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----------- re:disarmers try again in DC,,not a state ~WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will decide whether the District of Columbia can ban handguns, a case that could produce the most in-depth examination of the constitutional right to "keep and bear arms" in nearly 70 years. The justices' decision to hear the case could make the divisive debate over guns an issue in the 2008 presidential and congressional elections. City officials said the law is designed to reduce gun violence, noting that four out of every five homicides this year was committed with a gun. Opponents of the ban pointed to the level of violence to make their case that Washington residents should be allowed to have guns to protect themselves in their homes. "This is clearly going to be one of the biggest ... cases decided this year," said Georgetown University law professor Randy Barnett. "It is one of the very few times when the Supreme Court has the opportunity to interpret a provision of the Constitution ... unencumbered by previous Supreme Court rulings." The government of Washington, D.C., is asking the court to uphold its 31-year ban on handgun ownership in the face of a federal appeals court ruling that struck down the ban as incompatible with the Second Amendment. Tuesday's announcement was widely expected, especially after both the District and the man who challenged the handgun ban asked for the high court review. The main issue before the justices is whether the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to own guns or instead merely sets forth the collective right of states to maintain militias. The former interpretation would permit fewer restrictions on gun ownership. Gun-control advocates say the Second Amendment was intended to ensure that states could maintain militias, a response to 18th-century fears of an all-powerful national government. Gun rights proponents contend the amendment gives individuals the right to keep guns for private uses, including self-defense. Alan Gura, a lawyer for Washington residents who challenged the ban, said he was pleased that the justices were considering the case. Guns be regulated but not banned, Gura said. "This isn't going to let crazy people have guns or felons have guns," he said at a news conference outside the court. Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, noted that 44 state constitutions contain some form of gun rights, which are not affected by the court's consideration of Washington's restrictions. "The American people know this is an individual right the way they know that water quenches their thirst," LaPierre said. "The Second Amendment allows no line to be drawn between individuals and their firearms." Washington Mayor Adrian M. Fenty said city officials were grateful the Supreme Court took the handguns case and believed they would ultimately prevail. Fenty, speaking at a news conference in a District office building, called it "the most important court case the District of Columbia has been involved in and possibly the most important decision a city or state has been involved in for decades." Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said the Supreme Court should "reverse a clearly erroneous decision and make it clear that the Constitution does not prevent communities from having the gun laws they believe are needed to protect public safety." Barnett, the Georgetown professor, said that even if the court decides there is an individual right to have guns, it still could determine that broad restrictions short of a ban are legal. Such a decision won't "automatically determine the outcome of any challenge to any gun law," Barnett said. Arguments probably will be in March, with a decision expected before the end of June. A ruling could energize people on both sides of the issue for the fall campaigns. Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, who as New York mayor sued the gun industry for letting criminals get guns, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press that the case "is a very, very strong description of how important personal liberties are in this country and how we have to respect them." Giuliani now says the Second Amendment gives citizens the right to own handguns and is not, as he previously argued, limited to the rights of states to maintain citizen militias. The last Supreme Court ruling on the topic came in 1939 in U.S. v. Miller, which involved a sawed-off shotgun. That decision supported the collective rights view, but it did not squarely answer the question in the view of many constitutional scholars. Chief Justice John Roberts said at his confirmation hearing that the correct reading of the Second Amendment was "still very much an open issue." The Second Amendment reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Washington banned handguns in 1976, saying it was designed to reduce violent crime in the nation's capital. The City Council that adopted the ban said it was justified because "handguns have no legitimate use in the purely urban environment of the District of Columbia." The District is making several arguments in defense of the restriction, including claiming that the Second Amendment involves militia service. It also said the ban is constitutional because it limits the choice of firearms but does not prohibit residents from owning any guns at all. Rifles and shotguns are legal, if kept under lock or disassembled. Businesses may have guns for protection. Chicago has a similar handgun ban, but few other gun-control laws are as strict as the District's. Four states - Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland and New York - urged the Supreme Court to take the case because broad application of the appeals court ruling would threaten "all federal and state laws restricting access to firearms." Dick Anthony Heller, 65, an armed security guard, sued the District after it rejected his application to keep a handgun at his home - about a mile from the court - for protection. The laws in question in the case do not "merely regulate the possession of firearms," Heller said. Instead, they "amount to a complete prohibition of the possession of all functional firearms within the home." If the Second Amendment gives individuals the right to have guns, "the laws must yield," he said. Opponents say the ban plainly has not worked because guns still are readily available, through legal and illegal means. Although the city's homicide rate has declined dramatically since peaking in the early 1990s, Washington still ranks among the nation's highest murder cities. According to the District's medical examiner, there were 177 homicides in 2006. Of those, 135 were firearm-related. In 1976, the medical examiner said that 135 of the District's 207 homicides were firearm-related, according to a Washington Post article from that era. The U.S. Court Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 for Heller in March. Judge Laurence Silberman said reasonable regulations still could be permitted but that the ban went too far. The Bush administration, which has endorsed individual gun-ownership rights, has yet to weigh in on the case. The case is District of Columbia v. Heller, 07-290. ___ Associated Press writer Stephen Manning contributed to this report. (This version CORRECTS the year of the gun ban to 1976.)~
------------ re:mclellan tries to cover his hindermost parts by blaming and claiming,,but stays quiet ~Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan blames President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for efforts to mislead the public about the role of White House aides in leaking the identity of a CIA operative. In an excerpt from his forthcoming book, McClellan recounts the 2003 news conference in which he told reporters that aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby were "not involved" in the leak involving operative Valerie Plame. "There was one problem. It was not true," McClellan writes, according to a brief excerpt released Tuesday. "I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest-ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff and the president himself." Bush's chief of staff at the time was Andrew Card. The excerpt, posted on the Web site of publisher PublicAffairs, renews questions about what went on in the West Wing and how much Bush and Cheney knew about the leak. For years, it was McClellan's job to field - and often duck - those types of questions. Now that he's spurring them, answers are equally hard to come by. White House press secretary Dana Perino said it wasn't clear what McClellan meant in the excerpt and she had no immediate comment. McClellan turned down interview requests Tuesday. McClellan's book, "What Happened," isn't due out until April, and the excerpt released Monday was merely a teaser. It doesn't get into detail about how Bush and Cheney were involved or reveal what happened behind the scenes. In the fall of 2003, after authorities began investigating the leak, McClellan told reporters that he'd personally spoken to Rove, who was Bush's top political adviser, and Libby, who was Cheney's chief of staff. "They're good individuals, they're important members of our White House team, and that's why I spoke with them, so that I could come back to you and say that they were not involved," McClellan said at the time. Both men, however, were involved. Rove was one of the original sources for the newspaper column that identified Plame. Libby also spoke to reporters about the CIA officer and was convicted of lying about those discussions. He is the only person to be charged in the case. Since that news conference, however, the official White House stance has shifted and it has been difficult to get a clear picture of what happened behind closed doors around the time of the leak. McClellan's flat denials gave way to a steady drumbeat of "no comment." And Bush's original pledge to fire anyone involved in the leak became a promise to fire anyone who "committed a crime." In a CNN interview earlier this year, McClellan made no suggestion that Bush knew either Libby or Rove was involved in the leak. McClellan said his statements to reporters were what he and the president "believed to be true at the time based on assurances that we were both given." Bush most recently addressed the issue in July after commuting Libby's 30-month prison term. He acknowledged that some in the White House were involved in the leak. Then, after repeatedly declining to discuss the ongoing investigation, he said the case was closed and it was time to move on.~ ------------- re:dem folks attacking bush again over war funding,,murtha points out effectiveness of 'osamas mo-ist' plans ~Obey and Murtha convened the rare recess-week news conference to counter Pentagon reports that the military will have to take drastic steps next month if it doesn't get the money soon. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Friday signed a memo ordering the Army to begin planning for a series of expected cutbacks, including the layoffs of as many as 100,000 civilian employees and another 100,000 civilian contractors, starting as early as January. Obey and Murtha said they calculate the military has enough money to continue operations through March by eating into its $471 billion annual budget. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the military has only limited transfer authority. "Those who think we have some sort of flexibility here are simply misinformed," Whitman told reporters on Tuesday. "We've entered into a very serious period here." Murtha said the Pentagon was issuing "irresponsible" propaganda. "They're scaring people," he said. "They're scaring the families of the troops . . .That's the thing that's so despicable." When asked whether public opinion could eventually turn against Democrats if they hold out too long, Murtha said no because the Pentagon has destroyed credibility. "Go back and look: mission accomplished, al-Qaida connection, weapons of mass destruction," he said. "On and on and on and you'll believe the Pentagon?"~
------------- re:skins cells can be made to act like stem cells ~Stem Cell Breakthrough Uses No Embryos Published: 11/20/07, 12:05 PM EDT By MALCOLM RITTER NEW YORK (AP) - Scientists have made ordinary human skin cells take on the chameleon-like powers of embryonic stem cells, a startling breakthrough that might someday deliver the medical payoffs of embryo cloning without the controversy. Laboratory teams on two continents report success in a pair of landmark papers released Tuesday. It's a neck-and-neck finish to a race that made headlines five months ago, when scientists announced that the feat had been accomplished in mice. The "direct reprogramming" technique avoids the swarm of ethical, political and practical obstacles that have stymied attempts to produce human stem cells by cloning embryos. Scientists familiar with the work said scientific questions remain and that it's still important to pursue the cloning strategy, but that the new work is a major coup. "This work represents a tremendous scientific milestone - the biological equivalent of the Wright Brothers' first airplane," said Dr. Robert Lanza, chief science officer of Advanced Cell Technology, which has been trying to extract stem cells from cloned human embryos. "It's a bit like learning how to turn lead into gold," said Lanza, while cautioning that the work is far from providing medical payoffs. "It's a huge deal," agreed Rudolf Jaenisch, a prominent stem cell scientist at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Mass. "You have the proof of principle that you can do it." The White House lauded the papers, saying such research is what President Bush was advocating when he twice vetoed legislation to pave the way for taxpayer-funded embryo research. There is a catch with the new technique. At this point, it requires disrupting the DNA of the skin cells, which creates the potential for developing cancer. So it would be unacceptable for the most touted use of embryonic cells: creating transplant tissue that in theory could be used to treat diseases like diabetes, Parkinson's, and spinal cord injury. But the DNA disruption is just a byproduct of the technique, and experts said they believe it can be avoided. The new work is being published online by two journals, Cell and Science. The Cell paper is from a team led by Dr. Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University; the Science paper is from a team led by Junying Yu, working in the lab of in stem-cell pioneer James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Both reported creating cells that behaved like stem cells in a series of lab tests. Thomson, 48, made headlines in 1998 when he announced that his team had isolated human embryonic stem cells. Yamanaka gained scientific notice in 2006 by reporting that direct reprogramming in mice had produced cells resembling embryonic stem cells, although with significant differences. In June, his group and two others announced they'd created mouse cells that were virtually indistinguishable from stem cells. For the new work, the two men chose different cell types from a tissue supplier. Yamanaka reprogrammed skin cells from the face of an unidentified 36-year-old woman, and Thomson's team worked with foreskin cells from a newborn. Thomson, who was working his way from embryonic to fetal to adult cells, said he's still analyzing his results with adult cells. Both labs did basically the same thing. Each used viruses to ferry four genes into the skin cells. These particular genes were known to turn other genes on and off, but just how they produced cells that mimic embryonic stem cells is a mystery. "People didn't know it would be this easy," Thomson said. "Thousands of labs in the United States can do this, basically tomorrow." The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which holds three patents for Thomson's work, is applying for patents involving his new research, a spokeswoman said. Two of the four genes he used were different from Yamanaka's recipe. Scientists prize embryonic stem cells because they can turn into virtually any kind of cell in the body. The cloning approach - which has worked so far only in mice and monkeys - should be able to produce stem cells that genetically match the person who donates body cells for cloning. That means tissue made from the cells should be transplantable into that person without fear of rejection. Scientists emphasize that any such payoff would be well in the future, and that the more immediate medical benefits would come from basic research in the lab. In fact, many scientists say the cloning technique has proven too expensive and cumbersome in its current form to produce stem cells routinely for transplants. The new work shows that the direct reprogramming technique can also produce versatile cells that are genetically matched to a person. But it avoids several problems that have bedeviled the cloning approach. For one thing, it doesn't require a supply of unfertilized human eggs, which are hard to obtain for research and subjects the women donating them to a surgical procedure. Using eggs also raises the ethical questions of whether women should be paid for them. In cloning, those eggs are used to make embryos from which stem cells are harvested. But that destroys the embryos, which has led to political opposition from President Bush, the Roman Catholic church and others. Those were "show-stopping ethical problems," said Laurie Zoloth, director of Northwestern University's Center for Bioethics, Science and Society. The new work, she said, "redefines the ethical terrain." Richard Doerflinger of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called the new work "a very significant breakthrough in finding morally unproblematic alternatives to cloning. ... I think this is something that would be readily acceptable to Catholics." White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the new method does not cross what Bush considers an "ethical line." And Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, a staunch opponent of publicly funded embryonic stem cell research, said it should nullify the debate. Another advantage of direct reprogramming is that it would qualify for federal research funding, unlike projects that seek to extract stem cells from human embryos, noted Doug Melton, co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. Still, scientific questions remain about the cells produced by direct reprogramming, called "iPS" cells. One is how the cells compare to embryonic stem cells in their behavior and potential. Yamanaka said his work detected differences in gene activity. If they're different, iPS cells might prove better for some scientific uses and cloned stem cells preferable for other uses. Scientists want to study the roots of genetic disease and screen potential drug treatments in their laboratories, for example. Scottish researcher Ian Wilmut, famous for his role in cloning Dolly the sheep a decade ago, told London's Daily Telegraph that he is giving up the cloning approach to produce stem cells and plans to pursue direct reprogramming instead. Other scientists said it's too early for the field to follow Wilmut's lead. Cloning embryos to produce stem cells remains too valuable as a research tool, Jaenisch said. Dr. George Daley of the Harvard institute, who said his own lab has also achieved direct reprogramming of human cells, said it's not clear how long it will take to get around the cancer risk problem. Nor is it clear just how direct reprogramming works, or whether that approach mimics what happens in cloning, he noted. So the cloning approach still has much to offer, he said. Daley, who's president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, said his lab is pursuing both strategies. "We'll see, ultimately, which one works and which one is more practical." ___ Associated Press writer Laurie Kellman contributed to this report from Washington. ___ On the Net: Journal Cell: http://www.cell.com Journal Science: http://www.sciencemag.org ~ ------------- re:straight whites fingered as cause for most hate crimes http://apnews.excite.com/article/20071120/D8T17SN00.html ~The FBI report does not break out the number of noose incidents but the two most frequent hate crimes in 2006 were property damage or vandalism, at 2,911 offenses, and intimidation, at 2,046 offenses. There were 3 murders, 6 rapes, 860 aggravated assaults, 1,447 simple assaults and 41 arsons. Other offenses included robbery, burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft. The 7,722 hate crime incidents involved 9,080 specific criminal offenses, include 5,449 against individuals, 3,593 against property and 38 classified as against society at large. A single incident can be aimed at both people and property. Since the FBI began collecting hate crime data in 1991, the most frequent motivation has been racial bias, accounting for 51.8 percent of incidents in 2006, down from the 54.7 in 2005. Also in 2006, religious bias was blamed for 18.9 percent of the incidents; sexual orientation bias for 15.5 percent, and ethnic or national origin - for 12.7 percent. "This FBI report confirms ... that hate crimes protections for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community are long overdue," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a civil rights group. Solmonese called on Congress to pass pending legislation that would expand the federal hate crime statute to cover crimes motivated by sexual orientation. The law currently covers only crimes based on race, color, religious or national origin. Lack of full participation by the more than 17,000 police agencies around the nation somewhat undermines year-to-year comparisons. For instance, in 2004, 12,711 agencies reported 7,649 incidents. In 2005, only 12,417 agencies reported and incidents dropped 6 percent to 7,163. But in 2006, agencies reporting rose to 12,620 and incidents climbed 7.8 percent to 7,722. In 2006, police identified 7,330 offenders; 58.6 percent white, 20.6 percent black, 12.9 percent race unknown and the rest other races. Thirty-one percent of incidents occurred near residences; 18 percent on roads; 12.2 percent at colleges or schools, 6.1 percent in parking lots or garages, 3.9 percent at churches, synagogues or temples, and the remainder elsewhere.~ FBI report: http://www.fbi.gov/page2/nov07/hatecrime11190 ---------------- re:sharpon pumps up race angst and fist in gesture reminiscent of a 'black power' advocate http://apnews.excite.com/article/20071117/D8SV3R501.html ~'Jena Six' Case Sparks March on DC Nov 16, 8:00 PM (ET) By DEVLIN BARRETT (AP) Rev. Al Sharpton gestures as he speaks prior to the start of the "March Against Hate Crimes,"... WASHINGTON (AP) - Marchers surrounded the Justice Department headquarters on Friday to demand federal intervention in the Jena Six case and stepped-up enforcement of hate crimes. On a chilly but clear day, busloads of people packed a downtown plaza to protest charges brought against six black teens accused of beating a white high school student in Jena, La. Tensions between black and white students had run high for weeks in Jena, including an incident where a noose was hung from a tree at school. No one was charged with a crime for hanging the noose. "They need to deem these things hate crimes when it's necessary and obvious," said protester Letrice Titus, 32, of Syracuse, N.Y. Organizers said more than 100 busloads of people turned out for the protest. The city police department declined to estimate the crowd's size, per its policy. The march, organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton, came only a few days into the tenure of new Attorney General Michael Mukasey, a former federal judge. Mukasey issued a statement saying his agency is working with state and local police and civil rights groups to "investigate aggressively dozens of noose-hangings and other recent racially and religiously motivated" crimes. The Jena case has angered blacks who say noose-hanging incidents should be forcefully prosecuted. Lax prosecution, they charge, has led to other, similar incidents since the Jena case came to light. "Anytime there's a hate crime the Justice Department should prosecute, and a noose is certainly a hate crime," said Martin Luther King III, son of the famous civil rights leader. Federal prosecutors have said they are actively investigating multiple noose incidents, but did not pursue charges in the Jena case because it involved minors. In the last year, the department said it has won 189 convictions on civil rights charges, the largest number in its history. Five of the Jena teens initially were charged with attempted second-degree murder in a local court. Those charges were later reduced. Mychal Bell is the only one of the six to stand trial. He was convicted in June of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy. The convictions were later overturned and the case sent to juvenile court. A state judge agreed Friday to open Bell's juvenile trial to the public. Bell, now 17, was ordered to jail last month for a probation violation in an unrelated juvenile case.~ -Black Power sharpie -------------- re:8 & 9 yr olds charged w/rape of 11 yr old ~Ga. Boys Ages 8 and 9 Charged With Rape Published: 11/20/07, 9:25 AM EDT By SHANNON McCAFFREY ACWORTH, Ga. (AP) - Three boys, ages 8 and 9, were being held Monday in a detention center on charges of kidnapping and raping an 11-year-old girl near a suburban apartment complex, officials said. The alleged attack happened Thursday and the girl's mother reported it to authorities Sunday, Acworth police Capt. Wayne Dennard said. "The victim said they were playing outdoors and the girl was forced into a wooded area where she was sexually assaulted, where one of the boys raped her," Dennard told The Associated Press. The three boys - an 8-year-old and two 9-year-olds - appeared in juvenile court Monday afternoon, dwarfed by the courtroom chairs and wearing navy blue jump suits and shackles. Their names were withheld because of their age. Cobb County District Attorney Pat Head said the boys could not be charged with felony crimes because of their age but could be tried for alleged delinquent acts that could place them in a juvenile facility for up to five years. The next step will be for the court to schedule a hearing to determine how to proceed in the case, Head said. Juvenile Court Judge A. Gregory Poole issued a gag order preventing the lawyers from commenting further. Acworth Police Chief Mike Wilkie said one of the boys was accused of threatening to hit the girl with a rock before the alleged assault. Wilkie also said the investigation is "far from over," and investigators are looking into claims that after the alleged attack, the girl talked about it with her friends at a slumber party. The girl's mother told WGCL-TV in Atlanta, "They do need to be taught a lesson because if they do it to her, they could do it to somebody else. And who knows when they become teenagers what they can do to other girls." The case involves children from a working class apartment complex. Acworth, 30 miles northwest of Atlanta along the shores of Lake Allatoona, is a town of about 17,000. Acworth police said their department has never before investigated allegations of rape where all the parties were this young. "This wouldn't be normal anywhere, but especially not Acworth," Dennard said.~
-------------- re:forced vaccinations a preview of 'mandatory health care' ~UPPER MARLBORO, Maryland (CNN) - A crowd of frustrated parents gathered on a chilly Saturday morning outside Prince George's County Circuit Court to comply with an order from the school system to have their children vaccinated -- or else. Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn Ivey, whose office began the effort, was at the courthouse to answer questions. Judge C. Philip Nichols, who signed the letters threatening parents with jail or fines, said he felt the tactic worked. "We got a thousand kids back in school just by sending one letter," he said. Nichols ordered parents to come to court Saturday to either immunize the children on the spot, or to provide proof that they already had their shots, according to The Associated Press. Families who failed to comply could face 10 to 30 days in jail. "[The schools] started out with phone calls, even home visits, and this became a last resort for parents who wouldn't comply one way or another," Ivey said. All states require school-age children to be immunized against diseases such as mumps, measles and polio. But the parents said they objected to the heavy-handed way Ivey has handled the issue. Families could opt out of the required shots by providing medical or religious waivers. Citing cases of serious adverse reactions, some parents worry about the safety of vaccines. "The patient should have a choice. I just don't think Big Brother should have that much power," said Donna Hurlock, a physician and activist concerned about parental rights and privacy issues. Watch experts with opposing views debate mandatory vaccinations ~ -------------- re:Abuse Risk Seen Worse As Families Change (focus on men) ~Every case is different, every family is different. Some single mothers bring men into their lives who lovingly help raise children when the biological father is gone for good. Nonetheless, many scholars and front-line caseworkers interviewed by The Associated Press see the abusive-boyfriend syndrome as part of a broader trend that deeply worries them. They note an ever-increasing share of America's children grow up in homes without both biological parents, and say the risk of child abuse is markedly higher in the nontraditional family structures. "This is the dark underbelly of cohabitation," said Brad Wilcox, a sociology professor at the University of Virginia. "Cohabitation has become quite common, and most people think, 'What's the harm?' The harm is we're increasing a pattern of relationships that's not good for children."~ -------------- re:liberty dollars ~Federal agents raided the headquarters of a group that produces illegal currency and puts it in circulation, seizing gold, silver and two tons of copper coins featuring Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul. Agents also took records, computers and froze the bank accounts at the "Liberty Dollar" headquarters during the Thursday raid, Bernard von NotHaus, founder of the National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve Act & Internal Revenue Code, said in a posting on the group's Web site. The organization, which is critical of the Federal Reserve, has repeatedly clashed with the federal government, which contends that the gold, silver and copper coins it produces are illegal. NORFED claims its Liberty Dollars are inflation free and can restore stability to financial markets by allowing commerce based on a currency that does not fluctuate in value like the U.S. dollar. "They're running scared right now and they had to do something," von NotHaus told The Associated Press Friday. "I'm volunteering to meet the agents and get arrested so we can thrash this out in court."~
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/09/AR2006100900993.html http://libertydollararrest.blogspot.com/ ~Some police agencies use what is called "community policing" wherein they try to solve problems in the community -- not create them by "pencil whipping" innocent, well-meaning people like Shaun and Lana. If someone has no criminal intent, and no real harm has been done, why go to such great lengths to "punish" the guy? This is not community policing, and it's not problem solving. What it is, however, is stirring up business and profit for the town, county, and state. That's right -- those thousands upon thousands of dollars charged to the real victims (those arrested) for bond go somewhere -- probably in some pockets too. They go to build big, fancy, marble-walled courthouses that can handle hundreds of other victims each day as well. It all comes down to business and money. This is why cops are out issuing tickets instead of fighting criminals like violent gang members.~ http://www.ashevillelibertydollar.com/ ~"In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation... Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the 'hidden' confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process." -- Alan Greenspan~ http://www.ashevillelibertydollar.com/legal.htm http://www.liberty-auctions.com/ http://proliberty.com/observer/20021210.htm ~Most IO readers understand how the passage of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, which authorized a cabal of private bankers to monopolize our economy through the issuance of faith-based paper money, has been systematically bankrupting the American people. However, while most of us will boycott this product or that company in protest of its negative impact on our way of life, we still use exclusively the medium of exchange most responsible for the devolution of our national economic viability -- the Federal Reserve Auditing Unit Dollar (FRAUD). We won't see a restoration of our constitutional republic until we are rid of the Fed's fraud-based fiat currency. The following articles illustrate how you can begin boycotting the Federal Reserve. It should also be noted that, while most aspects of contemporary activism are a lot like swimming upstream dodging rocks and bears, trading in Liberty Currency is a lot of fun. ~ http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc420.html ~Topic 420 - Bartering Income Bartering occurs when you exchange goods or services without exchanging money. An example of bartering is a plumber doing repair work for a dentist in exchange for dental services. The fair market value of goods and services exchanged must be included in the income of both parties. Income from bartering is taxable in the year in which you receive the goods or services. Generally, you report this income on Form 1040, Schedule C (PDF), Profit or Loss from Business. If you failed to report bartering income on returns you have already filed, you should correct this by filing an amended return, Form 1040X (PDF), for each year involved. For information on amended returns, refer to Topic 308. A barter exchange is any person or organization with members or clients that contract with each other (or with the barter exchange) to jointly trade or barter property or services. The term does not include arrangements that provide solely for the informal exchange of similar services on a noncommercial basis. The Internet has provided a medium for new growth in the bartering exchange industry. This growth prompts the following reminder: Barter exchanges are required to file Form 1099-B for all transactions unless certain exceptions are met. Refer to Barter Exchanges for additional information on this subject.~ -------------- re:iraqi ap photog case ~Tomlin, however, said that freedom for Bilal Hussein, who is not related to the cameraman working for CBS, isn't guaranteed even if the judge rejects the eventual U.S. charges. The military can indefinitely hold suspects considered security risks in Iraq. "Even if he comes out the other side with an acquittal - as we certainly hope and trust that he will - there is no guarantee that he won't go right back into detention as a security risk."~ - re:iraqi refugees ~Syria is home to 1.5 million Iraqi refugees and says the influx has strained its education, health and housing systems, pushing the government to tighten visa requirements and to call for international assistance.~ (THAT'S ALL?? we have 10 times that in mexican illegals alone)
-------------- re:prayers send rain,,story focuses on gloom & doom ~Georgia Gets Rain, but It May Not Help Published: 11/15/07, 12:25 PM EDT By GREG BLUESTEIN ATLANTA (AP) - A storm crashed through the Southeast and brought up to an inch of rain in parts of drought-stricken Georgia, but forecasters said the storm likely did little to ease the state's historic drought. The rain late Wednesday and early Thursday brought some precipitation to the parched hills of northern Georgia. The showers began a day after Gov. Sonny Perdue led a prayer service on the steps of the state Capitol to beg the heavens to end the drought.~ ------------- re:undercover cubans at un -------------- re:deaths up in afghanistan (down in iraq) ~The NATO-led force, meanwhile, said the number of attacks by militants on remote government facilities have dropped by half this year compared with 2006.~ --------------- re:iaea says knowledge lacking,iran balking ~A report from the U.N nuclear watchdog agency on Thursday found Iran to be generally truthful about key aspects of its nuclear history, but it warned that its knowledge of Tehran's present atomic work was shrinking. The International Atomic Energy Agency report, released to its 35 board members, also confirmed that Tehran continued to defy the U.N. Security Council by ignoring its repeated demands to freeze uranium enrichment, a potential pathway to nuclear arms.~ ~Much of the 10-page report made available to The Associated Press focused on the history of Iran's black-market procurements and past development of its enrichment technology - and the agency appeared to be giving Tehran a pass on that issue, repeatedly saying it concludes that "Iran's statements are consistent with ... information available to the agency." A senior U.N. official said that language did not mean that the IAEA's investigation into past enrichment activities was "closed," even though a work plan between the agency and Tehran set November as the deadline for clearing up the issue.~
re:iran ups diagrams for nuke weapons ~But the diplomats said Tehran has failed to meet other requests made by the International Atomic Energy Agency in its attempts to end nearly two decades of nuclear secrecy on the part of Iran. The diplomats spoke to The Associated Press as IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei put the finishing touches on his latest report to his agency's 35-nation board of governors for consideration next week. While ElBaradei is expected to say that Iran has improved its cooperation with his agency's probe, the findings are unlikely to deter the United States, France and Britain from pushing for a third set of U.N. sanctions. The agency has been seeking possession of the blueprints since 2005, when it stumbled upon them among a batch of other documents during its examination of suspect Iranian nuclear activities. While agency inspectors had been allowed to examine them in the country, Tehran had up to now refused to let the IAEA have a copy for closer perusal. Diplomats accredited to the agency, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were divulging confidential information, said the drawings were hand-carried by Mohammad Saeedi, deputy director of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization and handed over last week in Vienna to Oli Heinonen, an ElBaradei deputy in charge of the Iran investigations. Iran maintains it was given the papers without asking for them during its black market purchases of nuclear equipment decades ago that now serve as the backbone of its program to enrich uranium - a process that can generate both power or create the fissile core of nuclear warheads. Iran's refusal to suspend enrichment has been the main trigger for both existing U.N. sanctions and the threat of new ones. Both the IAEA and other experts have categorized the instructions outlined in the blueprints as having no value outside of a nuclear weapons program. While ElBaradei's report is likely to mention the Iranian concession on the drawings and other progress made in clearing up ambiguities in Iran's nuclear activities, it was unclear whether it would also detail examples of what the diplomats said were continued Iranian stonewalling. Senior IAEA officials were refused interviews with at least two top Iranian nuclear officials suspected of possible involvement in a weapons program, they said. One was the leader of a physics laboratory at Lavizan, outside Tehran, which was razed before the agency had a chance to investigate activities there. The other was in charge of developing Iran's centrifuges, used to enrich uranium.~
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re:iranian official charged with espionage ~Iran's former senior nuclear negotiator has been charged with passing classified information to foreigners, including the British Embassy, the Iranian intelligence minister said Wednesday, according to the official IRNA news agency.~ -------------- -------------- re:how mexican election campaigns work
--------------- re:abbas calls for hamas overthrow ~"We have to bring down this bunch that took over Gaza with armed force, and is abusing the sufferings and pains of our people," Abbas said in a speech in Ramallah. The Palestinian leader, who has set up a separate government in the West Bank, previously had not gone beyond demanding that Hamas apologize for overrunning Gaza and reverse the takeover. In his speech, Abbas lashed out against "the outlawed gangs affiliated with Hamas in Gaza City," where forces loyal to the Islamic group opened fire on a mass rally by his Fatah movement on Monday. Eight civilians were killed and dozens were wounded in the strongest Fatah challenge to Hamas rule since the Hamas takeover.~ ~But he demanded that Israel halt all settlement construction, release Palestinian prisoners, and end its assassinations of Palestinian wanted men. Abbas spoke on the 19th anniversary of the Palestinians' declaration of independence at a meeting in Algeria. The declaration has not brought about the establishment of a Palestinian state, but is regarded as important because it implicitly recognized Israel's right to exist.~ ----------------
re:musharrefs #2 a key element ~Pakistan Army No. 2 Will Play Key Role Published: 11/16/07, 1:05 PM EDT By PAUL HAVEN ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan's next army chief owes his meteoric rise to Gen. Pervez Musharraf, but was once a confidant and senior aide to the Pakistani leader's archrival Benazir Bhutto. He is well-known in Washington but has a reputation for keeping his cards close to his chest. One thing is clear: However Pakistan's political crisis unfolds, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani will play a key role in either propping Musharraf up or accelerating his political demise. Musharraf has named the 55-year-old career officer to take control of Pakistan's 600,000-strong armed forces when he gives up his title as army chief, something Musharraf has said he expects to do by the end of this month. But pressure is mounting on Musharraf to go further, by resigning as president and exiting the stage altogether. Musharraf declared emergency rule two weeks ago, disbanding the Supreme Court and jailing thousands of his detractors, including senior political leaders. He has vowed to stay on as a civilian president, though his base of support appears to be thinning, both here and in Western capitals. Analysts say the support of Kayani and the other generals is vital to his political survival. If Musharraf leaves the scene abruptly, Kayani could find himself in control of this nuclear-armed nation on the front lines of the U.S. war on terrorism. And even if Musharraf stays on as a civilian president, he will be reliant on Kayani's military for support. A Western official told The Associated Press that while Kayani is viewed as loyal to Musharraf, "there are limits to his loyalty, and to the loyalty of the other commanders." The official said Kayani would only abandon his former benefactor if Musharraf crosses certain "red lines," such as serious violence against protesters in major cities. Two children and an adult were killed when gunfire broke out during a protest in Karachi on Thursday, the first fatalities since Musharraf's emergency decree. "The military leadership, including Kayani, is not at the point of contemplating a coup," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. "But the red lines have been moving closer. The president is seen increasingly as damaging the reputation of the military." The official said there is little fear that Kayani would attempt to continue the military's eight-year hold on power, preferring to return the army to a behind-the-scenes role. "All the people who know him say he would move as quickly as possible to get a civilian government back, and then stay on as army chief," said the official. Pakistani analysts describe Kayani as an amiable and professional officer, with a modern, pro-Western outlook. When pictured in meetings, the general appears stone-faced and serious, with dark bags under the eyes of a hawkish face. He is known to choose his words carefully, preferring to listen rather than to speak. He studied at the prestigious U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and is an avid golfer and sportsman. He is also a heavy smoker. Kayani was born in the Punjabi district of Jhelum, an impoverished area in what has come to be known as the "Martial Belt" because of the many young men it sends to the military. Like Musharraf, he is said to have used intelligence and ambition to escape relatively humble roots and rise through an army that is otherwise dominated by the children of privileged elites. He served as deputy military secretary under Bhutto during her first term as prime minister in the 1990s. When Musharraf and Bhutto began negotiations on power-sharing this year, Kayani was a go-between. Bhutto said Friday that she had not had an opportunity to meet with Kayani since she returned from self-imposed exile in October. Asked if she trusted him to make a transition to democracy, Bhutto replied: "I respect Gen. Kayani, but i don't like questions of trust because I consider life always as about questions of interests." Kayani was not in Musharraf's inner circle when the general seized power in 1999, but the president's faith in his loyalty is believed to be strong. Musharraf appointed him top commander in the garrison town of Rawalpindi in 2003, a delicate position that has served as a launchpad for coup plotters. It was the commander of Rawalpindi that Pakistan's last dictator, Zia ul-Haq, entrusted with carrying out the details of his 1977 putsch against Benazir Bhutto's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was ultimately hanged. Musharraf tapped Kayani to head a probe into two 2003 al-Qaida-linked assassination attempts on the Pakistani leader's life. Musharraf rewarded Kayani for his investigation - dozens of people were arrested - by putting him in charge of the country's spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, before naming him to the army's No. 2 spot just last month. As spy chief, Kayani met Western leaders and developed a strong rapport with senior officials in the Bush administration. He met last November with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and has also met with senior CIA and Pentagon officials. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who came to Pakistan on Friday to deliver a stern message to Musharraf that he must end emergency rule and free political prisoners, is expected to meet with Kayani and other military leaders. In an interview with the AP on Wednesday, Musharraf said the army had such faith in his leadership that it was impossible that it would move against him. Talat Masood, a former Pakistani general who is now a senior political analyst, said it is anybody's guess whether Kayani - who he described as a "capable officer" - would be willing to turn against his chief benefactor, or could gently persuade him to step down on his own. "This," he said, "is something that no one can tell."~
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re:bhutto moves to next step in plan ~Detained opposition leader Benazir Bhutto said Thursday she hopes to form a national unity government to replace President Gen. Pervez Musharraf ahead of elections, and is contacting other opposition parties to get them on board. "I am talking to the other opposition parties to find out whether they are in a position to come together," she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from the home in Lahore where she is under house arrest. "We need to see whether we can come up with an interim government of national consensus to whom power can be handed." Bhutto left open the question of whether she, or someone else, would lead such a government, saying it was a subject that would have to be worked out in negotiations. But she said a consensus must be reached that would ensure an orderly transition should Musharraf agree to step down. The general has so far refused, telling AP on Wednesday he plans to relinquish his role as army chief by the end of November, heralding a return to civilian rule. So far, he has been successful in keeping Pakistan's quarreling opposition parties divided and he has rejected Western pressure to quickly end the emergency. Deepening the crisis, unidentified protesters opened "indiscriminate gunfire" in Karachi, killing two boys ages 11 and 12, police officer Aslam Gujjar said. They were the first reported deaths in unrest during the state of emergency. Supporters of Bhutto have clashed with police in the same violence-ridden neighborhood since morning. The protesters, angry at Bhutto's house arrest, traded fire with police who also used tear gas to try and disperse them. Police and hospital officials said eight protesters and one policeman suffered gunshot wounds and that firing was continuing. Bhutto made the comments shortly after a visit from Bryan Hunt, the U.S. consul general in the eastern Pakistani city. Hunt was allowed to cross the barricades and heavy police cordon surrounding the house where Bhutto has been confined since Tuesday. He emerged an hour later and said he had told Bhutto of Washington's wish for Musharraf to lift the state of emergency, quit as army chief and free opposition politicians and the media. "We need to move as rapidly as possible to have free and fair elections held on time," Hunt said. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte is due to visit Pakistan on Friday and is expected to push for him to restore the constitution and free thousands of arrested opponents. Bhutto said Washington is concerned about a power vacuum in Pakistan, and wanted to know if she would still consider working with Musharraf. "He came to find out whether I could work with Gen. Musharraf, and I told him that it was very difficult to work with someone who instead of taking us toward democracy took us back toward military dictatorship," she said. Bhutto said she tried to allay Washington's concern about what would happen to this nuclear-armed nation if Musharraf were forced out, saying she shared the Americans misgivings and that a strategy for an orderly transition was a must. The Americans "worry about what would happen if there was not a smooth transition, and they worry about what would happen if Musharraf left and there would be a vacuum. So that is a concern, and a valid concern," she said. "I share that thought, too. In fact, once Gen. Musharraf agrees to go, we need to have an exit strategy. I think an exit strategy is very important." Bhutto confirmed she had been in contact by phone Wednesday with exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif - an archrival - about working together, but had not yet broached the subject of a unity government with him. She said she was due to speak to him again later in the day. Bhutto returned from self-imposed exile last month to campaign for a third term as prime minister. She was greeted by a massive suicide bombing that killed 145 people following her welcome procession through the streets of the southern city of Karachi. She has since been detained twice by Musharraf while planning further rallies. Bhutto claimed Musharraf's support within the military - particularly below the high command - was eroding as the crisis over his declaration of a state of emergency deepened. "I believe the support within the military is waning," she said. "I sense an enormous disquiet, the army feels rudderless, it feels leaderless. It feels its job is to defend the motherland, and instead it finds itself embroiled in a controversial domestic role." She provided no evidence, and Musharraf has scoffed at such talk, telling the AP that the army's loyalty to him is absolute and that his men would never turn against him. "People don't know our army ... They followed me not because of the rank but because of the respect they hold for me. I have no doubt on the loyalty of this army. Never will this happen against me," he said. Thursday marks the end of the current Parliament's five-year term. Musharraf's concurrent presidential mandate also expires Thursday, though he has extended it by calling the state of emergency that has cast Pakistan into a deep political crisis. A caretaker administration will be charged with guiding Pakistan toward parliamentary elections to be held by Jan. 9. The government said the lineup would be announced Friday and then sworn in. The vote is supposed to complete the restoration of democratic rule in Pakistan, eight years after Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup. However, both opposition parties and Western governments say that the vote cannot be considered free and fair unless the general quickly lifts the emergency, which many in Pakistan are equating with martial law. Musharraf seized extraordinary powers on Nov. 3 and used them to detain thousands of opposition and human rights activists, purge the senior judiciary and black out independent TV news channels. The United States still counts Musharraf as a stalwart ally in its war on terror. But it wants him to share power with other moderates, such as Bhutto, to harness more political support for Pakistan's struggle against Islamic extremists while also ending military rule. Musharraf says the main purpose of the emergency is to protect the effort against extremism from interfering judges and political turbulence. He said rising Islamic militancy required him to stay in control of the troubled nation though left the door open for future cooperation with Bhutto if she wins the January vote. At one point in the phone interview with Bhutto, as she discussed the role of the army in Pakistani politics, the phone line to the home where she is being held was cut. When a connection finally was re-established, she said she suspected the line failure might have been deliberate. "When you live in Pakistan you get very, very suspicious," she said.~
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re:us urges pakistan ~A senior U.S. envoy carried a stern warning Friday to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf from the Bush administration to end emergency rule and phoned one of the military leader's chief critics to underscore Washington's support for free elections. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, in Islamabad, spoke with Benazir Bhutto in what is believed to be the highest-level U.S. contact with the Pakistani opposition leader since the state of emergency was imposed Nov. 3, a senior State Department official said. The call came hours after Bhutto and other opposition leaders were freed from house arrest and the government permitted two independent news channels back on air - moves seen as an attempt to blunt criticism from Musharraf's key foreign backer.~ ---------------- re:mo-istic arab classism,,read that as slavery ~Before she escaped, Chandra worked 16 hours a day, seven days a week - cooking, cleaning and running a household for a Lebanese family. The only time the Sri Lankan maid could leave was to throw out the garbage. Then she found the key to the closet where her employers had hidden her passport. "One day, while madam was on the telephone, I opened the front door and just left. Sleeping on the street was better than being in that prison," the 27-year-old told The Associated Press, giving only her first name for fear of retribution.~ ~In a report released Wednesday, New York-based Human Rights Watch criticized several Gulf states and Lebanon for failing to curb the abuses and protect Sri Lankan migrant women workers, who number about 80,000 here. Nadim Houry, Lebanon researcher at HRW, said the government here exposes foreign housemaids to abuse by refusing to guarantee them a weekly rest day, maximum daily work hours or freedom of movement. Authorities "aren't investigating and prosecuting those who break the law," Houry said. And domestic workers who do lodge a complaint will often find themselves accused of theft or some other crime.~ ~Maids are common in most homes in Lebanon, a country of 4 million people, and are often seen walking dogs, throwing out the garbage or tending to children at playgrounds. On Sundays, some churches hold special services for the workers. But an alarming number face exploitation, rights groups say. HRW said some housemaids work 16- to 21-hour days, seven days a week, without vacation or sick days - often for less than a third of a U.S. dollar an hour. Their wages are often withheld and their passports routinely confiscated.~ ---------------- re:digital tv transition http://www.news.com/2100-1023-254172.html ~Congress has set Dec. 31, 2006, as a target date for broadcasters to switch from the analog system to digital delivery, a move that is supposed to offer consumers more programming choices and higher-quality sound and pictures. But that deadline could be pushed back if fewer than 85 percent of U.S. households have digital TVs at that time, something that looks highly unlikely as long as broadcasters and TV manufacturers refuse to let go of the dominant analog market. Republican and Democratic members at a House Commerce Telecommunications Subcommittee hearing Thursday agreed that, as the subcommittee's ranking Democrat Ed Markey put it, "we are not remotely close to meeting the transition target of 2006." High-definition supporter Billy Tauzin, R-La., chairman of the full committee, said the possibility of the spectrum give-back going past 2006 "is thwarting the certain and swift transition to digital." He said he is open to "imposing a 'hard' deadline of 2006 to reinvigorate everyone to work together to bring about the transition," as long as consumers would have access to digital receivers, TVs and set-top boxes "at reasonable and declining costs." In what was the latest of a series of hearings on the digital transition, broadcasters said in their defense that only 185 of 1,600 U.S. TV stations currently transmit a digital signal. They maintained that more stations will convert and high-definition programming will increase when more TV sets are sold. But TV manufacturers said consumers need more programming to justify the high cost of digital TVs. The retail cost of those TVs, they said, can't come down significantly until production costs drop from higher consumer interest, which can only be fueled by broadcasters. This chicken-and-egg debate led Tauzin to say in frustration "that proverbial egg is going to be broken over the heads of consumers." At issue Thursday was to what extent Congress and the Federal Communications Commission need to become involved in the digital TV transition. John Dingell, the ranking Democrat of the full committee, said "this is not the kind of issue government decides best," but there were so many issues raised concerning the transition that Tauzin and others suggested government may have no choice. Driving Congress to act isn't just a desire to provide consumers with prettier pictures. The Budget Act of 1997 targeted analog broadcast spectrum for re-auction, and Markey said the ongoing plans for a multiyear tax cut will make even more urgent the need for federal revenues.~ ~One of the key concerns for broadcasters is the unsettled debate about securing copyrights via digital devices. Tauzin and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Cal., said that if broadcasters fear their high-quality movies and other entertainment will be pirated, they may only place second-tier programming on their digital TV broadcasts, giving consumers less reason to purchase digital TV sets. "We need to get our hands around the delicate issue of providing digital copyright protection while preserving long-standing consumer expectations about taping in the privacy of their homes for noncommercial, personal purposes," said Tauzin. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., who has been heavily involved in the debate over digital downloading, pointed out that the crystal-clear images of digital TV can be copy-protected while allowing personal copying for cable and satellite customers thanks to a set-top box. For the 15 percent of homes that receive only over-the-air TV, however, "there's no way to apply a blocking technique."~ ~• Digital reception can be spotty, particularly with indoor antennas. The FCC is seeking comment on whether it should mandate a reception standard, but the consensus of the subcommittee was that market competition would solve that problem. • Interoperability with cable systems has not advanced as fast as Congress and the FCC had hoped. With 85 percent of U.S. homes receiving TV broadcasts from cable or satellite, this issue will remain of interest to the federal government. • Broadcasters say they need their digital stations carried on all relevant cable systems along with their analog stations, even when they're broadcasting the same content. Cable systems argue that they'll be forced to remove cable channels popular with consumers. In January, the FCC refused to make a final ruling on the subject and decided to postpone imposing digital TV carriage rules on cable. Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., and others on the subcommittee said they'd be watching that issue closely. Tauzin said that the digital TV transition is critical to Congress' desire to accelerate the release of broadband in the United States. Digital TV "is going to be the introductory offering of broadband to a vast majority of citizens," he said, referring to the experiments many broadcasters are running with that transmit digital streams with their broadcast signals.~ - re:loss of weather data feared http://www.cnn.com/NATURE/9909/23/frequencies.enn/index.html ~September 23, 1999 Web posted at: 8:02 a.m. EDT (1202 GMT) New technologies from cellular phones to global positioning systems are grabbing up limited radio frequencies — threatening the future transmission of important weather data, according to the American Meteorological Society. "The AMS is an industry association speaking on behalf of the meteorological community. If a few frequencies are lost it is not a big deal. Critical weather data will still be transmitted. The problem is trend. Should more and more frequencies be reassigned someday the meteorological data will not be transmitted, thereby affecting the forecasting process," said Stephanie Kentizer, spokesperson for the AMS. Communication of most meteorological information depends heavily on the radio spectrum. Radio signals are used for weather radar, radiosondes, weather satellites, wind profiling and many other methods of gathering weather-related information. They are also used to distribute weather information to the public. These instruments use radio frequencies to deliver data back to Earth from their respective position in the atmosphere. Within the radio spectrum, certain frequencies, such as those currently assigned for meteorological data, are coveted because they have better transmission characteristics and so are more reliable than others. Meteorological bands are also in high demand because they are assigned globally, for use worldwide. Some of the primary meteorological bands are 137-138 MHz, 400.15-406 MHz, 1670-1710 MHz, and 2700-3000 MHz. "With a finite number of frequencies available, the growing communications giants have made the radio frequency spectrum an extremely valuable commodity," said George Frederick, AMS president. "Someone is going to lose, and we cannot afford to let it be the meteorological community. Protection of these signals is in the interest of public safety and security and is required to improve the measurements used for meteorological operations and research." ~ ------------------ http://www.harbinelectric.com/ ------------------
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