Libertarian party's senate candidate smokes marijuana in Hamilton park

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HAMILTON Staring off into Veterans Park, the Libertarian candidate slowly raised the marijuana cigarette to his lips and took a deep breath.

As photographers snapped pictures, his wife captured video of Don DeZarn on a cellphone and asked him who it was for.

Who is this for? DeZarn said, exhaling a puff of smoke. This is for all my brothers and sisters who are currently being held prisoners of war by our government as a result of the war on drugs.

Though no police were on the scene to arrest him, DeZarn, 46, of East Windsor, called the stunt a public statement for marijuana legalization, one of the chief tenets of his campaign for the state Senate seat in the 14th District.

Alongside Assembly candidates Sean OConnor and Steven Uccio, both of East Windsor, DeZarn represents the Libertarian party, running on a platform that focuses on cutting property taxes, increasing government transparency and legalizing, regulating and taxing marijuana in New Jersey.

The fact that our state freely regulates, sells and taxes alcohol while prosecuting people who use marijuana in the privacy of their own home is insanity to me, DeZarn said. Its completely insanity that we spend that type of money when theres far worse things out there.

Calling himself a lightweight, DeZarn said the drug should be regulated similar to alcohol no smoking in public or behind the wheel of a car in order to reap benefits for the states coffers while saving on the costs of pursuing drug charges against marijuana users, including police time, prosecutions and incarceration.

It wouldnt be a free-for all, DeZarn said. You should be held to the same standards as anyone under the influence of alcohol or any other drug, DeZarn said.

The Colorado and Washington legislatures have already approved legalization, and DeZarn said the influx of revenue could inspire the New Jersey Legislature to pass similar laws.

DeZarn said he saw it first-hand in his native Kentucky: When one dry town finally started allowing alcohol to be sold within its borders, other municipalities soon followed.

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Libertarian party's senate candidate smokes marijuana in Hamilton park

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish – Full Ride POV – Islands of Adventure – Universal Orlando – Video

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One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish - Full Ride POV - Islands of Adventure - Universal Orlando
Take a ride on board One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish at Islands of Adventure at the Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida. Watch in HD (1080p) fo...

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One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish - Full Ride POV - Islands of Adventure - Universal Orlando - Video

Argentina takes back the Falkland Islands – according to John Lewis Poole

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Argentina takes back the Falkland Islands - according to John Lewis Poole

1:05pm Monday 13th May 2013 in News

Argentina takes back the Falkland Islands - according to John Lewis Poole

A globe featuring the Falklands Islands marked with their Argentinian name has sparked outrage after going on sale at John Lewis in Poole.

The British-ruled South Atlantic islands are incorrectly marked as Las Malvinas on the 8-inch diameter globe, which costs 95.

There is no reference to their English name nor the fact that they are a UK overseas territory.

Red-faced bosses at the department store are now facing calls from angry Falklands War veterans to apologise and withdraw the globe from their shelves.

One Falklands hero called for a boycott on the chain, describing the blunder as an "own goal for the Brits".

The shocking mistake has been blamed on a design error by the globe's Indian suppliers.

The 'Curiosity' globe, that is mounted on a silver stand, is described on John Lewis' website as 'a brilliant way to add a traditional touch of knowledge to the room'.

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Argentina takes back the Falkland Islands - according to John Lewis Poole

Red Cross sends emergency team to Marshall Islands

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New Zealand Red Cross is sending an emergency response team to the Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI) to assist with a potential humanitarian crisis.

The team of three aid workers and 348kg of equipment will reach RMI in the next 36 hours.

Due to an extended drought water supplies on the Island and the atolls have gradually depleted.

Remaining water stocks in some areas have also been assessed as tainted by high salinity levels and other contamination.

The Marshall Islands declared a state of emergency in April and this has now been elevated to a state of national disaster.

Current assessments indicate that between 3,700 and 5,000 people are severely affected by the drought, with a further 11,000 people being affected by crop loss.

"The situation is extreme with some families surviving on less than one litre of water per person per day," says New Zealand Red Cross International Emergency Manager Mr Glenn Rose.

"Were working closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and partners on the Marshall Islands to ensure the New Zealand response to this situation is timely and effective," he says.

The New Zealand Red Cross aid workers will be tasked with establishing low capacity potable water relief, via reverse osmosis desalination units, to a number of small affected communities in the northern most affected atolls.

The team will also be responsible for developing water usage and hygiene plans in consultation with local communities.

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Red Cross sends emergency team to Marshall Islands

Chinese ships in disputed-islands waters

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THREE Chinese government ships have entered the waters of disputed Tokyo-controlled islands, Japan's coastguard says, as a long-running row shows no sign of fading.

Maritime surveillance vessels were spotted in the 12-nautical-mile zone off the Senkaku islands, which China calls the Diaoyus, in the East China Sea shortly after 9am (1000 AEST) on Monday, the coastguard said.

It is the latest episode in a fraught few months that has seen repeated stand-offs between official ships from both sides as they have jostled over ownership of strategically-important and resource-rich islands.

The territorial row blistered in September when Tokyo nationalised three islands in the chain, in what it said was a mere administrative change of ownership.

Tokyo's move prompted angry anti-Japan demonstrations across China, which has intensified claims to the islands it says should have been "returned" in the post-World War II settlement Tokyo made.

In one of the more intense incidents, Chinese warships locked their weapons-targeting radar on a Japanese destroyer, and opposing fighter planes have shadowed each other on numerous occasions amid warnings a slip-up could lead to a military showdown.

In late April, eight Chinese government vessels sailed into the disputed waters and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed he would "expel by force" any Chinese landing on the islands.

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Chinese ships in disputed-islands waters

Chinese ships in disputed-islands waters: Japan

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TOKYO (AFP) - Three Chinese government ships remained in the waters off disputed Tokyo-controlled islands for nearly 12 hours on Monday, Japan's coastguard said, as a long-running row shows no sign of fading.

Maritime surveillance vessels were spotted in the 12-nautical-mile zone off the Senkaku islands, which China calls the Diaoyus, in the East China Sea shortly after 9:00 am (0000 GMT), the coastguard said. They left the zone shortly before 9:00 pm.

It is the latest episode in a fraught few months which have seen repeated stand-offs between official ships from both sides as they jostle over ownership of the strategically-important and resource-rich islands.

In a separate maritime incident in the East China Sea, a foreign submarine was spotted sailing underwater near Kume, one of Japan's Okinawan islands, from late Sunday to early Monday, the Defence Ministry said.

The submarine was thought to be Chinese, Japanese media said.

It sailed close to 12-nautical-mile territorial waters off Kume, alarming Japanese officials, although it did not violate international law.

"The situation is worth attention," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular press briefing, noting that a foreign submarine was also spotted on May 2 near the Japanese island of Amami on the fringe of the East China Sea.

Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said the self-defence forces would demand that the submarine seen in the latest incident should come to the surface and show the flag of its nationality if it enters Japan's territorial waters.

Asked about the three Chinese ships, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Washington did not take a position on "the question of ultimate sovereignty over the islands".

"We do urge all parties to avoid actions that could raise tensions or result in miscalculations that would undermine peace, security and economic growth in this vital part of the world," she said.

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Chinese ships in disputed-islands waters: Japan

Three Chinese ships spotted in disputed islands waters: Japan's coastguard

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TOKYO: Three Chinese government ships remained in the waters off disputed Tokyo-controlled islands for nearly 12 hours on Monday, Japan's coastguard said, as a long-running row shows no sign of fading.

Maritime surveillance vessels were spotted in the 12-nautical-mile zone off the Senkaku islands, which China calls the Diaoyus, in the East China Sea shortly after 9:00 am, the coastguard said. They left the zone shortly before 9:00 pm.

It is the latest episode in a fraught few months which have seen repeated stand-offs between official ships from both sides as they jostle over ownership of the strategically-important and resource-rich islands.

In a separate maritime incident in the East China Sea, a foreign submarine was spotted sailing underwater near Kume, one of Japan's Okinawan islands, from late Sunday to early Monday, the dfence ministry said.

The submarine was thought to be Chinese, Japanese media said.

It sailed close to 12-nautical-mile territorial waters off Kume, alarming Japanese officials, although it did not violate international law.

"The situation is worth attention," chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular press briefing, noting that a foreign submarine was also spotted on May 2 near the Japanese island of Amami on the fringe of the East China Sea.

Defence minister Itsunori Onodera said the self-defence forces would demand that the submarine seen in the latest incident should come to the surface and show the flag of its nationality if it enters Japan's territorial waters.

Asked about the three Chinese ships, US state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Washington did not take a position on "the question of ultimate sovereignty over the islands".

"We do urge all parties to avoid actions that could raise tensions or result in miscalculations that would undermine peace, security and economic growth in this vital part of the world," she said.

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Three Chinese ships spotted in disputed islands waters: Japan's coastguard

Chinese ships spotted in disputed islands waters: Japan

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Three Chinese government ships remained in the waters off disputed Tokyo-controlled islands for nearly 12 hours on Monday, Japan's coastguard said, as a long-running row shows no sign of fading.

Maritime surveillance vessels were spotted in the 12-nautical-mile zone off the Senkaku islands, which China calls the Diaoyus, in the East China Sea shortly after 9:00 am (0000 GMT), the coastguard said. They left the zone shortly before 9:00 pm.

It is the latest episode in a fraught few months which have seen repeated stand-offs between official ships from both sides as they jostle over ownership of the strategically-important and resource-rich islands.

In a separate maritime incident in the East China Sea, a foreign submarine was spotted sailing underwater near Kume, one of Japan's Okinawan islands, from late Sunday to early Monday, the Defence Ministry said.

The submarine was thought to be Chinese, Japanese media said.

It sailed close to 12-nautical-mile territorial waters off Kume, alarming Japanese officials, although it did not violate international law.

"The situation is worth attention," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular press briefing, noting that a foreign submarine was also spotted on May 2 near the Japanese island of Amami on the fringe of the East China Sea.

Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said the self-defence forces would demand that the submarine seen in the latest incident should come to the surface and show the flag of its nationality if it enters Japan's territorial waters.

Asked about the three Chinese ships, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Washington did not take a position on "the question of ultimate sovereignty over the islands".

"We do urge all parties to avoid actions that could raise tensions or result in miscalculations that would undermine peace, security and economic growth in this vital part of the world," she said.

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Chinese ships spotted in disputed islands waters: Japan

Cayman Islands Spars With Sachs Over Hedge Fund Directorships

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The head of the Cayman Islands financial services industry trade group rejected charges from economist Jeffrey Sachs that the Caribbean nations oversight of hedge funds and banks is a mortal threat to the global economy.

Sachs, in separate letters to the Financial Times the past two weeks, said some residents of the island nation sit on hundreds of fund boards, limiting their ability to provide oversight. He also said the Cayman banking system has $1.4 trillion in liabilities and assets, citing data from the Bank for International Settlements. The system is a house of cards for the global financial system, he said.

Professor Sachs needs to understand that a significant part of the banking assets registered in Cayman are U.S. banks placing overnight deposits in their own Cayman-registered branch, Cayman Finance Chief Executive Officer Gonzalo Jalles said in an e-mailed statement May 8. The money is effectively being transferred between accounts in New York and not being exposed to how a local banker in Cayman decides to invest it.

The Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory located south of Cuba, has the highest number of hedge funds in the Caribbean. About 10,900 funds were registered there in the first quarter, up from about 9,990 in 2011, according to the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority.

The monetary authority, known as CIMA, is responsible for the regulation and supervision of financial services. It says officials on its board of directors can have contractual relationships with entities they are charged with regulating.

The boards members are responsible for the policies and general administration of the affairs and business, CIMA says on its website. This benefits the Authority as they have current knowledge and experience of the regulated industry.

It calls into question the degree to which they can exercise their fiduciary duties, said John Prout, executive director of the Foundation for Fund Governance in Washington. Its a small country. It has a high caliber of professionals on the island, but they have to move beyond a small-island mentality.

Officials at CIMA didnt respond to questions e-mailed by Bloomberg News. Sachs wasnt immediately available to respond because he is traveling, according to an official in his office who asked not to be identified.

The Cayman Islands was cited for accounting shortcomings in a 2010 report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. A year later the nation was praised for moving quickly to address the reports findings. The country has 31 tax sharing agreements with nations ranging from the U.S. to Japan, according to the Paris-based OECD.

I have no problem with the Cayman Islands developing its financing expertise and housing a financial industry commensurate with its size and its capacity to protect the world from abuses and upheavals, Sachs, who has advised countries from Bolivia to Russia on handling economic crises, wrote in his May 7 letter. Instead, it is being used by powerful and out-of-control forces vastly beyond the Caymans capacity to regulate, monitor or backstop in the event of crisis.

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Cayman Islands Spars With Sachs Over Hedge Fund Directorships

Health Care Reform Brings Michigan A New, Consumer-Owned Insurer

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EAST LANSING Michigans newest health insurance company, Consumers Mutual Insurance of Michigan, is preparing to deliver health insurance that is focused on the needs of consumers, particularly low-and moderate-income residents and small businesses in need of high quality, low-cost insurance options.

Consumers Mutual received $72 million in a federal loan as part of the Affordable Care Act to become a Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP) health insurer operating much as a statewide credit union where interests of members control company decisions. Members, including individuals and small businesses, will be owners of the new company.

Health insurance co-ops were created by Congress to enhance competition in the new state-based competitive health insurance marketplace and provide options in markets that have been dominated by an individual or a few insurance companies.

This is an extraordinary opportunity to fix health care in Michigan by creating consumer-focused health care products aimed at wellness, evidence-driven care and transparency, said Dennis Litos, CEO of the new operation, headquartered in East Lansing. We intend to be full and vigorous players in the health insurance marketplace exchange when it opens for business, and are already preparing to offer very competitive products to individuals and small businesses who are in need of high quality but affordable health insurance on and off the exchange.

Litosis an experienced health care executive with 35 years of experience in health care administration, including 18 years at the CEO level for two large hospital systems Ingham Regional Medical Center of Lansing (now McLaren Lansing) and Doctors Medical Center of Modesto, Calif.

Litos comes to Consumers Mutual after serving as a principal consultant with Lansing-based Health Management Associates, where he spent time developing an integrated health care delivery system for Californias Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties in preparation for health coverage expansion due to 2014 health reform changes.

Consumers Mutual has opened offices at 2601 Coolidge Road, Suite 200, in East Lansing. It has about 23 staff today, working with physicians, insurance agents and others to develop products to meet market needs. The company will be ready to offer insurance later this summer through insurance agents, and on Oct. 1 of this year through the health insurance marketplace when it opens.

Consumers Mutual believes its members will have the right to: * A healthy partnership between their doctors, hospitals, and Consumers Mutual * Coverage of a wide range of responsible health care services * Reasonable out-of-pocket expenses * Open transparency between patients, physicians and Consumers Mutual * Easy access to medications that reduce illness and disabilities * Development of health care data and delivery of that data to physicians to assist decision making * Prompt, plain language explanations and opportunities for discussion with Consumers Mutual professionals

This pledge will drive our company toward creating smart insurance options for consumers that will help keep them healthy, empower medical providers to do the right thing, and help hold down costs, and then deliver those options to our owner-customers, said Litos. We have a passion to succeed in this unique mission and in doing so, will help create a healthier Michigan.

For more information, visit http://www.consumersmutual.org.

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Health Care Reform Brings Michigan A New, Consumer-Owned Insurer

Health care providers talking more to each other

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BREMERTON From Harrison Medical Center to pharmacies, dozens of local health organization are banding together to meet health care reform head on.

A new effort tasked with pulling it off is the Kitsap County Cross Continuum Care Transitions Project, or KC4TP for short.

One of its biggest goals: reduce the rate of hospital readmissions within 30 days for Medicare patients.

The benefit for patients: care thats more attentive to detail as the patient is moved from hospital to nursing home, assisted living or home.

Right now, 20 percent of Medicare patients nationally are readmitted to hospitals within a month after being discharged. Their follow-up care, in some instances, hasnt been all that it could be.

This represents a failure in either the care of the patient thats given or the discharge, said Lauren Newcomer, director of quality and operational improvement at Harrison and one of the KC4TP leaders.

Unnecessary readmissions are a no-no under federal health care reform, because it costs more money to put patients back into the most expensive settings.

Currently under reform, hospitals are penalized 1 percent of total Medicare reimbursements for having too many readmissions. That jumps to 3 percent by 2017.

Its a huge amount of money thats at stake, Newcomer said.

Harrison hasnt had to pay any penalties. If it had, 1 percent would have amounted to $650,000; 3 percent would have been $1.95 million, according to Harrison spokeswoman Jacquie Goodwill.

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Health care providers talking more to each other

Small businesses mull health care overhaul's impact

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Health care reform by Elizabeth Stawicki, Minnesota Public Radio

May 13, 2013

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ST. PAUL, Minn. Organizations representing small business have been among the sharpest critics of the federal health care overhaul. But the opposition is not universal. Some small business owners in Minnesota hope they'll find new health insurance options thanks to the law and MNSURE, the new state new online insurance marketplace it created.

Although businesses with fewer than 50 employees don't have to provide insurance to their workers under the federal health care law, business owners like Melissa Martinson nevertheless want to.

Martinson, president of Technomics Research, a small health care consulting business in Medina, Minn., began shopping for a company health plan for the firm's five employees about 10 years ago.

"Every year I'd go to a number of insurance brokers and say, 'what can you do for the company?'" she recalled. "And they would do some analysis and come back and say, 'well I'm sorry' but because of, you know, my age, they were unable to do anything better than we could get as individuals."

At 56, Martinson is a decade or two older than her youngest workers. She is healthy and has no pre-existing conditions, but her age alone raised the premium rates for a group plan.

As a result, it made more sense for the employees to buy individual plans, because they were less expensive. The business helped them shoulder the cost with profit sharing.

Martinson is hoping the new online insurance marketplace, MNSURE, will offer a small business health insurance plan that's more affordable than the current arrangement.

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Small businesses mull health care overhaul's impact