Massive, Very Shallow Earthquake Hits Just 66 miles from Craig, Alaska; Tsunami Warning Issued

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At just two minutes before 12 a.m. this morning, Alaska time, a massive earthquake hit only 66 miles west of Craig, Alaska.

Initially, the United States Geological Service measured the quake at 7.7 magnitude, but this was later adjusted to 7.5 magnitude.

According to the United States Geological Service, the earthquake was at a very shallow depth of 6.1 miles. However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported the earthquake’s depth at 3.11 miles.

Although the earthquake struck 212 miles south of Juneau, one resident – Alicé Leuchte – stated that it “scared the hell out of me.” Ms. Leuchte added that the people she knew in Craig “are OK.”

So far, there are no reports of serious damage.

The 7.5 magnitude earthquake is apparently related to the Queen Charlotte fault system that apparently spawned the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck near Metlakatla last October.

The Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska stated at 12:30 a.m. this morning that a “Tsunami warning remains in effect . . . for the coastal areas of British Columbia and Alaska from the north tip of Vancouver Island, British Columbia to Cape Suckling, Alaska.” Cape Suckling is just 75 miles southeast of Cordova, or almost 250 miles southeast of Anchorage.

UPDATE: The tsunami warning has been lifted.

Sperm Donor For Lesbian Couple Pursued for Child Support

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It’s a mixed up, jumbled up, shook up world these days, but especially for William Marotta.

Marotta, a Kansas City man responded to a Craigslist ad 3 years ago placed there by a lesbian couple. The couple was looking for a sperm donor to help them conceive a child. Marotta, the Good Samaritan, was up for the task.

Marotta and the couple signed an agreement stating his responsibilities for the future child stopped with his donation. He was not to be involved in the raising of the child, have any financial responsibility, or have any contact with the child…..Pretty much a standard agreement for this type of situation.

But the lesbian couple, broke up and then sought welfare assistance from the state of Kansas. This set off an investigation by the state on behalf of its taxpayers who have to foot the bill…and the trail lead to Marottas front door.

Evidently the state of Kansas doesn’t think Marottas responsibilities stopped after his donation and have decided to make him financially responsible for the child.

The state of Kansas says since the impregnation procedure wasn’t done under the auspices of a Dr’s supervision, the agreement the couple and Marotta have, is not valid.

Marotta has lawyered up and already claims the state has no proof it is his child, since no DNA tests have been performed. Besides, it’s not fair since he had a written agreement with the couple.

The state of Kansas is claiming it’s not fair for the citizens of Kansas to pay for other peoples children.

Hillary Clinton popularized the often repeated quote “it takes a village to raise a child.” Evidently Kansas doesn’t agree with the “village” meme and they want these 3 villagers to pay for their own children.

Angela Bauer and Jennifer Schreiner, the couple who have now separated, plan to help Marotta fight the state’s decision to force him to pay child support.

These three did create a human life. Is it fair that the state requests they be financially responsible for it and not expect the taxpayers to pick up the tab? We all have rights, but there are responsibilities as well.
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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.

Woman Hiding With Kids Shoots Home Intruder Multiple Times

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A woman hiding in her attic with children shot an intruder multiple times before fleeing to safety Friday.

The incident happened at a home on Henderson Ridge Lane in Loganville around 1 p.m. The woman was working in an upstairs office when she spotted a strange man outside a window, according to Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman. He said she took her 9-year-old twins to a crawlspace before the man broke in using a crowbar.

But the man eventually found the family.

Defendant Paul Slater

“The perpetrator opens that door. Of course, at that time he’s staring at her, her two children and a .38 revolver,” Chapman told Channel 2’s Kerry Kavanaugh. The woman then shot him five times, but he survived, Chapman said. He said the woman ran out of bullets but threatened to shoot the intruder if he moved.

“She’s standing over him, and she realizes she’s fired all six rounds. And the guy’s telling her to quit shooting,” Chapman said.

Victim’s Husband Donnie Herman

The woman ran to a neighbor’s home with her children. The intruder attempted to flee in his car but crashed into a wooded area and collapsed in a nearby driveway, Chapman said.

Read more from this story HERE.

U.S.-Installed Iraqi Government in Danger?

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WASHINGTON – The Iranian-backed government of Shi’ite Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is experiencing increasing opposition from what sources say are efforts by Sunni Saudi Arabia and Turkey to overthrow him and install a more favorable Sunni government, according to a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Sources said that other Sunni regional countries of Jordan and Qatar also are involved.

Their efforts are aimed at diminishing the increasing influence that Shi’ite Iran is acquiring in the Arab countries as shown in Shi’ite majority Bahrain, its close alliance with Shi’ite Alawite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and now with the Shi’ite minority in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia where much of the country’s oil production takes place.

In effect, Iran, which has historical roots in the area, has sought to maintain its hold on a region that encompasses the Middle East to Central Asia.

Iraq has become the latest proxy war that has been simmering for some time between Shi’ite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia. Other areas where Shi’ite-Sunni proxy wars have been ongoing have been in Bahrain, Syria and Yemen.

Read more from this story HERE.

New York Times: Tax Code May Be the Most Progressive Since 1979

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WASHINGTON — With 2013 bringing tax increases on the incomes of a small sliver of the richest Americans, the country’s top earners now face a heavier tax burden than at any time since Jimmy Carter was president.

The last-minute deal struck by the departing 112th Congress raised taxes on a handful of the highest-earning Americans, with about 99.3 percent of households experiencing no change in their income taxes. But the Tax Policy Center estimates that the average family in the top 1 percent will pay a federal tax rate of more than 36 percent this year, up from 28 percent in 2008. That is the highest rate since 1979, at least.

By some measures, the tax code might now be the most progressive in a generation, tax economists said, while noting that every American is paying a lower burden currently than they did then. In fact, the total federal tax rate is still vastly lower for the very rich than it was at any point in the 1940s through 1970s. It has risen from historical lows, but is still closer to those lows than where it was in the postwar decades.

“We made the system more progressive by raising rates at the top and leaving them for everyone else,” said Roberton Williams of the Tax Policy Center, a research group based in Washington. “The offsetting issue is that the rich have gotten a lot richer.”

Indeed, over the last three decades the bulk of pretax income gains have gone to the wealthy — and the higher up on the income scale, the bigger the gains, with billionaires outpacing millionaires who outpaced the merely rich. Economists doubted that the tax increases would do much to reverse that trend.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rep. Issa Threatens Congressional Subpoena Over EPA Pebble Mine Review

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photo credit: donkeyhotey

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has threatened subpoenaing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for documents regarding a potential Alaska mine.

Issa, along with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), said he wants to know more about the intentions behind a water impact test EPA is conducting near a discussed mine site in Bristol Bay, Alaska.

The lawmakers said in a Thursday letter that EPA’s actions have “bordered on the absurd” by since the committee’s initial May 10 inquiry about the matter.

“It strains credibility that EPA has been unable to provide a full response to the Committee more than seven months after the initial request,” Issa and Jordan wrote to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

“If EPA fails to provide the documents as requested, the Committee will consider use of the compulsory process.”

Read more from this story HERE.

The Fiscal-Cliff Mirage

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The politics of the “fiscal cliff” deal is debatable: On the one hand, Boehner got the “Bush tax cuts” made permanent for most Americans; Obama was forced to abandon his goal of increasing rates for those earning $250,000. On the other, on taxes Republicans caved to the same class-warfare premises (the rich need to pay their “fair share”) they’d successfully fought off a mere two years ago; while on spending the Democrats not only refused to make cuts, they refused to make cuts even part of the discussion.

Which of the above is correct? Who cares? As I said, the politics is debatable. But the reality isn’t. I hate to keep plugging my book After America in this space, but if you buy multiple copies they’ll come in very useful for insulating your cabin after the power grid collapses. At any rate, right up there at the front — page six — I write as follows:

“The prevailing political realities of the United States do not allow for any meaningful course correction. And, without meaningful course correction, America is doomed.”

Washington keeps proving the point. The political class has just spent two months on a down-to-the-wire nail-biting white-knuckle thrill-ride negotiation the result of which is more business as usual. At the end, as always, Dr. Obama and Dr. Boehner emerge in white coats, surgical masks around their necks, bloody scalpels in hand, and announce that it was touch and go for a while but the operation was a complete success — and all they’ve done is applied another temporary band-aid that’s peeling off even as they speak. They’re already prepping the OR for the next life-or-death surgery on the debt ceiling, tentatively scheduled for next Tuesday or a week on Thursday or the third Sunday after Epiphany.

No epiphanies in Washington: The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the latest triumphant deal includes $2 billion of cuts for fiscal year 2013. Wow! That’s what the government of the United States borrows every ten hours and 38 minutes. Spending two months negotiating ten hours of savings is like driving to a supermarket three states away to save a nickel on your grocery bill.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Sends Warning Shot to Republicans on Debt-Ceiling Increase

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President Obama on Saturday sent a cautionary note to GOP leaders ahead of the looming debt-ceiling debate, warning the Republicans that anything but a timely hike in the nation’s borrowing cap represents a “dangerous game” that threatens the economy both at home and abroad.

In his weekly radio address to the country, Obama urged GOP leaders to support a drama-free increase in the debt limit, and tackle the issues of spending, revenues and entitlements in a separate context.

“As I said earlier this week, one thing I will not compromise over is whether or not Congress should pay the tab for a bill they’ve already racked up,” Obama said from Honolulu, Hawaii, where he’s vacationing. “If Congress refuses to give the United States the ability to pay its bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy could be catastrophic.

“The last time Congress threatened this course of action, our entire economy suffered for it,” he added, referring to the protracted debt-ceiling debate in 2011. “Our families and our businesses cannot afford that dangerous game again.”

The debate over raising the nation’s debt ceiling is shaping up to be the next big, partisan fight in a string of high-stakes budget battles that are threatening to consume most of the political oxygen in the early stages of the 113th Congress. The Treasury Department reached its $16.4 trillion debt ceiling on Monday, but the agency has said it can shuffle funds to pay its obligations for roughly two months, setting the stage for a showdown as March approaches.

Read more from this story HERE.

Father of Four in California Makes His Stand Against Alleged LGBT Agenda in Classroom

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Monday’s meeting of the Capistrano Unified School District’s school board should offer more fireworks than usual.

At the meeting, Stan Wasbin, a father of four, plans to voice his complaint that local schools are becoming “re-education camps” because of an excessive focus on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues, reports the San Juan Capistrano Patch.

Wasbin, a resident of the seaside suburb of San Clemente, asked in a three-page letter that his concerns about the supposedly agenda-driven politicization of the school curriculum be placed on the official board agenda.

Both the curriculum and Wasbin’s missive come in response to a new California law obligating social science classes to include the historical role played by gay, lesbian, bisexuals and transgender people.

“In our public schools, we want our children to learn math, music, science, English, art, American history and a foreign language or two,” Wasbin wrote, according to Patch. “That’s a lot, and that’s enough.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Coulter Tears Into Liberal Gun Hypocrisy, Suggests Publishing List Of Women Who Get Abortions

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Sean Hannity continued his pushback against gun control advocates with Ann Coulter tonight. They focused on how strongly liberals work in the wake of every mass shooting to crack down on guns. Coulter suspected many of them would rather forget the Second Amendment, while continuing to explain her issues with the NRA’s armed guards proposal.

Hannity first brought up the newspaper that published the names of all local gun owners, pointing out the list inadvertently alerts all criminals to which houses do not have guns. Coulter claimed that home invasions are more common in England than in the United States because of their strong gun laws. She asked why gun owners can be publicly identified but criminal records cannot be released in a similar fashion.

Read more from this story HERE.