The flurry of legislative proposals show that members are likely to push the issue in the wake of the December shooting at a Connecticut elementary school that left 20 children dead.
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), whose husband was shot to death in 1993, introduced four of the bills. The congresswoman has vowed to seek changes in federal law in response to the school shooting.
H.R. 137 and 138 from McCarthy would require people prohibited from buying firearms to be listed in a national database, and would prohibit the transfer or possession of large capacity ammunition clips.
McCarthy's H.R. 141 would require criminal background checks on all firearms transactions at gun shows, which would close the so-called gun-show loophole. Her H.R. 142 would require face-to-face purchases of ammunition, the licensing of ammunition dealers, and the reporting of bulk ammo purchases.
Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) and Rush Holt (D-N.J.) each proposed their own bills tightening firearms licensing requirements — H.R. 34 and H.R. 117, respectively. And Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) proposed H.R. 65, which would raise the eligibility age to carry a handgun from 18 to 21.
Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) reintroduced his bill, H.R. 21, to require background checks for all gun sales, and to require gun owners to report when their guns have been stolen. Moran argued in December that while the National Rifle Association objects to these changes, members of the powerful group support them.
"The NRA as an organization is out of step with its membership on many commonsense gun safety measures," he said. "Polling shows nearly two-thirds of NRA members support the five simple ways to improve gun safety included in this bill."
The other 2 gun related bills introduced seek to end the "shooting fish in a barrel" zones...
Two freshman Republicans introduced contrary bills that would end federal law requiring that areas around schools be designated as "gun free zones." These bills, H.R. 35 from Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) and H.R. 133 from Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), are a response to findings that violence in and around schools has increased since the gun free zone law took effect in 1990.
"By disarming qualified citizens and officials in schools we have created a dangerous situation for our children," Stockman said. "In the 22 years before enactment of 'gun free school zones' there were two mass school shootings.
"In the 22 years since enactment of 'gun free schools' there have been 10 mass school shootings," he added. "Not only has the bill utterly failed to protect our children it appears to have placed them in danger."
"Having a list of who has a gun is like gold - why rob that house when you can hit the one next door, where there are no guns?” - Walter T. Shaw, former burglar and jewel thief
Law enforcement officials from a New York region where a local paper published a map identifying gun owners say prisoners are using the information to intimidate guards.
Rockland County Sheriff Louis Falco, who spoke at a news conference flanked by other county officials, said the Journal News' decision to post an online map of names and addresses of handgun owners Dec. 23 has put law enforcement officers in danger.
"They have inmates coming up to them and telling them exactly where they live. That's not acceptable to me," Falco said, according to Newsday.
Robert Riley, an officer with the White Plains Police Department and president of its Patrolman’s Benevolent Association, agreed.
"You have guys who work in New York City who live up here. Now their names and addresses are out there, too," he said adding that there are 8,000 active and retired NYPD officers currently living in Rockland County.
The “good news” keeps on coming from the Palace of the Revolution. The construction materials industry will grow 5.4% The electrical energy supply will increase 2%. Planned investments at 34%. Construction at 20.8%. Domestic travel will reach 10.1%. Labor productivity is estimated to grow 2.6%.
The finishing touch to these official forecasts is that tourism figures will surpass three million visitors. The military overlords, who control 80% of the nation’s wealth, claim it will be a good year economically. But the macroeconomic figures do not trickle down to Cuban households. For the last twenty years a basket of essential goods and services has consumed 90% of a typical family’s income.
Having three meals a day is a luxury in Cuba. Most people have black coffee and bread with oil for breakfast. Or they do not have breakfast. Families try to see to it that the ill, elderly and children have lunch at home. For a large segment of the population lunch is bread and croquettes or pizza prepared at small, privately owned cafes. At night, dinner ideally consists of rice, beans, egg, pork or chicken, and salad or a seasonal vegetable.
But there are not always beans and meat. Right now procuring food is Cubans’ number one concern. High food prices make it difficult for many people to satisfy their nutritional needs.
For several years now General Raul Castro has recognized that guaranteeing the bean supply is more important than having a fleet of T-62 tanks at the ready. The inefficient agricultural and livestock industry has not been able to guarantee a steady supply of dairy products, meat, legumes, produce, fruits and vegetables at prices commensurate with the poverty-level salaries that Cuban workers earn. Management is inefficient in other sectors as well. The water supply in Havana, for example, is often accessible only every other day. In villages such as El Calvario distribution occurs one out of every three days.
This has forced many families along the width and breadth of the island to install supplemental facilities for storing water. These are regularly found to be uncovered, in bad repair and infested with swarms of mosquitoes, which transmit dengue fever. Cholera has also reappeared due to the shortage of clean drinking water.
Another day-to-day problem for the average Cuban is public transport. We do not have a subway line in Cuba. The suburban rail system is barely functional and modestly priced taxis do not exist. The only way then to get from one location to another is by city bus or private taxi, which charge ten to twenty pesos a ride.
Five years ago a network of articulated buses was introduced in Havana. There were seventeen lines that ran along the city’s main thoroughfares, and were spaced five to ten minutes apart at peak hours. More than 200 are now out of service due to a lack of replacement parts. The bus shortage has led to the collapse of the capital’s public transportation system.
The optimistic economic figures do not take into account repairs to the innumerable water leaks in towns and cities. Or repairs to streets and multi-family apartment buildings. The government claims that the sale of construction materials unsubsidized by the state will grow for years to come.
But if you visit one of the markets where they are sold, you can almost never find what you need. To say nothing of the high prices. Not everyone can afford to pay 90 to 110 pesos for a bag of cement. Or 10 pesos for a cinder block or a brick.
It has been said that it takes a thief to catch a thief, if so, then what can we say about this?
Do not be fooled by a belief that progressives, leftists hate guns. Oh, no, they do not. What they hate is guns in the hands of those who are not marching in lock step of their ideology. They hate guns in the hands of those who think for themselves and do not obey without question. They hate guns in those whom they have slated for a barrel to the back of the ear.
That is a great Conservative message, an American message one would say, but that sentence wasn't written by an American, and it wasn't published in an American newspaper.
A favorite argument of advocates of normalizing relations with the Castro regime, and particularly of removing Cuba from the "state-sponsors of terrorism" list, is that the regime purportedly no longer supports armed struggle, expansionism or revolutionary movements outside of its borders. Yet, why are all Venezuela's top officials gathered in Cuba today to discuss the future of Venezuela?According to Ultimas Noticias, a newspaper aligned with the government, National Assembly President (and Chavez-ally) Diosdado Cabello flew to Havana yesterday to join Chavez's handpicked successor Vice-President Nicolas Maduro and other top officials.
Doesn't Venezuela govern Venezuela?
Moreover, why is there a Cuban military presence in Venezuela led by General Leonardo Ramón Andollo Valdés, Deputy Chairman of Castro's Joint Chief of Staff?
This presence is composed of at least 4,500 infantry soldiers with batallions stationed in geographically strategic locations to even intercept movements by Venezuela's own military.
Moreover, Castro's military is in charge of all intelligence and counter-intelligence operations in Venezuela.
2013 begins with a protest on the streets of Villa Clara
Activists of MCR during peaceful protest on 12/31/12
Minutes before 2012 came to an end, members of the Cuban Reflection Movement (MCR) met in the ‘La Libertad’ Park in the town of Vuelta, in Camajuani, Villa Clara, to carry out a protest demanding freedom for Cuba. The following day- the first of 2013- these activists took it upon themselves to carry out a peaceful march while they carried signs with pro-freedom messages. Both civic actions occurred without arrests and were well-received by everyday citizens.
Maydelis Gonzalez Almeida, member of the MCR, said that the first protest was carried out by 5 dissidents, who were (besides her) Niurcy Acosta Pacheco, Raúl González, Nosbel Jomorca and Juan Carlos Fernández.
“We held up a sign in ‘La Libertad’ Park, with a message demanding freedom and democracy for Cuba in 2013“, recounted the dissident, “We were there for various minutes in that centric area and a number of citizens stopped by and read our sign. It was a very positive thing”.
Yesterday, we told you about another official of the Castro dictatorship taking advantage of the Obama State Department's wide open door for Cuban agents of repression and receiving a visa to enter the U.S. Today, we bring you video of the Castro official, Adalberto Sánchez Surit, a State Security agent, doing what he and the Castro regime does best: repression of peaceful dissidents.
Christopher Kennedy Lawford, JFK's Nephew: Fidel Castro Was 'An Amazing Guy'
Christopher Kennedy Lawford, the nephew of the late former President John F. Kennedy, on Thursday described an encounter he had with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in 2001 as "amazing."
Speaking with HuffPost Live host Jacob Soboroff, Lawford described the time that year when he sat next to Castro at a screening of the 2000 docudrama "Thirteen Days", which documents the Kennedy administration's handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
In 2005, Lawford told CNN's Larry King that Castro got up at the end of the film and said it was "great," but that it had ignored Cuba's perspective on the situation.
This isn't the first time Lawford has mentioned his feelings about his meeting with Castro. As The New York Times previously noted, Lawford "proudly describes" watching the film with Castro in his memoir "Symptoms of Withdrawal: A Memoir of Snapshots and Redemption.
Read the rest and see video of Kennedy Lawford's callous and idiotic remarks HERE.
Not only did 2012 bring increased attacks on political freedom in communist Cuba, the Castro dictatorship stepped up its attack on religious freedom as well, recording a four-fold increase in religious repression over 2011.
Incidents of religious repression in Cuba quadrupled from 30 in 2011 to 120 in 2012, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a British organization that monitors the persecution of Christians.
“While Roman Catholic churches reported the highest number of violations, mostly involving the arrest and arbitrary detention of parishioners attempting to attend church activities, other denominations and religious groups were also affected,” a spokesman for the organization stated.
“The number does not include the men and women who were arrested and imprisoned for the duration of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit in March which local human rights groups estimate to be upwards of 200,” he added.
2012 was a brutal year for Cuba as incessant waves of repression unleashed by the Castro dictatorship swept over the island. According to independent figures coming from the island, 2012 brought a 60% increase in political arrests over the previous year. Even more troubling is compared to 2010, this past year experienced more than a three-fold increase in political repression.
Keep in mind that this horrific and disturbing increase in repression on the island is taking place in the midst of the wonderful and magnificent "reforms" of dictator Raul Castro, which we are constantly reminded by journalists and "Cuba Experts" are an indicator that things are definitely getting better in Cuba.
Human rights activist says dissident arrests in Cuba up in 2012
Human rights activist says that the number of dissident arrests was well above the 4,120 in 2011 and 2,070 in 2010.
Cuban security agents made a record 6,602 short-term detentions of political dissidents last year and the number of political prisoners on the island rose by about 30, Havana human rights activist Elizardo Sánchez Santa Cruz reported Thursday.
The figure of 6,602 confirmed detentions in 2012 compared to 4,123 for 2011 and 2,074 for 2010, according to a year-end report by Sánchez’ Cuban Committee for Human rights and National Reconciliation.
Sánchez also reported separately that the number of political prisoners, which dropped to about 40 after ruler Raúl Castro freed more than 120 in 2010-2011, climbed again last year with the trials and convictions of about 30 Cubans on political charges.
The increased repression, he said, is the result of the growing opposition among Cubans to a government that all but strangled the economy and human rights during more than half a century of communist rule.
“The regime has accumulated an enormous disaster, and the popular dissatisfaction increases by the day,” Sanchez told El Nuevo Herald by phone from Havana. “It has only one answer: repression, pure and harsh.”
In the absence of significant changes, the year-end report added, it “forecasts that during the year 2013 the situation for civil and political rights and other fundamental rights will continue to worsen in Cuba.”
Pssst... hey... are those sandbags or sacks of cocaine?
Now that he is back in Caracas, vice president Nicolás Maduro (a.k.a. "Saddammito"), vice president of Venezuela, accused Spain's ABC newspaper of "disrespecting Chavez and his daughters every day by publishing ill-willed information."
We at Babalu have been passing on these reports, day in, day out. So now -- pay attention -- you must disregard what you've been reading here. So says Saddammito el Madurito.
He also said that Hugo Chavez will be returning to Venezuela "sooner rather than later," and that the ailing dictator "is conscious of the battle he is waging."
Maduro denied that he and other officials have been holding back on information. "We have issued 26 official news releases, always with the truth." And he added: "Chavez has the same fighting spirit he's always had, with all the strength he's always had, with all of the energy he's always had, and he is confident and secure, and this is what we have communicated to our people."
Fascinating stuff from Spain's ABC. According to them, Venezuelan VP Maduro has been in secret negotiations with U.S. officials (possibly at Castro's suggestion) to allow the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) back into Venezuela, possibly to neutralize or even nab Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela's President of the National Assembly who is suspected of drug smuggling but who also accuses Maduro of being a Castro puppet and stooge.
Looks as if it's getting crowded around Hugo's deathbed.
From the Wall Street Journal:
More Venezuelan Officials Arrive in Cuba
CARACAS—More top leaders within Venezuela's government arrived in Cuba during the past two days, where ailing President Hugo Chávez apparently remains in "delicate" condition after a six-hour surgery, raising concerns once again that the 58-year-old leader could be near death.
Adan Chávez, who is the president's brother and governor of their western, home state of Barinas, arrived late Wednesday in Havana, said the president's son-in-law, Jorge Arreaza, in a Twitter message. Also landing in Cuba was Diosdado Cabello, the president of Venezuela's Congress and a confidant of Hugo Chávez, according to local website Ultimas Noticias.
Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's vice president and Mr. Chávez's chosen successor, has been in Cuba since last weekend, while Mr. Chávez's two daughters and other family members are also in Cuba. Mr. Chávez isn't married.
Despite promises to keep the public well-informed of the president's health, officials have been tight-lipped, only providing vague updates. Mr. Maduro said last weekend that "new complications" arose in his recovery process, while Mr. Arreaza, who is also the minister of science and technology, said Wednesday that Mr. Chávez is "stable in his delicate condition."
The president, whose cancer is apparently in the pelvic area, hasn't been heard from or seen publicly since Dec. 10, the day before his surgery.
The lack of clarity on Mr. Chávez's health has caused opposition forces to lash out. The anti-Chávez political coalition known by its Spanish acronym MUD is demanding the government tell "the truth" about the president's situation, especially given he is due to be inaugurated for another six-year term in one week, after winning presidential elections in early October.
I don’t understand, for example, why the “complete” repair of a stretch of 24 km of rail — which has a total of 800 km — conducted throughout the year 2012, is considered an achievement. If one adds the additional fact that the plan for 2013 is to “complete” 40 km of this important pathway (suggesting that only 16 km will be repaired in the coming year), is it not also a plan to go in reverse?
Another issue is that, if almost all parameters projected for 2012 have failed, such as agricultural production, housing construction, production of construction materials, the export plan (with an alarming increase imports of food and other goods), etc. If, in addition, the eastern region was hit by a vicious hurricane that caused huge losses to the economy and the already inadequate and deteriorating housing stock, if an important coffee crop and other crops were lost, among other items, and the few sugar mills we still have, which should have started producing sugar this harvest have been unable to do so… I wonder how it is that the economy has registered a growth in GDP of a respectable 3.1% and what indicators the General took into account to declare that, in the year about to end, “the favorable growth trend was preserved”; that we have been able to maintain a positive correlation between the growth in median income and productivity, which contributes to the internal financial stability” and that Cuba moves ahead in a “gradual reduction of its external debt, on the basis of strict compliance with its financial commitments”? I am so very confused!
I must confess that in the midst of fragments of this and that official trite speech which I have been listening to these past few days, unsurprisingly, I fell asleep. Let my reading friends have consideration for the real torture my brain, already sluggish because of the flu, underwent. The truth is that, though much of it was about economics, I never heard anyone speak of numbers, nor did I find out for sure what the total budget for 2013 was, though it was approved unanimously, as always, by our seasoned representatives. Small omissions that make me suspect that perhaps they too were suffering, like me, from a bad case of the flu and that’s the reason they were somewhat obtuse.
Closing this post, the stellar news this Sunday, December 16th, just released a report that has increased my confusion: Fidel Castro Ruz has been nominated for deputy of the National Assembly. How do you like that? In other words, the zombie politics includes reintroducing the Decrepit in Chief in life, symbolically, I would imagine, through the superior organ of the “people’s power”. Or maybe such a great farce is only one of those morbid pre-mortem tributes which are the fashion in Cuba in which old age seems to be the greatest merit of the honoree. I wouldn’t be surprised if they invent the post of “Absent Deputy”… just saying. Nothing new: in some ways it reminds me about the case of that other dictator, Augusto Pinochet, who achieved his last fantasies of retaining some political power through his appointment as Senator for Life. Latin-American dictatorial histories have a curious recurrence.
But we must not be too surprised. In short, judging by the inefficiency of the system, dusting off the sacred mummy could very well be part of Raul’s strategy for the “renovation” he has undertaken in this kingdom of the dead.
Christopher Kennedy Lawford, the nephew of the late former President John F. Kennedy, on Thursday described an encounter he had with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in 2001 as "amazing."
recent comments
FreedomForCuba: Platano Maduro is running out of excuses to deny the Monkey Clown’s obvious appointment with...
FreedomForCuba: Indeed asombra, I guess is in the Kennedy DNA to betray Cubans…
asombra: It’s really astonishing that any Kennedy would ever say anything that would offend Cuban...
asombra: Why was anybody bothering with this guy in the first place?
asombra: Why? Same reason it had no problem with Mariela Castro’s visit.
asombra: Uh, no. Trust me.
OmarD: Why is the news media not on the story, perhaps seeking an interview at his arrival into the US?