The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass is a forthcoming fantasy film based upon Northern Lights (titled The Golden Compass in the US), the first novel in Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials, slated for release on December 7, 2007 by New Line Cinema.[2] The story tells of Lyra's adventure to the far north in search of her friend. The project was announced in February 2002, following the success of other recent adaptations of fantasy epics, and at $205 million is expected to be New Line's biggest budget project ever after a series of box office disappointments in the past year.[3] In October 2007, the Catholic League called for a boycott of the film.[4]
Contents[hide]
1 Title
2 Cast
3 Development
4 Production
5 Controversies
6 Release dates
7 Sequels
8 References
9 External links
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[edit] Title
For some time during the pre-publication process, the series of novels was known as The Golden Compasses. The word Compasses referred to a pair of compasses—the circle-drawing instrument—rather than a navigational compass. Pullman then settled on Northern Lights as the title for the first book, and continued to refer to the trilogy as The Golden Compasses.[5]
In the US, in their discussions over the publication of the first book, the publishers Alfred A. Knopf had been calling it The Golden Compass (omitting the plural), which they mistakenly believed referred to Lyra's alethiometer, because the device resembles a navigational compass. Meanwhile, in the UK, Pullman had replaced The Golden Compasses with His Dark Materials (a title that Pullman had taken from a line in Paradise Lost) as the title of the trilogy. But according to Pullman, the publishers had become so attached to The Golden Compass that they insisted on publishing the US edition of the first book under that title, rather than Northern Lights, the title used in the UK.[5]
As the book was known as The Golden Compass in the US and Canada, New Line Cinema chose to use that title for the film adaptation.

[edit] Cast
New Line Cinema announced in June 2006 that 12-year-old Dakota Blue Richards will play the lead role of Lyra Belacqua, in what will be her first feature film.[6] Richards was picked from 10,000 girls who auditioned.[7] Nicole Kidman will play Mrs. Coulter,[8] as suggested by Phillip Pullman.[7] Daniel Craig has been cast in the role of Lord Asriel,[9] appearing as Lyra's uncle, a ruthless and mysterious adventurer.[10] Eva Green, reuniting with Casino Royale co-star Craig, will play Serafina Pekkala, a queen of the witches.[11] The armoured bear king Ragnar Sturlusson will be voiced by Ian McShane. Iofur's name has been changed to prevent confusion between him and Iorek.[12] Freddie Highmore will voice Pantalaimon, Lyra's dæmon.[13]. The Olivier Award-winning actress Claire Higgins will play Ma Costa.[14] In October 2007, it was announced that Kathy Bates will be voicing Hester, Lee Scoresby's daemon. It has also been revealed that Ian McKellen will be providing the voice for Iorek Byrnison, though early reports indicated that Nonso Anozie was due to voice the role.[15]
Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra Belacqua[6]
Nicole Kidman as Marisa Coulter[8]
Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel[16]
Jim Carter as John Faa[17]
Tom Courtenay as Farder Coram[17]
Eva Green as Serafina Pekkala[11]
Ben Walker as Roger Parslow[18]
Clare Higgins as Ma Costa
Jack Shepherd as Master of Jordan College[17]
Simon McBurney as Fra Pavel[17]
Ian McKellen as Iorek Byrnison (voice)[19]
Ian McShane as Ragnar Sturlusson (voice)[20]
Freddie Highmore as Pantalaimon (voice)
Magda Szubanski as Mrs. Lonsdale[21]
Kathy Bates as Hester (voice)
Kristen Scott Thomas as Stelmaria (voice)
Christopher Lee
Derek Jacobi

[edit] Development
On February 11, 2002, following the success of New Line's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the studio bought the rights to Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Directors Brett Ratner and Sam Mendes expressed interest, and in July 2003 Tom Stoppard was commissioned to write the screenplay.[7]
A year later, Chris Weitz was hired to direct after approaching the studio with an unsolicited 40-page treatment.[22] He rejected Stoppard's script, preferring to adapt Pullman's work himself, and cited Barry Lyndon and Star Wars as stylistic influences on the film.[7] After having visited director Peter Jackson on the set of The Lord of the Rings,[23] on December 15, 2004, Weitz announced his resignation as director of the trilogy, citing the enormous technical challenges of the epic.[7] On August 9, 2005, it was announced that British director Anand Tucker would take over from Weitz. Tucker felt the film would thematically be about Lyra "looking for a family",[7] and Pullman agreed: "He has plenty of very good ideas, and he isn't daunted by the technical challenges. But the best thing from the point of view of all who care about the story is his awareness that it isn't about computer graphics; it isn't about fantastic adventures in amazing-looking worlds; it's about Lyra."[24] Tucker resigned on May 8, 2006, citing creative disagreements with New Line, and Weitz returned to direct.[7]. Weitz said "I'm both the first and third director on the film... But I did a lot of growing in the interim."[23] According to producer Deborah Forte, Tucker wanted to make a smaller, less exciting film than New Line wanted. New Line production president Toby Emmerich said of Weitz's return: "I think Chris realized that if he didn’t come back in and step up, maybe the movie wasn’t going to get made... We really didn’t have a Plan B at that point."[22]
On October 9, 2007, Weitz revealed that the final three chapters from The Golden Compass will be moved to The Subtle Knife to provide "the most promising conclusion to the first film and the best possible beginning to the second."[25] Author Pullman has publicly supported these changes saying that "every film has to make changes to the story that the original book tells - not to change the outcome, but to make it fit the dimensions and the medium of film."[26]

[edit] Production

First still production of His Dark Materials : The Golden Compass showing Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman) and Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards)
Filming began at Shepperton Studios on September 4, 2006,[7] with additional sequences shot in Switzerland and Norway.[22] Filming also took place in Radcliffe Square, Oxford, on the 14th and 15th of June. Night filming took place in The Queen's College and Queen's Lane in Oxford on the 24th, 25th and 26th of June.
Rhythm and Hues Studios will create the main dæmons, and Framestore CFC will create all the bears.[27] British company Cinesite will create the secondary dæmons.[28] The film will be edited by Anne V. Coates, OBE.

[edit] Controversies
Several key themes of the novels, the rejection of organized religion and the abuse of power in a fictionalized Catholic Church, are to be diluted in the adaptation. Director Weitz said "in the books the Magisterium is a version of the Catholic Church gone wildly astray from its roots" but that the organization portrayed in his film would not directly match that of Pullman's books. In an attempt to avoid a religious backlash, the Magisterium will instead be a critique of all dogmatic organizations.[29] Weitz said that New Line Cinema had feared the story's anti-religious themes would make the film financially unviable in the US, and so religion and God will not be referenced directly. Attempting to reassure fans of the novels, Weitz said that religion would instead appear in euphemistic terms, yet the decision has been attacked by some fans,[30] anti-censorship groups, and the National Secular Society (of which Pullman is an honorary associate), which said "they are taking the heart out of it, losing the point of it, castrating it",[31] "this is part of a long-term problem over freedom of speech." The changes from the novel have been present since Tom Stoppard's rejected version of the script,[22] and Pullman himself believes the film will be "faithful."[29]
As part of a two-month protest campaign, the Catholic League has called for a boycott of the film. They believe that while the religious elements of the film will be "watered down" from the source novels, it will still encourage children to read the series, which League president William A. Donohue says "denigrates Christianity" and promotes "atheism for kids",[4][32] citing author Pullman as saying that he is "trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief."[33] It is the League's hope that "the film [will fail] to meet box office expectations and that [Pullman's] books attract few buyers."[34]
Director Weitz says that he believes His Dark Materials is "not an atheistic work, but a highly spiritual and reverent piece of writing",[30] and Nicole Kidman, a Catholic, has defended her decision to star in the film, saying that "the Catholic Church is part of my essence. I wouldn't be able to do this film if I thought it were at all anti-Catholic".[23]
Some commentators have indicated they believe both sides' criticism will prove ultimately "impotent" and that the negative publicity will prove a boon for the film's box office,[35][36] while other evangelical groups, such as The Christian Film and Television Commission, are adopting a "wait-and-see" approach to the film before deciding upon any action.[37]

[edit] Release dates
5 December 2007: Belgium, Finland, France, Spain[38]
6 December 2007: Argentina, Chile, Germany, Netherlands, Singapore, Portugal[38]
7 December 2007: Denmark, Norway, Russia, Turkey, United Kingdom, USA, Canada[38]
13 December 2007: Slovenia[38]
14 December 2007: Estonia, Italy[38]
20 December 2007: Hong Kong[38]
25 December 2007: Brazil[38]
26 December 2007: Australia,[39] Iceland[38]
16 January 2008: Egypt[38]
1 March 2008: Japan[38]

[edit] Sequels
New Line Cinema has commissioned screenwriter Hossein Amini to write a screenplay based on the second book in the trilogy, The Subtle Knife, potentially for release in late 2009; with the third book of the trilogy, The Amber Spyglass to follow. However, New Line president Toby Emmerich stresses that production of the second and third films is dependent on the financial success of The Golden Compass.[The Golden Compass is a forthcoming fantasy film based upon Northern Lights (titled The Golden Compass in the US), the first novel in Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials, slated for release on December 7, 2007 by New Line Cinema.[2] The story tells of Lyra's adventure to the far north in search of her friend. The project was announced in February 2002, following the success of other recent adaptations of fantasy epics, and at $205 million is expected to be New Line's biggest budget project ever after a series of box office disappointments in the past year.[3] In October 2007, the Catholic League called for a boycott of the film.[4]

To view trailers of this movie, go to:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385752/trailers-screenplay-E32812-314

Let Us Not Forget Who We Are, The Declaration Of Independence

Yes! I have another shout to shout about.

While so many are in the business of hating liberals and progressives, remember the following. This appears to apply to more than the King. Others who bear the name of George might visit our National Archives and read this.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

The Declaration Of Independence

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offencesFor abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1Georgia: Button Gwinnett Lyman Hall George Walton

Column 2North Carolina: William Hooper Joseph Hewes John PennSouth Carolina: Edward Rutledge Thomas Heyward, Jr. Thomas Lynch, Jr. Arthur Middleton

Column 3Massachusetts:John HancockMaryland:Samuel ChaseWilliam PacaThomas StoneCharles Carroll of CarrolltonVirginia:George WytheRichard Henry LeeThomas JeffersonBenjamin HarrisonThomas Nelson, Jr.Francis Lightfoot LeeCarter Braxton

Column 4Pennsylvania: Robert Morris Benjamin Rush Benjamin Franklin John Morton George Clymer James Smith George Taylor James Wilson George RossDelaware: Caesar Rodney George Read Thomas McKean

Column 5New York: William Floyd Philip Livingston Francis Lewis Lewis MorrisNew Jersey: Richard Stockton John Witherspoon Francis Hopkinson John Hart Abraham Clark

Column 6New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett William WhippleMassachusetts: Samuel Adams John Adams Robert Treat Paine Elbridge GerryRhode Island: Stephen Hopkins William ElleryConnecticut: Roger Sherman Samuel Huntington William Williams Oliver WolcottNew Hampshire: Matthew Thornton

To see the Constitution Of The United States Of America and The Bill Of Rights, go to: http://www.philatlarge.blogspot.com/

Valerie Plame Wilson, Betrayed By Administration

The following article was enough to send me over the edge. I am only comforted by the fact that the Wilsons now have the oportunity to tell at least part of their story. Many details that we would love to know are for now unatainable, as Valerie Plame and the CIA must restrict some information for the benefit of national security. Too bad this current administration had the same amount of respect for national security as well as the constitution of the United States Of America.

By Alan Coopermansenior editor for non-fiction at Book World Monday, October 22, 2007; Page C01
FAIR GAME
My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House

By Valerie Plame Wilson
Simon & Schuster. 411 pp. $26
Mothers who are spies, it turns out, face the same juggling act as other working moms.
After a year at home following the birth of twins, Valerie Plame Wilson returned to work in April 2001 in the Iraq branch of the CIA's Counterproliferation Division. "When I had to deal with pressing operational issues I had no choice but to bring the toddlers into my office on a Saturday," she writes in her memoir, published this week. "Making decisions on how much money to offer a potential asset while handing crayons to my daughter who sat under my desk was strange indeed, but not without humor."
Since senior administration officials whispered "Valerie Plame" and "CIA" in the same breath to half a dozen journalists in 2003, some people have not very subtly suggested that her work couldn't really have been all that hush-hush if she had an office job, not to mention blond hair and little kids. "She was not involved in clandestine activities," Robert D. Novak, the syndicated columnist who first published her name, wrote earlier this year in his dueling memoir. "Instead, each day she went to CIA headquarters in Langley where she worked on arms proliferation."
There are lots of she said-he said moments in the Plame affair, matters on which an impartial observer can only conclude that, well, both sides have a point. But this is not one of them.
Before her retirement in 2006, Wilson spent more than 20 years in the CIA, including six years, one month and 29 days of overseas service. We know this because the agency, in a bureaucratic blunder, put it in an unclassified letter about her pension eligibility that it later tried desperately to recall, and that she has included as an appendix to "Fair Game."
We also know that she worked on the operations side, the part of the CIA that runs agents and covert activities, rather than on the analytical side, which tries to make sense of all the information flowing in. From her former CIA "classmates," we know that she went through the agency's elite Career Trainee program, including paramilitary training at the classified location known as the Farm, and was one of just three in her class of 50 who were chosen to be NOCs (pronounced "knocks"), or non-official cover officers, the most clandestine in the agency. And from her memoir, we now know how deeply secrecy was ingrained in her.
Imagine when, in her mid-20s, after a first CIA tour in Greece under diplomatic cover as a junior State Department official, she gave up her diplomatic passport and any public affiliation with the U.S. government and switched to being a NOC. Part of the transition involved coming home to the United States, ostensibly jobless, and moving back into her parents' house while studying French. How many 20-somethings still living with Mom and Dad fantasize about saying, "Actually, I work for the CIA"? In young Valerie Plame's case, it was true -- and she apparently didn't tell a soul. When she became famous a decade later, her dearest friends were stunned, and she feared they might not forgive her for all those years of lying.
True, the CIA recalled her from Europe in 1997, fearing that her name might have been passed to the Russians by the mole Aldrich Ames. But, she writes, she still took different routes to work each day, "traveled domestically and abroad using a variety of aliases" and continued to hope for another foreign posting.
There is no reason to doubt that Wilson wrote "Fair Game" herself. To put it kindly, the memoir lacks the sheen of a ghostwriter's work and has the voice of an ordinary person caught up in extraordinary events. It doesn't help that the CIA redacted the manuscript heavily before approving it for publication. Each time she is about to launch into a juicy anecdote, it seems, lines are blacked out, sometimes for pages on end.
The book is, however, greatly assisted by an afterword by Laura Rozen, a reporter for the American Prospect. Rozen faithfully echoes Wilson's point of view but fills in many of the censored dates, places and other details from published sources. Readers would be smart to turn to the afterword first, before tackling Wilson's disjointed narrative.
The outlines of the story are familiar: In 2002, the CIA sent her husband, former U.S. ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, on an unpaid, eight-day fact-finding trip to Niger. Within hours of his return, he told eager CIA debriefers (while Valerie Wilson was ordering takeout Chinese food for them) that there was no evidence that Iraq had tried to buy yellowcake uranium from the African nation.
When President Bush nevertheless included the uranium allegation in a State of the Union address, Joe Wilson wrote an op-ed for the New York Times accusing the administration of misleading the American people. Both of the Wilsons firmly believe that she was outed, in retaliation, by White House officials who sought to discredit him by telling reporters that his trip was arranged by his wife, who worked for the CIA. Tapped to investigate the leak of her name, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald put that theory before a jury, which never got to the heart of the matter but did convict the vice president's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, of perjury and obstruction of justice. Bush then commuted Libby's 30-month prison sentence.
The question remains: Was she behind her husband's trip to Niger? "Fair Game" gives a nuanced answer that is largely, but not entirely, in her favor.
She says that when the vice president's office asked the CIA about the uranium allegation, a "midlevel reports officer" suggested in a hallway conversation that the agency could send Joe Wilson to investigate. The suggestion made sense because Wilson had served as an ambassador in Africa, was the top Africa expert on the National Security Council in the Clinton administration and made a previous trip to Niger at the CIA's request in 1999. She and the midlevel officer brought the idea to their boss, who liked it and asked her to send an e-mail up the chain of command. "My husband has good relations with both the PM [prime minister] and the former Minister of Mines (not to mention lots of French contacts), both of whom could possibly shed light on this sort of activity," she wrote.
Thus, by her own account, Valerie Wilson neither came up with the idea nor approved it. But she did participate in the process and flogged her husband's credentials. When Joe Wilson learned about her e-mail years later, she says, he was "too upset to listen" to her explanations.
"Fair Game" reveals some intimate details of the Wilsons' lives, including her battle with postpartum depression. Sudden fame and withering political attacks made Washington so "toxic" to them that they began fantasizing about moving to New Zealand and ultimately decamped to New Mexico. Relatives came forward, and, like Madeleine Albright, Valerie Wilson discovered she was part Jewish. But the book is less forthcoming about her politics; she does not mention, for example, that she made a $1,000 contribution to Al Gore's campaign in 1999.
One other matter begs clarification. As Rozen notes in the afterword, there is "an undeniable irony to Valerie Wilson later being exposed by the White House in a subterranean tussle" over prewar intelligence because "Valerie was not one of the intelligence community dissidents arguing against the threat posed by Saddam Hussein."
Quite the contrary: Wilson makes clear in "Fair Game" that she and her colleagues in the Counterproliferation Division were very worried that Iraq would use chemical or biological weapons on U.S. forces. They were dumbfounded when no weapons of mass destruction were found, and, in a telling passage, she says their spirits were "briefly buoyed" when coalition forces in northern Iraq discovered curious flatbed trailers that the CIA thought, at first, might be mobile bio-weapons labs.
Yet, in one of the memoir's deeper insights, "Fair Game" suggests that if you knew what she knew at the time, you would have feared both that Saddam Hussein had WMDs and that the Bush administration was overstating the case for war. In the bowels of the CIA, she and her colleagues clustered around a TV as Secretary of State Colin Powell laid the evidence before the United Nations on Feb. 5, 2003. "It was a powerful presentation," she writes, "but I knew key parts of it were wrong."

Dalai Lama and US Congressional Gold Medal

Tibet leader awarded top US medal

Beijing is furious at the US award for the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama's speech The Dalai Lama has been awarded a Congressional Gold Medal - the top US civilian honour - in a move that has infuriated China.
George W Bush attended the ceremony in Washington, the first time a sitting US president has appeared in public with the exiled Tibetan leader.
Chinese state media had warned it would "cast a shadow" over ties with the US.
Beijing has been accused of human rights abuses in Tibet, which its communist troops occupied in 1951.
'Man of peace'
Mr Bush led the 72-year-old Buddhist leader into the Capitol Rotunda, holding his hand as they entered before sitting side-by-side.
CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL
Top US civilian award
Originally awarded to soldiers for achievement in battle, but became civilian award with introduction of Medal of Honor
First awarded in 1776 to General George Washington
Two-third majority required to approve each candidate
Each medal uniquely designed and created by the US Mint
Over 100 medals awarded
Previous winners include Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela Tony Blair, Winston Churchill and Pope John Paul II
As he presented the medal, Mr Bush hailed the Nobel Peace Prize winner as a "universal symbol of peace and tolerance".
"I will continue to urge the leaders of China to welcome the Dalai Lama to China," Mr Bush said.
"They will find this good man to be a man of peace and reconciliation."
He said the US could not close its eyes to the plight of the religiously oppressed.
The Tibetan leader said he was "deeply touched" to receive such a "great honour".
"I believe that this award also sends a powerful message to those individuals who are dedicated to promoting peace," the Dalai Lama said.
'Gross interference'
Mr Bush met the Dalai Lama behind closed doors on Tuesday in the White House residence, rather than the Oval Office, out of deference to China. It was their third private meeting in six years.
But Wednesday's elaborate ceremony was a much more public affair.
Beijing described it as a "gross interference in China's internal affairs".
"China is strongly resentful of this and resolutely opposes it," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao was quoted by the official Xinhua news agency as saying.
An editorial in the official China Daily newspaper said: "This event will certainly cast a shadow over the relations."
Beijing has long argued the Dalai Lama is seeking to destroy China's sovereignty by pushing for independence for devoutly Buddhist Tibet.
He insists he wants "real autonomy", not independence for the region, which Beijing claims is an "inalienable" part of China.
Balancing act
Analysts say it is a delicate diplomatic balancing act for Mr Bush, who needs China's help to manage nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea.

It was the first time a US president had appeared with the Dalai Lama in publicMeanwhile, China's Communist Party, which is holding its 17th Congress this week, is highly sensitive to potential embarrassment as it prepares to stage next year's Olympics.
US lawmakers regularly accuse Beijing of turning a blind eye to alleged human rights abuses in Burma and Sudan in its pursuit of energy and business deals.
Recently, world leaders have grown more vocal in their concern for human rights in Tibet.
In September, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met the Dalai Lama, incurring Beijing's wrath.
The Dalai Lama has also met Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer and Australian Prime Minister John Howard this year, and is due to meet Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper later this month.
China was outraged when Canada granted the Dalai Lama honorary citizenship last year.

Should the United States honour the Dalai Lama? Are you a Tibetan, Chinese or an American?

That Girley Bitch Bites Jews

Ann Coulter Says Jews Need 'Perfecting'

Posted Oct 11th 2007 2:39PM by Ada CalhounFiled under: Scandal, Media, Ann Coulter
This week on the CNBC show The Big Idea, Ann Coulter said everyone on earth should be Christian and that Jews needed to be "perfected." She suggested that Jews basically just need a tune-up to get on what Coulter referred to "the fast track." Ever notice how she times these incendiary appearances perfectly to her book releases? Here's how she explained herself when Donny Deutsch said she sounded like Ahmadinejad: "That is what Christians consider themselves: perfected Jews. We believe the Old Testament. As you know from the Old Testament, God was constantly getting fed up with humans for not being able to, you know, live up to all the laws."Yet again, Ann Coulter has managed to say something dazzlingly, grotesquely offensive and shocking to many people. And yet again, what she's saying is, in fact, a widely held belief among evangelical Christians in this country: in this case, that the Jews are this close to being okay with God.Check out highlights of past press-tour craziness in this quote round-up or this YouTube highlight reel. You can't say she doesn't know how to work the game: her books are flying off the shelves.

Ashley Wheater replaces Gerald Arpino at The Joffrey Ballet

Ashley Wheater, a former Joffrey Ballet dancer and currently assistant to San Francisco Ballet artistic director Helgi Tomasson, has been named the new artistic director of the Joffrey Ballet. Wheater replaces artistic director emeritus Gerald Arpino, 84, who co-founded the company with the late Robert Joffrey in 1956. Joffrey died in 1988.Finding a replacement for Arpino was the most important decision facing it since the company moved from New York to Chicago (which breathed new life into the troupe after it lost its residency at the LA Music Center). Wheater, 48, was born in Scotland and trained at the Royal Ballet School. He began his career with the Royal Ballet and danced leading roles as a member of the London Festival Ballet, the Australia Ballet, the Joffrey (1985-1989) and San Francisco Ballet. He is not a choreographer, unlike Arpino, whose ballets made up more than one-third of the company’s repertory. That means the company, which carved out a reputation as a distinctly American troupe, will have to seek ballets from outside its new headquarters.

State vs Methodists vs Gays

Civil Union Dispute Pits Methodist Retreat Against Gays Who Aided in Its Rebirth

OCEAN GROVE, N.J., Aug. 30 — At their annual meeting on Monday, leaders of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association are expected to report on the season’s successes: the active youth ministry programs, the wide range of musicians who performed here, the revenues generated from beach badges.
They are less likely to address the subject that has been dominating discussions in this seashore resort all summer: the escalating litigation over the Methodist group’s efforts to block civil union ceremonies from taking place on its property.
But gay rights groups have planned a large rally outside the meeting to make sure the matter is not forgotten.
At stake is the future of Ocean Grove, where, dating to 1870, all the land, beach and 1,000 feet of the sea itself have been owned by the Methodist organization — and which, at least for the past decade, has seen the opening of a large number of gay-owned restaurants, hotels and shops.
“They’re pitting people against people,” Randy Bishop, an Ocean Grove innkeeper and deputy mayor of Neptune Township, Ocean Grove’s governing body, said of the Methodists. “This is one of the towns that embodies the spirit of what a community is, and to have this happen, it’s a shame to see it being torn apart.”
The conflict began earlier this year when two lesbian couples asked to have their civil union ceremonies at the group’s Boardwalk Pavilion, a site used for Sunday services, weekday gospel concerts, weddings, concerts and Civil War re-enactments. The couples’ requests were rejected, and they complained to the state’s Division on Civil Rights, which began a discrimination investigation.
Then last month, the Camp Meeting Association sued the state, claiming that the investigation violated its First Amendment rights and that civil unions were contrary to the United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline.
Last week, United States District Court Judge Joel A. Pisano refused to issue a temporary injunction halting the state investigation, and the state filed a countermotion asking the federal government not to interfere in a state legal matter. A hearing was scheduled for Oct. 1.
The public versus private status of not only the pavilion but also much of the Camp Meeting Association’s property is at the crux of the debate.
Since 1989, Ocean Grove’s beach, boardwalk and oceanfront road have received tax-exempt status under the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Green Acres Program, which was created to encourage use of privately owned space for public recreation and conservation. In its original application for the exemption — which saves the group about $500,000 a year and is up for renewal on Sept. 15, according to Bernard Haney, the Neptune Township tax assessor — the association noted that the properties were open to the public and that the pavilion had been used by outside groups.
Some see an inherent conflict between the association seeking tax-exempt status as a public open space with one state agency while suing another state agency for violating its rights as a private religious group.
“They’ve taken state, federal and local funds by representing that they are open to the public,” said United States Representative Frank Pallone Jr., a Democrat who represents the area, noting that beyond tax exemptions, the group has gotten numerous government grants over the years for building and boardwalk repairs and beach replenishment. “Until now, nobody has ever said that you had to abide by the tenets of the church in deciding who uses the buildings or owns the houses.”
Lee Moore, a spokesman for the New Jersey attorney general’s office, which oversees the Division on Civil Rights, would say only, “We are aware of the Green Acres application.”
Mr. Pallone sent a letter to the Camp Meeting Association’s leaders on Aug. 15 reminding them of $250,000 that he helped procure when he was a state senator to repair the Great Auditorium’s roof and of federal funds he secured for boardwalk repairs after a 1992 storm.
But Brian Raum, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a family and church rights legal organization that is representing the Camp Meeting Association in its federal lawsuit, said the group had never represented itself as anything but a religious organization, and challenged the idea that receiving government aid meant relinquishing one’s rights. Indeed, many religious groups get state and federal grants of various types.
A religious organization does not give up any First Amendment rights because it avails itself of services available to anyone,” Mr. Raum said. “Disaster relief is available to anyone, you don’t have to denounce some of your fundamental beliefs.”
Founded in 1869 by a group of ministers seeking a permanent seaside retreat, the Camp Meeting Association bought its first six acres here as a “site to assemble from year to year and enjoy our summer rest in bathing, fishing, worshiping or sauntering socially along the shore,” according to the writings of the Rev. Ellwood Stokes, a founding member.
Within a few years, the association had bought all the land now called Ocean Grove — about one square mile — and was granted a charter from the state allowing it to remain a religious retreat. Today, home and business owners own their buildings and hold 99-year renewable leases on the land, paying the association $10 per lot each year.
Over the years, Ocean Grove has tried to establish itself as its own borough. The Camp Meeting Association sets most of the rules governing the community, including prohibitions against building anything in one’s front yard that would block a neighbor’s view of the ocean. In the past it even dictated when laundry could be hung outside — on Mondays only, so as not to offend weekend vacationers.
One rule that residents and visitors found particularly onerous was the dictate that all cars, parked or moving, be removed from the roads from sundown Saturday to sundown Sunday. The car ban, along with the blue laws that prohibited shops from opening on Sundays, was ruled unconstitutional by the State Supreme Court in 1979.
Longtime residents like Gail Shaffer, vice president of the Historical Society of Ocean Grove, refer to that period as “when the gates came down.”
“There used to be a chain across the road with a lantern hanging telling people not to bring their cars in here,” said Ms. Shaffer, noting that even President Ulysses S. Grant had to abide by this rule and walk into town when he came to visit his sister.
The Methodists’ sway over the community remains significant. No alcohol is sold in Ocean Grove, and on Sundays, the beach does not open until 12:30 p.m. But since the end of the blue laws, the town once derided as “Ocean Grave” has seen a commercial rebirth, driven largely by gay-owned businesses.
The two constituencies have coexisted peaceably — until the recent scuffle over civil unions.
“We’re going to tell the Camp Meeting Association that enough is enough,” Steven Goldstein, executive director of the gay rights group Garden State Equality, said about Monday’s protest. “This is public property. The law is on our side.”Representative Pallone, for his part, expressed hope that “if the suit is dropped, we can go back to a situation where everybody lives together and tolerates each other. And they can go back to getting their federal funds.”

HARRY POTTER DANIEL RADCLIFFE HAS NO SECRETS NOW.

Harry, we all know your secret. Everyone was waiting to see you grow up. BINGO!

Thank you, for all the people who were waiting for this moment. If you think you were a rising star, just wait and see what this does for your career. To think that you would be the actor to bring back the play "Equus", is indeed astounding. Your fans will not miss out on this award winning play. You will be responsible for raising the cultural level of people around the world. DANIEL READCLIFFE BRAVO!

SAME SEX MARRIAGE SET BACK IN BOSTON

Lawmakers' vote opens possibility of gay-marriage ban in Massachusetts
By Ellen Barry, Times Staff Writer
7:03 PM PST, January 2, 2007


Massachusetts state legislators on Tuesday took a first step toward arranging a ballot initiative against same-sex marriage, raising the possibility that gay marriage could be phased out in the single state that allows it.

Arline Isaacson, co-chair of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, called the vote "potentially devastatingly bad news." It is essential, she said, to defeat the initiative before it progresses to a popular vote in 2008.

"We have to fight and find a way to win next year, because it's too important, not just to the Massachusetts gay community but to gay folks all over the country," she said.

Massachusetts has allowed same-sex couples to marry since 2004. Gov. Mitt Romney ordered town clerks to begin issuing licenses to comply with a decision of the state's Supreme Judicial Court, which found that it was unconstitutional to limit marriage to heterosexuals.

Opponents have sought a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage. They collected more than 170,000 signatures -- more then the number required to submit the question for inclusion on ballots. But many state legislators resisted the idea, arguing that a referendum on gay marriage would hurt the state. Massachusetts' initiative process requires at least a quarter of state legislators to approve the ballot question in two consecutive sessions. Last fall, the Legislature voted to adjourn the session without voting on the gay marriage initiative, effectively killing it.

The stalling tactic angered Romney, a Republican and gay marriage opponent, who joined in a lawsuit against the legislators. Then, last week, the Supreme Judicial Court weighed in with a scathing judgment: "Those members who seek to avoid their lawful obligations. . . ultimately will have to answer to the people who elected them," read the decision.

Isaacson said the ruling shook lawmakers who were prepared to defeat the initiative with another delay. Instead, they convened for a final, tumultuous day of political brinksmanship. In a morning vote, the initiative won the support of 61 lawmakers -- more than the 50 they needed. But the vote suddenly was cast into question when a member proposed a reconsideration. Hours later, a second vote on the issue won 62 votes, with 134 lawmakers opposing it.

A quarter of the legislature will have to approve the measure again next year in order for it to appear on the ballot in 2008.

When the result was announced, gay marriage advocates "struggled mightily not to lose their cool and break into tears," Isaacson said. In the 50-state battle over the right to marry, Massachusetts is "the beachhead," and bears enormous symbolic weight, she said.

"If we don't save marriage equality here, we may well be doomed to not have it anywhere," she said.

Lisa Barstow of VoteOnMarriage.org, which proposed the initiative, said she was "thrilled" at the outcome after an exhausting day.

"It's unfortunate that citizen initiative petitions have to go through hell and high water to advance, but at the end of the day we say that democracy was served," she said. She said she expects the initiative to pass again next year, "hopefully with a little less angst."

But it also was clear that more resistance awaits. Hours before the vote, incoming governor Deval Patrick called the ballot measure "irresponsible and wrong."

"This is a question of conscience," said Patrick, who will be sworn in on Thursday. "Using the initiative process to give a minority fewer freedoms than the majority, and to inject the state into fundamentally private affairs, is a dangerous precedent, and an unworthy one for this commonwealth."

Since the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision set off a national debate over gay marriage in 2003, voters in 26 states have passed constitutional amendments banning gay marriage. Only once -- in Arizona last November -- have voters rejected a ballot initiative against gay marriage. No other state has allowed gay couples to marry, though Vermont, New Jersey and Connecticut allow civil unions, and California's domestic partnership law guarantees many of the rights of marriage.

RESOLUTIONS AND DISCLAIMERS

GOODNIGHT 2006 GOOD MORNING 2007
New Years Disclaimers

December,31, was the last day of 2006. Perhaps you heard. One can not say it was an uneventful year. One can be done with it all the same. Bring on those resolutions that you probably never keep. Especially the ones about losing weight, quitting smoking, tobacco and of course being more understanding of you spouse. How do most people come to these epiphanies? They drink themselves into a stupor and the next day while suffering with their hangovers, they swear that they will change their lives once and for all by eliminating all of the bad behaviors that they have been collecting throughout their lives. Fast forward a couple of weeks and we find most people back on track with all the same behaviors that made them the miserable creatures that they have become. I, on the other hand have solved these problems over the past few years. Here’s how.

With total understanding that my will and ability to conform myself into a more acceptable person, one that might be loved, admired, and even respected, I have made some New Years resolutions that I can actually achieve without having to reproach myself in the days, weeks, years and hopefully many decades to come.

1. I will give up smoking and drinking, weather permitting.

2. I will watch my diet in order to lower my cholesterol as soon as products with animal fats are removed from the shelves at the supermarket.

3. I will respect my spouse, Whosits, if I can remember to do so.

4. In order to become a better ecologist I will only drive my car on Sunday so that I will not have to feel guilty about polluting the atmosphere for my darling children, I never could find their real parents, or the mealy mouthed, no necked brats of my neighbors.

5. The other six days of the week, I will make the sacrifice of calling a Taxi.

6. I will not say disparaging things about people I barely know, if they are present.

7. I will not say disparaging things about people I am intimate with, in public, unless I can remember their names, or if it seems appropriate to refer to them as Hun or Babe.

8. I will vow to use only politically correct language when in the presence of that fucking moron, President George W. What’s his name, or his do ill or nothing at all members of the cabinet.

9. I will never have unprotected or illicit sex, unless invited to do so with a member of the clergy. They are everywhere and usually prefer to be referred to as Babe.

That should do it for at least one more year