por ­Yashenka Baca

A crowd of approximately 7,000 people occupied the Port of Oakland on Nov. 3.Occupy Wall Street. (PHOTO BY DAMON TIGHE)

A proposal to support the Occupy SF movement and allow it to camp overnight at Justin Herman Plaza without risk of getting raided by police, was approved last Tuesday afternoon by the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco.

The resolution, introduced a week ago by Supervisor John Avalos and sponsored by Supervisors David Campos, Eric Mar and Jane Kim, was approved by eight votes in favor and three against it, a super majority that could overrule a potential veto by Mayor Lee, who according to the occupiers has already agreed to sign it. Supervisors Mark Farrell, Carmen Chu and Sean Elsbernd voted against the proposal.

The meeting was highly anticipated and a crowd of occupiers was present when the San Francisco’s District representatives expressed or denied their support to the resolution. The document requested Mayor Lee and the Police Department to “uphold Free Speech rights … and ensure there will be no unnecessary use of force to dislodge the Occupy SF demonstrators.” The word unnecessary was the only amendment requested by Supervisor Wiener, who said “I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to tell the Police Department … no matter what happens, you cannot use force.”

Regarding the passing of the resolution Supervisor John Avalos said “it is important for the city to go on the record in support of the movement.” “Police raids only serve to energize the protesters and lead to tensions about how the public spaces should be used,” he added, referring to the police operation last week in Oakland that caused serious injuries to an Irak Vet present in the protest. “I see the consciousness that has changed across this country as a very good thing”, Avalos finally said.

At the encampment the news was received with dozens of clapping hand signs. During the Occupy SF General Assembly (GA) on Tuesday night, one of the spokespersons stated “Mayor Lee said we will not be raided, this is an ongoing situation.”

Some occupiers showed their disbelief to what the Mayor has apparently promised to the protesters. A woman participating on the GA said “he agreed because the election is coming up, he is not doing it for us, he is doing it for his own benefit.” Others said they will wait until the election is over to see what happens.

Oakland general strike succeeds

On the other side of the Bay, thousands of supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement in Oakland marched through the streets in the biggest genhtmleral strike the city of Oakland has seen in decades.

Banks closed their doors and other financial institutions sent their workers home on Wednesday November 2nd as the Day of Action called by the Occupy Oakland General Assembly grew throughout the day.

By the afternoon the crowd, estimated by the police on 7,000 and by local media on 20,000, walked all throughout the city in six different marches organized from 9 am. to 5 pm. Thousands of people arrived to and departed from 14th St and Broadway, where the encampment is set, as they chanted “this is what democracy looks like” and “we are the 99 percent” among other cheers.

The large group of protesters, as diverse as the city itself and representing all ethnic groups, moved towards the Port of Oakland in the afternoon, the crowd covered the freeway in West Oakland all the way from Downtown to the Port of the city, which happens to be America’s 5th largest port. Protesters got on top of trucks, as they asked the drivers to stop working. The Port was indeed shut down. A spokesperson for the Port said “all the workers have been sent home, we hope to resume work on Thursday morning.”

After midnight things rapidly changed as the police moved in on a group of protesters that started a fire with trash cans. “This was peaceful until you came!” some protesters yelled at the police.

­Participants reported the street lights went off when the police approached, nobody has clarified if it was caused by a power issue or if they were intentionally turned off.

A volunteering legal support group reported that over 100 people had been arrested during the police intervention.

by Selena Keegan
Natural News

Those brightly colored gummy or chewable vitamins you give your children in hopes of providing them with more nutrients may actually harm their health. The sweetening ingredients added to make vitamins more attractive to children also put them at risk for obesity, diabetes, asthma, diarrhea and other ailments. Take a look at what our label research turned up about these products.

Disney Princess

According to the label, Disney Princess Gummies contain: corn syrup, sugar, grape juice concentrate, gelatin, modified corn starch, citric acid, lactic acid, purple berry color concentrate, (maqui berry juice concentrate, sugar), maltodextrin, fractionated coconut oil, beeswax, dicalcium phosphate, natural flavors, black carrot juice color oncentrate, silica, annatto color, mannitol. Disney does not manufacture these vitamins but licenses its logo to NBTY, Inc. and two of its subsidiaries, NatureSmart LLC and Rexall Sundown, Inc. In 2010, these companies agreed to pay just over $2 million to the Federal Trade Commission for using false claims that their vitamins promoted healthy brain and eye development in children.

Flintstones

Flintstones Complete Gummies are comprised of “glucose syrup, sucrose, gelatin, water, choline bitartrate; less than 2% of: artificial flavors, ascorbic acid, bees wax, carnauba wax, citric acid, d-biotin, d-calcium pantothenate, fd&c blue #1, fd&c red #40, fd&c yellow #6, folic acid, potassium iodide, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vegetable oil (coconut or palm), vitamin A acetate, vitamin B12, vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), vitamin E acetate, zinc sulfate.” Flintstones Vitamins are under the umbrella of Bayer AG, a German-based chemical company which also produces One-a-Day Vitamins, Alka-Seltzer and Aleve, as well as pharmaceuticals and high-tech materials for the automotive and construction industries.

Gummi King

Gummi King Sugar Free Multivitamins contain: maltitol syrup, maltitol, water, pectin, fumaric acid, citric acid, natural flavors, colors added (black carrot juice concentrate, turmeric), fiber.” Gummi King is a vegan line, and their website prominently displays the approval of PETA. This line of vitamins is manufactured by Vitamec USA, Inc. which also produces vitamins as well as mineral and food supplements for adults.

Centrum

The Centrum line of vitamins is owned by the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. Centrum produces a wide spectrum of vitamin products for different age groups, including a kids chewable vitamin. Centrum Kids Complete Multivitamins ingredients are “sucrose, dibasic calcium phosphate, microcrystalline cellulose, mannitol (wheat), calcium carbonate, magnesium oxide, ascorbic acid (vit. C), stearic acid (soybean), pregelatinized corn starch, mono- and di-glycerides.”

Harmful Ingredients

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has been linked to a range of health conditions such as tooth decay, liver damage, obesity, diabetes and ADHD. Additionally, the manufacturing process which transforms corn first into corn starch and then into HFCS involves the use of toxic chemicals. One of those, glutaraldehyde, is an embalming fluid which can induce headaches, dizziness, burning eyes, and asthma. Mercury is also used in the HFCS production process. In a 2009 study, between half and one third of all products containing HCFS were found to have mercury contamination ­http://www.naturalnews.com/032948_high_fructose_corn_syrup_glutaraldehyde.html.

­by the El Reportero’s news services

Daniel Ortega

The most recent survey on Monday revealed that 88.5 percent of those polled consider candidate Daniel Ortega most likely to win the presidency, when leaving five days to primary elections.

According to a report of the M&R pollster company, the perception is common in all sectors of the population.

Among independent voters (without preference for any party), 79.3 percent of them said the most likely is President Ortega, who is running for re-election against four opposition candidates.

The survey verified a similar trend among those willing to vote for other presidential candidates, which offered to Ortega a 67.9-percent preference.

The M&R consultants reported that only 6.2 percent of those polled see former President Arnoldo Aleman as a potential winner, who was nominated by the coalition led by the Constitutionalist Liberal Party.

Meanwhile, 31.5 percent supported Fabio Gadea, nominated by the Independent Liberal Party.

According to the report, the national sample included people of different political affiliations, religious beliefs, residence areas and regions of the country, and further investigated on generational groups, sex and educational level.

However, in Nicaragua, polls tend to be a different picture than the traditional wisdom.

The Sandinistas, who came to power via an armed insurrection that ousted dictator Anastacio Somoza Debayle in 1979, lost power to Violeta Barrios de Chamorro in the 1990 election. The polls then, showed Ortega without a doubt, as a likely winner, just as it shows today, and then he lost.

It is what experts in Nicaraguan cultural material considered a consequence of a phenomenon called the guegüense that lives in the Nicaraguan idiosyncrasy, a protagonist that is a joker or trickster that criticizes and parodies, with his language, with his gestures, with his actions, all the social order. It was a way for Nicaraguans to deceive and confuse the oppressor Spaniard during the Spanish conquista.

[CARLA: AQUÍ TE DEJO UNA PARTE DE LA TRADUCCIÓN]

­Es lo que expertos en material cultural nicaragüense consideraron una consecuencia del guegüense que vive en el nicaragüense, un protagonista que es un burlador o trickster que critica y parodia, con su lenguaje, con sus gestos, con sus acciones, todo el orden social.

Even more of a haven?

The long drawn out saga of the Euro-debt crisis, which even prompted China to abandon its mask of inscrutability and express impatience with European policymakers, again underlines the attractions of Latin America as a place to invest. Latin America’s greatest economic asset is not its raw materials but its democratic approach to economic policymaking.

Drugs and violence in Colombia’s elections

Colombia went to the polls on Sunday, October 30, to choose a new crop of governors, town councilors, provincial legislators, and mayors. These local government positions are hotly contested, bringing with them access to significant budgets and real power, especially in far-flung regions of the country. Many candidates were backed by various criminal interests, among them leftist rebels, neo-paramilitary groups, wealthy drug traffickers and corrupt local elites. The resulting clash of interests cost the lives of more than 40 candidates, despite the Santos government’s unprecedented efforts to clean up the vote.

All federal criminal cases could be declared void

by the Idaho Observer

A petition that may have as many as 180 currently incarcerated co-petitioners has been filed and docketed in the U.S. Supreme Court. The petition, filed Sept 24, 2007, challenges Public Law 80-772 (including Title 18, or the U.S. Criminal Code). Tens of thousands of federal prisoners prosecuted since 1948 may be affected by the Supreme Court’s response.

The 49-page petition and its 119-page appendices supports claims that Public Law 80-772 is invalid. The filing is largely the work of Yori Von Kahl, who has been imprisoned since 1983 for being almost fatally shot by federal marshals who had set up an ambush near Medina, ND, to arrest his father Gordon Kahl. Yori was sentenced to life in prison under Title 18 as an accessory to the shooting deaths of two law enforcement officers though he was guilty of nothing and shot no one.

In a press release, attorneys for the petitioners explained that, “The law is clear; an act of Congress cannot become a law unless it follows each and every procedural step as defined in Article I of the U.S. Constitution. A bill originates in either the House of Representatives or Senate, but its exact text must be approved by a majority vote in both chambers. While Congress is in session, that text must be certified as having been passed in identical form by both Houses (or ‘truly enrolled’) and then signed by the Speaker of the House and President pro tempore of the Senate. The bill is then presented to the President to sign into law.”

According to attorney Barry Bachrach, spokesman for the petitioners, H.R. 3190 was passed by the House on May 12, 1947. The resolution came before the Senate, but Congress adjourned before the bill could be passed. The Senate should have returnedthe bill to the House to be resubmitted to the Senate during a later session. Instead, during the following session, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary continued its review of H.R. 3190 and added a volume of amendments to the bill. The Senate passed “H.R. 3190 As Amended,” which was sent to the House for a vote. While the House agreed with the amendments, the members failed to vote on “H.R. 3190 As Amended.” According to the Constitution, valid business is conducted only when Congress is in session and a majority of members of both Houses are present. Yet, Congress authorized the House Speaker and President of the Senate to sign enrolled bills during an adjournment of indefinite length that began on June 20, 1948. This incomprehensible error was compounded when the Chairman of the Committee on House Administration mistakenly certified as enrolled the original H.R. 3190. Still more errors occurred: the House Speaker and President of the Senate signed the Senate’s “H.R. 3190 As Amended,” the bill was then misrepresented to President Truman as being enrolled, and Truman signed the bill.

“Congressional journals clearly show that the House and Senate each passed two separate bills that were grossly different. According to the ­Constitution, this means that neither bill ever became law,” Bachrach said.

“Under P.L. 80-772, U.S. district courts were given jurisdiction over all federal offenses. With P.L. 80-772 being invalid, however, the district courts clearly lack jurisdiction. The convictions and sentences of these prisoners are therefore void.” Countries having extradition treaties with the U.S. since 1948 and their citizens, who were turned over for trial in U.S. district courts, also may be affected by the outcome of this case.

Federal prisoners are all encouraged to file behind this landmark petition as soon as possible. Those who qualify and are interested, please have someone notify us at www. NoCriminalCode.us.

Editor’s note: Something happened in June, 1948. The rules changed and the federal government has been maliciously prosecuting, fining and imprisoning Americans for violations of statutes that have not been properly enacted into law. Illusory laws can only be enforced upon those who believe the illusion is real. Whether the Supreme Court hears this case, or hears challenges to Title 21 [see page 22], Title 26 [see page 6] or not isn’t the point. We have to burst the illusion in American minds. Download the petition and appendices. Read them and get clear on the lawless nature of Title 18 prosecutions. (DWH)