Video: Mural of George Zimmerman Shooting Trayvon Martin Unveiled in Florida State Capitol

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A Miami artist has unveiled a painting of George Zimmerman shooting Trayvon Martin in the Florida State Capitol, WFTS-TV reported.

Photo Credit: WKMG-TV

itled, “We Are All Trayvon Martin,” the painting shows Zimmerman firing a gun at a hoodie-wearing figure. The painting features a mirror to signify that the shooting could have happened to anyone. There is also an image of Martin Luther King Jr. with blood trickling down his head.

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Coal is No Longer our Parents Energy…it is 21st Century Power

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Photo Credit: Irish Central The backbone of our modern civilization is based on relatively cheap and abundant energy. Coal has been the inexpensive and reliable engine of our economy for generations and up until the 70’s, billowing smokestacks were the sign of economic prosperity for the United States and other developed countries.

But we learned that cheap energy from burning coal and other fossil fuels came with a price tag to our environment and the dirty skies over our cities, proved to be hazardous to our health. The very fuel that powered our modern society was poisoning our environment.

In response, governments and the energy industry set about to enact new standards for energy production. Soon the air in big cities started to clear up and you could even swim again in rivers that were once deemed too polluted to set foot in.

Smokestacks that once billowed thick black smoke, become steam stacks. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed that air quality in major American cities is better now than at any time in the last two decades.

Human ingenuity is amazing and when pushed, great advances can be achieved. Coal which has been the poster child of demonization by environmentalists on the left has made tremendous advances in clean burning technology. After 40 years of advances, clean coal power is on the cusp of making new strides in providing the planet with relatively clean and massive amounts of energy.

See: Fueling the Future with 21st Century Coal by Gregory H. Boyce

Now is not the time to demonize coal but to nurture and support the new coal technology that can help power humanity out of poverty throughout the world.

Energy is looked upon as a human right; studies show that each tenfold increase in electricity is linked to a 10-year increase in life. The United Nations linked life expectancy, educational attainment, and income with per capita energy use….So why deny the rest of the world the same life expectancy the US and other developed nations enjoy?

The developing world wants to step into the modernity of the 21st century too; they want lights, refrigeration, air conditioning television and modern medicine as well. …..Clean coal power can be their answer.

Coal power lead the greatest mass migration from human poverty into prosperity as China became a manufacturing behemoth. China is building more ultra modern supercritical and ultra-supercritical coal plants than any other nation in the world. China has also said they will decommission their older power plants and adapt modern emissions control to the existing fleet of coal power plants.

Instead of punishing their main source of cheap reliable energy, China is embracing coal to adapt and modernize….to make it a 21st century fuel that will bring clean economic prosperity to their 1.3 billion people.

Next-generation clean coal plants are capable of producing energy at near-zero emissions. With new technology at work to help coal become even cleaner and more efficient…..

Unless “renewable” forms of energy such as wind and solar, achieve significant breakthroughs in technology, they will never be able to compete with clean coal power on a level playing field.

Already countries such as Spain and Germany, which heavily invested in renewables, have started to have second thoughts as the bills come due for years of subsidizing these forms of energy. Germany’s finance minister even declared solar was the path to bankruptcy. See story. Spain under a new government is backing out of commitments it made to renewables and is actually going to make them pay taxes. See story.

From the excellent piece “The Fundamental Limitations of Renewable Energy” posted in the Energy Collective: “It appears unlikely that we will see a large scale market driven displacement of fossil fuels by renewable energy in the first half of this century.”

Coal is no longer our parents energy…it is 21st century power.

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Ed Farnan is the conservative columnist at IrishCentral, where he has been writing on the need for energy independence, strong self defense, secure borders, 2nd amendment, smaller government and many other issues. His articles appear in many publications throughout the USA and world. He has been a guest on Fox News and a regular guest on radio stations in the US and Europe.

80 Percent of College Students Chipping in for Education

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Photo Credit: APJust as the Great Depression left a lasting mark on the generation who lived through it, the children of the Great Recession may already be shifting their world view about money, judging by a new survey that says about 80 percent of them are shouldering some or all of their college costs.

“I think kids are stepping up and it requires a degree of financial responsibility,” said Linda Descano, the president and CEO of Citi’s Women & Co.

“I think it’s a huge financial wake-up call,” she said. “I think they’re really seeing, they really have to own themselves. They don’t have the security their parents did.They see their grandparents struggling to cover health care. I think they’re realizing those safety nets are no longer there. How are you going to stay relevant? You can’t just go to one place and stay there forever.”

Four out of five college students are now working while going to school, typically 19 hours a week while classes are in session, according to the 2013 College Student Pulse survey conducted by YouGov for Citi and Seventeen Magazine. The survey, released this week, was conducted online in July and considered the views of more than 1,000 college students and high school seniors.

The YouGov findings are in line with a recent study released by SallieMae financial services company that found that parents now pay for about 27 percent of college costs, compared with 37 percent in 2010.

Read more from this story HERE.

Critics Question IRS Initiative Targeting Small Businesses

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsSmall business owners across the country are receiving letters from the IRS questioning if they are reporting all of their cash income, in a new push by the agency some are saying could unnecessarily create fear in the small business community.

The Wall Street Journal reports the initiative is an attempt to respond to what the agency feels is a widespread failure by small businesses to report all their cash sales.

The agency says the letters are not the same as an audit, and it is simply seeking more tax information from the businesses. However, some lawmakers and business owners who received the letters say the initiative is alarming.

“There’s an emotional thing when you get a pretty ominous-looking letter from the IRS, [saying] you might have done some bad things,” small business owner Tom Reese tells the Wall Street Journal. “I really work hard with my accountant to make sure that I not only follow the law, but follow the letter of the law.”

One letter the IRS sent is headlined, “Notification of Possible Income Underreporting.” It notifies the business owner “your gross receipts may be underreported” and says they must complete a form “to explain why the portion of your gross receipts from non-card payments appears unusually low.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Obama’s Pledge to Boost Oversight of NSA Surveillance Draws Scrutiny

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsBy Fox News.

President Obama’s pledge to work with Congress on “appropriate reforms” for parts of the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs came under scrutiny Friday from some Republicans and skeptical Democrats.

Surveillance programs that allow the government to collect basic information about phone calls and email communications have been under scrutiny since NSA leaker Edward Snowden revealed classified programs in June. The government has defended these programs as necessary to prevent terror attacks.

Obama on Friday acknowledged the domestic spying has troubled Americans and hurt the country’s image abroad. But he called it a critical counterterrorism tool.

“I am comfortable that the program currently is not being abused,” Obama said. “I am comfortable that if the American people examined exactly what was taking place, how it was being used, what the safeguards were, that they would say, ‘You know what? These folks are following the law.'”

His most significant proposal would create an independent attorney to argue against the government during secret hearings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which reviews requests for surveillance inside the U.S. As it stands now, prosecutors alone can go to the court and make their case unopposed.

Read more from this story HERE.

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NSA Debate a ‘Privileged Discussion’

Sequester Jester: Obama Warns Disabled Veterans Their Benefits Could Be In Jeopardy

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Photo Credit: APPresident Obama took his case for ending the sequester to hundreds of disabled veterans Saturday, saying he protected their benefits from the “reckless” cuts to the federal budget but suggesting next year might be different.

“It’s hurting our military. I made it clear that your veteran’s benefits are exempt from this year’s sequester,” the president said to the applause of hundreds at the Disabled American Veterans’ convention in Orlando, Fla. “But I want to tell you going forward the best way to protect the VA care you have earned is to get rid of this sequester altogether.”

The president put the blame squarely on Congress, which returns in about four weeks to work on a new federal budget and increasing the federal debt limit.

“We’ve got these reckless, across-the-board budget cuts called the sequester that are hitting a lot of folks hard,” Obama said. “Congress needs to come together and agree on a responsible plan that reduces our deficit and keeps our promises to our veterans and keeps our promises to future generations.”

The cuts went into effect in March after Congress and the White House failed to agree on a more balanced plan to cut government spending.

Read more from this story HERE.

Wisconsin State Official Fired After Comparing Immigrants To Satan

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsA feisty online rant that compared undocumented immigrants to Satan cost a top Wisconsin state official his job after the virtual tirade went viral and caused an uproar among Latinos and state lawmakers.

Steven Krieser, assistant deputy secretary at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, went on a rage during a Facebook discussion over the controversial “Illegal Immigrant Hunting Permit” bumper stickers that were being sold in local gas stations.

“You may see Jesus when you look at them,” Krieser said in response to one comment comparing undocumented immigrants to Jesus. “I see Satan.”

Krieser went on to say that American citizens “have seen their ranches completely overrun with violent criminals who routinely raid their homes and trash their land as the stream of wretched criminals continues to flow unabated to the north, day after day, night after night.”

Following Krieser’s online escapade, it took Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker only two hours to hand the No. 3 official at the state’s DOT his exit papers.

Read more from this story HERE.

Darwin Debunked at Hollywood High

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Photo Credit: WNDDocumentaries, especially those quoting renowned scientists talking about their specialties, often are dull. So how is this “Evolution vs. God” project by Christian evangelist Ray Comfort raising so much ruckus?

Perhaps it’s because the evolutionary experts themselves are unable to provide scientific evidence to support the theory to which they have devoted their lives…

Other atheists joined the call, with Andrew Dougy Rutherford stating, “Yeah, getting to see the full unedited interviews would be great. If your case against them is as solid as you claim then you would have no problem doing this.”

Added Andy Ball, “Yes please do release the unedited interviews, let us judge for ourselves what they’re talking about.”

“They are worried, and they’ve got a right to be,” commented Comfort.

“‘Evolution vs. God’ shows that there’s no evidence for Darwinian evolution – that it rests on nothing but blind faith,” he said. “So they are hoping to find some ‘silver bullet’ in what wasn’t used that will discredit the movie. They know that millions are going to end up seeing evolutionary scientists from USC and UCLA gasping like fish out of water, as they try to think of scientific evidence for Darwinian evolution.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Rapidly Growing Overpasses Movement Inspires Citizens to Stand for Impeachment

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Photo Credit: Examiner By Dean Chambers

The Overpasses for Obama’s Impeachment movement is growing rapidly, it now has 30,000 members nationally and will soon grow to more than 100,000, says founder James Neighbors, who interviewed with Arlington Conservative Examiner today. Neighbors is National Coordinator and Founder of the Overpasses movement.

“Our growth rate has increased dramatically. We’re now approaching, or have just passed 35,000 members,” said Neighbors, “The media has been publishing articles all over the place, with a few negatives, but that’s to be expected. At our current rate of growth, we estimate that we’ll pass 100,000 members in a month. We had a few issues with law enforcement not understanding the Constitution, again to be expected.”

The 35,000 members have joined one of the 50 state Overpasses for Obama’s Impeachment Facebook groups, where the groups are used by the movement to organize and coordinate events and communicate with members online. Social networking sites have proven effective for the movement to communicate with members, recruit new members, and organize rallies and groups in all 50 states.

Neighbors expects the movement to continue growing and also take on additional goals for reforming government, including opposing members of the House and Senate who have failed to uphold their oath of office. Neighbors said, “By the current rate of growth, averaged out over the time since we came into existence, that is the projected number (100,00 members). We have a very long-term goal. Not only are we intent on having Obama removed from office, we’re also beginning to organize to speak out against DC politicians who have forgotten their oath of office and engaged in unconstitutional acts. Feinstein, Reid, Pelosi, McCain, to name a few.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: AP41%: Obama’s Approval Drops to Lowest Level in Gallup Poll Since 2011

By CNSNews.com Staff.

The percentage of Americans saying that they approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as president dropped to 41% in the Gallup poll’s three-day tracking average, the lowest it has been since Dec. 28, 2011.

Obama’s approval rating plunged in polling done the evening after he go a rare afternoon press conference.

Read more from this story HERE.

HHS Looking for Hookah Smoking Machine

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Photo Credit: CNS NewsThe National Institutes of Health (NIH) is interested in buying a “Shisa smoke machine.” The National Cancer Institute (NCI) will use it for studies that compare hookah and cigarette smoke.

“The purpose of this contract is Purchase of Shisha smoke machine and LX1 cigarette smoke machine,” the NIH, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a notice on Aug. 2.

“With the purchase of a smoke machine, NCI will do the comparison of Hookah and cigarette smoke condensates (CSC) on DNA Methylation, the Histone Code, and Global Gene Expression, comparison of Hookah and CSC on microRNA Expression, and comparison of Hookah and Cigarette Smoke on Stem Cell Gene Expression and Malignant Phenotype of Lung Cancer Cells,” the notice said.

The machine “replicates water-pipe smoking” and can trap nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide to be analyzed to “to better understand exposure to individuals,” the NIH said.

The agency said the machine will allow them to monitor individuals with a “larger puff range” than traditional smoke machines, with exhales up to 8 seconds.

Read more from this story HERE.