Jack & Jill Politics

AFTERNOON OPEN THREAD IS UP

Stephanie Green is a woman and one of the few African-Americans in the 1,200-member Steelworkers Local 12-369, mostly white, in the state of Washington. As soon as she was elected local president in November 2005, the executive board began to give her a hard time. They refused to allow her to take office, but she succeeded in getting installed in April 2006 after a successful appeal to the international and the DOL. Still, it's been a hard time ever since. The record is spelled out in the complaint filed on her behalf by attorney Janet Taylor in Federal court in April 2008 which is the main basis for this account:

Her unplanned career of embattlement opened in October 2004 when she criticized the local for failure to process the grievance of racial minority workers who had been assigned to especially dangerous jobs. Shortly afterwards, she was elected job steward, ousting the white incumbent, only to find that the executive board reduced her authority as steward and barred her from meetings ordinarily attended by stewards. Her complaints that E-board members were creating a hostile work environment were ignored.

She was elected local president in November but the E-Board refused to allow her to take office. She was finally installed about five months later, in April 2006, after complaining to the international and the U.S. Labor Department. But her troubles continued. The previous president was paid $103,898 a year. She gets nothing! She was denied the use of office space that had been available to the previous president.

Again according to her complaint in Federal court, Green began to make changes in the operation of the local: increasing membership involvement, reducing expenses, making financial information available, shifting decision making from the E-Board and business reps to the membership. E-Board members filed two separate charges against her.

Charging harassment because of her race and gender, Green filed charges against the local and international before the EEOC, which granted her the right to sue.

...

In April this year, despite all her troubles with the E-board, the international, and HAMTC, Green was reelected local president. It is not clear yet where the new E-board majority stands.

Meanwhile, represented by attorney Taylor, Green is back in federal court in a suit against the international, HAMTC, and some members of the old local executive board. She asks the judge to end the curbs on her powers in the local and restore her rights as the local's representative at HAMTC.

In Steel Local 12-369: A woman, and black, it's tough to be local president

Television broadcasters in the Aloha State have been quietly embarking on an underhanded media merger for more than a year.

In August, the CBS, NBC and MyNetwork affiliates in Honolulu announced that they were folding into one of the "largest television news operations" in Hawaii, combining the stations' staff and newsrooms. The three news stations will now be housed in the same place, sharing reporters and editorial ideas, but they will broadcast from separate channels, appearing as distinct entities to viewers. Nearly 70 employees from the stations will lose their jobs.

The consolidated operation will be controlled by one company: Raycom Media. Raycom is among the nation's largest broadcasters, with 46 television stations in 36 markets and 18 states. The company has been careful not to call the deal "media consolidation," instead referring to it as an innocuous "Shared Services Agreement." Raycom says the arrangement will save struggling news stations.

But one public interest organization in Hawaii isn't buying Raycom's PR spin. In September, the nonprofit group Media Council Hawaii, represented by Georgetown University's Institute for Public Representation, filed an official complaint (PDF link) with the Federal Communications Commission. The complaint alleges that because Raycom will effectively control the local news programming, personnel and finances of all three stations, the agreement is actually an illegal license transfer that violates FCC local television ownership rules.

The FCC followed up on the complaint earlier this month by requesting additional information about the agreements from the broadcast stations and Raycom. In response, Media Council Hawaii reiterated its concerns: "If the Commission does not act promptly to stop this...run around its ownership limits, stations all over the country that are experiencing financial difficulties will enter into similar arrangements."
Bypassing federal law

The FCC's longstanding local television ownership rules prohibit an entity from controlling two top-four stations or more than two stations in the same area. The rules exist for a reason: to protect competition and viewpoint diversity in local communities.

It's important that TV stations keep their news operations separate to ensure that viewers get varying information and viewpoints. We want media to compete for our eyeballs by serving up quality reporting.

Already, media consolidation has led to disastrous results for news in communities. As more and more absentee corporations have gobbled up TV stations in the pursuit of profit, local news has become increasingly cookie-cutter. News segments focus on cheap and easily produced programming. If we've learned anything from media consolidation to date, it's that it degrades investigative journalism and quality reporting.

Raycom argues that its local news sharing doesn't violate ownership rules because there was no "official" transfer of licenses. "We do not need any regulatory approvals," Paul McTear, the company's CEO, told KITV.com.

Consolidation Station: News ‘Sharing’ Erodes Journalism

---

Murdoch must be somewhere cheering for this consolidation.

Research suggests that the decline in hormone therapy during postmenopause is a key reason for the decline seen in a known risk factor for breast cancer ...

Ever since the release of the results of the Women’s Health Initiative studies, which were conducted in the 1990s, there has been a reduction in the use of hormone replacement therapy by women. The estrogen plus progesterone study found an increased risk of breast cancer, stroke, heart attack, and blood clots associated with taking the combination therapy, while women who took estrogen alone were found to be at increased risk of stroke and venous thrombosis (blood clots usually in deep vein in the legs).

Less Hormone Therapy Use Linked to Less Breast Cancer Risk

Good Morning JJP,
Happy belated birthday Rikyrah. Yea Cowboys! HCR - to the Senate, march!
Have a nice day.

11.08.2009
Real Oklahoma Students Ace Citizenship Exam; Strategic Vision Survey Was Likely Fabricated
by Nate Silver @ 7:30 AM
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In detailing some of the evidence against Strategic Vision LLC, a pollster I am now almost certain is disreputable and fraudulent, I pointed in particular to a poll that they conducted on behalf of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, an conservative-leaning educational thinktank. The poll purported to show that Oklahoma's high school citizens were deficient in some of the most basic aspects of citizenship. Only 23 percent of them knew that George Washington was the first president, the poll claimed! Just 43 percent knew that the Democrats and Republicans are the two major political parties!

These conclusions seemed dubious to me on their face. Several years ago, at my old consulting job, I participated in a project for the State of Ohio's public schools which involved sitting down in a third or fifth grade classroom for the better part of a day and seeing how the students were learning. Most of these observations took place in poor, post-industrial towns, which were still suffering the effects of the steel mill or the axle plant that had long ago left town. What struck me, most of all, was how smart the kids were, relative to my expectations. These kids might not have been the highest achievers -- but I'm pretty sure that more than 90 percent of them would have known who George Washington was. And these were third and fifth graders.

There were other hints too, that Strategic Vision's poll may have been fake. The scores that Strategic Vision claimed the kids had gotten, for instance, were strangely underdispersed. And they seemed to contradict results from Oklahoma's own standardized testing, which asked much more difficult citizenship questions and found most of the students doing just fine.

It turns out that I was not the only person who had doubts about the survey. So did Ed Cannaday, the State Representative from Oklahoma's 15 House District.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Cannaday told me he was shocked when he heard of the results, which had received widespread media attention. "When I saw the statistics, I was just flabbergasted and said it cannot be true," he told me.

There were two items in particular that sent up warning flags for him: the one claiming that only 23 percent of the students knew the identity of George Washington, and another that claimed that about one in every ten students had listed the two major political parties as "Republican and Communist".

"Given the dialog of today, if they had said Republican and socialist, then maybe," Cannaday told me. "But communist -- that's just not something that you throw out there any more. I don't think Sarah Palin even used that term."

Cannaday, age 69, would be in a position to know. Before entering the State Legislature three years ago, he had spent decades in education, first as a teacher in a large public school in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and then in Oklahoma where he set up an alternative school. After a stint in private business, Cannaday returned to classroom, first as a teacher and then as a principal, and then -- finding he missed the one-on-one interaction with his students -- as a teaching principal at a small school in House District 15. He now serves on the House's education committee in Oklahoma City, and continues to pay regular visits to the schools in his district. "Most schools like to have me once a month," he says, to talk about legislation pending before the state.

Cannaday therefore had little difficulty setting up an experiment: he arranged to have all the seniors in the 10 secondary schools in his district take the Strategic Vision/OCPA survey. Cannaday tried to replicate the Strategic Vision survey to the greatest extent possible. The same exact questions were used, and as in the case of the original survey, the answers were open-ended rather than multiple choice. The survey was administered to a total of 325 seniors, including special education students.

Cannaday's survey however, found his students doing just fine: They answered an average of 7.8 out of the 10 questions correctly. By comparison, the high school students that were purportedly surveyed by Strategic Vision had gotten just 2.8 out of the items correct. 98 percent of the students on Cannaday's survey -- not 23 percent -- knew that George Washington was the first President. 81 percent -- not 14 percent -- knew that Thomas Jefferson had written the Declaration of Independence. 95 percent -- not 43 percent -- knew that the Democrats and Republicans are the major political parties. There was just no comparison between the two.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/11/real-okl...

Nov 9 2009, 10:03 am by Chris Good
Club Endorses Rubio

It's official: the Club for Growth has endorsed conservative upstart Marco Rubio in Florida's Senate race, over moderate Gov. Charlie Crist (R).

This should come as a surprise to no one: Rubio has been accumulating national support from conservatives since the beginning of his campaign. In May, conservative bloggers (the most prominent being RedState's Erick Erickson) began criticizing NRSC Chairman John Cornyn for backing Crist, and then, in June, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) backed Rubio as well--all amid accusations that Crist was too moderate.

The Club is in the business of supporting fiscally conservative candidates, sometimes in primaries against incumbent Republicans. In the 2008 election cycle, they launched an offensive against Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), who, thanks to the Club's efforts, lost his primary to conservative Andy Harris, and the seat eventually went to the Democrats.

(This trend on the Club's part, by the way, has not gone unnoticed. Some would say that it's better to keep a moderate Republican in office than to lose the seat altogether.)

But now, the Club's moment seems to have arrived. The conservative grassroots have been swept up in fiscal conservatism, and they're fresh off a semi-victory in NY-23, where the Club backed Conservatve Party Candidate Doug Hoffman and became one of the central financial players in the race, spending almost on par with the big boys--the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee--adding just over $1 million to the race, including bundled donations.

The Republican, Dede Scozzafava, eventually had to drop out, Hoffman lost, and the rest was history. It proved, at least, that conservative pressure can trump GOP backing for a liberal Republican candidate.

"Marco Rubio is the real deal, one of the brightest young stars in American politics today, and a proven champion of economic liberty," Club President Chris Chocola said today. "He is a dynamic spokesman for the principles of limited government and economic freedom, and he will make a fantastic Senator."

Which is true. He's held office before, and he's generally regarded as a better candidate than Hoffman--a bit sharper and more ready for the big time.

There's a solid chance that the Florida Senate primary will be a bigger deal than NY-23. Expect the Club to lead the way in getting some money to Rubio and attacking Crist with TV ads.

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/club_en...

hat tip - Prometheus6

EDUCATION INC. – Part I: Private company skirts public boards in running tax-funded charter schools
For-profit makes decisions for tax-funded Imagine
Dan Stockman and Kelly Soderlund
The Journal Gazette

Cathie Rowand | The Journal Gazette

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The local school board was about to spend almost $100,000 of taxpayer money on a busing service for students.

But there was no discussion of bids to ensure taxpayers got the best deal. There were no questions about cost, insurance or alternatives to this contract awarded to a southern Indiana trucking company.

Most importantly, there was no vote.

Despite spending millions of tax dollars a year, the board of this public school votes on almost nothing.

Not the $87,510 a year to operate school buses. Not $114,871 to run a lunch program. Not which teachers are hired or whether to hold summer school, or even whether to borrow more than $1 million for operations.

All those decisions and many more were made by a private company from Virginia, though Internal Revenue Service regulations say tax-exempt organizations such as this one must have independent, local control.

Welcome to Imagine charter schools.

When Imagine board members do make major decisions, they often do so by signing papers outside of public meetings, with no public debate and no public vote. Instead of local control, a Journal Gazette investigation found, executives with the for-profit management company tell the Fort Wayne board members how decisions will be made and how money will be spent.

Local school officials deny any wrongdoing. Imagine corporate officials, who operate two Fort Wayne schools and hope to open a third next year, did not return calls for comment.


http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20091101/...

More "centralization think", placing control into the hands of the few. We already know the results.

It’s The End Of The World As We Know It

by Tim F.

Reviewing Republican behavior during the Health Care Reform debate on Saturday, you would think an militant band of spoiled toddlers with Tourette’s had occupied the right half of the House. Or howler monkeys. If it was not the most embarrassing display of bad behavior in recent government history, it is only because of everything else Republicans did lately. When lying didn’t work (they want to euthanize granny!) they tried hyperbole (health insurance reform is LITERALLY THE SAME THING AS STALIN TIMES THE HOLOCAUST!). Then they tried lying again. Then lying plus hyperbole, stamping their feet and shouting.

Normally the side that doesn’t have the law on its side, and doesn’t have the facts either, recognizes that you just lose twice if you throw your credibility and reputation into a losing fight. This fight was clearly different for Republicans, and you know what? They’re right. If the GOP had not pushed the Overton Window way to the right compared with where we started when Single Payer was still on the table (ish), Democratic moderates would have no problem supporting the watered down “moderate” compromise that the House finally passed yesterday. The bills would have steamrolled both houses of Congress with decent support from swing-district Republicans if the party had not made it a hill to die on with an emphasis on die.

Bill Kristol had it right in 1994. If Democrats effectively fix health care then Republicans are screwed. Any health care reform that does not suck even worse would effectively be written in stone as soon as it passed. Realigning their issue set to stay relevant could be quite awkward since Democrats already claimed most of the issues that Americans don’t hate. To stay alive Republicans would need to tack somewhere less crazy, but that would motivate Michelle Bachmann’s twenty-some percent of crazy people to go third party. Those two factors would effectively doom Republicans to share a shrinking back bench with the conservative fruitcake party and their pet schmuck Joe Lieberman.

So yeah, Republicans pulled out all the stops on this one. If they can find another stop before the Senate vote they’ll pull that one too. Pretty much the only institutional incentive not pushing them towards brinksmanship at this point is that desiccated raisin occupying space where most people would have a conscience.

http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=29491

anyone know what time the service at Fort Hood is tomorrow?

I actually saw this segment on Hardball...this is the age of Youtube and video, Charlie Crist....it's ALWAYS THERE...

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

Crist caught lying about stimulus Hotlist
by Jed Lewison
Digg this! Share this on Twitter - Crist caught lying about stimulusTweet this submit to reddit Share This
Mon Nov 09, 2009 at 07:00:03 AM PST

Charlie Crist tells CNN that he never supported the stimulus package...but as Chris Matthews noted on Friday's broadcast, Crist was lying — he did support the stimulus. In fact, Crist not only supported the stimulus, but he did so standing right at President Obama’s side.

Roll the video tape:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/11/9/801480/...


he's in the teabaggers sights, and they aren't giving up

Still believe Crist was elected solely because he wasn't the governortorial candidate with the Black guy on the ticket.

This Will Now Get Very Big

by BooMan
Mon Nov 9th, 2009 at 09:16:28 AM EST
ABC News reports:

U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.

It is not known whether the intelligence agencies informed the Army that one of its officers was seeking to connect with suspected al Qaeda figures, the officials said.

One senior lawmaker said the CIA had, so far, refused to brief the intelligence committees on what, if any, knowledge they had about Hasan's efforts.

CIA director Leon Panetta and the Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, have been asked by Congress "to preserve" all documents and intelligence files that relate to Hasan, according to the lawmaker.

On Sunday, Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) called for an investigation into whether the Army missed signs as to whether Hasan was an Islamic extremist.

This information is a bit hazy at the moment. We could be talking about another example of the intelligence community getting burned because they refuse to share information, or because they collect information without warrants, or because they misdiagnosed the threat this man posed and didn't move from investigation to some kind of disciplinary or legal action.

The hardest thing in the world is to tell a victim's family that you knew this guy was sympathizing with al-Qaeda and you let him continue in his job as an Army psychiatrist.

But even though ABC News is a reputable source most of the time, I want to see a statement from the administration before I believe this report is 100% accurate.

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2009/11/9/91...

I think they identified him and probably waited to see if he would lead them to bigger fish. Unfortunately, that was the wrong strategy. And lets say they would have brought him in. What would have been the charges? It wouldn't have been anything to severe enough to put him in jail. If they would have prosecuted him for "statements" the ACLU would have been defending him. There would have been groups claiming he was targeted for being a Muslim.

they already knew what he had posted online. see, I'm trying to get past the thought of what would happen if you or I had done what they said he had already done online - forget this report. Somehow, I doubt we'd be allowed to just be walking around. this isn't a case of someone does something, they go to his apartment and find all this stuff HIDDEN. the stuff he published online; the reports from other folks in the Army, you're telling me that this guy was on NOBODY'S list? and, if was on a list, then what good are the lists?

He was promoted to Major in May of this year. This is not a fact that anyone should lose sight of. Even if the reporting hasn't mentioned it since the day of the shooting.

Now tell me how it makes any sense for a man to receive a promotion if intelligence knows he was chatting with al Qaeda?

I'm not ready to call this entire thing a set up to hang a "terrorist attack on American soil" around Obama's neck, but I'm watching....

Waiting for Dick N Liz to crow about Obama not keeping us safe in 5...4...3...2...

I also share those suspicions. If Hasan was communicating with al Qaeda on the sly, then why was he also doing his level best to get OUT of the Army (based on reports published by NBC). Being a sleeper-Muslim-terrorist is inconsistent with wanting to get out from under one's cover.

I share your suspicions, Craig, because there are part of this that don't make a lot of sense. Not sense in the way I think you and I see things. There are way too many questions left in the air here, and too many things that don't add up. It's sorta breaking down to a choice between a setup and gross incompetence, and neither one makes me feel good.

Sunday, November 08, 2009


Nightmare

by digby


If you need to get a good night's sleep tonight, don't read Seymour Hersh's latest because it will give you nightmares.

Pakistan has been a nuclear power for two decades, and has an estimated eighty to a hundred warheads, scattered in facilities around the country. The success of the latest attacks raised an obvious question: Are the bombs safe? Asked this question the day after the Rawalpindi raid, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “We have confidence in the Pakistani government and the military’s control over nuclear weapons.” Clinton—whose own visit to Pakistan, two weeks later, would be disrupted by more terrorist bombs—added that, despite the attacks by the Taliban, “we see no evidence that they are going to take over the state.”

Clinton’s words sounded reassuring, and several current and former officials also said in interviews that the Pakistan Army was in full control of the nuclear arsenal. But the Taliban overrunning Islamabad is not the only, or even the greatest, concern. The principal fear is mutiny—that extremists inside the Pakistani military might stage a coup, take control of some nuclear assets, or even divert a warhead.



Just read it.

I would love to know how our being in Afghanistan and killing civilans with predator drones is making that scenario less likely.

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

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/nightmar...


Pakistan - the most dangerous country on Earth.


Seymour Hirsch's article

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/11/16/0...

Did anyone see the Wanda Sykes show this weekend? I thought it was interesting. I loved her going after Fox for their attacks on Mr. Obama. And she showed this clip of PBO at a Deeds rally with this young woman beside him. While he was leading everyone in a campaign rally, if you read her lips she was saying 'Obama I'm going to rape you!' She said it a couple of times too! It was funny yet disturbing.

got any links to it?

So far the only clip I could find was Wanda sort of going after Ann Coulter.
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/cspanjunkie...
I went to the Fox site but they don't have it up yet either.

In keeping w/ god's work the Treasury has vetoed buy tax credits from FNN for GS benefit.

"The sheer arrogance, the colossal gall involved boggles the mind.

And while we expect this sort of behavior from the Vampire Squid — they take pride at Goldman in not just being whores, but in being the highest paid callgirls in town — it is stunning to see such behavior from the usually politically astute Oracle Tentacles of Omaha. For Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway to team up with Goldman Sachs (which he now owns a healthy chunk of) is a bit of a revelation: We have been spun by his genteel manner, his aw shucks down-home-isms, his off Wall Street, less bloodthirsty approach to investing, into somehow believing he was different.

We have been duped."

Now, call girls and whores fall into that category? LOL

Warren Buffett is always considerd a giant among investors. There is an argument to be made he entered into these investments long before the crisis occured. Currently Uncle Sugar is responsible for his current wealth recovery.

I have a post up about Obama's Latin American Policy Woes (some good info about Honduras, what Hillary is not doing, etc): http://is.gd/4QTtv

The Supreme Court on Monday will consider whether sentencing a juvenile to life in prison without the possibility of parole for a non-homicide violates the Constitution's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

The court in 2005 decided that it was unconstitutional to executive juveniles who had committed murder. Now, advocates for youthful offenders will ask the court to declare that sentencing juveniles convicted of non-lethal crimes to "die in prison," with no chance of parole, should also be forbidden.

The justices will hear two cases from Florida, the state that has locked away far more juveniles than any other. One involves Terrance Graham, who was sentenced at age 17 after he violated probation by taking part in a home invasion. A year earlier, he had been convicted of armed robbery.

The other case concerns Joe Harris Sullivan, who is one of only two 13-year-olds in the nation -- the other is in Florida, as well -- sentenced to live without parole for a non-homicide. Now 34, Sullivan was convicted of raping an elderly woman, a crime his lawyers contend he did not commit.

But his innocence or guilt is not at issue. His lawyers are asking that Sullivan to be re-sentenced, so that he can try to eventually make his case for release to a state parole board. Sullivan's lawyers renewed their efforts on his behalf after the high court's 5 to 4 ruling in 2005 that said executing juveniles violated the Eighth Amendment.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote that the immature actions and developing nature of a juvenile meant that "it is less supportable to conclude that even a heinous crime committed by a juvenile is evidence of irretrievably depraved character." He added: "It would be misguided to equate the failings of a minor with those of an adult, for a greater possibility exists that a minor's character deficiencies will be reformed."

But Florida, joined by 19 other states, said they should retain the right to decide the proper way to sentence those who commit crime, regardless of age. "There is no consensus against life sentences for juveniles, particularly for heinous crimes such as sexual battery," Florida Solicitor General Scott Makar told the court in the state's brief.

High court to look at life in prison for juveniles

---

States like Florida have systematically dismantled their juvenile and public defender systems, the only recourse is plea deals (guilty plea to lessor charges) with prosecutors. Florida is also a state with zero tolerance policies in schools that places primarily black males into the school to prison pipeline.

the court is hearing some very serious cases this term. every one that folks have been posting about could have lasting effects all across the country.

My thoughts on No On 1 in Maine, the People's Veto, and the modern day GLBT movement.

No On 1 Postscript

thanks Craig.

i posted on your site and think the points you make are good ones.

the way forward that i have found is not to argue with people who are thinking in narrow ways, but to attach myself and my energy to efforts that involve positive people who are part of the solution. the listening project that i described in my post on your site is part of that practice and my work with mel and the youth in learn 2 teach, teach 2 learn are part of that too.

i still do a little part in the politics --- make the calls and show up at the events, but my everyday witnessing through my work has far more meaning and impact I believe.

Thanks for your comments here and there, zackboston.

Do you think one day, modern day thinking will be the same as Ancient Greece?

In Ancient Greece it is believed that males generally went through a homosexual stage in adolescence, followed by a bisexual stage characterized by pederastic relationships in young adulthood, followed by a (mostly) heterosexual stage later in life, when they married and had children.

In antiquity, pederasty was a moral and educational institution practiced in Ancient Greece and Rome. Pederasty as idealized by the ancient Greeks, was a relationship and bond between an adolescent boy and an adult man outside of his immediate family. Military pederasty was encouraged as a means to improve troop morale, bravery, and overall fighting.

Historically, bisexuality has largely been free of the social stigma associated with homosexuality, prevalent even where bisexuality was the norm. In Ancient Greece pederasty was not problematic as long as the men eventually married and had children.

Today, in America, the ancient practice of pederasty would raise issues of morality, legality, and would be confused with pedophilia.

Nambla would love this post. If America ever accepted this nonsense as norm and not what it is pedophilia I'm out of here.

So just parts of Greece the "Cradle of Western Civilization" is acceptable?

Yes, that's part of evolving as a civilization. Some things of the past are unacceptable. In Ancient Greece pederasty is acceptable you obviously don't have a problem with that. Well, how about slavery? That was apart of the "Cradle of Western Civilization" as well. Lets just accept it all.

Knowing that pederasty was a social norm is not an indication of its acceptance, the same goes for slavery.

After so-called evolution, slavery exists today but there isn't a loud outcry or moral indignation about it.

Sure it is. An act cannot be a social norm without it being accepted or else it wouldn't be norm.

Edit: That's why pederasty isn't a social norm now because it has been deemed illegal and unacceptable.

At quick glance, your quote sounds like homosexuality is a mere phase adolescents grow out of when they become men.

That sounds like a pretty modern day idea.

Sorry, forgot link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pederasty_in_ancie...

Great post!
I love the fact that you are telling people you have to confront the bigotry and hatred.

Thanks, RobM.

John Jefferson, the owner of Cold Cutz, a barbershop in Riverside, has a personal reason for joining a nationwide initiative that encourages black men to get health screenings for diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Jefferson's father died from complications related to diabetes, and on Saturday, Jefferson will be opening his shop to offer more than just a haircut and a shave.

Medical volunteers will be at barbershops in the Inland area to offer free blood pressure and blood sugar testing and provide health education materials through the Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program.

"I know that it's needed," Jefferson said. "I know a lot of people, especially a lot of people of color, have trouble going to the doctor and getting regular checkups."

Jefferson said as soon as he learned about the national outreach program, he wanted to help bring it to Riverside.

"Riverside is very community oriented," Jefferson said. "They kind of expect that from us, and we're happy to answer the call."

The Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program was launched two years ago in Los Angeles and has expanded nationally, said Phyllis Clark, founder and CEO of the nonprofit organization Healthy Heritage Movement in Riverside.

The organization's mission is to eliminate health disparities in the black community and bring culturally relevant programs to the Inland Empire.

The nationwide initiative is intended to highlight the need for black men to adopt healthier lifestyles. The program promotes awareness and early detection of diabetes, hypertension and prostate cancer.

Black barbershops hosting health screenings

get the people where they live and 'play'. go to the people. sometimes, it has to be done that way.

I can't think of a better place to start a program like this.

Former baseball slugger Sammy Sosa and his wife, Sonia, were in Las Vegas for the Latin Grammy Awards this past week. But while Sonia was looking great all eyes were on Sammy Sosa’s noticably paler skin. The lightness of his Sammy Sosa’s skin had some wondering whether he might be suffering from the skin ligntening disease, vitiligo, for which there’s no cure.

After all the photo on the left of Sammy was only taken 6 months ago. But before we start cracking saw a ghost jokes or paying tribute to the gloved one, former Cubs employee Rebecca Polihronis, who talks frequently with Sosa tells the Chicago Tribune: “He’s not trying to be Michael Jackson.” “He is going through a rejuvenation process for his skin,” Polihronis said. “Women have it all of the time. He was surprised he came out looking so white. I thought it was a body double. Part of (the photo appearance) is just the lighting. “He was doing a dermatological skin process after years and years (of playing baseball) in the sun,” Polihronis said. “It did come out looking weird (in the picture).”

Sammy Sosa’s skin transformation explained?

definitely went ' yuck', when I saw Sammy.

TRANSLATION: Sammy was using some blanqueador.

That is all.

“He is going through a rejuvenation process for his skin,” Polihronis said.

"He was surprised he came out looking so white."

"He was doing a dermatological skin process after years and years (of playing baseball) in the sun,” Polihronis said.

I don't buy this for a second. He has access to the best skin professionals in the country. That's how he wants to look.

Man, I saw that over at HuffPo and it creeped me out...wtf?

an unusual interest in the matter that’s been playing out down in Texas for some time now involving Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. (Come to think of it, maybe our interest isn’t so unusual: The story, after all, involves the U.S. Supreme Court, an execution, and an outsize personality — Keller’s — that seems to inflame passions on all sides.)

In any event, the news out today isn’t the news we’ve been waiting for — whether the judge will be sanctioned for refusing to stay the execution of Michael Richard back in 2007 — but relates to the matter nonetheless. According to this AP story, a state civil rights group asked a federal judge Thursday to reopen a lawsuit against Keller.

Lawyers for the daughter of executed inmate Michael Richard contend that Judge Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, misled the federal court that dismissed the original lawsuit last year.

Jim Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said Keller got the federal lawsuit dismissed in 2008 by claiming judicial immunity. But Harrington said Keller, during the state disciplinary proceedings this summer, testified under oath that she was acting in an administrative capacity when she refused to keep the state’s highest criminal court open so Richard could file a late appeal in the hours before his Sept. 25, 2007, execution.

Harrington said that Keller’s admission undercuts the judicial immunity argument state lawyers made on her behalf in the federal lawsuit.

“You can’t have it both ways,” Harrington said. “You can’t argue out of one side of your mouth in federal court when you’re facing liability and then turn around and argue a different position, a totally different position, in front of an administrative agency under oath out of the other side or your mouth.”

Daughter of Executed Man Reopens Case Against Sharon Keller

Preface: If you are a Christian or Jew, the importance of the Bible is probably obvious. If you are not, please consider passing this essay on to people of those faiths who you know.

If you are an atheist and believe that religion is crazy, please remember that some 85% of the American population identifies itself as Christian and millions more identify themselves as Jewish, and that most people make decisions and process information based on their beliefs and emotions.

The head of Goldman Sachs literally said he's doing "God's work" with his banking activities.

The head of Barclays also recently told his congregation that banking as practiced by his company was not antithetical to Christian principles.

Are they right? Is big banking as practiced by the giant banks in harmony with Christian principles?

Big Bankers Say They're Doing God's Work ... Are They Right?

Doesn't Bin Laden say he is doing God's work as well. I don't take anyone who says something like this seriously.

Difference here is Bin Laden is not receiving $4.3 trillion from taxpayer to guaranteed assets of the people who robbed them.

After receiving $$trillion$$ "gifts" from Congress these same people want citizens who will be paying for this "gift" another 75+ years to think its God's will.

This "God's work" line has been used justify impropriety for centuries. I mean slavery was justified as God's work. I don't want to hear that bullshit from anyone. You have people on this board who say Barry is doing God's work. So God wanted Barry to be President huh? I guess he was asleep for the elections in 2000 and 2004. It doesn't make sense. That type of talk people use to justify actions they are seeing or would like to see. It's dangerous.

Interesting as a Jew he made that argument. If it was from a Calvinist it might make more sense. I guess he thinks Goldie is a temple now.

Must of been some major typos in their version of the holy book...

I found this to be moving. Thank you.

Sen. John Ensign has moved out of the C Street house, the Christian home he shared with other elected officials on Capitol Hill that came under scrutiny for its residents’ beliefs and practices and their role in trying to end the Nevada Republican’s affair with a campaign staff member.

The red brick town house emerged this summer as the subject of political intrigue — not only as a pivotal location in Ensign’s affair with Cynthia Hampton, but also that of South Carolina Republican Gov. Mark Sanford, who sought guidance there as he wrestled with his own affair.

As fallout from Ensign’s affair continues with a preliminary Senate Ethics Committee investigation and talk of a possible criminal inquiry by the Justice Department, Ensign decided to move out, not wanting to draw further attention to his longtime home.

Ensign has previously said he did nothing legally wrong, and will cooperate with any formal investigations.

Ensign apparently was not pushed out, but left on his own. He apologized to his colleagues.

Ensign moves out of home on C Street

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Ensign's former Christian Home is where the residents are taught they are "the" Christian elite who transcends conventional morality and earthly laws.

so, he has to find another ' den of sin' to live?

Is this where Lloyd Blankenstein spoke about doing god's work?

Are you referring to this? Goldman Sachs CEO Blankfein says firm is doing 'God's work'

Yes