Wildfire in Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park has announced the evacuation of Moraine Park campground and the closure of Fern Lake Road.

The area is a popular elk viewing location, not far from Estes Park.

A wildfire, estimated at one hundred and fifty acres, began Tuesday afternoon, and firefighters are en route.

Witnesses describe thick smoke coming from the area.

Greek Riots Welcome Merkel

Greeks rioted in Athens as German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, on Tuesday.

Tens of thousands took to the streets, clashing with police, as they protested the presence of the leader of the strongest economy in Europe. Five rioters were injured and twenty-four were arrested, as more than forty thousand protesters fought with nearly seven thousand police.

Merkel stated her sympathy for Greece, saying all would be worth it in the long run. Samaras said that he was proud to see Germany showing it's solidarity with the Greek people.

Greece has been forced to make severe austerity cuts to meet demands that the European Commission, European Central Bank, and International Monetary Fund have placed upon the country. If the country can meet the demands, they will be rewarded with EU bailout money, beginning with a thirty-one billion euro sum.

One of the requirements is that the country get spending down to 137.3% of GDP, by 2017. The IMF doubts that the country will even be able to get to 152.8% by that time. It is also feared that Greece will not be able to even begin paying off the debt until 2016, when they're supposed to be doing so by 2014.

Plans To Tax The Second Amendment

Since Chicago and Cook County were told their restrictions on firearm ownership were unconstitutional, they have decided to tax weapons and ammunition instead. Long time readers of Mental Akido will recall I predicted such actions back on July 26, 2012. Cook County Board officials have dubbed this proposed tax on legal firearms and the ammunition they require as a "violence tax", despite the fact that locales with fewer firearms restrictions have significantly lower violent crime rates.

Cook County claims the increased taxes on firearms and ammunition are in order to help close their $115M budget deficit, which is used, in part, to pay for law enforcement, running the county hospital, and operating the county jail.

Their reasoning is that most of  the problems these facilities address deal with firearms ownership, that taxing firearms and ammunition is a logical solution. However, they fail to understand that most of the violent crimes are conducted using weapons that were stolen or procured on the black market (usually also stolen). Those weapons would not be subject to the tax, since they would not be bought through legal channels.

All this proposal does is further infringe upon law abiding citizens' second amendment rights to keep and bear arms. While it does not directly restrict firearms ownership, it makes owning one or purchasing ammunition more expensive, therefore less available due to household budget constraints.

Toni Preckwinkle, the Cook County Board President, is pushing for this so called "violence tax". Perhaps she needs a few lessons in the US Constitution. Residents of Illinois may wish to let her know their thoughts on this violation of their rights. 

Making arms and ammunition less attainable through economic means is really just another form of violating the second amendment rights of the citizens. Illinois already infringes upon the second amendment to a drastically unconstitutional level with laws restricting the ability to bear arms. Illinois does not allow carry permits, concealed of unconcealed. To transport a weapon, it must be unloaded and locked in a container, with the ammunition locked in a separate container, rendering it useless for self defense purposes. Those very laws are infringements upon the right to carry (bear) that is constitutionally guaranteed.

This tax is but another level of infringement meant to keep residents of Cook County, Illinois and those Americans traveling through the area from exercising their constitutional rights. There is a word in the dictionary for such forms of  despotism, tyranny!

Original article at Mental Aikido

Walmart Strike Spreads to 12 Cities

Dan Schlademan, the director of the United Food and Commercial Workers' Making Change At Walmart campaign, has announced that strikes are now taking place at twenty-eight stores, in twelve cities.

The strikes mark the continuation of the first strikes against the company, ever, which began on Friday, in Los Angeles.

Workers are protesting Walmart's attempts to "silence and retaliate against workers for speaking out for improvements on the job".

Walmart workers are not part of any union, but the strikers are working closely with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

Some of the strikers plan to protest in front of the company's corporate headquarters, in Bentonville, Arkansas.

1.4 million people, across the country, are employed by Walmart, but at this point only eighty-eight of them are striking.

Though that number will likely continue to increase, as in recent years the company has a history of associates complaining about management failures, working conditions, and low wages.

Ten Killed by Brain Eating Amoeba

Health officials in Pakistan are warning the public to be extra careful to only use clean water, after ten people, in Karachi, have died from a brain eating amoeba.

The amoeba, naegleria fowleri, survives in warm water and it's favorite meal is human brain tissue.

Hopes are that an increase of chlorine, in the local drinking water, as well as boiling of water, will kill off the organism.

It's thought to be most possible that people have become infected when they used water to clean out their nasal passage, which is a common practice, in that part of the world.

Sesame Street Asks Obama to Remove Big Bird Ad

Sesame Workshop, which runs Sesame Street, has asked the Obama campaign to take down a satirical ad, which attacked Mitt Romney.

They released a statement saying, "Sesame Workshop is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization and we do not endorse candidates or participate in political campaigns. We have approved no campaign ads, and as is our general practice, have requested that the ad be taken down."

The Obama campaign has been using Big Bird as a victim ever since the Presidential debates, last week. During the debate, Romney stated that he would end government funding of PBS and Big Bird.

PBS, who's executives make six figures a year, has no actual need for government funding, due to the success of their pledge drives and volume of commercial sales.

Obama's campaign has yet to actually take down the ad, only saying that they would consider the request.

Netanyahu Announces New Elections

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced new elections for the country.

Elections were not scheduled for at least a year, but his announcement will set them to happen within the next three months, likely in late January or early February.

Early elections are quite common, in Israel, where the balance of the coalition government can change constantly.

Netanyahu is under no threat to lose his spot, he's at one of his most popular points.

However, holding them earlier, will ensure that he is when they occur, and put off til longer a time when he could be forced with mandatory elections, not at the time of his choosing.

Meningitis Toll up to 11 Dead, 119 Sick

The toll from meningitis has now reached eleven dead and one hundred and nineteen sick.

That's up slightly from where it stood Monday.

As many as thirteen thousand people may have been infected by the fungal meningitis that was accidentally spread in spinal steroid injections.

So far, all the ill are in nine states, but the steroid was shipped to ninety-six facilities in twenty-three states.

New England Compounding Center, which manufactured the injections, is doing everything it can to aid the government in it's investigation. They've handed over their operation licenses and voluntarily recalled all of their other products as well.

Local police agencies have been tasked with checking in on people, who received injections, that the CDC has not been able to reach.

Felix Baumgartner's Jump Delayed by High Winds

Felix Baumgartner has been planning his next big challenge, since February. Already the holder of multiple records for skydiving and base jumping, he is currently planning a jump that will set even more. The plan this time is to jump from a balloon at 120,000 ft. If successful it would gain him four more records: the highest altitude free fall, the highest manned balloon flight, the longest distance traveled in free fall and the speed record for the fastest free fall; and he will also break the sound barrier during his fall to the earth. He also hopes that his jump will prove real scientific information and help open up space tourism and new extreme sports, like space jumping.

He will make his way up in an adapted weather balloon. The 400 ft wide scientific balloon will carry a pressurized capsule, with him in it. At 120,000 ft up 23 miles up, he will have to endure temperatures as low as -94 F as well as lack of oxygen and an air pressure that would make his blood boil. To protect him from these difficulties, a suit has been specially designed. The custom suit is also pressurized in a very similar way to the ones NASA astronauts use and carries a supply of 20 minutes of oxygen. His helmet was also specially designed to try and keep him from blacking out when he causes a sonic boom passing through the sound barrier. Due to the difficulties of reaching his parachute's cords whilst in the suit, it also had to be adapted to make the jump possible.

Once he jumps out of the capsule, and away from the balloon, it should take him ten minutes to reach the ground. Thirty-five seconds later he'll break the sound barrier. He'll be traveling close to 700 miles an hour, for the first five minutes, until he reaches 5,000 ft and opens his chute. Five minutes later he hopes to have reached the ground safely, hoping to land in a specific area of New Mexico, but even a slight breeze could cause him to drift 150 miles.

During his jumping blacking will be his worst fear, it would very easily prove deadly. Breaking the sound barrier, the sheer force of the fall, or going into a spin could cause it to happen. Baumgartner stated during an interview that, "I always feel the danger because you might always be subject to an unexpected or emergency event. One single mistake might cause a real catastrophe. You are worried about being where humans shouldn't be."

Early Tuesday morning was the scheduled time for the launch. However, gusty winds delayed it throughout the morning, until it was scrubbed, to be rescheduled, just before noon MDT.

18 Year Old Loses Part of Stomach to Liquid Nitrogen Drink

Gaby Scanlan was celebrating her eighteenth birthday, Thursday, when she was given a drink that used liquid nitrogen in it's making.

Liquid nitrogen is added to alcoholic drinks as it gives off a smoky, cauldron look.

This time however it was given to Scanlan before all of the nitrogen had hit it's gaseous form.

Within in moments she was unable to breathe and in extreme abdominal pain.

Rushed to the hospital, she underwent emergency surgery to remove part of her stomach, as it had been flash frozen by the liquid nitrogen, which has a temperature of negative 321 degrees Fahrenheit.

When the walls of her stomach froze, they died, allowing for the gastric acid to burn through.

Scanlan is still in serious condition, but the doctor's efforts seems to have been successful in saving her life.

Doctors around the world are now warning people away from the drinks, citing their obvious dangers.

Despite the dangers, this is the first recorded case of such an incident, despite their growing popularity.