Women Born Transsexual

From Huffington Post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/25/uk-cardinal-resigns_n_2758151.html

By Gregory Katz and Nicole Winfield
02/25/13

LONDON — Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Britain’s highest-ranking Catholic leader, says he is resigning as archbishop in the wake of misconduct allegations and will be skipping the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI.

The cardinal said in a statement Monday that he will not attend because he doesn’t want media attention focused on him during the important session in Rome.

Experts said the decision not to attend the papal conclave is unprecedented; never before has a cardinal stayed away from a conclave because of personal scandal, according to Vatican historian Ambrogio Piazzoni, the vice prefect of the Vatican library.

The Vatican confirmed that O’Brien had resigned as archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh. It was accepted under the code of canon law due to O’Brien’s age; he turns 75 – the normal retirement age for bishops – on March 17.

He said in a statement that he is in “indifferent health” and that he had offered his resignation last November. A church statement says the pope accepted O’Brien’s resignation on Feb. 18.

“Looking back over my years of ministry: For any good I have been able to do, I thank God. For any failures, I apologize to all whom I have offended,” he said.

O’Brien has said through his spokesman that he is contesting allegations made Sunday in a British newspaper that three priests and a former priest have filed complaints to the Vatican alleging that the cardinal acted inappropriately with them.

Continue reading at:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/25/uk-cardinal-resigns_n_2758151.html

From LGBTQ Nation:  http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2013/02/new-york-state-legislature-to-consider-transgender-rights-bill/

Staff Reports
Saturday, February 23, 2013

ALBANY, N.Y. — A bill making its way in the New York state legislature would protect gender identity or expression from discrimination and subject violators to a potential hate crime prosecution.

Under the measure, gender identity would be added to New York state law that already prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, age, sexual orientation and more in issues of housing, credit, employment and others.

The measure has the critical support of the Independent Democratic Conference, five breakaway members who share majority control of the Senate with Republicans.

Republicans haven’t yet discussed the measure, but aren’t dismissing it in this new era in which more Democratic-leaning bills get to the Senate floor even with GOP opposition.

“New Yorkers overwhelmingly support this bill,” said Vincent Paolo Villano of the National Center for Transgender Equality in Washington. Passage “could be another example of how the state is leading the country in achieving full LGBT equality.”

“If we get a vote, the chances are very good,” said Sen. Daniel Squadron, a Democrat representing parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan who is sponsoring the Senate bill.

“People are shocked you can lose your job, or your home or be denied a place in a restaurant because of sexual identity. No one thinks that’s what New York should look like,” said Squadron.

Continue reading at:  http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2013/02/new-york-state-legislature-to-consider-transgender-rights-bill/

From Gay Star News:  http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/house-republicans-draft-violence-against-women-bill-no-lgbt-protections230213

House Republican version of Violence Against Women Act is silent about LGBT citizens

By James Withers
23 February 2013

Yesterday (February 22), Republicans in the US House of Representative presented their version of the Violence Against Women Act. Gay and lesbian victims of domestic violence are not explicitly mentioned.

As reported by Talking Points Memo, the proposal stands in stark contrast to what the Senate passed on 12 February. That legislation comes with assurances that gays and lesbians, Native American women and immigrants will have equal access to the act’s anti-domestic violence programs.

The language in the House legislation says  ‘adult and youth victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.’ Domestic violence advocates contend the GOP legislation leaves out protection for LGBT victims.

‘The bill does not protect LGBT victims from discrimination by a service provider nor does it specifically include services to LGBT victims as an underserved population,’  David Stacy, deputy legislative director for Human Rights Campaign, said to Talking Points Memo. ‘The Senate bill provisions are urgently needed so that actual resources are available to address domestic violence and sexual assault among LGBT families.’

Complete article at:  http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/house-republicans-draft-violence-against-women-bill-no-lgbt-protections230213

See also:

LGBTQ Nation:  House GOP to strip protections for gays in its version of anti-violence act

Talking Points Memo:  House GOP Unveils Competing Violence Against Women Act

From Gay Star News:  http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/jindal-reaffirms-traditional-marriage-position240213

Bobby Jindal not yet on board with Jon Huntsman when it comes to gay marriage

By James Withers
24 February 2013

On today’s (24 February) NBC News program Meet the Press, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal reaffirmed his stance on traditional marriage.

When asked if he agreed with former Utah governor Jon Huntsman that it was time for the GOP to push for marriage rights for gay couples and families, Jindal replied no.

‘Look, I believe in the traditional definition of marriage,’ Jindal said to host David Gregory. ‘We lost [the 2012 election] because we didn’t present a vision showing how we believe the entire economy can grow, how people can join the middle class. We’re an aspirational party and we need policies that are consistent with that aspirational private sector growth.’

In an opinion piece for the American Conservative magazine Huntsman, who ran in the 2012 Republican presidential primary, wrote he now favors same sex marriage as opposed to civil unions. He sees his new stance in line with Abraham Lincoln, one of the founders of the Republican Party.

Complete article at:  http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/jindal-reaffirms-traditional-marriage-position240213

Ted Cruz Responds—And Still Sees Red at Harvard Law

From The New Yorker:  http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/02/ted-cruz-responds-harvard-law-was-full-of-communists.html

by Jane Mayer
February 23, 2013

Senator Ted Cruz has responded to The New Yorker’s report that he accused Harvard Law School of having had “twelve” Communists who “believed in the overthrow of the U.S. Government” on its faculty when he attended in the early nineties. Cruz doesn’t deny that he said this; instead, through his spokesman, he says he was right: Harvard Law was full of Communists.

Continue reading at:  http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/02/ted-cruz-responds-harvard-law-was-full-of-communists.html

From Common Dreams:  http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/02/24-5

by Adnan Al-Daini
Published on Sunday, February 24, 2013 by Common Dreams

Those who have been successful in society anywhere in the world either in business, the professions, academia or political achievements fall into two categories: either they consider themselves fortunate, or attribute their achievements to their hard work and relentless drive.

If they belong to the first they will show compassion and concern, and endeavor to be fair in their dealings with those of modest achievement. Those who belong to the second tend to be dismissive of the economic plight of the poor and vulnerable, and put the entire blame at their door.

Let us put the morality of these two positions aside and look at the evidence to see which view is supported by the facts. How good are Britain and the US in providing equal opportunities to their citizens? An OECD study examines this issue through a measure termed “intergenerational social mobility” defined as:

“[Intergenerational social] mobility reflects the extent to which individuals move up (or down) the social ladder compared with their parents. A society can be deemed more or less mobile depending on whether the link between parents’ and children’s social status as adults is looser or tighter. In a relatively immobile society an individual’s wage, education or occupation tends to be strongly related to those of his/her parents.”

Where do Britain and the US come under the above definition? The report compares twelve developed OECD countries. Britain comes out as the most socially immobile country, followed closely by Italy and the US. Denmark has the best intergenerational social mobility, and the two countries closest to Denmark are Australia and Norway.

The figures show that a child growing up in a poor family in Denmark has three times the chance of doing better than his/her parents than a child growing up in Britain, the US or Italy.

A child does not choose his/her parents; a fair society is one that gives him/her the opportunity to have a life economically more rewarding than the parents; it is also a waste of the latent talent in society. A country competing in the world to bring prosperity to its people cannot afford not to fully utilize their talents.

Of course, exceptional people with a bit of luck may break through barriers, achieving greatly in spite of the weight of disadvantage and deprivation on their shoulders, but such people are the exception.

Continue reading at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/02/24-5

From The New York Times:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/business/major-banks-aid-in-payday-loans-banned-by-states.html

By JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG
Published: February 23, 2013

Major banks have quickly become behind-the-scenes allies of Internet-based payday lenders that offer short-term loans with interest rates sometimes exceeding 500 percent.

With 15 states banning payday loans, a growing number of the lenders have set up online operations in more hospitable states or far-flung locales like Belize, Malta and the West Indies to more easily evade statewide caps on interest rates.

While the banks, which include giants like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, do not make the loans, they are a critical link for the lenders, enabling the lenders to withdraw payments automatically from borrowers’ bank accounts, even in states where the loans are banned entirely. In some cases, the banks allow lenders to tap checking accounts even after the customers have begged them to stop the withdrawals.

“Without the assistance of the banks in processing and sending electronic funds, these lenders simply couldn’t operate,” said Josh Zinner, co-director of the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, which works with community groups in New York.

The banking industry says it is simply serving customers who have authorized the lenders to withdraw money from their accounts. “The industry is not in a position to monitor customer accounts to see where their payments are going,” said Virginia O’Neill, senior counsel with the American Bankers Association.

But state and federal officials are taking aim at the banks’ role at a time when authorities are increasing their efforts to clamp down on payday lending and its practice of providing quick money to borrowers who need cash.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are examining banks’ roles in the online loans, according to several people with direct knowledge of the matter. Benjamin M. Lawsky, who heads New York State’s Department of Financial Services, is investigating how banks enable the online lenders to skirt New York law and make loans to residents of the state, where interest rates are capped at 25 percent.

Continue reading at:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/business/major-banks-aid-in-payday-loans-banned-by-states.html

From The Guardian UK:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2013/feb/22/shelby-voting-rights-act-supreme-court

Debo Adegbile to go before supreme court to defend Voting Rights Act and argue key provision should not be struck down

Ed Pilkington
guardian.co.uk, Friday 22 February 2013

The lawyer who will next week go before the US supreme court to defend the Voting Rights Act has warned that if a key provision of the law that prevents discrimination at the polling booth largely in southern states is struck down, it would “set the hands of the clock winding backwards” for millions of minority voters.

Debo Adegbile, special counsel for the NAACP, the country’s largest civil rights organisation, will have the momentous task on Wednesday of defending one of the mainstays of America’s prolonged struggle against racial discrimination.

Lined up against him will be an array of conservative lawyers and legislators, many based in the south, where the sting of the legislation is felt most keenly.

Wednesday’s hearing, in which the nine supreme court justices will hear oral argument before delivering a ruling expected in June, is being seen as the greatest threat to the Voting Rights Act since it was enacted in 1965. The focus of the debate will be Section 5, a provision under which 16 states – mainly though not exclusively in the south – are subject to stringent federal monitoring designed to prevent them discriminating against African American and other minority voters.

In Shelby County v Holder, representatives of one of the proscribed areas – Shelby County in Alabama – are calling on the justices to throw out Section 5 on the grounds that racial segregation and discrimination are in the past, and therefore such exceptional measures are no longer necessary. Under the terms of Section 5, any of the identified jurisdictions must seek “pre-clearance” from the Department of Justice or a federal court in Washington before they can make any substantial changes to their voting arrangements.

Continue reading at:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2013/feb/22/shelby-voting-rights-act-supreme-court

From Salon:  http://www.salon.com/2013/02/24/creationism_ayn_rand_and_gun_control_six_terrible_state_laws_proposed_this_month/

In Missouri, it would be a felony to propose gun control. Oklahoma wants to protect students from science. Really

By David Daley
Sunday, Feb 24, 2013

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal wants Republicans to stop being the stupid party — but apparently the memo hasn’t gotten out to state legislatures around the country.

February has been a banner month for truly silly and anti-intellectual bills in state capitals across the country. Well, mostly across the South and Midwest. Some of these bills are based on the idea that birth control is poison, and that students should not fail for arguing in biology class that dinosaurs and humans coexisted. Others would stop gun control efforts by making it a felony to try to enact gun control.

This is not the Onion: Here are some of the actual proposals.

1. Let corporations vote!

In Montana, state Rep. Steve Lavin introduced a bill that would allow corporations to vote in local elections, taking the idea that “corporations are people” to new heights.

Think Progress reports that the bill was tabled earlier this month. But under the proposal, “if a firm, partnership, company, or corporation owns real property within the municipality, the president, vice president, secretary, or other designee of the entity is eligible to vote.”

Continue reading at:  http://www.salon.com/2013/02/24/creationism_ayn_rand_and_gun_control_six_terrible_state_laws_proposed_this_month/

From The Guardian UK:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/24/obesity-is-not-the-only-problem

It’s a lot easier to point fingers at fat people than address the real factors making everyone’s lives unhealthy

Jill Filipovic
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 24 February 2013

It’s hardly breaking news that junk food is bad for us. But just how bad – and just how much food companies know about the addictive components of certain foods, and just how much they deliberately target the most vulnerable consumers knowing they are doing damage – is still being discovered. The New York Times offers the latest installment in this weekend’s magazine with an article about the science of junk food addiction.

Nearly everything written about food in the mainstream media relies on the same narrative: Obesity is bad. That kind of reporting is part of what’s keeping us sick.

There’s no denying the fact that the American public has gotten larger in recent decades. Along with getting fatter, we’ve also seen a rise in illnesses like diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers. Instead of focusing on how our health is hurting, most of the media coverage uses the term “obesity,” making the story more about weight than about health – to the point where it’s become an accepted truth that “fat” equals “unhealthy”.

That’s not actually the case, though. While “the obesity epidemic” may be a convenient catch-all for the illnesses and health problems related to our food chain, it’s a lazy term and an inaccurate one. Are we actually worried about public health? Or are we offended by fat bodies that don’t meet our thin ideals?

In all seriousness: What good does a focus on body size actually do?
If we’re actually concerned about health, then we should focus on health. The addictive qualities of our food, the lack of oversight, the high levels of chemicals and the government subsidies that make the worst foods the most accessible should concern us and spur us to action.

Nutrient-deficient chemically-processed “food” in increasingly larger sizes is bad for all of our bodies, whether we’re fat or thin or somewhere in between. So is the culture in which fast food is able to thrive. Americans work more than ever before; we take fewer vacation days and put in longer hours, especially since the recession hit. The US remains the only industrialized country without national paid parental leave and without mandatory annual vacation time; we also have no federal law requiring paid sick days. Eighty-five percent of American men and 66% of women work more than 40 hours per week (in Norway, for comparison, 23% of men work more than 40-hour weeks, and only 7% of women).

Continue reading at:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/24/obesity-is-not-the-only-problem

From Huffington Post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/23/poland-spring-gasoline-water-bottle-new-hampshire_n_2750707.html

By Dominique Mosbergen
Posted: 02/23/2013

Some Poland Spring water bottles may be contaminated by gasoline, the New Hampshire Department of Health warned in a consumer advisory published this week.

According to WMUR.com, state health officials said Friday that consumers who purchased 3- and 5-gallon bottles of Poland Spring water on or after Nov. 1 last year should check them for possible gasoline odors before use.

In a Feb. 7 press release on its website, Poland Spring explained that some bottles may have become contaminated during Superstorm Sandy:

After Super Storm Sandy struck the eastern seaboard in October, some gasoline shortages were reported in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, and some residents used empty containers such as large water bottles to transport gasoline. DPH announced today that test results on a sample taken from a 5-gallon container of Poland Spring bottled drinking water showed the presence of chemical contamination.

Citing information provided by state health officials, Patch.com reports that “exposure levels are unlikely to result in long-term health effects.” However, MetroWest Daily News reported earlier this week that at least one person has had to seek medical attention after drinking from a gasoline-tainted bottle of Poland Spring water. An unnamed Essex County child was reportedly treated at an emergency department after drinking water from a 5-gallon bottle.

Continue reading at:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/23/poland-spring-gasoline-water-bottle-new-hampshire_n_2750707.html