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There WAS a recount of the Prop 37, and it was stopped cold

Los Angeles community went out to support Prop. 37.

by Jon Rappoport
Infowars.com

The relentless Brad Friedman of TheBradBlog ran this story down and broke it. There was, indeed, a recount of the Prop 37 vote.

Prop 37, the ballot measure that would have mandated labeling of all GMO food sold in California, went down to defeat last November, under suspicious circumstances.

So a small group, headed by Tom Courbat, former senior budget analyst for LA County, The group decided Fresno County should be next. That’s when trouble came and whole thing blew up. The county clerk in Fresno, in charge of all voting processes, is Brandi Orth.

As The Brad Blog reveals, Orth came up with a staggering price for a vote recount. Here are a few of the details:

Orth stated there would be an up-front fee, due before the recount even started, of $18,000.

The cost per DAY of doing the recount? $4,000. This included five vote counters who would each be paid $46 an hour—to sit and count. Then there would be a three-person executive staff, each of whom would be paid an astonishing $92 an hour.

Note: In Orange County, the Prop 37 recount didn’t cost $4,000 a day. The fee? Only $600 a day!

But here is the best part. As Tom Courbat, the leader of the Prop 37 recount group, spoke with Fresno County Clerk, Brandi Orth, he suddenly learned he was being charged for the phone conversation—and also for Orth’s staff “getting ready” for a recount!

Understand this. No recount had begun. Courbat hadn’t given the green light for a recount. But, he was informed, he was already $4000 in the hole.

Courbat estimated a vote recount in Fresno County was going to cost his group $78,000 by the end of three weeks worth of work. They didn’t have the money.

The Fresno County recount was toast. And with it went any chance (even if one assumes a recount would be honest) that Prop 37 could be fairly reviewed in California.

At this point, I ran down a few facts about Fresno County. It’s the number-one county in the US for agricultural production; in 2007, $5.3 billion. Major employers? Kraft Foods, Del Monte Foods, Foster Farms, Zacky Farms, Sun-Maid. A local outfit, David Sunflower Seeds, is owned by the giant ConAgra.

Beginning to form a picture? Fresno is Big Agriculture, and the last time I looked, Big Ag isn’t rushing to support GMO labeling. They love Monsanto, crime boss of the GMO world.

Brandi Orth, who blocked the recount, was installed as Fresno county clerk a mere 10 months before Prop 37 went up before California voters. This happened, as The Brad Blog points out, because the previous county clerk, Victor Salazar, suddenly announced his retirement with three years left on his contract.

Who picked Orth as the new county clerk? The five members of the Fresno board of supervisors. I noticed that two of them, Phil Larson and Debbie Poochigian, were members of the Fresno County Farm Bureau.

That’s quite interesting, because in the run-up to the November Prop 37 vote, the Farm Bureau was one of the organizations that signed on to a large NO on 37 print ad.

Let’s recap. The recount on the Prop 37 vote is stopped cold in Fresno County (a major center of Big Ag), because the county clerk, Brandi Orth put up absurd, incredible, and arbitrary obstacles. Orth was selected for her job, in the first place, by a board of supervisors on which, at the very least, two of the five members were opponents of Prop 37.

Does the California state government and, in particular, the state attorney general’s office give this foul-smelling situation even a sniff? No.

Does the California Secretary of State, Debra Bowen, who is in charge of all voting in the State, budge from her office and investigate, or better yet, go down to Fresno and personally install a fair and equitable and affordable recount of Prop 37? Of course not. She moves right along to other matters.
What does that tell you?

The stink from the blocked vote-recount goes all the way from Fresno up to the capital city of Sacramento and back down again.

Naturally, the major media give this story no play. They remain silent.

As I’ve detailed in other articles (under the ~/category/yeson37/ section of my blog), there are many reasons to reject the truth of the original Prop 37 vote in California, as well as any election in the State. But after these revelations, if you accept California vote-counts as real, you should check your sanity.

Source: The Brad Blog, “Forget About Fresno: How One CA County Clerk Stopped Prop 37s Oversight ‘Recount’” Jon Rappoport

The author of an explosive collection, THE MATRIX REVEALED, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free emails at www.nomorefakenews.com. By Infowars.com.

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U.N. welcomes trial for genocide in Guatemala

by the El Reportero’s news services

Efraín Ríos Montt Efraín Ríos Montt

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations extolled today the opening tomorrow of a trial for genocide in Guatemala against ex president Efraín Ríos Montt and ex intelligence chief José Rodríguez, both ex generals.

In this regard, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, urged Guatemalan authorities to protect from intimidation and reprisal the judges, attorneys, lawyers and others involved in the trial.

In a statement from Geneva, Pillay considered this is a historic trial for genocide and crimes against humanity that must bring the “long awaited justice for thousands of victims” of the 36 year-long armed conflict in Guatemala.

She also welcomed the decision by the Constitutional Court of Guatemala to deny an appeal on the grounds of unconstitutionality filed by the defendants’ defense team because genocide and crimes against humanity “must never be covered by amnesties.”

This is the first time ever in the world that a former head of State is tried for genocide by a national court, said Pillay as she highlighted the importance that the trial is in Guatemala and 30 years after the events happened.

The principles of independence of justice imply that the judges must be protected from wrongful influences, incentives, threats or interferences to secure full impartiality, transparency and due process, she insisted. The two defendants are considered as the alleged masterminds of the killing of 1,771 native people from the Mayan Ixil ethnic group, mostly elderly people and children, in 1982-1983.

Argentina asks Pope Francis to m,editate on Falk lands

ROME – The president of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez on Monday called to meditation of the Pope Francis to open a dialogue between his country and the United Kingdom on the conflict over the Falkland Islands.

I have asked his intervention to achieve a dialogue between the parties, told the president toreporters after holding a private audience with the new Pope, who until last week was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires. At a press conference, Fernandez recalled a similar conflict between Chile and Argentina over the Beagle channel, for which the parties had the intervention of Pope John Paul II.

Mexico and Brazil agree visa exemption

MEXICO- The governments of Mexico and Brazil will mutually suspend short duration visas in ordinary passports for their citizens, reported the Foreign Ministry (SRE).

This decision is a result of agreements reached in a meeting between Presidents Enrique Pena Nieto and Dilma Rousseff during the Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

The Mexican president expressed his government’s interest in giving priority to links with Latin America, and steps in that direction included meetings held with counterparts during the CELAC summit held in Santiago de Chile on January.

Panama and Costa Rica Approve Relaxed Border Crossing

The Governments of Panama and Costa Rica have signed an agreement allowing free crossing of their borders by citizens from both countries, the national Executive confirmed today in a press release published at its official website.

According to the source, the agreement was signed during the opening ceremony of the International David Fair, where in the presence of President Ricardo Martinelli, his Costa Rican counterpart Laura Chinchilla presented and passed on to the relevant Panamanian authorities the document that establishes the possibility of moving from one country to the other without use of a passport.

Martinelli and Chinchilla opened the 58th David Fair yesterday, where the president of Costa Rica spoke and gave the Governor of Chiquiri, Aixa Santamaria, the new document that Costa Rican and Panamanian citizens will be able to use.

This step shows that both nations enjoy a strong relationship based on mutual trust, in addition to a shared demilitarized border, said Chinchilla.
Martinelli said that the relations between both governments are solid and they would keep taking important steps in the interest of the two nations. He also said the establishment of an identity card to enter both countries is a significant step forward.

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Cyprus government raids checking and savings acounts as citizens panic

by Mike Adams
ANALYSIS

The day is coming when the U.S. government will claim it “owns” a portion of all our bank accounts, and it will electronically drain our accounts of money in a grand theft scheme designed to pay off the banksters while decimating private savings.

Don’t believe it? That day has already arrived in the European nation of Cyprus, where the government made a secret deal with the IMF to loot private bank accounts of up to 10 percent of current deposits. Banks went along with the theft, sealing off the funds from account holders. The government now plans to initiate millions of funds transfers as early as Tuesday, draining private accounts of the money the government now claims it owns.

“Restrictions have been imposed to stop people emptying their accounts or moving their money out of the country following the deal with other eurozone finance ministers, under which ordinary citizens’ deposits will be directly raided for the first time,” reports the Daily Mail.

It continues: “But financial experts said the move — designed to stop Cyprus crashing out of the euro, potentially destroying the currency — would send shock waves through the eurozone. If savers in other troubled nations fear their accounts might be next, they could withdraw their money and spark a catastrophic run on the banks.”

Outright government theft of after-tax money

Just to be clear: even after you earn money by working your job and paying your taxes, any money you have in a bank account can be seized without notice as the government loots private savings to bail out wealthy bankers.

Not surprisingly, bank customers freaked out across Cyprus and began lining up in front of ATMs to withdraw as much cash as possible, causing fears of bank runs.

This seizing of private funds held in bank accounts is being called a “bailout” by eurozone cleptocrats. This is the model of theft that we are going to see replicated all across the EU as the global debt collapse takes hold. When wealthy bankers and investment houses make bad decisions on derivatives debt, they will be “bailed out” by a combination of governments creating fiat currency and / or looting the bank accounts of private citizens.

Now it’s clear why DHS needs 1.6 billion bullets and armored assault vehicles

If you’ve been wondering why DHS thinks it needs 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition, 7,000+ full-auto assault rifles, and 2,700+ armored assault vehicles, all for use on the streets of America, the answer is now clear:

The U.S. government is going to loot private bank accounts when the global debt collapse strikes, stealing everybody’s money and setting off nationwide riots that will be held in check using armored assault vehicles and automatic weapons fire.

This is what the government sees coming: A global collapse of the 1+ quadrillion dollars in derivatives debt, causing a runaway cascade of wealth destruction and bank failures. No nation on the planet carries more debt than the U.S. government, making it more vulnerable to a debt collapse than any other nation.

Once a global debt collapse spreads to America, the U.S. government will be unable to sell new debt, meaning it will have no choice but to print currency and start looting private bank accounts just to stay afloat. The value of the currency will be rapidly eroded, causing dollars that people have saved in bank accounts to plummet in value by the day. When the government loots private bank accounts, all hell will break loose in the streets, and a national state of Martial Law will be declared to try to stop the violent riots that will be unleashed in every major city.

The U.S. government, like every other government in the world, is like a cancer tumor in that it would rather kill the host than face death itself.

There is no limit to the actions the U.S. government will take in an attempt to keep itself afloat, including confiscating private bank accounts, confiscating gold, demanding all gun owners turn in their guns or be arrested, and even confiscating large sectors of the economy such as the technology sector. Don’t be surprised if the U.S. government seizes Google, for example, and then begins to censor the search results of all websites critical of the government.

All those in society who produce wealth will be told to hand over their wealth to the government. The billions of rounds of ammunition (and armored assault vehicles ordered by DHS) are to be used by the government to make sure the populace complies. Drones will also be used to kill any who resist by firing missiles at their homes or businesses. This is why Obama continues to claim the right to use drone strikes on U.S. soil to target “enemies” of America (meaning enemies of his regime).

How to protect yourself from government theft

As Cyprus clearly demonstrates, we are now entering the era of runaway government theft of private bank accounts. This is a warning sign of deep desperation, and it’s a sign of things to come across the globe. The global debt pyramid is a fictional construct built on a house of cards, and it’s going to come crashing down in a violent, desperate implosion that impacts every nation on the planet.

How can you protect yourself from this theft? Trade dollars for REAL things now, while you still can. Here’s my list of real assets that are far more valuable than dollars, Euros or any other currency:

• Farm land with good topsoil and multiple water supplies (more valuable than gold!)

• Heirloom seeds

• Physical gold and silver (not held in a bank, obviously)

• Farm equipment such as tractors and farm implements

• Firearms and ammunition

• Home food production systems (aquaponics) – see these websites: http://theaquaponicsource.com (has an awesome online course). http://www.backyardaquaponics.com. Mike Adams is the editor of Natural News.

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Five ways to strengthen your immunity using simple food choices

by Jonathan Benson
Natural News

The best way to avoid developing colds, influenza, and other viral diseases this winter is not to go out and get more vaccines and over-the-counter drugs.

Your immune system is fully equipped to thwart these conditions naturally on its own, provided you feed it the nutrients it needs in order to maintain homeostasis. Here are five ways to strengthen your immune system naturally using simple food choices:

1) Garlic

This powerful member of the onion family comes up frequently in lists of food and herbs that promote health and prevent disease, and for good reason.

Garlic’s high allicin content is largely responsible for its disease-fighting effects, as this powerful antioxidant compound neutralizes free radicals and quells diseasecausing inflammation. As a whole, garlic has been used for thousands of years to prevent and treat respiratory, bacterial, fungal, viral, and parasitic infections as well. A 2009 study published in the international chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie found that allicin in particular is uniquely effective at targeting free radicals, far surpassing virtually all other natural antioxidants in terms of both its efficacy and efficiency.

According to Dr. Derek Pratt, a professor of chemistry and Canada Research Chair in Free Radical Chemistry, no other known compound, either natural or synthetic, works as effectively as an antioxidant as does allicin. (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090130154901.htm)

2) Homemade chicken soup

Arguably one of the most effective, and delicious, natural remedies for preventing and treating viral infections, homemade chicken soup made from whole, pasture-raised chickens is loaded with disease-fighting nutrients such as cysteine, an amino acid released during the cooking of chicken that, according to Prevention.com resembles the bronchitis drug acetylcysteine. Real chicken broth made from whole chickens, bones and all, also contains a host of beneficial fats, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that support vibrant immunity.

Gelatin, for instance, which is naturally formed in chicken broth, is a food substance composed of both essential and non-essential amino acids that is critical for regulating immunity, promoting healthy digestion, improving liver function, and strengthening bones. Dr. Kaayla T. Daniel, Ph.D., C.C.N., writing for the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF), explains in further detail how the gelatin found in natural chicken broth is essential for health. You can read her paper here: http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/why-broth-is-beautiful. You can also learn how to make your own immuneboosting stocks and soups at home by visiting the following recipe page put together by Healthy Home Economist and WAPF Chapter Leader Sarah Pope: http://www.westonaprice.org.

3) Sweet potatoes

A rich source of both vitamins A and C, sweet potatoes are another essential immune-boosting food. Sweet potatoes are particularly beneficial for your skin, which just so happens to be your body’s largest organ, and the first line of defense against harmful bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens. But this starchy root vegetable also contains nutrients that improve cardiovascular and nervous system health, and also boost immunity.

Sweet potatoes are also one of the most effective foods for boosting glutathione levels in the body. Glutathione is often referred to as the “master antioxidant,” as it plays a primary role in detoxifying cells and fighting off free radicals. In general, high glutathione levels are absolutely vital for maintaining strong immunity, which in turn helps lengthen lifespan and improve overall quality of life. (http://drnevillewilson.com)

4) Mushrooms

Long revered in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for their incredible ability to stimulate the immune system, mushrooms of numerous sorts may hold the key to keeping you and your family healthy during the winter season. Copious research, including a 2009 study out of Arizona State University, has revealed that white button, reishi, maitake, shiitake and oyster mushrooms, to name just a few, all possess unique immune-boosting properties that make them a worthy addition to a healthy diet.
“[Mushrooms] are ‘functional foods’ and/or ‘dietary ingredients,’ which help support the immune system on a fundamental, multi-factorial level,” says acupuncturist and nutritionist Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald. “We need all the support we can get as our immune systems and health are under assault from pollution, stress, contaminated food and age-related diseases as our lifespans increase.” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com)

5) Brazil nuts

One of nature’s richest sources of selenium, Brazil nuts are distinctively beneficial in promoting a healthy immune system. Recognized for its ability to stimulate the production of antibodies, selenium is involved in most functions of cellular biochemistry, and is absolutely essential for proper immune function. Selenium also plays an important role in the production and function of glutathione which, as mentioned earlier, boosts adaptive immunity and promotes the production of white blood cells.

“Dietary selenium is essential for an optimum immune response (as it) influences both the innate, ‘non-adaptive’ and the acquired, ‘adaptive’ immune systems,” explains a 2003 study on selenium published in The Journal of Nutrition, which found that multiple aspects of immune function are dependent on selenium.

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The great Cyprus bank robbery shows that there is no bank account that is safe

Marvin J. Ramirez

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: Most of you might think that the US government would never touch your bank savings, that the dollar would never collapse, or that the US would never let the economic system to breakdown.

Well, as many might have seen just this week, the small nation, Cyprus, has become the latest experiment of nationalization of its own people bank accounts, the beginning of a domino reaction that could come anytime – after rolling over the European Union – to America. The famous bailout just recently in the US was just a small show of what it can be done without the people’s consent, and which is expected to hit home in a near future.

The guest article below for this week is Michael Snyder’s, The great Cyprus Bank robber shows that no bank account is safe,” explains in very much detail, what we, as Americans, should expect and be ready for when this same medicine is applied in home.

The great Cyprus Bank robbery shows that no bank account is safe

by Michael Snyder
Economic Collapse

The global elite has now proven that when the chips are down they are going to go after any big pile of money that they think they can get their hands on. That means that no bank account, no retirement fund and no stock portfolio on earth is safe. Up until now, most people assumed that private bank accounts were untouchable and that deposit insurance actually meant something. Now we see that there is no pile of money that is considered “off limits” by the global elite and deposit insurance means absolutely nothing. The number one thing that any financial system depends on is faith. If people do not have faith in the safety and stability of a financial system, it will not work. Well, the people that rule the world have just taken a sledgehammer to the trust that we all had in the global financial system. They have broken the unwritten social contract that global banking depends on. So now we will see a run on the banks, and this will not just be limited to a few countries in southern Europe. Rather, this will be worldwide in scope. Yoda may have put it this way: “Begun, the global bank run has.” All over the world, frightened people are going to start pulling money out of the banks. A lot of that money will go into gold, silver and other hard assets. And as money starts coming out of the banks, this could cause many of the large banks that have been teetering on the edge of disaster to finally collapse.

Many of you may not believe that they would ever come after bank accounts, retirement funds or stock portfolios in the United States.

Many of you may be entirely convinced that the Great Cyprus Bank Robbery could never happen in America.

Well, where do you think this whole plan was dreamed up?

It was the IMF that reportedly pushed the hardest for the wealth tax in Cyprus, and the IMF is headquartered right in the heart of Washington D.C.
Almost every nation on the planet has to deal with the IMF. It is an organization that is dominated by the United States and that is always involved when there is an international debt crisis.

If the IMF thinks that it is a great idea to steal from bank accounts to solve a financial crisis in Cyprus, why wouldn’t they impose a similar solution in other countries in the future?

And if bank accounts are no longer safe, are there any truly safe places to put your money?

You can trust the politicians when they tell you that an unannounced “wealth tax” will never happen where you live if you want, but that is the exact same lie that the politicians in Cyprus were telling their people until the day that it happened. The following is from an article in the Cyprus Mail newspaper …

And after all, President Anastasiades had emphatically declared in his inauguration speech that “absolutely no reference to a haircut on public debt or deposits will be tolerated,” adding that “such an issue isn’t even up for discussion.” Finance Minister Michalis Sarris made similarly reassuring statements, arguing that it would be lunacy for the EU to impose such a measure because it would threaten the euro system.

At this point, politicians in Cyprus have been given two very unappealing options. Either they vote yes on the wealth tax and destroy all faith in the banking system of Cyprus, or they vote no and they are forced out of the eurozone. In either case, we will probably see the financial system of Cyprus collapse and their economy plunge deep into depression.

At this point, the vote has been delayed until Tuesday. (At press time, reported Reuters, “Cyprus extended a bank lockdown to next week and considered nationalizing pension funds on Wednesday, scrambling to avert a financial meltdown after rejecting the terms of a bailout from the European Union and turning to Russia for a lifeline.”

Apparently some additional “arm twisting” was required to get the needed votes.

And there have been proposals to change the terms of the wealth tax. Reportedly, some politicians want to impose a maximum rate of up to 15 percent on bank accounts of over 500,000 euros so that the rate on smaller accounts can be decreased.

It has also been announced that the earliest that banks in Cyprus will reopen will be Thursday. (However, at press time, reported Reuters, “Banks, shut since the weekend, are to stay closed for the rest of the week and so not reopen till Tuesday after a holiday weekend, extending the misery of Cypriot businesses already feeling the pinch.”

But what is happening in Cyprus is small potatoes compared to how this will affect the rest of the world. The entire planet is watching this unfold, and as a recent article by Lucas Jackson described, faith in the global financial system is being greatly shaken… http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-18/end-systemic-trust-canary-just-died.

IT WLL CONTINUE NEXT WEEK.

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If gun control passes, there will come ‘free speech control’ and the government banning of websites, books and arts

by Mike Adams
Natural News

The purpose of the Bill of Rights is to establish a line in the sand that cannot be crossed by government. The founders rightly saw government as an eternal threat against freedom and justice, knowing that all governments inevitably grow out of control like a cancer tumor, always seeking more and more power until they kill the host. The answer to this destructive pattern of dangerous government throughout human history was to place limits on government power and stake out fundamental rights and freedoms that can never be infringed.

That’s the Bill of Rights, the original ten amendments to the Constitution.

The Bill of Rights says the government can never ban your free speech, take away your firearms, search your house or your person without a warrant, quarter soldiers in your home without permission, force you to testify against yourself, throw you in prison without a fair trial and so on. Nearly every scholar, when it comes down to it, agrees these are fundamental human rights and civil liberties.

Today’s federal government believes the Bill of Rights is optional

But today’s government, under both the Bush and Obama administrations, believes it has the power and the right to violate the Bill of Rights when it wants to. Sen. Feinstein, President Obama and Vice President Biden specifically believe the Bill of Rights is only a suggestion, not the law of the land, and so they can selectively ignore it when they want to.

The problem with this philosophy is that if the Second Amendment can be selectively ignored, then so can the First Amendment. Anyone who supports government gun control restrictions — all of which are illegal under the Constitution — must also support the power of the government to ban selected books and websites which do not agree with the White House view of the world. If Obama can have a “kill list” of Americans to assassinate, which he does, then he must also have the power of a “web site kill list” of which websites to seize or take offline.

Guns first, then books and websites

This is not an article about the merits of private firearms ownership, by the way; it’s an article about what happens next, if the guns are taken away. If we lose our Second Amendment rights, it’s only a matter of time before Obama says something like, “Websites that criticize the government are dangerous and we are going to seize them and shut them down.”

What’s to stop them from doing so? Nothing! The U.S. government has already seized and shut down thousands of websites it claims are involved in “piracy,” shutting them down with no due process, no trial, no jury and not even a search warrant. The government simply invokes some power it has never been granted, then uses that false power to seize entire servers full of websites. This action is blatantly illegal, unconstitutional and tyrannical.

Those who argue in favor of gun control are, in essence, arguing that government has no limits, meaning that government can decide when and where the Bill of Rights applies.

This question was brilliantly asked by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz — a rising star of liberty in the Congress — who leveled the question at Sen. Feinstein, a wicked dictatorial creature of darkness who literally worships enslavement and tyranny. Sen. Cruz asked Feinstein whether she believed the government had the power to selectively ban books it didn’t like, to which Feinstein arrogantly answered that she didn’t “need to be lectured” like a schoolgirl.

And yet apparently she does, because she fails to understand the entire meaning of the Bill of Rights. She does not understand the words, “shall not be infringed,” even though they are written in plain English. Like all other tyrants, Feinstein accepts no limits to her government power, and she plans to expand that power by force, if necessary, to dominate and enslave the people she claims to serve.

Feinstein = Kim Jong-Un = Mao = Stalin = Hitler

Feinstein is the perfect example of where all government eventually leads: the usurpation of power and the trampling on the rights and liberties of the people. If you extrapolate Feinstein out for a few more decades, you get Kim Jong-Un, the sociopathic cult leader of the nation of North Korea, where government is literally worshipped as God and there are absolutely no individual rights or freedoms remaining. Sen. Feinstein would fit right in with Kim Jong-Un’s administration because she shares the same philosophy of the government holding all power while the people hold none.

This is yet another reason why holding our ground on the Second Amendment is so important. Obama has already taken away our Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights with his blatantly illegal NDAA. Bush also stole rights away from the people with his Patriot Act. Together, Bush and Obama are the two most dangerous presidents in the history of America due to the way they have claimed federal powers that do not exist while systematically crushing the Bill of Rights.

If we allow the federal government to place aggressive new restrictions on our right to keep and bear arms, then we condone the government’s “right” to place restrictions on what books we can read, what websites we can publish and whether we can protest peacefully on a street corner. A government that has no limits respects no freedoms, you see. And if the government can first disarm the population, then what’s to stop it from shutting down all websites and alternative media outlets that are critical of government, too?

See, those who believe in gun control also believe, by definition, that private ownership gun rights are “granted” by the government. Therefore, the government can revoke what it previously granted. They do not understand what the Constitution says, which is that all rights are inherently found in the People, and the People selectively grant certain limited powers to the government for the purpose of administering things like the postal service and national defense against foreign enemies. The government does not have unlimited powers, nor does it have the right to take away powers that the People are born with. Any person who believes government has all the power and the People have none is possessed with a radically distorted misunderstanding of history and law. Such ideas as extremely dangerous to liberty, and yet they have infected the minds of a great many voters and lawmakers.

Gun control is illegal

Speaking of law, thanks to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, gun control is illegal in America. It violates the Bill of Rights and violates the very foundation of America, which is that the People grant certain specific, limited powers to government, and that all government power comes from the People and can be revoked by the People.

Accordingly, any lawmaker engaged in the act of introducing gun control bills or voting for gun control is engaged in a criminal act that violates the highest laws of the land. As such, they should be arrested and prosecuted for acts of sedition — for attempting to “overthrow the People,” as it were. Hilariously, the federal government says anyone who is critical of the government “might be a terrorist,” but in truth, it’s agents of the government who are violating the People who are, by any honest historical accounting, the true danger to a free society.

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Latina Spirit Conference celebrates Women’s Month

Compiled by the El Reportero’s staff

Kerensa de MarsKerensa de Mars

The Bay Area celebrates Women’s History Month with a TRUE Latina Spirit Conference…benefitting the Chicana/Latina Foundation. A TRUE Latina.com and the Chicana/Latina Foundation invite you to come and hear some of the issues affecting Latinas today and celebrate our contributions in culture, art, opportunity and family. Speakers include Esther Peralez-Dieckmann, Director, Office of Women’s Policy; Olga Talamante, Executive Director, Chicana/Latina Foundation; Carmen Castellano, Philanthropist; Elisa Orona, President, Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley and Ana María Osorio, Culture & Press, Mexican Consulate, San José.

Sunday, March 24, 2013, 1:00-5pm at Theatre, School of Arts and Culture @ MHP, 1700 Alum Rock Ave., San José, California. FREE EVENT.

Corazón del Barrio: MCCLA’s annual open house

It will be a memorable night of dance, music, poetry, video and visual arts. Amelia Romano will accompany the event with her harp, while Kerensa deMars will bring her flamenco flavor, Tango with Nora Dinzelbacher and piano by the youth poet and composer Anais Azul. Bay Area poet Nina Serrano will open doors of MCCLA’s memories. 35 years of art and culture will be presented its magazine “Corazón del Barrio.”

Receive a FREE magazine containing the history of the MCCLA from the last five years in images, and special sections with details of classes, events, Mission Grafica posters, articles by Nina Serrano, poems by Alejandro Murguía and more. MCCLA would like to thank sponsors and community supporters in this issue, Gracias!

$7 entrance fee for “Luna Negra” Show and Free for the 35th anniversary magazine release reception. Wednesday, March 27 at 7:33 p.m. Cover $8.

At 2868 Mission St San Francisco. For more info call at (415) 821-1155 or visit: missionculturalcenter.org.

Free job counseling Fourth Wednesdays in Berkeley Public Library’s Electronic Classroom

Looking for a job? Or perhaps have a job and am not too sure that is a job you want to stay with? Come for free job counseling provided by North Cities One Stop’s counselors. This free drop-in program takes place at the Central Library, 2090 Kittredge (at Shattuck), March 27, from 2 – 3:30 p.m., in the third floor Electronic Classroom.

The Drop-in Career Counseling offers free assistance with job search strategies, social networking tips, creating or improving a resume, interviewing, or salary negotiation. The career counseling program takes place every 4th Wednesday of the month, from 2 – 3:30 p.m., in the Berkeley Public Library’s third floor Electronic Classroom.

For questions regarding this program, call 510-981-6148. For accessibility information, call (510) 981-6195 TTY (510) 548-1240, http://berkeleypubliclibrary.org.

Casa Sánchez day music welcomes back Luis Medina

Hang out with the salsa master, shake your butt, have a great dinner.
Dance floor, high energy from 7 to 11p.m., only $6 cover. All ages.

At 2778 24th St. @ York Award winning Mexican Food menu by Ayutla Restaurant.

Luis Medina is music Director for KPFA & Producer-Host of “Con Sabor” on Saturday eves from 9-11 pm on KPFA 94.1 FM. Professional DJ, Master Of Ceremonies & features writer. Have over 30 years of practical experience in media and entertainment.

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Mexico offering greater opportunities to aspiring Spanish musicians

by the El Reportero’s news services and Hispanically Speaking News

Jodi ÁriasJodi Árias

Spanish musicians are looking to Mexico for opportunities amid the deep economic recession that has hurt music sales and dampened concert attendance in their homeland.

Mexico is a dynamic market that offers Spanish musicians the chance to keep sharing their work with the world and earn a living from their art.

Carlos Garcia, director of planning for the Spanish Music Producers Association, or Promusicae, plans to travel to Mexico and the United States in coming days to try to find new markets.

“With the Spanish market having dropped so much, one of the increasingly necessary options is to go outside, both for the groups and their managers, and the music companies,” Garcia told Efe in a telephone interview.

Mexico is the No. 3 market for exports of Spanish music, trailing only the European Union and the United States, and is the market growing the most in Latin America, the Promusicae official said.

Several concert venues opened in Mexico last year, such as the Auditorio Blackberry, which has a seating capacity of about 4,000, and the Arena Ciudad de Mexico, which holds more than 22,000 people.

The festival has become one of the largest music events in Latin America.
Soziedad Alkoholika, Los Punsetes, Violadores del Verso, Mala Rodríguez, Dorian, Ska-p, Arianna Puello, Corizonas and Xoel López are the other bands performing in the 14th edition of the festival, which has the largest number of Spanish bands in its history on the 2013 bill.

Lifetime to Make Movie Based on Trial of Accused Murderer Jodi Arias

Currently on trial for killing her ex-boyfriend in 2008, Jodi Arias’ trial has made national headlines much like Casey Anthony.

Also like Anthony, Arias’ story is being made into a Lifetime movie.

Arias is being tried for first degree murder after admitting to killing her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander in 2008. Prior to admitting to the killing and claiming self-defense, Arias lied to police numerous times about what happened. She first claimed she was not at his Mesa, Arizona home when he was killed. She then changed her story to say intruders killed before finally admitting to ending Alexander’s life.

The trial has focused mainly Arias’ claims that she killed Alexander in self-defense, though she often claims to have forgotten what happened. On Friday, her defense team presented a psychologist who testified Arias has PTSD and that she really not remember a lot of what happened on the day of Alexander’s murder.

Danzón dancers will gather in international festival in Cuba

Danzon Lovers from Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Cuba will gather here in the international Festival of that gender, celebrated in honor of the first song composed by Miguel Failde in 1879 on the island “Las Alturas de Simpson” (Simpson heights).

Havana Danzon also pays tribute to Consejo Valiente Robert (Santiago de Cuba, 1899), better known as Acerina, who was percussionist and drummer and led the Cuban Danzon to Mexico, on the centenary of this event.

Sponsored by the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, the event, to be held from March 27 to 31, is dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the orchestra Siglo XX.

Speaking on television, the president of the organizing committee, the Cuban musician Jose Loyola, said the event is a tribute to the traditional Cuban music genre and that the festival is one way to keep it alive.

Concerts, conferences and dance competitions that include performances of new generations are among the proposals.

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Boxing

Saturday, April 27, 2013 Argentina

Sergio Martínez (C, No. 4 P4P) vs. Martin Murray (No. 8) 12 rounds – Middleweight division (for Martínez’s RING, WBC titles).

Saturday, May 4, 2013 Las Vegas

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (No. 1, No. 1 P4P) vs. TBA 12 rounds – Welterweight division (for Mayweather’s WBC title).

Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013 Las Vegas

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (No. 1, No. 1 P4P) vs. TBA 12 rounds – Welterweight division (for Mayweather’s WBC title).

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Immigration reform: will farming finally get fixed?

Farm workers working somewhere in the crops in the U.S. (PHOTO BY NEW AMERICA MEDIA)

by Adrian Florido PRI’s The World

Noel Stehly’s organic farm is at the end of a winding country road just north of San Diego. It’s a 200-acre farm, but orange and avocado crops only fill about half of it. The rest is empty.

“I’ve had to cut back on what I plant in my fields,” Stehly said. “I decided not to harvest some things because I couldn’t get the labor to do it.”
It is a long-standing complaint among farmers. The economy and tough immigration enforcement have sapped the local workforce. In theory, this should not be a problem. A federal guest worker program called H-2A allows Stehly, or any U.S. farmer, to bring in as many temporary foreign workers as they need.
But Stehly laughs when asked why he hasn’t used the program. “I’m not doing it,” he said.

Eric Larson, head of the San Diego County Farm Bureau, doesn’t blame him. “Sure, the H-2A program says go ahead and bring farm workers in, but the H-2A program doesn’t work,” he said.

To participate, farmers have to prove to the US Labor Department that they have tried to hire American workers but could not. They must transport guest workers from their home country, often Mexico, and provide housing and three meals a day. They must also show that their guest workers will not drag down local wages. All this means lots of money, paperwork and, often, attorneys.

“Consequently, nobody uses it,” said Larson. “I think we’ve got one farmer in San Diego County that uses the H-2A for about eight workers, where in reality we have 10,000 to 12,000 farm workers in San Diego County.”

Larson said that those thousands of workers are a mix of laborers without papers and aging legal workers, neither ideal for farm owners.

Across the US, farmers recruit an estimated 55,000 H-2A workers each year. But they are mostly in Florida and the Midwest, because in California enforcement of the H-2A program’s rules is strict. Now, as immigration reform takes shape, the farm lobby wants to make hiring these workers easier. What Larson, the farm bureau director, wants, is simple: A card that would let workers, mostly from Mexico, to cross the border when needed and return home when the seasonal needs are over.

But labor and immigrant rights groups say that an open-door guest worker program could hurt workers. They point to stories like one farm worker I interviewed, who requested anonymity because he worried that speaking out might risk his tomato-picking job.

He said that he arrived to California illegally in 1973 and became a citizen when Ronald Reagan signed an amnesty bill. For years, he has picked on tomato farms alongside seasonal H-2A workers.

He said that he was told to keep up with the young guest workers, who pick fruit faster and work long hours. Older workers like him, he said, faced significant pressure to keep up and worried about getting replaced. “It’s impossible,” he said.

Cynthia Rice is an attorney for California Rural Legal Assistance, which provides legal aid to farm workers. She said that this worker’s story highlights the threat H-2A poses to both guest workers and US farm workers.

“The H-2A program still creates a second class of workers, specifically in agriculture,” Rice said.

She said that H-2A guest workers cannot switch employers, even if those employers impose grueling production standards. Workers have to either stick it out or they can go home.

“The H-2A worker can’t really vote with his feet,” said Rice.

These concerns are driving some immigrant advocates groups to oppose any guest-worker program. They say that labor is available and their focus is on legalizing the millions of undocumented people already in the US, hoping they’ll fill these jobs and possibly demand higher wages.

But the farming industry is pushing for the freedom to bring in temporary, low cost labor. Both President Obama and Republicans lawmakers recognize that need, which is why some advocates hope for at least stronger labor rights for all workers.

Noel Stehly, the citrus and avocado farmer, said that his needs are clear: His farm requires more workers, and the proof is in his empty fields. He recalled what one of his employees said years back. “He said, ‘How can we amass X amount of hundreds of thousands of troops at the border of Kuwait in a matter of a week, but we can’t put a gate at the border that says, I got a job, you got a worker?’”

At the same time, the tomato-picking farm worker said that he would like all workers to have more rights and less fear and said that another amnesty would help. This year may determine whether both men see their wishes realized.

Adrián Florido is a reporter with Fronteras: Changing America Desk, a public radio collaboration in the southwest focusing on the border and immigration issues.

 

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