Sunday, April 06, 2014

This is a brutal scene. It is difficult to think it was an accident.


Published: Monday, March 31, 2014, 12:17 PM
By Joe Kemp

Crime scene pictures(click here) show the blood-spattered bathroom where the double-amputee sprinter fatally shot his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Feb. 14, 2013.

The trial starts again tomorrow.

...Friends (click here) called as witnesses in the double-amputee sprinter’s trial have told of his passion for firearms — his gun collection, his trips to the shooting range. An ex-girlfriend recalled his ever-present 9mm pistol, at night placed on the bedside table or next to his prosthetic legs on the floor. She also recalled the Olympian shooting from the open sunroof of a car in 2012....



Pakistan, the country with a faux face.


...In December 2006, (click here) I flew to Quetta, where I met with several Pakistani reporters and a photographer. Together we found families who were grappling with the realization that their sons had blown themselves up in Afghanistan. Some were not even sure whether to believe the news, relayed in anonymous phone calls or secondhand through someone in the community. All of them were scared to say how their sons died and who recruited them, fearing trouble from members of the ISI, Pakistan’s main intelligence service.

After our first day of reporting in Quetta, we noticed that an intelligence agent on a motorbike was following us, and everyone we interviewed was visited afterward by ISI agents. We visited a neighborhood called Pashtunabad, “town of the Pashtuns,” a close-knit community of narrow alleys inhabited largely by Afghan refugees who over the years spread up the hillside, building one-story houses from mud and straw. The people are working class: laborers, bus drivers and shopkeepers. The neighborhood is also home to several members of the Taliban, who live in larger houses behind high walls, often next to the mosques and madrasas they run....

Pakistan is indeed a strange place. Sometimes. No. Often, I wondered what was taking so long and why.

K2 (click here) (also known as Savage Mountain, Mountaineer’s Mountain, Mount Godwin-Austen, Balti: Chogori and Sarikoli: Mount Qogir) is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest. With a peak elevation of 8,611 m (28,251 feet), K2 is part of the Karakoram Range, and is located on the border between Baltistan, in the Gilgit–Baltistan region of Pakistan.

FTA's Dave Hancock (click here) posing with a machine-gun in Bin Laden's hiding place Abbottabad. "This was shot some years before the US found OBL hiding there," Dave told ExplorersWeb. "Little did we know, I've been there about 8 times!"
courtesy Dave Hancock - FTA,

Strategic Studies 122
Ten years of U.S. aid to Pakistan and the post-OBL scenario (click here)

Mahrukh Khan

Since the inception of Pakistan, its effort to counter Indian hegemony in the region as well as to balance its military and economic disparity with its western neighbor, led it to join hands with the United States. The U.S. at that time was also looking for partners in the region to curtail the communist expansion and turned to Pakistan following India‘s choice of non-alignment....

Imagine a terrorist group (click here) that recruits tens of thousands of young men from the same neighborhoods and social networks as the Pakistani military. A group whose well-educated recruits defy the idea that poverty and ignorance breed extremism. A group whose fighters include relatives of a politician, a senior Army officer and a director of Pakistan's Atomic Energy Commission.

That is the disconcerting reality of Lashkar-e-Taiba, one of the world's most dangerous militant organizations, according to a study released today by the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. The report helps explain why Pakistan has resisted international pressure to crack down on Lashkar after it killed 166 people in Mumbai — six U.S. citizens included — and came close to sparking conflict between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India....

It is vitally important both China and India make every effort to move their people toward a strong Middle Class.

India to kick off world's biggest election in remote northeast (click here)

(Reuters) - Indians start voting in the world's biggest ever election on Monday, with a Hindu nationalist opposition party that has promised economic rejuvenation and jobs tipped to emerge as the clear leader but likely to fall short of an absolute majority....

Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi given scent of outright victory by opinion polls on eve of India's general election (click here)

Jason Burke in Delhi
The Observer
Saturday, 5 April 2014
 
Two polls released hours before voting starts in India's general election show the Hindu nationalist opposition set for a huge victory with the ruling Congress party facing a debacle.

The two main contenders in the increasingly bitter battle to lead the world's biggest democracy intensified their campaigning – and their personal duel – before the first of 815 million eligible voters head to the polls on Monday.

One poll suggested that Narendra Modi, the controversial 63-year-old prime ministerial candidate of the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), might come close to an outright majority. A second said the BJP would miss a majority by about 30 seats in the powerful 545-seat lower house.

India has been ruled by coalition governments for decades and debate among analysts in Delhi now largely centres on the margin of the BJP victory, not on its likelihood. The polls showed support for Modi's rival, 43-year-old Rahul Gandhi, slipping. The ruling centre-left Congress party, which has ruled India for all but 13 years since it won independence from Britain in 1947, now appears to be facing its worst ever defeat....

Gandhi is interesting. He once stated the Pakistan ISI were recruiting relatives of riot victims. That would not surprise me. It is not uncommon in Muslim circles to have grieving relatives to avenge their family's death. Rahul doesn't like corruption and calls it out whenever he can. Sorry to hear he is having a difficult election.

...The Gandhi scion (click here) also took a dig at Bharatiya Janata Party's 'Indian Shinning' campaign, accusing the party of suppressing the voice of people and instead claiming that it was working for their development....



Rahul Gandhi






What depth are these signals coming from?

Lincoln Feast and Swati Pandey, Reuters

First posted:
Updated:
SYDNEY/PERTH - Chinese and Australian ships (click here) hunting for a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner have picked up separate acoustic signals in different parts of a vast Indian Ocean search area and are trying to verify if one could be from the plane's black box recorders.

Australian search authorities said on Sunday a Chinese patrol vessel, the Haixun 01, had picked up a fleeting "ping" signal twice in recent days in waters west of Perth, near where investigators believe Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went down on March 8.

More planes and ships were being sent to assist in that area, but meanwhile, Australia's HMAS Ocean Shield had reported a separate "acoustic event" some 300 nautical miles away....

If journalists don't know the facts and physics they have to take the governments' word about what their findings. The families have been through enough, they don't have to go through speculation and guessing, do they?

The acoustics at depth are very different than in air.  

In the deep ocean (click here) at mid-latitudes, the slowest sound speed occurs at a depth of about 800 to 1000 meters. This is called the sound speed minimum. The sound speed minimum creates a sound channel in which sound waves can travel long distances. Sound is focused in the sound channel because the sound waves are continually bent, or refracted, towards the region of lower sound speed. Sound that travels upward from a source at the sound speed minimum is bent back towards the minimum. Similarly, sound that travels down from the source is bent back up toward the minimum.

Rahm? Is that you?

Mr. Emanuel, who is set to become White House chief of staff, at a news conference on Monday. 

By MICHAEL LUO

Published: December 3, 2008 
...And better than Mr. Emanuel (click here) could have imagined as well. Over the course of a three-hour-plus dinner, Mr. Simpson and Mr. Emanuel discussed how they might work together. Shortly afterward, Mr. Emanuel accepted an offer, nudging him down what has by now become a well-trodden gilded path out of politics and into the lucrative world of business.

Mr. Emanuel, who was chosen last month to become President-elect Barack Obama’s White House chief of staff, went on to make more than $18 million in just two-and-a-half years, turning many of his contacts in his substantial political Rolodex into paying clients and directing his negotiating prowess and trademark intensity to mergers and acquisitions. He also benefited from the opportune sale of Wasserstein Perella to a German bank, helping him to an unusually large payout....

The man that made $18 million in 30 months can't get this straightened out? Really?
 
The unions expect this approach in Wisconsin, but, Chicago? Why is it New York City is among the few that get it right?

Emanuel, Madigan pension blitzkrieg stalls (click here)

April 02, 2014
By Ray Long, Bill Ruthhart and Hal Dardick 
Clout Street
 
...The rapid rollout strategy was aimed at giving legislators little time to get cold feet and blunting labor union lobbying against the changes. But several Chicago lawmakers raised concerns, Democrats blamed Republicans for not getting on board, and the blitzkrieg approach failed — at least for a day...
 
...The heart of the plan was as Emanuel outlined on Monday: taxpayers who own a home with the city median value of about $250,000 would be hit with $50 tax increases each year for five years, starting with their 2016 tax bill.
Employees — excluding police officers and firefighters who were not part of the deal — would pay a 0.5 percentage point more each year from 2015 through 2019, until they reached 11 percent of their salary.

Retirees would not see their base pensions reduced, but would get smaller annual cost-of-living increases. They now get a compounded 3 percent increase on their previous year’s benefit payments. Under the new plan, it would be half the inflation rate or 3 percent, whichever is less, without compounding.

In addition, there would be no increases in 2017, 2019 and 2025. New retirees would see their first increase two years after retirement, instead of on their first anniversary.

Emanuel has said his proposal has support for employee unions, but they have not publicly embraced it. Madigan said that of the 31 unions representing workers in the laborer and municipal funds, only three are opposed. The Chicago Teachers Union, AFSCME and the Illinois Nurses Association have sharply criticized Emanuel for trying to make what they say are deep cuts to the benefits of many lower-income workers and retirees.


There has to be a better plan. I just don't see an all out assault on taxpayers, employees and retirees. It is not a horrible plan, but, it isn't a good one.

I would like to see the city sit down with the unions on an expedited basis so they can put their heads together over this. It is far better than 'shock and awe.'

It has been ten years since we lost Casey Sheehan.

Her loss became our battle cry.

Thu Aug 04, 2005 at 06:45 AM PDT

We Are Going to Crawford to stop the killing (click here)

by Cindy Sheehan

Dear Friends and Supporters,
George Bush said speaking about the dreadful loss of life in Iraq in August: (08/03/05): "We have to honor the sacrifices of the fallen by completing the mission."  "The families of the fallen can be assured that they died for a noble cause. 

In reaction to these two assinine and hurtful statements, members of Gold Star Families for Peace (GSFP) are going to George's vacation home in Crawford, Tx this Saturday, August 6th at 11:00 am to confront him on these two statements...

Cindy is still fighting the good fight. She is surrounded by others, including veterans, that look for justice. The Veterans for Peace still hold meetings and events to keep the public aware of an unjust war. 

The Iraq War created the culture of fear and invoked the reality that the American military can be unleashed without purpose. It brought home the reality of 'war for profits.' We thought all that ended with Vietnam. We were wrong. Now, it is a forever effort.

Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox
March 30, 2014

GUEST: MICHAEL PRYSNER (click here)

TOPIC: EFFORTS FOR COUNTER-RECRUITMENT 

On April 04, my family will be mourning the 10th anniversary of Casey's murder in Iraq in 2004....

Does the USA military need to examine the use of REST and Medical Marijuana for the soldier with psychological diagnosis?

By John Counts 
April 05, 2014 at 6:51 PM
updated April 05, 2014 at 10:40 PM

...Speakers like Iraq War veteran Dakota Serna, of Lansing, (click here) also took to the steps of the Hatcher Graduate Library to talk about the benefits of cannabis. 

Serna joined the Marines straight out of high school in 2003 and in a year was on the front line of a military operation in the Al Abar region of Iraq. He was injured twice by friendly fire, but those wounds weren’t as painful as the mental scars he brought home with him.

“I definitely saw a lot of gruesome things and watched a lot of good friends die,” said the veteran who now sports a bushy beard and bandana. “Reliving that every night just got too much for me. I had to find something.”

The antipsychotics and antidepressants they gave him at the veterans hospital for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder made him sick and suicidal.
“It got to a point where I needed to try something else,” he said.
Around 2009, a friend handed him a joint....

The Republicans are worried about every Senate seat.

By Sean Sullivan


...For months, (click here) the combination of a weak Republican field without a standard bearer and Braley's steady hand made a GOP upset in a must-win state for Democrats look unlikely. But Braley's remark has breathed new life into GOP efforts to claim Iowa, which could be pivotal to Republican efforts to win back the Senate.

To many Republicans, Braley's gaffe was not a surprise. The Democratic congressman's mouth has gotten him into trouble before, most recently during last year's government shutdown. Braley said he was pleased the House gym had stayed open but noted, "There's no towel service, we're doing our own laundry down there," prompting criticism.

"Bruce Braley is doing something Republicans have known and have been screaming about at the top of our lungs for years. He is a deeply flawed candidate and a bad campaigner," said Tim Albrecht, a former aide to Gov. Terry Branstad (R) whose firm has done work for state Sen. Joni Ernst (R), one of Braley's opponents....

A majority in the US Senate isn't enough for Republicans. They need a super majority to tragically destroy the US Constitution. Democrats need to polish and run every candidate in every state. Sometimes a little input goes a long way. It isn't to win necessarily, but, to win in the future.

Posted 

Letter: Braley would stand against corporate interests (click here)

Braley would stand against corporate interests
Regarding the April 2 Supreme Court ruling which allows more millionaires and billionaires to fund more candidates, I worry that it would be easy to give up on our elections. After all, most voters can’t compete financially for candidates’ attention.

We as citizens either get more involved with our time, or we will be trampled by the candidates heading to their funders with deep pockets.

But, there is a candidate who is a person of the people. Bruce Braley would be a senator who is not beholden to the corporations and who would be a champion for those of us who still believe in a progressive Iowa that works for everyone, not just the 1 or 2 percent. His record is one of winning back lost wages and fighting for those who need a hand up.

I encourage voters to give Bruce a close look and you will see a man who will work for you, not for big-money interests.

Brenda Brink, Huxley

This is from the Ames Tribune. IOWA.

Posted 

Supreme Court wrong on campaign finance

To the Honorable Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, you five men who brought in the majority decision, five-to-four, which put the various levels of elected governments in the United States into the hands of wealth and power. Literally, you have given us the best government money can buy. We cannot accuse you of going back to “original intent,” which some of you cite from time to time. You have set aside our Constitution and gone back to when it had not yet been ratified in 1787.

Back then, James Madison observed that only one-fourth of the residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia were allowed to vote to form government. One-half of the residents were the cheapest labor available, slaves, considered only to be property. The remaining one-fourth were women or did not possess property or wealth enough to give them the vote.

Shame on you from We the People of the United States, from whom you would take away the power of our votes.
Robert G. Farr, Ames

Mr. Robert G. Farr frequents the "Letters to the Editor" of the Ames Tribune. There is a Democratic constituency in Iowa. What is everyone waiting for?

...As Will Rogers (click here) recommended to the losers in 1928, “Vote for what is good for all of us in our country. Before long the public will catch on.”
Robert G. Farr, Ames

Iowa needs a Democrat US Senator.

Demographically it looks like it should be, it has a similar "make up" to very red states like Nebraska and Kansas. Iowa has never been a very red state though. It was one of Reagan's weakest states in 1980 and 1984. Ford barely won it in 1976. Bush lost it in 1988, Clinton won it twice, Gore won it (barely), Bush barely won it in 2004 and Obama won it twice.

Is there a lot of mining or industry in Iowa compared with Kansas and Nebraska which gives Democrats the edge?


The journalist Bill Moyers wrote a rather incredible response to McCutcheon.

April 2, 2014

Central to the Supreme Court’s (click here) campaign finance decisions in the John Roberts era is that the government’s only legitimate interest in this area is preventing direct, quid pro quo corruption — a donor demanding that a specific law be passed, or killed, in exchange for cash — or the appearance of direct corruption....

... In the majority opinion, Chief Justice Roberts wrote that “government regulation may not target the general gratitude a candidate may feel toward those who support him or his allies, or the political access such support may afford.”...

That statement is explicit permission for corruption by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
As Will Rogers recommended to the losers in 1928, “Vote for what is good for all of us in our country. Before long the public will catch on.”
Robert G. Farr, Ames
- See more at: http://amestrib.com/opinion/letter-elected-officials-must-work-public-good#sthash.EAGAJGf2.dpuf

Supreme Court wrong on campaign finance
To the Honorable Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, you five men who brought in the majority decision, five-to-four, which put the various levels of elected governments in the United States into the hands of wealth and power. Literally, you have given us the best government money can buy. We cannot accuse you of going back to “original intent,” which some of you cite from time to time. You have set aside our Constitution and gone back to when it had not yet been ratified in 1787.
Back then, James Madison observed that only one-fourth of the residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia were allowed to vote to form government. One-half of the residents were the cheapest labor available, slaves, considered only to be property. The remaining one-fourth were women or did not possess property or wealth enough to give them the vote.
Shame on you from We the People of the United States, from whom you would take away the power of our votes.
Robert G. Farr, Ames
- See more at: http://amestrib.com/opinion/letter-supreme-court-wrong-campaign-finance#sthash.Z0e7NZML.dpuf

Letter: Supreme Court wrong on campaign finance
Posted 
Braley would stand against corporate interests
Regarding the April 2 Supreme Court ruling which allows more millionaires and billionaires to fund more candidates, I worry that it would be easy to give up on our elections. After all, most voters can’t compete financially for candidates’ attention.
We as citizens either get more involved with our time, or we will be trampled by the candidates heading to their funders with deep pockets.
But, there is a candidate who is a person of the people. Bruce Braley would be a senator who is not beholden to the corporations and who would be a champion for those of us who still believe in a progressive Iowa that works for everyone, not just the 1 or 2 percent. His record is one of winning back lost wages and fighting for those who need a hand up.
I encourage voters to give Bruce a close look and you will see a man who will work for you, not for big-money interests.
Brenda Brink, Huxley
- See more at: http://amestrib.com/opinion/letter-braley-would-stand-against-corporate-interests#sthash.Qjr57Xk1.dpuf

Letter: Braley would stand against corporate interests

- See more at: http://amestrib.com/opinion/letter-braley-would-stand-against-corporate-interests#sthash.Qjr57Xk1.dpuf

There are plenty examples of where women's military uniform exists and what the future holds.

Amanda Terkel 
Posted:  
Updated:

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Army (click here) is facing criticism for its new appearance and grooming regulations, which some soldiers say unfairly target black women's hair.

Army Regulation 670-1 was released Monday, with rules on tattoos, hairstyles, grooming and uniforms for soldiers. 

One of the new regulations, which applies only to women, is a ban on twists, dreadlocks and multiple braids/cornrows that are bigger than a quarter of an inch. Army spokesman Paul Prince told the Army Times that twists and dreadlocks have been barred since 2005, but these regulations go into more detail about specific hairstyles.

Women with these banned hairstyles will need to get rid of them or cover them with wigs or extensions, which can damage hair....

Mary Baldwin College (click here) is a well established military academy for women. There dress code states.

§         We do expect business casual, we are hoping to provide you  professional tools, so business clothing and atmosphere is good. We do not ask you to do anything that we do not do. 

§         No Uggs, or rain boots 

§         No leggings or jeggings unless they are used as tights 

§         We will also give you guys breaks with theme days 

It seems the Army has too much concern for the appearance of their women members. They have discretion when it comes to expressing their personality. They have to wear their uniform to specifications and I am sure they conform to that outcome. In the war theater 
 

Perhaps we just need to make Kathleen Parker the face of the uninformed.




...So Democrats are trying to make the Koch brothers the new face of the Republican Party. Conveniently, the name Koch is pronounced the same as that other capitalist goliath, Coke.

Appointing a person — or a pair of brothers — as the human face of the “enemy” is not a novel idea. During a previous election cycle, the Obama administration identified Limbaugh as the true leader of the Republican Party. This was an easy sell as many Republicans genuflected to Limbaugh, even apologizing when they might have offended him.

And Limbaugh, whose grandiosity needs no buffing, was all too willing to accept service on the credential. The more the left hates Limbaugh, the richer he gets. Oh, please, Mr. Democrat, hate my guts some more. Mr. Limbaugh, take your bow, it’s Koch time....

The Koch Brothers don't need help in achieving a intolerance, but, Ms. Parker seems to ignore the fact these billionaires practice oppression in their own companies. That is not American, Ms. Parker. So, to the end the Democrats are calling out the Kochs for their unseemly lifestyles as oppressors and controllers they are heroes. I rather think of the Democrats as the wall that prevents Koch Slavery.

By Rebecca Leber
October 15, 2012 at 11:30 am

...According to In These Times, (click here) Koch Industries sent 45,000 mailers to employees at Koch subsidiary Georgia Pacific, urging votes for Romney and other conservative candidates. The letter warns ominously of “consequences” for the workers if Republicans lose....

Dear Co-Worker (click here)
Co - worker or peasant? 
 

Jonathan Pollard should be released. He is no threat to the USA.

His release would cancel any ability to return to the USA, but, it is just to release him to Israel.

April 2, 2014

Almost 30 years (click here) after he pleaded guilty to providing classified information to Israel, Jonathan Pollard might be catching a break from President Barack Obama. According to many a trial balloon floated in the U.S. and Israeli press Monday, the White House is considering releasing the convicted spy with the aim—improbable, critics say—of salvaging Middle East peace talks that seem to be on the verge of implosion. 

The critics have a point. Pollard’s case has little to do with making peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Releasing him would indeed be a Hail Mary pass—a true desperation move. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

Pollard’s release is a key Israeli goal and a longtime personal crusade for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been trying to persuade the United States to spring him for more than a decade. As a private citizen, Netanyahu even visited Pollard in prison in 2002, calling him an “especially intelligent man.” Pollard’s freedom is something Israel badly wants, and may give up other goals to secure....

We release Russian spies. Enough.

Are we going into deep space?

If humans survive the Climate Crisis, our sun, Sol, will one day nova. Earth will no longer exist. Is it realistic to plan for space travel beyond Earth's atmosphere and beyond the Moon?

Earth's past has seen five extinctions that resolve the topic of life on Earth. We are currently in our sixth extinction. Does it matter if we travel to space? Deep space? 

There needs to be a clear commitment by the country with a clear glide path for NASA. It isn't about balancing the national budget on the backs of a space program. It is about the future and the ethics society needs to find within it's commitment to the future.

I don't believe the astronauts should bear the burden of deciding the risk they face. There is no cutting corners and saying oops. The USA space program has never allowed margins of error to exist with the knowledge of the public. There were accidents along the way, but, never once did the American people know the dangers allowed to exist in the programs. The Shuttle program broke the nation's heart when we learned O-Rings caused ill fated outcomes. 

It is not the right of any astronaut to decide the dangers they accept. It is the priority of a nation to be sure the dangers are faced and eliminated. There are missions beyond the Moon that can be conducted in short duration as we inch toward Mars, but, never do I see a mission that launches from Earth aimed at making it to Mars.   

An artist's rendering of NASA's Space Launch System. (Image: Boeing)

Posted 
By Amina Khan
Los Angeles Times


...“Long duration (click here) and exploration spaceflights (including extended stays on the ISS or exploration missions to an asteroid or Mars) will likely expose crews to levels of known risks beyond those allowed by current health standards,” according to the report led by Jeffrey Kahn of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, “as well as to a wide range of risks that are poorly characterized, uncertain and perhaps unforeseeable.”

The risks include radiation-induced cancers; loss of bone mass from long stints in zero gravity; nausea or fatigue from extreme radiation if astronauts get hit by a solar storm; and blurred vision. That’s just a short list of the health hazards that researchers are aware of. It’s also not counting the long-term psychological toll that dealing with stressful situations in a confined enclosure can take.

Among the report’s recommendations: Avoid harm by minimizing risk to astronauts. Missions should be valued for the benefits they provide. Make sure the benefits outweigh the risks enough for the mission to be worthwhile. Operate in a transparent and accountable way, and keep astronauts informed of the risks they face. Basically: Act in a responsible and transparent manner....
“Long duration and exploration spaceflights (including extended stays on the ISS or exploration missions to an asteroid or Mars) will likely expose crews to levels of known risks beyond those allowed by current health standards,” according to the report led by Jeffrey Kahn of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, “as well as to a wide range of risks that are poorly characterized, uncertain and perhaps unforeseeable.”
The risks include radiation-induced cancers; loss of bone mass from long stints in zero gravity; nausea or fatigue from extreme radiation if astronauts get hit by a solar storm; and blurred vision. That’s just a short list of the health hazards that researchers are aware of. It’s also not counting the long-term psychological toll that dealing with stressful situations in a confined enclosure can take.
Among the report’s recommendations: Avoid harm by minimizing risk to astronauts. Missions should be valued for the benefits they provide. Make sure the benefits outweigh the risks enough for the mission to be worthwhile. Operate in a transparent and accountable way, and keep astronauts informed of the risks they face. Basically: Act in a responsible and transparent manner.
- See more at: http://amestrib.com/news/nation/ethics-report-could-help-nasa-weigh-risks-long-term-space-travel#sthash.spQHufvo.dpuf
By Amina Khan
Los Angeles Times

Posted 
It's Sunday Night


"Catching Up" (click here for official website)
Wake up
Hear the same thing
My alarm rings
Screamin the same time
In the same place
I'm walking the same way
I'm afraid
It's always Groundhogs Day

 
I always say
I should do something about it
Why not?
Today could be the day

 
I'm done hanging out
Talking bout what I want
No fun sitting here
Thinking maybe next year
I don't wanna be
Lookin back at 23
Sayin to myself,
I've got a lot of catching up to do



I've got big dreams
Dreaming big things
Interrupted
My alarm rings
Until now cause
I won't hear it
I won't take it
I can't stay anymore

 
I always say
I should do something about it
Why not?
Today could be the day


I'm done hanging out
Talking bout what I want
No fun sitting here
Thinking maybe next year
I don't wanna be
Looking back at 23
Sayin to myself
Got a lot of catching up to do

 
Say goodbye to the could've been
Say goodbye to the shouldve made that one work
Say goodbye to just sittin around
I always say it
It's time to really mean it


I always say
I should do something about it
Why not?
Today could be the day

 
I'm done hanging out
Talking bout what I want
No fun sitting here
Thinking maybe next year
I don't wanna be
Lookin back at 23
Sayin to myself
There's so much left to do
(I've got a lot of catching up to do)
So much left for me to do
(I've got a lot of catching up to do)
So much left for me to do
(I've got a lot of catching up to do)
Out of a thousand things, I don't need you.

Lookey thar, it's near Enid again.

Earthquakes in the Stable Continental Region

M4.2 (click here) - 6km SSW of Langston, Oklahoma 2014-04-06 14:58:54 UTC

Location: 

35.890°N 

97.269°W 

depth=5.1km (3.2mi)

M2.7 - 5km S of Langston, Oklahoma 2014-04-06 15:04:07 UTC

 Location:

35.893°N 

97.264°W 

depth=5.0km (3.1mi)

4.0 Magnitude Earthquake Felt From Oklahoma City to Tulsa

Posted: Apr 05, 2014 11:08 AM EST  
Updated: Apr 06, 2014 12:45 PM EST  
Posted by: Zak Patterson, Web Editor 
The United States Geological Survey has reported 11 earthquakes (click here) in Oklahoma since Friday afternoon, including a 4.0 magnitude earthquake a couple minutes before 10 a.m. Sunday morning.
The earthquake's epicenter was one mile south of Langston and nine miles northeast of Guthrie.
KTUL has received reports that the 4.0 earthquake was felt from Oklahoma City to Tulsa. It had a depth of 3.1 miles.
The 4.0 was sandwiched in between two smaller quakes. An earthquake with a magnitude of 3.0 was reported at 9:25 a.m. three miles south of Langston.
A few minutes after the 4.0, a magnitude 2.7 earthquake was reported at 10:04 a.m. three miles south of Langston.
A 4.2 magnitude earthquake struck at 7:42 a.m. Saturday morning and had a depth of 3.1 miles. It was felt 12 miles north of Crescent, 21 miles northwest of Guthrie and 22 miles southeast of Enid.
A series of earthquakes also shook the Enid, Langston, Guthrie, Perry and Medford areas from late Friday to early Saturday morning.
Those earthquakes ranged from 2.2 to 3.0 in magnitude.
The 3.0 quake hit at 9:30 p.m. Friday 14 miles west of Perry and 19 miles southeast of Enid. It had a depth of 3.1 miles.

Record Number of Earthquakes in Oklahoma (click here)

Posted on  
by Juan Roberto Peron

...OK used to have very few earthquakes per year but that’s all changed now. Last year they had 222 quakes that were felt and made shelves rattle and this year, thus far, they’ve had an astounding 253 quakes and we aren’t even 6 months into 2014. So OK is having record seismic activity now. What’s causing all the motion?...

Connecticut legislators have been under attack by the gun nuts in the country





The name of the effort is "Connecticut Against Gun Violence." It is currently 2.5 million strong.


 
The Hartford Courant
April 6, 2014
HARTFORD — Almost a year to the day (click here) after the state legislature passed a historic and far-reaching gun control law, thousands of opponents of the law gathered at the state Capitol on Saturday to remind legislators that they aren't going anywhere.

The rally, organized by the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, drew supporters from all over the state and from other states to the Capitol lawn on Saturday, two days after Gov. Dannel P. Malloy commemorated the passage of SB 1160, which expanded the state's existing ban on assault weapons.
"We're the Constitution State and they passed a law that was completely unconstitutional," CCDL vice president Lenny Benedetto said....

LIE ! I remind there have been two lawsuits by the NRA that were dismissed recently by the Supreme Court.

By:


A federal judge in Hartford (click here) Thursday dismissed a constitutional challenge to the sweeping gun-control legislation passed in Connecticut after the Sandy Hook School massacre.

Gun owners challenged the law on several fronts, including what the state called "an absolutist" Second Amendment claim that the possession of types of semiautomatic rifles and large-capacity magazines banned under the law was a constitutionally guaranteed right.

"The court concludes that the legislation is constitutional," wrote Senior U.S. District Judge Alfred V. Covello. "While the act burdens the plaintiffs' Second Amendment rights, it is substantially related to the important governmental interest of public safety and crime control."...

What occurred in the past year was a time period for current gun owners to come into compliance with the new laws. The timeline to that compliance ended and now there are people that ignored the law, stood against it's compliance or simply didn't know; they now face fines and otherwise. That is not the way a reasonable person conducts their opposition to law. A reasonable person complies and seeks to oppose through measures available to them. 

So, right from the start those ignoring the law or opposing it through noncompliance makes their position illegitimate. They don't even know what happens within compliance. They only know they THINK they have rights over and above the law that they sincerely don't have and they want the courts to prove they are correct. They aren't correct. 

There can be laws, we know that from previous Supreme Court rulings, that protect people from irresponsible use of guns. We know that. People do not have to be in danger because someone doesn't want to comply with protective legislation.

Now, because they are pouting they are trying to discredit legitimately elected legislators and supposedly replace them with people that serve only one expertise and that is to repeal the laws enacted after the Sandy Hook slayings. 

We have to stand with the people that act to protect us, hence, "Thunderclap."  These opponents to the laws have a theory that has never been proven. They BELIEVE (like a religion) that if the entire nation was armed there would be no deaths of anyone. In other words, the Wild West. Well, even in the Wild West when there were duals people died. So, much for their theory. We know that controlling the guns work when no other measures do.

By:


One of the Connecticut gun control groups (click here) put down its marker today, releasing an agenda that probably represents the outer limits what is politically possible in the General Assembly after Newtown.
The agenda of Connecticut Against Gun Violence takes note of the recently passed New York legislation, which expands its assault weapon ban and limits the sale of magazines to those that hold no more than seven rounds, a stricter limit that previous proposals....