Politics

Steubenville City Manager Cathy Davidson is out of a job soon it seems. She was asked for her resignation, yet nothing official has come about as of the time of writing this days after the story broke.

By Sherry Pasquarello,CJE - I am so angry I have no way to really express the depths of it. I was going to list the names and the office phone numbers of the selfish, greedy cowards that voted down the background checks but then I thought, “anyone that is too frigging lazy to not already know who voted for or against this isn’t worth my time to print it up for them!”

As for those worthless members that voted it down, including the Democrats. SHAME on you all! If there was ever a reason for TERM LIMITS you spineless people are it. More worried about keeping your cushy jobs than protecting the people that you are supposed to serve. The next tragedy, and there sadly, will be one, you had better hide your heads in shame and don’t even consider making a statement to the media expressing how deeply you are affected. Hypocritical slugs!

And then, there is the FUCKING MEDIA WHORES- FOX news, gloating all the while knowing that their lies and spin helped create the culture we find ourselves in. Oh and a big” EAT S***T AND DROP DEAD” to the little wanna be Limbaugh( I will not name him and give him the publicity) who said the reprehensible things about the parents of those slaughtered kids!

By Diana May-Waldman- CJE- It’s still alive, that bill to probe the V-JJ. It’s neaty tucked into Senate Bill 371 and not surprising it was introduced by State Sen. Travis Holdman (R), which has passed a committee. This is the same guy who was instrumental in getting legislation to make it illegal to text while driving in Indiana and this is the same guy who wants to make it illegal to videotape farms that may be mistreating animals or have inhumane living conditions.

So, he values some life and not others.

Senate committee voted 7-2 to make it illegal to photograph or videotape a farm or industry “with the intent to embarrass, annoy or harm the business.” Which basically boils down to the fact journalists and whistleblowers should mind thier own business and to hell with those animals.

And don’t even think about posting those videos on YouTube because it will be a Class A misdemeanor and punishable up to $5,000 fine for a second offense.

“We don’t need vigilantes out entering people’s private property, industrial operation, factory or farm, doing things surreptitiously… for no other reason than to annoy and harass,” said Sen. Travis Holdman, who sponsored the bill.

Here is where I want to insert, “Women don’t need vigilantes entering our private vaginas for no other reason to annoy and harass.”

Wave of “Ag Gag” Bills Threaten Food Safety and Freedom of the Press

WS – America is a Corporate State. That is the only State. Freedom of the Press is threatened?
Bullshit… It’s gone from the Mainstream.  Reporters from all Main Stream News sign it away when they get hired. Allegiance to the Corporation is prerequisite to even work in the Media. Alternative News Sources are marginalized, even on the Internet. And don’t give me the “Well your website is still online” mantra.  The US government is all over my site, monitoring, it. WTF … Do you think Google got so big and profitable without pledging allegiance to the US government? And don’t get me started on Food Safety… - Did I mention I haven’t had my coffee yet?

Amid Scandal in the mayor's office and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police offices which resulted in Chief Nate Harper being asked to resign, community leaders gathered on March 6, 2013 for a meeting with members of Pittsburgh City Council to discuss their expectations on finding a new Pittsburgh Bureau of Police Chief.

The mayor of Pittsburgh is the only one who can appoint a mayor, but Mayor Luke Ravenstahl did not attend the meeting.

Marine toxicologist, Riki Ott explains how local communities can protect the health of their citizens by banning harmful chemicals.   A part of the "Making it Right for Real: Working together to Ban Dispersants and Make Democracy Work!" event on Feb 23rd.

http://www.rikiott.com
http://www.ultimatecivics.org

update: May 2 2013
Fracking Ban Stands in New York Town; Victory for Local Communities

By Sherry Pasquarello,CJE – There are more than a few differences between the two major political parties, some good, some not so much. There’s a popular saying about not arguing with stupid people because they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience. That may be true in most cases but not in the case of some republicans and certainly not with FOX “news” yakkers.

Did you know that money laundering is now legal?

Marine toxicologist, Riki Ott explains the timeline of corporate power grabs from ratifying the US constitution to citizens united.   A part of the "Making it Right for Real: Working together to Ban Dispersants and Make Democracy Work!" event on Feb 23rd.

http://www.rikiott.com
http://www.ultimatecivics.org

UN demands prosecution of Bush-era CIA crimes

WS - Guillotine, guilotiiiine, guillotiiiiiine …

United Nations investigator has demanded that the US publish classified documents regarding the CIA’s human rights violations under former President George W. Bush, with hopes that the documents will lead to the prosecution of public officials.

Documents about the CIA’s program of rendition and secret detention of suspected terrorists have remained classified, even though President Obama’s administration has publicly condemned the use of these “enhanced interrogation techniques”. The US has not prosecuted any of its agents for human rights violations.

UN investigator Ben Emmerson, the UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, said that the classified documents protect the names of individuals who are responsible for serious human rights violations.

“Despite this clear repudiation of the unlawful actions carried out by the Bush-era CIA, many of the facts remain classified, and no public official has so far been brought to justice in the United States,” Emmerson said in a report to the UN Human Rights Council, according to Reuters.

Kept in secret prisons around the world, the CIA’s detainees were subjected to torture including waterboarding, sleep deprivation and various other interrogation techniques that violate human rights. The detainees were often subjected to clandestine transfers to secret prisons known as CIA ‘black sites’.More…

Today is “Multiple Personalities Day” – Take yourselves to lunch.

By Sherry Pasquarello,CJE -

Honestly, I am one of the least cranky people you will ever meet. Even though I have depression and have had that black dog since childhood, I am generally the type that searches for the silver lining. This weekend I did my usual news hunt. I checked out cable and newsprint and the internet looking for a subject for today. Something I could give my thoughts on. All that I did was foul my mood. I looked and looked for some take on any of the big stories that might offer a little glimmer. Either I wasn’t looking hard enough or there just isn’t any.

Nope, from the congresscritters to the damn weather, nothing, NOTHING to hang my hopes on. It’s not just in our country either. It seems global. The greed and the fear mongering, the heartlessness and the calculating is everywhere. It’s people. It’s human nature. Some people can be amazingly cruel but they can be dealt with in time. What I’m seeing now is the small casual cruelties in many people. It’s the attitudes that add up. The petty and the everyday attitudes that we tend to overlook in ourselves and our neighbors.

I think those are the hardest to confront. It’s easier to point fingers and blame those congresscritters and the governments, ours and others. The thing is, they wouldn’t be able to do the things that they do to hurt citizens if WE changed our attitudes about the ways we think of those other than us and not just stick with the ones we feel comfortable about.

So, yes, I am cranky this morning. The weather? We can’t do anything about. Our attitudes, our casual cruelty? Yeah, we can. Today, I’m not feeling hopeful about that.

Peace

Obama talking Medicare, Social Security cuts

WS – Aahhh… Here it comes all you “Progressive, Liberal” Obama-ites. Your now supposed to say, “What else can he do? The GOP are the bad guys. He is trying to save the country. He supports Gay marriage. What do you want, a Republican in the White House? He’s just one man…” and on, and on, and on… Please just one honest left wing pundant, please. It would help the cat food go down a little easier!

- U.S. President Barack Obama is talking to Democrats and Republicans about cutting Medicare and Social Security entitlements, a White House official said.

“He’s reaching out to Democrats who understand we have to make serious progress on long-term entitlement reform, and Republicans who realize that if we had that type of entitlement reform, they’d be willing to have tax reform that raises revenues to lower the deficit,” Gene Sperling, director of Obama’s National Economic Council, told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

When asked if that means Obama was talking to top congressional leaders, Sperling said, “Well, he just had the leadership in on Friday,” referring to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

South Dakota approves guns in the classroom

WS – I have encountered some pretty crazy teachers in my life… You mite want to rethink this DS.

Lawmakers in South Dakota have passed a bill that would allow school districts to arm staff and teachers with guns to make their schools “safer”.

State Senators on Wednesday voted 21-14 to pass the measure, despite large-scale opposition from school administrators and personnel, who are largely opposed to bringing weapons into their schools.

Supporters of the bill claim that arming teachers could prevent tragedies like the Dec. 14 massacre in Newtown, Conn. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Craig Tieszen, R-Rapid City, said that he would leave the decision to arm teachers up to individual school districts, but that he strongly recommends it.

When Craig advocated for the measure earlier this year, he said that having gun-free schools would simply make them more vulnerable and invite potential mass murderers.

“The possibility of an armed presence in any of our schools is a deterrent,” Craig told Fox News, claiming that no shooter would attack a school whose teachers are armed. More…

Today is “Rub A Pumpkin Day” – Risk a slap. You mite just get your wish.

Masked Cops Raid Home of Terminally Ill Medical Marijuana Patient

WS – The Navy Seals were waiting off the coast… Just in case…

What happened to Cathy Jordan is a reminder that we need to reform our medical marijuana policies, and fast.

By Sherry Pasquarello,CJE -

Yes, I’m looking at YOU, the Congress of the United States. Romper Room kids were better behaved and it seems, smarter on the whole than you.

Whining and having temper tantrums and finger pointing. Wow, time out! Go sit in a corner and think about what you’ve done! While you are sitting there think about the fact that most of the country is on to you. You don’t care about doing what you are supposed to do. You care about keeping your cushy jobs and ALL of the goodies that go with it. You worked, what? 180 days out of 365 last year? Shame on you. We also have figured out that you forgot that you work for us, not “things” even if the SCOTUS declared them living, breathing beings. We also are on to the gerrymandering and the backroom deals.

You may think it’s too late. You may thing that you only need be concerned with your rabid fringe because they can be counted on to turn out to vote, but I hope you saw the writing on the wall with the thousands that stood in lines to cast a vote against your selfish and childish behaviors. We are on to you, just as an adult is on to a kid misbehaving. We aren’t staying home in 2014.

You’ve got one last chance kiddies, quit whining, take a deep breath and decide that doing your job and acting your age just might make you and us feel a lot better.

Peace

Special Report: A newly discovered document reveals that President Reagan and his national security team in 1981 approved Guatemala’s extermination of both leftist guerrillas and their “civilian support mechanisms,” a green light that opened a path to genocide against hundreds of Mayan villages, reports Robert Parry

By Robert Parry

Soon after taking office in 1981, President Ronald Reagan’s national security team agreed to supply military aid to the brutal right-wing regime in Guatemala to pursue the goal of exterminating not only “Marxist guerrillas” but their “civilian support mechanisms,” according to a newly disclosed document from the National Archives.

Over the next several years, the military assistance from the Reagan administration helped the Guatemalan army do just that, engaging in the slaughter of some 100,000 people, including what a truth commission deemed genocide against the Mayan Indians in the northern highlands.

Recently discovered documents at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, also reveal that Reagan’s White House was reaching out to Israel in a scheme to circumvent congressional restrictions on military equipment for the Guatemalan military.

In 1983, national security aide Oliver North (who later became a central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal) reported in a memo that Reagan’s Deputy National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane (another key Iran-Contra figure) was approaching Israel over how to deliver 10 UH-1H helicopters to Guatemala to give the army greater mobility in its counterinsurgency war.

By Sherry Pasquarello,CJE -

Yes, little bits of thought. There is nothing that I feel up to a full on rant about. It is, after all, the end of February and I’m worn down from this bizarre winter we’ve had here in the Burgh.

First off, there’s the horrendously inadequate help available for the mentally ill. We have had way too many incidences of murder and assault here by family on family members due to those inadequacies in the system. We just has a grandson stab his grandmother to death at her own kitchen table because he said the Archangel Michael told him that his Gramma was a witch and he needed to kill her. The family knew he was mentally ill and according to reports had sought help for the young man and that the grandmother was afraid of him. We have another infamous case here which is now in the penalty phase for the “ringleader” of a group convicted of the torture ( over a period of several days ) and murder of a mentally challenged young girl. Now, the victim was fine living on her own and with family nearby but I’m focused on the ringleader. It has come out during his penalty phase that he was terribly abused as a child and labeled unadoptable by experts, one said that he was, ” too broken to be fixed”. Why, WHY, was he, as an adult out on the streets? Can we hit a balance in the treatment of mental illness between letting dangerously ill people free to hurt themselves or others and just jailing anyone in institutions for an illness that can be treated, as the patient leads a normal life? I hope so, though I fear that big business will find it as lucrative to lock anyone that even asked for treatment for a phobia, like a fear of flying, just as big business has for it so very profitable to run prisons. We’ve seen what that can lead to. I do know that something has to be done soon.

Activist throw a pizza party Christmas Carol Sing Along in Congressman Bill Young's office after he refuses to meet with constituents.

The Fiscal Cliff and Our Reality.   
A presentation followed by general discussion.
First Unitarian Universalist Church. 5212 S. Claiborne Avenue. New Orleans. 

Since Election 2012 the “fiscal cliff” has emerged as the dominant issue of  public discourse in this country.  The President and the Congress agree that something must be done to prevent the U.S. from going over the fiscal cliff.  The talking heads of the corporate media maintain that the only way the U.S. Government can avoid going over the fiscal cliff is through “shared sacrifices” by rich and poor alike in the name of getting America’s fiscal house in order. 

The fiscal cliff  debate  raises questions of profound importance to the 99 percent. What is the fiscal cliff?  How does downsizing “entitlements” in the pursuit of lower public debt really affect the 99 percent? Is what’s presented as “shared sacrifice” really shared in any meaningful sense of the word?

Watch and contribute to public discussion of  the fiscal cliff issue from a 99 percent perspective