OBAMA FINALLY PASSES SAME SEX MARRIAGE INTO LAW

The Obama administration on Thursday formally expressed its support of same-sex marriage in California, setting up a high stakes political and constitutional showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court over a fast-evolving and contentious issue.

In a broadly worded legal brief that senior government sources say had President Barack Obama's personal input and blessing, the Justice Department asserted gay and lesbian couples in the nation's largest state have the same "equal protection" right to wed and that voters there were not empowered to ban it.

"Prejudice may not," said the brief, "be the basis for differential treatment under the law."

But the administration specifically refused to argue that the constitutional right should be extended to the 41 states that currently define marriage as between one man and one woman.

The justices will hear the so-called Proposition 8 case in March.

That case and another appeal over the federal Defense of Marriage Act will produce blockbuster rulings from the justices in coming months.

"The government seeks to vindicate the defining constitutional ideal of equal treatment under the law," said Attorney General Eric Holder. "Throughout history, we have seen the unjust consequences of decisions and policies rooted in discrimination."

"The issues before the Supreme Court in this case and the Defense of Marriage Act case are not just important to the tens of thousands Americans who are being denied equal benefits and rights under our laws, but to our nation as a whole," Holder added.

Gay rights groups had privately urged Obama and his top aides to go beyond his previous personal rhetoric in support of the right and come down "on the side of history" in this legal fight.

Sources told CNN that Obama made the final decision over whether to file a brief and what to say.

Same-sex marriage could be a defining moment in Obama's presidency, similar to the political impact last year when the Supreme Court upheld the health care reform law he spearheaded.

He must decide how much political capital to expend in coming months when expressing his views and those of the executive branch.

Opinion: 2013 -- A year for big issues in the courts.

Obama has already faced strong opposition on the issue from many Republican state and congressional lawmakers, as well as social conservatives.

The justices will hear oral arguments in the Proposition 8 case March 26, with a ruling due by the last week of June.

The separate case over the Defense of Marriage Act involves a 1996 law that says for federal purposes, marriage is defined as only between one man and one woman. That means federal tax, Social Security, pension, and bankruptcy benefits, and family medical leave protections-- do not apply to gay and lesbian couples.

That case will be argued March 27.

But it is the Proposition 8 case where the high court is being asked to establish the constitutional "equal protection" right.

The administration is not a party in the California appeal and not required to weigh in, but it decided to file an amicus or "friend of the court" brief.

It is rare for a president to be personally involved in the legal and political considerations in a high court appeal, and sources say he spent a good deal of time reading up on the issue and articulating his views privately.

Much of the legal reasoning in any government brief would reflect in large part his personal thinking, gained from his years as a former constitutional law professor.

Obama administration weighs in on defense of marriage law

There are about approximately 120,000 legally married same-sex couples in the United States.

Dozens of advocacy groups on both sides of the issue have bombarded the high court with briefs, including a coalition of national Republicans, business, faith, and military leaders supporting same-sex marriage.

Among the prominent conservative names lending their view: former Utah governor and presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, Hewlitt-Packard chief executive and former California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida), and actor Clint Eastwood.

"As a Republican, I believe in protecting individual freedoms and that everyone, including gay and lesbian Americans, has a constitutional right to be treated equally under the law," said former Rep. Jim Kolbe.

The president has had an evolving position on gay rights, once supporting only civil unions. But in his inaugural address last month, he raised expectations, and perhaps signaled his impending legal views, when offering sweeping rhetoric.

"Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law-- for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well."

Last November, voters in three states-- Maryland, Washington, and Maine-- approved same-sex marriage, adding to the six states and the District of Columbia that already have done so.

As more states legalize same-sex marriage, one of the key questions the justices may be forced to address is whether a national consensus now exists supporting the idea of expanding an "equal protection" right of marriage to homosexuals

Many other states, including New Jersey, Illinois, Delaware, Rhode Island and Hawaii, have legalized domestic partnerships and civil unions -- a step designed in most cases to provide the same rights of marriage under state law.

But other states have passed laws or state constitutional amendments banning such marriages. California's 2008 Proposition 8 referendum revoked the right after lawmakers and the state courts previously allowed it.

In February, a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled the measure unconstitutional. In its split decision, the panel found that Proposition 8 "works a meaningful harm to gays and lesbians" by denying their right to civil marriage.

The justices here have discretion to rule narrowly or broadly on the aspects of the legal and procedural questions raised.

Eastwood inks support for same-sex marriage 

The New United State of America Effort Launched to stem theft of trade Secrets; concern about China leads to Action

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration announced new efforts Wednesday to fight the growing theft of American trade secrets, a broad but relatively restrained response to a rapidly emerging global problem that was brought into sharp focus this week by fresh evidence linking cyberstealing to China’s military.

Mentioning China but not specifically targeting that country, Attorney General Eric Holder announced the plan, which includes a new diplomatic push to discourage intellectual property theft abroad along with better coordination at home to help U.S. companies. 

The administration says indications are that economic espionage is increasing, not only through electronic intrusion over the Internet but also through the recruitment of former employees of U.S. companies with knowledge of inside trade information.

“Particularly in this time of economic recovery, this work is more important than it ever has been before,” Holder said at the White House announcement of the administration’s strategy.

“As new technologies have torn down traditional barriers to international business and global commerce, they’ve also made it easier for criminals to steal trade secrets — and to do so from anywhere in the world,” Holder said. “A hacker in China can acquire source code from a software company in Virginia without leaving his or her desk. With a few keystrokes, a terminated or simply an unhappy employee of a defense contractor can misappropriate designs, processes, and formulas worth billions of dollars.”

Earlier this week, a Virginia-based cybersecurity firm, Mandiant, accused a secret Chinese military unit in Shanghai of years of cyber attacks against more than 140 companies, a majority of them American. The accusations and supporting evidence increased pressure on the United States to take more action against the Chinese for what experts say has been years of systematic espionage.

The Chinese government denied being involved in cybertheft, with China’s defense minister calling the Mandiant report deeply flawed. China’s Foreign Ministry said that country has also been a victim of hacking, much of it traced to the United States.

Wednesday’s Obama administration report did not target anyone violator, but the China problem was evident in the case studies it cited. Those examples did not involve cyber attacks but rather the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars in trade secrets by former employees of U.S. corporations including Ford Motor Co., DuPont Co., General Motors Corp., Cargill, Dow Chemical Co., Valspar and Motorola.

The administration report didn’t threaten any specific consequences for theft of trade secrets, and no new fines or other trade actions were announced. It included five — Applying diplomatic pressure by senior officials to foreign leaders to discourage theft.

— Promoting best practices to help industries protect against theft.

— Enhancing U.S. law enforcement operations to increase 
     investigations and prosecutions.

— Reviewing U.S. laws to determine if they need to be strengthened to 
     protect against theft.

— Beginning a public awareness campaign.

President Barack Obama signed an executive order last week aimed at helping protect the computer networks of American industries from cyberattacks. It called for the development of voluntary standards to protect the computer systems that run critical sectors of the economy such as the banking, power and transportation industries. It directed U.S. defense and intelligence agencies to share classified threat data with those companies.

He also prodded Congress during his State of the Union address to go further.

“Now, Congress must act as well by passing legislation to give our government a greater capacity to secure our networks and deter attacks,” Obama said.

The president said America’s enemies are “seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions and our air traffic control systems. We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy.”

Actions is to protect the American innovation:

Source; The Association Press!

Vatican Raises Possibility of Early March Conclave

Vatican Raises Possibility of Early March Conclave

The Vatican raised the possibility Saturday that the conclave to elect the next pope might start sooner than March 15, the earliest date possible under the current rules that require a 15 to 20 day waiting period after the Papacy becomes vacant.
Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi Said that Vatican rules on papal succession are open to interpretation and thought "this is a question that people are discussing."
"It is possible that church authorities can prepare a proposal to be taken up by the cardinals on the first day after the papal vacancy" to move up the start of the conclave, he said.
The 15 to 20 day waiting period is in place to allow time for all cardinals who don't live in Rome to arrive, under the usual circumstance of a pope dying. But in this case the cardinals already know that this pontificate will end Feb. 28, with the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, and therefore can get to Rome in plenty of time to take part in the conclave, Lombardi said.
The date of the conclave's start is important because Holy Week begins March 24, with Palm Sunday Mass followed by Easter Sunday on March 31. In order to have a new pope in place in time for the most solemn liturgical period on the church calendar, he would need to be installed by Sunday, March 17, because of the strong tradition to hold installation Mass on a Sunday. Given the tight time frame, speculation has mounted that some arrangement would be made to start the conclave earlier than a strict reading of the law would allow.
Questions about the start of the conclave have swirled since Benedict stunned the world on Feb. 11, by announcing that he would retire, the first pontiff in 600 years to abdicate rather than stay in office until death. His decision has created a host of questions about how the Vatican will proceed, given that its plans for the so-called "sede vacante" — or vacant seat — period between the papacies are based on the process starting with a papal death.
"At this moment we are not prepared," said Cardinal Franc Rode, the former \\head of the Vatican's office for religious orders who will vote in the conclave. "We have not been able to make predictions, strategies, plans, candidates. It is too early, but we will get there. In two or three weeks things will be put in place."
Meanwhile, a German journalist who has published several long interviews with Benedict over the years suggested that the pope strongly foreshadowed his retirement during an August conversation.
Peter Seewald said in an article for the German weekly Focus published Saturday that the pontiff had told him that his strength was diminishing and "not much more" could be expected from him as pope.
"I am an old man and my strength is running out," Seewald quoted the pope as saying. "And I think what I have done is enough."
Asked by Seewald whether he was considering resignation, Benedict responded: "That depends to what extent my physical strength will compel me to." The summer interview, as well as another in December, were for a new Benedict biography.
Seewald's 2010 book-length interview with Benedict, "Light of the World," laid \\the groundwork for a possible resignation.
In it, he quoted Benedict as saying: "If a pope clearly realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right, and under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign."
He stressed then, however, that resignation was not an option to escape a particular burden, such as the scandal over sexual abuse by clerics which had erupted earlier in 2010.
\In Saturday's article, Seewald recalled asking the pope in August how badly the 2012 scandal over leaks of papal documents, in which the pope's ex-butler was convicted of aggravated theft, had affected him.
Benedict said the affair had not thrown him off his stride or made him tired of office. "It is simply incomprehensible to me," he said.
The journalist said that when he last saw Benedict about 10 weeks ago, his hearing had deteriorated and he appeared to have lost vision in his left eye, adding that the pope had lost weight and appeared tired.

Benedict, however, appeared in good form on Saturday for some of his final audience. He met with the Guatemalan president, a group of visiting Italian bishops, and had his farewell audience with Italian Premier Mario Monti.
"He was in good condition," Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina told reporters afterward. "He didn't seem tired, rather smiling, lively — and happy and very clear in his decision to resign."
Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan and a leading contender to succeed Benedict, said several of the visiting bishops noted at the end of their audience that they were the last group of bishops to be received by the pope. "'This responsibility means you have to become a light for all,'" he quoted Benedict as saying.
Lombardi also gave more details about Benedict's final public audiences and plans for retirement, saying already 35,000 people had requested tickets for his final general audience to be held in St. Peter's Square on Feb. 27.
He said Benedict would spend about two months in the papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome immediately after his abdication, to allow enough time for renovations to be completed on his retirement home — a converted monastery inside the Vatican walls.
That means Benedict would be expected to return to the Vatican, no longer as pope, around the end of April or beginning of May, Lombardi said.
He was asked if and when the pope would meet with his successor and whether he would participate in his installation Mass. Like many open questions about the end of Benedict's papacy, Lombardi said, both issues simply haven't been resolved.

A 29years Old Drop-Out Now Independent and Free

A 29 years School drop-out woman whose parents died in an accident couldn't get help from any family member, because she was adopted. 10 years now, she had been staying with a weed smoker boyfriend in a small ghetto. She only gets money from her guy after a whole week sex, & each week is Ghc 4.00... She uses that same money to cook for the guy & his friends every week (Sunday).

She got pregnant with the guy, the guy told her to abort it. Gave her only Ghc 20.00 & told her to add some of the money he had been giving to her each week. One day, when she was about to go look for an abortion drug, on her way out from the room, she slipped on the wet cemented floor. Her guy caught her before she slammed her stomach on the ground. He said, "Beleive it or not" that's almost exactly how I wanted this abortion to be done.

He collected the money from her, took her to the bathroom & told her to wash the blood. By God's grace, she survived. One day, in the street selling pure water, she gave a newspaper seller one of her water free & told him today is the 10th year her parents died in an accident, so she is giving out her pure water free to anybody who wants to buy it. She does not care what her guy will do to her today.

When she was about to leave that place, the newspaper seller told her there is a job opportunity somewhere. He will help her write the application & inform her on the date on her interview. She took the newspaper seller's number, & calls him everyday to check, until one day she was given the date to the interview.

That day when she was quickly walking to the interview, she saw a business woman standing next to her BMW on the side of the road. She was short of diesel. She pulled over & run to buy her the diesel. When she got to the interview, the woman who she helped ended up being the CEO of the company. She got the job.

Now she no longer stays with the weed smoker. She lives alone happily & wealthy. She is now financially strong, & owns her own business. Half of her wealth goes to charity.