Thursday, November 29, 2012

Friday, November 16, 2012

City Council asks L.A. residents to go 'meatless' on Mondays

latimes/For one day each week, the Los Angeles City Council wants residents to go vegetarian.
In a unanimous 12-0 vote, the council approved a resolution Friday endorsing the "meatless Monday" campaign and asking residents to make a personal pledge to ditch meat for one day a week.
The resolution makes L.A. the largest city to     sign on to the international "Meatless Mondays" campaign, which aims to reduce meat consumption for health and environmental reasons.
It also comes two years after L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told The Times that he had cut meat from his Monday diet as part of his health regimen.
According to the nonprofit campaign, which was started in 2003 in conjunction with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health, cutting meat from your diet can reduce the risk on cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity.
The resolution, introduced by Councilwoman Jan Perry and Councilman Ed Reyes, cites statistics showing health disparities facing Los Angeles residents, specifically those living in low-income areas with lack of access to health foods.
It also notes that, according to the department of Health Services, more than half of Los Angeles County residents are obese or overweight.

Obama warns McCain: Go after U.N. Ambassador Rice?

President Barack Obama speaks at his first news conference since his reelection. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
yahoo/President Barack Obama bluntly told John McCain and other Republicans to lay off their attacks against U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice over the Benghazi assault, telling lawmakers that if they go after her "then you have a problem with me." And Obama, speaking at his first post-election press conference, vowed that Republican opposition would not dissuade him from nominating Rice to replace departing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"I don't think there's any debate in this country that when you have four Americans killed that's a problem," he told reporters in the East Room of the White House. "And we've go to get to the bottom of it, and there needs to be accountability, we've got to bring those who carried it out to justice --they won't get any debate from me on that."
"But when they go after the U.N. ambassador, apparently because they think she's an easy target, then they've got a problem with me," he warned.
McCain, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and some other Republicans have signaled they will oppose Rice's confirmation if Obama nominates her. Their numbers thus far seem far short of the 40 needed to block it, and some Republican senators have signaled that she should get a fair hearing.
"Let me say specifically about Susan Rice: She has done exemplary work. She has represented the United States and our interests in the United Nations with skill, and professionalism, and toughness, and grace," Obama said.
"And should I choose, if I think that she would be the best person to serve America in the capacity of the State Department, then I will nominate her," he vowed. "That's not a determination that I've made yet."
Rice and Democratic Senator John Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, are seen as the front-runners in the race to succeed Clinton.
Conservatives have assailed Rice, who is close to Obama, ever since she made the rounds of the Sunday morning talk shows and said that American intelligence believed that the attack on the American compound in Benghazi, which claimed the lives of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, grew out of demonstrations against an Internet video that ridicules Islam.
"As that unfolded, it seems to have been hijacked, let us say, by some individual clusters of extremists who came with heavier weapons, weapons that, as you know, in the wake of the revolution in Libya are quite common and accessible. And it then evolved from there," she told ABC.
White House aides have said that Rice was speaking based on the best available intelligence at the time.
"She made an appearance at the request of the White House in which she gave her best understanding of the intelligence provided to her," Obama said Wednesday. "If Senator McCain and Senator Graham want to go after somebody, they should go after me."
"But for them to go after the U.N. ambassador, who had nothing to do with Benghazi, and was simply making a presentation based on intelligence that she had received, and to besmirch her reputation is outrageous," he said.
"We're after an election now," he scolded. "I think it is important for us to find out exactly what happened in Benghazi, and I'm happy to cooperate in any ways that Congress wants. We have provided every bit of information that we have and we will continue to provide information and we've got a full-blown investigation. And all that information will be disgorged to Congress."
McCain and Graham hit back quickly.
"I have always said that the buck stops with the President of the United States," the Arizona senator said in a written statement. McCain accused Obama of "contradictory statements" about the attack, labeling it an "act of terror" the day after it happened then resisting the use of the word "terrorism" for roughly a week afterwards.
"We owe the American people and the families of the murdered Americans a full and complete explanation, which for two months the President has failed to deliver," said McCain, who has called for Congress to create a "select committee" to investigate.
"Mr. President, don't think for one minute I don't hold you ultimately responsible for Benghazi.  I think you failed as commander in chief before, during and after the attack," Graham said in a statement released by his office.
"We owe it to the American people and the victims of this attack to have full, fair hearings and accountability be assigned where appropriate. Given what I know now, I have no intention of promoting anyone who is up to their eyeballs in the Benghazi debacle," Graham said.
Obama opened what was his first press conference in months with a vow to work with both parties in Congress to tackle the so-called fiscal cliff and revive the economy. He also said he had "no evidence" that the scandal that led David Petraeus to resign in disgrace from his job as CIA director had led to breaches in classified national security material.
"Right now our economy is still recovering from a very deep and damaging crisis, so our top priority has to be jobs and growth," Obama said in opening remarks in the East Room of the White House.
"Both parties can work together" to address the fiscal challenges "in a balanced and responsible way," he said, before pushing Republicans to sign on to his call for raising taxes on the richest Americans.
Asked whether the scandal the drove Petraeus from office had led to national security breaches, Obama replied: "I have no evidence at this point, from what I've seen, that classified information was disclosed that in any way would have had a negative impact on our national security." And the president praised the retired general, saying "we are safer because of the work Dave Petraeus has done."
Asked for his appraisal of the FBI's work in bringing to light the marital infidelity that Petraeus cited in his resignation message, and why he and the American public learned of the probe only earlier this month, Obama said "I am withholding judgment" on that process but expressed "a lot of confidence generally in the FBI."
Turning to his tax battle with Republicans, Obama stuck by his vow to oppose any legislation that extends the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. The president, asked why he had agreed to extend them in the 2010 lame duck session of Congress, said that "was a one-time proposition" and that "we cannot afford" to do so again.
Obama said he would be willing to look at raising tax revenues by closing loopholes. But he warned that doing so would probably not outweigh an estimated trillion dollars lost by extending tax cuts on income above $250,000. "The math tends not to work," he said.
"I just want to emphasize: I am open to new ideas," Obama underlined. "If the Republican counterparts or some Democrats have a great idea for us to raise revenue, maintain progressivity, make sure the middle class isn't getting hit, reduces our deficit, encourages growth, I'm not going to just slam the door in their face. I want to hear ideas from everybody."
And he reiterated that he does not want just a stopgap agreement with Congress.
"I want a big deal, I want a comprehensive deal," he said. "Fair-minded people can come to an agreement."
Obama, who won the Latino vote by a lopsided margin, also vowed to pursue comprehensive immigration reform in his second term. He said it should include border enforcement, penalties for companies that knowingly hire undocumented workers, while providing "a pathway for legal status" for those who pay their taxes and learn English. He also said it should lock in his presidential determination that undocumented immigrants brought here as children should not be deported but have a potential path to citizenship.
"We need to seize the moment," he said, predicting that "we will have a bill introduced and we begin the process in Congress very soon after my inauguration."
Obama addressed a handful of other issues:
- On the standoff over Iran's suspect nuclear program
Obama pledged to "try to make a push in the coming months to see if we can open up a dialogue between Iran and not just us but the international community, to see if we can get this thing resolved." "I can't promise that Iran will walk through the door that they need to walk though, but that would be very much the preferable option" to military action, he said.
- On the possibility of working with Republican rival Mitt Romney
Obama said that "we haven't scheduled something yet." "I think everybody needs to catch their breath. I'm sure that Governor Romney is spending some time with his family. And my hope is, before the end of the year, though, that we have a chance to sit down and talk," the president said.
- On whether he has a mandate
"I don't presume that because I won an election, that everybody suddenly agrees with me on any — everything. I'm more than familiar with all the literature about presidential overreach in second terms," Obama said. "We are very cautious about that."
"On the other hand, I didn't get re-elected just to bask in re- election. I got elected to do work on behalf of American families and small businesses all across the country who are still recovering from a really bad recession but are hopeful about the future. And I am, too."
- On climate change
Obama said he would embark "over the next several weeks, next several months" in a "wide-ranging discussion" with scientists, engineers, elected officials and others about "short-term" steps in reducing carbon emissions blamed for fueling global warming. But he seemed pessimistic about any broad response.
"I don't know what either Democrats or Republicans are prepared to do," he said. "There's no doubt that for us to take on climate change in a serious way would involve making some tough political choices."
"And you know, understandably, I think the American people right now have been so focused and will continue to be focused on our economy and jobs and growth that, you know, if the message is somehow we're going to ignore jobs and growth simply to address climate change, I don't think anybody's going to go for that. I won't go for that."
- On relations with the media. Bloomberg reporter Hans Nichols shouted out a question about taxes after Obama had indicated that he had already taken his final query.
"That was a great question, but it would be a horrible precedent for me to answer your question just because you yelled it out," he said. "So thank you very much, guys."
 

Egypt 'baby trafficking ring' broken up in Cairo

bbc/A child-trafficking ring that sold 300 babies over three years has been broken up in Cairo, Egyptian police say.
Two nurses and a doctor at a Cairo hospital are among five people arrested and police say they are still searching for the hospital manager.
The babies were reportedly sold to childless couples after Caesarean sections were performed on women carrying unwanted children.
Babies were said to have been sold for up to 3,500 Egyptian pounds($570;£360).
According to Egyptian media reports, women who had come forward too late for an abortion were offered a Caesarean section and their babies were then sold on, apparently at a profit.
Abortions are lawful in Egypt if the mother's health is at risk.
Only a limited form of adoption is allowed, to the extent that children cannot take the name of their adoptive families.
Trade in such a black market in babies would have enabled couples to avoid Egypt's legal restrictions, the BBC's Kevin Connolly in Cairo reports.
Although the details of the case provided by police are sketchy, it appears they have disrupted an extensive child-trafficking ring, our correspondent says.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Irish doctors seek new abortion law after a death

 IMAGE: Protestors outside Leinster House in Dublin Wednesday Nov. 14, 2012, hold up posters that picture Savita Halappanavar, who was refused an abortion and died  after suffering a miscarriage and septicemia.
Thousands protested in Ireland and parents cried out in India after a miscarrying woman died having been refused an abortion. The laws have to change, Irish physicians say.
DUBLIN/NEW DELHI — Pressure is mounting in Ireland for the government to draft a law spelling out when life-saving abortions can be performed following the death in the hospital of a pregnant woman who was denied an abortion.
Thousands have rallied in London, Dublin, Cork and Galway in memory of Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old dentist who died a week after doctors said she was starting to miscarry her 17-week-old fetus.
Despite her pain, doctors refused her request for an abortion for three days because the fetus had a heartbeat. She died from blood poisoning three days after the fetus died.
Irish gynecologists said Thursday they want the government to close a 20-year-old hole in abortion law that leaves them fearing prosecution if they abort a living fetus to protect a woman's life.
Earlier, in New Delhi, Halappanavar's parents slammed Ireland's abortion laws .
"In an attempt to save a 4-month-old fetus they killed my 30-year-old daughter. How is that fair? You tell me," A. Mahadevi, Halappanavar's mother, told several Indian television stations. Her daughter actually was 31 when she died.
"How many more cases will there be? The rules should be changed as per the requirement of Hindus. We are Hindus, not Christians," she said.
Halappanavar's father, Andanappa Yalagi, said the combination of medical negligence and Irish abortion laws led to his daughter's death.
The spokesman for India's Ministry of External Affairs, Syed Akbaruddin, said in a Twitter post that the Indian Embassy in Dublin was "following the matter."
Halappanavar's husband, Praveen, said doctors at University Hospital Galway in western Ireland determined that his wife was miscarrying within hours of her hospitalization for severe pain Oct. 21. He said over the next three days, doctors refused their requests for an abortion to combat her searing pain and fading health.
It was only after the fetus died that its remains were surgically removed. Within hours, Savita was placed under sedation in intensive care with blood poisoning, her husband said. By Oct. 27, her heart, kidneys and liver had stopped working, and she was pronounced dead the next day.
Three separate investigations are looking into the cause of Halappanavar's death.
Ireland's constitution officially bans abortion, but a 1992 Supreme Court ruling said the procedure should be legalized for situations when the woman's life is at risk from continuing the pregnancy. Five governments since have refused to pass a law resolving the confusion, leaving Irish hospitals reluctant to terminate pregnancies except in the most obviously life-threatening circumstances.
An estimated 4,000 Irish women travel next door to England every year, where abortion has been legal on demand since 1967. But that option is difficult, if not impossible, if the woman's health is failing.

Spain promises to spare needy from eviction after suicides

(Reuters) - Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos promised on Monday that no needy family will go homeless over mortgage arrears, responding to public fury at a homeowner's suicide as she was being evicted.
Facing accusations that politicians and banks are complicit in de facto "murder", Spain's banking association said its members would suspend eviction orders for two years for those borrowers worst hit by economic crisis and record unemployment.
Banks have repossessed close to 400,000 homes in Spain since a property bubble burst in 2008 and the nation subsequently sank into recession, throwing millions out of work and unable to keep up mortgage payments to the banks.
Last Friday's suicide of 53-year-old Amaia Egana has inflamed a public already angered by what they see as a lack of compassion among Spanish banks, many of which have benefited from taxpayer-funded bailouts organized by the political elite.
Egana, a former Socialist councilor in northern Spain, jumped to her death from her fourth-floor flat as bailiffs were trying to evict her under foreclosure laws.
Speaking in Brussels, de Guindos said action was vital to avoid evictions at a time when huge numbers of homes, built during a frenetic property boom before 2008, lie unoccupied.
"In Spain right now, we have nearly a million empty housing units. In this situation, the government and the economy ministry ... has to take steps so that no family in good faith goes without a home. This is our commitment," he said.
Public pressure prompted Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to call for officials from his conservative People's Party and the opposition Socialists to speed up negotiations on reforming the eviction laws during talks on Monday.
Fans at a Primera Liga soccer match on Saturday protested about the fate of Egana, who killed herself in the Basque town of Barakaldo, and countless others who are losing their homes.
"They're not suicides. They're murders. The banks and politicians are accomplices. Stop the evictions!" read a banner held up by supporters of Rayo Vallecano, which plays in a working class district of Madrid.
Heads of the economy departments of both main parties were expected to look at the possibility of granting moratoriums on mortgage payments for families in dire straits and to change the legal proceedings that lead up to an eviction.
However, the Spanish Banking Association (AEB) said its members had already agreed with the government last week to suspend eviction cases for two years for those most in need.
This showed "...the commitment of the AEB's members, for humanitarian reasons and because of their social responsibility, to stop evictions during the next two years in those cases of extreme need", it said in a statement on Monday.
Protesters say this will not go far enough given thousands will face difficulties in the next few months.
DESPERATE HOMEOWNERS
Egana's death, and another eviction-related suicide in October, have intensified a popular backlash with many accusing the banks - some of which will receive part of an up to 100 billion euro European bailout - of callous disregard for the effects of unemployment, which has hit 25 percent.
However, a number of banks themselves are in dire straits because of the failure of many borrowers, ranging from small homeowners to major property developers, to repay their debts.
On Monday protesters gathered outside the People's Party headquarters in central Madrid before walking to parliament.
"We are due to be evicted on the 20th of this month, and we have nowhere to go but the street," said Angel Moran, a 59-year-old painter.
He said he had been out of work for four years, had a young daughter to support and the two other people living in his home to share the costs were now also without work.
As property prices have tumbled about 30 percent, hundreds of thousands of people who took on huge mortgages during the boom years now owe more than their home is worth.
Under Spanish law, even when borrowers turn over their homes to the bank, they still owe the entire amount of the mortgage.
A citizens' movement called "Stop Evictions" has organized protests at apartment buildings to block court workers from evicting families.
The pressure by Stop Evictions and other groups led the government to ask banks earlier this year to forgive mortgage debt for properties worth less than 200,000 euros and where all family members are unemployed.
A group of senior judges has pushed for a cross-party agreement on eviction reform, and a police union said it will support officers who refuse to take part in an eviction.
On Saturday, northern Spanish mortgage lender Kutxabank said it was suspending repossessions after the suicide of Egana.
Last week, European Union Advocate General Juliane Kokott issued a non-binding report concluding that Spanish legislation on evictions contradicts European norms for protecting consumer rights. Europe's highest court will rule on the issue.

Egyptian jihadist calls for removal of Sphinx, Pyramids

al-gohary  
Murgan Salem al-Gohary, an Islamist leader twice-sentenced under former President Hosni Mubarak for advocating violence, called on Muslims to remove such “idols.”  (Courtesy: Dream TV)
Murgan Salem al-Gohary, an Islamist leader twice-sentenced under former President Hosni Mubarak for advocating violence, called on Muslims to remove such “idols.” (Courtesy: Dream TV)
alarabiya/An Egyptian jihad leader, with self-professed links to the Taliban, called for the “destruction of the Sphinx and the Giza Pyramids in Egypt,” drawing ties between the Egyptian relics and Buddha statues, local media reported this week.

Murgan Salem al-Gohary, an Islamist leader twice-sentenced under former President Hosni Mubarak for advocating violence, called on Muslims to remove such “idols.”

“All Muslims are charged with applying the teachings of Islam to remove such idols, as we did in Afghanistan when we destroyed the Buddha statues,” he said on Saturday during a television interview on an Egyptian private channel, widely watched by Egyptian and Arab audiences.
“God ordered Prophet Mohammed to destroy idols,” he added. “When I was with the Taliban we destroyed the statue of Buddha, something the government failed to do.”

His comments came a day after thousands of ultraconservative Islamists gathered in Tahrir Square to call for the strict application of Sharia law in the new constitution.

But in retaliation to Gohary’s remarks, the vice president of Tunisia’s Ennahda party, Sheikh Abdel Fattah Moro, called the live program and told Gohary that famous historic military commander Amr ibn al-Aas did not destroy statues when he conquered Egypt.

“So who are you to do it?” he wondered. “The Prophet destroyed the idols because people worshiped them, but the Sphinx and the Pyramids are not worshiped.”

Gohary, 50, is well-known in Egypt for his advocacy of violence, Egypt Independent reported.

“He was sentenced twice, one of the two sentences being life imprisonment. He subsequently fled Egypt to Afghanistan, where he was badly injured in the American invasion. In 2007, he traveled from Pakistan to Syria, which then handed him over to Egypt. After Mubarak's fall in early 2011, he was released from prison by a judicial ruling,” the newspaper added.

In recent months, fears have surfaced that the ultra-conservative Salafi political powers may soon wish to debate new guidelines over Egyptian antiquities.

Islamists have swept the recent presidential and parliamentary elections in the country’s post-revolutionary stage, with the Muslim Brotherhood and the ultra-conservative Salafi Islamists rising to political power.

“The fundamental Salafis have demanded to cover Pharaonic statues, because they regard them to be idols,” Egyptian author on ancient history Ahmed Osman told Al Arabiya English, explaining that Salafi Muslims follow conservative religious principles which view statues and sculptures as prohibited in Islam.

“But so far the government has done nothing to indicate what is the future of Egyptian antiquities,” adds Osman.

Many hope that Egypt’s new President Mohammed Mursi will help usher better preservation of Egypt’s proud cultural heritage. Egyptian officials have recently announced the country will reveal more of its ancient buried treasures.

The tomb of Queen Meresankh III, the granddaughter of Khufu, of Great Pyramid fame, is set to be opened to tourists later this year, with the last resting places of five high priests also slated to be put on show.

Officials are also believed to be reopening the underground Serapeum temple at Sakkara, to the south of Cairo.
 

Ohioans’ food stamp aid to be reduced

toledoblade/Ohio families receiving food stamps could get an unwelcome surprise come January: $50 less every month in assistance.
For the 869,000 households enrolled in the program for the poorest Ohioans, that could amount to about $520 million annually out of the grocery budgets.
Because of the way the federal government calculates utility expenses for people receiving the benefit, a mild winter nationwide last year, and a lower price for natural gas, many families could experience a significant cut in aid, those familiar with the program say.
Recipients should get a letter from the state Department of Job and Family Services this month explaining the change, said Ben Johnson, a spokesman for the agency.
Meanwhile, food banks and others that distribute food assistance are bracing for increased demand.
“They are going to increase hunger among our most vulnerable — working families, seniors, children, and persons with disabilities,” said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks.
Ms. Hamler-Fugitt said her organization is particularly concerned that some seniors or persons with disabilities who have a low benefit amount could lose all their monthly assistance.
“We’re really worried about [the change],” she said.
What’s called the “standard utility allowance” — the amount deducted from a person’s income when the state determines his or her eligibility for the food stamp program — will decrease by $166 for 2013, translating to about $50 less per household in food assistance. State Job and Family Services officials tried to appeal the change to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the food stamp program, officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, but the USDA denied the request.
USDA officials did not respond to requests from The Blade for comment.
State and county Job and Family Services officials say there is little they can do other than letting their clients and community partners who provide food assistance know about the changes.
“This is a federal issue,” said Joel Potts, executive director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Directors’ Association. “It is what it is. They have a formula. ... We just think it is going to be really hard on families and individuals. They will see significantly less money starting in January.”
The average food-stamp recipient receives $138 per person, per month, according to state statistics. As of August, more than 1.7 million individual Ohioans, or about 869,000 families, received the assistance. A total of $3 billion in benefits was issued in 2011 in Ohio; the program is federally funded.
In Lucas County, about 91,000 people — 46,000 households — receive the benefit. Fifty fewer dollars per household per month would amount to about $27 million annually.
“It’s a concern,” said Deb Ortiz-Flores, director of Lucas County’s Job and Family Services agency. “Fifty dollars can buy quite a bit of food.”
Jack Frech, director of the Athens County Department of Job and Family Services in southeastern Ohio, said the loss of funds will cause a true hardship.
“Fifty dollars would be devastating” to families, he said. “These are folks that have already fallen off the fiscal cliff.” Mr. Frech added that many of his agency’s clients are not affected by lower natural gas prices.
“The majority of folks [here] don’t heat with natural gas in the first place,” he said. “They heat with fuel oil and propane.”
The Rev. Steve Anthony, executive director of Toledo Area Ministries, said, “It will put a strain on all organizations that provide emergency food. We’re going to have to find alternatives. We can’t pull food or money out of thin air.”
TAM runs the Feed Your Neighbor program, which has 13 food pantries in Toledo and surrounding suburbs.
 

Texas NDAA Nullification Bill Includes Criminal Charges

tac/At the close of 2011, Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for the year 2012. In it are what some constitutional experts consider to be some of the greatest constitutional violations in American history. At issue are sections 1021 and 1022 which, in essence, create a new power for the federal government to “indefinitely detain” – without due process – any person. Indefinitely. That’s little different than kidnapping.
In response, there’s been a bit of a firestorm from people across the political spectrum. Local communities in Colorado sent out the first warning shots, passing resolutions and ordinances rejecting such power earlier this year. Then, at the close of the 2012 state legislative session, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell signed House Bill 1160, making that state the first to paw a law not only rejecting the federal act, but fully banning any state agency from cooperating with the feds on it.
Currently, more than 15 local communities have done the same. Michigan is also considering a bill that is similar to Virginia’s. And today, Texas State Representative Lyle Larson introduced House Bill 149 (HB149), the Texas Liberty Preservation Act. This might be the strongest anti-NDAA bill introduced yet.
It states, in part:
Sections 1021 and 1022 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (Pub. L. No. 112-81) violate portions of federal law, the United States Constitution, and the Texas Constitution and, as such, are invalid and illegal in this state.
It also, like Virginia’s law, requires full noncompliance with the federal act:
It is the policy of this state to refuse to provide material support for or to participate in any way with the implementation within this state of Sections 1021 and 1022 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (Pub. L. No. 112-81). Any act to enforce or attempt to enforce those laws is in violation of this subchapter.
But, the Texas legislation takes it a step further, codifying into State law criminal penalties for violation of the act by even federal agents:
A person who is an official, agent, or employee of the United States or an employee of a corporation providing services to the United States commits an offense if the person enforces or attempts to enforce a statute, a rule or regulation, an order, or any law of the United States in violation of this subchapter.
An offense under Subsection
(a) is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by confinement for a term not to exceed one year, a fine of not more than $10,000, or both the confinement and the fine.
This coming legislative session, Texas won’t be alone in its efforts. Sources close to the Tenth Amendment Center tell us to expect at least 10 other states considering the same. And potentially dozens of counties and cities can be expected to move along these lines as well.
ACTION ITEMS
If you live in Texas, contact your state representative and senator, and encourage them to support HB149. You can find legislative contact information HERE.
Texans on Facebook (HERE) can also get involved in a grassroots organizing group. this is essential for legislative success.
Urge your county commission or town council to consider a local Liberty Preservation Resolution HERE.
If you live in outside of Texas, contact your state representative of senator and urge them to introduce state level liberty preservation legislation. You can find model legislation HERE.
Track nationwide efforts against NDAA detention HERE.

‘Secede’ petitions reach 675,000 signatures, 50-states

Less than a week after a New Orleans suburbanite petitioned the White House to allow Louisiana to secede from the United States, petitions from seven states have collected enough signatures to trigger a promised review from the Obama administration.
By 6:00 a.m. EST Wednesday, more than 675,000 digital signatures appeared on 69 separate secession petitions covering all 50 states, according to a Daily Caller analysis of requests lodged with the White House’s “We the People” online petition system.
A petition from Vermont, where talk of secession is a regular feature of political life, was the final entry.
Petitions from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North CarolinaTennessee and Texas residents have accrued at least 25,000 signatures, the number the Obama administration says it will reward with a staff review of online proposals. (RELATED: Will Texas secede? Petition triggers White House review)
The Texas petition leads all others by a wide margin. Shortly before 9:00 a.m. EST Wednesday, it had attracted 94,700 signatures. But a spokesperson for Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday afternoon that he does not support the idea of his state striking out on its own.
“Gov. Perry believes in the greatness of our Union and nothing should be done to change it. But he also shares the frustrations many Americans have with our federal government,” according to a statement from the governor’s office.
A backlash Monday night saw requests filed with the White House to strip citizenship rights from Americans who signed petitions to help states secede. (RELATED: Anti-secession forces fight back with White House deportation petitions)
And in a similar nose-thumbing aimed at Texas’ conservative majority, progressives from the liberal state capital of Austin responded Monday with a petition to secede from their state if Texas as a whole should decide to leave the Union.
Late Tuesday a second group of Texans, this one from Houston, lodged their own White House petition. Secession-minded Texans, they wrote, “are mentally deficient and [we] do not want them representing us. We would like more education in our state to eradicate their disease.”
Houstonian “Kimberly F” — The White House does not provide last names — submitted the petition. She told TheDC in an email that ”[w]e need both sides presented, or we all look like a bunch of fools.”
A group from El Paso, too, wants no part of an independent Texas. “Allow the city of El Paso to secede from the state of Texas,” their petition reads. “El Paso is tired of being a second class city within Texas.”
But smaller petitions like theirs are a political side show of a political side show. One effort, aimed at Missourians, called for a nationwide catered pizza party to celebrate when the Show Me State left the U.S. (RELATED: Pizza party! White House petition silliness gets cheesy)
States whose active petitions have not yet reached the 25,000 signature threshold include Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
 

SWITZERLAND, NETHERLANDS, ECUADOR JOIN GERMANY ON AUDITS OF GOLD

The calls for full audits, and in some cases, repatriation, of foreign gold reserves being held by the New York Federal Reserve are growing, as now Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Ecuador have joined Germany in those calls and in Ecuador’s case, repatriation, of its gold:
German Calls for Gold Repatriation Intensify As Fed Refuses to Allow Inspection
Obviously, the Fed’s refusal to comply “in the interest of security” is a complete fabrication and obfuscation, what what is Germany going to do? Rush out and tell the world the processes by which the Fed “operates”? Doubtful. As the article correctly observes, the real underlying concern is whether the gold is even there, or, to put it in different terms, has been stolen or re-hypothecated so many times that recovery – even if it is there – would be virtually impossible.
The real concern is expressed accurately and aptly in the final paragraph of the article:
“While Bundesbank officials likely understand the reality (much better than German politicians do) that a German repatriation of it’s entire 1,536 tons of gold reserves held at the NY Fed would likely cause a complete Western financial collapse if/when the Fed failed to promptly deliver said gold (tungsten free), confidence in the Fed and the BOE has clearly been shattered, and it is now only a matter of time for an absolute mad run on every last gram of physical metal underneath the NY Fed ensues.“(Emphasis in the original)
This view essentially confirms what I have previously maintained, namely, that Germany’s concerns are a signal of serious factional infighting and pressures within the Western financial oligarchy, and there is no denying that Germany is as fundamental an economy to that oligarchy as is the United Kingdom, Japan, or the USA.
The real question we must ask is what is the big secret that this oligarchy is hiding? The clue, I suggest, is contained in the Federal Reserve’s own words: “in the interests of security”. If one merely adds the adjective “national” to that phrase, “in the interests of national security”, we see the potential implications, which spill out into a reconsideration of the entire post-World War Two system of finance and the vast military-industrial-intelligence complex that was erected. We are, the phrase suggests, also dealing with threads that, if pulled, will reveal secrets from the Cold War period and even deeper secrets.
In short, for once, the Fed may not be lying, but in its own subtle, obfuscatory way, hinting at the truth.
 

AMERICANS WILL RECEIVE A MICROCHIP IMPLANT IN 2013 PER OBAMACARE

NewsWithViews/A major news story broke on AOL and countless other mainstream news media outlets, this past week, that the Obama Health Care Bill will require all U.S. citizens and babies to receive a microchip or Medchip by March 23, 2013. Whether or not the microchip requirement in the bill is implemented by 2013, remains to be seen.
In 2010, my book “Are You Ready for the Microchip?” was released, and I asked the question, “Is the microchip implant hidden in the Healthcare Bill? Are newborn children starting in 2013 going to receive a microchip shortly after birth?” Then in the book, I wrote, “ In the massive US HEALTHCARE BILL, which your elected representatives voted for without reading, there is a section titled: Subtitle C-11 Sec. 2521 – National Medical Device Registry which states:
“The Secretary shall establish a national medical device registry (in this subsection referred to as the ‘registry’) to facilitate analysis of postmarket safety and outcomes data on each device that—‘‘(A) is or has been used in or on a patient; and ‘‘(B) is a class III device; or ‘‘(ii) a class II device that is implantable.”
The language is deliberately vague, but it provides the structure for making America the first nation in the world that would require every U.S. citizen to receive an implanted radio-frequency (RFID) microchip for the purpose of controlling medical care.
A number of states like Virginia, have passed “stop the mark of the beast legislation” in an effort to stop this kind of legislation.
As with numerous other things that I have written and spoken about based on solid documentation, I am regularly challenged by some, and especially those in the Christian community, who are clueless about what is going on. Their criticism has never prevented me from presenting the facts, because I never take a poll about what I write or speak on. A Christian is called to speak the truth in love, whether or not it is accepted. I am not trying to disparage any ministry, but I don’t determine what I say based on whether or not it is “seeker friendly,” or popular. The only issue is, is it true and is it wise to communicate it at that particular time?
There are many things that I could say, but don’t, because there many people in our nation who, when confronted with a truth that is outside the box of their socially engineered consciousness, go into cognitive dissonance. As the microchip implant moves closer day by day, along with the “manufactured crisis” of illegal immigration, the problems of states like Arizona are creating an environment where Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) are moving legislation forward that would require all U.S. workers, citizens and resident alike, to obtain and carry a National Biometric ID Card in order to work within the United States. It does not matter where you stand on the issue of amnesty or immigration, everyone is going to have to have a National Biometric ID Card that will eventually contain an RFID transmitter which will allow Big Brother electronic data bases to track all of your personal information. It is a simply a national ID card under another name. The national ID card will transition into a microchip implant, because that is technically more efficient. All of this which is about to happen very soon, is just the tip of the iceberg.
President Ronald Reagan refused to pass what he called this “Mark of the Beast” legislation. In my book, “Are You Ready for the Microchip?,” I examine the careful wording in the Health Care Bill which calls for a Med-Chip and a microchip implant. It was never hidden, it is simply Republican and Democrat, along with our corporate-controlled and Orwellian media, who deliberately chose to ignore it. The Bilderberg Group gave orders to microchip the entire U.S. population and then the world. Before the Health Care Bill was passed, the target date was set for the year 2013, when every baby born in the U.S. will receive a microchip at birth. Many are attacking President Obama for this, but although it is the Obama Health Care Bill, the microchip plan was created decades ago and put onto the fast track by the Republican Administration of President George Bush and his allegedly “born-again” Attorney General, John Ashcroft, after 911. It seems Ashcroft was more concerned about covering up the breasts of a Lady Liberty statue in the hallway of the Department of Justice, than he was about protecting our Constitutional liberties, which include the freedom of religion.
Unfortunately, Evangelical Christians make excellent political pawns because they focus on secondary issues, rather than the important issues. This is because Evangelical Christianity in America today does not have a truly Biblical worldview. I truly do not want to sound unkind, but the historical reality is that Evangelical Christians have played the part of what Lenin called “useful idiots.” Obviously, this is not what God planned for His people. But, by rejecting a Biblical worldview, the Scripture, “My people perish for lack of knowledge,” is fulfilled. The majority of Evangelical Christians in America have a very superficial faith as a result of what they are being taught in many of their churches and seminaries.
The new microchip technology with an RFID chip is so advanced it sounds like science fiction. The Apostle Paul explains how this fits into Revelation 13, where the False Prophet will head a one world religion and force people to accept the mark of the beast. A microchip implant, biochip implant or med chip, in and of itself, is not necessarily the mark of the beast. The mark of the beast under the direction of the False Prophet, requires the conscious rejection of Jesus Christ as Lord and a commitment to worship the Antichrist as God.
The challenge for Christians and others will be the very act of taking a microchip implant, biochip implant or med chip, simply because of its parallel to the Biblical mark of the beast. Will people of faith be exempted for religious reasons or will they be forced to take it or imprisoned. In addition, any microchip technology could be activated with enhanced controls after it is implanted. So what starts out as a simple microchip implant could become a technology where at some future time, you must worship the Antichrist as God, and reject Jesus Christ as Lord in order to participate in the economic system. The built-in and evolving capacity of microchip technology makes this a dangerous possibility.
In the final analysis, the simple act of accepting the implantation of a microchip for medical reasons appears harmless on the surface. However, there is no guarantee that once it is implanted, that it will not be activated for mark of the beast technology. This is the danger and challenge that lies before us.

Over 7000 Earthquakes In Past 30 Days And 66 Volcanoes


Side Note: There are also 66 Volcanoes erupting at different stages right now.
7187 earthquakes in all events in the past 30 days. 309 earthquakes in the last 24 hours. Get the latest here: [link to earthquake.usgs.gov]

pakalert/Today’s earthquake fact: A powerful magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck Alaska on November 3, 2002, rupturing the Earth’s surface for 209 miles along the Susitna Glacier, Denali, and Totschunda Faults. Striking a sparsely populated region, it caused thousands of landslides but little structural damage and no deaths. Although the Denali Fault shifted about 14 feet beneath the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline, the pipeline did not break, averting a major economic and environmental disaster. This was largely the result of stringent design specifications based on geologic studies done by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and others 30 years earlier. Studies of the Denali Fault and the 2002 earthquake will provide information vital to reducing losses in future earthquakes in Alaska, California, and elsewhere.
Listed are all earthquakes over magnitude 5.
7.3 9km WNW of San Agustin, Colombia 2012-09-30 16:31:35 1.920°N 76.355°W 170.0
6.2 96km ENE of Miyako, Japan 2012-10-01 22:21:45 39.853°N 143.047°E 9.7
6.0 112km SE of Gizo, Solomon Islands 2012-09-27 23:53:49 8.825°S 157.557°E 10.0
5.7 166km WNW of Sikabaluan, Indonesia 2012-10-03 13:32:34 0.451°S 97.648°E 10.0
5.5 12km SSE of Cuajinicuilapa, Mexico 2012-09-29 07:11:13 16.355°N 98.388°W 10.2
5.4 296km NNE of Farallon de Pajaros, Northern Mariana Islands 2012-09-30 15:35:53 22.992°N 146.050°E 35.0
5.4 102km ESE of Pondaguitan, Philippines 2012-10-03 18:28:33 5.860°N 126.955°E 144.5
5.4 39km E of Tarata, Peru 2012-09-29 17:48:57 17.480°S 69.660°W 126.0
5.3 281km NNW of Scott Island Bank, Antarctica 2012-10-02 19:41:29 65.008°S 177.926°E 16.6
5.3 91km WSW of Neiafu, Tonga 2012-10-02 03:33:30 18.820°S 174.836°W 96.7
5.3 212km SSW of Mohean, India 2012-09-29 11:24:33 6.115°N 92.810°E 28.5
5.3 202km S of Taron, PNG 2012-10-03 06:26:17 6.277°S 152.746°E 30.5
5.2 18km ESE of Iwaki, Japan 2012-10-01 18:40:52 36.959°N 141.059°E 6.7
5.2 93km NW of Curup, Indonesia 2012-10-02 17:37:24 2.876°S 101.931°E 116.6
5.2 115km SSE of Gizo, Solomon Islands 2012-09-28 23:22:31 8.976°S 157.426°E 10.0
5.1 14km ENE of Rangapara, India 2012-10-02 18:37:40 26.847°N 92.788°E 51.6
5.1 55km ENE of `Ohonua, Tonga 2012-10-02 11:35:51 21.109°S 174.474°W 34.7
5.1 14km NNW of Dumingag, Philippines 2012-10-02 06:25:31 8.293°N 123.314°E 41.1
5.1 107km E of Miyako, Japan 2012-10-01 22:55:51 39.776°N 143.189°E 37.9
5.1 241km SW of Tomatlan, Mexico 2012-10-01 17:32:31 18.713°N 107.151°W 21.3
5.0 South of the Fiji Islands 2012-10-01 17:24:42 24.588°S 179.380°W 461.8
5.0 111km ESE of Kimbe, Papua New Guinea 2012-10-03 21:02:38 5.765°S 151.126°E 56.9
5.0 90km S of Pangai, Tonga 2012-10-02 18:39:08 20.607°S 174.229°W 3.1
5.0 South of the Fiji Islands 2012-09-27 16:54:44 24.893°S 179.256°W 515.1
5.0 16km SW of Tayaman, Philippines 2012-10-04 01:55:20 13.131°N 120.457°E 58.5
5.0 3km NE of Hukay, Philippines 2012-09-29 14:12:04 13.869°N 120.730°E 186.1

Inside A FEMA Disaster Camp: “We Got F**ked”


Ever wondered how you might fare inside a FEMA camp?
intelhub/Northeast residents are getting a dose, and as you may have guessed, it’s not exactly a fun-filled party with treats, air conditioning and group dancing.
Sitting there last night you could see your breath,” said Sotelo.
“At (Pine Belt) the Red Cross made an announcement that they were sending us to permanent structures up here that had just been redone, that had washing machines and hot showers and steady electric, and they sent us to tent city. We got fucked.”
“The elections are over and here we are. There were Blackhawk helicopters flying over all day and night. They have heavy equipment moving past the tents all night.”
Welcome to the part of the disaster where people start falling through the cracks.
No media is allowed inside the fenced complex, which houses operations for JCP&L’s army of workers from out of the area.
The FEMA website indicated on Monday that there had been a shelter for first responders, utility and construction workers to take a break, although the compound now contains a full-time shelter operated by the state Department of Human Services.
Sotelo scrolls through the photos he took inside the facility as his wife, Renee, huddles for warmth inside a late-model Toyota Corolla stuffed with possessions, having to drive out through the snow and slush to tell their story.
The images on the small screen include lines of outdoor portable toilets, of snow and ice breaching the bottom of the tent and an elderly woman sitting up, huddled in blankets.
 

San Diego Residents Face 6 Years In Prison For Washing Their Car

intelhub/San Diegans could face 6 years in prison and fines of $100,000 dollars a day for washing their car in the driveway or failing to pick up dog poop under new EPA-mandated environmental regulations related to water quality.
Although residents of the city are forced to drink toxic waste in their water supply in the form of sodium fluoride, measures imposed as a consequence of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Water Act would turn the most mundane of activities into a criminal offense.
“California’s latest experiment in faith-based policymaking is being unleashed today on the San Diego public, as regional water-quality officials begin hearings on new regulations that seem crafted to turn most owners of a car, house or dog into criminals within a decade or so. We wish we were exaggerating,” reports the North County Times.
“Under the draft rules, ordinary homeowners may face six years in prison and fines of $100,000 a day if they are deemed serial offenders of such new crimes as allowing sprinklers to hit the pavement, washing a car in the driveway, or, conceivably, failing to pick up dog poop promptly from their own backyards, let alone the sidewalk.”
The regulations will be enforced with the aid of a 24-hour telephone snitch line which residents of San Diego, south Orange and southwest Riverside counties can use to report on their neighbors for violating the new code.
The new rules could even force firefighters to collect the water they use to douse burning buildings.
The regulations are being passed under the justification of minimizing the bacteria Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) that runs into rivers and streams.
The editorial board of the North County Times warns that the rules are “preposterous” and will “sap billions of dollars from the local economy.”
“In hundreds of pages, the new regulations set targets that measure bacteria from animal waste during dry periods at local beaches, even as they note that wide variations in bacteria occur naturally in the environment. And we could find no evidence from these officials that severe cuts in stormwater runoff will cause improvements in human or wildlife health.
Indeed, nowhere do they bother to say why today’s levels are considered bad for us,” writes the newspaper.
Ironically, while San Diegans could be turned into criminals for failing to uphold dubious water quality standards, they are simultaneously being forced to consume drinking water contaminated with a known toxic waste - sodium fluoride.
Almost 60 years after it was barred from public pumps and pipes, the city utilities department started fluoridating the water supply in San Diego again last year.
As numerous studies and expert testimony affirm, sodium fluoride is a toxic waste from the phosphate industry and has been linked with innumerable debilitating and in some cases terminal health problems such as disorders affecting teeth, bones, the brain and the thyroid gland, as well as lowering IQ.
Environmentalists and EPA regulators don’t appear to be too concerned about a product which has on its packaging a skull and crossbones being artificially added to the water supply, but the runoff from a car wash or a piece of dog poop apparently poses a big enough threat to turn residents into criminals for engaging in activity as mundane as cleaning their vehicle.
Stephanie Gaines, land use and environmental planner for the county’s Department of Public Works, pointed out that ”The regulations stem from the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Water Act and are passed down to the state, regional, and local levels.”
Planning group member Chad Anderson said that the regulations appeared to “Overlap with statements from Agenda 21, the comprehensive global plan for sustainable development that was created at a United Nation’s Earth Summit in 1992.
It was signed by more than 178 countries, including the United States, and opponents say it targets private property.”
As we have previously highlighted, the UN’s Agenda 21, which is being implemented across the United States in a number of different guises, demands that member nations adopt “sustainable development” policies that are little more than a disguise for the reintroduction of neo-feudalism and only serve to reduce living standards and quality of life.
The regulations about to be foisted upon San Diegans are merely a taste of the kind of big government tyranny and control freak micromanagement we can expect to see unleashed against Americans under the guise of environmentalism when real environmental issues like toxic waste being added to the water supply are completely ignored.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Obama admin. tells contractors again: Don’t issue layoff notices

thehill/ The Obama administration issued new guidance intended for defense contractors Friday afternoon, reiterating the administration’s position that the companies should not be issuing layoff notices over sequestration.
The Labor Department issued guidance in July saying it would be “inappropriate” for contractors to issue notices of potential layoffs tied to sequestration cuts. But a few contractors, most notably Lockheed Martin, said they still were considering whether to issue the notices — which would be sent out just days before the November election.
But the Friday guidance from the Office of Management and Budget raised the stakes in the dispute, telling contractors that they would be compensated for legal costs if layoffs occur due to contract cancellations under sequestration — but only if the contractors follow the Labor guidance.
The guidance said that if plant closings or mass layoffs occur under sequestration, then “employee compensation costs for [Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification] WARN act liability as determined by a court” would be paid for covered by the contracting federal agency.

Senate Republicans, who accused the White House of trying to hide job losses after the first guidance, said Friday that the new OMB statement “puts politics ahead of American workers.”
“The Obama Administration is cynically trying to skirt the WARN Act to keep the American people in the dark about this looming national security and fiscal crisis,” Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) said in a statement. “The president should insist that companies act in accordance with the clearly stated law and move forward with the layoff notices.”
The fight over WARN Act notices began in June when Lockheed Martin CEO Bob Stevens said his company might send the notices to all 123,000 of its employees.
Some companies were hesitant to follow Lockheed, but several others told McCain in letters earlier this month they might send the notices, too, despite the Labor Department guidance.
But the new guidance would appear to address one of the chief concerns from the companies — that they could be liable to compensate employees who were laid off if the companies don’t issue the notices.
The GOP senators complained, however, that this tactic would push the cost of the layoffs onto taxpayers.
A Lockheed Martin spokeswoman told The Hill that the company is still reviewing the documents.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Officials consider closed prison for displaced Sandy victim

myfox/
Officials in New York are reportedly eyeing a recently-closed prison as temporary housing for people displaced by superstorm Sandy and this week's nor'easter.
The New York Post reports that state officials are considering the Arthur Kill Correctional Facility on Staten Island to feed and house as many as 900 victims with nowhere else to turn.
"Our facilities staff have to go through it to determine what it would take to get it up and running for such a purpose," Peter Cutler, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, told the newspaper. "Of course, the challenge is the fact that it was closed a year ago and all of the major infrastructure components, such as boilers and wastewater system, were deactivated."
As many as 40,000 New Yorkers need shelter from extreme weather events, according to city estimates. On Staten Island alone, about 5,200 people applied for temporary FEMA housing, but only about two dozen people have been successfully placed, federal sources told the newspaper.
"It's empty. They might as well use it," said Rob Conigatti, 39, who lost his Dongan Hills home and is now staying with his extended family. "At least they have the right facilities. You can't keep them in schools. The kids gotta go to school."

Read more: http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/20053522/new-york-officials-reportedly-consider-closed-prison-for-displaced-sandy-victims#ixzz2Bkx7sJ1P