Wednesday, September 28, 2011

In 2006 a bill passed into law that placed an 'undo hardship' on the US Postal Service.


The nation’s postal unions (click title to entry - thank you) organized events at 492 locations across the country Tuesday in support of federal legislation that would relieve the burdensome requirement that postal employees pre-fund decades worth of retirees’ benefits. photo: Jim West | jimwestphoto.com.


That sounds like a lawsuit for the National Labor Relations Board.


I realize Issa wants to pander to constituencies and cronies.  I realize there is legislation by Rep. Stephen Lynch to reverse the "W"rong Doing of the 2006 law.


BUT.


The 2006 laws has imposed a hardship and what appears to be very deliberate on an independent agency of the USA Government, the US Postal Service.  The US Postal Service is a VITAL agency for many, many reasons.


There are also many reasons why this is a hardship and not just on the people that are due to be laid off, but, also a hardship on the country that will be forced to pay higher postal rates through private carriers, it will tax the economic recovery with more people on unemployment, people that are not easily reoriented into other employment as they have specific training and experience.


But, most of all, the Congress is deadlocked with extremists that will provide a near impossible task of passing the Lynch legislation.  It won't be an issue once it gets to the Senate, but, to get it through the House will be a small miracle.


Hardship matters.  The 2006 Law imposes an unfair hardship burden on the US Postal Service to fulfill retirement obligations in ten yeaes.  What the hardship does is not only imposes undue burden on the Post Office, its employees and the nation, but, it sets it up for complete failure when it cannot meet their obligations to the nation.  With such a failure; the OVERPAYMENT of funds into the retirement trust fund or whatever instrument the 2006 bill dreamed up, those monies would become the centerpiece to a private company takeover by demands of another hostile US legislature.  That could happen if the House and Senate are both occupied by extremist GOP.


The US Postal Service Workers Union needs to take this before the National Labor Relations Board for a ruling that would include either structured relief form the 2006 law and/or for an independent arbitrator.to mediate the pension plans for a reasonable solution that sustains the services to the US Post Office as a vital element in the fabric of this nation.  With an independent arbitrator the union could negotiate a pension/retirement contract separate from their working contract that would protect those funds from any takeover by hostile private elements while preserving jobs and upholding its contract with its employees.


Such an outcome would be a disincentive to any hostile takeover if that were the goal.  The pensions and retirements would be protected in the face of any handover to private enterprise.


The US Postal Service has an obligation to this nation and that obligation has been set in stone with centuries of service.  It is a vital instrument to this country and it cannot fail to carry out service that is not necessarily (By the nature of the beast) that efficient and/or streamlined.  


If the US Postal Service were allowed to diminish in its capacity and eventually be legislated out of existence the people of the USA would lose a vital piece of their democracy.  A democracy promised to them by their constitution.  


Journalism is considered the fourth arm of the government and the US Postal Service in no different.  Journalism is the fourth arm of the government through the understandings of the first amendment and the US Postal Service is as much a fourth arm of the government as it provides freedom of information and speech in the way mail delivery.  Delivering news from family, political organizations, non-profit groups and others is just as much a part of the First Amendment as journalism is known to be.


The US Postal Service needs to pursue all venues including a lawsuit with the NTSB as well as seeking the Rep. Stephen Lynch legislation.  There has to be a remedy and that is not an option!

The Sherrif's Officers affiliated with gangs within their department may have and most probably have been coerced into their roles by the gangs within the jail itself.


The number of prisoners far exceeds the ability of the officers to adequately patrol the facility.  Additionally, they may even live in 'resident areas' of large gang groups.  There is a better than good chance the 'in house' gangs are affiliated with 'the prisoned gangs' and may have been coerced into doing just that.  I have no proof, but, suspicion based on the fact the gangs in LA are long standing and very established with long records of success.  They are 'organized crime' than gangs in my opinion and the employees to the LA Jail may be an extension of that dynamic.  No proof. Only strong suspicions.
...“Waistband shootings” (click here) are particularly controversial because the justification for the shootings can conceivably be fabricated after the fact, according to the county monitor’s report. The monitor was careful to point out that the report wasn’t making the case deputies were being dishonest, simply that the spike in those shootings left the department vulnerable to criticism.
Merrick Bobb, special counsel to the county Board of Supervisors, also found a rise in shootings in which deputies didn’t see an actual gun before firing. In those cases, the person may have had a weapon on them, but never brandished it.
Those shootings spiked by 50% last year, according to the report. Last year also had the highest proportion of people shot by deputies who turned out to be unarmed altogether....

It is corruption.  Huge corruption.  But, to turn over every officer in the jail will destabilize the 'innner workings' of the organized crime thus causing potential riots.  I DO BELIEVE, this is a hornet's nest and a very big worry.


Beatings by officers?


Assassinations by officers?  


Unarmed prisoners?  


AND there are no prison riots?  HUH?

ACLU details deputy brutality in Los Angeles County jails (click title to entry - thank you)


Report marks first time civilian witnesses come forward about beatings of inmates

By 
NBCLosAngeles.com
updated 1 minute ago



 The ACLU released a report on Wednesday detailing numerous accounts of deputy brutality directed at Los Angeles County jail inmates.
The report marks the first time civilian witnesses of jail violence came forward to the ACLU with accounts of deputy violence against non-resisting inmates,
NBC station KNBC reported.

"The overwhelming majority of the complaints of deputy brutality came from the 
Men’s Central Jail,” said Margaret Winter, the Associate Director of the 
ACLU’s National Prison Project. "There still was a significant number from Twins Towers of 
also very serious incidents."


As a result of the report, the civil rights organization’s Southern California branch on 
Wednesday called for the resignation of Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca.

They also filed a report for a full criminal and civil rights investigation by 
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to address the accusations of assaults and excessive force
 that have occurred within the jails….

I do believe US Attorney General Eric Holder has to ask higher level law enforcement agencies 
to become involved and if necessary begin to staff the facility with Swat Teams for up profile
law enforcement seeking nothing but orderly conduct.  The fear that probably exists among the 
prison population needs to be defused in order to retake the facility.  While there have been no 
violent prison riots, the take over of the facility occurred regardless.  The 'idea' is to bring 'security' 
to the prison population while oppressing the violence those 'in control' will attempt to manifest
when they know their 'prison hierarchy infrastructure' is now disrupted.

Good luck.

Thank you, Michael Moore ! "Day 12" (click title to entry - thank you)

Thank you Lawrence O'Donnell.


Go, Millions of Citizens, Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!


The protest signs were great!


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


End Greed!


End War!


End Poverty!


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


Wall Street 


Is The Real


Weapons of 


Mass Destruction


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


And those are only two of the signs I saw.  The people of this nation have wanted justice since 2008.  


Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.


You are all wonderful people.  I love everyone of you.


Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you so very much.  I wish I could be there, but, am deeply appreciative of everything you do.

I hope Kindle continues to sell it's old model. I think the original Kindle is easier to read.


I am interested in a reader, not all the jazz.

...Amazon has tailored (click title to entry - thank you) the Android operating system to look unlike any other version of Android out there, with Amazon's media and app store the focus of the user experience.
The tablet has a dual-core processor and eight gigabytes of storage, but no camera or 3G connection, and its screen is just a two-point touchscreen versus the iPad's ability to handle up to 10 points of touch at a time....

The GOP needs to be happy with their field of candidates. Governor Christi has stated over and over he is not committed to being President.

President Barack Obama (click title to entry - thank you)  is greeted by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in Newark, N.J., as he traveled to Paterson, N.J., to view flood damage caused by Hurricane Irene earlier this month.


Where does anyone get the 'idea' they can force a person to run for any office, yet alone the office of the President?  This is silly.  I don't know how many times Governor Christi has stated he isn't going to run and yet people persist.


I believe in asking a person for sponsorship in nomination, but, when one is told the nominee is not interested that is the end of the asking.  


I think this is a mind set by the GOP which believes they can IMPOSE their demands on any American.  Governor Christi is absolutely correct.  If he is not committed to that decision and hasn't seen himself as that leader he is not ready to run.  I think the man knows his own heart, his own mind and his own circumstances both public and personal.  If he states he is not currently interested and has stated same repeatedly, that is the end of the asking.  The GOP needs to move on.


continued...

All the more reason to go forward with "The Affordable Care Act." We need the State Healthcare Insurance Pools.



Additionally, every state can also provide their own Public Option.  That is what Massachusetts did a long time ago and it is called "Mass Health."

Apply for MassHealth Coverage (click here)


MassHealth offers benefits to a wide range of people who meet the eligibility rules. We look at your family size and income to decide if you and your family can get MassHealth. If you are aged 65 or older or need long-term-care services, we also count some of your assets. Immigration status does not affect your eligibility for MassHealth, but may affect the type of benefits MassHealth provides.


"Mass Health" does require documentation for eligibility for the state insurance.  According to the Kaiser Study most of the increases were due to the industry of health care and not due to The Affordable Care Act.  


The Democrats have stated over and over there needs to be cost containment, but, to date that has not happened.  New equipment for hospitals and offices have a depreciation value so that can't be it.  There are more specialists today than before so that can't be it, unless of course they can simply dial up their own value and then the supply and demand side is worthless.  The need is in Family Medicine and The Affordable Care Act supplies incentives for physicians to study and work within that discipline, so it is very needed.  


Most of the health care increases are industry driven and I'll venture to say they are opportunistic as well.

Tornado Confirmed in Hopkins County

Sunday September 25, 2011
White Plains, Kentucky
Photographer states:  Carport and partial roof removed during storm, one resident in home not injured.





The National Weather Service (click title to entry - thank you)  in Paducah says an EF2 tornado hit the Hopkins County, Kentucky, community of White Plains.
Investigators say the twister hit around 8:25 Sunday evening. It had top wind speeds of 120 miles per hour, and it was on the ground for about one-third of a mile.
There are no major injuries associated with the tornado, but it destroyed one frame home and one mobile home, and it damaged several other buildings and knocked over some large trees.


Sunday September 25, 2011
Austin, Texas
Photographer states:  The drought continues to devastate Central Texas. This is the usually pristine and flowing Barton Creek that has been reduced to a small hole of water. Adam and I walked a mile or so of the creek and we only found two holes such as this with water remaining.


"The primary message of the 2012 (Texas) state water plan is a simple one," the introduction states. "In serious drought conditions, Texas does not and will not have enough water to meet the needs of its people, and its businesses, and its agricultural enterprises."

Historical Carbon Dioxide Record from the Vostok Ice Core (Antarctica) (click title to entry - thank you)

...The extension of the Vostok CO2 record shows the present-day levels of CO2 are unprecedented during the past 420 kyr. Pre-industrial Holocene levels (~280 ppmv) are found during all interglacials, with the highest values (~300 ppmv) found approximately 323 kyr BP. When the Vostok ice core data were compared with other ice core data (Delmas et al. 1980; Neftel et al. 1982) for the past 30,000 - 40,000 years, good agreement was found between the records: all show low CO2 values [~200 parts per million by volume (ppmv)] during the Last Glacial Maximum and increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations associated with the glacial-Holocene transition. According to Barnola et al. (1991) and Petit et al. (1999) these measurements indicate that, at the beginning of the deglaciations, the CO2increase either was in phase or lagged by less than ~1000 years with respect to the Antarctic temperature, whereas it clearly lagged behind the temperature at the onset of the glaciations.






The ice schematic above is slightly over two and a quarter miles long/deep from Lake Vostok in Antarctica in 1998.


The Vostok ice core (click here) provides the longest continuous record of Antarctic climatic history. Analysis of the core has been completed to a depth of 3350 meters, representing approximately 440,000 years of climate history.




The current Global Levels of CO2 (carbon dioxide) are now 390.02 (click here)

How are things in Chicago?

September 28, 2011
03z


It is getting cold isn't it?


At least six ‘rare’ waterspouts spotted across Chicago coastal waters (click here)



The National Weather Service is reporting at least six different “rare” waterspout spottings across the Chicago area lakeshore on Saturday.
Before this weekend, only 13 waterspouts had been reported across Chicagoland coastal waters, which runs north through Racine, since 2000. And of those 13, only 12 can be truly classified as similar waterspouts witnessed that day, the National Weather Service says.
As of Saturday evening, at least six different waterspouts were spotted and there is a possibly of more, which are waiting to be confirmed.
The following detail the times and locations for waterspout reports that were called into the National Weather Service Chicago and Milwaukee:
--Multiple reports which have not yet been confirmed at 2 E. Waukegan at 7 a.m.
--Confirmed report east of Lake Forest and southeast of the Great Lakes Naval Base in Waukegan at 10:10 a.m.
--Confirmed report of multiple waterspouts witnessed East of McKinley Marina near the east Milwaukee lakeshore about 10:14 a.m.
--Multiple confirmed reports three to four miles off the shore of the Chicago metro area at at 10:20 a.m.
--Confirmed report of periodic waterspouts reported East of the Hoan Bridge in Milwaukee at 10:28 a.m.
--Confirmed report north of Navy Pier at 12:09 p.m.
--Confirmed report southeast of Kenosha Harbor in Wisconsin at 3:15 p.m.


There was a blast of arctic air about two days ago that came down as a straight line front out of Canada.  Once it hit warm air it turned into this.


September 28, 2011
03:30:15z
UNISYS Infrared Satellite Image USA






September 28, 2011
04.00.14z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite USA






September 28, 2011
03.30.15z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES East Satellite (click title to entry for 12 hour loop - thank you)


There is a Tropical Storm Ophelia in the Atlantic near the Virgin Islands.  It will go north and not approach the USA coast.


September 28, 2011
04.00.14z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES West Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop)


There is a Cat 4 Hurricane in the East Pacific that will remain in the ocean without traveling anywhere near the USA or Mexico.  It is Hurricane Hilary.


In the Hemispheric view below, TS Ophelia and Hilary are at approximately the same latitude.


Ophelia is at 18.40 and is rated a Tropical Depression right now and Hilary is at 17.40 and a Cat 2 now.




September 28, 2011
03.30.15z
UNISYS Water Vapor North and West Hemisphere Satellite Image (click here for 12 hour loop)

Both these storms were far more powerful and moving north.  Given their weakening trajectory it means they are losing water vapor access as they move north and further away from continental water vapor at the coastlines.  Continental water vapor happens at the shorelines of North America because of the interaction of air and land and the temperature differences that allow for the vaporization of water in wave turbulence/exposure.


September 21, 2011
Ashford, Washington


The mountain in the picture is Mt. Rainier.