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To: Jim McMannis who wrote (304351)	2/18/2011 4:55:31 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 306849

Another jaw-dropper from Democrat Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee: “This is not about abortion, this is about saving lives.” michellemalkin.com

To: Jim McMannis who wrote (304351)	2/18/2011 11:34:15 PM
From: joseffy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

Mexico loses 80-100% of crops to freeze, US prices to skyrocket .............................................................. By Lynn Herrmann 2/11/11 digitaljournal.com Houston - The cold weather experienced across much of the US in early February made its way deep into Mexico and early reports estimate 80-100 percent crop losses which are having an immediate impact on prices at US grocery stores with more volatility to come. Wholesale food suppliers have already sent notices to supermarket retailers describing the produce losses in Mexico and the impact shoppers can expect. Sysco sent out a release(pdf) this week stating the early February freeze reached as far south as Los Mochis and south of Culiacan, both located in the state of Sinaloa, along the Gulf of California. The freezing temperatures were the worst the region has seen since 1957. According to Sysco’s notice sent out this week: “The early reports are still coming in but most are showing losses of crops in the range of 80 to 100%. Even shade house product was hit by the extremely cold temps. It will take 7-10 days to have a clearer picture from growers and field supervisors, but these growing regions haven’t had cold like this in over half a century.” At this time of year, Mexico is a major supplier to the US and Canada for green beans, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, asparagus, peppers and round and Roma tomatoes. Compounding the problem is the freezing cold that hit Florida in December and January. Sysco continued with its dire report: “Florida normally is a major supplier for these items as well but they have already been struck with severe freeze damage in December and January and up until now have had to purchase product out of Mexico to fill their commitments, that is no longer an option.” Validating that statement, The Packer released a statement at the end of December stating: “Freeze damage to Florida crops could increase demand for Mexican vegetables for the rest of winter, grower-shippers say.” That December report noted Florida’s cold temperatures and crop loss but was optimistic over Mexico’s produce, even if prices were climbing. “My gut feeling tells me the Mexican deal is going to be very active,” said Ken Maples, sales manager for Plantation Produce in Mission, Texas, according to The Packer. “Green beans in Florida were seriously hurt. Romas that are $10 or $10.95 today in 25-pound bulk, I look for it to be in the mid-teens,” Maples added. But that was December. On Wednesday, The Packer reported that: “Supplies of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and other vegetables from Mexico will be severely limited until at least March following an early February freeze.” Wholesale prices for many crops have already begun climbing, doubling and almost tripling what they were at the beginning of February. The Packer notes that the short-term, mid-term and long-term outlook for some crops is “devastating” and using this week’s pricing as a gauge of what is in store for consumers noted: “On Feb. 8, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported prices of $22.95-24.95 for two-layer cartons of 4x4, 5x5 and 5x6 vine-ripe field-grown tomatoes from Mexico, up from $6.95-9.95 the week before and $5.95-7.95 the year before.” Jerry Wagner, sales and marketing director for Farmer’s Best, based in Nogales, AZ, said: “The end of February and the first half of March, there will be even worse shortages of product” than during the first part of February, The Packer reports. Wagner called it “a miracle” if 20 percent of the cucumber crop survives. Yellow, green and grey squash took the biggest hit. “Some plants will come back but the vast majority is lost,” Wagner added. Sysco called the Mexico freeze an “unprecedented disaster” and noted the volatility of the matter in its release: “With the series of weather disasters that has occurred in both of these major growing areas we will experience immediate volatile prices, expected limited availability, and mediocre quality at best.” Mike Alton, marketing director for Prime Time International LLC based in Coachella, CA said: “We’re in for a long, tough haul,” according to The Packer. Read more: digitaljournal.com

To: Jim McMannis who wrote (304351)	2/22/2011 8:57:03 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 306849

Planned Parenthood Exacting Revenge in Kansas: A Matter of Injustice February 21, 2011 By Kathryn Jean Lopez National Review Online nationalreview.com Excerpt: Justice, sir, is the great interest of man on earth. It is the ligament which holds civilized beings and civilized nations together.– Daniel Webster He has been portrayed as a nutty prosecutor with an unrestrained interest in women’s medical records. He has been run out of his own state. He has to come up with hundreds of thousands of dollars he doesn’t have, to pay his legal fees. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow has accused him of domestic terrorism, intimidation, and abuse of office for doing his job — enforcing the law and protecting the innocent. Innocent children, as it happens. But that’s not humiliation enough. Not if you’re the enemy of Planned Parenthood. Today in Topeka, Kansas, a man goes on trial for insisting Planned Parenthood be held accountable for what it claims to be about: women’s health care and safety. Phill Kline is the former attorney general of Kansas and former Johnson County prosecutor there. He now lives and teaches in Virginia, at Liberty University’s Law School, but will be sitting before a three-lawyer panel today for supposed ethics violations. Stanton Hazlett, the Disciplinary Administrator appointed by the Kansas supreme court, found that his violation — his conflict of interest in investigating the nation’s largest abortion provider — was “strong personal anti abortion beliefs.” At any time, this attack on Kline would be an outrage. In late February 2011, it should set off five-alarm sirens. Before there was a House vote to potentially begin to end funding of Planned Parenthood, as there was Friday; before there was a 22-year-old girl named Lila Rose leading private investigations exposing Planned Parenthood as a safe haven for pimps of underage girls; before there was a Philadelphia prosecutor exposing a “house of horrors” too long protected by abortion politics, there was Phill Kline, a law-enforcement official doing his job. Today Kline remains the only prosecutor in the United States to have brought charges against Planned Parenthood. And for this, Planned Parenthood and its allies are determined to see him pay. As if he hasn’t already: Even when he wins it is portrayed as a defeat. Denis Boyles, author of Superior, Nebraska: The Common Sense Values of America’s Heartland, has explained well the predicament Kline finds himself in, dragged back to his home state for one final humiliation for insisting on doing his job — enforcing the law: Kline’s strategy was simple: Kansas law requires abortion clinics to document the procedures they perform. Kline suspected that they had performed illegal late-term abortions and abortions on underage girls. To find the truth, he needed to compare the documents sent by the subpoenaed clinics with the records submitted by the clinics to the state health department in the routine reporting of their abortions. It wasn’t a fishing trip; Kline knew what he was looking for. When, after a long battle, the records finally arrived, Kline asked a district judge, Richard Anderson, to compare the two sets of documents. Anderson hired experts, removed the personal info, went over them all carefully and in a pre-trial hearing, finally said, “it appears someone has manufactured” portions of the paperwork that had been subpoenaed. Anderson said that could mean “that somebody committed a felony in an attempt to cover up a misdemeanor. . . . [T]here is evidence of crimes in those records that needs to be evaluated.” And while pro-life Republican Sam Brownback may now be governor, Kline will not be getting a warm reception by the judicial branch today. The Kansas judiciary-appointment process is the antithesis of transparency: Judges are appointed by the governor, without confirmation, effectively for life. And the long-standing inquisition against Kline is led by a (former Democratic governor) Kathleen Sebelius-appointed former lawyer for the National Women’s Law Center, known for her activist-like rants against him. For years, the extent of Kline’s investigation of abortion clinics was a single subpoena to the now late — he was brutally and unjustifiably murdered in May 2009 — George Tiller, and a single subpoena to Planned Parenthood. He kept the statute of limitations from expiring in 2005, with legislative help. They would eventually be ordered to produce the records and be charged — thank you, Phill Kline. Eight years after Kline’s initial action, 107 charges still stand as an open case against Planned Parenthood — 23 of them felonies for manufacturing records in response to the subpoena. Kline has repeatedly won on legal issues. Three district court judges have reviewed his evidence and found probable cause to believe that the crimes were committed as charged. And yet none of them have reached trial. The state supreme court, meanwhile, has allowed Kline to be sued twice. It silenced a key witness (Judge Anderson) and ordered an investigation of Kline, involving five years, over 30,000 pages of documents, along with subpoenas, depositions, and witness interviews. What a relief to Kansans that a man who no longer holds elective office nor lives in the state is being persecuted for trying to hold taxpayer-funded Planned Parenthood accountable for allegedly refusing to report statutory rape (a practice we have now seen is not foreign Planned Parenthood and its mission). This week’s hearing amounts to the tormenting of a man for doing his job. And, God help him, for doing it while daring to believe that not only is failing to report child rape wrong, but that the whole culture of death is a corrosive evil. (Never mind that he did nothing about the latter but be open about it in the occasional speech.) For this, Rachel Maddow accuses him of domestic terrorism. For this, he is professionally and financially destroyed.