by the El Reportero’s wire services

Rosario Murillo

Nicaragua started today evacuating more than 300 families in a radius of three kilometers from San Cristobal Volcano, north Chinandega, because it has increased activity.

Rosario Murillo, coordinator of the Consejo de Comunicación y Ciudadanía, asked the people to cooperate and move into shelters to prevent further difficulties, especially exposing their health and lives.

Murillo highlight in telephone interview for Canal 4 TV chanel the work of the Sistema Nacional de Atención, Mitigación y Prevención de Desastres (Sinapred) and other bodies from yesterday because of the rumbles and the 500 to 800 m-high gas and ash emission.

The government brass stressed on the need to support those working for the people’s welbeing and assured that there will always be fresh news on the developments and measures enforced under the yellow alert in the volcano’s vecinity through Sinatrep.

President Daniel Ortega, for his part, ordered to enforce the yellow alert to introduce the measures needed should further complication may occur and activated the Municipal Committees of Prevention, Mitigation and Disaster Attention.

The Civil Defense sent in four contingents with the logistics to evacuate the population, added Guillermo Gonzalez, exec. Secr. of Sinapred.

Similar situation in September forced to order road closing, limit the traffic and the use of masks, among other measures, to prevent complications since Nicaragua is sitting right on one of the largest section of the fault in the pacific origin of the 1,750m above sea level colossus.

Chavismo thumps opposition; Capriles provides sole consolation

Venezuela’s beleaguered opposition received a pummelling at the polls on 16 December.

The ruling Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV) swept 20 of the country’s 23 states in regional elections, the best possible palliative for President Hugo Chávez as he convalesces in Cuba.

The only crumb of comfort for the opposition was the victory of Henrique Capriles Radonski in the battle of the heavyweights in Miranda against former vice-president, Elías Jaua. Defeat for incumbent governor Pablo Pérez in the largest state of Zulia means that Capriles is the only candidate with the credibility to stand in presidential elections if Chávez is unable to go on.

Mexico to produce 2.71 million vehicles this year

The automotive production in Mexico will reach 2.7 million vehicles this year, news bulletin reported today.

The official Financial Group Ve por Mas, Manuel Guzman, told reporters that both total production and automobiles export, is in its highs, despite a slight decline in November. He added that these figures show Mexico’s strengths, even in an adverse international environment.

He specified that the main risk that may currently affect the industry is the national fiscal precipice in the United States, its main trading partner.

According to the Mexican Ministry of Economy, last year the country ranked eighth worldwide in automotive production.

Chrysler, Fiat, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Nissan, Toyota and Volks wagen are the brands assembled here.

by Dan Roberts
ammoland.com

News that a mandatory, government sponsored gun buyback scheme is in the planning stages emerged last Friday.

Friday is well known as the day of the week in the news cycle to release information or statements that is unusually controversial or ” bad news,” the theory being that the general public will be so distracted by the upcoming weekend that they will pay little if any attention.

Exploiting this common practice, word emerged at the end of last week that Congresswoman Dianne Feinstein and NY State Gov. Andrew Cuomo are actively working on a planned government fiat to seize lawfully owned private property without cause. In the form of an Australian style mandatory firearms buyback program, going so far as to tout that Countries program and so called positive results, while conveniently omitting the fact that Australia’s violent crime rate dramatically increased in the wake of the scheme and continues unabated.

While details are scant in both Feinstein’s and Cuomo’s press release on the plan, Cuomo was quoted as making it clear that the buyback would be compulsory and participation mandatory. Although it remains a question what the penalties for noncompliance would be. Cuomo further added that they would make gun owners “an offer they can’t refuse” when referring to buyback amounts of up to $500.

Sounding more like a NY mafioso then a “leader” in a Free State with significant Constitutional Protections in the way. Cuomo’s offer serves not only to further reveal his elitist arrogance, but also highlights his ignorance, presuming that the owner of a 1, 2 or 3,000 dollar firearm (or multiple ones) would roll over and comply for a cash value orders of magnitude below retail values.

Also worthy of note is Dianne Feinstein’s previous quotes on the news program 60 Minutes several years ago. During her interview with Mike Wallace about the 1994 to 2004 Clinton Era “Assault Weapons Ban” , where Feinstein lamented the fact she felt the law didn’t go far enough and stated “If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them . . . Mr. and Mrs. America, turn ‘em all in, I would have done it. I could not do that. The votes weren’t here.”

This is the same Feinstein who admitted in another, different interview that when she felt threatened by terrorists, she carried a gun for self-defense and stated “I carried a concealed weapon. I made the determination that if somebody was going to try to take me out, I was going to take them with me.” — April 27,1995.

And Gov Cuomo has a taxpayer supplied 24/7 security detail armed with actual, real fully automatic “assault weapons” at his side and disposal for his safety and the safety of his loved ones.

There should now be overwhelming evidence to anyone with two brain cells to rub together that we are no longer being “led” by elected Officials that took their Oath of Office seriously, but by rulers, tyrants who would be Kings, no different then King George III. We might as well take down Old Glory from every State Capitol and the US Capitol in DC and replace it with the Union Jack, while we’re at it, we can rename Congress, Parliament, because there really are no significant recognizable differences between the yoke of tyranny we are under today and the one we threw off over 200 years ago.

If Feinstein’s and Cuomo’s plan is allowed to proceed even one step further without being vociferously and publicly protested and killed in utero, they will have effectively struck the match and lit the fuse on a Second American Revolution.

About Dan Roberts is a grassroots supporter of gun rights that has chosen AmmoLand Shooting Sports News as the perfect outlet for his frank, ‘Jersey Attitude’ filled articles on Guns and Gun Owner Rights. As a resident of the oppressive state of New Jersey he is well placed to be able to discuss the abuses of government against our inalienable rights to keep and bear arms as he writes from deep behind NJ’s Anti-Gun iron curtain. Read more from Dan Roberts or email him at DRoberts@ammoland.com You can also find him on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dan.roberts.18.

by PF Louis
Natural News

The common disease directly attributed to vitamin C deficiency is scurvy. Scurvy creates a malaise of fatigue and lethargy, affects bone and muscle strength, and stifles the immune system.

Some nutritional experts consider scurvy a manifestation of acidosis, extreme acidity or low pH. That condition gives rise to many other diseases, even cancer. Thanks to using citrus to curb the two million earlier sailors’ scurvy, scurvy’s occurrence has greatly diminished from the late 18th century till now. But it does still occur.

Due to terrible diets or practicing bulimia to become anorexic, there has been a scurvy surge among teens. It can also afflict alcoholics or older people whose ability to absorb vitamin C has diminished from excessive medications or poor diets.

Even infants who are not breast fed by a healthy mom can become scorbutic (manifesting scurvy symptoms).

Although not a wise choice due to toxic additives, most infant formulas are fortified with vitamin C. Most animals can create their own vitamin C.

That’s why they can recover from disease or injury quickly. The problem with us humans, Guinea pigs, and a few other primates is the gene involved with internal vitamin C manufacturing is missing.

The remedy is simple. Introduce more vitamin C food sources into the diet and/or add ascorbic acid supplementation.

Early signs of enc roaching scurvy:

(1) Chronic low energy, strength, and/or depression. Even bone strength is affected. Since acidosis and scurvy are similar, the classic acidosis symptom of wasting away becomes evident while losing weight.

(2) Bleeding gums, loose teeth, or gingivitis. This is an obvious and easy to notice sign that the collagen needed for building and maintaining tissue is deteriorating. Vitamin C is vital for collagen.

(3) Rapid mood changes, short tempers, and irritability can be an early sign of scurvy. Add more vitamin C to your diet or look into other possibilities before seeking pharmaceutical interventions.

(4) Bruises that occur easily, and often linger may be an indication of vitamin C deficiency. Low healing of minor wounds and dryer hair may also point to inadequate vitamin C levels.

(5) Chronic limb or joint pain is another sign for you to check into low vitamin C as a missing nutrient. Sometimes scurvy gets to a point where bleeding occurs within joints, causing severe pain.

(6) Anemia is another sign of possible vitamin C deficiency. If you seem to catch every cold or flu that comes your way, maybe more vitamin C will help elevate your immune system.

Vitamin C deficiency creates neurological problems

A recent study conducted at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Department of Neuroscience in Nashville, Tennessee and recorded in the Journal of Neurochemistry October, 2012, came up with some interesting observations.

They used mice which were genetically engineered to deactivate the genes that normally provide their own vitamin C. Of course, those mice are kept alive and healthy by externally providing them vitamin C with ascorbic acid (AA).

But for the purposes of this study, they created periods of not providing AA and then reintroducing it. Before and after each period, blood samples were taken.

During each deprivation period, behavioral patterns were observed and noted. Depressive and submissive behavior was noted during the initial absence of AA. Compulsions for consuming glucose above all other food types was observed.

After depriving the mice of AA a second time, blood samples indicated “… decreased blood glucose levels, oxidative damage to lipids and proteins in the cortex, and decreases in dopamine and serotonin metabolites in both the cortex and striatum.” In other words, neurological damage.

The miraculous results of IV mega-dose vitamin C or liposomal high cellular absorption vitamin C have been achieved by orthomolecular medical MDs who have used megadose minerals and vitamins for decades, resolving extreme physiological and psychological problems.

by J. D. Heyes

As California continues to drown in red ink, it’s worth noting how the state got into such fiscal dire straits in the first place, as a lesson about how not to run a government.

In a move that smacked of blatant political favoritism, one-term Gov. Gray Davis, who nine years ago became the first U.S. governor in 82 years to be recalled, implemented policies that continue to screw over the state’s 20 million taxpayers who got stuck paying the tab.

“Davis escalated salaries and benefits for 164,000 state workers, including a 34 percent raise for prison guards, the first of a series of steps in which he and successors saddled California with a legacy of dysfunction,” Bloomberg News reported recently in a piece detailing the state’s ongoing budgetary woes. “Today, the state’s highest-paid employees make far more than comparable workers elsewhere in almost all job and wage categories, from public safety to health care, base pay to overtime.”

‘It was completely avoidable’

What’s worse, in the years since, Gray’s successor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was unable to convince enough state lawmakers to help fix the out-of-whack salary structure, despite successive budget deficits totaling tens of billions annually. Seems like lawmakers beholden to public employee unions instead of taxpayers don’t mind police officers making $484,000 and a psychiatrist $822,000 a year, respectively.

According to payroll data compiled by Bloomberg on 1.4 million employees in the 12 most populous states, California is a stand-out. The state “has set a pattern of lax management, inefficient operations and out-of-control costs,” the financial newswire reported.

All across the country, such poor public policy and leadership in the past is forcing states to cut school funding, public safety operations and benefits for their poorest residents “as they struggle with fallout left by politicians who made pay-and-pension promises that taxpayers couldn’t afford,” Bloomberg said.

“It was completely avoidable,” said David Crane, a public-policy lecturer at Stanford University.

“All it took was for political leaders to think more about the general population and the future, rather than their political futures,” said Crane, a Democrat who worked as an economic adviser to former Governor Schwarzenegger, a Republican. “Citizens should be mad as hell, and they shouldn’t take it anymore.”

Big payouts

The pattern of state governments handing out largess to political allies has been repeated from coast to coast and is largely responsible for contributing to combined state budget shortfalls of $500 billion in just the past four years alone.

So much red ink has caused some governors, like Republican Scott Walker of Wisconsin, to remove collective bargaining (union) rights from most government employees, as well as taking other steps to cap or cut payroll spending.

In the Golden State, Gov. Jerry Brown – a stalwart of California politics for most of his professional life who served as the state’s chief executive previously, from 1975-1983 – has been unable to curb overtime expenses that lead the 12 biggest states. He also has not been able to limit payments for accumulated vacation time that saw one state worker collect $609,000 at retirement last year.

He has; however, continued requiring workers to take an unpaid day off each month, which Bloomberg says could burden the state with new costs at some point in the future.

Here’s one of his “solutions” to solving California’s $160 billion budget debt: He waived a cap on accrued leave for prison guards while giving them additional paid days off, compliments of the state’s taxpayers.

Brown did that despite the fact that California’s existing liability for unused leave of its state workers has more than doubled in the past eight years and currently stands at $3.9 billion.

“It’s outrageous what public employees in California receive in compensation and benefits,” Lanny Ebenstein, who heads the California Center for Public Policy, a Santa Barbara-based research institution critical of public payrolls, told Bloomberg. “Until public employee compensation and benefits are brought in line, there will be no answer to the fiscal shortfalls that California governments at every level face.”

More taxes, more spending?

Here are some additional shocking statistics and figures:

— As stated, one state psychiatrist in California was paid $822,000, while a state Highway Patrol officer collected $484,000 in pay and pension benefits; 17 other employees got checks for more than $200,000 for unused vacation and leave.

— State psychiatrists were among the highest paid employees in other states, too, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and New Jersey, with total compensation $270,000 to $327,000 for the highest-paid.

— Some state police officers in Pennsylvania got checks as big as $190,000 for unused personal leave and vacation time, even as they were able to retire young enough to begin second careers.

— Virginia paid some active state officers up to $109,000 in overtime alone.

Again, though, California stands out.

“California spends most of its money on salaries, retirement payments, health care benefits for government workers, and other compensation,” said Schwarzenegger. “State revenues are up more than 50 percent over the past 10 years, but still we’ve had to cut spending on services because so much of that revenue increase went to increases in compensation and benefits.”

One thing Brown has succeeded in accomplishing: He convinced voters to back a huge tax increase last month, all the while promising that the extra money will only be used to help balance the state’s budget.

Where have we heard that before?

by the El Reportero’s news services

Latin News report – Soldiers surrounded the national congress in Tegucigalpa on Dec. 11 and well into the small hours of the next day. Inside a decisive majority of legislators voted to dismiss four supreme court (CSJ) magistrates who had ruled two weeks earlier that a law designed to purge the police of corrupt elements was unconstitutional.

In so doing congress, with the tacit approval of President Porfirio Lobo, flouted the Constitution which nowhere confers upon it the power to dismiss CSJ magistrates. Unravelling the twisted skein of Honduran politics suggests that there was far more at play than just this law, and that the inter-institutional tension which resulted in the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya in June 2009 remains unresolved.

Nicaragua plans more investments in main port

Prensa Latina – The Porto of Corinto, the main point where merchandise enter or leave Nicaragua, will undergo improvement worth 2.5 million USD to increase the country’s competitiveness, it was reported today.

According to Executive President of the National Port Business, Virgilio Silva, infrastructure work in 2013 will reach at least 60 million cordobas (some 2.5 million USD).

Investments respond to the purpose of the government of President Daniel Ortega to turn Corinto, in the Pacific Ocean, into one of the best infrastructures for maritime trade in Central America.

We’re (nearly) all middle class now Latin News report – Latin America’s middle class numbered 152 million people as of 2009, up 50 percent from 103 million in 2003, according to a new World Bank report.

Defined in income terms as anyone making between US$10 and US$50 per day, the middle class made up 30 percent of the region’s population in 2009.

Moderate poverty fell from more than 40 percent in 2000 to less than 30 percent in 2010, meaning that 50m Latin Americans escaped poverty over the decade.

More foreigners arrive in Guatemala to celebrate end of Baktun

Prensa Latina – Guatemala is awaiting the arrival today of even more foreigners, here to celebrate the change of calendars on Friday, according to the Mayan calendar, while indigenous organizations have announced they will celebrate this event separately from the government.

According to the estimate provided by Pedro Duchez, director of the Guatemalen Institute of Tourism (Inguat), this country expects nearly 200,000 foreigners to visit in order to celebrate the end of the 13th Baktun.

Some months ago, different indigenous groups expressed their nonconformity with the preparations promoted by the Guatemalan government to celebrate the event. The National Indigenous Observatory criticized the Executive´s multi-million expenditure to promote the celebrations.

According to a government accounting in September, the Ministry of Culture and Sports had spent 26 million quetzals ($3,270,440 USD), while Inguat spent 40 million quetzals ($5,031,446 USD) to prepare the celebration activities.

The 13th Baktun will end on December 21, while many have speculated that date marks the end of the world, according to an apocalyptic interpretation of the Mayan scriptures.

Each Baktun is equivalent to 144,000 days, so in other words, 13 cycles of that type total 1,872,000 days (5,125 years).