Just how deep does the rabbit hole go?
Posts tagged illegal
Texas construction workers: 40 hours a week, living in poverty
33 months ago
Source: http://www.southernstudies.org
(Photo by Anna Strumillo via Fotopedia.)
Texas is one of the largest and most important construction markets in the country. It’s driving the industry at a time when much of the country is still tenuously recovering from the recession.
But a recent investigation has uncovered hundreds of examples of illegal and hazardous workplace practices at worksites throughout the states.
Twenty-two percent of Texas construction workers report not being paid for their work, and although the majority of workers labor at least 40 hours a week, 52 percent still live in poverty.
One in five workers reported having suffered a work related injury that required medical attention. Texas is ranked the most deadly state to work in construction.
On Tuesday, Workers Defense Project and the Division of Diversity of Community Engagement at the University of Texas, Austin will release the study “Build a Better Texas: Construction Working Conditions in the Lone Star State.”
Payroll fraud or misclassification of workers as independent subcontractors, rather than actual employees, has become a common practice in the industry. Widespread payroll fraud has devastating consequences for honest business owners who struggle to compete with companies that break the law.
And payroll fraud is expensive for taxpayers, costing them $54.5 million in lost unemployment insurance, tax revenue and hundreds of millions more in federal income tax.
This study offers concrete solutions to ensure a safe, healthy, and productive workforce to better build an economically stable and prosperous Texas.
The report will be presented by Fuerza del Valle Workers’ Center — a project of the Rio Grande Valley Equal Voice Network, which is committed to creating a movement of social change through the civic engagement of 25,000 constituents of the network’s participating organizations. Organizations include South Texas Civil Rights Project, La Union del Pueblo Entero, Proyecto Azteca, Mano a Mano Promotoras, Movimiento del Valle Por los Derechos Humanos, Proyecto Juan Diego and others.
Fed Siege On Another Family Farm
54 months ago
The assault by government agencies against another family farm, which in this case has been ongoing for quite some time. Sadly this is not that uncommon in our time with over regulation, government power and land grabs while pushing policies such as the United Nations Agenda 21.
History and updates on the Bakers Green Acres Farm please visit http://bakersgreenacres.com/
Congressman Ron Paul’s Farewell Speech to Congress (Video & Transcript)
06 months ago
A true statesman and humanitarian, Dr. Ron Paul, simply states the road we are on verses the road we should be on, explaining both consequences and rewards. I feel no individual in office can fill his mighty shoes, but that is not necessary, as the time is now to advance the cause of Freedom and Personal Liberty and the person to carry that cause is you and I, as individuals uniting to create a critical mass, so often mentioned by Bob Schultz and others. The revolution is now in our hands and we each will decide how best to promote the battle for Liberty!
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Video Location: http://rtr.org/vid/5446/congressman-ron-paul-s-farewell-speech-to-congress
Transcript Location: http://www.campaignforliberty.org/national-blog/transcript-of-farewell-address/
Much thanks to Gary Franchi and Matthew Hawes!
Congressman Paul’s final speech on the House floor before leaving Congress
Below is the transcript of Ron Paul’s farewell address to Congress:
Farewell to Congress
This may well be the last time I speak on the House Floor. At the end of the year I’ll leave Congress after 23 years in office over a 36 year period. My goals in 1976 were the same as they are today: promote peace and prosperity by a strict adherence to the principles of individual liberty.
It was my opinion, that the course the U.S. embarked on in the latter part of the 20th Century would bring us a major financial crisis and engulf us in a foreign policy that would overextend us and undermine our national security.
To achieve the goals I sought, government would have had to shrink in size and scope, reduce spending, change the monetary system, and reject the unsustainable costs of policing the world and expanding the American Empire.
The problems seemed to be overwhelming and impossible to solve, yet from my view point, just following the constraints placed on the federal government by the Constitution would have been a good place to start.
How Much Did I Accomplish?
In many ways, according to conventional wisdom, my off-and-on career in Congress, from 1976 to 2012, accomplished very little. No named legislation, no named federal buildings or highways—thank goodness. In spite of my efforts, the government has grown exponentially, taxes remain excessive, and the prolific increase of incomprehensible regulations continues. Wars are constant and pursued without Congressional declaration, deficits rise to the sky, poverty is rampant and dependency on the federal government is now worse than any time in our history.
All this with minimal concerns for the deficits and unfunded liabilities that common sense tells us cannot go on much longer. A grand, but never mentioned, bipartisan agreement allows for the well-kept secret that keeps the spending going. One side doesn’t give up one penny on military spending, the other side doesn’t give up one penny on welfare spending, while both sides support the bailouts and subsidies for the banking and corporate elite. And the spending continues as the economy weakens and the downward spiral continues. As the government continues fiddling around, our liberties and our wealth burn in the flames of a foreign policy that makes us less safe.
The major stumbling block to real change in Washington is the total resistance to admitting that the country is broke. This has made compromising, just to agree to increase spending, inevitable since neither side has any intention of cutting spending.
The country and the Congress will remain divisive since there’s no “loot left to divvy up.”
Without this recognition the spenders in Washington will continue the march toward a fiscal cliff much bigger than the one anticipated this coming January.
I have thought a lot about why those of us who believe in liberty, as a solution, have done so poorly in convincing others of its benefits. If liberty is what we claim it is- the principle that protects all personal, social and economic decisions necessary for maximum prosperity and the best chance for peace- it should be an easy sell. Yet, history has shown that the masses have been quite receptive to the promises of authoritarians which are rarely if ever fulfilled.
Judge Andrew Napolitano on The Jerry Doyle Show – Growing Government Intrusion
07 months ago
Source: http://libertycrier.com
By Judge Andrew Napolitano | Judge Napolitano, a former judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, is the senior judicial analyst at Fox News Channel. He is author of It Is Dangerous to Be Right When the Government Is Wrong and Lies the Government Told You and others.
Judge Napolitano talks with Jerry about the growing government intrusion in our lives and the violation of our constitutional rights.
Published on Oct 2, 2012 by GuyFawkes2009
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Related Post:
Another Way The Police And Private Corporations Track You: License Plates
House passes Homeland Security bill with meaningless anti-abortion rider
0Source: http://www.rawstory.com
By Muriel Kane
Photo: Gage Skidmore, via Wikimedia Commons.
Republicans in the House of Representatives attached an anti-abortion rider to a Homeland Security spending bill Thursday. The provision would do nothing to change existing policy and is unlikely to make it past the Senate, but it is seen as sending an election-year message to the lawmakers’ conservative constituents.
In what was probably not intended as a deliberate rebuke to Republican president candidate Mitt Romney, the Homeland Security bill caters to state and local governments by increasing funding for first responders like police and fire departments, while cutting funds from the widely unpopular Transportation Security Administration.
The anti-abortion rider, proposed by an Alabama Republican, would prevent Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from funding abortions for illegal immigrants in its custody, except in cases of rape, incest, or threats to the life of the mother. It passed on a party-line vote, 234 to 182.
Colombians uprooted by illegal mining – rights group
011 months ago
Source: http://www.trust.org
By Anastasia Moloney
A Colombian gold prospector is seen outside a mine in Marmato province, Caldas, October 5, 2010. The Marmato mines have been exploited for more than five centuries. REUTERS/John Vizcaino
BOGOTA (AlertNet) – Rebel forces and criminal gangs fighting for a stake in Colombia’s mining boom are forcing growing numbers of people to flee their homes, a leading rights group has said.
Rising silver and gold prices along with increasing coal and oil production in the South American nation, have seen leftist rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and new criminal gangs linked to former far-right paramilitaries expanding into illegal mining in recent years.
Illegal gold and silver mines in central and western Colombia as well as mines of coltan ore – an essential component in mobile phones – in Colombia’s Amazon jungle, have become increasingly important sources of revenue for armed groups and criminals.
“Mining, both legal and illegal, brings in and attracts illegal armed groups – paramilitaries and guerrillas – to control mining operations and or extort mining companies,” said Marco Romero, head of the Bogota-based rights group, the Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement (CODHES).
“In some areas of Colombia, like in Cauca and in the oil-producing regions of the south, we’ve seen an increase in human rights abuses and violence against local communities, which in some cases has led to displacement,” Romero told AlertNet.
Marijuana initiative could make or break Obama in Colorado
011 months ago
Source: http://www.trust.org
Sat, 2 Jun 2012 13:00 GMT
Source: reuters // Reuters
* About half of all Americans say they favor legalization
* Advocates say legal pot could boost tax revenues, jobs
* State, federal government laws must still be reconciled
* Tax revenues would be used in part to rebuild schools
By Samuel P. Jacobs
DENVER, June 2 (Reuters) – Throughout his presidency, Barack Obama hasn’t exactly been a friend to marijuana users.
Sure, he has acknowledged smoking pot as a young man, but he has disappointed marijuana advocates by opposing its legalization, regulation and taxation like alcohol.
And the Justice Department’s occasional crackdown under his administration on medical marijuana dispensaries, which 17 states and the District of Columbia allow, has angered others.
So now, with Obama facing a stiff challenge from Republican Mitt Romney in the Nov. 6 election, it’s ironic that his chances of winning the key state of Colorado could hinge on marijuana legalization, supported by a growing number of Americans.
At issue is whether Obama will get a boost from young voters expected to be among the most enthusiastic backers of a Colorado ballot initiative that would legalize possession of up to an ounce of pot for recreational use – and give the state the most liberal marijuana law in the nation.
The initiative is a reflection of Colorado’s unique blend of laid-back liberalism and anti-regulation conservatism that helped make the state the birthplace of the Libertarian Party.
Kentucky Supreme Court Rules Highway Checkpoints Illegal
01 year ago
Source: http://www.prisonplanet.com
By Paul Joseph Watson
Roadblocks targeted motorists who refused to display sticker
Warrantless checkpoints in the city of Liberty, Kentucky that were used by authorities to interrogate drivers who refused to display a sticker in their vehicle have been ruled unconstitutional by the Kentucky Supreme Court.
Residents who refused to buy the $10 dollar sticker were targeted after city officials ordered police to set up roadblocks. Those displaying the sticker were allowed through but refusniks were interrogated and had their vehicles searched, a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment.
After the state Court of Appeals disagreed with the Casey County Circuit Court and claimed the checkpoints to be justified, the Kentucky Supreme Court stepped in and unanimously ruled that the city had no reason to stop motorists.
“The checkpoint’s only purpose was to enforce a revenue-raising tax upon vehicles in the city,” the court ruled. “Thus, the checkpoint to enforce the sticker ordinance comports with none of the purposes which the United States Supreme Court has found to be important enough to override the individual liberty interests secured by the Fourth Amendment.”
The court also added that authorities chose the most invasive method to find residents who had refused to display the ticket. Given the fact that it was known those refusing to display the ticket were teachers, officers could instead have simply visited the school parking lot instead of setting up roadblocks.
“Through a series of decisions, the US Supreme Court has authorized suspicionless roadblocks for the purpose of finding illegal aliens up to 100 miles from the border, verifying drivers’ licenses and registrations, looking for drunk drivers and responding to a specific crime that took place on the same highway as the roadblock. A dozen states have disagreed with these practices and outlawed one or more of these types of roadblocks by citing their own state constitutions. The Kentucky Supreme Court found none of these exceptions applied in the case at hand,” reports TheNewspaper.com.
The federal government is also expanding its use of highway checkpoints under the auspices of the Transportation Security Administration.
In October last year we reported on how Tennessee’s Homeland Security Commissioner announced that a raft of new “security checkpoints” would be in place over the Halloween period to “keep roadways safe for trick-or-treaters”.
Fast and Furious: The Hidden History of the Drug War
0Source: http://www.corbettreport.com
Posted by Corbett
As US troops deploy to the Mexican border to deal with the fallout of Fast and Furious, details continue to emerge about this flagrantly illegal operation to arm Mexican drug lords in a supposed sting operation. But as veteran investigative journalist Bill Conroy points out, operations like this were going on years prior to Fast and Furious and this latest scandal is just another example of a drug war that is not what it is believed to be. This is the GRTV Feature interview with your host James Corbett and our special guest, Bill Conroy.
[CIM Comment]
If you want honest reporting I would highly recommend The Corbett Report!
New Obama Executive Order Seizes U.S. Infrastructure and Citizens for Military Preparedness
11 year ago
Sources:
Text content: http://www.activistpost.com
Video Content: http://breakthematrix.com
In a stunning move, on March 16, 2012, Barack Obama signed an Executive Order stating that the President and his specifically designated Secretaries now have the authority to commandeer all domestic U.S. resources including food and water. The EO also states that the President and his Secretaries have the authority to seize all transportation, energy, and infrastructure inside the United States as well as forcibly induct/draft American citizens into the military. The EO also contains a vague reference in regards to harnessing American citizens to fulfill “labor requirements” for the purposes of national defense.
Not only that, but the authority claimed inside the EO does not only apply to National Emergencies and times of war. It also applies in peacetime.
The National Defense Resources Preparedness Executive Order exploits the “authority” granted to the President in the Defense Production Act of 1950 in order to assert that virtually every means of human survival is now available for confiscation and control by the President via his and his Secretaries’ whim.
The unconstitutionality of the overwhelming majority of Executive Orders is well established, as well as the illegality of denying citizens their basic Constitutional and human rights, even in the event of a legitimate national emergency. Likewise, it should also be pointed out that, like Obama’s recent Libyan adventure and the foregone conclusion of a Syrian intervention, there is no mention of Congress beyond a minor role of keeping the allegedly co-equal branch of government informed on contextually meaningless developments.
As was mentioned above, the scope of the EO is virtually all-encompassing. For instance, in “Section 201 – Priorities and Allocations Authorities,” the EO explains that the authority for the actions described in the opening paragraph rests with the President but is now delegated to the various Secretaries of the U.S. Federal Government. The list of delegations and the responsibility of the Secretaries as provided in this section are as follows:
(1) the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to food resources, food resource facilities, livestock resources, veterinary resources, plant health resources, and the domestic distribution of farm equipment and commercial fertilizer;
(2) the Secretary of Energy with respect to all forms of energy;
(3) the Secretary of Health and Human Services with respect to health resources;
(4) the Secretary of Transportation with respect to all forms of civil transportation;
(5) the Secretary of Defense with respect to water resources; and
(6) the Secretary of Commerce with respect to all other materials, services, and facilities, including construction materials.
This is a work in progess, a self learning tool and fun little project. Please excuse the slow development as it seems the needed proper time is always lacking. It is my hope that the combination of content and links to other sources of information in this simple blog may help awaken a few of the sleeping masses and encourage and inspire others to initiate their own research, ultimately for each person to be a light to help awaken others. Opinions expressed belong to me, myself and I. Also, a big thank you to all that take the time to visit, it is appreciated :)
