"Amendment One" will gut our Civil Domestic Violence protections

Amendment ONE is up for vote on May 8.? Proponents claim that it will ban forever gay marriage in our state.? However, it has a far more reaching impact.

The Amendment states that the only "domestic union" that will be "valid or recognized" in North Carolina will be a marriage between one man and one woman.?? But our civil domestic violence law, Chapter 50B, specifically lists the domestic unions that are protected by that law.? Chapter 50B lists married couples, but also couples in a dating relationship, couples who live together, people?(including kids) who live in the same household together, couples who have a child together, and ex-spouses.? This law recognizes and protects all of those domestic relationships and makes it possible for a person in one of those relationships who is abused to go to civil District Court and get a "Domestic Violence Restraining Order."?? In most counties a victim does not even need a lawyer to get the Order.? And if the victim has been injured, then the District Court judge can order the abusive boyfriend, husband, ex-husband, or member of the household, to surrender his guns, his ammo, and his gum permits.??

Now, what happens to this excellent civil domestic violence law when Amendment ONE gets passed by the voters?? Well, all those domestic relationships that are protected in Chapter 50B--ex-wives, girlfriends, members of the household--all of those relationships will suddenly no longer be?"recognized or valid" in the eyes of NC law.?? Remember, the Amendment says that the only domestic relationship that will be "recognized or valid" is a marriage between a man and a woman.??So, the domestic relationship between girlfriend and boyfriend, between people who are engaged to be married, and between divorced spouses or people who had a child together--those relationships are no longer going to be "recognized or valid" in NC law!??

You see,?a Constitutional Amendment trumps all other laws.? The General Assembly cannot override an amendment, and judges cannot override it either.??When this amendment passes, that civil domestic violence law will become meaningless for most domestic violence victims, because the domestic relationship in which the violence occurred?will no longer be "recognized or valid" in our law.??If the law does not recognize something or deem it valid, then the law cannot protect it.??For that simple reason, Amendment One will do away with the civil protections for many?victims of domestic violence in North Carolina.? the only domestic relationship still covered by that law will be that of a victim who is currently married to the abuser.??

Regardless of how you may feel about gay marriage, this unwanted side effect of the Amendment?is a good reason to vote AGAINST Amendment One on May 8.?

But the folks trying to sell this Amendment are not being honest about this problem--in an article recently about it in the Raleigh News and Observer,?Paul "Skip" Stam (the Republican legislator from Apex who is pushing it) and Tami Fitzgerald, director?of "Vote for Marriage North Carolina" both denied that the Amendment would negate our domestic violence laws.? Stam?knows better, and he pulled a fast one by claiming that?it would not harm domestic violence "criminal" laws.? That is correct so far as it goes--domestic violence usually is a criminal act.? But he did not address the real issue, which is the adverse effect the Amendment will have on our civil domestic violence laws, notably Chapter 50B.??That is not a criminal law.? But depriving the victims of domestic violence the ability to go to civil court and get protection from the abuser, now that ought to be criminal!????Please vote AGAINST AMENDMENT ONE on May 8!??For a more detailed analysis of this problem see my article here:???http://www.avvo.com/legal-guides/ugc/north-carolinas-amendment-one

Source: http://www.charlottencworkerscompensationblog.com/2012/03/north-carolinas-amendment-one-will-gut-our-civil-domestic-violence-protections.shtml

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Syrians brave gunfire in anti-Assad protests

Reuters

Demonstrators gather during a protest against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad after Friday prayers in Binsh, near Idlib, on Friday.

By msnbc.com news services

Tens of thousands of Syrians braved tear gas and gunfire to protest across the country Friday, vowing to storm the capital Damascus to oust President Bashar Assad as the European Union ramped up pressure on the regime by imposing sanctions on his wife and other close relatives.

Security forces deployed in many cities to disperse protests, but opposition groups reported fewer protester deaths than in past weeks. Activists said more than 20 people were killed nationwide in army attacks on opposition areas or clashes with armed rebels.

International condemnation and high-level diplomacy have failed to stop the year-old Syria crisis, which the U.N. says has killed more than 8,000 people, many of them civilian protesters.

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Friday's sanctions bring to 13 the sets imposed by the EU to try to compel the regime to halt its violent crackdown on dissent. The U.S. and others have also imposed sanctions. Previous measures were aimed at Syrian companies and Assad himself.

EU bans Assad's wife from traveling and shopping within its territories

Those imposed Friday targeted Asma Assad, Syria's British-born first lady, banning her from traveling to EU countries and freezing any assets she may have there. They also included the president's mother, sister, sister-in-law and eight government ministers.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said sanctions were weakening the regime.

"Their economic situation becomes ever more difficult. Syria has few reserves," he said. "We think its economic situation will become untenable."

The new sanctions came on a day of renewed violence across Syria, with the army raining mortar rounds into the rebellious city of Homs, killing civilians, opposition supporters said.

Live television feeds from around Syria showed a slew of anti-Assad rallies, including in the Damascus district of Barzeh, in the northwestern city of Hama, in Qamishli in the Kurdish east, and in the southern province of Deraa.

"Damascus here we come," read several placards held up by the relatively small crowds. Activists said eight people were wounded after demonstrations near five Damascus mosques were broken up by security forces.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 13 civilians were killed in government attacks Friday. Government troops and armed rebels clashed in a number of places, with at least seven soldiers and one rebel fighter killed, the group said.

Another group, the Local Coordination Committees, said government troops killed 36 civilians on Friday. It did not provide details on each civilian killed.

On the diplomatic front, the U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, who is leading international efforts to stop the relentless mayhem, planned to travel to Moscow and Beijing this weekend for talks on the crisis, his spokesman said.

At least 500 children killed in conflict
While sanctions have hurt Syria's economy, they appear to have had little effect on the regime's actions.

In Geneva, the U.N. Human Rights Council blasted Syria's crackdown and extended the mandate of a U.N. expert panel tasked with reporting on alleged abuses in the country.

A resolution passed by the 47-member body condemned "widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms perpetrated" by Syrian authorities, including summary executions, torture and sexual abuse of detainees and children.

Also Friday, UNICEF said at least 500 children have been killed in the conflict, while hundreds more have been injured, detained or abused. The U.N. children's agency said schools have closed and health centers have shut down or become too dangerous for many families to reach.

Throughout the conflict, China and Russia have protected Syria from censure by the U.N. Security Council, fearing a strongly worded resolution condemning Assad could pave the way for military intervention, as happened in Libya last year.

Russia, however, softened its stance Thursday by calling for Assad to pull his troops out of Syrian cities. The U.N. has been trying to secure a cease-fire so all parties could hold a dialogue on a political solution to end the conflict. So far, both sides have refused talks.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Observatory, said Friday evening that he had yet to confirm the death of one protester during the day, saying this is unusual because many more protesters are often killed by security forces.

"We hope it happens like this every time because we don't want anyone to die," he said.

The Syrian government has barred most media from working in the country, and activist accounts could not be independently verified.

Syria's state news agency said hundreds marched in a pro-Assad demonstration in the capital Damascus and published photos of them carrying Syrian flags and Assad photos.

In Jordan's capital Amman, blind Syrian cleric Ahmad al-Sayasneh called on a congregation of 1,000 Syrians to "remain steadfast until our tyrant leadership is ousted."

It was the cleric's first public appearance since fleeing Syria two months ago. Al-Sayasneh rose to prominence though his fiery sermons calling for civil disobedience at a mosque in the southern Syrian town of Deraa, considered the uprising's birthplace.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/23/10832892-syrians-brave-tear-gas-gunfire-in-anti-assad-protests

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Food And Drink ? High Tea Catering Sydney

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The tradition of high tea was born with individuals who needed to stave their hunger before dinners were served, as supper was 9 pm. High teas are a tradition that existed one of several working class. It included heavy snacks with meat dishes including pies and steak, baked foods, vegetables and fish dishes. For that reason high teas are also called meat tea.

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The Duchess of Bedford started the tradition of afternoon tea. The story plot is the duchess felt really hungry between the lunch and late dinner and thus requested tea and assorted snacks to be served in the room. She begin to invite her friends over due to this afternoon tea and very soon it became famous among women who want to gather around for small talks and gossips.

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High tea is served for working class people just as one early evening meal. A decreased teas are an elegant afternoon tea served on the list of high classes. Right after a long day work lower class men and women experience hunger therefore high tea was served being a full meal around 5 or 6 pm. Low tea was seen as an social occasion one of many top quality compared to a meal which had been served at Five pm and ended before 7 pm. Higher classes served this tea stave the hunger involving the early lunch and late dinner.

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In high tea, the idea of high is used to mention the peak on the table what is the best the teas are served. High tea was usually served on high tables, whereas low tea is served on low tables at home in sitting rooms. There was clearly many high tea etiquettes too that existed inside the Victorian times. One of the main was the punctuality. It turned out heavy meal served at 5 pm and also the foods were always bland.

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Most of the workers saw this like a mid break several advisors continued their work after this. Life am miserable for your lower classes back then. While wearing high tea, addressing orally full and placing the elbow on the table were considered rude.

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But this time your situation has completely changed. High tea parties have become common and high tea catering services are used by people for special occasions. There is High Tea catering services around Sydney. They guide in organizing a conference with great hospitality and also a massive amount of services including planning the big event and decorating the location.?

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Sydney high tea catering will give you a quality service and speciality high tea sydney.

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Source: http://food-and-drink.us/7155/high-tea-catering-sydney-6/

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Holding a gun may make you think others are too

NEW YORK (AP) ? No one knows what led a Florida neighborhood watch captain to shoot Trayvon Martin, a teenager carrying no weapon.

But a new study raises an intriguing question: Could the watch captain have been fooled into thinking the youth was armed in part because he himself was holding a gun?

In the study, volunteers who held a toy gun and glimpsed fleeting images of people holding an object were biased toward thinking the object was a gun.

It's another indication that the brain shapes what we perceive in the world beyond the information that comes in through our eyes, said James Brockmole of the University of Notre Dame, who did the work with psychologist Jessica Witt at Purdue University.

In a telephone interview, Brockmole stressed he had no inside information on the Feb. 26 shooting of 17-year-old Martin, who was shot and killed in a gated community in Sanford, a suburb of Orlando. The neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman, said he shot the teen in self-defense because the youth attacked him. The case has drawn outrage and protests, and the federal Department of Justice said Monday it will investigate.

Brockmole said it's possible that Zimmerman's perception might have been skewed by being armed.

Race may have also played a role. Martin is black; Zimmerman's family says he is Hispanic. Past research suggests that people can be more likely to perceive a poorly seen object as a gun if it's held by a black person than by a white person, experts say.

Zimmerman has not spoken publicly. The police report does not mention whether he thought Martin had a firearm. But during his patrol of the neighborhood in his SUV, Zimmerman called 911 and told a police dispatcher that he was following Martin. "We've had some break-ins my neighborhood. ...There is a really suspicious guy."

Then a bit later, he said the youth was approaching and "he's got something in his hands."

In the study which was carried out well before the shooting, undergraduates at Notre Dame and Purdue glimpsed scenes of people holding objects and had to decide quickly whether the object was a gun. The results showed they were biased toward thinking so if they themselves were holding a toy gun, rather than a plastic ball. Just having a gun nearby didn't make a difference, researchers found.

Why is that? Brockmole said people are primed to act in the world rather than just passively see it. So their minds have to contain information both about what they see and what they might do in response. Evidently, each kind of information can influence the other, he said.

He said the work, which is set to be published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, is not intended to support gun control. But he said it suggests that people should know that when they hold a gun "that might change how you're going to interpret what's around you."

Brockmole's findings make sense, said Evan Risko, who studies perception and attention at Arizona State University. "Our perception is influenced by a number of different factors, and that can have important consequences," he said.

Dennis Proffitt, who studies visual perception at the University of Virginia, said there are many reasons why one person might think another is armed, such as if he is worried about his own safety or if he thinks the other person is a robber. The effect of holding a gun oneself "could be part of the story" in Florida, he said.

___

Associated Press writer Mike Schneider in Sanford, Fla., contributed to this report.

___

Malcolm Ritter can be followed at http://www.twitter.com/malcolmritter

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/holding-gun-may-think-others-too-221346341.html

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Fitbit for Android helps track your I/O

The fitness fanatics from Fitbit are looking to aid and abet the Android-loving, calorie-counting masses. The company has announced the release of its self-titled Android application, which will assist users in tracking their health and dietary goals. Through manual entry, or with the assistance of a Bluetooth sensor, Fitbit tracks your daily activity and creates a dynamic nutrition plan to help you achieve your weight loss and fitness goals. What's more, the app and service keep a log of your progress allowing users to feel shame track their progress. The app is available via Google Play for the always attractive price of $0. Have yourself a download... and a quick jog.

Fitbit for Android helps track your I/O originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Mar 2012 03:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Droid-life  |  Fitbit, Google Play  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/20/fitbit-for-android-helps-track-your-i-o/

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Rapids run past Union

Associated Press Sports

updated 5:40 p.m. ET March 18, 2012

CHESTER, Pa. (AP) - Jaime Castrillon and Tony Cascio scored and the Colorado Rapids defeated the Philadelphia Union 2-1 on Sunday.

The Rapids (2-0) played short-handed for more than 36 minutes and continued their strong play after a 2-0 win over Columbus in the opener.

Castrillon put the Rapids ahead 1-0 in the 56th minute when he corralled a loose ball in front of the net and tapped the ball past Philadelphia goalkeeper Zac MacMath.

Omar Cummings, who picked up an assist, sent the crossing pass toward MacMath, but the ball slipped through his fingers.

Colorado kept the pressure on after midfielder Jeff Larentowicz received a red card in the 58th minute.

In the 62nd minute, Cascio's goal extended the Rapids' advantage.

Forward Lionard Pajoy scored in the 67th minute on a header.

The Union (0-2) began their third season following a trip to the Eastern Conference semifinals. Though Philadelphia lost to the Houston Dynamo in the two-match series, the front office brought in 14 new players this season.

So far, it's been a struggle.

Philadelphia lost 3-1 at Portland last Monday and managed just one goal again.

The Rapids remained unbeaten all time (3-0-2) against the Union.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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More newsDrew Hallowell / Getty ImagesDrew Hallowell / Getty Images

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46777506/ns/sports-soccer/

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Apple to decide on its $98 billion cash pile

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apple-host-call-monday-morning-cash-holdings-002450368.html

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