Touch and Go Comet

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Astronomy

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Scientists have been eagerly awaiting the return of Comet ISON, but after the comet's brush with the Sun, little hope was found.

Comet ISON appeared to be non-existent... until now.

Some remnants have been discovered. How long, how bright, how much of the nucleus survived are the questions of the year. If enough survived, then ISON could be a bright visage in the night's sky during the month of December.

"This has unquestionably been the most extraordinary comet that ... I, and many other astronomers, have ever witnessed," Karl Battams wrote, an astrophysicist with the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington. "This story isn't over yet."

And hungry stargazers will be waiting for Comet ISON to write more across the sky.

Source: Yahoo!

Black Thursday, Friday Group Think

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Current Events

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Group Think: "a pattern of thought characterized by self-deception, forced manufacture of consent, and conformity to group values and ethics."

Could very well be what Black shopping days are really about. Deceive yourself that going shopping on or the day after a holiday to get the best prices is a great idea. Follow advertisements and other propaganda on the television or radio that other people will be enjoying themselves, why not you? Then you find yourself in a violent mob.

On these flash mob buyers' free-for-all days, you truly see what the values and ethics of a community really are: consume, conform, obey, buy, watch tv, submit... Sounds more like the movie, They Live, then actual reality.

In the clutches of Group Think, people do not realize how they are being used, abused, and thrown away. It is all about being apart of the collective. Well, the human race does have its interdependence but it also has independence of thought and action. 

That is why one person goes to jail for a crime and not his/her entire family, but slowly America has become a Group Think society to those people who are uninformed about the psychology of behavior. We see collective thinking and group relations on TV news: one person does a horrible crime now everyone has to give up their [insert whatever it is this week in here].

You get the idea. 

So you have to start asking yourself: is it really worth it? Is it really that important to be a follower? Or is it an American culture that values critical thinking and leadership instead of zombiesque consumerism? 

No one can answer that for you, but if you keep following the herd, then what do you have to complain about? The bail-outs, economic depression, and free trade agreements that cause you to be on unemployment, welfare, or lose your home? Move along... nothing to see here.

What? It's what the leaders of the herd want: for no one to ask questions or want a better life.

If you are dissatisfied with the destruction of your country so someone else can get rich off the booms and busts and bubbles, then you might be an independent American after all. So turn off your TV, stop consuming until your are in debt, and start calling Congress and the White House.

When enough people stand up for real value, value will return. Don't you think it is about time?

Source: M-W,

What to do: Too much Holiday Food, Not Enough Storage?

Staff Writer, DL Mullan
Health / Lifestyle
_____________________________________

After the holiday feasts are done, you discover yet another sale item you did not have time to cook or use. Be it: potatoes, butter, cheese, or milk. What are you going to do with all that overflow?

Easy: freeze it!

Milk in its regular plastic jug can be thrown in the freezer before opening. Butter and cheese can be tossed into the freezer as well.

Potatoes take a little more planning. With any vegetable some boiling and blanching are in order, but in the end you have saved your perishables for another day.

Source: ehow.com

Happy Thanksgiving! Be Good to Each Other

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Community Interest

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Everyone in the Villa de Paz Community and Gazette want to wish our readers a very Happy Thanksgiving.

We're taking today off and maybe even tomorrow because holidays are about family and friends, not shopping. 

It is one thing to want to increase your store's revenue; it is another to do it at the expense of families.

If you want to return to American values then vote with your dollar: stop shopping on holidays and give someone else a break. We do not need Black Friday. We have the internet to shop until we drop. We do not need to do in-store shopping, retailers can offer their discounted wares on the Saturday AFTER Thanksgiving and also not on Christmas Eve or Christmas itself. 

I for one cannot wait for the American culture to switch back to help your neighbor instead of today's selfish: ME, ME, ME. 

So take these next four days to unwind and unplug... and help your wife/mother around the kitchen and house. She is your wife/mother, not your servant. The game on tv or via a console can wait. 

Remember we are only here for a finite amount of time. Use it wisely. Be with family and friends, not the TV or cashier's counter.

Some friendly advice from someone who does not have a lot of time left on this Earth. 

I'm going to go share my holiday with my feline associates whom I love very much. These little friends have become my family and rightfully so, they take as good of care of me as I do of them. Synergy is a wonderful lifestyle.

Have a great and wonderful holiday!  

Editor and Writer,

DL Mullan ;)--=

Fish or Not to Fish, Dinner Decisions

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Health/Life Style

________________________________________

Many Americans love to put seafood on their plates. Why not? It's supposed to be a healthier alternative to red meat. Plus, seafood tastes wonderful!

Thanks to corporate and government irresponsibility, the oceans of the world have become over fished and polluted. Moreover, the oil spill and subsequent spraying of Correxit in the Gulf of Mexico has left that food source poisoned and some areas dying. Fukashima radiation has made this food source from the Pacific Ocean inedible as well.

Unless the seafood you are eating comes from Alaska or Northern Atlantic areas, seafood is not a viable option for eating anymore. Most fish from private and foreign fisheries are not healthy either.

What to do?

This article was inspired by the "12 fish you should never, ever eat." In reality, any fatty fish will contain a host of carcinogens, PCPs, mercury, and possibly petroleum and Correxit, if from that region.  Fish with less fat to them usually contain less of these horrible chemicals. If you choose farmed fish, then you are now eating antibiotics and other veterinarian pharmaceuticals. Foreign farmed fish are not as regulated as U.S. companies are and their fish could contain other contaminates in addition.

But back to the question of what to do? Research the Gulf Coast and the oil spill before buying any seafood from there. Ask why there is a mainstream media black out of activists if there is truly nothing wrong.

Search how radiation from Japan's failed nuclear reactor is affecting the Pacific Ocean. Ask why the government is not reporting on the radiation levels and has shut down it's detectors on the west coast, especially in key areas.

Ask questions. It's your food. Your health. Your life.

Source: Yahoo!

Pope Francis and the Little Evangelii Gadium that could

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Government / Religion

________________________________

The Separation of Church and State is a sentiment the Catholic Church has not cared much about since its inception. If you do not know, today the Pope released his "Evangelii Gadium." Or, as it should be known: "Almost Got it Right, but No Cigar." Maybe he will do better next time. 

Pope Francis, what you attacked today was not Capitalism, more like Capitolism. It is the switch from an economy based on items bought, sold, and transported by individuals and not by the government to my version with an "O." 

CapitOlism is a private market where corporations write their own laws to exclude competition through regulation and taxation while maintaining that regulations and taxation are hurting their profits. When in actuality the problem is not having the entire monopoly over their chosen market because some small businesses survive economic terrorism executed by these corporate tyrants. 

The way this agenda is accomplished is by bribing politicians and governments to surrender total control to the corporate empire. Individual rights are ignored while the rich corporate entities and the poor work force's economic separation grows deeper and deeper for the complete economic, political, social, psychological, religious, mobile, militaristic, and communicative domination by this elite oligarchy.

What the Pope fails to articulate is that conservatism is NOT a religion. It is a political agenda that declares: the few should rule the many by telling the many it is their fault for the world's woes. Why should the few have to pay for the many being lazy whiners? When in reality, the opposite is true. The few are lazy whining about what they don't own. Pay themselves obscene amounts of money and bonuses to run companies into the ground. Steal workers' pension funds. Gamble with stocks, bonds, and derivatives. This economic terrorism is to destroy the economy with booms and busts, which weed out any competition until the many have nothing: no jobs, no homes, and no way not to be dependent on government money and control.

And I still have not figured out how that can be "compassionate."

Trickle down economics was debunked quite some time ago. It does not work. Well, it does, just in the opposite direction. The riches do not funnel down. Wealth is funneled upward. Again the economic disparity grows.

That is the point, Pope Francis.

The problems of the world were created by humans for greed, lust, and power. All of these materialistic possessions of the mind are ones that can never be attained. It is an illusion. Our lives are an illusion. Humans are spiritual creatures. Immaterial in the span of eternity as are possessions.

Yet, a few maintain that they are the ruling class when that is an illusion too. All humans were created equal. Equal Rights. Equal lives. Equal liberties. Equal pursuits of happiness.

Pope Francis, the only way the poor are assisted is not by socialism, communism, or fascism. It is CapitAlism. Until cronyism, nepotism, idolatry, greed, and delusions of grandeur are eliminated from the economic system by actual reform, regulation, and de-monopolization of the current corporate stratagem, then this attack on the poor will continue by impoverishing 99% of the world.

We need sanity. No more "too big to fail." Instead people need to render those marketing terms as negative impacts on people and create true CapitAlism, then and only then can the poor be lifted into an upward economic motility that creates real prosperity. Not the illusion of prosperity for the top one percent of society.

When people strive, invent, and dream, that is how the human race benefits, touches the Moon, and explores beyond the immature banality of war, terrorism, and tyranny.

But it takes leadership.

If you want to discuss the realities of the world, I'm sure one of your people can find my number. Until then, each individual who calls themselves an American needs to read, research, and discover the extrinsic duality of our laws, government, and global elitists. It's not glamorous, but the rewards for returning to our Forefather's vision of equality, rights, and success will be well worth the sacrifice.

Villa de Paz Wildlife

Photographer At-Large, Karen Kopchick
Community Interest
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Villa de Paz's beautiful wildlife! Made possible by the green, open space of the golf community: 

Taking a dip!

Enjoying the day!

Out for a stroll! 

Isn't this view better than cookie cutter housing? The residents sure do believe so!

Or this image wouldn't be their rallying cry:

Is the Affordable Care Act Unconstitutional?

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Government / News

_____________________________________

This article isn't one of those prescriptions of why and how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a terrible piece of legislation. We already know that. People are living that fact everyday.

This article isn't a conservative or liberal propaganda piece. I don't support failed policies and excuses of the main corporate-owned political parties. I just don't have time to have my ethical, moral, or mental aptitudes corrupted. I rather watch paint dry and then eat the lead-laden pieces off the house.

With that said, this article is here to explain how Constitutional and Congressional procedures were not adhered to and therefore makes the Affordable Care Act defunct. You guessed it, when the Affordable Care Act was made into a TAX by the Supreme Court that decided how the legislation was supposed to be brought to fruition. 

As a Commerce Clause Law, the Affordable Care Act was begun in the Senate. However, as a tax as it now stands, the Affordable Care Act was supposed to be started in the House of Representatives. Origination is everything.

A lawsuit now underway is bringing this fact under scrutiny. The case was filed by Associate of American Physicians and Surgeons in 2010 (AAPS v. Sebelius), and is pending in the District of Columbia's Circuit Court. 

Besides questioning the constitutionality of the ACA, this case raises other issues including that the law violates the Fifth Amendment by compelling private citizens to buy from a government approved private company as well as for government to take property from one citizen in order to transfer that property to another in direct violation of the Takings Clause. 

If these issues cause nonconformity in rulings amongst the courts, then the probability of a Supreme Court intervention is possible. 

However while we are questioning being forced to buy goods and services by the government... Shouldn't we question why our regular light bulbs are illegal but mercury spewing ones aren't? Shouldn't we question why Americans are forced to buy car insurance? Or for that any state or corporate mandated insurance? Why the Food and Drug Administration has argued in court that Americans do not have the right to food choices?

Until the American people have had enough and start speaking out, we have to rely on others to speak for us: 

The Supreme Court has ruled, however, that the Senate can initiate bills that create revenue, if the revenue is incidental and not directly a tax. Most recently, in US v Munoz-Flores (495 US 385 [1990]), the Court said, "Because the bill at issue here was not one for raising revenue, it could not have been passed in violation of the Origination Clause." The case cites Twin City v Nebeker (176 US 196 [1897]), where the court said that "revenue bills are those that levy taxes, in the strict sense of the word."

If the Affordable Care Act is a tax that the Supreme Court has defined specifically for the House of Representatives to originate, then the ACA may be unconstitutional and therefore finished as an executable law.

Source: Ben Swann, Yahoo News, US Constitution Online, US Constitution Online

Residents of Villa de Paz at Phoenix Officer Hearing Decision

Staff Writer, DL Mullan
Community Interest
____________________________________

The City of Phoenix Council Chambers were not ready for the citizenry of Villa de Paz to storm the castle. Here are pictures of residents going into the chambers as well as filling the chambers to capacity. One thing about this neighborhood is their sense of community.

Visit their efforts to save their golf course on Facebook. 

Source: Villa de Paz Residents

Kidnapping by Hospital, Family Ripped Apart for Almost 1 Year

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Medicine / News / Parental Rights

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What action is too far? When do hospitals have more rights than parents? Should hospital executives be arrested and sent to jail for gross misconduct and kidnapping?

Meet Justina Pelletier, she is a vivacious, loving 15 year old girl, now being imprisoned by Boston Hospital. Her crime? The hospital staff didn't agree with her doctors' diagnosis of a mitochondrial disorder and instead are treating her for a mental illness that she does not have.

Why does she not have a mental disorder that creates her symptoms instead of the original diagnosis? Well for one thing, Justina has been in the hospital for 10 months without resolution of her medical issues. If she were cured because of her parents or a mental illness, then she would have been released by now and a case against her parents would be apparent.

But there is NO case. Her parents were following the medical advice of her specialist: Mark Korson, M.D. of Tufts Medical Center.

Mark Korson graduated from the University of Toronto medical school and completed his pediatric residency nearby at The Hospital for Sick Children. He came to Boston to do a fellowship in genetics and metabolism at Children's Hospital. Following that, he directed the Metabolism Clinic at Children's until 2000, transferring then to Tufts Medical Center's Floating Hospital for Children. He is currently the Director of the Metabolism Service and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Tufts University School of Medicine.

So it's not like the Pelletier's were just making up Justina's diagnosis, her parents were following the advice of a prominent specialist in this field.

Yet, that fact is not enough, nor is Justina's medical history. Facts seem to fuel the illegal stance of the hospital, not put it out.

Why not?

A report, written in April 2013 by one of the hospital's staff states how doctors took Justina off many of the medications she was taking at the time she was admitted.

'Due to concerns regarding Justina’s regressive behavior changes around her family, the multiple medical procedures and care episodes she has been through … and both parents’ resistance towards recommended treatment plans for Justina … a child protection team was convened,' it read.

So if you are not neglecting your daughter's medical treatment, then your parental rights are taken away in four days because some other doctor who does not know anything about a case, now takes control over your child's treatment?

The hospital has taken her off her necessary medications and is treating her for mental illness.

'It's the most bizarre situation I've ever been involved with,' said Dean Hokanson, Justina's clinical psychologist.

'They were actually being accused of being too active in pursuing healthcare matters for their child,' said Hokanson who has been involved with the Pelletier family for five years.

Again, the parents are taking all the necessary steps to safeguard their child's physical and mental health and still are treated like criminals. All the while, Boston Hospital has re-diagnosed her, kept her as a prisoner, taken her off the medication she needs, and now treats her as a mental patient?

Who has the Munchhausen syndrome? Control issues? Is too involved with Justina's treatment? Boston Hospital.

Sounds like hospital staff need to be arrested. A hearing on the matter is set for December 5, 2013. Will a judge finally have the courage to set this teenager free?

If the hospital has not cured Justina, then those involved need to do jail time. 10 months away from family (except once a week with two 20 minute phone calls, all supervised), friends, school, and her activities, yes, someone needs to go to jail.

This article has not even begun to discuss the millions of dollars the parents probably now owe Boston Hospital for 24 hour care, 10 months of security and maintenance fees, doctor's bills, treatment fees, pharmaceutical costs... need more be said?

After kidnapping their child without any real investigation into her medical issues, the Pelletier family will be bankrupted by the system that stole their daughter without cause.

Unbelievable.

Want to do something about this case and others around the country where doctors and hospitals are stepping over the line? Then you can start here:

Visit Justina's Facebook page at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Miracle-for-...

Call the Boston Children's Main Switchboard and register your complaint!
617-355-6000

Send your emails to:
media.relations@childrens.harvard.edu

Source: Natural News, DailyMail , Mitoaction

Comets ISON and Erike Riding the Wave

Staff Writer, DL Mullan
Education / Astronomy
_______________________________

Comet ISON and Erike are making their way to the sun and NASA caught the two on STEREO.

 The comets' tails are riding the wave of the solar wind.

Source: NASA

TPP, the Toilet Paper Ponzi Scheme of ALL Trade Agreements

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

News / Politics

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When is a trade agreement full of excrement? When it sells out American interests, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, American workers, all for the sake of secrecy, special interest power grab, and corporate profits. 

What's worse? Our Congressional Leaders are NOT allowed to see it. That's right and President Barack Obama wants to Fast-Track the agreement before the first of the year. Those people who have seen the leaked parts of the TPP characterize it as:

Watch this video for a breakdown at Democracy Now! 

Talk about a grab bag of corporate private rules being enforced as public law. That means foreign companies and governments can sue our government for having quality standards written into legislation as well as an intellectual property gestapo that stifles any new business or creative venture: written or artistic.

Not only would thought police make a splash more and more into our culture, but medicines would have a longer gestation before generics could become available. You can see insurance premiums grow higher as food safety rules are relaxed for foreign markets to raid your grocery shelves.

With the Trans Pacific Partnership, nothing is safe.

There go your jobs.
There goes the environment protections.
No more Buy American advertisements.
Another mega bank/corporate free for all.

Haven't the American People had enough of a me, me, me political, corporate, and bank monopoly of your lives?

Want action? YOU are the action you seek. Call, write, visit... your Congressional representatives today and call the White House while you're at it.

Enough is enough.

Source: Democracy Now!, Wikileaks, ExposetheTPP,

Tribute to JFK and a Reminder to Us in His Own Words

Staff Writer: DL Mullan
History / Education
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There are a few quotes from John Fitzgerald Kennedy that people like to quote, but why stop there when he had so many interesting things to say. So I'm going to let him tell us the story of us.

And so, my fellow americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. 

 

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. 

 

We stand for freedom. That is our conviction for ourselves; that is our only commitment to others.

 

Now the trumpet summons us again—not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are—but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation"—a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the Nation’s greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power uses us. 

We believe that if men have the talent to invent need machines that put men out of work, they have the talent to put those men back to work.

This nation was founded by many men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.

 

Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain.

The American, by nature, is optimistic. He is experimental, an inventor and a builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly.

 

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. 

 

The stories of past courage can define that ingredient-they can teach, they can offer hope, they can provide inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this each man must look into his own soul.

Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. 

There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.

Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. 

Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.

Democracy and defense are not substitutes for one another. Either alone will fail.

We need men who can dream of things that never were.

For in the final analysis, our most basic common link, is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children's futures, and we are all mortal.

So let us dream in our mortal coil what lies beyond the daily grind are these words to live by.

Source:  The Quotation Page

Reclaiming Open Space for Higher Standards of Living

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Community Interest / Environment

_____________________________________

Thanks to the economic downturn and shortsightedness, golf courses are being neglected so that owners may rake in development money. 

Luckily, municipalities are not falling for the bait and switch: run down a property into disrepair to sell it off for track housing. There's a new sheriff in town and it is called: cooperation and foresight.

"At the same time many golf courses are falling into disrepair, city officials, developers, and residents nationwide are working to tackle the challenge of how to protect open space in an economical and environmentally conscious way." 

That's right, people are saying no to paving over a tree so they can put in a parking lot with cookie cutter houses. Imagine that.

"When undertaken with a thoughtful eye toward the needs of the larger community and with a genuine respect for the natural environment, golf course repurposing can serve as an opportunity to create amenities that will serve the community long into the future. Rather than shortsightedly replicating conventional residential subdivisions, we encourage stakeholders to see the former courses as opportunities for innovative, sustainable development."

Since golf courses are built the way they are, residential golf courses are great for repurposing the land into a multi-use recreational facility for communities. Hiking, biking, amphitheaters, farmer's markets, the sky is the limit for creative and justifiable ways to use this sacred open, green space.

"Local governments need not fear onerous management costs as precedents abound for contracting all or part of the operational responsibilities. Suitably-sized and located developments can both subsidize new facilities and benefit from their subsequently increased property values."

There are huge economic benefits, even boosts, to managing an open space correctly. Housing development seems to be not one of those options. It is amazing what a repurposed golf course could provide in a community: 

"The establishment of a public farm could serve not only as a source of local food but could also provide educational opportunities for students and other community members. A municipal-scale composting facility could prevent huge amounts of waste from being landfilled while also adding to the municipality’s coffers through the sale of nutrient-rich compost, top soil and mulch. With stormwater management requirements becoming ever more stringent, repurposed golf courses could provide areas for rain gardens offering localized treatment options for adjacent developments and stormwater credits, while also potentially qualifying for conservation easements and wetland credits."

So housing as a default mechanism for defunct golf courses is definitely ending as a streak. Cities and their residents want more for the limited open/green space at their disposal.  It just takes leadership on behalf of the City Councils to realize that community, family, thought and caring come before corporate profits and those economic, environmental, and social benefits are rewarded.

Source: LandThink

Phoenix Planning Officer Decision Becomes Wait and See

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Community Interest

_______________________________

After all the hard work, presentations, speeches, coordination and planning, the City of Phoenix has deferred its Hearing Officer Decision for another 10 days. Since the Thanksgiving holiday is next week, 10 days is almost going to feel like three weeks, with a decision coming as late as December 6th.

Even with the meeting being held during a weekday morning, the residents of Villa de Paz were still able to fill the City Council Chambers. This community is keen and passionate about saving their way of life.

Until the Phoenix Hearing Officer makes a decision, the residents are asking everyone to flood the City Councilpersons' phones and emails with support for keeping their golf course intact. Here is the City Council contact information:

Councilwoman Williams 602-262-7444 council.district.1@phoenix.gov
Councilman Waring 602-262-7445 council.district.2@phoenix.gov
Councilman Gates 602-262-7441 council.district.3@phoenix,gov
Councilman Valenzuela 602-262-7446 council.district.5@phoenix.gov
CouncilmanDiCiccio 602-262-7491 council.district.6@phoenix.gov
Councilman Nowakowski 602-262-7492 council.district.7@phoenix.gov

 
Support a community that values: their neighbors, family, and faith. Save the golf course today. 

Villa de Paz Resident Speaks Out about Development

Writer, Karen Kopchick

Community Interest

___________________________________

I'm writing to you to voice my opinion regarding the need for the Villa de Paz Golf Course stipulation to remain intact.  We have been residing in Villa de Paz since my special needs/cognitively disabled daughter was in kindergarten (Villa de Paz Elementary was crowded back then) for whom just graduated high school on mine and my husband's 27th anniversary 5/22/13.

Have our homes not suffered enough of a loss of property value due to the economic collapse of housing?

My daughter gets around in this neighborhood pretty good.  She is unable to ride a normal bike and therefore has a 3 wheeled version.  I'm afraid that if it is made to handle more people/houses that she will possibly get lost in her own neighborhood and have more traffic to deal with.  Special people are known for not acclimating to change very well so please help maintain our neighborhood for her as well as the other residents of this awesome neighborhood.

 

pic of me and my daughter

I'm from Memphis, Tennesse and bought specifically here due to the green space.  I also bought specifically here to avoid HOA's for which we had bad experiences with while residing in Kissimmee, Florida for four long awful, terrible years, and the cost of living is that of New York City.

As well, there was some concern expressed at the meeting at The Hope Center regarding construction causing dust/dirt debris and therefore exposing us to Valley Fever.  The neighbor across the street, who is no longer with us, had this fungal infection and battled it for years and it was a contributing factor to his death.  They also have a special needs son residing there.  I also have 2 beautiful dogs and it would devastate me for my 2 family members to be stricken with Valley Fever.  

I have no pet insurance and their medical bills are usually MORE expensive than ours. Their treatment would be so expensive that I would probably have to euthanize them due to being unable to afford treatment.  I can't even afford my copay right now due to the deplorable conditions of our insurance in this country.

When the City of Phoenix annexed this neighborhood 20 years ago, a stipulation was set in place that the golf course land can ONLY be used as an 18 hole golf course.  

Please help the City of Phoenix keep their word and do not allow the greedy developers to change the rules for their benefit.

Thanks for your consideration in this matter.

Vulture Capitalists Set Sights on Valley Green Spaces

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Community Interest

___________________________________

The Wigwam Golf Course like the Villa de Paz Golf Course is in the crosshairs of greedy developers as well. These two courses are not alone. Across the nation, golf courses have seen a decline in holes played, not because people have lost love for the game, but because of the financial hardship the markets have endured unemploying millions.

With the real estate bubble burst, many Americans have felt the pinch in their pocketbooks. From underemployment or being on unemployment, Americans have been hit the hardest for underhanded, gambling practices of the banks and Wall Street. Instead of waiting out the recession caused by big business, golf courses are selling out to the corporate bullies leaving communities ravaged.

Reston in Fairfax County is facing the same destruction of their lifestyle and community as is Villa de Paz. "It is reasonable to assume if we do not take this action, the price of our homes will be dramatically affected and overall real estate values will be degraded when the homes are no longer located on or near a golf course," John Pinkman of Reston said. "Not to mention the effect on the quality of the life you intended to lead when you purchased your home."

Expectation, like with all master planned communities, the residents have an expectation that results from living in a golf course community. 

The residents at Reston have also taken to the internet to let others know of these backdoor dealings to destroy green areas for housing developments at RescueReston.org.

Join us in our fight against big corporate interests destroying our Villa de Paz community, the Wigwam Resort, Reston, and other places of respite all across the nation. Call, email your city today. Here is ours: City of Phoenix Council Members: 

 Councilwoman Williams  602-262-7444  council.district.1@phoenix.gov

Councilman Waring  602-262-7445  council.district.2@phoenix.gov

Councilman Gates  602-262-7441  council.district.3@phoenix,gov

Councilman Valenzuela  602-262-7446  council.district.5@phoenix.gov

CouncilmanDiCiccio  602-262-7491  council.district.6@phoenix.gov

Councilman Nowakowski  602-262-7492  council.district.7@phoenix.gov 

Every email and phone call counts even if you live next to one of these communities. So please start writing and calling today!

Source: West Valley View, Reston Patch

Gettysburg Address 150 Today with Rebuttal

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Education  / News 

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"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." 

Abraham Lincoln 

November 19, 1863

Dear Sir,

We, the American People, thank you for your humble words and service to this great nation. 

Unfortunately, 150 years later we are again embroiled in a civil war. A war of thought, speech, action, and consequence. Our government no longer serves the interests of its people. It serves elites, corporations, banks, and the unilluminated.

The honored dead we sanctify now are liberty, our Constitution and Bill of Rights everything the Civil War fought to uphold. Our own government invades sovereign nations, taxes hard earned wages, spies on our every word, written or uttered, treats everyone as guilty before proven innocent, protects the wealthy from judgment, passes laws that imprison without due process, allows torture and secret charges, and causes Americans to despise the very institutions that are supposed to protect them from such imperialism.

Mr. Lincoln, our Civil War is about the corruption of ideas and words. Anyone who disagrees with the establishment is hounded and arrested. Anyone who is independent of thought is either called names or told to "just die." Anyone who protests is sprayed with poisons and beaten. Anyone who informs the public of government illegalities is exiled into hostile foreign territory or imprisoned.

If you weren't already passed into the next realm, I would be embarrassed to write such provocative and truthful invocations.

This Nation was built on ideas. Ideas that have lasted well into the 21st Century, but with great effort. We have technocratic elitists who believe the human race is unworthy of the Earth, yet these madmen have created the pollution and destruction and disillusionment blamed on the common person. 

Still your words, even these many years later, have resolve. As long as the American people believe and dedicate themselves to that belief, we can heal the wounds of strife.

I only hope that we re-conceive the notion of liberty to integrate all once again under a banner of red, white, and blue. So every man, woman, and child are born knowing that they have the inherent rights bestowed onto them by a greater force than any government. 

For in this knowledge, no matter the law or prison, we are still free. Freedom is why so many have perished for and against one another across the globe. Freedom is our only savior, our only dedicated belief, our only battle cry that no one can take away.

Yours Truly,

A Free American

Source: Abraham Lincoln Online

Residents Set to Rally at Planning Hearing

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Community Interest

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Villa de Paz Residents are rallying at the Planning Hearing Officer Decision on Wednesday, November 20th at 10am. The meeting was moved to the City Council Chambers, 200 West Jefferson Street, Phoenix, 85003 because of the massive turn out of nearly 300 residents at the prior Maryvale Village Planning Meeting, which they won 12 to 1.

Every effort is being made. Fliers, emails, phone calls, and home visits, Villa de Paz residents are organized and on the move. Nothing is being left to chance.

Since the Villa de Paz neighborhood agreed to be annexed by the City of Phoenix 20 years ago, resident's expectations to live in a golf course community is well established. Now mandated stipulations require this area to remain an 18-hole golf course.

Maple Leaf International Properties wants the City of Phoenix to remove these mandated stipulations, so they can build houses on the golf course. 

Over the last month, Villa de Paz residents have seen themselves as David trying to slay a corporate Goliath by trying to stop an unneeded, unnecessary, and downright unfathomable housing development from being built in the middle of the 40 year old community. 

The question remains: will the City of Phoenix hold up its end of the bargain and dismiss the developer's request for approval of his money making-scheme?

Or will residents have to remind the City of Phoenix of its obligations by fighting all the way to the City Council?

From the sheer will and perseverance with fact and expectation, how could anyone in good conscious vote against the residents of Villa de Paz?

Source: Community Flier

Villa de Paz

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Community Interest

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Villa de Paz is a place unlike any other. I have lived in Iowa and California. I have traveled across the United States. I have seen New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. I have traveled and explored the crevices of Arizona as well. Nothing compares to the little golf community of Villa de Paz.

Village of Peace... quiet, understated, demur, but not obsolete. Ducks, Canadian geese, quail, doves, pigeons, osprey, hawks, owls, vultures, seagulls and cranes grace the sky, trees, and ponds. It's where turtles cross the streets and children play on their bicycles.

In the mornings, students walk to school with their backpacks on. In the evenings, people return home from work. On the weekends, families barbeque.

Retired couples relax and spend their golden years in style. Young couples raise their children without fear of overcrowded streets, sprayed poisons, or drag racing. It's a place where everyone fits just right in a mold all its own.

If you are in need of help, all you have to do is ask. One of your neighbors are bound to lend a hand. Sometimes two do.

Villa de Paz cannot be replicated because it has taken decades to form with care, ethics, values, and strength. The golf course is the center that keeps the shape, feel, and culture of this small community alive and well. Without the golf course, the community would not be the same and the allure that brings people here would not survive as it once was.

Sometimes change is good, but when that change comes at the cost of your community, your neighbors, and your values, then change is best left to other places. Here in Villa de Paz, it's like coming home even if it's your first visit. There's something about this golf course community that attracts people from differing walks of life. 

Without the golf course, Villa de Paz would lose what makes it special. Unique. We have peace, quiet, wildlife, and a little extra space away from the crowded lights of the other meccas that allow us to stargaze every night. 

Why would anyone want to come in and destroy such beauty? 

Money? Greed? For overflowing accounts someone already has? Or is envious to obtain? Seems trifle and silly to me. Sometimes it takes a community to stand together and just say: "NO!"

When you have perfection, why would you want anything else?

Common Core's Epic Fail

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Education / Community Interest

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Common Core, it sounds like a new scifi movie or online game, but it is the structure of educational standards for students brought to a school near you by the federal government. Haven't we already learned from No Child Left Behind that the federal government has no business in the sphere of education? I guess not.

Thanks to the Gates Foundation, this epic fail was not only a way to control what students learn but to data mine their entire lives through Microsoft's Cloud system. The system would not stop at just intruding into a student's privacy but also that of their parents and other family members: "Data collected will not only include grades, test scores, name, date of birth and social security number, it will also include parents’ political affiliations, individual or familial mental or psychological problems, beliefs, religious practices and income." Information the government and the Gates Foundation have no business knowing for any reason, especially since the data will contain personal and behavioral profiles that may lead to abuse. There is no law to stop a school from selling student, family information. Nice.

It's a dangerous curriculum that begins programing our youth and to teach "young children to use emotionally charged language to manipulate others and teaches students how to become community organizers and experts of the U.N.’s agenda 21."

What? Children are supposed to be children not spokespersons for the United Nations or use Orwellian news speak. This standards set has gotten out of control. The educational system is supposed to teach and inspire, not train the next generation to be brainwashed, unquestioning automatons.

What makes this debacle even worse is that the standards are crap. Ethan Young stood up against Common Core Standards at his School Board Meeting: 

TN Student Speaks Out about Common Core

Since states were given federal grants to implement this disaster, the questions become: should states accept any more grants or federal funding for our schools? Should states slowly become more independent from federal mandates? 

The answers seem to be "no and yes."

If you haven't read Charolette Thomson Iserbyt's: The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, I would implore you do so. You can find the free online version of her book here.

Then you will begin to see how federal mandates and corporate interests like the Gates Foundation are not trying to educate anyone. To them, stupid people with the inability to critically think are the best people for the future because dumbed down people are easier to control and manipulate from their technocratic thrones.

Source: Ben Swann, Ben Swann, The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America

People Revolt Against Mainstream Media

Staff Writer: DL Mullan

Current Event / News 

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Criminal media, I mean, mainstream media is feeling the heat as MAMM (March Against Mainstream Media) protests were held outside news outlets across America and London.

People are tired of having filtered news that doesn't tell them anything. Mainstream media has been bought out and is now controlled by seven conglomerates that sanitize the news. It should be called: we don't want you to know anything news except what we are told to tell you...

Good luck if you hear of Citigroup or ALEC writing your laws instead of the people you pay and elect. Good luck if you get one iota of information about the radiation nightmare that has become the Fukashima plant in Japan. Good luck if you even hear about real issues like fluoride in the water, GMO's in your food, or poisons in your vaccines... it's all good, nothing to see here, keep moving.

It seems like corporations, government, and media don't want you knowing the state of the world. It's not a pretty picture. The people in charge of the world have made quite the mess and then get on the news to tell the average person it is his or her fault for being alive, instead of telling you about the people who actually committed the crimes against humanity.

Protesters have come together to fight the war on journalism. Speak the truth. Let journalists do their jobs. Stop controlling the spin.

Did you see a story of this event on your local news? Then why not? Maybe you should demand it.

It's a sad day in America when I have to go find the news about America from Russia Today. Chew on that hypocrisy...

Source: Russia Today

Residents Picket Golf Course for Redress

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Community Interest

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On November 12, 2013, residents of the golf community, Villa de Paz, picketed the neighborhood's golf course's club house. Not for better pay or cheaper tee prices, but to keep the golf course apart of their community as a golf course. 

Confused yet?

A Canadian developer is hell bent on turning the residents beloved golf course community into a cash cow of HOA fees with new housing and possible condominiums by destroying their golf course in order to do it.

Does that explain the uproar?

The residents, who are eager to keep their community as it is, decided that picketing was a good option to bring attention to their cause. Attention they got. The efforts of the neighborhood to combat the false promises and deceptive practices of the developer's public relations team has become a force to be reckoned with. 

In a short time, the residents have banded together to win the Maryvale Village Planning Committee's vote against the development 12 to 1. With 150 speaking on behalf of keeping their golf course intact.

Now the residents have to face the Phoenix City Planning Hearing Office on November 20th, 2013 at 10am. Calvin Goode Building , 251 West Washington Street, 85003. 10th Floor, East Conference Room. 

As the developer continues to push residents and place his needs over the community's interests, Villa de Paz residents keep building a stronger case to maintain their living standards. The push back has become fever pitched. 

The golf course can be sold as a golf course, but development money has outweighed the sanctity of the community's culture and way of life. Sanctity of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness reigns supreme. Villa de Paz residents only want what every American wants: to live in peace. 

Hopefully the City of Phoenix Planning Office and Planning Commission will realize that burdening a small community with overflow traffic, extra students at the local elementary school, more crime, destruction of a green zone and its ecosystem full of wild life, and increasing light pollution, not to mention the clamoring before dawn and health concerns associated with construction in a desert environment so close to private homes, is not a viable outcome, then will the developer understand that money is really no object because some communities cannot be bought.

There is no amount of money in the world that Villa de Paz residents would sell out their community, neighbors, or culture for.

Don't you wish every community was like this one?

CitiGroup Writes its Own Law

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

News / Politics

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What's worse than ALEC, where corporations write our laws, bribe our elected officials with a nice weekend conference, and then those same politicians introduce those laws into State legislatures verbatim... including Arizona? 

Megacorporations that caused the recent economic collapse writing legislation to deregulate their deceptive and gambling practices to let another economic collapse happen with derivatives, that's what.

Frank-Dodd protects Americans from bearing the cost of FDIC backed gambling by banks. “After inflicting so much pain and suffering on the American people, now is not the time to let the largest banks back into the casino,” Representative Maxine Waters (D-California) said in a statement. Yet, they are.

The House passed this gutting of Frank-Dodd. 292-122 vote with which 70 Democrats and all but three Republicans granted. So if you ever believed the two party system is really a one party system, here is another clue that you are correct. 

To add insult to injury: "Citigroup was responsible for recommendations made in 70 lines of the 85-line bill, according to Eric Lipton and Ben Protess of The New York Times. In fact, reported the writers, a couple key paragraphs in the bill had been copied word for word from Citigroup’s submitted draft, which it had developed in conjunction with other Wall Street banks."

When will the American people begin to stand against such blatant disregard for the economic impacts of banks swapping, gambling, and doing what they want? CitiGroup had to be bailed out at a tune of $45 billion and the market collapse ruined other companies such as: Countrywide Mortgages, Bear Stearns, AIG, Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, Wachovia. 

Too big to fail should become: monopolies that must be broken up for the public good. Instead Congress keeps handing these duplicitous, unprofessional, and unethical monstrosities every advantage at the cost of our National Security. 

This corporate writing of our laws needs to come to an end. These entities are using the People's money to hedge their bets, so the People should be in charge of the till.

Source: The People's Newz and The People's Newz

Villa de Paz Residents Make the Local Paper

Staff Writer, DL Mullan
Community Interests
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It's great that the community's work paid off and was shown in the West Valley View.

With the birth of the Villa de Paz Gazette, we are hoping for more coverage and support from the local area.

Source: West Valley View online

Supreme Court Attacks the Fifth Amendment, Again

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Current Events

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A man is stopped by the police who believe he might be the suspect in two murders. Since the man answered some questions but became silent and acted suspicious, prosecutes can now use a person's silence against them in a court of law.

Justice Alito announced the judgment of the Court and delivered an opinion in which The Chief Justice and Justice Kennedy join. 

Without being placed in custody or receiving Miranda warnings, petitioner voluntarily answered the questions of a police officer who was investigating a murder. But petitioner balked when the officer asked whether a ballistics test would show that the shell casings found at the crime scene would match petitioner’s shotgun. Petitioner was subsequently charged with murder, and at trial prosecutors argued that his reaction to the officer’s question suggested that he was guilty. Petitioner claims that this argument violated the Fifth Amendment, which guarantees that “[n]o person . . . shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” 

Petitioner’s Fifth Amendment claim fails because he did not expressly invoke the privilege against self-incrimination in response to the officer’s question. It has long been settled that the privilege “generally is not self-executing” and that a witness who desires its protection “ ‘must claim it.’ ” Minnesota v. Murphy, 465 U. S. 420, 425, 427 (1984) (quoting United States v. Monia, 317 U. S. 424, 427 (1943) ). Although “no ritualistic formula is necessary in order to invoke the privilege,” Quinn v. United States, 349 U. S. 155, 164 (1955) , a witness does not do so by simply standing mute. Because petitioner was required to assert the privilege in order to benefit from it, the judgment of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejecting petitioner’s Fifth Amendment claim is affirmed.

Let's take a look at Miranda Rights for a moment:

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

It isn't enough that confessions obtained by law enforcement officials are not coerced; they also must be obtained from suspects who know their rights. Otherwise, unscrupulous prosecutors have too much power to railroad innocent suspects. As Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote for the Miranda majority:

Assessments of the knowledge the defendant possessed, based on information as to his age, education, intelligence, or prior contact with authorities, can never be more than speculation; a warning is a clear-cut fact. More important, whatever the background of the person interrogated, a warning at the time of the interrogation is indispensable to overcome its pressures and to insure that the individual knows he is free to exercise the privilege at that point in time.

The ruling, though controversial, has stood for nearly a half-century—and the Miranda rule has become a near-universal law enforcement practice.

 Now let's look at the Fifth Amendment:

"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." Fifth Amendment, U.S. Constitution

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. - See more at: http://constitution.findlaw.com/amendment5/amendment.html#sthash.YK5jLNao.dpuf

When is a Right a privilege?Justice Alito believes that if you refuse to incriminate yourself and remain silent that you are guilty. Your mannerisms are now under scrutiny. He states an American must invoke the Fifth Amendment even when not in custody of police. When a person is asked a question that may incriminate them being silence IS invoking your Fifth Amendment Right. A Right doesn't appear or disappear upon command. It's there forever. Executed already by the sheer fact that it's written in the Bill of Rights.

 "...nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself," but when your mannerisms become suspect, that is being compelled to incriminate yourself especially questioned by police that puts someone under duress and their nervous composure is now an offense against them.

Since Justice Alito does not know the Bill of Rights or how to enforce the Constitution, I suggest someone needs to find him and the others who supported this senile decision a new career. Obviously, Supreme Court Justices seem to believe that too many freedoms and rights and protections are somehow erroneous in their application to every citizen.

When it comes down to it, people are presumed INNOCENT before PROVEN guilty. I don't believe someone's fidgeting or loss of words automatically designates a guilty verdict. 

What happens when someone who can't understand or speak English is questioned? Are they going to jail for murder too? Or, if a mentally challenged person is questioned? Will they be assumed guilty before proven innocent because the police want to close a case?

I believe the Supreme Court handed law enforcement and prosecutor's offices a huge coup de théâtre. Now police can suspend the Miranda Warning for as long as they want to see if you act in a way they can use against you in court, which is against the Fifth Amendment and Right of innocence in due process. 

The sad fact is that Americans should never talk to police without a lawyer present and invoke their Fifth Amendment Rights even at traffic stops. This is ridiculous.

Watch further analysis on Buzzsaw.

Sources: Reason, About Civil Liberties, Cornell University Salinas vs Texas case notes, Cornell University SALINAS VS TEXAS Supreme Court Ruling, US Courts,

Business Decides $3500 Fine plus for Bad Review

Staff Writer, DL Mullan

Consumer Report

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When a customer orders and pays for a product they never receive, cannot get in touch with the company's customer service, and goes through Paypal for a transaction reimbursement, a customer is going to complain.

KlearGear.com in it's 2013 website agreement, which the original clause was later removed, wrote as part of the customer's rules states:

"In an effort to ensure fair and honest public feedback, and to prevent the publishing of libelous content in any form, your acceptance of this sales contract prohibits you from taking any action that negatively impacts kleargear.com, its reputation, products, services, management or employees."

Three and half years later, the company is going after a customer for doing the right thing and complaining on RipoffReport.com. The fine for telling the truth is $3500 and the company also turned the couple into all three Credit Bureaus for non-payment for items they never received.

This situation is clearly one of vengeance and blackmail especially grandfathering a customer in over three years later, but the Credit Bureaus aren't seeing the circumstances that way and have ruined the customer's credit.  

Moral of the story: we need better regulations and oversight of the credit agencies and their information as well as to read the user agreement and not to buy from anyone who contracts you into give up your Rights.

I hope the customer gets a lawyer... and sues the pants off everyone involved.

Source: Yahoo!

Sky View Nov 15-24, 2013

Staff Writer, DL Mullan
Environment

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A favorite activity for some VDP residents is to do a little stargazing and November 2013 will not disappoint.

In the evenings, Venus can be seen in the South, Southwestern sky as the Moon continues to get brighter until the Full Moon on November 18th and decreases through the Last Quarter on the 25th and New Moon on December 2nd.

The image above details how one can find the Comet ISON on the 24th. With a telescope or binoculars, this comet will be sure to be a crowd pleaser.

If you are up later in the evening, you will be sure to see the Seven Sisters overhead followed by Orion and then the bright Jupiter. Even with a pair of good binoculars, a viewer can see pinpricks of light shining around the aura of Jupiter, that would be his moons.

The next three mornings will show Mercury about 10 degrees above the horizon and will be at its apex on the 17th before sunrise.

So grab a sweater and your favorite apparatus... the sky is full of viewable goodies for the rest of this November.

Source:  Astronomy Magazine