There was no official vote count in the ballot in France's lower house of parliament, with passage determined by a simple show of hands. The measure must still be passed in the Senate, where its fate is less clear. The measure put France on a collision course with Turkey, a strategic ally and trading partner. Ankara reacted swiftly with state-run TV saying that Ambassador Tahsin Burcuoglu would be withdrawn. Turkey had threatened to remove its ambassador if French lawmakers did not desist and warned of "grave consequences" to political and economic ties. Turkey vehemently rejects the term "genocide" for the World War I era-mass killings of Armenians, saying the issue should be left to historians.

 

It contends that France is trampling freedom of expression and that President Nicolas Sarkozy is on a vote-getting mission ahead of April presidential elections. An estimated half-million Armenians live in France and many have pressed to raise the legal statute regarding the massacres to the same level as the Holocaust by punishing denial of genocide. France formally recognized the killings as genocide in 2001, but provided no penalty for anyone denying that. The bill sets a punishment of up to one year in prison and a fine of euro45,000 ($59,000) for those who deny or "outrageously minimize" the killings by Ottoman Turks, putting such action on a par with denial of the Holocaust. "Our ancestors can finally rest in peace," said 75-year-old Maurice Delighazarian who said his grandparents on both sides were among the victims of the 1915 massacre. Vaskel Avedissian, 25, said he spent time with Turkish demonstrators outside the National Assembly earlier Thursday and "These people have nothing against Armenians." But, he added,

 

 

About Us

"I'm not sure what we did differently with this bill, but suffice it to say, we're pleasantly surprised by the result," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said from the duck-carcass-free steps of the Capitol. "No ducks spontaneously lost their buoyancy and drowned in their ponds, burst into flames, or lined up to be run over by a steamroller. It's a good day for Americans and a great day for ducks." Since the ratification of the Constitution, an astounding 14.7 million ducks have died in the passage of legislation.

 

While congressional resolutions to honor events, institutions, or people generally result in the demise of no more than 2,500 ducks, sources said each bill related to financial policy or security programs inexplicably takes the lives of at least 90,000 ducks. The current record duck death toll traceable to Congress occurred following proposal of the 18th Amendment, which somehow caused 380,000 ducks to die. Its repeal by the 21st Amendment was accompanied by an additional 214,000 ducks flying directly into the sun. "You can never predict how they're going to go," said Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), noting that even the Duck Protection Act of 1984 resulted in 4,100 ducks exploding over Chesapeake Bay. "We passed an FAA bill in 1998 that led to 80,234 ducks flying into jet engines, which kind of makes sense, I suppose. But then in 2000, we voted to approve a day of recognition for Hank Aaron, and 3,823 ducks had strokes.

 

Whatever the case, it was nice to leave work this time without getting hit by a plunging duck." The U.S. State Law and Government section provides information about U.S. State Law and Government, uniform laws adopted or proposed by State, and associations dealing with state and municipal governments. You will find a State Resource Center for each of the 50 United States and Washington D.C. which provide information about the state's government, namely their executive, legislative and judicial branches. Many Statewide Offices exist in most of the states, such as Governor, Attorney General, State Treasurer, and Secretary of State. Other offices, such as Lt. Governor, State Comptroller, State Auditor, and Land Commissioner are only present in some of the states. Likewise, there are equivalent executive branch offices in many states, such as Department of Agriculture,

 

Department of Tourism, Department of Education, Department of Corrections, Department of Emergency Management, Department of Labor, Department of Transportation, Department of Social Services and several more. There are many executive branch offices that exist in some states and not others, such as Department of Lottery, Department of Aging, Department of Minority Business, Department of Banking/Finance, Department of Natural Resources and various other offices. This is due to the many disparities between the states, their individual state laws, and the resources that each state has deemed requires government oversight. This is also true of each state's diverse boards and commissions. 

 

"Turkey is the spokesman for state negationism today." Lawmakers denounced what they called Turkey's propaganda effort in a bid to sway them. "Laws voted in this chamber cannot be dictated by Ankara," said Jean-Christophe Lagarde, a deputy from the New Center party, as Turks demonstrated outside the National Assembly ahead of the vote. The bill's author said she was "shocked" at the attempt to interfere with the parliament's work. "My bill doesn't aim at any particular country," said Valerie Boyer, a deputy from the ruling conservative UMP party. "It is inspired by European law, which says that the people who deny the existence of the genocides must be sanctioned."

 

An initial bid to punish denial of the Armenian genocide failed earlier this year, killed by the Senate five years after it was passed by the lower house. French authorities have stressed the importance of bilateral ties with Turkey and the key role it plays in sensitive strategic issues as a member of NATO, in Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere. However, Sarkozy has long opposed the entry into the European Union of mostly Muslim Turkey, putting a constant strain on the two nations' ties. Turkish authorities have weighed in with caustic remarks about France's past. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has recalled France's colonial history in Algeria and a 1945 massacre there, as well as its role in Rwanda, where some have claimed a French role in the 1994 genocide.

Online University Reviews Study the leading online college critiques, ratings and rankings of accredited leading over the internet universities to locate the most productive online universites reviews for the career.
Online Vet Tech Programs Discover your career about vet tech programs and search the perfect online vet tech applications from our database.