text:
Facebook wants out of the news business.
The company announced Thursday that it is shuttering Paper, a relatively obscure iOS app that displayed Facebook's News Feed differently, emphasizing media and news articles. The app contained topic pages like "Tech," for instance, and tapping on those sections would display a series of related stories for you to interact with.
By Friday, Paper had already been removed from the App Store, and its official website was scrubbed from the internet.
The decision to dump Paper comes immediately after a highly publicized announcement from Facebook this week that it will prioritize posts from your friends above those from "Pages" -- a catch-all term for media outlets and brands that use the social network to connect to their audiences.
If you wonder whether the two might be connected, consider Wired's original review of the Paper app in 2014.
"The most radical aspect of Paper, though, is that it isn't predicated entirely on your friends," Kyle Vanhemert wrote.
"By expanding the scope and quality of content you can expect to find there, Paper is trying to position itself as a place you'll go for news and inspiration–and, just as importantly, as the kind of place you'll want to contribute to yourself," he added.
News at the expense of friends is the last thing Facebook wants now, as we learned from the algorithm shift earlier this week. Yes, the company has closed down plenty of services before -- in Vanity Fair this month, a former employee describes a "crowded graveyard of forgotten Facebook product failures." But Paper's demise is just the latest item in a trend.
The app's death follows a dust up over Facebook's supposed bias against conservative news in its "Trending Topics" module. After that, Facebook met with members of the conservative media and politicians to assuage their ire and overhauled the company's guidelines on how trending news items are selected.
The message couldn't be more clear: Facebook is in retreat from the notion that it's a news service.
And even before, the social network altered its News Feed algorithm to prioritize live video content from people and brands, which sent media outlets -- many of which profit from the firehose of traffic Facebook can provide -- into a panic. News that Facebook is paying companies, including The Huffington Post, to create live programs did little to quell fears over the future of the written word -- nor did a blunt statement from Facebook executive Nicola Mendelsohn about the social network being "all video" within five years.
More than a year before Mendelsohn's declaration, the social network enacted an algorithm shift that highlighted personal content, though the language in that update emphasized "balance" between those posts and others. Not so anymore.
The message couldn't be more clear: Facebook is in retreat from the notion that it's a news service, and it wants to cement its reputation as a place where people connect with other people, not brands.
Perhaps that's because Facebook is losing ground. Not so long ago, if you wanted to post a personal story or photo online, Facebook was the place to do it. Then your mom joined. And your boyfriend's weird aunt. You got a friend request from your high school principal.
It's nice to be connected to everyone, but sometimes you just want to post your keg stand in peace.
Enter Snapchat, which has swiftly climbed in popularity over the last two years, especially with people between the ages of 18 and 34. The platform offers total control over who you share content with, and that content automatically deletes itself after viewing. It's a stark contrast to Facebook's confusing privacy controls and overall permanence.
While Snapchat rose, Facebook is said to have suffered a significant decline in "personal sharing" on its network -- meaning people like you and me are posting less about our lives. A report on Thursday indicated that much the same thing has happened on Facebook-owned Instagram.
The bottom line: Facebook is doing what it can to stay relevant and exert more control over its more than 1 billion users. Today, that means pivoting away from the fickle news media and doing more to encourage people to talk to one another without branded noise gumming up their feeds.
More personal sharing means more ways to target ads, and it might also mean more incentive for people to get hooked on the platform -- for many, the app is at its best when it's social in more than name only.
Will the changes ultimately resonate with the millions of people who use Facebook for news? We'll just have to wait and see.


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This Toxicroak is a Poison/Fighting-type Pokémon owned by Saturn.
Toxicroak first appeared in Veilstone City when Team Galactic attempted to steal a bunch of meteorites. Toxicroak instantly formed a fierce rivalry with Brock's Croagunk. The two of them were at each other's throats from the moment they saw each other and their rivalry seemed to go beyond the fact that they were on opposite sides. Croagunk even went so far as to ignore Brock's advances on women whenever it sensed that Toxicroak was around, and their rivalry intensified when Toxicroak almost killed Croagunk by smashing him through a skylight and then stabbing him in the stomach with Poison Jab which left Croagunk greatly upset and determined to exact his revenge.
Toxicroak was often seen by Saturn's side and was present in almost all of his appearances, showing great loyalty to Saturn despite his evil intentions.
Toxicroak was able to defeat Gary's Umbreon and Electivire at the same time, an incredible feat considering that Gary used to be one of the most powerful trainers of his generation and Umbreon and Electivire were two of his strongest Pokémon. During its final confrontation with Croagunk, Croagunk finally managed to defeat Toxicroak with a devastating Brick Break to the head, ending their rivalry.
| This article has an incomplete plot or synopsis.
Reason: N/A
Please help the Pokémon Wiki by expanding it.

subset: commoncrawl


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Teacher's 'four-month affair with her student, 17, revealed when they were caught having sex in a school bathroom'
- Lauren Redfern allegedly discovered having sex with student, 18, at school
- Affidavit states affair began last fall when two began exchanging messages
- Relationship would be legal if Redfern was not a 'person of trust' to student
An illicit affair between a physical education teacher and her student was unearthed when the two were found allegedly having sex in the school bathroom of the teacher's office.
The athletic director of Basalt High School outside of Aspen, Colorado, reportedly found 26-year-old Lauren Redfern and one of her male students engaged in a sexual act, an affidavit states.
Redfern, who graduated from the high school in 2004 and was a star basketball player in her day, turned herself into the Eagle County Sheriff's Office Thursday morning, and was charged with sexual assault on a child by a person in position of trust.
Scroll down for video
Allegation: Lauren Redfern, 25, turned herself in to authorities after she was allegedly discovered in the bathroom having sex with one of her students
High school: Redfern graduated from Basalt High School in 2004 and was a star of the basketball team
Redfern had been the teen's study hall teacher, according to CBS Denver. Though the student is of-age now, their affair had started when the boy was a minor, the sheriff's office said.
Eagle County Undersheriff Mike McWilliam said 'the juvenile and teacher had sexual conduct at her house and at his house.'
The alleged affair is believed to have lasted for 'three to four months, since last fall,' Mr McWilliam told the Post Independent.
The undersheriff was clear that no illicit sex happened at the high school when the two were discovered on February 9, as the student was 18 - and considered an adult - at the time.
Per Colorado state law, a 17-year-old can have a sexual relationship with an adult of any age as long as it is consensual. However, the latter cannot be considered a person of trust.
Mr McWilliam told MailOnline that a person of trust is 'anybody who would be responsible for care - namely, we use it for teachers.'
He said: 'If she weren't a teacher, it wouldn't be a criminal act.'
The Aspen Times reported the police were contacted on February 10 by Basalt High School, and Redfern, accompanied by her father Tom Redfern, went to the Eagle County police station Thursday morning.
Hearing: Redfern appeared in court in February after handing herself into police over the alleged affair with a teenage student
Her hearing was at 12:30pm yesterday. Reports said that she appeared in court wearing orange prison slippers and shackles on her ankles, but was otherwise dressed in civilian clothing.
Eagle County Court Judge Katherine Sullivan reduced the usual $15,000 bond in cases such as these to $5,000, telling the court that she didn't think Redfern to be a flight risk.
The Times reported that Redfern was able to leave the jail by 4pm yesterday afternoon.
Redfern faces several provisions regarding her bond. For one, she is not allowed to have contact with the alleged victim, nor any person under the age of 18.
She faces anywhere from four to 16 years in prison and the Class Three felony charge of two counts sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust.
Redfern did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.
Her next hearing is on March 6, the Times noted.
Redfern was placed on paid leave last week. However, it is Basalt's policy to let go any teacher who has had sexual contact with students, the Times reported.
She was a 2004 graduate of Basalt, and, while a student, was a star of the school's women's basketball team. The affidavit stated that Redfern was also coach of the girls' basketball team, a health teacher, and a study hall monitor.
Discovered: Redfern and the juvenile were found having sex in a school lavatory like this one, an affidavit says
In the affidavit, she said that the relationship with the student was 'unintentional.'
The two began exchanging flattering texts last fall, the documents show. By Christmas, 'they both felt attracted to one another,' it read.
Redfern told authorities that the relationship began when the student was over at her house in Eagle County watching a movie. During the film, the two kissed and touched each other, but nothing more happened, the affidavit said.
Per Colorado state law, a 17-year-old can have a sexual relationship with an adult of any age as long as it is consensual. However, the latter cannot be considered a person of trust, such as a teacher.
The student called Redford for assistance with a school paper two weeks later, the document stated. He then went over to her house for help, where the two allegedly had sexual intercourse.
The couple had sex at least five times after that, Redfern told authorities – both when he was underage and after he turned 18.
The student also met with authorities, telling them that he pursued his teacher romantically and that they shared similar interests, according to the affidavit.
According to the Post Independent, cases involving a sexual relationship between an underage student and a person of trust – such as a teacher – have resulted in lengthy prison sentences.
The website notes the case of Travis Masse, who worked as a wrestling coach and social studies teacher at Broomfield High School.
He was convicted in 2011 of having sex three times with a 17-year-old female student, and was sentenced to ten years to life, as well as 20 years on parole.
However, Mr McWilliam notes a 2007 case where a former Christian high school teacher was sentenced to only five months of jail. John James Allen, then 28, was also slapped with ten years of sex-offender probation.
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DBY beginners yoga courses are designed for those with little or no previous experience of yoga.
Each class begins with a seated discussion about yoga, introducing yoga concepts, what yoga is and what it is for.
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IGBC Certified Bear-Resistant Products
Download Latest Certified Products List
Methods for Complying with Food Storage Regulations on Public Lands
IGBC-certified containers are one of the methods available to meet food storage regulations on National Forests in grizzly bear habitat. Other methods for compliance are also available; for instance electric fencing is authorized in some ecosystems and under certain conditions. When you are in National Parks, check their regulations for food storage requirements and methods. Regardless of your location or destination, we recommend contacting local land management offices for more details on the use of electric fences or other products and methods to comply with food storage regulations because requirements may vary by location.


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Embassy Bucharest
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BUCHAREST 001563 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/NCE - WILLIAM SILKWORTH E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/13/2015 TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, SOCI, RO, Election SUBJECT: PRIME MINISTER CONFIRMS RESIGNATION; COMMITS TO NEW ELECTIONS REF: A. BUCHAREST 1557 B. BUCHAREST 1521 C. BUCHAREST 1511 D. BUCHAREST 1433 E. BUCHAREST 1529 Classified By: Political Section Chief Robert S. Gilchrist for Reasons 1.4 B and D 1. (C) Summary: Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu July 13 announced he would officially step down from office early next week and that the government has begun plans for snap parliamentary elections. The announcement followed a special joint session of parliament and a July 12 meeting among senior political leaders meant to iron out differences over stalled judicial reform legislation. Ruling Liberal-Democratic (PNL-PD) contacts continue to stress that the alliance is committed to move forward with new elections. However, the PNL-PD must still secure a majority of votes in parliament to force an early poll. End Summary. 2. (SBU) In the latest turn in what Romanian media now call the "Electoral Crisis," PM Tariceanu reaffirmed July 13 that he would officially step down following a planned trip to Brussels on July 18. Tariceanu stated that procedures for early elections would also begin at that time. In explaining the rationale for his decision, the PM stressed that the PNL-PD does not have a sufficient majority to "permit it to make necessary reforms." He pointed to "insufficient will in the Parliament" to foster judicial reform, the issue on which his government is basing its decision to move toward new elections. 3. (C) Tariceanu also asserted that none of the conditions were met that he had set the night before during the meeting of senior political leaders convened by President Traian Basescu (Ref A). These conditions included meaningful judicial reform, amendment of the law governing the Constitutional Court, and a national referendum to modify the constitution to allow the Parliament to overrule the Court. According to Embassy contacts, Tariceanu's commitment to forcing new elections had never wavered. Sources in both the presidential palace and prime minister's office tell us that snap elections are "more likely than ever." Where There's a Will, There's a Way? ------------------------------------- 4. (C) Tariceanu's statement followed 24-hours of intense political negotiations, many of which were ostensibly intended to resolve the impasse precipitating calls for elections. According to Embassy contacts, the meeting convened by President Basescu late July 12 did not address core concerns in any substantial way. According to senior Democratic Party (PD) deputy Cristian Radulescu, the lawmakers merely agreed to devise new legislation that would pass constitutional muster. Other individuals present said that Basescu urged parliament to "find a way" to pass justice reform legislation. Indeed, Basescu declared at the beginning of the meeting "solutions can be found if there is political will" to do so. One Embassy contact cynically noted there was "no will on either side." The PNL-PD "clearly wanted new elections;" the PSD was unwilling, if not incapable, of overriding the Constitutional Court decision and meeting all of the PNL-PD's demands. 5. (C) According to PNL senator Nicolae Popa and other contacts, PNL and PD leaders caucused "all night" July 12 to devise ways to pass justice reform legislation - and to discuss the overall political situation. By early morning, they were "even more convinced of the need for new elections." The morning of July 13, senior Presidential Advisor Claudiu Saftoiu stated matter-of-factly to PolChief that the President will announce the interim cabinet following Tariceanu's July 18 resignation. He said Basescu would offer his "fullest support" to the caretaker government and that there would be "absolutely no interruption" in meeting obligations for EU accession or for providing what he characterized as "a stable environment for international investors." 6. (C) The afternoon of July 13, Parliament voted in joint session to adopt a "re-phrased" version of the justice reform legislation. Delegate Minister and PNL-PD deputy Cristian David told PolChief that none of the revisions adequately addressed the government's concerns, but that it was better than nothing. In any event, David said the PNL-PD is "still intent on elections." Iliescu Reemerges ------------------ 7. (C) Press commentators and Embassy contacts continued to note internal divisions within the PSD, with competing factions in the party supporting or opposing new elections. Most notably, however, former President Ion Iliescu has reemerged publicly to a degree not seen since his unsuccessful bid for the party leadership in April. His primary tack has been to criticize the PNL-PD and Basescu for focusing on partisan politics at a time when the country is beset by torrential flooding in several areas. Iliescu publicly urged Tariceanu to renounce his decision to resign - and called on Basescu, in coordination with the Supreme Council for National Defense (CSAT), to declare a "state of emergency" in response to the flooding. Iliescu noted that the Constitution forbids dissolution of parliament during a state of emergency. Nastase also told journalists that he opposed early elections. PSD President Mircea Geoana, however, reaffirmed that the party is "ready" for early elections. 8. (C) Comment: Tariceanu's confirmation of his resignation moves Romania closer to new elections. However, neither he nor his alliance have charted a clear path for overcoming the constitutional hurdles that must be crossed in coming weeks. This will require creative politicking, with risk at any juncture of being derailed by small parties opposed to elections, fatigued legislators, last minute dealmaking, or a public backlash against what may appear to be cynical political maneuvering. End Comment. 9. (U) Amembassy Bucharest,s reporting telegrams are available on the Bucharest SIPRNET Website: www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/bucharest. TAPLIN


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In this episode of UCTV, Professor Ray Philo, Director of the Economic Crime and Cybersecurity Institute (ECCI) at Utica College, describes the role of the institute and the many ways in which students benefit from this unique organization.
The institute's Board of Advisors consists of academics and industry executives from companies such as, Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, JP Morgan Chase, Ketchum, KPMG, Computer Sciences Corporation, and Wetstone Corporation. These experts bring a wealth of knowledge and years of experience to bear in offering students professional career advice, internship opportunities, mock interviews, etc.
The ECCI Board also advises the School of Business and Justice Studies on ways to incorporate emerging trends into the curriculum, thereby ensuring that students are well prepared with the latest techniques and methodologies in combating economic crimes.
Transcript: The Economic Crime and Cybersecurity Institute.
Dr. Norrie: Welcome to another episode of UCTV. Great to have you back with us here in Utica, New York, and my guest today is Ray Philo. Ray is a faculty member in our Economic Crime Program, but more importantly, he's here today in his role, and you can see it on his T-shirt, there it is, as the Chair of our ECCI Board. Now what does that stand for, Ray?
Professor Philo: ECCI stands for Economic Crime and Cybersecurity Institute at Utica College.
Dr. Norrie: And what does the ECCI do?
Professor Philo: The ECCI actually has a long history at Utica College. ECCI is unique in that we put together an advisory board a number of years ago, that actually advises the college and our department on curriculum, actually engages students and advises them individually, in some cases, on employment and internship opportunities.
Dr. Norrie: Neat.
Professor Philo: How best to keep a program current and relevant than to bring in those people who are actually engaged in it on a day-to-day basis?
Dr. Norrie: Right.
Professor Philo: So once again, they perform that advisory role to us and advise students.
Dr. Norrie: Great. So this allows us, then, to use their expertise to really bring the industry's perspective from the outside to the inside of our programs.
Professor Philo: Yes. When you talk about economic crime and especially cybersecurity, I mean, it's changing by the week, if not by the day. So to have industry experts, who are immersed in it on a daily basis in fairly relevant and high positions within their respective industries, is very important. It's very important to keeping our curriculum up-to-date and, thus, our students.
Dr. Norrie: Great. Well, for our prospective students out there, who are looking at programs, one of their concerns, obviously, is how they take that degree, that experience, that education, and get the job. Right?
Professor Philo: Right. Absolutely.
Dr. Norrie: So tell us a little bit about the role that ECCI plays in terms of helping our students do that.
Professor Philo: ECCI plays an important role. A couple of ways we do that. They are available to students on an individual basis. We refer students to the ECCI board member. What's unique is the board member is also vetting that student for potential internships and job opportunities within their particular organization. Their organizations include law enforcement, cyber warfare, financial crimes, and financial institutions. So we have a broad spectrum of industries represented.
Dr. Norrie: Well, you sound so passionate about helping students find their path and get the job. What did you do before coming to Utica College?
Professor Philo: Actually, I had a law enforcement career, and at the same time, I was teaching as an adjunct here at Utica College and really thought, "My gosh, this is a great opportunity." I loved both my careers.
Dr. Norrie: Well, it's another example of these faculty members who have been there, seen it, done that and then joined the faculty.
Professor Philo: Absolutely. And even though I've been retired now for a few years and came over to Utica College full-time as a faculty member, I still have resources within the industry and can, almost on a daily basis, advise students on the proper way to enter that particular job market, whether it's through civil service or the appropriate interviews.
Dr. Norrie: Great. Well Ray, thank you so much for joining us today. It's been really good.
Professor Philo: Well, thank you, I've enjoyed it. Thank you for the opportunity.
Dr. Norrie: And for prospective students out there, if you want to get the education that's going to get you the job, make sure you find out more about our programs. Have a great day.


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Presidential candidate Andy Martin reviews the endless family dramas of President "no drama" Barack Obama
Republican Presidential Candidate Andy Martin is the acknowledged expert on the bizarre family history of President Barack Obama. Andy came to national prominence in 2004 as the first critic/investigator/author of Barack Obama. Martin knows all of the "players" in Illinois politics that created the Obama myth. In 2008 Martin became the first investigator to go to Honolulu to examine the circumstances of Obama's birth. With the latest arrest of an Obama family member, Presidential Candidate Andy Martin provides an analysis of why the "Birther" Movement was "born" and why it persists as an undercurrent of American politics.
Republican Presidential Candidate Andy Martin writes on President Barack Obama, whose life has been defined by illegal aliens, deportations and family disruptions
New Hampshire's Favorite Son candidate
for President of the United States
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Illinois corruption fighter Andy Martin was the first investigator/analyst to begin exposing the family myths of Barack Obama, in 2004.
With the arrest of President Obama's uncle, who is an illegal alien using an illegal social security number, Andy returns to an analysis of why his research gave "birth" to the "Birther" movement and why the movement persists as an undercurrent of American politics
Andy ties together his extraordinary and historic march across the State of New Hampshire with President Obama's sad family history
(NEW YORK)(August 31, 2011) Last weekend I was walking and biking across the State of New Hampshire as part of my protest against a public utility's proposal to cut the State of New Hampshire in half with high voltage transmission lines. You can imagine that walking miles and miles in the hot sun "charges" you up for the topic at hand, in my case opposition to "Northern Pass" proposal of Northeast Utilities.
We came upon a family farm along Highway 3. My security detail asked to stop and buy some fresh farm produce. As people often do at roadside stands, we began chatting about politics and the topic of President Barack Obama was raised. The farmer's brother then took me over to his pickup truck and showed me the vehicle. The truck carries a magnetic sign "Show us the real birth certificate."
The left wing, and President Obama's operatives themselves, credit me with creating the "Birther" movement. But the "birth" of the anti-Obama movement has been distorted by the mainstream media. While I did focus the Birther movement on seeking access to president Obama's original birth certificate in 2008, the Birther movement was a reaction to deep public uncertainty about who Barack Obama really is.
Earlier this year, Donald Trump took my issue, and my investigations, branded them as his own, and created a media firestorm as part of his promotion for a new season of his TV program. Trump's celebrity status forced President Obama to release a copy of his original 1961 Hawai'i birth certificate. Obama's staff said that release of the birth document would not quell concerns about Obama's origins, and they were right.
There has been a great deal of controversy about Obama's April birth certificate and I am not a part of any of that disputation. As a full-time presidential candidate I have left it to others to pick up where I left off.
The mainstream media have always tried to demonize me as a means of demonizing the tens of millions of Americans who still have doubts about Barack Obama. In the absence of Trump's pseudo-campaign for president (and I am fully expecting another pseudo-"campaign" for president by Trump next year) the Birther controversy has gone underground. I still receive several dozen Birther emails every day.
While I am the acknowledged originator of the research on Obama's opaque origins, even I am not an expert on all aspects of the concerns and confusion involving the president. For example, one of the Birther movement's enduring complaints has been that President Obama uses a Social Security number issued in Connecticut. I don't know anything about that issue because there are just too many questions for one person to thoroughly research every uncertainty about the president.
The arrest a few days ago of yet another Obama relative living illegally in the United States, however, prompts me to explain why Birtherism persists and why it will not go away because the doubts about who Obama is will not go away.
Obama claims to be the son of Barack Obama, Senior, a Kenyan citizen who came to America and unleashed a domestic crime wave. When I first suggested that because President Obama's parents were never legally married he was illegitimate, or "nonmarital' as we say in family courts today, the media slimed me for spreading "rumors" even though my legal facts were absolutely correct.
It is now generally accepted that Barack the father never divorced his first wife, and that his marriage to Kezia Obama was lawful and legally recognized in the United States in 1959 when Obama came to Hawai'i.
President Obama has carried the stigma throughout his life of knowing he was illegitimate even as he has tried to conceal that fact from the public.
Barack Obama campaigned in 2008 as "No Drama Obama." The reality is precisely the opposite. President Obama continues to struggle with the endless drama of his disordered and disorganized family origins.
Last month (July, 2011) yet another mountain of evidence was released in a new book (links below) exploring the tortured history of the president's putative father. One reviewer called Obama's family history "deeply depressing." (link below) When asked if he had looked into any adoption records, Obama's staff responded that he had not even though Obama mused about adoption in his own book "Dreams From My Father."
When I began writing about Barack Obama in 2004 very little was known about him. Denver radio talk show host Peter Boyles calls Obama's birth a "nativity story," and Boyles is 100% right. In Honolulu my investigative team began to strip away the layers of lies about Obama's origins. For example, I was the first to report that Obama's parents had never lived together and thus never had a real marriage.
I went to the address listed in 1961 birth announcements and verified the occupants of the residence were Ann Dunham's parents, not the Obama "family."
But the more truths I unearthed the more attacks I received from the mainstream media. The media did not want to know the truth about Obama because they did not want the American people to know the truth about who Obama was, or wasn't. The same old media lies from 2008 are now being recycled for 2012.
The media now pretend that the issue of Obama's origins has been put to rest by production of the Hawai'i birth certificate that I fought so hard to release. That is simply not the case.
Let's look at the "real" and undisputed family history of President Obama:
First, his father was not formally deported from the United states but he was effectively deported when academic officials demanded he be removed from the US.
Second, Obama knew one of his aunts was living illegally in the United states, falsely claiming "political asylum" although she had never been involved in any form of politics. Despite the fact she was living on welfare in public housing in Boston, then-Senator Obama did nothing to help his aunt until she became a campaign embarrassment in 2008.
Third, a new Obama "uncle" has now surfaced, and he is also under a deportation order as well as using a bogus Social Security number.
Is it any wonder tens of millions continue to harbor doubts about Obama's origins?
These doubts will play a crucial but deeply submerged role in the 2012 presidential campaign. No, the "Birther" movement will not be portrayed in the mainstream media. The media pretend there is "closure" with the April release of the "certificate."
But the Birther movement was never about just the birth certificate. Three years into his presidency, the American people still do not know who Barack Obama really is. When Newt Gingrich suggested earlier this year that Obama's attitudes were "foreign," the media were quick to accuse Gingrich of racism. There is a concerted effort to demonize anyone who delves into the mysteries of Obama's family history.
But how can any reasonable person not have doubts when Obama abuses his authority as president to effectively grant immigration amnesty to an aunt who was an illegal alien? Or when the president uses a Cleveland attorney to represent all of his illegal alien relatives? Or when people raise questions about his own dubious Social Security number when his relatives are also using illegal Social security numbers? On and on it goes.
During 2008 I was often asked who "vets" presidential candidates. People were stunned when I told them no one vets candidates. Candidates are vetted by their opponents, by the media and by the voters. So, no, no federal agency ever "vetted' Obama.
If a dairy farmer along a country road in New Hampshire still had doubts last weekend about Barack Obama's origins before the arrest of the president's "uncle," and if that farmer wondered why a president who grew up in Hawai'i has a Connecticut Social Security number, can the farmer be wrong for questioning the president's legitimacy after the arrest of Obama's uncle, who is both illegal and using an illegal Social Security number?
Because of his father's existing marriage, Barack Obama was illegitimate when he was born, and he has lived an illegitimate life leading to an illegitimate presidency. I say these words not out of hatred for Obama; after all, none of us is responsible for the misdeeds of our parents. But, the reality of psychology and psychiatry is that we bear the burdens of the past in our daily lives and President Barack Obama is a deeply burdened man.
Luckily for him, he has made so much money he can afford to hire a Cleveland attorney to represent his criminal relatives in Massachusetts. But what does Obama think about all of his mishegas?
When will the mainstream media's charade of silence about Barack Obama end?
The American people are waiting.
Sadly, I am the only Republican presidential candidate who is willing to ask the tough questions about President Obama's origins, as the doubts about his "legitimacy" grow deeper every day. Republican presidential candidates maintain as much of a pretense and a silence about Obama's origins as the liberal mainstream media. None of them wants to talk about Obama's bizarre family history, even though that "history" is now playing out in the daily newspapers with the latest arrest of an Obama relative. Why are the other Republican presidential candidates afraid to discuss Obama's convoluted family history? Why not ask them?
Is it any wonder the Birther movement endures, and that public confidence in the integrity of mainstream media is at a low ebb and falling?
(We have provided extensive links below for readers wanting to explore these issues more deeply. In the short bio that accompanies my news releases [see below] you can also order one of the few remaining copies of my book on Obama, "The Man Behind The Mask." Did you ever see a more accurate book title?)
As a result of my 2008 trip to Honolulu, I came to believe that there is a serious possibility Barack Obama "the father" is not the "father of the president." Rather, Ann Dunham was impregnated by Frank Marshall Davis, another married man whose genes appear to share much more in common with President Obama than Obama-the-Kenyan. I have no objective DNA proof for my theory, but the existence of reasonable doubt about who President Obama's father really is must weigh heavily on the president.
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ABOUT ANDY: Chicago Public Radio calls Andy Martin a "boisterous Internet activist." The Chicago Tribune calls him "Chicago's own…political activist." Andy is a legendary New York and Chicago-based muckraker, author, Internet columnist, talk television pioneer, radio talk show host, broadcaster and media critic. He has over forty years of background in radio and television and is the dean of Illinois media and communications. He is the author of "Obama: The Man Behind The Mask" [www.OrangeStatePress.com] and he produced the Internet film "Obama: The Hawaii' Years" [www.BoycottHawaii.com]. Andy is the Executive Editor and publisher of the "Internet Powerhouse," http://www.ContrarianCommentary.com. He comments on regional, national and international events with more than four decades of investigative and analytical experience both in the USA and around the world.
Martin has been a leading corruption fighter in Illinois and American politics and courts for over forty years. [www.AndyMartin.com] He is currently sponsoring http://www.AmericaisReadyforReform.com. See also http://www.FirstRespondersOnline.us; http://www.EnglishforAmerica.org
He holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois College of Law and is a former adjunct professor of law at the City University of New York (LaGuardia CC, Bronx CC).
Andy's columns are also posted at ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com; ContrarianCommentary.wordpress.com.
[NOTE: We try to correct any typographical errors in our stories; find the latest version on our blogs.]
© Copyright by Andy Martin 2011 – All Rights Reserved


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H.R.4816 - Small Public Housing Agency Opportunity Act of 2016114th Congress (2015-2016)
BillHide Overview
|Rep. Palazzo, Steven M. [R-MS-4] (Introduced 03/21/2016)
|House - Financial Services
|Latest Action:
|House - 09/21/2016 Hearings Held by the Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance Prior to Referral. (All Actions)
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- Housing and Community Development
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Summary: H.R.4816 — 114th Congress (2015-2016)All Information (Except Text)
There is one summary for H.R.4816. Bill summaries are authored by CRS.
Shown Here:
Introduced in House (03/21/2016)
Small Public Housing Agency Opportunity Act of 2016
This bill amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to subject a small public housing agency (PHA) to the same requirements as a PHA.
A small PHA is a PHA for which the sum of the number of public housing dwelling units and the number of vouchers under Section 8 (tenant-based assistance) it administers is 550 or fewer.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) shall:
- carry out physical inspections of a small PHA public housing project at least once every three years, unless it is a troubled small PHA;
- determine the financial condition of a small PHA public housing program solely on the basis of the ratio of current assets to current liabilities; and
- determine management condition of a small PHA public housing program solely on the basis of the ratio of vacant unit months to eligible unit months.
A small PHA administering Section 8 tenant-based assistance under the housing voucher program must make physical inspections of assisted units at least once every three years.
HUD shall evaluate the management of a small PHA's voucher program solely on the basis of its lease-up rate or the budget utilization rate, which must be at least 90% to be acceptable.
HUD shall designate a small PHA as a high-performing agency if it exceeds acceptability criteria.
HUD may designate a small PHA as a troubled small PHA with respect to its public housing program or housing voucher program only if it meets certain negative criteria.
HUD shall establish an appeals process for a small PHA to dispute a determination of deficiency.
HUD and a troubled small PHA shall enter into a one-year corrective action agreement (renewable at HUD option) under which the small PHA must undertake actions to correct deficiencies.
The bill prescribes and/or revises requirements to reduce the administrative burden on small PHAs with respect to:
- certain reports;
- community service;
- economic opportunities for low- and very low-income persons;
- exemption of a small PHA administering not more than 400 public housing dwelling units, upon request, from any asset management requirement;
- exemption from environmental review for a development or modernization project involving new construction if the new construction portion of the total cost does not exceed $100,000; and
- streamlined HUD procedures for such reviews.
Small PHAs shall also be exempt from Green Physical Needs Assessment requirements for any fiscal year for which a specified circumstance occurs.
HUD shall carry out a demonstration project to examine how various methods of determining rent in public housing affect the administrative burden on small PHAs and public housing residents.
The bill establishes rent-setting mechanisms for demonstration project participants based on: (1) a tiered system for initial rents for extremely low-income families, very low-income families, and low-income families; (2) a certain range of gross income percentages; or (3) the existing method for establishing rents.
A small PHA may elect to be paid for its utility and waste management costs under a HUD assistance formula for a period, at its discretion, of up to 20 years based on its average annual consumption during the three-year period preceding the year in which the election is made.
HUD shall develop and deploy all electronic information systems necessary to accommodate full consolidated reporting by PHAs electing to operate in consortia.


text:
You Pack It
If you're looking for a long-distance moving service where you do the packing in return for lower prices, I'd like to introduce you to U-Pack Moving®, a "you pack, we drive" moving service that does just that. Let's take a look at what makes U-Pack such a great option for people hoping to save money on their move by doing a little of the work on their own.
How does a "you pack it" service work?
Just like the name implies, you pack your own belongings, but instead of driving yourself, like you would with truck rental, U-Pack does the driving for you. Now that's the way to do a "you pack" move!
Here's how a typical door-to-door move with U-Pack works:
- U-Pack delivers a trailer or moving container direct to your home.
- You do the packing and loading of your belongings.
- U-Pack drives your belongings to your new home.
- You do the unloading and unpacking of your belongings.
- U-Pack picks up the empty moving equipment when you're done unloading.
As you can see above, U-Pack makes it easy and convenient to move long distance. All you do is pack, load, unload, and unpack. You don't have to pick up the moving equipment or return it when you're done since U-Pack brings it to you. Plus, you get three business days to do your loading and unloading – that's a lot of time to make sure everything is packed up and ready to go.
How much does a "you pack" move cost?
You'll be happy to know that U-Pack's rates are very similar to truck rental. In fact, when you add all the extra costs of truck rental (fuel, taxes, tolls, damage protection), the cost will typically be about the same as moving with U-Pack. Except with U-Pack, you don't have to drive. What a great deal!
Another perk of U-Pack is that you only pay for the amount of space you use, not which truck size you choose. U-Pack customers really enjoy being able to control the price of their move based on how much space they use. Perhaps that's why 78% of U-Pack customers chose U-Pack based on price alone. Click to get an online moving quote to see your rate now.
I recommend reading U-Pack's helpful packing tips so that you can pack efficiently (since the less space you use, the less you pay). And if you're curious about how much space you'll need, use U-Pack's space estimator tool here.
You pack and save with U-Pack
It's simple. You can still get a low moving rate without having to drive when you move with U-Pack. Plus, you control the price of your move by only paying for what you use. If a "you pack, we drive" service sounds like an ideal way to move, then get a free moving quote from U-Pack here and compare the rates for yourself.
Do you have questions about how a "you pack it" moving service like U-Pack works? Then leave me a comment below and I'll be happy to answer. Or, call 800-413-4799 and a helpful U-Pack moving representative will assist you.
Related Links
U-Pack Moving Checklist
Packing Made Easy
Boxes and Moving Supplies (Free shipping!)
Packing for a long distance move
The Unpacking Order – Where to Start First
Things Not to Pack


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How America May Become a Truly Good Example to the World
(Originally published in July 2006 -- Last edited 7-4-2017)
How will the government be reformed so that it is actually of the people, by the people, and for the people; so that it promotes the general welfare, uses the common wealth for the common good, and ensures domestic tranquility by establishing equal rights, equal opportunities, and real justice for all the people regardless of their race, religion, gender, ethnicity, or ancestry?
Surely a reformation is needed, because partisan politics and the contest for the throne has proven to be a corrupt, divisive failure, and there are many articles in this message here on this site explaining how and why.
For example, President Franklin D. Roosevelt once saved America from the rich forces of greed and self-interest. He made America and its middle class great, and his New Deal ultimately produced widespread prosperity. But, as soon as enough Americans forgot the lessons of history those deceptive forces began taking back control of government, and during the last four decades their propaganda has nearly wiped out the great legacy of Roosevelt and his New Deal. That's why America is now more of a Plutocracy than a Democracy, and it is why the rich forces of greed and self-interest rule actually control government.
So. This is to say that it is time to take the words written by America's Founders to heart, because they not only provided a brilliant vision, amazing for its time. They provided us with a tool in Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution so that we can legally, peacefully and comprehensively alter and reform our government, which they knew we would need to do.
"Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity and happiness of the people; and not for the profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men. Therefore the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity and happiness require." -- John Adams, 1776
In 1776 Adams' thoughts about the most important things were resonant with Thomas Jefferson's, and Jefferson wrote the following in the original American Declaration of Independence:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness; that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." -- Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, 1776
That is as true now as it was in 1776, and we, the people, should take it to heart because our government has steadily become destructive regarding our civil liberties, rights and opportunities, while enabling a small "upper" class of incredibly wealthy people to profit far beyond what is reasonable or fair, at our expense, at the expense of our nation, at the expense of the infrastructure, and at the expense of our earth environment.
Thomas Jefferson feared this would happen. In fact, he wrote: "The end of Democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations."
Jefferson was quite right. The U.S. Government has become what the Founders wanted to free the people from -- a plutocratic "religious" military industrial empire ruled by a rich, proud, militant few who believe they must rule the world by forces of arms to "serve God and Country," when in fact they serve themselves and "Mammon."
Therefore, it is our right and duty to alter and reform our government, and The 21st Century Declaration of Independence suggests how we may do that. (You may scroll down to view that. The following sections that lead to it are introductory information explaining exactly why we need it.)
The updated modern version of the original Declaration of Independence not only expands our rights but also improves the political process so that we are no longer divided and polarized, so that money no longer drives the political process, and so that we can finally establish government that will actually be of, by and for the people and serve the interests of all the people.
This article suggests how and why Americans should do that and how we can do that, legally and peacefully, using provisions provided in the U.S. Constitution.
Additionally, in many ways this message is applicable to all nations and the idea behind it is based on the United Nations International Bill of Rights, which most nations, including the U.S., simply ignore!
That's why this message targets America, because even though it has one of the highest rates of child poverty and is morally corrupt due to corrupt leadership in the public, private and religious sectors, it is still materially the strongest and most influential nation in the world, and, when it is reformed, it can then be a leading good example to the world.
As it is, America is not a united Democratic Republic. It is not a real Democracy. It is a bitterly divided Plutocracy and Oligarchy consisting to two main ruling factions (partisan political parties) which compete for power in a winner-take-all political system. And you may have noticed that even when Democrats were in control it did not stop the immense momentum of the continuing transfer of wealth from the majority to the wealthiest few.
In this system the wealthiest few have all the power because the system is driven by money. Wealthy Republicans and Libertarians fund their politician-candidates and their Political Action Committees (PACs) and political foundations, and wealthy Democrats fund theirs. In fact, the wealthiest few are the wealthiest one percent of the American population, and they provide about 80 percent of the funding for all political candidates -- Democrats and Republicans alike.
Thus the wealthiest few, regardless of their party affiliation, are the big winners, because all elected politicians, Republican and Democrat alike, are beholden to those who provide most of the funding for their campaigns and commercial television ads, as well as the bribes they receive under the "lobbying" system.
That has produced the unfair, inequitable, polarizing political economic system we have, and that's why the great majority of us keep getting worse off financially as the rich keep getting richer and richer.
That is why The 21st Century Declaration of Independence declares that government should exist not merely by the grudging consent of the governed, but also by our own initiative, participation, free choice and equal opportunity to determine who represents us at the highest levels of government. We do not need to accept the status quo in which the deck is stacked against us, and we do not need to perpetuate partisan politics and the divisive contest for the throne. For as it is, we the people really do not have free choice and equal opportunity to choose who represents us. We are merely presented with choices from which we must choose.
In the present political process the basic choices we have are limited to candidates from the organized partisan political parties that divide us. If we vote we have practically no choice but to take sides, be pitted against each other, and buy into the divisive, polarizing battle for the throne of power, and we the people cannot win because the system ensures that the wealthiest few will win.
That is why even with a Democrat in the White House from 2009 to 2017, most Americans are still suffering almost as much as they were in December 2008 -- partly because of nasty Republican and Libertarian obstructionism, granted, but partly because most Democrats have deserted the great democratic values and principles of leaders like Thomas Jefferson and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Consequently, the problem is that the priority of the bosses of both major parties is to serve the interests of the wealthiest few and their corporations, banks and financial institutions, and the hard reality is that their policies and actions are to their benefit and at our expense.
Understanding the reasons for that is now crucial, because as the most fair-minded and reasonable economists have finally recognized, America's current economic and financial woes were about more than four decades in the making, and it was Reaganomics and Reaganism that got America into this trouble.
Then it got worse under the Bush presidency because it was Reaganism "on steroids," and, like Republicans, Corporate Democrats since then have done little to serve the interests of the great vast majority, preferring to serve the interests of Wall Street and the greediest of the wealthiest few who bankroll and bribe all politicians. Of course, Elizabeth Warren spoke up with truths that needed to be heard and the rhetoric began to change, and when Bernie Sanders campaigned as a Democrat it forced other Democratic contenders to acknowledge at least some of the truths that expose the corruption and wrong-doing of the forces of greed and self-interest.
That is why recently many Billionaires and Multi-Billionaires understand that they must convince the American public that they are rich and successful because they are good, beneficent people who do good works that benefit the whole nation and world. That's why they have been trying to improve their image in various ways. It's why they and their corporations and banks have launched public relations campaigns on television, being very aware that growing numbers of Americans have grown utterly disgusted with all the greed, corruption, profiteering, and horrible unfairness that has infected America during the last several decades.
Many of those Billionaires claim, as Ronald Reagan did, that government is the problem, that government must simply get out of their way, and that we can trust successful rich people to do the right thing for the benefit of all. But time after time history has proven that they do the opposite when left to their own devices.
The actual problem is the greed and corruption that runs rampant without proper government regulation and oversight, and the problem is made even worse when government is ruled and controlled by politician puppets who serve the interests of the greediest of the wealthiest few, at the expense of the great majority, at the expense of the infrastructure, and at the expense of the environment. That is the truth that Americans need to face.
The declaration of human rights in the second sentence of the U.S. Declaration of Independence written in 1776 was inspired by the writings of Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson. And in that Declaration the majority of the Founders pledged their lives and fortunes, and they risked their lives by signing it.
Their distaste for British Royal Monarchy and Anglican State Theocracy and their desire for fairness and social justice was summed up in the writings of Thomas Jefferson, especially in his writings about religious freedom and separation of church and state.
It helps to know that most of the Founders were men of faith in the Deity or the "Creator" and "Nature's God," as they put it, and they realized there can be no freedom of religion unless government respects all religions. They purposely used generic terms for God in official documents and avoided using religious names or terms specific to any particular religion.
Some of them were Christians, of course. However, most of them were highly educated "Enlightenment" thinkers. Some were Freemasons, many were Deists, and most agreed with Deist thought. That is, they believed in the Deity and the Creator, but they realized how and why official church canon, doctrines, dogma, superstitions, myths and creeds had caused so much trouble and so much suffering and bloodshed in the name of Christianity during the preceding 14 centuries. And in their letters and writings they expressed that very clearly.
They wanted government to honor universal spiritual values. But, unfortunately, Jefferson's and Madison's dream of a Democratic Republic has not been fulfilled because even though the politicians who benefit from the present political-economic system steadfastly claim they want liberty and justice for all, their actions belie their words.
Of course there is enough blame to go around. But it has especially been the Reaganites (then Bushites, then Trumpites) who simply ignored the lessons of history, just as they ignored the Golden Rule. They proudly and militantly fight to gain and maintain political power, and they simply ignore that the wise Solomon said pride and arrogance go before a fall. They ignore that Jesus of Nazareth said that a house divided against itself cannot stand, that the rich put themselves in spiritual jeopardy, that the poor are blessed, and that the humble and meek shall inherit the earth.
America has been pushed far backward and our national spiritual growth has been severely stunted because the American "democratic process" (partisan politics) became tainted by greed and lust for money and the corruption that it causes. It has enabled deceptive people driven by greed and self-interest to gain the power of government (or manipulate it by deceptive, obstructionist tactics) by claiming, as Ronald Reagan did, that "government is the problem and not the solution."
The irony is that they actually make government the problem rather than a solution.
They not only ignore the lessons of history, they even try to sell a revisionist idea of history. They have failed to ensure justice for all the people, maintain the infrastructure, provide sufficient regulation and oversight of companies, banks, lending institutions and corporations, protect the environment, and provide proper quality public education, safety, security, health care, justice, and protection for all the people.
Why are they in denial, and why have they failed? Because their agenda is self-serving, ensuring that their corporations, companies, industries, banks and lending institutions have free rein to operate without government regulation and oversight, even though that has proven to be detrimental to the public and the environment.
They focus on lowering their own tax liability and providing themselves and their businesses and corporations with tax breaks, tax loopholes, subsidies, and other "welfare for the rich." Thus they cause government to shirk its responsibilities, operate with insufficient revenue and face huge deficits, simply because their main goal is to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.
Even though they can afford to pay their fair share of taxes, those driven by greed and self-interest claim they and their big businesses, corporations, banks and financial institutions "cannot afford to pay more" (even though they pay very little or nothing now). Instead, they fight for even more tax cuts, along with more cuts in moral, compassionate, humanitarian human services.
The cruel irony is that many of them claim to be Christians, and they insist that our leaders must be Christians (as they define the term). However, many of their words and deeds reveal that they are the opposite of true Christians. They have ignored the Constitution and even the core teachings of Jesus. They have simply thumped their bible as they waved the flag to gain political power, and since 1982 they have managed to gain political power in local school boards, city government, state legislatures, and Congress. They have even pushed the U.S. Supreme Court to favor and entitle the wealthiest few at our expense, and they want to destroy the wall of separation between church and state, twisting the words of the Constitution and distorting the intent of the Founders.
They have accomplished all that by making many Americans forget or ignore what once made America great, and what once made its "middle class" large and great -- Roosevelt's New Deal -- and Reaganism has practically ruined that.
That is not to say that there is anything wrong with being wealthy, because many of the wealthy are good people and deserving of their wealth. However, some are not, which is painfully obvious. And we should prevent the greedy, selfish, corrupt ones from being able to rake in so much more money than they need, at our expense. They claim it's fair, and they fight dirty when anyone says it's not fair. That's why they hate and slander their opponents today, just as their counterparts hated and slandered the great President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Today, Reaganites still fight against all that which is democratically ideal, fair and equitable. And they have no choice but to be misleading and deceptive. They even use "push-button" words like "socialism" and "government takeover" to mislead, incite and rouse gullible people against progressive reformers.
Republicans and Libertarians and "Tea Party" members have been and are using the same tactics that were used back in the 1950s when "McCarthyism" and "Red-Baiting" was what right-wing demagogues resorted to, along with slander and deception, to appeal to people's emotions, prejudices and fears.
What Americans need to read and hear are speeches like President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Inaugural Address in order to shame greedy hypocrites, establish sufficient reforms, regulations and wage and price controls, and demand that corporations and the wealthiest few pay their fair share of taxes.
No partisan politician can or will fix the main problems, so Americans need to make a much greater choice — a choice that will bring much greater, lasting change, which will enable us to progress forward more united.
Divided we will continue to fall, and if we perpetuate this partisan political-economic system and its built-in conflict and division we will fall further because a people divided against themselves cannot work together in common purpose to achieve common goals for the common good.
We, the people, are going to have to fix it, and the only way we can and will save our nation, be truly united, and establish government that is of, by, and for the people, is to utilize the tools the Founders gave us to reform, alter, and improve the whole political-economic system as well as reconsider America's role in the world.
While any nation has the right to defend itself, the U.S. is the only nation maintaining regional multi-service military commands in all parts of the world. It is now a global religious military industrial empire. The U.S. Military accounts for 46.5 percent of the world's total spending on military with a $680 Billion annual budget for war, and in 2011 the U.S. Military-Industrial Complex was involved in 3,019 contracts between the Pentagon and its military contractors, and those contracts amounted to more than $269.8 Billion.
Of course, Americans have been conditioned to regard their military role as totally beneficent and good, but while that is true in part, it is in part ostensible rationale. And Americans need to know why.
The U.S. position as "Policeman to the World" (from which it is falling) was accomplished in a process initiated in the nineteenth century by the hegemonic and imperialist notion of "Manifest Destiny" which had been used to justify Westward expansion and the taking of Cuba, the Philippines and Guam in the Spanish-American War, and then later taking Hawaii. It continued and then expanded significantly after the U.S. was victorious in winning World War II, and Neo-Imperialism expanded again under Reaganism.
Then global dominance was carried to the extreme during the reign of George W. Bush, which took Reaganism to the extreme with The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) calling unashamedly for global religious military industrial domination. And it was all concocted to appear not only "patriotic." It is also disguised under a hypocritical cloak of religiosity, which was and still is driven by misguided "Christian" Dominionism, which is driven by misguided theocratic doctrine.
The cold hard fact is that America has been and still is falling because it serves not God, but Mammon. Thus, in Christian terms, Washington, D.C. is a "piece of Babylon," ruled by a Plutocracy of the wealthiest few and fueled by money accumulated by greed and self-interest. That is why we must really reform our government so that it is actually of, by and for the people, so that it is truly representative, so that it will protect us from those who are essentially robbing us, so that it will prevent lawmakers and policy makers from being bribed by the wealthiest few and their large corporations and lobbyists, and so that it will protect us from theocratic hypocrites who think their religion entitles them to rule.
These truths should be self-evident: that all human beings are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are the rights to: life; liberty; equal rights; equal opportunity; justice; public safety; universal health care; complete public education from preschool-child care to post-graduate school; fair and adequate compensation for your labor; adequate social security income for those in need of it, so that no one suffers from hunger, poverty, or homelessness; freedom of religion, with freedom from theocratic imposition of religion into government by any particular religion or religious sect(s); and real freedom in the pursuit of happiness.
We do not have any of those rights or freedoms now. In fact, our rights and freedoms have been diminishing, and there is no politician in our country right now who will establish the rights we want and need.
Therefore, to establish and secure our God-given universal rights, even while ensuring that government is secular with a wall of separation between religion and government, the people should adopt a revised and updated Declaration of Independence to re-state and expand our rights, and then demand that we establish and adopt new constitutional amendments that will ensure those rights.
The precedents for progress, improvement and advancement are clear. The 13th Amendment written in 1865 officially outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude, and did so by repealing Article 4 of the Constitution (which Southern leaders had insisted upon in 1787 when the Constitution was written, which required that slaves that escaped to another state be returned to the owner in the state from which they escaped).
Now we the people need to repeal, revise or replace certain other articles and amendments, and/or establish new amendments, particularly to put an end to rule by the power of money and an end to the presidential form of monarchy. We need to do this because government can and should be of, by and for the people, and by the absolute free choice of the people, which we do not have now. We are faced with a choice between competitive candidates who seek power of the highest office and the "throne" of a presidential monarchy.
Now it is time to take advantage of the tools which the Founding Fathers created for us to advance and progress forward, instead of continuing to be pushed backward.
Our Way To Liberation and Empowerment
Thomas Jefferson wrote: "I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times."
That is so true, which is why Americans should be aware that Article 5 of the Constitution of the United States stipulates that new amendments may be proposed either by two-thirds of both houses of Congress, or by a national convention assembled at the request of the legislatures of at least two-thirds of the states. The amendments must then be ratified either by approval of the legislatures of three-fourths of the states, or by ratifying conventions held in three-fourths of the states. Congress has discretion as to which method of ratification should be used. (See the separate article on An Article 5 Convention for details.)
Critics claim we could never make that happen, considering that most politicians in Congress and in state legislatures would object, as things are now. After all, regardless of which side of the political isle they are on, they still enjoy the benefits of political office, the financial support, the favors, gifts and bribes from lobbyists, the great income, and the great retirement income and benefits. Therefore, they would be against any amendments to the Constitution that would comprehensively reform and alter the U.S. Government.
However, politicians do what is politically expedient to get re-elected, and if it became clearly evident that a clear majority of Americans clearly wanted a Constitutional Convention, they would be forced to comply. And if a clear majority wanted the specific things outlined in The 21st Century Declaration of Independence, politicians and legislators would not be able to ignore the people's desire. They would fear being tossed out of office if they did not comply with the people's wishes.
So. Ultimately the power is with the people, even though as it is now most of the people have successfully been duped and fooled into thinking that they are powerless and helpless and therefore need to follow and support a conquering political "hero" who will fight for them. That's what keeps the whole partisan political system and the contest for the throne going.
Here's the truth: Even though our political system is deeply flawed and needs reform, our government still operates with the consent of the governed, and if enough people demand something, politicians will do what the people want. Politicians act out of political expediency. So our task is to show them what would be politically expedient, which is to obey the will of the people.
Now granted, as is explained in the article on Civil Disobedience, it is possible and perhaps probable that we may have to resort to that, if legal means are not sufficient to influence legislators. Let us hope that legal means are successful. But whatever means are necessary, we need to express our will and demonstrate our desires and wishes. We need to form a grass roots populist movement to rally around this idea and plan and make it clearly known what our demands are -- and that is up to you. You must act to alter and reform our government and make it a true Democracy of, by and for the people.
The People's Campaign For Reformation also discusses a strategy we can use, but we actually have many options to voice our demands and make them known. For example, we can take action either though a petition process to create citizen's initiatives and establish state ballot measures so that the people can officially register their demands. We can also voice our demands in peaceful public assembly in open parks and in other appropriate public spaces, obtaining permits if needed, and standing proudly (without wearing hoods or masks).
Ultimately, however, whether it's using the citizen's initiative process or the write-in ballot or public demonstration or all of them and more (such as email and social media), we the people can persist until our numbers are so great that state and federal legislators recognize and acknowledge our power and meet our demands so that we can finally establish the kind of government we want and need.
This has become a necessity, which is why in recent years a growing number of constitutional scholars have been calling for a Constitutional Convention. And there are several organizations working to establish new amendments to the U.S. Constitution utilizing Article 5 provisions. Some have made some progress in producing interest in a new proposed 28th Amendment. However, they are focused mostly on ending corporate "personhood" and establishing a publicly funded election process in order to end the massive influence money has on the present election process.
They hope, as this Initiative does, to draw so much media attention that no state or federal Legislator would dare to oppose amendments that the vast majority of people want. However, while such organizations are calling for Amendments to the Constitution, their focus is more narrow and confined to one or few issues, and that is not enough. What we need is a comprehensive overhaul, reformation, updating, revision, and expansion of the U.S. Constitution.
Hope in a conquering hero has proven to be fruitless, because America had one in President Franklin D. Roosevelt. But it wasn't very long before Reaganism began to dismantle and destroy the great legacy of Roosevelt's New Deal. Therefore we should keep in mind that the Founding Fathers of the nation wrote Article 5 because they recognized the importance of providing this means by which we, the people, could initiate amendments to change and/or clarify and/or update the Constitution, the Supreme Law of the Land. Even in the earlier Declaration of Independence they declared that it is the right and duty of the people to alter and reform our government, or even institute new government.
When enough people get the message and make their demands known, the ruling "class" will weigh their options and consider the possible consequences. They will consider what could happen if they continue the tactics they have been using, such as dirty partisan political attacks and slander, half-truths, misleading propaganda, and deception. And at that point they will also consider that the people are wise to them. They will consider how still using those tactics may backfire due to a more knowledgeable and informed public, and they will probably realize that it would be better to go along to get along.
As Theodore Roosevelt said: "We are not attacking the corporations, but endeavoring to do away with any evil in them. We are not hostile to them; we are merely determined that they shall be so handled as to subserve the public good. We draw the line against misconduct, not against wealth."
The author of this work is not against banks or corporations or capitalism, but like Thomas Jefferson and Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt, he recognizes that they must be required to pay their fair share of taxes according to their ability to pay, and they must be properly and sufficiently regulated and kept honest with sufficient government oversight in order to prevent malfeasance and misconduct, and to protect and serve the public good.
Beyond all that, you should also know that many politicians in the past have favored a Constitutional Convention, including such notables as Republican Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
In his first inaugural address, March 4, 1861, Lincoln said: "This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it." And Lincoln added that "to me the convention mode seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or reject propositions originated by others..."
President Dwight D. Eisenhower also supported an Article 5 Convention saying: "Through their state legislatures and without regard to the federal government, the people can demand a convention to propose amendments that can and will reverse any trends they see as fatal to true representative government."
Therefore, in America we advocate a Constitutional Convention, and we advocate this New Declaration of Independence, which is an edited and revised update of Thomas Jefferson's work.
The 21st Century Declaration of Independence
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all human beings are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are the rights to: life; liberty; equal rights; equal opportunity; justice; safety; complete public education from universal preschool-child care to post-graduate school and parenting education; adequate paid parental leave to nurture and bond with newborn infants; fair and adequate compensation for our labor; fair collective bargaining and binding arbitration to settle disputes between labor and management; expanded Medicare to provide comprehensive universal public health care; adequate Social Security retirement income if needed, and adequate Social Security income for the unemployed, the disabled and the elderly, so that no one suffers from hunger, poverty, or homelessness; real freedom of religion, respecting all religions and preventing theocratic domination by any particular religion; and real freedom in the pursuit of happiness.
We declare that to secure such human rights, governments may be instituted among peoples, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes obstructive to or destructive of these ends, it is the right and duty of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new or reformed government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to protect the people, ensure that all the people enjoy those equal opportunities and equal rights, and ensure that the common wealth is used for the common good.
Now granted, governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes. Therefore, the people have been more willing to suffer, while abuses and offenses seemed bearable, than to free themselves by abolishing the government to which they are accustomed. However, when a long series of deceptions, offenses, betrayals, and abuses of power, invariably pursuing the interests and the favor of the wealthiest few at the expense of the many, creates conditions which reduce the majority to subservient, dispensable subjects, it is the absolute right and duty of the people to throw off such government, to institute new or better government, and to provide new safeguards for their future security, equality, prosperity, and well being.
Such has been the patient sufferance of the majority of the people; and such is now the necessity to alter their system of government. The history of this government is a history of repeated deceptions, offenses, betrayals, injustices, failings, injuries, and abuses of power, resulting in the establishment and perpetuation of an unjust, corrupt, inequitable, divisive political-economic system and society in which a wealthy, privileged few disproportionately enjoy the fruits of the labor of the majority, while the lot of the majority diminishes and growing numbers of good, hard working people are reduced to conditions of poverty, to the extent that tens of millions of innocent children in this nation suffer from its devastating effects.
Furthermore, since this inequitable political-economic system of government functions by a money-driven, partisan political contest for sovereign presidential power and congressional dominance, the people are repeatedly divided and polarized by a foolish and juvenile partisan rivalry for the throne and chambers of political power. The wealthy and powerful from the right and the left fight among themselves to maintain and even gain more wealth and more power, soliciting support not only from their wealthy peers but from the average people who generate that wealth and power but cannot sufficiently benefit from it themselves. Thus the wealthy few keep the people divided and weak, unable to stand united because they are misled and pulled in opposite directions.
Therefore, in the name and by the authority of the good people of this nation, it is now solemnly declared that We the People shall:
1) Take all peaceful, legal political action necessary to convince legislators in the federal and state governments that they must call for and convene an Article 5 Constitutional Convention, with this Declaration as an action item agenda;
2) Revise, alter, amend, update and improve the U.S. Constitution utilizing provisions in Article 5 to put an end to partisan politics and the money-driven, winner-take-all competition for the presidential throne and control of Congress;
3) Put an end to the presidential form of monarchy, so that executive power shall no longer be held by a chief executive but instead be better used by an executive council of equals, to be nominated and elected directly by citizen voters trusted to make informed, intelligent choices;
4) Provide all the people of voting age with free choice and equal opportunity to choose, nominate and elect, by signed secret write-in, mail-in ballot,* an executive council of six men and six women who will replace the chief executive and serve to represent us in administering the executive branch of our government;
5) Ensure that the executive council shall have equal voice and equal decision-making power, but may choose a peer facilitator and spokesperson if they choose; that their decisions shall be by consensus or by two thirds majority vote when not unanimous, and that all council members will be at all times available to hold meetings through electronic conferences wherever they may be in the world;
6) Establish a new and reasonable electoral method for the election of members of Congress to eliminate primary elections and put an end to partisan political attacks; require candidates to simply express their personal views and opinions as respectful peers and clearly explain how they intend to be public servants and real representatives of all the people they are supposed to represent;
7) Ensure that the same or similar electoral process and system will be used for the election of state governors and state legislators, and for city mayors and city councils;
8) Prevent the rule of money by ensuring that political advocacy during the campaign and electoral process shall be confined to brief, positive, free public service messages and/or voters' pamphlets provided by each state, and that the official advocacy period shall be no longer than three months prior to elections;
9) Allow political endorsements to be made in non-commercial, free forums by advocates recommending candidates, but ensure that regardless of such endorsements the people shall have free choice to name and nominate by write-in ballot whoever they want to represent them, and that the six men and six women who receive the most votes and accept the call to serve shall be elected to the executive council;
10) Prevent the rule of money by also ensuring that there shall be no paid commercial political advertisements, and put safeguards in place to prevent wealthy individuals or wealthy interest groups from being able to use money or any other sort of means to influence the political advocacy process, the electoral process, the legislative process, or the judicial process;
11) Prohibit lobbying and all other efforts by special interest groups to influence or bribe political candidates, political leaders, legislators, law makers, policy makers or the judiciary;
12 Ensure that all congressional representatives of the people keep in touch with their constituents by holding regular local "town hall" meetings and other events during which constituents may ask questions and offer suggestions;
13) Ensure that our government protects our religious freedom, prevents theocratic imposition by any religion or religious group, builds a solid Jeffersonian wall of separation between government and religion, and ensures that government respects all legitimate religions;
14) Address environmental problems by eliminating carbon emissions and enabling non-polluting energy industries to replace the fossil fuel industry as soon as is reasonably possible, and reform the agricultural, forest products and sea food industries so that they no longer poison our water and earth, clear-cut our forests, or deplete and damage the oceans;
15) Acknowledge that the days of military empires shall end; recognize that the military might of individual nations may be reduced if we pool our military resources into the United Nations Peace Keeping Force; so that such a United Force may stop and prevent any rogue nations or any rogue groups or militias from violating International Laws and Resolutions;
16) Expand Medicare to create a non-profit National Public Health Care System covering all the people in the nation, and encourage all hospitals, health care providers and pharmaceutical companies to become non-profit parts of the system;
17) Expand Social Security Retirement Insurance so that it provides adequate retirement income to all who need it, and also provide adequate Disability Insurance income for those unable to work, so that everyone can live with financial security and no one suffers from hunger, poverty, or homelessness;
18) Provide complete public education from universal preschool-child care to college to post-graduate school, and include mandatory comprehensive parenting education in both high school and college;
19) Provide sixty days of paid parental leave so that parents may nurture and bond with newborn infants;
20) Ensure that all employers provide fair and adequate compensation for all employees' labor; establish a minimum wage sufficient for average necessary living expenses, with commonly established cost of living adjustments; and ensure provisions for fair collective bargaining and binding arbitration to settle disputes between employers and employees;
21) Ensure that all working citizens pay their fair share of taxes according to a progressive income tax; and that those in the lowest tax bracket pay no more than five percent while those in the highest bracket pay no less than sixty percent of their total income in taxes, and ensure they cannot avoid their tax liability with any tax loopholes, shelters, deductions, or any other means;
22) Ensure that all corporations, banks, financial institutions and other businesses and industries pay their fair share of taxes according to a progressive business and corporate income tax, based on income and profit margins;
23) Ensure that freedom of speech and freedom of the press shall be protected and censorship shall be prohibited, within reason, so that:
a) All information and news media shall print, publish and broadcast the essential, relevant truth and nothing but the truth when reporting the news, offer opinion only when clearly identified as such, and lose the right to operate if it is proven that they commit slander, mislead or deceive the public, or violate the public trust;
b) Journalists will fulfill their responsibilities and honor an ethical code, be truthful and unbiased, and inform the public regarding the inner workings of both the public and private sectors to keep government politicians and private corporation executives honest;
c) Investigative Journalists will more deeply investigate the operations of government, corporations, banks, lending institutions, industry and all other institutions to keep them honest and ethical, expose them whey they are not (and be free to do so); and
d) Strive to ensure that what is broadcast on the air or published on the Internet is truthful, and when wrongdoing or falsehoods are alleged, investigations by reliable, independent fact-checkers contracted by the public sector may bring charges if warranted, thus helping to stop and prevent false, slanderous and harmful claims, hateful and inciting speech, fraudulent solicitations and content, and malfeasance.
It is also solemnly declared that the government thus produced shall have full power to levy taxes fairly and equitably (according to ability to pay, without any loopholes or shelters and without any deductions for charitable donations or other contributions); provide for the common defense; keep the peace; contract alliances; regulate commerce and the economy to ensure equity, fairness and stability; promote the general welfare; provide for the health care and public education of all the people; use the common wealth to serve the common good; be good stewards of our environment; protect the environment, correct the mistakes and clean up the mess that greed, corruption and folly have created; and do all other acts and things which independent states have the right and the duty to do.
For the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we the people mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
May Nature's Universal God truly bless our nation. May it abide by the new covenant with God and finally become known in truth as the land of the free and the home of the brave, under God the Spirit of Divinity only, and may all nations in the world follow suit and be liberated.
Thanks to Article 5 in the U.S. Constitution Americans are able to legally and peacefully liberate and empower themselves. And even though the people of other nations in the world may need to take a different route on their way toward their liberation and empowerment, the message suggests that the first steps toward the liberation and empowerment of Americans are:
1) Present a vision of why there should be a reformation of both government and religion, and how we can accomplish that (which is what the message does);
2) Wage grassroots local education campaigns to expose the hypocritical forces of greed and self-interest, and to inform or remind people of what the actual intent of America's Founders and the actual intent of Jesus of Nazareth and other great spiritual teachers really were, which was to establish a peaceful, prosperous, happy, tranquil society and nation that will use the common wealth for the common good;
3) Take political action in a variety of ways, gradually, first in your circle of friends and then more widely, including but not limited to using word of mouth, email, social media, Internet discussion forums and other ways to spread the word; then utilize the petition processes to create citizen's initiatives to establish state ballot measures so that the people can officially register their desires and demands; and voice your desires and demands in town hall meetings and in peaceful public assembly in open parks and in other appropriate public spaces, obtaining permits if needed;
4) Take such political action to sufficiently inform, encourage and motivate enough people to be able to convince enough state and federal legislators of the need and inevitability of bringing about an Article 5 Constitutional Convention to adopt The 21st Century Declaration of Independence (or a revised or better version of it, if one is created and preferred).
Those steps we can take to bring about a legal and peaceful reformation of government. (A Reformation of Religion is a different and private matter, and it will probably happen very gradually as the clergy of religions get the message and realize the extent to which their teachings have failed to emphasize the Universal Divine Imperative or Golden Rule.)
If enough people join together in this effort --- which is not to exalt any individual "great leader" but instead to liberate and empower the people with government of, by and for the people --- then state and federal legislators will recognize and acknowledge the will of the people and meet our demands so that we can finally establish the kind of government we want and need.
Keep in mind that the above Declaration is a proposal, and a suggestion — a framework for a Constitutional Convention to work with, to refine, clarify and qualify according to the will of the people as may be expressed in opinion polls and in their demonstrations, citizens initiatives, and state ballot measures.
* A Note About Voting By Mail
Voting by mail with signed ballots enhances voter protection and participation, and it saves a lot of money each election cycle by eliminating polling places and poll workers. That has been proven in Oregon and Washington which are vote-by-mail states, conducting elections entirely by mail. Yet there are only a dozen other states that allow all-mail voting, and those states allow it only under certain limited circumstances. But the fact now is that voting by mail is the best, safest and most fair method, and not only for the reasons stated. It would also eliminate the voting machine fraud and corruption, as well as all the errors made by voting machines. And it would help to eliminate Jim Crow methods, voter suppression and other corrupt ways of preventing certain people from voting.
For more information, suggestions, recommendations and proposals, see the following articles:
Real Democracy Is Coming to the U.S.A.
Real Democracy vs. Plutocracy: Why America Does Not Yet Have Democracy
An Article 5 Constitutional Convention
Civil Disobedience: How It is Most Effective, And When We May Need It
The People's Campaign For Reformation