L.A. city attorney's office warning 439 marijuana shops that they must close by June 7

Just in case anyone wants to know, the Feds are still playing the demonization game with marijuana. This is just further proof that the Feds are not going to go quietly in the night and respect state laws until the voters back them up against a wall with solid legislation legalizing the healing herb, and tells them to stop.

Excerpt:

“Los Angeles city prosecutors are sending letters to 439 medical marijuana dispensaries warning them that they must shut down by June 7, when an ordinance to control pot shops will finally take effect after years of debate and delay.”

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We have a glut of major news stories this morning

There sure is a lot of big stories going on right now. From the Times Square bomb suspect nabbed at airport (photo on right)to the massive oil spill off the Mexican Gulf Coast - Gulf Coast watches path of oil spill, it seems disasters are the order of the day.

Ash is disrupting flights in Ireland, Britain, and Homeless people are feared killed in Nashville flooding (photo below).

 

Everywhere I look, the news seems pretty grim today. More examples: Mass. lifts boil water order for 2 million; Va. lacrosse player’s killing shocks classmates; How United-Continental merger impacts fliers; and an Out-of-control satellite threatens spacecraft!

Wal-Mart to pay millions in waste case

This is only the tip of the iceberg for those bad boys at WalMart. They’re facing a huge gender bias case that’s going to make this settlement look like small potatoes.

Look out consumers! You’re going to ultimately pay the price. 

Payment will settle handling, dumping claims at Calif. stores

“Stores Inc. has agreed to pay $27.6 million to settle allegations that it improperly handled and dumped hazardous waste at stores across California in a case that led to changes in the retailer's practices nationwide, prosecutors said Monday.

The settlement ends a five-year investigation involving more than 20 prosecutors and 32 environmental agencies that found violations at 236 of Wal-Mart's stores and distribution centers across California, including Sam's Club warehouse stores, said San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.”

Officials increasingly see international link in Times Square bomb attempt

The failed car bombing in Times Square increasingly appears to have been coordinated by more than one person in a plot with international links, Obama administration officials said Today.

The disclosure, while tentative, came as the White House intensified its focus on the incident Saturday in New York City, in which explosives inside a Nissan Pathfinder were set ablaze but failed to detonate at the tourist-crowded corner of Broadway and 45th Street.

The New York City Police Department has released surveillance video of a man leaving the scene near where a car bomb was found in Times Square. The man is seen taking off his shirt as he walks down the street.

» LAUNCH VIDEO PLAYER                                                            Photo source

RIP Pamela Murphy: wife of war hero Audie, and Supulveda VA’s angel for 35 years

When I was growing up in the 1950s, Audie Murphy was every little boy’s hero. We were taught to glorify war back then and spent countless hours engaged in mock combat with metal and plastic guns.

Everyone wanted to “be” Audie Murphy. When I got out of the Army in 1971 (when Audie died) I can recall my mixed feelings.

I learned that war wasn’t something glorious. Instead it was a dirty, ugly result of sanity breaking down among countries. War is a last resort. I knew that after coming back from Vietnam. I never met anyone in Vietnam who worshiped Audie Murphy (or at least admitted it out loud). The survivors there always cautioned the newbies not to play John Wayne, or act like Audie Murphy.

We knew war was wrong. I also finally knew what it was like to be in combat. Words defy the experience. Fear. Terror. Savage glee. Vomit. Body parts. Bloody rag dolls that were once men. Flies, maggots, and leeches. Children with bombs beneath their loose fitting tops selling coke to G.I.s. The empty eyes of villagers watching their homes burn and their livestock slaughtered. Madness. Intensity. Coal black nights with red and green tracers sending death into the jungle like deadly fireflies.

When a friend sent me this information this morning I couldn’t help look at the irony of how Audie ended up. Broke. The idol of millions that cheated on his wife and had a gambling problem. In his defense, I’d like to think he had PTSD, and because it was never treated he went the route he did.

As It Stands, I didn’t mourn Audie’s death when I heard the news, but I did mourn the loss of my innocence. 

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Pamela Murphy, widow of WWII hero and actor, Audie Murphy, died peacefully at her home on April 8, 2010. She is survived by sons, Terry and James. Pam established her own distinctive 30 year career working as a patient liaison at the Sepulveda VA Hospital, where she was much beloved.

Sepulveda VA's angel for the last 35 years died peacefully in her sleep at age 90.

"She was in bed watching the Laker game, took one last breath, and that was it," said Diane Ruiz, who also worked at the VA and cared for Pam in the last years of her life in her Canoga Park apartment.

 It was the same apartment Pam moved into soon after Audie died in a plane crash on Memorial Day weekend in 1971.

Audie Murphy died broke, squandering million of dollars on gambling, bad investments, and yes, other women.

"Even with the adultery and desertion at the end, he always remained my hero," Pam told the press.

Guest Opinion: No on Proposition 17

The ballot measure wouldn't promote competition in auto insurance and should be defeated

Excerpt:

“Mercury Insurance is leading efforts to remove that prohibition on the grounds that it reduces competition. The ballot initiative it funded, Proposition 17, would let insurers offer discounts to new customers who'd maintained uninterrupted insurance coverage for at least five years with other companies. Customers who had no previous coverage or who'd let their policies lapse for more than 90 days would face higher premiums. This would be a step back toward a rating system that charges people based on the category they fit into, not how well they drive, and its supporters haven't offered a persuasive reason for such a departure from the spirit of Proposition 103.”

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'The Family': Politicians who violate separation of church and state

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 05/02/2010 01:27:13 AM PDT

America's forefathers recognized the inherent danger of letting a particular religion dictate a Republic's politics. Everyone should be treated equally. That's why they built the safeguard of separation between church and state into our Constitution.

Under the Constitution, we are free to follow the religion of our choice, or not to worship any divinity. The Supreme Court has affirmed this numerous times. It's called freedom. Unfortunately, it seems not everyone agrees with that premise.

Religion does play a major part in American politics, whether we like it or not. Major issues like the economy and the wars we're mired in are influenced by the religious values of one group called “The Family,” in both branches of Congress.

”The Family” impudently violates the separation of church and state and is entrenched in our entire political process from top to bottom, in both political parties.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing to be religious. Don't get the two topics confused. I'm concerned about matters documented by journalist Jeff Sharlet, after he went undercover in the underground evangelical organization known as “The Family.” He discovered that congressmen, members of the executive branch and other D.C. powerbrokers are members of this secretive organization that has been called by many names since its inception during the Cold War.

READ THE REST HERE.                                   Image source

 

When Warriors Cry, Who Listens?

They have been crying out seeking help for decades and America has turned its back on these special warriors. We knew there were problems not long after the first fireballs lit up the skies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but we did nothing. We, the nation of great global compassion for those who suffer through every manmade and natural disaster, have had little to no feeling for our own warriors who were exposed to atomic radiation.

Our atomic veterans have been facing the ravages of disease caused by exposure to ionizing radiation since 1945. That is a sixty-five year history of our country failing to care for the very people we placed in harm’s way. In fact, our government was so negligent in its atomic testing program that it failed to keep adequate records of the thousands upon thousands of servicemen it exposed to elements that brought about radiogenic disease.

Was atomic testing truly harmful to our military personnel? You can answer that question yourself. With very few exceptions, atomic veterans are male. Worldwide, the average life expectancy of a male is 67.2 years. In the United States that life expectancy is 78 years. Since 1945 those military personnel exposed to atomic radiation have died at an average age of 57 years.

Most of those who were party to our atomic testing program have marched on to their final reward. Of those who remain among the living, nearly all suffer from some form of radiogenic disease. They are now in their 70s and 80s. For them time is running out.

Another question to ask is… What are we doing for these veterans who have been crying out to us for more than half a century? Well, the Democrat Party has made some political capital with the issue by the establishment of HR 2573, but Representative Bob Filmer (D – Cal) Chairman of the House Veterans Committee has done nothing to move the bill out of his committee for more than a year. It has not even had a single hearing.

What does HR 2573, endorsed by the American Legion, the Marine Corps League and the Radiated Veterans of America do for our service personnel in need of treatment? It provides for all atomic veterans to be identified as having service connection for all recognized radiogenic diseases. This includes an expanded list of radiogenic presumptive diseases that the medical community has recognized as caused by exposure to radiation. To date the Veterans Administration does treat or compensate atomic veterans for many of these recognized diseases and cannot do so unless Congress acts.

As with most legislation or proposed legislation that those in Congress have determined will gain them little political advantage or campaign donations, HR 2573 is about to die, just as the veterans it would help have been doing since the end of World War II. All those now in the House and Senate, along with all Americans who have failed to support these veterans, should bow their heads in shame. Our warriors cried out…and nobody listened.

Semper Fidelis
Thomas D. Segel
tomsegel@sbcglobal.net

NYC’s Times Square evacuated in bomb scare

Federal official tells N.Y. Times that the incident was not terrorist threat

Excerpt:

“Reuters quoted a New York Fire Department official as saying the vehicle was found to contain explosives, gasoline, propane and burned wires. The officer, who did not give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said a man was seen fleeing the vehicle.”

NEW FEDERAL ARRESTS RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT OBAMA MEDICAL MARIJUANA POLICY

Ridgecrest, CA:  A medical marijuana raid by the Naval Criminal Intelligence Service has led to the arrest of five defendants. They have been federally charged for distributing marijuana for the R&C
Collective next to the China Lake Naval Base.
  It should be noted that the NCIS, not the DEA, led the operation  Unlike the NCIS, the DEA operates under the Justice Dept and is supposedly subject to AG Holder's memo to honor state MMJ laws. Other federal agencies that are outside the DOJ do not seem to be bound by the AG's directive. Patients living near the border have reported harassment from Immigration agents, who are under the Dept of Homeland Security, and who claim they have received  no instructions to honor state medical marijuana laws.)
   A summary of federal medical marijuana defendants can be found at  www.canorml.org/news/fedmmjcases.htm The continuing raids point to  glaring weaknesses in the Obama administration's announced policy of DOJ non-enforcement. The time is overdue for real regulatory reforms  to  fix bankrupt federal MJ laws. One of these is rescheduling marijuana for medical use, the object of an eight-year-old petition that is overdue for a response from the DEA. The upcoming confirmation hearings of DEA chief Michele Leonhart present an excellent opportunity for Senators to quiz the administration on its policy.
- California NORML Release - May 1, 2010
- Dale Gieringer, Director (415) 563-5858