Saw this on Survival Blog this morning
Insane Michigan government announces plan to destroy ranch livestock based on hair color and arrest hundreds of ranchers as felons
(NaturalNews) The state of Michigan is only days away from engaging in what can only be called true "animal genocide" -- the mass murder of ranch animals based on the color of their hair. It's all part of a shocking new "Invasive Species Order" (ISO) put in place by Michigan's Department of Natural Resources (DNR). This Invasive Species Order suddenly and shockingly defines virtually all open-range pigs raised by small family farms to be illegal "invasive species," and possession of just one of these animals is now a felony crime in Michigan, punishable by up to four years in prison.
The state has said it will "destroy" these pigs beginning in April, potentially by raiding local farms with government-issued rifles, then shooting the pig herds while arresting the members of the family and charging them with the "crime" of raising pigs with the wrong hair color. This may truly be a state-sponsored serial animal killing spree.
Reality check: You may think this story is some kind of early April Fools prank, but it isn't. This is factually true and verifiable through the documents, videos and websites linked below. The state of Michigan seriously intends to unleash a mass murder spree of pigs of the wrong color beginning April 1.
Yet these are the very pigs that farmers and ranchers in Michigan have been raising for decades. The state doesn't seem to care about this, and there are indications that this ISO may have been nudged into position by the conventional pork industry as a tactic to wipe out its competition of local, specialty ranching conducted by small families and dedicated farmers who don't work for the big pork corporations. (The Michigan Pork Grower's Association.)
Hear the shocking interview and watch the family farm video...
I have recorded an exclusive interview with Mark Baker from Baker's Green Acres -- one of many ranching operations threatened with total destruction by state bureaucrats and this new Invasive Species Order. Listen to that interview here:
http://buzz.naturalnews.com/000025-Michigan-pigs-invasive_species.htm...
The Baker family has also recorded a video explaining their farming operation and how the state of Michigan is threatening to destroy their entire farming operation. Watch that stunning video (and spread the word about it) at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=843yH_0RMIA
Mark Baker, by the way, is a veteran of the United States Air Force. As a veteran of the U.S. armed forces, he served to protect the rights of others, yet he now finds his own rights and freedoms under assault by the state of Michigan. He told NaturalNews he is determined to protect his livelihood at all costs and to take a stand against tyranny in Michigan.
Got the wrong hair color? The state of Michigan will kill you
The state of Michigan has issued a document describing nine "traits" of what they call "feral pigs" which they claim should be destroyed on April 1.
Read the document describing those nine traits at:
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/MDNR_DECLARATORY_RULING_2011-12...
Those traits include having the wrong color on the tip of the hair or even being born with striped hair. The traits are written so that virtually all pigs raised by family ranchers across the state of Michigan will be targeted for destruction by the state of Michigan starting April 1. Farmers who defend their livestock may be arrested as felons and charged with multiple felony crimes by the state.
Michigan to destroy pigs based on the color of their hair - racial profiling for animal murder
Here's some of the language from the Michigan document describing which animals are to be destroyed. Remember: For a pig to qualify as "feral" according to state tyrants, it only has to exhibit ONE of these traits, not all of them:
1) Bristle-tip coloration: exhibit bristle tips that are lighter in color (e.g., white, cream, or buff) than the rest of the hair shaft.
2) Dark point coloration: exhibits "points" (i.e., distal portions of the snout, ears, legs, and tail) that are dark brown to black in coloration, and lack light-colored tips on the bristles.
3) Coat coloration: exhibit a number of coat coloration patterns: solid black, solid red / brown, black and white spotted, black and red / brown spotted.
4) Underfur: exhibit the presence of underfur that is lighter in color (e.g., smoke gray to brown) than the overlying dark brown to black bristles/guard hairs.
5) Juvenile coat pattern: exhibit striped coat patterns -- a light grayish-tan to brown base coat, with a dark brown to black spinal stripe and three to four brown irregular longitudinal stripes with dark margins along the length of the body.
6) Skeletal appearance: Structures include skull morphology, dorsal profile, and external body measurements including tail length, head-body length, hind foot length, ear length, snout length, and shoulder height.
7) Tail structure: Straight tails.
8) Ear structure: Erect ear structure.
9) "Other characteristics not currently known to the MDNR that are identified by the scientific community."
Did you catch that last one? So now the so-called "scientific community" can simply invent whatever trait they want and the state of Michigan will legalize the mass murder of all ranch animals displaying that trait.
The state of Michigan plans to bring guns to destroy local food, local farms
What's clear from all this is that Michigan bureaucrats plan to bring guns and handcuffs to ranches all across Michigan, shooting their family livestock dead and ruining their farming operations. They then plan to arrest these ranchers as felons and separate them from their families, then charge them with felony crimes.
This is all being done under the mantra of "government is good! Government protects you!" It's being pushed under the guise of protecting people from "invasive species," yet what the Michigan bureaucrats don't tell anyone is that now your local food producers have had their own ranch animals placed on that list!
That's the trick here: Michigan has declared farm animals to be an invasive species!
An epic battle of truth, freedom and justice is being waged in Michigan
We need your help to defend farm freedom in Michigan and across the country. Here are some actions you can take:
1) SHARE this article.
2) WATCH the video: http://youtu.be/843yH_0RMIA
3) LISTEN to the interview at:
http://buzz.naturalnews.com/000025-Michigan-pigs-invasive_species.htm...
4) SUPPORT the Farm-To-Consumer Legal Defense Fund:
www.FarmToConsumer.org
4) DONATE to help support the legal fees of the Baker family farm. Their website is at www.BakersGreenAcres.com
5) DEMAND farm freedom in your area! No government has the right to tell us what food we can or cannot grow, eat or trade! It's as simple as that, and any government bureaucrat, tyrant or local dictator who thinks they can trample on your God-given right to choose what kind of food you wish to produce or consume is in desperate need of having a boot shoved deeply and forcefully up their rear ends.
Give tyrants the boot! Defend local farms. Even if you don't eat pork (I don't), this is still a farm freedom issue worth fighting for.
Read more at:
www.farmtoconsumer.org/michigan-dnr-going-hog-wild.htm
www.BakersGreenAcres.com
http://www.naturalnews.com/035372_Michigan_pigs_farm_freedom.html
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
Friday 03-30-12
Got to wonder where they keep coming up with these brain surgeons? See what being a pervert leads too. When you feel up men, women, children and handicap people all day this what it leads too. Not being able to control yourself.
TSA Manager Arrested for Running Prostitution Ring
SILVER SPRING, Md. - A manager at the Transportation Security Administration has lost his job after being arrested on prostitution-related charges. According to court documents, the agency had received a complaint of "very similar" activities back in 2009.
Bryant Jermaine Livingston, 39, was arrested while on the job as a supervisor of TSA agents at Dulles International Airport. The Manassas, Virginia resident, said by phone he is innocent of the charges, but declined to discuss the details of the case.
According to charging documents, on February 15th, Livingston used cash to rent a room at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring, Md. The hotel manager recognized Livingston as a previous customer who, on earlier occasions had "groups of males and females frequently entering and exiting Livingston's room," according to a court document.
Similar activity was happening on February 15, so the manager called Montgomery County Police to report likely prostitution. Responding officers offered to accompany the manager as she went to evict the people from the room.
At the doorway, Livingston denied prostitution was occurring, and invited the manager and police into the room.
Responding officers say they saw, "11 people inside the room [including] three naked females and four males attempting to get dressed. Multiple people were laying on the two beds and other people were sitting in chairs and standing in the room."
In a hallway interview, Bryant Livingston told the police officers he "runs the airport security at Dulles," according to the charging document.
A spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration confirmed that Livingston had worked for the agency since Oct. 29, 2002, but he is now "no longer employed by TSA."
In a subsequent interview, one of the men in the room told Montgomery County police that, "he paid Livingston $100 to enter the hotel room to engage in sexual activities." Charging documents also say a TSA investigator told police that, "in 2009, a very similar complaint concerning Livingston was on record. The complaint alleged that Livingston was operating a prostitution ring and charging individuals $25. for sexual acts."
The TSA spokesman had no immediate explanation as to what, if anything, the agency did about the earlier complaint.
Bryant Livingston is facing five prostitution-related charges. His attorney, Jason Cleckner, declined to comment on the case. Livingston has been released on his own recognizance, and faces trial on May 8th.
In Maryland, a person convicted of prostitution can face up to a year in jail.
http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/local/tsa-manager-arrested-for-running-prostitution-ring-032812#ixzz1qVM933eC
TSA officers charged with trashing South Beach hotel room, shooting gun
Miami Beach police say two Transportation Security Administration officers partied a little too hard Tuesday night, trashed their South Beach hotel room and then picked up a semi-automatic handgun and shot six rounds out the window.
One bullet pierced a $1,500 hurricane impact resistant window at a nearby Barneys New York, penetrated a wall and tore into some jeans in the closed store’s stockroom, according to store manager Adelchi Mancusi.
No one was injured.
Jeffrey Piccolella, 27, and Nicholas Anthony Puccio, 25, were arrested just before midnight. The Palm Beach County men have been charged with criminal mischief and use of a firearm while under the influence.
In a city known for wild, late-night behavior, merely tossing speakers, lamps, a phone, ice chest and vase out a second floor room at the Hotel Shelley, 844 Collins. Ave., might not have drawn much attention.
But according to an incident report, a front desk clerk and security guard called police about 11:18 p.m. after they heard one gun shot, followed by three to five more after a few seconds. When the clerk went back inside the hotel, a guest told him someone was throwing furniture and bric-a-brac out the window of room 217, where Piccolella and Puccio were staying the night.
Detective Vivian Hernandez, a police spokeswoman, said officers arrived and, after a shell casing was found on the ground amid broken room furnishings, the SWAT team was called out.
Investigators went to the mens’ room and then took them to police headquarters.
In a recorded interview, Piccolella told a detective he and Puccio were drinking before returning to their hotel room, according to the incident report. He allegedly said they opened a window, tossed several objects out and then Piccolella grabbed a .380-calliber pistol from his luggage and they took turns shooting out the window.
Puccio said the story was untrue, according to the report.
Police impounded the gun.
Hotel management said $400 in furniture was destroyed.
The two men were booked at the Pre-Trial Detention Center on $5,500 bond each.
TSA spokesman Jon Allen wrote in an email that Piccolella and Puccio are part-time officers who have worked one and two years, respectively, for the agency. They were not in Miami Beach on TSA business, according to Allen.
“TSA holds its employees to the highest professional and ethical standards,” Allen wrote. “We will review the facts and take appropriate action as necessary.”
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/28/2718902/tsa-employees-charged-with-trashing.html
TSA Manager Arrested for Running Prostitution Ring
SILVER SPRING, Md. - A manager at the Transportation Security Administration has lost his job after being arrested on prostitution-related charges. According to court documents, the agency had received a complaint of "very similar" activities back in 2009.
Bryant Jermaine Livingston, 39, was arrested while on the job as a supervisor of TSA agents at Dulles International Airport. The Manassas, Virginia resident, said by phone he is innocent of the charges, but declined to discuss the details of the case.
According to charging documents, on February 15th, Livingston used cash to rent a room at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring, Md. The hotel manager recognized Livingston as a previous customer who, on earlier occasions had "groups of males and females frequently entering and exiting Livingston's room," according to a court document.
Similar activity was happening on February 15, so the manager called Montgomery County Police to report likely prostitution. Responding officers offered to accompany the manager as she went to evict the people from the room.
At the doorway, Livingston denied prostitution was occurring, and invited the manager and police into the room.
Responding officers say they saw, "11 people inside the room [including] three naked females and four males attempting to get dressed. Multiple people were laying on the two beds and other people were sitting in chairs and standing in the room."
In a hallway interview, Bryant Livingston told the police officers he "runs the airport security at Dulles," according to the charging document.
A spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration confirmed that Livingston had worked for the agency since Oct. 29, 2002, but he is now "no longer employed by TSA."
In a subsequent interview, one of the men in the room told Montgomery County police that, "he paid Livingston $100 to enter the hotel room to engage in sexual activities." Charging documents also say a TSA investigator told police that, "in 2009, a very similar complaint concerning Livingston was on record. The complaint alleged that Livingston was operating a prostitution ring and charging individuals $25. for sexual acts."
The TSA spokesman had no immediate explanation as to what, if anything, the agency did about the earlier complaint.
Bryant Livingston is facing five prostitution-related charges. His attorney, Jason Cleckner, declined to comment on the case. Livingston has been released on his own recognizance, and faces trial on May 8th.
In Maryland, a person convicted of prostitution can face up to a year in jail.
http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/local/tsa-manager-arrested-for-running-prostitution-ring-032812#ixzz1qVM933eC
TSA officers charged with trashing South Beach hotel room, shooting gun
Miami Beach police say two Transportation Security Administration officers partied a little too hard Tuesday night, trashed their South Beach hotel room and then picked up a semi-automatic handgun and shot six rounds out the window.
One bullet pierced a $1,500 hurricane impact resistant window at a nearby Barneys New York, penetrated a wall and tore into some jeans in the closed store’s stockroom, according to store manager Adelchi Mancusi.
No one was injured.
Jeffrey Piccolella, 27, and Nicholas Anthony Puccio, 25, were arrested just before midnight. The Palm Beach County men have been charged with criminal mischief and use of a firearm while under the influence.
In a city known for wild, late-night behavior, merely tossing speakers, lamps, a phone, ice chest and vase out a second floor room at the Hotel Shelley, 844 Collins. Ave., might not have drawn much attention.
But according to an incident report, a front desk clerk and security guard called police about 11:18 p.m. after they heard one gun shot, followed by three to five more after a few seconds. When the clerk went back inside the hotel, a guest told him someone was throwing furniture and bric-a-brac out the window of room 217, where Piccolella and Puccio were staying the night.
Detective Vivian Hernandez, a police spokeswoman, said officers arrived and, after a shell casing was found on the ground amid broken room furnishings, the SWAT team was called out.
Investigators went to the mens’ room and then took them to police headquarters.
In a recorded interview, Piccolella told a detective he and Puccio were drinking before returning to their hotel room, according to the incident report. He allegedly said they opened a window, tossed several objects out and then Piccolella grabbed a .380-calliber pistol from his luggage and they took turns shooting out the window.
Puccio said the story was untrue, according to the report.
Police impounded the gun.
Hotel management said $400 in furniture was destroyed.
The two men were booked at the Pre-Trial Detention Center on $5,500 bond each.
TSA spokesman Jon Allen wrote in an email that Piccolella and Puccio are part-time officers who have worked one and two years, respectively, for the agency. They were not in Miami Beach on TSA business, according to Allen.
“TSA holds its employees to the highest professional and ethical standards,” Allen wrote. “We will review the facts and take appropriate action as necessary.”
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/28/2718902/tsa-employees-charged-with-trashing.html
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Thursday 03-29-12
Coming here soon
Horror movies
France terror fiend posted girl’s execution
The Muslim fanatic who killed seven people in France was so proud of his unspeakably evil work that he uploaded sickening video to the Internet showing him executing a helpless, terrified 8-year-old girl, officials said.
Mohammed Merah is seen yanking Myriam Monsenego by her hair — then firing a bullet into her head while he holds her.
Officials believe Merah strapped on a camera before each murder and posted the videos on jihadi Web sites, where he believed they would inspire other al Qaeda wannabes.
Myriam was slain outside a Jewish school in Toulouse, where Merah also killed a rabbi and the rabbi’s two young sons.
PURE EVIL: Mohammed Merah, here in video aired on French TV, was shot dead yesterday by raiding cops (above, after the shootout).
Merah’s earlier victims were French paratroopers.
Before shooting one soldier, Merah proclaimed, “You kill my brothers; I kill you!” — a reference to France’s military presence in Afghanistan.
Four days later, when he shot two more soldiers, Merah shouted, “Allahu akbar.”
He was killed yesterday after a 32-hour standoff at an apartment building where he was holed up.
“Merah suddenly burst out of the bathroom where he was hiding, armed and firing at police at an extremely fast rate, so fast that it was like automatic-weapon fire,” said French prosecutor Francois Molins.
“He was attacking at police. He continued to move forward, armed and firing, jumping from the balcony until he was mortally hit by return fire.”
Meanwhile, new details emerged about Merah’s 2010 capture in Afghanistan — and the failure of both French and American officials to detain him.
Merah was grabbed by Afghan security forces in Kandahar and turned over to the US Army. The United States “put him on the first plane to France,’’ Molins said.
Pentagon spokesman Lt Col. Todd Breasseale said: “The Kandahari police picked him up a matter of years ago. They detained him. The mechanics by which he was returned to France, we are continuing to investigate.”
Someone, though, was smart enough to report the 23-year-old Algerian-born French citizen to the Department of Homeland Security, which added his name to the “no fly’’ list.
Upon his return to France, he was interviewed by intelligence officials, who released him.
Merah stockpiled weapons and tried to enlist other Muslims by showing snuff videos of jihadis’ murderous work.
All the while, Merah, a petty criminal on welfare, was ostensibly under surveillance by French intelligence.
“It is impossible to arrest someone just because he has Salafist views,” said French Interior Minister Claude Gueant, referring to Merah’s jihadist sympathies. “Holding a particular point of view is not a crime.”
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/horror_movies_If1IoTdmgr5zyYbpo2chIL#ixzz1qNP2ToJk
Horror movies
France terror fiend posted girl’s execution
The Muslim fanatic who killed seven people in France was so proud of his unspeakably evil work that he uploaded sickening video to the Internet showing him executing a helpless, terrified 8-year-old girl, officials said.
Mohammed Merah is seen yanking Myriam Monsenego by her hair — then firing a bullet into her head while he holds her.
Officials believe Merah strapped on a camera before each murder and posted the videos on jihadi Web sites, where he believed they would inspire other al Qaeda wannabes.
Myriam was slain outside a Jewish school in Toulouse, where Merah also killed a rabbi and the rabbi’s two young sons.
PURE EVIL: Mohammed Merah, here in video aired on French TV, was shot dead yesterday by raiding cops (above, after the shootout).
Merah’s earlier victims were French paratroopers.
Before shooting one soldier, Merah proclaimed, “You kill my brothers; I kill you!” — a reference to France’s military presence in Afghanistan.
Four days later, when he shot two more soldiers, Merah shouted, “Allahu akbar.”
He was killed yesterday after a 32-hour standoff at an apartment building where he was holed up.
“Merah suddenly burst out of the bathroom where he was hiding, armed and firing at police at an extremely fast rate, so fast that it was like automatic-weapon fire,” said French prosecutor Francois Molins.
“He was attacking at police. He continued to move forward, armed and firing, jumping from the balcony until he was mortally hit by return fire.”
Meanwhile, new details emerged about Merah’s 2010 capture in Afghanistan — and the failure of both French and American officials to detain him.
Merah was grabbed by Afghan security forces in Kandahar and turned over to the US Army. The United States “put him on the first plane to France,’’ Molins said.
Pentagon spokesman Lt Col. Todd Breasseale said: “The Kandahari police picked him up a matter of years ago. They detained him. The mechanics by which he was returned to France, we are continuing to investigate.”
Someone, though, was smart enough to report the 23-year-old Algerian-born French citizen to the Department of Homeland Security, which added his name to the “no fly’’ list.
Upon his return to France, he was interviewed by intelligence officials, who released him.
Merah stockpiled weapons and tried to enlist other Muslims by showing snuff videos of jihadis’ murderous work.
All the while, Merah, a petty criminal on welfare, was ostensibly under surveillance by French intelligence.
“It is impossible to arrest someone just because he has Salafist views,” said French Interior Minister Claude Gueant, referring to Merah’s jihadist sympathies. “Holding a particular point of view is not a crime.”
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/horror_movies_If1IoTdmgr5zyYbpo2chIL#ixzz1qNP2ToJk
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Wednesday 03-28-12
Well does this really surprise anyone? They bullied them and scared millions of others and have achieved their purpose. I guess Hutaree and militia are not dirty words anymore?
Mich. militia members cleared of charges that accused them of plotting war against government
DETROIT — A federal judge on Tuesday gutted the government’s case against seven members of a Michigan militia, dismissing the most serious charges in an extraordinary defeat for federal authorities who insisted they had captured homegrown rural extremists poised for war.
U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts said the members’ expressed hatred of law enforcement didn’t amount to a conspiracy to rebel against the government. The FBI had secretly planted an informant and an FBI agent inside the Hutaree militia starting in 2008 to collect hours of anti-government audio and video that became the cornerstone of the case.
“The court is aware that protected speech and mere words can be sufficient to show a conspiracy. In this case, however, they do not rise to that level,” the judge said on the second anniversary of raids and arrests that broke up the group.
Roberts granted requests for acquittal on the most serious charges: conspiring to commit sedition, or rebellion, against the U.S. and conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction. Other weapons crimes tied to the alleged conspiracies also were dismissed.
“The judge had a lot of guts,” defense attorney William Swor said. “It would have been very easy to say, ‘The heck with it,’ and hand it off to the jury. But the fact is she looked at the evidence, and she looked at it very carefully.”
The trial, which began Feb. 13, will resume Thursday with only a few gun charges remaining against militia leader David Stone and son Joshua Stone, both from Lenawee County, Mich. They have been in custody without bond for two years.
Prosecutors said Hutaree members were anti-government rebels who combined training and strategy sessions to prepare for a violent strike against federal law enforcement, triggered first by the slaying of a police officer.
But there never was an attack. Defense lawyers said highly offensive remarks about police and the government were wrongly turned into a high-profile criminal case that drew public praise from U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who in 2010 called Hutaree a “dangerous organization.”
David Stone’s “statements and exercises do not evince a concrete agreement to forcibly resist the authority of the United States government,” Roberts said Tuesday. “His diatribes evince nothing more than his own hatred for — perhaps even desire to fight or kill — law enforcement; this is not the same as seditious conspiracy.”
U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade declined to comment. Two years ago, when militia members were arrested, she said it was time to “take them down.”
The FBI had put a local informant, Dan Murray, inside the militia in 2008 and paid him $31,000. An FBI agent from New Jersey also was embedded. Steve Haug, known as “Jersey Steve,” posed as a trucker and spent months secretly recording talks with Stone. He even served as Stone’s best man at his wedding, a celebration with militia members wearing military fatigues.
Haug repeatedly talked to Stone about building pipe bombs and getting other sophisticated explosives. The FBI rented a warehouse in Ann Arbor where the agent would invite him and others to store and discuss weapons.
Haug told jurors he was “shocked” by Stone’s knowledge of explosives, noting it matched some of his own instruction as a federal agent.
Stone was recorded saying he was willing to kill police and even their families. He considered them part of a “brotherhood” — a sinister global authority that included federal law enforcers and United Nations troops.
He had bizarre beliefs: Stone suspected Germany and Singapore had aircraft stationed in Texas, and thousands of Canadian troops were poised to take over Michigan. He said the government put computer chips in a flu vaccine.
He had a speech prepared for a regional militia gathering in Kentucky in 2010, but bad weather forced him and others to return to Michigan. Instead, he read it in the van while a secret camera installed by the FBI captured the remarks.
“It is time to strike and take our nation back so that we may be free again from tyranny,” Stone said. “Time is up, God bless all of you and welcome to the new revolution.”
Swor said Stone is a Christian who was bracing for war against the Antichrist.
“This is not the United States government. This is Satan’s army,” Swor told the judge Monday, referring to the enemy.
Militia members cleared of all charges were Stone’s wife, Tina Stone, and his son, David Stone Jr.; Thomas Piatek of Whiting, Ind.; Michael Meeks of Manchester, Mich.; and Kris Sickles of Sandusky, Ohio.
“It’s hard to believe it’s over,” said Tina Stone, crying as she spoke by phone. “Thank God we live in a country where we do have freedom of speech.”
Joshua Clough of Blissfield, Mich., pleaded guilty to a weapons charge in December and awaits his sentence. Jacob Ward of Huron, Ohio, will have a separate trial.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/key-charges-dismissed-against-michigan-militia-members-charged-with-plotting-war-on-government/2012/03/27/gIQAfUYVeS_story.html
Sheriff: Man kicks in church side door, points shotgun
As they are before most worship services, the doors of Boiling Springs' South Side Freewill Baptist Church were open on Sunday morning.
The Rev. Henry Guyton, pastor of the church, said Jesse Gates, who has attended worship services at the church on Upper Valley Falls Road as recently as Wednesday, came to the door about 10 a.m. on Sunday.
“He came in before the service and acted like he was having a heart attack,” Guyton, 71, said. “He asked us to call Channel 7 news. I called 911 instead.”
Sheriff Chuck Wright said deputies and Spartanburg EMS arrived, and checked out Gates, and Gates left.
About 11:20 a.m., Jesse Gates returned to the church. The Rev. Guyton's grandson, Aaron Guyton, 26, was in the recreation building separate from the church and saw Gates get a shotgun from the trunk of his car.
“At that point, I knew I had to do something,” Aaron Guyton said. “I wanted to try to contain him outside.”
Aaron Guyton went into the main building and locked the doors.
Henry Guyton said he was in the pulpit, preaching about how Jesus spoke the word of God and healed the sick, when Gates kicked open the side door of the sanctuary and entered with the shotgun, pointing it at the pastor and congregation.
Church members, including Aaron Guyton, a concealed weapons permit holder, acted quickly.
Aaron Guyton held Gates at gunpoint, as church members Jesse Smith and Leland Powers held him on the floor and waited for deputies to arrive. The Rev. Guyton said he stepped onto a chair, climbed down a 3-foot bannister surrounding the pulpit and took the shotgun from Jesse Gates.
“The gun was loaded,” Henry Guyton said. “I said, ‘Jesse, what did you do it for?' He said, ‘They took my children and won't let me see them.' I'm glad the Lord took care of everything. The police did a good job too.”
No shots were fired and no one was injured, according to deputies.
During a news conference Sunday, Wright called Aaron and Henry Guyton, Jesse Smith and Leland Powers “everyday heroes.”
Charges filed
Gates, 38, has been charged with second-degree burglary (violent), disturbing a place of worship, kidnapping and three counts of pointing and presenting a firearm, Wright said. Arrest warrants state that Jesse Gates pointed the shotgun at Smith, Henry Guyton and Powers, and that he intended to kidnap the pastor.
Gates' sister, Angela Michelle Gates, 34, has been charged with accessory before the fact of a felony. Wright said Angela Gates went to the church with her brother and provided him with the shotgun he used during the incident.
Both siblings live at 115 Falcon Ridge Road, Boiling Springs, with their mother, Lt. Tony Ivey said.
Gates also had a hunting knife in his possession when he entered the church. Ivey said he was charged with violent burglary because he entered the building with deadly weapons.
Wright said that while Angela Gates has no prior criminal record, Jesse Gates' criminal history includes numerous convictions for burglary, grand larceny and forgery. He is a convicted felon and prohibited from having a gun or ammunition.
Wright said it's possible the case could be forwarded to federal authorities.
‘Protecting the worshippers'
During a news conference Sunday, Wright commended Aaron Guyton for having a concealed weapons permit.
“We're very fortunate we didn't have gruesome scenes to work there,” Wright said. “I like the fact that a concealed weapons permit holder was prepared to protect the worshippers.”
Wright made national headlines in October when a man attacked a woman at Milliken Park during the day, urging residents to obtain concealed weapons permits and arm themselves. Earlier this year, Wright praised a concealed weapons permit holder who shot and killed a would-be robber at a Waffle House on Chesnee Highway.
“I hope the bad guys are watching, because we are tired of your nonsense,” Wright said. “People are simply protecting their families. Prepare yourselves, ladies and gentlemen.”
At the same time, Wright said, he urged residents to be “good witnesses” for law enforcement, and if the situation calls for it, to retreat to their homes if they find themselves in a potentially dangerous situation.
“I don't want you to act as a deputy sheriff,” Wright said. “I don't want you to take the law into your own hands.”
‘Praying, begging'
The Gateses were interviewed at the sheriff's office and taken to the Spartanburg County Detention Facility about 3:15 p.m. Sunday.
Ivey said a magistrate judge was expected to deny bond for the siblings, and that investigators have requested formal bond hearings for them, which will be conducted in circuit court.
As Gates was led in handcuffs to patrol car for transport to jail, he told reporters that he was trying to get someone to listen to him, because his children had been taken away. He said he had asked the church for assistance, but no one would help him.
Gates also said he never aimed the shotgun at anyone in the church, although an incident report states that he pointed it at the Rev. Henry Guyton and the congregation.
“I've been praying, begging,” Gates said. “They won't let me see my children. I tried everything. What can you do?”
Angela Gates also spoke to the media as she was taken to a patrol car to go to jail. She said she didn't know her brother had a gun and that Jesse Gates drove himself to the church. Ivey said Angela Gates was in the car with her brother when they went to the church.
“He (Jesse) said he was going to talk to his kids,” Angela Gates said.
Neither law enforcement nor Henry Guyton know who Jesse Gates was referring to when he said “they” took away his children.
Church members react
The Rev. Guyton's wife, Joyce, 70, said she remained calm through the incident, even as Gates pointed the shotgun at her husband in the pulpit.
“He said, ‘Come out of the pulpit,' ” Joyce Guyton said. “He said it three times. He scared some of the members to death. Some of them crawled under the benches and chairs. I don't know if he was drugged or what was wrong with him, but he was bad.”
Joyce Guyton said Gates had been attending services at Southside for about the past month, and church members remember him there from many years ago when he was a child.
“He told me he had just gotten out of prison for stealing,” Joyce Guyton said.
She says Gates didn't ask for help.
“We help people who need help,” Joyce Guyton said. “We've helped a lot of families over there. They've never come back with a gun.”
Aaron Guyton said he's had a concealed weapons permit since 2009, and usually keeps his gun in the car during church. But after Gates showed up at the church the first time, Aaron Guyton said he decided to keep the gun in his back pocket the rest of the morning. He says he couldn't believe he almost had to use his gun inside the church he's attended all of his life. But he says he would have shot Gates to protect his grandparents, 8-year-old sister and 7-week-old cousin if his grandfather, whom he calls “Pops,” hadn't been able to jerk the shotgun out of Gates' hand.
“Once we got him (Gates) on the ground, he was begging forgiveness,” Aaron Guyton said. “It was the first time I ever had to draw my weapon on someone.”
But when asked if he felt like a hero, Aaron Guyton replied, “I feel like I done what needed to be done. If my grandfather hadn't grabbed the gun, I was going to take his (Gates') life. I'm very proud of my grandfather. He moves quick.”
The Rev. Guyton said Gates has attended church there about four times, but his children do not.
The church had a meal after services on Sunday, and because a singing had previously been scheduled, the evening worship service had been canceled before the morning's incident, Guyton said.
The pastor has led the church for all of his 36 years in the ministry and said he's never had an incident like Sunday's happen in his sanctuary.
Guyton did not express anger at the man who brought a shotgun into his church on Sunday morning.
“I pray for him,” Guyton said. “He's lost. We just hope he gets straightened out.”
http://www.goupstate.com/article/20120325/ARTICLES/120329781/1112?p=1&tc=pg
Mich. militia members cleared of charges that accused them of plotting war against government
DETROIT — A federal judge on Tuesday gutted the government’s case against seven members of a Michigan militia, dismissing the most serious charges in an extraordinary defeat for federal authorities who insisted they had captured homegrown rural extremists poised for war.
U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts said the members’ expressed hatred of law enforcement didn’t amount to a conspiracy to rebel against the government. The FBI had secretly planted an informant and an FBI agent inside the Hutaree militia starting in 2008 to collect hours of anti-government audio and video that became the cornerstone of the case.
“The court is aware that protected speech and mere words can be sufficient to show a conspiracy. In this case, however, they do not rise to that level,” the judge said on the second anniversary of raids and arrests that broke up the group.
Roberts granted requests for acquittal on the most serious charges: conspiring to commit sedition, or rebellion, against the U.S. and conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction. Other weapons crimes tied to the alleged conspiracies also were dismissed.
“The judge had a lot of guts,” defense attorney William Swor said. “It would have been very easy to say, ‘The heck with it,’ and hand it off to the jury. But the fact is she looked at the evidence, and she looked at it very carefully.”
The trial, which began Feb. 13, will resume Thursday with only a few gun charges remaining against militia leader David Stone and son Joshua Stone, both from Lenawee County, Mich. They have been in custody without bond for two years.
Prosecutors said Hutaree members were anti-government rebels who combined training and strategy sessions to prepare for a violent strike against federal law enforcement, triggered first by the slaying of a police officer.
But there never was an attack. Defense lawyers said highly offensive remarks about police and the government were wrongly turned into a high-profile criminal case that drew public praise from U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who in 2010 called Hutaree a “dangerous organization.”
David Stone’s “statements and exercises do not evince a concrete agreement to forcibly resist the authority of the United States government,” Roberts said Tuesday. “His diatribes evince nothing more than his own hatred for — perhaps even desire to fight or kill — law enforcement; this is not the same as seditious conspiracy.”
U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade declined to comment. Two years ago, when militia members were arrested, she said it was time to “take them down.”
The FBI had put a local informant, Dan Murray, inside the militia in 2008 and paid him $31,000. An FBI agent from New Jersey also was embedded. Steve Haug, known as “Jersey Steve,” posed as a trucker and spent months secretly recording talks with Stone. He even served as Stone’s best man at his wedding, a celebration with militia members wearing military fatigues.
Haug repeatedly talked to Stone about building pipe bombs and getting other sophisticated explosives. The FBI rented a warehouse in Ann Arbor where the agent would invite him and others to store and discuss weapons.
Haug told jurors he was “shocked” by Stone’s knowledge of explosives, noting it matched some of his own instruction as a federal agent.
Stone was recorded saying he was willing to kill police and even their families. He considered them part of a “brotherhood” — a sinister global authority that included federal law enforcers and United Nations troops.
He had bizarre beliefs: Stone suspected Germany and Singapore had aircraft stationed in Texas, and thousands of Canadian troops were poised to take over Michigan. He said the government put computer chips in a flu vaccine.
He had a speech prepared for a regional militia gathering in Kentucky in 2010, but bad weather forced him and others to return to Michigan. Instead, he read it in the van while a secret camera installed by the FBI captured the remarks.
“It is time to strike and take our nation back so that we may be free again from tyranny,” Stone said. “Time is up, God bless all of you and welcome to the new revolution.”
Swor said Stone is a Christian who was bracing for war against the Antichrist.
“This is not the United States government. This is Satan’s army,” Swor told the judge Monday, referring to the enemy.
Militia members cleared of all charges were Stone’s wife, Tina Stone, and his son, David Stone Jr.; Thomas Piatek of Whiting, Ind.; Michael Meeks of Manchester, Mich.; and Kris Sickles of Sandusky, Ohio.
“It’s hard to believe it’s over,” said Tina Stone, crying as she spoke by phone. “Thank God we live in a country where we do have freedom of speech.”
Joshua Clough of Blissfield, Mich., pleaded guilty to a weapons charge in December and awaits his sentence. Jacob Ward of Huron, Ohio, will have a separate trial.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/key-charges-dismissed-against-michigan-militia-members-charged-with-plotting-war-on-government/2012/03/27/gIQAfUYVeS_story.html
Sheriff: Man kicks in church side door, points shotgun
As they are before most worship services, the doors of Boiling Springs' South Side Freewill Baptist Church were open on Sunday morning.
The Rev. Henry Guyton, pastor of the church, said Jesse Gates, who has attended worship services at the church on Upper Valley Falls Road as recently as Wednesday, came to the door about 10 a.m. on Sunday.
“He came in before the service and acted like he was having a heart attack,” Guyton, 71, said. “He asked us to call Channel 7 news. I called 911 instead.”
Sheriff Chuck Wright said deputies and Spartanburg EMS arrived, and checked out Gates, and Gates left.
About 11:20 a.m., Jesse Gates returned to the church. The Rev. Guyton's grandson, Aaron Guyton, 26, was in the recreation building separate from the church and saw Gates get a shotgun from the trunk of his car.
“At that point, I knew I had to do something,” Aaron Guyton said. “I wanted to try to contain him outside.”
Aaron Guyton went into the main building and locked the doors.
Henry Guyton said he was in the pulpit, preaching about how Jesus spoke the word of God and healed the sick, when Gates kicked open the side door of the sanctuary and entered with the shotgun, pointing it at the pastor and congregation.
Church members, including Aaron Guyton, a concealed weapons permit holder, acted quickly.
Aaron Guyton held Gates at gunpoint, as church members Jesse Smith and Leland Powers held him on the floor and waited for deputies to arrive. The Rev. Guyton said he stepped onto a chair, climbed down a 3-foot bannister surrounding the pulpit and took the shotgun from Jesse Gates.
“The gun was loaded,” Henry Guyton said. “I said, ‘Jesse, what did you do it for?' He said, ‘They took my children and won't let me see them.' I'm glad the Lord took care of everything. The police did a good job too.”
No shots were fired and no one was injured, according to deputies.
During a news conference Sunday, Wright called Aaron and Henry Guyton, Jesse Smith and Leland Powers “everyday heroes.”
Charges filed
Gates, 38, has been charged with second-degree burglary (violent), disturbing a place of worship, kidnapping and three counts of pointing and presenting a firearm, Wright said. Arrest warrants state that Jesse Gates pointed the shotgun at Smith, Henry Guyton and Powers, and that he intended to kidnap the pastor.
Gates' sister, Angela Michelle Gates, 34, has been charged with accessory before the fact of a felony. Wright said Angela Gates went to the church with her brother and provided him with the shotgun he used during the incident.
Both siblings live at 115 Falcon Ridge Road, Boiling Springs, with their mother, Lt. Tony Ivey said.
Gates also had a hunting knife in his possession when he entered the church. Ivey said he was charged with violent burglary because he entered the building with deadly weapons.
Wright said that while Angela Gates has no prior criminal record, Jesse Gates' criminal history includes numerous convictions for burglary, grand larceny and forgery. He is a convicted felon and prohibited from having a gun or ammunition.
Wright said it's possible the case could be forwarded to federal authorities.
‘Protecting the worshippers'
During a news conference Sunday, Wright commended Aaron Guyton for having a concealed weapons permit.
“We're very fortunate we didn't have gruesome scenes to work there,” Wright said. “I like the fact that a concealed weapons permit holder was prepared to protect the worshippers.”
Wright made national headlines in October when a man attacked a woman at Milliken Park during the day, urging residents to obtain concealed weapons permits and arm themselves. Earlier this year, Wright praised a concealed weapons permit holder who shot and killed a would-be robber at a Waffle House on Chesnee Highway.
“I hope the bad guys are watching, because we are tired of your nonsense,” Wright said. “People are simply protecting their families. Prepare yourselves, ladies and gentlemen.”
At the same time, Wright said, he urged residents to be “good witnesses” for law enforcement, and if the situation calls for it, to retreat to their homes if they find themselves in a potentially dangerous situation.
“I don't want you to act as a deputy sheriff,” Wright said. “I don't want you to take the law into your own hands.”
‘Praying, begging'
The Gateses were interviewed at the sheriff's office and taken to the Spartanburg County Detention Facility about 3:15 p.m. Sunday.
Ivey said a magistrate judge was expected to deny bond for the siblings, and that investigators have requested formal bond hearings for them, which will be conducted in circuit court.
As Gates was led in handcuffs to patrol car for transport to jail, he told reporters that he was trying to get someone to listen to him, because his children had been taken away. He said he had asked the church for assistance, but no one would help him.
Gates also said he never aimed the shotgun at anyone in the church, although an incident report states that he pointed it at the Rev. Henry Guyton and the congregation.
“I've been praying, begging,” Gates said. “They won't let me see my children. I tried everything. What can you do?”
Angela Gates also spoke to the media as she was taken to a patrol car to go to jail. She said she didn't know her brother had a gun and that Jesse Gates drove himself to the church. Ivey said Angela Gates was in the car with her brother when they went to the church.
“He (Jesse) said he was going to talk to his kids,” Angela Gates said.
Neither law enforcement nor Henry Guyton know who Jesse Gates was referring to when he said “they” took away his children.
Church members react
The Rev. Guyton's wife, Joyce, 70, said she remained calm through the incident, even as Gates pointed the shotgun at her husband in the pulpit.
“He said, ‘Come out of the pulpit,' ” Joyce Guyton said. “He said it three times. He scared some of the members to death. Some of them crawled under the benches and chairs. I don't know if he was drugged or what was wrong with him, but he was bad.”
Joyce Guyton said Gates had been attending services at Southside for about the past month, and church members remember him there from many years ago when he was a child.
“He told me he had just gotten out of prison for stealing,” Joyce Guyton said.
She says Gates didn't ask for help.
“We help people who need help,” Joyce Guyton said. “We've helped a lot of families over there. They've never come back with a gun.”
Aaron Guyton said he's had a concealed weapons permit since 2009, and usually keeps his gun in the car during church. But after Gates showed up at the church the first time, Aaron Guyton said he decided to keep the gun in his back pocket the rest of the morning. He says he couldn't believe he almost had to use his gun inside the church he's attended all of his life. But he says he would have shot Gates to protect his grandparents, 8-year-old sister and 7-week-old cousin if his grandfather, whom he calls “Pops,” hadn't been able to jerk the shotgun out of Gates' hand.
“Once we got him (Gates) on the ground, he was begging forgiveness,” Aaron Guyton said. “It was the first time I ever had to draw my weapon on someone.”
But when asked if he felt like a hero, Aaron Guyton replied, “I feel like I done what needed to be done. If my grandfather hadn't grabbed the gun, I was going to take his (Gates') life. I'm very proud of my grandfather. He moves quick.”
The Rev. Guyton said Gates has attended church there about four times, but his children do not.
The church had a meal after services on Sunday, and because a singing had previously been scheduled, the evening worship service had been canceled before the morning's incident, Guyton said.
The pastor has led the church for all of his 36 years in the ministry and said he's never had an incident like Sunday's happen in his sanctuary.
Guyton did not express anger at the man who brought a shotgun into his church on Sunday morning.
“I pray for him,” Guyton said. “He's lost. We just hope he gets straightened out.”
http://www.goupstate.com/article/20120325/ARTICLES/120329781/1112?p=1&tc=pg
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Tuesday 03-27-12
What does this say about our country?
Well at least they got something right
http://wtop.com/?nid=289&sid=2802495 Lawmakers call airport screeners ineffective, rude
WASHINGTON (AP) - House members of both parties on Monday teed off against the agency in charge of airport and port anti-terrorist screening, saying it uses ineffective tactics, wastes money on faulty equipment and treats travelers rudely.
"We're not cattle," said Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., adding that `barking orders" undermines the good work of the Transportation Security Administration.
TSA officials told a hearing that airport screening is getting better for U.S. travelers, because the agency is moving away from a one-size-fits-all system. Instead, the TSA is expanding programs to identify travelers posing a risk, while allowing those who provide personal information in advance to go through a fast line.
A report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative agency, agreed with lawmakers that several key programs of the TSA have been flawed.
Stephen Lord, director of the GAO's homeland security program, offered the investigators' assessment of the TSA at a joint hearing of the committees on Transportation and Infrastructure; and Oversight and Government Reform: The findings:
_TSA deployed its Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques program nationwide before determining whether it was valid to use behavior and appearance to reliably identify passengers posing a risk. It was not known whether any of those caught were terrorists. Rather, the program nabbed illegal aliens, drug offenders, those carrying fraudulent documents and people with outstanding warrants.
_While 640 full-body scanners were deployed to detect both liquids and metals, some of the units were not being used regularly, thereby decreasing benefits of machines that cost $250,000 each to buy and install.
_The Transportation Worker Identification Credential program used for 2.1 million workers at ports and on ships has been unable to provide reasonable assurance that only qualified individuals can acquire the card.
Christopher McLaughlin and Stephen Sadler, two TSA assistant administrators, emphasized that help is on the way, but spent most of the hearing fending off lawmakers' angry comments.
McLaughlin said TSA is working on easing the checkpoint experience for children and senior citizens, including ending a requirement for them that shoes be removed and conducting less intrusive pat downs.
He said that the TSA Pre-Check system, the fast-lane screening program, has been expanded to a dozen airports and more than 500,000 passengers and received positive feedback. He said any U.S. citizen in the Customs and Border Protection's trusted traveler programs will qualify for streamlined screening when flying from 14 international locations.
None of this satisfied the committee members.
Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said TSA wasted millions of taxpayer dollars developing equipment that didn't work, leaving in its wake "a dire picture of ineffectiveness."
Rep. Tom Petri, R-Wis., said TSA treated traveling Americans "like prisoners."
The chairman of the Transportation Committee, Republican John Mica of Florida, said faulty equipment was hauled away from a storage site "as our investigators were appearing on the scene."
And Issa read comments from Americans who accepted his Internet invitation to write about their experiences on the committee's Facebook site.
A Marine in dress blues said he was forced to remove his trousers because his shirt stays spooked a screener. A disabled person complained about constant groping. So did a traveler with a medical device that can't go through machines generating radiation. And a 61-year-old traveler who had an artificial leg since age 4 gave up traveling, tired of having her breast checked rather than her leg.
Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Memphis, said screeners went through all the items of a woman known as one of the richest in his town.
He said it should have been obvious from her expensive possessions that "this woman wants to live."
http://wtop.com/?nid=289&sid=2802495
Well at least they got something right
http://wtop.com/?nid=289&sid=2802495 Lawmakers call airport screeners ineffective, rude
WASHINGTON (AP) - House members of both parties on Monday teed off against the agency in charge of airport and port anti-terrorist screening, saying it uses ineffective tactics, wastes money on faulty equipment and treats travelers rudely.
"We're not cattle," said Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., adding that `barking orders" undermines the good work of the Transportation Security Administration.
TSA officials told a hearing that airport screening is getting better for U.S. travelers, because the agency is moving away from a one-size-fits-all system. Instead, the TSA is expanding programs to identify travelers posing a risk, while allowing those who provide personal information in advance to go through a fast line.
A report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative agency, agreed with lawmakers that several key programs of the TSA have been flawed.
Stephen Lord, director of the GAO's homeland security program, offered the investigators' assessment of the TSA at a joint hearing of the committees on Transportation and Infrastructure; and Oversight and Government Reform: The findings:
_TSA deployed its Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques program nationwide before determining whether it was valid to use behavior and appearance to reliably identify passengers posing a risk. It was not known whether any of those caught were terrorists. Rather, the program nabbed illegal aliens, drug offenders, those carrying fraudulent documents and people with outstanding warrants.
_While 640 full-body scanners were deployed to detect both liquids and metals, some of the units were not being used regularly, thereby decreasing benefits of machines that cost $250,000 each to buy and install.
_The Transportation Worker Identification Credential program used for 2.1 million workers at ports and on ships has been unable to provide reasonable assurance that only qualified individuals can acquire the card.
Christopher McLaughlin and Stephen Sadler, two TSA assistant administrators, emphasized that help is on the way, but spent most of the hearing fending off lawmakers' angry comments.
McLaughlin said TSA is working on easing the checkpoint experience for children and senior citizens, including ending a requirement for them that shoes be removed and conducting less intrusive pat downs.
He said that the TSA Pre-Check system, the fast-lane screening program, has been expanded to a dozen airports and more than 500,000 passengers and received positive feedback. He said any U.S. citizen in the Customs and Border Protection's trusted traveler programs will qualify for streamlined screening when flying from 14 international locations.
None of this satisfied the committee members.
Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said TSA wasted millions of taxpayer dollars developing equipment that didn't work, leaving in its wake "a dire picture of ineffectiveness."
Rep. Tom Petri, R-Wis., said TSA treated traveling Americans "like prisoners."
The chairman of the Transportation Committee, Republican John Mica of Florida, said faulty equipment was hauled away from a storage site "as our investigators were appearing on the scene."
And Issa read comments from Americans who accepted his Internet invitation to write about their experiences on the committee's Facebook site.
A Marine in dress blues said he was forced to remove his trousers because his shirt stays spooked a screener. A disabled person complained about constant groping. So did a traveler with a medical device that can't go through machines generating radiation. And a 61-year-old traveler who had an artificial leg since age 4 gave up traveling, tired of having her breast checked rather than her leg.
Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Memphis, said screeners went through all the items of a woman known as one of the richest in his town.
He said it should have been obvious from her expensive possessions that "this woman wants to live."
http://wtop.com/?nid=289&sid=2802495
Monday, March 26, 2012
Monday 03-26-12
You can not make it up. Another reason, i'm glad i home school. They tell them they come from animals and when they act like an animal, they wonder why.
Teacher Fired After Not Noticing Third Graders Having Oral Sex Under Desk
TALLULAH, La. (CBS Houston) – A teacher at Tallulah Elementary School lost her job after not noticing two third graders participating in oral sex under their desks.
The News-Star is reporting that the teacher was fired for not keeping a proper eye on her students, as the incident occurred under her watch.
“The principal felt that she was not monitoring the classroom adequately,” District Superintendent Lisa Wilmore said to the News-Star. “The principal made a decision, and I supported the principal.”
She added, “We have to make sure we have people in these classrooms who are monitoring our students.”
Both students reportedly received counseling after the incident, which happened last week.
http://houston.cbslocal.com/2012/03/23/teacher-fired-after-not-noticing-third-graders-having-oral-sex-under-desk/
Teacher Fired After Not Noticing Third Graders Having Oral Sex Under Desk
TALLULAH, La. (CBS Houston) – A teacher at Tallulah Elementary School lost her job after not noticing two third graders participating in oral sex under their desks.
The News-Star is reporting that the teacher was fired for not keeping a proper eye on her students, as the incident occurred under her watch.
“The principal felt that she was not monitoring the classroom adequately,” District Superintendent Lisa Wilmore said to the News-Star. “The principal made a decision, and I supported the principal.”
She added, “We have to make sure we have people in these classrooms who are monitoring our students.”
Both students reportedly received counseling after the incident, which happened last week.
http://houston.cbslocal.com/2012/03/23/teacher-fired-after-not-noticing-third-graders-having-oral-sex-under-desk/
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Saturday 03-24-12
Coming to America, not even ashamed of it.
Book tells Muslim men how to beat and control their wives
A local bookstore has “sold out” of a controversial marriage guide that advises Muslim men on how to beat their wives.
The 160-page book, published by Idara Impex in New Delhi, India, is written by Hazrat Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, who’s described in the book’s foreword as a “prolific writer on almost every topic of Islamic learning.”
The store’s manager, who didn’t give his name, said the book had been sold out for some time, and the store’s owner, whom the manager identified as Shamim Ahmad, refused to comment for the story.
It wasn’t clear whether the shop has ordered more copies of the book, but it’s available at online Islamic bookstores and even through eBay.
In the book’s opening pages, it is written that “it might be necessary to restrain her with strength or even to threaten her.”
Later, its author advises that “the husband should treat the wife with kindness and love, even if she tends to be stupid and slow sometimes.”
Page 45 contains the rights of the husband, which include his wife’s inability to leave “his house without his permission,” and that his wife must “fulfil his desires” and “not allow herself to be untidy ... but should beautify herself for him ... ”
In terms of physical punishment, the book advises that a husband may scold her, “beat by hand or stick,” withhold money from her or “pull (her) by the ears,” but should “refrain from beating her excessively.”
Moderate Muslim voice Tarek Fatah says the shopkeeper should be charged for selling such a book.
“I wouldn’t say it’s hate, but it is inciting men to hit women,” said Fatah, who identified the book’s author as a prominent Islamic scholar. “This is new to you, but the Muslim community knows that this is widespread, that a woman can be beaten. Muslim leaders will deny this, but... ”
Male dominance over women has been making headlines for some time, with the recent lengthy trial and conviction of the Shafia family.
Mohammad Shafia, 59, his second wife, Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son, Hamed, 21, were each convicted in January on four counts of first-degree murder in what was characterized as an honour killing of four female family members as punishment for disobedience. They were handed life sentences with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Shafia’s three daughters and his first wife were found drowned in a car at the bottom of the Rideau Canal in Kingston, Ont., in June 2009.
Eric Brazau says he was flipping through the marriage guide while in the bookstore around a month ago.
Brazau bought it out of curiosity but was taken aback when he found dozens of chapters and passages giving Muslim husbands advice on controlling, restraining, scolding and beating their wives.
“At first, I thought that it is incredible that this kind of thing can be found in Canada,” said Brazau. “And then I thought, radical Islam is not coming to Canada, it is already here.”
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/03/23/book-tells-muslim-men-how-to-beat-and-control-their-wives
Book tells Muslim men how to beat and control their wives
A local bookstore has “sold out” of a controversial marriage guide that advises Muslim men on how to beat their wives.
The 160-page book, published by Idara Impex in New Delhi, India, is written by Hazrat Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, who’s described in the book’s foreword as a “prolific writer on almost every topic of Islamic learning.”
The store’s manager, who didn’t give his name, said the book had been sold out for some time, and the store’s owner, whom the manager identified as Shamim Ahmad, refused to comment for the story.
It wasn’t clear whether the shop has ordered more copies of the book, but it’s available at online Islamic bookstores and even through eBay.
In the book’s opening pages, it is written that “it might be necessary to restrain her with strength or even to threaten her.”
Later, its author advises that “the husband should treat the wife with kindness and love, even if she tends to be stupid and slow sometimes.”
Page 45 contains the rights of the husband, which include his wife’s inability to leave “his house without his permission,” and that his wife must “fulfil his desires” and “not allow herself to be untidy ... but should beautify herself for him ... ”
In terms of physical punishment, the book advises that a husband may scold her, “beat by hand or stick,” withhold money from her or “pull (her) by the ears,” but should “refrain from beating her excessively.”
Moderate Muslim voice Tarek Fatah says the shopkeeper should be charged for selling such a book.
“I wouldn’t say it’s hate, but it is inciting men to hit women,” said Fatah, who identified the book’s author as a prominent Islamic scholar. “This is new to you, but the Muslim community knows that this is widespread, that a woman can be beaten. Muslim leaders will deny this, but... ”
Male dominance over women has been making headlines for some time, with the recent lengthy trial and conviction of the Shafia family.
Mohammad Shafia, 59, his second wife, Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son, Hamed, 21, were each convicted in January on four counts of first-degree murder in what was characterized as an honour killing of four female family members as punishment for disobedience. They were handed life sentences with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Shafia’s three daughters and his first wife were found drowned in a car at the bottom of the Rideau Canal in Kingston, Ont., in June 2009.
Eric Brazau says he was flipping through the marriage guide while in the bookstore around a month ago.
Brazau bought it out of curiosity but was taken aback when he found dozens of chapters and passages giving Muslim husbands advice on controlling, restraining, scolding and beating their wives.
“At first, I thought that it is incredible that this kind of thing can be found in Canada,” said Brazau. “And then I thought, radical Islam is not coming to Canada, it is already here.”
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/03/23/book-tells-muslim-men-how-to-beat-and-control-their-wives
Friday, March 23, 2012
Friday 03-23-12
More from the religion of peace
Nearly 1,000 Pakistani women ‘killed for honor’
At least 943 Pakistani women and girls were murdered last year for allegedly defaming their family’s honor, the country’s leading human rights group said Thursday.
The statistics highlight the growing scale of violence suffered by many women in conservative Muslim Pakistan, where they are frequently treated as second-class citizens and there is no law against domestic violence.
Despite progress on better protecting women’s rights, activists say the government needs to do more to prosecute murderers in cases largely dismissed by police as private, family affairs.
“At least 943 women were killed in the name of honor, of which 93 were minors,” wrote the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in its annual report.
Seven Christian and two Hindu women were among the victims, it said.
The Commission reported 791 “honor killings” in 2010.
Around 595 of the women killed in 2011 were accused of having “illicit relations” and 219 of marrying without permission.
Some victims were raped or gang raped before being killed, the Commission said. Most of the women were killed by their brothers and husbands.
Only 20 of 943 killed were reported to have been provided medical aid before they died, the Commission wrote.
Despite the rising number of reported killings, activists have praised parliament for passing laws aimed at strengthening women’s protection against abuses.
Rights groups say the government should do more to ensure that women subjected to violence, harassment and discrimination have effective access to justice.
Last year, a Belgian court sentenced four members of a Pakistani family to prison for the murder of their daughter, who defied them by living with a Belgian man and refused an arranged marriage.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/03/22/202385.html
The people need protection form the police?
Governor signs bill on residents resisting police
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said Wednesday that he shares police groups' concerns that some people might misinterpret a new law that lays out when residents could be legally justified in using force against police officers.
Daniels said he thought carefully before signing the bill Tuesday night. The legislation was passed by strong majorities in the House and Senate in response to public uproar after the state Supreme Court ruled last year that residents couldn't resist officers even during an illegal entry.
"Contrary to some impressions, the bill strengthens the protection of Indiana law enforcement officers by narrowing the situations in which someone would be justified in using force against them," Daniels said in a written statement. But, he added: "What is troubling to law enforcement officers, and to me, is the chance that citizens hearing reports of change will misunderstand what the law says."
The law took immediate effect.
The measure specifies that people are protected by the state's self-defense law if they reasonably believe force is necessary to protect themselves, someone else or their own property from unlawful actions by a public servant.
Supporters have said the proposal strengthens the legal rights of people against government agents improperly entering their homes. But police groups worried about the measure giving people justification for attacking officers.
"For those who don't take the time to read the law, it is going to be devastating for someone to think they have a right to resist if they only think an officer is acting illegally," said William Owensby, president of the Indianapolis chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police.
"Our fear all along was that it's going to put citizens and officers into grave danger," he said. "I don't want to have to bury another police officer."
A blizzard of emails to officials, a Statehouse protest and threats against judges ensued when the Indiana Supreme Court ruled last May that homeowners couldn't use force to resist police officers' entry into their homes, whether those entries were legal or not. The justices later clarified that the ruling didn't abridge homeowner's Fourth Amendment rights.
The ruling came in a Vanderburgh County case in which a man scuffled with an officer who tried to enter his house without a warrant while investigating a report of a domestic disturbance. The man, Richard Barnes, was convicted of resisting law enforcement and other charges.
The court declined comment on the law through a spokesman.
At least one supporter said the law didn't accomplish what it was supposed to do because it didn't affect situations like that covered by the Supreme Court decision.
"I think it was a feel-good measure on their part but it really didn't achieve anything," said Greg Fettig of the tea party group America Refocused. "Police could still go in without any probable cause whatsoever."
Fettig added: "As far as I'm concerned as a private citizen, I will not let them in without a search warrant."
The bill's primary author, Republican Sen. Michael Young of Indianapolis, disagreed. He said legislators changed the law so citizens would have a right to protect themselves, even against police. Young also said the police officer in the Barnes case would have been acting within the law.
Young said he believes the new law does a good job of balancing police power with individual rights.
"I think the governor took his time and deliberated on the issue just like we did in the General Assembly. It's a tough issue," Young said.
http://www.fwdailynews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16498
Nearly 1,000 Pakistani women ‘killed for honor’
At least 943 Pakistani women and girls were murdered last year for allegedly defaming their family’s honor, the country’s leading human rights group said Thursday.
The statistics highlight the growing scale of violence suffered by many women in conservative Muslim Pakistan, where they are frequently treated as second-class citizens and there is no law against domestic violence.
Despite progress on better protecting women’s rights, activists say the government needs to do more to prosecute murderers in cases largely dismissed by police as private, family affairs.
“At least 943 women were killed in the name of honor, of which 93 were minors,” wrote the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in its annual report.
Seven Christian and two Hindu women were among the victims, it said.
The Commission reported 791 “honor killings” in 2010.
Around 595 of the women killed in 2011 were accused of having “illicit relations” and 219 of marrying without permission.
Some victims were raped or gang raped before being killed, the Commission said. Most of the women were killed by their brothers and husbands.
Only 20 of 943 killed were reported to have been provided medical aid before they died, the Commission wrote.
Despite the rising number of reported killings, activists have praised parliament for passing laws aimed at strengthening women’s protection against abuses.
Rights groups say the government should do more to ensure that women subjected to violence, harassment and discrimination have effective access to justice.
Last year, a Belgian court sentenced four members of a Pakistani family to prison for the murder of their daughter, who defied them by living with a Belgian man and refused an arranged marriage.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/03/22/202385.html
The people need protection form the police?
Governor signs bill on residents resisting police
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said Wednesday that he shares police groups' concerns that some people might misinterpret a new law that lays out when residents could be legally justified in using force against police officers.
Daniels said he thought carefully before signing the bill Tuesday night. The legislation was passed by strong majorities in the House and Senate in response to public uproar after the state Supreme Court ruled last year that residents couldn't resist officers even during an illegal entry.
"Contrary to some impressions, the bill strengthens the protection of Indiana law enforcement officers by narrowing the situations in which someone would be justified in using force against them," Daniels said in a written statement. But, he added: "What is troubling to law enforcement officers, and to me, is the chance that citizens hearing reports of change will misunderstand what the law says."
The law took immediate effect.
The measure specifies that people are protected by the state's self-defense law if they reasonably believe force is necessary to protect themselves, someone else or their own property from unlawful actions by a public servant.
Supporters have said the proposal strengthens the legal rights of people against government agents improperly entering their homes. But police groups worried about the measure giving people justification for attacking officers.
"For those who don't take the time to read the law, it is going to be devastating for someone to think they have a right to resist if they only think an officer is acting illegally," said William Owensby, president of the Indianapolis chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police.
"Our fear all along was that it's going to put citizens and officers into grave danger," he said. "I don't want to have to bury another police officer."
A blizzard of emails to officials, a Statehouse protest and threats against judges ensued when the Indiana Supreme Court ruled last May that homeowners couldn't use force to resist police officers' entry into their homes, whether those entries were legal or not. The justices later clarified that the ruling didn't abridge homeowner's Fourth Amendment rights.
The ruling came in a Vanderburgh County case in which a man scuffled with an officer who tried to enter his house without a warrant while investigating a report of a domestic disturbance. The man, Richard Barnes, was convicted of resisting law enforcement and other charges.
The court declined comment on the law through a spokesman.
At least one supporter said the law didn't accomplish what it was supposed to do because it didn't affect situations like that covered by the Supreme Court decision.
"I think it was a feel-good measure on their part but it really didn't achieve anything," said Greg Fettig of the tea party group America Refocused. "Police could still go in without any probable cause whatsoever."
Fettig added: "As far as I'm concerned as a private citizen, I will not let them in without a search warrant."
The bill's primary author, Republican Sen. Michael Young of Indianapolis, disagreed. He said legislators changed the law so citizens would have a right to protect themselves, even against police. Young also said the police officer in the Barnes case would have been acting within the law.
Young said he believes the new law does a good job of balancing police power with individual rights.
"I think the governor took his time and deliberated on the issue just like we did in the General Assembly. It's a tough issue," Young said.
http://www.fwdailynews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16498
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Thursday 03-22-12
I guess you could say that it is better then normal.
U.S. top court backs landowners, limits power of EPA
The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that landowners can sue to challenge a federal government compliance order under the clean water law, a decision that sides with corporate groups and puts new limits on a key Environmental Protection Agency power.
The justices unanimously rejected the government's position that individuals or companies must first fail to comply with an EPA order and face potentially costly enforcement action before a court can review the case.
The opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia was a victory for an Idaho couple who challenged a 2007 EPA order that required them to restore a wetland they had filled with dirt and rock as they began to build a new vacation home near Priest Lake. They were also told to stop construction on the home.
The couple, Chantell and Michael Sackett, denied their property had ever contained a wetland and complained they were being forced to comply with an order without a court hearing.
Their appeal drew support from the Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Association of Home Builders and General Electric Co, a company that had made a similar challenge to the EPA compliance orders.
The Supreme Court's ruling comes at a time when the EPA has faced fierce criticism from many Republicans in Congress who say it has issued the most ambitious clean air regulations in decades and has become heavy-handed in enforcement actions.
Scalia concluded the Sacketts may bring a civil lawsuit under the Administrative Procedures Act to challenge the EPA's order.
He said that since the EPA's decision was final and the couple faced potential large fines, they had no other adequate remedy but to bring a civil lawsuit.
Reading his decision from the bench, Scalia said that the Clean Water Act does not prevent judicial review of such orders.
Under the law, violations of the Clean Water Act can result in fines of up to $37,500 per day, plus as much as an additional $37,500 per day for violating the EPA compliance order.
The EPA issues nearly 3,000 compliance orders a year that require accused violators of environmental laws to stop alleged harmful actions and repair any damage that was caused.
The justices overturned a U.S. appeals court ruling that a compliance order was not subject to judicial review until later when the EPA has brought an enforcement action and seeks to have a judge rule in its favor.
'DAY IN COURT'
The court did not reach the broader question of whether the EPA's order violated the constitutional right of due process. It only held that the Administrative Procedures Act, which provides certain rules for federal regulatory agencies, applied.
Scalia said that the Sacketts would not get an adequate remedy if they had to apply to the Army Corps of Engineers for a permit and then file suit if that permit was denied.
He said the Clean Water Act was not "uniquely designed to enable the strong-arming of regulated parties into 'voluntary compliance' without the opportunity for judicial review."
Scalia concluded the 10-page opinion by saying the EPA's orders will remain an effective way to secure prompt, voluntary compliance in the many cases when there was no substantial basis to question their validity.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote a short separate opinion concurring in the outcome. He said allowing property owners to sue was better than nothing, but urged Congress to adopt new legislation clarifying the reach of the Clean Water Act.
Government attorneys had defended the compliance orders as a quick way to stop environmental damage and argued that allowing accused polluters to get a court hearing would tie the EPA up in lengthy litigation.
An attorney for the Sacketts argued that they should not have to wait for years for judicial review until the EPA decides to go to court and said the compliance order was coercive, requiring action to avoid potentially huge fines.
Damien Schiff, the attorney for the couple, hailed the ruling. "EPA is not above the law," he said.
"That's the bottom line with today's ruling. This is a great day for Mike and Chantell Sackett, because it confirms that EPA can't deny them access to justice. EPA can't repeal the Sacketts' fundamental right to their day in court," he said.
Jon Devine, senior attorney in the water program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the EPA still can issue compliance orders.
"The Supreme Court did not give anyone a license to pollute. Pure and simple. Those who pollute our waters will still be held accountable," he said. The ruling "grants recipients of such orders, at a time of their choosing, a day in court to challenge them to promote speedy resolution of pollution problems."
The Supreme Court case is Sackett v EPA, No. 10-1062.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/21/us-usa-court-epa-idUSBRE82K0YT20120321
But we still have a long way to go as far as liberty is concerned.
Burnsville Man Arrested, Jailed for Siding Code Violation
A Burnsville man on his way to work was arrested and thrown in jail without bond, and then subjected to electronic home monitoring.
But it wasn’t for drugs or a DWI or some other major crime.
Burnsville city leaders say Mitch Faber’s dealings with the law all stem from his failure to properly put up siding on his house.
Yep, siding.
Faber says he had every intention of completing the stucco and decorative rock project on his home but he ran into money troubles when the economy soured. Burnsville leaders say they had no choice to enforce the law.
Here’s how a simple code violation spiraled into a criminal case:
Mitch and his wife Jean say it all began back in 2007 when they received a letter from the city of Burnsville saying, in part, "you must complete the siding of your home."
“We were in the process of finishing,” Mitch insists. “This wasn't something that we were trying to avoid doing.”
But in 2009 there were two more warning letters, and in 2010 yet another--this time requiring Faber to appear in court. Burnsville leaders provided 5 Eyewitness News with these 2010 photos of the Fabers' home as proof there was a problem.
“I was expecting maybe a $700 fine,” Faber said. Instead he was given an ultimatum -- finish the siding or go to jail.
So Mitch returned to his house and he and Jean say they spent about $12,000 putting a stucco façade over the plywood exterior. They thought they were finally in compliance. They were wrong.
Faber was then taken into custody in November 2011 after Burnsville inspectors ruled the work was still not satisfactorily completed. A warrant for his arrest had been issued when, according to the city, Faber failed to turn himself in because the house was still not up to code. Faber is adamant it was. Regardless, what came next, he says, was absolutely uncalled for and humiliating.
“I'm walking around in a green and white jump suit, I had to shower in front of a sheriff, I was shackled, my wrists were handcuffed to my waist — for siding.”
“It was insane,” said Jean. “Absolutely insane.”
After two days locked up, a judge agreed Mitch should be released but required him to submit to electronic home monitoring. In Dakota County, that process requires participants — no matter what their crimes -- to blow into a drug and alcohol device every time an alarm goes off.
“They could call me at 2 in the morning and they did,” Faber said.
Burnsville city leaders would not grant 5 Eyewitness News an interview about the Faber case but in an email from Communications Coordinator Marty Doll, he wrote, “”The city feels it provided Mr. Faber ample opportunity (nearly four years) to remedy the situation before issuing a citation…the city’s practice is to only issue citations for property maintenance issues (such as this one) as a last resort. In this case, the city determined a citation was the next appropriate course of action. Once the citation was issued, the matter had essentially left the city’s hands and entered the hands of the court system.”
5 Eyewitness News also called Dakota County Corrections as well as Midwest Monitoring (the company in charge of the electronic home monitoring) but calls were not returned. In a letter dated February 21, 2012, Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom wrote the Fabers, “This was a prosecution initiated by the city of Burnsville through their privately-retained city prosecutor. The County Attorney has no oversight or supervision over city prosecutors…While it was a district court judge who heard this case and made decisions pertaining thereto, judges are employed by the state of Minnesota and not Dakota County.”
The Fabers point to what they call far more glaring code violations outside other houses in their neighborhood. They’d like to know why they were targeted and others weren’t.
“It’s selective enforcement,” said Jean.
Most importantly, though, the Fabers say Burnsville made a mockery of an otherwise law-abiding man.
Asked Mitch, “What did you accomplish other than wasting the city's money, the county's money, our money, and then all the mental and emotional anguish? What did you accomplish?”
http://kstp.com/news/stories/s2542281.shtml
U.S. top court backs landowners, limits power of EPA
The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that landowners can sue to challenge a federal government compliance order under the clean water law, a decision that sides with corporate groups and puts new limits on a key Environmental Protection Agency power.
The justices unanimously rejected the government's position that individuals or companies must first fail to comply with an EPA order and face potentially costly enforcement action before a court can review the case.
The opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia was a victory for an Idaho couple who challenged a 2007 EPA order that required them to restore a wetland they had filled with dirt and rock as they began to build a new vacation home near Priest Lake. They were also told to stop construction on the home.
The couple, Chantell and Michael Sackett, denied their property had ever contained a wetland and complained they were being forced to comply with an order without a court hearing.
Their appeal drew support from the Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Association of Home Builders and General Electric Co, a company that had made a similar challenge to the EPA compliance orders.
The Supreme Court's ruling comes at a time when the EPA has faced fierce criticism from many Republicans in Congress who say it has issued the most ambitious clean air regulations in decades and has become heavy-handed in enforcement actions.
Scalia concluded the Sacketts may bring a civil lawsuit under the Administrative Procedures Act to challenge the EPA's order.
He said that since the EPA's decision was final and the couple faced potential large fines, they had no other adequate remedy but to bring a civil lawsuit.
Reading his decision from the bench, Scalia said that the Clean Water Act does not prevent judicial review of such orders.
Under the law, violations of the Clean Water Act can result in fines of up to $37,500 per day, plus as much as an additional $37,500 per day for violating the EPA compliance order.
The EPA issues nearly 3,000 compliance orders a year that require accused violators of environmental laws to stop alleged harmful actions and repair any damage that was caused.
The justices overturned a U.S. appeals court ruling that a compliance order was not subject to judicial review until later when the EPA has brought an enforcement action and seeks to have a judge rule in its favor.
'DAY IN COURT'
The court did not reach the broader question of whether the EPA's order violated the constitutional right of due process. It only held that the Administrative Procedures Act, which provides certain rules for federal regulatory agencies, applied.
Scalia said that the Sacketts would not get an adequate remedy if they had to apply to the Army Corps of Engineers for a permit and then file suit if that permit was denied.
He said the Clean Water Act was not "uniquely designed to enable the strong-arming of regulated parties into 'voluntary compliance' without the opportunity for judicial review."
Scalia concluded the 10-page opinion by saying the EPA's orders will remain an effective way to secure prompt, voluntary compliance in the many cases when there was no substantial basis to question their validity.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote a short separate opinion concurring in the outcome. He said allowing property owners to sue was better than nothing, but urged Congress to adopt new legislation clarifying the reach of the Clean Water Act.
Government attorneys had defended the compliance orders as a quick way to stop environmental damage and argued that allowing accused polluters to get a court hearing would tie the EPA up in lengthy litigation.
An attorney for the Sacketts argued that they should not have to wait for years for judicial review until the EPA decides to go to court and said the compliance order was coercive, requiring action to avoid potentially huge fines.
Damien Schiff, the attorney for the couple, hailed the ruling. "EPA is not above the law," he said.
"That's the bottom line with today's ruling. This is a great day for Mike and Chantell Sackett, because it confirms that EPA can't deny them access to justice. EPA can't repeal the Sacketts' fundamental right to their day in court," he said.
Jon Devine, senior attorney in the water program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the EPA still can issue compliance orders.
"The Supreme Court did not give anyone a license to pollute. Pure and simple. Those who pollute our waters will still be held accountable," he said. The ruling "grants recipients of such orders, at a time of their choosing, a day in court to challenge them to promote speedy resolution of pollution problems."
The Supreme Court case is Sackett v EPA, No. 10-1062.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/21/us-usa-court-epa-idUSBRE82K0YT20120321
But we still have a long way to go as far as liberty is concerned.
Burnsville Man Arrested, Jailed for Siding Code Violation
A Burnsville man on his way to work was arrested and thrown in jail without bond, and then subjected to electronic home monitoring.
But it wasn’t for drugs or a DWI or some other major crime.
Burnsville city leaders say Mitch Faber’s dealings with the law all stem from his failure to properly put up siding on his house.
Yep, siding.
Faber says he had every intention of completing the stucco and decorative rock project on his home but he ran into money troubles when the economy soured. Burnsville leaders say they had no choice to enforce the law.
Here’s how a simple code violation spiraled into a criminal case:
Mitch and his wife Jean say it all began back in 2007 when they received a letter from the city of Burnsville saying, in part, "you must complete the siding of your home."
“We were in the process of finishing,” Mitch insists. “This wasn't something that we were trying to avoid doing.”
But in 2009 there were two more warning letters, and in 2010 yet another--this time requiring Faber to appear in court. Burnsville leaders provided 5 Eyewitness News with these 2010 photos of the Fabers' home as proof there was a problem.
“I was expecting maybe a $700 fine,” Faber said. Instead he was given an ultimatum -- finish the siding or go to jail.
So Mitch returned to his house and he and Jean say they spent about $12,000 putting a stucco façade over the plywood exterior. They thought they were finally in compliance. They were wrong.
Faber was then taken into custody in November 2011 after Burnsville inspectors ruled the work was still not satisfactorily completed. A warrant for his arrest had been issued when, according to the city, Faber failed to turn himself in because the house was still not up to code. Faber is adamant it was. Regardless, what came next, he says, was absolutely uncalled for and humiliating.
“I'm walking around in a green and white jump suit, I had to shower in front of a sheriff, I was shackled, my wrists were handcuffed to my waist — for siding.”
“It was insane,” said Jean. “Absolutely insane.”
After two days locked up, a judge agreed Mitch should be released but required him to submit to electronic home monitoring. In Dakota County, that process requires participants — no matter what their crimes -- to blow into a drug and alcohol device every time an alarm goes off.
“They could call me at 2 in the morning and they did,” Faber said.
Burnsville city leaders would not grant 5 Eyewitness News an interview about the Faber case but in an email from Communications Coordinator Marty Doll, he wrote, “”The city feels it provided Mr. Faber ample opportunity (nearly four years) to remedy the situation before issuing a citation…the city’s practice is to only issue citations for property maintenance issues (such as this one) as a last resort. In this case, the city determined a citation was the next appropriate course of action. Once the citation was issued, the matter had essentially left the city’s hands and entered the hands of the court system.”
5 Eyewitness News also called Dakota County Corrections as well as Midwest Monitoring (the company in charge of the electronic home monitoring) but calls were not returned. In a letter dated February 21, 2012, Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom wrote the Fabers, “This was a prosecution initiated by the city of Burnsville through their privately-retained city prosecutor. The County Attorney has no oversight or supervision over city prosecutors…While it was a district court judge who heard this case and made decisions pertaining thereto, judges are employed by the state of Minnesota and not Dakota County.”
The Fabers point to what they call far more glaring code violations outside other houses in their neighborhood. They’d like to know why they were targeted and others weren’t.
“It’s selective enforcement,” said Jean.
Most importantly, though, the Fabers say Burnsville made a mockery of an otherwise law-abiding man.
Asked Mitch, “What did you accomplish other than wasting the city's money, the county's money, our money, and then all the mental and emotional anguish? What did you accomplish?”
http://kstp.com/news/stories/s2542281.shtml
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Wednesday 03-21-12
A little over board, you might say.
Paintball gun confusion brings SWAT team to church
Members of a local youth group left their church Sunday night with hands in the air as SWAT team personnel waited with guns drawn.
Officials responded to a perceived hostage situation at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church around 6:15 p.m. after a call indicated that an individual walked into the church with what appeared to be an assault rifle.
Officials soon discovered the suspect was a member of the church’s youth group who had brought his paintball equipment to show friends during the church’s youth night. The owner of the paintball gun said he hoped to encourage other youth to play the sport as a fellowship event.
Five junior high school and high school students were gathered at the church during the incident, said youth coordinator Amy Bela. As the night was ending, one youth looked out the front windows to see a mass of arm-bearing SWAT team members waiting outside the church. About 24 personnel were present from Midland Police Department’s tactical unit, according to spokeswoman Tasa Watts, accompanied by about 20 patrol officers.
Those in the church were instructed to walk out with their hands in the air. Nobody was taken into custody.
Youth and representatives from the church were visibly shaken after the incident, using words like “overwhelmed” and “shocked” to describe their feelings.
“These were real cops pointing real guns at my kids,” Bela said while pulling two of the girls into an embrace. “Oh my word. Even when they were calling us out, I was like, ‘Is this real?’”
The Rev. Gilbert Bela was at home with his son when the incident occured, and rushed to the scene after receiving a call from a secretary at the church. The church is equipped with security cameras, and the main door automatically locks when closed, the pastor said.
“You just never know what could happen in this world we live in,” he said. “I’m grateful that our community members did their community service today; they might not go to church here, but they’re still looking out for us.”
As members of the church recounted the night’s events between bouts of nervous laughter, they decided they might have to rethink any future scheduling of a paintball outing.
http://www.mywesttexas.com/top_stories/article_28d1e7ca-7163-11e1-909e-0019bb2963f4.html
Now that might be enough for the average home owner buy why would Homeland Security need that much?
ATK Awarded Contract to Supply 450 Million Rounds of .40 Caliber Ammunition to the Department of Homeland Security
ATK has secured a major Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity deal to supply up to 450 million rounds of .40 caliber ammunition to the Department of Homeland Security.
The 1 year contract with four option years comes at a time when many Americans believe that DHS, along with certain aspects of the military, will soon turn their sights on the American people during some sort of martial law scenario.
“We are proud to extend our track record as the prime supplier of .40 caliber duty ammunition for DHS, ICE,” said Ron Johnson, the president of ATK’s Security and Sporting group,” reported a PR Newswire release.
The Department of Homeland Security has been extremely busy in the last few months.
Whether it be mastering their surveillance of social media, planning to build level 4 bio weapons labs in the middle of the country, defending Globalism, lying to Congress about their big brother policies, labeling people who believe in conspiracy theories as potential terrorists, or taking over cyber security, DHS seems to be actively working against the American people on every front.
Considering this, the fact that they are openly ordering millions more rounds of ammunition should at the very least give the American people pause.
As 2012 continues to move forward and the awakening of the sleeping giant that is the American people kicks into high gear, federal agencies seem hell bent to continue to gear up for a possible confrontation with the people of this once great country.
http://theintelhub.com/2012/03/16/atk-awarded-contract-to-supply-450-million-rounds-of-40-caliber-ammunition-to-the-department-of-homeland-security/
Paintball gun confusion brings SWAT team to church
Members of a local youth group left their church Sunday night with hands in the air as SWAT team personnel waited with guns drawn.
Officials responded to a perceived hostage situation at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church around 6:15 p.m. after a call indicated that an individual walked into the church with what appeared to be an assault rifle.
Officials soon discovered the suspect was a member of the church’s youth group who had brought his paintball equipment to show friends during the church’s youth night. The owner of the paintball gun said he hoped to encourage other youth to play the sport as a fellowship event.
Five junior high school and high school students were gathered at the church during the incident, said youth coordinator Amy Bela. As the night was ending, one youth looked out the front windows to see a mass of arm-bearing SWAT team members waiting outside the church. About 24 personnel were present from Midland Police Department’s tactical unit, according to spokeswoman Tasa Watts, accompanied by about 20 patrol officers.
Those in the church were instructed to walk out with their hands in the air. Nobody was taken into custody.
Youth and representatives from the church were visibly shaken after the incident, using words like “overwhelmed” and “shocked” to describe their feelings.
“These were real cops pointing real guns at my kids,” Bela said while pulling two of the girls into an embrace. “Oh my word. Even when they were calling us out, I was like, ‘Is this real?’”
The Rev. Gilbert Bela was at home with his son when the incident occured, and rushed to the scene after receiving a call from a secretary at the church. The church is equipped with security cameras, and the main door automatically locks when closed, the pastor said.
“You just never know what could happen in this world we live in,” he said. “I’m grateful that our community members did their community service today; they might not go to church here, but they’re still looking out for us.”
As members of the church recounted the night’s events between bouts of nervous laughter, they decided they might have to rethink any future scheduling of a paintball outing.
http://www.mywesttexas.com/top_stories/article_28d1e7ca-7163-11e1-909e-0019bb2963f4.html
Now that might be enough for the average home owner buy why would Homeland Security need that much?
ATK Awarded Contract to Supply 450 Million Rounds of .40 Caliber Ammunition to the Department of Homeland Security
ATK has secured a major Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity deal to supply up to 450 million rounds of .40 caliber ammunition to the Department of Homeland Security.
The 1 year contract with four option years comes at a time when many Americans believe that DHS, along with certain aspects of the military, will soon turn their sights on the American people during some sort of martial law scenario.
“We are proud to extend our track record as the prime supplier of .40 caliber duty ammunition for DHS, ICE,” said Ron Johnson, the president of ATK’s Security and Sporting group,” reported a PR Newswire release.
The Department of Homeland Security has been extremely busy in the last few months.
Whether it be mastering their surveillance of social media, planning to build level 4 bio weapons labs in the middle of the country, defending Globalism, lying to Congress about their big brother policies, labeling people who believe in conspiracy theories as potential terrorists, or taking over cyber security, DHS seems to be actively working against the American people on every front.
Considering this, the fact that they are openly ordering millions more rounds of ammunition should at the very least give the American people pause.
As 2012 continues to move forward and the awakening of the sleeping giant that is the American people kicks into high gear, federal agencies seem hell bent to continue to gear up for a possible confrontation with the people of this once great country.
http://theintelhub.com/2012/03/16/atk-awarded-contract-to-supply-450-million-rounds-of-40-caliber-ammunition-to-the-department-of-homeland-security/
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Tuesday 03-20-12
Fast ans Furious won't go away, it is just like an onion the more the outside edges get peeled back the worse it smells.
Gun-tracking operation caught top suspect, then let him go
Federal agents stopped the main target of the ill-fated Operation Fast and Furious in May 2010. After they questioned him, he disappeared back into Mexico, and the program went on to spiral out of control.
Reporting from Washington— Seven months after federal agents began the ill-fated Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation, they stumbled upon their main suspect in a remote Arizona outpost on the Mexican border, driving an old BMW with 74 rounds of ammunition and nine cellphones hidden inside.
Detained for questioning that day in May 2010, Manuel Fabian Celis-Acosta described to agents from theBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosiveshis close association with a top Mexican drug cartel member, according to documents obtained this weekend by the Times/Tribune Washington Bureau.
The top Fast and Furious investigator, Special Agent Hope MacAllister, scribbled her phone number on a $10 bill after he pledged to cooperate and keep in touch with investigators.
Then Celis-Acosta disappeared into Mexico. He never called.
Had they arrested him red-handed trying to smuggle ammunition into Mexico, Fast and Furious might have ended quickly. Instead, the program dragged on for another eight months, spiraling out of control.
Celis-Acosta continued slipping back and forth across the border, authorities say, illegally purchasing more U.S. weapons and financing others. He was not arrested until February 2011, a month after Fast and Furious closed down.
The operation, run by the ATF's Phoenix field office, allowed illegal gun purchases in Arizona in hopes of tracking the weapons to Mexican drug cartel leaders. Instead, about 1,700 guns vanished, and scores turned up at crime scenes in Mexico. Two were found south of Tucson where U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was shot to death in December 2010.
Why ATF agents did not arrest Celis-Acosta immediately is not clear. He was their prime suspect and the subject of secret wiretaps approved by the Justice Department.
"Due to the fact that the criminal case is still ongoing in the courts, and the inspector general's office is still investigating, we cannot comment about this," ATF chief spokesman Drew Wade said.
Other law enforcement officials, speaking anonymously because of ongoing investigations, acknowledged it was a crucial blunder in a deeply flawed program. "I don't know why they didn't arrest him," one said. "They certainly could have."
But, another argued, agents may have viewed Celis-Acosta as a possible conduit to the cartels. "He was cooperating and talking a lot and giving up a lot," he said. "From an investigative standpoint, that's pretty good information you're getting. Maybe he can hook you into even bigger fish."
Fast and Furious, which is under investigation by the Justice Department's inspector general, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), began Oct. 31, 2009. From the start, Celis-Acosta, 24, was the main target, according to internal ATF documents that have not been publicly released. An ATF flow chart listed him at the top of more than two dozen individuals involved in the gun-smuggling ring.
The documents state that Celis-Acosta led the smuggling ring and that he was paid from drug proceeds to illegally acquire firearms for cartels. He carried a permanent U.S. resident card, a Social Security number and an Arizona driver's license. He moved easily between homes in Mexico and Phoenix. Eventually arrested by U.S. marshals at a relative's home in El Paso, he pleaded not guilty to gun-smuggling charges as one of 19 Fast and Furious defendants. None of the 19 has gone to trial.
According to an ATF "Report of Investigation," prepared by MacAllister, authorized by her supervisor, David J. Voth, and reviewed by William D. Newell, then the ATF special agent in charge in Arizona, U.S. authorities stopped Celis-Acosta as he headed south through the border town of Lukeville, Ariz.
The document said an ammunition magazine containing 74 rounds was hidden in a spare tire, and the phones in the dash. In the trunk of the 2002 BMW 754i was a ledger referring to money given to "Killer" and a list of firearms.
Celis-Acosta first said he did not know the ammunition was inside. He said a friend's mother bought the BMW "with a credit card."
MacAllister was called to the scene, and Celis-Acosta began to open up. He admitted he knew "a lot about firearms." He conceded he was en route to a birthday party for "Chendi," a close associate who he said was a Mexican cartel member and "right-hand man" to Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman, head of the Sinaloa cartel.
Celis-Acosta said Chendi moved 6,000 pounds of marijuana a week into the U.S., terrorized Mexican police, wore a $15,000 wristwatch and lived in a home with "a lot of gold" inside and a landing strip outside.
MacAllister checked with the Drug Enforcement Administration and learned Chendi — real name Claudio Jamie Badilla — was a "large-scale marijuana and multi-kilogram cocaine trafficker."
MacAllister asked Celis-Acosta whether he "would be willing to cooperate." When he said yes, they confiscated the ammunition and let him go.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fast-furious-20120319,0,3662110.story
This does not suprise me at all either, only in America
Firm sells solar panels - to itself, taxpayers pay
A heavily subsidized solar company received a U.S. taxpayer loan guarantee to sell solar panels to itself.
First Solar is the company. The subsidy came from the Export-Import Bank, which President Obama and Harry Reid are currently fighting to extend and expand. The underlying issue is how Obama's insistence on green-energy subsidies and export subsidies manifests itself as rank corporate welfare.
Here's the road of subsidies these solar panels followed from Perrysburg, Ohio, to St. Clair, Ontario.
First Solar is an Arizona-based manufacturer of solar panels. In 2010, the Obama administration awarded the company $16.3 million to expand its factory in Ohio -- a subsidy Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland touted in his failed re-election bid that year.
Five weeks before the 2010 election, Strickland announced more than a million dollars in job training grants to First Solar. The Ohio Department of Development also lent First Solar $5 million, and the state's Air Quality Development Authority gave the company an additional $10 million loan.
After First Solar pocketed this $17.3 million in government grants and $15 million in government loans, Ex-Im entered the scene.
In September 2011, Ex-Im approved $455.7 million in loan guarantees to subsidize the sale of solar panels to two wind farms in Canada. That means if the wind farm ever defaults, the taxpayers pick up the tab, ensuring First Solar gets paid.
But the buyer, in this case, was First Solar.
A small corporation called St. Clair Solar owned the wind farm and was the Canadian company buying First Solar's panels. But St. Clair Solar was a wholly owned subsidiary of First Solar. So, basically, First Solar was shipping its own solar panels from Ohio to a solar farm it owned in Canada, and the U.S. taxpayers were subsidizing this "export."
First Solar spokesman Alan Bernheimer defended this maneuver, saying this really was an export, pointing out that First Solar paid sales taxes on the transaction.
But this subsidy undermines the arguments for Ex-Im's existence. Ex-Im, whose authorization expires May 31, is supposed to be a job creator, helping U.S. manufacturers beat foreign manufacturers by having U.S. taxpayers backstop the financing.
"It is critical that we encourage more American companies to compete in the global marketplace," Ex-Im Chairman Fred Hochberg said about the First Solar deal, saying the subsidy "will boost Ohio's economy, create hundreds of local jobs and move us closer to President Obama's goal of doubling U.S. exports by the end of 2014."
The implication here is that First Solar was "competing" with foreign solar panel makers in order to sell solar panels -- to First Solar.
This isn't the first time Ex-Im has subsidized companies selling to themselves. In late 2000, for instance, the ill-fated power giant Enron won a $132 million direct-loan package from Ex-Im (that is, from the taxpayers) in order to sell "engineering services & process equipment" to a Venezuelan power company owned 49.25 percent by Enron. Enron was both the buyer and the seller in a 1995 sale to Turkey that Ex-Im financed through a $250 million loan.
Enron's healthy feedings at Ex-Im's trough before its bankruptcy also help poke holes in another Ex-Im defense: that it operates at no cost to taxpayers.
Sure, as long as the foreign buyer pays off the debt, then Ex-Im's loans and guarantees don't increase the deficit. But Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were profitable for years, too, before they failed and taxpayers had to bail them out. Once foreign governments and foreign companies start defaulting, taxpayers pick up the tab. At least one Enron deal resulted in U.S. taxpayers contributing to the Enron bankruptcy fund. Also, Ex-Im has ended up owning a 747 after Air Nauru failed to make its payments because the island nation's economy -- dependent on seagull droppings -- went under.
This week, First Solar unloaded its St. Clair wind farm to NextEra Energy, and so First Solar's financial troubles don't threaten to put the taxpayer on the hook for this deal. But the Ex-Im subsidy itself was a great case in point as to how national industrial policy pitched in the name of helping the U.S. economy often does nothing to help the broader economy, instead helping only those companies lucky -- or politically connected -- enough to get the handouts.
Obama, Reid and most of the Republican leadership want to reauthorize Ex-Im this month and boost the amount of debt it can have outstanding. The lobbyists at Boeing, the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers agree. They'll claim Ex-Im is crucial to prosperity. And for a few companies, it is.
http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/article/firm-sells-solar-panels-itself-taxpayers-pay/434251
Gun-tracking operation caught top suspect, then let him go
Federal agents stopped the main target of the ill-fated Operation Fast and Furious in May 2010. After they questioned him, he disappeared back into Mexico, and the program went on to spiral out of control.
Reporting from Washington— Seven months after federal agents began the ill-fated Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation, they stumbled upon their main suspect in a remote Arizona outpost on the Mexican border, driving an old BMW with 74 rounds of ammunition and nine cellphones hidden inside.
Detained for questioning that day in May 2010, Manuel Fabian Celis-Acosta described to agents from theBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosiveshis close association with a top Mexican drug cartel member, according to documents obtained this weekend by the Times/Tribune Washington Bureau.
The top Fast and Furious investigator, Special Agent Hope MacAllister, scribbled her phone number on a $10 bill after he pledged to cooperate and keep in touch with investigators.
Then Celis-Acosta disappeared into Mexico. He never called.
Had they arrested him red-handed trying to smuggle ammunition into Mexico, Fast and Furious might have ended quickly. Instead, the program dragged on for another eight months, spiraling out of control.
Celis-Acosta continued slipping back and forth across the border, authorities say, illegally purchasing more U.S. weapons and financing others. He was not arrested until February 2011, a month after Fast and Furious closed down.
The operation, run by the ATF's Phoenix field office, allowed illegal gun purchases in Arizona in hopes of tracking the weapons to Mexican drug cartel leaders. Instead, about 1,700 guns vanished, and scores turned up at crime scenes in Mexico. Two were found south of Tucson where U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was shot to death in December 2010.
Why ATF agents did not arrest Celis-Acosta immediately is not clear. He was their prime suspect and the subject of secret wiretaps approved by the Justice Department.
"Due to the fact that the criminal case is still ongoing in the courts, and the inspector general's office is still investigating, we cannot comment about this," ATF chief spokesman Drew Wade said.
Other law enforcement officials, speaking anonymously because of ongoing investigations, acknowledged it was a crucial blunder in a deeply flawed program. "I don't know why they didn't arrest him," one said. "They certainly could have."
But, another argued, agents may have viewed Celis-Acosta as a possible conduit to the cartels. "He was cooperating and talking a lot and giving up a lot," he said. "From an investigative standpoint, that's pretty good information you're getting. Maybe he can hook you into even bigger fish."
Fast and Furious, which is under investigation by the Justice Department's inspector general, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), began Oct. 31, 2009. From the start, Celis-Acosta, 24, was the main target, according to internal ATF documents that have not been publicly released. An ATF flow chart listed him at the top of more than two dozen individuals involved in the gun-smuggling ring.
The documents state that Celis-Acosta led the smuggling ring and that he was paid from drug proceeds to illegally acquire firearms for cartels. He carried a permanent U.S. resident card, a Social Security number and an Arizona driver's license. He moved easily between homes in Mexico and Phoenix. Eventually arrested by U.S. marshals at a relative's home in El Paso, he pleaded not guilty to gun-smuggling charges as one of 19 Fast and Furious defendants. None of the 19 has gone to trial.
According to an ATF "Report of Investigation," prepared by MacAllister, authorized by her supervisor, David J. Voth, and reviewed by William D. Newell, then the ATF special agent in charge in Arizona, U.S. authorities stopped Celis-Acosta as he headed south through the border town of Lukeville, Ariz.
The document said an ammunition magazine containing 74 rounds was hidden in a spare tire, and the phones in the dash. In the trunk of the 2002 BMW 754i was a ledger referring to money given to "Killer" and a list of firearms.
Celis-Acosta first said he did not know the ammunition was inside. He said a friend's mother bought the BMW "with a credit card."
MacAllister was called to the scene, and Celis-Acosta began to open up. He admitted he knew "a lot about firearms." He conceded he was en route to a birthday party for "Chendi," a close associate who he said was a Mexican cartel member and "right-hand man" to Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman, head of the Sinaloa cartel.
Celis-Acosta said Chendi moved 6,000 pounds of marijuana a week into the U.S., terrorized Mexican police, wore a $15,000 wristwatch and lived in a home with "a lot of gold" inside and a landing strip outside.
MacAllister checked with the Drug Enforcement Administration and learned Chendi — real name Claudio Jamie Badilla — was a "large-scale marijuana and multi-kilogram cocaine trafficker."
MacAllister asked Celis-Acosta whether he "would be willing to cooperate." When he said yes, they confiscated the ammunition and let him go.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fast-furious-20120319,0,3662110.story
This does not suprise me at all either, only in America
Firm sells solar panels - to itself, taxpayers pay
A heavily subsidized solar company received a U.S. taxpayer loan guarantee to sell solar panels to itself.
First Solar is the company. The subsidy came from the Export-Import Bank, which President Obama and Harry Reid are currently fighting to extend and expand. The underlying issue is how Obama's insistence on green-energy subsidies and export subsidies manifests itself as rank corporate welfare.
Here's the road of subsidies these solar panels followed from Perrysburg, Ohio, to St. Clair, Ontario.
First Solar is an Arizona-based manufacturer of solar panels. In 2010, the Obama administration awarded the company $16.3 million to expand its factory in Ohio -- a subsidy Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland touted in his failed re-election bid that year.
Five weeks before the 2010 election, Strickland announced more than a million dollars in job training grants to First Solar. The Ohio Department of Development also lent First Solar $5 million, and the state's Air Quality Development Authority gave the company an additional $10 million loan.
After First Solar pocketed this $17.3 million in government grants and $15 million in government loans, Ex-Im entered the scene.
In September 2011, Ex-Im approved $455.7 million in loan guarantees to subsidize the sale of solar panels to two wind farms in Canada. That means if the wind farm ever defaults, the taxpayers pick up the tab, ensuring First Solar gets paid.
But the buyer, in this case, was First Solar.
A small corporation called St. Clair Solar owned the wind farm and was the Canadian company buying First Solar's panels. But St. Clair Solar was a wholly owned subsidiary of First Solar. So, basically, First Solar was shipping its own solar panels from Ohio to a solar farm it owned in Canada, and the U.S. taxpayers were subsidizing this "export."
First Solar spokesman Alan Bernheimer defended this maneuver, saying this really was an export, pointing out that First Solar paid sales taxes on the transaction.
But this subsidy undermines the arguments for Ex-Im's existence. Ex-Im, whose authorization expires May 31, is supposed to be a job creator, helping U.S. manufacturers beat foreign manufacturers by having U.S. taxpayers backstop the financing.
"It is critical that we encourage more American companies to compete in the global marketplace," Ex-Im Chairman Fred Hochberg said about the First Solar deal, saying the subsidy "will boost Ohio's economy, create hundreds of local jobs and move us closer to President Obama's goal of doubling U.S. exports by the end of 2014."
The implication here is that First Solar was "competing" with foreign solar panel makers in order to sell solar panels -- to First Solar.
This isn't the first time Ex-Im has subsidized companies selling to themselves. In late 2000, for instance, the ill-fated power giant Enron won a $132 million direct-loan package from Ex-Im (that is, from the taxpayers) in order to sell "engineering services & process equipment" to a Venezuelan power company owned 49.25 percent by Enron. Enron was both the buyer and the seller in a 1995 sale to Turkey that Ex-Im financed through a $250 million loan.
Enron's healthy feedings at Ex-Im's trough before its bankruptcy also help poke holes in another Ex-Im defense: that it operates at no cost to taxpayers.
Sure, as long as the foreign buyer pays off the debt, then Ex-Im's loans and guarantees don't increase the deficit. But Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were profitable for years, too, before they failed and taxpayers had to bail them out. Once foreign governments and foreign companies start defaulting, taxpayers pick up the tab. At least one Enron deal resulted in U.S. taxpayers contributing to the Enron bankruptcy fund. Also, Ex-Im has ended up owning a 747 after Air Nauru failed to make its payments because the island nation's economy -- dependent on seagull droppings -- went under.
This week, First Solar unloaded its St. Clair wind farm to NextEra Energy, and so First Solar's financial troubles don't threaten to put the taxpayer on the hook for this deal. But the Ex-Im subsidy itself was a great case in point as to how national industrial policy pitched in the name of helping the U.S. economy often does nothing to help the broader economy, instead helping only those companies lucky -- or politically connected -- enough to get the handouts.
Obama, Reid and most of the Republican leadership want to reauthorize Ex-Im this month and boost the amount of debt it can have outstanding. The lobbyists at Boeing, the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers agree. They'll claim Ex-Im is crucial to prosperity. And for a few companies, it is.
http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/article/firm-sells-solar-panels-itself-taxpayers-pay/434251
Monday, March 19, 2012
Monday 03-19-12
Perverts are at it again, it is no wonder that they have a problem with child porno and pedophiles on that job. They can not control them selves.
Father's outrage as TSA subjects his wheelchair-bound three-year-old son to humiliating search... on his way to Disney
A vacation in the Magic Kingdom should be enough to make a child giddy with excitement, but one young boy was left trembling with fear after he was subjected to an invasive TSA pat-down.
The three-year-old, confined to a wheelchair due to a recently broken leg, was with his family at O'Hare Airport in Chicago, on their way to board a flight to Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
Despite constant assurances from his father that 'everything is OK', he physically trembles with fear and asks his parents to hold his hand.
Scroll down for video
Outrage: The wheel-chair bound three-year-old boy was stopped at O'Hare Airport in Chicago and subjected to invasive checks
Despair: Despite constant assurances from his father that 'everything is ok', he physically trembles with fear and asks his parents to hold his hand
The terrified boy was swabbed on his hands and under his shirt for explosive residue.
While the boy's father grew increasingly incensed by the treatment his son was getting, he tried to remain calm, for the boy's sake.
He filmed the entire process and later posted it on YouTube.
More...Father-of-three charged for offering teenage girls a lift during snowstorm
Despite such strict security for this toddler, the TSA is offering background-checked travellers the chance to use special lines and keep their shoes, belt and jacket on, leave laptops and liquids in carry-on bags and avoid a full-body scan - for a price.
The TSA's new fast track 'Precheck' screening, now at two airlines and nine airports, is similar to security checks before 9/11, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Scared: The terrified boy, who was in a cast for a broken leg, underwent an invasive pat down and was swabbed for explosive residue
Airport disgust: The toddler was stopped at O'Hare Airport in Chicago on his way to Disney World for a family vacation
To qualify, frequent fliers must be invited by airlines and meet an undisclosed TSA criteria.
A $100 fee for a background check is required as well as a brief interview with a Customs officer.
THE TSA'S GREATEST HITSThe TSA issued apologies to two grandmothers in their late 80s who said they were strip searched at New York's JFK Airport in January.
In October, a TSA inspector found a vibrator in lawyer and feminist blogger Jill Filipovic's luggage, and left her a note on the inspection slip that said: 'Get your freak on girl'.
Last year, Indiana rapper Freddie Gibbs was flying to Denver with two large bags of marijuana in his bag. But instead of confiscating it, the agent who inspected the bag instead left a note saying, 'C'mon son'.
Florida man Joe Maltese was stunned when he said an airport security worker helped themselves to a slice of chocolate cake that he had in his luggage.
In 2010, breast cancer survivor Cathy Bossi was humiliated after the TSA ordered her to show agents her prosthetic breast to screeners at Charlotte Douglas Airport.
However, approved travelers who are in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's 'Global Entry' program can transfer into Precheck, according to the Journal.
'It's a completely different experience than what you're used to,' Matt Stegmeir, a platinum-level Delta Air Lines frequent flier who was invited into Precheck, told the Journal.
'It's really a jarring contrast. It reminds you just how much of a hassle the security procedures in place really are.'
The program can improve screening of unknown passengers if it can move low-risk people out of the main queues.
'We can reduce the size of the haystack when we are looking for that one-in-a-billion terrorist,' TSA Administrator John Pistole told the Journal.
Mr Pistole added that by studying frequent-flier histories as well as conducting background checks, he's confident the U.S. now has the technology and the intelligence information to make less-rigorous, faster screening work.
TSA is working with only two airlines, American and Delta, on program which is still in the pilot phase.
Precheck lanes are already in place only at nine airports including Dallas-Fort Worth, New York Kennedy, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, Detroit , Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Minneapolis-St. Paul.
By the end of the year Precheck will be in place at 35 airports and six airlines, covering most major U.S. airports and airlines, reports the Journal.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2116881/TSA-subject-child-wheelchair-invasive-airport-security-tests-Chicago.html#ixzz1pa1J9SwV
Father's outrage as TSA subjects his wheelchair-bound three-year-old son to humiliating search... on his way to Disney
A vacation in the Magic Kingdom should be enough to make a child giddy with excitement, but one young boy was left trembling with fear after he was subjected to an invasive TSA pat-down.
The three-year-old, confined to a wheelchair due to a recently broken leg, was with his family at O'Hare Airport in Chicago, on their way to board a flight to Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
Despite constant assurances from his father that 'everything is OK', he physically trembles with fear and asks his parents to hold his hand.
Scroll down for video
Outrage: The wheel-chair bound three-year-old boy was stopped at O'Hare Airport in Chicago and subjected to invasive checks
Despair: Despite constant assurances from his father that 'everything is ok', he physically trembles with fear and asks his parents to hold his hand
The terrified boy was swabbed on his hands and under his shirt for explosive residue.
While the boy's father grew increasingly incensed by the treatment his son was getting, he tried to remain calm, for the boy's sake.
He filmed the entire process and later posted it on YouTube.
More...Father-of-three charged for offering teenage girls a lift during snowstorm
Despite such strict security for this toddler, the TSA is offering background-checked travellers the chance to use special lines and keep their shoes, belt and jacket on, leave laptops and liquids in carry-on bags and avoid a full-body scan - for a price.
The TSA's new fast track 'Precheck' screening, now at two airlines and nine airports, is similar to security checks before 9/11, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Scared: The terrified boy, who was in a cast for a broken leg, underwent an invasive pat down and was swabbed for explosive residue
Airport disgust: The toddler was stopped at O'Hare Airport in Chicago on his way to Disney World for a family vacation
To qualify, frequent fliers must be invited by airlines and meet an undisclosed TSA criteria.
A $100 fee for a background check is required as well as a brief interview with a Customs officer.
THE TSA'S GREATEST HITSThe TSA issued apologies to two grandmothers in their late 80s who said they were strip searched at New York's JFK Airport in January.
In October, a TSA inspector found a vibrator in lawyer and feminist blogger Jill Filipovic's luggage, and left her a note on the inspection slip that said: 'Get your freak on girl'.
Last year, Indiana rapper Freddie Gibbs was flying to Denver with two large bags of marijuana in his bag. But instead of confiscating it, the agent who inspected the bag instead left a note saying, 'C'mon son'.
Florida man Joe Maltese was stunned when he said an airport security worker helped themselves to a slice of chocolate cake that he had in his luggage.
In 2010, breast cancer survivor Cathy Bossi was humiliated after the TSA ordered her to show agents her prosthetic breast to screeners at Charlotte Douglas Airport.
However, approved travelers who are in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's 'Global Entry' program can transfer into Precheck, according to the Journal.
'It's a completely different experience than what you're used to,' Matt Stegmeir, a platinum-level Delta Air Lines frequent flier who was invited into Precheck, told the Journal.
'It's really a jarring contrast. It reminds you just how much of a hassle the security procedures in place really are.'
The program can improve screening of unknown passengers if it can move low-risk people out of the main queues.
'We can reduce the size of the haystack when we are looking for that one-in-a-billion terrorist,' TSA Administrator John Pistole told the Journal.
Mr Pistole added that by studying frequent-flier histories as well as conducting background checks, he's confident the U.S. now has the technology and the intelligence information to make less-rigorous, faster screening work.
TSA is working with only two airlines, American and Delta, on program which is still in the pilot phase.
Precheck lanes are already in place only at nine airports including Dallas-Fort Worth, New York Kennedy, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, Detroit , Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Minneapolis-St. Paul.
By the end of the year Precheck will be in place at 35 airports and six airlines, covering most major U.S. airports and airlines, reports the Journal.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2116881/TSA-subject-child-wheelchair-invasive-airport-security-tests-Chicago.html#ixzz1pa1J9SwV
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Saturday 03-17-12
I guess it has been talked and whispered about for years
The CIA wants to spy on you through your TV: Agency director says it will 'transform' surveillance
Devices connected to internet leak information
CIA director says these gadgets will 'transform clandestine tradecraft'
Spies could watch thousands via supercomputers
People 'bug' their own homes with web-connected devices
When people download a film from Netflix to a flatscreen, or turn on web radio, they could be alerting unwanted watchers to exactly what they are doing and where they are.
Spies will no longer have to plant bugs in your home - the rise of 'connected' gadgets controlled by apps will mean that people 'bug' their own homes, says CIA director David Petraeus.
The CIA claims it will be able to 'read' these devices via the internet - and perhaps even via radio waves from outside the home.
A Sony internet TV: The rise of 'connected' devices in the home offers spies a window into people's lives - CIA director David Petraeus says the technologies will 'transform' surveillance
General David Petraeus, former head of the allied forces in Afghanistan, is sworn in as the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency on September 6, 2011 in the White House
Everything from remote controls to clock radios can now be controlled via apps - and chip company ARM recently unveiled low-powered, cheaper chips which will be used in everything from fridges and ovens to doorbells.
The resultant chorus of 'connected' gadgets will be able to be read like a book - and even remote-controlled, according to CIA CIA Director David Petraeus, according to a recent report by Wired's 'Danger Room' blog.
Petraeus says that web-connected gadgets will 'transform' the art of spying - allowing spies to monitor people automatically without planting bugs, breaking and entering or even donning a tuxedo to infiltrate a dinner party.
'Transformational’ is an overused word, but I do believe it properly applies to these technologies,' said Petraeus.
'Particularly to their effect on clandestine tradecraft. Items of interest will be located, identified, monitored, and remotely controlled through technologies such as radio-frequency identification, sensor networks, tiny embedded servers, and energy harvesters - all connected to the next-generation internet using abundant, low-cost, and high-power computing.'
Petraeus was speaking to a venture capital firm about new technologies which aim to add processors and web connections to previously 'dumb' home appliances such as fridges, ovens and lighting systems.
This week, one of the world's biggest chip companies, ARM, has unveiled a new processor built to work inside 'connected' white goods.
The ARM chips are smaller, lower-powered and far cheaper than previous processors - and designed to add the internet to almost every kind of electrical appliance.
It's a concept described as the 'internet of things'.
The murderous computer Hal in 2001: But it seems that the danger of computers isn't villainous artificial intelligence - but the information they 'leak' about us
Futurists think that one day 'connected' devices will tell the internet where they are and what they are doing at all times - and will be mapped by computers as precisely as Google Maps charts the physical landscape now.
Privacy groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation have warned of how information such as geolocation data can be misused - but as more and more devices connect, it's clear that opportunities for surveillance will multiply.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2115871/The-CIA-wants-spy-TV-Agency-director-says-net-connected-gadgets-transform-surveillance.html#ixzz1pNdkpOca
The CIA wants to spy on you through your TV: Agency director says it will 'transform' surveillance
Devices connected to internet leak information
CIA director says these gadgets will 'transform clandestine tradecraft'
Spies could watch thousands via supercomputers
People 'bug' their own homes with web-connected devices
When people download a film from Netflix to a flatscreen, or turn on web radio, they could be alerting unwanted watchers to exactly what they are doing and where they are.
Spies will no longer have to plant bugs in your home - the rise of 'connected' gadgets controlled by apps will mean that people 'bug' their own homes, says CIA director David Petraeus.
The CIA claims it will be able to 'read' these devices via the internet - and perhaps even via radio waves from outside the home.
A Sony internet TV: The rise of 'connected' devices in the home offers spies a window into people's lives - CIA director David Petraeus says the technologies will 'transform' surveillance
General David Petraeus, former head of the allied forces in Afghanistan, is sworn in as the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency on September 6, 2011 in the White House
Everything from remote controls to clock radios can now be controlled via apps - and chip company ARM recently unveiled low-powered, cheaper chips which will be used in everything from fridges and ovens to doorbells.
The resultant chorus of 'connected' gadgets will be able to be read like a book - and even remote-controlled, according to CIA CIA Director David Petraeus, according to a recent report by Wired's 'Danger Room' blog.
Petraeus says that web-connected gadgets will 'transform' the art of spying - allowing spies to monitor people automatically without planting bugs, breaking and entering or even donning a tuxedo to infiltrate a dinner party.
'Transformational’ is an overused word, but I do believe it properly applies to these technologies,' said Petraeus.
'Particularly to their effect on clandestine tradecraft. Items of interest will be located, identified, monitored, and remotely controlled through technologies such as radio-frequency identification, sensor networks, tiny embedded servers, and energy harvesters - all connected to the next-generation internet using abundant, low-cost, and high-power computing.'
Petraeus was speaking to a venture capital firm about new technologies which aim to add processors and web connections to previously 'dumb' home appliances such as fridges, ovens and lighting systems.
This week, one of the world's biggest chip companies, ARM, has unveiled a new processor built to work inside 'connected' white goods.
The ARM chips are smaller, lower-powered and far cheaper than previous processors - and designed to add the internet to almost every kind of electrical appliance.
It's a concept described as the 'internet of things'.
The murderous computer Hal in 2001: But it seems that the danger of computers isn't villainous artificial intelligence - but the information they 'leak' about us
Futurists think that one day 'connected' devices will tell the internet where they are and what they are doing at all times - and will be mapped by computers as precisely as Google Maps charts the physical landscape now.
Privacy groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation have warned of how information such as geolocation data can be misused - but as more and more devices connect, it's clear that opportunities for surveillance will multiply.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2115871/The-CIA-wants-spy-TV-Agency-director-says-net-connected-gadgets-transform-surveillance.html#ixzz1pNdkpOca
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Thursday 03-15-12
The Bible is true, there were giants in those days on the earth
Photos allegedly show giant mummified finger (VIDEO)
WASHINGTON - Maybe this is how the pyramids were built.
The website of European newspaper Bild has photos of a mummified, 15-inch human finger. The photos have not been scientifically verified, but they were allegedly taken in Egypt in 1988.
The size of the finger means the person would have been over 16 feet tall. Check out video of the photos below:
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=681&sid=2783991
In the realm of you can not make it up, the US military has to go unarmed when the president adviser shows up in a war zone. If he is too afraid to come and be in front of the US military maybe he should resign and stay in DC where it is much safer. And this is the best and brightest we have to offer?
excerpt
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/world/asia/panetta-visits-afghanistan-following-massacre.html?_r=1&hp
Photos allegedly show giant mummified finger (VIDEO)
WASHINGTON - Maybe this is how the pyramids were built.
The website of European newspaper Bild has photos of a mummified, 15-inch human finger. The photos have not been scientifically verified, but they were allegedly taken in Egypt in 1988.
The size of the finger means the person would have been over 16 feet tall. Check out video of the photos below:
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=681&sid=2783991
In the realm of you can not make it up, the US military has to go unarmed when the president adviser shows up in a war zone. If he is too afraid to come and be in front of the US military maybe he should resign and stay in DC where it is much safer. And this is the best and brightest we have to offer?
excerpt
In a sign of the nervousness surrounding the visit, Marines and other troops among the 200 people gathered in a tent at Camp Leatherneck to hear Mr. Panetta speak were abruptly asked by their commander to get up, place their weapons — M-16 and M-4 automatic rifles and 9-mm pistols — outside the tent and then return unarmed. The commander, Sgt. Maj. Brandon Hall, told reporters he was acting on orders from superiors.
“All I know is, I was told to get the weapons out,” he said. Asked why, he replied, “Somebody got itchy, that’s all I’ve got to say. Somebody got itchy; we just adjust.”
Normally, American forces in Afghanistan keep their weapons with them when the defense secretary visits and speaks to them. The Afghans in the tent were not armed to begin with, as is typical.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/world/asia/panetta-visits-afghanistan-following-massacre.html?_r=1&hp
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Wednesday 03-14-12
Well at least i know why now, and is not because i eat too much and exercise to little, lol
New theory: CO2 makes you fat
No, this is not 1 April – and this is not an April Fool’s hoax.
Mad as it may sound, Danish researchers have announced a theory that may not only explain why people all over the world are getting fatter and fatter, but also warn of the serious consequences for life on Earth of continued pollution of the atmosphere by CO2 emissions.
In itself, the theory is quite simple: CO2 contributes to making us fat.
“There’s something in the air”
The theory arose several years ago, when Lars-Georg Hersoug studied the development of obesity among people who had been followed over a number of years in the so-called MONICA studies (Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardio-vascular Disease) in Denmark. These studies have mapped the lifestyles of thousands of Danes.
Hersoug was surprised to see that both fat and thin people taking part in the studies over a 22-year period had put on weight – and the increase was proportionately the same.
Orexins – which are neuropeptide hormones – in the brain stimulate wakefulness and energy expenditure. These hormones may be affected by CO2, and this can cause us to go to bed later, affecting our metabolism so it is easier for us to put on weight. But orexins are also involved in the stimulation of food intake.
“The normal theory is that fat people get fatter because they don’t move as much as they should,” says Hersoug, now a post-doc at the Research Centre for Prevention and Health at Glostrup University Hospital. “But the study showed that thin people also get fatter, and this happened over the whole of the 22-year period of the study.”
Obesity may follow CO2 concentration
Hersoug has since studied events and research results that could support his theory.
1. He says the development in obesity in the US was fastest in the period 1986-2010 on the east coast – where CO2 concentrations are highest.
2. A study from 2010, covering 20,000 animals in various laboratories, showed that all the animals put on weight, even though they were given food under controlled conditions and should therefore not have put on weight. The animals studied included dogs, cats, mice and monkeys. And when researchers studied rats in both urban and rural environments in the US, the result was the same.
Results of obesity measurements taken in connection with the MONICA studies (Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardio-vascular Disease) in Denmark. The X-axis (horizontal) shows body mass index (BMI), while the Y-axis shows the accumulated frequency. Everybody studied is included at the top of the graph (100 percent on the Y-axis), while the average BMI is placed at 50 percent. The graph is steepest where the most people are represented, while it is flatter where the fewest people are represented. There are few very thin and few very fat people. The measurements were taken in 1974 and 1996. Both fat and thin people had put on weight over the 22 years – and the increase was proportionately the same. (Graph: University of Copenhagen, T. Drivholm)“The probability that all animals of eight different species put on weight from random causes is one in 10,000,000,” says Hersoug. “This indicates that the animals were affected by environmental factors – and you can speculate on what these environmental factors are.”
3. A quite decisive element was added to the researchers’ theory in 2007, when a study revealed that the pH value of blood – its acidity – affects nerve cells in the brain that regulate our appetite and metabolism: orexins.
CO2 makes us eat more
This discovery made it possible to develop a precise hypothesis for how CO2 makes us fatter: We breathe more CO2, which makes our blood more acidic; this affects our brain, so we want to eat more.
In 2011, together with researchers Anders Mikael Sjödin and Arne Astrup from the University of Copenhagen, Hersoug started to test the hypothesis on humans.
At the university’s Department of Human Nutrition, they placed six young men in special climate rooms, where some of them were exposed to increased amounts of CO2. After seven hours, the men were allowed to eat as much as they liked.
This little pilot study showed that the men with the greater amount of CO2 in their blood ate six percent more food than the men who had been in climate rooms with a normal amount of CO2.
“We could also see that the extra amount of CO2 caused the men’s heartbeat to rise, and this gives us an indication that CO2 affects the brain’s nerve cells – orexins in the hypothalamus – which among other functions control our appetite and the composition of our nutrient intake,” says Hersoug.
“A very small change in the activity of these nerve cells will presumably have great importance for our development of obesity or for maintaining our weight.”
Does CO2 give men beer guts?
If the researchers’ hypothesis is correct, it raises many questions.
CO2 is found in the bubbles in fizzy drinks and beer – does that have any importance for obesity?
“Of course I have considered whether CO2 has very local impacts, which could explain how beer guts develop,” says the researcher.
FactsVentilate the room
People inhale oxygen deep into their lungs and exhale carbon dioxide, CO2. Small rooms in our homes and small offices at work typically contain more CO2 than the air outside.
If you want to keep the level of CO2 in your room or office low – and if you want to avoid tiredness and headaches – you should open a window every now and then.
“Several studies have not shown any connection, but our hypothesis may give sufficient additional arguments to warrant new studies of this aspect.”
Many people will also ask whether painful slimming diets or long, boring runs to sweat off excess weight make any sense if it is CO2 in the atmosphere that makes us fatter.
Exercise and vegetables can limit the ‘CO2 effect’
But Hersoug says the hypothesis gives us no excuse for dropping diets and exercise – on the contrary.
“We know already that a sedentary lifestyle is a risk factor for many diseases,” he says. “According to our theory, this may be because of the higher acidity in the blood arising from a sedentary lifestyle indoors in a CO2 concentration that is higher than it is outdoors.”
On the other hand, he says, “If you’re out running, you get your blood circulating and you can pump much of the CO2 out of your body, so our hypothesis is really further evidence that exercise is healthy. And exercise may be even more necessary in the future, when we can expect even higher CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere.”
Hersoug adds that fruit and vegetables also reduce the blood’s pH value, so the CO2 theory is also an argument for eating more healthily.
‘An interesting idea’
The hypothesis has just been published in the scientific journal ‘Nutrition and Diabetes’ – in part to make other obesity researchers around the world think about the situation. One leading obesity researcher is clinical professor Thorkild I. A. Sørensen, the leader of the Danish Obesity Research Centre, DanORC.
Sørensen, who is at the Department of Public Health at the University of Copenhagen, says he would like to see further concrete studies before he can believe that his three Danish colleagues have found a vital contributory factor to solving the mystery of the obesity epidemic.
“The researchers are quite right in saying that our current understanding of the obesity epidemic is imperfect and that we certainly cannot allow ourselves to conclude that the reason is simply that ‘we eat too much and exercise too little’,” says Sørensen.
FactsResearchers are wondering whether CO2 affects embryos in the womb, so the embryos develop a tendency towards obesity.
This is one of the hypotheses that will be tested if the researchers can raise funding for large-scale trials with rats.
“They are quite right in showing interest for other possibilities. Their hypothesis is a new and very interesting idea, clearly inspired by studies using animals in captivity that have also put on weight – and a common factor for these animals and people is the air we breathe.”
Concrete measurements of CO2 and obesity needed
“But there is one problem: the obesity epidemic has developed quite irregularly in time and place, even in a small country such as Denmark, and only a part of the population is affected even though we all breathe the same air,” says Sørensen.
He expects the researchers will say that various tendencies towards obesity must be taken into account. But, he adds, a decisive step in testing whether the hypothesis can stand is to study whether obesity has changed in reality in the delay, equal to the time it takes to develop obesity, after local CO2 concentrations in the air have risen.
“If this is not the case, then the idea that increases in CO2 concentration have triggered the obesity epidemic does not stand as the cause must come before the effect,” says Sørensen.
The answer could lie in the mountains
Hersoug says that making the measurements required by Sørensen can be difficult. Instead, the researchers have considered testing the hypothesis in the heights.
Several studies have shown that you can lose weight in the mountains, where there is less oxygen in the air and where you expire more CO2.
Obesity statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA seem to indicate that the obesity epidemic is less widespread in mountain states.
“But at the present time this does not figure in our studies because we feel it is more important to ascertain whether we can show an effect through controlled trials,” says Hersoug. “If we can show an effect, then we will carry out epidemiological studies with humans – but we can’t get the funding for these without verification of our hypothesis.”
Hersoug and his colleagues will soon start conducting trials with rats to see whether they can support the hypothesis – or pull the carpet out from under it. They hope to be able to raise money for further, more comprehensive trials of e.g. the role different types of nutritious diets play together with CO2.
http://sciencenordic.com/new-theory-co2-makes-you-fat
From the absurd to where else? But the TSA again
Lottery Winner
I just won the TSA lottery and got selected for additional screening. An alarm went off after a swab of my hand was tested. (Really appreciated the giggles and chorus of "ooooo" from the dozen agents/officers/other uniformed people when the machine buzzed. At least I was quickly moved to the area, so they could go back to chitchatting.) During my fondling session, they told me some lotions will trigger the alarm. Sounds like a good system to me. I feel safer already. I didn't pitch a fit as I want to get home today, but I expressed my displeasure to several of them and used the words "ridiculous" and "security theater." The only funny part was the raised eyebrow from one of the agents when he saw them pull a couple copies of American Rifleman (trips are when I catch up on my dead tree reading) from my bag. There are pretty pictures of some Kimbers on the back.
http://www.brickolore.com/2011/09/lottery-winner.html
New theory: CO2 makes you fat
No, this is not 1 April – and this is not an April Fool’s hoax.
Mad as it may sound, Danish researchers have announced a theory that may not only explain why people all over the world are getting fatter and fatter, but also warn of the serious consequences for life on Earth of continued pollution of the atmosphere by CO2 emissions.
In itself, the theory is quite simple: CO2 contributes to making us fat.
“There’s something in the air”
The theory arose several years ago, when Lars-Georg Hersoug studied the development of obesity among people who had been followed over a number of years in the so-called MONICA studies (Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardio-vascular Disease) in Denmark. These studies have mapped the lifestyles of thousands of Danes.
Hersoug was surprised to see that both fat and thin people taking part in the studies over a 22-year period had put on weight – and the increase was proportionately the same.
Orexins – which are neuropeptide hormones – in the brain stimulate wakefulness and energy expenditure. These hormones may be affected by CO2, and this can cause us to go to bed later, affecting our metabolism so it is easier for us to put on weight. But orexins are also involved in the stimulation of food intake.
“The normal theory is that fat people get fatter because they don’t move as much as they should,” says Hersoug, now a post-doc at the Research Centre for Prevention and Health at Glostrup University Hospital. “But the study showed that thin people also get fatter, and this happened over the whole of the 22-year period of the study.”
Obesity may follow CO2 concentration
Hersoug has since studied events and research results that could support his theory.
1. He says the development in obesity in the US was fastest in the period 1986-2010 on the east coast – where CO2 concentrations are highest.
2. A study from 2010, covering 20,000 animals in various laboratories, showed that all the animals put on weight, even though they were given food under controlled conditions and should therefore not have put on weight. The animals studied included dogs, cats, mice and monkeys. And when researchers studied rats in both urban and rural environments in the US, the result was the same.
Results of obesity measurements taken in connection with the MONICA studies (Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardio-vascular Disease) in Denmark. The X-axis (horizontal) shows body mass index (BMI), while the Y-axis shows the accumulated frequency. Everybody studied is included at the top of the graph (100 percent on the Y-axis), while the average BMI is placed at 50 percent. The graph is steepest where the most people are represented, while it is flatter where the fewest people are represented. There are few very thin and few very fat people. The measurements were taken in 1974 and 1996. Both fat and thin people had put on weight over the 22 years – and the increase was proportionately the same. (Graph: University of Copenhagen, T. Drivholm)“The probability that all animals of eight different species put on weight from random causes is one in 10,000,000,” says Hersoug. “This indicates that the animals were affected by environmental factors – and you can speculate on what these environmental factors are.”
3. A quite decisive element was added to the researchers’ theory in 2007, when a study revealed that the pH value of blood – its acidity – affects nerve cells in the brain that regulate our appetite and metabolism: orexins.
CO2 makes us eat more
This discovery made it possible to develop a precise hypothesis for how CO2 makes us fatter: We breathe more CO2, which makes our blood more acidic; this affects our brain, so we want to eat more.
In 2011, together with researchers Anders Mikael Sjödin and Arne Astrup from the University of Copenhagen, Hersoug started to test the hypothesis on humans.
At the university’s Department of Human Nutrition, they placed six young men in special climate rooms, where some of them were exposed to increased amounts of CO2. After seven hours, the men were allowed to eat as much as they liked.
This little pilot study showed that the men with the greater amount of CO2 in their blood ate six percent more food than the men who had been in climate rooms with a normal amount of CO2.
“We could also see that the extra amount of CO2 caused the men’s heartbeat to rise, and this gives us an indication that CO2 affects the brain’s nerve cells – orexins in the hypothalamus – which among other functions control our appetite and the composition of our nutrient intake,” says Hersoug.
“A very small change in the activity of these nerve cells will presumably have great importance for our development of obesity or for maintaining our weight.”
Does CO2 give men beer guts?
If the researchers’ hypothesis is correct, it raises many questions.
CO2 is found in the bubbles in fizzy drinks and beer – does that have any importance for obesity?
“Of course I have considered whether CO2 has very local impacts, which could explain how beer guts develop,” says the researcher.
FactsVentilate the room
People inhale oxygen deep into their lungs and exhale carbon dioxide, CO2. Small rooms in our homes and small offices at work typically contain more CO2 than the air outside.
If you want to keep the level of CO2 in your room or office low – and if you want to avoid tiredness and headaches – you should open a window every now and then.
“Several studies have not shown any connection, but our hypothesis may give sufficient additional arguments to warrant new studies of this aspect.”
Many people will also ask whether painful slimming diets or long, boring runs to sweat off excess weight make any sense if it is CO2 in the atmosphere that makes us fatter.
Exercise and vegetables can limit the ‘CO2 effect’
But Hersoug says the hypothesis gives us no excuse for dropping diets and exercise – on the contrary.
“We know already that a sedentary lifestyle is a risk factor for many diseases,” he says. “According to our theory, this may be because of the higher acidity in the blood arising from a sedentary lifestyle indoors in a CO2 concentration that is higher than it is outdoors.”
On the other hand, he says, “If you’re out running, you get your blood circulating and you can pump much of the CO2 out of your body, so our hypothesis is really further evidence that exercise is healthy. And exercise may be even more necessary in the future, when we can expect even higher CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere.”
Hersoug adds that fruit and vegetables also reduce the blood’s pH value, so the CO2 theory is also an argument for eating more healthily.
‘An interesting idea’
The hypothesis has just been published in the scientific journal ‘Nutrition and Diabetes’ – in part to make other obesity researchers around the world think about the situation. One leading obesity researcher is clinical professor Thorkild I. A. Sørensen, the leader of the Danish Obesity Research Centre, DanORC.
Sørensen, who is at the Department of Public Health at the University of Copenhagen, says he would like to see further concrete studies before he can believe that his three Danish colleagues have found a vital contributory factor to solving the mystery of the obesity epidemic.
“The researchers are quite right in saying that our current understanding of the obesity epidemic is imperfect and that we certainly cannot allow ourselves to conclude that the reason is simply that ‘we eat too much and exercise too little’,” says Sørensen.
FactsResearchers are wondering whether CO2 affects embryos in the womb, so the embryos develop a tendency towards obesity.
This is one of the hypotheses that will be tested if the researchers can raise funding for large-scale trials with rats.
“They are quite right in showing interest for other possibilities. Their hypothesis is a new and very interesting idea, clearly inspired by studies using animals in captivity that have also put on weight – and a common factor for these animals and people is the air we breathe.”
Concrete measurements of CO2 and obesity needed
“But there is one problem: the obesity epidemic has developed quite irregularly in time and place, even in a small country such as Denmark, and only a part of the population is affected even though we all breathe the same air,” says Sørensen.
He expects the researchers will say that various tendencies towards obesity must be taken into account. But, he adds, a decisive step in testing whether the hypothesis can stand is to study whether obesity has changed in reality in the delay, equal to the time it takes to develop obesity, after local CO2 concentrations in the air have risen.
“If this is not the case, then the idea that increases in CO2 concentration have triggered the obesity epidemic does not stand as the cause must come before the effect,” says Sørensen.
The answer could lie in the mountains
Hersoug says that making the measurements required by Sørensen can be difficult. Instead, the researchers have considered testing the hypothesis in the heights.
Several studies have shown that you can lose weight in the mountains, where there is less oxygen in the air and where you expire more CO2.
Obesity statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA seem to indicate that the obesity epidemic is less widespread in mountain states.
“But at the present time this does not figure in our studies because we feel it is more important to ascertain whether we can show an effect through controlled trials,” says Hersoug. “If we can show an effect, then we will carry out epidemiological studies with humans – but we can’t get the funding for these without verification of our hypothesis.”
Hersoug and his colleagues will soon start conducting trials with rats to see whether they can support the hypothesis – or pull the carpet out from under it. They hope to be able to raise money for further, more comprehensive trials of e.g. the role different types of nutritious diets play together with CO2.
http://sciencenordic.com/new-theory-co2-makes-you-fat
From the absurd to where else? But the TSA again
Lottery Winner
I just won the TSA lottery and got selected for additional screening. An alarm went off after a swab of my hand was tested. (Really appreciated the giggles and chorus of "ooooo" from the dozen agents/officers/other uniformed people when the machine buzzed. At least I was quickly moved to the area, so they could go back to chitchatting.) During my fondling session, they told me some lotions will trigger the alarm. Sounds like a good system to me. I feel safer already. I didn't pitch a fit as I want to get home today, but I expressed my displeasure to several of them and used the words "ridiculous" and "security theater." The only funny part was the raised eyebrow from one of the agents when he saw them pull a couple copies of American Rifleman (trips are when I catch up on my dead tree reading) from my bag. There are pretty pictures of some Kimbers on the back.
http://www.brickolore.com/2011/09/lottery-winner.html
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Tuesday 03-13-12
Red meat linked to higher risk of premature death
A new study indicates that eating unprocessed red meat (hamburger, pork, roast beef, lamb) and processed meats (bacon, hot dogs, bologna, sausage) may increase a person's risk of premature death and raise their risk of death from heart disease and cancer.
Conversely, substituting other foods such as fish, poultry, nuts and beans for red meat may lower their risk of premature death, the analysis suggests.
Other studies have linked eating red meat and processed meat to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, some types of cancer, particularly colorectal cancer, and premature death.
"This new study provides further compelling evidence that high amounts of red meat may boost the risk of premature death," says the study's lead author, An Pan of the Harvard School of Public Health. But, he adds, this type of study shows association, which doesn't necessarily mean causation.
Pan and colleagues analyzed the diet, health and death data on 37,698 men and 83,644 women. Participants completed questionnaires about their diets every four years. During the study follow-up period of more than two decades, almost 24,000 of the participants died, including 5,910 from heart disease and 9,464 from cancer.
To determine the risk of eating unprocessed red meat or processed meat, the researchers factored out other lifestyle factors, including age, weight, physical activity and family history of heart disease, and dietary factors, such as intake of whole grains, fruit and vegetables, nuts, legumes, dairy products, fish and poultry.
Among the findings published online Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine: Eating one serving a day of unprocessed red meat (about the size of a deck of cards) was associated with a 13% increased risk in premature death; eating one serving a day of processed red meat (one hot dog or two slices of bacon) was associated with a 20% increased risk of premature death.
Using a statistic model, the researchers estimated that replacing one serving a day of red meat with one serving of fish would decrease premature death by 7%; replacing it with poultry would decrease the risk by 14%; nuts, 19%; beans, 10%; low-fat dairy, 10%; whole grains, 14%.
"The message we want to communicate is it would be great if you could reduce your intake of red meat consumption to half a serving a day or two to three servings a week, and severely limit processed red meat intake," Pan says.
He says the sodium and nitrites in processed red meat might explain the relatively higher risk found in processed compared with unprocessed red meat.
But the beef industry says this study doesn't prove red meat is the dietary villain. "Once again, what we are seeing here is an observational study that's limited because it can't establish cause and effect," says registered dietitian Shalene McNeill, executive director of human nutrition research for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. "The most striking thing about this study is those who were eating higher intakes of red meat also were eating more calories, were less physically active, were more likely to smoke and ate fewer fruits, vegetables and whole grains."
Pan says those factors were taken into consideration in the statistical analysis to try to eliminate their impact, "but certainly, it is possible that other unmeasured or residual confounding effects from lifestyle exist."
McNeill says, "We have a recent randomized controlled trial that showed eating 4 to 5 ounces of lean beef daily as a part of a heart-healthy diet improved heart health, including lowering bad (LDL) cholesterol levels, as effectively as several other heart-healthy diets. There are many ways to build a healthy diet with lean beef that also includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes."
Robert Eckel, a past president of the American Heart Association, says the group does not set a limit on consumption of lean red meat but promotes an overall heart-healthy diet. "A small serving (about 3 ounces) of lean red meat several times a week can be added to an overall heart-healthy dietary pattern without concern. This amount is substantially below the level of risk reported by the Harvard group."
Marji McCullough, a nutrition epidemiologist for the American Cancer Society, says, "We've known for a long time that eating high amounts of red meat or processed meat increases the risk of colorectal cancer and possibly other cancers. This study is important because it shows that consuming red meat and processed meat increases the risk of death from all causes."
She says there is no magic number in terms of amount of red meat that you can safely consume, but "eating it no more than a few times a week would be a place to start."
http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2012-03-12/Red-meat-linked-to-higher-risk-of-premature-death/53499630/1
A new study indicates that eating unprocessed red meat (hamburger, pork, roast beef, lamb) and processed meats (bacon, hot dogs, bologna, sausage) may increase a person's risk of premature death and raise their risk of death from heart disease and cancer.
Conversely, substituting other foods such as fish, poultry, nuts and beans for red meat may lower their risk of premature death, the analysis suggests.
Other studies have linked eating red meat and processed meat to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, some types of cancer, particularly colorectal cancer, and premature death.
"This new study provides further compelling evidence that high amounts of red meat may boost the risk of premature death," says the study's lead author, An Pan of the Harvard School of Public Health. But, he adds, this type of study shows association, which doesn't necessarily mean causation.
Pan and colleagues analyzed the diet, health and death data on 37,698 men and 83,644 women. Participants completed questionnaires about their diets every four years. During the study follow-up period of more than two decades, almost 24,000 of the participants died, including 5,910 from heart disease and 9,464 from cancer.
To determine the risk of eating unprocessed red meat or processed meat, the researchers factored out other lifestyle factors, including age, weight, physical activity and family history of heart disease, and dietary factors, such as intake of whole grains, fruit and vegetables, nuts, legumes, dairy products, fish and poultry.
Among the findings published online Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine: Eating one serving a day of unprocessed red meat (about the size of a deck of cards) was associated with a 13% increased risk in premature death; eating one serving a day of processed red meat (one hot dog or two slices of bacon) was associated with a 20% increased risk of premature death.
Using a statistic model, the researchers estimated that replacing one serving a day of red meat with one serving of fish would decrease premature death by 7%; replacing it with poultry would decrease the risk by 14%; nuts, 19%; beans, 10%; low-fat dairy, 10%; whole grains, 14%.
"The message we want to communicate is it would be great if you could reduce your intake of red meat consumption to half a serving a day or two to three servings a week, and severely limit processed red meat intake," Pan says.
He says the sodium and nitrites in processed red meat might explain the relatively higher risk found in processed compared with unprocessed red meat.
But the beef industry says this study doesn't prove red meat is the dietary villain. "Once again, what we are seeing here is an observational study that's limited because it can't establish cause and effect," says registered dietitian Shalene McNeill, executive director of human nutrition research for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. "The most striking thing about this study is those who were eating higher intakes of red meat also were eating more calories, were less physically active, were more likely to smoke and ate fewer fruits, vegetables and whole grains."
Pan says those factors were taken into consideration in the statistical analysis to try to eliminate their impact, "but certainly, it is possible that other unmeasured or residual confounding effects from lifestyle exist."
McNeill says, "We have a recent randomized controlled trial that showed eating 4 to 5 ounces of lean beef daily as a part of a heart-healthy diet improved heart health, including lowering bad (LDL) cholesterol levels, as effectively as several other heart-healthy diets. There are many ways to build a healthy diet with lean beef that also includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes."
Robert Eckel, a past president of the American Heart Association, says the group does not set a limit on consumption of lean red meat but promotes an overall heart-healthy diet. "A small serving (about 3 ounces) of lean red meat several times a week can be added to an overall heart-healthy dietary pattern without concern. This amount is substantially below the level of risk reported by the Harvard group."
Marji McCullough, a nutrition epidemiologist for the American Cancer Society, says, "We've known for a long time that eating high amounts of red meat or processed meat increases the risk of colorectal cancer and possibly other cancers. This study is important because it shows that consuming red meat and processed meat increases the risk of death from all causes."
She says there is no magic number in terms of amount of red meat that you can safely consume, but "eating it no more than a few times a week would be a place to start."
http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2012-03-12/Red-meat-linked-to-higher-risk-of-premature-death/53499630/1
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