May 30, 2013

Illinois illegally seizes Bees Resistant to Monsanto’s Roundup; Kills remaining Queens

http://www.globalresearch.ca/illinois-illegally-seizes-bees-resistant-to-monsantos-roundup-kills-remaining-queens/5336210

The Illinois Ag Dept. illegally seized privately owned bees from renowned naturalist, Terrence Ingram, without providing him with a search warrant and before the court hearing on the matter, reports Prairie Advocate News.

Behind the obvious violations of his Constitutional rights is Monsanto. Ingram was researching Roundup’s effects on bees, which he’s raised for 58 years. “They ruined 15 years of my research,” he told Prairie Advocate, by stealing most of his stock.

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Ingram can prove his bees did not have foulbrood, and planned to do so at a hearing set in April, but the state seized his bees at the end of March. They have not returned them and no one at the Ag Dept. seems to know where his bees are.

The bees could have been destroyed, or they could have been turned over to Monsanto to ascertain why some of his bees are resistant to Roundup. Without the bees as evidence, Ingram simply cannot defend against the phony charges of foulbrood.

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#t=0s

May 28, 2013

NY high court eyes who can tap Starbucks' tip jars

Source: Houston Chronicle

By MICHAEL VIRTANEN, Associated Press | May 28, 2013 | Updated: May 28, 2013 4:08pm

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Starbucks is defending its tip-sharing policy with its attorney telling New York's top court that baristas and shift supervisors divide up the cash jar weekly because they essentially provide the same customer service.

Attorney Rex Heinke (HYN'-kee) says assistant store managers are excluded because they have an essentially different role and "real power" over the others.

He says Tuesday that the employer's role is to come up with "a reasonable, fair system" and the company does have authority to exclude from tip-sharing even those employees deemed eligible under state law.

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Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/NY-high-court-eyes-who-can-tap-Starbucks-tip-jars-4552087.php

May 21, 2013

Jeffrey Nugent says his brother Ted Nugent is wrong on background checks

Jeffrey Nugent says his brother Ted Nugent is wrong on background checks
By Jeffrey Nugent,May 17, 2013




Jeffrey Nugent is the former president and chief executive of Revlon.

I’m a member of the National Rifle Association and a former Army officer with assignments in the military police, artillery, and operations research and intelligence at the Pentagon.

<snip>

And I agree with Ted that our constitutional right to bear arms should not be undermined. I want all those who are qualified to purchase a gun to be able to do so. But — and here is where I part ways with my brother — not everyone is qualified to own a gun, so expanded background checks should be a legislative priority.

I believe strongly that expanding and improving mandatory background checks will keep a lot of people who aren’t entitled to Second Amendment rights from having easy access to guns. As of today, a convicted felon can find a gun show or a private seller and buy a firearm without a background check. That loophole should be closed. Every gun transaction must include a thorough background check. Why would responsible gun owners want to protect people who threaten not only our safety but our gun rights?

The NRA has it wrong: Irresponsible gun owners are bad for everyone. If you shouldn’t have access to a gun, then there should be no way for you to access a gun! Can anyone argue with that?

<snip>

The tragedy in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, and the gun violence that claims on average eight children per day in the United States, require us to think differently about what the Second Amendment really means.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-05-17/opinions/39329064_1_gun-violence-gun-rights-gun-show

May 21, 2013

Ray Manzarek, keyboardist and founding member of The Doors, dies at 74 from cancer

Ray Manzarek, a founding member of The Doors whose versatile and often haunting keyboards complimented Jim Morrison’s gloomy baritone and helped set the mood for some of rock’s most enduring songs, has died. He was 74.

Manzarek died Monday in Rosenheim, Germany, surrounded by his family, said publicist Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald. Robinson-Fitzgerald said his manager, Tom Vitorino, confirmed Manzarek died after being stricken by bile duct cancer.

The Doors’ original lineup, which also included drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robbie Krieger, was only together for a few years. But the band has retained a large and obsessive following decades after Morrison’s death, in 1971.

The Doors have sold more than 100 million records and songs such as “Light My Fire” and “Riders On the Storm” are still “classic” rock standards. For Doors admirers, the band symbolized the darker side of the Los Angeles lifestyle, what happened to the city after the sun went down and the Beach Boys fans headed home.

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Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/publicist-ray-manzarek-founding-member-of-the-doors-dies-at-74-from-cancer/2013/05/20/2dec0d86-c193-11e2-9aa6-fc21ae807a8a_story.html

May 7, 2013

Rate Of U.S. Gun Violence Has Fallen Since 1993, Study Says

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/05/07/181998015/rate-of-u-s-gun-violence-has-fallen-since-1993-study-says



<snip>

"Firearm-related homicides dropped from 18,253 homicides in 1993 to 11,101 in 2011," according to a report by the federal , "and nonfatal firearm crimes dropped from 1.5 million victimizations in 1993 to 467,300 in 2011.

There were seven gun homicides per 100,000 people in 1993, the says, which dropped to 3.6 gun deaths in 2010. The study relied in part on data from the .

"Compared with 1993, the peak of U.S. gun homicides, the firearm homicide rate was 49 percent lower in 2010, and there were fewer deaths, even though the nation's population grew," according to the Pew study. "The victimization rate for other violent crimes with a firearm—assaults, robberies and sex crimes—was 75 percent lower in 2011 than in 1993."


<snip>

The U.S. gun crime rate peaked in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Pew study says, ending years of growth in gun violence that began in the 1960s. But the rate of suicides committed using a firearm hasn't fallen as fast, they add, noting that 6 out of every 10 gun deaths in America stems from suicide.