We need a vacation Newsletter - February 14, 2010

We need a vacation Newsletter - February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day!

WE ARE LEAVING THE COUNTRY UNTIL MARCH 4TH, 2010. NEWSLETTER WILL RESUME AFTER WE RETURN!

“WHISTLER, British Columbia — Olympic officials treated the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Georgian luge athlete, less as a tragedy than as an inconvenience.” JERÉ LONGMAN

Quick to Blame in Luge By JERÉ LONGMAN. Copyright by The New York Times. Published: February 13, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/sports/olympics/14longman.html?ref=global-home

NBC feeling agony of winning Winter Olympics BY Phil Rosenthal. Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune. 9:40 p.m. CST, February 12, 2010...NBC fell short of 2 million TripleCast subscribers, even as it dropped the price. The actual number wound up around 125,000. Reports at the time had NBC splitting a TripleCast loss of more than $100 million with partner Cablevision. That was a foggy mountain breakdown, without the foggy mountain, just the downhill plunge and the agony of defeat. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0214-phil--20100212,0,6411896.column


International

Growth in Europe Slows to a Crawl By MATTHEW SALTMARSH. Copyright by The New York Times. Published: February 12, 2010. PARIS — Europe’s economic recovery almost ground to a halt in the last quarter of 2009, data showed Friday, capping a week of worries about the ability of some countries to deal with their threatening budget deficits. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/business/global/13euecon.html?hpw

Greece’s Woes May Give Pause to Euro Zone Candidates By ANDREW E. KRAMER. Copyright by The New York Times. Published: February 11, 2010. RIGA, Latvia — The tiny Baltic states have pursued closer integration with Europe with enormous zeal. But the price of monetary union may be giving them pause. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/business/global/12euro.html?th&emc=th

Adviser to Detained Americans in Haiti Is Investigated By MARC LACEY and IAN URBINA. Copyright by The New York Times. Published: February 11, 2010. PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The police in El Salvador have begun an investigation into whether a man suspected of leading a trafficking ring involving Central American and Caribbean women and girls is also a legal adviser to the Americans charged with trying to take 33 children out of Haiti without permission. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/world/americas/12haiti.html?th&emc=th


China


China Alarmed by Security Threat From Internet By SHARON LaFRANIERE and JONATHAN ANSFIELD. COPYRIGHT BY The New York Times. Published: February 11, 2010. BEIJING — Deep inside a Chinese military engineering institute in September 2008, a researcher took a break from his duties and decided — against official policy — to check his private e-mail messages. Among the new arrivals was an electronic holiday greeting card that purported to be from a state defense office. The researcher clicked on the card to open it. Within minutes, secretly implanted computer code enabled an unnamed foreign intelligence agency to tap into the databases of the institute in the city of Luoyang in central China and spirit away top-secret information on Chinese submarines. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/world/asia/12cyberchina.html?th&emc=th

China Moves to Curb Inflation by Tightening Credit By KEITH BRADSHER. COPYRIGHT BY THE Associated Press. Published: February 12, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/business/global/13yuan.html?ref=global-home

China’s Project to Build Fast Trains Is Spurring Growth By KEITH BRADSHER. COPYRIGHT BY The New York Times. Published: February 12, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/business/global/13rail.html?ref=global-home



Mess-o-potamia


“While that was happening in the shadows, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was on center stage announcing new advances in Iran’s nuclear program — a cynical effort to divert attention from his government’s repression and economic and political failures. More than three decades after Iranians overthrew the United States-backed shah, the country remains a living contradiction between its revolutionary ideals — justice, independence and self-sufficiency — and its shameful practice.” New York Times Editorial

New York Times Editorial: Cowardice and Courage. Copyright by The New York Times. Published: February 11, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/opinion/12fri2.html?th&emc=th

Washington Post Editorial: It's time for U.S. to consider targeting Iran's gas imports. Copyright by The Washington Post. Saturday, February 13, 2010... At a minimum, Mr. Obama should be prepared to welcome and sign into law legislation, now in a congressional conference committee, that would authorize U.S. sanctions against firms that sell gasoline to Iran or provide tankers and insurance. Secondary sanctions are a blunt instrument, especially when directed against companies from friendly countries. But the threat of them might be needed to prod the Security Council or an ad-hoc Western alliance into taking steps that will break the Iranian regime's dangerous gathering of momentum. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/12/AR2010021205085.html

Iran’s 31 year anniversary http://www.hulu.com/watch/127720/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-fallout-boy

Allied Troops Seize Taliban Posts; Fighting Is Sporadic By DEXTER FILKINS. Copyright by The New York Times. Published: February 13, 2010. KABUL, Afghanistan — American, Afghan and British troops seized crucial positions across the Taliban stronghold of Marja on Saturday, encountering intense but sporadic fighting as they began the treacherous ordeal of house-to-house searches. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/world/asia/14afghan.html?ref=global-home

New Model for Afghan War: ‘Population Is the Prize’ By DEXTER FILKINS. COPYRIGHT BY THE Associated Press. Published: February 12, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/world/asia/13kabul.html?ref=global-home

Hard Mideast Truths By ROGER COHEN. COPYRIGHT BY The New York Times. Published: February 11, 2010... If there are not two states there will be one state between the river and the sea and very soon there will be more Palestinian Arabs in it than Jews. What then will become of the Zionist dream? http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/opinion/12iht-edcohen.html?th&emc=th

Eight People Killed in Indian Bomb Attack. Copyright By REUTERS. Published: February 13, 2010. Filed at 12:34 p.m. ET. PUNE, India (Reuters) - A bomb ripped through a packed restaurant in the Indian city of Pune on Saturday, killing at least eight people including four foreign women in the country's first big attack since the 2008 Mumbai massacre. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/02/13/world/international-us-india-blast.html?_r=1&ref=global-home



National


U.S. Envoy Is to Be Link to Muslims By HELENE COOPER. Copyright by The New York Times. Published: February 13, 2010. WASHINGTON — President Obama has appointed Rashad Hussain, a deputy White House counsel, to be his representative to the Muslim world, White House officials said Saturday. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/us/politics/14muslim.html?th&emc=th

In Black Caucus, a Fund-Raising Powerhouse By ERIC LIPTON and ERIC LICHTBLAU. Copyright by The New York Times. Published: February 13, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/us/politics/14cbc.html?hpw

A Previous Shooting Death at the Hand of Alabama Suspect By SHAILA DEWAN and LIZ ROBBINS. Copyright by The Huntsville Times and The Associated Press. Published: February 13, 2010. HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The neurobiologist accused of killing three colleagues at the University of Alabama, Huntsville, on Friday fatally shot her brother in 1986 in suburban Boston, and the police there are now questioning whether their department mishandled that case when it let her go without filing charges. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/us/14alabama.html?hpw

Bill Clinton Undergoes a New Heart Procedure By PETER BAKER. February 11, 2010, 4:54 pm. Copyright by The New York Times http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/bill-clinton-hospitalized-for-chest-pains/?emc=na

Former President Bill Clinton is home with Secretary Clinton after NYC heart procedure By JIM FITZGERALD. Copyright 2010 Associated Press. 3:07 p.m. CST, February 12, 2010 http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-ap-us-bill-clinton,0,7204875,full.story



Chicagoland


GOP lt. gov pick's family cashed in with lease to party - But state Republican boss backs Plummer, says deal for Downstate headquarters was no secret BY KARA SPAK. Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times. February 14, 2010. The head of the Illinois Republican Party said he is standing behind the party's young lieutenant governor candidate in the wake of revelations that the candidate's family benefitted financially from a lease at a Downstate party headquarters. Jason Plummer, 27, who won the GOP lieutenant governor nomination earlier this month, said the process by which the Madison County Republican Party leased space in a strip mall owned by a family business while he was the county party chairman was transparent. http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/2047492,CST-NWS-ltgov14s1.article

2 dead, others missing in Cicero fire BY Georgia Garvey, Randi Belisomo of WGN-TV, and Chuck Berman. February 14, 2010 12:01 PM Y. Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/02/2-alarm-fire-breaks-out-in-cicero.html


Health Care


Having Chocolates Can Help Stroke Patients BY Amit Pathania. Copyright by Top News. 02/12/2010 - 14:34. A study has emerged as good news for chocolate lovers. It was found in this study, involving nearly 50,000 subjects, that people who have chocolates have 22% less probability of suffering from a stroke and that if people who already suffered the stroke start having chocolates, the chances of their deaths reduced 46%. http://topnews.us/content/211050-having-chocolates-can-help-stroke-patients

When Children Are Overweight, Changes for the Whole Family By LESLEY ALDERMAN. COPYRIGHT BY The New York Times. Published: February 12, 2010. AS Michelle Obama reminded us this week, the forces behind childhood obesity are insidious. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/health/13patient.html?hpw




Health Care Reform


“When Republican Congressional leaders come to the White House’s health care summit meeting on Feb. 25, don’t expect them to bring any big ideas with them. Instead, they will press President Obama to scrap his ambitious health care reforms and focus on modest proposals. That may make political sense. Americans have certainly been spooked by all of the Republican hype about government takeovers. But the small ideas the Republicans are championing would barely make a dent in the most critical problems threatening the health care system: the huge number of Americans without insurance and the ever-escalating costs of health care.” New York Times Editorial

New York Times Editorial: Small Ideas Won’t Fix It. Copyright by The New York Times. Published: February 13, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/opinion/14sun1.html?th&emc=th

Health insurers take heat for rise in profits - The five biggest companies covered 2.7 million fewer people last year but earned 56% more, says a report by Health Care for America Now. By Noam Levey. Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times. 8:00 p.m. CST, February 11, 2010 http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/la-fi-health-profits12-2010feb12,0,4159866.story

The Legacy of Billy Tauzin: The White House-PhRMA Deal By Paul Blumenthal. COPYRIGHT BY SUNLIGHT FOUNDATION. 02/12/10 @ 12:51 pm... Over the following months, pharmaceutical industry lobbyists and executives met with top White House aides dozens of times to hammer out a deal that would secure industry support for the administration’s health care reform agenda in exchange for the White House abandoning key elements of the president’s promises to reform the pharmaceutical industry. They flooded Congress with campaign contributions, and hired dozens of former Capitol Hill insiders to push their case. How they did it—pieced together from news accounts, disclosure forms including lobbying reports and Federal Election Commission records, White House visitor logs and the schedule Sen. Max Baucus releases voluntarily—is a testament to how ingrained the grip of special interests remains in Washington http://blog.sunlightfoundation.com/2010/02/12/the-legacy-of-billy-tauzin-the-white-house-phrma-deal/

THE VIDEO: The Game: Anatomy of the White House - PhRMA Deal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta_FOY_9ZR8&feature=player_embedded

Daily Show’s John Oliver Explains Hawaii’s Health Care Mandate To Republicans - Once again, the Republicans create their own noose with their own words. This is the best they have to offer. http://www.oliverwillis.com/2010/02/12/daily-shows-john-oliver-explains-hawaiis-health-care-mandate-to-republicans/



GOP Bashing



Tim Pawlenty offers a stinging critique of GOP By Chris Cillizza. COPYRIGHT BY THE WASHINGTON POST. February 12, 2010; 1:46 PM ET. In the upcoming issue of Esquire magazine, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) offers a harsh rebuke of his own party's actions in recent years, arguing that the GOP "blew it" when they had the chance to govern the country. "The marketplace measurement in politics is something called an election," said Pawlenty in a lengthy interview appearing in the magazine's March issue. "And in 2006 and 2008, the marketplace was telling the Republicans 'We prefer the products and services of your competitors.'" Pawlenty, who is retiring this fall after his second term as governor of Minnesota to explore a run for president, ascribed the electoral defeats of Republicans in recent elections to "a whole bunch of corruption and personal scandals that weren't compatible with the principles it claimed to stand for." "We got fired for a reason," he added. (You can read the full transcript of Tpaw's interview with Esquire here.) http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/eye-on-2012/tim-pawlenty-offer-a-stinging.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics

Poll Finds Edge for Obama Over G.O.P. Among the Public By ADAM NAGOURNEY and MEGAN THEE-BRENAN. Copyright by The New York Times. Published: February 11, 2010. WASHINGTON — At a time of deepening political disaffection and intensified distress about the economy, President Obama enjoys an edge over Republicans in the battle for public support, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/us/politics/12poll.html?th&emc=th

New York Times Editorial: How Not to Write a Jobs Bill. Copyright by The New York Times. Published: February 11, 2010. “The jobs bill emerging in the Senate is pathetic, both as a response to joblessness and as an example of legislation deemed capable of winning bipartisan support. An $85 billion proposal put forward Thursday morning by Max Baucus, the chairman of the Finance Committee, and by Charles Grassley, the committee’s top Republican, scarcely began to grapple with the $266 billion in provisions for jobs and stimulus that President Obama proposed in his budget. It was not even in the same league as the modest House-passed $154 billion jobs bill.” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/opinion/12fri1.html?th&emc=th

Republicans and Medicare By PAUL KRUGMAN. Copyright by The New York Times. Published: February 11, 2010. “Don’t cut Medicare. The reform bills passed by the House and Senate cut Medicare by approximately $500 billion. This is wrong.” So declared Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, in a recent op-ed article written with John Goodman, the president of the National Center for Policy Analysis. And irony died. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/opinion/12krugman.html?th&emc=th

Battle Over the Bailout By ALAN FEUER. Copyright by The New York Times. Published: February 11, 2010. THE critical lawsuit challenging that mystery of finance known as the Bailout started, oddly enough, with a casual newsroom chat. Mark Pittman, an investigative reporter for Bloomberg News, had filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Federal Reserve Board, seeking the details of its unprecedented efforts to funnel money to the collapsing banks of Wall Street. Mr. Pittman, sometimes known as Bloomberg’s Yoda for his Jedi-like command of economic issues, had quietly surmised that the Fed was holding tightly to the secrets of the bailout. So he was hardly surprised when, after four months, it had failed to even answer his request. He was nonetheless annoyed. One day, even grumpier than usual, he approached his boss, Amanda Bennett, as she stood talking in the company’s East Side newsroom with an in-house lawyer named Charles Glasser. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/nyregion/14fed.html?th&emc=th

Sarah Palin should beware of exploiting her youngest child By Kathleen Parker. COPYRIGHT BY THE WASHINGTON POST. Sunday, February 14, 2010... Another political mother, Hillary Clinton, made good on her commitment to protect her child's privacy. Agree with her politics or not, most Americans would concede her wisdom in shielding Chelsea from media exposure until her daughter could fend for herself. In the spirit of which, speaking in second-person imperative -- mother to mother -- be careful, Sarah. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/12/AR2010021204006.html

Rahm Emanuel Views: 47,028The White House Chief of Staff offers his apology. http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/clips/rahm-emanuel/1199682/

The Sarah Palin Surge (and why it's overblown) By Chris Cillizza COPYRIGHT BY THE WASHINGTON POST February 11, 2010; 12:25 PM ET...In the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, 37 percent had a favorable impression of her while 55 percent regarded her unfavorably. Perhaps more troubling for Palin's future political prospects is that just one in four (26 percent) of those polled said she is qualified to be president while a whopping 71 percent said she wasn't up to the job. (Even among self identified Republicans, just 46 percent believe Palin is qualified to be president while 52 percent say she isn't.) http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/eye-on-2012/the-palin-boomlet-and-why-its.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics

Can Sarah Palin translate celebrity into real political power? By Dan Balz. Copyright by The Washington Post. Sunday, February 14, 2010. Sarah Palin has proved that she can draw a crowd. What she has yet to demonstrate is that she can translate the appeal of a phenomenon into a political force that can attract or mobilize sizable numbers of voters. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/13/AR2010021303762.html?hpid=topnews

It's Her Party: The Brilliance of Sarah Palin By Joe Klein Thursday. Feb. 11, 2010. Copyright by Time Magazine...I suppose we need a paragraph here about why all this simplicity is extremely dangerous. Most economists agree that if it hadn't been for the bank bailouts and the Obama stimulus package, the country would have slid into a deep recession that might have prevented a lot of Tea Partyers from buying their $549 tickets to ride. Then again, any sentence that begins with "Most economists" is a license to snore in tea party nation. And Palin will, quite often, veer from simplicity to duplicity. She was the inventor of the mythic, noxious "death panels." In Nashville, she retailed nonsense about stimulus funds going to nonexistent districts. (A spokesman for Vice President Joe Biden, who is monitoring the stimulus package, told me that all funds went to actual places — but recipients occasionally didn't write down their correct congressional districts.) And her support for bombing Iran was, no doubt, the work of her new Washington-insider neoconservative policy advisers, Randy Scheunemann and Michael Goldfarb, who had John McCain singing from the same warmongering songbook in 2008. http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1963564,00.html

February 9, 2010: Crisis America: America in Crisis: Day 5 http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-february-9-2010/crisis-america--america-in-crisis--day-5

Harkin and Shaheen seek to change Senate filibuster rule; Reid dismisses effort By Paul Kane. COPYRIGHT BY THE Washington Post. Friday, February 12, 2010. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday dismissed the effort by some Democrats to limit filibusters, saying that the chamber's procedures were designed to prevent the majority party from unilaterally changing the rules. Minutes before two colleagues unveiled their proposal to weaken the tactic of delaying and blocking floor votes, Reid told reporters that he adhered to the Senate's long-standing rule that only a two-thirds majority could change the chamber's rules, including those on the filibuster. This high hurdle -- established decades ago in an effort to prevent one party from ruling the chamber with an iron fist based on a simple majority -- would require eight Republicans to join the 59 members of the Democratic caucus to alter the rules, something Reid said is not going to happen. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/11/AR2010021104880.html?wpisrc=nl_politics

Senate Confirms 2 Dozen Obama Nominees By KATE PHILLIPS. Copyright by The New York Times. Published: February 11, 2010. WASHINGTON — Before leaving for the Presidents’ Day break, the Senate on Thursday night confirmed — by unanimous consent — more than two dozen of President Obama’s nominees to federal positions. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/us/politics/12confirm.html?th&emc=th







The Economy


US consumer indicators tell mixed story By James Politi and Simone Baribeau in Washington. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. Published: February 12 2010 14:36 | Last updated: February 12 2010 20:23. US retail sales rose unexpectedly fast in January, the government said on Friday, but hopes that consumers will emerge as a driving force in the economic recovery remained muted after a separate survey showed an unexpected drop in consumer sentiment. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2010/02/us-consumer-indicators-tell-mixed-story.html

‘Volcker rule’ gives Goldman stark choice By Chrystia Freeland and Francesco Guerrera in New York. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. Published: February 12 2010 00:44 | Last updated: February 12 2010 00:44. Goldman Sachs and other banks should give up their bank status if they want to avoid the ban on proprietary trading proposed by the White House, Paul Volcker, head of President Barack Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, said. “The implication for Goldman Sachs or any other institution is, do you want to be a bank?” Mr Volcker said in a video interview with the Financial Times. “If you don’t want to follow those [banking] rules, you want to go out and do a lot of proprietary stuff, fine, but don’t do it with a banking licence.” Mr Volcker, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve, was thrust into the centre of the financial reform debate last month, when Mr Obama endorsed his proposal to separate proprietary trading from commercial banking, naming the policy the “Volcker Rule”. http://iretiredfromnewsletters.blogspot.com/2010/02/volcker-rule-gives-goldman-stark-choice.html





Your Money


Analyze this: Your cell phone bill - Chances are you're wasting money By Gregory Karp. Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune. February 14, 2010 http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/yourmoney/sc-ym-0214-spending-karp-20100209,0,1514233.story

A Side-by-Side Look at Tax Software By TIM GRAY. Published: February 13, 2010. TAXES can make people do silly things, like investing in chinchilla and ostrich ranches or, over the last several years, buying a second home — which was a bad move just about anywhere in the United States. If you earned less than $57,000 in 2009, you can file free electronically, through the Free File program of the Internal Revenue Service. And if your taxes are complicated, you may be better off enlisting a professional’s help. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/business/yourtaxes/14review.html?hpw




Housing


Apartment deals aplenty as supply outstrips demand By Mary Ellen Podmolik. Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune. February 12, 2010. A record 2,234 apartments will be added to downtown Chicago this year, increasing the supply of rental units at a time when inventory is already outstripping demand. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0212-apartments--20100211,0,2970898.story



Travel


Smaller jets gain bigger role at O'Hare By Julie Johnsson and Jon Hilkevitch. Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune. February 11, 2010 . Smaller jets once reserved for short hops to cities like Des Moines, Iowa, are taking on a larger role at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, squeezing both passengers and city revenues. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0211-ohare--20100210,0,6593768,full.story




GLBT


2010 census will include question about same-sex marriages, relationships - Gay couples will have an option of marking 'husband or wife' or 'unmarried partners' in federal survey By Kristen Mack. Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune. February 13, 2010 http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-census-gay-marriage-20100212,0,3499905.story


Post-ABC Poll: Views on gay marriage steady, more back civil unions By Jennifer Agiesta. Copyright by The Washington Post. February 12, 2010; 6:00 AM ET. With the nation's capital poised to begin allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry, opinions nationwide remain closely divided, but two-thirds of all Americans now say gay and lesbian couples should be able to have the same rights as heterosexual couples through civil unions. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/behind-the-numbers/2010/02/post-abc_poll_views_on_gay_mar.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics

Why the 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy is doomed By David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey. COPYRIGHT BY THE WASHINGTON POST. Saturday, February 13, 2010. When the Pentagon's top brass announced last week that they no longer believe military unit cohesion suffers from the presence of openly gay men or women in the ranks, they effectively transformed a policy question into a legal one, to which the answer is clear: Congress can no longer mandate discrimination in the armed forces on the basis of sexual orientation. In the 2003 case Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court struck down a Texas law criminalizing same-gender sexual relations, reasoning that such conduct was part of a constitutionally protected liberty interest. The court also suggested that the Texas statute was vulnerable to challenge as a denial of equal protection of the laws. And it is application of the equal protection doctrine to the military's professional assessment of the impact that openly gay service members have on combat effectiveness that is likely to be the end of "don't ask, don't tell." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/12/AR2010021203790.html

Same-Sex Couple Stir Fears of a ‘Gay Agenda’ By BARRY BEARAK. Copyright by The New York Times. Published: February 13, 2010. BLANTYRE, Malawi — Tiwonge Chimbalanga looked like a man but said he was a woman. He helped with the cooking and dressed in feminine wraparound skirts. Steven Monjeza was a quiet, sullen man often intoxicated on sorghum beer. He said he had never been happy until he finally met the right companion. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/world/africa/14malawi.html?ref=global-home

Chinese Contestant Enters Worldwide Gay Pageant By EDWARD WONG. COPYRIGHT BY THE Associated Press. Published: February 12, 2010. BEIJING — He is 25, Muslim and comes from a part of China recently known for deadly ethnic rioting. This weekend, he is competing for the title of Worldwide Mr. Gay. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/world/asia/13pageant.html?hpw



Religion


How Christian Were the Founders? By RUSSELL SHORTO. Copyright by The New York Times Magazine. Published: February 11, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/magazine/14texbooks-t.html

Bishops change feeding tube guidelines - Directive says food and water must be given to patients in persistent vegetative state By Judith Graham. Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune. February 8, 2010. If ever Carol Gaetjens becomes unconscious with no hope of awakening, even if she could live for years in that state, she says she wants her loved ones to discontinue all forms of artificial life support... What happens, for example, if a patient's advance directive, which expresses that individual's end-of-life wishes, conflicts with a Catholic medical center's religious obligations? http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-met-catholic-hospitals-20100208,0,2859597,full.story


Technology


“Cellphones have long been a fixture of life, becoming more powerful and more “aware” of their locations every year. Phone companies and software developers jump on each advance to provide new services. But the law is behind the technology. On Friday, a federal appeals court in Philadelphia is scheduled to hear arguments on an important legal battle over how much protection to assign to the information that phones gather about where their users have been and when. The government wants relatively free access to this “locational” information, while civil liberties groups say it should be handed over only in response to a search warrant. The court should rule that a warrant is required.” New York Times Editorial

New York Times Editorial: Cellphones and Privacy. Copyright by The new York Times. Published: February 11, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/opinion/12fri3.html?th&emc=th

Critics Say Google Invades Privacy With New Service By MIGUEL HELFT. Copyright by The New York Times. Published: February 12, 2010. SAN FRANCISCO — When Google introduced Buzz — its answer to Facebook and Twitter — it hoped to get the service off to a fast start. New users of Buzz, which was added to Gmail on Tuesday, found themselves with a ready-made network of friends automatically selected by the company based on the people that each user communicated with most frequently through Google’s e-mail and chat services. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/technology/internet/13google.html?hpw




Entertainment


DeGeneres Is a Rising Star in Daytime By BRIAN STELTER. Copyright by The Associated Press. Published: February 11, 2010. Executives at Warner Brothers have long believed that Ellen DeGeneres is the heir apparent to Oprah Winfrey in daytime TV. Still, they were startled by the news that a media research firm delivered to them last spring. The researchers from SmithGeiger, who had been hired to assess talk shows, convened to tell a group of six executives that “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” was, for the first time, on par with “The Oprah Winfrey Show” (and, in some cases, exceeding “Oprah”) in the minds of viewers. They had ample reason to conclude that this was Ms. DeGeneres’s moment. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/business/media/12ellen.html?th&emc=th




Other



Caring for Pets Left Behind by the Rapture - For a fee, this service will place your dog or cat in the home of a caring atheist on Judgment Day By Mike Di Paola. COPYRIGHT BY BUSINESS WEEK. February 11, 2010, 5:00PM EST http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_08/b4167070046047.htm?campaign_id=widget_topStories


Humor


Dinner For One... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOhUKPcsg2E

Rahm Emanuel Views: 47,028The White House Chief of Staff offers his apology. http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/clips/rahm-emanuel/1199682/



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In Pride (orgullo),


Carlos T. Mock, MD
www.carlostmock.com
Author: Borrowing Time: A Latino Sexual Odyssey - Floricanto Press 2003.
Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT
Round Table.
Author: The Mosaic Virus – Floricanto Press 2007.  Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation
Author: Author: Papi Chulo – Floricanto Press 2007.  Nominated for a Stonewall Award by the American Library Association GLBT Round Table, and a Lammie from The Lambda Literary Foundation
Author: Cuba Libre, “Mentirita” The book is out. you can buy it at: http://www.carlostmock.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=32&osCsid=a0b517e687814469f8153c5070d69f99

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