News & Politics Blog 1328 items | updated May 17 2013

Our local SFGate has a post from their City Insider page about a rise in Oxycontin sales in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood. SF's new police chief had an undercover sting operation that combined with new tougher legislation focused on deterring crack and heroin sales near schools. The sting seems to have been effective.

"The guys who were selling the coke and heroin just aren't down there anymore. It kind of flushed them out," said Lt. Jim Miller of the field operations bureau. "Word's getting around that if you sell around the schools in the Tenderloin, you're not getting out of jail...It's a huge deterrent that we didn't anticipate."

That's not to say the Tenderloin has turned into Mayberry. Far from it. The dealers are still there; they're just selling painkillers like OxyContin which costs $40 a pill on the streets.

As Vanguard's Mariana van Zeller found out in Florida and Kentucky in The Oxycontin Express - oxy can be just as dangerous.


The Oxycontin Express (Video)

Don't miss this week's Vanguard airing tomorrow night at 10pm ET and 10pm PT: Cuba: Waiting for a Revolution.

Hat-tip to SFist for the SFGate link.

Recently on the News Blog:
- Witch children of Nigeria
- Maldives holds their cabinet meeting underwater (Video)
- Karzai says yes to Afghanistan recount
- Insider trading: The Tamil Tiger connection

Current.com user hpseaton pointed out this disturbing story: Children denounced as witches are tortured, killed on Current News. Here's a short excerpt:

Nigeria is at the center of an increasing number of cases in which children accused of witchcraft are then tortured or killed.

Pastors were involved in half of 200 cases of "witch children" that The Associated Press reviewed, and 13 churches were named in the case files.

Last November, Channel 4 in the UK produced a documentary entitled "Saving Africa's Witch Children" which looked at this problem in Nigeria. (The video is not embeddable - but you can watch part of it over here.)

An editorial in Nigeria's Guardian newspaper later in the month confirmed the terrible accuracy of the documentary:

This documentary exposes a disturbing social reality in Nigeria: the reign of ignorance and obsession with superstition. Poverty has done terrible damage to our society and the souls of men. Surrounded by so much uncertainty and unable to fulfil basic ambitions, Nigerians are increasingly seeking solace in the new churches which promise "miracles and wonders." In these churches, extremism is the norm; any form of disappointment or career setback is identified as the handiwork of witches and wizards. And the priest, claiming to have supernatural powers, immediately points to a child, a relation or a colleague at work as the Devil. So many relationships have been destroyed as a result.

The churches organise what they call special Deliverance sessions, sometimes overnight, or early in the morning and every activity is targeted at "that witch in your life that is blocking your progress". Go to any of those churches and witness how feet-stumping, hysterical men and women scream: "Holy Ghost Fire, Burn Them"; "Father Kill My Enemy" "My enemy die, die. I say die, die, die, die by fire now" Thus, many churches have been taken over by closet assassins and murderers looking for witches, wizards and enemies to kill. Too many atrocities have been committed in Nigeria in God's name.

Even with the efforts of NGOs like Stepping Stones Nigeria to combat this problem in the Niger Delta region, it's a difficult task for the government. Especially since the government has a hard time in general policing the restive Delta region, as Mariana van Zeller found out when she visited Nigeria's MEND rebels.

Recently on the News Blog:
- Maldives holds their cabinet meeting underwater (Video)
- Karzai says yes to Afghanistan recount
- Insider trading: The Tamil Tiger connection

The Maldives is nation of tiny islands in the Indian Ocean. It's not just tiny in square miles, it's also doesn't rise very far out of the sea. That's why government ministers from the Maldives have been doing everything they can to raise awareness about rising sea levels. This weekend, to that end, they held what's being billed as the world's first underwater cabinet meeting.


First Underwater Cabinet Meeting (Video)

This is not the first time the island nation's leaders have attracted world media attention for their plight. In November of last year, newly-elected President Mohamed "Anni" Nasheed made headlines with his plan to buy new land for his people. He said he would set aside $1 billion a year to that purpose.

Recently on the News Blog:
- Karzai says yes to Afghanistan recount
- Insider trading: The Tamil Tiger connection
- Insider trading the new hot crackdown?

The numbers came back and Hamid Karzai, after you adjust for fraud, didn't quite make the over 50% he needed to keep his Presidential win without a run-off.

From Voice of America:

President Karzai says he welcomes the decision by the country's Independent Election Commission to hold a second round of voting on November 7 between himself and top challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.

Now, this doesn't mean Karzai won't win again. He may be able to secure a majority without rigging the vote. Or Abdullah Abdullah could come out on top. The real challenge will be to tamp down the flagrant fraud so that Afghanistan's President, whichever of the candidates it might end up being, actually has some legitimacy.

Recently on the News Blog
- Insider trading: The Tamil Tiger connection
- Insider trading the new hot crackdown?
- Obama marijuana policy – What’s next?

I almost missed this juicy little tidbit from the arrest of Raj Rajaratnam, accused of millions of dollars of deals in insider trading: he's also suspected of helping to finance the Tamil Tigers, Sri Lanka's only recently-defeated insurgent group.

More specifically, authorities have looked into millions of dollars in donations that apparently landed in the coffers of the Tamil Tigers, the violent separatist group that battled the Sri Lankan government for a quarter-century until earlier this year.

A 2007 investigation into the American branch of the Tigers, formally known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or L.T.T.E., turned up an “Individual B” who authorities say donated $2 million to the rebel group. People briefed on the matter, confirming a report in The Wall Street Journal, said that individual was Mr. Rajaratnam.

One of the things that made the Tamil Tigers such a stubborn organization for Sri Lanka's military to defeat was the large amount of financial support they received from the Tamil diaspora around the world. Donors gave huge amounts of money to support the cause of a Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka. Rajaratnam, worth billions, had publicly begun a charity to help rebuild homes after the devastating 2004 tsunami that struck many Tamil villages on Sri Lanka's coasts. He's now implicated in donating directly to the Tigers' cause.

Vanguard's Mariana van Zeller traveled to Sri Lanka as the civil war was coming to a close. "Sri Lanka: Notes From A War On Terror", airing on Wednesday, November 4, documents the controversial strategy the Sri Lankan military undertook to finally bring an end to a Tamil insurgency that lasted thirty years.

Here's a short excerpt from that show:

Sneak Peek: Vanguard Season 3 Suicide Bomb (Video)

Recently on the News blog:
- Is Pakistan's instability spilling into Iran?
- Personal stories about The Oxycontin Express
- Afghanistan might get a runoff election after all

This weekend Federal investigators arrested a billionaire by the name of Raj Rajaratnam accusing him of being the kingpin in a huge multi-million dollar insider trading ring.

Rajaratnam, who founded the Galleon Group in 1997, was arrested with five alleged conspirators on Oct. 16 in what prosecutors called the biggest insider-trading ring targeting a hedge fund. Prosecutors said he and his firm reaped as much as $18 million by investing on tips from a hedge fund, a credit- rating firm and employees within companies including Intel Capital, McKinsey & Co. and IBM Corp.

Reports are today this this is just the beginning of a wider crackdown on insider trading. Given that Congress is mulling new financial regulations, is this perhaps a politically opportune time to go after villains in the financial system?

Recently on the News Blog:
- Is Pakistan's instability spilling into Iran?
- Personal stories about The Oxycontin Express
- Afghanistan might get a runoff election after all
- 7 stories you missed this week – Sarkozy’s son, Mussolini the spy, Bribing the Taliban and more

Over on Current News user current89 pointed us to this story: Obama Issues New Medical Marijuana Policy.

The Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws, under new policy guidelines to be sent to federal prosecutors Monday.

This is a much different tact than the Bush Administration, which carried out federal raids over the protests of state and local officials.

As more states relax their laws around medical marijuana and dispensaries like California's become more common - should we anticipate a shift in federal law that follows this trend? Or will marijuana legalization prove to still be too divisive of a national issue to tackle during Obama's term?

Comment over here on Current News.

Recently on the News blog:
- Personal stories about The Oxycontin Express
- Afghanistan might get a runoff election after all
- 7 stories you missed this week – Sarkozy’s son, Mussolini the spy, Bribing the Taliban and more

As Pakistan pushed into South Waziristan over the weekend, meeting hard fighting from Taliban insurgents, Iran was hit by its own insurgent attack, not far from the Iran-Pakistan border.

A suicide bomber killed over three dozen people including six officers of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. A militant group called Jundallah has claimed responsibility for the attack. They've been battling Iran's government for years and are thought to be hiding just over the border in Pakistan. Iran's President delivered a stern message to his neighbors.

"We have heard that certain officials in Pakistan cooperate with main agents of these terrorist attacks in eastern parts of the country. It is our right to ask [for extradition] of criminals," Ahmadinejad said Sunday night, shortly after Iranian news agencies reported that Tehran had summoned the Pakistani charge d'affairs to the Foreign Ministry.

Iran has also accused the US and Britain of being involved in the attacks.

Mohammad Ali Jafari, the Guards’ commander in chief, told the semiofficial ISNA agency on Monday: “Behind this scene are the American and British intelligence apparatus, and there will have to be retaliatory measures to punish them,” adding that Iran had documents proving their and Pakistani involvement.

Is it possible that the US and Britain are fighting a proxy war with Iran using this Sunni militant group Jundallah? Well both countries have denied any involvement, but there have been questions about whether the US is fighting a proxy war with Iran for years.

In America's Secret War with Iran, Mariana van Zeller reported from the other side of Iran, its northwest border with Iraq, about possibly US-backed militants fighting the Islamic Republic.


America's Secret War with Iran (Video)

Do you think engaging militant groups to attack the Iranian regime is a good tactic? How else could the US deal with the Islamic Republic. Comment on Current News over here.

Previously from the News Blog:
Personal stories about The Oxycontin Express
Afghanistan might get a runoff election after all
7 stories you missed this week – Sarkozy’s son, Mussolini the spy, Bribing the Taliban and more

One of the really frightening things about oxycontin abuse in the US is just how many people have been touched by this problem. I've been watching the comment threads growing on Vanguard's The Oxycontin Express and what's been most surprising, or perhaps most saddening, is the number of people weighing in with their own personal experiences.

User Wharf_rat:

WOW! That was an eye opening episode! After having 3 friends die as a result of overdosing on OxyContin, I thought I knew about the pain medication problem. But you have told the whole story. Thank You!

And user sxyindiechic weighs in with a local perspective:

Way to go Broward County; I have lived in Florida since I was 13 years old; Broward County specifically since I was 14; and I wish I could say this episode surprised me. This pill pandemic has been going on here for years and years; what is surprising is that this is the first honest look at the problem! Christ sakes! Cops started in Broward County and now we have Police Women of Broward County & it took Current to give a fresh perspective on a problem that is and has been pervasive in Broward; its beyond a joke how easy illicit and prescription drugs are to get here; I don't know anyone who hasn't been negatively affected by the pervasiveness of the drug culture here.

User stonefree87 also lives down in Florida:

I lived in Brevard county my entire life until two months ago. Everyone I know down there, including myself, knows someone who has died because of this or at least knows people who are damn near it. I can think of at least 4 people I know who's only source of income is selling these (and they do just fine financially). They'll drive to different counties to visit different doctors and then come back home to unload. And they're addicted themselves. Their entire world revolves around a pill, including their "job".

And at the other end of the pill pipeline, jonsiegirl writes to us from Greenup County, Kentucky.

My grandson, Ryan, died June 29, 2009 from an ovewrdose of Oxycontin that most likely travelled to him from these pseudo Physicians and pharmicists in Florida. Ryan was 22 yers old and was intrduced to this KILLER drug by his best friend. He was very naive and within 3 weeks after his first dose he was dead.

If you haven't had a chance to watch The Oxycontin Express yet, you can watch it below. And if you've already seen it, you can check out exclusive web extras on the page here.


The Oxycontin Express (Video)

Related items:
- Check out more Vanguard
- Read the Vanguard Blog
- Find out more about Prescription Drug Abuse
- Get ready for next week's Vanguard.

Or so said some American and Afghani officials today. Afghanistan's current president Hamid Karzai just won an election that's been decried as fraudulent. But the rules allow for a runoff election between the top two candidates if the results are not conclusive.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Either outcome carries perils. An outright Karzai victory could enrage Dr. Abdullah's supporters, trigger protests and further undermine the legitimacy of Mr. Karzai's government in the eyes of the Afghan public.

But authorities also could have a tough battle proving that results of a runoff are legitimate. The harsh winter months are imminent, and could make it hard for voting to proceed. Election officials will have to find ways to mitigate fraud in the second round, a major challenge in a country where security conditions are too poor in many areas for monitors to observe the polling.

Recently on the Current News Blog
- 7 stories you missed this week - Sarkozy's son, Mussolini the spy, Bribing the Taliban and more
- What does Karzai’s fraud mean for Afghanistan?
- Is Cuba ready for a revolution?
- Is the Large Hadron Collider being sabotaged from the future?
- Sarkozy to Gordon Brown: No Homo

Despite how closely you followed the balloon boy, all those attacks in Pakistan and the boobs of Meghan McCain - there was plenty of news you missed this week. Here's seven of those stories:

The French twitter-sphere has been going nuts this week over the promotion of Nicolas Sarkozy's son, Jean Sarkozy to a top job, heading up the organization that oversees the Parisian business district La Defense. Jean is 23 and hasn't yet finished his college degree. Nonetheless, his papa the President says he's qualified. Critics on Twitter have accused the government of becoming a #bananarepublique. From the NYTimes: Sarkozy defends son's nomination for plum job

A story out of history - documents released this week show that Benito Mussolini, best remembered for allying Italy with the Nazis in World War II, was actually a spy for the British during World War I. Il Duce was a journalist and was paid 100 pounds a week to persuade his countrymen not to abandon the British in their fight against Germany. From the Guardian: Recruited by MI5: the name's Mussolini. Benito Mussolini

Did Italy pay off the Taliban? The Times in Britain alleges that while Italian troops were stationed in Afghanistan they were paying bribes to the local Taliban to keep the peace. Last year the Italians were replaced by the French, who knew nothing of the hush money and thought they'd gotten a quiet posting. Then came a deadly ambush that killed ten troops and shocked the French public. Berlusconi's government has denied the bribes allegation. From The Times: French troops were killed after Italy hushed up 'bribes' to the Taleban

No surprise - The Bush administration didn't want the EPA to talk about climate change. But this week, the agency quietly released an actual 2007 document in which they recommended that the government take action on greenhouse gases. From the LA Times: Bush-era EPA document on climate change released

China began sentencing Xinjiang protestors this week for their involvement in the July ethnic riots. A few of those convicted were Han Chinese, but mostly they were Uighurs, the ethnic minority dominant in the province. The convictions were condemned by Uighurs living in exile abroad. From the NYTimes: Six More Sentenced to Death Over Riots in China - NYTimes.com
Background: Laura Ling on the Uighurs in Xinjiang Province: China's Wild West (Video)

It might end up being a setback for the government's efforts to punish former leaders of energy company Enron - the Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from former CEO Jeff Skilling. His defense maintains that he didn't lie to shareholders and that he couldn't have had a fair trial in Houston (where people were understandably a little pissed at Enron). From the WSJ: Supreme Court to Hear Appeal of Enron's Skilling

The International Criminal Court announced this week that it would investigate recent military violence in Guinea. Meanwhile though, China signed a massive energy and mining deal with Guinea's military junta. As Vanguard's Mariana van Zeller reported in Chinatown, Africa (Video), China has been quietly making in-roads into Africa for years, not shying away from signing deals with dictators or military regimes. From the BBC: Guinea and China agree big deal
Background: Chinatown, Africa (Video)

Lastly, a suggestion from Twitter. User @aerogare wondered why a French nuclear plant had several kilograms has extra plutonium they weren't reporting. As the fight against nuclear proliferation tends to focus on former Soviet states, it's unnerving to see these sorts of problems in a developed country like France. From Deutsche Welle: French nuclear plant reveals plutonium level discrepancies

Was there a story out there this week we missed? Let us know.

This week on the Current News Blog:
- What does Karzai’s fraud mean for Afghanistan?
- Is Cuba ready for a revolution?
- Is the Large Hadron Collider being sabotaged from the future?
- Sarkozy to Gordon Brown: No Homo
- Health care reform: Is it over yet? (No, it’s not)
- Sri Lankan government to try to ride civil war victory to re-election
- California to release about 20K prisoners

UN envoy Peter Galbraith was recently fired from his post in Afghanistan. He says it was because he was too vocal about widespread fraud in the recent Afghan elections.

Vierotchka on Current News posted this interview with Galbraith today where he talks with Katie Couric about the fraud that took place:


Afghan Election Fraud - Current News

The new illegitimacy of Karzai's government has been one of the key factors in the Washington debates over what to do with Afghanistan. It'll be that much harder to win the peace if no one in the country respects its leader.

So what's to be done with Karzai? Will there be a runoff election in which perhaps Abdullah Abdullah would beat out Karzai? What if there's not?

Recently from the Afghanistan War group:
- Taliban strength in Afghanistan nears military proportion
- Rampant corruption in Afghanistan is key issue: top general
- Fighting IEDs with advertising: Mad Men in Afghanistan?

That's the question Adrian Baschuk of the Vanguard team went down to Havana to find the answer to. And that's the subject of next week's episode.


Cuba: Waiting For A Revolution - Promo (Video)

Cuba was under the rule of Fidel Castro for pretty much all of the last 50 years, but now with Fidel's brother Raul in charge and a new American President talking reconciliation, a lot of Cuba-watchers are wondering if big change is in the works. There are plenty of little changes happening that give cause to their interest. For example, The Economist reported this week on a small change in the country's lunch policy.

THIS month staff at four government ministries in Havana had to make new arrangements for lunch. The ministries’ free canteens were shut down and workers given a wage increase of 15 pesos ($0.60) a day in compensation. Since that raises their salaries by more than half in return for losing an often poor-quality lunch, on this occasion Granma, the daily newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, may have got it right when it headlined the news, “Giving, more than taking away”.

And today the Miami Herald reports that Cuba has just given the US access to meet with jailed dual-citizens. This in addition to the recent relaxing of travel restrictions for American citizens of Cuban descent.

Possibly significant changes - but do they herald a coming revolution in Cuba? Is Communism on the island approaching its end? Tune in next week to Vanguard and find out what Adrian learned.

Things you can do while you wait for next week's episode of Vanguard:
- Subscribe to the Vanguard Blog
- Join the group Cuba at 50
- Watch The Oxycontin Express (and exclusive extras from the show)

It might not necessarily be news (yet??) but I just love this story asking whether or not the Large Hadron Collider, plagued with problems over the last few months, is the target of time-travelers desperate to stop its attempts to find the Higgs-Boson.

Posted to current.com by Vierotchoka: Is the Large Hadron Collider Being Sabotaged From The Future?

The quest to observe the Higgs boson has certainly been plagued by its share of troubles, from the cancellation of the Superconducting Supercollider in 1993 to the Large Hadron Collider's streak of technical troubles. In fact, the projects have suffered such bad luck that Holger Bech Nielsen of the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen and Masao Ninomiya of the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics in Kyoto wonder if it isn't bad luck at all, but future influences rippling back to sabotage them. In papers like "Test of Effect From Future in Large Hadron Collider: a Proposal" and "Search for Future Influence From LHC," they put forth the notion that observing the Higgs boson would be such an abhorrent event that the future is actually trying to prevent it from happening.

Related on Current:
- Current Tech
- Current Tech Blog
- The Time Travel group on Current

As Pakistan's military is prepping their strike against the Taliban in South Waziristan, the militants seem to be attacking right back. Dressed as police officers, attackers besieged three different law enforcement agencies in the city of Lahore killing over 30 people.

Five militants scaled the wall of the police training center, where more than 800 recruits had just started classes, said Maj. Gen. Shafqat Ahmed, the officer commanding security forces in Lahore.

In the ensuing two-hour battle between the hundreds of army commandos and the gunmen, one attacker was killed early on and another detonated a suicide bomb. The three surviving militants then tried to move to a residential compound, but families locked themselves inside while commandos fired on the assailants.

This is just the latest in a series of brazen attacks from militants. Is it a sign of weakness in the government's efforts? Or is it a new desperate tactic from a Taliban that is facing certain doom in South Waziristan?

Turning the attacks against Pakistani cities certainly hasn't seemed to win the Taliban any converts among the residents there. From a Lahore blog:

Yes, we are living in insecure times and when a full-fledged war is being raged against these mug-heads, they are sure to strike back. What makes all Pakistanis proud is the sacrifice of life that our soldiers and policemen are making to fight terrorism and to protect common citizens like you and me.

We should pray for these brave sons of the soil and help them by providing any information that we are able to gather against terrorists or suspicious activities around our cities and neighborhoods.

To all the policemen who lost their life today in Lahore and Kohat; every Lahori and Pakistani salutes you!

If you're in Pakistan let us know how the attacks are affecting daily life. Are they at all?

Recently from the Current News Blog:
- Sarkozy to Gordon Brown: No Homo
- Military recruiting up, thanks to the recession
- Sri Lankan government to try to ride civil war victory to re-election

A great moment in international diplomacy, courtesy of the fine folks over at FP Passport who found this little gem in the Guardian:

Tom Fletcher, Mr Brown's private secretary, recalls Nicolas Sarkozy, French president, telling the prime minister at the height of the crisis: "You know, Gordon, I should not like you. You are Scottish, we have nothing in common and you are an economist. But somehow, Gordon, I love you." Mr Sarkozy hastily added: "But not in a sexual way."

Infomania's Bryan Safi is actually a renowned expert in the use of the phrase 'no homo' and would likely recommend it's use here.


That's Gay: No Homo(Video)

Related links:
- Check out more That's Gay from Bryan Safi
- Watch more Infomania
- Visit the Current Comedy blog

Despite being embroiled in two wars, for the first time in over three decades, the military has met all of its recruitment goals. From the Washington Post:

For the first time in more than 35 years, the U.S. military has met all of its annual recruiting goals, as hundreds of thousands of young people have enlisted despite the near-certainty that they will go to war.

The Pentagon, which made the announcement Tuesday, said the economic downturn and rising joblessness, as well as bonuses and other factors, had led more qualified youths to enlist.

The Iraq and Afghanistan Wars had made recruiting difficult over the last few years and led to new, sometimes controversial recruiting techniques - like setting up video game stations in malls. It will be interesting to see if, as the recession begins to clear, the numbers start to fall off again.

Are you in the military? Tell us about why and when you joined up.

Recently on the Current News Blog
- Tonight’s the night – Vanguard season premiere
- Health care reform: Is it over yet? (No, it’s not)
- Sri Lankan government to try to ride civil war victory to re-election

After a long wait (here at Current, at least) the new season of Vanguard premieres tonight. Vanguard is one of those things we make at Current that makes me exceptionally proud to work here. To hear Laura Ling talk about their mission (or producer Mitch Koss talk about where Vanguard came from) you can gather why.

Vanguard is the sort of journalism our world needs right now. Especially on television. I've watched closely for the last few years as our television news sources have slowly degraded. We get plenty of commentary but very little original reporting. It's hard to put new information out there and it's even harder to do it well, and quite frankly television news has become about doing what's easy.

I hope you tune in tonight for The Oxycontin Express (at 10pm ET and again at 10pm PT) and for the rest of the season (every Wednesday night). I think you'll see why we're so proud of Vanguard at Current.

(And why we're proud to see them get such glowing reviews in the LA Times.)


Vanguard Season Preview(Video)

Get caught up on your Vanguard with some previous episodes:
- Rebels in the Pipeline - Mariana van Zeller reports from Nigeria
- Narco War Next Door - Laura Ling reports from Mexico
- I Heart Global Warming - Adam Yamaguchi reports from Greenland
- From Russia With Hate: Vanguard's award-winning look at the rise of neo-Nazis in Russia
- China's Wild West: Laura Ling covers the Uighurs in Xinjiang Province, China

The long-awaiting Senate Finance Committee vote on the health care bill came today and guess what? They voted to send the bill to the Senate floor! The vote split down party lines with a much-mentioned yes vote from Republican Olympia Snowe. So that means we're done right? Not so fast. Next up: Plenty more political wrangling on Capitol Hill. Lots of it. Keep in mind, the Senate still has to vote, there will probably be further amendments to the bill, AND the House is still working on their version of the bill.

While we wait, here's a fun interactive feature from the NY Times: Health Care Conversations.

And also a Collective Journalism piece about one young woman's search for health insurance.

No Healthcare for Me (Video)

Also From Obama: The First Term on Current News
- When will Obama end Don't Ask Don't Tell?
- Obama’s Nobel Reactions: An albatross of expectation?
- Obama Remembers the Gays