"Stand Your Ground"

Can the State of Florida legislate anarchy in the USA?

The Preamble of the USA Constitution

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Stand Your Ground in application is unconstitutional.

Herman Lee Smith prays in court during his trial last year.

Thursday, February 13, 2014 11:01 pm
Colton Campbell/Times-Georgian


A local attorney (click here) hopes a (Georgia) Senate bill, if passed, will prevent the outcome faced by one of his clients last year, who was found guilty of murder after what was essentially a self-defense trial.

Senate Bill 280, filed by Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, aims to end Georgia’s Stand Your Ground law by repealing the statute relating to no duty to retreat prior to the use of force, relating to justification and excuse.


Carrollton attorney Harry Daniels — who represented the now-convicted Herman Lee Smith III, 22, in a murder trial last summer — hopes the law will be passed and prevent a similar outcome for any future clients he represents with a case similar to Smith’s.

The Bowdon defendant is the plaintiff in a federal lawsuit challenging the nation’s Stand Your Ground law, as filed by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the civil rights group led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson....

Unjustifiable homicide.  Stand Your Ground legislates anarchy and provides a path to unjustifiable homicide. If one retreats from a threat of any kind, perceived or otherwise and is pursued, ending the clear danger to one's life takes priority.

Manslaughter
 
The unjustifiable, inexcusable, and intentional killing of a human being without deliberation, premeditation, and malice. The unlawful killing of a human being without any deliberation, which may be involuntary, in the commission of a lawful act without due caution and circumspection.

Stand Your Ground legalizes manslaughter.

The law is failing to protect the innocent. These gunmen are willingly killing people that are unarmed. 

Aggravated Manslaughter

A person is guilty of aggravated manslaughter if he/she recklessly causes the death of another person under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life.

 
The deaths of these young black men were aggravated. In other words the gunman caused the reason for him to act. Both Trayvon and Jordan were minding their own business and were interrupted by those that approached them. The gunmen then became confrontational to aggravate the circumstances these young men were facing. The gunmen CREATED their own outcomes that resulted in the deaths of the innocent. 

The Florida Laws are depraved in order to win elections. Those that are winning the elections while endorsing these laws may as well be Al Capone legislating the right to murder. They are as depraved as the laws they pass.

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." - See more at: http://kids.laws.com/preamble-of-the-constitution#sthash.OvrLc6hD.dpuf

I know it is public money, but, there has to be aggressive testing of air, water, sediment and land.

This can be the Climate Crisis. I sure the mothers and fathers are wonderful people and they love their children and that is not what this is about, but, what was the health history of the mothers while pregnant with their children. Viruses, bacterial infections. Washington State is right on the Pacific, there are high winds there and all kinds of stuff can be carried in. Also Yakima is in valley on the leeward side of the Rocky Mountains. Any fires? Any degradation of the area for any reason. How are the wildlife? Speak to US Fish and Wildlife for any report of adverse outcomes. 

A mysterious cluster of severe birth defects (click here) in rural Washington state is confounding health experts, who say they can find no cause, even as reports of new cases continue to climb.

Federal and state officials won’t say how many women in a three-county area near Yakima, Wash., have had babies with anencephaly, a heart-breaking condition in which they’re born missing parts of the brain or skull. And they admit they haven't interviewed any of the women in question, or told the mothers there's a potentially widespread problem.

But as of January 2013, officials with the Washington state health department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had counted nearly two dozen cases in three years, a rate four times the national average....

Isn't the Snake River near there? Let me see. The Yakima River runs near the town, it doesn't meet the Snake until it reaches Richland.


The Yakima has it's own head waters, it have to be checked and the course of the river will have to be walked. 

Bingo. Natural Gas. What kind of extraction is taking place and where?

There doesn't have to be fracking to have natural gas pollution. This area receives service from natural gas in a big way. AIR QUALITY and LEAKS and PIPELINES.

Check proximity of any gas pipes in and around these homes. This is a cluster. There is something in that valley. Ask the utility to submit any records of repairs, leaks or otherwise during the pregnancies of these women. 

There may be nothing, but, there may be everything. Check with any wildlife issues along with asking for records.

Our consumer protection specialists (click here) can assist you with billing disputes, service complaints, disconnect notices, deposit problems and more. We can also direct you to utility assistance programs or answer general questions about utility and transportation rates and services. If your dispute is with a Public Utility District (PUD) or municipal utility, you will need to contact that utility.

There is also hydroelectric dams. Find out if there are large utility lines near these clusters. Were their changes or problems in the transmission lines in these areas. RECORDS.

It is a long shot, but, the drought in the area could also be a source of toxins. If I can explain and then the community can take it up with the Army Corp. 

When water levels are low, and there are active irrigation systems in the area, the bottom sediments could become churned up. The Army Corp does sediment testing in most waters in this country. Usually about every five years. The Army Corp would have any testing within the past ten years of the Yakima River and WATERSHED that might indicate any changes in the SEDIMENT SUSPENDED IN THE WATER and possible toxins. 

That is probably a remote change, but, why leave a stone unturned.  

Then there is the possibility of food RECALLS. Check with the local food distributors to find out if there were recalls about the time these birth defects started to show up. Clusters are rock solid evidence there is something wrong. Were these folks in the same building, new buildings, air quality, exposure to ANYTHING that might have contributed to the exposure of Mom.

Check heavy metal arrays on Moms. General toxins. Lead. That sort of thing. Check BABY, too.

What did the Moms have in common. Where does Dad work any work at the same job and carrying a substance home on their clothes. It has to be solved because more children could be effected. Some of the babies may have 'cord storage.'

The governor needs to start addressing a water emergency before it actually arrives. Why put these children at any more risk? It is just good governance to a backup plan.


By Kristi Pihl
Tri-City Herald 
February 16, 2014 

Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2014/02/16/2832143/snow-shortage-worries-yakima-river.html#storylink=cpy

It's too soon to hit a panic button (click here) declaring a drought in the Mid-Columbia, experts say.
But unless prayers for snow in the Cascade Mountains are answered, Yakima River water users may find themselves short this summer.
"If we were getting the snow we really need, the passes would be closed," said Scott Pattee, U.S. Department of Agriculture water supply specialist.
At the beginning of the month, Washington needed 200 percent of the average snowfall during February and March to catch up, Pattee said.
It doesn't take much this time of year to increase snowpack, but the storms that have come through so far were average, he said. It's only because there has been no snow to speak of since the beginning of December that they seemed abnormal....

Check with the military for any possible emissions they may have a record of. There is a JAG Corp there. The physicians or public health officers can simply write a letter asking for any knowledge of problems in the area. It is valley, so air and water lingers in the land. I am sure the military is concerned about babies.

The Yakima Training Center (click here) plays a major role as a part of the STRYKER Center of Excellence, introducing Soldiers to this new equipment and supporting the preparation of experienced STRYKER units for deployment.... 

Colorado has been seeing birth defects affiliated with natural gas. (click here)


Environ Health Perspect; DOI:10.1289/ehp.1306722 (click here)

Background: Birth defects are a leading cause of neonatal mortality. Natural gas development (NGD) emits several potential teratogens and US production is expanding.

Objectives: We examined associations between maternal residential proximity to NGD and birth outcomes in a retrospective cohort study of 124,842 births between 1996 and 2009 in rural Colorado.

I don't care if it a sad coincidence. There is a reason for this cluster and all potential has to be ruled out. There was once a cluster of leukemia in New Jersey and it was leaching from a Superfund Site. So, there are reasons. Coincidence is usually very rare. There was another cluster in Manville, NJ in the 1970s that caused brain tumors. It was linked to a combination of formaldehyde in a new Middle School and saccharine. They were girls involved with the drill team or cheerleaders and very weight conscious. There is most always a reason. These folks are isolated from social interaction, so the genetics are varied and THAT can be determined, too. Genetic testing of babies, Moms and Dads.

Neural tube defects are birth defects of the brain, spine, or spinal cord. They happen in the first month of pregnancy, often before a woman even knows that she is pregnant

The quad marker screen (click here) is a blood test that provides a woman and her health care provider with useful information about her pregnancy. The quad marker screen must be performed between the 15th and 20th weeks of pregnancy. 

I take it all the mothers didn't have diabetes. Which is a good focus for pediatricians and obstetricians with the next generation of Americans. There is going to be more problems with pregnancies in that generation.

The USA is going to have to be sure there is a strong public message to men and women that Pre-Natal care and testing is paramount to having a healthy baby. 

Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2014/02/16/2832143/snow-shortage-worries-yakima-river.html#storylink=cpy

The Interior Department is posting this on Twitter and Tumblr in commemoration of President's Day. I thought it was impressive and important. 

A second bit (click here) of good news is that, even though it’s taken two years so far, the repair work is on schedule, with the monument expect to reopen fully in the spring of 2014—and possibly even sooner.

We got as far as saying severe weather cost $50 Billion to the economy. Now, can we move a little further down that road and admit all the USA ever gets is severe weather?

The skyline of Pittsburgh is framed by ice along the bank of the Allegheny River at sunset. Pittsburgh reached a low temperature of minus 9 degrees early Tuesday morning, and a high of 5 degrees.  Gene J. Puskar, AP

Add $50 Billion to the Credit Card because Congress never acted to prevent the Climate Crisis.
 

By Jim Puzzanghera
Los Angeles Times

The severe weather (click here) that has hit much of the country this winter has cost the economy nearly $50 billion in lost productivity and 76,000 jobs, according to a new survey.

And the debilitating effects of Old Man Winter hit factory production, which last month fell the most since the Great Recession ended, the Federal Reserve said Friday.

Manufacturing output dropped 0.8 percent in January compared with the previous month, the first decline since July and the biggest falloff since May 2009.

The decline was “partly because of the severe weather that curtailed production in some regions of the country,” the Fed said. It did not identify other factors, however.
Snow, ice and bitter cold will shave about 0.3 percentage point from economic growth, according to Wall Street economists, fund managers and strategists polled by CNBC....

Twenty deaths and counting. Below are 'white out' conditions. What are ya doing out there? Getting lost and even having to face your life while trying to find a path to safety is one of the cruelest things that can happen to people. Please don't do this, nature has no will to protect anything, it just is. Physics has no mercy.

Blowing snow obscures the St. Joseph Lighthouse in St. Joseph, Mich. as a winter storm moves through southwest Michigan.  Don Campbell, The Herald-Palladium via AP

Robin Webb
USA TODAY 3:35 p.m. EST 
January 7, 2014

At least 20 deaths (click here) have been linked to a series of snowstorms and the blast of Arctic air that has held much of the Midwest and East in its grip since late last week.
Seven people have died in Michigan alone. On Monday, a car slid into a tanker truck, killing one person and critically injuring another. On Saturday, Branden Hewitt, 27, died in a car crash in Huron County and Timothy Nixon, 50, was struck and killed by a car while walking, The Weather Channel said. Three people died shoveling snow, and another person died of unspecified health issues, The Detroit Free Press reported.
Separate collisions in Missouri took the lives of two people, including a 1-year-old boy, according to the State Highway Patrol. Kiber Williams died Monday after the car he was riding in hit a snowplow near St. Joseph. In St. Louis, a motorist was killed after hitting a big rig on Interstate 44....

By Jim Puzzanghera
Los Angeles Times

The severe weather that has hit much of the country this winter has cost the economy nearly $50 billion in lost productivity and 76,000 jobs, according to a new survey.
And the debilitating effects of Old Man Winter hit factory production, which last month fell the most since the Great Recession ended, the Federal Reserve said Friday.
Manufacturing output dropped 0.8 percent in January compared with the previous month, the first decline since July and the biggest falloff since May 2009.
The decline was “partly because of the severe weather that curtailed production in some regions of the country,” the Fed said. It did not identify other factors, however.
Snow, ice and bitter cold will shave about 0.3 percentage point from economic growth, according to Wall Street economists, fund managers and strategists polled by CNBC.

- See more at: http://amestrib.com/news/severe-weather-costs-economy-nearly-50-billion#sthash.EjgPPEbH.dpuf

Freedom FROM Information Act, otherwise called The USA Constitution.

There is no grievance with God, he is still welcome in the USA. There is however a grievance with those that insist there is only one way to think about God.

BYOB - "Bring your own Bible."
 

By Melissa Erickson, Staff Writer
merickson@amestrib.com

There will no longer be Bibles (click here) in the Iowa State University Memorial Union guest rooms after a Wisconsin-based nonprofit found issue with the presence of the religious books, and asked the university to remove them.
The Freedom from Religion Foundation sent a letter to MU Director Richard Reynolds at the end of January alerting Reynolds to “a constitutional concern regarding the placement of religious literature in Iowa State University’s Memorial Union guest rooms.”
“If a state-run university has a policy of providing a Christian religious text to guests, that policy facilitates illegal endorsement of Christianity over other religions and over non-religion,” the letter from FFRF staff attorney Patrick Elliot said.
“Permitting members of outside religious groups the privilege of placing their religious literature in public university guest rooms also constitutes state endorsement and advancement of religion,” the letter said. “State-run colleges have a constitutional obligation to remain neutral toward religion. When a government entity like ISU distributes such material to visitors, it has unconstitutionally entangled itself with a religious message, in this case a Christian message.”...

By Melissa Erickson, Staff Writer
merickson@amestrib.com

There will no longer be Bibles in the Iowa State University Memorial Union guest rooms after a Wisconsin-based nonprofit found issue with the presence of the religious books, and asked the university to remove them.
The Freedom from Religion Foundation sent a letter to MU Director Richard Reynolds at the end of January alerting Reynolds to “a constitutional concern regarding the placement of religious literature in Iowa State University’s Memorial Union guest rooms.”
“If a state-run university has a policy of providing a Christian religious text to guests, that policy facilitates illegal endorsement of Christianity over other religions and over non-religion,” the letter from FFRF staff attorney Patrick Elliot said.
“Permitting members of outside religious groups the privilege of placing their religious literature in public university guest rooms also constitutes state endorsement and advancement of religion,” the letter said. “State-run colleges have a constitutional obligation to remain neutral toward religion. When a government entity like ISU distributes such material to visitors, it has unconstitutionally entangled itself with a religious message, in this case a Christian message.”

- See more at: http://amestrib.com/news/ames-and-story-county/bibles-be-removed-memorial-union-guest-rooms#sthash.t704BMAq.dpuf

McCain is making excuses for returning to his war mongering.

The answer to Syria's problems are not black and white, right and wrong, left or right; they are very complicated. The dynamics in Syria play throughout the Middle East on some scale. The issue is the ethnicities have decided they don't have to live peacefully with each other. Partly to blame is the former Iranian President Ahmadinejad. The other party in escalating hatred in these nations is the Former President of the USA, George Bush. The hate mongering started this tipping point and it hasn't ended while radical holy men take sides.

By ANNE GEARAN and LOVEDAY MORRIS
Washington Post

Saturday, February 15, 2014
(Published in print: Sunday, February 16, 2014) 

U.N.-sponsored peace talks for Syria (click here) ended at an impasse yesterday over the future of President Bashar Assad, as the Obama administration lashed out in frustration at Russia, accusing it of prolonging the conflict.

“They can’t have it both ways,” a senior Obama administration official said of Russia, which is Assad’s principal international backer but also supported the U.S. idea of inviting both sides to the negotiations. Russia can’t say it wants that peaceful approach and a “happy Olympics,” while it is also “part and parcel of supporting this regime as it kills people in the most brutal way,” the official said.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the agenda for an unusual meeting yesterday in California between President Obama and Jordan’s King Abdullah II, at which the two leaders discussed the failing international efforts to broker peace and ease desperate conditions in Syria.

Abdullah requested the meeting, partly to seek additional U.S. help for coping with an overwhelming flow of refugees. His small, Western-oriented nation is deeply uneasy about the near collapse of Syria and the spread of Islamic militancy in the vacuum.

Seizing on Russia’s role as host of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, the official said that country was being disingenuous in its approach to the conflict in Syria, where three years of violence has claimed 140,000 lives....

The United Nations has the best path forward and to that end the world needs to pay attention, for escalation in Syria will light up the entire region. Europe alone doesn't need that and neither does Russia.

Speaking of Russia, I do recall they are hosting the Olympics right now and have security on high alert; oddly US Senator McCain has no appreciation for that. More dead Americans Senator McCain? Is that your plans? 

Foreign Minister Lavrov has among the longest official history with all parties involved with Syria. He has an interesting view of life as a senior member of Russian society.

2014 is full of historic symbolism. (click here) We will celebrate 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, 75 years since the beginning of the Second World War and 100 years since the beginning of the First World War. You might think that having experienced the severest trials during the last century and having learnt a lot from its tragic mistakes, today’s European continent would be an example of political wisdom for other regions, as they attempt to get out of the vortex of conflicts and settle down to a course of development and welfare....

Now it seems to me, albeit a distant observer, that Foreign Minister Lavrov has been making in roads throughout the Syria issue although unnoticed. I would think the other members of the peace process for Syria would be finding the progress made and a way to build on it.

The very last thing the Syrian people need is more hate, more violence and certainly not more death. There is a path forward and I would EXPECT all parties to embrace it. 

Right now in the Middle East the last word spoken should be war. The people again have to appreciate life and more than that; life in mutual respect of each other. When I look to the past it was then Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, now King, that had the best outlook for ethnic peace. He, a Sunni, would visit with President Assad, a Shi'ite. King Abdullah is not only the nation's leader, he is also a religious figure. He is very important man and a man of peace like others in the region. 

February 17, 2014
by Michael Wilner

WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama (click here) plans to offer King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia the assurance of alliance coordination on Syria policy during his trip to Riyadh next month.

The president’s trip, scheduled for late March, comes after a year of public contempt between Riyadh and Washington over each other’s mishandling of the Syrian crisis, now three years old and fostering extremist dangers to regional security, including to Saudi Arabia itself....

Are species so endangered there needs to be a 'gene pool' preserved in zoos.

February 17, 2014
Suzy Freeman-Green

...Marius' death (click here) invites questions about the status of zoos. What exactly is their role?

According to Robert Young, a British professor of wildlife conservation, contraception and sterilisation is used in most zoos, but the Danes have a policy against it. Marius was classified as ''surplus offspring'' because his genes were overrepresented in the European giraffe breeding program. Zoos breed animals as a ''safety net'' for endangered species. Genetic diversity allows species to adapt to changes in their environment....

The reason zoos began breeding programs was to prevent any harvest in the wild. The same is witnessed with Sea World and their performers.

I understand how zoos CAN serve the purpose of assisting in THE RETURN of a species, many have successfully conducted programs to increase the numbers of species. But, in order to justify a breeding program within 'member zoos' there needs to be a clear understanding the program is needed in the first place.

Currently, there are two species of giraffe considered endangered. They are listed with the IUCN Red List. However, they are endangered, in many instances, for the same reason people are, they are losing habitat. 

While southern populations are increasing in abundance, (click here) northern populations have been decreasing due to habitat degradation and poaching. For example, poaching and armed conflict across the range of the Reticulated Giraffe in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya has reduced numbers to perhaps fewer than 5,000 individuals ( Giraffe Conservation Foundation pers. obs., Fennessy 2007). 

Zoos need to apply a breeding program when species are endangered in the wild while at the same time habitat is being restored. Zoos have no right to treat their animal populations without an emotional understanding of the zoos, their populations and how they relate to the public. 

Zoos often have residents that live far longer lives than the same individuals in the wild. Often, the aged residents when they die are a real loss to the community that supports and visits the zoo. That is appropriate. An aged animal isn't always a breeding animal. So, what happens then? The aged animal without a fertile purpose is euthanized as well? That would be completely wrong.

Giraffa camelopardalis ssp. peralta

Giraffa camelopardalis ssp. rothschildi

These are the two endangered species. If zoos are suppose to COLLECT individuals to maintain a breeding program while habitat disappears, then the zoo is nothing more than Noah's Arch afloat without a rudder.

I do not endorse breeding programs of any animal for the sake of having a breeding program to 'nobleize' a zoos purpose. That isn't at all the role of a zoo. A zoo by it's nature is a valuable part of society. It also serves at the ready to assist in the rescue of species threatened or endangered. But, survival of a species is determined in their habitat in the wild, ie: the Polar Bear.

Collecting animals should never be legal. We have seen the worst of an animal collector in Ohio in the USA.

Perhaps the best example of a successful and necessary breeding program is that of the Panda Bear. But, it would be worthless if it's natural habitat was simply allowed to be overrun without returning them back to it's freedom. The habitat loss was the reason the Panda along with it's specialized diet became endangered in the first place. The bamboo forests had to be reclaimed and revitalized and the Panda allowed to wander them. 

Zoo animals are not cattle. That practice is left to feedlots of cruel overcrowding as they WERE in Texas. But, those on the cattle ranches of the southern USA have finally learned what habitat loss actually feels like. Drought has robbed them of their way of life and along with in their incomes and economy. All this while they hate the idea that a Polar Bear has clout in the Arctic. Amazing the disconnect. Just because cattle in the USA are not an endangered species there is no connection between their habitat loss and that of the Polar Bear. Forbid, Polar Bears stand in the way of punching holes in the Earth, while Texas Longhorns have no water to drink.

And I'll take it one step further, there are those in Texas, and let me not forget Oklahoma, who don't care about a huge aquifer that is still viable on this Earth, while these same individuals have designs on the Great Lakes. I mean, where does the denial stop?

But, the fact remains food sources for big cats in zoos are NOT to come from a wayward breeding program that isn't even good enough to catch their genetic mistakes before they happened. I mean, why Marius at all? 

This is a list the World Wildlife Fund (click here) has as CRITICALLY endangerd, endangered, vulnerable, etc.  It is these precious animal species and those listed by individual countries and states within them that should be the focus of a breeding program. In an organized breeding program such factors as noted with Marius are important, but, I assure you if Marius was an individual of a critically endangered species he would not be dead today regardless of his genetic status. Critically endangered or otherwise called Near Extinction often have few individuals and demand genetic intervention.

A statesman that understands the principles involved with saving a critically endangered species is that of President Vladimir Putin and his tigers. 

While the breeding program was vital, he also threw his clout behind reclaiming and protecting, even with wildlife rangers armed with weapons, the habitat being destroyed and pouched. He understands his place in returning tigers to Earth in numbers that matter. There are other nations carrying out the exact same practice for species endemic to their lands. 

I don't know how the European Breeding Programs are rated in their effectiveness, but, in the case of Marius they completely failed.

When habitat is saved and returned to it's original purpose and viability throughout, Earth does better.

I think Europe has lessons to learn from the Russian President and he even might have some advice.

Basically, he was found innocent of murder 1.

It is rather incredible to realize the three passengers were threatened with their lives, yet Jordan Davis was not murdered. He was not found murdered because of the wording in the Stand Your Ground Law. So, the moral to the story is, when pointing a gun as if attempting to commit murder, simply do it and get away with it.

February 17, 2014
by Rick Neale

...After deliberating for days, (click here) jurors deadlocked Saturday night on Dunn’s first-degree murder count, and the judge declared a mistrial. He fatally shot Jordan Davis, 17, during a November 2012 parking-lot dispute over loud rap music at a Jacksonville gasoline station.

However, the 47-year-old South Patrick Shores computer programmer still faces at least 60 years in prison: Jurors convicted Dunn on three counts of second-degree attempted murder for firing at Davis’ three teenaged companions inside their sport-utility vehicle.

“I know people say, ‘Well, he’s going to go to jail for the rest of his life.’ And that’s true. But the verdict itself is still troubling because it did not hold him accountable for intentionally killing the man who was killed,” said Lance deHaven-Smith, who is a former president of the Florida Political Science Association....

From 250 miles up.

February 10, 2014

Three months (click here) after bearing the Olympic torch outside their orbiting home, the astronauts and cosmonauts on the International Space Station (ISS) got to look down on that flame from above. On the evening of February 10, 2014, an Expedition 38 crew member on the ISS captured this digital photograph of Sochi, Russia, along the coast of the Black Sea....