Gay jail unit at Rikers Island to close

One of the nation's few jail dormitories specifically for gay or transgender prisoners is closing on Rikers Island, prompting complaints from some activists who say it is a needed safe haven.
The unit stopped accepting new inmates last month at the direction of Department of Correction Commissioner Martin Horn. With only 56 inmates left in the unit Thursday, it could be shut entirely within the next few weeks, the department said.
Plans call for the specialized unit to be replaced with a new protective custody system that would be available to prisoners who feel threatened, regardless of their sexual orientation.
hmm...well, i'm sure there won't be any problems.

secrets are no fun.

Defense Lawyers in Terror Cases Plan Challenges Over Spy Efforts

Defense lawyers in some of the country's biggest terrorism cases say they plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security Agency used illegal wiretaps against several dozen Muslim men tied to Al Qaeda.
The lawyers said in interviews that they wanted to learn whether the men were monitored by the agency and, if so, whether the government withheld critical information or misled judges and defense lawyers about how and why the men were singled out.
The question of whether the N.S.A. program was used in criminal prosecutions and whether it improperly influenced them raises "fascinating and difficult questions," said Carl W. Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond who has studied terrorism prosecutions.
such as...is the president above the law? is there anything this administration has done in a dignified, respectable manner - ever?
But Mr. Duffy (White House spokesman)said: "This is a limited program. This is not about monitoring phone calls designed to arrange Little League practice or what to bring to a potluck dinner. These are designed to monitor calls from very bad people to very bad people who have a history of blowing up commuter trains, weddings and churches."
please - refrain from speaking to me like i am a four-year-old.
He added: "The president believes that he has the authority - and he does - under the Constitution to do this limited program. The Congress has been briefed. It is fully in line with the Constitution and also protecting American civil liberties."
umm...that's a lie.

both hands

I am walking
Out in the rain
And I am listening to the low moan
Of the dial tone again
And I am getting
Nowhere with you
And I can't let it go
And I can't get through...
The old woman behind the pink curtains
And the closed door
On the first floor
She's listening through the air shaft
To see how long our swan song can last
And both hands
Now use both hands
Oh, no don't close your eyes
I am writing
Graffitti on your body
I am drawing the story of
How hard we tried
I am watching your chest rise and fall
Like the tides of my life,
And the rest of it all
And your bones have been my bedframe
And your flesh has been my pillow
I've waiting for sleep
To offer up the deep
With both hands
In each other's shadows we grew less and less tall
And eventually our theories couldn't explain it all
And I'm recording our history now on the bedroom wall
And when we leave the landlord will come
And paint over it all
And I am walking
Out in the rain
And I am listening to the low moan of the dial tone again
And I am getting nowhere with you
And I can't let it go
And I can't get though
So now use both hands
Please use both hands
Oh, no don't close your eyes
I am writing graffitti on your body
I am drawing the story of how hard we tried
Hard we tried

~ani d

the profit motive hard at work

AIDS expert has theory on vaccine's delay

In an unusually candid admission, the federal chief of AIDS research says he believes drug companies don't have an incentive to create a vaccine for the HIV and are likely to wait to profit from it after the government develops one.
That means the government has had to spend more time focusing on the processes that drug companies ordinarily follow in developing new medicines and bringing them to market.
"We had to spend some time and energy paying attention to those aspects of development because the private side isn't picking it up," Dr. Edmund Tramont testified in a deposition in a recent employment lawsuit obtained by The Associated Press.
Tramont is head of the AIDS research division of the National Institutes of Health, and he predicted in his testimony that the government will eventually create a vaccine. He testified in July in the whistleblower case of Dr. Jonathan Fishbein.
"If we look at the vaccine, HIV vaccine, we're going to have an HIV vaccine. It's not going to be made by a company," Tramont said. "They're dropping out like flies because there's no real incentive for them to do it. We have to do it."
"They will eventually -- if it works, they won't have to make that big investment. And they can make it and sell it and make a profit," he said.

happy holidays

Father Christmas

When I was small
I believed in Santa Claus
Though I knew it was my dad
And I would hang up my stocking at Christmas
Open my presents and I'd be glad

But the last time I played Father Christmas
I stood outside a department store
A gang of kids came over and mugged me
And knocked my reindeer to the floor

They said: Father Christmas, give us some money
Don't mess around with those silly toys.
We'll beat you up if you don't hand it over
We want your bread so don't make us annoyed
Give all the toys to the little rich boys

Don't give my brother a Steve Austin outfit
Don't give my sister a cuddly toy
We don't want a jigsaw or monopoly money
We only want the real McCoy

Father Christmas, give us some money
We'll beat you up if you make us annoyed
Father Christmas, give us some money
Don't mess around with those silly toys

But give my daddy a job 'cause he needs one
He's got lots of mouths to feed
But if you've got one, I'll have a machine gun
So I can scare all the kids down the street

Father Christmas, give us some money
We got no time for your silly toys
We'll beat you up if you don't hand it over
Give all the toys to the little rich boys

Have yourself a merry merry Christmas
Have yourself a good time
But remember the kids who got nothin'
While you're drinkin' down your wine

Father Christmas, give us some money
We got no time for your silly toys
We'll beat you up if you don't hand it over
We want your bread, so don't make us annoyed
Give all the toys to the little rich boys

[note from the jew - i am not really this cynical...well, ok, maybe...but mostly i think this is just a kickass song.]

i like. . .

to the stars (erin mckeown)

one part sad and two parts brave
one part silent and one parts says:

to the stars!

one part black and two parts blue
one part wishes the best for you
one part changed and two parts fine
i'm telling you, i'm fine! to the stars!

to the stars!
we are lit within
by all we've been and by
all we care to be
to the stars! from the wars!
we'll wake up a little this morning
a little better than
we were before

one part luster, two parts shine
heaven's above, trouble behind
one part glory, two parts glow
shine on! shine well!
you're free to go!

to the stars! to the stars!
we are lit within
by all we've been and by
all we care to be

to the stars! from the wars!
we'll wake up a little this morning
a little better than
we were before

one part brilliant, two parts fade
stars apart shine the same

visions dancing in the prez's head

it's so sweet...xmas time brings such wonderful visions to his empty little head...

"a vision in which books are burned, and women are oppressed, and all dissent is crushed."

orwell, anyone?

Report: Bush OK'd Spying in U.S.

High-level administration figures, reacting to a report that the National Security Agency eavesdropped without warrants on people inside the United States, asserted Friday that President Bush has respected the Constitution while striving to protect the American people.
mm hmm...
Caroline Fredrickson, director of the Washington legislative office of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the group's initial reaction to the NSA disclosure was "shock that the administration has gone so far in violating American civil liberties to the extent where it seems to be a violation of federal law."
you're really shocked that this administration would do something like that?
Asked about the administration's contention that the eavesdropping has disrupted terrorist attacks, Fredrickson said the ACLU couldn't comment until it sees some evidence. "They've veiled these powers in secrecy so there's no way for Congress or any independent organizations to exercise any oversight."
indeed.
Earlier this week, the Pentagon said it was reviewing its use of a classified database of information about suspicious people and activity inside the United States after a report by NBC News said the database listed activities of anti-war groups that were not a security threat to Pentagon property or personnel.
uh oh...keep your eyes open at your next knitting circles for peace gathering...
Pentagon spokesmen declined to discuss the matter on the record but issued a written statement Wednesday evening that implied — but did not explicitly acknowledge — that some information had been handled improperly.
in the words of my grandma...oy.

health stuff

perhaps health policies and programs should consider things like compassion, human dignity, reality, and what actually works. just a suggestion.

-Canadian Work Laws Endangering Health, Lives of Commercial Sex Workers, Report Says

-Conservative Christians Say Fighting Cuts in Poverty Programs Is Not a Priority

-Central Asian, Eastern European Commercial Sex Worker-Related Policies 'Counterproductive' to HIV/AIDS Fight, Report Says

-N.J. Assembly Passes Bill That Would Require Some Employer Health Plans To Cover Contraceptives; Gov. Expected To Sign

-Global AIDS Coordinator Document Provides Guidelines for Funding That Would Increase Amount Spent on Abstinence, Fidelity

-Bush's Sex Education, Ryan White Policies Undermining HIV Prevention Efforts in Gay Community

(do you like my swell rainbow o' links?)

now that's what i call a lawyer.

Lawyer takes on China's 'unwinnable' cases

"I can't guarantee that you will win the lawsuit. In fact you will almost certainly lose," Gao told one church member who had been detained in a raid. "But I warn you that if you are too timid to confront their barbaric behavior, you will be completely defeated."
The advice could well summarize Gao's own fateful clash with the authorities. Bold, brusque and often roused to fiery indignation, Gao, 41, is one of a handful of self-proclaimed legal "rights defenders." He travels the country filing lawsuits over corruption, land seizures, police abuses and religious freedom. His opponent is usually the same: the ruling Communist Party.
Now, the party has told him to cease and desist. The order to suspend his firm's operating license was expanded last week to include his personal permit to practice law. The authorities threatened to confiscate it by force if Gao failed to hand it over voluntarily by Wednesday. The secret police now watch his home and follow him wherever he goes, he says.
"People across this country are awakening to their rights and seizing on the promise of the law," Gao said. "But you cannot be a rights lawyer in this country without becoming a rights case yourself."
"I'm not sure how much time I have left to conduct my work," Gao said. "But I will use every minute to expose the barbaric tactics of our leadership."

how hard can this be?

McCain and Bush Remain at Impasse on Detainees

Sen. John McCain and President Bush's national security adviser met Wednesday but failed to reach a compromise on the senator's proposed ban on cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of foreign terrorism suspects.
''At this point, discussions are ongoing,'' national security adviser Stephen Hadley told The Associated Press as he left McCain's Capitol Hill office after a meeting that lasted just over an hour.
''We continue to chat,'' McCain, R-Ariz., said just before meeting with Hadley.
The ban on mistreatment of prisoners, and another provision standardizing the interrogation techniques used by U.S. troops, have stalled two defense bills in Congress, including a must-pass wartime spending measure.
House and Senate negotiators want to complete the bills before adjourning for the year. But GOP leaders are waiting for the results of talks between McCain and the White House before moving forward.
A compromise could come this week, but a deal remained elusive Wednesday and congressional aides said the two sides were far apart.

i cannot even imagine (and frankly don't want to) the debates (or as McCain calls them, "chats") that are going on behind closed doors. seriously, wtf? are we human beings or aren't we? what ever happened to the "culture of life"? i guess it's different when the life has a little more pigment in their skin and control over some oil. . .

he's really the president. . .

from W's speech today:

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Please be seated. Thank you for the warm welcome. I'm delighted to be here with the men and women of the Wilson Center. According to your mission statement, the Center was created to bring together two groups -- political leaders and scholars. I see some of the political leaders who are here, and I presume you've invited me to uphold the scholars' end. (Laughter.)

it's awesome that we have a president who not only thinks it's funny he has a reputation for being dumb, but also recognizes he is not a political leader.

a theory.

what is with bush using the word "saddamists" in all his recent speeches on iraq? i may be totally ignorant, but this seems to be a new addition to the "terrorists," "homicide bombers," and "insurgents" he says we are fighting against. so, here's my theory: he is using the word "saddamists" not only to declare attack on those who remain loyal to saddam hussein, but also to lay the groundwork for an all out attack on "sodomites." i'm telling you, this bush machine is clever, and manages to link "terra" and 9/11 to everything. soon, we are gonna be hearing about how those who commit sodomy are saddamists, and thus need to be killed.

editorial note: of course, this is meant to be tongue-in-cheek. but, really, i must say i am continually surprised by just how low this machine can go, so i don't put anything past them. again, just a theory.

newsflash. . . when people are poor and their government abandons them (both the elderly and the addicts in this awful, sad story), they do things to keep themselves meagerly afloat.

Police: Elderly sell pain pills for cash

Dottie Neeley, 87, was fingerprinted, photographed and thrown in jail, imprisoned as much by the tubing from her oxygen tank as by the concrete and steel around her.
The woman -- who spent two days in jail after her arrest last December -- is among a growing number of Kentucky senior citizens charged in a crackdown on a crime authorities say is rampant in Appalachia: Elderly people are reselling their painkillers and other medications to addicts.
"When a person is on Social Security, drawing $500 a month, and they can sell their pain pills for $10 apiece, they'll take half of them for themselves and sell the other half to pay their electric bills or buy groceries," Floyd County jailer Roger Webb said.

from what the county jailer says, it certainly seems like these are the people our government needs to be spending its time cracking down on.
i'm just disgusted and ashamed, really. nothin' left to say 'bout that.

brotherly love

today, president bush came to my own city, philadelphia, to toot the horn of the war machine once again. it makes me sad.

''I would say 30,000 more or less have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis,'' the president said. ''We've lost about 2,140 of our own troops in Iraq.''
''Success will help the image of the United States,'' Bush said. ''Look, I recognize we got an image issue, particularly when you've got Arabic television stations -- that are constantly just pounding America, saying `America is fighting Islam,' `Americans can't stand Muslims,' `This is a war against a religion.'''
''We've got to, obviously, do a better job of reminding people that ours is not a nation that rejects religion. Ours is a nation that accepts people of all faiths, and that the great strength of America is the capacity for people to worship freely.
''It's difficult. I mean, their propaganda machine is pretty darn intense, so we're constantly sending out messages. We're constantly trying to reassure people. ......''

so, basically, he says it is a propaganda war. really warms the heart, doesn't it? word to bush from kg - you are NOT welcome here!

[more on the u.s. propaganda war here]

medicaid cuts

ny times today published a well reasoned editorial about where the burdens of medicaid cuts should fall. here's some of it:

House and Senate negotiators are beginning to grapple with the fateful issue of how best to restrain Medicaid spending. Their decisions will affect not only the ability of hard-pressed governors to rein in Medicaid costs that are eating up state budgets, but also the ability of some of the nation's poorest individuals to get medical care. The guiding principle should be to extract savings not from beneficiaries too poor to absorb the cost, but from industries and institutions better able to bear the burden.

justice (?) department

The Justice Department told a federal appeals court Friday that terror suspect Jose Padilla's complaints about being held indefinitely as a "enemy combatant" are irrelevant now that criminal charges have been filed in Florida.
And, prosecutors said, it doesn't matter if the charges against Padilla don't include a previously alleged "dirty bomb" plot.
Meanwhile, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter has announced that he is launching a formal probe of the Justice Department's handling of the Padilla case and may hold a public hearing.
Specter said Thursday: "I think there's a real question raised when you hold a citizen for three and a half years on a charge that he's going to explode a dirty bomb and then, when the Supreme Court is considering taking jurisdiction of the case, to withdraw. That troubles me."
hmm. . .me too.
The court asked the government to explain why a Miami grand jury's indictment made no mention of a "dirty bomb" plot and other allegations cited by the Bush administration to detain Padilla in a military brig for the past three and a half years.
Prosecutors explained: "The executive has determined that the demands of national security can now be adequately satisfied by charging petitioner criminally. The fact that those charges involve different facts from those relied upon by the president in ordering petitioner's military detention is not consequential."
umm, actually, it kind of does matter. . .a lot.

Poor not buying new drug benefit

The poor seem to need more convincing that they'd be helped by the new Medicare prescription drug benefit that begins next month.
The Social Security Administration says it has approved just 661,000 applications for a subsidy that makes the new drug benefit much more affordable for low-income senior citizens and the disabled.
That's just a fraction of the 7 million people who are believed eligible for the subsidy.

is this not completely predictable given the fact that the benefit is designed to give windfalls of profit to insurance and pharmaceutical companies? why do people act surprised when programs that are not designed to help the poor don't help the poor?

daily show tonite

jon stewart on the bush administration: "they love the written word. and, when i say 'the written word,' i mean 'bombing places.'"

i heart jon.

tax cuts

$56 Billion in Tax Cuts Passed

The House approved yesterday $56 billion in tax cuts that would keep alive the deep reductions in the tax rates on dividends and capital gains passed in 2003, but the measure is certain to be challenged by senators who have so far balked at the tax cuts for investors.
The bill passed largely along party lines, 234 to 197, after a rancorous partisan debate over whether the tax cuts would chiefly benefit the rich or sustain economic growth.

good thing we don't have anything to worry about like social programs or not letting kids starve to death. damn, we are so lucky. . .

hfs. . .

Tancredo: Illegal immigrants' babies shouldn't be citizens

The Colorado Republican supports a measure that may be added to an immigration bill that would challenge the birthright assured by the 14th Amendment.
"It cheapens the whole concept of citizenship," said Tancredo, R-Littleton. "People are coming here simply for the purpose of having a child here and then, because they're the anchor, they can have all the family come in on that child's ticket. ... There are thousands upon thousands of people who are doing it," he said.
He cited "surprising" momentum behind the plan. A House bill to make the policy change has 77 co-sponsors.
Tancredo wrote Monday to House Majority Leader Roy Blunt, asking for an end to the automatic-citizenship right among dozens of other amendments to legislation on immigrants.

apocalypto. . .

Mel Gibson planning Holocaust miniseries

Mel Gibson is stirring passions again with his latest project -- a nonfiction TV movie set against the backdrop of the Holocaust.
Gibson was in Mexico working on his upcoming film "Apocalypto" and couldn't be reached for comment.

hmm. . .i am just not sure what to say.

tools

a friend of mine (and generally all around swell person) has this as his e-mail signature, and i found it quite profound. so i'll share:

"To accomplish his object Ahab must use tools; and of all tools used in the shadow of the moon, men are most apt to get out of order."
Herman Melville

who am i

think i'm going for a walk now

i feel a little unsteady

i don't want nobody to follow me

'cept maybe you

i could make you happy you know

if you weren't already

i could do a lot of things

and i do

i like this song right now.
that's all.

alito memo

a lot has been made of the newly released memo by good ol' sam alito in which he more or less asserts a staunch belief that roe v. wade should be overturned. i read lots of articles quoting from the memo, but i just read the actual document itself, and am way more scared of him now. this ain't good, people.

Military Admits Planting News in Iraq

The military acknowledged Friday in a briefing for a ranking Senate Republican that news articles written by American troops had been placed as paid advertisements in the Iraqi news media and not always properly identified.
Senator John W. Warner of Virginia, who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters after receiving a 25-minute briefing from officials at the Pentagon that senior commanders in Iraq were trying to get to the bottom of a program that apparently also paid monthly stipends to friendly Iraqi journalists.
Under the program, the Lincoln Group, a Washington-based public relations firm working in Iraq, was hired to translate articles written by American troops into Arabic and then, in many cases, give them to advertising agencies for placement in the Iraqi news media.
Some of the articles failed to carry a required disclaimer that they were paid for, Mr. Warner said.

is this really supposed to be surprising to us? this is how we run our american media, so why shouldn't we export that too?

hearts and minds

the supremes

well, i finally got to see an argument in front of the supreme court yesterday. i think it is something every law student who has the opportunity should experience. it's kind of like going to the oscars if you are a film student, or something. what i liked most (other than sitting outside in the cold all night and meeting some pretty cool folks and seeing some crazy anti-abortion protesters) was getting to see the personalities and quirks of the justices that i have heard about throughout my legal studies. scalia, for ecample, does sit slouched down in his chair and leans back so far all you can see is his fat, greasy head. thomas appeared to sleep through most of the argument, and, at one point, i thought he might fall right out of his chair. souter and breyer both asked good questions and seemed to really get the issues of the case. roberts asked the same question about four times, and didn't seem to get or care much about the issues in the case. but he does look much, much younger than the rest of the justices, so we can probably count him being around there for a while. zoinks.
also, i would like to announce proudly that i used the men's room in the supreme court. i really had to go, had been out in the cold for 8 hours, it was the only one i could find, and if i didn't go right then i would've missed my chance to get in for the argument. so, happily, i had the chance to transgress gender boundaries at the highest court in the land. as ani says, "i may not be able to change the whole fuckin' world" but at least i made my little statement. :)