January 12, 2013

Christian School USED Children To Clear Dangerous ASBESTOS – Without Protective Gear

Hmm, aren't these the same hypocrites who want to protect the unborn? Doesn't seem too important now.





A Christian school in Ohio is under criminal investigation for one cost-cutting measure; a measure which could cut some students’ lives painfully short.


The students, some as young as 13, participated in a volunteer project which involved gutting an old YWCA in preparation for the building becoming the new site of their school, the Buckeye Education School in Berea, OH. The project took place over several weekends and the walls of the YWCA were filled with the deadly substance, asbestos. The students wore no protective gear.


Ohio and federal law requires that school and public building asbestos abatement is performed by trained and accredited personnel. A neighbor to the YWCA, and an asbestos abatement professional, Darren Clink, shot a video of the students as they removed asbestos filled debris with buckets and a front-end loader. From WKYC:




Buckeye Education is overseen by Sterling Education, whose vision statement ironically includes, “adequately funded academic programs and safe, well-maintained, proper school facilities.” Both Buckeye and Sterling have declined to comment on the situation. Asbestos is a naturally occurring material that was commonly used in building construction until about the late 1970s and early 1980s. It is still used in some automotive brakes and clutches. Asbestos has not been banned in the US and it is still mined in Canada and Russia.


Asbestos is harmless until it becomes airborne. While the substance itself is not toxic, it can lodge itself in the lungs and even a single fiber can cause inflammation and scarring, which can lead to a variety of lung problems, including cancer.


cont'



watch video:



http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/01/12/christian-school-used-children-to-clear-dangerous-asbestos-without-protective-gear-video/

January 10, 2013

Dead Beat Dad WEASEL Joe Walsh Says If You Don’t Like The Law, BREAK IT!

Tea Party playboy Joe Walsh had some choice words today in regards to obeying the law and being responsible citizens of the United States – Don’t. As reported by the DNAInfo website this morning, the one-term congressman, and deadbeat dad, was meeting with backers at Blackie’s in South Loop when he effectively told them to disregard laws that they don’t like. Mr Walsh encouraged his followers to “defy and or break the law and engage in civil disobedience” if they did not like laws. He then went on to encourage violence, in a city already known for violence, by telling the assembled audience “We may have to shed blood every couple hundred years to preserve our freedoms.”



Funny how freedoms only exist for Joe and his fans, as he fought tooth and nail to deny freedoms to women, military veterans, protesters, and voters. This of course make sense his later comments That “We need our own Scott Walker,” referring to the Wisconsin governor who is fighting to eliminate voting rights. Joe Walsh also apparently still watches Fox News, as he believes that the Tea Party represents the United States, despite all evidence to the contrary. His behavior, however, is to continue stoke the fires, and some will undoubtedly follow through on his call to terrorism. His allies have already labelled hate as a virtue, and that the government should be shut down, so the call by Mr. Walsh to direct criminal actions should not come as a surprise.




Walsh then called for war against what he called “Progressive America” saying that “These two Americas are having it out.” He then said that of his home state of Illinois “We have no Republican Party in this state — none” and that he was in talks with third-party groups to develop plans which, according to him, will “scare Republicans and Democrats.” Considering that apparently the tea parties plans call for armed rebellion whenever they do not get their way, yes, both major political parties are scared - they are scared that Joe Walsh and his compatriots will destroy the United States. They do not understand even the basics of the United States government. Even on areas they claim expertise on the US Constitution, they instead show ignorance. This is a civil war inside the GOP, one caused from within, despite claims to the contrary.


cont'




http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/01/10/dead-beat-dad-joe-walsh-says-if-you-dont-like-the-law-break-it/

January 10, 2013

John Boehner is Counting on Liberals to STAB Obama in the Back

This little nugget of insight was buried in the middle of the recent Wall Street Journal story on Boehner, “Mr. Boehner says he has significant Republican support, including GOP defense hawks, on his side for letting the sequester do its work. “I got that in my back pocket,” the speaker says. He is counting on the president’s liberal base putting pressure on him when cherished domestic programs face the sequester’s sharp knife. Republican willingness to support the sequester, Mr. Boehner says, is “as much leverage as we’re going to get.” Boehner is gambling that conservatives are tougher than liberals. The whole House strategy is to convince liberals that Republicans are going to stick to their guns, and happily eat the defense cuts, in order to slash Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.



The Speaker’s comments were a tacit admission that the Republican strategy of threatening Democrats, the president, and the left is not working anymore. The president has learned to wait out any threat that House Republicans make, because in the end, he knows they will cave. Speaker Boehner needs a new weapon to use against the White House, and he believes that weapon is the left’s inability to stand together.



Since splitting the left is the stated Republican strategy, stories about the president’s desire to cut earned entitlements attributed to anonymous sources should start popping up in the mainstream media over the next month or so. House Republicans tried this exact tactic during the fiscal cliff negotiations, and like clockwork the professional outrage machine on the left jumped in and started doing the GOP’s dirty work for them. (In the case of the fiscal cliff, Obama had floated a thought on Social Security as part of a deal that he knew Republicans would reject. Thus, the president used the left’s outrage machine as political cover in order to appear moderate.)




cont'

http://www.politicususa.com/john-boehner-counting-liberals-stab-obama.html

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January 10, 2013

Can You HELP SOLVE A Desert Mystery?

What did Google Earth spot in the Chinese desert?

/



Since Google Earth launched in 2005, there have been dozens of mysterious images (supposed planes and bunkers, even the face of Jesus) captured by the satellites used for the virtual mapping program. But according to Allen Thomson, this one may be the weirdest.
Thomson, a former CIA analyst, was recently using Google Earth while searching for an orbital tracking site in southwestern China when he spotted something strange constructed in the middle of the Kashgar desert.


"I haven't the faintest clue what it might be," Thomson wrote in an email to Wired. "But it's extensive, the structures are pretty big and funny-looking, and it went up in what I’d call an incredible hurry." Thomson, who served in the CIA from 1972 to 1985, "has made something of a second career finding odd stuff in public satellite imagery," according to Wired. The website explains:







Wired is soliciting theories from readers to pass along to Thomson; but at this point, the desert structure remains a mystery.
Theorizing about unexplained images from Google Earth has become a global parlor game. In 2007, a Google Earth user spotted what was initially thought to be a cruise missile flying over a Utah desert. Others claimed it was simply a "jet airliner with dark-colored wings."

In 2010, a Brooklyn-based photographer discovered an image of what appeared to be a commercial airplane hidden in a housing complex in Bushwick. (Some users claimed it was a film set; others thought it was simply a low-flying plane caught by Google's satellite.)

cont'




http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/google-earth-chinese-desert-mystery-155557314.html

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/01/google-earth-china-hunh/?pid=1744

January 9, 2013

New Yorkers Give RACIST Anti-Muslim Signs A Much Needed OVERHAUL

New York is a mecca of social justice. From the start of Occupy Wall Street to the current Occupy Sandy efforts, New Yorkers seem ready to step in whenever the need arises. Today, however, social justice is taking form in an entirely different way. Pamela Geller and the American Freedom Defense Initiative put ads all over the subway with anti-Muslim messages. The signs show the World Trade Center bombing on 9/11. In large words next to the picture of the towers in flames state:







New Yorkers, however, didn’t like this clearly racist and hateful message directly aimed at sowing fear of Muslim people. So they took matters into their own hands, going from subway to subway, plastering caution signs stating that this is war propaganda.



I, for one, am tired of all the fear mongering that goes on towards Muslims. The truth is that terrorism exists in all religions. The difference between a Christian terrorist and a Muslim one is that a Christian who commits an act of terrorism is referred to as a “person” when reported on. A Muslim who commits an act of terrorism is a referred to as a “Muslim terrorist.” Religion only comes into play if the person or group is not amongst the majority. This needs to stop.



The only thing separating Muslim people from those of other faiths is their religion. That’s it. Muslim people are regular people. They eat, they sleep, they work, they pay taxes, they do everything anyone else does. Some are good people, some are bad, just like any group of people. The vast majority of Muslims, just like the vast majority of people in any religion, are not involved with terrorist organizations. The sign posted in the subway is not only sickening, it assumes those reading lack common sense. It assumes they will be so consumed with fear that they will believe the false message this propaganda is supposed to purvey.Thankfully, however, a group of New Yorkers took matters into their own hands so now anyone who sees these ads will also see that they are propaganda. This is a classic example of people doing a small thing which goes a long way. It is up to us to fight this kind of racism and fight it we shall.






cont'

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/01/09/new-yorkers-give-racist-anti-muslim-signs-a-much-needed-overhaul/

January 9, 2013

National Cathedral OPENS To Same-Sex Weddings

Washington, DC’s historic National Cathedral has announced that it will now host same-sex weddings, making it one of the first Episcopal congregations to implement a new rite for same-gender blessings. The Cathedral’s dean, the Very Rev. Gary Hall, explained that the change is an “important symbolic moment” for fulfilling Christian faith:







Same-sex marriage is legal in both DC and now in neighboring Maryland, as well as eight other states. Such weddings will likely not take place in the National Cathedral anytime soon due to its busy schedule. In addition, for couples to wed there, one member of the couple must be baptized into the Church. Still, same-sex weddings might take place before the end of the year. All couples wed in the Cathedral commit to a Christian marriage of “lifelong faithfulness, love, forbearance, and mutual comfort.”




http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/01/09/1419811/national-cathedral-opens-to-same-sex-weddings/

January 9, 2013

Report: The GOP Is An Incompetent Party — WORSE THAN Cochroaches, Head Lice & Gonorrhea

Over the weekend, I wrote about how Barack Obama can win the upcoming debt-ceiling fight. I left out one important element of a winning strategy, which I’ll get to further down. But the main point of the piece, which I want to reinforce today, is to flip the current conventional wisdom on its head. The c.w. says the Republicans hold the cards here. But they don’t. And some of them are throwing whatever cards they do have on the bonfire with a lot of loose talk that weakens what I think is their already weak position. What all this adds up to is the following revolutionary proposition, which I invite you to consider: it may be that the Republicans just aren’t very good at politics anymore.



In the years of my adulthood—the years, that is, since the Reagan ascendance—it has generally been assumed by the elite media and other arms of the country-running establishment that the Republicans knew what they were doing. Yeah, they may have been extreme or obstreperous or this or that, but they were good. Newt Gingrich was whip smart. Karl Rove was an out-and-out genius. Tom DeLay, you didn’t mess with. Why I even remember when Bill Frist was limned as some kind of great sage. And so on. On the Democratic side, meanwhile, Bill Clinton often won such plaudits, but for a long, long time, he was about the only one.



I have some highfalutin theories about why this is so, but let’s dispense with those and just seek an Occam’s Razor kind of explanation. Quite simply, for a long time, Republicans won. And even when they didn’t win, they certainly dominated the discourse. So they just looked like the team that knew how to play the game. That was true for a generation anyway, and during that time, the media learned the habit of assuming that, whatever the issue, the Republicans were going to win; they were surely in possession of some secret, devious master plan of genius that they were just waiting for the exact right moment (because needless to say, under this theory, even their timing was above reproach) to spring on the unsuspecting Democrats, who would melt like cheese at the sight of it.



I dramatize a bit, but it’s basically true. That default view of Republican prowess became deeply lodged in the collective mind of the elite, and things once lodged are awfully difficult to dislodge. Which means that these days, the Republicans are still benefiting from some residual and vestigial positive assumptions about their acumen that they really don’t deserve. They botched the fiscal-cliff talks in any number of ways. Obviously, John Boehner’s Plan B fiasco was the most visible manifestation, but there were more. New Year’s Day—Eric Cantor splitting from Boehner; first there’s no vote; then there is a vote—was absolute mayhem. And, this is crucial, Boehner broke the Hastert Rule and permitted the cliff deal to pass with a minority of Republicans. It is true that Mitch McConnell pushed Obama’s supposedly firm $250,000 amount on taxes up to $450,000, and that was a point in his favor. But the bottom line is that the Republicans emerged from New Year’s Day angry and divided—and defeated.







cont'

http://www.politicalarticles.net/blog/2013/01/09/report-the-gop-is-an-incompetent-party-worse-than-cochroaches-head-lice-gonorrhea/

January 9, 2013

A PROSECUTORIAL THUG For Alabama AG Luther Strange Might Receive Some Much-Deserved Scrutiny

One of Alabama's most notorious prosecutorial thugs over the past decade or so might be on the verge of receiving some richly deserved scrutiny. Matt Hart currently serves as a "public corruption special prosecutor" under Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange. But Hart perhaps is best known for his actions as a federal prosecutor under Alice Martin, who served as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama during the George W. Bush years.



A Tuscaloosa contractor who was found not guilty in 2010 on corruption charges now is seeking to unseal records that might show Hart abused the federal grand-jury process in that case. Roger Taylor, president of Hall-Taylor Construction, was charged in connection with an investigation of the Alabama two-year college system, but a jury acquitted him on all eight counts. Taylor's attorneys long have argued that their client was the victim of abusive prosecutorial tactics. They renewed that argument after recently receiving a call from a newspaper reporter working on an investigative series about the federal grand-jury system. From a report at al.com:







Matt Hart's reputation for thuggish tactics came to light for most citizens in 2004 when former U.S. Circuit Judge U.W. Clemon cited him for contempt of court in the Medicaid-fraud case against former Governor Don Siegelman and codefendants Paul Hamrick and Phillip Bobo. Prosecutors dropped those charges, in Birmingham, after Clemon ruled they had insufficient evidence for a conspiracy claim.



Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy later faced bribery-related charges in Montgomery, and that case led to convictions and has been widely called the most notorious political prosecution in U.S. history. Hart's fingerprints, it turned out, were all over that case, too--as we reported in a post titled "Prosecutors Used 'Sex Scandal' to Intimidate Key Witness in Siegelman Case." Who led the effort to intimidate chief prosecution witness Nick Bailey? According to Andrew Kreig's reporting at Huffington Post, based on an affidavit from Tuscaloosa businessman Stan Pate, it was Matt Hart. From our July 2009 report on the matter:

cont'






http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-prosecutorial-thug-for-alabama-ag.html

January 8, 2013

America is NOT a Conservative Nation: More Voters Identify as DEMOCRATS than Republicans

Republicans have long argued that America is a conservative nation, but Democrats have now outnumbered Republicans in four of the past five presidential elections.


In article about the rise of moderates, Charlie Cook broke down the Democratic advantage in party identification,





Cook argues that those who were predicting a Romney victory were looking in the wrong place. While Romney was winning with Independents, he was absolutely getting crushed by Obama with moderates. (It is no coincidence that the last three two term presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama were all able to successfully court moderates.)


Republicans have spent decades arguing that America is really a conservative country. (This bit of myth making can be traced back to Richard Nixon’s silent majority.) The numbers actually tell the story of a country that over the two decades has been moving left. However, one specific shift that is blowing the notion of America being a conservative country to smithereens.


The Republican Party’s move to the far right has resulted in moderates moving more in line with the Democratic Party. Conservatives are fond of using Gallup’s ideology poll to justify their America is a conservative country rhetoric, but the 2012 poll showed conservatives outnumbering moderates and liberals 40%-35%-21%. The problem for Republicans is that Obama carried moderates, 56%-41%. The majority of moderates are currently moving away from the Republican Party.In real world terms, this change is visible in national attitudes on everything from same sex marriage to taxes and gun control. While 2013 isn’t a golden age of liberalism, the popular rejection of the Republican/conservative ideology in national elections dispels the notion that America is a conservative nation.




cont'
http://www.politicususa.com/america-conservative-nation-democrats-outnumbered-republicans-4-5-presidential-elections.html

January 8, 2013

Victory! Equal Pay for Lesbian and Gay Veterans

At long last (and after two years of ACLU litigation), many lesbian and gay former members of the military will be getting what they deserve: full severance pay regardless of their sexual orientation. If you serve six years in the military and are then discharged involuntarily, Congress says you're entitled to separation pay to help ease your transition to civilian life. But the military had a policy – not required by any law – of cutting that separation pay in half if you're discharged, even honorably, for "homosexuality."


That policy needlessly compounded the discrimination inflicted by the now repealed Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law in the first place, so two years ago the ACLU filed a class action lawsuit against the Defense Department seeking full separation pay for the lesbian and gay service members who were shorted pay when they were kicked out.


Lead plaintiff Richard Collins’s story is typical. He was a decorated Air Force Staff Sergeant who served nine years before being discharged. He was seen kissing his civilian boyfriend, in a car at a stoplight, when he was off duty, out of uniform, and ten miles off base. After being discharged under DADT, Collins discovered that his severance pay had been cut in half just because he’s gay. Collins approached us not about challenging his discharge under DADT, but about getting his full separation pay – another $12,000.


I’m pleased to announce that the Obama Administration has just agreed to settle the lawsuit by paying all of the service members 100 percent of the separation pay they are owed. Coming on the heels of the repeal of DADT (for which the Administration deserves tremendous credit), this policy change is a wonderful (if overdue) recognition that these soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines deserve no less than all the others who served honorably and defended their country with their lives.



http://www.aclu.org/blog/lgbt-rights/victory-equal-pay-lesbian-and-gay-veterans