Pedophilia Advocate Under Arrest: Join the Live Chat
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/01/02/liveblogfinal.copy.jpg]
Tonight, the author who advocates pedophilia is in jail. Philip Greaves, arrested at his home, today, in Pueblo Colorado. Deputies from Polk County Florida crossing the country to bust him. The charge, obscenity, after they say he sold them a copy, purportedly his last copy, an autographed copy, of his book, "The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-lover's Code of Conduct." We'll bring you all the details & tonight's headlines.
Scroll down to join the live chat during the program. It's your chance to share your thoughts on tonight's headlines. Keep in mind, you have a better chance of having your comment get past our moderators if you follow our rules.
Here are some of them:
1) Keep it short (we don't have time to read a "book")
2) Don't write in ALL CAPS (there's no need to yell)
3) Use your real name (first name only is fine)
4) No links
5) Watch your language (keep it G-rated; PG at worst - and that includes $#&*)
Beat 360° 12/20/10
Ready for today's Beat 360°? Everyday we post a picture you provide the caption and our staff will join in too. Tune in tonight at 10pm to see if you are our favorite! Here is the 'Beat 360°' pic:
David Hasselhoff smiles in the mirror in his dressing room at the New Theatre on December 20, 2010 in Wimbledon, England. (Photo credit: Chris Jackson/Getty Images for T-Mobile)
Have fun with it. We're looking forward to your captions! Make sure to include your name, city, state (or country) so we can post your comment.
Update: Beat 360° Winners:
Staff
Katie Ross
“Because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggonit, people like me!"
Viewer
Jarrett
"I'm lookin' pretty good tonight. No one will remember that burger after I come out looking this good."
___________________________________________________________________________
Bloomberg urges passage of 9/11 health bill
CNN Wire Staff
New York (CNN) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined lawmakers, police and fire officials on Monday in urging U.S. Senate passage of a health care bill benefiting September 11 rescue workers.
"The time for excuses is over," Bloomberg said. "The Senate has a full week ahead of it and should not adjourn until it passes this bill."
Bloomberg said the measure is paid for by "other revenue generators," referencing a procurement fee on some foreign countries that trade with the United States, the continuation of a fee on some travelers to the United States and a fee on visas for some companies.
"There are men and women dying today," said Republican Rep. Peter King, who stood beside Bloomberg during Monday's news conference. "We are absolutely obligated to pass this bill for them."
The bill has been in legislative limbo since Thursday, when Senate Democrats failed to win a procedural vote to open debate on it.
But on Sunday, the Democrats said they were hopeful they had pulled off "a Christmas miracle" by changing the bill enough to garner Republican support.
Man who wrote 'how-to' for pedophiles arrested
CNN Wire Staff
(CNN) - The man behind a controversial book considered a "how-to" guide for pedophiles was arrested in Colorado, officials in Florida said Monday.
"You cannot engage or depict children in a harmful relationship," said Polk County, Florida, Sheriff Grady Judd as he described the Florida obscenity statute that officials used to charge Phillip Greaves with distribution of obscene material depicting minors engaged in harmful conduct.
The self-published author was arrested in Pueblo, Colorado, on a Florida felony warrant after undercover detectives in Polk County purchased and received a copy of the book through the mail. He will have to be extradited to Florida to face charges.
Judd said the book was Greaves' last copy, which he autographed before sending out.
Greaves and his book, "The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover's Code of Conduct," gained national attention earlier this year after Amazon.com defended selling the book on its website despite angry comments and threats of boycotts from thousands of users.
Amazon pulled the book from its site in early November.
CNN Poll: How Obama stacks up against predecessors
CNN Political Unit
Washington (CNN) – As President Barack Obama ends his second year in office, a new national poll indicates that just under half of all Americans approve of the job he's doing in the White House, lower than most of his recent predecessors at the same time in their first term in office.
According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday, the public is split on how Obama has handled his duties, with 48 percent saying they approve and an equal amount saying they disapprove.
Food safety bill, thought dead, passes unanimously
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/12/01/t1larg.s510.jpg caption="The Senate voted on the slightly modified bill on Sunday and S.510 is now expected to receive a final vote in the House before the President signs it into law." width=300 height=169]
(CNN) - Rumors of the Food Safety Modernization Act's demise proved premature. The Senate passed the Food Safety Bill, as amended by Senator Jon Tester, yesterday afternoon by unanimous consent.
The bill, designed to increase government inspections of the food supply in the wake of recent deadly foodborne disease outbreaks, originally passed with wide support in both chambers. However, it faced an uncertain future, requiring re-approval because it violated a Constitutional requirement that bills that raise revenue initiate in the House.
Letters to the President: #700 'The Chicago cowboy Christmas'
Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent
Reporter's Note: The White House always seems like a busy but orderly place. I have been to places where that is not so much the case…
Dear Mr. President,
It just occurred to me as I started to write that this is letter number 700. How about that? Seems as if you started in office and I started writing only days ago. And I suppose it was. 700 days ago. Ha!
As you may recall, around Christmastime I often give politics a bit of a rest and tend to simply write a bit more about the season. After all, I’m pretty sure we’ll still have plenty of bickering and arm twisting to play with in January.
I suppose at times like this your memories drift back to Chicago and, oddly enough, mine do too. My father, as I have told you, was from Chicago and he told me the most wonderful tales of growing up there. His family was poor to be sure, but as a child that notion largely eluded me. I just thought his youth had been one great adventure.
One year at Christmas we went to visit one of his sisters and her three boys, our cousins. Not that we knew them. They were young and my dad’s military service had kept us far from the city for many years, so as far as my sister, brother, and I were concerned, we were going to spend quality time with strangers.
I can’t recall if we were going for dinner, or just to visit a while, or what. What I distinctly remember was the surprise of finding out that my relatives did not live in a house (as virtually every person I knew did in the suburban or rural places where we had lived; not grand houses by any stretch, instead, simple, plain, but houses nonetheless) but rather our kin lived in an apartment. Third or fourth floor as I recall. And the second surprise came moments later when I met my cousins.
FULL POST
Repealing 'don't ask, don't tell': the next steps
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/POLITICS/12/15/gays.in.military/story.dadt.repeal.gi.jpg caption="President Obama is set to sign the repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell' this week." width=300 height=169]
CNN Wire Staff
Washington (CNN) - Although Congress has now voted to repeal the military's controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy, it will be at least a few months before the historic change takes effect.
President Barack Obama is likely to sign the repeal this week, setting the stage to allow gay people to serve openly in the armed forces. The Pentagon, however, has an 87-page implementation plan for the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." Over the next several weeks, military officials need to examine and rewrite a series of policies, regulations and directives related to the current law.
Once that potentially lengthy process is complete, Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen will each have to certify that the repeal can move ahead without negatively affecting unit cohesion and military readiness.
After the certification, another 60 days will need to pass before the repeal is officially enacted.
Even after the repeal, gay and lesbian servicemembers will not have every right and privilege accorded to heterosexual members of the military, largely because of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
What happened in the Senate this weekend
CNNPolitics.com
Washington (CNN) - While you might have been finishing up your holiday shopping over the weekend, the Senate was hard at work. Here's what you missed - and what still remains to be done as the lame-duck Congress comes to a close.
Don't ask, don't tell
History was made on Saturday when the Senate reversed the military's long-standing "don't ask, don't tell" law, which bans openly gay servicemembers from serving.
Eight Republicans and Joe Lieberman, I-Connecticut, joined Democrats to back the bill, which passed by a 65-31 margin. The bill needed a simple majority - meaning support from 51 of the Senate's 100 members - to pass.
The House passed the bill by a 250 to 175 margin on Wednesday.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said President Obama will sign the bill into law this week.
START
Senate Republicans mounted a counterattack Sunday against ratifying a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia this year, trying to put off a vote that Democrats say they would win.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN's "State of the Union" that Republicans need more time to consider the START accord.
The treaty would resume mutual inspections of U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals, while limiting each nation to 1,550 warheads and 700 launchers.
Democrats, meanwhile, rejected a Republican amendment to the treaty's preamble that would have added a reference to tactical nuclear weapons, which are not covered by the pact.
Humane Society president open to Michael Vick owning dogs again
CNN Wire Staff
(CNN) - The head of one of America's biggest animal protection organizations said Thursday that Michael Vick, who served prison time for his role in a deadly dogfighting operation, should have the opportunity to bring a dog home - in due time.
Related video: Michael Vick added to The RidicuList
Humane Society President Wayne Pacelle told HLN's Jane Velez-Mitchell that the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback shouldn't get a pet immediately and should have to meet certain milestones whenever he does. But Pacelle, whose group has worked with Vick in public outreach efforts, said that it would be wrong to close the door to his ever having a dog again.
"He's been going through counseling, he's been speaking to kids twice a month, and he needs to interact with animals," said Pacelle. "If he continues to hit these markers, then if his daughter wants a dog two or three years down the line,... I'm saying that we should be open to that possibility."
Under the terms of his conviction, Vick is currently barred from owning an animal. But the Newport News, Virginia, native this week told The Grio, a news website focused on an African-American audience, that he would "love to have another dog in the future."
"I think it would be a great step in my rehabilitation process," Vick said. "Just to have a pet in my household and show people that I genuinely care, (to show) my love and my passion for animals, I think, would be outstanding."
