Alexander Wants Free Education By 2009
Stewart A. Alexander,

The plan Alexander is presenting will unfold over the next three years; first, students will receive a 35 percent reduction in college tuition fees by 2007, by 2008 students will receive an additional 20 percent reduction on fees, and by 2009 all state colleges and universities will offer free education.



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Gay Marriage: The Game, Not the Name
Mark Gabrish Conlan/Zenger’s Newsmagazine,

A response to the New Jersey state supreme court decision of October 25 requiring that the New Jersey legislature offer same-sex couples all the rights and benefits of married heterosexual couples but not necessarily under the term "marriage." The author argues that this represents the best outcome the Queer community can achieve on the marriage issue and that Queers should reject the label of marriage for their relationships, both because agitating for the M-word is politically counterproductive and because in many ways the traditional, historical and cultural norms associated with the term "marriage" do not apply to same-gender relationships in general and Gay male relationships in particular.
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Local Volunteer Speaks on Katrina Cleanup
Mark Gabrish Conlan/Zenger’s Newsmagazine,

Encinitas roofing contractor and San Diego Veterans for Peace activist Jim Brown spoke at the First Unitarian-Universalist Church in Hillcrest October 24 and discussed his experiences joining the volunteer effort to clean up New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Professionally trained in mold removal — a major need following any sort of flood — Brown offered expertise and tools, told workers what protective equipment they needed, saw the effects of racism first-hand and said many of his fellow volunteers, most of whom were sent by churches, were being moved towards the Left poltically by seeing the havoc left by Katrina and the failure of government at all levels — federal, state and local — to deal with the aftermath.
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Senator Barbara Boxer Speaks @ Claire de Lune
Mark Gabrish Conlan/Zenger’s Newsmagazine,

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer spoke at Claire de Lune coffeehouse in North Park October 18 to promote the paperback publication of her novel, "A Time to Run," but most of the questions she got were about politics and the future of the country and the Democratic party. Her response to speculations about future elections was simple: forget about anything past November 7, 2006 and make sure to register, vote and maximize the turnout of Democrats to take back the House and Senate.
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Over 500 Attend “World Can’t Wait” Demo
Mark Gabrish Conlan/Zenger’s Newsmagazine,

Over 500 people attended “World Can’t Wait,” San Diego's contribution to a nationwide mobilization to demand the immediate removal of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney from office, downtown at Horton Plaza on October 5. But the speakers at the event, which included a rally as well as a march through the Gaslamp Quarter, differed dramatically on their attitudes towards electoral politics and whether the Democrats present a reasonable alternative to the Republicans.
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Gerry Studds, Openly Gay Congressmember, Dies
Mark Gabrish Conlan/Zenger’s Newsmagazine,

By one of those ironies fiction writers dream about, the first openly Gay U.S. Congressmember, Gerry Studds — who was outed in 1983 by a former House page with whom he'd had a consensual affair 10 years earlier — died on October 14 at age 69 in the middle of the scandal around former Congressmember Mark Foley's sexually explicit approaches to pages. In 1986, Studds gave an interview to Mark Gabrish Conlan for the Gayzette, recently reprinted in Zenger's Newsmagazine in a freshly edited version from the original transcript. In it, he discussed his feelings of personal liberation when he was finally out of the closet and the degree to which intensely ideological Republican presidents like Ronald Reagan (and, one might add, George W. Bush) have deviated from the centrist views of most Americans.
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Cygnet's "Bug": Paranoia Loves Company
Mark Gabrish Conlan/Zenger’s Newsmagazine,