by the El Reportero’s wire services

GerGen.Efraín Ríos Mont

Members of the Court A for Higher Risk Cases of Guatemala decided today to resume the suspended trial against ex Gen. Efraín Rios Montt and Jose Rodríguez, accused of genocida and crimes against humanity.

President of the court, Jazmín Barrios, and members Patricia Bustamante and Pablo Xitumul, resolved unanimously to continue the oral and public debate carried out until April 18, when magistrate Carol Patricia Flored decided to overturn it.

The court rejected part of the appeal resolution of the Third Appeal Court ruling that the process must be repeated.

Court A also complied with what the Constitutionality Court ruled, rejecting four testimonies offered on March 19 and in the first hours of the hearing of March 20, when Rios Montt had no lawyer. The prosecution accuses both former military of being the masterminds of the killing of 1,771 Ixil indigenous people in March 1982- August 1983 under the Rios Montt-led regime.

The resumption comes four days after Flores received the evidence presented by the defense team of Rios Montt and Rodriguez and ordered to give back the file to Jazmin Barrios, President of the Court A for Higher Risk Cases, which dealt with the trial for 20 days.

The UN and several Nobel Peace Prize laureates, including Guatemalan Rigoberta Menchu, made a call to resume the criminal process.

Central America suffering epidemic of coffee leaf rust

The Executive Director of the International Coffee Organization, Robério Silva, is visiting Central America to verify in situ the critical situation faced by coffee farmers because of the outbreak of Coffee Leaf Rust.

He attended the First International Coffee Leaf Rust Crisis Summit in Guatemala from 18 – 20 April 2013 and, in accordance with ICO Council Resolution 451, is now visiting each of the Central American countries affected by the disease like Nicaragua where his meeting several experts on the subject.

During a midday tv program in Channel 4 minister of government Rosario Murillo spoke about the visit to this capital of the Executive Director.

The fongus hemileia vastatrix,caused loses for 550 million dollars and of 441 thousand jobs lost.

Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean show slight rise

During the last three years, remittances to Latin America and Caribbean increased steadily and totaled 61.3 billion USD in 2012, the American Development Bank (IDB) reported in this capital.

The figure represents 0.6 percent more than the funds received by the Latin American and Caribbean from their family and friends living abroad in 2011, mainly due to the improvement in the U.S. labor market.

Still, that amount is slightly less than the 64.9 billion sent in 2008, maximum point recorded in the region.

Remittances to South America fell 1.1 percent, as opposed to those that were destined for Central America, which grew 6.5 percentage points.

The increase in Central America helped offset the decline in other major countries, which enabled the region as a whole to end the year with a slight increase, the report details.

According to the report Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean in 2012: Differential behavior between sub regions, conducted by the Multilateral Investment Fund of the IDB, transfers to Mexico, the leading recipient, fell 1.6 percent.

Maduro appoints cabinet, remains firmly in Chávez’s shadow

From Latin News: “A new cycle of the Bolivarian Revolution.” That is what Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro promised when swearing in his cabinet days after his investiture as president on 19 April. A couple of his picks prompted raised eyebrows, but there was nothing to suggest that this “new cycle” differs from the old except for the massive void left by the passing of Hugo Chávez.

Maduro swore on the memory of Chávez and Simόn Bolívar while taking the oath of office. If he grows to feel more secure in his position, he might show the courage of his own convictions. For that, ironically, he probably needs the opposition, which is trying in vain to overturn the result, to continue to pose a challenge so that Chavismo remains united behind him.

by Dale Hurd

Recently, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said that home schooling is not a parent’s right. It is a statement some are saying should frighten American parents.

Nations like Germany and Sweden show that when governments take away home schooling rights, it’s a slippery slope to no parental rights.

America the Refuge or Not

The Romeike family came to the United States from Germany five years ago hoping to find refuge. They wanted to home-school their children in freedom and a federal judge granted them asylum.

But now the Obama administration has been trying to deport them, arguing that home schooling is not a right. The case is currently before a federal appeals court.

Uwe and Hannelore Romeike began home schooling in Germany because they didn’t want their children exposed to things like witchcraft and graphic sex education that are taught in German schools.

“There were stories where [school children] were encouraged to ask the devil for help instead of God and actually the devil would help (in the story),” Uwe said.

“When we found out what’s in the textbooks, it’s exactly the opposite from what the Bible tells us and teaches us, and we wanted to protect [our children],” his wife Hannelore added.

But home schooling is illegal in Germany, except in rare cases. And many home schooling parents are persecuted with fines, jail, or the loss of their children.

Homeschoolers Going Into Exile?

Most home-schoolers in America are left alone. But what if state politicians and the federal government started to move against it?

Two of the worst nations for home-schoolers are Germany and Sweden. If you want to see what things might be like if home schooling was banned in America, travel to Sweden, where the government controls education and the home schooling movement has been crushed.

In fact, the head of the Swedish Homeschooling Association, Jonas Himmelstrand, had to take his family into exile. They fled to Finland.

“We’re in exile. We were forced out of our country and that makes a stronger impact than I can imagine,” he told CBN News. “This was our country. This was where we had our friends and business relationships and a whole lot of things and now we’re pushed away from it.”

Attorney Michael Donnelly, the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, called the situation “incredible for a nation like Sweden that calls itself a free nation, a democracy, so to speak.”

Ruby Harrold-Claesson, President of the Nordic Committee for Human Rights, went even further, branding Sweden a dictatorship where social workers tell parents what to do.

“Sweden claims to be a democracy but it’s far from it. It’s a dictatorship,” he said. “You have the social workers dictating how people are to live. You’re not supposed to be different. You’re not supposed to be different from anyone else in Sweden. Everyone is supposed to be uniform. They want to have these cookie cutter children.”

Claesson is also the lawyer representing Christer and Annie Johansson, who have lost custody of their son Domenic, because of home schooling. After Domenic was abducted by Swedish officials, Annie’s health began to fail.

Christer said the stress of the ordeal is killing his wife.

“If we cannot solve this issue soon, Domenic won’t have a mother anymore,” he said.

Russia, A Home Schooling Haven

Nations like Germany and Sweden could learn a thing or two about parent’s rights from, of all places, Russia, which is one of the freest nations in which to homeschool.

“We have complete freedom of home education in Russia, in terms of legality,” Pavel Parfentiev, a family rights advocate in Russia, said.

“The Russian Federation is sort of a champion of human rights in this particular area, so of course I think it is a good example for both Germany and Sweden where home educators are persecuted,” he said.

Among the persecuted, German home-schooler Juergen Dudek has been taken to court every year for the past 10 years by the German Jugendamt, or Youth Office.

“The Youth Office, I used to call it the ‘Gestapo for the Young.’ As soon as they step in, as soon as they get hold of you, you’ve really got problems,” Dudek said.

German homeschooler Dirk Wunderlich and his wife have lost custody of their children, although they are still allowed to live with them. He also told CBN News he expects to be sent to jail, but said he will never stop homeschooling.

“But I’m not afraid of this. I’m only sad for my family. I will go (to jail) laughing. You can do what you want but my children will not go to school,” he said.

America Safe for Homeschoolers?

In America, a red flag went up earlier this year when the Justice Department argued in the Romeike case that home schooling is not a fundamental human right.

A source close to the case said the White House cares more about relations with Germany than about a family seeking political asylum.

Asylum for the Romeikes might open a floodgate of refugees from Germany, further embarrassing the German government.

Uwe Roemike, who makes his living as a piano teacher, knows what to expect if they’re deported.

“First they would fine us with increasingly higher fines and they would threaten to take away custody,” he explained.

“There might be jail time, too, but the main threat is the aspect of custody because then, of course, the children are taken away from you completely and that’s what no family wants,” he said.

Uwe said the fact the White House would be willing to deny homeschooling freedom to his family, should make all American home-schoolers concerned.

por Ethan A. Huff

Es uno de los pocos cultivos importantes que no tiene una contraparte genéticamente modificada (OGM), pero esto puede cambiar pronto si el gobierno australiano logra aprobar una variedad de trigo OGM desarrollado por la Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), un organismo del gobierno australiano. A pesar de ser alabado por sus creadores como un gran avance en la tecnología de la producción, el cultivo de trigo OGM, al ser consumido, tiene el potencial de alterar permanentemente el genoma humano, al silenciar a cientos de genes en el cuerpo.

Este hecho preocupante, por supuesto, hace que el trigo OGM sea una importante amenaza para la salud pública, por lo que varios expertos científicos instan a tener una extrema precaución con la prueba humana y el proceso de aprobación comercial. Durante una reciente conferencia de prensa con el director de la fundación Safe Food, Scott Kinnear, dos destacadas autoridades en la materia discutieron los peligros inherentes del trigo transgénico, y cómo el “Frankencrop” amenaza con lesionar gravemente e incluso matar a un número incalculable de personas que podrían experimentar dramáticas alteraciones genéticas como resultado del consumo.

“Lo que encontramos es que las moléculas creadas en este trigo, que buscan silenciar a los genes de trigo, pueden coincidir con genes humanos”, explica el profesor Jack Heinemann, un biólogo molecular de la Universidad de Canterbury en Nueva Zelandia, sobre los peligros del trigo transgénico no probado de CSIRO. “Y a través de la ingesta, estas moléculas pueden entrar en los seres humanos y, potencialmente, silenciar nuestros genes”.

Heinemann explican que él y su equipo ya han identificado más de 770 páginas sobre potenciales coincidencias entre dos genes específicos en el trigo OGM y genes inherentes en el genoma humano que podrían ser alterados por éstos. Más allá de esto, se descubrió que más de una docena de coincidencias eran idénticas y “suficientes para provocar el silenciamiento en sistemas experimentales”, según Heinemann.

Puede ver el comunicado de prensa completo aquí: http://youtu.be/FI7n_caiTvE.

El trigo OGM puede traspasar fallas genéticas de generación en generación

Las amenazas inmediatas del consumo de trigo transgénico son bastante sustanciales, en otras palabras, e ilustran las enormes consecuencias que pueden resultar de la manipulación de la naturaleza a nivel genético. Pero aun peor son las consecuencias generacionales que pueden resultar de consumir OGM en general, y específicamente el trigo transgénico en cuestión.

“Si esta modificación genética en el trigo es absorbida por el cuerpo humano y afecta a los seres humanos de la misma manera que afecta al trigo, entonces significa que habrá algunos cambios significativos en la forma en que almacenamos nuestra carbohidratos, nuestra glucosa en el cuerpo, y que podría tener consecuencias nefastas”, añade la profesor Judy Carman, bioquímica y directora del Instituto de Salud y de Investigación Ambiental (IHER) de la Universidad de Flinders en Australia.

“Tenemos que producir lo que se llama glucógeno en el cuerpo para poder vivir, para poder despertar en la mañana después 1de una noche de ayuno y tener un golpe de energía para correr a través de una calle. Y si esto se silencia el mismo tipo de genes en nosotros como los silencia en el trigo, entonces los niños que nacen con esta enzima que no funciona tienden a morir aproximadamente a la edad de cinco años y los adultos con este problema se enferman más y más enfermo y cada vez están más cansados hasta que se enferman mucho”.

En 2011, activistas de Greenpeace destruyeron una granja de cultivo de trigo OGM experimental producida por CSIRO. Como informó la revista COSMOS, los manifestantes entraron a la granja cerca de Canberra el 14 de julio y procedieron a masacrar a los campos de trigo OGM destinados a ensayos humanos. Al momento de escribir esto, ni una sola prueba significativa de seguridad se ha realizado en el trigo OGM, mientras CSIRO parece más preocupado por las posibles ganancias que por la de la seguridad humana.

Revise el informe de Greenpeace sobre el trigo OGM de CSIRO, titulado The biotech takeover of our daily bread: http://www.greenpeace.org.

by Marvin J. Ramirez

Marvin J. Ramirez

At a time when most people are noticing the government increase of domination over the people, contrary to what should be: the people domination over the government, El Reportero is glad to publish the following article authored by Washingtonblog.com. I believe that it is my duty to inform the people of some aspects of our current government that are becoming detrimental to our liberties. Perhaps this article will wake some people up, perhaps not. Due to its length and our limited space, we will publish it in several parts. This is the third part of a series.

Americans – like Nazi Germans – don’t notice that all of our rights are slipping away — Part 3

by washingtonsblog.com

Last week, we left off at spying on Americans, how corporations such as Verizon, has applied for a patent that would allow your television to track what you are doing, who you are with, what objects you’re holding, and what type of mood you’re in. Given Verizon and other major carriers responded to at least 1.3 million law enforcement requests for cell phone locations and other data in 2011, such information would not be kept private. (And some folks could be spying on you through your tv using existing technology.)

— And the spying isn’t being done to keep us safe … but to crush dissent and to smear people who uncover unflattering this about the government … and to help the too big to fail businesses compete against smaller businesses (and here ).

In addition, the ACLU published a map in 2006 showing that nearly two-thirds of the American public – 197.4 million people – live within a “constitution-free zone” within 100 miles of land and coastal borders:

The ACLU explained:

– Normally under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the American people are not generally subject to random and arbitrary stops and searches.

– The border, however, has always been an exception. There, the longstanding view is that the normal rules do not apply. For example the authorities do not need a warrant or probable cause to conduct a “routine search.”

– But what is “the border”? According to the government, it is a 100-mile wide strip that wraps around the “external boundary” of the United States.

– As a result of this claimed authority, individuals who are far away from the border, American citizens traveling from one place in America to another, are being stopped and harassed in ways that our Constitution does not permit.

– Border Patrol has been setting up checkpoints inland — on highways in states such as California, Texas and Arizona, and at ferry terminals in Washington State. Typically, the agents ask drivers and passengers about their citizenship. Unfortunately, our courts so far have permitted these kinds of checkpoints – legally speaking, they are “administrative” stops that are permitted only for the specific purpose of protecting the nation’s borders. They cannot become general drug-search or other law enforcement efforts.

– However, these stops by Border Patrol agents are not remaining confined to that border security purpose. On the roads of California and elsewhere in the nation – places far removed from the actual border – agents are stopping, interrogating, and searching Americans on an everyday basis with absolutely no suspicion of wrongdoing.

– The bottom line is that the extraordinary authorities that the government possesses at the border are spilling into regular American streets.

Computer World reports today:

Border agents don’t need probable cause and they don’t need a stinking warrant since they don’t need to prove any reasonable suspicion first. Nor, sadly, do two out of three people have First Amendment protection; it is as if DHS has voided those Constitutional amendments and protections they provide to nearly 200 million Americans.

Don’t be silly by thinking this means only if you are physically trying to cross the international border. As we saw when discussing the DEA using license plate readers and data-mining to track Americans movements , the U.S. “border” stretches out 100 miles beyond the true border. Godfather Politics added:

But wait, it gets even better! If you live anywhere in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey or Rhode Island, DHS says the search zones encompass the entire state.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have a “longstanding constitutional and statutory authority permitting suspicionless and warrantless searches of merchandise at the border and its functional equivalent.” This applies to electronic devices, according to the recent CLCR “Border Searches of Electronic Devices” executive summary [PDF ]:

Fourth Amendment

The overall authority to conduct border searches without suspicion or warrant is clear and longstanding, and courts have not treated searches of electronic devices any differently than searches of other objects. We conclude that CBP’s and ICE’s current border search policies comply with the Fourth Amendment. We also conclude that imposing a requirement that officers have reasonable suspicion in order to conduct a border search of an electronic device would be operationally harmful without concomitant civil rights/civil liberties benefits. However, we do think that recording more information about why searches are performed would help managers and leadership supervise the use of border search authority, and this is what we recommended; CBP has agreed and has implemented this change beginning in FY2012.

(IT WILL CONTINUE ON NEXT WEEK’S EDITION).

by Carlos B. Gil
Hispanic Link News Service

The celebrated events of Cinco de Mayo reflect a global struggle that was beginning to unfold across the cultural West. They took place near the Mexican colonial city of Puebla in 1862 at a time when a fight over the acceptance of new forms of government had already been initiated in Western Europe and in the Americas.

The elites of the old world and the new locked in fierce debate. Liberals wanted a radically new republican system of government replete with presidents, congresses and other trappings of democracy. Conservatives wished to maintain the time-sanctioned monarchies, their kings, queens, viceroys, counts, dukes and other forms of privileged aristocracy.

The struggle was particularly heated in Mexico, where Spanish imperial government had been supreme for nearly 300 years, between 1521 and 1821. The Spanish viceroy was expelled from Mexico in 1821, thus ending Mexican colonial ties with Spain.

Many attempts were made to get republican democracy to work in Mexico in the meantime. Still, 40 years after independence, influential men who strongly believed that a king or an emperor was best for Mexico continued to voice their opinions and pursue that goal. Their belief that monarchies were best for Mexico caused “rivers of blood to flow,” using the words of a famous Mexican historian.

In 1862, the still vigorous French empire, under the direction of Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew, Louis Napoleon, sought once more to extend its domination into the Western Hemisphere, thereby counteracting the ever-growing republic of the United States, now distracted by civil war. The silver mines in Sonora appraised by French agents some years earlier probably constituted an additional reason for expansion.

Given the background, agents of Louis Napoleon met with Mexican conservative leaders to plan for a French-protected emperor to rule from Mexico City.

These events coincided with certain decisions by Benito Juárez. Mexico’s president and embattled republican leader of the time, he temporarily suspended the payment of debts owed by the government to foreign countries, among them France.

This was made necessary by the ferocious strife the country was undergoing due to infighting between conservatives and liberals. As a result, 2,500 French troops were dispatched to Mexico, ostensibly to force payment of the arrears, but also to implant a French colony on Mexican soil.

The port city of Veracruz was occupied by the brightly clad French troops in January 1862. By late April, they marched westward and upward to the capital city 7,000 feet above sea level on the central Mexican plateau.

The Napoleonic dream of a trans-oceanic empire was at hand: It was nothing less than grandiose imperialism requiring the occupation of Mexico City. Puebla, however, had to be overcome first.

There, the would-be heroes of the holiday we now call Cinco de Mayo awaited: Texas-born General Ignacio Zaragoza was assisted by several eager lieutenants, including 32-year-old Porfirio Díaz. They were surrounded by excited, armed Mexican patriot-civilians and enlisted troops.

The French expected garlands of welcome. Instead, they received hot gunshot.

The performance of the Mexicans on the fifth of May was singularly brilliant, worth the pride it has elicited ever since. Fighting for the control of the military forts of Loreto and Guadalupe on the outskirts of the city and armed with aging British rifles first employed in the Napoleonic Wars, the descendants of Aztecs and Spaniards defeated the French zuoaves led by Generals Count de Lorencez and Bernard Mallas L’Herillier.

The ancestors of modern-day Mexican Americans won the Battle of Puebla, but for five years thereafter lost ground in an imperialist war. Napoleon soon sent more troops, forcing Juarez-led republicans to take cover in the mountains while Mexico City became the seat of the ill-fated French empire, with blond, bearded Archduke Maximilian at its head.

The archduke’s fate was sealed however. Maximilian’s ultimate fate can be said to symbolize the end of European tutelage over Mexican affairs. As a member of one of Europe’s oldest royal families (the House of Hapsburg), Maximilian settled accounts with Indian Juárez in 1867 by paying with his own life for the tragic French intervention.

In that year, Napoleon’s troops were withdrawn and Maximilian was captured, tried, and shot by a Mexican republican firing squad. His bullet-riddled body, shipped back to Europe, underlined Juárez’s firm resolution: foreigners should never be allowed to rule over the destiny of Mexicans again under any circumstances. Greater America demonstrated once again its need to be independent of Europe.

Chicanos or Mexican Americans, as cultural and historical inheritors of the Mexicans, can in this way easily identify with the stirring significance of the Battle of Puebla fought on the Cinco de Mayo. Parenthetically, the Cinco de Mayo does not represent Mexico’s holiday commemorating independence. This is celebrated on Sept. 16.

It is important to note that ceremonial recognition of the victory of the Cinco de Mayo goes far in re-affirming the goal for which Juárez struggled and sacrificed: Mexicans (and Chicanos by inheritance) must insist upon and maintain the right to self-fulfillment. We must jealously guard as strongly as we can our capacity to grow spiritually and intellectually no matter what the odds be. In other words, if Juárez, Zaragoza and other Mexicans fought for national and cultural independence in the 1860s, Mexican Americans must continue to struggle for their survival and complete self-fulfillment. This is the true meaning of Cinco de Mayo.

(Dr. Carlos B. Gil is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Washington, Seattle, author of We Became Mexican American: How Our Family Survived to Pursue the American Dream, 2012, and Publisher of DiversityCentral.com)© 2013
End

For this column in Spanish and other news and commentaries, go to www.HispanicLink.org.

Compiled by the El Reportero’s staff

From Nicaragua, brothers Luis Enrique y Carlos Mejía Godoy, this month, together in San Francisco in one of those one-of-a-kind events. Stay alert for the place and date.

This year’s Cinco de Mayo, on the occasion of honoring mothers in their month, we invite you to celebrate with us a Tardeada Latina (a Latin afternoon party).

Together with our dear brothers from North, Central and South America, we will celebrate with poetry, singing, dancing, food and drinks, with the guest appearance of Rolando Garcia, Central American songwriter with an international career, including Nicaragua dance group, “Children of the Corn” (Hijos del Maíz), including authors and orators of poetry Efraín Escobar, Lester Quintanilla, Martín Alfredo Garache Y Katia N. Barillas.

There will be a display of prestigious poetry books authors, amazing raffles: Grand Prize: a flat 32 ‘high definition TV, always within a framework of regional music, entertaining the audience with much joy.

We count on you to have fun in the company of your Mom, family and friends. Thanks for joining us. See you!

Sunday, May 5, 2-5 p.m. at the Brava Theater, 2781 24th Street, San Francisco. Doors open at 1:30 p.m. Seating is limited, so buy your ticket now.

Tickets at Julio’s Music, Gifts and More, 2884 Mission St., San Francisco, 415-871-7426 or call Katia N. Barillas at 415-871-7426.

Francisco Symphony invites you to celebrate 25 Years of the Adventures in Music

The San Francisco Symphony invites you to Celebrate 25 Years of the Adventures in Music Program’s Partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District
AIM Ensemble Performance for Special Guests and Elementary School Students Junipero Serra Elementary School.

At 625 Holly Park Circle, San Francisco, at 9:45 a.m. Coffee and Pastries will be served at 10 a.m. Welcoming remarks by SFS President Sakurako Fisher, SFS Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, SFUSD Board President Rachel Norton and SF Board of Supervisors President David Chiu.

On Tuesday, May 7, 2013, at 10:30 a.m. Please use main entrance on Holly Park Circle.

Computers for everyone with Stanford alumni host family literacy

Stanford Alumni in partnership with Computers for Everyone present the Third Annual Reading Rainbow in the Park, East Palo Alto.

This event encourages families to join in the fun of reading with youth and teenagers of all ages. There will be reading activities, games, contests and entertainment throughout the day hosted by volunteers and community organizations as well as the San Mateo County mobile literacy bus to register attendees for free library cards. Free books will be given to all youth attending, Free prizes will be raffled off throughout the day including toys, gift certificates, mp3 players, and a Mac laptop.

Over 20 local organizations have signed up to host activities and support the event. 106 KMEL’s Lady Ray will serve as the Master of Ceremonies with the KMEL Street Team on site playing music. “Dora the Explorer” and “Diego” will also make an appearance. This year’s event will also feature a “college workshop booth” hosted by local colleges and organizations to inform those interested of college opportunities and the process of applying to college.

There will be free food, refreshments, snacks, and many giveaways. This event is free and open to the public; however pre-registration for your family or a group is strongly suggested at: http://readinginthepark.eventbrite.com/.

The event will take place on Saturday, May 18, 2013 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Bell Street Park at 550 Bell Street, East Palo Alto, California.

New radio program Poder Latino con Ramón Cardona begins at KIQI on Fridays

You will be able to listen a new radio program at KIQI AM 1010 and 990 AM radio directed by community leader Ramón Cardona on Fridays at 1 p.m. Cardona, a longtime advocate of immigrant’s rights, launched his first program on Friday April 26.

Carmona will brings fresh information and commentaries on the status of the immigration legislation now debated in Congress, that would bring an end to pain and suffering to millions of undocumented immigrant.

Cardona will discuss community interest themes and individual development within the United States. He will also serve as a link to those from his homeland, Cuscatlán, El Salvador, and make the program an informational tool for the Salvadorian community in Northern California.

by Steve Watson

Former Obama advisor David Axelrod has joined other mainstream media mouthpieces in insinuating that the horrific Boston Marathon bombing may have been linked to “tax day”.

Appearing on MSNBC 3his morning, Axelrod said of the term ‘terror attack’, “The word has taken on a different meaning since 9/11. You use those words and it means something very specific in people’s mind.”

The political consultant then suggested that the president has refrained from using the term because he may believe an anti-government tax protester could have been behind the bombing, rather than a co-ordinated group of foreign terrorists.

“You use those words and it means something very specific in people’s mind. And I’m sure what was going through the president’s mind is — we really don’t know who did this — it was tax day.” Axelrod said.]

“Was it someone who was pro–you know, you just don’t know.” he continued. “And so I think his attitude is, let’s not put any inference into this, let’s just make clear that we’re going to get the people responsible.”

Axelrod isnt the first talking head to inject such points into news coverage of the attack. Without any evidence whatsoever, media mouthpieces have been suggesting that the incident may have been carried out by a “home grown” radical, potentially in the vein of OKC bomber Timothy McVeigh.

BBC News coverage suggested that “chatter within the intelligence services” indicates that right wing extremists could be behind the attack, with analysts noting that the bombing occurred on Patriot’s Day, the holiday that commemorates the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. The OKC bombing in 1995 was also carried out on this day, the third Monday in April.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer took that insinuation even further, noting “It is a state holiday, in addition to the Boston Marathon. It is a state holiday in Massachusetts today, called Patriots’ Day. And who knows if that had anything at all to do with these twin explosions?”

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews also theorized that the bombing could be the result of a protest against federal income taxes.

“As you point out, and I just forgot, I filed already. It’s filing day for the federal income tax, which does cause some emotions around the country – sometimes in the wrong parts of the brain anyway,” Matthews said during his show:

In comments to the media, Richard Barrett, the former United Nations co-ordinator for the al-Qaeda and Taliban monitoring team said that the timing of the attack on Patriots’ Day and the relatively small size of the devices suggested the work of a domestic extremist.

Barrett, who is now senior director at the Qatar International Academy for Security Studies (QIASS), said: “At the moment it looks more likely that it was a right-wing terrorist incident, rather than an al Qaeda attack because of the size of the devices.”

He added: “This happened on Patriots’ Day, it is also the day Americans are supposed to have their taxes in, and Boston is quite a symbolic city. These are all little indicators.”

Boston was, of course, the location for the famed “tea party” protest of 1773 against the tax policy of the British government and the East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies.

The suggestion that talking heads are making is that whoever carried out the bombing may be sympathetic to the modern day Tea Party movement, which advocates for limited government.

Esquire’s Charles P. Pierce also made the connection, noting that Monday is the “official Patriots Day holiday” in Massachusetts, celebrating the Battles at Lexington and Concord. He also pointed out that April 19, the actual date of the battles, is connected to Oklahoma City bomber Tim McVeigh, who apparently considered himself a “waterer of the tree of liberty and the like.”

Huffington Post blogger and Al Sharpton radio producer Nida Khan also blindly speculated that “all these anti-gov groups” could be behind the attack.

“We don’t know anything yet of course, but it is tax day & my first thought was all these anti-gov groups, but who knows,” Khan tweeted.

Former FBI agent Brad Garrett said he wouldn’t be surprised if the bombing had been carried out by a domestic extremist group or an individual in an attempt to make a statement.

He added that a “neo Nazi or a patriot group” would likely not claim responsibility right away.

“There’s a lot of public source information about demonstrations on taxes, on a number of other issues that are hot button issues for extremists groups who don’t like either what the government is doing or what the government represents,” he stated.

In addition, the official story of the attack appears to be being subtly altered to fit this media driven narrative.

A police press conference today contradicted earlier reports that more explosive devices had been found in the vicinity of the attack, and had been destroyed by bomb squads in controlled explosions. Analysts suggested that the notion of bomb squads finding and detonating extra devices within the hour were far fetched, without them having some prior intelligence of the attack.

It was also reported that a drill was being carried out in the area involving members of the Boston bomb squad.

That oddity has now been swept aside in a change of the narrative, as has the idea that the attacks were coordinated and indicative of an organised group.

Police also now claim that no arrests have been made and that there are no suspects in custody, contradicting earlier reports that a Saudi man had been arrested close to the scene of the bombing.

(Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.com, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor Of Arts Degree in Literature and Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University.)