Who owns Colorado’s rainwater?

Environmentalists and others like to gather it in containers for use in drier times. But state law says it belongs to those who bought the rights to waterways.

Reporting from Denver — Every time it rains here, Kris Holstrom knowingly breaks the law.

Holstrom’s violation is the fancifully painted 55-gallon buckets underneath the gutters of her farmhouse on a mesa 15 miles from the resort town of Telluride. The barrels catch rain and snowmelt, which Holstrom uses to irrigate the small vegetable garden she and her husband maintain.

But according to the state of Colorado, the rain that falls on Holstrom’s property is not hers to keep. It should be allowed to fall to the ground and flow unimpeded into surrounding creeks and streams, the law states, to become the property of farmers, ranchers, developers and water agencies that have bought the rights to those waterways.

What Holstrom does is called rainwater harvesting. It’s a practice that dates back to the dawn of civilization, and is increasingly in vogue among environmentalists and others who pursue sustainable lifestyles. They collect varying amounts of water, depending on the rainfall and the vessels they collect it in. The only risk involved is losing it to evaporation. Or running afoul of Western states’ water laws.

Those laws, some of them more than a century old, have governed the development of the region since pioneer days.

“If you try to collect rainwater, well, that water really belongs to someone else,” said Doug Kemper, executive director of the Colorado Water Congress. “We get into a very detailed accounting on every little drop.”

Read moreWho owns Colorado’s rainwater?

Court ruling challenges India’s caste system

Human beings do not respect themselves, others and also not their home planet. This is a recipe for disaster. All human beings are equal. A caste system looks like stone-age consciousness to any evolved being.


A landmark legal ruling which granted India’s downtrodden ‘untouchables’ the right to defend their reputations has been hailed as a symbolic victory for the country’s lower castes.

An appeal court judge in Jammu and Kashmir decided that all Indians were worthy of respect and entitled to a good reputation regardless of their wealth or social status.

The ruling amounts to a direct challenge to India’s caste-focused society in which attacks on ‘untouchables’ or dalits because of their ‘polluting presence’ are common.

There are cases of dalits killed for daring to drink water from the same well as their caste ‘superiors’ or to complain when their daughters are raped.

Against this background, the ruling has been hailed as revolutionary.

Read moreCourt ruling challenges India’s caste system

Texas police engaged in highway robbery


The Tenaha, Texas welcome sign on March 3. The tiny east Texas town is making money by pulling over black motorists and seizing their cash and property without charging them with any crime.
A lawsuit alleges that the town’s police pull over motorists — especially African Americans — and extort money and valuables by threatening criminal charges or worse.

Reporting from Tenaha, Texas — You can drive into this dusty fleck of a town near the Texas-Louisiana state line if you’re African American, but you might not be able to drive out of it — at least not with your car, your cash, your jewelry or other valuables.

That’s because the police here allegedly have found a way to strip motorists, many of them black, of their property without ever charging them with a crime. Instead they offer out-of-towners a grim choice: Sign over your belongings to the town, or face felony charges of money laundering or other serious crimes.

Crime or no crime, motorists pay

More than 140 people reluctantly accepted that deal from June 2006 to June 2008, according to court records. Among them were a black grandmother from Akron, Ohio, who surrendered $4,000 in cash after Tenaha police pulled her over, and an interracial couple from Houston, who gave up more than $6,000 after police threatened to seize their children and put them into foster care, the court documents show. Neither the grandmother nor the couple were charged with or convicted of any crime.

Read moreTexas police engaged in highway robbery

California raw almonds must be treated, judge rules

WASHINGTON — A federal judge Monday upheld requirements that raw California almonds be treated to protect consumers from salmonella poisoning.

In a blow to organic almond producers and handlers, the Washington, D.C.-based judge rejected challenges to pasteurization requirements designed by the Almond Board of California. The Agriculture Department formally imposed the rules in March 2007, setting off sparks.

Read moreCalifornia raw almonds must be treated, judge rules

CORRUPTION-US: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America

WASHINGTON, Mar 4 (IPS) – A new report says that Wall Street has only itself to blame for the misguided deregulation that led to the current deepening financial crisis.

Issued Wednesday by Essential Information and the Consumer Education Foundation, the report documents billions of dollars spent by the financial sector on what would eventually be their own downfall.

The 231-page report, “Sold Out: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America,” shows that the financial sector invested more than 5 billion dollars on purchasing political influence in Washington over the past decade, with as many as 3,000 lobbyists winning deregulation and other policy decisions that led directly to the current financial collapse.

“The report details, step-by-step, how Washington systematically sold out to Wall Street,” said Harvey Rosenfield, president of the California-based non-profit organisation Consumer Education Foundation.

“Depression-era programmes that would have prevented the financial meltdown that began last year were dismantled, and the warnings of those who foresaw disaster were drowned in an ocean of political money,” he said. “Americans were betrayed, and we are paying a high price – trillions of dollars – for that betrayal.”

Read moreCORRUPTION-US: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America

Another Bright Shining Lie

The state has many weapons in its arsenal to keep Boobus ignorant of their illegal, unconstitutional activities and in compliance with its confiscatory tax and slavery system. In all likelihood, the two most often used of these weapons are fear and prevarication.

Our new US Attorney General/Race Agitator, Eric Holder, last week used a bright shining lie in his advocating the introduction of a new Assault Weapons Ban. (AWB) He stated:

“Putting the ban back in place would not only be a positive move by the United States, it would help cut down on the flow of guns going across the border into Mexico, which is struggling with heavy violence among drug cartels along the border. I think that will have a positive impact in Mexico, at a minimum.”

What a crock; believing the fantastically wealthy drug cartels actually secure their weapons from America is analogous to taking a hamburger to a steak dinner. The drug cartels use their millions, if not billions, to purchase some of the finest weaponry that can be had, far exceeding the firepower of their state-armed opponents in both Mexico and the US.

One of my sources in federal law enforcement in the El Paso area stated it was common for his forces to be totally outgunned by members of the cartels. To believe these weapons came from weapons that are currently legal in this country is preposterous and an obvious lie.

Mr. Holder has no fear of armed drug cartel members; his fear is a well-armed citizenry awakening to the tyranny now running rampant in our government!

The vehicle most likely to be used by these tyrants to inflict us with more of their unconstitutional crap would be a remake of HR 1022, legislation that was introduced back in 2007 and has already been through several required committees. This onerous piece of legislation would prohibit from private ownership such vile weapons as the Ruger 10/22 and Hi-Point carbine. I can assure you any drug runner worth his salt would be embarrassed and laughed out of the hood were he to appear with either of these weapons!

Read moreAnother Bright Shining Lie

UN attacks Britain over torture claims

Investigator raises ‘very clear allegations’ that MI5 broke international law

Britain may have broken international law on torture, ministers have been warned by the United Nations. Professor Manfred Nowak, the UN’s special rapporteur on torture, has alerted ministers to a range of concerns, including claims that MI5 officers were complicit in the maltreatment of suspects.

The Austrian law professor warned that Britain has breached the UN convention on torture, and he revealed that he was organising a fact-finding mission to Pakistan, whose security services allegedly tortured terror suspects before the captives were questioned by British intelligence.

It is the first time the UN’s senior torture investigator has directly criticised a British government. Human rights groups said it was highly significant. Clare Algar, executive director of legal charity Reprieve, said: “This is a further significant embarrassment for the British government and reinforces the fact that we really need an independent review into what has been going on.”

Related article: Ministers refuse to answer torture questions (Guardian)

Nowak appeared to criticise the foreign secretary, David Miliband, for blocking the release of US files allegedly confirming MI5 involvement in the torture of British resident Binyam Mohamed. Miliband said releasing the documents could do “real and significant damage” to British national security.

Read moreUN attacks Britain over torture claims

Obama to Seek New Assault Weapons Ban

Yes, we can … take away your guns!


Previous Ban Expired in 2004 During the Bush Administration


Wednesday Attorney General Eric Holder said that the Obama administration will seek to reinstitute the assault weapons ban which expired in 2004 during the Bush administration. (AP Photos/ABC News Graphic )

The Obama administration will seek to reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 during the Bush administration, Attorney General Eric Holder said today.

“As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons,” Holder told reporters.

CNN – Obama administration attacks the SECOND AMENDMENT:

Source: YouTube (Just take a look at Obama’s voting record. You will find a lot more information on YouTube and all over the internet.)

Read moreObama to Seek New Assault Weapons Ban

Germany passes law to allow nationalisation of banks

Germany has approved a new law allowing it to nationalise its banks, paving the way for a possible state seizure of struggling lender Hypo Real Estate.

The cabinet abandoned a post-war pledge to respect private property in the interests of the nation’s financial stability, officials said.

It is the latest Western government, following Iceland, Ireland and the UK, forced to concede that seizing or part-nationalising banks may be the only way to prevent the collapse of entire financial systems.

But German politicians have fiercely debated whether seizure of private assets should be permitted, since the practice of “Enteignung” is associated with the Nazi expropriation of Jewish property

Related articles in German:
Merkel macht Weg für HRE-Enteignung frei (Financial Times Deutschland):
Zum ersten Mal in der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik kann eine Bank verstaatlicht und ihre Eigentümer enteignet werden können.

Enteignungsgesetz treibt Wirtschaft auf die Palme (WELT ONLINE)
Warum die HRE nicht pleitegehen darf (RP ONLINE)
“Absolute Ausnahme” – Enteignung der HRE (n-tv)
Hypo Real Estate: Großes Entsetzen über Merkels Enteignungspläne (FOCUS Online)

Hypo Real Estate has already been given €102bn (£90bn) in state backing since September, but analysts have questioned whether this is enough for a bank crippled by exposure to the property market.

Read moreGermany passes law to allow nationalisation of banks

No Charge: In Civil-Contempt Cases, Jail Time Can Stretch On for Years

Compare those cases to Madoff:
Madoff put under house arrest – in $7m apartment (Times)
That is called justice.



Martin Armstrong was jailed for six years for civil contempt. (Bloomberg News/Landov)

One can spend a long time in jail in the U.S. without ever being charged with a crime. It happened to H. Beatty Chadwick, a former Philadelphia-area lawyer, who has been behind bars for nearly 14 years without being charged.

Businessman Manuel Osete spent nearly three years in an Arizona jail without ever receiving a criminal charge. And investment manager Martin Armstrong faced a similar situation when he was held for more than six years in a Manhattan jail.

All three men were jailed for civil contempt, a murky legal concept. Some scholars say it is too often abused by judges, to the detriment of those charged and their due-process rights. “These results of too many civil-contempt confinements are flatly outrageous and often unconstitutional,” says Jayne Ressler, a professor at Brooklyn Law School.

Read moreNo Charge: In Civil-Contempt Cases, Jail Time Can Stretch On for Years

Revolt! Robbed of their right to buy traditional light bulbs, millions are clearing shelves of last supplies


End of light as we know it: Millions of Britons are stocking up to grab the last of the traditional bulbs

Millions of Britons are finally waking up to the fact that their beloved light bulb will disappear for good after 120 years.

Traditional 100-watt bulbs are vanishing from the High Street because of a controversial European Union decision.

Yesterday panic buyers were snapping up the remaining bulbs in a last-ditch attempt to stockpile the final supplies. Hundreds of leading supermarkets and DIY chains – including Sainsbury’s, Asda and Homebase – have already sold their last remaining bulbs after a surge in panic buying.

Other stores say they have enough stocks to last until the end of next week.

The supplies are running out after the Government signed up to an EU decision to replace conventional 100w light bulbs with supposedly greener low energy alternatives.

Ministers claim the switch will reduce carbon dioxide by around five million tons each year.

But experts have questioned whether or not the new bulbs, far from being environmentally friendly, are actually harmful.

The low-energy fluorescent bulbs can trigger skin rashes, migraines and epilepsy.

There is also concern because the fluorescent bulbs contain mercury, which makes them dangerous to get rid of.

They can also be more expensive. Currently, an average supermarket price for a six pack of standard 60w pearl light bulbs is £1.21, but a single 60w low energy stick light bulb already costs around £2.19.

Retailers stopped replenishing supplies of conventional incandescent 100w bulbs at the start of the year under a ‘voluntary’ Government scheme to force people to buy green compact fluorescent lights.


New light: Energy-efficient bulbs use less energy – but critics say they can cause skin rashes, migraines and epilepsy

But concerns about the poor quality light of low energy bulbs – and the fact that most don’t work with dimmer switches – has led to tens of thousands of people stockpiling supplies.

Read moreRevolt! Robbed of their right to buy traditional light bulbs, millions are clearing shelves of last supplies

Top Court Lets Smokers Sue for Fraud


Marketers of “light” cigarettes may be sued, the court ruled.
Ashley Gilbertson for The New York Time

WASHINGTON – Tobacco companies that marketed “light” cigarettes may be sued for fraud, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday in a 5-to-4 decision that will bolster dozens of lawsuits claiming billions of dollars in damages.

The case was brought by three smokers from Maine as a proposed class action. They sued Altria and its Philip Morris USA unit, alleging fraud under Maine’s Unfair Trade Practices Act and saying they had been injured by what they called the false statements of the companies.

They sought compensation for economic rather than medical harm. They claimed, in other words, that they had overpaid for cigarettes based on deceptive advertisements suggesting that “light” cigarettes were safer than regular ones; they did not seek money for injuries caused by smoking itself.

Read moreTop Court Lets Smokers Sue for Fraud

DNA database: 17 judges, one ruling – and 857,000 records must be now wiped clear

  • Retention of unconvicted citizens’ samples criticised
  • Home secretary promises report on how to comply


The judges said DNA profiles could be used to identify relationships which amounted to an interference with their right to respect for their private lives. Photograph: Science photo library

The fingerprints and DNA samples of more than 857,000 innocent citizens who have been arrested or charged but never convicted of a criminal offence now face deletion from the national DNA database after a landmark ruling by the European court of human rights in Strasbourg.

In one of their most strongly worded judgments in recent years, the unanimous ruling from the 17 judges, including a British judge, Nicolas Bratza, condemned the “blanket and indiscriminate” nature of the powers given to the police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to retain the DNA samples and fingerprints of suspects who have been released or cleared.

The judges were highly critical of the fact that the DNA samples could be retained without time limit and regardless of the seriousness of the offence, or the age of the suspect.

The court said there was a particular risk that innocent people would be stigmatised because they were being treated in the same way as convicted criminals. The judges added that the fact DNA profiles could be used to identify family relationships between individuals, meant its indefinite retention also amounted to an interference with their right to respect for their private lives under the human rights convention.

The case provoked an expression of disappointment from the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, and the promise that a working party, including senior police officials, will report back to Strasbourg by next March on how the government will comply with the judgment.

“The government mounted a robust defence before the court and I strongly believe DNA and fingerprints play an invaluable role in fighting crime and bringing people to justice. The existing law will remain in place while we carefully consider the judgment.”

Read moreDNA database: 17 judges, one ruling – and 857,000 records must be now wiped clear

Blackwater security guards to be charged over mass shooting in Iraq

Five security guards will be charged over the deaths of 17 Iraqis who were shot during an anti-American rally in Baghdad last year.

Blackwater security guards: Five security guards will be charged over the deaths of 17 Iraqis who were shot during an anti-American rally in Baghdad last year.
Blackwater gurads were hired to protect American diplomats Photo: AP

The employees of Blackwater Worldwide, who were hired by the US State Department to protect American diplomats, opened fire on a crowd who had gathered at an interstate in the Iraqi capital on September 16 2007.

Six guards have been under investigation since the attacks after witnesses claimed the shooting was unprovoked.

Blackwater continues to deny the allegations claiming its guards were ambushed by insurgents while responding to a car bombing.

Young children were among the victims and the shooting strained relations between the U.S. and Iraq.

Following the deaths, Blackwater became the subject insurgent propaganda videos in Iraq.

Read moreBlackwater security guards to be charged over mass shooting in Iraq

How an Italian judge made the internet illegal

Italian bloggers are up in arms at a court ruling early this year that suggests almost all Italian blogs are illegal. This month, a senior Italian politician went one step further, warning that most web activity is likely to be against the law.

The story begins back in May, when a judge in Modica (in Sicily) found local historian and author Carlo Ruta guilty of the crime of “stampa clandestina” – or publishing a “clandestine” newspaper – in respect of his blog. The judge ruled that since the blog had a headline, that made it an online newspaper, and brought it within the law’s remit.

Read moreHow an Italian judge made the internet illegal

Cheney and Gonzales indicted for organized crime

A grand jury in South Texas indicted U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and former attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Tuesday for “organized criminal activity” related to alleged abuse of inmates in private prisons. The indictment has not been seen by a judge, who could dismiss it.


US Vice President Dick Cheney (L) and former US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (R). According to November 18, 2008 media reports, US Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have been indicted by a South Texas grand jury on charges relating to alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County’s federal detention centers. Picture: AFP

The grand jury in Willacy County, in the Rio Grande Valley near the U.S.-Mexico border, said Cheney is “profiteering from depriving human beings of their liberty,” according to a copy of the indictment obtained by Reuters.

The indictment cites a “money trail” of Cheney’s ownership in prison-related enterprises including the Vanguard Group, which owns an interest in private prisons in south Texas.

Former attorney general Gonzales used his position to “stop the investigations as to the wrong doings” into assaults in county prisons, the indictment said.

Cheney’s office declined comment. “We have not received any indictments. I can’t comment on something we have not received,” said Cheney’s spokeswoman Megan Mitchell.

The indictment, overseen by county District Attorney Juan Guerra, cites the case of Gregorio De La Rosa, who died on April 26, 2001, inside a private prison in Willacy County.

The grand jury wrote it made its decision “with great sadness,” but said they had no other choice but to indict Cheney and Gonzales “because we love our country.”

Texas is the home state of U.S. President George W. Bush.

Read moreCheney and Gonzales indicted for organized crime

Bush Administration: Dismiss RFID ‘Mark of the Beast’ Lawsuit

The Bush administration on Thursday urged a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a group of Amish farmers in Michigan claiming RFID chips required on cattle “are a mark of the beast.”

The Amish farmers claim (.pdf) Michigan regulations requiring them to use radio frequency identification devices on their cattle “constitutes some form of a ‘mark of the beast‘ and/or represents an infringement of their ‘dominion over cattle and all living things’ in violation of their fundamental religious beliefs,” according to the farmers’ lawsuit filed in September in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Read moreBush Administration: Dismiss RFID ‘Mark of the Beast’ Lawsuit

Record Fine in EU Cartel Case


A worker checks a plate glass on the production line at the Saint-Gobain Chantereine glass factory in Thourotte, France, on Oct. 17, 2007. Photographer: Fabrice Dimier/Bloomberg News

Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) — Cie. de Saint-Gobain SA, Asahi Glass Co., and a Nippon Sheet Glass Co. unit were fined a record 1.38 billion euros ($1.7 billion) by the European Union over claims the companies fixed the price of car windows.

Saint-Gobain, Europe’s largest building-materials supplier, was fined 896 million euros, the highest against a single company, the European Commission said in a statement today. Asahi Glass was fined 113.5 million euros, Nippon’s Pilkington unit 370 million euros. A fourth company, Belgium’s Soliver, got a 4.4 million-euro penalty.

The penalties were increased because the companies are repeat offenders, the commission said. Saint-Gobain, Pilkington and two competitors were fined a total of 487 million euros for participating in a separate cartel to set the prices of glass used in the construction industry. Saint-Gobain shares fell 5.2 percent.

Read moreRecord Fine in EU Cartel Case

Guardians of the unborn

Women in the Netherlands who are deemed by the state to be unfit mothers should be sentenced to take contraception for a prescribed period of two years, according to a draft bill before the Dutch parliament.

The proposed legislation would further punish parents who defied it by taking away their newborn infant. “It targets people who have been the subject of judicial intervention because of their bad parenting,” explained the author of the bill Marjo Van Dijken of the socialist PvDA. “If someone refuses the contraception and becomes pregnant, the child must be taken away directly after birth.”

Read moreGuardians of the unborn

Paul Craig Roberts: American Hegemony Bites The Dust

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. He can be reached at: [email protected]
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The Defanging of America:  Reality-Based Community Overthrows History’s Actors

“We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality – judiciously, as you will – we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.” Bush White House aide explaining the New Reality

The New American Century lasted a decade. Financial crisis and defeated objectives in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Georgia brought the neoconservative project for American world hegemony crashing to a close in the autumn of 2008.

The American neoconservatives are the heirs of Leon Trotsky. Their dream of American “Full Spectrum Dominance”–US military and economic superiority over any possible combination of states–is matched in ambition only by the early 20th century Trotskyite dream of world Communist revolution.

The neocons used September 11, 2001, as a “new Pearl Harbor” to give power precedence over law domestically and internationally. The executive branch no longer had to obey federal statutes, such as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or honor international treaties, such as the Geneva Conventions. An asserted “terrorist threat” to national security became the cloak which hid US imperial interests as the Bush Regime set about dismantling US civil liberties and the existing order of international law constructed by previous governments during the post-war era.

Perhaps the neoconservative project for world hegemony would have lasted a bit longer had the neocons possessed intellectual competence.

On the war front, the incompetent neocons predicted that the Iraq war would be a six-week cakewalk, whose $70 billion cost would be paid out of Iraqi oil revenues. President Bush fired White House economist Larry Lindsey for estimating that the war would cost $200 billion. The current estimate by experts is that the Iraq war has cost American taxpayers between two and three trillion dollars. And the six-week war is now the six-year war.

Read morePaul Craig Roberts: American Hegemony Bites The Dust

Palin guilty of abusing power


Sarah Palin is alleged to have pressured officials to dismiss a state trooper. Photo: AFP

REPUBLICAN vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin abused her power as Alaska governor, investigators found yesterday, in another blow to John McCain’s struggling White House bid.

As Senator McCain sought to restore control over unruly rallies that have seen a stream of invective, including a death threat aimed at Democratic rival Barack Obama, the “troopergate” scandal threatened to torpedo his campaign.

In a long-awaited 263-page report released by Alaska’s Legislative Council, investigator Stephen Branchflower said Mrs Palin was guilty of violating ethics rules for public officials.

He said she had allowed her husband Todd Palin to use the Alaska governor’s office and its resources to pressure officials to fire her former brother-in-law, state trooper Mike Wooten.

“Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired,” the report said.

Read morePalin guilty of abusing power

France’s former elite go on trial over arms trade

The son of a former French president, an Israeli-Russian billionaire and a tycoon with ties to Arizona’s jet set were among the headliners yesterday as 42 defendants went on trial in Paris, accused in a worldwide web of trafficked arms to Angola, money laundering and kickbacks.

Defense lawyers and Angola’s government are trying to stop the show, however, arguing the trial has no right to go on.

Prosecutors allege that between 1993 and 1998, two key suspects – French magnate Pierre Falcone, a longtime resident of Scottsdale, Arizona, and Arkady Gaydamak, an Israeli businessman based in France at the time – organized a total of $791 million in Russian arms sales to Angola, a breach of French government rules.

Most of the other suspects are accused of receiving money or gifts, undeclared to tax authorities, from a company run by Falcone in exchange for political or commercial favors. Investigators say the corruption grew into a tangle of laundered money and parallel diplomacy that left a stain on France’s relations with Africa.

Among the defendants who filed into a Paris courthouse Monday were icons of France’s political elite – including late President Francois Mitterrand’s eldest son, Jean-Christophe, and an economic adviser to current President Nicolas Sarkozy, Jacques Attali.

Read moreFrance’s former elite go on trial over arms trade

California: Parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children

Homeschooling Banned in California as State Turns Parents Into Criminals for Teaching Their Own Children

(NaturalNews) A California appeals court has ruled that homeschooling of children is illegal unless their parents have teaching credentials from the state.

“California is now on the path to being the only state to deny the vast majority of homeschooling parents their fundamental right to teach their own children at home,” said Michael Smith, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association.

The court overturned a lower court’s finding that homeschooling did not constitute a violation of child welfare laws.

“California courts have held that … parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children,” Justice H. Walter Croskey said.

Read moreCalifornia: Parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children

McCain’s Court: Change We Don’t Need

Related video: (CNN) Ron Paul’s Major Announcement: Reject Obama and McCain!
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More justices in the mold of Antonin Scalia could be on the way under a McCain presidency. (Flickr: Chris Eversole)

There has been much debate about whether Sen. John McCain is a candidate of change. But in one area, McCain is unquestionably a reformer. He would almost certainly make fundamental changes in the direction of the U.S. Supreme Court.

McCain has said that, should he be president, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito “would serve as the model for my own nominees.” He regularly attacks what he calls “activist judging,” and he described a recent ruling vindicating the right to habeas corpus as “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.” McCain has repeatedly said that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and should be overruled.

Read moreMcCain’s Court: Change We Don’t Need

On the Second Amendment, Don’t Believe Obama

Related video: (CNN) Ron Paul’s Major Announcement: Reject Obama and McCain!
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The presidential primary season is finally over, and it is now time for gun owners to take a careful look at just where nominee Barack Obama stands on issues related to the Second Amendment. During the primaries, Obama tried to hide behind vague statements of support for “sportsmen” or unfounded claims of general support for the right to keep and bear arms.

But his real record, based on votes taken, political associations, and long standing positions, shows that Barack Obama is a serious threat to Second Amendment liberties. Don’t listen to his campaign rhetoric! Look instead to what he has said and done during his entire political career.

FACT: Barack Obama opposes four of the five Supreme Court justices who affirmed an individual right to keep and bear arms. He voted against the confirmation of Alito and Roberts and he has stated he would not have appointed Thomas or Scalia.17

FACT: Barack Obama voted for an Illinois State Senate bill to ban and confiscate “assault weapons,” but the bill was so poorly crafted, it would have also banned most semi-auto and single and double barrel shotguns commonly used by sportsmen.18

FACT: Barack Obama voted to allow reckless lawsuits designed to bankrupt the firearms industry.1

FACT: Barack Obama wants to re-impose the failed and discredited Clinton Gun Ban.15

FACT: Barack Obama voted to ban almost all rifle ammunition commonly used for hunting and sport shooting.3

FACT: Barack Obama has endorsed a 500% increase in the federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition.9

FACT: Barack Obama has endorsed a complete ban on handgun ownership.2

FACT: Barack Obama supports local gun bans in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other cities.4

FACT: Barack Obama voted to uphold local gun bans and the criminal prosecution of people
who use firearms in self-defense.5

Read moreOn the Second Amendment, Don’t Believe Obama