Beware of fraudsters selling ‘God’ across East Africa’s borders
.. does Robertson wear his fake persona when he is not on the set? .. if he does he is not being himself, which doesn't strike me as being particularly honest either with himself, or with his pubic, oops, public .. Gingrich's equating Robertson with Pope Francis is invalid as the Pope is the Pope, and Robertson is a tv phenomenon .. as sick as his vile anti-gay message is, as well his saying men should marry 15 year olds is a disgrace .. we all know selling God has been big business for a long time, and the religions will always be striving to maintain and gain market share .. imo, Phil Robertson is a pompous prick
By Isaac Mwangi
Posted Friday, December 6 2013 at 14:58
The December holidays are here again, and so are religious fraudsters. East African citizens are well warned to keep a close watch on their wallets.
But these are no ordinary pickpockets. They are worse, because they prey on the vulnerable and gullible nature of our people. I am talking of the “Men of God” who will be extremely busy selling Jesus over the next month and, in the process, getting a handsome earthly reward for it.
We see them on television every day. They continuously hold huge religious rallies, attracting multitudes from far and wide. They will sell what they call “holy anointing oil”, “holy water”, or anything their fertile imagination fancies to masses of brainwashed Christians.
It is a measure of their evil genius that so many people believe them at all, including highly educated and powerful people.
With the regional integration agenda well on track, it is unfortunate that these are some of the people who will stand to benefit the most. They can now open branches of their “miracle and healing” misadventures right across the region.
The question is, can this blatant exploitation of our people be stopped, and how?
Freedom of worship must certainly be respected and upheld throughout the region. This freedom, of course, includes also the freedom for one to be willingly persuaded to spiritual bondage of whatever sort — any practice and perspective that is exploitative and to one’s disadvantage.
In fact, a person in bondage will fight anyone who suggests that this is the case and proposes freedom. They will point out that they are giving their tithes, first fruits and other offerings willingly and without coercion.
But the fact remains that they are in bondage, for all those things are performed out of fear that not doing so would attract some sort of divine wrath and punishment.
That actually paints their god as extremely petty and vengeful. But if they do serve a good God as they claim, then there is obviously a gross misunderstanding of his nature and what really pleases him.
Imprisoned by religious liars
The best that those who have not been imprisoned by these religious liars in our midst can do is to seek to influence our more gullible brothers and sisters. That takes patience, but also sometimes proactive measures, to counter the claims of false apostles.
It will also take resources, because religion is big business and can afford extensive advertising and publicity.
But our governments can go a step further. There is no reason why religious institutions should not be taxed. Religion is a private matter, but anyone making money out of it should be taxed like everyone else.
That may sound quite radical and even ungodly to many people. But God is about faith, not materialism. When the latter comes into the picture, the government must get its share – even if only to take care of the children of those deceived folks who would have given out all their possessions.
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When it comes to putting up their structures and investments, religious organisations are treated with kid gloves. Everyone believes that whatever is being done is for the good of all.
They will therefore be allocated free government land, import goods without paying duty, and be exempted from a whole host of regulations. That needs to stop. The common space must be made equal to all and faith treated as a private matter.
Escape scrutiny and censure
It must also be recognised that religious institutions are some of the wealthiest and most corrupt in the land but they escape scrutiny and censure on the basis of claims to be serving God.
The Catholic Church, for instance, is one of the major landowners; in Kenya, it has been fingered as a prime beneficiary of irregularly acquired land. In any event, it did not buy a large chunk of the land on which it has built most of its churches, hospitals and other institutions.
It is time all investors were treated the same regardless of their faith: If you give free land to one faith on claims that the adherents want to put up a school, then I have every reason to also claim similar privileges for the few who may have a faith like mine.
As we proceed with integration, we are well aware of the dangers posed by all kinds of criminals who may seek to extend their activities across borders. These criminals include this growing number of lethal but little-talked-about group of conmen in the name of institutional religious leaders.
Isaac Mwangi is a journalist with the East African News Agency.
.. for sure, the religion industry should be taxed as any other business is .. they should be taxed on all profits, and on all property holdings .. as it is their ancillary profit making activities such as home renovation, being untaxed they are given an advantage over others .. over others even who are Christian, too .. what is the rationalization for that?
Glen Burnie man accused of making explosives had potential for 'destruction and terror'
Police say disaster was averted in arrest of Todd Wheeler Jr.
By Pamela Wood, The Baltimore Sun 7:55 p.m. EST, January 7, 2014
Along with chemicals, fuses, guns and bomb-making materials, police say Todd Dwight Wheeler Jr. had how-to manuals in his Glen Burnie home with titles such as "Boobytraps," "Deadly Brew," "Highly Explosive Pyrotechnic Compositions" and "The Poor Man's James Bond."
Anne Arundel County police and fire officials said Tuesday that they still don't know why Wheeler, 28, was allegedly making bombs in his house on Edgerly Road. But they believe responders averted a potential disaster when they seized more than 100 pounds of chemicals and bomb-making materials and arrested him.
"Whatever his intentions were, the investigation prevented that from happening and prevented people from being injured," said Capt. Robert Howarth, lead fire investigator in the case, during a news conference at the county Fire Department headquarters in Millersville.
Officials displayed evidence including glass jars labeled "ammonium chloride," "potassium chlorate" and "sulfur." Investigators said that since last Thursday, they had also seized several handguns and rifles from the home.
Howarth said had the materials exploded, the blast radius could have stretched 50 yards.
"He was making bombs, and he was making explosives," he said.
Wheeler "had the capability of causing destruction and terror in our county," said Anne Arundel County Executive Laura Neuman.
Wheeler was charged with two counts of making explosives, two counts of possessing explosive materials and one count of reckless endangerment. Officials said more charges are likely. He has been held at the Jennifer Road Detention Center in Annapolis since Thursday on $400,000 bail. Police announced his arrest Friday and described their investigation at Tuesday's news conference.
Investigators said they were tipped off to possible criminal activity on New Year's Day, when one of Wheeler's relatives, who lives on Oakdale Circle in Millersville, called 911 reporting a suicidal person. Paramedics found Wheeler at the home suffering from injuries caused by "chemical or mechanical reactions" and took him to Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie.
Officials did not describe Wheeler's injuries in detail, but indicated he had burns to one of his limbs that paramedics determined could have come from a blast.
Chief Kevin Davis of Anne Arundel police said as first responders talked with Wheeler, they "became suspicious of his story, suspicious of his injuries and suspicious of his distinct chemical odor."
Police found some chemicals at the Millersville residence, and fire investigators secured a warrant for Wheeler's home in the Harundale neighborhood. They began searching the home Thursday with the help of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and a bomb squad from Annapolis.
Fire investigators charged Wheeler after finding two homemade explosives in his home — even as the search of his house continued through Friday night. In charging documents, investigators described one device as a 37 mm round modified with explosives and another as a cardboard tube packed with explosive material and a fuse.
Anne Arundel Fire Chief Michael Cox said police, fire and federal agents worked together "to prevent a domestic terror incident from occurring in our community."
Davis specifically noted the work of responding officers Cpl. Doyle Holquist, Cpl. Mark Gass and Sgt. Rob Price, along with police operator Amanda Marchio and 911 operator Mary McCormick.
Police said the house is now safe, and they're still working to piece together a possible motive. They said Wheeler is not cooperating in investigators.
Wheeler's previous legal issues include a number of traffic citations. He has a court date this month for driving without a license, according to online records. He also pleaded guilty last year to charges including speeding and driving without proper tags. He was fined $300. In 2012, he pleaded guilty to driving while impaired by drugs and was sentenced to a one-year suspended sentence, according to online records.
A Facebook page that fire officials say belongs to Wheeler shows pictures of him and cars, and indicates he attended Broadneck High School.
Robert Mosier, a spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Public School System, said Wheeler attended one month of ninth grade at Broadneck in 2001. The school system has no records of Wheeler since then, he said.
Police declined to discuss details of the evidence and said much of it is still being analyzed.
Wheeler will have a preliminary hearing Jan. 29 in District Court in Annapolis. Wheeler's attorney, Laura M. Robinson of Glen Burnie, declined to comment Tuesday. Police said as a result of the investigation, Wheeler was also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, with a trial scheduled for Jan. 28.
Online property records indicate that Wheeler bought the home on Edgerly Road near the North County Area Library in 2010.
Michael Jennings, president of the Harundale Oakwood Park Civic Association, said police and fire personnel did a good job uncovering the explosive materials. "We're lucky that we have those guys getting our backs," he said.
Jennings said the neighborhood is quiet, but he lamented that few neighbors get to know one another.
"You live in cocoons," he said. "When you do that, you don't know who's next door to you," he said.
Police: Suspected Glen Burnie bomb maker 'suicidal,' had materials capable of killing
Todd Dwight Wheeler Jr. Todd Dwight Wheeler Jr. has been charged with two counts of manufacturing a destructive device, two counts of possessing a destructive device and one count of reckless endangerment for allegedly building explosives in his Glen Burnie home. Courtesy photo
Explosives arrest Anne Arundel County police and fire investigators found more than 100 pounds of chemicals and devices used to make explosives, bomb-making manuals, guns and knives in Todd Dwight Wheeler Jr.’s Glen Burnie home last week. By Kate Yoon, Staff
By KATE YOON Posted: Wednesday, January 8, 2014 12:00 am | Updated: 10:31 am, Wed Jan 8, 2014
Police and fire investigators know the man charged last week with building bombs in his Glen Burnie home had the potential to harm someone.
They just aren’t sure whether Todd Dwight Wheeler Jr. wanted only to harm himself, or whether he was targeting others as well, they said Tuesday during a joint news conference in Millersville.
The more than 100 pounds of chemicals discovered in Wheeler’s home had a potential blast radius of 50 yards, capable of damaging Wheeler’s home and his neighbor’s, said Capt. Robert Howarth, lead investigator for the Anne Arundel County Fire Department.
Wheeler, whom police described as “suicidal,” is not cooperating with investigators, so his motives remains unclear. The investigation is continuing.
“What is clear is these materials were capable of maiming, injuring or killing human beings,” Fire Chief Michael Cox said. “Today is proof that our communities here in Anne Arundel County are not different than Boston, Mass., Aurora, Colo., or Newtown, Conn.”
Police are saying little about Wheeler’s background. He has a record of traffic citations and charges in Anne Arundel County and Baltimore, including driving while intoxicated, speeding and fleeing from police, according to court records. He was charged in October with driving on a revoked license.
He also was charged with intimidating a juror.
Wheeler, 28, attended Broadneck High School briefly as a ninth-grader in 2001, but school officials said there is no record he graduated from Anne Arundel County schools.
On New Year’s Day, police responded to a 911 call from a home on Oakdale Circle in Millersville for injuries Wheeler had sustained from a chemical or mechanical reaction. Fire department paramedics who took Wheeler to Baltimore Washington Medical Center suspected the injuries were from an explosion.
Police Cpl. Mark Gass, Cpl. Doyle Holquist and Sgt. Rob Price became suspicious of Wheeler’s injuries, a “distinct chemical odor” coming from his clothing and the story he told, Police Chief Kevin Davis said.
They spoke to a concerned family member and began a preliminary search of the area, Davis said.
“This call actually began just as a typical service call for the police department,” Cox said.
Wheeler is currently in Jennifer Road Detention Center near Annapolis, where county officials said he is being “evaluated.”
Evidence found in the Millersville area led them to a second residence in Glen Burnie, Cox said.
Armed with a search warrant, investigators found chemicals, fuses, igniters, flare guns, firearms, knives, packaging material and some amounts of controlled dangerous substances in Wheeler’s home on the 900 block of Edgerly Road on Thursday and Friday, he said.
They also found manuals for making explosives and booby traps, including one titled “The Poor Man’s James Bond.”
Howarth said Wheeler modified a flare launcher that could have been used with explosives.
Until lab reports return, it is too early to determine what Wheeler was doing with the devices, Howarth said.
Neighbors on Edgerly Road said they were frightened to learn of the charges. Glen Burnie High School is about a half-mile from the neighborhood.
Chinelo Ukpelegbu said her three children walk home from school every day.
“It’s kind of scary not knowing who you live close to,” she said.
Michael Worchester has lived in Glen Burnie for several months, and said he never saw Wheeler before.
“It’s crazy how it’s so close and so close to the school,” he said.
At this point, Wheeler is the only one charged, but Howarth said officials are investigating whether he acted alone.
Officials with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are working with U.S. Attorney’s Office on possible federal charges.
Massive cache of explosives, bomb manuals found in Maryland home
Maryland authorities on Tuesday showed off materials seized from the home of Todd Dwight Wheeler Jr. on New Year's Day. Anne Arundel County, Md., Fire Department
Todd Dwight Wheeler Jr. was held on two counts of manufacturing a destructive device, two counts of possessing a destructive device and one count of reckless endangerment. Anne Arundel County, Md., police
By M. Alex Johnson January 8, 2014
A Maryland man was being held on $400,000 bond Tuesday after local, state and federal authorities discovered working bombs, more than 100 pounds of bomb-making chemicals and numerous manuals for creating bombs and booby traps in his home, police said.
The man, Todd Dwight Wheeler Jr., 28, of Glen Burnie, near Baltimore, was held on two counts of making explosives, two counts of possessing explosive materials and one single count of reckless endangerment. Federal charges were pending.
Anne Arundel County police said they had no idea what Wheeler might have been planning, because he's refusing to cooperate, but "what is clear is that these materials were capable of maiming, killing or injuring human beings," Anne Arundel County Fire Chief Michael Cox said at a news conference Tuesday.
The bombs, if exploded, would have a blast radius of more than 150 feet — big enough to "have taken out the house and the surrounding houses," said fire Capt. Robert Howarth, the lead investigator.
Wheeler was arrested on New Year's Day after police were called to his address by a relative who was concerned that he might be suicidal, police said in a statement Tuesday. He appeared to have injuries consistent with those caused by a chemical reaction, they said.
The fire department and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were called in, and in the past week, they've been removing and cataloging all of the dangerous materials stashed in the suburban house, which they showed off to reporters Tuesday:
• Numerous completed bombs.
• More than 100 pounds of chemicals, including acids, fuels, oxidizers and explosives precursors.
• Glass jars labeled "ammonium chloride," sulfur" and "potassium chlorate."
• Additional components of destructive devices, including igniters and detonators.
• Instruction manuals and books detailing explosive manufacturing and booby traps, with titles like "The Poor Man's James Bond," "Booby Traps," "Deadly Brew" and "Highly Explosive Pyrotechnic Compositions."
• Miscellaneous weapons, including an automatic Ruger Mini-14 rifle, other guns and knives.
• Unspecified "controlled dangerous substances" and packaging materials.
"The potential damage to any of the homes in the vicinity the residence would have been extensive if any of the devices would have detonated," the fire department said.
Wheeler was scheduled for a preliminary hearing Jan. 29 in Anne Arundel County District Court.
Some Republicans are claiming Chris Christie isn't really one of them. Some pundits are claiming, even as scandal erupts around him, that he's a "different kind of Republican." He's more than that: He is the archetypal Republican, the incarnation of its arrogant, corporatist soul.
It's like we said a while back [ http://ourfuture.org/20120412/chris_christie_the_heartless_smug_bullying_embodiment_of_the_republican_party ]: Christie is "the heartless, smug, bullying embodiment" of his party. He and his staff reflect a world in which other people are nothing more than rubes to be manipulated and exploited, whether they're trying to escape the trap of long-term unemployment or Fort Lee during the morning rush hour.
The conventional wisdom says that Christie's not like other Republicans. Pundits say he's a "moderate," a "pragmatist," a counterbalance to the far-right ideology of the Tea Party Republicans. But no leading Republican is really moderate, including Christie. And at the end of the day they're all pragmatists, ready to do whatever it takes to serve their paymasters' agenda.
Democrats and liberals routinely express frustration and bafflement at Republican hypocrisy. "They claim to hate big government," they'll say, "but they want to expand the Defense Department. They say they want government out of our lives, then vote to control women's sex lives or manage a brain-dead woman's care from the nation's capital."
Well, yeah.
It's true that Republicans are hypocritical in word and deed. But while they may be false to an ideology, they're always true to their mission: to promote and serve the interests of big corporations and ultra-wealthy individuals. And when it comes to that agenda, all of them -- the Chris Christies as well as the Paul Ryans -- are as extremist as the political climate will permit. Whether the subject is taxation, "corporate personhood," or the future of the planet, there's no room for either moderation or ideology in the service of corporate goals.
That's why the party's few real ideologues - the Ron Pauls and Rand Pauls - frustrate the leadership so much. Unfortunately, when Republicans aren't hirelings they're usually extremists. And when party leaders complain that other Republicans aren't "moderates" or "pragmatists," what they're really saying is that they won't behave like Rep. Spencer Bachus (who famously said that the institutions of government exist "to serve the banks [ http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/13/incoming-gop-chairman-congress-exists-serve-banks/ ]"), or, like the ever-"pragmatic" Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, work with corporate-friendly Democrats to fund Defense Department boondoggles.
Why does Christie sound so much more moderate than Mitch McConnell? Because he holds his elective office in New Jersey, and McConnell holds his in Kentucky. You need the right salesman to make the sale. That's Job One. Once you've closed the deal, your objective is to shaft your customers as much as you can without losing the business altogether. That's the Republican Party's business model in a nutshell.
"Different"? Christie embodies his party perfectly. Arrogant? Check. Bullying? Check. Indifferent to the well-being of constituents? Check. He may sound like a different kind of Republican, but he governs the same way the others do.
Following the ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) agenda funded by the Koch Brothers and other big corporate interests? As the New Jersey Star-Ledger reported in 2012 [ http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/04/alec_model_bills_used_in_nj_la.html ], "At least three bills, one executive order and one agency rule accomplish the same goals set out by ALEC using the same specific policies. In eight passages contained in those documents, New Jersey initiatives and ALEC proposals line up almost word for word."
Meet the new GOP, same as the old GOP.
And say what you will about him, but Chris Christie is a hell of a salesman. He's managed to make this radical corporatist agenda look "moderate."
We're probably obliged to point out that there's no evidence Christie was personally involved in this political retribution scandal. (Those of us who remember Watergate may experience some déjà vu at this point.) What we do know is that Christie picked the people who wrote those emails, and the attitudes revealed in them reflect precisely what we've seen in Christie's own personality.
Listening to his press conference, it was easy to imagine Christie's face morphing from one famous Republican to another, the way those young people's faces did on Michael Jackson's "Black or White" video. The passive voice ("you are human and mistakes are made") and "I am not a ..." construction ("I am not a bully")? Pure Nixon. The grandiosity, paired with a refusal to accept responsibility? Pure Cheney.
Then there was the narcissistic focus on how the scandal affected him -- rather than, say, the elderly woman who died or the children who were trapped for hours in school buses. That's pretty much any leading Republican of the last 50 years.
As is so often the case in the corporate world, the GOP's culture is shockingly insensitive to the human consequences of its actions. George W. Bush "joked" about not finding weapons of mass destruction after hundreds of thousands of people died under false pretenses in Iraq. Christie joked that he was no longer in the "traffic study" business.
Theirs is a culture where people, even children, are either allies or enemies. Hence the Christie staffer's suggestion that there was no need to feel badly about the kids on those buses because they were "the children of Buono voters," referring to state Sen. Barbara Buono, Christie's gubernatorial opponent last year. The sins of the fathers ...
The truth is, there's no such thing as a "new Republican." Today's Republican Party doesn't reflect a viewpoint. It reflects a strategy -- one intended to maximize the wealth of those it serves. The pundits cheering [ http://www.balloon-juice.com/2014/01/09/good-news-for-chris-christie/ ] Christie's press conference performance, like Politico's Mark Halperin and right-winger Erick Erickson, would've applauded Nixon's "third rate burglary" defense.
The Republican Party has finally achieved spiritual death -- and Chris Christie is its face. Gaze upon it as you would the face of Ozymandias [ http://www.online-literature.com/shelley_percy/672/ ]. Then look on its works, and despair.
By Carly Paul Living in Colorado Posted: 01/08/2014 4:23 pm
First of all, right now I am not working. The last day of my last job was September 15, 2011. My disability case is in the third, and last, round of appeal and if I don't get it this time, I will be back to being the working poor again. My disability is a mental illness: I'm bipolar. I was born this way, I always was this way, and I will always be this way. I started working when I was 14 years old. By the time I got fired for the last time in 2011 and I filed for disability, I had worked my full 40 quarters. Basically, I qualify for retirement, full Social Security benefits -- not just Social Security disability.
Let me tell you a little about me. I am educated. I have a Bachelor's of science from a major university in Colorado. I have a patent pending for a product I invented. I am the antithesis of lazy, but I'm still fat as all get out. I eat very healthy and I usually exercise regularly. I have aspirations to one day have a Master's degree.
I own my own home, kind of. It's in the divorce paperwork that I get the house. But my credit is miserable... the word that comes to mind is "leper" because when I got fired from my last job I couldn't pay my bills anymore. Unemployment is a fraction of what you make, and then with my divorce happening at the same time, and going from a dual income to a single income on top of getting fired again, there was a vegan's chance in Texas that I would be able to make ends meet. As far as the house goes, I bought it by saving up all my money, living on 60 percent of what I made in about two years, and using my husband-at-the-time's credit score and my little pile of cash for the down payment and some furniture and paint. The house is now my joy and proud fortune and also my greatest anxiety. What if I don't get approved for disability, and I can't repair my credit by Dec 31, 2014 like the terms state? What if I am too far gone? Will I really be homeless this time?
During the time that I was married, with both of us working, saving up money, buying a house, we were still below average income for a married couple. As much as I've ever been able to work in my entire life, since I was 15, and qualifying for full Social Security benefits by age 29, I have only ever been able to work part time because of my mental illness. Like I said, I'm the antithesis of lazy.
I come from a pretty wealthy neighborhood in Southern California. My dad always had money, and so did my mom. But I remember having to fight for every dollar they spent on me, even as a child. I remember as young as 8 years old, if I wanted something, I had to find a way to afford it or work for it. In high school I was borrowing money from my friends to afford lunch until my next paycheck. I'll say it so you don't have to... yes, my family puts the FUN in dysfunctional. But this is where things get really weird, and you can really see the sneaky, dirty fingers of poverty take their firm grip around my throat.
Because of the nature of my illness and the dysfunction of my family, and being that I did everything I did without any help, I got a bunch of credit cards during the brief time I lived on campus. Because I was an unmedicated bipolar type 1, I spent lots of this "fake" credit card money on things that I didn't need or even want, because that's sometimes what unmedicated bipolar type 1 people do when they are manic. Within six months, I had run up about $5,000 in debt, and before that I didn't even know what a credit card was or how to get one or how they worked. Isn't a parent supposed to tell you about that stuff at some point? How does a person learn? This was before the Internet, before cell phones, but it wasn't before dinnertime, before parenting. That was the first finger of poverty around my throat.
Since there was no place to really work where I moved, and no one to really sell things to either there, I decided to move with my new best friend to a nearby city in Colorado. My car got repossessed almost as soon as I moved. I didn't know anything about that either. One day, it was just gone, and all of a sudden I was a person whose car had been repossessed. Even though I felt like I could breathe easier at the time because I was relieved that the phone calls had stopped, this was the second finger resting gently on my larynx until I tried to move; then I could really feel the pressure. If I filled out an application for an apartment, that repossession hurt my credit, and I was denied. When it came time to buy a car many years later, I was denied because of that repossession, and so on.
During the early years of my marriage and my engagement, I worked anywhere from two to three jobs simultaneously, up to 17 hours a day. An oft-overlooked perk of being bipolar is that you can stay awake for days, and since I'm not lazy, I would really rather be working than doing anything else. I would get to the YMCA to lifeguard or teach swimming lessons around 4:45 or 5 a.m., leave there between 10 a.m. and noon, get to the next job between 11 a.m. and noon and stay there until five or six, and then finish out the dinner rush and close the restaurant at the third job. During this time, my fiancé/husband was in his manbaby phase, and worked at either Sherwin Williams, Hollywood Video, or the same restaurant as me, or any combination of those up to two. For anyone who is unfamiliar with the term manbaby, this phase begins at birth and usually lasts until the age of 30 but can go on as long as the man insists. Many men actually die babies. And that's that.
The difference was that since I was working so much, he knew there would be enough to pay for all the bills and he felt very entitled to spending every last cent on as much junk food, cigarettes, and video games/movies as he could fit into our apartment. So, why didn't I say "Hey, we have more than enough money and we need to live below our means, and save for the future"? Well here is why. First of all, refer to fingers one and two. Second of all, I was still mostly a kid, with a severe mental illness, just trying to pay rent, eat food, get things. And third of all, because my marriage was ridiculous. I didn't know it at the time, but I was in survival mode. And that's the third finger. What a strong grasp it has on me now. Whether it actually strangles me to death or not, I'll never be able to get away.
During the roughly 12 rough years I was married I did accomplish loosening the grasp poverty had on me. When I say loosen, I mean that in the true sense of the word loosen, like its grip was firm but not tight. During this time I kept working my part time jobs and getting fired, one after another, and he kept working his full-time jobs and then quitting, just walking off. I didn't even know I could file for unemployment until my last job fired me! To find out that I, Carly, could get unemployment -- that I could get money and also work my ridiculous low paying jobs -- and somehow escape some of the fear and anxiety and the shame of inevitably being fired for my illness yet again... and even though the grip was firm but not tight, this was the fourth finger: The way I saw myself, and the mounting list of terminations on my resume of low paying jobs.
When I was 25 I decided I wanted to really make a difference in my life. I found something I was passionate about, and I wanted to make a difference in the lives of obese people, and those who suffered from diets. So I decided to try again at college, and I enrolled as a health science major. During my time at school, I worked at one or two jobs at a time. I was medicated for part of the time, which is I think the entire reason I was able to graduate or even make it to class. That is not to say it was a walk in the park. I still had a mental illness, it was still disabling, I could barely function. The only reason I didn't get fired from school was because I paid them in order for me to be there.
Poverty sits on top of me, like an intruder in my house that snuck into my bedroom and I can't get it off of me, and I wake up struggling to breathe. Every day. I thought things would be okay. I hoped they would be okay more than I thought they would be okay. Why would I do that? I know I'm a poor person. I know I have a disability. I know I can't keep a job. I know all of this. Why would I have thought something like getting myself into a house would be a good idea? Trying to manage my money myself? I know I can't do that! But I didn't want to ask for help, I didn't want to say I couldn't.
Well those days are long gone. Like this far: looooooooooooong gone. I have been denied disability the standard one time, like everyone else. The doctor from the Social Security administration who evaluated me sent his letter of recommendation: "She is not able to work, and cannot take care of herself. She needs immediate approval of benefits." The result? DENIED. Then on to my appeal, in front of a judge, with my lawyer. The prosecution rested their case and made their recommendation to the presiding judge: there is no way this girl can sustain gainful employment. Two weeks later, my letter came: DENIED. So now, my third and final appeal.
And the trouble I'm in is this. I need medication in order to function in any capacity, especially at work. I have a severe mental illness. I am unemployable. I cannot work more than part time, and I can't go without medication, and I have to have regular access to health care. Part time work often does not offer insurance. The places that do, I have already been fired from. I cannot follow a simple recipe for chocolate chip cookies, even while medicated without help, in my own kitchen, without the threat of being written up looming over me. Imagine how that translates to on the job performance! I am sure there is something in the Affordable Care Act for me, but I wonder how "affordable" this Obamacare really is, considering the amount of money I will really be making working a low wage with part-time hours.
This is how I came to be in poverty's grip. It was not overnight, and it was not all because of me, and not all because a system that failed me, and not all because of a dysfunctional family, and not all because of overblown capitalism, and not all because of any one thing. It was a very unfortunate combination of things, mostly unfortunate because of the constant suffocation and confusion. And I'm sure it's that way for every single person who wakes up every morning with poverty choking them in their beds while the rich people on the other side of town wake up in peace.
You know what you can't say about me, and I don't want to hear it, so let's just get a few things clear right out of the gate. First of all, as I've said, I'm the antithesis of lazy. Second, I'm not greedy. I donate money all the time, even though I have very little. Third, I don't smoke, I don't drink, and I don't do drugs and never have. I don't have children. I don't sell my food stamps for whatever you would accuse me of selling them for. Whatever you want to accuse me of frivolously spending money on, I also don't do that. Yes, I have walked to work in blizzards, in negative degree weather, for miles, in the dark, so I don't want to be accused of that kind of unwillingness either. I have gone to school, finished school, started my own company, and closed it down. But poverty is a worthy adversary, and it takes more than a degree and inventing a product to overcome it. It takes more than a village, it takes more than raising a child in wealth. Poverty is not a choice we make but rather a series of consequences of other people's choices and a handful of our own, just like affluence. We just hope that there will be a morning, some morning, even just one, where we don't wake up with that uninvited intruder in our bedroom, making us struggle to breathe.
Carly's story is part of a Huffington Post series profiling Americans who work hard and yet still struggle to make ends meet. Learn more about other individuals' experiences here [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/@working_poor ].
Marco Rubio's Cure For Poverty? Subsidize Crummy Jobs, Make Massive Block Grants
Sen. Marco Rubio talked about reforming anti-poverty programs and improving income mobility at an American Enterprise Institute event on Jan. 8 in Washington. Alex Wong via Getty Images
By Michael McAuliff Posted: 01/08/2014 6:06 pm EST | Updated: 01/09/2014 10:03 am EST
WASHINGTON -- Florida Sen. Marco Rubio joined the Republican chorus declaring Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty" a failure Wednesday and proposed his own cures, which include subsidizing work that doesn't pay a living wage and shifting all poverty programs to the states.
Rubio, one of the lead GOP prospects for the 2016 presidential contest, unveiled his plans in a speech sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute. The talk seemed aimed at convincing people that he and his fellow Republicans do hold the concerns of the poor close to their hearts, despite what Democrats may say, and perhaps getting a jump on the kind of arguments about the "47 percent" that helped sink Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign.
The senator argued that poverty remains a major problem in America and cited numerous statistics, including the country's soaring income inequality since 1980. He said those numbers show that LBJ's "big government" philosophy simply doesn't work and that America needs to be more concerned about "opportunity inequality."
"These economic, social, cultural and educational causes of opportunity inequality are complex. And they will not be solved by continuing with the same stale Washington ideas," Rubio said. "Five decades and trillions of dollars after President Johnson waged his War on Poverty, the results of this big-government approach are in."
But Rubio insisted that pursuing Democratic goals such as raising the minimum wage was not part of the solution.
"Our current president and his liberal allies propose that we address this by spending more on these failed programs and increasing the minimum wage to $10.10," Rubio said, mocking the idea. "Really? That is their solution to what President Obama has identified as the defining issue of our time? Raising the minimum wage may poll well, but having a job that pays $10 an hour is not the American Dream."
Instead of requiring employers to pay something closer to a living wage, Rubio proposed having the government supplement the stingy pay at many companies.
"We should pursue reforms that encourage and reward work. That’s why I am developing legislation to replace the earned income tax credit with a federal wage enhancement for qualifying low-wage jobs," Rubio said. "This would allow an unemployed individual to take a job that pays, say, $18,000 a year -– which on its own is not enough to make ends meet –- but then receive a federal enhancement to make the job a more enticing alternative to collecting unemployment insurance."
Rubio added that the point was not just to support those people, but to give them tools to advance. "The only solution that will achieve meaningful and lasting results is to provide those who are stuck in low-paying jobs the real opportunity to move up to better-paying jobs," he said.
Yet in the past, the senator hasn't been the most robust supporter of the sorts of educational programs that help people advance themselves.
Although he did not propose any other specific solutions beyond subsidizing crummy jobs, Rubio did say that the federal government should shift the responsibility for dealing with poverty to the states.
"Our anti-poverty programs should be replaced with a revenue-neutral [meaning, among other things, that the amount spent/put in by the federal government could not go up in response to/during a recession/depression and the resulting greater needs, which also would correspondingly eliminate that portion of counter-cyclical increased federal {deficit} spending in response to/during a recession/depression] flex fund," he said. "We would streamline most of our existing federal anti-poverty funding into one single agency. Then each year, these flex funds would be transferred to the states so they can design and fund creative initiatives that address the factors behind inequality of opportunity."
He accounted for his lack of specificity by suggesting the detailed solutions should be left to the states.
"Instead of continuing to pour money into our existing programs, we need to reform them through innovative and highly targeted solutions. But that is something the federal government is incapable of delivering," Rubio said. "Washington is too bureaucratic and resistant to change. And its one-size-fits-all approach to policy is not conducive to solving a problem as diverse as this one."
Some progressive economists were not impressed with Rubio's speech, suggesting that he hadn't actually thought that carefully about the problem.
"This sounds like he has no idea of the structure of programs and how they took the shape they did," said Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
"His 'wage enhancement' would run into real problems for people working multiple jobs. Does he want to subsidize wages for people earning $36,000 a year by the same amount as someone earning $18,000 a year?" Baker said in an email. "And, since it won't depend on family size, does he intend to cut his EITC [earned income tax credit] equivalent for workers with 2-3 kids? If not, then we will have to spend more, not less on this program."
"This is not close to being a serious plan to address poverty," Baker added.
Marco Rubio argued Wednesday that the fact that so many Americans remain in poverty proves that the “War on Poverty” has been lost. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., and Michael Tomasky discuss.
Jane Freeman, Widow Of Food Stamp Founder, Discusses The 'Need And The Embarrassment'
Jane and Orville Freeman, pictured in 1978. (Photo By John Sunderland/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
By Arthur Delaney Posted: 01/08/2014 5:48 pm EST | Updated: 01/08/2014 6:14 pm EST
WASHINGTON -- Jane Freeman remembers being at the grocery store one day after she and her late husband, Orville Freeman, had moved back home to Minnesota from Washington.
"I stood in line behind several ladies who were having to count out, and who were having language difficulties trying to count out their food stamps," Freeman remembered. Her husband, who died in 2003, had overseen the creation of the Food Stamp Program as Secretary of Agriculture in the 1960s.
Jane Freeman watched the clerk help the ladies sort out which things they could buy with their food stamps, and when they realized they didn't have enough money, which things they would leave at the register.
"It did delay people in line and some people were unhappy about it," Freeman, 92, said in a recent phone interview. "To me, it just showed the need and the embarrassment."
The Freemans were at the forefront of the "War on Poverty" when Lyndon Johnson declared it on this day in 1964, and the nutrition assistance program Orville Freeman helped create remains one of the most important tools in the federal government's antipoverty arsenal.
Republicans are marking the 50th anniversary of the start of the "war" with big speeches about finding new ways to wage it. In the background, reduced food stamp spending is a centerpiece of Republican policymaking this year.
"I'm afraid it's most of the party's agenda," said Freeman, who described herself as an ardent Democrat.
HuffPost had asked Freeman if any particular memory about food stamps stood out to her, and the grocery store anecdote is what came to mind. The story might seem somewhat banal, but between the need, the embarrassment, and the frustration of people in line, it's got almost everything.
First, the need: Food stamp spending has more than doubled since 2007, thanks mostly to a bad economy that has made more Americans than ever eligible for help. Currently 47 million receive monthly benefits. Republicans want to cut the program by about 5 percent, which would result in nearly 4 million fewer beneficiaries next year. Coincidentally, almost the same number of food stamp recipients are lifted from poverty by the program, though the effect of food stamp benefits is omitted from the official poverty estimate.
Next, the frustration: Stories abound about hardworking taxpayers watching as they wait in line behind people using food stamps to buy groceries. This summer Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) told the tale of a constituent who saw someone use his food stamp debit card to buy crab legs [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/01/food-stamps-resentment_n_3518821.html ], something the hardworking taxpayer couldn't afford for himself.
Finally, the embarrassment: Many Americans are ashamed to receive benefits, but not all. Last year House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) pointed to the story of a California surfer and rock musician [id.] who was not embarrassed that he used food stamps and was unashamed to admit that he didn't want a regular job. To Republicans, the food stamp surfer is evidence that too much government spending saps people of the will to work.
But to an ardent Democrat like Freeman, taking food money away from poor people is not doing them a favor.
"To see something that has been so important and so helpful for 50 years now, to now start chopping it off when the need is so great -- the way to get food to the hungry is established and good," Freeman said. "It just baffles me that people want to cut it."
Doctor In Ron Johnson's Anti-Obamacare Story Refutes Claim
By Shadee Ashtari Posted: 01/09/2014 8:37 pm EST
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has long attributed his inspiration for entering Washington politics to a mission of repealing the Affordable Care Act. A common thread in the tea party-backed senator's calls for repeal is a story involving a reconstructive heart surgery that saved his infant daughter’s life 30 years ago, during the freer health system before Obamacare.
In numerous speeches and op-eds, Johnson claimed the work of Dr. John Foker would not have been possible under the Affordable Care Act and its stifling regulations. If his family had lacked the freedom to access doctors qualified to reconstruct his daughter’s heart, Johnson argued, his baby wouldn’t have survived.
I would not have run for the U.S. Senate had Obamacare not been passed. … Our story has a happy ending because we had that freedom. … That’s what this health care law is all about, it’s an assault on our freedom. It’s going to lower the quality of our care. It’s going to lead to rationing. The types of medical innovation that saved my daughter’s life [and] that saves millions of Americans -- I won't say it’s going to come to a grinding halt, but it’s going to be severely limited.
According to Uppity, however, Foker is not only “generally supportive” of the Affordable Care Act, but contends that President Barack Obama’s landmark health care law does not go far enough.
"Unfortunately, it was written by the insurance and drug companies, so not great,” Foker told Uppity via email. “Most of the many flaws of American medical care are still present."
Foker argued that Republican lawmakers should relish the ACA’s “private-solution” approach to health care reform as he criticized the GOP for obstructionist political tactics. “They’re never happy,” Foker concluded.
Contrary to Johnson’s fears, Foker was, and remains, a professor [ http://www.surgery.umn.edu/divisions/cardiothoracic-surgery/john-foker/index.htm ] at the University of Minnesota’s medical school -- a public institution -- and performed the lifesaving surgery on Johnson’s daughter at the government-funded university’s medical center.
Moreover, the innovative procedure that Johnson credits for saving his daughter’s life was not developed as the “wonderful result” of health law “freedom,” but was first performed in the more socialized health systems of Brazil and France, as pointed out by Think Progress' Igor Volsky [ http://thinkprogress.org/health/2011/03/24/171997/johnson-oped-2/ ].
Elizabeth Warren: New Mortgage Rules 'Protect Consumers From Being Tricked'
By Eugene Mulero Posted: 01/08/2014 7:15 pm EST | Updated: 01/09/2014 12:24 am EST
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) praised the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new slate of mortgage rules on Tuesday, saying they will curb shady practices aimed at "tricking and trapping people" into unaffordable loans.
The rules "will force mortgage lenders and servicers to compete by offering better rates and better customer service," Warren said on the Senate floor, adding, “Our whole economy will be safer. Not completely safe, but with a new cop on the beat, it will be safer.”
The CFPB is Warren's brainchild. President Barack Obama tapped her to help establish the agency after it was created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law.
The rules, which take effect Friday, will bar a host of abusive practices in the mortgage lending, loan collection and foreclosure processes. Last year, major banks agreed to a multibillion-dollar settlement over such foreclosure improprieties as the use of fabricated documents and forged signatures to evict homeowners.
Under the CFPB rules, banks that collect loan payments will be barred from initiating a foreclosure until a borrower is at least 120 days delinquent on his or her loan. Lenders must also determine that borrowers have the ability to repay a mortgage before issuing a loan, and mortgage brokers will be prohibited from receiving kickbacks for steering customers into higher-cost loans.
"The CFPB’s new rules will prohibit this sort of under-the-table dealing and protect consumers from being tricked by people they think they can trust," Warren said.
The new rules do not go as far as some consumer advocates wished. They do not, for instance, require banks to implement loan modifications with borrowers who fall behind, even when the value of the loan to the bank or investors would be maximized by cutting the borrower a break.
Warren acknowledged that the rules are not perfect and criticized the expansion of big banks in the half-dozen years since the financial crash. "Even today, the too-big-to-fail banks that nearly crashed the global economy in 2008 are nearly 40 percent bigger than they were back then," she said.
Nevertheless, Warren said the new mortgage standards "will make a real difference for millions of families who own, or who hope to own, their own home" and "show once again that government can fix problems."
Elk River Chemical Spill In West Virginia Prompts State Of Emergency Declaration
By JOHN RABY 01/09/14 10:04 PM ET EST
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — At least 100,000 customers in nine West Virginia counties were told not to drink, bathe, cook or wash clothes using their tap water because of a chemical spill into the Elk River in Charleston, with Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin declaring a state of emergency Thursday for all those areas.
The chemical, a foaming agent used in the coal preparation process, leaked from a tank at Freedom Industries, overran a containment area and went into the river earlier Thursday. The amount that spilled wasn't immediately known, but West Virginia American Water has a treatment plant nearby and it is the company's customers who are affected.
"The water has been contaminated," said Tomblin, who didn't know how long the emergency declaration would last.
Officials, though, said they aren't sure what hazard the spill poses to humans and that there were no immediate reports of people getting sick. It also was not immediately clear how much spilled into the river and in what concentration.
"I don't know if the water is not safe," said water company president Jeff McIntyre.
Tomblin said he's asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist the state with supplies of bottled water. But people weren't waiting.
Once word got out about the governor's declaration, customers stripped store shelves in many areas of items such as bottled water, paper cups and bowls.
As many as 50 customers had lined up to buy water at a convenience store near the state Capitol in Charleston.
"It was chaos, that's what it was," cashier Danny Cardwell said.
The don't-drink-the-water declaration involves customers in the counties of Kanawha, Boone, Cabell, Clay, Jackson, Lincoln, Logan, Putnam and Roane. Most of the counties surround the capital city of Charleston, where there was a chemical smell similar to licorice in the air both outdoors and in areas where it had already reached the water supply on Thursday night.
West Virginia lawmakers who just started their session this week won't conduct business on Friday because of the problem and State Department of Education spokeswoman Liza Cordeiro said schools in at least five of the counties will be closed. Many students already missed some time this week because of the frigid weather.
McIntyre said the advisory was issued "because we don't know. I don't have anything to indicate the water is not safe. It's an abundance of caution that we're taking this step. We don't do this lightly, tell our customers not to use the water."
McIntyre said testing is being conducted to determine the concentrations of the chemical that have gone through the water system. But he said the chemical was in a much weaker concentration when it reached the water treatment plant through the river.
"Until we get out and flush the actual system and do more testing, we can't say how long this (advisory) will last at this time," McIntyre said. When the advisory was first issued for five counties, that as many as 100,000 customers were affected. The company has 170,000 customers in 17 West Virginia counties, as well as in Ohio and Virginia.
Freedom Industries did not immediately respond for comment. The Elk River flows into the Kanawha River in downtown Charleston. The Kanawha eventually flows into the Ohio River at Point Pleasant, about 55 miles to the northwest.
Senate Majority Leader John Unger, D-Martinsburg, said all committee meetings have been canceled and lawmakers will adjourn until at least Monday. Other government offices also will be closed.
Unger, who co-chairs the Joint Legislative Oversight Commission on State Water Resources, said dozens of miles of pipe are affected by the spill.
"Flushing it out, that's going to take some time," Unger told The Associated Press. "You can imagine the infrastructure of the piping through the city and all of those counties."
McIntyre and Tomblin said boiling water first to remove impurities won't help as it sometimes does.
"Don't make baby formula," McIntyre said. "Don't brush your teeth. Don't shower. Toilet flushing only."
McIntyre and state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management director Jimmy Gianato said the chemical isn't lethal in its strongest form. Kanawha County emergency officials said the chemical is called 4-methylcyclohexane methanol.
According to a fact sheet from Fisher Scientific, the chemical is harmful if swallowed and causes eye and skin irritation and could be harmful if inhaled.
Tomblin said the advisory also extends to restaurants, hospitals, nursing homes and other establishments that use tap water.
Two fast-food restaurants near the Capitol, a few miles from the spill site, were closed Thursday night, but across the street, a pizza shop remained open.
And at the Little India restaurant in Charleston, owner Meena Anada said she had been drinking water all day, "but I'm not nervous. I'm not going to die."
Little India bar manager Bill LaCourse said he's endured boil water advisories in the past, "but when they tell you it doesn't do any good to boil the water, what can you do?"
About 12 customers were in the restaurant when LaCourse got the word about the shutdown notice and everyone was asked to leave. The situation repeated itself at other restaurants, where workers said they were concerned about what to do about ice machines, hot water heaters and water itself once the emergency is lifted.
West Virginia Delegate Michael Manypenny, D-Taylor, who co-chairs the water resources committee with Unger, said he's been pushing for stronger oversight of industries in order to protect the state's water resources. He said the spill will add fuel to his argument.
"This leaves a lot of questions," he said. "And I think we're going to need an inquiry on why this happens and what we can do to prevent it."
Associated Press writers Brendan Farrington and Jonathan Mattise contributed to this report.
Crews clean up a chemical spill along the Elk River in Charleston, W.Va., which compromised the public water supply of eight counties on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014. (AP Photo/Tyler Evert)
Jim Cole of Exeter, N.H., got the last few bottles of water at the Kroger in South Charleston W.Va. following a chemical spill on the Elk River that compromised the public water supply to eight counties of Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014. (AP Photo/Tyler Evert)
A Freedom Industries worker places a boom in the Elk River Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014, at the site of a chemical leak in Charleston that has fouled the drinking water in eight West Virginia counties. (AP Photo/The Charleston Gazette, Chris Dorst)
Residents of South Charleston, W.Va., wait in line at Kroger to buy water following a chemical spill on the Elk River that compromised the public water supply of eight counties on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014. (AP Photo/Tyler Evert)
Laura John of Charleston, W.Va, drove across town to South Charleston, W.Va, to find water following a chemical spill on the Elk River that compromised the public water supply of eight counties of Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014. (AP Photo/Tyler Evert)
By JOHN RABY Posted: Jan 10, 2014 3:41 AM CST Updated: Jan 10, 2014 7:22 AM CST
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Schools and restaurants closed, stores sold out of bottled water, and legislators canceled business after a chemical spill in the Elk River in Charleston affected about 300,000 people and shut down much of the city and surrounding counties.
The federal government joined the state Friday in declaring a disaster. In requesting the federal declaration, state officials said about 100,000 customers, or roughly 300,000 people total, were affected.
After the Thursday spill from Freedom Industries hit the river, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin ordered customers of West Virginia American Water not to drink, bathe, cook or wash clothes with tap water.
The state National Guard planned to distribute bottled water to emergency services agencies in the nine affected counties.
President Obama is sending federal assistance to West Virginia, where schools and businesses are closed after a chemical spill Thursday into a Charleston river.
"The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of West Virginia and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts," said an administration statement on Friday morning.
Under the order, the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency will coordinate efforts with local officials.
House Republicans Just Quietly Passed A Bill Gutting Hazardous Waste Legislation
A bulldozer works to grade what is left of a 50-foot tall pile of slag left over from 74 years of making nails, wire and fencing from scrap metal at the bankrupt Continental Steel plant in Kokomo, Indiana, on November 10, 2009. The 183-acre site is being cleaned up under the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund program. A bill that the House passed Thursday would overhaul the federal Superfund program. MIRA OBERMAN via Getty Images
By Kate Sheppard Posted: 01/09/2014 7:11 pm EST | Updated: 01/10/2014 6:33 am EST
WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday overhauling the country's hazardous waste laws.
The bill, called the Reducing Excessive Deadline Obligations Act [ http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20140106/CPRT-113-HPRT-RU00-HR2279_xml.pdf ], amends both the Solid Waste Disposal Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (which is commonly known as Superfund [ http://www.epa.gov/superfund/policy/cercla.htm ]). It would remove requirements that the EPA periodically update and review solid waste disposal regulations, and would make it harder for the government to require companies that deal with hazardous substances to carry enough insurance to cover cleanup. The bill would also require more consultation with states before the government imposes cleanup requirements for Superfund sites -- places where hazardous waste is located and could be affecting local people or ecosystems [ http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/ ].
The bill passed by a vote of 225 to 188, largely along party lines. Four Republicans voted against it, and five Democrats voted for it.
Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), the bill's sponsor, called the legislation "common-sense revisions of existing rules and regulations." But others were quick to criticize the bill, saying it weakens environmental protections.
Scott Slesinger, legislative director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, called the bill a "New Year’s gift to corporate interests" in a statement. "This bill could delay cleaning up toxic federal facilities, free companies to pass their hazardous cleanup costs onto taxpayers, and strangle health safeguards intended to limit harmful ash drifting from steam boilers," said Slesinger.
The bill is not expected to pass in the Senate, and the White House has already issued a veto threat. "The bill's requirements could result in significant site cleanup delays, endangering public health and the environment," President Obama's advisers wrote in a statement of administration policy [ http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/113/saphr2279r_20140108.pdf ].
Plant closure over roach infestation latest setback for Foster Farms
Foster Farms' chicken plant in Livingston, Calif., was shut down by the USDA because of a cockroach infestation. (Debbie Noda / Modesto Bee / October 17, 2013)
The giant poultry company last year faced a salmonella outbreak that sickened more than 400 people.
By Stuart Pfeifer January 9, 2014, 6:27 p.m.
The cockroach infestation that closed a Foster Farms chicken plant in Central California was the latest setback for the giant poultry company, which last year faced a salmonella outbreak that sickened more than 400 people.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture suspended operations Wednesday at a Foster Farms plant in Livingston, southeast of Modesto, and the 250,000-square-foot plant remained closed Thursday as the poultry giant tried to remedy the problem.
Several food safety experts said they were surprised that cockroaches prompted the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service to take action when it had failed to do so after last year's salmonella outbreak.
"We'd been urging them to do this for months and months," said Jean Halloran, director of food policy at Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports magazine. "They should have shut it down as soon as the link was made to all these illnesses."
Wednesday's news couldn't have come at a worse time for the troubled company.
In October, Foster Farms President Ron Foster apologized for the salmonella contamination and vowed to work to significantly reduce the bacteria, which has been a problem for poultry producers throughout the country.
Foster Farms was hit by two outbreaks of salmonella, one in 2012 and one last year. In late October, Mexico, a top destination for U.S. poultry exports, blocked imports of chickens from Foster Farms plants in Fresno and Livingston because of salmonella concerns.
Despite intensifying demands for a recall, the USDA allowed the plants to remain open after the company developed new protocols to reduce the rates of contamination.
Foster said the company saw a 25% reduction in sales after the latest salmonella outbreak.
Now, in addition to health issues raised by the new infestation, consumers are confronted by the ick-factor of cockroaches meandering near their future dinners.
The USDA disclosed its decision in a strongly worded letter, which said inspectors found cockroaches at the facility five times since September, most recently on Wednesday. Inspectors spotted roaches this week at a hand-washing sink while "slaughter operations were in progress and exposed product was present on the kill floor," the USDA said.
"Pests are highly unsanitary given that they can come in contact with decomposing garbage or other organic materials," the USDA said in the letter, which was signed by Abdalla Amin, a deputy district manager in Alameda. "Cockroaches and other pests can transmit disease-causing pathogens, including bacteria."
Foster Farms released a statement that acknowledged the presence of cockroaches at the facility. The company said it completed a "sanitization and treatment" procedure and asked the USDA for permission to relaunch operations.
"A single incident is not acceptable, and we are committed to a zero tolerance policy," the company's statement said.
The USDA's decision doesn't affect two other Foster Farms processing plants, which continue to operate.
Glenn M. Young, a professor and food safety microbiologist at UC Davis, said the presence of cockroaches at a food-processing plant can be dangerous.
"Any kind of pest is an issue in a food-processing facility," Young said. "They can serve as a way of vectoring those organisms from one contaminating site to another. Salmonella commonly has a wide host range, which would include even cockroaches."
Bill Marler, a Seattle food safety attorney, said he doubts that the cockroaches found this week had anything to do with the salmonella outbreak. The dangerous bacteria is contained in chicken feces and is often spread during the slaughter and butchering of chickens.
This is why consumers are encouraged to fully cook chicken, a step that destroys bacteria.
"It will impact Foster Farms' bottom line more by grossing people out than it would sickening hundreds of people," Marler said. "I don't think it's a huge deal. It would be more problematic if it were cockroaches in a restaurant or a facility preparing ready-to-eat food."
The USDA said the suspension would remain in effect "until such time as you provide adequate written assurances of corrective and preventive measures to assure that meat and poultry products will be produced under sanitary conditions."
Senators Launch Climate Task Force To Break Through 'Special Interest Lies'
By Kate Sheppard Posted: 01/09/2014 4:50 pm EST | Updated: 01/09/2014 5:04 pm EST
WASHINGTON –- A group of Senate Democrats is planning a new offensive on climate change, one that members hope will galvanize congressional colleagues.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Thursday the group will be "going on the offensive" on climate change to "wake up Congress." Boxer and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) made the announcement in a meeting with reporters.
The Climate Action Task Force has 12 members -- all Democrats -- so far, Boxer said, and will hold an official unveiling Tuesday. The task force's efforts will include public events, floor speeches and bringing more outside partners, like religious organizations and businesses that support slowing climate change, to the table. "Everybody gets it, except for Congress," Boxer said.
Whitehouse said there has long been a "barricade of special-interest lies around Congress and around Washington" when it comes to climate change, and the group seeks to break it down. "Once that barricade is broken, all sorts of things become possible," Whitehouse said.
While the focus is more on advocacy than on promoting specific legislation, Boxer said she believes members could help build momentum for bills on fuel economy, alternative fuels and energy efficiency. Boxer acknowledged that they "don't have the votes" for many of the measures they would like to see passed in the Senate right now, "but we're going to get them."
For its first event, the task force invited former Vice President Al Gore to speak to senators shortly before the Christmas holiday. Members are also engaging key White House staff on the issue; Boxer said she already met with John Podesta, who was tapped to serve as an adviser to President Barack Obama on the climate and other issues.
Whitehouse and Boxer said they believed Senate Democratic leadership has become more receptive to climate work in the last year. They pointed to a speech that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) gave on the subject last summer [ http://www.c-spanvideo.org/appearance/653168597 ], and noted that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, has agreed to invite the group to a meeting.
Whitehouse remains optimistic, because, "victory on this is inevitable," he said.
Whether the latest group will make a stand on one key issue, like the proposed Keystone XL pipeline the Obama administration is currently considering, is unclear. Boxer said that while she personally opposes it, she does not know if the task force will take a position. A decision on the pipeline is expected this year, and has been a major focus for climate activists.
Impossible to achieve sustainable development without addressing climate change.
By Mary Robinson Posted: 01/09/2014 8:00 am
"Extremely dangerous," "Do not travel" -- these are the phrases that have welcomed in the new year along the East Coast of the United States. Extreme weather caused thousands of flights to be delayed, placed the elderly and other vulnerable people at risk due to the extreme cold and impacted negatively on supply chains.
The increasing risk of extreme weather events due to climate change has been acknowledged by President Obama. In June 2013 at the launch of the Climate Action Plan he said: "We're going to need to get prepared. And that's why this plan will also protect critical sectors of our economy and prepare the United States for the impacts of climate change that we cannot avoid." As part of the plan the president created a bi-partisan Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience last November to advise the administration on how the federal government can respond to the needs of communities nationwide that are dealing with the impacts of climate change.
Recognizing the threat that climate change poses to lives, to business and to the economy and talking action to prepare for and reduce this threat makes sense. The United States alone has experienced 25 extreme weather events since 2011 [ http://www.wri.org/blog/new-report-connects-2012-extreme-weather-events-human-caused-climate-change ] that each caused more than $1 billion dollars in damages, contributing to the loss of more than 1,000 lives and costing each American family roughly $400 each year. To avoid these losses and prepare for life in a climate affected world -- decision makers in municipalities and states have to factor climate change into their plans for growth, job creation and sustainable development.
This week (January 9 and 10), representatives from government, business, academia and civil society are meeting in New York to discuss how climate change should be included in plans being developed at the international level to achieve sustainable development. Work is underway on a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will set an international policy framework applicable to all countries. International policy frameworks such as these are agreed internationally and implemented at the national level, thereby informing how planning decisions are made, finance is invested, and how businesses, energy, health and education systems develop.
The new Sustainable Development Goals build on and supersede the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which focused on development assistance and the relationship between donor and developing countries. The SDGs have a broader scope than the MDGs in several ways. Firstly, they are goals for all countries and not just developing countries as no country has yet achieved sustainable development. Secondly, they are about the environmental, social and economic aspects of development, whereas the MDGs focused predominantly on social development. And thirdly, they are being developed through a more inclusive process than the MDGs, involving not just all countries, but also a wide range of stakeholders.
Curiously, and worryingly, there are those who say that climate change does not belong in discussions on a new agenda for sustainable development post 2015. They fear that the negative and divisive politics associated with the climate negotiations will infect the discussions on the new development agenda. These politics divide the world along the lines of developed and developing countries, while the SDGs are based on the understanding that no country has achieved sustainable development so that this is a challenge we share universally.
Well founded though this fear might be, it is not reason enough to leave climate change out. Climate change is, after all, a development issue. Unchecked, climate change will undermine development gains and increase poverty and vulnerability. A development model based on continued levels of fossil fuel consumption will lead to dangerous levels of global warming. The World Bank's "Turn Down the Heat [ http://climatechange.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/Turn_Down_the_heat_Why_a_4_degree_centrigrade_warmer_world_must_be_avoided.pdf ]" report released last year -- the world we are heading for, in which warming reaches 4°C above pre-industrial levels -- would be one of unprecedented heat waves, severe drought, and major floods in many regions, with serious impacts on human systems and the ecosystems on which we rely.
Ignoring climate change and letting this happen is not consistent with the vision many people share of a world with greater equality, less poverty, the protection of human rights, more prosperity, jobs and opportunity. Conversely, acknowledging climate change and setting in place policies to address it can make a positive contribution to long term, sustainable growth, job creation and prosperity. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found in 2011 that there were approximately 3.4 million green jobs in the U.S., an increase of 4.9 percent from the previous year (compared to an increase of 1.2 percent for all other sectors).
Given these realities it is incomprehensible that any plan to achieve sustainable development wouldn't include climate change. Clearly, adapting to the impacts already being experienced, as well as minimizing future risks and reducing reliance on fossil fuels for transport and energy has to be part of a development strategy, for the U.S. as well as every other country on the planet.
Tackling climate change is a fundamental component of sustainable development, so SDGs without climate change would have no credibility. Climate change must be included in the goals and targets of the SDGs, if the new framework is to be effective. The SDGs should include a climate change goal in addition to the integration of climate change into goals on related issues such as energy, food security, health and water. To ensure that this integration results in action and impact on the ground, measurable targets and indicators specific to climate change must be included under the relevant goals. This may seem ambitious -- but it is also logical, doable and critical if the new goals are to be effective in positively improving people's lives right around the world.
Climate change is a threat, but responding to it opens up a world of opportunity. The transition we need to make towards a carbon neutral world will provide jobs, a healthier planet, greater well-being and if we do it properly, greater equality. We need to change the conversation on climate change and sustainable development to become about how we make this transformation to the way we live life and do business. Communities and individuals are already taking action, forward looking businesses around the world stand ready to make the change. Now we need leadership at the political level to put in place an international framework that enables us to make the transition rapidly, effectively and for the benefit of all. The objective of sustainable development, after all, is "to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs."
At Issue in 2 Wrenching Cases: What to Do After the Brain Dies
Nailah Winkfield, second from left, the mother of Jahi McMath, and her uncle Omari Sealy, in white shirt, in December of 2013. Norbert Von Der Groeben/Reuters
Ernest Machado, his wife Lynne and their grandson, Matéo Munoz. His mother, Marlise Munoz, is on a ventilator. Rex C. Curry for The New York Times
A person who has received a brain-death diagnosis cannot breathe on his or her own and is legally dead, in all 50 states. In two states, New York and New Jersey, hospitals must take into account the family’s religious or moral views in deciding how to proceed in such cases. In all others, including California and Texas, hospitals are not required to consult the family in how to terminate care.
Doctors at Children’s Hospital in Oakland pronounced Jahi, 13, brain-dead on Dec. 9. She developed complications after surgery for sleep apnea and lost a large amount of blood. Ms. Muñoz , 33, got the diagnosis at John Peter Smith Hospital after she collapsed from a blood clot when she was 14 weeks pregnant. The hospital, citing a state law, refuses to remove the ventilator because it would harm the fetus, now in its 20th week.
The two cases are poignant in part because of a biological quirk of the body: The patients’ hearts continue to beat. Hearts have their own pacemaker, and with ventilation, the heart can continue to beat for days, even up to a week. But with more aggressive care, it can last months and longer after brain death, experts say, depending on the health of the patient and how much treatment is provided.
That ventilation saved the fetus in the Muñoz case, and probably in the nick of time, said Dr. R. Phillips Heine, director of maternal and fetal medicine at Duke University’s medical school. The diminished blood flow to the fetus when the mother collapsed — she is thought to have been passed out for about an hour before receiving care — “may lead to adverse effects over time, but we have no way to predict that,” Dr. Heine said.
A prolonged heartbeat has created the perception of life for Jahi’s family, while for Ms. Muñoz’s relatives it represents a denial of the right to die.
“The way I’ve described this state is that a part of the organism is still alive, obviously, but the organism as a whole — the human being — is gone,” said Dr. James L. Bernat, the Louis and Ruth Frank professor of Neuroscience at Dartmouth’s medical school.
Diagnosing a brain as “dead” is a matter of determining the function of its most primitive area, the brain stem. The brain stem, the plug of neural tissue at the base where the spinal cord enters the skull, is the body’s plant manager, sustaining systems like muscle tone, metabolic equilibrium and ventilation.
Testing its function requires some expertise, because people with severe brain injuries are often unresponsive and appear brain-dead when they are not. A coma, for instance, is an unresponsive state that often represents a period of recovery for the brain stem and other areas. People generally emerge from a coma within two to three weeks after their injury. If they not, they may enter a vegetative state, in which the brain stem is functioning but higher brain areas are shut down, or what is called a minimally conscious state — in which a patient is occasionally responsive, but not predictably. People who emerge from a vegetative state are thought to pass through a minimally conscious stage before becoming consciously aware.
To determine brain death, four elements are needed, experts said. First, the doctor must rule out other possible explanations for the unresponsive state, like anesthesia, diabetic coma or hypothermia. An injury must also be established, like a blow to the head or blood loss.
Doctors then test the function of so-called cranial nerves, including one that runs to the eye and activates blinking; another in the throat that causes gagging; and a third in the inner ear that allows the eyes to focus on an object when the head is moving. Each of these engages the brain stem. If touching the person’s cornea with a Q-tip does not trigger a blink, or touching the back of the throat brings no gagging, the brain stem is either out of commission or close to it.
The last step is called an apnea test. To perform this, doctors allow the carbon dioxide level to slowly increase in the patient’s blood; once the concentration reaches a certain threshold, anyone with a partly functional brain stem will wheeze for breath. This is the true litmus test for brain death, and it can take about 20 minutes, during which doctors must not leave the room even for a moment, said Dr. Panayiotis N. Varelas, director of the neuroscience intensive care unit at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
“If the patient tries to breathe, you abort the test immediately and say the patient is not brain-dead,” Dr. Varelas said.
The exact timing of these tests, and the number of times they are done — some doctors perform them all once; others do so twice, separated by a number of hours — vary from hospital to hospital, surveys have found. But botched cases are very rare, experts said; people diagnosed with brain death do not come back.
Under New York and New Jersey laws, people can prolong the provision of oxygen to keep a person’s heart beating for religious or moral reasons. But elsewhere, “life support” is superfluous, if there is no life to support. In that context, the McMath and Munoz cases are different, said Dr. Fins, who is working on a book titled “Rights Come to Mind: Brain Injury, Ethics and the Struggle for Consciousness.”
The parents of Jahi McMath “are hoping their daughter will recover and asking to reverse a decision that isn’t under human control,” he said. “In the Muñoz case, the family is asking to reverse a decision that is under human control, and has to do with whether the mother would want to be a mother under these circumstances.”
WRITTEN BY: Zachary Golob-Drake Posted: Dec 12, 2013 3:05 PM CST Updated: Jan 09, 2014 4:50 PM CST
In the Name of Religion
The world’s major religions all have messages about coexisting. But oftentimes people have found a way to bend that rule; sometimes people even use religion as an excuse to take each other’s lives. The three major religions on the earth include the Eastern religions, Islam, and Christianity. About one billion people live by the Eastern religions; about 1.4 billion are Muslim; and about 2.3 billion are Christians. Religious differences have always sparked conflict, even leading to warfare and mass murder.
One of the most famous tensions is the Crusades. Beginning in 1065, the Crusades were a series of holy wars which were fought between Christians and Muslims. It was the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Urban II who initiated the first wave of attacks. The European Christian’s intent was to force Christianity upon the Muslim people and to win back the Holy Land, known as Jerusalem. They were some of the bloodiest wars ever fought.
In 1162, about the time the Crusades ended, Genghis Khan was born and later crowned Emperor of Mongolia. Khan was a powerful ruler who conquered many lands and civilizations, which inevitably caused the Mongolian Empire to grow. Khan became so powerful that people considered him a god. Khan was known to tell his victims before causing their deaths, “I am the flail of God; for if you were without sin, he would not have sent me upon you.”
For anyone who thinks religious tensions have ended, they have not. Modern terrorism often has to do with religion. Take the story of 911, for example. On September 11, 2001, hijackers commandeered two jets and intentionally crashed them into the Twin Towers in New York, killing thousands of unsuspecting civilians. It has been confirmed that the hijackers were Islamic extremists who wanted to punish the United States for its immoral behavior.
Religion provides moral guidance for most of the seven billion people on the earth. More than 2,500 years ago, Confuscious offered guidance through the Golden Rule when he said, “Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you.” Both Jesus and Muhammad echoed these sentiments hundreds of years later. This world would be a better place if everybody followed that rule.
Sephardic Jews invited back to Spain after 500 years
More than 500 years ago, tens of thousands of Jews fled Spain because of persecution. Now their descendants are being invited to return.
By Gerry Hadden PRI's The World 6 March 2013 Last updated at 01:35 ET
Before the infamous Spanish Inquisition of the 15th Century, some 300,000 Jews lived in Spain. It was one of the largest communities of Jews in the world.
Today, there are about 40,000 or 50,000 - but that number could be about to swell dramatically.
In November, Spain's justice minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon announced a plan to give descendants of Spain's original Jewish community - known as Sephardic Jews - a fast-track to a Spanish passport and Spanish citizenship.
"In the long journey Spain has undertaken to rediscover a part of itself, few occasions are as moving as today," he said.
Anyone who could prove their Spanish Jewish origins, he said, would be given Spanish nationality.
*
The Inquisition
1478 - Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition established in Spain
King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile wanted Spain to be entirely Catholic
1492 - Edict of Expulsion ordered Jews to convert or leave
Muslim converts were called Moriscos. They were expelled in 1609
*
The news spread like wildfire among Sephardic Jews around the world.
According to the Spanish Federation of Jewish Communities, which processes the applications, there were about 6,000 enquiries in the first month alone - including one from an unnamed member of the US Congress.
"My initial reaction was that this was a really thrilling moment - that it was an act of justice," says Doreen Carvajal, a US citizen and reporter with the New York Times in Paris.
"It was a romantic notion on my part. I told my husband, 'I think I'm going to try and get the passport because it closes a circle'. It was very poetic."
Carvajal was brought up Catholic, but a few years ago, she discovered she has Sephardic Jewish roots.
She began to investigate, eventually tracing her family tree back to the 15th Century and the city of Segovia, north of Madrid. She has countless documents, and has detailed her story in a book, The Forgetting River: A modern tale of survival, identity and the Inquisition.
But Carvajal says that when she contacted the Spanish Federation of Jewish Communities, she learned that she didn't qualify. Not yet, anyway.
Carvajal's family moved from Spain and settled in Costa Rica
Carvajal's family was among the estimated one-third of Spanish Jews who converted to Catholicism to escape the Inquisition's clutches. They were known as the "conversos".
So, Carvajal is technically the descendant of converts. She's not a practising Jew herself. She was told she would have to convert back to Judaism before she could get Spanish citizenship.
"It felt like another act of being forced. Here are these people, the descendants of the forced ones, the conversos, being told you have to do this, you have to be a certain religion. So what happens if you're a secular Jew?"
*
Sephardic Jews
Jews have lived in Spain since Roman times
Sephardic comes from the Hebrew word Sepharad, which means Spain
Originally used to refer to descendants of the Jews from Spain
They are scattered around the world - in Israel, Turkey, the US, South America, Greece, Bulgaria, France and the UK, for example
Sephardic Jew is now a wider term, and can refer to Jews of Oriental, Asian and African origin
*
The fast-track procedure has not yet taken effect - and Carvajal may well be entitled to citizenship when the rules are finalised.
The secretary general of the Spanish Federation of Jewish Communities, Mauricio Toledano, told the BBC that the government is still working on details of the scheme, and when the new law is presented to parliament, it's expected to specifically state that all descendants of Sephardic origin - whether they are Jewish or not - be given citizenship.
In total, about 100,000 Jews fled Spain in the course of the 15th Century. Some went to North Africa, but most settled in the economic powerhouse of the day, the Ottoman Empire - which then stretched from Hungary to Turkey, and beyond that to the south, and was expanding.
About 90% of Jews in modern-day Turkey are Sephardic Jews. Roni Rodrigue, 55, a car dealer in Istanbul, has already claimed his Spanish passport.
"I just thought I have a right to apply for citizenship, so why not."
He did this four years ago, under a pre-existing scheme, and got his papers in 11 months - though some of his friends have been waiting years.
*
Conversos and cryptos...
It was the Jews who converted to Catholicism - rather than those who remained Jewish - who faced the greatest persecution under the Inquisition, says Stanford historian Professor Aron Rodrigue.
The conversos were under a constant watch, and it was considered a heresy if they were found to be practising any remnants of their Judaism. They faced fines, imprisonment - and the infamous burning at the stake.
No-one knows how many continued practising their Judaism secretly, under cover. Those who did were sometimes called crypto-Jews.
Some who converted went to Spanish colonies in the Americas, but that offered them little protection - the same Inquisition rules applied there.
*
Rodrigue has no plans to move to Spain, and has only been there twice, but says he still feels a connection.
He's a speaker of a dying language, Ladino. It's specific to Sephardic Jews and based on old Spanish, with words borrowed from Hebrew and the many countries in which they have settled since.
Rodrigue's parents spoke Ladino to each other but it has not been passed on to his children, or to most of the new generation of Sephardic Jews around the world.
It's not uncommon, though, for Sephardic Jews to feel the pull of Spain.
"I'm still Spanish in my soul and in my heart," says one British Sephardic Jew, who asked not to be named.
He's building a house in Spain, has bought land, and even a plot in which to be buried.
Like Carvajal, he's been left disappointed by the existing rules for acquiring citizenship, and stands to benefit from the new system.
He successfully went through the process to gain Spanish citizenship some time ago, but says he withdrew his application at the very end, when he discovered he would have to give up his British passport to complete the process - something he was not prepared to do.
The proposed new law, if passed, is expected to allow all new citizens of Sephardic origin to keep their existing passports.
Holy Week in southern Spain is full of ancient imagery
It is well known that when Spain expelled the Jews in 1492 it had a disastrous effect on the economy - many were wealthy textile traders, jewellers and bankers.
"At the time of the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan was said to have commented that he couldn't understand why a great Spanish king like Ferdinand would go without the Jews - who were such a source of wealth - and just give them to him," says Maria Josep Estanyol, a historian at the University of Barcelona.
*
Expelled from England
Jews were expelled from the England in 1290 - 200 years before the Spanish Inquisition
There were similar expulsions in France and a number of European countries
It was not until the 1650s that Jews were allowed to live in England again
Many of the first to return were Sephardic Jews of Spanish or Portuguese origin
*
"The Sultan was very pleased to receive these Jewish families, who went on to enrich his empire."
For decades, there has been a movement to allow Sephardic Jews to return, but it is unclear why the Spanish government has chosen to bring up the issue again now.
In theory, enticing them back now could give a boost to Spain's shrinking economy, although Estanyol doubts very many will re-establish roots in Spain.
"Given how disastrous things are here today, I'd advise against it," she says.
In the colonies too - an Inquisition prison in Colombia
It has also been suggested that Spain made the offer to mollify Israel, after Madrid supported last year's successful Palestinian bid for a seat at the United Nations.
Whatever the motivation, some Muslim scholars are denouncing the offer as unfair. They point out that their ancestors were expelled from Spain during the Inquisition. But no-one is inviting them back.
In this Jan. 13, 2014 photo, New Hampshire Republican Congressional candidate Dan Innis, right, poses with his partner Doug Palardy, in Portsmouth, N.H. The GOP?s formal platform, as set in its 2012 national convention, declares that ?marriage, the union of one man and one woman, must be upheld as the national standard.? Republican opposition to gay marriage has become less visible recently, however, as the GOP works to improve its image and polling suggests that most Americans support same-sex marriage. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)(Credit: AP)
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Dan Innis’ husband persuaded him to run for the U.S. House.
It didn’t matter that Innis, a former business school dean, faced an aggressive Democratic incumbent, GOP colleagues who oppose his right to marry, and history — no Republican ever has been openly gay when first elected to Congress.
“He said, ‘You’ve got to do this,’” recalls Innis, running in the 1st Congressional District, which covers most of eastern New Hampshire. “He said, ‘You need to take this opportunity and see if you can make a difference.’”
Innis plays down his sexuality as a campaign issue, but acknowledges the historic undertones. He is among three openly gay Republicans nationwide expected to run in this year’s midterm elections. None has an easy path to Washington.
Each ultimately must unseat a Democratic incumbent, overcome brushes with hate and confront passionate divisions within the GOP about the way they live their lives. The Republican Party is trying to soften its tone on divisive social issues, but many religious conservatives see homosexuality as immoral.
Innis is married to a man, as is former state Sen. Richard Tisei, R-Mass., who is expected to run again for the northeastern Massachusetts congressional seat he narrowly lost in 2012 to Democratic Rep. John Tierney.
In San Diego, former Republican city councilman Carl DeMaio is challenging first-term Democratic Rep. Scott Peters.
“You can’t focus on any of the nasty comments or attacks — not just from far right, also from far left,” DeMaio says.
During his unsuccessful 2012 Republican mayoral campaign, DeMaio and his male partner of six years were booed as they walked hand in hand in San Diego’s gay pride parade.
“Every once in a while we’ll get some hate that is truly over the top — a truly venomous voice mail message. Every time we need a lift-me-up, we play it and chuckle,” DeMaio says. “It’s just a reminder that what we’re fighting for matters.”
He also is fighting his own party.
The GOP’s formal platform, as set in its 2012 national convention, declares that “marriage, the union of one man and one woman, must be upheld as the national standard.”
Republican opposition to gay marriage has become less visible recently as the GOP works to improve its image and polling suggests that most Americans support same-sex marriage.
‘Duck Dynasty’ ratings tumble to lowest numbers since 2012
Ratings for the A&E show “Duck Dynasty” have fallen to their lowest point since 2012 in the wake of the scandal following racist and anti-LGBT remarks by family patriarch Phil Robertson. According to entertainment industry trade paper Variety, the show is hemorrhaging viewers, with audience numbers falling by about 2 million from week to week.
“One week after returning to kick off its fifth season with a 3.3 rating in adults 18 to 49 and 8.5 million viewers overall,” wrote Variety’s Rick Kissell, “’Duck Dynasty’ slid to a 2.9 in the demo and 6.65 million total viewers, according to Nielsen. This is the smallest same-night crowd for an original episode of the series since the second-season finale drew 6.45 million in December 2012.”
As Kissell points out, it’s hard to say whether the controversy itself has damaged the show’s appeal, or whether it was the revelation that the long-bearded, unkempt millionaires of the Robertson family were once clean-cut country-club preppies before they got a TV deal.
Or perhaps the show is simply a one-note flash in the pan whose popularity has run its course. Kissell suggests the latter, pointing out that ratings were already trending downward at the end of Season Four, which aired before Phil Robertson’s now-notorious interview with GQ.
The shows that ranked higher than “Duck Dynasty” in viewers in the key 18 to 49 demographic were “American Idol” — the reality singing competition that launched the careers of openly gay singers Clay Aiken and Adam Lambert — and “Modern Family,” a comedy series that features a gay married couple and an ethnically diverse cast. http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/25/duck-dynasty-ratings-tumble-to-lowest-numbers-since-2012/
Gay Marriage Cases Revisited in Idaho and Arkansas
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MAY 15, 2014
A federal appeals court panel on Thursday temporarily delayed plans for Idaho same-sex weddings while it considered the state’s request for a longer stay. The state’s gay marriage ban was overturned Tuesday when a federal magistrate judge, Candy W. Dale, said the law unconstitutionally denied gay residents their fundamental right to marry. Judge Dale had said Idaho must begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples starting Friday morning. A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a temporary stay as it considered whether a longer stay was needed while Gov. C. L. (Butch) Otter and Attorney General Lawrence Wasden appealed the case.
Also Thursday, a judge cleared the way for gay marriages to resume in Arkansas, striking down all state laws that prevent them. Judge Chris Piazza of the Pulaski County Circuit Court expanded his ruling striking down a constitutional ban to also include the prohibition on clerks issuing same-sex marriage licenses. He acted a day after the State Supreme Court had ruled that his decision on the gay marriage ban did not change that license law. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said he would appeal and was asking that the new order be suspended.
Sarah Palin wants Phil Robertson to run for president
by Christian Dem in NC Tue Jun 03, 2014 at 03:24 PM PDT
Many of you know that at last week's Republican Leadership Conference, Phil Robertson declared that if the Republican Party is to turn itself around, it needs to "get Godly" and take a harder line on social issues. But a lot of us missed an even more cringeworthy moment beforehand. While she was introducing the Duck Commander, Palin suggested that he ought to run for president [ http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/05/follow_live_coverage_of_republ.html (next below)].
She described the Duck Dynasty patriarch as a "self-made entrepreneur" akin to those who formed America, an "educator and a church elder who inspires others to be bold and to embrace family."
"His life is a testament to those truths, to...get off your butt to make a buck," Palin said, seemingly channeling the Robertson family's evocative language.
But Palin went deeper than cheeky language, referencing what might unfold to be Robertson's political future. "Maybe he should be not just the Duck Commander. How about a Duck Commander in Chief?"
Applause.
While Robertson's homophobia is par for the course among the GOP base, I figure that even some of the most right-wing Republicans out there would balk at voting for a guy who thinks it's OK for grown men to actively pursue teenage girls. We already knew Palin's standards weren't that high to begin with. But even if she wasn't a mother of three girls, this would be frightening.
Last week, I had to leave a Facebook group of which I was a longtime member after I objected to Palin being called a whore--and several other members said she deserved it for all the bile she's spewed over the last six-plus years. As loathsome as Palin is, no woman deserves to be degraded. Period. Indeed, anyone who called Palin a whore here would get hiderated into oblivion. Now this comes out. This is yet more proof that no good deed goes unpunished. Also.
Live coverage of GOP conference speakers Bobby Jindal, Phil Robertson at 6 p.m.
Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson, right, gets a hug from former presidential candidate Sarah Palin at the Republican Leadership Conference held in New Orleans on Thursday, May 29, 2014 at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. (Photo by Chris Granger, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson uses his fingers to make the shape of a cross at the Republican Leadership Conference held in New Orleans on Thursday, May 29, 2014 at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. (Photo by Chris Granger, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
By Adriane Quinlan, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune on May 29, 2014 at 9:03 PM, updated May 29, 2014 at 9:34 PM
The annual Republican Leadership Conference [ http://rlc2014.com/rlc2014/ ] is starting off with a bang Thursday night. The slate of powerhouse conservative speakers includes Gov. Bobby Jindal [ http://topics.nola.com/tag/bobby-jindal/index.html ] and "Duck Dynasty" [ http://topics.nola.com/tag/duck%20dynasty/posts.html ] patriarch Phil Robertson. The event begins at 6 p.m., and NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune will cover it live here. All interested readers are encouraged to jump in the comment stream and join the fray.
Let's get things started! The room has quite a lot of empty seats still, with a trickle of conference-goers moving in to fill them.
Demetra DeMonta, RNC committeewoman started things off, describing how she had experienced a political conversion -- practically born a democrat in Chicago, to swing to the other side due to the energy of the Reagan presidency. Her speech garnered big applause when she upped the ante. "We're going to take Mary Landrieu out," she said, to cheers.
6:01 p.m.
Roger Villere Jr. lead the room in prayer in a darkened room. "We just thank you for getting everyone here safe we ask you to give strength and courage to our speakers," Villere said, solemnly.
6:04 p.m.
Kathy Brugger, president of the National Federation of Republican Women, is being introduced by June Williams, president of the state chapter of the NFRW. I would wager that women make up about 35% of the audience here, and I wonder if Brugger is one of the reasons that they came out tonight.
6:07 p.m.
Counting down her points, Brugger called the GOP the party of "inclusion" and "diversity." She described how the party had been the first to elect a female congressman and the first African-American governor. "That's us. That's the Republican Party."
She repeated the democratic party line that Republicans are waging a "war on women." "Shame, shame, shame," she said.
6:14 p.m.
Brugger described how the federation is seeking to take down Sen. Mary Landrieu, in part due to what she described as the failure of the Affordable Care Act. "No matter how you spin it, that's a failure," she said.
She described the strengths of female Republican candidates outside of Louisiana, and how the organization plans to kickstart grass root efforts to help them get elected. Step one, as she described, was to use focus groups to look at how to express a message of "freedom and opportunity that will resonate among female voters in these races."
At the note of "freedom and opportunity," the audience erupted in wild applause.
6:19 p.m.
Senate candidate and Rep. Paul Hollis, of Jefferson Parish, welcomed delegates to the "state I'm so proud to call my home."He said the expansion of the federal government he has seen has been "breathtaking."
6:22 p.m.
Hollis described how he is a candidate who is the "polar opposite" of Landrieu. He described how she had been born in Virginia, while he had been born in the state to another political family. He described how he worked his way through LSU and started his own business. That has given him the ability to see a way to improve teh economy, he said: less government intervention and lower taxes. "They need to get out of the way."
Wild applause.
6:24 p.m.
Hollis described how he would be a reformer, seeking to carve out an amendment that would urge budget balance for the US government, as he believes leaving behind a legacy of debt for our children is "immoral." He said he would seek to term-limit congress and hold congress accountable to the same laws that govern Americans.
And for some reason, it is now playing very, very loudly. And while the next speaker is attempting to talk, tapping his microphone. No one is laughing at this mishap, somehow.
6:30 p.m.
Now things are quieting down for a panel on free speech, especially regarding the recent Supreme Court decision on the McCutcheon case. Front and center now is Shaun McCutcheon, the Alabama citizen who waged that legal fight.
6:34 p.m.
McCutcheon's introduction of himself as a private citizen was enough to raise applause in this audience. "This has all been real exciting for an electrical engineer from Alabama," McCutcheon explained. "It's about your right to spend your money on as many candidates, committees, and parties that you choose in this free country. That's what it's about," he said, to further applause.
6:36 p.m.
David Bossie of Citizens United described how the case had overturned limits set by the McCain-Feingold Act. He described sitting next to John McCain in the Supreme Court, when the court announced his victory as a "lot of fun."
6:41 p.m.
Small technical difficulty here. Back to the discussion! The panel was speaking on how democrat-backed measures to limit campaign contributions are motivated on a desire to "silence all conservatives." Further discussion described how liberals have two strong voices at their advantage which republicans lack: unions and the media.
6:46 p.m.
I think the media representative next to me in the stands would be offended by the idea that the media is beholden to liberal viewpoints. He has no computer, and is carrying a single book: "The Constitution of the United States of America and Selected Writings of the Founding Fathers." The thing looks heavy, beloved. Its edges are gilded.
6:48 p.m.
Reince Priebus, RNC Committee chairman, started his speech off with a bang. "You ready to fire Mary Landrieu or what? Better than that - you ready to fire Harry Reed? You ready to take back the U.S. Senate?" Priebus said. The room erupted.
Update on what I described an hour ago as an empty room: the Grand Ballroom is now packed, with attendees who couldn't find seats standing in the back.
6:52 p.m.
Priebus leads a moving story about taking his son to the World War II monument in Washington D.C. into an argument that the United States has lost sight of the freedoms it fought for in that war. Priebus said the GOP is waging that fight still -- the fight for freedom, "Freedom that this president is squandering."
"Here we are in 2014 in a battle for freedom."
6:56 p.m.
Priebus says the party needs to become a four-year party, not a party that he described as towing to those candidates it endorses a "U-haul...of cash." He described how democrats seek to register voters years ahead of elections. "We have to be a national party," he said.
6:59 p.m.
Reibus described the primary system as a "total disaster" and the round of debates a potential president mus speak at a "traveling circus."
7:00 p.m.
In an anecdote about his background in Wisconsin, Reibus declared himself a Packers fan, to huge boos. Way to go, Louisiana spirit! Who dat.
7:03 p.m.
Reibus ended the speech with the major take-away. "We need to save this country and win in 2016."
7:04 p.m.
Jindal up, with special spotlight lighting and a standing ovation. He starts out promising to describe "the biggest most important challenge facing our country." A voice in the audience called out "Common Core!" His speech rolled on, regardless.
Jindal said the biggest challenge was how President Barack Obama has left a legacy that included "the redefinition of the American dream." He said that in America, "the circumstances of your birth don't determine your outcomes as an adult." That is the American Dream, as Jindal defined it.
But he said that Obama has altered it by supporting redistribution programs, a program he said is "not about equality of opportunity. It's about equality of outcomes."
"His answer to every problem is more government spending, more redistribution. That's not the American dream, that's the American nightmare."
7:09 p.m.
Jindal describes how his father grew up in poverty, but worked to give him and his brother a "better chance in life."
Quoting Mark Twain ("The older you get, the smarter your parents become"), Jindal described how his father's lessons about working hard to earn a better quality of life has made him successful.
"My dad was exactly right when he told us it was so important to get a great education," Jindal said.
Will Common Core come up after all?
7:13 p.m.
Jindal described how the state has made reforms to ensure education for all children, what he called a "moral imperative." He described the importance of placing good teachers in classrooms.
First step: "Why don't we start paying them, hiring them, and firing them, based on how well they're doing instead of how long they've been breathing in the classroom," Jindal said. "In Louisiana we've done that."
Second step: "We've said that dollars should follow the child instead of making the child follow the dollars." He described the choices available to students in Orleans Parish selecting between charter schools.
He said the program's received a 93% approval rating from parents and that he valued that rating. "I'm here to tell you that parents are the first and best educators. We need to trust the American people."
7:19 p.m.
And it's out: "I'm against the Common Core," he said.
Jindal said he felt there was something "fundamentally wrong" when the federal government does not accept a state program that received a 93% approval rating from parents. He said the program reflects a belief that "they know best they don't need to listen to parents."
He compared it to legislation proposed by New York Mayor Bloomberg that would have regulated soda sizes, as though "we're not smart enough to decide what size soda we should be drinking."
7:24 p.m.
Jindal described what he saw as another major priority, what he described as a government "assault on our religious liberty" Referencing the Hobby Lobby case in our "increasingly secular society," Jindal said he would prioritize religious liberty. "America did not create religious liberty. Religious liberty created America."
7:28 p.m.
Jindal referenced upcoming speaker, Phil Robertson, of Duck Dynasty and described how when Robertson came under fire for controversial remarks against homosexuals and African-Americans, Jindal rose to become one of Robertson's "loudest and earliest defenders." He said he did not defend Robertson because they shared the same home state, but because he was "tired of those who say they're for tolerance...unless you happen to disagree with them."
7:30 p.m.
Jindal wrapped-up speech to wild, wild applause and a standing ovation that is...yes...still going.
7:36 p.m.
Private press conference with Jindal. He compared bureacratic mishandling of veteran healthcare to bureaucratic incompetence he says the state saw after the BP oil well explosion in 2010.
7:40 p.m.
Jindal now speaking in conference about Common Core, which he has spoken strongly against, surviving in the state legislature [ http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/05/louisiana_senate_common_core_v.html ]. He says the legislature still has a chance before a Monday deadline to find a way to "at the very least...delay" the implementation. Past that point, he said, he is "looking at all possibilities we can take if the legislature does not act." Jindal said he has "staff and attorneys looking at those different actions."
And he described what he saw was important about halting what he called a "one-size fits all standards and test."
"The arrogance here -- here's what's amazing to me: you got folks who think they know best who aren't listening to parents."
7:48 p.m.
Jindal says he won't make a decision about running for president until after the mid-term elections. "It's something that we're certainly thinking about and were praying about," Jindal said. "My wife and I, we wont make any decisions until after the November elections."
8:02 p.m.
Sarah Palin pops up on stage to major applause. "I was just in the neighborhood. I heard a duck calling. And it was mixed up with a little tune of common sense. And some major going rogue."
It's clear now who she is set to introduce: Phil Robertson.
She described the Duck Dynasty patriarch as a "self-made entrepreneur" akin to those who formed America, an "educator and a church elder who inspires others to be bold and to embrace family."
"His life is a testament to those truths, to...get off your butt to make a buck," Palin said, seemingly channeling the Robertson family's evocative language.
But Palin went deeper than cheeky language, referencing what might unfold to be Robertson's political future. "Maybe he should be not just the Duck Commander. How about a Duck Commander in Chief?"
Applause.
8:12 p.m.
Aha - it's not Robertson! It's Zach Dasher, a nephew of Phil Robertson, speaking of "how we can reclaim America."
He warns his speech might not be politically correct...
8:19 p.m.
Robertson is up now. He started by setting himself apart from the other speakers. First, he was wearing camoflauge pants for hunting and what was perhaps a polar fleece. "I have on the very best clothes I own," he said. "I never got around to buying a suit. Louisiana Tech gave me one for traveling ball games i dont know whatever happened to it...I just never really found the need for one. I've never owned a ring or a watch or a cell phone. And I've never turned on a computer in my life."
"I'm a C + man," he said, then embarked on a joke. "Hey, I'm smarter than half of them!"
Laughter and applause.
"And some of you are saying are you some kind of idiot. Actually I'm a multi-millionaire and I'm famous so shut up and sit down."
And more laughter and applause. This man is popular in this crowd. And no wonder: he's sort of kind of popular in America. Number one show on cable.
"That means," Robertson said. "You can do without a whole lot of things and still make it."
Applause.
8:23 p.m.
On the show's matriarch, Kay, and why Robertson is not "running around" with long-legged Hollywood types. "It's biblical," he said. "One man one woman for life."
Robertson re-iterated his belief in a Christian society. He reads a 1983 Senate and US House resolution authorizing the president to designate 1983 as the national year of the Bible. Reading it, he sounds very much like the preacher he has publicly become for so many millions of Americans, slowing down to pronounce the word "God" as fully as it could be said.
He read from speeches and prayers written by George Washington, which cited religion, and a speech by John Adams. "It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles on which freedom can securely stand...You lose your religion, you lose your morality, and you lose your freedom," he said, quoting Adams.
8:29 p.m.
Robertson addressed the question of the day: why he, a reality TV star, had been invited to the political event. "I'm not a political person I guess the GOP may be more desperate than I thought to call somebody like me," Robertson said, to laughter.
He described how he had already laid down to sleep -- about a foot away from a firearm ("I'm always this close to firepower," he said, reaching out about half as far as his arm could go), when his house got the call. His brother asked if he would be willing to speak at the GOP. "I said, book it."
"Religion is the basis and foundation of your government," Robertson said, quoting Madison, and reiterating his central point: that the state should be more closely tied to the church, or not separated at all.
8:34 pm.
Though he has delivered controversial remarks on race previously, Robertson's point on the subject tonight was inclusive and difficult to argue with; he hammered home a point of racial unity. "There is one race on this planet it's called the human race. Therefore you have no right to color-code anyone. No one we're all of the same family....the color of your skin does not determine the character of your person."
8:35 p.m.
I don't know exactly what photographer Chris Granger will shoot of this conference, but I am visually enchanted by Robertson's flowing Santa beard -- even more so in person than I am when watching it on Duck Dynasty. It looks cleaner here than when he goes beaver hunting, however. Very white-ish gray.
8:37 p.m.
Calls White House "lies" "evil and wicked." Says the executive office is "downright embarrassing." He preached a return to the values established by the founding fathers. Since the nation was founded, he said, "We screwed it up."
8:38 p.m.
"Education is useless without the bible," Robertson said. He quoted Noah Webster saying that the bible was a useful textbook for all fields in life.
8:39 p.m.
Robertson said that in the wake of the GQ article that raised a storm of controversy, he had endured an oppression that made him feel closer to Jesus Christ. "I quoted him a bible verse," he said, referring to the reporter. He asked the audience what they thought had come since he had made those statements. Then answered his own question: "Hatred came my way. Exclusion came my way. Insolence came my way. Rejection came my way. You know what Jesus said when that comes your way? Rejoice and be glad."
Applause.
8:43 p.m.
By allowing the bible in classrooms, Robertson said crime could be prevented. He said he wondered that if children were taught to "love your neighbor," if they would ever engage in shootings.
8:44 p.m.
He summarized his points, saying he was against the separation of church and state. "Separation of church and state? I'm telling you right here what the founding fathers said. Does it sound to you like separating God almighty from the United States of America?"
8:47 p.m.
Robertson blasted the GOP for not being close enough to the church -- a point that caused a long, standing ovation. "You can't be right for America if you're wrong with God," he said.
8:49 p.m.
Speaking strongly against abortion, Robertson still made a point to reach out to the women in the audience who he said might have been "guilty" of the sin of committing an abortion. "The blood of Jesus is sufficient to remove that sin," he said.
8:50 p.m.
A point of lightness... On the point that his religious speech might make him "some kind of preacher": "Do I look like a preacher?...We're not passing the plate or the hat!"
His cure for the GOP? "You want to turn the Republican party around get godly."
He spoke against the possibility of evolution, which he said the discovery of DNA had proved was wrong. He called the idea we had "crawled out of the ocean" was "bunk."
8:55 p.m.
He transitioned into leading a kind of prayer, addressing God with bowed head. Many in the audience followed along. "I pray for my country father we have really screwed this thing out. We started out with you - full of faith...Help us turn our country around."
"Give us strength, give us courage, above all father give us love each day."
And now a simple ending.
"Amen. I'm done."
A standing ovation.
8:58 p.m.
Ben Sasse, the republican Senate nominee for Nebraska, has the tough job of following Robertson while the audience clears. "That is a tough act to follow as you might imagine," Sasse said.
9:02 p.m.
I would gauge half the audience here for Robertson has left. Empty rows.
9:05 p.m.
He says he's here to give a report on what he experienced in Nebraska on a campaign bus, where he says he heard Americans speak against a strong federal government that infringes on the values held outside of Washington D.C. But they also speak against politicians who only speak against federal measures without proposing alternatives. As an example, he described a privatized healthcare insurance alternative to Obama's Affordable Care Act. "They want us to propose actual solutions," he said. "We have to explain what we're for."
9:31 p.m.
Sasse admitted (ooh!) to speaking to Democrats, and defended that decision. "We want to win them to the right side for our future."
"The original thinking in PNG, given the facts and figures around sexually transmitted infections and unwanted teen pregnancies - behavioural information - certainly gave us the idea that we were heading towards a sub-Saharan African style epidemic," UNAIDS country co-ordinator Stuart Watson said.
But that generalised epidemic has not happened.
Instead, the virus has been localised to the Highlands, Morobe Province, and the National Capital District.
High-risk communities include sex workers, men who have sex with men and transgender people, as well as those who travel for their work.
Margaret Anton, president of Women Affected by HIV/AIDS, is one of an estimated 25,000 Papua New Guineans living with HIV.
And like many she has faced discrimination from family and friends.
"When people found out I was HIV positive, when I had TB, they didn't want anything to do with me," she said.
"Sometimes I would spend nights on the road, for shelter I would find a tree to sleep under."
Columnist suggests HIV prison
That sort of discrimination even finds a voice in the country's mainstream media.
Timothy Pirinduo is a columnist in PNG's only locally-owned newspaper.
He believes HIV was created in a lab by crazy scientists, and wants new laws to make HIV testing compulsory.
"Once we identify those with HIV/AIDS, then we can separate them from those who are not affected," he said.
"Separating them would be like keeping them in a confinement, kind of a prison kind of set-up."
While Mr Pirinduo's HIV prison is just an idea, deadly preaching is a reality.
Pastor Godfrey Wippon heads PNG's Revival Centres and says his is the fastest growing religious movement in the country.
"It is growing because of healings, miracles, wonders, science happening in this ministry. The Lord heals," he said.
On a beach in Port Moresby, revivalists gather to sing and watch as new recruits are baptised and speak in tongues.
Pastor Wippon believes baptism and prayer can cure AIDS and even bring the dead back to life.
Revival church responsible for death: activist
Health workers have told the ABC revivalists visit hospitals and clinics telling HIV patients to throw away their medication.
In a case that shocked many, one of PNG's first openly HIV-positive women, Helen Samilo, fell prey to the revivalist message.
Even though she was working as an advocate for anti-retroviral treatment, Ms Samilo joined a revivalist church, stopped taking medication, and died in August last year.
""It's just the revival church that told her not to take her medication. They are responsible for her death," Ms Anton, a friend of Ms Samilo, said."
Pastor Wippon sees Ms Samilo's death differently.
"It's just the revival church that told her not to take her medication. They are responsible for her death," Margaret Anton, president of Women Affected by HIV/AIDS, PNG
"She has been healed spiritually. She died physically, naturally. But spiritually she's right with the Lord," he said.
The mainstream churches in PNG are working with the United Nations and non-government organisations to help people access services.
Catholic archbishop John Ribat is a member of the Christian Leaders Alliance.
"Our concern as churches is to come together to address this HIV and AIDS and fight against the discrimination that continues to divide us," he said.
That division and discrimination has also created enclaves of hope.
Ms Anton and philanthropic businesswoman Veronica Charlie are planning to build a permanent care centre to accommodate 50 people ostracised by their communities.
These men, women and children currently sleep in tents or in the open and rely on charity to survive.
For Ms Anton, helping others with HIV is part of positive living.
"I started seeing that God did preserve me, probably for my little boy, probably because I'm going to work along with this wonderful woman who has decided to take us along and build a care centre," she said.
"Using my status I've decided to come out openly and publicly so that I want to be a voice for women out here who have been through stigma and discrimination."
Virginia Has Banned Child Marriage. Yes, It Still Exists In The U.S. Previously, 13-year-olds could get married if they had parental consent and were pregnant.
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