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Thursday, April 4, 2013
Apology from Senator Mikulski and danger to your baby on the West Coast
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Affordable housing is again a red flag in 'green' Marin County
From: Los Angeles Times
The issue has long produced conflict in the eco-friendly county, California's wealthiest. Officials are being urged to help workers find housing in a place where the median home price is $650,000.
Advocates for affordable
housing in Marin County protest before a meeting in San Rafael to
discuss the issue. The push for affordable housing in California’s
wealthiest county has always brought its “green” lifestyle and liberal
social leanings into conflict. No Bay Area county has more protected
open space — or fewer workers who can afford to live anywhere near their
jobs.
(Sherry LaVars / Marin Independent Journal / March 20, 2013)
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — After George Lucas
abandoned plans to build a movie studio along a woodsy road in Marin
County, he complained about the permitting process in a place so
environmentally friendly that hybrid-car ownership is four times the
state average.
His next move, some here say, was payback for what Lucas
described in a written statement as the "bitterness and anger" expressed
by his neighbors.
The creator of "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" is working with a
local foundation that hopes to build hundreds of units of affordable
housing on a former dairy farm called Grady Ranch, where his studio
would have risen.
Now Marin County is squirming at that prospect — and it is not a pretty sight.
FOR THE RECORD:
An earlier version of this story included a photo caption that incorrectly identified protestors as being part of Citizen Marin, a group advocating local rather than state control over new housing construction. The protestors shown in the photo support the construction of more affordable housing in Marin County.
The issue of affordable housing in California's wealthiest county has
always brought its "green" lifestyle and liberal social leanings into
conflict. No Bay Area county has more protected open space — or fewer
workers who can afford to live anywhere near their jobs.
At a recent planning commission hearing, where possible sites for
subsidized housing were discussed, nearly all the heated testimony had
some version of: "I'm all for affordable housing, but …"
Nine days later, protesters wearing "End Apartheid in Marin County"
buttons demanded that officials do something to help low-income workers
find housing in a place where the median home price is $650,000 and 60%
of the workforce lives somewhere else.
The irony is not lost on Thomas Peters, president of the Marin
Community Foundation, the philanthropy that is collaborating with the
filmmaker to build along Lucas Valley Road. The region's environmentally
conscious lifestyle, he said, is built on the long commutes of low-paid
workers whose cars choke Highway 101 to the point that "you can
literally see the CO2 rising."
"The community, to some degree, has been lulled by success in its
40-year-old determination to really protect the open spaces," Peters
said. But "it is not sustainable to hold that kind of misperception that
this is all beautiful and everything can stay as it is."
With the Golden Gate Bridge as its front door and Point Reyes
National Seashore in the backyard, Marin County is blessed with some of
California's most breathtaking vistas. Indeed, 84% of its land is
protected as tideland, open space, parkland, agricultural preserves and
watershed.
In an effort to address climate change and cut greenhouse gas
emissions, the county in 2010 launched California's first so-called
community choice energy program. Marin Clean Energy purchases power for
its customers from renewable sources such as wind, solar and
hydroelectric projects.
But Marin is near the back of the pack in the nine-county Bay Area
region when it comes to absorbing predicted population growth — and is
the most unwilling, said Ezra Rapport, executive director of the Assn.
of Bay Area Governments.
Every eight years, California's 58 counties are required to come up
with a "housing element." The documents are not guarantees that units
will be built, but simply a demonstration that the county is zoned so
growth could happen.
After the Department of Housing and Community Development produces
growth estimates for each part of the state, regional governmental
agencies negotiate with their cities and counties to divide up the
responsibility to zone for possible future home building.
Currently, the Bay Area must plan for 187,000 new housing units by
2022, of which 110,000 must be affordable to very low-, low- and
moderate-income families.
So how much of that burden is Marin County's?
A total of 2,292 units, of which 1,400 must be affordable. In other
words, 1.2% of the total homes and 1.4% of the affordable ones. MORE
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Paul Krugman: California offers lessons on how to make comeback
Published: Tuesday, Apr. 2, 2013 - 12:00 am
| Page 9A
Modern movement conservatism, which transformed the GOP from the moderate party of Dwight Eisenhower into the radical right-wing organization we see today, was largely born in California.
The Golden State, even more than the South, created today's religious conservatism; it elected Ronald Reagan governor; it's where the tax revolt of the 1970s began. But that was then. In the decades since, the state has grown ever more liberal, thanks in large part to an ever-growing nonwhite share of the electorate.
As a result, the reign of the Governator aside, California has been solidly Democratic since the late 1990s. And ever since the political balance shifted, conservatives have declared the state doomed. Their specifics keep changing, but the moral is always the same: liberal do-gooders are bringing California to its knees.
A dozen years ago, the state was supposedly doomed by all its environmentalists. You see, the eco-freaks were blocking power plants, and the result was crippling blackouts and soaring power prices. "The country's showcase state," gloated the Wall Street Journal, "has come to look like a hapless banana republic."
But a funny thing happened on the road to collapse: It turned out that the main culprit in the electricity crisis was deregulation, which opened the door for ruthless market manipulation. When the market manipulation went away, so did the blackouts.
Undeterred, a few years later conservatives found another line of attack. This time they said that liberal big spending and overpaid public employees were bringing on collapse.
The Golden State, even more than the South, created today's religious conservatism; it elected Ronald Reagan governor; it's where the tax revolt of the 1970s began. But that was then. In the decades since, the state has grown ever more liberal, thanks in large part to an ever-growing nonwhite share of the electorate.
As a result, the reign of the Governator aside, California has been solidly Democratic since the late 1990s. And ever since the political balance shifted, conservatives have declared the state doomed. Their specifics keep changing, but the moral is always the same: liberal do-gooders are bringing California to its knees.
A dozen years ago, the state was supposedly doomed by all its environmentalists. You see, the eco-freaks were blocking power plants, and the result was crippling blackouts and soaring power prices. "The country's showcase state," gloated the Wall Street Journal, "has come to look like a hapless banana republic."
But a funny thing happened on the road to collapse: It turned out that the main culprit in the electricity crisis was deregulation, which opened the door for ruthless market manipulation. When the market manipulation went away, so did the blackouts.
Undeterred, a few years later conservatives found another line of attack. This time they said that liberal big spending and overpaid public employees were bringing on collapse.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Presidential Arms
THE PRESIDENTS' ARMS
Fascinating information and pictures. Pay particular attention to the first quote by JFK just below, and the last one by Ronald Reagan.
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This is the GOLD-PLATED AR-15 presented to President Kennedy by Colt Firearms back in the day.
- From R. L. Wilson's The Colt Heritage
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- From R. L. Wilson's The Colt Heritage
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JOHN F. KENNEDY- New Frontier Colt
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With a serial number of PT-109, Colt manufactured this custom New Frontier Colt for President John F. Kennedy. The 35th president never received his revolver as a result of his tragic assassination in 1963.
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RICHARD M. NIXON - Colt .45
In their December 21, 1970 meeting, Elvis Presley gave Nixon a commemorative World War II Colt .45...and requested to be made "Federal Agent at Large" in the war against drugs.
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RICHARD M. NIXON - Colt Presentation Single-Action Army Colt crafted this elegant Presentation grade single-action army for Nixon in 1972. It was never presented though as a result of the Watergate Scandal. The serial number is RMN No. 1 Image Courtesy the Autry Museum
RONALD REAGAN - Colt Presentation Single-Action Army Manufactured in 1984 with the serial number RR-1, this elegant Colt Single-Action Army was crafted for our nation's 40th president. Like Nixon's Single-Action Army, the presentation
of this revolver never happened.
Image Courtesy the Autry Museum
Image Courtesy the Autry Museum
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GEORGE WASHINGTON Steel-Mounted Saddle Pistols
- Marquis de Lafayette, a young French soldier who volunteered to
fight for the United States, gave Washington this pair of saddle pistols
with barrels made of Damascus steel. Washington reportedly carried
these sidearms at Valley Forge, Monmouth, Yorktown and during the
Whiskey Rebellion as president. Washington maintained possession of the
pistols until his death in 1799. Andrew Jackson owned them for a
spell, until bequeathing them back to the Lafayette family.
Image courtesy of Christies
Image courtesy of Christies
THOMAS JEFFERSON
One of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Jefferson has many quotes that resonate strongly with the Right to Bear Arms crowd, including, "Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man. - 1764" Truer words couldn't have been spoken.
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This flintlock pocket pistol reportedly belonged to our nation's third president. There are many reproductions of Jefferson dueling pistols available in the marketplace today.
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JAMES MADISON/JAMES MONROE - Space Pistols?
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What to get the man that probably has everything? How 'bout a pair of pistols reportedly crafted from meteorite iron found in the Campo del Cielo crater in Argentina. At least that was the story given to James Madison when he was presented with this pair of fully functioning pistols by South American general Ignacio Alvarez. His words were accepted as fact until nearly 200 years later when science took a closer look and determined the pistols weren't made from meteoric iron. After Madison's passing, James Monroe took possession of the guns.
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Image courtesy of www.redorbit.com
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"Old Hickory" dueled it out with more than one opponent with pistols, including an incident in which he was dueling Charles Dickinson. Dickinson shot first, hitting Jackson in the chest. Jackson then took aim and pulled the trigger only to be greeted with a misfire, which according to dueling rules counts as a shot. Jackson pulled the hammer back again and pulled the trigger, and killed Dickinson with his second effort. Jackson lived 19 years with the lead ball in his chest.
Andrew Jackson also helped Colt Firearms get noticed after giving his stamp of approval to the newly designed revolver.
The above percussion pistol was reportedly owned by Jackson and was made circa 1830.
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MARTIN VAN BUREN - Senate Pistols
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When Martin Van Buren presided over the senate as Vice President, he wore a pair of pistols for security measures. Do you think a V.P. could get away with that today?
Our 19th President carried a Smith & Wesson .32 Caliber revolver during the civil war. The original gun is in the Hayes Museum in Fremont, OH.
GROVER CLEVELAND - Colt 8-Gauge
Certainly not a pistol, but cool nevertheless, this Colt 8-gauge was owned by our 22nd president, Grover Cleveland. The engraved double barrel is believed to be the only eight gauge in existence.
Image courtesy of the National Firearm Museum
THEODORE ROOSEVELT - Smith & Wesson New Model No. 3
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"This revolver is attributed by Smith & Wesson factory records to future U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. He most likely took delivery of this gun just prior to training his Rough Riders at San Antonio, Texas. -- National Firearm Museum
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Image courtesy of the National Firearm Museum
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This Colt Revolver was recovered from the sunken USS Maine and subsequently carried in combat by Lt. Colonel Theodore Roosevelt during the Spanish American War. He would use the weapon during his Medal of Honor engagement.
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THEODORE ROOSEVELT - Fabrique Nationale Model 1900 Semi Automatic Pistol
Teddy
Roosevelt's nightstand gun while in the Whitehouse? If family
tradition is accurate, It might have been this handsome Fabrique
Nationale Model 1900 Semi Automatic Pistol.
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Image courtesy of the National Firearm Museum
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Image courtesy of the National Firearm Museum
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ELEANOR ROOSEVELT - S&W .38 Special Revolver
The First Lady of firearms? Teddy's cousin-in-law, Eleanor was very handy with a sidearm. She often carried a S&W .38 Special Revolver.
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Image courtesy Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
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HARRY S. TRUMAN - Colt M1911 and Colt Officers Model .22 LR
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Harry S. Truman was presented this Colt M1911 and Colt Officers Model .22 LR in 1947 by Colt President Graham H. Anthony.
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Harry S. Truman was presented this Colt M1911 and Colt Officers Model .22 LR in 1947 by Colt President Graham H. Anthony.
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER - U.S. Colt Model 1911A1 Semi Automatic Pistol
"This pistol was given by General Dwight D. Eisenhower to Admiral Sir A. B. Cunningham, R.N., during the November 1942 Allied invasion of North Africa. -- National Firearms Museum
(Inset) While serving as the Supreme Allied Commander during World War II, Eisenhower's preferred sidearm was a Colt Detective Special.
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Nancy Reagan carried a firearm all the time. Nobody was going to shoot her husband again
Monday, April 1, 2013
Maine Town Declares Food Sovereignty
From: Natural News
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| Farm-to-Table Agriculture |
Sedgwick, Maine is
first town to declare total food sovereignty, opposing state and federal laws
by J.D. Heyes
March 25, 2013
There is a food revolution taking hold all over America, whether it is in the form of demanding labeling of GM foods, the right to produce and sell raw milk and other commodities, or - in the case of Sedgwick, Maine - declaring all local food transactions of any kind free and legal.
According to the website FoodRenegade.com, Sedgwick is the first city in the U.S. to free itself from the constraints of federal and state food regulation. Published reports say the town has passed an ordinance that gives its citizens the right "to produce, sell, purchase, and consume local foods of their choosing," regulations be damned. The ordinance includes raw milk, meats that are slaughtered locally, all produce and just about anything else you might imagine.
And what's more, three additional towns in Maine are expected to take up similar ordinances soon, said the FoodRenegade.com.
Gee - good, ol' fashioned buyer-seller agreements?
Observers of the Sedgwick ordinance say it is much more than just "statement" legislation. Writes blogger David Grumpert, at TheCompletePatient.com:
This isn't just a declaration of preference. The proposed warrant added, "It shall be unlawful for any law or regulation adopted by the state or federal government to interfere with the rights recognized by this Ordinance." In other words, no state licensing requirements prohibiting certain farms from selling dairy products or producing their own chickens for sale to other citizens in the town.
What about potential legal liability and state or federal inspections? It's all up to the seller and buyer to negotiate. "Patrons purchasing food for home consumption may enter into private agreements with those producers or processors of local foods to waive any liability for the consumption of that food. Producers or processors of local foods shall be exempt from licensure and inspection requirements for that food as long as those agreements are in effect." Imagine that-buyer and seller can agree to cut out the lawyers. That's almost un-American, isn't it?
According to Deborah Evans, a Sedgwick citizen, the ordinance further states:
(1) Producers or processors of local foods in the Town of Sedgwick are exempt from licensure and inspection provided that the transaction is only between the producer or processor and a patron when the food is sold for home consumption.
(2) Producers or processors of local foods in the Town of Sedgwick are exempt from licensure and inspection provided that the products are prepared for, consumed or sold at a community social event.
For those questioning the legality of the ordinance - as in, it obviously circumvents state and federal food laws - she notes:
[W]e the radicals who concocted this mutinous act of infamy believe that according to the Home Rule provisions of our State Constitution, the citizens of Sedgwick have the right to enact an ordinance that is "local and municipal in character."
'It's about time'Many of the local farmers say the ordinance is just what is needed.
"This ordinance creates favorable conditions for beginning farmers and cottage-scale food processors to try out new products, and to make the most of each season's bounty," farmer Bob St. Peter told the website FoodFreedom.com. "My family is already working on some ideas we can do from home to help pay the bills and get our farm going."
"Tears of joy welled in my eyes as my town voted to adopt this ordinance," said Sedgwick resident and local farm patron Mia Strong. "I am so proud of my community. They made a stand for local food and our fundamental rights as citizens to choose that food."
St. Peter, who is a board member of the National Family Farm Council, a food freedom advocacy group, notes that small farmers have a much tougher row to hoe, especially in today's economy, so they need the ability to sell their products more freely.
"It's tough making a go of it in rural America," he said. "Rural working people have always had to do a little of this and a little of that to make ends meet. But up until the last couple generations, we didn't need a special license or new facility each time we wanted to sell something to our neighbors. Small farmers and producers have been getting squeezed out in the name of food safety, yet it's the industrial food that is causing food borne illness, not us."
Sources:
http://www.foodrenegade.com/maine-town-declares-food-sovereignty/
http://www.thecompletepatient.com
http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com
http://www.nffc.net/
1 in 5 Boys Now Diagnosed With ADHD -- Are We Overdrugging Our Kids?
From: AlterNet
Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com
April 1, 2013 |
The number of children and teenagers diagnosed with attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has increased remarkably over the past
decade, according to new data released by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. The rise in numbers, reported on by the New York Times, has led some to say that the increase is due to parent pressure on doctors and a loose definition of the disorder.
The data reveals that an estimated 6.4 million children
aged 4 to 17 have received the diagnosis, which is a 16 percent increase
from 2007. The 6.4 million children diagnosed is also a 53 percent rise
over the last decade. Two-thirds of those diagnosed take stimulant
medication for the disorder like Ritalin and Adderall, which could lead
to anxiety, addiction and potentially psychosis. Nearly one in five high
school boys and 11 percent of all school-age children have ADHD, the
new data states.
William Graf, a pediatric neurologist from Yale University, told the New York Times
that the rise in those with the disorder was “astronomical...Mild
symptoms are being diagnosed so readily, which goes well beyond the
disorder and beyond the zone of ambiguity to pure enhancement of
children who are otherwise healthy.”
There are some doctors and advocates for patients who
welcome the rise in numbers, and say that it is a result of the disorder
being recognized better. But others who are critics of how children
receive the diagnosis say that “the new rates suggest that millions of
children may be taking medication merely to calm behavior or to do
better in school,” according to the New York Times. The resort to medication for those who do not need it is particularly dangerous, as the drugs are rife with risks.
“There’s a tremendous push where if the kid’s behavior is
thought to be quote-unquote abnormal — if they’re not sitting quietly at
their desk — that’s pathological, instead of just childhood,” said one
Harvard professor of medicine.
Some of the pressure on doctors from parents who are
worried about their children’s behavior may be a result of effective
advertising from prescription drug companies. The Times notes that
“several doctors mentioned that advertising from the pharmaceutical
industry that played off parents’ fears — showing children struggling in
school or left without friends — encouraged parents and doctors to call
even minor symptoms A.D.H.D. and try stimulant treatment.” The drug
companies are reaping the boom in diagnoses, with their profits
increasing by $5 billion since 2007. And taxpayers are bearing the cost
of these drugs and doctors’ visits for those covered by Medicaid.
“There’s no way that one in five high-school boys has A.D.H.D,” James Swanson, an expert on ADHD, told the New York Times.
“If we start treating children who do not have the disorder with
stimulants, a certain percentage are going to have problems that are
predictable — some of them are going to end up with abuse and
dependence. And with all those pills around, how much of that actually
goes to friends? Some studies have said it’s about 30 percent.”
But while alarms from Swanson and others are ringing, the numbers of those with ADHD are likely to continue to increase.
The American Psychiatric Association is poised to change
the definition of the disorder to allow more people to be diagnosed with
it. New criteria set to be released next month could lead to higher
diagnosis rates because of the requirement that symptoms appear before
age 12 rather than 7. Additionally, the new American Psychiatric
Association language will state that symptoms that “impact” daily
activities--rather than “impair”--are a sign of the disorder.
New York's Finest Pepper Spray 5 month old baby
Photo Credit: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
A mother is suing the New York Police Department (NYPD) over what she
says was an instance of police brutality where cops pepper-sprayed her
three little children. Courthouse News Service reports that the mother, Marilyn Taylor, made the claims recently in court about the alleged August 9 incident.
Taylor says that police officers pepper sprayed her three
children, who are 5-months old and 2 and 4 years old. She claims that as
she was on her way to board a Manhattan-bound L Train, officers stopped
her and her husband and accused them of trying to skip a fare. Taylor
was pushing a stroller with her two-year-old through a service door
rather than the regular turnstile.
That’s when the police officers allegedly pepper sprayed
Taylor, and the spray hit her children. The lawsuit claims that “the
pepper-spray caused the children to scream out and choked the two-year
old, who went into fits of vomiting.”
Taylor was arrested, and she said that cops pushed her down
the stairs so harshly that the handcuffs bruised her wrists and lower
back, according to Courthouse News Service. The officers who carried out
the alleged brutality are named in the suit: Maripily Clase, Suranjit
Dey and Jermaine Hodge.
Taylor’s husband, named Dehaven McClain, had to get all three children home by himself.
A day after the incident, Taylor says she “received an
adjournment in contemplation of a dismissal, meaning the charges would
be tossed if she did not get arrested again within a certain time,”
according to the news outlet.
The lawsuit provides more details on the aftermath of the
attack. “After the attack, mother and father suffered ongoing eye
injuries and all three children suffer emotional harms, and are now
afraid to ride the subways and become afraid when they see police
officers. The four year-old cried herself to sleep for weeks, and after
the incident the two-year-old began waking up in the night crying for
her mother,” the complaint reads.
Taylor has said that the officers have continued to harass her since the August 9 event.
The family is seeking punitive damages for what they say
were civil rights violations, assault, battery, negligence, and
violations to the state and federal constitutions, according to the Courthouse News Service. The NYPD did not respond to requests for comment.
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