Rick Santelli's Chicago Tea Party |
- Charter school teachers fear IRS rules change
- U.S. Stocks Rise on Greek Austerity Vote
- Are you ready for mind-control warfare?
- Paul Campaign Points To Anomalies In Romney Maine “Victory”
- Mystery disease kills thousands in Central America
- Palin: ‘Ostracized’ tea party allies in D.C. deserve more respect
- Occupy, Libertarians and Tea Party Activists Unite Against the NDAA
| Charter school teachers fear IRS rules change Posted: 13 Feb 2012 07:02 AM PST By Ben Wolfgang-The Washington Times A little-noticed proposed change in Internal Revenue Service regulations could have devastating effects for charter school teachers by making them ineligible for state retirement plans, and they could stand to lose much of the money that they already have accrued. The proposed rule, released with little fanfare near the end of last year, would make major changes to the definition of "governmental plans," the federal standard for who can be considered a government employee for the purposes of participating in state pension systems. "The IRS did not have charter schools in their sights, but whether they had them in their sights or not, it could have negative consequences for us," said Todd Ziebarth, vice president for state advocacy and support at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. "Our concern is that this could raise some questions. It's a gray area around whether charters would meet the test." The proposed change would establish five criteria for determining eligibility in state retirement plans, the most troublesome of which, from the point of view of whether charter school teachers could participate, is a provision stating that "the governing officers either are appointed by state officials or publicly elected." Another condition is that a government body must be responsible for all the debt a participating institution accumulates. On the surface, charter schools may not meet either criteria because they are not wholly public institutions. For example, elected school boards do not have hiring or firing power over the employees at a charter school, and charter schools can go bankrupt and out of business without a government guarantee of their debts. NAPCS estimates that if the rule is enacted, more than 95,000 charter school teachers nationwide – more than 93 percent of the charter workforce – would be forced either to leave their schools or risk losing their pensions. To read more, visit: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/12/charter-school-teachers-fear-irs-rules-change/ |
| U.S. Stocks Rise on Greek Austerity Vote Posted: 13 Feb 2012 06:59 AM PST By Rita Nazareth, Bloomberg.com U.S. stocks rose, after the first weekly loss for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index in 2012, as Greece approved austerity plans to secure rescue funds. Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. (C) climbed more than 1.9 percent as a measure of European lenders gained. Alcoa Inc. (AA) and Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) added at least 1.4 percent as the S&P GSCI Index of commodities rose 0.9 percent. Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose 1.8 percent and traded above $500. Nvidia Corp. advanced 1.2 percent after FBR Capital Markets raised its recommendation for the maker of graphics processors. The S&P 500 increased 0.6 percent to 1,350.75 at 9:43 a.m. New York time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 59.56 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,860.79 today. "This has been a broad risk-on rally," Mike Ryan, the New York-based chief investment strategist at UBS Wealth Management Americas, said in a telephone interview. "It's not surprising to see the market rebound. The fact that the Greek Parliament was able to push through the austerity measures was widely expected. This eliminates one of the stumbling blocks, but it doesn't solve the Greek issue. The issue now is the next step in this process. Our view is that Greece is going to struggle to make payments going forward." The S&P 500 has climbed 6.8 percent in 2012 through Feb. 10, including a 4.4 percent rally last month, on expectations the global economy will withstand the impact of the euro area's debt crisis and as central banks lowered funding costs for lenders. The index fell last week, snapping the longest rally since January 2011, on concern that plans to help Greece avoid default were unraveling. Financial Lifeline Global stocks gained today as Germany and the European Commission welcomed Greek approval of the austerity steps demanded for a financial lifeline, suggesting euro finance chiefs will pull Greece back from the brink when they meet in two days. Euro-area finance ministers will convene in Brussels on Feb. 15 for the second extraordinary meeting on Greece in a week, after they declined to ratify the 130 billion-euro ($172 billion) package in a special session on Feb. 9. To read more, visit: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-12/u-s-stock-index-futures-advance-as-greek-parliament-approves-austerity.html |
| Are you ready for mind-control warfare? Posted: 13 Feb 2012 06:56 AM PST Written By Nic Halverson, FOXNews.com History boasts no shortage of trigger-happy war mongers. Though many were able to resist the physical act of non-stop trigger-pulling (some were not), I’d venture to guess their minds were even more rampant with thoughts of annihilation. Perhaps a scary thought, considering a recent report published by the Royal Society that highlights the military’s interest in neuroscience, particularly the potential for “neural interface systems” (NIS) that could control weapons with the human mind. The report identifies two two types of neural interfaces: those that “input into” the brain’s neural systems and those that keep track of neural activity to predict “motor intentions.” The NIS technologies mentioned in the report include EEG and electrical implants. The report also referenced the Brain Gate system that allows paralyzed people to operate an on-screen cursor by imagining the motion. “NIS such as BrainGate could also be used to allow long-range control of motion,” the report explains. “Electrode arrays implanted in the nervous system could provide a connection between the nervous system of an able-bodied individual and a specific hardware or software system. Since the human brain can process images, such as targets, much faster than the subject is consciously aware of, a neurally interfaced weapons systems could provide significant advantages over other system control methods in terms of speed and accuracy.” Both U.S. and U.K. government agencies are reportedly funding programs to further research these neuroscience applications. To read more, visit: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/02/13/are-ready-for-mind-control-warfare/?intcmp=features |
| Paul Campaign Points To Anomalies In Romney Maine “Victory” Posted: 13 Feb 2012 06:49 AM PST By: Steve Watson, Infowars.com The Ron Paul 2012 campaign has pointed to anomalies in Saturday's announcement of the Maine caucuses results, as Mitt Romney was declared the winner with Paul in second by the slimmest of margins. The official tally in Maine has 84% of the votes counted so far. Romney took close to 39% of that vote, with Paul scoring 36%, trailing by just 194 votes. In an email to supporters on Saturday evening, Paul campaign manager John Tate hit out at the mainstream media for calling a Romney victory before all of the votes have been tallied, suggesting that the establishment is acting to prevent any potential surge or momentum gain for Paul. "The national political establishment and their pals in the national media will do 'anything' to silence our message of liberty," Tate stated. "Tonight you saw dueling examples of how much the establishment is scared of Ron Paul and his message of liberty," Tate wrote. "The truth is, Ron Paul will win the most delegates out of Maine tonight," he added. "In fact, he will probably even win the 'beauty contest' Straw Poll the media has already called for Mitt Romney – even before all the votes have been tallied," Mr. Tate argued. To read more, visit: http://www.infowars.com/paul-campaign-points-to-anomalies-in-romney-maine-victory/ |
| Mystery disease kills thousands in Central America Posted: 13 Feb 2012 06:47 AM PST By FILADELFO ALEMAN and MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN, Associated Press CHICHIGALPA, Nicaragua (AP) — Jesus Ignacio Flores started working when he was 16, laboring long hours on construction sites and in the fields of his country’s biggest sugar plantation. Three years ago his kidneys started to fail and flooded his body with toxins. He became too weak to work, wracked by cramps, headaches and vomiting. On Jan. 19 he died on the porch of his house. He was 51. His withered body was dressed by his weeping wife, embraced a final time, then carried in the bed of a pickup truck to a grave on the edge of Chichigalpa, a town in Nicaragua’s sugar-growing heartland, where studies have found more than one in four men showing symptoms of chronic kidney disease. A mysterious epidemic is devastating the Pacific coast of Central America, killing more than 24,000 people in El Salvador and Nicaragua since 2000 and striking thousands of others with chronic kidney disease at rates unseen virtually anywhere else. Scientists say they have received reports of the phenomenon as far north as southern Mexico and as far south as Panama. Last year it reached the point where El Salvador’s health minister, Dr. Maria Isabel Rodriguez, appealed for international help, saying the epidemic was undermining health systems. Wilfredo Ordonez, who has harvested corn, sesame and rice for more than 30 years in the Bajo Lempa region of El Salvador, was hit by the chronic disease when he was 38. Ten years later, he depends on dialysis treatments he administers to himself four times a day. To read more, visit: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LT_CENTRAL_AMERICA_MYSTERY_DISEASE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-02-12-00-00-37 |
| Palin: ‘Ostracized’ tea party allies in D.C. deserve more respect Posted: 13 Feb 2012 06:44 AM PST By Robin Abcarian, LA Times At a moment when the tea party movement has taken a back seat in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, Sarah Palin went to Washington this weekend to remind Republicans that she still represents an insurgent force that the Republican establishment ignores at its peril. Though she remains a tea party favorite, it is unclear how much power Palin actually holds, since she has mostly faded from the national stage after announcing she would not run for president. She is still under contract to the Fox News Network, but the urgency attending her every pronouncement has gone away. Still, that did not stop her from demanding that the Republican leadership not just respect the "tea party members of Congress" — as Palin called the representatives who won in the Republican landslide of November 2010 — but also empower them. "They've been ostracized. They've been dismissed. They've been lied about by the president," Palin told Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday," a day after delivering a rousing closing address to the Conservative Political Action Conference that featured her familiar passion for small government, her relatively new critique of "crony capitalism" and her trademark sarcasm aimed at President Obama. "We would hope that the leadership in Congress, especially within our own party … would start at least accepting and really appreciating what these tea party members have done," Palin told Wallace. "And I would like to see them in party leadership positions." When Wallace pushed her to name names — Was she talking about House speaker John Boehner? Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell? — she demurred. The establishment, she said, is anyone "not engaging in sudden and relentless reform we need in order to defend our republic, in order to get us off of this road toward bankruptcy." |
| Occupy, Libertarians and Tea Party Activists Unite Against the NDAA Posted: 13 Feb 2012 06:41 AM PST By Gilbert Mercier, NEWS JUNKIE POST On Monday 13, February 2012, at noon, in Medford Oregon, a demonstration will take place at Vogel Plaza against the passing of the NDAA. What is unusual about this action, and could be an indication of similar actions on other issues, is that it is uniting American citizens from across the political spectrum. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was signed into law on December 31, 2011, is an assault on freedom and civil liberties. The indefinite detention clauses ( section 1021 and 1022) in the legislation are a direct attack upon the civil rights of all Americans and are in essence in breech of the US Constitution. The detention closes represent yet another step taken towards an erosion of the freedoms which are the very foundation of American society. The detention sections of the NDAA give the Executive branch wide and unchecked powers to detain, via the US military, any person "who was part of/ or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners." The law is ill defined and opened to interpretations. The provisions also target anyone who commits a belligerent act against the US or its coalition allies and aid enemy forces, under the "law of war without trial, until the end of the hostilities". The text also authorizes trial by military tribunal, or transfer to the custody or control of the person's country of origin, or the transfer to "any foreign country, or any other foreign entity." The NDAA, if applied, would make legal the "rendition" program run in secret by the CIA during the Bush administration. After signing the NDAA, President Obama made the clarification that his administration "will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens." However, the only provision from which US citizens are exempted here is the "requirement" of military detention. For foreign nationals accused of being members from al-Qaeda and other "terrorist" groups, military detention is mandatory. For US citizens it is optional. There is no exemption for US citizens from presidential power of detention, either by the military or by civilian agencies such as the CIA, DHS or FBI, only from the requirement of military detention. Civil rights organization such as the ACLU are vehemently opposed to the NDAA. In their view "The statute is particularly dangerous because it has no temporal or geographic limitations, and can be used by this or future presidents to militarily detain people captured from any battlefield." The call for action by this coalition of activists concerned by freedom and civil liberties is "No more left, no more right, time to unite. Stand and fight". Joseph Snook, from Wake Up America Southern Oregon is one of the organizers of Monday's protest. He made the following statement:" A group of conservatives, Libertarians, and Tea Party activists by the name of Wake Up America Southern Oregon is proud to unite with the Southern Oregon Occupy Movement to take a bold stand against the NDAA. Further, it is time that "We the People", all of us unite!" To read more, visit: http://newsjunkiepost.com/2012/02/12/oregon-occupy-libertarians-and-tea-party-activists-unite-against-the-ndaa/ |
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