+ news dump
+video
("Just shut up and be a good little socialist", Seattle City Council 'bans' term "enemy"-dissent is silenced)

---

http://www.theisraelproject.org/

New Section of Ancient Sewer Discovered in Jerusalem

* Links City of David to Western Wall Plaza
* No Digging Conducted under Muslim Holy Sites
* Discovery Brings Us Closer to Ancient Jerusalem – Archaeologist

Jerusalem, Jan 25 – Israeli archaeologists have discovered a new section of an 2,000-year-old drainage channel that links the ancient City of David to the plaza in front of the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site.

“It connects the dots between the where Jews lived in the ancient city of Jerusalem, the city of David, and the plaza. For the first time, they connect,” said Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat in an interview on Fox News.

Archaeologist Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa and his team first uncovered the sewer in 2007.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296329,00.html

The walls of the tunnel, made of ashlar stones 3 feet deep, reach a height of 10 feet in some places and are covered

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296329,00.html

by heavy stone slabs that were the road's paving stones.

The channel also served as an escape hatch for Jews desperate to flee the conquering Romans after the destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70 CE. As the temple was being destroyed, people took shelter in the drainage channel and lived inside it until they fled Jerusalem through its southern end, the historian Josephus Flavius wrote in “The War of the Jews.”

Archaeology has been a politically explosive issue in Jerusalem. Palestinians including the late Yasser Arafat have even questioned a Jewish role in ancient Jerusalem.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203917304574413811883589676.html

At the Camp David in 2000, Arafat insisted that there never were Jewish temples on the Temple Mount.

http://www.jcpa.org/jcprg10.htm

Barkat said no excavations had taken place under Muslim holy places. “There is no tunneling under the Temple Mount. There is not and there will not be,” he said.

The entire tunnel could be opened to the public within a year.

---
http://jerusalemprayerteam.org/

Hezbollah Poised to Take Over Government of Lebanon

The political arm of the Hezbollah terrorist organization appears poised to assume complete control of the government of Lebanon after gaining the support of a key political party that would give it enough seats to rule in Lebanon's parliamentary system.

The announcement by Walid Jumblatt that members of his Druse sect in parliament would not back the outgoing prime minister, but would support Hezbollah, instead brought Hezbollah to the brink of control of the entire nation. Hezbollah already controls most of southern Lebanon and its military power is greater than that of Lebanon's official army.

The rise of Hezbollah to political ascendancy would complete the plan set in motion more than five years ago when it carried out the assassination of then-Prime Minister Harari, the father of the current leader it is now trying to drive from power. Hezbollah knows the UN investigation into that assassination will identify it as a guilty party, and is seeking control of the government to prevent the punishment of its leaders who were involved in the murder plot. In addition government control would provide Hezbollah the means to further arm itself for war against Israel.

-

http://rightwingnews.com/2011/01/good-news-california-plans-to-outlaw-fishing-to-combat-global-warming/

January 23, 2011
Chris Kobus Good News: California Plans to Outlaw Fishing To Combat… GLOBAL WARMING!!!
(Read WP posts from Chris Kobus) | (Read MT posts from Chris Kobus) | rss

An update on a post from December: California to be deluged with 4-foot deep Democrat idiocy. Currently California is borrowing $40 million per day just to cover unemployment payments. California is already the Courtney Love of states. Especially after Californians held hands in November and essentially committed economic suicide by electing moonbeam back into the governorship, Barbara Boxer back to the Senate, and perhaps worst of all chose to adopt the toxic twins of greenhouse gas regulations and the total and utter hegemonic domination of the budget process by Democrats. That's not just falling off the proverbial wagon, that's falling off the cliff entirely and hitting every branch, rock and outcropping on the way down. It's so bad that moonbeam CA Gov Jerry Brown declared a state of fiscal emergency to get lawmakers to tackle the $25.4 billion budget gap that they themselves created. Good luck, moonbeam. But it gets even worse. The moonbats in California want to... ban fishing:

It will do absolutely nothing to fix a problem that doesn't even exist. We now need a new list with the above addition: Top-10 Examples Of No-common Sense In California for 2010

Or as Roy Scheider might say, "we're going to need a bigger list"...

-

http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/health/2011-01-23-states-tobacco-prevention_N.htm?csp=34news&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+usatoday-NewsTopStories+%28News+-+Top+Stories%29

40 states get an 'F' in tobacco prevention from new report card
Posted | Comment | Recommend E-mail | Save | Print |
Despite collecting millions of dollars, and in some cases billions, in tobacco settlement dollars and excise taxes, most states are investing only pennies of those dollars to help smokers quit and keep kids from starting.
Enlarge image Enlarge By Spencer Platt, Getty Images
Despite collecting millions of dollars, and in some cases billions, in tobacco settlement dollars and excise taxes, most states are investing only pennies of those dollars to help smokers quit and keep kids from starting.

GLOBAL DEATHS LINKED TO SECONDHAND SMOKE

Heart disease: 379,000
Pneumonia, other lower respiratory infections: 165,000
Asthma: 36,900
Lung cancer: 21,400
Total: 603,000

Note: Numbers are rounded and don't add up to total.
Source: The Lancet

By Steven Reiburg HealthDay
A new report card gives the U.S. government relatively high marks for advances in treating people with tobacco-related illnesses, but gives low or failing grades to most states as their anti-smoking programs falter.

The report, from the American Lung Association, finds most states sorely lacking in efforts to get people to stop smoking or help them quit.

"We all can see that public sentiment is turning against smoking," Charles D. Connor, president of the Association, said during a press conference Wednesday.

"However, it's a grave mistake to assume that the shift in public thinking about tobacco means that the public health crisis has ended. It hasn't," he said.

Each year in the United States, 443,000 people die from illnesses directly related to tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke. This makes tobacco the number one cause of preventable deaths, Connor said.

Moreover, tobacco-related illness saps the country of more than $193 billion in health-care costs and lost productivity each year, he added.

"The tobacco companies, meanwhile, aren't relenting in their campaigns of deception," Connor said. "The industry found new ways in 2010 to market it products and target kids."

Connor praised the federal government's efforts to dissuade new smokers and help current smokers quit.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration began overseeing tobacco products in 2009. So far, the agency has moved to ban the sale of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to minors, to ban candy and fruit-flavored cigarettes, to prohibit tobacco industry sponsorship of sports and entertainment events, to take enforcement action against electronic cigarette markers, and to require larger health warnings on cigarettes and smokeless tobacco labels.

In addition, the new health care reform law expands programs to help people quit smoking. Most private health insurers will also have to offer treatments to help people quit, and under the Medicaid program, pregnant women will be able to get access to smoking cessation programs, according to the report.

The American Lung Association report card gave the FDA a B for its anti-smoking efforts. But the federal government got a C for failing to cover smoking cessation programs in all federal health care programs and a D for not raising the federal tax on cigarettes. The government also racked up another D for not ratifying the international Framework Convention on Tobacco Control treaty.

And don't even get the ALA started on state lawmakers.

"Most of our states are failing miserably when it comes to combating tobacco-caused disease," Connor said. "Despite collecting millions of dollars, and in some cases billions, in tobacco settlement dollars and excise taxes, most states are investing only pennies of those dollars to help smokers quit and keep kids from starting," he said.

The report faults states for using revenues from tobacco taxes and the tobacco settlement money to balance their budgets instead of using that money to fund anti-smoking and quit-smoking programs. In addition, only six states raised tobacco taxes last year.

The report card grades include an F for 40 states and the District of Columbia for not funding tobacco control programs at recommended levels and an F for 37 states for not making smoking cessation programs part of Medicaid.

No state received straight A's. Arkansas, Montana, Maine, Oklahoma and Vermont were the only states to get all passing grades, although Oklahoma had straight Ds. Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia were given F's across the board.

In addition:

- Alaska and North Dakota got an A for funding tobacco prevention and control programs at CDC-recommended levels.

- Thirty-seven states got F's for not offering tobacco cessation treatments to Medicaid patients and state workers, and not making recommended investments in state quitlines.

- Five states got an A for excise taxes of $2.90 per pack or more.

- Kansas alone passed a strong smoke free air law in 2010; 27 states now have such laws.

Commenting on the report, Danny McGoldrick, vice president for research at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said that "it demonstrates that while we have made great progress addressing tobacco use, we still have a long way to go."

There has to be a continued effort to get states to raise tobacco taxes, fund quitting programs and pass smoke-free laws, he said.

"Where the states have really failed is in using their settlement dollars or their tax dollars to fund tobacco prevention programs," McGoldrick said. "In fact, they have been cutting those programs dramatically. We know what happens when you do that: You get more kids smoking, fewer adults trying to quit and smoking rates go up."


-

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Seattle-police-anti-bias-114463284.html

Seattle cop's article on city's anti-bias initiatives causes controversy

by JOE FRYER / KING 5 News

KING5.com

Posted on January 24, 2011 at 6:40 AM

SEATTLE – A Seattle Police officer’s “opinion piece” in a union newspaper is creating controversy between the union and the city council.

Officer Steve Pomper recently wrote a column in the Police Guild’s newspaper, The Guardian. Titled “Just Shut Up and Be a Good Little Socialist,” Pomper accused the city of forcing socialist policies on the police department.

He criticized the city’s race and social justice initiative, including officers being required to take classes on racial profiling.

“Social justice is a Socialist scheme that judges people, not as individuals, but by their race, ethnicity and socio-economic status,” Pomper wrote.

Pomper went on to write, “a liberal after my money in taxes may be my opponent, but a Socialist attacking the Constitution and my liberty is my enemy.”

City Council member Tim Burgess is most concerned with Officer Pomper’s use of the word “enemy.”

“When we characterize or label people as the enemy, that is not productive,” said Burgess.

“I don’t think the article reflects the view of our police department. It certainly doesn’t reflect my views,” Burgess said.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn is also concerned that in the wake of accusations of excessive force against minorities Pomper’s column could add to public concerns.

But, the Police Guild’s president is quick to defend Officer Pomper.

“An officer has a right to free speech. They don’t give up these rights because they’re an officer,” Sergeant Rich O’Neill told KING 5 News. “Seattle prides itself on diversity, but if you dissent they want to silence you, which is hypocritical.”

Burgess says all city employees are welcome to express their opinions, just like Officer Pomper. But, he adds a note of caution.

“This is America, that’s what we do in this country. We have to be careful though (of) the words we use, and I think that’s my concern,” Burgess said.

The Police Guild says it publishes articles from both left-leaning and right-leaning officers.

Officer Pomper was not allowed to speak on camera with KING 5 News on Sunday, but he stressed that he’s worked 19 years in the East Precinct, which he says is very diverse.

Pomper has been in the news before for his writing. He was profiled in 2007 after writing a book on how to avoid traffic tickets.