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Segami

Segami's Journal
Segami's Journal
June 14, 2013

Ann Coulter: GOP 'Deserves To Die' If It Backs Immigration Reform








The GOP deserves to die if it backs immigration reform, allowing more Latinos to become citizens, right wing pundit Ann Coulter says in a new column. The article is the latest in a series since President Barack Obama's November reelection in which Coulter paints Hispanics as lazy, poor and government-dependent, concluding that they could never vote for conservatives and immigration reform would destroy both the Republican Party and the country as a whole.



“Democrats terrify Hispanics into thinking they’ll be lynched if they vote for Republicans, and then turn around and taunt Republicans for not winning a majority of the Hispanic vote,” Coulter wrote in the column, published Wednesday. Coulter went on to claim that Latinos don’t favor a path to citizenship. “Hispanic voters are a small portion of the electorate,” the column says. “They don't want amnesty, and they're hopeless Democrats. So Republicans have decided the path to victory is to flood the country with lots more of them!”





It’s unclear what Coulter bases this on, as she does not cite a source. A Fox News Latino poll published last year found that 85 percent of Hispanics support offering a path to citizenship for the undocumented. A poll released this week by Latino Decisions found that 81 percent of Hispanic voters want Congress to address the pathway to citizenship and border security simultaneously, while only 13 percent favor the border security-first approach advocated by conservatives like Coulter.


cont'



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/13/ann-coulter-gop-deserves-to-die_n_3435052.html
June 14, 2013

NSA WIRETAPPING May Result In Hundreds Of Court Cases Being OVERTURNED








The problems stemming from revelations of the wiretapping program run by the National Security Agency (NSA) for the government continue to pile up. On top of the media response and the concerns over privatization of government, a lawyer in Florida has unveiled a potentially more damaging problem. For a case he is currently defending, Barry Pollack has called upon the NSA to turn over any records involving his client, and due to the rule of law, the NSA may have to comply or else the case be thrown out.



The court case, Brady vs Maryland, established over 5 decades ago the Brady Rule, which requires all evidence to be presented which could prove a defendant’s innocence. In this case, Mr. Pollack is arguing that the NSA documents could prove that his client, accused of robbing an armored car in 2010, was nowhere near the scene of the crime. And the judge has agreed, issuing a subpoena for the records. A failure to turn over similar records resulted in the botched prosecution of former Alaska senator, Ted Stevens. When interviewed by Main Justice, Mr. Pollack had this to say:



“Prosecutors will be proceeding at their own risk if they don’t do their own searches of the classified material. If it is exculpatory, then the conviction will be in jeopardy.”

http://www.mainjustice.com/2013/06/12/can-accused-bank-robber-get-nsa-phone-records-for-his-defense-lawyers-differ/




Thus comes the problem of secret data-gathering operations against U.S. citizens. The U.S. Constitution requires full access and fairness in the courts. To have this, all information must be presented. Secret information undermines the court system, which in turn undermines the rule of law. In order to secure prosecutions, the prosecutors will have to dive through these records, which in turn will expose them to public scrutiny. If the NSA fails to turn them over, then prosecution becomes difficult, with mistrials far more likely. And in turn, imagine the appeals which are about to be filed. In cases that involve the period of the wiretapping, any defendant with a good lawyer will be filing motions very soon to gain access to these records. Without that access, and the evidence of innocence or guilt within, appeals will be fired up, and the already understaffed courts will be even slower.



By congress granting this power to the NSA under the Bush administration, and then obstructing Obama’s nominations to these organizations, they may have undermined the very ability of the government to prosecute, well, anyone. Some lawyers are arguing that the NSA may not need to turn over the documents, but it is not good for the long-term outlook of the program. If it is upheld, it would in turn undermine the legal process upon which our nation is founded. Court cases could not be trusted, and in the long-term, the slow march to a police state could be well underway.


cont'



http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/06/13/nsa-wiretapping-may-result-in-hundreds-of-court-cases-being-overturned/
June 13, 2013

BlackConspiracy Theory101: Did Robert F. Kennedy Predict A Black Man Would Be President In 40 Years?




Robert F. Kennedy (pictured), a politician and prominent member of the famed Kennedy family, was an undaunting champion of civil rights. On May 27, 1968, Kennedy gave a radio interview to “Voice Of America,” the largest U.S. international broadcaster, when he was the Attorney General in his brother’s, President John F. Kennedy’s, administration. During his interview, as he pointed out all of the imperfections in America’s fabric regarding equal rights for Blacks, did he in fact make a bold proclamation that he envisioned an African American occupying the same Oval Office that his brother once did?


Kennedy (aka Bobby or R.F.K.) was a powerful ally to the Black community, because he helped to invoke change in his reign as Attorney General during the Civil Rights era. In the fall of 1962, Kennedy sent thousands of federal troops to Oxford, Miss., to enforce a U.S. Supreme Court order admitting the first Black student, James Meredith, to the University of Mississippi. The state’s governor, Ross Barnett, a fierce proponent of segregation, had attempted to shut Meredith out, with her enrollment prompting violent protests at the school.

cont'

http://newsone.com/2536192/black-urban-legends-robert-f-kennedy-black-president/











A lot of attention was paid to the fact that Barack Obama’s presidency happened 40 years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. Just as dramatic, though not nearly as well known, is the fact that civil rights champion Robert F. Kennedy made the bold proclamation in 1968 that there could be an African American president in 40 years.

“Things are moving so fast in race relations. A Negro could be President in 40 years. There is no question about it. In the next 40 years, a Negro can achieve the same position that my brother [John F. Kennedy] has,” said RFK, according to the Washington Post. “Prejudice exists and probably will continue to… but we have tried to make progress and we are making progress. We are not going to accept the status quo.”

Bobby Kennedy made that statement to an audience one week before his own assassination on June 5, 1968 and just two months after King was murdered in Memphis. According to Bobby Kennedy’s nephew, Rhode Island Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy, RFK’s prediction so offended some white listeners at that time “that they walked out of the room.”

cont'

http://rollingout.com/business/executive-suite/robert-f-kennedy-predicted-black-presidency-to-the-exact-year/


June 13, 2013

Scarborough ACCUSES NRA Of Shading Obama’s Face In Ad




MSNBC host Joe Scarborough levied a damning charge against the National Rifle Association on Thursday, accusing the pro-gun lobby of deliberately making President Barack Obama's skin appear darker in a new ad.

The ad targets Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who broke with the NRA earlier this year to help lead the effort to pass new gun laws in the Senate. At one point in the spot, Manchin's picture is shown next to Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Scarborough, who's emerged as one of the most vocal adversaries to the NRA in the months following the massacre in Newtown, Conn., suggested that the President's appearance was maniuplated, comparing the ad to a 1994 cover of TIME (shown below) in which O.J. Simpson's mug shot appeared to be darkened.







http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/scarborough-accuses-nra-of-shading-obamas-face-in

June 13, 2013

Maine GOP Leader Makes SEXIST Remarks, Implying A ‘MAN'S BRAIN’ Makes Him A More RATIONAL BEING


The Republican ‘war on women’ appears now to extend to their brains, which one congressman
asserts are not as equipped as a man’s brain to reject free stuff.; image @TheSmokingJacket



- Cooking, washing, ironing, romance, commitment, emotions (excluding football)





Maine’s top Republican State Representative, Ken Fredette, thinks his male brain makes him a more rational being. How’s that? Well, this week, the Maine House of Representatives debates whether or not to accept federal funds to expand Medicaid in the state. Offended by this free federal money, Fredette took the the floor and made clear his thoughts on the matter:


“As I listen to the debate today and earlier debate on this bill, I can’t help but think of a title of a book, ‘Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus.’ And it’s a book about the fact that men sort of think one way in their own brain, in their own world. And women think another way in their own brain and in their own world. And it really talks about the way that men and women can do a better job at communicating. Because if you listen to the debate today, in my mind — a man’s mind — I hear two fundamental issues. From the other side of the aisle, I hear the conversation being about free. ‘This is free, we need to take it, and it’s free. And we need to do it now.’ And that’s the fundamental message that my brain receives. Now, my brain, being a man’s brain, sort of thinks differently, because I say, well, it’s not — if it’s free, is it really free? Because I say, in my brain, there’s a cost to this.”



http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/06/12/2147031/maine-gop-leader-mans-brain/



Thank goodness there was a man around to use his obviously more rational and reasonable brain to come to the decision that accepting funds that will save money and expand healthcare is a bad idea! But his remarks go further than sexism. According to the Maine People’s Alliance Health Care Organizer, Jennie Pirkl:



“This isn’t about women and men; it’s about life and death. Fredette would probably say that I only think this way because of my ‘woman’s brain,’ but I find it incredibly distasteful for him to use offensive, gender-based stereotypes to advance his anti-health care agenda. What’s more, he’s lying about the bill. Even the conservative Heritage Foundation admits that accepting federal health care funding will save the state $690 million over the next decade while providing health care coverage for 70,000 more Maine people.”



https://www.mainepeoplesalliance.org/fredette









cont'




http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/06/13/a-mans-brain-maines-top-house-republican-makes-sexist-comments-while-debating-medicaid-expansion-video/
June 13, 2013

Inspector Who Surveyed Building Prior To Philadelphia Collapse Commits Suicide, Officials Say





PHILADELPHIA — An inspector who surveyed a downtown building weeks before it collapsed, killing 6 people, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound a week after the accident, authorities said Thursday. The 52-year-old man's body was found Wednesday night in a pickup truck with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest, according to Philadelphia police. Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison said the man was a Department of Licenses and Inspections employee who had inspected the building May 14.



Department employees were being informed of the death Thursday morning and the man's name wasn't immediately being released. Gillison and other city officials have scheduled a news conference for later Thursday morning. Investigators say a heavy equipment operator with a lengthy rap sheet was high on marijuana when a building under demolition collapsed onto a neighboring thrift store on June 5. The operator, Sean Benschop, faces six counts of involuntary manslaughter, 13 counts of recklessly endangering another person and one count of risking a catastrophe. His attorney has said he was being made a scapegoat.



The city's top prosecutor has convened a grand jury to investigate whether anyone else should face criminal charges. A demolition permit indicates that contractor Griffin Campbell was being paid $10,000 for the job. Campbell's lawyer has called him despondent but "absolutely not responsible" for the deaths. On Thursday, he released a statement expressing condolences to the inspector and the families.


cont'




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/13/inspector-suicide-philadelphia-building-collapse_n_3434197.html
June 13, 2013

Report: Bill Clinton SIDES With McCain, NOT Obama, On Syria




ReTHUGS get assistance from Clinton's reasoning skills to squeeze Obama into war with Syria.





Bill Clinton said Tuesday that President Barack Obama should do more to aid rebels in the Syrian civil war and that he risks looking like "a total fool" if he allows public opinion polls to govern U.S. policy on that front, according to audio obtained by Politico. The former president made his remarks to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), one of Obama's fiercest critics on Syria, during a question-and-answer session at an event for the McCain Institute for International Leadership in Manhattan. Clinton told McCain that he sides him on this issue, and not Obama.


"Some people say, ‘Okay, see what a big mess it is? Stay out!’ I think that’s a big mistake. I agree with you about this,” Clinton reportedly told McCain. “Sometimes it’s just best to get caught trying, as long as you don’t overcommit — like, as long as you don’t make an improvident commitment."An ABC News/Washington Post poll released late last month found that 68 percent of Americans oppose U.S. military intervention to end the bloody civil war in Syria. But Clinton appeared to scoff at the idea that polls should influence the President's decisions.


According to Politico, Clinton said that if inaction was attributed to "a poll in the morning paper that said 80 percent of you were against it … you’d look like a total wuss."


“But still they hire their president to look around the corner and down the street, and you just think - if you refuse to act and you cause a calamity, the one thing you cannot say when all the eggs have been broken, is that, ‘Oh my God, two years ago there was a poll that said 80 percent of you were against it.’ Right? You’d look like a total fool," Clinton said.



http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/politico-bill-clinton-breaks-with-obama-on-syria?ref=fpb
June 13, 2013

Then & Now: The Sean Hannity NSA Surveillance HYPOCRISY Mashup




Sean Hannity sure has changed his tune............



The rambunctious Fox News host on Monday lashed into the Obama administration over the revelations of widespread Internet and phone surveillance by the National Security Agency, warning that "anarchy and tyranny will follow."

But back in 2006, when a similar NSA spying scandal was unearthed during President George W. Bush's administration, Hannity wasn't so concerned. He came out as a staunch defender of the NSA then, saying it was "staggering to me we are even debating the use of these techniques in this country even at this time."


Media Matters put together a mashup of Hannity's comments, comparing his position then and now.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/12/sean-hannity-nsa_n_3431346.html
June 12, 2013

Floridians ALARMED As Industry Signals Desire To 'FRACK' And DRILL Populated Areas



Collier-Owned Company Leases Populated Area In Collier County for Exploratory Drilling





In what is shaping up to be a move as potentially disastrous for the Collier family name as the Collier county environment, a May 2013 drilling permit application by Dan A. Hughes company describes their intent to drill a 13,900 foot deep exploratory well in close proximity to a relatively densely populated residential area known as Golden Gate.


In an official statement made in April, Dan A. Hughes announced they had "recently entered into a mineral exploration leasing agreement with Collier Resources Company, LLP to explore for oil in Collier County." In fact, Dan A. Hughes has applied for six drilling permits in Collier county in the past six months, four of which are pending and two of which have been approved. The Collier Resources Company proudly traces its roots to Barron Gift Collier, the founder of Collier County, and the two Collier family owned businesses, Barron Collier Companies and Collier Enterprise, which jointly own it. Additionally, they claim that despite being part of a 69 year history of oil exploration and production in Southwest Florida, they "take pride in our legacy of environmental stewardship."

Disaster Preparedness or Public Relations Disaster?

In late April, local residents living within a square mile of the drilling site, in what is known as Golden Gate estates, were alarmed to receive letters from Total Safety Inc., a company hired on behalf of Dan A. Hughes company, requesting contact information in order to create an emergency evacuation plan in case of an explosion or hazardous hydrogen sulfide gas release. " target="_blank">See video. The area in Golden Gate being drilled is connected to a massive, onshore oil reserve known as the Sunniland Trend, which stretches from Ft. Myers to Miami.





Why the densely populated and relatively poorer area (14.1% below poverty line) known as Golden Gate was singled out for exploratory drilling is unknown, but when juxtaposed to the generally wealthy Naples-Marco Island area of Collier County, the public relations fallout may be hard to recover from.
Heightened Awareness of the Dangers of Oil & Gas Companies One reason local residents are distrustful, and many up in arms, is because of the heightened awareness of the unintended, adverse environmental and health effects of oil exploration and drilling that followed the 2010 BP oil disaster, which roiled local environmentalists and tourism and hospitality interests alike, and left a lasting legacy of toxicity within the Gulf of Mexico, which the recent record deaths of manatees, ostensibly "caused by Red Tide," may be connected to.


cont'




http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/are-they-fracking-crazy-collier-owned-company-leases-populated-area-collier-2
June 12, 2013

Democrats on WARPATH: Biden SPEAKS The TRUTH About Al Gore’s 2000 Victory



Vice President Joe Biden let the truth fly Tuesday night at a fundraiser for Massachusetts Senate candidate Ed Markey, saying of Al Gore, “This man was elected president of the United States of America,” according to the pool report.





- “But for the good of the nation, when the bad decision, in my view, was made, he did the right thing for the nation.” Speaking to Al Gore, who introduced him, Biden continued, “Al, you set an example for this country that is going to live as long as recorded history, about the man who won by a decision that I think constitutional scholars now and in the future will conclude was an ill-fated decision.”



Top Democrats have made news recently with well placed jabs at Republicans. Senator Boxer called House Republicans “losers with a deadbeat agenda” and David Plouffe called Darrell Issa ‘Mr. Grand Theft’ and ‘insurance swindler’. Howard Dean called Darrell Issa a “fraud” and a “propagandist”. The key difference between the Republican name calling and the Democratic responses is the Democrats tend to be accurate, and therefore their jabs have a better chance of sticking. The change in tone from Democrats probably reflects their frustration with Republicans, who are pulling the same Scandalrama-Instead-of-Legislating that they did when Bill Clinton was President.



In light of Republicans drumming up non-existent scandals in order to set up 2014 so that they can run against their trumped up charges in order to avoid running on their records, Democrats must be bitterly recalling the past. Democrats they thought they were putting country first by not contesting the 2000 election (clearly a mistake, especially in hindsight), and again by not prosecuting the Bush administration for various war crimes and established abuses of governmental power. Look where that got them. The Republican Party has not only not returned the favor, but they have spit in Democrats’ faces with five years of rule-breaking and tradition-destroying obstruction, topped off with embarrassingly fake accusations, such as their alleged belief that the President’s birth certificate is phony.



The truth is out: The Republicans of the Bill Clinton era were not a fluke. They’ve changed names but the game is the same. This is a party that has nothing to offer except ad hominem attacks. This is a party that must rely on fallacies in order to maintain any power. Worse yet, tis is not a party that can handle any real power, as evidenced by the complete collapse of legislation in the House, which is the only body currently led by Republicans.

cont'




http://www.politicususa.com/2013/06/12/democrats-warpath-biden-speaks-truth-al-gores-2000-victory.html

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