1000s Join Paris Anti-gay Marriage Rally , Riot Cops Use Teargas

1000s Join Paris Anti-gay Marriage Rally

Published on Mar 24, 2013

Tens of thousands of French families, activists and conservatives converged on the capital to try to stop the country from allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt. A bill has passed the lower house of parliament and awaits a Senate vote  by The Associated Press

1 Mother & 1 Father, it's Elementary

Published on Mar 24, 2013

Paris riot police used tear gas and fought back crowds who pushed their way onto Paris' landmark Champs-Elysees avenue as part of a huge protest against a draft law allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt children. by The Associated Press

Clashes at French anti-gay marriage protest

Sustained protests led by opposition conservatives in this traditionally Catholic country have eroded support for the draft law in recent months, and organizers hope Sunday's march will weigh on the Senate debate.
The first few hours of the protest were peaceful. But as it was meant to be winding down, about 100 youths tried to push past police barricades onto the Champs-Elysees, the avenue that cuts through central Paris and draws throngs of tourists daily. In an indication of the sensitivity of the issue, protesters had been barred from marching on the Champs.
Police officers wrangled with the youths and then fired tear gas to force them back. Gaining momentum, more and more protesters took side streets to reach the avenue, blocking a key intersection on the route to the president's Elysee Palace.
Police fired more tear gas but were unable to block the crowds from spilling onto the avenue.
"Hollande, Resignation!" the protestors chanted, before breaking into the French anthem, "La Marseillaise."

 The numbers vary:

The official estimated that 300,000 people took part in Sunday's march, slightly less than a similar march in January. Organizers estimated more than 1.2 million people took part in Sunday's march, more than in the January protest.
Polls indicate a shrinking majority of French voters back gay marriage, which is legal in about a dozen mostly European nations and some U.S. states. But polls show French voters are less enthusiastic about adoption by same-sex couples.
Frigide Barjot, the stage name of an activist who has led protests against the bill, insisted the anti-gay marriage movement wasn't a lost cause. "It's the second round, sir. It's not the last battle."

Read more: Clashes at French anti-gay marriage protest

East Coast Meteor or Anti-Missile Test Friday Night?

Recent meteor activity caught my attention and I was delighted to find footage to watch of the event from Friday night March 22  2013 filmed on the east coast. The events took a strange twist when I watched a video from a security camera in Delaware. I start the video with the Manhattan footage from clips posted on youtube for a view from the Manhattan area, followed by clips from Delaware




A few video clips of the 'meteor'

Two Flashes and the object is down

The Iran, Hezbollah, Venezuela Axis

The Iran, Hezbollah, Venezuela Axis

Iran laundering billions through Venezuela, former senior official says

BY: Adam Kredo
March 22, 2013 12:59 pm

Iran has illegally laundered billions of dollars through the Venezuelan financial sector and is currently stashing “hundreds of millions” of dollars in “virtually every Venezuelan bank today,” according to a former senior State Department official.
“It’s a huge blind spot in those trying to implement sanctions” on Iran, Roger Noriega, a former United States ambassador and assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs, told the Washington Free Beacon.

Venezuela served as Iran’s closest Western ally under the late President Hugo Chavez, who allowed the rogue regime to establish a military and financial presence at the highest levels of the Venezuelan government.
Iran’s foothold in the country is expected to grow exponentially under the rule of Chavez’s likely successor, Vice President Nicolas Maduro.
Noriega and other experts warned House lawmakers at a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday that Iran’s terrorist proxy Hezbollah is gaining power in Venezuela.
Keep Reading at The Washingon Free Beacon

' Hezbollah as a Global Threat ' House Committee Foreign Affairs | Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade March 20 2013 Full Clip at CSPAN

Barack Obama's Organizing for Action & Acce$$

Organizing for Action 101

@freebeacon  BY: Katherine Miller
March 13, 2013 2:59 pm
President Obama will speak to a collection of wealthy donors and activists Wednesday evening at a luxury hotel near the White House. The event is called the “Founders Summit,” and it is the second major donor meeting for the president’s new dark money group, Organizing for Action (OFA). Reporters will not be permitted to attend the speech.


The tax-exempt 501(c)(4) has drawn scrutiny from liberal watchdog groups and the New York Times editorial board for, among other things, a reported scheme that would grant donors who give or raise $500,000 quarterly meetings with the president.


OFA operates in a complex area of campaign finance, so the Washington Free Beacon has put together this guide on the group: (Left)

Credit Washington Free Beacon and Associated Press. 







 






































Organizing for Action

ALEC Member & Coal Giant's $10 Million Loan to Democrats Is Now a $10 Million Donation

Coal Giant's $10 Million Loan to Democrats Is Now a $10 Million Donation

—By Andy Kroll

| Fri Mar. 1, 2013 7:49 AM PST

Last summer, with organizers struggling to raise enough money for the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, party planners turned to Duke Energy, headquartered in Charlotte, for help. Duke, the nation's largest utility company, stepped up with a $10 million line of credit for the convention. Organizers insisted Duke would be repaid after the convention.
Or…not.
A Duke Energy official told the Charlotte Observer on Thursday that Democratic officials would not repay the $10 million they owe the company. Instead, Duke Energy will write off the loan as a business expense. Shareholders are expected to absorb $6 million of the cost of the loan.

In effect, Duke Energy's "loan" has turned out to be a $10 million contribution to the Democratic convention. Duke CEO Jim Rogers hinted at this possibility in an interview with the Observer last month, when it was becoming clear the Democrats might not repay the company. "At the end of the day, we'll do our best to get our money back," he said. "But if we don't, it's just a contribution we're making I think for the greater good of our community."
The decision by Democratic organizers not to repay the loan smacks of hypocrisy. In the run-up to the convention, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), the chair of the Democratic National Committee, vowed that convention organizers would not accept corporate money. "We will make this the first convention in history that does not accept any funds from lobbyists, corporations, or political action committees," she said. Yet even before the Duke loan became a straight-up donation, various convention committees revealed that they had accepted corporate money. One committee took in at least $5 million in corporate money to rent Charlotte's Time Warner Cable Arena and a million more in in-kind contributions from AT&T, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and Costco.
Asked about this hypocrisy, Democratic officials have responded by noting that their anti-corporate-cash pledge was self-imposed. Legally, they could use corporate money to fund their convention. Which, in the end, is precisely what they did.

Democracy Now explored the connection Between Obama and Duke Energy

Published on Sep 4, 2012

DemocracyNow.org - Duke Energy, the nation's largest utility, has played a major role in bringing the Democratic National Convention to Charlotte, North Carolina. Duke has a lot riding on future policies governing coal, nuclear energy and climate change, regardless of who wins November's election. The company has partly been successful in fighting off federal regulations thanks to its ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, reportedly sponsoring ALEC's meetings and bankrolled its attacks on clean energy legislation. We discuss Duke Energy's growing political influence with Monica Embrey, the North Carolina organizer for Greenpeace USA; and Beth Henry, a local activist in Charlotte raising awareness about Duke Energy and its ties to the Democratic National Convention.

  There is a lot more to the story in this right to work state:

Nuclear ALEC Member DUKE ENERGY Funds DNC 2012