Oh yeah... I forgot to mention I dont like the way he passed the bill to begin with.. it was underhanded without congressional approval, thats why it ended up on the surpreme court floor to begin with. That is not how this country is run. You dont go into a debat room in the middle of the night and come out with new laws while the lawmakers slept. I dont see this as a conservative or democrat issue.. its a process issue. And thats scarry to me.

I can understand your concerns. The act is not without its flaws. And, it is somewhat different from what we are used to. Change can be scary and worrisome. Plus, anything that is government propelled makes me twitch.

There is both good stuff and bad stuff in this act, tho I am thinking the good is outweighing the bad....at the moment.

What I like about this act is that it levels the playing field, somewhat, for everyday people who do not have access to insurance or the care it provides. This affects an estimated 250 million people in this country. Most of those people are the "working poor", minorities, women, children, immigrants, the unemployed etc.

It also eliminates caps on lifetime dollar limits which is good for people with catastropic illnesses including premies. Doesnt take much for medical bills to send you into bankruptcy.

It also stops insurances from denying coverage to those with pre-existing illness or for jacking up the price of their policy to some exorbitent amount. Insurers have tried to be more and more creative in defining pre-exisitng to absolve themselves from the costs including stupid shit like denying coverage for newborns who have congenital or genetic problems, trying to deny coverage for genetic cancers in adults etc. That's kind of sick in my book.

It extends coverage for young adults under their parents policies, for early retirees in limbo between private coverage and medicare, for those who want to change jobs but have been reluctant to do so because of the loss of insurance etc.

It requires free preventative coverage for the general population plus specific stuff for women and children. See full list here: http://www.healthcare.gov/news/facts...ices-list.html

It will do some good stuff. Like everything else in life, good stuff has trade offs of not so great stuff.

I was not fond of mandated health care when Romney enacted it here in this state. I was not fond of the cost of the program to taxpayers and the new taxes it generated. I was not happy when businesses started dropping their health insurance because it was way cheaper to pay the fines than it was to provide the coverage.

Being one of those privileged little fuckers, I was not fond of any of it....until I needed it. My $700 a month COBRA was running out. I needed insurance. I jumped thru all the hoops and got my insurance, pretty close to the same coverage tho with limited providers for under $50 a month.

With the economic meltdown, the loss of jobs and the insurance they provide, million of people in this state were unable to afford the COBRA payments on their family plans - over $1000 a month. But, they could get affordable and relatively equal care for considerably less.

Without mandated health care and the options it provides here in Massachusetts, I and a shitload of other people would have been up the creek without a paddle.

I am also old enough and worked in health care when Nixon introduced HMO's and PPO's as a cost effective alternative to major medical policies back in 1973. The reaction of the general public and of many people in congress was much like we hear now i.e. death committees, people dying in the streets because they would be denied care or medication, limited care, limited access, a path to socialized medicine, etc. There were glitches of course but none of the doomsday projections ever materialized, and we managed not to convert to socialized medicine in the process either. Having successfully negotiated this path before, I am hopeful we can do it again.

The biggest deterrent we have to things going too wonky is the sheer power and economics of the health care industry itself. They are not going to give up their obscene profits without a damn good and very public fight.

The way this bill was passed didnt surprise me too much. Two sides unable to come to an agreement leading one to force the issue. Seems like typical politics to me. The republicans holding congressional hearings on contraceptives and only inviting male and male religious leaders to testify about the appropriate use of my vagina and uterus was much more disturbing to me. :)

I hear your concerns tho. Have a few of my own. I am hoping we, as a country, still have some of the ideals of a republic our forefathers set forth to guide our actions in stuff like this.

Massachusetts transgender rights bill to go into effectText
 

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 30, 2012
BOSTON — A new law anti-discrimination law protecting transgender individuals in Massachusetts is coming into force.

The Transgender Equal Rights Bill will take effect Sunday — just over seven months after Gov. Deval Patrick signed it into law.

Gender identity will also be added to the protected categories under the state's hate crimes law.

Attorney General Martha Coakley called the law a “much needed update,” saying it will help ensure that transgender individuals feel secure at home, work and in their communities.

Students who viciously bullied bus monitor suspended for a year
 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Four New York seventh graders whose bullying of a bus monitor grandmother went viral on YouTube have been suspended from school for a year, a school district official said on Friday.

The students will be sent to a non-school facility where they will be tutored academically.

They will be required to complete 50 hours of community service with senior citizens and will receive formal behavioral training, according to a statement from the head of the Greece Central School District in upstate New York.

The four students involved, whose last names have not been released, do not face criminal charges. Their families have agreed to allow the school district to publicly announce the results of an internal investigation.

"Each of the students involved admitted wrongdoing, accepted the recommended consequences and agreed to permit the district to publicly release the terms of the disciplinary action,'' Greece Central School District Superintendent Barbara Deane-Williams said in the statement.

http://news.yahoo.com/students-vicio...022634219.html

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


Doesnt seem like enough to me.

Jerry Sandusky Cover Up: More Disturbing Emails Released

"The only downside for us is if message isn't `heard' and acted upon and we then become vulnerable for not having reported it, but that can be assessed down the road," the email said, according to CNN.

Appalling!

May I ask how a bill became law 'without congressional approval'? The President cannot pass a law without Congress. In fact, the President cannot even bring a law to the floor of Congress!

On 24 Dec 2009, it passed the Senate 69 - 30
On 21 March 2010 it passed the House 219 - 212. So how are clear majorities in both houses passed without the approval of Congress?

The reason why the law ended up in the Supreme court was about the individual mandate NOT because it wasn't passed through Congress but somehow became law even though no Federal law can come into existence without the consent of Congress.

Thanks in advance for your response.

Cheers
Aj

Anya:

Actually, that part of the law wasn't upheld. It simply hasn't been implemented yet and so they couldn't rule it un-Constitutional because there's nothing to base the decision on. Regardless of what we might think of that provision (and I think it is both stupid and wrong-headed) it is not on its face un-Constitutional. So once there's a test case then that, too, will go up to the SCOTUS and they'll likely strike it down as well.

Cheers
Aj

Then the bar for dictatorship has been lowered quite a bit.

Actually, that's not how it works. The individual mandate is an elegant solution to the free rider problem. This might take a bit to explain so bear with me. Imagine you could avoid carrying insurance coverage until you actually *needed* insurance coverage? Imagine that you then only buy insurance coverage when you're sick and drop it when you're well. If that were the case, then the entire model of insurance breaks down because it only works because young workers (who use their health insurance less often) pay in more than they take out and older workers (who use it more often) take out more than they put in. Any person who 'opts-out' of insurance coverage when they are healthy and takes it up when they are ill is a free rider (meaning they are gaining the benefit without the attendant cost). ALL the individual mandate does--ALL IT DOES--is dictate that you carry health insurance and if you choose *not* to you are assessed a tax penalty (meaning that there's a tax break you do *not* get).

No, they are not.

Not only is this not the case but we have that already, it's called--wait for it--health insurance. Why is it the very essence of dictatorship if there are limits placed on procedures and recovery times if it is the government (which isn't happening under this law by the way) but it is the very essence of freedom if Aetna or Kaiser or Blue Cross does the very same thing? Please don't say "you can always buy health insurance on the private market". Ask someone with rheumatoid arthritis or MS or breast cancer how the tender mercies of the private insurance market has been toward them.

Again, we have that already it's called health insurance and it is done NOT out of some calculus of medical necessity but out of profit. Aetna, United Healthcare, Blue Cross are not systems for providing health care, they are systems for *denying* medical claims. The idea is for Aetna to pay as few claims and as little money on those claims as the law will allow. If Aetna could take what my employer pays for my health insurance and deny every single claim legally, they would absolutely do so.

Private insurance will be with us for the foreseeable future.

Ummm, when I had my appendix out I went into the hospital on Tuesday morning, they took my appendix out late Tuesday/early Wednesday (I was in the recovery room around 2:30 in the morning or so) and I was *home* Wednesday afternoon. I spent more time in the hospital waiting to get into surgery than I spent in the hospital *after* surgery. When I told my boss that Thursday I would be in on Monday she told me that wasn't happening because I'd just had a serious surgery. I said "that's not possible, if it were major surgery I'd still be in the hospital". My boss' husband was a doctor and he called me and let me know that the reason I was home was my *insurance* company demanded that I be sent home not because it was medically advisable. So, again, I return to the question: why is it a Bad Thing if the government has any cost controls on health care but it is the very essence of Freedom and Love of Mother for my insurance provider to send me home 12 hours after my appendix ruptured on the operating table?

Cheers
Aj

Here is a link that shows the step by step process of how a bill becomes a law.

http://www.senate.gov/reference/reso...sflowchart.pdf

For anybody who would like to donate toward the medical care of the surviving (uninsured) member of the young lesbian couple shot last week near Corpus: https://www.wepay.com/donations/127673

Mary Kristene Chapa, Texas Lesbian Shot in Head, Regains Consciousness
Monday, Jul 2, 2012 at 3:36 PM
By Erin Sherbert
Comments (3)

www.wepay.com/donations/127673

A week after 18-year-old Mary Kristene Chapa and her girlfriend Mollie Olgin were shot in the head at a South Texas park, Chapa has opened her eyes and started to communicate, using writing and sign language.

According to media reports, Chapa's brother and sister could hardly recognize her when they arrived at the hospital the day she was discovered; doctors say it's almost unheard of for someone to survive this type of gunshot wound.

But the girl 's brother, Hilario Chapa, says his little sister has started asking questions about her condition and recovery. She has even written down "Mollie" several times, inquiring about her girlfriend, who was also shot in the head but did not survive.

Hilario Chapa says he has not told his sister, who goes by her middle name, Kristene, that Olgin was killed. "I'm kind of afraid," he told NBC. "She is in such a fragile state right now."


Kristene and Mollie
No word on whether police have started to interview her, but Hilario Chapa says he thinks Kristene remembers what happened, but is not ready to talk about it. "I'm under the impression that she doesn't know" who did it, he said.

Police told reporters that an eyewitness described the shooter as a white man with dark hair in his 20s. He was 5-foot-8 and weighed about 140 pounds, according to press reports.

Police are not yet investigating the shooting as a hate crime; however, LGBT communities across the nation, including San Francisco, rallied around the two girls, who had been involved in a same-sex relationship since February.

At this point, family and friends are just focused on Chapa's recovery, which will take both a lot of time and money. Her father had just taken a new job and does not yet have health insurance. As the hospital bills mount, the family is welcoming all donations to help with Kristene's recovery.

My Three Daddies: California Eyes Multiple Parenting Law
 

California, the battleground state for the arguments for and against same-sex marriage, is now considering an unconventional law that would allow children to be legally granted more than two parents.

The bill -- SB1476 -- would apply equally to men and women, and to homosexual or heterosexual relationships. Proposed by State Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, it has passed the Senate and awaits an Assembly vote.

Leno cites the evolving American family, which includes surrogacy arrangements, same-sex marriages and reproductive techniques that involve multiple individuals.

"The bill brings California into the 21st century, recognizing that there are more than 'Ozzie and Harriet' families today," Leno told the Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco."

http://news.yahoo.com/three-daddies-...ws-health.html

This actually is on the main google new page right now:

Mermaids do not exist.

:'(

Time Healthland

Drug Giant GlaxoSmithKline and the
Billion-Dollar Wrongdoing
July 5, 2012
By Alexandra Sifferlin

In the largest settlement involving a pharmaceutical company, the U.S. Justice Department announced on July 2 that GlaxoSmithKline LLC will pay $3 billion in fines and plead guilty to marketing drugs for unapproved uses and failing to report drug safety information to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The criminal charges involved the illegal marketing of the antidepressants Paxil and Wellbutrin and the withholding of data on the health risks of the diabetes medication Avandia.

For these charges, Glaxo will pay a criminal fine of $1 billion. The other $2 billion will go toward fines for a civil settlement involving the sales and marketing of several of the company’s other drugs, including the asthma drug Advair. Glaxo did not admit to any wrongdoing in the civil case.

The company had already set aside $3 billion in cash in November, when the terms of the settlements were initially announced. The sum sounds large, but it is only a portion of the drug maker’s profits from the drugs involved. The Wall Street Journal reports that prosecutors are unsure how much Glaxo made specifically from marketing its drugs for unapproved uses — an illegal practice known as off-label marketing — but it’s possible that its profits exceeded the $3 billion fees. The New York Times reports also that the fines represent a fraction of what Glaxo made from the drugs overall:

Avandia, for example, racked up $10.4 billion in sales, Paxil brought in $11.6 billion, and Wellbutrin sales were $5.9 billion during the years covered by the settlement, according to IMS Health, a data group that consults for drugmakers.

“So a $3 billion settlement for half a dozen drugs over 10 years can be rationalized as the cost of doing business,” [Patrick Burns, spokesman for the whistle-blower advocacy group Taxpayers Against Fraud] said.

The settlement covers improper Glaxo practices from the late-1990s to mid-2000s. Based on claims by whistle blowers — four Glaxo employees — prosecutors said the company tried to get doctors to prescribe drugs off-label by buying them spa treatments and lavish trips, and in the case of Paxil, helping to publish a paper in a medical journal that misreported clinical trial data.

Here’s how the company broke the law:

Paxil
Although the antidepressant Paxil is not approved for patients under 18, Glaxo illegally marketed the drug for use in children and teens, offering kickbacks to doctors and sales representatives to push the drug.

A government probe was launched in 2002, and it was discovered that Paxil, as well as several other antidepressants, were no more effective than placebo in treating depression in kids. Indeed, between 1994 and 2001, Glaxo conducted three clinical trails of Paxil’s safety and efficacy in treating depression in patients under 18, and all three studies failed to pass muster.

One clinical trial, known as Study 329, found that teens who took the drug for depression were more likely to attempt suicide attempt than those receiving placebo pills. Glaxo hired a company to prepare a medical journal article that downplayed Paxil’s safety risks, including increased risk of suicide, and misrepresented data to trump up the positive results of the study. The article was published in 2001, falsely reporting that Paxil was an effective treatment for child depression.

Prosecutors accused Glaxo sales representatives of then using the article to promote the use of the drug for depressed youth. Sales reps invited prescribing psychiatrists to luxury resorts for “Paxil forum meetings” where they were treated to fancy dinners and free entertainment like sailing trips and balloon rides.

Reports of teens committing suicide while taking Paxil began surfacing in 2003, and the FDA discovered that 10 of the 93 Paxil patients in Study 329 had attempted suicide or thought about it, versus one out of the 87 patients on placebo. In 2004, the FDA added a black-box warning on the drug’s label about the increased risk of suicidal thoughts in teens who take it.

Wellbutrin
Glaxo used the help of PR firms and the appeal of lavish vacations to convince medical professionals to prescribe the antidepressant Wellbutrin for weight loss, sexual dysfunction, drug addiction and ADHD, even though the drug is FDA approved only to treat depression. Tavy Deming, an attorney for one of the whistle blowers, told the AP that during a regional meeting of sales representatives in Las Vegas in 2000, the reps were told to promote Wellbutrin as the drug that makes patients “happy, horny and skinny,” as part of a national slogan repeated to doctors.

Among several physicians accused of taking payments from Glaxo to push Wellbutrin is celebrity doctor Drew Pinsky, who was named in court documents for accepting $275,000 for “services for Wellbutrin.” Pinsky allegedly took the money in two payments in 1999 for “extolling the virtues of the antidepressant ‘in settings where it did not appear that [he] was speaking for GSK,’ according to the Justice Department,” the New York Daily News reports.

Company employees who successfully included unapproved uses of Wellbutrin in their pitches got bonuses. Employees who had a problem with giving doctors kickbacks to prescribe Wellbutrin improperly were put on leave, prosecutors said.

Avandia
For seven years, Glaxo failed to report data to the FDA showing that its blockbuster diabetes drug, Avandia — approved in 1999 — increased heart risks in patients. In 2007, Dr. Steven Nissen, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist and a longtime critic of Avandia, published an analysis in the New England Journal of Medicine that showed that the drug increased the risk of heart attack by more than 40% in people with Type 2 diabetes.

It was early public evidence that the Glaxo-sponsored data on which the government based its safety review for approval were flawed and minimized the heart risks to diabetes patients.

Nissen’s study used the drug maker’s own data, from trials that had been conducted but never reported. By the time Nissen’s study came out, the drug was a bonafide blockbuster, earning billions of dollars and being taken by millions of patients.

The heart risks were by this time becoming clearer, and Glaxo reviewed the data in 2005 and 2006; internal analyses showed 29% and 31% increases in heart risks in Type 2 diabetes patients. In 2006, Glaxo reported the data to the FDA — but it was only a portion of the data Glaxo had, from 15 tests of Avandia before the end of 2006; the agency didn’t make the information public immediately either, instead asking one of its own statisticians to review the findings.

The public remained largely uninformed, and Glaxo continued to promote the drug’s benefits while its sales reps denied the heart risks.

Then, as part of a settlement with New York over Glaxo’s failure to disclose the suicide risks of its antidepressant drug Paxil (see above), the company agreed to put all of its recent clinical trials on its website. Nissen downloaded the available data on Avandia — 42 trials — wrote up his paper and in May 2007 sent it the New England Journal.

In 2007, the drug was banned in Europe. The European Medicines Agency concluded that the heart risks of Avandia did not justify its blood sugar benefits, and since alternatives were available, there was no need to prescribe it.

In 2010, an FDA advisory panel voted on whether to pull the drug from the U.S. market. Ultimately, the agency decided to allow continued sales of Avandia, but severely restricted its use: to prescribe the drug, doctors must now be certified to do so, and they may give it only to patients who have been treated safely with it before, have been made aware of the risks of the drug and have failed to control their blood sugar with other medications.

Dr. Nissen described the FDA’s move as “a decade-long nightmare coming to an end.”

However, Glaxo says the civil settlement is not an does not admission of any liability or wrongdoing in the selling and marketing of Avandia and they dispute some of the claims.

http://healthland.time.com/2012/07/0...ar-wrongdoing/

People should have to get a license to be parents.....
 

Parents charged in UAE after hidden baby found in carry-on

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/10/world/meast/uae-baby-discovered-airport/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

An Egyptian couple has been charged with putting their child at risk and attempted smuggling after security officers at an airport in the United Arab Emirates found their 5-month-old boy hidden in a small handbag.

Daniel Tosh thinks rape is funny.....
 

This is something that happened to a friend of mine in her own words.

“So, on Friday night my friend and I were at her house and wanted to get out and do something for the evening. We brainstormed ideas and she brought up the idea of seeing a show at the Laugh Factory. I’d never been, I thought it sounded fun, so we went. We saw that Dane Cook, along some other names we didn’t recognize we’re playing, and while we both agree that Cook’s style is not really our taste we were opened-minded about what the others had to offer. And we figured even good ol’ Dane can be funny sometimes, even if it’s not really our thing. Anyhoo, his act was actually fine, but then when his was done, some other guy I didn’t recognize took the stage. Of course, I would find out later this was Daniel Tosh, but at the time I thought he was just some yahoo who somehow got a gig going on after Cook. I honestly thought he was an amateur because he didn’t seem that comfortable on stage and seemed to have a really awkward presence.


So Tosh then starts making some very generalizing, declarative statements about rape jokes always being funny, how can a rape joke not be funny, rape is hilarious, etc. I don’t know why he was so repetitive about it but I felt provoked because I, for one, DON’T find them funny and never have. So I didnt appreciate Daniel Tosh (or anyone!) telling me I should find them funny. So I yelled out, “Actually, rape jokes are never funny!”

I did it because, even though being “disruptive” is against my nature, I felt that sitting there and saying nothing, or leaving quietly, would have been against my values as a person and as a woman. I don’t sit there while someone tells me how I should feel about something as profound and damaging as rape.

After I called out to him, Tosh paused for a moment. Then, he says, “Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped by like, 5 guys right now? Like right now? What if a bunch of guys just raped her…” and I, completely stunned and finding it hard to process what was happening but knowing i needed to get out of there, immediately nudged my friend, who was also completely stunned, and we high-tailed it out of there. It was humiliating, of course, especially as the audience guffawed in response to Tosh, their eyes following us as we made our way out of there. I didn’t hear the rest of what he said about me.

Now in the lobby, I spoke with the girl at the will-call desk, and demanded to see the manager. The manager on duty quickly came out to speak with me, and she was profusely apologetic, and seemed genuinely sorry about what had happened, but of course we received no refund for our tickets, but instead a comped pair of tickets, although she admitted she understood if we never wanted to come back. I can imagine the Laugh Factory doesn’t really have a policy in place for what happens when a woman has to leave in a hurry because the person onstage is hurling violent words about sexual violence at her. Although maybe I’m not the first girl to have that happen to her.

I should probably add that having to basically flee while Tosh was enthusing about how hilarious it would be if I was gang-raped in that small, claustrophic room was pretty viscerally terrifying and threatening all the same, even if the actual scenario was unlikely to take place. The suggestion of it is violent enough and was meant to put me in my place.”

Please reblog and spread the word.

http://breakfastcookie.tumblr.com/po...-a-comedy-club

Former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno and other top university officials acted with "total disregard" for the children sexually abused by former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky because of their fear of "bad publicity," a report by the university's internal investigation said today.

The report was released at the conclusion of the investigation led by former FBI director Louis Freeh, who was hired to find out why officials who knew of child molestation accusations failed to stop Sandusky or report him to police.

The report said that Paterno, along with officials Tim Curley, Gary Schultz, and former president Graham Spanier, "repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky's child abuse from the authorities," and it blamed those four men for failing to stop Sandusky and protect other chidlren from his harm. Read the full report.

The four officials showed a "striking lack of empathy" for the victims of Sandusky's abuse and empowered the former assitant coach to continue abusing, the report said.

The report was released after eight months of investigation, launched in November by the university's Board of Trustees after the arrest of Sandusky, Curley, and Schultz, and the firing of Paterno and resignation of Spanier.

Report

To me, this is an interesting article...
 

Is the US caught in the slow lane?

People living in bankrupt Stockton give their verdict on the US economy
US Economy.


At a California racetrack the souped-up cars that have been revving their way around the circuit stop and fall silent.

Their roar is replaced by a deeply soulful rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner as a gigantic American flag is unfurled across the course as part of 4 July celebrations.

The race commentator, Wild Wayne, gives a patriotic pep talk emphasising that Independence Day means more than an opportunity to eat hot dogs and sink a few Buds.

For a nation so geographically isolated from any rivals and for a people so brimming with self-confidence it still amazes me how much emphasis is placed on the very word "American", whether it is placed before "hero" or "race car", as an affirmation of identity.

Mind you, when I observe that America must be the most showily patriotic country in the world, an American friend points out the celebration of the Queen's Jubilee in Britain was hardly discreet and muted.

Still, I think there is a nostalgic nuance to our patriotism, whereas America has traditionally looked to the future.
Unstoppable damage

But the US is changing and at the moment there is an uneasy edge to the pride and the patriotism.

There have been a whole host of books about American decline. There is also a more general malaise, a worry that America, still the biggest economic and military power in the world, has lost its place and its way.
Race cars Only a few people at the race track felt happy with the direction the country was moving in

Such fretting is not exactly new, but there are differences between today and the Sputnik moment, or of fears of Japan's rise, or of post-Vietnam angst.

For a start, conservatives argue that President Barack Obama has embraced decline, and made America less forceful on the world stage and less successful at home.

Some of those I spoke to at the racetrack thought the country was coming back up, and going in the right direction, but they were a small minority.

More typical were these comments:

"It's going in the toilet. The economy is shot, the government sucks. I think America is still number one but it won't be if they carry on this way"
"The direction is going down, we're starting to struggle"
"I'm not really happy, I want my old America back. I think we're slowly dropping, we've lost our edge and need to be the dominant force again."

But others argue it is the right who are to blame, by allowing for no compromise, and so giving the impression that politics itself is broken and useless.

The British journalist Ed Luce, whose book Time To Start Thinking is subtitled America In The Age Of Descent, argues that its failure to invest in infrastructure, research and education has been hugely damaging.

He told me: "The American dream no longer exists. If you compare income mobility, for example, you're twice as likely to move up an income group - up a class - in Canada or Germany as you would in the US.

"You're as likely to move up a class in Britain, and Britain's at the bottom of the league. It's got to stop these trends; otherwise it'll cease to be the America we admire; and I think it's to a large extent already ceasing, or has ceased, to be the America we admire.

"That foundational creed of a country that offers equality of opportunity, of a country that has great class mobility, that's much more seriously that soft power you'd associate with America, its universal attractiveness.

"That's really in headlong decline and I think that is a far more serious sense of concern than the relative economic decline that we should expect anyway with China and India and others lifting themselves out of poverty."
'Sense of loss'

Luce says that middle class income has been hollowed-out and unless there is a return to a more pragmatic politics the damage will be unstoppable.
Race cars Experts say America will look and feel strong for decades to come

"This deepens all the time, this trend; to go from a third of the world economy just 12 years ago to under a quarter now is unprecedented in any historic comparison. This is a headlong relative decline that America is in; and that's likely to accelerate unless America regains its sense of pragmatism.

"Pragmatism is a word coined in this country, it's the American philosophy; it's about repairing your faults and it's missing in action, and it's been missing in action for quite a long time, and unless Washington can regain it, this is going to steepen this decline, it's going to get more accelerated."
Limited influence

Not everyone agrees. Most Americans think decline can be halted, if it even exists in the first place.

Robert Kagan, author of The World America Made, says that the world would be a different - a worse place - without a strong America. But he feels the worries about decline have been overdone.

"I think at any time when you have a deep economic recession, which the US has been in, people tend to get pessimistic. The US has repeatedly gone through periods of declinism, concern that other countries were passing it, whether it was Japan, the Soviet Union, and now China.

"But I think if you look at it analytically and from a historical perspective I don't think there is any reason to think America really is in decline.

"Now people have a mythical sense of the past, today people say the US can't get what it really wants anymore, can't tell other countries what to do, it doesn't seem to be able to solve the Middle East peace crisis and my answer is: when could it? When did the United States have all this power?

"American influence is always more limited than people think. Nevertheless, America is still the most influential power in the world today."

Kagan says that part of the problem is that people lump together America's challengers abroad as the Brics.

He argues a rising Brazil or India is not a threat to America, and the focus is really China. He says the rise of that country has actually made others in the region need America more.

"I subscribe to the theory that what goes up must come down and eventually the US will lose influence, I just am not convinced we're there yet.

"I'm not saying there is nothing to worry about, the US has significant fiscal problems that it has to address and we have not addressed it so far and I hope in the future we will. But the idea that the Americans are worried about the state of the country is deep in the DNA.

"You can look at practically every 10 or 20 years throughout American history, there's been this sense of loss, of something lost, of a decline. Eventually it'll be right, I just don't think its right now."

At the racetrack a gleaming red car, which had been flying a large stars and stripes out of a back window is at the back of the pack, overtaken by all the others. It eventually has to limp off the track and give up the game.

That is not going to happen to America. Even if decline in relative power is inevitable, it has such economic influence and military might that it will look and feel strong for decades to come.

The notion of "decline" lumps together questions about the domestic economy, power abroad, political direction and simply the mood of the people - so no simple conclusion is likely to be correct.

Indeed, it is possibly more important to ask the right questions than have the right answers.

And the real question is whether there is a trend, and whether sharp political divisions at home and the problems they leave unsolved undermine America's quest to find its rightful place in a changing world.

Calif. cities eye plan to seize mortgages
 

FONTANA, Calif.—In the foreclosure-battered inland stretches of California, local government officials desperate for change are weighing a controversial but inventive way to fix troubled mortgages: Condemn them.

Officials from San Bernardino County and two of its cities have formed a local agency to consider the plan. But investors who stand to lose money on their mortgage investments have been quick to register their displeasure.

Discussion of the idea is taking place in one of the epicenters of the housing crisis, a working-class region east of Los Angeles where housing prices have plummeted. Last week brought another sharp reminder of the crisis when the 210,000-strong city of San Bernardino, struggling after shrunken home prices walloped local tax revenues, announced it would seek bankruptcy protection.

Now -- and amid skepticism on many fronts -- officials from the surrounding county of San Bernardino and cities of Fontana and Ontario have created a joint powers authority to consider what role local governments could take to stem the crisis. The goal is to keep homeowners saddled by large mortgage payments from losing their homes -- which are now valued at a fraction of what they were once worth.

"We just have too much pain and misery in this county to call off a public discussion like this," said David Wert, a county spokesman.

The idea was broached by a group of West Coast financiers who suggest using the power of eminent domain, which lets the government seize private property for public use. In this case, they would condemn troubled mortgages so they could seize them from the investors who own them. Then the mortgages would be rewritten so the borrowers would have significantly lower monthly payments.

Steven Gluckstern, chairman of the newly formed San Francisco-based Mortgage Resolution Partners, says his main concern is to help the economy, which is being held back by the mortgage crisis.

"This is not a bunch of Wall Street guys sitting around saying, `How do we make money?'" he said. "This was a bunch of Wall Street guys sitting around saying, `How do you solve this problem?'"

Typically, eminent domain has been used to clear property for infrastructure projects like highways, schools and sewage plants. But supporters say that giving help to struggling borrowers is also a legitimate use of eminent domain, because it's in the public interest.

Under the proposal, a city or county would sign on as a client of Mortgage Resolution Partners, then condemn certain mortgages. The mortgages are typically owned by private investors like hedge funds and pension funds.

Under eminent domain, the city or county would be required to pay those investors "fair value" for the seized mortgages. So Mortgage Resolution Partners would find private investors to fund that.Continued...

Mortgage Resolution Partners will focus on mortgages where the borrowers are current on their payments but are "under water," meaning their mortgage costs more than the home is worth. After being condemned and seized, the mortgages would be rewritten based on the homes' current values. The borrowers would get to stay, but with cheaper monthly payments. The city or county would resell the loans to other private investors, so it could pay back the investors who funded the seizure and pay a flat fee to Mortgage Resolution Partners.

The company says that overall, all parties will be happy. The homeowners, for obvious reasons. The cities, for stemming economic blight without using taxpayer bailouts. And even the investors whose mortgage investments are seized. Mortgage Resolution Partners figures they should be glad to unload a risky asset.

Rick Rayl, an eminent domain lawyer in Irvine, Calif., who is not connected to the company, isn't so sure.

"The lenders are going to be livid," he said. He thinks the plan could have unintended consequences, like discouraging banks and other lenders from making new mortgage loans in an area.

The company says that focusing on borrowers who are current on their loans is a smart way to do business, rewarding those who are already working hard to keep their homes. But, Rayl pointed out, those are also the exact mortgages that investors are eager to keep.

Already, the outcry was heard at the first meeting of the joint powers authority on Friday, even as chairman and San Bernardino County chief executive Greg Devereaux said the entity -- which was inspired by Mortgage Resolution Partners' proposal -- has not yet decided on a specific course of action.

Timothy Cameron, managing director of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association's asset managers group, told the authority that residents of the region would find it harder to get loans and investors -- including pensioners -- would suffer losses. He also said such a move would invite costly litigation.

"The use of eminent domain will do more harm than good," he said. "We need mortgage investors and lenders to come back to these fragile markets -- but this plan will force both groups to avoid them."

But Robert Hockett, a Cornell University law professor who serves as an unpaid adviser to Mortgage Resolution Partners, was unsympathetic. He likes how the plan forces the hand of uncooperative investors, who have sometimes stifled plans to reduce mortgage payments.

"It's kind of like saying a loan shark objects to anti-predatory lending laws," Hockett said.

Theodore Woodard, a 62-year-old retired air conditioner installer, said he'd welcome the help on his five-bedroom home in Fontana. So far, he and his wife have kept up with monthly $3,100 payments, plus taxes and insurance, but it hasn't been easy, and they have watched several neighbors in the well-manicured neighborhood some 50 miles east of Los Angeles lose their homes to foreclosure.

"We've been making our monthly payments, barely making them, but we just pay them and try to survive off what's left," said Woodard, who estimates his house has lost a third of its value since 2004.

In San Bernardino County, the problem is clear. The median home price has plunged to $150,000 from $370,000 in five years. The combined San Bernardino-Riverside metro area has the highest foreclosure rate of any large metro area in the country, at four times the national average, according to RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosure properties.

Devereaux, who has seen other plans to fix the housing crisis peter out, is cautious.

"I don't know whether this will work or not," he said. "But we do think we have a responsibility to explore it."

----

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/ar...tgages/?page=1

Ousted Boy Scouts leader won’t give up gay rights fight
 

IRVING, Texas—Booted from being a den leader three months ago, a lesbian mother on Wednesday brought her fight to the Boy Scouts of America's backyard.

Flanked by her partner and two young sons, Jennifer Tyrrell of Ohio delivered a massive petition to the youth organization's national headquarters. More than 300,000 signatures she collected call for the group to reinstate her and end its controversial policy prohibiting gay Scouts and troop leaders.

"It's insane and needs to change," said Tyrrell, who at times became tearful. "It's sad."

The Boy Scouts welcomed Tyrrell into their Texas offices but gave her no answers as to why a secret committee recently decided to reaffirm the organization's long-standing rule of excluding gays.

"I don't know how this 11-member committee can decide that 300,000 Americans don't matter, that their opinions don't matter," Tyrrell said after her 15-minute meeting with a Scouts spokesman and another unidentified official.

While it wasn't forthcoming, the 32-year-old said the conversation was civil.

"I did a lot of talking, I did a lot of crying," she said. "I'm not here to bash the Scouts. I'm not here to say anything negative necessarily. I just can't tell you the heartbreak that I felt when I got the phone call telling me that I wasn't good enough ... because I'm gay."

Tyrrell launched her petition on Change.org after being notified in April that she could no longer be the den mother for her 7-year-old's Scout pack in Bridgeport, Ohio. Her online campaign includes signatures from numerous celebrities and thousands of Scouts, Scout leaders and former Scouts.

The site received 2,000 new signatures in the last 24 hours, and Tyrrell said her fight won't stop with Wednesday's visit to the headquarters.

"I told them we weren't going anywhere," she said.

Tyrrell had volunteered for nearly a year, leading her troop to earn multiple Scout badges for their service and skills. She and her son Cruz wore their Boy Scouts gear on Wednesday, despite the fact that she has pulled him out of the program.

"We love the Scouts," said Tyrrell, who also wore gay-pride colors painted on her toes. "We love everything the Scouts stand for. We just don't love this policy. So let's stop teaching our kids to discriminate."

In a statement on Tuesday, the 102-year-old leadership organization said, "This policy reflects the beliefs and perspectives of the BSA's members, thereby allowing Scouting to remain focused on its mission and the work it is doing to serve more youth."

"The vast majority of the parents of youth we serve value their right to address issues of same-sex orientation within their family, with spiritual advisers, and at the appropriate time and in the right setting," said Bob Mazzuca, BSA's chief scout executive.

Tyrrell's visit drew three protesters from a local church. They waved "Fear God" signs and shouted about morality as she spoke to reporters.

"I think God has been pretty good to us, and we have a great family," Tyrrell said. "Everyone is entitled to their beliefs."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/...170445583.html

Retirees hit hard by foreclosures - People age 75+ have highest foreclosure rate among Americans 50+
 

One of the hardest hit groups: Those aged 75 and older, according to a report by AARP based on mortgage data from 2007 through 2011.

All told, more than 1.5 million Americans aged 50 and older lost their homes in the five years from 2007 through 2011.

While the percentage of foreclosures was higher among younger Americans, the rate for homeowners age 50 and older grew faster in recent years.

And in that over-50 group, the 75+ crowd had the highest foreclosure rate in 2011, according to the AARP report, which cited data from CoreLogic, a provider of mortgage-loan data, and other sources.

Among homeowners age 75 and older, 3.2% lost their house to foreclosure in 2011, up from the 0.33% in that age group who faced foreclosure in 2007.

That compares to 3.5% among homeowners under age 50 in 2011, up from 0.42% in 2007.

The foreclosure rate was 2.9% in 2011 among all homeowners 50 and older, up from 0.3% in 2007.

While the AARP report does not pinpoint precisely why older Americans faced this predicament, it cites data that helps explain why so many more people had trouble paying their mortgage bill.

For one, older Americans greatly increased their mortgage-debt load in the two decades preceding the housing-market crash, with the 75+ age group notching the greatest increase in mortgage debt over the past 20 years.

While financial planners often advise people to pay off their mortgage before they retire, fully 24% of households headed by a 75-year-old or older person had mortgage debt in 2010, up from 6% in 1989, according to the AARP report, which cited the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances.

Mortgage debt also increased among other 50+ Americans: 54% of families headed by a 55- to 64-year-old had mortgage debt in 2010, up from 37% in 1989. And 41% of families headed by a 65- to 74-year-old owed money on a mortgage, up from 22% two decades earlier.

“This increase partly reflects increased borrowing that was spurred by historically low interest rates and high home values prior to the housing market collapse,” the report said. “It may indicate that the oldest borrowers have tapped their home equity to finance their needs in retirement.”

Combine that outstanding debt with lower incomes, rising property-tax bills and health-care costs — and you get homeowners facing a severe financial crunch.

“America’s oldest homeowners have been struggling to maintain their financial security as their incomes are falling, and as mortgage payments, property taxes and health-care costs are increasing.”

The ATM is empty
And tapping home equity is no longer a cash-flow solution for the some 3.5 million older Americans, who are now “underwater” on their homes (they owe more than the house is worth).

About 23% of loans nationwide — borrowers of all ages — were underwater in December. That figure rises to 28% among younger homeowners, those under age 50, versus 16% for borrowers over age 50, the report said.

Still, “While it was expected that older homeowners would have accumulated more home equity than younger people, the fact that 3.5 million borrowers age 50+ have no equity at all is alarming,” the report said. “Research has shown that negative equity is an important predictor of default, even more so than unemployment.”

Meanwhile, for borrowers over age 50, 600,000 loans were in foreclosure and 625,000 were 90 or more days delinquent as of December, the report said. The delinquency rate for borrowers age 50 and over is now 6%, up from about 1% in 2007.

To help homeowners of all ages, AARP called for policy and program changes, including greater use of loan-principal reduction as a tool when modifying loans, mediation programs for borrowers and lenders that provide specific timelines and a framework for meeting and for exchanging documents, loan-servicing standards that apply to all lenders, and a greater emphasis on programs that maintain foreclosed properties, such as the FHFA’s “REO-to-rental” program.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ret...9?pagenumber=2

Frank Schubert - central figure against gay marriage
 

MINNEAPOLIS—Four years ago, Frank Schubert was a well-paid political consultant for what he jokingly calls "the forces of evil" -- tobacco, timber and pharmaceutical companies -- when he agreed to lead the 2008 campaign to repeal gay marriage in California.

What started as a professional challenge has now become a personal crusade. And Schubert, a specialist in political messaging, has become the central figure in a major effort to stop gay marriage from becoming legal across the country.

Part Karl Rove and part Pat Robertson, Schubert is managing four statewide campaigns where the issue is on the ballot in the fall -- in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington. He's trying to preserve a winning streak in which conservatives have put anti-gay marriage laws on the books in 31 states since 1998.

Schubert said his mission is to make voters understand what's at stake.

"Five thousand years have shown that marriage between a man and a woman serves us well," he said, adding that it is "fundamental to our nature as people." The alternative, he said, is a culture based on personal desires.

Gay rights organizers begrudgingly admire Schubert's ability as much as they detest what he's doing.

"Whether we like it or not, he's done a very good job of tapping into fears people have about homosexuality that are still very real," said Julie Davis, a San Francisco-based GLBT activist.

Full article here:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/wa...rriage/?page=1

Hospital Worker Infected Patients with Hep C
 

Business Week

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A hospital worker accused of injecting himself with stolen drugs and contaminating syringes that infected at least 30 patients with hepatitis C was charged Thursday with federal drug crimes.

David Kwiatkowski, a former technician at Exeter Hospital, was arrested Thursday morning at a Massachusetts hospital where he was receiving treatment. U.S. Attorney John Kacavas called Kwiatkowski a "serial infector" who worked in at least six other states, including one in which he is a suspect in a similar incident involving a hospital operating room. Kacavas declined to name any of the other states but said they are not clustered in one part of the country.

"We are closer to the beginning of our investigation than the end," Kacavas said.

Kwiatkowski, originally from Michigan, worked at Exeter's cardiac catheterization lab from April 2011 through this past May, when he was fired. He told investigators that he learned he had hepatitis C in May, but Kacavas said there is evidence he had the liver-destroying disease since at least June 2010.

"This serial infector has been contained, and the menace he posed to public health and safety has been removed," Kacavas said.

Authorities didn't say in what hospital Kwiatkowski was being treated so he couldn't be contacted for comment.

Investigators believe Kwiatkowski, 33, stole syringes containing fentanyl, a powerful anesthetic more potent than morphine, and injected himself with them. They said he then put another liquid, such as saline, into the syringes, which were later used for patients. They said a search of his vehicle found an empty fentanyl syringe and several needles.

According to an affidavit, Kwiatkowski sometimes left the lab sweating profusely and attended procedures on his off days. One witness said he appeared to be "on something." At least once, he was sent home for the day after a colleague told a supervisor that he was unfit to perform medical care, Kacavas said.

Kwiatkowski was what is known as a "traveler," a technician hired by hospitals for temporary stints around the country. In a statement, Exeter Hospital said he underwent drug testing and a criminal background check when he was hired.

"It is deeply disturbing that the alleged callous acts of one individual can have such an impact on so many innocent lives. As a result of his alleged actions, people in our community, who in many cases are the friends and neighbors of the 2,300 people who work here, now face the challenge of a potentially chronic disease," hospital president Kevin Callahan said.

The hospital declined to comment further about Kwiatkowski, citing the ongoing investigation.

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral infection that can cause liver disease and chronic health issues. Altogether, 31 people, including Kwiatkowski, have tested positive for the same strain of the disease since the investigation began in late May, including an 89-year-old woman who was treated for a heart valve problem in February.

The woman lives with her niece, who also got tested for hepatitis C because she was exposed to the woman's blood while helping her after she suffered a deep cut on her leg in April. The niece's test was negative, but she will get tested again in six months, she said Thursday.

The niece, who asked not to be publicly identified because of the stigma associated with the disease and because she wants to protect her aunt from the media, said she hopes the criminal charges will deter others from similar schemes. She said she was happy to hear that Kwiatkowski had been arrested.

She said the ordeal has turned her family's life upside down.

"We should be able to go into a hospital, put our lives in their hands and know that we're going to be OK," she said.

State and local health departments aren't required to report such outbreaks to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but in a report released in June, the agency said it was notified of 13 outbreaks nationwide between 2008 and 2011. Of those, seven occurred in outpatient facilities; most were traced to unsafe injection practices.

At least two have resulted in criminal charges, including a Colorado woman who was convicted of stealing syringes filled with painkillers from two hospitals where she worked and replacing them with used syringes. The syringes were later used on surgical patients, and up to three dozen patients were found to have hepatitis C after being exposed.

Kacavas said New Hampshire is working with the CDC, law enforcement and departments of public health in other states where Kwiatkowski worked.

"I'm unaware of such a scheme with such reach," he said. "This one has the potential for very far-reaching implications."

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-...tis-c-outbreak

Troops march in San Diego gay parade - in uniform
 

Statue of Famed Penn State Coach Paterno Taken Down
 

STATE COLLEGE, Pa.) — The famed statue of Joe Paterno was taken down from outside the Penn State football stadium Sunday, eliminating a key piece of the iconography surrounding the once-sainted football coach accused of burying child sex abuse allegations against a retired assistant.

Penn State President Rod Erickson said he decided to have the statue removed and put into storage because it “has become a source of division and an obstacle to healing.”

“I believe that, were it to remain, the statue will be a recurring wound to the multitude of individuals across the nation and beyond who have been the victims of child abuse,” Erickson said in a statement released at 7 a.m. Sunday.

He said Paterno’s name will remain on the campus library because it “symbolizes the substantial and lasting contributions to the academic life and educational excellence that the Paterno family has made to Penn State University.”

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/07/22/...#ixzz21MqqOJYz

Paterno SUCKS!
 

I'll rest better at night knowing his statue no longer stands there. To bad he's not around to be held accountable.

Good deal.
 

The $60M fine will be used to create a fund for the victims of sexual abuse.

Chick-Fil-A gets dumped by Kermit the Frog




http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com...12/07/22/44290

I was thinking 60 million was excessive until I saw this on the NCAA website. Now that I know this is equivalent to 1 year of gross revenue for the football program, 60 million is not enough.


"The NCAA imposes a $60 million fine, equivalent to the approximate average of one year's gross revenues from the Penn State football program, to be paid over a five-year period beginning in 2012 into an endowment for programs preventing child sexual abuse and/or assisting the victims of child sexual abuse. The minimum annual payment will be $12 million until the $60 million is paid. "


I like that there were both sanctions and corrective actions involved here. And, that they arent finished yet.


"Individual penalties to be determined. The NCAA reserves the right to initiate a formal investigatory and disciplinary process and impose sanctions on individuals after the conclusion of any criminal proceedings related to any individual involved."


Very interesting reading to see the actual report.


http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/...20723/21207232

Big business, big fines but what is the real impact and do they influence business practices?
 

Companies have been paying hefty fines and negotiating high-profile settlements, among them GlaxoSmithKline's $3 billion charge — the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history. HSBC, which just copped to money laundering, might see a $10 billion penalty.

These are staggering figures to an ordinary person. A $22.5 million charge may be a Federal Trade Commission record, yet Google can pay that with five hours of work.

Check out how many work days it takes to pay off these fines:


Check the article to see if these fines actually alter business practices.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-e...170402105.html

Pa. monsignor gets 3-6 years in sex abuse cover-up
 

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The first U.S. church official convicted of covering up sex-abuse claims against Roman Catholic priests was sentenced Tuesday to three to six years in prison by a judge who said he "enabled monsters in clerical garb ... to destroy the souls of children."

Lynn, who handled priest assignments and child sexual assault complaints from 1992 to 2004, was convicted last month of felony child endangerment for his oversight of now-defrocked priest Edward Avery. Avery is serving a 2½- to five-year sentence for sexually assaulting an altar boy in church in 1999.

The judge said Lynn enabled "monsters in clerical garb ... to destroy the souls of children, to whom you turned a hard heart."

She believed he initially hoped to address the sex abuse problem and perhaps drafted a 1994 list of accused priests for that reason. But when Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua instead had the list destroyed, Lynn chose to remain in the job and obey his bishop — by keeping quiet — as children suffered, she said.

Prosecutors who spent a decade investigating sex abuse complaints kept in secret files at the archdiocese and issued two damning grand jury reports argue that Lynn and unindicted co-conspirators in the church hierarchy kept children in danger and the public in the dark.

"He locked away in a vault the names of pedophile priests. He locked in a vault the names of men that he knew had abused children. He now will be locked away for a fraction of the time he kept that secret vault," District Attorney Seth Williams said of Lynn.

Defense lawyers have long argued that the state's child endangerment statute, revised in 2007 to include those who supervise abusers, should not apply to Lynn since he left office in 2004. They also insist he did more than anyone at the archdiocese to meet with victims, get pedophile priests into treatment and send recommendations to the cardinal.

Lynn was the first U.S. church official convicted for his handling of abuse claims in the sex scandal that's rocked the Catholic church for more than a decade. But he might not be the last.

Bishop Robert Finn and the Kansas City diocese face a misdemeanor charge of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse. Both Finn and the diocese have pleaded not guilty and are set to go on trial next month.

http://news.yahoo.com/pa-monsignor-g...154117156.html

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



As mentioned in an earlier posting, this is the first conviction of a member of the church hierarchy for following church policy. Still wondering if this is going to stop with him or if they plan to follow it up the chain of command.

The potential implications of this still kind of astound me.

I like that this is like an in your face corrective thing for the Catholic church. I hope it will go up the chain of command, and not stop at this rather low step of the ladder. God knows the Church needs a little more education seeing, back in 2009, they issued new psychological testing in seminaries by equating pedophilia with homosexuality. Sigh. Story here.

As a survivor, I am thankful for this beginning change in the collective consciousness to hold those with the power to stop it accountable for enforcing hierarchial policy.

Yet, there is also a part of me that is very aware that like AIDS "didnt exist" until Rock Hudson, sexual abuse "didnt exist" until it affected males. Then, it took on an entirely different meaning with entirely different strategies, and a shitload of lawyers with a new specialty.

No child should be subjected to sexual abuse or exploitation by anyone, in any position, or with any affliation. The gender of the child involved should not influence the vigor with which the problem is acknowledged or addressed.

Eagle Scouts return medals over organization’s anti-gay stance
 

The Boy Scouts of America's stance of not allowing openly gay people to serve as troop leaders or members has inspired several Eagle Scouts to return their hard-earned medals and renounce their membership.

Boing Boing writer Maggie Koerth-Baker first posted a story about how her husband, Christopher Baker, a former Eagle Scout, returned his medal to the Boy Scouts of America. The post, which included Baker's letter to the BSA, drew a strong reaction from the Boing Boing community. So much so, that other former Eagle Scouts began returning their medals as well.

This is no small sacrifice on the part of the Scouts. Becoming an Eagle Scout is serious business that involves years of hard work, at a time in a person's life when goofing off is often more of a priority. In Baker's letter, he wrote, "Today I am returning my Eagle Scout medal because I do not want to be associated with the bigotry for which it now stands. I hope that one day BSA stands up for all boys. It saddens me that until that day comes any sons of mine will not participate in the Boy Scouts."

Koerth-Baker said that the strong reaction wasn't much of a surprise. Over email she said, "I had seen, over the past week, individual letters having a huge impact on Facebook. But they weren't connected to one another. I wanted to do something that linked all these men and made their decisions something bigger than just individual choices."

She continued: "When I posted Baker's (her husband's) letter, I had hoped it would have the kind of impact that it seems to be having. I'm really gratified to know that this is something people connect with so strongly." It is perhaps worth noting that Baker is not gay, nor are any of the other men who have submitted their resignation letters to be posted on Boing Boing.

Koerth-Baker said she is continuing to get more letters from men who have resigned from the Eagle Scouts. "I actually have another half-dozen letters that I'm going to post later this week," she said. The men, she writes, are "doing something really honest, and really respectable, and really brave. And I wanted to support them. I wanted to show them that this wasn't something they were alone in ... lots of other men felt this way."

Earlier this month, spokesperson Deron Smith said that a committee of Scout executives and adult volunteers was unanimous in its decision to keep the anti-gay policy. The committee, Smith said, represented "a diversity of perspectives and opinions."

We reached out via email to the Boy Scouts of America for a comment. Spokesman Smith responded: "Scouting represents millions of youth and adult members in diverse communities across the nation, each with a variety of beliefs about this issue. While a majority of our membership agrees with our policy, no single policy will accommodate the many diverse views among our membership or society. Although we are disappointed to learn of anyone who feels compelled to return his Eagle rank, we fully understand and appreciate that not everyone will agree with any one position or policy."

Smith continued: "The BSA values the freedom of everyone to express their opinion. We expect all members to respect all other viewpoints and opinions....The BSA does not have an agenda on this matter, and its membership policy is not meant to be a blanket statement or a social commentary. The BSA is a voluntary, private organization that sets policies that are best for the organization. We welcome all who share its beliefs but do not criticize or condemn those who wish to follow a different path."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/...184508093.html

Massachusetts asks U.S. high court to take on gay marriage case
 

BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a recent appeals court decision striking down parts of the federal law that defines marriage solely as the union of a man and a woman.

The request sets up a potential first consideration of a gay marriage case by the Supreme Court.

"The Defense of Marriage Act is a discriminatory and unconstitutional law that harms thousands of families in Massachusetts and takes away our state's right to extend marriage equality to all couples," Coakley said in a statement.

"It is our firm conviction that in order to truly achieve marriage equality, all couples must enjoy the same rights and protections under both state and federal law."

Coakley's 37-page brief asked the nation's highest court to uphold the decision that found denying federal benefits to married same-sex couples was unconstitutional.

The brief said that the state "normally would oppose further review in order to ensure that the judgment takes effect as soon as possible" but added that "the Commonwealth recognizes that DOMA's unconstitutionality is a question of national significance."

"It is important that the Court address the matter in a case that presents the full complement of DOMA's constitutional infirmities," the brief said.

Coakley's move was a response to a brief filed June 29 by the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG), appointed by the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, which wants the court to reverse the lower court ruling.

That brief said the appeals court ruling "invalidated a duly enacted Act of Congress."

Same-sex marriages were legalized in Massachusetts in 2004. In 2009, the state became the first state to file a complaint alleging that DOMA, which affects more than 1,100 federal statutory provisions, violated the Constitution.

DOMA was ruled unconstitutional by a district court in Massachusetts in 2010, a ruling that was upheld by the First Circuit Court of Appeals' three-judge panel in a unanimous ruling on May 31.

Plaintiffs, including seven married same-sex couples and three widowers, said the law, which among other things prevents them from filing joint federal tax returns or collecting survivor benefits from the Social Security retirement system, denied them equal protections under the U.S. Constitution.

Among the plaintiffs was Dean Hara, the widower of former U.S. Congressman Gerry Studds, who died in 2006. Studds, the first openly gay member of Congress, and Hara were married one week after same-sex marriages became legal in Massachusetts. Hara is not eligible to receive the pension provided to surviving spouses of former members of Congress.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/massachuset...214956117.html

Angry crowd forms after Dallas police shooting

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/A...ng-3732025.php

DALLAS (AP) — Dozens of angry residents gathered on a sweltering southeast Dallas street after reports of a police shooting of a suspect spread through the neighborhood.

The incident happened sometime after 5 p.m. Tuesday in a residential neighborhood about a mile southeast of Fair Park and about three miles southeast of downtown Dallas.

Details are sketchy as to what prompted the confrontation with police in riot gear. Aerial video showed some fist fights breaking out among onlookers as temperatures hovered around 100 degrees. No arrests have been reported as tactical squad officers arrived to support dozens of officers standing riot shield to riot shield.

Man shot by police in southeast Dallas

DALLAS -- Gunfire erupted in southeast Dallas late Tuesday afternoon as police confronted a suspect. The tense situation escalated when hundreds of people converged on the crime scene.
At least one person was shot and wounded by Dallas police at a location in the 5200 block of Barber Avenue at around 5:15 p.m., according to initial reports.
No officers were wounded. A police source told News 8 the suspect was dead.
That report triggered emotional outbursts from a number of onlookers.
Sandra Harper, who identified herself as the mother of James Harper, said her 31-year-old son was dead, and had been shot in the back.
"My son didn't have no gun, whatever the police said," Mrs. Harper said.

There has been no official statement from police, although one was expected at some point Tuesday evening.
The crowd was urged to move to a nearby church to attend a community meeting to discuss what happened. Dallas City Council member Dwaine Caraway was at the scene to gather facts.
"This is beyond Southeast, this is the Dallas Police Department and the City of Dallas," Caraway said. "The police are moving and doing what they need to do to clear the neighborhood so we can bring peace."
Rev. Kyev P. Tatum of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference issued this statement:
"The fair minded people in South Dallas need to remain calm; peaceful and allow justice to take her course. We will make sure a full investigation is conducted and we are confident that Chief Brown and DA Watkins will seek truth in this case. Violence in the community is not the answer. As Dr. King once said, 'An eye for an eye leaves everybody blind.' The SCLC is praying for the peace in South Dallas."
According to unofficial reports, police had received a report of a man being dragged into a house shortly before 5 p.m. It was not clear whether police had been fired upon.
Dozens of police units -- some in riot gear -- converged on the scene to provide crowd control. The department's SWAT team arrived after 6:30 p.m.
There appeared to be several emotional people and at one point, at least one officer was seen firing what appeared to be pellets into the pavement that left marks on the surface in an effort to disperse the crowd.
Later, several fist fights broke out in the street among onlookers.
A woman was taken away in an ambulance.
News 8 observed at least three top police officials at the scene, including Assistant Chief Charles Cato. Two "companion officers" were requested at the scene to provide assistance to any police personnel who were involved in firing their weapons.
Rev. Earnest Freeney, a pastor in the community, was helping police to try and calm down the crowd. He said he was worried that people from other parts of the city and even from other cities would come to this neighborhood, increasing problems for public officials.

Sources said police were familiar with the residence where the shooting occurred as a place where illegal drugs were sold.

Mother of man shot by Dallas police says he wasn't armed

DALLAS — Sandra Harper, who identified herself as the mother of James Harper, said her 31-year-old son was dead, and had been shot in the back by Dallas police.
"My son didn't have no gun, whatever the police said," Mrs. Harper said during an emotional interview broadcast live on WFAA. She said her son had his arms raised in the air to surrender when he was shot.
"Whatever the police say, it's their word against ours," Mrs. Harper said. "They're always right; we're always wrong."

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Attorney General orders sweeping reforms for New Orleans police
 

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday placed the New Orleans Police Department, which has been accused of widespread abuses, under the scrutiny of a federal monitor for at least four years.

Holder issued a sweeping decree that he said resulted from "one of the most extensive investigations" of a law enforcement agency the Justice Department has ever conducted.

The 170-page agreement, which must receive federal court approval before it can be finalized, resulted from months of negotiations between the federal government and New Orleans officials.

The Justice Department's 2011 report cited dozens of problems in New Orleans police training, recruiting, supervision and interrogation practices, and identified "a troubling racial disparity" in the use of force.

Increased federal attention to the city's problems helped produce more than a dozen convictions during the past year in a series of federal civil rights cases in which local police officers were charged with killing unarmed civilians and covering up the crimes during the violent aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The New Orleans consent decree is the latest in a string of such orders the federal government has imposed on police departments in cities including Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Los Angeles, to provide blueprints for reform. Failure to comply could subject a city to contempt of court charges and possible penalties.

The order, in the form of a lawsuit by the United States against the City of New Orleans, alleges that police have routinely violated citizens' constitutional rights and engaged "in a pattern or practice of intentional discriminatory conduct."

The order requires the police department to conduct use-of-force training; improve investigations of officer-involved shootings; make Spanish and Vietnamese translators available to handle emergency calls; and improve investigation of sexual assaults and domestic violence.

http://news.yahoo.com/attorney-gener...231756919.html

Greece expels Olympic athlete over racist tweets
 

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Triple jumper Voula Papachristou was expelled from Greece's Olympic team Wednesday for her comments on Twitter mocking African immigrants and expressing support for a far-right party.

The Hellenic Olympic Committee said Wednesday that Papachristou is "placed outside the Olympic team for statements contrary to the values and ideas of the Olympic movement."

Papachristou's Twitter account contains several retweets and postings of YouTube videos promoting the views of Golden Dawn, a formerly marginal extreme right party that entered the Greek Parliament in the recent two national elections - in May and June this year - by polling almost 7 percent of the vote.

Commenting on the widely reported appearance of Nile-virus-carrying mosquitoes in Athens, Papachristou wrote: "With so many Africans in Greece, the West Nile mosquitoes will be getting home food!!!". Her tweet prompted thousands of negative comments that snowballed Wednesday.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/greece-...1136--oly.html