Saturday, August 31, 2013

The American Worker has no loyalities to Wall Street, it is quite the opposite.

The ACWA was once the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Today, those initials are valued for their Vintage value. (click here)

The American clothing industry is now in China. Imagine that. Americans actually throwing up their arms in surrender to the 'cheap economy' of oppressed and impoverished laborers. This is America?

Since when do Americans NEED deep, deep discounts in order to put their children on a bus to school?

By Bruce Watson
Aug 31st 2013 6:00AM

Before the deep, deep discounts (click here) and back-to-school sales, before it was the end of summer and the start of college football season, Labor Day signified just one thing: respect for America's organized labor. Originally proposed by the secretary of New York's Central Labor Union, the holiday was slowly adopted, state by state, until 1894. That year, the massive Pullman car strike ended with the massacre of 30 people, $80 million in property damage, and a national labor force that was furious. In an attempt to smooth things over, Congress and President Grover Cleveland rushed through a bill that made Labor Day a federal holiday.
American military policy is being built via Blackberry, wire services, telephone conferencing with a default setting to guns and a pay off to Wall Street. 

I don't think so!

Hagel never prepared for the Russian meeting with Putin before the G20 because he has been arm wrestling with the military and Right Wingers like Speaker Boner over Sequester cuts.

Now, without a meeting with the President of Russia the USA Congress it going to authorize the War Powers Act against Syria. Powers was absent and Hagel unprepared and the Syrian ally of Russia was disregarded as significant. That is only the beginning.

There is no way a War Powers Vote against Syria is justified. This is about the USA military and crony money and that is all this is about.

Is Samanatha Powers wants to propose a new approach and POLICY toward genocide and chemical weapons it takes research and concensus. Not the blantant misuse of the USA military.





There is no reason to convene Congress unless it is for the authority to conduct war.

The USA military played the Obama Administration like a fine tuned fiddle. An Irish one at that. Indeed, an Irish Fiddle to dance the Irish Gig. 

I don't think it is the Republicans President Obama has to worry about when it comes to impeachment. 

He has already lied. The United Nations has spoken and wants NO violence, including bombs and rockets. The United Nations wants talks to bring about a joint shared government. The entire war mongering belongs to Obama.




Samantha Power, (click here) the newly appointed US ambassador to the UN, has spent her career urging international intervention in cases of genocide.
The gassing of hundreds of Syrians should have been a perfect opportunity to speak out and force quick action.
However, the Irish-born academic was nowhere to be seen and failed to attend an emergency UN Security Council meeting during the week....

The Global Concensus already exists and it is opposed to the use of violence in Syria.

Remember where this was first stated, because it sure as hell wasn't the USA media.

Professor Ake Sellstrom, (click here) the man leading a team of UN inspectors in Syria, is not the first Swede to be given the job of investigating the use chemical weapons in the Middle East.

Following in the footsteps of Hans Blix – who searched for Saddam Hussein’s ultimately non-existent weapons of mass destruction in 2003 – Professor Sellstrom has been sent on a “fact-finding” mission to three locations in Syria. In one of them, the village of Khan-al-Assal near Aleppo, it is alleged that chemical weapons were used in March, killing 26 people.

Professor Sellstrom, who has held several high-profile roles within the UN, was the chief inspector of Unscom (click here), the special commission set up after the Gulf War in the early 1990s to determine whether chemical weapons were used during that conflict.

Several Western states, including France and Germany, have demanded that Professor Sellstrom be given access to Ghouta, near Damascus, where it is alleged by opposition groups that hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed by chemical weapons on Wednesday.

Professor Sellstrom said: “It sounds like something that should be looked into. It will depend on whether any UN member state goes to the Secretary-General and says we should look at this event. We are in place to do so.”

It would seem as though the United Nations does not hold the view of President Obama. At all !!!!!!!

29 August 2013
...Earlier today, (click here) Mr. Ban said he spoke by phone with United States President Barack Obama about how the United Nations, the US and the world can work together, as well as “how we can expedite the process of the investigation.”
Mr. Ban said he expressed his wish that the investigation team should be allowed to continue their work as mandated by the Member States to probe the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Government at Khan al-Asal and other claims.
“I told him that we will surely share the information and the analysis of samples and evidence with Members of the Security Council and UN members in general,” Mr. Ban said.
Also today, Mr. Ban discussed the investigation and the overall situation in Syria with Austrian President Heinz Fischer and Chancellor Werner Faymann.
“We are of the opinion that the situation should be resolved in a peaceful way through dialogue,” he told journalists after the meetings....

The USA has problems with killing, too. 35 people have been shot in Baltimore City in 14 weeks.


60% of the Philippine Capital is under water. The world has bigger problems than Syria's Civil War.

August 20, 2013

At least eight people were killed and more than 100,000 fled their homes (click here) amid heavy rains for a third day that swamped as much as 60 percent of the Philippine capital and nearby provinces.

Forty one are injured and four are missing as torrential rains overflowed dams and rivers and triggered landslides in provinces in the biggest island of Luzon, according to the latest bulletin of the disaster and risk-reduction agency. At least 20 percent of the Manila region remains submerged as of 7 p.m. from as much as 60 percent around midday, Office of Civil Defense spokesman Major Rey Balido said by phone.

President Benigno Aquino suspended work in government offices in Manila for a second day, prompting Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and exchanges to keep currency, bonds and stock markets closed. Five provinces including Cavite and Laguna have declared a state of calamity. Mayor Strike Revilla of Bacoor in Cavite, south of Manila, said the flooding in his town is worse than 2009 when typhoon Ketsana swamped Luzon and killed more than 400. A road leading to Aquino’s office was flooded, Aquino spokeswoman Abigail Valte said...

2016, already? Joking. Shame on everyone. There are people dead and dying in Syria, but, hey makes for great politics in the USA, the world's only Superpower.

Positions on military action (click here) and going to war are critical during presidential primaries and general elections. Where potential 2016 candidates stand on intervention in Syria now could very well come up on the campaign trail in Iowa and New Hampshire.
These moments have a way of coming back to haunt presidential candidates and they will be made to answer for their positions just as then Sen. Barack Obama's opposition to the war in Iraq helped him in his primary against Hillary Clinton.
If you're in the opposition party, standing apart from the administration is key. Here's where possible 2016ers stand on Syria..

Of course as soon as the saintly USA enters the scene the dying ends. Right.




KABUL, Afghanistan -- A suicide bomber (click here) slipped into a crowd of mourners at a funeral in northern Afghanistan on Friday morning, waited until the district governor and two of his bodyguards were leaving the mosque, and detonated his vest, killing eight people and wounding 16, officials said.
The attack, the latest incident in a particularly bloody week, succeeded in killing Sheikh Sadruddin Saadi, the governor of the Dasht-e-Archi district of Kunduz province and the apparent target, said Mohammad Khalil Andarabi, the provincial police chief. The funeral was in honor of a local man who died of natural causes, Andarabi added.
No one claimed immediate responsibility for the attack, which took place around 8 a.m., but analysts said they suspected the Taliban. Saadi, a high-profile mujahedeen leader in northern Kunduz province during the Soviet occupation, is a member of the anti-Taliban Jamiat-e-Islami party....

We don't belong in Syria. We never did.

American Deaths (click here)

Since war began (3/19/03):44883532
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03) 
43473424
Since Handover (6/29/04):36272899
Since Obama Inauguration (1/20/09):256128
Since Operation New Dawn:6639


Definitely have to know about the people that can't speak for themselves anymore. That is a requirement. Why call them brave if they didn't earn it after all.

The Global Community has to say NO to the USA on any further lending! A review of it's credit rating is in order.

Syria is a policing action. It is to remove chemical weapon capacity from Syria to insure allies are safe. The USA is already at war. There is no need for Congress to convene.

The war in Afghanistan is already a reason for President Obama to insure the safety of the region. There is no reason for Congress to convene. Besides if this is sincerely a police action to end the chemical weapon delivery capacity of Syria to our allies, why wait? 

Nancy Pelosi has already FALLEN IN LINE. Now, those seeking monies for their districts simply have to do the same and extend the danger in the region and prolong the withdrawal from Afghanistan and begin the second front of war all over again while the spending in military escalates the ONCE AGAIN the domestic health of the American economy is deterred to Wall Street stockholders. 

The USA is corrupted to the core and this is a primary example. Supposedly, President Obama believes in peace. Right.

A suicide bomber (click here) detonated his explosives near a police checkpoint and a bank in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, one of two attacks in the heartland of the insurgency that killed 18 people over 24 hours. Separately, a NATO service member was killed by insurgents in the country's east, according to a military statement.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for any of the attacks, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai blamed the bombings on the Taliban. The militants have escalated their activity as U.S.-led foreign forces reduce their presence in the country and are in the final phase of handing over responsibility for security to Afghan troops.
Karzai said the militants should stop taking orders from foreigners — a veiled reference to Pakistan, whose intelligence services are alleged to be in league with the Afghan Taliban. The president said the security transition is nearly complete and the militants were desperate to derail it....

This is the way it plays out. The Congress extends the money to the military and Obama saves face as a great Commander and Chief while moving the timeline in Afghanistan in realization that Russia has been a bad country as is Syria and the region is at risk from now on.

But, 'intellectually' this is not Iraq.  
By: David Dayen
Monday February 14, 2011 8:55 am

...But buried deeply (click here) in these 359 pages of ugly surprises is a provision that would mean one community in America would do a lot better than all of the others. The legislation added an estimated $450 million for a particular bit of defense spending that the Department of Defense did not ask for and does not want. 

The item is a down payment that would obligate the federal government to future payments that could well be three or four times the increased spending added to this particular piece of legislation, with a big portion of the funds flowing to two cities in Ohio—Cincinnati, where Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) grew up, and Dayton, the largest city in his congressional district. 

The money will go to pay the costs to General Electric Co.’s General Electric Aviation unit and the British-owned Rolls Royce Group for their development of an engine for the new Joint Strike Fighter aircraft—money that looks, feels, and smells very much like an earmark....

Speaker of the House John Boehner is a master of bringing pork contracts back to his home district. The two most well known projects -both of which the Pentagon has declared are completely unnecessary- is a replacement engine for the International Joint Strike Fighter (estimated at $29 Billion) and the refurbishing of M1 tanks so they can be shipped to Arizona to sit in storage (estimated at $17 Billion).
What's your response to Republicans like Boehner who cry and bleat constantly about the need to reduce spending, but absolutely refuse to give up the $46 Billion in pork barrel spending that's going on in their own district?


Oh, that was a couple years ago, huh? Right.


29 Aug 2013 

Last night, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)  (click here) sent a letter to the president requesting that he clearly articulate to the American people and Congress "his objectives, policy, and strategy for any potential intervention in Syria." He told the president that it was essential that he address "the basis any use of force would be legally justified and how the justification comports with the exclusive authority of Congressional authorization under Article I of the Constitution."

The Speaker wrote that "our nation’s response to the deterioration and atrocities in Syria has implications not just in Syria, but also for America’s credibility across the globe, especially in places like Iran." 
 
And he expressed concern over "potential scenarios our response might trigger or accelerate. These considerations include the Assad regime potentially losing command and control of its stock of chemical weapons or terrorist organizations – especially those tied to al Qaeda – gaining greater control of and maintaining territory." 

There are chemical weapons reported that are tied to al Qaeda? LIE.

From the letter:

I respectfully request that you, as our country’s commander-in-chief, personally make the case to the American people and Congress for how potential military action will secure American national security interests, preserve America’s credibility, deter the future use of chemical weapons, and, critically, be a part of our broader policy and strategy. 

In addition, it is essential you address on what basis any use of force would be legally justified and how the justification comports with the exclusive authority of Congressional authorization under Article I of the Constitution....

Speaker Boner has been doing nothing but playing the political game of impeachment and displacement of the authority of the Executive Branch to the House. This is all political with the Right Wing. It is their 'base' they are showing how the real President actually is. It is all rhetorical. So, now our military is the puppet of political rhetoric. Gee, I wonder where this is headed?

In the USA, the Labor Day Holiday is just another day.




Will you be barbecuing (click here) this Labor Day, or slaving away at the office? According to new survey data from Bloomberg BNA and Beyond.com, many Americans will have the somewhat ironic pleasure of laboring on the day that’s meant to commemorate the “social and economic achievements of the American worker.”...

This has nothing to do with us as a country. This is about creating jobs through blood money and stockholder returns besides. This is an EXCUSE to nullify "The Sequester" and INCREASE military spending above the sequester limits.

The Double Standard of the USA is quite incredible. No different than the settlement between the Football League Owners and the Players. Why does there have to be a dedicated amount of money for RESEARCH? 

...“Every dollar (click here) we invested to map the human genome returned $140 to our economy — every dollar,” he said. “Today our scientists are mapping the human brain to unlock the answers to Alzheimer’s. They’re developing drugs to regenerate damaged organs, devising new materials to make batteries 10 times more powerful. Now is not the time to gut these job-creating investments in science and innovation.”...

How convenient the American media can't even come to the defense of the best interest of the players. The Obama Administration already took the heat off the football owners in monies for brain research to protect the sport from disappearing off the Wall Street Map.

The USA media has just run a campaign about OUR DEMOCRACY and demanding legislation like the British in order to FORCE a vote on Syria. What does anyone think that is? Peace? Hell, no. Peace is peace, not war. 

Where is the PUSH for funding for Pre-School education? Oh, that is government spending isn't it? 

The only thing the American Media is interested in is power, nothing but power. They want to have a purpose that ties them to the power structure in DC to make it a method for advertisers to get what they want regardless of the target. If there isn't a price tag attached to it, the American media isn't interested in bringing about an agenda of any kind.

Peace is not profitable for power players, after all how is the petroleum industry going to have their way with Russia. Oh, Russia? I thought there were missiles parked at their borders.

The entire mess with the Olympics during the 2008 elections was to displace a sitting President. Why? 

Come on, there are lots of pieces to this puzzle.

So, Romney could be the puppet the media is doing with Obama right now.

How do you make a George W. Bush out of a President intent on having diplomatic relations work?

Several ways, but, political pressure is effective enough. 

Obama needs to declare the USA a PEACE ECONOMY and get over it!!!

This is all a lie. Obama might not know it yet, but, as soon as Congress is involved it will have a Wall Street priority and the legislation will be nothing more than a web of entanglements.

















She's got a great smile and super teeth. Have a great Labor Day.


"Skepticism about what military power can cause....and what American military power can do in the long term."

The problem in the Middle East is the denuclearization of Israel. That is what Syria was stating in this case in 2003. 

The USA was USING THE EXCUSE of WMD to invade Iraq. We now know that was a ploy by the Bush/Cheney White House and it involved a cabal. Syria was worried the invasion into Iraq would not be the end of it. That is the part the world ignores. The American people do have a conscience and while that is limited in power in some ways they do not approve of rampant war for the sake of 'building an American/Christian safe environment." Basically, Americans aren't interested in owning the world. Other nations don't realize how profoundly sound the American opposition to war without end is contained in our culture.

Getting Israel to disarm from nuclear weapons is going to be very difficult. The Six Day War was never far away from reaching for Israel's nuclear capacity. It would require profound, sincere and lasting treaties. It is possible, but, difficult. Especially now when so many of the nations of North Africa is in flux to their leadership, their loyalty to old values and what the future indeed holds. It is basically meaningless at this point to ask all the nations of North Africa and the Mideast to come to a diplomatic table to resolve to what Syria was striving for within this declaration in 2003. The stability in the leadership in the region is too unpredictable to believe any treaty would be ratified by those same nations. The disarming of the Mideast and North Africa would have to be ratified before it would go into effect.

I am quite confident this is on the agenda of The State Department and the Obama Administration has repeatedly stated "There is no military solution," and there isn't. We all know any sincere war between nations in the Mideast and North Africa would result in loss of civilization.



Posted Thu 17 Apr 2003, 5:54am AEST
 
Syria has asked the UN Security Council to help transform the Middle East into a "zone free of weapons of mass destruction".
Accused by the United States of developing chemical weapons, Syria insists it is not doing so but charges that Washington is ignoring Israel, which is widely assumed to have nuclear weapons.
Syria has circulated a draft resolution in the 15-nation Security Council, welcoming all initiatives to create a "zone free of weapons of mass destruction, in particular nuclear weapons".
But the US ambassador to the UN, John Negroponte, says Syria is jumping the gun.
"We think the focus at the moment is the search for WMD in Iraq," he said.
"Secondly, we are conerned about Syria's own WMD and obviously, if a council member or any member of the United Nations proposes a resolution for consideration, we are prepared to consider it, that doesn't mean to adopt it, embrace it or endorse it in any way, shape or form," Mr Negroponte said.

Friday, August 30, 2013

Have a Happy Labor Day Weekend

August 29, 2013

MOSCOW - While global economy remains at risk, (click here) Moscow intends to ensure sustainable, inclusive growth as a common goal for the Group of Twenty (G20), President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.
"Russian G20 Presidency is on the verge of entering its most important stage, which is the leaders' summit to be convened on September 5-6 in St. Petersburg," Putin said in his address published on the Kremlin website.
Putin expressed his hope that G20 could find a joint solution for capital markets' development on global and national levels, strengthen multilateral trade and energy markets stability, as well as fight corruption.
According to Putin, during this year the G20 made progress in implementing the framework for strong, sustainable and balanced growth, job creation, the international financial system reform, and strengthening of the multilateral trade.
"The G20-drafted joint Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting can be by all means considered the most prominent step towards modernization and coordination of our countries'tax policies in 100 years," Putin said....

Why is J P Morgan moving to London? One guess. It doesn't want to comply with USA Regulations. That is not a new decision. "Libor" (BBA Libor - British Bankers Association London Interbank Offered Rates) is there, too. The Libor was manipulated for the benefit of the banks in recent years.

Regulators agree on GLOBAL SWAP Rules ahead of G20 Summit (click here)


WASHINGTON 
Fri Aug 30, 2013 4:32pm EDT
 
(Reuters) - Finance watchdogs on Friday laid out joint rules for the $630 trillion derivatives industry that was at the core of the 2007-09 credit meltdown, in a report to the G20 most powerful economies of the world.

The high-level agreement comes ahead of a G20 summit next week in St Petersburg, Russia, where world leaders will discuss progress they have made to tighten the rules for banks and prevent a repeat of the devastating crisis.
While much progress toward the global reform agenda had been made, other points still needed to be sorted out, regulators from around the world said in a statement.
"The resolution of the unresolved issues is important," the group of supervisory agencies said in a report that was disseminated by the (CFTC) U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the country's top derivatives regulator.
Diverging views on how to rein in the banks that dominate derivatives trading caused a trans-Atlantic rift last year between Gary Gensler, head of the CFTC, and politicians and regulators in Europe and elsewhere.
But in July, the CFTC reached an agreement with the European Union that allowed foreign branches of banks to comply with local rules, as long as they are compatible with the rules their parent organizations must obey at home....

 

These are legal issues that need to be settled according to treaties. I suppose the Phillipines might feel threatened, but, there won't be any wars to undo what treaties have already established.

The China Daily
August 30, 2013
The United States has accelerated expansion (click here) of its military presence in the Asia-Pacific, as its defense chief on Friday reaffirmed the progress Washington and Manila have made to allow a bigger US military footprint in the Philippines.  
Chuck Hagel held talks on increasing rotational presence by US troops in the Southeast Asian country with President Benigno Aquino III amid Manila's tensions with Beijing over the South China Sea, AFP reported.  
Analysts warned, however, that the Philippines risks losing part of its sovereignty by agreeing to expand the US military presence in the country, while Washington is sending a dangerous signal to the region that it supports the Philippines' claims on the South China Sea disputes.
It may be "a strategic mistake by Manila to invite the US troops back to the country," said Wu Shicun, director of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies....

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 (click here)

THE HAGUE, Aug. 29 -- "The arbitration (click here) request initiated by the Philippines concerning the dispute of the South China sea has no legal ground", Huang Huikang, a senior Chinese diplomat, said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Thursday.

Huang, director-general of the Treaty and Law Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, who is now visiting The Hague for the centennial anniversary of Peace Palace, attended as the special representative of the Chinese Foreign Minister the Ministerial Conference of "Peaceful Settlement of International Disputes".

Huang stated that China's refusal of the arbitration request by the Philippines is well founded on and strictly in accordance with international law....
 

..."The core issue of the South China Sea dispute between China and the Philippines is the illegal occupation by the Philippines of some islands and reefs of the China's Nansha islands", Huang emphasized....
There is a greater evil. It is invisible and has yet to make it's way into warfare, again.

The overlord of the moment is the return of chemical warfare.

I suppose. Is there the option of NOT RATIFYING a Peace Convention? It would think any country that once ratified the Convention would have to move within it's own government in a significant capacity to leave the Convention.

Example: Would the Neocons of the Right Wing consider returning the use of chemical weapons? They probably would. If that plays to measure the willingness of other nations to do the same is to realize if the USA reversed it's position the remainder of the Convention may deteriorate. 

If the USA enforces the Convention by eliminating Assad's capacity will that enforce it? Yes. If the USA recognizes the use of chemical weapons as a reason to destroy missiles and other capacity to deploy, then it would continue to uphold the Convention. 

Just my notes

1426 with over 400 children

hospital personnel were struggling for their lives - they are suppose to be exempt from any weapons - Geneva Conventions

shelled neighborhoods to destroy evidence

un access was restricted and controlled = snipers

The dangers of looking the other way

Choice today has great consequences...??????????

WWI started a clear red line for the international community

"A stiff breeze" - True. Sarin gas can travel over a distance.

Kelly Kennedy
USA TODAY 3:49 a.m. EST 
December 14, 2012

WASHINGTON -- U.S. bombings of Iraqi munitions factories (click here) in January 1991 released a plume of sarin gas that traveled more than 300 miles to affect American troops in Saudi Arabia, although military officials claimed at the time that chemical alarms triggered by the gas were false, a study released today shows....

Ah, credibility is on the line for the USA - I don't buy that. This opinion swings both ways. No matter what President Obama does he will be ridiculed for political gains by USA politicians and other nations. I think he is fully able to discern the problem, the military capacity of the USA and act within his CONSTITUTIONAL role as Commander and Chief. Imagine what Congress would have done with the capture of bin Laden?

Everyone is watching. Twitter probably.

What is the risk of doing nothing? No risk. The capacity of the USA to know what is being conduct by Assad is significant. The only sincere risk the USA has to realize is the risk to allies and their wishes for their nation and that of their people.

Will they remember the world stood aside and allowed Assad complete impunity? No cares? There is no impunity here at all. Where does anyone get that idea? Assad is under attack by his own people. He is at war to remain as leader of his nation. What impunity exists for him? He is now known to act desperately against his people while killing the innocent. There is no impunity here. He has committed human rights violations. He has killed children, where in the Geneva Conventions does that allow impunity?

What is difficult for the USA at this point is to realize they can't stop Assad within the legal limits presented to it. The people of the USA are used to power mongers like Cheney. The USA TAKES it's victories without question to "The Victory" itself. That is Old World.

Our choices will effect our role in the world. Really? No it won't. The SPENDING and "The Sequester" will effect our role in the world. Does anyone actually believe the USA will lose status if there is NO KILLING by the USA? No rocket launches? That is not a realistic statement and only enforces an unrealistic view the American people hold of their nation.

Crime against conscience and humanity and it matters to us. Not so much. It really depends on whether the USA can add to the survival of the people of Syria. I am not convinced of that. If the USA were ever to enter the borders of Syria to fight a war, many more people would die than Assad can kill alone. Blunting his ability to kill can be helpful, but, for the USA to enter the war would only cause greater numbers of dead, including children.

Here come the allies. Arab Nations, ..., Turkey is stating emphatically this is Assad's problem. Fine.

The UN investigation will acknowledge the weapons were used and not pointing a finger at the evil doer. 

The USA makes it's own decisions. Americans are tired of war. Not so much. We are tired of the lies and the deceptions and the NATIONAL DEBT of military obligations while we are UNEMPLOYED and UNDERPAID!

The negotiating table. It would be good, but, we are not going to fight a civil war.

There is no doubt there are human rights abuses. The problem is what ends them and how best to bring that about. The danger to other nations cannot be denied. They are our allies. They have been willing to go above their ability to assist with human refugees. They are incredible countries. 

I don't see why the diplomatic efforts can't go forward. I need to hear from others. I think Turkey has made it's views known. 

The percentage of the dead is not that of genocide. The numbers don't reflect that, so there is no sense in making that argument. 

The reporting is very precise. There are estimates of dead numbering 80,000 to over 106,000. That is not genocide, so I refuse to participate in that deception. 

The chemical weapons attack happened and are in full view of the world. Assad is not regarded as a leader of his people regardless of his position in control of his military's capacity to some extent. Assad is about in the same place as Saddam at this point. He is alone. He is not part of an Arab League and as a matter of fact he has been disdained for his treatment of the people of his nation.

Syria's current civil war is a result of a larger picture, including that of the rise of the Shi'ites that have traditionally manifested only in radicalized groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic Jihad and all the famous clubs of death. There is a problem. The Shi'ites are seeking a stable existence in the world and compared to other nations, their secure hold on their status is very new, since the Iranian Revolution where our diplomatic mission fell to kidnapping.

Assad is a Shi'ite.

Will the USA's rockets stop the killing? No. It will hopefully destroy the missile capacity that threaten allies. That needs to be a clear ability and not the US military's best guess to the direction of the assault.

It is up to President Obama. I am confident he will seek the truth, make a decision and act to end danger to other nations. It will not end the civil war and it still won't secure the chemical weapon plants of Syria, but, it will end the capacity to deliver them to other nations. 

Will Syria be more willing to settle in diplomatic circles should their missile capacity be destroyed? Quite possibly. As a matter of fact there would be more reason for Assad to end his reign of terror. I don't envy the President. No matter his decision, the close scrutiny by him has saved lives. That is a fact.

End.

Other global headlines. The USA attack on Syria is nowhere.

NEW YORK (AP) A U.S. appeals court (click here) has upheld the conviction of a Cuban-born philanthropist convicted of a multimillion-dollar fraud.

Alberto Vilar has been wearing an electronic bracelet since the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered him freed on bail last year pending appeal.

The appeals court on Friday upheld his conviction. But it ordered a resentencing so the judge can reconsider how much money was lost. The amount lost affects how much time Vilar and his co-defendant Gary Alan Tanaka must spend in prison.

Vilar was convicted in November 2008 and sentenced to nine years in prison. Tanaka was sentenced to five years in prison.

The opera-loving Vilar was estimated to be worth nearly a billion dollars at one time and gave generously to music companies.

Sounds like fun to me. These are the concerns of the USA allies in the Southern Hemisphere.

Tribute to nights of hedonism brings the past back to life (click here)
August 31, 2013
It became known as Sydney's party to end all parties. Newspaper reports called it an ''orgy of drunkenness'', breathlessly reporting shocking scenes of canoodling couples, all-in brawls and wanton vandalism.
''Once a howling mob found a ladder and tried to climb up to the windows,'' a scandalised Martin Carrick, from the lord mayor's office, told reporters.
''But we caught them,'' he added, grimly....

Rudd was the last Prime Minister to be effected by the Wall Street Global Economic Collapse. He was elected in 2007 which was the beginnings of the obvious.

Gillard carried the worst of it.

Australia's military is about 1.7% of its GDP. It is ranked 13th out of 15th in spending only to be followed by Canada and Turkey.

Of course, the USA ranks first in spending at $682 billion and 4.4% of GDP. The only other nation that has 4.4% GDP from the military is Russia, but, spends only 90.7 billion. That is a complete embarassment to the USA. Seven and a half time the spending of Russia. But, alas we only spend four times more than China which derives about 2 percent of its GDP from the military. The USA spending on it's military is the total of all of the countries in the top fifteen besides itself except for Australia, Canada and Turkey.

It takes 12 other countries spending to match that of the USA. I do believe it creates a monster and not that of a benevolent country.

August 31, 2013
Tom Allard

The Gillard government (click here) oversaw the smallest increase in cost of living of any Australian government for at least 25 years despite the introduction of the carbon tax, a new study has found.
Moreover, Australian households have seen real incomes - disposable income minus cost of living increases - rise 15 per cent since just after Labor took office, giving the average household a $5324 a year boost, or $102 a week.
The results of the survey by the University of Canberra's national centre for social and economic modelling go much of the way to answering the question Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has asked repeatedly throughout the election campaign: ''Are we better off than we were six years ago?''...

Why is the media going through this exercise? Why is Speaker Boner and his Right Wing likely to oppose this measure by the President?

Because low Presidential Approval Ratings lead to better outcomes for the GOP in off year elections? 

Anytime there are more GOP in Congress the better the play ground for Wall Street, everyone knows that.

Sunday, 11 Aug 2013 05:26 PM
By Greg Richter 

Facing a series of scandals (click here) involving everything from the IRS to the NSA – in addition to the growing unpopularity of his signature healthcare law -- President Barack Obama's job approval ratings are at near record lows, sinking to levels last seen more than a year and a half ago.
Gallup's daily tracking survey on Saturday showed the president at 41 percent approval, a 7-point drop from just a day earlier. His disapproval rating was at 50 percent on Saturday. His approval rating rose 1 percent on Sunday to 42 percent.
Real Clear Politics' average of recent polls put Obama's approval at 43.6 percent and his disapproval at 51.1....

President Obama needs to decide what is decisive action in Syria. He needs to find his footing with facts and a clear understanding from the international community this is best course for the Syrian people and the region. He needs to decide that based on allies and stability of nations. 

I trust him to do the right thing. But, this media hype it is all about the politics and what impact the President's decision will have on 2014. 

I wish the FCC really should do something about this mess. I mean Nationalism?  

29% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction (click here)

I forget where I am sometimes, too. 

56% Say Their Family Displays Flag on Most National Holidays (click here) 

Most polls have President Obama's Job Approval rating somewhere between 44% and 46%. The only other Presidents with worse were that of George H. W. Bush and Richard M. Nixon. Go figure. 

Given Bush was about the same as Obama's low end of 44%, it is safe to say any resemblance will guarantee this approval rating will at least remain there.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution has a "Timeline of Chemical Weapons Attacks" (click here)