Freedom from Religion goes after seniors

Freedom from Religion goes after senior citizens

Amplify’d from www.onenewsnow.com

Freedom from Religion goes after senior citizens

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is threatening a lawsuit over praying before meals at a Cheboygan, Michigan, senior citizen center. But the center already has strong legal counsel.

Mat Staver, chairman of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University's Law School, says it is absurd that the Foundation is issuing the threat because of prayers before meals.   "In fact," he says, "in this particular case, praying over a meal -- whether it's led by an individual senior or somebody before they begin their meal -- in no way violates the federal law. [It] does not imply the fact that they have some federal subsidy as a senior center, and certainly does not violate the First Amendment."   Staver goes on to say the idea that prayer is banned because some federal tax dollars are used is outrageous.   "But this is the agenda of the Freedom From Religion Foundation; their name says it all," the attorney states. "They want freedom from religion. In other words, they want to literally squelch religion. They want no free exercise of religion. They want no religion at all. That's their ultimate agenda. That's their ultimate goal."   He says Liberty Counsel will come to the aid of the senior living center. Cheboygan County Drain Commissioner Dennis Lennox has been threatened by the same organization for a Christmas display in his office.

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'Sex talk' in U.N.

'Sex talk' in U.N., compliments of Nat'l Educ. Assoc.

Amplify’d from www.onenewsnow.com

'Sex talk' in U.N., compliments of Nat'l Educ. Assoc.

Caution: This article contains terms that some may find offensive.

A social policy research group is exposing a radical sexual ideology that was on display at a United Nations' meeting.

The two-week annual gathering of the United Nation's Commission on the Status of Women recently concluded in New York City.   Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-FAM), tells OneNewsNow that one of the side events there included a panel discussion where Diane Schneider, a representative with the National Education Association (NEA), said that graphic sex education needs to be taught in the classroom.   Speaking to a panel on combating "homophobia" and "transphobia," Schneider stated: "Oral sex, masturbation, and orgasms need to be taught in education." According to Ruse, the NEA representative did not stop there.   "She went on to say that comprehensive sex education is -- quote - 'the only way to combat heterosexism and gender conformity,'" he reports. "She said that 'gender identity expression' and sexual orientation are a spectrum, and...that those [who are] opposed to homosexuality are stuck -- quote -- 'in a binary box that religion and family create.'"   Ruse says such outrageous statements reveal that organizations like the NEA -- the largest teachers union in the country -- are way out of touch with the mainstream. "Most Americans, I think, would feel like they were completely in foreign territory if they sat in on one of these side events at the United Nations or if they heard a United Nations debate on comprehensive sex education," he shares.   The C-FAM leader says the radical sexual agenda on display at the Commission on the Status of Women will influence U.N. policy in the near future.   Results from our related poll Where would you place the National Education Association on the political spectrum? Read more at www.onenewsnow.com

 

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Enticement of a Minor

Iowa City Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Charges for Attempted Enticement of a Minor

Amplify’d from omaha.fbi.gov

Iowa City Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Charges for Attempted Enticement of a Minor

DAVENPORT, IA—On March 14, 2011, Terry Marshall Campie, 55, of Iowa City, Iowa, pleaded guilty to one count of Attempted Enticement of a Minor to Engage in Illicit Sexual Activities, announced United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt.

During his change of plea proceeding before United States District Court Judge John A, Jarvey, Campie agreed that he did attempt to persuade, induce, entice, or coerce an individual who had not attained the age of 18 years to engage in sexual activity, that individual being an undercover police officer posing as a 14 year-old girl, “Jenny.” He admitted that he used a computer and internet chats to commit these acts, as well as using a cell phone (Blackberry) to call and text “Jenny.” Campie acknowledged that had he successfully completed the sexual activity it would have been a criminal offense, Sex Abuse 3rd under the Code of Iowa. He also agreed that he carried out acts which were a substantial step toward the persuasion or enticement, including sexually explicit chats with “Jenny,” calling “Jenny” and sending her text messages as part of arranging to meet her, and traveling to meet her.

This investigation was conducted by the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office; the Clinton, Iowa, Police Department; the DeWitt, Iowa, Police Department; the Iowa City, Iowa, Police Department; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and, the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. Read more at omaha.fbi.gov

 

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Nuclear agency rates accident at 6 of 7

UPDATE 1-French nuclear agency now rates Japan accident at 6

Amplify’d from www.reuters.com

UPDATE 1-French nuclear agency now rates Japan accident at 6

* Situation clearly a catastrophe -- French safety authority

* U.S. think tank says disaster may reach level seven

* Used only once before, for Chernobyl

(adds think-tank on level 7 possible)

PARIS, March 15 (Reuters) - France's ASN nuclear safety authority said on Tuesday the nuclear accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co's (9501.T) Fukushima Daiichi plant could now be classed as level six out of an international scale of one to seven.

On Monday, the ASN had rated the ongoing accident at the plant, located 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, as a five or six.

Level seven has been used only once, for Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986. The 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in the United States was rated a level five.

"We are now in a situation that is different from yesterday's. It is very clear that we are at a level six, which is an intermediate level between what happened at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl," ASN President Andre-Claude Lacoste told a news conference in Paris on Tuesday.

"We are clearly in a catastrophe," Lacoste added, citing the deterioration of the containment structure at Daiichi 2 as one of the key elements supporting the ASN's more pessimistic assessment.

Two reactors exploded on Tuesday at the Fukushima Daiichi plant after days of frantic efforts to cool them.

Japan, which rated the accident a four on Saturday, is under global scrutiny over its handling of a nuclear crisis triggered by a huge earthquake and tsunami that crippled three reactors and raised fears of an uncontrolled radiation leak.

A U.S.-based think-tank said the situation had "worsened considerably" and that it was now closer to a level 6 event, "and it may unfortunately reach a level 7."

"A level 6 event means that consequences are broader and countermeasures are needed to deal with the radioactive contamination," the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) said in a statement.

"A level 7 event would constitute a larger release of radioactive material, and would require further extended countermeasures," it said, adding the international community should step up assistance to Japan. (Reporting by Mathile Cru in Paris and by Sylvia Westall and Fredrik Dahl in Vienna; writing by Marie Maitre; editing by Matthew Jones) Read more at www.reuters.com

 

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Warning against taking potassium iodide

Health officials warn against taking potassium iodide

Amplify’d from www.signonsandiego.com

Health officials warn against taking potassium iodide

By Janet Lavelle

For more information California Joint Emergency Operations Center hotline: 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Mon-Fri (916) 341-3947 Centers for Disease Control 24-hour hotline: 1(800) CDC-INFO California Poison Control 24-hour hotline: 1(800) 222-1222.

State health officials are urging the public not to take potassium iodide out of fear that radiation from stricken nuclear power plants in Japan might reach California.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said radiation has not and is not expected to reach California.

For people with thyroid problems or allergies to iodine and shellfish, taking potassium iodide can be harmful, said California Department of Public Health spokesman Ken August.

“Potassium iodide should not be taken unless there is a nuclear emergency," August said. "There are no increased levels of radiation reaching California.”

The California Poison Control System, which operates a statewide hotline, has received dozens of calls from people asking about taking potassium iodide, said Lee Cantrell, director of the system's San Diego division.

“We’ve gotten hundreds of calls statewide since the earthquake and subsequent tsunami,” said Cantrell, a pharmacist and clinical toxicologist. “The message we want to get out is there is no established risk to anyone in the U.S. right now from radiation. But taking potassium iodide can pose a health risk to certain individuals.”

For people exposed to radioactive material released during a reactor accident, taking potassium iodide raises the concentration of stable iodine in the blood and blocks absorption of radioactive iodine. Japanese officials have distributed tablets of potassium iodide to people living near the damaged reactors.

Cantrell said federal agencies have stockpiled potassium iodide tablets approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and formulated specifically for radiation emergencies. Public health agencies would distribute the tablets if needed, he said.

The state health department and other agencies opened the California Joint Emergency Operations Center on Sunday, establishing a hotline for the public to call with questions.

The federal Centers for Disease Control also have a 24-hour hotline.

The 24-hour poison control hotline, which in San Diego operates out of UCSD Medical Center, provides free, expert advice and referrals to callers concerned about exposure to toxic substances. That hotline number is 1(800) 222-1222. Read more at www.signonsandiego.com

 

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Potassium iodide sold out over weekend

The pills were sold to dozens of U.S. pharmacies, corporations, hospitals and nuclear labs.

Amplify’d from www.foxnews.com

U.S. Drug Stores Report Sudden Increase in Potassium Iodide Sales

| FoxNews.com

Pharmacies in West coast states are being inundated with phone calls from people asking for potassium iodide, a drug commonly used to treat low-level radiation exposure (Fox12Oregon).

One drug supplier says it has sold 250,000 anti-radiation pills to people in the U.S. concerned about possible exposure from Japanese nuclear reactors.

Troy Jones, president of Nukepills.com, said his company sold out over the weekend of potassium iodide pills, which prevent against radiation poisoning of the thyroid gland. Jones, in an interview with FoxNews.com, said that the pills were sold to dozens of U.S. pharmacies, corporations, hospitals and nuclear labs.

"You name it," he said.

Jones said that he has back-ordered more than a million tablets and is expected to get another 10,000 of the liquid potassium iodine. He also said that he has donated about 50,000 pills to Japan, many of them going to a hospital in Tokyo.

Despite assurances from health officials that Americans are not at risk from Japanese nuclear reactors, U.S. drug stores are reporting a sudden increase in sales of the over-the-counter anti-radiation pills.

Potassium iodide pills are reportedly flying off the shelves at drug stores in at least three West Coast states -- Oregon, California and Hawaii -- according to several local press accounts.

The Wall Street Journal also reports that one Virginia-based supplier, Anbex Inc., sold out of its entire supply of 10,000 14-tablet packages on Saturday.

Alan Morris, president of the company, reportedly said that the supplier is receiving about three orders a minute for $10 packages of its Iosat pills.

"Those who don't get it are crying. They're terrified," Morris told the newspaper.

U.S. health officials have said that dangerous levels of radiation leaking from a crippled nuclear plant in Japan pose little or no risk to people on the U.S. West Coast. But the reassurances have not stopped worried Americans from clearing out potassium iodide supplies at drug stores in Hawaii, Oregon and California.

Stores in Eugene, Ore., for example, have reported a sudden spike in sales of the pill. Janell Davis, vitamin manager at Sundance Natural Foods, told the Register-Guard that the store was sold out of the tablets by Saturday afternoon. In Redding, Calif., some store owners say they can't stock their shelves fast enough with the tablets.

“As soon as we found out people were calling and coming in and emptying our shelves this morning, I called my boss and she told me to go ahead and order a bunch," Jan Gertner, who works at Whitney's Vitamin and Herb Shop, told krcrtv.com.

Click here to read more on U.S. sales of potassium iodide from the Wall Street Journal

Click here to read more on U.S. sales of potassium iodide from The Register Guard

Click here to read more on U.S. sales of potassium iodide from krcrtv.com  Read more at www.foxnews.com

 

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Americans Nuclear Medicine Experts

Panicky Americans Mutate Into Nuclear Medicine Experts

Amplify’d from gawker.com

Panicky Americans Mutate Into Nuclear Medicine Experts

Hamilton Nolan — Plant life! Animal love! Prison workout! Potassium Iodide! Food surplus! Teen sleep! Nuclear disaster! And the key to happiness! It's your Tuesday Science Watch, where we watch science—from within a radiation-proof bubble!

Plants: do they want to die? No, they want to live. But they don't have brains and lots of pain cells, so I'm still eating them instead of animals.

And why do we love animals so much, anyhow? Scientists say it's because many years ago there were things in human culture, etc, and a wolf was like "You betta like me or get your face eaten!" to a man back then, and he was so scared he did it, and that man was your grandfather (lots of "great"'s attached).

Want to get your muscles fit, with fitness? You don't need a fancy gym! You can do this prison workout , and then walk around all, "What, pretty boy, I do a god damn prison workout, that's right." But you never know, that "pretty boy" could be Oscar de la Hoya.

Dumb people across America are running out and taking potassium iodide to ward off radiation that might float over here, from Japan, even though doctors say not to do that. Scientists call this "Darwinism."

Wake up and smell the smell of the world we live in in now, losers: a world with no surplus food. So no, you can't have half of my granola bar, Troy. God.

Why do we force our teens to go to school early in the morning when study after study shows that it causes them to be sleep-deprived and not ready to learn? It's because we hate them.

The Japanese nuclear disaster is now a level six out of seven, meaning that it can make your houseplants look like "Little Shop of Horrors," but it cannot cause your dog to grow a new brain and start doing calculus—evil calculus.

In an effort to get policy makers to understand why obscure experiments are scientifically necessary, research universities have started the Scientific Enquirer, a mock tabloid that explains in a lighthearted manner why it's important to keep funding scientific research. "Because of Lady Gaga," the Scientific Enquirer asserts.

Happiness? Overrated. What really makes life worth living is fun.

[Photo via] Read more at gawker.com

 

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Mayor Indicted for Gun Smuggling

Mayor of New Mexico Border Town Indicted for Gun Smuggling

Amplify’d from gawker.com

Mayor of New Mexico Border Town Indicted for Gun Smuggling

John Cook — Running easily purchased American guns to Mexican gangs is all the rage these days in the Great American Southwest, so you know it couldn't be long until a border town's mayor, sheriff, and city council got in on the fun. Last week the feds arrested 11 people in New Mexico and charged them with trafficking hundreds of guns to Mexican drug gangs. Among them were Eddie Espinoza, the mayor of Columbus, N.M.; Angelo Vega, the town's police chief; and Blas Gutierrez, who sits on Columbus' village council. The indictment accuses Espinoza of acting as a straw purchaser for 22 pistols destined for Mexico and of renting an apartment in El Paso, Texas, to store weapons. Vega, the police chief, is accused of buying bullet-proof vests to smuggle to the cartels. All together, they stand accused of buying more than 200 guns in 14 months. Columbus is directly across the border from Palomas, Mexico, and is described by the AP as suffering for years from "allegations of rampant drug and human smuggling, an economy awash in narcotics cash from Mexico, and a revolving-door department that had been led by six police chiefs in three years." Sounds more like Old Mexico, amiright? [Via Talking Points Memo; photo of guns via AP] Read more at gawker.com

 

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Amplify’d from www.wallstreetjournal.com

'I Can't Eat an iPad'

The Federal Reserve bombs in Queens.

The Federal Reserve has been on a media campaign to sell its monetary policy to average Americans, but this hasn't always gone smoothly. Witness last week's visit to Queens, New York, by New York Fed President William Dudley, who got a street-corner education in the cost of living.

The former Goldman Sachs chief economist gave a speech explaining the economy's progress and the Fed's successes, but come question time the main thing the crowd wanted to know was why they're paying so much more for food and gas. Keep in mind the Fed doesn't think food and gas prices matter to its policy calculations because they aren't part of "core" inflation.

View Full Image Getty Images How can you compare the iPad 2 to food prices?

So Mr. Dudley tried to explain that other prices are falling. "Today you can buy an iPad 2 that costs the same as an iPad 1 that is twice as powerful," he said. "You have to look at the prices of all things."

Reuters reports that this "prompted guffaws and widespread murmuring from the audience," with someone quipping, "I can't eat an iPad." Another attendee asked, "When was the last time, sir, that you went grocery shopping?"

Mr. Dudley has been one of the leading proponents of negative real interest rates and quantitative easing, so this common-man razzing is a case of rough justice. If Mr. Dudley were wise, he'd take it to heart and understand that Americans aren't buying the Fed's line that rising commodity prices are no big deal. Unlike banks and hedge funds, they can't borrow at near-zero interest rates, and most of them don't have big stock portfolios. Wall Street and Congress may love the Fed's free-money policy, but Mr. Dudley and Chairman Ben Bernanke ought to worry about losing the confidence of the middle class. Read more at www.wallstreetjournal.com

 

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Amplify’d from www.westernjournalism.com

Obama, Wright, Farrakhan, and Gaddafi

To a great many Americans, President Obama’s response to the Libyan crisis has been puzzling. First, dithering. No response. The White House claimed “scheduling problems” for the president’s no-show. Then, wimpy calls for Libyan government restraint and an end to the violence, never mentioning the “mad-dog” tyrant by name. Then, finally, following the lead of normally-reluctant-to-do-anything-whatsoever Europeans, Obama declared “time for Gaddafi to go.” Then, military moves with warships. Then, Secretary Clinton says we must wait for the UN and move only in an internationally coordinated way to aid anti-Gaddafi forces. Now, Obama’s director of national intelligence tells Congress (and the entire world) that Gaddafi will win and the rebels will lose.

Still, the blood flows at Gaddafi’s orders. News leaked out nearly two weeks ago that desperate rebels were begging the U.S. for military intervention. “Send Bush,” they pleaded!

Meanwhile, back at the White House, where the cowboy is no longer in charge, President Obama held a Motown soiree, danced the night away, and a day later served a sumptuous lunch to the nation’s governors while giving them lots of unasked-for advice. Instead of meeting reporters head-on to talk about the Libyan crisis, Obama sent out his new press secretary to fumble the ball. Then, Obama met with the president of Mexico, again, and, no doubt, offered to sue a couple more states. Obama took one question from the American press and it was something to do with an NFL union dispute. Now, the president is off on the campaign trail and planning his basketball party.

Confusing, to say the least. Libya? What?

Sentient Americans are left wondering whether President Obama fully intends to keep the mad-dog Gaddafi in power — no matter what.

Read More at Pajamas Media by Kyle-Anne Shiver, Pajamas Media

Blast from the Past: Gaddafi: Barakeh Obama is friend Obama’s disregard for media reaches new heights at nuclear summit Obama doesn’t take questions at Freedom of Press Act signing The thrill is gone for Obama and the media Obama Going on Six Months Without a Press Conference Read more at www.westernjournalism.com

 

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