Posts tagged right
Occupy Denver to protest Georgetown evistion
Oct 25th
She has fought them in court, but is now facing eviction and has requested that Occupy Denver stand with her at her home in hope of persuading the police to do the right thing and allow her some more time to continue her legal efforts. She has asked the bank for 30 days during which time she can find another living situation, but the bank has denied her requests. Members of Occupy Denver are answering her call for help and are occupying her home with her as of Wednesday night. To help us succeed in keeping Sahara in her home of 24 years, we ask that you get involved in this home occupation taking place at 170 Peaceful Valley Lane, Idaho Springs, CO, 80452. To get there, drive west on I70 and take exit 240. Go left at the stop sign on highway 103. After 9.5 miles, there will be two mailboxes on the right marking Peaceful Valley Lane, marked also by a green sign with this street name. Drive 300 yards up this dirt road, then take the right hand turn at the fork in the road, and her house is on the right side of a circular driveway.
for info contact Chris at 720-291-4267 or email outreach@occupydenver.org
Big Oil claims the right to bribe under the First Amendment. Taking the Fifth is more appropriate.
Oct 23rd
In a new lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), big energy extractors are pushing for carte blanche in their interactions with foreign governments, making it harder to track whether their deals are padding the coffers of dictators, warlords, or crony capitalists. The United States Chamber of Commerce, American Petroleum Institute, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, and the National Foreign Trade Council filed a lawsuit on October 10, 2012 against a new SEC rule, which requires U.S. oil, mining and gas companies to formally disclose payments made to foreign governments as part of their annual SEC reporting.
This lawsuit is not the only effort underway to make it easier for American corporations working overseas to bribe corrupt government officials. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is also pushing for a radical rollback of a 35 year old anti-bribery statute that has been tripping up U.S. companies abroad.
New SEC Rule Forces Disclosure of Financial Transactions With Foreign Governments
The challenged SEC provision, which aims to bring transparency to U.S. corporate payments to foreign governments abroad in an effort to combat bribery and corruption, was required by Congress in a last minute addition to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill. Some parts of Dodd-Frank have gone into effect while others are still under assault by industry in the lengthy rule-making processes. Senators Dick Lugar (R-Indiana) and Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) authored the provision, which simply requires U.S. corporations to report in their annual SEC filing any payments made to foreign governments.
This legislation is a crucial step in increasing transparency and accountability in countries with a history of government corruption. In many countries, there are often huge discrepancies between what companies might say that they paid the government and what the government said it received. Formal disclosure can serve as a critical tool for activists and citizens fighting corruption and poverty, which is why the measure was backed by groups like Oxfam International and Bono’s ONE campaign.
“The Cardin-Lugar Amendment puts transparency — the key to citizens’ ability to hold their government to account — ahead of corruption. To do otherwise is a losing proposition for the United States and company shareholders,” Lugar said in a statement this week. The SEC worked on the rule for two years with abundant business input.
Lawsuit Alleges Rule too Costly, Violates Corporate Rights
The groups which filed the lawsuit allege that the SEC failed to take into account the rule’s costs and benefits and that it “grossly misinterpreted its statutory mandate” in crafting the rule and has violated corporate “First Amendment” rights.
For supporters, it is difficult to see what is so costly about inserting a few paragraphs into an annual SEC filing. “We are greatly disappointed that the oil industry is trying to use the courts to bully the SEC and push for secrecy in their payments to governments,” said Ian Gary of Oxfam. “We call on companies, such as BP, Exxon, Chevron and Shell, who are hiding behind industry associations to do their dirty work while espousing transparency rhetoric, to disassociate themselves from the lawsuit.”
The attorney heading the challenge to the Dodd-Frank anti-bribery rule is Eugene Scalia, son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Of the six challenges that SEC regulations have faced and lost in federal court of appeals in Washington, DC since the mid 2000s, Eugene Scalia was behind four. He won a case on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last year on the Dodd-Frank “proxy access rule,” which would have allowed shareholders to play a role in nominating company directors. Scalia also helped win a case in September against the SEC on a rule which would have imposed trading limits on speculators.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Tries to Gut Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
Efforts to keep bribery under a veil of secrecy go beyond attacks against the SEC transparency rule. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has also been waging a war against the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which was adopted after a rash of bribery scandals of foreign officials was revealed, involving more than 400 U.S. corporations. The law, introduced by Senator William Proxmire (D-Wisconsin), bans companies from bribing foreign officials in order to secure land and retain business deals, and requires public companies to file financial statements and maintain internal controls. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and SEC are responsible for its enforcement and have been stepping up the pace in recent years, dedicating new staff and resources to a crackdown.
Now, the Chamber is actively pushing five amendments to the 1977 law, which would significantly weaken its enforcement mechanisms.
The value of the law was recently highlighted when The New York Times broke the story this spring that Walmex (Wal-Mart in Mexico), executives allegedly covered up millions of dollars in bribes to Mexican officials in an effort to fuel the company’s expansion in the country. Wal-Mart says it spent some $51 million on an internal investigation looking into whether the subsidiary violated the anti-bribery law and the U.S. Justice Department is also investigating.
According to the Chamber’s tax filings, 14 of the group’s 55 board members between 2007 and 2010 “were affiliated with companies that were reportedly under investigation for violations or had settled allegations that they violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.” Chamber member Pfizer recently paid $60 million to the SEC and DOJ to settle claims that its subsidiaries bribed foreign doctors and pubic officials to gain market access for its products in Eastern Europe.
Major American firms frequently embrace transparency as an alternative to mandatory binding regulation. Now transparency is also taking a beating as U.S. firms fight for the right to bribe foreign governments and hide their activities from American shareholders and the citizens of the nations where they do business.
News from the City of St. Augustine
Oct 14th
Prevention message and this year’s theme, “Have 2 Ways Out,”
gets extra emphasis from St. Augustine Fire Department this month
For the last 90 years, the week in which October 9 falls has been designated as Fire Prevention Week, but for the St. Augustine Fire Department, what is nationally a week is locally a month. Taking advantage of the nation-wide emphasis on fire prevention in October each year, the St. Augustine Fire Department uses the themed month to educate the public on fire safety.
Much of that education takes place in the community’s elementary schools, pre-schools and daycare centers where fire personnel are greeted by an audience ready to listen and willing to learn. According to John Rayno, St. Augustine’s Fire Marshal and Assistant Fire Chief, having firefighters visit schools is a very effective way to get information into the home.
“For instance, we spend time talking about the importance of not just having smoke alarms, but taking the time to test them. After one of our visits, I’m sure there are parents being asked to check smoke alarms by students we met that day, and that’s good,” said Rayno in an interview on WFCF’s weekly program, The Break Room. To hear the entire interview, visit www.breakroom.info.
This year’s Fire Prevention Week’s theme is “Have 2 Ways Out,” focusing on the need for escape plans to incorporate two exits for each room. Taking stock of available exits is essential to every escape plan, whether for home or business, and those plans need to be well known and practiced.
While the month of October has an emphasis on prevention education, fire department personnel are ready to bring tailor made programming to civic associations, businesses, living facilities, churches and anywhere else a group wants to know more about fire prevention.
For more information about National Fire Prevention Week visit www.fpw.org. For more information about the St. Augustine Fire Department’s fire prevention programs contact the department at 904.825.1098.
See also this related story:
http://www.staugustinegovernment.com/the-city/featured-stories-archive/FirePrev.cfm
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City plants 23 trees in just two days
Live oaks, red cedars and magnolias replace trees
removed following tree assessment program
If it is true that any day is made better by the planting of a tree then last week the City of St. Augustine gave the community some great days by planting over 20 new trees in just a two-day period.
Most of the plantings are replacement trees for those that had to be removed following receipt of the results of a tree assessment that identified 15 trees in the city right-of-way that were deemed to be so far decayed as to be unsafe, commonly referred to as hazard trees. The inventory was made possible by an Urban and Community Forestry grant provided through the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services which provided $6,000 that was matched by the city. The funds made possible the long overdue inventory and assessment of over 500 trees in the city rights-of-way and parks within the historic areas of St. Augustine.
The new trees included live oaks that were planted along the most northern section of San Marco Ave. and Vickers Field, magnolias planted on Riberia St. next to Francis Field and red cedars along Flagler Blvd. and at the Visitors Information Center.
The Urban and Community Forestry grant was used to retain the services of an International Society of Arboriculture Board Certified Arborist to provide the initial tree inventory baseline data which provides the basis for the development of an urban forestry management program. That program specifies recommended management practices, provides guidance for the City Manager and maintenance supervisor in allocation of tree maintenance resources, and documents the inventory and required maintenance.
For more information, contact the Public Works Department at 904.825.1040.
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Avenida Menendez crosswalk installation
necessitates lane closure
Traffic reduced to one lane in each direction
The installation of crosswalks at two locations on Avenida Menendez will necessitate the reduction of traffic to two lanes, one for northbound traffic and one for southbound, in two locations on two different occasions in coming weeks. The crosswalks at Fort Alley and Cuna Street, currently delineated with stamped asphalt to simulate brick, will be replaced with historic, authentic brick.
To accommodate the extensive work, Avenida Menendez will be reduced to two lane, two way traffic for a period of four days lasting from mid-day Sunday through Wednesday evening. At no time will Avenida Menendez be closed, but traffic will be slowed through the area during the work. The work is scheduled for:
• Fort Alley crosswalk installation: mid-day Sunday, October 21 through the evening of Wednesday, October 24.
• Cuna Street crosswalk installation: mid-day Sunday, October 28 through the evening of Wednesday, October 31.
The crosswalk installation is the final element of an extensive project that began in early February of this year and includes extensive pedestrian improvements along south Castillo Drive that have included the installation of new street lights, widening of sidewalks, and improved signalization for both pedestrians and vehicles. Funding for the project was secured by Congressman John Mica who, during a visit to St. Augustine, noticed the challenges pedestrians had in the congested area lying between popular St. George Street and the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. He then set about seeking an appropriation to fund the changes needed to alleviate those challenges.
For more information, contact the Planning and Building Department at 904.825.1065.
Source: City of St. Augustine