DESPITE SEEMING “HEALTH CARE WIN” VIA SUPREME COURT DISREGARDING INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY AND KICKING THE HEALTH CARE TAX BACK TO CONGRESS AND VOTERS, OBAMA IS BEGGING DONORS FOR MONEY, UNLIKE 2008.... AS WE HEAR OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM, WE FEEL LESS LIKE “THE HOME OF THE BRAVE” AND RATHER “THE HOME OF JOBLESSNESS”.... THE TEA PARTY STAKES NOVEMBER AND MITT ROMNEY FOR CONFRONTING REPEAL AND REPLACE AND CREATING JOBS....
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZViBEXz_jZScT_4jGIpPbSVdeBit7oPIE5CD-Wh3HS4/edit
AS ROMNEY FUNDRAISING TOPS OVER $5 MILLION IN WAKE OF HEALTH CARE ANNOUNCEMENT WITH ROMNEY DECLARING REPEAL AND REPLACE.... OBAMA GETS HIS WAKE UP CALL THAT NO ONE LIKES HIM MUCH ANYMORE, OR HIS POLICIES THAT DESTROYED JOBS TO CREATE ABSOLUTELY NO INSURANCE....
July 02, 2012 'Weary' Obama 'Begging' Donors to Send Him Money
APExclusive: President Obama Asks Campaign Donors to Send Him More Money
By Lloyd Grove, The Daily Beast
In an anxious conference call from Air Force One, Obama asked campaign donors to send more money. Lloyd Grove obtained the tape and describes the presidential pitch.
President Obama sounded weary and maybe a tad worried late Friday during a rambling conference call with campaign donors whom he repeatedly begged to send money—and send it now.
“The majority on this call maxed out to my campaign last time. I really need you to do the same this time,” the president said in a highly unusual (and presumably legal) fundraising pitch from Air Force One on his way back to Washington from Colorado Springs, where he’d been assessing the terrible damage caused by uncontained wildfires. A special phone on the government aircraft is dedicated to political calls that are paid for by the campaign.
“I’m asking you to meet or exceed what you did in 2008,” the presidential pitchman continued, speaking to donors who were invited to dial in based on their contributions during the last election. “Because we’re going to have to deal with these super PACs in a serious way. And if we don’t, frankly I think the political [scene] is going to be changed permanently. Because the special interests that are financing my opponent’s campaign are just going to consolidate themselves. They’re gonna run Congress and the White House.”
Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/president-obama/2012/07/02/weary-obama-begging-donors-send-him-money#ixzz1zTBYX38W
WND EXCLUSIVE
JUDGE ISSUES RULING IN OBAMA-ELIGIBILITY CASE
Addresses question of whether dual citizen can be 'natural born'
Published: 2 hours ago
by DREW ZAHN Email | ArchiveDrew Zahn is a former pastor who cut his editing teeth as a member of the award-winning staff of Leadership, Christianity Today's professional journal for church leaders. He is the editor of seven books, including Movie-Based Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching, which sparked his ongoing love affair with film and his weekly WND column, "Popcorn and a (world)view."More ↓
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The judge in a Florida lawsuit challenging Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president has dismissed the case “with prejudice.”
In his issued ruling Circuit Judge Terry Lewis agreed with White House attorneys that Obama’s eligibility could not be challenged under Florida election law because, technically, Obama hasn’t been nominated yet and furthermore, the judge said, Obama’s birth in the U.S. meets the Constitution’s requirements for being a “natural born citizen.”
The attorney challenging Obama’s eligibility, however, told WND the judge’s ruling is “intellectually dishonest” and so poorly written it makes an appeal “relatively easy.”
A fund has been set up for donations to cover legal expenses for the case.
As WND reported, Michael Voeltz, who identifies himself as “a registered member of the Democratic Party, voter and taxpayer in Broward County,” had challenged Obama’s eligibility, arguing that the “natural born citizen” clause was rightly understood in historical context to mean a child not only born in the U.S., but born to two American-citizen parents, so as not to have divided loyalties. Obama, however, readily admits to being born a dual citizen because of his father’s British citizenship.
Judge Lewis rejected Voeltz’s and attorney Larry Klayman’s arguments on three grounds.
First, the judge insisted, Obama’s candidacy cannot be challenged because he has not been nominated yet.
“The respective major political parties determine their nominee at a national convention [that hasn't occurred yet],” Lewis writes. “Thus, under Florida law, Mr. Obama is not presently the nominee of the Democratic Party for the office.
Second, the judge insisted, it’s not the Florida secretary of state’s job to determine a presidential candidate’s eligibility.
Quoting Florida law, Lewis writes, “The secretary of state has no affirmative duty, or even authority, ‘to inquire or pass judgment upon the eligibility of a candidate to hold office for the nomination for which he is running.”
Third, Lewis insisted, Obama should be considered a natural born citizen.
“The United States Supreme Court has concluded that ‘every person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, becomes at once a citizen of the United States,’” Lewis writes.
Then citing district and appellate court ruling from other states, Lewis adds, “Other courts that have considered the issue in the context of challenges to the qualifications of candidates for the office of president of the United States have come to the same conclusion.”
As WND reported, Klayman had earlier suggested he would seek “declaratory relief” in the case, regardless of whether or not Lewis considered Obama “nominated” yet or not, a move Lewis appears to anticipate in his ruling.
“Plaintiff suggests the possibility of a declaratory judgment claim,” Lewis writes, “but I don’t see how Plaintiff, as an individual voter, would have standing to seek declaratory relief.”
Klayman, however, spoke with WND to break down what he says are glaring flaws in the judge’s ruling.
“The decision issued today by Judge Terry Lewis was poorly reasoned and written,” Klayman asserts. “It goes against prior Florida Supreme Court precedent in particular, thus making our chances on appeal great. … In any event, Plaintiff Micheal Voeltz filed a new complaint today for declaratory relief, which will, in addition to his appeal, now proceed forward. In short, we remain confidant that if the Florida courts ultimately decide to obey their own election law, we will prevail in the end.”
Specifically, Klayman objected first to Lewis’ assertion that Obama’s nomination is a matter for the Democrats’ national convention and not subject to Florida law.
“He basically said that a presidential candidate can never be nominated under Florida law, ever, and that’s just wrong,” Klayman said. “He made our appeal relatively easy, because he flies in the face of the Florida statute and also a Florida Supreme Court case. There’s nothing on which for him to come to this conclusion. The law is clear here that Obama was nominated for office.”
And as for the judge’s concession that Voeltz might have cause for an election challenge after Obama is elected president, Klayman scoffed, “That’s a disingenuous dodge.”
At the heart of the case, however, was the judge’s reasoning that a citizen born in the U.S. fulfills the U.S. Constitution’s “natural born” citizen requirement for the presidency.
“The judge equated being a ‘citizen’ with a ‘natural born citizen’ and cited no authority to conclude the two terms are the same,” Klayman continued in his analysis. “He quotes other state’s cases, where judges reached that conclusion, but that’s not precedent for him. What other courts said in lower cases means nothing to him.”
Klayman also bristled at the judge’s claim that the “burden of proof” fell upon Voeltz to demonstrate Obama’s ineligibility, despite denying Klayman’s team “discovery,” a process that may have allowed subpoena power of Obama’s identifying documents.
“How can you say we have the burden of proof, then not allow discovery?” Klayman asked. “He says we have burden, but doesn’t allow us to meet it. We’re entitled to discovery. That’s a very vulnerable part of this case going forward.”
Finally, Klayman marveled that the judge would declare his client doesn’t have “standing” for declaratory relief – a common argument many judges around the country have used to dismiss eligibility challenges without considering them on merit.
“That’s not true, we do have standing under Florida law,” Klayman said.
“The ruling is intellectually dishonest, from a Democrat judge who didn’t want to be put on the hot seat by his own party,” Klayman asserted. “We’re immediately appealing, and we’re confident on appeal. The main thrust of the judge’s decision is contrary to how the Florida Supreme Court has already ruled on when a candidate is nominated.”
Is Obama constitutionally eligible to serve? Here’s WND’s complete archive of news reports on the issue
MAYBE BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH THEY GOT THEIR WAY, AMERICANS DIDN’T WANT TAX INCREASES WHEN THEY WANTED HEALTH CARE REFORM AND A JOB... LIKE, THE 30 MILLION WHO LOST THEIR JOBS OVER THIS SHITTY LEGISLATION...
Romney Campaign Says Non-Compliance Fee Is A Penalty, Not A Tax
POSTED IN LIBERALAND BY ALAN • JULY 2, 2012, 10:48 AMET •
*Mitt Romney’s senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom says the fee for not participating in the individual mandate is a penalty, not a tax.“The governor disagreed with the ruling of the court,” Fehrnstrom said. “He agreed with the dissent that was written by Justice [Antonin] Scalia, which very clearly stated that the mandate was not a tax.”
But Romney, himself called his own individual mandate fee a tax, not a penalty.
MOST LIKELY BECAUSE IN HIS STATE THEY WON’T LOCK YOU UP OVER IT, WHEREAS, OBAMACARE MANDATED PURCHASE OF INSURANCE OR JAIL TIME, FINES, AND TAX PENALTIES, THE SUPREME COURT STRUCK DOWN THAT AS UNCONSTITUTIONAL, DECLARING CONGRESS CAN NOT FORCE YOU TO BUY A PARTICULAR PRODUCT OR JAIL YOU OR FINE YOU, BUT THEY CAN TAX YOU FOR NOT PARTICIPATING, WHICH IS WHY ROMNEY SAYS THAT IT’S STILL A PENALTY AND A TAX, WHICH CAN AND WILL BE REPEALED....
BETWEEN THE UNCERTAINTY OVER HEALTH CARE UNTIL WE ENACT REAL REPEAL
REPEAL & REPLACE, PART 2: Health Care Reform Act of 2012: Standardization of Procedural and Medical Care Related Costs https://t.co/2UhQi8Z
UNREVERSED UNEMPLOYMENT AND LACK OF FOREIGN POLICY, OBAMA’S STENCH OF LACK OF LEADERSHIP STILL LINGERS OVER THE ECONOMY...
"Markets Are Terrified" as Middle East Turmoil Continues to Flare, Says Expert
Related: AFK, OIH, GAF, EGPT, EEM, GLD, OIL
Wednesday brought additional fighting in Libya, protests in Syria and a state of emergency in Yemen as unrest continues to roil entrenched regimes across the Middle East and North Africa.Having already toppled dictatorships in Tunisia and Egypt, the so-called Jasmine Revolution has “got a long way to go,” says Robert Powell, Mid-East analyst for The Economist Intelligence Unit. “The aims of the protests are extremely difficult for entrenched regimes to meet; there’s very little middle ground.”
In the accompanying video, Powell and I discuss where the movement is likely to spread next, the U.S.’s inconsistent – and arguably hypocritical -- response, Iran’s role in Bahrain as well as the current situation in Egypt.
We also discuss the potential for unrest in Saudi Arabia, the scenario about which Powell says “markets are terrified.”
Wall Street Shakes Off Weak Manufacturing Data
By Adam SamsonPublished July 02, 2012
FOXBusiness
Reuters
FOX Business: The Power to Prosper
The broad-market averages managed to overcome a worrisome reading on the U.S. manufacturing sector and close in the green, helped by a strong performance by tech heavyweight Apple.
Today's Markets
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 10.3 points, or 0.08%, to 12870, the S&P 500 rose 3.3 point, or 0.2%, to 1365 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 16.2 points, or 0.55%, to 2951.
The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing gauge fell to 49.7 in June from 53.5 in May, coming up short of the 52 expected. Readings below the 50 mark point to contraction while those above indicate expansion. It was the first reading below 50 since July 2009, according to ISM. The manufacturing sector had recently been a bright spot for the U.S. economy, but it has come under stress recently.
A separate report form the Commerce Department showed construction spending having risen 0.9% in May from April, beating expectations of a gain of 0.2%.
The markets also got manufacturing reports from China and Europe.
Chinese manufacturing accelerated at a slightly slower rate in June than the month before, according to the country's PMI gauge. That beat expectations of slight contraction. A private survey from HSBC pointed to a modest downturn for the month, but that also came in better than an earlier reading.
"As external demand has weakened and domestic demand hasn't shown a meaningful improvement in response to earlier easing measures, growth is likely to be on track for further slowdown," Hongbin Qu, HSBC's chief economist, China, wrote in a research note. "But as inflation eases sharply, Beijing has plenty of room and policy ammunition to avoid a hard landing."
The contraction in eurozone manufacturing continued at the same pace in June as the month before. Germany, the bloc's economic powerhouse, saw its manufacturing activity slip to the lowest level in three years, yet another sign that Europe's debt crisis is beginning to infect increasingly major economies.
A separate report showed unemployment in the eurozone having risen to a record of 11.1% in June from 11% in May.
On the corporate front, Barclays (BCS: 10.75, +0.45, +4.37%) Chairman Marcus Agius resigned amid a scandal over the bank's manipulation of Libor, which is a key interest rate banks use when lending to each other. The rate is also used at a peg of trillions of dollars in global financial transactions.
Micron Technology (MU: 6.54, +0.22, +3.57%) forged a deal to acquire rival Elpida Memory in a $2.5 billion deal.
Oil futures were to the downside after soaring in the last session. The benchmark contract traded in New York fell $1.21, or 1.4%, to $83.75 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline dipped 0.3% to $2.624 a gallon.
In metals, gold slid $6.50, or 0.41%, to $1,598 a troy ounce.
Foreign Markets
The Euro Stoxx 50 jumped 1.2% to 2292, the English FTSE 100 gained 1.3% to 5641 and the German DAX rallied 1.3% to 6496.
In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 fell 0.04% to 9003 and the Chinese Hang Seng soared 2.2% to 19441.
Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2012/07/02/wall-street-shakes-off-weak-manufacturing-data/#ixzz1zV6kTnIF
DEMOCRATS ARE LEARNING THEIR LESSON THAT GETTING THEIR WAY IS NOT CONSIDERED BIPARTISANSHIP OR GETTING THEIR WAY ISN’T DOING ANYTHING THAT IS HELPING THE COMMON MAN WHO IS STILL OUT OF WORK...
THE DEAL WAS THAT WE GIVE CONCESSION ON FEDERAL ROAD PROJECTS, AND DEMOCRATS WOULD GIVE US OUR JOB CREATION BILLS IN THE SENATE? DO YOU THINK THAT WILL HAPPEN THIS WEEK???
The broad-market averages managed to overcome a worrisome reading on the U.S. manufacturing sector and close in the green, helped by a strong performance by tech heavyweight Apple.
Today's Markets
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 10.3 points, or 0.08%, to 12870, the S&P 500 rose 3.3 point, or 0.2%, to 1365 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 16.2 points, or 0.55%, to 2951.
The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing gauge fell to 49.7 in June from 53.5 in May, coming up short of the 52 expected. Readings below the 50 mark point to contraction while those above indicate expansion. It was the first reading below 50 since July 2009, according to ISM. The manufacturing sector had recently been a bright spot for the U.S. economy, but it has come under stress recently.
A separate report form the Commerce Department showed construction spending having risen 0.9% in May from April, beating expectations of a gain of 0.2%.
The markets also got manufacturing reports from China and Europe.
Chinese manufacturing accelerated at a slightly slower rate in June than the month before, according to the country's PMI gauge. That beat expectations of slight contraction. A private survey from HSBC pointed to a modest downturn for the month, but that also came in better than an earlier reading.
"As external demand has weakened and domestic demand hasn't shown a meaningful improvement in response to earlier easing measures, growth is likely to be on track for further slowdown," Hongbin Qu, HSBC's chief economist, China, wrote in a research note. "But as inflation eases sharply, Beijing has plenty of room and policy ammunition to avoid a hard landing."
The contraction in eurozone manufacturing continued at the same pace in June as the month before. Germany, the bloc's economic powerhouse, saw its manufacturing activity slip to the lowest level in three years, yet another sign that Europe's debt crisis is beginning to infect increasingly major economies.
A separate report showed unemployment in the eurozone having risen to a record of 11.1% in June from 11% in May.
On the corporate front, Barclays (BCS: 10.75, +0.45, +4.37%) Chairman Marcus Agius resigned amid a scandal over the bank's manipulation of Libor, which is a key interest rate banks use when lending to each other. The rate is also used at a peg of trillions of dollars in global financial transactions.
Micron Technology (MU: 6.54, +0.22, +3.57%) forged a deal to acquire rival Elpida Memory in a $2.5 billion deal.
Oil futures were to the downside after soaring in the last session. The benchmark contract traded in New York fell $1.21, or 1.4%, to $83.75 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline dipped 0.3% to $2.624 a gallon.
In metals, gold slid $6.50, or 0.41%, to $1,598 a troy ounce.
Foreign Markets
The Euro Stoxx 50 jumped 1.2% to 2292, the English FTSE 100 gained 1.3% to 5641 and the German DAX rallied 1.3% to 6496.
In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 fell 0.04% to 9003 and the Chinese Hang Seng soared 2.2% to 19441.
Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2012/07/02/wall-street-shakes-off-weak-manufacturing-data/#ixzz1zV6kTnIF
DEMOCRATS ARE LEARNING THEIR LESSON THAT GETTING THEIR WAY IS NOT CONSIDERED BIPARTISANSHIP OR GETTING THEIR WAY ISN’T DOING ANYTHING THAT IS HELPING THE COMMON MAN WHO IS STILL OUT OF WORK...
Thirty-Something
Posted by Don Seymour
June 27, 2012
General
Speaker John Boehner said today that “House Republicans are going to continue to stay focused on jobs and the economy, which is what we’ve done the last 18 months.” Senate Democrats, on the other hand, are still blocking key jobs bills. And President Obama – as the numbers show – has “been out on the campaign trail” while his policies are making our economy worse. For example,there have been…- More than 30 Jobs Bills Passed by the House Being Blocked by Senate Democrats: These House-passed bills remove government barriers to job growth by expanding energy production, eliminating excessive regulations, and more. Each of these bills is part of the Republican Plan for America’s Job Creators. See the full list here and learn more atjobs.GOP.gov.
- 30 Votes Taken by the House to Repeal, Defund, & Dismantle ObamaCare: Among the30 votes to scrap the president’s health care law – which is driving up costs and making it harder for small businesses to hire – was a recent bill repealing an ObamaCare tax that isshipping jobs overseas. Unless the Supreme Court overturns the full law, the House will vote to repeal whatever is left.
- The 30 Worst Months for Employment in the Last 25 Years: The 30 “worst months for employment in the past 25 years” have all happened under President Obama. Half of recent college graduates are out of work or underemployed. And the unemployment rate has been higher than 8 percent – far above what was promised if the ‘stimulus’ passed – for 40 months.
- More than 30 Speeches Given by President Obama So Far this Month: President Obama has delivered more than 30 speeches since the last dismal jobs report was released.More than half were “campaign events,” a reflection of a White House more focused on campaigning than jobs. At no point has the president called on Senate Democrats to act on House-passed jobs bills.
THE DEAL WAS THAT WE GIVE CONCESSION ON FEDERAL ROAD PROJECTS, AND DEMOCRATS WOULD GIVE US OUR JOB CREATION BILLS IN THE SENATE? DO YOU THINK THAT WILL HAPPEN THIS WEEK???
House Passes Bill to Reform Infrastructure Spending, Stop Student Loan Rates from Doubling
Posted by Speaker Boehner Press Office
June 29, 2012
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) released the following statement after the House approved a bipartisan agreement with the United States Senate that ensures taxpayer dollars are spent on high-priority infrastructure projects that support economic activity and stops student loan rates from doubling:“This bipartisan agreement ensures that taxpayer dollars are spent on high-priority infrastructure projects, not bike paths and beautification; cuts red tape to reduce permitting time; and eliminates duplicative federal government programs by two thirds – with no earmarks whatsoever. We are disappointed that the president and Democratic leaders continue to block the thousands of jobs that would come from building the Keystone pipeline – a project which is supported by the American people and strong bipartisan majorities in both the House and Senate – but Republicans will continue to fight for this common-sense proposal. This bill is far from perfect, but it is a substantial improvement over the original Senate highway bill and I’d like to thank Chairman Mica and our negotiators for all their hard work in making this agreement happen.
“This measure also includes a student loan fix to prevent interest rates from doubling. Despite the president’s efforts to make this a political issue and distract attention from his failed record on jobs, I’m pleased members of both parties in the Congress worked amicably to resolve the issue.”
# # # # #
Tags: Student Loans, Economy, Keystone XL
Speaker Boehner Statement on the Supreme Court’s Health Care Ruling
Posted by Speaker Boehner Press Office
June 28, 2012
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC - House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) released the following statement after the Supreme Court announced its ruling on the president’s health care law:“The president’s health care law is hurting our economy by driving up health costs and making it harder for small businesses to hire. Today’s ruling underscores the urgency of repealing this harmful law in its entirety. What Americans want is a common-sense, step-by-step approach to health care reform that will protect Americans’ access to the care they need, from the doctor they choose, at a lower cost. Republicans stand ready to work with a president who will listen to the people and will not repeat the mistakes that gave our country ObamaCare.”
# # # # #
16m Tea Party Chief @2012_TeaParty We'll get to #GA by 7/6 so all #NJ #SC and #GA will be featured in this week's newsletters. The others were so long, I didn't have room.
23m Tea Party Chief @2012_TeaParty Those slated for unemployment reduction... #NJ #SC #GA #MI #NY -- we will be focusing on pressuring the Senate to pass job bills #PassOurs
EUROZONE AND UNEMPLOYMENTTHE BLOG
Record 11.1 Percent Unemployment in Eurozone
9:44 AM, JUL 2, 2012 • BY DANIEL HALPER
Unemployment in the 17 country euro currency bloc hit another record in May as the continent continued to be buffeted by its debt crisis, official figures showed Monday.
Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, said unemployment rose to 11.1 per cent in May from 11 percent the previous month. That's the highest rate since the euro was launched in 1999, and compares badly with an unemployment rate of 8.2 per cent in the United States and only 4.4 per cent in Japan.
In total, 17.6 million people were out of work in the eurozone in May, 1.8 million higher than a year earlier.
Unemployment has been edging higher for over a year as concerns over the debt crisis and the future of the euro currency itself have weighed on economic activity.
Europe's numbers look a little better: "Across the wider 27-country European Union, which includes non-euro countries such as Britain and Poland, unemployment edged up to 10.3 per cent in May from 10.2 percent the month before."
PM Faces More Pressure Over EU Referendum
Sky News – 10 hours ago
Britain should look at how to take powers back from the EU, the former defence secretary will say later – as David Cameron faces questions over the future of the UK's membership.Liam Fox will be giving his first speech since leaving the Cabinet earlier this year.
He is expected to say "life outside the EU holds no terror" – and that the UK should seek a looser relationship with Europe.
In a speech, the Tory MP will say: "I would like to see Britain negotiate a new relationship on the basis that, if we achieved it and our future relationship was economic rather than political, we would advocate acceptance in a referendum of this new dynamic.
"If, on the other hand, others would not accede to our requests for a rebalancing in the light of the response to the euro crisis, then we would recommend rejection and potential departure from the EU."
Mr Cameron is expected to face more questions on his stance in the Commons when he makes a statement to MPs about the EU summit in Brussels last week, during which eurozone leaders agreed a"breakthrough" bailout deal for their debt-laden banks.
Nearly 100 Conservative MPs have written to Mr Cameron urging him to make it a legal commitment to hold a poll on the EU during the next parliament but Mr Cameron has been cautious about how the issue would be put to people.
On Sunday he said he was willing to call a referendum.
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, he acknowledged that the country's position within the evolving EU must have the "full-hearted support" of Britons.
He said: "There is more to come - further moves, probably further treaties - where we can take forward our interests, safeguard the single market and stay out of a federal Europe.
"How do we take the British people with us on this difficult and complicated journey? How do we avoid the wrong paths of either meekly accepting the status quo or giving up altogether and preparing to leave?
"As we get closer to the end point we will need to consider how best to get the full-hearted support of the British people, whether it is in a general election or a referendum.
"As I have said, for me the two words 'Europe' and 'referendum' can go together, particularly if we really are proposing a change in how our country is governed, but let us get the people a real choice first."
You are here: Jobs > Articles & News > Top 10 Companies Hiring This Week
Top 10 Companies Hiring This Week
A job search can get quite frustrating these days, with so many people competing for too few openings.
To ease the burden, AOL Jobs tracked down the 10 top companies that are hiring this week. From sales jobs to finance positions, full-time to part-time, these employers have a plethora of openings they're looking to fill.
Good luck job hunting!
Top 10 Companies: June 25 - July 1, 2012 Fullscreen
1 of 101. Sears
The retail company is planning to revamp product lines in an effort to better connect with customers in 2012.Employee Review: "My favorite thing about working with Sears is the stability. The company has been around for over 100 years and is one of the largest in the world. It has great benefits and work-life balance is excellent. I don't have to worry about being on-call on nights and weekends. They have really great quality people who are easy to get along with."*
Number of Job Openings: 3,449
Find jobs at Sears.
Tags: aol, companies hiring, companies+that+are+hiring, companiesthatarehiring,hiring+jobs, hiringjobs, job openings, jobs+hiring, jobsh
TO SEE NEW JERSEY 47TH, SOUTH CAROLINA 46TH, AND GEORGIA 45TH, CLICK THE LINK FOR THE UPDATED LIST BELOW:
STATE-BY-STATE STRATEGIC UNEMPLOYMENT REDUCTION PLAN: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L2ZmGM-izViR2QkN_RRhV9lG82z-n7VZcUpetHQi2F0/edit
30 STATES IN 30 WEEKS: http://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htmTEA PARTY SLATES REDUCING FEDERAL WORKFORCE 1/5, REPEAL BY INJUNCTION TO HIRE WITHOUT OBAMACARE, 30 STATE UNEMPLOYMENT REDUCTION STRATEGY BY RETURNING 30 MILLION-150 MILLION ON FEDERAL PAYROLL TO PRIVATE SECTOR WITH GRANTS TO HIRE AND CREATE JOBS...
Federal, state, local employees 150 million relieved to work in private sector/create small businesses http://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm #30states30weeks
WEEKLY TEA PARTY NEWSLETTER FEATURES 1 STATE PER WEEK, AS ROMNEY TAKES 1 STATE PER WEEK, FOR 30 WEEKS
TEA PARTY BUDGET $2.5 TRILLION ANNUAL REVENUE http://lnk.ms/Wb6nV
The Tea Party is here to REFORM and REVOLUTIONIZE -- D.C. - 37 fed pgms. to be cut/govt. employees don't contribute as private sector employees: it takes 5 private sector employees to fund one govt. employee=Tea Party to shrink federal workforce 150 million employees to private sector.... 150 million federal employees need to get a federal grant NOW, and start your OWN small business, BEFORE YOU LOSE YOUR JOB TO CUTS !!!!
U.S. Construction Spending Hit 2.5-Year High in MayBy Reuters | Posted Jul 2nd 2012 11:30AM  WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) - U.S.construction spending rose to its highest level in nearly two and a half years in May as investment in residential and federal government projects surged, a rare dose of good news for the flagging economic recovery.Construction spending increased 0.9 percent to an annual rate of $830 billion, the highest level since December 2009, theCommerce Department said on Monday. That followed an upwardly revised 0.6 percent rise in April. Economists polled by Reuters had expected construction spending to rise 0.2 percent after a previously reported 0.3 percent gain in April. In a reversal of fortunes, housing has become one of the few bright spots in the economy, whose recovery has slowed in recent months as the debt crisis in Europe and an unclear fiscal policy path at home create a cloud of uncertainty for businesses and households. The gain in construction spending in May was driven by a 1.6 percent rise in private construction outlays. Spending on residential projects jumped 3 percent to the highest level since January 2009. Private nonresidential construction spending rose 0.4 percent to the highest level since October 2009. Investment in multifamily residential projects surged 6.3 percent, while outlays for single-family buildings increased 1.8 percent. Residential construction is expected to contribute to growth this year for the first time since 2005. Spending on public sector construction dipped 0.4 percent to $269.6 billion, down for the fifth month. However, outlays on federal government projects jumped 5.6 percent, the largest gain since December, almost reversing the prior month's drop. Spending on state and local government projects dropped 1.0 percent, falling for a fifth straight month. Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions. FAST AND FURIOUS FALLOUT...
Arms trade treaty negotiations begin, Syria casts shadow
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'Fire Holder' protest at White House broken up when Secret Service finds suspicious bag
By Perry ChiaramontePublished July 02, 2012
FoxNews.com
A protest at the White House ended quickly when the Secret Service found an unattended package. (campusreform.org)
A protest in front of the White House calling for the firing of Attorney General Eric Holder was shut down before it even began when Secret Service agents spied an unattended bag.
A group of about 50 activists had gathered near the North Lawn Monday as part of a protest over the ongoing Fast and Furious scandal and were protesting for about 30 minutes before the street was cleared for an unattended backpack.
“The Secret Service agents had asked us if the bag belonged to any of us,” protest organizer and activist Oliver Darcy, of Arlington, Va., told FoxNews.com. “We told them it didn’t, and that’s when they cleared the street and shut it down.”
“It’s definitely one heck of a coincidence."
- Oliver Darcy
It was determined that the backpack belonged to a tourist who had left the bag on the ground to take a photo, according to sources that were at the scene.
The package was cleared from the area and Pennsylvania Avenue was quickly reopened to the public, according to Secret Service officials. But by then, the gathering had lost steam and demonstrators had scattered.
Holder is under fire after being found in contempt of Congress for not turning over documents relating to the gun-walking sting that went awry, allowing thousands of guns to potentially fall into the hands of Mexican drug gangs. One such gun turned up at the scene of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry's murder.
Several protesters who took to Twitter and other social media forums found the Secret Service's actions more suspicious than an errant backpack.
“It’s definitely one heck of a coincidence. It seemed like an overreaction [by Secret Service agents],” said Darcy.
“They were antsy the whole time we were there. They kept asking a lot of us if we were planning any civil disobedience,” he added, maintaining that the group was there only for a peaceful protest.
Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary said agents handled the situation professionally.
“We followed standard operating procedure to protect the safety of the public, our agents and the safety of others,” Leary said.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/02/fast-and-furious-protests-at-white-house-abruptly-ended-after-suspicious/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20foxnews/politics%20(Internal%20-%20Politics%20-%20Text)&partner=skygrid#ixzz1zUXNZAaJ
Townhall The Tipsheet Katie Pavlich
Found While Hiking: Stash of AK-47s
- Katie Pavlich
- News Editor, Townhall
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No big deal....despite the fact that a stash of AK-47s was found along a hiking trail in not Colombia, not Mexico but in....Arizona.
A hiker in the Madera Canyon area found three assault rifles in a black trash bag one mile north of Old Baldy Trail.
After receiving a report of the discovery on Wednesday, June 20, the Pima County Sheriff’s Office determined that the rifles were found in Santa Cruz County, and notified the local sheriff’s office.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies then went to the site and recovered what turned out to be a stash of AK-47 assault rifles.
Lt. Raoul Rodriguez said the rifles were “badly rusted” and had “obviously been there for quite some time.” Four rifle magazines were also recovered.
Hikers apparently are now subject to Mexican drug cartels stashing powerful weapons along areas where they used to be able to safely enjoy being outdoors. I'll be interested to know if any of these guns are linked to Operation Fast and Furious however, even if they are, I doubt ATF will be letting us know because after all, more Fast and Furious weapons traced means more bad PR for Holder's Justice Department.On a more serious note, this is an example of what local law enforcement is up against on a daily basis. It's a war down there. Learn more by reading about my ride along with a Pinal County Sheriff's SWAT Team member.
Nearby is the infamous Vekol Valley, the largest hotbed of drug and human smuggling in the United States and where a Pinal County Deputy was shot in April 2010. Vekol is surrounded by nasty mountain ranges on both sides. There is wide-open desert starting from mile marker 160 on I-8 and stretching all the way to Mexico. Because of the terrain, Vekol acts as a funnel. As we drove into the area, I could feel that it just wasn’t a safe place to be.
Cartels also take advantage of the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation on the west side of Vekol Valley. They use it as an entry point, marry into Indian families so they can live on the reservation and, if a village is small enough, cartel members will simply walk in and take property by lethal force.
While we were driving near Vekol, Thomas explained the “terrain” problem to me after pulling off the side of the road to show me the “Travel Caution: Smuggling and Illegal Immigration May Be Encountered in This Area" sign provided by Homeland Security. (Remember, according to Janet Napolitano, the border is secure.) He said the cartels have a vast intelligence network. Men known as “spotters” sit up on the top of hills and mountains with cell phones and radios, calling drug running crews in the U.S. and Mexico about where Sheriff vehicles are located and where Border Patrol is cruising. Usually, as soon as Thomas shows up on patrol, the cartels are watching and know exactly where he is. For the spotters, failing to identify where U.S. authorities are located can result in a beating or even death. If a spotter calls into the boss in Mexico or down the road, says that they are clear to come through with a load, but then the authorities show up and seize the load, that spotter pays the price for the loss.
But these cartels aren’t just targeting Border Patrol. U.S. citizens travelling along I-8 who stop for a restroom break often find themselves carjacked right off the road. The area can’t be used for camping, hiking or hunting as it used to be because the area is dangerous and drug and human smugglers are carrying high-powered weapons like AK-47s.
“If you see too much you may get killed out here because they [cartel members] don’t want witnesses,” Thomas said.
Tags: Arizona , Border Security , Border Patrol , Mexican Drug Cartels , U.S.-Mexico Border , drug violence , AK-47s
Fox Nation @foxnation
Michelle Compares Obama to Biblical Figures (VIDEO)http://nation.foxnews.com/first-lady/201 …
Tea Party Chief@2012_TeaParty
@foxnation Well Obama can part the ocean back to Africa and lead his followers home to Mother Africa, he's impeached, evicted, and losing...Tea Party Chief@2012_TeaParty 8:44 AM - 2 Jul 12 via web
THE BUSH JR.-HOLDER-OBAMA CONNECTION IS FROM THE SENATE...Corruptocrat Eric Holder’s GOP Enablers
 * |
By Michelle Malkin • June 15, 2012 08:21 AM
Corruptocrat Eric Holder’s GOP Enablers
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2012
While calls for U.S. Attorney General Eric “Stonewall” Holder’s resignation grow and the House GOP gears up for a contempt vote next week, it’s worth remembering how we got into this mess. In two words: feckless bipartisanship.
“I like Barack Obama and want to help him if I can.” That was Utah GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch in January 2009, just weeks before the Senate voted on President Obama’s attorney general nominee, Eric Holder. Right out of the gate, upon Obama’s election in November 2008, Hatch signaled that he would greenlight the administration’s top law enforcer.
“I start with the premise that the president deserves the benefit of the doubt,” the six-term incumbent Hatch told The Hill newspaper. “I don’t think politics should be played with the attorney general.”
Utah voters, mark those words. Bending to bipartisanship for bipartisanship’s sake — and ignoring the obvious consequences — is playing politics.
And, conservatives, please remember the actions of all 19 Republican senators who ignored Holder’s abominable career as a political fixer and confirmed him. “I found Mr. Holder to be a good listener, which is an important prerequisite for any good leader,” Missouri GOP Sen. Kit Bond explained in support of the nomination. “I believe him when he says that he’s willing to take good ideas from wherever they come.”
In addition to Hatch and Bond, the other 17 Senate Republicans who helped put Holder in place at the Justice Department were: Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., Bob Bennett, R-Utah, Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Bob Corker, R-Tenn., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Judd Gregg, R-N.H., Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., Richard Lugar, R-Ind., John McCain, R-Ariz., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio.
It’s not like these GOP enablers weren’t warned over and over about Holder’s shady judgment and questionable ethics. The 2002 House Committee on Government Reform’s report on the Clinton-era Marc Rich pardon scandal spelled out Holder’s willingness to put political ambition above the rule of law. Then-Deputy Attorney General Holder and former White House counsel Jack Quinn, who was representing the fugitive financier Rich, worked together to cut the Justice Department out of the process.
The duo ensured “that the Justice Department, especially the prosecutors of the Southern District of New York, did not have an opportunity to express an opinion on the Rich pardon before it was granted.” The report noted further that “Holder failed to inform the prosecutors under him that the Rich pardon was under consideration, despite the fact that he was aware of the pardon effort for almost two months before it was granted.”
Holder admitted that he allowed his judgment to be overridden by crony political considerations. He told GOP senators he had learned from his “mistake” and that it would make him a better attorney general. But it wasn’t just one “mistake.”
Holder pandered to leftist special interests in engineering clemency for 16 members of the violent terrorist groups Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional (FALN) and Los Macheteros — linked by the FBI to more than 130 bombings and six murders. He gave the terrorists unprecedented access to phone calls and consultations as they negotiated their freedom. He hid behind executive privilege covers when asked by victims’ families to explain the decision process. And as a partner at Covington and Burling, the powerhouse D.C.- and N.Y.-based law firm infamous for representing Gitmo detainees, Holder’s opposition to the jihadi detention center raised bright red conflict-of-interest flags.
Is it any wonder that such a serial conniver would now be embroiled in multiple scandals involving the endangerment of national security? And that he would name old pals to run interference for him in his time of need?
To investigate his department’s bloody malfeasance in the Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal, Holder appointed acting DOJ Inspector General Cynthia A. Schnedar. She worked under Holder in the 1990s and had co-filed several legal briefs with him. Schnedar is in hot water for having released secret Fast and Furious audiotapes to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Phoenix before reviewing them. The tapes somehow found their way into the hands of the local ATF office. Both are targets of congressional probes.
To investigate self-aggrandizing White House leaks on jihadi kill lists and computer viruses targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities, Holder named two political appointees. One is Ronald Machen, an Obama donor, a transition team leader and a U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., who formerly worked under Holder.
Blind Democrats are outraged at questions about the independence of Holder’s appointees. Johnny-come-lately Republicans are demanding special prosecutors and balking at Holder’s arrogance, obstructionism and wanton disregard for American security and safety. Note: Two of the loudest voices belong to Sens. McCain and Graham, who both approved Holder’s nomination.
Joseph Connor, son of FALN murder victim Frank Connor, was right. In January 2009, he spoke from pain-filled experience: “Holder clearly does not have the judgment, character or values to be attorney general.” GOP surrender-ism cost more innocent lives. For the sake of the victims, let this be a lesson learned — and not repeated again.
SPEAKING OF RACISTS.... AND YES, I DO THINK HOLDER IS RACIST, LIKE THE BLACK CAUCUS, BECAUSE WHEN IT COMES TO WHITES, THEY’RE SO IGNORANT THAT THEY DON’T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LATINO, A MEXICAN, A JEW, AND A WHITE PERSON, OR A NATIVE AMERICAN, SO IF YOU’RE NOT BLACK, YOU’RE JUST WHACK... APPARENTLY. MY FIRST EXAMPLE OF THAT IS GEORGE ZIMMERMAN. A PERSON OF HISPANIC DESCENT WITH AN ENGLISH FIRST NAME AND A JEWISH LAST NAME. OH, BUT HE’S.... <GASP WHITE!!!!!>
SECOND EXAMPLE? JOE WILLIAMS, NOW FORMER MSNBC REPORTER, SPEWS A REVERSE RACIST TANTRUM ABOUT MITT ROMNEY STRAPPING HIS KIDS TO THE TOP OF HIS MINIVAN LIKE HIS DOG (WHICH HE NEVER DID) AND GOES ON AN OBSCENE RANT ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT ROMNEY IS FLACID OR NOT AND THAT ANN COULD TELL US, SAYING THAT AT ROMNEY EVENTS THEY EAT GREY POUPON, AND HE’S NEVER ATE THE STUFF, IMPLYING ONLY BLACK PEOPLE EAT MUSTARD...
Joe Williams, Politico Reporter, Out Of A Job Following Controversial Mitt Romney Comments
The Huffington Post | By Melissa Jeltsen Posted: 06/30/2012 3:01 pm Updated: 06/30/2012 9:11 pm
Journalist Joe Williams has lost his job at Politico, the website reported Saturday, one week after he was suspended for making controversial comments about Mitt Romney on cable television and Twitter.
Politico editor John Harris announced Williams' departure in a memo sent to staff Saturday morning. "After some cordial discussions, Joe Williams and I mutually decided that the best step for him is to begin a transition to the next phase of his career," he wrote. "Joe is an experienced and respected journalist, with keen insights into politics. After nearly 30 years in the business, he has the authority and is ready to give voice to his insights and conclusions in a new setting."
On June 21, Williams made an MSNBC appearance to discuss immigration. When asked what his thoughts were on Romney's problem connecting with Hispanic voters, he said the former Massachusetts governor appeared ""very comfortable" around "white folks."
Conservative websites pounced on the remarks, posting the video and digging through Williams' tweets for examples of overtly partisan leanings. Politico editors responded that day, suspending Williams and releasing a statement saying his MSNBC remark "fell short of our standards for fairness and judgment." They also faulted "an unacceptable number" of Williams' statements on Twitter for failing to "cover politics fairly and free of partisan bias," as Politico reporters are required to do.
In an interview with Current TV host Bill Press days after his suspension, Williams claimed that he had been the target of a deliberate right-wing smear campaign. ""It's the schoolyard bully concept," he said. "They're in the business of gathering scalps."
According to Politico media reporter Dylan Byers, Williams wrote that he was"disappointed" at the circumstances surrounding his exit, but was still grateful he had a chance to work at the organization.
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LIKE OBAMA, SUPPORT FOR PUTIN WANING IN THE FACE OF SYRIAN CRISIS AND HIS RE-ELECTION THAT CITIZENS SAY CAME BY CORRUPTION....
Poll: Stark Russian divide over Vladimir Putin
By LAURA MILLS and LYNN BERRY | Associated Press – 5 hrs ago
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FILE - In this Monday, Aug. 1, …
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MOSCOW (AP) — The success and possible future undoing ofPresident Vladimir Putin lies in the contrast between people like provincial housewife Yekaterina Arsentyeva and Moscow student Kirill Guskov.
In the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, Arsentyeva sees Putin as the only man who can ensure her children have a decent future. In the capital, Guskov can't hide his contempt for Russia's leader and the culture of corruption he has overseen: "A fish rots from its head," he fumes.
An Associated Press-GfK poll released Monday reveals a stark divide between Moscow and the rest of Russia over the man who has ruled the country for the past 12 years. A total of 60 percent ofRussians maintain a favorable opinion of the president as he begins his third term. In contrast, only 38 percent in the capital — where tens of thousands have joined anti-Putin protests — have a favorable view of him.
The division extends to views on the fairness of elections and the state of the economy, while almost all agree that corruption is among the most serious problems facing Russia today.
The split promises to have profound, albeit still unknown, consequences for the future of the protest movement and of Putin himself. The outcome depends in large part on the economy, which the poll shows is the primary concern of most Russians. While anger over the trampling of democratic rights has brought Muscovites out to protest in droves, any deterioration in living standards could prove the catalyst for protests in the provinces. Pending hikes in utilities prices have the potential to cause broad discontent.
The mood in the hinterlands may also change as more people gain access to the Internet and the social networks that have been crucial to the rise of the protest movement in Moscow and other large cities.
For now, people like the 39-year-old Arsentyeva have no sympathy for the protest movement and the educated, urban professionals who have been its driving force.
"If they don't like our country, why do they live here? Let them go to Europe or America and express their dissatisfaction there," she said. Her hopes are pinned firmly on Putin.
"My husband works in a good company that is growing, we have a stable income, I can easily buy diapers, soap, anything my children need and I don't have to stand in line or run around in search of goods in short supply," said Arsentyeva, who is expecting her second child.
Her views reflect a deep-seated fear of social upheaval and of a return to the turmoil of the 1990s, the decade following the Soviet collapse, when salaries often went unpaid for months and store shelves were thinly stocked.
Nikolai Petrov, who studies Russian regional politics at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said that Putin's popularity should be considered support for the existing order and not for Putin himself. "The majority of Russians are still not ready to change the whole system," Petrov said.
Putin's rating on his job performance hit a high of 81 percent as he wrapped up his second term in 2008, according to the Levada Center, which measures his current approval rating at 60 percent, about the same as the 58 percent registered in the AP-GfK poll. This differs from favorability rating, which seeks to measure overall impressions of a person.
Putin handed over the presidency to his junior partner, Dmitry Medvedev, but as prime minister he remained the dominant player in Russian politics. Putin's decision in September to reclaim the presidency, followed by his party's victory in a December parliamentary election through what observers said was widespread fraud, set off protests across Russia.
After Putin won the March presidential election with 64 percent of the vote, the protests died away in much of the country except for Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The AP-GfK poll indicates that Putin retains broad support, although only 18 percent expressed a strongly favorable view of him. The poll was conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications from May 25 to June 10 and was based on in-person interviews with 1,675 randomly selected adults nationwide. The results have a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.
At the other end of the spectrum, 14 percent expressed a somewhat or strongly unfavorable view. The majority falls in between, passively supportive but some increasingly cynical.
Magomed Abakarov, who works for the government in the North Caucasus city of Makhachkala, voted for Putin, but his support is tepid at best.
"I consider him a liar and a fake," Abakarov said. "Someday we'll know who the real Mr. Putin is, but under the current circumstances he is the best candidate for president. He can talk tough with the leader of any country."
The majority of Russians see their country as a stronger international power than it was before Putin became president in 2000, according to the poll.
Like many Russians, Abakarov said he voted for Putin because there was no viable alternative in a country where only Kremlin-approved candidates are allowed to run for president. Putin has centralized control over the political system, preventing the emergence of independent political leaders and reducing parliament to a rubber stamp.
The presidency is now the only institution that at least half of Russians feel can be trusted to do what is right, according to the AP-GfK poll. The military, still manned by conscripts, comes next with the trust of 41 percent.
The parliament only has the trust of about a quarter of the people and the same goes for the courts, which have been compromised by corrupt judges. Just 18 percent say they trust the police, who are notorious for shaking down motorists.
Corruption is among Russians' biggest concerns, with 91 percent of those surveyed in Moscow calling it a serious problem and almost as many, 85 percent, of those outside the capital saying the same. Even though Putin has failed to deliver on repeated pledges to crack down on corrupt officials, most Russians don't hold him responsible.
Grigory Mikheyev, a 28-year-old systems administrator in the far eastern town of Dalnegorsk, complained of a system of double standards.
"The laws seem fine, but they only apply to the selected few," he said. "The simple people get punished, while the bureaucrats get rich."
Still, Mikheyev said he generally approves of Putin.
In keeping with the disparity between the capital and the rest of the country, Muscovites are far more likely to see election fraud as a serious problem: 56 percent compared with 37 percent elsewhere.
Guskov, the 21-year-old Moscow student, expressed frustration over what he sees as one-man rule.
"He is still a czar and Russia is the kind of country where a lot depends on a single person," Guskov said. "But we as a people are trying to do something, so we go to protests and demonstrate our discontent."
A major factor behind the divergence between Moscow and the rest of Russia is that about half of those surveyed live in small towns and rural areas, where most people still get their news from the Kremlin-controlled national television networks.
Half of the respondents outside the capital said they do not use the Internet, compared with only 10 percent in Moscow. Without access to the Internet, they have not seen the flood of videos purporting to show blatant vote rigging or read about alleged corruption in political and business circles close to Putin.
Without the Internet, many Russians are unlikely to know much about Alexei Navalny, a charismatic corruption fighter and blogger who is a leader of the anti-Putin protest movement. In Moscow, only 15 percent said they had no opinion of Navalny, compared with 46 percent in the rest of the country.
This may change, however, as the number of Internet users rises steadily. The Public Opinion Foundation said 38 percent of Russians now use the Internet daily, up from 22 percent just two years ago.
Residents of Moscow also differ from the rest of their countrymen with their far more pessimistic view of Russia's oil-based economy, perhaps because they are more aware of the challenges ahead.
To consolidate his base ahead of the election, Putin promised higher wages and benefits to soldiers, police, doctors and teachers. He pledged to pump billions of dollars into ailing industrial plants and the military.
But economists warn that the additional spending is unsustainable if oil prices remain low. Russia is able to balance its budget if the Urals blend of oil stays above $115, but it is currently trading at closer to $90.
Sergei Mikheyev, an analyst with the Center for Political Technologies, said the economic troubles would have to be lasting and deep to drive people in the region out onto the streets.
"To make the regions rise up in a revolt, the oil price will need to take a dramatic toll on living standards, for example by making millions of people jobless," he said.
Petrov, the Carnegie scholar, is more pessimistic. He points to substantial hikes in the cost of heating and electricity that will go into effect in July and begin to bite once the weather turns cold, coupled with unpopular new taxes and education reforms going into effect in September.
"We've witnessed a big wave of political protests, with Moscow as the leader, in big cities," Petrov said. "I don't think this political protest will go down to small towns, but in the fall there will be socio-economic protests, and socio-economic protests across the country combined with political protests in the big cities will create a deadly mix."
___
Liya Khabarova in Vladivostok, Arsen Mollayev in Makhachkala, Sergei Venyavsky in Rostov-on-Don and Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this report.
___
On the Net:
www.ap-gfkpoll.com
House Democrats want more open Pacific trade talks
Published June 27, 2012Associated Press
WASHINGTON – Two-thirds of House Democrats on Wednesday wrote to the White House's top trade official complaining they are being left out of the loop as the Obama administration negotiates the most consequential trade deal in decades, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement.
The 132 Democrats, led by Reps. George Miller of California and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, urged U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk to make sure "there is ample opportunity for Congress to have input on critical policies that will have broad ramifications for years to come."
Also this week, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa of California, asked Kirk to allow him to attend the next round of TPP negotiations in San Diego next month, saying that would "help to alleviate some of my concerns about the process through which the agreement is being negotiated."
The United States and eight other Pacific nations — Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam — have been negotiating some three years on the agreement that would lower trade barriers and spur economic growth in the region. Mexico and Canada are set to join in the 13th round of negotiations in San Diego and Japan has expressed interest in future participation.
The House Democrats, who in the past have tended to be skeptical of free trade accords, expressed concern that the trade deal could force on the United States binding policies related to labor, food standards, the environment, patents, and financial, healthcare, energy and telecommunications regulations. "We are troubled that important policy decisions are being made without full input from Congress."
The USTR, in a statement on its Web page, said that while the U.S. and its Trans-Pacific partners had entered into a customary confidentiality arrangement on private talks, "USTR consults extensively with key congressional committees, interested members of Congress, as well as a wide range of trade advisory committees."
USTR spokeswoman Carol Guthrie said the agency "will be continuing our already unprecedented outreach to keep the public more informed about TPP" while ensuring its ability to conclude successful negotiations. She said they would discuss the issue further with the House Democrats and were working with Issa's office on his request.
In May, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., head of the Senate Finance subcommittee on international trade, introduced legislation that would give all members of Congress and staff with appropriate clearance access to the substance of trade negotiations.
The Trans-Pacific agreement, he said in introducing the bill, could be the most far-reaching economic agreement since the World Trade Organization was established nearly 20 years ago. But "the majority of Congress is being kept in the dark as to the substance of the Trans-Pacific negotiations, while representatives of U.S. corporations — like Halliburton, Chevron, PHRMA, Comcast and the Motion Picture Association of America — are being consulted and made privy to details."
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/06/27/house-democrats-want-more-open-pacific-trade-talks/#ixzz1zTwn9YSr
VOTING.... yeah that....
Tea Party Chief @2012_TeaParty
@GASOSKemp Of course, putting it in newsletter would be just deserts! this is why you have problems with voter participation#LocalProblems
@GASOSKemp That would stop a lot of useless arguing, sending documents and emails back and forth, and then demanding apologies for it.
@GASOSKemp you need to put on your website that it takes 4-5 months to register because the Henry Co. Registrar doesn't keep up with GA Laws
Today is the last day to register to vote for the July 31st Primary. Register today! http://sos.georgia.gov/elections/how_to_register.htm
@GASOSKemp Yeah finally received my cards 6/29... after sending my registration in February and it taking 6wks. then denial, then again 6/29
8:18 AM - 2 Jul 12 via web · Details
Kem Kimbrough @Kem_KimbroughToday is the final day to register to vote. Don't miss the opportunity to make your voice heard! http://1.usa.gov/tcxyw5
Retweeted by Tea Party Chief
SYRIA
Much-hyped plan to end Syria crisis falls flat
By MATTHEW LEE | Associated Press – 23 hrs ago
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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary …
Kofi Annan, Joint Special Envoy …
WASHINGTON (AP) — The much-hyped plan to end Syria's misery and guide its transition to democracy appears to have fallen flat despite the endorsement of Western powers.
Russia's objections gutted the most stringent conditions on a potential interim leader in Damascus. The Syrian opposition quickly dismissed the proposal as a waste of time and with "no value on the ground."
The U.S. and its allies insist the plan will force Syrian President Bashar Assad from power. Russia disagrees and Assad is unlikely to acquiesce.
It all leaves U.N. envoy Kofi Annan's efforts to end 15 months of bloodshed no better off than before.
Western nations needed to win Russia's backing for the plan at an international conference Saturday in Geneva, so they dropped the demand that "those whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardize stability and reconciliation" would be excluded from the process.
That was widely understood to mean Assad and much of his inner circle, and while the West insisted, Assad's main allies in Moscow resisted intensely.
As a result, the plan contains no criteria for excluding anyone from the transitional government and leaves its composition entirely up to the "mutual consent" of Assad administration and the fractured opposition. Both sides presumably have unlimited veto power over members of the interim government, which could prolong the stalemate and keep Assad in charge.
U.S. and Western officials acknowledge the possibility of that scenario. But they insist that the "mutual consent" language puts the opposition on equal footing with Assad in determining who will be part of the governing body.
Annan said he could not imagine that the Syrian people would choose anyone with blood on their hands to lead them.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, going further, said the plan requires Assad to leave because there is no chance he can meet the "mutual consent" standard.
"What we have done here is to strip away the fiction that he and those with blood on their hands can stay in power," she said.
Yet as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointed out, the plan excludes no one. Nor does it give anyone without a vested interest any authority to suggest who might or might not be acceptable.
That's why Assad's foes are skeptical, at the very least.
"The country has been destroyed and they want us then to sit with the killer?" asked opposition figure Haitham Maleh.
Bassma Kodmani, a Paris-based spokeswoman for the main opposition group, the Syrian National Council (SNC), said the agreement was "ambiguous" and lacks a mechanism or timetable for implementation.
Western officials say they expect Russia and China, which have blocked U.N. action on Syria, to make the case to Assad that he needs to step down for the good of his country. They hope, as Clinton said Saturday, that Assad will "see the writing on the wall" and remove himself from the equation.
So far, though, neither has shown any inclination to back away from defending Assad.
Clinton and her Western counterparts will take the Annan plan to a meeting of the "Friends of Syria" group in Paris on Friday to get a broader endorsement of the deal. This, they hope, will raise the pressure on Russia and China to convince Assad of the need to get the transition started.
Should that fail and the process remain stalled, they intended to return to the U.N. Security Council for a resolution that would compel compliance.
The SNC said nearly 800 people have been killed in violence across the country in the past week and that more than 14,000 people have died in the 15-month-old uprising against Assad's rule.
There's an urgent need for a solution because the conflict is threatening to spill across borders after Syria shot down a warplane from neighboring Turkey, which responded by setting up anti-aircraft guns along the frontier.
___
EDITOR'S NOTE — Matthew Lee covers international affairs and U.S. foreign policy for The Associated Press.
An AP News Analysis
Syria helicopters strike Damascus suburb; diplomacy stalled
By Mariam Karouny | Reuters – 38 minutes ago
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A member of rebel group Khaled ibin al Walid Fighters with his weapon walks past …
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BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian attack helicopters bombarded a suburb of Damascus on Monday and Turkey said it had scrambled warplanes near the border in the north, as a 16-month conflict entered a more violent phase and diplomacy appeared to have failed.
Fighting has come to the gates of the capital in recent weeks and is also raging throughout the country as the battle to unseat President Bashar al-Assad increasingly takes on the character of an all-out civil war, fuelled by sectarian hate.
Syrian government forces have launched an assault on Douma, a city on the edge of Damascus where they stormed a rebel stronghold two days ago leaving bodies rotting in the streets of the nearly abandoned town.
"The bombardment of Douma continued today using helicopters. Some activists entered the city today and they saw at least seven decaying bodies in the streets under the sun. One man had been executed inside his house," said Mohamed Doumany, an activist who fled the city two days ago and was now nearby.
"There is huge destruction in the city, which is almost empty. Only a few of its people remain inside," he told Reuters by Skype.
Diplomats from the West and Arab states who oppose Assad met the Syrian leader's allies Russia and China on Saturday in Geneva under the auspices of peace envoy Kofi Annan. But they made no progress persuading Moscow and Beijing to sign up to a statement calling for Assad to leave power, leaving the effort to forge an international consensus in tatters.
The failure of diplomacy to have any measurable impact on a conflict that the United Nations says has killed more than 13,000 people is testing the patience of countries in the region, especially Turkey, which reacted with fury 10 days ago when Syria shot down one of its warplanes.
FIGHTERS SCRAMBLED
Turkey said on Monday it had scrambled six F-16 fighters in response to three separate incidents of Syrian helicopters approaching the border. Turkey also scrambled fighters on Saturday and has moved guns and soldiers toward the frontier.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told Syrian opposition figures gathered in Cairo that their struggle to unseat Assad would end in victory.
"The Assad regime's guns, tanks, weapons have no meaning in the face of the will of the Syrian people. Sooner or later the will of the Syrian people shall reign supreme. And you will lead this process," he said.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, a former ally of Assad who has turned decisively against him, says Turkish military rules of engagement have been changed and any Syrian forces approaching the border and deemed threatening will be targeted.
The Syrian government tightly controls access, making it difficult to verify accounts of fighting on the ground.
Anti-Assad activists said there were heavy clashes in Deir Ezzor province near the Iraqi border where villages were under army fire. Rebels destroyed two tanks, they said.
In rural areas near Aleppo south of the Turkish border there were clashes following explosions inside the city overnight. Forested areas near the border were on fire, activists said.
Syrian artillery pounded the village of Talbiseh near Homs on Monday, targeting an area near the mosque. Video footage posted on YouTube showed a blast hitting the mosque's slender minaret, engulfing it in a cloud of grey smoke and dust.
Other footage showed high explosive rounds slamming into an unseen target behind the mosque every minute.
Security forces were also shelling towns in the province of Deraa, near the Jordan border, activists said.
(Additional reporting by Erika Solomon and Douglas Hamilton in Beirut, Jonathon Burch in Ankara and Edmund Blair in Cairo; Writing by Peter Graff, editing by Peter Millership)
Turkey says scrambled F16s to check Syrian border
By ZEINA KARAM | Associated Press – Sun, Jul 1, 2012
RELATED CONTENT
In this Thursday, June 28, 2012 …
Kofi Annan, Joint Special Envoy …
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's military says it scrambledfighter jets to its border on Saturday after Syrian helicopters flew too close to the frontier.
A military statement Sunday said F-16 jets were scrambled, and sent to the border after the helicopters flew in the area on at least three occasions.
The military did not report that any direct confrontation had taken place.
The jets were scrambled days after Turkey said it would treat anySyrian military unit approaching its border as a direct threat in response to the downing of a Turkish reconnaissance plane by Syrian forces on June 22.
Turkey has also reinforced its border with anti-aircraft guns and other weapons.
The military said the helicopters flew as close as 4 miles (6.5 kilometers) to the Turkish border.
Arab League says Syrian opposition must unite during Cairo meeting about transitional plan
By The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – 6 hours ago
CAIRO - The Arab League chief has called on the fragmented Syrian opposition to unite during a meeting in Cairo to discuss a new international plan for a transitional government.
Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby addressed nearly 250 members of the Syrian opposition at the meeting on Monday in an effort to get disparate groups to pull together. It is the first time the Arab League hosts a meeting of the Syrian opposition.
On Sunday, Syrian opposition groups rejected a U.N.-brokered peace plan for a transitional government because it left the door open for President Bashar Assad to be part of the interim administration.
Elaraby says the opposition "must not miss this opportunity" to unite, adding that the Syrian people are more valuable than any factional disagreements.
IRAN
EU oil embargo on Iran comes into effect
By Farhad Pouladi | AFP – 7 hrs ago
PrintRELATED CONTENT
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad …
A European Union embargo on Iranian …
A European Union embargo on Iranian oil went into effect on Sunday, provoking anger inTehran which says the measure will hurt talks with world powers over its sensitive nuclear activities.
Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi sought to downplay the embargo as just the latest punishment in decades of ineffective sanctions.
Iranian leaders have insisted they will forge ahead with their atomic programme, regardless of the Western restrictions and others imposed by the UN Security Council.
But the White House welcomed the implementation of the EU embargo, calling it "an essential part" of an international response to Tehran's nuclear programme.
"This action is an essential part of our concerted diplomatic efforts to present Iran with a clear choice between isolation or meeting its obligations," President Barack Obama's press secretary Jay Carney said.
"With this decision, our partners in the EU have underscored the seriousness with which the international community views the challenge of Iran's nuclear ambitions," Carney said.
Oil market observer bodies and analysts say the embargo, coupled with US financial sanctions ramped up on Thursday, are gutting Iran's vital oil exports, which account for half of government revenues.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) says Iran crude exports in May appear to have slipped to 1.5 million barrels per day (mbpd) as the market braced for the embargo, which has been phased in since being announced January 23.
That is far less than the 2.1-2.2 mbpd Iran insists it continues to sell abroad.
"The sanctions have had no effect on Iran and will have none," Qasemi was quoted as saying on Sunday by the ISNA news agency.
"I do not see a problem in our enemies starting the sanctions as of today (Sunday), since these sanctions have existed for many years and nothing has happened and one should not anticipate anything new," he was also quoted as saying on the website of state broadcaster IRIB.
Qasemi and other officials admitted the "illogical" embargo had reduced exports to EU nations, but they said other nations had stepped forward to buy the oil.
"While we collectively exported 18 percent of our oil to them before, it is not difficult to substitute customers for this much oil in the world," Qasemi said.
It was not possible to verify that claim because Iran has turned off the mandatory location transponders on most of its fleet of 39 oil tankers.
The IEA and experts say most of the tankers remain anchored off Iran and are being used to store up to 42 million barrels of oil unable to be exported.
Before the embargo, Europe bought some 600,000 bpd from Iran, which sent two-thirds of its exports to China, India, Japan and South Korea.
The United States has granted exemptions to those Asian countries from its latest sanction which that targets foreign companies doing business with Iran.
Non-EU nations wanting to buy Iranian oil face an obstacle in insuring the tanker shipments, as more than 90 percent of such insurance is by EU companies now barred from underwriting Iran oil delivery contracts. China gets around that by having its companies insure the tankers.
The EU embargo is the latest -- and most punishing -- of a raft of international sanctions designed to pressure Iran to curb its nuclear programme.
Most of the West fears that the Islamic republic is seeking to get to the cusp of being able to make nuclear weapons, despite Tehran's repeated denials.
The sanctions are part of a "carrot and stick" approach running in parallel with revived talks between Iran and the "P5+1 group" comprising UN Security Council permanent members the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China, plus non-permanent member Germany.
After three inconclusive rounds that succeeded only in defining the wide gap that exists between both sides, the talks have been downgraded to the level of experts, with the next meeting scheduled for Tuesday in Istanbul.
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, warned the EU in a letter on Thursday that the new EU and US sanctions will have "repercussions" on the talks. He did not elaborate.
Iran has threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the oil-rich Gulf if its nuclear programme is targeted by air strikes that Israel and the United States reserve as an option.
That threat, repeated since December, helped propel oil prices to a four-year high of $128 for a barrel of Brent North Sea reference crude in early March.
But since then overproduction by Saudi Arabia making up for the shortfall in Iranian exports, and fears of an economic dip caused by EU debt woes and China's manufacturing slowdown, have pushed oil prices to below $100 a barrel.
Iran feels pinch of new EU oil sanctions
By NASSER KARIMI and RYAN LUCAS | Associated Press – 18 hrs ago
1
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FILE - In this Tuesday, April 15, …
FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 17, …
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — As new European Union sanctions targeting Iran's vital oil industry took effect Sunday, Tehran acknowledged the measures aimed at reining in its disputed nuclear program were taking a toll. The vice president said authorities had stockpiled imported goods and hard currency to help cushion the blow to the economy.
The ban by the 27-member EU on the purchase of Iranian oil dealt the Islamic Republic its second economic setback in days, following fresh U.S. sanctions that prohibit the world's banks from completing oil transactions with Iranian banks. Combined, the measures significantly ratchet up the pressure on an Iranian economy already squeezed by previous rounds of sanctions.
"Today, we are facing the heaviest of sanctions, and we ask people to help officials in this battle," Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi was quoted as saying on state television's website.
He said the "dastardly sanctions" might cause "occasional confusion" in the domestic market. Iran reacted furiously when the U.S. and EU sanctions were announced, threatening to block the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway used to ship about one-fifth of the world's oil. On Sunday Iranian officials appeared to be backing away from that threat, which roiled international oil markets at the time.
Rahimi also said Tehran has stocked up on some imported goods to reduce the embargo's impact, without saying what specifically.
The EU, which accounted for around 18 percent of Iran's oil exports, said earlier this week that all contracts for importing Iranian oil will have to be terminated from Sunday. Also, European companies will no longer be involved in insuring Iranian oil.
In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney welcomed the EU oil embargo. He said in a statement that the U.S. and EU "are committed to holding Iran accountable for failing to meet its international obligations," showing "the seriousness with which the international community views the challenge of Iran's nuclear ambitions."
Carney said Iran has a "clear choice between isolation and meeting its obligations." He said Iran must take "concrete steps" to resolve international concerns over its nuclear program.
Iran is the second largest OPEC oil producer, producing about 4 million barrels of oil a day. The country's recoverable oil reserves are estimated at more than 137 billion barrels, or 12 percent of the world's overall reserves. The country relies on oil exports for about 80 percent of its public revenues. However, most of Iran's crude production is used domestically.
The sanctions are the latest move in the West's standoff with Iran over its disputed nuclear program, which the U.S. and its allies suspect is aimed at developing atomic weapons. Iran denies the charges and insists its program is designed solely for peaceful purposes, such as energy and producing medical isotopes.
Three rounds of nuclear talks between Iran and world powers, including the U.S., have failed to produce a breakthrough, prompting some critics to charge that Tehran is merely dragging out the negotiations to buy time to further advance its suspected weapons program. The U.S. and Israel have left the door open to a possible military strike if no agreement is reached.
In the meantime, Washington and its allies have used sanctions to target Iran's oil sector — the nation's primary revenue source — and there are already indications that previous rounds of sanctions have started to bite.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Iranian crude exports have dropped to 1.5 million barrels a day from 2.5 million barrels last year, which comes out to almost $32 billion in revenue lost over a year.
The Iranian rial has slumped against international currencies, with the unofficial rate spiking at around 21,000 to the dollar this week, up from around 19,000. That's down from a high of around 23,000 in January, but still far above the rate of around 11,000 about 18 months ago.
The price of staples has skyrocketed as well. Since the EU first announced its embargo in January, Iranian government figures show the prices of bread, milk and meat have risen around 20 percent, while the price of chicken has jumped some 80 percent.
Fully aware of the burden this places on families, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said last week that the price hikes are "a matter of pain" for Iran. But he also urged people not to complain, telling them: "If you say ouch, the arrogant ones will say they have achieved their goal. So be patient, and make them regret it."
So far, the Iranian public has proven patient, in part because of widespread support for the nation's nuclear program, which is a source of pride for many in Iran, regardless of their political leanings.
"Westerners said the sanctions have aimed at halting nuclear activities. But they have targeted our families and children," said Abbas Heidar, a 32-year-old teacher in Tehran. "The government is continuing its nuclear activities and I do not expect it stop."
Iranian officials, meanwhile, scrambled Sunday to present the government as actively working to ease any hardship the sanctions might bring.
Central bank governor Mahmoud Bahmani told the semiofficial Mehr news agency that Iran has "plans" to deal with the embargo and enough hard currency to meet its import needs.
"We have not remained passive. To confront the sanctions, we have plans in progress," Bahmani said without elaborating.
Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Ghasemi ordered his staff to "mobilize" against the sanctions, according to Mehr. It did not elaborate.
Ghasemi also sought to boost public morale, telling state television late Saturday that Iran has weathered previous rounds of sanctions.
"I do not see it as a problem that enemies have imposed an embargo today," he said. "They have imposed similar sanctions years ago, and nothing happened."
He said Iran has already halted oil sales to many EU countries, and had found new buyers to replace them.
"Developing countries and countries with fast economic growth have no alternative to oil. Fortunately, because of the quality of our country's oil, all are interested in using it," he said.
Mehr published its own analysis listing measures that Iran could take to counter the sanctions, including shutting the vital Strait of Hormuz. The semiofficial news agency's editorials sometimes reflect views held by top Iranian officials who do not wish to state them publically.
On Sunday, however, Iran's Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi made statements to the official IRNA news agency about the strait in which he did not mention any plans to close it — remarks that suggest that Iran is playing down the threat in dealings with the West.
Vahidi said Iran is the main protector of the waterway, and that Tehran "has confronted anybody who tried to endanger the Strait."
Mehr also suggested that Iran could make use of hard currencies other than the U.S. dollar and the euro, form its own insurance syndicate to replace foreign companies that withdraw from the market, store up oil in tanks for later sale so as not to cut production, or simply reduce oil production to save its reserves for the future.
___
Lucas reported from Cairo.
Report: Iran to fire missiles during military drillsBy the CNN Wire Staff
updated 5:44 AM EDT, Mon July 2, 2012
An Iranian ground-to-sea missile is launched during navy war games near the Strait of Hormuz in Iran in January.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Report: The missiles will target bases made to look like airbases of "extra-regional powers"
- The announcement comes the same day an EU oil embargo takes effect
(CNN) -- Iran will test-fire missiles during "war games" this week, the semiofficial Mehr News Agency reported Sunday.
The three-day exercise, which began Monday, will target desert bases made to look like airbases of "extra-regional powers," the agency said.
"During the war games, long-range, medium-range, and short-range missiles will be used and will be fired from different points across the country at 100 designated targets," Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh told reporters, according to Mehr.
Iranian sanctions full of holes
Remarkable journey through Iran
Iranian sanctions full of holesRemarkable journey through Iran
The point of the exercises, he said, is to give experts the chance to assess the "precision and efficiency of warheads and missile systems," the agency reported.
The announcement came the same day that an embargo of Iranian oil from the European Union takes effect. The full embargo and other sanctions are meant to pressure Iran into giving up its nuclear program. Some 80% of Iran's foreign revenues are derived from oil exports,
Iran has repeatedly insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful, civilian energy purposes only. But it has rebuffed demands to halt its production of enriched uranium, and a November 8 report by the United Nations' nuclear watchdog found "credible" information that Tehran has carried out work toward nuclear weapons -- including tests of possible bomb components.
CNN's Shirzad Bozorgmehr contributed to this report.
Home ›
Iran
Iran warns to close down Hormuz Strait if sanctions take effect
2 July 2012, 11:41 (GMT+05:00)
See Also:
European commission uses “twin track approach” regarding Iran’s nuclear program
Expert: If nothing changes over Iran's nuclear program dispute, the risks will remain
Iran’s Central Bank to intensify inspections at branches
U.S. government gave clear message to China regarding imports of Iran's oil - advisor
Central bank chief, Iran banks’ top managers to meet
U.S. government gave clear message to China regarding imports of Iran's oil - advisor
Iran's oil exports to drop 200-300 thousand bpd more - expert
Senior Lawmaker: Iran to continue path of progress despite sanctions
- E-mail.
A member of the Iranian parliament (Majlis) said that Iran will close the Hormuz Strait if the economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic take effect.
Arsalan Fathipour in an interview with Alalam News Network said that the recent oil price fall will not last for long.
"We take the control of the Hormuz Strait. If we are supposed to be sanctioned, we will not allow a drop of oil to pass through the strait," he said, Fars News Agency reported.
"In such a situation, oil price will surge and we will see that those who have imposed sanctions will not be able to be accountable for their people," he noted.
He noted that Iran can find new customers for oil.
Iran has stored up imports and hard currency for a "battle" against EU sanctions, officials said on Sunday, the day that the measures aimed at pressuring the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program take effect.
Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said the country has stockpiled the population's daily needs to reduce the impact of the embargo hitting the oil and banking sectors.
"Today, we are facing the heaviest of sanctions and we ask people to help officials in this battle," Rahimi was quoted by the IRIB News.
He said the "dastardly sanctions" might cause "occasional confusion" in the market, but that the Iranian nation would not be stopped.
Central bank governor Mahmoud Bahmani also told the Mehr News Agency that Iran has "plans" to deal with the embargo and enough hard currency to meet its import needs.
The EU said earlier this week that all contracts for importing Iranian oil will have to be terminated from Sunday.
Also, European companies will no longer be involved in insuring Iranian oil. The measures come on top of previous sanctions levied by the U.S. and the West that have already hit Iran's economy.
Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az
Aja Brooks shared a link.
Tea Party Chief @2012_TeaPartyI will go on camera about it @RepRonPaul @SpeakerBoehner don't think I won't, I already have quite a bit to say.
43s Tea Party Chief @2012_TeaParty
The #EU should be concentrated on deficit reduction @RepRonPaul @SpeakerBoehner as we are reducing unemployment, not enforcing Obama's whims
1m Tea Party Chief @2012_TeaParty
Really? You don't think #Ahmedinejad @RepRonPaul @SpeakerBoehner doesn't get we don't like what he says? He has to think about #Hezbollah
2m Tea Party Chief @2012_TeaParty
Was it not Obama @RepRonPaul @SpeakerBoehner who said that he would sit down and negotiate? The minute he's challenged he heaps on sanctions
3m Tea Party Chief @2012_TeaParty
@RepRonPaul Obama seriously lacks diplomacy @SpeakerBoehner I've held off war with #Iran 7 months now to try to encourage him to come to #UN
3m Tea Party Chief @2012_TeaParty
@RepRonPaul Not only do I think it is bad for business #sanctions http://en.trend.az/regions/iran/2042508.html#popupInfo I don't think we get anywhere with #Iran this manner
4m Tea Party Chief @2012_TeaParty
@RepRonPaul I think #Ahmedinejad talks like a loon but he is not. For a long time he's dealt with #Hezbollah which could start a coup.
6m Tea Party Chief @2012_TeaParty
@RepRonPaul #EU tired of #Ahmedinejad in expending resources #Hormuz http://en.trend.az/regions/iran/2042508.html but now they are threatening whole port shut down
7m Tea Party Chief @2012_TeaParty
@RepRonPaul @BarackObama has not gotten his way on any single sanction since Order of Impeachment 1/1/12 so he went around me to the EU.
8m Tea Party Chief @2012_TeaParty
@RepRonPaul You want to do something meaningful? Tell everyone how @BarackObama is leading us down the war path with #Iran #WeDontWantWar
11m Tea Party Chief @2012_TeaParty
#Ahmedinejad you're running out of time: what #Obama could not do as impeached he did through #EU -- come to the circle http://news.yahoo.com/eu-oil-embargo-iran-comes-effect-110542768.html
Iran says it wants 'win-win' in nuclear talks
By NASSER KARIMI | Associated Press – 1 hr 0 mins ago
Print
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An Iranian Revolutionary Guard …
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran wants a "win-win" outcome in its talks with world powers over Tehran's disputed nuclear program, the country's foreign minister said Monday, warning that the only other choice is confrontation.
Three rounds of nuclear negotiations between Iran and six world powers have failed to produce a breakthrough. A low-level meeting of technical experts is scheduled for Tuesday in Istanbul to see whether there is enough common ground to return to full-fledged talks.
"We want to see a win-win outcome," Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told the semiofficial ISNA news agency on the eve of the discussions in Turkey. "In the talks, the other side has no choice but to find an agreement, otherwise confrontation will be the alternative. I don't think that common sense is looking for a confrontation."
Iran is locked in a tense standoff with the West over Tehran's nuclear program, which the Islamic Republic insists is purely for civilian purposes, such as producing energy and medical isotopes.
The U.S., Israel and others suspect the program is instead a cover for building nuclear weapons. Israel has accused Iran of stretching out the talks to move closer to the ability to make an atomic bomb, and it has threatened to attack Iran a last resort.
Salehi said Iran prefers diplomacy to conflict, but stressed that it is prepared for anything.
"We are looking for a deal and not a confrontation, but if they (world powers) want to react unwisely, they should know that Iran will firmly defend its rights as it did during the Iran-Iraq war" in the 1980s, he said.
The U.S. and EU have imposed several rounds of sanctions to pressure Iran to give up it uranium enrichment program. On Sunday, an EU ban on the purchase of Iranian oil took effect, days after new U.S. sanctions prohibited the world's banks from completing oil transactions with Iranian banks.
Iran acknowledged that the measures were taking a toll, saying it has stockpiled goods and hard currency to help cushion the economy.
The Islamic Republic initially responded to the sanctions by threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway through which about one-fifth of the world's oil is shipped. Officials appeared Sunday to back off from that threat, which roiled international oil markets at the time.
But the Iranian parliament's committee on national security and foreign policy drafted a bill calling for Tehran to block the strait to tankers shipping oil to countries that support the sanctions, a lawmaker said Monday.
Ebrahim Aghamohammadi, who is a committee member, told the official IRNA news agency the bill will soon be discussed in parliament, and said that some 100 lawmakers have already expressed supported for the draft legislation.
49s
Tea Party Chief @2012_TeaParty #Ahmedinejad not attacked West or any other country but terrorists groups #Hamas or #Hezbollah tried to involve #Iran in war lobbing#Israel2m
Tea Party Chief @2012_TeaParty
#Ahmedinejad entitled to #weaponry whatever that is-to protect #Iranfrom coup or from groups that would team up like radical Palestinians
4m
Tea Party Chief @2012_TeaParty
#WinWin ? sanctioning oil is not a winning strategy @BarackObamathat will close #Hormuz and cost us - #ImposingNukeSanctions not a win-win.
1:48 PM - 2 Jul 12 via web · Details
Iran mourns 1988 airliner downing by US warship
Associated Press – 1 hr 2 mins ago
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranians marked on Monday the anniversary of the downing of an airliner by a U.S. warship in the Persian Gulf more than two decades ago.
State TV showed officials joining relatives of the 290 dead in scattering flowers from a ship and a helicopter into the waters where the Iran Air Airbus A300 crashed on July 3, 1988, killing all on board.
Participants chanted, "Down with the U.S."
The two countries have a long record of discord. The latest dispute is over Iran's nuclear program that the West suspects is aimed at developing weapons. Iran denies the charge, saying its nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes like power generation and cancer treatment.
Iran has held similar ceremonies on past anniversaries of the airliner's downing by the USS Vincennes.
Iran insists the attack on the airliner was unprovoked and called for the warship's commander,William C. Rogers III, to be put on trial.
Rogers said he believed he was threatened with attack when he fired the missile at Flight 655 after warning the pilot. A U.S. Navy inquiry gave credence to the claim but added evidence to show that it was a mistake in judgment and identification by the American crew.
In 1990, then-U.S. President George H. W. Bush awarded Rogers the Legion of Merit for his service as a commanding officer.
In 1999, Iran said that it had received $130 million from a 1996 settlement that included compensation for families of the victims.
ELSEWHERE.....
WALDO FIRES AND 9 STATES WITHOUT POWER AND AIR CONDITIONING FROM FREAK SUMMER STORMS THAT CAUSED MOST TO HAVE A WEEKEND HANGOVER, AS SOUTH SUFFERS 106 RECORD HEAT....
Red Cross volunteer from Pleasant Valley heads to fires
Retired nurse leaves for Colo.
7:12 AM, Jul 2, 2012 | 
A helicopter tries to put out fire on the Waldo Canyon wildfire as it moved into subdivisions and destroyed homes in Colorado Springs, Colo., last week. / Gaylon Wampler/AP
Written by
Shantal Parris Riley
Poughkeepsie Journal
- FILED UNDER
How to help
To make a donation to American Red Cross Disaster Relief, visit www.redcross.org or call 800-RED-CROSS (800-733-2767). People can also text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Contributions may also be sent to local American Red Cross chapters or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013.
Donations enable the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, emotional support and other forms of disaster assistance.
PLEASANT VALLEY — American Red Cross volunteers are stepping up to assist in the disaster response to wildfires raging across Colorado.Longtime volunteer Laura Tasciotti, a registered nurse, left Sunday to care for other Red Cross volunteers in Colorado Springs, where the most destructive wildfire in the state’s history has been raging for more than a week.
As a member of the Red Cross Staff Wellness Division, the Pleasant Valley senior citizen will provide first aid and coordinate medical care for Red Cross volunteers. Tasciotti also participated in disaster relief efforts in Florida during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
“Even though I’m retired, I’m still a nurse,” she told the Journal on Sunday.
The 26-square-mile canyon fire, northwest of the city, destroyed nearly 350 homes and claimed the lives of two people last week. More than 30,000 people were evacuated from their homes. Authorities said the fire was 45 percent contained as of Sunday.
Other fires burned near Fort Collins, in northern Colorado, and in Utah and Montana.
Tasciotti, who worked as a nurse and teacher at Millbrook High School for many years, was awarded the exceptional volunteer award by the American Red Cross of Dutchess County in 2009.
Another local volunteer, Sheryl McGrath of Modena, will serve in the Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Services Division. Both women are part of a second wave of volunteers from the Red Cross’ Northeastern New York Region deployed to assist with wildfire disaster efforts.
Shantal Parris Riley:sdriley@poughkee.gannett.com, 845-437-4809, Twitter: @shantalpojonews
Western wildfires
Residents began returning to charred areas of Colorado Springs on Sunday, July 1, after the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history forced tens of thousands of people from their homes and left the landscape a blackened wasteland.
Flesh-eating victim released from hospital:
‘I feel I’ve been blessed’
By Dylan Stableford, Yahoo! News | The Lookout – 24 mins ago- Print
Aimee Copeland in an undated photo before the accident (AP/Andy Copeland)
Aimee Copeland--a 24-year-old Georgia woman who has spent more than two months recovering after contracting a rare flesh-eating bacteria in a zip line accident--has been released from the hospital, officials at Doctors Hospital in Augusta said Monday.
Copeland, who had one her legs and most of her hands amputated by doctors and endured multiple skin grafts while fighting the Aeromonas hydrophila bacteria, will now spend the next several weeks in a rehab facility, her father, Andy Copeland said.
The original gash on Copeland's leg took 20 staples to close; the bacteria, doctors say, came from the Little Tallapoosa River where Aimee fell on May 1.
"She hated to see a lot of people she loves, to say goodbye," Andy Copeland said. "The sweet is that she is moving on to the next phase."
"This next step is her opportunity to go to the next phase and learn something, be able to rehabilitate and basically relearn her life skills," he told CNN. "She needs to be able to develop the autonomy to be able to transfer from her bed to a wheelchair to the shower to the bathroom or anywhere else in the house. And she can do it."
Last week, Aimee Copeland was able to leave her hospital room in a wheelchair for the first time.
Andy Copeland--who has been blogging about his daughter's progress--wrote that he asked her about how she felt about the ordeal.
"I don't have any regrets about what has happened," Aimee said, according to her father. "I don't focus on what I've lost, I would rather focus on what I've gained. I feel like I've been blessed."
Aimee: no one could be happier that this day is here!! My boyfriend's grandmother passed just about the time you went into the hospital. She was ready to die, being past the death of her husband 13yrs. I knew you were not ready to die, and I wanted more than anything for you to be able to speak to your family. Speaking the Cherokee word "heal" over you took a lot of faith when everyone thought you would die. It was equally hard for me to do it, being shook up about the sudden death of my boyfriend's Granny. God heals us, either to live in this body, or He heals us perfectly to go live with him. It took a lot of gumption and faith to pray specifically that you would heal, but I knew you had a lot of life left to live and God had other things He wants you to finish first.
LET'S WELCOME AIMEE COPELAND OUT OF THE HOSPITAL, BACK TO THE LAND OF THE LIVING http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/flesh-eating-victim-aimee-copeland-released-georgia-150152675.html
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150913407602235&set=a.10150116642962235.309375.20073992234&type=1&theater
Jun Lin's Head May Have Been Found In Montreal
By ROB GILLIES 07/01/12 11:02 PM ET
Luka Magnotta, 29, is accused of dismembering his lover, student Jin Lin, and mailing the body parts to schools and political parties around Canada.
TORONTO -- Police found what appears to be a human head in a park in Montreal and are investigating whether it is the missing head of a Chinese student who they say was dismembered by a Canadian porn actor, an official said Sunday.A police official said it appears to be a human head. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the details.
Luka Magnotta is accused of dismembering his lover Jun Lin and mailing the body parts to political parties and schools. He pleaded not guilty last month. Lin's head is the only remaining body part unaccounted for.
Montreal police spokesperson Anie Lemieux said investigators made their way to Park Angrignon on Sunday afternoon after the major crimes unit received a tip. The park is located a few miles (kilometers) south of Magnotta's apartment.
Lemieux said they must wait for tests results over the next few days to confirm if there is any link and whether it is in fact a body part.
Police have been questioning Magnotta with the hope that they would find out the location of the head. The family of Lin has been seeking closure.
Investigators say Magnotta, 29, posted a video online showing him having sex with the dismembered corpse. A second, unedited version of the video seen by police shows him eating parts of the body. Police say Magnotta and Lin were in a relationship.
The case became known when a package containing a severed foot was found at Canada's ruling Conservative Party headquarters on May 29. That same day, a hand was discovered at a postal facility, addressed to the Liberal Party of Canada.
Lin's torso was found in a suitcase at a garbage dump in Montreal outside Magnotta's apartment building.
About a week later, a missing foot and hand were found mailed to two schools in Vancouver. Police said notes were included in most of the packages but declined to say what they said.
Magnotta, who fled to Europe before the body was discovered, spent a few days partying in Paris before moving on to Berlin, where he was caught last month as he read stories about himself at an Internet cafe. He did not contest his extradition from Germany and arrived in Montreal last month on a Canadian military plane.
Lin's family arrived in Montreal last month and attended a memorial service last week. Lin, 33, studied computer science student at Montreal's Concordia University.
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Associated Press Writer Phil Couvrette in Ottawa, Ontario contributed to this report.
NATIONAL / WORLD NEWS 12:56 p.m. Monday, July 2, 2012
APNewsBreak: Evidence of 'God particle' found
The Associated Press
GENEVA — Scientists working at the world's biggest atom smasher plan to announce Wednesday that they have gathered enough evidence to show that the long-sought "God particle" answering fundamental questions about the universe almost certainly does exist.
FILE - In this May 20, 2011 file photo, a physicist explains the ATLAS experiment on a board at the European Center for Nuclear Research, CERN, outside Geneva, Switzerland. The illustration shows what the long-presumed Higgs boson particle is thought to look like. Scientists at CERN plan to make an announcement on Wednesday, July 4, 2012 about their hunt for the elusive sub-atomic particle. Physicists have said previously they are increasingly confident that they are closing in on it based on hints at its existence hidden away in reams of data. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)
FILE - In this May 20, 2011 file photo, a wall painting by artist Josef Kristofoletti is seen at the Atlas experiment site at the European Center for Nuclear Research, CERN, outside Geneva, Switzerland. The painting shows how a Higgs boson may look. Scientists at CERN plan to make an announcement on Wednesday, July 4, 2012 about their hunt for the elusive sub-atomic particle. Physicists have said previously they are increasingly confident that they are closing in on it based on hints at its existence hidden away in reams of data. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
But after decades of work and billions of dollars spent, researchers at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, aren't quite ready to say they've "discovered" the particle.
Instead, experts familiar with the research at CERN's vast complex on the Swiss-French border say that the massive data they have obtained will essentially show the footprint of the key particle known as the Higgs boson — all but proving it exists — but doesn't allow them to say it has actually been glimpsed.
It appears to be a fine distinction.
Senior CERN scientists say the two independent teams of physicists who plan to present their work at CERN's vast complex on the Swiss-French border on July 4 are about as close as you can get to a discovery without actually calling it one.
"I agree that any reasonable outside observer would say, 'It looks like a discovery,'" British theoretical physicist John Ellis, a professor at King's College London who has worked at CERN since the 1970s, told The Associated Press. "We've discovered something which is consistent with being a Higgs."
CERN's atom smasher, the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider, has been creating high-energy collisions of protons to help them understand suspected phenomena such as dark matter, antimatter and ultimately the creation of the universe billions of years ago, which many theorize occurred as a massive explosion known as the Big Bang.
The discovery of the Higgs boson won't change people's lives, but will help explain the underpinnings of the universe. It would confirm the standard model of physics that explains why fundamental particles have mass. Those particles are the building blocks of the universe. Mass is a trait that combines with gravity to give an object weight.
The phrase "God particle," coined by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leon Lederman, is used by laymen, not physicists, more as an explanation for how the wonders of the subatomic universe work than how it all started.
Rob Roser, who leads the search for the Higgs boson at the Fermilab in Chicago, said: "Particle physicists have a very high standard for what it takes to be a discovery," and he thinks it is a hair's breadth away.
Rosen compared the results that scientists are preparing to announce Wednesday to finding the fossilized imprint of a dinosaur: "You see the footprints and the shadow of the object, but you don't actually see it."
Though an impenetrable concept to many, the Higgs boson has until now been just that — a concept intended to explain a riddle: How were the subatomic particles, such as electrons, protons and neutrons, themselves formed? What gives them their mass?
The answer came in a theory first proposed by physicist Peter Higgs and others in the 1960s. It envisioned an energy field where particles interact with a key particle, the Higgs boson.
The idea is that other particles attract Higgs bosons and the more they attract, the bigger their mass will be. Some liken the effect to a ubiquitous Higgs snowfield that affects other particles traveling through it depending on whether they are wearing, metaphorically speaking, skis, snowshoes or just shoes.
Officially, CERN is presenting its evidence at a physics conference in Australia this week, but plans to accompany the announcement with meetings in Geneva. The two teams, ATLAS and CMS, then plan to publicly unveil more data on the Higgs boson at physics meetings in October and December. Each of the teams involves thousands of people working independently from one another, to ensure accuracy.
Scientists with access to the new CERN data say it shows with a high degree of certainty that the Higgs boson may already have been glimpsed, and that by unofficially combining the separate results from ATLAS and CMS it can be argued that a discovery is near at hand. Ellis says at least one physicist-blogger has done just that in a credible way.
CERN spokesman James Gillies said Monday, however, that he would be "very cautious" about unofficial combinations of ATLAS and CMS data. "Combining the data from two experiments is a complex task, which is why it takes time, and why no combination will be presented on Wednesday," he told AP.
But if the calculations are indeed correct, said John Guinon, a longtime physics professor at the University of California at Davis and author of the book "The Higgs Hunter's Guide," then it is fair to say that "in some sense we have reached the mountaintop."
Sean M. Carroll, a California Institute of Technology physicist flying to Geneva for the July 4th announcement, said that if both ATLAS and CMS have independently reached these high thresholds on the Higgs boson, then "only the most curmudgeonly will not believe that they have found it."
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Borenstein reported from Washington.
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July 02, 2012 12:56 PM EDT
Copyright 2012, The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
NEW LAWS THAT TOOK EFFECT FOR JULY 1ST, 2012:
METRO ATLANTA / STATE NEWS 8:37 p.m. Sunday, July 1, 2012
More ID needed for drivers' licenses
ACLU objects, others say latest measure is ‘small inconvenience'
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dennis Jackson decided to get his driver’s license renewed last week to avoid having to dig up a birth certificate and his original Social Security card.
Cherokee County Sheriff's OfficeA federal mandate aimed at improving secure identification -- and decreasing the number of counterfeit IDs, such as those shown here -- is one reason Georgians will find big changes when renewing drivers' licenses starting July 1.
More Atlanta area news »
“I’m here today to renew it early, before that system breaks in,” the 43-year-old Ellenwood man said Friday, as he waited in line at the Department of Driver Services office next to Turner Field. “I don’t see why people who have been driving for 10 years or 20 years have to come up with their birth certificate.”
As many as 750,000 Georgians whose licenses and state identification are up for renewal this year will find themselves trekking to a state driver’s license office before Dec. 31 with potentially long waits. A new rule requires them to bring documents proving they are who they say they are.
Susan Sports, spokeswoman for the state Department of Driver Services, said the federal government required states to develop more secure identification in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The state has been implementing various changes to licenses and identification cards at different phases. The state has until 2017 to get licenseholders over age 50 in compliance.
“The majority of customers we have spoken with think it is a small inconvenience to do something to increase homeland security,” Sports said. “But there is always a group that doesn’t appreciate the extra trouble.”
Drivers, whether they have lived in Georgia five years or 50 years, will have to bring an original or certified birth certificate, Social Security card and proof of where they live.
An unexpired passport can substitute for a birth certificate. Power bills or bank statements can be used to prove residency at an address. For a complete list of acceptable documents, go to the DDS website at www.dds.ga.gov/drivers/index.aspx.
Charles Selander blames Big Brother for the inconvenience.
“You could use the word Orwellian,” he said.
Driver services believes the measure protects against identify theft by making it harder to get a driver’s license in someone else’s name, Sports said.
Those concerned about giving personal information to DDS can be assured the department can protect against hackers, she said.
Sports noted that it’s a one-time inconvenience. The next time a driver renews, he or she will be able to do it online.
The American Civil Liberties Union has opposed the “Secure ID” and “Real ID” programs nationwide for fear it will facilitate data-tracking on individuals, said Azadeh Shahshahani, director of the National Security/Immigrants’ Rights Project Director for the ACLU in Georgia.
A number of drivers, however, found the inconvenience acceptable.
“When you weigh the lesser of the evils, you want to be safe,” said Issic Alexander, 27, of northwest Atlanta.
Sports said the department has intensified recruiting and training to fill DDS positions, noting there are effectively 86 more examiners available this fiscal year.
The agency also is using 95 temporary employees to answer general questions so examiners can focus on issuing driver’s licenses, Sports said.
Anyone lacking proper documentation will be given a 120-day temporary license.
People who can provide evidence of their citizenship but who do not have a birth certificate in some cases can receive a waiver, she said.
Leroy Trice, 24, counted himself lucky to have a birthday before July, but he said he didn’t have any problem with the regulation.
“If you are who you say you are, you should be able to get your birth certificate,” the Ben Hill man said. “It is only going to be bad for procrastinators and thieves.”
New laws of note
-- Unemployment benefits drop from 26 weeks to a sliding scale of between 14 and 20 weeks, depending on the unemployment rate.
-- Businesses with more than 100 or more, but fewer than 500 employees must start using a federal work authorization program called E-Verify.
-- Parents who apply for the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program must pay for and pass a drug test that would cost at least $17. TANF provides temporary financial help to low-income families with children. Passing the drug test once would be a condition of eligibility to receive benefits.
-- Alternative sentencing for criminals with drug or mental health issues. The Judicial Council of Georgia will spend the next several months establishing standards for state drug and mental health courts.
-- A bill eliminating the $1 charge for the optional “In God We Trust” decals for car license plates.
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