Proposed anti-picketing bill in D.C. riles unions, ACLU
By Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer 12/15/08
A D.C. Council member is mulling emergency legislation that would bar demonstrations outside homes in residential neighborhoods, a response to increasingly aggressive protests by an extremist animal rights group.
Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh has submitted written notice that she will introduce the Residential Tranquility Emergency Amendment Act during the council’s final legislative meeting of the year. Cheh, a constitutional law professor, contends the group Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty has harassed numerous D.C. residents in their homes — shouting obscenities, yelling death threats, banging on doors.
The legislation, at least one draft of which was obtained by The Examiner, would make it a misdemeanor “for any person to repeatedly engage in unwanted targeted picketing before or about an individual’s dwelling place in a residential neighborhood with the intent to intimidate, threaten, abuse, annoy, or harass the individual.” Picketing under the measure is defined as “marching, congregating, standing, parading, demonstrating or patrolling … without the implied or express consent of the occupant.”
Cheh said Friday she had not committed to a version, or any bill at all.
“Nobody believes in free speech more than I do,” she said. “But there has to be a line here and I’m just trying to figure out what it is.”
The bill drew immediate repudiation from labor groups and the American Civil Liberties Union. It may have been inspired by one group, but the legislation is certain to affect unions and other organizations that use picketing as a means of getting their message across, said Johnny Barnes, executive director of the ACLU’s national capital-area chapter.
“The best answer to speech you don’t like is more speech, good speech,” Barnes said Friday. “When you limit speech, it becomes very dangerous.”
Similar anti-picketing laws have withstood U.S. Supreme Court scrutiny. The First Amendment “permits the government to prohibit offensive speech as intrusive when the ‘captive’ audience cannot avoid the objectionable speech,” Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote in 1988, in the majority opinion of Frisby v. Schultz.
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty is behind a global campaign against Huntingdon Life Sciences, a British-based business that tests drugs on roughly 70,000 animals a year. The Southern Poverty Law Center has described SHAC members as radicals who employ “frankly terroristic tactics similar to those of anti-abortion extremists.”
Attempts to locate a contact for Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty were unsuccessful.
This is the second protest-related bill that Cheh has backed this year. Watered-down noise restrictions approved in June restrict daytime noncommercial speech in residential neighborhoods to no more than 80 decibels when measured from inside the nearest occupied home.
http://www.dcexaminer.com/local/121508- ... _ACLU.html
Alternative Currencies Grow in Popularity
By Judith D. Schwartz Sunday, Dec. 14, 2008
Most of us take for granted that those rectangular green slips of paper we keep in our wallets are inviolable: the physical embodiment of value. But alternative forms of money have a long history and appear to be growing in popularity. It's not merely barter or primitive means of exchange like seashells or beads. Beneath the financial radar, in hip U.S. towns or South African townships, in shops, markets and even banks, people throughout the world are exchanging goods and services via thousands of currency types that look nothing like official tender.
Alternative means of trade often surface during tough economic times. "When money gets dried up and there are still needs to be met in society, people come up with creative ways to meet those needs," says Peter North, a senior lecturer in geography at the University of Liverpool and the author of two books on the subject. He refers to the "scrips" issued in the U.S. and Europe during the Great Depression that kept money flowing and the massive barter exchanges involving millions of people that emerged amid runaway inflation in Argentina in 2000. "People were kept from starving [this way]," he says. (Find out 10 things to do with your money.)
Closer to home, "Ithaca Hours," with a livable hourly wage as the standard, were launched during the 1991 recession to sustain the economy in Ithaca, N.Y., and stem the loss of jobs. Hours, which are legal and taxable, circulate within the community, moving from local shop to local artisan and back, rather than leaking out into the larger monetary system. The logo on the Hour reads "In Ithaca We Trust."
Alternative (or "complementary") currencies range from quaint to robust, simple to high tech. There are Greens from the Lettuce Patch Bank at the Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in rural northeastern Missouri. In western Massachusetts one finds fine-artist-designed BerkShares, which are convertible to U.S. dollars. More than $2 million in BerkShares have been issued through the 12 branches of five local banks, according to Susan Witt, executive director of the E.F. Schumacher Society, the nonprofit behind the currency. And in South Africa, proprietary software keeps track of Community Exchange System (CES) Talents; one ambitious plan is to make Khayelitsha, a vast, desolate township of perhaps 1 million inhabitants near Cape Town, a self-sustaining community.
An alternative currency is generally used in conjunction with conventional money; one may use local currency at the farmers' market and regular greenbacks at the supermarket. "It doesn't try in any way to replace cash," says Christoph Hensch, a Swiss national and former banker living in Christchurch, New Zealand. Rather, it offers a way "for people to share and redeem value they have in the community." He says the currencies are most useful in geographical areas or social sectors where money doesn't flow sufficiently, citing, for example, New Zealand's Golden Bay, which is so remote that it sometimes nearly functions as its own economy.
Advocates of alternative currencies say they are a means of empowerment for those languishing on the margins of fiscal life, granting economic agency to people like the elderly, the disabled or the underemployed, who have little opportunity to earn money. For example, in some systems one can "bank" Time Dollars for tasks like child care and changing motor oil. It's not whether you're employed or what financial assets you have that matter, says Les Squires, a consultant on social-networking software who has been working with groups developing alternative currencies. Each person has "value" that is "exchangeable" on the basis of time spent or a given task.
Alternative currency comes in many forms. In addition to time-banking, there are Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS), systems of mutual credit that vary by location. This model was developed by Michael Linton in Canada, though it seems to have taken off mostly in the British Isles; an estimated 40,000 people in the U.K. use these for at least some transactions. (See TIME's top 10 everything of 2008.)
Similarly, the CES is an online money and banking system and trading marketplace that tracks credits and debits. While LETS function as clubs that set their own guidelines, CES is administered through an online program that connects local groups to create a global network. The CES website points to more than 100 exchanges in 15 countries. Squires says the Internet has made alternative forms of exchange more viable, as databases can keep account of credits. In the rarefied world of monetary theory, think tanks are abuzz with ideas about future forms of money. One visionary, Jean-Francois Noubel, co-founder of AOL-France, foresees "millions of free currencies circulating on the Net and through our cell phones" as money follows the distribution path that media have over the past decade. Bernard Lietaer, a Belgian economist and author who helped develop the euro, has proposed the Terra, a transnational currency backed by established commodities that would coexist with conventional notes, the monetary equivalent of Esperanto.
In recent years, the impetus for alternative currencies in established economies has stemmed in part from localization movements. Periodically ditching the dollar (or the pound or the yen) in favor of homegrown currency doesn't merely fortify the local economy; it also builds community. People have a stake in their neighbor's well-being because that neighbor represents both market and supply chain. Some argue that such transactions are more secure than others because knowing the person you're dealing with, and his family and friends, serves as a kind of social collateral.
The use of BerkShares has helped solidify local ties, says Witt. "It's cash, so you have to pay your bills by walking into the store or dentist's office." Local pride does have its challenges, however. In September the town of Lewes in Sussex, England, issued the Lewes Pound — complete with a special-edition beer from Harvey's, a local brewery, to celebrate the introduction. There was an immediate run on the currency, limiting its circulation; Lewes Pounds were going for 35 pounds sterling on eBay. The organizers quickly went back to press and dealt with the situation. As Witt is the first to say, "Local currencies are not easy."
Some are moved to create currencies for environmental reasons: they minimize the use of energy. With diminishing oil supplies, "we will not be able to move goods around the world as cheaply," says North. One strategy, he says, is to produce more locally, and a way to facilitate that is through local currency. This was one inspiration for the Lewes Pound and for the Totnes Pound in Devon, England. Both towns are part of the Transition Town movement, which seeks creative, upbeat, community-based approaches to dealing with climate change and diminished oil reserves.
Paper-money currencies, like BerkShares or the Lewes or Totnes Pound, slip fairly seamlessly into the national economy; their use is taxed like ordinary money. More abstract exchanges are a bit more complicated to deal with. But the tax concern is not insurmountable. "If you use local currency for your main income-generating activity, you must pay income tax," says Hensch, who consults in complementary currencies. Likewise, if you have a business, you'll pay sales tax on any local currency — in New Zealand, that would be Green Dollars, part of LETS — you bring in. But if you trade in "neighborhood help," like lawn-mowing, that would not be taxed.
The rules vary from country to country. In the U.S., any business transaction must be recorded and reported to the IRS; tax levies apply as if the trade were made in cash. As Squires puts it, professional services are subject to income tax, but for noncommercial transactions, barter rules hold. "If I bake a cake for you, that's not a taxable event," he says.
Andrew Rose, Bernard T. Rocca Professor of International Trade at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, sees local currencies as limited by their unwieldiness. "Money is primarily just a convenience for enabling exchanges between two parties. The more widely accepted, the more convenient it is," he says. If you need to use different currencies in different locations, the money then becomes less convenient.
Do large financial institutions have anything to fear from the use of alternative currencies? Not at all, says Rose. "It's got to be so tiny. It has no effect at all," he says. Besides, he notes, the Fed doesn't care about currency or even the number of bills circulating in the economy. "The Fed cares about monetary policy and deal[s] with that in different ways."
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0%2C8599%2C1865467%2C00.html?xid=feed-yahoo-biztech
National Guard Take Control of City Jail
Celling point: Indiana National Guard would take old Warrick jail off town’s hands
Lydia X. McCoy
Courier Press
December 13, 2008
BOONVILLE, Ind. — The inmates of the old Warrick County Jail are long gone, but the steel bars that held them remain.
But, with hope, not for much longer.
After about a year of talks, Warrick County officials are trying to seal a deal to give the cells to the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in Butlerville, Ind.
While the cells haven't been used for a number of years, the rest of the building currently is occupied by the Warrick County EMS.
The compound, the only one of its kind in the United States, is a secluded, self-contained community, once home to the Muscatatuck State Developmental Center. The 1,000-acre site was turned over to the Indiana National Guard in July 2005 and has been evolving into a full-immersion contemporary urban training environment.
Lt. Col. Chris Kelsey, site manager for Muscatatuck, said the National Guard wants to use the cells for a prison at the training center.
"We want an actual prison; the more realistic the better," he said. "We can do the real thing or a replication. We're trying to provide the real thing."
The cells at the "old jail" in Warrick County would help the training center in that goal.
On Thursday, 1st Lt. Michael Brandt and three other soldiers visited Boonville to examine the cells and determine the best way to move them.
"Today, I brought some of the actual engineers in who would be working on and supervising the project," he said.
Brandt said the visit would help the engineers — Sgt. Tim Hadley, Staff Sgt. Ryan Wenk and 1st Lt. Richard Hoover — determine what they will need to disassemble the cells.
"(So) when we come up, we're equipped to basically dismantle and haul out the jail cells ourselves, with just Army labor at no cost to the county," he said. "It's kind of a win-win. We help them out by taking out this, giving them a usable bay again, and they help us out by supplying us with stuff we're actually looking for and trying to find.
"That's the great thing of how we're able to work with local governments to get stuff like this. It enhances the realism if we can get some (things) that's actually been used.
"The artwork on some of these cells that the inmates have drawn is great. We'll leave that intact, so when we put it back up, it'll actually look like it's been occupied."
Brandt said if the deal is finalized, he'd like to start disassembling the cells by mid-January and have everything completed in about a month.
County officials have been trying to figure out a way to remove the cells since spring. They did a bid process but decided to look for alternatives when the prices were higher than anticipated, said the county's purchasing manager, Joe Grassman.
Then, Grassman was contacted by Muscatatuck about the cells. Grassman said he's "pretty optimistic" that the deal will go through.
And he agrees that it's a win-win situation.
"The most important thing is that they will be used for training ... instead of becoming scrap metal. They'll reconstruct them and they'll serve a purpose," Grassman said.
"It will save Warrick County a ton of money. It's just one of those win-win situations."
The Warrick County Commissioners will decide what to do with the space.
Don Williams, commissioners president, said two options are being considered. Either use it to store ambulances for Warrick EMS or use it to store county records.
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2008/d ... ing-point/
http://www.mutc.in.ng.mil/
Supermarket defends itself over Adolf Hitler cake
December 17, 2008 - 6:11pm
EASTON, Pa. (AP) - A supermarket is defending itself for refusing to a write out 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell's name on his birthday cake. Deborah Campbell, 25, of nearby Hunterdon County, N.J., said she phoned in her order last week to the Greenwich ShopRite. When she told the bakery department she wanted her son's name spelled out, she was told to talk to a supervisor, who denied the request.
Karen Meleta, a ShopRite spokeswoman, said the store denied similar requests from the Campbells the last two years, including a request for a swastika.
"We reserve the right not to print anything on the cake that we deem to be inappropriate," Meleta said. "We considered this inappropriate."
The Campbells ultimately got their cake decorated at a Wal-Mart in Pennsylvania, Deborah Campbell said Tuesday.
A Wal-Mart spokesman told The Associated Press on Wednesday that in light of the incident, the company would review its guidelines regarding cake decorations and other requests.
"It's clear that in serving this customer, some people were offended," spokesman Greg Rossiter said. "As a result, we're going to review our policies."
Heath Campbell said he named his son after Adolf Hitler because he liked the name and because "no one else in the world would have that name."
The Campbells' two other children are named JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, who turns 2 in a few months, and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, who will be 1 in April.
Campbell said he was raised not to avoid people of other races but not to mix with them socially or romantically. But he said he would try to raise his children differently.
"Say he grows up and hangs out with black people. That's fine, I don't really care," he said. "That's his choice."
He said about 12 people attended the birthday party Sunday, including several children of mixed race.
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=456&sid=1551680
Oil tumbles despite OPEC's record cut in production
WASHINGTON — Oil prices plunged to the lowest level in 4½ years Wednesday as gloomy prospects for energy demand in the slumping world economy overshadowed a record cut in OPEC's production target.
The price of a barrel of light, sweet crude oil trading for delivery in January fell $3.54, or 8.1%, to $40.06, the lowest since July 2004. Oil prices are down more than $100 since peaking in July.
The decline Wednesday came even after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said it's cutting production 2.2 million barrels a day starting Jan. 1 in a bid to prop up prices. That is on top of the 2 million barrels the cartel pledged to cut in previous months and brings OPEC's daily production target to 24.8 million, the lowest in 4½ years.
OPEC said supply is exceeding demand. The cartel said prices threatened to get so low that it would no longer make sense to make investments to ensure enough supply in the long run.
OPEC President Chakib Khelil, Algeria's energy head, suggested the cartel could cut again before its next regularly scheduled meeting in March. "We are in a very, very deteriorating environment," he said at a news conference broadcast over the Internet.
But Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University, says further cuts might not work. Investors don't take OPEC's announcements seriously because members often produce more than promised, he says. More important, the economy is slipping too quickly for even OPEC to influence prices.
"The overall global economic challenges are such an overhang on this market right now that there's not a whole lot they can do to stimulate the market until we see the demand side pick up again," Bullock says.
OPEC's cut is "short-sighted," Energy Department press secretary Healy Baumgardner says.
The Energy Information Administration forecast U.S. oil consumption will fall through 2010.
In the USA, drivers are using less gasoline even though the price at the pump has plunged. Demand for gasoline in the four-week period ended Dec. 12 was down 3.5% from a year earlier, EIA said.
The nationwide average for a gallon of regular gas is $1.667, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-12-17-opec-oil-cut_N.htm
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment