Women Born Transsexual

From The Guardian UK: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/17/us-prison-system-judith-clark

This 1960s radical was given 75 years for driving a getaway car. It’s time to accept that perpetrators can be transformed

Eve Ensler
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 17 January 2012

Judith Clark, a 1960s radical and the getaway driver of the 1981 robbery of a Brinks truck in Nanuet, New York, was the subject of a controversial article this Sunday, looking at her transformation in prison, and sparking a debate about rehabilitation.

At the time of the robbery, which left two police officers and a security guard dead, Judy was a member of an ultra-left group. Although she was neither a shooter nor armed – she was seated alone in one of several getaway cars – she received a sentence of 75 years to life. The sentence was so long because she refused to defend herself and made a spectacle of the courtroom.

I met Judy in 1996 at Bedford Hills correctional facility in upstate New York when, for five years, she participated in a writing group I ran. The group was mainly for long-term inmates who had committed violent crimes; the purpose was to give them a place, and a creative process, where they could come to terms with their actions, and take responsibility for their crimes, through writing – confessions, dreams, rants, memories.

It was an incredibly arduous, emotional process and in that time I got a deep look into the women in my group. I witnessed their bravery, their fear, but mainly their hunger for honesty – for themselves and each other. They were relentless in their insistence on discovering who they were, what drove them to do what they had done and, in the end, to make amends.

Continue reading at:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/17/us-prison-system-judith-clark

From The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/opinion/krugman-how-fares-the-dream.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: January 15, 2012

“I have a dream,” declared Martin Luther King, in a speech that has lost none of its power to inspire. And some of that dream has come true. When King spoke in the summer of 1963, America was a nation that denied basic rights to millions of its citizens, simply because their skin was the wrong color. Today racism is no longer embedded in law. And while it has by no means been banished from the hearts of men, its grip is far weaker than once it was.

To say the obvious: to look at a photo of President Obama with his cabinet is to see a degree of racial openness — and openness to women, too — that would have seemed almost inconceivable in 1963. When we observe Martin Luther King’s Birthday, we have something very real to celebrate: the civil rights movement was one of America’s finest hours, and it made us a nation truer to its own ideals.

Yet if King could see America now, I believe that he would be disappointed, and feel that his work was nowhere near done. He dreamed of a nation in which his children “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” But what we actually became is a nation that judges people not by the color of their skin — or at least not as much as in the past — but by the size of their paychecks. And in America, more than in most other wealthy nations, the size of your paycheck is strongly correlated with the size of your father’s paycheck.

Goodbye Jim Crow, hello class system.

Economic inequality isn’t inherently a racial issue, and rising inequality would be disturbing even if there weren’t a racial dimension. But American society being what it is, there are racial implications to the way our incomes have been pulling apart. And in any case, King — who was campaigning for higher wages when he was assassinated — would surely have considered soaring inequality an evil to be opposed.

Continue reading at:   http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/opinion/krugman-how-fares-the-dream.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

From Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/16/us-davos-occupy-idUSTRE80F11B20120116

By Emma Thomasson
DAVOS, Switzerland | Mon Jan 16, 2012

Reuters) – Occupy protesters with their sights set on the World Economic Forum, the annual gathering next week of the rich and powerful in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, unveiled their igloo accommodation on Monday.

When fully erected, Camp Igloo will include two heated teepees and a field kitchen alongside the ice houses to sleep about 50 people in sub-zero temperatures, activists said.

Davos, which brings together politicians, central bankers and business leaders, has become a byword for globalization.

The Occupy Wall Street movement burst onto the scene last year to focus attention on income inequality and the perceived greed of the rich and powerful. Copy-cat protests sprung up in cities around the United States and worldwide.

Continue reading at:  http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/16/us-davos-occupy-idUSTRE80F11B20120116

From RH Reality Check: http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/01/13/scouting-new-path-0

by Avital Norman Nathman
January 16, 2012

A few months ago, the Girl Scouts of America (GSUSA) found themselves in the midst of a unique controversy. A Denver, Colorado troop initially refused to let 7-year-old Bobby Montoya join. Montoya, who identifies as female, was denied entry to the troop when Felisha Archuleta, Bobby’s mother, first approached them. After protests from Archuleta, and some media coverage, the Colorado Girl Scouts of America ended up welcoming Bobby into the scouts, and released a statement through GLAAD, clarifying the organizations policy:

“Girl Scouts is an inclusive organization and we accept all girls in Kindergarten through 12th grade as members. [...] If a child identifies as a girl and the child’s family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout.”

However, not everyone associated with the scouts agreed with this message of inclusivity. Just last month, three troops in Louisiana have disbanded over this policy when their troop leaders resigned from their positions. One of the former troop leaders, Susan Bryant-Snure, claimed that the message from the GSUSA is “extremely confusing,” and that it “goes against what we (Northlake Christian School) believe.”

In addition to disbanding some troops, thereby not allowing any girl in these area the opportunity to join the scouts, some parents are calling on a cookie boycott to protest the GSUSA’s inclusion of transgender girls into their organization. With a video quickly going viral, a 14-year-old girl, identified as Taylor from California, speaks on behalf of the group, Honest Girl Scouts, and is calling for a boycott of Girl Scout cookies.

Not only is this video filled with an inaccurate description of transgender, but it does not seem to be espousing any of the Girl Scout values that I learned as a young scout. Compassion, diversity, education, and tolerance were all values that I, and my fellow troop members, held dear. In fact, part of the Girl Scout mission includes the following, “Girl Scouting helps girls develop their full individual potential; relate to others with increasing understanding, skill, and respect.”

Continue reading at:   http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/01/13/scouting-new-path-0

From The LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-zirin-ali-20120118,0,4254175.story

The power to knock down prison walls. This is the power of Ali’s legacy and history.

Muhammad Ali turned 70 on Tuesday, and the three-time heavyweight champion who doubled as the most famous draft resistor in U.S. history remains larger than life in the American mind, despite being ravaged by Parkinson’s disease. Two years ago, on a visit to Louisville, Ky., I was reminded why.

In a cab on the way to the Muhammad Ali Center downtown, I saw that my driver had a Vietnam Veterans of America patch on display by his license. I asked him about his experience in Southeast Asia, and he started talking a mile a minute about his time “in country,” how his “happiest days” were being a sniper in Vietnam. He even said: “You might not know this, being from Washington, D.C., but the most dangerous animal to hunt is man.” He then described the task in detail. He wanted to make sure I left his cab fully aware of his pride, patriotism and unwavering belief in the duty of going to war when country called.

I didn’t engage the driver in a debate about Vietnam or U.S. imperialism, but given my reason for being in Louisville, I couldn’t resist one question. I asked: “What do you think about Muhammad Ali? He opposed the war in Vietnam. He called it an illegal war aimed at increasing oppression throughout the globe.

“Now you’re in a city where there is a Muhammad Ali Street and you’re taking me to the Muhammad Ali Center. Does that bother you?”

Without skipping a beat, my cabdriver said, “Well, you have to love Ali.”

I asked why, and this produced a pause. “He believed what he believed and no one could tell him different. He stuck to his own guns and, well, you gotta love Ali.”

In recent years there has been a cottage industry in Ali revisionism that has been aimed at diminishing his relevance, courage and impact. Ali has been made safe for public consumption. When appearing in public, he’s presented as little more than a muted symbol of a troubled past. But in the answer I heard from the cabdriver, I think we can see why it’s been so difficult to erase his real legacy

Continue reading at:   http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-zirin-ali-20120118,0,4254175.story

From Salon: http://www.salon.com/2012/01/08/so_what_if_america_is_the_most_religious_nation/

if you compare creed and deed, the claim is hollow

From PressTV Ireland: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/221430.html

The UK’s Occupy protesters have occupied the vacant building of Bank of Ireland in Belfast city centre, Northern Ireland, media reports said.

Mon Jan 16, 2012

Police said that a number of youths broke into the disused former headquarters of the Bank of Ireland on the city’s main thoroughfare, Royal Avenue, the daily The Guardian reported.

They said that about a dozen protesters, some of whom were masked, remained inside the building at the corner of North Street and Royal Avenue.

Some of the demonstrators had occupied the top floor and draped anti-capitalist banners over the exterior, the report said.

A police helicopter hovered over the former bank but did not initially attempt to make any arrests.

Bank of Ireland is one of the Irish banks rescued from collapse by billions of euros from the Republic’s taxpayers.

The Royal Avenue branch near to the Belfast Telegraph newspaper has been closed for several years.

Continue reading at:   http://www.presstv.ir/detail/221430.html

From Alternet: http://www.alternet.org/economy/153756/greenspan%27s_laissez_fairy_tale%3A_how_flawed_economic_theories_fail_to_account_for_financial_fraudsters/

Alan Greenspan touted ‘reputation’ as the characteristic that made possible trust and free markets. He was dead wrong.

By William K. Black
January 16, 2012

We continue to witness remarkable developments in the intersection of the related fields of economics, finance, ethics, law, and regulation. Each of these five fields ignores a sixth related field – white-collar criminology. The six fields share a renewed interest in trust.

The key questions are why we trust (some) others, when that trust is well-placed, and when that trust is harmful. Only white-collar criminologists study and write extensively about the last question. The primary answer that the five fields give to the first question is reputation. The five fields almost invariably see reputation as positive and singular. This is dangerously naïve. Criminals often find it desirable to develop multiple, complex reputations and the best way for many CEOs to develop a sterling reputation is to lead a control fraud. Those are subjects for future columns.

This column focuses on theoclassical economics’ use of reputation as “trump” to overcome what would otherwise be fatal flaws in their theories and policies. Frank Easterbrook and Daniel Fischel, the leading theoclassical “law and economics” theorists in corporate law, use reputation in this manner to explain why senior corporate officers’ conflicts of interest pose no material problem. The most dangerous believer in the trump, however, was Alan Greenspan. His standard commencement speech while Fed Chairman was an ode to reputation as the characteristic that made possible trust and free markets. I’ve drawn on excerpts from one example: his May 15, 2005 talk at Wharton. I find Greenspan’s odes to reputation as the antidote to fraud to be historically inaccurate and internally inconsistent in their logic. Here, I ignore his factual errors and focus on his logical consistency.

“The principles governing business behavior are an essential support to voluntary exchange, the defining characteristic of free markets. Voluntary exchange, in turn, implies trust in the word of those with whom we do business……”

Continue reading at:   http://www.alternet.org/economy/153756/greenspan%27s_laissez_fairy_tale%3A_how_flawed_economic_theories_fail_to_account_for_financial_fraudsters/

From The Nation: http://www.thenation.com/blog/165671/right-work-and-jim-crow-legacy-affronts-kings-memory

John Nichols
on January 16, 2012

When the Congress of Industrial Organizations launched “Operation Dixie” in the aftermath of World War II, with the goal not just of organizing unions in the states of the old Confederacy but of ending Jim Crow discrimination, Southern segregationists moved immediately to establish deceptively named “right-to-work” laws.

These measures were designed to make it dramatically harder for workers to organize unions and for labor organizations to advocate for workers on the job site or for social change in their communities and states.

In short order, all the states that had seceded from the Union in order to maintain slavery had laws designed to prevent unions from fighting against segregation. The strategy worked. Southern states have far weaker unions than Northern states, and labor struggles have been far more bitter and violent in the South than in other parts of the country. It was in a right-to-work state, Tennessee, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while supporting the struggle of African-American sanitation workers to organize a union and have it recognized by the city of Memphis.

Speaking of legal and practical barriers that Southern states and cities erected to the organization of trade unions—especially in the public sector—King said: “If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn’t committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of the press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right.”

King, whose legacy is honored nationally next week, often spoke of the link between organized labor and the civil rights movement. He recognized that the cause of freedom needed allies, and that unions such as the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the United Auto Workers were key allies in the struggle. The unions shared in that recognition, and do to this day.

Continue reading at:   http://www.thenation.com/blog/165671/right-work-and-jim-crow-legacy-affronts-kings-memory

From The Guardian UK: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/17/thomas-jefferson-revolutionary-bible-reissued

Former US president took a razor to parts of the Gospels he did not agree with to compile his own version

David Shariatmadariguardian.co.uk, Tuesday 17 January 2012

He was one of the men who laid the foundations for God’s own country, but Thomas Jefferson had his own revolutionary ideas about the Bible.

The third US president’s unwillingness to swallow miracles such as the virgin birth led him to cut out parts of the Gospels he did not agree with and compile his own version.

The result, known informally as The Jefferson Bible, has been published in a new edition by Tarcher, part of Penguin USA, this month.

The original, which has been painstakingly restored by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, where it is on display, was created by Jefferson in 1820 by cutting out passages from six other volumes with razors. He then pasted them into a book of his own, which he had bound.

During Jefferson’s life the book’s existence was known only to his friends and family. His great-granddaughter sold it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1895 and it was finally published in 1904, 78 years after his death.

A heavily redacted version of Jesus’s life story, The Jefferson Bible omits many passages fundamental to mainstream Christianity, including the resurrection and ascension to heaven, the holy ghost and holy trinity. The Smithsonian said Jefferson left out “those elements that he could not support through reason or that he believed were later embellishments”.

Continue reading at:    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/17/thomas-jefferson-revolutionary-bible-reissued

From Daily Kos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/16/1055222/-John-Boehners-Keystone-XL-conflict-of%C2%A0interest?via=blog_1

By  Joan McCarter
Mon Jan 16, 2012

The Washington Post had a long report on the two sides of the Keystone XL debatethis weekend. With the deadline for decision Republicans forced into the temporary payroll tax cut bill approaching, this will be a popular storyline in the next few weeks. This side says versus that side says.

But on page two of this story is a bit of a bombshell from the reporter, Juliet Eilperin.

In the meantime, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) launched a “countdown clock” that ticks off the time until the permitting deadline expires and posted a video on YouTube that touts the pipeline as a chance to create jobs with private investment. Playing off Obama’s mantra of “We Can’t Wait,” the video flashes phrases across the screen including, “We Can’t Wait for Leadership. We Can’t Wait for Jobs.”

Environmentalists note that in December 2010, according to Boehner’s financial disclosure forms, he invested $10,000 to $50,000 each in seven firms that had a stake in Canada’s oil sands, the region that produces the oil the pipeline would transport. The firms include six oil companies—BP, Canadian Natural Resources, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Devon Energy and Exxon—along with Emerson Electric, which has a contract to provide the digital automation for the first phase of a $9.4 billion Horizon Oil Sands Project in Canada.

Bill McKibben, a climate activist and co-founder of the group 350.org, wrote in an e-mail that Boehner has received more than $1 million from fossil-fuel companies, “and now we find out that he’s got extensive personal investments in companies dependent on tarsands oil.”

Continue reading at:   http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/16/1055222/-John-Boehners-Keystone-XL-conflict-of%C2%A0interest?via=blog_1

From Science Daily:   http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120113205446.htm

ScienceDaily (Jan. 13, 2012) —

Two Finnish experts question the concept of the ‘overactive bladder syndrome’. According to researchers, the definition of this syndrome is mostly beneficial to those with commercial interests, while from the patient perspective and for the development of treatments, it may be detrimental.

Two Finnish experts question the concept of the ‘overactive bladder syndrome’. According to them, this syndrome is mostly beneficial to those with commercial interests, while from the patient perspective and for the development of treatments, it may be detrimental.

“The overactive bladder syndrome has become an accepted way to simplify a complex array of symptoms and leads people to believe that an overactive bladder is an independent disease in itself. However, the truth is not as simple as this, as there are usually several factors at work explaining the symptoms. This is also one of the reasons why so called overactive bladder medications often do not bring the hoped result,” says Kari Tikkinen, MD, PhD, from the HUCS Department of Urology.

The article on overactive bladder syndrome, which was co-written by Tikkinen, who currently holds a senior researcher post at the McMaster University in Canada, and Anssi Auvinen, Professor of Epidemiology from the University of Tampere, was recently published in the European Urology journal. For the article, the researchers systematically reviewed the studies on overactive bladder and the channels through which these studies have been funded.

Continue reading at:   http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120113205446.htm

From Alternet:   http://www.alternet.org/economy/153704/the_essentials_for_the_necessary_transition_to_a_renewable_energy_economy/

Unless we want to be indentured to an energy-military-financial complex, we need to build a new infrastructure for renewable energy.

By Jon Rynn
January 15, 2012

Fossil fuels are going to disappear, whether we like it or not. Petroleum, natural gas, and coal are becoming scarcer, harder to extract and a greater danger to the global climate. If we proceed with business-as-usual, energy companies will take advantage of increasing scarcity to dominate the world economy by vacuuming up more money from the 99%. They will be able to ally with military and financial institutions to construct an energy-military-financial complex that could eventually reduce most of the rest of us to a form of debt peonage. On the other hand, if we could possibly elect a government that does what governments do best – build infrastructure – we can avoid a world of global warming and economic collapse by building enough wind farms, solar panels, and geothermal systems to power our economy and ignite a sustainable, broad-based period of economic growth. Of course, this will require a sea-change in the direction of the political system, along the lines of the Occupy movement, but there is too much at stake to throw up our hands in despair.

The unfolding energy drama presents progressives with several dilemmas. Some are suspicious that oil scarcity can be used as a ruse by the oil companies and speculators to spike prices. Roger Altman recently argued that a larger supply of fossil fuels will lead to less international tension. More generally, progressives sometimes fear that advocating for less oil use will be seen by the public as an attack on the American Dream of a car in every garage and a single family home for every family.

But in addition to problems of scarcity and extraction, fossil fuels are bringing us towards extremely dangerous climate change. We need to have some answers or else the Right will simply keep up with the chant of “Drill baby drill.” It’s time to counter with, “Build, build, build!”

Dirty fuels Create an Unsustainable economy

The question of the future of the supply of fossil fuels is not an easy one to answer. Oil producing nations, for instance, are not at all transparent about their supplies. Technologies constantly change, and so do environmental hazards. However, if we look at the current state of fossil fuel industries, it should be clear that we are in trouble.

Continue reading at:   http://www.alternet.org/economy/153704/the_essentials_for_the_necessary_transition_to_a_renewable_energy_economy/

From Raw Story: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/16/david-pakman-asks-bryan-fischer-why-he-is-obsessed-with-gay-male-sex/

By Eric W. Dolan
Monday, January 16, 2012

Talk show host David Pakman questioned Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association on his program Monday over his opposition to non-heterosexual behavior and same sex relationships.

About halfway through the interview, Pakman asked why those opposed to same sex relationships seemed to focus on anal sex between gay men and ignore lesbian women.

“Many people on your side — I guess, if we are to call it a side — seem so fixated on the minutia of what two men do with each other, when they claim that they’re focus is really the broader morality of homosexuality,” Pakman said. “But you seem completely unconcerned with lesbians, which seems to be very common among anti-gay folk. Why is the obsession with gay male sex as opposed to lesbians? Do you care about lesbians at all?”

“Like what?” Pakman interjected.

Complete article at:  http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/16/david-pakman-asks-bryan-fischer-why-he-is-obsessed-with-gay-male-sex/

From The New York Times:     http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/health/policy/us-to-tell-drug-makers-to-disclose-payments-to-doctors.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

By ROBERT PEAR
Published: January 16, 2012

WASHINGTON — To head off medical conflicts of interest, the Obama administration is poised to require drug companies to disclose the payments they make to doctors for research, consulting, speaking, travel and entertainment.

Many researchers have found evidence that such payments can influence doctors’ treatment decisions and contribute to higher costs by encouraging the use of more expensive drugs and medical devices.

Consumer advocates and members of Congress say patients may benefit from the new standards, being issued by the government under the new health care law. Federal officials said the disclosures increased the likelihood that doctors would make decisions in the best interests of patients, without regard to the doctors’ financial interests.

Large numbers of doctors receive payments from drug and device companies every year — sometimes into the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars — in exchange for providing advice and giving lectures. Analyses by The New York Times and others have found that about a quarter of doctors take cash payments from drug or device makers and that nearly two-thirds accept routine gifts of food, including lunch for staff members and dinner for themselves.

The Times has found that doctors who take money from drug makers often practice medicine differently from those who do not and that they are more willing to prescribe drugs in risky and unapproved ways, such as prescribing powerful antipsychotic medicines for children.

Continue reading at:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/health/policy/us-to-tell-drug-makers-to-disclose-payments-to-doctors.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp