Tuesday, January 08, 2013

What else is new? The biggest scammers in the business and they are crying boo, hoo.

Did they run out of money again? So, a lawsuit 'is a feel good feeling' in a world unappreciative of their talents?

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON | Tue Jan 8, 2013 4:16pm EST


...The move (click here) would be something of a shock, given that AIG just launched a high-profile television ad campaign called "Thank you, America," in which it offers the public its gratitude for the bailout. On Tuesday, the company promoted the ads on Twitter, even as it came under fire over the lawsuit.

Securities experts said AIG's board needs to consider the matter as part of its fiduciary duty, but also said it was unlikely they will actually join.

AIG said its board would meet Wednesday to discuss joining a lawsuit filed against the government by the insurer's former chief executive, Maurice "Hank" Greenberg.

Greenberg, whose Starr International owned 12 percent of AIG before its near-collapse, has accused the New York Fed of using the rescue to bail out Wall Street banks at the expense of shareholders, and of being a "loan shark" by charging exorbitant interest of 14.5 percent on the initial loan....
I think AIG needs a pay check loan if they think they were played for high interest rates!
Name Bush and Paulson in the lawsuit, they set the rates.

Here is some sound advice for AIG;

6. Lines of credit from finance lenders. (click here) Finance lenders such as Household offer small lines of credit to consumers with less than perfect credit histories. These credit lines range from $2,000-$5,000 with interest rates from 25-35% APR.
Everybody has to try I suppose.

AIG is like the child that never leaves home.

There are actually people that believe 'Doing Nothing' and putting more guns in the hands of Americans will end this? Joking.

The American Media is still having this antiquated discussion?


Amazing.

This is simply the latest article regarding the actions of James Holmes' in the news. Has everyone forgotten James Holmes' planned for the possibility of other gunmen in the audience in the theater. He released tear gas canisters to stop anyone from firing back at him. He also was wearing body armor. Do theater goers regularly carry gas masks and body armor along with their guns?

By CLAYTON SANDELL (@Clayton_Sandell) , CAROL McKINLEY and CHRISTINA NG(@ChristinaNg27)
CENTENNIAL, Colo., Jan. 8, 2013
A gasoline-soaked carpet, (click here for video) loud music and a remote control car were part of an elaborate plan by accused Aurora gunman James Holmes' to trick someone into triggering a blast that would destroy his apartment and lure police to the explosion while he shot up a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., according to court testimony today....

How is this left out of the discussion? Has the NRA carried out a successful propaganda campaign and once again opened the American people up to their own ability to disregard THE FACTS and THE DANGERS?

Keith Coffman
Reuters
1:06 p.m. CSTJanuary 8, 2013

...Police say Holmes, who bought his movie ticket 12 days in advance, left the screening a few minutes after it started and re-entered Theater 9 at the Century 16 multiplex a short time later dressed in tactical body armor, a gas mask and helmet.

Armed with a semi-automatic rifle, shotgun and pistol, police say, he then lobbed a tear gas cannister into the auditorium and sprayed the audience with bullets....

More guns doesn't stop this!

More guns doesn't stop this!

More guns doesn't stop this!

More guns doesn't stop this!

More guns doesn't stop this!

More guns doesn't stop this!

More guns doesn't stop this!

Arming teachers and administrators doesn't stop this.

Arming teachers and administrators doesn't stop this. 

Arming teachers and administrators doesn't stop this. 

Arming teachers and administrators doesn't stop this. 

Arming teachers and administrators doesn't stop this. 

Arming teachers and administrators doesn't stop this. 

Arming teachers and administrators doesn't stop this. 

SWAT TEAMS sometimes can't stop the killing until efforts exceed the arming of the gunman. 

SWAT TEAMS sometimes can't stop the killing until efforts exceed the arming of the gunman.

SWAT TEAMS sometimes can't stop the killing until efforts exceed the arming of the gunman.

SWAT TEAMS sometimes can't stop the killing until efforts exceed the arming of the gunman.

SWAT TEAMS sometimes can't stop the killing until efforts exceed the arming of the gunman.

SWAT TEAMS sometimes can't stop the killing until efforts exceed the arming of the gunman.

SWAT TEAMS sometimes can't stop the killing until efforts exceed the arming of the gunman.

Published August 16, 2012
FoxNews.com

...Two sheriff's deputies in Louisiana (click here) have been shot to death and two others injured after an early-morning shootout in St. John the Baptist Parish, west of New Orleans....

..."Another person exited that trailer with an assault weapon and ambushed my two officers," Tregre said. Two deputies were killed and a third was wounded. Two suspects were wounded in the shootout before officers subdued them, Tregre said....


What about this don't people understand? 

Trained and equipped officers can't defend themselves against assault weapons that appear out of nowhere.

What makes any woman or man believe they can do better than police officers?

What is this DENIAL of the truth all about? It sure isn't about saving the lives of children!

After 39 deaths, the fungal meningitis infection had entered a second phase.

Dr. April Pettit is an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee. Her discovery prompted a national alert that may have saved lives.

I wonder what her bonus was? I suppose the idea she was saving lives was enough to motivate a dedicated professional.

Fri, Dec 21, 2012

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health update yesterday, alerting physicians to the continued concern for the development of spinal or paraspinal infections in those who had received injections of MPA before the recall of the potentially contaminated drug on Sept. 26....
...there is increased reason for concern about the possibility of infections below the skin at or near the spinal injection site.
According to NBCNews.com , researchers from three of the 19 affected states had magnetic resonance imaging tests performed on 128 of such people who now had new or worsening symptoms, such as injection site pain. The MRI testing revealed 52 percent of those tested had signs of an active infection, ranging from an abscess to infection of the bone....
...Current Data on Fungal Meningitis Outbreak 2012
Although neither physician knew it at the time, the actions of Dr. April Pettit, a Tennessee physician, and Dr. Marion Kainer of the The Tennessee Department of Health  in the identification of fungus as a cause of a recently diagnosed case of meningitis and then linking the source of the infection to a contaminated injectable drug used in spinal injections, was the beginning of a public health nightmare....

I doubt sincerely the USA military needs nor wants blood drenched oil from Nigeria.

Jim Lane November 28, 2012
...The Committee-passed annual Defense Authorization (click here) bill would have blocked efforts to develop a commercial supply of cost-competitive advanced biofuels as detailed in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Energy (DOE), and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) led a successful effort to strike language in the bill that would have restricted DOD from buying any fuels that cost more than traditional fuels.  This language, which was added by Senator Inhofe during mark-up, was a direct assault on the Defense Department’s advanced biofuels policy....

The thing is this. If the USA demands oil from areas of the world such as Nigeria become more of an enemy than the oil companies. So, to expect the USA military to indulge in purchasing from the petroleum industry because they can't use advanced biofuels is counter productive to PEACE.

It can be taken one step further and actually accuse power brokers for Wall Street such as Inhofe with human rights violations.


Submitted by  on December 14, 2012 – 12:51 pm
  1. Adapting to operational energy requirements and security challenges in Afghanistan and other combat theatres;
  2. Hedging against future uncertainty in the global petroleum market....

The future is at hand and it is not a slippery slope.


Meredith Wadman
07 January 2013
The US Supreme Court today (click here) ended an effort to shut down government support of human embryonic stem cell research, refusing to hear a case that challenged the legality of funding for the work by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The high court’s refusal to consider an appeal in the case of Sherley v. Sebelius ends a more than 3-year-old effort by the plaintiffs, two adult stem cell researchers, to stop NIH backing of the work, which holds the promise of treatments for a variety of diseases, but which depends upon the destruction of days-old human embryos. As is its typical practice, the court did not give its reasons for declining the case....

Feb. 20, 2008

Doctors may be one step closer to using stem cells to cure diabetes, (click here) according to a new study by researchers at the stem cell engineering company Novacell, Inc. in San Diego who report that they managed to convert human embryonic stem cells into insulin-producing cells.

Insulin is the chemical produced in the pancreas that allows the body to regulate blood-sugar levels — and it is precisely the substance that many of those with diabetes lack.

The researchers, who reported their findings in the journal Nature Biotechnology, found that when they injected these human cells into diabetic mice, the treatment alleviated diabetes in the rodents....

Why aren't these jobs going to Nigerians?

Halliburton Nigeria Jobs for Account Representative, Business Developtment (click here)
Hasn't Nigeria had enough of oil companies damaging its environment? Why aren't Nigerians running their own companies and filling jobs with their own people? The salaries are unbelievable. 

...Calls on assigned and non-assigned accounts to effectively promote and sell the Company’s products and services. Plays an active role in the business planning process. Job role directly create value via personal relationships. Skills typically acquired through completion of an undergraduate degree in business administration, marketing, engineering, or similar disciplines and 3-8 years of related sales experience. Revenue scope typically in the range of $5 – 50 M. That is $5 - 50 Million. 
Halliburton is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.
I am quite sure there are Undergrads in Nigeria capable of doing this work. Perhaps, Halliburton is worried about conscience. If placing a Nigerian in the job there might actually be a conscience of how the environment is treated. Maybe Halliburton intends to start a war with the people all over again?

Page last updated at 14:52 GMT, Sunday, 14 September 2008 15:52 UK


Militants in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region say they have "declared war" on the government after battling security forces guarding facilities.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) said it was responding to attacks by the military.
The military said it had repelled several Mend attacks. Both sides say their opponents suffered heavy losses.
Mend's violent campaign for a bigger part of the area's oil wealth has cut Nigeria's oil output by more than 20%.
Mend militants are the largest of several armed groups operating in the impoverished delta region. They frequently kidnap foreign oil workers and sabotage oil installations and pipelines.
Nigerian President Umaru Yar'adua is under pressure to crack down on the militants and make the delta safer for international oil firms....
This has gone on for DECADES and now Halliburton is at it again. This was in 2008. How many people died in the Delta since 2008?

11 October 2012 Last updated at 13:34 ET


The Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell (click here) has rejected claims by four Nigerian farmers that it should pay compensation for damage to their land.
The farmers are suing the company in a civil court in The Hague, claiming oil spills ruined their livelihoods.
Shell's lawyers told the court it could not be held liable because most spills were caused by criminal damage.

They said repairs were hard to carry out because of insecurity in the Niger Delta.
Then get out of the country. Why hasn't the Nigerian government garnered enough expertise to have their own people handle oil exports? Decades of environmental damage, citizen's deaths and birth defects. Somehow, I do understand the militias there. It never stops. The assault by oil companies to this country never stops and they actually have the idea they belong there over the rights of the people of Nigeria. 
Shell lawyer Jan de Bie Leuveling Tjeenk told the court that sabotage and oil theft were widespread in the region....
Oh. Wait. I forgot. We have a cheap oil policy globally and this is the cost. Of course. No reason for CEOs to have a conscience, they have a noble cause on their hands.

Call me crazy, but, I have a sneaky suspicion that if the quality of life of the people actually improved, the environment was cleaned up and safe and the $50 million per year went to pay Nigerians to improve their quality of life, the militias might actually stop being so difficult to deal with.

What bothers me more is the fact that long confrontations become generational. You know, like Northern Ireland. The longer the people of Nigeria are impoverished, die at the hand of their oil contamination and basically suffer, the more entrenched the hatred becomes and the wars become permanent. Can you imagine that? Wars brought on because of oil extraction. It is true and it never stops.

Russian antisemitism has been falling since the changing of the guard.

By Marc Tracy
February 16, 2011 10:00 AM
According to a classified cable from U.S. Ambassador John Beyrle, (click here) which was sent in late 2009 but released yesterday by WikiLeaks, Russia has shown “clear signs of throwing off its long and tragic history of anti-Semitism.” The government’s policy “has involved an aggressive campaign against anti-Semitism, coupled with positive official statements towards the Jewish community,” Beyrle reports. “Societal attitudes have also improved.” Warmer ties with Israel have helped as well, he says. The cable’s title is “Anti-Semitism on the Wane in Russia,” and it agrees with the Russian government’s contention that the Soviet-era Jackson-Vanik amendment, which linked trade status to Soviet Jews’ freedom of emigration, is “an anachronism.”...


I am sure everyone recognizes this man. He is Sergey Brin. He was born in Russia and emigrated with his parents at the age of six to the USA. He is the co-founder of Google. I am quite sure Russia regrets his emigration.

The Russian Jew was a victim no different than many minorities are in other nations. At the turn of the 1900s there were about 5.2 (not 2.5 - typo) million Hebrews in Russia. By the time the USA finally got around to write a letter to Russia about anti-semitism it was 1999 and there was about one tenth that many; about 500,000 Jewish people. The trend for the previous 100 years was emigration. Some emigrated to Israel, others the USA, others to Europe, etc.. While it was nice for the USA Senate to write a politically popular letter in 1999 to Russia, wasn't it a bit late?

The Soviet Union was primarily responsible for the emigration of its Jewish population. The Soviet Union broke up in 1991.

I suppose it was good for the USA Senate to notice the Jewish population in Russia had fallen by 90% due to emigration, but, in all honesty where were they for the previous 100 years?

Better late than never, I suppose.

Chuck took a different approach and actually thought the Secretary of State, Madeline Albright, should do her job. That approach works for me.


...Hagel said (click here) at the time his policy was to never sign letters to foreign heads of state telling them how to handle affairs in their own countries, as it often served to alienate and embolden them. However, he said he took stronger and more effective action by writing directly to President Clinton, asking him to appeal to Boris Yeltsin to stop anti-Semitic acts in his country.
"My intent is to find the best avenue, the best vehicle to effect change," Hagel said. "I think what I've done is far more effective than a letter that Yeltsin probably will never see."
"Anti-Semitism or any form of religious persecution should never be tolerated," Hagel wrote in his letter to Clinton. "The United States should predicate its support for democratic institutions in Russia upon unwavering opposition to anti-Semitism and all forms of prejudice and intolerance within that government."
Hagel said signing the Senate's letter would have been "a pretty easy way to get off the hook." He added that "my interest is not in getting some political points. I want to accomplish this in the best and most effective way."...

Senator Hagel didn't put it quite that way. He was more diplomatic than saying the Secretary of State should do her job.

I really get the impression, the Former Senator Hagel was a bit of a maverick and took the path with FUNDING and effectiveness. Why does that seem intelligent?

The new Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel will prove an interesting partner with the military because Russia's Putin supports Israel. But, Russia's role in the region since 1991 has been more complicated than simply Pro-Israel and Anti-Iran. 

The Iranian rift with the global community sincerely started with the politician Ahmadinejad and his overt antisemitism. He was elected in 2005 after Bush was reelected. The Russian presence with Iran started long before Ahmadinejad became President. Russia has a precarious position in Iran in that it had to help develop peaceful nuclear technology after the USA lied to Iran and provided faux blueprints. I suppose that was a USA strategy, but, it was a huge failure and only acted to alienate Iran even further.

What I admire about Senator Hagel is his recognition of complex issues and the FACTS. He isn't a 'mind speak' Republican as "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran" has become. Senator Hagel seeks the facts, examines the options and doesn't seek political populous to determine his decisions. He thinks for a living. 

I suppose some arrogant politicians would call him 'rough cut.' Not so. He is HONEST and if the truth appears CRUDE and hurts, then so be it.

Have a better day.

Where is David Vitter when they need him?


Let's get a few things straight. Hurricane Katrina did the massive damage it did to New Orleans while killing 1833 people because the warning issued by the Army Corp of Engineers was never heeded.

David Vitter came into office January 5, 2005. Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on August 23, 2005. The problems with the levees and the degradated wetlands were known to Louisiana long before Katrina ever made land fall. Long before Katrina breathed its first breath. So, Vitter can stop his grandstanding right now. He is as responsible for the 1833 deaths as much as the Bush Administration and those before that denied invaluable funding to prevent those deaths.

If it weren't for Mayor Ray Nagin there would be all that many more dead. Okay? Got that right? Mayor Nagin enforced the idea the residents needed an ax in the roof. Got that?




Five years after Hurricane Katrina (click here) destroyed more than 200,000 Louisiana homes, the state program established to help families rebuild still hasn’t paid out more than three-quarters of a billion dollars and has come under fire from a federal judge for discriminating against black homeowners....

That said, the current emergency in New Jersey and New York is every bit as important as the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast after the negligent agenda of the white people in the federal government decided to build parks for their constituents rather than return wetlands to the Louisiana coast and improve the circumstances of the residents of the Ninth Ward.


The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) (click here) serves the Armed Forces and the Nation by providing vital engineering services and capabilities, as a public service, across the full spectrum of operations— from peace to war —in support of national interests.

Recreation.gov - Really?

Earmarks. The Army Corp MONIES is earmarked for recreational areas throughout the USA. Not that the Army Corp builds them. No, no, nothing like that. The Army Corp works with private companies to pay for their talents to build recreational areas.

Not that there is anything else the Army Corp has to do or worry about like wetlands off Louisiana or levees. Nah. The monies are best spent to keep constituents believing their politicians actually do some kind of work in DC. The wetlands are still unrestored in Louisiana after all the money provided to date. 

Why expect them to be important after all. Vitter has no room to complain about the on going Climate Crisis and the never ending monies needed in the country. I suppose Vitter would be far more silent should Sandy had landed in Louisiana this year rather than Hurricane Issac. Right? Issac seems so puny now.

Hurricane Isaac's legacy: wetland destruction, and a test of the 

New Orleans levees (click here)


By Dr. Jeff Masters
Published: 5:05 PM GMT on January 07, 2013

The hurricane season of 2012 will rightfully be remembered for the legacy left behind by Hurricane Sandy. But in Louisiana, the other hurricane to affect the U.S. in 2012--Hurricane Isaac--left a legacy of its own. Isaac hit Louisiana as a Category 1 hurricane with 80 mph winds on August 28, but the storm's massive wind field brought a storm surge characteristic of a Category 2 hurricane to the coast....

The photo to the right is from NASA. It is Superstorm Sandy before it made landfall. I mean you've got to be joking. There is going to be a delay in the funding?

It is the crazies from the Tea Party. AGAIN.

If the Tea Party is holding the nation hostage again this time, there are lots of parks and recreational areas that can be cut from funding to provide needed relief for the Northeast.

EXCLUSIVE: As Hurricane Isaac Targets New Orleans, GOP Rep. Calls For Making Disaster Relief Contingent On Budget Cuts (click here)

...Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID) told ThinkProgress at a Hispanic Leadership Network luncheon that Republicans should take a similar approach with disaster funding for Hurricane Isaac as they did after natural disasters last year. In 2011, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) led the Republican charge to deny disaster funding following major hurricanes and tornadoes unless the federal budget was cut in other areas.
Labrador said that Congress must “readjust everything we do” in order to find cuts to pay for Hurricane Isaac disaster relief. “If there’s emergencies, we don’t always need to keep borrowing money,” said the freshman Republican....

There is plenty of money in the National Debt that doesn't need to be there that the Tea Party Hostage Takers can cut to provide the Northeast with plenty of money for restoration.

The Gulf Coast has a problem separate and completely different in dynamics than the Northeast USA. It is saturated with the petroleum industry destruction of wetlands and a return of oil from the bottom of the Gulf to the shorelines. So, there is really no need for vast amounts of federal monies on the Gulf Coast since so much of the damage belongs to the petroleum industry anyway.

Get rid of the pork in the national debt and the Northeast will be just fine.

When earmarks syphon off the monies out of the Federal Budget, the government leaves vital work undone. Get rid of the earmarks and start to fund the government without interruption including the restoration of Climate Crisis damage.