Miniature Horse Aids Alaska Boy With Special Needs

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Photo Credit: AP

A young miniature horse in sneakers is helping a 4-year-old special needs child at an Anchorage public elementary school. Zoe, a black mare, is a service animal for preschooler Zaiden Beattie at Russian Jack Elementary School. It’s the only service horse in an Alaska school _ and after multiple online searches, the only service horse Principal Elizabeth Hornbuckle could find at any school in the nation.

Zaiden is one of 300 children in the U.S. diagnosed with A-T, or ataxia-telangiectasia, a genetic disorder that progressively robs children of their ability to coordinate movement such as walking. Zaiden’s mother, Lesley Zacharias, a professional horse trainer, is teaching Zoe to help Zaiden walk steadily until the disease inevitably shackles him to a wheelchair.

“He moves around a lot better and has more energy if he’s got a hand on someone, either holding someone’s hand or a hand on something,” Zacharias said. “My personal goal is first grade with a pony instead of a walker.”

The head of the 10-month-old horse only rises to an adult’s waist and is almost irresistible to touch, though training protocols call for her to be petted on the neck, not the face, and only when given permission. Zoe is calm but playful, eager to play or work, and lets her owners know it by nuzzling their hands.

The sturdy, 150-pound animal began making appearances in Zaiden’s preschool classroom in January. Early training began with socialization _ exposure to crowds and loud noises such as the school’s fire alarm. Now she’s learning tasks.

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Murkowski’s Folly: No Road For King Cove

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Photo Credit: U.S. Army Alaska

Alaska has long received more than its fair share of federal tax dollars, as evidenced by its perennial first place ranking in pork per capita according to Citizens Against Government Waste’s (CAGW) Congressional Pig Book. Now, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) wants taxpayers to pay for a road in her state linking the town of King Cove (about 750 year-round residents) to Cold Bay and the latter’s all-weather airport, purportedly for safety reasons. In February, Sen. Murkowski threatened to block the nomination of Sally Jewell to be Secretary of the Interior unless the road was approved.

Sen. Murkowski’s pet project had previously been rebuffed by the Department of the Interior because the road would run through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Environmental Impact Statement, the road would cost $22.7 million, but data from the Alaska Statewide Improvement Transportation budget projections from fiscal years 2010-2015 suggest that the cost of the road could exceed $80 million, or more than $2 million per mile. Undeterred, Sen. Murkowski stated on February 12 that she was “prepared to consider all actions available…to convince this administration that denying the people of King Cove reliable access to medical care would be a travesty.” This week, Sen. Murkowski struck a deal with the Interior Department to get the road proposal reevaluated and toned down her rhetoric regarding the nomination.

Predictably, it appears that commercial interests, not medical emergencies, are the primary driver of the project. According to a February 24, 2013 Washington Post article, “Originally, both area residents and state officials viewed the road as a way to bolster the region’s fishing industry. …when King Cove passed its first resolution calling for its construction, it did not mention safety concerns and instead called for the road to ‘link together two communities having one of the state’s premier fishing port/harbors.'” The “safety” defense emerged only after it appeared unlikely that the road would receive federal funds.

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Lesbian Mary, Mother Of God!

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Photo Credit: WND

A public charter school in Massachusetts turned a deaf ear to protests last week and followed through with performing a pro-homosexual play that mocks the Bible and has been blasted as “blasphemous.”

Students from the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School, or PVPA – which serves 400 pupils, grades 7-12, in South Hadley, Mass. – on March 15-17 performed the controversial play, “The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told.”

A 1998 Paul Rudnick comedy that had a run in theaters in New York City, “The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told” alters the biblical Book of Genesis to include homosexual couples Adam and Steve and Jane and Mabel in the Garden; as well as a “horny” rhinoceros that tries to seduce men on the Ark; and Mary, the mother of Christ, arguing she can’t be pregnant, because she’s a lesbian “bull-dyke.”

A New England theater guide, The Theater Mirror, in a glowing review, further explains the play “gets so specific as to be a gay how-to sexbook” and summarizes it as “a goofy gay romp with a serious sting in its tale.”

News of the play’s pending performance prompted protests from several sectors, including students, parents and even the president of the school’s board of trustees, who said he seconded a student opinion that the play is disrespectful to Christianity. The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, Mass., however, was even more blunt.

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‘Olympus Has Fallen’ Director Antoine Fuqua: U.S. Flag ‘Represents Freedom … Why Not Wave It?’

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Photo Credit: Charles Sykes

There’s no missing the patriotic imagery in “Olympus Has Fallen,” a high-octane action thriller about a splinter group of North Korean terrorists who invade the White House and hold the president hostage. Key scenes in the film feature sun-dappled images of flying American flags, the Washington Monument toppled during a spectacular terrorist attack, and — because it’s an action movie — even a defensive use of a weaponized Abraham Lincoln bust in the oval office.

And that flag-waving imagery isn’t just there for decoration. “That flag is supposed to represent freedom,” said director Antoine Fuqua last week in an interview with The Washington Times.“So why not wave it?”

“I hear people sometimes say some negative things. ‘Eh, America’ —” Mr. Fuqua said, making a dismissive sound. “I just call bull on it. I’m patriotic. This country gave opportunity to everybody. It’s supposed to be the melting pot of the world. The flag is a representation of that.

“There’s nothing wrong with being patriotic. People sometimes get so cynical — they’re like, ‘Ah I don’t want to be patriotic because it’s not cool.’ I think it’s bull. My kids have grown up here. We have freedom here.”

That freedom directly applies to his work as a filmmaker. In America, Mr. Fuqua said, “I get to make a movie like this. In some places the government would never let you make this movie. You know, you’ve got people censoring your art.”

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Senate Republicans Willfully And Knowingly Lie To Their Constituents

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Photo Credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Last night, having noted the list of Republicans in the Senate who voted to fund Obamacare in yesterday’s Morning Briefing, I went through a series of emails from readers.

Readers from Texas, Kentucky, Utah, South Dakota, and Georgia all had the same story. They’d called the offices of Senators Chambliss, Cornyn, Hatch, Thune, McConnell, and Isakson to object to those senators funding Obamacare. They were all told by these Senate offices that these Senators had voted to defund Obamacare or, in the case of Senator Cornyn’s office, that there had been no vote on defunding Obamacare.

These Senators and their staffs are lying. They voted to fund Obamacare. More troubling, they know they did it.

Yesterday, on the floor of the Senate, Mitch McConnell again said, “Obamacare is a colossal mistake for our country. . . . We need to start all over. This bill needs to be repealed and it needs to be replaced. . . . And anyone who thinks we’ve given up this fight is dead wrong.”

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Experts To Congress: US Law Should Be Changed to Require Permanent Storage of Billions Of Private Text Messages, Emails

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text messages

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

In a hearing before the House Judiciary Subcommittee Tuesday, a panel of technology law experts called on Congress to pass legislation mandating the long-term retention of every American’s text messages and emails in case of a future criminal investigation.

“Billions of texts are sent every day, and some surely contain key evidence about criminal activity,” said Richard Littlehale of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and a member of the panel in his written statement. “Text messaging often plays a big role in investigations related to domestic violence, stalking, menacing, drug trafficking, and weapons trafficking.”

The hearing was held to discuss potential new provisions of the outdated Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986. The panel’s suggestions included longer retention times of interpersonal electronic messages as well as the creation of and expedited federal access to these databases. Not everyone was pleased with the panel’s recommendations.

“From a consumer privacy perspective, from a network security perspective, let alone the cost perspective of storing the tens of billions of messages that are sent around the various networks … it’s really an unwieldy and unworkable idea,” said a telecommunication executive, providing background information on the proposal.

The executive cited recent worldwide hackings as an example of potential risk to public safety and security when it comes to maintaining such a database.

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Number Of Dead Pigs Found In Chinese Rivers Rises To 16,000

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Photo Credit: AP

The number of dead pigs recovered in the last two weeks from rivers that supply water to Shanghai has risen to more than 16,000.

The government in China’s financial hub said 10,570 carcasses had been pulled from its Huangpu river. That is in addition to 5,528 pigs plucked from upstream tributaries in the Jiaxing area of Zhejiang province.

Authorities give daily updates, telling the public that tests show Shanghai’s water is safe, but no official has given any full explanation about the massive dumping of pig carcasses.

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Chris Christie Comes Out Against Gay Conversion Therapy

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Photo Credit: Mel Evans/AP

After initially saying he was undecided on the topic, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is against gay conversion therapy. Christie faced criticism when he said earlier in the week he wasn’t sure if he would sign legislation banning the practice on minors.

“Governor Christie does not believe in conversion therapy,” spokesman Kevin Roberts said in a statement to the New Jersey Star-Ledger. “There is no mistaking his point of view on this when you look at his own prior statements where he makes clear that people’s sexual orientation is determined at birth.”

Gay conversion therapy, also known as reparative therapy, claims to be able to change the sexual orientation of gay people through religious counseling, intense therapy and other methods. Health organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization, have all spoken out against conversion therapy, saying it can cause serious and long-term harm. The New Jersey state senate’s health committee approved legislation banning the practice on Monday.

Christie, who is widely thought to have 2016 presidential aspirations, has not said whether he will sign the bill banning the practice. He remains opposed to same sex marriage.

At a press conference Wednesday, Christie said he wasn’t sure if he would sign the bill because he needed more information, as well as wanting to give parents as much leeway in raising their children as possible.

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Kerry Wishes ‘Prosperity’ For This Islamic Regime

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Photo Credit: WND

Secretary of State John F. Kerry exchanged pleasantries with Iran, wishing “health and prosperity” even though it was revealed at virtually the same time that the rogue Islamic regime has a secret plant where scientists are working on nuclear weapons that could be aimed at the U.S.

The United States, Kerry said in a statement issued this week, is “strongly committed to resolving” differences with Iran.

“Despite the difficult history of the last decades between the United States and Iran, there is an opportunity to work diplomatically to reduce tensions and address the mistrust between our two countries, to the mutual benefit of both of our people,” Kerry said in a statement reported by the Washington Times.

The statement was released Wednesday, the same day WND reported Iranian scientists are working on nuclear warheads at an underground site previously unknown to the West.

The source is a high-ranking intelligence officer of the Islamic regime, according to the report by Reza Kahlili, an Iranian insider turned CIA spy who has written “A Time to Betray.” Kerry’s comments, on the occasion of the Iranian-Persian new year, were a continuation of a traditional statement to the Iranian people.

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China ‘To Overtake America By 2016’

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Photo Credit: EPA

China’s economy expanded last year at 7.8pc – its slowest pace in more than a decade – and recent data has fuelled concerns that any rebound in the country’s growth is losing steam.

However, the OECD was upbeat, predicting in a new survey of China’s prospects that the country’s economy could expand by 8.5pc this year and by 8.9pc in 2014.

While the OECD noted the slowdown in China’s aggressive expansion, it nonetheless predicted that growth should average 8pc in this decade at current rates of investment and reform.

After allowing for price differences, it forecast that China could become the world’s largest economy, overtaking America, around 2016.

Fuelling the OECD’s positive prediction was an optimistic outlook for investment spending in the world’s second-biggest economy. It pointed to substantial deficits in rail and road capacity relative to other major economies at similar stages of development, as well as to sub-standard housing as offering scope for more profitable spending on infrastructure.

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