trump is only reinforcing the point that we've been trying to get Macy's to recognize: [T]hat Trump's brand is consequence-free bullying and chicanery; it shouldn't be rewarded."
Carusone went on to say, "I was also surprised to hear Trump's counsel claim that Macy's is supportive of Trump's legal action. Trump doesn't have credibility, so I don't put too much stock in the claim, but I really hope Macy's isn't encouraging these kinds of threats against its own customers.”
The "Dump Trump" petition, which has since garnered more than 680,000 signatures, hasn't managed to deter Macy's [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/15/donald-trump-macys-terry-lundgren-petition_n_2137035.html ], however. “Please understand and appreciate that Macy's marketing and merchandising offerings are not representative of any political position,” Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren previously wrote in a letter. “Ours is a free society compromised [sic] [actually, in this instance,, not 'sic', but instead unintentionally correct] of a wide range of viewpoints.”
Demonstrators stepped out in New York City to protest Macy's decision to back Trump [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/21/trump-macys-dump-the-trump_n_2170136.html ] in November.
Recently, Trump has been handing out lawsuits like candy. He sued former Miss USA contestant Sheena Monnin [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/18/donald-trump-legal-sheena-monnin-miss-pennsylvania-usa-2012_n_2321482.html ] in June for calling the beauty pageant "rigged" and he is allegedly suing comedian Bill Maher for $5 million [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/04/donald-trump-sues-bill-maher-over-monkey-sex_n_2616096.html ] after "proving" his biological father is not an orangutan.
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/donald-trump-macys-lawsuit-protester-25-million_n_2718916.html [with comments]
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Patricia Kunkle Claims She Was Fired From Q-Mark Inc. For Voting For Obama
02/20/13 11:29 AM ET EST
DAYTON, Ohio -- A southwest Ohio woman who says she was fired because she voted for President Barack Obama filed a lawsuit against her former employer.
Patricia Kunkle's lawsuit accuses Dayton-based defense contractor Q-Mark Inc. and its president of telling employees that if Obama was re-elected, then his supporters would be the first to be fired, The Dayton Daily News ( http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/crime-law/woman-claims-she-was-fired-for-voting-for-obamaket/nWSk3/ [ http://bit.ly/YxE10A ]) reported.
Brian Wildermuth, an attorney for the company president, said in a statement that Kunkle was laid off for economic reasons – "nothing more."
"I am sure you and your readers are familiar with the ongoing uncertainties regarding defense spending, and thus the economic environment confronting defense contractors," he said. "The allegation that Q-Mark discharged Ms. Kunkle because of her vote is simply false."
Kunkle, of Kettering, has an unlisted phone number and her Dayton attorney didn't immediately respond to a request to speak with her.
The lawsuit, filed in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court on Feb. 14, seeks a minimum of $25,000. It says that Kunkle's vote came up in conversation on Nov. 7, the day after the election, and that she was fired Nov. 9. The suit claims that the company's president and owner, Roberta Gentile, said the firing was in the "best interest of the company."
The lawsuit said that Gentile engaged Q-Mark employees in conversations aimed at discovering their political affiliations and repeatedly disparaged Obama supporters.
Kunkle started as a temporary worker with the small company in April and became full-time in May, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit said that she performed her duties "efficiently and effectively," and never received any disciplinary action or negative performance evaluations.
Defense attorneys have until mid-March to respond to the lawsuit.
Information from: Dayton Daily News, http://www.daytondailynews.com
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/patricia-kunkle-obama_n_2725173.html [with comments]
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NY1 Exclusive: School Community Outraged Over Math Problems That Reference Slaves Dying, Being Beaten
Parents, school officials and other educators are expressing shock over a homework assignment that went out to young students at a Manhattan elementary school that asked students to answer math problems about slaves being beaten and dying. NY1's Lindsey Christ filed the following report.
By: Lindsey Christ
Updated 12:25 AM February 22, 2013
It was quite a homework assignment that a fourth grade teacher at P.S. 59 wanted to give her students last Thursday.
It consisted of a few math problems, but Aziza Harding, the student teacher who was asked to photocopy the worksheet, couldn't believe a couple of the questions.
"I'm just like, 'Wow, this is really inappropriate,'" she said.
Question 1 on the sheet, entitled "Slavery Word Problems Homework", was written as a matter-of-fact subtraction problem. It asked:
"In a slave ship, there can be 3,799 slaves. One day, the slaves took over the ship. 1,897 are dead. How many slaves are alive?"
The second question had multiple parts multiplication and addition. It said:
"One slave got whipped five times a day. How many times did he get whipped in a month (31 days)? Another slave got whipped nine times a day. How many times did he get whipped in a month? How many times did the two slaves get whipped together in one month?"
"It shouldn't be a homework assignment, and I did not want to make copies of this," Harding said.
The teacher who had told Harding to copy the assignment was in a meeting, so Harding made the decision on her own to photocopy another worksheet instead. She left the teacher a note explaining that she wasn't comfortable with the first assignment and hoped to talk.
Then, Harding turned to Charlton McIlwain, one of her professors at NYU, where she is a graduate student.
"My first thought was, I don't believe it," McIlwain said.
McIlwain contacted NY1, and we eventually showed the worksheet to the principal of P.S. 59. She later wrote to us, saying, "I am appalled by this."
But what's perhaps even more shocking: it turns out this particular worksheet has already gone home, with another fourth-grade class, in January, and the questions had been written by students in that class, as part of their instruction on slavery.
"You're ostensibly teaching or trying to teach history or call attention to a particular historical moment, yet there's no explanation, there's no education, there's no teaching going on," McIlwain said. "And so, for someone who is probably, at nine years of age, has maybe heard of slavery but probably doesn't know what it is really like, their first, perhaps, and most lasting impression about this historical event comes in a very abstracted, nonchalant type of thing that they have no real sense of connection to."
Parents and caregivers were upset when NY1 showed them the questions outside of P.S. 59 Thursday.
"It just sounds to me that whoever assigned this or gave these out has a personal issue or something," said Julia Morales, a babysitter. "This is unacceptable. If my kid, if I had a kid, I'd be so ticked off. I would not be happy with this."
"It's a little graphically written, I would say. Quite graphically written, especially number 2," said Kristen Markoplis, a parent. "Obviously, I'm sure you heard that before."
The Department of Education released a statement, saying, "This is obviously unacceptable and we will take appropriate disciplinary action against these teachers. The Chancellor spoke to the principal, and she has already taken steps to ensure this does not happen again."
The teacher who created the assignment has been at P.S. 59 for seven years. The teacher who asked Harding to photocopy the worksheet for her students has been teaching in city schools for five years, but is new to P.S. 59.
The principal said she'll be meeting with families and all staff members will undergo related training.
The whistleblowing student teacher said she hopes that P.S. 59 students will get help understanding why slavery is a much more serious issue than these simple math problems.
"Instead of these kids being desensitized to this type of violence, that they have a general idea that, 'Wow, this was a terrible thing that happened to a group of people for over 300 years,'" Harding said.
NY1 took the worksheet to the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn, where people were equally as shocked about the worksheet's contents.
"There's already racism still going on, and with it being Black History Month and hatred and stuff like that, it's teaching them at a young age," said one.
"That child is hearing some type of conversation that's totally inappropriate, but exposing those other children to whatever foolishness is going on at home, that's a travesty," said another.
Those who NY1 spoke with in Fort Greene wanted to see the adults involved held accountable.
After seeing NY1's story, State Senator Simcha Felder, who is the chairman of the New York City Education Sub-Committee, emailed a statement that read, "While the city, state and unions are busy haggling over teacher evaluations, New York City's students are being subjected to reprehensible and irresponsible educational materials. I am calling for the immediate removal of these two teachers."
Felder also commended the student teacher for coming forward.
© 2013 NY1 News and Time Warner Cable Inc.
http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/177473/ny1-exclusive--school-community-outraged-over-math-problems-that-reference-slaves-dying--being-beaten
===
'Obama's Sequester?' Pure Nonsense
02/21/2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jared-bernstein/republicans-sequester_b_2735912.html [with comments]
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Beltway Brain Fever: People Who Agree With Obama But Have to Pretend Otherwise
2/20/13
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/beltway-brain-fever-sequester-edition.html [with comments]
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David Brooks, Obama Plan Birther, Repents! [Updated]
February 22, 2013
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/david-brooks-obama-plan-birther.html [with comments]
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Sequester Deadline Brings Talk Of Smoking Machines, Video Games And Free Phones
02/21/2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/sequester-deadline_n_2727516.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
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Fear of U.S. Cuts Grows in States Where Aid Flows
February 22, 2013
*
Related
G.O.P. Is Resisting Obama Pressure on Tax Increase (February 21, 2013)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/21/us/politics/gop-resisting-obama-on-tax-increase.html
*
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/23/us/politics/many-states-say-cuts-would-burden-fragile-recovery.html
--
Alan Simpson and Bernie Madoff
By Paul Frugman
February 21, 2013, 10:59 am
As I’ve written on previous occasions [ http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/madoff-explains-everything/ ], the Bernie Madoff phenomenon helped me understand a lot about the persistence of bad economics. Madoff flourished through “affinity fraud”; his investors thought he was their kind of guy, so they didn’t look hard at how he was allegedly making money. And I realized that a similar phenomenon explains the enduring popularity of goldbugs and fiscal doomsayers — including, say, the Wall Street Journal editorial page — despite years of being wrong about everything; their devotees, who consist in large part of cranky old white men, see kindred spirits and can’t see past that to the consistently terrible analysis.
But it’s not just the goldbugs who benefit from affinity fraud, a point driven home by Ezra Klein’s piece on Alan Simpson [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/20/the-problem-with-alan-simpson/ ]. Simpson is, demonstrably, grossly ignorant on precisely the subjects on which he is treated as a guru, not understanding the finances of Social Security, the truth about life expectancy, and much more. He is also a reliably terrible forecaster, having predicted an imminent fiscal crisis — within two years — um, two years ago [ http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/03/08/bowles-simpson-fiscal-crisis-could-come-within-2-years/ ]. Yet he remains not only respectable among the Beltway crowd; as Ezra says, he’s lionized in a way that looks from the outside like a clear violation of journalistic norms:
For reasons I’ve never quite understood, the rules of reportorial neutrality don’t apply when it comes to the deficit. On this one issue, reporters are permitted to openly cheer a particular set of highly controversial policy solutions. At Tuesday’s Playbook breakfast, for instance, Mike Allen, as a straightforward and fair a reporter as you’ll find, asked Simpson and Bowles whether they believed Obama would do “the right thing” on entitlements — with “the right thing” clearly meaning “cut entitlements.”
So what is it that makes Simpson the figure he is? Clearly, it’s an affinity thing: never mind his obvious lack of knowledge, his ludicrous track record, reporters trust and idolize Simpson because he’s their kind of guy.
And think about what it says about them that their kind of guy is this cantankerous, potty-mouthed individual, who evidently feels not a bit of empathy for those less fortunate.
© 2013 The New York Times Company
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/21/alan-simpson-and-bernie-madoff/ [with comments]
--
Stacking the Deck: The Phony 'Fix the Debt' Campaign
Reuters/Mark Blinch
The Editors
February 20, 2013
The least controversial lines in President Obama’s State of the Union address should have been his assertions that “deficit reduction alone is not an economic plan” and that “we can’t just cut our way to prosperity.” Common sense, right? Wrong—if you’re getting your economic analysis from the GOP, more than a few Democrats and much of the media. Even Obama, in the same speech, paid homage to the safety-net-shredding strategies of the Simpson-Bowles deficit-reduction commission. As Paul Krugman reminds us, “Inside the Beltway Simpson and Bowles have become sacred figures. But the people doing that elevation are the same people who told us that Paul Ryan was the answer to our fiscal prayers.”
Who does that elevating? Meet the Campaign to Fix the Debt, the billionaire-funded project that uses Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles as figureheads for a fearmongering campaign to convince Americans that the deficits the United States has run throughout its history have suddenly metastasized into “a cancer that will destroy this country from within.” It is the latest incarnation of Wall Street mogul Pete Peterson’s long campaign to get Congress and the White House to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid while providing tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.
Peterson has poured an estimated half-billion dollars into schemes so unpopular, so economically unsound and so obviously self-serving that even conservative politicians run from them, as the implosion of the Simpson-Bowles commission illustrates. So Peterson has repurposed his project into what Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) Global Economy Project director Sarah Anderson calls “a Trojan horse” for “filthy rich tax-dodging hypocrites.” With a stable of CEOs, Peterson timed the launch of this new $60 million campaign to exploit the wrangling over the fiscal cliff, the debt ceiling and the sequester. Fix the Debt has signed up prominent Democrats and Republicans as spokespeople (many of whom have undisclosed financial ties to firms that lobby on deficit-related issues) and launched “astroturf” campaigns to create the fantasy that young people and seniors are concerned enough about debts and deficits to support Peterson’s austerity agenda.
Quite a few of those CEOs head firms that pay a negative tax rate, like Honeywell, GE, Boeing and Verizon. And as the Public Accountability Initiative notes, many lobby to preserve costly tax breaks for the wealthy (including the “carried interest” tax loophole that made Peterson a rich man) and to prevent a tax on Wall Street speculation. Fix the Debt–tied firms are even pushing for a “territorial tax system” that will increase the debt by $1 trillion over ten years and encourage the offshoring of American jobs. Why would supposed debt slayers favor this boondoggle? Because, IPS calculates, at least sixty-three Fix the Debt firms would divvy up a $134 billion windfall.
As Fix the Debt ramps up its campaign and seeks any opening in this period of fiscal fighting, progressives must fight back. That’s why The Nation and the Center for Media and Democracy—which collaborated on the award-winning ALEC Exposed ?project—are focusing on Peterson and his austerity project with this series of articles. Their publication coincides with the launch of an indispensable new resource on CMD’s SourceWatch.org. The goal: to expose Fix the Debt, its architects and its bankrupt economics before this cynical campaign “fixes” American fiscal policy, making the 99 percent pay to make the wealthiest 1 percent a whole lot wealthier.
*
In This Forum
John Nichols: “The Austerity Agenda: An Electoral Loser”
http://www.thenation.com/article/173021/austerity-agenda-electoral-loser
Lisa Graves: “Pete Peterson’s Long History of Deficit Scaremongering”
http://www.thenation.com/article/173020/pete-petersons-long-history-deficit-scaremongering
Mary Bottari: “Pete Peterson’s Puppet Populists”
http://www.thenation.com/article/173018/pete-petersons-puppet-populists
Dean Baker: “Fix the Debt’s Fuzzy Math”
http://www.thenation.com/article/173016/fix-debts-fuzzy-math
Related
Obama Takes a Stand Against Austerity
He may not have achieved the full FDR, but the president’s State of the Union speech, like his Inaugural, displayed a welcome progressive spirit.
http://www.thenation.com/article/172901/obama-takes-stand-against-austerity
*
Copyright © 2012 The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/article/173022/stacking-deck-phony-fix-debt-campaign [with comments]
--
How the ultra-rich are pulling away from the ‘merely’ rich
February 19, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/19/how-the-ultra-rich-are-pulling-away-from-the-merely-rich/ [with comments]
--
Inequality Is Much Worse Than You Think
02/07/2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/les-leopold/inequality-is-much-worse-_b_2633191.html [with comments]
--
Fiscal trouble ahead for most future retirees
“If everything had stayed status quo .?.?. I might be doing what I wanted to do today,” says James G. Marzano, 60, of Tampa, who lost his job at a telecommunications firm in 2002. “But, as it stands, I am nowhere near ready to retire.”
February 16. 2013
For the first time since the New Deal, a majority of Americans are headed toward a retirement in which they will be financially worse off than their parents, jeopardizing a long era of improved living standards for the nation’s elderly, according to a growing consensus of new research.
The Great Recession and the weak recovery darkened the retirement picture for significant numbers of Americans. And the full extent of the damage is only now being grasped by experts and policymakers.
There was already mounting concern for the long-term security of the country’s rapidly graying population. Then the downturn destroyed 40 percent of Americans’ personal wealth [ http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-06-11/business/35461572_1_median-balance-median-income-families ], while creating a long period of high unemployment and an environment in which savings accounts pay almost no interest. Although the surging stock market is approaching record highs, most of these gains are flowing to well-off Americans who already are in relatively good shape for retirement.
Liberal and conservative economists worry that the decline in retirement prospects marks a historic shift in a country that previously has fostered generations of improvement in the lives of the elderly. It is likely to have far-reaching implications, as an increasing number of retirees may be forced to double up with younger relatives or turn to social-service programs for support.
“This is the first time that Americans are going to be relatively worse off than their parents or grandparents in old age,” said Teresa Ghilarducci, director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School for Social Research.
Advocates for older Americans are calling on the federal government to bolster Social Security benefits or to create a new layer of retirement help for future retirees. Others want employers and the government to do more to encourage retirement savings and to discourage workers from using the money for non-retirement purposes.
But those calls have been overwhelmed by concern about the nation’s fast-growing long-term debt, which has left many policy¬makers focused on ways to trim Social Security and other retirement benefits rather than increase them.
[...]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/fiscal-trouble-ahead-for-most-future-retirees/2013/02/16/ae8c7350-5905-11e2-88d0-c4cf65c3ad15_story.html [with comments]
--
Minimum wage raise widely supported, won't hurt jobs
The Rachel Maddow Show
February 21, 2013
Rachel Maddow reports on the widespread support among American voters for increasing the minimum wage and the published empirical research that shows, contrary to the baseless assertions of House Speaker John Boehner, that increasing the minimum wage does not hurt job creation.
© 2013 NBCNews.com
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-rachel-maddow-show/50899561 [show links at http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/21/17050292-links-for-the-221-trms (with comment)]
--
How American support for minimum wage hike can overcome GOP obstruction
The Rachel Maddow Show
February 21, 2013
Former Rep. Barney Frank talks with Rachel Maddow about the widespread support among American voters for the minimum wage and explains how increases were possible in the past when Republican obstruction seems so challenging this time.
© 2013 NBCNews.com
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-rachel-maddow-show/50899693 [show links at http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/21/17050292-links-for-the-221-trms (with comment)]
===
Graph of the day: The incredible shrinking Medicare budget
February 20, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/20/graph-of-the-day-the-incredible-shrinking-medicare-budget/ [with comments]
--
Big health insurance rate hikes are plummeting
February 22, 2013
The number of double-digit rate increases requested by health insurers has plummeted over the past four years, according to a Friday report [ http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2012/ACA-Research/index.cfm ] from the Obama administration.
Researchers combed through data available from the 15 states that publicly post all requests for rate increases in the individual market. They found that, in 2009, 74 percent of all requests came in above 10 percent. By 2012, that number had fallen to 35 percent. Preliminary data for 2013, which only cover a handful of states, shows 14 percent of rate increases asking for a double-digit bump. Here’s what this looks like in chart form:
[...]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/22/big-health-insurance-rate-hikes-are-plummeting/ [with comments]
--
In Reversal, Florida to Take Health Law’s Medicaid Expansion
February 20, 2013
*
Related
In Turnaround, Governor Wants to Spend in Florida (February 1, 2013)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/us/in-turnaround-governor-wants-to-spend-in-florida.html
*
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/21/us/in-reversal-florida-says-it-will-expand-medicaid-program.html
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U.S. issues final word on essential benefits under "Obamacare"
Feb 20, 2013
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/20/us-usa-healthcare-benefits-idUSBRE91J11M20130220 [with comments]
--
Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us
Feb. 20, 2013
http://healthland.time.com/why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/
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Sen. Leland Yee
Credit Sen.LelandYee
The local state senator's life was threatened recently, and homemade explosives and a loaded firearm were found in the suspect's home this week.
February 15, 2013
REDWOOD CITY, CA -- State Sen. Leland Yee said Thursday that a death threat against him that led to the arrest of a Santa Clara County man [ http://redwoodcity-woodside.patch.com/articles/man-threatens-local-state-senator-s-life-with-homemade-explosives-gun ] will not deter him from moving forward with gun control proposals in the Legislature.
At a news conference at the State Building in San Francisco Thursday morning, Yee said the incident "only further demonstrates the need to address this particular problem."
Yee joined other state senators last week to propose a package of bills aimed at reducing gun violence [ http://sanmateo.patch.com/articles/sen-yee-introduces-assault-weapons-bill ] in California. One bill introduced by Yee would require assault weapons to have a 10-round limit and to only have fixed magazines that must be reloaded one-by-one from the top of the weapon.
The California Highway Patrol Thursday gave more information about Everett Basham, 45, the man arrested Tuesday on suspicion of making the threat against Yee.
Yee received the threat by e-mail about four weeks ago, and said the "very explicit threat on his life" had "deeply concerned him."
"The author of the e-mail specifically stated that if I did not cease our legislative efforts to stop gun violence, that he would assassinate me in or around the Capitol," Yee said. "He stated that he was a trained sniper, and his e-mail detailed certain weapons he possessed."
"This threat was unlike any other I had ever received," he continued. "It was not a racist rant on my ethnicity or culture, but instead it was very deliberate and specific. As a psychologist, I was deeply concerned by the calculating nature of the e-mail."
Investigators eventually tracked it to Basham and served a search warrant at his home in Santa Clara on Tuesday, according to Scott MacGregor, chief of the CHP's Protective Services Division.
Inside the home, located at 3131 Humboldt Ave., authorities found explosive materials and multiple firearms, MacGregor said.
Basham was arrested in Sunnyvale and remains in custody on suspicion of threatening a public official and various crimes related to the explosives and firearms, MacGregor said. No charges have been filed against him yet, a district attorney's office spokesman said this morning.
CHP officials have had to detonate some of the materials found at the home on Humboldt Avenue, and MacGregor said authorities remain at the scene today. He said the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force are among the federal agencies assisting in the investigation.
Yee issued a statement Thursday indicating he has no plans to curtail his legislative efforts toward attempting to curb gun violence.
"I want to make it crystal clear – these threats and any others will not deter me and my colleagues from addressing the critical issues surrounding gun violence," he said. "This case is very troubling, and only further demonstrates the need to address this epidemic."
Yee's latest push for additional gun control measures comes in the wake of the deadly Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn. in December.
President Barack Obama is also pushing for new gun control laws on the federal level, including implementing universal background checks and banning military-style assault weapons.
Yee represents California's 8th state senate district, which includes San Francisco and most of San Mateo County, including Woodside.
Bay City News Service contributed to this report
Copyright © 2013 Patch
http://redwoodcity-woodside.patch.com/articles/yee-says-death-threats-will-not-deter-his-gun-control-efforts [with comments]
--
Joe Heck Walks Back Suggestion That Gabrielle Giffords Was Used As A 'Prop' For Gun Control Advocates
By Nick Wing
Posted: 02/19/2013 6:40 pm EST
Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) on Tuesday was forced to clarify earlier comments [ http://www.ralstonreports.com/blog/radio-talker-says-giffords-being-used-prop-and-rep-joe-heck-agrees ] in which he appeared to agree that former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) had been used during President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech as a "prop" for gun control advocates.
During an interview between the congressman and Alan Stock of KDWN, the conservative radio host called it "nauseating" that Obama had specifically invoked [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/obama-state-of-the-union_n_2647639.html ] Giffords -- who is still recovering from a devastating gunshot wound to the head suffered during a mass shooting in 2011 -- as a reason to bring gun control legislation to a vote in Congress.
She "can't even clap her hands," Stock said. "I think that is just a shameful act by putting her up there as a prop. I'm sorry, I really did."
Heck seconded Stock's claim.
"I agree," he responded. "In the cloud of emotion that's surrounding the unfortunate incident in Connecticut that those that are anti-gun want to use that as their opportunity to try to limit our Second Amendment rights."
Heck later attempted to walk back the claim in a statement to Nevada reporter Jon Ralston [ http://www.ralstonreports.com/blog/radio-talker-says-giffords-being-used-prop-and-rep-joe-heck-agrees ].
"My statement was in reference to the idea of gun control grab coming out of Washington DC," he said. "Of course there is no way that I think that Gabby Giffords is a prop. ... Should I have come to her defense? You know, in a fast-moving interview, in retrospect, I should have said something but I didn't. I was just looking to get past that and talk about gun control in general."
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/joe-heck-gabrielle-giffords_n_2720291.html [with embedded videos, and comments]
--
New data: Whites twice as likely to own guns
(Credit: AP/Philip Kamrass)
A previously unreleased survey shows whites far more likely to own guns, and oppose reform, than blacks or Latinos
By Alex Seitz-Wald
Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013 02:16 PM CST
White Americans are more than twice as likely to own guns as blacks or Latinos, and more likely to oppose gun safety reforms, according to previously unreleased data from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers.
The survey, conducted by the Center for Gun Policy and Research and initially released without racial breakdowns in late January, showed strong support overall [ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/28/poll_finds_strong_support_for_gun_regulations/ ] for many of the proposals being discussed in Congress to limit gun violence. But the researchers broke down the numbers by race this week and shared the results [ http://www.scribd.com/doc/126443352/JHU-gun-survey-results-by-race ] with Salon.
Overall, 22 percent of Americans were found to own guns, while another 11 percent live in homes with someone else who owns guns. Among whites, the number of gun owners is slightly higher, at 26 percent, with an additional 13 percent who live in gun-owning households.
But only 12 percent of African-Americans and 13 percent of Latinos own guns. Just 5 and 7 percent of each ethnic group, respectively, lives in a household with someone else who owns a gun.
Not surprisingly, this translates to a disparity in support for gun control measures, with whites being consistently more opposed to gun control than the other groups. For instance, support for reinstating the assault weapon ban is about 10 percentage points higher among blacks than whites. And 72 percent of blacks support banning possession of assault weapons entirely through a mandatory buyback program, compared to just 54 percent of whites.
African-Americans are also more supportive of laws promoting safe use, such as requiring people to keep their guns locked in a safe while at home, and of proposals to restrict access, such as making people acquire a license from the local police before being able to buy a gun.
Interestingly, this trend reverses when it comes to some proposed criminal justice measures, such as prohibiting someone convicted of a serious crime as a juvenile from owning a gun for 10 years. And asked if people who “display of a gun in a threatening manner excluding self-defense” should be prohibited from owning a firearm for 10 years, just 56 percent of blacks support it, compared to 77 percent of whites.
This is consistent with polling data showing a significant lack of trust in police [ http://www.gallup.com/poll/18958/community-groups-fail-earn-trust.aspx ] among African-Americans when compared to whites, the researchers speculate.
Hispanics, meanwhile, fall somewhere in between, despite their lower gun ownership levels.
“Even though whites are far more likely to report owning guns in their homes than Blacks or Hispanics, we see wide support among whites for policies to reduce gun violence, including banning the sale of military-style, semi-automatic assault weapons and universal background checks,” said Alicia Samuels of Johns Hopkins.
“We’ve looked at these data by gun ownership, political party affiliation, and now race, and we see broad public support for many policies regardless of these factors. Changing our laws to reduce gun violence is not a priority for just one group in society; it’s something it appears that most Americans want to see happen, and soon,” she added.
Many observers have pointed out that the politics of gun reform have shifted dramatically from the late 1990s and early 2000s, when gun politics were seen by some as integral to Al Gore’s presidential defeat. As Nate Cohn noted in the New Republic [ http://www.newrepublic.com/blog/electionate/111151/could-newtown-change-gun-control-politics ], the issue is no longer toxic for Obama because he’s already lost so many of the voters who really care about guns, and is doing just fine without them. Part of that story, of course, is the country’s changing demographics, and Republicans’ increasing isolation as a party of white men.
Copyright © 2013 Salon Media Group, Inc.
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/20/new_data_whites_twice_as_likely_to_own_guns/ [with comments]
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Ted Cruz: 'Obama Is The Most Radical President We've Ever Seen'
By Gabrielle Dunkley
Posted: 02/20/2013 12:56 pm EST | Updated: 02/20/2013 7:14 pm EST
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called President Barack Obama "the most radical president we've ever seen" in a CBN interview published on Wednesday [ http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2013/February/Ted-Cruz-a-Lifeline-for-the-Conservative-Party/ ].
Cruz also targeted [id.] his own party, claiming some Republicans "fail to stand for principle and contributed to getting us in this mess."
Cruz has a history of being critical of the president's position on gun control. In January, he called Obama's gun control proposals "unconstitutional [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/06/ted-cruz-gun-control-unconstitutional_n_2420727.html ]."
Not long after those comments, Cruz stated [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/20/ted-cruz-nra-ad-obama_n_2516156.html ] his support for an NRA ad that called Obama a "hypocrite" and was highly criticized for citing security for the president's daughters.
Cruz's criticism of Obama extended to the president's defense secretary nominee, Republican and former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel. At Hagel's confirmation hearing [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/31/chuck-hagel-hearing_n_2589187.html ] in January, Cruz aggressively probed Hagel for referring to the conflict in Israel as a "sickening slaughter [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/31/ted-cruz-chuck-hagel-_n_2592699.html ]."
The CBN interview was not the first time Cruz has called Obama the most radical president. During a speech videotaped [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oImU3rdC2k (next below)]
near the Republican National Convention last summer he made the same claim to a group of conservatives. He added to that charge by declaring that "I fear for our country" if Obama should win reelection.
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/ted-cruz-obama_n_2724780.html [with embedded video of Cruz's CBN interview, and comments]
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Obama and US Soldiers on Fire! North Korean Propaganda video
Published on Feb 20, 2013 by YourLifeIsPrecious
A new propaganda Video from North Korea. It shows Obama and US Soldiers burning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaNG-DKz5hk [also at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1GU4Sc4OrA , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijy_Am1n4EA and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4m75TT-ymE ]
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Ted Cruz: I’m being silenced!
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX
(Credit: AP/David J. Phillip)
The Tea Party bully plays the victim after critics compare his unsourced attacks on Chuck Hagel to McCarthyism
By Joan Walsh
Wednesday, Feb 20, 2013 12:16 PM CST
Tough-talking freshman Sen. Ted Cruz is attacking critics with a bold tactic: whining. The man who told the world, without evidence, that defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel might have taken money from Hamas or North Korea now complains his critics are trying to “silence” him [ http://www.myfoxaustin.com/story/21253953/senator-cruz-tours-leander-weapons-manufacture ] – but it won’t work.
“Washington has a long tradition of trying to hurl insults to silence those who they don’t like what they’re saying,” said Cruz.
Cruz made his comments at a visit to a Texas gun maker that manufactures assault weapons for the civilian market. “He’s our type of guy,” kvelled the firm’s marketing manager. Indeed.
It’s true that critics from Chris Matthews to Sen. Barbara Boxer have heard more than an echo of Joe McCarthy in Cruz’s evidence-free attacks on Hagel. In the New York Times Saturday, Boxer compared Cruz’s dark insinuations against Hagel to the Wisconsin senator’s unsourced tirades against alleged Communists in the 1950s.
“It was really reminiscent of a different time and place, when you said, ‘I have here in my pocket a speech you made on such and such a date,’ and of course, nothing was in the pocket,” Boxer said. “It was reminiscent of some bad times.”
Of course, Tea Party darling Allen West copied McCarthy far more directly in 2011, when he charged that “78 to 81? Democrats in Congress were members of the Communist Party. (McCarthy used to make up numbers, too, most famously having a list of 205 Communists in the State Department.) But West was roundly denounced, and he lost his Florida seat in 2012. Cruz is somewhat more dangerous.
Salon’s Alex Seitz-Wald makes a great comparison [ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/20/the_coming_rand_paul_ted_cruz_brawl/ (at {linked in} http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84818801 {and following})] between Cruz and the Senate’s other Tea Party extremist with big national ambitions, Kentucky’s Rand Paul. (There are questions about Cruz’s eligibility to run for president, because he was born in Canada to American citizens, but his office insists he’s “a U.S. citizen by birth [ http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/cruz-draws-presidential-buzz-but-is-he-eligible-85873.html ]” while disavowing presidential ambitions. Have at it, birthers!) Where the unpolished Paul, a sketchily credentialed ophthalmologist, always seems a little unready for the national spotlight, the Ivy League Cruz is impeccably credentialed and varnished. A Harvard Law graduate, he clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist and specialized in Supreme Court litigation before becoming Texas solicitor general in 2003. His wife works for Goldman Sachs. That’s not the biography of a working-class hero. It shouldn’t even be the biography of a Tea Party hero, except the supposedly populist revolt was always a front for the corporate elite.
Cruz’s grandstanding may be hurting him even with conservative GOP colleagues. Sen. John McCain famously upbraided him for impugning Hagel’s character and patriotism last week. An anonymous Republican called him “Jim DeMint without the charm” in a conversation with columnist Ruth Marcus [ http://www.statesman.com/news/news/opinion/cruz-raising-eyebrows-in-senate/nWRxt/ ]. He may also be Joe McCarthy without the charm. McCarthy won a national following because he seemed to speak for regular working-class Joes in his campaign against the State Department, which was also, to an extent, a campaign against the Ivy League elites Cruz himself represents.
McCarthy followed the path of Al Smith, who moved from New Deal innovator to anti-FDR red-baiter after Roosevelt beat the first Irish Catholic presidential candidate for the 1932 Democratic nomination. There was a common-folks appeal to McCarthy’s crusade – sadly, my Irish Catholic immigrant grandparents loved him — with groups like the Catholic War Veterans backing both his anti-Communist vendetta as well as New Deal programs like Social Security.
Cruz doesn’t seem to carry such weight with Latinos. He won only 35 percent of the Latino vote in 2012 [ http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/11/13/1178721/poll-latino-republican-sen-elect-ted-cruz-received-no-boost-from-latinos/ ], less than his colleague Sen. John Cornyn, who won 36 percent in 2010 (but he did outperform Mitt Romney, who only won 29 percent of Texas Latinos). Republicans are going to have to understand that Latinos have become a solidly Democratic constituency not because there are so many Latino Democratic politicians (there are more than in the GOP, but still not enough) but because they support Democratic policies on economic and social issues.
Cruz likely has far more appeal with the type of older white working-class voter that backed McCarthy than with the emerging Latino electorate. His efforts to tank even Marco Rubio’s cautious immigration reform proposals will likely make white Nativists more Cruz-friendly than Latinos in the months to come.
Of course, bullies like Cruz have a long tradition of playing the victim. When Michele Bachmann, the Tea Party’s last incarnation of Joe McCarthy, accused Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, she and her allies likewise claimed persecution at the hands of her detractors (which also included McCain). “It’s really an effort to demonize and take down, if they can, a formidable political adversary in Michele Bachmann,” anti-Muslim hysteric Frank Gaffney claimed at the time.
Cruz now wears Bachmann’s mantle, and he wears it nicely. Playing the persecuted, he challenged reporters to at least investigate Hagel a little bit while they’re attacking him.
“A lot of media attention has been focused on the attacks leveled on me and I would encourage all of you if you want to write stories on that great, knock yourself out, but I would ask for every 10 stories you write, attacking me, perhaps write one story on the substance of Chuck Hagel’s record,” suggested Cruz.
That’s good advice. Because if they do, they’ll find no substance to Cruz’s charges in Hagel’s “record,” but a lot of substance to charges that he’s a 21st century Joe McCarthy in Cruz’s.
Copyright © 2013 Salon Media Group, Inc.
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/20/ted_cruz_i%e2%80%99m_being_silenced/ [with comments]
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North Korea video of nuclear attack on US city - dream of nuclear war
Published on Feb 6, 2013 by YourLifeIsPrecious
North Korean dreams of destruction of USA while "We are the World" is playing.
+++ ENGLISH TRANSLATION +++
Last night, I had such a wonderful dream. I found myself rising high into space riding the "Unha 9" rocket. In happiness and excitement, the spaceship "Kwangmyongsong" separated, and was flying into the grand and endless space. From onboard, I could see beautiful colors and stark contrast [of the outside]. I was about to press the button to take a picture as I was heading toward our perfectly green earth, a shining star in the midst of the darkness. Suddenly, through the camera lens, the image of the unification flag blowing over our one unified country crops up. Even I weep as I hold tightly to that camera, concerns rushing over me. In America, I can see black smoke. It seems like the devil's nest that habitually caused wars of invasion and persistence are finally burning under the fire that I have caused. The free and peaceful world and the magnificent and awe-striking space seem to be blessing our spaceship "Kwangmyongsong". Dear viewers, think about this. Korea's spaceship flying through space, to the backdrop of the brightly-lit sun and space. I am certain that my dream will come true. Even the complete ending of the imperialists schemes. Seeing our Bakedu Mountain country prospering strongly under reunification, they will not be able to prevent our people from going forward towards a final victory.
+++
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiFmlEbSdZg [also at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK8zQIsMmnk and, without sound, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdrViseR8RQ ]
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Is Senator Ted Cruz our new McCarthy?
Photograph by Lauren Lancaster
Posted by Jane Mayer
February 22, 2013
Last week, Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s prosecutorial style of questioning Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee for Defense Secretary, came so close to innuendo that it raised eyebrows in Congress, even among his Republican colleagues. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, called Cruz’s inquiry into Hagel’s past associations “out of bounds, quite frankly.” The Times reported [ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/16/us/politics/ted-cruz-runs-counter-to-courtly-ways-of-the-senate.html?pagewanted=all (at {linked in} http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84677529 {and following})] that Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, rebuked Cruz for insinuating, without evidence, that Hagel may have collected speaking fees from North Korea. Some Democrats went so far as to liken Cruz, who is a newcomer to the Senate, to a darkly divisive predecessor, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, whose anti-Communist crusades devolved into infamous witch hunts. Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, stopped short of invoking McCarthy’s name, but there was no mistaking her allusion when she talked about being reminded of “a different time and place, when you said, ‘I have here in my pocket a speech you made on such-and-such a date,’ and of course there was nothing in the pocket.”
Boxer’s analogy may have been more apt than she realized. Two and a half years ago, Cruz gave a stem-winder of a speech at a Fourth of July weekend political rally in Austin, Texas, in which he accused the Harvard Law School of harboring a dozen Communists on its faculty when he studied there. Cruz attended Harvard Law School from 1992 until 1995. His spokeswoman didn’t respond to a request to discuss the speech.
Cruz made the accusation while speaking to a rapt ballroom audience during a luncheon at a conference called “Defending the American Dream,” sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, a non-profit political organization founded and funded in part by the billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch. Cruz greeted the audience jovially, but soon launched an impassioned attack on President Obama, whom he described as “the most radical” President “ever to occupy the Oval Office.” (I was covering the conference and kept the notes.)
He then went on to assert that Obama, who attended Harvard Law School four years ahead of him, “would have made a perfect president of Harvard Law School.” The reason, said Cruz, was that, “There were fewer declared Republicans in the faculty when we were there than Communists! There was one Republican. But there were twelve who would say they were Marxists who believed in the Communists overthrowing the United States government.”
“We are puzzled by the Senator’s assertions, as we are unaware of any basis for them,” Robb London, a spokesman for Harvard Law School, told me. London noted that Cruz had contributed “warm reminiscences“ of the school by video for a reunion of Latino alumni. “We applaud the fact that he has pursued public service, as so many of our graduates have done. We are also proud of our longstanding tradition of freedom of speech and the robust range of views and debates on our campus.”
Harvard Law School Professor Charles Fried, a Republican who served as Ronald Reagan’s Solicitor General from 1985 to 1989, and who subsequently taught Cruz at the law school, suggests that his former student has his facts wrong.“I can right offhand count four “out” Republicans (including myself) and I don’t know how many closeted Republicans when Ted, who was my student and the editor on the Harvard Law Review who helped me with my Supreme Court foreword, was a student here.”
Fried went on to say that unlike Cruz, or McCarthy, who infamously kept tallies of alleged subversives, he had never tried to count Communists. “I have not taken a poll, but I would be surprised if there were any members of the faculty who ‘believed in the Communists overthrowing the U.S. government,’” he said. Under the Smith Act, it is a crime to actively engage in any organization pursuing the overthrow of the U.S. government.
Fried acknowledged that “there were a certain number (twelve seems to me too high) who were quite radical, but I doubt if any had allegiance or sympathy with anything called ‘the Communists,’ who at that time (unlike the thirties and forties) were in quite bad odor among radical intellectuals.” He pointed out that by the nineteen-nineties, Communist states were widely regarded as tyrannical. From Fried’s perspective, the radicals on the faculty were “a pain in the neck.” But he says that Cruz’s assertion that they were Communists “misunderstands what they were about.”
It may be that Cruz was referring to a group of left-leaning law professors who supported what they called Critical Legal Studies, a method of critiquing the political impact of the American legal system. Professor Duncan Kennedy, for instance, a leader of the faction, who declined to comment on Cruz’s accusation, counts himself as influenced by the writings of Karl Marx. But he regards himself as a social democrat, not a Communist, and has never advocated the overthrow of the U.S. government by Communists. Rather, he advocated widening admissions at the law school to under-served populations, hiring more minorities and women on the faculty, and paying all law professors equally.
Sounding like a disappointed professor, Fried said that Cruz’s willingness to label the faculty Communist “lacks nuance.” He said he remembered Cruz well, as “very bright, very hard-working and very conservative, in a well-mannered, agreeable way.” So he said, “This surprises me. It suggests he’s changed.”
So too, perhaps, has the U.S. Senate.
*
Related
The Party Next Time
November 19, 2012
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/11/19/121119fa_fact_lizza [about 60% of the way down at (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=81469114 (and preceding and following)]
*
© 2013 Condé Nast
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/02/ted-cruz-sees-red-not-crimson-at-harvard.html [with comments]
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No stigma for Cruz among right for McCarthy similarities
The Rachel Maddow Show
February 22, 2013
Rachel Maddow looks back at some of the distinguishing features of former Senator Joseph McCarthy's speaking style and identifies parallels in speeches by Senator Ted Cruz, something that is actually an asset in the eyes of many on the right.
© 2013 NBCNews.com
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-rachel-maddow-show/50914855 [show links at http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/22/17062593-links-for-the-222-trms (with comment)]
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McCarthyist style earns Cruz favor with base
The Rachel Maddow Show
February 22, 2013
Jane Mayer, staff writer for the New Yorker, talks with Rachel Maddow about the red meat appeal of Senator Ted Cruz, whose public conduct, reminiscent of Joseph McCarthy, plays well with his Texas base but raises eyebrows in Washington, D.C.
© 2013 NBCNews.com
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-rachel-maddow-show/50914883 [show links at http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/22/17062593-links-for-the-222-trms (with comment)]
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Louie Gohmert: Second Amendment Is Necessary Because...Sharia Law?
By Nick Wing
Posted: 02/21/2013 6:02 pm EST | Updated: 02/21/2013 6:04 pm EST
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) is an uncompromising supporter of the right to bear arms and a longtime opponent of Sharia law. On Thursday, he managed to awkwardly wrap the two together in a defense of the Second Amendment.
Speaking with radio host Jeff Akin in an interview on Freedom 107 radio [ http://www.spreaker.com/page#!/user/4643650/022113_rep_louie_gohmert_mp3 ], Gohmert suggested that gun control advocates ultimately wanted to eliminate gun ownership because they didn't understand the true purpose of the Second Amendment. He proceeded to explain why he believed it was in the Constitution.
"It is for our protection -- and the founders' quotes make that very very clear -- including against a government that would run amuck," Gohmert said, before shifting gears. "We've got some people who think Sharia law oughta be the law of the land, forget the Constitution. But the guns are there, the Second Amendment is there, to make sure all of the rest of the amendments are followed."
While Gohmert has in the past claimed to be friendly with Muslims -- including by "hugging [them] around the world [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/louie-gohmert-muslim-brotherhood_n_1687533.html ]" -- his prior comments about Islam and Sharia law suggest a tenuous relationship at best.
In 2011, Gohmert promised to take on the supposed threat [ http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/01/19/139692/gohmert-sharia-hearings/ ] of "creeping Sharia." Gohmert continued to express his skepticism about the motives of Muslims in 2012 when he lent his name [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/26/louie-gohmert-media-muslim-brotherhood_n_1707025.html ] to a misguided and heavily criticized crusade against members of President Barack Obama's administration. When Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) blasted the campaign [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/18/john-mccain-michele-bachmann-muslim_n_1683277.html ] -- which hinged on allegations that top officials were linked to the Muslim Brotherhood -- Gohmert shot back, calling the senator [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/25/louie-gohmert-john-mccain_n_1700448.html ] "numbnuts."
While seemingly out of place, Gohmert's casual invocation of Sharia law wasn't the only peculiar defense of gun laws given during his interview. He also managed to tie the recent controversy over the domestic drone use to his opposition of efforts to limit high-capacity magazines.
“But I had somebody last week in Washington from either Georgia or Alabama was saying, ‘Look, this goes back to we have got to have at least 50 rounds in our magazines because on average that’s about how many it takes to bring down a drone,’" Gohmert recalled. "I hope he was kidding, I don't know for sure.”
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/louie-gohmert-second-amendment_n_2735971.html [with comments]
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Montana Bill Defies Supremacy Of All Federal Laws
By Nicole Flatow on Feb 21, 2013 at 12:00 pm
Among a slate of far-reaching gun bills [ http://missoulian.com/news/local/sheriffs-first-gun-bills-clear-montana-house-committee/article_aa343d18-77a7-11e2-ae60-001a4bcf887a.html ] that cleared the Montana House Judiciary Committee this week was one that takes defiance of federal authority far beyond the Second Amendment context. The “Sheriffs First” bill would require federal agents to seek county sheriffs’ permission [ http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/montana-sheriffs-gary-marbut-fbi-gun-legislation ] before enforcing any federal law, and empowers those sheriffs to arrest federal agents who don’t comply for kidnapping. The bill also mandates county attorneys to prosecute [ http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2013/billhtml/HB0303.htm ] any claim by a sheriff against a federal official. Mother Jones’ Tim Murphy reports:
The proposal already passed both houses of the legislature once, in 2011, but was vetoed by then-Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat. This time [Gary] Marbut, the Montana gun lobbyist and aspiring firearms manufacturer who wrote the bill, is hoping Montana voters will determine the fate of his legislation. If passed, the latest version of the Sheriffs First measure would become a ballot question in November of 2014. […]
For Marbut, a prolific lobbyist who has written 58 pro-gun bills that made it into law, the referendum would have an added benefit. An earlier law he wrote, which blocks the federal government from regulating in-state gun manufacturing, is tied up in the courts. But if his “Sheriffs first” measure became a reality, that would become an afterthought.
The ATF might say “We have probable cause to believe that we have this person in your county who’s making firearms without a license,” Marbut explains. “And the sheriff might say, ‘Well, gosh, under the Montana Firearms Freedom Act, that’s protected activity in Montana, so you don’t have my permission for this bust.”
In case it wasn’t clear to state legislators that the bill is blatantly unconstitutional and amounts to all-out revolt against our federal-state system, an official legal review [ http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2013/LRC/LC1040.pdf ] explicitly warns that this violates of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which asserts that federal law trumps state law to the extent that they conflict. The analysis even cites a 1913 case in which the Supreme Court said that state law is preempted where, as here, “compliance with both federal and state regulation is a physical impossibility.” The document also links to a more in-depth analysis by the South Carolina Attorney General of a similar 2011 bill in that state, which adds that the mandatory prosecution of any claim by the county sheriff is a violation of separation of powers principles [ http://www.scag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/moore-j-b-os-9359-12-9-11-constitutional-validity-of-proposed-sheriffs-first-legislation.pdf ].
In a response, Marbut cautions the attorney who authored the memo to “be careful about any claim that LC 1040 is unconstitutional [ http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2013/LRC/LC1040.pdf ],” making the remarkable argument that the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause is entirely void because it conflicts with the subsequently passed Tenth Amendment.
The “Sheriffs First” bill is one of a number of unconstitutional state bills that have threatened to flout federal authority, through nullification of federal gun laws [ http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/01/22/1473161/state-lawmakers-push-unconstitutional-bills-thumbing-their-noses-at-gun-safety/ ], discretion to nullify any laws they don’t like [ http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/01/29/1511051/mississippi-tea-partiers-seek-to-nullify-any-federal-laws-they-dont-like/ ], and criminalizing federal enforcement of gun laws [ http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/01/24/1489061/pennsylvania-gun-nullifcation/ ]. The bill also tracks a movement [ http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/01/15/1445651/kentucky-sheriff-says-he-wont-enforce-any-gun-violence-prevention-law/ ] by county sheriffs who have refused to enforce federal gun laws on the belief they are the highest law enforcement authorities – above federal authorities.
Similar “Sheriffs First [ http://tracking.tenthamendmentcenter.com/sheriff/ ]” bills were introduced but not passed in several states in 2011 and 2012, and another bill was also introduced in Indiana in January. While the Montana bill was vetoed by the Democratic governor in 2011, Marbut has aimed to ease passage of the bill this year not only by turning it into a ballot initiative, but also by lumping it in with several other gun rights bills at a time when some conservatives are balking at federal attempts to prevent gun violence. Nonetheless, both the full Montana House and Senate must pass the bill before it can go before the voters. Other bills [ http://missoulian.com/news/local/sheriffs-first-gun-bills-clear-montana-house-committee/article_aa343d18-77a7-11e2-ae60-001a4bcf887a.html ] also cleared by the state’s House Judiciary Committee would ”let college students bring guns to campus, allow high school students to leave guns locked in their cars, and clear the way for nearly anyone to carry concealed weapons without a permit,” according to the Missoulian.
© 2013 Center for American Progress Action Fund (emphasis in original)
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/02/21/1621741/unconstitutional-montana-bill-defies-supremacy-of-all-federal-laws/ [with comments]
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Montana Roadkill Law Allows Motorists To Eat The Animals They Hit With Cars
02/22/2013
Kill it and grill it.
Montana may now be the ultimate drive-through destination for adventurous foodies thanks to a new law that allows people to consume any animals they hit and kill.
[...]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/montana-roadkill-bill-_n_2742711.html [with comments]
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Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt Flaunt Gun Arsenal In New Documentary
By Cavan Sieczkowski
Posted: 02/19/2013 1:57 pm EST | Updated: 02/19/2013 4:30 pm EST
Some might argue that Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt are the two best reasons for harsher gun control legislation.
Montag and Spencer showed off their arsenal of guns [ http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/105708/Spencer-Pratt-And-Heidi-Montag-Slammed-By-Viewers-After-Promoting-Gun-Crime-In-New-Documentary ] during a portion [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpg-vy8vOiM (above, as embedded)] of their new documentary for the U.K.'s Channel 5, titled "Speidi: Scandal, Secrets & Surgery! [ http://www.channel5.com/shows/speidi-scandal-secrets-surgery ]"
The couple known as Speidi flaunted a collection of more than six firearms [ http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/4802530/Speidi-shock-boast-You-can-never-have-enough-guns-in-your-house.html ] -- including an FBI sniper rifle, a Benelli semi-automatic shotgun and a rapid engagement precision rifle -- while filming the special inside their Santa Barbara, Calif., beach house, according to The Sun.
"I want to share something with you that I know, unfortunately, you cannot possess in your amazing country," Pratt tells Channel 5. "So, I will let you have a glimpse at the amazing laws of America."
The reality star's wife then goes on to take out her favorite rifle and discuss how much she loves guns and shooting.
"This is one of my favorite activities," Montag says. "It gives me a new sense of self every time I do. It makes me feel proud to be an American." She adds, "I'd like to say something about guns as well. I think it is one of the greatest rights to be an American. I personally didn't feel safe especially with crazed fans out there and stalkers. If somebody broke into our home, I think this is the only thing that would actually save my life."
The two "Celebrity Big Brother" contestants, who have been described as "the most reviled" in the show's history, reportedly received death threats because of their behavior [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/23/heidi-montag-spencer-pratt-death-threats_n_2534228.html ] on the series.
Montag and Pratt's comments about guns [ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2280927/Heidi-Montag-Spencer-Pratt-guns-home-admitting-feel-unsafe-crazed-fans.html ] were met with backlash. Peter Squires, professor of criminology and public policy at Brighton University, expressed his outrage to the Daily Star.
“With the recent shooting deaths of model Reeva Steenkamp and country singer Mindy McCready, the dangers of keeping guns at home are all too obvious," he said via the Daily Star. "The suggestion by Speidi is crass attention-seeking behavior [ http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/299498/SPEIDI-GUN-SHOCK/ ]. Let’s face it, neither of them were near the front of the queue when brains, decorum or thinking skills were being handed out.”
Guns have actually landed the former MTV stars, who claimed to have blown through $10 million anticipating the Mayan apocalypse [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/31/heidi-montag-spencer-pratt-10-million-mayan-apocalypse_n_2589712.html ], in trouble before.
Back in 2010, Pratt and Montag were detained for illegal arms possession [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/14/heidi-montag-spencer-prat_2_n_716498.html ] at a Costa Rica airport after security guards found two unloaded handguns in their luggage, the Associated Press previously reported. Pratt was on a jungle retreat at the time and brought the 9MM and 45MM handguns with him for protection. He neither declared them nor had a permit to carry them in the country.
Heidi Montag poses with a firearm at a shooting range in 2008.
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/heidi-montag-spencer-pratt-guns-gun-arsenal-documentary-_n_2717695.html [with comments]
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Adam Lanza likely wanted to top Anders Breivik’s mass shooting
Newtown gunman Adam Lanza, left, believed he was in direct competition with Norwegian mass-shooter Anders Breivik, right, it has been reported.
(AP Photo/NBC News, File)/(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
By Global Post
Posted on February 19, 2013
Newtown gunman Adam Lanza believed he was in direct competition with Norwegian mass-shooter Anders Breivik, it has been reported.
CBS News cited [ http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57569958/newtown-shooter-motivated-by-norway-massacre-sources-say/ ] two law enforcement officials briefed on the investigations into Lanza’s rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting [ http://www.voxxi.com/connecticut-school-shooting-mourns-young-lives/ ] said he was motivated by a goal of killing more “easiest targets” than the 77 people killed by Breivik near Oslo in July 2011.
Lanza, 20, who shot and killed 20 children and six adult staff members at the school on Dec. 14 was also reportedly acting out video game fantasies, attempting to achieve a higher “score” of victims’ deaths, CBS wrote.
The New York Daily News wrote [ http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/lanza-rival-norwegian-bomber-anders-breivik-article-1.1267411 ] that Lanza had been described as a loner who spent hours, sometimes days, in his bedroom playing graphically violent video games.
The Hartford Courant wrote [ http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/newtown-sandy-hook-school-shooting/hc-lanza-breivik-20130218,0,2271299.story ] that Lanza had several news articles about Breivik in a bedrooms at the Newtown home where he lived with his mother, Nancy Lanza.
The Courant said sources emphasized that an interest in Breivik was just one theory to explain Lanza’s rampage.
However, the officials told CBS that investigators had found credible evidence that Lanza was probably even obsessed with Breivik.
They found evidence that Lanza zeroed in on Sandy Hook because it had the “largest cluster of people.”
© 2013, VOXXI
http://www.voxxi.com/adam-lanza-wanted-to-top-anders-breivik/ [no comments yet] [and see (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=65553571 and preceding and following]
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Reliving Horror and Faint Hope at Massacre Site
Early responders at Sandy Hook Elementary included, from left: Lt. Christopher Vanghele, Officer Jason Flynn, Officer Leonard Penna, Detective Jason Frank and Officer William Chapman.
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Connecticut State Police leading a line of children from the school after the shooting on Dec. 14.
Shannon Hicks/Newtown Bee, via Associated Press
By RAY RIVERA
Published: January 28, 2013
NEWTOWN, Conn. — The gunfire ended; it was so quiet they could hear the broken glass and bullet casings scraping under their boots. The smell of gunpowder filled the air. The officers turned down their radios; they did not want to give away their positions if there was still a gunman present.
They found the two women first, their bodies lying on the lobby floor. Now they knew it was real. But nothing, no amount of training, could prepare them for what they found next, inside those two classrooms.
“One look, and your life was absolutely changed,” said Michael McGowan, one of the first police officers to arrive at Sandy Hook Elementary School [ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/school_shootings/index.html ] on Dec. 14, as a gunman, in the space of minutes, killed 20 first graders and 6 adults.
Officer McGowan was among seven Newtown officers who recently sat down to share their accounts of that day. Some spoke for the first time, providing the fullest account yet of the scene as officers responded to one of the worst school massacres in United States history, one that has inflamed the national debate over gun control.
It is an account filled with ghastly moments and details, and a few faint instances of hope. One child had a slight pulse, but did not survive. Another was found bloody but unhurt, amid her dead classmates. Teachers were so protective of their students that they had to be coaxed by officers before opening doors. And the officers themselves, many of them fathers, instinctively used their most soothing Daddy voices to guide terrified children to safety.
The stories also reveal the deep stress that lingers for officers who, until Dec. 14, had focused their energies on maintaining order in a low-crime corner of suburbia. Some can barely sleep. Little things can set off tears: a television show, a child’s laughter, even the piles of gifts the Police Department received from across the country.
One detective, who was driving with his wife and two sons, passed a roadside memorial on Route 25 two weeks after the shooting, and began sobbing uncontrollably. “I just lost it right there, I couldn’t even drive,” the detective, Jason Frank, said.
Officer William Chapman was in the Newtown police station along with Officer McGowan and others when the first reports of shots and breaking glass came in early on the day of the massacre. The school was more than two miles away. They traveled up Route 25, then right onto Church Hill Road. “We drove as fast as we’ve ever driven,” Officer McGowan said.
They made it in under three minutes, arriving in the parking lot while gunfire could still be heard.
“I got out of the car and grabbed my rifle and it stopped for second,” Officer Chapman said. “But then we heard more popping. You could tell it was rifle fire. And it was up so close, it sounded like it was coming from outside. So we were all looking around for someone to shoot back at.”
As the officers converged on the building, the gunfire stopped again. Officers Chapman and Scott Smith made their way to the front entrance. It was here, only minutes earlier, that a rail-thin 20-year-old named Adam Lanza [ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/school_shootings/index.html ], armed with a .223 Bushmaster semiautomatic carbine, two semiautomatic pistols and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, had blasted his way through the glass.
Leonard Penna, a school resource officer who had raced to the scene from his office at the Newtown Middle School, entered the school with Sgt. Aaron Bahamonde and Lt. Christopher Vanghele, through a side door that leads to the boiler room, he said. Officer McGowan and two other officers entered through a locked rear door. One of them knocked out the glass with his rifle butt so the rest of the officers could get in.
The halls were familiar to Officer McGowan. He attended the school as a child. But now, they were eerily silent.
“The teachers were doing a phenomenal job keeping their kids quiet,” Officer Chapman said.
The officers turned their radios down. They entered the front lobby and saw the first bodies, those of Dawn Hochsprung, the principal, they would later learn, and Mary Sherlach, the school psychologist.
“You saw them lifeless, laying down,” Officer Penna recalled. “For a split second, your mind says could this be a mock crime scene, could this be fake, but in the next split second, you’re saying, there is no way. This is real.”
The officers went from room to room, urgently hunting for the killer before he could do more harm.
They found a wounded staff member in one room, made sure her co-workers were applying proper first aid and moved on.
As Officers Chapman and Smith approached the second classroom in the hallway on their left, they spotted a rifle on the floor. Inside, they found the gunman, Adam Lanza, dead by his own hand, along with the bodies of several children and other adults.
The officers searched the room for any other gunmen, then began searching for signs of life among the children. One little girl had a pulse and was breathing. Officer Chapman cradled her in his arms and ran with her outside, to an ambulance. Officer Chapman, a parent himself, tried to comfort her. “You’re safe now; your parents love you,” he recalled saying. She did not survive.
Most of the bodies were found in the classroom next door, where, Detective Frank recalled, “the teacher had them huddled up like a mother hen — simple as that, in a corner.”
Officer Penna, who was the first officer to enter the second room, found a girl standing alone amid the bodies. She appeared to be in shock, and was covered in blood, but had not been injured. He, not knowing the gunman had been found, told her to stay put.
He ran into the next classroom and saw the dead gunman, with Officers Chapman and Smith standing nearby. State troopers and other officers were now flooding in. Officer Penna returned to the second classroom, his rifle slung around his chest, grabbed the uninjured girl by the arm and ran with her out to a triage area set up in the parking lot.
With state troopers coming in, the officers began to evacuate the children who were still behind locked doors. But many of the teachers, seeking to protect their students and following their own training, refused to open up.
“We’re kicking the doors, yelling ‘Police! Police!’ ” Officer McGowan said. “We were ripping our badges off and putting them up to the window.”
Detective Frank, who had been off duty and rushed to the scene so quickly that he had to borrow a gun from a colleague once he arrived, remembers ripping the handle off one of the doors, “just trying to get through.”
As the children emerged, the officers tried to reassure them. “Everything is fine now,” they said, even as they stayed alert for a possible second gunman. “Everybody hold hands, close your eyes,” they told the children.
Some officers formed a human curtain around the bodies of Ms. Hochsprung and Ms. Sherlach, to shield the children from the sight as they filed past. Others blocked the doorways of the two classrooms.
As the scene settled that day, officers standing guard outside warned newly arriving colleagues not to go in if they had children. Detective Joe Joudy, one of the senior members of the force, spotted Officer Chapman walking back to the building, covered in blood. “I was a mess, and he looks at me and says, ‘They’ve got to get you guys out of here,’ ” Officer Chapman said.
Newtown’s three-man detective squad, which also included Dan McAnaspie, would spend much of the next week working with the State Police to collect and inventory every bit of evidence from the crime scene.
“Words can’t describe how horrible it was,” said Detective Joudy, who has been with the department for 27 years.
As he left the building that day, Officer Tom Bean, who had also been off duty when he rushed to the scene, realized he had not told his wife where he was. He fumbled for his phone in the parking lot, and called her. “That’s when I broke down in tears, crying,” he said.
More than a month later, the officers continue to feel the pain of that day. Some spoke reluctantly, not wanting to compare their torment with the agony of the families of the children and adult victims. But they also worried about their ability to do their jobs, as they continue to suffer. They said they omitted some details out of sensitivity to the victims, and to protect the investigation as it continued.
At least one person, Officer Bean, said he has already received a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. He said he had been unable to return to work since the shootings, and had needed medication to sleep.
The officers and their union are reaching out to state lawmakers, hoping to expand workers’ compensation benefits to include those who witness horrific violence.
“Our concern from the beginning has been the effects of PTSD,” said Eric Brown, a lawyer for the union that represents the Newtown police. “We estimate it is probably going to be 12 to 15 Newtown officers who are going to be dealing with that, for the remainder of their careers, we imagine, from what we’ve been told by professionals who deal with PTSD.”
For Detective Frank, who spent days sequestered in the school, meticulously collecting evidence, the images keep recurring — and not just of the children. The monster-truck backpack he found that was identical to his 6-year-old’s. The Christmas ornaments that sat unfinished, drying on the windowsill.
“It’s heartbreaking,” he said. “These kids will never take those ornaments home to their parents.”
*
Related
Sandy Hook Parents’ Testimony to Legislature Reflects Divide on Guns (January 29, 2013)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/nyregion/connecticut-legislature-hearing-on-gun-violence.html
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© 2013 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/nyregion/horrors-of-newtown-shooting-scene-are-slow-to-fade.html [ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/nyregion/horrors-of-newtown-shooting-scene-are-slow-to-fade.html?pagewanted=all ] [with comments]
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UPDATE 4-Three die in shooting, fiery crash on Las Vegas Strip
By Tim Pratt
Thu Feb 21, 2013 9:41pm EST
Feb 21 (Reuters) - Three people died in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip early on Thursday when one or more gunmen in a Range Rover sport utility vehicle opened fire on a Maserati, killing the driver and touching off a fiery multi-car crash.
The driver of the Maserati died in the pre-dawn shooting, and his car veered out of control and smashed into a taxi carrying two people, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police spokesman Officer Jose Hernandez said.
The cab exploded into flames in the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road, a popular tourist area in front of several casino resorts, killing the driver and a passenger.
"There was a loud bang and I hear two other booms. I looked out my window at Caesars Palace ... and could see the fireball," witness John Lamb was quoted as saying on the website of Las Vegas KLAS-TV's 8News Now.
The gunfire and collision in the busy intersection near the Bellagio and Caesars Palace hotels triggered another crash involving four other vehicles. At least four people were hurt including a passenger in the Maserati, and the Range Rover sped from the scene, Hernandez said.
Authorities declined to identify any of the victims but the Las Vegas Review Journal newspaper and KLAS-TV identified the driver of the Maserati as aspiring rapper Kenneth Cherry Jr. YouTube videos of his music show him rapping from a silver Maserati while cruising the Las Vegas Strip.
Attorney Vicki Greco, who has represented Cherry for what she described as minor traffic issues and in a civil case, told Reuters she had been in touch with his family and friends and that they were "devastated" by the news that he had been killed.
"I have not been to the coroner ... From what I have heard, Yes, I can confirm. But I haven't been officially notified," Greco said, adding she believed it was him from news photos that showed the car.
'ARMED AND DANGEROUS'
Police said the shooting was believed to have stemmed from a fight in the valet area of the Aria Resort and Casino on the Strip, but investigators had not established a motive.
Representatives for MGM Resorts International, which owns the Aria, declined to comment on specifics of the incident but said it was working closely with police on the investigation.
A hospital spokeswoman said three people had been treated and released at University Medical Center after the incident but declined to provide information about a fourth person.
Clark County Sheriff Douglas Gillespie told a news conference that police had few leads on the Range Rover or its occupants, who were considered "armed and dangerous," but had launched a multi-state search and were seeking help from the public.
The sheriff bristled at suggestions that the outburst of gun violence could call into question the safety of the Strip, which attracts millions of visitors every year.
"I have been asked by many of you this morning, 'Is the Las Vegas Strip safe?'" Gillespie said. "Yes it is."
"Las Vegas is a valley of 2 million people. Forty million tourists visit here a year. We have 153,000 hotel rooms. In order for my police organization and other law enforcement organizations in the valley to keep this community safe, we have to work very closely not only with the community but the resort corridor as well," he said.
The incident occurred near to where rapper Tupac Shakur was shot on Sept. 7, 1996, while riding in a BMW with Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight after the two men had attended a Mike Tyson boxing match.
Shakur, 25, was hit by gunfire from at least one assailant in a Cadillac while sitting in Knight's car at the intersection of Flamingo Road and Koval Lane and died six days later at University Medical Center. The crime remains unsolved.
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/22/usa-shooting-lasvegas-idUSL1N0BL4YJ20130222 [no comments yet]
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Orange County Shooting Spree: Several People Dead After 25-Minute Ordeal, Police In California Say
Screen shot via KTLA.
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
02/19/13 07:25 PM ET EST
TUSTIN, Calif. — A violent rampage that left four dead in suburban Orange County began in the pre-dawn hours Tuesday when a 20-year-old killed a woman in his home and sped away in his parents' car, authorities said.
An hour later, it was over – but not before Ali Syed had killed two more people during carjackings, shot up vehicles on a busy freeway interchange and left three others injured in a trail of carnage that stretched across 25 miles.
One driver was forced from his BMW at a stop sign, marched to a curb and shot in the back of the head as other commuters watched in horror.
"He was basically executed," Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said. "There were at least six witnesses."
Syed later killed himself. He lived with his parents at the Ladera Ranch residence where the first victim, an unidentified woman in her 20s, was slain, Tustin police Chief Scott Jordan said. He was unemployed, taking one class at a local community college, Jordan said.
The woman was not related to the shooter and it wasn't known what she was doing at the home, said Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.
Syed's parents were in the house at the time, fled the residence when shots were fired, and reported it, he said.
Jordan said Syed stated to one carjacking victim: "I don't want to hurt you. I killed somebody. Today is my last day."
Jordan said there was no indication of a motive, but he sought to assure residents that the violence was over.
"There is no conspiracy here, there are no outstanding suspects, it was a very, very unfortunate situation, but I don't think the people here in Orange County have to be worried about their safety," he said.
The violence began at 4:45 a.m., when deputies responded to a call from Ladera Ranch, a sleepy inland town about 55 miles southeast of Los Angeles. They found the woman shot multiple times.
Jason Glass, who lives across the street, said he couldn't sleep and was watching TV in his garage with the door partly open when he heard what sounded like gun shots.
Then he heard a commotion and the sound of a car speeding away.
Hours later, his neighborhood was flooded with police, and crime scene tape sectioned off the street.
"I just happened to be in here when this happened," Glass said about his garage. "To think he could have rolled under my door or needed a car or needed to hide is crazy. It's freaking me out."
From Ladera Ranch, police said the gunman headed north and pulled off Interstate 5 in Tustin, about 20 miles away, with a flat tire and other damage to his parents' car.
A man who was waiting in a shopping center parking lot to carpool with his son saw Syed had a gun and tried to escape in his Cadillac, Jordan said. Syed ran after the car as it drove away and fired his shotgun through the back window, striking the driver in head but not killing him.
The driver "noticed that he was loading his shotgun, so he simply gets back in his car and tries to escape," Jordan said. "He's driving through the parking lot trying to get away and the suspect is actually chasing him on foot, taking shots at him."
Syed then crossed the street to a Mobil gas station, where he approached the driver of a pick-up and asked for his keys, Jordan said.
"He says something to the effect of, `I've killed somebody. Today's my last day. I don't want to hurt you. Give me your keys,'" he said. "He hands over the keys and he gets in the truck and leaves."
Syed got back on the freeway, where he pulled to the side of the road at the busy I-5 and State Route 55 interchange and began firing at commuters, Jordan said.
One driver was struck in the mouth and hands. He didn't have a cellphone, but was able to drive home and call police. Two other cars were hit but their drivers weren't injured, Jordan said.
"All of this is happening so quickly," he said, estimating that Syed shot at drivers from the side of the freeway transition for about a minute.
The shooter then exited the freeway in nearby Santa Ana but ran the curb and got his car stuck, authorities said.
He approached Melvin Edwards, a 69-year-old from Laguna Hills who was on his way to his Santa Ana business, as Edwards sat in his BMW at a stop sign. Syed forced Edwards to get out of his car, marched him across the street and shot him three times, including in the back of the head and the back, as horrified drivers looked on, Jordan said.
"They tried to get away. They saw what was going on, they tried to get away and they called police," he said.
Syed took Edwards' BMW and next popped up at the Micro Center, a Tustin business, where he shot and killed construction worker Jeremy Lewis, 26, of Fullerton. Lewis' co-worker rushed to intervene and was shot in the arm, Jordan said.
Syed took the second construction worker's utility truck and fled to Orange, this time with California Highway Patrol officers in pursuit. He jumped from the moving utility truck at an intersection in Orange, about five miles away, and shot himself immediately, Jordan said.
A shotgun was recovered at the scene.
A message left at Syed's parents' home wasn't immediately returned on Tuesday.
Associated Press writers Sue Manning and Shaya Tayefe Mohajer in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/orange-county-shooting-spree_n_2717219.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
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John Duncan On VAWA: Most Men Can Handle Violence Better Than Most Women
Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.) said he didn't know whether or not he'd vote to reauthorize VAWA.
(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
By Sabrina Siddiqui
Posted: 02/19/2013 1:48 pm EST | Updated: 02/19/2013 11:59 pm EST
Rep. John "Jimmy" Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.) said he doesn't know if he will vote for a renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, a bill the congressman said has a nice name, and argued that men can handle violence better than women.
"Every bill is given a motherhood-and-apple-pie title," Duncan said, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press [ http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/feb/17/money-gay-provision-snag-anti-violence/ ]. "But if you voted [based] on the title, you'd vote for every bill up here. If we'd all done that, the country would have crashed a long time ago."
"So this is another bill with a motherhood-and-apple-pie title," added Duncan, who voted for the reauthorization of VAWA in 2005.
But constituents would be mistaken to think that Duncan's uncertainty over whether he will support the reauthorization this year means he isn't concerned with the issue of violence against women. He said it's an especially big problem because women are not as well equipped as men to handle violence.
"Like most men, I'm more opposed to violence against women than even violence against men," Duncan said. "Because most men can handle it a little better than a lot of women can."
Last week, the Senate passed [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/vawa-vote_n_2669720.html ] its VAWA reauthorization bill 78-22. The legislation includes protections for LGBT, Native American and undocumented immigrant victims of domestic violence, provisions that face opposition from many House Republicans. Last year, the disagreement led to Congress failing to reauthorize the bill for the first time since it was introduced in 1994.
But Duncan said his decision to support the Senate bill will depend on its cost.
"Last time my main concern was the money," he said.
The issue does not appear to be as contentious this year. Seventeen House Republicans even signed a letter [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/11/vawa-reauthorization_n_2665599.html ] to their party leaders, urging them to "immediately" reauthorize VAWA with a bipartisan bill.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he expects the lower chamber to act soon, though no decision has been made over whether to take up the Senate bill or if the House will introduce its own version of the legislation.
"Our leadership [is] continuing to work with the committee of jurisdiction, looking at finding ways to deal with this legislation," Boehner said at a press conference [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/14/violence-against-women-act-john-boehner_n_2687812.html ] last week. "We're fully committed to doing everything we can to protect women in our society, and I expect that the House will act in a timely fashion in some way."
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/john-duncan-vawa_n_2718234.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
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Chuck Grassley On VAWA: Tribal Provision Means 'The Non-Indian Doesn't Get A Fair Trial'
02/21/2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/chuck-grassley-vawa_n_2735080.html [the YouTube, embedded, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRpjxtLrTcE ; with comments]
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Violence Against Women Act: Why All Women Need Protection
By Katy Hall and Chris Spurlock
Posted: 02/22/2013 4:46 pm EST | Updated: 02/22/2013 5:49 pm EST
The version of the Violence Against Women Act that House Republicans unveiled Friday [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/vawa-2013_n_2742096.html ] is not the same bill the Senate passed [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/vawa-vote_n_2669720.html ] 78 to 22 last week. Gone are protections for LGBT victims, and a provision to help Native American women seek justice is watered down.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) is "committed to ending violence against all women," his spokeswoman Megan Whittemore said Friday [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/vawa-2013_n_2742096.html ]. Why, then, does the House bill eliminate protections for some women who need them most?
As with any data on sexual violence, these numbers are not exact and may be underestimates, but they show that all women in the U.S. need federal protection from rape and domestic abuse. Nearly 1 in 3 lesbians and half of bisexual women have experienced severe physical violence from an intimate partner, according to the CDC's National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey [ http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/NISVS_Report2010-a.pdf ]. Almost half of bisexual women have been raped in their lifetimes. The House bill excludes LGBT victims [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/vawa-2013_n_2742096.html ] from the largest VAWA grant program, and unlike the Senate bill it does not require that VAWA funds go only to programs that help victims of any sexual orientation or gender identity.
Native American women are also underserved by the House Bill, which gives tribal courts authority to prosecute non-Native American men who abuse them on reservations, as the Senate Bill does — but adds a loophole that allows the accused to take their case to federal court if they feel their constitutional rights are being violated. More than a third of Native women have been raped, according to the Department of Justice [ https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/183781.pdf ], and 86 percent of Native American women who report sexual violence say they were attacked by non-Native men.
“We have serial rapists on the reservation — that are non-Indian — because they know they can get away with it,” Charon Asetoyer, executive director of the Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center, told Salon [ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/13/how_abusers_get_away_with_targeting_indian_women/ ] last year.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) did not vote for VAWA last week and summed up his opposition by saying "the non-Indian doesn't get a fair trial [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/chuck-grassley-vawa_n_2735080.html ]."
VAWA has been reauthorized since with overwhelming bipartisan support every year since its inception in 1994 until House Republicans let it expire [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/02/violence-against-women-act-_n_2398553.html ] at the end of last year.
The House is expected to vote on the new measure next week [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/vawa-2013_n_2742096.html ].
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/violence-against-women-act-_n_2742976.html [with comments]
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WCBS-TV Anchor Resigns After Arrest
Rob Morrison, left, with his lawyer, Robert A. Skovgaard, on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Mr. Morrison left his job at WCBS.
Pool photo by David Handschuh
By MARC SANTORA
Published: February 20, 2013
Rob Morrison, a news anchor for WCBS-TV in New York, said on Wednesday that he had resigned from his job after his weekend arrest on charges of choking his wife during a domestic dispute at their home in Darien, Conn.
After meeting with WCBS executives on Wednesday, Mr. Morrison announced his decision to leave his position, anchoring the morning and noon news programs. His wife, Ashley Morrison, works as a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch.
Mr. Morrison’s decision came one day after he was arraigned and charged with strangulation, threatening and disorderly conduct. He was released on bail, but a judge in Connecticut ordered that Mr. Morrison, 44, stay at least 100 yards away from his wife, except at work.
“My family is my first and only priority right now, and I have informed CBS2 management that I need to put all of my time and energy into making sure that I do what’s best for my wife and my son,” Mr. Morrison said in a statement. “I very much appreciate the opportunity that CBS2 has given me, and I thank them for accepting my decision.”
His arrest came after his mother-in-law called the police to report a disturbance at the couple’s home around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, according to the authorities.
“Upon arrival,” the Darien Police Department said in a statement, “it was ascertained that Morrison had been becoming increasingly belligerent toward his wife during the course of the evening, culminating in his choking her by the neck with both hands.”
The police said officers saw red marks on Ms. Morrison’s neck consistent with being choked.
Mr. Morrison threatened within earshot of the responding officers “that if he was released from police custody he would kill his wife,” according to court documents.
Outside the courtroom in Stamford, Conn., where he was arraigned on Tuesday, Mr. Morrison told reporters that he never physically assaulted Ms. Morrison, 40.
“I did not choke my wife; I’ve never laid my hands on my wife,” he said. “I was just as surprised by that particular charge as probably everyone else.”
Robert A. Skovgaard, Mr. Morrison’s lawyer, did not enter a plea for his client at the arraignment, but in a statement he called the charges “greatly exaggerated.”
*
Related
TV Anchor Accused of Choking His Wife (February 19, 2013)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/nyregion/rob-morrison-of-wcbs-is-accused-of-choking-his-wife.html
*
© 2013 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/21/nyregion/rob-morrison-leaves-wcbs-tv-after-domestic-dispute-arrest.html
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Washington 5th graders accused of plotting to kill female classmate, others students
Fort Colville Elementary School
http://www.colsd.org
By Crimesider Staff
February 15, 2013 1:51 PM
(CBS/KREM/AP) COLVILLE, Wash. - Court documents released Wednesday give disturbing details about how and why two northeast Washington fifth-grade boys planned to kill a female classmate along with other students, reports CBS affiliate KREM [ http://www.krem.com/news/DANIELLE-GRANT--KREMcom-191328671.html ].
The young suspects, 10 and 11, were arrested at Fort Colville Elementary School on Feb. 7 after a fourth grader apparently saw one of them playing with a knife on the bus and told a school employee.
The employee, Richard Payette, searched the fifth-graders' bags found a 3.25 inch knife, an ammunition clip and a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol in the 10-year-old's bag. School employees notified the Colville Police Department.
KREM reports that when asked about the weapons, the 10-year-old told a staff member that he and the 11-year-old were going to "get [the girl] away from the school and do her in." He said the 11-year-old was going to stab the girl with a knife and the 10-year-old was supposed to keep everyone away, according to court documents.
The 10-year-old reportedly indicated he and the 11-year-old had been planning the attack for some time, and that another student was aware of their plans. Police say the younger suspect admitted he took the weapons from his older brother's room.
Court documents state the 11-year-old said he and the 10-year-old were planning to kill the girl "because she was really annoying," KREM reports. The 10-year-old said he had been in a "short dating relationship" with the girl.
According to KREM, the 11-year-old also told a teacher the names of more students they were going to target.
When a police officer asked the 10-year-old if he knew what he was going to do was dangerous, wrong, and unlawful, and the boy reportedly replied "Yes, I just wanted her dead," the records show.
Copyright © 2013 CBS Interactive Inc.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57569646-504083/washington-5th-graders-accused-of-plotting-to-kill-female-classmate-others-students/ [with comments]
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3 Adolescent Sisters Raped, Murdered In India; Bodies Recovered From Well
Indian women participate in a protest accusing the government of ignoring key suggestions of the government panel set up to examine India's criminal justice system's treatment of violence against women in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013.
(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
By Sara Gates
Posted: 02/20/2013 12:31 pm EST | Updated: 02/20/2013 12:31 pm EST
In a horrific act of violence, three young sisters were raped and murdered in India [ http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/three-minor-sisters-allegedly-raped-and-killed-in-maharashtra-333071 ], police told reporters Tuesday.
The bodies of the girls, who went missing on Feb. 14, were discovered two days later in a well [ http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/three-minor-sisters-allegedly-raped-and-killed-in-maharashtra-333071 ] near their native village in Maharashtra's Bhandara district.
According to the Press Trust of India, the deaths of the three girls -- ages 11, 9 and 6 -- sparked an outcry from locals [ http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/3-minor-sisters-raped-murdered-in-maharashtra-bodies-found-in-well-333228 ], who staged a protest in the streets Tuesday.
Though their deaths were initially thought to be accidental, post-mortem reports revealed that the girls suffered sexual abuse [ http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/3-minor-sisters-raped-murdered-in-maharashtra-bodies-found-in-well-333228 ] and were, in fact, killed.
Indian Broadcaster NDTV reports that villagers say police "got serious about the investigation" only after locals took to the streets in protest [ http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/3-minor-sisters-raped-murdered-in-maharashtra-bodies-found-in-well-333228 ].
Four people have been detained for questioning [ http://uk.news.yahoo.com/three-young-indian-sisters-raped-murdered-police-091843958.html ( http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hhE7dUniIJzBGgOKYwGpo6z3yW1Q?docId=CNG.5797133add524ce882fe88268ec59001.381 )] in the matter, but no arrests have been made, according to the Agence France-Presse. Police are still seeking a motive in the case.
"The girls' mother believes the involvement of an acquaintance in the crime, but we are not sure," Bhandara police chief Aarti Singh told the BBC [ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-21515528 ].
Lakhni Police Chief Prakash Munde, who has been suspended for dereliction of duty [ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/The-three-sisters-were-raped-and-murdered/articleshow/18585061.cms ], is also being investigated for his association in the matter, the Tamil News Network reports.
The three young sisters, who lived with their mother, went missing after school on Feb. 14. Their bodies, along with their school bags, were found in a well about 3 kilometers [ http://in.news.yahoo.com/india-shamed--3-minor-sisters-raped--killed-094651840.html ] from their home.
"The incident is extremely deplorable and painful," Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said in a statement [id.]. "I appeal to the people to maintain calm and cooperate with the law-enforcers."
The grisly deaths of the three adolescent girls comes just two months after the Dec. 16 gang rape of a 23-year-old [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/19/india-bus-gang-rape_n_2329002.html ] on a moving bus in New Delhi.
The highly publicized Delhi rape case has incited protests around the world. Earlier this month, India's President Pranab Mukherjee approved stricter punishments [ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-21318648 ] in rape cases. Though the laws must be approved by the country's parliament [ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/04/world/asia/india-approves-tougher-rape-laws.html ], some women's groups have already spoken out against the legislation, claiming that the measures do not go far enough [ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/05/india-gang-rape-stricter-laws ].
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/adolescent-sisters-raped-murdered-india-well_n_2724967.html [with comments]
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Arkansas 12-Week Abortion Ban Advances In House
Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe speaks to reporters in Little Rock, Ark., Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. He has not indicated whether or not he will sign a 12-week abortion ban into law.
02/21/2013
A Republican-controlled committee in the Arkansas House of Representatives approved a bill on Thursday that bans abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy if a fetal heartbeat is detected, with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. The law, if passed, would be the most extreme abortion restriction in the country.
The House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee also approved a Senate-passed bill that bans abortions at 20 weeks after conception. Both bills defy the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, which prevents states from banning abortions before the fetus is viable -- usually between 22 and 24 weeks of gestation.
Opponents of the so-called "heartbeat bill" argue that it would prevent women from having abortions before many of them even realize they're pregnant.
[...]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/arkansas-abortion-ban_n_2735498.html [with comments]
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Double Ultrasound Bill In Indiana Passes Out Of Senate Committee
By Laura Bassett
Posted: 02/21/2013 3:29 pm EST | Updated: 02/21/2013 11:33 pm EST
The Indiana state Senate on Wednesday advanced a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound procedure both before and after having a medication-induced abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy.
The Senate Health and Provider Services Committee approved Senate Bill 371 on Wednesday by a vote of 7 to 5, sending it to a full vote in the state Senate. The bill, introduced by state Sen. Travis Holdman (R), imposes heavy regulations on clinics and physicians that offer medication abortions, which are generally used to end a pregnancy up to 10 weeks from a woman's last period. It would require women to be presented with the sound and image of the fetal heartbeat before the abortion and to return for a follow-up ultrasound to ensure that she is no longer pregnant and has stopped bleeding.
Dr. Anne Davis, the consulting medical director for Physicians for Reproductive Health, said the requirement would place an undue burden on women seeking to end their pregnancies. "She can do a blood test at any local facility after an abortion to show that the hormone levels are going down as they should, there's no medical reason to make her drive back to the abortion clinic and go through another ultrasound," she said. "This is yet another onerous, medically unnecessary barrier."
Both ultrasounds, abortion physicians explain, would likely have to be performed with a transvaginal probe, since medication abortions usually occur too early in the pregnancy for the external "jelly-on-the-belly" procedure to provide a clear image. Davis said that transvaginal ultrasounds are the "standard procedure" used [when medically-unnecessary ultrasounds ( http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_RFU.pdf ; http://www.indystar.com/usatoday/article/1935879 ) are performed] for first-trimester abortions and that they can be "physically or emotionally uncomfortable." Requiring two of these ultrasounds, she said, would be medically unnecessary, and would make abortion access more difficult for poor and rural women who cannot get time off work, need to make childcare arrangements and have long distances to drive.
Holdman, the bill's sponsor, did not return The Huffington Post's calls for comment. Sue Swayze, the legislative director of Indiana Right to Life, told local radio station WBAA [ http://wbaa.org/post/senate-committee-approves-abortion-measures ] that that goal of the bill is to protect women's safety and hold abortion clinics to higher health standards. She said she does not understand why it would be a problem to mandate transvaginal ultrasounds.
“I got pregnant vaginally," she said. "Something else could come in my vagina for a medical test that wouldn’t be that intrusive to me. So I find that argument a little ridiculous.”
In addition to mandating two ultrasounds, the bill requires all clinics that provide medication abortions to meet the same building standards as surgical facilities, even if the clinic does not perform surgical abortions. If the bill passes, it will likely be so cost-prohibitive that the Planned Parenthood facility in Lafayette, Ind., the only abortion provider in the county, will be forced to stop offering abortions.
"It's absurd on its face that because a doctor is handing a patient pills, we need to deal with door sizes and hallway widths," said Betty Cockrum, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Indiana. "The first pill is taken on site, and the remainder of the medication leaves with the patient, and with her own time and space she completes the procedure. What's the relevance of a doorway width at that point?"
Davis, who regularly performs abortions at her practice in New York, said she is frustrated that legislators with no medical background are passing laws that regulate how she deals with patients.
"It makes me feel crazy," she said. "If they called me and said, 'Dr. Davis, do you think what the federal reserve is doing is appropriate for the economy?' I would say, 'I dunno, ask an economist.' You see the kind of stuff they come up with, and it has nothing to do with reality. None of this stuff is really trying to make abortion safer for women. It's just making it harder and scarier."
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/double-ultrasound-bill-indiana_n_2734658.html [with comments]
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Mike 'two times' Pence to steal 'Gov. Ultrasound' title
The Rachel Maddow Show
February 21, 2013
Rachel Maddow reports on the likelihood of Indiana Governor Mike Pence taking the title of "Governor Ultrasound" from Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell because of a bill progressing through the Indiana legislature that would require TWO medically unnecessary vaginal ultrasounds from women seeking legal abortions in that state.
© 2013 NBCNews.com
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-rachel-maddow-show/50899424 [show links at http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/21/17050292-links-for-the-221-trms (with comment)]
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Pregnancy is patriotic!
(Credit: Hitdelight [ http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-260389p1.html ] via Shutterstock/Salon)
Conservative men are in a frenzy over birth rates. Is your birth control really contributing to American decline?
By Irin Carmon
Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 06:45 AM CST
In the fast-growing canon of literature panicking over the supposed fertility crisis, one alarmist feature [ http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2013/02/18/why-the-choice-to-be-childless-is-bad-for-america.html ] on the declining birthrate provides an innovation: an anthropological excursion to a hookah bar in the East Village to hear from the young miscreants themselves. (“Decadence [ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/03/ladies_uncle_sam_needs_your_uterus/ ],” thy name is hookah.)
There, amid jokes about “popping one out,” and “horrible little grubs,” was a “more serious conversation about their fears of relinquishing sole ownership of one’s own body.” At least the authors of this Daily Beast piece asked actual women how they feel about childbearing, and the tensions between making a living, getting by in a city, and being treated like a “womb on legs,” in the memorable words of one of the interviewees. Most of the other accounts have left women out of the story entirely, with the convenient but noxious result of waging backlash while appearing to change the subject.
It’s getting crowded out there among the hand-wringers over what the birthrate says about America’s imperial future or the sustainability of our social insurance programs. Ross Douthat practically lives here [ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/opinion/sunday/douthat-the-birthrate-and-americas-future.html ], though in his most-talked-about column about insufficient fertility in December, he was careful to blame “late modern exhaustion” without having to talk too much about the women who evidently were suffering from it. And earlier this month, an excerpt [ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323375204578270053387770718.html ] from Jonathan Last’s “What to Expect When No One’s Expecting: American’s Coming Demographic Disaster,” under the headline “America’s Baby Bust,” was widely debated.
“The root cause of most of our problems is our declining fertility rate,” Last declared, with all of the understatement of a man with a book to sell, citing retirement programs and healthcare costs. When it came to the inconvenient question of “ownership over one’s own body” and the root causes of fertility numbers, Last hinted at it, mentioning women attending college and “branching out into careers beyond teaching and nursing,” as well as the pill and couples cohabitating. He did admit that “many of these developments are clearly positive. But even a social development that represents a net good can carry a serious cost.” When it comes to what other countries have done to make it easier for women who want to have children but face grim tradeoffs — an order in which the U.S. consistently places last — Last dismisses these policies as only producing “marginal gains.”
Not long ago, I received an 11th-hour request to discuss this topic on a public radio show [ http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=tp130206will_more_babies_sav ] with Last, a writer at the Weekly Standard. The urgency was probably due to the fact that the lineup included, along with Last, two other gentlemen and a male host. I agreed to represent we wombs with legs. On the show, I was introduced as “someone who comes from a very different point of view from our other guests, inasmuch as she is a woman.” I said that I questioned any conversations about fertility decline without centering around the people who are exclusively bearing and primarily raising children — the ones I’d been asked to solely represent. “These abstractions, I don’t think that they really speak to the lived realities of people’s lives,” I said. “I think lots of women are making rational decisions about how many children to have.” I mentioned the lack of paid family leave and daycare, the stigmatization of single mothers, families separated in deportation proceedings.
Last responded as if I’d just poured my own heart out, though I’d only spoken about the impact of policy on decision-making.”When it comes to big social questions like this, big economic questions like this, I really think there is a lot of value in abstracting and looking at data, looking at numbers,” he said, “and not getting caught up in anecdotal, like, there was a story in the Washington Post that said that working mothers have it this hard because these three people were interviewed.” In other words, take your messy female-friendly policies elsewhere and let the adults in the room — all men, at least at that moment — do the math.
On the substance of things, lots of baby is being thrown out with the bathwater here. For one thing, as the demographer Philip Cohen points out [ http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/02/lets-not-panic-over-women-with-more-education-having-fewer-kids/273070/ ], those middle-class, educated women, the ones whose selfishness everyone is either implicitly or explicitly blaming for all this, are still having most of the babies. “Women with the least education did have more kids than their share of the population,” Cohen recently wrote at The Atlantic. “But there were twice as many children born to women who were college graduates.” And overall, the gap is closing: More educated women are having more babies, while less educated women — who may be gaining better access to family planning — are having fewer.
Meanwhile, the economist Nancy Folbre writes [ http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/11/the-underpopulation-bomb/ ] at the Times, “I know of no historical evidence that either the productivity or the creativity of a society is determined by the age structure of its population. The interaction between demographic and economic change is so much more complex than the simplistic doomsday scenario implies.” She does say that an aging population with lower (but stabilized) fertility raises concerns about the long-term viability of how our retirement programs work, but that’s an issue of program design and priority, not certain civilizational destruction.
So why the hysteria? I’d argue that it serves several retrograde political functions, besides its marketability as a counterintuitive rebuttal to the “Population Bomb” fears of old. We are in a moment of partial Republican self-examination, in which certain party reformers are facing the fact that there just aren’t enough white voters to keep them in power — a demographic problem! (While there have been some serious conversations about family-friendly policies started by feminists, including Stephanie Coontz in the Times last weekend [ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/opinion/sunday/why-gender-equality-stalled.html?pagewanted=all ], it’s currently edgy among Republicans to support tax breaks for working families they once proposed.) And every conversation about how allegedly unsustainable Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are, for one reason or another, mainstreams the pressure to radically cut its benefits or reshape it to the whims of the market.
Finally, we are fresh off an election season in which many politicians who celebrated women’s reproductive freedom and vowed to protect or enhance it were declared winners, and others who tried to attack it or equivocate about its importance lost. (Sandra Fluke didn’t even try to testify about birth control for the purpose of voluntary, non-procreative sex, but she became a vessel for all of the crude fantasies of the salivating right about liberal women having reckless, consequence-free sex.) What better way to reclaim the narrative, to change the subject from the inconvenient autonomy of women, than to claim that all of this contracepting is bringing on the decline of America for all?
Copyright © 2013 Salon Media Group, Inc.
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/21/decoding_the_fertility_panic/ [with comments]
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Protesting Yoga in Schools, But Welcoming Bible Study
In Encinitas, parents warn of encroaching “neopaganism”
Oh mighty sun god, we worship you.
By Katherine Stewart
February 18, 2013
When is touching your toes just touching your toes, and when is it an effort to indoctrinate small children in Hinduism?
That is the question that emerged from reporting in the New York Times [ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/us/school-yoga-class-draws-religious-protest-from-christians.html ], Fox News [ http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/17/yoga-programs-in-public-schools-face-backlash/ ], and the Guardian [ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/10574976 ] on the threat of a lawsuit by a group of public school parents in Encinitas, California over a yoga class in a public elementary school.
But the most compelling aspect of the controversy has nothing to do with the religious nature of yoga, or with the fears of parents. Rather, the case raises serious questions about the separation of church and school, and about the many religiously-driven programs that are already active in public education, even in Encinitas. As it turns out, there is so much religion in public education today that the fuss over yoga is like worrying about a stain on your blouse when your trousers are covered in mud.
There are two important ways to think about the issue of yoga—or other potentially religiously-inspired content in public schools. The first test has to do with the content of the program; the second has to do with the connection of the sponsoring organization to the curriculum being presented.
Mary Eady, one of the parents organizing against Encinitas’ yoga program, described to a Times reporter [ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/us/school-yoga-class-draws-religious-protest-from-christians.html ] what she sees as religious content: “They’re teaching children how to meditate, how to look for peace and for comfort… It’s meant to shape the way they regulate their emotions.” She characterized the “Sun Salutation,” a basic series of yoga poses in which the student stretches his or her hands to the ceiling, as “a movement sequence that worships the sun god Surya,” and claimed that “yoga, including its physical practice, is very religious indeed.” Her legal representative, Dean Broyles, chief counsel for the Escondido-based National Center for Policy and Law (NCPL), is even more adamant, asserting that the Sun Salutation constitutes sun-worship.
Eady works at a Christian organization called Truthxchange, whose chief mission is to “respond to the rising tide of neopaganism.” Her lawyer’s organization, NCPL, is an affiliate of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF, formerly the Alliance Defense Fund), a conservative Christian legal advocacy group that has litigated on behalf of evangelical activity in schools and the broader public square. As might be imagined, the ADF takes a dim view of “neopaganism,” whatever that means to them.
However, if Eady’s and the ADF’s are correct—that the Sun Salutation and other yoga moves are indeed intrinsically religious—perhaps they have a point.
I put these challenges to the school administrator who runs the program, Assistant Superintendent of the Encinitas Union School District David Miyashiro, who dismissed the idea. “The exercises are not in any way religious,” he told me flatly. “I oversee the development of the curriculum, and I make sure that it is designed to conform with the Presidential Physical Fitness Standards. There is nothing religious about that.”
A problem with the NCPL position might be that they are challenging a practice (a hands-over-head stretch) that isn’t religious in and of itself. The hands-over-head stretch only becomes religious in the context of a larger tradition. In this sense, stopping kids from yoga stretching because it is religious in some contexts makes about as much sense as banning kids from shaving their heads simply because it reminds you of Buddhism.
However, the organizational test raises more serious concerns in this case. Encinitas’ yoga program is partially funded by a grant from the Jois Foundation [ http://joisyoga.com/about/story/ ], which is contributing to teachers’ salaries, curriculum development, and even yoga mats. The Foundation is associated with the family of the late Shri K. Pattabhi Jois, a yoga teacher who popularized a form of yoga called Ashtanga. Mary Eady and the ADF claim that the Jois Foundation is a religious organization. The director of the Jois Foundation, Eugene Ruffin, says it is not.
“Our organization is made up primarily of people who are members of the Abrahamic faiths,” Ruffin told me. But consider the Jois Foundation’s relationship to the K. P. Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute [ http://www.ashtanga.com/html/background.html ], an organization whose web page asserts that yoga practice helps to burn away the “six poisons” that surround the “spiritual heart.” Talk of “spiritual elevation” and “sacred beads” does not help the case that this is a non-religious group.
Ruffin insists the two organizations are legally separate, with distinct board memberships. But the Jois family is affiliated with both, and practitioners who have been affiliated with the Institute have also had a voice in the Foundation and its curriculum development. At least one major funding source for the Foundation (donors Sonia and Paul Tudor Jones) has also been involved with the Institute.
So let’s suppose that we are dealing with a group that is in some way tinged with religion. That in itself is not necessarily a deal-breaker: we wouldn’t turn away soup made for the school cafeteria, for example, just because it was made by Lutherans. In my view, the Organization Test really turns on two questions. First, is the program organized in such a way that it is accountable in a real and meaningful way to the school, and not the religious group? Second, does the partnership involve an entanglement between the school system and the religious group that could foreseeably involve state involvement in or endorsement of religion?
In the yoga case, both of these concerns have merit. In this particular instance, though, the Encinitas school district has an effective response to the first concern. The management and administration of the yoga program, the school insists, is internal. Assistant Superintendent Miyashiro, who has no connection with the Jois Foundation, sets the curriculum, helps choose the teachers, and monitors the results. He has the authority and the resources in place to manage the program and ensure that its content and execution it is answerable to the school. The school district has set up a line of accountability that is largely separate from the organization. Once the curriculum is developed, it will be public, rather than belonging to the Jois Foundation, and will be free for any public school to adopt.
The second line of concern is perhaps more difficult. The Jois Foundation has made it quite clear that it sees the program in Encinitas as a beachhead for the eventual development of a much larger program that would put yoga in schools across the country, potentially giving the Jois Foundation a broader influence on public education as a whole.
The Encinitas case is complicated, and a lot depends on specific facts. We can learn more by scouring the landscape for comparable situations. Where do we find public school programs with “possibly religious” content sponsored by religious groups that have a clear religious agenda for the schools?
Oh, that’s easy. You just need to look at the ADF’s client list. Not the ones they’re trying to kick out of the schools, but the ones they are trying to force in.
Consider abstinence-only Sex Ed: the many “health” programs for public middle and high school students teaching that the only way to have a safe and moral sex life is not to have one (outside of heterosexual marriage). Abstinence programs in many cases quite clearly fail the Content Test, presenting themselves as sex education, but delivering messages, though stripped of explicit references to God or Jesus, that are clearly driven by religion and intended to convey religiously-driven values and judgments.
Abstinence programs also, in many cases, more egregiously fail Test Two. Supplied by overtly religious organizations, they are run from beginning to end by outfits like Choosing the Best [ http://www.choosingthebest.org/ ], the curriculum of which was written by a former Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru) national director, or the No Apologies [ http://www.family.org.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=223&Itemid=259 ] program, produced by Focus on the Family. These groups have received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal and state funding to introduce their curriculum to public schools, and their faith-based programs are supported and defended by the ADF and their affiliates. Apparently the separation of church and school is a big deal for the ADF only when it involves the wrong kind of church.
Another example is “Character Education.” Public schools have taken it upon themselves to address issues of ethics and character, but in a world of budget cuts, they often turn to outside providers for the programs. Many of those providers are religious groups whose idea of “character development” is not easily distinguishable from proselytizing. “The Power Team,” “The Strength Team,” “Team Impact,” and thousands of similar faith-based groups send speakers, theater troupes, and even rock bands into public schools ostensibly to teach lessons about drunk driving, bullying, and other valuable topics. But their presentations—which often culminate with invitations to proselytizing events at evangelical churches—soon make clear that their main aim is to leave with a collection of young religious converts.
And when parents complain? The ADF accuses ACLU-backed school districts that seek to limit religious “character education” of waging a “war on Christianity.”
The ADF and its allies also invest considerable efforts in seeking to overturn some anti-bullying school guidelines on the grounds that such policies persecute the “Christian perspective” on LGBT rights and that demanding tolerance is a front for promoting “homosexual values.” Finally, let’s consider fundamentalist Good News Clubs [ http://www.amazon.com/The-Good-News-Club-Christian/dp/B008SLSAY6 ], which are presently in well over 3,000 public elementary schools around the country. Good News Clubs, which are sponsored by an organization called the Child Evangelism Fellowship [ http://www.cefonline.com/ ], are ostensibly after-school “Bible study” programs that require parental permission to join. But that description is misleading. Good News Clubs are not about “study,” they are about religious indoctrination. Further, the clubs produce the false but unavoidable impression in very young children that they are part of the school; they set up shop in public school classrooms immediately after the bell rings, so as to appear a seamless part of the school day. And finally, Good News Clubs instructors tell kids attending the clubs to recruit their peers at school.
It turns out that Encinitas public elementary schools that sparked the national outcry over yoga stretching are rife with Good News Clubs: all nine public elementary schools in the district have a club, reported Assistant Superintendent Miyashiro. And their presence has been made possible by the legal firepower of the ADF and lawyers like Dean Broyles. When it comes to unhealthy entanglement between church and school, a classroom of first-graders stretching their hands to the sky seems to be, for now, a matter of far less concern than the well-organized conservative Christian proselytism that is already making deep inroads into public education.
Katherine Stewart is the author of The Good News Club: The Christian Right's Stealth Assault on America's Children [ http://www.amazon.com/The-Good-News-Club-Christian/dp/B008SLSAY6 ] (PublicAffairs). She has written for the Guardian, Reuters, and The New York Times. Her website is www.thegoodnewsclub.com [ http://www.thegoodnewsclub.com/ ].
© Religion Dispatches 2013
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/culture/6843/protesting_yoga_in_schools__but_welcoming_bible_study/ [with comments]
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George Washington's Christian (?) Faith
By Darrin Grinder
Co-Author, 'Presidents And Their Faith' [ http://www.amazon.com/Presidents-And-Their-Faith-Washington/dp/1937498948 ]
Posted: 02/18/2013 7:37 am
George Washington's birthday seems like an appropriate time to think about his religious beliefs and life, especially since the National Prayer Breakfast was held earlier this month, giving President Obama his fifth opportunity in that venue to assert his Christian identity. Gary S. Smith, of the Center for Vision and Values, has already written about the double-standard by which the faiths of both Washington and Obama are interpreted, and Smith, like other scholars, states that the exact nature of Washington's faith is unknowable and much less clear than Obama's.
Washington did believe in "Providence," that there was a divinity intervening in worldly affairs, and this divinity seemed to be on the side of the new republic. We know that Washington wrote many times of the value of Christianity as a guiding influence on the new republic's citizens; however, he was equally clear that the character-building nature of religious institutions was not exclusive to Christianity, extending at least to Judaism, if not to other religions. Washington was at least a cultural Christian, but we have no evidence that he was what we would call today a "born again" Christian.
If being a Christian means that one goes to a Christian Church fairly regularly, supports that church monetarily, believes in an Old Testament deity that acts in the world but whose relationship is far from personal, then Washington was a Christian. He was reared in the Church of England (later the Episcopal Church), attended services regularly, and there is no shortage of Washington's statements regarding the role of religion in civil life, in the destiny of America, and in the affairs of the world. But many of today's Christians would argue that a Christian is one who "accepts Jesus as a personal savior," and for that there is absolutely no evidence in Washington's life. In fact, there are few instances of Washington's having said the name "Jesus" in any of his public or private writings or speeches.
For almost two thousand years most Christian sects have held that participating in certain sacraments is central to the Christian life, and among those sacraments taking Holy Communion (or being a "communicant") is the most sacred. But we know that Washington made a point of not taking communion in his adult life. His bishop states that Washington was not a communicant, and his granddaughter also writes that the general always left the service on communion Sundays immediately following the sermon, before communion was taken.
There are many apocryphal stories regarding Washington's faith and religion, but the truth of one story confirmed by those closest to him and by participants in the events is difficult to deny. One of Washington's priests, James Abercrombie, writes that he once delivered a sermon directed to Washington urging respected congregants to take part in communion, to be good examples. As usual, Washington left without taking communion. Abercrombie then states he heard from a US Senator that Washington had told him about the incident (Washington agreeing that his example was influential) and of Washington's choice not to attend church any longer on communion Sundays.
What we do not know is why Washington found it so important not to take communion, this essential of the Christian Faith. As Paul F. Boller, respected Presidential historian, wrote in 1963, "It cannot be said that Washington ever experienced any feeling of personal intimacy or communion with his God"; it makes sense, then, that honest Washington, unsure of the personal nature of the divine, chose to step away from a public display of devotion. While this may demonstrate that Washington was not likely to be a "born again" Christian, it also suggests that he had a great deal of integrity, perhaps even more valuable in a president.
One current web site that attempts to Christianize founding fathers states that Washington's "contemporaries were convinced of his devout faith," but that clearly depends on which part of the record one chooses. For instance, a noted contemporary of Washington's, James Madison, states that he did "not suppose that Washington had ever attended to the arguments for Christianity, and for the different systems of religion, or in fact that he had formed definite opinions on the subject." While Madison's statement alone does not mean Washington was not a Christian, Madison's assertion (along with much more evidence) cannot mean that Washington was anything akin to today's American Evangelical Christians.
What does this ultimately say about Washington and his faith? From the distance of two-hundred years, clouded by evangelical revivals, Watergate, the religiosity of contemporary candidates, and so much more, all we know is that Washington said that he believed in Providence, and that we have little knowledge of what he thought regarding Jesus, the Holy Spirit, or even the New Testament, for that matter. A Christian in culture and some practice, yes, but hardly an American religious icon.
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George Washington Was a Friend of Muslims
By Craig Considine
Posted: 02/18/2013 4:42 pm
George Washington's birthday, celebrated annually on Febr. 22nd, is an opportunity to reflect upon his exemplary character and the example he set for future generations of Americans. While much is known about Washington's military service and political career, less is known about his attitude towards religious freedom and his relationships with Muslims. Looking closely at his personal documents, letters, and activities, we can see that Washington was indeed a proponent of religious tolerance and a friend to the Muslims in his midst.
When Washington completed his second term as the first President of the United States of America, he retired to his estate at Mount Vernon, Virginia, where he spent the remainder of his life in the company of his slaves. We know from a 1784 letter to Tench Tighman, who inquired as to what type of workmen Washington wanted at Mount Vernon, that Washington cared for "good workmen." He confirmed, "they may be of Asia, Africa or Europe. They may be Mahometans [Muslims], Jews, or Christians of any sect, or atheists."
The archaeological records at Mount Vernon show that some of Washington's slaves were, in fact, Muslims or at least descendants of Muslims from west and northwest Africa. A tithe table from 1774 documents the 7th century Muslim-sounding names of "Fatimer" and "Little Fatimer," which appear to be a reference to the name "Fatima," the name of the daughter of Prophet Muhammad. In another instance, a young woman named Letty, one of Washington's slaves who was released upon his death, gave birth to a girl she named "Nila." A scholar of Mount Vernon, Mary V. Thompson, argues that "Nila" is the phonetic spelling or an adaptation of a Muslim woman's name, "Naailah," which means "someone who acquires something." Thompson speculates that "Nila" was a name remembered from Africa, and that Letty wanted her daughter to carry the name into newfound freedom. The fact that these slaves were able to retain their Muslim-sounding names is evidence of Washington's tolerance for non-Christian influences at Mount Vernon.
The most interesting story regarding Washington's slaves is that of Sambo Anderson. Mary Thompson suggests that Sambo, whose name was common in modern northwestern Nigeria and southern Niger during the 18th century, was likely a descendent of the West African Hausa people, who, she writes, "bore a strong Islamic influence" that had come to them from Mali, perhaps as early as the 14th century. The Art and Life in Africa Project at the University of Iowa also provides a link to Sambo's Islamic background. On its website, the project states that early Islam in Hausaland "proceed peacefully ... In many cases, the ruling elite were the first to convert to Islam." Thompson also found that Sambo spoke about being of royal lineage. He had facial cuts, which denoted tribal affiliations and had tattoos and gold rings around his ears, which marked him as royalty.
Another piece of evidence concerning Sambo's Muslim background is Washington's will, which stated that Sambo fathered six children with two different women, both of whom lived at the River Farm area of Mount Vernon. Thompson writes: "[g]iven the likelihood that Sambo was a Hausa, most of whom were Muslim, his polygamy, if any, was probably a reflection of an Islamic background." Sambo, as Thompson concludes, may have been practicing the marriage pattern he was familiar with in Hausaland.
In an article entitled "Mount Vernon Reminiscence" that was published in the Alexandria Gazette on Jan. 18, 1876, "an old citizen of Fairfax County" contends that Washington and Sambo had a close friendship. The "Reminiscence" stated that Sambo was a "great favorite of the master [Washington]; by whom he was given a piece of land to build a house on." The old citizen of Fairfax also revealed how Washington allowed Sambo to keep a small boat or skiff to "cross over the creek in, and for other purposes," a rare privilege for a slave in colonial America. Washington would sometimes use Sambo's boat, "but he never was the man to take it without asking [Sambo] if he could use it." Washington's behavior shows respect for Sambo's property, and thus, for Sambo.
One Washington biographer, Professor Peter Henriques, suggests that Sambo was also an excellent hunter and was given permission by Washington to own a gun and ammunition, which were also rare privileges for a slaveowner to bestow up a slave. Washington seemed to have been close to Sambo to the extent that, according to notes recovered from Washington's ledger, he used to visit Sambo to buy duck meat and honey. Washington and Sambo's interactions highlight a rare connection between a slaveowner and slave. Washington did not seem overly concerned with Sambo's religious preferences, rather he appeared to be more concerned with the man's trustworthy and upright demeanor.
Another article from the Alexandria Gazette, dated Nov. 14, 1835, tells a meaningful story about the experience of a journalist, who had gone to pay respect to Washington's burial place. While at Washington's tomb, the correspondent wrote that he saw '[e]leven colored men ... industriously employed in leveling the earth and turfing around the sepulcher." He continues: "There was an earnest expression of feeling about them that encouraged me to inquire if they belong[ed] to the respected lady of the mansion. They stated that they were a few of the many salves freed by George Washington, and they had offered their services upon this last melancholy occasion." The conduct of the "colored men" was so impressive that the correspondent inquired about their names, one of which was "Sambo Anderson." Sambo's behavior at Washington's tomb was that of a man paying respect to his or her deceased friend. Washington must have left a positive impression on Sambo if he returned to his friend's tomb in this manner.
While we should by no means dismiss the severity of Washington's legacy as a slave owner, it is worth noting that, in a 1786 letter to his friend Robert Morris he wrote: "[t]here is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of [slavery]." In another one of his letters, Washington criticized other Virginian slave owners "who are not always as kind and as attentive to their [slaves'] wants and usage as they ought to be." Later in his life, Washington expressed remorse for his identity as a slave owner, stating that the "unfortunate condition of the persons whose labor in part I employed has been the only unavoidable subject of regret." From these words, it is clear that Washington was remorseful for his shortcomings as a slave owner.
Aside from his affairs at Mount Vernon, Washington tolerated the presence of Muslims in his army during the Revolutionary War. Alongside Bampett Muhammad, who fought for the "Virginia Line" between 1775 and 1783, there is a man named Yusuf Ben Ali, also referred to by his slave name as Joseph Benhaley. Ben Ali was descended from North African Arabs and served as an aide to General Thomas Sumter in South Carolina. Sevgi Zübeyde Gürbüz (formerly Ertan) states in her article, "A History of Turks in America" (2002), that the modern day "Turks" of Sumter County, South Carolina, actually claim descent from Ben Ali.
Another man believed to be a Muslim in Washington's army was Peter Buckminster, who etched his name into American history at the Battle of Bunker Hill by firing the shot which killed Great Britain's Major General John Pitcairn. After being granted his freedom for freely enlisting in the army, Buckminster changed his last name to "Salem." Historian Amir Muhammad points out that "Salem" is nearly identical to the word "Salam," which is the word for "peace" in the Arabic language. Salem later reenlisted in Washington's army and fought victoriously at the Battle of Saratoga and the Battle of Stony Point, where Washington served as commander. The presence of these men in several of Washington's most defining moments suggests that Washington cared little for the religious makeup of his army and cared more for their devotion to freedom and independence.
In late 1777, Washington's army suffered defeat after defeat against the British and were forced to surrender the major city of Philadelphia to the enemy. Washington's worst day during the Revolutionary War came as his men were encamped at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, on December 19 of that year. Washington stressed in a letter to his friend George Clinton of "the dreadful situation ... for want of provisions, and the miserable prospects before us, with respect to futurity." Just as his army reached its most desperate state, Washington learned of the news of a Muslim man named Sultain Sidi Muhammad ben Abdallah of Morocco, who showed interest in helping the Americans in their fight against the British Empire.
Upon learning of Washington's conflict, Abdallah assisted Washington by listing the newly independent United States of America as a country whose trading ships would be welcomed in the ports of Morocco, a move which offered the potential for supplies to be shipped to Washington's army. In 1778, shortly after his initial effort to help Washington, Abdallah appointed Etienne d'Audibert Caille, a French merchant, to serve as an ambassador to unrepresented countries such as the United States of America. These early diplomatic relations between the United States of America and Morocco culminated in the ratification of the Treaty of Marrakech in 1786, which remains to this day the longest standing foreign relations treaty in American history.
Congress found the Treaty of Marrakech so satisfactory that it passed a note of thanks to Thomas Barclay, a diplomat at the American consulate in Paris, France, for his effort in finalizing the agreements. In reflecting on his experience while negotiating with Moroccans, Barclay wrote that Abdallah "acted in a manner most gracious ... and I really believe the Americans possess as much of his respect and regards as does any Christian nation whatsoever." Barclay said that Abdallah was a "just man, according to this idea of justice, of great personal courage, liberal to a degree, a lover of his people, [and] stern."
In effect, the Treaty of Marrakech demonstrates that Washington and other members of Congress had no reservations with trusting or entering into a friendship with Muslims. The treaty is also evidence of how Washington and other early Americans judged foreign leaders not on the basis of their religious beliefs, but on the sincerity and strength of their character and conduct.
Washington's appreciation for Abdallah was reaffirmed in a personal letter, dated December 1, 1789, which he sent directly to Abdallah's court. In addition to ensuring America's commitment to maintaining "peace and friendship" with Morocco, Washington stated that Americans would "gradually become useful to [their] friends." Washington told Abdallah that so long as he was President of the Untied States of America, he would "not cease to promote every Measure that may conduct to the Friendship and Harmony, which so happily subsist between your Empire and [Americans]."
After the death of Abdallah in 1790, the Treaty of Marrakech was validated by Morocco's new sultan, Moulay Suliman, who made it clear in a letter to the American consulate at Gibraltor that "we are at peace, tranquility and friendship with you in the same manner as you were with our father who is in glory." Suliman added: "the Americans, I find, are the Christian nation my father most esteemed ... I am the same with them, as my father and I trust they will be so with me ... With good relations thus reaffirmed." This official correspondence between American and Moroccan officials shows how both parties regarded each others' faith with the utmost respect.
Washington's tolerance of and friendships with Muslims may be a product of his adherence to the principles of Enlightenment, which emphasized a concern for human rights and freedom of choice. Washington believed that every person was "accountable to God alone for his religious opinions" and should "be protected in worshiping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience." Washington's tolerance of Muslims, and indeed of all religions, also manifests in a personal letter from 1783, in which he made it clear that the United States of America would be "open to receive ... the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions, whom we shall welcome to participation of all our rights and privileges ... They may be Mahometans [Muslims], Jews, or Christians of any sect."
One of Washington's most inspiring letters was addressed to the Hebrew Congregation of Rhode Island in 1783. Washington told these early Jewish Americans that he hoped that "the children of the stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, [would] continue to merit and enjoy the goodwill of their inhabitants," which insinuates that Washington would sympathize with Islam as well because Islam also holds Abraham in high esteem for founding the monotheistic tradition. In reaching out to the early Jewish American community, Washington makes the point that the more vulnerable religious groups in American society would be protected and safeguarded under the freedoms granted by the Constitution of the United States of America.
The most important lesson learned in studying Washington's life lies in the realization that he and the other founding fathers never intended for America to become a nation that would struggle with religious bigotry. Washington made it clear in a letter to Edward Newnham in 1792 that quarrels over religious differences were "the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated." He was explicit in his recommendation to avoid religious disputes because he felt that such problems "endanger the peace of society."
It is possible that Washington's friendship with Muslims is a result of his adherence to the rational principles of Deism, which emphasize a belief in God and not necessarily a belief in religion. Others might argue that it is his Christian faith that encouraged Washington to refrain from religious disputes. While we cannot be certain as to the reasons why Washington entered so graciously into friendships with Muslims, one could argue with credence that Washington saw no room for bigotry and religious persecution in the United States of America. Though Americans have not always followed the example put forth by Washington, a close reflection upon his life and his friendships with Muslims may help to reinvigorate Washington's legacy, renew the pluralist vision put forth by the founding fathers, and establish the United States of America as the exceptional country it was destined to be.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-considine/george-washington-was-a-f_b_2712606.html [with comments] [and again, see (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=54833454 and preceding and following]
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Faith, Doubt and Other Lines I've Crossed
By Jay Bakker
Pastor, Author, 'Fall to Grace' [ http://www.amazon.com/Fall-Grace-Revolution-Self-Society/dp/B0071UHVAO ]
Posted: 02/19/2013 6:03 pm
One of the worst things you can be when you're a dogmatic person is wrong. If you insist that you're right about something and it turns out you're wrong, you're not just wrong about that something. You're wrong about having been right. You're wrong simply for your attitude toward your own knowledge. This is something Paul gets at when he writes "Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen?"
Years ago, I believed in a lot of things like heaven and God. And I was told that to really believe in them, I had to eliminate any kind of doubt. The problem was I'd study the Bible and doubts would creep in. I'd find difficult passages that we'd based clear-cut theologies on. I'd learn more about the writers of the books and why they wrote and to whom and suddenly everything was looking a lot muddier.
This kills belief. Belief can't handle being wrong. Belief is concerned not with what is believed but the the rightness of the one believing. And so belief takes things like "God" and "heaven" that should be fluid and evolving and growing and maturing as ideas and separates them from the people. Belief puts God behind a curtain, preserving God like a museum piece.
Since then, I've gone from believing in these things to hoping in them. Because when you believe in something "unseen" to use Paul's word, you become dogmatic. You can't prove it to anyone, and so you end up insisting that you are right instead of insisting on what is right. But hope -- hope leaves room for doubt. Hope embraces your doubt. I hope in God, but I could be wrong. I hope in heaven, but I could be wrong.
This does two things -- one, it opens you up to people. It opens you up to loving people. To seeing who they really are, and seeing how they see you. To discovering new things every day in them. To finding reality in other people instead of in creeds and beliefs and dogmas. To finding God in all of life, not just the smells and bells of the church.
Second, this kind of hope turns away from belief and discovers faith. When I have faith in something, I don't have a handle on it. I don't have it in my grasp. I have to hold it with open hands, but when I do, I discover true freedom. Sure, hold on to your truth, faith says, but your truth doesn't have to hold on to you. The freedom to have faith instead of belief -- the freedom to doubt -- is one of the most beautiful things about following Christ.
With faith, I can work for good in the world. I can see the world in all of its messy, random, meaningless tragedy and say: So what? I'm going to create meaning. I'm going to love my neighbor. I'm going to work to free the oppressed. I'm going to live out grace. I'm going to feed the hungry. I'm going to live as if life has meaning, despite the evidence, and hope that I'm right.
This allows me to live with the mystery, to love my neighbor without having an agenda for their conversion. My agenda is for their peace, their equality, their worth as a human being. Doubt allows me to follow Jesus in my own life, and help people find grace and peace and acceptance in their lives.
Doubt also keeps me sane. Rather than making me like a wave tossed by the sea, as the book of James puts it, it allows me to go on. It allows me to participate in the grace and love of God even though I feel separated from it so often. It allows me to read the Bible seriously -- which is very different than how I grew up. It allows me to rethink things like hell and sin and this thing called penal substitution that imagines God demanding blood for sins (and offering Jesus to die to satisfy that bloodlust). And it allows me to love, to really love.
Because love, too, doubts. Love is uncertain. Love is a risk. It's something you have to have faith in, not something you can believe in. Love "hopes all things" Paul tells us, and that means it doubts.
I'll be honest, it's hard to doubt. There are days I want to just give up on this whole thing. It's hard. But that's what community is all about. We're there to help each other doubt more, and have more faith. I wouldn't be who I am today without the people who have encouraged me to doubt, and to have faith, and to let go of my belief.
One thing I know: We can't conquer hopelessness with certainty. We can't fix tragedy with dogma. We can only embrace the doubt that comes when we hope, when we have faith, when we love.
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Cardinal Peter Turkson, Pope Contender, Suggests Gay Priests To Blame For Church Child Sex Abuse
Cardinal Peter Turkson has implied that gay priests are partially to blame for the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal.
By Cavan Sieczkowski
Posted: 02/20/2013 11:05 am EST | Updated: 02/20/2013 5:33 pm EST
Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, a frontrunner to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, has suggested that gay priests are, in part, to blame for the sex abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church.
Turkson spoke with CNN's Christiane Amanpour last week about possibly taking the papal office. First, the conversation broached possible progression within the Church, specifically an evolution of views on same-sex marriage [ http://amanpour.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/12/meet-the-man-who-could-be-the-first-black-pope/ ].
"We need to be true and faithful to the faith which makes a church a church," he said, "and we need to be true to being relevant in society in fulfillment of the mission of the Church." Adding, "We may not sacrifice one for the other. So while the Church seeks to be relevant to society ... we also need to have a mind on what it is that the Church believes."
Then, the conversation turned to the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/17/pope-immunity_n_2708518.html (at {linked in} http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84728982 {and preceding and any future following})]. Amanpour asked Turkson if it's possible the scandal, which swept across the U.S. and Europe over the past decade, could reach Africa.
"Not in the same proportion as we have seen in Europe," Turkson said. "Probably because African traditional systems kind of protect or have protected its population against this tendency. Because in several communities, in several cultures in Africa, homosexuality, or for that matter, any affair between two sexes of the same kind are not countenanced in our society. So, that cultural 'taboo,' that tradition has been there. It's helped to keep this out."
Turkson's perceived anti-gay remarks [ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2281411/Cardinal-Peter-Turkson-blames-gay-priests-abuse-scandals-facing-Catholic-church.html ] were quickly condemned by activist groups.
"We hear less about clergy sex crimes and cover ups in Africa for the same reasons we do throughout the developing world -- there tends to be lesser funding for law enforcement, less vigorous civil justice systems, less independent journalism, and an even greater power and wealth difference between church officials and their congregants," a spokesperson for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [ http://www.snapnetwork.org/ ] said in a statement, via the Daily Mail.
In 2011, a five-year study commissioned by the Catholic bishops of the U.S. revealed that neither an all-male clergy nor homosexuality were to blame for the sex abuse scandal [ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/us/18bishops.html?pagewanted=all (and see {linked in} http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=63362719 and preceding and following)], according to a New York Times report on the findings.
Via NYT:
The report notes that homosexual men began entering the seminaries “in noticeable numbers” from the late 1970s through the 1980s. By the time this cohort entered the priesthood, in the mid-1980s, the reports of sexual abuse of minors by priests began to drop and then to level off. If anything, the report says, the abuse decreased as more gay priests began serving the church.
More boys than girls were abused because priests had more access to boys in parishes, schools and after-school activities, the report also notes.
Still, the 64-year-old Ghanaian cardinal has displayed anti-gay sentiments before, defending anti-gay legislation similar to Uganda's so-called "Kill the Gays" bill [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/13/peter-turkson-cardinal-pope-successor-kill-the-gays-bill_n_2677261.html ]. Turkson has also long advocated on behalf of conservatism [ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/cardinal-peter-turkson-conservatisms-cape-crusader-8497539.html ]. His goal, he recently told The Independent, is to "apply the values of the kingdom of God and the gospel to the social order."
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Scott Lively, 'Kill The Gays' Bill Supporter, Pushes Claim Obama Is Gay, Dating Reggie Love
Scott Lively is pushing a claim that Obama is secretly gay, using the President's solo vacation as "evidence."
By Meredith Bennett-Smith
Posted: 02/22/2013 1:25 pm EST | Updated: 02/22/2013 1:41 pm EST
An evangelical pastor, famous for his support of Uganda's so-called "Kill the Gays" bill [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/07/scott-lively-kill-the-gays-bill-supporter-on-trial-crimes-against-humanity_n_2425003.html ], claims to have found further proof that President Obama is secretly gay.
Scott Lively made the claim in an entry on the website for his Defend The Family organization [ http://www.defendthefamily.com/ ].
The short post, which consists of the headline "Obama Vacations with Reggie Love, Not Michelle" and subhead "More 'gay' grist for the rumor mill," links to a short article in The Weekly Standard, which reports on President Obama's return from his "solo vacation [ http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-talks-record-press-flight-home_701429.html ]."
AF1 wheels down Andrews at 7:45pm. POTUS came back to have a 10-minute off the record talk with pool at the end of the flight.
Reggie Love departed AF1 soon after POTUS, apparently a guest for the weekend.
Marine One wheels up 7:55 pm
The clear implication here is that Obama and Reggie Love, the president's former personal assistant (also called a "body man") are dating. This is a claim that has been made before on various right-wing blogs, including the ultra-conservative WorldNetDaily (WND), which also claimed Love had been photographed "engaging in a homosexual act [ http://www.wnd.com/2012/08/the-return-of-obamas-body-man/ ]" at a party at the University of North Carolina.
Lively last year claimed Obama had once been married to a man [ http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/scott-lively-pushes-claim-obama-was-once-married-man ] and used a video and op-ed by tea party conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi to back up his claim.
The op-ed, published on WND, was a collaboration by Corsi and gossip columnist Kevin DuJan. The post claimed Obama was a prominent participant in Chicago's “gay” bar and bathhouse scene [ ]. "It was preposterous to the people I knew then to think Obama was going to keep his gay life secret,” DuJan told Corsi.
“If you just hang out at these bars, the older guys who have been frequenting these gay bars for 25 years will tell you these stories,” DuJan also said in the op-ed [ http://www.wnd.com/2012/09/claim-obama-hid-gay-life-to-become-president/ ]. “Obama used to go to the gay bars during the week, most often on Wednesday, and they said he was very much into older white guys.”
Corsi's video, meanwhile, alleges that Obama is not only gay, but that he may also have been married to a former roommate at one time [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/12/obama-gay-rumors-chicago-jerome-corsi-_n_1877990.html ].
Another of Lively's outrageous claims include the accusation that biblical gay weddings of prompting Noah's flood [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/10/noahs-flood-caused-by-wedding-songs-homosexuals-scott-lively_n_2450404.html ]. He also co-authored a book in 1995 arguing that some of Hitler's closest advisers were gay, and that they had helped mastermind the Holocaust [ http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2005/spring/holy-war/making-myths ].
(Hat tip, Right Wing Watch [ http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/scott-lively-finds-more-proof-obama-gay-having-affair-reggie-love ])
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/scott-lively-obama-gay_n_2742242.html [with comments] [and see (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=83304972 (and preceding and following)]
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U.N. faults U.S. for failure to prosecute abusive clerics
Survivor Esther Miller, holds newly released files of her perpetrator Rev. Deacon Michael Nocita, seen in middle picture, as she joins Members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests during a news conference outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. Cardinal Roger Mahony of the largest Roman Catholic archdiocese in the United States was stripped of his duties in an unprecedented move by his successor Archbishop Jose Gomez.
[ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/un-faults-us-for-failure-to-prosecute-abusive-clerics_n_2729239.html ]
Caleb K. Bell
Feb 20, 2013
WASHINGTON (RNS) The U.S. is failing to pursue and prosecute clergy guilty of child sexual abuse, according to a recent United Nations committee report.
The U.N.’s Committee on the Rights of the Child, in a little-noticed Jan. 25 report [ http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/CRC_C_OPSC_USA_2_ENG.DOC ], urged the U.S. to “take all necessary measures to investigate all cases of sexual abuse of children whether single or on a massive and long-term scale, committed by clerics.”
David Clohessy, the director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, described national efforts to deal with child-molesting clergy as “woefully inadequate.”
“There has been and continues to be too cozy a relationship between religious and governmental figures,” Clohessy said. “Other than a handful of local prosecutors, there’s been almost no action at the state or federal level.”
The U.S. Department of Justice did not return requests for comment, and the National Association of Attorneys General declined to comment. Abuse cases are typically handled by local and state prosecutors, not the federal government.
Child abuse scandals have rocked various Christian and Jewish institutions throughout the U.S. in recent years, with the Catholic Church’s clergy abuse scandal that erupted in 2002 the most visible.
Earlier this month, Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles stripped retired Cardinal Robert Mahony of his public duties after a court-ordered release of church documents showed that Mahony and others tried to shelter abusive priests from prosecution.
Clohessy said his group believes that if prosecutors were to target church leaders rather than individual priests, the problem would be solved much faster.
“If even a handful of bishops went to jail for enabling child sex crimes, we believe that that would introduce massive reform,” Clohessy said. “Predator priests would be caught after their third victim, not 33rd victim.”
Last year, Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, Mo., was convicted of failing to report an abusive priest, and a leading churchman in Philadelphia received three to six years in prison for shuffling known abusers across the archdiocese.
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that the hierarchy does a “huge amount” in order to prevent sex abuse within the church — much of it learned after the abuse scandal came to light.
“Every diocese is audited every year to see that every year that parishes have safe environment programs,” Walsh said, “which include educating children so that they are aware of inappropriate contact by an adult, and are encouraged to report anything that makes them uncomfortable to a trusted adult.”
Some victims’ advocates have criticized Pope Benedict XVI’s handling of sex abuse scandals during his reign, as well as before his election when he headed the Vatican department responsible for processing abuse cases.
The pope, for health reasons, will resign on Feb. 28, and some are now urging Mahony—who is eligible to vote for the next pope—to stay in the U.S. and not vote [ http://www.religionnews.com/2013/02/19/controversy-over-cardinal-mahonys-conclave-vote-reaches-vatican/ ] for his role in trying to shield known abusers from criminal prosecution.
© 2013 Religion News LLC
http://www.religionnews.com/2013/02/20/u-n-faults-u-s-on-prosecuting-abusive-clerics/ [with comments]
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Cardinal Timothy Dolan Deposed About Abuse Cases Against Catholic Church When Archbishop Of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
By RACHEL ZOLL
02/20/13 08:35 PM ET EST
NEW YORK — Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, was deposed Wednesday about abuse cases against Roman Catholic clergy in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, which he led from 2002 until 2009.
Frank LoCoco, an attorney for the Milwaukee Archdiocese, and Jeff Anderson, a plaintiffs' attorney, confirmed the cardinal was deposed.
The Milwaukee Archdiocese faces allegations from nearly 500 people. Archbishop Jerome Listecki, the current Milwaukee church leader, sought bankruptcy protection in 2011, saying the process was needed to compensate victims fairly while ensuring the archdiocese could still function. Milwaukee is the eighth diocese in the U.S. to seek bankruptcy protection since the abuse scandal erupted in 2002 in Boston.
Dolan is one of two U.S. cardinals to be deposed this week. Cardinal Roger Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles, is scheduled to be questioned Saturday in a lawsuit over a visiting Mexican priest who police believe molested 26 children in 1987. The Rev. Nicolas Aguilar Rivera fled to Mexico in 1988 after parents complained. He has been ousted from the priesthood but remains a fugitive.
Both Dolan and Mahony will soon be in Rome to participate in the conclave that will elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who is resigning.
Pressure has been building in Italy for Mahony to bow out of the conclave; however, Mahony has indicated in postings on his blog and Twitter accounts that he will participate in the papal election.
The Los Angeles Archdiocese this month released thousands of pages under court order from the confidential personnel files of more than 120 accused clergy. The files show that Mahony and other top archdiocese officials maneuvered behind the scenes to shield accused priests and protect the church from a growing scandal while keeping parishioners in the dark.
LoCoco said in a phone interview with The Associated Press that Dolan was asked about his decision to publicize the names of priests who molested children.
"The names were published so that people would come forward, share their story and begin what Cardinal Dolan and all those involved would be a healing process," LoCoco said.
Dolan's deposition was first reported by The New York Times.
Additional church officials deposed in connection with the bankruptcy and lawsuits include another former Milwaukee archbishop, Rembert Weakland; a retired auxiliary bishop; an archdiocese official who helps victims; the archdiocesan chancellor; and others, according to LoCoco and a spokesman for the Milwaukee archdiocese.
The Milwaukee Archdiocese recently said it was going broke. Its legal and other fees have reached nearly $9 million, according to court filings. Advocates for victims have accused the archdiocese of trying to shield assets by transferring millions of dollars separately into a cemetery trust fund and a parish fund several years ago.
Dolan is the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. His name has come up on some Vatican analysts' lists of cardinals who could be elected in the upcoming conclave, though he is considered a longshot.
Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the New York Archdiocese, said Dolan had long awaited the chance to discuss his decision to publicize the names as part of his efforts to help victims.
"He has indicated over the past two years that he was eager to cooperate in whatever way he could," Zwilling said in a statement.
Cp[yright 2013 The Associated Press
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/nyc-cardinal-dolan-deposed_n_2733340.html [with comments]
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Sovereign Grace Ministries Uses First Amendment As Defense In Sex Abuse Case
By ERIC TUCKER
02/20/13 06:28 PM ET EST
WASHINGTON — A small evangelical Christian denomination called Sovereign Grace Ministries was already grappling with fractured leadership, outside scrutiny of its policies and public criticism from former members when a new round of problems emerged.
A lawsuit last fall brought by former members accused church officials of covering up allegations of child sexual abuse committed by its members. Then a onetime member of the church's former flagship congregation was indicted in December on charges that he molested multiple boys in the 1980s while involved in youth ministries.
The church hasn't yet answered the specific accusations, but has signaled that it may lean on the First Amendment – a defense that religious institutions have used repeatedly and with some limited success in the last decade to inoculate themselves from sex abuse claims.
A statement issued in response to the lawsuit, filed in Maryland, says permitting courts to second-guess confidential advice given by church leaders to congregation members would "represent a blow to the First Amendment."
"We are saddened that lawyers are now, in essence, seeking to violate those rights by asking judges and juries, years after such pastoral assistance was sought, to dictate what sort of biblical counsel they think should have been provided," the statement said. The church's formal response to the lawsuit, due Monday, is expected to provide a window into its legal strategy.
The First Amendment argument, advanced by some legal scholars, derives from a belief that churches ought to be considered autonomous, self-governing institutions whose internal decision-making is off-limits to secular courts. Religious institutions, including the Roman Catholic Church, have invoked the Constitution in arguing that they shouldn't be liable for the hiring or supervision of a priest facing abuse allegations.
"To the extent there's a First Amendment issue they're talking about, it is not about sexual abuse as a First Amendment right. It is about the church deciding for itself how to respond to claims of misconduct among its members," said Douglas Laycock, a University of Virginia law professor who specializes in the law of religious liberty.
Marci Hamilton, a church-state expert at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, said she was aware of only three states – Utah, Missouri and Wisconsin – whose highest courts have recognized the First Amendment as a barrier for pursuing church sex abuse claims. But that hasn't stopped religious institutions in other states from raising the same arguments, at least as an initial line of defense.
"One of the goals here in the litigation is for the defendant to intimidate the judges into being fearful of violating the Constitution if they apply the law to them. There was an era when these kinds of arguments would have been intimidating," Hamilton said.
The principle isn't new but it has been tested time and again in the decade since the Catholic church sex abuse scandal broke.
"From our point of view, they are often more successful than they should be," said David Clohessy of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "Very simply in our view, the First Amendment says you can believe whatever you'd like but not behave however you'd like. And tragically, especially in child sex abuse cases, many religious figures try to blur that difference and exploit the First Amendment for selfish purposes."
With some limited exceptions, most courts haven't been receptive to the argument.
The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled last year that a man who said he was abused by a priest in the 1970s could proceed with his lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Memphis, which had argued that secular courts lacked jurisdiction over its hiring decisions.
The Catholic diocese in Burlington, Vt., fending off a recent sex abuse lawsuit, cited the First Amendment in 2011 in warning that a stream of cases carrying multi-million dollar judgments threatened to shut down the church and impede "the Catholic faithful in the free and unhindered exercise of religion." A judge called the argument in that particular case premature and allowed it to move forward. It has since settled
"The liability cannot be so extensive that the church can be put out of business," Thomas McCormick, a lawyer for the diocese, said in describing the defense.
There was some movement in Wisconsin in 2007, when the state Supreme Court – which had earlier held that the First Amendment shields churches from lawsuits for negligent supervision of priests – ruled that the Archdiocese of Milwaukee could be sued for fraud in sex abuse cases.
The U.S. Supreme Court, asked recently to weigh in on the issue, declined last year to take up an appeal of a Missouri state court ruling in favor of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, which had similarly relied on a First Amendment defense against sex abuse claims.
In Maryland, lawyers for Sovereign Grace Ministries, which was established in 1982 and says it has more than 80 congregations in its fold, either declined to comment about their legal strategy or didn't return phone messages. Besides suggesting a possible First Amendment defense, the church group has attacked the lawsuit as containing misleading allegations and "mischaracterizations of intent." The church invoked the First Amendment in a November statement posted on its website, but didn't reference it in a subsequent statement issued in response to new allegations last month.
The suit filed in October accuses church officials of concealing sex abuse committed by its members and of discouraging victims from reporting allegations to the police. The case was initially brought on behalf of three women associated with the church, including one who says she was molested as a child and then directed by church officials to meet with the man she accused of assaulting her. More plaintiffs have been added, and a former member of the church's flagship congregation, Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Md., was indicted on sex abuse charges in December.
The civil and criminal allegations are the latest problem for a church riven by disputes among leaders and external criticism over its handling of sex abuse claims and its emphasis on sin and redemption. Covenant Life Church in December ended its association with Sovereign Grace Ministries, which moved its headquarters last year to Louisville, Ky.
Laycock, the law professor, said the First Amendment defense may not prevail, but that courts in a case like this nonetheless should be wary of assigning liability in knee-jerk fashion.
"Are they responsible for what their members did, if they failed to act vigorously enough? They may be, but that's an issue that a court actually needs to think through with some care."
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/first-amendment-defense-sovereign-grace-ministries_n_2726023.html [with comments]
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Rick Scarborough, Vision America Pastor: Calling 'Sodomites' Gay Is 'An Abuse Of The Language'
Posted: 02/21/2013 10:58 am EST | Updated: 02/21/2013 11:06 am EST
Vision America's Rick Scarborough delivered a scathing guest sermon in New Jersey declaring the use of the word "gay" inappropriate, insisting it was an "abuse of the language."
"They're not gay...that's a twist into the words," Scarborough proclaimed [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLMfN_Y-_Is (above, as embedded)] in the sermon, which Right Wing Watch reports [ http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/scarborough-calling-sodomites-gay-abuse-language ] took place at the Fairton Christian Center. "It won't be long until we'll be calling pedophiles 'happy people.'"
He goes on to note, "Twenty years ago, who called a sodomite 'gay'? We had laws in Texas 'til 2002 that we sent them to prison! That was based on the Bible, by the way."
As the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation [ http://www.glaad.org/cap/rick-scarborough ] (GLAAD) points out, it's hardly Scarborough's first anti-gay declaration. In 2011, he penned a blog [ http://www.visionamerica.us/article/who-says-sanduskys-behavior-was-wrong/ ] on the heels of the Penn State University scandal involving Jerry Sandusky [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/jerry-sandusky/ ], in which he noted:
"It wasn’t all that long ago that male on male sex, using the part of the male anatomy designed to excrete waste as a sex object, was found to be repulsive and was considered 'unnatural,'… and 'an act against nature.' In fact, in a throwback to yesteryear, the very charges that the Grand Jury leveled against the indicted former Penn State Coach included seven criminal acts formally described as involuntary 'deviate' intercourse."
In 2009, he also noted [ http://www.visionamerica.us/article/what-exactly-do-gays-have-to-be-proud-about/ ] "Barack Obama is the first president to ask us to celebrate that which the Bible specifically and unequivocally condemns ... Those who engage in unnatural acts should hang their heads in shame – so should the president who asks us to celebrate their sinful lifestyle."
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/rick-scarborough-gay-use-sodomites-_n_2733482.html [with comments]
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Tim Tebow to Speak at Anti-Gay, Anti-Semitic Church
Tim Tebow
by Liz Raftery
Feb 16, 2013 06:25 PM ET
New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow is scheduled to speak at a megachurch in Dallas whose pastor has spoken out against Muslims, Jews, Mormons and members of the LGBT community.
Tebow is listed as a special guest at one of the First Baptist Church's morning services on April 28, according to its website [ http://www.firstdallas.org/event/406645-2013-04-28-915am-worship-service-w-special-guest-tim-tebow/ ].
The church is led by Evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress, who has previously denounced non-Christian religions such as Islam, Judaism and Mormonism. Leading up to the most recent presidential election, Jeffress warned parishioners that re-electing President Barack Obama would "lead to the rise of the Antichrist," according to The Christian Post [ http://www.christianpost.com/news/texas-megachurch-pastor-says-obama-will-pave-way-for-antichrist-84639/ ]. While denouncing the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Jeffress also declared that 70 percent of the gay population has AIDS, and referred to it as "a gay disease," according to ThinkProgress.org [ http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/10/07/339299/video-prominent-perry-endorser-robert-jeffress-says-voting-for-romney-would-give-credibility-to-a-cult/ ].
Tebow has made no secret of the fact that he's a devout Christian, but has shied away from taking a stance on controversial social issues.
Copyright 2013 TV Guide
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Tim-Tebow-Anti-Gay-Church-1061071.aspx [no comments yet] [more at "Tim Tebow, Jets Quarterback, To Speak At Virulently Anti-Gay, Anti-Semitic Church First Baptist Dallas", http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/14/tim-tebow-church-anti-gay-first-baptist-dallas_n_2687167.html (with comments)]
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First Baptist Church: Tim Tebow Was 'Pressured' to Cancel Speech
BY TMZ STAFF
2/21/2013 8:50 AM PST
Tim Tebow was unjustly pressured by the media to back out of his speaking appearance at the controversial First Baptist Church in Dallas ... at least according to the church.
A rep for the church tells TMZ, "We are saddened that Mr. Tebow felt pressure to back out of his long-planned commitment from numerous New York and national sports and news media who grossly misrepresented past comments made by our pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, specifically related to issues of homosexuality and AIDS, as well as Judaism."
Rev. Jeffress has been quoted as saying, "70 percent of the gay population" has AIDS -- and has described Judaism, Islam and Mormonism as religions from the "pit of hell."
According to the church, Tebow called Dr. Jeffress Wednesday evening to say that for "personal and professional reasons he needed to avoid controversy" ... and would be canceling the appearance which was scheduled for April 28.
The church says Tebow told Rev. Jeffress he'd still like to come speak at First Baptist Dallas sometime in the future -- and adds, "Dr. Jeffress shares a message of hope, not hate."
Copyright 2013 TMZ
http://www.tmz.com/2013/02/21/tim-tebow-first-baptist-church-dallas-statement-speaking-engagement-canceled/ [the YouTube, as embedded, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl8D7zEm_jI ; with comments]
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GOProud, Log Cabin Republicans Won't Participate In CPAC This Year
02/20/2013
WASHINGTON -- Though the Republican Party's stance on same-sex marriage faced criticism from within its own ranks following the 2012 election, this year's session of the top conservative gabfest will not include the two leading conservative gay rights groups.
GOProud and the Log Cabin Republicans will not be participating in the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, top executives from both groups confirmed on Wednesday.
"We were kicked out last year and nothing has changed and we wont be at CPAC," GOProud's Jimmy LaSalvia said in an interview. "The last communication I've had from them is that we were kicked out. Nothing has changed."
"At the present time, we have no plans to participate in CPAC this year," Log Cabin Republicans spokesman West Honeycutt told The Huffington Post.
[...]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/goproud-cpac-2013-log-cabin-republicans_n_2728104.html [with comments]
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Booed soldier joins Ohio same-sex marriage effort
Published: Friday, Feb. 22, 2013 - 3:07 pm
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A gay U.S. soldier who was booed during a Republican presidential debate in 2011 has joined the effort to overturn Ohio's ban on same-sex marriage.
Leaders of pro-gay-marriage group FreedomOhio said Friday that Columbus resident Stephen Snyder-Hill will help lead outreach efforts.
Snyder-Hill asked the GOP candidates in 2011 if they would reinstate the ban on openly gay troops. He was booed for the question, which he recorded while deployed in Iraq.
FreedomOhio wants to overturn the 2004 state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Supporters started collecting signatures last year to place their own constitutional amendment on the ballot by 2014.
The measure wouldn't require churches and other religious institutions to perform or recognize gay marriages.
The amendment banning gay marriage was supported by 62 percent of Ohio voters at the time.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/22/5210071/booed-soldier-joins-ohio-same.html [no comments yet]
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The Chelsea Clinton Marriage Equality Video NBC Didn't Want You To See
In never before seen video, the former First Daughter urges for “basic fairness and civil rights” in pushing for marriage equality ballot measures.
February 21, 2013
http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/the-chelsea-clinton-marriage-equality-video-nbc-didnt-want-y [with comments]
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Superintendent: Anti-gay teacher was "expressing her First Amendment rights"
Diana Medley
Photo credit: WTWO-TV
LGBTQ Nation Staff Reports
February 13th, 2013
HYMERA, Ind. — An Indiana [ http://www.lgbtqnation.com/tag/indiana/ ] school district said Tuesday that a special education teacher who said that gays have no purpose and that LGBT teens were “offensive,” was simply “expressing her First Amendment rights.”
Diana Medley, a teacher at North Central Junior/Senior High School, told WTWO-TV on Sunday that the idea of LGBT teens attending a prom was “offensive,” adding that she believes homosexuality is a choice, and that no one is born gay.
As LGBTQ Nation reported Sunday [ http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2013/02/ind-students-parents-want-to-hold-traditional-prom-ban-gay-students/ ], Medley was among a group of parents and students who met to plan a “traditional” prom for local high school students that would exclude gays.
In the interview with WTWO-TV, Medley said that gays served no purpose in life, and equated LGBT teens to students with developmental disabilities.
“It’s the same thing with my special-needs kids,” she said. “I think God puts everyone in our lives for a reason.”
On Tuesday, Dr. Mark A. Baker, Superintendent of the Northeast School Corporation [ http://www.nesc.k12.in.us/ ], where Medley works, issued this statement [ http://www.nesc.k12.in.us/news/letter.pdf ]:
In regards to the story that WTWO aired on February 10, 2013, the Northeast School Corporation employee that was interviewed was expressing her First Amendment rights. The views expressed are not the views of the Northeast School Corporation and/or the Board of Education.
These comments were expressed during a Sunday community meeting at a local church and at no time was she representing the Northeast School Corporation. The teacher was participating in a meeting with her local church congregation.
Plans by the group to hold a “traditional” prom exclusive of gay students have been met by outrage by LGBT advocates around the country [ http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2013/02/plan-for-traditional-prom-backfires-as-group-faces-firestorm-of-criticism/ ], including the Human Rights Campaign [ http://www.lgbtqnation.com/tag/hrc/ ] (HRC) and activist Dan Savage [ http://www.lgbtqnation.com/tag/dan-savage/ ], founder of the “It Gets Better” [ http://www.lgbtqnation.com/tag/it-gets-better/ ] project.
Savage called Medley a “mentally challenged special ed teacher” and has called for her termination.
“Take a good look at the condescending, hateful smirk that spreads across Medley’s face when she was asked if gay people have a purpose in life … and then imagine you’re a gay kid in special ed in Sullivan and this hateful bigot is your teacher,” Savage wrote on his blog [ http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/02/10/anti-gay-bigots-at-high-school-in-indiana-cant-ban-gay-kids-from-prom ] earlier this week.
Baker’s statement gives no indication that the school district plans to take any action against Medley.
A petition [ https://www.change.org/petitions/diana-medley-the-northeast-school-corporation-of-sullivan-county-appropriate-disciplinary-action-to-mrs-medley-including-termination ] calling for Medley to be fired has been signed by more than 10,000 people as of Tuesday afernoon.
© Copyright 2013 Hale Media, Inc. (emphasis in original)
http://sdgln.com/news/2013/02/13/superintendent-antigay-teacher-first-amendment-rights [with comments]
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Judy Viger, New York Mother, Arrested For Buying Strippers For Underage Son's Birthday Party
02/19/2013
[...]
... pictures from the party appeared to show a "scantily clad, tattooed woman clinging upside down to a seated teen."
[...]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/judy-viger-new-york-mother-arrested-buying-strippers-sons-16th-birthday_n_2718279.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
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Teens describe lap dances at birthday party in stripper case
Judy H. Viger, 33, of Gansevoort, has been charged with five counts of endangering the welfare of a child. South Glens Falls police arrested Viger on Monday for allegedly arranging to have two strippers perform at her son’s 16th birthday party in November, police said.
[ http://poststar.com/news/local/mother-charged-after-stripper-party-probe/article_6a747676-7a0d-11e2-baa3-0019bb2963f4.html ]
DON LEHMAN
February 19, 2013 5:12 pm
MOREAU -- Statements given to police by teens who attended the birthday party for a 16-year-old Moreau boy where scantily clad dancers were among the entertainment say one dancer bit a teen’s nipple while another questioned how old some of the partygoers were.
“The brunette said she was a little surprised at how young everyone was at the party,” 15-year-old William Shill told State Police, according to court records. “The blond didn’t seem to mind.”
Another teen, Stephen Hubinsky, 16, told police that the blond stripper pulled his shirt up as she gave him a lap dance, bit one of his nipples and scratched his chest.
Written statements signed by four teens were filed Tuesday in Moreau Town Court as part of the case against the mother of the teen for whom the party was organized.
The mother, Judy H. Viger, 33, of Gansevoort was charged with five misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child, pertaining to specific teens under the age of 17 who last Nov. 3 received “lap dances” or other similar physical contact with two women in bras and panties.
The party was thrown at Spare Time Bowling Center for the 16th birthday of Viger’s son, Reggie. Judy Viger organized the gathering and arranged for the dancers through Tops in Bottoms, a Saratoga County provider of entertainers, court records show.
“The defendant did enable and encourage the entertainers to perform a personal and intimate style dance to each of the juveniles, which was presented in a sexual manner,” wrote South Glens Falls Police Patrolman Phil Lindsey.
The dancers were interviewed by police and were not charged.
The five teens identified as victims in the case were 15 and 16 years old, but one partygoer told police teens as young as high school freshmen were present at the party.
Shill told police that Judy Viger called the women’s performance a “bikini gram,” and said the dancers would not take tips “because they weren’t stripping.”
One girl who received a lap dance, Carly L. Brown, 16, said the women performed for 10 to 15 minutes.
“Judy told me it was unexpected that the girls put their crotches in Reggie’s face,” Brown told police.
Saratoga County District Attorney James Murphy said parents of the partygoers did not know beforehand about the adult entertainment and were “shocked and stunned” when they learned of it.
“As difficult as it may be for us to have to weigh in on these kinds of cases, certainly exposing the unsuspecting children to this sort of ‘entertainment’ goes beyond the pale when it comes to what is appropriate for a 14-, 15- and 16-year-old child,” Murphy said in a news release. “It is important to remember that it is the other kids and their parents who came forward and who initiated the investigation. The police correctly followed up on legitimate, good faith complaints and the police owed it to them to conduct an earnest investigation into the matter.”
Murphy said police are working with the State Liquor Authority as the agency investigates a possible liquor license violation for allowing adult entertainment.
Jane Bryan, human resources director for Spare Time's parent company, Bowl New England Inc., said the company did not arrange for or pay for the party, and has cooperated with police.
Someone covered with paper the glass doors to the private room in the bowling alley where the party was held.
Judy Viger was released, pending prosecution in Moreau Town Court on March 7. She told The Post-Star in November that the entertainers were not strippers but women hired to deliver a “bikini gram” and sing happy birthday to her son.
Copyright 2013 Glens Falls Post-Star
http://poststar.com/news/local/teens-describe-lap-dances-at-birthday-party-in-stripper-case/article_2c7dbdd0-7ae1-11e2-90fe-0019bb2963f4.html [with comments] [and see e.g. (linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=84925506 and preceding and following]
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Principal Speaks on Recent Prom Controversy
By Alex Brown
2/16/2013
The principal of Sullivan High School is speaking out about the recent controversy surrounding the school's prom.
Listen:
[audio embedded]
The controversy started earlier this month when a teacher at another school said people choose to be gay and homosexuals have no purpose in life. She and others in Sullivan are supporting a traditional prom which wouldn't allow gays and lesbians. Sullivan High School Principal David Springer says that will not be the case with the school's official prom. He says their prom and other prom-related activities have always been, and will continue to be, open to every student.
Springer says before every prom, the school has a Grand March where couples are introduced and walk out to a crowd of a couple hundred people. He says traditionally, the couples have been a boy and girl but this year one girl asked if she could walk with another girl. He said that was fine and they've always had girls walk together who either didn't have a date or simply wanted to go to the prom with their friends.
Springer says he's received over 300 emails, mainly from people upset thinking the teacher worked for Sullivan High School. He says he's trying to let them all know that all students are welcome at any school-sponsored extracurricular activity.
Copyright by WIBC.com © 2012
http://www.wibc.com/news/story.aspx?ID=1889749 [no comments yet]
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Boy Scouts' Gay Ban Inspires Ex-Scout To Push California To End Youth Organization's Tax Exempt Status
02/21/2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/boy-scouts-gay-ban-california-tax-petition-_n_2735801.html [with comments]
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Gay man Stands up for himself in NYC subway in response to anti gay comments
Published on Feb 16, 2013 by Elena Beloff
Fascinating how one man stood up for gays and all good people today (feb 16th/13) on subway in NYC: "I am gay, Jesus is LOVE." He receives an APPLAUD.
Help us find this man!! Video taken by Elena Beloff ( http://www.elenabeloff.com )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2epltMSLjZc
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Gay Man Attacked On New York City Subway, Onlookers Do Nothing
By Cavan Sieczkowski
Posted: 02/21/2013 12:08 pm EST
A gay man was attacked on a New York City subway [ http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/gay_bash_on_subway_Fc1hL4tOpyS1BPszvtvq6M ] on Monday, and onlookers did nothing to try and stop it, according to local reports.
Urena Morel Frankelly, 23, and his partner were riding the 2 train when a woman snapped a photo of them, the New York Daily News reports. Her friend then began to hurl insults at them and use the slur "faggot," the outlet notes. An argument erupted and then the two women, along with four others, reportedly attacked Frankelly [ http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/gay-man-attacked-train-riders-watch-article-1.1268442 ].
"They started beating him up," Lucas Cruz, Frankelly's partner, told New York's WABC of the incident, which happened after they boarded the southbound subway at 125th Street. "They started beating him up like crazy, hitting the floor, kicking his face."
Cruz said he believes Frankelly, who was slashed across his right eye and bruised, was only attacked because he is gay [ http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/new_york&id=9000179 ].
Frankelly and Cruz ran from the train at the 96th Street stop and told police, but the attackers had already escaped, according to WABC. Police are currently reviewing surveillance video and investigating whether it was a hate crime.
Gay rights group GLAAD issued a statement on the incident (via the San Diego Gay & Lesbian News):
GLAAD encourages the media to fairly and accurately shine light on anti-gay violence [ http://sdgln.com/news/2013/02/20/gay-man-attacked-manhattan-subway-and-nobody-came-his-aid ]. According to the Anti-Violence Project, LGBT youth and young people, remain twice as likely to experience targeted violence than their counterparts.
The attack comes just days after a gay man confronted a street preacher [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/gay-man-homophobic-preacher-subway-video_n_2715813.html ] delivering anti-gay messages on another New York City subway line. The gay man's response -- "I'm a gay man and Jesus loves me!" -- was met with a round of applause from fellow riders.
New York Magazine's The Intelligencer made this point about the recent anti-gay incidents [ http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/gays-couple-subway-five-women-attacked.html ]: "The incident is a reminder that while we live in a city where an entire subway car cheers a gay man's appeal for tolerance and love, we also still live in a city where, on any given day, two gay people can get their asses kicked just for being different."
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/gay-man-attacked-new-york-city-subway-hate-crime_n_2733441.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
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New Study Links Childhood Bullying to Adult Psychological Disorders, Surprising Even the Study's Authors
Both victims and bullies are at risk.
Shutterstock/O Driscoll Imaging
By Emily Bazelon
Posted Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, at 6:23 PM
A significant study from Duke [ http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1654916 ], out today, provides the best evidence we’ve had thus far that bullying in childhood is linked to a higher risk of psychological disorders in adulthood. The results came as a surprise to the research team. “I was a skeptic going into this,” lead author and Duke psychiatry professor William E. Copeland told me over the phone, about the claim that bullying does measurable long-term psychological harm. “To be honest, I was completely surprised by the strength of the findings. It has certainly given me pause. This is something that stays with people.”
I’m less surprised, because as I explain in my new book about bullying, Sticks and Stones [ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008WOULGE ], earlier research has shown that bullying increases the risk for many problems, including low academic performance in school and depression (for both bullies and victims) and criminal activity later in life (bullies). But the Duke study is important because it lasted for 20 years and followed 1,270 North Carolina children into adulthood. Beginning at the ages of 9, 11, and 13, the kids were interviewed annually until the age of 16, along with their parents, and then multiple times over the years following.
Based on the findings, Copeland and his team divided their subjects into three groups: People who were victims as children, people who were bullies, and people who were both. The third group is known as bully-victims. These are the people who tend to have the most serious psychological problems as kids, and in the Duke study, they also showed up with higher levels of anxiety, depressive disorders, and suicidal thinking as adults. The people who had only experienced being victims were also at heightened risk for depression and anxiety. And the bullies were more likely to have an antisocial personality disorder.
The researchers also checked to see if the variation among the groups could be attributed to differences in socio-economic status, or family dysfunction/instability, or maltreatment (which they defined as physical or sexual abuse). All three groups—the victims, the bullies, and the bully-victims—had higher rates of some type of family hardship than the kids who didn’t experience bullying at all. For the victims, the risk of anxiety disorders remained strong even when taking into account family problems, though the risk of depression did not (it dropped just below statistical significance if the victims came from a stable home, Copeland said). For bully-victims, the risk of both anxiety and depression held, and for bullies, the risk of antisocial personality disorder did as well. In other words, these results suggest that bullying scars people whether they grow up in a home with two functional parents or with frequent arguing, not much parental supervision, divorce, separation, or downright abuse or neglect. It’s a finding that’s in line with other work, for example by Judith Rich Harris [ http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2006/05/hey_little_brother.html ], who in her book The Nurture Assumption [ http://www.amazon.com/The-Nurture-Assumption-Children-Revised/dp/1439101655 ], shows that kids are very much influenced and affected by their peers.
Why does bullying have such far-reaching impact? Copeland and his team suggest the experience may change kids’ physiological response to stress, and their ability to cope. This looked especially stark for the bully-victims. “It was definitely the case that chronic bullying led to worse outcomes, but much more the case that being a bully-victim was associated with really significant problems,” Copeland said. The biggest cry for help is coming from that group. Fortunately, it’s a smaller number than victims overall.” Bully-victims, Copeland and others have found, have more problems at home and the most trouble with impulse control and aggression. Sometimes they do the dirty work for popular kids who bully to curry favor with them. “I don’t think things are working out socially for them in a lot of ways,” Copeland said.
It’s important to point out that Copeland and other researchers don’t define bullying broadly, in a way that encompasses a lot of mutual conflict among kids, or one-time fighting. Bullying is physical or verbal harassment that takes place repeatedly and involves a power imbalance—one kid, or group of kids, making another kid miserable by lording power over him. As Dan Olweus, the Scandinavian psychologist who launched the field of bullying studies in the 1960s, has been arguing for many years, this is a particular form of harmful aggression. And so the effort to prevent bullying isn’t about pretending that kids will always be nice to each other, or that they don’t have to learn to weather some adversity.
If the results of this study are dismaying because they indicate that bullying is permanently scarring, the findings also strengthen the argument for prevention. Copeland underscores this idea. “Consider me a reluctant convert, but I’m starting to view bullying the same way I do abuse in the home,” he said. “I honestly think the effects we’re observing here are just as potent. And that’s definitely not the way American researchers look at things. They want to know all about what parents are doing at home. Peers aren’t considered a priority. But these days, with all the time they spend on the Internet, kids are spending even more time with their peers, and that’s a factor we need to pay more attention to.”
© 2013 The Slate Group, LLC (emphasis in original)
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/02/20/new_duke_study_on_bullying_childhood_victims_bullies_and_bully_victims_all.html [with comments]
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Southern poverty pimps
Texas Governor Rick Perry
(Credit: Reuters/Jim Young/Rick Scuteri)
The “original sin” of the Southern political class is cheap, powerless labor
By Michael Lind
Tuesday, Feb 19, 2013 01:59 PM CST
Contemporary American politics cannot be understood apart from the North-South divide in the U.S., as I and others have argued. Neither can contemporary American economic debates. The real choice facing America in the 21st century is the same one that faced it in the 19th and 20th centuries — Northernomics or Southernomics?
Northernomics is the high-road strategy of building a flourishing national economy by means of government-business cooperation and government investment in R&D, infrastructure and education. Although this program of Hamiltonianism (named after Washington’s first Treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton) has been championed by maverick Southerners as prominent as George Washington, Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln (born in Kentucky to a Southern family), the building of a modern, high-tech, high-wage economy has been supported chiefly by political parties based in New England and the Midwest, from the Federalists and the Whigs through the Lincoln Republicans and today’s Northern Democrats.
Southernomics is radically different. The purpose of the age-old economic development strategy of the Southern states has never been to allow them to compete with other states or countries on the basis of superior innovation or living standards. Instead, for generations Southern economic policymakers have sought to secure a lucrative second-tier role for the South in the national and world economies, as a supplier of commodities like cotton and oil and gas and a source of cheap labor for footloose corporations. This strategy of specializing in commodities and cheap labor is intended to enrich the Southern oligarchy. It doesn’t enrich the majority of Southerners, white, black or brown, but it is not intended to.
Contrary to what is often said, the “original sin” of the South is not slavery, or even racism. It is cheap, powerless labor.
Before 1900, the cheap labor was used to harvest export crops like cotton and lumber. Beginning around 1900, Southern states sought to reap benefits from the new industrial economy by supplying national manufacturing companies with pools of cheap, powerless labor as well. For a century now, Southern state economic development policies have sought to lure companies from high-wage, high-service states, by promising low wages and docile workers. Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s recent appeals to California businesses to relocate to the Lone Star State are the most recent example.
The essence of the Southern economic model is not low taxation, but a lack of bargaining power by Southern workers of all races. Bargaining power at the bottom of the income scale is created by tight labor markets; unions; minimum wage laws combined with unemployment insurance; and social insurance, such as Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid.
Naturally, the 21st-century descendants of Jefferson Davis and John C. Calhoun want to weaken everything that strengthens the ability of a Southern worker to say to a Southern employer: “Take this job and shove it!”
Tight labor markets are anathema to Southern employers. They want loose labor markets that create a buyer’s market in wage labor. That is why, at a time of mass unemployment among low-skilled workers in the U.S., most of the calls for expanding unskilled immigration in the form of “guest worker” programs are coming from Southern and Southwestern politicians. Guest workers — that is, indentured servants bound to a single employer and unable to quit — are the ideal workers, from a neo-Confederate perspective. They are cheap and unfree.
Needless to say, private sector unions that pool worker bargaining power are anathema to today’s suave metropolitan successors to the slave-owning plantocracy. The whole point of the Southern model of economic development is to create a non-union region from Virginia to Texas, to which companies can be induced to move from states with unionized workforces. Besides, unions engage in collective bargaining, in violation of the Southern ideal of employer-worker relations, in which the master gives orders and the fearful worker obeys without question.
A high national minimum wage also threatens the Southern conservative program for stealing jobs and industries from other states and other countries. Particularly if it is combined with generous unemployment insurance, a high minimum wage gives Southern workers the ability to turn down jobs that pay poorly — that is to say, the majority of jobs in the South, if the Southern elite has its way. While the Southern right opposes a higher federal minimum wage, it has no objection to increases in the minimum wage by Northern states, which thereby help the South lure more businesses.
Ruthless and callous as they are, the old families and nouveaux riches who make up the Southern elite don’t want their workers to starve. On the other hand, they prefer not to pay a wage adequate for the necessities of life. The solution favored by the Southern oligarchy is the earned income tax credit, a wage subsidy to workers that tops up a too-low wage paid by the employer.
The major champions of the EITC in national politics have tended to be conservative Democrats from the South, like the late Lloyd Bentsen, a reactionary born into the South Texas aristocracy, and Louisiana’s Sen. Russell Long. What makes the EITC so appealing to Southern Democrats and Southern Republicans alike is that it forces the Northern and Western states, by means of the Internal Revenue Service, to subsidize low-wage businesses in the South, even as the South is using the poverty of its workforce to lure high-wage businesses from the North and West. Every penny spent on the federal EITC is a penny that Southern state governments and Southern employers do not have to spend on Southern workers to keep them from starving. By paying taxes to the federal government to fund the EITC, Americans in high-wage states are literally subsidizing the South’s job-stealing program. The progressive policy wonks who prefer a higher EITC to a higher minimum wage are useful idiots, from the perspective of the crafty Southern political-business elite.
Finally, there is the welfare state. Universal, portable social insurance programs like Social Security and Medicare increase the bargaining power of workers, by reducing the penalty for quitting a job because of poor wages or poor treatment. If they quit, they don’t endanger their healthcare access or their retirement security. Workers with adequate social insurance are more likely — to use a time-honored Southern phrase — to be “uppity.”
Apart from a high federal minimum wage, nothing could be a greater threat to the Southern cheap-labor economic strategy than universal, standardized federal social insurance. In order to maximize the dependence of Southern workers on Southern employers in the great low-wage labor pool of the former Confederacy, it would be best to have no welfare at all, only local charity (funded and controlled, naturally, by the local wealthy families).
But if there must be a modern welfare system, then the Southern oligarchy prefers a system that allows state governments, rather than Washington, D.C., to control eligibility and benefit levels. By controlling eligibility, Southern state governments can minimize the amount of the local workforce that has access to good social insurance, reducing the power of Southern workers to be “uppity.” At the same time, giving Southern states the option to have lower benefit levels provides the neo-Confederates with yet another bargaining chip, along with low wages and low taxes, that can be used by Southern state governments to lure business from more generous states or nations.
It is all a system, you see. Southern conservative policies toward immigration, labor unions, the minimum wage and social insurance don’t reflect supposed conservative or libertarian ideologies or values, even if conservative or libertarian intellectuals are paid to dream up after-the-fact rationalizations. These policies are reinforcing components of a well-thought-out economic grand strategy to permit the South, as a nation-within-a-nation in the U.S., to pimp its cheap, dependent labor for the benefit of local and foreign (non-Southern) corporations and investors.
“Pimp” is the mot juste. In the 1960s, conservatives referred derisively to community activists who were accused of lining their own pockets while representing the urban poor as “poverty pimps.” But the real “poverty pimps” in America are members of the Southern political class — many Southern Democrats and practically all Southern Republicans. By means of permanent economic repression of most Southerners of all races, Southern strategists hope to strip the non-Southern states of the Union of their best companies and industries, thereby crippling Northern revenue bases and sending Northern economies into death spirals.
The defeat of Southernomics is therefore in the interest of most Southerners and most non-Southerners alike. And the defeat of Southernomics requires the radical empowerment of Southern workers — white, black and brown alike. No American workers anywhere in the nation can ever be secure until the wage earners of the South are powerful and prosperous. And uppity.
Michael Lind [ http://www.salon.com/writer/michael_lind/ ] is the author of Land of Promise: An Economic History of the United States [ http://www.amazon.com/Land-Promise-Economic-History-United/dp/0061834807 ] and co-founder of the New America Foundation.
Copyright © 2013 Salon Media Group, Inc.
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/19/southern_poverty_pimps/ [with comments]
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'Abusive' Guest Worker Programs Offer A Poor Model For Immigration Reform, Advocates Say
Foreign guest workers often work in seafood packing plants in the U.S.
(ROD LAMKEY JR/AFP/Getty Images)
By Dave Jamieson
Posted: 02/19/2013 3:00 pm EST | Updated: 02/19/2013 4:34 pm EST
WASHINGTON -- With Congress looking to make foreign guest worker programs part of its immigration reform package [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/17/immigration-reform-guest-workers_n_2497815.html ], advocates for low-wage workers said Tuesday that the programs already in place are rife with abuse and serve as poor models for an expansion or overhaul.
The H-2 visa programs administered by the federal government bring tens of thousands of overseas workers to the U.S. each year to work in mostly low-wage, temporary roles, such as landscaping or hotel housekeeping. Those programs are likely to be altered or expanded in a comprehensive immigration package, with labor unions and the Chamber of Commerce now hashing out what they'd like the new iteration to look like.
On Tuesday, the Southern Poverty Law Center released an update of an earlier report [ http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/splc-report-federal-guestworker-program-encourages-employers-to-exploit-workers-an ] on those H-2 programs, aggressively titled "Close to Slavery." The civil rights organization has done some of the most in-depth research on guest workers in the U.S., and the report paints a damning picture of worker exploitation and failed enforcement and oversight.
Mary Bauer, the law center's legal director, told reporters in a call Tuesday that the current H-2 programs are far too flawed to serve as a basis for the new program now being considered.
"We do not believe these programs should be the model for immigration reform," Bauer said. "We believe they are inherently abusive."
The programs are meant to help U.S. employers fill jobs that they purportedly can't find local workers for, such as landscaping or seafood processing. Although the employment works out well for many workers, investigations have shown the arrangement can lead to exploitation or abuse. That includes in the foreign country, where workers often pay recruiters exorbitant fees, and here in the U.S., where the visa tethers the worker to a sole employer.
If workers complain about issues or abuses, "they face deportation, blacklisting or other retaliation [ http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/close-to-slavery-guestworker-programs-in-the-united-states ]," the report says.
Bauer said that a new guest worker program should rectify two problems with the current ones: The debt that foreign workers take on to get to the U.S., and those workers' inability to switch employers if they've been taken advantage of.
"Recruitment should be regulated ... and [workers] should be free to shop their labor where they choose," Bauer said. "That's the heart of our economy, and it's the one thing these workers are denied."
Two former H-2 workers joined the call with the Southern Poverty Law Center. One of them, who identified himself merely as "Franco" to protect his identity, said he came from Guatemala because of the lack of work in his home country. He said he often worked 12- to 14-hour days, sometimes making as little as $80 a week after deductions for housing and transportation. He said many of his fellow workers didn't have enough money to return home once their work period was over.
The other worker, Aby Poulose, said he was from India and had been employed on an H-2 visa by Signal International, a Mississippi oil rig company that was at the center of a guest worker scandal in 2007 [ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/us/02immig.html ]. In the 2007 scandal, guest workers said they paid huge fees to recruiters -- in some cases, $20,000 -- after being told their work visas would eventually be turned into green cards. After the allegations of human trafficking and abusive labor practices surfaced, the company claimed it had been duped by unscrupulous recruiters.
Poulose said he'd sold his property in order to cover the recruitment fees. "What motivated me was the promise of a green card," he said -- a promise that ultimately went unfilled.
In his State of the Union speech last week, President Obama asked Congress [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/state-of-the-union-speech-2013_n_2641382.html ] to send him a comprehensive immigration package in the coming months, putting pressure on the House and Senate to find compromise on a bill. Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said he believes guest worker programs should receive the same kind of attention as border security and a pathway to citizenship.
"This is [an issue] that far too often receives too little attention," Henderson said of guest workers. "Unlike their employers, they have few places to turn. They exist in a netherworld."
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/immigration-reform_n_2718441.html [with comments]
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Amazon Fires Security Company Accused Of Wearing Neo-Nazi Clothing, Intimidating Workers
02/18/13 06:33 AM ET EST
BERLIN -- Amazon says it has fired a German security company amid mounting criticism after reports that temporary workers had been mistreated.
An Amazon spokeswoman in Germany, Ulrike Stoecker, said Monday the online retailer has ended its relationship with Hensel European Security Services "with immediate effect."
A documentary shown on ARD public television last week showed staff of the security company – whose initials spell out the name of Adolf Hitler's deputy Hess – wearing clothes linked to Germany's neo-Nazi scene. It interviewed people claiming they were mistreated by the staff.
Stoecker told The Associated Press that Amazon has a "zero tolerance limit for discrimination and intimidation and expects the same of other companies it works with."
The company, hired by one of Amazon's subcontractors, last week denied it supported far-right opinions.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/amazon-fires-german-secur_n_2716637.html [with comments]
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The Ph.D Bust: America's Awful Market for Young Scientists—in 7 Charts
Feb 20 2013
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/02/the-phd-bust-americas-awful-market-for-young-scientists-in-7-charts/273339/ [with comments]
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Bob Goodlatte: Immigration Reform Doesn't Need Path To Citizenship
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) chairs the House Judiciary Committee and will have power to shape immigration bills.
02/21/2013
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee came out explicitly this week [ http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/key-house-republican-dont-even-think-about-a-path-to-citizenship.php ] against a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants currently in the United States, another sign of the tension between Democrats and Republicans on the issue.
"People have a pathway to citizenship right now: It's to abide by the immigration laws, and if they have a family relationship, if they have a job skill that allows them to do that, they can obtain citizenship," Goodlatte told NPR [ http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/02/21/172535159/meet-the-virginian-shaping-the-house-gops-immigration-plan ]. "But simply someone who broke the law, came here, [to] say, 'I'll give you citizenship now,' that I don't think is going to happen."
The problem is that many immigrants in the U.S. don't have a pathway to citizenship now, or if they do the wait time makes becoming even a legal permanent resident a long haul. As Mother Jones pointed out in a quiz [ http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/back-line-green-card-immigration-reform-quiz ] this week, there are avenues for legal immigration, but many don't apply to would-be immigrants or undocumented people already in the country. A USA Today-Pew poll released on Thursday [ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/02/21/poll-pew-obama-gop-guns-energy-immigration-sequester/1934233/ ] found that most prefer President Barack Obama's immigration plan, which includes a pathway, to the Republican approach.
Goodlatte has previously said that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) may be disingenuous about his support for comprehensive immigration reform if he insists on a pathway to citizenship.
"When [Reid] says there has to be a path to citizenship, I wonder whether he's serious about doing immigration reform," he told USA Today [ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/02/04/house-immigration-hearing/1890171/ ] in early February. "You have to come at this with a willingness to look at all the options and find the common ground."
[...]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/bob-goodlatte-immigration_n_2734024.html [with comments]
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Ann Coulter Lashes Out At Republicans And Latinos Over Immigration Reform
By Roque Planas
Posted: 02/21/2013 10:27 am EST | Updated: 02/21/2013 11:57 pm EST
Ann Coulter has given up on the Latino vote.
In an opinion piece riddled with errors and unattributed statistics, the conservative columnist lashed out at Republicans working to pass comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship [ http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2013-02-20.html ], saying that Latinos will never vote for the GOP because they are too poor and government-dependent.
Coulter begins her article by grossly overestimating the undocumented population, asking “why do Republicans want to create up to 20 million more Democratic voters, especially if it involves flouting the law?”
In fact, the total undocumented population stands at about 11.1 million, according to the Pew Hispanic Center [ http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/12/06/unauthorized-immigrants-11-1-million-in-2011/ ].
There's also no reason to assume that undocumented Latinos would automatically vote Democrat if they gained citizenship. Not all U.S. Hispanic citizens vote and some 27 percent of them voted for Mitt Romney in last year’s presidential election.
Repeating a line routinely offered by the Mitt Romney presidential campaign last year, Coulter notes that polls indicate that immigration is not the number one concern for most Hispanics.
But that doesn’t mean it’s a non-issue for Latino voters, as Coulter claims when she says “Trying to appeal to Hispanics with amnesty would be like trying to win over baseball fans by shouting ‘Go Yankees!’ at a Mets game.”
In fact, the overwhelming majority of Latino voters favor both a pathway to citizenship (85 percent) and the DREAM Act (90 percent) [ http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/03/06/latino-voters-overwhelmingly-support-dream-act-path-to-citizenship-poll-shows/ ], according to a Fox News Latino poll released last year.
While the issue doesn’t trump the economy and jobs, the biggest concerns for most Hispanic voters, immigration remains an important and often personal issue for most Latinos [ http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/03/06/for-latinos-immigration-more-personal-than-political-poll-says/ ]. Nearly eight in 10 undocumented immigrants are Hispanic [ http://www.pewhispanic.org/2009/04/14/a-portrait-of-unauthorized-immigrants-in-the-united-states/ ], according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Supporting a path to citizenship may not guarantee that Latinos will flock to the GOP, but taking hardline on immigration tends to alienate Hispanic voters.
Perhaps an even greater turn off for Latinos is being portrayed by conservative commentators like Coulter [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/07/ann-coulter-attacks-latinos-conservatives-hispanic-voters_n_2253721.html?1361456076 ], Rush Limbaugh [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/31/rush-limbaugh-attacks-mexicans-immigrants_n_2593915.html ] and Bill O’Reilly [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/5-reasons-hispanics-fox-news_n_2665588.html ] as lazy and government-dependent -- a characterization based on stereotype rather than evidence.
Coulter takes this approach in Wednesday’s column:
So why do Hispanics vote Democratic? Like most legal immigrants since Teddy Kennedy's 1965 Immigration Act, Hispanic immigrants are poor. The poverty rate of second-generation Hispanics is lower than the first -- but the third generation's poverty rate is higher than the second.
Coulter offers no evidence to support the claim. In fact, each generation of Latinos tends to become better off socioeconomically than the one before it [ http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/integration-jimenez.pdf ], according to a 2011 study by the Migration Policy Institute.
“If Republicans think we can have mass amnesty for millions of government-dependent immigrants and become a more libertarian country, they're crazy,” Coulter continues.
In fact, Latinos use less than their fair share of government benefits [ http://www.cbpp.org/files/2-10-12pov.pdf ]. According to a study released this year by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
Non-Hispanic whites accounted for 64 percent of the population in 2010 and received 69 percent of the entitlement benefits. In contrast, Hispanics made up 16 percent of the population but received 12 percent of the benefits, less than their proportionate share -- likely because they are a younger population and also because immigrants, including many legal immigrants, are ineligible for various benefits.
Coulter correctly notes that Latino voters tend to lean liberal [ http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/04/04/v-politics-values-and-religion/ ], both on the size of government and on many social issues. But that doesn’t mean Republicans can’t fare better among Latinos.
George W. Bush, himself a champion of comprehensive immigration reform [ http://www.pewhispanic.org/files/2012/11/2012_Latino_vote_exit_poll_analysis_final_11-07-12.pdf ], won 40 percent of the Latino vote in 2004. Ronald Reagan won 37 percent two decades earlier.
Observers generally agree that Mitt Romney’s dismal 27 percent of the Hispanic vote was owed to the hardline immigration positions he staked out during the hard-fought GOP primary [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/latino-voters-election-2012_n_2085922.html ]. Doubling down on those positions, as Coulter advocates, isn’t likely to boost Latino support for the Republican Party.
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/ann-coulter-lashes-out-republicans-latinos-immigration-reform_n_2733266.html [with comments]
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Lone Star Blues
Kelsey Dake
By RICHARD PARKER
Published: February 19, 2013
AUSTIN, Tex.
THE 2012 presidential race in Texas might as well have been in Mexico, so little did the Democrats campaign for the state’s 38 electoral votes [ http://www.sos.state.tx.us/about/newsreleases/2012/121712.shtml ].
Yet during a fund-raising swing on a sweltering July day, President Obama let a political secret out of the bag for his rich donors. “You’re not considered one of the battleground states,” he said [ http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/07/obama-texas-will-be-battleground-state-soon/1 ], “although that’s going to be changing soon.”
Democrats are champing at the bit to turn Texas blue. “People are now looking at Texas and saying: ‘That’s where we need to make our next investment. That’s where the next opportunity lies,’ ” one Democratic state senator told Politico. There’s even optimistic chatter of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s capturing [ http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2013/01/clinton-could-win-texas.html ] the state in 2016 if she runs for president.
But it’s going to take more than money or a Clinton. The only constant in politics may be change, but turning Texas blue — or even purple — is going to be a lot harder than most folks imagine. It will require hard work, political infrastructure and a vision of Hispanic voters that goes beyond immigration reform.
Texas was reliably Democratic for more than a century, from Reconstruction through the Lyndon B. Johnson years. Johnson ably — albeit cynically and sometimes illegally — harnessed the Hispanic vote to keep his more reactionary opponents off balance in primaries.
But the liberal 1960s drove white conservatives into what was once a minuscule Republican Party. With the help of Rust Belt migrants in the 1970s, Republican strength grew under John G. Tower, Bill Clements and the elder George Bush.
In 1994, Mr. Bush’s son George pushed that indomitable Texas Democrat, Ann W. Richards, from the governor’s office, after which his consigliere, Karl Rove, engineered a generation of Republican domination. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party, though strong in southern Texas and in some cities, withered as a statewide organization.
Now, though, Democrats are hopeful that the immovable object — the overwhelmingly male, conservative Republican power structure — is about to meet the unstoppable force: demography. Texas is home to 9.5 million Hispanics [ http://www.infoplease.com/spot/hhmcensus1.html ], about 38 percent [ http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/10/01/latinos-in-the-2012-election-texas/ ] of the population, just seven points behind the non-Hispanic white population. In 2020, Hispanics will begin to surpass the white population and will outright dwarf it in 2030.
But the Hispanic vote is not monolithically Democratic, nationally or in Texas. In 2004, 40 percent of Texas Hispanics backed George W. Bush for re-election. In 2010, Rick Perry got almost 40 percent of the Hispanic vote statewide, and nearly half in South Texas, the purported base for Democratic growth.
Then there is the problem of Democratic infrastructure: there hasn’t been one for years. In 1995, Ron Kirk [ http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Ex-Dallas-Mayor-Kirk-quietly-drives-U-S-trade-1704969.php ] forged a coalition of Hispanics and African-Americans to become the first black mayor of Dallas, but he could not do the same statewide; he lost a Senate race to John Cornyn in 2002.
That same year, the millionaire oilman Tony Sanchez, a Democrat running for governor, had money, a Mexican heritage and an ability to appeal to Mexican-American voters. For it, he still lost 35 percent of the Hispanic vote to Mr. Perry, who claimed the governor’s mansion.
But the biggest problem is voter participation. Only about half of eligible Hispanic voters show up nationwide; this edged up slightly in 2012 to 53 percent. In Texas, just 4.1 million Hispanics are registered to vote, and only about half of them make it to the voting booth.
Why? There are a variety of explanations, including cultural ones. It’s pretty easy to feel disenfranchised by a political system that talks about you as an “immigrant” or, worse, an “alien.”
The Democrats have a few things working for them. The national Republican Party and its immigrant-bashing tendencies is one, of course. And it has hitched its outreach wagon to two senators — Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas — who are Cuban-American, a difference that may seem minor to non-Hispanics but that significantly diminishes their appeal to Texas’ Latinos, who are primarily of Mexican heritage. (Indeed, the Canadian-born Mr. Cruz actually got fewer Hispanic votes [ http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/11/13/1178721/poll-latino-republican-sen-elect-ted-cruz-received-no-boost-from-latinos/ ] last year than Mr. Cornyn did in 2008.)
It may be that the demographic wave makes all this beside the point, and that increasing turnout among Hispanics just a little might make a big difference.
But that requires ground troops, voter education and turnout efforts over a multicycle campaign. It also requires that Democrats stop assuming they’re going to lose. “If we start treating this as a purple state,” said Matt Glazer of the activist group Progress Texas, “we would be one that much sooner.”
That also assumes that Republicans continue on their present, self-destructive course. If they moderate their anti-immigrant message, they might cut into the gains that optimistic Democrats are taking for granted.
Aside from get-out-the-vote efforts and pro-immigrant posturing, the Democrats need to develop a better understanding of Texas Hispanics as more than just immigrants. Their No. 1 issue: jobs. Polling and focus groups by the University of Texas political scientist Daron Shaw suggest that economic themes — including education and entrepreneurship — may draw Hispanics to vote in greater numbers. But as long as both parties see voters as mere immigrants, he said, “Hispanics are going to look at the candidate as just another politician.”
It has been 36 years since the Democrats last captured Texas in a presidential election. It could well happen again. But to make it happen, they have to look beyond demographics and start focusing on the hard, long road of party building first.
Richard Parker [ http://www.parker-media.com/richard-parker/ ] writes for McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
© 2013 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/opinion/getting-texas-to-go-democratic.html
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Georgia Legislators Want To Change 17th Amendment, End U.S. Senate Elections
Georgia state Rep. Kevin Cooke
By John Celock
Posted: 02/20/2013 1:00 pm EST | Updated: 02/20/2013 2:35 pm EST
A group of Republican state lawmakers in Georgia wants to end direct election of United States senators and return the power to state legislatures.
The resolution [ http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en-US/display/20132014/HR/273 ] calls on Congress to begin the process of repealing the 17th Amendment, passed in 1913, which provided for the direct election of senators. State Rep. Kevin Cooke (R-Carrollton), the main sponsor of the resolution, told the Douglas County Sentinel [ http://www.douglascountysentinel.com/view/full_story/21749704/article-State-reps-propose-repealing-17th-Amendment ] that moving the power back to state legislatures would allow for the original intent of the Constitution.
“It’s a way we would again have our voice heard in the federal government, a way that doesn’t exist now,” Cooke told the paper. “This isn’t an idea of mine. This was what James Madison was writing. This would be a restoration of the Constitution, about how government is supposed to work.”
In the text of the resolution, Cooke cites Madison's writing in the Federalist Papers, specifying that members of the Senate would be "elected absolutely and exclusively by state legislatures."
The resolution says the 17th Amendment has prevented state governments from having a say in federal government and that repealing the amendment would hold U.S. senators accountable to the states. The federal government has grown in "size and scope," it says, in the century since the amendment was adopted.
The 17th Amendment was adopted out of concern for state-level corruption influencing Senate elections, which Cooke said would not be the case now.
“It’s the responsibility of each and every citizen to make sure of who gets elected to office, that they’re principled people,” Cooke told the Douglas County Sentinel. “You can look at the current state of ethics and transparency. Anybody has the ability to look at money being donated to campaigns. It would keep anything from being done out of the public eye.”
Changing the 17th Amendment has been a favorite cause of libertarians in recent years. During his race last year, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) called for the repeal [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/12/jeff-flake-arizona-senate_n_1771064.html ] of the 17th Amendment. New Hampshire lawmakers voted last year against a bill that would allow [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/14/new-hampshire-senate-elections_n_1149279.html ] for the state legislature to choose who would be allowed to run for Senate seats. A similar bill is currently pending [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/04/frank-niceley-tennessee_n_2616266.html ] in the Tennessee Legislature.
Former New Hampshire state Rep. Bob Kingsbury (R-Laconia) told The Huffington Post in 2012 that his bill would allow a return to the Constitution's "original intent [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/14/new-hampshire-senate-elections_n_1149279.html ]" while Tennessee state Sen. Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains) told knoxnews.com [ http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/jan/31/bill-would-put-us-senate-party-nominations-in-of/ ] that it was "time to try something different."
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/georgia-17th-amendment-senate-elections_n_2725595.html [with comments]
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North Carolina Lawmakers Kill Medical Marijuana Bill After It Receives Annoying Level Of Support
02/22/2013
The GOP-controlled North Carolina House Rules Committee killed a medical marijuana legalization bill [ http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2013/Bills/House/HTML/H84v0.html ] earlier this week, after lawmakers complained that backers of the measure were bothering them with requests for their support.
[...]
"We did it to be done with it, so people could move on for the session," said [ http://www.wral.com/house-committee-kills-medical-marijuana-bill/12131140/ ] Rep. Paul "Skip" Stam, R-Wake. He said lawmakers we're being "harassed" with phone calls and emails about medical marijuana.
[...]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/22/north-carolina-medical-marijuana_n_2741662.html [with comments]
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Donald Trump Threatens Macy's Protest Founder With $25 Million Lawsuit
Donald Trump has threatened the founder of the protest against his Macy's deal with a $25 million lawsuit. Here, Trump attends the crowning ceremony of the new Miss USA at Trump Tower on Jan. 9, 2013, in New York City.
(Andy Kropa/Getty Images)
By Cavan Sieczkowski
Posted: 02/19/2013 6:43 pm EST | Updated: 02/20/2013 7:53 am EST
Alleging "mob-like bullying and coercion," Donald Trump has threatened to file a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the man who spearheaded a campaign against Trump's partnership with department store giant Macy's.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Trump has gone after Angelo Carusone, organizer of the online campaign known as "Dump Trump [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/12/macys-dump-trump-petition_n_2116619.html ]," with a lawsuit for "not less than" $25 million to stop the protest of Trump's Macy's deal [ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/donald-trump-threatens-sue-macy-422135 ]. Trump's lawyer called Carusone's efforts "malicious."
“Rather than simply engage in lawful protest, you have apparently made it your mission to interfere with and intentionally disrupt Mr. Trump’s long-standing and well-established business relationship with Macy’s as well as his contractual dealings with other third parties through mob-like bullying and coercion,” reads a cease-and-desist letter from attorney Alan Garten that was obtained by THR.
Carusone started the SignOn.org petition [ http://signon.org/sign/urge-macys-to-dump-donald ] against Trump in November, after Macy's took on Trump as a spokesperson. He claims Trump does not represent the "magic of Macy's" with his sexist behavior, exportation of American jobs overseas, denial of climate change and support for Obama birther conspiracies.
Despite the threat of legal action [ http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/19/donald-trump-threatens-creator-of-dump-trump-campaign-with-25-million-lawsuit/ ], Carusone insists that Trump will not stop him.
“Donald Trump’s attempt to silence me will not work. I've dealt with enough bullies and know better than to succumb to intimidation,” he said, via a press release. “By threatening me, Trump is only reinforcing the point that we've been trying to get Macy's to recognize: [T]hat Trump's brand is consequence-free bullying and chicanery; it shouldn't be rewarded."
Carusone went on to say, "I was also surprised to hear Trump's counsel claim that Macy's is supportive of Trump's legal action. Trump doesn't have credibility, so I don't put too much stock in the claim, but I really hope Macy's isn't encouraging these kinds of threats against its own customers.”
The "Dump Trump" petition, which has since garnered more than 680,000 signatures, hasn't managed to deter Macy's [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/15/donald-trump-macys-terry-lundgren-petition_n_2137035.html ], however. “Please understand and appreciate that Macy's marketing and merchandising offerings are not representative of any political position,” Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren previously wrote in a letter. “Ours is a free society compromised [sic] [actually, in this instance,, not 'sic', but instead unintentionally correct] of a wide range of viewpoints.”
Demonstrators stepped out in New York City to protest Macy's decision to back Trump [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/21/trump-macys-dump-the-trump_n_2170136.html ] in November.
Recently, Trump has been handing out lawsuits like candy. He sued former Miss USA contestant Sheena Monnin [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/18/donald-trump-legal-sheena-monnin-miss-pennsylvania-usa-2012_n_2321482.html ] in June for calling the beauty pageant "rigged" and he is allegedly suing comedian Bill Maher for $5 million [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/04/donald-trump-sues-bill-maher-over-monkey-sex_n_2616096.html ] after "proving" his biological father is not an orangutan.
Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/donald-trump-macys-lawsuit-protester-25-million_n_2718916.html [with comments]
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Patricia Kunkle Claims She Was Fired From Q-Mark Inc. For Voting For Obama
02/20/13 11:29 AM ET EST
DAYTON, Ohio -- A southwest Ohio woman who says she was fired because she voted for President Barack Obama filed a lawsuit against her former employer.
Patricia Kunkle's lawsuit accuses Dayton-based defense contractor Q-Mark Inc. and its president of telling employees that if Obama was re-elected, then his supporters would be the first to be fired, The Dayton Daily News ( http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/crime-law/woman-claims-she-was-fired-for-voting-for-obamaket/nWSk3/ [ http://bit.ly/YxE10A ]) reported.
Brian Wildermuth, an attorney for the company president, said in a statement that Kunkle was laid off for economic reasons – "nothing more."
"I am sure you and your readers are familiar with the ongoing uncertainties regarding defense spending, and thus the economic environment confronting defense contractors," he said. "The allegation that Q-Mark discharged Ms. Kunkle because of her vote is simply false."
Kunkle, of Kettering, has an unlisted phone number and her Dayton attorney didn't immediately respond to a request to speak with her.
The lawsuit, filed in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court on Feb. 14, seeks a minimum of $25,000. It says that Kunkle's vote came up in conversation on Nov. 7, the day after the election, and that she was fired Nov. 9. The suit claims that the company's president and owner, Roberta Gentile, said the firing was in the "best interest of the company."
The lawsuit said that Gentile engaged Q-Mark employees in conversations aimed at discovering their political affiliations and repeatedly disparaged Obama supporters.
Kunkle started as a temporary worker with the small company in April and became full-time in May, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit said that she performed her duties "efficiently and effectively," and never received any disciplinary action or negative performance evaluations.
Defense attorneys have until mid-March to respond to the lawsuit.
Information from: Dayton Daily News, http://www.daytondailynews.com
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/patricia-kunkle-obama_n_2725173.html [with comments]
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NY1 Exclusive: School Community Outraged Over Math Problems That Reference Slaves Dying, Being Beaten
Parents, school officials and other educators are expressing shock over a homework assignment that went out to young students at a Manhattan elementary school that asked students to answer math problems about slaves being beaten and dying. NY1's Lindsey Christ filed the following report.
By: Lindsey Christ
Updated 12:25 AM February 22, 2013
It was quite a homework assignment that a fourth grade teacher at P.S. 59 wanted to give her students last Thursday.
It consisted of a few math problems, but Aziza Harding, the student teacher who was asked to photocopy the worksheet, couldn't believe a couple of the questions.
"I'm just like, 'Wow, this is really inappropriate,'" she said.
Question 1 on the sheet, entitled "Slavery Word Problems Homework", was written as a matter-of-fact subtraction problem. It asked:
"In a slave ship, there can be 3,799 slaves. One day, the slaves took over the ship. 1,897 are dead. How many slaves are alive?"
The second question had multiple parts multiplication and addition. It said:
"One slave got whipped five times a day. How many times did he get whipped in a month (31 days)? Another slave got whipped nine times a day. How many times did he get whipped in a month? How many times did the two slaves get whipped together in one month?"
"It shouldn't be a homework assignment, and I did not want to make copies of this," Harding said.
The teacher who had told Harding to copy the assignment was in a meeting, so Harding made the decision on her own to photocopy another worksheet instead. She left the teacher a note explaining that she wasn't comfortable with the first assignment and hoped to talk.
Then, Harding turned to Charlton McIlwain, one of her professors at NYU, where she is a graduate student.
"My first thought was, I don't believe it," McIlwain said.
McIlwain contacted NY1, and we eventually showed the worksheet to the principal of P.S. 59. She later wrote to us, saying, "I am appalled by this."
But what's perhaps even more shocking: it turns out this particular worksheet has already gone home, with another fourth-grade class, in January, and the questions had been written by students in that class, as part of their instruction on slavery.
"You're ostensibly teaching or trying to teach history or call attention to a particular historical moment, yet there's no explanation, there's no education, there's no teaching going on," McIlwain said. "And so, for someone who is probably, at nine years of age, has maybe heard of slavery but probably doesn't know what it is really like, their first, perhaps, and most lasting impression about this historical event comes in a very abstracted, nonchalant type of thing that they have no real sense of connection to."
Parents and caregivers were upset when NY1 showed them the questions outside of P.S. 59 Thursday.
"It just sounds to me that whoever assigned this or gave these out has a personal issue or something," said Julia Morales, a babysitter. "This is unacceptable. If my kid, if I had a kid, I'd be so ticked off. I would not be happy with this."
"It's a little graphically written, I would say. Quite graphically written, especially number 2," said Kristen Markoplis, a parent. "Obviously, I'm sure you heard that before."
The Department of Education released a statement, saying, "This is obviously unacceptable and we will take appropriate disciplinary action against these teachers. The Chancellor spoke to the principal, and she has already taken steps to ensure this does not happen again."
The teacher who created the assignment has been at P.S. 59 for seven years. The teacher who asked Harding to photocopy the worksheet for her students has been teaching in city schools for five years, but is new to P.S. 59.
The principal said she'll be meeting with families and all staff members will undergo related training.
The whistleblowing student teacher said she hopes that P.S. 59 students will get help understanding why slavery is a much more serious issue than these simple math problems.
"Instead of these kids being desensitized to this type of violence, that they have a general idea that, 'Wow, this was a terrible thing that happened to a group of people for over 300 years,'" Harding said.
NY1 took the worksheet to the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn, where people were equally as shocked about the worksheet's contents.
"There's already racism still going on, and with it being Black History Month and hatred and stuff like that, it's teaching them at a young age," said one.
"That child is hearing some type of conversation that's totally inappropriate, but exposing those other children to whatever foolishness is going on at home, that's a travesty," said another.
Those who NY1 spoke with in Fort Greene wanted to see the adults involved held accountable.
After seeing NY1's story, State Senator Simcha Felder, who is the chairman of the New York City Education Sub-Committee, emailed a statement that read, "While the city, state and unions are busy haggling over teacher evaluations, New York City's students are being subjected to reprehensible and irresponsible educational materials. I am calling for the immediate removal of these two teachers."
Felder also commended the student teacher for coming forward.
© 2013 NY1 News and Time Warner Cable Inc.
http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/177473/ny1-exclusive--school-community-outraged-over-math-problems-that-reference-slaves-dying--being-beaten
===
'Obama's Sequester?' Pure Nonsense
02/21/2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jared-bernstein/republicans-sequester_b_2735912.html [with comments]
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Beltway Brain Fever: People Who Agree With Obama But Have to Pretend Otherwise
2/20/13
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/beltway-brain-fever-sequester-edition.html [with comments]
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David Brooks, Obama Plan Birther, Repents! [Updated]
February 22, 2013
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/david-brooks-obama-plan-birther.html [with comments]
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Sequester Deadline Brings Talk Of Smoking Machines, Video Games And Free Phones
02/21/2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/sequester-deadline_n_2727516.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
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Fear of U.S. Cuts Grows in States Where Aid Flows
February 22, 2013
*
Related
G.O.P. Is Resisting Obama Pressure on Tax Increase (February 21, 2013)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/21/us/politics/gop-resisting-obama-on-tax-increase.html
*
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/23/us/politics/many-states-say-cuts-would-burden-fragile-recovery.html
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Alan Simpson and Bernie Madoff
By Paul Frugman
February 21, 2013, 10:59 am
As I’ve written on previous occasions [ http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/madoff-explains-everything/ ], the Bernie Madoff phenomenon helped me understand a lot about the persistence of bad economics. Madoff flourished through “affinity fraud”; his investors thought he was their kind of guy, so they didn’t look hard at how he was allegedly making money. And I realized that a similar phenomenon explains the enduring popularity of goldbugs and fiscal doomsayers — including, say, the Wall Street Journal editorial page — despite years of being wrong about everything; their devotees, who consist in large part of cranky old white men, see kindred spirits and can’t see past that to the consistently terrible analysis.
But it’s not just the goldbugs who benefit from affinity fraud, a point driven home by Ezra Klein’s piece on Alan Simpson [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/20/the-problem-with-alan-simpson/ ]. Simpson is, demonstrably, grossly ignorant on precisely the subjects on which he is treated as a guru, not understanding the finances of Social Security, the truth about life expectancy, and much more. He is also a reliably terrible forecaster, having predicted an imminent fiscal crisis — within two years — um, two years ago [ http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/03/08/bowles-simpson-fiscal-crisis-could-come-within-2-years/ ]. Yet he remains not only respectable among the Beltway crowd; as Ezra says, he’s lionized in a way that looks from the outside like a clear violation of journalistic norms:
For reasons I’ve never quite understood, the rules of reportorial neutrality don’t apply when it comes to the deficit. On this one issue, reporters are permitted to openly cheer a particular set of highly controversial policy solutions. At Tuesday’s Playbook breakfast, for instance, Mike Allen, as a straightforward and fair a reporter as you’ll find, asked Simpson and Bowles whether they believed Obama would do “the right thing” on entitlements — with “the right thing” clearly meaning “cut entitlements.”
So what is it that makes Simpson the figure he is? Clearly, it’s an affinity thing: never mind his obvious lack of knowledge, his ludicrous track record, reporters trust and idolize Simpson because he’s their kind of guy.
And think about what it says about them that their kind of guy is this cantankerous, potty-mouthed individual, who evidently feels not a bit of empathy for those less fortunate.
© 2013 The New York Times Company
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/21/alan-simpson-and-bernie-madoff/ [with comments]
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Stacking the Deck: The Phony 'Fix the Debt' Campaign
Reuters/Mark Blinch
The Editors
February 20, 2013
The least controversial lines in President Obama’s State of the Union address should have been his assertions that “deficit reduction alone is not an economic plan” and that “we can’t just cut our way to prosperity.” Common sense, right? Wrong—if you’re getting your economic analysis from the GOP, more than a few Democrats and much of the media. Even Obama, in the same speech, paid homage to the safety-net-shredding strategies of the Simpson-Bowles deficit-reduction commission. As Paul Krugman reminds us, “Inside the Beltway Simpson and Bowles have become sacred figures. But the people doing that elevation are the same people who told us that Paul Ryan was the answer to our fiscal prayers.”
Who does that elevating? Meet the Campaign to Fix the Debt, the billionaire-funded project that uses Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles as figureheads for a fearmongering campaign to convince Americans that the deficits the United States has run throughout its history have suddenly metastasized into “a cancer that will destroy this country from within.” It is the latest incarnation of Wall Street mogul Pete Peterson’s long campaign to get Congress and the White House to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid while providing tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.
Peterson has poured an estimated half-billion dollars into schemes so unpopular, so economically unsound and so obviously self-serving that even conservative politicians run from them, as the implosion of the Simpson-Bowles commission illustrates. So Peterson has repurposed his project into what Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) Global Economy Project director Sarah Anderson calls “a Trojan horse” for “filthy rich tax-dodging hypocrites.” With a stable of CEOs, Peterson timed the launch of this new $60 million campaign to exploit the wrangling over the fiscal cliff, the debt ceiling and the sequester. Fix the Debt has signed up prominent Democrats and Republicans as spokespeople (many of whom have undisclosed financial ties to firms that lobby on deficit-related issues) and launched “astroturf” campaigns to create the fantasy that young people and seniors are concerned enough about debts and deficits to support Peterson’s austerity agenda.
Quite a few of those CEOs head firms that pay a negative tax rate, like Honeywell, GE, Boeing and Verizon. And as the Public Accountability Initiative notes, many lobby to preserve costly tax breaks for the wealthy (including the “carried interest” tax loophole that made Peterson a rich man) and to prevent a tax on Wall Street speculation. Fix the Debt–tied firms are even pushing for a “territorial tax system” that will increase the debt by $1 trillion over ten years and encourage the offshoring of American jobs. Why would supposed debt slayers favor this boondoggle? Because, IPS calculates, at least sixty-three Fix the Debt firms would divvy up a $134 billion windfall.
As Fix the Debt ramps up its campaign and seeks any opening in this period of fiscal fighting, progressives must fight back. That’s why The Nation and the Center for Media and Democracy—which collaborated on the award-winning ALEC Exposed ?project—are focusing on Peterson and his austerity project with this series of articles. Their publication coincides with the launch of an indispensable new resource on CMD’s SourceWatch.org. The goal: to expose Fix the Debt, its architects and its bankrupt economics before this cynical campaign “fixes” American fiscal policy, making the 99 percent pay to make the wealthiest 1 percent a whole lot wealthier.
*
In This Forum
John Nichols: “The Austerity Agenda: An Electoral Loser”
http://www.thenation.com/article/173021/austerity-agenda-electoral-loser
Lisa Graves: “Pete Peterson’s Long History of Deficit Scaremongering”
http://www.thenation.com/article/173020/pete-petersons-long-history-deficit-scaremongering
Mary Bottari: “Pete Peterson’s Puppet Populists”
http://www.thenation.com/article/173018/pete-petersons-puppet-populists
Dean Baker: “Fix the Debt’s Fuzzy Math”
http://www.thenation.com/article/173016/fix-debts-fuzzy-math
Related
Obama Takes a Stand Against Austerity
He may not have achieved the full FDR, but the president’s State of the Union speech, like his Inaugural, displayed a welcome progressive spirit.
http://www.thenation.com/article/172901/obama-takes-stand-against-austerity
*
Copyright © 2012 The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/article/173022/stacking-deck-phony-fix-debt-campaign [with comments]
--
How the ultra-rich are pulling away from the ‘merely’ rich
February 19, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/19/how-the-ultra-rich-are-pulling-away-from-the-merely-rich/ [with comments]
--
Inequality Is Much Worse Than You Think
02/07/2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/les-leopold/inequality-is-much-worse-_b_2633191.html [with comments]
--
Fiscal trouble ahead for most future retirees
“If everything had stayed status quo .?.?. I might be doing what I wanted to do today,” says James G. Marzano, 60, of Tampa, who lost his job at a telecommunications firm in 2002. “But, as it stands, I am nowhere near ready to retire.”
February 16. 2013
For the first time since the New Deal, a majority of Americans are headed toward a retirement in which they will be financially worse off than their parents, jeopardizing a long era of improved living standards for the nation’s elderly, according to a growing consensus of new research.
The Great Recession and the weak recovery darkened the retirement picture for significant numbers of Americans. And the full extent of the damage is only now being grasped by experts and policymakers.
There was already mounting concern for the long-term security of the country’s rapidly graying population. Then the downturn destroyed 40 percent of Americans’ personal wealth [ http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-06-11/business/35461572_1_median-balance-median-income-families ], while creating a long period of high unemployment and an environment in which savings accounts pay almost no interest. Although the surging stock market is approaching record highs, most of these gains are flowing to well-off Americans who already are in relatively good shape for retirement.
Liberal and conservative economists worry that the decline in retirement prospects marks a historic shift in a country that previously has fostered generations of improvement in the lives of the elderly. It is likely to have far-reaching implications, as an increasing number of retirees may be forced to double up with younger relatives or turn to social-service programs for support.
“This is the first time that Americans are going to be relatively worse off than their parents or grandparents in old age,” said Teresa Ghilarducci, director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School for Social Research.
Advocates for older Americans are calling on the federal government to bolster Social Security benefits or to create a new layer of retirement help for future retirees. Others want employers and the government to do more to encourage retirement savings and to discourage workers from using the money for non-retirement purposes.
But those calls have been overwhelmed by concern about the nation’s fast-growing long-term debt, which has left many policy¬makers focused on ways to trim Social Security and other retirement benefits rather than increase them.
[...]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/fiscal-trouble-ahead-for-most-future-retirees/2013/02/16/ae8c7350-5905-11e2-88d0-c4cf65c3ad15_story.html [with comments]
--
Minimum wage raise widely supported, won't hurt jobs
The Rachel Maddow Show
February 21, 2013
Rachel Maddow reports on the widespread support among American voters for increasing the minimum wage and the published empirical research that shows, contrary to the baseless assertions of House Speaker John Boehner, that increasing the minimum wage does not hurt job creation.
© 2013 NBCNews.com
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-rachel-maddow-show/50899561 [show links at http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/21/17050292-links-for-the-221-trms (with comment)]
--
How American support for minimum wage hike can overcome GOP obstruction
The Rachel Maddow Show
February 21, 2013
Former Rep. Barney Frank talks with Rachel Maddow about the widespread support among American voters for the minimum wage and explains how increases were possible in the past when Republican obstruction seems so challenging this time.
© 2013 NBCNews.com
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-rachel-maddow-show/50899693 [show links at http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/21/17050292-links-for-the-221-trms (with comment)]
===
Graph of the day: The incredible shrinking Medicare budget
February 20, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/20/graph-of-the-day-the-incredible-shrinking-medicare-budget/ [with comments]
--
Big health insurance rate hikes are plummeting
February 22, 2013
The number of double-digit rate increases requested by health insurers has plummeted over the past four years, according to a Friday report [ http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2012/ACA-Research/index.cfm ] from the Obama administration.
Researchers combed through data available from the 15 states that publicly post all requests for rate increases in the individual market. They found that, in 2009, 74 percent of all requests came in above 10 percent. By 2012, that number had fallen to 35 percent. Preliminary data for 2013, which only cover a handful of states, shows 14 percent of rate increases asking for a double-digit bump. Here’s what this looks like in chart form:
[...]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/22/big-health-insurance-rate-hikes-are-plummeting/ [with comments]
--
In Reversal, Florida to Take Health Law’s Medicaid Expansion
February 20, 2013
*
Related
In Turnaround, Governor Wants to Spend in Florida (February 1, 2013)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/us/in-turnaround-governor-wants-to-spend-in-florida.html
*
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/21/us/in-reversal-florida-says-it-will-expand-medicaid-program.html
--
U.S. issues final word on essential benefits under "Obamacare"
Feb 20, 2013
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/20/us-usa-healthcare-benefits-idUSBRE91J11M20130220 [with comments]
--
Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us
Feb. 20, 2013
http://healthland.time.com/why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/
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Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
F6
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