It's official--helping the homeless is illegal

[70/30]

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1459374/01032003/audioslave.jhtml

SANTA MONICA, California — Axis of Justice, the activist organization founded by Tom Morello and Serj Tankian, handed out food to dozens of homeless people Friday in defiance of a new city ordinance.

The Audioslave guitarist and System of a Down singer also took part in a protest march and spoke at a press conference held by the National Lawyers Guild, which filed a lawsuit hours earlier against the city of Santa Monica challenging a new ordinance that places severe restrictions on food distribution programs.

"When Axis of Justice first heard of this law, we said the first day it goes into effect, lunch is on us," Morello said during a break from distributing sack lunches to homeless people in a park near Santa Monica Pier. "We'll continue to do it in defiance of the law. I'm not worried police are going to show up and arrest us, I'm worried homeless people are going to be hungry tonight."

The ordinance being contested, passed by the city council in October, requires charitable groups to abide by restaurant codes when handing out food in public places.

"We would have to have sinks and refrigerators and ovens set up in the park to legally hand out lunches like we did today," explained James Lafferty, director of the National Lawyers Guild. "The rules are impossible to follow for organizations that don't make a profit."

Those opposed to the ordinance believe it was constructed as a way to drive the homeless out of Santa Monica.

"I don't understand. The homeless have never been a problem," Tankian said. "Businesses want the homeless out of the way because it doesn't look good. This is Los Angeles — it has to look good. In reality, it's not stopping business. Their sales are at record highs. It doesn't matter. The truth of the matter is it's going to leave these people starving."

 

[REDWAVE]

When a gang of murderous usurpers holds power, the only proper place for a person of conscience is behind bars.

 

[70/30]

I'd be in full agreement if GWB had his druthers on this issue...

Smog not beneficial, EPA concludes http://www.agrnews.org/issues/209/environment.html

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has rejected an argument that ground level ozone, or smog, provides protection from harmful ultraviolet radiation, and should therefore be considered beneficial to humans.
A final decision published by the EPA on Jan. 6 (2003) found a lack of scientific support for industry claims that ground level ozone is beneficial, and states that it would be inappropriate to weaken existing smog standards. The finding came in the EPA’s response to a May 1999 court ordered remand in the lawsuit American Trucking v. USEPA, a case in which industry launched a multi-pronged challenge to the 1997 national air quality standards for ozone.
"These industry claims are nonsense," said John Kirkwood, president and CEO of the American Lung Association, "Ozone is a toxic gas that is like getting a sunburn on your lungs. How can this possibly be beneficial? We applaud the EPA for rejecting this pseudo-science argument." (ENS)

 

[Ham Murabi]

When a gang of murderous usurpers holds power, the only proper place for a person of conscience is behind bars.

Redrave, I'll come visit you — NOT!

 

[Ham Murabi]

70/30, what I really think this is all about is the regulatory bureaucracy running amok.
But that's just my opinion.

 

[70/30]

Here's a good one---I guess he was charged for the flight

Man released from Guantanamo describes year-long imprisonment
http://www.agrnews.org/issues/209/worldnews.html#man

Jan. 3— Mohammed Sanghir, a missionary preacher with the Tablighi Jamaat, a non-political organization for the propagation of Islam with several million adherents around the world, returned to his village in Pakistan last November after more than a year’s imprisonment in the US base at Guantánamo in Cuba.

They shaved my head, my beard and my moustache, put a blindfold over my eyes and put me in a tent where I waited for two or three hours with some other people.

"Before they shaved us, an American woman who spoke a little Urdu said: ‘We’re taking you to a place where you’ll have better facilities and you’ll be more comfortable’."

The soldiers, he says, completely ignored his attempts to save his beard, which has religious significance. "I protested physically, but they weren’t having any of it and they just said, ‘It’s not allowed’."

For the 22-hour flight to Cuba, Sanghir was tied to his seat, gagged, blindfolded, and had earplugs in his ears.

"A woman gave us apples twice, and some bread and water," he recalls. The arrival at the Guantánamo base was rough. "While we still had our hands tied behind our backs and our eyes blindfolded, I was thrown outside and beaten by some soldiers," Sanghir says.

He was to spend the next three and a half months, dressed in red overalls, in a cage open to the winds, "to the millions of mosquitoes and to the heat," and without even a minute’s privacy.

"We were like animals. If we were men, why put us in a cage? In the beginning, they didn’t let us pray or speak to each other, but after two days of hunger strike a superior officer came, allowed us to pray and gave us half an hour for lunch.

"Twice a week they took us out to walk, and they gave us a clean uniform once a week," Sanghir said, adding that a doctor was always on hand. After three and a half months, he was transferred to a new, more comfortable cage, with running water and a bathroom in the corner.

Over the ten months he spent at Guantánamo, Sanghir was interrogated around 20 times.

"The questions were always the same, just presented in different ways. First, they showed me photographs of members of al-Qaida to find out if I knew them; then they asked me if there were any al-Qaida members around me; they wanted to know if I’d met bin Laden and if I’d be able to recognize him. The photos were of people who looked like Afghans or Arabs."

Sanghir maintains he did not recognize anyone. The only people whom he saw at Guantánamo -- "once, during a move" -- were Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the ex-Taliban ambassador to Pakistan handed over to the US by Islamabad, "who looked very weak"; Khairallah Kwaiwa, ex-governor of Herat, arrested in Chaman on the Afghan-Pakistan border; Mullah Fazl, ex-commander of Kunduz; and another commander, Mullah Abdel Raouf.

"One day, a new general came and said to me, ‘You’re going to have some good news next week’," Mohammed said, recalling his release. He is still shocked that not one US official expressed even the slightest remorse at the year he had lost and the humiliation he had suffered.

"They just said, ‘You are innocent’. No one apologized."

Sanghir plans to claim damages from the US. "At Guantánamo, the soldiers told me I would get $400 for each month’s detention, but I only got $100 when I arrived in Islamabad."

Sanghir makes his living using a machine for cutting wood, highly prized in this isolated and mountainous region. "For a year, my family had to borrow in order to survive, and now, how am I going to repay the money?" he asks, indicating that his machine has rusted from lack of maintenance.

"What can I do against the United States? It is a great power," he says, resignedly, when asked how he feels about the Americans.

Source: Index on Censorship

 

[modest mouse]

FYI: If it happens in California, the rest of the country doesn't care.

 

[Azwed]

FYI: If it happens in California, the rest of the country doesn't care.

Unless it is related to vehicles in some way.

 

[modest mouse]

Unless it is related to vehicles in some way.

Ok, an exception has been granted for Azwed. If it pertains to vehicles or hot chicks (I'm adding the hot chicks thing on my own), then the rest of the country can be informed.

 

[REDWAVE]

Guantanamo Gulag

In the history of infamy, the U.S. government's notorious gulag at Guantanamo Bay will occupy a prominent place.

 

[Ham Murabi]

Re: Guantanamo Gulag

In the history of infamy, the U.S. government's notorious gulag at Guantanamo Bay will occupy a prominent place.

In the history of overstatement, Redrav … oh, never mind.

 

[busybody..]

Ham

70/30, what I really think this is all about is the regulatory bureaucracy running amok.
But that's just my opinion.

Actually I can see some "lawyer" suing the Govt if a "homeless" person were givin food on the streets.......and became "sick" from it......

Wanna bet the Gummit would be sued up the ying yang for permitting unsanitary conditions???????

Only the rich have their food sources protected! Blah Blah Blah.........

Cant you see it?

 

[modest mouse]

Hey look, all the crazies are here.

 

[70/30]

Draw your own conclusion--for us or CORPs?

And the EPA is the liberal arm...

Report Documents Steep Decline in Environmental Enforcement
http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/1181/1/85/

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) appears to be relaxing its enforcement efforts, with civil penalties declining by half over the Bush administration’s first full fiscal year, according to a new report by the Rockefeller Family Fund's Environmental Integrity Project.

In FY02 -- Oct. 1, 2001 through Sept. 30, 2002 -- EPA recovered only $51 million in civil penalties, compared to $140 million in FY99, $85 million in FY00, and $95 million in FY01. Two-thirds of the civil penalties collected in FY01 -- the last eight months of which were presided over by President Bush -- were a result of complaints lodged during the Clinton administration, according to EIP's analysis of EPA documents.

EPA frequently will reduce penalties for companies that carry out "Supplemental Environmental Projects" (SEPs) designed to benefit local communities -- such as financing the purchase of wetlands or green space -- which could account for a reduction in civil penalties. However, as noted by EIP, the value of SEPs also fell during the first fiscal year of the Bush administration -- from an average of $111 million per year for the past three fiscal years (FY99-FY01) to only about $44 million in FY02.

EIP's report lists the companies that were fined and the amount of civil penalties they paid EPA for FY99-FY02, excluding superfund cases. EIP is headed by Eric Schaeffer, who resigned in March as director of EPA’s Office of Regulatory Enforcement to protest the Bush administration's weakening of environmental enforcement.

 

[Azwed]

Ok, an exception has been granted for Azwed. If it pertains to vehicles or hot chicks (I'm adding the hot chicks thing on my own), then the rest of the country can be informed.

Amendmant noted and added.

 

[70/30]

Here ya go, AZ---just 9 years to go...

Bush administration backs pollution-free automobile initiative

http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/airenergy_vehicles.asp#287

January 09, 2002: Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced the Freedom Car partnership between the federal government and U.S. automakers to create a fuel-cell-powered vehicle. It will take at least 10 years for fuel-cell vehicles to hit the mass market. The U.S. will spend an unspecified amount to fund long-term research on vehicles powered by hydrogen and oxygen that emit only water vapor.

Even though environmentalists strongly support the use of this cleaner technology, many are concerned that the administration is using a publicity stunt to scuttle Congressional action on stricter fuel-economy laws.

"The Freedom Car is pointed in the right direction, but by itself it's going nowhere. Americans will buy 150 million vehicles during the next decade and Freedom Car won't do anything to reduce the amount of oil they will consume," said David Hawkins, director of NRDC's Climate Center. "We can't afford another research program that just gives billions of dollars in subsidies to the automobile industry with no commitment from them to actually produce advanced vehicles for consumers to buy."

According to Hawkins, we have the technology to raise fuel economy standards now for the cars that Americans will buy in the next decade. Doing that will save billions of barrels of oil while fuel cell vehicles are being developed.

 

[Ham Murabi]

Re: Here ya go, AZ---just 9 years to go...

Bush administration backs pollution-free automobile initiative

70/30, I believe you have hijacked your own thread.

 

[70/30]

I haven't heard anything about it since---54 weeks have passed. Since he isn't likely to have a real primary opponent, he won't even be forced to give the ethanol lie to the Iowans. January is always the month to fudge the budget numbers for FY04 to the public--luckily the FY03 appropriations are still in the balance. Perfect timing for the State of the Union---maybe this time the public will be paying attention to the dissent because it is more than justified. Ill-advised slogans won't work this year---these days even CON Pundits readily admit 'The Axis of Evil' designation was a disaster.

 

[sheath]

Hey look, all the crazies are here.

Yeah, looks like tonight is going to be full of guffaws from the gallery.

I'm just going to sit back and drink my Cuervo and watch the little chickens try to peck each other's eyes out.

S.