Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Fifteen varieties of potato served.

I congratulate President Obama and the First Lady on their state dinner with President Hollande. According to reports the food served was from every corner of the USA. 


...In a sign of White House determination (click here) to build relations with France, Mr Obama made a rare trip to Andrews Air Force base to personally welcome Mr Hollande before taking him on a trip to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, the third US president and renowned Francophile.
The visit to Monticello served to showcase a relationship that stretches back to the founding of the United States in the late 18th century, an alliance still strong despite spats over US eavesdropping and trade talks with the European Union.
The leaders toured the unique home, including its distinctive crowning portico and the Cabinet room Jefferson used for writing, architectural drafting and scientific observation. They saw the basement kitchen equipped with utensils he brought back from Paris after serving as US ambassador to France.
"Thomas Jefferson represents what's best in America, but as we see as we travel through his home, what he also represents is the incredible bond and the incredible gifts that France gave to the United States, because he was a Francophile through and through," Mr Obama told reporters....
The American people heard about stupid politics of the left and right during the French President's visit when there were incredible things happening within our country we all should be proud of.

France wants a relationship with the USA, but, that is not new. France also practices a strong defense strategy, but, it always has since being one of the five permanent nuclear nations. France wants the USA engaged in the Mideast and doesn't want to see it's ally leave anytime soon. In some ways, the defense strategies of France and Obama's USA are similar. They match the expression, "Walk softly but carry a big stick." France assesses problems and acts to deter them. They do this while the problem is small enough to deter. So, in many ways France is the best of allies. Willing to defend itself, but, never foolish enough to engage in a war so enormous it could cost the country it's standing in sovereignty.

...JUST AFTER the appearance (click here) of the White Paper confirming the principle of French deterrence, at a time when we can detect signs of a second Cold War in the Caucasus, when Iran has regional pretensions and China is significantly improving the performance of its ballistic missile submarines, the above question might seem incongruous, if not unwelcome. Nevertheless, when France chose to equip itself with nuclear weapons, it did so while proclaiming their temporary nature, endorsing the aim of general disarmament....

...Between the impatient, sometimes aggressive, attitude of the United States, a more flexible Europe favouring negotiation, and the ambiguous postures of China and Russia, the non-proliferation message is often inaudible. The countries incriminated (India, Pakistan, North Korea and Iran) not slow to exploit this lack of coherence and consistency....

There in lies the problem. The five nuclear nations simply don't act to end other weapons programs. No one country talks about it. No one country acts to end the proliferation and in many ways that is why the world's politicians are enjoying the ambitions of Iran as a tool for elections.

Nuclear weapons beget nuclear weapons, but, so long as the USA continues to have bozos like Bush elected to office willing to proliferate nuclear capacity of nations, the dialogue will never begin again. There was a time when France was a leader in bringing the understanding of the dangers of living with nuclear capacity; if it wants to be our best ally and truest friend France needs to begin that dialogue again with vigor, at the UN General Assembly and in assemblies of economic aspirations such as the G8 and all it's offspring. 

If France is our best ally the dialogue for non-proliferation has to be loud and continuous until such political tools are viewed as barbaric and the global community once again is on the path to sincere non-proliferation.

The USA is now funding Europe's Missile Defense Shield.

The guided-missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG 75) escorts the Spanish Navy Ship Alvaro de Bazan (F101) as the Bazan concludes operations with Carrier Strike Group 2 in the Persian Gulf on Dec. 3, 2005. The Bazan was conducting maritime security operations in concert with the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) and Carrier Strike Group 2.   DoD photo by Airman Apprentice Nathan Laird, U.S. Navy. (Released) 




The guided-missile destroyer is one four warships the U.S. is relocating there as part of a NATO-approved ballistic missile defense plan. Each ship is equipped with the sophisticated Aegis radar system, which enables them to track and shoot down ballistic missiles....
The politics on any side of this issue has become mostly intractable in favor of a very aggressive stance. Iranian politics demands the current opposition to rant on about being ready for war. They need to sincerely assess what an outcome to war within that country would look like. Give me a break.
The best stance for Iran is to follow the example of the Swiss and declare themselves a neutral country. The sanctions have compromised any ability to wage war. Iran should never seek an aggressive international posture. It should always be demanding peace for itself and any country that is involved in nuclear proliferation. Non-proliferation should be a demand of all countries. Iran should be a leader in non-proliferation and protect it's people from any form of aggression.

..."Iran is ready to enter negotiations (click her) with the P5+1 (group of world powers) to reach a comprehensive and final agreement," Rouhani told Tehran-based foreign diplomats in remarks broadcast live on state television.

"We are serious in this regard, as we were serious in the first step," he said referring to three rounds of intensive negotiations last year that culminated in a landmark, interim deal on November 24.

Building on the November deal, negotiators hope to eventually reach a comprehensive accord to allay international concerns that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons capability, allegations denied by Tehran.

Rouhani's remarks came a day after Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog struck a seven-step deal in separate but parallel negotiations that seek to enhance transparency over Tehran's nuclear work.

That deal included a promise by Iran to clarify its use of detonators as part of a probe into long-standing allegations that its past nuclear work, mostly before 2003, had "possible military dimensions"....

In the USA, rightwing politicians can't survive their own primaries if they aren't willing to take an aggressive position regarding Iran. The politicians have allowed the hate speech to become a part of their dialogue with their constituents rather than talking about facts, figures and what has been accomplished.

Basically, there is political extremism in every country. Yesterday, President Francois Hollande stated he doesn't trust Iran. The fear of any potential nuclear strike is overwhelming to nations closest to any nuclear potential of Iran, so this isn't going to stop soon. It is a political paradigm that only Iran can dispel.

The Iranian military can bearly conduct security of their borders. This is harassment in 2008. I realize these small craft are a concern and they can conduct a great deal of mischief, but, as far as they attacking the USA and the EU? I mean for real?


This is why the USA is going to bomb, bomb, bomb Iran? For real? Iran is not capable of three quarters of what The West willingly believes it can do. 

Iran's extremist faction has cried wolf one too many times and it has to stop putting it's country at risk of stupid ideas of global domination. It ain't gonna happen.



By Joby Warrick and Greg Miller

Published: April 7, 2012


...“There was never even a ripple,” (click here) said a former senior U.S. intelligence official involved in the previously undisclosed mission.
CIA stealth drones scoured dozens of sites throughout Iran, making hundreds of passes over suspicious facilities, before a version of the RQ-170 crashed inside Iran’s borders in December. The surveillance has been part of what current and former U.S. officials describe as an intelligence surge that is aimed at Iran’s nuclear program and that has been gaining momentum since the final years of George W. Bush’s administration.
The effort has included ramped-up eavesdropping by the National Security Agency, formation of an Iran task force among satellite-imagery analysts and an expanded network of spies, current and former U.S. officials said....
There is every reason to believe Iran doesn't even have aerial surveillance capacity. It wasn't until the lousy drone crashed did Iran have any concept about the drones penetrating it's borders. If Iran could stop drones at it's borders, they would. They would love to say they shot down drones, but, they haven't.

I thought what made the Shi'ites great was their dearly held idea of peace. I thought the holy men were dedicated to it. I know one of them that speaks of nothing else. Iran has made remarkable strides in securing itself away from a dictator that was not benevolent to the people. Their deeply held beliefs have brought them to a place where they never thought they would be only two decades ago. Why do the extremists that seek war over peace want to continue the people's suffering under hideous restrictive sanctions? If Iran declared itself a neutral country, it would end this entire disaster that has occurred because they were scapegoated in a speech by a US President to justify war.

These statistics don't show up in FEMA totals.

Starting at 5 a.m. a freezing rain fell in Atlanta, leaving surfaces covered in ice. By 8 a.m., over 0.27" of ice formed at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, reported The Weather Channel. By 9 a.m., the rain turned to sleet.
As of mid-morning, 3,003 flights were canceled and 3,198 delayed, over 2,000 of them at the Atlanta hub, where only 259 flights were scheduled to fly today, an airport spokesman said.
Delta said it had canceled over 2,200 flights Tuesday and Wednesday, mostly centered around Atlanta, and offered refunds and waived change fees to those with canceled or significantly delayed flights.
Southwest said it had canceled all Atlanta flights and planned on resuming normal operations Thursday. It offered eligible customers free ticket changes....
An entire day's revenue lost. I am waiting for the airline industry to ask the government for a bailout. Just waiting. The City of Atlanta is completely crippled.

Big shift in Olympic numbers yesterday. Canada lead yesterday.

The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics
Medal standings
Country

1
Germany
5
1
0
6
2
Norway
4
3
5
12
3
Canada
4
3
2
9
4
Netherlands
3
2
3
8
5
Switzerland
3
0
1
4
6
United States
2
1
4
7
7
Russia
1
3
3
7
8
Austria
1
3
0
4
9
Slovenia
1
1
2
4
10
France
1
0
2
3
11
Belarus
1
0
0
1
11
South Korea
1
0
0
1
11
Poland
1
0
0
1
11
Slovakia
1
0
0
1
15
Sweden
0
3
1
4
16
Czech Republic
0
2
1
3
16
Japan
0
2
1
3
18
Italy
0
1
1
2
19
China
0
1
0
1
19
Finland
0
1
0
1
21
Great Britain
0
0
1
1
21
Ukraine
0
0
1
1

Shaun White has passed the torch to Iouri Podladtchikov in the Half-Pipe competition. He placed fourth. Iouri didn't just happen to win, he put in a great performance. Shaun was off his game. He is going home without a medal this year.

In any sport there are two type of athletes, the technical athlete and the athlete that lives their sport. It is rather easy to pick up the difference and this couple shows the love of their sport. They move as one and that doesn't come just from practice.

Ice Dancing yesterday.


The ranking of some countries has also been affected by a tendency to interpret national security needs in an overly broad and abusive manner to the detriment of the right to inform and be informed.

INFORMATION SACRIFICED TO NATIONAL SECURITY AND SURVEILLANCE (click here)

...This has been the case in the United States (46th), which fell 13 places, one of the most significant declines, amid increased efforts to track down whistleblowers and the sources of leaks. The trial and conviction of Private Bradley Manning and the pursuit of NSA analyst Edward Snowden were warnings to all those thinking of assisting in the disclosure of sensitive information that would clearly be in the public interest....

"The Day We Fight Back"

Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)

If everyone wants a real reason for the NSA to stop their spying program than stage real opposition rather than a writing campaign to corrupted federal representatives that can't even pass immigration reform.

There is a concept whereby the entire world turns off their electricity for one hour per year. 

If everyone wants to end the NSA program, begin by setting a day and time and remove your devices SIM card for 60 seconds in unison. If that isn't enough then a month later make it 10 minutes in unison. If that doesn't work then make it an hour and so on and so forth.

Why will it work? Because the industry needs everyone that owns an electronic device with a SIM Card to use the service to make money. If the industry knows their customers are going to shut down their service and find other alternatives, then no one needs them anymore. The only reason the NSA spy program works is because consumers PAY for service and the NSA takes away their privacy rights that they paid for. When the SIM Card service ends in a large number of customers the NSA program ends.

Think about how completely stupid the NSA spy program actually is. The entire USA war against a "Global War on Terror" is banking on the SIM Card never being obsolete. The NSA and elected federal officials have spent billions on storage facilities and all the world's population has to do is to stop using their SIM Card and the national security of the USA ends with it. Billions upon billions of dollars of spending and in one second or as long as it takes to remove a SIM Card or take out a battery, the entire USA National Security ends.

Hello?

"Mobile Phone & Smartphone Market Worth $341.4 Billion by 2015 - New Report by Marketsandmarkets (click here)

There is an entire global economy that runs because of SIM Cards. Now, we can shut down Wall Street and watch the DOW fall to about $10,000 at the very least within a day or in less time than that. There is something the Plutocrats and Washington, DC needs to understand and that is THEY DO NOT HAVE CONTROL. We have control and when we say stop spying then they need to stop spying.

Get your act together and end this stupid idea of national security.  

"It is okay right up to the point where it is not okay."

Don't ever forget those words. That is the CORE definition of power. It is a turning point when reached will remove power. It is the core belief of a revolution. It is the very defense of the common man, woman and child.