tagged w/ Arkansas
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By David Edwards
Friday, February 10, 2012 11:31 EST
Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Friday said that President Barack Obama had turned evangelicals into Catholics by requiring private health insurance plans to cover contraception for women.
Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Huckabee gave “a great big thank you to President Obama.”
“You have done more than any person in the entire GOP field, any candidate has done to bring this party to unity and energize this party as a result of your attack on religious liberty and the attack on the personhood of every human being in America,” the former Arkansas governor declared.
“The fact that Catholic hospitals– and not just Catholic hospitals, but any hospital, any organization — would be required to provide not just contraceptive services, but Plan B abortion pills and other services that are outside the conscience of people of faith is, in fact, a direct violation of the First Amendment,” Huckabee, who is an ordained Southern Baptist minister, insisted.
“I remember very vividly when John F. Kennedy said that we are all Berliners. Well, in many ways, thanks to President Obama, we are all Catholics now.”
He added: “Growing up a Baptist in the South, I never thought I’d see the day when I would stand in front of several thousand people and say, ‘We’re all Catholic!’ Praise the Lord, pass the offering plate. It’s time to get serious.”
Reports on Friday said the Obama administration would move to accommodate Catholics in a way that would make still contraception available to all women.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/10/huckabee-tells-cpac-we-are-all-catholics-now/
Watch this video from CNN, broadcast Feb. 10, 2012.
"They folks just can't figure out who they will Pander to day to day!!!"By David Edwards
Friday, February 10, 2012 11:31 EST
Former Republican... more
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KB723
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In an exclusive commentary from filmmaker Sharon La Cruise Women's eNews finds out what it takes to uncover stories about women's work in desegregation from our recent history.
"I knew the story of the famous opposition, in 1957, by local authorities against implementing the Supreme Court's anti-segregationist ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. But I didn't remember Bates' involvement. I learned that after the Brown decision Bates, as a leader of the NAACP, demanded the entry of black students into any of the all-white schools in Little Rock. This fight was very personal. Bates' own education hadn't gone beyond the eighth grade and she knew that the world of an uneducated black child was very small.
I read everything I could about Little Rock Central High. I found hundreds of books, but little information about Bates that went beyond her 1962 autobiography. Strangely enough, I also discovered there were no adult books on Bates' life; only children's books. She was mentioned in books about women in the civil rights movement, but even in them she didn't warrant a chapter. But the books still contained valuable information that I used to build a list of sources, from whom I pieced together the puzzle pieces of Bates' life."
Read the full exclusive at: http://www.womensenews.org/story/media-stories/120201/little-rocks-daisy-bates-gets-film-her-own
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW_3cgDcAQMIn an exclusive commentary from filmmaker Sharon La Cruise Women's eNews finds... more
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Dozens of dead blackbirds have fallen from the sky over a small Arkansas town for the second year in a row.Dozens of dead blackbirds have fallen from the sky over a small Arkansas town for the... more
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Volunteers from one of our local food shelves travelled to Washington DC recently to meet with Senator John Boozman and Congressman Steve Womack. The purpose of the visit was to provide our representatives with information about the operation of the Loaves and Fishes, Flint Street, Harvest Assembly, and Bethel food shelves.
Instead of listening to these volunteers, Congressman Womack lectured them. He said local charities and government needed to treat food shelf users like "a college kid who misused the family credit card. You need to cut up the card," he said. "You need to figure out how to fund these programs locally because the Federal government hasn't got any more money."
Steve Womack, like John Boozman by the way, supports a bill that would continue subsidies to corporate farms that report more than $1,500,000.00 in annual revenue. In Arkansas, these subsidies amount to about $10 billion dollars since 1995. Most farm workers working on these operations make so little in wages that they qualify for food stamps; Womack wants to cut funding for that program too.
snipVolunteers from one of our local food shelves travelled to Washington DC recently to... more
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Ima BossClothing Men & women's urban fashion for go getters making success happen one day at a time.
The T Burton Collection
For
KemetLight Media
Shirts (short)Ima BossClothing Men & women's urban fashion for go getters making success... more
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It's not the "aflockalyptic" fallout from a secret US weapon lab as some have theorized. But the government acknowledged Thursday that it had a hand in one of a string of mysterious mass bird deaths that have spooked residents in Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, South Dakota, and Kentucky in the last month.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) took responsibility for hundreds of dead starlings that were found on the ground and frozen in trees in a Yankton, S.D., park on Monday.
The USDA's Wildlife Services Program, which contracts with farmers for bird control, said it used an avicide poison called DRC-1339 to cull a roost of 5,000 birds that were defecating on a farmer's cattle feed across the state line in Nebraska. But officials said the agency had nothing to do with large and dense recent bird kills in Arkansas and Louisiana.
Nevertheless, the USDA's role in the South Dakota bird deaths puts a focus on a little-known government bird-control program that began in the 1960s under the name of Bye Bye Blackbird, which eventually became part of the USDA and was housed in the late '60s at a NASA facility. In 2009, USDA agents euthanized more than 4 million red-winged blackbirds, starlings, cowbirds, and grackles, primarily using pesticides that the government says are not harmful to pets or humans.
In addition to the USDA program, a so-called depredation order from the US Fish and Wildlife Service allows blackbirds, grackles, and starlings to be killed by anyone who says they pose health risks or cause economic damage. Though a permit is needed in some instances, the order is largely intended to cut through red tape for farmers, who often employ private contractors to kill the birds and do not need to report their bird culls to any authority.
"Every winter, there's massive and purposeful kills of these blackbirds," says Greg Butcher, the bird conservation director at the National Audubon Society. "These guys are professionals, and they don't want to advertise their work. They like to work fast, efficiently, and out of sight."
Bird kills turning too zealous?
The depredation order, however, is under review for its impact on the rare rusty blackbird, which roosts with more common species. Ornithologists also suspect that the mass killings may be a factor in declining populations of those species in the US.
While the USDA keeps tabs on the number of birds the program euthanizes, the total death toll isn't known because private contractors operating under the depredation order aren't required to keep count in the case of blackbirds, cowbirds, grackles, and starlings.
"My biggest concern is we don't know how many birds are being killed, and we don't have a sense of how at risk the rusty blackbird is because of depredation events in their range," says Mr. Butcher.
Yankton animal control officer Lisa Brasel told KTIV-TV that she first believed a cold snap had killed some 200 European starlings that were found dead in Riverside Park, reminding some residents of the final scenes of Alfred Hitchcock's thriller, "The Birds."
But then she said she received a call from a USDA official who said the agency had poisoned a roost of starlings 10 miles south of Yankton. Usually such poisonings result in flocks falling directly out of their tree roosts. But in this case, the birds traveled a fair distance before falling. "They were surprised they came to Yankton like they did and died in our park," said Brasel, according to KTIV-TV.
How birds plague farmers
Carol Bannerman, a Wildlife Services spokeswoman, said such kills are carried out at the request of farmers who can prove the birds are a nuisance. The farmers also help pay the cost, according to the agency.
One example of nuisance birds are European starlings, a non-native species, at US dairies, where a flock of 5,000 can eat 200 pounds of feed a day while soiling equipment and dairy cows.
"It's not that we have anything against starlings, but our charge is to help protect agriculture ... and protect property and human health or safety," she says. "And the fact is, in a lot of rural settings, people say, 'It's just birds, what's the problem?' "
Ms. Bannerman added, however, that the agency takes care to notify local public-health and law-enforcement agencies before a scheduled kill, and noted "what went on in Louisiana and Arkansas, that was totally outside of what we're doing. We're quite concerned that people not connect those."
Two mass bird deaths in north Alabama this week are being investigated, with specimens being tested for toxicity. Two other mass bird deaths in Gilbertville and Murray, Ky., earlier this month were not linked to poison, but could have been caused by unseasonably cold weather. The most widely reported recent mass bird deaths – in Louisiana and Arkansas – have been tied to birds en masse flying into buildings and power lines.
Rogue fireworks in Arkansas
In Arkansas, state ornithologist Karen Rowe has reviewed ground radar records that show a 20,000-plus bird roost taking flight at approximately 10:15 p.m. on New Year's Eve, 15 minutes after a series of large booms shook the windows of houses in a nearby subdivision.
This has caused state wildlife officials to pin the blame on a resident who may have gotten a hold of professional-grade fireworks. The dead birds were likely animals that were trying to land in the dark and hit some kind of object after being drawn to toward the artificial light of the neighborhood.
"So far, no one has confessed to letting off the fireworks, but the question remains if anyone would admit to it," says Ms. Rowe. They needn't fear retribution. Despite the number of birds that died, no laws were broken.
Some 5 billion birds die every year across the US, most largely unnoticed. Mass deaths are not uncommon. The US Geological Service's website listed about 90 mass deaths of birds and other wildlife in the last six months of 2010.
"Whether people are noticing it more and pointing it out more this year than in the past, is something that I'd be thinking about," says Bannerman at the USDA.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2011/0120/Bye-Bye-Blackbird-USDA-acknowledges-a-hand-in-one-mass-bird-deathIt's not the "aflockalyptic" fallout from a secret US weapon lab as... more
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Joe Alicastro is the Chair of the Broadcast Journalism Department at the New York Film Academy, while also fighting for his passion as the Senior Producer & Associate Director of VisionProject. VisionProject’s publication Crossroad’s defines the multiple barriers and limitations citizens in rural America overcome for proper medical care.
http://blog.nyfa.edu/post/2798463336/rural-healthcare-in-america-the-mississippi-deltaJoe Alicastro is the Chair of the Broadcast Journalism Department at the New York Film... more
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NYFA1
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(B.J. Steed, KTHV)
(Little Rock, AR) — Activists and a handful of lawmakers hope to push a four page bill through the House legalizing medicinal marijuana by the end of the session.
Arkansas legislators could soon be faced with yet another bill that could change Arkansas law as we know it. The Arkansas Medicinal Cannabis Act of 2011, would allow patients to grow and use cannabis for medical purposes.
But would not intend to change current laws governing duty of care owed to others which means people would be held responsible for choices like operating a vehicle.
“We’re the natural state. This is a natural medication,” says supporter Robert Reed.(B.J. Steed, KTHV)
(Little Rock, AR) — Activists and a handful of... more
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Dead Birds Fall From Sky In Sweden, Millions Of Dead Fish Found In Maryland, Brazil, New Zealand
The Huffington Post | Travis Walter Donovan First Posted: 01- 5-11 09:11 AM | Updated: 01- 5-11 06:16 PM
UPDATE: Wildlife officials say that even more previously unreported dead birds were found in Kentucky last week.
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Millions of dead fish surfaced in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay in the U.S., Tuesday, while similar unexplained mass fish deaths occurred across the world in Brazil and New Zealand. On Wednesday, 50 birds were found dead on a street in Sweden. The news come after recents reports of mysterious massive bird and fish deaths days prior in Arkansas and Louisiana.
The Baltimore Sun reports that an estimated 2 million fish were found dead in the Chesapeake Bay, mostly adult spot with some juvenile croakers in the mix, as well. Maryland Department of the Environment spokesperson Dawn Stoltzfus says "cold-water stress" is believed to be the culprit. She told The Sun that similar large winter fish deaths were documented in 1976 and 1980.
ParanaOnline reports that 100 tons of sardines, croaker and catfish have washed up in Brazilian fishing towns since last Thursday. The cause of the deaths is unknown, with an imbalance in the environment, chemical pollution, or accidental release from a fishing boat all suggested by local officials.
In New Zealand, hundreds of dead snapper fish washed up on Coromandel Peninsula beaches, many found with their eyes missing, The New Zealand Herald reports. A Department of Conservation official allegedly claims the fish were starving due to weather conditions.
While all three events are likely unrelated, they come after recent reports of mysterious dead birds falling from the sky in both Arkansas and Louisiana. Thousands of dead birds were found in Beebe, Arkansas on New Year's Eve, and a few days later, around 500 of the same species were found 300 miles south in Louisiana. A Kentucky woman also reported finding dozens of dead birds scattered around her home. In the days prior to New Year's, nearly 100,000 fish surfaced in an Arkansas river 100 miles west of Beebe. Officials are now saying that fireworks likely caused the Arkansas bird deaths, and power lines may be to blame for the death of the birds in Louisiana.
Some remain skeptical of the explanations. Dan Cristol, a biology professor and co-founder of the Institute for Integrative Bird Behavior Studies at the College of William & Mary, told the AP that he was hesitant to believe fireworks were to blame unless "somebody blew something into the roost, literally blowing the birds into the sky."
Wednesday, officials in Sweden reported the finding of 50 dead birds on a street, suggesting that cold weather or fireworks were the likely culprit.
Bird deaths and fish kills at smaller numbers aren't all that uncommon, though the size and proximity of some of the recent events have led people to allege their relation, though officials deny the frequency of these wildlife deaths as being anything other than coincidence.
In August of 2010, tens of thousands of dead fish were reported washing ashore in two separate occasions, 200 miles apart on the East Coast.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------... more
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Last week, a celebrated and influential Pentagon insider and defense contractor was found dead in New Jersey. The body of John P. Wheeler was discovered as a garbage truck dumped its load at a landfill. The death has been ruled a homicide, and thus far the investigators who are piecing together the case have offered no clear motive or reason for his mysterious murder.
In seemingly unrelated news, there has been a sudden die-off of birds and fish in the southern United States that has a lot of people talking about the apocalypse. First 5,000 blackbirds plummeted to the earth in Arkansas, littering the ground with their corpses and even hitting passers-by. Then a few days later, 500 red-winged blackbirds and starlings were found dead in nearby Louisiana. And 80,000 drum fish died in an Arkansas river close to where the blackbirds died.
No one knows for sure what has caused all these animals to die. Some people feel that the fish deaths were caused by the outbreak of disease, and are thus unrelated to the bird deaths. So then what caused the birds to drop dead so suddenly? Most experts are suggesting massive trauma (as opposed to disease) caused by such things as fireworks displays, collisions with power lines, and possibly even extreme weather.
Naturally, conspiracy theories abound. Some have suggested miniature black holes caused by the particle accelerators at Fermilab. Others think that HAARP, a government-funded atmospheric radio frequency project, is to blame. But the most fascinating theory centers around John Wheeler.
According to an article at WhatDoesItMean, and reprinted at The EU Times in a more readable form, Wheeler may have been killed because he knew too much. He was apparently an expert many times over in the field of chemical and biological weapons. So he certainly would have been familiar with Phosgene, "described as one of the most feared chemical weapons ever used due to its ability to literally cause the lungs and respiratory system to explode."
Apparently, Phosgene taken from Iraq's stockpiles had been stored at a military base in Arkansas for the past few years. Last week it was loaded onto a military transport plane bound for Afghanistan, which subsequently had some sort of malfunction shortly after takeoff, which may have released some of the deadly chemical into the air.
Interestingly, what has been observed so far in the bodies of the dead birds? ABC News reports:
"According to preliminary testing, the trauma was primarily in breast tissue, with blood clots in the body cavity and internal bleeding."
And George Badley, Arkansas state veterinarian, is quoted in the same article as saying:
"Almost every one of them ... had multiple internal hemorrhages which would mean that it was trauma, not a disease process. Their stomachs were empty, which would rule out toxicity from eating some kind of poison grain."
According to the aforementioned WhatDoesItMean article, Wheeler knew exactly what was happening, and determined to keep this dangerous chemical weapon from being used on the battlefield in Afghanistan, marched straight to Washington D.C. to raise hell with the powers-that-be. That got him "marked", and soon after, he was dead.
The latest eyewitness reports to trickle in of Wheeler in the days before his death describe a "disheveled" and disoriented man, stumbling into various businesses and mumbling strange statements. Could he have been drugged? Was it perhaps an attempt at character assassination, so that any information revealed after his death could be conveniently disregarded as the ramblings of a drunk, a junkie, or a lunatic?
What do you think about the theory posited above? Is there a real connection between the animal deaths in the southern US and John Wheeler's murder? Or is it truly just a conspiracy theory dreamed up by people with too much time on their hands? Post a comment at TalkingSkull.com and let us know your opinion - we're actively seeking commenters!
All links to source material can be found at the original article below:
http://talkingskull.com/article/murder-of-john-p-wheeler-connected-to-mass-bird-deathsLast week, a celebrated and influential Pentagon insider and defense contractor was... more
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After thousands of birds dropped dead from the sky in the small city of Arkansas this Saturday, almost 100,000 drum fish have been found washed up dead on the banks of Arkansas River near Ozark.After thousands of birds dropped dead from the sky in the small city of Arkansas this... more
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Arkansas officials have announced that President Barack Obama has been implicated in the deaths of 4,000-5,000 birds and approximately 83,000 drum fish along a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River over the New Year holiday.Arkansas officials have announced that President Barack Obama has been implicated in... more
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New Years revelers in a small Arkansas town were enjoying midnight fireworks when they noticed something other than sparks falling from the sky: thousands of dead blackbirds..
http://www.indiareport.com/India-usa-uk-news/ap/National/75485New Years revelers in a small Arkansas town were enjoying midnight fireworks when they... more
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