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Insight: Evidence grows for
narcolepsy link to GSK swine flu shot
By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent, Reuters
Jan. 22, 2013 12:03AM PST Jan. 22, 2013 12:03AM PST
Emelie Olsson falls asleep as she watches television in her apartment in Stockholm, January 17, 2013. Emelie is one of around 800 children in Sweden and elsewhere in Europe who developed narcolepsy, an incurable sleep disorder, after being immunised in 2009 with the Pandemrix H1N1 swine flu vaccine made by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline. Picture taken January 17, 2013. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Emelie is plagued by hallucinations and nightmares. When she wakes up, she's often paralyzed, unable to breathe properly or call for help. During the day she can barely stay awake, and often misses school or having fun with friends. She is only 14, but at times she has wondered if her life is worth living.
Emelie is one of around 800 children in Sweden and elsewhere in Europe who developed narcolepsy, an incurable sleep disorder, after being immunized with the Pandemrix H1N1 swine flu vaccine made by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline in 2009.
Finland, Norway, Ireland and France have seen spikes in narcolepsy cases, too, and people familiar with the results of a soon-to-be-published study in Britain have told Reuters it will show a similar pattern in children there.
Their fate, coping with an illness that all but destroys normal life, is developing into what the health official who coordinated Sweden's vaccination campaign calls a "medical tragedy" that will demand rising scientific and medical attention.
Europe's drugs regulator has ruled Pandemrix should no longer be used in people aged under 20. The chief medical officer at GSK's vaccines division, Norman Begg, says his firm views the issue extremely seriously and is "absolutely committed to getting to the bottom of this", but adds there is not yet enough data or evidence to suggest a causal link.
Others - including Emmanuel Mignot, one of the world's leading experts on narcolepsy, who is being funded by GSK to investigate further - agree more research is needed but say the evidence is already clearly pointing in one direction.
"There's no doubt in my mind whatsoever that Pandemrix increased the occurrence of narcolepsy onset in children in some countries - and probably in most countries," says Mignot, a specialist in the sleep disorder at Stanford University in the United States.
30 MILLION RECEIVED PANDEMRIX
In total, the GSK shot was given to more than 30 million people in 47 countries during the 2009-2010 H1N1 swine flu pandemic. Because it contains an adjuvant, or booster, it was not used in the United States because drug regulators there are wary of adjuvanted vaccines.
GSK says 795 people across Europe have reported developing narcolepsy since the vaccine's use began in 2009.
Questions about how the narcolepsy cases are linked to Pandemrix, what the triggers and biological mechanisms might have been, and whether there might be a genetic susceptibility are currently the subject of deep scientific investigation.
But experts on all sides are wary. Rare adverse reactions can swiftly develop into "vaccine scares" that spiral out of proportion and cast what one of Europe's top flu experts calls a "long shadow" over public confidence in vaccines that control potential killers like measles and polio.
"No-one wants to be the next Wakefield," said Mignot, referring to the now discredited British doctor Andrew Wakefield who sparked a decades-long backlash against the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot with false claims of links to autism.
With the narcolepsy studies, there is no suggestion that the findings are the work of one rogue doctor.
Independent teams of scientists have published peer-reviewed studies from Sweden, Finland and Ireland showing the risk of developing narcolepsy after the 2009-2010 immunization campaign was between seven and 13 times higher for children who had Pandemrix than for their unvaccinated peers.
"We really do want to get to the bottom of this. It's not in anyone's interests if there is a safety issue that needs to be addressed," said GSK's Begg.
LIFE CHANGED
Emelie's parents, Charles and Marie Olsson, say she was a top student who loved playing the piano, taking tennis lessons, creating art and having fun with friends. But her life started to change in early 2010, a few months after she had Pandemrix. In the spring of 2010, they noticed she was often tired, needing to sleep when she came home from school.
But it wasn't until May, when she began collapsing at school, that it became clear something serious was happening.
As well as the life-limiting bouts of daytime sleepiness, narcolepsy brings nightmares, hallucinations, sleep paralysis and episodes of cataplexy - when strong emotions trigger a sudden and dramatic loss of muscle strength.
In Emelie's case, having fun is the emotional trigger. "I can't laugh or joke about with my friends anymore, because when I do I get cataplexies and collapse," she said in an interview at her home in the Swedish capital.
Narcolepsy is estimated to affect between 200 and 500 people per million and is a lifelong condition. It has no known cure and scientists don't really know what causes it. But they do know patients have a deficit of a brain neurotransmitter called orexin, also known as hypocretin, which regulates wakefulness.
Research has found that some people are born with a variant in a gene known as HLA that means they have low hypocretin, making them more susceptible to narcolepsy. Around 25 percent of Europeans are thought to have this genetic vulnerability.
When results of Emelie's hypocretin test came back in November last year, it showed she had 15 percent of the normal amount, typical of heavy narcolepsy with cataplexy.
The seriousness of her strange new illness has forced her to contemplate life far more than many other young teens: "In the beginning I didn't really want to live any more, but now I have learned to handle things better," she said.
TRIGGERS?
Scientists investigating these cases are looking in detail at Pandemrix's adjuvant, called AS03, for clues.
Some suggest AS03, or maybe its boosting effect, or even the H1N1 flu itself, may have triggered the onset of narcolepsy in those who have the susceptible HLA gene variant.
Angus Nicoll, a flu expert at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), says genes may well play a part, but don't tell the whole story.
"Yes, there's a genetic predisposition to this condition, but that alone cannot explain these cases," he said. "There was also something to do with receiving this specific vaccination. Whether it was the vaccine plus the genetic disposition alone or a third factor as well - like another infection - we simply do not know yet."
GSK is funding a study in Canada, where its adjuvanted vaccine Arepanrix, similar to Pandemrix, was used during the 2009-2010 pandemic. The study won't be completed until 2014, and some experts fear it may not shed much light since the vaccines were similar but not precisely the same.
It all leaves this investigation with far more questions than answers, and a lot more research ahead.
WAS IT WORTH IT?
In his glass-topped office building overlooking the Maria Magdalena church in Stockholm, Goran Stiernstedt, a doctor turned public health official, has spent many difficult hours going over what happened in his country during the swine flu pandemic, wondering if things should have been different.
"The big question is was it worth it? And retrospectively I have to say it was not," he told Reuters in an interview.
Being a wealthy country, Sweden was at the front of the queue for pandemic vaccines. It got Pandemrix from GSK almost as soon as it was available, and a nationwide campaign got uptake of the vaccine to 59 percent, meaning around 5 million people got the shot.
Stiernstedt, director for health and social care at the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, helped coordinate the vaccination campaign across Sweden's 21 regions.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says the 2009-2010 pandemic killed 18,500 people, although a study last year said that total might be up to 15 times higher.
While estimates vary, Stiernstedt says Sweden's mass vaccination saved between 30 and 60 people from swine flu death. Yet since the pandemic ended, more than 200 cases of narcolepsy have been reported in Sweden.
With hindsight, this risk-benefit balance is unacceptable. "This is a medical tragedy," he said. "Hundreds of young people have had their lives almost destroyed."
PANDEMICS ARE EMERGENCIES
Yet the problem with risk-benefit analyses is that they often look radically different when the world is facing a pandemic with the potential to wipe out millions than they do when it has emerged relatively unscathed from one, like H1N1, which turned out to be much milder than first feared.
David Salisbury, the British government's director of immunization, says "therein lies the risk, and the difficulty, of working in public health" when a viral emergency hits.
"In the event of a severe pandemic, the risk of death is far higher than the risk of narcolepsy," he told Reuters. "If we spent longer developing and testing the vaccine on very large numbers of people and waited to see whether any of them developed narcolepsy, much of the population might be dead."
Pandemrix was authorized by European drug regulators using a so-called "mock-up procedure" that allows a vaccine to be authorized ahead of a possible pandemic using another flu strain. In Pandemrix's case, the substitute was H5N1 bird flu.
When the WHO declared a pandemic, GSK replaced the mock-up's strain with the pandemic-causing H1N1 strain to form Pandemrix.
GSK says the final H1N1 version was tested in trials involving around 3,600 patients, including children, adolescents, adults and the elderly, before it was rolled out.
The ECDC's Nicoll says early warning systems that give a more accurate analysis of a flu strain's threat are the best way to minimize risks of this kind of tragedy happening in future.
Salisbury agrees, and says progress towards a universal flu vaccine - one that wouldn't need last-minute changes made when a new strain emerged - would cuts risks further.
"Ideally, we would have a better vaccine that would work against all strains of influenza and we wouldn't need to worry about this ever again," he said. "But that's a long way off."
With scientists facing years of investigation and research, Emelie just wants to make the best of her life.
She reluctantly accepts that to do so, she needs a cocktail of drugs to try to control the narcolepsy symptoms. The stimulant Ritalin and the sleeping pill Sobril are prescribed for Emelie's daytime sleepiness and night terrors. Then there's Prozac to try to stabilize her and limit her cataplexies.
"That's one of the things that makes me feel most uncomfortable," she explains. "Before I got this condition I didn't take any pills, and now I have to take lots - maybe for the rest of my life. It's not good to take so many medicines, especially when you know they have side effects."
(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Will Waterman)
http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/nm/insight-evidence-grows-for-narcolepsy-link-to-gsk-swine-flu-shot
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Thanks jonjon.
No matter what I did,
that video wouldn't load.
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Sandy auditor let go after criticizing state
Consultant hired to examine Sandy spending says his report led to dismissal
By James M. Odato
Updated 8:11 am, Thursday, January 17, 2013
An New York Police Department van drives along a street soaked with rain and covered with debris in a Rockaway neighborhood of the borough of Queens, New York, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012, as a nor'easter aggravates already bad conditions in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) Photo: Craig Ruttle / FR61802 AP
ALBANY — An independent consultant who examined New York's spending for Superstorm Sandy found what he believes are questionable transactions and practices, including poor oversight of the use of state credit cards, orders for a fleet of SUVs and the purchase of iPads that did not seem necessary for recovery efforts.
The consultant, who was expelled by the state after issuing a series of recommendations to improve procurement practices, said it appeared from his examination that government officials bought and rented equipment that should have been stockpiled or lined up months or years earlier, and sought to acquire assets that didn't seem necessary for the immediate tasks at hand.
"They're trying to get stuff that would be cool to have, but we don't really need it for this incident — but maybe we can get the feds to pay for it," said Thomas Sadowski, the consultant.
He said many pieces of equipment were nearly impossible to track once put into the field, including millions of dollars in light towers, pumps, generators and provisions. As a result, the state was unsure what it owned, leased or lost during the immediate response to the late October hurricane, Sadowski said.
Sadowski, a 63-year-old licensed certified public accountant since 1983 who retired after 32 years with the federal government, said he was escorted from the New York Office of Emergency Management shortly after he filed a report on Nov. 17 that was critical of some practices. He said he thought his assignment would last longer.
Sadowski, a Colorado resident, was taken to the Office of Emergency Management's bunker beneath State Police headquarters to help secure supplies and equipment because of his extensive emergency procurement management experience with the federal government. He also worked as an auditor at the U.S. Department of Interior's Inspector General's office for 10 years; he has trained the U.S. Forest Service, Alaska Fire Service, National Interagency Fire Center, Colorado Wildfire Academy and other government entities on incident management.
After being led out of the command center, Sadowski sent his report to the Office of the State Comptroller and to the Inspector General's Office. He also provided the document to the Times Union. He provided an email confirming that the comptroller's office had received his "complaint."
"I didn't believe I did anything to be escorted off the premises," he said in an interview from his home near Denver. "I wasn't trying to get back at anybody or get anybody in trouble." He said he was trying to point out what was wrong with the procurement practices and how they should be improved: "I was relieved of my duties because I identified these problems."
About three weeks after sending letters to the comptroller and Inspector General, he said he received a call from James Horton, the deputy director of the state Office of Counterterrorism, whose boss is Jerry Hauer, the commissioner of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, which hired Sadowski for the emergency response tasks.
Sadowski thought it was odd that he was being contacted by a person employed by the agency that was the subject of his complaints to two state watchdogs, but he cooperated with Horton.
Horton told the Times Union that the matter has been referred to the Inspector General for investigation. "The IG referred it to us," he said. "After looking into it, we handed it back to them."
A spokesman for the Inspector General declined to confirm or deny a probe, but Sadowski said the day after the Times Union contacted state officials about his concerns, an IG attorney emailed him to ask for an interview.
Some state officials aware of Sadowski's complaints and criticisms say some of his observations may have been faulty. For instance, the 10 Chevrolet Tahoes ordered after the storm had been previously approved to replace aging vehicles at the emergency office, one person said.
Tracking systems for equipment were in place, another state official said, and Division of the Budget analysts were supposed to approve purchases in advance and a computer tracking system was effective. However, in early days of the recovery the tracking program may have been weak and worked only if data were entered, said a government official.
Sadowski said he didn't see it that way. He said he arrived a few days after Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration fired Steve Kuhr, the emergency office's executive director, after he called for a public crew to clear his Long Island home of a fallen tree. (Kuhr's actions are under investigation by the Inspector General, according to state officials.)
Sadowski, one state official said, was hired to help get needed equipment and supplies into the field. Instead, he began auditing the procurement processes — which wasn't his job.
"They may have thought I exceeded my scope; I don't think I did," Sadowski said.
He said he reconciled credit card statements, evaluated the accounting statements and acted according to the terms of his employment, which defined him as "management level personnel to assist in cost and time tracking."
Sadowski said he saw and heard things that disturbed him, including what appeared to be attempts to get the federal government to reimburse for expenses that were not directly related to storm response.
He said managers had no idea where assets were in the field and that procurement policies and practices were not up to the standards needed for response to a large-scale disaster.
Sadowski said one manager provided credit cards to employees who weren't aware of how to document purchases, opening up opportunities for fraudulent and wasteful spending.
He said thousands of dollars of purchased and leased items went missing, could not be found promptly or were not used effectively while leasing bills mounted. He questioned the purchase of the Tahoe SUVs and the acquisition of several iPads for state emergency management personnel.
He said he tried to kill an order for a $154,000 video communication system that could not be delivered until weeks or months after the recovery effort was completed. "The timing of the delivery didn't fit," he said. "It really wasn't billable to the Hurricane Sandy effort."
Sadowski said he was aware of the purchase of $1 million in kosher meals but isn't sure what happened to them. One day he was directed to find a trailer to store the kosher food, and the next day he was told to drop it. "They kind of lost accountability over these," he said.
Sadowski, who participated in dozens of large-scale disaster responses in the West, said New York's system lacked preparation; advance contracts for many items should have been in place.
"It's shifting the burden of your normal budget to the disaster budget," he said. "It's an indicator of the culture. It's the managers, the people in place who are running the operation."
He worked seven days, manned telephones and met many state employees, Sadowski said. Several public servants, he said, were overworked to the point of exhaustion; a few procurement officials complained of medical problems that resulted from two weeks of working without a break.
He was paid $33.46 an hour, overtime of $50.19 an hour. His total bill — including time, hotel, per diem, airfare and rental car — was less than $6,000.
"I was an outsider. I had nothing to gain or lose from talking about the things I thought were wrong," Sadowski said. "I think they didn't appreciate my recommendations. They wanted to sweep things under the table."
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Government Scientist Fired for Telling the Truth
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Manti Te’o and Obama
Posted on January 20, 2013
Read more: http://conservativebyte.com/2013/01/manti-teo-and-obama/#ixzz2IYa4xokF
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HERE’S WHY THE RNC
HAS BEEN SO SILENT
ABOUT RAMPANT VOTER FRAUD
January 18, 2013 at 4:00 am / by Sonya Sasser
Since before November’s election, many of us have been kicking and hollering about the widespread voter fraud reported, but to no avail.
First, we had complaints from voters in at least six states that their intended votes for Mitt Romney on electronic touchscreen voting machines came up as votes for President Barack ObamaNext we had reports of noncitizens being pressured by unions to register and vote in Nevada.Then we had a number of voters across the country in a bit of a shock when they were told by poll workers on Election Day they had already voted, even though they hadn’t. At the same time, others bragged about voting multiple times on Twitter.Next, we had reports of Obama oddly getting over 99% of the vote in certain precincts on Election Day. In fact, there were a substantial number of precincts where Mitt Romney got exactly zero votes. This doesn’t make any sense.In addition to all these reports, True the Vote also documented:
More than 24 million voter registrations are invalid, yet remain on the rolls nation-wide.There are over 1.8 million dead voters still eligible on the rolls across the country.More than 2.75 million Americans are registered to vote in more than one state.Maryland affiliates of True the Vote uncovered cases of people registering and voting after their respective deaths.12 Indiana counties have more registered voters than residents.The Ohio Secretary of State admitted that multiple Ohio counties have more registered voters than residents.Federal records showed 160 counties in 19 states have over 100 percent voter registration.The Florida New Majority Education Fund, Democratic Party of Florida and the National Council of La Raza are currently under investigation for alleged voter registration fraud.Yet despite all these reports, crickets still seem to be chirping at the Republican National Committee (RNC).
HERE’S WHY…
In the 1982 consent decree, the Republican Party made an agreement effectively barring the RNC from “engag[ing] and assist(ing) in voter fraud prevention unless the RNC obtains the court’s approval in advance.” They basically made an agreement with the Democratic Party NOT to ensure voting integrity and NOT to pursue suspected vote fraud.
The reason for the 1982 consent decree was because during the 1981 New Jersey gubernatorial election,According to The Judicial View:
“The RNC allegedly created a voter challenge list by mailing sample ballots to individuals in precincts with a high percentage of racial or ethnic minority registered voters and, then, including individuals whose postcards were returned as undeliverable on a list of voters to challenge at the polls. The RNC also allegedly enlisted the help of off-duty sheriffs and police officers to intimidate voters by standing at polling places in minority precincts during voting with National Ballot Security Task Force armbands. Some of the officers allegedly wore firearms in a visible manner.”
To settle the lawsuit, the RNC and RSC entered into the 1982 consent decree. According to True the Vote, the decree roughly states today:
▪ The RNC may only be sued by the DNC for enforcement issues;▪ Any activity to fight voter fraud must be submitted to the courts for a 10-day preclearance process (think Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act);▪ Voter fraud prevention or “Ballot Security” is defined as “any program aimed at combating voter fraud by preventing potential voters from registering to vote or casting a ballot;”▪ Poll watching is defined as “stationing individuals at polling stations to observe the voting process and report irregularities unrelated to voter fraud to duly-appointed state officials” (Emphasis ours);▪ The Decree expires December 1, 2017 – with detailed caveats.True the Vote continues:
“After the initial agreement, the RNC tried multiple attempts to get out of the deal, amid new evidence of fraudulent voting activities and new law. Each time, however, the federal courts denied the request and ceded little room for adjusting the agreement. Though this agreement only applies to the national parties, it effectively squashes any attempt at a coordinated effort for election integrity.”
True the Vote also explains the two glaring issues with this consent decree:
First, the decree effectively robs poll watchers (and the ballot stakeholders that put them there) of their most important function: spotting and neutralizing attempted voter fraud. Indeed, poll watchers will mostly make note of procedural errors that could have negative impacts on voters. However, poll watchers also improve overall faith in the system when electors know that ALL of the rules are being enforced.Second, the definition of “Ballot Security” sets an unreasonably high, yet undefined bar for what are acceptable anti-voter fraud operations. If the RNC wanted to execute a plan that prevented non-citizens from registering and voting, the courts would basically tell them to not press their luck. The RNC is effectively jammed: choosing between developing a system that the federal court and the DNC agree would be flawless or spending time and energy on developing issue ideas or get out the vote efforts. Time and money being finite, the RNC picks GOTV over “Ballot Security.”Quite frankly, the whole thing is a mess! The Democrats can basically commit voter fraud and get away with it — without the RNC ever stepping in to do anything about it.
However, in a phone interview with Catherine Engelbrecht from True the Vote, she said, “There are some important points that need to be made though — the main one being that the 1982 consent decree only effects actions of the national party, not state or local which is where elections and ballot security should be focused anyway.”-
In other words, the solution to this problem is YOU. The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 in particular, empowers all of us to fight for clean registrations and fair elections in our own communities:
Be sure to support voter ID requirement laws in your state.
Get involved. You can sign up to become a volunteer here: http://www.truethevote.org/volunteer/
http://politichicks.tv/column/heres-why-the-rnc-has-been-so-silent-about-rampant-voter-fraud/
Looks to me like they made a deal with the Devil.
But what would stop an "independent" watch group? hmmmm.
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Algeria’s Gun Laws
Friday, January 18, 2013
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hang on a minute .....for starters this wasnt a bad thing until the do gooder teacher and the school got involved, it was two kids playing and secondly im not saying stuff like this doesnt happen elsewhere (it does) but seems to be happening or reported about more often in the US ..... this is a five year old child ..... and you just justified why this child should be removed from school.
I think someone should have been fired for taking this so far ..... its ridiculous.
what kind of a world are we creating for future generations ..... a world where 5 year olds are questioned for terrorism .... a world where were all afraid to stand up and say something for fear of being accused and singled out by a system of governance which is out to enslave us.
My GOD .... what is this world coming to !!
children cant be children anymore, childhood ends way too early these days, I wish I could go back in time and live a happier , simpler more ..... human life.
You think this was ridiculous?
Did you see this?
6-Year-Old Suspended For Saying, “Pow”
posted on January 2, 2013 by Philip Hodges
Michael Moore recently said that the only reason white people are buying a bunch of guns in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting is that they’re fearful. Afraid of black people specifically. He said, “Calm down, white people, and put away your guns.” So if we’re all buying guns and ammo out of fear of the black man, what emotion would cause this idiocy: a 6-year-old boy was suspended from school for making his hand in the shape of a gun and pretend shooting it, saying, “Pow,” as it was pointed at a fellow student. Were school officials actually scared that a bullet was going to come out of the child’s index finger and kill his classmate? So, it’s not fear that’s driving this; it’s pure stupidity.
Read more:
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An Assault Breast Ban?
Woman Accused Of Using Her Breasts
To Smother And Kill Boyfriend
By Clash Daily / 18 January 2013 / 35 Comments
A Washington woman is accused of using her breasts to smother and kill her boyfriend after an altercation at their mobile home.
Donna Lange, a 51-year-old woman from Everett, Wash., is believed to have suffocated her boyfriend to death with her breasts on Saturday, Jan. 12, according to Seattle’s KIRO 7 Eyewitness News. Deputies, called to the Airport Inn trailer park at 12:45 a.m. for a disturbance report, found medics performing CPR on Lange’s 51-year-old alleged boyfriend, who was later pronounced dead at Swedish Hospital.
Kiro 7 reports that witnesses claims they saw Lange throw her boyfriend down in the back of the mobile home. She was later found by witnesses with her chest covering the victim’s face. Police noted the size difference between Lange and her boyfriend — she was 5-feet, 6-inches and 192 pounds, he was 5-feet, 7-inches and 175 pounds.
Other women around the world are known to have allegedly used their breasts as weapons.
In November, German lawyer Tim Schmidt claimed his girlfriend tried to smother him with her 38DD breasts. Schmidt said she pretended it was a sex game, the Daily Mail reported. “I asked her why she wanted to smother me to death with her breasts and she told me: ‘Treasure – I wanted your death to be as pleasurable as possible,’” he said.
The 33-year-old woman was reportedly accused of “attempted manslaughter with a weapon,” according to the Daily Mail.
Get more Clash on ClashDaily.com, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
I'll volunteer to be a registrar of these weapons of mass destruction.
I would also recommend that no concealment permits be allowed. ;)/>/>
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Pennsylvania girl, 5, suspended
for threatening to shoot girl with pink toy gun
that blows soapy bubbles
By Edmund DeMarche
Published January 19, 2013
FoxNews.com
A 5-year-old Pennsylvania girl who told another girl she was going to shoot her with a pink Hello Kitty toy gun that blows soapy bubbles has been suspended from kindergarten.
Her family has hired an attorney to fight the punishment, which initially was 10 days for issuing a 'terroristic threat.' But her punishment was reduced to two days after her mother met with school officials and had the incident dropped to 'threatening to harm another student,' which apparently carries a lesser punishment.
"It's laughable," Robin Ficker, the girl's attorney told FoxNews.com. "This is a girl who had no idea about killing or what happened in Connecticut."
He was referring to the recent shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School that claimed 26 lives.
"What parent that you know would want their 5-year-old questioned about making terroristic threats without them in the room?"
- Robin Ficker, attorney
Ficker says Mount Carmel Area School District officials said the girl made the threat on Jan. 10 as she waited for a school bus with friends. A school official overheard the remark and searched the girl's backpack and did not find the Hello Kitty gun, he said.
The next day, the girls involved were 'interrogated' by school officials, Ficker said. By the time the girl was done speaking to administrators about the incident, she was crying, he said. A teacher called out the girl in front of her class and told her police may get involved, he said.
Ficker called the girl "the least terroristic person in Pennsylvania."
"What parent that you know would want their 5-year-old questioned about making terroristic threats without them in the room?" Ficker asked.
School district solicitor Edward Greco tells pennlive.com officials are looking into the case. He said Friday school officials aren't at liberty to discuss disciplinary actions.
Ficker said he has scheduled a meeting with a lawyer from the school board later this month to have the girl’s record expunged.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
You can see the video at the link below.
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I guess I was referring to the placebo's... and to me that mean's "fake med's" to try and fool patient's.... so to me his gun violence "plan" is nothing but a fake facade designed to mislead the American public.... only problem is... he don't know it yet... but imo when it comes to the 2nd Amendment he's all bark but no bite!!!
I knew what you were saying Rod.
Sorry if I came off wrong.
Just needed to get that off my chest.
I do feel better. Thanks. ;)/>
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Is "O" shootin blanks again Krome???
Not quite blanks, Rod.
I believe Obama knows exactly what he's doing.
His goal is not to make America any safer.
No, rather his plan is to weaken the citizen by
eroding the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
And many American's are letting him do this
because they're buying into the lies.
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Gun Violence Plan
Posted on January 17, 2013
Read more: http://conservativebyte.com/2013/01/gun-violence-plan/#ixzz2IHhjernI
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Does this sound familiar to the recent spoutings from our president?
"The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation. "
-Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler, Publ. Houghton Miflin, 1943, Page 403
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Splinters in her crotch
A woman from Los Angeles who was a tree hugging,
liberal Democrat and an anti-hunter
purchased a piece of timberland near Colville , WA .
There was a large tree on one of the highest points in the tract.
She wanted a good view of the natural splendor of her land
so she started to climb the big tree.
As she neared the top she encountered
a spotted owl that attacked her.
In her haste to escape, the woman slid down
the tree to the ground and got many splinters in her crotch.
In considerable pain, she hurried to a local ER to see a doctor.
She told him she was an environmentalist, a Democrat,
and an anti-hunter and how she came to get all the splinters.
The doctor listened to her story
with great patience and then told her
to go wait in the examining room
and he would see if he could help her.
She sat and waited three hours
before the doctor reappeared.
The angry woman demanded,
"What took you so long?"
He smiled and then told her,
"Well, I had to get permits from the
Environmental Protection Agency,
the Forest Service,
and the Bureau of Land Management
before I could remove old-growth timber
from a 'recreational area'
so close to a waste treatment facility.
I'm sorry, but due to Obama-Care
they turned you down."
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Ron Paul's GOP legacy growing in states like Iowa
By THOMAS BEAUMONT
— Jan. 15 4:02 PM EST
FILE - This Feb. 1, 2012 file photo shows then-Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas speaking in Las Vegas. Ron Paul is exiting the political stage but his legions of rabble-rousing followers insist they are only getting started. Libertarian-leaning loyalists of the two-time Republican presidential candidate have quietly taken over key-state GOP organizations, ensuring future fights with the GOP’s establishment and laying the groundwork for a future presidential candidate. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Ron Paul is exiting the political stage, but his legions of followers insist they are only getting started.
Libertarian-leaning loyalists of the two-time Republican presidential candidate have quietly taken over key-state GOP organizations, ensuring future fights with the GOP's establishment and laying the groundwork for a future presidential candidate.
Their new relevance, especially in early caucus states Iowa and Nevada, could clear the way for such a candidate, perhaps Paul's son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. It's the next step in the group's ongoing development, from rambunctious malcontents of just a few years ago into more serious party activists bent on reshaping a party they say has drifted from its conservative roots.
"It's the maturation of the movement," said Matt Strawn, a former Iowa Republican Party chairman not affiliated with Paul. "If you're going to keep the franchise going, you need a candidate."
Iowa's state Republican governing body this month voted to re-elect as chairman and vice chairman two of Paul's top 2012 Iowa caucus campaign aides. Last year, Nevada Republicans similarly elected top Paul supporters to its two spots on the Republican National Committee.
All this despite Paul having lost Nevada's presidential caucuses last year to Mitt Romney, and finished third in Iowa's behind Romney and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
Paul backers also have made inroads into Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, in part vestiges of his 2012 presidential campaign.
Indeed, across the country, thousands of Paul's followers, many disillusioned after fighting in vain for his failed bid of 2008, regrouped in 2012 and dove head-first into the behind-the-scenes Republican Party delegate elections, fighting tooth and nail with old-guard GOP establishment activists for national convention seats.
And while Paul retired from Congress this month, his disciples picked up House seats in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan and Texas last year.
"In 2008, we came in thinking we could change the world," Nevada RNC committeeman James Smack said. "In 2012, we felt we at least had some say in it."
Yet, it's not clear how receptive the wider party will be to party members who agree with the GOP's core fiscal tenets, but break sharply on national security and foreign policy.
On social policy, Paul lines up with the GOP's mainstream, opposing abortion rights and gun control. On fiscal policy, he shares the view of many in his party that the current tax code, and the Internal Revenue Service, should end. But he is out of sync with the GOP broadly in supporting a return to the gold standard and ending the Federal Reserve system.
He is most sharply at odds with his party on military and international policy. He opposed the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, foreign aid to Israel and the option of U.S. military force to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, a position that cost him in the week leading up to last year's Iowa caucuses.
Pro-Paul state GOP organizations have been quick to distinguish themselves at times from their state's senior elected officials, as Iowa GOP Chairman A.J. Spiker did last fall in calling for the ouster of a state Supreme Court judge over *** marriage, a position GOP Gov. Terry Branstad did not publicly advocate.
Paul supporters' simmering tension with the party establishment, which overwhelmingly supported Romney, spilled over during the Republican national convention in Tampa, Fla., last year. Paul's supporters protested loudly pro-Romney committee votes to replace delegates from Maine who backed Paul and for a rule narrowing routes for delegates to future national conventions.
The contempt from the more mainstream elements of the GOP is mutual in places where Ron Paul supporters are on the rise.
In some states, establishment Republicans connected to the party's donor base have complained that the newcomers are hostile to candidates who didn't fit with Ron Paul's ideology.
These critics have pointed to measurable dips in state party fundraising in Iowa. Likewise in Nevada, where Romney and the RNC set up a shadow campaign last year out of doubts about the state GOP competence.
National party leaders are reaching out to these new leaders.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, elected in 2011 to resuscitate the RNC's fundraising, has sought out Paul supporters as he seeks re-election.
And the view is emerging within the broader national party that it's better to have them inside the GOP organization, where they will be expected to perform in fundraising and, ultimately, winning elections.
"The bottom line is they want to be part of the process. It's good more of them are in charge," Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer said.
Given Paul's appeal to younger voters, the broader Republican Party would be wise to listen, Paul advisers and supporters say.
According to exit polls conducted during the November election, Obama outperformed Romney among younger voters. Fully half of voters who backed the Democratic president were under age 45, compared with 40 percent of Romney's supporters.
Likewise, 49 percent of voters who consider themselves Democrats were age 44 or younger, compared to 42 percent among self-identified Republicans. The gap was even greater in the 10 most closely divided states, according to the exit polls conducted for The Associated Press.
Yet, during the nominating campaign, when Paul drew blockbuster crowds while campaigning on college campuses, he carried a higher percentage of younger voters than Romney.
"Young people are embracing his small government, libertarian principles," said Jesse Benton, Ron Paul's 2012 presidential campaign manager. "That can make the party much more attractive as segments of the party age."
Paul's network could give son Rand a readymade platform on which to run, although former aides note it's not a guarantee he, or any Ron Paul protege, would automatically inherit his supporters.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz also get mentions from Ron Paul supporters as philosophical heirs to the former Texas congressman.
"Whether it's Rand Paul or someone else, I have allegiance not to them, but to their ideals," said Drew Ivers, Ron Paul's 2012 Iowa campaign chairman and now finance chairman for the Iowa GOP. "Whoever steps forward to lead that charge is the kind of leader we should champion."
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Associated Press director of polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed from Washington.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ron-pauls-gop-legacy-growing-states-iowa
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January 15, 2013 by Tim Brown
Watch Journalists & Politicians Squirm
At Declaring Their Homes As “Gun Free Zones”
James O’Keefe of Project Veritas has come out with a new video exposing the hypocrisy of gun control advocates. Yes, it is quite telling. I’d say it’s giving them a taste of their own medicine. Just what does O’Keefe do? They “set its sights on top gun control advocates to see how they felt when placed in the same position as our nation’s children – within a Gun Free Zone.”
O’Keefe said, “Our nation’s children spend the majority of their week within schools that are starkly emblazoned with signs that read ‘Gun Free Zone.’ Project Veritas put that same concept to the test with some of America’s most fervent advocates for gun control.”
Project Veritas’ citizen journalists went door to door in New York, New Jersey and Washington D.C. to see which gun control advocates would be willing to declare their homes as “Gun Free Zones” by placing a yard sign on their lawn that said just that.
“It’s amazing to see members of our media equivocate and contradict their spoken and written words when faced with the dilemma to declare their own homes as Gun Free,” O’Keefe continued. “Surprisingly, we found that the homes of the very New York paper that was willing to put the lives and fortunes of gun owners at risk by publishing their names and addresses, were also the most heavily armed and protected. The hypocrisy of New York’s Journal News is beyond words.”
Several times the team members were told by armed security guards the property was private and they should leave.
They even took to Attorney General Eric Holder’s home to see if the nation’s top gun restrictions enforcer would be willing to put up a “Gun Free Zone” sign at his home and declare proudly that his home was gun free. That didn’t go over so well. According to O’Keefe, “FBI Police confronted our reporters within minutes of their knocking on the Attorney General’s home. Eric Holder is safe and sound under armed protection, unlike the nation’s children.”
I’m sure the White House would have had similar opposition.
Among the responses they got included Newark Star ledger columnist Bob Braun’s comment: “I agree with you and I am on your side on this, but I’m just wondering if that’s not an invitation to somebody with a gun.” Duh?!
At the home of Journal News publisher Janet Hasson, the team was told, “We can’t put it up.” Yes this is the paper that published all the names of New York gun permit holders in their rag.
I love it when we can use freedom of the press to expose the utter hypocrisy of the Leftists, Socialists, Communists, and other gun control freaks in our society. Good job and kudos to Project Veritas for another incredible exposure of hypocrisy and lawlessness!
Work like O’Keefe’s has ressulted in the exposure of ACORN for sex trafficking, voter fraud, and waste regarding the Obama stimulus by Unions. His video projects have provided a great resource to expose the Left’s agenda and how they are going about it.
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If the teacher is fired, will you weep for the First Amendment?
Does this make you weep, flatdawg?
Teacher Fired for Giving Student Bible
Posted on January 15, 2013 by Conservative Byte
The Phillipsburg School Board voted Monday night to terminate the employment of Walter Tutka. He was accused of breaking two policies – distributing religious literature on school grounds and another policy that directs teachers to be neutral when discussing religious material.
Read more: http://conservativebyte.com/2013/01/teacher-fired-for-giving-student-bible/#ixzz2I42YCMmJ
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Wow! I don't know what to say.
I've seen the video of the dad, pre-interview,
when he didn't look like a grieving father.
But....wow!
How do you get a town to play along?
How do you get the local police on board with this?
It's unfathomable to think that this could happen.
I guess we shall see.
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Brings the point home very well.
+1
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:lol:/> :lol:/> :lol:/>
And of course "your friend," isn't you, right? :lol:/>
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Now I am completely freaked out! Wow....paranoid much (not you krome)
Appears to be a lot to do in this fortress.....build weapons, reflect on history's weapons, or sell fruit and veggies. I don't see any fields for crops. GO RV, then BV
I was thinking the same thing.
Maybe like the ole days of yore,
when the surfs outside the castle walls tended the kings crops.
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D I C K Act of 1902... Can't Be Repealed
in Politics, 2nd Amendment (Gun Control)
Posted · Edited by krome2ez
D I C K ACT of 1902 . . . CAN'T BE REPEALED
(GUN CONTROL FORBIDDEN)
The Trump Card Enacted by the Congress
Further Asserting
the Second Amendment as Untouchable
Re- Posted Juy 24, 2012
The D I C K Act of 1902 also known as the Efficiency of Militia Bill H.R. 11654, of June 28, 1902 invalidates all so-called gun-control laws. It also divides the militia into three distinct and separate entities.
The three classes H.R. 11654 provides for are the organized militia, henceforth known as the National Guard of the State, Territory and District of Columbia, the unorganized militia and the regular army. The militia encompasses every able-bodied male between the ages of 18 and 45. All members of the unorganized militia have the absolute personal right and 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms of any type, and as many as they can afford to buy.
The D I C K Act of 1902 cannot be repealed; to do so would violate bills of attainder and ex post facto laws which would be yet another gross violation of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The President of the United States has zero authority without violating the Constitution to call the National Guard to serve outside of their State borders.
The National Guard Militia can only be required by the National Government for limited purposes specified in the Constitution (to uphold the laws of the Union; to suppress insurrection and repel invasion). These are the only purposes for which the General Government can call upon the National Guard.
Attorney General Wickersham advised President Taft, "the Organized Militia (the National Guard) can not be employed for offensive warfare outside the limits of the United States."
The Honorable William Gordon, in a speech to the House on Thursday, October 4, 1917, proved that the action of President Wilson in ordering the Organized Militia (the National Guard) to fight a war in Europe was so blatantly unconstitutional that he felt Wilson ought to have been impeached.
During the war with England an attempt was made by Congress to pass a bill authorizing the president to draft 100,000 men between the ages of 18 and 45 to invade enemy territory, Canada. The bill was defeated in the House by Daniel Webster on the precise point that Congress had no such power over the militia as to authorize it to empower the President to draft them into the regular army and send them out of the country.
The fact is that the President has no constitutional right, under any circumstances, to draft men from the militia to fight outside the borders of the USA, and not even beyond the borders of their respective states. Today, we have a constitutional LAW which still stands in waiting for the legislators to obey the Constitution which they swore an oath to uphold.
Charles Hughes of the American Bar Association (ABA) made a speech which is contained in the Appendix to Congressional Record, House, September 10, 1917, pages 6836-6840 which states: "The militia, within the meaning of these provisions of the Constitution is distinct from the Army of the United States." In these pages we also find a statement made by Daniel Webster, "that the great principle of the Constitution on that subject is that the militia is the militia of the States and of the General Government; and thus being the militia of the States, there is no part of the Constitution worded with greater care and with more scrupulous jealousy than that which grants and limits the power of Congress over it."
"This limitation upon the power to raise and support armies clearly establishes the intent and purpose of the framers of the Constitution to limit the power to raise and maintain a standing army to voluntary enlistment, because if the unlimited power to draft and conscript was intended to be conferred, it would have been a useless and puerile thing to limit the use of money for that purpose. Conscripted armies can be paid, but they are not required to be, and if it had been intended to confer the extraordinary power to draft the bodies of citizens and send them out of the country in direct conflict with the limitation upon the use of the militia imposed by the same section and article, certainly some restriction or limitation would have been imposed to restrain the unlimited use of such power."
The Honorable William Gordon
Congressional Record, House, Page 640 - 1917
www.angelfire.com/retro/voices/page2.html#1902