Senate panel approves immigration bill

Cheap youth nfl jersey Far-reaching legislation that grants a chance at citizenship to millions of immigrants living illegally in the United States cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on a solid bipartisan vote Tuesday night after supporters somberly sidestepped a controversy over the rights of gay spouses.

The 13-5 vote cleared the way for an epic showdown on the Senate floor on legislation that is one of President Barack Obama's top domestic priorities — yet also gives the Republican Party a chance to recast itself as more appealing to minorities.

The action sparked rejoicing from immigration activists who crowded into a Senate committee room to witness the proceedings. "Yes, we can! Si, se puede" they shouted, reprising the campaign cry from Obama's first run for the White House in 2008.

In addition to creating a pathway to citizenship for 11.5 million immigrants, Youth nhl jerseys discount the legislation creates a new program for low-skilled foreign labor and would permit highly skilled workers into the country at far higher levels than is currently the case.

At the same time, it requires the government to take costly new steps to guard against future illegal immigration.

In a statement, Obama said the measure is "largely consistent with the principles of common-sense reform I have proposed and meets the challenge of fixing our broken immigration system."

There was suspense to the end of the committee's deliberations, when Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who serves as chairman, sparked a debate over his proposal to give same-sex and heterosexual spouses equal rights under immigration law.

"I don't want to be the senator who asks people to choose between the love of their life and the love of their country," he said, NFL elite jerseys cheap adding he wanted to hear from others on the committee.

In response, he heard a chorus of pleas from the bill's supporters, seconding private appeals from the White House, not to force a vote that they warned would lead to the collapse of Republican support and the bill's demise.

"I believe in my heart of hearts that what you're doing is the right and just thing," said one, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. "But I believe this is the wrong moment, that this is the wrong bill."

Sen. Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat who has played a central role in advancing the legislation, said he would have voted against the proposal if Leahy had pressed the case — a defection that would have caused it to fail on a tie.

In the hours leading to a final vote, the panel also agreed to a last-minute compromise covering an increase in the visa program for high-tech workers, Wholesale new nba jerseys a deal that brought Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah over to the ranks of supporters.

Under the compromise, the number of highly skilled workers admitted to the country would rise from 65,000 annually to 110,000, with the possibility of a further increase to 180,000, depending in part on unemployment levels.

Firms where foreign labor accounts for at least 15 percent of the skilled work force would be subjected to tighter conditions than companies less dependent on H-IB visa holders.

The compromise was negotiated by Hatch, whose state is home to a growing high tech industry, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. It is designed to balance the interests of industry, which relies increasingly on skilled foreign labor, and organized labor, which represents American workers.

AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka attacked the deal sharply as "anti-worker," cheap customized mlb jersey although he also made clear organized labor would continue to support the overall legislation.

Robert Hoffman, senior vice president for government affairs at the Information Technology Industry Council, welcomed the deal. "We obviously want to keep moving the bill forward and building support for the legislation, and this agreement allows us to do so," he said.

The issue of same-sex spouses hovered in the background from the start, and as the committee neared the end of its work, officials said Leahy had been informed that both the White House and Senate Democrats hoped he would not risk the destruction of months of painstaking work by putting the issue to a vote.

"There have been 300 amendments. Why shouldn't we have one more?" he told reporters at one point, hours before called the committee into session for a final time to debate the legislation.

NCAA college football jerseys A few hours later, Republicans and Democrats both answered his question bluntly.

"This would fracture the coalition. I could not support the bill," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who was a member of the bipartisan so-called Gang of Eight that drafted the core elements of the bill.

Republicans and Democrats alike also noted that the Supreme Court may soon issue a ruling that renders the controversy moot.

In a statement issued after Leahy's action, Chad Griffin, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, said his group was "extremely disappointed that our allies did not put their anti-LGBT colleagues on the spot and force a vote on the measure that remains popular with the American people."

The issue is certain to re-emerge when the full Senate debates the legislation, Womens mlb jerseys cheap although it is doubtful that sponsors can command the 60 votes that will be needed to make it part of the legislation.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he will bring the legislation to the Senate floor early next month for a debate that some aides predict could consume a month or more, with an outcome that is impossible to predict.

The fate of immigration legislation in the House is even less clear, although it is due to receive a hearing in the Judiciary Committee there on Wednesday.

Despite the concern that bipartisan support for the legislation was fragile, there was no doubting the command over committee proceedings that Senate backers held.

In a final reminder, an attempt by Sen. Ted Cruz., R-Texas, to delete the pathway to citizenship failed on a 13-5 vote.

In defeat, he and others said they, New York Mets #5 David Wright Embroidered MLB blue jersey too, wanted to overhaul immigration law, but not the way that drafters of the legislation had done.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, recalled that he had voted to give "amnesty" to those in the country illegally in 1986, the last time Congress passed major immigration legislation. He said that bill, like the current one, promised to crack down on illegal immigration, but said it had failed to do so.

"No one disputes that this bill is legalization first, enforcement later. And, that's just unacceptable to me and to the American people," he said shortly before the vote.

The centerpiece provision of the legislation allows an estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally to obtain "registered provisional immigrant status" six months after enactment if certain conditions are also met.

Applicants must have arrived in the United States before Dec. 31, 2011, and maintained continuous physical presence, soccer club jerseys cheap must not have a felony conviction of more than two misdemeanors on their record, and pay a $500 fine.

The registered provisional immigrant status lasts six years and is renewable for another $500. After a decade, though, individuals could seek a green card and lawful permanent resident status if they are up to date on their taxes and pay a $1,000 fine and meet other conditions.

Individuals brought to the country as youths would be able to apply for green cards in five years.

 

 

Syrian foes move towards talks but fighting rages

New youth mlb jerseys Syria's opposition and the government of President Bashar al-Assad seem to be preparing to take part in an international peace conference against a background of some of the worst fighting this year.

On Tuesday, Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and Syrian soldiers, backed by air strikes and artillery, renewed an offensive aimed at driving Syrian rebels from the town of Qusair near the Lebanese border, opposition activists said.

Bitter fighting in the town since Sunday has claimed the lives of up to 50 fighters from the Iranian-backed guerrilla group, among their worst losses so far in the war, and prompted renewed fears that Syria's two-year-old civil war will spread beyond the country's borders.

A senior U.S. official said reports from Syrian rebel commanders indicated that Iranians were at Qusair along with fighters from Lebanese Hezbollah.

Women mlb jerseys cheap "It is the most visible effort that we have seen of Hezbollah to engage directly in the fighting in Syria as a foreign force and we understand there are also Iranians up there. That is what the Free Syrian Army commanders are telling us," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

While it was not clear what the Iranians were doing, he said "they could be doing a little of both advising and fighting".

In further hostilities, Syria announced for the first time since the civil war began that its soldiers had targeted Israel's armed forces. It said its troops had destroyed an Israeli vehicle that crossed into Syrian territory from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Israel's most senior general warned Assad he would bear the consequences of any further escalation on the Golan Heights. Cheap women nhl jersey Israel said the incident took place on its side of the Golan ceasefire line, that the vehicle was only damaged, none of its soldiers were hurt and they returned fire.

Violence has left at least 80,000 Syrians dead as world powers have argued over how to end it but on Tuesday foreign diplomats said Assad's government was preparing to join a peace conference promoted by the United States and Russia, while his opponents said they too were ready to take part.

SECTARIAN FIGHTING

In the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, three people were killed in further sectarian fighting on Tuesday, security sources said, raising the death toll from four days of sporadic violence related to Syria's civil war to nine.

New women jerseys cheap The sources said 60 people, including civilians, had been wounded over that period in Tripoli, where an pro-Assad Alawite minority lives on a hill overlooking the mainly Sunni Muslim port city.

With international pressure rising for a return to the table by both sides, the United Nations-Arab League mediator, Lakhdar Brahimi, said the U.N. was working to organize the peace talks.

"The Syrian people are building great hopes on the conference, as the opposition prepares itself to take part and likewise the Syrian regime prepares to take part in this conference," he told reporters at the Arab League in Cairo.

Western powers and Russia back opposing sides in the cross-border Syrian conflict - though Washington and its allies have been unwilling to intervene militarily in support of fractured and partly Islamist rebel forces.

The talks are due to take place in Geneva in June. U.S. discount women jerseys Secretary of State John Kerry is due to discuss current planning for the conference at a meeting in Jordan on Wednesday of the "Friends of Syria" club of countries, many of which are skeptical about the peace initiative.

Brahimi said: "There are many problems in the preparation for this conference, the first of which is the formation of the delegations of the regime and the opposition."

Syria's opposition is also due to meet in Istanbul on Thursday to announce its stance while the Arab League's Syria committee will meet in Cairo.

FIVE OFFICIALS

European Union diplomatic sources said Assad had put forward the names of five officials from his administration to take part in the talks.

The list includes Prime Minister Wael al-Halki and more junior officials. Cheap mlb jersey free shipping According one EU diplomat, the opposition has rejected some of the names because of their lack of influence.

But opposition figures say they are likely to agree to attend the talks anyway in a bid to isolate Assad.

Diplomats say it is too early to say when the talks might take place.

The senior U.S. official hinted at U.S. skepticism about Russia's commitment to a negotiated solution, suggesting that Russian arms deliveries to the Assad government would probably stiffen the president's resolve to hang on to power.

"The Russians, on the one hand, strongly support, they say, holding this conference in Geneva but on the other hand they are continuing to deliver weapons, very modern weapons, very dangerous weapons to the Syrian regime," said the U.S. official.

Assad is battling an uprising in which rebel forces, including radical Islamists, customized mlb jerseys cheap have taken swathes of territory.

The latest battleground is Qusair, which lies on an important supply route from Lebanon for rebels in the central province of Homs.

Opposition activists said fighting was raging in the town, as well as in areas to the east where several army bases are located, and in the Hezbollah-held southern and western approaches to the town.

The number of rebel and civilian deaths in the last 48 hours had reached more than 100, according to the opposition.

Syrian state media have said Assad's forces had reasserted control over most of Qusair, but rebels said the offensive had been ineffectual.

The senior U.S. official said there were concerns that if Syrian government forces captured Qusair, nhl Hooded Sweatshirt jersey there would be retaliation against the thousands of civilians there.

"And so it is important that the regime know that the world is watching this and we are watching this and we will know if they commit massacres and we will know who it was that committed it and they will be held accountable," the U.S. official said.

Assad, who is from Syria's minority Alawite sect and has long backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, is fighting a Sunni-led revolt which began with peaceful protests in March 2011. His violent response eventually prompted rebels to take up arms.

Tea party looks to take advantage of moment

New youth jerseys cheap Is the tea party getting its groove back? Shouts of vindication from around the country suggest the movement's leaders certainly think so.

They say the IRS acknowledgement that it had targeted their groups for extra scrutiny — a claim that tea party activists had made for years — is helping pump new energy into the coalition. And they are trying to use that development, along with the ongoing controversy over the Benghazi, Libya, terrorist attacks and the Justice Department's secret seizure of journalists' phone records, to recruit new activists incensed about government overreach.

"This is the defining moment to say 'I told you so,' " said Katrina Pierson, a Dallas-based tea party leader, who traveled to Washington last week as the three political headaches for President Barack Obama unfolded.

Luke Rogonjich, a tea party leader in Phoenix, called the trio of controversies a powerful confluence that bolsters the GOP's case against big government. New youth mlb jersey cheap "Suddenly, there are a lot of things pressing on the dam," said Rogonjich.

It's unclear whether a movement made up of disparate grassroots groups with no central body can take advantage of the moment and leverage it to grow stronger after a sub-par showing in last fall's election had called into question the movement's lasting impact. Republicans and Democrats alike say the tea party runs the risk of going too far in its criticism, which could once again open the door to Democratic efforts to paint it as an extreme arm of the GOP.

"Never underestimate the tea party's ability to overplay its hand," said Democratic strategist Mo Elleithee. "Just because there is universal agreement that the IRS went too far, that should not be misread as acceptance of the tea party's ideology of anger."

Cheap kids nhl jerseys At the very least, furor over the IRS devoting special attention to tea party groups claiming tax-exempt status is giving the tea party more visibility than it has had in months, and it's providing a new rallying cry for tea party organizers starting to plot how to influence the 2014 congressional elections. The law allows tax-exempt organizations to lobby and dabble in politics as long as their primary purpose is social welfare.

The tax-agency scandal — it has led to the acting IRS commissioner's ouster, a criminal investigation and Capitol Hill hearings — seems to validate the tea party's long-held belief among supporters that government was trampling on them specifically, a claim dismissed by ousted commissioner Steven T. Miller. He has called the targeting "a mistake and not an act of partisanship."

Nevertheless, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., NHL jersey on sale elected in 2010 with tea party backing, said the IRS scandal "confirms many of the feelings that led to the tea party movement in the first place."

"What's happened here is a reminder of, this is what happens when you expand government," he said in an interview with The Associated Press. "That and the disaster that is Obamacare is going to be a real catalyst in 2014 and beyond."

Tea party activists hope they also can drive support ahead of the elections by stoking widespread suspicions that the Obama administration and State Department are hiding key details about the September 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. The seizure of Associated Press phone records also plays into their argument that government is too intrusive.

Discount nhl jerseys Tea party activists have tried to take advantage of the issues that have put some of their central tenets — limited government and civil liberties — in the spotlight.

From around the country last week, they headed Washington to hold a news conference on the Capitol steps and meet with members of Congress. Those who stayed home jammed House and Senate phone lines with calls urging congressional action as the IRS saga unfolded. An email from Teaparty.org that was sent to activists proclaimed: "We've worked so hard these past few years and it's paying off! We're witnessing the unraveling of a presidency at an unprecedented rate."

Freedomworks, a national tea party group, spent the week circulating petitions for congressional hearings and encouraging leaders of local groups who believe they have been targeted by the IRS to include their story on a national database to build the case against the agency.

"Perhaps all this attention will break something loose," MLB jersey on sale said Jim Chiodo, an activist from Holland, Mich.

It wasn't long ago that the tea party was the hot new political kid on the block, bursting onto the national scene during the contentious summer debate over health care in 2009. Over the next few years, the loosely affiliated conservatives and civil libertarians would leave their mark on the 2010 elections by helping Republican candidates win Senate races in Florida, Kentucky, Utah and Wisconsin and scores of House races.

Those victories resulted in House and Senate Republican caucuses getting pushed to the right in legislative battles, making life difficult for Obama and his Democrats in an era of divided government.

Cheap mlb jersey for youth But the movement's success was muted in 2012 when Republicans nominated the establishment-backed Mitt Romney for president, though he did little to inspire the tea party. He lost, and so did many tea party-backed House and Senate candidates.

Now, tea party activists say they are emboldened and won't be afraid to recruit candidates to run in Republican primaries against incumbents who appear to go easy on the Obama administration, particularly in light of the IRS scandal.

"It's one of those issues we should just raise hell about," said Nashville Tea Party leader Ben Cunningham.

Some say they're now even more suspicious of government than before.

"I personally feel so vindicated," said Mark Falzon, a New Jersey tea party leader. But he added: "What's scaring me now is what's going on below the water line that we're not seeing."

Republicans say that the tea party will have an opportunity come 2014 to make its mark again, NHL hockey jerseys kids particularly with Obama not at the top of the ticket. Also, they say that with Obama's health care law going into effect and with the slew of latest controversies, they now have concrete issues to point to when arguing against government overreach.

"Suddenly, this is a very real demonstration of too much power ceded to government bureaucrats," said Matt Kibbe, president of Freedomworks. "This is no longer theoretical."

 

McConnell: ‘There is a culture of intimidation throughout the administration’

cheap 2013 Houston Texans nfl jersey Republican Senators Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell and Rob Portman continued Sunday to press the Obama administration on the Internal Revenue Service scandal that's engulfed the White House.

On CNN's "State of the Union," Paul told Candy Crowley he heard about a "written policy" that encouraged IRS officials to target "those who are critical of the president."

"And when that comes forward, we need to know who wrote the policy and who approved the policy," Paul said.

The Kentucky senator seemed to backtrack when pressed about the existence of yet another controversial document.

"Well, we keep hearing the reports and we have several specifically worded items saying who was being targeted," Paul said. Discount nfl jerseys "I don't know if that comes from a policy, but that's what's being reported in the press and reported orally. I haven't seen a policy statement, but I think we need to see that."

Memo or no memo, McConnell said it's clear that political bullying is being cultivated by the Obama White House.

"There is a culture of intimidation throughout the administration," McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "The nanny state is here to tell us all what to do and if you start criticizing, you get targeted."

[Related: The IRS targeted tea party groups. Did liberal groups get better treatment?]

Earlier this month, an inspector general report disclosed that the IRS improperly scrutinized certain conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. Cheap new mlb jerseys On Sunday's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” Portman called for a bipartisan investigation into inspector general's report.

"What we do know is that politics was put ahead of the public interest," Portman said. "And it was done in two of the most sensitive areas of our government."

"So, it seems to me that there's a lot of issues here we need to get bottom of," the Ohio Republican added. "We need to find out what really happened and ensure that we can begin to regain some trust in our government. That's my concern."

Meanwhile, White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer accused the GOP of conducting "fishing expeditions" ahead of next year's midterm elections.

"I think we've seen this playbook from Republicans before," Pfeiffer said on "Meet The Press" Sunday. New soccer club jerseys "What they want to do when they are lacking a positive agenda is try to drag Washington into a swamp of partisan fishing expeditions, trumped-up hearings and false allegations. We're not going to let that happen."

Obama appears to be weathering the storm, the Associated Press noted. A poll released on Sunday by CNN/ORC International showed President Obama has a 53 percent approval rating, with just 45 percent saying they disapprove.

Obama delivers Morehouse commencement

NFL elite jerseys cheap President Barack Obama took a break from the trifecta of controversies—IRS, Department of Justice, Benghazi—swirling around the White House on Sunday to deliver the commencement address at Morehouse College, the historically black, all-male institution in Atlanta.

"What I ask of you today is the same thing I ask of every graduating class I address," Obama told 500 graduates and an estimated 10,000 onlookers, most of them in ponchos, on the school's stormy, rain-soaked campus. "Use that power for something larger than yourself."

While the message may have been unremarkable, the occasion was historic: Obama became the first sitting president to address Morehouse, the alma mater of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose spirit was evoked throughout the speech.

"Many of you know what it’s like to be an outsider, cheap new mlb jerseys to be marginalized, to feel the sting of discrimination," Obama said. "That’s an experience that so many other Americans share. Hispanic Americans know that feeling when someone asks where they come from or tells them to go back. Gay and lesbian Americans feel it when a stranger passes judgment on their parenting skills or the love they share. Muslim Americans feel it when they’re stared at with suspicion because of their faith. Any woman who knows the injustice of earning less pay for doing the same work—she sure feels it."

The president said that while it might be tempting for graduates to use their degrees for personal wealth, they should aim for more. "I know some of you came to Morehouse from communities where life was about keeping your head down and looking out for yourself," Obama said. "Maybe you feel like you escaped, new Boston Red Sox jerseys cheap and you can take your degree, get a fancy job and never look back. And don’t get me wrong—with the heavy weight of student loans, with doors open to you that your parents and grandparents could scarcely imagine, no one expects you to take a vow of poverty.

"It is not just the African-American community that needs you," Obama said. "The country needs you. The world needs you."

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution,attendees arrived as early 3:30 a.m. to reserve a spot at the open-air ceremony.

The president said that growing up, he used to chalk up some of his own "bad choices" to being black.

"We know that too many young men in our community continue to make bad choices," new soccer club jerseys Obama said. "Growing up, I made a few myself. And I have to confess, sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down. But one of the things you’ve learned over the last four years is that there’s no longer any room for excuses."

First-year Morehouse College president John Wilson introduced President Obama. Prior to taking the Morehouse job, Wilson ran the White House's historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) initiative.

After the ceremony, the president was scheduled to later attend a fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee at the home of Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank.

It was Obama's second graduation speech in as many weeks. Last week, the president delivered the commencement address at Ohio State. NCAA college football jersey cheap His third and final speech of graduation season, at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., is slated for Friday.

Pa. coffee run leads to hatchet hitchhiker arrest

Cheap new nfl limited jerseys Two cups of coffee ended life on the run for an Internet sensation known as Kai the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker.

An employee at a Starbucks in Philadelphia is credited with recognizing 24-year-old Caleb "Kai" McGillvary, whose fledgling celebrity took a turn toward notoriety when authorities announced this week that he was wanted in the beating death of a New Jersey lawyer three times his age.

The unlikely pair met amid the neon lights of New York City's Times Square over the weekend and headed back to the squat brick home of 73-year-old Joseph Galfy Jr. on a quiet cul-de-sac in suburban Clark, N.J., authorities say. On Monday, Galfy was found beaten to death in his bedroom, wearing only his socks and underwear. McGillvary was arrested Thursday shortly after leaving the Starbucks and charged with killing Galfy.

McGillvary gained a measure of fame in February after intervening in an attack on a California utility worker. Cheap youth jersey In an interview viewed millions of times online, he described using a hatchet he was carrying to repeatedly hit a man who had struck a worker with his car, fending off a further attack, and thus became known as "Kai the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker."

Galfy's funeral was held Friday in a small stone chapel in Warren, N.J. He was buried in East Hanover.

Galfy was an "excellent land use attorney," said friend Robert Ellenport. He said Galfy loved to travel and was a fan of the New York Giants and the Seton Hall University basketball team. Galfy would fly to warmer climes to watch Seton Hall play its first games of the season and was urging Ellenport and his partner to travel to Bali, one of Galfy's favorite vacation spots.

The victim's sister-in-law, Diane Galfy, said at her home that "he was a very well-respected man. That's what we want people to know," she said. She said her husband didn't want to talk and her children were devastated.

New cheap 2013 nhl jersey Galfy was a respected lawyer who in recent years handled land use and domestic violence cases, according to Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow, whose office is prosecuting McGillvary. The two knew each other through legal circles.

"He was just a nice man, a gentle man, well-regarded in the community," Romankow said.

In addition to his law practice, Galfy was the attorney for the planning board in Green Brook, N.J., and played drums in a wedding band.

Authorities said McGillvary was arrested Thursday evening after he walked into a Starbucks near a bus station in downtown Philadelphia and ordered two coffees. The woman who served McGillvary recognized him and alerted her manager, who called the police.

McGillvary took off before police arrived, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said, and without his coffee. Cheap mlb jersey youth But an officer went to a nearby bus terminal and found McGillvary, who was arrested there.

"He wasn't lying low," Romankow said. "He was out there."

McGillvary was arraigned Friday and being held without bail on charges in Galfy's killing, though a court official said he has a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detainer for three arrests in Canada in recent years. ICE officials did not immediately return a request to confirm the detainer. It's not clear whether McGillvary would be deported rather than sent to New Jersey to face prosecution in Galfy's death.

Romankow said that McGillvary, who said in his TV appearance he prefers to be called "home-free" instead of homeless, traded on his newfound prominence to meet fans across the country.

Customized mlb jerseys cheap Those fans include Terry Ratliff, 32, of Kingsland, Ga., who said he spoke to McGillvary a few times recently about working on music with him. Ratliff said he made about $70 from a YouTube video featuring McGillvary and sent him $34 on May 8. Ratliff said McGillvary was in New York at the time.

The two haven't met, but Ratliff started a fund for McGillvary's legal defense that has only raised $66 so far. It's not clear whether McGillvary has a lawyer, and the public defender's office in Philadelphia had no record of him.

"If he is telling the truth, then maybe better legal representation will help get that truth out," Ratliff said.

McGillvary has made statements before, though, that don't add up.

He has said he is from Sophia, W.Va., but Mayor Danny Barr said Friday that he and the fire chief know everyone in the town of 1,334,discount 2013 mlb jerseys have never heard of him and found nothing about him in town records.

McGillvary also wrote statements on Facebook following Galfy's death that were "sexual in nature," Romankow said, and noted that they could have been self-serving.

McGillvary's last post, dated Tuesday, asks "what would you do?" if you awoke in a stranger's house and found you'd been drugged and sexually assaulted. One commenter suggests hitting him with a hatchet, and McGillvary's final comment on the post says, "I like your idea."

Ratliff says he is the commenter McGillvary was responding to. He said he had sent McGillvary an email the night before the post saying he had a song idea for him. Ratliff says when McGillvary responded with "I like your idea," on Facebook, Ratliff wasn't sure if McGillvary was referring to his email about music or suggestion to beat up the man.

It was a hatchet that helped give McGillvary a brief taste of fame in February when he gave a rambling, profanity-laced interview to a Fresno, new soccer jerseys cheap Calif., television station about thwarting an unprovoked attack on a Pacific Gas & Electric employee. The interview went viral, with one version viewed more than 3.9 million times on YouTube. McGillvary later traveled to Los Angeles to appear on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

Noting that his photo had been all over, Ramsey said it apparently wasn't difficult to recognize McGillvary.

"Being on YouTube too much," the police commissioner said, "is not always a good thing."

 

Illinois Senate approves marijuana for medical uses

New cheap nfl jerseys The Illinois Senate on Friday voted to approve the use of marijuana for medical purposes, which if signed into law would make it the second-most-populous state in the nation after California to allow the drug's use for medical purposes.

The bill, approved by the Illinois House in April, now moves to Governor Pat Quinn's desk to await his signature. Quinn has indicated he is sympathetic to the bill, especially as it would benefit injured veterans.

"We fully expect Gov. Quinn to do the compassionate thing and sign the bill," said Dan Riffle, deputy director of government relations for the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project.

Riffle said marijuana has proven medical benefits and there is broad public and legislative support for its medical use.

The Illinois bill passed by a vote of 35-21 after an emotional, cheap new nba jersey hour-long debate in which some Republicans said they opposed legalizing medical marijuana because it could be a "gateway drug" to abuse of other illegal substances.

Others said they were not convinced that the benefits of smoking marijuana for certain medical conditions outweighed the potential negative consequences.

Democratic State Senator Bill Haine, a former county prosecutor and the bill's sponsor, said it is the toughest in the nation. He noted that doctors' groups had endorsed the bill.

"It is a substance which is much more benign than powerful prescription drugs such as Oxycontin, Vicodin and the rest," Haine said, referring to frequently abused painkillers. "The scourge of these drugs is well-known. This is not true of the medical use of marijuana."

Discount 2013 mlb jersey Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana, according to Riffle. The Project does not count Maryland, since its law requires the participation of academic medical centers and will not be implemented until 2015. Colorado and Washington state voters decided last fall to allow recreational use of cannabis.

Under the four-year pilot program outlined in the Illinois bill, patients would have to be diagnosed with one of 33 debilitating medical conditions, such as cancer, multiple sclerosis or HIV/AIDS. Patients must register with the state's health department and have written certification from their physicians.

Patients would be limited to 2.5 ounces (70 grams) of marijuana every two weeks. The marijuana must be grown and distributed in Illinois, nba jerseys on sale kept in a closed container, and not used in public or in front of minors.

Those who use, grow or sell the drug must be fingerprinted and undergo background checks. Landlords and employers could ban its use on their property. Users suspected of driving under the influence face the loss of not only their driving privileges, but also their marijuana-use permits.

Under U.S. federal law, marijuana is considered an addictive substance and distribution is a federal offense. Federal law prohibits physicians from writing prescriptions, so many have issued "referrals" or "recommendations."

The administration of President Barack Obama has discouraged federal prosecutors from pursuing people who distribute marijuana for medical purposes under state laws.

new MLB Atlanta Braves jersey Riffle said that New Hampshire and New York are the next states that could legalize medical marijuana.