by J.D. Heyes

Natural News

A FEMA prison re-branded a refuge.

Imagine, for a moment, that you have lost your home in a natural disaster and with it most of your possessions. It’s wintertime, you live on the East Coast, and your old neighborhood has been leveled. What cash you have is being used for the most basic of necessities; you don’t have enough money to move into a hotel and even if you did they are all full anyway.

You have nowhere to go. You are completely reliant on the government for subsistence.

Life is as bad as it can get – or is it?

You learn that you will be moved from the miserable tent city where you are now being housed to a new temporary facility that used­to be, of all things, a prison.

While some officials see this as the state making the best use of available resources, others see it as a prelude of things to come, should societal order break down at some point in the future.

‘They might as well use it’ Life in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy is still dicey for many New Yorkers and New Jerseyans who continue to suffer mightily in its wake. With so many residents now homeless, the state of New York is considering reopening the recently closed Arthur Kill Correctional Facility on Staten Island as a way to temporarily house people displaced by the storm and this past week’s nasty winter storm, The New York Post reported.

The facility, which was closed last December, served as a medium security prison. Officials say it has the capacity to feed and house as many as 900 people who now have nowhere else to go.

“Our facilities staff have to go through it to determine what it would take to get it up and running for such a purpose,” Peter Cutler, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, told the paper.

“Of course, the challenge is the fact that it was closed a year ago and all of the major infrastructure components, such as boilers and waste-water system, were deactivated,” he added.

As many as 40,000 New Yorkers need shelter following the one-two punch of Sandy and the recent nor’easter. On Staten Island alone, officials said, some 5,200 people have applied for temporary FEMA housing, but like the FEMA in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the bureaucracy is painstakingly slow – only about two dozen people have been successfully placed in housing, say federal officials, leaving us to wonder if this agency’s historic bureaucratic inertia is still George W. Bush’s fault.

At least the Post understands the irony of using a former prison to house poststorm refugees, saying such an arrangement may “resemble a scene out of ‘The Walking Dead.’” But not everyone thinks it’s a bad idea.

“It’s empty. They might as well use it,” said Rob Conigatti, 39, who lost his Dongan Hills home and is now staying with his extended family. “At least they have the right facilities. You can’t keep them in schools. The kids gotta go to school.”

Note to self – Don’t rely on the government

A lot of folks are staying in homes without power and heat and are merely riding out the hard times. Others are staying with friends and family.

Many others; however, don’t have such choices. So they have to take what they get, essentially. In this case, they get FEMA.

“We have not got into the discussion of longer term transitional housings,” said Councilman James Oddo (R-SI). “If there is no ­other viable option, it shouldn’t be taken off the table because of a quote unquote stigma. Between being cold and having people dry, in a warm, secure place, I know what my choice is.”

But, of course, he doesn’t really have to make that choice. Some have firmly rejected the notion. That includes Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro, according to sources who spoke with the Post. A number of residents hardest hit by the storms feel the same way.

“I lost everything, but I still have my pride. We don’t have to stay in a prison,” said Wally Martinez, 44, who is staying at the Mount Manresa Jesuit Retreat House in Shore Acres with his wife, two kids and family dog. “My brother was once in that very prison and my mother used to visit him regularly. She used to tell me how miserable he looked and how filthy and disgusting that prison was.”

If there is a better reason to be prepared to take care of yourself in times of turmoil than having to rely on the “charity” of government, we can’t think of one.

Effort dovetailssecession feversweeping the U.S.

by Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com

The petition, which is posted on the ‘We The People’ section of whitehouse.gov, lists four different examples of how Obama has acted unconstitutionally. The primary reason is Obama’s failure to obtain congressional authorization for the war on Libya last year. Under Article 1 Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, the power to declare war lies with Congress.

In June last year, President Obama arrogantly expressed his hostility to the rule of law when he dismissed the need to get congressional authorization to commit the United States to a military intervention in Libya, churlishly dismissing criticism and remarking, “I don’t even have to get to the Constitutional question.”

In July 2011, Congress specifically rejected the Obama administration’s attempt to seek approval for war on Libya but the White House later supported a NATO-led assault anyway, terming it a “kinetic” action. Obama tried to legitimize his failure to obtain Congressional approval for military involvement by sending a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner in which he said the military assault was “authorized by the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council.”

In March, Congressman Walter Jones introduced a House Resolution which expressed, “The sense of Congress that the use of offensive military force by a President without prior and clear authorization of an Act of Congress constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Constitution.”

The other reasons listed on the petition to impeach Obama include appointing so-called czars without Senate approval. When Obama signed a 2011 budget package into law which removed funding for Obama’s advisers on climate change, the auto industry, health care and urban affairs, Obama attached a signing statement indicating he would ignore this provision, prompting Rep. Steve Scalise to accuse the President of acting like a “dictator” in choosing which laws to follow and which to ignore.

The petition also notes that, “Forcing US citizens to get health insurance whether they want it or not,” under Obamacare is unconstitutional. When Obamacare was upheld by the Supreme Court last year, it was done so by classifying mandatory health insurance as a tax, otherwise the whole bill would have been unconstitutional. Justice Anthony Kennedy, and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito all argued that there was a “mountain of evidence” that the mandate is not a tax. “To ­say that the individual mandate merely imposes a tax is not to interpret the statute but to rewrite it,” they wrote.

The petition to impeach Obama has already surpassed 27,000 votes, meeting the 25,000 requirement to mandate a response by White House officials. Days after Obama secured his second term in the White House, the call for impeachment was embraced by conservative groups, including the Conservative Majority Fund, which launched a phone call campaign accusing Obama of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

“Our only recourse now is to move forward with the full impeachment of President Obama. We suspect that Obama is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors and that there may be grounds for impeachment as is laid out in the constitution,” the phone message stated. “Further, he may not even be a U.S. citizen because nobody, I mean no one, has seen an actual physical copy of his birth certificate. Impeachment is our only option. And Republicans are already considering Obama investigations. As the nation’s most effective conservative group we are launching the official impeach Obama campaign.”

The Huffington Post scorned the campaign as “outlandish” and “fringe,” but now that the petition to impeach Obama has reached the necessary number of signatures to elicit a White House response, the Obama administration will be forced to at least address the issue. During a recent appearance on Hannity, Republican Congressman Peter King also suggested that Obama should be impeached over the Benghazi cover up.

The campaign to impeach Obama is dovetailed by an even bigger effort to have states secede from the union, a move denounced by the establishment media as unpatriotic yet labeled by Congressman Ron Paul yesterday as an “important” constitutional principle that the founders believed in. Radio host Alex Jones has launched a campaign to draft Paul as the head of a secession movement that is based around seceding not from the country, but from the federal government itself, a process which is clearly outlined in the Declaration of Independence.

(Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News).

by J. D. Heyes

Researchers continue to discover more evidence that all of those energy drinks, which are pushed by high-profile athletes, sports companies and the mainstream media, are not just bad for you, they are downright dangerous.

Officials with the Food and Drug Administration say they’ve received reports of 13 deaths over the last four years where there was at least a causal link to the brand 5-Hour Energy, an energy shot that contains a potent amount o­f caffeine.

The New York Times said that the disclosure of the reports is the second time in weeks that filings by the agency cited deaths linked to energy drinks. In October, the FDA said it had received five reports involving fatalities that were linked to another popularenergy drink, Monster Energy.

The drinks have a growinghistory at the FDA.Since 2009, 5-Hour Energy has been included in about 90 filings with the agency; more than 30 involved serious or life-threatening problems such as heart attack, convulsions and at least one spontaneous abortion.

‘We are unaware of any problems with our product’

Granted, the simple filing of an incident with the FDA does not mean a certain product caused death or harm or even contributed to it. But clearly the products in question are increasingly mentioned in reports to the government’s investigative health agency.

Living Essentials of Farmington Hills, Mich., the distributor of 5-Hour Energy, did not respond to inquiries from the Times, and the company’s top executive refused to be interviewed. But in a statement, the company claimed its product was safe when used as directed, adding that the firm was “unaware of any deaths proven to have been caused by the consuming” of its product.

Since disclosure of reports linking Monster Energy to potentially harmful incidents, the company has said repeatedly that its products are safe, insisting that the drink was not the cause of any health problems.

The fast-growing energy drink industry has been facing increased scrutiny over the past few years over labeling disclosures and potential health risks, the paper said. The growing concern has stretched all the way to Capitol Hill, of course, as a number of lawmakers have begun calling on the FDA to increase regulation of energy drinks. In addition, the New York State Attorney General’s office is investigating the practices of several of the drink producers.

There are differences in the drinks themselves. Brands like Red Bull, Monster Energy, Rip It and others actually look like beverages, but 5-Hour Energy is sold as a two-ounce shot. And while the company doesn’t disclose how much caffeine is in each container, a recent story by Consumer Reports said it was about 215 milligrams.

That’s about double the caffeine content in an eight-ounce cup of coffee, which can contain between 100 and 150 milligrams.

No specific information tying energy drinks to deaths?

At present, the FDA says it doesn’t have the scientific evidence to regulate caffeine any more than the agency already does. Officials say the issue is made more complex by the fact that some high-caffeine drinks, such as Red Bull, are currently sold under FDA rules, while others, such as 5-Hour Energy and Monster Energy, are sold as dietary supplements.

­Different categories, different rules and reporting requirements – neither of which would matter if better, more specific labeling of ingredients in all food products were the rule rather than the exception.

In an interview with the Times, Daniel Fabricant, director of the FDA’s division of dietary supplement programs, said the agency was looking into death reports citing 5-Hour Energy. But he said so far, the data was inconclusive.

He said the 13 death reports mentioning 5-Hour Energy had all been submitted to the agency by Life Essentials, but only because since 2008, dietary supplement producers have been required to notify the FDA when they are made aware of a death or other serious health incident that could be tied to their product.

If you find yourself needing a boost of energy, try a natural energy booster: http://www.naturalnews.com/033423_mental_function_energy_boost.html.

by the El Reportero’s wireservices

Rafael Correa

From Latin News: The line-up for the Feb. 17 general elections is now almost complete as far as presidential candidates are concerned. Nobody was surprised when President Rafael Correa registered his candidacy for re-election on Nov. 12; days earlier he had announced that there was “consensus” within the ruling Alianza País (AP) regarding his candidacy. At the last minute he picked former minister coordinator of strategic sectors, Jorge Glas, as his running mate.

Cuba’s missing data: what does it mean?

It has become increasingly difficult to assess the performance of the Cuban economy in recent years, because of the non-appearance of some important economic data. At the end of October, the Anuario Estadístico de Cuba, which is usually published by July by the Oficina Nacional de Estadísticas e Información (ONEI, the national statistics office), was missing three chapters: chapter 5, which covers national income accounts; chapter 6, public finances; and chapter 8, the external sector.

Cuba warns of risks to LatAm, defends integration at summit

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla warned here today of threats posed to Latin America and the Caribbean by the current world order and defended regional integration as a way to face them.

Speaking at the plenary session of the 22nd Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, which concluded today, the Cuban diplomat described as dangerous the world situation, marked by the economic crisis and the warmongering stand of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

“Economic relations remain significantly unfavorable ­to Latin America,” said Rodríguez.

He noted that the economic links are characterized by “an unequal international economic order, the irrational and unsustainable nature of the capitalist models of production and consumption and the environmental damage.”

In this regard, he highlighted the increasing effectiveness of the regional mechanisms of coordination, cooperation and agreement, like the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), a 33-member country bloc founded in Caracas in Dec. 2011.

He said that in view of the threats posed by the establishment of a clearly offensive military and nuclear doctrine, the destabilization of sovereign states, the backing of rebel groups and military intervention, CELAC is our most valuable work, with which we defend more than two centuries of struggle and hope.