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The luxury of taxing the poor
Are taxes being levied fairly when it comes to the rich and the poor?
PBS NOW correspondent David Brancaccio investigates and finds that, for the rich and those doing their bidding in government, their obstinance is their bliss. Many states are providing corporate welfare on massive scales to big business interests in the context of "providing jobs" that do very little to alleviate crippling poverty in the communities they exploit with staggeringly inadequate wages and benefits--and this even after decades within those very communities their presence was expected to improve.
While most of the rich carefully concern themselves about which set of new clubs may best improve their golf game, working class families are irresponsibly left to teeter on the edge of complete destruction for the privilege of footing the bills for so many of those very luxuries the rich enjoin for themselves.
It is a fact that growing numbers ***within the United States*** are barely subsisting, often in poor conditions, and often going hungry without food, and without so many of just the basic "necessities" most of us take for granted every day. (Perhaps you should read that again.)
Watch and learn about reality in the land in of the "free", because if it's true you may not be rich, you certainly are paying for it.
Are taxes being levied fairly when it comes to the rich and the poor? ... more -
Reward Offered In Animal Cruelty Cases
San Antonio News Story - KSAT San Antonio
SAN ANTONIO -- The Animal Defense League is offering a $2,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in a string of recent animal cruelty cases.
The incidents involve the burning of two dogs and a cat and a young dog hung from a tree.
The most recent case was on Wednesday, when a passerby found a dog named Parker with burns on his back that ADL officials said was probably caused by car battery acid.
The dog was treated and adopted out.
Anyone with information on the cases is urged to call 210-655-1482, extension 111.
http://www.adltexas.org/ San Antonio News Story - KSAT San Antonio ... more -
Woman's corpse may be link to mystery baby
An autopsy on a woman's body found in an apartment linked to a mystery newborn baby found that the woman was partially eviscerated and her uterus was cut open, authorities said Saturday.
The body was found Friday in an apartment of another woman who showed up at a hospital with a newborn she falsely claimed was hers.
Investigators were trying to determine the woman's identity, how she died and whether she was the mother of the baby that Andrea Curry-Demus allegedly told police she bought for $1,000.
The victim appeared to have been dead for about two days before she was found, Allegheny County Medical Examiner Karl Williams said in a statement.
The woman's hands and feet were bound with duct tape, and her face was covered with a plastic material that had also been secured with duct tape. A placenta was recovered at the apartment.
Curry-Demus, 38, of Wilkinsburg, showed up at West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh on Thursday with a newborn whose umbilical cord was still attached, police said. Tests later proved she was not the mother -- despite her claims to the contrary, police said.
Curry-Demus was charged with child endangerment and dealing in infant children. She has been jailed until she posts $10,000 bond and undergoes a psychiatric exam.
The jail wouldn't say whether Curry-Demus had an attorney, and a message left for an attorney who has previously represented her was not immediately returned.
The woman's body was found Friday after reporters called authorities about a foul odor coming from inside Curry-Demus' apartment.
Police had been at the building Thursday night, but did not enter that apartment, Wilkinsburg Police Chief Ophelia Coleman said. A relative of Curry-Demus had led them to another apartment, she said. An autopsy on a woman's body found in an apartment linked to a mystery newborn baby found that the woman was partially eviscerated and... more -
Why Impeachment was "Off the Table"
In December of last year, The Washington Post revealed:
Four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA’s overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk.
Among the techniques described, said two officials present, was waterboarding, a practice that years later would be condemned as torture by Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. But on that day, no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder, two U.S. officials said.
Identically, numerous key Democrats in Congress were told that Bush had ordered the NSA to spy on American without warrants and outside of FISA. None of them did anything to stop it.
In light of this sordid history of active complicity, is it really any wonder that these leading Democrats are desperate to quash any investigations or judicial adjudications of Bush administration actions that they knew about and did nothing to stop, in some cases even actively supporting?
In December of last year, The Washington Post revealed: ... more -
Vegetables attack !!! Salmonella Poisoning
Oh my God! We don't know where its coming from !!!
It's tomatoes .... no its.... peppers.... wait.....
Don't eat vegetables !!! Hysteria !!! Panic !!! Kill the plants before they kill us !!!
More than 1,000 people now have become ill from salmonella initially linked to raw tomatoes, a sobering milestone Wednesday that makes this the worst foodborne outbreak in at least a decade. Adding to the confusion, the government is warning certain people to avoid types of hot peppers, too.
But people at highest risk of severe illness from salmonella also should not eat raw jalapeno and serrano peppers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Wednesday. The most vulnerable are the elderly, people with weak immune systems and infants.
Perhaps there was some truth in that move "The Happening".
CDC food safety chief Dr. Robert Tauxe told The Associated Press:
“We are quite sure that neither tomatoes nor jalapenos explain the entire outbreak at this point. ... We’re presuming that both of them have caused illness.”Tauxe said. “But we really are working as hard and as fast as we can to sort out this complicated situation and protect the health of the American people.”
Added FDA food safety chief Dr. David Acheson: “It’s just been a spectacularly complicated and prolonged outbreak.”
The outbreak isn’t over, or even showing any sign of slowing, said Tauxe — with about 25 to 40 cases being a reported a day for weeks now, to a total of 1,017 known since the outbreak began on April 10.
Illnesses now have been reported in 41 states — and even four cases in Canada, although three of those people are believed to have been infected while traveling in the U.S. and the fourth is still being probed.
Oh my God! We don't know where its coming from !!! It's tomatoes .... no its.... peppers.... wait..... ... more -
Senate Grapples With Web Privacy Issues
"Consumers worry about their Internet privacy. Politicians vow to investigate. And two of the nation's biggest tech companies, Google and Microsoft, support federal legislation for data collection."
Capitol Hill seems so behind the times when it comes to the most basic technology. They were just working on legislation today that would archive emails to and from the White house. This is kind of scary.
"Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), remarked wryly that because of all the talk about "cookies" and other Web terms, he was going to have to "update my dictionary."
And Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) asked a question about Internet connections so muddled that apparently no one understood
"I think I'm not entirely sure of what you are suggesting, senator," the witness answered.
"Nor am I," he said.
The Senate hearing had been called as fears grow that the massive volume of information that Internet companies are collecting about users is violating their privacy.
For years, individual Web sites have assembled profiles of users consisting of personal preferences and activities." "Consumers worry about their Internet privacy. Politicians vow to investigate. And two of the nation's biggest tech companies, Google ... more -
Dead Doctors Make Millions
Congressional investigators said Tuesday that Medicare had paid tens of millions of dollars to suppliers improperly using identification numbers of doctors who died years ago.
The government has no reliable way to spot claims linked to dead doctors, many of whom are still listed as active Medicare providers though they died 10 or 15 years ago, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said. Congressional investigators said Tuesday that Medicare had paid tens of millions of dollars to suppliers improperly using identificati... more -
Attourney General: Contempt of Congress?
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, has threatened to hold Attorney General Michael Mukasey in contempt of Congress if he does not provide documents that have been subpoenaed by his committee relating to the CIA leak investigation.
The investigation, run by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, surrounded the leak of former CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity and resulted in the conviction of I. Lewis Scooter Libby, former chief of staff to Cheney.
Waxman's House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena on June 12, 2008, to the Justice Department to produce documents relating to the case, specifically details on what Cheney and President Bush told investigators.
The Justice Department responded in a June 24 letter, citing a separation of powers argument in refusing to provide the information. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, has threatened to hold Attorney Gene... more -
How safe are care facilities and daycares?
Access inspection information for more than 3,000 daycares, long-term care facilities, group homes and other facilities. There are many horror stories out there with thousands of serious incidences involving those most vulnerable in society; the aged, children and the handicapped. Access inspection information for more than 3,000 daycares, long-term care facilities, group homes and other facilities. There are man... more
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Report: Portuguese police close Madeleine McCann case
Portuguese police are dropping their investigation into the disappearance of toddler Madeleine McCann due to a lack of evidence, media reported Tuesday.
Three Portuguese newspapers said the Public Prosecutor's office would call off its search for the British girl before Aug. 15, when the customary official secrecy period covering the investigation ends.
Closing the case would mean that official suspects, including Madeleine's parents, would no longer be under formal investigation.
Police could reopen the case if new evidence were to emerge, the newspapers said.
The three -- Correio da Manha, Jornal de Noticias and Expresso -- cited unidentified police sources saying the 14-month investigation had reached a dead end.
The police media office in Lisbon said there was no official comment on the reports.
Madeleine McCann went missing in Portugal's southern Algarve region during a family vacation in May 2007, a few days before her fourth birthday. Detectives named her parents, Kate and Gerry, and local man Robert Murat as formal suspects in the case. All denied involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.
The Portuguese lawyers for the suspects could not immediately be reached by telephone.
The McCanns, who have waged an international campaign to find their daughter, returned home to central England with Madeleine's younger sister and brother last September, a few days after they were named as suspects.
Clarence Mitchell, the parents' spokesman, said they were trying to confirm Tuesday's media reports but said he expected the search for Madeleine to continue.
"The information in their files surely cannot sit on the shelf gathering dust. Kate and Gerry will never give up searching for their daughter," Mitchell said.
He said that if Portuguese police end their inquiry they should hand their files over to the McCanns' private investigators.
"The police themselves must continue looking for Madeleine. We are concerned that if they are to simply shelve the case then what will happen to all of the information in their files? They must be made available to our investigators, who are working extremely hard to find Madeleine," Mitchell said.
The case has drawn global interest. A few weeks after Madeleine vanished, Pope Benedict XVI blessed the McCanns and a photo of their daughter during his weekly general audience at the Vatican. Numerous reported sightings of the blonde-haired girl proved to be false.
British and Portuguese police have cooperated in the investigation. Sophisticated forensic tests on evidence gathered at the resort where the girl disappeared were carried out in Britain.
In April, British police in England, accompanied by Portuguese detectives, re-interviewed the McCanns' friends, who were having dinner with them when Madeleine vanished.
Portuguese police are dropping their investigation into the disappearance of toddler Madeleine McCann due to a lack of evidence, media... more -
TAKE ACTION: Tell Congresss to Stand Up and Check the Balance
In exactly two weeks, we are going to find out whether members of Congress have any respect for the institution they represent. We will see whether they have the courage to stand up to the Bush administration and defend the Constitution they took an oath to protect. Specifically, we will discover whether they are willing to take the measures necessary to ensure that Bush administration officials testify before Congress.
On July 10, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing to investigate the firings of nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006 and the questionable prosecution and imprisonment of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman. Karl Rove, a potentially key figure in both incidents, has been issued a subpoena to testify before the committee. Rove's lawyer has said that Rove will not appear.
Congress has a few options here. First, if Rove fails to appear, they could pass criminal contempt charges against him, as they did against White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers. This is good, but will not result in immediate testimony.
The second option is to have Karl Rove arrested, under the theory of inherent contempt, and brought to Congress to testify. This is better, but may still be eventually unsatisfying if Rove ends up testifying yet asserts executive privilege repeatedly in order to avoid disclosing important information.
Another option - and the one supported by the American Freedom Campaign Action Fund - is to tell the president immediately that he will be impeached if members of his administration do not provide full testimony before Congress by a date certain in July. This has historical precedent as one of the three articles of impeachment ultimately brought against President Richard Nixon was based on his refusal to comply with congressional subpoenas.
The final option is to do nothing and set a precedent for the future by which any administration can claim that Congress does not have the ability to force executive branch officials to testify before Congress. This would be an affront to our Constitution and Congress is dancing perilously close to this line already.
We cannot allow Congress to become subservient to the executive branch. It must exert its oversight authority and force administration officials to testify. Please tell your U.S. representative to take whatever steps are necessary to compel testimony.
Thank you for sharing your feelings with your U.S. representative.
Steve
Steve Fox
Campaign Director
American Freedom Campaign Action Fund
I got the email a week ago. Sign petitions, send emails, and mail letters. heres links to legislators and bills.
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/
http://www.house.gov/
http://catalog.loc.gov/ In exactly two weeks, we are going to find out whether members of Congress have any respect for the institution they represent. We wi... more -
Justice interrupted by Miami police department
Lilly Aramburo has been missing since June 1, 2007. The last two people to see her alive are Christen Pacheco and Kelly Rae Starling. They began a relationship just a few short weeks after Lilly Aramburo vanished.
The photos of the grass and tires is the property located off of 127th street in Miami. The property ties directly into the disappearance of Miami resident, Lilly Aramburo.
Tips received could prove vital in the recovery of Lilly Aramburo's body before workers prepare the site for demolition scheduled sometime in the near future.
Justice for Lilly Aramburo has been interrupted. Why? Are police not interested? Or, is there a cover up, perhaps beginning with the officer who responded and made out the missing persons report on June 2, 2007 at two in the morning.
All the circumstantial evidence gathered only points in one direction. Yet, the Miami Dade police department is now hoping I, and this case will vanish from site.
Police also have the ability to send a team of investigators into the condo, now in foreclosure, from the condo association and take blood samples from the carpet and the master bedroom where Lilly took her last breathe.
If you are as outraged as I am. If you would like to see this case solved. If you are a family member of a missing person or a murder victims relative, please help me by cutting and send this post in outrage to:
amancha@mdpd.com
or you can call - the number is 305-418-7245
Main number to Miami Police Department is 305-418-7200
While you are at it, please send an email to Governor Charlie Christ at Crist@myflorida.com and ask him to have this case resolved.
http://www.womenincrimeink.com/
http://www.cnn.com/
http://www.miamiherald.com/
http://www.jurorthirteen.com/
http://www.scaredmonkeysradio.com/
http://www.npr.org/
http://www.usatoday.com/ Lilly Aramburo has been missing since June 1, 2007. The last two people to see her alive are Christen Pacheco and Kelly Rae Starling. ... more -
Missing Mother Lilly Aramburo ~ Is This the Crime Scene?
The case of missing 24 year old mother Lilly Aramburo from Miami, FL. Lilly was last seen at the apartment she shared with her fiance, Christen Pacheco, on June 1, 2007. She's never been seen or heard from ever again. Christen reported Lilly missing 24 hours later, before calling her mother or family members & friends. According to his ridiculous story, she walked out of his apartment at 2am in pajamas to pick flowers and took a bungee cord with her. Setting up a potential suicide scenario.
Susan Murphy Milano wrote a great posting about the potential crime scene in Lilly's disappearance. http://murphymilanojournal.blogspot.com/2008/06/lilly-a...
The pictures were taken of an area in Miami, Florida on 127th Avenue. The property is over grown. No one has lived there since 2004. Is this the perfect place to hide a body? Is it possible that the body of Lilly Aramburo is buried somewhere in the brush?
Are there leads, tips and information pointing to this property?
Are the tires that are placed strategically in one area, held by rocks a grave marker?
Five days have passed since Miami Police received information that the property, if searched, could produce results in the disappearance of Lilly Aramburo, who has not been seen since June 1, 2007.
Miami Police Department, where are you?
Can this be the crime scene?? See the pictures!
You can help by sending an email to the following:
nancygrace@cnn.com
jtimoney@mdpd.com amancha@mdpd.com
rhirsch@MiamiHerald.com
magarcia@MiamiHerald.com
Media Stations to Contact:
WBZL 39 - MiamiWB affiliate http://www.wb39.com/
WTVJ 6 - MiamiNBC affiliate http://www.nbc6.net/
WFOR 4 - MiamiCBS affiliate http://www.wfor.com/
WSCV 51 - HialeahTelemundo affiliate http://www.wscv.com/
WBFS 33 - MiamiUPN affiliate http://www.upn33.com/
WSVN 7 - MiamiFox affiliate http://www.wsvn.com/
WLRN 17 - MiamiPBS and NPR affiliate http://www.wlrn.org/
We'd love you to join us:
http://friendfeed.com/rooms/missing-persons
http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/MissingPersons
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=21916321012
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/95328?recruiter_id=3309...
http://profile.myspace.com/Modules/Applications/Pages/C...
Following the case:
http://www.jurorthirteen.com/GeneralCategories/TalkBack...
http://boards.insessiontrials.com/showthread.php?
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?p=22100...
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/True_Crime/2008/05/21/Miss...
http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/topics/lillyaramburo
The family website/blog with latest updates is http://justiceinmiami.org. The case of missing 24 year old mother Lilly Aramburo from Miami, FL. Lilly was last seen at the apartment she shared with her fiance... more -
Probe reveals no links of Dr Khan with al-Qaeda "Pakistan nuclear program"
Investigations against Dr AQ Khan have proven that the renowned nuclear scientist had no links with al-Qaeda and that he helped Iran and Libya to divert the US focus from the Pakistani nuclear programme. Investigations against Dr AQ Khan have proven that the renowned nuclear scientist had no links with al-Qaeda and that he helped Iran a... more
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Legal High Street
There are a dizzying array of legal drugs on the market with names like Head Candy and Neuro Blast. They promise to have the same effects as ecstasy and amphetamines and even induce powerful trips.
Do they work, are they safe and should they be legal?
There are a dizzying array of legal drugs on the market with names like Head Candy and Neuro Blast. They promise to have the same effe... more -
Children In China Doomed by Substandard School Buildings
Coruption and the use of 'fragile building materials' are now the focus on the tragic death of thousands of children in schools that crumbled during the recent earthquakes in China. Coruption and the use of 'fragile building materials' are now the focus on the tragic death of thousands of children in schools that c... more
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Ex-doorman guilty of two murders, maybe more
A former nightclub doorman is to be questioned over the unsolved and much publicised murder of schoolgirl Milly Dowler, following being found guilty of beating two female students to death near bus stops in London.
Another 20 attacks on women around southwest London will now also be re-examined.
Levi Bellfield, 39, was convicted at the Old Bailey of the murders of French student Amelie Delagrange, 22, and of Marsha McDonnell, 19. He was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy, a student who suffered horrific injuries when she was deliberately run over by a car.
A former nightclub doorman is to be questioned over the unsolved and much publicised murder of schoolgirl Milly Dowler, following bein... more -
Next Smithsonian exhibit may be portraits of museum executives doing "perp" walk f...
Washingtonians - and others with big egos - have a portrait fetish that is obscene especially when it involves taxpayers money.
Even half that nealry 50 grand could have been significant funding for the non-profit Native American and environment projects I volunteer for in northern Michigan.
More comment after a few sentences of the article and a look at this portrait:
Portrait Cost Indian Museum $48,500: Senators, Trustees Question Spending By Former Director
By James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writer
W. Richard West Jr., the founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, spent $48,500 in museum funds to commission a portrait of himself.
The portrait of West by New York artist Burton Silverman hangs in the patrons' lounge on the fourth floor of the flagship museum, which is dedicated to the arts and culture of American Indians.
Silverman said West picked him after he saw a portrait Silverman had done of former Smithsonian secretary Robert McCormick Adams.
The Adams portrait, completed about a decade earlier, was smaller and cost about half as much.
Rest of the Washington Post story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...
Portrait:
http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2...
[IMG http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/...[/IMG]
Native American on Native American crime - much like black on black crime - is especially insidious because so much good could have been done for First Nations peoples heritage with this wasted and misappropriated money.
It's also a crime against taxpayers and common decency.
Spending $48,500 on a self portrait is among the disgraceful financial crimes of W. Richard West Jr., the founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.
For this crime to occur in the hallowed halls of the Smithsonian shows again thievery knows no class boundaries - and should be treated just as severely as the poor man who sticks a gun into the face of a 7-11 clerk.
The Smithsonian needs to be thoroughly audited from top to bottom as this is at least the second huge scandal to tarnish its once respected reputation.
No doubt it's only the tip of the fiduciary iceberg that's tearing through the Smithsonian's highbrow richly-protected hull.
I do volunteer work for several Native American related non-profits whose budgets are much smaller than even the cost of that disgraceful portrait.
And the suggestion that it could not have been painted by an American Indian artist is as laughable as it is sickening with a hint of racism against one's own culture.
Even the portrait stance is borrowed and unoriginal, as a buttoned-down Mr. West gazes thoughtfully off to the east, his coat hanging on a crooked forefinger and tossed over suspenders with his soft thumb and the remaining fingers forming the "OK" sign.
The Washington ego commands that a portrait much be painted to prove one's importance.
No doubt many law offices, banking institutions and the halls of officialdom are plastered with the self-aggrandizing crafty art.
Prior to the Polaroid, a self-portrait may have been necessary to preserve one's historic legacy but in today's world it's merely a measure of one's self-importance that is more often scoffed at than admired by those it's meant to impress. Perhaps, a modern definition of irony.
Maybe the next exhibit at the Smithsonian will be portraits of former executives doing the proverbial "perp walk" - cuffed and stuffed for perp-etuity. Washingtonians - and others with big egos - have a portrait fetish that is obscene especially when it involves taxpayers money. ... more -
Don't Drink from Hotel Glasses!
They had hidden cameras in several hotels that show the maids barely rinsing the glasses, no detergent or hot water in sight. Disgusting!! I wonder what else they don't clean...
I'll be drinking from the disposable plastic cups from now on. They had hidden cameras in several hotels that show the maids barely rinsing the glasses, no detergent or hot water in sight. Disgusti... more -
Missing Kan. student may have been porn star
A missing Kansas college student believed to be the victim of foul play apparently led a double life as an Internet porn star by the name of Zoey Zane.
Nude photos of 18-year-old Emily Sander appeared on a Zoey Zane website before she vanished, and investigators are looking into whether her modeling had anything to do with her disappearance last Friday.
"She enjoyed it. She is a young teenage girl and she wanted to be in the movies and enjoyed movies. She needed the extra money," Nikki Watson, a close friend of Sander's at Butler Community College, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "Nobody in El Dorado knew besides her close friends." A missing Kansas college student believed to be the victim of foul play apparently led a double life as an Internet porn star by the n... more
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