John Kerry’s moves on Syria… another angle [video]
Ryan Dawson
March 2, 2013
Kerry is who killed DragonSkin Armor which is far better than his interceptor junk.
Mayor Bob Bratina Keeping His Word About Joining The ICLEI Conspiracy [video included]
by Terry Wilson
Canadian Awareness Network
February 18, 2013
It was only a few months ago that Hamlton’s Mayor Bob Bratina stated “If ICLEI Is A Conspiracy To Take Over The World I would Like To Join Today”, At the 2012 ICLEI livable cities forum.
It seemed as if he was just trying to make a joke, especially since the city of Hamilton has been “in on” the conspiracy of ICLEI/Agenda 21 since the year 2000 (when they joined ICLEI).
His plans to usher in the next phase of the Agenda 21 framework are now showing through and are no laughing matter.
Think vertical, mayors tell home builders
thespec.com
Home builders in Hamilton and Halton are being told to look up, not out, for future developments.
Mayors Bob Bratina and Rick Goldring, of Hamilton and Burlington respectively, told local home builders Friday the days of sprawling subdivisions as the major form of growth in the cities are over, replaced by a changing market demanding projects closer to amenities. The city leaders’ breakfast is a traditional opening to the Home Show.
For Bratina, it’s a simple matter of space — Hamilton can’t spread out any more.
“My answer to that is to think vertical,” he said in an interview after his presentation. “If you’re running out of land, then the only way to go is up.”
Convincing home buyers of that isn’t a major issue, he added. Empty-nesters and young professionals are voting with their wallets for smaller properties and better condos where they’re close enough to walk to what they need. The ones who have to be convinced are home builders.
“A lot of traditional home builders grew their business in the era of the ’50s and ’60s when there was a different set of circumstances,” Bratina said. “Well, everything has changed and I think the era of scraping all the topsoil off a farm and putting up a cookie cutter subdivision is coming to an end.”
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P5+1 eases nuclear demands on Iran, offers sanctions relief
End the Lie – Independent News
February 28, 2013
Top officials from the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China, Russia and Iran take part in talks on Iran’s nuclear programme in the Kazakh city of Almaty on February 27, 2013 (AFP Photo / Pool / Shamil Zhumatov)
Negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 nations ended with offers of eased demands on the Islamic Republic. While it’s a good start, experts say, the crippling US sanctions on the country are unlikely to be changed as they are written into American law.
A new proposal finalized during the Wednesday meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan would require Iran to suspend – but not completely close down – operations at its underground uranium enrichment facility in Fordo. It would also create a set amount of 20-per-cent-enriched uranium for Iran to stockpile.
The offer marks a new turn in the long term of negotiations between world powers and Iran, which previously had made stark demands on the Islamic Republic. The P5+1 – the United States, Russia, France, Britain, China and Germany – are now only asking for scaled down operations in Iran’s nuclear program, which some governments allege is aimed at developing a nuclear bomb.
Iran would also now be able to keep enough enriched uranium to produce medical isotopes at a research facility in Tehran.
The group asked Iran to allow International Atomic Energy Agency monitors to visit its facilities more often in exchange for the suspension of selected current sanctions and a moratorium on new ones.
However, Hillary Mann Leverett, CEO of Strategic Energy and Global Analysis, a Washington-based political risk consultancy, told RT this part may be only an empty gesture.
“Everyone knows the United States has very little that it can give on sanctions,” she said. “President Obama essentially ceded his foreign policy on this issue to the US Congress; almost all of those sanctions are written into US law. They are not something President Obama can give away.”
In any case, the European Union’s embargo on Iranian oil was not brought up for negotiation at the meeting, though the P5+1 would reportedly consider easing restrictions on Iran’s gold and petrochemicals trades, as well as those on its banks.
But, after all, it may not matter in the long run, Mann Leverett told RT. “There’s not much the US can give on sanctions, and in the meantime Iran is becoming more and more self-sufficient in a range of issues so that it’s not vulnerable to such sanctions.”
Said Jalili, Iran’s chief negotiator at the meetings, called the talks “positive” in comments to the press in Almaty. He added that some of the offers coming from Western governments looked “more realistic than those presented in the past and made an effort to approach the positions of Iran.”
Mann Leverett explained what Jalili might have been getting at: “The critical issue for the Iranians, and I think this is where they perceived a slight – and I stress slight – movement on the US side, is in the recognition of their rights: their sovereign and their treaty-based rights to enrich uranium.”
Jalili stressed that Tehran saw “no justification” for shutting down the Fordo facility.
Next, Iranian and EU officials are set to meet in Istanbul on March 18 for negotations that will include experts on nuclear technology.
Source: RT
Syrian Opposition to Attend International Conference in Rome [video]
CorbettReport.com
February 26, 2013
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
As Hague and Kerry launch a new round of rhetoric against Syria, the hypocritical agenda adopted by the West towards Assad has not changed. Now, the Syrian opposition is refusing the government’s offers of negotiation as they prepare to head to Rome for an international conference on how to best fund and aid the foreign terrorists in toppling the government in Damascus. James Corbett joins Press TV to discuss the latest developments.
Rhode Island Marijuana Legalization Hearing Wednesday
By Sativa Galore
The Daily Chronic
February 26, 2013
Lawmakers in Rhode Island will hear testimony on several marijuana related bills on Wednesday, including legislation that would legalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana by adults.
House Bill 5274, the Marijuana Regulation, Control and Taxation Act, was introduced earlier this month by Rep. Edith Ajello (D-Providence).
Testimony on the bill will be heard Wednesday, February 27, by the House Committee on Judiciary, which Rep. Ajello chairs, ensuring the bill should, at the very least, receive a fair hearing.
If passed, Rep. Ajello’s bill would make marijuana legal for adults 21 and older and establish a system in which marijuana is regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol. By passing this bill, Rep. Ajello hopes to take unregulated marijuana sales off the black market and out of the hands of minors.
“Regulating marijuana like alcohol will take marijuana sales off the street and put them in the hands of legitimate businesses that would face real disincentives for selling to minors, Rep. Ajello said at the bill’s introduction. “These new businesses will also create jobs and generate much-needed new tax revenue.”
The bill would remove criminal penalties for the private possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and for the home-growing of up to three mature marijuana plants in an enclosed, locked space; establish a tightly regulated system of licensed marijuana retail stores, cultivation facilities, and testing facilities; enact an excise tax of up to $50 per ounce on the wholesale sale of marijuana applied at the point of transfer from the cultivation facility to a retail store (sales tax will also be applied at the point of retail sales); and require the Department of Business Regulation to establish rules regulating security, labeling, health and safety requirements, as well as rules requiring advertising of marijuana to be no less restrictive than advertising of tobacco.
The proposal has received support from several prominent lawmakers at the State House, including House Minority Leader Brian Newberry (R-North Smithfield/Burrillville) and State Senator Donna Nesselbush (D-Pawtucket), who will sponsor the bill in the Senate.
The bill also has support from local and national marijuana reform organizations, who are hopeful the Rhode Island legislature will be receptive to considering the passage of this bill. If the bill fails at the state house, similar legislation could be sent to the voters as early as 2014.
The Rhode Island legislature is no stranger to enacting marijuana reform bills, passing legislation that legalized medical marijuana in 2009 and decriminalized possession of marijuana in 2012.
While voters in Colorado and Washington voted to enact marijuana legalization initiatives in the 2012 elections, if HB 5274 passes, Rhode Island could be the first state to end prohibition at the State House.
Other bills scheduled for the hearing on Wednesday include House Bills 5063 and 5325, which would add Salvia and other synthetic cannabinoids to the state’s list of Schedule I drugs, and House Bill 5437, which would give landlords the discretion not to lease or rent to medical marijuana cardholders who wish to cultivate marijuana on their property.
[hat tip: The Intel Hub]
Related Articles and Interesting Reports
Bill to Reschedule Marijuana for Patient Protection Introduced in Congress
February 26, 2013
Wiki image
Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore) released the following statement on the introduction of HR 689, the States’ Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act:
Along with a bipartisan group of cosponsors, I am introducing the States’ Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act, legislation that will allow medical marijuana patients and businesses–who are complying with state law–the ability to access and distribute marijuana free from federal interference.
Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have passed laws allowing for the use of medical marijuana for people suffering from conditions such as cancer and severe nausea. As a result there are now hundreds of thousands of medical marijuana patients nationwide.
Despite these laws, at the federal level marijuana is currently listed as a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act, meaning that it is considered a substance with a “high potential for abuse,” with “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.” This means that the 19 jurisdictions that permit medical marijuana are operating in a patchwork of inconsistent local and federal laws.
These inconsistencies create significant challenges for both patients and the businesses working to provide access to medical marijuana. Because of federal tax and banking laws, marijuana businesses–despite operating in compliance with state or local law–are not allowed to deduct their legitimate business expenses and are often unable to make deposits or maintain bank accounts. Simultaneously, the federal government has continued to enforce federal law, and many medical marijuana facilities across the country have been raided by the Drug Enforcement Administration or otherwise targeted by the Department of Justice.
The federal government maintains a monopoly on access to marijuana for research, currently run by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The mission of this Institute is to “lead the Nation in bringing the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction,” and many researchers have found it difficult to obtain marijuana for research into the potential therapeutic or medicinal effects of marijuana.
The States’ Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act would provide for the rescheduling of marijuana under the Controlled Substance Act to a listing other than Schedule I or II, which would mean the federal government recognizes an accepted medical use. It would also ensure that neither the Controlled Substances Act nor the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act would restrict individuals, doctors or businesses from consuming, recommending, producing, distributing or otherwise operating in marijuana in compliance with state or local laws. Finally, it would require that access to marijuana for research into its potential medicinal and therapeutic uses be overseen by an entity in the government not focused on researching the addictive properties of substances.
Nineteen jurisdictions have passed laws recognizing the importance of providing access to medical marijuana for the hundreds of thousands of patients who rely on it. It is time for the federal government to respect these decisions, and stop inhibiting safe access. (Source)
Read other articles by Activist Post Here
- US Court Rules Against Reclassification of Marijuana
- Obama Throwing Medical Marijuana Patients Into Federal Prison at Alarming Rate
- N.C. Lawmakers Kill Medical Marijuana Bill Because It Had Too Much Support
- Bill Introduced to End Federal Marijuana Prohibition
- Is Marijuana Prohibition About to Get its Ass Kicked?
Al Qaeda in Syria – Neil Sanders [video]
108morris108
February 26, 2013
The West creates, backs and supports the bad guys, so that it can go in and save the world.
PN 