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THE FOLLOWING RAN ON RAW STORY, NOVEMBER 11, 2004. Two New York newspapers received calls from the Bush-Cheney campaign during the Republican National Convention urging them not to run a story suggesting that the campaign manager and public face of the campaign was gay, RAW STORY has learned. Bush-Cheney campaign manager Ken Mehlman, who is

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LONDON — Two gay failed asylum seekers in Britain who said they faced persecution over their sexuality if they were sent home won their Supreme Court appeals against their deportation on Wednesday. The men, identified only as “J” from Iran and “T” from Cameroon, had been refused asylum on the grounds that they could avoid ill-treatment by behaving discreetly or keeping their sexuality secret in their native countries. The Supreme Court said that ruling went against the Convention on the Status of Refugees and sent their cases back to the lower Court of Appeal to be reassessed in the light of their verdict. Home Secretary Theresa May welcomed Wednesday’s ruling. “We have already promised to stop the removal of asylum seekers who have had to leave particular countries because their sexual orientation or gender identification puts them at proven risk of imprisonment, torture or execution,” the interior minister said. Story continues below… “I do not believe it is acceptable to send people home and expect them to hide their sexuality to avoid persecution.” Cameroonian “T” said he was attacked by a mob after being seen kissing a male partner. “J”, from Iran, was told in the original ruling that he could be expected to tolerate conditions arising from his relationship and should behave discreetly to avoid reprisals. Punishment for homosexual acts ranges from public flogging to execution in Iran, and in Cameroon jail sentences for homosexuality range from six months to five years. The Convention on the Status of Refugees provides that people are entitled to asylum if they can establish that they would face a well-founded fear of persecution if they returned home.

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House Minority Leader John Boehner has a reputation among Washington insiders for his hard-partying ways, but public suggestions that Boehner might have a drinking problems have been a rarity. That’s what makes MSNBC host Joe Scarborough’s remarks about the Ohio Republican’s bar-hopping habits worthy of notice. “I hear it on the Hill, I’m sure you hear it on the Hill all the time, it’s not reported,” Scarborough told a guest from Politico on Wednesday’s Morning Joe. “But so many Republicans tell me that this is a guy that is not the hardest worker in the world.” “After five o’clock, six o’clock at night he’s disengaged — at best,” Scarborough continued. “You can see him around town. He does not have, let’s say, the work hours of Newt Gingrich. … Every Republican I talk to says that John Boehner, by five or six at night, you can see him at bars.” A Boehner spokesman quickly denied Scarborough’s claims in an email to Politico, writing that “Boehner grew up with 11 brothers and sisters and his dad owned a bar, but the only time he’s ‘around town’ these days is to raise money for our House Republican team.” Depictions of Boehner as a hard partier have been current for many years. When he was chosen House minority leader in 2006, the San Francisco Chronicle reported , “Boehner is famous for the lavish parties he throws, including an annual ‘Boehner Beach Party’ fundraiser. At the GOP’s 2004 convention in New York, Boehner hosted a party that raged all four nights of the convention at Tunnel, a West Side nightclub.” Story continues below… In 2007, Politico took a more pointed dig, in an item headlined “Boehner cries again, getting a rep as a ‘weeper,’” which pointed out, “This is getting to be something of a habit for the Ohio Republican. One of his GOP colleagues noted that Boehner cries more often later in the day. Go figure, eh.” Stories about hard-drinking politicians are no rarity, of course. In 2000, CNN offered a lengthy summary of Congressional problems with alcohol, ranging from Gerald Ford to Ted Kennedy. And in 1990, the Washington Post presented a detailed account of Kennedy’s drinking binges, including an anecdote about Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) seeking Kennedy out in the Capitol to invite him to address a group of Mormon missionaries and finding him in company with Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) and “neither … feeling any pain.” The real question may be why Scarborough — a former Republican member of Congress who served with Boehner in the late 90’s — chose to let the cat out of the bag at this particular time. Boehner has recently been providing an unusual amount of fodder for Democratic campaign ads , however, ranging from his description of financial regulation reform as “killing an ant with a nuclear weapon” to his suggestion that the Social Security retirement age should be raised to 70. Whatever Scarborough’s motivation, his remarks seem certain to dredge up the allegations about Boehner’s drinking habits that have circulated for years under the radar. In 2008, for example, one enterprising blogger started up a “John Boehner Booze Watch” blog which alleged , “Part of Boehner’s prideful jackass-ism stems from his incessant thirst for the booze. … The man’s boozing skills are that of legend. … At the [2008 Republican National] Convention, Boehner gave two awkward, drunken speeches that were embarrassing, somewhat uncomfortable, and confusing at best for those in attendance. The man could not pronounce a name if his life depended on it.” Last fall, another blog even offered an Onion-style parody describing how “Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner gave an impassioned speech on Wednesday dismissing as false persistent rumors that he is a secret alcoholic. ‘I have an illness that precisely mimics the effects of alcoholism,’ said the Republican. … ‘This rare illness makes innocent sufferers appear that they are alcoholics when in fact they are not.’” Photo of John Boehner visiting Tipp City’s Hinders Sports Bar in March 2010 from Tipp News Daily This video is from MSNBC, broadcast June 30, 2010.

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A federal appeals court has dealt a blow to a civil-liberties lawsuit against the New York Police Department, saying the police force is within its rights to keep secret some 1,800 pages of documents about its surveillance of protesters ahead of the Republican National Convention in 2004. More than 1,800 people were arrested at or near Madison Square Garden over four days in August, 2004, during the convention where President George W. Bush accepted his party’s nomination for a second term. According to court records, the NYPD sent undercover officers around the world ahead of the convention to collect information on people who planned to protest at the event. The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the NYPD on behalf of protesters who were arrested, handcuffed and fingerprinted. In its attempt to get the police to release all documents related to the arrests, the NYCLU ran into a roadblock when it came to some 1,800 pages of documents chronicling the NYPD’s surveillance efforts. On Wednesday, a panel from the US District Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled (PDF) that the NYPD can keep the documents secret, because releasing them would jeopardize police investigations by releasing the identities of the NYPD’s undercover officers. Story continues below… The New York Times reports that the case “represents the largest legal challenge to the powers extended to the police since the Sept. 11 attack.” The NYT ’s City Room blog reports that the NYCLU had wanted the documents to challenge the NYPD’s assertion that the surveillance gave the police enough justification for the mass arrests. But Chris Dunn, a lawyer for the NYCLU, said his group still has enough material from the NYPD to press ahead with its lawsuit challenging the arrests. “The police documents remaining in the case are the 600 pages already produced to us, and nothing in those reports begins to justify the NYPD’s mass arrest, prolonged detention, and blanket fingerprinting of law-abiding protesters and bystanders during the Convention,” Dunn told the Associated Press . The Times reports that some protesters caught up in the mass arrests have already settled separate lawsuits with the city: In recent years, the city has paid millions of dollars to many of those who sued after their arrests, asserting that they had been improperly taken into custody. Many were herded into pens at a West Side pier in Manhattan that was dubbed Guantánamo on the Hudson. The appeals court’s ruling overturns a federal judge’s order last year that the city hand over the documents to the NYCLU. That judge had upheld an earlier ruling that the documents could be released with sensitive details “redacted” so as to hide the identities of undercover officers. But the appeals court rejected that argument, saying that the lower court had made “errors” in its ruling. The plaintiffs, the appeals court ruled, hadn’t proved a “compelling need” to have the documents released. The court has “wisely recognized the fundamental importance to public safety of protecting undercover identities and maintaining the integrity of their methods,” NYPD Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly told the Times . “This was an important decision for New York and for the protection of society at large.”

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“North Carolina State law prohibits the carrying of firearms in the Charlotte Convention Center, and the Time Warner Cable Arena,” the sign outside the convention hall reads. “In addition, the Rules and Regulations of the Charlotte Convention Center prohibit the carrying of firearms in the Center. Pursuant to Time Warner Cable Arena policy, all individuals entering the Arena will be subject to a magnetometer security check.” Sound like the entryway into this years’ Netroots Nation, a convention of liberal bloggers? Well, it isn’t: it’s the sign outside the door to the convention for the country’s largest gun rights organization, the NRA. While the National Rifle Association is pushing for looser rules governing concealed weapons, they’ve agreed to restrictions opposing to the weapons appearing on their own convention floor. The national gun lobby held their event in Charlotte, NC this past weekend. The liberal blog ThinkProgress, which has posted in support of gun control, sent a correspondent to the convention to interview attendees. Three NRA convention members expressed support for the convention center’s anti-gun policy. “You don’t have a problem with not bringing firearms here?” the blog asked . Story continues below… “Not really,” one NRA member said . “It’s up to the individual place of business. It’s their right to do as they choose. It’s my right to choose not to come in if I choose not to do so. “I understand it,” said another. “I think most people carry a gun for self defense. In a place like this, I’ve seen enough police presence around here I don’t think that there would be much of a problem.” Josh Sugarman, executive director of the liberal Violence Policy Center in Washington, mocked the NRA’s rules in a blog entry at The Huffington Post . “The NRA could publicly gnash their teeth and caterwaul about mass disarmament resulting from the draconian rules imposed by the state of North Carolina and the dark overlords of the Time-Warner Cable Arena,” Sugarman writes. “Instead, they relegate the issue to a note on their website.” In response to inquiries, the NRA sent the following note from “Ken” at NRA member communications. Thank you for contacting us. The Charlotte Convention Center does not allow the carrying of firearms, both open and concealed. The large size of our event and the fact that many of the largest convention centers are in some of the most restrictive cities leaves us with relatively few convention centers large enough to accommodate the Annual Meetings. In an effort to provide all NRA members a better opportunity to attend the Annual Meetings, it is important that we move the event around the country as much as possible. While we will not consider bringing the Annual Meetings to a city with gun laws we feel are restrictive, we must however deal with convention centers that have restrictions simply because there are so few convention centers that both allow conceal carry and are large enough to host all of the events that comprise the Annual Meetings. Thank you for your support! Best Regards, Ken NRA Member Communications One gun-rights enthusiast writing on an open-carry forum said he was confused by the organization’s justification for a gun ban at their event. “I’m scratching my head here,” the poster wrote . “Shouldn’t the NRA go out of its way to accommodate the gun-carrying (not just the gun owning) public? “Why not a gathering at some sort of park, private club, or open carry friendly restaurant? (renting out an entire large restaurant that is confirmed to be gun-carry friendly and legal) Are they saying they are not truly smart or savvy enough to find a place that will accomplish this goal and show us as we truly are instead of disarming us? If a gun show can be held at the State Fairgrounds (or a convention center or some place like that), why not a gun-owner gathering?” “I just don’t get it,” the poster added. ThinkProgress’ interviews with NRA attendees appear in the video following.

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Geoffrey Robertson, a renowned human rights lawyer and United Nations jurist, wants to see Pope Benedict put on trial for allegedly protecting predator priests. In a Guardian UK piece making its rounds this week in Catholic circles, Robertson demanded the pope be “put in the dock” so that the church might “feel the full weight of international law” over its thousands of pedophilia scandals. The pope’s conduct, he said, “amounted to the criminal offence of aiding and abetting sex with minors,” making Benedict a justifiable target for either the International Criminal Court or a British court acting under the legal principal of universal jurisdiction. Other international figures who’ve recently been pursued by various courts under universal jurisdiction include several former Bush administration attorneys and former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for the torture of terror war prisoners, along with Israeli officials who helped launch the 2008 Gaza offensive. “Universal jurisdiction — a concept in international law — allows judges to issue warrants for nearly any visitor accused of grievous crimes, no matter where they live,” the Associated Press reported . “British judges have been more open to the concept than those in other countries.” Story continues below… “In legal actions against Catholic archdioceses in the US it has been alleged that the same conduct reflected Vatican policy as approved by Cardinal Ratzinger (as the pope then was) as late as November 2002,” Robertson wrote. “Sexual assaults were regarded as sins that were subject to church tribunals, and guilty priests were sent on a ‘pious pilgrimage’ while oaths of confidentiality were extracted from their victims.” He continued: “The UN at its inception refused membership to the Vatican but has allowed it a unique ‘observer status’, permitting it to become signatory to treaties such as the Law of the Sea and (ironically) the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and to speak and vote at UN conferences where it promotes its controversial dogmas on abortion, contraception and homosexuality. This has involved the UN in blatant discrimination on grounds of religion: other faiths are unofficially represented, if at all, by NGOs. But it has encouraged the Vatican to claim statehood – and immunity from liability.” “Robertson insisted that the ICC could be used as long as the Pope’s sovereign immunity was waived and as long as jurists can show that the sex abuse scandal was carried out on a ‘widespread or systematic scale,’ the way that child soldiers were used in the wars in Sierra Leone and the way that sex slaves are traded internationally,” The Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute added . The Catholic League of Australia was quick to launch a spirited defense of the pope, suggesting that Benedict’s accusers have no evidence. “Robertson is a Human Rights lawyer who should know better than to suggest that charges of crime should be levelled without any evidence,” they opined. “Unfortunately for Mr. Robertson his desire to create controversy and his own gossip does not constitute as a source of law. Mr. Robertson also bizarrely suggests that the Vatican is not a country. He conveniently ‘forgets’ that 179 countries recognise the Vatican as a sovereign state. Mr. Robertson’s effort to create controversy and create publicity for himself has blinded his judgement.” For its part, The New York Times reported Saturday that as a Cardinal, Ratzinger seemed to be resisting efforts to defock a priest who molested children, waiting six long years before any action was taken. “The matter was one of several recently reported instances in which documents have indicated that Benedict or his subordinates failed to act strongly against abuser priests — a failing that Vatican officials, cardinals and many bishops have heatedly rejected,” the paper added. “The reports have surfaced amid a wave of disclosures about past sexual abuses by Roman Catholic priests around Europe.”

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BEIJING (AFP) – Authorities are investigating a Chinese zoo where three dozen animals including 13 rare Siberian tigers died recently, amid charges it was harvesting their parts, state media said Monday. The probe of the zoo in the northeastern city of Shenyang will look at whether the animal parts were being used as ingredients in Chinese medicine and other products, Xinhua news agency said. China banned the international trade in tiger bones and related products in 1993, and is a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which also bars such trade. But such transactions exist as many tiger parts, such as penises and bones, are commonly believed to increase sexual potency or cure certain illnesses. Xinhua quoted a manager at the Shenyang Forest Wildlife Zoo as saying that the carcasses of the dead tigers, 11 of which starved to death and two of which were shot after mauling a worker, have been cut up and put in cold storage. Story continues below… But another unnamed zoo worker said the bones had been used to make tiger-bone liquor that was used to “serve important guests”. The deaths, which came to light as China celebrates the Lunar Year of the Tiger, have been blamed on a combination of inadequate funding, an unusually cold winter and poor general conditions at the facility, the China Daily said. Zoo workers fed the tigers cheap chicken bones in recent months as funding dried up. On Sunday, the Shenyang government announced that it had allocated one million dollars to save surviving animals and fund the zoo. Besides the tigers, 22 other animals have died, including rare species that are protected in China, among them a red-crowned crane, four stump-tailed macaques, and one brown bear. The Shenyang government has a 15 percent share in the zoo, which is mainly privately owned. China says it has nearly 6,000 tigers in captivity, but just 50 to 60 are left in the wild, including about 20 wild Siberian tigers. In the 1980s, China set up tiger farms to try to preserve the big cats, intending to release some into the wild. But conservation groups say the farms are used to harvest ingredients for traditional Chinese medicine.

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