Eeyores news and view

Need to watch out for these people, when traveling through there or give thought if you planned to move there. If your there, run away as fast as you can.
TN State Senator Paul Stanley - wants your fingerprint?
Mickey at 6:22 pm on Thursday, May 7, 2009
There is a bill that passed the TN state senate committee that Republican Paul Stanley is a member, the Judiciary committee. He has voted AYE for the HB 2220/SB 2153…
SB2153 by Haynes - S. JUD COMM.:
Recommended for passage - refer to: S. Cal. Comm. 5/5/2009
Passed
Ayes…………………………………………9
Noes…………………………………………0

Senators voting aye were: Beavers, Black, Bunch, Faulk, Jackson, Kyle, Marrero B, Overbey, Stanley — 9.
Criminal Procedure - As introduced, authorizes use of fingerprint as form of acknowledgment in lieu of, or in addition to, a person’s signature for citations and certain other notices and documents. - Amends TCA Title 7, Chapter 63; Title 16, Chapter 1; Title 40, Chapter 7 and Title 55, Chapter 50.
Bill Summary
This bill authorizes, in regard to the issuance of a citation in lieu of arrest for violating a law, ordinance, or traffic violation, the affixing of the person’s fingerprint to the citation instead of or in addition to the person’s signature. Furthermore, this bill authorizes the courts of this state to implement procedures for the use of electronic fingerprint captures in the signing of pleadings, court orders, judgment orders, affidavits of complaint, arrest warrants, a mittimus or other court documents.
Mr. Stanley wants your finger print if you get a speeding ticket. Now, the way I understand it, you are not FOUND GUILTY until you have your day in court… So why does the STATE want this? Whats next, DNA, Retina scans, arm, leg?
And we wonder why the Republican Party is self destructing.
I would hope that this is challenged in the courts. I wonder if the Governor will Veto?
http://bluecollarrepublican.com/blog/?p=1965

Here is another article about government stupidity, just seperated by an ocean.
German government plans to curb use of guns
Published: Thursday 07 May 2009 12:55 UTC Last updated: Thursday 07 May 2009 13:42 UTC Germany's coalition government of Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and Social Democrats (SPD) has agreed on a series of measures to curb the use of guns. They come two months after a 17-year-old youth killed 15 people with a pistol at his former school.The measures also include a proposal to ban paintballing, a game in which players use air rifles to shoot paint at opponents. MPs say the "simulated killing" trivialises violence and lowers the threshold for committing violent acts. German media report the government is also considering giving police the right to check up on people who own guns. Also, an amnesty will be offered to people who turn in illegal weapons.
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/news/international/6290273/German-government-plans-to-curb-use-of-guns

Montana gun law targets states' rights clash
Kahrin Deines, Associated PressSunday, May 10, 2009(05-10) 04:00 PDT Helena, Mont. -- Montana is trying to trigger a battle over gun control - and perhaps make a larger point about what many folks in this ruggedly independent state regard as a meddlesome federal government.In a bill passed by the Legislature earlier this month, the state is asserting that guns manufactured in Montana and sold in Montana to people who intend to keep their weapons in Montana are exempt from federal gun registration, background check and dealer-licensing rules because no state lines are crossed.That notion is all but certain to be tested in court.The immediate effect of the law could be limited, since Montana is home to just a few specialty gun makers, known for high-end hunting rifles and replicas of Old West weapons, and because their out-of-state sales would automatically trigger federal control.Still, much bigger prey lies in Montana's sights: a legal showdown over how far the federal government's regulatory authority extends."It's a gun bill, but it's another way of demonstrating the sovereignty of the state of Montana," said Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who signed the bill.Carrie DiPirro, a spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, had no comment on the legislation. But the federal government has argued that it has authority under the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution to regulate guns because they can so easily be transported across state lines.Guns and states' rights both play well in Montana, the birthplace of the right-wing Freemen militia and a participant in the Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1970s and '80s, during which Western states clashed with Washington over grazing and mineral extraction on federal land.Montana's leading gun rights organization, more hard-core than the National Rifle Association, boasts it has moved 50 bills through the Legislature over the past 25 years. And lawmakers in the Big Sky State have rebelled against federal control of everything from wetland protection to the national Real ID system.Under the new law, guns intended only for Montana would be stamped "Made in Montana." The drafters of the law hope to set off a legal battle with a simple Montana-made youth-model single-shot, bolt-action .22 rifle. They plan to find a "squeaky clean" Montanan who wants to send a note to the ATF threatening to build and sell about 20 such rifles without federal dealership licensing.If the ATF tells them it's illegal, they will sue and take the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, if they can.Similar measures have also been introduced in Texas and Alaska."I think states have got to stand up or else most of their rights are going to be buffaloed by the administration and by Congress," said Texas state Rep. Leo Berman.Critics say exempting guns from federal laws anywhere would undermine efforts to stem gun violence everywhere."Guns cross state lines and they do so constantly, and this is a Sagebrush Rebellion-type effort to light some sort of fire and get something going that's pleasing to the gun nuts and that has very little actual sense," said Peter Hamm, communications director for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.In a 2005 case, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the enforcement of federal laws against marijuana in California, even if the drug is for medical purposes and is grown and used within the state. The court found that since marijuana produced in California is indistinguishable from pot grown outside the state, the federal government must have the authority to regulate both to enforce national drug laws.Randy Barnett, the lawyer and constitutional scholar who represented the plaintiff in the California case, said that Montana could argue that its "Made in Montana"-stamped guns are unique and sufficiently segregated as to lie outside federal regulation.Supporters of the measure say the main purpose is not extending gun freedoms, but curbing what they regard as an oppressive interpretation of the interstate commerce clause and federal overreach into such things as livestock management and education."Firearms are inextricably linked to the history and culture of Montana, and I'd like to support that," said Montana state Rep. Joel Boniek, the bill's sponsor. "But I want to point out that the issue here is not about firearms. It's about state rights."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2009%2F05%2F10%2FMN4V17BCF2.DTL

Chávez seizures fuel Venezuela oil fears
By Benedict Mander in Caracas Published: May 10 2009 12:41
A fresh round of expropriations in Venezuela has raised fears that the Opec producer’s already declining oil output could sink to its lowest level in the past 20 years.
Troops were mobilised over the weekend to assist Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, in seizing the assets of some 60 oil service companies, after a law was approved last week that paves the way for the state to take increasing control over its all-important oil industry.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Venezuela oil group gears up for $2bn issue - May-07Chávez wins vote to scrap term limits - Feb-16Oil-rich nations ‘seek majors’ expertise’ - Mar-10“To God what is God’s, and to Caesar what is Caesar’s,” said Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez, as he presided over the expropriation of at least a dozen rigs, more than 30 oil terminals and some 300 boats.
“Today we also say: to the people what is the people’s,” the socialist leader said to roars of approval from red-clad supporters on the shores of Lake Maracaibo, the heartland of the nation’s oil production.
This move forms part of a broader assault against the private sector, which Mr Chávez has increasingly blamed as Venezuela slides into recession. Simultaneously he is engaging in what opposition leaders say is a campaign of persecution of his political foes.
Manuel Rosales, a former presidential candidate, has been granted asylum in Peru to escape arrest over corruption charges, while congress has removed almost all the spending powers of Antonio Ledezma, the anti-Chávez mayor of Caracas. Other opponents have been jailed or gone into hiding.
PDVSA, which is suffering from a sharp fall in export income, made the surprise move against the oil service companies in response to their threat that they would suspend operations until it paid a backlog of invoices. Some, including Helmerich & Payne and Ensco International, abandoned rigs this year.
PDVSA, which is under pressure to cut expenses by 60 per cent because of tumbling revenues, is estimated to owe as much as $12bn (€8.9bn, £7.9bn) to contractors since suspending payments to them last August, shortly after oil prices began their precipitous decline.
It has demanded that companies accept a 40 per cent cut in their bills, arguing that the decline in oil prices means they are charging too much.
The new law will also enable PDVSA to pay debts with bonds rather than cash, and compensate assets at book value.
The move is the latest sign of the deepening cashflow crisis that has bedeviled the state oil company for at least two years as it has become overburdened with responsibilities far removed from its core business – in particular funding and running the massive social programmes that have become the bedrock of Mr Chávez’s support.
But analysts say that by shifting its problems onto its suppliers, PDVSA is storing up even bigger problems for the future. Not only does it lack the ability to operate as efficiently as the service providers, but it sends a grim signal to companies considering investing in Venezuela. Consequently, future oil production is under threat.
Perhaps most worrying is the impact this could have on foreign companies’ interest in a major auction currently underway to develop the Carabobo block in the oil-rich Orinoco Belt, which is the first oil investment opportunity in Venezuela in the last decade, and represents the oil dependent country’s biggest hope for reviving sagging production. According to the IEA, production fell to 2.36m bpd in 2008, compared to 3.18m bpd in 1997, although PDVSA claims it actually increased to 3.27m bpd in 2008.
Some 19 companies – including BP, Chevron, Shell, StatoilHydro, and Total – have expressed interest in bidding for the Carabobo projects that could collectively produce over 800,000 bpd, and require investments of $25-30bn.
But adding to worries about the lack of legal security in Venezuela, intensfied by recent developments, international oil companies are also concerned by prohibitively high start-up and financing costs as well as tight profit margins due to fiscal terms that were drawn up before oil prices began their precipitous decline last year.
David Voght, a director at IPD Latin America, which advises several international oil companies operating in Venezuela, said: “Venezuela’s aggressive fiscal terms and the country’s persistent trend toward nationalisation of oil industry activities will make it more and more difficult to attract foreign investment and competitive bids from qualified operators.”
Taxes and royalties have been hiked four times since 2004, with an 85 per cent windfall tax introduced last year, while companies were ordered to give up operational control over four multibillion-dollar projects in the Orinoco two years ago, prompting Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips to exit the country and opt for international arbitration.
Although most companies are keen to have a stake in Venezuela, which now claims to have 172bn barrels of proven oil reserves making them the second largest in the world after Saudi Arabia, the government’s unpredictability and inflexibility are a serious deterrent.
“It’s a great paradox. There are companies that want to invest in Venezuela and to remain on a long-term basis, bringing capital, technology and know-how, but they may not do so because the government is refusing to recognize that the outlook for oil prices has changed,” said an industry source in Caracas, who requested anonymity. “They have to face up to reality.”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b332e432-3d54-11de-a85e-00144feabdc0.html

Shortages stir coffee and sugar prices
By Javier Blas and Jenny Wiggins in London Published: May 10 2009 22:30
Caffeine addicts face higher prices for their daily fix as the wholesale cost of both coffee and sugar rise sharply because of poor crops and robust demand.
“We are in a dangerous situation,” Andrea Illy, chief executive of Italy’s leading coffee ?company, told the Financial Times, warning that prices could “explode” due to supply shortages.
His comments echo those of other industry players – and point to a sharp shift in sentiment among analysts.
Until recently, it was widely assumed that the global economic crisis would damp consumption and prices for coffee. However, that forecast proved wrong, since demand for coffee has remained high, even while consumers have moved from cafés to home drinking.
International coffee prices last week hit a seven-month high, rising to $1.28 per pound, up 22 per cent from their December low, in New York trading.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Raw materials surge as crude hits $58 level - May-08Raw materials rises fuel hedging - May-07Analysis: Retail suppliers chase the value in a shift to thrift - May-06Meanwhile, the spot price of Colombian coffee – which commands a premium because it is sought by gourmets – jumped to almost $2.20 a pound, a 12-year high, due to supply constraints.
The crop in Colombia was damaged by heavy rains and the scarcity of supplies from the country is now “absolute”, says Néstor Osorio, head of the International Coffee Organisation.
Kraft, owner of the Maxwell House coffee brands, raised retail prices on its Colombian blend by almost 19 per cent last month due to the rising prices of Colombian coffee beans. Nestlé declined to comment on whether it has been raising prices on Nescafé.
Separately, sugar prices in New York and London rose last week to their highest in almost three years. White sugar prices rose above $450 a tonne, a 52 per cent gain from mid-December, as traders bet that India, the world’s largest consumer, will require hefty imports to compensate for the failure of the local crop.
Swings in Indian sugar output, which move the country back and forth from exporter to importer, are a critical factor in global prices. Traders forecast that the country’s output will drop 40 per cent to about 15m tonnes in the 2008-09 season, well below the country’s consumption of about 23m tonnes a year.
Peter de Klerk at London-based sugar merchants Czarnikow said that importing countries will “need to see retail prices rise to match the surge in the cost of sugar in the wholesale market”.
Traders said that the mood at last week’s sugar dinner in New York, the industry’s annual gathering, showed the market is bullish overall. At present, the International Sugar Organisation predicts a second consecutive market deficit in 2009-10.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/64955332-3d90-11de-a85e-00144feabdc0.html

Scientists Learn Why The Flu May Turn Deadly
by Staff Writers
Washington DC (SPX) May 08, 2009
As the swine flu continues its global spread, researchers from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have discovered important clues about why influenza is more severe in some people than it is in others.
In their research study published online in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology , the scientists show that the influenza virus can actually paralyze the immune systems
of otherwise healthy individuals, leading to severe secondary bacterial infections, such as pneumonia. Furthermore, this immunological paralysis can be long-lived, which is important to know when developing treatment strategies to combat the virus.
According to Kathleen Sullivan, M.D., Ph.D., the senior researcher involved in the study and Chief of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, "We have a very limited understanding of why some people who get influenza simply have a bad cold and other people become very sick and even die. The results of this study give us a much better sense of the mechanisms underlying bacterial infections arising on top of the viral infection."
Sullivan and colleagues recruited pediatric patients with severe influenza and examined the level of cytokines, which serve as the first line initiators of immune response, in the blood plasma. Although they found elevated levels of cytokines, they also found a decreased response of toll-like receptors, which activate immune cell responses as a result of invading microbes.
This suggests that the diminished response of these receptors may be responsible for the paralysis of the immune system, leading to secondary bacterial infections. The influenza patients were compared with patients with moderate influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, and a control group of healthy individuals.
The immune paralysis appeared to be specifically a result of influenza infection and was not seen in patients with respiratory syncytial virus. This process might explain why one quarter of children who die from influenza, die from a bacterial infection occurring on top of the virus.
"Despite major medical advances since the devastating flu outbreak of 1918 and 1919, influenza virus infection remains a very serious threat," said John Wherry, Ph.D., Deputy Editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, "and the current swine flu outbreak is a grim reminder of this fact. The work by Dr. Sullivan and colleagues brings us a step closer to understanding exactly what goes wrong in some people who get the flu, so, ultimately, physicians can develop more effective treatment strategies."
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Scientists_Learn_Why_The_Flu_May_Turn_Deadly_999.html
Thought this is much like the government, stimulus money is to help the economy, then spend the money where it is needed least. If it was a movie script you would say it is unbelievable and no one would go see it. But it is congress, i guess what do you expect.
STIMULUS WATCH: Early road aid leaves out neediest
By MATT APUZZO and BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE – 4 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Counties suffering the most from job losses stand to receive the least help from President Barack Obama's plan to spend billions of stimulus dollars on roads and bridges, an Associated Press analysis has found.
Although the intent of the money is to put people back to work, AP's review of more than 5,500 planned transportation projects nationwide reveals that states are planning to spend the stimulus in communities where jobless rates are already lower.
One result among many: Elk County, Pa., isn't receiving any road money despite its 13.8 percent unemployment rate. Yet the military and college community of Riley County, Kan., with its 3.4 percent unemployment, will benefit from about $56 million to build a highway, improve an intersection and restore a historic farmhouse.
Altogether, the government is set to spend 50 percent more per person in areas with the lowest unemployment than it will in communities with the highest.
The AP reviewed $18.9 billion in projects, the most complete picture available of where states plan to spend the first wave of highway money. The projects account for about half of the $38 billion set aside for states and local governments to spend on roads, bridges and infrastructure in the stimulus plan.
The very promise that Obama made, to spend money quickly and create jobs, is locking out many struggling communities needing those jobs.
The money goes to projects ready to start. But many struggling communities don't have projects waiting on a shelf. They couldn't afford the millions of dollars for preparation and plans that often is required.
"It's not fair," said Martin Schuller, the borough manager in the Elk County seat of Ridgway, who commiserates about the inequity in highway aid with colleagues in nearby towns. "It's a joke because we're not going to get it, because we don't have any projects ready to go."
The early trend seen in the AP analysis runs counter to expectations raised by Obama, that road and infrastructure money from the historic $787 billion stimulus plan would create jobs in areas most devastated by layoffs and plant closings. Transportation money, he said, would mean paychecks for "folks looking for work" and "folks who want to work."
"That's the core of my plan, putting people to work doing the work that America needs done," Obama said in a Feb. 11 speech promoting transportation spending as a way to expand employment.
Also, Congress required states to use some of the highway money for projects in economically distressed areas, but didn't impose sanctions if they didn't. States can lose money, however, if they don't spend fast enough.
The AP examined the earliest projects announced nationwide, the ones most likely to break ground and create jobs first. More projects are continually being announced, and some areas that received little or no help so far may benefit later. The Obama administration could also encourage states to change their plans.
To determine whether there was a disparity in where the money would go, the AP divided the nation's counties into four groups by unemployment levels. The analysis found that, no matter how the early money is measured, communities suffering most fare the worst:
_High-unemployment counties, those in the top quarter of jobless rates, are allotted about 16 percent of the money, compared with about 20 percent for areas least affected by joblessness.
_In low-unemployment counties nationwide, those in the bottom quarter of jobless rates, the federal government is spending about $89 a person compared with $59 a person in the worst-hit areas.
_In counties with the largest populations, the government is spending about $69 a person in areas with the lowest unemployment and $40 a person in places with the greatest job need.
The analysis also found that counties with the highest unemployment are most likely to have been passed over completely in the early spending.
Among them: Wheeler County, Ore.; Steuben County, Ind.; Macon County, Ga.; and Crowley County, Colo.
Many others are getting minimal help in this round: Vermillion County, Ind.; Lapeer County, Mich.; Presidio County, Texas; Tallahatchi County, Miss.
Those counties still will benefit from job creation elsewhere in their states, said Lana Hurdle, a Transportation official overseeing the agency's stimulus money.
"Even if you have to drive to it, it's better than no job," Hurdle said.
Joel Szabat, who also oversees the stimulus for the Transportation Department, said the agency presses states to build projects in struggling areas but does not normally consider how much money is going to each county.
Presented with AP's findings, he said: "I will be going back to ask our folks to do this kind of analysis, the overall amount for the projects."
"Our goal, and I think it is a goal that will be achieved, is that you will see that a fair share of this money will go to these areas," Szabat said.
Obama's plan sends $38 billion to states and local governments for roads, bridges, transit and other infrastructure, about 5 percent of the overall program that also includes money for, among other things, schools, community development, technology, worker training and tax breaks.
All counties will receive some stimulus relief eventually. But the haste voiced by the White House is not reflected in the flow of highway money so far.
"We cannot wait," Vice President Joe Biden said last week when announcing a $30 million transit project in his hometown of Wilmington, Del., where the 7.7 percent unemployment rate remains below the national average. "We're spending a lot of time and money. Why? It's about ... jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. That's why we cannot wait."
Yet residents of Perry County, Tenn., will have to wait. County Mayor John Carroll said he's disappointed his community, which suffers from 25.4 percent unemployment, won't receive a dime any time soon for its road needs.
"It's pretty easy to draw a connection between the high unemployment rate and the lack of any four-lane highways," he said.
Federal auditors acknowledge they can't yet track the transportation money that is leaving Washington and there is no single list of the thousands of projects planned in each state. For its analysis, the AP used lists of projects approved through March by the Transportation Department and collected lists of stimulus projects that have been announced in 49 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Federal officials have approved 2,800 projects. The remaining projects on the AP list represent the states' official plans for the money. Only Virginia, which has not announced its plan, is not included.
As the number of projects grows, places like Elk County, Pa., could still be left out because they could not afford the upfront costs needed to put proposals in the pipeline.
"It's all based on this 'shovel readiness,'" said Elk County Commissioner Daniel Freeburg. "That's been our stumbling block."
Elk County surely could use jobs. The once thriving north central Pennsylvania county is home to metal factories that equip the nation's auto industry. Layoffs are mounting.
Freeburg is pinning hopes on getting future stimulus money, such as for energy conservation programs, that will create jobs and rekindle the local metal and lumber industries.
In promoting his plan, Obama went to hard-hit communities such as Elkhart, Ind., and Peoria, Ill., and promised the jobs would come.
"Now, I know that some of you might be thinking, 'Well that all sounds good, but when are we going to see any of that here in Elkhart?'" Obama said. "'What does all that mean for our families and our community?' Those are exactly the kind of questions you should be asking of your president and your government."
Obama kept his promise to Elkhart, which so far is expected to receive $13.7 million, and Peoria, which should receive at least $10.6 million. But other, similar counties have not been so lucky.
For now, laid-off workers in Elk County, Pa., question why they've missed out, while money flows to more prosperous places.
"Why are they helping them?" asked Wendy Cameron, 50, of Saint Marys, Pa., who lost her job in a metal factory last year. She doesn't have health insurance and would gladly take road work. "They're not in need. We are.
"What are these people going to do? Is everybody going to go on welfare? I've never been on welfare. I don't want to be on welfare."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5guNAb2By3sueeeMXl9bWidVIwh1wD983T6D00