Saturday, April 16, 2011
Is this the real NAFTA Superhighway?
A planned pipeline connecting Canada to Texas could pose a real threat, unlike the mythological NAFTA Superhighway
In the mid-2000s, a conspiracy began to take hold about the so-called NAFTA Superhighway. This giant construction project -- one involving huge multi-lane highways, rail lines and oil pipelines snaking through the heartland and connecting the U.S., Mexico and Canada -- was supposed to represent a major blow to American sovereignty and presage the creation of a transnational "North American Union."
NATO Claims Unity on Libya as Russia Questions Military Actions
April 15 (Bloomberg) -- NATO countries sought to bridge differences over their Libya mission as Russia said the alliance’s actions may be exceeding those authorized by the UN Security Council.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers today in Berlin that he’s confident his request for additional ground-attack aircraft will be met, even though the U.S. and France rejected deploying more planes.
Armed agents kidnap child from mother who used holistic treatments instead of pharmaceutical drugs to treat condition
It all started back in 2009 when Maryanne's previously-homeschooled daughter went in for a series of routine vaccinations in order to be enrolled in middle school. Shortly after receiving the shots, thechildbegan to have severe adverse reactions that included "acting out of character, being irritated, having facial grimaces," and other behavioral problems that Maryanne's mother says she had never had before, and all of which emerged immediately after the vaccines were administered.
Maryanne voluntarily decided to take her daughter to The Children's Center (CC), a group that claims to "enhance the emotional well being of infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their families," in order to get some treatment ideas. CC prescribed Maryanne's daughter some very dangerouspsychotropic drugsthat eventually ended up only only making the symptoms worse.
Maryanne then consulted with an outside physician who recommended that she stop giving thedrugsto her child, and instead pursue other options. Maryanne agreed and began to use holistic and natural methods instead -- and as a result, her child's overallhealthand well-being improved significantly
Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/032090_Maryanne_Godboldo_health_freedom.html#ixzz1JiUuStf5
How about Gas for $2.80 a Gallon? | WOAI LOCAL NEWS - News Radio 1200 WOAI San Antonio Texas
Gasoline prices like that are available but there’s one catch...they’re in Mexico.
But 1200 WOAI’s Michael Board says plenty of south Texans are ducking to avoid the bullets from the gang wars, to gas up at prices which are as much as a dollar lower than prices in the United States.
“When Piedras prices are under ours, a segment of Eagle Pass residents go to Piedras Negras to fill up,” says Chad Foster, the former Mayor of Eagle Pass and currently a real estate agent who sells property on both sides of the Rio Grande.
Why is gasoline so much cheaper across the Rio Grande? Two main reasons. First of all, Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-owned oil company, controls prices with the assistance of the Mexican government, which is not keen to see the price of gasoline go up too high for fear of public unrest. Also, Mexican environmental laws are not as strict as laws in the U.S., and gasoline sold in Mexico is not required to have many of the special blends designed to hold down air pollution, which jack up U.S. prices.
Foster says he will organize his day so he can buy gasoline in Mexico.
“The other day, I was going to Zaragoza to show a ranch, and I needed gas, and I have no issue buying Mexican gas,” he said.
How Rahm Retaliated Against Bad Press
Since returning to Chicago to run for mayor, Emanuel has shied away from the public outbursts and vulgar language that famously earned him the nickname Rahmbo.
But I ve learned the new-and-improved Rahm has a way to punish the press when they report on stories he doesn t like.
He cuts off access.
This week NBCChicago
Donald Trump draws Barack Obama into 'birther' fray
President Barack Obama took on the “birther” issue that potential Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has yanked from the GOP’s fringe and thrust into the mainstream, saying it will backfire in a general election because people know he doesn’t “have horns” and want to focus on pocketbook issues.
Obama made the surprising comments, engaging directly with the birther theories that Trump has become patron saint of in the past month, in an interview with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53236.html#ixzz1JhxemYbW
Israel thanks US for taxpayer dollars
Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that the move is further evidence of the close friendship between Israel and the US.
Congress passed a budget bill authorizing military aid to Israel this week, AFP reported.
States, cities brace for budget deal cuts
WASHINGTON - The budget deal the Congress passed late Thursday and that President Barack Obama is expected to sign on Friday has state and local governments worried they may have to make up for cuts in some federal programs.
The resolution to keep the government running for the rest of fiscal year 2011 reduced Community Development Block Grants by 16 percent.
Cities, towns and counties rely on the relatively small program to fight homelessness and blight. For months they have campaigned to preserve every cent of the grants as states pull back on aid to local governments.
Scientists warn that drugs of the future will be designed specifically to control the human mind
Ethan A. Huff
Natural News
It may sound like something out of a science fiction plot, but Oxford researchers say that modern conventional medicine is gradually developing ways to change the moral states of humans through pharmaceutical drugs, and thus control the way people think and act in various life situations. These new drugs will literally have the ability to disrupt an individual’s personal morality, and instead reprogram that person to believe and do whatever the drug designer has created that drug to do.
“Science has ignored the question of moral improvement so far, but it is now becoming a big debate,” said Dr. Guy Kahane from the Oxford Centre for Neuroethics in the UK. “There is already a growing body of research you can describe in these terms. Studies show that certain drugs affect the ways people respond to moral dilemmas by increasing their sense of empathy, group affiliation and by reducing aggression.”
While this may sound good in theory, mind control is already a very dangerous side effect of existing drugs. Take the antidepressant drug Prozac, for instance, which has been known to cause those taking it to lash out in violent rages. One young boy murdered his father by beating him and stabbing him in the head, and hit his mother with a crowbar and stabbed her in the face, shortly after starting to take Prozac (http://www.naturalnews.com/News_000720_Prozac_SSRIs_violence.html).
Fox Guest Says TSA Groping 6 Year-Old OK, It’s ‘For a New World Order’
April 14, 2011
Comedian Paul Mecurio, who works with John Stewart’s Daily Show, appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program, defending the groping of 6 year-old girl at the hands of TSA. Mecurio said, “Adjustments Have To Be Made For A New World Order,” joking about the violation of the little girl. First the system denied these practices were going on, now they laugh about it, say it’s necessary and expect us to get used to it.
COMMENT FROM ALEX JONES: This is very sick. Remember that John Stewart’s brother runs the New York Stock Exchange. This is about crushing our will and flaunting it in our face.
Video via Federal Jack:
Pelosi to GOP: ‘Hands Off Our Medicare’
(CNSNews.com) - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) sent a message to House Republicans about their proposed 2012 budget that would reform entitlement spending, stating on Friday: “Hands off our Medicare.”
At a press conference with Democratic leaders outside the U.S. Capitol building, Pelosi said, “This budget, we’ve always said we will judge every initiative that comes before us as to whether it creates jobs, as it reduces the deficit, strengthens the middle class and continues the economic growth of our economy. This budget does none of the above as it ends Medicare. Hands off our Medicare! Hands off our Medicare!”
Veterans advocate kills self after war tours
Source: AP
Handsome and friendly, Clay Hunt so epitomized a vibrant Iraq veteran that he was chosen for a public service announcement reminding veterans that they aren't alone.
The 28-year-old former Marine corporal earned a Purple Heart after taking a sniper's bullet in his left wrist. He returned to combat in Afghanistan. Upon his return home, he lobbied for veterans on Capitol Hill, road-biked with wounded veterans and performed humanitarian work in Haiti and Chile.
Then, on March 31, Hunt bolted himself in his Houston apartment and shot himself.
Friends and family say he was wracked with survivor's guilt, depression and other emotional struggles after combat.
Hunt's death has shaken many veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those who knew him wonder why someone who seemed to be doing all the right things to deal with combat-related issues is now dead.
"We know we have a problem with vets' suicide, but this was really a slap in the face," said Matthew Pelak, 32, an Iraq veteran who worked with Hunt in Haiti as part of the nonprofit group Team Rubicon.
After news of Hunt's death spread, workers from the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors met with veterans visiting Washington for the annual lobbying effort by the nonprofit Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, or IAVA. A year earlier, Hunt had been with other veterans in dark suits calling on Congress to improve the disability claims process.
He had appeared in the group's ads encouraging veterans to seek support from an online network of fellow veterans.
Snapshots posted on Facebook reflect a mostly grinning Hunt. In one, he has a beard and is surrounded by Haitian kids. A second shows him on the Capitol steps with fellow veterans. There's a shot of him from the back on a bike using his right arm to help push another bicyclist who is helping to guide an amputee in a specially modified bike.
Friends and family say Hunt suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. But with his boundless energy and countless friends, he came across as an example of how to live life after combat.
"I think everybody saw him as the guy that was battling it, but winning the battle every day," said Jacob Wood, 27, a friend who served with Hunt in the Marines and in Haiti with Team Rubicon.
But some knew he was grieving over several close friends in the Marines who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"He was very despondent about why he was alive and so many people he served with directly were not alive," said John Wordin, 48, the founder of Ride 2 Recovery, a program that uses bicycling to help veterans heal physically and mentally.
In 2007, while in Iraq with the Marine's 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment, Hunt heard over the radio that his 20-year-old bunkmate had died in a roadside bombing. Hunt later wrote online about sleeping in his bunkmate's bed. "I just wanted to be closer to him, I guess. But I couldn't — he was gone."
A month later, Hunt was pinned by enemy fire in his truck as a fellow Marine, shot in the throat by a sniper, lay nearby. Hunt wrote that seeing his friend placed in a helicopter, where he died, is "a scene that plays on repeat in my head nearly every day, and most nights as well."
Three days later, a sniper's bullet missed Hunt's head by inches and hit his wrist. He didn't immediately leave Iraq. His parents say Hunt asked to fly to a military hospital in Germany a day later so he could accompany a fellow Marine who was shot in both legs.
"I know he's seen some traumatic stuff in his time and I guess he holds that to himself," said Marine Sgt. Oscar Garza, 26, who served with Hunt in Iraq. "He was a very compassionate Marine, a very passionate person, one of the few people that I know that has a big heart and feels a lot of people's pain and makes it his own."
Hunt's mother, Susan Selke, said after Hunt was wounded, she'd hoped her son would get out of the military. Instead, he went to school to be a scout-sniper and went to Afghanistan. He seemed to do well. He was honorably discharged in 2009, married and enrolled at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
He was frustrated by the Veterans Affairs Department's handling of his disability claim. He also piled up thousands of dollars in credit card debt as he waited for his GI Bill payments. Hunt found an outlet to help improve the system by doing work with IAVA. He helped build bikes for Ride 2 Recovery and participated in long rides.
Using his military training, he went to Haiti several times and Chile once to help with the countries' earthquake relief efforts. He proudly told his parents of splinting an infant's leg, and after meeting a young orphaned boy in Haiti named D'James, tried to persuade his family to adopt him.
"If I had one thing to say to my fellow veterans, it would be this: Continue to serve, even though we have taken off our uniforms," Hunt wrote in an online testimonial for Team Rubicon. "No matter how great or small your service is, it is desired and needed by the world we live in today."