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Prop. 8: Gay-marriage ban unconstitutional, court rules

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Los Angeles Times - By LA Times Staff - Feb. 07 (Breaking News) - A federal appeals court Tuesday struck down California's ban on same-sex marriage, clearing the way for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on gay marriage as early as next year.

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APNewsBreak: Komen official quits breast cancer charity over Planned Parenthood dispute

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Associated Press - Feb. 07 (News Report) - A high-ranking official resigned Tuesday from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast-cancer charity after a dispute over whether the group should give funding to Planned Parenthood, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. Karen Handel, the charity’s vice president for public policy, told Komen officials that she supported the move to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood. She said the discussion started before she arrived at the organization and was approved at the highest levels of the charity.

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How to prevent war with Iran

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

thebulletin.org - By Joshua Pollock - Jan. 28 (Special Report) - As Israel attempts to disrupt Iran's nuclear ambitions and the United States enforces sanctions against the state, Iran calls for revenge. What needs to be done to avert war? Steps Israel, the United States, and Iran should -- and should not --take.

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Tucson's ethnic-studies program violates Arizona law, judge rules

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Los Angeles Times - By Stephen Ceasar - Dec. 28 (News Report) - The ruling affirms a decision by the state schools superintendent and could end classes on Mexican American heritage.

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Fact-checking in the Echo Chamber Nation

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Bill Adair - Dec. 23 (Opinion) - At a Republican campaign rally a few years ago, I asked one of the attendees how he got his news. "I listen to Rush and read NewsMax," he said. "And to make sure I'm getting a balanced view, I watch Fox." My liberal friends get their information from distinctly different sources — Huffington Post, Daily Kos and Rachel Maddow. To make sure they get a balanced view, they click Facebook links — from their liberal friends. This is life in our echo chamber nation. We protect ourselves from opinions we don't like and seek reinforcement from like-minded allies. The paradox ...

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Gingrich to gay voter: Support Obama

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

CBS News - By Newt Gingrich - Dec. 21 (Interview) - Newt Gingrich agreed Tuesday with a Iowan voter who identified himself as gay that he should support President Obama again in 2012. "If that's what's most important to you then you should support Obama."

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Lowe's pulls ads from TV show about U.S. Muslims

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Los Angeles Times - By Associated Press - Dec. 12 (News Report) - A decision by retail giant Lowe's Cos. to pull ads from a reality show about American Muslims after protests from an evangelical Christian group has sparked criticism and calls for a boycott against the chain of home-improvement stores.

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Obama orders U.S. diplomats to increase efforts to fight LGBT discrimination abroad

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Scott Wilson - Dec. 06 (News Report) - President Obama ordered U.S. diplomatic missions and federal agencies working abroad to strengthen efforts to fight international discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender individuals, saying he is “deeply concerned by the violence” against them in many parts of the world.

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Hemp bootstraps superior technologies, rescues capitalism from cannibalistic culture | End the Lie - Independent News

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

endthelie.com - By Justin Michels - Dec. 02 (News) - Our economic crisis is directly associated with a crippling dependence on unsustainable resources and their ever-growing scarcity. Developing sustainable resources is a necessary precursor to rebuilding the various manufacturing industries, which must again become the backbone of this great nation. True to legend, the industrial hemp plant stands ready for this monumental task. Offering not only an infinitely valuable resource, but also sobering lessons for the evolution of capitalism and American culture.

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Jon Stewart Mocks Barney Frank's Retirement Coverage On Fox News (VIDEO)

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Katla McGlynn, Jon Stewart - Nov. 30 (Comedy News) - After nearly three decades of serving Massachusetts' 4th congressional district, Democratic U.S. Representative Barney Frank announced Monday that he will not be seeking re-election in 2012. On Tuesday night's "Daily Show," Jon Stewart bid farewell to him the only way he knows how: with clips of absurd reactions from the GOP.

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Barney the bully: Congressman Frank’s other legacy

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Dana Milbank - Nov. 30 (Opinion) - The morning after his retirement announcement, Rep. Barney Frank scored an interview on NBC’s “Today” show, gaining the opportunity to act as an elder statesman in front of a TV audience of millions. Instead, the Massachusetts Democrat chose to quarrel with the interviewer.

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Nonprofit News Groups Face Uncertain Financial Future, Study Finds

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Chronicle of Philanthropy - By Cody Switzer - Oct. 19 (News Report) - Nonprofit news organizations can’t live on well-reported articles and foundation support forever, says a new report by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

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Attack of the Attack Ads: Citizens United and the 2012 Elections

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

PBS - By Evelyn Messinger - Oct. 16 (Opinion) - In 2012, two tidal waves will reconfigure the American electoral system and the news media that cover it. A tsunami made of money will buoy up the structure of entrenched political power, while a huge wave of personal technology will disrupt it. I can predict both of these events with certainty because they've happened every election year over the last couple of decades. Still, the changes in 2012 may be dramatic. Angry citizens around the world have been using a potent combination of mobile phones, social networking and broadcast television to upend established political orders. Now it's Americans who are angry, and this election could spark a new level of activism leveraged by these same tools. At the same time, this will be the first general election since the so-called "Citizens United" Supreme Court decision, which tossed out the last vestiges of regulations limiting campaign financing. Among other effects, this will translate into a record numbers of attack ads next fall. Taken together, these two changes may profoundly affect our democracy, and they deserve a closer look.

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Obama Rejects Obamaism

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By David Brooks - Sep. 20 (Opinion) - He claimed we can afford future Medicare costs if we raise taxes on the rich. He repeated the old half-truth about millionaires not paying as much in taxes as their secretaries. (In reality, the top 10 percent of earners pay nearly 70 percent of all income taxes, according to the I.R.S. People in the richest 1 percent pay 31 percent of their income to the federal government while the average worker pays less than 14 percent, according to the Congressional Budget Office.)

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Gay Mayor of Berlin Elected to Third Term

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Advocate - By Julie Bolcer - Sep. 19 (News Report) - Klaus Wowereit, the openly gay mayor of Berlin, won a third term on Sunday in a convincing victory that makes some believe he could be the Social Democratic Party’s candidate for German chancellor in 2013.

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Gay Marines worry about coming out

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Asbury Park Press - By Tony Lombardo - Sep. 19 (News Report) - Marine Cpl. AJ Garcia, a veteran of two deployments in Iraq, plans to tell his fellow Marines that he is gay when official policy changes on Tuesday. He's apprehensive about making his sexual orientation known. / NONE/PHOTO COURTESY OF Cpl. AJ GARCIA Written by Tony Lombardo | Marine Corps Times FILED UNDER News Nation/World Cpl. AJ Garcia has deployed twice to Iraq, and he wants to make a career out of the Corps. He's also about to share something with his fellow Marines that he hasn’t told too many people before: He’s gay.

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Why Do They Do It?

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

FactCheck - By Brooks Jackson - Sep. 16 (Opinion) - Why do politicians persist in peddling exaggerations, twisted facts and outright falsehoods? Here's a theory from a veteran political reporter. Jon Keller of WBZ in Boston offered up his explanation in his "Keller @ Large" commentary for Sept. 15. It was prompted by our coverage of the recent Republican presidential candidates' debate and our criticism of President Obama's jobs speech. We were flattered by the nice mention, of course. But what really caught our attention was Keller's conclusion: Jon Keller, Sept. 15: The president and all his allies and enemies have one thing in common — they frequently cite and repeat falsehoods that reflect, at best, sloppiness and carelessness, and, at worst, outright dishonesty. Why do they think they can get away with this reprehensible behavior? Because we do it all the time ourselves. We repeat gossip and rumor, forward garbage e-mails, and convince ourselves that falsehoods which fit our world view are actually the truth. So I’m wondering – why would we expect the people who represent us to not reflect us in this way as well? We see evidence of that every day at FactCheck.org. Readers forward to us an endless stream of chain emails they have received containing false claims. The emails come from family, friends or acquaintances who either don't know that they are repeating falsehoods, or don't care. Some of these messages have been circulating for years, despite being debunked by us and often by other myth-busting sites as well. So do we, the public, get the politicians we deserve? That's a question worth pondering before sending on that viral email that so perfectly confirms your opinions, but which you haven't really checked out for factual accuracy.

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Mother of Suicide Victim Takes on Bachmann

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Advocate - By Andrew Harmon - Sep. 14 (News Report) - The mother of a gay Minnesota teen who committed suicide and was harassed in a school district now under federal investigation is asking Rep. Michele Bachmann to speak out against bullying.

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With great graphs comes great responsibility

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Ezra Klein - Sep. 13 (News Report) - Want to convince someone of something? Show them a graph. At least, that’s what political scientists Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler found in a series of experiments testing the best ways to correct factual misinformation. Key quote: “Graphical corrections are also found to successfully reduce incorrect beliefs among potentially resistant subjects and to perform better than an equivalent textual correction.” Full paper — with graphs — here (pdf). ...

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A decade later, returning to the scene of something unfathomable - latimes.com

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Steve Lopez - Sep. 11 (Special Report) - A columnist goes back to Lower Manhattan, where in 2001 he got a close-up look at the destruction of 9/11. He's reminded anew that we all have a stake in what happened that day and in the days that followed.

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'Clearing the Smoke': The Benefits, Limits of Medical Marijuana | PBS NewsHour | PBS Video

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

PBS - Sep. 07 (News) -

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Lessons from a gay student's killing

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Sandy Banks - Sep. 06 (News Report) - Neither family was satisfied when the jury deadlocked last week in the trial of an Oxnard teenager charged with murdering a gay middle-school classmate before stunned students in an English class. The parents of the dead boy, Larry King, stormed out of court when the mistrial was announced. The mother of defendant Brandon McInerney buried her face in her hands, slumped and sobbed.

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The Republicans are now the anti-science party

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Paul Krugman - Sep. 04 (Opinion) - Jon Huntsman Jr, a former Utah governor and ambassador to China, isn't a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination. And that's too bad, because Mr Hunstman has been willing to say the unsayable about the Republican party in the United States, namely, that it is becoming the "anti-science party". This is an enormously important development. And it should terrify us. To see what Mr Huntsman means, consider recent statements by the two men who actually are serious contenders for the Republican nomination: Rick Perry and Mitt Romney.

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Discharged for Being Gay, Veterans Seek to Re-enlist

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By James Dao - Sep. 04 (Investigative Report) - .By some estimates, hundreds of gay men and lesbians among the more than 13,000 who were discharged under the policy have contacted recruiters or advocacy groups saying they want to re-enlist after the policy is repealed on Sept. 20.

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Jeb Bush: GOP candidates can't just attack Obama

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

CBS News - By Stephanie Condon - Aug. 24 (News Report) - Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday evening that the Republican presidential candidates need to do more than attack President Obama if they want to win in 2012. "It's good to be critical of the president -- I think the president means well, but his policies have failed," Bush, a Republican and the former president's younger brother, said on Fox News. "But just to stop there and say, 'I'm going to win because I'm against what's going on' is not good enough. You have to win with purpose if you really want to make these big changes." That said, the former governor added that the current field of candidates should be up to the task. "I think it's a little early to be dissatisfied with the candidates," Bush said. "I think you'll find the candidates will start staking out positions that are responsible and forward leaning... As that happens, I think people will start migrating towards those candidates."

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