Monday, June 3, 2013
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Are We At A Solar Maximum & What Are we Doing to Prepare for Solar Events?
Traitor California lawmakers OK a dozen gun-control measures
SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers Wednesday advanced a dozen gun-control measures, including background checks for ammunition buyers, and gave early approval to a tax penalty on the Boy Scouts for barring openly gay leaders.
Legislators also voted for a new $75 charge on real estate transactions to pay for affordable-housing projects.
Mass shootings such as the one in Newtown, Conn., in December spurred Democratic lawmakers to look for ways to tighten California’s gun laws, already some of the toughest in the nation.
“We all can recite the horrific acts that have occurred in our country over the last year,” said Senate President Pro TemDarrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento). “These bills attempt to respond to those well-publicized tragedies and many more that go unpublicized.”
Californians who want to buy ammunition would have to submit personal information and a $50 fee for a background check by the state, under a bill passed by the Senate. The state Department of Justice would determine whether buyers have a criminal record, severe mental illness or a restraining order that would disqualify them from owning guns.
Ammo shops would check the name on buyers’ driver’s licenses against a state list of qualified purchasers.
The goal of the bill is “to ensure that criminals and other dangerous individuals cannot purchase ammunition in the state of California,” said Sen. Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles), author of SB 53.
The vote was 22-14, with a few Democrats joining the Republican minority in opposition.
Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber) said, “We are criminalizing legal, historic behavior in the state of California and putting onerous burdens and regulations and requirements on law-abiding citizens.”
The Senate also OK’d a bill that would outlaw the sale, purchase and manufacture in California of semiautomatic rifles that can accommodate detachable magazines. The measure, SB 374 by Steinberg, also would require those who own such weapons to register them with the state.
The Assembly joined the action on guns by passing a measure to require the state Department of Justice to notify local law enforcement agencies when someone buys more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition. The bill would also ban kits that convert magazines to carry more than 10 rounds and would extend a ban on gun ownership for anyone who conveys a serious threat of violence to a licensed psychotherapist.
Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), who authored the bill, AB 48, said mass shooters often “have a mental health history.”
The legislation approved in the Assembly on Wednesday now goes to the Senate and vice versa.
Senators on Wednesday voted to strip tax-exempt status from nonprofit groups, including the Boy Scouts of America, that deny participation based on sexual orientation or religion.
Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) said he was glad the Boy Scouts’ national council recently decided to allow openly gay minors to serve as scouts. But he said it was unacceptable that the organization did not also lift its ban on gays serving as adult leaders.
“We’ve given the Boy Scouts ample time to solve their discrimination problem, and they have chosen a path that still leads to discrimination,” Lara told his colleagues.
Some Republicans voted against the bill, SB 323, which would eliminate nonprofit youth groups’ exemption from state sales, use and corporate taxes if the organizations discriminate based on sexual orientation.
Boy Scouts spokesman Deron Smith said the organization remains committed to serving the 180,000 scouts in California.
“Today, more than ever, youth need the character and leadership programs of scouting,” he said in an email after the vote. “We are disappointed with anything that impacts our ability to serve more youth.”
Republicans also opposed a bill that would impose the $75 charge on the recording of many real estate documents. Sen. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) said his bill, SB 391, would raise up to $720 million annually to replace money lost for affordable housing when redevelopment projects were disbanded.
Sen. Joel Anderson (R-San Diego) voted against it, saying the bill would hurt the working-class people it is intended to help.
Other bills approved in one house Wednesday would:
• Allow those who may be in the country illegally to obtain a California driver’s license if they can provide documents to establish their identity and residency in the state.
Require the state to develop restrictions on an oil production technique called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
• Shift $600 million in bond authority from a little-used home loan service for military veterans to other programs that could help provide them with affordable housing and counseling services.
Mass shootings such as the one in Newtown, Conn., in December spurred Democratic lawmakers to look for ways to tighten California’s gun laws, already some of the toughest in the nation.
“We all can recite the horrific acts that have occurred in our country over the last year,” said Senate President Pro TemDarrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento). “These bills attempt to respond to those well-publicized tragedies and many more that go unpublicized.”
Californians who want to buy ammunition would have to submit personal information and a $50 fee for a background check by the state, under a bill passed by the Senate. The state Department of Justice would determine whether buyers have a criminal record, severe mental illness or a restraining order that would disqualify them from owning guns.
Ammo shops would check the name on buyers’ driver’s licenses against a state list of qualified purchasers.
The goal of the bill is “to ensure that criminals and other dangerous individuals cannot purchase ammunition in the state of California,” said Sen. Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles), author of SB 53.
The vote was 22-14, with a few Democrats joining the Republican minority in opposition.
Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber) said, “We are criminalizing legal, historic behavior in the state of California and putting onerous burdens and regulations and requirements on law-abiding citizens.”
The Senate also OK’d a bill that would outlaw the sale, purchase and manufacture in California of semiautomatic rifles that can accommodate detachable magazines. The measure, SB 374 by Steinberg, also would require those who own such weapons to register them with the state.
The Assembly joined the action on guns by passing a measure to require the state Department of Justice to notify local law enforcement agencies when someone buys more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition. The bill would also ban kits that convert magazines to carry more than 10 rounds and would extend a ban on gun ownership for anyone who conveys a serious threat of violence to a licensed psychotherapist.
Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), who authored the bill, AB 48, said mass shooters often “have a mental health history.”
The legislation approved in the Assembly on Wednesday now goes to the Senate and vice versa.
Senators on Wednesday voted to strip tax-exempt status from nonprofit groups, including the Boy Scouts of America, that deny participation based on sexual orientation or religion.
Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) said he was glad the Boy Scouts’ national council recently decided to allow openly gay minors to serve as scouts. But he said it was unacceptable that the organization did not also lift its ban on gays serving as adult leaders.
“We’ve given the Boy Scouts ample time to solve their discrimination problem, and they have chosen a path that still leads to discrimination,” Lara told his colleagues.
Some Republicans voted against the bill, SB 323, which would eliminate nonprofit youth groups’ exemption from state sales, use and corporate taxes if the organizations discriminate based on sexual orientation.
Boy Scouts spokesman Deron Smith said the organization remains committed to serving the 180,000 scouts in California.
“Today, more than ever, youth need the character and leadership programs of scouting,” he said in an email after the vote. “We are disappointed with anything that impacts our ability to serve more youth.”
Republicans also opposed a bill that would impose the $75 charge on the recording of many real estate documents. Sen. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) said his bill, SB 391, would raise up to $720 million annually to replace money lost for affordable housing when redevelopment projects were disbanded.
Sen. Joel Anderson (R-San Diego) voted against it, saying the bill would hurt the working-class people it is intended to help.
Other bills approved in one house Wednesday would:
• Allow those who may be in the country illegally to obtain a California driver’s license if they can provide documents to establish their identity and residency in the state.
Require the state to develop restrictions on an oil production technique called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
• Shift $600 million in bond authority from a little-used home loan service for military veterans to other programs that could help provide them with affordable housing and counseling services.
6 Baffling Discoveries That Science Can’t Explain
#6 - The Voynich Manuscript
The Voynich manuscript is an ancient book that has thwarted all attempts at deciphering its contents. You may jump in and think this was just a series of scribbles thrown together for someone to figure out, but it’s not. It’s actually a well organized book with a consistent script, discernible organization and detailed illustrations.
It appears to be a real language–just one that nobody has seen before. And it really does appear to mean something. But nobody knows what.
Translation: “…and when you get her to put the tennis racket in her mouth, have her stand in a fountain for a while. Then draw pictures of her.”
As you can imagine, proposed solutions have been all over the map. Some believe it is an unbreakable code that requires a key to solve while others suggest it is simply a hoax. Others believe it’s glossolalia, which is the fine art of speaking or writing something you don’t understand but that is being channeled to you by God or some other higher presence.
#5. The Antikythera Mechanism
No one has been able to figure out what it is to this point as no one can agree on where the Antikythera mechanism was made or who designed it. Popular belief was that it was made by the Greeks due to its instructions all being in Greek (about a million of our tax dollars were probably spent arriving at that genius conclusion) but serious research published in serious places suggested the design came from Sicily.
The mechanism, aside from placing you at serious risk
for severing a finger, was supposedly used to figure out astronomical
positions. The problem with that is that at the time this thing was
made, no one had yet discovered laws of gravity or how heavenly bodies
moved.
In other words, the Antikythera mechanism appears to have functions
that no one alive at that time would have understood, and no single
mechanical purpose of that era (such as navigating ships) explains the
crazy number of functions and settings this machine has.#4. The Baigong Pipes
So what’s the big deal? Well, archaeologists have
dated the pipes to a time when people were still trying to figure out
how to cook meat without setting their back-hair on fire, let alone
casting iron.
Oddly, the pipes are clean of debris despite being older than Zeus.
This suggests that they were not simply shoved into the ground for the
hell of it, but actually used for something. Oh, and did we mention the
mountain is completely inhospitable to human life?Some believe the Baigong Pipes to be an ancient astronomy lab or even spacecraft launching site left by extraterrestrials. This is possible, since the pipes contain a proportion of silica close to what occurs on Mars. Of course, the manhole cover outside your house does also, so this cannot be confirmed as truth. Whatever these pipes are and what their purpose was, they may very well have links to ancient alien theories which as we know some are faulty but many hold some fascinating truth.
#3. The Giant Stone Balls of Costa Rica
Costa Rica and a few surrounding areas are scattered with giant stone
balls. They are smooth and perfectly spherical, or nearly so. Some of
them are quite small, a few inches in diameter, but some of them are as
large as eight feet in diameter weighing several tons. They have been
chiseled to perfection by persons unknown.Some of the balls have been blasted apart by locals hoping to find gold, coffee beans, or even babies. Some have been rolled around, but some are too heavy to move even with a bulldozer. About the most useful information anyone has gotten is that there are not, under any circumstance, any quarries anywhere near the balls. However this information is actually useless considering the balls are carved from volcanic rock.
#2. The Baghdad Batteries
The Baghdad Batteries are a series of artifacts found in the area of
Mesopotamia dating from the early centuries AD. When archaeologists
stumbled upon the batteries, they assumed they were just regular old
clay pots for storage, but that theory quickly went out the window since
they each contain a copper rod that shows evidence of acid corrosion.
This means that the pots probably contained a liquid that would
interact with the copper and produce an electrical charge. If true, they
predate the first known modern battery by hundreds of years.Some stone reliefs called the “Dendera light” depict what some believe to be electrical arc lights, which would require something like the Baghdad Batteries to power. More reasonable types say the batteries may have been used to electroplate items with gold. Others say medicine men could have used the batteries to shock people.
#1. The Bloop
In 1997 that year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration recorded a strange sound in the ocean. Strange and LOUD.
So loud that it was picked up by two separate microphones 3,000 miles
apart. The sound, dubbed “The Bloop,” doesn’t sound like anything at
normal speed. However, the NOAA did us the favor of speeding up the
recording to 16 times the normal speed, causing it to sound like
something dropping into a toilet…. Bloop! Except much louder of course.Scientists determined that its wave pattern indicates it was made by an animal. The reason this is so difficult to place is because there is no animal big enough or loud enough to make that kind of noise, not by a long shot. This leaves them at a loss for words when it comes to the sound they are unable to place to anything we know that exists today. Check out the sound for yourself BLOOP
Just a taste of many baffling finds that we are not sure about even with the technology we have access to today. There are many fascinating mysteries to this world!
Source:
www.cracked.com/article_16871_6-insane-discoveries-that-science-cant-explain.html/
Dictator Obama to Sign U.N. Firearms Treaty Rejected by Senate
President Barack Obama will soon sign an international arms trade treaty previously rejected by the United States Senate.
The United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) establishes regulations for international arms sales. Categories of firearms listed in the treaty includes tanks, artillery, and small arms such as handguns. The U.N. General Assemblypassed the treaty on April 2nd with a vote of 153-4, with the United States voting in favor. Obama intends to sign the treaty on June 3rd.
On March 23rd, Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.) introduced an amendment to prevent the U.S. from entering into the treaty. It passed by a vote of 53 to 46.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced another amendmentto ensure “that the United States will not negotiate or support treaties that violate Americans’ Second Amendment rights under the Constitution of the United States.” This amendment passed in the Senate by a voice vote.
Signatories of the treaty are encouraged to keep records on the recipients of imported arms and to introduce domestic legislation to support the treaty’s requirements, according to the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action.
Due to the Senate’s response to the treaty, Obama’s signature will be symbolic at best. According to Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution, the President “shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur.”
The United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) establishes regulations for international arms sales. Categories of firearms listed in the treaty includes tanks, artillery, and small arms such as handguns. The U.N. General Assemblypassed the treaty on April 2nd with a vote of 153-4, with the United States voting in favor. Obama intends to sign the treaty on June 3rd.
On March 23rd, Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.) introduced an amendment to prevent the U.S. from entering into the treaty. It passed by a vote of 53 to 46.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced another amendmentto ensure “that the United States will not negotiate or support treaties that violate Americans’ Second Amendment rights under the Constitution of the United States.” This amendment passed in the Senate by a voice vote.
Due to the Senate’s response to the treaty, Obama’s signature will be symbolic at best. According to Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution, the President “shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur.”
Quote De Jour
"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the
organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in
democratic society." - Edward Bernays, "father"of modern public
relations (PR), on government propaganda
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)